FF3 DS - Low Level Game Part V: Xande

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MoogleBoss

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Published on March 9, 2010 1:51:38 PM ● Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2cpKnQKouc

Game:

Final Fantasy III (2006)

Duration: 6:22

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Well, it sure took me a long time to get this far.

Xande is the first boss fought in the final dungeon of the game, and as soon as you defeat him, you cannot go back, nor can you save your game.

And he's pretty tough, healthier than any previous boss and far more destructive. Xande's got 50K HP, more than twice as much if compared to the previous two bosses.

The worst thing about Xande is that he's got MAGIC. Magic of all kinds. While having a Viking trained to job lv. 99 eliminates the dangers posed by powerful physical attacks the bosses use, magic still hurts big time.

First of all, though everything is seemingly clear with Provoke, I want to explain some nuances of how this ability works. Provoke draws the attacks of the enemy provoked towards the Viking using it. It affects all physicals. If an MT spell is targeted at one character, the Viking will draw it to himself as well. If an MT spell targets the whole party, Provoke will change nothing and it will still hit the whole party. That's not all. Some spells (like Death, for example) are always unaffected by Provoke. Finally, there are abilities after using which Provoke is cancelled out. Some of them include Protect, Haste and Death. Let's say a boss casts Haste on himself and his next immediate action (because bosses often act several times per turn) is a physical attack. For some odd reason, the fact that Haste was used during the first turn within a turn, the physical attack won't be drawn by Provoke and may hit any person in the party.

This makes Xande really nasty, because he happens to know both Protect and Haste which he is likely to use at any given moment.

But that's hardly the biggest issue here. Xande can cast Firaga, Thundaga and Blizzaga, either on one unit or the whole party. Since we rely heavily on Provoke to draw physicals from the weaker characters (the Bard and the Devout can't survive a single hit), the Viking will draw magic too. And here's the problem, the Viking simply has no equipment and health to survive those spells. An -aga spell targeting him will deal around 2400 damage which is six times the amount of health he has. Overkill much?

This leads to just one conclusion, we mustn't see offensive magic in this battle. With Protect Ring on the Viking instead of the Crystal Gloves (sacrificing defence for more magic defence), the Viking may well survive an -aga spell when it targets the entire party but it's too risky to try.

The battle has to end as soon as possible, preferably before Xande acts for the third time. This is we we have brought a Ninja along. A Shuriken thrown can deal anywhere from 12K to 21K damage to the boss. We are very likely to kill him with three of these thrown. Since Bard's status enhancements last for two turns, one turn can be spent to help the Ninja with attacking. Requiem, Lamia Harp's ability, does fractional damage based on the targets' current HP. It's usually some 20% damage, making it ideal for bosses with a lot of health.

As you can see from my equipment setup, I equipped the Ninja with two knives instead of two shields. This is to boost his speed even more, hoping that he acts before the boss on the third turn of the battle and ends the fight. On this attempt, I succeed.

Immediately after the battle, you see my party face Cloud of Darkness. This is a battle you can't win as your attacks do 0 damage and Particle Beam does 9999. However, it shows how unprepared the party us for the final boss at this point. We are resurrected after failing, but we won't have the same privileges during the real thing.

So, will the party be able to defeat the four difficult warriors of Darkness on their way to CoD and then defeat the final boss herself? Find out in the rest of the videos.

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