(finishing the long description) The other drawback of the double Bard strat is how poor it is at dealing damage to the boss. Requiem gets low in power very quickly, due to being based on target's current HP, so you'll have to subject yourself to a lot of RNG from the Particle Beams and Bad Breaths, eventually losing to a turn order screwup after spending an obscene amount of time attacking with Requiem and/or weak attack magic. The tentacles refuse to die in this strategy too (though the Lightning one barely does anything with so much buffing going around). There was a third strategy that I considered. 2x Bard becomes 2x Ninja. There's no longer any hope harboured concerning surviving Cloud of Darkness' Particle Beam. The goal is to achieve so much damage from Shuriken throws that the boss dies before it gets to use PB even once. The Viking still tanks CoD's physical attacks (the only form of attacking it's "allowed" for success), and the Devout still supports the party against Lightning with AoE magic. Without any Bard buffs, the Viking is actually hurt by CoD physical attacks, too, so everybody needs healing. The verdict to this strategy was that the Ninja Shuriken damage was still insufficient to clear before Particle Beam becomes constant (under 30% HP), largely unreliable due to dealing anywhere between 12K to 21K damage, and that staying alive seemed like an impossibility. None of the three strategies yielded me the triumph I was seeking. However, there was a fourth strategy I hadn't considered, one that seems so obvious now. The party is, believe it or not, Viking/3x Ninja. Luneth dual-wields Aegis Shields to reduce magical damage and become immune to Bad Breath, with Arc taking the only Ribbon I have to also become immune to frog/paralysis. Additional Ribbons have to be obtained from fighting optional bosses that give a lot of experience, levelling up everyone in the party multiple times per each Ribbon. Not good; we're trying to clear the game at the lowest possible level here. The strategy involves utilising Shuriken's high damage potential to first take out the left tentacle (Lightning is nonsensically random in what it can do, sometimes OHKOing its target and very rarely only achieving a 3HKO), then eliminating the right tentacle before doing any serious damage to CoD - at this stage the party is almost entirely safe, as unlucky Bad Breaths not targeting Luneth or Arc can be worked around, with frog healed with Maiden's Kiss items and paralysis wearing off shortly after it is inflicted. On the first turn, Luneth needs to be Turtle Shell'd (Protect status; one that can stack with Bard buffs under more favourable circumstances) by our fastest Ninja (an agility-boosting knife can be equipped for this purpose) while the other two Ninja begin attacking the left tentacle. 4-6 Shurikens KO one Tentacle. It's not a good idea to start attacking CoD before the Bad Breath/random target attacking Right Tentacle is also gone, as harmless as it may look in comparison to the Lightning-spamming one. Eventually, it's time to start attacking CoD. 80% HP means 24K damage, meaning we can only get away with a single Shuriken without triggering the 30% PB range. All damage above the damage cap will be displayed as "9,999", so there is no way of having an accurate estimate of how much progress we've made and act upon this information. The deadly 100% Particle Beam range starts when CoD has 36K HP remaining. Depending on our luck with Shuriken damage rolls (12,060 to 21,709), this can go in many ways. While we're still in the 30% PB range, we're "safe" as regards the possibility that PB is not used. The critical phase spells out death if CoD ever gets a turn in (turn order is as sexed up as it always is in this game). Maybe having a background in mathematics would've helped me find THE most reliable way to circumvent the critical phase, but I just went with a rule of thumb - throw one Shuriken first, not triggering the 30% PB phase just yet. Use an Elixir on Luneth if necessary (if PB hits us it's over; otherwise he'll take only a very finite number of easily tanked physical hits). Then, have all three Ninja throw Shurikens at the boss. Turn order can actually save us here if we go before that fatal Particle Beam, providing that the rolls are high enough, but you can never count on that. Pick a god and pray for just the right combination of Shuriken damage and turn sequence to fell CoD on 3rd or 4th turn attacking. Cloud of Darkness can take anywhere from 6 to 10 Shuriken throws to be defeated at max job level. The strat is surprisingly reliable, in contrast to the olden three strats I actually took seriously (whose odds of success seem astronomical at best). The speed with which I recorded the winning attempt is testament of this (still took a few dozen tries, but do remember I interrupted the challenge for 11 years because of how bad the other three strategies were RNG-wise). The most luck-reliant part is, in fact, the beginning, as Lightning can wipe out the party before enough Shurikens are thrown to take out the left tentacle. I did initially start out by using Turtle Shells on everyone in the party and not just Viking!Luneth, helping survive those Lightnings somehow, but it only prolonged the party's early suffering