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[FFRK] Thread's dead, baby; thread's dead.
Rius
Globex CEONobody ever says ItalyRegistered User regular
Globex CEONobody ever says ItalyRegistered User regular
Final Fantasy Record Keeper
(Inspirational Imagery courtesy of ArcTangent)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbAOQrH7MHMPast Thread Silence1186 wrote:How naive I was about this little game.Naive, past Silence1186 wrote:[Final Fantasy Record Keeper] Is actually a pretty fun mobile free-to-play game for iOS and Android. It's not perfect by any means, but it's a HUGE improvement over such duds as All The Bravest. It's a walk down memory lane with a simple ATB style combat system with a surprising amount of depth and strategy. There is a new event every week, featuring your favorite characters and stages from Final Fantasy history, so it never gets old, and it IS free to try, so give it a shot if you have some time to spare. Just don't give them any of your money.
This is the thread for talking about Square Enix's F2P Mobile game Final Fantasy Record Keeper (FFRK) for iOS and Android. Initially met with skepticism after some of SE's lackluster F2P entries in the past, it has grown in scope and popularity to the point where it gets as much discussion as any other mainline Final Fantasy game.
The game features a pretty basic Active Time Battle system. You can take up to 5 characters, made up of all your favorites from past games (and one original starter character) as you journey through the cliff notes version of all the Final Fantasy games. Each Final Fantasy game is a world, made up of dungeons with several stages. Each stage requires you to spend stamina to attempt them. Stamina recharges at a rate of 1 every 3 minutes. There are also limited time events that occur every week featuring additional stages, characters, and rewards.
There is a surprising depth of strategy to this game, as each character can equip different combinations of equipment and abilities, allowing for many different approaches to tackling some of the at times quite intense challenges. Characters and equipment also get bonuses if you match them to the world you're in (for example, Cloud gets a bonus in FF7 stages, as does anyone equipping his Buster Sword).
The F2P comes in the form of the in-game currency, Mythril, which allows you to pull powerful relics from reward banners. Mythril also allows you to recharge stamina, and to try again if you happen to be defeated in a stage. You can spend real money on Gems which have the same function as Mythril, though refreshingly for a F2P game it's possible to clear all content without spending a dime. This is thanks to several quality of life features implemented by DeNa, chief among them the Friend Summon system. Additionally, rather generous amounts of free Mythril are available between a combination of login bonuses, stage completions, event participation and quest completion.
Tips and information for new players starting out;
1) Quests.
From the home screen, the Missions button in the upper-right features Wayfarer, Normal and Special missions. The Wayfarer missions are meant for new players and will guide you to some of the game's basic features, as well as giving you some nice ability and item rewards. Move on to the Normal missions from there. Special missions are not in the game yet, but will involve high difficulty content when they arrive.
2) Stamina.
You can see the current / maximum stamina numerically in the upper right corner of your Home screen. Below that is an orange bar that shows the same thing, but below that bar is a set of 5 hexagons representing your current Stamina Shards. When you get 5 Stamina Shards, you refill your stamina to full and your maximum goes up by 1. The filled in hexagons show you how many stamina shards you have towards the next stamina refill and maximum +1. It is to your benefit to collect that fifth shard when you're running out or empty of Stamina. Efficiency is good!
3)Record Info.
When reading about the record in question, several tabs will be available with story, reward and boss info. Here you can read about the story background, rewards, and boss strategies as well as any medal requirements.
Upon completing any given stage in a record, your performance will be ranked. For any stage without a boss, you can earn up to 9 medals. You will lose medals if more than one party member dies, or if the party takes too much damage or uses too many actions to clear the stage. Earn enough medals and you will gain the Expert or Champion rating for the stage, which provides 150% and 200% experience, respectively.
Upon finishing the entire record, there are 3 reward levels; Completion, First Time Completion and Mastery. You can get the Completion bonus every time you complete that record. However, the other two can only be achieved once and typically include excellent rewards. To attain Mastery rewards, you must have earned 83.33% (5/6th) of all medals within the record. Remember those boss medal requirements? Each gives 3 medals if completed or 0 medals if not, so for records with few or only one stage, boss medal requirements can be crucial for obtaining Mastery rewards.
