Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo Dungeon (NTSC-J Complete)

messenger

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2008-08-27 10:40:45 pm

Hey all,

Long time lurker, but I think I found my game to attempt a speed run. I have made it up to Guardian of Light just shy of 5 hours in a terrible practice run, which has convinced me that sub 7 is easily achievable. My terribly rough guess at a final time is around 4 hours. Anyways my strategy right now is:

Rush through the beginning of the game
Get Job change
Buy lots of potions and use the Knight job class to beat Guardian of fire
Work some magic and beat the Guardian of Water
Pick up fire and water elemental seals on the saddle (and possibly the talons)
Pick up sleep, blind, and poison on talons
Run through the Guardian of Light and beat Croma mage (somehow?) and get Dark knight job.
Level enough to get Dark Knight Drain sword and defeat Alexander (somehow?)
Level off of mini cactuars and go destroy destroyer with dark knight boss kill ability + angel robes that have been picked up.

I would really want to do SS but SO many things are luck dependent in this game, like getting good weapon drops, not getting cornered by enemies, and mini cactuar fights.

Anyways, I am working off what is up on game faqs right now and trying to complete my practice run. I have made it to Croma mage at level 25 and I would have beaten her if I wasn't stupid and walked into her range when I didn't have any life.

I am really not sure about my choice of knight as the early game job because I haven't really used the other jobs too much, but knight gives extra defense which is priceless in the guardian of water. I am pretty confident about Dark Knight for late game because it has drain blade and boss kill, and for magic defense I can use angel robes and luck?

Any ideas?

UPDATE: I am adding a link here to a thread that helped me get my capture card set up and also has other pertinent information.

http://speeddemosarchive.com/forum/index.php/topic,9412.0.html

I am still planning to run this I just have run into a lot of issues. I have resolved the capture card recording issues and only thing I need to do now is get my wii fixed because it doesn't read SD cards. Without that, I will not be able to segment the runs very efficiently or keep track of the save files of different segments.

Thread title:

Hey all,

Long time lurker, but I think I found my game to attempt a speed run.  I have made it up to Guardian of Light just shy of 5 hours in a terrible practice run, which has convinced me that sub 7 is easily achievable.  My terribly rough guess at a final time is around 4 hours.  Anyways my strategy right now is:

Rush through the beginning of the game
Get Job change
Buy lots of potions and use the Knight job class to beat Guardian of fire
Work some magic and beat the Guardian of Water
Pick up fire and water elemental seals on the saddle (and possibly the talons)
Pick up sleep, blind, and poison on talons
Run through the Guardian of Light and beat Croma mage (somehow?) and get Dark knight job.
Level enough to get Dark Knight Drain sword and defeat Alexander (somehow?)
Level off of mini cactuars and go destroy destroyer with dark knight boss kill ability + angel robes that have been picked up.

I would really want to do SS but SO many things are luck dependent in this game, like getting good weapon drops, not getting cornered by enemies, and mini cactuar fights.

Anyways, I am working off what is up on game faqs right now and trying to complete my practice run.  I have made it to Croma mage at level 25 and I would have beaten her if I wasn't stupid and walked into her range when I didn't have any life.

I am really not sure about my choice of knight as the early game job because I haven't really used the other jobs too much, but knight gives extra defense which is priceless in the guardian of water.  I am pretty confident about Dark Knight for late game because it has drain blade and boss kill, and for magic defense I can use angel robes and luck?

Any ideas?

[b]UPDATE[/b]:  I am adding a link here to a thread that helped me get my capture card set up and also has other pertinent information.

[url=http://speeddemosarchive.com/forum/index.php/topic,9412.0.html]http://speeddemosarchive.com/forum/index.php/topic,9412.0.html[/url]

I am still planning to run this I just have run into a lot of issues.  I have resolved the capture card recording issues and only thing I need to do now is get my wii fixed because it doesn't read SD cards.  Without that, I will not be able to segment the runs very efficiently or keep track of the save files of different segments.

Red_Shifter

Edit history:

Red_Shifter: 2008-08-28 11:21:38 pm

2008-08-28 03:46:25 am

yes, an iron knuckle riding a mechanical horse

Have you been keeping track of your job and levels at specific points?

I think there are a few undead boss enemies that you can throw your Potions at to deal damage.

~~It might be worth getting some Fire Talons so that you can fuse them later on for the Guardian of Water...~~ unless it so happens that those enemies are actually weak to Lightning instead, in which case there appears to be no way to exploit elemental weaknesses in a useful fashion in this game.

I would avoid putting poison on your Talons, unless you absolutely need it for those pesky Elemental enemies. Every time you poison someone, it plays an animation as they take damage from it. At its strongest point, it's only about 10 damage (1 damage to an Elemental), and an enemy killed by poison doesn't drop EXP.

Leviathan will usually use his Whirlpool if he charges while you're far from him, and he'll use his Tsunami if he starts charging while you're close to him. I know it's possible to interrupt his charge attacks with a Fuma Shruiken, but obviously you won't have Ninja class. You should check to see if there's maybe another attack that can interrupt these charge attacks. It's also possible to put him to Sleep to interrupt his charge attacks, but that may be too luck-based to be a good idea.

Alexander is a tough one. It's possible to avoid every non-physical attack he has, but I'm not sure exactly how it works. His Homing Laser will sometimes hit the wrong tile, and I think I remember an attack being triggered if both hands are alive and you're between them, so just walk around the hands to get into range. As far as his charged laser attack, you can just sidestep out of the way.

Considering how late you get Dark Knight, is getting the Lv.7 Dark Blade attack really the best idea? I'm assuming that you're already underleveled at that point, and the Dark Knight has absolutely atrocious defense. I'm not sure you can really pick up that many job points between the time you get the class and the time you get to the Destroyer. You may have Lv.3 Drain Blade, but

If I were going to do a speed run, I would probably use both Thief and White Mage.

Thief has Blind Needles at Lv.1, which is a nice ranged attack, and a Lv.3 ability called Alert that shows you the entire layout of the floor that you're on. It costs 3 SP and may not be usable very often early on in the game, but you'll save a lot of time getting to the exit on the floor and you'll be able to get around most of the enemies. Of course, if you want Thief, you have to come up with a good strategy to get the Thief's Memories out of the Guardian of Fire.

The reason I would recommend White Mage is because it has so many nice abilities. You have healing, Protect/Shell, MBarrier, and Holy. This class is a great boss killer, considering how much damage Holy does. I've read that Holy can do good damage against Alexander of all people. You might have to carry around a lot of Ethers/Hi-Ethers to use the class effectively, though - Charge is very luck-based. Try not to cast Dia very often against boss enemies, as Holy is much stronger and only 1 SP higher in cost. If you can get a good collection of books like Drain, more power to you.

I'm not exceptionally knowledgable of the game, but these are the basic thoughts I get while thinking about a run like this.

