GPFontaine wrote:

lordsathien wrote: GPFontaine wrote: I have a FF challenge. Play FFIV for the DS normally. Fucking shit is hard enough as it is. I am still convinced that there is a level/enemy scaling that occurs if you level up earlier. I'm currently sitting around after just having gotten Kain and Rosa back. Know any good spots to level up at this point? The best place to level up is in the under world next to the unlimited pot of life. The enemies are lower level, but they still give experience. It doesn't take long to gain a few levels there. You just set everyone to auto-attack.

Just equip staves on Rosa that raise Will. She is worthless with bow and arrow, might as well up her white magic abilities. (Artemis Bow is a jokE!1)

GPFontaine wrote:

Rosa has a decent attack. Just make sure you AIM.

Oh, I tried Aim. She is the healer though, with Kain, Edge and Cecil attacking, Rydia summoning, all you need is healing magic (viz. high Will). Her attack really isn't needed. I learned about such things from Diablo II... Cure3 on all will heal the whole party at later levels with a high Will.

Fortune Smiles wrote:

Secret of Mana: (included for obvious reason) Only the Boy can be alive (GP becomes easy!!!)

This challenge is not really that fun. I mean, after every boss your other guys get revived, and you can't kill them off, and, well, it's just not fun. (Not that I really went too far into the game anyway in this challenge.) So here's a better one IMO:

The No Magic Challenge. Of course, you will need to use spells on orbs in many places in the game, but that won't affect the challenge. Now, I tried this the absolute way and after a while it becomes near impossible, given that you are only able to carry a total of 4 each of the 3 possible healing items. So, in light of this fact, I will allow (yes, I have that power) the use of the spell Cure Water on two conditions:
- No level grinding of the spell. This means you can not cast it repeatedly to get it to the highest possible level. It can only gain levels as you use it when needed.
- No Fairie Walnuts. That will make you use it more sparingly, at least until the Girl reaches higher levels and gets more MP. If you get any from monsters, sell 'em.

If this challenge is too easy, the next step will be to allow only Body armor (no helms or gauntlets). And, if that is still to easy we will add that the weapons must stay at level one. And, if THAT is too easy for someone, then that person has effectively supplanted the deity of the Old/New Testaments of the Bible and shall be worshipped every Sunday by having their name chanted 1000 times by every person who plays video games.

PS
And remember, this is a video game, not some crappy test at school. Show it some respect by not cheating if you choose to undertake a challenge.

[Edit]
I suppose that the Mana Sword spell will need to be used at the last boss.

UsaSatsui wrote:

Fortune Smiles wrote: GPFontaine wrote: Rosa has a decent attack. Just make sure you AIM. Oh, I tried Aim. She is the healer though, with Kain, Edge and Cecil attacking, Rydia summoning, all you need is healing magic (viz. high Will). Her attack really isn't needed. I learned about such things from Diablo II... Cure3 on all will heal the whole party at later levels with a high Will. Did you make sure you put the bow in her left hand? While I rarely use it, I get good damage out of Rosa.

Yes sir, I was most aware of needing to do so. I just meant that with the offensive nature of the other characters' classes Rosa should really just invest in Will so that her healing is top of the line. You could use Rydia as healer with Ashura, but her summons do much more damage than Rosa can do with her bow, and Rosa really doesn't add enough to the overall damage to need to rely on her to do damage; damage which the rest of the team has no problem in inflicting. And later in the game her Aim attack doesn't do any significant damage to any of the random battles or bosses (except for flying monsters and balloon-species monsters on the moon), so you might as well make her a top-notch healer.

{edit]
Cure 1 is a lifesaver when it comes to Rosa's MP. With enough Will, two Cure 1's heal a member to respectable HP levels, at any stage you can get the proper armors and staves to raise her Will; saves Ethers anyways, for boss battles. The Overworld music in that game is top-notch too.

I would like to propose a fairly unique challenge (at least it is to my knowledge). I call it the Treasure Chest Only Challenge. The basic premise is that you only use items that come initially equipped on a character, or, as the name of the challenge implies, items gained from treasure chests. This includes regular items (heal potions, tents, phoenix down/life, ether, etc.), as well as anything equippable. Items dropped by monsters are fair game, though it adds to the challenge if you don't go looking at any lists to know who drops what (*glares at Staleman of the Eblan caves*). Inns are certainly allowed.

This challenge can potentially be applied to any game that makes use of treasure chests/store-bought items, but to keep this thread thematically congruent we'll stick to the 'ole FF games here.

