Magic Only: Final Fantasy - Summary

[@iamthehobo]

Oh wow public 22 seconds ago I thought I was old enough to not get excited about FIRST!

[@mattmelton7389]

Grats :D

[@davidklein8608]

I was not expecting a whole explanation and tier list on which games got picked for the magic only run. I thought it was as simple as the games chosen had the Magic command while the other games had a Black Magic or Time Magic etc. command.

[@Xephrost_Gaming]

That was the initial decision. These games have "magic" these games have other separate commands. I mostly decided to include that section because I always get comments about why I didn't include game X. And it's very handy to have 1 place to point those questions to.

[@xvii8693]

I love your choice of soundtrack in the beginning of this video. Matoyas cave is by far my favorite track

[@_SMAAAASH_]

The FF2 guide going off of HP levels is similar to how it's done for most of the SaGa series. They share the same progression system/style and i think the same guy directed them. Its is a good short hand because HP generally goes up consistently compared to any other stat.

[@wolfekupo5651]

directed by the same person, the original SaGa games on the gameboy were meant to be a spiritual successor to FF2 (they were called Final Fantasy Legends in the US)

[@zilia471]

There is a video from RPG Challange Runs about magic only FF15 and while the video is great it looks almost painful to do. I can understand why you´re skipping that one.

[@slowdown8at606]

I wouldnt even go that far to call that actual magic.

[@kbowman772]

Good thing you never found the Celestriad in FF6. That makes all MP costs 1.

[@Xephrost_Gaming]

Yeah, I completely forgot about that for this run. That would have made the FF6 playthrough even sillier.

[@Vorael]

I feel like I just found Technology Connections' gaming channel. Bro sounds like he's about to stop talking about FF for a second and explain how traffic lights or microwaves or w/e work.

[@Xephrost_Gaming]

Not the first time I've gotten that comparison. I take it as a complement. Technology connections is great.

[@TheFlyingV]

I do like the magic system in FF15, but a magic only run would be terrible. There's just something fun about treating it like an all powerful grenade.

[@ZekDrakonEX]

FF2 easiest spell to max Rank since it is a Throphy for Throphy hunter is Cure. If Have Teleport. Enter Dungeon teleport out Cure full health. Rinse and repeat till Max and bring some Tents and such. Since spell use outside of battle also get exp to Rank up.

[@Jaryth000]

Loved this series (and this channel in general these past few months. You are enjoyable to watch!), and while Im only 2:57 into this video, i have a question about Final Fantasy X: What about the Expert Sphere Grid in the re-release versions? I very well might be mistake, but could you not use that to go all black mage with all characters right from the get go? So it would not matter which characters are in the party at a given time? If you are up for it, I would LOVE to see an addendum video to this one with that if viable (Is even donate $10 to see it! Not that such a small amount would be worth the torture lol). Either way, thank you for the awesome content!

[@Xephrost_Gaming]

Not a bad idea. I'm actually not really familiar with the expert sphere grid as I've only played FFX with the standard grid. I should look into it though, FFX is great and I definitely want to include it in a future series.

[@Jaryth000]

@@Xephrost_Gaming The one time I've replayed X on a version that had the option for Expert, I had stuck to standard to keep a more nostalgic run, but now after seeing your series, I'm really tempted to replay it with Expert and switch things up. Magic using Wakka? Potentially not useless Kimahri? The options are limitless!

[@TenshizakiN008]

Wizard Fridays continue to live on in my heart. I would love to see a similar thing done with Bravely Default 2, since you get access to Black Magic in the tutorial... but I do believe you have to do damage to trigger the scene that brings in your mage.

[@Xephrost_Gaming]

Wizard fridays will continue to live on in each and every one of us. Much as I'd love to do Bravely Default 2, my concern is that game is so long. Maybe as a bonus episode someday when I can slowly chip away at it over months. lol.

[@TenshizakiN008]

@Xephrost_Gaming that was going to be my worry about it as well. Even with combat sped up and skipping cutscenes, it can be very time consuming.

[@newbrowny]

awesome video!

