Part 48: Update Forty Six: The Summoner's Trial

Update Forty Six: The Summoner's Trial

Welcome back! Last time, on Final Fantasy IV, we completed Champ's Trial and defeated Lunar Shiva. Today, we're doing another Trial, so let's mosey.



Champ will lead us around until the next Trial. I think I mentioned this before, but I'm going to do it this way for all the Trials; the person who just completed the Trial will lead the party to the next one.



No particular reason for it, really. I just thought it'd be kind of neat, plus I'm tired of looking at Cecil.



At least Champ has a ballin' hat with the feathers and shit.



Cecil has a cape and purple hair and he still looks like a woman to me.



A Sylph, here?



Before I talk to her, I'll explore a bit around this place.





It doesn't seem that there is any treasure around here. At least, not that I found, so there's a good chance I missed something totally kick-ass.



The Sylph is a very nice lady.



She blasts us with some magic, golden healing sparklies.



And we get a full recovery, as if we had used a Cottage. In the SNES version, they were called Cabins and you have no idea how many times I've had to erase that word when talking about using a Cottage.



Any chance you could just teleport us to the next Trial? Or the end of it, really?



Of course it can't be that simple. We've gotta fuckin' walk.



Into this room. I hate this room.



These waterfalls will drop us down, but we can't go back up them. This room is full of them, too, so be sure you know where you're going before you take a waterfall.





We'll take the right-hand waterfall first.



I want that treasure chest. It has something worthwhile.



Damn, looks like we can't get to it this way...



And we've gotta fight another annoying encounter.



Lamia Queens don't have any weakness. I thought they were weak to Fire, since I thought all Lamias were Undead, but this one is an Insect. She has 10,330 HP and nothing really noteworthy besides that. I want to say she can confuse people, but I could have her confused with another enemy.



That's the only new enemy this area has to offer, so let's keep moving.



Ooh, a treasure chest. Maybe this one will be good, too.



Before I forget, there's something I need to show you.



You'll notice that Sing has changed to Chant. What does this mean?



When Champ uses Chant, instead of a random status effect on the enemy, it casts Protect and Shell on the entire party, for free. Generally, Protect and Shell aren't needed, but this is still pretty damned cool. And his turn isn't continually used up by his Chanting, either; it's something you just use once, then continue the fight as normal. Champ is a pretty worthwhile party member, moreso than he was before.



This chest turns out to be disappointing; X-Potions are about a 2,000 HP heal, but I usually don't need to heal just one person. Most regular fights aren't threatening enough to need healing after and bosses have so many strong full-party attacks that Curaja is just used, so this X-Potion is fairly useless.



Well, shit, looks like we missed that chest.



Since we're going through a door--



Or never mind. Any doors and exits that aren't the right one will take you back here if you use them. The correct exit is pretty much due south from here, but the path isn't that simple.



Let's take the left path.



This place seems complicated at first, mostly due to the waterfalls and the different paths, but it's not actually too bad.





Really, the best chance you have of getting lost is simply just taking the wrong waterfall.



As long as you can remember which ones you've taken that don't lead to where you want, this place is easy-peasy, lemon-squeezy.



We're ever closer to the chest I want. When I reach it, you'll understand why I want this chest so much.



Well, we certainly seemed closer. Damn waterfalls and bullshit.



Let's pop back to the start and try that again. I know the path out of here, so after getting that chest, we're getting the fuck out of here.



From the start, we take the right waterfall, then go down this one.



Now, this might seem like we're not going to hit the chest, either.



But that little rock outcrop thinger isn't as long as it initially appears.



This is for Rosa and it rocks.



It's a nice boost over her old White Robe and offers +10 Spirit; the White Robe offers +15, but the extra Defense and Magic Defense will be better. Plus, having 99 Spirit doesn't actually seem to do much more over only having 75 Spirit.



Let's hit this door and then get the hell out of here.



I didn't screenshot the path I took, but I can't imagine anyone here is going to actually play this shit, so it doesn't seem all that important.





It seems I lied when I said the Lamia Queen was the only new enemy. Sorry 'bout that, folks.



Sahagin Princes are weak to Thunder and have 12,902 HP. They can cast Thundaga, too, so you could use Reflect to help kill them, but they're not all that difficult to begin with.





