Revenge of the Hand: MacDaddy Mike's playthrough topic part 2

Welcome to the second part of my “MacDaddy Mike vs. The Back of His Hand” topic, where I replay games that I used to know inside-and-out (or at least thought I did). I’ve come a long way since I’ve started and I don’t have too much longer to go, but enough that it’ll keep me busy. The remaining games I have left to play through are:

Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast (PC)
Ninja Gaiden III: The Ancient Ship of Doom (NES)
Chrono Cross (PS1)
Super Return of the Jedi (SNES)
Uncharted Waters 2: New Horizons (SNES)
Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island (SNES)

…as well as any others that I happen to come across, but this’ll pretty much be my gaming blog until I’m done the list. Stick around, comment, discuss, disagree, discombobulate, whatever.

You’ll find the first part of the topic here:
http://www.freewebs.com/macdaddymike/MacDaddy%20Mike%20vs%20The%20Back%20of%20His%20Hand.doc

As well as my video series on my youtube channel, here:

My Halloween bonus, A Nightmare on Elm Street (NES) playthrough:

You can watch my final bossfight for FF6 above, as per someone’s request. It didn’t take much to get my audio equipment set up for this, but if it sounds different than my other videos it’s because I used an actual pre-amp instead of my guitar fx pedal. I had some fun with this one.

I mentioned at the start of this playthrough that I had particular reasons for picking the SNES version of the game above the others, and aside from the translation one of the major reasons why I picked the version I did was because of the ending. The ending of Final Fantasy VI only works on the SNES, because every other version has the timing completely wrong. Characters’ themes will kick in halfway through another character’s scene, the music ends before the visuals do, and nothing lines up the way it’s supposed to. It was absolutely terrible on the PS1 Anthologies collection, and while it was a little bit better on the FFVIa cart, it still wasn’t right.

And I need it to be perfect, so I went with this one. This ending is truly one of the greatest in the entire medium, having more charm than I can adequately give credit for as well as developing or concluding each and every character’s individual stories. I have to wonder how they decided the order—were the scenes written first, or the musical medley done first? Or did the writers and composer work together on this? It truly is a marvel. FFXII, my other favorite of the series, has a spectacular ending as well, but this one is absolute perfection. I can’t even explain how angry FFVII’s stupid-ass ending made me.

My favorite scenes during the first part of the ending, with the medley, are probable Setzer’s decision to follow his gut instead of throwing it to chance, and of course Shadow’s suicide, which actually made me tear up this time as he was telling Interceptor to go on without him. ‘Just a perfect resolution for that character, and with his standing in the group he wouldn’t have belonged in the new world they created. In terms of musical highpoints, I adore the transition from Relm’s theme to Shadow’s theme, and again I got teary-eyed when Useless Locke’s theme began to play overtop of Celes’.

Everything about the ending makes me smile, and it’s a brilliant composition from start to finish. As I mentioned in my VGM of the Day topic, I got teary when the Final Fantasy anthem came on near the end. This game makes me such a girl, I swear.

Not bad for time, though at least a couple of those hours were of me just going through the Veldt looking for Rages. Most of my 50 Game Overs were in Kefka’s Tower, too, though thankfully none were against the final boss itself—go me on that one, eh? Of the Espers, I think I’m just missing the ones you get for beating all the dragons and Doom Gaze as well as the two you buy from the auction house.

This was a really challenging…er…challenge. Not to trivialize LLG’s, but at least there you have so many options, especially in the way of what abilities to teach your dudes. Imagine a game without Quick, Ultima, Osmose, or freakin’ Cure 2. This one took a lot more planning and strategy than any playthrough in this topic, and is about on par with my “No Items, No Money, No Lifeline, No Crono After Ocean Palace” playthrough of Chrono Trigger in terms of difficulty, though I think the CT victory was more satisfying to me because of how much trouble the final fight brought me.

What else left to say but “<3 FFVI”?

I just acquired Jedi Outcast on Gamecube, I might just play along for a bit.

It's at this point that enemies start being able to two shot characters not named Gau. Most enemies up there use physical attacks, so Vanish and Phantom are incredibly useful here. The beastiary up here:

Here are the possible encounters on the Floating Continent and the odds of them occurring, from Djibriel's guide on this site (A+ guide, has more information than you'll want to know):

The last possibility is interesting; it's the only way to encounter Ninjas without gaining experience. If you kill them, you can run, although that does a Wirey Drgn alone. I had Gau eat the massive experience from Gigantos (75xx from the lout), so he's level 17 now. Don't expect to hear much from Gau in the WoR.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 X

1(02) 2(04) 3(07)4 (04) 5(08) 6(02) 7(08) 8(15) 9(02) X(20)

Good times. Average of 5.5 encounters to meet reset-inducing Ninjas. It took about 12 encounters to get the second save point.

