FFVI - NENMG Part I: Intro & Early Bosses

Channel:

MoogleBoss

Subscribers:

6,590

Published on June 20, 2008 1:52:10 PM ● Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xklxwv_BZM8

Game:

Final Fantasy VI (1994)

Category:

Let's Play

Duration: 8:58

2,105 views

14

I often put "intro" into the title of my videos though there is nothing introductory about them sans a few paragraphs describing what the challenge will be about and a few general comments within the video description. This time I made a quick intro, so enjoy the 5 seconds of colourful text and hawt weeaboo Terra.

NENMG stands for No Equipment Natural Magic Game.

It means that:

* all characters are unequipped as soon as they join your party and kept that way during the entire game.
* relics count as equipment, so both slots must remain empty.
* breaking rods is banned, unless found in a chest.
* we do not receive stat bonuses or learn magic from Espers.

I always wanted to start this challenge. Unlike the low level (+ natural magic) game, most characters are of some use in this restricted playthrough, making most characters useful at one point or another.

Physical attacks do very little damage (unless coming from characters who needn't be named) and damage is dealt primarily by magical attacks (limited to the two beautiful ladies due to the natural magic rule) as well as character-specific specials like Blitz, Lore and Rage. Shadow has never been this useful in a challenge before and Gogo is as effective as ever. As the game progresses, the lack of defensive equipment starts to become gradually more noticeable and the lack of elemental absorption is an obvious weakness endgame.

I'm not too sure how much I'll want to do in this game but I'm definitely beating it.


Bosses defeated in this video:
Magitek Armour
Vargas
Ultros I
Tunnel Armour

A meek beginning with quite an epic battle at the end.

The 2x Magitek Armour battle is not any more difficult than it is in a regular game. Confuse the machines with the help of Edgar's tools, steal Hi-Potions from them and have Terra cast Fire. That, of course, triggers a scene that an equal number of gamers seem to love and hate. I was barely hurt here but it could've been worse.

Vargas is not a problematic boss at all. No healing necessary, just get rid of his bear minions and then damage him until Sabin comes in. Auto Crossbow is more effective against the bears but less effective than Bio Blaster against the boss himself (as we cannot equip any relics).

Ultros is far less dangerous than he is an LLG. Terra and Banon survive a tentacle when standing in the back row (which is THE way to organise your party in a no equipment game) and the latter can restore health with his special more quickly than the boss can hope to hurt us. Terra's Fire spell is countered with Ink which blinds her; however, that doesn't limit her further actions in any way.

The last battle, on the other hand, is much harder than anything else shown in this video.

Tunnel Armour is easy in most challenges as Celes runicks his most dangerous spells, allowing Locke to go offensively crazy on the boss (possibly, by attacking with Genji Glove from the front row). Well, that's not an option here. No weapons, no Genji Glove and, most importantly, NO RUNIC. There are certain types of swords compatible with the skill and when there is no sword at all Runic is inaccessible.

That means we're vulnerable to whatever spell the boss decides to cast on us. I was lv. 12 with both Locke and Celes for this battle, having done no deliberate grinding by just reaching the boss by fighting every single random encounter on the way. With lv. 12 stats, a single-target spell may very well kill its target. It's difficult to say whether it's worth continuing an attempt when one of the characters is KO'd. Even with 4 Pheonix Downs for emergency, it's questionable if you will ever be able to get back to full health before the boss attacks again.

Locke plays the role of the party's healer here (that seems to be pretty much the roof of his potential in this challenge) while Celes is our offense, casting Ice every turn. I made a point of sticking to that, as having both characters do the healing in a situation when you may die the next turn anyway is just asking for trouble.

The battle this recording shows was an epic one. How often do you see characters survive with exactly 1 HP? If you pay close attention to the video, you'll see further in the battle that Locke has two options: either to heal himself or Celes. I pick Locke and he is then attacked next turn with very little HP remaining.

Fortunately, the boss falls before things get messy.

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