(So first, going south a bit to the beach, since a certain enemy spawns there that has the next Enemy Skill I want.)
(Swapping that onto a member that is actually on the party.)
(Don't mind me, just trying to level Materia.)
(And also the All.)
(Like so.)
(Let's run around until I get the random I want.)
(First I killed the other 3 Beachplugs. Just to make it all that much simpler. They don't do much damage anyway.)
(Big Guard!)
(Big Guard is a pretty nice skill, if pretty costly right now.)
(The next skill I want was technically closer because it was in the desert, but Big Guard helps in getting this one. The random I want is not the Flapbeats though, or else I'd already have it.)
(Say hello to Harpy, the random I wanted. The name is another silly mistranslation. It's actually a Chimera. The Poison Storm attack happened to hit Cloud who happened to be having the Star Pendant equipped.)
(Alright, Big Guard. This spell has appeared in 5 and 6 too, so let's briefly compare. 6 only applies Protect and Shell, and those are only about a 33% decrease in damage compared to the sharp 50% cut that 7 does and iirc also 5. Not only that, 7 also applies Haste along Barrier and MBarrier and only costs 56 MP compared to 6's cost of 80 MP. Then there's 5's Big Guard which is nice. Safe and Shell are as good in 5 as Barrier and MBarrier are in 7, but 5's applies Float, not Haste. 5's Haste is absolutely splendid, but eh, it's alright since Haste2 is a thing. 5's mechanics makes it so that curing spells ignore Shell, unlike 7, but 5's Big Guard is kinda costly at 72 MP[recovering MP in 5 is only really significant with either Elixirs or Mixes]. Basically, it's debatable whether 5 or 7 has the more convenient version, but it's still a good spell.)
(Aqualung! That's the Enemy Skill I want. Basically, Aqualung is your alternative to Beta and much easier to get, but the opportunity arises later. Water-elemental, 34 MP, multi-target. A later boss gave me trouble because it has this spell and that one tends to hurt. Harpy only has 13 base Magic Power though, so while the attack will still hurt, it's manageable.)
(I want to have a strong setup for the next thing I'll do so if you'll excuse me.)
(I had some hoops to slam.)
(Battle Square. The thing about Battle Square is that it has some interesting rewards, but the prizes vary throughout story progression. So I'll be looking at what you can get right now.)
(Yeah, I got the idea that Dio really likes it.)
(Rest assured, I'm more than just all talk.)(I also personally associate this quote with GarlandtheGreat although it wasn't even him who ever referenced this quote.)
(Ought to be more than just a random encounter rush, no?)
(Note that these points are not GP. They're BP.)
(You really, really want to fight all eight battles if you want to gain a noticeable BP profit. The boost in BP that the eighth[sp?] gives you is tremendously more than the ones the first seven give you.)
(These are an interesting gimmick.)
(In reality you could cheese the hazards a bit, because they are controlled by slots.)
(There are only 2 prizes that cost nearly 65000 BP, and one of them lowers in price after a certain story point.)
(Stupid smart machine. How dare you not even show me prizes because I don't have BP whatsoever.)
I more than heard...
(Let's take a quick look.)
(Well that's...okay, I guess.)
(Okay, that one-on-one part is most definitely a lie.)
(We're going to be fighting purely randoms we [could have I guess] already fought, but that might be a bit tougher than you think.)
(Okay, real talk, I like the Battle Arena theme,
Hurry Faster. It's pretty nice that it's not just regular battle theme, even if that one is pretty neat. Incidentally, the Battle Arena was the subject of a
FF7 PC demo. That one demo has an interesting instrumentation for Hurry Faster. That version is nice too. Something about using a different sound synth than the PS1 MIDIs?
Kind of like using a different soundcard, sort of. I'm not too tech-savvy to say exactly.)
(The enemies in the Battle Arena are actually not exactly the same as the original random encounters. Their HP stat is doubled, and their attacking stats are increased by 1/4. This doesn't make Reactor 1 encounters tough, but keep that in mind if suddenly even Beta/Aqualung doesn't OHK what you expected it to.)
(Ok, I can officially stop putting these typos under the joke counter of typo spoilers. There's just something absolutely astonishing about how a message that pops up frequently in a useful side game which I'm sure the testers actually played has these funny mistakes. Off course it had to be this [No, ]way.)
(Anyway, slots. You can actually pause slots in this game by pressing Square. The Battle Arena handicap, Tifa's Limit Break, and a certain other Limit Break all use slots and thus can be kind of cheesed with pausing. It can be a bit tricky to do but it's pretty useful to nail down what you want to get.)
(For max BP you want to nail the worst things like breaking Materia or prohibiting the usage of Items. However, just don't nail the non-handicaps honestly if you don't want to be too meticulous. Or heck, reserve your worst for the eighth battle, since that one gives the absolutely hugest boost.)
