Looking for some stat-boosting tips using espers to level up

[Da Rat Bastid]

My situation is this:

I'm just about to go off to the Floating Continent. I've got Mog in the party, I've got all 3 of the missable espers. I've got every esper fully mastered by all of my WoB characters except (naturally) Shadow. My characters' levels are in the mid-20s.

What I'd like to know is what espers to use to boost my party members' stats in the World of Ruin. I already know how to beat this game, having done so back when it was called FF3. What I want to do is get my party so powerful that Kefka is blown away like a paper tiger and even the bonus dragons in Soul Shrine get worried when they hear my crew approaching. Which espers would be best suited for leveling up which characters to that end?

[Hiryu Rhys]

depends on a couple factors but i did this back in the day - if you have genji gloves with offering on a maxed hp character equiped with ultima weapon + ragnarok you will see a lot of 9999's

[proadam]

If you've learned most of the magic on enough core characters, you can do anything in this game without much problem. For stat boosting though, there are a couple rules of thumb to adhere by. First off, ignore stamina completely, it's useless. When it comes to stat boosting a primary attribute for a character, magic is gonna be your go-to most of the time. To actually answer your question though, you'll want to be equipping the +2 magic or +2 strength espers exclusively, depending on which stat is primary for each character. Once you've maxxed those you can go with the other or just go into speed with cactuar's +2 speed boost. Note, you need a few levels of +HP and +MP on some chars to achieve 9999HP/999MP.

Magic: Terra, Celes, Sabin, Gau, Setzer, Relm, Strago
Strength: Locke, Edgar

Some characters are considered hybrids, in that the stat you decide as their primary is up to you. Mog's dances are magical and his starting magic stat is strong so he makes a great caster, but if you level him with strength he makes a strong dragoon. Entirely up to you. Shadow's scrolls are magic based, but his shurikens and regular attacks are obviously physical; he does well as either. Some of Cyan's bushido's are magic based, some are physical, but his base magic stat is garbage, I suggest strength for him (even though he is garbage in general).

[Da Rat Bastid]

That seems quite helpful and understandable, proadam. Thanks!

[ynot563]

I just finished the game with some stat maxing. It isnt a perfect stat maxing run, cuz I didnt bother to pay attention until I actually gather everybody back up again in the world of ruin, which every body was around the 40s-50s.So if u start now, u'l probably have more leeway on stat distrubution than me.


For physical users: max str u want to stay at is 110(some char have odd base stats and will end up in 111)

For magic users: max mag is 128. Some will be 1 off or 1 over.

Speed and stamina is useless.

When you're done maxing your main stat u can either dump the remainder into the opposite(max str dump into mag and vice versa) or you can dump into speed.(I did speed, but it is hardly worth it since the animations lock u down anyways, but u will get a lil bit more preemptive atks if wish to do so)

For maxing hp: u can either wait till u beat the dragon's den and get diablos esper or wait till u get bahamut. If you do it with bahamut, every char will need 3 lvls with bahamut equipped to get max hp, If you do it with diablos then u only need 2 lvls and have a extra lvl to put in another stat.

Maxing mp: I think is a waste. Most characters will be at 990+ mp at the end without any help from esper and some will actually reach 999 on their own. If u want to waste 1-3 lvls to max it out then be my guest, but wasting those lvls just for 10 more mp is not that great since by the end u'll probably be using the relic that makes all ur spells 1 costed anyways.

Characters:
Magic: Everybody can be a good magic user
Physical: Locke, Terra, Celes, Edgar, Setzer, Mog( These characters have some of the best physical chain combos in the game that can do upwards to 60k dmg in 1 turn with genji and master scroll or dragon boots with dragon horn) (I would of put in cyan and shadow in here but sadly they dont have any chain combos that are that good since they cant equip ultima weapon,lightbringer, or ragnorak unless they use a relic slot for merit. they just end up doing less dmg than the others if u give them master scroll and genji glove and plus they would have less options in their relic slots than the other characters.

This is the general gist, if you want to see how to really get into it then here is a link:
http://www.gamefaqs.com/snes/554041-final-fantasy-iii/faqs/59823

[Bamethyst38]

Postat inițial de ynot563:

I just finished the game with some stat maxing. It isnt a perfect stat maxing run, cuz I didnt bother to pay attention until I actually gather everybody back up again in the world of ruin, which every body was around the 40s-50s.So if u start now, u'l probably have more leeway on stat distrubution than me.


For physical users: max str u want to stay at is 110(some char have odd base stats and will end up in 111)

For magic users: max mag is 128. Some will be 1 off or 1 over.

Speed and stamina is useless.

I recommend not maxing Magic if you use Ultima or Phantom Rush as they will roll over 65535 at approx 120 Magic.

If you wish to max Magic, stop it at 110 or so, factoring in equipments that buff it. Strength you may want to max at 127 especially if you aren't using Defense piercing weapons or you are using skills like Fang, Flurry or Chainsaw that rely on high Battle Power.

Speed is also not useless, especially when bosses in the Dragons Den can have 70-100 Speed and execute turns faster than you can. You want to be able to keep up with your enemies so that they don't outdamage you.

Stamina however is a useless stat and it sadly works against you when you get inflicted with Sap and Poison. Regen though takes awhile before there are noticable effects since DoTs build up over time.

============================

To the original author, the best espers to buff your stats are:

Magic: Valigarmanda and Zona Seeker (+2)
Strength: Bismarck and Gilgamesh (+2)
Speed: Cactuar (+2( and Odin (+1)
Max HP: 2 - 4 levels of Bahamut (HP +50%) is fine. However, almost every character in the game will have 9999 HP when they are wearing a Red Cap at max level. Only buff HP if you don't plan on getting to 99.

