Part 80

Chapter 66

Alright. Before I begin the update, I need to issue a warning.

We're near the end of the game. Only a few more updates until we're done. We've still got a bit more to cover, but this is the last stretch of game.

You know everything we've seen so far? Kain's Dark Self running around on a rampage, sailing vessels running out of fuel, Cecil's Dark Self chilling on the moon... That's nothing. This final section will ruin your childhood.

It's been a fun LP, and I'm glad you've all been enjoying this. But I have to tell you right now, that if you in any way cherish Final Fantasy IV, if you do not want your entire childhood ruined by this game's plot... Stop reading this LP. I will completely understand, and to be honest you will be a better person not knowing what's about to happen.

For everyone else, I wish you the very best, and may God have mercy on us all.

































So meet our team. I'm fucked.






Notice the music. Notice anything? Like, say, how it's actually an original piece?

There's this alcove in the first floor where you can teleport into from the Lunar Whale. There's a healing spot on the right, a save point in the middle, and Namingway right there.




This Namingway is special in that he sells Elixers for a measly 100k gil. Honestly, 100k gil is going to be nothing because of my Gil Bands.



There's actually no random encounters on this first floor.




Our first piece of treasure. Too bad nobody on our team can use Shields, not even Gekkou.



Luckily, the enemies are the same as that floor with Leviathan and Asura. Leonora is essential with her Confuse and Stop spells.

What I ended up doing was giving Leonora as much speed-boosting equipment as possible. Luckily, that Sage's Robe I snagged earlier nets +10 Speed, making my life so much easier. She also alternates between the Recovery Rod and Master's Staff, as free healing rules and she needs to save all her MP for Stop. Yeah, I boosted Leonora's speed so I can get off Stop as quickly as possible. Every single enemy will always be hit by it, and it always lasts for the entire battle. It's fucking awesome.

Harley wields the Mystic Whip and the Red Cap, Gekkou ends up with the Poison Axe and the Red Scarf, Izayoi dons the Minerva Bustier, Ribbon, and the Yoichi Bow/Arrow set, and Tsukinowa uses Edge's Murasame and some K-named katana as well as the Giant's Glove.



As you can see, the first few floors are a bit of a slog to navigate.



On B3, there's the Cat Ear Hood, which resists Cold. Leonora always has the Protect Ring for cold resistance, but the +5 Speed it has means Leonora gets it anyway.



There's also Blue Dragons on B3 and on. They have an attack that will kill everyone for 3000+ damage besides Leonora, who still dies to it. I'm screwed on a back attack, but I have just enough time to get off a Teleport (but not Stop).




I'm fucking loaded. Seriously, after this update I'm up to 1.8 million gil.



Leonora learns a few more spells this update, including Blizzara and Thundara, but the only one that's actually important is Curaga. Extra healing power is always welcome.



Here's the bottom of B4.



Ah, the Brave Suit. It gives the same buffs as the Minerva Bustier, but without the hits to Intellect/Spirit. I give this one to Tsukinowa, so he can go back to outspeeding everyone and hitting like a truck.



Our final stop is B5. At this point, I grinded the weaklings to their mid-30's, and Leonora to mid-40's. The characters themselves are weak, but it doesn't matter when I'm bleeding out the ass with awesome equipment that boosts all their stats ten points.



So before we meet our next wave of bosses, it's time for a cutscene.



Ah, Cecil and Golbez. This should be interesting.

Golbez...
Ah, Cecil.





And the same to you, as well.
I cannot say for sure what our enemy was doing to my mind. But within my heart...it was as if the light was slowly fading away from me, deep inside.
...
I felt so isolated. I was inside a world of profound darkness... However, I still had faith...faith that Rosa, and Ceodore, and my friends would come to my aid...



Cecil...



If you need to thank someone, thank Fusoya.
What?
It was he who sent me to you...putting his own body on the line in the process.
Fusoya did that!?
He did.
I am impressed Fusoya still thought enough of you to do that.
Perhaps. But I have had enough of hiding.
Oh?
Indeed.
So you are no longer ashamed of your name, Golbez?



And...scene.

Eh, it's alright, I guess. I don't really have much to say about that one, so let's move on.



There's four bosses on this floor, each accessible by teleportation.



And in each room is a crystal.





Alright. This is my final warning. I'm serious. There's no turning back once we hit this next pic. Of course, you may already have an idea what's about to happen, so let's get this over with.


















































Since the developers ran out of bosses from the original game to use, they instead decided to steal bosses from other games. The four bosses of this floor are indeed none other than the four fiends from FF1.

Now note that this isn't a bonus dungeon. This is the still final dungeon of this game.



