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Final Fantasy: Record Keeper |OT| The only ATB here is Active Time Battle.

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Red Mage

Member
You're thinking of the Soul Break fest. That gives a bunch of Major Growth Eggs if you know what we're doing.

Pejo was asking when the next FoG-type event is, and following JP timeline that's in 45-50 days. This is the one where people farmed 2 r5 Valefors, etc.

They're different events.

Ah, okay. BTW, my guy got used 48 times yesterday. o_O;

So, if I replace the FFVIII power wrist (20 ATK) with the Power belt (15) would that actually raise my guy's ATK on the IX event?
 

Balphon

Member
Ah, okay. BTW, my guy got used 48 times yesterday. o_O;

So, if I replace the FFVIII power wrist (20 ATK) with the Power belt (15) would that actually raise my guy's ATK on the IX event?

Yeah, with RS it'd be +22. You could even replace the SB item if he has it mastered and you have something better with RS.

Though I'm not sure it's something people pay enough attention to that you'd notice more summons.
 
Good job Falk! I am at 75 Black Orbs. I have:

R4 Thundaga
R4 Thundaga
R4 Blizzaga
R4 Blizzaga
R4 Firaga
R3 Firaga
R4 Comet
R3 Comet
R3 Biora

Good lord that is a crazy amount of orbs.

I'm sticking with one copy of the agas honed to four and if I can't master something between using an r4 aga and ara and r2 Aja, and r4 spellsword and r1-2 summon, then maybe I'll hone or craft what I have on hand, keeping a high supply of orbs just in case. That served me well with brynhilder even missing blizzaja so we'll see long term. I'm more tempted to hone up comet and biora to 5 and then hold the rest. I just don't like giving up ability slots for duplicated skills, More power to you for sticking this out both orb wise and the Gil expense!
 

LucaMac

Member
R4 Thundaga
R4 Thundaga
R4 Blizzaga
R4 Blizzaga
R4 Firaga
R3 Firaga
R4 Comet
R3 Comet
R3 Biora?

Wait a sec? What are ye honing double copies of the agas to R4 for? It's the same cost as R5 but why? Is there something upcoming they are needed for that I have missed? I've been using all those lv 3 black magic and spellblades to R5 with my Black Orbs, have I made a terrible mistake?

I have Comet, Blizzaga, Thundaga Strike, Firaga Strike, Curaga and Diara at R5. My other three stars are R4 awaiting more orbs. Am I better off leaving them at R4 and making duplicates for some reason?
 

Vorpal

Member
Am I better off leaving them at R4 and making duplicates for some reason?

I think the main reason for honing duplicates is so you can put them on two different mages and be able to cast (for example) Blizzaga against the Fire Giygas twice per round instead of once. Orb efficiency is another benefit. It's not going to be REQUIRED for anything, as far as I know, but it is a generally solid approach to honing abilities.

That being said, I get too much pleasure out of seeing abilities maxed out. I have to put something at R5 if I'm able to. And then I sort my abilities menu by rank and stare at an almost full page of grayed out abilities with "Max" in the bottom margin of each icon. It feels good. Real good. (I don't recommend it.)
 

Nohar

Member
I hate Tuesday... I treat this day as "mandatory orb farming day", and I find this quite boring, but I need those orbs (especially since we will be able to convert orbs later). And well, now that we need to create duplicate spells...

I also really want to pull more equipment already. I want the celebration now.
 

Falk

that puzzling face
The consensus is (right now at least) you're never going to really need more than 10-12 turns on the hard bosses. Any more and you might have squeaked through, but probably lost mastery due to actions plus damage taken from a long fight. This decreases the value of r5 spells, unless you're splurging them on trash (and even then there's BM RM2)

At the same time, if you have the rods to support it, magic is very, very clearly still superior to physical damage barring fights that promote Retaliate/Taunt or Retaliate/Advance (like Knight Path Tifa event). Two mages with r4 of a vulnerability element are hands down the best bang for the buck on both damage per action and sustained damage, often getting into the 9k range (as opposed to a r2 -aja that hits for 9999 4 times)

Hence, all that put together, along with the absurd honing costs to get to r5, we arrive at the current 'best practice' being having 2x r4 of each element. It's the most cost-effective, both in terms of orbs, and in terms of usefulness in a limited number of ability slots.

