Part 199: Coyote and the Flame
Welcome back to Coyote's Tales! This is a Mime run, with a few catches:
Coyote must always be alone. (This is a solo Mime run.)
Coyote is of the land, and needs nothing besides what he can get for himself. (This is a "living off the land" run.)
Coyote is restless, and a bit of a coward. (This is a low-level run.)
Coyote is his own worst enemy. (I will eliminate one ability that I use in reach boss battle, after each boss battle. I'll be able to use those abilities between bosses, but not in boss battles. Abilities unusable against bosses or in solo runs will not be party of my list in the first place, so I won't have things like !Revive to lose.) Through the first five bosses, Coyote has lost the following abilities: !Attack, !Chakra, !Check, !Calm, and Undead.
Solo Mime, Episode Three:
Coyote and the Flame
Now we're in Karnak.
My thoughts exactly, grandpa.
"Hey guys, there's fire right next to these books. This seems... bad. No? Alright. Well, I'll just go then."
The Fire Ship provides some useful things for Coyote and some useless garbage:
Mythril Gloves
Cottage
Phoenix Down
Green Beret
Thief's Gloves Moonring Blade Elixir
The Moonring Blade is a huge improvement over the Mythril Knife. It improves Coyote's attack power form 23 to 35, and does full damage form the back row. All that means that Coyote's physical attacks will be more effective than Goblin Punch, finally.
Unfortunately, the Fire Ship also provides an opportunity for Coyote (read: "me") to make another Coyote-esque mistake. The Crew Dust enemies teach Flash, and I get it in the first battle. Unfortunately, I don't think to equip the Silver Specs beforehand, and Coyote doesn't have a single Eye Drop to his name.
"This... could be going better."Fortunately, !Mug doesn't seem to care about the hit rate all that much. I can miss the damage all day long and still steal from enemies with impunity. I assume I'll eventually lift an Eye Drop from someone and be all set.
Yeah, that never happens.
I steal potions all day long, and I lift a couple Hi Potion from Poltergeists, which is pretty exciting. But I never get an Eye Drop. I run from most battles, but I use Goblin Punch and Vampire when I need to win (like when I actually learned Flash) because I'm blind. Coyote stumbles around the Fire Ship, blind as a bat and running like a madman, until I am finally able to cure the condition with a tent at the save point.
After all this, though, Coyote's gear has yet again significantly improved:
The Elf Mantle is still my go-to accessory, but I'm using the Thief Glove now because I need to try to steal junk and access to Vampire makes it easy enough for me to recover HP.
But now it's time for Liquid Flame, with Coyote still at level 12:
I don't remember if Liquid Flame has anything to steal, but regardless, I want to be able to physically attack him because I'm using the Frost Rod that I found in a garbage can a little while back. The Moonring Blade does more damage, but I'm counting on the ice elemental stuff to hit hard. !Blue is mainly for Vampire, as usual, since I'm expecting Fira to just about kill Coyote in one attack. He only has 258 max HP, so this could get ugly. If Fira one-shots me, I obviously need to take a level or two. If not, though, Magic Shell should kick in and provide me with Shell for the rest of the battle and give me quite a bit of breathing room.
So let's give this a shot:
Welp.
The human form opens with a physical attack that the Elf Mantle doesn't catch. It only does 22, and Blaze shortly thereafter does (a percentage-based) 66 damage. So far, so good. I ping it for 64 with the Frost Rod, and it switches to the tornado form. I learned my lesson from Walker's run, and I'm going to let it run itself out of MP. I try Flash because that shouldn't knock it out of this form, but it doesn't appear to work. Eh. Then, it finally runs out of MP:
For a while, I yo-yo it back and forth between the tornado and the human forms. The Forst Rod is doing between 40 and 220 damage. It would be nice and lucky if I did all that preparation for the hand form and its Fira for nothing, but eventually, it comes out:
"Tis but a scratch."Oddly, Magic Shell doesn't fire! Here is an ability that only works when you are reduced to critical HP, so you would think it would always work. Since Fira just came within a few HP of one-shotting poor Coyote, I have good reason to desperately want Shell up and running.
