Part 147: Century IV

Solo Oracle - Century IV

So first, a quick recap of some of the things Mimir ran across on his steamroller journey.

You know how Death effects cause Undead to come back with full HP and all that? And how Skeletons are additionally immune to the Dead effect on top of that, just because?




Well, the Oracle's Doom is part of a privileged class of effects that don't give a damn. Unlike real Doom, which uses Attack Type 17..

code:

ATTACK TYPE (HEX: 17) (Status Effect 1, Full Heal to Undead: Doom, Death Potion, Faen Fantom, Roulette)
1) If the Target is Undead, then Target's Current HP = Target's Max HP;
   do not follow any more steps.
2) Follow Hit Determination for Magical Attacks Steps (6.2.2).
3) Inflict Status Effects.

.. or even L5 Doom, which uses Attack Type 4B..

code:

ATTACK TYPE (HEX: 4B) (L5 Doom)
1) If Target's level is not a multiple of 5, the attack misses;
   do not follow any more steps.  
   Do not add Hero song bonus to level when checking the Target's level.
2) If Target is Undead, then Target's Current HP = Target's Max HP;
   do not follow any more steps.
3) Inflict Dead status.  Ignore Dead status immunity.

.. the Oracle's Doom operates more like a Destroy effect, akin those that normally use Attack Type 18.

code:

ATTACK TYPE (HEX: 18) (Destroy: X-Zone, True Edge, Quicksand, Bottomless Swamp, Slash)
1) If Target is Heavy, attack misses;  do not follow any more steps.
2) Follow Hit Determination for Magical Attacks Steps (6.2.2).
3) Inflict Dead Status on Target.  Ignore Status Immunities.

Except better, since I've never seen it fail or miss.

Anyway, Mimir doesn't really need or want this experience, so..



-----

The Karnak 500 doesn't really offer much for an Oracle outside the money. Can't use knives, can't use spells, already have an Elven Mantle, can't use the Ribbon..



Who am I kidding? Always save the ribbon.






Okay, maybe we won't be saving it from that guy.





Much better.



-----



This is for all those L5 Dooms.

-----

It was around here that I realized that lining up one-shots was no longer really reliable, and unless I wanted to be on a some very slow rotations with only one damage dealing Predict that can't kill me, I needed to get some money for a ring. Additionally, Mimir's low level at this point - 12 - was just not cutting it when it came to staying alive long enough to drop the bomb on bosses like Shiva.

So: it was time to knock off two birds with one stone.



This didn't last long before I got bored and irritated by having to rotate through two Predicts to kill each encounter.



So I looked for a better way: one that would pay out well and, if possible, either provide fantastic experience or none at all.



Enter the Corbett. They pack a fairly strong punch - a high rolled Fin could plaster Mimir for as much as 240 damage on a bad day - but tend to prefer weaker melee attacks and, favorably, Breath Wing.




Fortuitously, they also give no experience, 1000 gil each, and they're a rare encounter in the ocean, making them ripe for ENCOUNTER MANIPULATION via the quicksave glitch.

A few repetitions, and it was time to increase Mimir's power level.



The Flame Ring is slightly favorable over the Coral Ring for Mimir's purposes, since it enables an easy and powerful two-Predict rotation that's guaranteed to heal him on every use (Third Rank Eruption → Second Rank Divine Judgement ↺). While Eruption inflicting HP Leak makes prediction slightly more obnoxious than usual, it's worth the tradeoff. By compare, Deluge inflicts the much better status of Toad, but the rotation the Coral Ring enables is convoluted, slow, inconsistent with both healing and damage, and involves Eruption anyway. Indeed, it's less 'rotation' and more 'slow ride through 2/3 of the Predict list'.

So, ring in hand, Mimir was off to test it out by beating up a Sandworm.



... Okay, a few weird things happened there, so let's tackle them one by one.

Doesn't Predict hit all enemies? How come Mimir didn't eat any Magic counters from Sandworm or Demis from Holes?

So, fun fact about Predict that you may have noticed already: it bypasses all React: scripts. It's not considered Magic. It's not part of the Physical catch-all (but Condemn is!). Monsters won't treat its damage as HP damage worth reacting to.

This is.. rather gamebreaking, as you'll soon see.

Why did all those Predicts roll minimum damage? Was it bad luck with Eruption's HP Leak, or..

As we saw with Zerky, the Sandworm is not just the visible one Sandworm and two Holes, but three Sandworms and three Holes. And the extra, invisible Sandworms redirect your target to their respective Hole.

Since Predict isn't random, this shouldn't be a problem, except there's also a seventh dummy target that manages the Sandworms. It's this dummy target that Predict analyzes for determining the ever-moving Sandworm's HP. And since you never damage it..

What the fuck



So when does this come back around to fuck you over?

FUNNY YOU SHOULD ASK.



Soul Cannon is a problem for Berserkers and low DPS classes. What problem will an Oracle have with a boss that can only deal half your life at a time, and 800 HP Launchers that inflict Aging, a status that doesn't even reduce the Oracle's completely fixed damage?

code:

Soul Cannon (Heavy)
HP: 22500

Condition:HP Damage & HP < 10000{
     Change Target:All Enemies
     Punishment
     }

code:

Launcher (Heavy)
HP: 10800

React:HP Damage & HP < 10000{
     Change Target:Self
     Punishment
     }

Because Predict does not respect React scripts, suddenly Mimir is confronted with the reality that those Launchers actually have almost 11000 HP. Now, he COULD just bonk them with a staff when they're below threshold...




.. but then he's not healing, or Aging has slowed him down too much, and if he stops to Predict..




Moreover, the Second Rank Divine Judgement takes just slightly longer than even Mimir's Aged ATB, leaving him prone to HP Leak deaths via Wave Cannon while waiting for it to fire. And he can't just Hi-Potion, or he'll eat more Valiant Attacks.. or Wave Cannons, leaving him right where he started.

This problem gave me a bit of a headache until I stumbled on the blindingly obvious solution:



Enter: Tactical Battle Speed 1.

With this, the delay that normally comes with a party member's turn coming up is reduced to effectively nil. Normally, this would be a net downside, giving the enemy more time to act. But in this case, it also gives HP Leak less time to tick, and Divine Judgement less time to wait.

Brute force is the best kind of force.



LEVEL: 18
DEATHS (to bosses): 23 (+4)
DEATHS (to random encounters): 3 (+1)