Part 4: Cecil Punches a Prince

Chapter 4 - Cecil Punches a Prince





Time to finish up this lengthy dungeon.



Not far from the save point, we pick up an IceRod, a nice upgrade for Rydia's Rod.





The Ice attack seems a tiny bit weaker than the Rod's, but it can hit multiple enemies, which is nice for when one of Tellah's spells doesn't finish everything off, and it's nice for enemies weak to Ice, which this dungeon has a couple of.




Along the way, Rydia picks up Venom, which inflicts Poison. Most battles aren't going to last long enough for Poison to be useful.




This jerk actually pulls off a Toad against Tellah. Toad status significantly reduces your Attack and Defense, plus you can't cast any magic other than the Toad spell. It's a pretty horrible status to have. Good thing we have cheap Remedies in this version!




You can sort of see the secret passage here. It leads to a Leather Helm, a decent upgrade to the Cloth ones Rydia and Tellah have.



The final room of the first half of the dungeon, this one is pretty neat to look at just for the view of the lower floors.



More enemies. WaterHags aren't a big deal, but TinyMages are a bit of a pain.





They have high magic defense and counter spells with Psych (aka Osmose).



They also cast magic of their own, though their spells are only a tad worse than usual physical attacks.




They also counter physical attacks with Hold. Again, thank goodness Remedies are cheap in this version.



Hey, I did find a use for Hold after all!



This dungeon has new equipment for Cecil. The Darkness gives a nice boost to Cecil's damage output.



We should camp to regain our strength out there!



I never really thought about this until recently, but you're actually climbing up a mountain and back down. There's a couple of actual mountains in the game, but we're going through a cave to climb up and back down a mountain. It's a pretty interesting way to do a cavern dungeon.




Here's Venom. Pretty useless overall.

After a nice rest in a Tent, it's time to tackle the second half of the dungeon.







So the obvious course of action is to jump down a fucking waterfall and barely miss hitting the rocks below.




Some armor upgrades for Cecil are at the bottom of this screen.



There's a new enemy here, the Aligator. This particular foe attacks twice a turn, though its physicals aren't that much stronger than the other enemies'.




It's also weak to ice. Cecil + IceRod will take care of any Gator no problem.



In the final room we get the last piece of Darkness armor. For some reason, there's no Darkness Shield.

Alright, we're finally at the end. Let's fight this boss the game's been hyping up.









Octomamm is an eight-legged octopus. All it does is attack, but it attacks pretty often.





It's weak to lightning, but Rydia's better off using Chocobo anyway. Between that and Cecil's physicals, this boss isn't a huge problem.




Blink creates a couple images of a character, guaranteeing the next two physical attacks aimed at that character to miss. Nice for a physical-heavy boss like Octomamm. Not that I need it, but I figure it gives Tellah something to do and will better humiliate this boss.




Do enough damage, and Octomamm will start losing tentacles, which actually makes the boss easier as you go along.








He's slowing down!




He does go down to one tentacle, but I kill him before he gets that far.



As a bonus, Rydia picks up Warp. It has its uses.




The dungeon is finally over.



All we have to do is visit Damcyan, and everything will be just fine.

Video: Disaster at Damcyan






...Oh.





Welcome to Damcyan, which just got bombed by Baron.





Of course, our first stop is this little treasure room.




There's all sorts of goodies here, including RubyRings, a Crossbow, and some arrows. White is the chosen substitution for "Holy" in this version, since Nintendo hates religion. I guess since Holy is the ultimate White Mage spell, they just name it after the school of magic it's in. Makes more sense than Pearl, at any rate.



Most of the people in the castle have fallen down. Cecil's a jerk and won't help them back up.





Loads of dead bodies, most of the castle passages caved in, most of the treasures looted... it's hard to remember that Damcyan is royally fucked beyond belief. This is really the worst-case scenario for them.

Video: The Scene Where Tellah Says "You Spoony Bard!"



That is Anna! Ah-ah! Anna!





You're the bard! You did this to her!
!?







The Bard tries to back away, but Tellah's fucking pissed at the guy who caused his daughter to die and is ready to deal with him the only way a master of magic can.



Smacking him with a staff while hurling insults.

You swindler!
Please! Listen!




The most famous line from this translation, so much so that pretty much all future translations keep the line intact. I'll let you guys discuss this one, though.

Please!



Shut up!
Listen!



Shut your mouth!
I... I...






Turns out Anna still has a bit of life left in her.

Are you all right?
Father, Edward is the Prince of Damcyan. He was disguised as a Bard when he came to see me in Kaipo. Forgive me, Father, for running away.



Golbez attacked us with Baron's Red Wings.
Who is that man?
I don't know.
But, why?
He took our Crystal of Fire. And Anna shielded me from the arrows.



You loved him that much...
Father...forgive me...I...love Edward!








Who is Golbez?
I heard that he's gathering crystals using Baron's Red Wings. ...sob...sob
Stop crying! Your tears won't bring back Anna. Wait for me Golbez!







And with that, Tellah leaves.

So much to go through. The attack on Damcyan was done to get their Fire Crystal. Mysidia got off rather lucky considering. Also, there's a man named Golbez who's responsible for the attack.

This is also the start of one of the more interesting story arcs of the game, Tellah's desire for revenge. But that will have to wait awhile before we get to look at that, considering Tellah ditched us and all.





Edward, meanwhile, is understandably broken. He's lost his parents, his nation has been utterly destroyed, and the love of his love sacrificed herself to save his life. All the guilt and despair within him must be a large load to bear.





You are a man! You are a grown-up! You are not the only one who has lost loved ones!
Rydia...



You may be right. I'm just a coward. But I don't care. I'm staying here with Anna.






Cecil then proceeds to punch the grieving prince in the face. Or slaps him I guess, but I prefer to think he punched him right in the jaw.



We really need your help. Please come with us.
My help...?
I am Cecil. I'm looking for the SandRuby to help my friend who is ill in Kaipo.




She seems to be an important person. You shouldn't lose your loved one.



The cave is in the east, but we must go across shallows to get there. There is the Hovercraft in Damcyan we can use. We can also go to Kaipo through the shallows!




So we lost an aging sage, but we picked up a singer with no real combat experience instead. Eh.









At least he comes with a fucking Hovercraft. That kind of makes up for losing Blink.

Next time, we get that damn SandRuby.