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Ginkei the Ikaruga (White/Black) Mage - Stage 1 - Ideal
So I have kinda hyped the idea up already, but it's time to come to fruition. Ginkei is the name of the second player's ship in Ikaruga. Ikaruga is a beloved top-down shmup that has a very core gameplay mechanic - chaining. There are dark-attuned and light-attuned enemies in the game, and they shoot projectiles based on their attunement. You can absorb projectiles that are the same attunement as yourself, but you blow up if you touch opposite attuned projectiles. Chaining basically says that you kill 3 enemies of the same attunement, you start a chain. You continue to kill enemies in triplicate color sets and you continue your chain.
Ginkei will work similarly. She'll have both master White and Black magic at her disposal, but unless failure to do so would result in death, she will chain - that is, if I use a !White spell, I'm locked in to White magic for three spellcasts. Ditto for Black magic.
This is also not going to be as in-depth as Walter's run - I'm mostly going to just provide boss videos and key stats along the way. Without further ado, let's get this game on.
Wing Raptor
Level: 7
Max Chain: 5
Deaths: 0
RATING: A
Commentary: Nothing to it, really. Just MP conversation at the end instead of starting a white chain (or dying).
Karlabos
Level: 14
Max Chain: 1
Deaths: 13
RATING: F
Commentary: Fuck this fight in solos. Period. Had to grind to 14 to hit a Magical M of 7 to have the damage to kill him in three Thunders, because sticking around for much longer is just stupid.
Siren
Level: 14
Max Chain: 1
Deaths: 1
RATING: C
Commentary: First pull I got Slowed off the hop and never really recovered. The video above shows what happens when you're level 14 and don't get Slowed immediately. C rank is because of the death.
Magissa and Forza
Level: 14
Max Chain: 9
Deaths: 0
RATING: S
Commentary: Nothing to it. I goofed my timing just a bit (and was in a black chain besides) and let Regen get on Forza, but oh well.
On the fly, I rule during the Garula fight that the Healing Staff counts as a White Magic spell for chain purposes. That means no bonking myself in the middle of a Black chain, again, unless it would avoid the end of an attempt that's nearly finished. Confusion-resulting self-bonks will not count for this rule.
Garula
Level: 14
Max Chain: MAX CHAIN (13)
Deaths: 0
RATING: S+
Commentary: So yeah, I ruled on the fly that the Healing Staff counts like casting Cura, and thus A) can only be done in White Chains or B) starts a White Chain. This shouldn't complicate matters too much.
Liquid Flame
Level: 17
Max Chain: 5
Deaths: 0
RATING: A
Commentary: Had to do some funny shit to deal with the Hand form being immune to Ice. Some futile spells got thrown around mostly to keep a chain. Still got the Flame Bow. :smugikaruga:
Iron Claw (sorta)
Level: 18
Max Chain: 1
Deaths: 0
RATING: B
Commentary: Only got a handful of elixirs, Esuna, and the Ribbon out of the Karnak 500. Technically I didn't need anything more than that, though.
Ifrit
Level: 18
Max Chain: 2
Deaths: 3
RATING: D
Commentary: Jesus christ Fira hits hard. Thank goodness for his susceptibility to Confuse, letting me end any White chain in relative safety and proceed to the attack.
Byblos
Level: 18
Max Chain: 3
Deaths: 3
RATING: D
Commentary: Haha, I am so glad I got that Poison to stick because holy shit do you basically have to live in White polarity for this.
Next time: The rest of World 1.