They drop a lot of gil and experience, as does everything else down here.



And there's the exit for this place. I'm so glad we went through it.





We wind up in a library next. I feel like I should make some snarky comment about that, like, "What is a library doing on the Moon? " but fuck that. We're in a library and I don't even care.



This man, however, cares about being in a pickle.



I'm sure you can just find another book.



For some reason, this line almost sounds like he's hitting on Champ.



I suppose we could, yeah. I like libraries and books, so digging through them is preferable to what I've been doing. Though, I'm sure this is why the card catalog exists...



Well, hell, that's even better motivation.



Unfortunately, it's not right next to him.



Oh, hey, they start keeping LPs in libraries.



I can imagine this is actually a very useful book. If your Cure spells are doing an un-Cure effect, maybe this is what you need.



The book is right here, though. Those three books are the only ones I found, too, so I don't know what else lies in this library.



And this old guy is overjoyed that we found the book.



I like where this is going. I do need to restock Cottages and I can afford many, many more Elixirs now.





Yes, they used a close out thingy for that. I don't know why the character just doesn't follow the old guy and they had to fade like we were going to do some arcane science. It stands out to me as supremely fucking stupid.



He leads us through a secret passage behind the counter.



Then why are you still fucking here? This place sucks! I'd rather die on the surface of the Moon than be trapped in the Lunar Ruins!



Thank you, old man. I hope you enjoy your books and don't need help finding any others.



Alright, let's boogie on out of here!



...Oh, it was a path outside the library. Not out of the Ruins. I should have known.



Well, we got another Trial coming up, so let's get ready for it.



And in we go.



Oh, now, what the fuck is--



Thanks, Kim. You took the words right outta my mouth.



Kim splits from the party and moves forward.





That...Looks like some sort of mist.



Jesus Christ!



...My God, she's become a little girl again.



Well, suddenly being ten or twelve years younger will do that, I s'pose.



Oh, what the fuck is this now?



Thankfully, she doesn't lose all of her Summons. Just some of them.





It seems to have given her a splitting headache. Kim, are you alright?





No shit, Cecil? I harp on your brother for being a moron a lot, but you seem just as bad. Must be a genetic thing. Maybe KluYa was an idiot pimp machine.



Anyways, we've got a Trial to complete. Let's move alo--



Ah, Christ, that was quick.



Mist Eagles are douchebags.



They have 10,290 HP, so you can't one shot them. They are weak to Throw, though, but only Rosa can use that element, and she has a staff equipped right now. Sure, I could change her weapon in battle, but it's not really worth it.



This will instantly Petrify somebody. None of that gradual bullshit, just suddenly turned to fucking stone. And since she's a child again, Kim gets access to White Magic again. Nice little detail, but she still has the same three spells as before.



Remedies clear it up, as well as Esuna and Gold Needles. That's pretty much why I dislike these guys so much. They're also fairly fast, so I can't ever make it through a fight without somebody winding up a statue.





Plus, their rewards are kind of shitty. It's almost like these guys were tailor-made to piss me off.



The change is purely cosmetic, as could be expected. Kim's stats are all the same as they were, as is her magic. Her list of summons is trimmed down a little bit, but Bahamut is still around, so we've got the most important one.



Let's continue on. I refer to this area as the Hub. It connects you to all the places you need to go in this Trial.



We'll head to the left first.



These paths are prevalent through the entire thing; it seems like they should be herding you into something, but nope! Just thin paths.







Mist Eagles are constantly attacking, too. There are other mist monsters around, too, but I didn't encounter any of them.



...Who the hell is that?



Oh. Ifrit, get your flamey ass back here!





I'd reckon so, Kim. Looks like we'll have to beat--



It seems like I'm being interrupted an awful lot this update.





Either way, it's time to fuck up Ifrit.



Champ is useless in this fight, since Apollo's Harp is Fire elemental. Oddly enough, Ifrit doesn't actually absorb Fire, instead merely resisting it.



He's weak to Ice, as one could imagine. I really should have taken all of Leave's claws with me, instead of just leaving Thunder Claw on him and deciding that was good enough.





His physicals aren't too powerful.





