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[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.]
The Gratitude Challenge has recently become popular on the Final Fantasy (NES) board and was invented by Diamond_Dragon (I think). The original thread is at http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/522595-final-fantasy/72559760 .
My hope is, like with Final Fantasy, it's a challenge for one player that everyone contributes to and you get to see characters, items and abilities used in unconventional ways or things being depended on that normally wouldn't be. If this is done multiple times, it's different each time, too... so I put my name in the topic title so that it doesn't get confusing if someone else wants to do this at the same time (or shortly after).
It is interesting seeing the "gifts" come rolling in. After just two posts, it felt like my final party might've been determined.
I felt ready enough to start. As of the start of the quest, the list of gifts in play was as follows:
I just finished my No Hands challenge and though it wasn't that challenging it was interesting to play with alternative strategies and playstyle and it helped me realize this game maybe doesn't depend on equipment quite so much as it seems. That ends up being a great lead-in to the Gratitude Challenge.
The Gratitude Challenge has recently become popular on the Final Fantasy (NES) board and was invented by Diamond_Dragon (I think). The original thread is at http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/522595-final-fantasy/72559760 .
The rules won't make sense without adjustments for this game and community, so here's my best shot:
- All equipment, techs and skills are considered "locked" and unusable until someone unlocks it
- All consumables (and services, like inns) are free to use
- The Psyco-Wand will always be allowed for one use in one specific battle whether it is unlocked or not
- Once something is unlocked it's usable by any character who can make use of it, including itemcasts
- Board users can post an unlock for one piece of equipment and one ability that is usable right away from the start of the game (I will label these, "Motavia")
- Board users can post to unlock one additional equip and one ability that will be unlocked for use once I set foot on the second planet
- Board users can post to unlock a third and final equip and ability that will be unlocked for use once I set foot on the third planet
- The actual point when the item or ability is gained is irrelevant; if you want to give me a Laser Slasher on the third planet, or Nafoi before Zio, that's fine
- I'll try not to overlevel but there's no cap; it's all situational
Depending on how things go, I may have to allow myself one unlock per planet, too; this is mainly because, for example, if I don't have Dagger, Hunt-Knife, Foi or Boomerang unlocked at the start of the game then the challenge would be completely impossible. It might be regardless! First I'm going to see what people give, though.
My hope is, like with Final Fantasy, it's a challenge for one player that everyone contributes to and you get to see characters, items and abilities used in unconventional ways or things being depended on that normally wouldn't be. If this is done multiple times, it's different each time, too... so I put my name in the topic title so that it doesn't get confusing if someone else wants to do this at the same time (or shortly after).
It is interesting seeing the "gifts" come rolling in. After just two posts, it felt like my final party might've been determined.
I felt ready enough to start. As of the start of the quest, the list of gifts in play was as follows:
Motavia
Equipment:
- Hunt-Knife (Elrick75)
- Crbn-Suit (Jeremy3eb)
- StruggleAx (ZomBULL)
Techniques:
- Wat (Elrick75)
Skills:
- Hewn (Jeremy3eb)
- War Cry (ZomBULL)
Dezolis
Equipment:
- PlsmDagger (Elrick75)
- Silvr-Tusk (Jeremy3eb)
Skills:
- Rayblade (Elrick75)
- Burstroc (Jeremy3eb)
Third Planet
Equipment:
- Swift-Helm (Jeremy3eb)
- MahlayMail (Elrick75)
Skills:
- Barrier (Jeremy3eb)
- Astral (Elrick75)
This list is in sort of an acquisition-based order.
As a (probably unnecessary) clarification: several skills like Hewn, Tandle, Barrier and Recover used by multiple characters are distinct for those characters in the game's data, but to simplify things I intend to just treat skills as usable by any characters when they're unlocked.
Even with just this, once I get to Mile, things will be easy! (No, not really.) Some healing of some sort might be nice. I think it'll be essential for bosses even if I drastically overlevel.
I decided to start with just this. I am playing this on my Ouya again, which is nice for most purposes but not screen capturing so I'll stick with the same methods as the No Hands challenge, which should be fine. Actually, there's a chance that I'll switch to another method (Steam version?) and have to start over, just because I'll be away from home for part of the holidays. We'll see.
Piata
Anyway, given that the only things I could conceivably use prior to leaving Piata are Hunt-Knife and Wat, a key question came to mind: is it even possible to get Hahn to level 3 with only Hunt-Knifes? It turns out the answer is yes. With the inn in Piata only costing 15 meseta and a reasonable starting sum in this game, it's fine. Chaz can mostly kill Xanafalgues in one successful attack anyway.
Strategy for... a long time... was Alys and Hahn: Defend, Chaz: Attack. I considered putting the knives on Hahn (or sharing them) but I decided Hahn was more likely to live if he could defend, and spreading the damage wasn't really going to help anyone beat a Xanafalgue. Since Chaz was the only source of damage, I changed my order to Alys, Hahn, Chaz. Hahn died a lot... and I just kept trucking until Chaz died each time, since Alys was defending and, even naked, she was still only taking 1 damage from everything. Chaz reached level 4 while Hahn was still level 2.
As soon as Hahn had Wat, we headed to Igglanova. Each turn, Hahn would throw out a Wat at Igglanova, Chaz would kill a Xanafalgue, and Alys would defend. When the Wats ran out - and they did - Hahn defended and Chaz aimed for Igglanova. Had to use a monomate, but it was fine.
Early Motavia Overworld
I headed straight to Mile to grab Hunt-Knifes for Hahn; Alys was still the dedicated (naked) tank.
I am currently outside Zema, with loadout as follows:
Chaz (Level 6)
Hahn (level 5)
Hahn and Chaz die pretty often to the Motavian surface enemies. Before setting foot in Zema, we walked all the way to Krup, mostly running from fights but occasionally stopping to whip out Wat at some newts. I bought a Crbn-Suit and put it on Chaz, then adjusted order to the default. I killed things to save up and get another for Hahn, and did so. Alys is still taking 1 damage from everything so she'll get the Crbn-Suit we find in Birthvally.
I am currently outside Zema, with loadout as follows:
Alys (Level 8)
No usable equipment
No usable techs
No usable skills
Chaz (Level 6)
Hunt-Knife
Hunt-Knife
Crbn-Suit
No usable techs
No usable skills
Hahn (level 5)
Hunt-Knife
Hunt-Knife
Crbn-Suit
Techs: Wat
No usable skills
The near future will be interesting even if I don't get more gifts; things will be nice for a bit while I have access to Hewn and then I've got a real rough patch in that gap between meeting Gryz and getting the StruggleAx.