#Anyways I finished the Dirge World Quest

[cluescorner]

Me, during Al Haitham’s world quest: *Sigh*. I miss my wife, Al Haitham. I miss her a lot. 

Al Haitham: *Laughs* 

Me, going back to the Tanit camp halfway through his quest to stand next to Jeht and pretend that I’m her girlfriend now: I’ll be back. 

[fathercephalon]

SAGAU Idea

Small Spoiler for people if they haven't yet done "The Dirge of Bilqis." quest. Also don't expect great grammar. I am working on it.

So Liloupar seems to know things about people, for example, the Traveller. They seemed to know that Lumine/Aether was not from this world (Something close to that, I don't remember the quest much since I just finished it and I just remembered this small interaction.) 

So what if in SAGAU no one realises you are the Divine Grace but they realise your resemblance to them and think it's a type of blessing from when you were born? Some Acolytes may feel your presence but just think it may be just residue from the blessing, but Archons have a much stronger feeling however aren't acting on it at the moment.  

Anyways, as I was saying, Liloupar seems to have the ability to help them identify certain things about people. What if that day we run into Liloupar with Traveller, Paimon, and Jeht then Liloupar just basically "exposes" us? I'm interested in what people might come up with about this idea. Also I say "exposes" like that because we aren't really hiding anything people are just like "Oh, you look like the Divine Grace! Must be a great blessing." But don't really think much of it.

Also, Imposter AU will work as well, but instead of being accompanied by Traveller, Paimon and Jeht we just accidentally run into Liloupar well trying to escape from some Teyvatians and maybe Acolytes. Nahida, I feel though would know of our presence because of her connection with Irminsul, so she'd be more terrified for the people chasing us than us being chased. Also, I feel like she wouldn't say anything because at the moment she is the weakest Archon and doesn't want to start a conflict. Though she may try and aid us by doing the dream thingy (Sorry I forgot what it was but hopefully you know what I mean.) 

Anyways that's my thought. I may not be the first person to think of it but I wanted to write it down for anyone who may be interested or looking for ideas!

[magical-regical]

I'm gonna yap about genshin a bit because I recently finished Fontaine's archon quest after putting it off for god knows how long and completed every world quest that's not dirge of bilqis and divine comedy since you don't unlock the fortress of meropide until you do the archon quest.

Can I just say, what a great story. Like, I was planning on pulling for her anyway bcs she's going in my vape team to enable Klee's jolly jaunt across Teyvat but the archon quest really makes you feel for her in a 'hold gently' way.

It happened with the wanderer too. It's a very 'ah you poor thing, you deserve a gentler world' kind of fondness.

But anyway, I want her to interact with the other archons. Her entire character story was centered around 'acting like an archon' based on what she and the people think an archon 'should' be.

It's really funny as the player because so far the archons we've met are a drunk who's allergic to cats, a financially unwise old man, a reclusive woman who has zero culinary skills, and an innocent child.

And yes, none of these archons interact with their people all that much in their official capacity of 'archon' but still, imagine her meeting Venti, watching him get drunk on wine, and getting kicked out or going out for a meal with Zhongli, marvelling at how the god of Geo seems to spare no expense ordering everything on the menu as he celebrates their fateful meeting only for him to hem and haw the moment the bill comes because, "In terms of mora, I have no mora."

It's really interesting how her opening speech before she created her persona was actually a very good speech? If the people of Fontaine didn't have a taste for the extravagance of the opera she could've crafted a role closer to her true self. Though I guess the other archons could've just displayed their power if people start questioning them while she couldn't.

[hamstermastersamster]

I finally finished absolutely everything that was possible to do in FF7R this week, including DLC and all trophies. The combat system is just so fun, and definitely kept me playing until I’d perfected everything :’3

Since I enjoyed it so much, I have decided to forgive it all its flaws EXCEPT bringing back the nonsense Deepground lore. Sigh. I was hoping it would be left in the dust. This is peak Nomura edgy inner teen character design. Like, it’s not enough that the main protagonist has scientific experimentation trauma and the stuff we saw Shinra do in the main game is ethically horrific, noooo. They have a secret bunker full of even edgier scientifically traumatised sexy people in bondage gear who are extra badass and also evil. Ughhhhhhhh.

Fighting Weiss was an exercise in personal restraint for me. I morally objected to him showing his face in the game. But I still kicked his ass, while having flashbacks against my will to some of the dumber stuff in Dirge of Cerberus, like this scientist outfit and this Kingdom Hearts-looking mofo and that whole Gackt self-insert thing - so much to choose from!

