The "Perfect Game"

I'm starting a new file to attempt the perfect game.


I DID have a somewhat perfect game; but I used the JP Scroll Glitch and the GameShark for infinite money ONLY. I figured, those two concepts [JP snd Gil] are the only things holding me back from creating a perfect file quickly and efficiently. Everything else I got legitimately. The only thing that ruined it was that I accidentally picked up a Phoenix Down instead of a Glacier Gun in NOGIAS [and I saved the file before noticing what I did wrong], so that threw me off. But I got the rest of the items; it took forever to find a Ninja who can throw Ninja Swords. I even taught 5 people from my party Zodiac, which required clever planning and many resets.

Having the Perfect Game is seriously harder than it sounds.

A perfect game to me is considered:

- Master ALL jobs, including Summoner/Squire [that means learning Zodiac, Ramza learns Ultima]
- All your human characters master all jobs [EVERYONE learns Zodiac, Ramza learns Ultima, Alma learns Ultima.]
- 999999999999 Gil.
- At least 16 of every item [so each item is distributed evenly throughout the party]
- All Move-Find Item Panels found, ONLY "RARE" ITEMS
- All bar propositions done, NO FAILURES.
- Stealing of all "unattainable at the moment" items [Genji Equipment, yes, but also Barbuta from Miluda, etc.]

and a "true perfect game"

- Have every unique character in your party [this means Rad, Lavian, Alicia, Agrias, Cloud, Meliadoul, Boco]. I do not plan on doing this, because I don't want to kick generic characters out that I've been working on for hours just to have every unique character in the game.




I have found a few tasks that are very difficult, but of course possible.

- Mastering Calculator [on Chapter 1, your speed is reduced to a mere 3.]
- Having Ramza learn Ultima.
- Move-Find Item treasures in hard levels [Save Rafa & Defeat Velius]
- Teaching your WHOLE party Zodiac.
- Teaching Alma Ultima. [if you're going to master EVERYONE'S jobs, you might as well teach Alma Ultima.]
- Mastering Archer.

quote Mister Ivanovich

Is Ultima just like Zodiac where you have to get hit by it and survive to learn it? Come to think of it, I've never learned either, NOR having I done anything in the dungeon where you can learn Zodiac. Are there mutliple enemies who can summon it, so it's POSSIBLE for your entire team to learn it?

In order to learn Ultima, Ramza MUST be in his Squire form and you MUST get hit by it to survive it. You have three chances to be hit with Ultima. The battle Outside Limberry Castle (with Celia & Lede and all those Apandas), The battle Inside Limberry (with Elmdor), and the final battle (the Ultima Demons can cast Ultima.) The final battle is the only place Alma can learn Ultima.

As for Zodiac, Elidibs in the Deep Dungeon is the only place you can learn Zodiac. Again, you must get hit by it and you MUST be a Summoner. This is rather difficult, because Zodiac is a REALLY strong summon and Equip Armor does NOT help you at all. MP Switch is very useful, though. And only ONE person can learn it at a time (that means if Ramza and Mustadio get hit by it, either Ramza will learn it first. Mustadio must be hit again to learn it.)

Haste 2 and Slow 2 work in the same ways, by the way. If you cast Haste 2 on a Time Mage that hasn't learned it yet, he/she will be given the option to learn it. It might not really help, but 550 JP is a lot without Gained Jp UP.

quote Mister Ivanovich

And as for using all the characters you get via story mode... I only plan on using the characters from the story that have special job classes. You know, like Rafa, Malak, Beowolf, Agrias, etc... I'm not going to waste my time with Rad or other normal characters you pick up in the story ((and as for Boco, I'll probably just release him. Except for the black chocobo, I really have no use for any monsters...)).

Yeah, I'm kind of iffy about Rad, Lavian, Alicia but I guess they ARE story characters. They're considered "special" because if you press select on the Formation screen on them and click on their name, they have quotes like the other special characters. All the generic people just say "..."

quote Mister Ivanovich

I'll probably start trying to poach a ton of monsters, too. I've never really tried using the Secret Hunt ability, so I'll give it a shot regardless of whether or not it can get me any great items.

I've learned that the soonest you can encounter a Uribo is Chapter 2 in Zigolis Swamp [the story battle]. They are extremely useful creatures, for Uribos can be made into Chantages and Porkys can be made into Ribbons. Make sure you keep resetting the game until you get a Uribo in Zigolis Swamp. I've kept a Porky and an empty character slot in throughout most of my game.

Hydras are also very handy, but you see them only towards the end in Nelvaseka Temple or the Deep Dungeon. One of those creatures can be poached into Setiesmon.

The only thing I find annoying about poaching is that it could either give you a rare item or a bad item.

quote Mister Ivanovich

As far as I know, you can save BEFORE entering a Poaching shop and continuously reset until you get the Rare item... I was leafing through the poaching guides, since I wanted to see what I was getting myself into. =P

I've never actually tried this, so I don't know if it's true or not. If it is, it would be really helpful in getting FS Bags.

quote Mister Ivanovich

What do the Chantage, Ribbon, and Setiesmon do? All I can assume is that a Ribbon gaurds against all negetive status effects, as that's what they do in most RPGs.[/size]

Yes, Ribbon guards against all negative status effects. Chantage gives Auto-Regen and Auto-Reraise, therefore the person wearing it is immortal. Setiesmon gives Auto-Haste and Auto-Transparent, which is useful for stealthy treasure hunting. All are equippable exclusively to females, unless you're Cloud.

quote Mister Ivanovich

Can your characters learn Zodiac if you cast it on them? Because that would be incredibly useful... Hell, you could just spend 4 extra battles making only ONE characters a summoner, since they're a tad slow, and cast it on them one at a time.

