Part 76

We've got a short update today, as there's a bit of build-up before we tackle the final dungeon proper.



Let's get things rolling!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KCDD6lC4lg







It's apparently not going to be easy reaching the final dungeon.



There's freaking hundreds of those silver dragons assaulting us.









But we're not alone!









Uncle Cid!? Why...? How did he know to show up here?
Probably because of Baku... He loves big showdowns!







The Lindblum fleet is backing us up, but we're not out of it yet!





Luckily another familiar face is helping save the day!





You are a Pluto Knight! Now, act like one!







Quite a woman, you fell in love with!





Let it be known that Captain Adelbert "Rusty" Steiner has gotten a dig in on the princess. If that's not character development for the old stick-in-the-mud, I don't know what is.







With the fleet of dragons stymied...





...it's time for one last obstacle.







This is the Nova Dragon. It's similar to the Silver Dragon, but with a few more tricks.

McDragon points out a reference I missed but makes perfect sense in retrospect.


I opt for Dagger/Freya/Amarant because after some off-screen grinding they're the only characters that still have abilities to learn.



This foe has a variety of attacks, like Tidal Wave, Aerial Slash, Twister, Shockwave, and even Garland's Psychokinesis. Of course, after all the prep I've done for Ozma and other bosses, these aren't very threatening.

Its biggest weakness is its vulnerability to Sleep, which the Ultima Weapon can inflict through Soul Blade. The fact that a decent number of the upcoming bosses are vulnerable to Sleep makes the Ultima Weapon as valuable as it is rather than the damage it does. Silence will also neuter a couple attacks if you're not blocking its elements. Otherwise, it's weak to Ice and Wind.

Its steals are a Remedy, Dragon Wrist, and Grand Armor. Nothing too exciting at this point.



Consider this a warm-up for the bosses ahead.

SILENCE



Is no problem! I warp in from outside before.



We find same magic field outside when we come back. I warp in when I step into magic field outside.
Alright... I guess it's no use worrying.

-----







What's wrong, Zidane?
Did someone just call my name?
No.
That's weird...
Maybe you're just hearing things.
I don't think so.



...I hear nothing.









Garland, what is this place?



Memories...?
Yes, your memories brought forth this place... Here, you shall witness the entire truth.



What are you talking about!?



...Zidane, what's going on?
You all heard me talking, right?



...Looks like I was the only one who heard him. I was just talking to Garland. He told me that our memories created this place. I don't know what the hell he's talking about...





Memoria's pretty unique from the game's other dungeons. I'll get into those things next update when I tackle this dungeon proper, but one big thing already is that this is the only time in the game you can switch Zidane out of the party. I still keep him in for bosses though because of steals and because I've stolen so much Thievery does insane damage.





At any rate, this is all of Memoria we're going to see today. I'd rather lump it into its own update since there's quite a bit to it, of course.

Instead, I'm going to show off the next-to-last side quest in the game. This one is really annoying.





For this, we have to leave Memoria and return to Lindblum.





After this, we return to Memoria and progress a bit.



And then we return back to Lindblum. Then back to Memoria...



...and back to Lindblum.



You see, there are checkpoints in Memoria that trigger new members of the Nero family. Usually they trigger when you fight a boss or watch a cutscene.

I'm throwing them all in here at the end of this update because it'd break the flow of the final dungeon showing things as I did them. There's some cool stuff in the final dungeon, last thing I want to do is break the mood with more dumb Nero family bullshit.



There's actually enough checkpoints that you can cycle through this quest twice, though the second time doesn't give a reward.



This quest is fucking annoying because Memoria is a very long and linear final dungeon, so you have to do lots of backtracking through some rather annoying enemies. This quest alone ate up at least an hour, probably closer to 90 minutes.



Funny thing is, nobody knew this side quest even existed until a few years ago, likely because it's so damn out there.







After all that, we get another Protect Ring, which is kinda lackluster at this point compared to stuff like Ribbons and Pumice Pieces.



Next time, the final dungeon.