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Solo Ranger, Episode Eleven:
Faris, Texas Cheater

Walker, Texas Ranger Lever: work your magic!



So I'm going to do as many of the endgame side quests as I can stand before I go into The Void.

First up, it's the Island Shrine.

Not much of note here. I switch to !Rapid Fire to try it out with Walker's new Yoichi bow, and it yields promising results:



That's a yield of up to 8,000 damage if all of the hits crit, but more likely it's closer to 5,000-6,000. More importantly, it lets Walker spread things out again, which helps with the encounters in this place. There's a lot of encounters with three or more opponents, but they all have about 2,000-3,000 HP.



Between !Rapid Fire and the initiative from the Hermes Sandals, Walker doesn't even suffer a single attack form most of these combats. I don't even know what some of these enemies can do, and I'll never find out. Walker is swift and lethal. I should probably be running form everything to sharpen the Chicken Knife and to keep my level down, but I don't. I'll probably get sick of random encounters later in these side quests, so there will be plenty of time to work on the Chicken Knife.

Then there's this guy:



code:

Wendigo
HP: 20000
MP: 8192
Absorbs Water.
Immune to Earth.
Vulnerable to Blind, Sleep, Slow.

AI Script:
Condition:Status:All Enemies:??{
     No Clue
     }
{MindBlst,Nothing,Nothing}
{Fight,Nothing,Nothing}
{Hurricane,Nothing,Nothing}
{Fight,Nothing,Nothing}
{Charm,Nothing,Nothing}
{Fight,Nothing,Nothing}
Stalker Attack
Condition:?? & Status:Self:?? & React:Magic??{
     Blaze
     }
React:HP Damage{
     Stalker Attack
     }


That's a lot of "nothing" in his AI script. As far as I can tell, each false copy gets the same script, so that's probably the idea behind all that nonsense. Not much of this matters, because Walker isn't going to use magic attacks, and he's not using Bone Mail so I can heal him in case this runs long. Hurricane hits me once and I have to use an elixir, but other than that, Walker just spams !Rapid Fire. There are a few times where !Rapid Fire hit the false copies and revealed the real copy by process of elimination, so I went to !Aim to hit it before it switched positions again. That was the only thing I did besides spam The Win Button, !Rapid Fire.

Wendigo
Walker Level: 49
Deaths: 0

I get a tablet and Fork Tower opens up as well. I don't bother going to the Sealed Castle because all of those weapons are worthless to Walker.

I head straight for Fork Tower.

I send Walker up the right side, toward the physical stuff. I'm still going with classic Ranger and !Rapid Fire, and I have a feeling I'm going to do that for much of the rest of the game. I'll try it on Exdeath to see if I can kill him without Omni Ranger options, but we'll get to that later. Here's how Walker is geared up:



I don't use the Bone Mail because I may need to heal. I don't know anything about the boss atop this tower besides the hint his widdle brudduh said in the Pyramid when I killed him. (He had the heart of a champion smile:. I don't want to take any chances losing a war of attrition with some giant brick of meat and HP.

But as it turns out, The Win Button continues to rule the day:



This x 4 x a bunch of times.



Minotaur
Walker Level: 49
Deaths: 0

So, now I'm left to deal with the left side of the tower. Instead of resetting and sending Walker up that side, I took Alabaster White's suggestion and made Faris a Mystic Knight and sent her up the magic side of the tower. With the Reflect Ring, that was a much safer bet than sending a level 10 character up the other side of the tower. Here was her load-out:



My thinking is, in the unlikely event that anything throws a physical attack at me, the Mirage Vest will absorb it long enough for me to run. Faris is level 10, by the way, because of a couple of encounters that ended with her zombified. At this point, a level 10 Faris is still a one-hit kill for anything in this tower as much as a level 3 Faris, so I don't really care. I don't plan on her getting hit. Between the Reflect Ring, he Aegis Shield, and the Mirage Vest, I shouldn't have to take a hit until I get to the boss.

