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freshfeeling[This entry is adapted from the original GameFAQs posts written around the time the gameplay took place in October of 2015. It is actually being posted in March of 2023 around the time this blog was started. There may be minor edits.]
No, I'm not playing this game with my feet.
Though there's probably some interpretation in this challenge, I've decided that I also can't use the as-item effects of weapons and shields (except the Psyco-Wand, of course... exactly once). If it ends up being too hard I might reverse that, but so far I don't think I'll have much of a problem at all.
As soon as Hahn joined, I removed everyone's weapons and shields and sold them, then I bought a bunch of Monomate. Though survival wasn't really any more an issue than normal, I had to rest very frequently to regain TP as Foi was my only offense until Hahn was level 3. I chose to fight Xanafalgues and Zoran Bults until Chaz had Tsu so he could do something, which I think was probably unnecessary. When I chose to fight Igglanova, my whole offense was Foi, Wat and Tsu which resulted in entirely accidental Triblasters. Two Triblasters and Igglanova was dead.
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No, I'm not playing this game with my feet.
This challenge is a No Weapons and No Shields challenge. I was thinking of challenge ideas and thought this would be realistic and necessitate some interesting strategies. Not only do I not have access to the Attack command and have significantly lower defensive potential on some characters, but a good number of skills are weapon-dependent and can't be used.
I'm not really a challenge player, but there's one I want to do when I have some time off in December and I thought I should ramp up to it. The only challenge-like things I've done with this game are trying to win at a low level - not even a true LLG - and of course, fight the endbosses with four party members. Today my youngest son is sick so I'm off from work and I put 90 minutes or so into this challenge; making the most of the situation!Though there's probably some interpretation in this challenge, I've decided that I also can't use the as-item effects of weapons and shields (except the Psyco-Wand, of course... exactly once). If it ends up being too hard I might reverse that, but so far I don't think I'll have much of a problem at all.
As soon as Hahn joined, I removed everyone's weapons and shields and sold them, then I bought a bunch of Monomate. Though survival wasn't really any more an issue than normal, I had to rest very frequently to regain TP as Foi was my only offense until Hahn was level 3. I chose to fight Xanafalgues and Zoran Bults until Chaz had Tsu so he could do something, which I think was probably unnecessary. When I chose to fight Igglanova, my whole offense was Foi, Wat and Tsu which resulted in entirely accidental Triblasters. Two Triblasters and Igglanova was dead.
I've never really noticed how much the experience and meseta ramps up as soon as you leave Piata as I did in this challenge. I used Triblasters to clear larger random groups and then rested at a tidy profit. I found myself with quite a bit of money from fighting a good few randoms more than usual and not buying weapons.
Birthvally was non-incidental. I still grabbed the Crbnshield to sell. I ran from the battles with Xanafalgues and Zoran Bults because I didn't consider them worthwhile, and I didn't run into anything else, either.
I was really excited to get Rune, moreso than usual, because he was going to provide me with tons of options. I have to say though, at this point survival wasn't hard at all and I didn't feel I was hurting for offense; I honestly didn't spend any more time sweeping randoms with Rune than I normally would. I bought every armor/helmet upgrade in Krup and then every upgrade in Tonoe still without cashflow problems.
Then I got Gryz; I thought this would be the second significant obstacle of the challenge after the initial issue of getting Hahn and Chaz to gain offensive techs. I mean, Gryz literally can't do anything without a weapon in the entire game other than use the ever-amazing Brose. The game put him in the first position and I thought, "This is a terrible idea; he's my lowest-levelled character and he has no defense bonus from an axe". Then I realized, he is worthless for anything other than sponging up some damage, so I left him in front. I redesigned my macros so that Gryz was going last and defending in each of them, because that's about as useful as he was going to be.
I went into the Tonoe basement with Chaz and Hahn at level 8 and Alys at 9, so they were a bit above what I consider normal. I didn't have big issues there, and went for every treasure chest... until I was nearly done the second-to-last floor with the Titn-Crown and Gryz and Hahn died to some fungus dudes. I used an Escapipe which I had the foresight to buy, rested, and did the basement again. Making a beeline for the Alshline, there was no issue at all.
I normally don't really bother with consumables in this game, I should note. One of the limitations here though is, at least with my early game skills, my TP is the only thing allowing me to win battles, so I bought a buttload of monomates, antidotes, and a few escapipes and telepipes as a method to conserve TP. I had stripped Rune of his Wood-Cane, which normally I love and it solves lots of problems for me, but because of the rules I haven't been using it.
I walked from Tonoe to Zema, figuring a few extra randoms wouldn't hurt; although this challenge hasn't really been super challenging, I figure Juza will be the same wake up call he usually is.
Again, Igglanova was done in two Triblasters. I usually don't shop at this point, but I thought Hahn could use the Grpt-Suit so I did that.
Since Gryz is the least useful member - a meat shield with pitiful defense - I chose to press on without him. I healed the group with monomates, and I was three steps from the Crmc-Sword (yes, of course I still wanted it... to sell) when I got in a fight with some laser dudes (whistles, I think?) that kicked the crap out of my party. We didn't get a TPKO, but Alys was the only one standing with about 30 HP left. She escapiped and the group rested. Just as in the Tonoe basement, when we tried again and took a direct path getting to the end wasn't a problem at all. I don't even think Gryz died.
