Eyes on Final Fantasy Forums > Final Fantasy: Nerds in Paradise > Final Fantasy V > Final Fantasy V Low Level 0 ABP 0% Challenge (This whole thread may contain spoilers)

[Necronopticous]

Well, it has been awhile.

I will be following along with mog07’s brief guide
http://www.gamefaqs.com/portable/gbadvance/file/930369/51909 [Section 5]

The rules I will be following are:

• Lowest Possible Levels* (2/2/2/3)
• 0 ABP Gained
• 0% Treasure Collected
• All Blue Magic Learned

* The average level of (2/2/2/3) calculates to 2.25. It is actually possible to get level average of 2 with levels (2/1/1/4) instead. Either of these choices could be considered valid fulfillments of the Lowest Possible Levels rule, however, I tend to prefer to keep my max level as low as possible, even at the expense of a small average level increase.

[Vivi22]

I'm a little confused, but how exactly does one go about never getting any ABP? I didn't know this was possible and the guide isn't very clear (unless I'm just missing the explanation somewhere).

[Necronopticous]

Party members using the Bare/Freelancer job do not gain ABP. Provided you kill off all non-Freelancers in your party before delivering the final blow none will be collected.

[Necronopticous]

I am working a lot these days, so I am not going to be able to breeze through this game like I used to be able to. My current plan is to get a lot of play in on the weekends. I started off last night on my Final Fantasy V Advance cartridge.

Introduction:

Nothing can be done about the first few goblin encounters in the intro. Took the EXP. Bartz reached level 2.

Preparation:

Bought two additional Broad Swords from Tule for Galuf and Faris, saving the dagger for Lenna, who has the least strength.

Wing Raptor:

Kept everyone in the front row and attacked every turn until he went down.

Preparation:

With everyone as thieves, stole 70 potions south of Tule. Sold 50 of them for 1000 gil; enough to afford all of the spells in Tule, excluding Libra, and a Leather Cap and Leather Shield. Set up my party configuration:

Bartz 2 Freelancer FrontRow Broad                    LeatherA
Lenna 1 Knight     BackRow  Broad  LeatherS          LeatherA
Galuf 1 Knight     BackRow  Broad  LeatherS LeatherC LeatherA
Faris 3 Black Mage BackRow  Dagger                   LeatherA

Used the free HP/MP regeneration pot in the Wind Shrine to fill up Faris’ MP, then whittled Bartz’s and Faris’ HP down below 1/8 to get them into critical status—this will make Lenna and Galuf cover them in the upcoming boss battle. Healed up Lenna and Galuf with potions and saved.

Karlabos:

Used Thunder with Faris exactly 5 times while defending with everyone else, then killed off everyone except Bartz, ending the battle with one last swipe.

[Vivi22]

Figured it'd be something like that. I guess a guide and/or knowing bosses HP would become very important in a challenge like this. I look forward to following your progress on this one. Sounds tough, but I'm sure you'll get through it.

[Zeromus_X]

Someone on YouTube did a challenge just like this, only for the SNES version. They finished with 2/1/1/4. If you get stuck it might help give you some tips:

YouTube - Broadcast Yourself.

Good luck, it looks like a fun challenge.

[Necronopticous]

Preparation:

Saved after the scene. Grabbed the World Map. Set up my party configuration:

Bartz 2 Knight B Broad  LeatherS LeatherC LeatherA
Lenna 1 Free   F Broad                    LeatherA
Galuf 1 Free   F Broad                    LeatherA
Faris 3 Black  F Dagger                   LeatherA

Siren:

Took me a few tries. Siren has 900 HP, so I used a calculator to keep track of how close I was getting to killing her. Attacked with everyone until she converted to undead mode, then started having Faris hit her with fire, and having everyone else throw potions at her. I got her with under 50 HP remaining when she went back into normal mode. Spent my only Phoenix Down on Lenna just to be safe, and offed Faris (Bartz was already dead). Defended until she went back into undead mode, and nailed her with one last potion for the win.

Preparation:

Changed everyone back to thieves in Carwen, threw them all in the back row, and hit North Mountain. Went a few screens in, to the first screen with the poison plants, and went on a stealing spree for Gold Needles (Cockatrice Common), Silver Specs (Headstone Common), and Hi-Potions (Headstone Rare). Whenever someone died, I'd take a quick trip back to Carwen and stay at the inn. Kept this up until I had about 50 Silver Specs, which I then sold all but four of. With the gil, I bought a Long Sword, a Staff, a Bronze Shield, a Bronze Helm, a Bronze Armor, a Copper Cuirass, and a Cotton Robe. I also picked up the Silence and Sleep spell, 3 Phoenix Downs, and a small assortment of restorative items. Finally, I sold all of my Potions and made my way back to the save point in the ship graveyard. Two screens up from the save point room I encountered many Undead Husks, which have Potions for their common steal, and Ethers for their rare steal. The goal here was seven Ethers, which took awhile. The odds of getting the rare steal are approximately 1/25, so it takes roughly 175 steals on average. When I hit 99 potions I took a trip to Carwen to sell them all off again. Before heading back to North Mountain, I set up my party configuration:

