Part 93: DS The Beginning of the End

DS Update 35: The Beginning of the End

Welcome back, folks! Last time, we got blindsided by The Plot something fierce.


Today, we're going to chill out and explore a bit. I don't know about you, but I need a break before I dive into the Final Dungeon.


In fact, I didn't get a chance to get Kain properly kitted out last time!


By that I mean I have some Augments here with his name on them.


Kain's a good choice for Focus, since he tends to do fewer, more powerful attacks.


Focus will help make his Jumps even more potent!


Ditto for Darkness. I also think it fits him thematically. He feels like he's been living in Cecil's shadow, so he gets Cecil's old ability!


Odin looks absolutely terrifying up close like that!

Oh, and the HP hit he'll take from using Darkness doesn't matter so much for Kain, since he rarely gets hit.


There. That's better!


Let's head back planetside. I have some things I need to take care of.


For it, I'll need the Falcon back. But first,


let's see what's going on in Mysidia.


Up in the Tower of Prayer, the gang's all here.


Will do!






No pressure or anything. Yikes.




Pressure!


Listen, you come back alive, you hear?!

Hey, I'd love to take you along, but you know... gameplay constraints.


I will be praying for your safe return.

Ditto for you, Yang! Do you know how quickly I'd drop Edge for you if the game would only let me?!

I mean, Edge has grown on me, sure, but he's no Yang!


Not so much you, Eddie. You're just not cool enough.


Man. I know I'd miss Rydia (and her Summons) if I took Palom up on his offer, but I'd sure love to have my murdertwins back.


Palom and I were right to do what we did!

Porom could easily sub in for Rosa! It's just not fair! (Of course, if I did, I'd be out Dualcast, and you all know how much I love that thing...)


It is time for you to return to the moon.

Yeah yeah. In due time, buddy.


Anyway, let's grab the Falcon,


and head back to the underworld.


I've been waiting for this.


Kain still has thought bubbles for stuff he missed, if you go back and look.


Kokkol's stopped hammering. Has he finally finished it?!


May it serve you well.

Oh shit guys, oh shit!







This should be obvious, but I gotta keep up tradition here. Excalibur is the "sword in the stone" from the Disney movie Arthurian legend. It was said that only the true king of England would be able to pull the divine sword from its resting place. That turned out to be young Arthur, the "once and future king."

And also a totally famous literary figure, right up there with Robin Hood, so I'm sure you already knew this...


Magic?


Clearly!


Even Edge agrees.


A good question!


And here's our prize! Excalibur is a damn fine weapon. It provides a ten point boost to strength, and a hefty attack boost as well! Plus, it's holy elemental. Always helpful!


That means Kain can have Cecil's old Defender. Sure it drops his Stamina a bit, but who cares?


And not only that! Once Kokkol finishes the Excalibur,


a shop opens up! It doesn't sell much,


and it doesn't have to. Hello, Fuma Shurikens!


The drawback? They are hella fucking expensive! Fuma Shurikens cost as much as a goddamn Elixir, for perspective!

I still buy these, but I won't be able to chuck them willy-nilly like I do with the regular Shurikens. More's the pity.


We're not done here, either. Our next stop,


the Passage of the Eidolons. I'll spare you the long, tedious walk to the Feymarch...


There was much casting of Float. (I remembered on every floor, this time!)


Kain levelled up on the way, joining the level 60 club.


And I also remembered I'm supposed to use Kick on trash mobs, so I rectified that.


Another floor, another dose of Float.


And double level ups!


Rosa gets better at keeping our asses alive,


and Edge stays one step ahead of Kain.


Funny story, on a previous runthrough of this game, I got kind of cocky when I got to this part.


I just charged in, not bothering to cast Float, trying to get to the top as fast as possible.


As a result, that attack wiped me, rather than passing harmlessly beneath me as it did here. Always, always cast Float, kids!


Anyway, we finally make it to the Feymarch. Our destination is What.'s house.


Let's see how the useless little puffball's been doing.


Once again, the Whytkin make cute squeaky noises when you talk to them. I've uploaded videos of it. Just click that images if you want to hear.



My wife still can't speak. But we're sure she knows who we are.

