Part 22: I broke Gau

Chapter 21 - I broke Gau



Before we start, let's pick up the Nirvana Band I forgot to get back in Owzer's House. This item can only be equipped by Edgar, Sabin, and Cyan, and it increases all damage types by 25%. It gives less Vigor than the Power Glove, but boosting the various awesome Stamina moves is worth it.



Plus it seems like Cyan does more damage with the Nirvana Band than the Power Glove even with just physical attacks anyway. May just be imagining that last bit, though.



Also missed this guy earlier.





Today, we're going to get Mog and Umaro first. I decide to just take three people so I wouldn't have to go back to the airship to recruit Mog. Once again, going with my three lowest-level characters.



Got a Holy and Doom rod each. Strago gets the Holy Rod while Relm sticks with her brush.









Bullshit. Even without Locke, there are goodies abound.



And also enemies of course. Nastidons have a large chunk of HP (8000) and use still like Blizzard (which inflicts Slow) and Absolute 0.





Raze, which we picked up from Atma Weapon, is Strago's most powerful Lore (though it doesn't ignore defense like other ones). It inflicts both Fire and Poison damage while also inflicting the Poison status, which acts like Seizure except it builds up more damage over time. It's great here, since lots of enemies like these guys are weak to Fire. Then Gau and poison can finish them off.



Wizards can cast Rasp and Stop, while Fuzzies cast SlowX like their brethren.





And yes, if you touch Fuzzy, you get dizzy.



Black Bart isn't that big a deal. The Hell Riders can cast Fire 3, which isn't too bad considering I've got a team built around magic defense.



The problem with this party is a lack of healing. Relm can learn Cure 3 and RegenX, plus she pretty much has unlimited MP thanks to Osmose, but she has to learn them first. Also, nobody knows Life, which means I'm constantly blowing through Phoenix Downs.

That said, I think this is the only time I wipe to a regular encounter.





Getting to Mog isn't a big deal, at least.









Mog's still the hacker surrogate, so to speak.



The Moogle Charm still exists, though it doesn't block enemy encounters unfortunately.



This time, my fellow goons were ahead of me in describing what this thing does.



Also boosts Evade by 10 and Speed/Stamina by 7. Mog-exclusive, of course.





I make Mog a dragoon for now. He's actually very quick at jumping now thanks to the Moogle Charm, plus he has the Dragon Helm for double jumps. His actual damage really pales compared to a Power Glove-equipped Edgar, unfortunately, but it's still decent enough, plus he's still pretty damn versatile.

Anyway, despite doing a three-person party just to get Mog without having to backtrack to the airship, I backtrack to the airship anyway to heal. Go me. Same party, though.



Dante has some powerful attacks, like the physical-attack Inferno. Also the wonderful party-poisoning Virite which I love so freaking much.



Got Mog's final dance! Snowball Jazz is, of course, ice-themed damage, though its main attack sets Seizure, which is always handy.



Cerberus is another dog. Yawn, next.





I died to a lot of bosses quite a few times this run, but Silver Dragon was easily the most painful of the bunch.



Of course, there's ice attacks like Ice3, Snowball, Absolute 0, and the stun-setting Cold Dust. It will even use Blizzard on itself to gain like 300HP back.



And it also has a powerful physical attack that I assume all the dragons have.



Fortunately, Gau can absorb most of the ice attacks thanks to his shield. Of course, even his high evasion can't avoid all of Silver's physicals, plus being raged means he can't really help revive people.

Only now do I realize I could've just given the damn shield to someone else. Welp.



Also, Step Mine still sucks.



My strategy changes quite a bit, though the constant through all attempts is to spam Raze on Strago, as that easily does the most damage for my party at this point. Relm can do decent damage with Fire2, but she's usually better off throwing Phoenix Downs and whacking people with her brush.



Anyway, we'll try Silver in a bit. I decide after a couple attempts to go for Tritoch.





During this, I remember I have the Demon rage, which uses Elf Fire. Elf Fire's fantastic. The only problem is that the Demon rage makes Gau undead, so Relm's healing hurts the guy, as does Holy Wind. At least I can still revive him, but it makes it where I have to figure whether being uncurable is worth the extra damage, or whether I go with regular damage with Dragon, or go defensive with Conjurer and its Rerise spamming.

Being forced to think stragetically about Gau's rages depending on the situation is a solid sign that both he and the game have been balanced rather well.



Anyway, Tritoch counters with the lightning-based Thordain, as well as using the occasional Cold Dust.



Mog goes for Forest Suite to serve as a back-up healer, and also for the 3/16 chance for Elf Fire. Mog's did a whole 1000 more than Gau's.





Cure3 in glorious action.



Anyway, Tritoch goes down easily enough, and I pick up a new esper.

Name: Tritoch
Characters: Terra
Stat Boosts: MP +45
Spells: Fire 3 (5), Ice 3 (4), Bolt 3 (2)

Gives Terra some new powerful spells and the MP to cast them. Nifty.



After that, I decide to bulk up on Phoenix Downs and to get some Tents since I ran out.



With Mog on the defensive again and Relm having learned RegenX, the Silver Dragon goes a bit more smoothly after another attempt or two.



Our reward is the Snow Muffler, which has the highest combined defenses of any armor in the game (60 Defense and 60 Magic Defense). It also boosts HP by 25% and nullifies Ice and Wind damage. As a downside, it reduces Speed by 5.

