Part 69

Chapter 56



Of our crew of twenty-two, we have five who had before fought against their allies. Five people who fought against Cecil, who now seek redemption. Thus we have our first party.

The levels are all over the place. Calca and Brina don't get an opportunity to grind since they don't get to go to Rydia's Challenge Dungeon, while Golbez has a big advantage of starting at L30, having two CD's to grind through, and being part of the crew in The Gathering.

I try the Obelisk on Golbez and the Dragoon Lance on Kain, but Golbez should stick with the Enhancement Sword and its Intellect boost while Kain has fun with the lance. I gave Yang the Giant's Glove since his entire core is Strength and Stamina. Calca and Brina are fucked, but I try my old strategy of Clown Clothes on Brina, using the Economical Ring on Calca to make him support. I throw on Warrior's Clothes purely to boost his Stamina.



There's not really much to explore, as everything's a dead end besides that cave to the left. The music is eerily silent, though.



This is a Full Moon, so ignore damage output for now. You've got the usual moon fare, though we'll start seeing unique enemies at this point.




Here's the problem with Brina. Her healing is horrible because she's so underleveled that her Spirit is shit. Even Curaga Dance won't heal much, meaning she's only effective when she casts statuses like Blink. She still outspeeds everyone, but this means Calca's effectively our best healer. Unfortunately, Calca is also very slow and is doubled by everybody. Once I play further, I'm giving Brina Angel Clothes to boost Spirit while Calca can use the Clown Clothes to throw around Hi-Potions like mad.



Gray Coeurls are a pain, as they counter everything with Blaster but have tons more HP than their cousins. There are certain ones that may drop a tail, though. Frankly, it's not worth the EXP for the effort it takes to kill these guys.



These guys will poison the shit out of you. Of course, since this is the point of the game where enemies will actually start poisoning you, you can no longer buy Antidotes. Seriously, stock up on Antidotes before coming here.






So now we start the final dungeon, the first part of which resembles the final dungeon of FF4. The music's different, going with the moon theme rather than something badass like the original's. There's also no fanfare upon entering. No dramatic speeches or anything.




High Wizards counter attacks with Osmose, which can be obnoxious. This one drains Kain out of half his MP, which really sucks.



You'll also find Genji equipment scattered around here. This stuff is the next upgrade from the Diamond stuff from before.





SUCK IT



Fuck yeah.



Around this point, Yang starts becoming a fucking badass and, with the help of the Attack+ moon, kills a lot of these enemies in one hit, outpacing Kain and even Golbez. I'm pretty sure his Strength is over 60 thanks to the Giant's Glove. Having dual Cat Claws which let him inflict Sleep is also a nice bonus.



Alright, let's get into the process of the rest of the game.







Each character has a line before and after each boss battle. We can safely ignore Calca and Brina's lines, since they don't say anything of note. But every time you do a boss, each character says their own unique thing. It's actually more annoying than cool, as the lines become rather copy & paste.





Then, each crystal shatters, beginning a boss fight.

So what are these boss fights, you ask? Why tell you when I can show you?






You know the few bosses from FF4 that we haven't fought in this game? This is where we're fighting them. That's right, the final dungeon recycles almost every single boss battle from the original that wasn't used earlier. At least they're much more souped up, so we don't bulldoze through 90% of the fights. Still, you should already know their gimmicks, which kind of robs the fun out of things.

He is a dead soul, yet bound to the material world by the evil around him!
You must be the chief guardsman.
Baigan...





Not much has changed. Baigan still has his two arms, and he still counters magic with Reflect.



I have Kain Haste Calca so he can actually be useful for once.



Baigan likes to do shit like Constrick and Bloodsuck, but they're not that dangerous. He hits hard, but other than that he's not a huge threat.





Late in the fight, the asshole likes to cast Haste. And of course I have Thundaga queued, which will put up Reflect and stop Slow. Lame.




Baigan's not that scary and goes down easily.



Also, his arm explodes.



His last words... Those were the words of a human, not a monster.
What still lives?



Then our team automatically takes a nap. One plus is that every time you get to a new save point, your team rests there for free. It doesn't even change the moon phase!

The other thing is that you get a cutscene involving characters talking to each other, which would be neat if most of them weren't underwhelming.



...



The first of many such cutscenes features Ceodore and Ursula.

How is King Cecil faring?
He hasn't changed a bit.
Oh, I see...








Yeah, I don't see it.

The Ceodore I knew always acted like there was a heavy burden placed on his shoulders. That burden of being the prince of Baron... No, the burden of having Cecil and Rosa's blood in his veins.
...You're right.
It always made me wonder. Why did you never feel a sense of pride about your family?



From whom?
From Kain, and Biggs and Wedge. And from all the people my father once fought with.
I had always hoped you would feel that way for yourself someday.
...



I'm sure Cecil will be back to normal.
Thanks.



Also, sometimes you'll get new bands. I'll show this one off whenever I decide to actually show some bands off.



So next time, we'll continue our quest to remurder every single boss fight from FF4.