#ffv4jf

[ovyy-pvcure]

Coming in at over 12 hours 15 minutes or so Geo Monk ChemBlu chops down their tree.

Chemist and blue mage combined have a lot of tricks that let me tear through the game, and these easy to complete classes meant once I got out of world 1 my big time sink was reagent collecting. 60 dragon fangs for this time was overkill as it turned out. Ah well, live and learn.

Crowns: Shinryuu, NED

Void Composition:

Bartz: level 33 Chemist-Air Knife !Blue/!Mix Role DPS/support

Lenna: lvl 32 Blue Mage-Air Knife/Aegis !Gaia Role: Support/DPS

Faris: lvl 33 Geomancer-Air Knife !Blue Role: Support/DPS

Krile: lvl 33 Monk !Blue/!Mix Role: DPS/Support

GeoMonk has some decent early game synergy mostly because with only a bit of luck around level 21 Geomancer can start grinding off Mini Dragons. Punching Soul Cannon down at level 23 with three monks and a barehanded geomancer was terrifying but neccessary.

World 2 let me catch up on the few blue magicks I had to miss by getting Blue last (W.Wind, Magic Hammer, Death Claw, level 2 old, Aeroga) meaning I didn’t lose too much time to finding my spell list. Phew.

World 3 was literally just the pyramid buying shoes and then The Void. (oh boy I sure did forget to grab the magic Lamp again and this time I did not realize until I was fighting NED. What’s one more turn? How much could that mess with my internal timing of this fight. haha...haaaaaaaa.) Void bosses were a breeze and we got the rare Azusplosion. Always Funny

NED was...ohhh boy, even at level Dumb my kicks were only landing for some 4k as was single target Aeroga and Wind Slash for 2.5kish. Combine that with another piece of NED spewing high level magic at me and things got...dicey. Mighty Guard and White Wind were literal lifesavers as was the Resurrection Mix. Everyone lives...and Monk was there!

[ovyy-pvcure]

As it is once again that time of year. Fiesta round up:

MnkBlk WhmFree clocks in at around 10:30 at level 33

My largest time loss came from several derust mistakes. “Whoops forgot to get shoes for STALKER* now I’m paralyzed” “Blast it sold the Dark Bow need to go back and buy that again” “...I am in the void and have to back for the Magic Lamp. Frick.”

Caught that last one in the desert while going over boss strats on the run up but was still frustrating. Crown Count: 2; Shinryuu, NED

Omega Chance: Maybe. Access to Reflect and Thundaga means it can be done, but level would need to increase.

NED:

Bartz-LVL 33, Freelancer: !White6 !Black6 Flame Rod/Aegis->Apollo’s Harp                Role: DPS/Support

Lenna-LVL 33, Black Mage: !White4, Fire Rod Role: DPS

Faris-LVL 33, Monk: !Black6, Role: DPS (and monk was there)

Krile-LVL 33, White Mage: !Black 6, Sage’s Staff Role: Support/DPS

Simple and obvious strat for the simple and obvious team. Monk uses Flare in TED while the White magicks set up Shell and Blink. Focus fire on Alma and use Magic Lamp to take out the back bit. Once that was taken care of everyone but Bartz hit the head while he used the power of Music to deal 7k to the Grand Cross bit by himself.

Scariest moment: Kind and Gentle Grand Cross has never killed anyone...but did turn 2 of them to stone and set Critical. Ribbon betrayed me a few times but ensured SOMEONE survived that mess.

[ovyy-pvcure]

In the spirit of the upcoming Fiestaivies (FFV4JF) I did a quick for-fun run with the vanilla rules. 1 job from each crystal in order yes beserker yes mime. So with a time of approximately 9:12 Blk/Sum/Nin/Dra chops down a tree riding on the back of 4 Syldras.

The Usual Rundown All characters lvl 43

Base Summoner w/ !Black(6) Flame Rod/Air Knife role: DPS

Lenna Black Mage w/ !Summon(5) Flame Rod/Air Knife Role: DPS

Krile Dragoon w/ !Summon(5) Air Knife, Aegis, Role: Support/DPS

Faris Ninja w/ !Summon(5) Twin Lance/Air Knife, Chicken Knife Role: DPS/Support

Crowns Claimed: Shinryuu, Neo Exdeath

Catastrophe was the big stumbling block here, killing me twice for a time loss of about 5 minutes before I submitted myself to the grind so I could survive the singular Earth Shaker necessary to take it down. Lost far less time going up both Phoenix and also the Forked tower than I expected. I have memorized the pattern of the Phoenix doors.

[ovyy-pvcure]

Sam/Tim/Drg/Free DNQ’s due to last minute work stuff but did finish at around 12:25 with no wipes (thanks Return).

World 1 grinding was quite difficult due to a lack of damage. Gravity can do a lot but low defenses makes life...oh boy. Sandworm was the big threat; down to one character I just started snapping rods and praying. 