He has 70,000 HP, too, so this fight won't last too terribly long.





Ifrit can also use Fira against your party, but it's not very powerful. Granted, Cecil has resistance to Fire, but you'd think that the Summoned Monster of Fire could be more effective with it.



Holy is great, with and without hitting a weakness. It's a good thing for Rosa to be doing, if you don't have any healing that needs to be done.



When he switches to this stance, he's about to use his strongest attack.



It's the same attack he uses when he's summoned.



Champ has resistance to Fire, with his Red Cap and Jacket. I didn't find the Jacket until later, so I should probably tell you that it halves Fire damage, without any stat boosts. But, with only doing 1,500 to Leave, this attack is nothing to worry about. Ifrit, unfortunately, is pretty pathetic.





So we fast-forward to the end of the fight.





His gil and XP drops aren't too bad, though.



And...That's it. Nothing is said after defeating him, we don't get any items; there's nothing. You think that there would be something about getting Ifrit back, but there's nothing. He just pops back into the summon list like he never left.

Lazy assholes.



Back at the Hub, we go to the right this time.



And, yeah, there are paths like this to the other summons, too. We've gotta fight all that are gone, but there's nothing really interesting on the way to them.





Plus, all the summon on-field sprites are just recolors of Scarmiglione's. It just reeks of and laziness on Square's part. Once again, they could have done something cool here and made some neato unique sprites, but they just kind of give the player the finger and slap whatever shit on they want.



To kick your ass.



Kim, sweetie, I spent a lot of time saying you're one of the few intelligent people in the party. Please don't go full-retard on us now.





And boss fight number two begins.



Shiva is weak to Fire, which isn't surprising, but doesn't absorb Ice. I don't know why.



Champ is back to being useful in battle.

There's a lot of things I say that sometimes I'm surprised by saying, and saying that Champ is useful is one of those things I still can't believe I get to say.



Though, he really needs some more attack power. Leave isn't hitting a weakness and still doing about as much damage as he is.



Or maybe Shiva is hardier than I initially gave her credit for.





Shiva has 64,000 HP, so this fight is a bit quicker than the one against Ifrit.



Blizzara is even more pathetic than Fira.



She's got some muscle, though, I'll give her that.



And that stance, as should be expected by now, comes out just before her strongest attack.



It's nowhere near as powerful as her Lunar counterpart's version, but Jesus Pleezus, Champ cannot take a magical hit.



Let's just skip to the end of this fight, too.



You're not missing much by me doing my usual "take you through every step of the fight" thing. Do you guys mind that, by the way? I can understand if it's kind of boring to see every single attack and magic used, but it seems...I dunno, kind of right to do it that way? I'm not sure why.



No fanfare here, either. Her XP and gil drops are the same as Ifrit's. All the summoned monsters you fight here have that exact drop, too.



So, back to the Hub.



We go to the upper-left path this time.





Child Kim's overworld sprite is adorable, too.



Titan's up next. I don't have Float cast right now, but it's not a big deal.





This goes about the same as the others. Do you see the pattern in these guys yet?



This is a good opportunity for Cecil to get some revenge for being blasted by Titan back at the beginning of the game.



Titan, as could be expected, hits like an armored car full of bricks.



And takes a hit like he's made of bricks.



Well, from Champ at least. Titan doesn't have any weaknesses to exploit, either.



So Flare is a pretty good choice for Kim.



Titan has 75,000 HP, by the way.



Plus, he knows Quake, so he can use his Earth attacks at any time, rather than waiting to use his big one.



Quake is pretty damned powerful, too, dealing good damage to everyone.



But Float completely nullifies it, making Titan the easiest of these fights.



When Titan flexes his arm, he's getting ready to use his strongest attack. I have a buddy who refers to this sprite as "Poopin' Titan". I don't know why I thought you'd want to know that, but there you go.



This is Titan's powerful attack. I don't know how much damage it does, because I've never been hit by it. I imagine it'd do around 2,000, maybe 3,000 damage to everyone.





Anyways, this fight ends with Leave clawing out his heart.



And we're free to go face the final summoned monster.



I don't know what that mist is, but I know it's blocking my path and I'm not going to fuck with it.



This is the upper-right path, by the way.



