I thought this was meant to be easy?

[Its Almost Harvesting Season]

I just reached the Magnetic Cavern and the game feels like the difficulty has spiked significantly. Party is level 19/22/21/21, haven't fled from any battles, and didn't grind because I always thought this was considered "stupid easy".

Party is at full HP, and nearly every encounter is almost wiping the whole party. Before I even have a second party member act, Tellah is usually dead and Yang usually down at critical HP. What am I missing here because this feels like a piece of the puzzle is missing. Do I just need to pray to RNGesus that the enemies don't hit for 300+ every hit and act 4x to every action per party member? I have the best gear available, and as mentioned before, no grinding or fleeing because I always thought it wasn't necessary in FFIV.

[Koby]

Did you unequip all metal gear?

[Its Almost Harvesting Season]

Originally posted by Koby:

Did you unequip all metal gear?

Yes, if you don't you just die the moment battle starts. No actions from any party members.

[Black Mage Luis]

You have to buy light armor.

Tellah
Polymorph Rod - Mist Village Rydia's house behind the fireplace.
Wizard Hat - Mysidia (The game will auto unequip this from Palom and Porom)
Kenpo Gi - Baron
Ruby Ring - Troia (There's two free ones in Troia Castle)

Cecil
Holy Arrow - Agart
Crossbow - Agart
Wizard Hat
Leather Garb - Troia
Ruby Ring

Cid
Feathered Cap - Troia
Kenpo Gi
Ruby Ring

Yang
Feathered Cap
Kenpo Gi
Ruby RIng

Put Cecil in the backrow since he will be shooting arrows. Use Osmose on enemies when Tellah is getting low on MP. It's possible to get through the Magnetic Cave without using Ether, if he uses this. You can always run from all the battles until you reach the boss. You'll miss out on level ups though. This cave can throw people off because it requires a different playstye, compared to all the other dungeons.

[SolusEmsu]

Note that Yang's claws do not count as 'metal' for this, he can use them. Cid's Wooden Hammer is also usable, and I think he can also equip bow and arrows. Kenpo Gi and Headbands from Baron shop for everyone is probably the easiest. Tellah can just act as support while the others bash, or he can go offensive, depending on MP reserves. Osmose is also an option as mentioned above to keep him firing.

I typically give Cecil a bow and arrows for this part, and put him in the back row. But with the Kenpo Gi + Headband combo, he can also just stay in front too, as this gives him pretty nice evasion%. This was actually the part where I realized the evade build is probably better than the heavy build until very late into the game. xD

This part is still very easy, it just requires a couple minutes of planning/equip gathering if you did not keep/buy in advance some of the non-metal gear.

[SolusEmsu]

Originally posted by Its Almost Harvesting Season:

Do I just need to pray to RNGesus that the enemies don't hit for 300+ every hit and act 4x to every action per party member?

Also for this specifically, if you are getting hit while in menus deciding your actions, try using the Wait style for the ATB. This means enemies won't act while you are in menus.

[Its Almost Harvesting Season]

Originally posted by SolusEmsu:

Originally posted by Its Almost Harvesting Season:

Do I just need to pray to RNGesus that the enemies don't hit for 300+ every hit and act 4x to every action per party member?

Also for this specifically, if you are getting hit while in menus deciding your actions, try using the Wait style for the ATB. This means enemies won't act while you are in menus.

It's not while in the menu, it's literally waiting for the party members to take actions or their bars to fill. One would fill, I'd give them an action then 4 enemies take their turns, then my character finally takes their turn... then the enemy takes another 4 turns, then my next character does their thing. Tellah is ridiculously slow, he's either clearing the enemies with a cast or dying before he even casts a single spell... or still waiting for his turn while Cecil and Yang kill the enemy after giving them a command 20 seconds after telling Tellah to cast Blizzara on the group.

Anyway, I'm past that part now. It basically just involved save scumming to get through, because I had all the gear suggested in other posts, my party was well above level, and there's not really anything strategywise I could do besides take my turns as they come; but if 4-6 enemies decide to focus a single party member and they all get to act one per party member giving them 4 moves per 1 attack then it's just a RNG difficulty spike I guess.

[traviniperv]

Its harder than the American SNES version. They gimped the gameplay and the enemies on that one because somebody told Square that Americans were stupid or just losers and couldn't play normal Final Fantasy, they needed help.