ANYWAY. I’ve had several compelling urges to replay OG FF7 but I’ve been fighting them away since I really want to play something new. So, as I’m still waiting around for the Fallout 4 PS5 upgrade so I can replay that, I decided to start up Outer Worlds, which I’ve had lying around for a while. 

It seems fun! Has Fallout-y vibes except colourful, which I appreciate. I’m particularly enjoying the lack of a progressive overarching morality system that dictates whether your character is Fundamentally Good or Fundamentally Evil, which always make it a struggle to be anything besides outright evil or outright good (for me anyway - I hate Being a Bad Person in Videogames as it is xD). Instead you feel more empowered to make in-situ decisions and there are some forgiving design decisions that remove the stress from roleplaying - like your companions really not giving a shit about you stealing everything that isn’t nailed down.

I tend to get too engaged in reading about quests and quest outcomes in this type of game so that I can avoid bad decisions, and I’m gonna make a conscious effort to avoid that and just play how I feel. We’ll see how long that lasts xD

Also your character by default is just, like, dummy thicc:

I cannot change this (and I do not want to).

Her name is Robyn and she’s a good-hearted slighly-mischievous not-opposed-to-breaking-the-law-for-good-reasons engineer type so far. I’m trying to build her as a stealthy sniper of sorts, but this might be endangered by the inevitable clap of her asscheeks.

[datesoma]

teyvat, freedom, barbara, sakura blooms and ganyu for the genshin ask! 😎

A genshin ask meme redux

teyvat: which released region do you prefer and which unreleased nation are you most looking forward to visiting?

Mondstadt is definitely my favorite region!! I like every region we’ve gotten so far in at least some capacity, but I go to Mondstadt for everything - crafting, cooking, forging, finishing commissions, sending charas out on expeditions etc! It has such a homey vibe that I’m just about always over there even if it’s pretty empty nowadays :’) If we’re being even more specific tho, my favorite area is Dragonspine! There’s no place that’s prettier or more calming to me, and I know where every single thing is located on that mountain <3 (not even kidding tbh, I always help people with Dragonspine bc I remember where every fire place, chest, quest location etc is!)

As for unreleased regions, Khaenri’ah!! I'd love to know more about their technology and about Dainsleif, but my main focus is finding out more about Gold / Rhinedottir and her creations! Also what IS the truth of this world bestie, don’t leave us in suspense like this

freedom: if you were blessed with a vision, which one would you want to have (and which one do you think you’d actually get)?

My favorite element is anemo, and imo it’s also the most fun, so I’d love to have an anemo vision w/o the implications that’d come with it (coughs. every anemo user has lost someone dear to them and I’d really rather not), but I’m 100% sure that if I were to get one, it’d be a cryo vision! Both based on gut feeling and reddit posts like this one.

barbara: you’re a tourist traveling teyvat, which locations in the game would you want to visit in person?

DRAGONSPINE, every inch of it. Doesn’t even matter if I’d be freezing to death, I’d go there first and foremost anyway! Then I’d love to visit the main cities in every region, and I’d probably spend most of my time in Mondstadt and Sumeru. 

For Mond I’d love to visit Starfell Lake, Windrise, Dawn Winery and Stormterror’s Lair; for Liyue I’d love to visit Wangshu Inn, Qingce Village and Luhua Pool; for Inazuma I’d love to visit Chinju Forest, the Grand Narukami Shrine and Tsurumi Island; and for Sumeru I’d love to visit Avidya Forest (and Gandharva Ville), Vimara Village, Pardis Dhyai, Lokapala Jungle only if I had someone escorting me, Aaru Village and the Mausoleum of King Deshret!

sakura blooms: what is/are your favorite world quest(s) you’ve done?

Basically any of Dragonspine’s world quests (In the Mountains, Lost in the Snow, A Land Entombed, The Great Mountain Surveys, The Festering Fang), Bough Keeper Dainsleif, Aranyaka, Golden Slumber, Lost in a Foreign Land, A Company Vanishing into the Deep, Hyperion’s Dirge and Through the Mists! I love lore-heavy world quests the most :’) even though some most of them are tragic

ganyu: which character’s rerun are you waiting for desperately?

