Part 89: Final Chapter

Final Chapter

It's been a long, long LP, but today we've finally reached the end. Sit back and enjoy the ending!





Enjoy the music, I ripped it myself.




With this in order, our people can finally concentrate on rebuilding our proud nation.



I...I... Thank you so much! Um... If I may, however...





So Leonora is officially requested to join the Epopts. Good for her.




...



Mm-hmm.
The Elder wants to see you.
He's woken up!?
He sure has!

Scene change:



Elder, what were you thinking? You know you aren't so young anymore.
Palom!
It is quite all right, Porom. He only states the truth. I was wondering, Palom. Have you made a decision about your sage training quite yet?



Huh?
Come on. You know as well as I do how helpless Mysidia would be without me.
Ah, long have I awaited those words!
Elder...



Wha...!?
Elder, you couldn't! We are yet still unprepared for the job.
Oh, you'll be fine...as long as the two of you are together.



Your differences are exactly why I am sure you will lead us along the right path.



Palom! What are you...!?
Ugh! You cursed fool! Back to training with you!
Sure thing. Just don't keel over on us yet, eh, Elder?
Palom!



Oh?




I...I understand that.
So why'd you come here, then? What about the Epopts and everything?



Whaaa!?
Why, Leonora?
Th-there are lots of Epopt trainees in Troia...most of them much more suited for the post than I am.
So what're you gonna do now?



Are...are you serious?
Wh-what? Is...is that so strange?
Not at all! I'll give you all the help you need.
R-really!?
Of course!




Y-yes, sir! Thank you!



Thus Palom and Porom become the new leaders of Mysidia, while Leonora leaves the Epopts to become a sage.




Well, I'll be. So that's what the Crystals were made for...
Yes, Father.



What? I could try to explain it again, if you like.
If you ask me, we dwarves aren't meant to sit around all day, pondering the mysteries of the world. We should keep it simple, you see?



...Maybe you're right.





Well, perfect! Let's go to the Falcon, all right?
Whoa! What, already?
Come on!



This was just a little something I picked up while examining the Lunar Whale's engine.




Wow!
Hah hah! That's my boy!



Hmm... Well, we could really use some crewmen, actually.



Dah! All right, all right! I'd be happy to help out!
Oh, Father, you wouldn't understand anything on this ship! I was talking about your bodyguards!






Things are back to normal in Luca's life. Turns out Cid's grandson, who of course is named Mid, is going to be a genius engineer as well. And King Giott's still awesome.





Time for the next song, and to catch up on Fabul.




I wonder, though... Now that we know the Crystals' true nature, can things ever truly be the same?




They are a unifying force... Everyone wants to help protect and care for them.
Hmm. Makes sense.
I could not have stated it better.
No need to compliment me. That's just how my husband put it.
Speaking of Master Yang, where is he right now?
Training, of course. With Ursula.
My. It is strange to think back to when Yang treated Ursula like a rare, fragile jewel...
I think Yang said it best himself:




I told you I was not going to go easy.
Y-yes, Master!
Is that the best you can do?




Yang's back to training Ursula to be as badass as him, while Sheila reminds everyone who's really in charge of Fabul.




So the Crystal is the same as always?
Indeed. I cannot help but think that our Crystal is different...different from all the other Crystals the Creator has made.
How so, my lord?
Our nation believe in this Crystal, yes...but it would have taken more than that for it to recover its light.
...Are you suggesting that the Crystal itself is evolving, too?



I would like to believe that, anyway.




What is it, Chancellor?
Have you obtained the material we were discussing earlier?
Harley?
Yes, my lord. I have made all the necessary arrangements.
Well done.
Thank you, my lord.






Edward and Harley contemplate the Crystals being more significant than the Creator thought, perhaps evolving in their own right. Then everyone goes off to gather material for something, and Edward gives another shoutout to his ghost-girlfriend and her ghost-dad because, hey, they're dead. It's not like they have anything better to do.




Your Young Highness!



He left just a moment ago, sir.
What? Again!? Where?
I'm afraid he didn't say, sir. He simply stated he was going out on patrol.
What was that!? Oh, just when we've almost completed renovating the castle...










Then we will continue to serve as your shadow, Master.
Until your next orders come!
Whenever you are imperiled, just call for us. We will be there.
We are Eblan's ninja guard, and we will be that way forevermore!



Yes, Master!
Thank you for your kind words!
I bid you farewell...
Until the next mission!



Over in Eblan, Edge is sneaking out again because he can't stand the Seneschal and his personal fan club. The Eblan Four still don't get the hint that Edge is just not that into them.





What?
Don't say "What!" You're supposed to say "Yes?"
Yes?
Right, right! Doesn't that sound better?