and inevitably resulted in failure. When one character dies while the Lightning tentacle is still alive, it's no use resurrecting them until the tentacle falls (which, indeed, becomes impossible if there aren't enough Shuriken throwers to do so), because Lightning will just send them to their grave again and again, all while Viking's HP is getting lower and the rest of the party also kicks the bucket. Succeed in the early turns like I do here, and the gamble that ensues isn't as bad if you make it this far. And that's FF3 DS Low Level completed; something I've been meaning to do for a big portion of this channel's existence on RUclips, as underwhelming of a game FF3 DS was (in spite of all the additions, it's still really raw, even compared to vanilla FF4 for instance). Final Fantasy had been the main focus of this channel's content until around 2011 or so, when Pokemon and Fire Emblem content started to dominate way more. I don't think anybody's complained about that or requested more FF (this channel is very niche and obscure to the general public in spite of the sheer number of videos recorded over the years), and I'm sure I would've worked on quite a few FF challenge runs if free time was infinite and I wasn't trying to do so many other things in that time. I think it's pretty cool that when I upload a turn-based JRPG that's not Pokemon these days there's still somebody who enjoys the content.
WOOOOOOOOOOOO! Ive watched the entire series back in the day. It inspired me to play the game with more mechanical knowledge and I play every year in the summer! Im in the middle of a play through right now and it's a blast! Probably wouldve put the game down back in 08 if it wasnt for your low level playthrough, and now its complete ☺
I'm a little late to the party here, but your LLG of this game was very inspirational to me and played a role in me deciding to route and speedrun this game. In that time, I even completed this challenge on original hardware (I still have the savefile haha) at the same level as you did with the Viking/Devout/Bard/Ninja party and messaged you about it way back when you could message other people on youtube. I also made a route that heavily abuses RNG manip and used that to get the WR for this game, and I am now in the process of doing the same with the PC version, where I plan to beat CoD with 1 Knight + 3 Scholars around level 30. I'm so happy to see you finally beat this challenge, and I find it hilarious that triple Ninja was the strat that allowed you to do it, well done!
Also I can't resist pointing out that you can beat the game at level 28, as Titan (the Earth Crystal boss) is optional. This means no Ninja, Devout, Sage, Black Belt, a limited amount of Crystal Gear and no Apollo Harp (which btw reduces ALL damage, not just magic damage). You also picked up a Ribbon, which caused you to fight another extra boss, but so did I in my successful LLG. I'm fairly sure a true LLG is doable on PC. There's still an item duplication glitch available, and we can even skip Giant Rat with a new skip! Maybe one day we'll see a completed true LLG of the PC version :))
Man, I *barely* remember sending you the HP and stuff for all of these guys... I'm surprised you remembered that I had (I changed my username several years ago). I had some vague memory of you not finishing this run but then went "...I wonder if I just misremember and it was another youtuber who did a LLG of this run" and then saw this movie. Guess I was wrong. Huh. Good job as always.
Your channel does still display your OG name, apparently! What can I say, understanding what to do in this battle would be impossible without that knowledge, so thanks again! Lockirby2 was asking where you got the AI behaviour information was. Was it the official strategy guide? That's what I said it was. Doesn't look like it's been published anywhere else.
That sounds impossible both logistics and mechanics wise. People have beaten him in their late 50s though; really doubt you can do it at post-CoD levels even if you manage to get him to just attack normally every turn (probably not an option, though I haven't seen his attack pattern).
(finishing the long description)
The other drawback of the double Bard strat is how poor it is at dealing damage to the boss. Requiem gets low in power very quickly, due to being based on target's current HP, so you'll have to subject yourself to a lot of RNG from the Particle Beams and Bad Breaths, eventually losing to a turn order screwup after spending an obscene amount of time attacking with Requiem and/or weak attack magic. The tentacles refuse to die in this strategy too (though the Lightning one barely does anything with so much buffing going around).
There was a third strategy that I considered. 2x Bard becomes 2x Ninja. There's no longer any hope harboured concerning surviving Cloud of Darkness' Particle Beam. The goal is to achieve so much damage from Shuriken throws that the boss dies before it gets to use PB even once. The Viking still tanks CoD's physical attacks (the only form of attacking it's "allowed" for success), and the Devout still supports the party against Lightning with AoE magic. Without any Bard buffs, the Viking is actually hurt by CoD physical attacks, too, so everybody needs healing.