It's fun, I tell you. I'm going to get the PC version installed soon and I'll have to divide my time between it and Skyward Sword. And, you know, life.

I got an AverMedia Capture Card that I picked up at Staples for $50, and does composite and S-video in. It came with Cyberlink PowerDirector and I use that for editing most my videos. I capture the gameplay through PowerDirector while simultaneously recording the voice commentary in Audacity, and then I line them up afterwards. I usually give myself a cue like counting "3...2...1...START" and then pressing a button, 'just to make it easier, and then I cut that out in the final video. I had trouble with the NG2 videos because it took me a while to find a video-editing software that let you adjust the framerate manually, and I needed to do that to get the Shadow Ninja guys appearing correctly. Sony Vegas eventually did that for me.

Not in the slightest. Hell, I wouldn't mind if people started responding to stuff I said all the way back in my DMC3 playthrough or whathaveyou.

Do you have the Gail Hairpin on anyone? I found it super helpful for getting that extra chance to run away from encounters, and paired with a Charm Bangle it's almost as good as a Moogle Charm. You'll be getting to AtmaWeapon soon, and I beat him down with lots of Wall Rings and then Gaia Gears around for his Quake attack.
From: Shadow_Knives | #007Just found out Chrono Trigger and Cross are now on PSN Store $10 each. I'm quite pleased.

I have to wonder about CT--which translation is it? I didn't hate the DS release, because it fixed a lot of translation errors from the original, but they completely ruined all the charm that came with Frog's character, and a lot of the dialogue was far too literally translated. I fortunately own the SNES cart, AND the DS game, so I'll never have to buy CT again as long as I live.

What the ****, Lucasarts? I've had huge problems getting every single one of your PC games to work on any computer that was made post-2005. Why do you suck so much? Why do you suck?

The Gale Hairpin and Back Guard have been mainstays in my equipped relics since getting them. I don't have a Charm Bangle in favor of not levelling off of the soldiers, so every preemptive strike is appreciated. The Back Guard prevents one hit kills from monsters if people aren't invisible at this point.

I won't get to AtmaWeapon until tomorrow sometime; I'm spending time with the family for Thanksgiving.
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We just don't have any use for [classy head shots] and also, as people on Fark love to point out, we look exactly like Beaker and Dr. Bunsen Honeydew. - Gabe

I had to drop off Gau on the Veldt to have Shadow rejoin me at level 6. This is the last time I'll see him for quite some time; he'll be recruited last in the WoR thanks to his high level. Then I had to run through Ninja country again. I got some good steals from Locke and made it to the second save point with only four resets. I returned to the airship again, picked up Mog (11), and had him learn the Water Rondo on the Lete River since it's missable and he wouldn't level up there. One half-globe spanning trip back to the airship later and it was time to prepare for AtmaWeapon.

AtmaWeapon opens the fight by saying:
"My name is Atma... ...
I am pure energy...
and as ancient as the cosmos.
Feeble creatures, GO!"

The second line is a hint and the crux of the strategy to bring him down at low levels. Atma will die when either his HP or MP reaches 0. He has 24,000 HP and 5,000 MP. If he loses enough HP, his battle routine changes and he'll start using more dangerous moves, like sending status ailments at the party. That's very bad! His move pool at over half health consists of a physical attack, casting Flare, and using Blaze. Flare is reflectable. The physical attack... yeah, that's a one hit kill unless it's blocked or the target has Safe, is in the back row (default, remember), and is defending. Ouch. Blaze is a one hit kill as well, even with Shell. If AtmaWeapon feels especially cruel, a multi-target one is still powerful enough (over 160 damage) to kill most party members in one shot. Pray to the Random Number God for this one not to happen.

The only status ailment AtmaWeapon is vulnerable to is Slow. Every little bit helps.

I chose to bring along Terra, Celes, and Locke for this fight. All three have enough MP to at least cast Rasp 3 times and then cast Osmose to be able to do it again. That means at least 37 MP. Relm and Strago would also be good choices, as would Mog if I taught him any spells. I didn't. Shadow came along as well; he doesn't know any magic since he was never around to be taken to the Veldt or the airship. A meatshield is better than only taking three people I say. Equipment was chosen to focus on Magic Block. Locke and Shadow equipped ThiefKnives (+10), Terra and Celes got MysteryVeil helmets (also +10). Shadow got a Bard's Hat (+10 again) while Locke kept the Green Beret in a fruitless attempt to survive a multi-target Blaze. The relics were RunningShoes and WallRings across the board. The rest was the strongest defensive equipment available. Locke had Golem. The ladies had ZoneSeek and Phantom, the latter mainly for getting to the save point. I didn't give Shadow an Esper. He should have shown up while they were being passed around like cheap cigars.

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We just don't have any use for [classy head shots] and also, as people on Fark love to point out, we look exactly like Beaker and Dr. Bunsen Honeydew. - Gabe