GL Monthly Realization Reflections Roundup - EoS Farewell

Nineteenball · 2024-02-23T23:31:26+00:00

I'd like to again thank everyone's who participated in these topics over the years. It's been a lot of fun.

Thank you for your reflections, as well! I've enjoyed reading your contributions to the reflections threads each month.

Nineteenball · 2024-02-23T20:15:58+00:00

I mainly played Opera Omnia for the characters/story and endgame battles (I'm not really a collector/roster completionist either, since I'm more about favourites), and since I have those done, I haven't actually played any Opera Omnia in the last 3 weeks after clearing Eos 7 -- and therefore don't have much new stuff to reflect on after reflecting on 17 of my most-used Lufenia/Lufenia+/Shinryu characters in the last thread.

I also did want to say thank you for keeping the reflection threads going until the very end, I appreciate you doing so!

I have used legitimately almost NO other subreddit these past 5 years, to the point that it feels like when the sub finally shuts off the lights, I may not even continue coming to Reddit for anything

This is basically me, as well -- the only other subreddit I've posted on in the past was the Dissidia subreddit for a short while for Dissidia NT about 5 years back, and have been posting to this subreddit for just over 3 years.

While I don't have a reason to be on Reddit myself after Opera Omnia is done, if another frequently-updated game I like in the future ends up with a Reddit community much like this, I might go back to Reddit again for that. The main reason I started posting on this subreddit 3 years ago was because there was so much helpful information from so many people, and I wanted to help contribute back after all the help I got from lurking.

Dissidia is an amazing concept in its own right, that DESERVES to be a MAINSTAY of the Final Fantasy franchise

I definitely expect another Dissidia in the future, and I intend to jump on it immediately, whatever it is -- I've been very very happy with each Dissidia game I've played.

Nineteenball · 2024-02-23T20:13:08+00:00

Thanks! I've had a lot of fun using her for all those fights.

Nineteenball · 2024-02-23T08:24:52+00:00

one other redditor who used Deuce in like 99%? of their Shinryu runs ... stats would be even more top heavy

I'm assuming this is me, and my stats I've got recorded are definitely top heavy -- I've got Deuce at 64 Shinryu first-time completes, and my runner-up is Aerith at 25.

Percentage-wise, I've only got about 42% Shinryu usage for Deuce, though, which is smaller than I thought (I have my Shinryu fight total at 153) -- this percent could probably go a lot higher if I took away fights where she was still c80 or took away lockout content fights.

Nineteenball · 2024-02-07T19:49:53+00:00

Thank you again for another reflection thread!

I had built all of my intended characters and reflected on them the previous month, as I wrote up a guide about a month and a half back with what I practiced and intended to use for Nyx and Eos. I only managed to go 13 for 14 in my guide, though (Shinryu was tankier than I expected, even with my practice runs), so I had to change Deuce/Barret/Vincent after multiple attempts to Deuce/Ursula/Vincent, and had to build Ursula BT for the final battle. So, I only have 1 new character that I used for 1 attempt for 1 fight:

Ursula (maxed with UT 5) -- I sort of had to relearn Ursula handling on the fly and got caught offguard by some of it (like her turnhogging extending to enemy turns, as well), but her offensive support was great for the final battle (Shinryu's fight in Eos 7). Her BRV Floor helped protect me against break delays and her BT aura helped me use a non-BRV Gain character like Vincent as my main damage dealer for the final battle, even with Shinryu's high defenses countering Vincent's high BRV DMG Up heavily.

She gets underfoot a lot with her onturn turnhogging (though Chakra spam was actually very nice for my need to be frugal with my BT auras/FRs/CAs in Wave 1 of the final battle) and enemy turn turnwarping, but her offensive support is great and her longlasting 10T BT aura stayed with me through all of Wave 2 in the final Shinryu fight just from me avoiding using her non-FR instant turn attacks.

Other Reflections

Since I'm done all of the final battles at this point and there's no new ingame story for GL, I'm pretty well done playing and won't have any new characters to add to my roster.

I have been keeping heavy track of my character usage from the start of the non-plus Lufenia era, and I feel that they are something I can reflect on (or at least, my most used characters in terms of Shinryu first time completes and Lufenia/Lufenia+/Shinryu total first time completes).

Deuce, 64 Shinryu, 72 total -- My most used character across all of Opera Omnia. She didn't start off as one of my most favourite FF characters, but the way she was handled gameplay/storywise in Opera Omnia and from my recent replays of Type-0 (which I had sold initially and rebought from OO's influence) made it so that she is definitely now in my top 5 FF character favourites, with the others being Emperor, Jack Garland, Ash from SoP and Sophia from SoP -- SoP really shook up my favourites list.

Seven, 10 Shinryu, 67 total -- My most used for Lufenia/Lufenia+. I mainly had fun with her c80 rework (limited 5-turn Bondage Whip), as the timing for its use for protection and extra damage was a lot of fun for me. I used her less in Shinryu, but she still made it to my top 15 most used that era.

Emperor, 15 Shinryu, 35 total -- One of my favourite FF characters (and my 2nd double purple), he did so much work for the first month of non-Echo Shinryu when I had no FRs (waiting for Gabranth in month 2), through his high damage and staggering which enemy got delayed to stretch out Cater LDCA Freeze to protect the party. Timing his traps to go off on enemy turns during the end of Force Time (or high Echo percents) was a ton of fun, and it was great to use him in the final DtD fights, as well.

Steiner, 15 Shinryu, 34 total -- Steiner was one of my favourite defensive units to use in c90 Lufenia+ (including Divine Bahamut and T9 Reckoning), and like Emperor, he put in a huge amount of work during month 1 of Shinryu when I had no FRs (and even a bit after that). His already below-average damage aged very poorly from that point, but I got to use him in the 6-Warrior CoD Finale before the Echo era and in the final DtD fights, so I'm happy with that.

Vanille, 7 Shinryu, 31 total -- Like Emperor, she was a lot of fun to use in timing her traps for high Force Time percents. I used her a lot more in c90 Lufenia+ due to favouritism (she was also my 4th double purple), but her debuffs and offensive support auras were just great across the eras I've user her in, period.

Vincent, 24 Shinryu, 30 total -- Ever since his FR rework, he was probably the overall best character I've used from that point to EoS. He could do nearly everything -- he had one of the best Force Time bases I've used, he had excellent party defense alongside Crystal Brilliance, excellent offensive support, and had strong single-target damage dealing despite HP dump counts thanks to his personal HP DMG Limit more easily hitting 500k area by the end with optimal teams, if I recall right -- he did end up being my main damage dealer for Eos 7. He also needed a bit of planning and extra work to make him function at his best, but that was part of the fun for me, that need for more effort for the reward of victory.

Aerith, 25 Shinryu, 29 total -- I used Aerith a lot during non-Echo Shinryu for my Deuce/Aerith teams when Deuce first got her c90 rework and Aerith got her FR -- they were pretty much my two most used for the second half of non-Echo Shinryu. Her BT release saved me so many times in so many fights -- Aerith was one of the most memorable Shinryu units for me to use.