You!





Your Majesty! And the Queen!
Mist is certainly a fine place, is it not?
I'm glad to see you both in good spirits...but what brings you here so suddenly?
Well, we just realized...if you are not able to visit us, then the least we could do was visit you.
So...
I apologize, Rydia...
Who're they?




Hello there! Nice to meet you!
She looks quite a bit like you when you were a child, Rydia.





Uh...hey, Cuore!
You're late!
Sorry, sorry. Kind of hard to find free time when you've got a country to run.
Ah, Master Edge.



What!?
We're gonna play all day today!
Sure, sure. No magic, though, okay?
Okay!




Rydia has decided to play mother for the little Maenad they took home, naming it Cuore. Somehow, Rydia actually taught Cuore how to develop a personality. Then Asura and Leviathan show up because, hey, why can't they just visit Rydia instead?

It turns out Edge snuck into the Feymarch somehow and told them about this radical idea. Then he sneaks into the Mist again because it's that time of the week to stalk Rydia and becoming a single mom has made her hotter I guess. Cuore certainly loves him, and with all of this shit Edge may, finally, actually have a shot of getting into Rydia's pants.

Probably not, though.




Ready, Ceodore?
No training wheels this time, I hope.
Of course not.
Haaah!!!








I have no clue if Cecil is intentionally blowing it, or if Ceodore's just that finely equipped.




I'm your squad captain, starting today.
Oh! Y-yes, Captain!
I'll be counting on you, Kain.
Try not to be too rough on him.
That depends on what Ceodore wants.



Kain has become the new leader of the Red Wings, and Ceodore's still under his command. I still don't think Cecil actually gives a shit about his son.



Golbez?
Yes...




Time for a flashback!



I am.
Do...do you think Fusoya is still alive?
...
Would anyone on that moon still be in one piece, for that matter?
I don't know. That is why I must go there at once.



Farewell.



Ceodore...
Someday, somewhere!



Golbez has taken off to go back to his moon to see if Fusoya and company are still alive. And that's as much as we learn about their fate.

You know, between Cuore and the Lunarians, it really feels like they're leaving some loose ends open for another sequel. I sure hope that never happens, since I'd probably end up LPing that game, too.




I gotta hand it to whoever translated it, as the first sentence is the closest I've seen to an actual typo in the game, and even then it could just be an awkwardly-constructed sentence. There were a couple things that didn't make sense, but overall I feel the translators did the best they could with the dialogue they were given. They can't work miracles, after all.

We have a royal decree, Luca. We are to disarm our airships and never rearm them again.
It seems like such a waste...but that certainly sounds like a rule that Cecil would come up with.




Good.
Our destination, Captain?



R-really, Captain!?
Does this look like a pleasure cruise to you, Ceodore!? Did Biggs and Wedge teach you nothing!?





Damcyan. Edward's procured some building material for us.
Roger!






Enjoy.







And those hundreds of moon shots finally pay off to one last shot to the sole moon.



And that was Final Fantasy IV: The After Years.



Fuck you, Tokita.

Cecil was a disappointment this game. He spends most of it brainwashed, and then he spends a lot of time grunting, but after that he's pretty boring. Considering the first game revolved around him, you'd think he'd have more interesting stuff to say.

Rosa contributed absolutely nothing to the game, and the game would've been better if she died during childbirth or something.



Cid didn't get to really be a badass in this one, and he's horrible in battle, but considering how much of a badass he was in FF4, I can forgive him for retiring from the exciting life and instead mentoring Luca in being a badass.



Speaking of which, they really did a great job fleshing Luca out in this game. She found her passion in engineering, she has a great mentor in Cid, she even has and gets over a childhood crush. She's also a pretty solid tank in battle. Definitely one of the better characters in the game.

What is there to really say about Calca and Brina? They aren't supposed to have personalities, they're supposed to be gimmicky in battle. They're just there, and that's it.



Asura was kind of a bitch to Rydia early on, but eh.





Rydia started off on a down-trend, becoming defeatist despite it being contrary to her personality in FF4. She kinda got better, but overall she was an average, kinda bland character in this game.

I don't have much to say on a character introduced two minutes before the game's finale.







Edge is definitely much better than before. He's matured quite a bit, becoming a responsible leader who's quick on his feet during a crisis. At the same time, he's still the same hothead recklessly rushing into things, even though it usually works out for him. So many badass moments, too. And on top of that, he's become a juggernaut in battles. My favorite character of the bunch.

The Eblan Four had such wasted potential. There were hints of personality in their missions, but they ceased being interesting once they rejoined Edge, and continued getting worse along the way.





Yang hasn't changed much. He's still tough-as-nails yet disciplined and kind.

