Chronological order? What chronological order? Sigh. Honestly, I’d love to start from the beginning, but if I do that, I’ll probably end up not being able to post here for a long time again. Like I said in this post, I’m trying to go through my backlog of drafts and notes so I could turn them all into proper articles and post them already as soon as possible.
So I’ll talk about when I started playing the Dissidia Final Fantasy: Opera Omnia mobile game in another post. It was definitely a while ago though. Yeah, I have all sorts of notes and drafts for various topics, and a lot of them are from several months ago.
My backlog of drafts and notes is no joke. Being able to post this one is hardly going to make a dent in said backlog. But it’s a start. And, hopefully, I can post many more to at least decrease the number even if it’s just little by little.
Favorite Final Fantasy Character
Anyway, back to the actual topic of this post - Cloud Strife from Final Fantasy VII (#ad) is one of my favorite characters in DFFOO. Not number 1 though. Currently, that title goes to Zack Fair. I’d say Cloud is more number 2 at the moment. Actually, now that I think about it, he’s consistently been number 2, so far. But, again, not the actual topic of this post, so let’s talk about that some other time.Sphere System in DFFOO
However, there is a reason I started by saying I like Cloud. It’s because spheres aren’t really required in this game. They’re more of a luxury, and they’re a one-time use. You can’t get them back after giving them to a character. You could overwrite the sphere if you want to give the character a new one, but that still means the original sphere will be lost. Which is why the ideal thing to do is to either hoard them, or give them to your faves, or at least someone you’re likely to use as often as possible.
Well, for me, Cloud is a fave in this game, and I try to use him whenever I can, so I wanted to give him spheres.
Cloud Sphere Slots
Cloud can equip A (Attack), D (Support), and E (Jamming) spheres.
I actually looked through a list of currently available spheres to see which ones I could possibly give to Cloud.
A Spheres for Cloud
I thought Cloud should equip either an attack up (like Tifa Lockhart’s (from Final Fantasy VII) Critical Attack Long, which raises attack by 10% for 6 turns when dealing a critical hit) or max brave up (like Ace’s (from Final Fantasy Type-0) Break Hit Boost Long, which raises max brave by 10% for 6 turns when breaking target or attacking a broken target) sphere.
In the end, I gave Agrias Oaks’s (from Final Fantasy Tactics) Full HP Boost A sphere to Cloud. It raises his max brave by 10% when his HP is max.
Would I have been better off giving him an attack up A sphere instead? I don’t know. I do know that I like seeing him get such a high max brave (I farmed him triple attack 108 and max brave 330 artifacts, too. Yeah, I like him enough to go through such trouble, and it was definitely a lot of trouble. Took days of farming before I could get those artifacts for him) even when he’s not one of the synergy characters. Besides, I feel he already hits hard enough anyway.
Do I regret giving him Agrias’ sphere? Well, really, there’s no point regretting it since it’s done already, and I can’t change what has already been done. I mean, I could give him another A sphere, but that would mean losing Agrias’ sphere, and I’d rather not do that. Besides, I think the sphere works well enough on him anyway. Or is that just me trying to justify what I’ve done? Honestly, I don’t know.
So far, the only issue I’ve really encountered with this sphere is with the “when HP is max part”. Cloud has no way of healing himself. So when an enemy decides to deal an HP attack and he gets hit, then he’ll lose the effect of Agrias’ sphere. And he won’t be able to get it back until the party’s healer can bring him back to full health.
From my experience, that usually only lasts for like 1 or 2 turns. Plus, enemies don’t HP attack every turn. So, for the most part, I have no problems keeping the effect of Agrias’ sphere active for Cloud.
If it meant not losing Agrias’ sphere, would I give Cloud a different sphere? Hmm, that’s actually a hard question. Cloud has had this sphere ever since I purpled Agrias, which was during the time her Ex showed up on a banner alongside Faris’. That seems like forever ago.
I think I got way too used to Cloud having this sphere. So I don’t know if I want to change it and give him something else. Maybe if I feel like he’s not dealing enough damage anymore, I might want to give him an attack up sphere instead. But, for now, I think he’s still doing pretty well with this sphere.
E Spheres for Cloud
Yeah, the D sphere slot should have been next, but there’s a reason I’m starting with the E slot instead. That reason is because Cloud already has an E sphere, but he still has no D sphere.
There’s a lot of E spheres, but I feel that a lot of them aren’t really a good fit for Cloud.
Let’s take the Emperor’s Debuff Success Attack Long sphere, for instance. It raises attack by 10% for 6 turns after inflicting a debuff. The only way for Cloud to inflict a debuff is for him to paralyze an enemy.
