Part 95: DS The Final Dungeon part 2

DS Update 37: The Final Dungeon part 2




Hello, folks! I know this is a day late. I have no excuse.

Today's update is going to be shorter than usual. I'm taking this awful dungeon in pieces, because that's the only way I can handle it with my sanity intact. When I pare my footage down to the relevant bits there's... not much. That's what random encounters will do to ya! We'll be getting one more major treasure today. So, let's go!


We're actually heading down the main path today! Excited?

Obtained 10 Hi-Potions

That... isn't at all exciting. Seriously, Game, we're in the Final Dungeon here! Break out the good stuff!


Whatever. Welcome back to B2, on the main path. We saw a little of this floor during our little side trip last time.


This time we'll get to see the rest! There's a secret passage through here. This place is replete with secret passages. Get used to it!

Oh, and of course I got jumped right there. When do I ever not get jumped in a secret passage?


If you were wondering what Kain's shiny new spear does to normal dragons, here it is! That's comparable to what Bahamut does on these things! Kain has officially joined Team Asskicker, I would say!


Another thing about these dragons: you can also Osmose as much MP from them as you can from the Dark Sages! Makes it even easier to keep Rydia's MP topped off.


Beware, though. They can also use Icestorm as a counterattack. It's every bit as nasty as you think it is!


Anyway, slip into the secret passage and make your way north. See that treasure chest to the west? We saw it last update.


If you wrap around to the west (not so easy to do, what with all the invisible walls), you can reach it!


The loot is... OK I guess.


I mean, it's great if you like using whips; don't get me wrong! This is Rydia's best whip. I just... don't use them. I want Rydia's Intellect to be as high as possible, and she has plenty of MP to nuke things from orbit now! I'll pass.


Want some damage comparisons? Here's Cecil with the Excalibur (holy elemental, if you recall).


And here's Kain with the Wyvern Lance. That's dangerously close to twice as much damage! Holy shit, this Lance. It's amazing/


Double level ups are nice, too.


Cecil's getting up there.


And Kain's staying competitive. With that Lance of his, he doesn't need to be high level!


Moving on, the secret passage leads up here. Slip through the eastern wall of this small, isolated room.


And then slip right back out through the west wall.


Do massive damage on another Bone Dragon...


and get another double level up!


You know... I just noticed. Cecil is not overlevelled compared to the rest of the party. Rydia's just about even with him! I don't think that's ever happened to me before...


Edge is still staying a step ahead of Kain.


Continuing west and slightly south,


we come to yet another room. This one has some interesting stuff in it, though.


But first, more dragons. Remember these from the Lair of the Father? Well, they're down here too!


And like I said, they're dragons, so the Wyvern Lance tears them apart!


Speaking of dragons, there's a chest in the far western corner of this room.


There are two sets of "ultimate" equipment you can find in the Lunar Subterrane. The Dragon set is one of them.


It's meant to go to Kain,


but for now, I'm giving it to Cecil. The flavor text says it halves "Primary elem." That's the game's limited space way of telling you it halves damage from fire, ice, and lightning attacks- the primary elements. Damn handy!

By the way, I could totally stick a Cursed Ring on Cecil and make him absorb those elements instead. But that would involve tanking all his stats by 15 points. Eh...


Oh, I stumbled upon something really obnoxious that the Armored Fiends can do.


A giant robot that blows itself up?


Yeah, sure. Why not?


Thank fuck for Draw Attacks! I didn't figure this out with the Bombs, but Self-Destruct does the enemy's remaining HP worth of damage to you. Not so much of a problem with Bombs, since those things have, like, 6,000 HP- tops. Armored Fiends have 28,000!


And just to add insult to that kick in the balls, they don't even drop any EXP if they do that! Make sure to drop Armored Fiends quickly, kiddies!


Oh, look at that! Another floor complete. Let's see what we get.

Obtained 5 Ethers

... OK seriously, game. You can stop now.


Onwards to the third floor! Once again, we already explored a small piece of it. Let's be off!


Er, hang on. I have some ladies to deal with.


Now, I've tried a few things, but I think my favorite method for dealing with the Dark Sages is this.