I'm sure she does, too.





Riveting.


However, if we talk to his sleeping mother...





What? You... you can talk!?




I hope you'll... come back again.





What.... forgive me. I haven't been able to do anything for you all this time.





I could always feel you near me. And thanks to Rydia, you've grown brave and strong.


Well, half of this statement is true, at least!





And you, my love... You watched over me all this time, and spoke to me, didn't you? Thank you... I'm glad I remained a Whytkin with you.




What.'s mother turns toward us.



You earned What. the approval of the Hallowed Father of the Eidolons. You can't imagine how proud you've made me. Allow me to give you this as a symbol of my gratitude. It contains the power of the Eidolons. I hope it will be of use to you.

I don't know what to say. Thank you very much!


Ah, yes. Yes, that'll do nicely!

And so ends What.'s character arc, as it were. Joy.


Of course, the real exciting part is this little beauty.


It goes right on Rydia, of course!


I even equip it, finally replacing Bluff. Piercing Magic allows Rydia to ignore Reflect. Situationally useful! At least I don't have to pay attention to shit like that anymore.


I haven't used Bluff in ages, but I put it on Rydia's Auto-Battle slot. Can't hurt to keep it around a little longer.


And we're done here. Probably for good!


Next stop, Baron!


Remember this house?


Who remembers that Rosa's mum lives here? I bet she'll want to know that her daughter's still alive. You know. Just a little!


You don't get a special scene or anything.


In fact, Rosa just talks right through whoever's in the front. It's a bit odd.


It was wrong of me to let you become a white mage.

It wasn't wrong of you, mother! Becoming a white mage was the best choice I ever made. It meant I could help Cecil, and so many more! Even you once fought at Father's side as a white mage, didn't you?

Oh, Rosa... You're right, as you always are. And what a fine knight he was, your father! Cecil... I will trust you to keep my daughter safe.

I wonder how awkward Kain is feeling right about now!


Next, we're heading to the castle's western tower.


Well, sort of. Remember how there's a guard barracks of sorts right next to the west tower?


Well, this guy's up here now.




Ooh, that sounds nice! This is the counterpart to the MP +50% Augment that Rosa has. It does exactly what you think it does.


And if you think this one's going to anyone but our designated tank, you're crazy!


Mind you, I don't equip it right away, as doing so would rob Cecil of any attacking option at all. Yes, he can still use Counter, but it would just default to his regular Attack command. That would mean no Crouching Tiger/Love and Peace. No thanks.


There's one more thing to take care of on the surface.


It's the conclusion of the Namingway sidequest. See, once you talk to him on the moon, -ingway will move to a random location.


One of those possible location is "any Chocobo Forest" including this one near Baron. I didn't know you could find Black Chocobos here!


His other possible locations are:

• Underground Lake B1 (Damcyan side)
  
• Mount Hobs Summit
  
• Troia- north side of town
  
• Sylph Cave B2
  
• Lair of the Father B1
  

So yeah, I'll have to check all those spots. This could take awhi-


Or he could be in the first place I checked. That works too!


I got sick of people talking through Kain, so Cecil's up front temporarily.

I couldn't be better! I've been on a nostalgic journey to remember everything I've lived through. Naturally, though, I cannot remain a Hummingway now that I've left the moon.


Ah? And what happened to the missus? I don't see her anywhere...

There are lots of ups and downs in life, but you only live once. It's important to know who you are and live your life to the fullest- even when it's tough.


I forgot to give this to you last time we met. It's an ancestral treasure of my people, and I want you to have it.


Ah hah! I suppose that's how he's been able to get around without being slaughtered by all the horrible monsters!

Well then, I'm going to continue traveling wherever the mood strikes me. Until we meet again!

And so ends the Namingway sidequest. I hope you've enjoyed it!


This Augment is a really nice prize! It let's you completely avoid random encounters.


Therefore, it should go on Cecil, since he's never not in your party!

This Augment is a huge timesaver. It's a pity you get it so late in the game!


That's all there is to do down here.


Back to the moon we go!


The Crystal Palace is our next Plot destination,


but first, I'd better stock up on supplies.