As for her abilities, she'll get Spellblade and...



Nothing. I'm not going to apply any cheats or grind for anything to beat Omniscient. I got this.

Faris' ascent is uneventful except for one snafu with an instant death attack. Otherwise, she one-hits everything with physical attacks, even at level 10. I only run into a couple of random encounters anyway, so now it's on to the main event:



code:

Omniscient
HP: 16999
MP: 30000
Weak to Air.
Vulnerable to Blind, Old, Paralyze, Berserk, Silence, Stop, Slow.

AI Script:
Condition:HP < 4000{
     {Bolt3,Fire3,Ice 3}
     }
{Cure,Fire,Slow}
{Scan,Ice,Regen}
{Mute,Venom,Haste}
{Size,Float,Nothing}
{Cure2,Toad,Demi}
{Charm,Fire2,Stop}
{Bolt2,Ice 2,Qrter}
{Wall,Drain,Bio}
React:Death{
     Flare
     }
React:Physical (exception:Steal) {
     Reset
     }


See all that code? Yeah, just about none of that matters. What matters is that React script:

React:Physical > Reset

He'll counter any physical attack with Reset, AKA Return. But regardless of which Spellblade I'm using, it counts as a physical attack. With no other ability to go to, it looks like I'm going to have to get creative.



Oh, that's too simple. I could just spam Silence Blade for the whole fight, but that's not enough. I want to beat Omniscient at his own game. And by that I mean, I want to break the AI script.







So far, so good. Silence should last for three or four of Faris' actions. If I stick with Silence, I could get stab him to death, but that's no fun. So let's see what else is in my bag of tricks:







That's MP loss, BTW. Yeah, I'm going to kill Omniscient like all the cool kids kill ATMA in FFVI: I'm going to deplete his MP. Theoretically, if I run him low enough on MP, he won't be able to cast Return. But here's the problem:

Return costs 1 MP.

Having spammed Return before to save Walker from the Crystal boss, I know how broken it can be. It resets your HP and MP (as well as the opponent's), and it only costs 1 MP. So if I'm going to do this thew way I want, I need to get him down to exactly 0 MP, and do it without letting him cast Return once, or else I lose all my progress. That means I'll have to swap between Silence, which should shut him up for three or four actions, and Osmose between those actions. Osmose has diminishing returns, though, as it steals a percentage of his MP. That's why the above images go from stealing 7400 to 4200.

As I get to work switching between Silence Blade and Osmose Blade, I screw up twice and allow him to cast Return in response to an Osmose. I just let it run too long. four actions is my safe bet, and I'm not willing to risk a fifth. So, Faris' actions are:

code:

Silence Blade
Attack
Osmose Blade (1)
Attack (2)
Attack (3)
Attack (4)
Silence Blade
Attack
(Repeat)


Along the way, Omniscient does just a couple things of consequence. He casts all sorts of bull crap that bounces off the Reflect Ring. He casts Reflect on himself, but his AI can never figure out the Reflect trick (to bounce a spell of one's own Reflect, to foil a foe's Reflect). This scrub probably never beat the Magi Master. The only thing he does that sticks in my craw is cast Regen on himself. I have half a mind to let him have a Return just to undo it, but I just deal with it. It's a legitimate problem (well, a nuisance, really) because Faris is dealing such a small amount of damage. He regens 150 HP for every three of Faris' actions, and Faris is only dealing 250 damage per hit with the Assassin Dagger. It's the strongest weapon I can give her, since I didn't think to buy any swords. BOWS OR DEATH.

