The Let's Play Archive

Final Fantasy IV: Advance and DS

by Leavemywife and Silver Falcon

Part 74: DS Down the Rabbit Hole

DS Update 18: Down the Rabbit Hole


Welcome back, viewers! We have a lot to do today, so let's get this party started.

Last time, our heroes had a truly harrowing adventure in the Tower of Zot. After many close calls, they barely escaped with their lives, gained two allies... and lost one. Poor Tellah...

But now is not the time to dwell on that! We have stuff to do.


Our first stop, Mythril! We've amassed an awful lot of money between the Lodestone Cavern and the Tower of Zot, and this is the first opportunity we've had to spend it!


I've been itching to outfit everyone with Mythril Armor. But... well, I probably needn't have bothered. Cecil already picked up something better, Kain already has a set, and Cid... well Cid isn't going to get a chance to use it much.


Still, I've been wanting to buy some, so I did. It's not like I can't afford it at this point...


There. That's a nice defensive boost. I love seeing those green numbers. It's strangely satisfying.


Now, it was mentioned in the thread that there's another, subtle, difference between the GBA and DS versions that I hadn't touched on. (Because I wasn't really aware of it.)


Normally, as in this is true in real life as well as the GBA version, you hold a bow in your "off" hand. You nock arrows and draw the bow with your dominant hand, hold it in your other. Rosa is right-handed, so she should equip bows in her left hand.


This isn't the case in the DS version. In fact, as you can see in those last few screenshots, you can only equip bows and other weapons in her right hand and arrows in her left.

The DS version doesn't have "handedness" differences between characters, at least it doesn't make a difference in equipment placement. Kain still holds his spear in a left-handed position.

So, I was doing it right, I just didn't know why.


So, next order of business, I still have a Twincast Augment sitting in my inventory. (The one that some FAQs suggest giving to Tellah, which I didn't). The other already went to Cecil. Well, Twincast doesn't do any good unless it's paired, so...


Rosa can have the other one.


Farewell, sweet Murdertwins. You may be gone, but your asskicking shall live on!




So, now the lovers have Twincast. They can be partners in crime, and murder. This might not be the "best" setup from a gameplay standpoint, but it fits, damn it. It makes thematic sense. I'm going with it!


I'll have to remember to try it out sometime, but first, I've one last stop to make.


And of course I can't land the airship anywhere near it so,


we have to hoof it. Again.

I'll spare you the hike to the Chocobo Village and nabbing a black Chocobo. You've seen it before.


What in the world could I want with this place, you may be wondering?

And why would I ever want to come back here, regardless of what's here?


Well, for one thing, this place isn't so bad, now that the dark elf is gone. Take a look at the bottom screen. When the magnetic field is active, a little lightning bolt will show up next to any character that has anything metallic equipped. The party has metal equipment up the wazoo- especially Kain, Cid, and Cecil, but there are no lightning bolts to be seen.

The magnetic field is no longer active without the dark elf around to maintain it. This place is just an ordinary dungeon now.


The encounters here are nothing even approaching a challenge anymore, now that we're equipped properly, but I still got a couple levels out of my efforts.


Oh yes, it is good to have our bro Kain back.


And Yang is welcome in any party, I say.


Even Rosa joins the levelling party, a few battles later! She's a bit behind, as you can see. She'll catch up before to long.

Again, I'll spare you the long hike to the bottom. There was a lot of murder involved.


Our prize lies in the lowest depths of the dungeon, in the Crystal Chamber. See that shiny thing on the ground? That's what we came here for.


Nice! This is Barbariccia's signature Augment, in the same way that Tsunami was Cagnazzo's, and Curse was Scarmiglione's. I can't believe I spelled all their names right without looking it up...

I'll be sitting on this one for now. I'll find a use for it later, mark my words!


Anyway, we're done here, so let's blow this Popsicle stand!


While we're here, I suppose we should tell those holy ladies about what happened to their Crystal... You know, since they let us "borrow" it and all...



Oh, no... it is not just Troia that is in danger now- the fate of the entire world hangs in the balance!

Yeah, we kinda fucked that one up...

It is for this very reason that the Crystals were scattered to distant lands, and yet it seems even that was to no avail.

Well, I'm sure no one counted on someone like Golbez. I don't get the impression that anyone even thought of trying to gather all the Crystals before he came along...

When all of the Crystals are brought together, it is said they grant a terrible power to their possessor.

