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106

Final Fantasy IV Research & Development / Re: FF4PSP - Journey Log

« on: December 11, 2012, 04:22:08 PM »

A few more notes:
I've collected the Grey Tail... but then again I keep trying to grind for the Purple Tail in Edge's Tale and still nodice.

Blessing allows Rosa to be the virtual fountain of healing. It helps to heal @ 3MP. 

The rotating simple treasure chest in Kain's dungeon contains the Bronze Hourglass, Ether, Light Curtain, Unicorn Horn (could be a few more). The most practical and useful item in the bunch is the Ether... especially since you cannot buy it quite yet.

The Grey Coeurl has some double hit fascination... go figure, it hurts when directly hit twice with it.

107

Gaming Discussion / Re: Dispel removing Slow and Stop in FF5 and FF6

« on: December 11, 2012, 04:12:34 PM »

The role of Dispel changed throughout the FF series.

FF1 - Dispel removes protection from elementals/status resistance, usually not reliable, but when it works, it works probably too well.
FF2+FF3 NES - No idea
FF4 - Dispel removes a small number of statuses, though probably Berserk status is the most notable. It also removes Sap/HP Leak (no idea exactly why), the various Image based statuses, and Reflect (though, useless because the spell itself is reflectable). In sum, you would never really need to use it since Berserk is usually beneficial (monsters using Berserk is limited to a few). Esuna in FF4A (and PSP) was changed to heal Berserk status...
FF5 - Dispel was pretty much geared for removing any statuses that weren't status afflictions (like Poison or Blind). So, anything that allowed you to glow, or float, or even give multiple images was made for Dispel.
FF6 - Dispel isn't as useful, despite it being very much like FF5 outside of Berserk (which, I didn't notice). I think it has a lot to do with FF6 allowing you to switch characters in mid-battle, whereas this was not available in FF4 or FF5 (FF4PSP does allow for it), which makes being uncontrollable a negative more than a positive.
FF7 - There was Dispel? I don't recall.

Remember that Berserk prior to FF6 was more beneficial (50% more damage is pretty good) when you didn't have total control like you did in FF6. I would say that Berserk status in FF6 isn't so special (did anyone really need it?) and in some reflection in FF4A this was also changed (not for the better IMO)... so take that for what it is worth.

FF4's Dispel is practically useless (it may have changed in the PSP version), so FF5 and FF6 got it right (although, I don't really bother with Dispel in general, especially in FF6 due to permanent statuses on monsters).

Also note that FF5 has a Power Staff, that applies Berserk to its targets (it does no damage). Berserk is a lot more useful in FF5... although I don't usually use it there.

108

Final Fantasy IV Research & Development / Re: FF4PSP - Journey Log

« on: December 10, 2012, 07:15:09 AM »

Some more notes:

The Underground Waterway monsters mainly consists of new creations (well, at least with the palette swapping). This is actually great since lots of existing monsters and formations have been reused a bit... you might as well actually make it distinct at this point.

One of the monsters in that revised dungeon does apply poison... I figure it is the snake monsters.

The Fire Sword (and maybe of the elemental weaponry) is not that useful... so you will have to occasionally pick and choose if you plan on using elemental weapons (it makes you wish Yang was around).

The Chaos Lady (the dungeon specific monster) is a pushover. If you are efficient in killing, Doom is just not threatening...

Most of the monsters in Kain's Challenge Dungeon are generally a mixture of the Tower of Babil (Edge route) with some Summoners on a special floor... and then all the Sylph's Cave and Land of Summoned Monsters combos with creative rehashes. Unlike the original game, your equipment select limits your full defensive potential.

Like the original game, the Diamond Armlet is overrated and should always be a last resort to acquire lightning resistance for the spellcasters... It was key for Edge in the original... The Gold Hairband is the key option.

The Gold Hairband and the Luminous Robe was always a really powerful combo in the game. The both have lightning resistance, but the most important aspect was the racial resistance... Dragons for the Gold Hairband and Undead for the Luminous Robe. Of course, the Gold Hairband was more favorable to Rydia... but nonetheless, it provides what you need for the most part. Of course, the trifecta is the Rune Armlet for Mage protection. That usually covered all the racial resistances you needed in the end game (outside of the sole Giant and Mech, except the EvilMask never attacks physically).

Rosa looks too much like the White Wizard in FF1A... which is lame.

Continuing with tradition, Ceodore can equip some of the same wizard based equipment that Cecil could. The Luminous Robe may actually be better on Ceodore than Rosa... despite the fact Rosa would benefit more.. .but she gets the Gold Hairband, which covers what you need for the most part. Note that there aren't any undead in this dungeon... so that's not why you give it to him... the Ice Shield+lightning based armor combo is great... you get fire and lightning resistance.. all of which you really need in the dungeon. I've never been fond of the Diamond Gloves or the helmet... they suck compared to the armor and the shield.

The Thunder Dragon in this dungeon looks a lot more like the original FF4 version. Unfortunately, if you don't have ANY lightning protection, RUN THE HELL AWAY. Since its Thunderbolt attack is maxHP/2 (with randomness), a surprise attack will allow him to dish almost 4000HP raw damage, killing any character instantly. It's better to fight it when you have given lightning resistance to all characters... then again, the weaker version in Ceodore's version of the Mist Cave is at least twice as easy.

Blessing is not affected by the moon... which is nice (I forget if Pray is).

Cid's Risk Strike doesn't seem to work vs bosses... why bother with the command? It does seem to deal 2 times the damage when it works... but I don't like unreliability in commands if it doesn't work more often than not.

The Sledgehammer adds +5 STR, like Gaia's Hammer. I don't think it's that much of an improvement (like +10 attack power more than the Ogre Killer) when you lose the shield. Sure you will lose the shield later on when the stronger weapons become 2 handed only, but you need the Fire protection vs the Cursed Dragon and Lighting protection primarily against the Thunder Dragon. I guess you can figure out alternate ways of doing it through the diamond armor set, but doesn't allow for Cid to get to his full potential.

With regards to Cid, it's kinda nice to be able to take advantage of a shield... as much as he has evasion like a rock, it's vital as long as you are able to make him really strong, because he's unbearably slow.

Finally, a reason to use the Cross item. The boss on its 3rd consecutive counter attack uses a multitargeted Cross. This is very punishing since you have nothing to block it outside of Mystic Veils... which aren't even applicable to this dungeon or the characters at the moment. I mean there are two major options to killing the Curse Dragon... both options are specific to the "undead" version of the monster...

1) Just Jump with Kain. Since the counter is instant death (seemingly only to Kain), all you need to do is double down on a revive (the spell or item) and then some short healing (basic Rosa's Cura or Ceodore's Curaga will be enough). This may probably be the best option if you don't like what I'll say about the second option.