Have you been keeping track of your job and levels at specific points?

I think there are a few undead boss enemies that you can throw your Potions at to deal damage.

[s]It might be worth getting some Fire Talons so that you can fuse them later on for the Guardian of Water...[/s] unless it so happens that those enemies are actually weak to Lightning instead, in which case there appears to be no way to exploit elemental weaknesses in a useful fashion in this game.

I would avoid putting poison on your Talons, unless you absolutely need it for those pesky Elemental enemies.  Every time you poison someone, it plays an animation as they take damage from it.  At its strongest point, it's only about 10 damage (1 damage to an Elemental), and an enemy killed by poison doesn't drop EXP.

Leviathan will usually use his Whirlpool if he charges while you're far from him, and he'll use his Tsunami if he starts charging while you're close to him.  I know it's possible to interrupt his charge attacks with a Fuma Shruiken, but obviously you won't have Ninja class.  You should check to see if there's maybe another attack that can interrupt these charge attacks.  It's also possible to put him to Sleep to interrupt his charge attacks, but that may be too luck-based to be a good idea.

Alexander is a tough one.  It's possible to avoid every non-physical attack he has, but I'm not sure exactly how it works.  His Homing Laser will sometimes hit the wrong tile, and I think I remember an attack being triggered if both hands are alive and you're between them, so just walk around the hands to get into range.  As far as his charged laser attack, you can just sidestep out of the way.

Considering how late you get Dark Knight, is getting the Lv.7 Dark Blade attack really the best idea?  I'm assuming that you're already underleveled at that point, and the Dark Knight has absolutely atrocious defense.  I'm not sure you can really pick up that many job points between the time you get the class and the time you get to the Destroyer.  You may have Lv.3 Drain Blade, but

If I were going to do a speed run, I would probably use both Thief and White Mage.

Thief has Blind Needles at Lv.1, which is a nice ranged attack, and a Lv.3 ability called Alert that shows you the entire layout of the floor that you're on.  It costs 3 SP and may not be usable very often early on in the game, but you'll save a lot of time getting to the exit on the floor and you'll be able to get around most of the enemies.  Of course, if you want Thief, you have to come up with a good strategy to get the Thief's Memories out of the Guardian of Fire.

The reason I would recommend White Mage is because it has so many nice abilities.  You have healing, Protect/Shell, MBarrier, and Holy.  This class is a great boss killer, considering how much damage Holy does.  I've read that Holy can do good damage against Alexander of all people.  You might have to carry around a lot of Ethers/Hi-Ethers to use the class effectively, though - Charge is very luck-based.  Try not to cast Dia very often against boss enemies, as Holy is much stronger and only 1 SP higher in cost.  If you can get a good collection of books like Drain, more power to you.

I'm not exceptionally knowledgable of the game, but these are the basic thoughts I get while thinking about a run like this.

messenger

2008-08-28 07:33:35 am

Thanks so much for the information! I am glad someone else is interested in this game. Ninja class does rock but oh well.

I didn't know about the poison doesn't give you exp thing either. Also I need to keep track of the undead bosses to make them easier with potion kills. I do not plan to level on my normal kills. Mini cactuar battles will be used. I think they drop 10000 exp and 1000 job points for like 1 minute or so of time. That was going to be my strategy to get Dark Blade. But now that you mention it, I keep thinking about White Mage more and more. The only draw back I can see with white mage is that there is no knockback attacks ( which makes most battles much easier ). Holy does pretty much kill everything really dead though, but I wouldn't have holy until late guardian of light with heavy levelling, (which I want to avoid).

Thief is an idea, but that would take some ridiculous strat to survive against the dungeon hero X. Maybe Knight job with protect can take a hit? Even thief's usefulness will wane and search is too costly to be viable, maybe if it only took two SP's but three is crazy talk.

Dark Knight's defense doesn't really come into the picture because of the Angel Robes and Drain Blade. Otherwise I will just need luck to get through lower levels of the Guardian of Dark.

As I talk about it more and more, a segmented run seems to be the only viable method. I think I will start planning out my segments after I test run with a white mage instead of a knight and see how that goes.

Thanks so much for the information!  I am glad someone else is interested in this game.  Ninja class does rock but oh well.

I didn't know about the poison doesn't give you exp thing either.  Also I need to keep track of the undead bosses to make them easier with potion kills.  I do not plan to level on my normal kills.  Mini cactuar battles will be used.  I think they drop 10000 exp and 1000 job points for like 1 minute or so of time.  That was going to be my strategy to get Dark Blade.  But now that you mention it, I keep thinking about White Mage more and more.  The only draw back I can see with white mage is that there is no knockback attacks ( which makes most battles much easier ).  Holy does pretty much kill everything really dead though, but I wouldn't have holy until late guardian of light with heavy levelling, (which I want to avoid).

Thief is an idea, but that would take some ridiculous strat to survive against the dungeon hero X.  Maybe Knight job with protect can take a hit?  Even thief's usefulness will wane and search is too costly to be viable, maybe if it only took two SP's but three is crazy talk.

Dark Knight's defense doesn't really come into the picture because of the Angel Robes and Drain Blade.  Otherwise I will just need luck to get through lower levels of the Guardian of Dark.

As I talk about it more and more, a segmented run seems to be the only viable method.  I think I will start planning out my segments after I test run with a white mage instead of a knight and see how that goes.

messenger

2008-08-28 11:57:33 am

After some research it seems that mini cactuars appear in the 21st floor of the water dungeon, albeit they give considerably less job points (and I would think they would give the same difference in XP). I will have to test this out as well.

Red_Shifter

2008-08-28 04:05:10 pm

yes, an iron knuckle riding a mechanical horse

A lot of enemies appear in a lot of places, but they're always scaled towards that point in the game. For example, Iron Giant Golds in the Guardian of Dark don't ever drop the Omega Saddle.

I remember getting Thief my first time around and tanking a physical hit with my Knight that smashed me all the way to the back of the room, ending up next to the stairs. Of course, I wasn't really going for speed and probably had some nice armor on and great levels for that point in the game. Scholar has a Lv.3 ability called Search to see the entire map just like the Thief, but Scholar doesn't have any good attack abilities, so you'd have to either hope for book drops or play the class in segments where you don't need to level up or fight bosses. Getting the Thief class would be better because of its ranged attacks and because you can get it earlier.

Now that I think about Phoenix, you might want to use Black Mage just for that one fight. Blizzard only takes 1 SP and nets you 4 uses, while Dia takes 2 SP and would get at most 2 uses before you have to start chugging Ethers. There's a crystal right before the fight, so you can switch there. I don't remember any of the main boss enemies leaving behind Job Points, so you won't lose out on any progress in White Mage. From testing in Hero's Dungeon 1, Dia isn't enough of a step up from Blizzard to be worth using. (This should probably be tested on the real Phoenix fight.)