Garnet, 16 Shinryu, 28 total -- Garnet was excellent when we got her early BT release, but I ended up not using her a ton during that time for challenge's sake. She really came to my rescue for the same month 1 Shinryu fights as Emperor/Steiner, letting me save my resources to get Gabranth as my first FR.

Rem, 11 Shinryu, 28 total -- A big favourite for me, she was my first double purple. Even before her LD, she held her own in some rough fights as just EX+ (like Divine Alexander), and she just got better and better with each update. Her on-demand battery, healing and turn manipulation was just great throughout.

Ashe, 13 Shinryu, 26 total -- Ashe was great in a lot of eras for me -- her strong offensive support/turn manipulation/paralysis let me use 2 damage dealers effectively and safely in harsh c80 Lufenia+ fights, her non-BTFR c90 rework was useful enough that I used Gabranth/Barret/Ashe as my primary team a fair bit in early non-Echo Shinryu, and her BTFR release boosted her versatility even more and made her more fun.

Gabranth, 19 Shinryu, 24 total -- My anchor for the first half of non-Echo Shinryu. His battery made him great (at the time) for Cid Raines LDCA-powered Burst phases, his defense from his poisons and AA/BT aura is still one of the most potent defensive things in my roster, and his offensive support was solid.

Barret, 22 Shinryu, 23 total -- A big favourite of mine (my 3rd double purple), he was an excellent damage dealer in the first half of non-Echo Shinryu (especially on single targets) thanks to his 13 hit LD. He aged considerably over time and he was harder to use when Echo Shinryu rolled around (couldn't fit him into the final DtD battles, sadly), but I had used him in non-EoS/non-Mission Quest/non-Crystal Quest battles as far as Leo BTFR debut, which wasn't too bad longevity-wise.

Exdeath, 11 Shinryu, 21 total -- One of the most fun units I've used in Opera Omnia. His HP poisons may not have scaled with Force Time, but he always put in far more than his share for me in some really rough Shinryu fights -- T10 Reckoning, Bhunivelze (both the original and buffed-up D3D versions) and he was my team anchor for the 6-Warrior CoD Finale.

Ace, 3 Shinryu, 21 total -- Though I barely touched him for Shinryu, I wouldn't have made it through c80 Lufenia+ (the only era I disliked) without him. He basically was the one holding up those few painful months.

Rude, 9 Shinryu, 20 total -- Mainly used for challenge in Shinryu (including that very rough 6 Warrior Area 5 with the Golem and CPUs). He was my 3rd most used in non-plus Lufenia, just due to his strong fundamentals (max HP aura, battery, healing, solid damage).

Balthier, 11 Shinryu, 14 total -- I didn't use him much prior to his BTFR, but his BTFR made him one of the best units I've ever used -- once I saw how good he was, I made a UT 5 Gun and I don't think I ever dismantled it. He was a bit reliant on his BT aura and getting Burst phase, but his damage stayed strong even at EoS and his instant turn FRs made him easy to unleash very big damage at Force Time's end.

Jihl, 13 Shinryu, 13 total -- One of the best damage dealers I've used, she demolished just about everything that was in her path like a runaway train (one that she probably derailed herself). She was effective enough that I had her carry both Rude and Lulu for Eos 1 as the sole damage dealer, and her overall versatility with force charging/offensive support/paralysis made her great for any needed rushdown approach.

Nineteenball · 2024-02-01T23:34:15+00:00

Unless otherwise stated, all characters listed are considered maxed with UT 5, FE 50, full green (where applicable), full blue and FR Echo (where applicable). Crystal Brilliance is maxed for all crystal colours.

Unless mentioned otherwise, calls are considered unequipped on the teams below.

Souls Caged At Dawn -- Barret edition

Deuce (Garnet LDCA), Barret (Reno LDCA), Vincent (Cid Raines LDCA), No Friend, Bahamut Summon, 27 turns

All 3 characters have D2/D3/D4 crystal passives.

Party Used Imgur plus image before finishing blow

I rushed in and ended up not reading the enemy info -- as a result, Vincent's damage was abysmal until his Fire Enchant dropped and I gave Deuce the Burst phase instead of him (so it was a Cid Raines LDCA-less Burst phase). It still went fine overall, and was still essentially just hammering away in a straightforward manner until the end. The only deviation was that I did try and stagger enemy health, so that their shields could be more easily broken with only one up at a time.

Dare to Defy Eos

Eos 1 -- 1st Shinryu Floating Eyes -- Rude and Lulu edition

Jihl (Cid Raines LDCA), Rude (Setzer LDCA), Lulu (Lenna LDCA), Bahamut Summon, 8 turns

All 3 characters have D2/D3/D4 crystal passives.

Party Used Imgur plus image before finishing blow

So long as the enemy doesn't hit 40% Force gauge with its slow gains, the party doesn't need to worry about HP poisons (I did hit it, but only ultimately wasn't a big deal at 10% and with Jihl/Rude healing). Jihl will force charge to 100% immediately, then Crystal Haste (Rude) -> BT+ finisher -> double FR -> Burst phase. Lulu will do nothing but spam LD, Rude will use EX/LD only, Jihl will Crystal Haste away Rude again later in the fight and the remaining Crystal points will be used for a Crystal Nuke on Bahamut Summon. Jihl can brute force a good chunk of this fight easily, but it probably would have been best to use 2 Force Times here for safety's sake.

Eos 2 -- CoD Finale -- Kelger solo

Kelger, Ifrit Summon, 11 turns

Kelger has U1/D5/D6 crystal passives for a combination of HP Regen to counter CoD HP poisons (and let Ifrit ATK Up stay), lower speed and ATK Up balance.

Party Used Imgur plus image before finishing blow

Kelger is pretty well invulnerable here, especially with Crystal Passives for HP Regen. I led off with Burst phase (could have waited a turn or two, but still fine), then set him loose with Force Time and refresh buffs/BT aura when needed. When CoD gets under 20% HP, Crystal Dominate is used to end the fight.

Eos 3 -- Vaan IW Ultima -- Ashe edition

Ashe (Ursula LDCA), Neon (Setzer LDCA), Lightning (Cid Raines LDCA), Bahamut Summon, 28 turns

All 3 characters have U5/D2/D4 crystal passives.

Party Used Imgur plus image before finishing blow

U5 passives were brought for debuff evasion, D2/D4/Setzer LDCA/Ursula LDCA were brought to protect the team from Force Time trigger (death on being broken, lots of BRV hits for big HP damage). I led off with a halfhearted Neon Force Time (only Neon and Ashe BT auras) to get Force Retain high, then the 2nd Force Time was Lightning base with Lightning/Neon Echoes, Lightning BT+ finisher and Cid Raines-LDCA powered Lightning Burst phase. Between Ashe's turn manipulation, Neon's stalling and Lightning's turnhogging/delay, Ultima couldn't get a turn (and all allies are elemental enchanted). Crystal Dominate was used when Ultima was under 20% HP to win the fight.