Now, this is interesting. Thus far, we haven't had a very good idea of just why Golbez wants the Crystals (other than "goin' to the Moon!" ). This is a useful clue.

The loss of our own Crystal is devastating, but the fact that all of them are now in enemy hands is of far greater concern.

Ah, they're taking the long view of it. That's... good. At least it means we probably won't be burned at the stake or thrown in the dungeon, or something!

The Crystal was stolen? Then you must reclaim it, and quickly!

If by "stolen" you mean "traded for Cecil's girlfriend" then yes, it was stolen.

They've taken the Earth Crystal?!

All the Crystals taken, and by hands so foul... This is a nightmare indeed.

Yyyyep. We fucked up. But at least we got Rosa back, right?


Enough lollygagging. We have some plot to advance! We have a mysterious Magma Stone, said to open the way to the underworld, and no idea where to use it! Our only clue comes from Cid. He seems to think the place we need is "Aga-something."


Why, that sounds like Agart! Remember this place? I was here before, back when we first got the Enterprise. Come to think of it, folks here talked about "where there is light, there is shadow" and all that new-age sounding malarkey.


And there was this mysterious well right in the middle of town. Very curious!


Hmmmmmm...


The game prompts you here by opening your inventory. Well, it's just crazy enough to work, wouldn't you say?


Ah, I think we're onto something here!


So it is!

Let me see it.


I do like the little animations in this game. I really do.

That's strange. It's getting warmer.


Uh oh. Cid, did you just?

He did. There's even a little whistling sound effect of the thing falling down the well. Ah, this game.


The screen begins to shake wildly. You took the words right out of my mouth, Cecil!

The following sequence presented in both screenshot and video form:


Click for video


Cid!


Cid, what... What did you do?!


Welp. You blew up a mountain. Nice going, guys!

I'm sure the party has some thoughts on the matter:


Presumably! Only one way to find out, I suppose.


Several things, actually, but those are generally found deep beneath the ocean...


Ain't life crazy, Yang? We sure are glad to have you, though.


Well, if Cid thinks it's all right, then it must be! Look at that face. That's the face of a trustworthy man, if I ever saw one!


Kain gets points for keeping his eyes on the prize. We'd best be going!

Oh, and you'd think the inhabitants of Agart would have something to say about their mountain blowing the fuck up, but no. They don't say anything. Not a peep. Their dialog doesn't change in the slightest. How odd. They must have noticed!


Well, only one way to tell where this hole leads, and luck favors the bold! Let's go.


And here we are!


The Enterprise begins to move on autopilot.


Well, not autopilot precisely, just without player input. I bet Cid's steering it just fine.



Sinister music begins to play. Evidently there is Some Shit going down.



The Red Wings!

Uh oh. The last time we came upon those chuckleheads unexpectedly, stuff blew up and people died!

Again, the following sequence is presented in screenshot and video, because it's pretty slick!


Click for video


Well, the Red Wings are definitely fighting with something.


Apparently... tanks? Sure. Sure, why not? I can deal with tanks.

In hell.

I love this game.


And Cid just flies through the middle of it like it ain't no thing.


Um, that looks like an explosion.

It seems we weren't fast enough!


So did that. Jesus, Yang! Cutting it a bit close, aren't you?


A fair question! Someone must live down here, someone with sufficient technology to make tanks. Said tanks seem to be holding up OK against Baron's Airships, the most advanced military force in the (known) world.


Oh boy. I'm not sure that's such a good idea!




More explosions rock the ship. That can't be good for the paint job...

Come on, Enterprise! I know you're hurting! Just hold on a bit longer for me, girl!


That is not what I want to hear right now, Cid!


Oh, perfect...





Rosa...


Is everybody all right?


We won't be able to fly her anymore, not like this.

Poor Cid. His ships are like his children.

Then I suppose we go by foot from here.

So we do.


Welcome to the underworld!

It's a whole new world map, and as such, has new world map music:


There's a lot of lava, which is impassable to us at the moment.




As you can imagine, all that lava makes it stifling hot down here.


And not all the heat comes from the lava!


Considering all the tanks and airships running around, I wonder if we'll ever see our airship intact again.


Kain's still concerned for Rosa. It's kind of cute, but mostly sad.


Fortunately, we crash-landed right next to a fairly large structure of some sort. Looks like a castle! It's bound to be cooler in there. In we go!


Before we do that, though it pains me to do this...


Cid isn't long for this party. I have little choice but to take his stuff.


Kain can have his Flame Shield. In such a hot place, it's a good idea to keep your tankiest fighters well equipped!




