[FF8] Battling the Black Widow
Raz
Black Widow in battle. I assume this *is* possible... isn't it one of
the requirements of achieving a perfect SeeD graduation score?
Anyway... I was just wondering if anyone here has managed to defeat
it, and had any strategy tips?
I've tried with reasonably low-level characters (only a few levels up
from their starting levels) but with full stocks of available magic
junctioned to Str and Mag, and Thunder junctioned to Elem-Atk where
possible. Defence is not a problem; I have no problem staying alive -
I just can't do enough damage to overcome the BW's self-repair.
My usual battle plan involves one character repeatedly summoning
Quezacotl (scoring around 1000 damage), and the other two casting
Double Thunder's (for about 300 to 500 damage all-up).
I've also tried the battle by first levelling up quite alot, building
up Quez's SumMag up to about 4000 damage per pop, but still no luck.
The Black Window doesn't have all that many HP... I'm not sure what
I'm doing wrong. Is it that it can't be hit *at all* while repairing,
and you basically have to take it out completely in one round?
Any help appreciated!
Raz
www.matrixcity.org/ff8 7 MARUCHAN points and holding
Kokiri Kid
> I've been replaying Disc 1 of late, with the aim of taking out the
> Black Widow in battle. I assume this *is* possible... isn't it one of
> the requirements of achieving a perfect SeeD graduation score?
>
> Anyway... I was just wondering if anyone here has managed to defeat
> it, and had any strategy tips?
Sounds like you have a pretty solid strategy. I was only able to kill it
by running away once and then standing my ground the next time it caught
up to me.
--
Kokiri Kid
I don't have any solution but I certainly admire the problem
Robert Neighbour
it is possible.
Except no one knows how.
Sky Renderath
Kokiri Kid model! Imagine my surprise when the Kokiri Kid model suddenly spoke
to me! Claiming to be the real Kokiri Kid, it said this:
> On Tue, 14 Mar 2000, Raz wrote:
>
> > I've been replaying Disc 1 of late, with the aim of taking out the
> > Black Widow in battle. I assume this *is* possible... isn't it one of
> > the requirements of achieving a perfect SeeD graduation score?
> >
> > Anyway... I was just wondering if anyone here has managed to defeat
> > it, and had any strategy tips?
>
> Sounds like you have a pretty solid strategy. I was only able to kill it
> by running away once and then standing my ground the next time it caught
> up to me.
I beat it recently without summoning a GF once. Of course, I had spells like
Firaga and Thundaga junctioned, so I had a bit of an unfair advantage. There
are advantages to playing the card game and refining cards...
--
_-`-_-`-_-`-_-`-_-`-_-`-_-`-_-`-_-`-_-`-_-`-_-`-_
/ Sky Render (remove the corrupt universe to mail)\
{ AIM: SkyRendrX ICQ #:2632972 }
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\_-`-_-`-_-`-_-`-_-`-_-`-_-`-_-`-_-`-_-`-_-`-_-`-_/
Tifa Clouds
>
>I've been replaying Disc 1 of late, with the aim of taking out the
>Black Widow in battle
Black Widow?? Wha?
~Finally.... a gunblade specialist.~
~Hold onto your drawers and don't piss in them.~ Cid
3 Obscure Reference (tm) pts.
1 Hexadecimal pt.
6 MARUCHAN pts.
25 EXP.
1 Pod Bracelet
It's ----TIFA----TIFA----TIFA--- or ...BUST...
Sky Renderath
Tifa Clouds model! Imagine my surprise when the Tifa Clouds model suddenly
spoke to me! Claiming to be the real Tifa Clouds, it said this:
> >Subject: [FF8] Battling the Black Widow
> >
>
> >I've been replaying Disc 1 of late, with the aim of taking out the
> >Black Widow in battle
>
> Black Widow?? Wha?
It's the commonly known name for X-ATM092. I also call it the Crab Mecha,
since it was called that in the debug room.