The verdict to this strategy was that the Ninja Shuriken damage was still insufficient to clear before Particle Beam becomes constant (under 30% HP), largely unreliable due to dealing anywhere between 12K to 21K damage, and that staying alive seemed like an impossibility.
None of the three strategies yielded me the triumph I was seeking.
However, there was a fourth strategy I hadn't considered, one that seems so obvious now. The party is, believe it or not, Viking/3x Ninja. Luneth dual-wields Aegis Shields to reduce magical damage and become immune to Bad Breath, with Arc taking the only Ribbon I have to also become immune to frog/paralysis. Additional Ribbons have to be obtained from fighting optional bosses that give a lot of experience, levelling up everyone in the party multiple times per each Ribbon. Not good; we're trying to clear the game at the lowest possible level here.
The strategy involves utilising Shuriken's high damage potential to first take out the left tentacle (Lightning is nonsensically random in what it can do, sometimes OHKOing its target and very rarely only achieving a 3HKO), then eliminating the right tentacle before doing any serious damage to CoD - at this stage the party is almost entirely safe, as unlucky Bad Breaths not targeting Luneth or Arc can be worked around, with frog healed with Maiden's Kiss items and paralysis wearing off shortly after it is inflicted. On the first turn, Luneth needs to be Turtle Shell'd (Protect status; one that can stack with Bard buffs under more favourable circumstances) by our fastest Ninja (an agility-boosting knife can be equipped for this purpose) while the other two Ninja begin attacking the left tentacle. 4-6 Shurikens KO one Tentacle. It's not a good idea to start attacking CoD before the Bad Breath/random target attacking Right Tentacle is also gone, as harmless as it may look in comparison to the Lightning-spamming one.
Eventually, it's time to start attacking CoD. 80% HP means 24K damage, meaning we can only get away with a single Shuriken without triggering the 30% PB range. All damage above the damage cap will be displayed as "9,999", so there is no way of having an accurate estimate of how much progress we've made and act upon this information. The deadly 100% Particle Beam range starts when CoD has 36K HP remaining. Depending on our luck with Shuriken damage rolls (12,060 to 21,709), this can go in many ways. While we're still in the 30% PB range, we're "safe" as regards the possibility that PB is not used. The critical phase spells out death if CoD ever gets a turn in (turn order is as sexed up as it always is in this game).
Maybe having a background in mathematics would've helped me find THE most reliable way to circumvent the critical phase, but I just went with a rule of thumb - throw one Shuriken first, not triggering the 30% PB phase just yet. Use an Elixir on Luneth if necessary (if PB hits us it's over; otherwise he'll take only a very finite number of easily tanked physical hits). Then, have all three Ninja throw Shurikens at the boss. Turn order can actually save us here if we go before that fatal Particle Beam, providing that the rolls are high enough, but you can never count on that. Pick a god and pray for just the right combination of Shuriken damage and turn sequence to fell CoD on 3rd or 4th turn attacking. Cloud of Darkness can take anywhere from 6 to 10 Shuriken throws to be defeated at max job level.
The strat is surprisingly reliable, in contrast to the olden three strats I actually took seriously (whose odds of success seem astronomical at best). The speed with which I recorded the winning attempt is testament of this (still took a few dozen tries, but do remember I interrupted the challenge for 11 years because of how bad the other three strategies were RNG-wise). The most luck-reliant part is, in fact, the beginning, as Lightning can wipe out the party before enough Shurikens are thrown to take out the left tentacle. I did initially start out by using Turtle Shells on everyone in the party and not just Viking!Luneth, helping survive those Lightnings somehow, but it only prolonged the party's early suffering and inevitably resulted in failure. When one character dies while the Lightning tentacle is still alive, it's no use resurrecting them until the tentacle falls (which, indeed, becomes impossible if there aren't enough Shuriken throwers to do so), because Lightning will just send them to their grave again and again, all while Viking's HP is getting lower and the rest of the party also kicks the bucket. Succeed in the early turns like I do here, and the gamble that ensues isn't as bad if you make it this far.