2) Let Kain do all the work... under Berserk. This allows Haste to be in use, since it goes away when Kain dies. This is preferable in all circumstances that don't affect the attack power negatively (just one of the moons will probably screw this up).

The Curse Dragon when physically attacked does the following (in the order of counter attacks):
Doom - seems to love Kain due to RNG/emulation
Multitargeted Firaga - hurts Rosa the most because she has no elemental resistance, whereas all the men have some part of the Ice Armor set available
Multitargeted Curse - hurts Kain the most in this instance
Dual-hit - seems to target Rosa, then Kain... I'm not sure if this is its natural attack or an actual counter
Restart with Doom counter...

It's insanely easy when Kain does most of the work (if not all of it). Cid is best for using items and Rosa for healing... Ceodore could use Esuna, but that will remove Berserk, so you could set up Rosa to reapply it after Esuna. A Cross will allow you to avoid recasting Berserk.

It is really counterproductive for Cid and Ceodore to attack. Kain's Dragoon Lance is Holy elemental.. which is the weakness of the monster. The strange part is that the "undead" version of the monster isn't actually listed as undead (I'll need to actually see if that is the case). This is Kain's Challenge Dungeon after all...

 
It's fun when you silence those Mini Satana or Elder Treants and then proceed to put confuse status on them... you'll just end up causing them to attack you. Since the response to confuse status is casting magic, and silence causes all magic to be replaced with a regular attack... you'll see how this result came to be.

 
I think I was wrong about Saint Dive... since I was testing that on Flan. It seems to do Jump damage with a little bit of variation, and applies Holy elemental to the attack. It's not as much magic (it doesn't seem to be resisted by the Mad Ogre), but Flan do have high defense, which might explain the damage I got (though now, Rosa+Cid are at different levels now, so I will retest).

The Curse Dragon counters are based on the fact that Doom (the countdown) is applied to a character. It will keep attempting to apply Doom until a character is affected, and then it runs through its special attack cycle.

After the Dual-hit from the Curse Dragon, the last known attack is Dark Breath (IIRC, it's fire elemental and very likely based on the monster's HP). There may be more, but Doom's Coundown takes forever.

I had forgotten about the fact that Doom is reflectable. Yes, the spell that the infamous Fataleye/Ahriman uses is reflectable. I don't remember testing it in the PSP version (well, the aspect that it can be applied to a monster with the boss bit), but in TAY, it won't work. At least preventing it from working is the best thing you can do... So, it is beneficial if either Rosa or Ceodore (preferably both) is able to cast Reflect on Kain (and probably the others, since I figure the RNG is probably emulation related) to keep the Curse Dragon from doing nastier things. Its attempts to apply the status is crucial for you to not take any damage... but it is more crucial for the monster to be execute the other parts of the script.

The Obelisk Lance is probably the weapon of choice of Ceodore. The Dragoon Lance is still vital to Kain anyways. Although the Demon Slayer is a decent weapon, there shouldn't be any "Demons" outside of the Lamias that you will be fighting and the weaker creatures outside of Baron. You need weapons to annihilate the Thunder Dragon and other flying monsters and the Obelisk Lance is that weapon. Plus, it's the strongest of the bunch, with +5 STR to boot. Too bad the STR bonus doesn't really lead to an increased attack multiplier for either Ceodore or Kain... oh well.

The Elfin Bow is still effective vs Mages, despite that not being listed (like Rune Armlet's resistance to Mages). Strangely, Shell can be cast on all characters... unlike the Protect Staff's solo targeting. The Elfin Bow still retains +5 INT.

 
Some worthy notes:

Cross Slash Prime appears to be closer to a combined attack between Ceodore and Kain with doubled damage.

Saint Dive is like having a holy elemental Jump targeted to all. When used against Flan, it does nice damage, but it feels like reduced damage (like 1/4 to 1/2 less damage), since most of the work has to do with Jump.

X Chaser seems to ignore defense when the damage part is applied, but the damage is strictly what Rosa would do to the monster. So, it's reliant on the instant death attack to high defense monsters.

Rocket Launcher deals damage close to 50% more than what Ceodore normally does, I think. However, it is obviously more effective if its targeting monsters with the weakness of Fire. It's not really that good otherwise. I will have to look at the damage soon.

I haven't use enough of Aiming Thrust to get an idea of the damage dealt when Instant Death is not applied.

I've collected all the items in Kain's dungeon, but I haven't gotten the Grey Tail yet.

109

Final Fantasy IV Research & Development / Re: FF4PSP - Journey Log

« on: December 09, 2012, 12:35:21 PM »

This was short... getting Dark/Mirror Kain to level 50 is... not worth it. Got him to level 40 and facepalmed at the fact that it would've been limited to 50...

Cid's starting equipment sucks. At least he gets crack from the STR bonuses, but the Horned equipment set really sucks. I eventually picked up another set of Giant's Gloves and the Headband should suffice for now. Already replaced the armor with the Mythril Armor (and then Ice Armor).

Slow characters... at least it makes Ceodore and Kain so much easier.

It's nice the the Holy Dragoon aspect of Kain allows him to equip the Paladin armor... too bad most of that armor isn't that useful at this point.

The Dragoon Spear provides +3 to all stats, plus being Holy elemental... it doesn't seem to have any anti-Undead or anti-Spirit/Ghoul extras, but most of them are weak vs Holy in the first place.

The Grey Coeurl in Devil's Road isn't too hard... but I don't quite know what triggers his Blaster attack, but that's a non-issue. Lots of HP.. great reason to use Cross Slash Prime... it feels like a 50% damage upgrade (it's still a combined attack) in addition to jacking up the MP cost.

Cross Slash Prime seems to apply status effects from weapons (not entirely sure of elemental attributes, but possible). I've had the Stoneblade on Ceodore and it seemed to be applied on the Grey Coeurl.

It's nice that the game found some elegant way of swapping out the weapon Kain has for his battle.

Some notes on some bands:
Divine Heal - Feels like Curaja, w/o actually having the spell. Will need to look into this further

Rocket Launcher - not good enough vs Flan, will need to test further

X Chaser - It seems to increase damage through dealing something like a combo of Cid+Rosa's damage. A nice feature is that it has a good chance of instant death (applies death status, so it won't work on monsters resistant to death).

Saint Dive - I'm not entirely sure where the damage comes from or how it is derived, but it does ignore split damage and feels like a weaker version of Holy is applied. Think of it like a level 2 elemental version of Holy (based on the black magic spell power).

