___________________________________________________________________________ / \ | =~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~= | | Author: Brian Lundin E-mail: Paltheos@gmail.com | | First Version's Date: 10/18/03 Present Version's Date: 6/23/07 | | ~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~ | \___________________________________________________________________________/ BBBBBBB RRRRRRRR EEEEEEEEE A TTTTTTTTTT HHHH HHHH BBBBBBB RR RR EEEEEEEE AAA T TT T HH HH BB BB RR RR EE E AA AA TT HH HH BB BB RR RRR EE AA AA TT HH HH BBBBBB RRRRRRRR EEEEEEEEE AAAAAAAAA TT HHHHHHHHHHHH BBBBBB RR RR EEEEEEEEE AAAAAAAAAAA TT HH HH BB BB RR RR EE E AA AA TT HH HH BB BB RR RR EE E AA AA TT HH HH BB BB RR RR EEEEEEEEE AA AA TT HH HH BBBBBBB RRRR RR EEEEEEEEEE AAAAAA AAAAAA TT HHHH HHHH RR TT RRR ( TTTT (u) OOOOO FFFFFF FFFFFFFFFF (()) RRRRRRRR EEEEEEEEE OO OO F FFFFFFFFF u)) RR RR EEEEEEEE OO OO F FF F (((u)) RR RR EE E OO OO FFFFFF FF ((()) RR RR EE OO OO F FF IIII RR RR EEEEEEEEE OO OO F FFFFFFFFF II RRRRRRR EEEEEEEEE OOOOO F FFFFFFFFF II RR R EE E FF F II RR RR EE FF II RR RR EE E FF II RR RR EEEEEEEEEE FFFF II RRRR RR EEEEEEEEEEE II RR IIII RRR IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII IIIIIII IIIIIII IIIIIII IIIII IIIII IIIII IIIII IIIII IIIII IIIII IIIII IIIII IIIII IIIII IIIII IIIII IIIII IIIII IIIII IIIII IIIII IIIII IIIII IIIII IIIII IIIII IIIII IIIII IIIII IIIII IIIII IIIII IIIII IIIII IIIII IIIII IIIIIII IIIIIII IIIIIII IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) (((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u)) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) =============================================================================== ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SOLO STRAIGHT CHARACTER CHALLENGE ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ =============================================================================== `````````````````````````````````````````````````` ` ` ` ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ` ` Table of Contents ` ` ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ` ` ` ` Section #1- Version History ` ` Section #2- Introduction to the SSCC ` ` Section #3- Rules of the Challenge ` ` Section #4- Some Helpful Tips ` ` Section #5- The Characters ` ` Section #6- Character Rankings ` ` Section #7- Walkthrough ` ` Section #8- "Secondary" SSCCs ` ` Section #9- Stall Points ` ` Section #10- Faerie Village ` ` Section #11- The Fish ` ` Section #12- The Lavaman Trick ` ` Section #13- Archmage & Berserker ` ` Section #14- Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) ` ` Section #15- Legal Information ` ` Section #16- Credits ` ` ` `````````````````````````````````````````````````` ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) (((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u)) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Section #1- Version History ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Version 1.0- Added original 9 sections, all of which are "completed" (as in first version) except the sections on "The Characters"; "Mini-Walkthrough"; "Faerie Village"; all of Ryu SCC is complete. 10/18/03 32KB Personal Notes: This is the first version of this guide. I'm not sure how this guide will turn out, but I believe this guide has an auspicious future. Version 1.5- Added more information on Ryu; added Nina's basic information and started Nina SCC (start through XXIX); fixed some editing errors; modified the format of the guide. 11/28/03 47KB Personal Notes: I had to make a few changes. The first version had a few errors in it. I started Nina too. It's... not easy >_<. Version 3.3- Overhauled the guide to fit the entirely new format; added the new "Section #3- My Contributors"; added/changed the rules and advice; finished Nina SCC; added Teepo SCC; added Jamerington's Rei SCC and [beginnings of] his Garr SCC; any empty spots in strategies will be filled in the next update. 12/27/03 103KB Personal Notes: Yeah, more formatting changes. Well, at least I've got my first contributor now! I hope there will be more of you in the future! I've started a new section to recognize contributor work. Version 4.0- Added some ASCII art ^_^; redid formatting... again... and so soon; started Momo SCC (start through XXI) added remainder of Jamerington's Garr SCC. 1/7/04 125KB Personal Notes: These should be the last formatting changes in the guide for a while >_> <_<... I hope. Anyway, there's nothing particularly different about this update otherwise. Just more information. Version 5.0- Increased the bulk of the information in the mini-walkthrough; added new sections: "Section #8- The Lavaman Trick" and "Section #9- Archmage & Berserker". 2/18/04 157KB Personal Notes: I know, I know. There's little to no actual new data here. This update primarily consists of data I simply hadn't typed out before. Also, I thought the mini-walkthrough needed more to it than just boss info, so I added in a few notes outside the bosses. Hopefully, there will be more of that later on too. Also, I had to include something on Lavaman, Archmage, and Berserker, so I started sections which discuss strategies concerning them; they're not very big right now though... Version 5.6- Separated my work from my contributors' work in Section #6 "Contributors' Work"; completed my Momo SCC; removed my symbol; added Peco Master's review of Peco; added new Section #7 ""Secondary" SCCs"; more formatting; added a couple FAQs. 4/13/04 176KB Personal Notes: Ah! Finally! Lots of new material, new sections, and an explanation on how to go about playing and writing those "Secondary" SCCs. I'm thinking of adding something like general strategies towards handling enemies in each area. It's a big project, so I'll leave at this for now. Expect to see it in the next update though! Version 6.6- Reorganized some of the sections; reformatting; added some more bulk to the introduction and the FAQs; added Peco Master's Peco boss strategies; added new Section #12 "The Fish"; clarified/added some rules. >_> 7/12/04 208KB Personal Notes: Yay. Another update. Unfortunately, those general enemy strategies are still in the workings >_>, so you won't be seeing them for a bit. However, I'll be devoting most of my time tomorrow to working on them, so they... might be done by then. I've learned an important lesson from all this: That I should definitely plan out what I'm going to include in my challenge guides before I start them. Because I'd never gathered a considerable amount of enemy data in SCCs, most of the new material will be based off of what I know/recall and enemy capabilities. >_< So, I thought it would be good to stop midway into this project and look at what I might want to add before I stick myself with an even bigger job. O_o So, I've asked my resident board, the GameFAQs BoFIII board, for advice on any possible improvements (More people -> More ideas, right?), so there might be even more to come. ^_^ As for Peco, I've already made quite a bit of progress but have yet to type out any of the data I've collected. I'll try to squeeze that in too. If all goes well, this somewhat... odd version of the guide will look quite different sometime later this week. Version 7.5- Put in my entire Peco SCC; finished the "where and when" to get stuff that's incorporated into the walkthrough; finished general enemy strategies. 8/15/04 234KB Personal Notes: Finally, I've got those enemy strategies up. OK, the wait was a little longer than a week, >_> but they're here, so that's all that counts, right? Oh, and I've got another SCC up for you all. I'll be moving on to Rei next. As for that "where and when to get stuff" bit, I thought that would be useful in highliting the most important things for you to get. Obviously, you should still try to get everything for completion purposes, but the prioritization concept seemed appealing to me to include. Oh, and the GameFAQs BoFIII Message Board didn't yield many ideas... er... any ideas really, other than a single spelling correction and some well-needed optimism. I don't know whether to take the lack of ideas as a compliment or an insult. <_< Version 8.1- Added my entire Rei SCC; tweaked character profiles; threw in a tip. 8/25/04 258KB Personal Notes: HAHAHA! I pulled a quickie on you! Didn't think I'd be back so soon, huh? Well, when summer first started, I had always planned on at the very least finishing up this project before the summer's end, so I'm switching gears to hyper-speed in the last two weeks of summer I have left until my HS Senior year begins. I finished the Rei SCC in less than a week (and I was taking many, many breaks along the way); hopefully, I'll be able to do the same with Garr. Expect just about everything I've left to give (spell reviews, character comparisons, a prettier format, a load of fixes, the orders for the defeats of the Samples, some new challenges for you the readers, new anti-Fusion strategies (>_>), and of course Garr's SCC.) in one of (if not) the final installments of this guide (at least... er... with information from me... >_> you never know who might contribute what... <_<)! Expect it all next time on BoFIII SCC Z! *voice echoes and fades away* Version 10.2- Added my entire Garr SCC; tacked on spell descriptions and effectiveness to accompany the ratings; made format much prettier; removed all quotations stating "[explanation], but I can't tell for sure until I've finished all the SCCs."; took out a word used *way* too often ("Recommended"); transferred many of the rules over into the FAQ section; changed game-made abbreviations to full length; removed "My Contributors" and "Contributors' Work" sections; added orders in which I defeated the Samples; added data on other characters' combat with Archmage; changed mailing address from Ragnarok500@aol.com to Paltheos@gmail.com. 3/1/05 266KB -Ok, I'm expecting four responses to the new format, "KB Hog! *smacks*," "That wasn't necessary at all! *smacks*," "CONTENT OVER FORMAT! *smacks*," and, preferably, "Wow, that looks really nice. Good job." Yeah, I'm pretty confident most people won't take too it well. But it still looked better than what I had before, SO GET OFF MY CASE! *calms down* Ahem... >_> <_< moving onto something more related to the actual guide, the spell descriptions are a nice touch. Granted, some of it is probably a bit unnecessary, but the detailed comments on the individual uses of spells help much more than the simple "star-grading" format which leaves figuring out much of the spells up to you. Let's see... what else... *looks through his list of "things to talk about"* Right! A few other minor notes: Including the order of the Samples' defeat seemed like another semi-helpful inclusion. It at least explained how my characters were at seemingly changing levels when fighting them (heh, I just didn't fight them in numerical order :P). I removed the "My Contributors" section as it seemed a bit... well... ostentatious and out of order. Also, as all mystrategies are completed, rather than have redundant strategies, only one copy of a strategy will be left up (mine) unless a contributor's strategy is superior or equal to mine, in which case it will be put directly below mine along with credit. With the completion of the last Primary character, I've now officially ranked all six characters and made a section for it (yay). Finally, the numerical data for all the other characters' attempts against Archmage is a nice supplemental to this guide, now complete. I may return one day with additional information, but don't expect anything. *tries to figure out how to conclude it all* Fare thee well. *whisks off with his cape following, Alucard-style* Version 11.0- Added my entire Tiamat SSCC, revised old Ryu strategies, filled in the holes in the Hall of Fire strategies for all non-Ryu characters, spliced in item lists, and changed the guide's name from "Single Character Challenge" ("SCC") to "Solo Straight Character Challenge" ("SSCC"). 291KB 10/8/05 -Alright, I guess I have allot of explaining to do. How to order this... >_> *thinks* Guess I'll just go in the order listed above. The whole Tiamat SSCC was to offer an example of how to do dragon SSCCs. At the same time, I used the opportunity to fill in the sadly blank spots in Nina's, Momo's, and Peco's Hall of Fire strategies. I fixed up the uber-old Ryu strategies, as they were first written when I knew little about the game. Item lists, items lists... *thinks some more* Well, those are for convenience. Rather than listen to me say, "Find all the items," while only emphasizing a few, the lists save you the trouble of checking another guide to find the info you need. Finally, the name change: The name of the guide had been bugging me for a while, because SCC was simply insufficient in describing the challenge. However, "Solo Straight" works quite well. The idea for the name I drew from FFT's SSCC. "Solo" is obvious, but by "Straight" I don't mean to imply anything >_> other than that the character will follow the "Straight", "Pure", or "Natural" path in statistical development. Why not call it a SPCC or SNCC then? Um... >_> <_< the name doesn't sound as snappy. The double Ss and Cs look very aesthetically pleasing while simultaneously describing the challenge perfectly. Ergo, that's the way it's gonna be, so... meh! Version 11.3- Revised language in a number of sections, updated strategies to conform with current game knowledge. 294KB 6/23/07 -By "revised language", I'm mainly talking about much of the bias which comes across too strongly. It's simply unprofessional. Unfortunately, this FAQ is one of my oldest (when I was least experienced and most newbish) and largest, meaning a total rehaul is a *major* job, one I might never really get around to. As for the updated strategies, some major discoveries have been made in the recent months which have direct, significant ramifications to the SSCC, so I've made changes accordingly. ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) (((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u)) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Section #2- Introduction to the SSCC ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Many people have said to me, "BoFIII is so easy, Paltheos. It's a joke." So I thought to myself, "How easy is it?" After pondering on the issue for a while, I came up with a brief list of why this game is so easy. There are the Masters and stat boosting items, which give you complete control of the stats of your characters. Then there are the skills granted via Examine and Masters that allow you to make whatever you want out of a character. Not to mention the sheer over-poweredness of Ryu. I wondered, "How would the characters fare if they fought alone and in their original, purest form? What if I were to take away these things that make the game so easy (except for the Ryu SSCC obviously which requires him)?" So, I decided to make this, the Solo Straight Character Challenge, or "SSCC", as it is commonly abbreviated: You may have seen an SSCC for other games. There are 2 purposes behind an SSCC: 1) By playing through BoFIII with one character in his/her purest form, the player gets a firm understanding of a character's natural strengths and weaknesses. After all, experience is the best teacher, right? Ryu, as I've mentioned before, is an excellent character in just about every category. If you play through his SSCC, you'll learn why he's *that* over-powered. On the other hand, Nina is a horrible character, arguably the worst in the game, and if you play through her SSCC, you'll learn why Nina is that bad... the hard way. 2) I know this is fairly obvious, but I'm saying it anyway. The second goal is to provide a challenge for the player... duh. </painfully obvious observation> ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) (((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u)) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Section #3- Rules of the Challenge ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Yay, here are the rules. After this, you don't have to listen to me any more (just don't come crying to me because you didn't). Bear in mind as you read through all the stipulations that not only have I included rules that are intrinsic to the challenge, but I've also added in parts to avoid cheapness in any and all possible forms. Most of them are fairly self-explanatory and understandable, but I'm still elaborating anyway for those who might not follow immediately. One Character ------------- This is one rule I shouldn't even need to state, but I am anyway. You are allowed to use one and only one character, bar a few exceptions which I will note. These include "stall points" (periods in the game in which a character is unusable), impossible to win battles with one character, and any other occasions of which I will make special note in the guide. "Purest" Form ------------- I mentioned this before but will now define it. "Purest" form means an unmodified character. This includes the following: no masters (for their skills and stat changes at level up), no examining monsters (for their skills), no items to increase a character's base stats, and no inoculations. Battle Formations ----------------- Challengers are limited to only the starting battle formations (Normal, Defense, Attack). One could argue that formations should be limited only to Normal or perhaps to all of them. To the former, Defense and Attack are allowed because I look at them as a sort of front and back rows, which is in plenty of RPGs and is certainly fine to use. To the latter, recall that those formations are learned from masters. Faerie Village -------------- There are some limitations on the use of faerie village. The copy shop may not be used to copy items that would seriously decrease the difficulty of the SSCC. Most notably, Hourglasses. Don't copy Hourglasses. Ever. They're seriously overpowered, and there's no need to have more than the game gives you. Soul Gems --------- I have to put a limitation on the number of Soul Gems you can use. Seriously, how fair would it be to be able to die 99 times against Myria? So, unless I change my mind on the issue, the maximum number of Soul Gems allowed in any battle is 2. Any exceptions to this will be made at my discernment. These Soul Gems do not have to be equipped at the beginning of the battle though. They may be equipped during any time at that battle, but only 2 of them may be consumed, used, etc. Manly Clothes ------------- Manly Clothes function like Soul Gems in that they revive you to full health after death. Just like Soul Gems, they too have a limitation. The sum of Soul Gems/Manly Clothes expended in any given battle may not exceed 2 unless otherwise noted by me. For simplicity's sake, I will only refer to Soul Gems when discussing full revival equipment. Level Limit ----------- At the very highest, you may level up your character to 60. However, in most cases, the usual limit is 50. The only primary SSCC that may possibly need to break the 50 limit is Nina's. Stall Points ------------ If your SSCC character is at a stall point, you're of course allowed to use other characters, boost their stats, give them masters, etc. However, you are not allowed to transfer any skills over to your SSCC character. See the full explanation in the FAQ section. Killing your Characters ----------------------- Characters are revived automatically after every battle, so you must kill them each battle immediately (killing them can become a little tedious, but what are ya gonna do *shrugs*). Once you kill those characters, they may not be revived in that battle again. Running from Battles -------------------- I want to make note of this. When running from a battle, you *do not* have to kill your other party members. Attacking Items --------------- This I clearly condemn. You may under no condition use these unless it is absolutely necessary. e.g. Molotov against Hugeslug. Equipping Other Characters -------------------------- You may not equip your non-SSCC party members with equipment. They're not even supposed to be there, so this rule naturally follows from that. No Gameshark or Other Cheats ---------------------------- Obviously... but I just thought I'd say it for those who might actually try it just because I hadn't said it. >_> No Emulation Tricks ------------------- Meh, a bit similar to above, but I don't want any tricks on emulators that you can't do in normal PSX gameplay, especially spamming save state usage. Concerning saving on an emulator, saving is limited to on the world map and at designated save points of the PSX version. In other words, save only in rooms with diaries. ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) (((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u)) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Section #4- Some Helpful Tips ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Of course, don't try this challenge unless you've already played through the game before. Another thing: Do not choose to do an SSCC on a character simply because the character is popular or has one cool move. That by no means implies that the character performs as well in an SSCC. If you choose to ignore this warning, you may find yourself in a very tough situation as you try something that may not be feasible with your level of knowledge and skill of the game. The Golden Piece of Advice for the challenge: If you can't beat an enemy, run away! And, if you need experience, find an easy to kill enemy which gives plenty of it. As for *avoiding* enemies, there are two minor changes to travel you can make to reduce random encounters: 1) Hug the wall; 2) Walk rather than run on open expanses with no walls. If you're looking for the easiest SSCC to start with, choose Ryu. His is ridiculously easy. In many ways, his SSCC is almost easier than an ordinary game! O_o Read the strategies for a boss before you fight it. Get any equipment or items that you don't have yet for that battle and make sure you are at the recommended level (a character's stats have a set standard for level up; they only change when the character is given a master). When you get characters that you're not going to use, steal any useful equipment they might have (e.g. Nina's "Soul Gem" or Garr's "Titan's Belt") even if you get the characters in the middle of a battle. Here's an obvious tip: save often. You don't want to die after hours of work just because you had "one more little thing to take care of". God knows how many times I've had to swallow those words. Stock yourself to the brim in items. When you find a useful item, get as many of them as possible. For magicians, this means Black Porgies and Wisdom Fruits. For everyone without healing magic (or even those with healing magic), this means Healing Herbs, Vitamin(s), and MultiVitamins. All praise the deity that is the Ivory Charm! This is without a doubt one of the greatest pieces of equipment in the game. It halves elemental damage, raises resistance to status effects, raises resistance to Death, doubles the effects of healing spells, and restores HP in battle and on the field. Even better, if you equip two at once, you gain 100% resistance to all elemental and status attacks! That's quite the repertoire of abilities for one piece of equipment! Be sure to get a pair ASAP via the Distant Fairy Expeditions. If you get this wondrous accessory sooner than in the strategies (I could have put into the boss strategies the instant you could theoretically get it, but I assumed you wouldn't spend countless hours trying to get it and therefore implemented them into the strategies at a more reasonable time), PUT THEM ON. Once you can buy Soul Gems, don't go anywhere without them, especially in dangerous areas. Fishing... what a wonderful thing. You get so many of the things you need for success from fishing. Whether it's the fish themselves, especially as the mighty Black Porgy, or it's the items you get through the Manillo shops, such as the Royal Sword and Life Armor, fishing truly does save you quite a few times. Don't always choose your equipment solely based off of Power/Defense and Weight. Though usually optimum figures for these are preferable, also consider additional or hidden attributes to the equipment. For example, Slicer is "better" than PiercingEdge because Slicer is not only lighter than PiercingEdge, but also because Slicer considerably increases critical rates, despite the slight loss of Power. As for hidden attributes, >_> you just have to know about those (e.g. Mist Armor -> Doubles Holy Elemental's Effects -> Doubles Healing). ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) (((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u)) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Section #5- The Characters ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Also, the Spells sections for each character has a # of stars (1-5) next to each spell to show each spell's overall usefulness: * - No conventional use: It never has a good use... ever. ** - Rarely if ever useful: It can be utilized, but it's really not worthwhile as survival doesn't lean on it at all; it can easily become outdated. *** - Fairly useful: It's still fairly unimportant in the grand scheme of things, but it has its uses; it will likely become outdated at some point. **** - Extremely useful: Frequently cast and a very useful tool; likely not to become *completely* outdated. ***** - Indispensable: Used so much that it has come in some way to define the character and proceeding without it would be radically more difficult; never loses value and is incessantly used from when it is first gained to the very end. `````````````````````````````` !!!!! !Ryu! !!!!! ------------------------ Summary of Pros and Cons ------------------------ Pros ---- Every Healing Spell (Though Many of Them are Useless) Good Assist Spells, All of Which are Protection-Based Perfect Average of All Stats Excellent Equipment Set ACCESSION Dragon Forms Operate on a Separate HP Bar from Base Ryu's Dragon Forms Retain the Element/Status of Ryu's Weapon (Pro?) Cons ---- No Attack Magic Outside of Dragon Forms Dragon Forms Lose All Elemental/Status Protection of Ryu's Base Form ---------- Notes/Tips ---------- "When out of herbs, use a spell.": Whether it's HP or status healing, Ryu's got it covered. The time spans for the usefulness of each individual healing spell is listed under each spell respectively in Spell Reviews. And, on a side note, you should never really run out of healing items. Always have a huge batch on you. "From all damage to no (or at least not much) damage.": Defense magic, another one of Ryu's specialties, is particularly helpful when you can't transform, when you're low on AP (so that you can't transform, but can still cast Defense spells), etc. This generally applies to early on, especially for Protect. Perhaps it may not be all that important... ok, it isn't important, but at least Protect and Barrier will help a few times. Spell Reviews for more. "The perfect sphere": If you view character statistics as three dimensional polyhedra, then Ryu is a perfect sphere, the perfect balance of all stats. Geometry aside, Ryu has the power to smash all, the defense to endure all, the speed to outrun enemies, the intelligence to cast spells effectively, and high HP and AP counts. So... yeah, he's good at everything. What more could you ask for? "Nice digs.": Ryu can definitely equip some of the game's better pieces of equipment. I mean, just look at his final equipment configuration (He would have even better final equipment, but SSCC rules prevent Rei from stealing and Ryu learning Steal). "Limitless forms and powers.": Accession makes this too easy; you have an almost limitless number of attack styles to choose from (all bow to the mighty dragon gene system), you can control him (except for berserk Kaiser, but who counts him anyways >_>), and, most importantly, the dragon forms have a separate HP gauge so that if the form is defeated, you simply revert back to the form Ryu had before. "He has a flaw... er... flaws?!": It's true, Ryu has a couple flaws. The first would be his lack of any attack magic in base form. You could count Bonebreak, but Ryu can only use that at "fixed intervals", so it doesn't really count. I don't mean to say Ryu has no attack magic. He has plenty of attack magic... in a dragon form. Accession has its issues too, but I'll discuss those under its Spell Review. If you're looking for difficulty here, either move on or add an additional stipulation to this SSCC. ------------- Spell Reviews ------------- -Heal- Rating: ** Type: HEAL Description: Heal light wounds on one target AP Consumed: 4 Level Learned: 1 Commentary: Ryu's initial spell. It's not bad persay, but Healing Herbs are cheap and preferred. Besides, and this applies to most of Ryu's other spells, using Ryu's AP for dragon forms is simply a better idea over maintaining his weak (relatively) and less flexible base form. -Purify- Rating: ** Type: HEAL Description: Cures poison AP Consumed: 4 Level Learned: 4 Commentary: I suppose this could have a use really early, when zenny is hard to come by, but, after that, if you're too cheap to spend 12 zenny for an Antidote... -Protect- Rating: *** Type: ASSIST Description: Raise one target's DEF AP Consumed: 2 Level Learned: 6 Commentary: Protect deserves some credit. Obviously, dragon forms have priority, but it's definitely useful against early bosses before Accession is available, Gaist (once you're forced to revert but have enough AP left for protection), Elder (obvious), and a few randoms which don't deserve dragon forms but do deserve some buffs. -Rejuvenate- Rating: ** Type: HEAL Description: Heal medium wounds on one target AP Consumed: 7 Level Learned: 10 Commentary: Same deal here as with Heal, though this may see a bit more usage as it arrives before Vitamin(s) can be store-bought. Of course, Ryu still needs a high enough maxHP count to even merit using Rejuvenate... -Shield- Rating: * Type: ASSIST Description: Raise all targets' DEF AP Consumed: 4 Level Learned: 16 Commentary: Yay, the first one-star spell. No uses at all here. It's less effective than Protect and costs more AP to boot. Basically, a waste. -Raise Dead- Rating: * Type: HEAL Description: Chance of restoring dead member AP Consumed: 10 Level Learned: 19 Commentary: Another spell for which I say, "No allies, no use." It might help if undead enemies in this game were killed by revival spells, but, unfortunately, that's not the case *shakes fist at Dragon Zombie* -Remedy- Rating: ** Type: HEAL Description: Cures all status changes AP Consumed: 7 Level Learned: 20 Commentary: Cheap Panaceas are better here. No reason to waste AP. -Vitalize- Rating: ** Type: HEAL Description: Heal medium wounds on all targets AP Consumed: 20 Level Learned: 23 Commentary: You might be wondering why Vitalize isn't classified as completely useless. Well, you probably aren't, since the answer's fairly obvious: Vitalize on undead -> Death to undead. -Barrier- Rating: *** Type: ASSIST Description: Raise one target's magic defense AP Consumed: 4 Level Learned: 26 Commentary: Same deal here as for Protect, minus the early bosses and Gaist comments (whose magic attacks are completely absorbable). -Restore- Rating: ** Type: HEAL Description: Heal heavy wounds on one target AP Consumed: 12 Level Learned: 29 Commentary: Yet again, same as with Heal and Rejuvenate, only now I'm referring to the availability of MultiVitamins. -Resurrect- Rating: * Type: HEAL Description: Restore dead member AP Consumed: 20 Level Learned: 31 Commentary: Substitute for Resurrect in the Raise Dead commentary for an explanation. *shakes fist at Dragon Zombie again* -Vigor- Rating: * Type: HEAL Description: Heal heavy wounds on all targets AP Consumed: 50 Level Learned: 34 Commentary: Vitalize gets two stars, Vigor one; no, I didn't make a mistake. Vigor's a big waste of AP, as Vitalize gets the job done of killing most undead, so Vigor's just overkill. -Bonebreak- Rating: ** Type: ATTACK Description: Attack; usable at fixed intervals AP Consumed: 0 Level Learned: 36 Commentary: Sure, I'm being hard on Bonebreak, but I have good reason. Honestly, even if it yields incredible damage, what does that matter when the **** thing can only be used once every three hours?! -Accession- Rating: ***** Type: ATTACK Description: Change into dragon form AP Consumed: Varies Level Learned: Event Commentary: Finally, the mighty backbone of Ryu's arsenal, that which makes Ryu3 the overpowered god that he is, Accession. From beginning to end, Accession thoroughly owns any and all opposition swiftly and efficiently. It is what makes Ryu Ryu, and, without it, his SSCC would be much, much harder (relatively). Ok, I've already mentioned in passing little about the effects of Accession, but let me state all of the ramifications of transforming into dragon form. First off, in many ways, the dragon is Ryu yet isn't Ryu. The dragon's HP bar is independent of Ryu's such that death of the dragon results in a reversion to Ryu's base form (an incredible asset). The dragon's stats are calculated off of Ryu's base stats plus his equipment but only the numbers are kept. All side effects of the equipment are discarded. However, there is one very big exception to this rule. The effect of the equipped weapon is kept completely. Say you transformed into a Warrior with a Royal Sword equipped; even without the Thunder gene spliced, the Warrior's base attack would be Thunder-elemental. I'll leave you to ponder on all the applications of that. Now onto the uglier side of transforming: All the defensive aspects of a dragon (other than its raw DEF value, which we know to be determined separately) are unique to each dragon form. Well, what I'm really hinting at is the elemental and status implications of this. In some cases, such as Tiamat or IRT Kaiser, which have 100% status and death immunity, this is a good thing. In other cases, such as the ever-popular Warrior, this can be a very bad thing, as all elemental and status protection of the base form is lost. You may be wondering what the danger is. After all, Ryu's HP bar is independent of those of his dragon forms, so, if the dragon form croaks, Ryu will still be fine. One problem though: *points to Evil Eye and Thunder Strike* Yeah, Game Over via paralysis stinks. Or you could just get smacked by Death. Mechanically, the game is very efficient in wiping out all non-numerical influence of the base form, even erasing the effects of stat-boosting spells when transforming. So, that's Accession- the good, the bad, the whatever. ---------------- Final Evaluation ---------------- Difficulty for character- Ridiculously Easy: Putting "difficult", "SSCC", and "Ryu" in the same sentence is just wrong. There is a little difficulty before he gets his dragon forms, and a couple battles afterwards, but, otherwise, it's smooth sailing. `````````````````````````````` !!!!!!! !Teepo! !!!!!!! ------------------------ Summary of Pros and Cons ------------------------ Pros ---- Statistically Superior to Ryu in Every Way Identical Equipment Set to Ryu Effective Attack Magic (for that point in the game) Cons ---- No Healing Magic (I had to put something under Cons) ---------- Notes/Tips ---------- "I [Teepo] can do anything, you [Ryu] can do better; I can do anything better than you": Teepo excels in all stats just like Ryu. In fact, Teepo goes even further: Teepo can equip everything that Ryu can. "BOOM!": Teepo has some nice attack magic. It's too bad he's not around long enough to fully develop it, especially Iceblast and Fireblast. ------------- Spell Reviews ------------- -Flare- Rating: *** Type: ATTACK Description: Flame attack vs. one target AP Consumed: 2 Level Learned: 1 Commentary: Flare definitely tides you over until Simoon. Good damage, cheap cost. No problems. -Frost- Rating: ** Type: ATTACK Description: Frost attack vs. one target AP Consumed: 2 Level Learned: 4 Commentary: Meh, Flare's slightly superior to Frost, and there aren't any enemies Teepo faces that are weak to Frost elemental. -Simoon- Rating: **** Type: ATTACK Description: Flame&wind attack vs. one target AP Consumed: 4 Level Learned: 7 Commentary: Teepo's "de facto" ultimate magic attack. Only problem is that Silver Knife deals similar damage, so Simoon probably won't see much action, especially against all the McNeil ghost incarnations. -Iceblast- Rating: * Type: ATTACK Description: Frost attack vs. one target AP Consumed: 5 Level Learned: 13 Commentary: As stated above, a great spell that Teepo will never get to take advantage of. I called Simoon Teepo's "de facto" ultimate spell because Teepo will never really level up enough to get Iceblast. -Fireblast- Rating: * Type: ATTACK Description: Flame attack vs. all targets AP Consumed: 5 Level Learned: 14 Commentary: *insert Iceblast commentary here for explanation* ---------------- Final Evaluation ---------------- Difficulty for character- Trial: Think of Teepo's SSCC as a trial: a very easy, yet effective trial. It gives you an opportunity to become associated with an SSCC, and the best part: if you like the experience, you can continue in that game with another character, providing that character is Nina, Momo, Peco, or Garr. If you want to play as Ryu or Rei, you'll have to start over. `````````````````````````````` !!!!! !Rei! !!!!! ------------------------ Summary of Pros and Cons ------------------------ Pros ---- ENORMOUS Agility - Tends to EX Turn Nearly Everyone High Evasion and High Accuracy Thunder-Elemental Spells Hit for Decent Damage Excellent Equipment Set Only Character Able to Steal (Pilfer) Speed Assures EX Turns Against Nearly All Bosses Weretiger = 0 AP AND Dead Randoms Weretiger Actually Keeps All the Elemental/Status Protection of Rei's Base Form! Cons ---- Sub-par to Par in All Stats Other Than Agility Weretiger is Uncontrollable and Irrerversible Weretiger Uses Base Rei's HP Bar (Not a New, Separate Bar) ---------- Notes/Tips ---------- "Round 1: Rei goes, enemies go, Rei goes. Round 2: Rei goes, enemies go, Rei goes. Round...": You get the point. Rei has a habit of not only outrunning enemies (which he can; Rei can outrun every enemy in the game), but usually getting EX turns against them. As for Speed, that assures EX turns against every boss in the game (bar Myria). "A good shot and good at dodging shots": Rei has the highest accuracy of all the characters (well, he's tied with Nina, but who cares about Nina's physical?). Not only that, but his evade rate is also the highest. When targeted with multi-striking physicals, don't be surprised if Rei dodges more than one of the hits. "*presses one button; all enemies on the screen are killed in seconds*": Rei is the perfect character for you minimalists. In random encounters, Weretiger dispatches of all enemies better than any other character can, and you barely have to lift a finger. Best of all, with no allies, Weretiger has nothing to do but maul the enemy. "He can steal, what'd you expect?!": What I'm getting at is Rei's incredible equipment set. Ok, maybe giving Pilfer that much credit is overdoing it, seeing that only two of his final six pieces of equipment are stolen, but still... I mean, look at his final equipment! "A notch below 'The God'": As I've mentioned before, all of Rei's stats are sub-par. In fact, every one of his stats are lower than Ryu's. The only exception to that is his AGL, which, as you already know, is part of what makes Rei so mighty. "ZAP!": Bah, *couldn't think of anything else better to say* Rei comes with a full assortment of Thunder-elemental spells. In most scenarios, Rei won't be using them, as Weretiger takes care of almost all randoms, and his early Thunder-elemental spells are... well... weak. Specifics below in Spell Reviews. ------------- Spell Reviews ------------- -Pilfer- Rating: *** Type: ATTACK Description: Steals item from enemy AP Consumed: 0 Level Learned: Start Commentary: Rei is the only character capable of stealing from opponents. While this has limited use, as many of the items that can be stolen are outlawed, Rei can steal some incredible equipment, especially near end-game. Top examples include Aries Gloves from Berserkers and Burglar Garb from Vampires. -Jolt- Rating: ** Type: ATTACK Description: Electric attack vs. all targets AP Consumed: 3 Level Learned: 9 Commentary: Jolt doesn't give very good multi-target damage, nor is it even around long enough to be of any use at all. The only time Rei should ever cast it is on McNeil's roof. -Slow- Rating: ** Type: ASSIST Description: Lower one target's AGL AP Consumed: 1 Level Learned: 12 Commentary: This spell should be good in theory... but it's not. It has a horrible accuracy and, when you really need it, those enemies have immunities against it. It just doesn't work. -Silence- Rating: ** Type: ASSIST Description: Stop magic use by all targets AP Consumed: 2 Level Learned: 13 Commentary: Aside from accuracy and immunity issues, should you really even be focusing on stopping the opposition from casting magic when you can just kill them much quicker via Weretiger? >_> Silence is just a waste of Rei's time. -Speed- Rating: ***** Type: ASSIST Description: Raise one target's AGL AP Consumed: 2 Level Learned: 16 Commentary: And then there was Speed. We all know Rei's a lightning bolt in terms of AGL, but Speed assures that Rei will outrun every enemy in the game and EX turn almost all of them (the only unbeatable speed demons that come to mind are Archmage and Myria). Speed is spectacular for Rei and a real life saver at times. -Lightning- Rating: *** Type: ATTACK Description: Electric attack vs. all targets AP Consumed: 7 Level Learned: 19 Commentary: *shrugs* Lightning's ok. I mean, it's Rei's best source of multi-target damage, but Rei's mediocre INT and the mid-tierishness of the spell itself makes the damage so-so at best. Even so, Lightning still has its uses, foremost against highly evasive targets (e.g. Bat-types and Bot-types) but most memorably against the Ammonite duo. -Death- Rating: ** Type: ATTACK Description: Destroy one target AP Consumed: 5 Level Learned: 29 Commentary: Another ability that should be great in theory... but... isn't. The only problem with Death is that its accuracy borders 10% and, as usual, many foes are immune. -Myollnir- Rating: **** Type: ATTACK Description: Electric attack vs. one target AP Consumed: 10 Level Learned: 38 Commentary: Despite Rei's discouraging INT, Myollnir is still a good asset. Other than casting it on Thunder-weak enemies, it's very effective against enemies whom you don't feel comfortable Weretigering against chiefly because it results in equal damage to a Weretiger's attack. Of course, Rei's low AP forces limited usage, but it's still worthwhile. Also, Myollnir's a great way to burn off Rei's surplus AP in boss battles after he's casted all the Speeds he needs. Heck, Myollnir usually deals more damage than his physical anyway, even with a Holy Avenger equipped. -Weretiger- Rating: ***** Type: ATTACK Description: Raises PWR: slowly become berserk AP Consumed: 0 Level Learned: Event Commentary: I love when a game makes my life so incredibly easy. Weretiger allows me to almost no work in dispatching all my opponents. Of course, proper preparation is a must, but the fruits of a little preparation in exchange for much less work is sweet indeed. Now, to comment on the effects of Weretiger. First off, NEVER, EVER assume that simply because Weretiger and Accession are both transformation skills, that they both operate on the same principles. Weretiger couldn't be any different from Accession. That ultimately ends up being both good and bad. On the good side, Weretiger retains all the elemental/status protection of Rei's base form. Why? The game interprets Weretiger as a Berserked Rei (without the whole death in three turns part) and lets ALL his equipment continue their usual functions. Now, for the bad stuff: Weretiger cannot be reversed until the battle ends... one way or the other. That's why it's crucial that you always check your equipment before transforming. -_- I almost lost to a lone Tricker simply because I forgot to put on Anti-Blind equipment before transforming. As you might have guessed, the above also implies that Weretiger shares the same HP bar as Rei, meaning that if Weretiger dies, Rei dies, and the battle is over lest he was wearing Manly Clothes/Soul Gem... but Rei still revives as a Weretiger. <_< On a final note, at least Weretiger costs 0 AP; it only makes killing the randoms even easier. ---------------- Final Evaluation ---------------- Difficulty for character- Very Easy: Wow... Rei's got so many pluses. He's the undisputed king of dispatching randoms thanks to Weretiger. Also, he's great on knocking off bosses as well, as he runs circles around... well... everybody! Yeah... slaughtering anything that moves seems to come naturally to Rei. `````````````````````````````` !!!!!! !Nina! !!!!!! ------------------------ Summary of Pros and Cons ------------------------ Pros ---- Extremely High AP and Intelligence Moderately High AGL Wind Resistance +1 (As if Most Enemies Ever Use Wind-Elemental -_-) Huge Repertoire of Great Attack Spells (Single-Target and Multi-Target) Can Dispatch Most Randoms Quickly Cons ---- Low HP, Power, and Defense Usually, Not Fast Enough for the EX Turn Overly Dependent on AP Usage (from Cons 1 and 3) [Therefore] Requires Large # of Healing Items (HP, AP, status) Mediocre Equipment Set Boss Battles Gradually Become More Difficult ---------- Notes/Tips ---------- "Wow! She's just like a Black Mage! That's good... right?": Indeed, that is true. She has the high AP, intelligence, and spells that a Black Mage would have. Unfortunately, she also has the measly HP, power, and defense capabilities of a Black Mage. Just try beating any game with only a Black Mage. It's probably not the easiest thing you've ever tried. "Crap... that element doesn't work. Okay then, how about this one?": Nina has a huge variety of elemental magic. In a way, it makes her quite versatile, but she's still far too dependent on her magic. "Faster than a sprinter but slower than a tiger.": Nina can outrun most of the enemies in the game and can even get the drop on many boss level enemies, and this partially makes up for her many other flaws. However, it's still not very valuable an asset in the end because she usually can't get the EX turn when she *really* needs it (like other characters who can such as Rei). However, there is a catch. Indeed, Nina can outrun many enemies. The problem of course is her puny defense. Because she can't take a hit, she needs to be placed in Defense Formation which negates any AGL advantage, if there had been one in the first place. "Ordinary enemies, bow down before me; bosses... *Nina runs away*": Nina can really toast random encounter enemies, but again she falls short where it really counts: she has an almost insurmountable amount of trouble when dealing with bosses. This usually results in the little Wyndian princess getting pounded to a pulp if you're not prepared... heck, she sometimes gets pounded even when you are prepared! ------------- Spell Reviews ------------- -Cyclone- Rating: ** Type: ATTACK Description: Wind attack vs. one target AP Consumed: 3 Level Learned: Start Commentary: Meh, technically, Cyclone is better than Frost (ergo, it deserves more credit), but with only two short levels to the toasty Simoon, does anybody even remember Cyclone after that? -Frost- Rating: ** Type: ATTACK Description: Frost attack vs. one target AP Consumed: 2 Level Learned: Start Commentary: See Cyclone. -Jolt- Rating: *** Type: ATTACK Description: Electric attack vs. one target AP Consumed: 3 Level Learned: Start Commentary: Jolt merits some attention. Sure, it's a tier 1 multi-target spell with horrible damage in most cases, but it's still multi-target damage, and Jolt's big brother isn't exactly right around the corner. -Simoon- Rating: *** Type: ATTACK Description: Flame&wind attack vs. one target AP Consumed: 4 Level Learned: 7 Commentary: Honestly, Simoon's okay, but Iceblast is an obvious preference. Still, it keeps Nina going until level 12 and shines here and there in the game (most notably against Huge Slug). -Blunt- Rating: ** Type: ASSIST Description: Lower one target's PWR AP Consumed: 1 Level Learned: 9 Commentary: Blunt, along with Weaken and Slow, really don't get much respect from me. I mean, if their accuracy were good and most bosses weren't immune, I wouldn't hesitate to give them more credit, but both don't happen, so these theoretically good spells are junk. -Weaken- Rating: ** Type: ASSIST Description: Lower one target's DEF AP Consumed: 1 Level Learned: 10 Commentary: See Blunt. -Iceblast- Rating: **** Type: ATTACK Description: Frost attack vs. one target AP Consumed: 5 Level Learned: 12 Commentary: Learn to love Iceblast. With good damage yield and a fairly cheap cost (for Nina), it will become your best friend in single-target damage for well around half the game and especially against the most annoying bosses *shivers at memories of Charybdis and Scylla*. -Slow- Rating: ** Type: ASSIST Description: Lower one target's AGL AP Consumed: 1 Level Learned: 13 Commentary: See Blunt. -Typhoon- Rating: ** Type: ATTACK Description: Wind attack vs. all targets AP Consumed: 7 Level Learned: 15 Commentary: Finally, a replacement for Jolt, but, alas, Typhoon's moments in the sun are all but too brief, for next level comes the superior Lightning. "But they're both the same tier in damage, Palth," is what you're thinking. True, but consider this: How many enemies are weak against Wind-elemental and how many are weak to Thunder-elemental? -Lightning- Rating: *** Type: ATTACK Description: Electric attack vs. all targets AP Consumed: 7 Level Learned: 16 Commentary: See Typhoon. Also, I may have given Jolt a mite too little credit. Against the Bot-type of enemies of Tower, it's actually very useful in confusing them, but Jolt still needs several casts to wipe them all out, and, if all your opponents aren't Bot-types, than they're liable to beat mercilessly on our poor heroine. But then Lightning comes to the rescue! I found that Lightning usually wiped out Bot-groups in an instant, enabling Nina to switch to single-target magic to eliminate the remaining foes (Simoon *or* Iceblast - it matters in Tower). -Drain- Rating: * Type: HEAL Description: Steal one target's HP AP Consumed: 3 Level Learned: 18 Commentary: Yay, Nina gets more spells that absolutely ****. I'm guessing these spells (Drain and Leech Power) were meant to work in theory (-_- This sounds familiar.), but just don't. In fact, in my entire history of playing BoFIII, neither Drain nor Leech Power has EVER hit. I'm guessing somebody really messed up on this one. *boots the developers at Capcom* -Leech Power- Rating: * Type: HEAL Description: Steal one target's AP AP Consumed: 0 Level Learned: 23 Commentary: See Drain. -Blizzard- Rating: *** Type: ATTACK Description: Frost attack vs. all targets AP Consumed: 10 Level Learned: 28 Commentary: It's 12 levels, 12 long levels since Nina last got any ability that was remotely useful, and Blizzard is a happy welcome. Max tier Frost damage is nice, but its fate is fairly similar to Typhoon's, except that Sirocco is outright better. -Sirocco- Rating: ***** Type: ATTACK Description: Flame&wind attack vs. all targets AP Consumed: 12 Level Learned: 33 Commentary: Sirocco is Nina's ultimate multi-target attack, yielding even more damage than Blizzard. Put simply, as soon as you get it (Underground Lab probably), you use it against every random encounter (unless there are enemies strong vs. Flame or Wind or it's a single target (and you don't have Myollnir yet)). Meh, >_> those were allot of stipulations, but don't let them fool you; Nina really will be using Sirocco almost all the time. -Myollnir- Rating: ***** Type: ATTACK Description: Electric attack vs. one target AP Consumed: 10 Level Learned: 37 Commentary: I know I already complained about this, but forcing you to wait 25 levels(!) for another single-target spell is a huge con for Nina. What you're forced to do for much of the game is use multi-target magic stronger than Iceblast but not at all worth all the AP spent. Once you get Myollnir, it's both relaxing that you have that much more AP to fiddle around with and also surprising exactly how much damage it does. ---------------- Final Evaluation ---------------- Difficulty for character- Hard: Nina's SSCC is initially only slightly difficult. However, as you continue, it becomes harder and harder. This *is* the hardest SSCC and not for the faint of heart. `````````````````````````````` !!!!!! !Momo! !!!!!! ------------------------ Summary of Pros and Cons ------------------------ Pros ---- High Power, AP, and Intellgence Highest Willpower Useful Statistic Boosting Spells Useful Healing Magic Powerful Attack Magic "Sleep Chain" Cons ---- Low Accuracy (Artemis' Cap for Compensation) No Critical Hits OR Reprisals Powerful Attack Magic Learned Late in the Game Mediocre HP, Defense, and Agility ---------- Notes/Tips ---------- "Absolute Power! Too bad she can't hit the broad side of a barn...": Momo's weapons give her an obscenely high PWR value which you would think is good. Unfortunately, Momo's accuracy is too low to take advantage of that... "... so good thing for the Artemis' Cap!": Fortunately, this somewhat makes up for Momo's accuracy deficiency, at the cost of an accessory slot. It might seem like a bad deal at first, but you could also look at it from a different perspective. Imagine a character with really good accuracy but somewhat low power. You could stick a Titan Belt on for more power, but that's not quite gonna cut it for physical attacks. What Momo is is the opposite. Lots of power, more than you could ever get from some Titan Belts, but low accuracy. But fortunately, Artemis' Cap is there to save the day. Granted, it doesn't give Momo perfect accuracy, but it's still a good deal considering how much PWR you're getting. "POW! Hahaha! I hit you for more damage than I would normally... what? I didn't? I can't?... crap. What?! I can't counter your attacks either! This is ****.": Momo can't make critical hits... or counter enemy attacks. These I find particularly enraging. It's no big deal considering her high attack power, but it would still be nice. "Stat Booster Heaven!": Momo has all of the statistic boosting magic she needs, except for Barrier. Protect, Speed, and Might can really make the difference in a battle between being killed and annihilating your opponent. These spells can compensate for Momo's somewhat average stats in the Defense and Agility categories. "Less useless and all useful healing magic!": Like Ryu, Momo has a large stock of healing magic. Unlike Ryu though, she doesn't have quite as much healing magic. Fortunately, all the healing magic she doesn't have that Ryu does is magic that would be useless to the SSCC anyway. She still keeps Heal, Purify, Rejuvenate, Remedy, and Restore, all she could possibly need for her SSCC. Their practical uses are a bit restricted though; see Spell Reviews for more. "Looooooooooooooooooong battles": Momo's low accuracy will sometimes lead to exceedingly long battles. She'll be fine; it's really more irritating than anything else. "Status effects on enemies... heh heh": I don't know how useful you may find Momo's status attacks to be, as their accuracy isn't very dependable. There are situations where they are useful, but it's usually much simpler to just kill off the enemies in a slugfest than try to win in a battle of attrition. Particulars are noted on in Spell Reviews. ------------- Spell Reviews ------------- -Heal- Rating: ** Type: HEAL Description: Heal light wounds on one target AP Consumed: 4 Level Learned: Start Commentary: Obviously, I'm giving Momo's HEAL-class spells a little higher a rating than Ryu's because Momo has nothing but her base form to work with, as well as a surplus in AP and high INT to boot. Aside from Heal being the first spell on the list and the obvious starting point anyway, where better a spot to start from >_> <_<? Heal will usually be better than a Healing Herb, but it still loses light in face of the ubiquitous Vitamin(s) at the time of Momo's arrival, so, yeah, thus the low rating. -Purify- Rating: ** Type: HEAL Description: Cures poison AP Consumed: 4 Level Learned: Start Commentary: Like Ryu, this spell is a fairly big waste. I mean, you can use it if you want, but I'd keep the AP for Momo's other spells. *shrugs* -Identify- Rating: * Type: ASSIST Description: Displays enemies' data AP Consumed: 0 Level Learned: Start Commentary: Well, at least the spell was intended to be good, >_> right? Problem with Identify is it doesn't tell you anything about an enemy that you haven't already discovered for yourself. To simplify, it's a downgraded version of "Scan"/"Sense". Not that any of that matters anyway since it's a waste of a turn most of the time anyway. -Foretell- Rating: * Type: ASSIST Description: Determine the outcome of combat AP Consumed: 0 Level Learned: Start Commentary: While this spell is intended to provide clues as to enemy weaknesses, all these weaknesses can be looked up and, even if they couldn't, due to SSCC rules, Momo has no way to exploit these weaknesses. -Protect- Rating: ***** Type: ASSIST Description: Raise one target's DEF AP Consumed: 2 Level Learned: Start Commentary: The first of "The Big Three" of Momo's stat-boosting spells comes along initially with the young scholar. Through spamming, Momo becomes impregnable, easily surpassing the DEF values of even Peco and Garr. -Silence- Rating: ** Type: ASSIST Description: Stop magic use by all targets AP Consumed: 2 Level Learned: Start Commentary: Accuracy and immunity issues really hamper Silence's scope. Yeah, I don't see you getting much use out of it, except maybe against magic-heavy enemies, but none are coming to mind at the moment. -Sleep- Rating: *** Type: ASSIST Description: Induce sleep in all targets AP Consumed: 3 Level Learned: 12 Commentary: Surprisingly, Sleep has a good application. An interesting side effect of the sleep status in BoFIII is that all physical attacks on a sleeping target have a 100% chance of success. So, when Sleep Shells are equipped, there is a fairly good chance that the sleep status will carry over into the next turn. However, the effects of this "Sleep Chain" is limited entirely to biological opponents (no mechanical enemies), so... yeah... don't get too dependent on it or anything. -Quake- Rating: **** Type: ATTACK Description: Earthquake (attack vs. all targets) AP Consumed: 7 Level Learned: 13 Commentary: "Feel the earth's fury!": Sorry for a cheesy Grandia battle quote, but this is called for here. Quake's actually an excellent source of multi-target damage for Momo (and the only one until Lv.29)... the only problem is that it has 0 effect on all the flying enemies in the game, which can be more than a nuisance. -Confuse- Rating: ** Type: ASSIST Description: Induce confusion in one target AP Consumed: 2 Level Learned: 14 Commentary: If Confuse was multi-target and more accurate, then I may have liked it more because then I could whack the other side with Quakes or Ragnarok easily slaying them, but it's not. Confuse simply has too few applications, and it's really just not worth your time. -Speed- Rating: ***** Type: ASSIST Description: Raise one target's AGL AP Consumed: 2 Level Learned: 17 Commentary: The second of "The Big Three" of Momo's stat boosting spells is gained fairly early. Speed for Momo isn't used as much for gaining EX turns as it is for simply acting before the opponent (as Momo's AGL is somewhat mediocre). You'd be surprised how much it can ease the tension. -Rejuvenate- Rating: *** Type: HEAL Description: Heal medium wounds on one target AP Consumed: 7 Level Learned: 19 Commentary: Better stuff may come along soon after, but Rejuvenate retains a surprising amount of its usefulness, and, near the very end, with a shiny Mist Armor doubling the effects of healing spells, Rejuvenate comes back strong to consume Momo's excess AP. -Might- Rating: ***** Type: ASSIST Description: Raise one target's PWR AP Consumed: 4 Level Learned: 20 Commentary: The third and final of "The Big Three" of Momo's stat boosters makes its arrival not long after the second's but proves just as important. Well, honestly, I've always had the impression that Might was only important because it sped up the battle. So, in some ways, it's less critical than the other two are, but I like its contributions anyway, so... >_> THE FIVE STARS STAY! -Remedy- Rating: ** Type: HEAL Description: Cures all status changes AP Consumed: 7 Level Learned: 24 Commentary: Cheap Panaceas are better here. No reason to waste AP. -Raise Dead- Rating: * Type: HEAL Description: Chance of restoring dead member AP Consumed: 10 Level Learned: 27 Commentary: Another spell for which I say, "No allies, no use." It might help if undead enemies in this game were killed by revival spells, but, unfortunately, that's not the case. (Interrupting side note: Oh, and I know some of the copied/pasted commentaries from Ryu's spell reviews may be annoyingly repetitive, but the exact same principle lies behind both, and I'm too lazy to think up new commentaries when I don't have to) And, just for the sake of consistency: *shakes fist at Dragon Zombie regardless of the fact that Momo never actually meets Dragon Zombie* -Ragnarok- Rating: **** Type: ATTACK Description: Comet (attack vs. all targets) AP Consumed: 12 Level Learned: 29 Commentary: Momo's ultimate multi-target attack is... very odd. Sadly, I don't know exactly how the final damage calculations are made for this attack, so I can't explain its... very erratic behavior. Against some enemies, it will deal incredible damage; against seemingly similar others, it will deal dirt crap damage (and, in both cases, consistently). Nevertheless, it's more often than not a great spell, clearing away most enemies effortlessly. -Vitalize- Rating: ** Type: HEAL Description: Heal medium wounds on all targets AP Consumed: 20 Level Learned: 33 Commentary: To be fair, Momo actually does battle some undead which Vitalize can toast, so thus the two stars. Other than that, this spell's got zilch. -Restore- Rating: *** Type: HEAL Description: Heal heavy wounds on one target AP Consumed: 12 Level Learned: 36 Commentary: Restore's useful for quite some time, up to near the very end really. Then Momo gets Mist Armor, and Restore must give way to Rejuvenate. ---------------- Final Evaluation ---------------- Difficulty for character- Very Easy: Through the utter abuse of Momo's stat boosting spells, any difficulty that had or might have existed in this challenge no longer does. It's really that easy, barring her low accuracy which tends to make a Momo SSCC long. `````````````````````````````` !!!!!! !Peco! !!!!!! ------------------------ Summary of Pros and Cons ------------------------ Pros ---- ENORMOUS HP Moderately High Power and Defense Status and Death Resistances +1 Auto-Regen 50% Reprisal and Critical Rates Powerful Elemental Breath Attacks Cons ---- Low Agility and Intelligence Average Accuracy Most of his Spells are Useless Surplus in AP No Good Multi-Target Damage until near Endgame Horrible Equipment Set ---------- Notes/Tips ---------- "Wow, who would have thought that one stat could have that much significance?!": Peco's HP total seems never-ending in its growth. Its effects are not limited to mere battle endurance though. They supplement Peco's high defense and increase the HP restored by Auto-Regen. "An eye for an eye!": Peco has the highest reprisal rate of any character in the game: 50%! That increases the ranges of strategies from fighting complete battles of attritions (practical ones anyway) to... well the regular SSCC combat strategies... >_> Well, there are still more battle options than in other SSCCs. Also, I'm aware the original intent of that quote was to limit punishment and was aware of it when I first wrote this paragraph. Figure the rest out. =) "Our lovable little onion... well, lovable, uber-pumped onion": Peco has astoundingly quick growth in the physical stats. He's really just built for raw combat, and that 50% reprisal rate of course only helps. I do recall killing six targets in one turn, five Reprisals and the actual action for that turn. That's a rare scenario, but it does demonstrate what Peco is capable of. "And thus even the little guy got his own shotgun... too bad the war's almost over": My point: Peco gets two excellent elemental multi-target attacks, effective against quite a few enemies. The problem: Peco gets them so close to the end of the game that their greatness cannot be truly appreciated. "The little Auto-Regen that went a long way": You're probably wondering how useful 1/20 maxHP restore per turn can be (Well, to be more accurate: maxHP/20 rounded to the nearest whole number). Admittedly, initially, not that much. However, by the end of the game, the gain is hardly anything to scoff off. I can't recall in how many instances my life has been saved by Peco's "meager" Auto-Regen. "Now, under the gold plate... >_>": Peco's got several amazing stats, but then there are his flaws, foremost among them being a lack of agility and intelligence. Being slow isn't that bad for Peco though: his endurance gives him more than enough time to heal. The intelligence problem can become a bit more serious though, especially if you're not careful with your dealings with magic-spamming enemies. Peco sports the lowest intelligence of any character in the game and accordingly gets smacked around by virtually all magic attacks thrown at him. "I don't want to see any more, and fortunately there isn't any more to see": Yeah, most of Peco's skills are pretty bad... or at least bad for him. Low intelligence (for Rejuvenate) and low accuracy (of Dream Breath and Venom Breath) are the primary reason though for the spells that you'll see I've somewhat marked as not very useful for Peco *points down to "Spells"*. To top that off, Peco has an over-abundance of AP. That's fine if you can use either of his breath attacks, but for most of the game the onion just has too much, even after he gets the breath attacks. Not necessarily "bad" persay, in a regular playthrough, that's part of what makes Peco great, but with the prohibition of unnatural skills and all, the surplus AP sorta just lies there unused. *pokes the surplus* "A king given rags (Metaphorically speaking, of course)": Peco has great stats in power and defense; however, his equipment options are so limited that those phenomenal pros are occasionally reduced to near-mediocrity. For goodness sake, his best defensive equipment includes a Spiked Gauntlets, Tiger's Cap, and an AMBER BREASTPLATE! Much of that equipment, especially his armor, is just antiquated by the end of the game. His armors as well as weapons generally follow this pattern of being extremely weak for a long time and infrequently receiving boosts... at least drastic boosts anyway. >_> ------------- Spell Reviews ------------- -Dream Breath- Rating: ** Type: ASSIST Description: Induce Sleep in all targets AP Consumed: 3 Level Learned: 10 Commentary: Dream Breath could have its uses. >_> Hm... the only good use I could come up with is a scenario in which Peco's outnumbered and outclassed. Now the problem is actually remembering an example. In truth, I know it happened to me at least a few times but not enough for me to be thankful to the spell. -Venom Breath- Rating: ** Type: ASSIST Description: Poison all targets AP Consumed: 3 Level Learned: 17 Commentary: Two stars is very generous. I don't see any purpose at all behind poisoning your adversaries when the only opponents that can be hit by it have such small HP counts that knocking them off with physicals makes a **** of allot more sense. However, I'm willing to admit that I've probably overlooked some obscure scenario that exists in which Venom Breath could actually be useful, so I'm giving it two stars. -Rejuvenate- Rating: * Type: HEAL Description: Heal medium wounds on one target AP Consumed: 7 Level Learned: 20 Commentary: Rejuvenate is completely worthless on Peco. I really shouldn't need to say more than that. Peco's INT is so pitifully low that his Rejuvenate's healing abilities experiences trouble keeping up with the "prowess" of a HEALING HERB! Putting in mind Peco's insanely high HP count, why would you ever waste your time with his Rejuvenate? Frankly, there's no reason to do so. -Purify- Rating: ** Type: HEAL Description: Cures poison AP Consumed: 4 Level Learned: 21 Commentary: I'm a little more lenient on Purify, but still not so much because: 1) Peco has natural status resistance; 2) By the time you get the thing, complete status immunity equipment setups are already available (at the very least, for Peco). You shouldn't really be poisoned if you know which enemies can poison you and you protect against it. It's as simple as that. -Firebreath- Rating: **** Type: ATTACK Description: Flame; damage altered by HP AP Consumed: 4 Level Learned: 30 Commentary: Finally, Peco receives some form of multi-target damage... near the end of the game >_>. Well, at least damage is determined by Peco's best stat... which is constantly changing depending on the situation. Nevertheless, the damage yield from Firebreath and Icebreath, and the two obliterate countless enemies who fall prey to their convenient elemental weaknesses. Once you get them, they save you again and again. -Icebreath- Rating: **** Type: ATTACK Description: Frost; damage altered by HP AP Consumed: 4 Level Learned: 31 Commentary: See Firebreath. ---------------- Final Evaluation ---------------- Difficulty for character- Easy: On the surface, Peco doesn't seem to be much. However, his odd attributes actually prove to be extremely useful. Even without all the skills he can learn in a regular game (which have made him quite famous), Peco still kicks some serious ***. `````````````````````````````` !!!!!! !Garr! !!!!!! ------------------------ Summary of Pros and Cons ------------------------ Pros ---- High HP, Power, and Defense Good Equipment Set Flame Resistance +2 Pyrokinesis Cons ---- Low AP, Agility, and Intelligence Average Accuracy Most of his Spells are Useless No Good Multi-Target Damage... EVER! ---------- Notes/Tips ---------- "Pyrotechnics is fun... when you're capable.": Put simply, Garr has a huge affinity to Flame elemental. Most of his abilities are Flame-elemental, and he has a huge Flame Resistance (-50% damage). The only issue here is that Garr's INT is so bad that taking advantage of all his Flame-elemental spells is but a dream, and, even if his INT were good, his AP is still crap. "Me Garr! Me smash! Me do nothing else!": And that's the truth. All Garr can do EVER is hit stuff with his spear. He never gains any GOOD form of multi- targeting damage, and literally all he can do for decent damage is attack. Sure, he's got Pyrokinesis, but ultimately that still is just a plain physical. All his other abilities are used so infrequently and circumstantially that they might as well not exist most of the time. Well, at least Garr's good at what he does; his HP, PWR, and DEF stats are through the roof, and those are enough for Garr to scrape by with. Still, he has allot of issues with accuracy, and you'll be tempted to leave an Artemis' Cap on him frequently. "The big, fat, ugly knight in shining armor... >_>": Generally, Garr's equipment set is very agreeable, making him physically impenetrable and a physical powerhouse. "The double-bladed... spear?": The one exception to Garr's great equipment set: Beast Spear. To be honest, you need the sheer brute force of Beast Spear to beat Garr's SSCC but the HP drain from it is incredibly dangerous. Often times, you'll find yourself switching it on and off depending on the situation. It's quite hard to describe when to and when not to do it; it's so situational that you'll have to learn it yourself along the way. ------------- Spell Reviews ------------- -Pyrokinesis- Rating: **** Type: ATTACK Description: Flame attack vs. one target AP Consumed: 1 Level Learned: Start Commentary: I seriously must commend Pyrokinesis for accomplishing much more than I thought it would. It's essentially a cheaper Flame Strike (extremely cheap in cost). Merely by smacking random enemies with it, I learned exactly how many enemies in this game take more damage from Flame-elemental; certainly enough to merit four stars for itself. In a suplemental note, the Flame-elemental effect stacks should Garr be wearing a Flame-elemental weapon; try it out on Hugeslug >_>. -Flare- Rating: ** Type: ATTACK Description: Flame attack vs. one target AP Consumed: 2 Level Learned: Start Commentary: I've already knocked Garr's pitiful AP and INT count, so, as for this spell and Garr's other Flame-elemental spells, I think I'll only comment on their few, sporadic uses. I only remember using Flare to activate Vulcans. That's it. >_> -Fireblast- Rating: ** Type: ATTACK Description: Flame attack vs. all targets AP Consumed: 5 Level Learned: 14 Commentary: Hm... Bolt-types are the only things you'd even consider smacking with Garr's Fireblast. Even then, you usually need a second casting to finish the job. Considering Bolt-types have around 10 HP... that's truly sad (To be just, Bolt-types have slightly higher than usual Magic Defense, but still...). -Gambit- Rating: ** Type: ATTACK Description: Critical damage if enemy is hit AP Consumed: 0 Level Learned: 21 Commentary: Believe it or not, Gambit *actually* has a real application. I can only think of one, but it's a good one *tries to persuade you to his thinking concerning Gambit*. When fighting Bombseeds in the Tidal Caves, because they Sacrifice on top of you once they're HP drops below a certain mark, you hit him once regularly, and then keep attempting Gambit until you connect and finish it. After all, they don't do anything but defend until their HP lowers to that mark, so there's not even a need to worry about lost HP (unless... *pokes Beast Spear*) -Kyrie- Rating: *** Type: ATTACK Description: Destroy undead AP Consumed: 5 Level Learned: 26 Commentary: Yes, there are uses for Kyrie outside of smacking Zombie-types in the Dauna Mine and the Dragon Zombie (BTW, instant-kill on Dragon Zombie makes Garr life so much easier). There happen to be quite a few enemies in Myria's Station susceptible to Kyrie. I only wish that Kyrie had 100% accuracy... -Inferno- Rating: ** Type: ATTACK Description: Flame attack vs. all targets AP Consumed: 10 Level Learned: 30 Commentary: Er... quicker kills against Bolt-types? >_> <_< ---------------- Final Evaluation ---------------- Difficulty for Character- Average: Alright, the best way to put this is: Think Peco, and then think worse... not much worse, but worse enough so that a gap is distinctly noticable. Some might say "different", which is true, but Peco and Garr still function in the same manner, and Peco's outright better at it. ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) (((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u)) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Section #6- Character Rankings ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1.) Ryu- Difficulty: Ridiculously Easy I bet everyone was really surprised here. Come on, he's the legendary uber-over-powered Ryu3. First, he's got an incredibly well-balanced equipment set. His well-rounded stats only compliment it. More importantly, he has undoubtedly the greatest ability in the game: Accession, the ability to transform into a dragon. Essentially, he has the power to alter his already well-balanced yet strong stats in virtually any conceivable way, the power to get an entirely new skill set, and an independent HP bar, all in exchange for a set amount of AP per turn and all the elemental/status defense previously put up. Best part is: offensive elements carry over. This definitely has some interesting applications in PWR-heavy forms. The only serious drawback to Ryu is the complete lack of multi-target attacks outside of dragon forms (meh, the lost elemental/status protection can be a problem too, though only to the unknowledgable of Ryu's forms). Ryu's other abilities aren't that useful either. Much of his healing magic is sorta useless, and his protection spells won't have many opportunities to unveil themselves. Overall though, the ability to do nearly everything really well would practically qualify Ryu for godhood. 2.) Rei- Difficulty: Very Easy I'm a bit surprised myself that Rei grabbed the #2 spot. I mean, I knew he would be good when I started him, but I didn't know he'd be good to the degree that he'd challenge the greatness Momo had already established for herself. For the record, Rei grabbed this position by quite a narrow margin. Most of the categories for ranking Rei and Momo were really close calls, but Rei had one extra plus that Momo didn't have: Rei is the undisputed king of killing randoms in SSCCs. Now, at first glance, Rei's not that much to look at: sub-par equipment sets and stats (by Ryu's standards anyway and in almost every category). However, that one stat in which Rei wins comprises a good deal of his greatness, AGL. Rei is the speed demon of this game, running circles around 99% of enemies and EX turning them as well (though Speeds are usually required for the "99%" figure for the latter). Then there's one more thing that supplements Rei's incredible AGL, a little transformation called Weretiger in which Rei's PWR stat skyrockets (with 0 AP cost to boot). However, the mechanics of Weretiger are most comparable to that of a Berserked Rei: Rei keeps the same HP bar as the base of the transformation (a HUGE negative), is Berserked (without death after 3 turns though), and maintains all the effects of his equipment(!). One of the best aspects is Weretiger's inability to attack anything but enemies because your allies are already dead! The only risk in using Weretiger is whether or not your equipment is properly set because there is absolutely no way to revert back to normal Rei until the end of the battle (one way or another). The combination of Rei's AGL and Weretiger's PWR essentially makes dispatching randoms a triviality. As for anything that Weretiger can't kill (usually because of high evasion rate issues), *points to Lightning and Myollnir*. Unfortunately, you usually can't use Weretiger in boss battles, but you almost always beat them in a 2:1 action ratio. It's pitifully easy. If that's not all, Rei is the only character with the ability to steal. Admittedly, Pilfer's good uses are fairly limited, but what you can steal is really, really good *points to Aries Gloves*. 3.) Momo- Difficulty: Very Easy Sure, those fancy, transforming characters may have it all, but the non-transforming ones sure hold their own too! Momo here is a great example, barely falling short of the #2 spot. She's got lots of pluses, the best of which lie in her stat boosting spells. She can boost her PWR, DEF, and AGL (yeah, that's allot). Also, her AP and PWR are fairly high, and her INT is the highest in the game. Her equipment set isn't bad either, a fair mix between a mage's and an attacker's. She even has some elemental/status weapons (Flame Chrysm, Ice Chrysm, Flash Shells, Sleep Shells, etc.), >.> though both Ryu and Rei beat Momo out in variety and PWR of elemental weapons *hugs Holy Avenger and Royal Sword*. Other those stat pluses, her large repertoire of healing and status spells can be useful though the latter is limited by mediocre accuracy (The whole "Sleep Chain" concept gave some spotlight to Sleep though... if for an extremely limited time.). Her multi-target attacks are pretty good. Too bad Quake can't hit flying targets (for obvious reasons, but it still ticks me off). Ragnarok is incredible, but it is gained rather late. >_> Anyway, onto Momo's flaws. First off, she can't hit criticals and she can't Reprisal. Next, her accuracy is horrible, so wearing an Artemis' Cap most of the time is a must, but the lost accessory slot is really a shame. Also, her HP and DEF are pretty mediocre (though far better than Nina's by comparison), and putting up Protects every battle would just be tedious (though doable). At least her good equipment set to some extent compensates for the DEF. After listing all these flaws, you're probably wondering why I have so much respect for Momo and why she was such a contender for the #2 spot? My response: 4 Mights + 4 Protects + 1-4 Speeds -> Absolutely PWNED bosses. For goodness' sake, look at Momo's Dragon Lord strategy. The mighty Dragon Lord, the scourge of most characters, barely scratched Momo! It wasn't even a competition. However, Rei just beat her out in being able to counter, critical, and annihilate randoms quickly and efficiently. *looks at everything he just said*... In retrospect, by spamming stat boosting spells, Momo's not that far off in relation to transforming characters... >_> <_< Er... *moves onto #4* 4.) Peco- Difficulty: Easy Then came everyone's favorite onion. Considering that Garr beats Peco in most of the categories for defining tankiness, you're probably wondering why Peco's #4. The answer: Lots and lots of random and weird yet cool and useful attributes. First off, Auto-Regen ("MaxHP/20 -> to the nearest whole number" recovered per turn) = Good. Peco's freakishly high Reprisal rate doesn't hurt either. No other character even comes close to Peco's 50%(!) Reprisal rate. The applications of these alone offer so many possibilities. As for Peco's "surge" stat growth at level-up, it has... interesting applications, especially if I, for one reason or another, needed a big boost for a tough boss. Moving onto some normal pros, Peco has the highest HP value of all the characters (though Garr comes close... sorta... ~70-~80 points behind IIRC) and above-average PWR and DEF. Peco's Breath attacks (Fire and Ice. Rather, Firebreath and Icebreath. *didn't want anyone to think he was referring to Disgaea there*) are incredible multi-target attacks as they rely on his HP rather than INT. It's a shame Peco only learns them in the last third of the game or so. However, you can't say the same about Peco's other skills. Dream Breath and Venom Breath have potential, but their accuracy is too undependable. And Rejuvenate? Don't make me laugh. With Peco's INT, Rejuvenate is a joke. I suppose Purify isn't that bad though, as it does provide a use for Peco's very large surplus of AP. -_- Though you'd have to be pretty cheap not to not want to cough up 12 Zenny. Did I mention Peco's horrible equipment set? *rereads* Nope. Peco has less than half (probably less than a third or a quarter or even less -_-) of the equipment upgrades than everybody else has. If you know when, where, and how to get certain upgrades, the... "less sporadic upgrade" thing isn't really that big a bother. *trades for early Crepe Cape and holds onto it for half the game* Oh, a few final notes, Peco's AGL and INT are pretty bad and his accuracy is only average. *is done but feels unsatisfied due to anti-climactic conclusion* V_V *moves onto #5* As for Momo>Peco (which was what I was supposed to be talking about >_>), granted, Peco has many odd attributes that more than lean to his advantage, but Peco just can't blow holes in bosses (with nary a scratch) or kill randoms as easily as Momo. 5.) Garr- Difficulty: Average *smacks anyone who thought Nina would get the #5 spot* I doubt anyone actually thought that though, as Garr's fairly close to Peco and just missed the Easy cut. *shrugs* Sure, Garr's a tank and all, but he's just got so many flaws as a tank, at least when compared to the tank that is Peco. His Reprisal rate is much lower, his ultimate weapon drains HP(!) ironically using the same formula as Peco's Auto-Regen... except negative >_> <_<, his higher DEF advantage is compromised by his lower HP, etc. OK, to be fair to Peco, I'll refine what I said before: Garr beats Peco in an area of tankiness: Raw PWR, by some great degree. Other reasons why Peco>Garr: Garr has no good way to attack multiple targets... ever, unless you count Fireblast and Inferno at which point I'd give you a blank stare and then would immediately follow up by booting you. Garr does have some resistances... Flame elemental +2 resistance. Too bad he already has way too much anti-Flame equipment to begin with. *much prefers Peco's +1 Status/Death Resistance and almost prefers Nina's +1 Wind Resistance... almost* Onto what Garr can do: Um... he can attack, though his damage is less than a Weretiger, he's usually outbeaten in AGL by enemies, and can die if he gets in a sticky situation with the Beast Spear on. Tough part is, he needs his Beast Spear to finish off enemies in one blow. That's... just about all he has. Well, Pyrokinesis and Kyrie do help out a bit (even Gambit has a use, though extremely infrequent and circumstantial). The ability to add Flame-elemental to weapon without losing any PWR is an incredible one that can absolutely maul the hoards of Flame-weak enemies in BoFIII. As for Kyrie, well, there aren't that many undead in the game, but for when it does work, Kyrie saves you quite allot of time and energy *coughDragonZombiecough*. Otherwise... yeah, that's about it. Garr doesn't do much else other than attack. Well, at least it works... -_- *stares down at #6* 6.) Nina- Difficulty: Hard And in last place is Nina, and with good reason. As you might have been able to gather by this point, I'm not a big fan, and here's why: Let's take a look at her flaws: Horrible HP, PWR, and DEF. Her AGL isn't that bad though, but it's not enough for an EX turn and her DEF is already horrible, so Defense Formation is a must, though unfortunately it destroys much of (if any) speed advantage that may have existed. Then there's her outright sad equipment set and the gradually increasing difficulty that begins at, "This isn't that bad," to something around, "You stupid *****, just beat that ******* and stop dying! You've already died *insert some one/two/three (three for the truly unlucky)-digit number here* times!" Ok, that's a bit of an exaggeration, but the amount of frustration certainly borders that. Her enormous excess of AP is disturbing too; though many people argue that her massive AP is an incredible asset, I can't quite understand that methodology of thinking. From my research, here's my response: Almost never did Nina ever actually need such an absurdly large amount of AP in her SSCC. The large surplus just sits there most of the time. The points for that AP would have functioned so much better had they been assigned to other stats. Oh well, at least she has both INT and AP for her spells. She can hit quite a range of enemies with her Flame/Wind, Frost, Thunder, and Wind elemental single-target and multi-target spells. This is however a diamond in the rough of the Nina Desert. Nina is fairly talented at finishing off randoms quickly... assuming they aren't magic-resistant to the point where Nina can't kill them very, very quickly (Keep in mind that Melee-based skills are superior to Magic-based skills in this game *shrugs*). Because, if she can't, well, the enemies have a habit of beating her into the ground once they get to act. >_> (Side Note: Her other spells: the enemy stat-reducers and the "healing" ones are just about useless. The former has horrible accuracy and too many enemies which are immune to them, and the latter has never, ever worked for me. -_-) This gradually increasing difficulty I keep referring to chiefly refers to boss battles. While against randoms you can just pray Nina kills off your opponents in the first turn, you don't get that kind of luxury in boss battles. ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) (((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u)) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Section #7- Walkthrough ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Originally, I had planned this guide to cover only the boss strategies and mention a few other things on the side. However, I am now expanding the guide to much more than that starting in the version following version 4.0. Notes: a) Under "Attacks", attack will not be mentioned because just about every enemy has one. b) The few exceptions to the SSCC Rules will be marked as EXCEPTION. c) Vitamins is the party healing item, but Vitamin(s) is my way of signifying multiples of the classic single character healing item that can be bought in almost any shop. d) If a comment of mine has the same name as a spell, then my comment will be in lower case and the spell name in upper case. e) The bosses will be listed, of course, in chronological order. f) These symbols will show character availability in an area: (#): The "number" symbol means that a character can be in the party out of choice at some time while you're in this area.. (!): The "exclamation point" signifies that a character must be in the party at some time while you're in this area. Obviously, Ryu will have an (!) at all times. (X): The "X" signifies that a character is still in your group but cannot be in your party at some time while you're in this area. (+): The "plus" sign means that a character is gained at some time when you're in that area. (-): The "minus" sign means that a character is lost at some time when you're in that area. The latter 2 symbols will also signify stall points for some characters. Also, these symbols are meant to tell you who you can have in your party. You still need to keep your SSCC character in the party at all times whenever possible. g) I don't expect people to read my boring comments saying, "Proceed with the story," or something like that. Usually, you'll just see a one-liner under an area if it does that. If there's more than that, then I suggest you read it. I just say that when I don't really have much to say about that area in relation to the SSCC. When I do have something relevant to the SSCC, I probably won't make any comments pertaining to the plot at all. I only put something related to the plot under a title because... >_> <_< I don't really have much to say about that area pertaining to the SSCC. h) Places with a "?" for a name will be given a suitable, yet recognizable name. Why this note? I don't want some idiot e-mailing me saying, "Well, I don't remember any place like that on the map." i) I won't comment about every item along the way, only the important [and usually vital] ones. I STILL ADVISE YOU TO ACQUIRE EVERY ITEM IN A LEVEL! j) Comments such as "buy equipment for him" or "do this with her" apply only to the SSCC unless otherwise noted by me. k) This walkthrough will only cover the "Primary" SSCCs. Contributor work on "Secondary" SSCCs are in the section "Secondary" SSCCs. ------------------------------ ---------- Dauna Mine ---------- Items: Melted Blade !+Ryu+! Not much to do here. Just fry the workers with Whelp Breath as you go. You can pick up the Melted Blade if you like, but it's really not necessary. ----------- Cedar Woods ----------- Items: Worm, Skill Ink, Ammonia, Green Apple (2), Vitamin (2) !Ryu! Just head to town. There aren't any particularly important items to pick up at the moment. ----------- McNeil/Farm ----------- Items: Healing Herb, Antidote, Molotov !Ryu! !+Teepo+! !+Rei+! You know the deal. You get Teepo and Rei, and then you go to Yraall Road. ----------- Yraall Road ----------- Items: 40 zenny !Ryu! !Teepo! !Rei! You finally enter your first combat situation here. As Ryu and Teepo are at only Lv.1, combat will be difficult for them for a little while (esp. for Ryu). You might want to stick with Defense formation for them. Ryu and Teepo players, put Rei's equipment on Ryu/Teepo until you get better stuff. Rei should do just fine at Lv.5. All the other enemies here can be defeated by attacking. ----------- Cedar Woods ----------- Items: Beef Jerky !Ryu! !Teepo! !-Rei-! Again, nothing out of the ordinary. You just lose Rei until the fight with the Nue. ---------------- Road to Mt.Glaus ---------------- Items: Weather Vane, Vitamin, 120 zenny, Coin, 80 zenny !Ryu! !Teepo! There's one particular item here whose importance I cannot emphasize enough: the Coin. Get the Coin. It should definitely help out most of you allot. Be careful when tangling with the Man Traps. Flare them with Teepo and run with Ryu. Attack everything else. -------- Mt.Glaus -------- Items: Antidote, Heavy Caro, Cloth Shield, Vitamins, Bent Sword, Molotov, 200 zenny, Ballock Knife, Talisman !Ryu! !Teepo! !+Rei+! Before you go fight the Nue, go fetch McNeil's best equipment ASAP (except the Cloth Shield) in McNeil. Return to Mt.Glaus and pick up the Cloth Shield and Heavy Caro along the way. Regularly attack all the enemies on the mountain, but beware of large packs. Chlorine tends to be a nuisance as well, considering the complete lack of status defense you have. Just stay well stocked on Antidotes. `````````````````````````````` ******************** *I. Nue (1st fight)* * * *HP~140 * *Attacks: Nue Stomp* ******************** !!!!! !Ryu! !!!!! Level: 7 Formation: Attack Equipment: Bronze Sword, Cloth Shield, Brass Helmet, Leather Armor Strategy: Hack away (~25-~35) after casting a Protect to reduce Nue's damage to 5ish. Nue Stomp is her peak damage at 8, and, as usual, Chlorine is a mere nuisance. !!!!!!! !Teepo! !!!!!!! Level: 7 Formation: Attack Equipment: Bronze Sword, Cloth Shield, Brass Helmet, Leather Armor Strategy: Physically attack the Nue until she flees. !!!!! !Rei! !!!!! Level: 6 Formation: Attack Equipment: Bronze Sword, Cloth Shield, Brass Helmet, Leather Armor Strategy: Smack the Nue around until she runs for the caves. `````````````````````````````` Just pursue the Nue into the caves. As for the Talisman, *shrugs* you can put it on, but there's no particular purpose for it at the moment as no enemies as of yet know instant death attacks. Deal with the enemies inside the cave in the same manner as you did with the ones outside the cave. Though those stinkin' Bats have a high evade rate. `````````````````````````````` **************************************************** *II. Nue * * * *HP~280 * *Attacks: Nue Stomp, Jolt, (moderate counter rate) * **************************************************** !!!!! !Ryu! !!!!! Level: 8 Formation: Attack Equipment: Bronze Sword, Cloth Shield, Brass Helmet, Leather Armor, Talisman Strategy: Cast Protect the first round to limit the damage from her physical blows and Nue Stomp. Just attack and use Heal or Healing Herbs. Keep your HP at least at 20 before deciding to attack because her one-use Jolt takes off 12. After that, she runs of AP and wastes most of his turns unsuccessfully trying to cast another Jolt. !!!!!!! !Teepo! !!!!!!! Level: 8 Formation: Defense Equipment: Bronze Sword, Cloth Shield, Brass Helmet, Leather Armor, Talisman Strategy: Simoon the beast to defeat. !!!!! !Rei! !!!!! Level: 8 Formation: Normal Equipment: Bronze Sword, Cltoh Shield, Brass Helmet, Talisman Strategy: Alright, this equipment setup should grant to Rei the speed advantage. With that in mind, you shouldn't have any trouble dueling the Nue Chimera. Just be sure your HP is fairly high after he becomes angry so that you survive his single Jolt. `````````````````````````````` ----------- Cedar Woods ----------- Items: none !Ryu! !Teepo! !Rei! Head to McNeil. ----------- McNeil/Farm ----------- Items: none !Ryu! !Teepo! !Rei! More story sequences. There are a couple things you might want to do before heading off to McNeil's. First, build up a high zenny supply (Mt.Glaus being the best place where you can do that). Next, buy the basic fishing supplies in McNeil. Then, go fishing for battle and trading purposes. If you have any shopping you want to, now would be the time to do it. This will be your last opportunity to shop for a while, so take advantage of it. Finally, trade for a Silver Knife, Iron Helmet, and Waistcloth at the Manillo shop. Then stock up on healing items and anything else you think you'll need for the next stage and speak to Loki in the shack to head off to McNeil Manor. ------------ McNeil Manor ------------ Items: Vitamin, 50 zenny, Firecracker !Ryu! !Teepo! !-Rei-! Take care of the guards' problems and what not until you finally have to deal with that guard dog... `````````````````````````````` *************** *III. Pooch * * * *HP~250 * *Attacks: Snap* *************** !!!!! !Ryu! !!!!! Level: 8 Formation: Attack Equipment: Silver Knife, Cloth Shield, Iron Helmet, Waistcloth, Talisman Strategy: Cast Protect because his physical attacks are strong (~8 after Protects). Other than that, attack him and use Healing Herbs when needed. Put Protect up again if his Snap lowers your defense. !!!!!!! !Teepo! !!!!!!! Level: 8 Formation: Defense Equipment: Silver Knife, Cloth Shield, Iron Helmet, Waistcloth, Talisman Strategy: Simoons, of course. Be careful after Snaps. >_> !!!!! !Rei! !!!!! Level: 9 Formation: Normal Equipment: Silver Knife, Cloth Shield, Iron Helmet, Waistcloth, Talisman Strategy: Keep Rei's HP above 20 and otherwise attack. The Agility advantage will at least allow you to attack first, so Snap's threat is considerably lessened. `````````````````````````````` Just continue dealing with the guards until you reach a certain chicken... `````````````````````````````` ********************* *IV. Rocky * * * *HP~270 * *Attacks: Ovum, Jump* ********************* !!!!! !Ryu! !!!!! Level: 9 Formation: Attack Equipment: Silver Knife, Cloth Shield, Iron Helmet, Waistcloth, Talisman Strategy: Errrr... *shakes fist* Due to the evil randomness of Jump, Attack Form seemed the most direct approach. While you hit ~35-~40, his most desired attack hits for ~10 -_-. Ovum of course is pure evil, turning you into a weak-*** egg (assuring certain doom) or missing (with much relief to you, and Jump ranges from a very tame ~5 to a "Holy ****!" ~40. !!!!!!! !Teepo! !!!!!!! Level: 8 Formation: Defense Equipment: Silver Knife, Cloth Shield, Iron Helmet, Waistcloth, Talisman Strategy: Burn in ****, Ovum. Simoons are your best way to go here. Don't worry about the AP; this is where you'll need it the most. 5 Simoons should be enough to take him down. !!!!! !Rei! !!!!! Level: 9 Formation: Normal Equipment: Silver Knife, Cloth Shield, Iron Helmet, Waistcloth, Talisman Strategy: Pretty much identical to the Ryu strategy, minus Rei's speed. `````````````````````````````` Continue with the story to reach the mansion. -------------- McNeil Mansion -------------- Items: 120 zenny, Magic Shard, Eye Drops, Taser, Gems, Vitamin (2), Panacea, MultiVitamin, Healing Herb, 600 zenny, Swallow Eye, Broad Sword !Ryu! !Teepo! !+Rei+! Again, for those of you who chose Rei, be careful around here until you get him back. As for you Ryu and Teepo SCCers, you should be fine. Nothing too virulent in here except maybe for Jump from a Roach. For much of here on in though, *turns on Ghostbuster music*, it's ghostbusting time! The enemies inside aren't too bad. Watch out for the randomness of the Roaches' Jump and consider running from groups of Guards *shakes fist at their Healing Herbs*. `````````````````````````````` **************** *V. Torast * * * *HP~120 * *Attacks: Sleep* **************** !!!!! !Ryu! !!!!! Level: 9 Formation: Attack Equipment: Silver Knife, Cloth Shield, Iron Helmet, Waistcloth, Talisman Strategy: This can be annoying. He always uses Sleep or attacks, both of which are dangerous. Keep trying to cast Protect until you can finally get one in. Then attack and Heal when necessary. !!!!!!! !Teepo! !!!!!!! Level: 9 Formation: Attack Equipment: Silver Knife, Cloth Shield, Iron Helmet, Waistcloth, Talisman Strategy: A pair of ordinary attacks should cut down the fifth McNeil. `````````````````````````````` ***************************** *VI. Kassen * * * *HP~55 * *Attacks: Drain, Leech Power* ***************************** !!!!! !Ryu! !!!!! Level: 9 Formation: Attack Equipment: Silver Knife, Cloth Shield, Iron Helmet, Waistcloth, Talisman Strategy: Kill him quickly with regular attacks because he uses Leech Power. Don't bother casting Protect; his attacks cause negligible damage. !!!!!!! !Teepo! !!!!!!! Level: 9 Formation: Attack Equipment: Silver Knife, Cloth Shield, Iron Helmet, Waistcloth, Talisman Strategy: Again, a pair of attacks defeats the third McNeil. `````````````````````````````` ****************************** *VII. Galtel * * * *HP~150 * *Attacks: Blunt, Weaken, Slow* ****************************** !!!!! !Ryu! !!!!! Level: 9 Formation: Attack Equipment: Silver Knife, Cloth Shield, Iron Helmet, Waistcloth, Talisman Strategy: He just uses status decreasing spells and regular attacks. Finish him quickly because Blunt and Weaken could lengthen the battle a bit. !!!!!!! !Teepo! !!!!!!! Level: 9 Formation: Attack Equipment: Silver Knife, Cloth Shield, Iron Helmet, Waistcloth, Talisman Strategy: *sigh* This becoming repetitive. You guessed it: 2 attacks to defeat the 12th McNeil. `````````````````````````````` ************************************ *VIII. Doksen * * * *HP~140 * *Attacks: Heal, (high counter rate)* ************************************ !!!!! !Ryu! !!!!! Level: 9 Formation: Attack Equipment: Silver Knife, Cloth Shield, Iron Helmet, Waistcloth, Talisman Strategy: OK, now I'm convinced these ghosts are just trying to die!... er... lose! The eighth McNeil even casts Heal on you while you pummel him to oblivion (thanks to the Holy Property of the Silver Knife). !!!!!!! !Teepo! !!!!!!! Level: 9 Formation: Attack Equipment: Silver Knife, Cloth Shield, Iron Helmet, Waistcloth, Talisman Strategy: Same as Ryu. `````````````````````````````` Use the rest point before you go onto the roof to meet Rei. Then, prepare to bust the biggest, baddest ghost of them all (Don't worry; that's the last of my cheesy Ghostbuster jokes). `````````````````````````````` ******************************************* *IX. Amalgam * * * *HP~550 * *Attacks: Astral Warp, Flare, Frost, Sleep* ******************************************* !!!!! !Ryu! !!!!! Level: 10 Formation: Defense Equipment: Silver Knife, Cloth Shield, Iron Helmet, Waistcloth, Talisman Strategy: Flare, Frost, and his regular attacks all do around 10-20 damage, and Astral Warp can nearly do 30. Not to mention that he loves using Sleep. Put up at least 2 or 3 Protects to guard versus Astral Warp and pray for Ryu to counter. Cast Rejuvenate or use Healing Herbs when Ryu falls below half his max HP. Whenever you're in good shape, attack. !!!!!!! !Teepo! !!!!!!! Level: 10 Formation: Defense Equipment: Silver Knife, Cloth Shield, Iron Helmet, Waistcloth, Talisman Strategy: The absolutely safest way to win this battle is to use a Healing Herb when your HP is below three-fourths and attack every other opportunity you get. !!!!! !Rei! !!!!! Level: 10 Formation: Normal Equipment: Silver Knife, Cloth Shield, Iron Helmet, Waistcloth, Talisman Strategy: Hm... fairly simple: You beat him in Agility, Silver Knife hits for double damage, and his attacks are pitiful (Astral Warp doesn't even break 20). I believe I've said all that needs to be said. `````````````````````````````` ----------- Cedar Woods ----------- Items: none !Ryu! !Teepo! !Rei! Head into town. ----------- McNeil/Farm ----------- Items: none !Ryu! !Teepo! !Rei! Heck, the shops are already closed to you. ----------- Cedar Woods ----------- Items: none !Ryu! !-Teepo-! !-Rei-! Remove all of Teepo's and Rei's equipment and replace their weapons with Daggers all before you reach the area with your house in it. `````````````````````````````` ********************************* *X. Balio and Sunder (1st fight)* * * *HP=Infinite * *Attacks: Lightning * ********************************* !!!!! !Ryu! !!!!! (I am not even going to bother) Strategy?: Prepare to be annihilated. !!!!!!! !Teepo! !!!!!!! Strategy?: Congratulations for finishing the Teepo SSCC. It ends here. If you wish to continue on another SSCC (probably Nina's, Momo's, Peco's, or Garr's, disequip Teepo's equipment prior to the battle. !!!!! !Rei! !!!!! (I have nothing to say) Strategy?: Bye for an inordinately long amount of time, Rei! `````````````````````````````` If you were doing a Teepo or Rei SSCC, your Ryu is probably very weak right now. You might want to power him up a little bit to survive Mt.Myrneg or run from all the randoms... that works too... >_> --------- Mt.Myrneg --------- Items: Icicle, Protein, Bat Amulet, 200 zenny !Ryu! The enemies can be quite difficult, even deadly. You probably won't be able to damage the Tar Men, and the Bolt-type enemies have a huge evade rate. The Rippers are probably the only enemies you can defeat, at least as soon as you find the Bat Amulet on the mountain *shakes fist at Blind*. --------------- Wyndian Dungeon --------------- Items: Skill Ink !Ryu! !