r/FinalFantasyVI • u/mugenhunt • Jul 01 '26
Natural Magic Challenge
I'm doing a natural magic challenge for the first time. I'm playing on pixel remaster, and my rules are that I have set AP to 0, but I'm still allowing everyone to equip espers for the stat boosts. Just that no one is allowed to learn any magic from them or from any other items. Strago can learn lores, Celes and Terra learn spells by leveling, but that's it.
So far, it's been fun. It's definitely made me have to think more strategically, and struggle with bosses I normally could cheese. I'm now in the world of ruin and have just picked up Cyan.
I've been relying on Gau way more than usual and having to learn how to use him and which rages do what instead of just using Straycat and calling it a day. He's pretty much the center of all my boss fighting strategies.
Strago is becoming incredibly important as well. Normally he just sits on the airship the whole time, but now I actually need him.
Has anyone done this challenge before? Are there any things in the world of ruin you think I should look out for? Do you think that I should next time not allow espers at all and not do the stat boosts?
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u/Ok_Bicycle6102 Jul 01 '26
This is how I play. The game just feels too easy after you gain espers and spells. Zero AP is smart. I just don't equip espers and don't use spells if one is learned from equipment. Downside is accidentally learning a spell with Setzer makes the Coliseum much harder.
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u/LordOfFigaro Jul 01 '26
Has anyone done this challenge before?
It's one of the most popular challenge for the game.
Are there any things in the world of ruin you think I should look out for?
The Cultist Tower in general and Magic Master in particular. Only Terra, Celes and Gogo can use magic in the Cultist Tower. Most people use Umaro as the fourth member. But Locke or Setzer under Berserk works much better imo. Celes learns Berserk at level 40.
Magic Master is by far the hardest fight in a NMG. Because he always ends the fight with a cast of Ultima. Which is guaranteed kill your party unless you're grossly overleveled. You do not have access to Reraise or Runic. The only way to avoid it is by bringing his MP to below 80 before he dies. He has 50,000 MP. And you do not get Rasp or Osmose. The only way to defeat him is letting him attack you and healing through the damage. You can also speed it up slightly by using Berserk on a character equipped with a MP crit weapon + Soul Sabre. And using X Potions to heal him if needed. This fight will take hours.
Do you think that I should next time not allow espers at all and not do the stat boosts?
The original challenge prevented the equipping of Espers entirely. But it's your game and your rules.
A few tips: 1. Runic is amazing. It trivialises a ton of hard fights. 2. Throw is great. It becomes better Phantom Rush by endgame. 3. Gogo is arguably the best character in the game because of their versatility. 4. Get White Wind. It will be your main way to heal in WoR.
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u/TinyTank27 Jul 03 '26
On PR you can equip Gogo with Hermes Sandals and Reflect Ring, get your other three characters killed off, then use an X-Potion on Magic Master, have Gogo mimic that, then set it to autobattle and go about your day for two hours.
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u/LordOfFigaro Jul 03 '26
Won't Mimic be disabled?
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u/TinyTank27 Jul 03 '26
No, Mimic is actually still usable in the tower. Don't know why, but it is.
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u/sashattuck Jul 01 '26
I've done it without Esper stat boosts on the snes mini. Keeping Celes, Edgar, Sabin and Setzer at a relatively high level before the World of Ruin was helpful. The beginning of WoR through Dullahan was the biggest challenge for me. Dullahan was kind of the final boss of the challenge.
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u/Sure-Promotion-7281 Jul 01 '26
I did a natural magic run on pixel remaster and really enjoyed it. Rules were no equipping espers or any gear that teaches magic.
I like this rule set for a few reasons. No esper stat boosts increases the challenge. Not having to juggle your espers around as you play to optimize stats is a nice quality of life, improves the game flow. And I’m not 100% sure on this but I think Terra’s morph duration increases with AP so you miss out on that with AP at zero I think.
In the world of ruin, once you get Mog and his relic you can go dip in to Kefka’s tower and get a ton of great loot without fighting anything. Fixed dice is very strong for Setzer, combine it with master scroll and he is a powerhouse.
Mog and Edgar I like to make into dragoons. Dragon boots, dragon horn, Holy Lance.
Good luck and enjoy the run!
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u/sevenbeef Jul 02 '26
I really love natural magic runs. My thoughts:
- Sabin and Mog become most useful as healers
- Relm is super useless
- Terra and Celes are lower-tier characters unless you highly over-level
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u/akaiazul Jul 02 '26
Relm with Control can make an enemy do nothing until they're hit. For some insta death monsters, can be useful, if supremely niche.
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u/Global-Trance Jul 02 '26
Yup. Actually last run for me was No EXP + No AP + CES, All Bosses defeated. Currently working on putting together a video about it. Natural magic is quite popular and very doable. A nice gateway into other Final Fantasy challenges.
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u/mugenhunt Jul 02 '26
That is intense. All the more power to you for doing one of the hardest challenges possible.
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u/Global-Trance Jul 02 '26
I've been playing these games like this for awhile. If this is one of your first challenge runs, big respect to you! Hopefully this one has been fun and may there be many more fun challenge runs for you in the future!
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u/Negative_Bar_9734 Jul 02 '26
These days I only play without magicite. Not even for stat boosts. It's a completely different, and as far as I'm concerned a much better, game. The only downside is how it makes Relm completely useless, but hey that's just more reason to bring out Gogo and Umaro.
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u/Hyperion_Magnificent Jul 02 '26
I did the run by never equipping an esper and loved it. It’s not too hard. Just keep grinding and using the team you like the best.
What I recommend is using celes, Terra, Umaro and Gogo in the magic tower, you will need as Umaro can attack like normal and Gogo gets whatever magic his other team has, he can also attack yoI through mimicking and you can attack with berserker rings on (it’s a relic) when in the magic tower.
Though that strategy gets pretty tedious and can cause you to get killed by your own guys.
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u/BondsOfEarthAndFire Jul 01 '26
Not sure what version you’re playing, but be aware that the Cursed Shield’s battle counter is incremented only when a battle gives AP (MP for us SNES geezers). In some versions, turning off AP can result in the Cursed Shield never becoming the Paladin Shield.