This segment is absolutely horrible in a level 1 playthrough. The Alexandrian soldiers are fairly simple to deal with. Zidane in the front row, with Man eater, and The Ogre equipped, can usually make them flee in 1 hit, avoiding the exp. The problem comes from the black mages. Usually you'd have the Oak staff now to cast Stop instead of relying on the Needle Fork to petrify them. But alas, here we are stuck. With no way to heal.
There's just too many fights back to back with 0 ways to heal. I had to resort to using the No EXP gameshark code.
Thankfully, this is the end of the nightmare for the most part. I can't say for certain the challenge is possible, but the worst part is over at least. (I hope)
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