+Nina+! First, you've got to "save" Nina. `````````````````````````````` ********************************** *XI. Balio and Sunder (2nd fight)* * * *HP=??? * *Attacks: Lightning * ********************************** !!!!! !Ryu! !!!!! (I am not even going to bother) Strategy?: There is supposedly a way to defeat them, but that method requires an insane amount of powering up which might deprive you of the challenges in the rest of the game. If you really want to beat them, then go ahead, but I'm probably not going to post anything on it unless demand is ENORMOUS. `````````````````````````````` YAY! You got Nina! If you don't plan on playing as Nina, take off all her equipment, especially that Soul Gem. If you do plan on using her... take off the Soul Gem anyway and welcome to heck as the torturing trial that is the Nina SSCC begins. ----------------- Wyndian Catacombs ----------------- Items: Glass Domino, Panacea, Light Bangle, Wisdom Fruit !Ryu! !Nina! Acquire and equip the Light Bangle by solving the "number" puzzle and the Glass Domino as well. The Volt and Thunder combination can be quite deadly in combat. If you encounter them together, my advice is: RUN LIKE MAD! The other enemies are simple enough: have Nina Jolt groups (except Thunders and Volts of course) and Cyclone individuals, and have Ryu attack. ------ Wyndia ------ Items: Healing Herb, Ammonia, Moxa, Bread (4) !Ryu! !Nina! After you find the children in the hide-and-seek game, stop by some of the shops to stock up on stuff (You finally can again ^_^). For Ryu, prioritize purchasing the Broad Sword (unless you have enough money for the Scramasax in Genmel, or a Claymore right now) but also try to get the Cuirass. For Nina, buy the Mage's Robes and Mace (again, unless you have enough money for the Magician's Rod in Genmel). ------------ Eygnock Road ------------ Items: Clothing !Ryu! !Nina! Now you're captured by Balio and Sunder and sent to Genmel. ------ Genmel ------ Items: 80 zenny, Flier !Ryu! !Nina! Depending on your purchases in Wyndia which was based off of your financial situation, you may need to buy either the Scramasax for Ryu or the Magician's Rod for Nina. If Peco is your character, pick up a Rippers instead. ---------- Mt.Boumore ---------- Items: Panacea, 400z, Buckler, Bent Sword, Life Shard !Ryu! !Nina! It is absolutely imperative that you pick up the Buckler while you're here. The sheer amount of help it will provide you with cannot be emphasized enough. Hit the Tar Men with Frost, and everything else with Simoon for Nina. Ryu, on the other hand, will have trouble fighting these enemies outside of his only present dragon form, the Flame Whelp. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Forest by the side of Mt.Boumore in Eastern Wyndia (wordiest title ever) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Items: none !Ryu! !Nina! Remember to pick up the Reverse gene for Ryu here. Before you proceed to the Tower, stop by the fishing spot. Trade for a Crepe Cape for Nina, Momo, or Peco, and catch lots and lots of Black Porgy. ----- Tower ----- Items: MultiVitamin, Wisdom Fruit, Ring of Ice, Silver Knife, Skill Ink, Flame Chrysm, Ice Chrysm, 800z, Moon Tears, Breastplate, Ivory Dice, Bamboo Rod, 40 zenny, Panacea !Ryu! !Nina! !+Momo+! There's a main room attached to a another room with a bed and a save point. Put simply, Momo is pretty bad when you first acquire her. She can't hit the broad side of a barn, and she has no attack spells. My suggestion would be that if you're doing a Momo SSCC, until you either get Quake or an Artemis' Cap, run from combat. There's a bunch of great stuff to pick up here too. Rather than list it all though, I'll just say this: GET EVERYTHING! Trust me; you'll regret it if you don't. This is a fairly good spot to power up. The Ice Toads, Orcs, and assortment of bots are pretty good for experience at this point in the game. Come back if you need to power up harder SSCC characters. The Ice Toads and Orcs have some powerful attacks (e.g. Ice Breath), so save frequently. The ability to recover and save very quickly really helps. Ryu will dominate here as a Flame Dragon, and Nina can Lightning the groups (always on the Bot-types though) and Iceblast the individuals (Simoon on Ice Toads). Momo shouldn't power up here until she receives the Artemis' Cap in the Dump, and Peco can come here after a bit of powering in Meryleep's Forest. Both of them will just physical the enemies. ----------------- Rocket Crash Site ----------------- Items: none !Ryu! !Nina! !Momo! Pick up the Thorn Gene while you're here for Ryu. ----------- Coffee Shop ----------- Items: Vitamin !Ryu! !Nina! !Momo! After conversing with Palet, go to the plant. ----- Plant ----- Items: Ginseng, Healing Herb !Ryu! !Nina! !Momo! Talk with Palet some more and then go to the Dump. ---- Dump ---- Items: 1200 zenny, High Boots, Artemis' Cap, Magic Shard !Ryu! !Nina! !Momo! #+Peco+# For Momo, you really must pick up the Artemis' Cap or condemn her to eternally missing. Really, that accessory is her only hope... You may want to avoid encounters in here. Many of the enemies are just pains, especially the Bombers and Fireslugs. `````````````````````````````` ************************************* *XII. Mutant * * * *HP~550 * *Attacks: Dream Breath, Venom Breath* ************************************* !!!!! !Ryu! !!!!! Level: 15 Formation: Attack Equipment: Claymore, Buckler, Glass Domino, Chain Cap, Light Bangle, Life Sandals Strategy: Given your status invulnerability, your first task is pumping yourself up with a quartet of Protects, dropping his damage from ~30 to ~5. And then... play the waiting game. *nods his head with confidence* As soon as his regeneration wears off, pummel him with sword swipes of ~80 damage until his timely demise. !!!!!! !Nina! !!!!!! Level: 20 Formation: Defense Equipment: Magician Rod, Buckler, Glass Domino, Crepe Cape, High Boots, Light Bangle Strategy: The level may seem a bit high, but believe me when I say you need it; it gets you oriented with "Nina boss warfare". The motto: "spend more time powering up than there are hours in the day." Anyway, Nina's first boss is relatively easy. You can withstand 3 direct attacks before death via the 4th. If any status attacks get by the Light Bangle, for sleep wait to be hit or wake up automatically and for poison use an Antidote. Use Healing Herbs/Vitamin(s) when your HP drops to critical. Finally, for offense, use the trusty Simoon (he is a plant, so it would make sense that he's weak against fire). !!!!!! !Momo! !!!!!! Level: 17 Formation: Attack Equipment: Flame Chrysm, Buckler, Glass Domino, Crepe Cape, Artemis' Cap, Light Bangle Strategy: Put up a few Protects, followed by a couple Speeds (for the EX turn). Cast Heal when needed, but otherwise annihilate him with your attack. `````````````````````````````` ----- Plant ----- Items: none !Ryu! #Nina# #Momo# #Peco# Make sure you're done with all you want to do before you go to Genmel, esp. powering up because the enemies around Genmel don't provide the amount of exp. you'd probably need. For most characters, this involves immediately returning to the Tower to power up. However, for Peco, gain several levels in Meryleep's Forest first as he won't survive the Tower at Lv.1. YEA! You've got Peco! He doesn't start out with much at all, and powering up at the beginning is going to be time-consuming for you Peco players, but you'll be fine once you get further in... I think... >_> <_< ------ Genmel ------ Items: Coin, Bandana, 40 zenny !Ryu! !Nina! #Momo# #Peco# For Ryu, pick up a Claymore, Knight's Helmet, and, if you have enough money, left over, a Scale Mail all at the shops. If you're low on zenny, head over to the thieves' hut with Peco, get the Flower Jewel, and then sell it (it's not as if you need it for Meryleep anyway). Don't forget the Wisdom Fruit there either. `````````````````````````````` ***************************** *XIII. Claw * * * *HP~250 * *Attacks: Blind, Double Blow* ***************************** !!!!! !Ryu! !!!!! Level: 18 Formation: Normal Equipment: Claymore, Buckler, Knight's Helmet, Scale Mail, Bat Amulet, Light Bangle Strategy: Put up a Protect and hammer away at him physically. !!!!!! !Nina! !!!!!! Level: 20 Formation: Normal Equipment: Magician Rod, Buckler, Glass Domino, Crepe Cape, Bat Amulet, High Boots Strategy: Double Blow hits for ~12 per hit (as does his physical), and Blind's damage is minuscule. EX turns seal the deal as the damage from your Iceblasts mean ~60 x 2. !!!!!! !Momo! !!!!!! Level: 17 Formation: Normal Equipment: Ammo, Buckler, Glass Domino, Crepe Cape, Bat Amulet, Artemis' Cap Strategy: A pair of Speeds yields EX turns, and Protects cut Claw's damage down to ribbons. Ammo = ~75 per hit. !!!!!! !Peco! !!!!!! Level: 12 Formation: Normal Equipment: Rippers, Buckler, Glass Domino, Crepe Cape, Bat Amulet, High Boots Strategy: Strategy: Flurry of punches = ~30 damage. Claw's damage amounts to ~10 a hit (same applies to Double Blow, of course). Not much else to say here. `````````````````````````````` ********************************************** *XIV. Cawer * * * *HP~250 * *Attacks: Speed, Might, Protect, Flare, Frost* ********************************************** !!!!! !Ryu! !!!!! Level: 18 Formation: Normal Equipment: Claymore, Buckler, Knight's Helmet, Scale Mail, Ring of Ice, Light Bangle Strategy: Another easy boss. He uses stat boosting spells, weak magic attacks, and weak physical attacks. Attack him regularly, and he'll be toasted in a couple of turns. !!!!!! !Nina! !!!!!! Level: 20 Formation: Normal Equipment: Magician Rod, Buckler, Glass Domino, Crepe Cape, Ring of Ice, High Boots Strategy: He'll never have an opportunity to attack, >_> as EX turns combined with Iceblast (~60) finishes him before he completes his stat-boosting phase. !!!!!! !Momo! !!!!!! Level: 17 Formation: Normal Equipment: Ammo, Buckler, Glass Domino, Crepe Cape, Ring of Ice, Artemis' Cap Strategy: 2 more Speeds for EX turns, from which you start blowing ~50 holes into him. Rejuvenate (70) and Protect are a pain (not to mention Cyclone's ~25), but EX turns conquer all! !!!!!! !Peco! !!!!!! Level: 12 Formation: Normal Equipment: Rippers, Buckler, Glass Domino, Crepe Cape, Ring of Ice, High Boots Strategy: Now Cawer'll just plain **** you off. The only consolation is that you can take two consecutive Cyclones head-on without being compelled to heal (Cyclone's max is 39; you'd survive a third but would likely die from Cawer's next attack. After all, he is faster than our little onion, if the abysmal 3 AGL doesn't make that obvious.). Either way, a hurrah for the greatness of Peco and auto-regen, which otherwise would make this fight even longer than it already is. The big problems are Heal (35) and Rejuvenate (70), which just abolishes all the work you put into damaging him with your measly ~20 damage. The only choice is to wait him out until he eats up his AP supply. A very irritating, albeit relatively simple, process. >_> `````````````````````````````` ************************************* *XV. Patrio * * * *HP~300 * *Attacks: Frost Strike, Lucky Strike* ************************************* !!!!! !Ryu! !!!!! Level: 18 Formation: Normal Equipment: Claymore, Buckler, Knight's Helmet, Scale Mail, Ring of Ice, Light Bangle Strategy: All this guy can do is attack and have a high critical hit rate. Instead of worrying about your HP, just transform into a Flame Defender Dragon. A few attacks from your dragon should annihilate him. !!!!!! !Nina! !!!!!! Level: 20 Formation: Normal Equipment: Magician Rod, Buckler, Glass Domino, Crepe Cape, Ring of Ice, High Boots Strategy: His regular physical scratches you at ~10, Lucky Strike inflicts a suprisingly low ~30 damage, Frost Strike obviously isn't a problem, and Iceblasts (yeah, yeah, with EX turns again) finishes off the leader of the Patrio team in no time. !!!!!! !Momo! !!!!!! Level: 17 Formation: Normal Equipment: Ammo, Buckler, Glass Domino, Crepe Cape, Ring of Ice, Artemis' Cap Strategy: 1 final Speed to EX the leader of the team. He takes the most damage from Ammo (~80) and in exchange gives you nothing but mediocre damage. ~10 from his regular strike, ~25 from Lucky Strike, and Frost Strike *smacks you* !!!!!! !Peco! !!!!!! Level: 12 Formation: Normal Equipment: Rippers, Buckler, Glass Domino, Crepe Cape, Ring of Ice, High Boots Strategy: Much better. Peco's damage climbs to ~40, and Patrio's damage is sad (~10 physical, ~25 Lucky Strike). `````````````````````````````` ********************************************* *XVI. Dodai * * * *HP~2100 * *Attacks: (none, not even a standard attack)* ********************************************* !!!!! !Ryu! !!!!! Level: 18 Formation: Normal Equipment: Claymore, Buckler, Knight's Helmet, Scale Mail, High Boots, Light Bangle Strategy: This is an alternate strategy you can take should you choose not to fight Claw, Cawer, and Patrio. Transform into a Frost Whelp (via Flame + Reverse) and use Frost Claw on it until it collapses into the lava. !!!!!! !Nina! !!!!!! Level: 20 Formation: Normal Equipment: Magician Rod, Buckler, Glass Domino, Crepe Cape, High Boots, Light Bangle Strategy: Claw will attack your Dodai, you will Iceblast his Dodai, and he won't even do half the damage to your Dodai as you will to his via continuous Iceblasts. Game, set, and match (literally). !!!!!! !Momo! !!!!!! Level: 17 Formation: Normal Equipment: Ice Chrysm, Buckler, Glass Domino, Crepe Cape, Bat Amulet, Artemis' Cap Strategy: Put up a couple Protects around your own Dodai and pound away at the Patrio team's. Use a MultiVitamin on your own Dodai if it starts to sink. !!!!!! !Peco! !!!!!! Level: 12 Formation: Normal Equipment: Rippers, Buckler, Glass Domino, Crepe Cape, Bat Amulet, Artemis' Cap Strategy: As with the others, you takedown the Dodai. Simply attack Claw's Dodai as he attacks yours, and MultiVitamin your own Dodai when it starts to sink. Claw runs out of AP by around the second MultiVitamin, and his Dodai starts to sink at around that same time. Then finish it off. `````````````````````````````` Rest and Save after the first round of the tournament. `````````````````````````````` ***************************************************** *XVII. Emitai + 2 Golems * * * *Emitai: HP~600 * * Attacks: (none, not even a standard attack)* *Golem: HP~750 * * Attacks: Spirit Blast * ***************************************************** !!!!! !Ryu! !!!!! Level: 18 Formation: Attack Equipment: Claymore, Buckler, Knight's Helmet, Scale Mail, Artemis' Cap, High Boots Strategy #1: Golems Go First: This is incredibly hard. You don't stand a chance as ordinary Ryu. A few Spirit Blasts from the Golems would kill him pretty quickly. At least Emitai does nothing. Transform into a Defender Flame Dragon and focus your attacks on one of the Golems. Once the dragon dies, use a Wisdom Fruit and transform again. Once the first Golem dies, the fight should ease up a bit. Eventually, the second Golem will fall. If your form is broken again, use a couple Protects and battle the final Golem normally. Then just finish the defending Emitai to win! Strategy #2: Emitai Goes First: If you can eliminate Emitai first, then the Golems will attack each other. As a Defender Flame Dragon, your attacks will do more damage, but he's still defending, you're inflicting less damage, and the Golems are pounding on Ryu. If you can get Emitai out of the battle, the remainder is pie. !!!!!! !Nina! !!!!!! Level: 22 Formation: Defense Equipment: Magician Rod, Bracers, Bandana, Crepe Cape, High Boots, Soul Gem Strategy: Let me try to put this subtly. You must fulfill the minimum requirements to win this fight. If you do, you can win; if you don't, you will lose. By sacrificing a small amount of defense for agility, you get the EX turn which you must have to win this fight. Otherwise, you'd have to heal every turn to live. The strategy is simple: alternate between attack Emitai and use Vitamin. Once Emitai falls, the Golems will attack each other. Finally, one of the Golems will die from the other's attacks, and you need only to finish off the near-dead remaining one. !!!!!! !Momo! !!!!!! Level: 19 Formation: Defense Equipment: Ammo, Buckler, Glass Domino, Crepe Cape, Artemis' Cap, High Boots Strategy: Your first target is Emitai cowering in the back. Alternate between attacking him and healing via Vitamin(s) (maybe 2 attacks then Vitamin if you have enough remaining HP to survive another round with the killer Golems). If you are plan on using a Vitamin, you should have about +30 HP left. If you are going to attack, you should have about +60 HP remaining. Why? The Golems inflict at most around 35 HP in damage a turn (26 maximum from Spirit Blast and around 10 maximum from an ordinary attack). When you try to use a Vitamin, you will act after one of the Golems acts. Once Emitai falls, wait while Pantson and Fire battle each other. As soon as one Golem is defeated, slay the victor. !!!!!! !Peco! !!!!!! Level: 15 Formation: Defense Equipment: Rippers, Buckler, Glass Domino, Crepe Cape, High Boots, Artemis' Cap Strategy: Rather than the usual "target Emitai" strategy, you'll be attacking the Golems this time (probably the only time you'll hear me suggest this). As both the Golems' attacks are melees, Peco can and likely will counter them. Anyway, fight one Golem at a time until it's defeated, then the other remembering to use a Vitamin if your HP falls to 40. Finally, defeat the helpless Emitai and win. `````````````````````````````` Again, rest and save, though it won't matter for the next battle. `````````````````````````````` ******************************************* *XVIII. Garr * * * *HP=Infinite * *Attacks: Pyrokinesis, Flare, Lucky Strike* ******************************************* !!!!! !Ryu! !!!!! Strategy?: Give it your all; you still lose though. `````````````````````````````` ------------- Maekyss Gorge ------------- Items: none !Ryu! #Nina# #Momo# #Peco# !+Garr+! Be sure you're stocked up on Vitamin(s) for the next few battles. `````````````````````````````` ******************************** *XIX. Bully 1, Bully 2, Bully 3* * * *Bully 1: HP~200 * * Attacks: (none) * *Bully 2: HP~200 * * Attacks: Flare * *Bully 3: HP~200 * * Attacks: Blind * ******************************** !!!!! !Ryu! !!!!! Level: 19 Formation: Attack Equipment: Claymore, Buckler, Knight's Helmet, Scale Mail, Bat Amulet, High Boots Strategy: A couple Protects lowers all the bullies' physical damage to a maximum of 5. Flare is still quite the vexation with its MDP at 20, but Bully 2 is the first to fall. At ~100 on average, the bullies will drop from two hits each. !!!!!! !Nina! !!!!!! Level: 22 Formation: Defense Equipment: Magician Rod, Buckler, Glass Domino, Crepe Cape, High Boots, Soul Gem Strategy: These guys are a bunch o' weaklings. Mash them with Typhoon and Lightning for several rounds to end this fight. !!!!!! !Momo! !!!!!! Level: 20 Formation: Defense Equipment: Ammo, Buckler, Glass Domino, Crepe Cape, Artemis' Cap, Light Bangle Strategy: Quake them a few times and shoot any survivor(s). !!!!!! !Peco! !!!!!! Level: 15 Formation: Attack Equipment: Rippers, Buckler, Glass Domino, Crepe Cape, Bat Amulet, Artemis' Cap Strategy: Defeat either Bully 1 or Bully 3 first, then the others. Only a few hits are needed to defeat each (and the Reprisals only speed up the process). Finally, take out Bully 2. `````````````````````````````` Now you get Garr, I'd advise robbing him of his worthwhile equipment in the battle, namely the Scale Mail and Titan Belt. *********************************************** *XX. Stallion * * * *HP~1500 * *Attacks: Barrier, Resist, Jolt, Utmost Attack* *********************************************** !!!!! !Ryu! !!!!! Level: 19 Formation: Defense Equipment: Claymore, Buckler, Knight's Helmet, Scale Mail, Talisman, Light Bangle Strategy: After swiping Garr's Titan Belt (and replacing the Bat Amulet with it of course), put up a net of four Protects to reduce Stallion's judo chop to less than 10 damage. Utmost Attack was, is, and always will be a serious pain in the ****, although in Defense Formation, its MDP is only ~30, so it's somewhat manageable (unlike the difficult manageability of ~40, its MDP in Attack Formation). Your damage to Stallion generally will fall between 60 and 70 damage. !!!!!! !Nina! !!!!!! Level: 22 Formation: Attack Equipment: Magician Rod, Buckler, Glass Domino, Crepe Cape, High Boots, Soul Gem Strategy: Yes, that's right, Attack Formation. I would say Defense Formation, but he casts Barrier first turn and makes Nina's magic damage weaker than her physical damage. Emphasize her physical power even further by stealing Garr's Titan Belt and equipping it on Nina to replace the Soul Gem. Nina will do 60 to mid-80s in damage! Attack him every turn with this exception: *always* heal when Nina's HP at 52 or 53 or below because Stallion's physical attack could kill you. Don't worry about his other attacks: Jolt (I laugh at its negligible damage), Utmost Attack (decent damage but nothing to worry about), and Resist (this is funny: Nina is faster than Stallion and always moves first, but Resist only works during the turn it's used; otherwise, he just wasted a turn; he might as well have used Bad Back!). He's really not as hard as you think. !!!!!! !Momo! !!!!!! Level: 20 Formation: Attack Equipment: Ammo, Buckler, Glass Domino, Crepe Cape, Artemis' Cap, High Boots Strategy: The depleted AP from the last battle shouldn't concern you. Momo has more than enough left in her to wipe the floor with the unmighty steed. First, steal Garr's Titan Belt and equip it in place of the High Boots. Fill back the lost HP. Then a few Protects, a pair of Speeds, and a few Mights should give you the EX turn, a durable Momo, and a potential +300 damage per attack! Need I say more? !!!!!! !Peco! !!!!!! Level: 16 Formation: Defense Equipment: Rippers, Bucker, Glass Domino, Crepe Cape, Titan Belt, Artemis' Cap Strategy: First off, take Garr's Titan Belt and equip it over the Bat Amulet. This battle's easy, just slow. Keep your HP above 60 and just attack Stallion. !!!!!! !Garr! !!!!!! Level: 13 Formation: Defense Equipment: Spear, Buckler, Knight's Helmet, Scale Mail, Titan Belt, Artemis' Cap Strategy: To be more accurate, half of that equipment is stuff stolen from Ryu and the equipment inventory, but that should have already been obvious. <_< Anyway, Attack Formation is also quite doable, but healing is mandatory any time you take damage as Stallion's physical maxes out at ~45. So stick with the method that cuts Garr's damage by half to ~50 per attack but his more (relatively). Utmost Attack was still annoying though, as its maximum damage potential was ~30 and Garr loses to 99% of everybody in speed, so you're forced to Vitamin whenever HP falls below 60. None of his other attacks were that noteworthy (Physical max = ~20, Jolt max = ~15); well, at least Barrier didn't get in the way, though Garr's slowness made Resist irritating. Overall, a heck of allot easier than another certain battle in which a character is gained "in media res". `````````````````````````````` Pick up the Frost Gene for Ryu before you leave. ------ Wyndia ------ Items: none !-Ryu-! !Nina! #-Momo-# #-Peco-# #-Garr-# Head straight for the castle. ---------------------- Wyndia Castle/Basement ---------------------- Items: 120 zenny, Gems (2), Panacea (2), Healing Herb (2), Coin, Cheese !+Ryu+! !Nina! #+Momo+# #+Peco+# #+Garr+# Just proceed with the plot and escape the castle. ------------------ Eastern Checkpoint ------------------ Items: 200 zenny, Antidote !Ryu! !Nina! XMomoX XPecoX !Garr! Now you can pass through the Checkpoint. ---------------- Hut by the shore ---------------- Items: none !Ryu! #Nina# #Momo# #Peco# #Garr# Pick up the Thunder Gene for Ryu. ------------- Rhapala/Wharf ------------- Items: Molotov, Panacea !Ryu! !Nina! !Momo! XPecoX XGarrX Stop by the shops as soon as you can get for stocking up on items and buy Spiked Claws for Peco or a Long Spear for Garr. Also buy new lures if you don't have any of the ones sold here from Manillo trading. Continue with the plot until you reach the Beyd training sequence. Sorry, but you'll have to train with only your SSCC character. It will certainly take longer, but it's not much more difficult. If you want a Flare Sword later on (good for Ryu and Rei), give Beyd a Claymore for his fight. `````````````````````````````` ***************** *XXI. Zig * * * *HP=irrelevant * *Attacks: (none)* ***************** !!!!! !Ryu! !!!!! Level: irrelevant Formation: Attack Equipment: Claymore, Buckler, Knight's Helmet, Scale Mail, Titan Belt, Light Bangle Strategy: This is really Beyd's battle, so you shouldn't really need to jump in if you trained him well. If you have to, cast Protect or Rejuvenate on Beyd when you can. !!!!!! !Nina! !!!!!! Level: irrelevant Formation: Attack Equipment: Magician Rod, Buckler, Glass Domino, Crepe Cape, High Boots, Titan Belt Strategy: Again, this is Beyd's fight, but throw him a Vitamin if he needs it. !!!!!! !Momo! !!!!!! Level: irrelevant Formation: Attack Equipment: Ammo, Buckler, Glass Domino, Scale Mail, Artemis'Cap, Titan Belt Strategy: Beyd's battle... but Protect or Rejuvenate him if he needs them. !!!!!! !Peco! !!!!!! Level: irrelevant Formation: Attack Equipment: Spiked Claws, Buckler, Glass Domino, Crepe Cape, Titan Belt, Artemis' Cap Strategy: Give Beyd a Vitamin should he need it. !!!!!! !Garr! !!!!!! Level: irrelevant Formation: Attack Equipment: Long Spear, Buckler, Knight's Helmet, Scale Mail, Light Bangle, Artemis' Cap Strategy: Same story here as for the other characters. `````````````````````````````` ---------- Lighthouse ---------- Items: Coin, Mithril Shield, Swallow Eye, Skill Ink, Dream Ring, Flame Chrysm (3), Faerie Tiara !Ryu! #Nina# #Momo# #Peco# #Garr# Pick up the Mithril Shield for Ryu or Garr. Be wary of the Spectres here if your SSCC character is AP dependant. AP draining is just plain annoying. The Blood Bats are similarly annoying. After attacking one turn, they immediately run. In large groups they're really annoying. Only Nina will be able to take them all out, while everyone else will have to rely on their physicals. Most of the other enemies are older, tolerable opponents. You shouldn't have much trouble here. Oh, and, acquire the Eldritch Gene at the top of the lighthouse. And, yes, you can get it before you battle Gazer, only if you don't set up all the lighthouse's equipment before climbing the staircase. `````````````````````````````` ****************************** *XXII. Gazer * * * *HP~1200 * *Attacks: Eye Beam, Hypnotize* ****************************** !!!!! !Ryu! !!!!! Level: 20 Formation: Attack Equipment: Claymore, Buckler, Knight's Helmet, Scale Mail, Titan Belt, Light Bangle Strategy: Flame + Thorn is the way to go here and Flame Claw the cracka (~300-~400) while Gazer at best scratches you (~17 max) and Hypnotize just assured lower damage (~150-~200). !!!!!! !Nina! !!!!!! Level: 23 Formation: Defense Equipment: Magician Rod, Buckler, Glass Domino, Crepe Cape, High Boots, Light Bangle Strategy: Start the battle by casting Blunt to reduce his attack power. Then cast Simoon on him every turn you can. His Eye Beam can take off over one-half your HP, so always keep it above 50. If he Hypnotizes you, he could potentially kill you. If you're worried about this, switch out the High Boots for you Soul Gem (but you might want to save it for later...). !!!!!! !Momo! !!!!!! Level: 21 Formation: Defense Equipment: Ammo, Buckler, Glass Domino, Crepe Cape, Artemis' Cap, Light Bangle Strategy: Gazer's not so tough... >_> <_< except for that whole Eye Beam attack that nearly does half of Momo's HP in damage. Seriously though, all you need is a few Mights, a couple Protects, and a Speed, and you'll be fine. Just Rejuvenate when your HP drops below half and otherwise blow him away. !!!!!! !Peco! !!!!!! Level: 17 Formation: Defense Equipment: Spiked Claws, Buckler, Glass Domino, Crepe Cape, Light Bangle, Artemis' Cap Strategy: Even at these low levels (relative to the other characters anyway), Peco continues smacking everybody else around. Suddenly Gazer's super Eye Beam isn't so mighty thanks to Peco's insanely high HP (a measly 40-50 damage). As you'd guess, since Eye Beam is Gazer's strongest attack, his others are almost completely useless *hugs Auto-Regen*. Just attack and use Vitamin(s) at one-third HP. !!!!!! !Garr! !!!!!! Level: : 17 Formation: Defense Equipment: Long Spear, Buckler, Knight's Helmet, Scale Mail, Light Bangle, Artemis' Cap Strategy: Yay! Garr's first boss level enemy weak to Flame-elemental. There's only one thing to do here: *spams Pyrokinesis* Yeah, 100+ damage fells him fairly quickly. Most of his attacks are fairly wimpy. Eye Beam wins out in raw strength though (maxing at ~40?) and Hypnotize wins the annoying award. `````````````````````````````` ------------- Rhapala/Wharf ------------- Items: variable !Ryu! #Nina# #Momo# #Peco# #Garr# Take the equipment in the chests after talking to Beyd and leave town. -------------- Faerie Village -------------- Items: none !Ryu! !Nina! !Momo! XPecoX XGarrX Talk with the Faeries to discover the problem: the Dolphin. `````````````````````````````` ******************************* *XXIII. Dolphin * * * *HP~1200 * *Attacks: Tsunami, Intimidate * ******************************* !!!!! !Ryu! !!!!! Level: 21 Formation: Attack Equipment: Claymore, Buckler, Knight's Helmet, Scale Mail, Titan Belt, High Boots Strategy: Normally, Thunder + Eldritch -> Myollnirs would nuke our fi... er... mammal friend, but that's only max damage in Defense Form. Attack Formation works much better here, and a Defensive Thunder Dragon's Thunder Claw (~280-~400) can yield up to 100 more damage more per Thunder Claw than per the Magical Thunder Dragon's Myollnir (~260-~330). So... yeah. Anyway, Tsunami is the usual irritant, and Dolphin's physical hits for around 30 damage. That's pretty much it, other than Intimidate wasting away your AP. !!!!!! !Nina! !!!!!! Level: 24 Formation: Defense Equipment: Magician Rod, Buckler, Glass Domino, Crepe Cape, High Boots, Soul Gem Strategy: He's big, he's mean, he's powerful, and he's really fast. Even at level 24, Nina splits "who goes first" with the Dolphin about 50/50. His ordinary attacks can do more than one-third of Nina's HP gauge as well. Fortunately, he frequently gets nothing out of his turn when he casts the inaccurate Tsunami or Intimidate which also misses often or hits after Nina has gone (thus demonstrating the attack's lack of value). The battle is definitely still not in the bag though. In fact, due to its unpredictability, I recommend the long, safe path. Alternate between Lightning and Healing Herb/Vitamin every turn (only heal if you have sustained serious damage the previous turn) for an assured victory. !!!!!! !Momo! !!!!!! Level: 22 Formation: Defense Equipment: Ammo, Buckler, Glass Domino, Crepe Cape, Artemis' Cap, Light Bangle Strategy: *sigh* Dolphin is just too easy. After a Speed and quartets of Mights and Protects, obliterating this fish... er... mammal with your gun should be a walk through the tulips. The only thing you possibly need to be concerned about is recovering HP should it near 1/4. `````````````````````````````` -------- Mt.Zublo -------- Items: Protein, Asbestos Armor, 800 zenny, Ring of Fire, Flame Talons, Wisdom Fruit, Life Shard !Ryu! #Nina# #Momo# #Peco# #Garr# The Flame Talons for Peco, the Ring of Fire, Asbestos Armor, and Wisdom Fruit should all be acquired. Pick up the Miracle Gene for Ryu. I hope you're ready. This next boss isn't a pushover. Be sure your item supply is sufficient for the upcoming battle. This is a great to place to power up, particularly against Vulcans. Use any fire attack/spell you have on them to make them "active" and then defeat them to get a truck load of experience (relatively to this point of the game anyway). As for combat against other Flame-elemental enemies, stick to all availabe Frost-elemental attacks: Frost dragon forms, Iceblast, Ice Chrysm. Peco and Garr will have no choice but to use ordinary physicals. The Lizardman can only be dealt with by physicals (except for Nina, who will have to use Iceblast). `````````````````````````````` ******************************************** *XXIV. Gisshan, Charybdis, Scylla * * * *Gisshan: HP~800 * * Attacks: Vitalize, Confuse, Sleep* *Charybdis: HP~1000 * * Attacks: Snap, Wall of Fire * *Scylla: HP~1000 * * Attacks: Snap, Wall of Fire * ******************************************** !!!!! !Ryu! !!!!! Level: 23 Formation: Attack Equipment: Claymore, Buckler, Knight's Helmet, Scale Mail, Ring of Fire, Light Bangle Strategy: There are times in life when we overthink strategies. Out of fear of the daunting opposition we face, we extrapolate extremely complex strategies involving several very delicate factors. Sometimes, it's justified; other times, it's not. This is one of the latter. Many would believe that this trio would, oh, beat your poor single character into the ground without some sort of trump card. ****, even with Ryu, I once thought that. I believed that some sort of elemental (namely, Frost) was required to topple them. I was wrong. I tried a different approach and simply transformed into a base Behemoth. From there, I Blitzed and I Blitzed and I... dominated, much to my surprise. Charybdis' and Scylla's damage amounted to little indeed (less than 10 from physicals and less than 30 from Walls of Fire), while my Blizes (~150-~200 per hit, 3 hits per target) quickly knocked them down. My response to this unexpected turn of events: "Wow, that was simple." </narration strategy> !!!!!! !Nina! !!!!!! Level: 25 Formation: Defense Equipment: Magician Rod, Buckler, Glass Domino, Crepe Cape, Ring of Fire, Light Bangle/Soul Gem Strategy: Wow. This is probably the hardest fight yet. Whether or not you win this battle is primarily luck. You must kill Charyb and Scylla quickly. If Snap lowers your defense too much, you don't stand a chance against the two lava beasts' physical attacks. Just hope they use Wall of Fire to heal you as much as possible. Not to mention Gisshan; pray he defends most of the battle rather than use his repertoire of annoying spells. Focus your Iceblasts on one of the fiery monsters at a time, don't let your HP drop below one-half without healing, and, if necessary, sacrifice your Soul Gem if your defense gets too butchered by Snap. That way, you recover the lost defense. !!!!!! !Momo! !!!!!! Level: 24 Formation: Defense Equipment: Ice Chrysm, Buckler, Glass Domino, Crepe Cape, Artemis' Cap, Ring of Fire Strategy: Your initial concern should be to get a few Protects for safety. Follow with a pair of Speeds for an EX turn. Before attacking though, add the usual few Mights. With your bariers installed (or even while you're installing them; this battle's still easy unless you're very unlucky), you can take out those lava snakes. With their weakness to Frost elemental attacks and those Mights, you should easily infict 300+ damage per hit. After you send Charybdis and Scylla to that by big volcano in the sky, switch Ice Chrysm and Ring of Fire for Ammo and Titan Belt. Knock off the old man and claim victory! !!!!!! !Peco! !!!!!! Level: 25 Formation: Defense Equipment: Spiked Claws, Buckler, Glass Domino, Crepe Cape, Light Bangle, Ring of Fire Strategy: Yeah, I know: there's allot of leveling for this fight. And, as usual, these bosses will be pains. There are though two ways to approach the battle: patiently and long or blindly and quickly. I prefer the former method as the latter is too dependent on Charybdis and Scylla casting Wall of Fire... all the time. Though the battle will start out with you fighting every turn. >_> Just focus your physicals on either Charybdis or Scylla until Snap sucessfully lowers defense. Then immediately switch to this strategy: use a Vitamin every turn except if your HP is above 180, in which case you fight. Once the the first of the two falls (which may take a while, considering how Gisshan keeps meddling with Confuse, Sleep, and especially Vitalize), destroy the other magma monster except now with a lower HP minimum (100 seems safe). Finally, replace the Ring of Fire with a Titan Belt and kill Gisshan. !!!!!! !Garr! !!!!!! Level: 25 Formation: Defense Equipment: Long Spear, Buckler, Knight's Helmet, Scale Mail, Light Bangle, Ring of Fire Strategy: It's quite difficult to reword my experience into a strategy, so I'll just tell my tale to you in its rawest form and let you derive what you need from it for yourself; this is based off a post I made on GameFAQs.com's Breath of Fire 3 board on 8/26/04: "*breathes heavily* I... hate... them. The battle started off easy enough. Charybdis' and Scylla's physicals initially maxed around ~20. I started hacking away at Scylla for usually ~70 per hit, if I hit. Sure, everything was tough, but it was doable. Finally, Scylla approached death; I was a hit or two away... then Gisshan stopped spamming status spells and for every turn for the remainder of the battle (with only one exception near the very end) tried casting Vitalize every turn and our magma beasts desisted their Walls of Fire. The Snap fest began and their the power of their physicals skyrocketed, from a measly ~20 to a deadly ~50. Put simply, as my HP was much lower than 200, there was no way I could attack without a possibility existing of my demise the next turn. Observing my impossible scenario and watching Gisshan do nothing but heal, I lopped on my Soul Gem over that Light Bangle and began an almost relentless assault on Scylla that was healed immediately afterwards. I knew how close I was, but I kept losing ground on Scylla as I kept missing and had to frequently stop to heal. Then... I died, only to be revived by my one and only Soul Gem. Immediately, I switched to an all-out last ditch effort to kill the bloated beast. Gisshan ran out of AP! I kept pounding away, throwing in a Vitamin here and there, narrowly avoiding deaths by chance Walls of Fire. After much anger and rage, Scylla fell. Then I turned my attention to Charybdis. I set a healing minimum at ~100 HP and kept attacking until its demise. Finally, I slayed the flailing Gisshan, who had still been attempting Vitalize, only breaking from his "pattern" once to defend. Victory, mine... barely." In short, have fun. `````````````````````````````` ---------- Urkan Tapa ---------- Items: none !Ryu! #Nina# #Momo# #Peco# !Garr! You may want to upgrade your equipment for Ryu or Garr while you're here. For Rei, purchase a Mithril Helmet. Before you head off to Angel Tower, visit Junk Town and purchase a Barbarossa or a Gigantess for Garr. ----------- Angel Tower ----------- Items: Ivory Dice, Wisdom Seed, Diamond Ring, Moon Tears, Mithril Helm, Soul Gem, Napalm !Ryu! #-Nina-# #-Momo-# #-Peco-# !