Oh, right, the actual battle. Lich is the easiest of the four fiends, as he mostly relies on physical attacks.



I went ahead and cast Float, even though he never used an earth attack once.



I also burn through a lot of X-Potions in these fights, since Leonora's usually busy with buffs. Blink is huge in this fight. Let's get a comparison of the characters' damage output at this point.






Disregard Harley's output, as I'm pretty sure it was a critical hit and her holy whip is hitting Lich's weakness. Normally she's slightly lower than Izayoi. At any rate, Tsukinowa's the strongest, though Gekkou has slowly went from useless to a decent hitter as well. Still slow as hell, though.



Lich did two things this battle: Physical attacks, which Blink and Tsukinowa's Mirage nullified, and Bio, which wasn't powerful enough to kill anybody.



Thus, he goes down like the chump he is.



Could we be seeing a wholly unknown set of Crystals here?
I cannot help but wonder how useful our skills will be against this new set of enemies...
Yet more otherworldly creatures beyond our imagination, I see...
I haven't the slightest idea what is going on here...

I have to say, I like how astute the Eblan Four are. They know this is starting to get stupid, and they know they suck.



Anyway, each fiend drops a treasure. The Assassin Dagger is pretty nice with its extra speed and the ability to randomly KO a monster. I give it to Harley eventually, but not right now.









From now on, just assume the crystal shatters. The crystals always shatter.



Marilith is no pushover. Sometimes she'll attack twice in a turn, and counter with physicals.



She also likes to use Entice, causing Confuse on your characters which is a major inconvenience.




She also likes Firaga, which can really hurt.




Luckily, we have two characters that resist fire (Harley's Red Cap and Leonora's Protect Ring) and one that absorbs it (Gekkou's Red Scarf), so Marilith's not that scary.




At least, not until she uses Blaze.



At the end, I leave Harley and Izayoi dead. I keep Leonora alive since she has Blink, Gekkou has no trouble surviving Marilith's fire onslaught, and I keep reviving Tsukinowa because he does the most damage.



I end up taking Marilith out with not too much difficulty.



We seem to be in the midst of something beyond imagination here.

That has to be the most unintentionally hilarious quote in the game.

My water attacks were like a mere drizzle to her.
I have never seen such a powerful wielder of flame!
Is...is this the will of the Crystals, or something far more sinister?



Hey, a new throwing weapon for Tsukinowa! With the same strength as his secondary katana!



I end up sticking Tsukinowa in the back row and moving Harley up front.





This gives me the excuse of giving her the Assassin's Dagger, which is nice when it works. Which is to say, the very first time I used it was the only time I got it to work.

Southwest entrance leads to our next foe.






So our next foe is Kraken.




He sticks more to Blizzaga than he does physicals.



He counters a lot of the time with Constrict, which can limit your options.




Luckily, his magic isn't as strong as Marilith's, so he's not as big a threat.



Occasionally, he'll use physical attacks, though he really prefers Blizzaga.



All said, he's the second-easiest of the four and goes down with little trouble.



The Fiend of Water... What do you think that means?
I may not know how, but I survived nonetheless...
My skills... They were useless.
The monsters on this moon are unlike anything we've heard of.



This thing's about thirty points lower in attack than the Assassin Dagger, but gives +10 Intellect and casts Flood. Flood doesn't do much damage, and Harley's the only one who can make use of it right now anyway, so she keeps the Assassin's Dagger.

Only one more fiend to go.






Our final fiend is Tiamat.



He (or is it she) hits the hardest of the four fiends.




His Thermal Rays are painful, but not very. The fact that they're fire-elemental makes them more of a joke.




The thing about Tiamat's Venomous Gas, which is often used as a counter, is that once a character's poisoned, it misses. So I really don't recommend healing the poison, which is minor and results in an occasional loss of a couple hundred HP anyway. The damage the actual attack deals hurts much more. Of course, characters who have a Ribbon equipped also miss it, as Izayoi demonstrates.




Meh.



In the end, it comes down to keeping Izayoi and Tsukinowa healed, since the other three can easily resist Thermal Rays. Thus the team takes out Tiamat after a decent fight.

Seriously, even the weak teams can take down these bosses easily.



Wherever these Fiends are from, the elements play just as important a role there as they do here.
(What other sorts of otherworldly creatures should we expect to encounter?)
(No matter what happens to us, I am prepared for anything, Master.)
A dragon with complete control of the winds! I would have never thought such a thing existed!



Neat, some Claws. Doesn't matter, as we're changing parties anyway.

Next time, we get a new party and encounter... Well, I'm sure you already know what we'll encounter next.