Terence Fergusson
writes
>I've been replaying Disc 1 of late, with the aim of taking out the
>the requirements of achieving a perfect SeeD graduation score?
>
>Anyway... I was just wondering if anyone here has managed to defeat
>it, and had any strategy tips?
>
>from their starting levels) but with full stocks of available magic
>junctioned to Str and Mag, and Thunder junctioned to Elem-Atk where
>possible. Defence is not a problem; I have no problem staying alive -
>I just can't do enough damage to overcome the BW's self-repair.
>
>My usual battle plan involves one character repeatedly summoning
>Quezacotl (scoring around 1000 damage), and the other two casting
>Double Thunder's (for about 300 to 500 damage all-up).
>
>I've also tried the battle by first levelling up quite alot, building
>up Quez's SumMag up to about 4000 damage per pop, but still no luck.
>
>The Black Window doesn't have all that many HP... I'm not sure what
>I'm doing wrong. Is it that it can't be hit *at all* while repairing,
>and you basically have to take it out completely in one round?
Okay, here's what I know.
It is virtually impossible to get a *perfect* SeeD graduation score. By
fighting X-ATM092, you are committing yourself to losing out on Conduct;
there is no way you can trash him and still get back to the beach in
less than 5 minutes.
Right, as for killing him, here's the easy part.
Run from the first battle, and then keep on running until you're right
near the end (the final few streets before the FMV would normally cut
in). At this point, let him catch up with you. (If he catches up with
you before then, you should fight him there; if you run away again,
you'll lose points in Spirit.)
Now... all you have to do, is knock him down to the ground *four* times.
That is, reduce his HP to 0 four times. It's difficult, and impossible
to do in the one or two minutes you'll have left to get a perfect
Conduct score. (I had spent hours in the Dollet Mission just building
Seifer up so that I'd have all my GFs at L100, and all third level
spells, while still keeping my main characters (Squall, Zell) at their
starting levels, so that X-ATM wouldn't have too much HP. Even then, I
couldn't defeat the Black Widow especially quickly....)
I haven't checked how much of a SeeD rank boost defeating the X-ATM
gives you (different amounts of points in each category gives you a
different boost in SeeD rank; it's by no means linear), but it should be
enough to push you over Rank 10 if you've done everything else fine.
Ciao,
Terence Fergusson
-- Student of Advanced Murphodynamics
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Well, I dunno.... didn't that seem a bit too easy?"
"Man, you and your Puritan work ethic! Get off my back, man!"
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nathan A. Alden, III
As one FAQ notes, you can junction Quezacotl to one character for summoning
(make sure you have 1000 compatibility with Quez), while the other 2 use
Thunder magic. Double spells must be cast on both non-summoners (you should
have these from Elvoret before the fight). The Widow will fall after 20%
damage, but it'll repair up to 3 times, so you've gotta be extra quick on
the trigger. Use Boost if you have it; a fast finger or a turbo gamepad can
hike up Quez's attack twofold.
In short, pile on the lightning! I could do it with 5 min to spare.
NA
"Robert Neighbour" <rneig...@bizonline.net> wrote in message
news:38ce...@195.34.192.13...
Raz
>It is virtually impossible to get a *perfect* SeeD graduation score. By
>fighting X-ATM092, you are committing yourself to losing out on Conduct;
>there is no way you can trash him and still get back to the beach in
>less than 5 minutes.
Ah yes, of course. Hmm, since its impossible to get perfect, then, I
suppose the next best thing is to determine which of the graduation
attributes have the most effect on rank, and aim to augment those =)
>Now... all you have to do, is knock him down to the ground *four* times.
[...]
Thanks for all the info Terence (and others!). I'd actually overlooked
building up the relevant GF abilities for refining higher level magic,
so that'll definitely help, and I didn't know you *have* to run from
the first encounter. Damn... that'll mean its impossible to complete
the game with zero Escapes, if that one gets registered... (one of my
other objectives for my second play-through =) )
Terence Fergusson
writes
>Terence Fergusson wrote:
>
>>It is virtually impossible to get a *perfect* SeeD graduation score. By
>>fighting X-ATM092, you are committing yourself to losing out on Conduct;
>>there is no way you can trash him and still get back to the beach in
>>less than 5 minutes.
