Arena battle videos and discussion

[The Damned]

(Well, I might as well post and do something today since I've already screwed up. No point of "saving face".)

So...0-4 in four days. I can't say I'm surprised, especially since that team would have lost even if Jumza's wasn't as well constructed as it was. That particular team of mine is quite worthless presently, which is saying something for me.

I'll see if I can maybe make it at least have the illusion of working. If it loses one more time though...at the very least the Mime gets booted if the entire team doesn't just get scrapped.

Regardless, I'm probably going to not bother with more Dance(rs) or Mimes for a (long) while. I have bad enough luck as it is without attempting to rely on something that already has less than a 50% chance of hitting and something that stops working seemingly at random, respectively.

Anyway, more importantly, this series of matches confirmed something that I just realized was nagging me: Air Knife isn't capable of adding Sleep like it's supposed to (not that it needs to with its current level of power). It seems to be attempting to add Silence or Darkness or something else entirely instead.

spoiler: Jumza (Down to Earth) vs. Dokurider (Air Krieg)

Hunh. To be honest, I didn't think Dokurider's team beatable unless Thief got Charmed or did something extremely stupid just because of how much damage he does. Even then, Charm probably would have gotten dispelled by the Mediator or his other units.

Still, since this is all under the control of the AI, I suppose "charging forward towards enemies that you can't reach yet on default" might qualify as "something extremely stupid" considering that's what happened both times Dokurider lost. It also occurred to me that Jumza won because he did what the other teams that have fought Dokurider's Air Knife team--previously "Chrono Storm"--weren't able to do: kill two units or more at once.

Pretty much every other match against this team had at most one unit going down, which is relatively pointless, especially since the Thief himself has Dragon Spirit.

Then again, I remember the older version of this team having a Dancer or a Wizard instead of a Priest, so that was possibly a factor, even with all of Jumza's AoE.

spoiler: Jumza (Down to Earth) vs. Myself (Care to Wager the Time of Your Life?)

First things first, I should probably shorten the name of this team if I'm going to bother using it again to make it easier on Barren.

After that, I have to openly wonder if any team with a Mime has ever beaten a team with Lore considering just one Lore spell seems like it makes that match a 4-3 due to Lore turning Mimes into even greater cannon fodder than they already. It's not like it's a 10-0 match when it comes to Lore vs. Mimes, if only due to Move-HP Up, but that has obviously not done any great favors there.

As such, I pretty much knew I was getting my ass kicked as soon as I saw Jumza had even one unit with Lore, especially given the power of his other units. My team being dumb and ineffectual only compounded that, with the Bard only ever healing himself--idiot--and no one besides the Mime really dodging anything despite the mantles; I probably shouldn't bother with mantles for a while either.

Other than that, I'm somewhat annoyed that Mime decided to just randomly not mimic Life Song in the second round when the Bard decided to finally use it. It's not like it would have helped however, so...I guess it's great to see Charm work for someone else again when it usually fails for me?

Shrug. My Bard and his Monk must have good compatibility or something. [/too tired to check]

spoiler: Jumza (Down to Earth) vs. formerdeathcorps (Parasite)

I honestly expected formerdeathcorps to win that first match...until Kiyomori was once again proven utterly ineffectual and this time it didn't even take Masamune to prove it, just Nurse. The first match was pretty much over by the time that Holy Water actually get used for once on the only Zombie spell that the Oracle ever hit right after she decided to reasonably use Raise 2 to try to kill the Scholar. I'm not sure whether's a shame that Zombie was so ineffectual here or a good to see Holy Water finally be worth the JP for once.

The second round was basically just a quicker version of the first, especially since everyone was more bunched up from the beginning and that map is like the exact opposite of the first one, i.e. differs greatly in height more towards the middle and isn't is constantly sloped, not flat.

I was rather surprised to see Silence Song so ineffectual throughout this entire series. It usually hits with a lot more accuracy.

Good (first) team regardless.

[Otabo]

FFT Arena 1.38d  - Reinoe (Generic Team) vs. Barren (I Like Books)

FFT Arena 1.38d - Dokurider (Wizard Warriors) vs. Otabo (Put Your Hands Down!)

[Barren]

spoiler: me vs reinoe

Hot damn that match was awesome! so many potential game changers in the name of charm! but yet secret fist really helped out in the end and so many MA saves! My samurai can do more damage than I originally thought. Thankfully my squire doesn't do too much damage (unless its to my units) but hey he's designed to be an annoyer so he was just that. GG reinoe! You definitely gave me a very good battle

spoiler: otabo vs doku

For a team designed to do one specific thing its really good at what it does. Throw Stone, charm , kagesougi (don't act or silence), etc all ways to cancel spells. Doku's team didn't stand a chance. Hopefully his team will be matched up better in the future. This ain't the last we'll see of his team that's for sure

[Reks]

Anyone mind doing a few matches for me? Began to feel extremely lonely again, what with not knowing anyone here in Japan.


Any team will do, I just need something to distract and cheer me.


Thanks in advance.

[Malroth]

Well I can run matches but i can't make videos of them.

[The Damned]

(I can't even run matches still yet. Stupid starter Excel 2010 not coming with macros....)

