Talk:The Root of the Problem
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I'd like to add / point out something about this quest... I just did the quest, following this guide, which worked great, right up to the end.
The guide says that you'll only have to fight the sludge once, by Sneak-popping the Magic Sludge once for each Black Mage, and then just fighing the last one that is spawned. So, following the guide, we spawned the first one, and let it despawn.
When the second Black Mage went to spawn his Magic Sludge, it did not give him the cutscene with the doll, but just said something about there being magic energy in the area. When I targeted and selected the ??? again, the Magic Sludge spawned again right away. we waited for it to despawn, and the other Black Mage tried again to no avail.
We ended up killing my Magic Sludge, healing up, and then the other Black Mage was able to spawn his own. He mentioned something about SquareEnix fixing this little loophole, and I'd like to submit that it has been fixed.
If so, then the article will have to be edited as such. Can anyone else confirm? :: Kaia 04 Oct 2006 10:01pm PST
I can. After my third time doing the NM I can confirm it does not work. --Zero 23:50, 2 November 2006 (EST)
I just did this with a friend of mine, and I had her pop the NM with sneak up and pull back and waited for it to despawn. There was about a 2 minute wait before I could spawn the NM, but after killing it, we both clicked the ??? and got the same message that our investigation of the Toraimarai Canal was complete without having to fight the NM a second time. --Kurgan 19:28, 14 February 2008 (EST)
It does in fact work, just tried it a few hours ago. Popped the NM, let it despawn, my friend popped again and we killed his, both got the CS and the AF. Zaphor 05:18, 10 September 2008 (UTC)
Re: needing to be BLM to pop the final NM, you absolutely do not have to be BLM. I popped and soloed mine as MNK/NIN. This is the same for all AF nms: unless the use of a job ability is required for a particular part, you can go as any job once you have the quest started. --Aurikasura 01:35, 7 May 2007 (CDT)
I'm not sure how it went for you guys, but it turned out that my "???" point for (H-7) was on the side that the Dark Aspic spawned on. Also, I went to the (I-9) point first, and the non-Manafont CS occurred there. Went back to (H-7) and got the Manafont one.. imho either point can come first, but the last will always be the NM... --RaraRaen 16:03, 13 April 2008 (UTC)
Testimonials
- Easily soloable by any monk who has unlocked Formless Strikes.
- Easily soloable by any NIN/DNC (Drain Samba helped).
- Soloable by 75SMN/WHM35 (easily, Nether Blast x4 for vicotyr) or 75SMN/RDM35 Using Carbuncle Kite method (Takes about an hour and half to two hours to do this way so plan accordingly).
- 75RDM/37BLU can solo this NM as well. Using Phalanx, Stoneskin, Def. gear, Cocoon, and eating Tavnazian Taco's. Fight took me about 15 minutes. I used Headbut to try to interupt sleepga or bio spells (But was bio'd most of the fight lol. Won the fight nonetheless. GL to everyone! Minivyre -- Shiva June 7th, 2007
- Fairly easy solo as DRG75/RDM37 with Ethereal Earring (refresh drink would substitute fine) and Wyrm Armet. Recommend you not use High Jump for TP as your wyvern will pull hate over time with repeated use. Also recommend you wait for Call Wyvern timer to reset. Fight took about 8 minutes. Used a meat mithkabob, only because that's all I had on me. --Bsphil 09:13, 31 October 2008 (UTC)
- Duo BLM75 and WHM75 alternating bind and gravity, using the two sides of the stream to its advantage. Binding right at the bridge area lets you rest if you run back to the corner.
- Easily soloable by any PLD who has unlocked Atonement Kuroiyuki 03:04, 15 February 2009 (UTC)
- Could not solo as PLD75/NIN37 dual wielding Joyeuse/Sword, the Elemental attacks way to fast to keep shadows up and hits for 100-120dmg a shot. Could only get 2 Atonements off before death. --InspectorGadget 00:21, 9 July 2009 (UTC)
- confirm easy solo as mnk. went /war and used formless strikes and hundred fists and was dead by hundred fists alone.. no WS's.. side note.. was doing it for my alt char(taru) .. i used blink before the pop and it opened with sleepga(killed blink) and smacked the life out of me before i could cure my monk.. death.. bring an RR if you plan to do that <,< changed job from mnk to pld and now walking back to raise -_-.--Beowulfranz 10:33, 23 June 2009 (UTC)
Added in a little info for Summoners who want to fight this, and also mentioned it on Talk:Magic Sludge, Nether Blast isn't affected by its magic resistance ability, much like Spirits Within. Very handy for speeding up the process. --Sετεsђ of Ғεηгіг t/c 19:08, 12 June 2007 (CDT)