>
>Ah yes, of course. Hmm, since its impossible to get perfect, then, I
>suppose the next best thing is to determine which of the graduation
>attributes have the most effect on rank, and aim to augment those =)
Conduct: 100 pts = 1.8 SeeD Levels
Judgement: 100 pts = 2.0 SeeD Levels
Attack: 100 pts = 2.0 SeeD Levels
Spirit: 100 pts = 2.0 SeeD Levels
Attitude: 100 pts = 2.0 SeeD Levels
(I haven't found out exactly how many SeeD Levels destroying X-ATM will
bring you up, but the above values are accurate. I have even more
detailed info about the SeeD test, but there's no point in quoting it
all here....)
Note that nuking the Black Widow is entirely possible without taking
*too* much of a hit to Conduct (you'll still get at least 1.0 SeeD
Levels for Conduct so long as you get to the beach with at least 10
minutes remaining on the clock). You should aim to have *all* of the
others at full though; there's no excuse why you shouldn't.
Perfectionists should probably ignore X-ATM092, and simply escape to get
100 pts in Conduct and Spirit (this requires getting down to the beach
while only fighting X-ATM092 *once*).
>>Now... all you have to do, is knock him down to the ground *four* times.
>[...]
>
>Thanks for all the info Terence (and others!). I'd actually overlooked
>building up the relevant GF abilities for refining higher level magic,
>so that'll definitely help, and I didn't know you *have* to run from
>the first encounter. Damn... that'll mean its impossible to complete
>the game with zero Escapes, if that one gets registered... (one of my
>other objectives for my second play-through =) )
Indeed. That one Escape is actually taken into account for your SeeD
test; you're allowed to run once during the Dollet Mission, and still
not get anything below 100 pts in Spirit. So... you've got to save up
your Escape for that first time you face the Black Widow.
(In actual fact, I just built up Seifer, which meant I could *draw* the
-ga level spells from the Galbadian Soldiers... refining is difficult
even at this early stage, since you won't have a lot of Wizard
Stones....)
As for objectives... I'd go with, as I said above, getting 100 pts in
all categories (thus, not destroying X-ATM092... although you can do
that in another game if you really want to, or have a save game just
inside the Comm Tower), and then make your way to SeeD Lv A without ever
taking a SeeD Test. Course, it's all up to you... FF8 has many
different challenges you can set yourself. Pity you *can't* do the No
Escape one, unless, of course, you *ignore* that one escape you're
*forced* to do.
Sky Render
nearly-perfect Nathan A. Alden, III model! Imagine my surprise when the Nathan
A. Alden, III model suddenly spoke to me! Claiming to be the real Nathan A.
Alden, III, it said this:
> It IS possible to fry the X-ATM092, but only after you escape from it once.
> As one FAQ notes, you can junction Quezacotl to one character for summoning
> (make sure you have 1000 compatibility with Quez), while the other 2 use
> Thunder magic. Double spells must be cast on both non-summoners (you should
> have these from Elvoret before the fight). The Widow will fall after 20%
> damage, but it'll repair up to 3 times, so you've gotta be extra quick on
> the trigger. Use Boost if you have it; a fast finger or a turbo gamepad can
> hike up Quez's attack twofold.
>
> In short, pile on the lightning! I could do it with 5 min to spare.
ANOTHER METHOD: By getting Wizard Stones from Imp cards (refining them), you
can easily get 100 Thundagas for every character. Junction those to Elem-Atk,
and you're pretty much set. Also, magic like Water junctioned to Str will help
out a lot in the battle if you do it this way. You can defeat X-ATM092 in less
than 10 minutes with this method, as long as you prepare properly. I beat him
with only physical attacks, and he fell faster than ever.
Raz
[...]