That said, despite having Gau and Mog, who can equip it (Gogo being the third besides Umaro), I don't give it to either, as Mog gets much better stat boosts from the Force Armor for now, and Gau likes the evasion from the Dark Gear since a physical attack could drop him easily anyway. Maybe once he gets more HP, it'll work better for him.



That business down, it's time to do more crazy stuff.







This chest contains a Tonberry, which is just as god damn scary as it should be with its whopping 40k HP.





Nothing but Step Mines and stabbings.



Our reward? The Bone Club, which is still largely unimpressive except for one key change.



Gau can use it.



This makes Gau's physical rages go from decent due to his speed to freaking Cyan-levels, still with the insane speed. Combined with Glare being surprisingly useful against certain encounters, and now Gau's just as god damn broken here as he was in the original.







The enemies themselves are nothing special since they all die so fast now.



Anyway, we get Terrato, and here's that info now.

Name: Terrato
Characters: Sabin, Mog
Stat Boosts: HP +60
Spells: Sleep (5), SleepX (4), Quake (2)

All Sabin will care about is the extra HP, since for awhile it'll nearly double his current HP gains. As for Mog, Quake is his ultimate spell, and considering he can cast Float and has +2 Magic options (plus access to X-Magic), it's more viable than you'd think. Plus, he also likes more HP as a semi-healer/semi-tank.



We'll worry about that later, as we've got to beat up Umaro first.





Umaro's all about hitting hard, usually getting off a couple physicals per round.



Of course, Umaro's not the only berserker who hits like a truck anymore.





He also casts his own Blizzard spell, in case you try to be clever with Clear (though I always forget to set that, or to use Espers in general for that matter).

Fenrir can still render this fight somewhat a joke. I still end up dying once since I never remember to actually do buffs besides Haste and Regen.



Hits harder, blah blah blah.



In the end, it comes down to a berserk-off between Umaro and Gau, and in that fight even a sasquatch can't lose to a teenage kid with a giant club who's learned to fight with monsters.







Me also want to learn how punch better from little man!
First, we'll have to teach you some manners. Your grammar is simply embarrassing. Only when you learn to speak like a gentlemen can you truly learn to fight like a savage.
You two can spend time on grammar lessons when you're both rotting on the airship while us important ones save the world.





I'd like to see you rub enough brain cells first to see you try, kupo.



Next up is Gogo. Umaro and Shadow are in, since Shadow now needs levels and I want to try Umaro out.



So, Umaro. He's still a Berserker, he still can't use espers, and he can still only equip relics. To compensate for being otherwise meaningless, he is insanely god damn strong.





The Zone Eater is different now. Rather than just wait around until he decides to eat you, you have to earn the right to be eaten, mainly by beating the crap out of it for a bit. You want to be floating to avoid its numerous earth attacks, and you'll also be recasting float a lot since it can nullify it.



Finally, I beat it up enough to get eaten.



Gogo's cave is still pretty easy, though that's probably because I've got so much awesome gear now that I can easily crush any enemies that come my way. And also because there's no bosses here.



Ogors can inflict Zombie, which is always nasty. Wart Pucks prefer gravity attacks like Demi and Quartr.





If Umaro throws Mog (rather than any other character) at an enemy, it does a lot more damage. Look at that damage. Look at it.



Edgar/Sabin-exclusive. HP +25%, nullifies Fire and Water damage, and boosts Vigor by 5 and Evasion by 10, plus decent defenses. Neat.



O-Bakes do the usual crap of its line, mainly being undead and spamming Lifeshaver.



Shinobi are pretty evasive and spam skeans, while Tapdancers spam magic.



Highest Defense in the game at 75, plus it boosts Vigor and Stamina both by 7. It even gives 10 Evasion! Great for the eight characters who can equip it.



This brush casts Regen randomly instead of Remedy. Probably much more handy in regular encounters, but the extra healing's nifty enough as is.



Only Mog, Locke, and Strago can use the Sage Stone, which changes Magic to X-Magic, i.e. cast magic twice in a turn. Sounds great, but Strago relies mostly on Lores, usually only using Magic to cast the more-reliable Osmose rather than Raid. Meanwhile, Mog hits with elements like Earth, Poison, and Wind, but he doesn't really get the MP to contribute as much. Locke's probably the best choice since he probably has some of the best curing magic in the game later on, and the MP (and speed) to make use of it, though it also means one less relic slot to buff his physicals and his speed.



The next hide upgrade halves Earth and Wind damage and boosts Speed and Magic by 7. Unfortunately, the character wearing it doesn't turn into a moogle.



Finally, the bolt-absorbing shield that boosts Speed by 5 and Stamina by 3. More of these shields are great, since they're still the first shield upgrade since the Mythril Kite for a lot of characters.





...What are we even doing down here?
...What are we even doing down here?





As if the giant teddy bear, the sasquatch, the child raised by monsters, the gambler, and the ten-year-old girl weren't bad enough...
You know, your cynicism reminds me of my father...
...Welcome to the group, weird copycat person living in some random monster-infested cave!
Welcome to the group!
Yeah, go mimic the yeti's behavior and see if you'll regret your life choices by the end of it.

Instead of a vote, next time I'm going to do Locke's scenario and take care of the smaller quests (Doom Gaze, Opera House, Gau's Father, all that fun stuff).