If you've been extremely lucky and pulling 5* swords left and right, then it's probably not as imperative to get two of each since spellstrikes generally work 'just as good' with the 9999 cap and our early ATK soft cap change, but with the caveat that you need to slot in Armor Breakdown into your lineup.

edit: To add to that, the hardest fights are single-battle, where you're ditching Mana Spring II for pure damage RMs like Attunement II, Devotion or Rod Mastery, again closing the gap between -aga and 9999-capped -aja spells on vulnerable bosses.
 

LucaMac

Member
Makes sense. A bit annoyed with myself now. I'll start working on the duplicates and only go to R5 with the others when I've got the duplicates to R4. Might leave Waterga though as thats easier to hone the ja of. Have R3 of that and almost R4 of Quake. Just a few G Dark Orbs to rob from the train when Black Orb day is over. Should I bother with R4 Quake?
 
I continue to hobble by with

Breaks at r2 (armor r3)
Agas at r2 (thundaga r3)
Aja at r1
Pound at r1
Curage at r5
Diara at r3
Quake r1
Comer r2

:X
 

LucaMac

Member
You're not too far off at all. Should be there tomorrow or the day after if you stick at them. For reference. Kimari was the end of the update before last and the new one is short.
 
The consensus is (right now at least) you're never going to really need more than 10-12 turns on the hard bosses. Any more and you might have squeaked through, but probably lost mastery due to actions plus damage taken from a long fight. This decreases the value of r5 spells, unless you're splurging them on trash (and even then there's BM RM2)

At the same time, if you have the rods to support it, magic is very, very clearly still superior to physical damage barring fights that promote Retaliate/Taunt or Retaliate/Advance (like Knight Path Tifa event). Two mages with r4 of a vulnerability element are hands down the best bang for the buck on both damage per action and sustained damage, often getting into the 9k range (as opposed to a r2 -aja that hits for 9999 4 times)

Hence, all that put together, along with the absurd honing costs to get to r5, we arrive at the current 'best practice' being having 2x r4 of each element. It's the most cost-effective, both in terms of orbs, and in terms of usefulness in a limited number of ability slots.

If you've been extremely lucky and pulling 5* swords left and right, then it's probably not as imperative to get two of each since spellstrikes generally work 'just as good' with the 9999 cap and our early ATK soft cap change, but with the caveat that you need to slot in Armor Breakdown into your lineup.

edit: To add to that, the hardest fights are single-battle, where you're ditching Mana Spring II for pure damage RMs like Attunement II, Devotion or Rod Mastery, again closing the gap between -aga and 9999-capped -aja spells on vulnerable bosses.

What battles did you feel it necessary to carry double honed agas for you to master? I may change my tune after golbez and I'm certainly hedging my orbs just in case, but I've had zero problems with r2 Ajas r4 agas and r4 aras and summons mastering any recent magic vulnerable bosses-and I only have one good rod and one good staff. And this was even before the addition of faith, which will make those ara spells even more useful and more comparable to the agas. lets not have newish players think the only solution to these bosses is through honing the agas in pairs, that notion is just as bad for new players as over reliance on retaliate.
 

Falk

that puzzling face
I wouldn't say it was "necessary for me to master" at this point, but had we not had the ATK soft cap change, Brynhildr would have pretty much "bring 3 mages with Ice spells and Shellga/Protectga/Sentinel Grimoire or die". The ATK curve change let Advance/Boost/Ret hit for 4.5k instead of ~3.5k, and far higher with Blazefire.

Prior to that, 2 mages unloading Thundaga into Blue Dragon made farming it for XP/Gil/summon orbs very painless and doable with pretty much no healer and virtually any RW (SG = 2 medals lost instead of 3)

edit: derp @ numbers, thinking of Drain Strike not Ret hits.
 

Vorpal

Member
lets not have newish players think the only solution to these bosses is through honing the agas in pairs, that notion is just as bad for new players as over reliance on retaliate.

True enough. It definitely isn't the case that duplicate -agas are the hard and fast rule for clearing content. At the same time, though, if new players are wondering about honing efficiency, it serves as a helpful reminder that:

a) duplicate -agas are a huge benefit for caster-heavy parties,
b) the orb cost for taking an ability from R4 to R5 is less bang for your buck than honing second R4.

E.g. Firaga R5 x1 = 110 Black Orbs, 165 Fire Orbs (Total)
Firaga R4 x2 = 120 Black Orbs, 180 Fire Orbs (Total)

Of course -aras and spellblades are sometimes an even better decision depending on favorite characters and obtained equipment, but yeah.

Here's a useful orb cost/hone spreadsheet.
 
I just love to go all out BLM and I build my setup to be as efficient as possible. I was semi lucky with rods but I have no 5* melee weapons outside of the free one and 2 daggers.