Shinryuu was the ultimate example of Equip: Anything being hilariously powerful. Quick into Power Staff to beserk into Dark Bow to blind Shinryuu led to a safe and easy battle. Apollo’s Harp just sped it up

Final Battle Composition

Bartz- Freelancer lvl 39 (Mastered Dragoon) !Time 6, !Jump, Ragnarok->Apollo’s Harp, Aegis Shield. Role: DPS

Lenna- Time Mage lvl 38 Blade Grasp/Shirahodori, Sage’s Staff Role: Healer/DPS

Krile- Samurai lvl 39 !Time 6, Masamune, Ice Shield Role: DPS

Faris- Dragoon lvl 39 !Time 6, Holy Lance, Aegis Shield Role: DPS 

[ovyy-pvcure]

I sat down figured I’d get another run started and whoops I beat FFV in a day. Coming in at just a little over 9 hours with 2 wipes (Liquid Flame, Odin) Nin/Knt/Sum/Tim clears the game at level 34.5.

Two hands or Magic no other choices. Two Handed really does crack open the damage curve in the early game. Nothing is speced to take 500 damage before Ronka so Knight gets to chainsaw though randos while Summoner snapped rods to clear world 1. 

Time Mage is perhaps the actual best support class? Haste and Stop are incredibly powerful tools, and Graviga solves the Crystals almost by itself. Add Float and Teleport for safe traversal and leaving dungeons and you’ve got a very good class. Also Float trolls Catastrophe. 

Ninja has some very real synergy with Summoner. Putting !Summon on a ninja adds some real punch to their scrolls further widening your damage options. On top of it having a free escape in !Smoke, and being a self-contained Chicken Chassis. 

Summoner has all the options. Reflect, Physical protection, Insta-death, Crowd Control, Revive to full. Grants access to Iron Giant grind. You need to hunt down its tools but Summoner pays off. 

Final Boss roundup

Bartz-Time Mage, !Summon(5), Air Knife, Role: Support/DPS, (Special Note: Quick into Catoplebas broke Almaghest)

Lenna-Summoner, Equip Shields, Magus Rod/Aegis, Role: DPS/healer

Krile-Knight, Two Handed, Ragnarok, Role: DPS

Faris-Ninja, !Summon, Twin Lance/Chicken Knife, Role: DPS 

[ovyy-pvcure]

Another run down, and boy was it a rough start. Bar/Geo/Thf/Whm clocks in at almost exactly 12 hours with 3 wipes to their name (Ifrit, Soul Cannon, Twintania). As a no 750 team with no huge damage dealers this run was a learning experience. 

Thief is an S-tier Job, the ability to nab Hi-Potions in World 1 is what kept the team up against Ifrit and Soul Cannon while Thief used its ok physical attack to beat them up.

Geomancer got a chance to shine despite not being magic due to The Library’s only !Gaia command being fire based so Byblos was an alright fight. It also did its job pre-soul cannon by letting the team Grind on Mini Dragons to reach end of W2 levels. Endgame Wind Slashes doing 3.5K was also a big helper. 

Bard is the endgame king and !Sing is so strong NED didn’t get a single attack off before the party killed him. Even the Crystals fell to just Swift Song being able to destroy the Action Economy. Helps when you have two people singing it. Time invested is time earned. 

White came so late I halted most progress towards it at !White 4 for Shell and Blink leaving the actual White Mage to apply healing and Holys as needed. Strong support is located in the white tree and Bard just rounded it out. 

Final Battle Lineup

Bartz-Bard, !White 6, Apollo’s Harp, Role: Support/DPS

Lenna-White, !Gaia, Sage’s Staff, Role: Support/DPS

Krile-Geomancer, !Sing, Air Knife, Role: Support/Crowd Control

Faris-Thief, !Mug, Chicken Knife, Bone Mail (oops) Role: DPS

[ovyy-pvcure]

And another Fest bites the dust. Beast/Time/Free...and Beserker. Final time: 13 hours, Average Party level: 40. Crowns Achieved: 3 (as opposed to the usual 2. Rune Axe with !Time 6 was powerful enough but whooo boy was it scary) 

TED/NED composition

Bartz-Freelancer w/ Master Beast/Time !Catch (Breathe Wing), !Time, Weapon: Ragnarock->Apollo’s Harp Role: DPS/Support

Lenna-Beastmaster !Time (Holding Breathe Wing) Weapon: Fire Lash Role: Healer/DPS 

Krile-Beserker !Time, Weapon: Rune Axe, Aegis Shield. Role: DPS

Faris-Time Mage !Catch (Breathe Wing), Weapon: Sage’s Staff Role: Support/DPS

The run that went to space...and put Beserker in the Time Cube. I did most of the grind in World 1 with !Control before I got Zerker then in World 2 I picked up the Hypno Crown and went Dragon hunting. Stop and Slow were Beserker’s best friends as we slowly worked our way up to Level 38.

[ovyy-pvcure]

Alright first fest of the season is done. DRA/SUM/MIM/RED (4 Summoners!) completed the game in roughly 10ish hours at end shot of Tree Exdeath...with 3/4 of the party dead. It started so well Catoplebas took out the Almaghest section in the first round (like 3 attempts) and then I realized that I forgot the lamp. The Lamp that destroys the back and healthiest section of TED. Oh well, Carbuncle goes up and bounces some damage into that bit and Syldra is doing work. It’s. Fine. 

It was not fine. The back part survived and went Crazy using Meteor and Comet to take out the girls but Bartz’s final queued Thunderstorm finished the fight. I even had the Wonder Rod on tap to Return the fight if Blepas failed....but Bartz was a Summoner so it was very much almost RIP.