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[Etria]

I will give it a try, but battling

Spoiler

Qada, Mephilia and Yulyana

together doesn't sound fun to me, at all. xD That being said, figuring out how to beat

Spoiler

_Qada_

the first time I fought him was really satisfying, so you might be right.

Don't forget

Spoiler

Ominas to make up the magical foursome!

From what I remember, that battle was intense until you figured out a way to either cheese it or formulate a competent strategy with a bit of luck thrown in.
Worth a try if you don't mind restarting a few times over.

Out of curiosity, what difficulty are you playing on?

 

[Dr. Buni]

Don't forget

Spoiler

Ominas to make up the magical foursome!

From what I remember, that battle was intense until you figured out a way to either cheese it or formulate a competent strategy with a bit of luck thrown in.
Worth a try if you don't mind restarting a few times over.

Out of curiosity, what difficulty are you playing on?

That's the problem, I kinda like my team/job composition and I'd hate to change that. Maybe I can find a way to cheese the fight with my current jobs?

I am playing on Normal. I am not good enough for Hard.

 

[Etria]

That's the problem, I kinda like my team/job composition and I'd hate to change that. Maybe I can find a way to cheese the fight with my current jobs?

I am playing on Normal. I am not good enough for Hard.

What's your current team? It's possible to cheese the fight, but if I recall correctly, it involved having a very specific setup.

I know the feeling when you suss out exactly what jobs you want for each character, but then have to change everything for a challenging battle. Don't be hesitant to do so though. I was the same until I progressed through the game and hit some roadblocks. There were multiple times when I had to change everyone's jobs to strike a good balance between survivability and offense, especially for the side quests in the later chapters.

Hard is fun! You should try it! Challenging but not to the point of absurdity (barring a few exceptions...

 

[Dr. Buni]

What's your current team? It's possible to cheese the fight, but if I recall correctly, it involved having a very specific setup.

I know the feeling when you suss out exactly what jobs you want for each character, but then have to change everything for a challenging battle. Don't be hesitant to do so though. I was the same until I progressed through the game and hit some roadblocks. There were multiple times when I had to change everyone's jobs to strike a good balance between survivability and offense, especially for the side quests in the later chapters.

Hard is fun! You should try it! Challenging but not to the point of absurdity (barring a few exceptions...

Edea (Dark Knight/Spell Fencer)
Tiz (Spiritmaster/Salve-Maker)
Agnès (Thief/Monk)
Ringabel (Pirate/Performer)

These jobs all fit the characters in my opinion, except Agnès. To be fair, I am not satisfied at all with her jobs, even though Thief is godly. They just don't fit >_> Maybe I should change her to Summoner? Vampire? Conjurer?

So, what party would you suggest to tackle the infamous magic foursome?

 

[themagicalkitsune]

Party lineup seems good, though abilities are also important.

For the magic fight

Spoiler

as I said if you don't act first and don't use Enigma / Stillness, they will one-shot the entire party. So I basically made sure all agilities were high, had Hasten World on, and my party setup was Performer / Freelancer, Thief / Freelancer, Spiritmaster / White Mage, Dark Knight / Spell Fencer. Gave my party a bunch of BP using My Hero and Hasten World, used Stillness, then unleashed my BP with Thief / Dark Knight attacks and the Mimic ability of the freelancer. Qada was out in one turn.

Also now that I'm officially done with the game, might as well try that New Year Kamiizumi fight.

 

[Etria]

Edea (Dark Knight/Spell Fencer)
Tiz (Spiritmaster/Salve-Maker)
Agnès (Thief/Monk)
Ringabel (Pirate/Performer)

These jobs all fit the characters in my opinion, except Agnès. To be fair, I am not satisfied at all with her jobs, even though Thief is godly. They just don't fit >_> Maybe I should change her to Summoner? Vampire? Conjurer?

So, what party would you suggest to tackle the infamous magic foursome?

Hm, not bad. I think with your current team, you could tackle them without too much trouble. I think Agnès has higher MAG and INT than the other four, but it is minimal at most so not to worry. However, switching her to Summoner, Conjurer or some other magic-based job may play more to her strengths, just that it's not so effective for that fight.

I guess you could always switch Tiz' jobs with Agnès' ones if you want.

Have you tried Pirate/Spell Fencer for Ringabel instead? Being able to use Free Lunch and then spam Amped Strike feels so good. Though it is a bit cheap using that combination of moves.

If I recall correctly, I used two Spiritmasters (probably Tiz and Agnès) with the other classes being Performer and Salve Maker, respectively. I think Ringabel and Edea were both Pirate/Spell Fencer. However, it seemed like a boring setup because of the lack of variety, but by the time I finally beat the foursome, it had been too many attempts and with way more luck factored in than actual strategy.

Having said all that, it shouldn't be as tricky on Normal so will be much more enjoyable, I'm sure.

Oh yeah, I remember reading that some people used the Salve Maker skill Compounding to craft

Spoiler

Giant's Draft

and used that alongside their setup for ultimate survivability or something. I never tried it though, so can't comment on its effectiveness.

Edit: Wow, forgot about Freelancer's

Spoiler

Mimic

. Great to pair up with jobs like Performer as the magicalkitsune said. His/her strategy is great!

 

[Dr. Buni]

Have you tried Pirate/Spell Fencer for Ringabel instead? Being able to use Free Lunch and then spam Amped Strike feels so good. Though it is a bit cheap using that combination of moves.

