Breath of Fire 4 - 0 Exp Challenge Part 7: Grunts

Channel:

MoogleBoss

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6,670

Published on December 25, 2015 5:12:50 PM ● Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBAGbTiLpQo

Game:

Counter-Strike: Source (2004)

Duration: 7:38

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Challenge playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLbSv8zSDR9c3ilm03NGBn_GGmnY7aukpm

Two consecutive battles against Grunts, who are so easy to confuse for regular mook enemies - you even get the regular battle theme when the first battle against them starts. Is it even worth showing in video form here?

Well actually, the Grunt battles have easily caused me the most trouble in this challenge so far, a tendency that is sure to develop as we get further with a small party of characters that never really level up.

Why is that? There are three of them here, each with a unique of AI of moves, and all my characters can be OHKO'd to a varying degree. Ryu easily goes down even to a physical tech like Blind or Feint (which are weaker than the plain physical blow), Ershin cannot really hope to survive a normal physical attack, and Nina sometimes succumbs to high damage rolls if she is equipped with a Ranger's Garb (which loses a bit of defence compared to pure defensive gear). Even Cray, with his great HP and great defence, can be OHKO'd if he puts on a Ranger Garb and opts for a Light Bangle over Long Boots (+9 def) as his accessory in order to not fall asleep so often early on. So yeah, the OHKO time starts here. There's one somewhat obvious way of preventing OHKOs - Protect buffs coming from all possible sources, but these take turns to set up, and while we do that, there are all sorts of ways 3 enemies can screw everything up while we're not killing any of them. Offence is imho the way to go here, but you might hear this from me on any given battle so...

My pre-battle setup?
Ryu - needs a Ranger's Garb to become completely immune to fire-elemental magic that Grunt B packs, as he's already 50% resistant to fire innately.
Cray - equipped for defence to tank as many physical attacks (of all sorts) as possible. We don't want him OHKO'd and we don't want him 2HKO'd either. He eats a Fire Seed before the battle for 50% fire resistance so that Flares and Fireblasts don't tear off too much of his health.
Nina - Ranger's Garb + Fire Seed for fire immunity. Long Boots allow her to withstand some low roll physicals.
Ershin - you have to choose between a chance to withstand a physical and complete fire immunity; I opt for the latter to not mind fire-type attacks. Takes the Fire Ward accessory and eats a Fire Seed. His Gargantua armour is nothing special at this point and his incredibly low base defence (which seems high only because of the gear when you first get him) doesn't give him a chance to survive phys damage aside from Feint/Blind.

Out of the Grunts, B is the least threatening one because of 3/4th of the party being immune to fire spells. C is likely the most dangerous one due to having Sleep in his arsenal. While missing often, it does target three units each time, and if it targets Cray, it's likely a reset (the fight can be reset-worthy for many other reasons, like all enemies choosing to attack the same, 'wrong', character during the same turn). C really needs to die first, followed by A. When B is the only one standing, it's the best time to revive the fallen and otherwise prepare for the second round of the same fight (heal up and restore Cray's AP for another Shadowwalk maybe).

I employ the same offensive strategy for both battles, which aren't terribly different aside from Scias participating in the 2nd one as an 'enemy' unit who actually 'supports' the party, and there being a high likelihood that I don't enter the second fight with everyone at full HP (some may even end up KO'd when the 1st fight ends, which is especially bad for Nina because having her max HP temporarily reduced means she won't take ANY physicals at full HP in the 2nd fight).

2x Rainbow Trout Cray Shadowwalk leaves Grunt B with around 200 HP remaining, so Nina can finish him off with Icicle while Cray starts pummeling another Grunt on the next turn. In the second fight, Scias could just finish off Grunt B - his regular attack and Shining Blade appear to have the same damage output. His AI is otherwise not very helpful - he could strike an enemy we're not planning to kill, or heal 1,500 HP (!!!) to a unit who's at full HP. If somebody actually IS wounded though, they'll be healed accordingly however (but possibly when one of my controllable units is doing the same, wasting their turn).

I never considered Rainbow Trouting Guest Scias actually, but doing it to Cray again seems more reliable as he actually does what I want when I want it.

After the fight, the party's strongest unit prior to chapter 3 rejoins again. He's been missed; thankfully, there hasn't been that much pressure in the period of his absence.

You might also notice I already have Cray's Linked Pole when I show the party setup. I may happen to have a similarly OP toy for Scias at the same point too...

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