Saving is Important

So I was playing Final Fantasy X the other night. I was doing some level grinding in the Omega Ruins for the first time, after feeling like I was ready due to obtaining Caladbolg, Nirvana, and all the summons.

…before I continue, for those of you who don’t know:

• The Omega Ruins is an optional dungeon in the game and is filled with powerful fiends, although not nearly as difficult as some of the stuff that the Monster Arena holds.
• Caladbolg is Tidus’ ultimate weapon, and Nirvana is Yuna’s.
• Yes, all the summons. It wasn’t at all difficult to obtain the Magus Sisters.

If you knew all that, great. Moving on.

So I was level grinding. Things were going rather smoothly; I had made it to the point in the dungeon where you have to defeat Ultima Weapon to move to the sub-basement of the ruins. Knocked him out no sweat after stealing 30 Doors to Tomorrow. I knew in the next section I would be ambushed by Great Marlboros, so I decided to make a run back to the start. I had pretty good armor on my party, but NOTHING that had No Encounters, so it wouldn’t be an easy trip.

I was starting to feel good about how well I was filling up the Sphere Grid. Kimahri moved into Auron’s section to get more defense and strength, while Lulu had learned Flare and Osmose (despite the fact that her spells only used 1 MP at a time…). I teleported Tidus over to Wakka’s section because I felt his strength was lacking. All in all, about a couple hours or so worth of effort, stolen items (Rikku’s Auto-Haste targe helped here), and a few close calls.

I get halfway back, and as I feared, I’m ambushed by a Great Marlboro. And again, before I continue, I should let anyone who doesn’t know that Great Marlboros are a pain in the ass. Not only are they incredibly difficult to defeat, but they always ambush you (except if one of your active party members has a weapon with First Strike) and start the battle with “Putrid Breath”. This attack puts Poison, Confusion, Darkness, Silence, and Berserk on your entire party. Unless you have armor that wards or makes you immune to these effects, the Great Marlboro doesn’t even have to touch you; your party members will uncontrollably attack themselves, and even if they miss, lose health anyway. And there’ll be virtually nothing you can do about it.

I got cocky, though. Kimahri survived the attack without Confusion and Berserk and was able to activate Auto-Med with a Remedy to bring his status back to normal. I switched him out for Yuna, healed everyone as best as I could, and got to work pounding the Great Marlboro for items with Rikku. The battle was tough, but I figured I’d come out on top and decided it might be a good idea to capture this thing for the Monster Arena.

That, in retrospect, was a terrible decision.

Auron had the capturing weapon and was clean, so I switched him in and started attacking. As if it could read my mind, the fiend used Putrid Breath again. None of my active characters had Berserk or Confuse Ward on, so they all started flailing wildly at both themselves and the beast. Yuna actually landed a few hits, but she might as well have been swinging a wet noodle.

And then, after about 15 seconds, Game Over.

I’ll never get those hours back.

Ever had an experience like that?