Final Fantasy IV: Unprecedented Crisis Part #3 - Just Chillin' in the Basement

Part 3: Just Chillin' in the Basement

Our next stop is Toroia.

Enemies are the same. I'm out of Phoenix Downs so I run from most encounters.

I think you need this Chocobo to cross the river to reach Toroia. There's no bridges to reach the northern part of the forest. Maybe I'm wrong, though, I'm not exactly used to walking through all this area.

Toroia's pretty much the same. There's a Serpent Road entrance, of course, and items are shuffled around.

This is the only noteable new dialogue I found.

Finally, an item shop!

Nothing new, it's stuff from previous shops or from chests.

Oh boy, this gimmick still exists!

Also the actual best NPC still has the actual best line.

Let's jump straight to the castle, then.

Oh.

...own hands... Now, stand aside or be destroyed!

No, not this time... This madness stops here!

This version of Cecil doesn't whine or complain once the new writing kicks in. This Cecil is a man of action and isn't going to take anyone's bullshit.

...On second thought, maybe old Cecil's approach wasn't a bad one.

Don't stand in a straight line you fools do you not fucking remember what happened last time you did that

This time Golbez summons his Shadow Dragon and just annihilates everyone without even a courtesy battle.

Also the guards die because why not.

Now I shall rob you of yours!

What?! Who is this foolish old man...

Oh boy, Tellah's not wasting any time to die this time.

No one can ever defeat me... ... ...

Remember how in the original version of this fight, Tellah threw out Bio and the -aga spells? Now remember he hasn't learned those spells in Mt. Ordeals, so he's stuck with his inferior spells. So if anything, this fight is even sadder.

Tellah's rage unlocked the ultimate spell... ...

Even if it kills me... I will destroy YOU!

Oh and this time Tellah just pulls Meteo out of his ass. Sure, why not.

But hey, it worked!

This isn't over. Until we meet again...

r.i.p. Tellah.

-----

...Uh ...Um

The Clerics that rule our country seek an audience with you once you feel well enough.

Thank you...

Not at all! Due to your efforts, the crystal is safe, as are our people. It is we who thank you.

To be fair, it was Tellah that saved the day. It's too bad he's dead now.

Oh, or maybe he actually lived this time. Sure, why not.

I was, wasn't I? ... Cough! Cough! ...

That much magical energy would be difficult for anyone to control.

I'm certain I can handle it... once I get better that is...

I'd like to stay with him until he recovers...

Of course! Thank you for everything, Edward. You've been a great help.

So Edward's out of the party now to babysit Tellah. Funny how we glossed over the Tellah forgiving and accepting Edward thing this time. Also, the rest of the party's already with us, guess they don't really have any interest in saying goodbye to Tellah or Edward.

No, you need to rest.

This will likely be a side-or-main quest we can get to later.

All the dialogue is the same otherwise.

More consumables. The big treasure room is still closed to us for now, so let's fix that.

I fear it may not be for long. Golbez is relentless. He won't stop until he has them all.

In that case, perhaps we could lend the crystal to you for safe keeping...

That may be for the best. Golbez is already after us... there's no need to endanger more lives. I promise to return it the moment this war is over.

Then it's agreed. Take the crystal and keep it away from Golbez!

I guess it makes some sense. If Golbez is going to murder somebody to get the crystal, might as well be Cecil.

Seriously though the original US "FF2" translation has the best NPCs in general due to their wonderfully dumb dialogue.

Also, free treasure! We don't have to deal with the damn Magnetic Cave!

Would you call the crisis...unprecedented?

Crystal #2.

Now we must rescue Rosa and recover the other crystals!

Golbez has been operating out of a tower called Babil. I bet he's holding them all there.

How do we get in?

The nation of Eblan is near there. Perhaps their ninjas can help us.

Agreed. Let's go!

So our next plot destination is Eblan. Obviously that means it'll be the last place we visit.

Mostly a bunch of consumables and arrows. Shurikens are interesting, though.

While we have no airship, the Black Chocobo forest still exists, so now we can explore the world!

It's a shame there's not too much to explore.

We could check out Mysidia...

How can I show my face here after that? ...... Perhaps once I've redeemed myself for what I've done...

...but understandably Cecil doesn't feel like returning since it's not his last option to do so.

No entering Mt. Ordeals either.

Mythril doesn't really have much for us this time. The Giant Glove gives +5 Vitality, but I don't think the Viking Helm does anything special besides being a direct helmet upgrade for Cecil and Cid.