4) Realm Synergy.
Every character and every item comes from a specific realm. When you go into a record for a realm, characters from that realm are treated as if they are 10 levels higher. Items from that realm are significantly boosted in stats, provided the item itself is leveled up. If you're going into an FFVII record, it's a good idea to bring Cloud. It's a great idea to bring someone carrying the Buster Sword. It's a fantastic idea to bring Cloud carrying his own Buster Sword!
The boost from synergized items is stronger than the boost from synergized characters, so it's good to collect and maintain a spread of items from all realms. You will accumulate this over time, so don't worry too much.
5) Events.
Typically, there's 1 or 2 events running at any given time. These events start at a very low difficulty that even first day players can participate in, and end at very high difficulties that even longtime veterans can have trouble with. Rewards for completing event stages can include new or returning characters and their Memory Crystals (used to break level caps), weapons, armor or accessories from the event's realm, orbs, upgrade materials and of course Mythril. Events typically run for about two weeks and overlap, and you should definitely try to complete as much of each event as possible.
6) Hall of Rites.
The Hall of Rites is a new feature where characters, their MC1s and their MC2s can be obtained. At times you will receive, typically as event stage rewards, Souls of a Hero (redeem for any characters, Memory Crystal Lode 1s (redeem for any MC1) and Memory Crystal Lode 2s (redeem for any MC2.)
7) Record Dive.
The Record Dive system allows you to power up certain characters who have reached level 65, adding small amounts of stat points, percentage boosts to certain types of abilities, adding or increasing ability ranks or adding additional equipment options. The available powerups are different for each eligible character. You unlock these power ups by expending Motes, which are a special type of currency obtained from a variety of sources including Event rewards.
8) Daily Dungeons.
Each day has a specific set of 1 or 2 dungeons. You can only get the First Time Completion and Mastery rewards once, same as the records, and those rewards don't refresh from week to week. So if you complete a stage of the Sunday dungeon, next Sunday it will still show them as all completed (though you could still farm the dungeon for normal drops or experience.)
Monday through Saturday, the daily dungeons have rewards for and can be used to farm orbs, upgrade materials or Gil. The Sunday dungeons feature battles with a tremendous amount of experience. To put it into some context, A + difficulty stage of a Monday-Saturday dungeon gives around 10,000 exp to be split to the party, while the experience dungeon gives up to 100,000!
The daily dungeons now reward Gysahl Greens upon completion, and enemies have a small chance to drop additional Greens. These Greens can be exchanged for orbs, eggs, gil or upgrade materials at any time, and once per week the Special Shop will restock a variety of Major Orbs (at half price, relative to buying 10x Greaters), MC lodes and Mythril. Additional purchases may become available from time to time (accessories, items, etc.)
9) Nightmare Dungeons
A new feature to the game, the Nightmare area will be open for two weeks every month, and each month adds a new dungeon. All previously added dungeons are accessible at any time that Nightmare is, so don't worry, you can catch up eventually. The Nightmare dungeons feature a series of challenging boss fights, culminating in a special fight where all characters of a certain 5* ability will get full synergy for themselves and all equipped items, regardless of what realm they or the items are from! These final fights are like puzzles that must be solved and typically require planning and tactics instead of super powerful gear.
Completing the final boss of a Nightmare dungeon gives you a Record for a powerful 6* ability, which require 6* crystals to make. These crystals are currently very slow to acquire, but eventually they will be farmable from high difficulty bosses.
10) Relics.
The Relics page, accessible via shortcut on the bottom right of most screens, is where one can "pull" from a variety of "banners" for items. Banner pulls are always at least 3* rarity, with a lesser chance at 4* rarity and a ~13% chance at 5* rarity. Doing so costs Mythril (in game currency) or Gems (purchased with real $$$).
Banners are typically linked to current Events, and every banner has featured 5* relics. If you're lucky enough to pull a 5* item, most of the time it will be one of the featured relics, but there's still a chance it won't be.
