Part 20: The Amazing Transforming Zoid

Bonus Update: The Amazing Transforming Zoid

As I mentioned before, Zoid underwent a great many changes that I didn't show in the final update in order to save on space. It's been mentioned that most of the highest level monsters have a set of resistances that might not show due to screen limitations. I'm going to forego from mentioning them unless it's important, but assume that all of the highest level monsters have several resistances and no weaknesses.



As far as this change goes, I think a Great-D is an improvement over a King Crab any day of the weak. The dragon class of monsters is one of the strongest in FFL2, and as you can see it has group attacks in several elements to give some heavy firepower as well as being strong against Fire and Quake.



Sunflowers are rather less impressive. Thorn is just weak, and poison and sleepgas aren't really offensive. Flame is a small bonus, but it isn't enough to really salvage this one.



Much to my surprise, the Cicada is actually a fairly strong monster. Absorb is a nasty attack that has the benefit of restoring Zoid's HP, and Thunder is pretty useful as well. I haven't done anything with Madsong or CursSong, but they're probably at least somewhat useful.



I'm rather curious as to what an F-Spider is, perhaps a Flame Spider. The strongest points on this one are probably the Gas and Flame attacks. It's important to note that Gas counts as Poison, so anything strong against poison, damage, or change is immune to it.



Da na da na nah, Iron man lives again...what can you say about this monster? He's actually one of the best at this level. Several group attacks including the super strong quake, and a ODamage and OChange means he's nearly indestructible. If I couldn't get a raise to a higher level, I'd seriously keep this one.

Zoid has ascended to the final level of monsters at this point



Missed the transformation, but the Great Old One of the Sea impresses with Whirl and Thunder, as well as the handy W-Pincer. Not the greatest, and as I recall he doesn't have any notable resistances.



Mazin is the updated form of IronMan, and he's awesome. He's got great resistances and passives, Beam is wonderful for bypassing strong defenses, and Tornado is a powerful group attack. One of the best offensive choices.



Susano-O is another returnee from FFL, and he's pretty useful with a couple of good elementals and Tornado. He's also got a passive recovery of HP, and O Damage, making him kind of hard to take down.



Behemoth is one of the more lackluster members of the monster hierarchy. He's hampered by only having physical attacks other than Quake and no really good standout abilities. Then again, what do you expect from a bruiser like Behemoth?



Su-Zaku has a goofy sprite and to be honest kind of sucks. He's got lousy HP, only Tornado as a great attack. He's got at least some good passives, but I wouldn't use him.



Earth is... not terribly impressive. StonGas is blocked by most enemy's defensives, and OQuake is depressingly common. Sand is a waste of a slot. Anything I could be de-buffing I could also be killing.



I'm sure most of you are familiar with the legend of Arachne, who offended a goddess of beauty and was cursed with being transformed into a spider. A particularly crappy spider, with way too many status attacks to be useful at this point. Pass.



FengLung is kind of a middle rank monster. Lightning is an interesting attack that does damage and can paralyze, while Tornado is always nice. Good strong resistances, but otherwise unremarkable. I believe that in Chinese mythology a Feng Lung is a type of wind dragon. Explaining some of these abilities.



You all might recognize this as the point at which I stopped in the main game. Lich was a pretty good choice for the final boss with his Flare, strong mana, and elemental attacks. His resistances are pretty terrible, only being against Ice, Weapons, and Paralyze/Poison. Still a powerful monsters, but he was just what I ended up with.



It's...a toadstool. And it sucks. Look at all of those weak attacks and terrible status effects. It's only passives are Recover and OPara. There is NO redeeming feature of this monster. I don't know what they were thinking with this thing.

Just as a note, at this point I'd started farming for different types for this update. The methodology was fairly simple, since I didn't have to worry about going back a level. Each "family" of monsters has an A, B, and C type monster, and there are twelve families. All you have to do is start out with a type and find a monster whose meat will move you up exactly one family. Lizards, Rhinos, and Dragons (of all types) are excellent choices for A, B, and C monsters respectively.



I know some of you were eager to see this guy, so here he is. The SlimeGod is actually a surprisingly good monster. Dissolve is a strong attack against almost everything, and P-Blast can hit an entire field of enemies with strong damage. Gas is okay, and Surprise is a very good passive. He's only strong against Weapons and Quake, but he's still pretty decent.



I had to go back to Arachne to move forward into the next type of monsters here, the B Type. Ink and Tie up aren't anything to write home about, but 8 Legs is one of the strongest attacks in the game. As the name implies it can hit up to 8 time and can do several thousand points worth of damage on some targets. He's also got Whirl to hit everything, but his only passive is OFire.