If I recall correctly, I used two Spiritmasters (probably Tiz and Agnès) with the other classes being Performer and Salve Maker, respectively. I think Ringabel and Edea were both Pirate/Spell Fencer. However, it seemed like a boring setup because of the lack of variety, but by the time I finally beat the foursome, it had been too many attempts and with way more luck factored in than actual strategy.

Having said all that, it shouldn't be as tricky on Normal so will be much more enjoyable, I'm sure.

Oh yeah, I remember reading that some people used the Salve Maker skill Compounding to craft

Spoiler

Giant's Draft

and used that alongside their setup for ultimate survivability or something. I never tried it though, so can't comment on its effectiveness.

Edit: Wow, forgot about Freelancer's

Spoiler

Mimic

. Great to pair up with jobs like Performer as the magicalkitsune said. His/her strategy is great!

That sounds like a neat strategy, but I really like Ringabel as a Performer, it fits him so much. Though I could make Agnès a Pirate/Spell Fencer even if that would make my party a little bit repetitive. Maybe I will if I have too much trouble with the magical foursome.

I am upgrading the Norende compound shop currently so I can buy the necessary materials for the cheap Salve-Maker item combinations! I think the good ones are Dragon Breath, Dark Breath, Giant's Draft and Shadowflare? I must say doubling the HP with Giant's Draft sounds kinda broken.

By the way, what are some good equips to boost my the party's speed, assuming there are equips for that purpose? I need Tiz to be the slowest one so I can abuse Stillness, but he is actually the one to move first most of the time. I really don't want to level up Thief with Edea and Ringabel so I can give them the +speed passive ability. xD

Edit: As I updated the game today, I got the

Spoiler

Ba'al Dove

nemesis boss thingy. I tried fighting her (it?) and got wrecked soooooo fast. The visuals and music during that fight are amazing, tho.

 

[Etria]

That sounds like a neat strategy, but I really like Ringabel as a Performer, it fits him so much. Though I could make Agnès a Pirate/Spell Fencer even if that would make my party a little bit repetitive. Maybe I will if I have too much trouble with the magical foursome.

I am upgrading the Norende compound shop currently so I can buy the necessary materials for the cheap Salve-Maker item combinations! I think the good ones are Dragon Breath, Dark Breath, Giant's Draft and Shadowflare? I must say doubling the HP with Giant's Draft sounds kinda broken.

By the way, what are some good equips to boost my the party's speed, assuming there are equips for that purpose? I need Tiz to be the slowest one so I can abuse Stillness, but he is actually the one to move first most of the time. I really don't want to level up Thief with Edea and Ringabel so I can give them the +speed passive ability. xD

Edit: As I updated the game today, I got the

Spoiler

Ba'al Dove

nemesis boss thingy. I tried fighting her (it?) and got wrecked soooooo fast. The visuals and music during that fight are amazing, tho.

Haha, Ringabel does rock the Performer look very well.
Yeah, feel free not to have repetitive job combinations for everyone. It's just by the time I used that team setup, I had attempted the battle so many times that I just wanted to get over the hurdle and progress with Chapter 8.

Not sure about the best Salve Maker item combinations though. I never experimented with that aspect of Salve Maker. Wish I had since that seems to open up another dimension of strategy. Hopefully someone else can chip in for that.
Yeah, when I first read up on Giant's Draft, I vowed not to use it for my playthrough seeing as it would make battles so much easier.

For speed, it's not too hard levelling up everyone to get the passive speed boosts from equipping those Thief abilities. I mean, if you just want to grind for JP, then the best way is to

Spoiler

equip a Growth Egg, and then head to the grassy area to the west of Florem, increase the rate of encounters to max. The Rafflesia that pop up there yield a large amount of JP.

You can also increase speed by equipping Hermes Sandals (or Shoes, I can't remember) and other AGI-boosting equipment.
Note, a tip for the magic battle: (don't read if you don't want to know what happens during the fight)

Spoiler

you need to be careful that your Spiritmaster casting Enigma or Adaptation on the team members does not go before Qada casting Fire-Weak on everyone, because then next turn, you will probably have insufficient BP to recast Enigma before you get decimated by the others casting their Fire type magic.

I never fought that nemesis before I stopped playing, but sounds amazing nonetheless. The soundtrack and visuals are really good for the majority of the game, so it's not surprising.

 

[themagicalkitsune]

Glad you liked the setup Etria, it worked for pretty much every boss save the Nemeses.

For Salve-Maker, Giant's Draft is good but not useful if the enemy does more than 20,000 HP damage per turn (and some will). Dragon's Breath is nice for a quick and painless 9999 damage attack, but Dragon Fangs are pretty expensive. I usually went for the combos that added 50% PDEF and PATK.

To raise speed: other than casting Slowga on opponents and using Speed +10% / 20% / 30% from the Thief abilities, you can buy Hermes Sandals at the grandship or steal Hermes Shoes (i.e. buffed up Hermes Sandals) from Jackal. Also equip Falcon Knives or Fox Tails since I think they add +20 to AGI.

 

[GeekyDad]

Two yeas later, I finally caved and bought the game. All the End Layer hype finally got to me. And didn't wanna play that before this. Guess it's better I bought it now before it became even more expensive.

Oh, the backlog!

 

[Eusis]

Giving this a go again. Dropped it in Chapter 2, and I really appreciate all the little features that other RPGs, and games period, could stand to include.

In this case: an event viewer that can just play every scene you've had thus far, catching me back up with the story.