FINAL FANTASY: RECORD KEEPER

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Beat Beatrix, but haven't mastered it yet. Shock is what's giving me trouble. I even brought Rosa to do her group heal/raise limit break to deal with it, but then the guys who get revived have no mitigation and get whacked immediately afterwards. I have a plan to master it, but it requires me to bring an SG/SS roamer, which is a bummer. Right now there are gaps in Y'shtola's Stoneskin, and during those gaps Shock will hit for 4k with Protectga and Steal Power active, and for 9k on some characters with no active mitigation. Sap is really strong and ticks for about 4k--I brought Bartz to achieve this since I have his Air Knife limit break, though you can always fit it in with an RW or Tyro with Shadowsteel. I think bringing an actual Ninja to do it might not be the best plan since abilities are weirdly tight on this fight. You can always just retaliate, but bear in mind that Shock and Holy ignore that so you are beholden to RNG, and you can probably only afford to let one party member die since you're guaranteed to lose all of your damage medals and retaliate eats up so many turns you will lose one on speed.

I'm quite interested in the second FF12 banner, but I blew my wad on FF9 already, which was more important. I will probably pull on the Advent Children one just for a shot at the new limit break, even if it makes Cloud look like a dork.

And I just got FuSoYa's Moon's Grace II RM in a daily. Restores white and black magic. I think Strago is my only synergy-specific RM that's left.
Craze
why would i heal when i could equip a morningstar
15150
Ahhh I really need to get FuSoYa up. I'm almost to the Support 100% restore from Nanaki's MC2... hopefully it drops soonish. At least there are plenty of ff7 events ;V

I'm looking forward to Beatrix. I don't give a damn about mastering ultimates, I just want the accesories. Hearing about wall gaps is scary though... would it be worth using mako might and lifesiphon on tyro, maybe...? hmm. I'll have to see.

I peeked ahead and Basch's event has a banner far more suited to my tastes for his stuff (basically leon's Hand of the Emperor) + Penelo's sick medica, so I only drew twice on Penelo's banner. I got Loxley Bow and a 3*... I am very happy, since I like Fran and she gets her MC2 in three days! Buuuut maybe more importantly, Ashe can use that bow with its RS stats to be a back-row healer in various fights... unless Vossler requires black magic, since that's way more stat-dependant then curaga/renewing cure. I haven't looked at all. (I have a 4++ spear for Fran to use instead of the bow when it comes to actual damage potential.)

I'll probably draw twice on the second banner, and then decide whether I want to blow my load (only gonna be a single 11-pull) on Terra's SSB, Kefka's scarf, or the FF5 event. I'm really not sure, as I'm really set on armor for both FF5/6 but have few great weapons for either.
author=Craze
Ahhh I really need to get FuSoYa up. I'm almost to the Support 100% restore from Nanaki's MC2... hopefully it drops soonish. At least there are plenty of ff7 events ;V


Red's has to drop in FF7? I didn't notice. I guess I should remove him from this Black Power party.

I'm looking forward to Beatrix. I don't give a damn about mastering ultimates, I just want the accesories. Hearing about wall gaps is scary though... would it be worth using mako might and lifesiphon on tyro, maybe...? hmm. I'll have to see.


If you just want to beat it, a retaliate party offers the least resistance probably. But really, defeating Beatrix isn't too hard. As long as you put up your defenses, dispel Sap as soon as it appears, and bring a group heal for Climhazzard, then it's pretty straight forward. I have two plans to try out with mastering it... and I don't mean just mastering it once; I think it's important to develop strategies that can master a boss reliably, minimizing RNG. If you don't encounter Shock/Holy spam, Retaliate will master her eventually, and quite quickly if you have a good weapon.

I peeked ahead and Basch's event has a banner far more suited to my tastes for his stuff (basically leon's Hand of the Emperor) + Penelo's sick medica, so I only drew twice on Penelo's banner. I got Loxley Bow and a 3*... I am very happy, since I like Fran and she gets her MC2 in three days! Buuuut maybe more importantly, Ashe can use that bow with its RS stats to be a back-row healer in various fights... unless Vossler requires black magic, since that's way more stat-dependant then curaga/renewing cure. I haven't looked at all. (I have a 4++ spear for Fran to use instead of the bow when it comes to actual damage potential.)