-Garr-! It is vital you pick up the Soul Gem in here. As usual, Nina will be Iceblasting/Lightninging her foes, while everyone else will mostly be sticking to physicals. The Phantoms can be dangerous, and the Spectres annoying though. Fortunately, many of the enemies here are weak to Flame-elemental, so Flare Sword, Simoon, Flame Chrysm, and Pyrokinesis will all come handy. Remove everyone's equipment before you go down that staircase to the dragons' graves. For non-Ryu and non-Garr players, it's stall point time. `````````````````````````````` ******************** *XXV. Garr * * * *HP~300 * *Attacks: Fireblast* ******************** !!!!! !Ryu! !!!!! Level: 24 Formation: Normal Equipment: Barbarossa, Mithril Shield, Mithril Helmet, Mithril Armor, Titan Belt, Light Bangle Strategy: Behemoth -> Blitz -> death `````````````````````````````` ---------- Dauna Mine ---------- Items: Vitamin, Life Shard, Magic Shard, Light Clothing, 200 zenny, MultiVitamin, Coupons, Feather Sword, Lion's Belt, Protein !Ryu! !+Garr+! Pick up and equip the Light Clothing and Feather Sword before your battle with the big Dragon Zombie. Your foes here are pretty pathetic (except possibly for the Giant Roaches and their Jump), especially because they too are weak to Flame-elemental. Kill them as you did the Angel Tower enemies, except that Garr may prefer Kyrie, pending on the situation. `````````````````````````````` ************************************ *XXVI. Dragon Zombie * * * *HP~2500 * *Attacks: Rotten Breath, Bone Dance* ************************************ !!!!! !Ryu! !!!!! Level: 25 Formation: Normal Equipment: Feathersword, Buckler, Knight's Helmet, Light Clothing, Titan Belt, Light Bangle Strategy: This battle is pie. With the extra 14 agility points(!) from lightening your equipment, you should easily get the EX turn on him. Start by transforming into an Eldritch Whelp. Simply cast Restore on him to do 494 damage per cast. Don't worry about his attacks. He won't have enough to physically kill and his other attacks are status attacks, just poisoning and confusion. 5 Restores in 3 turns, followed by a Whelp bite, should tip him over. !!!!!! !Garr! !!!!!! Level: 26 Formation: Defense Equipment: Gigantess, Mithril Shield, Mithril Helmet, Mithril Armor, Light Bangle, Life Sandals Strategy: Kyrie. 'Nuff said. `````````````````````````````` --------- World Map --------- Items: none !Ryu! !Garr! I'm sure you've been fishing the entire time. This is just a reminder to stay diligent. Now is the time to start constructing Faerie Village. Waste no time in developing it. Stop by Syn City to get Steel Gauntlets and a Silver Mail for whoever you're playing as and, for Nina, a Windcutter. --------- Ogre Road --------- Items: Hourglass, Horseradish (3) !Ryu! !Garr! Just remember to find that almighty Hourglass while you're passing by. This isn't really the first place you could have fought Goo Titans, but probably the first time you're at a high enough level to fight them. As they are the only enemies that provide a reasonable amount of experience right now, don't hesitate to fight them. You might want to leave a Ring of Fire on though. All the other enemies aren't hard to dispatch, though the Vagabonds may linger for a while. -_- `````````````````````````````` ********************** *XXVII. Weretiger * * * *HP~930 * *Attacks: Snap, Focus* ********************** !!!!! !Ryu! !!!!! Level: 26 Formation: Attack Equipment: Barbarossa, Steel Gauntlets, Mithril Helmet, Silver Mail, Titan Belt, High Boots Strategy: Just transform into a Behemoth and Blitz him a few times. He runs soon after. !!!!!! !Garr! !!!!!! Level: 26 Formation: Defense Equipment: Gigantess, Steel Gauntlets, Mithril Helmet, Silver Mail, Titan Belt, Artemis' Cap Strategy: Er... not much of a boss... well, technically, Rei's not a boss *notes the regular battle music*. Whatever. >_> Mandatory battle: close enough. Whack him a few times with the Gigantess for ~150 while he "injures" Garr for ~10 damage per hit. Yeah, *really* strong. Rei runs in a few turns. `````````````````````````````` --------- Mt.Levett --------- Items: 800 zenny, Gold Hairpin !Ryu! !Garr! Other than crossing, nothing particularly important to do here, except maybe for getting the Gold Hairpin here. The enemies here have the same level of difficulty as the ones on Ogre Road. A few differences, but melee them as you would everybody else. ----------- Yraall Road ----------- Items: none !Ryu! !Garr! Yeah, it's annoying the road is blocked, but just keep on going with the plot. ----------- McNeil/Farm ----------- Items: none !Ryu! !Garr! Agree with the innkeeper to take care of the tiger, and go to Cedar Woods. ----------- Cedar Woods ----------- Items: none !Ryu! !Garr! Converse with Rei at your burnt down house and then head to McNeil Manor. ------------ McNeil Manor ------------ Items: none !Ryu! !+Nina+! !Garr! Well, you got Nina back. For you Nina SCCers, your short reprieve from the torture is now over. Welcome back to heck. Head back to Syn City. -------- Syn City -------- Items: Old Painting !Ryu! !Nina! !Garr! Just take care of business here and snag the Old Painting while you're at it. ------------------- Northern Checkpoint ------------------- Items: Healing Herb, 80 zenny, Deluxe Rod !Ryu! !+Rei+! #Nina# #Garr# Just be sure you're ready before you fight Mikba. He can be extremely difficult, so be sure you have enough items to survive, particularly HP and AP restoratives and (I suppose) Antidotes. Rei sure had a long stall point. It reminds me of a character from another game... *coughShadowcough*. It's a shame you couldn't power him up for this fight. If it's any consolation, Rei comes back with 10000 more EXP than he had last time you saw him. Also, fetch Rei a Katzbalger from the nearby Manillo. Hopefully, these'll help... >_> <_< `````````````````````````````` ************************************************************************ *XXVIII. Mikba * * * *HP~2500 * *Attacks: Multistrike, Quake, Resist, Venom Breath, Lucky Strike, (high* * counter rate) * ************************************************************************ !!!!! !Ryu! !!!!! Level: 27 Formation: Attack Equipment: Equipment: Barbarossa, Steel Gauntlets, Mithril Helmet, Silver Mail, Titan Belt, High Boots Strategy: Behemoth -> Blitz (~150-~200) again. Poison is a nuisance, Lucky Strike really hurts (~50), and Resist just wastes your AP. Fortunately, the vast surplus you'll have after defeating him (even though you'll probably need to revert via HP and retransform) proves that Resist only stalled his inevitable downfall. !!!!! !Rei! !!!!! Level: 20 Formation: Defense Equipment: Katzbalger, Steel Gauntlets, Mithril Helmet, Silver Mail, Titan Belt, Light Bangle EXCEPTION: You can leave your allies alive until Rei gets back on his feet AND is controllable. Otherwise, only after you revive him once, heal him (at which point he'll transform into Weretiger), kill him off again, and then revive him again, can you finally kill off his allies. Strategy: Now, onto the actual combat strategy: The hardest aspect of this battle is overcoming the huge level gap (It's a heck of allot harder than Garr vs. Stallion anyway). Any Lv. 20 character would have trouble fighting Mikba, and Rei is certainly no exception. Start off with a Speed to access EX turns for Rei. When to fight? Well, Mikba's Lucky Strike deals at maximum ~70 damage and Rei's maxHP is 111, so fighting back wrecklessly will get you killed. Follow these guidelines concerning attacking/healing: Vitamin every regular turn you're not at maxHP and every EX turn your HP is below 70. During regular turns on which your presentHP = your maxHP, defend. Therefore, the only times you can attack are during EX turns when your HP is greater than 70. The battle will be long, considering you hit for a measly ~50 on average, but eventually Rei will emerge the victor. !!!!!! !Nina! !!!!!! Level: 26 Formation: Defense Equipment: Magician Rod, Steel Gauntlets, Gold Hairpin, Crepe Cape, Light Bangle, Soul Gem Strategy: *sigh* ...another hard and long battle. Mikba can easily remove one-half of your HP in a Lucky Strike (highest he did to me was around four-fifths!), so always heal around two-thirds your maximum. As if that wasn't enough, though Nina is usually faster than Mikba, Mikba has a habit of moving before Nina in the critical turns (e.g. healing turns), so, whenever you heal, switch to a lighter weapon for an agility boost, heal, and then switch back to the Magician Rod. The most important thing to remember in this battle is to *never physically attack him*; that provokes a reprisal Lucky Strike and then his attack for that turn, which will likely kill you. Your only option then is magic; here it is Iceblast. Though you'll get your usual intelligence boost from the Magician Rod, you'll still need to hit Mikba with... oh... about 50 Iceblasts! Yeah, I know, that's allot, but hopefully you have at least 5 remaining Black Porgy or equivalent AP restoratives (A Wisdom Fruit could do the job, but they are still pretty uncommon until you establish a copy shop, so...). The main problem here is finding an opportunity to hit this guy. Hopefully, he'll waste most of his turns using Resist (after Nina's already attacked, heh heh), and Venom Breath (switch Light Bangle for High Boots if Nina becomes poisoned; don't even bother curing it); usually however he uses Quake, Multistrike and [the very dangerous] Lucky Strike. The Soul Gem should help a little and provide some leeway, but this is still a draining fight. !!!!!! !Garr! !!!!!! Level: 26 Formation: Defense Equipment: Gigantess, Steel Gauntlets, Mithril Helmet, Silver Mail, Light Bangle, Artemis' Cap Strategy: Wow... this is the second easiest Mikba battle (Ryu>Garr>Rei>Nina). I'm not surprised really. Garr's a tank. Anyway, down to the nitty gritty: essentially, this is Brawn vs. Brawn, and Garr wins... quite easily (100+ consistently on Mikba). Mikba's best damage comes from Lucky Strike's maximum, ~45. Fortunately, that's pretty rare. His other attacks just don't deal as much damage (Quake's max = ~30, MultiStrike's max = ~30), Venom Breath was usually blocked (duh), and Resist... well... he never used it, but it just would have delayed the inevitable. Anyway, to be prepared for the worst case scenario (Lucky Strike, Reprisal -> Lucky Strike, Lucky Strike), only attack above ~135. Overall, the battle seems far too fast, and, when he falls, you too will likely be surprised Garr finished the "mighty Mikba" so quickly. I guess Mikba really is over-rated. *shrugs* `````````````````````````````` Yay! You got Rei. Now you can finally raise his grossly low level. For dispatching enemies, allow me to direct you to Weretiger, which Rei will be using to destroy 99% of your randoms and even some boss-level enemies. Also, unlike the other characters, Rei will be dealing with randoms in Normal Formation, as he usually gets EX turns that way, making all proceed much faster. Oh, just assume Weretiger everywhere, unless I say so otherwise. Pick up the Deluxe Rod before you go. This should certainly be an improvement from that Bamboo Rod you've been using up until now. With this whole mess cleaned up, you can finally head to the Plant now. ----- Plant ----- Items: none !Ryu! #Rei# #Nina# #+Momo+# #Garr# It's time to pick up Momo and end another stall point. -------------------------------- (Eastern Wyndia's) Ygdrasil Tree -------------------------------- Items: none !Ryu! #Rei# #Nina# !Momo! #+Peco+# #Garr# So ends another stall point. Welcome back, Peco! ^_^ ----- Plant ----- Items: none !Ryu! #Rei# #Nina# !Momo! !Peco! #Garr# You know the mini-game. Knock the stones through the glass windows with Peco's headbutt. Return with Momo and head down into the secret lab beneath the plant. ---------------------- Secret Underground Lab ---------------------- Items: Skill Ink, Ammonia, Silver Mail, Sleep Shells, Wisdom Ring, Healing Herb, 400 zenny !Ryu! #Rei# #Nina# !Momo! #Peco# #Garr# The Silver Mail, Sleep Shells, and Wisdom Ring are just a few of the things you should grab down here. Receive the Force Gene here. For many of the characters, you're going to be spending a very long time powering up down here, esp. Nina. There are 2 reasons for this: 1) The obvious reason: to become more powerful; 2) To give the Faerie Village more time to develop so that you can reap its fruits. =) This is becoming disturbing: more opponents weak to Flame-elemental >_> (except for Fly Man). Time to burn some more stuff, yay. `````````````````````````````` ********************************** *XXIX. Hugeslug * * * *HP~2500 * *Attacks: Syphon, Molasses, Quake* ********************************** !!!!! !Ryu! !!!!! Level: 28 Formation: Attack Equipment: Barbarossa, Steel Gauntlets, Mithril Helmet, Silver Mail, Titan Belt, High Boots Strategy: A Flame Warrior, of course. Within three turns, Flame Claw (~850-~1000) downs the large, icky one. Syphon's non-lethal damage isn't a problem, but his physical hits between ~60 and ~90. Fortunately, you'll be killing him before it can become a problem. !!!!! !Rei! !!!!! Level: 25 Formation: Defense Equipment: Flare Sword, Steel Gauntlets, Mithril Helmet, Silver Mail, Titan Belt, Titan Belt Strategy: What a pitiful display. The slug's strongest attacks yield a wimpy ~30-~50 damage. After a pair of Speeds for an EX turn and then piercing his barrier with the Flame-elemental Flare Sword, promptly beat near 150 HP holes in him twice a turn. Yeah, it'll be downhill for him from there. >_> !!!!!! !Nina! !!!!!! Level: 30 Formation: Defense Equipment: Magician Rod, Steel Gauntlets, Gold Hairpin, Crepe Cape, High Boots, Soul Gem Strategy: Yet again, there's no mercy for poor Nina. As usual her opponent's regular attacks can do one-third to more than two-thirds Nina's total HP. There's a twist to this fight though: using Syphon, he can recover around one-half the damage Nina averagely inflicts with her best attack/spell while simultaneously damaging her! Simoon the slug whenever possible and (though risky for Nina's life and Soul Gem) recover her when her HP falls to mid-50s. Once Nina has consumed all her AP, switch the Magician Rod for the Windcutter and Soul Gem for Titan Belt. These extra boosts in power should cause her attack to inflict more damage to him than his frequent Syphons can recover. Without the Soul Gem though, you can't risk Nina's life anymore, so heal her in the mid-60 HP area. Obviously, alternate attacking and healing (you *did* switch to power equipment after all). You'll be sure he's near death when he begins casting Quake. Being the easiest part of the battle, he shouldn't really be an obstacle from this point on (especially when he runs out of AP and continues to try to unsuccessfully cast Quake). !!!!!! !Momo! !!!!!! Level: 26 Formation: Defense Equipment: Flame Chrysm, Steel Gauntlets, Gold Hairpin, Silver Mail, Artemis' Cap, High Boots Strategy: His original attack can knock off nearly half your HP, so put up 3 or 4 Protects immediately while healing inbetween. Follow up with 4 Mights. Next, switch your High Boots for a Titan Belt and then whack him for almost 400 damage. Rejuvenate when required. !!!!!! !Peco! !!!!!! Level: 26 Formation: Defense Equipment: Flame Talons, Steel Gauntlets, Glass Domino, Crepe Cape, Titan Belt, Artemis' Cap Strategy: This should be a slaughter... an absolute slaughter. The Flame Talons will obliterate the Flame-weak Hugeslug in under a minute. All Peco has to do is attack and occasionally use a Vitamin to recover from the slug's feeble efforts. OK... a minute was a bit of an exaggeration but still... !!!!!! !Garr! !!!!!! Level: 28; Formation: Defense; Equipment: Gigantess, Steel Gauntlets, Mithril Helmet, Silver Mail, Titan Belt, Artemis' Cap Strategy: Of course, Pyrokinesis -> 250+ damage per hit to him. All his attacks are fairly weak. His physical maxes out at ~45, and everything else at ~30. Yeah, this ends over quickly. >_> `````````````````````````````` ************************************************************ *XXX. Shroom * * * *HP~3000 * *Attacks: Head Cracker, Ragnarok, Lavaburst, Blitz, Restore* ************************************************************ !!!!! !Ryu! !!!!! Level: 29 Formation: Attack Equipment: Barbarossa, Steel Gauntlets, Mithril Helmet, Silver Mail, Titan Belt, High Boots Strategy: All too easy. Behemoth again but no Blitz this time. Headcracker MDPs at ~60, so Blitz is too risky, considering his maxHP and that you can't count on him pulling out his own Blitz early. Still, ~400-~500 damage a turn is quite pretty >_> and effective, and, since everything else Shroom has doesn't even hit for half of his Blitz's damage (and AP isn't even a question), you can take your time. !!!!! !Rei! !!!!! Level: 26 Formation: Defense Equipment: Katzbalger, Steel Gauntlets, Mithril Helmet, Silver Mail, Titan Belt, Titan Belt Strategy: The usual dual Speeds for the dual turns for starters. Then hit him for 100+ damage per attack. Shroom's capabilities? :P A weak ~60 from his physical and ~100 from Headcracker (assuming all three strikes hit which is near impossible with Rei's killer evade rate). Blitz hits for similar damage, though using it is more dangerous to him than it is to you. Overall, a nice and simple battle. !!!!!! !Nina! !!!!!! Level: 33 Formation: Defense Equipment: Magician Rod, Steel Gauntlets, Gold Hairpin, Amber Breastplate, Soul Gem, Wisdom Ring Strategy: Due to the Amber Breastplate and Wisdom Ring, victory is now attainable (as opposed to before when a Head Cracker would instantly kill the Wyndian princess). Again, use the Soul Gem as a net. Your attack pattern is simple: Iceblast at lowest 80+ HP and heal at below 80 HP. Don't worry about his relentless Restores because *eventually* he'll run out of AP, won't be able to cast anything, and will waste nearly one-half of his turns in vain attempts. Just adhere to the pattern, only deviating from it to recover AP via Black Porgies. For his finale, he'll try a useless last ditch effort to stop you with Blitzes. !!!!!! !Momo! !!!!!! Level: 27 Formation: Defense Equipment: Sleep Shells, Steel Gauntlets, Gold Hairpin, Light Clothing, Artemis' Cap, Soul Gem Strategy: At the start of this battle, your chief worry should be keeping Momo's HP above 75 *at all times* and casting 4 Speeds. The former of the two should actually be a guideline for the entire battle as Headcracker can be devastating. Next, cast 4 Protects and Mights. Attack him for 200+ damage as he vainly tries Restoring his waning HP back. !!!!!! !Peco! !!!!!! Level: 27 Formation: Defense Equipment: Flame Talons, Steel Gauntlets, Glass Domino, Crepe Cape, Titan Belt, Artemis' Cap Strategy: Another fairly easy battle, again thanks to Peco's uber-high HP. Since Shroom's strongest attack inflicts on average 90 damage and putting into account Auto-Regen (of course), anywhere between 160-180 seems like a good place to draw the minimum HP line before using a Vitamin. If you're unsure whether or not you'll survive, switch the Artemis' Cap for a Soul Gem while Peco recovers. As usual, just attack. !!!!!! !Garr! !!!!!! Level: 28 Formation: Defense Equipment: Gigantess, Steel Gauntlets, Mithril Helmet, Silver Mail, Titan Belt, Artemis' Cap Strategy: Annoying. Headcracker's max was ~75. Fortunately, that probably won't occur (The most common damage is below 60). To be reasonable, heal below ~120 HP. Shroom's other skills' maximums are certainly not formidable (Ragnarok = 0; Blitz = ~60; physical = some insignificant figure I can't remember). Just smack him with my Gigantess for 130+ damage. Boring and slow yet simple and successful. `````````````````````````````` ------ Wyndia ------ Items: none !-Ryu-! !Rei! !Nina! X-Momo-X X-Peco-X X-Garr-X Head straight to the Castle. ---------------------- Wyndia Castle/Basement ---------------------- Items: Laurel !+Ryu+! !Rei! !Nina! #+Momo+# #+Peco+# #+Garr+# Pick up the Laurel in the basement. Just travel through some more scenes until you escape the castle via the transporter. ------------------ Eastern Checkpoint ------------------ Items: none !Ryu! #Rei# #Nina# #Momo# #Peco# #Garr# Thanks to your new passport, you can now pass into the Rhapala region and then to Mt.Zublo. -------- Mt.Zublo -------- Items: none !Ryu! #Rei# #Nina# #Momo# #Peco# #Garr# Since the road is now clear of lava, head straight to the Urkan region and Angel Tower. ----------- Angel Tower ----------- Items: none !Ryu! #Rei# #Nina# #Momo# #Peco# !Garr! After Garr's failed contact with God (Myria) and Deis' message, head to Urkan Tapa ---------- Urkan Tapa ---------- Items: none !Ryu! #Rei# #Nina# #Momo# #Peco# !Garr! Listen to Sudama's message and then head off to the Tidal Caves. ----------- Tidal Caves ----------- Items: Fish-head, Coin, Thunder Ring, Hawk's Ring, Deadly Blade !Ryu! #Rei# #Nina# #Momo# #Peco# #Garr# Receive the Gross Gene that's right on the path. The Thunder Ring is the only particularly important thing to grab as you pass through here and I suppose Ryu's Deadly Blade. <_< The Spiker's high reprisal rate, high power, and high counter rate make him dangerous. Likewise, the Bomb Seed's Sacrifice can be deadly (no danger for Weretiger though :D, or Garr, using the Gambit trick I mentioned earlier.). Always fight Bomb Seeds last and hit them one by one if they appear in groups. Sirocco and Ragnarok or good against the groups, and Nina's Myollnir and physicals are effective against single targets. ----- Cliff ----- Items: Beast Spear !Ryu! #Rei# #Nina# #Momo# #Peco# !Garr! If you haven't been doing a Ryu SSCC, your Ryu is *probably* quite weak right now. I suggested powering him up to at least level 20 to survive the battle with Gaist. `````````````````````````````` ************************************************ *XXXI. Gaist + 2 Torches * * * *Gaist: HP~2500 * * Attacks: Corona, Risky Blow, Sanctuary* *Torch: HP~500 * * Attacks: Flare, (no regular attack) * ************************************************ !!!!! !Ryu! !!!!! Level: 30 Formation: Normal Equipment: Barbarossa, Steel Gauntlets, Mithril Helmet, Silver Mail, Titan Belt, Ring of Fire Strategy: Eh, no Frost Warrior strat here. The safer (albeit longer) Frost Behemoth strategy is preferable. After an initial Frost Breath (~500 OHKO on Torches, ~300 on Gaist), stick to Frost Claws (~500-~700). With your massive HP, all the Coronas (100+) and Risky Blows (100-) aren't a problem. The only vexation is Howling, stopping you from Frost Clawing. Sanctuary and his physical (~15) are inconsequential. `````````````````````````````` ----------- Angel Tower ----------- Items: none !Ryu! #Rei# #Nina# #Momo# #Peco# !Garr! You can now release Deis and witness the classic, comical scene of Deis beating up Garr. XD -------- Mt.Zublo -------- Items: none !Ryu! XReiX !Nina! XMomoX XPecoX !Garr! More conversation with Deis in her cave. ----------------------- Rhapala/Wharf/Junk Town ----------------------- Items: Green Apple, MultiVitamin, Tea Cup !Ryu! #Rei# #Nina# #Momo# #Peco# #Garr# Make some trips and do some tasks between these locations until you finally gain access to the Dock. Before you visit the Dock, get the ??? Gene in that hut on the peninsula between the Inner and Outer Seas. ---- Dock ---- Items: none !Ryu! #Rei# #Nina# !-Momo-! #Peco# #Garr# Momo will agree to fix the ship, and you'll go to Steel Beach for the parts. ----------- Steel Beach ----------- Items: Robe of Wind !Ryu! #Rei# #Nina# #Peco# !Garr! Receive the Mutant Gene lying on the beach. The Angler shouldn't pose too much trouble to Momo players. As usual, just be prepped. Angler's just a really easy boss after all. `````````````````````````````` ************************************************ *XXXII. Angler * * * *HP~3000 * *Attacks: Venom Breath, Thunder Clap, Bone Dart* ************************************************ !!!!! !Ryu! !!!!! Level: 30 Formation: Attack Equipment: Barbarossa, Steel Gauntlets, Knight's Helmet, Silver Mail, Titan Belt, Ivory Charm Strategy: Killable all too easily. After Focus x2, your Gross Thunder Warrior should OHKO Angler via Aura (~3300-~3650 >_>). !!!!! !Rei! !!!!! Level: 29 Formation: Defense Equipment: Katzbalger, Steel Gauntlets, Mithril Helmet, Silver Mail, Thunder Ring, Light Bangle Strategy: >_> Typical speeds of course. However, to speed up the battle, you could always Weretiger him, clawing away at him for 400+ damage per turn. That's what I did anyway. *shrugs* I finished him with maxHP. -_- That's just... sad. !!!!!! !Nina! !!!!!! Level: 33 Formation: Attack Equipment: Ouroboros, Steel Gauntlets, Laurel, AmberB Plate, Thunder Ring, Speed Boots Strategy: This is the easiest boss fight Nina has had in a *long* time; so easy that she can actually switch out of Defense Formation. Incessantly attack him during your regular and EX turns except to heal HP/poison. You needn't even worry about confusion; this battle is a cinch [relatively]. !!!!!! !Peco! !!!!!! Level: 29 Formation: Defense Equipment: Flame Talons, Steel Gauntlets, Laurel, Crepe Cape, Thunder Ring, Light Bangle Strategy: So, so sad. The Angler again puts up a pathetic attempt at fighting. Heck, this battle's so easy, that I doubt you'll even have to heal Peco. Pound him. !!!!!! !Garr! !!!!!! Level: 30 Formation: Attack Equipment: Beast Spear, Steel Gauntlets, Mithril Helmet, Silver Mail, Thunder Ring, Light Bangle Strategy: Ok, maybe the setup is a bit arrogant of me, but, come on, he's Angler; nobody respects him. Still though, he deals a decent amount of damage. His physical maxes at ~70, so you'll usually need to heal after a strong physical. Fortunately, his constant wasting of turns (Thunder Clap and Venom Breath) make this yet again too easy. (As for Garr's damage, it averages out as ~300 per attack). `````````````````````````````` Grab the Robe of Wind when you're searching for parts in the Freighter. All the enemies in the Freighter are Bolt-types that can be killed by almost any multi-target magic spell from just about anyone! Even Inferno from Garr! O_o ---- Dock ---- Items: none !Ryu! #Rei# #Nina# !+Momo+! #Peco# #Garr# Momo will fix the ship, you'll unsuccessfully try to cross the Outer Sea, and then you'll go to Parch. ----- Parch ----- Items: Coin, 400 zenny !Ryu! #Rei# #Nina# #Momo# #Peco# #Garr# Purchase Tiger Claws and an Amber Breastplate (if the Faerie Village has yet to supply you with one) for Peco or a Platinum Helmet for Rei or Garr. Then head out to get the items needed to feed the mayor shisu. I am aware that you can be rewarded with items depending on how you make your shisu for the mayor, but personally I don't care whether you do or don't get the "prized" Shaman's Ring. --------------------------------------------- Rocky Sea and the "Legendary Mariner's" House --------------------------------------------- Items: Heavy Dagger, Blizzard Mail, Ice Shield !Ryu! XReiX !Nina! !Momo! XPecoX XGarrX Pick up the Frost-elemental equipment on the way to the mariner's house. Before you head off to the Black Ship, make sure you've done everything you've wanted to do before you go. You won't be coming back for a while. You especially might want to acquire a some Barandy for the Lost Shore Manillo Shop, at least for Ryu, Garr, and Rei. ---------- Black Ship ---------- Items: Skill Ink (2), Protectors, Ascension, Wisdom Fruit, Light Bangle, Flash Shells, 2400 zenny, Ammonia, Ivory Dice, Soul Gem !Ryu! #Rei# #Nina# !Momo! #Peco# #Garr# Among the important items here are the Protectors, Wisdom Fruit, Flash Shells, and Soul Gem (NOTE: some of these you may have access to thanks to the Faerie Village). Solve several puzzles and keep on journeying through the ship until you reach the Ammonites. Be very careful before you enter battle with them. The Giant Crabs in the back of the ship know Death, so feel free to run from them... or at the very least equip a Talisman. There are more Bolt-type enemies too, so you know what to do. =) The King Toads: fight them in the same manner as their predecessors, the Ice Toads. And the Sleepies: they're just annoying, but a Light Bangle should handle any potential crises. `````````````````````````````` *************************************************** *XXXIII. 