Kain has a thought bubble here too.


The Hummingway sell some nice stuff, pretty much everything you need for a long-ass dungeon crawl... much like the one we'll be facing very, very soon. Ugh.


However, my primary objective here is selling. Specifically, selling all the useless shit I don't need. All of it!


As you can see, doing so netted me a hefty chunk of change! Now I can stock up.


I'll take a few more of these...


and one of these. Why not?


Also! I swore I'd do this, didn't I? Did you think I forgot?


Stat booster time! Cecil gets all the Silver Apples,




and the Gold ones, too! That boosted his HP by more than 800 points!


I have a bunch of these too.


Rosa got the MP+ Augment, so I think it's only fair that Rydia get dibs on the Soma Drops.


There. That's a tidy 60-point boost to her MP! Every little bit helps.

Note: If you're planning on going deep into New Game + I recommend you not do what I just did. Soma Drops and Gold/Silver Apples carry over into New Game +. The MP and HP boosts you get from them do not. So, it behooves you to save them for your final playthrough!

I don't really care about that (plus there are ways to get more), so I'm using them now!


Since I have some money left over,


I pop back down to Tomra real quick. The item shop here has some really fun stuff.


These always come in handy.


And I'll need some more of these to show off A Thing.


That's it, though! We're ready to move on.


I picked up some more Stardust on my way through the Lunar Tunnels.


Anyway, here we are.


I get everyone healed up. We have a long, long road ahead of us. To be honest, I'm not looking forward to it!


First, here's the place where we met Fusoya. We didn't get to see any other part of this place.


Right behind here are a bunch of sparkling spots! Don't mind if I do!






Well, hot diggety dog! These are Fusoya's Augments! And they're damn good ones!

Naturally, if I had given Fusoya fewer, or no, Augments, I wouldn't have gotten all these, which would be a real shame!


First, the party has some new thought bubbles.


If my gaming experience has taught me anything, no. No, they're not.


Eventually!


Is he at least within the realm of mortal comprehension?


I don't see any Crystals here, Rosa! Quit skipping ahead!

(Spoilers: there are Crystals. We'll see them next time.)


In the meantime, I have goodies to hand out. Kain gets this one.


Folks in the thread keep hinting (wink wink, nudge nudge) that there's one particular Augment that I simply must give Kain. I believe they're talking about this one. It's certainly saved my ass many, many times!

What's it do? Well, Phoenix activates if Kain is knocked out, and any other party members are also KO'd. It revives everybody else, and refills their HP to maximum. The catch? Kain stays dead, and it uses up all his MP. Considering Kain uses his MP for... exactly nothing, this ability is perfect for him! Plus, since he spends so much time in the air, if anyone is the last to fall, it's him. And as long as he has even one MP, Phoenix will work!

It's a lifesaver, just trust me on this!


Bless isn't as useful, but Edge might as well have it anyway.


It comes in handy for long battles.


Lastly, there's this sick puppy.


Remember how broken Dualcast is? Well...what if I told you this one is quite possibly even more broken? Skeptical? Omnicasting allows you to target all allies/enemies with any spell.

I'm sure you can see how handy that can be, especially when you combine it with Dualcast! Blink/Haste on the whole party in a single turn? Don't mind if I do!

Oh yes. I'm going to have some fun with this!


Of course, abilities do no good unless equipped, so let's get on that. Phoenix is important enough that I replace Kain's normal Attack with it.


Jump covers all his offensive needs anyway! if I want him to just Attack normally, I'll just Berserk him.


I don't really feel like overwriting Edge's regular Attack command, or Reach, yet so I put it in his Auto-Battle slot.


And Rosa finally surrenders Pray to make room for Omnicasting. As useful as Pray is, Omnicasting is more important!


Pray can still stay with us, though! I put it in her Auto-Battle slot.


And Cecil joins the Auto-Battle fun too, because why not?

In case I've never mentioned it, Auto-Battle activates when you push the X button. It causes the party to act... automatically. Essentially what it allows you to do is have an access to an extra ability without actually equipping it.


Anyway, that will do for today. Next time, we're off to the Final Dungeon! I'm excited, are you?