Phantasy Star IV No Hands Challenge Part IV

[freshfeeling]

[This entry is adapted from the original GameFAQs posts written around the time the gameplay took place in November of 2015. It is actually being posted in March of 2023 around the origin of this blog. There may be minor edits.]

 

I think I said - and if I didn't say it, I meant to - that there's no reason things that aren't used in your hands can't be used as items. Besides consumables, this is limited to the Swift-Helm and Eclipstrch, which is obviously held in one's teeth.

I can't imagine this'll matter; I'll just play without using those.

Climatrol

I went and did Climatrol, basically because I didn't want to say g'bye to Raja.

 

Finally, I went through a dungeon in a single trip. Unfortunately, I really gained nothing from this place other than a couple of repair-kits and some experience, since all of the gear from the weapons plant is better (except the pulsething, which I can't use). Anyway, I did gain levels; I fought the majority of battles with a lot of Gigra. Raja died a lot, but Rune was able to use Rever on him. TP got a bit desperate over and over again, but I had Ataraxia. I ended up using all three of Raja's Ataraxias but got out fine having got everything and beaten the miniboss.

 

With how that went, I wasn't really looking forward to losing Raja, but I went ahead with it. I lost Raja, and recruited Kyra. Upon taking some time to reconfigure my macros I realize having Kyra around really won't be bad at all; she's got a lot of healing including 18 uses of the fantastic Medice and that high-powered Hewn that she can make combos with. This is going to be okay.

 

I went through the next few plot-filled areas and on to Air Castle.

 

Air Castle

I mostly ran from things. Having run into Dimensworms, I realized I needed another macro that was simply Rune casting Gra. I went left first because I've forgotten the layout. I went right, got the first chest, then got into a fight with two Frostsabers who both got a surprise round and I failed to run from. They killed Rika and Rune. Abandon ship!

 

I'm not planning on level grinding but I'll need to take another stab at this in the near future. Chaz is 26 now, I believe.

Dynamite was brought up as something that might help with Lashiec or other battles later. Dynamite would give Rika an offensive option... but I haven't got any dynamite at all yet by happenstance, and I don't intend to grind for any to ensure I don't artificially make this challenge easier. Actually, based on the rules of this challenge, Dynamite and Eclipstrch are the only offensive option Rika would ever have. (Unless you count Illusion, which I don't.)

 

Speaking of grinding, I feel I should point this out: my levels are honestly probably slightly lower than they'd normally be for me in a vanilla playthrough, because I normally fight every battle.

For my second attempt at the Air Castle, I started by going right. I chose to run from everything and, in general, I got really, really lucky with this. I believe my first four encounters were with one of those blade dudes and one Frostsaber, and I ran successfully from them all on the first try. I ended up not relying on macros too much as turn order and healing were too important; I fought just about everything with Dimensworms present.

 

Dimensworms with Stoneheads are very common. I'd have Wren use Flare if there was a Stoneheads, Rika would Res or Gires, Chaz would usually defend but sometimes Tsu a Stoneheads or a single Dimensworm, Kyra would Res or Gires or sometimes Flaeli a Stoneheads, and Rune would use Gra. All of those fights were one-rounders with few (but occasional) unexpected casualties.

 

For Dimensworms on their own, I mostly defended except Rune using Gra... though eventually I realized how much better this could go if Wren put up a Barrier. Indeed, Wren generally goes first and when he uses Barrier it reduces the damage from the enemies' Gra to 1. So that was a good move.

 

I utilized the mid-way healing square but I didn't grind. I did head back to it once after having another very rough battle with Frostsabers, though.

 

Xe-A-Thouls

I got to the Xe-A-Thouls in reasonably good shape, and I still haven't used any Dews! I chose to focus damage on the leftmost one because I knew combo-Tandil would be bad news. My first attempt failed: I did Barrier and Saner and got mutilated by finger attacks and Gizan. Total party kill.

 

I chose not to grind... so I walked all the way back with a similar strategy and on my second attempt, I started with Barrier and Deban - Deban is important here, since these guys use that finger attack that is physical and electric-elemental, and thus very bad for Wren. Chaz used Githu, Rune used Nawat, Kyra healed or used Flaeli. On subsequent turns, Wren used Flare. Chaz lasted two turns. Kyra went down next.
I had done reasonable damage to the leftmost one and the walk sucks so I didn't ragequit; instead I whipped out a Burstroc+Flaeli (Shootnstar) macro. Indeed, this was the damage that the leftmost one needed to bite the dust and it hurt the others quite a bit, too. That was kinda risky, but a good call. So now Rika heals, Wren uses Flare or Recover, and Rune uses Nawat. Rika died first, followed by the second Xe-A-Thoul.

 

Then Rune died to some nasty Gizans. Obviously, using Rever/Moon-Dew on anyone in this fight wasn't going to help since they'd just die again instantly. Oddly, this wasn't a bad position to be in. Rune uses Recover if he's hurting and Flare if he's not... and the Xe-A-Thoul doesn't have the output on its own to OHKO Wren. The only question was whether Wren had enough Flares.

 

The answer:

 

Thank goodness the next heal square was close.
Full party status after Xe-A-Thouls:

 

I chose to break my own (unofficial) rule at this point, given how hard and luck-oriented that fight was (and I'm terrified of Thndhalbrt), and I grinded out about two levels. Rune learned Tandle, and I decided I wanted one more level for Rune. During the course of seeking that level Kyra learned Warla... which is super awesome. I was considering grinding to get that before Lashiec but (off the top of my head) didn't recall how far off it was. That single use of Warla is going to make a world of difference.

 

I went back to Dezolis to save, then went back and descended into the lower levels of the Air Castle. I ran from things. Eventually, I hit a Chaossorcr who sneak-Tandled me and then I failed to run. Total party kill again.
 

 

I took that as a sign that I should stop for the night.
 

Oh, a fun note: Chaz still has the Crmc-Helm equipped from all the way back in Aiedo. I don't see a ton of scenarios where the tiny defense boost from the Silv-Helm matters compared to the fire resistance granted by the Crmc-Helm against randoms, and it's absolutely paid off when facing Stoneheads and bladey guys in Air Castle (among other places).

I got the Swift-Helm and chose not to equip it, which has also paid off immensely so far... though I probably should've swapped it on for the Xe-A-Thouls. Hopefully I remember to do that for Lashiec.

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