GarlandTheGreat | FFVII - How far can I get at level 99 without healing? @GarlandTheGreat | Uploaded March 2024 | Updated October 2024, 14 hours ago.
This is something I've wanted to do for a while, and now that I have a level 99 file in the first reactor, I have a good excuse. The idea is simple. I will fight all the mandatory battles (and some optional bosses), but I am never allowed to heal or replenish my MP. Since I don't feel like playing through the whole game, I will fight all the battles in the Train Graveyard. I wanted a full party for this one, so it'll be this party for the entire challenge. This time, I'm allowed to use anything that's normally available at the time you fight a battle. The only exception is equipment and materia combinations that will heal me, like using the Water Ring against Jenova-LIFE, but stuff that nulls damage is fine.
This will be a short series with no more than five episodes. This first part covers Midgar, where I took very little damage. As of right now, I have not finished the challenge, so I do not know the answer. Please feel free to guess.
This is something I've wanted to do for a while, and now that I have a level 99 file in the first reactor, I have a good excuse. The idea is simple. I will fight all the mandatory battles (and some optional bosses), but I am never allowed to heal or replenish my MP. Since I don't feel like playing through the whole game, I will fight all the battles in the Train Graveyard. I wanted a full party for this one, so it'll be this party for the entire challenge. This time, I'm allowed to use anything that's normally available at the time you fight a battle. The only exception is equipment and materia combinations that will heal me, like using the Water Ring against Jenova-LIFE, but stuff that nulls damage is fine.
This will be a short series with no more than five episodes. This first part covers Midgar, where I took very little damage. As of right now, I have not finished the challenge, so I do not know the answer. Please feel free to guess.
![FFVII - Action Button Only Challenge [No EXP] , Part 1: Guard Scorpion](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/O-Uaufo-Nak/hqdefault.jpg "FFVII - Action Button Only Challenge [No EXP] , Part 1: Guard Scorpion
Three challenges in a row? Have I lost my mind? Yeah, it seems so. When I finished the Berserk challenge, I said I had an idea of how to make it harder, and that idea was to do it with no EXP. I know what youre thinking. That would be impossible since I had to level up for Rufus. Well, I had a solution for Rufus. I would simply level up the Elemental Materia and let Dark Nation heal me with Bolt. However, the challenge ended at the elevator because I was gonna do the same thing there, only with poison, but I forgot you cant get poisoned when you use a level 2 or 3 Elemental. Too bad.
So, I came up with this instead. Instead of always having Berserk, I am only allowed to use the action button in battle. That means I will no longer get the 50% damage boost unless I equip a Fury Ring, but I will be able to use limit breaks and have a little more control over the battles in general. All counters and Cover will work and best of all, I can even heal! Will this make things easier or will the lack of EXP make up for it? Is the challenge even possible? Lets find out.
As for this battle, it was already a close call in the Berserk challenge, but even with limit breaks, its harder here. The limit breaks simply do not make up for the extra damage from Berserk. The first attempt failed because Cloud was killed before he could use his second limit break and then Barret couldnt finish him off before the tail was raised again.
Since these battles will be longer and more varied, Im going back to one video per battle with this one, but I will upload them more frequently, roughly one per day. A few people werent happy with the sped up battles last time, so I only sped up these by 25% to avoid copyright issues.
Final Fantasy Challenge Discord: https://discord.gg/4gqshK6")
![FFVII - Action Button Only Challenge [No EXP] , Part 19: Demons Gate](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/OeNR3u_O7wo/hqdefault.jpg "FFVII - Action Button Only Challenge [No EXP] , Part 19: Demons Gate
This is one of the biggest obstacles Ive faced in a challenge in a long time. Ive had many hard battles with this guy over the years, but this one seemed nearly impossible and I had to do a lot of trial and error before I found something that worked.
Whats the big problem then? Pretty much everything. You have very little HP, you cant defend or put up Barrier, its hard to heal and your damage output is poor. You can just forget about the Berserk strategy, because it will last no longer than the second Demon Rush if you can even get that far. How do we even heal when most of the attacks will kill Aerith? Well, theres one she can survive and thats going to be the solution here. The one thing I did know for sure is that this was going to be a Great Gospel battle. Thats the only way to heal and the only way to survive here. It may seem cheap to use immunity, but it doesnt last very long, so this is still going to be a highly strategy reliant battle that requires careful planning and execution. Of course, we cant avoid the luck factor either, but thats something you have to live with in such an extreme challenge.