I have built around what I had but I would never call it necessary, there is many ways to play this game and fights requiring super BLM party or Retaliate as the only way to Master it are rare. However, with the arrival of ++, if you are not lucky with pulls and don't want to retaliate, there is not many options. Still, it's the hardest content so people should not stress with getting mastery week after week.

I just love that abilities are the key in this game and dailies / Greater Orb farming ar accessible to everyone.

About dailies... I know that RNG gonna RNG but damn... 63 Power Orbs for 35 Black Orbs in today's daily so far. Feels like I am trying to farm Lightning Orbs. It's not always this bad, but the game knows what I want and it plays with me every daily! Haha!
 

LucaMac

Member
Yea I understand it and probably will try an replicate it now, but so far I've had no problems with one honed aga and an R2 aja (wateraja at R3 for when theres no weakness)

I find I can give Vivi a weakness aga and a quake at lv 65 and his standard soulbreak gets them to aja level and another black mage can have the ajas to equal it...faith could change that dynamic a little I guess as it displaces Vivi at the cost of a ability slot if necessary. But all the ++ fights I'm generally bringing my level 65 guys anyway so at the moment I don't see it making a massive difference.

The tough fights generally mean lv 65 Cloud and Retalite and a break or spellblade if theres a weakness with Zantesuken or if I'm lucky a realm weapon. Level 65 Vivi with the agas that they are weak to (or R5 comet) and a R3 quake for trash. A second black mage with ajas (generally quistis at the moment to allow for a breakdown) lv 65 Garnet with the primary resistance (or Slowga) for that boss plus R5 Curaga (and that awesome little boost of a soulbreak for boosting Clouds retaliate). Plus a lv 65 Rydia With R2 Valefor (soon to be R3) and R3 summon of elemental weakness. (Ice whips shiva summon makes an additional difference I guess). Depending on the boss I'd sub in Wakka or Sazh for Black mage 2 for more mitigation or mental/armour breakdown. Retaliate always fills the gaps in my spells fairly flawlessly. I can't see there being much that this setup can't beat (though I haven't looked too far ahead). Bar the Ice Whip for Rydia its mostly using equipment that I received from events. Have the Blazefire for Lightning and she's still B team for me for the time being. They are my only two soul break weapons (no shared). Equipment wise I'm bang average if not slightly below.

For fights that aren't so tough I go B team (Level Broken Characters) or C team (Team in training up to 50) or a mix with roughly the same abilities and it's normally fine. If I hit a wall its normally a simple case of switching to an A team for that difficulty and higher. I beat this event so far with my B team apart from the Hill Gigas (which I'd have managed with the B's if Reddit hadn't lied and said he was weak to poison).

That said I can see the sense in double R4 hones and the simple value for orbs which I'm disgusted I didn't see before. It's not necessary at all but I imagine it makes things simpler over all, so I think I'll head towards that now until I reach a point where everything 3* is at least R4.

The biggest sense I can see in R5 however is the likes of Quistis, who can rock an R5 aga and a breakdown. 20 (22 for some WM) ability uses per character is of course overkill but 10 damaging and a few supports like breakdowns or boosts can make the fight more flexible and without the fear of running low. 8 probably would do the job most of the time, but hasted on some of the super bosses you might be glad of those extra two casts.

I'm clearly rationalising my orb (and billions of gil) spending but I'm currently regretting it less than I initially was once I saw the posts about double agas.

I'm still going to be a sheep and hone doubles now though.

TLDR: 2x R4 has benifits, so does 1x R5. 2x R4 is better value for orbs. 1x R5 sometimes allows more options with the right character layout.
 

Vorpal

Member
TLDR: 2x R4 has benifits, so does 1x R5. 2x R4 is better value for orbs. 1x R5 sometimes allows more options with the right character layout.

Yeah, for sure. In general I think there's a nice amount of flexibility with the abilities in this game, even with Retaliate/Mage Meta trends. Despite my napkin math on honing efficiency a few posts up, I don't have any -aga duplicates. My favorite characters are usually melee so I've gone all-in on melee abilities. My duplicates are:

Double Cut R5 x4
Pound R2 x2
Launch R5 x2
Bladeblitz x2 (R3/R1)
Fira/Thundara/Blizzara Strike x2 (R5, some R4)
Water/Aero Strike R2 x2

In terms of orb efficiency I'm a crazy person but I've been playing since week 1 and the only event I haven't been able to master was the Parade Float, so it's worked out. The recent Monk, Knight, and Bard abilities have made melee options even more interesting. You also have people like Falk who churn out summons like a goddamned Magitek factory.

