Breath of Fire 3 - 0 Exp Run Part 1: Earlygame Bosses
26Challenge playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLbSv8zSDR9c3B4PywC9BZi6DB276WM3gE
Rules
0 Exp
Don't you wonder what this means, huh? :P "No experience" is the main rule that applies, meaning not a single character gains any experience after battle. This is achieved thanks to Gameshark. "Monopolize Death" is a known trick (one character uses Monopolize learnt from master D'Lonzo, then dies, causing nobody to gain exp at the end of the battle) that "sorta" achieves the same outcome legally; however, some premature levelling needs to take place (on Ryu's behalf) in order to learn Monopolize early before Mutant, and Ryu also levels up to lv. 17 for the final boss. If he's properly built and equipped, he can easily one-man the final battle with two support item bots / warm bodies.
So the big difference introduced here is that Ryu stays at level 1 for the entirety of the playthrough. Yes, this means Ryu will have 20 HP/11 AP for the whole run, severely limiting his access to dragon powers that allow him to cause serious havoc even at a low level otherwise. Most dragon combinations are entirely inaccessible due to Ryu having 11 AP. Not all are however!
I suppose the "natural" lack of experience also means I can fight randoms for money and drops, which is really handy as there are wonderful items to be farmed at nearly every point of the game.
No Stat Boosters
This one's a given, considering how easily you can accumulate stat boosters, farm them as drops, duplicate them etc. Anyone can (eventually, with a lot of work) be turned into a character equally proficient to a high-levelled one. Stat boosters found in chests and other ways are also banned - none can be used.
No Manly Clothes / Soul Gem for the purpose of survival
i.e. you can't equip one of these in order to stay alive for the whole battle assuming you have a sizeable enough stock of them. Do note the 'for the purpose of survival' bit, as we may find their usage valuable for other purpose. If this makes you go ???, just wait until we get far enough in this video series to show what I mean.
The first video shows the earlygame boss highlights. I excluded Pooch and the McNeil fights (too easy).
Some visitors to this channel may remember the LLNFV (Low Level No Faerie Village) challenge I did in this game back in 2010, with rules somewhat similar to this one. That one involved the Monopolize Death trick, excluding options granted by the Faerie Village. I have to say that playing this game frequently for the last 4 years has given me plenty of ideas for new strategies and exploits to showcase, in addition to the unusual aspect of Ryu remaining at lv. 1 for the whole run. You can look forward to all kinds of abuse in terms of game mechanics, rare enemy drops, nifty tricks, Faerie Village and basically everything exploitable that I can think of and may want to make use of and showcase.
Perhaps the biggest problem is that lv. 1 Ryu will have to solo Angel Tower Garr, Gaist (this one was enormously difficult in LLNFV years back) and Arwan, all very difficult in this run to varying degrees. I do expect to win, eventually, somehow, but the 'how' question is what interests me right now.
Nue
Rei is the strongest and healthiest member of the party and the point of attack formation is perfect for him here. Yet still, Teepo's fire magic allows him to match Rei's damage output, so both of them are important here. Ryu just stands there and tries not to die, functioning as a healer and warm body. After Jolt is used when Nue gets to low health, he will have no more AP for more and will waste turns. His attacks are also stronger at this point. As long as Rei is alive, he should finish this battle with minimal healing needed.
After the fight, master Mygas is available. He allows the party to surprise the enemies more often in random battles, but reduces their evasion. Not worth it. This is the only master Rei can apprentice to for the levels he gains before rejoining and is definitely very detrimental to Rei - very poor choice and worse than 'no master'.
Rocky
This guy's Jump can occasionally OHKO even the healthy Rei, so Defence Formation is necessitated. I employ a new strategy here, trying Ryu be more useful with his otherwise wasted turn and inflict Gloom on the boss, which reduces his holy resistance down to zero. This causes attacks with Silver Knives (which everyone is equipped with) to deal triple (!!!) damage and the Heal spell to deal 3x damage instead of healing. Ryu's low intelligence stat makes connecting the status hard however, but it's worth it in the end. The boss's Egg-status shenanigans make it very likely to lose the fight if you haven't farmed money for a huge Ammonia stock for revival.
Not enough space, see comments for description on Amalgam / Mutant boss battles.
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