I think I remember the requirements for White Mage level ups being a bit lower than most other classes, but I can't find any numbers laying around. Considering that you can start using White Mage at the first time you switch jobs, you could aim at getting Holy before Leviathan (if at all possible). If you don't, you might want to bring the Black Mage back out. Again, Dia isn't enough of a step up from Thunder to be worth using, while Holy is excessively powerful and cost-effective for such a high level spell. The Black Mage's high-level magic, which costs a lot more, doesn't even come close to laying down as much damage as Holy. (Again, this should all be tested on the real Leviathan fight.)

I wonder if the game was just written in such a way that all enemies are weak to the Holy element.

A lot of enemies appear in a lot of places, but they're always scaled towards that point in the game.  For example, Iron Giant Golds in the Guardian of Dark don't ever drop the Omega Saddle.

I remember getting Thief my first time around and tanking a physical hit with my Knight that smashed me all the way to the back of the room, ending up next to the stairs.  Of course, I wasn't really going for speed and probably had some nice armor on and great levels for that point in the game.  Scholar has a Lv.3 ability called Search to see the entire map just like the Thief, but Scholar doesn't have any good attack abilities, so you'd have to either hope for book drops or play the class in segments where you don't need to level up or fight bosses.  Getting the Thief class would be better because of its ranged attacks and because you can get it earlier.

Now that I think about Phoenix, you might want to use Black Mage just for that one fight.  Blizzard only takes 1 SP and nets you 4 uses, while Dia takes 2 SP and would get at most 2 uses before you have to start chugging Ethers.  There's a crystal right before the fight, so you can switch there.  I don't remember any of the main boss enemies leaving behind Job Points, so you won't lose out on any progress in White Mage.  From testing in Hero's Dungeon 1, Dia isn't enough of a step up from Blizzard to be worth using.  (This should probably be tested on the real Phoenix fight.)

I think I remember the requirements for White Mage level ups being a bit lower than most other classes, but I can't find any numbers laying around.  Considering that you can start using White Mage at the first time you switch jobs, you could aim at getting Holy before Leviathan (if at all possible).  If you don't, you might want to bring the Black Mage back out.  Again, Dia isn't enough of a step up from Thunder to be worth using, while Holy is excessively powerful and cost-effective for such a high level spell.  The Black Mage's high-level magic, which costs a lot more, doesn't even come close to laying down as much damage as Holy. (Again, this should all be tested on the real Leviathan fight.)

I wonder if the game was just written in such a way that all enemies are weak to the Holy element.

getter77

2008-08-28 05:50:02 pm

100% runs=great to watch

Wasn't the trick to Dungeon Hero X just to escape him via putting him to sleep or confused or some such? Or am I misremembering what I've read on this game I own that I've still yet to play?

messenger

2008-08-28 08:19:31 pm

Quote from Red_Shifter:

A lot of enemies appear in a lot of places, but they're always scaled towards that point in the game. For example, Iron Giant Golds in the Guardian of Dark don't ever drop the Omega Saddle.

I remember getting Thief my first time around and tanking a physical hit with my Knight that smashed me all the way to the back of the room, ending up next to the stairs. Of course, I wasn't really going for speed and probably had some nice armor on and great levels for that point in the game. Scholar has a Lv.3 ability called Search to see the entire map just like the Thief, but Scholar doesn't have any good attack abilities, so you'd have to either hope for book drops or play the class in segments where you don't need to level up or fight bosses. Getting the Thief class would be better because of its ranged attacks and because you can get it earlier.

Now that I think about Phoenix, you might want to use Black Mage just for that one fight. Blizzard only takes 1 SP and nets you 4 uses, while Dia takes 2 SP and would get at most 2 uses before you have to start chugging Ethers. There's a crystal right before the fight, so you can switch there. I don't remember any of the main boss enemies leaving behind Job Points, so you won't lose out on any progress in White Mage. From testing in Hero's Dungeon 1, Dia isn't enough of a step up from Blizzard to be worth using. (This should probably be tested on the real Phoenix fight.)

I think I remember the requirements for White Mage level ups being a bit lower than most other classes, but I can't find any numbers laying around. Considering that you can start using White Mage at the first time you switch jobs, you could aim at getting Holy before Leviathan (if at all possible). If you don't, you might want to bring the Black Mage back out. Again, Dia isn't enough of a step up from Thunder to be worth using, while Holy is excessively powerful and cost-effective for such a high level spell. The Black Mage's high-level magic, which costs a lot more, doesn't even come close to laying down as much damage as Holy. (Again, this should all be tested on the real Leviathan fight.)

I wonder if the game was just written in such a way that all enemies are weak to the Holy element.

You are really starting to convince me of just White maging the whole game. White mage does have cheaper levels. I really don't think I would need holy by Leviathan, and the Black Mage idea sounds great, although it will require a few potions. I am tempted to just trash my current test run, because I am kind of stuck at guardian of light where I am at. I guess I can just manipulate luck to make my way down dungeons and just buy all ethers / hi ethers instead of potions. I can probably power level on the mini cactuars in the Guardian of Light to guarantee holy and then just MBarrier / Angel Robe and holy Alexander to death.

I am still unconvinced that search is really worth it.

Thanks again for the feedback!

OH and about dungeon hero X you can sleep / confuse him, but who has those spells at that point ( maybe a lucky drop). Regardless White mage looks A LOT more promising than thief.

[quote="Red_Shifter"]
A lot of enemies appear in a lot of places, but they're always scaled towards that point in the game.  For example, Iron Giant Golds in the Guardian of Dark don't ever drop the Omega Saddle.

I remember getting Thief my first time around and tanking a physical hit with my Knight that smashed me all the way to the back of the room, ending up next to the stairs.  Of course, I wasn't really going for speed and probably had some nice armor on and great levels for that point in the game.  Scholar has a Lv.3 ability called Search to see the entire map just like the Thief, but Scholar doesn't have any good attack abilities, so you'd have to either hope for book drops or play the class in segments where you don't need to level up or fight bosses.  Getting the Thief class would be better because of its ranged attacks and because you can get it earlier.

Now that I think about Phoenix, you might want to use Black Mage just for that one fight.  Blizzard only takes 1 SP and nets you 4 uses, while Dia takes 2 SP and would get at most 2 uses before you have to start chugging Ethers.  There's a crystal right before the fight, so you can switch there.  I don't remember any of the main boss enemies leaving behind Job Points, so you won't lose out on any progress in White Mage.  From testing in Hero's Dungeon 1, Dia isn't enough of a step up from Blizzard to be worth using.  (This should probably be tested on the real Phoenix fight.)

I think I remember the requirements for White Mage level ups being a bit lower than most other classes, but I can't find any numbers laying around.  Considering that you can start using White Mage at the first time you switch jobs, you could aim at getting Holy before Leviathan (if at all possible).  If you don't, you might want to bring the Black Mage back out.  Again, Dia isn't enough of a step up from Thunder to be worth using, while Holy is excessively powerful and cost-effective for such a high level spell.  The Black Mage's high-level magic, which costs a lot more, doesn't even come close to laying down as much damage as Holy. (Again, this should all be tested on the real Leviathan fight.)

