Part 39: Bartz vs. Leviathan

Reina and Bartz will be mastering their jobs soon enough.





First, I put in a lot of time to get this one fucking Blue Mage spell I'll never use because it's so damn random. On the bright side, I'm only missing one Blue Mage spell now.



On the way back, I learn the useless Revive, which a Chemist can use to...revive someone. You know, the same thing a fucking Phoenix Down can do. Also anticlimatic after I just picked up Phoenix, which revives the entire party.

Chemist is mastered, so Bartz is on to master Summoner.







Anyway, we need the submarine to access Easterly Falls. A short cave trip later, and...





Well, first thing's first.





"Behind the place where the water falls...protected by the water" lies the fourth lithograph.





This dungeon is a bit gimmicky as well. The first room has waterfalls you can fall down from, which you need to get a couple of useless treasures.



These guys are sturdy, but not much else to talk about. On the other hand, most of these encounters give around 6AP, which is nice.



Nice enough that one battle nets Reina L6 Sword Magic. Sorcerer's mastered now, so all she has left is Knight.



Now to put all those Knight swords to good use!



She's also now pulling her weight with the other ladies. Meanwhile, Ramuh with Magus Rod deals 2000 damage to these guys, and dual-casting it will annihilate all encounters.



MercuryBats are weak as hell, like less than a thousand HP weak.



There's a couple paths here. Both paths lead you to the same place, though.



You hit the switch to disable the water, then run to the chest before the water reactivates. It's easy when you have a dash button and Thief doubles your move speed.



This...thing interrupts me. Alright, then.



A third Protect Ring is much appreciated. Now everyone but Reina's set with Regen.



Corral. Yep.



The Rune Edge will deal critical hits in exchange for taking MP. Nice for Reina who has no use for MP outside Sword Magic, but she has better weapons to use.



Fall Guards are also around, countering with the Old-inflicting Air Fist.





Another Wall Ring. I think I have enough for the entire party now, though I also have Carbuncle, so.



Artemis is the most powerful bow, and in fact is stronger than any weapon I have. It requires two hands, though, and I like dual-wielding/holding Aegis Shields.





Yet another axe, though one kinda outdone by all the other axes available.







Fall through the hole, and you get to the last lithograph. I accidentally missed a couple treasures, but I'll go back for those in a bit.



Anyway, that's that.





Also, another monster.









However, Leviathan has something to say about this.





Gotta love how they throw a monster at you, only for it to just flat-out die to something like Leviathan.



So we'll just fight Leviathan instead.





Leviathan isn't really that difficult even if you don't really know the game's mechanics.





Bolt will rip through him, for starters. As does Meteo, Hydra, and Reina's physicals.





...Yeah. This would be scarier without Shell, I'm sure. Still, this is how overpowered my team is.





So we also get our final summon. A shame the Magus Rod doesn't enhance Water damage as well, or Leviathan might actually be useful!



This takes us back to the overworld. But first, let's pick up a couple treasures.





A second Aegis Shield is pretty nice, and the Enchanter boosts magic as well as being a strong sword, though not as strong as the rest of my armory.



Anyway, that's everything we could possibly do before the final dungeon. I decide to take the time to get Reina and Bartz mastered in all their jobs, since they're close already.



Bartz masters Summoner, gaining the Call command.



I love "Anything could happen." Anyway, it summons a random summon with no MP. It might be useful if you planned around it, since the only summons actually required by plot are Ifrit and Titan. By the time you get it, though, MP's not really a big deal, and it's kind of a waste for being so random. And also, you have the Magic Lamp for not-so-random situations.



Reina masters Knight with Equip Sword, letting any job equip swords. Yep.



On to Bare for her!



And for our final ability, Bartz masters White Mage by picking up the meager MP +10%. It's no +30%, but whatever.



Bartz will be taking Mime rather than Bare, to make use of those three ability slots.







Alright, last three weapons.





Yoichi's Bow boosts Strength and Agility by 3, though it's still weaker than the Artemis Bow.





Same stat boosts as Yoichi's Bow, and fire elemental. Still meh.





Can cast Earthshaker. Who the fuck uses bells.





And with that, I'm done with everything and have my final party. Let's look at them, shall we?



Ignore these stats, as I have equipment boosts. Here's Bartz's actual stats.