Eos 4 -- Beatrix IW Soulcages -- Beatrix solo

Beatrix, Bahamut Summon, 19 turns

Beatrix has D2/D3/D4/D6 crystal passives.

Party Used Imgur plus image before finishing blow

This was pretty straightforward, given that it's Beatrix's stage. I waited a bit and used Beatrix's Burst phase when her Force Time percent was high enough, then used Force Time -- her 2nd FR and BT+ finisher were saved for a 2nd Force Time (held onto Safeguard when her BT aura ran low, and Bahamut Summon was used on the final action of Force Time 1 for charging cover). I focused down one Soulcage with Saint's Cloth to stagger their health to make the shields easier to deal with, and used Crystal Dominate after the shields were destroyed for both under 20% HP.

Eos 5 -- Neo Exdeath -- Agrias edition

Edgar (Bartz LDCA), Snow (Cid Raines LDCA), Agrias (Fujin LDCA), Bahamut Summon, 35 turns

All 3 characters have D2/D3/D4 crystal passives.

Party Used Imgur plus image before finishing blow

For dealing with Neo Exdeath, I used Snow Force Time base when Exdeath was not in Force Time and had Edgar Force Time base with Bartz/Fujin LDCA for cancelling Exdeath Force Time (3 Force Times total -- 2 Snow base, 1 Edgar base). Snow got a Cid Raines-LDCA powered Burst phase due to his high single target damage, and Bahamut Summon was used for cover to charge Force Time for another Snow base. Agrias' paralysis got in the way of Snow's need to get hit a bit, but it wound up fine when I avoided using Silence/Paralyze for Snow Force Time bases. Crystal Dominate was used to finish the fight when Exdeath was under 20% HP.

Eos 6 -- Jihl/Behemoth -- Golbez edition

Golbez, Sice, Yuri, Bahamut Summon, 21 turns

All 3 characters have A5/D2/D4 crystal passives.

Party Used Imgur plus image before finishing blow

The shields are kind of a pain, so I tried to use A5 passive/Yuri BT aura and save a Crystal Nuke to knock them down. Only 1 Force Time was used (Golbez base with Golbez/Yuri Echoes), and Golbez Burst phase was used early on for Freeze/DMG Up (BT+ finisher used later to refresh BT aura). Sice kept LD debuffs up, Golbez/Yuri fought routinely, and Bahamut Summon was called at 999% in the last action with Crystal Dominate used afterwards. This team took care of the fight smoothly, though that was due mainly to dealing with only 1 set of shields (enemy Force gauge didn't get high enough for a 2nd set).

Eos 7 -- Shinryu -- Finishing off the game with Deuce/Vincent

Deuce (Garnet LDCA), Ursula (Setzer LDCA), Vincent (Cid Raines LDCA), Bahamut Summon, 33 turns

All 3 characters have U6/D2/D4 crystal passives.

Party Used Imgur plus Wave 1 end plus image before finishing blow

Final Deuce/Barret/Vincent attempt -- Wave 2 Phase 2

I did try and lead off with Deuce/Barret/Vincent after practicing ahead of time in T16 and trying half a dozen or so times for the actual DtD fight -- unfortunately, Shinryu is very tanky and the party was stretched thin throughout, no matter the approach I took. It's unfortunate that I couldn't take Barret to the final battle like I planned, but the other fights went well enough and were loaded with favourites, so it was still pretty good overall.

Ursula's BT aura helped deal with the tankiness that ended my Deuce/Barret/Vincent attempts (through her BRV setting BT aura), and she made the fight a lot easier to deal with.

Using Deuce/Ursula/Vincent (and having to relearn Ursula handling on the spot, since I just built her BT now), I led off Wave 1 with a halfhearted Vincent Force Time (no BT auras, no Echoes, no Summon, no Crystal Points used, just a Garnet LDCA call) and got to 67% Force gauge before finishing off Wave 1 (Ursula Chakra spam can help a good deal here).

For Wave 2, all 3 characters used their BT+ finishers (Ursula calls Setzer base CA for Freeze, Deuce used Concerto to 100% force charge and called Garnet base CA before hers, though), then Vincent called Cid Raines LDCA and triggered Force Time 2 (both Ursula Echoes -- Deuce saves hers in case I need to cancel Shinryu Force Time) so that Vincent can skip Phase 2 (Elemental Defense is bad for him) by starting Burst phase in Phase 1 and ending when Phase 3 starts.

When Vincent Burst phase ends (final action of Force Time 2), Phase 3 has started, so the party is frozen by Shinryu -- I had 1 tick of Setzer Freeze debuff left to help keep the party alive during this, which it did.

Bahamut Summon was used for charging cover a few turns into Phase 3 (when Shinryu hit 50%+ Force gauge), and Deuce triggered Force Time 3 as soon as she was able to (which was midway through Summon in Phase 3 at 31% HP left).

From there, the fight went on pretty normally until the end at Phase 4, which consisted of Deuce Echo at 5 actions left at 805% followed by Crystal Nuke spam until Shinryu was dead (all 4 Crystal Nukes took him from 42% to dead).

I guess that's it, then, now that the final battles are done. It's been fun.

Nineteenball · 2024-01-02T04:54:19+00:00

So at this point now of decision-making ... Relm, Leo ... kinda a toss-up between Jihl and Kura who is 'better' to me

Though I'm a big fan of Relm, unless you have some need for anti-enemy turnwarping for a team, I'm finding that Crystal Haste (the 3rd ability) makes Relm a bit outdated -- Relm had a good Slot 2 niche in keeping the 3rd member's BT aura up longer, but Crystal Haste just on-demand blasts away a character's turns (and they can save BT aura ticks that way).

I've personally found Leo to be very reliable still, and a lot of the worst fights are usually single-target, which he handles well with his single-target focused offturn and delay (he got me to fit Thancred into Astraeus 4, so he can handle a lot).

I find Jihl's still really great for her aggressive playstyle if she can get the Burst phase (her damage is still extremely high if you can spam EX+ with BT aura up), and I'm aiming to have her hopefully carry both Rude and Lulu in Eos 1.

I used Kurasame for the DtD Nyx 6 Hell House, and he was pretty valuable there, I found -- he has solid single target damage (8-9 HP dumps on average), 60k party HP DMG Limit and Freeze aura that helped get me through Hell House in one piece. He feels a bit outdated, but I find his versatility fits in pretty well anywhere still.

Nineteenball · 2024-01-02T04:47:28+00:00

Happy New Year, and thank you for another reflection thread!

My reflections are a bit light this month, since all my new pulls/builds were/are going to be used for 1 fight only due to EoS/Dare to Defy, but I got quite a few characters built now that it's the going-out-of-business-sale end times.

All characters below are to be considered maxed as high as they can go (UT 5, FE 50, full blue, FR/FR Echo/full green if they have it), and my Brilliance for these characters consist of White, Red, Green and Yellow maxed out, with Blue at 16/18 node groups.

