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Final Fantasy Tactics: Solo Ramza (1) (Post Run Review)

Version Played: PSX (No mods) Rules: Challenge starts at Dorter. Ramza is the only character allowed on the Formation Screen, except for guest characters. No restrictions on jobs/abilities. Level caps enforced per chapter (20/35/50/70)

Goal: Any%

Challenge Rating: ★✩✩✩✩

Fun Rating: ★★★★✩

Overview: The challenge rating here is deceptive. I gave it a 1/5 because I, personally, found it really easy. But for context, I’m much more accustomed to running harder challenges with more restrictions. Giving myself none, I was able to use/abuse some of the more broken abilities, like Blade Grasp, Hamedo, and Auto Potion, as well as Ramza’s UberSquire job. If one knows this game very well, this is a very easy challenge. Otherwise, however, this would be incredibly difficult. Though, I also did not use the Calculator skillset, which trivializes most of FFT on its worst day.

The hardest battle was Elmdor in Limberry, no question. The gear setup required to survive places a heavy time limit on the battle, and requires a fair bit of luck in order to even hit him. Queklain and Zalera were tough, too. But most battles are carried by either Auto-Potion and Hamedo. If I did use Calc, it would’ve been even easier, but I wanted to avoid it if I could.

I’ll be re-running this challenge at a later date, starting from the beginning instead of Dorter. The main reason I did this the way I did was because I was trying to squeeze in a fast challenge run before the Red Mage Festival.

Final Thoughts/Recommendation: As easy as I found this challenge, I would only recommend it after you’ve played FFT at least a couple times, and know the game decently well. Especially the job system, and which jobs are good or not. With even more skill, Solo SCCs are doable… but this is a pretty fun one, if not a little frustrating at times.

Chrono Cross: Black Coffee Run (Post Run Review)

Version Played: PSX Rules: Innate/Opposite Elements only, except consumables (ex. Serge can equip White/Black, Kid can equip Red/Blue, etc). Only one (1) copy of an Element can be allocated per character. Cannot remove an Element once it’s equipped (the game unequips characters automatically at plot points, rearrangement is allowed here). Elements can only be equipped on their level (no +/- Elements). No Accessories. Can only equip new Weapons/Armor if they were crafted, or uniquely found/stolen (No stealing gear from characters as they join). No out-of-battle healing. No Run Away. No Sprigg. No Mastermune.

Found at this Reddit post: https://www.reddit.com/r/ChronoCross/comments/kk3e89/black_chrono_cross_challenge_run/

Goal: All characters/endings

Challenge Rating: ★★★★✩

Fun Rating: ★★★★✩

Overview: Whew. That’s a lot of rules! Each rule on its own doesn’t really limit a lot, but when put together, we have ourselves quite a challenge! With innate/opposite Elements only, healing becomes a bit limited, as do things like buffs/defense options. One per character, healing becomes even more limited. RecoverAll, HealAll etc become a matter of “do I use my one AOE heal now or hold out longer?” No +/- makes healing *extremely* limited, as one has to build up Element levels in order to heal, which is risky, because… No Accessories does two main things: 1) Much lower accuracy and 2) Much lower defense. So battles tend to become a case of building up gauge in order to use powerful Elements, as usual, but also maintaining enough gauge to heal if needed. Missing becomes more frequent, and much more punishing. No unequipping Elements means being judicious in equipping them. Some are storebought, but early on, things like RecoverAll and HealAll become a case of “do I equip this character? If so, they aren’t leaving my party…” and later, the case repeats with Level 5/6 Elements. Let alone Summons… Being unable to unequip new characters didn’t change much, outside of “early Iron/Silver” gear, and in niche cases, Stone gear. No out-of-battle healing means even more judicious decision making in battle, as not being topped up before a boss, with the rest of these rules, can be devastating. No Run Away makes it impossible to scum steals*, no Sprigg means no cheesing a lot of the midgame, especially since her Doppelgangs tend to have 99% accuracy by default, and no Mastermune means no auto-crits with Serge late game.