Yeah, but that banner is still a ways off. The issue with waiting is there's always something better around the corner, and I'd rather enjoy the game now. I am interested in that banner too, though, but it follows FF2 and FFT, both of which I'll likely pull on.
Craze
why would i heal when i could equip a morningstar
15150
no, i just don't use him outside of ff7. sorry, worded that poorly. XD

i don't have any great ff9 weapons, but my 6* blazefire sabre with max augment tends to do the trick (138 atk). time to dust off ol' gilga, i guess. sounds like one of the medica+regen RWs is in order, too.

wait, it follows FFT? x_x shit, haha. oh well, i'm actually pretty set for ff12 synergy so i'm not too worried. i have balthier and fran relics, a 5* dagger, and a 5* light armor, and the 4++ spear. on top of my excellent other-realm armors, i'm really not too worried, especially for a realm that rarely comes around.

hmm, looking at the banners, i'm gonna do my 50-pull on terra's SSB. it also includes mog's holy lance!! as sick as kefka's scarf is on the second banner... oh well ;V
So, I've been pretty addicted to this for the past couple of months thanks to you guys.

I've made some pretty good progress. I've got a whole bunch of characters, a smattering of mid-range abilities, and as of late some decent equipment. And pretty much no money. I'll be breaking my first level cap in a couple of days (Kain's at level 49 because he's been my most constant member) and officially entering the mid-to-late game stage, I guess.

The events are great for getting a lot of characters from a realm, but I find I get more satisfaction out of earning them from realm dungeons and bonus quests. That's been a very fun part of the game for me, especially gradually assembling a very solid Final Fantasy IV party to carry me over the early- to mid-game threshold and start building me some momentum. I lucked out with Golbez' armour and got Dark Cecil's sword from the beginner's choice thingy, but I started to get really, really bored with just using the same party so lately I've taking a more varied approach.

Got lucky with Save the Queen from the FF9 banner, so while I initially resented her for being another Paladin Cecil with better magic, I'm really liking Beatrix now. And her sword is great for Cecil, too. I've even started earning some of the needlessly-difficult FF6 characters, though there's still no sign of Celes - I have no idea how to earn her outside of waiting for an event, and her unique sword was the first relic I won.

I'm finding the difficulty estimate for dungeons is completely somewhat unreliable. I'm breezing through some 60 difficulties even without synergies, but being completely creamed by some 45 difficulties. (Never mind, I think I mistake the stamina cost for difficulty sometimes.)

Does it bother anyone else that Tyro can do absolutely everything? I find it kind of takes the glory out of earning specialist characters. I don't really mind having an omnidisciplinary main character, but I think it'd be more compelling if it made you earn his proficiencies through quests or something.

(Also, Ramza better be able to use books.)
Craze
why would i heal when i could equip a morningstar
15150
Tyro is fine because he has shit stats. You only use him if you really have no other options, or if you have Sentinel Grimoire. Glad to hear you're enjoying the game, though!
Tyro is a great character if you grabbed his beginner's banner book as well. It's basically Squall's super but with lightning damage. I am still interested in acquiring a Sentinel Grimoire, because it's easier to fit Tyro into a group than Y'shtola. Tyro can be anything, and do all of those things pretty well at Lv80. It looks like his stat deficiencies will disappear a bit with that new job system Japan just got, since his upgrade tree is the most expansive and focuses on stats and passives.

Looking at Vossler. He seems like an asshole. His CT0 attack is a lot like Shock, in that it ignores taunt effects and Retaliate and does a lot of damage. One important difference, though, is that its usage is more predictable, so I'm hoping that makes it easier to deal with. It looks like his goons are vulnerable to Confuse. I've never tried Confuse like ever, so I'm wondering if it's at all effective... Probably not, because they're more likely to weakly attack a goon and break confusion than attack Vossler. Actually, just looked it up and Confused enemies will only target non-Confused allies, so it might be an okay idea. Leon has a 50% AoE Confuse as his innate limit break with a 40s duration. I am curious enough to try that at least once. Black Mage Confuse only has a 30% chance and is single target. I wonder how hard the goons would hit Vossler for... Anybody know the damage formula and enemy stats?
Alright, I've mastered Beatrix twice in a row with the following party, without any reloading, which is so breezy that it's actually overkill and I can probably tweak it to be more offensive.



Tyro uses Shadowsteel until Sap sticks, which deals over 4k damage per tick. Cecil spams Lifesiphon until he has enough to use Soul Eater, then alternates between Lifesiphon and Power Break, using Soul eater every time it's available. Y'shtola uses the first round to buff regen, both curing RM saps and giving Beatrix time to dispel Other Beatrix's Reflect so that Diaga can be used. Aeris buffs and heals... In fact, she heals even if she's only going to heal 500 HP just so that she can build soul meter.