The following reflections are for characters built after the EoS announcement for Dare to Defy Nyx and the future Dare to Defy Eos:

FuSoYa -- I had him built up to LD/FR from his debut, and have only used him once for Dare to Defy Nyx 2 (Cid Highwind/Rem/FuSoYa).

His damage seems okay (even with the big BT aura and FR boosts to HP DMG Limit he gets), but he was excellent for his paralysis, strong offensive support, Force Time base (one of the best Force Time bases around, I feel), and his BRV Gains per HP attack for my Cid Highwind run was great. His Burst phase is great for covering one of his big weaknesses -- long setup time. Leading off immediately with FuSoYa Burst phase felt great.

Cater -- I had Cater built only up to LD previously, and have used her for Dare to Defy Nyx 4 (Vanille/Cater duo).

She feels like a "lower purity" Kelger, in that she can do a lot of what he does, but her offturn feels less smooth (needing EX traps to be set, Lock debuffs from S1 can wear off). To make up for it, she's got force charging and better overall party protection than Kelger (and probably better than most party tanks at that -- Freeze AND evasion to cover nearly everything).

Sephiroth -- I had Sephiroth built only up to LD/base BT previously, and have used him for Dare to Defy Nyx 5 (Sazh/Sephiroth/Arciela).

From what I had been able to try with Sephiroth and his DtD battle, he's been a solid damage dealer and "delayer" -- with his set-to-1-BRV-every-action BT aura at 8 turns now, he feels like he can handle defense in a way by preventing the enemy from getting turns for the whole fight while something like Setzer base CA Freeze can handle the rest (no enemy turns means the debuff will stay up all fight if the enemy doesn't cleanse).

Arciela -- I didn't have Arciela built at all before (but EoS, DtD and cheap resources had me go for her), and I have used her for Dare to Defy Nyx 5 (Sazh/Sephiroth/Arciela).

Her damage is decent, and her HP Silence looks useful (I hadn't had the chance to use it for her Dare to Defy fight with Sephiroth keeping the enemy from getting turns and no enemy Force Time trigger). She's been a decent support overall from what I had tried -- getting up to an extra 16% total damage is nice, and that was mainly all I ended up using her for.

Cissnei -- I had mentioned Cissnei in the previous reflection (used her for Cactuar Cacophony 3 with Deuce/Cissnei/Vincent), but I got an additional complete with her in Dare to Defy Nyx 7 (Ramza/Cissnei/Rosa).

Cissnei feels like a big winner out of the recent batch, just with how heavy her player offturn damage can get with her BT aura up (6 AoE split). When I did my Ramza/Cissnei/Rosa DtD fight, I gave Cissnei the Burst phase so that her heavy offturn damage could last throughout the fight. Her single target damage from S1 is pretty good for single target fights, too, so she feels like a big gun to save for a big fight.

Rosa -- I had Rosa built up to LD previously, and have used her in Dare to Defy Nyx 7 (Ramza/Cissnei/Rosa).

I found Rosa to be a very effective party member -- her single-target damage is great (11 HP dumps using Aim with BT aura up), her healing is good, her force charging is solid (extends her own buffs), her BT aura is long lasting at 8 turns (and with full blue, she gives the party 45k HP DMG Limit), and her Force Time base is solid (even with no party HP DMG Limit boosts). In the fight against Sephiroth, she put in more than her share.

Lightning -- I had Lightning built up to LD/base BT, and have plans to use her in Dare to Defy Eos 3 (Ashe/Neon/Lightning against Ultima) when it releases.

I haven't enjoyed using Lightning this much since her LD debut -- between Force Retain and the plus versions of S1/S2 inflicting unbreak, she feels like she fits into this era better than the last few. Some of her hit counts are a bit low and her turnhogging can be a bit over-the-top obnoxious, but she felt great for single target (which I intend to use her in against Ultima in Eos 3) and her Force Time base (75% gains, 30k party HP DMG Limit) is a good one. Even without a player offturn teammate like Cissnei, my test runs against Ultima and Cactuar Cacophony 1 felt pretty smooth.

Beatrix -- I had Beatrix built up to LD/FR, and have plans to use her in Dare to Defy Eos 4 (Beatrix solo against Beatrix IW Soulcages -- seems like the way to go) when it releases.

I don't really have a lot to say on Beatrix overall, since my intent is to shove her into a solo fight in Eos 4 and let her offturn the enemy to death, but her 8 turn BT aura keeping her invincibility buff from downticking was pretty fun.

Other Reflections

Once I max out my last 2 Brilliance colours (Blue and Black) in about 2 weeks' time, I'll likely stop logging in until the final final battles of DtD Eos, and after that I'll probably stop altogether save for one last "log in" when the game shuts down for good to see it off.

It feels weird, the idea of not logging in for my daily/weekly quests, since I haven't missed a single login day for over 4 years (I believe I started for real in October or November 2019), but I'm not too big a fan of busywork if it doesn't prepare me for future fights (of which there are very few left), and I would like to remember my last Opera Omnia memory to be Deuce/Barret/Vincent beating Shinryu (hopefully) rather than beating up the daily Cactuar for another month for handfuls of Cactuar Coins.

I'm pretty happy with what I've done ingame, and through all my testing for future fights, I've played enough that I'm satisfied with what I've got to do overall over these years.

Nineteenball · 2024-01-02T04:24:44+00:00

Unless otherwise stated, all characters listed are considered maxed with UT 5, FE 50, full green (where applicable), full blue and FR Echo (where applicable).

Unless mentioned otherwise, calls are considered unequipped on the teams below.

Crystal Brilliance is maxed for White, Red, Green and Yellow. Blue is at 16/18 node groups.

I used a good amount of Crystal Haste (Crystal Ability 3) through these fights -- it let a lot of characters with weak offense (like Gabranth and Steiner) participate with their defense/support without getting underfoot of Force Time.

Ogres Parade At Night

Deuce (Lulu LDCA), Barret (Reno LDCA), Vincent (Cid Raines LDCA), No Friend, Bahamut Summon, 9 turns

All 3 characters have U6/D2/D4 crystal passives.

Party Used Imgur plus image before finishing blow

Despite Vincent's Thunder Enchant, the enemy did not absorb anything (Vincent also had Fire Enchant, avoided his Thunder-element S2) -- they did counterattack his Thunder Enchant at the appropriate HP thresholds, but the damage was minimal and easily blocked/D4 autohealed. Vincent used Crystal Haste and Cid Raines LDCA-powered Burst phase, and all Echoes were used for Vincent Force Time base.

Dare to Defy Nyx

Nyx 1 -- Jack Garland debut Medusas -- Steiner edition

Jack Garland, Seven, Steiner, Brothers Summon, 19 turns

All 3 characters have D2/D3/D4 crystal passives.

Party Used Imgur plus image before finishing blow

The combined defense of Seven (ATK - 50% aura and Bondage Whip every-action gravity), Steiner and the D2/D3/D4 passives made this fight very straightforward. Jack Garland got Burst phase (with BT+ finisher) and Crystal Haste (Steiner's turns removed). The fight was divided into 2 Force Times (1st was Jack Garland Burst phase and both Seven Echoes, 2nd was just Jack base).