As for the run itself! Diminish carries through the midgame. It’s borderline mandatory for any White-innate boss, though other mitigation tools exist. The early game is rough, but Tablets do some heavy lifting in lieu of Cure and Heal spam. Capsules and Nostrums have their uses, even late into the game. Late game is more manageable, with enough tools and damage to get over most of the bosses. Dragon God is a long boss, and towards the end, it becomes something of a damage race. Refresh is a good idea here (though I did not use them). Oddly, Taurusoid in Fort Dragonia was the hardest boss in the entire game, since if left alive too long, it starts double-attacking, guaranteeing someone dead at the end of the fight. And a dead character doesn’t gain any stats on a star level. If one is lucky to steal the Plates from the Dragons, there’s a lot of survivability for certain bosses, though physical defense tanks as a result.

Final Thoughts/Recommendation: That said, the goal was essentially 100%. After the Any% first playthrough, the rest of the endings/characters were pretty easy to get. NG+ lends itself to being an overpowered cruise, even with the limits on the challenge. In the future, I would probably add more limitations, like no deconstruction of equipment, no grinding between bosses, and no Diminish for example. This is a hard challenge, but it was a lot of fun as well. Every boss felt tactical, and I had to play out sections differently as a result. Very solid recommendation!

Final Fantasy Tactics: Summoner SCC (Post Run Review)

Version Played: PSX (no mods) Rules: Challenge starts at Dorter Trade City. All characters must be on the Summoner job, and all abilities must come from that job (No secondary, and all Reaction/Support/Movement abilities must come from Summoner). No special characters allowed. Level caps enforcer per chapter (20/35/50/70).

Goal: Any%

Challenge Rating: ★★★✩✩

Fun Rating: ★★★★✩

Overview: The beginning of this run is the most tactical, as you start with just enough MP to get one (1) attacking summon off per character per battle, so you have to make sure that you do enough damage to either take a unit out in one hit, or hit enough of them in one cast to make it worth it. As the game progresses, you get Half MP Cost and better gear, so MP becomes far less of an issue. Moogle’s healing is underrated, especially with good Zodiac compatibility between your units. Fairy is basically a full heal at the cost of slower casts. Both have their uses. Sylph/Silf can Silence and Carbuncle can apply Reflect, for pesky mage battles, but I never found a major use for it that just using an attack summon didn’t cover. Midgame, watch for elemental absorbing/resistant gear (Fire/Ice Shields, Gaia Gear, etc) and things like Float and such. Weather plays a small factor, but it might make the difference between an enemy surviving or getting knocked out. Summoner is squishy, but the big thing that makes this challenge a lot easier is Golem. The AI will often forego a move to take out one of your units in favor of a physical attack to try and break Golem. This is true for Lucavi battles, as well. Golem can make the difference between life and death. It’s expensive early on, but it’s worth it almost every time. Speaking of Lucavi fights, Lich is your friend. Two casts takes out everything except the final boss, which goes down in… I wanna say like 6? 8? I forgot to count. Of note, I didn’t use Lich until Hashmal and Ultima, so the rest are totally possible, played conventionally. That said, watch KOs, on your side, because there’s no way to revive, and Summoners are slow.

Final Thoughts/Recommendation: This one isn’t too bad. If you’re looking to delve into an SCC, Summoner is a good place to start. The biggest things to get used to basically comes down to MP management early, and the fact that your units never go first, ever. Some battles rely on not getting taken out before you can move, but there’s a lot of leeway with equipment to help survival.

Final Fantasy I: Red Mage Only (Post Run Review)

Version Played: Steam (Pixel Remaster) Rules: All four characters must be a Red Mage. Job change (Red Wizard) is allowed. No save scumming level up stats, like HP/MP. Auto Saves may be used, Quick Saves may not. (An exception was used for Chaos)

Goal: Any%

Challenge Rating: ★★★✩✩

Fun Rating: ★★★★✩

Overview: This one isn’t too bad until the very end. Red Mage is limited by having to choose which magics to learn between both schools, rather than just having 3/4 per like White/Black Mage, and on top of that, there are some spells that Red Mage/Wizard just can’t learn full stop. Spell choice could change, if one is playing on the GBA/PSP versions, which forego spell slots in favor of traditional MP. Healing is a little bit of an issue until getting one of the equipment that casts Heal, after which the game gets a fair bit easier. In general, getting the -ra attacking spells and Heal as equipment make random battles much easier for the mid to late game. Bosses typically aren’t a problem, unless you get cases like Astos casting Death. Except… Chaos. Get. Slow. I’m not sure if it works on Chaos or not, but if it does, it’s vital for the final battle, outside of some serious level grinding. Hasted Chaos will one-shot most Red Wizards without like 2-3 Giant Tonics (if applicable), Protect, and pray there’s no crit. It took a lot of luck for me to finish the run, but if Slow works, one could just do that, and it makes the battle more manageable.

