TW: large insects.
Floors 61-70
-Super disturbing enemy on 61 called “King VERMIN.” A giant fiery insect.
-I’ve had the Steel Sandals accessory equipped for a long time. It gives a chance to increase evasion on leveling up. Currently level 57, so I think it has helped a lot.
-Floor 65.
-Iron Giants here on 65.
-My Damnation/Doom tick got to 1 before I killed that monster. I have to be quicker.
-I’ve done everything I can think of and that “Eerie laughter rings out from afar” message heralding Trema just came. Shit shit shit.
-look. I’m just gonna say this now. I saved the prior with a Save Memo because I was afraid of something like this. If I die here, I’m resetting and cheating (i.e. seeing how to break this barrier) because I’ve done literally everything I can think of.
-WHAT. The barrier got neutralized. I don’t know how. I don’t know what I just did. I don’t get it.
-but now trema is chasing me around this frigging iron giant
-MADE IT. HOLY JEEZ. HOOOLY JEEZ. Barely got to the elevator in time. [Later edit: I forgot that I had more time than I initially thought because of the Lebalnc Goon thing before I get ejected from the tower.]
-Ding Level 60!
-Floor 70. Boss or elevator puzzle?
-Looks like it’s an elevator puzzle. Only one barrier, just like last time.
*a long while later*
-GRRRR.
-Last time I only got past the barrier at the end – maybe that’s the answer? It’s the only thing left. I’ve done ALL the things, including strewing my crap across the floor.
-Okay. Here comes Trema.
-Yeah. That worked. Maybe?
He whapped me, turned me into the Leblanc goon, but it still didn’t break the barrier. That happened later. *shrug* Only one more of those rage-inducing puzzles to go.
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Outside
-Rikku is really down.
-She doesn’t want to say what it is, but Yuna voices it. She’s afraid if they stay together, they’ll keep fighting, growing apart.
-They’re really different people, but different people can be great friends! Don’t give up, Gullwings!
-This is pretty bleak.
-Paine thinks it’s possible they don’t really know each other as well as they thought.
-Perhaps the top of this place holds the answers for what the future holds for the Gullwings.
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The Final Push – Floors 71-80
-My Warrior dressphere is level 21. I wonder if there’s a max on that.
-HELL NO. It’s a giant malboro.
-Huh. It didn’t attack me. Maybe it can only attack from range but not when I’m up in its gross face? I don’t want to test that.
-Queen Coeurls are the WORST. They use Quake, which knocks off about 90-100 HP every couple of turns. For comparison, most other attacks do in the 6-10 range.
-The good news though is that they seem to be passive. I don’t bother them, they don’t bother me.
-Floor 75. Many barriers. Time to start testing.
So getting chain-stunned is fun.
Swinging at the air neutralizes the first. Dropping a bunch of items neutralizes the second. Ending my turn without action neturalizes the third.
-Consuming items doesn’t work.
-Confuse is a pretty rare status, but I still hate it deeply. In this game more than pretty much any other game because it makes Rikku throw her dresspheres across the room, and because the consumables a confused Rikku uses are so much more precious than in games with better/wider inventories.
-Two barriers to go. I neutralized one, but I don’t know how. Maybe killing another enemy? Or maybe one particular enemy that spawns is the key enemy I have to kill.
-Ah Christ, I don’t know. I thought I tried everything.
-Yeah. I hate this, but I’m doing it. These monsters take a lot of hits, and I do NOT want to do this again. I’m going to cheat again and look it up.
-…I had to both drop three things and throw three things. I didn’t throw things. I honestly thought dropping and throwing were the same in terms of “getting rid of stuff” for the purposes of unlocking these barriers.
Whatever. Moving on. Hopefully this is the last of those. (I assume it is; I doubt the final floor will be another of these puzzles rather than a boss.)
-My main weakness in the last levels is my damage. It’s a bit on the low side.
-On floor 79, I see my first behemoth.
-I must be missing something. I don’t see the elevator up to 80.
-Tried using the Fleeing Manual, but it said “No point in reading on the 79th floor.” Some other shenanigans are afoot. Hopefully Trema will open a portal or something when he gets here.
