Part 131: Low-Level Run - Chapter 13

Last time, Aerated was murdered by Sixshot, who accessed his secret seventh Wingwolf form to kill the city commander.




So...


Go literally the other way. Good plan.


It was for this Elemental materia, which I forgot on my first trip and desperately need.


I also pick this up. Since Taft is a fixed feature of the team, it may come in handy some day.


Also this. Elemental immunities are my bread and butter.


At Icicle Inn this is the only notable purchase. Somehow I'm worried about running out of Ether money. CLOUD will get a wonderful weapon soon enough, Clispaeth has the Viper Halbred and Javelin, and Ice T can work with the Blue M-Phone from Wutai.


I also get some Tents as inns are few and far between for the next bit.


Chekov's Refreshment.


And I don't even bother to talk to anyone before stealing mandatory items. CLOUD is an adventure game protagonist.


"Honey that is a terrible name."


Oh no how will I ever avoid her punch


Oh man how did I ever avoid her punch


Anyway I just cannot get over how the crossdressing stuff stays in the key items menu the entire game. Also the Keystone is still there even though it's completely irrelevant.


OW SHIT


FUCK OW


GODDAMMIT OUCH


AAAAUUUGGHH


OOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWW


I am terrible at snowboarding.


And CLOUD died from multiple concussions.


Anyway, though the Great Glacier has numerous treasures I will ignore all but one of them. The rest are simply irrelevant to someone whose average level will be below 30 by the end of the game.


Instead I get this Elixir.


Eighteen times.


It'd be more but CLOUD died again from exposure and multiple concussions.


Still, not a bad haul. Those Elixirs will be useful for a long time.


Yes I know the sto-


Fucker!


This move has way too long of an animation but it's not very dangerous.


Stilva desperately wants to be my friend but since he rewards 1000 EXP upon death I have to run from him.


More elemental absorption stuff!


Oh.

These things.

You know the fight over 2nd hardest part of the LLG is extremely intense? These guys are the current leader. Far more annoying than Demon's Gate.


Because they accompanied by all these fucking bats!


Fuuuuuuuuuuuuck these bats! They've got a reasonably strong non-elemental magic attack that can mute, are decently fast, and there are four of the shitheads!

They'd be enough of a problem normally except I can't kill them!


So I have to whittle away the Icicle's 3000 HP while not hitting the oh so fragile bats (who only have 740 HP each), all the while getting pelted by Ultrasounds and the icicle has a 1/2 chance of using a fantastically strong physical attack in reaction to damage.

Of course, this time it died before Clispaeth so I have to start alllllllllll over!


Eventually, I try assorted things like

• Choco/Mog to paralyze a few of the bats, since it doesn't hurt enough to kill them
  
• Using Gravity and Earth things to hit the Icicle on its weakness
  
• Limit Breaks, as they have priority and the battle ends as soon as the Icicle dies.
  

The reason I can't kill the bats is because if the Icicle dies first, the bats don't give EXP rewards.

Of course the Icicle itself gives 500 EXP so I can't just blitz it, I need Taft and Clispaeth to fall first. All the while four goddamn bats are trying, and usually succeeding, at murdering CLOUD.


This is the first. Of four. Fuck.


I stole a T/S Bomb somewhere along the line so I throw it and it deals around 2300 damage. If I knew that'd work I would've stole more!



After two Icicles, Clispaeth goes to the reserve while Ice T gets to not get EXP.


I never knew that, despite being around 20 levels lower than what I'd be normally, Comet would still be a lifesaver.


Eventually I get all the goddamn Icicles. I think I let this last one go as I can avoid it and therefore must.


And CLOUD gets his weapon of choice for most of the disc. Eight materia slots is too many to ignore, especially since his physical attack is mostly useless anyway.


The prettiest glow is a free heal, next to a save point. I'd get more Dragon Armlets but they're drops from Blue Dragons, not steals.


And now, a boss!


(yoink)


CLOUD's got the Fire Ring, Aurora Armlet, Elemental+Earth, and Elemental+Ranch. Right Breath doesn't hurt, Left Breath and Double Breath are full heals, and Tremor and Left/Right Breath 2 are resisted.


Earth-elemental Tremor is used as a reaction to every 5th hit, and Lightning-elemental Left/Right Breath 2 are on-death counterattacks. Ice T hits the Right head with Comet to make it fall first, as the Left head is CLOUD's source of healing.


By waiting for Schizo to heal CLOUD for me after Tremor, it's easy enough to have enough HP left to survive the on-death attacks. Right Arms and Aqualung are good for killing. It'd be possible to run Schizo out of MP, but the lightning attacks don't use any, and Tremor is too minor of a nuisance to be worth it.


And for that, CLOUD gets enough EXP to make having Aerated be the sole survivor of disc 1's bosses seem like an extremely minor nitpick.

NEXT TIME: a wonderful animated gif.