One can do a single pull for 5 Mythril, a triple pull for 15 Mythril or an 11 pull for 50 Mythril. Single pulls allow you to stop if you're lucky and hit something you wanted, but 11 pulls give you the most bang for your metaphorical buck. Your odds of drawing a 5* item are the same no matter how many items you pull at once and no matter which currency you use to pay for them.
From the home screen, the Missions button in the upper-right features Wayfarer, Normal and Special missions. The Wayfarer missions are meant for new players and will guide you to some of the game's basic features, as well as giving you some nice ability and item rewards. Move on to the Normal missions from there. Special missions are not in the game yet, but will involve high difficulty content when they arrive.
2) Stamina.
You can see the current / maximum stamina numerically in the upper right corner of your Home screen. Below that is an orange bar that shows the same thing, but below that bar is a set of 5 hexagons representing your current Stamina Shards. When you get 5 Stamina Shards, you refill your stamina to full and your maximum goes up by 1. The filled in hexagons show you how many stamina shards you have towards the next stamina refill and maximum +1. It is to your benefit to collect that fifth shard when you're running out or empty of Stamina. Efficiency is good!
3)Record Info.
When reading about the record in question, several tabs will be available with story, reward and boss info. Here you can read about the story background, rewards, and boss strategies as well as any medal requirements.
Upon completing any given stage in a record, your performance will be ranked. For any stage without a boss, you can earn up to 9 medals. You will lose medals if more than one party member dies, or if the party takes too much damage or uses too many actions to clear the stage. Earn enough medals and you will gain the Expert or Champion rating for the stage, which provides 150% and 200% experience, respectively.
Upon finishing the entire record, there are 3 reward levels; Completion, First Time Completion and Mastery. You can get the Completion bonus every time you complete that record. However, the other two can only be achieved once and typically include excellent rewards. To attain Mastery rewards, you must have earned 83.33% (5/6th) of all medals within the record. Remember those boss medal requirements? Each gives 3 medals if completed or 0 medals if not, so for records with few or only one stage, boss medal requirements can be crucial for obtaining Mastery rewards.
4) Realm Synergy.
Every character and every item comes from a specific realm. When you go into a record for a realm, characters from that realm are treated as if they are 10 levels higher. Items from that realm are significantly boosted in stats, provided the item itself is leveled up. If you're going into an FFVII record, it's a good idea to bring Cloud. It's a great idea to bring someone carrying the Buster Sword. It's a fantastic idea to bring Cloud carrying his own Buster Sword!
The boost from synergized items is stronger than the boost from synergized characters, so it's good to collect and maintain a spread of items from all realms. You will accumulate this over time, so don't worry too much.
5) Events.
Typically, there's 1 or 2 events running at any given time. These events start at a very low difficulty that even first day players can participate in, and end at very high difficulties that even longtime veterans can have trouble with. Rewards for completing event stages can include new or returning characters and their Memory Crystals (used to break level caps), weapons, armor or accessories from the event's realm, orbs, upgrade materials and of course Mythril. Events typically run for about two weeks and overlap, and you should definitely try to complete as much of each event as possible.
6) Hall of Rites.
The Hall of Rites is a new feature where characters, their MC1s and their MC2s can be obtained. At times you will receive, typically as event stage rewards, Souls of a Hero (redeem for any characters, Memory Crystal Lode 1s (redeem for any MC1) and Memory Crystal Lode 2s (redeem for any MC2.)
7) Record Dive.
The Record Dive system allows you to power up certain characters who have reached level 65, adding small amounts of stat points, percentage boosts to certain types of abilities, adding or increasing ability ranks or adding additional equipment options. The available powerups are different for each eligible character. You unlock these power ups by expending Motes, which are a special type of currency obtained from a variety of sources including Event rewards.
8) Daily Dungeons.
Each day has a specific set of 1 or 2 dungeons. You can only get the First Time Completion and Mastery rewards once, same as the records, and those rewards don't refresh from week to week. So if you complete a stage of the Sunday dungeon, next Sunday it will still show them as all completed (though you could still farm the dungeon for normal drops or experience.)