Aiming Thrust - I'm not entirely sure how much damage it is supposed to deal,  but it deals double damage from what Kain would normally do, with a good chance of applying instant death (like X Chaser).

 
Blessing heals both HP and MP at a rate (average) close to 1/16 of the character's maxHP and maxMP.

Blind really does shut cripple the accuracy of a character. I haven't used enough magic with it, but it seems if acc is reduced by 3/4, or just set it to 0. It does require healing now... since it is really nasty.

A level 30-ish Dark Kain had problems attacking and jumping while blinded.

110

Final Fantasy IV Research & Development / Re: FF4PSP - Journey Log

« on: December 08, 2012, 08:28:41 PM »

Started Kain's Tale...

One thing that isn't quite obvious is who the real Kain was that appeared near the save point that saved Porom... because it would have been easy to confuse them since the first part was the original Kain, and its "profile" is the same as the bad Kain (for this tale aspect specifically), so it can be confusing if you hadn't done Porom's Tale.

At level 50, all monsters are easy. Even then, they are still too damn easy.

It is worth noting in the context of the original game that Kain starts with the equipment he had when he rejoins you in the Tower of Zot.

Original Kain or Dark/Mirror Kain has more INT that the Hooded Man/Real Kain. Real Kain has a lot more SPR... which is similar to how he was in the original FF4 portions. Sometimes you must overcome darkness with more Spirit, but evil is a lot more devious...

I don't know why I need all this spare extra Mythril equipment when you can pick up most of it in Ceodore's Challenge Dungeon. Mythril Shield from the Armadillo is all you need for Kain (well, in addition to the Mythril Armor you pick up).

Bone Wrist is a major upgrade, since Spirit/Ghoul resistance as I've mentioned before is... close to useless. This is the only way (at this point) that Kain can get undead resistance. Cedore should be living off his father's Paladin armor (which is still great for Spirit boosting). Mythril vs the Paladin armor is... minimal gains at best with the Mythril. Unfortunately, it is heavy (0% evasion) and the Giant's Gloves are still more useful.

This must be Medusa/Stone Mountain... there's barely undead here.

Blood Sword is a classic. Too bad the racial nerf may have crippled this weapon's usefulness vs Flan. Even the Flandango/Index Finger would need a buff because of the racial modifier nerf. Still a solid weapon at this stage of the game.

Slumber Sword is still overpowered (magic-wise), but I kinda wish I had to fight for it. It was far harder when you had Tellah, Yang, and Cid in the original to obtain (still easy though).

Stoneblade is an upgrade... and yet not an upgrade. Increasing the attack power by 20 from whatever you have at the moment is an improvement, but the accuracy (66% hit rate) will still reduce damage to whatever you had before (It's kinda like a Legend/Mythgraven Sword vs Ancient Sword debate). The good part is that it is non-elemental and are the only viable things to kill flans. Unfortunately, you need to successfully apply this weapon 4 times (or 3 times and just wait it out) to kill them. Oh well, I have a pair, so this should go twice as fast. It took me an hour and a half (combined time) to pick a pair up.

Cross Helm is heavy (0% evasion), but blind protection is nice.

I will say a few about Spears/Lances... they are usually much better (as few as you usually get in the game) than their Sword counterparts... if only for the Wind elemental attribute. Ceodore can use them (just not the Hooded Man, for obvious reasons) and as an endgame option, they are not so hot due to raw attack power. Its best combo is, and always has been, when it has been used with Jump. That has always been why Kain is generally stronger then Cecil. Kain's above average stat growth in the original is meant to help Jump improve dramatically, and it shows. So it sucks to say that the usefulness of the weapon is only based on the application of the weapon's usage... so long term, it's not so hot for Ceodore or Golbez (which I believe can equip them as well) to have a spear/lance equipped late game (Golbez will be expanded upon later when I actually use him). I guess Cecil in some ways wanted to teach his son about Kain and Dragoons early on (it would probably be better than Awaken, by far).

 
I would like to note that Undead protection was limited to spell casters for the most part (excluding ninjas), so it's worth noting that this seems to be a fighter type of armor.

111

General Discussion / Re: Gamefaqs + eternal stupidity

« on: December 08, 2012, 02:18:43 PM »

So bored, I attacked Vegh's retarded argument:
http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/615911-final-fantasy-iv-the-complete-collection/64731931?page=3

112

Final Fantasy IV Research & Development / Re: FF4PSP - Journey Log

« on: December 07, 2012, 02:44:08 PM »

Looks like I'm pretty much done with Edward's Challenge Dungeon... some notes..

1) The Officer's Hat has 7% evasion. It does allow Edward to get the extra multiplier he needs...

2) Finally got the Poet's Notebook or whatever... got it sold for 1K. Not worth the time to pay attention to this.

3) This dungeon also reminds me of FF7's mini-games (mainly the Coliseum or whatever it was called). The only difference is that you can actively throw away your winnings.

4) Gil Toss does not seem to scale linearly, it's more exponential (on a upward curve). At a lower level (I should have tested this at lower levels), the attacks were a joke.
At level 20 to 30 or so, the damage was a little under 10 times her level. Being closer to level 40, the damage was closer to 15 times her level. One wonders how much damage Gil Toss will do at the highest of levels.

5) Gil Toss ignores defense. This kinda sounds useful against Flans, except Flans don't give enough money back to make it worthwhile (maybe EXP would make more sense there).

6) Feast of the Land might actually combine the Spirit of both characters.. or it may actually scale with GP Rain's level scheme. At the lower 30s, it healed like 600HP to all characters... at level 40, it heals 900HP. If you combine the Spirit between both characters, then it does look like a high Spirit based Curaga. If you factor in the damage that Gil Toss scales with, then it's the effectiveness of Gil Toss added with split Cura in a healing form.

7) Gil Toss doesn't seem to change when there's 1 or more than 1 monster. So, split damage is a non factor.

 
In response to the post, I meant the Light Curtain (item names of unworthy note escape me). I couldn't quite remember the word.

I've already traded in for the tail (technically, I could get another if I wanted to).

Also, one of the lame random treasures can be the Unicorn Horn.

There's a tendency in the treasures in the 1st Floor side paths (the stairs to the lower floors). On the treasure raid on the lower right side, you will very likely get elemental attack items of the -ara types (or was it just basic, it doesn't matter, since I never bother with the stuff). On the boss side (the upper left), the treasures tend to be with the elemental Fangs.

The lame Poet's Notebook chest tends to have a High Potion. Meh.

The Whisperweed Seed's other item drops tend to have the Bronze Hourglass and Spider's Silk (and maybe a few others).

 
Since the last tale is Kain's, I'm working on Ceodore's tale now.