ALBEDO’S!! I have him at C5 right now and I’ve been wanting to have him at C6 so badly since I first started playing Genshin nearly 2 years ago (bc he’s my favorite chara & the only reason I’m playing really) and I’m finally!! accomplishing that goal!! after so long!! Once I get his last constellation tho, I’d love a Cyno rerun since I ended up skipping him during this patch for Albedo, a Xiao rerun bc this guy has somehow always managed to dodge me ever since 1.3, and a Kokomi rerun bc her banners were always up at a bad time for me but I’d love to have her as my healer!

[chromemuffin]

Quan Zhi Gao Shou / The King’s Avatar Manhua (Chapters 0-5)

What I really enjoyed right from the start of the animation was the realistic nature of the game and characters. I only play games sporadically myself, and usually handhelds at that, but even I could relate to Ye Xiu’s journey to the top of the new server. I mean, usually you just take for granted that the main character is aiming for the top of something, but it’s difficult to relate to saving the world or leading a gang of misfits across the land fighting monsters. Climbing to the top in a game, however? We’ve probably all tried it in some way or another, even if we failed along the way (I still haven’t completed the National Pokedex in any Pokemon game, ok).

This also could have been stated at the beginning of a review for the whole series, but this is a long one, the novel translations aren’t even complete yet. So it’s here now as a preface.

And now it’s time for my far less composed liveblogging! This is not going to be as detailed as my Shoukoku no Altair one by a long shot, I think I’d collapse of exhaustion before I finished.

Chapter 0: Cause

It is both unnerving and relaxing to not obsess about language nuance like I do when I read Japanese stuff. On the other hand, it feels weird being back to the state of not understanding more than a few words here and there...

Colored panels are the best. The color (cold tones) to black & white to color (warm tones) back to black & white is a neat contrast.

I’m honestly really excited to get all these names and teams straight. I watched several groups’ subs for the early episodes and all the names were translated differently, leading me to have no clue who anyone was or which team they belonged to except the currently teamless Ye Xiu lol.

Chapter 1: As we drink, the lute signals to go to war

Look at that smug smirk. Ye Xiu’s relationship with Su Mucheng is just really nice with how supportive they are of each other.

Damn it, I said I wasn’t going to go panel-by-panel! But I like the contrast between these two shots. One is as he is turning away, after having reassured Su Mucheng that he will be returning and it really is fine that his old team literally kicked him to the curb. The other is once he is turned away. He seems fine in the first shot, sort of indifferent, while the dark shadow over his eyes in the next panel suggests differently. But he’s not one to complain.

Unexpected comedy shot lol. I appreciate the life in the internet cafe, everyone excited about Glory and the new server haha. In the animation, it was very quiet when he walked in, and they had to 3D animate it.

“As a female Launcher player, Mucheng never stopped smiling even when she blew up her opponent to pieces... It’s actually quite scary when you think about it.”

haha. He’s more expressive in the manhua. It lets you have these cute little musings in between scenes that the animations never have time for.

lol he just goes and hijacks her account. who does that. “the battle started already so I finished it for you. but don’t worry, I won!” that. isn’t the point.

Hi scary demon Ye Xiu! Side note: they’re doing a good job giving the background characters different features.

Also, thanks to not looking at the characters for their names, I keep getting Ye Xiu and Ye Qiu mixed up. I...really need to go find out how it’s written.

Not going to feature all of Chen Guo’s fun expressions, but so far there have been a lot of them and they’re great. (edit for Chen Guo’s name which I derped on and forgot at the time of writing this post. lol the manga doesn’t mention her whole name - Chen Guo - until a few chapters later. I think the other patrons call her ‘Sister Chen’ and the reader finds out her given name when Ye Xiu does. but in the novel, I think the narrative switches over to her at some point, so you find out her full name before Ye Xiu does...)

I love sayings, and how they are so weird when translated literally - Japanese ones are like this, too, because a lot of them are Chinese in origin. My favorite is probably 亀毛兎角.

I hope this is a translation thing because damn, what a way to sugar-coat the truth.

Chapter 2: Since ancient times, how many have returned from war?

I wish I knew the references to classical Chinese poetry/literature, it makes the series 10x more fun when you know the origin of some of their usernames and such.

Ok, overdoing it much, Sun Xiang’s posse? You don’t need to be extra nasty about it to his face.

I always really liked this expression of his reluctance, this human emotion from a guy who looks rather calm and composed (or sheepish, occasionally) most of the time. He takes things in stride, but here you definitely get the bitterness of his situation.

And now he has to laugh it off with a smile! He does a good job of keeping it together throughout this whole deal though.

lol what kind of expression is that. “I like working nights!” why the cat face/ears. why. that was such a quick interview lol.

