Part 27: Update Twenty Six: This Cave Makes Me Feel Froggy

This is coming early just for Silver Falcon. Appreciate it!



Update Twenty Six: This Cave Makes Me Feel Froggy

Welcome back! Last time, on Final Fantasy IV, we defeated Rubicante and stole a new airship from the enemy. So now, we have two airships! Today, we're going to start some sidequesting, so let's mosey.



We're on the second floor of the Sylvan Cave; they're nice enough to give you a save point, which is nice, because this place is a major pain in the ass.





There's also a ton of Goddamned secret passages in here. They all lead to good treasure, too.





At the end of this one, we find an Elven Bow for Rosa. I don't equip it, though, so she keeps her Power Staff.



So now, we're heading left from the save point.



There's also two distinct paths through this area, so you have to go through it twice to get all the treasure.



There is also assholish encounters.



None of the enemies here are very tough.



However, the Bog Witch tells the Tiny Toads "Ribbit" and...



...They fucking cast Toad. Over and over again. All of them, in a row, cast Toad.



Oh, and did I mention that these toady twats are fucking fast, too?



Seriously, they'll cast Toad incredibly fast, as the Bog Witch moves incredibly fast to her "Ribbit" move. You can cast Toad on her, though, which will neuter this entire fight.



Did I remember this during the cave, though?



Of course not, but once you kill the toads, she'll Toad herself for easy pickings.



You can also Berserk her, so she can't untoad herself. Though, that makes her physicals pretty powerful, so be wary if you do that.



And after that fight, Rosa learns Reflect, which means we can do magic bouncing shenanigans again. Also, there is only two more White Magic spells I'm looking forward to getting.



That last encounter is probably the most common one around here, too. The amount of Tiny Toads in that fight can either be three or six, which sucks beyond belief. It takes forever and pisses me off just thinking about it.



But, treasure does wonders to soothe my rage.



The other chest contains 1,000 gil, so I'm even richerer.



Let's head on down, shall we?



I don't remember what was in that chest, but I don't care, since there is better treasure around.



And be sure to remember to re-cast Float on every floor. For whatever ass-backwards reason, it disappears between floors. Thank God it only costs 8 MP and can be multi-targeted.



As stepping over those glowing green spots will do 50 HP of damage a step.



Skipping over those steps for now; we'll be back for them.





As we're up here for this secret passage.



Which leads to this trapped chest. The treasure inside is fucking awesome, too.







Despite being a bunch of Toads, Flood works surprisingly well.



I'm more impressed that I managed to cast that, as I tried many times to cast Blitz, but Goemon always ended up Toaded and unable to cast it.



Either way, this was a short fight.



The Mage Masher is for Goemon. Sure, Cecil or Kim could equip it, but I feel it's best put to use with Goemon. It also adds +5 Intellect.



Plus, it sometimes inflicts Silence, so it's perfect for attacking Mage type enemies with. There's another reason it's called the Mage Masher, but I feel it's been seen in action, even though I'm sure you all have guessed it by now.



And seeing as how Goemon now has two slashing weapons, he can no longer take advantage of the back row, so he's in the front for a while.





Treasure, treasure everywhere, but not a chest to drink.



Elixirs are sexy. I nearly had a heart murmur when I used that one in the Rubicante fight, so I don't know if I'll ever use another one.









Eh? Is there a house down here?



We'll find out, just after this fight.



Malboros are still assholes, just as they will be in future Final Fantasy titles.



Stop works incredibly well on them.



But first, Bad Breath fires off. I was going to make a joke about Marlboros and bad breath here, but they've all been made, so I'll just say that I'm a Marlboro Man.



Bad Breath fucking blows. Right now, Goemon is inflicted with Toad, Mini, Silence, Confuse, Blind and Pig. I think that covers them all. Berserk might be part of that, too, but I'm not sure. I just know it's a Goddamn lot.



Anyways, Stop will lock them down for an entire fight, so feel free to blast them all with it. It's too bad that the Black Magic spell isn't a multi-target spell.



They also have 4,200 HP to tear through, so fights with them will last a fair while. Plus, they have no weaknesses, so you just have to beat on them until they're dead.



Esuna or using a Remedy is the quickest way to heal up a Bad Breath attack, because seriously, six or seven or eighteen fucking status effects is a lot.



