Final Fantasy Tactics Advance/Scouring Time/Part 2

After killing, I mean politely knocking out, an entire precinct of furry police officers, Scouring Time isn't over. Oh no. It's time for a one-on-one knock-down drag-out between Marche and Babus. The game titles this battle Exodus, but that name doesn't make any sense. Well, I guess maybe someone is leaving something, but still.

Options
The idea is this: You're in a stone temple with a number of large blue fruits. The fruits are fragile, and you want to break them all. A wizard dog-man is trying to kill you.

There are two ways you could go about this battle. You could knock out Babus first. With his plump furry face out of the picture, fruit smashing can commence unhindered. Or, you could ignore him, and go after the fruit. It really depends on how you feel about Babus. If you feel the way I do about him, choose option number 2. It's somehow more insulting.

Strategy
The battle strategy I'm about to describe could be classified as a really inelegant, super-expensive, war of attrition. On the upside, it's guaranteed to work, allowing you to get past Scouring Time and enjoy the second half of Advance before TA2 comes out. I'm just warning you that you're not going to get any style points or geek cred for taking down Babus this way. But, you will annoy the frack out of him. So, here we go.

Supply
First, go back in time to before you moved onto Muscadet and got roped into Scouring Time, Part 1. Go to a shop somewhere else, and buy 50 or so X Potions. Yes, this strategy is that inelegant. It will use 15-20 of them.

Got a better strategy? Well this is a wiki. So why don't you write it here, then?

Math
Here's the math that governs this battle. You, Marche, have something like 150 HP at this point in the game. Babus is going to hit you over the head with one of two things: A fire attack that does like 105 damage, or Demi, which cuts your HP in half to 75. Either way, Babus can kill you in two moves.

Pattern
If it's your turn, and you have 150 HP, you can do something creative. If it's your turn and you have 75 HP, you have to take an X-Potion. If you don't, Babus will move next, and kill you.

It sounds like I've described a pattern that goes like this:


 * 1) Babus hits Marche
 * 2) Marche takes X Potion
 * 3) Goto 1

This would last forever and get us nowhere. And, it almost does. It only works because Babus misses sometimes. His attacks have a 75% accuracy or so, while your X Potions shower on down with 100%. When he misses, you've got a free turn. Use it to destroy a fruit.

Moving
Here's how to move. Ignore Babus; where he is in relation to you doesn't matter. Move right next to a fruit, and face away from it. Endure the Babus beating until his slip-up gives you a free turn. Use it to destroy the fruit and move to the next one.

Don't move unless you have to. Instead, choose Wait from the menu when it appears. This will save Marche time. If you Wait a lot, Marche will go twice in a row sometimes. Whoops, lost another fruit. Who made these things so fragile?

When all the fruits are destroyed, you've won the battle, and moved beyond Scouring Time.

Or you can do this
For the record, I am a different person. To guarantee clearing this mission, have Marche equipped Mirror Mail and the ability Strikeback. Babus's magic will get reflected back at him, due to the Mirror Mail giving Reflect, and he cannot hit you with a normal attack because of Strikeback. Now you can take your time with the fruit, and Babus can't do a thing about it! Hope this helps! =-)

High Evasion/Law Cards
Change Marche's job to a job with a high evasion like 'Ninja' or 'Thief'. This will increase your chances of missing Babu's attacks. If you have the missing chances and you have a flawless HP, you can use this turn to destroy one of the fruits. If you want the annoying level to increase, use a law card of 'fire' if you have one.