Air Anchor Room for Spell Grinding

[kamikaze9699]

It's easy enough to get to, easier to get to with Mog, and the Magic Pots give 5 AP even if both flee, so 20 battles until you learn Ultima. You can speed things up a bit by using non-elemental Espers and magic to kill em quick, then let the Magic Pots refill your MP once you're out. I'm currently using the Air Anchor chest room for grinding the battles to uncurse the Cursed Shield as well, as no chance of death. Why hadn't I thought of this 20 years ago, as I used to just go to the Veldt for spell grinding?

*EDIT* Yes, I am aware the Cactaur gives out 10 AP and 0 EXP, but it is in the same desert as the Slagworm, which does give out experience. This means I either have to pay attention to what I am encountering and run away from the Slagworm, or kill it and eat the experience. If I choose the latter option, then I have to menu frequently to check EXP gain on my characters, swap out a Spell Magicite for a Stat Magicite when I am close to leveling up, run the possibility of getting the Cactaur and wasting an encounter I could've spent learning spells, before finally swapping back to my Spell Magicite to learn again. Regardless of whether I choose to run from the Slagworm or eat the Experience Points, I still need to heal every so often because it loves using Sandstorm (and Sandstorm is its counterattack should I decide to kill it, so more healing then), which means more trips to town for supplies and inn stays.

The effort required in hunting Magic Pots in the Air Anchor room? Push left right, wait or kill it quick, let it refill my MP when I run out. No trips to town for supplies or sleeping as the enemy does nothing but feed you Hi-Potions, Elixirs, Remedies, and Ethers then runs away. And since the Air Anchor room does nothing but spawn Magic Pot random encounters, I do not need to pay attention to what I'm encountering and decide whether or not I should run. The only downside I see is that they give out no gil, but I don't care about money as much since I don't need to restock or rest up. I can easily get cash when I'm level grinding without the hassle of constantly swapping out Magicite- just stick with the stats I want to boost and go. Heck, by then I could even go to the Dinosaur Forest for level grinding, which doesn't give out money, but I can get a lot of Impartisans and maybe a few Celistraids or Ribbons for my effort.

*2nd EDIT* Yes, I am very well aware the game doesn't require me to do any grinding whatsoever. The game is easily defeated at level 36 or so with natural magic, base skills, and ZERO Magicite useage. Although I have not faced off against this Kaiser Dragon or the Soul Shrine as of yet, I am fairly certain they are easily completed without excessive grinding or rare drops. I intend to do a low-level natural magic run eventually, but for this casual playthrough I am doing the min-maxing because it is fun for me. I want to see how insane the damage can get using my own controller to do so, as I have done since I was a snot nosed teenager playing the original US SNES release, then dubbed Final Fantasy III to avoid confusion as Squaresoft never thought there would be an interest in 2, 3, and 5 outside of Japan until they got decent sales for their PS Final Fantasy titles. The game is as fast and easy to kill or a long and difficult as you want to make it depending on what restrictions or goals you set. I'm currently only missing the Death Warden rage, but I have to beat the game, save the clear data, do one bonus dungeon, start the next, leave it after the first tier, then visit the Veldt, and manipulate the encounters to get it. I just felt like doing this first.

[Zunnoab #931]

I think I used Cactuars for spell grinding. Iirc the worms give 5 and are vulnerable to Doom/Death? Or is that stop? Maybe both?

Your idea probably beats Triangle Island for earlier in the game though.

[spindaspinda]

Originally posted by Zunnoab #931:

I think I used Cactuars for spell grinding. Iirc the worms give 5 and are vulnerable to Doom/Death? Or is that stop? Maybe both?

Your idea probably beats Triangle Island for earlier in the game though.

God forbid those Itangirs... But yeah, the desert outside of Miranda is the best place for spells. Only two enemies can spawn, Sand Worm and Cactuars. Cactuars are easy enough, and with Edgar/Gogo on the team, the Sand Worm dies with the Air Anchor, so 10 AP a shot on the cactuars~

[kamikaze9699]

The problem with grinding there is Slagworm, which gives EXP. Yes, I could just run away, but I'm lazy and don't feel like paying that much attention after a 12 hour shift when all I'm doing is grinding. Besides, since over half the sepers don't give stat growth, it'd be a wasted level learning Reraise or Ultima. I'd rather sacrifice the Gil to make certain I can grow my characters as I wish, and still have them learn every spell I need.

[spindaspinda]

Originally posted by kamikaze9699:

The problem with grinding there is Slagworm, which gives EXP. Yes, I could just run away, but I'm lazy and don't feel like paying that much attention after a 12 hour shift when all I'm doing is grinding. Besides, since over half the sepers don't give stat growth, it'd be a wasted level learning Reraise or Ultima. I'd rather sacrifice the Gil to make certain I can grow my characters as I wish, and still have them learn every spell I need.

The Air Anchor affects those slagworms, so as long as you can take a hit from one of the Sandstorm attacks, it'll die immediately. Plus its the only other enemy besides Cactuars that appear in the area~

[kamikaze9699]

Originally posted by spindaspinda:

The Air Anchor affects those slagworms, so as long as you can take a hit from one of the Sandstorm attacks, it'll die immediately. Plus its the only other enemy besides Cactuars that appear in the area~

You still get Experience killing Slagworms with the Air Anchor, and gaining Experiences is what I am avoiding so I can just learn spells without wasting levels on no stat gain Magicite. That was the entire reason I used to go to the Veldt to spell grind when I played this as a kid- no experience gain. I am trying to conserve as many levels as possible so I can round out my stats at around 100 for Strength and Magic for all characters (aside from Gogo and Umaro, who can't equip Magicite and thus get stuck with the stats they start with regardless of level).