Crosswords
Tuesday: 9:07
Wednesday: 9:33

Puzzles are not progressing normally as the week goes on, or at least Monday-Wednesday are all around the same time (I didn't mention it at the time, but Monday was abnormally hard for its slot). A good deal of the extra time today can be attributed to the gimmick, which used a lot of cross-referenced clues.

I took a break from FF4 to run through FF9 again. I wanted to do the super-chocobo run. Using the fast-mode assist, you can run super-fast around with your chocobo in the hot-cold game and dig super-quick as well, yet the counter runs down at normal speed. I was getting limit bonuses almost every game. Initially, I was thinking I'd get a Robe of Lords just playing in the Forest, but I ran out of Chocographs to find and wanted to progress. I did have enough points for a Robe of Lords before the Desert Palace, though. I've upgraded chocobos to Ocean-walking pre-Desert Palace before (you can't get Sky until you acquire the airship), but early Robe of Lords is mighty sweet, especially against the Dragons at Mt. Gulag (it negates Wind damage, and the Dragons like to cast Twister. I usually stick an Octagon Rod on Vivi, who is a required to be in your party for the area. Octagon Rod absorbs Wind damage (and also teaches the -ga level elemental spells). In the latest run, all my other guys got killed in one of the battles, and they'd almost die again right away if I took time to revive them, but the Dragons constantly healed Vivi with their spells, so he took them down alone with physical attacks, very very slowly (a similar thing sometimes happens against the Earth Temple boss when you're wearing Gaea Gear, allowing you time to steal). But it's nice to keep everyone alive for the Exp. and AP boost. Quina can actually learn Twister if you manage to eat one.). Other Chocographs as well as Dead Pepper locations get you some other stuff way early, like Freya's and Dagger's best weapons, plus a really good one for Amarant, White Robe (Holy to Eiko), Black Robe (Flare to Vivi), and Light Robe (Half MP for everyone) and famous Genji Armor.

Still, the run was a little sloppy. I'm up to Hades in the last area, so I'm well past the point of no return. I missed a little early sidequest stuff in Alexandria, I missed two items in the Desert Palace, and there's no way to go back and get them again. Additionally, one of the items I missed there could have been bought, but now that area is blocked off. It's the only item that teaches Vivi Death. I'm past the point where Death is useful (Death can work on the Mt. Gulag Dragons, for one), but I like to get everything, as I've said. I might get a Rank-S treasure hunter after I finish Memoria, but I'm not sure (like it matters). I've had a very encounter-light run as well. I did the entire Desert Palace (although I probably saved a minute missing those items) with no encounters. I didn't turn off encounters, I just didn't have any. To be fair, I hate the encounters in Desert Palace, since Dagger is randomly useless at times, and there are annoying guys who switch weakness between physical attacks and magic. There's no bonus for a full bestiary, so I don't care too much. Everyone there has a level multiple of 5, so you can get Lvl-5 Death and win every encounter with Quina, but I like to take him/her with Zidane to get Frogs at the Qu Marsh on the Forgotten Continent.

I did go kinda deep on the card game and get some rare ones, but that especially doesn't matter. At all. There isn't even an achievement attached to the cards other than playing 10 games, which triggers once. It doesn't add to your Treasure Rank, and they doesn't get you the kind of thing that the cards get you in FF8, where they are crucial for maxing out (and some hard-to-manipulate rule variations can fuck everything up). At least the card game in FF8 is pretty easy to figure out. I'm still pretty confused about how the Tetra Master cards work, but you can get a few strong ones through chocographs and do well enough. I did some Hippaul racing too (though not enough to gain the achievement), which can get some rare cards. And I fought the optional Tantarian boss (though I cheated with battle assist), so my game wasn't entirely without swag. I did the friendly monster quest, so I could probably take on Ozma (like it matters), though ideally I'd like to get Angel Snack and Magic Hammer first (annoying at this point in the game, but I've done it before). Neither of these is 100% required, depending on your strategy. Angel Snack is mostly useful in removing Mini status from multiple characters at once. But Mini doesn't matter for Freya's Dragon Crest, which will deal 9999 every time once I kill a hundred Dragons (I've got ~50 now), and it's also not too relevant for your spell-jammers. Magic Hammer is an alternate kill, where you try to take all of Ozma's MP, which just kittens him. It's more of a "might as well" strategy, since after Zidane, Eiko, and Freya, your 4th character doesn't matter too much.

But the really bad thing is that I sold off some items I should have kept, and it's impossible to go back and buy them again. You need early stuff like Mythril Rod and Mythril Sword to synth for great items at the Black Mage Village at the endgame, but nobody sells them anymore. It's especially stupid because I've made this exact mistake many many times. The bookkeeping needed to avoid this is minimal, so there's not much of an excuse. I could forget all this and finish within a few hours. My characters are strong and leveled, but I really feel like giving it another go.