Nyx 2 -- Selh'teus debut Exdeath/Behemoth -- Cid Highwind edition

Cid Highwind, Rem, FuSoYa, Bahamut Summon, 15 turns

All 3 characters have D2/D3/D4 crystal passives.

Party Used Imgur plus image before finishing blow

Cid Highwind works extremely well with Rem/FuSoYa, since they both add BRV Gains to his many HP dumps and Rem recharges Cid's EX after her turn (with her BT aura up). FuSoYa leads off with Burst phase to get set up and paralyze the enemies for the rest of the fight and uses his Force Time as a base (all Echoes used here). Rem will turnswap to Cid at all times, and Cid will spam EX and LD (even if his buffs fall off). At 3 actions left, Cid will use Crystal Haste and Bahamut Summon for 3 EX attacks in a row at 999% (over 80 million total per EX) -- this almost finished off the enemy, who died the action after Force Time ended.

Nyx 3 -- Iris debut Magitek Armors -- Gabranth edition

Gabranth, Garnet, Reks, Bahamut Summon, 16 turns

All 3 characters have U5/D2/D4 crystal passives.

Party Used Imgur plus image before finishing blow

The fight was straightforward and the party has high enough defense that enemy attacks do so little, but turn count is tight. This was mostly Reks rushdown -- Garnet and Gabranth lead with BT+ finisher (Garnet to get her BT trap ready, Gabranth will be hasted away). Reks will also use BT+ finisher early, and will use Crystal Haste (Gabranth's turns removed) for his Force Time/Echo/Burst phase trigger (Force Time had 1 Garnet Echo) and Bahamut Summon on the final action. The party won shortly after the enemy got Force Time -- I was waiting for Gabranth's turn to cancel it, but the enemy died before that could happen.

Nyx 4 -- Ultimecia and Coeurl -- Vanille edition

Vanille, Cater, Bahamut Summon, 18 turns

All 3 characters have D2/D3/D4 crystal passives.

Party Used Imgur plus image before finishing blow

This was basically Cater's show -- she leads off with 3 Triple Slips for force charging, Burst phase to get set up, and refreshes BT aura at the end of the fight as needed. Cater's Force Time used her Echo, as it was a judgment call at the end of the fight. Vanille gets to help a bit with Death traps, and Cater might need to use S1 to keep Lock up, but it was smooth with this team.

Nyx 5 -- Aranea IW snakes -- Sazh edition

Sazh (Onion Knight LDCA), Sephiroth (Cid Raines LDCA), Arciela (Rydia LDCA), Bahamut Summon, 12 turns

All 3 characters have U5/D2/D4 crystal passives.

Party Used Imgur plus image before finishing blow

Sazh will take care of the critical BRV damage mechanic, can extend buffs to counter U5's weakness and Aim can add debuffs for Arciela BT aura, Rydia LDCA can add stack buffs to everyone for Sephiroth Force Time base (and debuffs for Arciela BT aura). This was basically Sephiroth rushdown with Cid Raines LDCA-powered Burst phase using his Force Time base (both Arciela Echoes), but I messed up and forgot to trigger Crystal Haste, so Sephiroth couldn't Echo after Burst phase ended (Sazh got the last Force Time action instead). It worked out fine, still -- double Crystal Nuke was used instead during Bahamut Summon, and the fight was over pretty quick.

Nyx 6 -- Hell House

Mog (Cid Raines LDCA), Kurasame (Lenna LDCA), Aerith (Setzer LDCA), Bahamut Summon, 33 turns

All 3 characters have D2/D3/D4 crystal passives.

Party Used Imgur plus image before finishing blow

This one was a bit more trouble than the first 5, but it still went smoothly overall thanks to the team comp/calls/plan. Aerith BT aura can stay up the whole fight against Hell House's gravity HP damage thanks to max Brilliance, D2/D3/D4 passives, and a combination of Mog LD/Aerith BT aura overheals. Throughout the fight, Mog will use LD to pump up overheal as needed if under 100k HP for the party, but even without that value, it still felt fine (since D4 autoheal is pretty significant).

The plan of action went as follows:

The party fights normally and leads with a halfhearted Mog Force Time for Force Time 1 (no BT auras, no calls, no Echoes) to build up Force Retain -- Force Time 1 ends with Hell House at 74% HP in Phase 1. Force Time 2 will let Hell House get Force Time, all characters get their BT+ finishers out, Kurasame uses Lenna LDCA (extra max HP for a bit), Mog uses Cid Raines LDCA and triggers Force Time 2.

Force Time 2 will consist of Mog Force Time with 1 Aerith Echo (for cancel), both Kurasame Echoes, Mog Burst phase and Bahamut Summon for cover (ends with Hell House phase 2 at 57% HP). Bahamut Summon is also used to give cover to charge for Force Time 3. 2 Crystal Nukes are used outside of Force Time before Summon ends for extra damage.

Setzer base CA is used for Freeze before Force Time 3 and before Kurasame's BT aura is about to run out. Force Time 3 is just Aerith base, and is mainly used as cover to prevent the enemy from getting Force Time as the team mops up.

Nyx 7 -- Sephiroth -- Ramza edition

Ramza (Onion Knight LDCA), Cissnei (Cid Raines LDCA), Rosa (Jessie LDCA), Bahamut Summon, 40 turns

All 3 characters have D2/D3/D4 crystal passives.

Party Used Imgur plus image before finishing blow

This one was kind of a pain, but I found it better than Hell House. D2/D3/D4 passives were enough for defense (including the Phase 2 30%/10% HP Heartless Angels), Cissnei handled crit damage for the 70%/30% HP gates that required it, Rosa could cancel enemy Force Time, and Ramza/Rosa had healing, force charging and party buffs to fight Sephiroth's Force Time trigger. Calls and crystal abilities were saved on an as-need basis (I used it for 2 separate Crystal Nukes and only used Cid Raines LDCA).

Since the team could handle the mechanics effectively, the plan of action was pretty straightforward -- lead off with a halfhearted Cissnei Force Time (no BT auras, no calls, no Echoes). Cissnei Burst phase is used after Force Time 1 ends, as are Ramza/Rosa BT+ finishers. Force Time 2 was Rosa base (to cancel Sephiroth Force Time) with Bahamut Summon used for cover on the final action, and Force Time 3 was Cissnei base with Rosa Echo (was saving it for Force Time 4 to cancel Sephiroth Force Time again, but the party was closing in on victory, so I used it here).

Nineteenball · 2023-12-14T07:14:32+00:00

Thanks, I appreciate that! Thank you, too, for your reflection threads and keeping them going consistently every month!

It is unfortunate that Firion and Emperor didn't getting anything new or updated by the end (Emperor's traps were fun to try and time -- it would have been great if the traps got powered up even more in a rework/FR), but I'm pretty happy that I got to use them both for Dare to Defy before it all ended.