>As for objectives... I'd go with, as I said above, getting 100 pts in
>all categories (thus, not destroying X-ATM092... although you can do
>that in another game if you really want to, or have a save game just
>inside the Comm Tower), and then make your way to SeeD Lv A without ever
>taking a SeeD Test. Course, it's all up to you... FF8 has many
>different challenges you can set yourself. Pity you *can't* do the No
>Escape one, unless, of course, you *ignore* that one escape you're
>*forced* to do.
Thanks again for all the info. Think I'll play this part through a few
times and try different things =)
Farren Bronaugh
>Okay, here's what I know.
>
>fighting X-ATM092, you are committing yourself to losing out on Conduct;
>there is no way you can trash him and still get back to the beach in
>less than 5 minutes.
>
>
>Run from the first battle, and then keep on running until you're right
>near the end (the final few streets before the FMV would normally cut
>in). At this point, let him catch up with you. (If he catches up with
>you before then, you should fight him there; if you run away again,
>you'll lose points in Spirit.)
>
>to do in the one or two minutes you'll have left to get a perfect
>Conduct score. (I had spent hours in the Dollet Mission just building
>Seifer up so that I'd have all my GFs at L100, and all third level
>spells, while still keeping my main characters (Squall, Zell) at their
>starting levels, so that X-ATM wouldn't have too much HP. Even then, I
>couldn't defeat the Black Widow especially quickly....)
>
>I haven't checked how much of a SeeD rank boost defeating the X-ATM
>gives you (different amounts of points in each category gives you a
>different boost in SeeD rank; it's by no means linear), but it should be
>enough to push you over Rank 10 if you've done everything else fine.
>
finally able to kill him. At the end of it, I got 100 pts in Spirit, 100
pts in Judgment (0 seconds left on the clock when I killed Ifrit), but only
20 pts for Conduct and 0 pts for attack. Also a bonus of 100 pts and a
penalty of 80 pts (plus the HypnoCrown and the 50 AP for killing the damned
thing in the first place). Unfortunately, since I didn't have
supercharacters (just thunder, double, and Quezacotl), I wasn't able to kill
him fast enough to get to the beach with more than 10 minutes left on the
clock.
--
Farren Bronaugh
In the dragon's lair, you find ...
30 HieiXKurama Points
7 FangBoy Points
15 Obscure Reference(tm) Points
3 Snoopy Points
24.875 MARUCHAN Points
4 Smug Year 2000 Dragon Points
6 Useless Knowledge Points (from IRC)
15 IRC Maruchan (duh)
2 LaughingThundor Points (ditto)
1 Norwegian/Swede Joke Point (ditto)
A DOSFish Point Generator (currently humming softly)
Terence Fergusson
<bron...@drizzle.com> writes
0 pts for Attack = You killed less than 10 enemies in Dollet (including
Boss Battles). Sounds like you ran through the Dollet Test. You need
to kill 75 enemies or more to get 100 points.
20 pts for Conduct = You had 6 or more minutes but less than 10 minutes
left on the clock when you reached the beach. Oh, and if you take too
much time defeating X-ATM, and don't reduce him down to 0 HP, then it
doesn't count for that time; you must reduce him to 0 HP four times to
kill him. If you wait too long while he's down, he'll repair himself
anyways, and it won't count. (Which can be nasty....)
The one stat you left out is Attitude, so I take it that's where you got
the 80 pt penalty? 20 pts in Attitude is what you get if you get
anything between 10 to 14 demerits. You gain 1 demerit every time you
try to talk to someone if it's not necessary (heck, if you even talk to
Seifer at the wrong time, you get a demerit)... 2 demerits every time
you try to talk to Biggs while he's downed, 10 demerits if you didn't
'save' the dog while running from X-ATM092 (don't worry if you defeat X-
ATM *before* you meet the dog), and 20 demerits if you enter the cafe to
escape X-ATM (note that 20 demerits is enough to give you an instant 0
pts in Attitude ^_^)