It's nice and easy to gain EXP when you have fewer people around. Damn you Royal Soldiers and Edge's other ninjas. 

The Thunder Dragon is a lot more tame than the original. Far more manageable... but on a surprise attack, it will hurt (the Lightning attack will occur after 2 attacks).

The Plate Mail hurts more than it helps. Since it is heavier than normal armor, you take a lot more raw damage, that could be avoided through. The older Chainmail is better for that reason alone.

The Adamantite Golem is not as threatening if you attack from the back row. Although it will take a bit longer to kill him, you are more likely to survive the tri-attack.

I'm not really threatened by that larvae based monster in the challenge dungeon... I don't know what threat it provides.... it's name ends with luca or something  It gets killed by Kain pretty easily.

The simple band that Kain and Ceodore has sucks at killing flan (2 damage, which is the sum of both of their attacks).

The Flan Ring doesn't seem that special... other than the small racial defense... but it does have +20% evasion.

Nice to see Ceodore gain a 3x magic evasion, probably faster than Cecil in the original game (and probably in TAY as well).

Note: I forgot to mention that the Flamebeast doesn't actually counter @ low HP, but it tends to be reasonably quick after 2 or 3 physical attacks it makes.

Also, I'm not picked up tails in Ceodore's tale (should be easy with its frequency, but unfortunately large drop list), Yang's tale (should be even easier - monster frequency is high, small drop list), and Edge's tale (Behemoth's frequency is very low AND has a large drop list).

Quick edit later... 

Noctiluca is the monster that I forgot.

I've collected all Ceodore's treasure in the challenge dungeon... I just need to get to level 50 (that wasn't my original intent, but it's going pretty easily). At the moment, I'd like to grind for the tail, but also get a headband from the Ogres (need the extra strength.. the defense will improve through the evasion over the Mythril Helm).

 
Collected the Blue Tail... I'll play Kain's Tale later today. I'll try to grind the Red Tail out (Yang's Tale) and maybe a Rune Staff from Rydia's Tale.

Awaken seems to be more of a desperation move than anything. If only there was a band to heal that damage quickly... or a "revenge" type of band that deals damage based on his HP loss.

 
Collected the Red Tail. It almost always seems that Auto-Battle helps with the RNG in your favor... kinda like those TAS runs with people exclusively messing with the RNG with their input and Wii RNG abuse for TAY. FF4 certainly can already be abused by that.

I want to note that during Edward's Challenge Dungeon, I didn't really have to use MP or do much healing outside of potions. It's kinda lame in that sense. Other tales kinda make it more prominent to use MP through healing or bands.

Focus seems to make Yang take increased damage (seems to take in 50% more damage than normal). I wonder if it is dropping his evasion.... it probably  a potential effect vs magic as well...

I will not try to get the Rune Staff in Rydia's Tale... it's hard to want to obtain something you can't equip and play with (outside of the tails).

113

General Discussion / Re: NFL season (2012-2013) week 14

« on: December 06, 2012, 08:16:11 PM »

Week 14 schedule:

Home stretch!

Broncos @ Raiders (division, Thursday)

Broncos

Rams @ Bills

Bills

Cowboys @ Bengals

Bengals

Chiefs @ Browns

Browns - Pretend this game didn't happen.

Titans @ Colts (division)

Colts

Bears @ Vikings (division)

Bears

Eagles @ Buccaneers

Bucs

Ravens @ Redskins

Redskins

Falcons @ Panthers (division)

Falcons

Jets @ Jaguars

Jets

Chargers @ Steelers

Steelers

Dolphins @ 49'ers

49ers

Cardinals @ Seahawks (division)

Seahawks

Saints @ Giants

Saints

Lions @ Packers (division)

Packers

Texans @ Patriots (Monday)

Pats - This game will be difficult... one way or the other.

114

Final Fantasy IV Research & Development / Re: FF4PSP - Journey Log

« on: December 06, 2012, 12:36:16 AM »

OK, here's my analysis of the dungeon...

1) Avoid the Chocobos like the plague. It's like playing in a casino (in fact, this dungeon is that and then some). For the chance of getting a small bonus, you have a greater chance of finding the evil Chocobo that steals your money (and talking to it can just drain your money if you're that bored). Why play the odds? 10k loss at any point is stupid.

2) Since the Gil Bird is a given, it is not a bad thing to become an expert dungeon spelunker... which means searching for every nook and cranny for items and money. Since this isn't timed, there is no real negative consequence. Buying Spider Silk in advance helps.

3) It does help to have 10k (grind for some in the waterway if need be) as you need that extra bit for a "just in case" moment.. which will be explained in a moment.

4) Invest in the guys who need money. If you don't get it back, then that's 15k total down the drain... but if you do invest, you are ~30k richer. Risk-reward says you can make up 15k easier through fighting monsters that you want to grind against anyways.

5) In the 3-monster toll section, you have the worst case chance of losing 10k in the deal. If the monster in the back always drops its item, you essentially will be able to make up that money for the most part. Not a huge loss IMO. You benefit when you get the probably low-loss deal (it's a 2/3 probability, so you are still likely to get what you want).

6) The 5-monster toll section should be visited last. It is probably the place to collect some of what you need (the loans, and possibly the pig).

7) I got one of the rare items in the 20k chest (I did another 50k+20k+10k run). I did have some extra money to spare from the guys that were loaned money (30k from guys I loaned). Spending 10k for the unlikely rare chest is not too hard to accomplish anyways. You just need to make sure that the 50k chest is first bought off. That is the goal after all.

Why does this dungeon feel like a casino? Really...

 
Third run completed - Obtained Level Band (50k) and Silver Apple (10k)... didn't quite have the money for more, but it doesn't really hurt to get the 10k chest based on this.
In my first run, the 50k chest was an Elixir. Second run had the Ice Whip in the 50k chest (Exorcism Suit in 20k chest, 10k chest had Silver Hourglass).

It's all probabilities after all.

 
Two more runs completed:

Fourth run:
50k (Muse Harp)
20k (Professor Robe)
10k (Silver Apple)

Fifth run:
50k (Adamantite)
10k (Solar Curtain)

The 10k loan guy on the 5th run refused to pay up. The girl did however (so, the girl is probably a bit more reliable).

I actually hate him (the loan guy) when he appears in the first room of the dungeon (the one that is past the door the girl that explains the dungeon to you).

The Whisperweed item sells for under 1k, so that's paying for convenience (since you pick it up in the path leads to the guy that wants it). So, prepare for disappointment in advance.

