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New intro for the 
OMNI RANGER I'm still playing the game blind except form what I learn form the other LPS in the thread, and from what I look up after the fact online. I played FFV over ten years ago, so I remember some stuff but no important detials, and certainly no AI scripts or anything that would help me substantially in a solo run. But now that I'm using other job abilities with the Ranger, I'll pause at the end of each episode to ask the goons to choose how I use those options at the start of the next episode. I'll switch things around to keep things interesting and moving forward in the middle of my posts, but I want to have some reader participation.
CRRRRRANK
Solo Ranger, Episode Nine:
Walker, Texas Time Lord
Last time, I gave the goons a few options to deal with Gilgamesh at the fleet and the Barrier Tower:
!Time
!Dark Arts
!Gaia
!Dance
The goons were again merciful in not voting for !Dark Arts, as apparently it is unusable until later in the game. I was just excited to try it out, but I'm not letting myself test anything out until I need to or until the goons vote for it. !Gaia got vetoed for being too like !Animals, and I'm totally ok with that. !Dance got nixed because I now have the Dancing Dagger.
Although I'm not using it right now because
That's right. I still have the Murder Bow, and I'm abusing it and the Bone Mail to murder Zombie Dragons for their sweet, sweet Dragon Fangs. I don't really need the levels, but I take a couple doing this anyway, and I get a nice damage bump at level 39. Walker is now over 1500 HP, and each !Rapid Fire hit deals about 400 damage (x4, no misses, no defense, 
). After the way into Drakenvale, the way out, and another ten minutes of grinding, I have 21 Dragon Fangs.
So now I'm switching to the goons' choice for the next part of the game:
I'm treated to a nice surprise when I switch to !Time: Walker's Magic goes from about 21 to 49:
I had no idea the active magic abilities gave such a boost. It makes them a lot cooler, I suppose, because it makes them more portable to other jobs. I equip the Hypno Crown and the Elf Mantle to boost my Magic and Magic Defense (because with the Bone Mail I don't need more physical defense at the moment). With 51 Magic, I test out Comet on a single cat on the way ot of Drakenvale, because Walker is nothing if no a serial killer at this point.
Not too shabby. It's no !Rapid Fire, but using !Time instead of !Rapid Fire means I'll need a comparable damage option here and there. I'm more interested in !Time for the effect magic, though, as I still remember that well from my game ten years ago.
And it's about to get some use:
code:
Gilgamesh (Human, Heavy)
HP: 8888
MP: 888
Vulnerable to Death, Blind, Old, Berserk, Silence, Slow.
AI Script:
Condition:V00=01{
{Fight,Missile,Fight}
{Fight,Fight,Specialty}
{Fight,DeathClaw,Fight}
}
Condition:HP < 6000{
No Interrupt{
Unhide Monster: Enkidou
Display Text: Gilgamesh: What took you so long?
Display Text: Enkidou: That old man...
Display Text: Gave me a bit of trouble...
Display Text: Gilgamesh: First aid...please!
Change Target: Enkidou
No-Damage Magic
}
}
{Fight,Fight,Specialty}
{Fight,Missile,Fight}
{Fight,Fight,Specialty}
{Fight,DeathClaw,Fight}
React:Death & Alone{
No Interrupt{
Display Text: Gilgamesh: Enkidou!
Display Text: I'll leave the rest to you!
Reverse Polarity
Display Text: Enkidou...
Display Text: Hey, don't leave me!!
Nothing
}
...
Enkidu (Human)
HP: 4000
MP: 1000
Immune to Earth.
Vulnerable to Death, Blind, Old, Berserk, Silence, Slow.
AI Script:
{Fight,Aero 2,Specialty}
{Vampire,Missile,Wind Slash}
{Fight,Fight,Specialty}
{Vampire,Thread,Wind Slash}
{Fight,Sonic Wave,WhiteWind}
React:Magic:No-Damage Magic{
Set V00=01
WhiteWind
}
This time, Gus can summon Enkidu, but they're both still heavily dependent on physical attacks so much that I'm not too concerned. I'd be even less concerned if I was still running !Rapid Fire, because odds are I'd instant-kill Gus before he summons Enkidu. But I'm running !time, so let's do this like a Time Mage.
