Star Ocean 2 - Universe Mode, No Skills Run - Gabrie Celesta (No Bloody Armor)

Channel:

Abaddon Daemon

Subscribers:

421

Published on August 15, 2021 4:55:42 PM ● Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WE3t6oebCh8

Game:

Star Ocean: The Second Story (1998)

Duration: 20:26

180 views

5

The battle starts at 1:09
I initially forgot to show my Skills and Specialties, but I do so after the fight at 18:42

This was a really interesting run and I wasn't sure how far I was going to be able to push it on Universe Mode. All of the "normal game" content can pretty much be overcome with extra level grinding, as HP/MP make a huge difference. Also getting 3 Right Crosses (2x Max MP) from Fun City makes a considerable difference early on. However once you hit the Cave of Trials, levels start to mean less. Once HP is maxed and MP around 800, leveling further only gains you slightly more ATK, CON, and DEX. These are important, of course, but the bigger issue here is the lack of AGL (which controls AVD). AVD doesn't go up by level, and by not getting any Skills, I'm missing maybe 100 or so for each character, in addition to a lot of points in things like STM and GUTS.

The rules of the run are pretty simple. I never use any Skills, Specialties, or purchase anything at any of the game's Skill Guilds. The only change from any of my character's initial Skills is when I kill the Dragon Tyrant and gain Float, which I immediately disable (as in any run...). The run idea was actually inspired when I got my son into playing the game. I was walking him through it teaching him how to use the Skills and Specialties, but eventually he lost interest. Later he came back to the game (to my pleasant surprise) because he remembered liking it so much, but he didn't remember how to do the Skills system, so he just didn't. He made it all the way to the four Fields without ever visiting a Skill Guild, which I thought was crazy, even on Earth Mode, and it made me wonder how far such a thing could be pushed. So far, this is my personal best.

There's a modified version of this run where you don't purchase anything from Skill Guilds, but allow yourself to use Specialties. This can take a little bit of pressure off of the run. Celine comes with Metalwork and can craft a few useful accessories, most importantly Feet Symbols. Bowman comes with Compounding and can make many useful things, like Resurrection Mists, Holy Mists, Fresh and Fruit Syrup, etc. Chisato, perhaps most usefully of all, starts with level 4 Reproduction.

I should also note that I'm not using Stat Manipulation, which could make this an easier run. Every fighter (not mages) gains either 0 or 1 Guts with each level up. If you ensure that this is 1 for nearly every level, you can get them all to 255 natural Guts for the endgame.

Some of the major downsides of these runs are the lack of resources from Art (especially Revival Cards and Skandas), and Berserk/Atlas Rings. There's a single Atlas Ring in the Field of Power, but no Berserk Rings anywhere, which is tragic since a single Berserk Ring could be Reproduced. The Trickster is very helpful, as it drops Angel's Statues and Protection Rings (absorbs physical damage but breaks easily, useful for running away without Skandas). Once I bought the Santa's Boots (by selling the first two Million Staffs in the CoT) I farmed them until I got a second Holy Sword Farwell, as I desperately needed it's +70 AVD for this fight. I sold a couple of extra Seraphic Garbs it dropped for more Tri-emblems.

Stacking AVD is the key to beating Iselia Queen here. I had to mostly sacrifice all of my offensive options, going with a HSF+Seraphic Garb+Valiant Shield+Bloody Helm+2xTri-emblem setup for Claude and Ashton. Rena is using the Moon Tiara (won in Fun City) which gives her a Motormouth equivalent to Skill level 7. One might argue that this violate the "No Skills" rule... but I'm choosing to count it as a gear buff and be fair game, as she still does not actually know the Skill "Motormouth".

Chisato is helpful because she comes with a natural base 50 AVD and can equip the Mithril Dress (dropped by Santa's Boots), so it's easy to get her AVD stacked high. She can also equip the Spark (found in Fienal) which does 3x hits and an Atlas Ring (Field of Power), allowing her to deal a slight bit of extra distraction. Unfortunately this setup leaves her raw defense stat quite low, so in this fight she spends a lot of time dead. Some of that's just bad luck, she did a bit better in my practice runs.

I didn't use any Resurrection Mists here but probably should have, as they can be farmed from Miel64 in Fienal (or Reproduced if you're willing to use Chisato's base Specialties).

All in all this has been a pretty interesting run and I didn't think I would make it this far. Unfortunately, no Skills means no Musical Talent, so I can't summon Iselia Queen. This means if I'm going to attempt Indalecio Unlimited I'll have to do so with a single Angel Armband. I'm currently considering just defeating normal Indalecio and calling the run quits... but I'll at least get my party to 255 and see what he looks like. I suspect it will be possible but require so much luck that I may be unwilling to proceed.

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