The Flamebeast specifically counters with its Blaze attack when its HP reaches 500 or so (after you attack it). If you time it right, Harley's Ice Whip can cripple that attack (if not kill it outright) when you time it correctly. Blaze is dependent on the monster's current HP (it's either 1/4 or 1/5 damage based on that, probably the latter since it is mainly based on the original).

The Belphegor monster is not a threat... it doesn't even resemble the monster in the Interlude at all... besides, you should have Silver Breastplates across the the board.

It's kinda of amusing to see some randomness from the monster... as the Bandit after 2 physical attacks (that the monster deals) casts any one of the level 1 elementals (Fire, Blizzard, Thunder)... too bad it's a joke monster IMO.

Muse Harp has 90% acc and it literally an unholy killing machine.
Ice Whip has pretty high acc (I'll need to double check what that is) and Harley magically becomes stronger than Edward (Edward will catch up eventually). Accuracy seems to be @ 70% or so.

Exorcism Gown is heavy... for whatever the reason (0% evasion). +2 INT and +2 SPR is meh, although resistance to the same thing that the classic Ice Shield is can be a bonus I guess.

Professor Robe is much nicer than the Gown... it's not heavy (+10% evasion) and it's great for magic users (+5 INT and +5 SPR). It seems that it can be equipped by everyone (like the Exorcism Gown).

Too bad neither of the two characters can equip the Giant's Gloves.

The annoying Toad monster casts and reacts with Toad (it is much more vicious while under Silence status)... so it may make sense to let Harley have at it (should be an easy kill with the Ice Whip) or Edward to lead off to potentially reverse Toad status...

 
I want to point out that the next JPCSP should have some improvements performance-wise, but there will probably be some graphical issues (when you compare play to the real PSP).

On my sixth run.. I got the Officer's Cap (50k) and a Light Curtain (10k).

The Officer's Cap has 7% evasion (or was it 6?) and provides decent stat boosts (+3 STR, +3 STA). It's kinda in between the Green Beret... but it has better overall magic defense... Seems like anyone can equip it...

A few more notes on the dungeon:
Expect to spend 3K on the elevator. If you have to goto the 3rd floor, just use the back passages on either side of the 2nd floor main area stairs. It's worth the trek for the money instead of spending money to go up one floor. The 4th floor is only accessible by elevator anyways.

I bet the treasure algo for buying the chest is simple:
50k - guaranteed good stuff (until you pick them all up)
everything else - anything goes (you have an equally likely chance of picking up good stuff than something random, until the good stuff is gone)

 
Finally cleaned it out, but I want to finish the level grind on Edward+Harley.

Last useful 50k item was the Soma Drop on the next run... then junk all the way (did two runs since last edit).

So far, the number of times the 10k loan guy refused to give me back anything was twice (or was it thrice?). Considering that your gain is between 15k to 30k (50% to 200% of what you paid in), it's not so bad.

The woman who needed the 5k loan seems to always pay up, comes with 10k to 15k (100% to 200% of your original investment)... so be nice.

Special item values (not exactly close, but whatever):
Gil Bird (10k - 15k)
Bard's Lyre (5k - 8k)
Adamant Pig (8k - 9k)
Whisperweed Seed (500 - 850) << sucks either way
Poet's Notebook (don't remember, was like 3K or 5K?) - only did this once, very unreliable

It might be an idea to bring more money into the situation to get all the chests in one go, but you'd probably get two rare items at best... it's still not worth it.

I haven't used Feast of the Land a lot, but the band seems to be similar to a multitargeted Curaga... w/o costing you actual money. I don't think it uses Harley's Spirit to make it better/worse, but simply Edward's.. need to play around with this more.

Non-rare treasures seem to be limited to Silver Hourglass, Ether, Dry Ether, Remedy, Solar Curtain

115

Final Fantasy IV Research & Development / Re: FF4PSP - Journey Log

« on: December 05, 2012, 05:42:32 PM »

Sounds good... I still have to test it.

The Challenge Dungeon... would arguably be called an asylum. It would've been nice if the monsters involved dropped more money (like, have more Gil Bird encounters). It also discourages completionists (trying to get 150k for all the treasures, is simply insane). It probably might just be worthwhile getting 60k in total (best and worst treasure). I got a Dry Ether on 10k, whereas I got an Ether on 20k (Ether is 10k normally, Dry Ether is 50k normally). Go for the bang for the buck.

There is some oddity that targets Guard C (bottom slot) more often than not, and Guard B (middle slot) in some instances. The Bandit and a few other monsters like hitting on Edward (between top and middle slot). Go figure.

The special toad monster reminds me of the early toads in the game. It makes sense if you can get Edward to silence them, but that just means you'll just be attacked directly (starting with Guard B). It makes sense to just keep the toad casting the spell on you than it attacking you. It's easier to acquire Maiden's Kiss than buying the Remedy to heal it.

I hope the Ogre drops a few Giant's Gloves... it would make battling easier.

Edward's offensive singing is probably a lot more beneficial... as neutering the monsters through Sleep or Confuse allows you to live longer.

116

Final Fantasy IV Research & Development / Re: FF4PSP - Journey Log

« on: December 05, 2012, 12:44:01 PM »

Piercing Sight does work, but only works on normal enemies (and seems to have a % chance to hit and miss, not sure what it's based on). It's a fun little skill but only works when you have another Actual mage in your party (and possibly then you could hit Dark elemental which you can just forget about exploiting it) It has a lot of potential, but the game never utilizes it properly sadly, I can confirm though that it effects both Magic and Physical Elements (Fire Sword and Firaga will both deal weakness damage, etc)

Well, there's no "miss" as far as I can tell, which doesn't exactly help me. The Beastiary item doesn't seem to provide additional info either.

It would've been nice to have an actual mage in the party to at least make people not think her skill is useless. At least let me know what weakness was added... that would be helpful.

Every enemy in Edward's Tale has a chance to drop Bronze Tails (I think even Silver Tails) which is why there is no bestiary change. It seems to be a "global flag" so to speak.

Well, I got a Silver Tail, so life is good. 

I forget what moon affects black magic negatively, but I saw Fire from the Soul monster miss... and it should never do that (it has a 100% spell hit rate) while Edward at the moment didn't have a magic evasion multiplier. This leads me to believe that this affects spell hit rate as well. Then again, I recall Stop not working so well during Porom's Challenge Dungeon during the same moon. So clearly, spell hit rate is "adjusted", not necessarily just spell power. I guess having a better stat (INT or the monster Magic stat) can compensate for the hit rate loss.

117

Final Fantasy IV Research & Development / Re: FF4PSP - Journey Log

« on: December 05, 2012, 02:42:04 AM »

I try... I can't say it's all exciting new info (there are plenty of walkthroughs with already good ideas).

