Ever feel this when you play an RPG?

[smkdan]

Let's say you're happily progressing through your RPG until you're brought to a halt by this boss from hell that, no matter what you throw at it just doesn't seem to die.

The typical response to this is just to grind it out and gain a few levels OR to activate those 9999HP cheats or look up a FAQ (spoilers galore).

Personally I can't stand grinding; I see it as nothing more but a hollow way to boost game length. If I can't pass a part of a game through normal levels gained form going from A to B and the odd bit of treasure hunting I really get tempted to cheat my way through it.

One of the worst examples for me is the MagiMaster(?) at the top of Kefka's tower in FF3. Even if you get to the end of that battle you still have to face up vs a Ultima attack that just might deal you a 9999 blow right back to the bottom. Crock of shit. I just had to whore save states after I got shafted the first time on the Ultima.

So what are (if any) those moments during a nice RPG where you just felt compelled to bust out the cheats? Yeah, it kind of wrecks the flow but sometimes its a bit too hard to resist.

[blackmyst]

Well for the Kefka's tower boss you make sure at least one of your characters is on life3 at all times. Would you really need a FAQ for that? And I don't remember ever having to grind a lot to beat that guy. See, that's the nice thing about single player RPG's as opposed to MMO shit, they don't rely on mindnumbing clicking the same thing over and over for hours, and more on just figuring out the "trick" to beating some bosses.

And yeah, I didn't beat him the first time either (on the actual console, I might add). Really, where is the fun in being able to beat everything right away? That's the problem with kids these days. We used to enjoy a challenge.

[smkdan]

Ofcourse I don't expect to beat everything on my first try. I would've abandoned the game when I reached wrexsoul if that was the case . I'll try it several times with party lineups after seeing how the boss operates and such but if that still gets me nowhere I get a bit annoyed.

The thing that pissed me off about MagiMaster is the possible 9999HP strike at the end. Not necessarily the difficulty of the fight itself. I don't think I had Life 3 for that fight, but I'd guess that would provide some stretch of immortality or something?

[kieran_]

OZMA in FFIX. This dissapointed me, because I defeated all the weapons in FFVII (with my own little strategy) as well as Omega Weapon in VIII, but I couldn't even scratch OZMA. I didn't bother with the Dark Aeons in FFX either.

This is all that I can think of at the moment. I understand what you are saying though. I'm sure that I have quit many a game because of it. I cannot cheats or use walkthroughs for a game. Once I have to resort to such things, I quit.

[Agozer]

The Dark Aeons + Penance in FF-X. Fuck them.

[blackmyst]

Well life3 provided a one time auto-resurrection. Don't remember if you got fully healed or just barely brought back to life like a phoenix down, but it doesn't matter because when he casts ultima he's dead anyway.


As for quitting when having to look at a FAQ? Nah. Sometimes I use one in a point and click adventure, if I've really been stuck at the same point for so long that it's no fun anymore, just to get past it (you know, at one of those nonsensical combine-this-with-that or use-this-with-so-and-so points). I look it up, go "duh!" and happily continue. Don't see anything wrong with that to be honest.

However, I've never actually had any such experience with an RPG.


(btw, to the OP, you talk of spoilers, but there are many spoiler-free FAQs, especially for all the FF games, so.)

[Joe Camacho]

Super Robot Wars Original Generation: R-GUN RIVALE

[SonGoku1905]

That has happened to me too several times ,surely.I usually try lot's of times, or decide to get more experience before facing the boss etc. But if I still can't beat it ; then I quit and don't bother it for some time , until I feel ready for it again or think of a new strategy.Chrono Trigger,FFIII Summon Night, Heroes 3, FFIV(last battles were insane) were among those games.
I never use any cheats in any game cause i have done it twice in the past and it has ruined all the flavour and excitement of the game for me.

[Deathlike2]

Let's say you're happily progressing through your RPG until you're brought to a halt by this boss from hell that, no matter what you throw at it just doesn't seem to die.

It happens. That's what makes saving so sexy.

The typical response to this is just to grind it out and gain a few levels OR to activate those 9999HP cheats or look up a FAQ (spoilers galore).

Pretty much.

Personally I can't stand grinding; I see it as nothing more but a hollow way to boost game length. If I can't pass a part of a game through normal levels gained form going from A to B and the odd bit of treasure hunting I really get tempted to cheat my way through it.

Well, there's a simple concept. Consider fighting smarter instead of gaining levels. You live longer than way.

One of the worst examples for me is the MagiMaster(?) at the top of Kefka's tower in FF3. Even if you get to the end of that battle you still have to face up vs a Ultima attack that just might deal you a 9999 blow right back to the bottom. Crock of shit. I just had to whore save states after I got shafted the first time on the Ultima.

Well, for Squaresoft, it probably was the coolest thing they felt they had added. "Final attack before death". Although, now that I think about it, FF5 did implement this earlier...

So what are (if any) those moments during a nice RPG where you just felt compelled to bust out the cheats? Yeah, it kind of wrecks the flow but sometimes its a bit too hard to resist.

No RPG back in the day needed them... just sheer ingenuity couldn't hurt.

[AntoineWG]

Ragu Ragla in Wild Arms. He's a boss in a secret optional level that deals 9999 damage to all 3 of your characters and he can do it multiple times in a row. The fight is actually harder than the final bosses. He's damn near impossible to beat unless you use the duplication cheat on goat dolls (revive you when you die, very rare item) and ambrosia (restores full health, very expensive).

