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I'm sure many of you have mastered a game only to find that from that point onward it has become too easy. Well, this is where self imposed challenges come into play! I'm currently doing 2 of them separately for Tactics. I figure this would be a good place to post challenge ideas and strategies if you have any. Right now the challenges I'm doing are the Ramza Only challenge and the Computer Controlled challenge.

-Ramza Only:
You can only use Ramza to beat the game. Whenever you get a new character you can take their equipment from them, but then you have to remove them from the party.

-Computer Controlled:
You have to set the auto battle setting at the beginning of the battle and let the computer take control from there onwards. If you find this too difficult, probably because the computer AI is retarded sometimes, then you can change the auto setting around during the battle which will give you a little bit of added control.

-Pure Class:
You can only setup your characters to use reaction, support, and movement abilities of the class you are using, and you can't use any secondary ability. This to simulate being a pure class ie, no cross classing of any kind.

-Single Class:
Your entire party must consist of only one class. Since you have to level up classes to open up other classes this can be done in different ways.
1) You can use a gameshark to unlock all classes at the beginning.
2) You can change classes, but eveyone has to be the same class at all times.
3) You can change classes, but only for the purpose of unlocking the class you are trying to get to. Once unlocked you can only use that class and abilities thereof.

-Squire:
This is essentially a single class challenge limited to only using the squire class.

What other ideas do you guys have?
Also, for the sake of keeping it challenging I choose to go straight through the game, not using any random battles at all. I also don't backtrack or travel around to different tows to buy stuff, so if I forgot to buy something while I was at a specific town, I have to wait until the game's storyline brings me across that town again. This becomes particularly difficult because your money supply is very limited when you only use storyline battles. I figure if I use random encounters I'll just be able to power level and then the entire challenging aspect goes right out the window.

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FFVA
SCC: Party of Thieves, stuck at Byblos

Whoa, old topic. Still seems to be the best fit for a writeup for the Magic Users challenge I've completed. A few more writeups to go but mostly done.

For the unfamiliar, party is made up of Ramza and 4 generics with one each of Wizard, Priest, Time Mage, Oracle, and Summoner. All only use abilities from the single class they've chosen. Also, I went with Ramza as the Wizard.

Dorter Trade City: 0 resets
Jennie sits out. Ramza, Algus, and Delita do all the damage. Worst compatibility Wizard gets an attack off, nothing else of note really happens.

Sand Rat Cellar: 0 resets
Ramza, Algus, and Delita do all the damage mk 2. Priests heals. Time mage and oracle sling status spells but never end up hitting anyone with their staves.

Grab Linen Robes and Red Hoods for everyone. The MP increase is a welcome occurrence. Nab a Thunder Rod for Ramza.

Thieves Fort: 0 resets
Usual tactics. Off the Priests then finish Miluda with two spells from Ramza.

Lenalia Plateau: 0 resets
Miluda goes down in two Black Magic spells. I forgot to teach Virginia Silence so Amy dies to enemy Wizard but finish up quick enough.

Windmill Shed: 0 resets
Wiegraf also goes down to two Black Magic spells. Paralyze hits which turns the second black magic spell from 90 to 100% chance.

Fort Zekaden: 0 resets
The close Wizard has worst compatibility with Virginia so my plan of Silencing her fails. Ramza lands two spells just before my team would be swarmed.

Marisa finally can learn an attack Summon.

Dorter 2: 0 resets
Ramza and Marisa smash. Jennie sits out,

Araguay Woods: 0 resets
Is this ever hard? Even with the Priest sitting out, I steamroll through with no trouble.

Zirekile Falls: 0 resets
I strip Gafgarion's sword. Forget to take off Battle Boots but it doesn't matter. With the Summoner sitting out and Delita only having Stasis Sword, it takes awhile longer than expected. Lv 11 Knight didn't have a Wizard Robe so no incentive to stall.

Backtrack for Triangle Hats and new weapons. Now the girls can contribute more to damage dealing.