[@mooredmon7898]

I think this challenge may be possible for FF I in the GBA release. In that version, they switched to using MP rather than the D&D style spell slots. In general, I think the GBA version is easier.

[@asham868]

You should look into some of the mods for FF8. While i dont remember the name, theres one that de-level syncs enemies, makes stat gains on level up better, and lessens the influence that junctioning has stats, making a more flexible combat system that actually rewards leveling. Think its called Martial Law.

[@Xephrost_Gaming]

Interesting. I'm not familiar with any of the FF8 mods. But that does sound like a good idea for balancing a messy system. I will have to dig into that.

[@gerrtt84]

I have been waiting for this. I had a question specifically about your FF7 clear but I wanted to wait until you got through the recap to see if you addressed it: I know it's a lot of work to get it, but do you think that some of the difficulty you had with slot management could be mitigated by getting copies of the Master Magic materia, or do you think that would make it not fun? Also, did you know about the Circlet accessory that is +30 magic/spirit? Could have helped a fair bit. Loved all these magic run videos! Keep up the good work!

[@godsplayingfield]

to get master magic you would need to either A, beat emerald weapon or B, master every magic materia and convert those mastered materia into the Master magic materia. both would take such excessive grinding he would almost certainly hit 99 by the time it would be viable, resulting in ultima hitting max damage for sure thus negating the need for master materia at all i would assume (or alteast require less hp/mp up materia granting more slot allocation) plus i dont think beating emerald is even possible, as without the guide book you get from morphing an enemy you cant get the underwater materia. and in no way in hell are you beating emerald with only magic in under 20 minutes. so... while i agree getting even one master magic materia would be useful and mitigate the slot headache, the viability of it seems.... counter effective.

[@gerrtt84]

@@godsplayingfield Oh it's absolutely a time-sink. But so is learning every spell on every character you intend to use in FF6, or drawing all that magic in FF8.

[@mattivallio2158]

I have a (maybe) idea: FF only summon? Anyway wonderful video analysis

[@Xephrost_Gaming]

Summons only would be an interesting idea. They have been a pretty important part of a lot of the final fantasies.

[@Taterzz]

not having FFT as a choice feels criminal!

[@nesoukkefka1741]

The funny part for FFVIII is you also handicaped yourself by not casting Meltdown to inflict Vit 0, cause despite the name of the statut implying it only reduce Vitality to 0 it reduce both Vitality and Spirit to 0, pretty much the only fight that can be a challenge in FFVIII on Magic only is the Omega Weapon fight, especially on PS1 where he is fix at LV100 so staying at Low Level won't work for him specifically, having fought him with Magic only that fight require a specific set up, since unlike Limit Break magic don't take priority that mean he actually get the time to act and with his over 1 million HP with your best source of damage being Triple Meteor for about 40-45k damage at max Magic with Vit 0, it's pretty unlikely you'll get to beat him before Terra Break which you have to account for (as well as Megido Flame dealing 9998 damage and Light Pillar being fix 9999 damage to 1 character).

[@DukeWubzington]

I almost feel like you'd have to limit your junctions to make a FF8 magic only challenge hard. Simply because of how much junctions break the game and how easy high tier magic is to get in FF8.

[@Xephrost_Gaming]

I agree. I think a magic only challenge in FF8 could be interesting. But it require a lot more precise rules on what should and shouldn't be allowed. Especially compared to the other games in the list that were pretty straightforward.

[@polarwind77777]

Nobody fair can disagree with your first place choices.

[@catlinkerswell3696]

❤

[@anqied]

I desperately want to see you do an FF14 challenge for reasons that have absolutely nothing to do with the fact that I currently have over 3000 hours in the game without being able to consider myself as having even come close to completing it.

[@Xephrost_Gaming]

Yeah, look forward to that video in 2026. lol. I would love to do an FF XIV video, but wow that would take too long.

[@reloadpsi]

I would suggest trying this in FF1 but that sounds like unmitigated torture. I don't think it's even possible to magic only the MMOs because auto attack.