But the Pixel remaster on Steam is a little harder than the original and a little easier than the 3D version, for reasons I don't understand.

The good news is you can still grind for levels on the overworld and then go in the cave with your non-metal gear and survive.

Fun Fact: You can beeline for the dark elf, wait for the story sequence to play out where the magnetism dies and then you can equip your good gear, then go back out and search the dungeon for loot normally.

After a buddy of mine pointed that out in 1993 or 94, that's all I ever did.

[SolusEmsu]

Originally posted by Its Almost Harvesting Season:

Originally posted by SolusEmsu:

Also for this specifically, if you are getting hit while in menus deciding your actions, try using the Wait style for the ATB. This means enemies won't act while you are in menus.

It's not while in the menu, it's literally waiting for the party members to take actions or their bars to fill. One would fill, I'd give them an action then 4 enemies take their turns, then my character finally takes their turn... then the enemy takes another 4 turns, then my next character does their thing. Tellah is ridiculously slow, he's either clearing the enemies with a cast or dying before he even casts a single spell... or still waiting for his turn while Cecil and Yang kill the enemy after giving them a command 20 seconds after telling Tellah to cast Blizzara on the group.

Anyway, I'm past that part now. It basically just involved save scumming to get through, because I had all the gear suggested in other posts, my party was well above level, and there's not really anything strategywise I could do besides take my turns as they come; but if 4-6 enemies decide to focus a single party member and they all get to act one per party member giving them 4 moves per 1 attack then it's just a RNG difficulty spike I guess.

What you are claiming here is simply not possibly true. The enemies in the Lodestone cavern do not have the Agility (speed) stat required to get 4 moves per your 1, even if you had someone with <8 Agility (which would be Rydia at level 1). The only way for this to happen is if you are letting your gauges fill and then just waiting for the enemies to act before doing your action, every time your action comes up. What you are claiming to be happening here is literally impossible if you are actively attacking or just using Attack-Autobattle, because these enemies would need at least 3x the Agility stats they have in order to do what you are claiming they are doing to you.

This is not an RNG difficulty spike and has nothing to do with randomness. If you have the gear available to boost your defense and evade, they don't hit for 300+ and you would have at that level far more than enough raw stats to blast through them. Especially once you get the Fairy Claw, which one-shots Ogres.

I actually have a game save at the post-Lodestone point (I like Tellah so I kept a save just before going to Zot), and went in there just now with all the non-metal gear equipped. Cid and Cecil using greatbows and fire arrows, Yang has his fire/fairy claws, Tellah I just had spam Defend because his participation is not important for this test run. I flew back over to the cave just now and did about a dozen battles. I even put it in enemy favor by intentionally waiting at the start of each battle to ensure that the enemies attacked first.
Not once did they get even a double attack between mine, and I never even got low enough HP to consider healing. They just aren't that hard. I also turned up the game's Battle Speed to Very Fast, in case this might cause the enemies to go super-speed (this was a known issue in the FF6PR at launch, this option sped up the monsters but not your party so doing this made the game significantly more difficult), but it does not do that here. The claim that the monsters are getting 4 attacks to your 1 is simply untrue unless you are waiting at full bars for them to do so.

My team is a little higher level than yours at around 30 because I already had beaten that area, but the extra like maybe 3-4 Agility points would not make a significant difference here, and the extra hp is made up for by healing between battle in your game. It would make a small difference, but it is not nearly enough difference to go from "I can fight for 10+ battles without healing and also giving the monsters a handicap" to "my dudes are getting 1-rounded in every combat."

So, I simply do not believe you based on the facts given. You are either greatly exaggerating the direness of your circumstances, or you are lying. I do not appreciate either.

[traviniperv]

Originally posted by SolusEmsu:

Originally posted by Its Almost Harvesting Season:

It's not while in the menu, it's literally waiting for the party members to take actions or their bars to fill. One would fill, I'd give them an action then 4 enemies take their turns, then my character finally takes their turn... then the enemy takes another 4 turns, then my next character does their thing. Tellah is ridiculously slow, he's either clearing the enemies with a cast or dying before he even casts a single spell... or still waiting for his turn while Cecil and Yang kill the enemy after giving them a command 20 seconds after telling Tellah to cast Blizzara on the group.