I wonder if the game was just written in such a way that all enemies are weak to the Holy element.
[/quote]

You are really starting to convince me of just White maging the whole game.  White mage does have cheaper levels.  I really don't think I would need holy by Leviathan, and the Black Mage idea sounds great, although it will require a few potions.  I am tempted to just trash my current test run, because I am kind of stuck at guardian of light where I am at.  I guess I can just manipulate luck to make my way down dungeons and just buy all ethers / hi ethers instead of potions.  I can probably power level on the mini cactuars in the Guardian of Light to guarantee holy and then just MBarrier / Angel Robe and holy Alexander to death.

I am still unconvinced that search is really worth it.

Thanks again for the feedback!

OH and about dungeon hero X you can sleep / confuse him, but who has those spells at that point ( maybe a lucky drop).  Regardless White mage looks A LOT more promising than thief.

RaneofSOTN

2008-08-29 11:26:15 am

I want off the ride....

Sorry i can't contribute right now as I'm still trying to beat the game (21st floor of water dungeon anyone?!) but from what i'v eseen of the classes I've played (i didn't pick up thief from moogle DOH!)... White mage seems like the better way to go in MOST dungeons. Except the special dungeons. I've been avoiding it and loving my Dragoon class, but thats just me I think. Haven't gotten much use of scholar, but i do tend to keep a supply of books on hand (Mostly poison and bind for being evil).
when I get some more facts or anything on hand i'll try to help.

messenger

2008-08-29 01:14:14 pm

Quote from RaneofSOTN:

Sorry i can't contribute right now as I'm still trying to beat the game (21st floor of water dungeon anyone?!) but from what i'v eseen of the classes I've played (i didn't pick up thief from moogle DOH!)... White mage seems like the better way to go in MOST dungeons. Except the special dungeons. I've been avoiding it and loving my Dragoon class, but thats just me I think. Haven't gotten much use of scholar, but i do tend to keep a supply of books on hand (Mostly poison and bind for being evil).
when I get some more facts or anything on hand i'll try to help.

I think you are referring to the battle of Croma's elementals. The trick to them is to not let them surround you. Just run around one of them and get them to all channel through the middle rocks and fight them one by one. Makes them real easy. You can steal the thief memories from the moogle at any of his dungeon stores, its just that he gets more powerful as the game goes on so it is easier to go back to the fire dungeon and beat the crap out of him.

[quote="RaneofSOTN"]
Sorry i can't contribute right now as I'm still trying to beat the game (21st floor of water dungeon anyone?!) but from what i'v eseen of the classes I've played (i didn't pick up thief from moogle DOH!)... White mage seems like the better way to go in MOST dungeons. Except the special dungeons. I've been avoiding it and loving my Dragoon class, but thats just me I think. Haven't gotten much use of scholar, but i do tend to keep a supply of books on hand (Mostly poison and bind for being evil).
when I get some more facts or anything on hand i'll try to help.
[/quote]

I think you are referring to the battle of Croma's elementals.  The trick to them is to not let them surround you.  Just run around one of them and get them to all channel through the middle rocks and fight them one by one.  Makes them real easy.  You can steal the thief memories from the moogle at any of his dungeon stores, its just that he gets more powerful as the game goes on so it is easier to go back to the fire dungeon and beat the crap out of him.

messenger

2008-08-29 01:16:38 pm

Quote from Red_Shifter:

Now that I think about Phoenix, you might want to use Black Mage just for that one fight. Blizzard only takes 1 SP and nets you 4 uses, while Dia takes 2 SP and would get at most 2 uses before you have to start chugging Ethers. There's a crystal right before the fight, so you can switch there. I don't remember any of the main boss enemies leaving behind Job Points, so you won't lose out on any progress in White Mage. From testing in Hero's Dungeon 1, Dia isn't enough of a step up from Blizzard to be worth using. (This should probably be tested on the real Phoenix fight.)

I have tried fighting Phoenix twice with black mage and died twice. Black Mage is doing 24 damage with blizzard and I think I am at level 6. I need a LOT of ethers. I had 4 and I used them all within like 30 turns or so. I am thinking 12 or so, but I don't exactly have that much inventory space. Great news though, I think I can get through Guardian of fire in under an hour if I can get this strat to work.

[quote="Red_Shifter"]
Now that I think about Phoenix, you might want to use Black Mage just for that one fight.  Blizzard only takes 1 SP and nets you 4 uses, while Dia takes 2 SP and would get at most 2 uses before you have to start chugging Ethers.  There's a crystal right before the fight, so you can switch there.  I don't remember any of the main boss enemies leaving behind Job Points, so you won't lose out on any progress in White Mage.  From testing in Hero's Dungeon 1, Dia isn't enough of a step up from Blizzard to be worth using.  (This should probably be tested on the real Phoenix fight.)
[/quote]

I have tried fighting Phoenix twice with black mage and died twice.  Black Mage is doing 24 damage with blizzard and I think I am at level 6.  I need a LOT of ethers.  I had 4 and I used them all within like 30 turns or so.  I am thinking 12 or so, but I don't exactly have that much inventory space.  Great news though, I think I can get through Guardian of fire in under an hour if I can get this strat to work.

Red_Shifter

2008-08-30 12:21:55 am

yes, an iron knuckle riding a mechanical horse

It appears that Ultima Garden has a time for this game on the Japanese version: 9:12:49. However, it links to a page that shows much lower times. One page I read appears to show a time of 6:40:22 at Lv.39.

I can't read the whole thing, even after being translated through Google. However, from what it says, it sounds like the Wii game and not any other possible Chocobo Mystery Dungeon game.

http://aliqui.web.fc2.com/dq/tokiwasures.htm

From what I'm reading, it appears that Mini Cactuars might actually show up in Guardian of Fire. The strategy uses Holy on Phoenix, Holy on Leviathan, (possibly) Blind Needles on Alexander, and Holy on the Destroyer. It's worth mentioning that you can power up attacks like Blind Needles by using strong weapons.

RaneofSOTN

2008-08-30 12:27:58 am

I want off the ride....

I'm curious if you plan on getting leather talons + 10?
Cause its a quick thing to do after you get back the b'smiths memories (aren't they required for the fire part?). It wont take much gil (so it could easily afforded). And this provides great attack and then when you fuse; the +'s would carry over into the new weapon. so you can take like a steel claw or a higher one and fuse into it to its natural limit.. ? I mean that would give you a strong weapon to abuse thief if you wanted to.
Thief is a damn strong class, unless its a special dungeon I feel I might stick to that job too much, i was enjoying dragoon a lot.