I think a basic spread of abilities is crucial but there are some fun paths to take from there.
 
Christ, the Turks were annoying. Tried a few times to go the mitigation route using breakdowns, shellga/protectga, slowga and dark buster but lost too many medals from the fights being drawn out and getting poor RNG. Ended up ignoring slow/blind and went right for advance+retaliate after dropping shellga & protectga to kill them as fast as possible.

On the subject of r5 magic hones, I imagine one of the nice benefits of having the extra uses is being able to switch out BM/WHM RM2 for another RM like Devotion or something and still be able to use the occasional spell on trash mobs without worrying about not having enough for the boss.

Personally, I rarely ever use -aga's since the Lenna event. Ended up getting r3 Firaja and r2 Thundaja which are almost always on my black mage along with BM RM2.
 

Road

Member
There's only one rule I always follow regarding abilities: Don't bother with it if I don't really need it.

All my summons are r1, for instance, because I have never needed them to be more than that. That doesn't mean you should ignore farming orbs because if you do so, when times come and you need that ability, you won't have the orbs to hone it. My personal goal is to have at least 200 of each 2* and 3* orb (not including summon) just in case.

Yea I understand it and probably will try an replicate it now, but so far I've had no problems with one honed aga and an R2 aja (wateraja at R3 for when theres no weakness)

Since I don't have any 5* or 4* rods, I decided to go with ja spells instead of duplicating ga and I don't regret. It was a huge upgrade for fights both with elemental weakness and without.

I have:

r3 Firaja and Thundaja
r2 Waterja and Blizzaja
r4 Firaga, Thundaga, Waterga, Blizzaga and Biora
r1 Dark and Comet... (and a few of -ga we got from events)

With that, I can have two black mages hitting 9k+ on elemental weakness even with my shitty rods. Combined with a spellblader, that's been enough to clear every content (except for Parade Float...).

About dailies... I know that RNG gonna RNG but damn... 63 Power Orbs for 35 Black Orbs in today's daily so far. Feels like I am trying to farm Lightning Orbs. It's not always this bad, but the game knows what I want and it plays with me every daily! Haha!

You're not alone, so far: 46 Power and 29 Black. At least I've gotten 3 Greater Power and 2 Greater Black, which is by far my best day ever (and it's not even over yet).

Alright, fess up. Who lost to Zorn and Thorn? Take your public humiliation like a man! :D

Is such a thing even possible?
 

XJF

Member
FYI the mini boss rush on the penultimate Eiko event are all susceptible to death and break.

Yup. Fought these guys earlier. Had to save scum to get it to land, but it eventually did for all 3.

Is there any reason to keep 1* base abilities (cure, fire, etc...)?
 

firehawk12

Subete no aware
What's the best way to master the Beatrix fight without having to bring Steiner? I can't seem to kill her fast enough to be able to still have enough medals even after the losing the three from not having him.

I suppose it's just a matter of DPS? Get advance RW, use retaliate, and put double cut on everyone and hope you kill her fast enough?
 

Falk

that puzzling face
You also have people like Falk who churn out summons like a goddamned Magitek factory.

Truth be told if we weren't aware of a very detailed breakdown of the next few months of timeline due to JP service (e.g. what abilities will be craftable, etc) I wouldn't blow summon, 4* and 4* summon orbs on honing stuff, but we do, and there's no better use for them short to medium term.

By the time we e.g. actually might need major wind orbs en-masse, they'll probably be farmable in some form anyway.
 

eastx

Member
Truth be told if we weren't aware of a very detailed breakdown of the next few months of timeline due to JP service (e.g. what abilities will be craftable, etc) I wouldn't blow summon, 4* and 4* summon orbs on honing stuff, but we do, and there's no better use for them short to medium term.

By the time we e.g. actually might need major wind orbs en-masse, they'll probably be farmable in some form anyway.

Is there some kind of one-stop list of the next events and what abilities we'll need for them? If that info is out there but not all in one place, somebody should collect and share it. I never know if honing the ability I want is a mistake or not, and I don't have the time and energy to check a bunch of different information sources.
 

Nohar

Member
I took a look at Eiko's Boss rush... Well, that is definitly the easiest boss rush they released so far. Just bring Carbuncle, Summoner Spring II, and you can breeze through the 3 first battles. The last one? Zorn & Thorn, which is almost impossible to lose (it seems that Runic Blade even works against them). Really, free rewards.