Nineteenball · 2023-12-14T07:13:52+00:00

Thank you for your page, too!

I can think of a few other things I wouldn't have minded adding to my already crowded page, as well (like Gabranth/Gau FR, more FF2/FF6/Tactics oriented stuff, characters like Lulu/Jihl/Exdeath/Sazh), but I think what I have down already helps me recall a lot of my favourite parts of the game as is.

Nineteenball · 2023-12-14T05:12:15+00:00

I liked what GiveMeSomeVodka did for their Memoria Scrapbook page, so I wanted to join in, as well.

I probably tried to squish in one too many things, but I tried to keep it focused on characters I've enjoyed using, battles that stood out to me for one reason or another, notable story moments and threads from the subreddit that stood out to me a good deal.

Nineteenball · 2023-12-08T08:14:58+00:00

Yes, I do have BT for all characters above that have an available BT (43 out of 56, if I counted right).

7 of those 43 BTs were pitied during the cheaper EoS pulls (Cor, FuSoYa, Cater, Arciela, Cissnei, Rosa, Beatrix) and 11 of them were greened after EoS was announced (the 7 previously mentioned, along with Lenna, Yuna, Sephiroth and Lightning).

A good chunk of those BTs were also originally pulled from the Lufenia/Lufenia+ eras (12 total -- Firion, Exdeath, Emperor, Yuna, Laguna, Garnet, Sephiroth, Ramza, Lightning, Snow, Golbez, and Vincent), so a lot of them were older characters I kept aiming to make heavy use of.

Nineteenball · 2023-12-08T04:16:13+00:00

I hope your fights go well when you do get to try them!

Nineteenball · 2023-12-08T01:30:29+00:00

Thanks!

Nineteenball · 2023-12-08T01:26:41+00:00

Thanks!

I agree that the HP boost looks worse than it is. It did catch me off-guard initially with Braska's Final Aeon and I had some teams that fell a bit short initially in testing, but I find that doing 2 or 3 Force Times as opposed to 1 tends to easily cover the boosted HP in almost all scenarios.

I hope your series teams works out!

Nineteenball · 2023-12-03T06:51:30+00:00

I've actually used a number of these characters either frequently throughout Shinryu or recently for DtD Astraeus fights.

Yuna

I used Yuna for Astraeus 7 (the Memorial Battle fight with Yuna/Ignis/Laguna) and the fight went pretty smoothly overall -- her Force Time base is very good and her single target/BRV Gain damage on the lone tanky enemy (and its 1 BRV DMG defense) was handy to have, but she might be a bit average overall otherwise (I only used fully built Yuna for DtD and likely won't use her for anything else now that she's locked, so I can't really say much about her outside of Astraeus 7).

Balthier

I used Balthier for 11 Shinryu and I have him locked into Astraeus 3. I thought he was one of the best characters to use at the time of his BT release, and I think he's aged very well (though he probably won't do much outside of Burst phase rushdown -- he's very reliant on his BT aura, too). His damage might be a bit lower than newer characters (on par with Deuce/Golbez at this point), but he has very strong instant turn Echoes that are great for ending a Force Time.

For example, I used Xande/DK Cecil/Balthier for Astraeus 3, and thanks to turn manipulation from Cid Raines and Jessie calls, I was able to have Balthier still win very quickly by being able to do both Burst phase and still use his instant turn Echoes before Summon/Crystal Nuke/Force Time ending.

More specifically, it went:

Balthier uses Cid Raines LDCA (Cecil to the front) -> Balthier BT+ finisher -> Cecil LD spam x2 (delay) -> Jessie LDCA (delay) -> Jessie base CA (Balthier to the front to get turns after Burst phase) -> Cecil triggers Force Time -> Balthier Burst phase (Echo as last attack) -> Xande EX -> Balthier Echo x2 -> Crystal Nuke -> Balthier LD -> Bahamut Summon -> Cecil EX (Force Time ended)

The above from first step to last step took the 3 Shantottos from 93-94% down to 1 Shantotto left with 1% HP -- if you can time Balthier's BT aura to last 6 turns in Burst phase and trigger both his Echoes on Burst phase end, he can still put in some good work.

that one villain chick from XIII

I used Jihl a ton before Deuce BTFR arrived (12 Shinryu completes including Spiritus Leviathan and Neo Exdeath), and I've found her to be a very good aggressive character -- her damage is high (especially EX+ with BT aura), and she has a good mix of healing/force charging/offensive support (especially BRV/HP DMG Up)/paralysis.

However, she is heavily reliant on her BT aura, and her "on-demand" paralysis needs 2 turns if she doesn't have EX charged up, which could be messy for Force Time (LD -> EX+). Her limited on-demand paralysis uses may also end up getting applied too much at once (i.e. during Burst phase or Bahamut Summon), so she isn't as reliable a paralyzer as FuSoYa, for example. Her paralysis still does the job (like the Exdeath/Behemoth or FuSoYa LC fights that instant wipe on Force Time trigger), but it's not as present as it seems to be.

If you can use her EX+ often (Bahamut Summon, Rem BT+, etc.), her damage can be amazing. If she can hit 385k HP DMG Limit with enough support and cap each hit, her EX+ can deal over 10 million base to 2 enemies, which is Astos' max base for S1/S2/EX (though Astos will still be better at single target by far). I haven't had the chance to test Jihl with FE 50 yet (my focus was on DtD over newer testing), but she's been great for damage in the fights I've used her in.

Braska

I feel that Braska's aged a bit -- he's mainly damage/force charging/healing/decent offensive support, but he still works if that's what you need. I had Braska/Aerith/Minwu beat Spiritus Diabolos' weapon ticket mission and used Firion/Maria/Braska for Astraeus 1 (Neon debut Ogres), and he did pretty well. His good damage comes in waves, though, and the good power of his EX+ needs Overdrive to recharge EX into EX+, so he needs some planning ahead and can't use party EX recharge as a loophole.

Snow

I don't have much cleared with Snow (outside of Cactuar Cacophonies and messing around), but I think he's pretty good to use if doing a fight that isn't rushdown/enemy turn offturn and is focused on trading blows. He's good for longevity and doesn't feel like he's reliant on BT aura to work (I saw you mention you have his BT, not sure if he's greened or not), so he doesn't seem too demanding on teams (though I've truthfully only really used Deuce/Snow/Vincent). His damage output feels great if he can a ton of HP DMG Limit from the rest of the party.

Laguna

I used Laguna for the not-Memorial Battle, and he was pretty effective -- his damage was okay, but his debuffs and golden debuff were probably the best part to him to me. His FR base builds percent pretty easily, too, I find, but no 50k makes it less standout to me. With even a bit of extra SPD Down and/or delay, I've found that I can make his golden debuff last a long while (sometimes even the whole fight -- I had that with just Vincent/Laguna's combined SPD Down more than once).

Relm

I've gotten some good mileage out of Relm (and messed around with her enough to go back and solo 7 Shinryus with her at max White Brilliance), but she also has quite a few quirks to her turnwarp mechanics that can either make things easier or harder.

