Phantasy Star 4 Solo Challenge

I'm actually not too surprised Rika was so difficult. I always found her rather lacking in defense and mental. Especially towards the end of the game, it was always a bit difficult to keep her alive.

Let me know when you get to Demi. I've solo runned with Demi before, so I know some tips with her. Granted, it was a few years ago, but...still.

Thanks for the offer. I will keep it in mind. I can't promise that I will use it soon though. First come Rune and Wren, as I am doing the longest runs first. After that, I am doing it in order of appearance, so Hahn, then Gryz, and then Demi.

Rune is interesting.

First, macros with him are problematic. You can only use them if it doesn't matter which monster the spell hits, given various resistance levels. In practice, this means that you can only use them if there is only one type of monster left. Also, you have to be very careful in how you chose your spells. Going for the most powerful spell and having it just not kill the monster is painful, and a waste of precious tp. Because of limited Tp reserve, Rune can either hunt monsters, or fight bosses. I have a feeling he won't be able to do both in one run.

Tried a run against Gy-Languiah at level 29, Rune's low health did him in. Even with his heightened defense, Gy was doing 60-80 damage to him with his attacks, and Rune only has about 130 health. I estimate that he'll need to be at least level 31 to beat him, and that's going to take time, given how slowly Rune levels.

I expect the items that can be used to cast techs will be really useful with Rune. They should save some TP usage.

I've got a really awesome tip for leveling Rune up, MrRoivas. You want to grind the reverent fifth one? Forget it. Level Alys up in Zio's Fort until she hits the late thirties or so, then take her up...

When you get Rune, his level will be one or two less than Alys'. eg. A lvl 38 Alys will give you a lvl 37 or 36 Rune . Their levels are synced in some strange way...

Hope it helps, because Rune can be quite hard to train due to his insane exp curve.

A good place to grind would have to be is the cave outside of Aiedo. The slugs in there will give about 2k+ exp if you kill them when they fuse.

Just finished off Gy. At level 31, as I predicted. In hindsight, I could have defeated Gy at level 29, I would have just needed to be a bit more careful, having 10 less hp. Gy did 55-80 with his claw attack, and 15-30 with his fire breath. Rune did 330 with Effess, and 300-320 with Nawat. That was all I needed to finish him off. Well, that and a few dimates.

Off to Zio's castle.

Wow, this thread is really awesome. Just read your five pages. It's really good to know that there are other PSIV fans as hardcore as I am. Now, I haven't done a solo run with all of the characters, but let me mention a few things about the ones that I have done:

Alys - Pretty hard! As much as I love her, her character was poorly designed to be used at higher levels (anything higher than 28-30 really...). PLSM shield was a great addition to my inventory... it sucks that for a long time in the game after Juza, you don't get Slashers so her attack is very bad. Shift + Vortex doesn't really do that much damage.... though I have to say that overall, she has the absolute best late-game stats. Better than Chaz, way better than Rika or Hahn (even though he really improves towards the end), and surely better balanced than Rune or Wren.

Chaz - fairly easy and gets easier, minus the three witches. Ouchie.

Rika - the game went quite a bit faster than the others, but other than her offensive skills after Silver Tusk, she gets weaker.

Wren - so easy! Endless recovers and repair kits with huge reserves of HP.

Rune - very easy at the beginning, then it gets much harder until you get your hard-hitting Skills. Grinding takes forever... no one will blame you if you use the Game Genie code which gives you about 15 times more EXP (doesn't change anything in the solo challenge rules, except that you won't be spending nearly as much time grinding the same enemies for ages.)

Never tried anyone else... also, how would you keep Demi the whole game (how do you prevent her from leaving the party after Zio)? I can only think of doing everything up to Gy-Laguiah (though getting rid of Alys, not picking up Hahn by circumventing him before the basement), then going to Rykros via the Piata Academy, which will bring you back to Zelan, then Dezolis, and on you go...

Raja - never tried... but bro, GOOD LUCK! I will worship you until the end of my days if you pull this off with Raja! St-Fire is pretty much the only effective thing you got against bosses (though you have very few of them!)... and Ataraxia comes in very handy, but how can one grind with this guy?

@Kein_Mitleid: Al is the best darned balanced char in PS4. More TP than Kyra as well... , and better balanced as well. I wonder how powerful she would have been if she had been developed as a late game char... I'm betting she probably would've been more powerful than Rune.
(If she had a sword, of course...)



*evil laugh* Poor Rika, absolutely pathetic. Was never impressed with her. Her healing sucks, her attack is weaker than Chaz or Wren's and her buffs are weaker than both Alys, Kyra and Raja.

And Rune isn't even the hardest char to train. Seth is.

Sorry for this, MrRoivas. You can get back on topic now. Don't say I didn't warn you. Rune is an absolute pain to train. Unless you're a masochist.