Final Fantasy IV: The After Years Part #103 - Interlude

Part 103: Interlude - Part 6

The Interlude Interlude: Part 6

With the Developers' Office out of the way, let's finish climbing this stupid tower.

The last of the not-Archfiends is the Tunneler. Unlike the previous three Eidolon-holding bosses, this guy actually can kick your ass, and not in a "Well, if I let you" sort of way.

Yeah, he practically ensures that Rydia will be shut down for the rest of this fight. By murdering her.

He'll also counter most magic attacks with Constrict and paralyze a random party member for a while. This is one of the handful of times where Cecil knowing white magic is actually useful, because if Porom takes it (as shown) then you'll have to have him Esuna her out of it fast; Tunneler will gleefully continue Earthquaking his way across your face regardless of the status of your party.

Firaga saves the day! There is nothing that violent application of creating a sun can't solve!

Rydia Weapon Gets the amber light that the boss leaves behind.

Developers' Office!

Still playing by original-game rules, Interlude gives you a 48-space inventory, and a whole fucking lot of items you will never realistically use during the chapter. You'll be going into the item menu to throw all this useless shit away at least once.

Hey let's go visit the cannon! For some reason.

Rydia is excited as hell to go check it out and see if the sentrybots patrolling the Tower have cleaned Yang's blood off the walls yet. Strangely, she shuts the door behind her.

Rydia!?

Well that's a kick in the shins.

Cecil, watch out!

Something's coming!

Actual boss time!

Hey, so that's where all the Iron Giants in this chapter went! Unfortunately for my expectations, they aren't very tough, hitting the twins for low double-digit physicals.

With all this time, I can afford to screw around, so just what can I do?

Hmm.

hmmmmmm

I KNOW!

Fuck yeah, Twin Stars.

"ENTERING FINAL MODE..."

The Android Soldiers apparently really dislike getting hit in the face with magically-guided space rocks.

"02 FINAL MODE...
03 GUARD MODE..."

The robots hop into the middle of the screen and combine!

Change Shin Getter!

Cecil tries to hit it, but misses. Robot Jesus responds to his insolence by lasering the party in the face.

Yeah, I know it's been a while, but this really isn't the time to chat!

Our deus ex machina is better than your deus ex machina, Deus Ex Machina!

Interestingly, there's only a small amount of items available to Throw throughout Interlude. You get one Shuriken, one Fuma Shuriken, and one of Edge's swords; that's it. With knowledge of nothing to waste, I immediately outfit Edge with the katana I found earlier and fling the regular shuriken at the boss.

Realistically, what you should be doing is throwing out every lightning-element thing you have in his face, as Iron Allah is crazy weak to it; Blitz hits for ridiculous amounts of damage, and Thundaga reaches the damage cap.

Mecha-Yahweh eventually gets fed up with this bullshit and slaps Porom with Stop.

Palom responds in relative kind, followed up by a final Blitz from Edge.

I should've known you would all be here.

What...?

It was just for a sec, but I saw this tower glowing with my own eyes.

Then it's true!

Yeah. I don't know who it could be, but someone is trying to get this thing running again.

No way...

But Rydia is...!

She's here, too?

Yes, she's...

Without another word, Edge and the party go right into the cannon room. I'm guessing Cecil's "Yes, she's..." was interpreted as "Yes, she's trying to activate the Tower and destroy all the dwarves with the ultracannon" or something. That Rydia, always coming up with wacky genocides. She just wants to share the love.

Rydia...!?

However, she seems to have disappeared without a trace.

Where'd she go now!?

Well, we have to find her!

Poor Edge. All he wants to do is mack.

He instead settles for setting the world ablaze.

Upon hitting B8 of the Tower, I start running into these guys and immediately begin stealing Sirens from them, with Cecil slaughtering all the Flamehounds they summon until Palom and Porom kill the thing with their wimpy-ass wizard sticks.

Kind of a lackluster set of encounters, though the first two floors contain Black Lizards as the rare battle if you really want to go back down and try your luck at a Stoneblade.

