Phantasy Star IV Gratitude Challenge Part IV

[freshfeeling]

[This entry is adapted from the original GameFAQs posts written around the time the gameplay took place in January of 2016. It is actually being posted in March of 2023 around the origin of this blog. There may be minor edits.]

Here is a summary of my unlocked abilities and equipment so far, with lots of recent and very generous additions:

Motavia

Equipment:

• Hunt-Knife (Elrick75)
• Crbn-Suit (Jeremy3eb)
• Struggl-Ax (ZomBULL)
• Crmc-Mail (SatoruMasamune)
• Crmcshield (trenzer1)
• Lasr-Sword (boonoob)
• Stun-Shot (Theysaidit)

Techniques:

• Foi (boonoob)
• Wat (Elrick75)
• Ryuka (trenzer1)
• Gires (Theysaidit)

Skills:

• Crosscut (SatoruMasamune)
• Hewn (Jeremy3eb)
• War Cry (ZomBULL)

Dezolis

Equipment:

• PlsmDagger (Elrick75)
• Silvshield (boonoob)
• Silv-Crown (Theysaidit)
• Flamesword (SatoruMasamune)
• Silvr-Tusk (Jeremy3eb)
• Elst-Armor (ZomBULL)
• Defeat-Axe (trenzer1)

Techs:

• Githu (boonoob)
• Nazan (Theysaidit)

Skills:

• Sweeping (trenzer1)
• Flare (ZomBULL)
• Rayblade (Elrick75)
• Burstroc (Jeremy3eb)
• Tandle (SatoruMasamune)

 

Third Planet

Equipment:

• Torndagger (Theysaidit)
• Swift-Helm (Jeremy3eb)
• Genocyclaw (boonoob)
• Elsydeon (SatoruMasamune)
• MahlayMail (Elrick75)

Techs:

• Deban (boonoob)
• Gisar (Theysaidit)
• Megid (SatoruMasamune)

Skills:

• Barrier (Jeremy3eb)
• Astral (Elrick75)

---

I said in the thread that I was excited for the Torndagger. I thought it was great to have a reliable source of damage for any character through its itemcast. I also talked about the idea of maybe trying to save Demi's Stun-Shot for Wren, and ZomBULL wrote, "Once Wren hits level 31 the Stun Shot has more attack power than the Tornado Dagger itemcast. And it's pretty likely your Wren will be greater than level 31 [...] when the Tornado Dagger becomes legal to use".

It's interesting to see these kinds of analyses. I mean, this is one of those games where "build" isn't much of a consideration... but now it is.

I started by levelling in Passageway to get Gryz up to level 13. Gryz and Hahn levelled. I went and bought three Crmc-Mails and then walked into Wreckage to get a fourth free one, so Alys, Chaz, Rika and Gryz were fully outfitted. That may not have been necessary.

Zio's Fort and Juza

I had already been in here so it wasn't that exciting. Plus, now I have Gires. I got to Juza without issue. I was kind of dreading him, since Crmcshields give no magic resistance I figured he'd clobber me as badly as usual, but it wasn't bad at all. I think I got really lucky with the AI. I only got one Zan, no Forceflash, one Wat that didn't target Gryz, and a whole bunch of Foi (which everyone except Hahn resists). There were no casualties.

 

So now I've got Demi. My macros were sure boring at this point: Chaz can only do Attack/Crosscut, Gryz can only do Attack/War Cry, Rika can only do Gires, and Demi can't do anything. I knew I wanted the Stun-Shot but I wasn't sure how I'd fare against the mechanical enemies... so even though Foi and Wat are crappy against them, I wandered down to Ladea Tower to get Rune.

Platesystem

...I'm glad I did! I headed to Platesystem, where Hewn is super handy for clearing Sensor Bits, etc. It took two trips but I went and got the Stun-Shot (and shut down Platesystem). I left everything else there; I've mostly been walking around with a full inventory which is actually very useful as it allows me to leave everything in chests. I didn't even take Phonon, which just made sense to me since I can't use it.

Ladea Tower

I was emboldened and came up with an idea: Ladea Tower has lots of chests, but they're pretty much all consumables - and nothing too noteworthy - and banned equips. So rather than spend consumables to get consumables, I'm just going to run from everything (unless it's really simple) and go get the Psyco-Wand as quickly as possible.

Gy-Laguiah

Despite all of the generous gifts, I've hit a major snag, here. I took three runs at Gy-Laguiah and I can safely say I wasn't even close. My levels were Ri16/De13/Gr15/Ch15/Ru21. Flamebreath is fine - the party is nicely outfitted in heat-resistant ceramics - but his regular attack very nearly one-shots anyone... particularly since it criticals nearly every time. Even Demi, defending, doesn't do well, seeing as she has no armor whatsoever. Rika's the only one who can really tolerate those attacks.