When Other Beatrix's HP meter approaches her feet, being precasting your group heal, which may be an RW. Eiko's works well here because the Hastega allows you to recover more quickly and build more meter in less time. Other Beatrix is either preparing a Shock or a Stock Break at this point, so I use Y'shtola's Stoneskin. Tyro and Aeris heal until everybody is recovered. Soon, Tyro will have enough meter to use Emerald Bracer's Shellga, which will last the remainder of the fight and be ready for Holy spam.

As Other Beatrix's health bar approaches her back foot, precast group heal again in anticipation. Refresh Stoneskin soon. Use Aeris's Dragon Force limit break, and refresh it every time Other Beatrix uses Stock Break. The only damage I take at this point is from Holy and Shock, which are easy to heal through on their own. I recommend saving damage abilities for the last stretch since you want to kill Other Beatrix quickly. If Shadowsteel worked in the first few turns, then Sap has probably faded and needs to be reapplied with the remaining Shadowsteel charges. Except to dispel, I used only Armor Strike early on. Beatrix starts reflecting herself more regularly in this phase, so Banish Strike needs to be used every turn to allow Y'shtola to cast Diaga. Additionally, Banish Strike scales better with Attack than Armor Strike, such that it scales better with Soul Eater.

Dragon Force worked so well I don't know that I'm even going to try my other ideas. It works so well I don't think I even need to bring Stoneskin and should've brought another physical character to take advantage of Soul Eater's buff... like Pretty Cecil so I can still use Group Regen. Actually, I should've just used Steiner. I went in thinking Beatrix would bring a buff, but then didn't. My Steiner is level capped so he is stronger than her for the knight abilities, and then Beatrix can pick up Group Regen + Banish Strike. Steiner on Drain Strike and Armor Strike. That would make more sense. I think a Dispel/Reflect strategy would work, allowing a reflected, retaliating (to avoid Stock Break Sap) ally with 1 HP to draw and reflect any Holy spells. Dispel is needed because otherwise Other Beatrix will bounce Holy off of her own reflect bubble. Lure Magic won't work because it only affects black magic spells, as stated in its description.
Craze
why would i heal when i could equip a morningstar
15150
ughhh my lack of ff9 synergy except a 4* dagger that is weaker than my 5*s, a 3++ brigadine, and the protectga ribbon is killing me. i can get beatrix to her second climhazzard but... no further. the seiken stock breaks eventually slip through my SG. i don't have dragon force, so...

thankfully the coral ring is just an element resistance accessory and not another omega/adept's bracelet/etc.etc., so i don't really mind.

If you just want to beat it, a retaliate party offers the least resistance probably. But really, defeating Beatrix isn't too hard. As long as you put up your defenses, dispel Sap as soon as it appears, and bring a group heal for Climhazzard, then it's pretty straight forward.

i did this and it's just not enough without synergy. used the following, all L65+:

tyro - lifesiphon/double hit/dr. mog's lesson (for SG)
gilgamesh - retaliate/draw fire/sword damage+ *
vanille - curaga/memento of prayer/mako might (for oerba's boon)
eiko - renewing cure/shellga/healing+ (also had tungsten bracer for the mini-medica)
yuffie - shadowsteel/tempo flurry/
RW: advance (for gilg, obviously)

* (i guess i have vaan's armor-attack tradeoff but that's not gonna make enough of a difference)

once she was sapped and gilg had reta/draw fire up, i had everybody but tyro defend as tyro lifesiphon'd through phase 1. this would get me enough SB to handle both climhazzards, but it just wasn't enough i guess. once she started phase 2, everybody hammered on gilgamesh unless healing or sap was needed.

I might be able to do it if I put more mythril into the steiner/beatrix banner, but i've already done 4-5 draws and the rest of my mythril is for terra's SSB. not worth it, imo!

the only other thing i can think of based on the equipment i own is wall+protectga on an all-physical party (+vanille for medica) and either hand of the emperor or planet protector as RW. maybe i'll try that in a bit.
LockeZ
I'd really like to get rid of LockeZ. His play style is way too unpredictable. He's always like this too. If he ran a country, he'd just kill and imprison people at random until crime stopped.
5958
Beatrix goes absolutely berserk after her second Climhazzard. I have way better FF9 synergy than you and it took me five mythril to master the fight. Probably could've beaten it without mastery with 1 mythril plus about 20 resets.