2 Ammonites * * * *HP~2500 each * *Attacks: Tsunami, Iceblast, Blizzard, Multistrike* *************************************************** !!!!! !Ryu! !!!!! Level: 31 Formation: Attack Equipment: Barbarossa, Ice Shield, Platinum Helmet, Blizzard Mail, Titan Belt, High Boots Strategy: A regular Behemoth gets the job done *hugs Barbarossa's Thunder-elemental-ness* with strikes ranging from ~800 to ~1100 damage. Confuse followed by a physical and Tsunami (in general) are the only annoying portions of the battle. !!!!! !Rei! !!!!! Level: 31 Formation: Defense Equipment: Katzbalger, Protectors, Platinum Helmet, Blizzard Mail, Wisdom Ring, Light Bangle Strategy: *hugs Speed* Without that EX turn, defeating the jellyfish pair would be nary a dream. They have this little tendency to use Multistrike... allot with a combined maximum damage potential of ~120. Tsunami only adds to the irritation. -_- Your strategy: Lightning them to death. You may be forced to use several Black Porgies, but, surprisingly, it's the fastest way to win. !!!!!! !Nina! !!!!!! Level: 35 Formation: Defense Equipment: Ouroboros, Protectors, Laurel, Amber Breastplate, Soul Gem, Wisdom Ring Strategy: This fight can become a little nerve-racking, especially because these 2 fish can theoretically kil you in any one given turn (2x 3 hits from Multistrike). Fortunately, the odds of such a disaster ocurring are quite low, plus you have 2 Soul Gems should it happen. Lightning is your most effective attack (They are fish after all!), but you should only Lightning with at least one-half your maximum HP. The goofs squander many of their turns casting missing Tsunamis, guarded Confuses, and measly 1 hit Multistrikes. They can be dangerous on a roll though, so don't hesitate to heal often and, when you do, temporarily exchange Ouroboros and Wisdom Ring for the lighter Oaken Staff and Speed Boots to give Nina the initiative move that round. Continue healing until you find an opportunity to charge, then switch back your equipment and go at them again! !!!!!! !Momo! !!!!!! Level: 27 Formation: Defense Equipment: Flash Shells, Protectors, Laurel, Silver Mail, Speed Boots, Light Bangle Strategy: The first 4 Protects here are key. Without them, they could theoretically instantaneously kill Momo at any time with 6 Multistrike hits (Fortunately, the odds of this happening are very low). Of course, Rejuvenate inbetween when your HP falls too low. Next, cast a couple Speeds followed by 4 Mights. Replace your Speed Boots with Artemis' Cap and hack away! Also, note that they are susceptible to both Sleep and Silence, so... you could try it if you like... but I wouldn't risk toying with them. Blizzard and Iceblast could kill you if you become careless. Just kill them quickly. !!!!!! !Peco! !!!!!! Level: 29 Formation: Defense Equipment: Tiger Claws, Ice Shield, Laurel, Amber Breastplate, Light Bangle, Titan Belt Strategy: Annoying... a battle in which Peco's uber-high HP doesn't save him *shakes fist at Tsunami*. Your best bet is to attack around or above 200 HP, Vitamin below that (or MultiVitamin, which I will expect you to have access to soon), and switch the Titan Belt for a Soul Gem when you do (and then back when you attack again). Once the first falls, take out the second as its Frost-elemental attacks do nothing (or from the very beginning), just wait until the two use all their AP and then strike. !!!!!! !Garr! !!!!!! Level: 31 Formation: Defense Equipment: Beast Spear, Ice Shield, Platinum Helmet, Blizzard Mail, Light Bangle, Soul Gem Strategy: As usual, these two jellyfish refuse to go down without a fight >_>. Worst part is, as much as I hate the -11 HP per turn, the Beast Spear is needed here. While Garr could deal consistently 100+ damage per attack, they could deal, well, more. And, again as usual, Tsunami proves that having ridiculously high HP can still amount to zilch at times -_-. Multi-strike isn't overly annoying, only ~45, so heal below ~180. Anyway, long, arduous battle, etc. *tries to finish this up* Oh, and, of course, after Ammonite #1 falls, all of Ammonite #2's attempts at Frost-elemental attacks are nulled as Garr hacks away. Yay. `````````````````````````````` -------- Kombinat -------- Items: Homing Bomb !Ryu! #Rei# #Nina# #Momo# #Peco# #Garr# Upgrade your equipment: Spiked Gauntlets for Nina/Peco/Rei/Gar; Sage's Frock for Nina/Momo; HeatShotel/Piercing Edge for Ryu/Rei; AP Shells for Momo; Raptor Claws for Peco; Lacquer Helmet for Garr. -------------------------- (Lost Shore) Ygdrasil Tree -------------------------- Items: none !Ryu! #Rei# #Nina# #Momo# #Peco# #Garr# Just receive the Trance Gene here before moving on to the Steel Grave. ----------- Steel Grave ----------- Items: UV Glasses, Speed Boots, Spanner !Ryu! #Rei# #Nina# #Momo# #Peco# #Garr# You should pick up everything here: the UV Glasses, the Speed Boots, and the Spanner (via Momo's gun). The Assassin's Disembowel technique can be deadly here. Proceed with extreme caution when combating them. More Flame-elemental combat is effective here BTW. Sirocco, Ragnarok (I know -_-), Firebreath, er... Pyrokinesis, and attacks with a Flare Sword work out well. ------ Colony ------ Items: Key, Deep Diver, Wisdom Fruit !Ryu! #Rei# #Nina# !Momo! #Peco# #Garr# Again, every item here is important: the Key, Wisdom Fruit, and Deep Diver. Don't forget to pick up the Failure Gene. The Thrashers' Timed Blow can be dangerous even if you're at high HP. Put tersely, if they gain the initiative in battle against you, you're probably already dead. Don't forget the Assassins either (well, mainly don't forget to run from them). The rest of the enemies are new, but fairly easy. Just be ready for anything from the Codger; you never know what will come out of Magic Shuffle. Anyway, physicals and max level magic as usual should be used here. No easily exploitable elemental weaknesses here. If you followed my advice and got a fair number of Barandy, with your new Deep Diver, you can head after Spearfish and Whales so that you can acquire Ryu's Royal Sword and Ryu's/Rei's/Garr's Life Armor in the Lost Shore Fishing Spot now. ------------- Relay Point A ------------- Items: Hourglass, Lacquer Staff, 4000z, Lacquer Shield, Barbarossa, Skill Ink !Ryu! #Rei# #Nina# #Momo# #Peco# #Garr# There's another Hourglass here! That's the only terribly important item, but there's some Laquer equipment here as well if you didn't get any earlier. Allot of the enemies here have a Flame weakness, except the Tank Bot, who has a Thunder weakness. The weaknesses are all easily exploitable, but be careful when encountering other enemies in addition to Insectors. A successful Tornado followed by any other attack = your death. Once you fix the satelite receiver, there are 3 things you should do: 1) Go to the Container Yard to receive the Radiance Gene; 2) Increase the rate of your fishing. Now that you have access to the transporters, travel should be easy. Take this opportunity to get good equipment from Manillo trading, primarily the equipment you can trade for at the Lost Shore Manillo shop; 3) Go to Dragnier. -------- Dragnier -------- Items: Skill Ink, Ivory Dice !Ryu! #Rei# #Nina# #Momo# #Peco# #Garr# Proceed with all of the story sequences until you eventually reach Juno. Purchase the Damascus equipment for Ryu and MultiVitamins for everybody (especially for Peco). `````````````````````````````` ************************************************************ *XXXIV. Elder * * * *HP~5000 * *Attacks: Bad Back, Inferno, Myollnir, Sirroco, Double Blow* ************************************************************ !!!!! !Ryu! !!!!! Level: 35 Formation: Defense Equipment: Royal Sword, Lacquer Shield, Lacquer Helmet, Life Armor, Ring of Fire, Thunder Ring Strategy: With Inferno and Myollnir absorbed and Sirocco nulled, you can walk in quite confident in this battle. After a quartet of Protects, his physical is reduced to ~15 while Double Blow maxes at 46 damage. Slowly blast away at his HP for ~100-~150 a strike until his demise an eternity and a half later. !!!!! !Rei! !!!!! Level: 35 Formation: Defense Equipment: PiercingEdge, Spiked Gauntlets, Tiger's Cap, Life Armor, Ring of Fire, Thunder Ring Strategy: Another sad display. Maybe it's just Rei's mightiness. Either way: Elder decimation is sure to follow. Double Blow maxes at ~100 and his regular physical at ~80. As for his other skills, *points to the equipment setup*. After your Speeds, you can practically Auto-Charge, maybe even Weretiger, as Elder does most of the healing for you. Personally, I'd stick with the slow, ~100 damage per hit process; Elder's not as much a pushover as Angler was. !!!!!! !Nina! !!!!!! Level: 38 Formation: Defense Equipment: Ouroboros, Spiked Gauntlets, UV Glasses, Sage's Frock, Ring of Fire, Thunder Ring Strategy: Considering he wastes a good number of his turns via Bad Back and that you now absorb one-half of his total number of attacks, this shouldn't be too hard. Except when he successfully attacks physically (in which case you heal), just keep zapping him with Myollnir turn after turn and restore AP through several Black Porgies when you deplete your AP supply. !!!!!! !Momo! !!!!!! Level: 34 Formation: Defense Equipment: AP Shells, Steel Gauntlets, UV Glasses, Sage's Frock, Artemis' Cap, Speed Boots Strategy: This battle will be a breeze. A couple Speeds will bring the EX turn; then use the usual quadruple Protects and Mights and annihilate him. All you need to do is keep your HP above 100 (Myollnir = death below 100 HP). !!!!!! !Peco! !!!!!! Level: 33 Formation: Defense Equipment: Raptor Claws, Spiked Gauntlets, UV Glasses, Amber Breastplate, Ring of Fire, Thunder Ring Strategy: Fortunately, you now absorb two of his spells (one of which was his (strongest), and two others are completely ineffective. His only real options are his physical and Double Blow. The latter can become dangerous, maxing out at 120 damage. Putting that in mind, using a MultiVitamin at one-half maxHP or below seems wisest and otherwise utilize the typical attack option. !!!!!! !Garr! !!!!!! Level: 33 Formation: Defense Equipment: Beast Spear, Spiked Gauntlets, Lacquer Helmet, Life Armor, Ring of Fire, Thunder Ring Strategy: Again, I give Elder 0 respect. You should already know the effects of this equipment setup here, so I'll move onto what he could actually do to injure Garr. His physical maxes out at about ~70 and Double Blow at ~80. Yeah, >_> at this point, Garr's massive HP and Elder's constant switch to useless/absorbed skills almost never forces you to heal, as he rarely if ever lowers Garr to that ~160 minimum. Meanwhile, hammer away at a neat 100+ average and sit back to enjoy. Too bad the show ends so early. *shrugs* `````````````````````````````` ------- Factory ------- Items: Wisdom Seed, Artemis' Cap, Skill Ink, Ammonia, Rockbreaker, Aries Spear, Fish-head, Sage's Frock, Homing Bomb, Hourglass !Ryu! #Rei# #Nina# #Momo# #Peco# #Garr# Hourglass, Sage's Frock, Rockbreaker, there are a bunch of interesting items here. The Gold Egg enemies in the Factory pay a hefty sum if you can defeat them. If you're low on zenny, come back and fry these eggs for some cash. The Egg Gangs and Gold Eggs are deadly enemies. If they successfully hit you with Ovum, you're as good as dead. Equip some status protection to increase your chances of survival, or just run when you encounter them. However, the Eggs are weak to Earth-elemental, so Rockbreaker and Quake will definitely help out. When fighting a Hobgoblin accompanied by a Boss Goblin, target the Hobgoblin alone. The Hobgoblin wastes a turn killing the Boss Goblin. As for Pipe Bombs, unless you can outrun them, run. They're extremely powerful foes and can and usually do cancel your action for a turn via Air Raid. Finally, the Giant Orcs regenerate allot of HP per turn, so don't bother fighting them if you can't survive the Blitzes and can't inflict more damage than they regenerate per turn. ------------------- The Desert of Death ------------------- Items: variable !Ryu! #Rei# #Nina# #Momo# #Peco# #Garr# Concerning the DoD, all I have to say is this: Don't do what the piece of paper says! Follow Horis' directions! I know that's not really relevant to the SSCC at all; I just felt it was necessary to say that. Ah, I love the DoD enemies. They're all easily killed. The Magmaites are weak to Earth-elemental, the Drak doesn't move, and every other enemy is weak to Frost-elemental. That said, you can really destroy them quite easily, providing you equip/choose spells for elemental combat. `````````````````````````````` ******************************************** *XXXV. Manmo * * * *HP~3000 * *Attacks: Quake, Focus, (huge counter rate)* ******************************************** !!!!! !Ryu! !!!!! Level: 38 Formation: Normal Equipment: Royal Sword, Lacquer Shield, Lacquer Helmet, Life Armor, Titan Belt, Titan Belt Strategy: Transform into a Mammoth and use Meteor Strikes at high HP and regular attacks at lower HP. !!!!! !Rei! !!!!! Level: 39 Formation: Defense Equipment: Piercing Edge, Protectors, Tiger's Cap, Life Armor, Speed Boots, Light Bangle Strategy: Of course, start off with Speeds. Do be more reserved in attacking though, as Manmo's the first boss in a while to have more than a decent Reprisal rate. The damage he inflicts seems to increase from ~60 to ~80 as the battle moves on. So, safe attacking minimums are ~60 HP at EX turns (later ~80) and ~120 during the regular turn (later ~160). Um... yeah, that's just about it. >_> !!!!!! !Nina! !!!!!! Level: 41 Formation: Defense Equipment: Ouroboros, Protectors, UV Glasses, Sage's Frock, Speed Boots, Wisdom Ring Strategy: Nothing very lethal here. Very infrequently he acts before you do, but that's about it. Three comments: heal whenever your HP fallls to or below 100, defend the turn after he Focuses, and Myollnir him every remaining turn. !!!!!! !Momo! !!!!!! Level: 39 Formation: Defense Equipment: AP Shells, Steel Gauntlets, UV Glasses, Sage's Frock, Artemis' Cap, Artemis' Cap Strategy: Another standard quadra-Protect and quadra-Might boss... except easier. You effortlessly defeat him. Just defend after he uses Focus. !!!!!! !Peco! !!!!!! Level: 38 Formation: Defense Equipment: Rockbreaker, Spiked Gauntlets, UV Glasses, Amber Breastplate, Titan Belt, Light Bangle Strategy: Pretty straightforward: attack above 200 HP, defend after he Focuses, and MultiVitamin if under the safety limit. !!!!!! !Garr! !!!!!! Level: 38 Formation: Defense Equipment: Beast Spear, Spiked Gauntlets, Lacquer Helmet, Life Armor, Light Bangle, Artemis' Cap Strategy: Well... at least he's tougher than the last boss: high Reprisal-rate and high Power. His physical maxes at around ~50 though, and Quake's MDP was ~40. Again, Focus LOWERS his damage output, cheering is always in order when he uses the mighty Feign Swing (NOTE: Sarcasm, Take 2). Very easy. All you need to do is keep Garr's HP above ~150 and chop away (meh, ~200 a turn on him IIRC). `````````````````````````````` ----- Oasis ----- Items: 800 zenny !Ryu! #Rei# #Nina# #Momo# #Peco# #Garr# This is the final town (with people in it -_-; I know what you're thinking!). All that remains ahead is the final boss level. It's been a long, hard journey, and it only gets harder from here. Now that you have access to everywhere in the world and are at the final boss level, you should make sure to put the final touches on your faerie village and, if you have not already, obtain the ultimate equipment for your character (if you can). Peco players should re-enter the DoD from the Oasis and head west for seven nights to find a random battlefield with a treasure chest containing the Death Claws. --------- Caer Xhan --------- Items: Protein, Moon Tears !Ryu! #Rei# #Nina# #Momo# #Peco# #Garr# Upgrade your equipment: Sun Mask for Ryu/Rei/Garr; Mind Shield for Momo/Garr. --------------------- Myria Orbital Station --------------------- Items: Gas Shells, Wisdom Fruit, 800 zenny, Hourglass, Napalm, 400 zenny, Life Shard (2), 10000z, Holy Robe, Swallow Eye, Ammonia, Skill Ink, Ivory Dice, Slicer, HE Shells, Giant Shield, Dragon Shield, Dragon Helm, Demonsbane !Ryu! !Rei! #Nina# !Momo! #Peco# #Garr# There is so much to get here that I couldn't sum it up. Just get everything (not that you haven't been doing that anyway; it's just important to do so here). Most importantly, if you don't have an Ivory Charm by this point, get one: NOW! Allot of the enemies here can be quite dangerous, so be careful. Before fighting Chimera, battle drake-enemies for Peco's ultimate weapon, the Dragonfang. All the other enemies in the lab are pretty deadly, so hover near a Health Recovery Station if you plan on powering up against them. As for the opponents in the Worker's/Main Area, all I can suggest is good old fashioned combat. There are no real elemental weaknesses to exploit against most of them, so that's really all you can do. Once you find the Hourglass here, I advise having Ryu and Rei head off for the CY now. Have Rei encounter a Berserker, steal Aries Gloves, and then run like ****. Then have Rei (Ryu too) battle Archmage, though they're levels may be lower than the ones listed in my strategies. (>.> I defeated them after Chimera... <_<). The Holy Avenger *really* helps. `````````````````````````````` ************************************************* *XXXVI. Chimera * * * *HP~7500 * *Attacks: Paralyzer, Myollnir, Blizzard, Restore* ************************************************* EXCEPTION: Due to Paralyzer which paralyzes your SSCC character, probably has a 99% chance of being used, has a never-ending effect until remedied, therefore ending the battle (that is, you lose), and, most importantly, cannot be blocked, you must keep 2 other party members alive. These are the conditions: 1)They can Panacea/Remedy the SSCC character; 2)They can do anything to themselves; 3)To the SSCC character, they cannot do anything else at all (except Panacea); 4)They can in no way attack Chimera whatsoever; 5)Other than in the forementioned cases, they may in no way directly influence the battle; 6)If the SSCC character dies, then you have lost, and the remaining characters are not permitted to interfere. I'm simply trying to keep this remotely legitimate. Any charcters labeled with "EXCEPTION" for this boss may follow these guidelines. !!!!! !Ryu! !!!!! Level: 40 Formation: Attack Equipment: Royal Sword, Mind Shield, Sun Mask, Life Armor, Speed Boots, Speed Boots Strategy: EXCEPTION. Not even Ryu's dragon forms make it by Paralyzer. Choose a form to transform into (e.g. Warrior, although any strong non-party-consumer is fine) and go with it. !!!!! !Rei! !!!!! Level: 42 Formation: Defense Equipment: Holy Avenger, Aries Gloves, Sun Mask, Life Armor, Speed Boots, Ivory Charm Strategy: EXCEPTION. Let's see... Chimera can't top 50 damage to Rei... at all, Rei has his allies to save him from Paralyzer, and you run circles around him (though you do that to everyone as Rei... >_>); I don't need to say much else other than pound away at him. !!!!!! !Nina! !!!!!! Level: 42 Formation: Defense Equipment: Ouroboros, Spiked Gauntlets, UV Glasses, Holy Robe, Speed Boots, Wisdom Ring Strategy: EXCEPTION. Myollnir him through this battle. Use Black Porgies when you've consumed all your AP and use a Vitamin if AP is below 110 or MultiVitamin if HP is in critical. It's another long, hard battle, but the diverted fire should lower its difficulty a bit. !!!!!! !Momo! !!!!!! Level: 42 Formation: Defense Equipment: Atomic Bomb, Mind Shield, UV Glasses, Holy Robe, Artemis' Cap, Ivory Charm Strategy: EXCEPTION. 4 Protects, 4 Mights, and a few Speeds as usual followed by pounding typical 500+ damage holes in him should be enough to topple this beast. Other than the already handled Paralyzer, your only concern should be Myollnir and maybe Inferno. Even then, Ivory Charm blocks half the damage from them. !!!!!! !Peco! !!!!!! Level: 45 Formation: Defense Equipment: Dragonfang, Spiked Gauntlets, Tiger's Cap, Amber Breastplate, Artemis' Cap, Ivory Charm Strategy: EXCEPTION. Again, this particular exception makes this battle all too easy. Chimera just doesn't have enough strength to battle Peco. Just Panacea anybody hit by Paralyzer, keep everyone alive, and attack. !!!!!! !Garr! !!!!!! Level: 43 Formation: Defense Equipment: Beast Spear, Mind Shield, Sun Mask, Gideon's Garb, Ivory Charm, Artemis' Cap Strategy: EXCEPTION. Sad performance by Chimera. His strongest attack's maximum (Myollnir) was ~50, and everything else maxes at or below ~30. On top of that, the damage Garr hits him for surpasses what Restore could repair... only by about 10 or 20 points though... >_> otherwise, Garr hits for 200+. Rate of healing sometimes becomes annoying though, especially when he starts spamming Myollnir. Meh, it's the price of the Beast Spear. `````````````````````````````` You'll need Momo and her HE Shells to destroy the plants around a door in the lab. You'll then need Rei to unlock the doors past the previously mentioned area. Pick up the Silver Tiara before you proceed to Eden, though, since you're picking up everything, I really shouldn't need to mention it. >_> ---- Eden ---- Items: Protein, Magic Shard, Ginseng, Wisdom Fruit, Silver Tiara, Dragon Spear, Force Armor, Soul Gem !Ryu! !-Rei-! #-Nina-# #-Momo-# #-Peco-# #-Garr-# If you're not playing a Ryu SSCC, hopefully, he is strong enough to get through the upcoming stall point for your character. In the part of Eden proceeding Teepo's "room", all the enemies can be fried by Flame-elemental. You should know how to handle them by now. =) And, if possible, do try to acquire a Divine Helmet from the Wraiths for Rei or Garr. For Nina SSCCers, you're gonna need to level *allot* right now, to 54 to be precise, to survive Dragon Lord. ----------- Ryu's Dream ----------- Items: Shaman's Ring, Hourglass, Gems !Ryu! Just get through the dream here. Nothing terribly important here. The enemies here can all be annihilated by Ryu's physicals. The worst threat (which all in itself isn't that strong to begin with) is the Mad Gong's Charge. The dream should be a breeze. `````````````````````````````` *********************** *XXXVII. Arwan * * * *HP~2250 * *Attacks: Sleep, Chill* *********************** !!!!! !Ryu! !!!!! Level: 41 Formation: Normal Equipment: Royal Sword, Dragon Shield, Dragon Helmet, Life Armor, Speed Boots, Speed Boots Strategy: Two Focuses followed up by an Aura as a Warrior should be enough to annihilate him. I'd like to note there's a chance here that he'll put you to Sleep or lower your AGL via Chill. In the case of the former, don't sweat it and just Focus again as soon as you wake up for your Aura the next turn, unless you're near-death, in which case you should Aura immediately. If the latter, Aura immediately and then use regular physicals to finish him off. If he should lower your AGL *while* you're asleep, then Aura as soon as you wake up. If he knocks you out of dragon form before you have a chance to Aura, remember that any stat-changes are negated by dragon transformation and that you haven't actually lost much AP, so you'll have a fresh start against him again. `````````````````````````````` ---- Eden ---- Items: none !Ryu! #+Rei+# #+Nina+# #+Momo+# #+Peco+# #+Garr+# It's time to fight the Dragon Lord. I hope you're strong enough to defeat him... `````````````````````````````` *********************************************************** *XXXVIII. Dragon Lord * * * *HP~13000 * *Attacks: Inferno, Blizzard, Sirroco, Howling, Triple Blow* *********************************************************** Just a note: You might want to have your character throw 3 Ivory Dice at the Dragon Lord so that you can get 65535 experience from him. !!!!! !Ryu! !!!!! Level: 42 Formation: Attack Equipment: Royal Sword, Dragon Shield, Dragon Helmet, Life Armor, Titan Belt, Titan Belt Strategy: Teepo is incredibly strong. With the greatest of haste, transform into a Behemoth. Just keep attacking; you should do, at bare minimum, 600+ damage per attack (more likely around 800). Nonetheless, this battle is surprisingly easy. !!!!! !Rei! !!!!! Level: 44 Formation: Defense Equipment: Holy Avenger, Aries Gloves, Sun Mask, Life Armor, Ivory Charm, Ivory Charm Strategy: You'll need three Speeds for an EX turn. This battle can become difficult though, depending on how much mercy Dragon Lord shows you. Triple Blow maxes out at ~200 damage and his regular physical at ~120. Fortunately, as with Shroom and the Ammonites, Rei's incredible evade rate reduces the chances of taking all the blows from Triple Blow to almost nil. You just have to chip away at him slowly with ~100 damage strikes. !!!!!! !Nina! !!!!!! Before I begin here, I'd just like to thank Mikhail, who's the contributor of the current standard strategy for this battle. In the past, everyone believed this battle was unwinnable without breaching some rules, but Mikhail persisted and discovered an amazing approach to this battle. The description's a bit lengthy and you need to grind and prepare allot to use this approach, but the strategy is fullproof and the only known, truly legal way to win. Level: 54 Formation: Normal Equipment: MagicianRod, SpikedGntlts, Silver Tiara, Holy Robe, Speed Boots, Speed Boots Strategy: "What? Normal form, with Nina, against Dragon Lord? That's right. The Speed Boots might have clued you in on what I'm doing here. When I was tinkering with this, it became apparent that Nina could not even come close to surviving Triple Blow. So, I had to figure out a new way to approach the fight. This fight is going to be characterized by a long, drawn out period, followed by a brief, satisfying period in which you pummel a nearly offenseless Dragon Lord into oblivion. Before battle, stock up on Vitamins and Multivitamins. Buy as many as you can. I bought 99 of each, though I only ended up using perhaps 120. Enter the fight with the above equipment set. The weapon can be anything with a weight of 1 or 2 - Magician Rod seems best for its intelligence bonus. This is enough to get an EX turn. On every normal turn, I had Nina defend. Dragon Lord may use his normal attack, Triple Blow, or a magic attack. The normal attack is easily survivable, and the magic attacks are no major issue (Nina, after all). Triple Blow will usually leave you with about 20-40 HP. During Nina's EX turn, heal her using a Vitamin or Multivitamin (depending on the amount of healing necessary). If he uses Howling, you'll be covered by the combined effects of the Silver Tiara and Holy Robe. Since you won't be damaged, use Myollnir during the EX turn instead of healing. Obviously, you'll want to Myollnir him if his normal attack misses, too. Keep repeating this strategy. Dragon Lord will not use Howling that often, so there will not be many chances to attack. However, the main objective is to wear down his AP. He'll probably run out of AP after 50 turns or so - I don't actually know the exact amount of AP he has. Whenever he tries to cast a skill, he will fail due to his lack of AP, and will be wide open to attack on the EX turn. Once he has taken enough damage, Dragon Lord will enter a second phase, where he will begin to cast Sirocco, and use magic/techniques much more frequently than his normal attacks. Assuming that you cast Myollnir after every Howling and missed attack, he should enter this phase at around the time at which he runs out of AP. This makes it quick and easy to destroy him - most of his turns can be easily countered by a Myollnir once he is out of AP. This will be a long fight. Expect to spend about an hour on it, quite possibly more. There are a few tactics to speed things up. During an EX turn, you can switch your speed boots for Wisdom Rings, put on an Ouroboros and Sage's Frock, and cast Myollnir at much higher intelligence. Just don't forget to switch them back at the beginning of the normal turn, or you'll miss your EX turn. I found the extra damage gained not to be worth the risk of forgetting. Another tactic is to stop defending during normal turns when Teepo runs out of AP - be warned, however, that simply because Teepo doesn't have enough AP to cast a spell doesn't mean that he cannot cast Triple Blow. Also, while I was able to survive his normal attack doing this, I have a sneaking suspicion that it is possible to be killed by it. One word about levels - you need 82 AGL to get an EX turn on Dragon Lord. This becomes theoretically possible at level 49; however, you won't be able to equip any armor, and this effectively makes it impossible to survive Triple Blow. Level 54 is the earliest level at which you may face Teepo fully equipped, without having to worry about Howling, and get an EX turn. It is possible for Triple Blow to kill you at level 54 (occasionally, it will do an obscene amount of damage for some reason); however, it is very unlikely. It was not a problem go through a battle without being struck down by it. Even the strong Triple blows left me with a little bit of HP remaining, and I was able to get Teepo's AP down without difficulty. Nonetheless, while I was trying out an unrelated strategy, a freak Triple Blow killed me after I had survived plenty of them (probably 30 or 40 the various battles while I was tinkering) - so it is not impossible. If you're especially concerned, you might consider going up to level 57 - when I subjected Nina to Triple Blows at this level, she'd end up having a good amount of HP to spare even for the strong ones." !!!!!! !Momo! !!!!!! Level: 44 Formation: Defense Equipment: Atomic Bomb, Mind Shield, Silver Tiara, Force Armor, Soul Gem, Ivory Charm Strategy: Before you ask about the wherebouts of the Artemis' Cap on that list of equipment, let me explain the Soul Gem first. Dragon Lord's Triple Blow is very deadly; even with all your equipment and powering up, it might very well kill you before you get your Protects up. The Soul Gem will provide you with insurance that you'll be able to continue with your Protects. That being said, cast them and now re-equip an Artemis' Cap. (I told you I'd get back to it.). Follow with a few Speeds and then 4 Mights. The combined work of your fortification spells and the Ivory Charm reduces most of Dragon Lord's "deadly attacks" to harmless scratches. All you have to do is attack him for 400+ damage per turn and cast Heal when you're around 1/2 HP. !!!!!! !Peco! !!!!!! Level: 45 Formation: Defense Equipment: Dragonfang, Spiked Gauntlets, Tiger's Cap, Amber Breastplate, Ivory Charm, Ivory Charm Strategy: O__O Wow, this is, without a doubt, Peco's most difficult battle in his SSCC. Because Triple Blow's damage gamut is ~150-~280 (most commonly ~200 damage) Teepo threatens massacring our onion friend any time you choose not to heal. So, there are two methods to go about fighting. The first involves doing nothing but healing until Dragon Lord consumes all his AP, removing all Teepo's spell and Triple Blow threats. A feasible plan, providing you have a complete collection of healing items and if you're patient enough to sit around for an hour fighting and then getting all the cash necessary to restock your healing items. I, however, prefer a second method for those of you not as well supplied: at full health, attack with the initial equipment, attack at 280+ but with a Soul Gem in place of one of the Ivory Charms, and heal at -280 (Vitamin or MultiVitamin, depends on how much HP you have) but with a Soul Gem in place of that Ivory Charm and Laquer Shield in place of the Spiked Gauntlets. Either way, once Dragon Lord is out of AP, quite frankly, you can't lose, unless you play foolishly or are extremely unlucky. From this point, keep your initial equipment no matter what, except for the substitution of a Light Bangle over an Ivory Charm, and pound away. That's all I can say. Good luck! !!!!!! !Garr! !!!!!! Level: 45 Formation: Defense Equipment: Dragon Spear, Giant Shield, Sun Mask, Gideon's Garb, Ivory Charm, Ivory Charm Strategy: It's quite rare that Garr has had to always fear death, especially considering his tankiness and all. However, Dragon Lord's Triple Blow again shows that it deserves quite a lot of respect. Maxing out at ~150 (~90-~150 being the entire gamut; ~120 being average), Triple Blow has the power to end Garr's life at any time (as Garr's HP is less than 300). Seeing the grimness of this scenario, I've decided to draw the lines based on Triple Blow's average damage, rather than its maximum. Attack between 240 and maxHP; Vitamin between 200 and 240 HP; MultiVitamin below 200 HP; temporarily replace the Ivory Charm with a Soul Gem below 150 HP. Well, an effective system... I guess. I never died anyway, >_> plus the lack of the Beast Spear means no HP drain, Dragon Spear dealt 2x damage, and the ~300 damage per turn means the battle proceeds quickly. Anyway, another quick victory (yay) albeit a risky one. <.< `````````````````````````````` ------------------------- Myria Station: Final Area ------------------------- Items: Swallow Eye, Moon Tears, Cupid's Lyre, Hourglass !Ryu! #Rei# #Nina# #Momo# #Peco# #Garr# The enemies in this area are [probably] more deadly than anything else you've fought before. Running would be a good idea if you encounter... almost anything. Only stay to fight if you need a piece of equipment the enemies here have. Garr, however, has pretty good odds though, thanks to the undeadness of many of the targets and Kyrie. For Nina, it is imperative you get Diana's Dress from the Revenants. It will probably take a long time, but your survival against Myria depends on it. If possible, pick up Mist Armor from the Mist Men for Momo, though personally I was never given one, even after at least 20 or 30 battles with them while wearing a Midas Stone. *shrugs* I suppose I just wasn't lucky. My strategies won't include it. Also, Pilfer the Burglar Garb from the Vampires for Rei. The following groups of bosses are primarily comprised of bosses you have defeated in the past. The quickest path to the final save point is left through door, straight, right through door, straight through door, straight through door. This involves fighting only 2 battles. 5 Sample 8s and Samples 10, 11, and 12. For completion purposes, fight all the samples but prioritize clearing a path to the rest point first. However, at least reach the final save point first because there is a rest point there as well. This way you don't need to waste HP/AP restoring items after battles. Here are all the strategies, but check the original boss for additional information on each as I haven't listed it (not that you'll need the stats for many of them; they're easy enough). They are listed in numerical order, not order of discovery (for easier reference). And, to make some sense out of what order to defeat them in, here's the orders in which each of my own characters clobbered the recycled bosses: !!!!! !Ryu! !!!!! 5 Sample 8s Samples 10, 11, 12 Sample 4 Sample 7 2 Sample 2s Sample 5 2 Sample 6s 3 Sample 1s 2 Sample 3s Sample 9 !!!!! !Rei! !!!!! 5 Sample 8s Samples 10, 11, 12 Sample 4 Sample 7 2 Sample 2s 2 Sample 6s Sample 5 3 Sample 1s 2 Sample 3s Sample 9 !!!!!! !Nina! !!!!!! 5 Sample 8s Samples 10, 11, 12 Sample 7 Sample 4 2 Sample 2s Sample 5 2 Sample 6s 3 Sample 1s 2 Sample 3s Sample 9 !!!!!! !Momo! !!!!!! Sample 7 Sample 4 2 Sample 2s Sample 5 2 Sample 6s 3 Sample 1s 2 Sample 3s Sample 9 5 Sample 8s Samples 10, 11, 12 !!!!!! !Peco! !!!!!! 5 Sample 8s Samples 10, 11, 12 Sample 4 2 Sample 2s Sample 5 2 Sample 6s Sample 7 3 Sample 1s 2 Sample 3s Sample 9 !!!!!! !Garr! !!!!!! 5 Sample 8s Samples 10, 11, 12 Sample 4 Sample 7 2 Sample 2s Sample 5 2 Sample 6s 3 Sample 1s 2 Sample 3s Sample 9 `````````````````````````````` ******************** *XXXIX. 3 Sample 1s* ******************** !!!!! !Ryu! !!!!! Level: 44 Formation: Normal Equipment: Royal Sword, Dragon Shield, Dragon Helmet, Life Armor, Speed Boots, Speed Boots Strategy: Nothing but 3 Nues. Magma Breath from a Pygmy! :D !!!!! !Rei! !!!!! Level: 48 Formation: Attack Equipment: Holy Avenger, Aries Gloves, Sun Mask, Life Armor, Speed Boots, Ivory Charm Strategy: Weretiger -> Dead Nue Chimeras. !!!!!! !Nina! !!!!!! Level: 55+ Formation: Defense Equipment: Ouroboros, Spiked Gauntlets, Silver Tiara, Diana's Dress, Ivory Charm, Wisdom Ring Strategy: A pair of Siroccos will vanquish the Nue trio. !!!!!! !Momo! !!!!!! Level: 48 Formation: Attack Equipment: Atomic Bomb, Mind Shield, Silver Tiara, Force Armor, Artemis' Cap, Ivory Charm Strategy: Don't even bother powering up. You can already kill these Nues in one blow anyway, or, if that's too long for you, you can just Ragnarok them to their graves. :) !!!!!! !Peco! !!!!!! Level: 48 Formation: Normal Equipment: Dragonfang, Spiked Gauntlets, Tiger's Cap, Amber Breastplate, Speed Boots, Ivory Charm Strategy: Either of Peco's breath skills followed by the ensuing counters should finish this fight. !!!!!! !Garr! !!!!!! Level: 48 Formation: Attack Equipment: Beast Spear, Giant Shield, Sun Mask, Gideon's Garb, Ivory Charm, Artemis' Cap Strategy: Attack (~400) -> Death. `````````````````````````````` ******************* *XXXX. 2 Sample 2s* ******************* !!!!! !Ryu! !!!!! Level: 43 Formation: Attack Equipment: Royal Sword, Dragon Shield, Dragon Helmet, Life Armor, Speed Boots, Speed Boots Strategy: It's only 2 Hugeslugs. Flame Warrior time. :) !!!!! !Rei! !!!!! Level: 47 Formation: Attack Equipment: Heat Shotel, Aries Gloves, Sun Mask, Life Armor, Speed Boots, Ivory Charm Strategy: Weretiger -> Dead slugs in two hits. !!!!!! !Nina! !!!!!! Level: 55+ Formation: Defense Equipment: Ouroboros, Spiked Gauntlets, Silver Tiara, Diana's Dress, Ivory Charm, Wisdom Ring Strategy: heh heh. Your present equipment blocks Syphon. This makes this easy battle even easier. Simply Sirocco those 2 Hugeslugs to their dooms. !!!!!! !Momo! !!!!!! Level: 48 Formation: Normal Equipment: Atomic Bomb, Mind Shield, Silver Tiara, Force Armor, Wisdom Ring, Spirit Ring Strategy: Fortunately, Syphon is blocked by this equipment. Anyway, all you'll need here is a couple Protects and a Speed for the EX turn. Now, Ragnarok, Ragnarok, Ragnarok! !!!!!! !Peco! !!!!!! Level: 48 Formation: Attack Equipment: Dragonfang, Spiked Gauntlets, Tiger's Cap, Amber Breastplate, Titan Belt, Ivory Charm Strategy: Firebreath to destroy their "coatings" and then just melee them. !!!!!! !Garr! !!!!!! Level: 47 Formation: Attack Equipment: Beast Spear, Giant Shield, Sun Mask, Gideon's Garb, Ivory Charm, Artemis' Cap Strategy: Pyrokinesis (~700-~1000). 'Nuff said. `````````````````````````````` ******************** *XXXXI. 