Zeland Fort City: 1 reset
Jennie bench warms. Mustadio dies to magic. Reset time. Next time, I;m able to Silence or murder the Wizards by slinging spells through the wall and things unfold from there. Drew things out for Wizard Robe drops, got one.

Baraius Hill: 0 resets
Marisa is out on a treasure hunt. Surprisingly easy. Jennie Hastes the team and they go on a rampage. The girls pump out a lot of damage with physicals at this point in the game. Silence Song is there for Summoners.

Upgrades. Wizard Robes for the whole team are the main attraction here.

Zigolis Swamp: 0 resets
Mustadio has Seal Evil, 80% of the enemies are undead so my Priest can attack, and I have Wizard Robes. No trouble at all.

Baraius Valley: 0 resets
Triangle Hats, Wizard Robes, thunderstorm, and Thunder Rods (optional) combine for sick damage. Ramza, Amy, and Virginia are in Formation 1 and Jennie and Marisa start in team 2. Marisa nukes with Ramuh, Ramza zaps the close Knight, and the Wizard on team 1's side is lured close and Virginia slugs him midcharge. Simple mop up after that.

I buy two Wizard Staffs before the next fight. I purchase a Green Beret at this point too.

Lionel Castle: 0 resets
I know how to arrange my team to not see a summon right away. Ramza has enough power to take out Gafgarion in two Bolt 2s, even through Night Sword. He doesn't have the 127 HP needed to survive two Night Swords at Lv 11 without help from the others. Amy uses her first turn to Cure Ramza. I forgot that she's within range of an Archer to kill her midcharge. Thought I'd have a loss right there but the slower Archer goes for Throw Stone for the deathblow and the lower damage result allows her to live. Jennie Hastes the girls and they recover and work down everyone outside with their superior speed. Somewhere along the way, the Summoner is Silenced, Ranza picks up Gafgarion's crystal (learns Phoenix Down from it), and Virginia learns Arrow Guard which she's not able to use in the challenge.

Queklain: 0 resets
Summoner has a Green Beret. Queklain Bio 3s 4 people before I can move. Cue in battle dialouge than spread out and tag with Holy, Bolt 2, Life Drain, Slow, and Ramuh.

Lesalia: 0 resets
Ranza busies himself zapping generics. Time mage Hastes people. Eventually, Zalmo comes close enough for the priest to lock on Holy for 252. Zalmo has 245 HP. I think you can see where this is going.

Pick up 5 Chameleon Robes for a certain upcoming fight. Time Mage has enough JP for Teleport; this is going to be fun.

Underground Book Storage, Level 3: 0 resets
Green Beret on Marisa. Germinas Boots on everyone except Virginia. Enemies do nothing besides the Summoner locking on a summon. Virginia targets the Summoner with Silence Song, the rest do Bolt 2, Holy, Demi, and Ramuh on Izlude. Silence Song hits so I get a no damage clear though it wouldn't have mattered.

Underground Book Storage, Level 1; 0 resets
Chameleon Robes on all, Green Beret for Marisa. Weigraf comes forth and does nothing. Archer shoots someone. Amy heals. I charge up Bolt 2, Demi, Life Drain, and Titan. Wiegraf's mantle blocks Bolt 2 which would have been fatal if it hit. He's in critical and makes a run for it, getting a double turn to run away even more. Marisa has just enough range to finish him off with Titan on her second turn though.

Yuguo Woods: 0 resets
The undead mages' White Robes give Ramza and Marisa damage issues. So Ramza focuses on burning up ghosts while Marisa is the main healer. Jennie is there to counteract enemy Hastes and Slows and can still deal decent physical damage when catching someone midcharge. Virginia has her status game. Amy gets to go on offense. No problems. Had a funny moment when a Wizard locks on a spell and I'm not able to kill him before it goes off. Virginia pokes him anyways. Innocent and the incoming spell does zero.