Well, remember that Allies cannot target Allies with Damage Summons.

What I've heard was find to a random battle with a summoner and cast Zodiac on him/her. Hopefully he/she will survive, and he/she can cast Zodiac on you. Or, you can kill that summoner and pray that he/she will turn into a crystal, then you can inherit Zodiac.

And I've learned myself that trying to survive Zodiac is extremely hard in the Deep Dungeon. I thought Mind Break would be a great way to lower the damage of it, but it got so low that Elidibs decided to attack rather than cast the summon. It's a real bummer. To tell you the truth Zodiac isn't really worth learning; it's 99 MP and the casting speed is average. Honestly I can do double the damage of Zodiac with two Wizards with Math Skill, and target more or even all enemy units.

quote Mister Ivanovich

[size=1]Well, if you lower your characters' faith, don't spells and summons hurt them much less? Like, 0 faith = 0 damage from those things? Because you could always bring in a hasted up mediator into the battle and lower the enemy's faith or whatever so the summoner only attacks, then lower YOUR summoner's faith until it hits dangerously low levels, then raise the enemy's faith again. ::nods::

I've tried that, and apparently if you get hit with a spell and you're at Innocent, then it's considered like you were never hit with the spell in the first place.

A hasted mediator would help, but I don't like that method because:
1.) Mediator attacks work up to 74%, depending on your Zodiac compatibility [I hate Zodiac compatibilities very much].
2.) It takes too long [Brave/Faith DOWN is quick, but not Brave/Faith UP].
3.) It's a wasted slot. Why bother having only 4 learn Zodiac when you can have 5?




My method was:

Ramza - Summoner
Math Skill
MP Switch
Magic Defend UP
EQUIP THIEF HAT
EQUIP BLACK COSTUME
EQUIP 108 GEMS

2 Male Summoners
Math Skill
MP Switch
Magic Defend UP
EQUIP THIEF HAT
EQUIP BLACK COSTUME
EQUIP 108 GEMS

2 Female Summoners
Item
MP Switch
Magic Defend UP
EQUIP THIEF HAT
EQUIP BLACK COSTUME
EQUIP 108 GEMS


At the start of the battle, Petrify all the Apandas, even your guest Byblos. This should be easy since you have 3 Calculators.

Once you get rid of the Apandas, choose one person [I'd choose Ramza] and have him go up to face Elidibs. You should place him at a spot somewhere in the middle where Elidibs cannot reach your other units.

When Elidibs charges Zodiac, quickly use Math Skill to cast Shell, Haste and Reraise on Ramza.

Zodiac will [hopefully] deplete all of Ramza's MP [because of MP Switch]. Then you will be asked if you want to learn Zodiac.

Quickly cast Stop on Elidibs [yes, he can be Stopped]. Bring Ramza back to his units and bring another character up.

While waiting, it is best to use an Ether or Hi-Ether for Ramza.

Repeat the above for the rest of the 4 units. After you are done, Stop him again and start casting Lich on him.


----------------

-108 Gems will prevent Elidibs from using Poison Frog, where he can Poison or Frog you, which means a higher chance of him using Zodiac.
-Lich the strongest summon to use against all Lucavi monsters.
-108 Gems also Strengthens all elements, so Lich will be strengthened when equipping 108 Gems.
-Black Costume guards against Stop, which is helpful if you cannot target Elidibs with a Stop Math Skill without targeting one of your enemies.
-Thief Hat gives +2 speed, which is helpful because Summoners are slow.
-MP Switch is the most helpful ability in this fight, because Zodiac is uber-powerful and will most likely kill you, so MP Switch gives you sort of a second chance in surviving.
-Magic Defend UP lowers the amount of damage of Zodiac.
-Shell lowers the amount of damage of Zodiac by 1/3.
-Petrifying your guest Byblos will ensure that it will not kill Elidibs, since he's pretty strong.
-Item not only can be used to replenish your ally's MP, but to restore Elidib's MP as well. While running out of MP is rare for a Lucavi Monster, it still can happen.
-I don't know much of his stats, but I know for sure that he is level 75 when the battle starts. If all your characters are at level 99, then a Math Skill>Level>5>Stop would work out GREAT.

Oh yeah, a Ramza, 2 female and 2 male team is a good one for me; mainly because female monks have a better chance of stealing equipment. Not that it matters in the Elidibs battle, but...

Also, if I'm willing to risk some speed and HP I could just equip them with a Ribbon and Setiesmon, then they'll have auto-haste and all negative stats guard, which is great if you're in a rush to heal a wounded ally. Personally, my male units are the powerhouses while the females are the support system, which balances out perfectly (Male+Female, Male+Female, Ramza can support himself.)

All you need is the Battle Mechanics Guide.


This guide is all you need. It breaks down EVERYTHING, from Dancer's equations to skills that the Lucavi monsters use. It's really handy when you need a quick guide to attacks. Did you know that Bolt goes extra damage in the rain? And that Archers have a success penalty if they fight in the night? That guide saved my butt in some fights.