Agart is probably the most interesting optional area to visit, mostly because there's a lot of new dialogue foreshadowing new stuff to do.

Eh, I'll forgive this one.

I don't know how you'd prevent it from destroying itself in the process, though...

Dunno if it's a reference or foreshadowing a future quest. Maybe I don't want to know...?

...or can it?

If this series taught me anything, there's always a way to cure petrification.

Also I'm too lazy to make new sprites for these knuckleheads since I'm just reusing stuff from my FF4 LP anyway.

OK this one is pretty good.

Well, at least we know where to go later to do that quest.

The weapons here seem a bit beyond our current party. Also nobody can equip any of them, even the knives. Oddly Edward is the only person who could have wielded knives so far, unless Rosa could and I didn't notice.

Also why the Wooden Shield?

SeaRuby, huh.

So the Levistone from FF1 is going to make an appearance, huh? Random enough reference to work for me.

Also of course we gotta look at the telescope.

Also we can't actually do the Magnetic Cave because Cecil doesn't want to. Honestly I can't blame him.

As I said, there really isn't much optional stuff to do, so on to Eblan. This forest is the only place to land our chocobo, but we can cross that northwestern inlet just fine to reach the castle.

Eblan Castle has random encounters with some nasty enemies. This is rather unfortunate.

Oh hey Edge.

Have I met you before?

I am Eblan's Prince Edge! I'm gonna get revenge on you for what you did to my parents!

Parents? Whatever do you mean...?

Don't play the fool with me!

Edge, brilliant as always, proceeds to cast fire magic on the fire fiend. Somehow, this doesn't work.

Was it flame? I will show you how!

So of course it ends just as poorly as it did in the original.

Then welcome to my barbecue! In the meantime, perhaps I'll hide away myself...fair is fair after all!

Come back here!

Rubicante decides just to go hide somewhere. Sure, why not.

We're also after Rubicant for his crystal.

Why don't you stay out of this?

He is one of the Fiends of Elements!

Haven't you tasted enough of his power!?

Think I'm just a spoiled prince, huh? The Royal Family of Eblan is trained as Ninja! I can take care of this myself, okay?

Son, from what I've seen he really did a number on you...

You used fire on the fire fiend.

We're after him anyway to retrieve the crystal...

And we'll do it somehow whether you help or not...

But we could really use the extra hand!

...they didn't survive... Then when he and his monsters attacked the castle, we tried to fight them off but there were too many of them, so we fled to our underground hideout.

So Edge joins as our fifth party member. Hooray...?

This is the first part of the castle I try to explore. Maybe not the greatest idea.

This guy hits hard, but for once I use status magic (Cecil's Charm spell saves a turn here) to slow him down while I beat him up.

Edge is pretty much the same, except instead of Ninjutsu he has regular Black Magic. Tornado in this hack isn't the Weak spell but a regular wind damage attack, because seriously, why does this series always three different tiers plus summon versions for Fire, Ice, and Lightning, but always pretty much ignore Wind and Water magic outside of Leviathan or occasionally Aero or Aqua Rake for Blue Mages?

Anyway he hits hard but I hit harder. As a bonus, I pick up Ifrit!

The reward is lame, though. Can't even use this since Cid's back to using a two-handed weapon.

The good news is there's no fight with three Mad Ogres this time.

The bad news is we can't leave this room without encountering Rubicante. Welp!

So...this is where your people have escaped.

Shut up!

How brave! But you'll never gain real strength as long as you are swayed by emotions.

I'll show you the power...

I'm not like the others, you see. I like to play fair!

Some things never change.

Rubicante still switches between his cloaked and uncloaked form. I didn't test to see if his cloaked form still absorbs ice attacks because, well, the only actually decent one we have is Shiva and Rydia's my main healer so she doesn't really have a chance to cast it.

Edge is stuck in the back row while the grown ups fight, but this is a good opportunity to make use of those Shurikens.

Rubicante's main attack is a target-all Fire2. When his cloak is closed, he has a high chance of countering physical attacks with it, which...kinda makes me regret Berserking Cid for this fight.

And when his cloak is open, he'll usually throw out a Glare before retreating back to his cloak. Thankfully it's single-target, but it'll flat-out KO whoever it targets.

That said, if you can keep up with the constant Fire2 spam then this isn't a bad fight. Rubicante has a decent bit of HP, but like the other fiends, not enough to make this fight dangerous.