Inside Riovanes: 0 resets
Chameleon Robe on Ramza; my only two Gold Hairpins go to him and the Summoner. One Flare does 450ish to Wiegraf. Velius appears. Ramza launches Flare straight off. Velius goes and targets the Oracle for extermination by Cyclops. Um, okay. I launch an all out offensive with Holy, Demi, Ramuh, Life Drain, and Fire with the last of Ramza's MP. Life Drain misses; everything else hits for enough to finish Velius.

Riovanes Roof: 0 resets
Chameleon Robes and Holy Miters on the team. Time mage sits out. My levels are so low, I don't need to remove anyone's armor. Elmdor does the usual. Assassins both target Ramza with Ultima. He redirects to Lede and attacks air (not chancing Counter Tackle pushing him back) Target Lede with Holy, Life Drain, and Titan. She runs after both Ultimas and Life Drain.

Dougula Pass: 0 resets
I play agreesively without bothering with Golem. Ramza does fall during the battle but I Raise him back up with no hassle. The last enemy is the Wizard in the back due to having Silenced him. Jennie learns Arrow Guard from the Archer's crystal which she won't be able to use either.

Bervania: 0 resets
PBF setup
Team 1 Team 2
T - - - - - - -
R S- - - -
- P
- -
O- - -

With this setup, the Nunja will throw something at the Oracle and will do piddly damage thanks to Defense Up. Meliadoul will move on the box and do nothing. Team 2 will be in range to target spells and retreat. Despite the inconvenience of a Summoner having Germanas Boots locking a summon on Ramza, I connect Holy, Life Drain, and Demi to win.

Finath River: 0 resets
Low levels + thunderstorm + Black Robe = easy kills even on Red Chocobos, sometimes with plain Bolt.

Zeltenia: 0 resets
Zalmo uses Defend. Holy, Life Drain, and Titan ignore magic evasion and his elemental resistance.

Bed Desert: 1 reset
White Robes on everyone. Balk has good compat with Amy and nails her with Arm Aim straight off. Maybe could have still pulled through.but wasn't able to do enough to his support. When Amy dies, there's no chance of winning. Next time, Balk doesn't have Arm Aim. Ramza and Marisa drop enough violence on Balk's support to shift momentum enough to win. End up taking out everyone before being defeating Balk.

Bethla Garrison Sluice: 1 reset
White Robes and Gold Hairpins around except for Jennie and Virginia who get Holy Miters. Ramza starts with Amy and Marisa. Jennie and Virginia start on team 2. Left side Wizard is lured into position to get bashed midcharge. Ramza's side gets to work on the Knights. Golem goes up to ward physicals. The Flash Hat Wizard goes left and gets Silenced on my next turns. Knight breaks Amy's White Robe. Other Knight takes a swing at her which she would have survived except for the Ice 2 effect which kills her. No hope of reaching the switches before crystalization.
Try again. Same strat for the left side Wizard. Use Golem to protect from arrows. Jennie's Elf Mantle is really on here guarding all but one out of 3-4 attacks sent her way. Once the Ultimus Archer is put to sleep and Ramza's side deals with the Knights, the enemies don't have enough offense left to threaten me so it's just a mop up. No broken armor this attempt

Outside Limberry: 1 reset
Chameleon Robes on all except Ranza and the summoner. Celia goes for Ultima on Ramza. Lede ... goes for Ultima on Ramza. Uh-oh. I move him towards the rest of the team. Shell allows him to live and he gets a Fire off on an Apanda before it can move, it doesn't kill it. Oracle tries for Silence on other nearby Apanda, miss. Apandas go; they pick off Ramza and petrify my priest and oracle due to positioning stupidity on my part. My last two units are unable to do enough damage before dying and I see the Game Over screen.

Attempt #2: I know they're going after Ranza again and prepare accordingly. This time, Ramza kills a close Apanda and the other is Silenced and Don't Moved to uselessness. Assassins go for Shadow Stitch and Ultima on time mage as planned. Ramza dies as before, the others launch magical violence at Lede for the win.