Ursula had a nice character evolution, starting off craving power only to learn that true power requires the discipline to only use it when needed. Much better father/child relationship there than Cecil/Ceodore, though it's a shame Ursula didn't really develop past Yang's Tale.

Sheila was already the best NPC in the original, but she became so much better in this game. Now she's probably the best NPC in the entire series. Who knew domestic abuse could make someone so endearing?




Frankly, Porom sucked when she was in Mysidia, but she was actually pretty decent when she had Palom to play off of. Her disciplined, respectful act doesn't work solo, but as the counter to Palom's abrasive, cocky demeanor, it works. At least she got her own badass moment when she casts Float on the party in The Gathering.








As an adult, Palom is as awesome as ever. He's still high on himself and his abilities, but he's also quite clever and knows he has the power to back up his talk. At the same time, he doubts his own ability to become a sage, yet isn't afraid to admit when someone may outclass him.

I wish they did more with Leonora, because I really like what they did with her character. She's definitely timid, but she's also not one to back down from a fight. She definitely has an inner confidence and passion in her that you wouldn't guess she had looking at her. Definitely one of my favorite female characters in any FF game.




How the hell did Edward end up being the smartest guy in the game? He definitely outclassed everyone in intelligence, plus he's ballsy enough to fight alone when he goes to get the Sand Pearl. He's even pretty awesome in battle, though you wouldn't think he'd be after FF4. Definitely one of the best characters in the game.

Yeah, Harley got sick and is useless in battle, but she's pretty damn sharp herself. It's kind of hard to remember that Harley isn't supposed to be a battle-hardened warrior in the same way that Edward isn't, but Harley works great as a secretary, a cheerleader for Edward, and in figuring out stuff like the events of the previous game and assisting Edward in his scheming. She's still underwhelming, but she's not really a bad character.



It's hard to fuck up Golbez, and though the game tried, it still made Golbez pretty cool. I really liked how he started off the pupil to Fusoya before leading the charge against the moon. This was partly his attempt at redemption, and he did have some cool moments fighting the Dark Knight. Not bad overall.



Not much to say about Fusoya besides, again, I liked him playing mentor to Golbez. Something you wouldn't think much about yet makes sense in retrospect.





Ah, Kain. Despite his story being kind of a mess, he did have some great interaction with Ceodore, and him conquering his dark side was a pretty badass moment for him. He also managed to keep a lot of personality, something Cecil failed to do. He also picked up some new tricks in battle to make him more worth using. I liked his role in the game.



Yeah, Ceodore was a bit of an idiot. Yeah, he parroted his stupid catchphrase way too often. Still, he had the determination of his father in him and refused to let his lineage determine his destiny. Ceodore took charge of his own destiny, with the help of Kain, and became a strong warrior in his own right. There's a lot wrong with Ceodore, true, but he's really not that bad a character in the end.





And with that, I am finished.

I really want to thank everyone for following this. Everyone's been great with downplaying spoilers, contributing awesome stuff, and overall giving some great conversations in the thread. It's been a slog sometimes, but overall I enjoyed doing this, or else I wouldn't have spent so many hours doing it. Definitely a hell of a game to do my first Let's Play with, but overall I'm happy with what I've done with it, and I'm glad I could show off a game that few people will ever get a chance to play.

In the end, my initial opinions of the game haven't changed. Despite all the bashing I and others have given it, there's still a lot of awesome stuff in the game. There are still a lot of awesome character/story moments in the game, and though I'm not a big fan of the new additions, they still add more strategy and don't really hurt the gameplay. Speaking of which, I love the emphasis the gameplay received, having this huge dungeon with a ton of bosses to fight while encouraging the player to experiment with all sorts of different parties. I had a blast playing the parties you guys suggested.

Of course, the game had so, so many flaws. For every awesome character, there were two shitty ones. The villains were horrible, most of the characters were idiots, the plot was nonexistant for 99% of the game, and then it turns out to be some made-up bullshit that somehow connects all the games together. The random encounter rate was too high, the challenge dungeons were full of bullshit, and most battles could still be won following the same strategy.

If there's one thing this game did successfully, it's making me realize just how amazing a game Final Fantasy IV is. It may not have a great story, but it certainly does a great job in telling that story. Memorable characters, crazy plot twists, character deaths out the wazoo, and a pretty effective villain. Because of all this, I'm planning to cover the original SNES US version for my next Let's Play, after a nice long break of course, really digging into just what makes the game memorable enough for Square-Enix to continuously remake the damn thing.

Once again, thank you all for following along. I still have a couple of things left to show off before I'm completely finished, assuming technical details don't get in the way, but the main game is finally done after close to five months. So I'll see you all next time!