Gaming has evolved over the years, with trends and fads coming and going. But whether it’s a side scrolling shooter, epic platform adventure, mammoth RPG or driving challenge there has forever been one constant: the Boss Battle.
Standing proud at the end of a level and preventing progression unless defeated by the player, a Boss is always a challenge and a good one can make a game as much as a bad one can ruin it. In our weekly feature throughout April, the team will offer their take on some of the best boss battles the industry has to offer. Following on from Kim‘s post last week that looked at the Asylum Demon from Dark Souls, Phil takes a look at the third battle with Seymour from Final Fantasy X.
When do you face him?
Yuna and her party of guardians encounter Seymour Flux after they’ve made their way up the tough trails of Mt. Gagazet. The mountain is considered to be the final test of the summoner’s strength before reaching the Zanarkand ruins where the Final Summoning takes place to defeat defeat Sin, the major antagonist of Final Fantasy X.
Why is the battle great?
This battle is one of the hardest non-optional bosses in the game due to his signature attack Total Annihilation which will obliterate even the strongest parties. If climbing Mt. Gagazet wasn’t hard enough already thanks to enemies that use annoying status effects such as Confuse or do high physical damage, finding Seymour Flux at the top is literally the icing on this frozen cake. Let’s not forget that his Lance of Atrophy attack will inflict Zombie status on a character, reversing the effects of any healing magic and therefore killing its target. If you thought that simply neglecting to use healing magic will save your character, Seymour Flux makes up for this by casting Full-Life which is an instant death for any Zombie-inflicted guardian.
Later on in Final Fantasy X, when you have control of the airship, you’re able level up your characters considerably in areas such as the Omega Ruins and it isn’t long before most bosses can be killed with one hit. The difference with Seymour Flux is that it’s a lot harder to level up around Mt. Gagazet and so you’ll have to take him out using strategy rather than pure statistical power. Therefore it’s extremely important to have all of your characters and Aeons ready with their overdrives charged before entering battle to help even the odds. Luckily there is a save sphere nearby and the encounter rate in the surrounding area is quite high making it easy to prepare.
This is one of the very few bosses in Final Fantasy X that has given me the Game Over screen more than once.
Seymour in his normal state. He should probably get those scars (and hairdo) looked at.
How does it play out?
Seymour Flux begins the battle by summoning his side-kick Mortiorchis. Certain characters can boost their strength and magic defence by taunting Seymour using the Talk trigger command. From then on Seymour will use his Lance of Atrophy attack to inflict Zombie status followed by Mortiorchis casting Full-Life making for a nasty combo that will quickly kill any character in the party. It’s possible to prevent this by equipping your characters with Blessed armour that can be purchased from trader Wantz roaming the mountain trails or by customising existing armour with Holy Water. Seymour will cast Reflect on himself and will use it to amplify the already powerful Flare spell, but using Dispel on him will remove Reflect and cause him to simply damage himself.
The usual spells apply to increase your party’s effectiveness including Haste, but attempting to use Slow on Seymour won’t work due to immunity and Mortiorchis will simply counter with Slowga. Seymour is vulnerable to Wakka’s Silence Buster which will prevent him from casting magic for one turn, therefore preventing him from taking any action temporarily. However it’s not long before Seymour starts charging his devastating Total Annihilation attack which takes three turns before being ready. If timed correctly the attack can be postponed by summoning an Aeon just before it’s unleashed forcing Seymour to spend a turn uttering “Death awaits you” and banishing your Aeon.
The use of Aeons isn’t completely prevented as charging Yuna’s Grand Summon overdrive before battle can provide an excellent head start using Bahamut’s Mega Flare overdrive which can break the 9,999 damage limit. Finally, the Total Annihilation attack can be reduced in potency by casting Shell, Kimahri’s Mighty Guard or one of Rikku’s Mighty mixes on the entire party and prevent the team from being completely knocked out. Mortiorchis has a nasty physical attack called Cross Cleave which deals around 2,000 damage to the whole party, but this can also be reduced in effectiveness by using the defensive spells above.
One strategy is to use magic against Mortiorchis who has a low defence against spells, and once depleted of its low hit points, will use Mortibsorption which replenishes its HP from Seymour. While hitting Mortiorchis with magic it’s also worth casting Bio onto Seymour which will cause 1,400 damage every turn. Eventually, with enough careful planning and possibly grinding out some sphere levels you’ll put an end to Seymour for the third (but not final) time. After which the party will venture onwards to the Zanarkand ruins for the final stages of Yuna’s pilgrimage to summon the Final Aeon and defeat Sin.
So what do you think of this boss fight: what’s your favourite from Final Fantasy X? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below. Up next week in our Boss Battles series is Kevin, so stay tuned!