I open with Haste, obviously. I also throw down Regen even though it sucks because I'm betting it won't trigger the Bone Mail and it might give me a bit of a healing factor that could help. (It doesn't matter, and I don't even notice if it works or not anyway).
I hammer Gus with Comet twice and I notice what I did forget about Time Magic: Comet halves its damage each time you hit an individual target. Not great for most bosses, but an alright opening salvo. I lay off it and use !Aim to do about 650 per hit to Gus. Each hit also has a small (apparently 8%) chance to kill him, but it doesn't trigger before he summons Enkidu:
I decide it's worth laying down a Slowga. I'm not looking up the AI Scripts until after I fight them, so I have no idea if either is immune.
Noice.
Both of them keep trying to hit me for about 30 damage, but miss about half of the time. Had I been using the Dark Bow, this may have been even worse, but the Murder Bow eventually pays off. I'm targeting Gus until I see Enkidu use Missile. It fails, but that's enough to spook me into switching to him. I hit him with Comet and then go to work with !Aim. Then suddenly:
Enkidu has a date with an aneurism any I finish off Gus shortly thereafter.
Real heroes need no sidekicks. 
Gilgamesh MK III
Walker's Level: 39
Deaths: 0
Time Magic Used: Haste, Regen, Comet, Slowga
I stick with !time throughout Barrier Tower, because why not? The Murder Bow seems to have a thirst for Reflect Knight souls, but I don't luck into a Reflect Ring easily. I start using Haste in a lot of random battles as a matter of course. The Level Trickers give me no end of shit since I hit level 40 in the tower and they use Level 4 Gravija. I just hope they don't have Level 5 Death.
I don't have any problems with the Red Dragon guarding the Blood Sword, because it never uses Atomic Ray. The next one, though...
I storm back over there, ready to feed that Red Dragon a steady diet of arrows, and I find this instead:
Ok, Walker. Don't panic. Lay down Haste, and start attacking--
Oh. You guys are vulnerable to instant death. 
And for my troubles: a Gold Hairpin that Walker can't use. This is what I get for flying blind.
I'm actually learning to hate this place. Most of the battles aren't giving Walker too much trouble, but they are just so costly. Level 4 Gravija, Hurricane, and Atomic Ray all do crazy amounts of damage and, when they aren't killing me, are obnoxious to recover from because I have to switch to !White after each battle to heal. I never did get a Reflect Ring, so I hope I don't need it for--
Ok, let's look up the AI Script:
code:
Atomos
HP: 19997
MP: 10000
Vulnerable to Sleep.
Condition:Status:Party Member1:Dead & Party Member1 Position=80{
Change Target:Party Member1
Wormhole
}
Condition:Status:Party Member2:Dead & Party Member2 Position=40{
Change Target:Party Member2
Wormhole
}
Condition:Status:Party Member3:Dead & Party Member3 Position=20{
Change Target:Party Member3
Wormhole
}
Condition:Status:Party Member4:Dead & Party Member4 Position=10{
Change Target:Party Member4
Wormhole
}
Condition:Status:Party Member:Dead{
{Pull,Pull,Pull}
Pull
Pull
{Pull,Pull,Slow2}
Pull
{Pull,Pull,Demi}
Pull
{Pull,Pull,Qrter}
Pull
{Pull,Pull,Old}
Pull
{Pull,Pull,Pull}
Pull
{Pull,Pull,Demi}
Pull
{Pull,Pull,Qrter}
Pull
}
{Comet,Comet,Nothing}+{Comet,Comet,Nothing}
Welp.
At goon behest, I switch to !Black for this one.
That'll give me access to Sleep and enough damage options that don't wake Atomos up to hopefully finish the job. I do equip the Dancing Dagger and amp up my Strength with other equipment, in case I want to go that route:
As the battle starts, I lay down Sleep and it works like a charm.