Bartz 2 Black B Dagger                  LeatherA Specks
Lenna 1 Blue  B Broad  BronzeS          CopperC  Specks
Galuf 1 Free  F Long   BronzeS BronzeH  BronzeA  Specks
Faris 3 White B Staff          LeatherC CottonR  Specks

Magissa & Forza:

I silenced Magissa right off the bat with Faris, and then started hammering her with attacks and keeping my party members up with Phoenix Downs when I could. Eventually, she called out Forza, who I immediately put to sleep with Bartz. Finished off Magissa with attacks, and then started having Bartz hit Forza with Fire. Forza has 850 HP, so I got my calculator back out to keep track of where his HP was at. Each Fire did about 40-44 damage, so it ended up taking all of my ethers to get him down to where he was just about dead. Once he was there, I killed everyone off except Galuf, and had him take the last swipe.

[Necronopticous]

Preparation:

Flew to Tycoon Castle and talked for the Chancellor for my Healing Staff, then changed everyone back to Thieves and headed to Walse. There are Ice Soldiers in the secret waterway behind the castle that have Mythril Swords as a common steal. I hung around here until I had about 60 of them, then I went ahead with the story until I had access to Walse Tower, where I stole two Mythril Knives from the Wyverns before setting up my party config:

Bartz 2 Free   F Mythril Sword
Lenna 1 Free   B Whip
Galuf 1 Free   F Mythril Sword
Faris 3 Knight F Mythril Sword IronS MythrilH IronA Silver

After the job change, I took Bartz, Lenna, and Galuf down to Near Fatal status in battle, healed up Faris with a potion, and saved my game.

Garula:

Just attacked until he went down—nothing to it. Lenna’s whip should keep him in Hold status for most, if not all, of the battle, and Faris will take the few hits that get through.

Preparation:

Went to Karnak and allowed myself to get thrown in jail by trying to make a purchase in the weapon shop. Once I was free, I went back to the weapon shop and went on a shopping spree with my Mythril Sword gil: 1 Mythril Hammer, 3 of each elemental rod, 4 full Mythril sets of armor, 2 full sets of the mage gear, and every spell available in the magic shop. Finally, after stocking back up on restorative items with my last few gil, I changed Bartz, Lenna, and Galuf back to Theives, and made Faris a Black Mage, rested up, and saved.

One of the encounters on the first screen with enemies below deck on the Fire-Powered ship is a single Defeater enemy. When he his killed, two Motor Trap enemies will take his place, each with an Ether as a common steal. I took the Defeaters out with a single Blizzara from Faris and then let my other characters loot the Motor Traps until I had both of their Ethers, then ran for it. If one of the Motor Traps was giving me trouble on the steal, I’d go ahead and take out the one I’d already stolen from with a Thundara to cut down on their ability to kill of my Thieves before they’d gotten the Ethers. This wasn’t an incredibly fast process, as it required a rest at the Inn usually after each battle, but I was able to grab about 16 Ethers before too long. That was enough for me. Set up my party configuration:

Bartz 2 Free  B Frost Rod MythrilS MythrilH MythrilA Mythril
Lenna 1 Free  B Frost Rod MythrilS MythrilH MythrilA Mythril
Galuf 1 Free  B Frost Rod MythrilS MythrilH MythrilA Mythril
Faris 3 Time  F HealingS  -        PlumedH  SilkR    Silver

Liquid Flame:

Used Gravity with Faris once or twice until Liquid Flame decided to take her out, then used a Frost Rod for the win while Liquid Flame was in his human form, netting me a Flame Scroll with Shiva’s name on it.

Preparation:

Backtracked to the save point after Liquid Flame. Used a Tent, changed everyone back to Thieves, and saved.

Escape From Karnak Castle:

The guide tells me to steal two Gaia Gears on the way out. This is incredibly difficult, and since this guide offers absolutely no explanation on most of its instructions I have absolutely no clue how important it is. I tried many times before finally pulling it off. I really hope that it doesn’t turn out to have been a wasted effort. My strategy was to go immediately to the chest in the northeast jail cell and continuously open it for the monster-in-a-box battle. Most of the time this chest gave me the battle I wanted, with the Sorcerer who has Gaia Gear as his rare steal, but occasionally I’d get Gigas, who I’d just immediately run from. For whatever reason, these battles are sometimes significantly harder to escape from than normal battles, and in the worst cases I’d sometimes get completely wiped out before I could escape. Eventually I got two Gaia Gears with three and a half minutes or so to spare—just enough time. I quickly set up my party config:

Bartz 2 Free F MythrilS MythrilS MythrilH MythrilA MythrilG
Lenna 1 Free F MythrilH MythrilS MythrilH MythrilA MythrilG
Galuf 1 Free F MythrilS MythrilS MythrilH MythrilA MythrilG
Faris 3 Free B Whip     MythrilS MythrilH MythrilA MythrilG

Sergeant & Karnak x 3:

Hammered on the Sergeant as quickly as I could with normal attacks until he went down. Again, the whip kept him in Hold status so he wasn’t able to sic the Karnaks on me. As soon as he went down, I defended with everyone until the Karnaks ran away, leaving me with just enough EXP to bring Lenna and Galuf to level 2, and just enough time to make it out.