Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster - Lowest Level Part 1: Garland

Channel:

MoogleBoss

Subscribers:

6,670

Published on April 23, 2023 1:00:00 PM ● Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adjQkvkctjs

Game:

Final Fantasy (1987)

Duration: 2:59

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36

I was challenged to start this run in Strahl's chat and figured why I shouldn't try my hand at yet another low level challenge in a super old-school Final Fantasy title after beating Cloud of Darkness in the FF3 DS LLG not too long ago ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gdjbhjq7afI ) .

Challenge playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLbSv8zSDR9c2wEyTpx0c-SRM9yH3kWrJI

In Pixel Remaster, the enemies are beefier and stronger than in vanilla FF1 and can be expected to pose more of a threat to the party. In the recent PS4/Switch release of FF 1 PR, the game features a Boost menu which allows you to turn encounters on and off, as well as apply modifiers to experience and gil gained. You are now actually able to reduce all experience gained to 0 (an idea everyone not new to my channel should be very familiar with), legitimately staying at level 1 for the whole game without any hacks or mods. Previously, a low level playthrough of the original Final Fantasy let you finish the game at level 9, so this is an improvement in difficulty. Encounters can be switched off for convenience when we please and turned back on when we are looking to farm money and items. Turning on the maximum gil multiplier of 4x is a good idea at all times to avoid excessive grinding for cash, as Phoenix Downs and the like can get rather costly.

The first and most important to choice is at the very start of the game, namely the kind of jobs you are going to be limited to for the remainder of the run. Some previously essential classes, like Thief, have fallen off due to running away from battles no longer being a concern. Not entirely sure of the best party composition, I go with a fighter for physical damage, a red mage for a mix of white and black magic and good gear options, as well as two white mages for early access to the Blink spell, which at level 1 can be cast a grand total of two times before we're out of MP and have to use an Ether. Stuck at lv. 1, there are very few spells I can even hope to cast at any stage of storyline progression, but there is always item magic to fall back on later on in the game.

Garland, the first boss of the game and notoriously one of the best-known bosses in the entire franchise, may have double the normal HP but isn't much of a threat to our party. Threatening to knock us all down, he does actually accomplish that and even the bulkiest of our fighters takes real damage from his attacks. White mages should use Blink twice for a bonus of 160 evasion for the rest of the fight, and everybody should heal with potions. Red Mage casting Fire is the best source of damage, but 2 casts is all we have before we run out. Considering the poor damage output from normal attacks, using Ethers could help me increase damage per turn a little bit, but Garland isn't really intimidating enough to use expensive resources here, and normal attacks from the Red Mage will do.

On occasion, Garland can drop a Longsword, which is the strongest blade the Fighter and the Red Mage can wield for a while. Though it takes some resetting, it is probably worth the patience in this kind of challenge. I acquire one half a dozen or so attempts later after recording this video.

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