Ok joe i got an update on my save and the reasons why i may have been having difficulty.
First of all i may have figured out why i was crashing, i was not using Aalis custom driver, i installed the latest version of that and the new GUI 2.07, and changed the settings in the config, including turning off Fancy Transparency (I do really like the new battle interface implemented on the custom driver)
Crashes seemed random before, they happened on the big bird (last round) and the 4 new snakes in the battle arena and other random battles, but it seems after i updated i didnt get any crashes, and the battle arena was not as difficult now, due to some mistakes i had made previous.
First of all, Ying and Yang, a big mistake i seem to have made, is that i just didnt think thats its undead, and you can kill it with Pheonix downs.... Therefore this made my battles a lot easier, the bird, the swinging guy and Ying/Yang can be dealt with.
Also i found a counter for the Flower Prong, use Odin on the first form lol
What i noticed is, this battle arena should not be done til after Temple of Ancients, ill go into that later, but first ill say that the most annoying mobs in the arena are:
The new seahorse creatures(1st round) - They cause instant death.. for a 1st round mob that is stupid, Death Force is the only protection.
Grand Horns - Using Berserk, usually i had to use Star Pendant to protect against silence and poison which are the most annoying stats in my eyes, having to equip a fury ring to protect against berserk would be such an inconvenience.
The only way round this, is to make absolutely sure you have a full ATB bar (Kill the mobs with counter attack) and then use Leviathan soon as its possible, so these do not destroy your fight.
Griffons - I got another back attack in the battle arena off this, it seems to appear just behind Cloud, and turns him round for the rest of the fight, even on the next rounds.
Apart from those i dont see much trouble in the battle arena with the right strategy and materia, it takes practice at first though to get used to what all these monsters can do, and without Ribbon to protect you, its required you have items to help cure status ailments, and plenty of Ethers,
After getting Omnislash and my other items, i went back to the sleeping forest and tried again with full limit breaks, All Creation, Great Gospel and Omnislash destroyed this fight, i had to restart and try again to see what can be stolen off these, unfortunately they only drop Sources.
Now that i done this fight and beat it, i realize you really dont need Omnislash, DeSpell-All is a great combo on this, and using any Fire Ice or Thunder elemental armour or accessories helps, getting rid of the 2 front guys soon as possible is the best way to go.
After finally getting Kjata and Omnislash, i thought i would try temple of ancients, and i was disappointed lol, because it was really easy, the 2 bosses here were no match for me, specially the wall, it was no match and i was expecting a lot more of a difficult fight, seen as the real game of FF7, this boss usually scares the average player at this point in the game, i think it should be more of a challenge to be honest.
I got Ribbon in the temple, and i noticed just how less useful this accessory is now, on the real game it was a dream to have 3 ribbons, but not anymore, as this thing not only protects against all the status ailments, but it also protects against regen, barrier and Mbarrier, which is a big sacrifice in some fights i have noticed.
I continued on with the story, and got my 3rd enemy skill, and continued to kill Jenova pretty easily, and finished disc 1.
I noticed the hedgehogs in groups of 4 was a real pain, they hit for a lot and always on the char with lowest hp, i carried on and got onto the world map, where i noticed a new elephant mob
Which i really like by the way, it fits in well and has nice moves.
After snowboarding, and looking round for items in the icelands, i managed to get to the Snow Queen, and oh my lord this is a very interesting fight for a number of reasons.
I was lucky to make 2 of my characters invalid to Ice, or this would have been over quick, she is a very nice challenge, and i managed to kill her first time round, and get Alexander.
Up Gaeas cliff i noticed the new wizard mobs (Damnation is not nice lol), and that Magic breath now does MP Damage, the icicles are a nice fight now, but not too difficult, and then i managed to easily get Bad Breath off the Malboro, thanks to 2 ribbons
From here i decided to try a tank setup, have Cid become the guy with high attack, Cover, counter attack, and because he still have limit 1(not used him much on this save so far) he can spam that, while the other party members do magics and support.
I was worried the dragons that drop dragon armlets would be difficult, but turns out they were ok, so i got 2 armlets and carried on to fight Schizo.
Schizo was not too hard, i stole Protect ring, and managed to kill it pretty easy, i did notice it now does a Quake move, which suprised me lol.
Into the crater, i tried the bombs and giant guy, the bombs are very easy, but the big man is actually a challenge now, which is what i expected
Picked up Neo Bahamut, and fought Golden Dragon, i enjoyed this fight, not overly difficult, not compared to whats to come.
Fought Jenova.. and it was really difficult, the Red Light is extremely strong, and can do it up to 3 times in a row, also it can drain all the MP from everyone, and likes to make everyone slow, i had to use Megalixers in this fight at times, just to avoid a game over, after a tough and epic battle i managed to kill it.
After Jenova i did a fight with this triangle mob(what the hell??), and 2 flying monsters, and for some reason the mobs started putting french or spanish dialogue at the top, and completely wiped my party, it was very shocking as i totally was not prepared for this, i saved it and im going to try again now, and see what that fight is all about. If this is an addition its a pretty confusing one.
Edit: Just tried these new red pyramid style mobs, and they just cause death to everyone, physical attacks barely take anything off it, and they seem immune to all magic, unless there is some kind of trick to beating these, they are unbeatable, even with limit breaks ready.