[MisterJones]

I beat MagiMaster on my first try. I really can't see what was so hard about him, but then I realized I always abused life 3 and beserk. I also kind of cheated using that relic that prevented random fights (well, the cults' tower is a boring and annoying bitch).

I never managed to beat ozma. Then again, I never ended that spirits sidequest that weakened ozma.

Also, I really need to grind on arcanum. My character sucks balls against the golems in teh balck mountain.

[whicker]

I beat MagiMaster on my first try. I really can't see what was so hard about him, but then I realized I always abused life 3 and beserk. I also kind of cheated using that relic that prevented random fights (well, the cults' tower is a boring and annoying bitch).

Exactly what I did.

Brings back memories. Stupid canadian borrowed my cartridge and deleted the one game file with ~84 hours on it. (drain for every char is a bitch).

[Deathlike2]

I beat MagiMaster on my first try. I really can't see what was so hard about him, but then I realized I always abused life 3 and beserk. I also kind of cheated using that relic that prevented random fights (well, the cults' tower is a boring and annoying bitch).

Exactly what I did.

Brings back memories. Stupid canadian borrowed my cartridge and deleted the one game file with ~84 hours on it. (drain for every char is a bitch).

Even the weapon that does Drain is more useful than the spell itself.

[Clements]

I only really dislike boss battles where it looks like you can beat them, but you are actually supposed to lose the fight to progress the game (eg. when you battle Neclord in Suikoden for the first time). I lost a ton of health items on that piece of shit.

[Deathlike2]

I only really dislike boss battles where it looks like you can beat them, but you are actually supposed to lose the fight to progress the game (eg. when you battle Neclord in Suikoden for the first time). I lost a ton of health items on that piece of shit.

It would be nice if they gave you a hint. Breath of Fire certainly made that obvious...

[Gil_Hamilton]

Super Robot Wars Original Generation: R-GUN RIVALE

*twitch*
I'd say Judecca, but it's so bad it deserves it's own damn thread.


Seriously, most SRPGs do that to me. I get settled in, start cruising along, then WHAM! the difficulty jumps up like a wall.

[Joe Camacho]

Super Robot Wars Original Generation: R-GUN RIVALE

*twitch*
I'd say Judecca, but it's so bad it deserves it's own damn thread.


Seriously, most SRPGs do that to me. I get settled in, start cruising along, then WHAM! the difficulty jumps up like a wall.

The thing about Judecca, is that, well, it's the last enemy, so you expect it to be hard. R-Gun Rivale, in the other hand, not. SPECIALLY when you first fight it, and you have to wear down the R-Gun.

That fight in the desert, I had to redo it like 3-4 times.

[badinsults]

I'm at that kind of point in FF3 for the DS. I was going along great, but I got to the final dungeon, and it is a long one. There are no save points in the dungeon. Anyways, the enemies themselves aren't that hard, but as you go along there are certain enemies that cast spells like Thundaga. Well in this particular fight you battle three of them, and if they all cast that spell in the same round, your party perishes, no matter how high your HP is (you probably would need over 2500 HP to survive it). The thing about FF3 is that because they reduced the amount of enemies that could appear in the battle compared to the NES version, they made them twice as strong. I probably need to do some grinding, but I haven't played the game in about 4 weeks because of that.

[kamaitachi]

I never managed to beat ozma. Then again, I never ended that spirits sidequest that weakened ozma.

I'll be darned. I didn't know Ozma could be weakened.

[sweener2001]

in ff3, it's not your character level as much as it is your job level. but yeah, grind hard. that endgame was cake for me. you fight i don't know how many consecutive bosses, but you're fully healed after each one.

i had a lv. 99 knight with ragnarok and excalibur, a summoner, an uber-white mage(forgot what they're called), and a viking with two good axes. a dark knight or ninja would have been better than my viking, though.

summon bahamut every round, cast curaga every round, attack with the knight and viking. cake.

but i did some grinding beforehand. they were strong. my knight was a guaranteed 8000-9999 per round, basically.

in FFX, i didn't fight many if any of the creatures that the guy creates, those are tough. but yuna was my party. melee for 60000+, any summon doing 100000 with a regular physical attack.

[Clements]

There are some tricks to raise job levels in FFIII quicker, for example, fight a Goblin and have all characters defend for 3-4 rounds. Kill the Goblin and most of your characters will gain a job level. Boring, but effective.

[Neo Kaiser]

The only monster of that nature who gave me trouble is the Gil turtle(Gilgame) in FFV. Worse than killing super bosses are the long dungeons where you can't save the game.

[Deathlike2]

The only monster of that nature who gave me trouble is the Gil turtle(Gilgame) in FFV. Worse than killing super bosses are the long dungeons where you can't save the game.

Ah... I usually avoided fighted him, until playing FF5A. I finally figured how to beat it. So, meh.

[Joe Camacho]

There are some tricks to raise job levels in FFIII quicker, for example, fight a Goblin and have all characters defend for 3-4 rounds. Kill the Goblin and most of your characters will gain a job level. Boring, but effective.

Haven't played FFIII, what's the logic in that?

[Clements]

In FFIII, you get an equal amount of job points for every action you perform within a battle. The amount of job points you get means that if you defend about 3-4 times against an enemy (preferably a weak one such as a Goblin for instance), you will raise 1 job level. You need to kill the Goblin after this since you can't raise two job levels after one battle.

The good thing about this is that there is no risk of your characters getting killed, and defending is a relatively quick action. Disadvantage is that you don't gain much exp points, so you need to grind in later parts of the game for that, and it is quite boring to do.