I like the Mage Mashers look, too, as it reminds me of a cutlass.



Bio works pretty well on them, too, plus Sap will help whittle down their insane HP.



Hooray, he's Stopped and Silenced! Does Silence affect Bad Breath? I honestly don't know; I can see why it would, but at the same time, I wouldn't be surprised if Bad Breath wasn't actually a magic attack.



Bio is awesome and I will hear nothing to the contrary.



Anyways, let's see what's cookin' inside this place.



Oh, we've broken into the home of a group of fairies. These must be the Sylphs that the cave is named after.



And they appear to be afraid of us. Curious.



We will, but first, I'll take your treasure.





What the fuck? Where did you get these?



No Goddamned way.



So, let me get this straight; Leave not only survived the cannon explosion, but also survived being flung across the Underworld?

His badassery is truly understated.



He'll wake up eventually. I promise.



When we try to speak to him, he doesn't reply; he's definitely out, and I think he deserves to be out for a while.



Apparently, nobody in the party explains that we all know Leave.





So, let's get the hell out of here for now. We're only halfway done with this cave.



The exit from the Sylph's pad leads us to the outside.



So back in we go. Remember to recast Float!







Straight to the next floor.



Or, it would be, but there are some new enemies to deal with.



Evil Dreamers have 2,800 HP and can use Fira. They have no weaknesses, so just wail away, as they're assholes.



They also have really good defense, as nobody can reliably break 1,000 on them, except Bowser, but only when he's Jumping.



Their Fira has some power behind it, too.



Titan is useful here, as Earth will wreck any of these guy's day.



The Mammon in the back have 3,900 HP and are weak to Fire; they hit pretty hard and can Berserk themselves or the other enemies, for even stronger physicals.



They're also Mage type enemies, so Goemon will make short work of them.



And that encounter gives an assload of XP.



Anyways, now we're on the second floor.



Heading to the right and up from the entrance to this floor, Cecil stares wistfully at the wall, somehow sensing there is treasure beyond.





But we'll get that treasure, don't you worry.



Up here is another excellent piece of treasure and one I definitely recommend you pick up.





It's neither of these, but at least the Maiden's Kiss will heal Toad.



Heading in this secret passage allows us to snag the chest in back.



This is a new weapon for Kim and it's about time; she's had that Rod of Change for quite a long time now.



It can be used in battle for a free Confuse spell.



It also adds +10 to Intellect, but the previous weapon Kim had added +5, so her Intellect only goes up 5 points, but still, 63/99 ain't bad.

As long as you're not taking an important test or a final.



Down here is probably the most obvious secret passage down here.



You can actually get to this from the staircase (as it crosses over it), so you can just go straight through this passage if you were so inclined.



We can't open any of these chests, as they've already been opened, but we're interested in that thing in the center.



And there's no secret passage to the right, as I'm sure many of you expected. I know I always do and I am always disappointed.



We're back up on the second floor now.





And that's how you reach these chests!



Useless.



Marginally less useless.



Hardly more useful than the Bomb Core.



This is probably the best over here; Bad Breath sucks, so it's great when you can heal it up all at once. But, jeez, these chests disappoint me.



Heading down the path from there leads us to this area.



This will act as Scan when used in battle, so it's only slightly more useful than a pile of horse shit.



This'll get us the fuck out of a dungeon automatically. Hell yeah.



Fucking Goddamn cuntwhore Tiny Toads.



I've actually started using Ethers and I remember why I usually don't; I'm almost out!



Anyways, time for the James Sunderland special. Also, I did miss that chest there. I don't know why. Thanks to Red Metal for pointing that out to me!



It only drops us to the third floor, but it's well worth it.



Aye, that's the Sylph's house over there.



Now, there is a secret path over here, but it's all of one tile and doesn't lead anywhere.



This is the proper way to go.



As it leads us to this teleport square.



Or whatever the hell that thing is called. Either way, it takes us somewhere else.



Somewhere where you have to cast Float again.



Alright, for these six chests, there is a bit of a gimmick to all of them.



They're all infested with monsters; I chose this one on purpose, as I thought it held the treasure I wanted out of these, but I was wrong.



All of the chests also contain monsters you'll normally encounter down here, but in larger numbers than usual.



Also, I'm a bit of a sucker for Water and Earth type spells in Final Fantasy games. I just feel like they're under-represented, so I like seeing and using them when I can.