And, as it turns out, I'm right to be concerned: the next Fira kills Coyote. But I think this load-out can do it. I have a couple other ideas (one of which is a sure bet by cheesing him with !Hide and running down its MP). But I want to save that if I can. My plan here was to use the pretty expendable Magic Shell and choose to lose it at the end. But there is something else I can plug into the spot that is a bit more reliable that can get me the slight edge I need to survive Fira more reliably:
HP +10% is crap and about as expendable as Magic Shell. But it gives me about 25 more HP, which should make the difference. I still need to be really on the ball with Vampire and make damn sure I don't get hit with Fira when I'm dinged from a Blaze or a couple of physical attacks. HP +20% or 30% would give me more breathing room, but I want to save those for later. I'll try this.
Things go similarly as before. I run the tornado form out of MP early, then the hand comes out:
Whoa. Well, I apparently have no room for error, so it's Vampire all the way down. I can't afford to try the Frost Rod at all because I need to make sure I'm maxed out if Liquid Flame might switch in the hand form, and if he's leaving the hand form, he's just used Fira so I need to top off my HP. That's ok, though, because I can do tons of damage with Vampire. As long as I don't foul it up, I should be alright.
Eventually, even the hand form runs out of MP:
But Coyote is not out of the woods yet:
Ray finally hits (the first few having missed or been blocked). Coyote has just 53 HP by the time he recovers from his paralysis to heal himself. Crisis averted.
Eventually, Liquid Flame finally blows out:
And a nifty treasure for a Mime, to boot:
Liquid Flame
Coyote's Level: 12
Abilities Used: !Mug, !Blue, HP +10%
Deaths: 1
Total Boss Deaths: 9
Coyote-esque Mistakes: 0
Total Coyote-esque Mistakes: 6
So, let's lose HP +10%, and this is what we end up with:
!Items
!Guard
!Focus
!Steal
!Mug
!Jump
!Lance
!Image
!Throw
!Mineuchi
!Zeninage
!Ianuki
!Animals
!Aim
!Rapid Fire
!Call
!Scan
!Control
!Catch
!Mix
!Drink
!Recover
!Gaia
!Hide
!Sing
!Flirt
!Dance
!Spellblade
!White
!Black
!Time
!Summon
!Red
!Dualcast
!Blue
!Oath
!Condemn
!Predict
!Open Fire
!Blade Blitz
!Finisher
Equip Shields
Equip Swords
Equip Armor
Equip Ribbon
Equip Lances
Equip Katanas
Equip Axes
Equip Bows
Equip Whips
Equip Harps
Artful Dodger
HP +20%
HP +30%
MP +10%
MP +30%
Barehanded
Two-Handed
Dual-Wield
Pharmacology
Counter
Shirahadori
Learning
Magic Shell
Berserk
Equip Rods
Long Reach
Now, let's hope that level 12 is enough to deal with Karnak Castle.
I use !Mug (to steal the nifty stuff form encounters in the burning castle), !Blue (to win battles), and Learning (for Aera and Iron Claw, if I can manage to survive it). Between the stealing and the chests, I manage to get:
Ribbon
Main Gauche
Elixir (from a steal)
Mage Mashers x2 (also from steals)
Silver plate (also from a steal)
... And Aera for !Blue. I had about 3:20 when I went into combat with Iron Claw at the gate, and I tried using Equip Ribbon to proof Coyote against Paralysis. It didn't work, strangely, and Coyote got killed. (My plan was to use !Bladeblitz, Learning, and Equip Ribbon and count it as a boss battle, and I would lose Learning for boss battles. But since the game cheesed me, I'm not counting it.) I ended up killing Iron Claw like Walker did: by leaving the dogs alone and killing the sergeant before triggering his transformation. If the game wants to be that much of a pain in the ass about letting me learn another broken !Blue spell, then I have no shame in that. It's probably what most solo runs do out of necessity.
