Final Fantasy III Part #46 - Part Forty-Six: The Sea Serpent

Part 46: Part Forty-Six: The Sea Serpent

Part Forty-Six: The Sea Serpent

It's time to take the Invincible on a little jaunt back to the Floating Continent.

You can tell it's the FC from this shot, because it has the Tower of Owen in it.

This lake is the place we're looking for; we need the Invincible to get here because of these small mountains.

Taking the canoe out onto the water...

...the lake is hiding a dungeon! Wow!

Seems like every body of water in this game has a damn dungeon inside it.

Of course, there are regular water-type enemies here, like these flying crabs (called Plancti, singular).

You want 'em dead quick? Summon Ramuh.

Well, I mean, this works, too.

Like most water-adjacent places, the EXP here is pretty good. Not the best in the game, but still solid.

Treasure! Phoenix Downs we have a ton of, and the Heavenly Wrath is the second-level lightning attack item. It would be great in a place like this if I were using a Scholar or something. Ramuh is better as a spell.

An item that casts Quake. I'll never use it, because attack items are pretty much only for hitting weaknesses and I don't even think anything in the game is weak to earth damage.

Arctic Wind is in the same boat as the Heavenly Wrath.

Three Hi-Potions and an Elixir aren't bad, especially if you think of them as "four of the best healing items in the game".

Right as I'm going down the stairs, I get in a fight. Can you believe that shit?

Here's what Ramuh does to enemies around here, by the way. No random encounter in Lake Dohr lasts more than one round against me.

Like the Saronia Catacombs, Lake Dohr isn't a visually exciting or unique dungeon.

Ouroboroses are back from the Catacombs.

Oh, and they can petrify people, which is problematic.

Weak to lightning, though. Doesn't play great to be weak to lightning when there's a Summoner about.

I'm glad I have a bunch of Gold Needles from never using them for most of the game. Usually when I play RPGs, I end up in some dungeon with a lot of status-causing attacks and no items to heal them.

This is a good shield, it blocks all statuses. Still a shield, though.

Hammers, being lightning elemental, would make decent weapons around here. Being Viking-only equipment, though, they'd be stuck on Vikings, which isn't a great property to have.

There are a lot of treasures in Lake Dohr. My setup is pretty tight, but these would be good if it were a little different.

White Musks cast Holy, but there are only nine in the game. Plus, there's not a lot of undead enemies around to throw 'em at. And, you know, attack items should only be used by Scholars, &c.

Nothing at all remarkable happens in Lake Dohr that doesn't involve opening treasure chests. Fuckin' boring dungeon.

Instant Kill.

Still a hammer.

Obsolete.

I hate puns.

I hope I've covered Black Musk before, because I have no damn clue what it does.

This casts Drain, which is actually a remarkably powerful spell in Final Fantasy III.

This casts Aeroga. Which would be spectacular against wind-weak enemies, except there's also a Dragoon in my party.

A back attack!

Since my offence is a single, hugely powerful multi-target spell, I still pull off the victory.

Doot de doo.

We're almost at the end now. But, like secret passages, who built these goddamn bridges in the middle of a goddamned lake?

Hey, sea serpent! Did you build the bridges! No mean feat for some stupid no-hands water worm!

Before I tangle with this no-hands jackoff, I give Golbez the Light Rod, which doesn't boost lightning damage but feels thematically appropriate.

I also feed him an Elixir, it's important that he has MP.

'Sup, no-arms?

Leviathan is making his second appearance in the series. His first was Final Fantasy II.

We're going to fight him.

Just like him to do that...honestly...

Look, he's got little wings instead of arms! He didn't build shit!

Just in case you weren't sure, yeah, that's Leviathan.

I might have done better to queue up a Curaga, but Protect on Golbez just felt right. I threw a rock and shit, it came out "Protect on Golbez".

Here's Leviathan's main weakness: lightning.

32,000 HP.

His physicals are pretty solid, but that's not the most dangerous thing in the fight, you'll see.

Leviathan is fairly tough against magic, but Ramuh is still a good hit on him. Win or lose, this won't be a long fight.

Oh, physical attacks can petrify. I forgot this.

More important to stay in the fight than to try for a critical or something. I couldn't win it this round with a regular hit.

This is a lot of hit, like goddamn.

Featured in the next round: probably should've jumped.

Oh well, he's missing well over half his HP.

So of course I die in the last round of the fight. This is entirely due to Jecht's unlucky petrification in the first round, by the way. If he'd not been, I would have healed in the third and won it in the fourth. Like I said, it wasn't going to be a long fight.

It also would've been cool to heal before the fight, that's always a nice thing to do, in fact I'd recommend it.

In the rematch, things get dicey again in the third round, but Kuja locks it all up with a well-placed Jump. Also of note: if I'd had her Jump again the first time, I wouldn't have lost.

Again, this game isn't hard, you just lose sometimes. There are maybe a couple exceptions to that rule in the last dungeon, but only for the most bullshit reasons that shouldn't exist and I hate them.