"...in the Climatrol maze with just Rolf
[in the party, it's useful to]
specifically [seek] out
Blastoids (they're an excellent source of experience if you let them
replicate) so I could level to 35 before fighting Neifirst.
Needless to say, from level 26+ nothing could really touch me...
If anyone's bored on an afternoon, give it a shot, I was able to easily
breeze through the rest of the game and level other characters (Megid
roxs!)"
-Ryan
11. On Nei versus Neifirst
i. Before this fight, I always relieve
Nei of all her possessions,
and give her no Trimate.
I then let Neifirst simply hit Nei until she dies; you can't win anyway.
Neifirst appears to
have unlimited hit
points versus Nei; I'm not sure if the points
inflicted by Nei against Neifirst are accounted for when the rest of the party enters
the battle, but I
doubt it, based on trying for half
an hour. That matters little at any rate, since your
remaining three-person party should be powerful enough to easily defeat Neifirst with little returned injury, after acquiring the
experience from Uzo Island. (I've
also received multiple mails on this battle from the visitors to this site,
and they have pointed out several things I didn't know about: 1. It is
possible to have Shir steal Moondew from any store, and to use it on
Nei during the battle to resurrect her, at least until the battle's
end; 2. There is a game-glitch that will enable you to retain Nei for
the rest of the game. I know I'm begging the questions, but I used to
have a link that described the latter procedure in detail, but the link is now
dead. Thanks to all that mailed in
telling me about these things, and feel free to mail me with the needed
instructions.)
12. Your Party Associates III - The Motan Governmental Mechs
i. From Climatrol onward, your enemies on Mota are all mechs;
this
necessitates a revision of your party structure to compensate. Due to his techniques against
the mechs, Kain should be a
primary member (I used Eijia heavily in the early mech-stage of the game); similarly, Hugh should not, since his
techniques are primarily anti-biomonster. Your fourth team member should be either Anna or Amy;
I personally use Amy for the
Red/Yellow Dams, and Anna for the Blue/Green Dams, reflecting the types of mechs found therein.
13. The Items of the Motan Dams ; More on Equipment
Arrangement in the Inventories
During the trip through the Dams, you will acquire a number of
items vital to your quest:
i. The first group of which is the Amber Robe,
(Yellow Dam) the Crescegear, (Blue Dam) the Truth Sleeves, and the
Aegis (both
at the Green
Dam.) These significantly increase your party's staying
power for the rest of the game, since all when used as an item within a battle cast Gires on the item's wielder. Once
you have these items, Trimate becomes merely an emergency supply. It doesn't matter at all in later stages of the game which Gires
item go to whom, but for now, some of the items might be useful
as equipped armour to certain individuals.
ii. The next group of acquired items
are defensive in nature, and consist of the Snow
Crown and Colourscarf (found at the Blue Dam.) I keep these with my four primary team members at all times, since the Snow Crown
casts Deban when used as an item, whereas the Colourscarf casts Saner.
The Saner technique increases
the party's agility; the sequence of attack within a battle is dependant
on relative agility, so the Colourscarf is
sometimes rather useful: a strategic use of this item will
result in you often dispatching even a powerful enemy before it gets an attack.
iii. The next important group of items
if offensive in nature. The first is the Storm Gear
(Blue Dam);
this piece of equipment when used as an item in battle casts a
special form of Gizan:
one that strikes every enemy creature in the opposing team, unlike any of the Zan techniques, which are
group-specific. The rest of the items belonging
to the offensive category are all Crystal Armours
(Yellow Dam); these are worthwhile additions, since all when used in
battle cast the Gra technique. These are useful during the
trip through the Dams, clear up until the first major Dezoan dungeon of
Menobe; after the Lacon Armours are acquired on Dezo,
any of the Crystal Armours can be kept, particularly by the physically weaker members, as a primary offensive attack method, a la the Storm
Gear--at least until the second set of Storm Gear is acquired at
Menobe.
iv. A word about equipment arrangement,
after the remarks above regarding the placement of
the Visiphone: you may come to rely heavily on the Gires
items, the Storm Gears, and perhaps the defensive
boosters. For this reason, it is useful
and time
conserving to place these items at the top of the inventory of each
character, so that in a
battle you don't spend five minutes flipping through lists looking for what you want, in a typically perpetually changing
inventory. Place the Gires items first for each character, (except
Rudo) and the
offensive items (Crystal Armours, Storm Gears) next in line from the top, followed by that character's defensive item.
