Summer Games Challenge 2015

[Exhuminator]

forms the holy PS2 RPG triumvirate alongside Suikoden III and Dragon Quest VIII.

Hmm, seems like something's missing here.

BoF V SMT: Nocturne finds the people who are worthy of its majesty.

Ahh, there we go.

[Ack]

Eh, I stopped playing modern console RPGs for the most part around the PS2 era, so I haven't got much else to add.

Back to Final Fantasy V. I'm getting through some jobs, but I'm also picking jobs that I have no desire to use, like Berserker. So, for you guys who have played it and know it so well...sell me on Bard and Dancer. What do they do that is so great?

[MrPopo]

Bard - amazing stat buffs and Romeo's Ballad works on a surprising number of enemies. If you have Speed Song and Level Song going then your party is quickly going to become speed demons that hit incredibly hard and never get hit by status effects. Oh, and Requiem does tons of damage to undead, and there's a few dungeons that are mostly or all undead.

Dancer - Equip ribbon is amazing, since ribbons are amazing. Dance is surprisingly powerful. You get one of four effects at an equal chance:

Tempting Tango - Confuse (hits a fair number of enemies)
Jitterbug Duet - Drain
Mystery Waltz - Osmose
Sword Dance - 4x damage (applies to both weapons if dual wielding)

But there's a set of equipment that you can easily get in the last third of the game. Any piece of that gear equipped will replace Tempting Tango with a second Sword Dance, which means Dance becomes an effective 2x damage multiplier with the occasional HP gain from the drain effect.

[alienjesus]

Eh, I stopped playing modern console RPGs for the most part around the PS2 era, so I haven't got much else to add.

Back to Final Fantasy V. I'm getting through some jobs, but I'm also picking jobs that I have no desire to use, like Berserker. So, for you guys who have played it and know it so well...sell me on Bard and Dancer. What do they do that is so great?

Bard is one of the most broken jobs in the game for bosses. Their songs can raise your base states and levels to maximum and make you ridiculously strong. They are reliably the best job to have on your team for taking out the toughest optional boss in the game. They also decimate undead, which is nice. We're talking 6000+ to all undead enemies at a point in the game where hitting for over 1000 is great.


Dancer: Sword Dance is great, and 50% chance on it later on is also great. Dance ignores the downside of the games most powerful weapon, and the dancer's speed stat complements it pretty well. Ribbons are a nice bonus.

[Ack]

Hmm, not bad, but I only have three Bard songs. Still, worth checking out as opposed to completely avoiding.

More questions: if a Mystic Knight uses magic sword while equipped with two weapons a la the Ninja's ability, do both swords get the elemental bonus?

At this point, my characters are falling into their niches. Bartz and Faris will stay my heavy hitters, while Leena and Galuf go for more magic classes.

[alienjesus]

Hmm, not bad, but I only have three Bard songs. Still, worth checking out as opposed to completely avoiding.

More questions: if a Mystic Knight uses magic sword while equipped with two weapons a la the Ninja's ability, do both swords get the elemental bonus?

At this point, my characters are falling into their niches. Bartz and Faris will stay my heavy hitters, while Leena and Galuf go for more magic classes.

Don't quote me on this, but I do believe they do both get the elemental bonus.

Sword magic status effects have a 100% chance to inflict on enemies who are weak to them, so two swords won't affect that.

Break sword is so broken...

[MrPopo]

You're correct; it applies to both weapons. The elemental sword magic used against an enemy weak against that element ignores their defense and multiplies your weapon damage by 2, 3, or 4 times its base amount (against a non-boss the -aga swords are instant kill if they're weak). Bio and Holy are considered -aga magic, and Venom is considered base magic. As mentioned statuses will always be applied (you'd be surprised what some bosses are vulnerable to, even though in practice their magic evasion is so high you can't land the status normally). And flare sword adds 100 to your weapon damage and is only affected by a quarter of your target's defense, which makes it give quite the damage boost against enemies with no elemental weakness.

[Ack]

You're correct; it applies to both weapons. The elemental sword magic used against an enemy weak against that element ignores their defense and multiplies your weapon damage by 2, 3, or 4 times its base amount (against a non-boss the -aga swords are instant kill if they're weak). Bio and Holy are considered -aga magic, and Venom is considered base magic. As mentioned statuses will always be applied (you'd be surprised what some bosses are vulnerable to, even though in practice their magic evasion is so high you can't land the status normally). And flare sword adds 100 to your weapon damage and is only affected by a quarter of your target's defense, which makes it give quite the damage boost against enemies with no elemental weakness.

...does sword magic work with !X-Fight? I'm asking purely for science sake, of course.

[alienjesus]

You're correct; it applies to both weapons. The elemental sword magic used against an enemy weak against that element ignores their defense and multiplies your weapon damage by 2, 3, or 4 times its base amount (against a non-boss the -aga swords are instant kill if they're weak). Bio and Holy are considered -aga magic, and Venom is considered base magic. As mentioned statuses will always be applied (you'd be surprised what some bosses are vulnerable to, even though in practice their magic evasion is so high you can't land the status normally). And flare sword adds 100 to your weapon damage and is only affected by a quarter of your target's defense, which makes it give quite the damage boost against enemies with no elemental weakness.

...does sword magic work with !X-Fight? I'm asking purely for science sake, of course.

Yes. It does.

X fight ALSO ignores the downside of the best weapon in the game. Just so you know...

Also, X Fight works with dual wield too. Just so you know...

[MrPopo]

X-Fight also happens to always hit, and ignores enemy defense, just so you know.