The final room of Interlude, the place where we beat the crap out of Lugae and his stupid robot in the first game. Not the first place I'd think of for the chapter's final boss, but whatever, I guess. And look, Rydia's there and waiting, so we can take it on with a full party!

Rydia...!

Thank goodness! We've been looking for you...

What the heck are you doing in a place like this?

Behold! One of the few times Cecil appropriately "WHAT"s.

But I'm not fooled that easily! That's not Rydia!

How could that be!?

Then who is this chick!?

Who indeed!

Impostor-Rydia then sends up all the lights representing the summons we've collected for her so far, and they converge upon the party!

Boss time! Even if it doesn't boss-transition like usual. Faux-Rydia calls up the four Eidolons she's accrued, and we have to fight them all, much like the penultimate battle in Final Fantasy X.

So here's some appropriate music, I guess.

Shiva's up first. All it takes is a couple hits from Edge and Cecil and a single Firaga to put her down.

It's also perfectly possible to go after fake-Rydia herself, but nothing will come of it; all attacks and spells will miss entirely, but hilariously you can have Edge steal from her, snagging a Potion for the trouble.

Ramuh comes out next. With no obvious weaknesses, Edge and Cecil get Hasted and hack him apart. Palom doesn't even cast a single spell, instead spending the battle using Bluff.

The only attack Ramuh actually gets to do is a Thundara that hits Porom for one point of damage.

Next!

Titan, like the Tunneler, can actually be a threat, even moreso in that Quake deals major damage and he has a pretty hefty chunk of HP compared to the previous Eidolons. Still, with all the Bluff spamming Palom did during Ramuh's time on the battlefield, Bio hits somewhere in the vicinity of 6500 damage, and with Edge getting a turn roughly every two seconds with his ludicrous post-Haste Speed he goes down without too much trouble.

Hold on a second, we only got you four Eidolons, and we just cleaved them all down! What are you--

Oh, shit.

She's even more powerful than the real one!

Watch it, guys!

Curaga! Curaga now!

_{oh no}

...Huh?

Well, at least that Curaga's still worth using.

Try as they might, nobody in the party can land a hit on Bahamut, evidently sharing the same plot Blink that the Summoner has.

That's okay, though, we've got plot manipulation of our own!

It does absolutely crap damage, but it does manage to hit fraud-Rydia, so there's at least that.

Oh shit! It's real-Rydia! I think. I hope. Bahamut's convinced, at least, and disappears into the ether without another word.

Rydia...!

I can't believe they used you all for something like this... I will never forgive this!

Back into the battle! This time you can actually beat up the doppelganger...

...though she counters every physical attack with Meteor.

Eidolons are not physical attacks.

And their god is pissed.

Shadow-Rydia's only response to this is an Earthquake attack on the party that only manages to hit 204 damage at most, on Edge.

Edge retaliates by hucking a man-sized shuriken into her face.

Eidolon royalty gets in on the super-asskicking as well, though doesn't deal nearly as much damage. It's still worth noting that it's one of the better-animated summons, with Leviathan actually having full frames leaping out of the water before sending it all crashing down on anti-Rydia's head.

Palom gets the killing blow, using a super-Bluffed Firaga to fry the hell out of her.

God-nuked, crushed beneath an ocean, burned to a crisp and with a gaping shuriken wound where her eyes would be, clone-Rydia simply... vanishes into thin air.

She disappeared...

But just who was she?

Fade to black, and into...

...a Crystal chamber?

Huh. Well, whatever.

Back on identifiable Planet, Cecil is back at Baron castle, tending to Rosa.

Thank goodness! Everyone is all right...

I was most worried about you. Please rest easy. I want you well again.

But I am well, Cecil.

Then what...?

In the throne room, the party is gathered, waiting for news on Rosa's condition, before Cecil throws open the door and strides in.

Well, she...

Cecil?

A pause.

She's fine... or she will be in about nine months...

With the sudden news, everybody crowds around Cecil, Edge leaping into the air with elation.

You serious!?

Congratulations, Cecil!

Luca: Oh, it has been one miracle after another!

So that means... Cecil's gonna be a dad, too!?

You'll have to start thinking of names!