Part 8: Gifted a Floater

Back to the overworld!

Note that there's no real direction we're given here. Cecil said we need to "find our friends", but we can't actually do that part yet. The destination we need to go to kinda makes sense if you think about it, but for now let's just go random places.



Porom picks up Harm, a spell that only affects the undead but does major damage against them. Situational but very nice to have.



Eblan Cave has a couple soldiers freaking out but is otherwise fine. This may end up relevant later on, should we choose to address it.



Anyway, to move the plot forward, we need to go to Mysidia. Now that we have twins from there, maybe Cecil will finally get over his guilt and break bread with the Elder.





What's wrong, Cecil?
I can't come back here after what I did...



...
Trust me...



And so off we go to meet the Elder.



You!...
I know I have no right to come back here... What I did was absolutely unforgivable.
You were deceived... I forgive you, though it seems you do not yet forgive yourself. Climb Mount Ordeals. Renounce your Dark Knighthood and become a Paladin. Only then will you truly overcome your dark past.



Then you must follow him there.
But how?
Legends tell of a ship that could travel through space, but it sank to the sea floor. A floater stone could raise it...
Where would one find such a thing?
I'm afraid I have no idea.



What a great lead to go on! "I dunno, good luck!"


Except we do have a lead! Frozen underground, I have a strong idea I know where to go.

BUT FIRST.





Thus why we currently still can't use the Serpent Road despite things being "cool" (the rest of Mysidia still hates Cecil for murdering their friends but who gives a shit about them).



Mysidia's weapon shop only sells Holy arrows, though this is very welcome if we ever bring Rosa back. Meanwhile, the Paladin gear is weaker than the Genji gear Cecil currently has, but each piece does give a 3-point Will bonus and guards against Zombies.



Mysidia also sells late-tier items like X-Potions, DryEthers, and Elixirs. X-Potions are tempting, but it's also tempting to hold off awhile just to see what else may be buyable once we hit the moon or whatever.



Also, despite the Elder telling us we can go to Mt. Ordeals to become a Paladin, we actually can't do that yet. We have to get the Floater Stone first.

Before we get to that, it's been awhile since we've explored the overworld. So let's do that!



The dying guy in Damcyan basement finally croaked, so we can loot the treasures here.



Some nice consumables and this baby. Boosts Agility, Wisdom, and Will by 5 each, wrecks Slimes, and most importantly is Holy-elemental. If for some reason Edge was still using Ashura, this would be a direct upgrade. A nice upgrade for his secondary weapon.



There's also two new rooms down here. One is a Serpent's Road entrance. The other...



Edward!



...Interesting room design.



Edward, I know you miss Anna, but I don't think this is what she would want. She would want you to help save the world from Golbez's tyranny...don't you think?



She wants me to stay with her and keep her company.
If you say so...
I'm sorry, Cecil. Best of luck!

Well, that's certainly creepy. But it's Edward so who cares, NEXT!



Tellah has gone to the Magnetic Cave, since several NPCs hinted it may have the Tome of All Spells that he wants.



But be careful...you can't fight with metal items in here. Are you prepared? If so, let's proceed!
I'm afraid there won't be enough time...
Understood. I'll be here if you change your mind.



That's quite a few hooks right there, but there's not really much we can do with these until we get the Floater Stone.



So let's do that!





Harm does sick damage to the undead.

Otherwise the trek back to Santos is rather uneventful.



Tell me, children, what would you like?
I don't suppose you have...a floater stone?









...I certainly hope that's an actual stone.





I'm going to name it The Queen Brahne.



The barrier protecting Mount Ordeals has been lifted...go if you wish to become a Paladin.



The Serpent Road can make travel easier, but it is haunted. Use it at your own risk. Good luck, Cecil!



The Lunar Whale is same as it ever was. The important thing is the game has opened up significantly and we can do sidequest stuff now. We can trigger ways to gain new party members now, though first we have to trigger ways to kick out our current party members. We can access the Serpent's Road now, though playing around with it off-the-LP-record I have no idea how it's relevant besides one thing that happens the first time you enter it from Mysidia, since...you can just take an airship to that place.



The one thing I will go ahead and do is make Cecil a Paladin because, hell, why not. Note than in this hack, making Cecil a Paladin is completely optional. You can beat the game as Dark Knight Cecil, and I may show that off after I finish this current run.





This trial is simple with the proper preparation.



It's basically a series of battles against zombie-type enemies. You'll fight a few of these same exact encounters, and the game is nice enough to fully heal you in between.



The trick is they all do nothing but spam Bio. Of course Dark Swords do nothing to them. Silence may be a good option that I never bothered trying.



Instead, I went with Flame Sword for the fire weakness and Aegis Shield for the magic defense. The Aegis in particular halves the damage from Bio and makes things much more manageable.



Cecil can one-shot the Ghouls and Zombies, though the Revenants take two hits. All zombie enemies do the same damage regardless of type with Bio, but the Revenants are much faster than the rest. Still, I opt to take out the Ghouls, then Zombies, then finally the Revenants. Worst case, I may need a Hi-Potion before I finish the battle, but most of the time I can win without healing.



Cecil walks automatically up the mountain during this trial.



Every time there's a text box, it's followed by the same encounter, over and over.



Once you get the prep down, this is pretty simple.



Then, finally, we finish the climb.





Hooray.





Now Cecil starts with Protect instead of Cure.





Otherwise it's the same battle as the original, don't do anything, blah blah blah.









This time we get a proper boss battle before Cecil can become a Paladin.

First thing to note is the music, which is actually from the credits section of the ending. It's...actually pretty fitting here!





DarkMist is otherwise pretty simple attack pattern-wise. Just powerful physicals and a decently strong multi-target dark attack.



He's Dark, so the Gladius wrecks him.



However his Magic Defense is sky high and Palom's kinda useless against him. He's kinda stuck throwing items.



Edge rips right through 'em.





Cecil gains fifteen levels because he still starts at L1, picking up Cure and Awake (the "cure battle debuffs" spell). It's alright.



And with that we're dumped back to the summit of Mt. Ordeals with no fanfare.



Unfortunately Cecil's equipment is overwritten, so I lost all that nice Genji gear. Lame.

The Legend sword is Holy elemental like all Paladin swords, but it's also pretty outdated. For comparison's sake, it's the same power as the Flame Sword and vastly inferior to the Sleep Sword and Icebrand.



That's fine for now though because Mt. Ordeals still has the same enemies as in the original, which of course are vastly weaker than our current party.



We can loot the items now but there's really nothing of note besides this Sage Staff, which casts Raise as an item and gives a hefty 15-point Will bonus.



Next time...I honestly have no clue. If you have suggestions, I'm open to them! Otherwise, I'll just do whatever. If I miss anything, I may do another run or two from this point on so it's not too big a deal.