A few ZXG questions...

[Lilka]

This stuff's about the newly-possible Zero Experience Game, which I'm planning on doing.  But there are a few things on my mind.

1) The arena wallets.  I've been grinding with my Bladesman forever.  Anybody have an idea whether a particular enemy drops them more often?
2) Magus.  How do you survive Dark Matter?  Obviously, Robo's the only one with a decent amount of HP, but his MDef is crap, and if I go the barrier route, I don't know if I can get off enough damage within two barriers.
3) Arena capsule grinding.  In the main game up to DD, I'm not going to do it.  But it brings up an interesting conundrum.  If I'm capable of casting Lifeline, and have my capsules full, could it be possible to defeat the shell Lavos in the Ocean Palace?  (Lavos II is still too damn fast, and I ain't getting Haste Helms until Tier 5 or so.)

[Shadow D. Darkman]

1. Can't help ya b/c even though I got CTDS just now, my DS was confiscated some days back, so I can't play it. (Stupid parents )

2. It's possible, but you need to have the right equipment. Can't help ya better than that, sorry.

3. Yes, you can defeat the OP Lavos, but it's hard as hell, and you can't lose to Lavos 2 or Lavos Core, lest you get the Day Of Lavos Ending. Plus, you should only attempt to defeat OP Lavos until you start a NewGame+ run.

[ZeaLitY]

...

Okay, someone who has CT DS and understands that he was talking about fighting Lavos explicitly on a New Game want to help?

[Nezz]

For Dark Matter, just use Black Plates. Problem Solved. Best way to get a prize from the arena you want is to just pick the tier with fewest prizes that also offers the what your looking for, I'm too lazy to check myself as to which is best for Wallet, and as for Lavos, I suppose it would work.

[Lilka]

One problem with that - since Crono's staying L1 due to the whole Zero Experience thing, I won't have access to anything above Tier 3 until after he dies.  Elemental armors are on the higher tiers.  Any other ideas?

[hiddensquire]

I did a zero experience game a long while back on ZSNES (using a small cheat at the beginning for the sole purpose of starting with a wallet in my inventory).  If you manage to get a wallet through the arena though, it should basically be the same concept from there.  Now, how did I beat Magus...?  As I recall, I just ended up trying everything I could, and I somehow made it through eventually.  I was able to do it with merely everything you can normally get at that point in the game; obviously I had no arena to grind in for capsules (however, I did have to give every single Magic Capsule I got to Robo to survive).  Make good use of the two barriers, two Lapises, Robo, and the Silverenrg accessory (equipped on Robo).  Also, stock up to at least 50 on Athenian Waters & Mid-potions.  Keep trying and eventually you will get lucky.  It can be done.  Once you have Alya (and later, Magus), the game is a cakewalk, including Lavos, assuming you are a veteran CT player.  In fact, it was so easy, I tried Lavos again with Crono-Marle-Robo (levels 1, 1, and 10, respectively).  Also a success; just had to have all my best equipment on them, of course.  One cannot beat Queen Zeal's final form without Magus or Ayla, though; I tried every equipment combination (although... elemental aegis was not available in the SNES version... also not sure if I tried Lifeline).  Not sure how one would fare against the Dream Devourer.  Hope this helps!