Part 6: Galuf vs. Mind-Control

I'm going to try to start every update off with a look at our current stats. Reina's a battle away from learning another ability, and Faris and Galuf are close as well.

Anyway, I skipped over a rather nifty weapon at the beginning of the dungeon, so I go ahead and make the trek back.





Here's a new enemy, PsychoHeds. It's been said in the thread that whoever translated the enemies probably had no context for the names, thus things like "Soccer." I like to imagine it's half that, and half the translator simply looking at an enemy and giving it a fitting name. I mean, one look at this monster and I think "PsychoHeds" would be one of the first thoughts a lot of people would have.



Anyway, Reina learns Guard, so now she can use it outside the Knight class once she gets more jobs.



This group also drops a Fire Skill, something we won't take advantage of for awhile.



After another couple battles Faris picks up "Secret," a passive ability that highlights hidden passages. Nifty, but nothing you'd really use when there's just so many better abilities out there. Besides, this is one of the Thief's many passives, so we don't need it for now.





So look at this bullshit. This looks like a dead-end, right?



Excuse the crudeness, but the water effects really bump up the size of these GIFs, so I just did a mock-up of how the rocks suddenly appear. No wonder I've never found this damn thing before now.





Anyway, we come across a rather nifty weapon, the Flail.



It's useful in that it actually makes Bartz a viable fighter.





It's not impressive, or consistent, or even that accurate, but it's still decent damage and puts Bartz along the same lines as Faris, except with a ton of Cure casts and a back row advantage.



Also, here's Kick in action. It's not impressive, and as a physical attack it doesn't even really hurt the back-row that hard.

Interestingly enough, I believe this is the only class ability you can't actually learn. You can only use Kick as a Monk, not that you'd ever really want to, of course.





At any rate, since I'm right next to Faris's ship, might as well rest to make the trip back easier. Also, Galuf's a dick just stealing the bed like that.



Oh hell yes. This is what I've been waiting for.





Now that I have Barefist, I'm done with Monk and am switching to Black Mage. You see, Barefist gives you a Monk's vigor, which is awesome, plus you can use your fists to beat enemies up. This means Black Mage Galuf will hit just as hard as a Monk with his fists. And that's in addition to his awesome magic power.

Essentially, Galuf is a complete offensive badass and nothing will stop him from killing you.



So of course, the Black Mage's ability is Black Magic, of which the first level are the usual staples. Let's show them off!







There's no difference besides the element and maybe a couple points of strength/MP cost that are insubstantial if they even exist. Of course, this being an undead-heavy area, Fire's much more impressive here than the other two spells.



Anyway, we've finally got back to where we started the update, complete with a chance to rest again. This game does a good job holding your hand for the first few dungeons.



Everyone looks so happy sleeping in a zombie-infested shipyard.



Anyway, we make it out to the other side of the boat, and we're close to done with the dungeon.



Down here is a ship with an optional room.





There's a couple of weak treasures here, but the big thing is that the World Map is just randomly in this small room that's not difficult to miss. So yeah, I'll show that off later.



And Galuf gains L1 Black Magic, which is useful if I decide to take him back to Monk. For now, I stick with Black Mage.







Opening this chest rises this ship from the bottom of the sea. Sure, why not?



End up getting yet another Elixir here. Still at the beginning and I already have three of the damn things. This must be an omen.



Anyway, just a skip and a jump to the end of the dungeon.



Which means it's time for stuff to happen.



The GBA opts for a fish pun, because yeah.







Mother...







Father!









Who're you...? I just can't remember...







Prepare yourselves to have your life force drained and become...one of us!
Who the hell are you?
Hmm...it would seem my powers don't have an effect on you... I'm Siren. I've drained the others of life. But you may go as long as you do not interfere...





And of course this section shows how much our rag-tag group of adventurers have already bonded, with Galuf easily jumping in to protect the friends he's so loyal to.





Of course, he saves his friends by punching them in the head.







Bartz opened his eyes! Reina opened her eyes! Faris opened her eyes!











I believe this is Siren's first appearance in the series, and she's kinda gimmicky here.



She's got a few status effects to deal out, and of course decides to start the fight off by Slowing my fucking White Mage.





