Game:

Final Fantasy (1987)

Duration: 1:27:51

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I decided to try some solo character challenges for the original Nintendo cartridge game. I have to say the dynamic is certainly different with the seemingly more powerful critical hits, negated weapon element effects, and bugged spells like “Sabr”. Compared with the “Origins” remake, I was surprised how much smaller the temple of fiends was, the trip down to Chaos takes roughly half the time. The bosses seem a lot easier without the doubled hit points.

During this run, I made it to the Temple of Fiends, using only a single red mage. I always refrain from undergoing the class change to increase the difficulty and stay true to the solo red mage challenge. This means the character battles Chaos as a mage and not a wizard. You will note that the other white mages, ironically named “Dead”, are deceased and shown to have no experience points generated at all. This was accomplished during the first battle of the game where I let the Imps kill off everyone except the mage.

I begin this video traveling to the template of fiends where I begin the long, one-way trip down through the temple to Chaos. I have found on countless solo runs that the hardest part of the temple is the first three floors. The path forces you to take the longest path around these areas to get to the first basement. As always, the main issue in the begging are the frost and green dragons. The red mage at level 44 did a decent job fending off these threats. Frost dragons were addressed with physical attacks while the gas dragons went quicker with the use of ice magic.

I took the time to utilize the defense sword’s RUSE spell a couple times when I encountered the Phantom. After reducing the threat from his physical attacks, I cast the FAST spell and then went to town with physical attacks. This enemy didn’t last beyond two volleys of buffed attacks.

The remaining temple fiends were dispatched in very much the same manner as the phantom with the exception of the Lich. The Lich doesn’t have a heavy hitting multiple strike attack like Kary, Kraken or Tiamat so I didn’t need to worry about Ruse at the beginning of the fight.


Starting with the Phantom and Lich I decided to attack them repeatedly to take each one down. I found that the Phantom sometimes gets lucky with the XFER and lethal spell combination so it is best to end this battle as quickly as possible. The same thing goes for the Lich and his nasty NUKE spell. Besides the fighter’s equipment allowed for him to fend off physical attacks more efficiently than other solo run choices.

I took the time to swap out the mage staff for the Thor Hammer for the enemies on Kraken's floor. While the mage staff was particularly useful against the zombie dragons and earth enemies, lightning is extremely useful against the water enemies.

I made the side trip to acquire the Masamune on Tiamat’s floor. This sword made it easier to take down Tiamat after buffing my defense.

By the time that I arrived at Chaos, my red mage had grown to level 49. I began the battle with Chaos by using the defense sword three times and then casting the Fast spell. Rather than immediately attacking, I decided to utilize some healing spells until Chaos cycled past the SLO2 and CUR4 spells. A managed to save a couple rounds since his SLO2 spell missed and started to lay into him with the Masamune. After four rounds of punishment, Chaos was defeated.

After Chaos falls, I let the ending play through along with the credits.

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