Final Thoughts/Recommendation: Decently easy ride until the endgame, and overall, not the worst challenge. But Final Fantasy I isn’t the most difficult game out there anyway. And I played Pixel Remaster, which is on the whole a fair bit easier. Still, the squishy nature of Red Mage early on gives Potions a lot more value, and is fun to play around. Pray for HP though, Red Mage is second lowest. And HP matters a lot by endgame.

This is Phanquid.

Pokémon FireRed: Flying Monotype (Post Run Review)

Version Played: GBA Rules: Only Pokémon that are Flying, part Flying or evolve into Flying types may be on the team at any given time. (Charmander OK, Scyther OK unless it evolves) No Legendary/Mythical Pokémon allowed. Goal: Elite Four (Any%)

Challenge Rating: ★✩✩✩✩ Fun Rating: ★★★★✩ Overview: Super simple without being completely free. Flying is a fun type with a lot of hybrids to keep some diversity. The lack of a Physcial/Special split kinda hurts, but that's old Pkmn for you! But this one was fun. A lot of mons made me surprised at how versatile some can be, casually! The team was as follows: Inferno?! (Charizard) Oberon (Butterfree) Manafa (Gyarados) Kweh ' v ' (Dodrio) Freyja (Scyther) Haruka (Dragonite) Final Thoughts/Recommendation: This is another on the list of good entry level challenge runs! I picked this one for its relative ease, since it was sandwiched between two other hard runs, at least in terms of intended scheduling. Truth be told, I wanted an easy time because I wanted a break between tougher runs. That said: Any monotype can be made easy or hard depending on the type used. Flying is relatively easy. Butterfree pulls a lot more weight than one might expect, and Dodrio is a beast in any capacity. Special attackers for my run were Charizard and Dragonair/Dragonite. Any other fliers might be viable, though. Not a lot in terms of walls, surprisingly. Just don't overlevel for Surge and remember that Brock doesn't actually have any Rock-type moves. (DISCLAIMER: Rare Candy cheat WAS used before the Elite Four to cut down on multiple hours' worth of grinding. This is justified to me, because I'm denying 'mons of extra EVs at the end of the game, and all I'm ultimately doing is cutting down on time spent grinding.)

Final Fantasy VI: No Equipment (Post Run Review)

Version played: SNES

Rules: Absolutely no Equipment (Weapon, Shield, Helm, Armor) may be equipped to any character at any time (not including Guests or Umaro, who cannot be de-equipped). Relics are NOT allowed, with the exception of Sprint Shoes (SNES version only, every other version has a hold B to run kind of option.) Espers MAY be used (Magicite is not equipment) and magic may be freely learned.

Goal: Any%

Challenge Rating: 3/5 ★★★✩✩ Fun Rating: 3/5 ★★★✩✩

Overview: This challenge previously beat me a few years back. The thing about this challenge, it's easy to forget just how important equipment is in this game, since magic is incredibly powerful. It's easy to tunnel into the late game, try to keep levels low for the Esper growth and just stomp the endgame just like a casual run. But that doesn't fly in this challenge. It's kind of important to accept that leveling might be necessary just to survive all the way until the Falcon later on. The first attempt at this challenge, I did not do that. This time, I did. Another thing to note is, status ailments are more useful for survival than a casual playthrough. Tentacles, for example: One can be Stop'd, two more can be Sleep'd. Doing so removes the necessity for Running Shoes/auto-Haste to survive. A lot of things are going to one-shot characters/parties without some significant leveling. I was 37 at endgame, but without Quick, I probably could've gone higher, to 41/43. Earlygame, the unique commands (read: Tools and Blitz, Rage if you seek them) carry. Midgame is the wall. Post Falcon, your entire team is glass cannons. That is just the way of it. That said, this wasn't too bad, once I took it seriously.