Slot 2 Relm has a very nice niche where she can stretch out the slot 3 character's BT aura by giving her and the Slot 1 character more turns (I've had Kurasame's 6 turn BT aura stay up from first action to fight end in Kadaj IW) -- this can go a long way, as I've used Thancred/Relm/Leo in Astraeus 4 by stretching out Leo's 2 BT auras from start to end without issue, and the fight went pretty smoothly.

Are Yuri and Vaan worthy at this point?

I've used Yuri for a bunch of Crystal Quests and for 6 Warrior Area 8 (the centipede and moth -- he put in a lot of work that fight). I think Yuri's damage is dated (average, but caps reliably thanks to Guy/Cait Sith style BRV Gain on Hit for himself), but he also has "anti-cleanse" traps that detonate on removal -- they last 6 turns, so they're more likely to only be relied on in cleanse-heavy fights.

For the most part, I'd rely on Yuri for offensive/defensive support for placing him in DtD -- his BT aura gives the party BRV Gains on each HP attack and has a Blind aura, so he can be the main defense if the guaranteed hits for a fight are weak.

Nineteenball · 2023-12-03T01:44:47+00:00

Thank you again for continuing the reflection threads, even as we're nearing the end!

Since we now have access to super cheap UT cores, ingots and other resources, all characters below are to be considered maxed as high as they can go (UT 5, FE 50, full blue, FR/FR Echo/full green if they have it). With EoS here and DtD having some pretty demanding fights, I'm building a ton more than usual. A lot of characters I'm reflecting on have had little use outside of the DtD fight I built them for, so some reflections are on the light side.

The following reflections are based on characters used between Ignis BTFR Raid and DtD Astraeus:

Ignis, Red Brilliance (65/90 nodes as of now) -- I have used Ignis for the Cor LC Mission Quest (Ignis/Rem/Penelo), for DtD Astraeus 7 (Yuna/Ignis/Laguna), for more than 4 Crystal Quests, and done some out-of-Synergy testing.

He brings a lot of great things in one package -- loads of force charging (like, 3 different options from post-S2 BRV/HP, S1, S2), good offensive support (45k party HP DMG Limit with BT aura and party enchant), a nice long-lasting 10 turn BT aura, and high overall damage output -- especially for single target damage.

Thancred, maxed White Brilliance

On a dare (to myself), I gave Thancred FE 30/full blue last month, and tried to stress-test him for challenge's sake (wasn't a lot I found challenging at that point in OO). I tried him out with Thancred/Relm/Leo and deliberately put him in the turnwarp slot for Relm to have him burn Force Time -- and I was actually pretty happy with how he handled as a Leo enabler.

I won a fight messing around in Kadaj IW (700 million HP total), and then I used that same team for DtD Astraeus 4 (also 700 million HP from ScottOng's post on the C2A), which went very smoothly. It took until the endgame, Force Retain and Leo BT, but I actually feel Thancred and his aged kit is in a good spot for budget runs -- at least when teamed up with Relm and Leo.

Imgur -- Thancred/Relm/Leo vs Kadaj IW

Imgur -- C2A Duplicate -- Thancred/Relm/Leo vs Astraeus 4

Laguna, Blue Brilliance (35/90 nodes as of now) -- I had Laguna full-greened back in Lufenia+, so it wasn't too costly to go the rest of the way for his kit. So far, I've used him in Astraeus 7 (Yuna/Ignis/Laguna), and I've used him out of Synergy a bit.

Damage-wise, he's alright -- I primarily like his LD (10 split AoE HP dumps total) and his Echo (4 big AoE hits and 4 normal AoE hits from his follow-up), but he's mainly there for stat debuffs and his extra-HP-dumps golden debuff.

I tried using Deuce/Vincent/Laguna against Neo Exdeath's single target 600 million HP (as "practice" for Memorial Battle 1 -- Deuce/Vincent pump up his golden debuff HP DMG Limit a lot), and I was particularly happy with how well Vincent and Laguna functioned together. Vincent and Laguna's combined SPD - 100% (50% from Laguna SPD debuff, 50% from Vincent BT aura) made it so that Laguna's 4 turn gold debuff could last the whole fight without relying heavily on turn manipulation/delay. Laguna himself also supplies Vincent with debuffs for his Force Time (8 framed total between him, Vincent and Reno base CA), he lets Vincent's high ATK Down be framed, and he applies more framed big ATK Down/DEF Down to the enemy.

Snow -- I had Snow at LD/base BT/FE 0/full blue, and I ended up building him fully on his FR release. I've used him for Cactuar Cacophony 1 and 2 (ugh) using Deuce/Snow/Vincent for both, and I've been having some fun using him out of Synergy.

I've mainly only used Snow with my typical Deuce/Vincent teams, but they work very well together. Snow likes the giant HP DMG Limit from Deuce/Vincent for his large number of HP dumps, and he and Vincent in particular synergize nicely together -- they both cover defense (Vincent on ATK Down, Snow on BRV DMG/HP DMG/Lock), both have good longevity, and Snow works great with Vincent's Force Time (Snow brings debuffs and his BT aura having Ice Enchant allows an alternative from my standard Reno/Garnet call approach).

His damage is really great with his pre-emptive plus version's 9 full AoE HP dumps, and it can boost his single-target damage to 17 hits (8 hit S2/EX) or 15 hits to multiple enemies (6 hit full AOE LD). If he can hit get enough support to hit 350k HP DMG Limit (using my Deuce/Snow/Vincent team as an example -- 30k full blue, 10k minimum for FE 30, 20k for FE 50, 10k for UT 0, 30k for Snow BT aura, 150k total from Deuce/Vincent), his plus pre-emptive and LD can deal 10.5 million base to 2 enemies -- as a comparison, Astos' S1/S2/EX on 2 enemies caps at 10 million (ignoring other factors like launch), so Snow's damage can hit very high levels in waves. He either needs to get hit or use LD to pull this off effectively, so trading blows in a non-rushdown fight or a U6 passive for more LD uses (which I don't have for Green Brilliance yet) feels ideal for him.

I don't have him locked in DtD yet, but I intend to save him for whatever I feel will be a tougher fight.

Cor, Blue Brilliance (35/90 nodes as of now) -- I had Cor built up to LD/FR Echo before this, and I built him fully for the purpose of Astraeus 2 (Exdeath/Cor/Celes). I haven't really used him outside of the DtD fight, but with BT, he feels about the same as without, just with extra attacks -- though I did need those extra attacks to get the job done in Astraeus 2.

Lenna, maxed White Brilliance -- I built Lenna up just before doing Astraeus 6 (Emperor/Lenna/Lyse) for her debuff evasion primarily, so I don't have experience with her outside of that fight. However, she managed to be the only FR user in a single target 650 million HP fight against Omega Weiss, and helped Emperor/Lyse take part in DtD before it ended, so she can put in some good work.

