HSUP B TCELES - Let's Play FF1! Again!

Yeah, I think I'll be able to manage Omega. I'm not sure about Shinryu.

Edit: Nope, still no luck against Omega. Defender didn't make much of a difference.

Really?

How many times did you layer it?

Seriously, the bonus bosses are just an exercise in setting up defenses then buffing to high heavens in my experience.

At least twice plus several invisiras. But the real problem is nothing can stop Wave Cannon from wrecking me if he does it twice in a row.

Oh, then you're underleveled.

The way to tell if you're ready for Omega or Shinryu is if you can survive the double Wave cannon.

If you can't, don't even think of battling Shinryu.

I actually beat Shinryu BEFORE Omega, oddly enough. And that was with the same party as the one Brick's using in his playthrough.

Of course, that was only after looting the final bonus dungeon and the Temple of Fiends first, so I had the invaluable Mage Staff and the Masamune. I just kept elixer'ing my Knight, who took Shinryu to school using the Ultima Weapon.

Omega was harder, as he spread his damage around more, which is hard for that team to deal with. I don't mind trading Shinryu's single-target attacks for a free shot with the UW, but Omega gets pissy with the Wave Cannon.

Meh, Shinryu's Tidal Wave isn't a joke either.

He's not as cheap about spamming it, though - you'll get that, but then he'll toss in a lightning attack (which you can neuter using a Knight), a physical attack or (I think) Quake, which should be a free turn since you've got Ribbons on everyone by that point.

I had much a harder time of it with him in FFV, honestly.

EDIT: And, also, he's basically the final boss in the game. So drink your Megaelixers if you've got 'em.

Shinryu is totally easier than Omega.

Whoops, did I just spoil a future update?

Meh, I haven't battled him in a while so I'll take your word on it.

Really, Omega isn't really that much of a problem besides his absurd defense.

Well duh. In FFV you HAD to equip Coral Rings on everyone if you even wanted a chance.

Agreed. Shinryu is tough, but I've beaten him several times with a pre-Chaos Shrine party. Omega always seemed like I'd have to grind way more to even get close to killing him.

Not necessarily.

Sorry to keep hijacking this thread, but I would really like for someone to tell me that there's a better option for level-grinding than fighting the evil eye in the ice cave a million times like in the old days.

Chaos Shrine random encounters.

O.o

I... never thought of that...

I ended up resorting to !Quick and !Finisher abuse.

Oooh, can it be Shinryu embarrassing beatdown times?

What I find interesting is that in both of those videos Shinryu doesn't use Tidal Wave.

Does he only do it if you have a full party or something?

In the first video, he does use it. Once, toward the beginning, and it still doesn't matter.

In the second video, one of the first things he does is use !mix to make Bacchus' Cider and use it on Shinryu, inflicting Berserk status. Berserkers can't do anything but attack.

Wow, how did I miss those?

I really should stop browsing while half asleep.

Isn't that abusing a glitch?

Nope - in fact, it's an FFXII strategy retroactively applied to FFV.

Hey look! This Let's Play thread is still here!

"Brickroad, did you forget about us?"

Yes.

"Is it because Minecraft happened?"

Yes.

"Quit playing Minecraft long enough to post an update."

No.

"Do it or we'll slash your tires."

No.

"Do it or we'll flood your painstakingly-cleared undersea grotto with lava."

OKAY OKAY ANYTHING BUT THAT.

This is a short update, not because I'm pressed for time or anything, but because Zach and his boys are like tiny gods for whom nothing in the main game poses even the remotest challenge. Still, there's some cool stuff to be had where we're going!


♪♪ Victory ♪♪

Yes, I am absolutely dedicated to showing you every single level up, even though they've long since become irrelevant. For those keeping score at home, all my frequent deaths have caused the guys to fall out of EXP-sync. Percy is still in the lead, followed by Ika. BlBelt's about a half-level behind them. Zach is a full level behind BlBelt. (He dies more often, on account of he eats most of the huge critical hits.)


♪♪ Menu Screen ♪♪

Been a while since I just showed an obligatory menu screen shot, so here you go. Worth noting: I'm nowhere near the level cap. In the NES version the cap was 50, but it was raised to 99 in DoS and the EXP curves were totally rebalanced. I think I probably pointed this out sixty updates ago.


♪♪ Into the Depths ♪♪

We've got two more superdungeons to get to, but superdungeons only unlock when their corrosponding fiend has been killed... so it's back to the Sunken Shrine for us.


♪♪ Chaos Shrine ♪♪

The Sunken Shrine is one of the better treasure troves in the game. Most of the best stuff is up on the top floor with the mermaids, which we've already raided, but it's worth collecting the goodies on your way down to the bottom floor as well. 9900 gil is nothing to sneeze at, especially considering you have to purchase the Bottled Faery just to get into this dungeon.


♪♪ Battle ♪♪

Two things are noteworthy about the monsters in the Sunken Shrine. They're tough, and they're worth lots of EXP. Of course when you're decked out in sicknasty superdungeon gear like Zach here even the mightiest critters go down in a single shot.


♪♪ Chaos Shrine ♪♪

I love this little floor.

WARNING! BORING GUSHING NERD STUFF!

One of the little details I love about FF1 is the dungeon floors work out correctly. If you enter a dungeon on B1 and go up some stairs, you'll be on B2. This is never something you notice in the original, since it doesn't keep track of your location in any meaningful way, not even with a short blurb when you enter a town or somesuch. You can, however, check your location on your menu in Dawn of Souls, if you're so inclined.