Anyway, I'm past that part now. It basically just involved save scumming to get through, because I had all the gear suggested in other posts, my party was well above level, and there's not really anything strategywise I could do besides take my turns as they come; but if 4-6 enemies decide to focus a single party member and they all get to act one per party member giving them 4 moves per 1 attack then it's just a RNG difficulty spike I guess.

What you are claiming here is simply not possibly true. The enemies in the Lodestone cavern do not have the Agility (speed) stat required to get 4 moves per your 1, even if you had someone with <8 Agility (which would be Rydia at level 1). The only way for this to happen is if you are letting your gauges fill and then just waiting for the enemies to act before doing your action, every time your action comes up. What you are claiming to be happening here is literally impossible if you are actively attacking or just using Attack-Autobattle, because these enemies would need at least 3x the Agility stats they have in order to do what you are claiming they are doing to you.

This is not an RNG difficulty spike and has nothing to do with randomness. If you have the gear available to boost your defense and evade, they don't hit for 300+ and you would have at that level far more than enough raw stats to blast through them. Especially once you get the Fairy Claw, which one-shots Ogres.

I actually have a game save at the post-Lodestone point (I like Tellah so I kept a save just before going to Zot), and went in there just now with all the non-metal gear equipped. Cid and Cecil using greatbows and fire arrows, Yang has his fire/fairy claws, Tellah I just had spam Defend because his participation is not important for this test run. I flew back over to the cave just now and did about a dozen battles. I even put it in enemy favor by intentionally waiting at the start of each battle to ensure that the enemies attacked first.
Not once did they get even a double attack between mine, and I never even got low enough HP to consider healing. They just aren't that hard. I also turned up the game's Battle Speed to Very Fast, in case this might cause the enemies to go super-speed (this was a known issue in the FF6PR at launch, this option sped up the monsters but not your party so doing this made the game significantly more difficult), but it does not do that here. The claim that the monsters are getting 4 attacks to your 1 is simply untrue unless you are waiting at full bars for them to do so.

My team is a little higher level than yours at around 30 because I already had beaten that area, but the extra like maybe 3-4 Agility points would not make a significant difference here, and the extra hp is made up for by healing between battle in your game. It would make a small difference, but it is not nearly enough difference to go from "I can fight for 10+ battles without healing and also giving the monsters a handicap" to "my dudes are getting 1-rounded in every combat."

So, I simply do not believe you based on the facts given. You are either greatly exaggerating the direness of your circumstances, or you are lying. I do not appreciate either.

Easy killer, its just a video game.

[SolusEmsu]

Originally posted by traviniperv:

Easy killer, its just a video game.

The person to which I am speaking is not a video game. I am not sure what you mean by this. I never said anything negative about the game.

I do honestly have trouble understanding people though, especially through text. Probably frustrated myself too much. Sorry.

[Jeebs]

Originally posted by SolusEmsu:

Originally posted by traviniperv:

Easy killer, its just a video game.

The person to which I am speaking is not a video game. I am not sure what you mean by this. I never said anything negative about the game.

I do honestly have trouble understanding people though, especially through text. Probably frustrated myself too much. Sorry.

You're not wrong though. Your whole analysis was pretty spot on. I too believe that OP is exaggerating. They definitely don't hit 4 times for every PC's 1 action.

I usually do that cave with just the basic non-metal gear sold in Troia, not the optimal choices that other people described above and have no trouble. I don't usually bother grinding to build up levels either, just progress through the story. So either OP is exaggerating or there's some setting or mod affecting it or something else going on.

[Its Almost Harvesting Season]

Originally posted by SolusEmsu:

Originally posted by Its Almost Harvesting Season:

It's not while in the menu, it's literally waiting for the party members to take actions or their bars to fill. One would fill, I'd give them an action then 4 enemies take their turns, then my character finally takes their turn... then the enemy takes another 4 turns, then my next character does their thing. Tellah is ridiculously slow, he's either clearing the enemies with a cast or dying before he even casts a single spell... or still waiting for his turn while Cecil and Yang kill the enemy after giving them a command 20 seconds after telling Tellah to cast Blizzara on the group.

