Part 16: Cecil Pays for Sex

Chapter 16 - Cecil Pays for Sex





Welcome to Toroia, perhaps one of the most relaxing locales of any video game. The music really sets the mood for a place full of greenery and water. Toroia almost seems like a paradise, all due to the power of the Earth Crystal.

So it's a shame we're gonna have to steal it from them to save our girlfriend and all.




You can actually wander around in the water here and talk to the frogs. Most of them just croak, but then there's this fella.



Toroia is a pretty unique place for several reasons. Rather than one leader, the nation is governed by a house of eight clerics. Every other large nation in the game follows monarchy, so it's pretty interesting to see a nation with a different form of government, even if there's no actual plot relevance for it. They could've just as easily had a queen instead, after all.



Oh snap!



Toroia's a pretty peaceful area, probably moreso than any other nation save Damcyan. Of course, they must have some decent troops since the enemies around this area are no pushovers.




Oh, did I mention the fact that the entire nation is ran by women? The government and military are made up entirely of women, as are most (but not all) of the populace. It makes you wonder whether the developers were actually trying to insert a bit of feminism into this game (which, considering the existance of Rosa, I kind of doubt), or if they found the concept of a nation governed by women novel enough to include for the hell of it. As you may guess, the plot doesn't actually go into this, and to be honest nothing would've really changed if this was just another generic castle run by a king. It's still nice to have something radically different, though, and it does work in further enhancing the crazy magical world these characters live in.




But yeah, apparently Edward didn't die, so let's go talk to him so he'll rejoin the party. I mean, we've got equipment that boosts his songs, and at this point of the game his debuffs will actually be useful since battles start taking longer.



Edward!



What can you do in such a wretched condition! Lie in bed quietly!
Master Tellah. Forgive me. You lost Anna because of me.
...
Really.



Prince Edward, think only of your health now.
Yang... So you too survived that Leviatan attack. Then Rydia?




Poor Rydia. And I can't do anything while you fight. It's a shame.
Don't worry! Me and my Enterprise will take your share! I've heard you had taken good care of Cecil and Rosa. Now it's my turn!
You are that Master Engineer Cid? Then you have an airship!



She was caught in exchange for the Crystal of Earth at Toroia.



...Wait, what?

The game assumes you'll go to the throne room first and talk to the clerics, which is just generic NPC dialogue rather than a story trigger like this scene. From them, you learn about the Dark Elf, so if you visit Edward first like I did, Cecil just pulls Dark Elf out of his ass.



The music stops here. It's almost even a bit chilling.

Cecil, take this...
What's this?
Say...my substitute... It may help...



Great, so we got another harp that nobody can use.





So yeah, despite gaining access to equipment designed to help Edward, and despite Edward actually having some use if he were to join us, Edward just stays in bed to heal. It makes you wonder if the designers originally planned for Edward to join here, but if they did I don't think it's one of those "SHIT WE'RE OUT OF TIME CUT IT" moments. I'll talk more once things get less spoilery.



I...guess this was progressive and radical in 1991?




Cecil is such a sexist.



DUR




So if you go here first, you'll learn that the Dark Elf has stolen the Earth Crystal.



If we get it back, they'll "lend" us the crystal. No wonder a fucking elf managed to walk through the front door and steal your castle.



And thus we get to one of the more infamous dungeons of this game. That's right, the next dungeon has a gimmick where you can't use metal equipment. This mainly applies to heavy armor, swords, and equipment made of Silver. Thus if you just decked out your entire party in expensive Silver gear, congratulations, you just wasted your money!

This sounds bad, but the only character this really neuters is Cecil. Yang's claws aren't affected, and as long as you stick with Cid's Wooden Hammer he's gold. Just make sure to remove Silver armlets and crap first.



The game never really delves too deep in the power of the crystals, and this is probably the most we ever learn about their power, a certain sequel excluded for very painful reasons.



The right side of the castle has some good loot.




The left room is a treasure room we can't access right now. I don't know why the guards wants us to think about not having permission.



