Part 10: Final Chapter: Doom Castle
Final Chapter: Doom Castle
Mac's Ship has two merchants now.
The left one sells pretty much every consumable in the game, though there's nothing new here.
The right has the ultimate gear. There's armor for Benjamin, Reuben, and Phoebe/Kaeli since they're essentially the same character gameplay-wise outside of weapons. All armor adds magic resistance and a high defense boost. Everyone but Reuben gets +60 Wizard, while he's stuck with +20 Evasion.
The Relic Ring offers status resistance (as opposed to the Ribbon's flat-out immunity), halves MP cost, and gives Auto-Regen. If I could take it back I'd buy these for everyone since it'd mean less time going to the menu to cast Curaja, but it doesn't really matter. I ended up going Relic for Benjamin/Phoebe and Ribbon for Kaeli/Reuben.
I spend the rest of my money on Attack Refreshers because Reuben has literally nothing else to do. It seems the buffs max out at 999 since attack buffs don't really boost his damage at this point, but he still at least doubles Benjamin's physical output now. He's great for randoms, kinda just there for bosses since Meteor/Ultima wreck face.
Time for the final dungeon!
The biggest change is no more elementally-themed floors. In the original, you'd traverse areas with the same tilesets as the four main dungeons, which had some pretty clever puzzles to test everything you've learned through the game. It's a pretty cool final dungeon design and is a nice way to wrap up everything you've been through.
Here, it's just crystal rooms. The layouts are a lot simpler, and it's pretty much nothing but Dragon Clawing your way through a linear path.
The enemies we saw last update in the Celestial Key fights are pretty much all the enemies here. There's even some enemies held over from Pazuzu's Tower.
Speaking of which, the Celestial Weapons can inflict every status effect under the sun, including instant death. Encounters are trivial since the majority of enemies here are vulnerable to poison and paralysis. Paralysis works for a guaranteed three turns before wearing off, so with four people attacking you can lock down entire encounters quickly. Of course, then you have to chip away at their massive 20k+ HP pools when your party averages 1k-1.5k damage an attack (besides Reuben, who does over 3k due to steroids).
Marilith is the only new enemy. It can't be paralyzed, but it can be silenced and blinded and confused, so it's as good as shut down.
Status Effects don't do crap to our party anymore, even the party members without Ribbons. There's pretty much no challenge once you get the Celestial Weapons. If you skip them, you should skip most of these encounters too since they'll just end up being incredibly tedious otherwise.
That's +1000 Max HP for Phoebe (yes, I'm giving these to characters besides Benjamin now).
The big thing here is Kaeli and Phoebe can equip this as well. I give it to Phoebe since she still doesn't have a shield.
At least the improved crystal bosses still show up. All Skullrus did was spam Mega-Quake.
My strategy is Reuben attacks, Benjamin buffs then attacks, Kaeli spams Meteor, Phoebe spams Ultima.
None of the four bosses last beyond three rounds.
Next floor is the "Ice Pyramid" floor. Nothing but clawing between platforms and killing enemies to hit switches to open the path forward.
There's nothing of note on this floor otherwise, so let's face the next boss.
Stone Golem spams Blizzaja.
And that's the fight!
These weird buttons unlock the path forward, of course.
Leaving this room is pretty tedious since you have to traverse left, needing to kill a few more enemies and enduring some more lengthy fights.
While I'm overwriting this save, here's a portrait of Mac.
This one is just basic jumping.
Phoebe/Kaeli only. I give it to Phoebe and the Aegis to Benjamin.
Mega-Flare hurts for ~2k damage. Its physicals are significantly less scary.
It also dies.
Last stage doesn't really work that well without the raised platforms that this area originally had.
Not really.
Originally this was just a small cutscene. It's a bit longer now.
Benjamin, this statue is of you!