Can't do shit as a little purple frog, can you, huh? Huh?!


And I'll take some of that MP, too!


Then you're free to recharge your MP with some Pray-stalling!


However, you can't do that forever,


because


the AI will insist on being idiotically suicidal.

(Of course, if you really need to Pray-stall for an extended period, you can just Stop them.)


They drop Artemis Arrows, I guess? Sort of odd.


Ah, see what I mean about my party's levels? Cecil, Rosa, and Rydia are all around the same level!


Now, this floor is large, and there are a lot of secret passages and lots of stuff to collect. To get started,


slip through this little notch to the southeast.

By the way, were you wondering what Kain's Wyvern Lance does to non-dragons?


Why hello, damage cap! How nice to see you!

Is that satisfying? You bet your ass it is!


Continuing on, just slightly to the northeast we find our next treasure.


Ah hah, beautiful!


It's a slight defensive upgrade, and also halves the "primary elements."


To continue, we charge into the not-so-secret passage in the eastern wall.


This time, we're heading south, and then west. You can see where I've been so far there on the lower screen. It's less confusing when you're actually playing, trust me.


Here we are!


More treasure!


Nice armor too!

I'm a bit disappointed that the character models don't change with their equipped armor. (Only weapons and shields show up that way.) I bet this Dragon stuff would look pretty badass!


But that's not all! Just to the west is more of the stuff!


And that's the full set! However, this one does not get equipped. The Giant's Gloves are just too good, and I've had them since the Cave of Eblan! Isn't that crazy?


Got another Soma Drop from a Dark Sage. I may hate the Lunar Subterrane, but I must admit it's profitable!


We're done with that section of the floor. Time to backtrack and fill in the last of the map. Oh, and one other thing...


That Soma Drop I just got? Well... Soma Drops aren't the Dark Sage's rarest drop. The Soma Drop is in their 3rd drop slot. So, 5% chance. Got that?

Let me preface this next shot by saying I swear I'm not cheating. I swear to God!


Ahem.... anyway. This is the rarest drop from the Dark Sages. Usual bullshit 0.04% or 1/250 drop rate as the Rainbow Pudding.


The Ribbon is a recurring piece of equipment in the Final Fantasy series. Sometimes it's a headpiece; sometimes it's an accessory. It's always stupid, stupid good! In this case, the green numbers aren't the best part about it (though those are certainly nice). The Ribbon provides protection against all status ailments except Slow, Sap, Doom, and (oddly) Berserk.


Yep. Rosa is never taking this thing off!


Look at that! Another floor complete! I daresay we're making progress down here.

Obtained 5 X-Potions

Ah hah! Now, that's more like it, Game! Keep it up!


Onwards to the next floor! This one is quite huge. Let's get started.


And right away, I can see the benefits of that Dragon equipment!


Look at that! Cecil just tanks that shit like it ain't no thing!


Edge, not so much. But that's OK! I can manage this.


I tried to have Kain show off some more of his new moves, but


Cecil decided he wanted to Kick the thing to death instead. Maybe next time!

Oh, and at this point, the party has some new thought bubbles! Let's have a look:


Anyone's guess! Hard to say how much innate "darkness" or what-have-you Zemus had to work with.


Going out on a limb here, but I'd say it was because they were about to burn the whole damn village down! (Albeit unwittingly.)


Oh, don't tell me you're going to go AWOL on us again, Kain! You are not allowed to do that! Not after I finally brought you to full asskicking potential!


Actually, I bet it's cold down here, too. Caves tend to be pretty cold, especially moon caves!


Eh... I'll let you work that one out, kid.


Oh... gee... Thanks, Game. I really appreciate it!


To continue, we head down these stairs,


and through this entrance to the west.


It leads to a small treasure room. There are a lot of these scattered throughout the dungeon as well.


But you know what? Elixirs are always appreciated!


Kain murderized some more dragons,


and one of them dropped a Stardust! That's handy.


Uh oh, Edge, Kain's closing the gap!


We take these eastern stairs next and-


Oh, goddamn it!