But the plan works. I stick to my own script and I get used to a lot of this:





But then, a glimpse of light at the end of the tunnel:





Oh yes. Osmose is getting rough now, though. He has so little MP, that it starts to do nothing:



I discontinue it and stick to Silence. I have to let him run himself out of the last of his MP. The Fire and Blizzard at the top of his script help him use up the small amount of MP he has left. a few more silences Returns, and I get this:







I switch to BIo Blade, because why not? Nothing really adds any damage to him. I don't have access to the only elemental weakness he has (Air). I do try different weapons, including the Thief Knife:



...And a few others, but the Assassin Dagger is still my best bet. I could have planned my equipment options better, I suppose. I still don't have an answer to his regeneration, other than knifing him to death. Omniscient does his best Julius Caesar impression, and finally, after about five minutes of spamming attacks:

[Pretend I didn't fail to screen cap his react:death Flare here]







You earned it, Captain.

Omniscient
Walker Faris Level: 10
Deaths: 0
Omniscient's MP: 0



So that was pointless, but fun. More importantly, I have Holy and Flare, so Walker's Omni Ranger options just got real, especially with !White. If push comes to shove, and vanilla Ranger options can't cut it at Exdeath, I am confident that I can do the job with !Aim and !White.

But I would be nice to have !Time as a legitimate option, too. That means...

MORE SIDE QUESTS

With the submarine, I have access to a couple more places. I can still go to Phoenix Tower and North Mountain too, since I have the Black Chocobo.

First I head for Istory Falls.

I get a bunch of loot from the falls, most of which I can't use or already have. If Walker had any living friends, I bet he would be real happy.

The only item of any consequence that I get is the Artemis Bow. It hits arder than the Yoichi Bow, but it doesn't have a criitcal hit rate (as far as I can tell). I try it out for a while, but then I switch back to the Yoichi Bow because it puts out about 1,500 more damage on average with !Rapid Fire.

I also screw up navigating the falls and backtrack a bunch before I figure out that I need to fall in one last hole to get to the tablet and Leviathan.



Wait a minute. "Fourth?" Well, I did this out of order. Whatever.



This is a goddamn riot. I SERVE EXDEATH. MONSTER DIMENSION BLAH BLAH. YOU'RE GOING TO--



code:

Leviathan
HP: 40000
MP: 2000
Weak to Lightning.
Absorbs Water.
Immune to Earth, Fire.
Vulnerable to Blind, Silence, Slow.

AI Script:
{Fight,Fight,Specialty}
{Fight,Fight,Specialty}
No Interrupt{
     {Fight,Specialty,Tidal Wave}
     {Fight,Tidal Wave,Tidal Wave}
     }
{Fight,Fight,Specialty}
{Fight,Tidal Wave,Specialty}
{Fight,AquaRake,AquaRake}
No Interrupt{
     {Tidal Wave,Tidal Wave,Specialty}
     {Specialty,Fight,Tidal Wave}
     }
{Fight,Tidal Wave,Specialty}
{Fight,Fight,Specialty}
No Interrupt{
     {Fight,Specialty,Tidal Wave}
     {Fight,Specialty,Tidal Wave}
     }
React:Magic{
     {Tidal Wave,Nothing,Nothing}
     }
React:Physical{
     {Entangle,Nothing,Nothing}
     }


That's a lot of cool stuff. His 1/3 chance to paralyze Walker with Entangle is nullified by Hermes Sandals. Walker is never going to use magic in the fight, so Tidal Wave is less of a problem. He never actually uses his signature attack, so I don't know how much it would have done. He just baps me for 400-500 with his tail a bunch of times. In summary:



Eight !Rapid Fires and one elixir are all it takes. In hindsight, I could have survived without the elixir, but I didn't want to take any chances.

Leviathan
Walker Level: 50
Deaths: 0

I have a fourth third useless tablet and Leviathan. I should probably find the actual third tablet.

On my way out, I switch to !Animals to see what I got at level 50. I run into a bunch of druids and things go well, if slowly for a while.









But I finally get the new animal friend to show up:



It has a little baby!



It's a Wild Boar, and I'm suspect about that damage. Falcon is apparently percentage-based, but the Boar did less damage. I'm thinking it just has a wild swing to it's range, so maybe it can hit pretty hard. It's nowhere close to !Rapid Fire, so it's still not attractive, but it is what it is.

