So I’m taking on Zeromus, but he keeps schooling me with that Big Bang move. The problem is that Cure 4 doesn’t resore enough life before he hits me with it again. I stole a DkMatter from him before I used the crystal, but I don’t know what it does.
Kain and Cecil are around lv 63. Edge and Rydia are about lv 60.
Am I missing something? What is the DkMatter for?
You actually bothered to steal? Ok…
Well, anyway. If you’re getting a DkMatter, then you must be playing the original FFIV, not the american release, right? He is a lot tougher in that version.
Well, there’s several things you can do. You can go for the Adamantite Armor, which will tilt the balance ubelievably in your favour, or you can keep trying. Honestly when I fought Zeromus in that version of the game I had most of my characters at level 99 and I still had trouble. My advice is to risk summoning Ashura when you’re low on life and hope for the best. With luck she’ll cast Cure2 or Shell/Protect on you and you’ll be fine.
Chances are you’re playing an emulator, so if you have no qualms with “cheating,” you could save state before you cast it and load it if it doesn’t do what you want.
Really having everyone protected by Shell and Protect is one of the best things you can do. Try and keep those spells on your characters, even if he casts Black Hole a lot (nullifies it). Look at it this way. Every time he casts Black Hole, he could have cast Big Bang. 
I’m playing FF Chronicles on PSone. So it is FF4 Hard Type.
You got your guys on lv 99 and he was still hard? Damn.
So does the DkMatter actually do anything? I thought I could throw it at him, but no luck.
This Adamantite Armor you speak of… where can I find it?
Ah I see. How’s that one like? I’ve never played the PS version. Is it much different from the ROM or the SNES version?
You got your guys on lv 99 and he was still hard? Damn.
It’s quite possible he gets stronger as you do, but I doubt it. Anyway I had trouble only because I followed no strategy when I was fighting. Just bash and heal, bash and heal. If you summon Ashura a lot, you should get the most out of her healing and protection spells, and hopefully she won’t screw you over when you need help.
So does the DkMatter actually do anything? I thought I could throw it at him, but no luck.
It does, but nothing useful. Don’t bother with it.
This Adamantite Armor you speak of… where can I find it?
There’s a room in the Lunar Subterranean B5 where there’s a single chest containing a Cabin (IIRC), fight there until you find a group of enemies that resemble Zeromus before you use the crystal on him. Beat them, and hope you get a Pink Tail from it. Then take it to the Adamantite mine and give it to the miner. He’ll give you more adamantite, which you take to the smith in the underworld and he’ll make it for you.
It takes a long, long time, usually, but considering it ruins all attempts to deal damage to the wearer, reducing all damage to 2 or 3 points, wouldn’t you say it’s worth it?
I never played the rom version or the SNES version. I know a few differences from the SNES version though. Some of the items are different. Names differ slightly. Some chests hold different items. But most of all, it is the enemy’s difficulty. It is rediculous. The last dungeon is basically all boss monsters.
I never really tried using Ashura. I’ll have to give that a shot.
Those Pink Puff things? I fought those a couple times in that room, but could never get the pink tail. I used all the Alerts that I had in my inventory. They call those pink thinkgs right away. But once I ran out of those, I could never get into a battle with them again.
So, like, Phases(EvilMasks), Red Dragons, Behemoths and the like? Nothing new. I know they do change the music for battles, though. Another place to level is against ZemusBreaths. They do nothing but cast Libra over and over, so you can slay them easily without even needing magic.
Those Pink Puff things? I fought those a couple times in that room, but could never get the pink tail. I used all the Alerts that I had in my inventory. They call those pink thinkgs right away. But once I ran out of those, I could never get into a battle with them again.
Yeah, those. The probability of fighting them is really low, like, 1/168 or something, I forget the exact statistic. Anyway, it likely means hours and hours of playing just for one piece of armor.
Look at it this way, at least you can level up somewhat while you’re doing it. 
I think the only thing I can really do is just level up more, which is tedious. I’d like to just finish this game already. It is losing its appeal.
Is there any place I can buy Alerts?
Not that I know of. But yeah, if Protect/Shell didn’t help, then levelling up is the only way I can think of.
Remember he has around 60000 hp but gets healed completely once. So you can expect to deal around 110000 damage to him before he dies.
The DkMatter doesn’t do anything but stealing it from him does something… prevents him from using one particular spell or something, I don’t remember.
I’m not sure if it works like this in FF4, but in the American release certain attacks seemed to trigger Big Bang. It may have been Meteo, Holy and throwing something.
I thought the dark matter was supposed to decrease the effects of Big Bang?
Well, if you are playing the american version, the gunslinger(?) code for the game genie is great for collecting those rare or non-existant items, since alot of the spells and items are different between the two versions.
It seemed to be all about personal luck whenever I’ve fought him. >>; But my strategy basically goes like this:
Cecil - fight, revive if absolutely necessary
Kain - jump. What else is he good for?
Rosa - Cure 4 (even if everyone is at max HP, you never know when Zeromus might pull another Big Bang), and Haste if I can fit it in at the beginning, Life 2 when necessary
Rydia - Bahamut. I prefer not to use Ashura if it’s an emergency because she’s just too random, but if I can afford it and I need the extra healing, maybe
Edge - throw whatever he can, strongest stuff first. A stash of Excaliburs works nicely, but I don’t know if that version has the duplication thing.
I might also use items to Haste everyone at the beginning if I can. Can’t remember what levels I had exactly either, somewhere in the 70’s I’d guess. Rydia had every Black Magic spell except Meteo.
I don’t want to use any codes, or the dupe trick.
Is it just me, or is haste useless in this game? It seems like no matter how many times I use it, it doesn’t seem to make anyone go any quicker.
I wish I could trade Kain back in for FuSoYa.
Wow. Could you imagine having FoSoYa at the last parts of the game? He would kill anything that moved. Kain sucks, anyways.
I’m pretty sure Haste does at least SOME good, I’ve been able to notice when I just use it on one character that they get a lot more turns.
The american version has the Fast spell, instead of Haste. In my opinion, it basicaly increases your agility by one point, and is useless.
I’m not playing the American version.
But is it the same spell, with a different name?
Does Haste increase your agility or your speed?
I guess it would be your speed, or whatever stat determines the order of turns in battle. Haste spells in the later games are much better than the earlier ones.
I guess it is the same spell, but it is basicaly useless.
Okay,you are just fighting my favorite last boss ever,so listen up
1.Dark matter stops the poison after effects of Big Bang(It’s not really poison it just keeps draining your energy even if you don’t do anything for some time)
2.The problem with figthing Zeromus is that he is a counter attack type beast,the more you attack him the less time you have in curing yourself,so if you need to heal STOP attacking,he will atack less often then.
3.Heal even if you don’t need it(with the spell of course)chances are he will attack you before the healing.
4.Don’t bother using the spell Meteo on him takes to long keep using Bahamut
5.Throw the most powerful weapons you have,you won’t need them anymore.
6.enjoy the battle music.
Forget Bahamut. Use Nuke/Flare. It’s always worked better for me, and he seems to react to Bahamut with Big Bang, so…
Also, FuSoYa sucks. The only good thing about him is that he knows every spell in the game. Otherwise he’s a slightly more powerful Tella.