Tabs Tabs Tabs Tabs Tabs

Getting the rest of the magic tabs I need is going to be a lengthy process...  I need 158 more total.  Crono needs 3 more.  Then it'll be on to Frog, then Robo and Ayla.

I didn't actually mess up Fiona's side quest.  Went to 12kBC's Commons and talked to the woman with the sapling and told her to keep it or whatever, then went and pwned the Retinite.  Saved Lucca's mom (on the PSX version the password is L Circle R Circle (Circle is in the same spot on the PSX controller as A was on the SNES)).

I successfully got all the way through Black Omen with my only source of healing being Shelters used at save points.  My party was the highest physical damage dealers, Crono, Ayla, and Frog.  At one point Crono and Frog had 1HP each (fucking Goons with their health-halving attack) and would occasionally die only to be brought back with 1HP at the end of battle.  I guess my next goal is to not have that happen.

I still don't really know how many magic tabs there are in a thorough playthrough.  It was enough to get Crono from wherever he was to 96, missing a couple (one in wherever it is you're supposed to use the Nu's scratch-point to get a magic tab, and another in the Blackbird) and accidentally using one on Robo by mistake (stupid Geno Dome).  So I guess it could have been **.  After I get the next three, the remaining magic tabs don't matter nearly as much since nothing is as crucial for beating Lavos as spamming Luminaire.  I think I'll probably end up simply getting to Spekkio, defeating him to get the 10 tabs, then using the bucket to beat Lavos over and over.  Though it'll need a different party than I'm used to...

A lot of things about the Lavos fight are essentially random, as it has no attack pattern in any of its forms.  Damage-wise, either PrismSpecs+Confuse or TripleKick the left bit to take it out in one shot, then two Luminaires kills the center bit and five or six more kills the Lavos Core.  Sometimes the core revives the other bits faster than others (requiring the left bit to be killed again), sometimes it re-enables its defenses, and sometimes you get way more Time Warps and other things that drag the fight on and require you to heal.

If everything goes right you really don't need healing against Lavos, though you need a fairly high level if not max level party with a good number of tabs used to really pull off a no-heal win.  Max speed is an absolute must, as is status protection.  Lavos can disable status protection, but doesn't always do so before it uses either of its spells that inflict statuses (Chaotic Zone and Spell).  If you're playing New Game +, there's no excuse to not have status protection on your entire party at all times anyway.  It comes in very handy all throughout the game, as lots of things use status ailments.  With status protection the only status that will affect you is Lock All, and it's used by things that are easily crushable with regular attacks.  They tend to have a high evade, but if you deal enough damage eventually they'll die.

I almost have all the equipment I want for optimum playthroughs.  Most of it is just getting more sets of the same armor, which I'm making harder on myself by forgetting that Ayla has Charm.  I have three Gold Studs now, so if I want to kill Lavos and use next to no MP, well, I can.  I'll get my third Red Mail (as well as my third set of all the various colored mails) on my next playthrough.  Their use is very situational, but can result in external sources of healing.  Also you can be pretty much invulnerable in some fights, like the Son of Sun fight.  Three Red Mails and the vast majority of the damage it deals becomes healing instead.

I may have to revise one of my achievements I came up with for the game.  During Lavos' miniboss mimic, I defeated its mimic of Magus without the battle progressing to its second phase, by shifting his barrier until he chose Lightning, casting Water 2 when Water was chosen, hitting him with the Masamune to lower his magic defense, and then when I finally got Lightning, whacking him with Luminaire for 5000 some damage.  I'd been mentally counting the health, and a good portion of that 5000 was overkill, but hey, I'll take it.  Before I can revise the achievement I'll have to try it on the actual Magus fight.  Whack with physical until barrier is Lightning, then Luminaire and see if he dies.  It could very well become "Defeat Magus with a single spell".  Though honestly, defeating him before he casts *DarkMatter is hard enough without an overleveled party as-is.