“Actually, we aren’t lacking people, the advert you saw was from a long time ago.”

That’s...actually, interesting. So Chen Guo is hiring him anyways? Or am I missing something in the translation?

You are a surprisingly funny man, Ye Xiu.

This is me. (it says ‘Verify faster!’)

lol Ye Xiu looking at the beginner’s guide. I never read the instructions though, even for a complicated games I’m new to, I just sort of jump in and hope I don’t die in the first few stages. Pretty sure the only game I had to actually read the instructions for was Final Fantasy Type-0? It’s difficult getting into a good rhythm without reading the in-game tips for that game...plus, some of the more advanced techniques are hard to pull off.

Chapter 3: Don’t laugh at those who lie drunk on the battlefield

If I had time, I’d totally make edits, buuut I do not and photoshop is on my other computer. but when did he get those noodles...?

lol and he just outs himself right on the spot.

That is one dark expression, I love it. The retirement thing is definitely a sore spot for him.

“you’re a professional. but also an amateur.” lol must be so weird to be Ye Xiu

“Don’t fake it, actually you’re not even retired. You didn’t get a spot and got kicked out, right?”

Ouch. Hit it where it hurts, why don’t you. Though she isn’t aware of who he actually is yet. He did indeed get kicked out, and it’s probably worse because he did have a spot previously, he was at the top even.

Starting avatar! I love the character designs in this series, across the animation and manhua.

“Suddenly I miss those games that let people pass through each other!”

HOW COULD THEY WITH SO MANY PEOPLE PLAYING. It reminds me of the Sims flailing their arms because you stuck a cabinet in the wrong spot and they can’t get through.

“Such a civilized way to kill monsters, I’m not used to it.”

“This only happens when a new server opens, you’ll definitely wish you can queue again in the future.”

I really like the side comments. I don’t play multiplayer games, but the comments definitely breathe some life into it.

LOL. “How to endure the shame? I was once known as Glory’s textbook level expert and now I have to use a beginner’s guide to do beginner’s quests.” You can feel his soul dying little by little in these panels...

I love how many titles he earned...”Does no commercials”.

And, of course, him trying to reveal who he actually is, only for her not to believe him.

lol this comment: “It’s so hard to play in first person view!” That’s actually how I feel, I dunno, I mostly play handhelds and older games. I flipped out when I tried to play Final Fantasy: Dirge of Cerberus in first person, before I figured out there was actually a third person view...I’m just really lame when it comes to games, ok.

Ooh, it’s here! The umbrella! What an odd choice of weapon, usually they’re the joke weapons. Well, it’s better than the bus stop sign from Persona 3.

I’ve read spoilers about who this guy standing behind him is, and I am not ready to actually come across that part in the novel.

Side note: I like the avatar’s design better here than in the animation. Wonder if he changes outfit later on...

Chapter 4: Green Forest’s Sleeping Moon

“Let me help you, I’ll give you the drops as well.” “I’m [a] male.” Lol. I really do love these little dialogues.

I also love the usernames, I really am hopeless with it comes to naming things myself.

Hello, Sleeping Moon! I remember you! Sort of.

I love how Ye Xiu totally has a plan going into this, and his thought process is written out. It’s a mundane detail, but I like it. (I’m the type of person who doesn’t read the instructions provided by the game, but will go look everything up online because regardless if I played the game before or not, I like having a Plan when I go into it...I’m impatient, Shadow of the Colossus is the only game I actually take time to explore.)

The two modes of communication for Glory also make it interesting...Both text and audio. It’s fun having both.

haha these drawings have so much life in them

Including these.

Way to look awesome and dramatic with your umbrella in hand.

lol “You planning to advance into a Cleric? Why don’t you just be our caretaker for good?” dying inside, I tell you, dying inside

Knowing the spoilers like I do, THIS ISN’T OKAY. no sad flashback scene so early on. c’mon.

I like how Sleeping Moon keeps talking to him like he’s a newbie, too. It’s pretty funny.

Chapter 5: You reap what you sow

Finally, a chapter title I’m familiar with!

The naaames: Sleeping Moon, Just a Passerby, Not Just Cannon Fodder, Lord Grim, and Fallen Sun

I like ‘Just a Passerby’.

Hey, you even get to say some last words after your HP hits 0 haha.

“Don’t you know that if you die in a dungeon in Glory, you can’t come back?!” lol I’m side-eyeing all the other ‘if you die in the game you die in real life’ stories...

They gave Sleeping Moon some really awesome expressions, gotta say.

