Let’s Try That Again
-So I got a bit of a hankering to replay this. To replay it knowing what I know now, now so haphazardly as I played the first time.
-Restarted as Yuna. I want to replay this with a better understanding of dresspheres.
-Back at the tutorial. So leveling up a base dress adds the dress’s HP, stats, and grants access to “generic” and “unique” abilities. I knew this generally on my first run, but didn’t take enough time to really grasp it. Determined to change that.
-Leveling up a support dress add’s the dress’s HP, half the dress’s stats, and grants access to generic abilities.
-So when I play this time, I want to really focus hard on one particular main dressphere. I overreacted in my first playthrough to the Cactuars killing me around floor 15. I assumed I’d constantly find enemies that would obliterate my main dressphere, and that I would need a steady supply of reasonably leveled back-up dresspheres.
This was not the case. It only caused me to spend my fusion folios on things that didn’t really help. Won’t make that mistake this time.
- As I go, I want to create a database of what each dressphere’s generic and unique abilities are.
-Current plan: completely clear each level until I have a full database of the abilities of each. Then decide on a “main” dressphere to build up.
-Something surprising I’m finding as I explore the tower with level one dresspheres is that each dressphere seems to do the exact same amount of damage. The max health varies, but the damage output seems the same, even for regular black mage attacks compared with warrior attacks.
-Not sure if I didn’t try warrior!Yuna in X-2 or if I tried it and forgot, but I love that she has Tidus’s sword.
-Tried playing around with dressphere swaps. It seems like physical defense, magic, magic defense, and accuracy all change depending on dressphere, but at least with my current array of dresspheres (Black Mage, Gunner, Warrior, Samurai), physical attack and evasion remain the same. [Later edit: never mind. This isn’t true after more testing.]
-Stuck around floor six and about to die with my level one dresspheres, which is about what I expected. Going to use my restart guide.
-I don’t think I saw alchemist!Yuna in X-2. She’s got, like, a hand-cannon or something, and she looks phenomenal.
-Dark Knight seems to have the highest HP. I’m also loving its abilities. Imagining Doom on a Behemoth, but even Darktouch would’ve been such a huge boon as a meleer.
-Aesthetically, I love how DarkKnight!Yuna attacks. She does a one-handed thrust with a fencer’s lunge while using this giant greatsword.
-Wait. Wait wait wait. What the hell am I seeing???
-I thought that Darktouch was a specific Dark Knight ability because it appeared when I equipped it. But it seems like the auto-abilities that appear vary depending on what combination of dresspheres I layer.
-Like.
-This changes everything for me? I really wish I had paid attention this closely earlier. I’m seeing things called Grace Under Pressure and Impenetrable Front and SO MUCH STUFF!! This is why I had such a hard time in my first run putting together which AAs were due to which dresspheres. It’s because that’s a dynamic relationship.
-Okay. New goal. Acquire one of EVERY DRESSPHERE and test out combos.
-On floor 12, I pick up the last dressphere (festivalist). Now I’ve obtained all the dresspheres. Time for one more restart, and then experimenting with the AAs. I probably have a good enough sense of what lies ahead of me that I can choose which AAs I want to complete and which to ignore.
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Dressphere Database, by Coldrun
(U) = Unique. (G) = Generic.
ALCHEMIST
(U) Item Cannon: Attack using items.
(G) Item Mine: Detonates items in the room to damage nearby enemies.
(G) Item Esuna: Removed cursed/BOOM status from items.
BERSERKER
(U) Berserk: Huge damage increase, but can’t control it. At least it seems to prioritize attacking nearby enemies. An interesting choice against high-health enemies.
(G) Bull Charge: Move behind enemy while attacking.
(G) Wallop: Knock targeted enemy back. Nice supplement to ranged dresspheres like alchemist, gunner, or gun mage.
BLACK MAGE
(U) Ultima: Heavy damage to all enemies in the room. Costly.
(G) Firaga: Fire damage.
(G) Bio: Poisons enemy.
DARK KNIGHT
(U) Dark Blade: Expend lots of HP to deal heavy damage in the area.
(G) Black Sky: Expend TONS of HP to deal damage to all enemies in the room.
(G) Doom: Expend a little HP to put “doom” status on enemy. OH GOD, THIS WOULD’VE BEEN SO GREAT IN THE LAST 10 LEVELS!! I had little damage on those last 10 floors relative to the health of the Behemoths and those floaty eyes. If Doom works on those, it’s amazing.
GUN MAGE
(U) Enemy Ability: Single-use per ability. See enemy ability list.