OK, back to Edward's Tale. I didn't get to do too much sadly (finally got Harley into the party).

For the sake of duh, those initial rings/relics that Edward+Harley initially starts with doesn't appear to be a coincidence. Too bad it limits you defensively (well, mainly in the magic defense area, since that is what you lose). All these rings feel like FF5 redux, in that the arm carries the special stuff.

Does Piercing Sight work? Maybe I'm forgetting rule #1 about magic vs physical resistance. Being able to absorb AND be weak to an elemental means that magic-wise, you can't use that elemental, but physically, you can. See Dark Elf/Dark Dragon.

Harley's initial weapon sucks... which is why I'm not ever fond with the early whips. Low hit rate/accuracy makes for a painful attacking experience, which makes the Bow+Arrow more appealing. When Rydia normally reaches a 4 attack multiplier, at least you have a shot with the classic Whip landing hits, despite them being painfully weak (which is why the Dancing Dagger  shares a lot of the workload until the Tower of Babil-Eblan side).

It is kinda ironic that I start with 5000GP, only to still not have enough for equipment I like. No, I don't mean the Iron Armor crap set. The Bronze Breastplate and Feathered Cap is overall better than the Iron equivalent, based on evasion alone (and magic defense). I mean, compare the following (note, I didn't bother getting the magic evasion #s):
Feathered Cap - 2 defense, 3 magic defense (+6% evasion), 330GP
Iron Helm - 5 defense, 1 magic defense (0% evasion), 800GP
Bronze Helm (initial) - 3 defense (0% evasion)

Now if you didn't get a headache reading that... look at this:
Bronze Armor (initial) - 4 defense, 1 magic defense (0% evasion)
Iron Armor - 7 defense, 2 magic defense (0% evasion), 1000GP
Bronze Breastplate - 4 defense, 2 magic defense (+15% evasion), 450GP

As much as I like grinding and getting money, I like evasion. It's not as useful until you get a greater defense multiplier (think Cid with his slowness), but when you do, it makes up for the loss of defense. For half the price (well, it's cheaper than half), you can get a decent upgrade to whatever crap/junk you have on the soldiers/guards you get. Why pay more when you get less?

I think most of Edward's Bardsongs are the same on the offense, outside of them being multitargetable. On your party, it's Cure, Cura, Haste, and Protect+Shell (favorably multtargetable). The spell power is based on Edward's stats, which seem to be more Spirit biased unlike the original game (he was kinda equally favorable on both stats, although his level 70+ stats favored Spirit IIRC)

Bardsong's usually pretty good, except when Edward fails to produce anything. This continues to disappoint me at times.

Edward's classic harps are probably better than the initial Silver Harp you can buy. You find one of those compatible monsters in the dungeon for the weapon (Silver Harp), whereas you can put every other monster to sleep, which is probably better.

The Adamant Turtle (or whatever it is called) probably needs its bestiary info fixed. Since this is the only version used in this chapter, it uses the same item drop info like the original. However, these are modded to drop the Bronze Tails (which another monster should be doing the same). I'm kinda not complaining because I'm getting those drops like candy. I get the feeling I'll make a note of the other monster pretty soon.

The great thing about Edward is the harp magic (which is simply a weapon with an added status effect). Too bad there was only two harps. He was really handy and this time around he seems to be more or less the same. A lesser known fact is that the original harp did not have the back/ignore row property. This was actually added to only the SNES  versions of the game (FF4 Easytype simply got a hit rate/acc boost). This doesn't appear to have changed in the PSP version of FF4 (let alone the GBA port) outside of TAY. It was so much more appreciable when I played FF2US... Of course, FF4A (GBA port) added back row compatible harps (although, the back row bugs that I've screamed about in the pre-PSP ports reared its ugly head then).

 
I'm was fortunate to get a free Silver Tail. I wonder if there's a treasure drop "overlay" in Edward's Tale. That would make a lot more sense. This "overlay" simply adds the Bronze/Silver Tail probabilities to the drops (fairly low, though the emulation seems to give me these tails like candy), but it makes life easier for you. I got a Bronze Tail from the Sahagin-Alligator combo and the Silver Tail from the Centepede+Desert Sahagin combo... so I think it's not enemy specific, but Edward encounters specific.

I should just write how the entire Ghoul/Spirit resistance is completely overrated, starting with the Silver Armlet. Consider that the monsters you would primarily use this against, lead off their attack with magic. This amounts to having armor w/o any special properties. It's really that simple. Maybe I'll write an article on it, but ultimately, there's no point to adding properties to armor that have little to no impact long term.

The whole point of the Antlion journey is to show you that Edward can handle himself. Finally, he doesn't suck so much... now only if he would sing successfully 100% of the time.

The point of the "lame robbery attempt" is to give you a break from traversing the damned map again. At least the devs did you a favor...

Having Edward being able to kill, if not confuse things with an attack multiplier of 4, is incredible.

It's worth mentioning that Edward's INT+SPR growth is faster than his FF4 stats....
Harley's stat growth reminds me of Palom's, except with better SPR growth.

The Gil Band helps out a lot with the equipment upkeep... 2000 for the Silver Breastplate is a vast improvement over the Iron Armor it is replacing. The Beret is not that much cheaper. The low evasion (+4%), not so hot.

The Economical Ring is nice for Edward (+2 INT, +2 SPR), but it's somewhat heavy (+5% evasion).

118

Final Fantasy IV Research & Development / Re: FF4PSP - Journey Log

« on: December 04, 2012, 02:55:41 AM »

Completed Porom's Tale - it felt like completing DK Cecil's journey up Mt. Ordeals, except w/o DK Cecil, and with Bows that have a min accuracy of 75% (even the lowly Bow has that much accuracy). All I did was grind for money (and essentially getting levels for the two mages). The Black Mage surprisingly gets the better stats, despite having less HP (what is the deal with having 30 less HP, but getting 15 more MP?) It sucks to have the White Mage stuck @ 15 Agility. Porom is a better version of the White Mage, although by comparison, her stats would naturally be inferior to it... but having more than enough levels will compensate for it.

From the monster battles, I've already picked up a Headband and Giant Gloves. Well, that was easy. Go generous RNG!

The "clone" Palom and Rydia for this tale are... just meh? I guess you find out why Rydia's MP pool is supposed to be huge. Sylph is a great summon for her small part of the tale (kill one target and heal everyone, how's that for being epic).

It's easy to nice how "new monsters" were added to the game... at least since Edge's Tale (the mini-tales, specifically starting with Mt. Ordeals). They did the same again... so I'll give credit for that, since there's not much to really add, outside of mixing it up.

It would've been nice if the Elder had Holy. I mean.... why not?

