How far should I grind in each area?

Post by **Mastertrek** » Mon Sep 16, 2019 11:05 pm

Most Final Fantasy games give good enough challenge. I found that I was usually strong enough to take on most bosses just by going from town to dungeon and next town while grinding a bit for new equipment. Optional Bosses require additional grinding to level 99 unless a player knows exactly how to deal with the Boss. But, at one game (FF XIII) getting everything needed for Ultimate equipment was a pain to go through. I liked that game but it had one big issue for me: No Towns. And it was too linear with not much else to do.

FF X had mini-games, several things to keep player busy and Yuna. I really love the story.

FF XII had cool ATB gameplay, all enemies were visible on the field so usually you could get past everything without the "Escape chance" Factor that most retro games have.. Not complaining about it. Also, there's the very big early area for easy Chain enemies (takes some hours to get level 50 in said area but beating bosses very fast afterwards feels great.. At least at the Second playthrough as the first playthrough should always be done the intended way. I found that Bomb MiniBoss was a very tough one to beat.

A note about Dragon's Blade : I found out (The Hard Way) that fleeing from battles makes party lose some gold. Like I had 10k Gold from Slots and bought copper key to unlock chest and then I tried my luck with the Larkwood instance (Level 9, I'm fleeing from battles because I know the dungeon becomes harder every level up) in hopes for Seeds.

AdJoMa · Post by **AdJoMa** » Mon Sep 16, 2019 11:18 pm

What characters does your party consist of?

Post by **Mastertrek** » Mon Sep 16, 2019 11:25 pm

@adjoma I am currently at level 9 Party (Warrior, Juggernaut, Cleric and Sorcerer) and in Inn there's the other three Class characters. If I could change it I'd replace Thief with a second Sorcerer but I didn't know how strong Sorcerer is early on. At least I'm glad I picked one as otherwise I'd be doomed.

AdJoMa · Post by **AdJoMa** » Mon Sep 16, 2019 11:46 pm

Nice to hear back from you mastertrek. That is the same party structure I started out with. It is perfectly playable so long as you don't rush the game.

What places have you been to so far?

Post by **Mastertrek** » Mon Sep 16, 2019 11:56 pm

@adjoma currently I'm at the Kanticle (doing Slots for no reason whatsoever.. I really want to get (3 7's

). Is there anything special from The Boss drop? My current party is doing a good work avoiding fights xd

Post by **Mastertrek** » Sat Sep 21, 2019 5:38 pm

Update: Currently I'm at Brecketon. One silly thing I noticed is that Brecketon is really close to Kanticle, which means I don't really need Brecketon Orbs which are 4x the price of Kanticle Orb. I've got 120k gold and level 23.

I tried Arena. Went up to Battle Level 29 and left with 4 Green Gems. I don't see anything worth using Green Gems but I might farm them if anyone knows they're going to be useful later. If it was Blue Gems I'd definitely do it for Greater Elixirs.

Are there any hidden areas around the Towers (Except the merchant and Bandit Camp which was done at level 15.) as I don't want to walk on every single tile for this.

1oldtymer · Post by **1oldtymer** » Sat Sep 21, 2019 6:46 pm

I don't recall any hidden areas around the Towers, but there are 3 around Brecketon.

I agree about the Blue Gems.

I'm at Clarrow in the frozen North, and ready to give up. The grind is just too much: it looks like about 45 battles now (I'm at level 34) to go up just one, and given how many scrolls I have that require levels above 50, I'd say forget about it.

Getting through Spinebreak Caverns was tough. With no save or refresh spots, and endless battles, it was a long, repetitive slog. Even with maps. I wound up doing it with a few breaks back to Kanticle.

You will need a full supply of MP restoration items to make it through the Caverns. I used about 80 of the small potions, and about 30 of the larger ones. Go ahead and use up some scrolls, as your inventory gets so clogged you have to drop stuff anyway (or you will lose some drops). That is one of the design "features": if your inventory is full, and you get a drop, you simply lose the drop. You don't get asked if you want to drop something. By the way, the cheap MP potions are available in Kanticle, but not Brecketon, so keep an orb for Kanticle (you have found out how easy it is to walk from there to Brecketon). There is no need to have the Brecketon Orb as long as you can get to Kanticle.

Post by **Mastertrek** » Sat Sep 21, 2019 8:15 pm

Currently I've got 6 Blue Gems from battles so I might try farming them. It took me 4-5 trips at one tower because I was way too underleveled for that area. I grinded up to level 21 but didn't want to do it to 22 (for Upgraded Mana Restore) so I took on the Boss.. It went surprisingly easy although Boss was hitting hard. Second Tower was way easier but I had to teleport out when I saw inventory almost full (I didn't want to risk losing treasure). So I got to level 23 and this Boss was simple as well (Spark is still dealing insane damage per 1 mana spent). One Character died (Cleric.. The worst pick possible to die) and I finished Boss off before he could be revived.

Well, for me grinding is fun (for now even though it takes 30+ battles to level up but I'm not really aiming to get high level early), the worse part is that I lose Mana faster than I get it (full buffs on party is a little expensive for the mana pool and mana recovery 8-10 per 1 tick.) Also, this is one-of-a-kind game as it has a really big world well thought about so there's no way to get too powerful, requiring thinking ahead. So I enjoy playing it. Also, even though I'm not using the characters in Inn I still update their equipment if I get some good drop or chest.

Idon't see any point in buying stuff from Shops (I didn't see anything that had special thing at shops, maybe rings are worth buying). Except for the beginning of the game, I never bought any equipment from Shops. Only Items however I saw that I can't use more than one mana Potion at a time (using any gives a cooldown but Idk how much time it takes to go away.) which is really terrible thing.

1oldtymer · Post by **1oldtymer** » Sat Sep 21, 2019 8:36 pm

I also never buy anything except potions. And during battle there is no cooldown, so my cleric usually uses a potion if nobody needs healing.

1oldtymer · Post by **1oldtymer** » Sat Sep 21, 2019 9:12 pm

@Mastertrek said:

Also, even though I’m not using the characters in Inn I still update their equipment if I get some good drop or chest.

Hey, that's a idea I hadn't considered. I just figured there was no way I would level everybody, so instead I just sell their weapons, etc. Of course that means I'm stuck with my original configuration. You are right: lots of tradeoffs needed, you can't just power your way through this game.