Hard Mode Impressions

[funtimes69]

So i just beat the boss who unlocks the red mage class. since Anihal, i've been doing the same tactic: RNG poison the boss and heal non stop with two white mages (the other two classes are vanguard). I'm not overleveled, in fact a little underleveled. My gripe is that this seems like a pretty boring boss pattern cause I pretty much have to go full defensive with my items and playstyle and wait for the boss to run out of mana.

Is this how hard mode is for everyone else? This is my first time playing this game (not new to RPGs in general) so I haven't really discovered any of the OP ♥♥♥♥ at my level yet, however, this is kinda sad. I don't really see a way I can do these bosses in a more offensive fashion without over leveling.

In short, am I not using OP class combos or is this just how hard mode is while being slightly underleveled?

[Droppin' No Eaves]

That is a very boring way of taking care of bosses but yeah, it works. If you want to find the real OP stuff look into Beastmaster and midgame Thief

[omega]

If you can go full on defensive and grind bosses out, then you're at most slightly under-leveled and I see no problem with that.
Though I'm kinda surprised that the bosses since Anihal can be poisoned, I've never even attempted to poison any boss since I assumed most of them are immune to poison, even that early.

Originally posted by funtimes69:

I don't really see a way I can do these bosses in a more offensive fashion without over leveling.

Have you tried leveling till the monsters in the dungeon before the boss flee from you? I assume that would put you slightly above the appropriate level to attempt the boss even without full defense setup.

Originally posted by funtimes69:

In short, am I not using OP class combos or is this just how hard mode is while being slightly underleveled?

I don't understand your problem. You consider your team to be not yet ready to face an boss, but make do with focusing on defense while waiting out the opponents resources. I'd say you'll be only successful till you reach a boss that is immune to poison, specifically counters healing/defaulting/item usage or does not rely on resources to fight you.

[funtimes69]

my question is when do i get to play the other classes because the bosses are way too overloaded with hp and dpt i don't feel like i could succeed without double healers.

[archmag]

Depends on you. I never used poison on bosses and doing fine (currently at chapter 4). Yes, I have two healers who can recover if things go bad but that still leaves 6 other classes to use in battle. Even if you don't use some op strategies with beastmaster or thief you can find normal tactics that work against them.

[omega]

Originally posted by funtimes69:

my question is when do i get to play the other classes because the bosses are way too overloaded with hp and dpt i don't feel like i could succeed without double healers.

Have you've tried switching out the two vanguards? They have no abilities to protect your healers if I recall correctly, so your healers should be the most squishy members of your team. Therefore anything less squishy than the healers should still have a chance at surviving the fights (while being healed ofc).

[funtimes69]

for the anihal fight specifically i had to use two vanguards and like double HP accessories on my healers. i tried with monk but his aim was pretty bad. after the anihal fight i just expected every boss fight to be like that, high hp and high dpt so i just stuck with the poison/double healer comp.

i am currently grinding JP now for jobs and hopefully that will make my party comps more interesting. thanks for all the replies.

[omega]

Originally posted by funtimes69:

for the anihal fight specifically i had to use two vanguards and like double HP accessories on my healers. i tried with monk but his aim was pretty bad. after the anihal fight i just expected every boss fight to be like that, high hp and high dpt so i just stuck with the poison/double healer comp.

All bosses have high hp values, their damage depends on the defensive stats of your team from level and equipment.

Originally posted by funtimes69:

i am currently grinding JP now for jobs and hopefully that will make my party comps more interesting. thanks for all the replies.

Make sure to level Freelancer first, the "JP up" abilities make grinding much easier.

[Droppin' No Eaves]

Originally posted by funtimes69:

my question is when do i get to play the other classes because the bosses are way too overloaded with hp and dpt i don't feel like i could succeed without double healers.

When ever you want. I'm playing on Hard and I always switch jobs as soon as I hit the level cap for one. I always have a white mage as Gloria's sub-job but I haven't used a white mage as a main job since I maxed it out. Also this is just personal preference but I feel like Vanguard is a pretty bad class, it just doesn't do anything impressive, the Neon Slashes are nice but their MP cost is way too high, I maxed it out with Adelle as soon as I could but haven't touched the job with anyone else since then

[Emerald Lance]

Originally posted by LeviKilledXeno'Jiva:

Originally posted by funtimes69:

my question is when do i get to play the other classes because the bosses are way too overloaded with hp and dpt i don't feel like i could succeed without double healers.

When ever you want. I'm playing on Hard and I always switch jobs as soon as I hit the level cap for one. I always have a white mage as Gloria's sub-job but I haven't used a white mage as a main job since I maxed it out. Also this is just personal preference but I feel like Vanguard is a pretty bad class, it just doesn't do anything impressive, the Neon Slashes are nice but their MP cost is way too high, I maxed it out with Adelle as soon as I could but haven't touched the job with anyone else since then

^Pretty much this.

I play on hard, and I always keep three characters with white magic (and one of those is specced for high restoration power). Other than that, I cycle jobs as I master them, swapping back to them generally only when fighting bosses if need be.