A note on level grinding: DON'T DO IT!! Point A to Point B fighting at most.


FFI: No, I don't want to go grey before I turn 30. (No shopping means no magic, and no magic means lots of potions, and lots of potions means shopping, and shopping means this challenge is null.)

FFII: No idea.

FFIII: Possible... in theory. *thinks of Garuda and shudders*

FFIV: Say hello to Cloth armored Paladin Cecil. (Hint: You did de-equip everyone before the "Leviathan Express," didn't you?) As with most of the FF games, shopping for equipment becomes obsolete at the later stages.

FFV: Didn't try yet.

FFVI: After doing the No Equipment, Natural Magic Challenge, this one is cake. Plenty of tents should be acquired in the Magitek Research Facility. And with espers, who needs tents really? True, Shadow can't spam shurikens, but c'est la vie.
For maximum fun: don't equip ANY espers--ever. If you must use espers, keep the learning to the Veldt. Besides, Offering + RunningShoes + Fixed Dice = no NEED for espers. (Trouble with Katana Soul? I hear he doesn't like when Edgar makes a lot of noise...)

FFVII: Another easy one. Of course you can't get the Master green materia the natural way, but that's what the Emerald Weapon is for. Oh, and no W-Item duplicating hammerhead!
Exception: Buying Chocobo Lure is allowed, as not buying it is doable but unnecessarily tedious. Just pitch it when you get into the Mythril Mine.

FFVIII: No idea.

FFIX: Didn't try it yet.

UsaSatsui wrote:

And no level grinding is BS. If you're gimping yourself, you NEED to gain levels. In fact, you need to grind levels simply to advance normally in FF1.

I disagree. No level gains are needed in most FF games. That's wherefore the word "challenge" is derived. Level grinding is BS to the max. But, to each their own.

In FFI... yes.

Otherwise... NO!!! NO!!! Yang at level 13. NO!!!

UsaSatsui wrote:

FF1 wouldn't be as hard as you imply. It's not too hard at all to beat the game without a mage. You can load up on Black Belts and once you reach Level 10 or so, you're kind of all set. Your other classes are screwed until at least the Marsh Cave, though, unless you allow the "starting equipment". I might try that one when I get bored.

This is the only game that I am lenient on, because it is hard enough with 'full throttle'. Good game.

UsaSatsui wrote:

Um...Final Fantasy IV has two points where grinding is pretty much required. The first is right before the Sealed Cave, if you want to go and get Leviathan and Sylph at a reasonable time (irrelevant for this challenge, but still). The second...um, been to the Lunar Subterranae lately? If you're not at least level 60 or so in there, good effing luck. And you "naturally" get there around level 45 or so.

Cool shit. I've been a procrastinator up until now. I've done this challenge on ffvi. And got to the last level on ffiv.

UsaSatsui wrote:

Um...Final Fantasy IV has two points where grinding is pretty much required. The first is right before the Sealed Cave, if you want to go and get Leviathan and Sylph at a reasonable time (irrelevant for this challenge, but still). The second...um, been to the Lunar Subterranae lately? If you're not at least level 60 or so in there, good effing luck. And you "naturally" get there around level 45 or so.

Fuck!! Dude, I beat the Sealed Cave around lvls 35 or so. Not sure... Dammit, I'll have to do it again to get what levels you can beat it at. At the final trap of the cave have Edge throw every fucking thing you can spare. Rydia can cast Titan (as she didn't have Virus when I got there, if she does for you then cast that instead). Cecil and Kain berserked work wonders. Rosa, when not casting Berserk, can heal. Remember to worry about her Will, not her attack or anything else. Berserk Edge when he's done throwing. It's all about strategy and preparation (i.e., not selling your old weapons that Edge can throw (why would you sell in this challenge anyway?)). You can also have Kain Jump if you don't want to worry about using a turn to Berserk him. I beat this boss with both him jumping and berserked.

The last dungeon can be beaten before level 60. My god man! I have a party there now, that has ALL of the final equipment that can be had.

Cecil: lvl 49
Rosa: lvl 48
Edge: lvl 48
Rydia: lvl 46
Kain: lvl 49

I am ready to beat the fucking game with this party. You're saying lvl 60!? Then you obviously aren't up for FFIV.

Fortune Smiles has spoken...

Oh, and have a nice day.