And here we are, our next destination!






We haven't even seen anyone yet, Yang! How do you know that?


That seems likely!


Cid seems to think so too. That man generally knows what he's talking about, especially when it comes to structural and mechanical things!



This is the castle of the dwarves. King Giott rules our halls.

Dwarves, huh? Pretty cool!


Oh, well that's nice to know!

You'd best go and present yourselves before King Giott.

Not only dwarves, but not-Scottish dwarves! How novel!


Well, only one way to go from here, really. Aside from the dwarvishness, this castle isn't all that different from every other castle we've seen so far.


More people to talk to!


I lost my dolls. Have you seen them?

Nope! Can't say that I have. Sorry, kid.


Is it? I wonder what it means.


One... two... three...



LALI-HO! I kind of like this place.


Not everyone here is that friendly. Aww, I wanna explore!


Still, they were concerned for us, so that's something.


The western corridor is open to us, so let's snoop around.


Try me.


Meanie!


The item shop has the usual suspects. No idea what that other dwarf was on about. These look like perfectly ordinary Hi-Potions and Phoenix Downs to me.

Speaking of Phoenix Downs, I buy a few of those, since I'm running a bit low. That's the last thing I want to run out of, quite frankly!


I think this is the first time we've seen Remedies for sale. They cure all status ailments from a single target, much like the Esuna spell. They save space in your inventory (not so much a consideration in this version, but whatever) and they can cure multiple status problems at once! Your healer both silenced and asleep? Don't fret! Just toss a Remedy her way and she'll be right as rain!


The other item shop sells mostly the same stuff, too. That dwarf really doesn't know what he's talking about.


I do buy a few of these, however. You never know when they might come in handy!


600 gil?! Are you out of your gourd? There's an item shop not five steps from you that sells Cottages at 500 gil a piece, and it's not that far to the world map, where we can use 'em!

I'll pass, thanks.

Another unfriendly dwarf blocks our way farther west. We've explored all we can in the castle up to this point. Time to meet the king, I guess.


First, I pop back outside and save. This is a very important thing to do at this point, especially if you're playing along in this version!


The throne room is directly north of the entrance. Again, it is not sound castle construction to have your keep lie in a straight line from the entrance! Castles are supposed to be built for defense, damn it!



My pardons, Your Majesty, but may we ask your name?



And the Dark Crystals, Your Majesty- they are truly down here?

So, that is indeed the reason for your coming.
But you do not seem to be friends of the others, leastwise not judging from their welcome. I must apologize. We came near to shooting you out of the sky ourselves.

Smart guy, this King Giott. I'm glad we won't have to prove we're not affiliated with Golbez for some stupid, arbitrary reason.




Would that I could say yes, but two of the four have been captured.

Damn, Golbez works fast!


Well, only half too late, technically.

This castle's Crystal, however, remains secure. Our tank battalion was able to repel the enemy forces.

Wow, no mean feat, that. I'm impressed!

Those tanks we saw battling the airships were yours, then.

We suspected as much, but I guess it hadn't been confirmed yet.


Our tanks have long been unmatched on the battlefield, but even they are hard pressed to defend against assault from the air. I do not suppose you'd be willing to lend that airship of yours to our defense?

Ah hah. Smart guy, this King Giott. Smart guy.



I would be happy to provide you with any materials you might need.

Yes! Now we're talking! We help out the dwarves with their defense, and we get our airship repaired. Everyone wins! And that is why Giott is the king, folks!


I'll need to fly her back to the surface and see if I can't rig together some mythril plating. Best get to work!

Ah, and presumably the dwarves are going to fix it up enough so that Cid can fly it out of here in the first place?




You kids wait here. I'll be back before you even start to miss me.


Oh don't you go falling in love with me too now, Rosa!




Bye, Cid. We'll miss you!



Where it is most secure- in the hidden chamber behind my throne. As long as there is light left in my eyes, our Crystal is safe.

Oh, well that makes me feel much better.












There's no one here but us.

I felt a presence behind that wall!

Uh oh.



Yes, lali!


Time to get to the bottom of this!


Well, here we are.

The screen shakes, and Kain runs a few steps back.


Uh oh. I don't like this...


Oh, god, there's something in here with us!

What are those?!

Dolls?

This sequence is best presented in video, so here:







Adorable dolls! Terrible dolls!
You mindless cretins! Charging into unknown halls... We'll cut your strings! Lord Golbez will be pleased! Yip-ho-ho!