(G) AA Shot: Heavy damage to flying enemies.
(G) Steal Ability: Steal an enemy’s ability.
GUNNER
(U) Staccato: Heavy damage every few turns. Better the longer I wait.
(G) Cross Shot: Attack in four directions.
(G) Fiend Piercer: Damage an enemy and those behind it.
LADY LUCK
(U) Slots: Some really good options (like Level Up) and some bad ones (like Level Down).
(G) Two Dice: Variable damage.
(G) MP Dice: Variable mana steal.
MASCOT
(U) Moogle Beam: Damage.
(G) Mini-Demi: Enemies in range lose ¼ of current HP. I heavily underrated this in my first playthrough cause so many enemies died quickly. By the time that fact changed in the last 20 floors or so, I’d completely forgot about this. This and Doom would’ve been incredible.
(G) Jiggly Ripple: Push enemies in four directions until they hit something. Nice utility when surrounded.
PSYCHIC
(U) Teleport: Move to an area of the room. Far away, straight line.
(G) Psychic Bomb: Heavy damage to all enemies in room.
(G) Telekinesis: Warp enemy to another area of the floor.
SAMURAI
(U) Zantetsuken: Defeat one enemy instantly.
(G) Gil Toss: Throw gil to deal damage. I can select the amount of gil to throw which increases with damage, but seems like I’ll probably need a lot.
(G) Tri-Blast: Attack forward in three directions.
SONGSTRESS
(U) Lullaby: Puts enemies in range to sleep.
(G) Hyper Mode: Increase physical and magic attacks for several turns.
(G) Change Out: Swap to another character.
THIEF
(U) Find Trap: Detect all traps in a room.
(G) Steal Item: …it steals items. Of course.
(G) Shadowhold: “Immobilize” enemy. Doesn’t paralyze an enemy, just immobilizes. Like a sticky trap.
TRAINER
(U) Dig: The puppy digs up an item. Tried this a few times. Once was GREAT – a Growth Tonic that leveled me up twice – but the other times were pretty mediocre. Nice if I have mana to burn.
(G) Long Shot: Attack an enemy at any distance.
(G) Swarm! Swarm!: Heavy single target damage.
WARRIOR
(U) Delay Attack: Cancel’s enemy’s next turn.
(G) Omni-Guard: Defends against ALL attacks while in effect.
(G) Hard Break: Heavy single-target damage.
WHITE MAGE
(U) Holy: Holy damage.
(G) Curage: Heals.
(G) Esuna: Cures statuses.
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AA Combos – Two Dresspheres
-Alchemist + Berserker = Sleepproof. This wasn’t much of a problem outside the eye monster later on, and even then I could deal with it.
-Alchemist + Black Mage = Magic Defense Training. Nah.
-Alchemist + Songstress = Dressguard. Not sure, but probably protects dresspheres from getting Cursed or BOOMed. Not too worried.
-Alchemist + Mascot = Detect Enemies. Probably makes all enemies visible on the floor. Meh.
-Berserker + Songstress = Iceproof. Interesting! Although with limited space, I don’t really think I need this. The fireproof one is likely better because of those dragons that spewed fire all over the place.
-Berserker + White Mage = Poisontouch. Meh.
-Berserker + Thief = Defensive Training. Interesting! Probably give a chance to increase defense on level-ups.
-Black Mage + Songstress = Silenceproof. Not a huge concern.
-Black Mage + Trainer = Lightningproof. Similar to Iceproof, sounds nice but not a priority.
-Black Mage + Lady Luck = Detect Nearby Traps. Nah.
-Dark Knight + Gunner = Confuseproof. YES YES A THOUSAND TIMES YES. This may be a key to beating the hydra.
-Dark Knight + Gun Mage = Darktouch. Phenomenal.
-Dark Knight + White Mage = Magic Training. Meh. If I had a magic-centric build, yes, but I think I’ll try for something simpler.
-Festivalist + Gunner = Defeat to Heal MP. YES.
-Festivalist + Samurai = Darkproof. This wasn’t too much of a big deal. Occasional esunas took care of it.
-Festivalist + Thief = Berserkproof. Not worried about this.
-Festivalist + Lady Luck = Curse Guard. Also not worried.
-Festivalist + Mascot = Secret Items. I’m not sure what items are secret, but probably worth it.
-Festivalist + Psychic = Double Gil. Good, but not sure how necessary.
-Gun Mage Songstress = Accuracy Training. Meh.
-Gun Mage Trainer = MP Cost Protection. Probably makes me immune to those statuses that make my spells cost double. Not that helpful.