Final Thoughts/Recommendation: This is a good challenge, probably not an intro-friendly challenge but still a fun way to replay FFVI. Take it seriously, do some homework from Floating Continent through to Falcon, and be ready to grind both levels and magic to survive the endgame.

Final Fantasy V: Four Job Fiesta (2023) (Post Run Review)

Version Played: SFC/SNES, GBA translation patch.

Rules: Once per Crystal, a job is assigned at random. Each job assigned in this way MUST be in the party at all times. Abilities may be swapped between jobs freely, so long as the jobs are all in the party. Fifth Job: Upon getting Krile, another job is rolled, replacing one of the original four jobs. The replaced job and its abilities may NOT be used for the remainder of the run.

Goal: Any%

Challenge Rating: ★✩✩✩✩ Fun Rating: ★★★★★

Jobs: Knight, Summoner, Ranger, Dragoon. Fifth Job: Ninja (replaced Dragoon)

Overview: This was a really easy Fiesta, all things considered. Knight makes the early game pretty easy, especially if Doublehand is attained early. Garula is easy enough with applicable Guard strats (I did not use the cheese, and I was fine, but it does foolproof the fight). Summoner gives rod breaking access, which made everything for the rest of Act I pretty free. Ranger on its own isn't terrible. !Animals (Nightingale) is the best healing until mid Act II or so. Rapid Fire/X-Fight is invaluable, especially on a Knight. Dragoon is, as expected, not all that useful, but it made my Fifth Job replacement a non-issue. Ninja broke the game wide open. Random Encounters were no longer a threat (thanks, !Smoke), and Dancing Dagger carries all the way until Chicken Knife (if Sword Dance procs, anyway). Throw is pretty good, too, for emergency ST damage. Rapid Fire goes on the NIN as well. Only real trouble came from Leviathan, because lol double Tidal Wave spam, but otherwise it's a really smooth ride.

Final Thoughts/Recommendation: Obviously, someone else's Fiesta will be different (unless luck aligns, or you just copy my run for funsies), but I recommend the Four Job Fiesta VERY highly. It's a blast to do every year!

Final Fantasy Tactics: Monsters Only Challenge (Post Run Review)

Version Played: PSX

Rules: Ramza is a Mediator (NOT SCC style). Concentrate/Calc/Blade Grasp are banned, otherwise any secondary/reaction/support/movement abilities can be used. EVERY other party member MUST be a Monster. No two monsters from the same family may be used at the same time. Once per chapter, Ramza can change from Mediator to grind alternate abilities.

Goal: Any%

Challenge Rating: ★✩✩✩✩ Fun Rating: ★★★★★

Overview: I'll be honest. I set this one up on the schedule, as well as made it super lenient on purpose, since I was killing time until the Four Job Fiesta, and otherwise would've had to wait like three weeks with filler content. If I were to redo this, I would either make the grind happen at the very start of the game, or just make Ramza a pure SCC Mediator in the end. Now then. Monsters are very very powerful in Final Fantasy Tactics, in exchange for a number of drawbacks. For one, Monsters can't equip gear, meaning no extra HP, PA or Speed, nor any status resistences. Same with regards to abilities. Monsters can't gain new abilities (save for a specific support ability), and only a select few have the ability to heal. As such, most battles are played quite aggressively, since you're effectively a glass cannon a majority of the time. Early battles can be kind of rough, as high class monsters aren't available from the start. That said, Chocobos are a staple the entire game, and can be acquired from the very first random battle in the game. I guess the hardest battle under the rules I set would be Zeklaus Desert in Chapter 1? It's hard to remember. Letting Ramza basically do anything made it easy, since I could heal, revive, etc. It made a lot of battles, especially in the mid game a bit of AI looping. Kill weak monster, revive, rinse repeat. Which, I mean, it's -tactical- so it works out. Late game is completely free IF you can get a Tiamat and Behemoth. The Tiamat is especially important, since it can hit really hard, and multiple times, at a cost of unreliable hitting (a la Rafa/Malak). Now for the biggest thing: It's EASY to assume that low Faith is a free win button, and for a majority of the game, this is true! HOWEVER! Low Faith will make the Lucavi bosses resort to status effects, since they can't really do damage! This made the final boss especially difficult, since instead of Ultima/All-Ultima, it spammed Grand Cross. Low Faith is a double-edged sword after all! But otherwise, yeah, low Faith helps a LOT otherwise. It makes enemy mages a complete joke.