Coyote's load-out doesn't do a ton of damage quickly, so I end up cutting it a bit close, and I don't regret passing up Esuna:
Back in Karnak, I loot the extra Flame Rod that I might break over Byblos' head later.
On the way to the Library of the Ancients, I try learning Aqua Breath from the Dorme Chimera. I use !Blue, Learning, and Artful Dodger. Artful Dodger keeps Coyote up to the chimera's speed, and as long as a critical hit doesn't land, I can match each of its attacks or Aqua Breaths with a Vampire:
I die a couple of times when the Main Gauche, Elf Mantle, and Artful Dodger don't manage to catch a critical hit. For the sake of reference, Coyote is level 14 by the time he left Karnak, and his 321 HP isn't quite enough to survive the chimera's critical hit th8at deals 330-380 HP. I tried using !Mug instead of Artful Dodger in the first couple tries to see if I could steal something, but I barely get a chance to make it worth it. I also try Flash and Pond's Chorus when I get a chance to do anything but spam Vampire, but neither work. On the third try, Coyote is finally rewarded:
He also takes yet another level to put him to 15. I don't like that because I'm trying to keep my levels low, but I have a feeling I'll need it for Byblos. Better Yet, 15 is divisible by 5, so I can learn Lv 5 Death. Undead should help with that. (It is my understanding that in order to learn a Blue spell, you have to have it actually work on you, and not just fail. So I'm assuming I need to be level 15, or 10 or 20, and find a way to survive it, to learn Lv 5 Death).
I go to the top of the library to learn Lv 5 Death. I'll present this battle in slideshow format in order to show off my glaring omission and Coyote-esque mistake. No commentary is necessary, nor would it do the events any justice:
*Old-timey reel-to-reel whirs and clicks*
*Ragtime piano music plays*
Screw this. I'll pick up Lv 5 Death (and Moon Flute, which I had completely forgotten about, obviously) in battles that aren't huge slogs where Coyote just dies at the end anyway. I do eventually learn them both, even before I get to Ifrit:
But first is Ifrit. Here's what I'm using for this one:
I was tempted to go with dual-wielded Frost Rods, but that would take up two ability slots: one for Dual Wield, and one for !Aim. Ifrit can just about kill Coyote with one Fira, so I need to be able to heal reliably. I'm going to stick with !Blue for that and keep a shield to help block his many physical attacks. !Rapid Fire will help the Frost Rod hit more often and give it more chances to proc Brazzara. Magic Shell will hopefully do the same thing that I wanted it to do against Liquid Flame: namely, give Coyote a bit of breathing room with Fira. I'll also probably choose that to lose when all is said and done.
I lose a couple of times doing pretty much the same thing as when I win, so I'll just summarize that:
The !Rapid Fire experiment with the Frost Rod is an immediate success:
One miss, one Blizzara proc for over 200, and two regular attacks for about 40 damage each. It doesn't do much if it doesn't proc Blizzara, but if it does that even once, it does more than Vampire usually does. Still, I'll have to spam Vampire to be conservative with my HP until Magic Shell goes off.
Eventually, it does:
Whew. Now I'm in business. Fira should be doing closer to 130 instead of 260. Now my biggest concern is that High Kick that can paralyze Coyote.
The next !Rapid Fire procs Blizzara twice and ends up dealing a total of almost 400 damage. Coyote keeps alternating between !Rapid Fire and Vampire, dealing between about 200 and 400 per action. This goes on for a while and just when I think I might get lucky and get away with this without even seeing that High Kick, it happens:
Luckily, it happens when Coyote is high on HP. A Blaze and a Fira later, though, he needs a Vampire as soon as he snaps out of it. With only 130 HP, Coyote is vulnerable to death by Fira.
Then Vampire fails.