But you only get a guaranteed paralyze after using his second skill, Finishing Touch. The rest of the time, it’s up to RNG whether you can paralyze an enemy with Cross Slash.
The sphere’s effect does last for 6 turns, but I still feel it’s a bit too unreliable and that something like this would be better on another character, particularly ones who can easily inflict debuffs with most, if not all, of their skills, so the sphere can be active all the time.
I considered giving him spheres like:
- Vincent’s Full HP Critical Attack Down - inflict 30% attack down for 6 turns when HP is max and a critical hit occurs
- Fran’s Full HP Break Hit Boost Down - inflict 30% max brave down for 6 turns when HP is max and breaking target or attacking a broken target
- Ultimecia’s Full HP Critical Guard Down - inflict 30% defense down for 6 turns when HP is max and a critical hit occurs
- Setzer’s Full HP Critical Speed Down - inflict 20% speed down for 6 turns when HP is max and a critical hit occurs
- Tidus’ Full HP Break Hit Speed Down - inflict 20% speed down for 6 turns when HP is max and breaking a target or attacking a broken target
to give him even more utility.
But I couldn’t quite decide which one would be best for him. Perhaps the speed down ones were the best since he could be quite slow.
In the end, I decided to give him Faris’ Full HP Critical Poison All sphere, which lowers enemy brave by 30% of their initial brave at the start of their turn for 6 turns when HP is max and a critical hit occurs.
This sphere’s poison is invisible, meaning you won’t see it as a debuff on the enemy. It also poisons all the enemies in a wave even if Cloud only uses his Cross Slash, Finishing Touch, Critical Crush, or HP+.
30% of an enemy’s initial brave really isn’t that much, but it still pleases me to see the poison effect happening anyway. And I like how all the enemies are poisoned even if Cloud only attacks one of them.
So, would I have been better off giving him the other spheres I’ve been considering like Setzer’s or Ultimecia’s? Well, I don’t know about that. I do know that all those other spheres inflict a visible debuff on the enemy, so they could conflict with other characters who already give those debuffs. Or those other characters could inflict a higher version of a debuff, which would overwrite the sphere’s weaker version.
Do I regret giving Faris’ sphere to Cloud? Nope. When I was looking through the list of available E spheres and trying to decide which one was best to give to Cloud, Faris’ sphere was the one that really caught my attention.
Admittedly, I had the notion that the 30% poison would be a lot more, but, well, the same could be said for the other spheres anyway. The fact is they’re really not necessary for anyone to have. They just give some added utility, which is good and which was what I really wanted for Cloud anyway.
Just like with Agrias’ sphere, the only issue I’ve really encountered with this one is with the “when HP is max” part. So, just like with Agrias’ sphere, I’d need to wait 1 or 2 turns for the party’s healer to get Cloud back to max HP so he can get back to poisoning the enemies again. But the sphere’s effect lasts for 6 turns, so it’s really not much of an issue at all.
If it meant not losing Faris’ sphere, would I give Cloud a different sphere? Hmm, well, I just looked through the list of currently available E spheres (there were a number of new ones added since I last checked), and I’m not really seeing anything that seems to be better than Faris’. I think I’ll be sticking with this one for Cloud.
D Spheres for Cloud
Like I said, I don’t have a D sphere for Cloud yet although I’m hoping to be able to give him one soon, so I can finally complete all his sphere slots.
There’s a lot of D spheres, but a lot aren’t good for Cloud at all, particularly the ones that require the user to “grant a buff”. Cloud doesn’t grant any buffs, so those kinds of spheres are automatically out of the question for him.
Here are the list of D spheres that I’m considering for him:
- Sazh’s Critical Attack All Long - raises party’s attack by 5% for 6 turns when dealing a critical hit
5% attack isn’t that much, but it’s for the entire party, and it seems to be the norm for D spheres anyway. Cloud has no trouble dealing critical hits, so he should have no problems keeping this sphere active. Of course, the problem is that I would have to pull for Sazh’s Ex, and I’m not sure yet if I want to purple him as I haven’t even taken the time to really look at his updated kit.
- Wakka’s Buff Attack Boost All 5 - raises party attack and max brave by 5% when 5 or more buffs are active
If I’m understanding this correctly, the “5 or more active buffs” refers to the entire party, so as long as there are 5 or more buffs, this sphere’s effect should activate. Besides, Cloud himself already gets a lot of buffs, so it should be easy enough for him to use this sphere. Plus, even if the increase is only 5%, this one actually raises both attack and max brave, which is great. It doesn’t even have a turn duration, meaning it will last as long as there are 5 or more buffs.
