Well, that was expected.

Just when I was beginning to think I could swashbuckle through every event and daily on a raft of 3* abilities and a moderately dilapidated dinghy of 2* ones, along came these red stripe bosses on the event banners. So here’s a not too detailed analysis of general buffoonery and overconfidence that led me through (some of) the tail end of the IV event.

But Inseyes, you silly beast, weren’t you ploughing through the I event with the pseudo-verve and gusto of a Bruno Mars video? Why yes /u/<yournamehere>, I was. But not a single one of my starters comes from I. So that was a silly fucking idea.

Anyway, refocused, with the MC2’s in sights. In particular aiming for Rosa and Golbez, which is completing the first two, but naturally I wanted to champion the banners because no one plays to come second. Let’s begin documenting the bad choices. Five Runs, Three Levels, Two Completes, Two Masters and one magnificent failure. This event was fairly frustrating for me for a number of reasons :

I didn’t have the right skills for mastery conditions Sephiroth, my current flex choice, brings little to these fights except atk power. I have absolutely no water resist gear. I didn’t have Bioga (I do now, thanks White Dragon) Two of my starting five still haven’t hit L50. I’M NOT VERY GOOD.

But hey, i’ve been really trying baby. Let’s get it on.

Lugae and Barnabus/Barnabus-Z & Lugaeborg

Run 1 – Complete : This pissed me off. Why oh why, would you implement and tip off a mechanic of killing Lugae first to prevent Barnabus-z appearing, when Barnabus is a) about 90 times easier to kill and b) blows up literally a turn after you kill Lugae? This was the mistake I made. So I lost 2 medals for actions, 1 for health, and with that explosion which OHKO’ed Orlandeau the master run was over. The follow up fight against Lugaeborg was laughably easy. As soon as Sentinel’s Grimoire went down it was just a matter of time, and Golbez happened to be pretty good at putting him to the sword. Rod. Whatever. Looking at this screenshot I made some really dreadful choices in setup. Why would I bring two Curagas and no Protectga? Why holy? It’s inexplicable, so please don’t ask me to explain. I have pride to think of. And feelings. Allegedly.

Run 2 – Mastery : So after run 1, instead of trying any kind of complicated strat fuckery, we went route one. Straight up the middle. Focus down Barnabas with basic skills, committing only a power break to barnabus and a protectga (swapped for Tyros Curaga) to my team, and after fusion, unleased a torrent of shit on his face. Dances, Breaks, and most importantly, Lightnings OSB off RW. Two of those and he was gone, no explosion in sight, and picked up a full compliment of medals for my sins. Lugaeborg afterward was even easier. Orlandeaus charged OSB expedited the process by near enough one-shotting lugae after an initial round of debuffs, with a single double cut finishing him off. Max medals, no fuss. Lugaeborg really needs a buff. He’s a complete formality.

I still feel a little salty about this one; I feel I was rewarded for doing it the wrong way. But ol’ Billy had it right, the simplest explanation is usually the best.

The White Dragon

Run 1 – Complete : This was rather embarrassing. Inseyes Pro Tip #1 : Don’t read the word absorb, drop a magnificent brainfart, and then assume it says resist. It does not end well. This battle actually started quite brightly despite my sub-optimal party. My goal was to drop it’s HP down to around half and then nuke it out hard with Golbez and Orlandeaus BSB/OSB. The rationalle was that it worked last round, so why change now. I had taken a little damage at this stage, but was well in control. And then Orlandeau healed it for 72k.

Fook.

After this, crumbling occurred. The subsequent turn saw Sephiroth and Orlandeau killed off, leaving me with just a back row Tyro as my main only damage dealer, since Golbez was locked in BSB mode and both of his actions would heal it up. So there I was, plinking away at the dragon for ~1k a shot, while supplementary healing with Ovelia using Curaga and soul breaks for over half his health bar – a good half hour. I actually started this fight in a coffee shop while with my wife who, by the end of the ordeal was seething with retail rage at how I was detracting from her time wandering around John Lewis for two hours, picking up things we can’t afford and then ultimately buying nothing. But i’m the time waster here. Anyway I digress….

Run 2 – Mastery : Overpriced, posh, upmarket walmart aside, upon arriving home I dropped Sephiroth to the bench and stuck in Pecil with Shellga and Protectga for early damage mitigation as sentinels takes just a little too long to charge. At this point, I realised I had aquired a couple of growth eggs and threw them at my party, just to take the edge off a little. The new plan was to keep everyone alive and play the long not-won-in-two-moves sustained game. Gave Pecil Blue Moon Barrage too, so once he had thrown down his buffs he could just auto-attack away. I moved Tyro into the front row, switched up a couple of skills for him too, and took RW Onion Knight Haste/ATK BSB for speedier healing, and a radical attempt to move away from any potential elemental disasters. The battle took about 7 or 8 minutes, and never looked out of control. Easy when you know how, right?

Ogopogomojojojoimboyololwtfbbq

Run 1 – Misery : This is where the limitations of my setup are highlighted. This is the biggest swipe left for my party in boss form : A big HP pool that, at this stage, my party is just too weedy to strip down at a decent rate, a party wide magic counter I have no resist gear for, and attacks that damage based on total health which I don’t have enough of due to the lack of levels. There is also the ability situation which I will address in a moment, but the upshot of the battle was I got wiped when he was at just under 50% HP. Tyro fell before I could recast resist dance or get off an SG, and that’s when you know it’s not going to go your way. Luckily this battle isn’t too important for me. I would have like to have won it, but I’ve no real intention of leveling Cid IV anytime soon, so instead of blowing more stamina on it, resorted to hitting the orb dailies for some vital skills.

Dungeon Summary :

The one skill I feel I am desperately missing at this stage above all others is full break. I lived and died by breaks once upon a time, and I think most people still do now, and the idea of being able to condense four into one and free up three slots, or in the case above, it would allow me to take more breaks to deal more and feel less would really help diversify my strategy for encounters like these where you simply need a little bit of everything. Running this on my flex, with a status affect second ability, having tyro dance, ovelia to stick to the heals and protectga or shellga would leave two spots exclusively to hand out the most egregious of dickings. Powerchain-Lifesyphon would become a reality on Orlandeau. Golbez could double down on magic or be swapped out for a support or Spellblader. Options. I need options.

Accepting that this is where I will be up to for now, I headed back to dailies to orb farm and get some more tidy mythril. I am now sitting on 63, just waiting for the right banner to come along, and potentially drop some on the exp dungeons to get my core guys leveled for record diving purposes. But the main goal has to be skills. With good strategy and decent skill, as a great many of you are demonstrating, item pulls really aren’t that important. I just need to find the right balance myself.

Meanwhile i’m off to apologise try and win a losing battle explaining my point of view to the wife. Wish me luck.