Monday through Saturday, the daily dungeons have rewards for and can be used to farm orbs, upgrade materials or Gil. The Sunday dungeons feature battles with a tremendous amount of experience. To put it into some context, A + difficulty stage of a Monday-Saturday dungeon gives around 10,000 exp to be split to the party, while the experience dungeon gives up to 100,000!
The daily dungeons now reward Gysahl Greens upon completion, and enemies have a small chance to drop additional Greens. These Greens can be exchanged for orbs, eggs, gil or upgrade materials at any time, and once per week the Special Shop will restock a variety of Major Orbs (at half price, relative to buying 10x Greaters), MC lodes and Mythril. Additional purchases may become available from time to time (accessories, items, etc.)
9) Nightmare Dungeons
A new feature to the game, the Nightmare area will be open for two weeks every month, and each month adds a new dungeon. All previously added dungeons are accessible at any time that Nightmare is, so don't worry, you can catch up eventually. The Nightmare dungeons feature a series of challenging boss fights, culminating in a special fight where all characters of a certain 5* ability will get full synergy for themselves and all equipped items, regardless of what realm they or the items are from! These final fights are like puzzles that must be solved and typically require planning and tactics instead of super powerful gear.
Completing the final boss of a Nightmare dungeon gives you a Record for a powerful 6* ability, which require 6* crystals to make. These crystals are currently very slow to acquire, but eventually they will be farmable from high difficulty bosses.
10) Relics.
The Relics page, accessible via shortcut on the bottom right of most screens, is where one can "pull" from a variety of "banners" for items. Banner pulls are always at least 3* rarity, with a lesser chance at 4* rarity and a ~13% chance at 5* rarity. Doing so costs Mythril (in game currency) or Gems (purchased with real $$$).
Banners are typically linked to current Events, and every banner has featured 5* relics. If you're lucky enough to pull a 5* item, most of the time it will be one of the featured relics, but there's still a chance it won't be.
One can do a single pull for 5 Mythril, a triple pull for 15 Mythril or an 11 pull for 50 Mythril. Single pulls allow you to stop if you're lucky and hit something you wanted, but 11 pulls give you the most bang for your metaphorical buck. Your odds of drawing a 5* item are the same no matter how many items you pull at once and no matter which currency you use to pay for them.
FFRK Acronyms 101
MC - Memory Crystal [Item to break a characters level 50 limit. MC2 is used to break their level 65 limit.]
RM - Record Materia [New equipment type once MC is used. RM slot unlocked by breaking characters levels. RMs are acquired from level broken characters in a variety of ways]
SB - Soul Break [Think Limit Break from FF7, new ones can be learned by character specific 5* relics]
SG/SSII - Sentinel Grimoire/Stone Skin 2 [Also refereed to as Walls, either is a massive defensive SB]
SSB - Super Soul Break [Like an SB except they will also bestow a permanent stat up to the specific character when learned]
BSSB -Burst Super Soul Break [Like an SSB except it changes Attack and Defense commands to something else for a limited time]
M_O/G_O - Major Orbs/Greater Orbs [the middle _ represents which type of orb between Fire, Ice, Lightning, Earth, Non-Elemental, Dark, Holy, White, Black, Power, Summon]
_*++ - Blank is a number 1-5 which represents an items base rank (not combined). Every plus after the * represents how much its been combined. [A 3*++ will show up as a 5* in game but will be only about as powerful as a 4*. Rule of thumb is every item combination adds about half a rarity level of power.]
RS - Realm Synergy [Character or Item matches dungeons realm ie Cloud in FF7 dungeon or Blitzballs in FFX dungeon. This adds about 10 levels of stats to a character or about a rarity level in power to an item]
How can I learn more?
Mister P's PDF is a compilation of super useful information about FFRK. Ability damage multipliers, character skillsets, super break details, upcoming event information, etc etc.
Kongbakpao has a ton of useful information about a ton of things. Tons!
A while ago, FFRK added a friend summon system. We have a spreadsheet here you can plug your friend code into, and find the friend code of other PAers. In this spoiler is the old list of codes for reference purposes.
