Phantasy Star 4 Solo Challenge

MrRoivas wrote:

I know all this, but I started this solo run because it would be fun for myself, and was a opportunity to learn more about the game mechanics.

My is that you made the right decision. If you're playing the game for fun and it's not fun, it's time to adjust your approach! Stretching the boundaries of the solo run concept a little is not very important, especially in the light of considering that it allowed you to continue enjoying the game.

Thank you very much for your support Thoul.

I have beaten Lashiec. It was amazing how pathetic he was. Apparently, thundhalbert is effected by deban. This means that his primary attack did between 1-40 damage. That's right, it could mini out on Rika's debanned defenses. Another gate was another story. It did anywhere between 150-170 damage. Just so long as I kept Rika's health above 180, everything was cool. Almost the easiest battle in the game. Even Lashiec's power near the end of the fight was didn't matter. It was almost unnoticeable. In the end, Lashiec went down with about 16-17 doubleslashes. On too the Gaurberak tower! Which I anticipate to be much harder, given Rika's somewhat lacking defenses. Oh well. More grinding ahoy.

After a long hiatus, I have returned.

So, having beaten Lashiec to a zombie wizard pulp, I headed into the Gaubureak tower. The monsters had a noticeable upgrade in toughness. Some monsters even went first in combat occasionally. After a few quick levels though, they became easy to handle. First I unlocked and looted the entire tower, ending up at level 65. Then I tele'd out, rested, bought a boat load of trimates, and went back to the top to show Dark Force 2 who's boss.

Apparently it was.

It's lightning shower did about 140-150 damage, and its shadow breath did anywhere from 190-210. Only bright spot was that it's sleep attack did nothing. Rika, being level 67 by the time I worked my way back to the top, had 386 health. She could survive two lightning showers, a lightning shower and a shadow breath, or... a shadow breath. In other words, every single time D2 used the shadow breath, I had to heal. After using about 15 double slashes (which did anywhere from 390 to 450 after being shifted), D2 killed me with a freak shadow breath which did 227 damage.

My plan is to grind to level 70 or 71 and try again. If that isn't enough, then I need to get to the point Rika can take two shadow breaths. Sigh. I see much grinding in my future.

It might slow down your progress some but if you still have the PLSM-FIELD then have Rika equip that. It'll cut the damage from Lightning Shower down nearly to about half damage. For some reason the PLSM-FIELD works wonders against Dark Force 1, Lashiec, and Dark Force 2.

I tried and tested it with my Alys solo challenge, using the PLSM-FIELD and a Slasher, Lightning Shower will deal about 70ish damage, while having 2 RFLCSHIELD's will do about 140 damage. In my run against Dark Force 2 I used a PLSM-FIELD and a RFLCSHIELD, only cause the RLFCSHIELD will cut down on some of the Shadow Breaths damage.

You can view the battle here at my youtube channel or the video I'm including in this post.

Thanks for the tip. While I don't still have the PLSM field, I will keep it in mind for my next run for Rune.

Just beat D2. At level 74. Yeah.

Rika had 416 health, was now doing 430-490 damage with doubleslash, and was on average taking ten less damage from D2's attacks. This meant that lightning did 130-140, and breath did 180-200 on average. This meant that I could potentially take two shadow breath attacks, so long as the first one left me at 215+ hp. Beat D2 without too much fuss this time, but level at 74. As compared to Chaz, who did it at level 62.

...

Rika is definitely not what I expected. And not in a good way.

On to the Soldiers island and D3.

D3 is down.

When I got back to Motavia, did the chirpy quest to get some exp. Got Rika to level 75. Then flew through the Soldiers Temple as quick as possible.

D3 wasn't so much tough as annoying. His shadow bind was annoying, his sleep attack was annoying. After debanning, his primary attack did a laughable 30-70* damage range. His corrosion was a more respectable 135-165, but still less than D2 could dish out. Rika was doing anywhere from 380 to 480 damage. I died twice, once from hitting the wrong spell, and the next time from a sleep attack which worked for two turns. I put back on Rika's psy crown, and his sleep attacks weren't even successful for one turn. He went down without much drama. On to Rykros.

*One minor note. Every single boss since Gy-Languiah crits with their ordinary attack, if they have one. With D3 though, about 1/10 times he did the attack, he wouldn't crit. I know that critting depends on your dex stat, but what about defending from crit? Does anyone know any numbers or calculations for preventing crit?

Profound darkness is no more.

Rykros was cake, as expected. Neither De-Vars or Sa-Lews put up much of a fight. Getting Elysdeon with a level 13 Chaz was a bit tricky, but I managed to rush through.

The profound darkness was tricky, even with a level 76 Rika. The first form could do up 280(!) damage to Rika with a Shadow breath. Not all were that powerful, but Rika needed a trimate every single time she went below 250. The second form was easier, did less damage. Just need 205+ health before a round. The final form was nastier than ever. It did up to 220 damage with Megid, and canceled the crap out of me. I only redid deban after a cancel. It took me a few tries, and I had to get more trimates, as I realized I didn't have enough for the first couple of rounds.

Now for some general analysis.

Rika's performance was unexpected. It was a little tricky when I first got her, seeing how she was at level one, but she quickly went up. From the sandworm until around the first Dark Force, she had an easy time, given how she had all the buffs with the exception of barrier.

And then... came the witches. And D2. I had to cheat with one and ridiculously over level with the other. Fundamentally, its around this time that Rika's low mental, and therefore low magic defense, comes to bite her in the butt, hard. Rika's advantages, namely having 3 of the buffs and being Speedy Gonzales were worthless, as she didn't have the anti magic shield, and spells always hit.

On the other hand, she didn't have as many offensive problems as I expected. While its true she only has double slash, from Zio on it was enough to deal with bosses on its own. And while she did have somewhat less attack than Chaz for awhile, this was solved the instant she got the silver tusk. Suddenly she was doing much more damage than Chaz could.

Still, on balance, she was easier in the beginning, and a right pain in the rear at the end. I never thought I would say this, but I would put her at most in the middle of the soloing pack, despite the buff powers. Her mental stat hurts just that much.

On to Rune. This should be fun.

I think I want to expand a bit on Rika.

Even though Rika was only one level higher than Chaz with the PD, a fundamental difference is that while Chaz felt solid and steady, Rika's PD fight felt like there was a heapin helpin of luck involved. Especially with the final form, I had to have a round where she didn't cancel two early, as Rika's shift boost helped a lot with doubles slash. The round couldn't have a disastrous sleep attack where Rika didn't wake up for three or four rounds. And even with 24 double slashes and a pack full of trimates and sol dews, Rika ran out of double slashes and was down to two sol dews by the time I hit my lucky round. Honestly, if I was on a Genesis, and not an emulator with a save state right before a boss, I think I would have given in and gotten Rika up to level 80, which would have been five more than Chaz. Rika simply needs more levels by the end parts of the game to compensate for her deficiencies.

I have to admit, I'm a bit surprised Rika was so difficult. I thought she would be able to take the magic attacks better than that. I guess she's more of a support character than I considered her to be. Still, at least she had a decent attack and healing ability.