If you don’t know what my Diaries are, please go here. Spoilers ahoy!
Otherwise, let’s go!
So one of the first questions I faced was, “What do I bring to face the Sample Whatever-number-he-is Boss?” Poison I figured shouldn’t be an issue with my Star Pendants, but since I assumed I still couldn’t equip Red XIII, that made my decision much tougher. Barret is usually my third because of his long range weaponry, but really, the Boss’ weakness could be anything.
Dialogue changed to make it seem like Hojo is doing a battle experiment versus implying he’s going to mate them.
Red XIII innante: STR/MAG stats rise during battle up to a +50 bonus
Huh, an Enemy Skill materia. Oh, Laser and Matra Magic? Anyway, Mr. Pumpkin Head (as I like to call him) starts out with high defenses, but they drop every time he revives his clones. Red got silenced right away, but then he started wrecking with Matra Magic. Barret was on offense obviously, and Cloud pitched in where he could. Not too bad.
For some reason, I always want to think Rufus comes before the elevator battles. I don’t know why. But again, this is one of those psychological games: do I come prepared to spam Bolt, or is it going to be a Boss that absorbs Bolt just to mess with me?
Wow, wasn’t expecting 3v3. Plus an MP-sucking attack? And an attack than can stun? Ouch! I wanted to get rid of the big guy first, but Thousand Gunner then starts using some powerful Magic Artillery.
So, yeah, let’s go again. Nope, no good.
This time, I put my Lightning Materia in Barret’s weapon with the Elemental Materia. Screw spamming the spell. I decided to change my strategy and target the little gunners first instead of Thousand Gunner. Perhaps he won’t use his Magic Artillery if he doesn’t have his allies?
Red XIII’s Matra Magic does respectable damage for a built-in all-enemy non-elemental attack. Aerith was on defense, but everyone stayed alert just in case of a stun. Thunder Gunner absorbed Lightning, but fortunately, I didn’t have to waste turns with Barret since he fell shortly after his friend. That left Thousand Gunner, and it wasn’t too much longer before he also fell.
Oh, by the way, it’s nice to have a shop just before the elevator.
Now, Rufus.
I skipped the Poison Materia in hopes of just using a Dirty Bomb. He got Poisoned right away, and then I decided to play a defensive battle. Dog-panther sidekick Light Nation is immune to damage, and he opens the battle with Wall, so my attacks weren’t going to do much with Barrier/M-Barrier anyway. Get shot, get bit, heal around 50%. Cloud learned Climhazzard afterward, so that’s nice with Motor Ball coming up. Stay tuned until the end for a funny added bit.
For my party, I decided to bring Aerith and Red XIII since Tifa is already way ahead of the curve and Barret slightly ahead of the two in Limits. Again, a decision: put everyone in the front row to prepare for the back attack, or will it end up being something different? I thought an all-magic onslaught would be the best, as this wouldn’t put anyone in the front row for 50% more physical damage.
Well, the physical damage is a problem, but there’s a lot of magical damage to worry about too! Plus a chance of confusion, and Aerith’s physical attack won’t snap party members out of it. When she gets confused, she seems to hit the enemy 100% of the time. Yuck. And Barbariccia can drain HP, great.
Well, unfortunately, I’m guessing Yellow Gale (plus the name Barbariccia) is wind-elemental, and I’m guessing I won’t get a Wind-elemental Materia until the Chocobo Farm. I stupidly had Barrier linked to an All x 1, so that was dumb. The battle was dragging on wayyyyy too long, so there had to be some kind of trick to it. I could have brought Sense for a clue, but that’s eventually going to start being useless on Bosses anyway. Might as well get used to the fact I’m going to have to figure out weaknesses on my own.
FINALLY. What a long battle. There has to be a better way. Had to use two Ethers to get through it, and even then I was facing the possibility of running out of MP. I thought it had only around 46 MP since that’s what Aerith Osmosed, but it seems to have more than that. Perhaps that was the trick, you have to drain its MP to avoid some of the more vicious attacks? Well, even if that’s the best method, it was a little late to figure out, but hey, at least it went down.
Lunatic High was learned. Really want Aerith to get her 2-2 Limit Break since Breath of the Earth is, like, the least “turn the tide” Limit. Has anybody ever played this game and gone, “OH YEAH, IT’S BREATH OF THE EARTH!”? Obviously, status effects are more common in this mod, but I’d rather have the option of using Breath of the Earth rather than being forced to since that’s all she has. Mythril Mines is usually the go-to place for Limit learning, but I’m aiming for her to rack up a few more kills along the way to Kalm.
KO KOunter: 9
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Halloween is right around the corner so it makes sense to fight a pumpkin head.
♪♬I did Mash, the Monster Mash.♪♬