92th - El Fantastico 9BSW - jdarksun 9X5G - grove 9rRG - mackenzier 9EBA - Zerozaki Ishiki 913F - shamus e7U2 - silence1186 9wC6 - Bluecyan er3u - ResIpsaLoquitur eSvR - Ilpala 99ZD - DrCongo ecfN - Delphinidaes ehpD - SutibunRi e4XB - Maytag QNeN - Enlong 9w7W - Billmaan QdTv - SwashbucklerXX GNqD - shoeboxjeddy q7h5 - lionheart_m 9QDP - urahonky Qjtu - BaywatchDave GckH - Shadowfire 3sWN - A steak! 2EZ6 - Cirira q4X6 - romantic undead 7gNG - peetsnack zcsi - initiatefailure Q4Dd - korodullin GbSH - Geddoe f7MM - maguano 3EnU - manetherenwolf Fofd - savant u6BN - Rius
Inquisitor77: Rius, you are Sisyphus and melee Wizard is your boulder
Tube: This must be what it felt like to be an Iraqi when Saddam was killed
Bookish Stickers - Mrs. Rius' Etsy shop with bumper stickers and vinyl decals.
Rius on
+1
This discussion has been closed.
Posts
FF7 - "The Second Coming"
FF4 - "A Summoner Grown"
Current Special Banners:
Dr. Mog's Beginner's Choice - This banner can only be pulled on once, and only with an 11-pull. It has the standard odds for getting a 5* relic, and the featured relics have either;
- Character Soul Breaks for characters unlocked very early
- Shared Soul Breaks that are useful for any party (AoE Heal, Protectga, Shellga)
- Shared Soul Breaks that provide AoE attacks
Additionally, after pulling on the banner you can choose one 5* relic, from a predetermined list, to be added to your inventory. The list includes one relic from each realm and has some duds and some great picks.Summon Nightmare - A one-time half-price 11 pull is available on this banner, with standard 5* rates. Any 5* relics drawn are guaranteed to be for characters with 5* Summon in their skillset.
Inquisitor77: Rius, you are Sisyphus and melee Wizard is your boulder
Tube: This must be what it felt like to be an Iraqi when Saddam was killed
Bookish Stickers - Mrs. Rius' Etsy shop with bumper stickers and vinyl decals.
Vincent was hitting for 20k a round with Mori + Dark Zone (at 540+ Magic I should damn well hope so)
Yuffie was hitting between 15k and 20k with Thief's Revenge with Shout, Full break, and armor breakdown running.
Ramza was on full support mode
Cloud was on Life siphon duty, and his Fenrir Overdrive hit for 4.5k a hit for roughly 36k damage.
I tried the ultimate+ and would have one shot it, but I think I should not have used RW Wall on the first fight, the blast from Proud Clod after I blew his armor up hit for 4k a pop so having Wall up then would have been better. I also completely forgot to look up the medal conditions so I need to double check that first before trying again.
Honestly I would be surprised if I had any difficulty as FF7 is my strongest setup, most synergy, and most relics by a landslide. If I can't completely smash the Ultimate + then I screwed up big time.
Official PA Forums FFXIV:ARR Free Company <GHOST> gitl.enjin.com Join us on Sargatanas!
Bad luck is bad I guess.
I thought so too, but I run out of steam too quickly for my liking. Though you do have Fenrir Overdrive so I'm guessing that makes a huge difference.
I plan on actually using Blade Beam at the final part, just to hit both the chest and main body at the same time, should end up doing more overall damage than Fenrir I think.
My setup so far is Ramza, Lenna, Cloud, Sephiroth, and Agrias. The latter three all have multi hit AoE SB's that i'll be using in the final fight to just blitz it. They also are all using up their Life Siphons in the first two fights, so I should have multi SB's to use on the last fight. Just need to make sure I meet any conditions and have Wall up for the final phase.
Official PA Forums FFXIV:ARR Free Company <GHOST> gitl.enjin.com Join us on Sargatanas!
Yep, anywhere. I don't think any of the "break second cap" RMs have any restrictions (other than acquiring previous RMs, of course).
It does come back next month. Not the biggest deal to finish it.
OH HO HOHOHOHOHO!