2 Sample 3s* ******************** !!!!! !Ryu! !!!!! Level: 43 Formation: Attack Equipment: Royal Sword, Dragon Shield, Dragon Helmet, Life Armor, Titan Belt, Titan Belt Strategy: Meet 2 Mikbas. A Behemoth should get the job done here. !!!!! !Rei! !!!!! Level: 48 Formation: Normal Equipment: Holy Avenger, Aries Gloves, Sun Mask, Life Armor, Ivory Charm, Soul Gem Strategy: Weretiger -> 1100+ damage per Mikba. !!!!!! !Nina! !!!!!! Level: 55+ Formation: Defense Equipment: Ouroboros, Spiked Gauntlets, Silver Tiara, Diana's Dress, Ivory Charm, Ivory Charm Strategy: This Mikba duo is less fierce than you would think. Lucky Strike does considerably less damage than before, and his other attacks inflict negligible damage. The EX turn should make this battle pie as you Myollnir them. MultiVitamin between if you take too much damage. !!!!!! !Momo! !!!!!! Level: 48 Formation: Attack Equipment: Atomic Bomb, Mind Shield, Silver Tiara, Force Armor, Artemis' Cap, Ivory Charm Strategy: You already have an EX turn, so all you need is your quadra-Protects and quadra-Mights. Other than Lucky Strike and Reprisal -> Lucky Strike, there's nothing to worry about. Generally, you'll be fine if your HP is greater than 1/2. !!!!!! !Peco! !!!!!! Level: 48 Formation: Attack Equipment: Dragonfang, Spiked Gauntlets, Tiger's Cap, Amber Breastplate, Speed Boots, Light Bangle Strategy: This battle is much easier than you'd think. Now, you're even faster than the Mikbas (a rarity for Peco to outrun anything). That said, you should have no trouble wiping the floor with these guys. !!!!!! !Garr! !!!!!! Level: 48 Formation: Defense Equipment: Beast Spear, Giant Shield, Sun Mask, Gideon's Garb, Ivory Charm, Artemis' Cap Strategy: Lucky Blow deals decent damage (~50); that is enough to merit healing in the 250s. After one Mikba died, lower the minimum to ~150. Garr's damage is decent, ~250. `````````````````````````````` ************************************** *XXXXII. Sample 4 * * * *Attacks: Double Blow, Snap, Evil Eye* ************************************** !!!!! !Ryu! !!!!! Level: 43 Formation: Attack Equipment: Royal Sword, Dragon Shield, Dragon Helmet, Life Armor, Ivory Charm, Ivory Charm Strategy: I don't think I've seen this boss before... but, anyway, this big, giant bird can be impossible without the status protection from the Ivory Charm. He has an annoying repertoire of attacks that can make him a little difficult. The good news: status protection will block the paralyzing Evil Eye; the bad news: until he runs out of AP, you'll have to battle him normally. Cast Protect frequently to counter his Snaps and cast Restore when your HP is in the yellow. Once he's out of AP, smash him with a Warrior. !!!!! !Rei! !!!!! Level: 47 Formation: Defense Equipment: Holy Avenger, Aries Gloves, Sun Mask, Life Armor, Ivory Charm, Ivory Charm Strategy: *sighs* -__- I really, really hate this fat dodo. If it weren't for Snap, I wouldn't mind really. At first, Double Blow inflicts a measly 50 damage per strike. However, as the battle progresses, Double Blow's maximum damage potential has a tendency to... well... double! Yeah, ~200 damage from Double Blow stinks. At least he squanders turns with blocked Evil Eyes and his "weaker" physical (boosted to 100+ after Snaps). All you can do to save your hide is boost your Agility for the crucial EX turn and keep pounding away (~100 damage seems eternally slow here). !!!!!! !Nina! !!!!!! Level: 55+ Formation: Defense Equipment: Ouroboros, Spiked Gauntlets, Silver Tiara, Diana's Dress, Ivory Charm, Wisdom Ring Strategy: This big bird sure is durable. 28 Myollnirs were needed to knock him down. Anyway, the hard part about this fight is that his strong physical attack requires you to stay near maximum health, especially because he occasionally acts before you can. Be careful when tangling with this dodo. !!!!!! !Momo! !!!!!! Level: 48 Formation: Attack Equipment: Atomic Bomb, Mind Shield, Silver Tiara, Force Armor, Artemis' Cap, Ivory Charm Strategy: Put up 4 Protects and a couple Speeds while interspersing Rejuvenates. With that secured, then cast your Mights and destroy this bird. !!!!!! !Peco! !!!!!! Level: 47 Formation: Defense Equipment: Dragonfang, Spiked Gauntlets, Tiger's Cap, Amber Breastplate, Ivory Charm, Ivory Charm Strategy: It's simple- dispatch of Sample 4 ASAP; accomplishing it: not so easy. Usually, dragging the battle out wouldn't be so bad for Peco, but the dodo is the second boss Peco's encountered who knows Snap, and you know the disastrous combination of an enemy with a strong physical and Snap. Minimum HP to attack at? I know it starts out low but only rises as the battle unfolds. Sorry I can't provide a more precise figure. Oh, and, when recovering, not only switch an Ivory Charm for a Soul Gem, but also exchange your Spiked Gauntlets for Protectors *shakes fist at Evil Eye*. Once he's consumed all his AP (Yay! No more Double Blow/Evil Eye!), trade-in your accessories for a Titan Belt and an Artemis' Cap and pummel him. !!!!!! !Garr! !!!!!! Level: 47 Formation: Defense Equipment: Beast Spear, Giant Shield, Sun Mask, Gideon's Garb, Ivory Charm, Ivory Charm Strategy: Snap as usual makes combat extremely dangerous, boosting his physical's max from ~60-~130 and Double Blow's max from ~40-~180! Yeah... Garr doesn't nearly have 360 HP, more like 300, so two consecutive Double Blows (not uncommon) basically means death. Therefore, there is only way to handle this battle: MultiVitamin... every turn until Sample 4 runs out of AP. Then, switch Garr's Ivory Charms for a Titan Belt and Artemis' Cap and begin attacking (~150-~220), only stopping to heal at/below ~275 HP. Long? Yes. Tedious? Yes. The only way to win? As far as I know. `````````````````````````````` ******************* *XXXXIII. Sample 5* ******************* !!!!! !Ryu! !!!!! Level: 43 Formation: Attack Equipment: Dragon Blade, Dragon Shield, Dragon Helmet, Life Armor, Speed Boots, Speed Boots Strategy: It's only an Angler. Defeat him the same way as before. !!!!! !Rei! !!!!! Level: 47 Formation: Normal Equipment: Holy Avenger, Aries Gloves, Sun Mask, Life Armor, Thunder Ring, Soul Gem Strategy: Weretiger -> ~900 damage to Angler. !!!!!! !Nina! !!!!!! Level: 55+ Formation: Defense Equipment: Ouroboros, Spiked Gauntlets, Silver Tiara, Diana's Dress, Ivory Charm, Titan Belt Strategy: Just attack the Angler physically. !!!!!! !Momo! !!!!!! Level: 48 Formation: Attack Equipment: Atomic Bomb, Mind Shield, Silver Tiara, Force Armor, Artemis' Cap, Ivory Charm Strategy: This is just your usual "Speed, Protects, Mights, and then attack" battle. !!!!!! !Peco! !!!!!! Level: 48 Formation: Attack Equipment: Dragonfang, Spiked Gauntlets, Tiger's Cap, Amber Breastplate, Titan Belt, Ivory Charm Strategy: Heheh, Angler returns for another beating. You know the routine. !!!!!! !Garr! !!!!!! Level: 47 Formation: Attack Equipment: Beast Spear, Giant Shield, Sun Mask, Gideon's Garb, Thunder Ring, Light Bangle Strategy: Here's a first- Auto-Charge him. Garr hits for 300+ and almost all of Angler's attacks have no effect (well, no negative effect, to be more precise :D). `````````````````````````````` ********************* *XXXXIV. 2 Sample 6s* ********************* !!!!! !Ryu! !!!!! Level: 43 Formation: Attack Equipment: Royal Sword, Dragon Shield, Dragon Helmet, Life Armor, Ivory Charm, Titan Belt Strategy: The 2 Ammonites return. More Thunder Claws from Thunder Behemoths! !!!!! !Rei! !!!!! Level: 47 Formation: Normal Equipment: Holy Avenger, Aries Gloves, Sun Mask, Life Armor, Wisdom Ring, Ivory Charm Strategy: Fry the first Ammonite with five Myollnirs, switch out the Wisdom Ring for a Soul Gem, and Weretiger the remaining Ammonite. On a side note, both Weretiger and Myollnir deal ~500 damage. >_> !!!!!! !Nina! !!!!!! Level: 55+ Formation: Defense Equipment: Ouroboros, Spiked Gauntlets, Silver Tiara, Diana's Dress, Ivory Charm, Wisdom Ring Strategy: Myollnir BBQs both jellyfish. !!!!!! !Momo! !!!!!! Level: 48 Formation: Attack Equipment: Atomic Bomb, Mind Shield, Silver Tiara, Force Armor, Artemis' Cap, Ivory Charm Strategy: *Yawns* Another "Speeds, Protects, Mights, and then beat the enemy senseless into the ground" battle. This is getting really repetitive and boring... fast. -_- !!!!!! !Peco! !!!!!! Level: 48 Formation: Attack Equipment: Dragonfang, Spiked Gauntlets, Tiger's Cap, Amber Breastplate, Ivory Charm, Ivory Charm Strategy: Just attack the Ammonites. Tsunami's the only real threat, but even that is a low use and low accuracy skill. !!!!!! !Garr! !!!!!! Level: 47 Formation: Attack Equipment: Beast Spear, Giant Shield, Sun Mask, Gideon's Garb, Ivory Charm, Ivory Charm Strategy: Meh, Tsunami's not that big an annoyance, due to its horrible accuracy, and Multistrike maxes at ~20 and their physicals at ~10. *slowly losing respect for non-Sample 4 samples* Oh, and Garr hits for ~350. `````````````````````````````` ***************** *XXXXV. Sample 7* ***************** !!!!! !Ryu! !!!!! Level: 43 Formation: Normal Equipment: Royal Sword, Dragon Shield, Dragon Helmet, Life Armor, Titan Belt, Titan Belt Strategy: It's only Manmo again. Defeat him using the same method as before. !!!!! !Rei! !!!!! Level: 47 Fromation: Normal Equipment: Holy Avenger, Aries Gloves, Sun Mask, Life Armor, Ivory Charm, Ivory Charm Strategy: Simple enough- Attack when above ~80 HP for a solid 140+ damage. That's about it. <_< !!!!!! !Nina! !!!!!! Level: 55+ Formation: Defense Equipment: Ouroboros, Spiked Gauntlets, Silver Tiara, Diana's Dress, Ivory Charm, Wisdom Ring Strategy: 8 Myollnirs do the trick against another Manmo. !!!!!! !Momo! !!!!!! Level: 48 Formation: Attack Equipment: Atomic Bomb, Mind Shield, Silver Tiara, Force Armor, Artemis' Cap, Ivory Charm Strategy: 4 Protects to reduce his damage, a few Speeds for the EX turn, and 4 Mights should be enough to give you the power to plow through Manmo's reincarnation. !!!!!! !Peco! !!!!!! Level: 48 Formation: Attack Equipment: Dragonfang, Spiked Gauntlets, Tiger's Cap, Amber Breastplate, Titan Belt, Ivory Charm Strategy: Meh, Attack Form is a little risky here, but you'll be fine if you play wisely. Of course, you'll be attacking him, but just remember to MultiVitamin at ~100 HP. !!!!!! !Garr! !!!!!! Level: 47 Formation: Attack Equipment: Beast Spear, Giant Shield, Sun Mask, Gideon's Garb, Ivory Charm, Artemis' Cap Strategy: A weak performance by Manmo: Double Blow (~20-~40), physical (~50), and Quake (~30). As for Garr, he's dealing a much more comfortable ~400 damage, and only has to heal below ~150 HP. `````````````````````````````` ********************* *XXXXVI. 5 Sample 8s* ********************* !!!!! !Ryu! !!!!! Level: 42 Formation: Normal Equipment: Royal Sword, Protectors, Dragon Helmet, Life Armor, Ivory Charm, Titan Belt Strategy: Here are 5 Rockies. More Magma Breath action for the Pygmy! :D !!!!! !Rei! !!!!! Level: 47 Formation: Attack Equipment: Holy Avenger, Protectors, Sun Mask, Life Armor, Speed Boots, Light Bangle Strategy: Weretiger -> Dead chickens. !!!!!! !Nina! !!!!!! Level: 55+ Formation: Defense Equipment: Ouroboros, Spiked Gauntlets, Silver Tiara, Diana's Dress, Ivory Charm, Wisdom Ring Strategy: A couple Siroccos should finish 5 Rockies. !!!!!! !Momo! !!!!!! Level: 48 Formation: Normal Equipment: Atomic Bomb, Mind Shield, Silver Tiara, Force Armor, Wisdom Ring, Spirit Ring Strategy: Ragnarok. The end. !!!!!! !Peco! !!!!!! Level: 47 Formation: Normal Equipment: Dragonfang, Spiked Gauntlets, Tiger's Cap, Amber Breastplate, Ivory Charm, Speed Boots Strategy: Two of Peco's patented breath attacks should wipe them away. !!!!!! !Garr! !!!!!! Level: 47 Formation: Normal Equipment: Flying Spear, Protectors, Sun Mask, Light Clothing, Light Bangle, Wisdom Ring Strategy: 2 Infernos (Trust me, even Garr's magic can kill off the Rockies) -> Death. `````````````````````````````` ******************* *XXXXVII. Sample 9* ******************* !!!!! !Ryu! !!!!! Level: 44 Formation: Attack Equipment: Royal Sword, Dragon Shield, Dragon Helmet, Life Armor, Titan Belt, Titan Belt Strategy: Gaist returns for more punishment (no torches this time though). Just defeat him the same way you did last time. !!!!! !Rei! !!!!! Level: 48 Formation: Normal Equipment: Holy Avenger, Aries Gloves, Sun Mask, Life Armor, Soul Gem, Ivory Charm Strategy: Weretiger -> 1200+ damage to Gaist. !!!!!! !Nina! !!!!!! Level: 55+ Formation: Defense Equipment: Ouroboros, Spiked Gauntlets, Silver Tiara, Diana's Dress, Ivory Charm, Wisdom Ring Strategy: Simply Myollnir Gaist to his grave... again. !!!!!! !Momo! !!!!!! Level: 48 Formation: Attack Equipment: Atomic Bomb, Mind Shield, Silver Tiara, Force Armor, Artemis' Cap, Ivory Charm Strategy: Sanctuary will nullify your stat-up spells, so don't waste your time trying. You don't need them anyway. Non-boosted attacking will still kill Gaist in a few turns. !!!!!! !Peco! !!!!!! Level: 49 Formation: Attack Equipment: Dragonfang, Spiked Gauntlets, Tiger's Cap, Amber Breastplate, Speed Boots, Ring of Fire Strategy: >.> Gaist certainly dies quickly. You only need attack him a few times before he croaks. !!!!!! !Garr! !!!!!! Level: 48 Formation: Defense Equipment: Beast Spear, Giant Shield, Sun Mask, Gideon's Garb, Ivory Charm, Artemis' Cap Strategy: Garr's attack = ~350 damage. Bah, I didn't get numbers on Risky Blow, precisely because its accuracy stinks so it never hit me, but I doubt it's deadly. >_> `````````````````````````````` ****************************** *XXXXVIII. Samples 10, 11, 12* ****************************** !!!!! !Ryu! !!!!! Level: 42 Formation: Attack Equipment: Royal Sword, Dragon Shield, Dragon Helmet, Life Armor, Speed Boots, Speed Boots Strategy: These are 3 differently colored Stallions. In addition to their old attacks each one has an attack accompanying its own element. The red (fire) Stallion has Fireblast, the white (ice) Stallion has Iceblast, and the black (lightning) Stallion has Jolt(?). Take out the red and white Stallions as a warrior, but then Restore Form, so you can temporarily change the Royal Sword to a non-elemental weapon to fight the black Stallion. !!!!! !Rei! !!!!! Level: 47 Formation: Normal Equipment: Holy Avenger, Aries Gloves, Sun Mask, Life Armor, Speed Boots, Ivory Charm Strategy: Kill them in order of 10, 12, 11 and healed at ~100 HP. You might as well defeat 11 last, as his primary spell *is* nullified. !!!!!! !Nina! !!!!!! Level: 55+ Formation: Defense Equipment: Ouroboros, Spiked Gauntlets, Silver Tiara, Diana's Dress, Ivory Charm, Wisdom Ring Strategy: Blunt the 3 Stallions each twice. Then, because 3 Barriers were cast on Sample 10, the ice elemental Stallion, attack with Blizzard. Remember to heal inbetween when you're at one-half HP, and, when Samples 11 and 12 deviate from the elemental spell casting, start healing at a higher minimum. Continue the pattern until either Sample 11 or Sample 12 is defeated. Then Iceblast the remaining one (If at any time during this process you run out of AP, only use a Black Porgy.). Now, for Sample 10, cast a few Weakens on him, switch the Wisdom Ring for a Titan Belt, and eliminate him physically. !!!!!! !Momo! !!!!!! Level: 48 Formation: Attack Equipment: Atomic Bomb, Mind Shield, Silver Tiara, Force Armor, Ivory Charm, Artemis' Cap Strategy: Simple enough. Start with Speeds, Protects, and Mights and destroy them in order of most to least powerful, or Sample 10, Sample 12, and Sample 11. Just watch out for their physicals. !!!!!! !Peco! !!!!!! Level: 47 Formation: Defense Equipment: Dragonfang, Spiked Gauntlets, Tiger's Cap, Amber Breastplate, Ivory Charm, Titan Belt Strategy: A long, yet easy battle: Attack them individually until their deaths in ascending numerical order, using MultiVitamins at ~100 HP. !!!!!! !Garr! !!!!!! Level: 47 Formation: Defense Equipment: Beast Spear, Giant Shield, Sun Mask, Gideon's Garb, Ivory Charm, Artemis' Cap Strategy: Attack them in order of 10, 12, then 11 (again, 11 being last for obvious reasons) for usually 200+. Otherwise, MultiVitamin at/below 200 HP. `````````````````````````````` This is it. Make sure you're well stocked and powerful enough to fight the final boss. `````````````````````````````` ****************************************************************************** *IL.Myria * * * *HP~20000 * *Attacks: Inferno, Myollnir, Blizzard, Restore, Sirocco, Sanctuary, Evil Eye,* * Death, Venom, Holocaust * ****************************************************************************** As you may have noticed (if you've viewed this part of the guide in the past), I've only divided *some* of these strategies into "phases." Why not all of them? It's actually rather simple; the very battle for the given character radically changes to the point that the previous strategy is no longer sufficient. Plus it's just easier for me to make notations on possible worries or troubleshooting that could plague you, although it's still the same reason: that problem would only come up for that character at those given moments and not for the other characters. So, for those of you who had been wondering... that's why. !!!!! !Ryu! !!!!! Level: 45 Formation: Attack Equipment: Royal Sword, Dragon Shield, Dragon Helmet, Life Armor, Speed Boots, Speed Boots Strategy: I've never advised you to use this form as of yet, but never before has it so been needed: Quickly transform into the Tiamat. The Tiamat is absolutely perfect for this battle. It has a huge attack, high HP and defense, small AP cost, and, best of all, immunity to status attacks (Evil Eye and Venom) and Death! Myria will waste countless turns trying to cast these three spells on you while you pound away at her! Once your form is broken by either Myria or lack of AP, use a couple Wisdom Fruits, and transform into the Tiamat again. Just keep pounding at her and eventually ultimate victory will be yours! !!!!! !Rei! !!!!! Level: 48 Formation: Defense Equipment: Holy Avenger, Aries Gloves, Sun Mask, Burglar Garb, Ivory Charm, Ivory Charm Strategy: This was it. *anticipation building* Oh, just to give you a better picture of my experience, I'll cut this down into three phases: Phase 1: The Wasteful Goddess- Phase 1 will be gentle enough. Her physical won't be much of a problem (it maxes out at ~120), as Rei dodges many of her strikes anyway. Most of her skills are pretty wimpy as well, and she squanders many of her turns via nulled Evil Eyes, Venoms, and elemental magic. Phase 2: Introduction of Myria's Ultimate Attack... And Some Healing Too- Phase 2 will be pretty slow. She now freqently casts Restore, and you'll only be slowed down by the gradually increasing casts of Holocaust. Phase 3: The Unbridled, Relentless Death-Machine- By this point, Myria just starts spamming Holocaust, often in chains ranging from two to four times consecutively. Her "useless" attacks will almost stop, as well as Restore, and she'll unleash Death (which is fortunately nulled). However, as Rei will have the Agility advantage, you could always get in one jab before you need to heal. Continue your assault and finally the long, perilous battle will end; you, the victor. WARNING: Wondering why I didn't suggest Life Armor? I tried battling her with it on. It didn't work out. I wasn't guaranteed to act before she did and thus could have been killed when I was healing. I wasn't sure of the difference between our Agility either, so, rather than level, I traded 16 Defense points for 13 Agility Points via the Burglar Garb. I was guaranteed to outrun her, and all could proceed undisturbed. !!!!!! !Nina! !!!!!! Level: 55+ Formation: Defense Equipment: Ouroboros, Spiked Gauntlets, Silver Tiara, Diana's Dress, Ivory Charm, Wisdom Ring Strategy: I won't blame you for leveling up to 60. This final battle may seem almost impossible at 50. Not only is the goddess faster than you, but also her physical attack is lethal, usually knocking off at least one-half your HP. Her magic attacks do considerably less damage though (except Holocaust) but still add to the bon fire. The best opportunitites for the [approximately] 100 Myollnirs you will need to win is after Venom, Evil Eye, or Death, as they are blocked by this set. However, as the battle progresses, Myria gives you less opportunities to get in a few hits. To make it even worse, she even heals away the damage you inflict thanks to her Restore. Good luck and welcome to heck. !!!!!! !Momo! !!!!!! Level: 49 Formation: Defense Equipment: Atomic Bomb, Mind Shield, Silver Tiara, Force Armor, Artemis' Cap, Ivory Charm Strategy: This battle took place in 3 phases. I'm going to cut it down phase by phase; they share the same names as those of Rei's: "Phase 1: The Wasteful Goddess", "Phase 2: Introduction of Myria's Ultimate Attack... And Some Healing Too", and "Phase 3: The Unbridled, Relentless Death-Machine". Phase 1: Myria sticks with Venom, Evil Eye (the 2 worthless as they are blocked), Blizzard, Inferno, (these 2 are nothing thanks to Ivory Charm) Sanctuary, and a deadly physical. Since Sanctuary will cancel out any major status building you try, choose one stat-up spell to cast once. The best choice is actually Speed. It allows your healing spells to almost always take effect before Myria has chance to attack, so you can more economically use your turns since you know exactly when to heal. Even if Myria casts Sanctuary, if you have 130+ HP, you can cast Speed again, endure a potential max damage physical, and Rejuvenate back to max HP. The only drawback of this phase is that you only inflict an average 200 damage... whenever you hit. Phase 2: This is the most annoying of the phases. Slowly shifting away from status attacks and stat boost nullification, Myria pulls out Holocaust (which Ivory Charm does **** for) and the detested Restore (which heals a little less than 2 of your successful attacks). You rarely ever get a chance to attack as most of your turns are spent healing or recasting Speed, and, of course, your accuracy is still ****, so, considering all these factors, it's needless to say that progress is slow. Phase 3: At this point, Myria has almost completely shifted towards direct offense. Somewhere between Phase 2 and 3 she pulls out Myollnir... >_> <_< Every once of a while she pulls out Venom as well, but Evil Eye and Sanctuary stop appearing. This is your opportunity to pull out several stacked Protects and Mights. Your attacks now inflict 500+ damage... at least every time you hit. Not even Death, the final spell she unleashes, is a problem, yet again thanks to your Ivory Charm. Now, that you're powered up and prepared for anything she can do, finish Myria off. !!!!!! !Peco! !!!!!! Level: 49 Formation: Defense Equipment: Dragonfang, Protectors, Tiger's Cap, Amber Breastplate, Ivory Charm, Ivory Charm Strategy: What a pitiful display on Myria's part -_- ... well, at least it's only easier for you. This setup gives Peco full status and elemental protection, but unfortunately Myria's strongest attacks, her physical and Holocaust, remain. Even those, however, are nothing to Peco as they max out at ~120 damage! Heh, all you have to do is MultiVitamin around and below 220 HP (Note: 220 HP, an incredibly easy number to work with, is actually for maximum safety! Though that was probably obvious. >.> I just felt like making note of it.) and pound away at her while she *utilizes* weak or useless skills and the ocassional Restore in some vain attempt to actually win. In conclusion, I reiterate my opening statement *points to beginning of paragraph*. Congrats. !!!!!! !Garr! !!!!!! Level: 48 Formation: Defense Equipment: Beast Spear, Giant Shield, Sun Mask, Gideon's Garb, Ivory Charm, Ivory Charm Strategy: *breaks the battle down into three phases* Phase 1: Typical maximums: Sirocco (0), Blizzard (0), Inferno (0), Venom (nulled), Evil Eye (nulled), physical (~90). Yeah... with Garr's massive 300+ HP count and ~200 attacks, Phase 1 passes by quickly. You only have to heal at ~190 HP early on... but should raise that bar a little bit in preparation for Phase 2. Phase 2: Holocaust arrives with authority (max = ~120) smashing into Garr. Restore as usual lengthens the battle big time, but she doesn't use it that much at all (yay). Phase 3: Death isn't a problem, but the battle is still slow, particlarly due to her spamming Holocaust. Twenty consecutive Holocausts can really slow down progress (I should know -_-). Eventually, victory is yours, but beware: this nut takes a while to crack. `````````````````````````````` If you've made it to this point, then you've won! Congratulations! Try another SSCC if you like. Hopefully, it will be more challenging than the last... *screen fades out* ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) (((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u)) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Section #8- "Secondary" SSCCs ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Now, I call these "secondary" because essentially these are SSCCs of the other characters with additional conditions. As there are a near limitless number of these, I won't be doing these. However, anyone else who has an idea for one and would like to do one, feel free. In fact, send me the information about it in case someone else should like to do it. Feel like playing through as Ryu without Accession or with only mandatory genes? Go ahead. Think you can play using only one specific dragon form for every battle? Try it. Want to play as Momo without any stat boosting spells? Give it a shot. Whatever you can think of, whatever you'd like to do, try it and send the results back to me. This section is where it'll go. Concerning dragon forms breaking, this is my judgment call on the issue (thanks to Magus Xenos for the idea, BTW): The dragon form may be broken an unlimited number of times (via HP or AP), but in his reverted state, the Soul Gem rule will apply again (2 Soul Gems for base Ryu). However, there's one catch which completely removes all the cheapness from it: While base Ryu can heal his AP and status all he wants, under no condition is he to restore his HP. Considering the haste you'll be making, I doubt you'll do this, but base Ryu may not take any form of offensive action against the enemy either at this time of AP restoration. A couple more notes: There are no equipment limitations for Ryu in this type of challenge, and I advise you choose your equipment based off of the form you've chosen (though that was probably fairly obvious). Check the FAQ section for any questions that are unanswered here. Without further ado, I proudly present the first dragon SSCC, completed by none other than myself. !!!!!!!! !Tiamat! !!!!!!!! ------------------------ Summary of Pros and Cons ------------------------ Pros ---- High HP, PWR, and DEF *Without* a Significant Loss in AGL Good Forms of ST and MT Damage 100% Status and Death Immunity Total Earth-Elemental Immunity Instant-Death Capabilities Low AP Cost Cons ---- Mediocre INT (-> Magic Defense) No Forms of Healing Venom Breath Has Nary a Use ---------- Notes/Tips ---------- "Wussy serpents of old, stand aside for this tank." This coiled, party-consumer isn't quite as physically-set as its competitor, the Behemoth class, but Tiamats can still certainly hold their own. Heck, their AGL and AP expenditure (13 to transform, 7 to maintain per turn) is much better than the Behemoth-class's to boot, although both their INT (namely Magic Defense) leaves something to be desired. "*Strong* versatility in damage = good." In addition to his incredibly strong physical, Doom Breath's non-elemental MT damage works on a much higher % than regular breath attacks, making it an excellent skill. "Be gone, feeble randoms!" Shadow Breath is a very pretty thing. Granted, it only works on non-immune, biological targets, but it's nevertheless a great field-clearing ability. "But vice versa does not necessarily apply..." The beauty of Tiamat, its crown jewel, if you will, of its greatness: Total status and death immunity, protecting against anything from stat-downs to negative statuses and instant death spells. The *only* exception is, yes, you guessed it, the evil incarnate melee skill, Paralyzer, which overrides the immunity because the melee and status aspects of the skill are intrinsically attached and the game gave emphasis to the physical part, meaning paralysis comes along with it by default. But you've probably heard me rant about Paralyzer before; you'll see the Tiamat strategy for it later. "Big-*** Snake: Take flight!" I only recently discovered this little tidbit (when playing through this SSCC in fact), but Tiamat is a floating target, apparently (which would make sense considering that he, ya know, is floating on the field >_>), which grants him complete immunity to Earth-elemental strikes... even if there aren't even a handful, without any elemental compromises. "More a hampering obstacle than an inhibiting one:" Venom Breath- You know it, and you hate it. Why? It sucks, and I doubt anyone will argue otherwise. And for those of you who dare to, let me kindly redirect you to my refutation of Venom Breath's abilities listed under the Peco evaluation. Otherwise, the lack of any form of healing (no spells and a locked item bag) is the only other problem, but the rules of dragon SSCCs hardly make it any more than a nuisance. ------------- Spell Reviews ------------- -Doom Breath- Rating: ***** Type: DRAGON (ATTACK) Description: Neutral; damage altered by HP AP Consumed: 0 Commentary: Tiamat's staple ability, which you'll be using in at least 70% (closer to 80%, methinks) of all random encounters. The cool part is that Doom Breath's damage is both neutral-elemental and works on a much higher % curve of his own maxHP (as mentioned before >_>), so you'll get a heck of allot of damage out of it, usually enough for OHKOs against any and all opposition. -Shadow Breath- Rating: *** Type: DRAGON (ATTACK) Description: Death vs. all targets AP Consumed: 0 Commentary: Shadow Breath's not a *bad* skill; it really isn't. It's just that too many enemy units are either non-biological or immune, not to mention that Shadow Breath's accuracy seems to also be dependent on the ratio between currentHP/maxHP of many enemies. As a result, few enemy targets are suitable targets. The good news: Usually the ones that *can* be hit appear in groups. -Venom Breath- Rating: ** Type: DRAGON (ATTACK) Description: Poisons all targets AP Consumed: 3 Commentary: Do I really need to go into this? Non-lethal, little actual damage per turn, so-so accuracy, AP consumption, and only a prolonged maintenance of the status having an effect ruins the usefulness of Venom Breath, if there ever was any. As I said with Peco, two stars is *very* generous. -Restore Form- Rating: ** Type: DRAGON (Neutral) Description: N/A (Reverts back to base form) AP Consumed: 0 Commentary: Given the nature of dragon SSCCs and Tiamat's status immunity, there's very few good reasons you for you to revert (unless you got hit with an insurmountable negative status while transforming), other than the Sample 10, 11, and 12 fight, but only to change weapons. ---------------- Final Evaluation ---------------- Difficulty for character- Very Easy Due to the sheer shortness of his SSCC in addition to his sheer brokenness, the Tiamat SSCC is a cakewalk. =========== Walkthrough =========== Your starting point is the Steel Grave (technically, Lost Shore Yggdrasil Tree but you know what I mean). And Tiamat starts out with a "Bang!", OHKOing all the randoms in Steel Grave with Doom Breath (~200-~270). Unfortunately, you need to actually think in Colony, as Doom Breath only OHKOs 90% of randoms *rolls eyes as if 90% weren't satisfactory* Shadow Breath is preferable against Codgers, while Doom Breath pretty much nukes everything else, bar the highest HP Toxic Men, who are picked off on the EX turns *hugs Speed Boots*. Relay Point A: **** Tankbots, always appearing with enemies who you should Shadow Breath to death. Shadow Breath doesn't get to see as much time as it should, so Doom Breath is your staple skill here. In Dragnier, yeah, Accession's locked for Elder, so on to Factory! With Speed Boots x2, EX turns are guarantteed against all but the swiftest of foes, and Doom Breath fachizzeled most in two turns. As for the DoD, dual Speed Boots again give you EX turns against all (this time, minus Crab-types, but after level-ups, Tiamat indeed receives EX turns against everyone). Again, Doom Breath destroys all. `````````````````````````````` ************* *XXXV. Manmo* ************* Level: 38 Formation: Attack Equipment: Royal Sword, Lacquer Shield, Lacquer Helmet, Life Armor, Titan Belt, Titan Belt Strategy: Given Manmo's all physical (minus Quake, which is useless against a flying character like Tiamat) and Tiamat's uber-defense, you'll have no problems as you blow ~580-~730 holes in him. `````````````````````````````` The worker and lab areas aren't too bad, but you're forced to switch to Defense Form and stick on a Light Bangle and Ivory Charm before transforming, as Attack Form w/o said equipment *will* get you annihilated. The only problems even with the precautions taken are Drake groups, with their breath attacks hitting Ryu and Tiamat alike for 100+ damage. Speed Boots x2 on when fighting nothing but Drake groups, always. `````````````````````````````` **************** *XXXVI. Chimera* **************** Level: 40 Formation: Attack Equipment: Royal Sword, Mind Shield, Sun Mask, Life Armor, Speed Boots, Titan Belt Strategy: EXCEPTION. **** you, Chimera, with your Paralyzer! Not even Tiamat can get by you unscathed! The good news is, getting hit by Paralyzer does *not* mean a Game Over for our party-consumer. The bad news is that Tiamat just sits there until his AP is no more, reverts, and then it's Game Over due to your dead comrades. Therefore, as usual, allies must be kept alive in this match. Pretty much identical to the usual "EXCEPTION" instated in this battle- your other two PCs can only use Panaceas on Ryu and heal/support themselves, nothing more. As for Ryu himself, once he's unfrozen, continue only giving him a Black Porgy/Wisdom Seed; he'll get in, at most, two solid attacks as Tiamat and won't run the risk of wasting nearly 100 AP if he gets hit by Paralyzer. However, whenever Ryu's in human form and not about to transform, Ivory Charm and Soul Gem are a must, as Chimera will make Ryu pay badly for keeping those Speed Boots on. Tiamat smacks Chimera for ~500-~800 damage a hit, but those elemental spells can vary in damage (usually around 50ish, but then again, I want him to use those rather than Paralyzer). Most importantly, the two PCs with Ryu must possess high AGL or some Speed Boots to make up the difference. At the very least, they've gotta outrun Chimera. PS: Many Black Porgies are a must, and optimize the other two PC's equipment, lest that ruin their chances of outrunning Chimera. `````````````````````````````` Randoms, randoms @_@. Doom Breath yet again annihilates all the enemies in Eden and Ryu's Dream (physicaled the Foul Weeds). Only run from Thanatos, since you don't want to be Leech Power'd and have to waste an AP restorative. Overall, easier than the Laboratory Area randoms. `````````````````````````````` *************** *XXXVII. Arwan* *************** Level: 41 Formation: Normal Equipment: Royal Sword, Dragon Shield, Dragon Helmet, Life Armor, Speed Boots, Speed Boots Strategy: Blizzard and Chill are his worst attacks, hitting for around ~50 while Sleep and his physical you may haughtily laugh at as you slowly crush him for ~200-~300 a strike. `````````````````````````````` ********************** *XXXVIII. Dragon Lord* ********************** Level: 42 Formation: Attack Equipment: Royal Sword, Dragon Shield, Dragon Helmet, Life Armor, Speed Boots, Speed Boots Strategy: Finally, the Dragon Lord. Surprisingly, there's not much to mention here. After a quick Wisdom Fruit to regain all the AP you've lost against Arwan, transform and tear away at Teepo for ~500-~700 a hit. His attacks: Blizzard ~80, Inferno ~70, Sirocco ~90, physical ~20, Triple Blow ~100 (MDP), Howling (*chuckles*). You'll probably only revert once (by HP) but immediately retransform without raising AP and finish him off before that yellow AP bar goes red. `````````````````````````````` Myria Station, Final Area randoms: Um, Tiamat physicals pretty much OHKOs all but the Goo Kings. Doom Breath is actually somewhat inefficient. O_o `````````````````````````````` ********************* *XXXXVI. 