Part 62: Part the Fourteventh

I'm pretty sure the Virtual Console just basically emulates SNES games.

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

Voodoo Economics



Well, no getting around it (unless you just, you know, choose not to do it): We need to steal us some Economizers. Fighting Brachosaurs is right out for various reasons (experience gain and, hahah, you know, actually beating them). So we've got one other option besides pawning our Gem Box that I didn't bother to get yet, and that's robbing Aquilas in the Phoenix Cave. To make this go faster, get Gogo set up to Steal as well and make sure both Locke and Gogo have a Sneak Ring. Gogo can actually get pretty respectable MBlock%; just make sure Locke's at the cap and you should be good.



You may remember those annoying inescapable Phases. Well, they only appear upstairs. Unfortunately, so do Aquilas. We can skip encounters upstairs, though, by going downstairs and triggering them. Nothing downstairs is threatening and you can run from all of it, so this works... eventually.



Ah, there we are! Aquilas appear with Chaos Dragons. This is the only formation they exist in, I believe. The Aquila mostly uses attacks you'll block, or periodically Shimsham (which halves current HP and is not a huge deal). The Chaos Dragons... don't do anything. I'm pretty sure they're supposed to, but as long as I never did anything to them they never did anything to me. We can all learn a lesson from that, probably.



Now Aquilas are mercifully not that hard to steal from, even at level 6. The more common steal is a mere Fenix Down, but they're not so much more common than Economizers that you'll almost never see one.



And sure enough, we get our first! Now I could go on doing this for a while, but the most Economizers I could ever possibly need at one time is four, so I'll get that many.



Two more. My luck getting pincer attacks on the enemies is remarkable so far.



And that's number four. Now let's never come back here.

Training, Sort Of



So it's off to the Maranda deserts. The problem with farming Cactrots is the Hoovers. We can't kill them; they give experience. They're kind of a pain in the ass too. Equip MBlock% gear and a Gale Hairpin and run.



Cactrots are not hard to beat at any level. The only thing they really have going for them is defense. Static damage stuff and defense ignoring will kill it instantly. Cyan's Dispatch works, as does Throw, Edgar's Drill, Bum Rush, etc. Relm can Sketch them to use Blow Fish back on them. Several of Strago's Lores can also bypass their defenses, though I can't recall which.



The Paladin Shield teaches Ultima, which is useable in a LLG but only with Economizers. However, I don't plan to actually use it against any of the bosses. Wouldn't be sporting.

Just how strong is Ultima at our level?



Not too bad, all things considered. Oh, and it too is defense-ignoring, so that's another way to beat Cactrots.

The Veldt (Predictably)



Remember how I said fighting a battle off the Veldt alters the formation on the Veldt? In the WoR, the Cave on the Veldt exists and has enemies inside, so we can just pop in here and do it that way. Only problem is there's an inescapable enemy inside. Meh.



On the Veldt proper we run into our old friend SrBehemoth again. He appears only in his undead form and thus dies easily (and is always a back attack); he's the sole formation in his grouping, so he'll show up once per cycle and always drops a Behemoth Suit. Pretty neat, especially to make Snow Mufflers for Gau and Mog... if I could win that coliseum fight.

SrBehemoth's living form is meant to show up in a different group, but never does. Some kinda glitch. Pugs are also supposed to appear, but because they're formation #255 the game has some number issues and never cycles to them. Oops.

Test Rider's Rage is Flash Rain, which is a cool-looking ability that... doesn't really do much.

Brontaurs (not Brachosaurs, God forbid!) are a good upgrade rage to Templar offensively. Fire3 instead of Fire2, but you pick up a weakness to Ice. The good thing is, Gau's equipment resistances overwrite that, so a Flame Shield or Snow Muffler fixes the weakness.

The final rage, Nightshade... is special. Its special is Charm, a status effect which is like Confuse except not Confuse and more importantly works on almost everything (except Doomgaze, it turns out).



Oh yeah... Doomgaze. He's kind of fun, what with his running around all over the place. He opens with lv5 Doom which won't affect anyone but Gau (why did I bring Gau?). He's weak to Fire, but Ultima works better. I'm trying not to use it though.



Gau could probably use a Safety Bit. I don't have a Safety Bit, so I send Mog over to get one. Also pick up the Air Anchor, because whatever.



And then Doomgaze dies and I get Bahamut. Joy.