Final Fantasy 3 Dual Play: Labyrinth of the Ancients and Eureka completed.
-Labyrinth of the Ancients sucks and should feel bad. It's boring visually, the enemies suck, and the only cool thing is the gear you get here. Really no point in addressing either version specifically since anything after Titan is pretty much entirely filler. I also missed the Crystal Shield on the DS version which matters because I am using Red Mage (the one job that may care about these things)
-Actually, both these dungeons highlight just how annoyingly close the FF3DS camera is, especially Labyrinth of the Ancients. Easy to miss side pathes and such without going out of your way to check them because it's so zoomed in. As I said before, for all the crap I give it, one thing FF4DS did very right was applying a minimap, which does wonders with the zoomed up camera. It's also worth noting that I suspect a number of people are going "What is he talking about, that wasn't an issue for me!" but it's mostly apparent relative to the NES version where navigating dungeons is easier because you can see more of it. It's a very apparent drop in visibility compared to the NES version.
-This point of the game feels like bosses are only as hard as the RNG lets them be. Kunoichi can triple physical someone and deal legitimate damage if all three hits a certain person; if she doesn't do this, and you're casting Curaga/ja every turn, you'll be fine. The others are all "Do they cast this spell and this character!?" Also worth noting that Lightning attacks are mockable since you have Diamond Gear which plays in the AI thing since most bosses with elemental damage will have the big 3.
-The sad part is? I still can't tell you anything about these bosses besides Kunoichi. NES version she has high evade and usual Magic Defense/Elemental Resistance nonsense making Summoner useless beyond the limited Bahamut shots, DS version, see the triple acting physical thing (and she has evade but not as much as the NES version.) The other bosses are all basically just a lot of the same crap. I guess Scylla in the DS version had a 4000 healing Curaja, which off sets a basic physical from Dark Knight and Dragoon, but it's also having her offense meaning you're probably fully recovering unless your healer is dead or something. Also worth noting? Red Mage w/ dual Aegis Shields in back row feels unkillable.
-Eureka is way easier in the DS version than NES version. Even though NES version has Summoner's really good MT damage being meaningful (though Shiva isn't as good as you'd expect, so ammo is limited) as well as Warlock's crazy accurate status with deep MP resources, enemies are generally just better. On top of this, the DS version also fully heals you between each boss fight, the NES version does not. Granted, when you get to the last two, you can skip them, run to the back, use the full healing pond, and fight both fully restored (also with potentially more Crystal Gear, but I don't think it's worth it for reasons I'll get into.) I digress though, the fact that you recharge every fight alone makes Eureka far less strenuous, especially since the NES version basically makes you run off a single MP Pool since the start of the Labyrinth.
--You can also get Ninja/Sage before the last one and get a huge boost to...well, everything! I intended on doing this...then promptly forgot to change jobs against Scylla and wasted the opportunity. Whoops!
-I played around with Holy lance vs. Dragon Lance because the latter weighs less thus doesn't lose hits and...convinced Holy Lance is just better. Apparently it's raw power does make up for the extra hit loss, and there are enemies weak to it, which makes Dragoon's damage disgusting when combined with Gungnir.
-Red Mage and Knight get a huge damage boost here in the DS version since they go from Defenders to Break Blade, Excalibur and for Knight, Ragnarok as well. No other Job gets a damage boost this big. Even if you didn't get Gungnir, Dragoon's Dragon Lance is only a marginal drop from Holy Lance Dual Haken is a marginal upgrade to Blessed Hammers from Vikings, Demon Axes used by Warriors aren't too far off either (though Warriors do get Break Blade and Ragnarok; only reason to use Dual Haken is because someone else wants the Break Blade or Ragnarok, which is a very possible outcome I'll grant), and yeah you get the idea.
-Red Mage gets a huge spike in physical durability if you want here. Crystal equips, can tank with dual shields, etc. The Shield Set Up has merit for a tanky healer of course, but I personally don't see the other equips as meaningful. One of Red mage's defining features is being a workable physical fighter who can use Mage gear, which is a huge magic defense push over fighters; the healing of course is an added bonus. Still, viable option against 2 Headed Dragon though I didn't buy a Crystal Equip set because you get 2 for free anyway and I suspect dual shields should be enough there.
-As a fun note, in DS version, Red Mage AND Dark Knight were being used to item cast Protect from Defenders in some fights because Protect makes a notable durability increases. This is another perk Knight and Warrior can make use of as well.
-NES version doesn't let you use Exit in Eureka, DS version does let you use Teleport. This is nice and handy! The NES version does, however, have you curbstomping the entire dungeon on the way out since not only did you get the absurb weapons, you also get Ninja and Sage. While Ninja is a marginal boost over Knight and Dark Knight when not using Shurikens, Sage is a huge boost over other Mages. First off, just about every summon they use can clean house, even Shiva. Heck, their Chocobo Summon works as a modest physical stand-in instead of a "meh, got nothing better to do." The resources are absolutely absurd too; Shaman/Warlock have about double the MP Summoner has, and Sage has even more than that. This means you can spam a number of **** off summons if enemies pull back attack nonsense on you like Bahamut and Leviathan. Those summons...may not be stronger than Summoner because of JLevels (Intellect is added directly into damage, so lower end summons benefit a lot more from Sage's higher stats than the higher end ones, which makes Summoner's JLevel advantage offset it), but honestly, 7 shots of (temporarily) slightly weaker Bahamuts vs. 2 shots...yeah. Oh and you are likely using 2 Sages. Let's not forget all the Healing, Status, etc. Sages bring too.
-As for why I didn't buy a 2nd Crystal set? Both games give you a 2nd one in Syrcus Tower. In NES version, I'm only using 2 Ninjas, so I only need two sets. DS version, I'm using 3 characters who can use it, but as I said, Red Mage will probably only ever use the Crystal Shields. Also, after a point, the only Crystal Equip worth using is the Crystal Mail if you play your cards right. Your Fighters should be using Protect Rings, not your mages. The Magic Defense push is far more relevant to them than defense boost to Mages, since most big threats at Magical. Also, you want Lightning resistance since a handful of enemies use that INCLUDING the Cloud of Darkness; Protect Rings cover this. Mages' 2nd best is the Diamond Bracers anyway; it's not CoD's strongest move granted, but you want to mitigate any damage she throws at you to insure survival. For Helmets? Everyone is going to be using Ribbons anyway, since status immunity + defensive stats.
--NES version, though, you'll want the Crystal Gloves on your Ninjas and Protect Rings on the Mages; Ribbon covered Elemental AND Status defense in this game, so Protect Rings clearly were a Mage thing here.
---In DS Version, fighters may go in with Reflect Mail, because of the Magic Defense push over Crystal Things but only for specific fights. This one is a tougher call I should note because the Reflect Mail causes a nose-dive in physical defense and enemies always have a physical, but it's still a valid option. For that matter, Red Mage may prefer Aegis Shield over Crystal Shields depending on set up, but with Mage equips and 2 Crystal Shields, something tells me he won't be needing Magic Defense if I need him in emergency healer mode.
NEXT TIME: The Long as **** Final Dungeon. I'd do this in shifts except there's no way to do that in the NES version legitimately, so you'll see the entire update then and there!