But Thief or White mage are good ideas.
If you wanna steal off mog its actually FAIRLY easy x-x.. I can do it 90% of the time now. It just depends on what job I have really. Thief makes it crap ton easy; and the rest are just a little more interesting. But as longa s you can survive 2 hits you can get mog's treasure (Water dungeon is like 90damage for me w/ a +11 water saddle). So if you wanted to at that point, you could steal massive spells for use later (He seems to have quite a few of the bomb shells/antartic winds and so forth). but this puts you at a disadvantage for the next floor with the pain still kicking ya.

As for the person who told me about the boss i had already done it (poisoned one and last hitted it, and took on the rest as they came 1 by one. it worked out great).

My vote for best is between thief and white mage...

I'm curious if you plan on getting leather talons + 10?
Cause its a quick thing to do after you get back the b'smiths memories (aren't they required for the fire part?). It wont take much gil (so it could easily afforded). And this provides great attack and then when you fuse; the +'s would carry over into the new weapon. so you can take like a steel claw or a higher one and fuse into it to its natural limit.. ? I mean that would give you a strong weapon to abuse thief if you wanted to.
Thief is a damn strong class, unless its a special dungeon I feel I might stick to that job too much, i was enjoying dragoon a lot.

But Thief or White mage are good ideas.
If you wanna steal off mog its actually FAIRLY easy x-x.. I can do it 90% of the time now. It just depends on what job I have really. Thief makes it crap ton easy; and the rest are just a little more interesting. But as longa s you can survive 2 hits you can get mog's treasure (Water dungeon is like 90damage for me w/ a +11 water saddle). So if you wanted to at that point, you could steal massive spells for use later (He seems to have quite a few of the bomb shells/antartic winds and so forth). but this puts you at a disadvantage for the next floor with the pain still kicking ya.

As for the person who told me about the boss i had already done it (poisoned one and last hitted it, and took on the rest as they came 1 by one. it worked out great).

My vote for best is between thief and white mage...

messenger

2008-08-30 10:31:35 am

Quote from Red_Shifter:

It appears that Ultima Garden has a time for this game on the Japanese version: 9:12:49. However, it links to a page that shows much lower times. One page I read appears to show a time of 6:40:22 at Lv.39.

I can't read the whole thing, even after being translated through Google. However, from what it says, it sounds like the Wii game and not any other possible Chocobo Mystery Dungeon game.

http://aliqui.web.fc2.com/dq/tokiwasures.htm

From what I'm reading, it appears that Mini Cactuars might actually show up in Guardian of Fire. The strategy uses Holy on Phoenix, Holy on Leviathan, (possibly) Blind Needles on Alexander, and Holy on the Destroyer. It's worth mentioning that you can power up attacks like Blind Needles by using strong weapons.

Wow it feels like that time is not going to be too difficult at all, well segmented at least. SS would be such a pain. Even if minicactuars did show up in Guardian of fire, they would only be worth 300 job points. which is going to take like 20 or so trips to get to holy. I mean wouldn't it make more sense to blind needle phoenix, if you were going to blind needle anyone?

I was just thinking about it, and maybe I will try out knight on phoenix, I will see if I get more damage output on it.

[quote="Red_Shifter"]
It appears that Ultima Garden has a time for this game on the Japanese version: 9:12:49.  However, it links to a page that shows much lower times.  One page I read appears to show a time of 6:40:22 at Lv.39.

I can't read the whole thing, even after being translated through Google.  However, from what it says, it sounds like the Wii game and not any other possible Chocobo Mystery Dungeon game.

http://aliqui.web.fc2.com/dq/tokiwasures.htm

From what I'm reading, it appears that Mini Cactuars might actually show up in Guardian of Fire.  The strategy uses Holy on Phoenix, Holy on Leviathan, (possibly) Blind Needles on Alexander, and Holy on the Destroyer.  It's worth mentioning that you can power up attacks like Blind Needles by using strong weapons.
[/quote]

Wow it feels like that time is not going to be too difficult at all, well segmented at least.  SS would be such a pain.  Even if minicactuars did show up in Guardian of fire, they would only be worth 300 job points.  which is going to take like 20 or so trips to get to holy.  I mean wouldn't it make more sense to blind needle phoenix, if you were going to blind needle anyone?

I was just thinking about it, and maybe I will try out knight on phoenix, I will see if I get more damage output on it.

messenger

2008-08-30 10:33:53 am

Quote from RaneofSOTN:

I'm curious if you plan on getting leather talons + 10?
Cause its a quick thing to do after you get back the b'smiths memories (aren't they required for the fire part?). It wont take much gil (so it could easily afforded). And this provides great attack and then when you fuse; the +'s would carry over into the new weapon. so you can take like a steel claw or a higher one and fuse into it to its natural limit.. ? I mean that would give you a strong weapon to abuse thief if you wanted to.
Thief is a damn strong class, unless its a special dungeon I feel I might stick to that job too much, i was enjoying dragoon a lot.

I am hone / fusing my weapons and talons, but I don't think leather goes to 10 (I think it goes to 5, gotta check) I can just get wood talons from the store and those go to +8 for cheap.

messenger

2008-08-30 09:21:33 pm

Quote from Red_Shifter:

It appears that Ultima Garden has a time for this game on the Japanese version: 9:12:49. However, it links to a page that shows much lower times. One page I read appears to show a time of 6:40:22 at Lv.39.

I can't read the whole thing, even after being translated through Google. However, from what it says, it sounds like the Wii game and not any other possible Chocobo Mystery Dungeon game.

http://aliqui.web.fc2.com/dq/tokiwasures.htm

From what I'm reading, it appears that Mini Cactuars might actually show up in Guardian of Fire. The strategy uses Holy on Phoenix, Holy on Leviathan, (possibly) Blind Needles on Alexander, and Holy on the Destroyer. It's worth mentioning that you can power up attacks like Blind Needles by using strong weapons.

I have to confirm that he must have some how farmed minicactuars (minitendas?) to get holy at such an early stage. I don't remember running into one so early, but I don't think they will give out as much JP as he is saying. He also seems to be at really high levels. I beat Phoenix at Level 10 rather easily, whereas this guy is at level 15.

I have also found out that dia owns. It does like 40 - 55 damage so it doesn't take that long to down phoenix at all.

[quote="Red_Shifter"]
It appears that Ultima Garden has a time for this game on the Japanese version: 9:12:49.  However, it links to a page that shows much lower times.  One page I read appears to show a time of 6:40:22 at Lv.39.

I can't read the whole thing, even after being translated through Google.  However, from what it says, it sounds like the Wii game and not any other possible Chocobo Mystery Dungeon game.

http://aliqui.web.fc2.com/dq/tokiwasures.htm

From what I'm reading, it appears that Mini Cactuars might actually show up in Guardian of Fire.  The strategy uses Holy on Phoenix, Holy on Leviathan, (possibly) Blind Needles on Alexander, and Holy on the Destroyer.  It's worth mentioning that you can power up attacks like Blind Needles by using strong weapons.
[/quote]

I have to confirm that he must have some how farmed minicactuars (minitendas?) to get holy at such an early stage.  I don't remember running into one so early, but I don't think they will give out as much JP as he is saying.  He also seems to be at really high levels. I beat Phoenix at Level 10 rather easily, whereas this guy is at level 15.