Anyway, the Sunken Shrine contains five floors. You enter in the middle, on B3. The mermaid treasure rooms are two floors up, on B1. Kraken is two floors down, on B5. To get to Kraken, however, you don't simply walk down two flights of stairs; rather you go down to B4, up twice to B2, then down thrice to B5. This means the three middle floors of the dungeon have multiple areas to them, even though they're roughly the same size.

But because they're the same size, not every visit to the floor can have its own huge map. Hence this tiny room on B3. Since most of B3 is taken up by the "first" floor of the dungeon, but they still needed a way to get you from B2 down to B4, they just tucked this little room off in the corner of the map.

Why does this please me? Because they could have simply had a staircase on B2 leading directly down to B4, with no space in between. Nobody would have noticed. It's not like the game cares at all, right? But the map designer cared. "It doesn't make sense that stairs from B2 would take you directly down to B4. At least put a little 13-tile room there, to give the player some sense of how much vertical distance he's covering."

Also, since the trek to Kraken takes you down then up then back down, it's about twice as long a "dungeon" as the trek up to the mermaid rooms.


So okay not all the treasures in this dungeon are great.


♪♪ Battle ♪♪

Even Ghosts, the absolute terror of the Sunken Shrine, are absolutely nothing compared to us. In the first shot we see Ika selecting the spell that will annihilate the entire pack of undead. FIR3 was helpful against GHOSTs in the original, but it was far from a guarantee; well, now that the INT stat works, all bets are off.

In the second shot, we see a Ghost doing his worst to us. In the original this hit could have potentially put someone on the ground. Now, what with all our bombastic otherworldly gear, it's barely a mosquito bite.

I ain't afraid of no--*bang*


♪♪ Menu Screen ♪♪

Here's the second most important treasure in the Sunken Shrine: the Giant's Gloves. Zach could equip these if they wanted to suck more, but the real treat here is they cast Saber when used in combat. Remember Saber? That L7 black magic spell that beefifies attack power, but only works on the caster? And y'all were like, "Why would Ika ever need that?"

Ika doesn't, but BlBelt does. And now BlBelt can use it. As much as he wants. This, plus Haste, plus as much Temper as I care to stack, essentially means I can turn each of BlBelt's fists into a freight train.


♪♪ Chaos Shrine ♪♪

Blah blah blah useless weapon yadda yadda casts Dia hum dee dum don't need it.


♪♪ Victory ♪♪

Ika got 99 problems but a level-up ain't one.

...actually, Ika has Flare, 600+ MPs and three meatshields. There's no way he has 99 problems.


♪♪ Chaos Shrine ♪♪

The most important treasure in the Sunken Shrine is our third Ribbon. This will let Percy enjoy the same resistance to special attacks Ika and BlBelt have already been rocking.

♪♪ Battle ♪♪

I'm kind of belaboring this point, but it's worth re-repeating: working INT is such a huge boost to spellcasters that they're practically entirely new classes. Here Ika demonstrates what he can do with our Healing Staff. Anyone else in the team would be lucky to pull half that. In the NES version it's a good round to see 30 HPs per guy out of your magic stick.

This is actually Ika's default action in combat, offering perfect protection against the tiny bumps and scrapes that tend to accumulate over a long dungeon.



♪♪ Boss Battle A ♪♪

Kraken has exactly two attacks in his arsenal: he can land up to eight hits with a physical strike, or he can try to Blind you. The Blindness is a non-issue, but the 8-hit attack can put even a well-armored Light Warrior on the floor. The best thing you can do is have your party leader Blink himself (either with the spell, or by using the Defense Sword) to take the wind out of Kraken's sails.


The boss strategy hasn't changed, except now BlBelt can spend his first round casting Saber on himself. That's Haste/Saber/Temper on the first round, Temper/Temper each round thereafter. This fight should not take long at all.


GOD DAMMIT IKA. YOU'RE MAKING US LOOK BAD.


You know what? Fuck it. You one-shot us, we'll one-shot you right back. Suck freight-train fists, octo-boy!

My favorite little detail about Kraken, which was not really noticable in the NES version, is that he's wearing a cape. Giant evil squid though he may be, dude's got style.


The Water Crystal shines again!


♪♪ Chaos Shrine ♪♪

Meanwhile, the curiously Kraken-shaped statue has vanished from the entrance of Lifespring Grotto. The path to the hardest bosses in Dawn of Souls is now open to us.


♪♪ Church ♪♪

Just one tiny order of business left before we can wrap things up here.

Next: "That big guy is great! You little guys are great! Everybody is great!"

Yay, updates! And here I was afraid I might have to post a pic of a LOLcat or something to keep this thread from falling off the first page. THANK BRICK YOU WERE ALL SPARED

Kraken always kills the Black wizard. Always.

I've always liked that Kraken can hit eight times because he has eight tentacles.

Also, his "Ho ho ho." DoS is short one hearty chuckle.

To be fair, you totally had it coming.

And now the interesting part begins... can Brick conjure up a win against Shinryu at this point?

Oh hey the LP isn't finished. I read all of it today.

On Omega and Shinryu: hahaha no. Not in the 40s.

They were pushovers when I got around to fighting them though. I think being level 99 helped.

He's going to need better blanket heals before he can take on Omega.

Shinryuu... I guess it depends on whether or not BlBelt can survive long enough.

I SUPPOSE WE'LL SEE.

I hope he notes the tragic lack of Battle On The Big Bridge when he fights Gilgamesh.

I'm trying a solo Thief run on this version now.

Ed.: MOAR LP