But between Skunk and Flying Squirrel showing up regularly now, i am able to spam !Animals about a dozen times without incident. I'm still trying to get Wild Boar one more time to get a screen cap of its title when--





One of the druids snaps out of paralysis and uses Encircle. I didn't even know these dinks had it in them. Well, at least I saved right outside Istory Falls, so I don't have to backtrack at all.

So I switch back to !Rapid Fire and get to the Undersea Trench.

Man, Mega64 wasn't lying. This place sucks. The first thing I discover rocks me to the core of my being, because it seems to defy the laws of nature. One could even say THE LAWS OF THE UNIVERSE ARE MEANINGLESS:



What is this nonsense? Goddamnit, game, I'm supposed to be able to cheat and ignore defense with !Rapid Fire. I killed Melusine and Prototypes at will with the damn thing. Why do these guys get a free pass? What happened to my cheating?

In addition to the inexplicable damage reduction that seemingly everything in this place has, some of them cast Doom, and some of them (according to Mega64) can use Encircle or something similar. I don't stick around long enough to find out. I win a couple of battles and that takes me long enough to know they aren't worth it, so I run from everything from here on out. I get some more nearly worthless treasure, and I make some use of Light Step to minimize how stupid this place is.

Then:



Um.... Oh, never mind.

Anyway, The Dwarves don't offer anything I don't already have, so we're onto the rest of the dungeon. I get the Kaiser Knuckles, and then...



I don't check the AI script at first and I go into the fight with the Yoichi Bow, Black Cowl, Black Garb, and Hermes Sandals. I'm running !Rapid Fire. The Win Button gets me pretty far, but when they start in on their strongest attacks, Walker gets overwhelmed. Their best attacks in terms of damage are staggered, so one gets a shot at it on the second turn, another on the third turn, and the third one gets it on the fourth turn. That sucks for Walker.



I switch to the Protect Ring, thinking a boost to magic defense and constant regeneration might help against more of their stuff than a Reflect Ring. I'm still not against trying the Reflect Ring, but I probably will if and when I die again. The second go-around is slower because I'm not using the Hermes Sandals. I'm more careful so I chug an elixir before one of them tries to kill me with a Firaga. But it's not good enough. Eventually, they overwhelm me again.



So let's check the AI script:

code:

Triton
HP: 13333
MP: 10000
Weak to Ice.
Absorbs Fire.
Vulnerable to Death, Stone, Poison, Blind, Old, Sleep, Paralyze, Confuse, Silence, Stop.

AI Script:
Condition:Status:Enemy:Dead{
     Unhide Monster: 
     Delta Attack
     }
{Fight,Fight,Nothing}
Change Target:Whole party
{Fire3,Fire3,Nothing}
{Fight,Fight,Emission}
{Fight,Fire3,Fight}

...

Nereid
HP: 13333
MP: 10000
Weak to Fire.
Absorbs Ice.
Vulnerable to Death, Stone, Poison, Blind, Old, Sleep, Paralyze, Confuse, Silence, Stop.

AI Script:
Condition:Status:Enemy:Dead{
     Unhide Monster: 
     Delta Attack
     }
{Fight,Fight,Nothing}
{Snowstorm,Snowstorm,Nothing}
{Fight,Fight,Blaze}
{Fight,Ice 3,Fight}

...

Phobos
HP: 13333
MP: 10000
Weak to Earth.
Absorbs Poison.
Vulnerable to Death, Stone, Poison, Blind, Old, Sleep, Paralyze, Confuse, Silence, Stop.

AI Script:
Condition:Status:Enemy:Dead{
     Unhide Monster: 
     Delta Attack
     }
{Fight,Fight,Nothing}
Change Target:Whole party
{Bio,Bio,Nothing}
{Fight,Fight,Rainbow Wind}
{Fight,Bio,Fight}


Lots of things I like to see (vulnerabilities, in particular), but a lot of things that are a hot mess for Walker. Their Delta Attack script is going to be a problem. I say "going to be," because I didn't manage to kill one in my first two tries. I came pretty close, but I didn't know it at the time. I'm satisfied with my damage output with the Yoichi Bow and !Rapid Fire, but I just need to protect myself against more of this junk. I see enough stuff in the script to give the Reflect Ring a spin.