Vigor: 36 (+8 from Red Mage)
Speed: 30 (+5 from Dancer/Red Mage)
Stamina: 37 (+10 from Dancer)
Magic: 58 (+33 from Summoner)

Bartz can't hit worth a damn and is slow as hell. None of that matters because he has the highest magic boost in the game from Summoner and is built around Dual-casting White Magic and Summons.



Mimes don't get the equipment options of Bare (and I don't think "Equip _" passives work with them, from what I've tried), but I don't need that. I can still equip the Aegis Shield to absorb magic, and the Magus Rod will boost a lot of Bartz's summons, plus I have the Sage Staff to boost Holy if I want to dual-cast that. HairOrnament is to keep magic costs down, Black Robe is to boost magic.





Bartz has a whopping three passive abilities between five classes, though a little MP boost (that has to actually be equipped to be factored in) and double healing from items isn't bad. The idea, of course, is using Redx2 to cast as much White Magic and Summons (and Black Magic in a pinch) as I want. He's flat-out my most reliable damage dealer against groups and also a powerful healer as well as single-target nuker thanks to dual-cast Holy. I could always replace one with Mix if I want to do some fun healing or pull some crazy tricks. I haven't really shown off Mix yet, after all. Dance is the only other command worth using, except not with Bartz because of how magic-oriented he is.



Vigor: 58 (+23 from Knight)
Speed: 40 (+14 from Ninja/Mystic Knight)
Stamina: 50 (+25 from Berserker)
Magic: 29 (+1 from Sorcerer)

Reina has the worst magic, but she's build around physical damage, and she is set for that, plus she has the speed to hit often.



Excalibur and Chicken Knife (which I grinded to max stats off-screen) are my strongest weapons outside the Artemis Bow. She gets the Genji Glove compared to everyone else getting Protect Rings, though she does get a Ribbon.





While Bartz had almost no passives, Reina has a ton, though most are meaningless "Equip X" ones. Still, she has 2-swords, which lets her use that and still have room for Sword Magic and Sshot. Eight hits with magic sword? Yes, please! Otherwise, Firstatk and Magiwall are minor benefits, as is Cover. Throw sucks since her magic's too low to make use of the elemental scrolls, and everything else is just stuff that's crap or too situational to be of use.



Vigor: 51 (+26 from Monk)
Speed: 36 (+8 from Bard)
Stamina: 50 (+26 from Monk)
Magic: 58 (+31 from Black Mage)

Krile's more balanced than everyone else. She's actually tied for highest Stamina with Reina and highest Magic with Bartz. Krile's probably got the best stats in my party purely because she has strong strength and magic.



I only have two Aegis Shields, so Krile gets a Crystal one since she's not as much utility. She was a Dragoon, and Holy Lance is one of my strongest weapons, so there's that.





Krile actually has her HP and MP boosted by 30% each, plus she has Counter. Sing can be awesome, though she has other options as well with Jump (to avoid damage and deal more with her spear) and Lance (to make her a rather self-sufficient Black Mage). Sing gives her more versatility than "Deal lots of damage," so that's what she has to fall back on. That said, powerful physical attacks and damaging magic attacks means she's useful in both fields. While she's not as good in either as Reina/Bartz, she also won't be useless if one doesn't work too well. Plus, she can sing.



Vigor: 46 (+19 from Samurai)
Speed: 43 (+16 from Thief)
Stamina: 45 (+19 from Samurai)
Magic: 50 (+24 from Time Mage/Geomancer)

Faris's stats aren't as impressive as her allies, except for having the highest Speed. Then again, all she really cares about is Speed, as she's my utility player.



To take advantage of this (and to compliment her time as a Samurai), she has Masamune so she goes first every battle. This is important because she's my main buffer. Thus why she also has an Aegis Shield, because I want her alive.





Ignore Flee, as I was grinding the Chicken Knife with it. Time Magic should be in its place.

Faris's passives are mostly utility, like the Thief's and Geomancer's. Swordgrab does give a nice evasion boost, though, so that is hugely appreciated. Caution's not shabby, either. Blue and Time Magic are my main sets with her because of their powerful buffs and overall useful utility, but Steal/Mug and $toss are also viable options for her. She's not as great a damage dealer (her only real damage spells are Aero 3 and Meteor), but that's not her purpose. Her purpose is to make sure everyone else is killing everything.

And that's the team you guys have chosen. A great team overall, with one great magic caster, one physical powerhouse, one versatile utility player, and another damage dealer with a side of utility. I'm set to handle anything.





South of Karnak, underwater, is an unmarked cave.







Now we've done everything.

Next time, the final dungeon!