If you're choosing to face bosses despite being underleveled, then there isn't much for it except to rely on cheese tactics. Or you could instead choose to not fight bosses at a low level, which is what I'm sure the intended experience is.

[omega]

Originally posted by LeviKilledXeno'Jiva:

Also this is just personal preference but I feel like Vanguard is a pretty bad class, it just doesn't do anything impressive, the Neon Slashes are nice but their MP cost is way too high, I maxed it out with Adelle as soon as I could but haven't touched the job with anyone else since then

Using it as a sub-job has some potential because of Gift of Courage, though that requires some more setup with the Red Mages Revenge passive and other abilities of other jobs gained later, Defender of the People of Shieldmaster and after that Sub-Job BP Saver of Pictomancer.

[Sage Pirotess]

Honestly, I am on the other end. When I unlock a job, I want to take it to lvl 12, and when I see elite monsters I want to fight them despite my lvl.

This causes a big problem as exp just overflows to an insane amount. I just beat Alex and am lvl 96 to 99.

The exp per room should have been 10% of jps given, 20% max. In addition, lvl 12 jobs should have not been unlocked right as job is. Maybe 2 levels per chapter. That way you could enjoy the jobs and game.

The elite tree in starter zone 180k, orc king 150k, the elite mob in snow cemetery 280k, all no problem even as my damage was locked at 9999.

The thf ability would do 3 to 9999 dmg then double thas t in between rounds. No boss fight on hard, or elite stood a chance against me.

I dont say this to brag, it was fun getting rare items off elite mobs, but disappointing how easy they let you over lvl. I not even used any buns yet.

So no hard is easy, just find a combo you like. Personally at 9999 cap I feel thf is broken. Now that cap is removed other jobs can compete.

[Chan]

By chapter 2 without grinding you can easily kill a boss by defaulting to 3 bp and then going to town whenever they drop default.

[omega]

Originally posted by Sage Pirotess:

Honestly, I am on the other end. When I unlock a job, I want to take it to lvl 12, and when I see elite monsters I want to fight them despite my lvl.
This causes a big problem as exp just overflows to an insane amount.

There is an amulet called "Mark of the Void", which prevents the character wearing it from gaining exp. You could have used that to level jobs without overleveling your party.

Originally posted by Sage Pirotess:

The exp per room should have been 10% of jps given, 20% max. In addition, lvl 12 jobs should have not been unlocked right as job is. Maybe 2 levels per chapter.

Exp per "room"? Do you mean per fight? Because 10% or even 20% of jp earned is basically nothing.
And unlocking job levels per chapter would require players switching jobs every few fights in the prologue and chapter one, as not doing so would waste jp on jobs they cannot progress in.

Originally posted by Sage Pirotess:

That way you could enjoy the jobs and game.

This pretty much only a problem for a certain type of player.

[Sage Pirotess]

Originally posted by omega:

Originally posted by Sage Pirotess:

Honestly, I am on the other end. When I unlock a job, I want to take it to lvl 12, and when I see elite monsters I want to fight them despite my lvl.
This causes a big problem as exp just overflows to an insane amount.

There is an amulet called "Mark of the Void", which prevents the character wearing it from gaining exp. You could have used that to level jobs without overleveling your party.

Originally posted by Sage Pirotess:

The exp per room should have been 10% of jps given, 20% max. In addition, lvl 12 jobs should have not been unlocked right as job is. Maybe 2 levels per chapter.

Exp per "room"? Do you mean per fight? Because 10% or even 20% of jp earned is basically nothing.
And unlocking job levels per chapter would require players switching jobs every few fights in the prologue and chapter one, as not doing so would waste jp on jobs they cannot progress in.

Originally posted by Sage Pirotess:

That way you could enjoy the jobs and game.

This pretty much only a problem for a certain type of player.

Dude I can kill an elite in 30 seconds to 90. Get 300 to 530 hp. After 2 min the elite repops, repeat. Thus you can lvl a job 1 to 12 in 15 minutes.

Why should I wear gear to stop lvling? Truth is I do have one of those but not 4.

The better argument would been 10 exp for 100 jp.

[omega]

Originally posted by Sage Pirotess:

Dude I can kill an elite in 30 seconds to 90. Get 300 to 530 hp. After 2 min the elite repops, repeat. Thus you can lvl a job 1 to 12 in 15 minutes.

Do you mean "jp" instead of "hp"?
You can also take 5 minutes longer and grind on the insect enemies west of Wiswald, which does not require you to level up beforehand to beat a rare enemy in 30-90 seconds, which I assume is the main reason you're so over-leveled at 95+ now.

Originally posted by Sage Pirotess:

The better argument would been 10 exp for 100 jp.

Still a horrible exchange rate if someone wants to increase their character levels.

Originally posted by Sage Pirotess:

Why should I wear gear to stop lvling? Truth is I do have one of those but not 4.

You can get four of them in a side mission at the start of chapter 4, when Galahad visits the city Rimedahl.

And as to why should you wear that gear, it's because you called exp overflow "a big problem", but it's a problem based on your preferred play-style, not because the game doesn't have arbitrary limitations on how exp is granted and jobs can be leveled.