I don't even need to make use of the Reflect until two of them are just about dead. Ironically, I luck out more this time than in my first two tries. The real test is going to be Delta Attack:







Aww yiss. The Delta Attack either one-hit kills them, or they come back with almost no HP. Either way, it's just a couple cycles of that until the last one I haven't killed yet finally dies with his brothers.



Triton, Nereid, and Phobos
Walker Level: 51
Deaths: 2

We get the third fourth tablet, and also...

METEOR

Now I have two magic school options to deal with Exdeath: !White and !Time. Both of them need a powerful damage option to go over the top. Meteor hits harder than !Rapid Fire (I'm guessing), and Holy hits one target hard. But in any case, I'm going to try to stick with Ranger options as long as possible.

Before I go to Phoenix Tower and North Mountain, I'm going to clean up some loose ends:

Gogo:



(I forgot the game auto-equipped me with the Cursed Ring when I switched to !Time to teleport out of the Undersea Trench. smile:



There, that's better.

Odin:





Some miscellany:









And I finish clearing out the Sealed Castle of the legendary weapons. I've been running from junk since the Undersea Trench, and the Chicken Knife is up to 90 attack power. Still a way to go, but not bad considering I haven't made a concerted effort toward it yet.

Next up: Bahumut.







Shit. I honestly thought this was going to be a brawl. Six !Rapid Fires with quite a bit of luck on the critical hits brought down the big guy. Welp.

Lastly, I tackle Phoenix Tower.

I've done everything else, so I might as well. I go in thinking it'll be a chance to charge up the Chicken Knife a bit more, if nothing else. Turns out you can't run from battles here. And this place is goddamn huge. It's 30 short levels, with an encounter rate of about one per two levels. There's also a hidden door gimmick here, some of which trigger yet more mandatory encounters:







I'm spamming !Rapid Fire the whole time, and I never find out what half of these things can do. One of them pops off a Roulette (which misses) near the beginning, so I get spooked and switch to the Bone Mail, but it never happens again. That's the most I have to do about anything in here. There isn't even a boss at the top, so I pick up Phoenix (which I'll never use) and teleport out.



Oh, and I don't bother with the Magic Jars. I need my Elixirs, thank you very much. Luckily, I remember enough about the game to remember their gimmick (probably because it is in other FF games as well). Basically, you can chuck them an Elixir (or several) and get 100 ABP.

Speaking of which, I make one last visit to Mirage to stock up on Elixirs. I sell some stuff...







...And get enough Gil to buy 3 more Elixirs. I could sell more, but I doubt it would amount to another Elixir. I am carrying one of a lot of crap I'm not going to use, but whatever. I also stock up on consumables:



As I've said before, a scout Ranger is always prepared (to melt optional bosses with !Mix). Not pictured: 16 Dark Matter.

I think that's it. Walker is at level 52 by the time I get out of Phoenix Tower, which is higher than I wanted him to be by the end of the game. I got a damage bmp at level 51, so the Yoichi Bow is doing about 2,400 per hit, without critical hits. It does 4,800-10,000 with !Rapid Fire. I'll probably run from just about every random encounter in The Rift, so we'll see how high the Chicken Knife gets. AS a point of Ranger pride, I might try to beat Exdeath with a bow, but I'm not above pairing the Chicken Knife with !Rapid Fire if it comes to that.

The next update will be the last one, win or lose. Walker has a ton of bosses to his way through. We'll see about Omega and Shinryu...

Walker's Current Level: 52
Total Deaths: 69
Animal Friends: 8 (Rabbit, Squirrel, Bees, Nightingale, Flying Squirrel, Falcon, Skunk, Wild Boar)
Omniscient's MP: Still 0, motherfucker