Steam: TheArcadeBear
Inquisitor77: Rius, you are Sisyphus and melee Wizard is your boulder
Tube: This must be what it felt like to be an Iraqi when Saddam was killed
Bookish Stickers - Mrs. Rius' Etsy shop with bumper stickers and vinyl decals.
GDI.
I want my extra 16 mythril + whatever amount of stamina shards.
Steam: TheArcadeBear
Inquisitor77: Rius, you are Sisyphus and melee Wizard is your boulder
Tube: This must be what it felt like to be an Iraqi when Saddam was killed
Bookish Stickers - Mrs. Rius' Etsy shop with bumper stickers and vinyl decals.
Cure the poison (Esuna or Poisona). You probably want to have a person on dedicated anti-Nightmare Poison Breath duty in Phase 1 and Phase 3.
But I agree with the comment that it's not a big deal to not finish it now. We're still months away from those crystals being useful.
Inquisitor77: Rius, you are Sisyphus and melee Wizard is your boulder
Tube: This must be what it felt like to be an Iraqi when Saddam was killed
Bookish Stickers - Mrs. Rius' Etsy shop with bumper stickers and vinyl decals.
Phase 1:
Withheld using Sentinel's Grimoire until the last turn of Phase 1. used Full beak on one yin/yang for the requirement, and armor break on the other. Then it was Shout+Bladeblitz/fire blossom spam for 7k damage a pop. Ramza mostly auto'd after he did his thing, and Agrias used up half her life siphons. I also used Princess' Favor early on in phase 1 to get the regen benefit to help mitigate the damage without wall.
Phase 2:
Had shout still going strong so it was full burn mode with full break for the condition and armor break for faster damage. Wall was applied a the end of Phase 1 so damage here was very low, rake hitting for about 400-500. Spot heals here and there for single target and to build up SP on Lenna. He did get one application of stop on lenna, but I had already primed my second Shout useage, which I think cleansed the stop? Not entirely sure if that's what happened, but it was definitely on her right before shout, and not there after, with not even a turn in between. Cloud, Sephiroth, and Agrias were in full life siphon mode here and the phase went fast. Used Sentinel's Grimoire, Shellga, and Protectga on the final turn of Phase 2.
Phase 3:
Hit the ground running with Nibelheim Nightmare, Blade Beam, Hallowed Bolt, and Full Break on the body for requirement and mitigation. Also did a pre-emptive princess' favor to refresh regen and top everyone off. Finished off chest piece with an armor breakdown, and then went full Fenrir Overdrive, Black Materia, Cleansing strike on the body. Incoming damage was anemic due to mitigation at full and I cleaned up this phase pretty quick.
Note this will not be the typical experience with this fight, I am just very well equipped for FFVII fights, in the most absurd way.
Official PA Forums FFXIV:ARR Free Company <GHOST> gitl.enjin.com Join us on Sargatanas!
Don't they realize you're too focused to answer!?
Steam: TheArcadeBear
-edit- Just saw that you included a stats screenshot, so yeah a Stop on Lenna from Chimaera would last a little under 2 seconds. Definitely the best case scenario on who got hit with it.
Not Shell. +Res that stacks with Shell and Wall. Only +50% though.
Ah good to know, yeah Lenna's MND was 428 so that would explain why it dropped so quickly.
Official PA Forums FFXIV:ARR Free Company <GHOST> gitl.enjin.com Join us on Sargatanas!
It's probably 14, they started releasing smaller DUs a while back
The sadness of being close but just not quite close enough to do it in the time remaining.
What's your setup? They're both vulnerable to Blind, and the latter only has physical attacks, so your only major worry is some magic tossed your way by the first one, but you can target whatever other mitigation you have specifically for that.
Also, there's a day left.
I might be able to take down an ultimate in the FF7 event, almost all of my 5* weapons have RS there.
Nintendo ID: Pastalonius
Smite\LoL:Gremlidin \ WoW & Overwatch & Hots: Gremlidin#1734
3ds: 3282-2248-0453
Wait, they're adding FFXI as a realm? Neato.
Indeed they are, and they are also adding Shantotto as a character. Black Mage 5, Monk 4. So kind of a weird skillset, but hey more characters I guess.
