Final Fantasy "Ban Something" Part X
Jun. 24th, 2016 09:26 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
freshfeeling[This entry is adapted from the original GameFAQs posts written around the time the gameplay took place in June of 2016. It is actually being posted in March of 2023 around the origin of this blog. There may be minor edits.]
It's a good time to revisit the rules, including the impacts they've had so far and how they will affect the near future.
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I played for about an hour and a half. Most of the really interesting parts happened within the first 20 minutes. I had a TPKO to Medusas, which was novel. I literally don't think I've ever lost to Medusas in this game before. There were four Medusas, and when the battle started I said something like, "I don't want to turn into stone, but otherwise these aren't very threatening." It turns out they were.
The Zombie Ds weren't any particular challenge. We got out with two party members alive.
I went over to Gaia and bought a second Gold Bracelet and three ProRings. I did the Waterfall, and then because I needed to get to Onrac I walked through a considerable amount of additional forest. The playthrough is generally odd because despite all of the constraints, the mix of walking through huge forests and not being able to flee combat has resulted in the team being pretty strong.
We did the top levels of the Sea Shrine without descending. This involved getting lots of money, the Opal Bracelet, and the SLAB. Ghosts were scary but the trip went well. Then we trekked back through the same large forest... which we will be doing again, at least two more times.
Speaking of forest, having taking the SLAB to the world's only known doctor and/or linguist (?), we walked the Lefein Nature Trail. I started a first run and it wasn't going well, so I doubled back to heal up. On the second run, I used a lot of real estate and it went pretty well! Once we're out of the dinosaur range (e.g. the top 1/3 or so of this forest) fighting the Giants, ZomBULLs, Trolls, etc. really isn't a big deal.
The party retrieved the Chime and saved right at Lefein for the return trip.
The Zombie Ds weren't any particular challenge. We got out with two party members alive.
I went over to Gaia and bought a second Gold Bracelet and three ProRings. I did the Waterfall, and then because I needed to get to Onrac I walked through a considerable amount of additional forest. The playthrough is generally odd because despite all of the constraints, the mix of walking through huge forests and not being able to flee combat has resulted in the team being pretty strong.
We did the top levels of the Sea Shrine without descending. This involved getting lots of money, the Opal Bracelet, and the SLAB. Ghosts were scary but the trip went well. Then we trekked back through the same large forest... which we will be doing again, at least two more times.
Speaking of forest, having taking the SLAB to the world's only known doctor and/or linguist (?), we walked the Lefein Nature Trail. I started a first run and it wasn't going well, so I doubled back to heal up. On the second run, I used a lot of real estate and it went pretty well! Once we're out of the dinosaur range (e.g. the top 1/3 or so of this forest) fighting the Giants, ZomBULLs, Trolls, etc. really isn't a big deal.
The party retrieved the Chime and saved right at Lefein for the return trip.
It's a good time to revisit the rules, including the impacts they've had so far and how they will affect the near future.
XScorpion posted...
I'll ban ever having all 4 characters alive at the same time (starting after the first fight obviously).
Impact: This would basically force a 3-person party, except for the next rule, which makes this a bit more interesting.
Diamond_Dragon posted...
I ban you from defeating any fiend with any dead characters that were dead in a fight with any previous fiend.
Impact: This is basically an addendum to XScorpion's rule in that I can't just abandon one character for the entire game. They've all gained levels into the early teens because I've had "rotating corpses".
Wood the Fighter was dead vs. Lich.
Tick the Fighter was dead vs. Kary.
This suggests that I should attempt to keep both fighters alive against both Kraken and Tiamat. Zzonkmiles' rule is going to make this a bit tricky because I have to still have Mars the Red Mage alive against one of the other fiends... and his utility is about to plummet.
beege_man posted...
I ban invoking more than one spell casting item in a battle (can't use the same one multiple times nor two different ones in the same battle).
Impact: I only recently even got my first spellcasting items as I only did Ordeals in my last session. Now I've got the Heal Staff, Zeus Gauntlet, Defense, Mage Staff and Wizard Staff. This rule prevents me from spamming some of those goodies, but they are still useful. Defense isn't as overpowered as usual.
MrL1193 posted...
