Haha, too true, I'll have to make some mini TG Oskar trinkets and keep them on my keychain or something if he decides to come back (which I hope he does because I enjoyed attempting to decphyer what he had to say).

But yeah I feel kinda bad for him, but if he truely is happier without visiting this website then more power to him.

Well...

If he returns. I mean, his weakness is most definitely "Locke isn't in Dissidia, Terra is". And for the worst part, I seem to be his Kryptonite.

It's a shame, tho. Going out because of a silly thing.

Dude, you know that Michael Belmont is secretly a genius in disguise. Just by his posts he reminded me of a dyslexic Dr. Eggman. It's up to us and the Almighty Joe to take him and his crazy plans down!

Wow...I never thought you had it in you.

You quoted Mikey? And that insane idea he had?

Aww, too sad you ain't gonna be here for a while.

And just when I managed to finally find the Dragon's Spear. It was a hassle to find, but I'm pretty much finished with Julian's scenario. Later I'll show you how to kick some major booty on RS3, courtesy of this generous Saga guru.

So...you better be back!!

Usually, my path towards Red's game goes Arachne>Shuzer>Berva>MBlack or Arachne>Shuzer>MBlack>Berva. It's odd to find MBlack being the first Emperor defeated, but here's the deal:

You've left two of the toughest guys to beat, having Berva with his BervaCounter and Shuzer with his (strengthened) ClawBit. My recommendation would be to tackle Shuzer as fast as possible, since usually the more Emperors you beat, the tougher the remaining get. And if you choose to leave Shuzer for last, you'll be sorry to hear the last half of your battle will be a one-on-one (fortunately you'll change to Alkaiser on the way; that doesn't seem to help much though)

MBlack is the easiest of the Emperors, but one of the most entertaining to face (also, the BGM tune is awesome and rather unique, considering it only gets played 4!! times in the game. It's for no specific reason Battle 5, the given name of the track, is often known as the "MBlack Battle" tune) Do remember that you need to have the character drawing programs from MBlack absorb ALL of them, because you can only have ONE OctopusBoard. Arachne isn't hard, but it's annoying because of the Evil Magic spamming (she's pretty much the Evil Magic Gifted character) and her MinionStrike can be bothersome as well. I believe you can learn MinionStrike from her but it's not certain (and also it ain't as powerful as PopKnight). Shuzer isn't very tough; his best attack are ClawBit and Tornado, but when he gets into the one on one battle, he'll be a serious nuisance. Berva is tough if you don't know his weakness: anything that causes no reaction will not activate BervaCounter (OgreRun, Sliding, DSC I believe, all Gun Techs, all Magic, both GaleSlash techniques, Haze-to-Wheel, and other assorted moves) Also, remember that getting into a combo ruins the BervaCounter as long as the last attack isn't a melee one.

One final thing: if you noticed by the photos I provided you, my Red had Al-Phoenix as a move. For the last battle with MBlack, it is ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY to have it if you want Alkaiser's ultimate move (Re-Al-Phoenix); LastCrusade is a boon to have if any boss happens to surprise you (it's one of the three heal-all moves)

If anything, the battles WILL get tougher so as long as you intend to take Berva>Shuzer path. If your characters are strong enough, attempt Shuzer>Berva to make it relatively easier. Also, attempt to get to the secret BlackX base before facing Berva, and get all the treasures on the ruins where Berva appears. And I mean it.

Just giving you a quick SF update, since your strats have been helping me out a lot as of recent.

Took two of the Emperors down, two to go. My first battle was with MBlack. I was pretty leveled up but still had shitty gear, so the battle with him was kinda inbetween. His moonscraper did 190-200 damage to everyone in my party, but I got a nice Level 4 combo (Lifesprinkler/Skytwister/VermilionSand/Dark Sphere) that knocked off 11k damage, so he was down after that.

I continued leveling up, then got enough credits to do takonomics, which made everything easy-breezy thus far. I had a long trek to go through the CTC building to fight Arachne, so I used cheap skills to get along the way. One funny sidenote, Fuse managed to learn Ogrerun along the way...only because he used it on Doll doing 900 damage to her I laughed for a good 5 minutes though. The autobuffers were tougher then Arachne though, they had way more HP then I thought. Arachne went down quick after Fuse did his 5-hit DSC, doing 19k damage in that alone. Plus Dark Sphere and Sky twister combo like crazy for easy damage.

Is it going to get any tougher than this, or no?

Well...

