Printable Version of Topic
Click here to view this topic in its original format
Caves of Narshe Forums > Final Fantasy I > 4 white mages challenge


Posted by: Magitek_slayer 24th April 2014 17:07
I would like to share with ou what i am doing for the last few days:A four white mages challenge.

I have already gotten the earth crystal lit up, and i also have the airship and my character is an adult.All this i did before killing kary.

I am reading a guide on what is recommended.I am wondering now if to wait or to get bane sword first and then beat kary.I have to say this though about what i learned:

Having life spell and the zeus gauntlet plus ruse and cure2 helped me a lot.I would have been so deda if i didn't have zeus gauntlet before doing the ice cavern, because i'd have to fight wizards, and white mages are so weak.

Life spell also helps a lot in doing the earth cave, as well as having harm 2 and heal is important.I can't afford heal 2 or cure3 yet, and i have no choice but to over level, because i absolutely need the money.I am level 14, but it says i should buy harm 3 now and other spells.

I also have to say this:Bringing a tent and a cabin was a great idea for saving and recovering.I don't know if its a bug, but the enemies are ridiculous with how many crits they do, and how many surprise attacks they get.

Anyone who played dawn of souls notice if enemies get less critical hits? I suppose it helps keep the ruse spell from being overpowered i guess, but white mages would be impossible without it.

A new thing i learned:Don't grind for money in the sea shrine.The money is better on zombulls, and its far easier.The xp is better in the shrine, but the cash isn't as good.I get a lot more xp.I get around 1500 xp for 2 grey sharks.

Big big mistake:I'm over leveled now by quite a lot.I should have no trouble beating kary and kranken in the water shrine.

Posted by: AltheaValara 25th April 2014 00:15
You got farther than I did! I started a 4 white mage game a while ago, but couldn't beat the piscodemons. I did a lot of grinding to afford spells so I'm level 23 right now. I'll have to give it another try.

Posted by: Magitek_slayer 25th April 2014 18:39
I just got the white shirt/black shirt, and boy is it hard.I now have like 2 heal helmets and 1 heal staff.I am incredibly overpowered now.Also:Bane sword FTW!!! this sword is great vs regular enemies.I can now level with ease in most areas.All i'm missing is the 2 light axes for harm 2 effect and i'm god mode.This game is kind of ridiculous with the amount of spell casting items.White shirt:Free invis2 spell effect when used.

By the way:You should have seen the kary fight.OH man i was over prepared.

1 heal staff and 3 heal helmets and a white/black mage shirt.

It was very easy.

Posted by: HolyCeles 25th April 2014 20:36
To be honest i think this isn't acctually that hard doing the 4 whitemage challenge in this game, seeing as they can use hammers unlike other FFs where they only use staves.

I think a harder challenge would be an all thief challenge, but with some way to not upgrade to ninjas.

Posted by: Magitek_slayer 25th April 2014 21:31
It is actually fairly challenging.I hear thieves can escape any time and i'm not sure, but they probably have better strength than healers.Having a full team of thieves though would suck big time.Its fairly hard though in some areas with white mages.The big skytower area is extremely hard as 4 white mages.I get hit for crazy damage with magic, and they hit very hard physically.I had to reset many times to get those pieces of armor so i could get a mute to stick on the blue dragon.It gets pretty difficult in some areas as a white mage no doubt.Early on, the lack of power and lack of attack magic with limited charges hurts a lot.Groups of enemies wailing on you with no end can lead to a horrid death.Its just not a pretty sight.Enemies also hit you harder, and you hit really softly, so your damage is negligable.Even at the end of the game, your damage sucks with physical.

The only saving grace is ruse.If it wasn't for that spell, i'm not sure it would be possible to do it.

Posted by: HolyCeles 26th April 2014 18:19
True. But i forget, do you get Holy in the game? Having holy should help out alot in the late game. If you can get it...

Posted by: Magitek_slayer 26th April 2014 19:43
I'm not sure if holy exists.I know there is a spell call fade which guide tells me is required for the final boss.

Also:I'm so happy newer games give bigger inventories and we don't have a joined inventory.I have so much good loot and not enough room for all of it.I wanted to get 4 gold rings but i have no room, and i don't want

FF!1 is trolling me AAARG!!! i told you not to give me warmech.Warmech did 221 damage in 1 hit and died immediately.Thanks game.

Posted by: AltheaValara 27th April 2014 00:28
Holy exists in the Dawn of Souls version, I know. Unsure about other versions of the game.

I just tried the piscodemons again and beat them easily. Don't know why I had so much trouble with them before. I need to redo my magic--only two of my characters have Blink, which seems like a bad idea now. I'm going to drop Dia from those two and get Blink instead.

Posted by: Billdolfski 27th April 2014 16:45
Holy was called FADE in the NES version.

Posted by: Magitek_slayer 27th April 2014 20:10
Wow 10000 gold easily from 1 kill and 2000 xp.The gold is insane in the temple of fiends.

Posted by: AltheaValara 28th April 2014 20:27
I got the airship and did the class change before going to Mt Glug. The ice cavern gave me some difficulty--I had to flee from a dark wizard with only one character left standing, and was later killed by some dragons (stupid Icestorm!).

I tried buying Holy before going to Mt Glug, but it said my magic level was too low. My characters were level 36 at the time. I kept watch in the menu while in the dungeon, and they got the ability to use level 8 magic at job level 39.