Porom's Pray is simply a multitargeted Cura (split healing math enforced). I guess that's better than the afterthought that was Rosa's Pray.

 
Done with pretty much the Challenge Dungeon... it felt like "wham, bam, thank you ma'am". Shortest overall tale period.

Jump really does seem to change targeting for monsters... for whatever the reason. Despite the main target is usually Porom (being in the middle slot), it's just odd the RNG seems to kick in like that...

The Special "Cat" monster loves to use its Lightning based attack on the Black Mage (or specifically, whoever is in the bottom spot).

The White Dragon battle is lame... maybe I need to wait longer for something to happen, but being threatened by Slow is... not scary at all.

Some tips:
1) Since Porom is required to use her magic for the old man, you are better off emptying out the White Mage's magic, if you plan to heal. If you wish to conserve MP for battle, then buy more items. I do not get how the old man needs multiple Esuna casts... as if he had a terminal disease. At least with the multiple Cura, you could imagine tons of HP to deal with. It must be that he is obsessive compulsive or something.

2) I hate the item taker. I should just refuse out of spite. Ether and Remedies are limited and you can't even buy any.

3) It is best to start or head towards the southwest corner... because the exit is at the northwest corner and the map design works out like that. I hate the White Mage spirit thing.

4) Because of #2 and #3, you are at least allowed to skip at most (?) helping one of the people there... occasionally #2 will trip you out (not having enough Ether or Remedies) and #3 (not having enough time to find the spirits). You will still get the best treasure.

5) It is OK to fight monsters during this time. Avoid fighting the group with the Lamia (pretty hard early on), Flan (waste of magic), and Blood Bats (too annoying and time consuming). All the other fights that resemble groups from the Lodestone Cave from the original game are easy enough with the Great Bow+Holy Arrow setup with your characters (most of those monsters are weak vs Holy). The special "Cat" monster group can be worth engaging occasionally. Fighting the special "cat" monster with its own elemental is... strange enough. There is one "new" formation that involves a Goblin Captain, Sorceress, and Horseman... you just pray a Ether drop is coming (well, you have a better shot at a Tent or Cottage).

6) The hardest monster is the Evil Dreamer. Stop is your best friend.

 
I was fortunate to get a White Tail... but Dark Kain hasn't gotten to level 40 yet, so I'll try to continue going after some Angel Arrows for Porom.

I forgot to mention that Izayoi is crazy.. but that's just hilarious. It's kinda only fitting.

This should have been apparent to me... the special monster in Porom's Dungeon is a "thundercat". How did I not get that reference initially?

Doesn't Porom look familiar to someone... like Maria/Celes in FF6? The sad part is that they gave her some additional background... kinda like Terra... the "will I love anyone" theme. I guess it depends on what she finds... it's not looking so hot at the moment.

119

Final Fantasy IV Research & Development / Re: FF4PSP - Journey Log

« on: December 03, 2012, 03:22:48 AM »

Alright... I'm trying to simply grind for more Giant Gloves for the whole team. Unfortunately, the "best equipment" for the ninjas tend to eat any sort of magic defense that they barely hold onto.

Medusa Arrows... are very disappointing. They simply inflict gradual petrify. Lame. Angel Arrows are probably the best bet at this point.

There are some simple rules for myself when going through the challenge dungeon.

1) Run away if the monster or the group is tougher than you. Sometimes it's better to save that time.

2) Run away if the monster drops are pathetic. The Skulldier based monsters come to mind.

3) If you actually plan on fighting them, make sure you are able to kill them all within at most 2 complete party turns. If your battle can be dealt with "Auto Battle" or just holding the A button down, the better.

4) Wild Moon is your friend. Use it early and pretty much often. It'll clear out most of the enemies. DO NOT USE IT if there's one monster on the field, unless it's like those cat monsters (they'll kill you if you don't kill them first)

5) Wheel of Elements tends to clear elementally weak monsters efficiently. Not too many groups fall into that.

6) Use items for healing instead of Ninjutsu - you need all the MP you can hold onto.

7) Avoid counters and long animation attacks like the plague. If you fail to kill the Lamia, the animation for Lust itself takes like 2-3 seconds. It helps to weaken the monster in advance whenever possible w/o triggering its counter. The bats are a plague on your run... better off running away from them.

So, I think the basic Ninjutsu magic breaks down like this:
Heal Pill - 100 Spell Power (could be 92 or 96) - more effective than Cura, but remember the limited INT
Heal Salve - 256 Spell Power (could be 250 or something like that, maybe even 288) - there's good reason why it looks like Curaja, limited INT will limit overall healing (treat it more like Curaga from a White Mage)
Blitz - 48 Spell Power, can kill elementally weak monster instantly, like the PSP's Bug monster (it looks like the Waterbug)
Flame - 64 Spell Power - only because Gekkou is not so smart
Flood - 32 Spell Power - no split damage modifier, since it targets all monsters
Gale - 64 Spell Power - since Tsukinowa isn't that bright either

When you use Phantom Lightflies as a counter to the Chimera Brain's Blazing Cold attack, it will heal half the damage that was taken, assuming all characters started off at full HP. Remember  that healing increases as both characters take damage. So if you take the average of 900 or so damage from the attack, you will heal everyone 450. That's better than nothing and it does help to have the other two characters in critical after the Chimera Brain's attack.

If a monster is strong against a certain elemental, the damage dealt will be close to half as much at it could have been done (assuming the moon phase does not affect the attack properties). When using Frozen Moon Dance and Blazing Moon Ring vs the Chimera Brain, the damage dealt was reflected as such. When using Wheel of elementals, every elemental outside of Wind, reduced the damage collectively, so the damage dealt was 1/8 of the normal damage (= 1/2 * 1/2 * 1/2).

I read somewhere that Advent of Phoenix is affected by HP loss, which doesn't make it as bad, but it still has the same pro-Fire elemental damage limitation.

Wild Moon is effectively the combined attack of Edge and Tsukinowa times 3/4 (basically a 25% reduction of the combined attack), targeted at all of the monsters. It's great if you are targeting more than one monster... not so much when it is just one.

A great combo when engaging the Chimera Brain, is to use Gale Rush, followed by Phantom Lightflies after the ice attack. You are then better prepared to kick the monster's ass. However, the bigger issue IMO is that you have been collecting a lot of elementally based weaponry (Gaia's Hammer [fire], Cherry Blade [fire], Flame Spear) that does not help your cause. The alternative is to keep using the older weapon... or just plan on using other non-elemental or non-Fire/Water/Lightning bands). Gale Twin Break is actually optimal here as I think it allows Edge to deal some additional damage through Jump.

