Mission: Hojo’s Laboratory > Sample Monsters Lv. 1 > Experiment No. 101
-So the premise of this mission seems to be that Hojo is experimenting based on Zack’s fight with Ifrit. He has virtual models of new experiments and samples and wants me to fight them in that virtual setting.
-The mission is listed as “very easy,” and lives up to that. It’s one fight against a virtual Ifrit, who stands that and takes damage as I backstab the hell out of him.
Virtual Ifrit.
-Interesting! That’s the only mission in that campaign for now. I bet I’ll get more “Sample Monsters” missions as the story goes on. Like, if I fight Shiva, I’ll bet Hojo will have a version of her to fight. Although that mechanic sounds like it could get repetitive.
-Let’s see what’s next on the mission menu. I think I’ll stick with the summoned monster theme, and get my Yuffie on.
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Mission: Zack, the Materia Hunter > Starting Out > Rematch with Ifrit
-For this mission, Shinra reverse-engineered my fight with Ifrit and seems to have found the original materia… if I can pin down Ifrit, at least.
The real deal.
-Fight was tougher than it needed to be because I neglected to re-equip the Blizzard materia, but still went ok. Though it was touch-and-go for a second; his Hellfire hit like a truck.
-Ifrit materia. Yay!
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Mission: Zack, the Materia Hunter > Starting Out > Raijincho
-“We have received information of materia hidden in the nest of an island-dwelling Raijincho.” I have to track said materia down.
-A new summon! I haven’t heard of her in the series before now. Well, at least by this name. It’s possible that Raijincho will be a variation on someone I’ve met, like Ramuh.
-As always, really enjoying this new music on the island.
-Looks like I made the mistake of assuming Raijincho was a summon. It turned out to be a flock of seagull-like thunder birds guarding a “Thunder” materia.
The Raijincho.
-And no more missions in this campaign for now. Only one more category available to me below the “Very Hard” setting for the moment: “Seeking Precious Items.”
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Mission: Seeking Precious Items > Looking for Items > Closed Coal Mines
-Pretty straight forward. Monsters took over one of Shinra’s coal mines. Precious items are trapped inside, and Zack’s on recovery duty.
-Some cute little monsters on the way in called “Spriggans,” whose main attack seems to be to puff out their bellies and try to bounce me.
-Flying eyeball monsters return here. I missed y’all!
Adorable cave dwellers.
-No real boss monster, just a spriggan and some Eye Guys. Got a phoenix down. Though I’m not yet certain what this could possibly be used for unless the game has a way to use items from beyond the grave (unlikely) or unless Zack eventually gets party members (likelier).
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Mission: Seeking Precious Items > Looking for Items > Desert Island Delights
-I’m a bit disappointed in this mission campaign. It doesn’t feel like it relates to the story or characters in any special way. It’s literally just that Shinra found monsters on an island and wants me to go kill them. As “kill 10 rats” as a quest can get.
The literal mission description.
Whatever.
-Doubly disappointing is that this mission is almost an exact replica of the Raijincho mission. Same island, same map, same blocked-off area, and even finished with the same thunder birds (though with some Eye Guys thrown in).
-Got a Chocobo Armlet, which can boost my AP. I haven’t really run out of it yet so not going to wear it, but if I get some awesome AP-using ability that I ever want to spam I’ll keep it in mind.
-I’m trying to develop a strategy for leveling up materia. Here’s what I’m going with for now: whenever a materia hits level 3, swap it out for a lower level materia unless that particular materia seems useful.
I’m tempted to keep Cure in there, but it’s already level 4, and it may be worth giving other materia the chance to level up on missions that have a difficulty lower than Hard.
Non-rhetorical question: Is there some hidden mechanic that influences how often spells level up? Like, if I use spells a bunch, will that increase the chances of materia level-ups, or is it 100% random? And if using a materia’s spell or skill does influence the chance of the DMW leveling up my materia, does it only increase the chance for the used ability?
For example: if I use “Thunder” a bunch, will that:
a) increase the chance of leveling up the “Thunder” materia;
b) increase the chance of leveling up a random materia; or
c) have no impact on the chance of leveling up materia?
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Next time: Crisis Core 2: The Search for More Money! And items.