I ban the repeat use of any given spell during a single battle.
Impact: This hasn't been too bad; there would've been a couple of times in the last session where using Mage Staff + FIR2 or Zeus Gauntlet + LIT2 would've been handy but, otherwise, my party choice (which was not confirmed when the rules were being set) has largely accounted for this. By that I mean, I don't have a magic-heavy party... and that was intentional because of rules like this and the next one.
Zzonkmiles posted...
I ban all melee classes from using the MAGIC command after the class change.
Oh, and I ban all mage classes from using the FIGHT command after the class change.
Impact: I'm at the point where I'm considering getting the class change - in fact, I'm pretty much intentionally lollygagging on that move. For one thing, Look the Bl.Belt gains better MDef before class change, but also Mars the Red Mage will have to stop his considerable melee contributions.
Right now, because of Diamond_Dragon's rule, I am strongly considering beating Kraken without class change and then keeping Mars dead for the rest of the game. The issue with that would be my fighter(s) having crappier absorb because of their lack of access to Opal gear (and better). We'll see.
ELQUEMANDA4 posted...
I ban entering any shop more than once.
Impact: Back in Session 4 - immediately after I successfully finished the Marsh Cave, if I recall correctly - this had a super significant impact. At this point in the game it no longer really matters, only affecting my ability to sell things. I was very careful about accessing shops in Crescent Lake and Gaia but this was definitely a big deal around Elfland. Originally I was going to try only accessing Item shops once as well, despite ELQUEMANDA4's clarification from later in the thread, but I think that was unnecessarily tough on myself. I've used a buttload of HEALs.
goatfishman posted...
I ban not appreciating nature.
Forests around Elfland are freebies but forests around the Dwarf cave need to be walked twice.
Impact: The spot where this was worst was absolutely the first walk from Coneria to Pravoka, where I overlevelled with my party of three and died a few times. Oh, and also it had a dramatic effect on how easy it was to get to Crescent Lake. Through this whole game so far I've been dreading the walk to Lefein but I actually managed that reasonably well in my last session (fighting dinos in the north is awful but the PNEoP enemies are trivial at this point). Though frustrating at a few points, this has added a ton of fun to the run.
des223 posted...
I ban completing the Castle of Ordeals or Gurgu Volcano before getting the airship.
Impact: This forced my route and made the Ice Cave a bit harder. It wasn't really a big deal.
ActionIV posted...
I ban the removal of status effects in the field.
Impact: This has messed with my party order quite a bit. It also made the PURE, SOFT and LIFE spells useless, as well as SOFT potions. It's made things quite a bit less predictable though. Good rule.
Impact: Along with ActionIV's rule, this has been irritating. Thankfully it's been easy to implement; normally I'd probably just automatically hit Select everytime someone was poisoned to manipulate my party order but I just went ahead and didn't even map the Select button. As a consequence of this, I've often had my well-armored fighters at the bottom of the party order.
I wonder what it would be like to ban the B button. The game would still be fully possible, right?
Efrate posted...
I ban thief.
Impact: I was originally going to choose a thief for variety's sake. Because of this rule, I didn't. Ultimately that's probably a good thing.
Hierophant2 posted...
I ban running.:)
Impact: Y'know, this sucks... and yet it's been sort of great. I've had a number of TPKOs but nothing crazy, considering my rules. The main times when I curse this rule are when I run into a large horde of low-reward enemies like Sahags or Wolves. However, because of this rule I've got reasonable levels for this challenge (there were a few grinds; nothing crazy) and I've never really had money problems.
gameenjoyer posted...
I ban your black belt from ever equipping a nunchuck
Impact: This one has essentially "worn off". In fact it was practically insignificant by the time I got to Pravoka. Still, I like that it added a touch of challenge during arguably the easiest part. It's nice to have a varied set of rules.
LordMorgren posted...
I ban you from using spells to get out of a cave/dungeon/castle... you get the point. No EXIT and no multiple WARPS to use as a last resort for safety.
Impact: Well, this banned WARP and EXIT. With LIFE, PURE and SOFT also being useless, plus all of the usual bugged spells and Red Mage restrictions, this has really simplified the process of choosing spells. As I haven't class changed yet, this hasn't even been significant at all so far.
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