Just beat this game for like the 10th time, in my 2nd no-grinding playthrough!
A few years ago, I decided to give this game yet another try, but this time with a no-grinding playthrough. How did it go?
I did all the story battles in sequence, so I went into every one of them underleveled and with very l i t t l e money. Played it without "cheating", meaning I avoided taking extra actions to farm XP/JP. I had a blast and promised myself I'd come back to try it again with a new strategy/job, etc. That second no-grinding playthrough was even more fun. Some interesting points:
- In the first playthrough I had Ramza become a Summoner; in the second, went with Monk;
- The Slums of Dorter (lv2) was harder than the infamous Wiegraf battle (and so was the one with the unarmed Mustadio — those damn archers, always them!). In the second playthrough, I already knew I had to go all-in on the archer at Dorter and managed to beat it 1st try;
- I beat Wiegraf on the third try at level 13. With Ramza as a Monk with Critical: Recover HP and Equip Heavy Armor. I also had a Crystal Helm that I took from Luso, which made my HP go to 283 (Wiegraf's attacks dealt 140 dmg);
- In my 1st playthrough, I beat Gafgarion using a Purple Chocobo. In the 2nd, Critical: Recover HP proved to be an op skill, so I simply tanked his attacks, opened the gate on my own, and reunited with the team;
- The game becomes somewhat boring with so many special characters, and Ramza barely participated in the late-game battles. I'm not sure it would be possible to beat Barich at the very end (the one with multiple dragons) without Orlandu, though;
- That last save ended at 16h31m44s.
One day in the future I’ll play it this way again, but this time only with the starters -- no more bullsh-t holy sword skills. I recommend anyone who loves the game and has beaten it countless times to give this a try. You’ll feel like a great tactician every time you come up with a clever strategy for the battles!
Posted Feb 18, 2025, 9:10 PM UTC