“But your acting isn’t at all convincing.” Actually, this is vaguely terrifying.

Also, I appreciate how Ye Xiu is calling him out on this whole plan and how he meant to cheat everyone while Ye Xiu is basically doing the same. haha

I’m not going to screencap it all, but the sequence of the boss slowly killing Sleeping Moon like the cat it is, and Ye Xiu’s reactions, are gold.

The umbrella is also really cool of course.

And here starts the drama on the 10th server! It’s honestly great, and quite true to real life haha. Well, real life can probably be weirder than even fiction...

AAAND that’s finally it! 5 chapters + the 0 chapter done! Oh geez that took forever...Anyway, I love all the little details the manhua can fit in that the animation can’t and I look forward to reading the novel version of these chapters sometime soon.

onward →

[freyayuki]

Final Fantasy Record Keeper 3-Star Ice Magicite Team

Here’s yet another fairly recent old draft that won’t be so recent by the time it gets posted.

Finishing the Nightmare Dungeons in the Final Fantasy Record Keeper (#ad) (FFRK) mobile game unlocks the 3-star Magicite Dungeons. While I was interested in trying these fights, I got turned off when I saw that the difficulty level was 250.

I couldn’t even do the 5-star Mote Dungeons yet, and those were level 260. So I decided not to bother with these quests for now. Then I heard that completing one of the Book of Trials missions will reward me with some Magicite, so I tried to finish those as soon as I could.

I got a few 3-star Magicite. They were only 3 stars, but, hey, it’s better than nothing, right? However, getting these things didn’t make me want to try the Magicite Dungeons yet. 

I thought it was better to level up these Magicite first as well as try to power up my characters some more.

When I got most of these Magicite to level 50, the highest they could go at the moment (I would need more copies to break their level caps), I thought it was time to try the 3-star fights. 

3-Star Ice Magicite Fight

I decided to start with the Ice Magicite first for the following reasons:

fire was currently my best and strongest element

Sealion, the ice Magicite enemy, was weak to fire

I wanted to use my current favorite Final Fantasy (#ad) character on these hard fights; well, really, I just want to use him on all the fights, all the time

Genesis Rhapsodos from Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII

My current, absolute most favorite Final Fantasy character is Genesis Rhapsodos from Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII (#ad). It was no coincidence that I started playing FFRK while the Ode to a Sundered World event was ongoing.

This was the event that introduced Genesis as a playable and recruitable character in this game. Thankfully, I was able to get all of his relics (armor and weapons) before the banner that featured them went away.

I’ll talk more about the details in another post. Here, let me just say that I’ve been trying to get him as powerful as possible. So by the time, I decided to try the Ice fight, my Genesis:

was level 99, the highest in this game

has over 200 Magia Points; 100 went to physical attack, 100 went to HP, the rest went to fire attack 

has all the level 1 Crystal Waters

has all the 3-star Record Spheres

has all the 4-star Record Spheres

has most of the 5-star Record Spheres

has the Snowspell Strike Sphere

has one of his Legend Materia, Rhapsodic Recitation

I still needed more 5-star Motes to complete the rest of his Record Spheres and get his last Legend Materia, Project G Creation. Still, with him having all this already, I thought I might be able to handle the Sealion fight.

Besides, I was going to be hitting its elemental weakness. And if I failed, so what? I could just try again. This wasn’t time-limited content anyway. I could do this whenever. I wanted to give it a try already though. So I did.

3-Star Ice Magicite Initial Team

My initial team for this fight was:

Genesis

Ramza

Ignis

Aerith

Tyro

Genesis Rhapsodos from Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII

Genesis Rhapsodos (#ad) was equipped with the following:

level 50 Flametongue sword Artifact; has the bonus effect of adding a “small boost to fire damage”

level 35 Genesis’ Guise (VII-DoC)++; has the bonus effect of adding a “small boost to fire damage” 

level 1 Sniper Soul; has the bonus effect of adding “major resistance to blind”    

Genesis’ Dirge of Cerberus outfit loves me so much that it came home multiple times while I was trying to pull for his other relics. Too bad I actually prefer his red leather coat from Crisis Core. 

I decided to combine the dupes, which turned the originally 6-star light armor coat into an 8-star one.

Sniper Soul can’t be leveled further (it looks like all accessories are level 1/1), or I definitely would have done so. This accessory has a pretty good effect, but the reason why I gave this to Genesis was because, out of all the accessories I currently have, this one gave the highest attack.

