Phantasy Star 4 Rika Solo vs. Xe-A-Thouls

Ahh, the Xe-A-Thouls, one of the 3 brick walls in the game for a solo character. (The other 2 are Gy-Laguiah and Dark Force 2.) I've fought them three times now with other characters and each time they presented something of a new challenge. First there was Chaz, who dual-wielded shields, spammed Nazan until he run out of tech points and still died a few times when he resorted to the Tornado Dagger for those last three hits. Then came Wren who couldn't equip shields, had Barrier to increase his magic defense and was highly resistant to the trio's spells only to get wrecked multiple times by their electric fingertips. (Talk about insult to injury, sheesh!) Finally, there was Gryz. Poor Gryz didn't have the defensive options open to Chaz or Wren and died A LOT because of his racial weakness to Wat spells. He did eventually win using a cheesier but no less valid strategy - something I will definitely be keeping in mind for other characters.

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