Phantasy Star IV Gratitude Challenge Part VI

[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, where so far I have access to everything for Motavia and:

Motavia

Equipment:

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

Techniques:

• Foi (boonoob)
• Wat (Elrick75)
• Hinas (looked)
• 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)
• Guard-Rod (looked)
• Defeat-Axe (trenzer1)

Techs:

• Githu (boonoob)
• Nazan (Theysaidit)

Skills:

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

 

Third Planet

Equipment:

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

Techs:

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

Skills:

• Barrier (Jeremy3eb)
• St.Fire (looked)
• Astral (Elrick75)

---

With these unlocks, I'm not really hoping for "the best stuff"; I was hoping to get a selection that adds interest, things I wouldn't normally use or see obvious and immediate benefit from.

These most recent gifts were interesting, and I love the Wood-Cane, but the gift of Guard-Rod is just huge. Personally, I think the Guard-Rod trivializes randoms in a normal playthrough... but I won't dare look a gift horse in the mouth this time, what with the defensive woes I'm expecting (and those I experienced in late Motavia).

I happen to have two Wood-Canes, which I expect will be handy for any of my characters whose names start with R. Rika and Raja can't do anything other than defend, items and Gires in combat now so this should be great for them.

Kuran

This was a pretty good dungeon. Seeing as there's no loadbearing boss, I skipped Hijammer and didn't have to collect the Zircoarmer (plus I'll be getting something better, soon). Every so often people would die; Wren died a lot. It's actually kind of fun playing without armor and recover, getting to see Demi and Wren drop in half of the random battles, then they auto-recover, and then they regenerate health each step and we get to see if they can survive the next one.
 

 

With my bolstered Silvshield defenses, I realized I needed to reorganize the party based on defensive capabilities and general worth. The order is now Rika, Rune, Wren, Chaz, Raja.

Dark Force

I took two runs at the boss that catastrophically failed, in part because two of his three attacks (Burstroc and Flare Shot) OHKO Raja when Raja doesn't defend (and defending doesn't work against Flare Shot). Like with Zio, defending was surprisingly useful here. Any turn when there wasn't critical healing necessary, both Rika and Raja would defend. But the fights didn't go well.

 

I knew that Rune having Tandle would be of benefit, and he was at level 26. At level 27 he learns Tandle and by level 28 he has two uses, so I grinded again... just a teensy bit. This also allowed Chaz to get two uses of Rayblade, which is fantastically damaging against Kuran's boss.
 

I went back and it took another two runs, but on my fourth run I found, as with Zio, eventually the fight had a rhythm. And like with Zio, when DF uses his super strong single-target attack, that was usually a great reprieve. Because of how badly the previous fights went, once Rune had used his two Tandles (and Wren just basically dies due to lack of defense and Recover, but he got a couple of Flares off), it became "Operation Keep Chaz Alive". Rayblade does 400+ damage, Githu does ~250. I exhausted ALL of these and fell back on Crosscut. Rune and Wren went down fairly quickly... so Rika and Raja defended and healed. When only Chaz needed healing - which was often, because defending makes a huge difference against Burstroc and Phononmasr - Rika would do it, because she can survive all of the attacks.

 

There was absolutely a bit of luck involved; miraculously, Raja lived.

 

More Dezolis

I was so excited to have the Ice-Digger but now I'm not even sure why; the only usable item I could really get right away was Flamesword, which is awesome, but not exactly a game-changer. I could go get Silv-Tusk, which is great, but (a) it's not really worthwhile without a second claw and (b) I hesitate to reduce Rika's defense, as she's being pretty effective as a phys wall and healer. So I didn't even get it; I will eventually because later I'll have access to the Genocyclaw.
 

 

I bought three Flameswords. I think that will be enough. It will be more powerful than Rune's single-target techs until he's about level 44, it's nearly as strong as Dynamite, it's super effective against the next wake-up-call boss and it gives two-shielders (i.e. Rika) a good offensive option.
 