I went with Red, Liza, Fei-On, BJ&K and Rabbit. BJ&K has Laser Cannon and Medikit (crucial for the early levels) and can learn some sweet data, Liza and Fei-On are excellent because they are pure fighters (thus double or triple the DSC; if you add Fuse and maybe Gen, you can get all 5 characters doing DSC on one single character...and one does it while on a Sentai super suit!!). Rabbit is a must: the Bit System and the evolved SatelliteBeam will make every single battle easier.

Doll is a bit meh in my opinion, but that's me; she's part gunner and part mage, and Mystic Magic leads to Shadow Magic (and hence to ShadowServant; you'll remember me when you see it). If anything, you should get around her just to do the impossible (have in one same game the two warring factions)

Warring factions, you ask? If you're savvy, you can get both the entire IRPO police officers and all Gradius vigilantes, if you know how to do it. If not, I can tell you how:

IRPO:
Fuse: either by getting him on the Arcane Magic Gift Quest (for the Shield card; highly recommended) or by getting him before battling Arachne on the CC Building
Doll: at Shingrow. Though you probably knew that
Silence: Must go with Red to Omble, the realm of Shadow. Get his shadow at the beginning of the stage.
Cotton: at the Bio Research Lab. Make sure you have Fuse or any of the IRPO officers around for the extra scene.

Gradius:
Annie or Liza: accompanies you to Shuzer. Make sure you do get Liza. Liza is supposed to appear at one of the four quests of Rune Magic Gift (I think is the Koorong one; HideRune). Annie appears when you need to get the FreedomRune at Despair prison.
Roufas: please, don't get him until you do the Rune Magic Gift Quest, since Roufas automatically joins with all males at the Tomb where the VictoryRune lies at Shrike.
Emelia: Gold Card. Baccarat. Bunny suit. 'Nuff said.

Since you're familiar with Emelia's quest, Gradius should be slightly pumped up so as long as you saved the first quest data on your system data and began a new quest with that data.

As for the Mecs, you should equip them the heavy artillery weapons or the energy-based weapons. Those that use LaserCannons as part of their "fuselage" should have an extra energy weapon (GrainCannon, HG-Cannon, and one of the 50 Power weapons at the secret weapon shop at Koorong) to get one extra "Magnify" attack. Equip suits such as the PoweredSuit, as that raises Defense and also Strength and Vitality, with some Quickness. Usually, Gloves raise Strength while Boots raise Quickness; the Boards raise Strength, Quickness, Intelligence and Will to high levels; Helmets also raise Intelligence. You need a lot of Intelligence for the artillery-based weapons, so go with Suits and Boards for it, and if necessary add a helmet or two.

As for the skills, absorb data once you are almost out of WP. It tends to maximize chances of absorption; MecDobbies, MecDobby100's and Skylabs tend to give virtually all the good data abilities, with spare others giving the rest. Try to learn stuff like MaxwellProgram and EvasionRocket; Magnify is a must for people like BJ&K and Rabbit, as it allows you to consume all your energy-weapon ammo in a single attack dealing twice the damage (think something along the lines of 2k-3k damage; you might want to waste all your ammo before or else you'll find yourself without ammo early on). If you can get your hands on LogicBomb, much better (for those pesky Mecs, like...MBLACK!! And some others...) Not sure if BJ&K provides EnergySupply, but at least try and find Rabbit its SatelliteBeam attack.

BTW...if you're wondering who's BJ&K, he's the Mec that heals you at the Cygnus. You can get him during the raid to the ship.

yeppers! Liza ended up running out of WP for the DSC but we had Roufas with Haze-to-Wheel, Annie with Rosario Impale, Emelia with boundshot and two gun, along with Rouge with his almighty MWB..

Red's scenario is pretty sweet so far! I just got to the part where everything gets open-ended. Doll has mystic magic?! I think my 5 will be Red, Gen, Rouge, Doll, and maybe rabbit? He's a pretty cool looking mec, I just don't know anything about making Mecs powerful yet, but if he has potential, I plan to use him at least vs the MBlack battles so I can learn the tiger and dragon programs.. Care for a bit of Mec insight? Because after this scenario I plan to go with T260G, then maybe Riki so good strats for using monsters would be helpful as well.

Wait...SRSLY?!?!?

Finished Emelia?

Good.

Red. NAO!!

I recall having a SilverMoon from battling DarkFairies, but those are rare beyond belief. Usually the battle consists of a DarkFairy, a Zyphon and a SwordValkyrie (by now you should figure out that the Bio Research Lab is the best place to attempt getting a SilverMoon). Got it on a Blue playthrough, though. If it helps, those battles usually leave WindShells, which are pretty much the perfect accessory because of what it gets you (along with PurpleEyes)

As for BabelCrumble, try Suplex better.