-Gunner White Mage = Fireproof. Yes.
-Gunner Psychic = Gil for EXP. Hm. Intriguing.
-Lady Luck White Mage = Slowproof. Meh.
-Lady Luck Mascot = Evasion Training. Intriguing.
-Mascot Samurai = Gil Guard. Meh.
-Psychic Warrior = Immobileproof. No thanks.
-Psychic Samurai = Grace Under Pressure. I want to learn what this is, but I expect it’ll probably be something that gives me a boost when low health. I hope to not be at low health often.
-Samurai Thief = Gil for Damage. Hm.
-Songstress Warrior = Defeat to Heal HP. YES.
-Thief Trainer = Detect All Traps. Tbh, traps weren’t really a problem in my playthrough.
-Trainer Warrior = Physical Training. Damage boost maybe?
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AA Combos – Three Dresspheres
-Alchemist Gun Mage Gunner = Marksman. Curious what this is, but probably a boost to ranged attacks.
-Berserker Psychic Warrior = Impenetrable Front. VERY curious.
-Black Mage Dark Knight Gun Mage = MP Heal Over Time. Interested as hell in this, depending on how long it takes. Probably very slow.
-Dark Knight Samurai Trainer = Doomproof. There were a couple of close calls, but not really necessary.
-Dark Knight Samurai Warrior = 50% Discount. YES. This could be great.
-Gun Mage Mascot White Mage = 1/2 damage. What. WHAT. WHATHDFJKLSHFDJKLSFH. HOLY SHIT YES THIS. Like. I don’t know how to process how good this seems.
-Gunner Lady Luck Thief = Shoplift. I wonder if this is like Mug.
-Psychic Songstress Thief = Evade Traps. Not interested.
AA Combos – Four Dresspheres
-I started looking for these, but my brain sort of fried shortly after. I didn’t see any. Going to hope there’s not super killer combo thing at the four or five dressphere level. To be honest, I doubt it. Not sure anything would be better than half damage.
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That’s a lot of data. Time to formulate a game plan. Which AAs am I interested in?
-Dark Knight Gunner = Confuseproof
-Dark Knight Gun Mage = Darktouch
-Festivalist Gunner = Defeat to Heal MP
-Festivalist Mascot = Secret Items
-Gunner White Mage = Fireproof.
-Songstress Warrior = Defeat to Heal HP
-Alchemist Gun Mage Gunner = Marksman
-Berserker Psychic Warrior = Impenetrable Front
-Black Mage Dark Knight Gun Mage = MP Heal Over Time
-Dark Knight Samurai Warrior = 50% Discount
-Gun Mage Mascot White Mage = 1/2 damage
-Gunner Lady Luck Thief = Shoplift
-Dark Knight is a clear winner here. Will make that my base dressphere to build up. White Mage is a clear winner too, which I want for support.
-The main combat line-up I want eventually is Confuseproof, 1/2 Damage, Impenetrable Front, Percentile damage. All that mitigation would make Darktouch less important.
-Dark Knight, Gunner, Gun Mage, White Mage, Mascot, Psychic, Warrior.
-Psychic and Warrior would just be used for Impenetrable Front, so if I use that as an accessory, that leaves behind Dark Knight, Gunner, Gun Mage, White Mage, Mascot. I think I have my main line-up. Those five alone would give me 1/2 Damage and Confuseproof (not to mention Darktouch and Fireproof) without the use of any accessories. GOOD GOD THAT FEELS SATISFYING TO FINALLY HAVE A DECISION ON THIS. A plan, a direction.
-So what supplementary accessories would I want with that?
1)Impenetrable Front. (Berserker + Psychic + Warrior)
2)Defeat to Heal HP to preserve White Mage mana. (Songstress + Warrior)
3)Heal MP Over Time. (Black Mage + Dark Knight + Gun Mage)
4)A store combo. 50% discount and secret items. (Dark Knight + Samurai + Warrior; Festivalist + Mascot)
5)Item Esuna for BOOM/curse. (pocket Alchemist dressphere)
6)Spinner to freeze cactuars. (pocket Festivalist dressphere)
7)Y’know, I care less about stealing items for now. I’d like it, but it isn’t that important. I’ll leave Thief out. Each inventory slot in this game is precious.
-Next step: get the accessories I need and clear out inventory space.
-Success. I’m at floor 24, level 30. I have the accessories I want. I have the dressphere set-up I want. Time to restart (hopefully) one last time, and climb this tower, and get some revenge on that hydra.
-lol I love the Restart Folio description.
-Ready.
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Next time: climbing back.
