Well, last time I tried this (about a week ago or so) I only got to Agart before wiping and realizing I forgot to save so I got discouraged. I'll be more careful this time and actually pick up mercenaries.
I like the addition of Ninja "scrolls" in the Item Shop, allows the player some early elemental magic at a cost.
Oh I see, Imp Hit does actually work properly. Is it based on Level like FFV? Or is it just a low% chance of working?
Geez, I can't believe it took me this long to realize that the four minions of Ifrit are the optional summons of FFIV! It makes the Roc's name as "Dummy" make Perfect sense.
I like the idea of the Ninja Limit Break, but I feel it needs some graphical indication of some kind. Otherwise it does just seem like a normal attack despite it hasting everyone and slowing the foe.
Whoa, stole a couple of Bomb-Arms from the Water Bugs! While not very useful against Ifrit they would definitely be useful against Shiva.
This does remind me, I really wish we could find a way to make the colors from events stay after the menu is accessed but as the screen seems to be redrawn that may be a bit much to ask for.
Ice Kunai seemed more effective than Ifrit than they had in previous versions. All in all it felt like the battle was more fast paced. The inability to get infinite Ice Kunai from the Summons makes him a trickier foe to deal with, a very well planned first boss.
I noticed that Corio's telescope is still standing. I assume that will not be in the final version and those tiles will be put to something else that isn't a one screen telescope?
Um... when you talk to the Innkeeper in Agart he asks "Do you have permission?" Yes/No get the same result of "He drinks me under the table, but he's a good guy." which is speech from another NPC in the Inn. I am not sure if this is new or has been here since the start.
This run I think I will go 2x Ninja all the way through obeying orders as they come up.
I just noticed that this kid in Agart talks about joining REMA. The only muscle of it we see in the game is Furio. Do we ever meet any of the other leaders or soldiers of REMA?
Oh man, I have to say playing through this again makes me fall in love with your style of writing every single time. Also, not sure if I said this a long time ago but I just realized that Palom's change of appearance even from FF4:TAY is a reference to FFI's Black Wizard class. Neat!
The Elemental Rings are still around, hmm? I thought they were going to be moved? Then again I may be thinking of something else all together.
Seems as if the Witch was updated. With an automatic back-attack she deals around 3400 damage with Ice-2 and uses some nasty statuses. It would appear as if the Frozen Ring is a nigh necessity to beat her now.
Well, I sold the RubyRing, a Tent, a Dagger, and two Bomb-Arms to buy the Frozen Ring and indeed it worked great against her. Here's a fun little "pro-strategy", if you go in with the Mute status from the Mute Gal you can't be hit with Bind.
Onto Mt. Ordeals! Two Ninjas should be an interesting trek. No Claws to help along the way this time though.
Well! Looks as if the Weak to Air - Float status is working properly!
It seems like the Raven's Quake spell isn't 100% Accurate, thank goodness!
The Raven is definitely much tougher, at Level 16 for Blank and 13 for Furio I ended up losing. Another case of Mute preventing a Status, thus it became tougher to keep the person on the ground alive. Ultimately it's better to take the heavier Wind damage instead of risking the insta-kill Quake.
Getting up to the Summit if you actually fight battles feels like a proper journey, using a good amount of supplies along the way.
Was the Cure Rod always this expensive? Maybe it has an upgraded effect if it costs this much.
Wow, the Cure Rod is indeed, good. 400+ HP Heal!
I also picked up a Coral Ring with the last bit of my money.
On the way back to Mt. Ordeals I ran into two FloatEyes that were dealing upwards of 160-200 damage, they gave me 20 GP and 70 Exp. Balancing these things in a dynamic level up system must be a nightmare I imagine.
Yikes! Did I make a mess of that battle. I attacked Ramuh consistently as he powered up Shiva and he even got through a Cure-Z once. Second time around I took him out and was left with a vastly powerful Shiva. Northern Cross killed everyone but the Frozen Ring wearer Blank, down to 2 Life Potions I used one on Palom and Porom. Palom dealt a bit more damage with Fire-2 while Porom healed him once, using the Ether 1's as it happened. Blank was dealing 1 damage to Shiva at this point, then I remembered I had a Bomb-Arm that I hadn't sold and exactly 4 Fire Kunai. The Frozen Ring does make you nigh invulnerable for that section of the fight, but at 1 damage it seemed like it was going to be a while before it would be over. But with the last throw of a Fire Kunai, it was lights out for Shiva!
4000 Gil... may as well pick up the Burning Ring for good measure.
Um... when the Sailor heals the party, he brought back Furio with 0 HP. Talking to him again brought his HP to full. May that deal something with the order of commands are in the event? I imagine it's probably "Heal HP" than "Remove Status" instead of vice versa.
Hmm, what do Goggles do anyhow? I'm sure I asked this before... likely prevent Blind, but that doesn't seem worth the trade off of Wisdom/Will for the Gaea Hat or the Strength loss on the Headband.
I should've bought more Heals, I forgot how Status heavy this fight becomes.
Is it realistically possible to defeat the Tentacles without Palom and Porom? I recall you mentioning that you get a rather nice reward if you do beat the Tentacles rather than having them retreat.
A slight oversight perhaps, you still have the GP Bag after delivering it to Edge once you get back from Mysidia.
I never did get into that cave in Baron, I should see if I can't catch a Chocobo, though it's getting rather late tonight so I'll get Ceodore and resume tomorrow.
I love the Dragoon Hall, I know I said it last time, but it bears repeating. It feels like a legitimate piece of FFIV lore.
Ahem...! Uh, you might want to take a look at this...
EDIT: Is running into Imps supposed to happen in the Town of Baron? Every step on the grass is a battle with 3 Imps.
Last time I played I must not have gone into Cid's old place. I rather like this characterization for Mid and judging by his wife's speech it seems he may be important later on.
Unless I endure 60+ Battles on the way there I can't really get the treasure behind Baron, ah well. It's not a big loss.
Heh, that Dragoon saying "want to play cards?" reminded me of Triple Triad, I can imagine how difficult that would be to program into FFIV, hehe.
I forgot how brutal Ceodore was by throwing your partner down the stairs!
So I picked up a full compliment of the Shadow equipment, the penalty of the Darkness Armor seems a bit extreme. Considering how important Agility is in this game in particular having that reduced by 5 as well makes the armor nigh unusable because it would undoubtedly cause the loss of an Attack Multiplier in addition it has the same defense as the Iron Armor. Now unless it has some resistances or something I'm unaware of, as of now I can't see the use of it.
Well that's truly enough for tonight! I''ll finish this run tomorrow.
We have EVEN MORE themes now, but some old ones are gone...