I have also found out that dia owns.  It does like 40 - 55 damage so it doesn't take that long to down phoenix at all.

RaneofSOTN

2008-08-30 09:30:47 pm

I want off the ride....

leather goes to 5; but if you try once more for an upgrade; its an attempt to push for another +5; its a chance for +5 on anything.
So you can get leather talons +10 for dirt cheap (highest upgrade cost is like 70g) So then you could take that and push that into another talon by fusing! so its all good.
This is something to abuse;

Red_Shifter

2008-08-30 10:14:13 pm

yes, an iron knuckle riding a mechanical horse

Quote from messenger:

I have also found out that dia owns. It does like 40 - 55 damage so it doesn't take that long to down phoenix at all.

Like I said, I tested out this strategy in Hero's Challenge 1. If Blizzard is doing like 24 damage per hit, it appears Dia is much more effective early on than it is around Level 50. (In my testing, Blizzard was doing 100-120 while Dia was doing around 120-140.) It doesn't help that enemy statistics other than HP are completely unknown, making it impossible to come up with a damage formula.

messenger

2008-08-30 11:31:37 pm

Quote from RaneofSOTN:

leather goes to 5; but if you try once more for an upgrade; its an attempt to push for another +5; its a chance for +5 on anything.
So you can get leather talons +10 for dirt cheap (highest upgrade cost is like 70g) So then you could take that and push that into another talon by fusing! so its all good.
This is something to abuse;

Money isn't exactly all that tight and I would want to do the upgrade on the wood talons to push them to +13, or maybe the saddle, getting both in one segment would be a pain!

I did some digging and apparently the japanese are convinced that mini cactuars can happen in any dungeon and they always have 5 HP and give 10,000 XP / 1000 JP.

http://64.233.179.104/translate_c?hl=en&sl=ja&tl=en&u=http://www30.atwiki.jp/tokiwasure/pages/37.html&usg=ALkJrhi88TI5Xjys9A9eY438GwTUdMsmmw

After attempting to get a mini cactuar for like 60 tries and fighting Ifrit 30 of those times, I am convinced that you cannot get a minicactuar in the fire dungeon. Oh well, there goes the early holy idea.

[quote="RaneofSOTN"]
leather goes to 5; but if you try once more for an upgrade; its an attempt to push for another +5; its a chance for +5 on anything.
So you can get leather talons +10 for dirt cheap (highest upgrade cost is like 70g) So then you could take that and push that into another talon by fusing! so its all good.
This is something to abuse;
[/quote]

Money isn't exactly all that tight and I would want to do the upgrade on the wood talons to push them to +13, or maybe the saddle, getting both in one segment would be a pain!

I did some digging and apparently the japanese are convinced that mini cactuars can happen in any dungeon and they always have 5 HP and give 10,000 XP / 1000 JP.

http://64.233.179.104/translate_c?hl=en&sl=ja&tl=en&u=http://www30.atwiki.jp/tokiwasure/pages/37.html&usg=ALkJrhi88TI5Xjys9A9eY438GwTUdMsmmw

After attempting to get a mini cactuar for like 60 tries and fighting Ifrit 30 of those times, I am convinced that you cannot get a minicactuar in the fire dungeon.  Oh well, there goes the early holy idea.

messenger

Edit history:

messenger: 2008-09-01 03:22:38 am

2008-09-01 03:14:59 am

Alright Update time!

I currently have test run that has beaten the water dungeon at the 2 hour mark.

Current plan is:

Chapter 1:
Rush through the tutorial dungeon.
Rush through Mayor's memory, hope for a leather +2 equipment, OK with leather +1 equipment.
Rush through Cid's memory.

Chapter Two:
Sell everything to Harry, get cloth bag, get 5 potions total.
Rush through Freya's memory, defeat boss by throwing 3 potions at him. (NOTE: check if two potions and a hit will be good enough)
Sell everything to Harry, buy wood talons.
go to church and beat job change dungeon (pick up a wood saddle).
Sell stuff to mog on the way out of storage, since I have to go there anyway.
Hone wood talons to +8 and fire saddle to +5 and save.
Overhone wood talons to +13
Go through fire dungeon as White Mage to Floor 10 making a point to get as much JP as possible.
Hone wood saddle to +3 fuse with fire saddle and save.
Overhone wood saddle to +13
Go back to floor 10 and level White Mage to lvl 3.
Go to Mog's store on lvl 15 and get Bronze equipment and ether/potions as needed.
Kill Phoenix with dia.

Chapter 3:
Sell everything to Harry.
Go overhone bronze equipment ( NOTE: check to see if we can get away without doing this and waiting for the next set of equipment).
Finish Meja's Memory.
Go to Water Dungeon get to level 21.
Manipulate 5 mini cactuar fights to occur to get holy.
Go to Leviathan, cast holy thrice and kill him.

I am sitting at a time of 2 hours or so and I think I can drop that time even more by not screwing up / segmenting this thing more.

Another important note, figure out where to get hi-ethers. I could of sworn you can get them before the light dungeon.

EDIT: Well according to this:

http://64.233.179.104/translate_c?hl=en&sl=ja&tl=en&u=http://www30.atwiki.jp/tokiwasure/pages/35.html&usg=ALkJrhhodkO5IGpj4o0JIVz3XWKsB2iC7w

It seems that I can't get hi-ethers before the light dungeon. Not a terrible tragedy though. I don't think Shirma's nightmare / recollections will be THAT bad to do with just ethers.

Alright Update time!

I currently have test run that has beaten the water dungeon at the 2 hour mark.

Current plan is:

Chapter 1:
Rush through the tutorial dungeon.
Rush through Mayor's memory, hope for a leather +2 equipment, OK with leather +1 equipment.
Rush through Cid's memory.

Chapter Two:
Sell everything to Harry, get cloth bag, get 5 potions total.
Rush through Freya's memory, defeat boss by throwing 3 potions at him. (NOTE: check if two potions and a hit will be good enough)
Sell everything to Harry, buy wood talons.
go to church and beat job change dungeon (pick up a wood saddle).
Sell stuff to mog on the way out of storage, since I have to go there anyway.
Hone wood talons to +8 and fire saddle to +5 and save.
Overhone wood talons to +13
Go through fire dungeon as White Mage to Floor 10 making a point to get as much JP as possible.
Hone wood saddle to +3 fuse with fire saddle and save.
Overhone wood saddle to +13 
Go back to floor 10 and level White Mage to lvl 3.
Go to Mog's store on lvl 15 and get Bronze equipment and ether/potions as needed.
Kill Phoenix with dia.