Final Thoughts/Recommendation: This is a really good "intro challenge" for someone looking to play with self-imposed restrictions, but want wiggle room to avoid frustration. It forces a different style of play, which can make a newer challenge runner more acclimated to playing under forced, clear rules. Plus, there's still room to add even more, for people who want a challenge. And Monsters are seldom used in most casual play, aside maybe Chocobos, so this helps learn a different side to the game. This one is a blast, and I recommend it to basically anyone, though definitely play FFT first casually, so you know what the game is like from start to finish.

Final Fantasy V: Red Mage SCC (Post Run Review)

Version Played: SFC/SNES (RPGe Translation)

Rules: Only Red Mage can be used. From Wind Shrine, all four characters MUST be on the Red Mage job (a code was used to get Red Mage at the Wind Shrine). No extra abilities from any other job may be used.

Goal: Any%

Challenge Rating: ★★★✩✩ Fun Rating: ★★★★✩

Overview: Not too bad overall. Kind of a difficulty sandwich. The early game is pretty easy, since all four party members can be offensive and defensive with magic. Even though Red Mage is squishy, they can do some decent physical damage, depending on the situation. Late World 1 requires a bit of creativity or grinding to survive certain bosses, but it's manageable. The big thing is making sure to buy enough rods to break (or just 4 of each if one does a "No750" style run) and grab enough Elixirs from Wind Shrine grinding before leaving for World 2. The game starts showing its fangs around here, but since it's an SCC, depending on grinding, one would be decently close to getting Dualcast/X-Magic before the end. I very -very- strongly recommend getting Red Mage mastered before Moore Forest's boss. (I didn't, but it would be a massive help in terms of surviving.) Once in World 3 with the Airship, it just sort of becomes a matter of grinding up to survive Almagest at the very end. (Lv 44/45 minimum, I was 47). A lot of Red Mage's strengths here come down to status ailments, oddly enough. Sleep, Toad and Charm (and Size to a lesser extent) make a lot of random battles a lot more manageable, and a surprising number of bosses are also not immune to Sleep. Notably, Atomos, Wendigo/Stalker, etc. The biggest challenge an all Red Mage party faces is any battle where you have to deal high damage in a short amount of time. For example, any timed sequences (Karnak escape) or burst damage (Crystals at Moore Forest) are rough, but otherwise, battles can come down to patience. I was expecting this one to be harder, but ultimately the biggest walls are the Moore Crystals and Archeoaevis. Everything else can come down to patterns, luck and patience. Do some homework, don't leave World 1 without enough rods/elixirs to get by, and be ready for an endgame grind, and this one isn't too bad.

Final Fantasy Tactics - Traveling Performers Challenge (Post Run Review)

Version Played: PSX

Rules: One Orator, Dancer, Mime, Bard, Chocobo in SCC style setup (no cross class abilities). Chocobo changes with chapters (Yellow until Agrias leaves in Ch 2, Black until Orbonne in Ch 3, Red afterwards). Chocobo sits out of story battles that only allow 4 party members

Goal: Any%

Challenge Rating: ★★★★✩ Fun Rating: ★★★✩✩

Overview: This challenge starts really easy. (once you get the jobs, which is a long grind unfortunately. I was ~30-something, then lowered levels to under 20 for Ch. 1 after Zeklaus.) However, the main difficulty comes in around the end of Chapter 2, and this setup's main weakness becomes readily apparent and glaring. Typically, at least early on, enemies are slow, giving your team time to set up. By the time they reach your side, they've taken a ton of damage and can't do a lot to you anymore. Especially later on, when guns become a thing, and Ramza gains a lot of usability. However, in short, fast battles in small arenas, the need to burst damage becomes vital. This team doesn't do burst damage very well. (At least, until Red Chocobo anyway.) Chapter 3 is a huge wall, mostly because enemies get faster, Ninja starts becoming a thing, arenas are smaller, and incoming damage is very very high. The team is almost always squishy unless overleveled, and the other songs/dances' weakness of relying on coin tosses for efficacy becomes equally glaring. But the core battle routine, of dancing/singing and having them mimic'd is really fun. Mime itself is pretty strong physically in a pinch, but they are frail. Red Chocobo has a ton of movement options, and Choco Meteor is devastating to a majority of units. I've done this run before, years ago, but I think I used Ramza as his base Uber!Squire instead of SCC Orator, and I did play on a mod which I -suspect- had AI improvements, but I can't really confirm that. The secret here is watching the Turn List like a hawk, and learn to play around Mime for things like physical hits and the like. It can help make or break a battle to get the positioning down, and acting in ways before songs/dances come up can help make sticky situations easier. But this one is pretty rough from Ch 3 onwards. Come in with patience.