So far, so good. I try the Dancing Dagger, but it plain ol' attacks a few times amidst some Jitterbugs and Mysterious Dances that I have to put Atomos to sleep a few more times. I only get one Sword Dance before I quit that tactic for fear that I've let him stay awake too long:
I get him to sleep again and decide he's never going to wake up again. I spam Bio until he dies. Simple as that.
Aww yiss.
Atomos
Walker Level: 40
Deaths: 1
Time Magic Used: BLACK MAGIC
The first thing I do is switch back to !Time, because that was the goon choice, and I like it better anyway. BTW, I'm up to 4 Dark Matters. If and when I get around to using !Mix, someone is getting served.
Once I get the submarine, I go to every place except where the plot tells me to go, because Walker has an unquenchable thirst for loot.
Mistakes were made.
Eventually, I find my way to Moore:
Yes, that's right game. That's what I just said.
Here I find some new spells, some of which I'm now using, so cheers to that. I also find some new armor I largely don't need, and a new weapon:
The Elven Bow does significantly more damage than the Murder Bow, but it obviously lacks the murder function. What it does have is...
... A crit rate of about 10-15%. The Elven Bow seems to do the same amount of damage with a critical hit, regardless of the target's defense, so it's hitting for 1800-2000 per critical hit. I'm tempted to try it out with !Rapid Fire to see if it's crit rate will fire with it, and if it bypasses the adjusted damage on !Rapid Fire. If so, that would be scary. I stick with !Time on my way into and out of Ghido's Cave, though. I take the long way out to see if I can get the rare drop (Staff of Light, if memory from one of the other LPs serves) from the Metamorph. He's a joke, and the Aspics are actually healing me with Vampire (Bone Mail), so I can take my time. By the time I leave, I don't have the staff, but I leave anyway because grinding here kind of sucks.
Turtles, nature's jerks.
I find my to Moore (again) to advance the story. There's nothing left for me to get here, so I just stock up on Hi Potions. I'm still using !Time, and I'll stick with it until it fails me again. Access to Haste is almost as good as !Rapid Fire, and there's enough indirect offense that I can usually find something that works on an opponent in there. In short, !Time is the best of the three basic magic sets.
In the forest, I get another Elixir and a bunch of crap I can't use, including the Aegis Shield. Everything else is uneventful. the boss is another matter:
code:
Name: Seal Guardian
HP: 7777
MP: 10000MP
Absorbs Fire. Immune to Holy, Poison, Lightning, Ice.
Vulnerable to Death, Blind, Slow.
AI SCRIPT:
Condition:HP < 3000{
Change Target:Whole party
Fire3
}
{Fight,Fight,Specialty}
(The three more with different specialties but I'm not going to look them up because you get the idea)
I don't remember anything about this from ten years ago, but some of the LPs in the thread give me a general idea of wh8at's going on here. I don't look up which one is has what vulnerability, so I just wing it with Haste, !Aim, and the Elven Bow. It works alright until the first one I choose to pick on gets low on HP and switches to Aqua Rake.
I'm still wearing Bone Mail, which is making their physical attacks deal 0, and their critical hits deal 0-5. It's worth it for that, because if these things did 50-100 damage, they could overwhelm Walker by sheer numbers alone. I kill the triggered one as fast as possible, but by the time I do, Walker is down to about 750 HP. Because it's early in the morning when I'm doing this, I have a horrible lapse of judgment and use a Hi Potion, which brings Walker down to 250 or so (again, the Bone Mail). Having cocked it up so much already, I figure, "might as well see if there's a small chance that Elixirs don't do the same thing." it does, and reduces Walker to 3 HP. The remaining crystals keep trying to kill Walker, but they deal 0 damage repeatedly until he gets another turn. I finally snap out of my early morning daze and remember I'm running !Time. I don't have to deal with this bullshit. I cast Return.
So we're back to square one. I still think the Bone Mail is worth it, but I need to find a way to either kill them before they trigger, or kill them quickly after they trigger.
