Final Fantasy III Part #61 - Bonus Part: Mognet Side Content

Part 61: Bonus Part: Mognet Side Content

Bonus Part: Mognet Side Content

Alright, everybody, it's time for one last trip into Final Fantasy III, this time to look at the boring-ass shit that Square added as "bonus material". This is what you unlock for doing the tedious Mognet "side quest" to send letters to all your in-game friends that was tacked on to the game because it was released in 2006 and the internet is the wave of the future.

Now, here's how our heroes look when I load up that clear data I made after the Cloud of Darkness.

This will not do.

Yes, this is better.

Everyone is now a perfectly-equipped, max level Onion Knight. It adds...a bit to their capabilities. It's not much, to be honest, but it'll do.

Our first stop for the actual quest is Castle Sasune. We have to talk to Princess Sara.

I'll tell you right now: the Mognet don't bring much to the table, design-wise. This is just a point a-point b trip.

: Leave it to me, milady! I shall not rest until this pendant is whole once again, and back in your hands!

Well, the world's already saved, what the hell else are we doing with our time?

: Thank you! I knew I could count on you.

Obtained Sara's Pendant.

So, we have Sara's busted-ass pendant, we know a smith, this ain't exactly Apollo 11.

We know we're on the right track because this is new dialogue.

: The princess of Castle Sasune gave us this pendant... It's broken. Can you fix it, Father?

I wonder if the Warriors of Light are going to be given titles for saving the world/being chummy with the princess.

Takka: Lemme see now...

How many ways can a pendant be broken? If it's a problem with the metal, it's probably just bent or something. I suppose it could be a problem with a jewel, where we'd have to replace the setting, but neither is really going to be that exotic.

What?

Takka: Making mythril rams is one thing, but this... No, I'm sorry. I can't help you.

: Okay... I guess we'll have to find someone else.

So, Takka's a bust because he doesn't recognise the metal. Sara's pendant, which I'm assuming is just a tchotchke, is made of some exotic fantasy metal that even the game's exotic fantasy metal expert doesn't know about, and god forbid he just wing it on some jewellery.

Now, since these quests are tied to Mognet, the clues you need to complete them are in the letters you get from people. In Takka's mail, he talks about a legendary smith who can do anything with metal or whatever.

Here she is, in Saronia.

: You are the master smith, are you not? I have a favor to ask you.

Side note: I have no idea if the master smith is supposed to be old or just has pretty silver anime hair. I've always interpreted her model as someone who's 25, tops.

: This pendant... Can you fix it? It belongs to someone very dear to me. I will do anything you ask, if you can restore it to its previous state.

I bet the clasp is broken. I bet that's what's wrong with Sara's pendant. The clasp snapped during her hijinks in the Sealed Cave.

Note where everybody is standing. The smith fixed the pendant in a field. This wasn't even a clasp problem, this was straight-up that the chain got knotted.

Obtained Sara's Pendant.

: Thank you! I do not have much, but what amount of gil would be sufficient for your work?

Golbez, you have 900,000 gil. That's "much", you've made it you greedy mother fucker.

Smith: Money does not interest me... There is one item, however, that I would like you to find for me...

: What may that be?
Smith: Have you ever heard of "orichalcum"? It is a metal of legend, fabled to have mystical properties. If you find any in your travels, bring it back to me. Don't worry, I only want to try my hand at tempering it. Whatever I manage to craft the metal into is yours. What do you say?

So not only are you going to untangle Sara's necklace for free, we also get whatever you make out of the magical mystery ore? Sure, sounds like a square deal to me.

: It sounds more than fair. Any orichalcum we find will be yours to challenge.

And so we're done with the first meeting with the Master Smith, and into another quest, to find the orichalcum. None of the Mognet quests are very long, and they do kind of run nicely together. Only two are separated from the others - the Onion Knight bomb fight that I dealt with an age ago, and the very last one.

Anyway, back to Sara.

: My pendant! You fixed it!

Yeah, no sweat.

: If I may ask, what does that pendant mean to you?

: It is a keepsake... The pendant belonged to my mother.

The number on that screenshot is 6669. That's the only reason I'm showing it to you. Moving on.

Now, we could be pricks and just stiff the Master Smith, but let's look for orichalcum instead. Also, let's talk to Cid.

: Ah, nice of you to come! As you know, a monster has set up permanent residence in our basement. Of course, if I were a bit younger, I'd take care of things via the business end of a rusty wrench...

Yes, Cid, we will kill the monster in your basement.

: Too bad that these days, even putting on my socks is enough physical exertion for a good twenty-four hours.

See a doctor, Cid.

: Anywho...that's where you come in. Could you take a look at what's down there? Me and the missus will be mighty grateful.

No problem, Cid. Glad to be of service.

Down in the basement...

Gutsco? The fuck are you doing here?

: Prepare to be exterminated!

Yeah, fuck you, Gutsco!

Okay, this isn't really Gutsco, it's his palette-swapped cousin, Aeon.

Here's an exhaustive list of Aeon's features: dies like a chump.

What the fuck is that?

: Well...that was that.

: Look... There's something on the floor.

: I've never seen metal like this mentioned in any books before...

Oh, it's metal. Yeah, right, it looked exactly like metal. Metal is known for its anti-gravity properties. That's how a belt keeps your pants up.

Obtained Unknown Metal.

It's orichalcum.

Murder kids status: still good for a murder.

: Splendid! I hope excessive force was utilized! ...What's that you're carrying there?

Damn, Cid, that's fucked up. Don't encourage crime on a child.