For my setup, Ive got Cloud with the Yoshiyuki, Aerith with the Princess Guard and Cait with whatever was his best weapon at the time. For armor, I used Diamond Bangles, the best available at the time. Cloud and Cait have double HP, which allows them to survive one rock, while Aeirth is set up with the lowest HP where she can always survive Cave-in and guarantee it fills up her limit bar. This requires Fury and a level one Elemental linked to Ice in her armor. The guys are set up to get healed by Cave-in, but that probably wasnt necessary. Aerith also has Added Effect linked to Time in her weapon to inflict Slow. Cloud has a level 4 Counter Attack for an 80% chance to counter. I know what youre thinking. Just use gameshark codes to master 8 of them, right? Well, theres a limit to how many I have room for in addition to the required stuff, and it could actually make things worse, as you would have less control over your damage output. Ill explain why thats important below.
So, how do we actually do this? First of all, Cait needs to get his first turn before Cloud to use Lucky Girl, since you absolutely must get double damage out of that Meteorain. This is needed to make sure the first Great Gospel lasts through the first Demon Rush. Meteorain will deal nearly 1800 out of the 2500 damage required to trigger the first Demon Rush, so itll happen after a couple more turns. Once Demon Rush is used, the immunity is about to wear off and this is the luck reliant part. Youll never know how many rocks hell drop before Cave-in, so you just have to hope the immunity lasts long enough, or that he doesnt drop any on Aerith. The guys can survive a rock each, and youre allowed to lose Cait, since the Yoshiyuki damage will make up for it, but you absolutely cannot lose Cloud. You also have to hope he doesnt use Cave-in before the immunity runs out, and you need to be careful not to deal more than 5000 damage to him before Cave-in, or youll trigger the next Demon Rush and die horribly.
If nothing goes wrong, Cave-in will fill up Aeriths limit break and youll get to use the second Great Gospel. This will keep you alive through the next Demon Rush and now you have to repeat the whole process. Hope Aerith doesnt get killed and make sure you dont exceed 7500 damage before the next Cave-in. If something does go wrong here and you fail to put up the final Great Gospel, you could still win with some luck. The guys can survive Demon Rush with full health and Cloud will get double damage from the Yoshiyuki if Aerith dies. It all depends on how many turns you get before Demon Rush and you definitely need Cait to take the first rock afterwards so that Cloud will get at least one attack with triple damage. This ended up being a pretty lucky battle, since the immunity always ran out at the exact right time.
Now that I made it through this one, how far do you think this challenge can go?
Final Fantasy Challenge Discord: https://discord.gg/4gqshK6")
![FFVII - Action Button Only Challenge [No EXP] , Part 12: Reno & Rude in Gongaga](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/QG3WRtpBf2M/hqdefault.jpg "FFVII - Action Button Only Challenge [No EXP] , Part 12: Reno & Rude in Gongaga
I had to go to Cosmo Canyon and pick up Added Effect and several HP Plus for this one. Rude keeps healing Reno and they are seriously dangerous, so I ended up dead. And by they, I mean Renos Turk Light. It deals more damage than Aerith can heal, so you need to hope he doesnt keep hitting her with it. She can also be healed by Fire, thanks to a mastered Elemental Materia.
Final Fantasy Challenge Discord: https://discord.gg/4gqshK6")
![FFVII - Action Button Only Challenge [No EXP] , Part 23: Jenova-DEATH](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/QPjA5b_osYk/hqdefault.jpg "FFVII - Action Button Only Challenge [No EXP] , Part 23: Jenova-DEATH
The only way this is possible without fire protection is by doing this. I had fire protection anyway, though.
Final Fantasy Challenge Discord: https://discord.gg/4gqshK6")
![FFVII - Action Button Only Challenge [No EXP] , Part 33: Diamond Weapon](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/QVhAbE_934w/hqdefault.jpg "FFVII - Action Button Only Challenge [No EXP] , Part 33: Diamond Weapon
This is the battle that put an end to the Berserk challenge, but its possible this time, since you can use both summons and limit breaks. Once you use two of either, he will enter Countdown mode and no longer be immune to physical attacks. Then you need to use three to trigger it the next time, but all of Vincents attacks add to the counter, so thats no problem. Since you can get healed by his fireballs and youre able to deal massive damage, this battle is pretty easy.
Final Fantasy Challenge Discord: https://discord.gg/4gqshK6")