I've seen it happen once before. If it has a weakness, this is it. And holy shit did it happen at the wrong time. I had used Vampire a ton of times before this with 150+ HP, just planning ahead and being conservative with my HP. So of course it fails the one time I absolutely need it. Ifrit goes to Fira, and I brace for a game over:
1 HP. Coyote beats Ifrit to the next punch, and pours his soul into the biggest Vampire of his career:
Ifrit
Coyote's Level: 15
Abilities Used: !Rapid Fire, !Blue, Magic Shell
Deaths: 2
Total Boss Deaths: 11
Coyote-esque Mistakes: 0
Total Coyote-esque Mistakes: 6
When I come down from the adrenaline surge, I have to lose !Rapid Fire, !Blue, or Magic Shell. Hmm...
!Items
!Guard
!Focus
!Steal
!Mug
!Jump
!Lance
!Image
!Throw
!Mineuchi
!Zeninage
!Ianuki
!Animals
!Aim
!Rapid Fire
!Call
!Scan
!Control
!Catch
!Mix
!Drink
!Recover
!Gaia
!Hide
!Sing
!Flirt
!Dance
!Spellblade
!White
!Black
!Time
!Summon
!Red
!Dualcast
!Blue
!Oath
!Condemn
!Predict
!Open Fire
!Blade Blitz
!Finisher
Equip Shields
Equip Swords
Equip Armor
Equip Ribbon
Equip Lances
Equip Katanas
Equip Axes
Equip Bows
Equip Whips
Equip Harps
Artful Dodger
HP +20%
HP +30%
MP +10%
MP +30%
Barehanded
Two-Handed
Dual-Wield
Pharmacology
Counter
Shirahadori
Learning
Berserk
Equip Rods
Long Reach
Let me just say that Magic Shell shouldn't ever fail to fire. The thing is so corner-case that you can barely get any use out of it even if it never failed. I tried using it on two different bosses, and it failed about half of the time Coyote dipped into critical HP. That is unusably bad.
Up next is Byblos. Here's what I'm using for this battle:
Byblos is a big pain in the ass that has a bunch of things I don't yet have answers to. But I do have Ifrit, so I'm going to spam !Summon until this library burns to the ground. MP +10% is a throw away ability, but it basically gives me another casting of Ifrit. Equip Ribbon should proof Coyote from Byblos' summon-react script to cast Frog. It will also (hopefully) protect against slow and confuse.
Yes, this means I have no way to heal Coyote. In fact, summoning Ifrit is literally the only thing I can do.
Let me cut to the chase:
"Who's your daddy?"
"You're goddamn right. Don't the let door hit you in the ass on your way out."
Slow landed, but Confuse and Frog did not. Dischord halved Coyote's level, but I knew there was nothing I could do about that. That just brought Ifrit's damage down from about 1,000 to about 700. Magic Hammer missed once and landed once, halving Coyote's MP. If both had landed, my last Ifrit would have been my last in more ways than one. Either way, all it took was 5 Ifrits to burn down Byblos.
Byblos
Coyote's Level: 15
Abilities Used: !Summon, Equip Ribbon, MP +10%
Deaths: 0
Total Boss Deaths: 11
Coyote-esque Mistakes: 0
Total Coyote-esque Mistakes: 6
I'm going to lose MP +10%, obviously. I'm far from done with !Summon or the Ribbon.
!Items
!Guard
!Focus
!Steal
!Mug
!Jump
!Lance
!Image
!Throw
!Mineuchi
!Zeninage
!Ianuki
!Animals
!Aim
!Rapid Fire
!Call
!Scan
!Control
!Catch
!Mix
!Drink
!Recover
!Gaia
!Hide
!Sing
!Flirt
!Dance
!Spellblade
!White
!Black
!Time
!Summon
!Red
!Dualcast
!Blue
!Oath
!Condemn
!Predict
!Open Fire
!Blade Blitz
!Finisher
Equip Shields
Equip Swords
Equip Armor
Equip Ribbon
Equip Lances
Equip Katanas
Equip Axes
Equip Bows
Equip Whips
Equip Harps
Artful Dodger
HP +20%
HP +30%
MP +30%
Barehanded
Two-Handed
Dual-Wield
Pharmacology
Counter
Shirahadori
Learning
Berserk
Equip Rods
Long Reach
Now with a boat, Coyote has some serious scavenging to do. I'll break things off here.
Next time: Coyote and the Machine