Inside Limberry: 0 resets
Oracle gets Earth Clothes to survive Muramasa. I arrange the PBF so that Elmdor hits Ramza, the Oracle, and the Time Mage. Death Sentence on Ramza, Confusion on Time Mage. Lede kills Time Mage. Celia Shadow Stitches Summoner. The last three bury Elmdor with Life Drain, Holy, and Flare.

Igros: 0 resets
Summoner has Thief Hat, others keep Flash Hats. Stasis Sword on Ranza, no Stop. Holy, Life Drain, Odin, and Zalbag take down Dycedarg before he gets another turn. Ramza takes potshots at Knights rather than try to hit through an Aegis Shield. Time mage hastes team. With the extra turns, Priest heals Ramza and I target Flare, Demi, and Life Drain in preparation for phase two. Life Drain hits air before the transformation though.
Adramelk comes out. Flare and Demi smack him before anyone has a chance to move. I mess up here and go for another Demi instead of Slow. Oh noes, wanted to win without Adramelk moving like in a Summoner SCC. Adramelk Holies someone but that's all he's allowed to accomplish before succumbing to the third Demi.

Murond hall: 0 resets
Remove Ramza/s armor and give him an Elf Mantle. Vormav does nothing; Rofel goes to carve up Ramza and whiffs (would be OK even if it hit). Even though Kletian can overkill Ramza with Dark Holy, Ramza still has enough time to get a Fire off. So Meteor ends up being overkill but I finally had the JP to learn it after the last battle and wanted to use it on something. Confirmed, it can be Counter Magiced.

Morund crypt: 0 resets
Highest levelled character is at 28. Both Archaic Demons roll higher levels and thus have their speed point. I believe I gave Ramza 108 Gems. Ultima Demon takes a Bolt 2 and Ramuh before it can move (so does Zombag because he was in the way). It's not enough for a kill though. Oracle rushes forward to Silence a demon (and draw fire from the rest of the team. Priest casts Protect on Ramza. Time Mage Hastes herself.
Zalbag's AI is set to go after Ramza if he's an available target. As a Capricorn with Protect, this does a not very scary 56 damage. Archaic Demon lock Dark Holies on the Oracle. Ultima Demon blasts Ramza, the Oracle, and Zombag with Ulmagest and retreats. I root Zalbag in place with Don't Move and Holy removes his remaining HP.

Underground Book Storage Level 4: 0 resets
So satisfying to use Short Charge Meteor. I get one shot with my MP which I drop on the Monks and a nearby Knight. Ramza nukes the Archer with Flare. Despite the inconvenience of my Summoner dying to an arrow and Earth Slash before she can move, I still win thanks to luck with landing status spells through evasion, primarily Don't Move. Summoner gets the kill on the last two Knights for some poetic justice.

Underground Book Storage Level 5: 1 reset
Rofel Silences Amy. Oops. He barely survives the magical assault (with some help from a Hasted Summoner) and Shellbusts someone. Reset.
This time, I set up the PBF correctly so he goes after Jennie and her Feather Mantle. Hit or miss, Holy, Bolt 2, Life Drain, and Titan do enough.

Balk II: 1 reset
Only one reset? I had 2 sets of Rubber Shoes in case I resorted to the trap strategy (levels of my team range from 27 to 31 so no Lv 35 speed point) but actually was able to crack this on the second attempt. Thief Hats and White Robes on all with movement increasors on everyone but the Time Mage. First attempt: I was unable to get close enough to Balk to blitz him and was overrun by the monsters. Next try: PBF has the Priest behind Ramza and Summoner on her right. Oracle and Time Mage go on team 2. Battle starts. Balk and Chemist both shoot the Summoner. Well crap, I planned on locking Holy, Flare, and Lich on Balk but the Summoner will die before completing charging. what do I do?

