Part 86: Walker, Texas Gunslinger

This is a half-blind LP! I am going to bring in research about FFV only when it's necessary for me to get over hurdles in this solo run. I'm going to talk about stuff with a lot of assumptions and guesses based solely on observations. This is partly for the challenge, partly in the interest of time, and partly for the hell of it. Feel free to correct me after things come up, as there are a bunch of people ITT that are way more knowledgeable about this game than me. I don't care if I learn stuff by reading people's corrections, so don't worry about that.

Walker, Texas Ranger Lever gooooooooo--



Ranger Solo, Episode Seven:
Walker, Texas Gunslinger

Next up, on !Rapid Fire and Friends:



Nice name, jerkoff.



"He has such a musical laugh." -Joel Robinson

Anyway, having gotten !Rapid Fire, abused it in the Ronka Ruins, and learned some nifty stuff about it from the goons, I decide to take a short detour before continuing with the plot. Even though I don't need the AP anymore, I got to see if I can get the jump on the Skull Eaters in the Jachol Cave.





That's nothing. Let's try Prototypes. They actually give great XP, and they drop Dark Matter, which I can certain make use of when I inevitably switch to !Mix. Prototypes have some gross stuff, some of which I don't have an answer to, but my thinking is with judicious use of saves and just a bit of luck, I can avoid Blaster and spam the shit out of !Rapid Fire long enough to kill it before I die.



Did I mention !Rapid Fire ignored defense? (Thanks, goons!)





I feel a sudden kinship for Exdeath and his musical laugh...

I kill two Prototypes before the RNG decides to take its ball and go home: the RNG gives me a preemptive strike against the next one every time, but then it seems to go to Blaster as its first action every time. After three carbon-copy deaths like that, I quit for now and move on. Still, 4,000 XP and 2 Dark Matters for spamming !Rapid Fire a total of eight times is a pretty good return on investment.

Oh, and I go kill an old hermit, because why not?

(Ramuh's AI Script not shown because fuck it I'm not looking it up. He fights, he does Thundara, and he does a lame lightning attack. There.)

EAT HOT LEAD, OLD MAN.





Ramuh
Walker Level: 33
Deaths: 0 (this time)

Now I'm on to find Cid and Mid. That had me scrambling around the world map to find them in the first place, and then to find each of the meteorites. First up in the most tedious boss rush ever:

code:

Titan (Human, Heavy)
HP: 2500
Absorbs Earth.
Vulnerable to Paralyze, Stop, Slow.

AI Script:
AI SCRIPT:
{Fight,Fight,Specialty}
{Fight,Earth Shaker,Specialty}
React:Death{
     Earth Shaker
SPAM !RAPID FIRE LIKE A BOSS
     }

Hmm. That's weird. anyway, I mash the Win Button (!Rapid Fire, in case you didn't get that) four times and he dies. He almost kills Walker with his death trigger Earth Shaker, but that extra level I got from dicking around in the Ronka Ruins pay off:





Next is the Manticore:

code:

Manticore
HP: 3300
Absorbs Ice.
Vulnerable to Death, Stone, Poison, Blind, Old, Berserk, Silence, Stop, Slow.

AI SCRIPT:
JUST MASH !RAPID FIRE, YOU DUMMY
{AquaRake,Fight,Specialty}
{AquaRake,Blaze,Blaze}
DURRRRRRRRR PEW PEW PEW!

Hrmmmm... Well, in any case, five !Rapid Fires is enough for this one. No healing. No bullshit. Just hot lead.

Well, that was fun, but now that's over. Next up is Purobolos, which I'm going to take a run at with !Rapid Fire, but I have assumed since I got it that this is going to be the end of my vanilla Ranger run. So let's see how it goes anyway:

code:

Purobolos
HP: 1500
MP: 100
Vulnerable to Death, Stone, Poison, Blind, Old, Sleep, Berserk, Silence, Stop, Slow.

AI Script:
Nothing,Nothing
{Fight,Specialty,Exploder}
React:Death{
     Change Target:All Dead Enemies
     Life2
     }
React:Summon Magic{
     Change Target:Self
     Cure2
     }

Hey, things are going alright. !Rapid Fire is spreading out nicely, so maybe I can lay down enough damage to--





Fuck this.



Omni Ranger

Alright, before we go craz with this, let's look at Walker's character sheet again:



He has decent Strength, Agility, and Stamina, and... passable Magic. That's going to make magic a viable option in some battles down the line (perhaps). I was kind of miffed at how wishy-washy the Ranger is, but now that I have every cross-class ability at my disposal, some versatility is looking a lot more attractive.

But for Purobolos, I need something that can bathe the whole battlefield in hot death, and do it in two rounds. Based on my first attempt, they start self-destructing on round three.

Looking at my abilities, I see a few options, keeping in mind !Summon provokes Cura from them:

!Throw (Ninja)
!Zeninage (Samurai)
!Mix (Chemist)
!Combine (Cannoneer)

Here's where shit gets real: I want you, the goons, to pick how Walker is going to deal with Purobolos, from the above options. I'm not going to do direct interaction for every boss from here on out, but I'll stop and do it when things get interesting. Again, I'm flying blind here, so I've gotten most of my helpful advice from goons ITT anyway. Now you can continue that trend (or you can screw me into a dumb option that I might not know doesn't work). Pick from the above options and let me know your choice ITT. I'll just go with the consensus there.

Walker's life is in your hands, goons!

Walker's Current Level: 33
Total Deaths: 51
Animal Friends: 6
(Rabbit, Squirrel, Bees, Nightingale, Flying Squirrel, Falcon)