Help me make FF6 more "difficult"

[Mcardy]

So, I've started playing Final Fantasy 6 since its been a damn long time since I've played the game. Remembering in the past where every single person can learn every damn spell due to the Esper system, I figured I would limit the amount of magic a person could use based on their defined "class"; yet I am having problems coming up with a way that makes each character unique, and thus make the game difficult because not everyone has access to Cure3/Life2.

Any suggestions towards my playstyle would be helpful. I haven't got to the Esper part yet, so I am still in the thought process, but I am starting with this as a basis:

Since Espers give multiple spells, it might not be possible to let someone learn spells without gaining others, but I'm going for trying to make each character at least unique in the spells they are capable of learning, at the very least through a guideline process.

Terra (Esper) - I believe she should can learn all spells through Espers

Locke (Thief) - About the only thing I can think of is Haste/Slow (See Shadow)

Edgar (Mechanist) - Since he knows how machines operate, I am thinking of limiting him to Bolt, and Poison (Since he has Bioblaster as a Tool, and Ramuh teaches both)

Sabin (Monk) - ??? Perhaps only the low-tier cure spells, since he is a monk.

Shadow (Ninja) - All Debuff/Status spells, since he is a Ninja

Celes (Magic Knight) - I am also feeling she should be able to learn every spell since she was infused with magic.

Cyan (Samurai) - ??? Not sure. Maybe Quick only so he can get his Bushido on?

Gau (Wild Boy) - No Magic. He can use it through Rage

Mog (Moogle) - He has dance, but I think he should learn some low-tier magic, perhaps?

Setzer (Gambler) - Honestly, this is the hardest one since "Slot" is extremely worthless, and without magic he'd be pretty useless.

Strago (Blue Mage) - With his innate magic, I'd be fine with having him only use Blue Magic, but I wonder if that would even make him useful.

Relm (Artist) - Relm has the highest Magic stat in the game, but I am unsure of the "specialty" she should have if I even allow her to use magic. Perhaps pocket healer since no one else here fits the bill.

Gogo (Mime) - No magic

Umaro (AI Controlled Beast Monster) - No magic

ANY suggestion would be helpful here. The game is extremely easy with the way its systems work and I want to (eventually) make areas like Kefka's Tower more difficult by having to choose between people who have specific strengths and weaknesses. Any equipment that teaches spells (Like the Fire Shield/Force Shield/Illumina/etc) will not be equipable by person who cannot learn that spell.

I am essentially looking to make each character a distinct class, a Healer, Damage Blaster, Debuffer, Red Mage (Low level of all), etc. Its obvious Shadow should be the Status magic guy, but I am having trouble figuring out the nuance of the other people.

I really wish this game was more difficult, and that the Genji Glove/Offering BS didn't exist. Its way too easy to absolutely destroy everything in your path in this game, help me make it harder!

(And if any of you are curious as to the results, I can and am willing to let you know how it goes.)

[Riotsword]

Re: Help me make FF6 more "difficult"

Terra - All magic is fine. Her lineage gives her a sort of connection to all of Esperkind.

Locke - Haste, Haste2, Slow, Slow2, Stop, Reflect, Float, Quick. Time Magic fits him well. Feel free to only use Haste and Slow spells for balance since he's also a good attacker.

Edgar - Haste2, Slow2, Demi, Quarter, Scan. If anyone's played or seen FFXII's International Zodiac Job System, Machinists get these spells. They also get Decoy and Oil, but those don't exist here.

Sabin - Cure3, Life, Life2, Safe, Shell. Monks get these in IZJS too. Of course, there's a lot of hoops to jump through, so you can go with none of these at all, or make a huge requirement for each spell, such as being level 75+ or something. Make sure he doesn't gain any Magic Power on level up (easy if he's not equipping Magicite) and those spells shouldn't be terribly effective.

