Phantasy Star IV No Hands Challenge Part V

[freshfeeling]

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

Around this point I was thinking about how my levels were staying pretty reasonable, Kyra had just learned Warla, and I hadn't really spent much time grinding at all. I was wondering how, with a significant-but-not-too-hard challenge condition upon me, I seemed to have levels lower than most FAQs posted for the game. While I didn't post it at the time, what I surmised was, "This game has really terrible FAQs" - something I do, in fact, believe.

Here is my little study on the level recommendations for the remaining areas from the FAQs posted on GameFAQs.
Of the 8 FAQ/Walkthroughs posted for this game, 7 have some form of fairly consistent level recommendations.

• Air Castle Part 1 / Surface:
  • Suggested starting levels range from 29 to 34, averaging 31.8.
  • Suggested finish levels range from 34 to 39, averaging 35.5.
  • I finished with no weapons or shields with my party ranging from 26 to 27.
• Air Castle Part 2 / Depths:
  • Suggested starting levels range from 29 to 34, averaging 32.4.
  • Suggested finish levels range from 35 to 40, averaging 37.7.
  • This one is a bit tricky because not every FAQ/Walkthrough breaks Air Castle into two parts, and also because sometimes the party level varies significantly (i.e. Rika way higher than Rune). But the point is made!
• Garuberk Tower:
  • Suggested starting levels range from 32 to 36, averaging 34.
  • Suggested finish levels range from 37 to 42, averaging 40.
• Vahal Fort:
  • Suggested levels range from 36 to 46, averaging 38.8.
  • This one is a bit different because it's a sidequest and fewer people had recommendations. It's also more likely that people took parties there are different points.
• Soldier Temple:
  • Suggested starting levels range from 36 to 42, averaging 39.
  • Suggested finish levels range from 42 to 47, averaging 44.3.
• Rykros Towers:
  • Suggested starting levels range from 38 to 42, averaging 40.4.
  • Suggested finish levels range from 44 to 51, averaging 47.7.
• The Edge:
  • Suggested starting levels range from 41 to 50, averaging 44.5.
  • Suggested finish levels range from 46 to 52, averaging 50.

I am reasonably confident I can beat all of the averages without any weapons or shields. In fact, I'm going to try my best to beat all of the recommended minimums without weapons or shields and I don't think it's terribly unrealistic.

Air Castle (Lower Levels)

After starting attempts at this area, I was already doubting whether I could beat those minimum levels as discussed above. On my first run... I got to Lashiec with all party members alive and in reasonable condition. The trip wasn't bad; I had a few deaths here and there, but I knew I couldn't fight any random battles as I'd need all of Chaz and Rika's TP and Wren's offensive skills. I ran into about 6 groups of 3 Frost Sabers in the first half of the basement and ran from all of them; luck was on my side!

End of turn 1 with Lashiec:

He opened with Anothrgate oddly acting before Barrier.

 

So that didn't go well. Running through the Air Castle became pretty mechanical and I used fast-forward a bit (playing on Ouya). I must've made 20+ attempts, many of which went badly right away and required a reset, but I think I fought Lashiec probably about 8 times. The first one was definitely the worst, and my second was definitely my best. I lasted until shortly after he used Reinforce. The problem is that I pretty much need Gisar or Star-Dew to recover after most instances of... well, almost anything. I mean Thndhalbrt is nasty (even after Warla) and Anothrgate is nasty (even after Barrier), and Possesion sucks too if it hits the wrong person. Also, the way Saner's effect is reset when a party member is put to sleep is actually pretty significant in this fight.

 

Lashiec uses Anothrgate a lot more than I remember from my days using Genecyst, when Anothrgate would crash the thing every time.

 

Anyway, I had gained some levels as described above. My stats going in each time were as follows:


A few levels could make a big difference for most characters; a couple points of improvement for Barrier and Warla is huge, for one thing. I surmised that I could do it before 40 but decided to gain a little bit and aim to win with an average of 35 - still around the bottom of the range of levels recommended by FAQs.

Around this time, ZomBULL came through with a round of great suggestions specific to this part of the game.

• Head to Termi and get a Psy-Crown for Kyra. It resists sleep, plus the mental boost would empower her Warla even more.
• Mess with the party order; Lashiec's only damaging abilities target the entire team, so party order effectively only affects who gets targetted by the sleep-inducing Possesion ability.
• Chaz learns Nathu at level 31, which might make a pretty big difference.