There's a cheese strategy for Beatrix if you really want to win: bring five people with Retaliate. With the orb exchange in play now, it's possible to create all the extra retaliates pretty easily. She'll still use Holy, but typically not more than twice per fight. Maybe three times if you take forever. If you use that strategy, a revive skill is the simplest way to deal with Holy, since for the first time in ages there are no medals for surviving. Aside from revive, you can focus entirely on offense, leaving your party at 1 HP for the entire battle.
Craze
why would i heal when i could equip a morningstar
15150
wouldn't you need an aoe regen to counteract seiken stock break, or does full reta block the sap too? (i've only used reta once before today, for hojo's lab ++ or +++, whichever had the mutant that hit like four times in a row...)
LockeZ
I'd really like to get rid of LockeZ. His play style is way too unpredictable. He's always like this too. If he ran a country, he'd just kill and imprison people at random until crime stopped.
5958
I didn't actually try the 5xRetaliate strategy, but I did have Seiken Stock Break miss several of my characters several times, and the sap wasn't applied when it missed. I assume the same thing happens when you evade it via Retaliate, since retaliated attacks skill show up as a "miss."
I don't think I'm anywhere near tackling these special boss fights, but I can imagine they're frustrating. I'm having enough trouble with Elite Vargas (Mt Kolts, FFVI). He's a bastard.

I stand by what I said about the difficulty estimate being unreliable; he's at least 10 difficulty below other dungeons I've managed to beat, even master. And it costs 91 stamina to challenge him each time.
Craze
why would i heal when i could equip a morningstar
15150
Yeah, some of the FF5 and 6 elites early on are brutal because they gated some e content that used to be our "end-game." Kinda crazy how much the game has grown since then. some of those fights have actually been nerfed, if you can belive it.
Craze, when I said a full retaliate strategy, I meant a full party of retaliators like LockeZ mentioned. Everybody has retaliate. Gilgamesh has Armor Strike. Tyro has Shadowsteel. Everybody else has some form of double-hit. You can use Warrior of Light's light-element RM to get the medals for holy damage with a normal attack. If you decide to just forgo Shadowsteel and give Tyro haste, then you don't even need to worry about Holy or Shock as long as your Advanced retaliator has a good weapon. You'll force her into her scripted abilities with the rapid damage so she'll probably only have time to RNG a single Holy or Shock and you can afford to lose one member. Without haste, RNG will probably kill two and possibly more if you're unlucky, but you'll win the fight almost for sure. If Stock Break doesn't connect, then neither does its Sap effect. Dragon Force prevents it the same way. Man, Dragon Force is cool and I'm really happy about having it... I kind of wish I had Kimahri's Dusk Lance now.

Looking at the party you used, it actually seems like it'd be fine. My first party had an issue keeping Stoneskin active, but with Lifesiphon you shouldn't have that issue. When are you popping Sentinel's Guard? I would suggest using it after the first Climhazard. The only thing that hurts before the first Climhazard is Thunder Strike, but since you're using Draw Fire/Retaliate you don't have to worry about that. Drunk Cecil's Shadowblade buff has the same duration, and with Lifesiphon I have 100% uptime after its first usage, which is right before she Climhazards. I think Dr. Mog's Teachings will be roughly the same as Ace Striker overall, just hold off on your first usage. I am actually pretty certain my original party can beat Beatrix now, assuming I hold off on Stoneskin which I wasn't doing then. I do have a suggestion for you party setup, though. Drop Yuffie and put in Thancred instead. I know I recommended not using a ninja before, but that's because I always forget Thancred exists and can use Protectga/Shellga bard songs. Give Thancred Shadowsteel, Shellga bard song, and the Double Hit RM. Consider dropping Eiko in favor of a paladin. Beatrix and Pretty Cecil can use Double Cut and still put up very respectable numbers with Curaja. You also don't need Shellga until the the end, so you don't even need to bring it as a spell... You can keep Eiko and use her default limit break or use a generic Shellga soulbreak relic on any character if you've got one.