I wonder who our final loose summon is.



It's Ramuh! I was kind of hoping it'd be the Chocobo, just so we could fight that fuckin' guy.



Well, Ramuh looks really old, so maybe he's just senile, Kim.



Eh, I summoned you once to show you off and that's about it.





Maybe we should try and get more grandparents to remember kids by hitting them with sacks of frozen oranges.



So, Ramuh is another boss with no weaknesses to exploit.



And his physicals are just plain pathetic.





Leave's Thunder Claw is a pretty big detriment here, but thankfully, his other claw helps make up for it.



Cecil's damage is just about the same as it usually is.





And I don't know why I used Firaga here. Flare is the best way to go.



Holy is a great thing, too.



Really, there are just a few enemies that Holy isn't useful on. I think. I can't really think of any of them, but I'm sure there are some.



Like Ifrit and Shiva, he has the second level spell of his element.



It's certainly a spell.



He also has Blitz, which you might remember being fairly effective.



It's, uh...Not very effective here. Really, Ramuh is a huge pushover. If it wasn't so easy to completely render Titan's strongest attacks completely useless, I'd say Ramuh was the easiest summon.



Aye, Flare is much better than Firaga.



When he raises his staff like this, he's about to use his strongest attack.



Simply called Lightning, it hits everyone, as all the others did.



And it's not very impressive. Ramuh really gets the shaft.





So, I blow his head off with a Flare and be done with it.



And there's still nothing. We defeated all of the loose summons, but Kim doesn't have a Goddamned word to say. This is just lazy, Square; I think I feel ashamed for you guys.



We can pass through this fog now.



Oh, God, it killed us all!



Or just dissipated in a flash of bright light, letting us move forward to face the Lunar monster down here.



In this Trial, at least.



Hmm, I wonder who this is.



The Lunar Dragon is...Interesting.



She's got some strong physicals to hit the party with.



She has no weaknesses and absorbs Holy, so Leave and Cecil aren't going to be very effective with their physicals here.





This is bad, because the Lunar Dragon has 105,000 HP to get through, so this could take a while.



Flare is a good spell to use, as usual. I'm sure you're all tired of me saying that by now.



For some inexplicable reason, Lunar Dragon will poison your entire party.



The girls' Ribbons protect against that, so just the guys are turned purple. This also disables Power (or Deadly) for Leave, and I'm not sure why. I guess he just can't focus while poisoned.



I really should have put Rosa's bow back on her. Oh, well, too late now.



Just as when Bowser and Cecil fought the regular Dragon on their way to Mist, this one, too, will turn into mist every so often.



All attacks will still miss, no matter what, so it's useless to try.



Especially since she'll still counter with Cold Mist.



But, apparently, it's the same Cold Mist from the beginning of the game, so it's not a fucking threat at all. Maybe if she could use Maelstrom it would be...



She'll also cast Slow on people while in mist form.



I was dicking around, waiting for her to come back to Dragon form, so I had Champ use his Heal ability. I don't have enough curative items for him to actually do it; I think he goes for the strongest healing item you have available, and I only have two or three X-Potions, so he can't do it.



And that time is also good to restore MP if you need to. Dry Ethers restore more outside of battle, and I'm not sure why.



And her last trick is to use Restore on herself, which heals for 9,999 HP.



That's pretty much all she wrote for this fight. Nothing really nasty about this fight, so there's not much to worry about.





After the fight, we receive her Grimoire, as per the norm.



Well, you're back to an adult, so I'd reckon so.



God, I hope so. I don't feel like doing another Trial right now.



Oh, thanks for confirming that, Kim.



Eh, Bahamut is the only one really important to me. I'm glad we didn't have to fight that asshole again.



...The hell is--



I'm glad we're almost done with this update. I don't like being interrupted!



The Mist Ring is actually pretty sweet.



Replace "odd" with "bullshit" and it sounds more right to me.



The Mist Ring does make all summons stronger, especially the Dragon summon. With this equipped, when Dragon is summoned, it also gives the entire party a single hit Blink, too!



Anyways, we rest up here and we're finished with this update.



Next time, on Final Fantasy IV, we'll be--Oh, hell, you all know what we're doing. Stay tuned all the same, though!