Uploaded May 2014 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
A story of men and big scary demon walls that are not men.
Challenge Conditions
-) Gjoerulv's Hardcore Mod Installed
-) Lv.1 Party Only
-) No Overflow
-) No 'Game Over' Slots
-) No Sources
-Temple of the Ancients-
This is a tricky area with some dangerous monsters for us to run away from. It's also home to the next big obstacle of the challenge run which is Demon's Gate. But first, we have to take care of Red Dragon.
With only single-target attacks, Red Dragon is fairly simple to beat by reviving whoever he strikes. We can also negate his breath attack by equipping a Fire Ring and our two Lv.2 Elemental Materia + Fire. Poison is a quick way to drain out his 32,000HP so it's basically a case of waiting him out. A fast battle speed and Haste helps this out.
Then it's Demon's Gate. This guy has no real weaknesses, can't be disabled, can use his single-target attack Rock Drop multiple times per turn, and has two hard-hitting multi-target attacks; one of which can't be dodged. Our plan is to set someone up to survive this particular attack so they can revive the others. As Barret has the highest initial HP in our team, he'll be our tank/saviour.
Demon's Gate can be Slowed and we grabbed a Chocofeather from Wutai which gives +50 Dexterity. This is a big difference as it's almost like having Haste except we can combine it with actual Haste to create a big turn advantage for our designated survivor.
Double Rock Drops can destabilise us, so we use the Confuse-Hyper trick to reduce Gate's accuracy and give us better odds of dodging those pesky attacks. We also need to nullify Cave-In otherwise we'll be wiped out every three turns; fortunately it's Ice-elemental so our Ice Ring and Elemental Materia turn this into a 'free turn' for us to recover and get some damage done.
The build-up to Demon Rush is triggered whenever Gate loses 25% of his HP so we bring him close to this and then give Barret Haste, Sadness, and Barrier to amplify his defence. We also have him Defend before Rush is used, to bring the damage dealt down to a level where he can survive. With a 100% HP boost from the HP Plus, he can survive somewhat comfortably.
He now has to revive his teammates before Rock Drops wipe him out. This used to be the dangerous part as Barret could only revive one person before Gate got a turn, and if he used Double Rock Drop at that point it'd be Game Over. But with a Chocofeather, Barret can just barely revive both before Gate gets a turn. The trade-off is that Barret doesn't have a Protect Vest to survive a critical Rush hit but this set-up is preferable overall.
And with this, Aeris of the Beard's tenure comes to an end. That Seal Evil, Fury Brand, and Planet Protector are going to be sorely missed. Especially when we fight Carry Armor :/
A story of men and big scary demon walls that are not men.
Challenge Conditions
-) Gjoerulv's Hardcore Mod Installed
-) Lv.1 Party Only
-) No Overflow
-) No 'Game Over' Slots
-) No Sources
-Temple of the Ancients-
This is a tricky area with some dangerous monsters for us to run away from. It's also home to the next big obstacle of the challenge run which is Demon's Gate. But first, we have to take care of Red Dragon.
With only single-target attacks, Red Dragon is fairly simple to beat by reviving whoever he strikes. We can also negate his breath attack by equipping a Fire Ring and our two Lv.2 Elemental Materia + Fire. Poison is a quick way to drain out his 32,000HP so it's basically a case of waiting him out. A fast battle speed and Haste helps this out.
Then it's Demon's Gate. This guy has no real weaknesses, can't be disabled, can use his single-target attack Rock Drop multiple times per turn, and has two hard-hitting multi-target attacks; one of which can't be dodged. Our plan is to set someone up to survive this particular attack so they can revive the others. As Barret has the highest initial HP in our team, he'll be our tank/saviour.
Demon's Gate can be Slowed and we grabbed a Chocofeather from Wutai which gives +50 Dexterity. This is a big difference as it's almost like having Haste except we can combine it with actual Haste to create a big turn advantage for our designated survivor.
Double Rock Drops can destabilise us, so we use the Confuse-Hyper trick to reduce Gate's accuracy and give us better odds of dodging those pesky attacks. We also need to nullify Cave-In otherwise we'll be wiped out every three turns; fortunately it's Ice-elemental so our Ice Ring and Elemental Materia turn this into a 'free turn' for us to recover and get some damage done.
The build-up to Demon Rush is triggered whenever Gate loses 25% of his HP so we bring him close to this and then give Barret Haste, Sadness, and Barrier to amplify his defence. We also have him Defend before Rush is used, to bring the damage dealt down to a level where he can survive. With a 100% HP boost from the HP Plus, he can survive somewhat comfortably.
He now has to revive his teammates before Rock Drops wipe him out. This used to be the dangerous part as Barret could only revive one person before Gate got a turn, and if he used Double Rock Drop at that point it'd be Game Over. But with a Chocofeather, Barret can just barely revive both before Gate gets a turn. The trade-off is that Barret doesn't have a Protect Vest to survive a critical Rush hit but this set-up is preferable overall.
And with this, Aeris of the Beard's tenure comes to an end. That Seal Evil, Fury Brand, and Planet Protector are going to be sorely missed. Especially when we fight Carry Armor :/