And that's FF3 DS Low Level completed; something I've been meaning to do for a big portion of this channel's existence on RUclips, as underwhelming of a game FF3 DS was (in spite of all the additions, it's still really raw, even compared to vanilla FF4 for instance). Final Fantasy had been the main focus of this channel's content until around 2011 or so, when Pokemon and Fire Emblem content started to dominate way more. I don't think anybody's complained about that or requested more FF (this channel is very niche and obscure to the general public in spite of the sheer number of videos recorded over the years), and I'm sure I would've worked on quite a few FF challenge runs if free time was infinite and I wasn't trying to do so many other things in that time. I think it's pretty cool that when I upload a turn-based JRPG that's not Pokemon these days there's still somebody who enjoys the content.
FF3 DS was my first Final Fantasy (unless u count Bravely Default lol) so this is cool to see. Nice strategy and glad to see the run conclude. )
Whoaaa I used to follow this series when I was in like middle or high school, it's crazy that we get to see the completion... thank you! :0
WOOOOOOOOOOOO! Ive watched the entire series back in the day. It inspired me to play the game with more mechanical knowledge and I play every year in the summer! Im in the middle of a play through right now and it's a blast! Probably wouldve put the game down back in 08 if it wasnt for your low level playthrough, and now its complete ☺
The amount of admiration you filled me with is indescribable. Kudos for such a great work!
"Holy crap I remember this challenge!, How many years ago was this?"
*2009*
"Fuck"
Crazy how you tried all those strategies and yet *this* is the one that manages to finally beat the challenge after an eternity. Congrats on the win!
I'm a little late to the party here, but your LLG of this game was very inspirational to me and played a role in me deciding to route and speedrun this game. In that time, I even completed this challenge on original hardware (I still have the savefile haha) at the same level as you did with the Viking/Devout/Bard/Ninja party and messaged you about it way back when you could message other people on youtube. I also made a route that heavily abuses RNG manip and used that to get the WR for this game, and I am now in the process of doing the same with the PC version, where I plan to beat CoD with 1 Knight + 3 Scholars around level 30. I'm so happy to see you finally beat this challenge, and I find it hilarious that triple Ninja was the strat that allowed you to do it, well done!
Also I can't resist pointing out that you can beat the game at level 28, as Titan (the Earth Crystal boss) is optional. This means no Ninja, Devout, Sage, Black Belt, a limited amount of Crystal Gear and no Apollo Harp (which btw reduces ALL damage, not just magic damage). You also picked up a Ribbon, which caused you to fight another extra boss, but so did I in my successful LLG. I'm fairly sure a true LLG is doable on PC. There's still an item duplication glitch available, and we can even skip Giant Rat with a new skip! Maybe one day we'll see a completed true LLG of the PC version :))
This game is deep.
wow, real nostalgia. congrats on bringing this to a close. hope to see many more challenges on your channel in future!
Wow, nostalgic! Job well done
pretty cathartic to see the final boss beaten without insane high levels.
Oh wow, I just finished the Pixel Remaster version of FF3 today and this appears? Surely can't be a coincidence :3
I think this is the only footage I have seen of this actually being done
Fine work
Man, I *barely* remember sending you the HP and stuff for all of these guys... I'm surprised you remembered that I had (I changed my username several years ago).
I had some vague memory of you not finishing this run but then went "...I wonder if I just misremember and it was another youtuber who did a LLG of this run" and then saw this movie. Guess I was wrong. Huh.
Good job as always.
Your channel does still display your OG name, apparently! What can I say, understanding what to do in this battle would be impossible without that knowledge, so thanks again!
Lockirby2 was asking where you got the AI behaviour information was. Was it the official strategy guide? That's what I said it was. Doesn't look like it's been published anywhere else.
@@MoogleBoss Yep, I have it lying around my room... somewhere.
Super cool. Does that mean a fight with 0 Particle Beams is possible?
Really nice to see the conclusion to this! Are you planning on the Iron Giant?
That sounds impossible both logistics and mechanics wise. People have beaten him in their late 50s though; really doubt you can do it at post-CoD levels even if you manage to get him to just attack normally every turn (probably not an option, though I haven't seen his attack pattern).
How were you able to get all those shurikens?
You can buy as many as you want in Eureka.
@@MoogleBoss I know but where do u generate money without fighting battles?
It's been 12 years since I played most of the game, but I think you just dupe expensive items (Elixirs maybe?) and sell them?
Now do it again in the Pixel remaster.