Eventually, hitting the buttons and getting what
you want from a given character's list won't require conscious thought--or your eyes on the
screen--during those long experience runs. :)
14. Party Associates IV - Dezo ; Recommendations for
Conducting Combat at the Dams and Beyond
i. Kain is the only one that can equip the Storm Gear;
hence, I have Kain use its Gizan ability as his primary attack
throughout the rest of the game, using the
more powerful techniques when they
are required. I personally found the Storm Gear's attack to be more useful then Kain's physical
attack; this is generally valid of anyone using it other than Rolf/Rudo.
ii. Once the Dams are completed, and the party moves on to Dezo,
the team should again be rearranged; as Dezo includes both biomonsters warped into their
present state by the poisonous
gases of the planet, as well as more powerful mechs, the best party for the majority of the
remainder of the game is probably Rudo, Rolf, Kain, and Hugh,
walking in that order.
Particularly as there are no mechs in the
Dezoan dungeons, Hugh's anti-biomonster techniques, I find, are
indispensable. There are many individually appearing monsters in
the later dungeons on Dezo, so I find Anna's slashers to be too weak to warrant using her as a
primary team member; she
also has no useful techniques, relative to anyone else. Moreover, once the Gires items are acquired
from the Dams on Mota, Amy can take on a secondary role, as her healing skills are no longer in any real demand. Don't let
Hugh's and Kain's defensive and offensive weakness' deter you from using
these
'wizards' to the capacity of their
abilities. Shir might be worth working up for her Zan, Gra,
and Foi techniques, to complement Rolf. Until you have the
second set of Storm Gear, use one of the
Crystal Armours as Hugh's primary weapon.
(Until Rolf
acquires Gigra at level 28, I usually kept a Crystal Armour
around
for his use against multiple enemies appearing together
as well, during the period just before his sword attack gets
the big boost. Thereafter, dump whatever Crystal
Armour
you were
using for Rolf in the lockers at the Motan capital.) Give Hugh
the second set of Storm Gear when it's acquired and have
him
use as a primary attack for the rest of the game.
Hugh and Kain's physical attacks unneeded, equip both characters with a shield of the best
available quality, one in each hand. (Excellent option also available in
none too many RPGs.) With Lacon Shields, this will raise their defense far beyond even Rudo's,
(310-30+ as soon
as you reach towns that sell them) and prevent massive damage from powerful enemies on Dezo. I
buy them the Lacon
Maces to fool around with anyway, since by the time you get to Dezo you should have enough money to equip the whole party,
(without relying on the money-chests in Skure) and even buy Lacon Maces you'll
rarely use; I personally
don't advance the plot to Dezo unless Rolf is at least level 25-6, and my secondary members (i.e., Shir, Amy, Anna) are at least
level 12. (Amy and Shir are likely approximately level 15.)
iii. General Combat Conduction at the Dams and Beyond
a) Have Rolf and Rudo attack with primary
equipped weapons; have
Hugh and Kain attack with Storm Gears, or use technique as the situation warrants. Be
sure to use Hugh's Vol or Savol
to dispatch groups of monsters, and have Rolf and Rudo work on the opposite pair of
monsters. Kain can either use Brose; against several different groups use the Storm
Gear; or use techniques such as the Gaj, Gra, or
Sag.
b) When several different types of creatures appear, one obviously
more powerful than the other, I personally dispatch the weaker first; this prevents 'bonus'
damage on the
opposition's part, which is inflicted repeatedly while you wear down the
more powerful creature's HPs. Defeating the weaker first thus
minimizes the relative amount of incoming damage points; the stronger takes longer to neutralize, so trying to kill it first
leaves the weaker free to be a nuisance. :)
c) Know the current hit point maximums of your party, and
repeatedly use the Gires items on injured members until your
whole party is back up to, or close to, their HP maximums before
allowing the fight to end. Have other characters either defend or themselves use a Gires item, even to permit a
single weakened member to recharge. Avoid going below 100 HPs. The purpose of this strategy is to avoid using TPs on healing
techniques, which lengthens your staying power in a dungeon.
d) Know the party's offensive
skills. Rolf has the highest
agility, so should be able to get in a heal before an enemy attacks; know the enemies, recalling which
have a lower agility than
Rudo, and when his next cannon shot will dispatch the enemy. Don't be afraid to have Kain or Hugh use the Colourscarf
or Snow Crown.
These tactics will prevent damage to your team,
and maximize their long-range endurance, as well as the output of offensive
damage, which will make the last dungeons relatively easy. It might seem time consuming to
continually recharge via the Gires items to those not used to this, but the alternative is leaving a dungeon
for medical treatment. :)