Dolls. Evil dolls. Why, oh why, did it have to be evil dolls?


Time for a... boss(?) The Dancing Calcabrina music keeps playing, giving this whole thing a very surreal feeling.


The red dolls in front are Brina. They have 569 HP. The blue ones are Calca, and they have 1,369 HP. Neither has any particular elemental weakness, which is odd. You'd think they'd have a fire weakness, being marionettes... but not so.


Anyway, this is a gimmick boss battle, and not the only one we have to deal with today. Oh no, not by a long shot.




That said, the usual tactics still apply: Kain spends most of his time in the air, Rosa buffs the party, Cecil Covers Rosa, Yang uses Focus, blah blah blah.




The dolls can only use physical attacks, and they're nothing special, even on squishies like Rosa. One word of warning: they do have a counterattack, so don't go pulling any shenanigans like having Yang Kick them all at once. They will Counter him to death.

Just keep that in mind. It's better to take them out one at a time. Or just forget all that and cast Blink on Yang before he goes to town. A well-placed Blink will completely shut them down.




Here's the gimmick. If you destroy all the Brinas or all the Calcas...






The music changes, and Calcabrina comes out to play. This is the "real" boss. She has 8,814 HP, and still no particular weaknesses.

Let me get this out of the way now. I hate this boss. I hate it with a fiery passion. Not because it's hard. No. Far from it. I hate it for what comes after it, which we'll get to in a minute. For that same reason, that "Dancing Calcabrina" music is burned into my brain. Kinda gives me a sour taste in my mouth when I hear it, which is a shame. I actually like the track; I just have bad associations with it.


Kain will still spend most of his time in the air, as usual. He does some pretty nice damage against her!


Rosa casts Blink on Yang, since he was bearing the brunt of the Brina/Calca's counterattacks.


Cecil just pounds on her, while Yang continues building up his Focus.


Now, Calcabrina has a few more tricks up her sleeves. She adds a couple new counter attacks, like this one.




It confuses one character, and not necessarily the character that hit her. The Calcas and Brinas can do this too. On my first recording, I had Yang Kick them all at once, causing them all to Counter... and Rosa ate dirt. Caught me a bit off guard.


Obviously, having your healer confused isn't something you want to deal with, so Cecil fixes her up with his newly-acquired Esuna spell.


All better, and we're free to keep raining the pain!


Once again, Rosa is pivotal to our strategy, especially with Dualcast. First, she heals us up.


Then she Slows the boss, all in the same turn. I love, love that Augment!




Cecil continues to be immune to random status effects. I'm not going to complain!

(It's his Paladin gear that does that, by the way. I'm not sure which ones, because the game doesn't bother to tell you. In this case, the Mythril Shield guards against Confusion and Silence Handy!)




Rosa casts Blink on the remaining two characters (besides Kain) and operation: Shut Down the Boss is complete.

The rest is just cleanup.


Yang unloads on her, and poisons her for good measure.




And we continue to pound on her.


Cecil incurs a counterattack, but...


like I said: Blink just shuts this boss the fuck down.


Now, here's something I've never seen happen before.




The Calcabrina split up again. Hmm.


Well, Yang still has a triple Focus built up so... mehehe.




YES!


Of course, he gets Countered a couple times.


And of course, Blink gives zero shits about that.


Even Rosa joins in, since no one is getting hurt right now.


She gets Countered, but Cecil takes it for her (and Counters right back, of course). Counter and Cover, very useful combination!

We mop up the remaining dolls effortlessly.

Note, it is entirely possible to just kill all the Calcas and Brinas before they can combine. I did it in my first recording, which is why I had to make a second. I would have felt bad not showing that off. Calcabrina only comes out if you kill all of one type of doll. If you kill one of the Calcas and all of the Brinas, she won't show up.


Anyway, child's play, right?


We're through. But now he knows where the Crystal is. He'll be here soon to take revenge! Lord Golbez...


Good riddance. Creepy. Fucking. DOLLS.


My sentiments exactly.






Uh oh. It's him!



I believe we have a score to settle. It is terribly unfortunate that you lack the boon of Meteor this time around.


Oh boy. He's about to go all James Bond villain on us, isn't he?

There are eight Crystals in total- those of light and darkness combined. Together, they form the key to reactivating the Tower of Babil, and thereby the gate to the moon. The moon is said to conceal power that transcends the limits of human comprehension.


Much of this, of course, was only possible because of you. It would not do to let such aid go unrewarded.


But, it's not even my birthday!


Golbez's music keeps playing all throughout this next bit. Make sure you listen to it.


And now, finally, we get to face off against the man himself: Golbez!


And, this is why I hate the Calcabrina fight. You get no opportunity to save between beating Calcabrina and going toe-to-toe with Golbez. Remember when I saved before talking to King Giott? Yeah. Go back to that, and re-read everything up to this point. That's how much you have to repeat if you lose against Golbez. And it's all completely unskippable. Yep.

Guess who lost against Golbez her first time playing this game? More than once?

Now do you understand why I hate that boss?


Anyway, before we can so much as flinch, Golbez starts taunting us.

That is all the power you posess?

Hey, I'm packing a Dualcast Rosa here, buddy.

A pity.

A pity you haven't even let me move yet!


After a certain amount of time passes- or immediately, in my case- Golbez does this.

I think you're supposed to have a at least a little bit of time to set up before he does this. I had queued up Slow on Golbez, at least. I wanted to cast Haste on Cecil too, but Rosa doesn't have that yet. Maybe I'm underlevelled? The guide I was following seemed to think Rosa should have Haste already...


Anyway, Cecil was going for the Hermes Sandals. Almost made it, too. Sort of.


Binding Cold paralyzes the whole party. No ifs, ands, or buts. We are in Scripted Battle Land.

Open them, and gaze upon true terror! Come forth, my creature of shadow!


Hey, hey! Who taught this asshole how to Summon?! I want names! Give me names.


Oh. That thing doesn't look friendly...


Oh god, what does that do?




That, apparently. Not good!




Definitely not good!


We're in trouble.

Farewell, Cecil.

But suddenly, out of the blue!






Another dragon?!




Oh! This one's on our side, somehow!


The Shadow Dragon fades back into the darkness from whence it came.

An Eidolon... My shadow dragon, slain by mere mist...


Hey, that looked like an Esuna! Or maybe a Remedy. I think Remedies look like that too.


Yep, seems to have done the trick. Thank you, mystery lady!

That voice...


Eh? It's Rydia! Rydia's back! Our little murderess is back!

Well... she's not so little anymore, I guess, but she's just as murderous! Even moreso, actually!


That's Golbez's Barrier Shift, which he'll do every time you attack him.

Now, there are two ways to go about this fight. It may look like we're in pretty bad shape, with 3/5 of the party down, including our healer, but Cecil and Rydia can actually handle this fight all by themselves.

That's one way to do it. However, Golbez drops a whopping 40,000 EXP if you defeat him. It would sure be nice if the rest of the party could share the bounty, which they can't do if they're knocked out.


So, I'm going with Option 2: The Fun Way!


Golbez will be making an ass of himself while I get set up. I'm going to ignore him.


First of all, I need Rosa on her feet. There is no way in hell I'll be able to do this without her!


Rydia tosses her a Hi-Potion, so that maybe, just maybe, she'll survive at least one hit in case Golbez decides to target her before she can work her magic.


Golbez drains the rest of Rydia's MP for good measure. I'm ignoring you, Golbez!


Cecil drops a Phoenix Down on Yang while Rosa prepares to get her Dualcast mojo working!


Meanwhile, Rydia doesn't have much to do at the moment, so I might as well use one of these. I knew there was a reason I bought them!


Now Golbez is scanned, for later.


Ah hah! Yes, my whole strategy hinges on this. Yes!

First, Raise on Kain. Then,


Cura on the party. And with that, I do believe we are in business!




Golbez hits the whole party with Sap, and I'm ready to stop ignoring him.


It also hurt, but not too badly, all things considered. Rosa can patch that up no problem!


All of Golbez's attacks are magic-based: Drain, Osmose, Bio, and the mid-level Black Magic spells. Shell will help mitigate the damage.


Now, that Bestiary revealed some vital statistics about Golbez. Don't let his HP fool you; he only has 9,999. The important thing to note is he absorbs every element save one, which he's weak to.


As you can see, Rydia has picked up a few new toys with which to exploit Golbez's weakness. Also, she can no longer cast White Magic, and picked up some new Black Magic Spells to compensate. Right now, her Summons are more powerful, so that's what I'll be going with.


Of course, she'll need MP for that, so let's fix that first.


OK good. The rest of the party who is not named Rosa is now on official Ether-dispensing duty.




Rosa is on "Abuse the Shit out of Dualcast" duty.


Right. Now we can take the fight to Golbez. The one we want is Ifrit. Ifrit is a recurring Summon in the Final Fantasy franchise, and he's always fire elemental.

Observe.






Mercifully, you can skip the Summon animations in this game. I'll be doing that from now on, but I'll show off each one once.


Since we hit his weakness, Golbez uses Barrier Shift again,


and smacks us with a Blizzara. Bah. I'm not worried.




Not worried all.

Nor do I feel any guilt for abusing Dualcast like I'm doing. Hell no. Do you know how many times this asshole beat me in my first playthrough? I'm wiping the floor with him now, but keep in mind: when I played this game I was doing it blind. I had no idea this was coming, and I didn't have Dualcast. I desperately tried to revive my party, while Golbez just smacked them back down again before I could heal them. Over, and over, and over. You can't win a revive war. The enemy will wear you down.

Consider this payback, Golbez!


Since Golbez switched around his weakness with Barrier Shift, Cecil casts Libra to determine what he's weak to this time around.


Ah hah. Ice. We can deal with that too.


Another recurring Final Fantasy Summon, Shiva is ice elemental.






Mm hmm. Next!




Fire again. Not very creative, is he?






And that's all she wrote, kids.


So long, asshole. Man that feels good!


Mmm. Sweet, sweet EXP.







We... we did it! We defeated him!

Yes, good. Now, quick, someone get in there and make sure he stays down!




Oh, hello, Rydia. Nice to see you again.



But, what's happened to you?



The land of the Eidolons?

The Feymarch- the place they call home. I lived among them and befriended them. I can't use white magic anymore, but my summoning and black magic have grown stronger.



So that's why you've grown so much?


Ah, of course. Kain doesn't know her. He never met Rydia.

This is Rydia, of Mist.

That child!?

Ah, but he does remember the child he and Cecil spared. Interesting!

This is a surprise indeed.

But, why would you come to save us? If it weren't for us, your mother-


The queen of the Eidolons told me this: The wheels of a fate greater than us are turning now. She told me we must stand against it... and we must stand together.

Rydia... thank you.


Hell yes, our murderess is back! Happy, happy day!


Whoa whoa whoa, hey! You're all just gonna stroll out of there and leave him like that?! No double tap, no nothing? You're not even gonna so much as tie him up?! At least take the Crystal with you! He's lying between you and the Crystal and the asshole can teleport you fucking retards!


Guys? Rydia? Anyone?


Oh what a fucking surprise. The asshole is still alive, and none of you chucklefucks bothered to check for a pulse, did you?!


Yep. Who's surprised? Certainly not me.


Idiots...


If I were King Giott, I'd throw the lot of you in the dungeon and "forget" where I left the key!


Oh yes there fucking was! Quit being nice, Giott. These guys know they done fucked up!

Where is the final one hidden?

In the Sealed Cave to the southwest.


And so I have a favor to ask you.

It is our fault the Crystal was taken. If there is anything we can do to be of aid, we will most certainly cooperate.


While he is chasing after the final Crystal, you can enter the Tower of Babil and reclaim the other seven.

The Tower of Babil?


Oh, I like the way this man thinks. At worst, the screw-up "heroes" will get themselves killed/captured and not in a position to fuck things up even further. At best, they'll succeed. In either case, Giott's no worse off than he was before. Smart guy, this King Giott. Smart guy.


While they are occupied, you will have a chance to slip in and retrieve the Crystals. Wait until Golbez returns, and that chance is lost.



About walking willingly into an enemy stronghold?!

It would be dangerous, to be certain.



And King Giott speaks true. We must act now, while Golbez is away, if we are to act at all.

I think you chuckleheads aren't in any position to complain!

Very well.



Excellent! In the basement of this castle is an entrance to a tunnel that will lead you near the Tower. Oh, and I'd almost forgotten! I want you to have this.


Ooooh. Yes, that is a very nice thing! I'll show it off next time.


You got it, Kingy!

We're just about done for today! The party has a lot to say on these latest developments. Here:


So am I! I missed our little murderess.











Our king showers attention enough on Princess Luca for he and our late queen both.


Er, yeah. Sorry, kid. We weren't too gentle with your dolls, either.


I'm sure it is. Now, if you'll excuse me, I haven't been able to save in a long time!


There we go! Now we're-

Hang on.


Rydia, what are you doing in the front row?!


That's better.

And now we're done! As usual, I'll leave you with the party's thoughts:








Foreshadowing....




And that's it! I'll see you next time!