Anyway, I'm past that part now. It basically just involved save scumming to get through, because I had all the gear suggested in other posts, my party was well above level, and there's not really anything strategywise I could do besides take my turns as they come; but if 4-6 enemies decide to focus a single party member and they all get to act one per party member giving them 4 moves per 1 attack then it's just a RNG difficulty spike I guess.

What you are claiming here is simply not possibly true. The enemies in the Lodestone cavern do not have the Agility (speed) stat required to get 4 moves per your 1, even if you had someone with <8 Agility (which would be Rydia at level 1). The only way for this to happen is if you are letting your gauges fill and then just waiting for the enemies to act before doing your action, every time your action comes up. What you are claiming to be happening here is literally impossible if you are actively attacking or just using Attack-Autobattle, because these enemies would need at least 3x the Agility stats they have in order to do what you are claiming they are doing to you.

This is not an RNG difficulty spike and has nothing to do with randomness. If you have the gear available to boost your defense and evade, they don't hit for 300+ and you would have at that level far more than enough raw stats to blast through them. Especially once you get the Fairy Claw, which one-shots Ogres.

I actually have a game save at the post-Lodestone point (I like Tellah so I kept a save just before going to Zot), and went in there just now with all the non-metal gear equipped. Cid and Cecil using greatbows and fire arrows, Yang has his fire/fairy claws, Tellah I just had spam Defend because his participation is not important for this test run. I flew back over to the cave just now and did about a dozen battles. I even put it in enemy favor by intentionally waiting at the start of each battle to ensure that the enemies attacked first.
Not once did they get even a double attack between mine, and I never even got low enough HP to consider healing. They just aren't that hard. I also turned up the game's Battle Speed to Very Fast, in case this might cause the enemies to go super-speed (this was a known issue in the FF6PR at launch, this option sped up the monsters but not your party so doing this made the game significantly more difficult), but it does not do that here. The claim that the monsters are getting 4 attacks to your 1 is simply untrue unless you are waiting at full bars for them to do so.

My team is a little higher level than yours at around 30 because I already had beaten that area, but the extra like maybe 3-4 Agility points would not make a significant difference here, and the extra hp is made up for by healing between battle in your game. It would make a small difference, but it is not nearly enough difference to go from "I can fight for 10+ battles without healing and also giving the monsters a handicap" to "my dudes are getting 1-rounded in every combat."

So, I simply do not believe you based on the facts given. You are either greatly exaggerating the direness of your circumstances, or you are lying. I do not appreciate either.

Well sadly you're wrong. The enemies absolutely did do 300+ dmg with some hits, with my team wearing the best gear you can obtain at the time; and they did take that damage rather consistently hence the numerous return trips to the chocobo forest to regenerate MP. All of the encounters in there have at least 4 enemies, usually more... Even if they only hit for 150 and focus target Tellah, that's substantial amount of his health gone at 600~ish HP. Yes, with Tellah on the backlines, wearing a Kenpo Gi and Wizard Hat.

Regarding how quickly I took actions, I would spend most of my time watching the ATB fill a pixel at a time between pausing for each enemy action, anxiously awaiting the chance to input an action knowing I'll probably take several more hits waiting for anything other than a basic attack to actually happen. With encounters of 6 enemies this was agonizing to watch without a visual turn order on display as Tellah's actions felt almost useless knowing he'll likely die between selecting an action and waiting for him to do it as his sprite stands there with his hands together doing nothing.

If I didn't rotate through 4 save files I'd just go back and record footage to show you how wrong you are with that assumption, but I'm long past that section of the game now and I'm not playing back through IV any time soon.

[Haddon]

Originally posted by Its Almost Harvesting Season:

Originally posted by SolusEmsu:

What you are claiming here is simply not possibly true. The enemies in the Lodestone cavern do not have the Agility (speed) stat required to get 4 moves per your 1, even if you had someone with <8 Agility (which would be Rydia at level 1). The only way for this to happen is if you are letting your gauges fill and then just waiting for the enemies to act before doing your action, every time your action comes up. What you are claiming to be happening here is literally impossible if you are actively attacking or just using Attack-Autobattle, because these enemies would need at least 3x the Agility stats they have in order to do what you are claiming they are doing to you.

This is not an RNG difficulty spike and has nothing to do with randomness. If you have the gear available to boost your defense and evade, they don't hit for 300+ and you would have at that level far more than enough raw stats to blast through them. Especially once you get the Fairy Claw, which one-shots Ogres.

