Part 66: Part the Fuck It

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

This update covers only the final boss, but let me assure you this really has it all: Instant death working against the enemy for once (well, twice, after Larry), bosses being seduced by a feral child and a mime, Debilitator tomfoolery, Flare Star being its usual underachieving self, multiple Rages, bosses not attacking, bosses attacking themselves, and an entirely and wholly unplanned use of a desperation attack which halfway makes me feel like I contributed in some way to Kefka's demise. But I mostly didn't.



This is my party. I have a dozen other guys, but none of them are going to see any action. Terra is there for magic; I meant to have her Morph and never got around to it. Edgar is support and most critically is present for his Air Anchor and Debilitator, both of which see extensive use on the first two tiers. Gau is there to Rage, of course. Gogo is also there to Rage, and also to Bum Rush. Why bring Sabin when I can bring Sabin and an extra Gau?

Of this group, Gau is immune to most everything and won't be hurt by physicals. Terra and Edgar are largely untouchable with high MBlock%. Gogo has decent MBlock% but will still die at times; in the first few tiers this actually works in my favor as it allows Gogo to "break" out of his Rage and do something else, like Bum Rush.

So, let's begin. This final battle is kind of weird, almost reversed; the first two fights will be hard and the last two are absolute jokes. Most of that is the use of the game's most ridiculous, unfair, game-destroying Rage, but it's not like I care. Hey, I abstained from Ultima, I get to use a different win button!



I don't care about the rest of these people. I didn't even equip them, such is my hubris. Oh wait, hubris precedes a downfall, which didn't happen.



The first tier of the final boss consists of three enemies: Face, Long Arm, and Short Arm. Not the most creative naming convention, I admit, but they're an interesting trio.

For the most part the first tier is unassuming and a good chance to buff up. The bosses mostly use physicals which won't really kill anyone but Gogo. Face likes to Reverse Polarity which is no big deal and I'm not sure why I wasted time row-switching back. Anyway, put Float on everyone because if Face is the last alive he counters with Quake. As it so happens this does not occur because Face doesn't die last, but Quake winds up being extremely useful anyway against this tier as none of them have Float.

Long Arm is vulnerable to instant death; using the Air Anchor at the fight's outset guarantees we won't have to worry about it at all. Face will occasionally buff Short Arm; it's vulnerable to Slow so you can counteract its Haste. After that it's just a matter of pounding on Face.

Gau decides to Rage Chimera. I'm not sure why this wasn't more effective; both Short Arm and Long Arm are supposed to be weak against Aqua Rake, but it doesn't really work out that well. Gogo winds up in much better shape by Bum Rushing.



The second tier is the most complex, and features four poorly but aptly named enemies: Magic, Tools, Hit, and Tiger. Their names pretty much sum it up: Magic casts tons of spells, Tools uses various tools and missiles, Hit physically attacks, and Tiger occasionally turns people into Zombies or uses Flare Star or Northern/Southern Cross, because that is what tigers can do.

The trick to this fight is that the parts of this tier all have status weaknesses, just not the same one. Magic is vulnerable to Mute which makes him harmless, Tools is susceptible to Instant Death (again, the Air Anchor rules here), Hit can be Stopped (also Berserked but since he just attacks anyway that's no help), and Tiger can be poisoned. He's not weak to the Poison ELEMENT (his weakness is Ice), but even so he will take lots of damage from being poisoned.

The easiest way to handle everything is to do what Gogo does, though I preempt him a little just to be safe. Chaos Dragon's Rage is Disaster, which will set all the necessary statuses on everybody. It will set Condemned on Tools, though you won't see the timer; in about 20-30 seconds she'd have died had Edgar not used the Air Anchor to speed up the process. Magic spends the whole fight trying to cast spells.

Tiger gets focused on first, then Hit (more or less); when Hit dies he attacks 10 times in a row, but only kills Gogo once and is ineffective his other 9 swings. That just leaves Magic, who has remarkably high HP. Setting a weakness to speed up the process with Debilitator helps with him and Hit. Hit is actually weak to Poison, but can't BE poisoned, and Bio is kind of lackluster here. Magic's weakness is Quake, but as the video shows, everything in this tier has inherent Float, so it won't do anything.



Here's where things get broken and funny. Girl has 9999 HP, spams Pearl Wind, and can cast Life2 on Sleep if he dies. Sleep is a dangerous fellow who can use W Wind, Merton, Condemned, Train, and Meteo; many of these ignore our blocking or defenses, and while Merton can be handled with fire absorb, he's still dangerous.

Oh, and Sleep can use Calmness, which sets Wound. It's not a death attack; it just sets you to be dead. Yes, there is a difference. It's actually a very important one, because it doesn't get checked quite like it should when used on Girl and Sleep themselves... I'm sure you can see where this is going.

You can steal Ragnarok and Atma Weapon from Girl and Sleep, which is great in FF6A but useless here.

An interesting tidbit: Girl is vulnerable to all elements, but also absorbs all elements. This is a very bizarre arrangement but there actually seems to be a purpose to it: The Debilitator doesn't work if an enemy is already weak to an element it was going to set a weakness to, and thus won't reset their elemental vulnerabilities (which would've cleared their absorbs). It seems the designers intentionally meant for Girl to be immune to all elements due to her low HP, and actually thought of the one item in the game that can give something a weakness. Go figure.



And thus we come to Kefka. Kefka has all sorts of moves, from Havoc Wing (a 4x Battle attack), top-tier elementals, Meteor, Ultima, Hyperdrive, Train, and Goner, most of which are unblockable. For a LLG he's formidable because of his vast repertoire of unblockable and defense-ignoring powers.

Except you can ignore all of that because none of it will be used. He doesn't even get a chance to use Fallen One. Instead, Gogo makes a stirring appeal to Kefka's own life, dreams, and hope. Kefka, faced with the logical paradox that the things he has vowed to destroy exist within himself, decides that he must logically commit suicide, because angels are like robots. Gogo helps by dropping a meteor on his head, but matters are otherwise fairly uneventful.

And that's how Kefka saved the world from Kefka. I love you, Nightshade Rage.

And that's pretty much it. Well, scratch that; that's entirely it. Beating FF6 isn't a factor of careful leveling, just figuring out how broken the game is and the best way to apply those broken mechanics. The only thing ever worth grinding for is spells, and the best way to get those give no experience. Hell, not leveling protects you from Flare Star so it's practically better to not level in this game. Not as advantageous as not leveling in FF8, but still nifty.