The right room has a bunch of chests, including two RubyRings. Considering pretty much every other accessory is metal, you'll pretty much be sticking with these for the next dungeon.





Next is the Town of Toroia, which has a bit to do as well.



...It took me twenty years, but I just now noticed, writing this update, that the head is on the right. I always thought the head was the small thing on the left, and the hair was a dress. No wonder it always looked so odd to me.

Still beats that one FF6 fallen woman pig sprite, though.




Toroia is a pervert's paradise.




Wow. Edward can play his music and we can listen to it. I'm sure that will come in real handy.

The translation is actually much different from what the item originally was, Whisperweed. Same use, except it's a communication device people can use to talk to each other rather than a harp that replicates its music to another harp. Whisperweed also pops up in FF5 and probably a couple of other games as well.




The equipment here is pretty crappy, but for good reason, considering the "no metal" restriction. Still, I went ahead and decked Cecil out in the superior Baron gear. The Wooden Hammer is great if you sold Cid's old one when buying a Silver one. There's also a nice bow upgrade and elemental arrows. The game pretty much tries to get you to use bows since they aren't metal, Cecil can't use swords, and is mainly an excuse to force you to use bows for once, you fucking heathen.

That said, bows suck ass unless it's Rosa using them because everyone else has horrible accuracy with bows, thus netting less hits and less damage. I'm not going to be using bows in the next dungeon.




Now this is a happening place.



The woman by the entrace sells Passes. What the hell, I'm loaded.




The people here are pretty friendly. Of course, the actual script is quite a bit more risque, serving more as a burlesque house than your local neighborhood cafe.




Though there's still remnants of the former in this script.



what




This old man is my second favorite NPC in the game after Yang's Wife.






Using our Pass lets us enter this room, where we get to see quite the show.



This one you'll just have to see for yourselves.

Video: Toroia Dancers



10k GP for 16-bit sex appeal. There, chapter title justified.



The last area of interest is this little farm in the northeast corner of the town.



Meet the Black Chocobos. The NPCs here will tell you that wild Black Chocobos can fly and that they live in the north.



First, a trip to Baron to get Cecil some lighter threads.



There's certainly some weird plant life around Toroia.

Now, at this point, I was still trying to figure out a good strategy for Cecil. Bows and arrows were a waste of time, and I can't use Dancing Dagger since it's metal. So what to do?



I decided to make Cecil live up to his defensive role and give him a Cure Staff.




When used as an item, it casts Cure on everybody. Yeah, the recovery is pretty small compared to the amount of damage the enemies will deal at this point, but it still gives Cecil something to do and helps a bit by saving MP that would go to healing otherwise.

It's really not like there's much else for Cecil to actually do at this point.





When an enemy with Sap is run down to 0HP, it dies.




Up north is the Chocobo's Village, which is massive compared to their usual gatherings.



And only just now do I notice how much useless crap I have in my inventory. On the bright side, it gives me an excuse to show off another gameplay mechanic!



Some empty spaces will smell like Chocobos. There's usually one per Chocobo Forest.






Bring out a Carrot (or Gishyl Greens in other translations), and the Big Chocobo appears!



Unlike future FF's, you only have a limited amount of storage in your party. When you have too many items, you can store them wth the Big Chocobo and regain them later. Not too bad, though I prefer the current inventory system of FF5+.

Still, there's a neat little perk that you can have more than 99 of an item, though after 99 that item takes up another slot. So if you really wanted, you could fill up your entire inventory with Cure1 Potions. Meh.






At any rate, we find the Black Chocobo, so now we can explore the skies.

Wait, we already have an airship.




Interestingly, this little island east of Toroia and west of Kaipo has Chocobos on it. Useless, but interesting.

As for Black Chocobos, they can fly like the airship, though I don't remember whether this game's Black Chocobos can fly over mountains. The thing about them is that they can only land in forests. So why would you ever use a Black Chocobo to begin with?



Because that's the only way you can reach this cave to the northeast of Toroia, as it has no spot for an airship to land. This cave is actually our next dungeon, so join up next time when we beat up an elf to save nature.