And Flood doesn't deal a bad bit of damage, either. The major downside is that it costs 20 MP and Goemon's MP pool is more like a MP pond.



While Kim and Rosa have pools. By the end of the game, they'll have MP oceans.



That was a horrific set of jokes and analogies, and I apologize for them.



The treasure out of this was the White Fang, which will cast Blizzaga when used in battle.



This is the chest with the item I wanted.



It also holds what I consider the biggest pain in the ass of all these encounters.



Since I have no way to Stop them all at once, I'm going to Slow them and go from there. I don't want to risk Kim having to Stop them individually, as that's a lot of time for things to go wrong. Of course, doing it the way I do also leads to a lot of things going wrong, so really, it would have been better if I had just used Stop on them one at a time.



As hindsight is a wonderful thing. Goemon is going to use the White Fang here, to start the battle off with some damage.



And Titan, just to pile on even more damage.



And then some Curaga'ing from Rosa.





Oh, God, that was lackluster!



At least Curaga is still effective.



Being Toaded does terrible things for your survivability, though.





At least Titan returns the favor.



However, one of the Malboros found Titan to be bullshit, so he took it out on Bowser. Yowch.



I don't mind when they use this attack, as it's not Bad Breath or a crushing physical attack.







It deals a small amount of damage and inflicts Sap, too. All in all, not a very big deal.



Oh, God, this is why it's awful for Goemon to be in the front row.



Bio, finish some of these jerkoffs off!



Okay, 1/4 ain't bad. And the rest have Sap now, so they'll be steadily dying.



I panicked at this point, as I knew if I revived someone, they'd be instantly killed by the Malboro.



Thank God for the Power Staff.



While the other one dies off from Sap damage; it's not often that you see that message, so appreciate it.





Bio performs up to snuff and finishes this fight.



So, what was all that for? What made that chest so damned valuable to me?



Well, the buttload of XP for the gals, but the item we get is worth it.



The Avenger Sword.



Before I go off about it, let's heal up Bowser and Cecil. Since, uh, they're in pretty rough shape right now.



Anyways, about the Avenger, it's a two handed sword, so no more shield for Bowser.



It also adds +10 to Strength, Agility and Stamina, while doing a -10 to Intellect and Spirit, two stats that Bowser won't ever fucking use!

The Avenger also automatically Berserks the target, which is why I threw it on Bowser. 90% of the time, he's just going to use his regular attack, as I really only Jump when fighting a boss. So, in doing this, I'm cutting out the middleman and just having Bowser smash things in the face as hard as he can, without any input from me.



Anyways, that just about does it for interesting items from chests.



This encounter can be dangerous, but Goemon makes short work of the Mammons, while Bowser fucks up the Malboros.

From this chest, we get a Full Moon, which is an upgrade to the Boomerang, so Goemon is now in the back row.



I think a Red Fang came from this chest.



This chest holds a new enemy, so I can actually do a bit more talking here.



Undergrounders are hilariously pathetic.



They have a rather sad physical attack.



Here's the Full Moon in action.



They also only have 655 HP.





I'm actually kind of glad Cecil didn't one-shot this guy, even though he totally should have.



As an attack that doesn't kill the Undergrounder will have it counter with Earthquake, which won't affect our party, as we're floating!





Fairy Rod in action; this guy is now confused.



And very, very dead.



That's going to be average damage for Bowser, and it'll only get better from here. Avenger is a pretty awesome weapon, if you can deal with the Berserk party member.



And the final chest holds another six of these guys. Yawn.



Alright, let's get out of here and finish this update.



With the Sylvan Cave done, we're finished with this update. Next time, on Final Fantasy IV, we're going to explore a town in the Underworld, a Smithy that's down here, and the other major cave system that's not the Sealed Cave, so stay tuned!



Oh, and one more thing...



Bowser is definitely my strongest physical attacker right now, but he also has a +10 boost to his Strength, along with being in Berserk status for every attack.



Cecil could use a weapon upgrade, as he's definitely falling behind.



But for all of you Goemon haters out there, check that shit out. If not for the Avenger, Goemon would be my strongest physical attacker, as well as just as fast as Bowser. For all of you who doubted him and claimed that he sucked, just know you were using him wrong and you should be embarrassed.

In short, for you Goemon haters: