Just finished FFV Advanced

RPGC Community The FFCompendium Forum
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The regular game, not the post-game section, I mean. I thought I’d give my opinion here and ask a few questions as well.

For the most part, it was just like the Playstation version I’d played before (several times- it’s easily my all-time favorite FF, at least in the playing style sense) though I did like the new translation- nothing extraordinary, but it felt more clear about several things. The new face images were not much to my liking- call me crazy, but I found the sprites themselves more expressive (maybe if everybody had MORE than one face graphic for all sequences, humph.) Still, it was nice to see folks like King Tycoon or Gilgamesh up close.

The new Jobs were a lot of fun, though you only get them in the final leg of the game. Their abilities were not the best, but it was a challenge, for example, finding ways to use the Oracle’s Predict ability. I still don’t have the Necromancer Job, of course; you get that one from the last Boss of the optional dungeon. Which means it’ll good only for use in the Boss Gauntlet, bah.

Every time I play this game, I use a different Job combination for the PCs. This time I decided to assign the Jobs as I got them, rather than choose beforehand who got what, and thus surprise myself. I ended up with:

Lenna: White Mage, Knight, Summoner, Geomancer, Dancer, Oracle
Galuf/Krile: Black Mage, Monk, Red Mage, Ranger, Dragoon,Gladiator
Faris: Thief, Time Mage, Ninja, Bard, Chemist, Cannoneer
Bartz: Blue Mage, Mystic Knight, Beastmaster, Samurai, Berserker, Mime

This time I reached the end without having mastered all the Jobs. This was because of another rule I imposed this time: I equipped secondary abilities as the characters learned them, instead of just sticking to the best ones. So, for example, once Lenna mastered White Mage she no longer had White Magic to use. Yeah, not the smartest way to play, but remember, I’ve played this game three times before, I wanted a new challenge and the new Jobs took too long to appear. Another effect of this rule was that, when I mastered Oracle, I equipped its last ability, “Read Ahead”- which reduces random encounters to a minimum. This happened midway thru the Dimensional Rift, meaning that I had almost no random encounters afterwards- just the Bosses! And no, I didn’t get enough AP from them to Master the rest of the Jobs in time. Oh well, it was a fun challenge… I learned to depend more on equipment, as well; for example, I had no idea that the Sage Staff could cast Raise- that was very helpful in the final battle!
:mwahaha:

Of course, I now plan to explore the Secret Dungeon and finish mastering the Jobs there. BTW: is the Gil Cave gone? I was going to tackle it first (I have no Gil left, I threw it all away on Neo-X-death) but I can’t find it.

How about the new dungeon- are all the Bosses there required or optional? Are there saving points (God, I hope so, I’m sick of optional dungeons with no S.P.s ) How about warps back to the outside? Is the treasure in it worth it? Any help is appreciated. :slight_smile:

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Originally Posted by Wilfredo Martinez
BTW: is the Gil Cave gone? I was going to tackle it first (I have no Gil left, I threw it all away on Neo-X-death) but I can’t find it.

Yeah. It’s gone. Went the way of Waltz’s Castle, The Fire Ship, and Bartz’s hometown among other things.

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If you want to get money, wil, make use of a small “bug” in the game, where if you quicksave then load, you’ll fight certain enemies on each map floor. The most notable is the one where if you quicksave on the final map floor before X-Death, the second - not first - fight you encounter are Movers, who drop about… I believe it was 199,999 GP, combined?

About the dungeon: Most of the bosses in there are required to beat it, yes. The only oens that are optional are Omega Mark 2, and Neo Shinryu, which I didn’t bother with. There are several save spots inside the dungeon, although they’re a bit few and far between. Anyway, the treasures inside are very, very nice. I have a lot of them equipped every chance I get.

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If you ask me, FFVA is the best of the FF Advance series. They really did WONDERS with the script. Holy crap, the cast has personalities. What a concept!

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I suppose that’s largely because of the quality of the original translation (that is, it’s not particularly better than FF4A or FF6A, it’s just that the FF5PSX translation is lackluster enough that the new one seems vunderbar by comparison).

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Thanks for the advice, guys. However I found out that you can go back to the Dimensional Rift(!) and even battle EX-Death all over again (!!) and I decided to do it first, since (as noted above) I missed on fighting many of the monsters there (like the Movers) because I had Read Ahead active during half of the stretch. However, I decided to leave a rematch with NeoExDeath for later- maybe after I fight Ennuo.

Anyway I completed the area, and now I have more $$$ and mastered another Job (Dancer). Now I’m going to tackle the Sealed Temple, though I plan to take my sweet time, teleporting outside (via the Warps- the teleport spell doesn’t work there) regularly to rest and refuel. The monsters there are though so I’d better be careful.

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…And I’ve hit my first roadblock in the Sealed Temple. -_- That Grand Aevis Boss is kicking my ass. God, I hate cheap Bosses, and this one comes marked “99 cents.” Absorbs elements, zombie breath (worst effect EVER) two attacks per round, an instant death attack and two constantly- respawning henchmonsters that heal it. Sheesh!! Anybody got a strategy to beat this thing?

(My characters are around level 45. I tried grinding in the temple, but it’s too damn slow. I went back to the Void Zone and started killing Movers there to finish mastering all the jobs I’m missing, hoping that will help.)

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Actually, Wil… I had one very risky strategy for that fight.

I cast reflect on Grand Aevis. I am not sure of my character’s levels, but Death didn’t affect them much.

Just use physical attacks, and try to time it right for the recast

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You bothered with Blue Magic, Wil? Because I find that the combination of Mighty Guard and White Wind is an essential ally in any boss fight.

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PC: You mean Reflect will work on its magic (and the elemental’s?) The Zombie effect is what really screws me up, I have only one Angel Ring to protect against it. I do have a Ribbon, not sure if that’s any good; how about the Bone Mail, would it help?

Val: Yes, I have both spells. Can I use them on the team if cast reflect, though?

My other big problem is the Elementals, because they keep healing Aevis, and each other. Is there some way of getting rid of them? Or at least incapacitate them? Control didn’t seem to work. Stop maybe?

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Reflect worked on Death, but the problem and risk is the fact it works on all the other spells too.

At least he won’t regenerate himself.

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White Wind and Mighty Guard, as I recall, work through anything. After all, if White Wind can heal even the characrter wearing the Bone mail, what’s a little reflect? Plus, Dispel cancels it.

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I also like the fact that they provide clear explainations to behind Exdeath and Enuo, no to mention Gilgamesh’s “Morph’N Time” pun.

Wilfredo Martinez: OT, can you clear you inbox?

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My inbox is clear now, sorry about that. :stuck_out_tongue:

Oh, and I beat Grand Aevis, thanks to all for their tips. But man, the roaming monsters in the next area are very though too! I may have to leave the Boss-fighting abilities enabled all the time from now on (instead of things like Mug.)

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I usually had Summon, Blue, Mimic, White, Black, and Zeninage equipped to everyone, in some order. Works wonders. Not to mention th Read Ahead ability, to cut down on encounters.

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Wilfredo Martinez: OT, still not clear.

Any way, how’s the Necromancer job?

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He’s not that far yet fractyl2. I believe he has to beat Eunno first.

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Fract: Whoops, downloaded all the messages but forgot to erase the originals. My memory is shot these days, I tell ya. :stuck_out_tongue: Anyway, NOW you can PM me.

And yeah, I’m still far from Ennuo. But I’ll get there, trust me, and I’ll let you all know what I think about the Necromancer job.

VE: I considered using Read Ahead, but I worry that if I don’t fight enough monsters I won’t be leveled up sufficiently for the next Boss. Then again, perhaps gathering all the gear in the temple first would be more helpful. What do you people think?

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Gear first, ALWAYS. And Wil, Read Ahead doesn’t really make the encounter rate drop to nothing. here, it merely drops the encoutner rate to a MANAGEABLE level. Seriously, if you don;t use it, you’ll spend too much time fighting, not enough time getting your bearings. best to keep it on, except for when you want it off, rather than to keep it off except for when you want it on, you know?

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OK, using Read Ahead, I managed to finish picking all the treasure in the Sealed Temple. All that is left is… fighting the Bosses. So, what I’d like to know now is, which order should I tackle them in? Should I do Guardian, Ennuo, and the Gauntlet first, then taken on Omega Mark II and Neo-Shinryu? (I haven’t even beaten the regular versions yet!) Can anyone tell me the comparative difficulty? Strategy tips are welcome, too!

Oh, and VE: remember that you asked me the other day if I ever took on Bosses without reading the guide first? Well, I did with Archeodaemon- and I won!! OK, I only did it because I was away from my PC at the time and couldn’t check Gamefaqs, but I also wanted to see if I could still figure a strategy on my own. Then again, this Boss in particular is *very * easy if you cast Mute, as it cancels all but two of its attacks! Sure, it also prevents the party from using their magic, EXCEPT, as I found out, Blue Magic! I basically just wailed on it while healing the group with White Wind. Took forever to kill, but then it wasted most of its turns trying to cast spells, which, after all the hassle Grand Aevis gave me, was VERY satisfactory. :wink: