Part 73: DS Who the Hell is Zot, Anyway? part 2

DS Update 17: Who the Hell is Zot, Anyway? part 2


Welcome back, gentle viewers!

Last time, we started exploring the Tower of Zot, and kicked the shit out of the Magus Sisters. Today, we'll fight another boss and maybe save Rosa! So, what are we waiting for? Let's do it!


Oh, right. Enemies. Right outside the save room. I don't have time for you clowns. I have a dungeon to finish!


Oh for fuck's-


I'm getting sick of this!


Screw this place. We are so outta here.




I do appreciate level ups, though.


Tellah's been doing a good job keeping the party healthy. This dungeon would have been a real slog without him.


Sadly, his time is short. I'll have to appropriate has equipment. He won't need it where he's going.


Up north, it looks like a party. How dare they have a party without us?!


The party faces off against Kain and Golbez.



Golbez!

Where is Rosa?

The Crystal first.

Rosa is safe?

Never more so. Now, hand over the Crystal.




You fool! You never give the bad guy what he wants until he gives you what you want! Don't you realize what this means?!

Release Rosa.



What?

He's been playing us for fools all along!

Oh, what a surprise! The bad guy screws over the good guys as soon as they give him The Thing he's been after! I have never seen this before.

Forgive me if I rant a bit here, but I am heartily sick of seeing this. It's bullshit, it's not dramatic, or even funny. It's just bullshit. What with how many times this exact scenario plays out the wrong way, has anybody ever seen an example of how it plays out to the hero's benefit? Ever?

Just for some added fun, if you were in the party's place, what would you do? How would you prevent this from happening?

Back to your regularly-scheduled Dramatic Scene.


Yeah, you tell 'im, Tellah!


Oh, Golbez. You have no idea who you're dealing with, do you? This ought to be good.

Oh, but I have some with you!




I have the following sequence in screenshot and video, because I like it that much. I think it loses something without the sound effects and music, personally, but I capped it as well.




Hope you like scripted boss fights, because Tellah's about to have one, all by his lonesome.


Click for Video

Tellah vs. Golbez. Round 1: Fight!




Tellah wastes no time in going to town on Golbez. What the hell, Tellah?! Your ATB isn't even full! And you didn't spend any MP, either!

Feeble old man! What can you hope to do to me?




Tellah continues his rage-fueled magical onslaught. I don't think it's going to be enough, Tellah.




And a Blizzaga completes the trifecta. That one did a bit more damage, at least!

He still hasn't used up any MP... (Good thing, too, because 3 -aga level spells cost exactly 90 MP!)

Meteor's time has come at last.

No, Tellah! You mustn't!

You'll be the one it destroys!

So be it! Let my life fuel the spell that ends his!


Uh oh...


Damn, those are some impressive pyrotechnics there, Tellah!


And so is that damage!

Im... impossible!


Well, good job Tellah. You beat the final boss.

That's it everyone. Game's over. We can all go home now.


Oh, nevermind. We're not quite done yet.


Nooooo! Tellah!


All hands on deck! We have a situation here.


Come, Kain.


...


Do no think this affront will be forgiven.

You'll not escape this time, Golbez!

Yeah! Tellah probably took out a good chunk of his HP! If we dogpile him now, maybe we can-


Oh.

Cutscene time!


Polsy version

Tellah...




When we regain control, Golbez and Tellah are gone, and there are some shinies on the ground for us to pick up.


Oh. This means Tellah's really gone for good. These are his Augments.

Obtained Last Stand Augment and Fast Talker Augment

Surely the party has something to say about all this!


A fair question! Something stayed his hand. _{Yay, foreshadowing!}


Yeah. And the worst part? It didn't work. Tellah died for nothing.


Cid's frustration is as welcome as it is understandable. Now's not the time to be blubberin' about this! We got some 'venging to do!


But first, let's see if Kain is salvageable...


Kain!


Man. Golbez must've done a number on him.

Cecil!



Golbez held sway over your mind. None of this was your fault.

Yeah! Kain would never betray his bro of his own free will!

But... I was conscious of everything! Rosa, she... I-

Spit it out, Kain! What's wrong with Rosa?!


Where is she?!


Uh oh! I don't like the sound of this. We'd better hurry!




Oh! There she is! And looks like she's OK. What a relief!


Oh.


Click
Hurry up, Cecil! Rosa's gonna die!

I can't look. Did he make it?




Yes! We did it! Rosa is safe!





I knew you'd come for me.

I realized the moment you left my side. Rosa, I-

Oh, Cecil...


D'awww. Yes, now that's more like it!

Yes, that was pretty much my exact reaction to this scene the first time I played this game. I just blurted out "Awww, huggies!" Yes, I am a huge softie, what of it?


Awkward...


What are you on about, Cid? They're just hugging.

Hang on... yeah, they're just hugging! What the hell, Cecil! You just saved that woman from the jaws of death! This is not the time for hugging! This is smooching time! You French that woman. You French her real good!

In the GBA version, it certainly looks like they're kissing in this scene, but with the sprites it's kind of hard to tell. Not so here...

And while I'm at it, there is something I've wondered about. I've noticed that when JRPGs have scenes like this, other characters always react the way Cid does. "Hey why don't you guys get a room ifyaknowwhatImean " when the lovers are just hugging, at best. In Japan, are PDAs really, really taboo, or something? Moreso than they are in the west?



He is himself again.


I just wanted to keep you... to keep you by my side.

Oh. Gee, Kain, I'm sorry. That's rough, really rough.

Kain...

...

...

Hoo boy. This is awkward. Cecil and Kain used to be the bestest of best buddies. Can their friendship survive this?


Great idea! Team Asskicker is short one member, after all...

Rosa, Cecil... Please, accept my apologies.

...

Then again, Kain did just kinda sorta almost get Rosa killed. I can understand if Cecil isn't jumping at the chance to forgive him quite yet!


We need to get out of here!

Once again, Cid just cuts right through the bullshit. Cid is the best.




Aww. Best bros, always best bros.

You'll help us fight Golbez, won't you? We could use your help now more than ever.




Hell yes! Team Asskicker is back in action!






Remember in Star Wars, when Obi-wan says the Jedi mind trick is especially effective on the weak-minded? I think it's the same kind of deal here. Golbez exploited a weakness in Kain's psyche, specifically his secret love for Rosa.




In time, I would hope so, Kain.


Now, we have some new party members to outfit! Kain... looks pretty good, actually! Looks like Golbez didn't cheap out on outfitting him. A full set of Mythril gear is damn nice!


We do have this, as well, but eh... A 10-point penalty to all status is pretty hefty. I think I'll pass.


Now, Rosa.... hang on. I stripped her of all her stuff before she left. Is Golbez in the habit of outfitting his prisoners with high-end gear, too? Or maybe Kain slipped her some stuff on the side?

It's weird. I swear I remember her starting with only the Prisoner's Garb, like Cid did, and losing that Sage Surplice of hers for good. Puzzling. Oh well, I'm certainly not going to complain!


The only thing Rosa really needs is a decent weapon. She gets that Great Bow we picked up ages ago.


And some Silencing Arrows, because why not? Remember, in this version, you only ever need one of any type of arrow!


We finally get to use this thing, too! Remember we picked it up back in Mist. Lots of green numbers! It affords Rosa a welcome boost to her defenses and evasion, as well as halving lightning damage!


And one of these beefs up her defense even more. She'll be set for awhile, I should think!


But that's not all! We've picked up a bunch of Augments. Let's dole them out.




Kain gets Porom's old Cry Augment.




Now, this is the Augment we got for giving 3 Augments to the Twins. Dualcast is a damn fine Augment. It catapults Rosa from "competent healer" to "best goddamn healer in the game." I am not exaggerating.






Yang gets some of Tellah's Augments, since they seemed to be such good buddies.


Kain doesn't have that many abilities, so I equip Cry on him. Now he can tell his sob story to enemies and lower their defenses!


Rosa's commands get shuffled around, too. She doesn't need Attack, since Aim does the same thing with perfect accuracy, and picks up Dualcast.

Dualcast is fucking amazing, as I mentioned before. It does what it says right there on the tin. This means, you can cast Protect and Shell in a single turn. You can Protect on your party and Slow on a boss. Or, you can revive someone and heal them right away! No more tossing a Phoenix Down on someone and then frantically queuing up a Cure spell hoping the enemy doesn't just knock them out again! Or you can drop a double healing spell on your party for twice the efficacy! The possibilities are endless! This ability is never coming off Rosa, ever!


I don't actually equip Last Stand on Yang, but here's what it does. Frankly, it sucks. If you're already at critical, chances are you're going to die, doubled defense or no. You're far better off healing. Plus, it doesn't do shit against magic attacks, which are Yang's weakness, anyway. (Not to mention Brace will double Yang's defense anyway, critical HP or no!) We already know what Recall does. I don't equip that either.


Anyway, we were in the middle of skedaddling, weren't we? Let's do that.


Uh oh. I don't like this. The last time this happened...




The camera rotates around the party, while they look around bewildered. It's as if this mysterious voice is coming from everywhere at once!


Leave just called her Babs. I'm going to do the same.


Oh my. Lady, please do be putting on more clothes. Ugh, like... five or six more clothes.




You tell her, Kain!

And you've grown arrogant as well, I see! I should have killed you and Rosa both when I first had the chance. But that old wizard of yours is gone now, and Meteor with him. Allow me to amend my past mistakes.




Oh, yes, Kain. That's the kind of attitude I like! Let's get her!




Babs, baby, if you need more time to finish getting dressed, I can wait! Jesus.


Anyway, here's the second boss of the Tower! Babs has 12,272 and no elemental weaknesses, though she resists Earth and Wind. Unfortunately, you can't really cheese your way past Babs like you can with the Magus Sisters.


Right away, she shows off her gimmick. There was a boss that did this in... I think Final Fantasy III (the DS remake, at least). When she does this, her evasion skyrockets (and it's pretty high as it is). She's essentially immune to all damage except Jump. In FF3, you could have up to four Dragoons to help deal with these shenanigans. Here, we only get one.


Considering that one is Kain, I think we'll be fine.


While Kain is dealing with our little tornado problem, the rest of the party is going to do their usual setup.


That includes Rosa, with her shiny new Augment. Observe.


Shell on the party.


And then Slow on Babs.


Babs is blistering fast and she hits pretty damn hard! Slowing her will be immensely helpful.


And that will be the only magic-based thing we send her way, because she counters magic with this!


Maelstrom is a nasty, nasty piece of work! Increasingly, we'll see enemies (even common monsters!) packing this spell to deter us from abusing status magic, like Slow.


And it is one hell of a deterrent! Maelstrom instantly reduces the entire party's HP to single digits!

Good thing we already Slowed her, because this a bad position to be in with a boss as fast as Babs!


Even Cecil is going to step up to the plate and help out.


Keeping Rosa alive is our number one priority! We need her.


Ah, and there's Kain! The damage might not be too impressive, but...


it dissipates Babs' tornado. This is absolutely vital if we want to be able to damage her at all!


Meanwhile, Rosa gets the party healed up.


And Cid takes a pot-shot at her, which serves to illustrate something else. (Well, two things. She resists earth, so I should have taken that fucking Gaia Hammer off him! Considering that, that was a pretty respectable hit!)


Babs also has a counter to physical attacks. Isn't that lovely?


It looks nasty, and it is.


It's not as bad as Maelstrom, but it's plenty bad enough!

Basically, you're not going to be able to avoid counterattacks in this fight. The best you can do is mitigate the damage. That's where Shell comes in. Lightning is nasty, but more manageable than Maelstrom. Keep your HP up and whale on her with your strongest physical attacks!


Her defense is pretty high, too, as you could figure from the damage Cid and Kain were putting out.


Kain tries to earn some sympathy points from Babs.


And it works like a charm! She feels sorry for him and her defense drops.


Now, here's where Dualcast really shines. First, we drop a Raise on Cecil.


Then, queue a Cura on the whole party.


And bada bim, Cecil is revived,


and immediately healed!

Frankly, I wouldn't want to try doing this fight without Dualacast...


We don't need Kain's tornado-busting services at the moment, so he tosses Cid a Phoenix Down.


And Babs takes some massive exception to that, apparently! See what I mean? Her physical attack is nasty as well, but at least she can only target one person at a time with it!




Rosa renews our protections and heals the party up.