Chapter 3:
Sell everything to Harry.
Go overhone bronze equipment ( NOTE: check to see if we can get away without doing this and waiting for the next set of equipment).
Finish Meja's Memory.
Go to Water Dungeon get to level 21.
Manipulate 5 mini cactuar fights to occur to get holy.
Go to Leviathan, cast holy thrice and kill him.

I am sitting at a time of 2 hours or so and I think I can drop that time even more by not screwing up / segmenting this thing more.

Another important note, figure out where to get hi-ethers.  I could of sworn you can get them before the light dungeon.

EDIT: Well according to this:

http://64.233.179.104/translate_c?hl=en&sl=ja&tl=en&u=http://www30.atwiki.jp/tokiwasure/pages/35.html&usg=ALkJrhhodkO5IGpj4o0JIVz3XWKsB2iC7w

It seems that I can't get hi-ethers before the light dungeon.  Not a terrible tragedy though.  I don't think Shirma's nightmare / recollections will be THAT bad to do with just ethers.

Red_Shifter

2008-09-02 04:18:41 pm

yes, an iron knuckle riding a mechanical horse

Why do you wait on Wood Saddle honing until after getting to Level 10 in Guardian of Fire? Did you run out of money at this point? It doesn't cost much time because you have to talk to Freja at that point anyway, but it might make the segment getting to Level 10 easier.

It would probably be a bad idea to wait for the next set of equipment from Bronze, unless you mean the equipment you get at the start of Guardian of Light. Wouldn't honing the Bronze equipment be on your way from Guardian of Fire? Are there any problems with using Bronze (other than the potential for rusting)?

I would not have expected as little as 2 hours after Leviathan. Then again, I haven't tried playing for speed myself.

You can pick up Hi-Ethers in Shirma's Nightmare, and probably any dungeon after it. Naturally, you'll need a way to identify it if you want to use it in that dungeon.

messenger

2008-09-02 06:38:39 pm

Quote from Red_Shifter:

Why do you wait on Wood Saddle honing until after getting to Level 10 in Guardian of Fire? Did you run out of money at this point? It doesn't cost much time because you have to talk to Freja at that point anyway, but it might make the segment getting to Level 10 easier.

You don't really need the defense just to get to level 10 and I really don't want to waste money honing wood and then fusing to fire when I could just hone fire, hone wood, fuse, and then over hone.

EDIT: just thinking about it out loud made me think that I am actually losing money honing the fire saddle at all. I just don't want to overhone until after I fuse it. Thanks for the input!

Quote from Red_Shifter:

It would probably be a bad idea to wait for the next set of equipment from Bronze, unless you mean the equipment you get at the start of Guardian of Light. Wouldn't honing the Bronze equipment be on your way from Guardian of Fire? Are there any problems with using Bronze (other than the potential for rusting)?

The only reason why I was thinking of not getting bronze is to save money (at least 2000). It would only bring a difference of +4 and I am not sure if that is worth 2000. If I can quickly get through Meja's memory, then skip the bronze equipment.

Quote from Red_Shifter:

I would not have expected as little as 2 hours after Leviathan. Then again, I haven't tried playing for speed myself.

Thanks! I think I can drop the time even further. I was sloppy in my test run (naturally) and I have some new ideas about fast job points in the fire dungeon.

Quote from Red_Shifter:

You can pick up Hi-Ethers in Shirma's Nightmare, and probably any dungeon after it. Naturally, you'll need a way to identify it if you want to use it in that dungeon.

Manipulating Hi ethers from drops == not fun. I think I will just load up on ethers before the leviathan fight and use those until I get to the light dungeon. I also had some luck in that I got a halt drop which I used in tandem with holy to kill the assault crab in Amouri's memory. It sucks that I am at like half the level of what the japanese runner is at, so it takes three holys to kill everything.

[quote="Red_Shifter"]
Why do you wait on Wood Saddle honing until after getting to Level 10 in Guardian of Fire?  Did you run out of money at this point?  It doesn't cost much time because you have to talk to Freja at that point anyway, but it might make the segment getting to Level 10 easier.
[/quote]

You don't really need the defense just to get to level 10 and I really don't want to waste money honing wood and then fusing to fire when I could just hone fire, hone wood, fuse, and then over hone.

EDIT: just thinking about it out loud made me think that I am actually losing money honing the fire saddle at all.  I just don't want to overhone until after I fuse it.  Thanks for the input!

[quote="Red_Shifter"]
It would probably be a bad idea to wait for the next set of equipment from Bronze, unless you mean the equipment you get at the start of Guardian of Light.  Wouldn't honing the Bronze equipment be on your way from Guardian of Fire?  Are there any problems with using Bronze (other than the potential for rusting)?
[/quote]

The only reason why I was thinking of not getting bronze is to save money (at least 2000).  It would only bring a difference of +4 and I am not sure if that is worth 2000.  If I can quickly get through Meja's memory, then skip the bronze equipment.

[quote="Red_Shifter"]
I would not have expected as little as 2 hours after Leviathan.  Then again, I haven't tried playing for speed myself.
[/quote]

Thanks!  I think I can drop the time even further.  I was sloppy in my test run (naturally) and I have some new ideas about fast job points in the fire  dungeon.

[quote="Red_Shifter"]
You can pick up Hi-Ethers in Shirma's Nightmare, and probably any dungeon after it.  Naturally, you'll need a way to identify it if you want to use it in that dungeon.
[/quote]

Manipulating Hi ethers from drops == not fun.  I think I will just load up on ethers before the leviathan fight and use those until I get to the light dungeon.  I also had some luck in that I got a halt drop which I used in tandem with holy to kill the assault crab in Amouri's memory.  It sucks that I am at like half the level of what the japanese runner is at, so it takes three holys to kill everything.

messenger

2008-09-02 11:21:40 pm

So I have successfully finished the light dungeon and made it to floor 21 in the dark dungeon. To get this far I had to exhaust all of my money on hi ethers, but I thought that I could level off minicactuars on my way down to the final battle (i. e. manipulate a minicactuar (MC) to appear at every "jumper" floor)

Silly me! It seems the game just won't give you a duel room the first time on a "jumper" floor. Maybe I just got frustrated too easily and someone else can get it to happen but after the tenth attempt I think it is safe to say that I do not have enough luck to beat a statistical impossibility. I thought fine, it is about time to get to a mog store and stock on hi ethers. So I stock up, escape, save, and manipulate an MC battle on floor 21. After 4 or 5 attempts I finally get one ( I could probably have gotten one at floor 11 as well now that I think about it (EDIT: Apparently the Gamefaqs walkthrough agrees with me)). Great finally, so I kill it and I get, wait for it, 500 XP!!!! I could have sworn that they give out 10000 XP, but maybe that was in the 100 floor dungeon. If I can't get loads of XP at all, I have to go level somewhere to make holy powerful enough to finish the boss, which is going to incur quite a bit of time. I am going to have to rethink quite a bit of my original strategy. Anyone know somewhere with a lot of quick XP?

