Part 58: Part the Tenenth

Let's Low-Level Run Final Fantasy 6: Part the Tenenth

The Floating Continent



So here we are on the Floating Continent with our newly-uber Gau and Cyan and Strago. Shadow is also here but we're gonna ignore him.



Most of the Floating Continent consists of running from Preemptives, Smoke Bombing out of anything else, and generally fleeing.



Except the fucking Ninjas, from whom you cannot flee. There is a 1/64 chance they will show up with a Wirey Dragon, which at least would allow you to clear their Rage if you can kill the Ninjas and run. Easier said than done, and I never saw that formation anyway.

Oh, and you can't open the Gigantos Monster-In-A-Box. Not because you can't defeat it (Phantom makes it trivial), but because for some strange reason it gives experience. Alas. Feel free to get the Murasame and Beret if you want.



We go through 90% of the dungeon and then... go back to the airship?



Just had to drop something off.

The Floating Continent, Again



And now we get Shadow. See, Gau has a unique property; if he's Leaping on the Veldt, he is not considered to be "in the party." Thus, while Gau's higher level was throwing off the party average, and would've raised Shadow's reaveraged level, if we just send him packing we can recruit Shadow at minimum level.

Except we need Gau to fight Atma Weapon. So... shit.



Did I mention the entire dungeon resets every time you leave? Whee!



I decided I'd just kill a Ninja x2 formation so Gau could Leap it. It's tricky because you need a preemptive and/or for the Ninjas not to throw a Skean, which will wipe out the party for sure. I killed one with Vanish/Doom, and the other by breaking Thunder Rods, which they happen to be weak to.



That gives three lv6 party members 347 experience each...



...just shy of a level. Had it been Cyan or Locke they would've perhaps leveled up, but Edgar/Sabin/Terra/Shadow have never gotten any forced experience so they're clean.



Okay! That's Shadow dealt with, so...

The Veldt, Again



We get Gau back and have him Leap a few things. Not that these guys are going anywhere, but it's easier to get them now. Ing has Lifeshaver, which is cool.



Our fucking Ninja friends give Gau Water Skean. In addition to being the only Rage that uses an item (though Gau will not expend any of the party's Water Skeans), it's the strongest water-element Rage there is. Shame that's not very useful hereafter.



Ooh, and a Behemoth!



Behemoth Rages Meteor, a hit-all defense-ignoring spell that is unreflectable. Unfortunately it has very shitty base power. Still, can be worth it.

By the way, this is the point in a Max Stats run where you'd leap off Gau, recruit Mog, and start leveling everybody up with esper boosts. I mean you don't have to do it now, you can pretty much do it any time after this as it's no longer required to gain any experience. But now would be a nice time to buff up to lv20 or so for the Floating Continent. If you keep everyone the same level, everything works out okay. But we're not doing that.

The Floating Continent YET AGAIN!



Okay, third run to the Floating Continent! This time we'll bring Gau, Terra for Morph and MP, and Strago for having the most MP after Gau.



Doop doop third run through a dungeon I already did.



This time, we're not going back! We've got a boss to fight, finally.



Prep work. Everyone needs a Wall Ring, and Earrings can help the non-Shadow people. Shadow won't have any spells, so we give him RunningShoes so he can use items slightly faster.


Atma Weapon easily has one of the most versatile and deadly skillsets you'll ever see at this point in the game. As Blastinus said, he has a ton of different moves he'll do as his health drops. But why let his health drop at all? Atma Weapon has 24000 HP, which is a lot, and 5000 MP. Although it takes roughly as much time to MP kill him as to HP kill him, if we don't lower his HP his moveset will be predictable.

Basically, if we don't hurt Atma Weapon, he has only three abilities:

• Flare, which ignores defense but is reflectable. Wall Rings will protect from this absolutely.
  
• Blaze, which cannot be reflected. He can hit one person (killing them) or the whole party (killing anyone not immune to Fire). Gau will use the Flame Shield so he can quickly Fenix Down when the entire rest of the party wipes. Full-party Blaze is the most critical thing Atma Weapon can do.
  
• Physical attacks, which won't kill Gau in one hit but will kill anyone else.
  

As you can see, my strategy is basically: Wall Rings all over, Rasp him repeatedly, Shadow uses items, don't bother using Potions on anyone but Gau, revive everyone ASAP when they go down. The part that kept getting me killed was when Atma Weapon would use a full-party Blaze while Gau was casting Rasp, then following up with two physical attacks to kill him. So I adjusted: You'll notice I'm careful in the video not to have Gau do anything until after I know what Atma Weapon is doing with his current turn. Once I see he's using Flare or attacking, it's safe for Gau to Rasp. Otherwise Gau Fenix Downs Terra immediately. I got very lucky that Atma Weapon decided to waste his turn casting Flare right after Blaze several times, allowing Gau and Terra to bring Strago and Shadow back up. Sometimes you revive Terra and he just kills her again. Keep reviving. Gau won't die unless he's alone, but he will die if alone long.

So, we've defeated the only thing standing between us and the villains!



Let's leave.



And Leap Gau out of the party for the last time in the World of Balance. Bye Gau! See you after the apocalypse!

We have to do this because levels are reaveraged at the start of the next part of the game, so Gau's gotta be gone. This has no effect on anything except that Gau won't be there for the thrilling escape sequence.

The Floating Continent FOR THE LAST GODDAMN TIME



Once again, I picked the three people with the most MP. The important thing is that they be able to cast Doom. This is important. Sabin can't. Don't bring him.



Not this time! Not ever again! Aaaaaaaaagh.



Suit everyone up and make sure to give Celes some good gear before you leave for the Floating Continent. Don't bring her along though, since she joins automagically.

The escape is pretty tight for time. You face an uncertain number of Naughtys and then Nerapa at the end. You need ~50 seconds with Nerapa unless you get especially lucky. MP kills seem to be faster on Naughtys, but Nerapa despite having very low MP seems to resist Rasp too much for it to make a dent. The solution? Reflect Doom off your own guys and hope it kills Nerapa (it happens to be vulnerable to Doom). I got it on the first try, giving me a solid 45 seconds or so. Most of the time you do not have such a nice buffer, but you're like 6 steps from the exit at this point so you only need 5-10 seconds. Shadow isn't showing up early anyway.

Then of course we wait for Shadow. And if we did everything right...

Solitary Island



...we begin the World of Ruin with a level 6 Celes. Smashing. That was totally worth doing the Floating Continent four times.

New Old Characters

Celes: It's just about Celes Time. I got a Genji Glove and a brisk walk to Nikeah. Look out, motherfuckers.