Part 28: Update Twenty Seven: The Land of Summoned Monsters

Update Twenty Seven: The Land of Summoned Monsters

Welcome back! Last time, on Final Fantasy IV, we went through the Sylvan Cave and picked up some good treasure. Today, as the title indicates, we're going to be going to the Land of Summoned Monsters, so let's mosey.





Before we go to the monster land, we're heading south of Giott's castle, to the only other town in the Underworld. There's one more location to hit down here, aside from the two we're doing here, but we'll head there a bit later.



There's the Sealed Cave that Golbez is allegedly trying to break open by force. I don't see shit here, Captain.



Just east of the cave is this little town.



Tomra is populated by dwarves, too.



They're a tad surprised to see us. I suppose we're the first non-dwarf folks down here in...Forever?



It's interesting that down here in the Underworld, they have their own legends and stories about the Overworld, just as they do about the Underworld.



This town is also where you can learn about the two optional dungeons down here. They're not hard to find on their own, but at least they bothered to have someone point them out to you.



Just to differentiate these guys from the other dwarves that we've met, they have a different sort of greeting.



Just north of Howdy-Ho is the weapon and armor shop. There are some nice armor upgrades here. I could have gotten them before the Sylvan Cave, but I just wanted to get that place out of the way. I hate it that much.



These guys just love seeing new people, too. It's kind of .



Kim can use whips now, too, but they won't give the Intellect boosts that Rods do, so fuck 'em. Sure, it'll let her do full damage from the back row, but why the hell is Kim physically attacking in the first place?

The item not shown is Medusa Arrows. Since Rosa has a kickass staff, I don't buy any.





Over in the armor shop, things are Goddamned expensive.



And upgrades for everyone are available; Goemon doesn't get himself a Diamond Armlet, as the Power Armlet is too valuable for his damage output. My basic plan with Goemon is to boost his Strength as much as I can, as when combined with his speed, Goemon can really crush some skulls.



Kim needs all the defense she can get. She's extremely fragile and with her terrible amount of HP, it's very easy for her to get taken down.



Bowser gets all decked out in Diamond gear, barring the shield; he's keeping the Avenger equipped so that he, too, can crush skulls with ease.



Cecil also gets decked out in full blingy pimp gear. We're now ready to save the world in fuckin' style.



The Inn here is fairly cheap, too. I think it's only 300 gil a night.





This guy almost makes it sound like there's going to be a boss fight with the Sylphs when you meet them. That could have been pretty cool.



Over in the northwest corner of town, there's this guy. Like I said, we're from the legendary land.



Lots of bad shit that is mostly our fault.





This building is pretty cool. There are only four chests to loot, but it's all free and given with their blessing.



These dwarves are hella generous. I'm almost surprised the Inn isn't completely free.



In the chest just below Cecil, a Rage of Zeus sits. Yawn.



This is the best of the bunch. Did I ever mention that Dry Ethers restore around 150 MP, while regular Ethers restore about 50?









Fairly disappointing stuff in here, but, like I said, at least it's all free.



We're done in Tomra, so let's get ourselves over to the Land of Summons.





It's northwest of Tomra, just floating in the sea of lava.



Let's get this over with.



It's not as bad as the Sylvan Cave. It's usually recommended that you do this area first, then the Sylvan Cave. Or even do this place, Sealed Cave, then the Sylvan Cave.



: Perhaps we should ask Leviathan for help.

Excellent idea, Kim! Let's do that. And hope he apologizes for fucking up our boat ride.



You have to keep everyone Floating around here, too, as there are patches that cause damage, just like in the Sylvan Cave. These only do 30 HP of damage, I believe, but there are still a lot of them and it's terrible going through here without Float.



There's a good bit of treasure around here, too, but nowhere near the amount of the Sylvan Cave.



I have over 100 of these in my inventory. I've had my characters just chugging them down after battle, instead of expending the MP.



North of that chest is another chest, as well as a secret passage. Thankfully, there aren't as many secret passages in here as there are in the Sylvan Cave. Really, it's okay to think of this place as like, Sylvan Cave Alpha; if you come here first, it'll help ease you into how the Sylvan Cave works.





Bloody Eyes have a pretty strong physical attack, as well as Gaze. Gaze tries to inflict a status ailment on a party member. So far, I've seen it do Paralysis and Confuse. I don't know if those are the only two it can do or if there are more, but it's a pain in the ass.



They're Flying monsters, so they're weak to Throwing type weapons, such as the Full Moon Goemon has equipped.



They have 2,400 HP, so Goemon will pretty well set them up for a one-shot from either Cecil or Bowser.