You are the one chosen to purge the evil of the Dark King from this land. For too long he has controlled the fate of this world, and soon he will use his vile power to bring an end to all things. You must do everything in your power to prevent him from doing so. If you fail, all will be lost and everything will be reduced to nothing. We crystals will now bless you with the only light we still possess. Use it to smite the Dark King...
White Sword is Benjamin's ultimate attack. Does good damage, and only costs 100MP to boot!
We bring the balance of the forces of nature into focus. Without us, the world would be in despair. You know this now as you stand in front of us. However, although you have freed us from the clutches of the Vile Four, the Dark King continues to sap our lifeforce. As you see around you, he is absorbing time.
But why? What motivates evil to do such things? We will never know. But he must be stopped. Go...go now...
jesus christ reuben
YES PLEASE
The chests now have a bunch of Refreshers.
Before we begin, I want to share something. When the creator first began promoting this game, he made his own trailer for it. One GameSpot itself hosted.
The video he used to show off his new remake was the final boss battle. Just...WHY!?!?!?
Also the video is choppy as hell but whatever. Otherwise, this shows off how the battle pretty much went for me, as well as the minor music differences for the last dungeon and boss.
Indeed, and now you will serve ME.
I dont (sic) think so! We won't allow you to ruin our world! Alas, silly humans, I must share a terrible secret! That Prophecy? Ages ago I started that rumor!
Dark King is decently challenging for the final battle.
His first move is Ultima. I believe his script is set since he did the same moves in the same order for me as he did in the above video.
After that is Slow, giving you a chance to heal up and beef up.
Quake machete for minor damage.
And Octopus Kids for moderate damage.
White Sword is pretty nice, on par with Meteor and Ultima.
Is that all you can muster?
Form 2. Doesn't really change his attack patterns much.
He'll give a tell when he's about to cast Ultima. Apparently you should be guarding to reduce the damage from it. I just tank it like a boss.
Now see what I really am!
Dark King being a giant spider was great in a half-cool, half-ridiculous way.
More slaughter brings him to his final form, a really pissed off spider king.
At this point, he casts the great defensive spell Mighty Gaurd.
...You might have noticed the guy who made this has some issues with the letters A and U.
Holy gravy.
This would be a bit alarming if one spell of ours didn't offset that.
Or double it, in Phoebe's case. Ultima seems to have a huge damage range, sometimes it'll be as low as 5000, other times...I'll roll that.
Dark King's last trick is Doomsday, which Hades wrecked my day with last time. With all the armor I have, it does nothing.
And that's that for the Dark King!
At last! It's all over! The world is safe again!
Can't wait to tell the folks at Fireburg!
Evil can't thrive if you keep hope alive, use your courage, and respect the World. A bright future awaits you now. Go, and enjoy all the World has to offer. Thank you! We owe it all to Benjamin! You make a fine warrior, Benjamin. Stronger than myself, I must say. Hey! I helped too!
And now, the ending!
But of course! Say, what's become of Reuben and Captain Mac?
They're fine, they've already headed home. Great. Sometime I'll drop by and say "Hi!".-----
Great! My stomach is grumbling! All that sailing sure takes it out of you!
Don't you ever think of anything else besides your stomach...
Kaeli, someone is here to see you!
Benjamin, I thought you were going travelling! What brings you here? It's kinda hard travelling by foot. I'm all worn out! Hey, Captain Mac, maybe you can answer that. How about lending me that ship of yours? ...I need a little more adventure in my life!
Don't worry, Kaeli! Alright, but let me see if it's still seaworthy. It's still a little busted up after that trip to Doom Castle. Don't forget your cap again!-----
Yep, all because of you guys! ...Anybody seen Tristam? That jerk...He's gone off treasure hunting without ME! Probably doesn't want to share the loot. *Grumble* Well, tell him I said "Hi."-----
Reuben! Couldn't be better! Why don't we hang out in this town?
...On second thoughts don't worry about it. So I take it you and Phoebe are an item then? I wouldn't call us that yet. Although I admit my charm is starting to work, she's still playing hard to get. Or I think she is. So she's got you under her thumb now huh?