-edit- Also it occurs to me that it should technically be 15 realms, but the banner that was datamined specifically mentions 14. Maybe they mean the 14 numbered ones, if you count the original as being 1. Heck it's kind of even 16 realms, if you count Core as a realm (which is plausible since there is a daily with Core synergy).
The Monster Baru Cormorant - Seth Dickinson
Steam: Korvalain
Steam: TheArcadeBear
At that level of progression just about anybody is fine. Definitely use people you have unique soul breaks for, like Garnet and Amarant. You will eventually want to level up a character that has Support skills, preferably up to 5 but 4 is fine for quite a while. The best of the Support 5 characters is Ramza (very few will argue otherwise), with Vaan probably being the best of the Support 4 characters. If you don't have either of them, don't sweat it too much because you can use somebody like Barret or Ingus (Ingus is actually pretty good, he's very sturdy and can use swords), or leave it to later and keep working on leveling up who you have and clearing story dungeons / as much of the event as you can. There is nothing inherently wrong with Decil, he is just a bit limited in his skill selection so long-term he isn't the ideal guy.
The Monster Baru Cormorant - Seth Dickinson
Steam: Korvalain
Dark Bargain/Sanguine Cross
or
MM/Dark Zone?
Does it really make a difference if I don't have users of either with any notable SB? Also no native shout?
Nintendo ID: Pastalonius
Smite\LoL:Gremlidin \ WoW & Overwatch & Hots: Gremlidin#1734
3ds: 3282-2248-0453
Kain is probably a better choice for random physical character early on, because he can use things like the Dragoon jump abilities, and up to Celerity 3 which includes things like Wind Slash and Tempo Flurry. He's not far behind Decil in attack stat, and is massively ahead in speed. He can also use axes and spears, which can open up some options depending on what equipment you have. Dragoon abilities generally hit very hard, in exchange for being slower to act than other abilities. You can get various elemental jumps eventually, as well as Sky Grinder in the distant future, which is one of the best AOE skills available to any physical attacker. In addition to that, Dragoons will (in 5-6 weeks) get an ability that removes the air time from their next two jump abilities, which is a massive boost to DPS for all Dragoons. Depending on your luck with BSB-fest and the first Yang / Adult Rydia banner, you may very well be able to clear the stage that gives that ability as a reward.
I am generally of the option that 5* abilities are a reasonable replacement for unique SBs. I think Dark Bargain is a perfectly fine skill, since the buff it applies stacks with everything. I am not a fan of the health cost of Sanguine Cross, but if you can handle that it dishes out very solid damage. I think MM/Dark Zone is a better combination, because most fights are not going to last longer than the Doom timer, especially if your Darkness mage is the designated RW caller. The self-buff from MM and the high multiplier over two hits from DZ combined mean that a Darkness caster can fill a DPS role even on a physical team with no issue.
So to sum up: I think MM/DZ is the stronger combination of abilities, Dark Bargain is fine on its own (maybe combined with Saint Cross on a Darkness / Knight character), and I am not a fan of the health loss on Sanguine Cross.
Also don't forget that Thief's Revenge also requires Dark orbs, and there are some very good Thief characters out there. TR should be more portable to different realms as well, if you are interested in Cid Missions for example.
Steam: TheArcadeBear
Oh well. My VII synergy at this point is fucking bonkers. I pasted them all the same, and Godo too.
And now, I might as well put these 184 major growth eggs to use and boost Yuffie up to 80.
...I might have an egg hoarding problem...
Damn. And I thought I had a lot with 145 majors, 473 greaters and 1000 normals.
Edit: argh! I got a 3rd major today which is crazy and it's another lightning orb I am so conflicted.
I have his Thor Hammer, which gives access to his Fist of the Dawn soul break. Does physical damage to one enemy and raises the party's attack power by "a moderate amount". I'm sure it's nowhere near as powerful a boost as Shout, but I'm wondering if I should be using it, so that I can use other Hastegas, like, Divine Guardian, as RWs without worrying about losing the physical DPS I need for the more resilient bosses. What do you think?
Are there any other 5* abilities I should consider creating and honing besides those four? If not, which of the four should I start working on to get to R3?