FF6 - Brave New World

-=1.2.0=-
1: I drove Figaro Castle and parked it in Figaro Desert. I walked around for about a minute and, again, no encounters. Then I parked my airship near the desert and ran along the continent in fast forward. No encounters.

Sweet mother of f**k**g tits, I *know* I had that set at some point because I've gotten into fights walking out of Figaro Castle...

But yeah, apparently the no-encounter gremlins have struck again.

2: The Maranda Desert lacking encounters was after I'd walked around for quite some time and fought a buncha encounters. The same spots where I fought things before no longer gave fights.

This is because of how the encounter system works. It loads the encounter rate when you enter the map and it doesn't change until you leave and re-enter the map, either by going into town/the airship or into battle. Thus, if you end up getting into a fight in a "no encounter" zone, then you're free to wander the map forever without getting into a fight.

3: In Kefka's place, I used Sketch against a Diabolos (the Behemoth knock offs) and got 'Meteo,' but Meteo never came. Then the Diabolos used Meteo on me. Wuh?

Can you duplicate this? I'd really need to see a video or a savestate to accurately gauge what's happening here

4: Kefka's Tower: I got to near the end (one of the Triad remains) and reentered. Group 1, after the save point (where the Guardian used to be), is trying to go up the stairs but found a blockage on the stairs. They can't proceed up the stairs. The other 2 groups are on their switches near the 4 ton weights. Ruh?

I have no clue on this one. Is it a visible blockage?