Trident does not have the Mech property, thus making it usefully limited in Zangesu's mini-story.

I forgot that Gekko's Shuriken command is like Throw - it ignores row, so load up on buying the weapons if you need him there. I guess that's good news (I know that all Ninja characters can equip a Boomerang type weapon, but since they are not all ambidextrous, it isn't that great offensively speaking).

The Malboro isn't too bad, using Gale Rush, followed by Frozen Moon Dance + Shuriken, or Blazing Moon Ring + Illusion (pray it works) is pretty effective. I like Blazing Moon Ring for its non-use of the actual item.

 
Blitz kinda seems to work like Curaja, in that the instant death effect (though, I wonder if Death resistance affects this) requires the spell to be single targeted. The comparison to Curaja is that the full HP aspect requires you to target one character.

The Behemoth is mostly the same, but it seems to counter elemental spells and bands like the Frozen Moon Dance and Blazing Moon Ring with Maelstrom (it doesn't react to Wild Moon or Gale Twin Break). It's great that Phantom Lightflies heals well (1000HP, with all characters at level 40).

Gale Twin Break probably isn't that great vs one monster, as the Human Kite (Jump) command and Edge's regular attack would do better. I'm not sure I like this band unless the collateral damage to other monsters is worthwhile (it's only good if they have low HP it seems).

 
Some equipment notes:
Goblin Mask - +3 AGI, +3 INT, +3 SPR - if you only wanted a smarter ninja...
Mist Wrap - +5 AGI, +45% evasion - literally built for speed... probably best on Gekkou since he needs all the help he can get speed-wise and defensively
Treasure Hunter - maybe it's the broken RNG related to emulation, but it doesn't seem to make a difference - I'm sure it is somewhat useful when it working

Kotetsu+Chakrum and Wing Edge+Ashura should allow you to deal the same damage with Edge and Tsukinowa.


Some additional notes:
1) To improve the speed run, fail speed runs that are for treasure grabs should attempt to collect as many of the monster-chests early. Getting the 2 special chests per floor will improve your future runs.

2) If you are on a true speed run, learn to pick up treasure that is not too out of your way. If they are completely out of the way, don't bother, especially if you're collected the monster-chests. It's worth getting the occasional Manji Shuriken (twice as strong as the regular Shuriken).

3) Learn where the intentional fights are. All of the unavoidable battles obviously change the monster frequency (and it seriously does work). The worst/best case may be collecting both monster frequency changes in one direction. I can only imagine if you double down on the increased monster frequency (although, it might be beneficial on the 3rd Floor because of the monsters that have good drops). Monsters barely show up (if ever) when you double down on the decreases monster frequency (I've experienced that).

4) The direct shortcuts on the 2nd and 3rd Floors are probably more counterproductive than anything on a speed run. It simply relies on luck - you are better off with a controlled/normal environment.

5) It's worth getting the healing on the 4th Floor before you finish the level. You need all the MP you can get for the Bands.

120

Final Fantasy IV Research & Development / Re: FF4PSP - Journey Log

« on: December 02, 2012, 03:38:18 AM »

Playing through Edge's Challenge Dungeon, it seems to be a simple concept. It is simply a race to the end. So, it means a shitload of running away or kicking ass efficiently.

I'll briefly go over a few things about the bands in this party, as this has the most influence to success.

Wild Moon - This is simply hitting all monsters on the field with a combined force of Edge and Tsukinowa. I think it's just an average of both characters damages... heavily boosted when the Attack Power phase is in effect. Considering this is the fastest to execute, it speeds up battles significantly if the damage is right. It's a goto band for easier battles.
Note: It ignores the elemental properties of the weapons, but I'm not sure if it is affected by row (with regards to weapons that ignore row). It probably is affected by row.

Frozen Moon Dance - If you're played Chrono Trigger, than this should remind you of Ice Sword. That's what it is! It's not too useful unless the target is weak vs Ice... and it's only a solo target. Likely to be affected by row.

Gale Twin Break - It's a curious attack, as it does damage every monster on the field. However, all damage is not equal. It focuses on ONE monster, and then the other monsters essentially get an aftershock, which is usually less painful. This is a decent attack ONLY if you aren't going to trigger HP or physical based counters. Nothing good will come of it. It might not be affected by row, since Jump itself ignores row. The damage dealt seems to be close to just double what Edge does normally for the primary target. Damage is odd, and could simply be "spread" from the amount of damage dealt to the initial monster (the initial monster is the one that takes the most damage). Of course, this is effectively random. Useful if you need to deal double damage to one monster instantly.

Gale Rush - 12MP each for a multi-targeted Haste. If this is the only reason you add Tsukinowa (who is pretty damn fast) and Zangetsu (so you get Jump), this is a winning combo.

Blazing Moon Ring - Hey, did you remember Ice Sword? Well, this is effectively Fire Sword, but stronger! I don't know why this is stronger, outside of the fact that Flame is stronger than Flood, spellwise. Not a bad alternative to Gale Twin Break... and I don't think it consumes the ammo... just the "command".

Phantom Lightflies - I looked at this initially and thought it was kinda cool, but seemed impractical. However, it works very well for as a counter to a specific type of attack. The Chimera Brain is a very fucking annoying monster. The first thing it does is do that current HP ice elemental attack against all the characters. This bloody well hurts. This spell is specific to countering it. It is powered by three aspects... HP being lowered, and Gekkou, who is slow and not the brightest, will take the most damage... and his HP pool is LARGE. This band will effectively heal HP equal to damage dealt to both characters in the band (Izayoi and Gekko) and split that towards all the characters plus something like 25% or some fixed number that I haven't quite figured out yet. The additional number might just be how much Izayoi would heal with her normal healing spell (which then is split to all characters). This is VERY useful under the specific circumstance. Don't expect it to heal a lot, but it will heal enough to avoid potion turns.

Wheel of Elements - If you know that all the monsters on the field have some elemental weakness (this includes Wind elemental, I think), this spell is for you. It does work vs a number of enemies, but beware of the monsters that have high magic defense. It's then just a waste.

Advent of Phoenix - ONLY useful if the monsters are weak vs Fire. The actual problem with this band is that is locks up every character for a glorified fire spell. The only good, but potentially annoying feature is the entire... speech. When monsters have high magic defense, you really really want to cry about this band.

Also, I believe Heal Pill has a spell power of about 100 or so. It is powered by INT, so Edge's version is naturally stronger than Izayoi, and certainly Tsukinowa... but in reverse order, they characters are faster at casting it (through natural AGI growth).

I have not used Heal Salve enough, but it's probably good enough to be a single targeted version of Curaga. I will look into the numbers soon.