 

My offense is also a bit crappy: Demi can attack with Stun-Shot, Chaz can Crosscut/Attack, Gryz can War Cry/Attack (with Struggle Axe), Rune's only got Wat and Rika has to heal or defend.

 

Three attempts went very badly and I decided I needed to level up. I went to spend some time in Passageway to do that. So... here we are with a couple more levels:

 

Rika (Level 19, 90 Def)

Equipment: Crmcshield, Crmcshield, Crbn-Suit

Techs: Gires

Skills: (none)

 

Demi (Level 15, 29 Def, 76 Atk)

Equipment: Stun-Shot

Techs: (none)

Skills: (none)

 

Gryz (Level 18, 73 Def, 79 Atk)

Equipment: Struggl-Ax, Crmc-Mail

Techs: (none)

Skills: War Cry (boosts Atk to 120)

 

Chaz (Level 18, 60 Def, 90 Atk)

Equipment: Lasr-Sword, Crmc-Mail

Techs: Ryuka, Gires

Skills: Crosscut [170]

 

Rune (Level 21, 27 Def)

Equipment: (none)

Techs: Foi [69], Wat [77], Ryuka

Skills: Hewn

 

I can't believe I got hung up on Gy-Laguiah. I guess when I got all of the great offensive gifts I ignored the fact that my characters have to live. It'll probably be pretty tough at least until the Silvshields.

When I tried again with my improved levels, I actually fought several randoms on my way up the tower... basically every time I got a surprise attack. I'd Hewn sometimes, since Wat is about the same vs. Gy-Laguiah, and everyone else would attack, and that would pretty much do it. I gained another level or two going up.

 

In addition to levelling, I had better luck against Gy-Laguiah by far. He almost always used Flamebreath, which does way less damage and... really, wasn't hard to survive at all. After several rounds he did kick the crap out of Rune and Chaz with OHKO physicals. Earlier in the fight, he had a physical against Rika, who was defending, and it did 1 damage. Chaz died with a single use of Crosscut left but I decided to press on and it paid off.

As you can see, I wouldn't have lasted a ton longer.

 

Something else that happened that I never discussed is this really crappy situation where everyone is dead except Rika, who is only capable of healing and defending. She's just standing there waiting to die. It sucks.

Nurvus

I went on through and spotted chests, thinking that was all I was going to do and just pick up Repair-Kits. I got one but then I accidentally walked up to Zio with Chaz dead... so let's just say my first run at Zio wasn't good and maybe doesn't count.

 

Subsequently, I decided I'd be better off to mostly avoid treasure (that I can't use) and make a run at the boss. When you know the exact path through Nurvus, as many of us do, it goes pretty quickly. I usually stop to Hewn the Taratellas (sp?) and otherwise only kill things when I get a surprise attack.

Zio

My next run at Zio, I got to him with the same equips and abilities as noted previously, but with higher levels as follows:

 

I forgot to make a macro with the Psyco-Wand first, so I did the stupid thing where Gryz somehow amazingly goes before Rika, does War Cry and then Rika uses Psyco-Wand and cancels War Cry. Duh.

 

I didn't win. Corrosion is just nasty. An oddity with Corrosion/Corrsion is that the enemy version of the ability uses magic resistance, whereas Seth's version uses the enemy's physical defense. Zio's Corrosion doesn't OHKO anyone, but it does ~100 damage to Demi with her 0 magic resistance and can 2HKO the rest of the party. I don't have any ability to group heal, so after each Corrosion or Hewn I have to literally do Rika: Gires, Chaz: Gires, Gryz: Dimate, Rune: Monomate/Dimate. Demi just pretty much dies.

 

Defending helps, since everything Zio does is factor 1 (which means using the defend command cuts the damage by half or more), but I also need people on the offense. I need to figure this out. Demi can defend to live longer but she also can't really contribute, given Zio's 5/8 chance of using a full-party attack.

 

Black Wave is bad, and OHKOs people who aren't defending other than maybe Gryz, but it's not the biggest problem at all.

 

I took about ten runs at Zio. Many were over in three or four turns due to him using Nightmare on turn 1, Corrosion/Hewn on turn 2 and 3. That leaves Rika standing there alone, only able to heal and defend.

 

I think there are a few keys to winning that I need to implement:

• Defending: Defending allows people to live. Having Demi/Rika, who otherwise can't do much, defend at the front of the party will generally increase everyone's chances of survival.
• Levels: Sadly, I think I need to level up more. My agility on all members is low enough that Zio often acts before at least some of them which makes healing very awkward.
• Luck: I need less Corrosion/Hewn. And Black Wave. And I need Black Wave and Zio's red blast to target the exact right people.
• Gifts?: Barrier would make an incredible difference but I don't get it until much later. Some armor maybe?

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