Man, Dualcast is amazing!


Of course, Yang got knocked out too, meaning he loses his built up Focus.

Better start building it back up. The fewer counterattacks you take, the better. Therefore, you want to do the most damage you can in as few hits as possible. Triple-Focused Attacks are perfect for this!


Cecil throws up a Protect while I'm at it. Hey, it can't hurt!


After Rosa heals the party, and Cid tosses Rosa an Ether, I feel confident enough to start attacking her again.


Oh no you don't, lady!


I'm not letting you wreck Yang's Focus again!

Basically, here's how it goes:


Yang builds up his focus.


Rosa heals the party. Constantly.


And Yang... fucking misses!

Trouble is, Babs' evasion is stupid high even when she's not in tornado from. It's doubly important to make each hit count!


All right, fuck this shit. Time to go to town on her!


Kain's Cry really helped. Keep in mind, she resists Cid's weapon element!


Of course that means we incur Counter: Lightning. Whatever. Rosa can keep us healthy. Just don't attack her too fast for Rosa to keep up! Take it slow and steady. There's no hurry.


Ah, right on time.


Good job, Kain!


Ffff. Godddamn it, guys! You're killing me here!


All right, Yang. This is your chance. Make it count!


Now that's more fucking like it!






We plink at her a bit more. Cecil's damage against her is damn fine, if I say so myself!


Good Yang, good! That's what I like to see!


And that's it! We got her!


Good job, everyone! That was actually... not so bad.




Look, look! Cecil broke 2,000 HP! All right, Cecil!

Learned Esuna

Ah, here's another spell which is just as effective no matter who uses it! A welcome addition to Cecil's repertoire.


Ah, I had forgotten how nice it is to have a caster with a decent MP pool!


You may have bested me, but the last of the four remains!




Mwa ha ha ha ha!

To emphasize her point, the screen starts to shake. You can see it a little bit there at the end of Babs' death throes.




Oh dear. This looks bad!

Oh, I don't like this one bit...


Eh? You have something up your sleeve, Rosa?






Oh, I see!

The screen fades to black and we find ourselves back in...





Should be safe enough here, now that the imposter's gone.


Oh, great. What else could happen?!



It's about the remaining Crystals.

Kain, we've lost the Earth Crystal. Golbez holds all of them now.

Yeah, and no thanks to you, I might add!



You mean to say there are more?



You speak of the Dark Crystals.

Hmm?

I do.

The four of this world are Crystals of Light.


Oh, is that what those folks down in Agart were on about?

Then the Dark Crystals are real?

Quite. Golbez holds but half of the Crystals.





Then we must reach them before he does! Where are they hidden?



The underworld?!

How are we s'posed to get there? Start digging?


Please. There is more. He said when all the Crystals are gathered, the way to the moon would be opened.

What?

The way to the moon?

I understand it no more than you. But he said this was the key.



Obtained Magma Stone


I like how they actually show Kain and Cecil holding the thing. It's a nice little detail. The model work in this game is pretty damn fine.

There is a place where it must be offered, and doing so will open a path to the underworld.

A place?

But where?

That much I do not know.




Good idea!

Cid, the Enterprise is still at the Tower of Zot.

Heh, thinking ol' Cid's gone senile on you, eh? I told you, didn't I? The Enterprise is strides beyond those other ships! I've already flown her back to Baron by remote control.

This Cid, best Cid.



I don't know what we'd do without you, Cid!

We'd be up shit creek without a paddle, that's where!

Me neither! Guess we'll leave in the morning, then. No better way to start searching for an entrance to the underworld than with a sound night's sleep!

I like the way this man thinks!

But I wonder... what made Golbez falter?




Last I checked there was only one bed in here... Eh, oh well!


I like to think the rest of the party found somewhere else to sleep. That bed's really only big enough for one person... Well, two if they don't mind getting cozy....

But enough of that! We're done for today. Once again, I'll leave you with the party's thoughts:








Cid gives us a hint on where we're supposed to go! Of course, we've already been there, but it's nice of the game to throw us a bone.


Yep, if I were Kain, I'd be pretty pissed off.


That'll do for now. Happy apocalypse day, everyone! Be safe, and I'll see you next time!