[@Xephrost_Gaming]

Yeah, FF1 is a big no. It might be doable in the original release, but in the pixel remaster, where Chaos has 20,000 and can heal 9,999 with curaja, I'm not actually sure it would even be possible without absurd luck. Spells just deal so little damage in FF1.

[@Nirual86]

you could probably set up macros for everything to ensure auto-attacks never get turned on, but after that its just... playing any magic dps (besides red mage) or healer as a main pretty much like a normal player. Magic is already 99.9% of what they do. Guess 11 might be a bit more complicated (without getting yelled at for suboptimal class combos in a group anyway) but 14 doesn't really have anything that make it a challenge. Trying to do content with magic-only groups on the other hand can be a challenge, but even then its more a matter of organization with up to 23 other people for the most part.

[@godsplayingfield]

"beating an mmo is nebulous and take waaayyyy too long" yup. even if it's just beating the story of the base game, no expansions, could take up to 100 hours depending on how you do it. and not exactly hard anyway, as choose a magic class as your starting job and you;re good to go. unless you count other people as part of your team, then you'd have to solo everything. which isnt impossible if only doing base game unsynced. just takes a lot of grinding. so defo not worth doing in this challenge. or any challenge really. "who would ever level up 16 magic spells on a single character?" ...... me with my psp version is feeling rather called out right now. look i wanted ultima to actually be fcking useful for once and i had SO MUCH TIME back when it released. yeah... FF8 is just busted in every single way. like every mechanic in the game, in some way, works to make you more powerful. every single one.... except leveling. seriously it's dumb. i love it, but it's dumb. for FF6.... magic being OP is lore accurate i suppose, but yeah. i think the design is meant to be "okay, the players will pick between special abilities like bushido and blitze for their characters, spells will augment the characters but not define them, cause who is gonna grind ultima on everything right?" players. players do that devs. sorry to say. it's one of the reasons Terra and Celes keep learning spells naturally all the wy up to level 99. they didnt expect you to learn all spells with both, but also wanted to keep their unique traits viable. kinda. but fck it right? ULTIMA FOR EVERYONE!!! though the strongest attacks are actually blitze and genji-glove/masters scroll with two super weapons but eh. 7 being top is a surprise, due to how annoying it is with mp. but then again.... yeah it is defo the most balanced of the games. 8 is just..... shattered in terms of balance. the mechanics of the game are great with refinery and such. but dear lord is it easy.

[@Xephrost_Gaming]

With 6 it definitely feels like the designers wanted magic to augment each character rather than define them, as you said. But they missed the mark on that one. I recall a similar explanation for FF12's license board, where they wanted you to be able to pick specific licenses for specific characters to define them. But then everyone just taught everyone everything. Which is why they switched to the job license boards in the International Zodiac Job System.

[@steveozone4910]

FF12 is fun magic only.

[@Xephrost_Gaming]

That would be interesting. I feel like MP would be the biggest issue. Particularly in the few fights that drain away your MP due to a field effect.

[@steveozone4910]

@@Xephrost_Gaming There's definitely some that can be a pain. But I managed to take out Yiazmat in a magic only run. The break damage limit definitely helps in the ZA version. But I can understand your logic.

[@Xephrost_Gaming]

@@steveozone4910 that makes sense. The removal of the damage cap and effect capacity are both game changers.

[@moisescorral8297]

The FFXIII hate is becoming unreasonable...

[@sirloinestakegames7866]

It's interesting. I never touched it as I never had a PS3, but when I finally played it with the only context being knowing the characters and knowing the hate, I *really* enjoyed my time. I approached it like FF10 and yeah, it's not as good, but I had a good time. The progression system is its weakest part due to it not being that dynamic, and the overall story is... well, it's just a tad convoluted But yeah, I would now recommend 13 to newer players. Not as high as others, but I still would.

[@Vorael]

"How in the world would you ever level up 1 spell to max, let alone 16?" Go to an area where the monsters can't hurt you, target your own team, and set something heavy on the button. Come back 5 or 10 minutes later, lift thing off of or untape the button, and do it again. Repeat a few more times and congrats, you've got level 16 Frog and can get a bunch of bullshittily powerful weapons from the snowfield minigame!