Luckily, I have just such a thing:
It's a gamble, because I don't know if they're vulnerable to instant death. Again, I'm flying blind, so I'm not reading the AI Scripts until after I've tried a few times. I am willing to take that chance, though, because I have about 6-7 attacks on one before it will get low enough in HP to start with its elemental attack. The Murder Bow has an 8% chance to kill an opponent if they are vulnerable, so I'll take that bet.
Thank you, FFV, for making a surprising number of your bosses vulnerable to instant death. One took four hits, the next took two, the next took four, and the last one (Earth, as it turns out), refused to die so easily. It dipped into its magic routine, and when I saw that it was Earth...
... I used !Time to Float, and the rest is history. I have to say, I'm feeling pretty resourceful between the clutch Return and Float.
Crystals
Walker Level: 42
Deaths: 1 0
Time Magic Used: Haste, Slowga, Return, Float
Oh, wait. You were mocking me.
Seriously, brah. New name. Get on that.
Unfortunately, Galuf is a Freelancer with no abilities, so this dumb shit happens immediately after:
Each hit did 80-230 damage. Finally, mercifully, the scripted battle ends:
-1 Old Man Corpse, +1 Young Lady Corpse, we get on with the show, in Exdeath's Castle.
Surprise! Everything is meat. Mmmmmmm
There are Reflect Mages in here, and I never got a Reflect Ring in Barrier Tower. I take a wild guess and check the bestiary for the entry on Reflect Mages. They don't drop Reflect Rings, but they do carry them to steal. So, I utilize Walker's Omni-ness and save myself some trouble later:
Got it on the second attempt.
More importantly, I found this in Exdeath's Castle:
Now that's what I've been looking for. What the Hayate Bow does is proc !Rapid Fire instead of Attack or !Aim about 25% of the time (as far as I can tell). Each hit is doing 900-1000 with !Aim, but it's dealing about 500 x 4 when it triggers !Rapid Fire. When Walker takes a couple of levels in the castle, he gets a damage bump at 43 or 44 and the bow is now doing about 1,100 per !Aim and 2,200 per !Rapid Fire. Not too shabby. It lets me hit multiple enemies and occasionally double my damage against a single enemy without sacrificing !Time. I get to have my cake and eat it too.
Next up, it's Gus:
And corpses!
code:
Gilgamesh (Human, Heavy)
HP: 55000
MP: 2000
Vulnerable to Slow.
Condition:V00=01{
Display Text: 'Makes me kinda happy...
{Hurricane,Fight,FrogSong}
Display Text: Gilgamesh: By the way...
Display Text: 'Where's that jolly old man?
Display Text: Cara: Exdeath...
Display Text: Gilgamesh: ... I see...
{Time Slip,Fight,Specialty}
Display Text: Gilgamesh: ...........
{Sonic Wave,Fight,TinySong}
Display Text: Gilgamesh: OK, this is
Display Text: 'the end of my warm-up!
Display Text: 'Gilgamesh Change!!
Unhide Monster: Gilgamesh (Morphed)
}
{Sonic Wave,Fight,TinySong}
{Strange Dance,Fight,Specialty}
{Flash,Fight,Specialty}
{Hurricane,Fight,FrogSong}
{Time Slip,Fight,Specialty}
{Rocket Punch,Fight,FrogSong}
Condition:HP < 42000 & V00=00 & HP Damage{
No Interrupt{
Display Text: Gilgamesh: So...
Display Text: 'Let's see...
Display Text: 'This is our fourth time, huh...
Set V00=01
{Flash,Fight,Specialty}
}
}
This one turns into a race to the bottom, much like a lot of battles in the past with !Rapid Fire. I'm still using Bone Mail, so I can't heal but Gus is only doing 50-100 damage to me. Without Haste and Slow, he probably could have outpaced me. I waste only one action trying Old on him (which fails). Otherwise, after Haste, I can't afford to do anything but spam !Aim until he dies. I end up winning the race, largely thanks to the Hayate Bow.