Also, why Rouge can't use the better Runes? Is he an Arcane user? There are ways to fool the game into using two opposed magics, but it's a tough process and it requires choosing the right tools and gifts for it.

As a rule of thumb, you should have EVERY human (and also Mesarthim/Dr. Nusakan) with PoweredSuits and HyperWears, and either ZeroSwords or LethalGuns, with GenjiShields and DurahanShields for shield equipment. For sword users, nothing beats ZeroSword/Katana combination unless you have either the DragonSword, GoldenLion, Kusanagi, Asura, SilverMoon, CometSword, or TwinDragon swords (or the LightSword Light Magic spell). Guns are much simpler: dual-wield LethalGuns.

Also...I swear I got a SprigganSuit from the EarthDragon once, aside from the DragonShield.

OH, I almost forgot: try, if possible, to get a LivingSword to possess all of your Human characters, regardless of whether they use a sword or not. The +10-+15 bonus to all stats except HP/WP/JP/Def is pretty nice, by only sacrificing one weapon slot (Mystics can get something similar too, but you need to equip the Glirandly naturally)

Good to know about the best techs, thats probably why I haven't gotten the best of the sword/fist techs yet. I'll have to spam some air throw more to get that babelcrumble, and yeah I have just about every other fighting tech for Liza except that and Twister I think, so once I have the DSC the fight should go easier. And it sucks that Rouge cant use the better runes, but I think VitRune will work wonders.

My equip? Mostly like you said, Zero Swords/Lethal guns for Emelia/Annie/Roufas. I managed to beat the Earthdragon so I got the Dragon Shield for Emelia as well. And I have Roufas and Rouge with powersuits and some high DEF accessories like EMES tag and Krisknife. I just wish I could get a silvermoon for Roufas so I could utlize his Samurai Sword techniques. Also, how much HP you think Diva has? My first battle I remembered doing over 50,000-60,000 damage to it before going down, you think I have a longer ways to go yet or what?

Usually, the hardest thing to get is BabelCrumble. Otherwise, I'm sure you must have learned Sliding, Suplex and GiantSwing. Get Emelia to use ReactionShot nearly every turn.

Usually, to get the best techniques, you must spam some weaker ones. Suplex opens nearly all throw attacks, with AirSwing opening Suplex. DeadEnd leads to RosarioImpale (good for Undead); Thrust leads to ThunderThrust, DeadEnd and TripleThrust; WillowBranch leads to RisingNova, WheelSlash leads to Haze to Wheel. You might want to use a Katana: ShadowCounter leads to the brutal LifeSprinkler move, plus the three components of the Beautiful Three (Blizzard, MoonlightCut, Tres Flores. The move isn't actually in game, it's merely the three separate parts of a famous SaGa move).

Also, while MegaWindBlast is a nice move, unless you get Rouge as your healer/buffer, you ain't gonna go far away. VermilionSand is a better attack than MWB, and the Space's ReverseGravity is the best cost-effective spell (deals like 1000 with only 4 JP). But he's better at using Rune spells to enhance your characters (VictoryRune for attack, the all-powerful VitalityRune for the Regen effect, and DwarfRune for some projectile attacks...I think MaginRampage counts as projectile). If you have Arcane Magic, it's better to use Shield to reduce the damage dealt.

Also, what's your equip? I don't think you'll be settled for LethalGuns and ZeroSwords, but at least someone with PoweredSuit and HyperWear is necessary by that point in the game.

All I can say is...you need just a bit more work, since the HP is nice enough for the battle, and the stats are close by.

My set up is Emelia for gunner with 2shot/reactionshot/boundshot, then Liza has some ok but not great fighting techs like Lastshot and LocomotionG (no DSC ). Annie has sub-par sword techs (like Deadend is her best one), Roufas is kinda the same (2galeslash is the best...) and Rouge has that MegaWindblast.. My characters have good equips and decent stats (avg 700 hp) but I just cant learn the best skills yet, which is frustrating to me.. You think I can still take her or should I spend some time leveling some more?

Got ReactionShot? It's often a wonderful deterrent for most of Diva's attacks. I usually have Emelia, Fuse and Roufas get the shots, and Liza doing Dream Super Combo with Annie dealing normal sword attacks. Also, try having every gunner with TwoGun; it works twice as better.