KingToad is nothing to write home about, sadly. The Tongue and Tie-Up are practically useless, and kick and gas aren't terribly useful. Completely unremarkable.



Basilisk is more of a gimmick monster than anything else. He's got a lot of status effects, a decent amount of HP, and OChange. Other than that, there's no real point in using him.



Remember this guy? He's not bad, with appropriately themed skills and fair stats. He's also absurdly hard to kill, with HP regeneration and ODamage.



Mantis isn't much to take home. Drain is probably his best thing ability, although 2 Swords is fairly useful. He's got some of the worst resistances of any monster, with OPoison and OQuake.



Leviathan has a lot of physical attacks, half of which are fairly weak, and some fairly crappy resistances. Not a good treatment for a biblical monster.



Jorgandr, who we've seen around before (especially in the end of FFL) hasn't changed very much. OChange and OQuake along with Recover are a pretty solid set of defenses, but his stats and attacks are mediocre.



A revision to an earlier monster means another type change. Unicorn is a good support type, with Cure and Heal. Horn and Kick are decent enough physical attacks as well. It's a bit gory to think about a Unicorn using its horn to attack someone.



Anubis has changed a bit since we saw him in FFL and not necessarily for the better. He's got NO resistances, and only the fact that he has Cure, Heal, and a couple of decent spells makes him at all useable.



The Prince of Demons has improved, however. Flare and Cure are very nice in combination, and he's also got ODamage to make him more durable.



The Revenant has probably the most HP out of any available monster, but the weak attacks and status effects are a downer. Touch is handy, but his resistance are only Ice and Pa/Po. Another one that has suffered in being transferred to this game.



DarkRose is, quite simply, a joke. Looking at him 4 out of his 6 attacks are status, and thorn is just as useless as one would expect. Absorb is his only good offensive move. Not only that, his only resistane is Pa/Po.



It's a sad day when GigaWorm is better than DarkRose, but it's true. Fire and Tornado alone are better attacks, and he's at least got OFire and OQuake.



Cure really makes the Scarab, and Gas is at least a passable ability. Good physicals with this one, although without the strength to back them up. Nothing really great.



Gen-Bu is a physical tank this time around, with great defense and the ability to hide in a shell. Gas is fairly handy, and I never say no to Cure. Puzzlingly enough he's resistant to Poison and Para separately as opposed to Pa/Po.



Another returnee from FFL. Sei-Ryu is nice with Lightning, Gas, and Whirl. O-Damage as well. He's probably the best of the four, which isn't terribly shocking since he's technically a dragon type. This is another strong choice, even if not much good for support.



The Goddess of Victory is another decent choice, with Thunder and Tornado for offense. This is kind of spoiled by Nike's low HP, those status abilities, and only being resistant to Quake.



Great strength and physicals, thunder, cure, and tornado. Recover and ODamage also add to the package, making Kirin one of the most solid high level monsters. I don't think there's anything other than teleport that's useless on this monster.



Some people hold that Lilith was Adam's first wife, and a famous demoness. 6 Arms is a lot like the 8 Legs from Kraken, and she's also got some good spells. She's also got Quake and O-Damage, making her pretty durable.



There sleeps Titania sometime of the night... one of the best monsters available, Titania has every elemental, flare, and cure to recommend her. She's also got incredible Mana to power those spells. Unfortunately, she has no real resistances to speak of, but with that offense, who cares?



Patrick Swayze is probably not rolling in his grave over this one. High Agility and high mana are a good combination, along with cure, touch, and drain. It also has OWeapon, OChange, and OQuake. Pretty destructive against single targets.



Treant is an interesting monster, with some rather unique abilities. The Life potion can be used to bring back a character mid-battle, and regenerates when you rest at the inn. It's also got Heal to fix status effects, and Warning and O-Change. It's probably more situationally useful than anything.



One of the three Imperial Treasures of Japan, the Kusanagi is a surprisingly powerful monster. I've mentioned before that Absorb is handy, and W-Attack can hit twice for extra damage. Critical is the real stand out here, since it does critical damage to any target regardless of type. It might also be able to cause instant kills. In addition, it's strong to everything, making this a great damage dealing monster as well as a tank.



Finally we come to Madame Butterly, who's got good attack in absorb, a few status effects (with stunner being the best) and the ability to heal. No real resistances other than the usual OQuake, however, and no passives besides Warning put this one very firmly in the "meh" pile.

With that, we now have a summary of all of Zoid's final forms.

Next time: We begin to crack this thing open.