Genesis was equipped with the following Spellblade-type abilities:

Blazing Quadstrike - 5-star rarity, rank 3/5, 6 uses, deals 4 “physical fire attacks to one target”

Inferno Assault - 6-star rarity, rank 3/5, 6 uses, deals “5 physical fire attacks to one enemy” 

I’m pretty sure I tried this Magicite fight before I got Inferno Assault’s rank to 4. 

The game doesn’t list the numbers, but I looked it up:

Blazing Quadstrike has a 3.20 multiplier, cast time of 1.65s, each hit is 0.80

Inferno Assault has a 4.50 multiplier, cast time of 1.65s, each hit is 0.90 each   

Genesis was equipped with the following Soul Breaks:

Awakened Arcane Soul Break (AASB), Genesis Rhapsody

Ultra Soul Break (USB), Apocalypse Genesis

Arcane Overstrike Soul Break (AOSB), SOLDIER’s Epic

Glint+, Epic of Creation 

Well, I have all his Soul Breaks, but since there are only 4 slots, I can only bring 4.  

Genesis was equipped with the following Legend Materia:

Fierce Opposition - deal 20% more damage when using a sword

Rhapsodic Recitation - increase fire damage by 10%

For his Record Materia, I gave him Tyro’s Scholar’s Boon, which increases damage by 30% when hitting the enemy’s elemental weakness. 

Ramza Beoulve from Final Fantasy Tactics

Ramza Beoulve (#ad) was equipped with the following:

level 1 dagger Artifact, Man-Eater (V)

level 1 AI-Class Powershield (XV)

level 1 Lucky Dice - adds “minor resistance to all elements”

Ramza was equipped with the following abilities:

Full Break - 5-star rarity, support-type, rank 1/5, 2 uses, “damage and lower the attack, magic, defense, and resistance of one target” by 30%

Lifesiphon - 4-star rarity, combat-type, rank 5/5, 10 uses, deal damage to one target and charge the user’s Soul Break gauge

Lifesiphon was the first ability I got to rank 10. I usually have Genesis equipped with this ability (now you know why it’s rank 10) to quickly increase his SB gauge and have him use his Soul Breaks as soon as possible. 

But this ability is only 4-stars and isn’t even Spellblade-type, so it doesn’t have much synergy with my fave. Besides, I recently got him Inferno Assault, the first 6-star ability I was able to buy with Rubies.

Ramza was equipped with the following Soul Breaks:

Super Soul Break, Shout - “temporarily raise the party’s attack a large amount and grant them Haste”

Default Soul Break, Focus

Ramza is in this party because of his Shout Soul Break. I wanted it to boost my fave’s attack. This meant he needed to cast it ASAP. And that’s why I have him equipped with the Dr. Mog’s Teachings Record Materia. This lets him start a fight with 2 gauges, enough to cast Shout on his first turn.

Ramza is level 99, and he actually has 39 Magia points in HP. I have all of his 3-star Record Spheres, but no 4 or 5-star ones, which also means no Legend Materia for him. He also has 0 Crystal Waters.

Ignis Scientia from Final Fantasy XV

Ignis Scientia (#ad) was equipped with the following:

level 1 spear, Shapeshifter (Type-0)

level 1 Sephiroth’s Glove (VII)

level 1 Lucky Dice

Ignis was equipped with the following abilities:

Wrath - 4-star rarity, support-type, rank 3/5, 6 uses, “charge the user’s Soul Break gauge” and “raise their attack”

Entrust - 5-star rarity, support-type, rank 3/5, 6 uses, “transfer the user’s Soul Break gauge to an ally”

Ignis is in this party because he can use both Wrath and Entrust. His job is to use Wrath to increase his Soul Break gauge. Once he has enough gauge, his next job is to use Entrust to give it all to Genesis.

So, yes, I actually have 0 relics for Ignis. He doesn’t have a Soul Break except his default one, which he is never going to use in this team because all his Soul Break gauges belongs to Genesis. LOL.

I have him equipped with the Battleforged Record Materia, which makes it so he gets more SB gauge whenever he uses his attack or abilities. 

Ignis:

is level 99

has 0 Magia points

has 0 Crystal Waters

has 1 3-star Record Sphere, the Warrior one

Aerith Gainsborough from Final Fantasy VII

Aeris Gainsborough (#ad) was equipped with the following:

level 1 dagger artifact, Parrying Daggers

level 1 Adamant Hat (XII)

level 1 Arctic Armlet - adds major ice resistance

Aeris was equipped with the following abilities:

Hastega - 5-star rarity, white magic-type, rank 2/5, 4 uses, grants “Haste (makes them move faster) to all allies”

Curada - 6-star rarity, white magic-type, rank 2/5, 6 uses, “restore a very large amount of HP to one ally, and automatically heal additional damage taken (up to 2000 HP in total)”

I’m pretty sure I only had Curada at rank 2 when I first tried this fight.

Aerith was equipped with the following Soul Breaks:

Awakened Arcane Soul Break (AASB), Star Pulse

Default Soul Break, Seal Evil

What matters here is her Awakening. I never use her Default Soul Break because it’s terrible. The few times I ended up using it, I always see the words “no effect”. What a waste.

Aerith has 1 Legend Materia, Daughter of Ancients, which restores 15% more HP when using white magic abilities. She has the Ace Striker Record Materia, which has the same effect as Battleforged.

Aerith:  

is level 99

has 100 Magia points in HP

has 43 Magia points in mind

has max level 1 Crystal Waters in HP, mind, resistance, magic, and defense  

has all 3-star Record Spheres

has all 4-star Record Spheres

has most of her 5-star Record Spheres

After Genesis, Aerith is my next best character. She is my main and, so far, only healer. She’s in this party to keep everyone, particularly my fave who is also my main DPS, alive.

And that’s why she’s equipped with the only accessory I have that gives major ice resistance. I need her to be able to survive attacks, so she can use Curada and her Soul Break to heal everyone.

Tyro from Final Fantasy Record Keeper

Tyro (#ad) was equipped with the following: 

level 1 rod, Wonder Wand (VII)

level 1 Tiara (VI)

level 1 Lucky Dice 

Tyro was equipped with the following abilities:

Protectga - 4-star rarity, white magic-type, rank 2/5, 4 uses, gives the party Protect, “doubling defense”

Ultra Cure - 5-star rarity, white magic-type, rank 2/5, 6 uses, “restore a very large amount of HP to one ally, and cast Esuna on them”

Tyro acts as my secondary healer, which is why I also have him equipped with the Cetra’s Destiny Record Materia. This lets him restore 20% more HP when using white magic abilities.

Tyro is equipped with the following Soul Breaks:

Unique Soul Break, Sentinel’s Grimoire - raises the party’s defense and resistance

Default Soul Break, Judgment Grimoire

His Unique Soul Break is what matters here. It’s pretty good if I actually manage to cast it.

Tyro:

is level 99 

has 0 Magia points

has 0 Crystal Waters

has all his 3-star Record Spheres

has all his 4-star Record Spheres

has 0 5-star Record Spheres

Magicite Deck

My main Magicite was a level 50 Mom Bomb (IV). Its Ultra Skill is to deal fire damage to all enemies and lower their fire resistance level by 2. For the sub Magicite, I just equipped the other ones that gave the most attack.

3-Star Ice Magicite Strategy

My main strategy was basically:

have Ignis use Wrath then, as soon as he has at least 2 gauges, use Entrust and give it all to Genesis

Ramza uses Shout to boost my fave’s attack

Aerith uses Hastega to make the party move faster 

Ramza’s Shout gives Haste too, but it takes him forever to cast this move 

I need Haste ASAP, and Aerith ends up casting Hastega before Ramza gets Shout up

Tyro uses Fabula Guardian

Genesis starts with either Blazing Quadstrike or Inferno Assault

After Ignis Entrusts his Soul Break gauge to Genesis, he’s back to using Wrath to build up his gauge again

After using Shout, Ramza uses Full Break

After using Hastega, Aerith uses Curada and targets my fave

After using Fabula Guardian, Tyro uses Protectga, but if an ally is already damaged, he uses Ultra Cure on them instead

Genesis uses his Glint+, which will bring him down to 1 HP

If timed correctly, Aerith’s Curada will heal him back to full health before the enemy decides it wants to attack him. If I fail to get the timing right, then I restart the fight

After using his Glint+, I use his Awakening then Inferno Assault then Void Destruction

Either Ramza or Tyro will activate the Mom Bomb Magicite as soon as it’s possible to do so

Aerith just keeps on using Curada. Once she has enough gauge and things are starting to look pretty dicey, I use her Awakening to get everyone back to full health and buy more time with its Last Stand

Thankfully, I actually managed to win this fight. Of course, I was super pleased and happy about this.

3-Star Ice Magicite Updated Team

Later, I decided to try the fight again. This was after I was finally able to get all of Genesis’ 5-star Record Spheres, including his Project G Creation Legend Materia. I was eager to give this fight a try again now that my fave has all of his Record Spheres.