If Bowser had a spear equipped, he'd be hitting the Throw weakness, but he did about 1,300 with this attack, so I think it's alright.



Cecil is really falling behind in physical force, too. This did less than 700 damage. Thankfully, there's an upgrade in here for him.



Goddamn, Goemon, you're a great person for these guys.



A Phoenix Down just feels so lackluster at this point in the game.





Across the secret passage, there's an Ether. Even these feel a touch lackluster. But, let's hit the next floor.



Though, we'll have to kick some ass first.



We all can predict this guy's gimmick, right?



Berserking him prevents him from calling in any reinforcements, but I wouldn't say that's the best course of action for this fight.



As now all he can do is punch your characters dead in the face.



For a fucking ton of damage.



He also has 3,600 HP, so he's got a bit of staying power.



Thankfully, they're Mages, so Goemon makes short work of them. I'd have more to say about them, but this is the only one I encountered in here and I can't remember their shit off-hand.





Remember to recast Float when you come to a new floor. I forget it a bit later on, so you get to see what Float looks like when cast in battle.





Down in the corner is another Hi-Potion. One thing I like about this place is that it's pretty straight forward. There isn't a lot of room for error in regards to getting lost and only one path to take. There's no Sylvan Cave fuckery around here.





Well, depends on what you define fuckery as, I guess.



Belphegor here is weak to Throw and Holy, so once again, Goemon is exploiting a weakness.



He also has 2,200 HP to his name.



He doesn't last long enough to do anything, so this is another guy that I don't have much information about. I think he hits you and I want to say he has Tornado, but don't quote me on that.



After the fight, Rosa hits level 38 and learns Curaja, the strongest healing spell. It's also pretty expensive at 40 MP a shot.



Rosa is also much better at healing than ol' Gustav was. Her Curaga restores a bit more HP than his Curaja did.



Gustav is wonderful for the time that you have him, but if he stuck around, he'd be quickly replaced by the girls. He just doesn't have the Intellect or Spirit to stick around long-term and remain useful.





This place has a few dickhead encounters wandering around, but I don't actively try and avoid any of them, like I do in the Sylvan Cave. Thunder Dragon here is a rare one, too.



This is his main form of attack. It's a good thing we just got all that Lightning resistant gear, isn't it?





He's also pretty quick, as he went twice before any of my guys got a turn.



He's weak to Throw, so Goemon proves his worth yet again.



He also has 7,600 HP to tear through and doesn't really take shit from magic. He absorbs Lightning, too, but I don't know why you'd even try and cast it on him.



Remember how Goemon didn't get any Lightning resistant gear?







Berserk is a wonderful status "ailment".



This is as good a time as any to show off Curaja.



Even though only Goemon needs any real healing.



Curaja, if nothing else, is pretty.



Not very impressive right now, considering the cost, but it'll get better. I'll be mostly sticking to Curaga, though.





He doesn't take shit from magic, either, so you've just got to beat his ass to death.



I just like this shot of Cecil's axe backwards.



He drops a good bit of XP for being a lone enemy.







I think this makes 61 Cottages in my inventory. I did some stocking up at Tomra.



I mean, I can afford it, so why not make sure I have enough Cottages?





That treasure chest is the one I really want down here. It's got a new weapon for Cecil!



I also forgot to recast Float, but thankfully, I hadn't taken that much damage from the floor.



This is probably the worst encounter down here. Warriors hit like trucks filled with rocks, while Mini Satana counter physical hits with Confuse, as well as cast it normally, so they can fuck you nice and good.





These guys are all fairly quick, so they can pile the damage on quickly and heavily. I heartily recommend you do the same to them.



I've never seen Float cast in battle, and I figured a lot of you hadn't either, so I'm going to show it off. It also automatically targets everyone. It only costs 8 MP, too.



Titan is highly effective against them, if you can keep Kim unconfused long enough to cast it.



Warriors have 2,900 HP with no weaknesses to exploit.



Float makes a pair of wings pop on the characters head and they flap for a second. It's so to me.



Mini Satana have 3,480 HP to tear through and are Mage type. However, I worry more about Warriors first, as they hit harder, even though Confuse can fuck you harder. It's a toss-up as to who is more dangerous.



Kim is hit by it this time, so no Titan ruining their shit for me.



Thankfully, she stops casting, so she won't waste the MP throwing an earthquake at the floating party.



Goemon's Ninjutsu can come in kind of handy here, as it'll hit all enemies and deal a decent bit of damage.



It's certainly more than I expected.



And Cecil is confused next. This could end badly.





Thankfully, he and Kim are smacked out of Confusion, so there's no friendly fire. Well, Kim bonked someone with her Rod, but that doesn't really count.