-He says something a bit different as he turns me into a Leblanc Goon
Not sure what to make of this.
-So time to fight in Leblanc Goon form. Low stats, but my MP for all abilities is one. I pop Omni-Guard.
-Current theory: I have to kill a monster in Goon form to reach the final boss.
-I beat a couple of dogs. Then he reappeared, and said “There is nothing beyond here, you fool!!
-UHHHHH. Now I’m on the 77th floor?
-I eventually get a message saying: “Why did the Founder choose this floor…?”
-I used a Fleeing Manual, and it brought me to an elevator, so this isn’t some alternate dimension 77th floor. Gonna look around more. There must be something new about this floor.
-Found a Restart Manual. I’m praying with all my heart that this isn’t a clue, that “Last Mission” isn’t going the Ghosts n Goblins route of making me replay the game to win.
-Eerie laughter rings out from afar again. Trema’s coming. If he comes and kills me, I’ll reload my last save and just look the answer up. (Sorry. My patience for these puzzles is low af.)
-He came and gave me the same “It is up to you whether you go any further in that form…” message, turning me into Leblanc Goon. Good sign that I’m not outside the tower.
-FHDSFHDSJKLFHDSLFH
FHDSJLFHDSJKLFHDSKLFHDSFKLHDSJKLFHDSJKLF
-Final boss time. Who is it?
-Some kind of hydra.
-All three of us are here. In the cinematic, Yuna and Rikku think of how they’ve grown apart as friends. Have they really?
-Ok. Just Rikku. Dancing with the girl that brung me. The plan is to Omni-Guard and Hard Break spam as before. Let’s see how that goes.
-One of the enemies is called Unum. Another (or is it the name of the hydra itself? I assume it’s just the name of the fourth head.) is Quattuor.
-SHIT IT CAST CONFUSE ON ME
-Its quake confuses me occasionally, but not always.
-It casts quake when I get too close. I see.
-Confuse is the literal worst. Especially here, since Rikku ends up just throwing all her dresspheres across the room.
-Ranged seems to be going much better. I think this might be the ticket.
-I’m not doing a lot of damage to Quattuor, and it’s hard for me to tell whether I’m hitting the right part of her, but it’s better than getting my ass Quaked and confused to hell and back.
-So there’s no way I’m winning this attempt. I can’t tell if I’m making any headway at all.
-I GOT PAST THE FIRST PHASE!! I only did about 30 damage per shot from range, and it took FOREVER, but still. Now I know the strategy to use there.
-It scurries up some stairs and we chase.
-The second phase consists of the hydra using quake. A lot. I currently have no way to deal with that, mostly because of the confuse but in no small part because of the huge damage as well. 40+ per quake.
-A couple of more attempts are not terribly fruitful. Frigging confuse. Didn’t see any accessories in my run through to prevent it.
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The Hydra Victorious
-I may try this a bit more, but based on what I’ve been seeing I don’t have a whole lot of hope. It took forever to even get past the first phase, and I got thoroughly whomped. I may just call it and move on. I haven’t given up on a Final Fantasy game before beating the last boss, but I just feel super under-prepared for this, and – this is the main thing – I do not have any interest in going back to the drawing board for different dressphere set-ups to get past this last boss. [later edit: lol]
The damage is the big problem I’m facing. If I go and test out alternate dresspheres, I could probably deal with the Confuse (there’s gotta be an auto-confuse there somewhere!). I just don’t think even without that that I can survive the Quake damage in phase 2. (I also kind of doubt that phase 2 is the last one, given four heads.)
One last reason why I am not determined to push on until I beat this boss right now: the run back. Each time I want to try the hydra again, I have to go through that ridiculously long Trema path on 79 and then 77.
-So this is it. I apologize to those of you I’ve disappointed by not completing this, but I’m kind of ready to move on at this point.
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Next time: I initially wrote that next time I’d listen to the X-2 audio before FFXI. But after getting a good night’s rest, the urge to try again hit me hard. That's what I'm doing. Trying again. Restarting with what I know now.