(Matra Magic barely failed to KO one of the Sahagins. I blame variance.)
(Sheesh did I ever snap what Aqualung looks like. Anyway, the damage is obscene, as shown.)
(Mythril Mines sneks. Huge groups can be annoying. I didn't actually bother to show all fights because honestly half of them are easily disposed with a few Matras or maybe an Aqualung if needed.)
(Blade Beam is nice.)
(Okay, pay attention here. I have 255 BP in my streak, and this is my seventh battle done. The next one is the eighth.)
(I fought a 1600 HP Harpy with the Mini handicap, and ended with a whopping 2900 added from the eighth alone. Mini is a low tier BP handicap by the way. Materia Breaking could add a whopping 7000+ if applied on the eighth. That's how important fighting all eight is.)
(You...also always receive a Tissue no matter how you get out of the Battle Arena. It does nothing special, it's just another Item. I guess of note was how I got Toad in the slots and had to use a Maiden's Kiss, and how a x6 Capparwire battle kind of almost killed me because of Grand Spark.)
(No matter how you end the Battle Arena, your HP and MP are restored to how they were right before starting. Kills in the Battle Arena don't count to raise Limit Breaks, using Limit Breaks in the arena doesn't count either, no Enemy Skills are kept when you finish, and Items are not returned if you used any.)
(These prizes are expensive right now, but some can only be gotten before the next change due to story progression. Potions, Shrapnels, Ethers, and Fury Rings are only available now. Shrapnel is fairly unique of an attack Item and although Gil can buy Fury Rings, why not get one with GP since I actually spent less Gil on getting the GP than I would have if I bought it directly?)
(Fury Ring automatically inflicts Berserk on the wearer. Note that is not too bad right now actually. Maybe not for bosses, but the nice boost in physical damage and catering to laziness makes it a decent accessory if you can't be arsed to tap O/Circle and want to do something like grind kills for Limit Breaks or you weren't going to use Magic/Items anyway.)
(1 Shrapnel, 2 Phoenixes.)
(Sprint Shoes! This is actually pretty neat. They're not missable, but the opportunity to get them again doesn't come until goddamn Disc 2 of later.)
(Yup, auto-Haste. Haste in 7 is nice. It doubles your Speed, which is literally the same as in 5[and trust me, 5's Haste is real good{possibly only surpassed by how good Haste is in 10}. I'm even willing to say that Sprint Shoes are the best accessory in 5 except for a few boss battles, some optional.]. It unfortunately happens to make barriers run out twice as fast too though. Of course, we did just get Big Guard which is basically Haste=All plus barriers, and soon we'll be able to cast Haste=All the normal way, but, you know, it can be nice on things like Battle Arena's solo battles.)
(Equip.)
(Return.)
(Filler.)
(Exit.)
(Goof.)
(Alright, so now that we have the Buggy we can travel between the east continent and the west continent.)
(And as a matter of fact, I need the Buggy for something in the east.)
(Be sure to enter Costa del Sol with the Buggy. That's how you get it through Junon to the east.)
(Also, Rufus did not fuck up at all.)
Yeah, sure. No thanks though.
(Movement between the two parts of Junon is also pretty easy.)
(Incidentally that is exactly the denotation of a taxi, just not that of the usual cab system.)
(K, let's move on then.)
(There's this one previously uncrossable river that leads to a previously isolated area.)
(An isolated area with a useful man. But we'll need to fight a bit more to get his help.)
(White Wind is a cool spell. It heals a set amount equal to the caster's current HP and also cures many statuses, along with ignoring the MBarrier decrease in healing due to being a set amount "damage" spell.)
(Ideally it can be even better than Restore Materia, but do be careful with things like Gravity-elemental attacks highly reducing your heals. Gravity=Elemental in armor is usable against that though.)
(When the last 2 digits of the number[e.g.: the 244 battles here] of battles you fought match, you get a neat reward.)
(Even matches gives you Bolt Rings. Odd matches, we'll see.)
(Let's be productive with the 11 battles we need to fight.)
(Fourth Fort Condor battle - right after you get the Buggy.)
(Partial refund.)
(Okay then. So that's how that is. Apparently fighting CMD. Grand Horn counts as skipping a reward. Alright, so when you skip a Fort Condor battle, you get the reward in the next one, replacing the one you would have gotten instead. I thought I'd get a Megalixir, but instead got 3 Ethers, which is Battle #3's reward. And yes, they really did translate them as Tinctures even though they're called Ethers in this game.)
(With 255 battles, I get another prize.)
(I won't be able to make use of it for a while, but it'll become something good.)
)
*)
