I stood there and looked at my party, sitting outside the entrance to the Palace of the Moon. I thought about how much more time it was going to take to get all the way back down to that final battle yet again. I just didn’t have the energy.

One thing that I’ve been wondering during the past two battles with Zeromus is this: What if I hadn’t used the kitchen knife on that black orb? What if I had saved it for the final battle? Standing there looking at my dejected party sitting outside the palace, I decided that I would give the final boss one more shot, but I would revert to a saved game just before my Groundhog Day post. In this game, I still had that kitchen knife. If that didn’t work, then I would come back here and try again with this party.

With that, I flashed back in time to my party just before the fight with the black orb. This time, instead of battling the orb, we turned to the right and headed into the final section of the dungeon. After 45 minutes of fighting down this path (for the fourth time now), we once again stood ready to battle Zeromus, this time with the all-powerful kitchen knife hanging from a belt at Edge’s side.

Status: Ready for One More Try

With our confidence at an all-time low, we hack our way once more through the boss fights over the last few levels of the Moon Palace. As we approach the end, we reverse our path, fight a few more random encounters, then teleport to the surface of the Moon.

I’m going to replenish potions, then head back in for another run to the end. I figure I can gain four to five levels with another run, and I’m hopeful that the increased power will turn the battle in our favor.

Status: Down, but not Out

Sigh. This battle went much better than the last one, but in the end Zeromus overpowered us. I’m guessing that I managed to get about 40,000 or so hit points on him, but he attacks too quickly and too powerfully for us to compensate.

He has some sort of attack that drains us of hit points even after the attack hits. He generally gets two attacks or more off for each one of Rosa’s turns, and by the time Rosa gets a turn one of our party is dead and the other four are more than half-dead. I need two Rosa’s in my party to survive this one. As we were getting pummeled so quickly, I tried switching both Rydia and Cecil to healing roles as well, but then we’re doing such pitiful damage on Zeromus.

I suppose I can dedicate Cecil and Rydia to healing as well, but that drastically reduces the amount of damage we can do, and I think we’d run out of healing power before we could take Zeromus down.

I tried a few pre-battle protective spellcasts at the beginning of the fight, but they didn’t seem to have much effect. I cast reflect on Rosa, which took hold, but didn’t seem to stop any damage once the fight started. I tried “Slow” on Zeromus, but I’m not sure that really did much either. Even “Haste” on Cecil didn’t seem to really speed him up. Ideally I’d like to cast some “Haste” and “Slow” spells once the battle begins, but I’m in trouble so quickly that there doesn’t seem to be time.

I feel like I’m missing something obvious here, something that I should be seeing that could make the difference in this battle, but I just don’t see a way to win given our current strength. I do know one thing: I sure wish I still had that kitchen knife I threw when I was fighting that other boss on this level. I have a sneaky feeling that that knife would be a great help here.

I’ll plow forward from my last save one more time, but I’m thinking about exiting the dungeon, restocking on potions, and making another run in to build up levels a bit. Maybe another four or five levels will get me through.

Status: Denied, Frustrated. So Close Yes So Far

As I lick my wounds and grind my way toward Zeromus again, I think about some strategy for this next attempt…

First, we don’t appear to start doing damage to each other until Cecil uses the crystal on Zeromus, which changes him into a form that allows us to do damage to each other. I wonder if I can have Rosa cast some defensive spells during this time. That might help cut down on the damage when the fight actually starts.

Second, I’ve been reorienting myself with the strongest of Rosa and Rydia’s spells. I can make much better use of them in this fight.

Third, I can have Edge throw stuff instead of using regular attacks. I think these will have a better chance of doing more damage.

Fourth, I can keep better track of what spells and summons do significant damage to Zeromus. Even if I lose, I should be able to learn something from this fight, so that when I come back again I’ll be in a better position to win.

After about 45 minutes, we’re once again ready to take on Zeromus. Time for Round Three!

Victory or defeat, it all hangs in the balance…

And I sure hope I win this time, because I’ve completely run out of ideas for pictures for these posts.
Status: Back Again

Oh, snap. The same damn thing happened. Slower speed didn’t help us at all, as Zeromus still bashed our party about like ragdolls. I don’t think I put more than 20,000 hits on him before we were all dead. Again.

There goes another hour of my life.

I can see a few places where I really messed up, mainly because I am so rusty from not playing. At a pivotal moment, instead of casting Rosa’s strongest healing spell, I cast her second strongest one. I think I could also have used a much better range of spells in the fight. In short, I don’t know if I’m strong enough to win this fight, but I do know that I can do much better, and I have a few ideas of things to try.

Time to grind back up to try yet again. I’ll get this guy yet.

Status: Dead Again, but Determined