Imagine this, x4, forever.
Good night, sweet prince. You were too good for this dimension. 
Gilgamesh MK IV
Walker Level: 44
Deaths: 0
Time Magic Used: Haste, Slow, Old (no effect)
Before I go deal with Exdeath, I double back to take a crack at Carbuncle. I don't have any great options for dealing with him, but I luckily am still a Time Lord.
code:
NAME: Carbunkle (1st form)
LEVEL: 44
HP: 15000
MP: 10000
Condition:HP < 3000{
Change Target:Self
{Break,XZone,Doom}
Change Target:Self
{Break,XZone,Doom}
Change Target:Self
{Break,XZone,Doom}
Unhide Monster: Carbunkle (2nd form)
}
Condition:HP < 10000{
Change Target:Self
{Bio,Stop,Charm}
Change Target:Self
{Bio,Stop,Charm}
Change Target:Self
{Bio,Stop,Charm}
Unhide Monster: Carbunkle (2nd form)
}
Change Target:Self
{Ice 2,Fire2,Bolt2}
Change Target:Self
{Ice 2,Fire2,Bolt2}
Change Target:Self
{Ice 2,Fire2,Bolt2}
Unhide Monster: Carbunkle (2nd form)
...
NAME: Carbunkle (2nd form)
Cure2
Unhide Monster: Carbunkle (1st form)
Carbuncle is a pain in the ass. His defense is ridiculously high, and he can pay down 400+ damage per magic attack. Something Waker is wearing (my guess is the Tiger Mask) is making him strong against ice but weak against fire, so Firaga is a problem...
... While Blzzaga is much less so:
Meanwhile, Walker's !Aim is doing only 350 damage unless I get a !Rapid Fire out of the Hayate Bow. Then it ignores his stupid defense and deals over 2,200 damage when all is said and done. That will only win a race if I get really lucky and not get hit with Firaga. If I had it to do over again, I'd equip something else and have no strength or weakness, and take my chances with the 400 damage he's doing with Thundaga. but I have what I have, so I have to at least find a way to see it through until one of us dies.
My strategy is simple: I cast Return if he uses Firaga too early in the fight.
I can literally do that forever. If he does it in the first three actions, I cast Return:
I do this five times before I get a string of Blzzagas from him, while the Hayate Bow procs !Rapid Fire twice in my first three attacks. I'm feeling pretty good about this timeline, so I stick with it.
But, when Carbuncle gets low on HP, he starts doing a few new things. He casts Cura, which only heals for under 200, so I'm not worried about that. That also drops his defense temporarily, and I can hit him for over 1,000 with !Aim once or twice. After that, he casts Death, which gives Walker a convenient full heal (again, Bone Mail) when he's getting low on HP:
But the thing that is going to make this battle not worth the time is Banish. There's nothing I can do about Banish killing me but hope he doesn't use it or hope he misses. I get one miss out of him before he tries again and succeeds:
I was sitting pretty before that, having been healed by Death ( 
) and having put a lot of damage on him at that point. I think I could kill him, but there's just too many variables that have to fall into place that it's going to take me way more time than its worth. I don't want to shy away from the challenge, but my time is more valuable than this. Soooooo....
That's singular "kid" to you, mister. 
Carbuncle
Walker Level: 44
Deaths: 1
Time Magic Used: BLACK MAGIC
So we're back to Exdeath, and we're in for a wild ride because I'm not going to look up his AI Script until I die at least once:
code:
Exdeath (Heavy)
HP: 32768
MP: 32768
Weak to Holy. Immune to Poison.
"Vulnerable" to Slow.