Just like with Sazh though, I would have to pull for Wakka’s Ex. Apart from not being sure if I want to use scarce ingots to purple him (assuming I even get his Ex in the first place), his Ex shows up with Aerith’s, if I’m remembering correctly. The problem here is that I already have Aerith’s Ex, so I can’t really justify using gems on this banner. Knowing my luck, I’d just end up with Aerith’s entire kit even though I already have her fully MLB.
- Ramza’s Buff Base Boost All 3 - raises party initial brave and max brave by 5% when 3 or more buffs are active
It’s similar to Wakka’s sphere, but this one only requires 3 or more active buffs. This one also increases the party’s initial brave and max brave as opposed to attack and max brave. Is it better to raise initial brave or attack? I guess attack would be better.
But there’s nothing wrong with raising initial brave. For instance, Zack will certainly benefit from an increase in initial brave since his Ex’s barrier shield is based off his initial brave.
At the moment, I’m leaning towards this sphere, primarily because I already have Ramza’s Ex, so at least I don’t need to pull for it. I do need to MLB it though.
- Cait Sith’s Buff Boost All 3 - raises party max brave by 5% when 3 or more buffs are active
This is similar to Ramza’s sphere, but this one only raises one stat. This is another option for Cloud, like in case I decide not to purple Ramza’s sphere or something, because I already have Cait’s Ex. Ended up with like 3 copies of this thing while trying (and failing) to pull for Balthier’s Ex.
Currently, I have Cait at Ex+ 0/3. But I don’t have any plans of purpling him anytime soon, especially since I managed to lock him on to Dimensions’ End Entropy Tier 5 in his current state. At the moment, I have a lot of other supports to use, so it’s not like I really need him for anything.
- Deuce’s Buff Attack Up All 3 - raises party attack by 5% when 3 or more buffs are active
This is basically Cait’s sphere except this one raises attack instead of max brave. This is another option for Cloud, but I probably won’t be giving this to him unless we somehow get a surplus of ingots.
I have Deuce’s Ex, but I haven’t even given her a book. It’s unfortunate, but she’s already been outclassed by the likes of Rosa and Y’shtola especially since she can’t even heal. At least Cait can heal, and he is a physical support, so he can see some use in fights where magic is heavily resisted.
- Barret’s Break Hit Boost All Long - raise party max brave by 5% for 6 turns when breaking target or attacking a broken target
This is basically Cait’s sphere except with a different condition for activation.
I don’t have Barret’s Ex. Well, I didn’t pull on his banner with Tifa since I already had Tifa’s Ex. And I don’t know if his Ex will ever show up again.
Even if it does, I don’t think I’d want to pull for it since, like I said, this is basically Cait’s sphere, and I already have his Ex, so I don’t really need this.
- Freya’s HP Up All - raise party's Max HP by 10%
I don’t know if it’d be better to raise the party’s HP (well, I did get Leviathan’s Life Up passive from the Leviathan Summon Board) as opposed to raising stats like attack and max brave instead. I mean, of course, it’d be good to raise all the stats, but if I had to choose, I don’t know which one to go for.
I guess there’d be plenty of time to think about this since Freya’s Ex hasn’t even shown up yet. Then again, there’s no guarantee I’d get it unless I decide to pity it, but I haven’t decided yet if I want to do that. We’ll see, I guess.
- Lyse’s Break Hit Attack All Long - raise party’s attack by 5% for 6 turns when breaking target or attacking a broken target
This is basically Deuce’s sphere, but with a different activation condition. I don’t have Lyse’s Ex. I didn’t pull for it when it showed up since I already had Y’shtola fully MLB.
Since it’s so similar to Deuce’s sphere, and I already have Deuce’s Ex, I don’t think I’d bother pulling for this even if it shows up in a future banner.
- Beatrix’s Critical Boost All Long - raise party max brave by 5% for 6 turns when dealing a critical hit
I already have Beatrix’s Ex, and I’m considering purpling (need more ingots!) her, so this is another possible sphere for Cloud.
Hmm, so if I had access to all these spheres and ingots aren’t an issue at all, then it would be a choice between the following:
- Wakka - since he can raise 2 stats, attack and max brave
- Ramza - since he can raise 2 stats, initial brave and max brave
- Freya - max HP up seems pretty good, too
- Sazh - for attack up. He shows up later than Lyse and Deuce, so he might be better than those 2 although I’d definitely need to take a closer look at his kit to know for sure
- Beatrix - for max brave up. I’m pretty sure she’s better than both Barret and Cait Sith. Or maybe I’m just being biased? LOL
Notes:
- pics are from Amazon.com; link shown above
- screenshots are from my Dissidia Final Fantasy: Opera Omnia game account
- originally published on my main Tumblr blog on Feb 29th, 2020 11:29:58pm
