Part 72

Many people called me that.



Yeah, maybe I do.



Yep... Sounds about right.



Becoming of me...?



Yeah, right. I have nothing to teach...



No! I don't know anything!



Friendship... Friendship...?



I don't know... who I am...



I'm so... tired...







Who?



Who...?





Zidane!
Vivi... Eiko...
Thank goodness, you're alive! We thought you were dead!



We were so worried! Why did you come here all by yourself?
What...are you doing here?
Huh? We came to save you, of course...
And it wasn't easy! You went off all alone!



Huh?
This has nothing to do with you.
Oh, come on!





Come on, Zidane... Don't be like that. Let's-





Zidane...



Zidane, wait up!
You need rest, Zidane!























...
Damn hypocrite. Always talking about friendship, when you're nothing but a selfish loner.
I can take care of myself.



...









Steiner...Quina... What are you doing...





















Zidane, you no can leave us! I still want you take me place have lots good food!

































You try to do everything by yourself, don't you?
Try to understand... I don't want to cause trouble to anyone.



I want to think so! That's why I always...



I can't accept your friendship so easily!
You've always protected us.



We watched your back while you watched ours. And we believed in you the same way you believed in us! Just like you protected us...







My master tell me, somebody give you tasties, you give them tasties, too. Is good manners!



Quina...



And I shall follow you to kingdom come if I must. You remember that!
Steiner...





I fucking love this part. Zidane just found out he was created to destroy the planet his very friends live on. Being Zidane, he doesn't want to burden his friends with it, but friendship is a two-way street after all, and just as he's constantly been there for his friends, they want to be there for him at his lowest point. This part really cements just how close the people in this group are to each other, and it executes it in a pretty solid way with the gauntlet of battles where Zidane's allies constantly fight for his aid.

And of course the music is fucking incredible. It feels like a waste that it only plays for this part, but it isn't because it makes the scene that much stronger (and likewise the scene makes the music stand out even more). One of the best pieces in the entire series I feel, and together it culminates in one of the best scenes in this entire series. This is how you show the power of friendship.







It possible...
You should not have left them!
That's right! I mean, really...





Also the group has possibly been captured except not really because they're just fine in the very next screen.

But first, the proper dungeon music sets in. As I mentioned previously, this is a mix of Garland's theme and the music of FF2's Pandemonium.



For reference (and because it's a pretty solid NES final dungeon piece in its own right):



Zidane!
Zidane! Why did you leave us!?
I'm sorry... You were right... I need everyone's help.
Don't leave us again, okay?
Never...
So, you've had a change of heart.
What a busy guy, coming and going all the time...



Oh yeah, that's right!



Just tell me if you need to rest, kupo!







We get to pick our team for this dungeon. It's not actually very long, though it's got a couple gimmicks. I'm gonna roll the same team as I tackled Terra with.

This is the same moogle from Bran Bal, complete with the same Mogshop as before. He also lets us change our party if needed.



There's some encounters here, of course, including some from Terra such as Movers.







This part's a bit weird. You have to use the switch to activate a bridge for thirty seconds to reach the other side. While doing this, lights will pop up in a set sequence. Get too close to a light, and you trigger a battle. If you go next to a light, a battle starts and the countdown expires.



One of the monsters is series staple Malboro.



It can use Absorb, Thundaga, Virus Tentacle, and Osmose, but of course it also has its signature attack Bad Breath that inflicts a load of nasty status effects on a target.



We saw this guy earlier. Thundaga, High Wind which does wind damage, and another attack that inflicts Virus. Not too scary overall.



Takes me a few tries but eventually I reach it and go to the next gimmick.





There's apparently an ATE that explains this but I couldn't get it to trigger. At any rate, in the next room there's an elevator and its position in the room depends on where you place it, on a heading of 0 to 5.





It's kinda confusing so I'll gloss over it. Nothing too exciting though.





Next room leads us to the last gimmick of this dungeon.



It's a simple teleporter puzzle, a classic video game staple. It's not as annoying since A always goes to B and B always goes to A, so you don't get sent back to the beginning or whatever. I've definitely seen worse variations of this (fuck The After Years).



This is pretty sweet since it teaches Steiner and Freya Auto-Regen.



Otherwise, the right end of the giant circle room is a dead end besides its treasures. To progress, we have to go south and then left. Just follow the teleporters and we'll reach the end of the dungeon!





What the heck was that all about? Kupo?



This moogle also gives us an opportunity to switch our party. We've got quite the boss gauntlet coming up, so I'll do just that.



Vivi for firepower, Dagger for healing/firepower, Quina for utility, and Zidane because he has to be there.



Next time, we face Garland and close out Disc 3.