5 Sample 8s* ********************* Level: 42 Formation: Normal Equipment: Royal Sword, Dragon Shield, Dragon Helmet, Life Armor, Speed Boots, Speed Boots Strategy: A Doom Breath during the EX turn followed by a second during the regular turn finishes these chickens off. `````````````````````````````` ****************************** *XXXXVIII. Samples 10, 11, 12* ****************************** Level: 42 Formation: Attack Equipment: Royal Sword, Dragon Shield, Dragon Helmet, Life Armor, Speed Boots, Speed Boots Strategy: Doom Breath (~230 on all) near maxHP inflicts around as much damage as a physical on one (~550-~800), so take them down one-by-one. Sample 10 goes first because Iceblast hurts the most (~50). Next to die is Sample 11, even though Fireblast hurts the least (~20). You'll have to revert due to HP once, but immediately retransform and finish the Flame Stallion. Afterwards, Restore Form and switch out the Royal Sword for the Dragon Blade and take down the Lightninging (~30) Sample 12 with a somewhat weaker physical (~450). Utmost Attack- ~30, physical (~15) `````````````````````````````` ****************** *XXXXII. Sample 4* ****************** Level: 43 Formation: Attack Equipment: Royal Sword, Dragon Shield, Dragon Helmet, Life Armor, Speed Boots, Speed Boots Strategy: Bwhaha. The legendary Sample 4 reduced to a mere laughing stock. Evil Eye is of course ineffective and his physicals amount to nothing more than at most ~15 a hit. My physical- ~500-~700 a hit. *derides the dodo* `````````````````````````````` ***************** *XXXXV. Sample 7* ***************** Level: 43 Formation: Attack Equipment: Royal Sword, Dragon Shield, Dragon Helmet, Life Armor, Speed Boots, Speed Boots Strategy: At its core, a carbon copy of the last battle, except that this skirmish is much shorter. `````````````````````````````` ******************* *XXXX. 2 Sample 2s* ******************* Level: 43 Formation: Attack Equipment: Dragon Blade, Dragon Shield, Dragon Helmet, Life Armor, Speed Boots, Speed Boots Strategy: Thanks to the Flame-elemental Dragon Blade, you'll finish these slugs in no time. THKOs (~1000 a hit) are the way to go. `````````````````````````````` ******************* *XXXXIII. Sample 5* ******************* Level: 43 Formation: Attack Equipment: Dragon Blade, Dragon Shield, Dragon Helmet, Life Armor, Speed Boots, Speed Boots Strategy: Thunder Clap is the only thing that hurt (~60). Otherwise, Dragon Blade *shakes fist at Angler's Thunder-elemental-ness* hits Angler for, you guessed it, ~500-~700 damage. `````````````````````````````` ********************* *XXXXIV. 2 Sample 6s* ********************* Level: 43 Formation: Attack Equipment: Royal Sword, Dragon Shield, Dragon Helmet, Life Armor, Speed Boots, Speed Boots Strategy: Nothing really hurt here. Heck, you'll kill them before they can get into any of their better attack phases, not that it would have made a difference *Rei shrug*. Thanks now to the Thunder-elemental Royal Sword, ~1200-~1400 strikes kill the Ammonites quickly. `````````````````````````````` ******************** *XXXIX. 3 Sample 1s* ******************** Level: 44 Formation: Normal Equipment: Royal Sword, Dragon Shield, Dragon Helmet, Life Armor, Speed Boots, Speed Boots Strategy: Doom Breath -> OHKO on Nues (~350 on all) `````````````````````````````` ******************** *XXXXI. 2 Sample 3s* ******************** Level: 44 Formation: Attack Equipment: Royal Sword, Dragon Shield, Dragon Helmet, Life Armor, Speed Boots, Speed Boots Strategy: Mikba's physical (~15) isn't a problem, but Lucky Strike (~60-~70) can really hurt, especially considering his Reprisal rate. Fortunately, the facts that you have EX turns on them (and can use them with my ~400-~600 attacks) and that Venom Breath, Quake, and Resist all do *literally* nothing for them makes the whole Lucky Strike point almost moot. `````````````````````````````` ******************* *XXXXVII. Sample 9* ******************* Level: 44 Formation: Attack Equipment: Royal Sword, Dragon Shield, Dragon Helmet, Life Armor, Speed Boots, Speed Boots Strategy: A physical (~400) followed by a critical (~1100) vaporizes him in a flash. ... Eh, *shrugs* his attacks don't matter; not like any of them would even come close to fatal. `````````````````````````````` *********** *IL. Myria* *********** Level: 45 Formation: Attack Equipment: Royal Sword, Dragon Shield, Dragon Helmet, Life Armor, Speed Boots, Speed Boots Strategy: Sorry to make the conclusion of the Tiamat SSCC so anti-climactic, but... um... >_> *points to the strategy for a regular Ryu SSCC* `````````````````````````````` Congratulations on completing the Tiamat SSCC! ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) (((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u)) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Section #9- Stall Points ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Whenever "only" is used, it means that the character is lost for that battle and regained immediately afterwards. !!!!! !Ryu! !!!!! Beginning to end. Clean and cut. !!!!!!! !Teepo! !!!!!!! First Gained- Child Ryu's arrival in McNeil. Lost Permanently- After Balio & Sunder battle in Cedar Woods. !!!!! !Rei! !!!!! First Gained- Child Ryu's arrival in McNeil. Lost- After group's capture by Bunyan. Gained- Battle #1 with Nue. Lost- Entrance into McNeil's House. Gained- McNeil's house's roof. Lost- After Balio & Sunder battle in Cedar Woods. Gained- Adult Ryu's battle with Mikba. Lost only for battle against Gaist and 2 Torches. Lost- Adult Ryu's dream sequence. Gained- Battle with Dragon Lord. !!!!!! !Nina! !!!!!! First gained- After Balio & Sunder battle in the basement of Wyndia Castle. Lost only for battle against Garr in Contest of Champions. Lost- Battle with Garr at Angel Tower. Gained- Arrival of adult Ryu at McNeil Manor. Lost only for battle against Gaist and 2 Torches. Lost- Adult Ryu's dream sequence. Gained- Battle with Dragon Lord. !!!!!! !Momo! !!!!!! First Gained- Child Ryu in higher levels of her Tower. Lost only for battle against Garr in Contest of Champions. Lost- Battle with Garr at Angel Tower. Gained- Arrival of adult Ryu at Plant. Lost only for battle against Gaist and 2 Torches. Lost- Arrival at Dock by Junk Town. Gained- After fixing the Porter's Guild's ship. Lost- Adult Ryu's dream sequence. Gained- Battle with Dragon Lord. !!!!!! !Peco! !!!!!! First Gained- After defeat of Mutant. Lost only for battle against Garr in Contest of Champions. Lost only for battle with Dolphin. Lost- Battle with Garr at Angel Tower. Gained- Arrival of adult Ryu at Ygdrasil tree by Plant after gaining Momo. Lost only for battle against Gaist and 2 Torches. Lost- Adult Ryu's dream sequence. Gained- Battle with Dragon Lord. !!!!!! !Garr! !!!!!! First Gained- After Tournament of Champions in Genmel. Lost only for battle with Dolphin. Lost only for battle against Gaist and 2 Torches. Lost- Adult Ryu's dream sequence. Gained- Battle with Dragon Lord. ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) (((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u)) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Section #10- Faerie Village ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Faerie Village is another saving grace in the SSCCs. Of course, your first priority should be the development of the village, but these are your next important priorities. A Distant Expedition post with 3 Faeries: the sacred and mighty Ivory Charm. This is the easiest method to get your hands on it. It is imperative that you get an Ivory Charm as soon as possible. Other items of note include Momo's Ghostbuster and Wisdom Fruits. Next, establish 3 merchants' shops each with 3 faeries. Set up a "Speed" Item Shop, an "Ability" Handyman Shop", and an "Ability" Weapon Shop. Through these shops, you gain access to Nina's Ouroboros, an endless supply of Soul Gems, AmberB Plate, an early supply of MultiVitamins, etc. Here is where you make your own decision. You can choose between a couple full Gift Shops and a full Copy Shop, or 3 full Gift Shops (or maybe just switch between them). Why? For more Wisdom Fruits, at least for the characters who need Wisdom fruits anyway... The Gift Shop is more dependable but slower than the Copy Shop. Believe it or not, the Spirit Ring won't be a reason for establishing the Gift Shop. Many of you may prefer the Copy Shop though as you can [obviously] accumulate needed items other than Wisdom Fruits. ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) (((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u)) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Section #11- The Fish ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Alright, this is simple enough. This brief section explains the usefullness of each fish. I'll use the same star and review system as I did with characters' spells. I'll cut each fish down into "Field/Battle" use, which discusses the fish's use as a usable item, and "Other", which obviously mentions the fish's other uses. 1) Jellyfish - Restores 1 HP - Single Target Field/Battle: * This item is totally and completely useless. The end. Other: * This thing doesn't even sell well. 2) Pirana - Restores 20 HP - Single Target Field/Battle: ** Minor HP restoration. At the time you're fishing for one, it's still not useful though due to its financial contributions. Other: ** It sells much better. You can buy better healing items with the money. Trade it for an early higher level lure. 3) Puffer - Flame Attack - Single Target Field/Battle: * You can't use it anyway due to the fact that it's an attack item. Other: ** Sell it for cash. Also, you can trade for an early higher level lure. 4) Trout - Restores 40 HP - Single Target Field/Battle: ** An OK healing item. Other: *** You can buy several Healing Herbs with a sold trout. A much better deal. Not to mention it's used in a trade for an early Silver Knife with Manillo. 5) Rainbow Trout - Restores 5 AP - Single Target Field/Battle: *** AP restoratives are always welcome, especially such an early one. Other: *** It's worth quite a bit in shops... early on anyway, and it's also involved in the trade for an early Silver Knife. 6) Red Catfish - Earthquake - All Targets Field/Battle: * An attack item. -_- Other: *** It's part of a trade for a Katzbalger. That's the only important use. 7) Bass - Restores 80 HP - Single Target Field/Battle: ** A decent HP restorative. Other: ** It sells pretty well. You can buy superior Vitamin(s). Plus the trade for a Laurel. 8) Martian Squid - Induces Blindness - Single Target Field/Battle: * Another attack item. Sorry. Other: *** It's part of the trade for the maximum level lures. 9) Black Bass - Restores 80 HP - All Targets Field/Battle: ** As this heals the whole party, you're probably not going to use this, but, if you want, go ahead. Other: *** Part of the trade for the almighty Speed Boots, a Katzbalger, and Laurel. 10) Barandy - Restores 240 HP - All Targets Field/Battle: *** A rather strong healing item, though I'd prefer a MultiVitamin. Other: **** Katzbalger, Laurel, Speed Boots, Royal Sword, and Life Armor, this is involved in many of the greatest trades. 11) Man O' War - Restores 1 HP - Single Target Battle/Field: * See Jellyfish. Other: * See Jellyfish. 12) Flying Fish - Restores 20 HP - Single Target Battle/Field: ** Mediocre healing item. Other: *** Part of the trade for the critical Crepe Cape. Also used in trade for higher level lures. Or just sell it for cash. 13) Blowfish - Cures Poison - Single Target Battle/Field: ** This is OK. Though it's ultimately more expensive than an Antidote. Other: *** Sold for cash or traded for higher level lures. 14) Sea Bream - Restores 5 AP - Single Target Field/Battle: ** An AP restorative, but very obsolete by the time you can first catch it. Other: *** Traded for an early Wisdom Ring or higher level lures. 15) Sea Bass - Restores 80 HP - Single Target Field/Battle: ** An OK healing item. Preferable is a Vitamin. Other: ** The best you can do with this fish is sell it. 16) Black Porgy - Restores 20 AP - Single Target Field/Battle: ***** This is truly a spectacular item. For AP dependent characters, this fish's usefullness cannot possibly be understated. Other: *** Involved in the trade for the Crepe Cape and the Wisdom Ring. 17) Octopus - Induces Blindness - All Targets Field/Battle: * Attack item. -_- Other: *** Used in trades for higher level lures and, later on, maximum level lures. 18) Angler - Earthquake - All Targets Field/Battle: * Another attack item. -_- Other: *** Other than the Wisdom Ring trade, nothing really... 19) Devilfish - Electric Attack - Single Attack Field/Battle: * Another... attack... item. V_V Other: *** Used in trades for maximum level lures and Speed Boots. 20) Spearfish - Restores 240 HP - All Targets Field/Battle: *** A rather strong healing item, though I'd prefer a MultiVitamin. Other: *** Used in trades for a Royal Sword and Life Armor. 21) Whale - Restores All HP/Status - All Targets Field/Battle: **** It also heals status on top of restoring all HP. Though it's intended for a whole party, it works wonders on a single character too. Other: *** Used in trades for a Royal Sword and Life Armor. 22) Mackerel - Used To Make Shisu - (No Field/Battle Use) Field/Battle: 0 ... Other: ** Other than the shisu-making quest, that's its only real use. 23) Manillo - Trader - (No Field/Battle Use) Field/Battle: 0 ... Other: ***** Of course, without Manillo, all the important, above-mentioned trades would have been impossible. ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) (((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u)) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Section #12- The Lavaman Trick ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Now, I've done some research on this subject and concluded that it's not really worth the trouble. Let's take the example of Ryu: !!!!! !Ryu! !!!!! Level: 48 Formation: Defense Equipment: Royal Sword, Dragon Shield, Dragon Helmet, Life Armor, Ivory Charm, Soul Gem Strategy: I started off by transforming into a Behemoth with Miracle+Flame+Thorn. I then successfully attacked the Lavaman with Flame Claw 8 times before I ran out of AP and reverted form. At this point, the Lavaman would randomly switch between casting Inferno and attacking (the latter would kill me in 1 hit). I then used Bonebreak to defeat him and received approximately 4000 experience from him. Note that after 8 flame elemental attacks on the Lavaman, he could kill Ryu in one hit. *I doubt* the other characters would fare as well against him. The Behemoth took at least 200 damage per attack from the Lavaman. The other characters would need to be extraordinarily lucky to survive long enough to get the potential 65535 experience out of him (remember that you're limited to 2 Soul Gems). In addition to this, the level of strength recquired to survive is likely above the level limit anyway. It's really not worth the trouble involved to get the 65535 experience, at least for most of the characters. I'll consider looking into a little more, but I think this will be my final mention of the matter. ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) (((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u)) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Section #13- Archmage & Berserker ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I know what you're thinking: "WTF are you talking about, Palth? Archmage & Berserker in an SSCC?! You've got to be kidding?! They'd pound me into the ground!" Well... maybe they will, maybe they won't. I know not all 12 scenarios are possible, but I know with 100% certainty that some of them are (5ish). Keep in mind that, if a scenario is possible for a certain character and you're playing the SSCC for that character, then to get true 100% completion of the SSCC you are obligated to fight that battle. Here's all the info I've acquired: -------- Archmage: 3000 HP; Attacks: Blizzard, Myollnir, Mind Sword -------- !!!!! !Ryu! !!!!! Level: 49 Formation: Attack Party: Rei, (irrelevant) Equipment: Royal Sword, Dragon Shield, Dragon Helmet, Life Armor, Ivory Charm, Soul Gem Strategy: Tell Rei to use Jolt to kill off the other party members, tell Ryu to use an Hourglass, and tell [someone] to attack him/herself. Hopefully, Archmage will kill off either Rei or [someone] rather than Ryu. If all goes well, this should be how the remainder of the battle should commence: Turn 1: Hourglass Turn 2: Switch Ivory Charm and Soul Gem for 2 Titan Belts; Attack Turn 3: Attack Turn 4: Hourglass Turn 5: Attack Turn 6: Attack Turn 7: Hourglass Turn 8: Attack Turn 9: Attack Turn 10: Hourglass Turn 11: Accession into IRT Kaiser Turn 12: Kaiser Breath Turn 13: (if he's not already dead) Kaiser Breath Before anybody asks, I'll answer the question: "Why didn't you use an IRT Kaiser's Bonebreak?" I didn't use it the last turn because it wasn't necessary for the kill. In fact, it would have just been overkill. I didn't use it earlier because... well... I don't really have a reason for that. I didn't use it to start the battle because it wouldn't have been enough for the kill. I've used IRT Kaiser's Bonebreak on Archmage before under the exact same conditions, and it inflicted a little less than 1/2 his total HP, otherwise a little less than 1500 HP (I think about 1300 or 1400 damage to be precise). Not enough for the kill. Anyway, it should be pretty obvious that this battle was incredibly easy (and cheap >_> <_<). !!!!! !Rei! !!!!! Level: 44 Formation: Attack Equipment: Slicer, Speed Boots, Soul Gem Strategy: The equipment set here is intentionally light. Your goal is basically to outrun Archmage in the first turn on which you use an Hourglass. Then you change your equipment set to gear completely for PWR. As for the rest, well, you'll see. Turn 1: Hourglass Turn 2: Change equipment to: Slicer, Aries Gloves, Tiger's Cap, Life Armor, Titan Belt, Titan Belt; Attack -> ~200 Turn 3: Attack -> ~200 Turn 4: Hourglass Turn 5: Attack -> ~200 Turn 6: Attack -> ~200 Turn 7: Hourglass Turn 8: Attack -> ~200 Turn 9: Attack -> ~200 Turn 10: Hourglass Turn 11: Weretiger Turn 12: Attack -> ~850 Turn 13: Attack -> ~850 If you know any simple math, you see that those figures total up to ~2900, not the ~3000 needed to kill Archmage. You'll also noticed that I've chosen the "weaker" Slicer over the Piercing Edge. Why? I severely doubt that a few points of PWR can make the difference needed to overcome Archmage. Rather, I chose Slicer for its huge boost to Rei's critical rate. All that's needed to win this battle is one critical anywhere. If any of those eight attacks, hit as a critical, you're assured victory (unless Weretiger attacks your allies, though I don't believe that's possible during an Hourglass... >_>) Concerning the timing of all this, this setup is designed to beat Archmage before you fight Chimera. There are four available Hourglasses before Chimera, and the next Hourglass (or two >.>) only come after Dragon Lord, and the Holy Avenger is needed before your battle against Teepo, so... One final note: When I first fought "Rei vs. Archmage", I fought the battle with three Hourglasses and got the critical as Weretiger (~1850!), so this battle is still winnable with less than four Hourglasses. I've finally gotten around to testing the other characters' chances against Archmage, and, according to my calculations, other than Nina, all the characters can theoretically defeat Archmage. Basically, you employ the same strategy used for Ryu and Rei, minus transformations. I'll just list the characters and damages they deal. !!!!!! !Nina! !!!!!! Level: 50 Formation: Normal Equipment: Ouroboros, Spiked Gauntlets, Silver Tiara, Holy Robe, Wisdom Ring, Soul Gem Damage: ~150 (Myollnir) X 11 < 3000 !!!!!! !Momo! !!!!!! Level: 49 Formation: Attack Equipment: Atomic Bomb, Mind Shield, Silver Tiara, Holy Robe, Artemis' Cap, Soul Gem (later switched to a Titan Belt after the first Hourglass) Damage: ~350 (Attack) X 11 > 3000 !!!!!! !Peco! !!!!!! Level: 48 Formation: Attack Equipment: Dragonfang, Spiked Gauntlets, UV Glasses, Amber Breastplate, Artemis' Cap, Soul Gem (later switched to a Titan Belt after the first Hourglass) Damage: ~200 (Attack) X (11 - y) + ~400 (Critical hits) X (y) > 3000 (if y > or = 4) !!!!!! !Garr! !!!!!! Level: 48 Formation: Attack Equipment: Beast Spear, Spiked Gauntlets, Sun Mask, Gideon's Garb, Artemis' Cap, Soul Gem (later switched to a Titan Belt after the first Hourglass) Damage: ~350 (Attack) X 11 > 3000 (meh, no reason to consider criticals) --------- Berserker: 15000 HP; Attacks: Fire Whip, Berserk --------- !!!!! !Ryu! !!!!! Level: 49 Formation: Attack Party: Rei, (irrelevant) Equipment: Royal Sword, Dragon Shield, Dragon Helmet, Life Armor, Ivory Charm, Soul Gem Strategy: The Berserker is the real problem for Ryu. Put succinctly, he annihilated Ryu. It wasn't even close. Fortunately, I absorbed Fire Whip, but his regular attack is what posed the real threat. Even on IRT Kaiser, it inflicted over 200 damage, and most other dragon forms were killed from just one hit. I even exceeded the Soul Gem limit, just to see how far I would have to go using my method to defeat him. It actually went... ok... until that is he used Berserk. After that, I never got another chance to attack. At one point, I had decided to stick with standard Kaiser (only Infinity; both IRT and standard caused around 500 damage per attack) since I'll I'd be doing is attacking anyway. As I mentioned, most other forms were killed soon after transformation. That wasn't an effective method either. The 4 Hourglasses weren't too big a help either. I've calculated that even if I were to use them to their maximum damage potential, I probably wouldn't even take out 1/3 of his 15000 HP. And then I'd be left with no AP, and I'd be torn to shreds. I've thought about switching to Defense Formation to considerably lessen the damage, but that would also prolong the battle and during that time he would assuredly eventually use Berserk. This means that I'd also be screwed in Defense Formation. I've also been considering using some form of a Behemoth (probably involving the Flame gene, though for AP purposes, I might leave out Thorn). I don't know how that will work out though. I'm having this much trouble only with Ryu. I can just imagine how the other characters will deal with this. Anyway, I'm trying to figure out how to deal with Berserker (for now, with Ryu anyway) and somehow stay within the boundaries of my own rules. If anybody has any suggestions or if I've looked over anything, please feel free to tell me. If nobody has any ideas, then I'll have to... ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) (((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u)) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Section #14- FAQs ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Do you have a question this guide hasen't answered? Just ask me, I'll give you your answer and post your question(s) here for anyone else who has a similar question. Of course, your privacy will be protected. Unless you say so otherwise, I will not display your name/e-mail address to public eyes. ----------------------- Qs about Gameplay Rules ----------------------- Q: Um... What's the deal with the formations? Shouldn't you only allow Normal Formation since if your other characters weren't there like they're supposed to be, that would be the only option for formation? A: OK, you got me there. Putting into account the fact that you would only have Normal Formation if you could have a 1 person party at all times, allowing Attack and Defense Formations is also technically against the rules. I bet now you're asking, "So why allow it?" Well, here's the blunt truth: Without them, most of the SSCCs would be impossible. This especially applies to Defense. The 50% Defense boost provided by that formation is critical for success on several occasions. e.g. Almost all of Nina's battles. I try to look at this way: Think of Attack and Defense Formations as Front and Back Row... or as simply an aspect of the game since you have to have a three-person party if you have three or more members in your group. It depends on how you look at it really. You can call it cheap; I call it: making the impossible possible. Only use Normal Formation if this bothers you. It doesn't make a difference to me. Q: What's with the hatred of attack items? A: Do I really need to explain this? It's pretty simple. Many cheapos would hoard attack items and use them to easily pass through an area. It's not really sticking with the character's potential and the player's skill, is it? Q: Exactly, what may I do and what may I not do during a stall point? A: Obviously, your chosen character won't be present, so you can basically play the game normally (masters, skills, stat boosters, etc. allowed for your characters) until the character's return. Just bear in mind that some rules will still remain in effect during the character's absence, but these are only the ones meant to limit cheapness. Let's take, for example, the copying of Hourglasses. Normally, that act would not be allowed because it's entirely cheap. However, during a stall point, you can create as many Hourglasses as you like, but you can't use any extra created during the character's absence. I think you get the point. Just don't be a cheap, loop-hole seeker, and you'll be fine. Q: Does the whole "Kill your other characters at the start of every battle" thing apply when you're running away? A: No, it does not. You can run without your other characters being dead. Q: How exactly did you come to the number "2" as the maximum limit for Soul Gems and Manly Clothes? A: Admittedly, this number was chosen... er... almost completely arbitrarily. Well, that's an exaggeration. There was some thought put behind deciding on the number. Noting the number of accessory slots, estimating the number of times a player would die (leaning more towards deaths beyond the player's control), and pondering long and deep on the subject, I concluded that "2" simply seemed to be the best choice, at least for this challenge. To be quite honest though, it's quite difficult to clearly explain the choice, especially considering that the actual function of automatic revival equipment is in a constant state of flux: one moment it's there for seemingly no reason, the next it's a safety net for mounting any attack, and another it's the only thing keeping your sorry *** alive. It's... just hard to say... ------------------------ Qs about Gameplay Itself ------------------------ Q: Where can I power up Peco when I get him? He's at level 1, and all the enemies in Eastern Wyndia are too strong for him. A: Yeah, that is a bit of a problem, especially since you have to go straight to the Tournament afterwards. The best place to power up before you go is probably Meryleep's Forest. There are a few strong enemies there, but it generally has the weakest enemies. You only encounter goo enemies there. Just pray you don't encounter a Goo Titan... or, even worse, a Goo King, as they both do very rarely do appear there. I've made note of it in the Walkthrough. ---------------------- Qs about Contributions ---------------------- Q: I want to contribute to the guide. >_> What exactly are the specifications? A: Not much really. The format as it is now is likely to be final, so follow that. However, unless you're doing a Secondary SSCC, I won't be posting your entire guide, primarily because there's more than a chance of redundancy. Generally, simply record nearly everything you do of any consequence and send me the data in a format so that I'll have to do as little work as possible. Also, I'm taking this opportunity to note that I'm not really in a desperate search for character reviews at all (again, unless Secondary), so don't send me enitre character reviews, only points that I may have missed, and credit will of course be given. Q: Hey Palth, how does <insert idea here> SSCC sound? A: Alright, now I'm going to make a brief list of what is and what is not acceptable for an SSCC. Ordinary character SSCCs with additional limitations are perfectly fine, providing that they follow all the original rules as well. Now, transformation only SSCCs, or using one transformation constantly for every battle, are a different story. First off, don't bother trying a Weretiger or Berserk Kaiser SSCCs. Have you ever tried an Umaro SSCC or a Berserker SSCC. They're something like that. The only part of "battling" that involves you is healing after battles, and for the Berserk Kaiser this would involve a trendemous of AP restoration. Concerning dragon forms breaking, this is my judgment call on the issue (thanks to Magus Xenos for the idea, BTW): The dragon form may be broken an unlimited number of times (via HP or AP), but in his reverted state, the Soul Gem rule will apply again (2 Soul Gems for base Ryu). However, there's one catch which completely removes all the cheapness from it: While base Ryu can heal his AP and status all he wants, under no condition is he to restore his HP. Considering the haste you'll be making, I doubt you'll do this, but base Ryu may not take any form of offensive action against the enemy either at this time of AP restoration. A couple more notes: There are no equipment limitations for Ryu in this type of challenge, and I advise you choose your equipment based off of the form you've chosen (though that was probably fairly obvious). </copy and paste from Secondary SSCC section> If you choose to write a Secondary SSCC, just follow the same format as with the Primary SSCCs: Character Review, General Area/Enemy Strategies, Important Tasks, and Boss Strategies. Q: hay palth u dint put mine gide up? whats teh deel/ A: OK, that *points to question* is the deal. Try to read that "sentence" back to me. For purposes of comparison, I've accepted a walkthrough which has good information in it but has a horrible lack of grammar. I've posted the original version of a review and my modified version by the same author. Use that as an example of what not to follow in your grammatical format. Even after I asked him to improve the grammar, he did not. This is the last time I will accept anything of poor grammar. A few errors are acceptable but many are not. Proofread and correct what you give me before you give it to me. I don't have the time to be correcting what you should have done yourself; that's your job. If you don't know how to make your material look good grammatically, ask someone who can to proofread and correct it for you. Don't worry about the formatting. The format of this guide has been frequently changing; I'll take care of that. Just worry about the content and the grammar. Understand that, if I do receive anything like the above question, I will laugh... many, many times because you ignored my warning and swiftly toss your contribution to the side. Oh yeah, before anybody asks, please submit material to me as a txt file. It's allot easier for me. Thanks. ------------------------------------------- Qs on Miscellaneous yet Semi-Related Topics ------------------------------------------- Q: What other challenges are there for this game? A: Glad you asked. Among others (to avoid seeming far too overly redudant, I've removed the words "challenge" and "game" from the end of these): Initial Equipment No Equipment (First Victor - Best of the Worst) No Masters No Skills Boss EXP. Only (First Victor - Mikhail) Low Level (Check out my LLG guide, if you haven't already ;P) Lowest Level (Mikhail's Current Project) No Items Only Items (First Victor - DavidK5) Speed (Known Records: 11:31(!); 13:50 - DavidK5; 14:24- SharpPaper) No Physicals No Abilities Only Physicals Only Abilities Only Skills No Fishing No Faerie Village Natural Character No Accession No Weretiger Single/Solo Character (combinations of the above and other stuff that's not coming to mind >_>) etc. (Yeah, I could probably keep going, but I'm too lazy) ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) (((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u)) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Section #15- Copyright Information ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This section is just some legal information. This may not be reproduced under any circumstances except for personal, private use. It may not be placed on any web site or otherwise distributed publicly without advance written permission. Use of this guide on any other web site or as part of any public display is strictly prohibited, and a violation of copyright. All trademarks and copyrights contained in this document are owned by their respective trademark and copyright holders. This may be exhibited only within www.GameFAQs.com, www.neoseeker.com, and www.dragon-tear.net. ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (u) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) (()) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) u)) (((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u))(((u)) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ((()) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Section #16- Credits ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Thanks to Capcom for making this game. Thanks to GameFAQs and Neoseeker for featuring this BoF3 SSCC Guide. Again, thanks to DavidK5. His FAQ has been critical in the completion of this guide, and his comments are always helpful. A tremendous thanks to Kusanagi. Our AIM chats really offered me with a great number of possibilities for tackling scenarios. I got allot out of them. Thanks, man. Huge kudos to Jamerington for all his contributions. Thanks to Magus Xenos for his alternate plan for dealing with dragon SSCCs. You increased their endurance while maintaining the level of challengingness! :D Er... thanks, sorta, to Meeplelard, whose quotation style of notes and tips for character I outright stole... >_> <_< And here's a shout-out to Mikhail for the Nina vs. Dragon Lord strategy. I know you put allot of work and testing into that strategy and it shows. Great job. Finally, if anyone has any questions, contributions, or comments about this guide, please e-mail me at Paltheos@gmail.com =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Until next time, this has been Paltheos, wishing you good luck and happy gaming. -------------------------------------- Copyright 2003-2005, 2007 Brian Lundin