So I've been working on this one since the 6th, the day after completing the first game. Due to a combination of the game's durability system, crazy prices and my even crazier desire to meet said prices, I spent a LOT of time grinding for gold to optimize my party's equipment. Now I have them standing but a step away from the final boss, Arsenal, whose name I given my pain.

You see, once you start down that first souped-up escalator to the world's core, there no going back, nor any running from battles. Once I realized the severity of that situation, I used soft resets and saves to get myself where I am now. As you can imagine, I'm yet to outlast Arsenal, despite all my efforts to the contrary. However, I know of a weapon called the Seven Sword, only dropped by a particularly tough creature called a Haniwa.

I've gotten into several random battles, soft resetting for the majority of non-Haniwa encounters, mostly having my Human Male, Ryan, take it down with the Hyper, only to come up empty. When I looked up Arsenal getting taken down with the Seven Sword on YouTube, one of the comments said that I'd definitely encounter a Haniwa the fourth battle in, so I endured accordingly. When that turned out to be bullshit, I went back to my old strategy of playing the odds, this time figuring I'd take one down the old-fashioned way. When I succeeded on my second attempt, all I got was an extra Mana point for my Mutant Female, Mary.

I guess what I'm saying here is, should I keep playing the odds, soft resetting and taking down Haniwa with the Hyper until I finally get the Seven Sword, or should I just quit and admit I wasted a staggering amount of my time on mostly grinding for GP?

Actually, I did, all throughout. Strength and Agility for Ryan, Mana for Mary.

I've also got a Robot named Zeke and a monster (currently a Behemoth) named Dave.

Never mind, I finally took Arsenal down. Ryan fell, but not before expending the Glass Sword and both NukeBombs, while Mary continued to do the bulk of the damage with the Flare Book, Zeke contributed with the Laser Gun and Dave alternated between Tusk, Head and Bash. In the end, it was Zeke who struck the fatal blow. Basically, I got a freaky combination of serious and lucky. The game's set up like Ys, in that I can save after the final battle and before the ending, so all I have to do is talk to Isis (who I imagine barely broke a sweat against the other one), which I'll be doing after midnight. Tomorrow, I'll be starting the third game. Sorry I troubled you, Syd.

Get well soon.

Were you optimally equipped with complementing stats?

You just have to know which weapons are based on Strength, Agility and Mana and which ones are best wielded by a Robot.