[quote name='craven_fiend'] That and figuring out Hoarse Whisperer are my 2 main goals, aside from getting a Sage maxed out, before going to fight the final boss.[/QUOTE]
Well, Hoarse Whisperer is really easy once you figure out that there is a way to enrage enemies with an ability. If you don't have that (I think it is a Warrior ability that I didn't have at first since I ignored that class initially) it would take a while to have that many naturally enraged at you (though it will happen eventually). Or did you not even know it had to do with enemy rage?
As for the final boss, well, crap, he is a HUGE increase in difficulty from the minibosses and his earlier form at the end. I had no problem taking on the minibosses and his first form all in succession without replenishing my MP. Then last night I went back up there (luckily there is a shortcut that you can open up!) and fought
with no problem. Then I went on to the
and I hung with him for a long time, even through his super-magic attack which nearly wiped everyone out but not quite. Then I started to run out of MP and couldn't heal any more and that did me in. So, I thought, I'll go back with some MP items and just go right for him (since the previous battle was taken care of now). Well, crap, it seems I was just lucky the first time. The next THREE times he wipes me out in a few turns, thanks mostly to crazy-assed criticals combined with my stupid Zing spell working like once in 10 times

. (And when it did, he would invariably strike with some sort of "hit everyone" attack that would kill the character again since they only come back with like 20 HP). So, someone would get knocked out, my main char would try Zing but it almost never worked, then I only had 2 to fight/heal with. Sooner or later they would get knocked out and I'd be trying to revive 2 with no healer left, etc... So, yeah, I can see why earlier someone was swearing about the criticals

. I decided to go grind some metal king slimes instead (though they keep running before I can ever TRY to hit them

).
I have 2 chars around level 45 but another 2 in the low 30's (my Sage and Paladin). My higher-level chars are a Ranger and a Martial Artist (using boomerang and claws, respectively). Maybe I should have a sword-user, I dunno - never trained that up though beyond metal slash. I think I was probably really close the first time I fought him as I had hit him pretty hard for a while (200-300 per turn for 9-12 turns or so). But then, man, not nearly so close the next 3 times...
[quote name='kainzero']dude was easy! with level 99 priest / soldier / gladiator / ranger, gritty ditty + 3x falcon slash and he's dead in 3-4 turns.
[/QUOTE]
Wait, is there stuff that
isn't easy with four level 99 characters!? I've already put 80 hours into the game - I'm not sure if I'll have the patience to max out all my chars and then still have trouble beating stuff!