I actually have a game save at the post-Lodestone point (I like Tellah so I kept a save just before going to Zot), and went in there just now with all the non-metal gear equipped. Cid and Cecil using greatbows and fire arrows, Yang has his fire/fairy claws, Tellah I just had spam Defend because his participation is not important for this test run. I flew back over to the cave just now and did about a dozen battles. I even put it in enemy favor by intentionally waiting at the start of each battle to ensure that the enemies attacked first.
Not once did they get even a double attack between mine, and I never even got low enough HP to consider healing. They just aren't that hard. I also turned up the game's Battle Speed to Very Fast, in case this might cause the enemies to go super-speed (this was a known issue in the FF6PR at launch, this option sped up the monsters but not your party so doing this made the game significantly more difficult), but it does not do that here. The claim that the monsters are getting 4 attacks to your 1 is simply untrue unless you are waiting at full bars for them to do so.

My team is a little higher level than yours at around 30 because I already had beaten that area, but the extra like maybe 3-4 Agility points would not make a significant difference here, and the extra hp is made up for by healing between battle in your game. It would make a small difference, but it is not nearly enough difference to go from "I can fight for 10+ battles without healing and also giving the monsters a handicap" to "my dudes are getting 1-rounded in every combat."

So, I simply do not believe you based on the facts given. You are either greatly exaggerating the direness of your circumstances, or you are lying. I do not appreciate either.

Well sadly you're wrong. The enemies absolutely did do 300+ dmg with some hits, with my team wearing the best gear you can obtain at the time; and they did take that damage rather consistently hence the numerous return trips to the chocobo forest to regenerate MP. All of the encounters in there have at least 4 enemies, usually more... Even if they only hit for 150 and focus target Tellah, that's substantial amount of his health gone at 600~ish HP. Yes, with Tellah on the backlines, wearing a Kenpo Gi and Wizard Hat.

Regarding how quickly I took actions, I would spend most of my time watching the ATB fill a pixel at a time between pausing for each enemy action, anxiously awaiting the chance to input an action knowing I'll probably take several more hits waiting for anything other than a basic attack to actually happen. With encounters of 6 enemies this was agonizing to watch without a visual turn order on display as Tellah's actions felt almost useless knowing he'll likely die between selecting an action and waiting for him to do it as his sprite stands there with his hands together doing nothing.

If I didn't rotate through 4 save files I'd just go back and record footage to show you how wrong you are with that assumption, but I'm long past that section of the game now and I'm not playing back through IV any time soon.

Nah, 100% skill issue.
I had a save at Tower of Zot. So a little bit further. Lv 24 characters. I ran out, unequiped everything except what Tellah would have had at the time, and I still had to sit a wait a full minute for him to die.

You are lying. You've been called on it. I just tested it. You are lying.

[Its Almost Harvesting Season]

Originally posted by Haddon:

Nah, 100% skill issue.
I had a save at Tower of Zot. So a little bit further. Lv 24 characters. I ran out, unequiped everything except what Tellah would have had at the time, and I still had to sit a wait a full minute for him to die.

You are lying. You've been called on it. I just tested it. You are lying.

No you didn't, or you would of recorded it to prove me wrong. Seriously, I encourage you to record it and show the levels, the gear, and how easily you survive the encounters with 5-6 enemies.

[Haddon]

Originally posted by Its Almost Harvesting Season:

Originally posted by Haddon:

Nah, 100% skill issue.
I had a save at Tower of Zot. So a little bit further. Lv 24 characters. I ran out, unequiped everything except what Tellah would have had at the time, and I still had to sit a wait a full minute for him to die.

You are lying. You've been called on it. I just tested it. You are lying.

No you didn't, or you would of recorded it to prove me wrong. Seriously, I encourage you to record it and show the levels, the gear, and how easily you survive the encounters with 5-6 enemies.

Yeah I kinda figured you'd go there. I could give you pictures, and you'd say they are fake. I am not willing to go back through all of it again to get out of Zot, but I will give you a picture of the save.
https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198038533977/screenshot/2048625751955419323/
https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198038533977/screenshot/2048625751955419215/
Rune Staff may be from Zot, I can't remember, but it wouldn't impact his ability to survive.
You
Are
Lying

And sorry I was wrong, lv 25.