Sigh. I knew I forgot to say something last time: Thanks, Barren.

With that addressed, I'll say, "Oh, good. Two teams that I wanted to see fight."

Even better, neither of them went against my teams, which means I don't have to see anymore of my failures today and thus have less reason to kvetch. Everyone one wins! Hurray!

...Except for the two people who lost, though even then it's not like they got curb-stomped.

spoiler: Reinoe (Generic Team) vs. Barren (I Like Books)

As I said on Youtube, I'm quite amused at the amount of Steal Heart that went on here, especially since neither side had Thieves. I had been wanting to see this team of Barren's fight (again) for a while since I think they've only fought once (since I've been back). It's nice to see Books' potential deadliness be proved, even if it took a while for their power to build up and I was surprised by how relatively weak the Squire's Southern Cross was.

On the less amusing side, though, this match did serve to remind me that I am mystified as to why the Reraise skill is instant. Had that not been the case, the first round possibly would have been a lot shorter.

spoiler: Round 1

I wonder if this hold's the record for the longest round without Dance and almost (entirely) indirect damage involved. Then again, there was an awful lot of Secret Fist from just the Samurai, so perhaps its unfair to qualify for that.

Regardless, this was a most enjoyable back and forth, even with the amount of Reraise involved and Reinoe's Geomancer being rather ineffectual aside from Steal Heart. I was surprised to see that not only every book "proc'd" once, but that there two critical book shots.

I do have to wonder why the Geomancer's Counter Flood just seemed to outright fail a few times though. Hmmm....

spoiler: Round 2

I'm surprised this was so much shorter than the first round, though I suppose it helped that two Undead procs went off and that they both went off much earlier than last round. I don't think there's much else to say besides here except that I keep forgetting that a Charmed unit can Charm a unit on its own side to work for the enemy. It just seems...backwards in a way.

spoiler: Dokurider (Wizard Warriors) vs. Otabo (Put Your Hands Down!)

Similarly, I'd been wanting to see this team of Otabo's for a while. Given it's focus, it's really no surprise that Dokurider lost. In fact, I'm surprised Otabo didn't win more decisively. I'm quite surprised that Summoner's Holy hurt for that much, but then I just remembered that Oracle had a Faith Rod, which for some reason I thought was the Innocent sign. Explains why 466 became "only" around 250~ damage.

Other than that, not much to say other than it's nice to have confirmation that Blizzard's proc is working as it's supposed to. That and this match made again wonder just if Kagesougi should maybe lose the ability to add Don't Act, random as it is.

[Malroth]

Well if the problem is the Mem card generator I'm willing to make up a MCR file with whatever teams you want on it,

[The Damned]

(Why must I fail at even the most basic math?)

I see. I suppose I'll keep that in mind if I can't find a solution by the end of this Saturday.

Thanks.

[reinoe]

FFT Arena 1.38d  - Reinoe (Generic Team) vs. Barren (I Like Books)

FFT Arena 1.38d - Dokurider (Wizard Warriors) vs. Otabo (Put Your Hands Down!)

I can't believe how dumb my team was acting.  No ReRaise getting spammed.  The male Paladin didn't use Yell once.  Not once.  I cannot understand the A.I. at all.  Why the heck did I even bother with Move MP Up if those abilities aren't getting used?  Haste is supposed to be one of the skills that the A.I. prioritizes.  Also my dumbass Geomancer broke the charm on the female chemist.  I'm not saying that that would have changed things but when you add in the fact that Reraise and Yell should have been getting spammed then I'm at a loss.  Literally and figuratively.  GG Barren.

[Malroth]

Well Reraise is only cast on friendly units that are about to die without it, or when a friendly is hurt and they have nothing better to do than spam healing.  And a unit will never use Yell if there's an enemy unit it can hurt in its range. Against an enemy that kills by status or decap expect to never see it used.

[Barren]

FFT Arena 1.38d Trifecta Series - Reks (Late to the Party)

[Eternal]

spoiler

Can we remove Phoenix Blade now? Please?

[Malroth]

Why?

[Eternal]

It drags matches out and makes them unfun to watch/commentate.

[Malroth]

If thats your reasoning then also ban armor, shields, clothes,  reactions, healing, resurection and positive statuses besides haste.

[Eternal]

spoiler

Difference is, buffs and healing and such don't last forever. Phoenix Blade's Reraise does. Think of how long the match would have gone if Reks had not had Petrify.

[RavenOfRazgriz]

spoiler

If Reks didn't have Petrify I would have won.

You act like this team is any different from basically every other team I've posted.  They all more or less do the exact same thing in different ways because I'm a sadist.

[Malroth]

Honestly I'm quite surprised those Monks wern't carrying immunity to petrify, that would have been the first thing i would have made sure of. 

[Barren]

Raven put the focus band on because he wanted more dancing and less chakra so he won't waste as many turns. but lowering their faith to 40 would have been a better idea

[RavenOfRazgriz]

I'm updating it tonight, I already know exactly why they're not using Stigma Magic and how to adjust things.  I underestimated how much of the burden I could put on the Paladins is all so those Monks are getting a small retool for a bit more defense and general ability to end the game faster.