You better go, dude, she hasn't zapped anyone for a while! *gulp* Anyway, I'm off for more adventure on Captain Mac's ship. At least let me and Phoebe see you off!-----
Wait till you see my next invention.
Will we see you again? The ship's better than new. Take care of her for me, won't you. How about taking me along? You'll need an expert treasure hunter!
Have a good trip! Sorry, Benjamin, I've had all the adventure I can stand! We're going to miss you. Where are you going to go? As far as beyond the horizon will take me. Who knows? Maybe there is a bigger world out there waiting to be discovered! Don't be gone too long, OK? Goodbye, Benjamin. Thank you for everything you have done to help us.
Farewell!
So that's Final Fantasy Mystic Quest Remastered. Well, almost.
Tristam?! What are you doing here?
I can't resist when I hear about an adventure...
Normally I'd intersperse my thoughts on the game with the credits, but since the credits are something special, and I don't really have much to say, I'll do it here.
For a hobbyist RPG Maker project, it's fine. Hacky as heck, writing is kinda dumb, and I don't agree with some of the gameplay decisions or balancing in general, but overall it's a nice enough attempt to flesh out an underrated gem that I wouldn't really call it a "bad" game, even if battles get drawn out, the puzzles are much simpler, and there's a major lack of polish to this. Overall it's decent...
...for a hobbyist RPG Maker project. As an unlicensed remake that the guy claimed was officially sanctioned by Square-Enix... No. No, no, no, No, N O. I'm more fucking appalled that so many major gaming publications just ran this as if this was a legit thing. Seriously, the guy just comes out of nowhere with this shoddy RPG Maker-looking game, claims "Oh, this is definitely a Square-Enix sanctioned remake!", and suddenly numerous gaming web sites, INCLUDING FUCKING GAMESPOT, ran it without even using a bit of common sense to make sure this guy was saying the truth. This choppy piece of shit was his trailer for the game.
But in those sites' defense, who would be crazy enough to actually claim this shoddy game was officially sanctioned by Square-Enix?
Let's find out!
As you may expect, this guy puts his name under most of these categories. I censored it out so idiots don't harass him for an idiot mistake he's probably already suffered enough from.
Eventing though is interesting because he had help from a woman with the same last name as him. I'm assuming it's his wife or possibly sister, for reasons we'll see shortly...
A lot of credits are scripts the guy used in this game. He did credit these guys, though I wonder how many of these scripts' authors are OK with their scripts being used in a for-sale game, especially one filled with copyrighted content.
I get the feeling the improvements are just generic RPG Maker mechanics.
When he launched a website to sell this game, he was also touting selling tools that could convert RPG Maker games to Android for a pretty penny.
Kinda skeptical the creator of this game made the majority of those sprites...
...let alone most of the enemy sprites as well.
ADDING THAT DISCLAIMER DOESN'T SUDDENLY MAKE IT OK TO TAKE THAT CONTENT AND USE IT FOR A GAME YOU'RE PLANNING TO SELL.
These credits really strengthen my beliefs that this guy wasn't actually malicious, but just a really, really massive idiot.
Oh and apparently there's a song by his wife as well. Or theoretically there is, anyway. The credits music did cut out but it was eventually silence. I assume that's where the song was supposed to go? A shame I can't share it with you guys, I'm sure it was good.
Also credits for the original game, why not.
Special Thanks are a riot, too.
Somehow I don't think I'll be suffering "withdrawl" symptoms.
Yes, there was a sequel planned for this. The only evidence of its existence was a Youtube video where Tristam and Benjamin wandered around a mountain, and all I remember was Benjamin insisting he should now be called "Zash", which is his Japanese name. I doubt it exists anymore since the creator burned all his internet accounts down after getting called out for scamming people.
And finally, the best gameplay moment in the game.
Thank you for reading!