Well, time to see if I can trick the AI. Priest charges Raise 2 on the Summoner and waits on the spot. Ramza locks Flare on Balk. Oracle goes for Confusion Song on the Hydra. Time Mage looks for people to Haste. Summoner targets Lich on Balk. The idea is that the AI doesn't like killing someone if they're just going to get revived. However, killing the Summoner would break the charge. So I'm not sure how things will play out.
Enemies go. Balk moves and shoots Ramza. Counter Magic for 66 damage. Tiamat takes a shot at the Oracle who survives the Triple Thunder attempt. Hydra Triple Flames an empty spot. Oh, it's the Priest's turn? Right, she didn't move so her turn comes before Raise 2 resolves.

Taking a look at the AT list, I see the Chemist will go between the time Raise 2 is set to resolve and when Lich goes off. I don't want him killing the Summoner so I go for Raise on the Summoner. Flare hits through the evasion for 215. Monsters do nothing important. Chemist gets a turn. I'm a bit tense here as he could wreck me by healing Balk. Instead, he goes for a Remedy on the confused Hydra. Whether it's because he didn't know any recovery besides Potion or just random luck, I'm fortunate here. Lich goes next. Hits and Balk goes down. Roadblock passed and with no casualties unlike the previous battle. I save and shut off the game.

Hashulam: 0 resets
Pastes my team with Quake before they can move. Counter Magic. Oracle dies due to good compatibility. Time Mage is the MVP with Slow and Demi. Priest is on full time recovery duty. Summoner either heals or attacks depending on need at the moment, favoring Lich if there's time for it. Ramza is intended to attack but doesn't actually get to due to CT and the threat of a midcharge physical. Oracle gets a Life Drain or two somewhere in the mess. I was basically winging things and manage to win.

Altima: 4 resets
Team Recap time,
Ramza: Lv 31 Wizard, Capricorn
Marisa: Lv 28 Summoner, Libra
Virginia: Lv 31 Oracle, Sagituarus
Amy: Lv 28 Priest, Leo
Jennie: Lv 31 Tima Mage, Pisces

Winning run has Thief Hats and Light Robes all around besides Ramza who has Flash Hat and Black Robe. Oracle has Red Shoes, others have Germinas Boots.

Take 1: Ramza dies to physical. Go for the quick kill on form 1 with Life Drain, Demi, and Lich. Only Demi hits. Enemies manage to kill of Priest in next couple of rounds. Reset

Take 2: Ramza dies to physical. Slow Altima and try to eliminate demons. Fail to someone crystalizing.

Take 3: Ramza goes with Thief Hat, Light Robe, and Angel Ring. This time, Altima locks a fatal Ultima on him and runs. This lets him do some damage at least but I've only killed two demons when Grand Cross ruins me. Actually saw the Game Over screen instead of resetting when situation is hopeless.

Take 4: Same as previous attempt except I kill three demons and no Grand Cross. Still lose though to crystalization.

Winning run, I decide to chance the quick kill on form one since my team keeps losing to demons otherwise. Ramza dies to physical as planned. Lock on Life Drain, Demi, and Lich and spread out. Life Drain misses but others hit. Demons busy themselves killing Alma and Virginia while leaving the others unmolested. Amy Raises Virginia. Altima charges a fatal Ultima on Virginia and retreats. Still close enough to Life Drain and redirect Ultima to Altima and some demons. Jennie Hastes herself, Marisa, and Amy. Life Drain connects sparing me the redirect nonsense.

So Ramza gets cutscene resurrection. Form 2 has me opening with Reraise on Ramza (this ends up costing me a turn to let it finish charging) as well as Life Drain, Lich, Slow, and Flare and all connecting. Get in a Demi before Altima takes its turn and.... physical on Marisa. Okay then. Raise Alma for the heck of it and get off Golem which runs Marisa out of MP. Life Drain whiffs. Decide to sling another Demi before renewing Slow. Hit and game. Forgot about Holy weakness but that's OK.

This post has been edited by DragonKnight Zero on 10th August 2014 22:42