For the first part, phsyical attacks are the way to go. Bartz gets stuck on healing duty since his turns are so slow.



Eventually, Siren will cast Protes (or Protect) on herself, cutting physical damage and making this fight more of a slog.







She also has an undead form that makes physical attacks even less effective.





That's why we have fucking Galuf. I even get a Cure on her with Bartz. If anything, her being vulnerable to Fire and Cure makes this fight easier, as magic is awesome in this game.





She also can inflict poison. It does 0 to Reina because since she's doing so little damage, I'm just having her Guard every round.



Eventually, I take her down and enjoy the spoils.





Bartz learns L3 White Magic, and Faris snags Flee, an ability that lets you automatically run from an encounter. Nifty, but again, don't plan on running away anytime soon (or maybe ever, but that decision's still a long way off).



Siren also drops a nice new shield that Reina can put to good use.





Aw pshaw...



I ain't blushin'!!



This game can be so adorable sometimes.



Before we leave, here's Poison at work, pixelating as you walk like every game. It also gives me an excuse to show off one more spell.



Antdot cures Poison. At 2MP, I much prefer it to actual Antidotes, even if they're dirt cheap themselves.





And we're finally out of the dungeon! That said, we've still got a bit of update to go. First, let's try out our new toy.



Pressing Y/Square gives you the World Map. The giant cross in the northeast is us, with the cross NW of us being the last dungeon. Our current destination is that south section.



Run into some more enemies, but these have ordinary attacks and names so who cares.



Eventually, we reach this cozy little town to rest in.





Welcome to Kerwin. I love this town because the town music is insane.

Let's chat with the locals.



anything, are ya?





Now the only one left is in Tycoon.



Believe it or not, talking to certain townspeople will trigger the story (though it's possible you can just skip this town completely and go directly to the next dungeon, but I wouldn't recommend it).



There is a machine there that amplifies the power of the Water Crystal...
We've got to stop it! How can we get to Walz?
No more boats around here, now that the wind's died down...
...and no Hydra either...



Bartz. Can't you think of anything?
Let's see... wind's out...ocean's out...



Note: Bartz will repeat this every time he speaks to a NPC that mentions ships. It's a bit annoying.



Meanwhile, this kid is the most-useful NPC in town, even if it's something most hardcore fans already have memorized from other games.



Oh, hello! This thing's awesome as hell, and if Galuf didn't have Barefist I'd give it to him to boost his ice magic. It also has a nice little bonus effect that I'm sure those that have read the previous FF5 LP's know well, but I'll save that for later.



A dragon, eh?



But the crabgrass's chokin' it out...



So here's an instance of the Thief's "Secret" ability in action, showing us secret passages. That said, there's no actual treasure in any of these spots, so it's really just for show.





There's also another piano, which brings us one step closer to becoming a virtuoso.

Upstairs is our next story trigger.



What did it look like?!
It looked like it had armor on it or something...



What be wrong?
They say Dragon Grass grows on North Mountain. It's the only thing that will heal the dragon's wounds! The dragon might be hurt...

RPGe Translation has "Hiryuu Plant" instead of Dragon Grass. No biggie.

However, I haven't seen the game mention "Hiryu" yet, which is how the RPGe (with an extra "u") and the GBA translations refer to the dragon. Here, it's just dragon. Hiryu sounds more exotic, but I can kinda see just keeping it at "dragon."





We could make it to Walz if we had a dragon...
Genius! Then let's go to North Mountain!

We'll do that next time. But before we finish the update, let's go shopping!



Three new spells, the biggest one being Protes. This baby will buff your physical defense by a good chunk (halves physical damage in the GBA version IIRC, don't know if it's the same here). Sleep and Mute do what you expect them to do, suck.



Only useful weapon is the Long Sword, as Faris comes with a Dirk and Skeletons drop them constantly, the Ice Rod would outshine the Wooden Rod if Galuf didn't have his fists, and Bartz has his Flail.



The armor's much more useful, protecting Reina fully, with a Plate for Faris and Robes for the mages rounding out the party.



This is also my first opportunity to buy some items, as Tule only sells Tonics and Tents. I buy three each of the non-Antidote status recoveries.



Well, that was a busy today. We'll go save the dragon's life tomorrow or whenever we feel like it.