Shadow - Vanish, Quick, Death. These spells have the most Ninja flavor to them, but in honesty, he doesn't need them when he has those throwable items that produce magic-like effects. You'll probably just be throwing Shuriken most of the time anyway.

Celes - All healing Magic, Ice, Ice2, Ice3, Safe, Shell. Celes always seemed like a Paladin to me. Of course, she learns most of these and other spells not listed here on her level-ups, so it's probably all right to use those too.

Cyan - No spells. Cyan's pretty much a physical attacker through and through and any spells you'd teach him would have little effect anyway.

Gau - No spells.

Mog - Cure, Cure2, Life, Regen, Remedy. Moogles usually are tied to healing magic for some reason in the series. This spell set-up's convenient since you only need to equip Seraph and learn all the spells he needs.

Setzer - Poison, Bio, Break, Confuse, Mute, Sleep, Blind, Imp. I'd give him the status spells to supplement his so-so attack power and mediocre ability.

-OR-

Setzer - Cure, Cure2, Antidote, Life, Fire, Fire2, Ice, Ice2, Bolt, Bolt2, Poison, Drain, Scan, Haste, Slow, Safe, Shell, Reflect, Berserk, Sleep, Blind, Mute. Typical Red Mage set-up.

Strago - All Attack spells, Rasp, Osmose. He's about the closest to a dedicated Wizard this game's cast has.

Relm - All Healing spells, Pearl, Safe, Shell, Dispel. Relm as a White Mage might be the best way to use her high Magic Power without exploiting it to steamroll monsters.

Gogo - Just Mimic everyone.

Umaro - Ultima. Nah, doesn't matter.

[Loki]

Re: Help me make FF6 more "difficult"

Or just limit Espers to natural magic users. Or just do a natural magic run. Seems like you're making things needlessly complicated.

[LunarWingCloud]

Re: Help me make FF6 more "difficult"

Here's something simple: Don't use healing items inside dungeon-like areas. Ever.

[Cutter De Blanc]

Re: Help me make FF6 more "difficult"

Run from most if not all random battles.

Also, use Cyan.

[Hrafn]

Re: Help me make FF6 more "difficult"

Or just limit Espers to natural magic users. Or just do a natural magic run. Seems like you're making things needlessly complicated.

I concur. You're going to spend as much time figuring out who gets what as you do using them in battle at this rate.

But if you do go this route, Shadow needs to learn Ultima. What kind of ninja would he be without possessing real Ultima-te power?





That was terrible. I apologize.

[Mcardy]

Re: Help me make FF6 more "difficult"

A natural magic run would be pretty boring, all the characters would be pretty much worthless except Terra/Celes. The whole point of it was to give people some spells so they aren't using the attack command every time.

It isn't complicated to say "X is limited to these spells." This isn't something difficult to keep track of.

Eh, maybe I'll just do it on the fly and see how it turns out.

Thanks Riot, though I think I'm going to give Edgar Bolt as well as those spells since Machinists should be able to tear through machines.

[John Mora]

Re: Help me make FF6 more "difficult"

Or you could just take on Kefka without rounding up any extra party members.

[Mcardy]

Re: Help me make FF6 more "difficult"

Did that way back in the day.

[Funk]

Re: Help me make FF6 more "difficult"

Gwommy used to take just three party members into the final dungeon. I had fun watching him do that.

[John Mora]

Re: Help me make FF6 more "difficult"

Did that way back in the day.

Then maybe, just maybe, you've wrung every last bit of difficulty from the game.

[Rodak]

Re: Help me make FF6 more "difficult"

Help me make FF6 more "difficult"

Play it standing on your head in a bucket of treacle.

That makes EVERYTHING more difficult!

[Magus]

Re: Help me make FF6 more "difficult"

Don't wait for Shadow.

Don't recruit Gogo or Umaro.

Play FFV Advance.

[John Mora]

Re: Help me make FF6 more "difficult"

Play FFV Advance.

[Magus]

Re: Help me make FF6 more "difficult"

Man, you're easier to bait than Perv.