So I have successfully finished the light dungeon and made it to floor 21 in the dark dungeon.  To get this far I had to exhaust all of my money on hi ethers, but I thought that I could level off minicactuars on my way down to the final battle (i. e. manipulate a minicactuar (MC) to appear at every "jumper" floor)

Silly me!  It seems the game just won't give you a duel room the first time on a "jumper" floor.  Maybe I just got frustrated too easily and someone else can get it to happen but after the tenth attempt I think it is safe to say that I do not have enough luck to beat a statistical impossibility.  I thought fine, it is about time to get to a mog store and stock on hi ethers.  So I stock up, escape, save, and manipulate an MC battle on floor 21.  After 4 or 5 attempts I finally get one ( I could probably have gotten one at floor 11 as well now that I think about it (EDIT: Apparently the Gamefaqs walkthrough agrees with me)).  Great finally, so I kill it and I get, wait for it, 500 XP!!!!  I could have sworn that they give out 10000 XP, but maybe that was in the 100 floor dungeon.  If I can't get loads of XP at all, I have to go level somewhere to make holy powerful enough to finish the boss, which is going to incur quite a bit of time.  I am going to have to rethink quite a bit of my original strategy.  Anyone know somewhere with a lot of quick XP?

Red_Shifter

Edit history:

Red_Shifter: 2008-09-03 01:30:55 am

2008-09-03 12:58:04 am

yes, an iron knuckle riding a mechanical horse

It sucks that you can't fight Mini-Cactuars to power-level, but I guess it only adds some difficulty to the run.

One thing that might be helpful would be to acquire the Happy Talons. These Talons have the Luck seal, which will boost your EXP gain. According to some IGN FAQ that I read, you can find it in Shirma's Recollections. This will give you about 25% more EXP from each kill.

Maybe you'll want to fight more battles against regular enemies. If you take this advice, try to find an area with enemies you can handle, and then note the EXP that enemies in the area give out. Elementals, in particular, should be avoided. They give out a great deal of Job Points, but are weak on EXP.

I don't know if using your current level of the Dark Dungeon is a good idea, but I'll run some numbers.

In the 20s of the Dark Dungeon:
- Tonberry Kings give out 290 EXP, which becomes 368 EXP with the Luck seal.
- Magic Pots give out 298 EXP, which becomes 372 EXP with the Luck seal.
- Bandercoreuls give out 283 EXP, which becomes 353 EXP with the Luck seal.
- Poison Toads give out 290 EXP, which becomes 362 EXP with the Luck seal.
- Dark Elementals give out 80 EXP, which becomes 100 EXP with the Luck seal (making them the worst choice to power-level on).

25 and beyond:
- Lich gives out 302 EXP, which becomes 377 EXP with the Luck seal.
- Red Gazer gives out 307 EXP, which becomes 383 EXP with the Luck seal.
- Flan Princess gives out 314 EXP, which becomes 392 EXP with the Luck seal (this is split down the middle when they split).

If you want to use this area, I would recommend switching to a class that can do a lot of physical damage. Tonberry Kings give out a lot of EXP here, and they're not tough to kill. Lich has 226 HP and is undead, so kick a Hi-Potion (which is often dropped from enemies here) and then do 76 more damage somehow. Red Gazers are resistant to Magic and can stack Shell on top of that, so you'll want a good physical attack to take them down.

As far as fighting Shiva, each Ice Wall has 3 HP. Physical attacks don't do much, but magical attacks break them pretty easily (from testing with my nearly Lv.99 character). Just grabbing a magic book could help you fight this battle more easily.

I'm sure somewhere in here you'll find a good way to advance forward.

It sucks that you can't fight Mini-Cactuars to power-level, but I guess it only adds some difficulty to the run.

One thing that might be helpful would be to acquire the Happy Talons.  These Talons have the Luck seal, which will boost your EXP gain.  According to some IGN FAQ that I read, you can find it in Shirma's Recollections.  This will give you about 25% more EXP from each kill.

Maybe you'll want to fight more battles against regular enemies.  If you take this advice, try to find an area with enemies you can handle, and then note the EXP that enemies in the area give out.  Elementals, in particular, should be avoided.  They give out a great deal of Job Points, but are weak on EXP.

I don't know if using your current level of the Dark Dungeon is a good idea, but I'll run some numbers.

In the 20s of the Dark Dungeon:
- Tonberry Kings give out 290 EXP, which becomes 368 EXP with the Luck seal.
- Magic Pots give out 298 EXP, which becomes 372 EXP with the Luck seal.
- Bandercoreuls give out 283 EXP, which becomes 353 EXP with the Luck seal.
- Poison Toads give out 290 EXP, which becomes 362 EXP with the Luck seal.
- Dark Elementals give out 80 EXP, which becomes 100 EXP with the Luck seal (making them the worst choice to power-level on).

25 and beyond:
- Lich gives out 302 EXP, which becomes 377 EXP with the Luck seal.
- Red Gazer gives out 307 EXP, which becomes 383 EXP with the Luck seal.
- Flan Princess gives out 314 EXP, which becomes 392 EXP with the Luck seal (this is split down the middle when they split).

If you want to use this area, I would recommend switching to a class that can do a lot of physical damage.  Tonberry Kings give out a lot of EXP here, and they're not tough to kill.  Lich has 226 HP and is undead, so kick a Hi-Potion (which is often dropped from enemies here) and then do 76 more damage somehow.  Red Gazers are resistant to Magic and can stack Shell on top of that, so you'll want a good physical attack to take them down.

As far as fighting Shiva, each Ice Wall has 3 HP.  Physical attacks don't do much, but magical attacks break them pretty easily (from testing with my nearly Lv.99 character).  Just grabbing a magic book could help you fight this battle more easily.

I'm sure somewhere in here you'll find a good way to advance forward.

messenger

2008-09-03 07:34:58 am

I think I was kind of floored yesterday was all. My run had quite a dependence on power leveling into holy at the end. I sold my talons towards the end of the light dungeon beginning of the dark dungeon (ie no physical attack). The reason is because I can't kill anything anyways. The good thing is that happy talons are random drops in the dungeon before the light dungeon, the light dungeon, and the dark dungeon. The Japanese runner beat the game at level 36 and I am currently at level 30, so that translates to roughly 20,000 XP.

Factor in monsters at roughly 200 a pop = 20,000 / 200 = 100 battles. That is pretty much 2 battles per floor, which isn't insane to think of. Thinking about it now, I would probably have gotten half way using my current strat. I know that Shiva is going to make my life difficult!

messenger

2008-09-05 12:08:41 am

I am currently at the final boss at level 34 with 5:20 on the clock. I am having some issues killing him because I run out of hi ethers. I think I might be able to make it work if I maximize the usage of the middle refresh point.