 

I realized that Raja has literally no advantage over Kyra in this run (in some runs I keep him for the two mech dungeons) so I swapped them immediately. She is a defensive powerhouse.

 

This was our status at this point:

 

So what's next? I figured I had several reasonable options.

 

• Climate Control, to get Elst-Armor
• Weapons Plant, to get Burstroc
• I could get Silv-Tusk, but I'm not going to yet
• Proceed with the story via Gumbious and Air Castle

I'm absolutely going to do the two mech dungeons before Air Castle but I'm carefully considering the order.

More detailed status at this point:

Rika (Level 33, 141 Def, 45 Res)

Equipment: Silv-Crown, Silvshield, Silvshield, Crbn-Suit

Techs: Gires

Skills: (none)

 

Rune (Level 28, 84 Def, 67 Res)

Equipment: Silvshield, Silvshield

Techs: Foi [83 power], Wat [91 power], Hinas, Ryuka

Skills: Hewn [123 power, 9 uses], Tandle [203 power, 2 uses]

 

Wren (Level 24, 42 Def, 0 Res, 100 Atk)

Equipment: Stun-Shot

Techs: (none)

Skills: Flare [184 power, 14 uses], Spark [9 uses]

 

Kyra (Level 27, 111 Def, 55 Res)

Equipment: Silv-Crown, Silvshield, Silvshield, Crbn-Suit

Techs: Foi [67 power], Gires

Skills: Hewn [155 power, 5 uses]

 

Chaz (Level 30, 80 Def, 37 Res, 132 Atk)

Equipment: Flamesword, Crmc-Mail

Techs: Hinas, Ryuka, Gires, Githu [133 power]

Skills: Crosscut [212 power, 10 uses], Rayblade [213 power, 2 use]

 

Common Itemcasts available:

Flamesword (3) [112 power]

Wood-Cane (2): [32 power heal]

If you're really paying attention, you might notice that I've just got access to my very first combination attacks! A well-placed firestorm could actually be great against Lashiec, if any of my team can survive him for a round.

I decided on looking at Climatrol first, and then Weapons Plant.

Climatrol

I had a bad fight with the Gy-Laguiah re-fight, believe it or not. He resists fire, so my wonderful new Flameswords were underwhelming. Rune was using Wat and died to a physical critical shortly after. Wren got creamed by physicals too. Kyra doesn't have much in the way of offense; her and Rika mostly defended while Chaz practically solo'ed the thing. Rayblade and Githu were pretty good, but lots of people have Githu for Gy-Laguiah the first, in a normal run! So it was a pretty long and crappy fight.

 

Then I wandered around, running and Hewning things, until I found... the Comp-Armor. Dammit! I was sure Elst-Armor was in here! Argh. Hinas.

Weapons Plant

One thing I love about this game is the optional dungeons. Like Wreckage - very tangential plot relevance, just a bonus for people who explore it. Weapons Plant, when you enter, the party literally says "we've got no reason to be here". That's so cool.

 

Spark was super useful, as it often is here, allowing me to clobber Lifedeletrs most of the time and get some large experience yields. Surviving wasn't too tough; eventually, Rune died, but this was still a fun dungeon after that... I just ran from a lot of things and healed frequently. Got Burstroc, and then eventually, got Elst-Armor.

 

What a godsend.

An 82 defense point increase? Boost from 0 to 24 resistance? Yespls!

 

Wren is finally useful! Too bad he's total cannonfodder for the next two bosses. I don't really expect him to survive round 2 in those battles. He might not survive round 1.

 

I've adjusted my party order again: Chaz is my offensive powerhouse with only Crmc-Mail for defense, so he's at the back. Wren is back in front, followed by Rika, Kyra and Rune.

 

Now I guess I have to think about the Air Castle. *sigh* Despite all the great gifts I've received, I have a feeling there's going to be another grind forthcoming. Y'know, I might just do it in the Weapons Plant, what with the big gains from Lifedeletrs.

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