Jay

Blabber about my dreams ( Collapse )

For a while, I've had an occasional reoccurring dream. In the dream, I'm a little boy, and I'm in the woods behind my mother's house. In a clearing, there's a gorgeous fox and a pot of gold and jewels. A bunch of random people show up, each one trying to find an excuse to take the treasure away, and I have to tell everyone that they can't have the treasure because it belongs to the fox. The fox is clearly upset about the idea of losing his treasure, but he can't speak.

Well, today, I was helping my mother break up some drywall, and a small chunk of the pile was from when they remodelled the second floor bathroom when I was child. We found a chunk of drywall that I had apparently drawn a fox, a large tree, and signed it.

I've apparently been having this dream of the fox in the woods for longer than I realized.

Bored, I decided to write a nice song about love, and kitchen appliances.

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Kit pointed out this post by vampymaus in regards to "fast fiction." Apparently, the point is "to write a complete story in 200 words or less."

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I finally beat Final Fantasy X, finding the ending to be a disappointing cakewalk.

A few people from work said that I would absolutely need Anima, and several friends recommended it. I skipped it. The solution is summed up in one word = Rikku.

First, play along with the Calm Lands Arena side quest until you get 99x Doors of Tomorrow, 60x Supreme Gems, a couple of Phoenix Downs (or the Life spell), a few Fire Gems, and a handful of Al Bhed Potions. Use any Skill Spheres to teach Tidus and Lulu the Use skill.

Sin, First Fin: Make sure that Rikku is in overdrive before the battle. Mix two Doors of Tomorrow to get Trio of 9999. The fin should be dead in six whacks from Wakka.

Sin, Second Fin: Make sure you've set up Rikku's Overdrive to charge from either allies taking damage, or herself taking damage. Warrior isn't recommended; the fin is out of range, and even if it wasn't, you'd have to have jacked the crap out of her strength to get her hit as hard as the boys. Work her into Overdrive, repeat. Six smacks, done.

Sin, jumping on its back: You should hold off on dealing the finishing blows to the second fin by setting up Trio, then waiting until Rikku's Overdriven again. THEN finish it off, land on Sin, Trio again. The bulbous thing with tentacles should take two hits (it didn't even get to withdraw into its shell and cast Curara), and then hammer the living Hell out of the lotus looking thing. It didn't get to cast Gravija once.

You get a break, in which case you should save, then bring Rikku to the Calm Lands to build up her Overdrive again. Go back to the ship and run to the deck again. Don't forget to save.

Sin, being drawn in: Mix two Doors of Tomorrow, and when you get close enough, lob Fire Gems at it. Three should be sufficient, since each hits five times, and the Trio does carry over to items. Yes, that's 49,995 a Gem, and if I remember correctly, Sin has 140,000 HP.

Once inside Sin, I wandered a bit. I didn't waste time/energy on baddies for the most part; I didn't finish off anyone's Sphere Grid except Kimahri's (who was working his way through Yuna's) and Tidus's (who was working his way through Rikku's), but I figured if I can lay the unholy Trio smackdown on Yu Yevon, I won't need any skills or attributes than what I already have. I had Rikku and Tidus in the party, using Rikku to steal an item from a creature, and Tidus to use the Flee skill. I got a handful of Healing Waters this way. Neat, but not necessary.

Seymour, final mode: I seriously thought I was done with this jerky. Surprise, surprise. I did find that the Phantom Bangle that you can get from the Battle Site if you explore around freely in the airship is rather helpful here, because it is Iceeater, Fireeater, and Watereater, meaning all those spells heal rather than damage, but I don't think it was necessary. Again, make sure that Rikku managed to go into Overdrive from the bad guys within Sin (though I recommend you just flat out run from Great Marlboro's; they are pure evil), and set up the Trio. I did try a Fire Gem, and it healed him 49,995 instead of damaging him, and that sucked, but I think it was because he was in Firaga mode at the time. Have Tidus perform his Slice and Dice Overdrive for 49,995 damage, then just generically beat him down. Don't even mess with the little wheels; go straight for him. (I did find that Nulblaze was handy to shield against the barrage of Firaga's he throws out).

Once he is out of the way, you work yourself through the ruins of Zanarkand that are on top of Sin's head. Near the last save point before confrontation, a huge pillar will fall just feet before you. Touch the purple glyph, become absorbed, run around the frozen lake grabbing the yellow spheres (they give you cool items), avoid the icy spikes. Eventually (it seemed to always be when I got 9 or so), you get pulled up, and confront Jecht. I was praying for a save point, but no, if you die, you need to go play on the frozen pond all over again. Annoying.

Jecht, first form: Easy. But prepare for the second battle. I used a Stamina Tonic (which increases your party's max HP by double), which can also be obtained in the Calm Lands Arena sidequest, but it's not necessary. Just helpful. Again, use the Zanarkand mobs to set up Rikku's Overdrive, and set up the Trio. Use Lulu's Overdrive for 9,999 damage per rotation of the analog stick, and Tidus's Slice and Dice for another 49,995. Fire Gems deal that much a piece, too. Don't even worry about the columns, they get taken out by the damage done either by Lulu or Fire Gems.

Jecht, second form: Harder. The Trio gets carried over. Use Al Bhed potions often. The Trio makes them give 9,999 life a piece, rather than the standard 1,000. I used one in the first battle, by the way, after the Stamina Tonic, to fill everyone's HP. By the way, those tonics can't be used accumalitively; I checked. This battle is where I had to use a Phoenix Down; Rikku was still relatively weak even after the tonic. Just go nuts on Jecht. Fire Gems, Overdrives from Lulu and Tidus, just all out assault, using anything that hits multiple times.

After that, you get to fight each Aeon. Impossible to keep building up Rikku's Overdrive for each battle, so, time for a new strategy. Get out your Supreme Gems. Each of these little nuggets is an Ultima-In-A-Can. One per Aeon is more than sufficient, and in fact, even Overkilled every single one of them.

Yu Yevon: Final showdown. And a let down at that. The halo over each character signifies that the Fayth's are giving you Auto-Life. What the Hell is that?? I found that to make the battle FAR too easy, though admittedly, it would have been impossible without them. The strategy here is to sit like a duck. Even if you do 9,999 damage to Yu Yevon, he only casts Curaga immediately, for 9,999. The only time you should throw Supreme Gems are if either (or both) of the columns are moving. Otherwise, skip everyone's turn by hitting the triangle button repeatedly, until he casts Gravija. That takes out 3/4's of everyone's life, to a maximum of 9,999... including his own. And he doesn't cure himself after his own attack. So, sit there, wait for himself to kill himself, essentially. He also casts Ultima for 9,999 per character, but the Auto-Life just brings you back, and any amount of healing could not prevent that, so I wouldn't bother. If Rikku goes into Overdrive, mix two Supreme Gems to make Sunburst. It deals 19,999 damage or so, and though he'll cure half of it, you still took off another 10,000. Eventually, when you go to throw a Supreme Gem to kill off the columns, he won't have enough life left to recover with a Curaga, and you've beaten the game.

EDIT: Susan's suggestion for Yu Yevon: Zombie him, so that his own Curagas kill him.