I unequipped Rika's claws and chose not to update the macros immediately since Rika normally gains her first several levels very quickly, and she has no offense anyway. I bought as much as I could in Aiedo - I love the Crmc upgrades - but I ran out of cash for the first time here buying the Crmc-Mails. I figured I would be safe picking up the extra in the Wreckage.
I went to the Wreckage; I ran from a few encounters that I thought were more trouble than they were worth, like small groups of whatever the -renX86 series is called there. I went through with pretty much no issue; when you kind of know the paths and don't go for the series exposure part, Wreckage is actually very short and safe. Gryz died, of course, but it was right around the part where I got the Crmc-Mail anyway; Rika, Chaz and Alys all had Crmc-Mail at this point and I was now able to afford one for Gryz. I chose to press on for the series exposure thing anyway since I couldn't remember if there were other goodies in the Wreckage or not, and I don't even think I encountered anything else after the Crmc-Mail chest.
Birthvally was non-incidental. I still grabbed the Crbnshield to sell. I ran from the battles with Xanafalgues and Zoran Bults because I didn't consider them worthwhile, and I didn't run into anything else, either.
I was really excited to get Rune, moreso than usual, because he was going to provide me with tons of options. I have to say though, at this point survival wasn't hard at all and I didn't feel I was hurting for offense; I honestly didn't spend any more time sweeping randoms with Rune than I normally would. I bought every armor/helmet upgrade in Krup and then every upgrade in Tonoe still without cashflow problems.
Then I got Gryz; I thought this would be the second significant obstacle of the challenge after the initial issue of getting Hahn and Chaz to gain offensive techs. I mean, Gryz literally can't do anything without a weapon in the entire game other than use the ever-amazing Brose. The game put him in the first position and I thought, "This is a terrible idea; he's my lowest-levelled character and he has no defense bonus from an axe". Then I realized, he is worthless for anything other than sponging up some damage, so I left him in front. I redesigned my macros so that Gryz was going last and defending in each of them, because that's about as useful as he was going to be.
I went into the Tonoe basement with Chaz and Hahn at level 8 and Alys at 9, so they were a bit above what I consider normal. I didn't have big issues there, and went for every treasure chest... until I was nearly done the second-to-last floor with the Titn-Crown and Gryz and Hahn died to some fungus dudes. I used an Escapipe which I had the foresight to buy, rested, and did the basement again. Making a beeline for the Alshline, there was no issue at all.
I normally don't really bother with consumables in this game, I should note. One of the limitations here though is, at least with my early game skills, my TP is the only thing allowing me to win battles, so I bought a buttload of monomates, antidotes, and a few escapipes and telepipes as a method to conserve TP. I had stripped Rune of his Wood-Cane, which normally I love and it solves lots of problems for me, but because of the rules I haven't been using it.
I walked from Tonoe to Zema, figuring a few extra randoms wouldn't hurt; although this challenge hasn't really been super challenging, I figure Juza will be the same wake up call he usually is.
Again, Igglanova was done in two Triblasters. I usually don't shop at this point, but I thought Hahn could use the Grpt-Suit so I did that.
Bio-Plant
Bio-Plant was fun. I went for all the chests. My third battle was a Guilgenova, which I tried to run from twice and failed. I seriously forgot whether this game had unrunnable randoms or not, so I chose to fight it. The Guilgenova - which had two rounds worth of help - didn't go well. Gryz died to the Gicefalgues pretty much right away. Hahn and Alys used a Blizzard, then the next round they used Triblaster, and surprisingly the thing was still there, so they used another Triblaster. I didn't recall that Guilgenovas were actually tougher than Igglanovas, but whatever. Maybe that was just an oddity?Since Gryz is the least useful member - a meat shield with pitiful defense - I chose to press on without him. I healed the group with monomates, and I was three steps from the Crmc-Sword (yes, of course I still wanted it... to sell) when I got in a fight with some laser dudes (whistles, I think?) that kicked the crap out of my party. We didn't get a TPKO, but Alys was the only one standing with about 30 HP left. She escapiped and the group rested. Just as in the Tonoe basement, when we tried again and took a direct path getting to the end wasn't a problem at all. I don't even think Gryz died.
I unequipped Rika's claws and chose not to update the macros immediately since Rika normally gains her first several levels very quickly, and she has no offense anyway. I bought as much as I could in Aiedo - I love the Crmc upgrades - but I ran out of cash for the first time here buying the Crmc-Mails. I figured I would be safe picking up the extra in the Wreckage.
I went to the Wreckage; I ran from a few encounters that I thought were more trouble than they were worth, like small groups of whatever the -renX86 series is called there. I went through with pretty much no issue; when you kind of know the paths and don't go for the series exposure part, Wreckage is actually very short and safe. Gryz died, of course, but it was right around the part where I got the Crmc-Mail anyway; Rika, Chaz and Alys all had Crmc-Mail at this point and I was now able to afford one for Gryz. I chose to press on for the series exposure thing anyway since I couldn't remember if there were other goodies in the Wreckage or not, and I don't even think I encountered anything else after the Crmc-Mail chest.