... 80 damage? Are you fucking shitting me with this?! I got screwed out of EXP for a piddly 80 fucking damage?! That's just cruel! It's beyond cruel; it's downright insulting!


I mean, it's not like a couple Armored Fiends worth of EXP is going to make or break me, but still!


Through here is another fixed map room, with a couple things to grab.


Oh, would you look at that? My nemesis!


Let's try combining the best methods I've come up with to deal with them!

(Also, check out that damage! They barely scratched Cecil and the girls! We've come a long way since the Lair of the Father!)


Even on Cecil alone, the damage isn't as scary as it once was! Before, these things could just about one-shot him! Granted, that damage would be twice what it is if he weren't wearing the Dragon equipment, but still!


This is no problem. We've got this!


Cecil starts us off with a Kick to the face. Can't go wrong there!




And Rydia instantly takes one of them out of commission! That was easy.


Lest we forget Edge, he reminds us that he's still fast as hell and crits like a fiend!


Now, here's Rosa with the clincher!


Heal everyone up, and then


Reflect, baby!


Try hitting that, hags! I dare you!




Denied!


Here, have a spear through the skull!


Oh yeah. These things can't fucking touch us! If I get any more game overs, it won't be from these!


Yes, thank you, Edge.


Since we have this in the bag, time to leech some MP from 'em.


Bahamut ain't cheap, you know! I need as much as I can get.


Uh oh. Well, your funeral, lady!


Yep.


Oh this oughta be good!




Bahahaha! I love it!


One last Kick, and we're done!

Effortless.


Not even lousy treasure can spoil my good mood! That was beautiful.


Hmm, slightly better treasure, I guess!


And now we take the western staircase.


We end up on the very bottom level of this floor.


Here, we find our last treasure for today.


And it's a good one. A really good one!




Of course, the best treasures are guarded by the toughest enemies. In theory, anyway.


Of course, if you forget to heal yourself before opening a chest, these things can present somewhat of a problem!


I don't want this thing free to tear apart my squishier characters, for sure.


Let's fix this!


OK, here we go!

Wait... did I forget to Dualcast? Fuck! I did!


Fuck!


Get him, Bahamut!


... Not my finest moment, this.


At least Kain's capable of bailing my ass out, even when I'm not!


All right, that's better.


Of course,


that Raise is now wasted, but it doesn't cost very much MP anyway.


The Curaja is only slightly wasted, considering Cecil was already at full HP.


Right. Enough sucking. Let's get this train back on its tracks!


With Cecil there to absorb attacks, I can revive Kain the "normal" way.


And the Behemoth gets Kicked in the face for its trouble.


And has a large, angry dragon dropped on it, because why not?


OK, now here we go! Slow the asshole,


and Blink the whole party!


And I'm effectively invincible! Stick that in your pipe and smoke it!


Kain will do his usual.




As will Edge.


Can't touch this!




I even feel brave enough to leech some of the Behemoth's MP. We're living dangerously now!


Nice! The Behemoth is not a dragon, so that damage is perfectly respectable. We can't all be Rydia.


Fucks given:


zero!


Still, it doesn't pay to be cocky.


I still need to keep everyone healthy!


But you know what else?


There's no kill like overkill!




Ah, see? Cecil's Blink wore off and he took one in the face. Happens!


Kain doesn't care about being in critical HP.


But I think the Behemoth cares about eating Bahamuts right in his face!




All better! Again, you might as well just multitarget things, even if you don't think you need them. If someone else's Blink had worn off while Rosa was charging, I'd have felt like quite an idiot!




I'll take that, thank you very much!


Draw Attacks make Cecil's Blink wear off pretty damn fast. Blink can only deflect 2, maybe 3, attacks, remember!




And Kain brings us home!


A nice chunk of EXP, and a triple level up!






You did good, kids. Real good!


And here's our prize! A 3-point boost to Intellect is nice, of course, but that's not what makes the Stardust Rod so great.


But, we'll have to wait until next time to find out! (I'll give you a hint: what does a Stardust do?)

Obtained 3 Dry Ethers

A decent floor completion prize rounds out this update nicely. I'll see you next time!