: It's a piece of metal that the monster dropped.

: Well, I'll be...! It's orichalcum! A very rare metal, indeed! There's only a handful of smiths in the world who could temper it... It's even out of Takka's league.

: Actually, we know someone who might be interested in this...

: Oh, so? Already making "connections", eh? Anywho, thanks for dropping by to help us!

You can't do this quest until you've been to The Forbidden Land, Eureka. This is endgame content, so Cid's line doesn't really make sense. We know two royals!

: And good luck on your journey!

Thanks, Cid.

Now, it's just back to Saronia to turn this in and finish...

Oh, goddamn it!

Here's the Master Smith's thing: she moves around. This time, she just goes to Falgabard (which is hard enough for me to find, I never remember where anything except Ur and Saronia are), but after this she goes around the world at, I believe, random. Of course, after this, there's really fuck all reason to talk to her, so whatever.

Hey, hi, is this orichalcum the orichalcum you wanted?

Smith: Yes, yes, that's unmistakably orichalcum! I didn't think I'd ever lay eyes on it!

Thought so.

Smith: Thank you for bringing it to me. Mind if I start working on it?

You know what? No. I'm gonna eat it.

: Do as you wish.

You hand over the orichalcum.

Smith: This is going to be quite the challenge indeed!

You enjoy yourself, lady.

This happens after a fade-out. The kids just stood there.

Smith: The result...is my best work yet, if I may say so myself.

Damn, nice job. Usually the first time people try something new, they fuck it up.

Smith: Here, it's yours, as promised. Use it well.

And so, we've gotten the only real reward from Mognet. This also wraps up the only decent Mognet content. No reason at all for it to be tied to any online stuff, and in the PSP/iOS releases of this game, it's not, but there you go.

Remember what I said about her appearing at random? This is her establishing that. If you find the Master Smith again, and have someone at job level 99 in your party, you can get a unique piece of equipment for that person's class. There is one piece for every class, and it would take a billion years to get them all and it's not worth grinding for them.

: Yeah. Good luck, then!
Smith: You too. Farewell!

See ya 'round, lady. You were alright.

Oh, here's the Ultima Weapon. Only the Onion Sword has higher attack, but anything that can hold a sword can hold the Ultima Weapon (Onion Knight, Freelancer, Warrior, Red Mage, Knight, Dark Knight), so it wins out in actual usefulness. Like I said, this is the real reward for Mognet.

And this is the fuck you.

Once you have all the Mognet letters from Alus and the Four Old Men, you can dive your submarine into this patch of seaweed.

In it, you find the mystery path.

The Mystery Path has three enemies: Yellow Dragons (79,999 HP), Green Dragons (89,999 HP), and Red Dragons (99,999 HP). Dragons are all pretty tough, but give a bunch of EXP and Gil, have Onion Equipment for rare drops, and drop Elixirs commonly. This is a good place to farm for your Onion Knight if you're so inclined (though Dragons can also be found at the top of the Crystal Tower occasionally, but this is better), or just to build up an Elixir stock. I did this the first time I played the game, it's boring.

When I played this part, I fought each of the dragons once, and I even got an Onion Helm by chance!

Now, for the real "draw" of the Mystery Path.

HAVE EVERYONE IN THE BACK ROW AT THIS POINT!

Jecht, nature is amazing and I am awed at the world, but Sephy has this one right. Fuck the Mystery Path.

The game doesn't pull the first character from the entered name here, it uses "L" because the default is Luneth. Imagine Jecht is an actor, and he goes to call his co-star by their actual name instead of their character's name.

Fuck you, guy. Fuck you forever, and eat shit in hell.

This is the Iron Giant, the superboss added for the remake. Now, most superbosses in RPGs have a gimmick, even if it's as small as an attack pattern. They have an interesting feature, because if they didn't, they would suck. Here's the Iron Giant's feature: big numbers. His numbers are higher than other monsters' numbers.

The Iron Giant sucks.

This is pretty much the best you'll get from physical attacks on this guy. It's not the way to go, honestly. Besides, you'll want everyone in the back row to fight him, because this fight is crap.

See, Iron Giant has two ways of attacking. The first is a physical attack, which does a ton of damage to one character, but can be reduced by being in the back row.

The second is Meteor, which hits everyone but doesn't do much damage (comparatively). Of course, these numbers on level 99 Onion Knights. You need to be level 90+ to fight Iron Giant, because you need 9,999 HP. If you don't have 9,999 HP and you don't already know exactly what you're doing, don't fight Iron Giant. If you do have 9,999 HP and already know exactly what you're doing, don't fight Iron Giant. That's my advice.

See, this is the most boring fight in the world. Here's what I'm going to do: three characters will dupe Chocobo's Wraths to throw at him, because Flare does decent damage (you could replace this with just giving everyone Flare the spell and having a bunch of Elixirs, but that's slower and fuck this fight).

The fourth kid casts Curaja every round, then eats an Elixir when they run out of MP. Rinse and repeat.

See? The damage is good.

Iron Giant has 199,999 HP.

This fight is just the kids and the IG trading blows. It is a damage race.

Literally the only curveball in the fight is that, after 75% of his HP is gone, Iron Giant busts out his super move, Swipe. Swipe hits everyone like a Mack truck, and ignores row. After he uses Swipe, Iron Giant can still attack three times (Iron Giant, of course, acts four times a round, just like the Cloud of Darkness and tentacles combo) and fuck you up. He can do Swipe multiple times because of course he can, fuck the player.