With those three guys knocked out of commission, it's easy cleaning up the rest of the Mini Satanas.



And you get a buttload of XP for finishing off that encounter. I know I haven't been mentioning XP gains much until now, but some of these are so great, I feel obligated to mention them.



Goemon gained a level and learned Smoke, which will let us flee like cowards.





That Teleporter there will take us to the next floor (which you can see through the floor here, which is fucking cool). But, we're not done here.



Hell, you can see the next floor through the secret passage.





This floor has a good bit of treasure on it. Not all of it is worthwhile, however.



If you're wondering where the entrance to this passage was, you might want to have yourself checked for mental retardation.



There's also a path leading here through the wall that Cecil is facing. You can actually cross all the way over by going through the wall beyond that, going past the teleporter and through that wall. It's kind of interesting.





Monster chests usually hold better loot and this one is no exception.



They also hold harder encounters.







But with the proper utilization of having teammates work together, you can crush these guys into a fine powder. It goes much smoother when there are no assholes around to confuse you.





This sword is an upgrade for Cecil, even though Bowser can equip it, too. However, he has Avenger, so he can kiss Cecil's ass if he thinks he's getting this sword.



A hefty defense and attack boost, as well as adding +15 to Stamina.



Cecil is set for a good while with that sword equipped.



Even though there are two new weapons at the end of this path.





This one is for Cecil or Bowser.



While Goemon gets a new ninja sword.



It's stronger than the Mage Masher, but I still have plans for that blade, so Goemon will keep it for just a bit longer.



And the Poison Axe is two handed and has a chance to inflict Poison. Fuck it.





I don't know why this is still part of the cave; there are no encounters around these parts.



Oh, yeah, there's also a full town at the bottom of the cave. I think I forgot to mention that.



It has lots of treasure and is full of citizens.





We're making history by being here. We'll be written into the history books and go down as legends. Not quite as legendary as Kim, a Summoner who made it down here, but still legends.



There's a bit of treasure beyond that teleporter.



All we have to do it enter the teleporter, go back through, and walk down this way.



There's a man on the surface with a disturbing fetish for these tails. He gives us a nice reward for this tail.



We're not quite done on this side of the teleporter yet.



What use do these people have for money? They're summoned monsters!



Though, there is a bit of an economy down here, as there are a few shops and what-not. We only see this one town, though, and I assume that's all there is, but that begs the question of why they use human money.



Hell, why do the dwarf people use surface money?



I'm probably thinking about this too much. Let's teleport on down.





Most of the people around are happy to see Kim, as she was much beloved down here.







The King of Summons is Leviathan. I don't know why they don't say his name.



There are some upgrades for the girls in here.





There are also a pair of assholes in here.



The Aegis shield also adds +3 to Intellect, but what the hell do Bowser and Cecil need Intellect for? Even with a small boost, it'll still never give them enough to be useful for anything.



Light Robes add +5 Intellect and Spirit.



Plus a nice defensive boost.



Much nicer for Rosa, but it's been a while since she got some new body gear.





Whoever "they" are, they are full of shit. I have seen no rampaging summons.



The weapon shop is mostly for Kim, but Rosa has an upgrade in here, too.



Oh, yeah, you also have to kill the King's wife in order to meet him. It's a very complicated form of insurance fraud.



Inside the weapon shop, these guys wonder if we can use this shit. We totally can.







The Kinesis Staff is the only purchase I make here, as I already have a Fairy Rod.



This adds +10 Spirit as well as casting Dispel when used in battle. I've never seen Dispel work, so I don't know if it even does. Hell, last I knew, it didn't even pierce Reflect, so what's the fucking point of it?



But look at that sweet, sweet Spirit stat.



Just north of the weapon shop is this library, which we'll hit later.







To the west of those two Bombs is the Item Shop and Inn.



Those two Chocobos sell the items, while the guy in the center runs the Inn. I didn't see any new items for sale, but this place can be nice to restock if you need to.



It's also a really Goddamn expensive Inn. I stay anyway, even though there is a save point just a short distance away. I'm not worried about money, so I'm willing to spend whatever cost on whatever.



Actually, we did, about four minutes ago. That still wouldn't be enough time for the initial shock to wear off, at least for me. I mean, talking giant chickens? What the shit is this?



Over to the east, there's this little house, where we'll end this update.



There's a save point up top, so I could have used a Cottage, but hey, I only have 61 of them and they cost less than the Inn.



The other chest contains a Bestiary. Hopefully, this guy isn't too upset at us robbing him.



But, we save up here, and we're done with this update.

Next time, on Final Fantasy IV, we'll meet the King and Queen of Summons. Stay tuned!