When I got back to trying, I implemented these suggestions. I spent some time grinding near the healing tile in the Air Castle. I also realized I had just got that Swift-Helm and despite drawing attention to the fact that I should wear it against Lashiec, I had been forgetting to equip it.

My trips to Lashiec were better... possibly in part because I have the basement pretty well memorized now... and it only took three tries, where the first two tries were times when Lashiec got a move before Barrier/Warla. The party's level spread ended up 30-33 with Chaz at 31... so I still beat the minimums suggested by this game's FAQs.

 

Lashiec down:

Status immediately afterward:

 

Lots of things changed. Nathu made a big difference, plus the equips mentioned, the party order, and Rune's teensy two levels gained gave him Efess and a second charge of Efess, which is pretty dang significant. I also realized that Kyra's superpowered Hewn does approximately as much damage as Gifoi/Flaeli in this fight and has a chance to combo if Rune is using Nafoi, which is a nice little boost. Rika ran out of TP, of course (as you see in the image), but I only had to use one Star-Dew and one Repair-Kit. I think I got one free turn out of Posession and one from Reinforce, and by the time Reinforce happened I knew this was in the bag.

 

Garuberk Tower

I figured I'd let it ride. DF2's worst attack Lightshowr, which is kind of handled the same way as Thndhalbrt, it's just a bit more powerful against Wren. Shadwbreth (or however it's mangled by character limitations) is single-target and I think my whole team can survive it with a Warla and full health.
 

 

Garuberk sucks. I never have much in the way of problems with it, but the layout is confusing as hell. I decided to basically just run to the end: go in every door you see, unless there's two doors, in which case go in the second door. Worked pretty well. I had one emergency exit during some encounter where Wren was the only survivor but that was it, and of course this happened while attempting to run; I didn't actually gain a single experience point between Lashiec and DF2, as I recall. I got a few chests, but they were Trimates. I got to the Pow-Shield chest but my inventory was full of useful things so I actually just didn't even pick it up.

 

Dark Force part deux

First try! We got the maginot line of Saner, Barrier and Deban. Rune uses Efess, then Tandle, then Nawat. Chaz uses Nathu then is on item duty. Rika heals pretty much consistently (items when TP is gone). Kyra has some flexibility, as usual: healing support, try to Hewn to combo with Rune's Nawats, and she whipped out a Gigra or two.
Shadowbreath was menacing; at one point, Rune was at 2 HP and at another point Kyra was at 5 HP. However, it never actually killed anybody. Wren died once when I guess I forgot to Recover, but I have lots of Repair-Kits; no big deal. Lightshowr, as expected, sucks, and it's an instant Recover for Wren. Rika had to Gisar after each one, as if they came out twice in a row without a heal I think it would've been a wipe.

 

I almost missed Reinforce in this fight, since it's a nice cue that you're doing okay.

 

Dark Force II down:

 

At this point I decided to do some stuff. I went to Reshel immediately and got Laco-Mails, which I pretty much never do. After this, my meseta seemed low so I decided to do several Hunter's Guild jobs. I had only done the sand worm, so far. I did all but Man with a Twist and Tinkerbell's Dog, because I remember those being annoying. Fissure of Fear got my group some serious experience, too.

 

Vahal Fort

I think I must usually do this quite a bit later as I was surprised by its difficulty. At the start of the dungeon I was actually thinking, while running from things, "does this game have enemies that you can't run from?". Evidently, yes, and they're Lifedeletrs. Those guys are jerks.

It took me a while to get a rhythm here and there was one emergency healing exit. I mostly ran, but learned I had to fight Lifedeletrs. I also learned in fairly short order that Spark has a very good success rate against them, so that's what I did every time I encountered one, and if it had little pink Browren486 buddies, Rune would toss a Nagra, too. Not too bad, though there were deaths. I got the armor upgrades and proceeded through to Daughter.

 

Dominators

This fight took forever but wasn't really bad - as you'd expect. Rune only had 1 Tandle left from some early Lifedeletr issues, but Wren used Hijammer to great success. After the Dominators though I was in very rough shape. I ended up having to leave and come back for Posibolt, which I had bypassed.
 

 

Because I killed several Lifedeletrs out of perceived necessity, I gained a few levels, which I decided was okay.
 

 

Post-Vahal Fort, ready for the island and temple:

 

 

The level spread is 32-36, with Chaz at 34. Doing very well relative to the suggested minimums with no weapons or shields, and I might regret saying this but: I'm not especially afraid of DF3.

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