I’ve also learned a few things since then such as how using Full Break was actually useless in Magicite fights because the enemies have such high resistance to this move. 

Genesis Rhapsodos from Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII

Genesis was equipped with the same stuff from before. But now I was able to upgrade Inferno Assault to rank 4/5, which increased its uses to 8. I’ve equipped him with his Fierce Opposition and Project G Creation Legend Materias.

Project G Creation’s effect is:

“When low on HP, restore HP to the user and enter Black Flurry Mode, temporarily raising the user’s attack a moderate amount and giving fire abilities used by the user a high chance to trigger twice. Can only trigger once per battle.”  

Ramza Beoulve from Final Fantasy Tactics

Ramza was also equipped with the same stuff from before. But I’ve replaced his Full Break with Banishing Strike - 4-star rarity, knight-type, rank 2/5, 4 uses, deals holy damage to an enemy and dispels it. 

Ignis Scientia from Final Fantasy XV

Ignis was also equipped with the same stuff from before. But I’ve replaced his Record Materia with Mako Might. This has the same effect as Dr. Mog’s Teachings.

Aerith Gainsborough from Final Fantasy VII

Aeris was also equipped with the same stuff from before. But now I’ve been able to get Curada to rank 3/5, increasing its uses to 8. I’ve also decided to give her the Cetra’s Destiny Record Materia, so she can heal more. 

Tyro from Final Fantasy Record Keeper

Tyro was also equipped with the same stuff from before. But now I decided to give him Balthier’s Sky Pirate’s Pride Record Materia, which lets him start the battle with Haste. 

Magicite Deck

For my main Magicite, I’m now using Fenrir (VI). Its Ultra Skill lets my party avoid one physical attack and also raises their earth resistance level by 2. The second skill is useless for this fight since Sealion only deals ice damage. 

For my sub Magicite, I got 2 Sealion (IX), so I could get 2 Dampen Blizzard (increases the ice resistance of the party) and Defense Boon (increases defense of the party). I also have Wing Raptor (V) and Enki (XIII). 

3-Star Ice Magicite Strategy

My new strategy was now:

Tyro begins the battle with Haste, so he’s now the first to move. I have him use Fabula Guardian.

Ignis moves next and since he now starts the fight with 2 SB gauges, I have him use Entrust to give it all to Genesis. 

Aerith uses Hastega. Ramza uses Shout. Genesis uses Glint+, which will bring him down to 1 HP. This will automatically trigger his Project G Creation Legend Materia, which heals him back to full health.

Genesis gets to move again, and I click his Awakening Soul Break (by now, Ignis has Entrusted his SB gauge to him). Before he manages to use his Awakening, Ramza finally casts Shout.

After using his Awakening, I use Inferno Assault then just keep spamming Void Destruction for massive damage. 

Aerith uses Curada, mostly on herself or Genesis. Ignis spams Wrath though he’s usually dead before he can use Entrust again. 

Ramza uses either one of his abilities. It doesn’t matter since he hardly deals any damage. If it’s available already, I click to use Fenrir though he’s usually dead before he can summon the Magicite.   

Tyro uses Ultra Cure on whoever needs it. He’s also a candidate for summoning Fenrir once it’s available for casting.

The annoying thing about Sealion is that it inflicts party-wide ice resist down then proceeds to hit my team with powerful ice moves. Aerith manages to survive since she has 100 Magia points in HP and she’s equipped with a major ice resist accessory.

Genesis survives too since he has 100 Magia points in HP. And Aerith heals any damage he takes ASAP to get him back to full health. 

The rest of the party don’t fare as well, so the fight usually ends with only Aerith and Genesis alive. 

Sometimes, I actually manage to call on Fenrir, which is awesome because it means my team will be able to evade one of Sealion’s attacks. 

While this fight annoys me because of all the damage my party ends up taking, I also actually love this fight. 

It makes me smile to see my fave dealing so much damage and removing huge chunks of Sealion’s HP at once. I love it. The battle ends quickly enough that Sealion’s damage doesn’t matter much.

So far, my fastest clear time is:

I have yet to try auto-ing this fight though. I’m not sure if it’s gonna be possible with this team. The main issue is that I need Ignis to use Entrust on Genesis, but how can I make sure he’ll do that instead of giving his Soul Break gauge to someone else?   

Notes:

pics are from Amazon.com; links shown above

screenshots are from my Final Fantasy Record Keeper game account