Actually, now that I look closer at your party I think you should drop Gilgamesh too. The way you're using Tyro is really weird. Keep in mind he can not generate any soul meter when he's Double Cutting Gilgamesh, since misses don't generate meter. Instead, make Tyro your retaliator so that his retaliates earn him meter for SG. Since you'll be running Lifesiphon/Retaliate/Untapped Power on Tyro you won't have Draw Fire and will need to mitigate Thunder Strike via Protectga somewhere. Don't worry about Tyro having less attack than others... Advance bumps your attack power up high enough that you're in the diminishing returns zone anyway. Keep in mind that if you're not hasted, you need to alternate between Lifesiphon and Retaliate. If you're hasted you can use Lifesiphon twice, or if insetad of Lifesphon he's using a celerity ability with a fast charge rate. Also make sure that you used Retaliate in the turn prior to using SG, and that you use Retaliate right after SG as well because of the lengthy cast time--again, you have an extra buffer turn if Tyro is hasted. Swap Gilgamesh for somebody who can Protectga and Double Cut like Beatrix or Pretty Cecil, or maybe a spellblade with Drain Strike and Double Cut to help your healers out and then put Protectga on your white mage or Thancred. You've got options, man.

If you still have issues with soul meter, consider not using any abilities during Beatrix's first phase and just drawing it out to accumulate meter. The only dangerous move she's got before her first Climhazard is Thunder Strike. I saved ability usage on this phase anyway, because I wanted to ensure I had enough to use after her second Climhazard when shit gets real and I need to burst.

I'm pretty fortunate when it comes to items. I have Boon, two group heals between Hymn of the Fayth and whatever Rosa's is called, Stoneskin, a group attack buff via Drunk Cecil's Shadowblade, and now a physical blink from Aeris's Dragon Force. This offers me a lot of flexibility in what RW I can bring to various fights.

Anyway, there's this orb fest thing going on so I'll delay the bonus battles for a bit. The mythril from the event and the orb festival means I can try for a 3-pull, which I've never tried before and generally recommend against since you miss out on a free item, but I've never done a pull on FF12 ever so I'm thinking about it. We'll see how I do against Vossler first, probably, then decide from there. I do have an FF12 Danjuro knife which I can't remember how I got (though definitely during a non-FF12 banner), and several strong 4++ weapons, so my synergy will probably be fine.
Craze
why would i heal when i could equip a morningstar
15150
I appreciate the writeup... if I can distract myself from the orbfest today, I'll try again with full reta I think.

Also, Thunder Slash was being draw fired like you said. I saved SG until her turn 5, which is when she unlocks Shock (which always hits the highest HP% possible). Any of my defending chars could manage it, but if one of them wasn't defending for whatever reason (Yuffie), it was a OHKO. Thankfully, that SG would only come a few turns before Climhazzard if I started thawcking gilga.

I actually do have Thancred and his aoe SB, he's just only 50 or w/e unlike Yuffie's 65. i don't know why i didn't just use eiko's innate shellga for the end, but I dunno if that ability slot would have miraculously solved anything.

i really need to start NOT putting off bonus battles until the last day XD
Jeroen_Sol
Nothing reveals Humanity so well as the games it plays. A game of betrayal, where the most suspicious person is brutally murdered? How savage.
3885
Time to farm some orbs! Who knows, combined with the orbs from festive fantasy, if I'm lucky I may be able to make my first 5* ability.
Craze
why would i heal when i could equip a morningstar
15150
make full break.
Jeroen_Sol
Nothing reveals Humanity so well as the games it plays. A game of betrayal, where the most suspicious person is brutally murdered? How savage.
3885
Oh, I'll definitely make that as soon as I can, but none of the needed orbs drop in this event, so that's not going to be a thing just yet.
If you're going to do it, you should do it now, Craze. Give yourself time to tweak your setup if your first one isn't great.

Right now this is my plan for Vossler, though it will probably be tweaked by Monday:

Leon - Lifesiphon, Draw Fire, Dr. Mog's Teachings
Aeris - Drain (blah), Dispel, Ace Striker
Locke - Dismissal, Steal Power, Self Sacrifice
Y'shtola - Curaja, Protectga, Mako Might
Drunk Cecil - Lifesiphon, Armor Break, Pride of the Red Wings

There's a good chance I'll drop Y'shtola for Ashe and use a Stoneskin/SG RW, then use Aeris as healer. I might also drop Protectga and use Lunatic High RW, or keep it and use Hand of the Emperor RW. Leon might get hit often enough that I can give him Shield Bash instead of Lifesiphon. We'll see. I have Locke's Rising Sun so that will get me the Slow medals. I am going to test how useful Leon's Hypnotize is. It has a 50% chance to hit, which is quite high. If Vossler's goons end up hitting themselves instead of Vossler, or if they barely scratch Vossler with their attacks (more probable), then I'll switch Leon for Pretty Cecil and move other things around, like using Vaan with Tempo Flurry/Power Breakdown in place of Locke.