Final Fantasy X: No Sphere Grid+ (Post Run Review)

Version Played: Steam

Rules: No touching the Sphere Grid. Ever. No Aeon Overdrives (Aeons themselves are OK.) No 'Trio of 9999'*

Goal: Any%

Challenge Rating: ★★★✩✩ Fun Rating: ★★★★✩

Overview: This one isn't too bad. The biggest boon for someone going into a No Sphere Grid run is preparation. If one knows the boss fights well in advance, they can prepare very far ahead. FFX is pure turn based, so there's no need for fast-paced reactions. In fact, taking one's time is a player's best friend. The rules I added for this specific challenge were to prevent trivializing the game, as 'Aeon Bombing' (using Aeon overdrives over and over until a boss is dead) removes all semblance of challenge. So too does Trio of 9999 with multi-hit moves, such as Blitz Ace, Attack Reels, any elemental Gems, Lulu's Fury, etc. I never needed Trio of 9999 at all this run, so the official rule is to not use it at all, but the original rule was not to use it with multi-hit. As for the run itself, it wasn't too bad. Status moves, especially on weapons was a big help, and Rikku's Mix is still a game changer by itself. Steal/Use also went a long way, given the rewards for the Monster Arena kind of give a player all they really need to win. Customize and Aeon abilities are still fair game, so teaching Haste, Protect, Shell and Lancet to Shiva and Anima gave both the skills needed to survive late-game. It's a decent challenge for someone looking to dabble with Challenge Runs, but definitely do your homework first. Save rare Use items, make sure to get Stone Breath before leaving Djose, learn Mixes, maybe even import the Al Bhed primers to save some time later on. The best part? NSG is the perfect nexus into "acronym" runs :)

Final Fantasy VII: Magic Only Challenge (Post Run Review)

Version Played: PSX

Rules: ONLY Green Materia can be equipped. Only the [Magic] and [Item] commands can be used in battle. Of items, only Ether/Turbo Ether can be used (and Save Crystal in the last dungeon). Other items can be sold, other Materia must be trashed.

Goal: Any%

Challenge Rating: ★★✩✩✩ Fun Rating: ★★★★✩

Overview: This challenge is pretty straightforward. A lot of the difficulty is front-loaded into the early game, where Materia and money to buy more is limited. The first dungeon is tough in the sense that you have extremely limited resources, both offensively and defensively. As the run goes on, it gradually gets easier when players get access to more magic, status healing, revives, etc. The big thing to remember is that Ethers are extremely finite until ~mid-late Disc 1, so being judicious with fights is key. I ended up running away a lot early on, which left me underleveled until leaving Midgar, but grinding is possible if one knows where the free/cheap healing spots are. Overall, the only major stopping points were Airbuster, Midgar Zolom, Gi Nattak, and especially Lost Number, Demon Wall and Carry Armor. There are two main ways to handle this challenge. Either A: Grind like heck and buy a bajillion Ethers, and use whatever strongest magic you have all the time, or B: Stay roughly at level and use Tier 1 magic. Tier 2 magic is 4-5 times as costly for only double the damage, so it's more worthwhile to stick to longer fights, at least until Comet comes into play. By endgame, Ethers are candy, Turbo Ethers are common in one particular part of the game, and between Comet/Contain/Ultima, not a lot stands up. Some fights required buffs (Haste/Barrier/Regen), some did not. Mid Disc 1, Poison (as an ailment) is a player's best friend. At Demon Wall, it stops working, but it helps for the early bosses post-Midgar. HP is gonna be significantly lower than a casual run. but Magic/MP is much higher as a result. Missing out on Chocobo sidequest/Gold Saucer in general is meh, but challenge runs are just like that. Overall, not too bad in the end. Probably would recommend as an entry-level Challenge Run.