Max MP isn't worth it as there are Relics that cut down MP cost and you can just get it all back with Osmose on a living enemy.

Also, keep tabs on your TNL. If you see 2 people fighting over the same Esper, consider killing that character next fight and leveling up 1 of them, then revive and level the 2nd person.

As for which character does what, it is entirely up to you, but find a balance between Physical and Magic so you have characters for every situation. FF6 maybe an easy game, but there are times where curveballs like the Cultist Tower can be disadvantageous.

[Victrola]

On using stat boosts on STR and MAG, attempt to give yourself the ability to lose (like FF13 does for you; well it gives you the ability to not lose.. but lose battles how you do... here it's your choice).

For example, consider being 'locked into' using a certain weapon when entering battle (for example if your weapon damage is absorbed by the enemy -- roleplay that the character does so --).

A lot of stuff in this game exists only because of the limitations of the SNES hardware. Changing held weapons and shields and brushes at will even saves the changes after battle, so you still have them readied aka equipped (say wha! connect those 1s and 0s on the circuit board from scratch sometime). When I played FF1, I didn't know you had to equip stuff... I mean it's life. There is just stuff and it's around. All my characters were monks lol. Most of the stuff is just there so you can play with it; so since you know it's wrong, make bad decisions. Attempt to use characters with true power like Cyan, and Relm (paint the picture of the landscape, and coordinate strikes at key areas).

Adjusting for STR and MAG seems to be the most common way to power game. I'm assuming, that this is because FF6 feels like 'Sabin and friends' on a skill level. He does everything better, and in half the time, on the first turn. The [>>] fast forward button even uses him over a mistake. So this idea of min/max putting points into either one of those stats (for a DIRECT LOSS to the battle at hand) makes the characters on par with Sabin. Basically it seems like everyone has Vargas syndrome. Most of what I remember reading was regarding Locke as the only STR one or vigorous thief. [personal adjunct: remember the real thief]. Sabin can suplex a train... but his pummel beat up Vargas... (which sticks in the mind 'cause it's piercing the defense). The concept is there.

Example:

I built Mog for MAG (well, I have only got like +4 points from levelup bonus c/o zone seeker). But my idea was to dance. Come to find out, dancing is not good unless you dance the dance of the area! Basically you got like a 50/50 shot of falling flat on your face if you try something else. Tell me about it.

So I danced and danced, and missed and missed! All through this grand mansion, Mog did nothing but attempt to ensnare and charm (it misses but at least it's AMAZING). At the ending boss, I was like 'screw it' and the Starlet charmed Shadow... but at the last second .. Mog comes and summons this anteater or something and

... Its karma from all those clock puzzles in Oerba... Mog... I didn't know you have a friend with that heals all move...

(HP/MP/STR/SPD/MAG meaningless, STA best stat since Shadow had dispatch weapon on and coulda killed Mog).

[Leviathan Mist]

An important note, this version of the game includes two important stat-boosting espers not found in my Perfect Stats Guide: Diabolos (100% HP up) and Cactuar (+2 speed). With the 100% HP esper, you only need 2 levels of HP boost per character at around level 70.

[Bamethyst38]

Postat inițial de Leviathan Mist:

An important note, this version of the game includes two important stat-boosting espers not found in my Perfect Stats Guide: Diabolos (100% HP up) and Cactuar (+2 speed). With the 100% HP esper, you only need 2 levels of HP boost per character at around level 70.

You can get away with that on Bahamut and not have to wait until end game. Also, factor in who gets the Red Cap and you also don't need to do this on Gau since the Dueling Mask adds 25% HP anywyas.

[Leviathan Mist]

Postat inițial de ChrisH36:

Postat inițial de Leviathan Mist:

An important note, this version of the game includes two important stat-boosting espers not found in my Perfect Stats Guide: Diabolos (100% HP up) and Cactuar (+2 speed). With the 100% HP esper, you only need 2 levels of HP boost per character at around level 70.

You can get away with that on Bahamut and not have to wait until end game. Also, factor in who gets the Red Cap and you also don't need to do this on Gau since the Dueling Mask adds 25% HP anywyas.

If the HP table is the same in this version as it was in every other version, then you can't get anyone to 9999 natural HP with just two levels using Bahamut. Yes, you can use equipment such as Green Beret, Red Cap, Muscle Belt and Dueling Mask to raise maximum HP temporarily. However, that's outside the purpose of a perfectionist's goal.

Let's take a look at why you need more levels with Bahamut than you do with Diabolos. Using Terra as an example, she will naturally max out at 9788 HP. (9748 from level ups + 40 to start with.) Your highest gain, 162 HP, happens at level 70. Levels 69 and 71 give 160 HP. If you equip Bahamut for levels 69 and 70, you will gain an extra 50% of 160 for level 69, and an extra 50% of 162 for level 70. That's an extra 80 and 81 HP, totaling 161. Add that to Terra's base of 9788, and you have 9949. Terra is not maxed out. She would need to equip Bahamut for another level to reach 9999. However, Diabolos grants twice the HP per level that Bahamut gives, meaning she can max out HP in just two levels, as opposed to three.

(Sources for HP gains/starting stats referenced: http://www.gamefaqs.com/snes/554041-final-fantasy-iii/faqs/39433 and http://www.gamefaqs.com/snes/554041-final-fantasy-iii/faqs/33792 )