Condition:HP < 16000{
No Interrupt{
{Fight,Specialty,Nothing}
{Fire3,Bolt3,Fight}
}
No Interrupt{
{Fire3,Fight,Specialty}
{Ice 3,Fight,Nothing}
}
No Interrupt{
{Ice 3,Fight,Nothing}
{Bolt3,Fight,Specialty}
}
}
Condition:HP < 7000{
{Meteo,Meteo,Fight}
{Fire3,Ice 3,Bolt3}
{Fight,Fight,Specialty}
}
{Fight,Condemn,Condemn}
{Dynamo,Dynamo,Specialty}
{Gravity 100,Demi,Fight}
{Fight,Fight,Specialty}
{Earth Shaker,Earth Shaker,Fight}
{Flame,Fight,Specialty}
{Hurricane,Hurricane,Fight}
{Zombie Breath,Zombie Breath,Specialty}
{Fight,Bio,Fight}
{L3 Flare,L3 Flare,Specialty}
React:Physical{
Change Target:?
{Dispel,Nothing,Nothing}
}
React:Magic:Slow{
Haste
}
React:Magic:Slow2{
Haste
}
Ok, let's get this party st--
Hopefully Haste won't interfere with the count...
*Halves the count to 14 immediately*
BALLS. Well, maybe it will just heal me at the end like Death...
FUCK.
Looks like I need a different tactic, right from the start. I'll try that Reflect Ring to give myself a chance to get started in the fight. Gotta solve one problem at a time, and right now that looks like Doom.
~One short battle later~
*Brushing the ashes of Walker's previous clone off my shirt* So, yeah, reflect, as it turns out, does not prevent Doom. One silver lining on this second failed run at Exdeath is that I learned he doesn't always open with Doom. That means I can use Return to Quantum Leap dat shit if he tries it again.
The third time around, I don't have to use Return to undo his Doom because he opens with a regular ol' physical attack for about 140. I'll take it. I lay down Haste and get to work with !Aim. The Hayate Bow procs !Rapid Fire a couple times in my first few attempts, so we're looking good. Exdeath keeps trying Reverse Polarity to pull Walker forward, but with Haste I have enough actions to move back again and hit him without wasting time. Exdeath goes to Earth Shaker, which I should have anticipated and just had Float running at the start of the combat. Honestly, I forgot about it because I had it running to deal with the lava floors, but the cottage I used at the save point "cured" the status. I throw down Float, for what little good it does me now. My guess is his AI script is so long he won't get back around to Earth Shaker until I'm dead. I hang in there for a while and pummel him with about 12 or so !Aim attacks, about 4 of which proc !Rapid Fire instead. That's a big difference. Walker is doing about 750 with !Aim, and about 2,200 with !Rapid Fire. Without knowing what his HP is, there's no way for me to know if it's possible (I doubt it) to throw on !Rapid Fire and go crazy in a race to the bottom of his HP, just like Gus. So after he eventually wears me down and kills me because I have no way to heal, it's time for me to look at the AI Script.
~Hold Musak~
Ok. He has about 32,000 HP, so that would mean about 15 !Rapid Fires. I got lucky and did really well with that third try, and he killed me in about 15 of my actions. But that was with Haste running, which I would not have if I subbed out !Time for !Rapid Fire. So that's not a good option. I would get pasted and he'd still have 6,000-10,000 HP.
Oh, and his AI script is a pile of bullshit, but that's beside the point.
I may be at a point where I have to take a page out of Walter's play book and use !Mix. I haven't done it yet, and I have the resources to make it as broken as I need it to be for this battle. Then again, I might have a few other options, so I'll pause at Exdeath's doorstep and leave it up to the goons again. As I see it, based on what I know and what I've seen ITT, here are my best options to dealing with Exdeath as a Ranger, probably in this order of effectiveness:
!Mix (Chemist)
!Throw (Ninja)
!Zeninage (Samurai)
!Predict (Oracle)
Please vote for one of the above, because I don't see anything else working worth a damn. Even the above are going to require a considerable amount of luck. I'll be playing again on Thursday afternoon, so I'll take a final tally then.
Walker's Level: 44
Total Deaths: 59
Animal Friends: 6 (Rabbit, Squirrel, Bees, Nightingale, Flying Squirrel, Falcon)
(Yes, I know that I probably got access to a new animal friend at level 40. I'll show it off next time, when I'm not so neck-deep in mortal combat that I can go to !Animals again.)