I think the real challenge to this challenge is to my patience. Mt Glug took forever! I started getting bored, and actually read webpages while fighting horned devils. Marilith was pretty easy, just a really long battle. My hits were mostly doing 3 damage each, so that's 400 attacks needed to take her down! blink.gif

I'm playing the Dawn of Souls version, which I think is probably easier than the NES version. I did find this version easier than the PS version, which I've also played. I intend to try the extra dungeons and see if those are beatable by four white mages. Will be interesting to see if I can take down Shinryu.

Posted by: Billdolfski 29th April 2014 18:24
While this advice is about as late and useless as all the gold you can find in the ToFR, if it takes that many turns to take Kary/Marilith down... you might be better off spamming Fear on her. She's the one fiend who is susceptible and will actually run.

Posted by: AltheaValara 30th April 2014 19:35
You know, I actually thought about trying Fear, but then said, "Nah, it's a boss, Fear won't work!" Guess I was wrong!

I can attest that four white mages can handle the extra dungeons in Dawn of Souls with ease. I've done three out of the four and am currently in the Lifespring Grotto. The Earthgift Shrine and Hellfire Chasm were easy peasy - just spam Holy. For Whisperwind Cove, I was worried I would run out of MP, so for the first two bosses I had my two best melee attack and then used the Mage's Staff and Black Robe with the other two. Battles were kind of long, but it got the job done. I did holy spam on the last two bosses and had no issues.

White Wizards can equip Ultima Weapon, which is really nice! With the War Hammers I bought, my melee attacks are doing some good damage, so I actually melee'd Gilgamesh to death. The war hammers didn't do much on Atomos, so I had to use Holy spam for him. That's as far as I've gotten in Lifespring Grotto. I'll report back after I've tried Shinryu and Omega.

Posted by: Magitek_slayer 1st May 2014 14:25
I'm level 26 and get brutally murdered still.I have taken a break a little, but i'l get back.

I have fade on 2 characters and life2.

Posted by: AltheaValara 1st May 2014 21:16
So, can four white mages take down Omega and Shinryu? Yes, they can! I did have some deaths to Omega, but Full-life took care of that. For Shinryu, I had my Ultima Weapon bearer attacking while the others cast Holy, but on Omega everyone used Holy since the Ultima weapon wasn't doing impressive damage.

Chaos was quite easy for me, but I was around level 75 by this point, so that's probably why.

Thanks to Magitek_slayer for starting this thread. I've had fun doing this challenge the last few days.

Posted by: Glenn Magus Harvey 2nd May 2014 16:08
Not meaning to cheapen your victories, but didn't they change the magic system to use MP? I wonder if it's possible with the spell slot system.

Posted by: Magitek_slayer 2nd May 2014 22:33
I WON I DID IT!! I beat chaos with 4 white mages at level 35.He did cast crack but he wasn't that bad.FADE FADE FADE Heal 3 fade fade fade heal 3.

Posted by: AltheaValara 3rd May 2014 20:29
Quote (Glenn Magus Harvey @ 2nd May 2014 10:08)
Not meaning to cheapen your victories, but didn't they change the magic system to use MP? I wonder if it's possible with the spell slot system.

Yeah, the Dawn of Souls version uses MP, which makes things rather easy. I'd love to try the challenge again using a version of the game that has spell slots instead.

Posted by: Magitek_slayer 4th May 2014 20:33
I prefer dawn of souls version over the original in a lot of ways.

Mp instead of slots:It is frustrating and annoying running through dungeons without using any magic.

Shared item slots:Makes having to throw away items a nuisance.

Posted by: Billdolfski 10th July 2014 10:53
The problem is all of these improvements made the game more than significantly easier and the only thing they did to balance the difficulty is give the bosses some more HP.

Posted by: AltheaValara 18th April 2016 20:33
I've just finished a run-through of the Origins version with a standard party, and was reminded of this challenge. Looking back, the Dawn of Souls version really feels like cheating, as it's got ethers, phoenix downs, and one MP pool. So, to do this challenge right I've started a four white mage game on the Origins version, which should be more difficult. I'll keep you posted on my progress. Currently I'm in Pravoka. I killed the pirates no problem at level 3, but then died to a random encounter, ugh.

edit 4/21/2016: It's going well! I've made it to Melmond, and I'm currently at the peninsula of power grinding against Necrotaurs to earn enough money for spells.

Posted by: INV2 8th May 2016 18:39
Older thread, but as an original FF1 player from the days of yore, I had to say something. (Yes, I'm new to the forums).

The main challenge of the 4 white mages challenge - which I have completed on the original NES - is not to upgrade classes. This removes a lot of options from the player. No FADE/Holy, no EXIT, no LIF2, etc. All damage is done via items like the Zeus Gauntlet, or the Masamune at end-game for Chaos.

Boss battles are variably difficult. The Chaos battle is a real pain; if you don't kill him before he gets to CUR4 (and full HP) in his spell cycle, you're doomed to trudge back through the ToF. That one led to a few re-dos for me back in the day.

If your white mages (or did you upgrade?) can cast Holy, while I am sure it is a difficult slog and you should be proud, it's easier than it was on the original game.

Powered by Invision Power Board (http://www.invisionboard.com)
© Invision Power Services (http://www.invisionpower.com)