PS
I am talking about the original FF2 on SNES. I did this challenge on my SNES with the original cartridge I sent away for back in 1995. (I had already beaten the game by then on a cartridge I had gotten at the local used game shop, but I wanted a fresh copy. I remember playing FF Legend 3 on Game Boy to alleviate my yearning for FF2 while waiting. (I had traded my first copy of FF2--the acquired-by-trade one--for "Super Mario Kart" for SNES. I traded "Link to the Past" that day as well. This was back in '94 that I got rid of FF2 and LttP. I was 11; go figure...)) I am also doing this challenge on emulator so that I can make videos to show n00bs how it's done.

PPS
No, I do not play FF2 every second of every day. I prefer going to the bar and picking up ugly women that look hot with 'beer goggles' on.

http://www.fileden.com/files/2009/3/10/2358269/rydia.jpg
http://www.fileden.com/files/2009/3/10/2358269/rosa.jpg
http://www.fileden.com/files/2009/3/10/2358269/cecil.jpg
http://www.fileden.com/files/2009/3/10/2358269/edge.jpg
http://www.fileden.com/files/2009/3/10/2358269/kain.jpg
There's the party.

Check the HP with this pic:
http://www.fileden.com/files/2009/3/10/2358269/zeromus3.jpg

PS
*Risen from his grave*

slapolakinkaido wrote:

Don't know how this guy did this. He must have used some kind of cheat code to run from every ememy, but finished Final Fantasy (NES version) in about an hour and 13 minutes.

Yeah, he's cheating. Look at when he equips the sword in the Marsh Cave. Too fast for my taste. And then, like you say, running from EVERY enemy. BS.

lavalarva wrote:

The guy never said it was played normally. He posted it on TASvideos. And the guy who uploaded the video on YouTube even said it was a TAS in the fucking description.

Okay, I'll give him that. But try to play a FFI run through, on the NES, in which you can run from every--EVERY, this guy does--enemy in the first round without taking damage. Post a vid of that hammerhead. Let's see it. You wanna boast about this guy. Let's see it done! Success is thy proof.

PS
What???? He "happened" to get critical hits on Astos while Astos missed every time? OK, yeah.... Real genuine challenge speed run here....

UsaSatsui wrote:

You -can- run from every enemy easily though, unless you can't run from them at all. Due to a bug, if the person in position 4 is dead, the person in position 2 will always be successful running. Same with positions 1 and 3.

See my Astos remark above. Unless that is a bug too.

If that's the case, then let's win FFI on bugs!!!

If not, then I apologize.

FFI might be possible, on NES, without store bought items, but it will be a tough road. No mages, of course. Without level grinding, it will be luck. A thief is cool; for running. (In Dawn of Souls a Thief is killer, better than Fighter; but we're not talking DoS). I'd say F,F,BB,Th. Lvl 1 at Garland. Lvl 3-4 by Elfland. I used to get to Melmond by lvl 5, so...

UsaSatsui wrote:

Fortune Smiles wrote: lavalarva wrote: The guy never said it was played normally. He posted it on TASvideos. And the guy who uploaded the video on YouTube even said it was a TAS in the fucking description. Okay, I'll give him that. But try to play a FFI run through, on the NES, in which you can run from every--EVERY, this guy does--enemy in the first round without taking damage. Post a vid of that hammerhead. Let's see it. You wanna boast about this guy. Let's see it done! Success is thy proof. PS What???? He "happened" to get critical hits on Astos while Astos missed every time? OK, yeah.... Real genuine challenge speed run here.... Do you know what a TAS (Tool-assisted speedrun) is? It's not supposed to be a genuine speed run. It records and re-records over and over again to manipulate the outcome. This particular run manipulates the hell out of the random number generator to cause those events. And again, you can run from nearly every enemy in the game, first round every time, so long as the person 2 spaces down from you is dead. It's a glitch. I abused the hell out of that in my Solo Fighter playthrough.

Good stuff. *sarcasm*

UsaSatsui wrote:

Do you know what a TAS (Tool-assisted speedrun) is? It's not supposed to be a genuine speed run. It records and re-records over and over again to manipulate the outcome. This particular run manipulates the hell out of the random number generator to cause those events.

What is the point then, in cheating in a game? "I beat Contra with GameGenie!!! I'm a genius!" Do you agree with cheating?

Quote:

And again, you can run from nearly every enemy in the game, first round every time, so long as the person 2 spaces down from you is dead. It's a glitch. I abused the hell out of that in my Solo Fighter playthrough.

OK. So I stand corrected. Have fun with that CHEAT.