Beatrix, who we will fight thrice, is something else entirely, but doesn't seem too hard either: all of her attacks (including Thunder Slash, though we may need to check this) are physical, so you only need to focus on DEF mitigation (ie. Power Break(down), Protectga, high-DEF equipment). And she can be slowed. It seems she will be very easy to beat with the Advancetaliate strategy (though her third fight may be a tad difficult, depending on how much damage one can deal before she uses Stock Break).

Oh well, my Sephiroth equipped with 4*+ Gladius (FFIX) should make short work of her with Advancetaliate. I can even equip him with the Self sacrifice materia. Add Armor Break(down) and/or Boost, Double Cut, and Beatrix should die very quickly.

Rinoa's event, on the other hand, is going to be a tad more difficult...
 

Falk

that puzzling face
Can confirm that it's all physical. In fact it's almost identical to the painting battles except she counters damage sometimes, which along with the ATK soft cap change actually swings it in favor of retaliate strategies compared to JP.

I'm still going to just beat her face in with the exact same setup that I used on the paintings though.

edit: Aren't the trio of goobers in Rinoa event sleep-able?
 
Well, that was absurd. All of my death and stone abilities failed in the first stage of the miniboss dungeon. Without any sort of offense remaining, I cleared and mastered it with Zantetsuken anyway.
 

Razmos

Member
edit: Aren't the trio of goobers in Rinoa event sleep-able?
Yeah, and one of the relics in the banner is the Sheepskin Coat which has a a soul break that puts all enemies to sleep.

Put them all to the sleep and ruin their day with magic, fun!
 

Nohar

Member
Seifer, Fujin and Raijin will be sleep-able, yes. It seems a 5* armor grants a Shared SB AoE-Sleep, making it very interesting if one is nice enough to set it as their RW.

Aside from that, they are all weak to Bio and Slow IIRC. So it will be a matter of killing them very quickly before they deal enough damage to make you lose mastery (we can lose only 2 medals for that fight).

Perfect fight to use magic AoE, so an honed Valefor becomes quite valuable here. Quake (+ Faith) is also an interesting option. After you used up your big AoE charges, casting Biora over and over should be enough to kill them relatively quickly (assuming one brings two R4 Biora). And we also have Diaga (only problem is that honing it costs GHOrbs, and we will need those if we want to hone Ruinga).

Also depends on your mage gear. I have one 5* rod, so it helps. Doesn't mean it will be enough though. I'll see.
 

Falk

that puzzling face
So I'm using today to farm Greater Dark Orbs off Phantom Train using Sabin alone just for more XP

1st excursion: GDO drops on first attempt
2nd excursion: GDO drops on first attempt
3rd excursion: Wasn't paying attention and let Sabin get petrified. OOPS
 

Azusa

Member
Are you still using retaliate in every fight?

After I got some nice 5* and honed useful abilities retaliate seems like a waste. Sometimes its useful when my healer have nothing to do or when the boss requires a retaliate strategy to kill him.
 

Nohar

Member
Are you still using retaliate in every fight?

After I got some nice 5* and honed useful abilities retaliate seems like a waste. Sometimes its useful when my healer have nothing to do or when the boss requires a retaliate strategy to kill him.

Only for hard bosses, when Advancetaliate is a very interesting option (like with Anima who counters every attack otherwise, and later Beatrix).
 

MicH

Member
I... should have egged Steiner up more. Two attacks from the mobs leading to the Zorn and Thorn Elite gets him killed
 

Red Mage

Member
I think that when the Rinoa ++ battles are released, I'll switch my RW out to Edgar. I've got a Blitz Sword and the VIII Hyper Wrist, so his Bio-based Soul Break will wreck the three stooges.
 
You know one little thing I appreciate about the Eiko event is that the last few elite stages cost less stamina than usual. Of course that is a counterbalance to the fact there are three EX+ stages. It is also a calm before the storm (a bit like how Aerith was outside of that bloody Turk fight).

Oh yeah dungeon update 8 is apparently hitting tomorrow which for going through on classic I think brings with it 12 stamina shards which is nice (as far as backlog goes I've still got elites uncleared as far back as dungeon update 5, with a level 60 Cyan and shellga I should probably give the storm dragon a visit some day).
 

Meier

Member
Finally saved up 50 mythril again and got 9 3*, 1 4* (an FFXII sword..great) and some lame ass 5* shield that only has defensive stats and nothing else. Pieces of shit.
 

Razmos

Member
I finally created and honed Comet because of you guys, I'm surprised I didn't do so before.


What is the general strategy for the Aerith boss rush?
 
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