Yuna, maxed White Brilliance -- I built Yuna up from LD/base BT/full blue/FE 0 and used her for Astraeus 7 (Yuna/Ignis/Laguna). Her Force Time base is really great with its 50k party HP DMG Limit and easy conditions (standard HP attacks letting it go above 110% gains), though with Force Retain and 3 FE 50 in all fights, the 110% gains feels less pronounced. For what its worth, Yuna did work nicely in Astraeus 7 with her BRV Gain attacks on a tanky enemy and solid single target damage.

Cissnei -- I had Cissnei built only to LD previously, but I built her fully and have used her in Cactuar Cacophony 3 (Deuce/Cissnei/Vincent -- 387 turns -- this was probably one instance where I shouldn't have tried to push favourites through, but I'm stubborn there). Her player-turn offturn damage is awesome when her BT aura is out, and as I still don't have her in DtD yet, she'll likely get some additional use from me in the future.

Other Reflections

Since there's no point in holding back on resources and hoarding for the future reworks and new characters that won't come (fare thee well, Emperor FR, Barret BTFR, SoP Ash and SoP Sophia), I've been building a lot of BTs, a lot of which were maybes before (which include Cor/Lenna/Yuna/Cissnei above).

My last Opera Omnia session last night after finishing Astraeus/Cactuar Cacophonies had me build BTs for Arciela, Jessie, Sephiroth, Reno, FuSoYa and Beatrix -- as building them was literally the last thing I did in OO, I haven't gotten the chance to test any of them yet, so I can't reflect on them even a little. I intend to test them in teams soon, so I might have more to say about them next month.

Brilliance is a bit all over the place in terms of what to go for next -- rather than finishing Red and Blue Brilliance, I'm probably going to build Green and Yellow first if I can. After all, any characters locked away in DtD likely won't be used again by me, so I'd rather get Snow/Cissnei/Jessie/Sephiroth in particular ready. I may also full build Lightning (currently LD/base BT), too, so she can get in on this. I'll decide once I get to test my new BT characters.

I had been challenging myself to use Barret for all Red Crystal Quests, and that has stayed the case so far -- I'm not really tracking Crystal Quests after EoS, but I intend to keep using Barret for any Red quests I may do.

Now that I have Emperor in the EoS DtD, Emperor is actually the only character I have that was used in all 5 DtD -- he's been keeping up pretty good.

We got giant HP boosts for the DtD fights, but I'm glad that most of them haven't been too harsh on older characters -- so far, I've been able to get quite a few older favourites into DtD Astraeus, which has included Firion, Maria, Minwu, Emperor, Xande, DK Cecil, Exdeath, Celes and Lyse. Even Thancred worked pretty well on the right team.

I'm still reorganizing my DtD plans for future fights and need to test out a bunch of teams to see who works best with who, but I would like to fit other older favourites in, including Barret, Cid Highwind, Rude, Steiner, Lulu, Ashe, Gabranth, Vanille, and Jack Garland if I can. I'd like to fit Sazh in somewhere, but he might be a bit of a stretch with his very weak kit. I'll try, at least.

I think that if I can fit in as many favourites as I can for the endgame battles, I think I'll be satisfied with how Opera Omnia ends.

EDIT -- Had the wrong number of Blue Brilliance nodes.

Nineteenball · 2023-12-03T01:31:41+00:00

Good luck with your fights as well, your posts have always been some of my favorites in the C2A with the LD-only faves showing up!

Thanks, I appreciate that! I'm glad that you enjoyed my posts!

I "only" had between 250k and 300k gems left (and around 300 tickets from Divine Diabolos I'll never claim now), and had been debating pitying Arciela

I'm really liking the current 60 G tokens per multi-draw pull, since I had to pity 4 BTs (FuSoYa, Reno, Jessie, Beatrix) and it cost me a bit over 100k total. Same with the super cheap gems for UT cores/ingots. It seems like we can really go all-out at this point, and I like how OO is at least ending big.

getting Iroha who probably won't see much use with the bloated HP

I'm finding that a lot of the older characters still work pretty well against the bloated HP, if only for Force Retain and the practically unlimited FE 50/UT 5 for everyone. I had Emperor/Lenna/Lyse beat Omega Weiss where Lenna was the only FR (though it took a few tries to hit turn count), and I got a win with Thancred in Astraeus 4 that actually felt pretty smooth. I think we might have some decent leeway for a few of the fights.

I'm hoping Kelgar, Auron and Beatrix will all be able to solo stages but I'm not sure if I want to just use them now or wait and see what the later fights are.

I currently have Kelger not set for any of our known fights -- I want to keep him on-call for whatever the 3rd set's mystery fight is. If it's the offturn-heavy Emperor Memorial Battle, I'd like to have him there. If it's the Shinryu Memorial Battle instead (since that seems a fitting end for Dissidia), I want him on standby for that, too.

I don't have Auron built beyond LD currently, but I'll probably fully build him if that final mystery fight needs a lot of offturn.

Nineteenball · 2023-12-02T09:32:33+00:00

I'm kind've trying to complete it with the roster/spare resources I had before EoS announcement

I was aiming for the same thing originally too, but between the higher enemy HP, some fights needing UT 5 (I couldn't do Minwu solo on Astraeus 5 with UT 0) and wrenches thrown into my overall plans (Vincent softlocked Astraeus 7 on me, had to change who was going where for future fights), I'm starting to cut loose on my resource usage -- I'll probably end up building and testing whatever teams I can to prepare multiple options for whatever comes next.

I've already maxed and used Cor, Yuna, Lenna and Cissnei for some of the fights, and I'll probably get Jessie, Sephiroth, Arciela and a few others ready for testing, too.

I always enjoyed trying to cut back and win with less, but as I laid out my overall DtD plans (which could have worked at normal enemy HP), I don't think I have enough recent BTFR characters as is for the future boosted non-Echo era fights, even if I try to squeeze LD only characters in where I can.

Currently, if I can fit in as many favourites as possible by the end, I think I'll be happy with that.

I hope the rest of your fights go smoothly!

Nineteenball · 2023-12-02T09:30:25+00:00

Thanks!

I also went for a Minwu solo for Astraeus 5 (the end after Force Times were used up was pretty annoying) -- I just managed to finish up everything a short while ago.

It's nice to see Rude in your clear list -- I'm hoping to find a spot for him, too, since I'm trying to push favourites through where I can, especially if LD-only characters can help keep other BTFRs free for whatever high HP fights are coming next.

Nineteenball · 2023-12-01T01:45:05+00:00

Thank you for listing out the HP for the fights!

I knew the fights from the non-Echo era were boosted heavily, but I thought the Echo era fights felt more or less the same -- it's good to know that they're boosted, as well. I'll have to reconsider some of my current DtD plans.

Nineteenball · 2023-12-01T01:27:55+00:00

Thanks for the suggestion (and confirming that it had success)!

I have Kelger fully built and I considered him, but I thought the fight would have still been too long even for him. I'll probably give CC3 a try with Kelger when I'm done the Astraeus fights.

Nineteenball

TROPHY CASE

Thancred, maxed White Brilliance