I went to Aiedo. The party was fully up-to-date with headgear and armor. Next up would be the passage, and I decided I would try the sandworm before Zio's Fort. Chaz's level was 10. Rika was 6, I think, and Gryz was 8. How bad could it be?
Passageway
Passageway was a big issue at first. Gryz was getting clobbered, especially by the slimes. Of course, even the defend command doesn't do anything against them and he has pitiful defense without an axe equipped. He died a lot... which was sort of an opportunity to better level important people like Rika. It took me three tries to walk through, though. By the end of that, I was doing okay! I had a macro such that Alys would cast Foi, Hahn would cast Wat, Rika would cast Res, and Chaz and Gryz would defend; I noticed this was super useful for eliminating some of the extra slugs when there were groups of 3 and 4, so they'd nearly always fuse into a Zol Slug. Given that Hahn had recently learned Vol, this was a great opportunity... at least when he was alive and had TP.Sand Worm
Noting how often my Gryz shield died, I decided to level Rika up and get Deban before trying the Sand Worm. I forgot she doesn't get it until 14... that's a bit higher than is normally fair for the Sand Worm. That battle wasn't actually bad at all! Gryz was able to defend and reduce a lot of the damage; some of its regular attacks only did 1 to him. The big problem, of course, was that Chaz and Alys' TP both dropped to 0 after a certain point, which meant it was a battle of attrition between Hahn's TP pool full of Wat and the Sand Worm's HP. We actually won without anyone dying and with Hahn having a good few shots of Wat left.
Zio's Fort
I decided I probably had plenty of levels and TP for Zio's Fort, though I knew I'd have to run from a lot of things to beat Juza. Zio's Fort ended up taking me three tries.
Attempt 1: I accidentally walked into the first hole. I decided to make the most of it and healed up afterward.
Attempt 2: In the area between the two holes, Hahn got his ass kicked by Rippers. I decided I was going to do the same thing as in the Tonoe Basement and Bio-Plant and get all of the treasure and do a separate run to complete the essential goal... so I got the rest of the chests with a dead Hahn, mostly running from battles.
Attempt 3: Avoided the holes, didn't go off track for any chests, and went right to Juza. I was almost at perfect health!
Juza
I won on the first try! I had made a "D" macro, although Deban isn't really relevant in this fight. Because I'm levelled a bit more than usual, Alys had Gifoi, so my main offensive salvo was Chaz: Tsu, Alys: Gifoi, Hahn: Wat. I had a couple of macros with Rika: Res or Gires and Gryz: Monomate because healing in macros automatically targets the neediest at the time the command executes, which is super handy in a turn-based system. I was expecting Chaz and Alys to run out of TP like they did with the Sand Worm, but Chaz actually had enough left when Juza went down for two more Tsus. I later used those on randoms as we went up to get Demi.
Juza did one of my least favorite things and targetted Gryz with a Wat, but he was fine; my levels were a bit high and my healing was robust! No real issue.
I took care to unequip anyone who was leaving and proceeded with story-type events. I just got Demi, and I was really excited to go to the Platesystem to get her some better gear and Phonon, so she can be more useful than Gryz... that's when I realized that my offense has recently been downsized, and consists only of Chaz's Tsu. I decided to make a beeline for Rune before Platesystem.
I popped into the Ladea Tower just to get Rune. Levels were: Gryz 15, Chaz 16, Rika 16, Demi 12, Rune 20. Rune being 20 was a bit of surprise; much higher than usual for rejoining but of course it makes sense. I exited, got everyone some Psy- equipment, and headed to the Platesystem.
I popped into the Ladea Tower just to get Rune. Levels were: Gryz 15, Chaz 16, Rika 16, Demi 12, Rune 20. Rune being 20 was a bit of surprise; much higher than usual for rejoining but of course it makes sense. I exited, got everyone some Psy- equipment, and headed to the Platesystem.
Platesystem
This went pretty well. I didn't remember where the chests were located so I went right by the armor upgrades and got Phonon, plus a bunch of other goodies that... well, it was kind of sad to get them just to sell them. I ended up getting the armor upgrades on the way out.
I ran from the majority of battles because, with only Chaz and Rune capable of attacking and Zan/Foi/Wat all being thwarted by common resistances in this area, there were few fights I figured I could do in a single round. I fought a lot of the gunner bit / tracer formations, though, using Gra and Tsu. One time, Gryz's Brose killed a thing! Obviously Gra was the MVP.
As I said, I ran a lot, but nobody died. Mission accomplished.
Levels were now Chaz/Rika/Gryz 17, Rune 20, Demi 13.
I arranged the party order as Gryz, Demi, Rika, Chaz, Rune... which was more about each member's value rather than safety. Gryz, the meat shield with no capabilities other than consumables, literally has the lowest defense on the team.
I don't expect problems with Gy-Laguiah... but I'm a bit worried about Zio.
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