Final Fantasy IV Part #24 - Cecil Goes to Hell

Part 24: Cecil Goes to Hell

Chapter 24 - Cecil Goes to Hell

Meet our newest member, Edge. He joins at L25, which is actually a bit lower than the rest of the party right now. Edge is weird in that he's a jack-of-all-trades. He's mainly an attacker, though he's pretty fragile and not as strong as Cecil or Kain. His main advantage is his speed, which would be great if this version of the ATB weren't so wonky anyway. I suppose if you berserked him, he'd be a powerhouse.

Edge can equip two weapons, which includes long-ranged weapons like Boomerangs and even Yang's claws, though I never bother with the latter.

Edge has quite a few abilities at his disposal. Dart is Throw, where Edge can throw Shurikens or weapons at enemies for large damage. Ninja lets Edge cast a Ninjutsu spell. Generally they're not really worth it, though a couple do have use. Right now, Edge only has Flame.

Sneak is Steal. Edge has a chance to steal items from enemies. Usually it's crap, and sometimes Edge will take a couple points of damage when he fails for some reason.

Overall, Edge is pretty underwhelming, as being a jack-of-all-trades means he can't deliver the big blows of Cecil and Kain, or the powerful magic of Rydia. He's really just there to weaken enemies and throw items, or to unload Shurikens on bosses as needed.

To Edge's advantage, there's a nice little bug where if Edge is equipped with a ranged weapon in his main hand, no matter what he'll do full damage from the back row for the rest of the game. There is a similar bug where if a character equips certain weapons, they lose the ability to deliver critical hits for the rest of the game.

I did not know either fact until this thread. Considering how shoddily programmed the other FF games are, I shouldn't really be surprised.

Oh yeah, there was a Lamia in that egg in case you were wondering.

Anyway, past where Rubicant kicked Edge's ass is another entrance to the Tower of Babil.

Before we even enter the dungeon proper, we get into a battle with these guys. BladeMen counter physical attacks with Virus, and magical attacks with Wall.

Sorcerers can summon when alone. In this case, they summon Mad Ogres.

Watch!

Oh.

Balloons are the next tier of Bomb. They explode if you take too long to kill them. They may drop the Bomb summon if you're lucky.

Ack!

I hate Mad Ogres. They're powerful, they're fast, and their magic resistance is insanely high. As you may remember, I tackled three of these guys in Eblan Castle with Cecil, Yang, Cid, and Tellah, and they managed to net me the only game over I'm going to get in this playthrough.

Sneak actually sometimes works. Go figure.

My team is strong enough to not really struggle with these guys, so they go down quickly enough.

Float lets our characters evade earth attacks. It has another use we'll be utilizing soon enough. Psych is Osmose, which lets Rydia absorb enemy MP. It'd be nice if it didn't suck on most enemies. Most of the time, Rydia won't gain much MP from an enemy, which really sucks when combined with the spell's long charge time.

Our reward for winning that battle is the Ogre axe. Unlike the Dwarf axe, this weapon is actually pretty useful. A few points stronger than Cecil's Icebrand, this weapon is super effective against giant enemies like Ogres.

BlackCats can be a nightmare if you're not prepared.

Yeah, the Ogre Axe is nice.

If you attack a BlackCat, it will counter with Bluster, which either paralyzes or instantly kills a character. It's really nasty. Also, Edge stole a Charm harp from that Lamia.

Pin is one of Edge's Ninja techniques, which pretty much stops the enemy. Too unreliable for my tastes.

Hit a Lamia, and it'll counter with Charm. The enemies here can be quite nasty.

Psych sucks.

There's also Grudgers. Yeah, I don't know.

It makes sense when you're a kid that the next tier up from Edge's Short Sword is the Middle Sword. When you're more familiar with the series and are more used to Japanese Sword names for ninja swords, it starts looking a little silly.

But yeah, the Middle Sword is the next logical step up from the Short Sword.

You can't interact with that orb, but they threw it there anyway to show how Rubicant teleported back up here I guess.

There's also Green Dragons here. I kill this one before I find out what it does.

Jesus Christ. This chest gives you a ridiculous amount of money. I mean, I haven't really bought much of anything, selling all my old crap, and generally avoiding running away from fights, so I had a ton of money saved up, yet that one chest nearly increased my money by 50%.

And then, out of nowhere, Edge's parents appeared!

They really must be ninja royalty.

I'm glad you are fine...

So am I!

Oh, Edge.

OH JESUS CHRIST

Yes, Edge's parents are now monsters, and we have to fight them. Well, actually, this entire battle is scripted so we don't really have to fight them.

Oh yes, this update is made even more special with the wonky translation.

Edge manages to steal a potion from his monster dad.

What's wrong with you?

Edge... Listen... We're no longer human. We must not live long.

I'm sorry, dear...

.........

Before we lose our mind...... We must go......

So Edge's parents sacrifice themselves so they won't be driven to madness and kill their own son.

This is so fucked up.

No...

Wretched Lugae! How dare he...!

Lugae turned your parents into monsters on his own. I apologize for that. I'm not like the others you see. I want to play fair.

Shut up!

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

A lot to process here. Let's start with Rubicant. Again, the translation downplays how pissed he is over Lugae's experiments and makes him sound kind of like a dick, but the meaning still gets across. If you asked a bunch of FF4 fans who their favorite fiend is, almost all of them will say Rubicant, mostly because he's the only one with even an iota of development. He's not that bad a guy, he's just your enemy and it's just his job to beat the shit out of you. He's not kidding when he says he likes to play fair, either.

Also, remember that hilarious comic relief character Lugae? The guy who had such wonderful hijinks with his robot? He turned Edge's parents into monsters for no real reason. I wouldn't be surprised if this nut was part of the inspiration for Hojo.

One thing I've noticed is Edge gaining power through his emotions. Now that seems like a theme that could've been emphasized more, what with Cecil having to embrace his compassion to become a Paladin and all. It's all about having a reason to fight. I'm sure you could even bullshit the Fabul scene where Kain wipes the floor with Cecil into him being strengthened by his own emotions if you wanted. Emotion spurs so many reckless acts in this game, from Edward saving his friends, to Rydia getting over her fear of fire, to Tellah sacrificing his life for revenge. Emotion is pretty powerful in this game, and in this instance, it unlocked Edge two more spells.

Instead of instantly starting the battle, you get a minute to prepare.

How nice of him.

Of course, don't expect him to go easy on you. Rubicant can be tough if you don't know how to handle him.

Rubicant has two forms, a defensive one where he guards himself with his robe, and an offensive stance where he sears your party with powerful fire attacks.

Glare is fucking scary, as it can instantly kill a character lacking fire resistence.

Even ice and water spells are absorbed by Rubicant's cape. It's all about getting the right timing for your magic.

Or you could just abuse the shit out of Cecil and Kain's ice weapons. They hit hard no matter Rubicant's stance.

Rubicant is incredibly weak to ice attacks, so if you can get them off at the right time you'll make short work of him.

This. This is how powerful Glare is. Even fire-resistent Kain barely survives it.

So of course, fucking Cecil with his regular axe gets the killing blow.

Weak people can join forces...... I admire you, warriors! ...Farewell...

And thus the final fiend is slain.

And with that, Edge's character arc is finished.

Wait, how the hell did you get through those monsters.

It's over! We did it!

That becomes the Prince!

All because of these guys!

Thank you, good sirs!

Of course. He'd go to the moon for the power. I also like how Kain refers to Golbez as "that guy trying to go to the moon" instead of the guy who ruined Eblan and declared war on the world.