Part 11: Built Ronka Rough
Part 11 Built Ronka Rough
One strange thing is that while Black Chocobos can fly over most mountains, the bigger ice capped ones are impassible. This has no actual relevance besides randomly serving as an inconvenience from going straight from A to B sometimes.
Nothing else to do but press C-up I guess.
Library of the Ancients (Original)
Watch Out! Okay, its out of my system now.
Cid... We found Crescent Island, but the fire-powered ship sank!
Oh, so?
Whatever. We'll just build a new one!At least for one brief moment of Mid being a gung ho Scrappy Doo additon to the game, his attitude of "its a machine, its replaceable" is fine.
What!? He was spotted in Karnak, and was seen entering the Desert of Shifting Sands...
Shifting Sands? It's the desert to the west of here, where the sand flows like water.
If no one can enter the desert, how did the king manage to do it? Good question.
Floating!? Father... Come on, it's not like we're getting any closer to that desert by sitting around here.
Doesn't matter how close we get TO it if we don't know how to get IN!
Either by puzzle or by murder. Or Murder AND puzzle, in no particular order.
Let's check it out!
Here's the load out for this leg of the game. Galuf is going to help Seymour with !Catch. Faris is just a badassed ninja because why not, and Lenna is going to awaken the sleeper and then put it to sleep again permanently.
Also forgot that this guy shows up in Karnak.
The Mytrhil spear is the only new item, but still unusable by anyone but Freelancer.
So through a valley west of the library is the desert.
Slumber of Ancient Earth (Original)
If we came here earlier we'd just get pushed out. But now that plot demands we come here so all we can do is walk forward.
It might not be any different right now.
I knew this would be a hopeless endeavor... Wait!
We'll build a bridge! It's a little risky, but you guys are all about danger, right? How it works is, we use this bell to call the sandworm...
I see we have chosen violence today.
...and there's your bridge! Not the most sophisticated of methods...
If you're all set, we'll call the sandworm!
Gee, thanks Mid for mentioning that after choosing violence. Also thanks for being wrong.
Here goes!
This is the worst sandworm ever, it isn't even going after the source of the sound.
The Fierce Battle (Pixel Remaster)
Whose up for a game of whack-a-worm?
The worm pops up from one of these three holes.
Here's showing that Mid's full of shit, the sandworm doesn't care about magic.
Well at least single target magic. If you cast something against the whole enemy field or physically attack a hole...
You eat a gravity counter (or two due to the ninja's dual wield).
Earlier I mentioned that Aqua Breath had something going for it despite being non elemental.
It does bonus damage to "desert" enemies.
I seem to remember previous releases not letting the holes get a dying counter attack, but apparently they do here.
Slumber of Ancient Earth (Original)
If I left the worm live longer, he'd bounce between holes and use Quicksand, a full party attack that does 60 HP of flat damage and inflicts leak.
A team with berserkers and no good way of healing could find themselves in a bad way with constant gravity counters wiping out their HP and then finished off by leak.
Now you can get into the desert! Cid, Mid, take care of the black chocobo while we're gone, okay? Take care!
So this bridge just gives us the 6 or so feet needed to get into a different sand stream.
Said sandcurrents increase the step counter for fights, and you'll find yourself fighting midstream often.
Sandkillers don't live up to their name. They often flee and even if they don't the only thing they have going for them is a weaker Quicksand attack.
Sandboils aren't particularly special either, but they don't run if you poke them gently so are marginally more threatening.
Quicksand when used from !Gaia is just a chance of instant kill. Previous versions actually had the sprites sink into the pool and removed from battle.
Here they just darken and die normally.
Here we have the last enemy of the area. This one deserves extra attention. Everything else dies of course. And we begin depleting 875 of his 1000 HP.
Nice.
Nicer. There's one other thing about Sandbears but that can wait a little bit longer.
So here's the Town of Ruin. Other versions call it Gorn, and there's a later reference that specifies Gorn so I don't know why its just "Town of Ruin"
Cursed Lands (Original)
King Tycoon has to be here (I guess he could also be in that pyramid in the desert I didn't bother to show but let's ignore that for now), so all there is to do is search the town.
Heading up the important looking stairs to the north sets off the game of tag.
Did you see...? King Tycoon, perhaps?
Time to play capture the event flag. Stepping in this ruined house to the southeast causes him to pop out.
Previous releases had the next trigger appear here north of the previous spot, and that makes sense since he just walked over here. But nope, this time he's somewhere else.
Instead in the Pixel Remaster he shows up over on the west side.
Finally we can go up the main stairway we tried walking up first.
We've played enough tag, time for some Red Rover. There's no getting away from us now.
Father!
I guess we weren't playing Red Rover, we were playing Red Light, Green Light.
Lenna's Theme (Pixel Remaster)
... I knew it! You really ARE my sister! I'm sorry... I wasn't sure I should tell you. I wasn't even certain myself... Faris! Lenna!
What a strange place... Say... what happened to the old man? Huh? He's not here? We must have gotten separated when we fell...What? (Original)
He'll be okay. He's a tough old cuss! I'm sure we'll run into him again later. Come on, let'sget going.
Uh oh, looks like we're due for some manufactured conflict and tension since we just got some resolution to the Faris/Lenna mystery.
Yikes! Uh... sorry!Musica Machina
Thend to manufactured conflict. Time to go through the only door available since we can't parkour like Galuf did.
What is this?
Ancient Ronkan Yeet Cannon powered by stone gears, duh.
They get teleported to a similar room that immediately starts shaking.
And exploding.
I think the ancient Ronkans needed some shear pins on their stone wheels and circuit breakers on their rock circuits.
Seymour does an action dive out the door, but as mentioned before he's not Galuf so he doesn't stick the landing.
What? (Original)
At the Fortress of Doom...
The Black Chocobo is flying back home.
Mid, I'm trilled you decided to go half the world away since you can't get back home.
Musica Machina
I believe that was a warp device. It must've fallen into disrepair, and activating it caused something to snap...
Catapult? I was joking about The Ancient Ronkan Yeet Cannon.
Here's a free heal.
Unfortunately we can't say no and skip this puzzle anymore, gotta push the button.
Hnnngh! Gah, it won't budge. Something's carved into the wall. "Check the planters in the center room..."
Just a little scavenger hunt.
Argh! So childish! Calm down, Seymour Butz... Aye... Before you get your pantaloons in a twist, take a look- it's another note.
There's a frog in the urn. This little guy's been living here, sleeping in this pot for at least 500 years, waiting to do this job. What a trooper.
7
The numbers change if you read this from the other side.
So all that to just to be told the switch goes the other way.
The other 2 treasures are shurikens, this is the main prize.
No need to do any elaborate puzzles for this switch. Push button, receive plot.
I guess this is the machinery sound they heard in town.
Here's a save point in case you haven't saved in awhile.
Here's why I mentioned awhile ago that the ship isn't going away, despite it sinking and all a few updates later.
...And what's that ship over there?
I'm reading this in the voice of a comedian asking about what's the deal with airline food.
It took about a minute between pushing the button and getting over here, Cid and Mid are turbo dead from this fall.
I guess not.
Oww... What the... Seymour Butz? Lenna, Faris, Galuf... what're you guys doing here? I think that's our line! Where'd you guys come from? We rode the black chocobo back to Crescent Island. Then all of a sudden a hole opened up beneath our feet...
While talking to Mid Cid is darting around looking at the ship.
He dives down into the hold.
This place must've been built by the Ancients. Huh... And this propeller ship? Uhh... maybe you should ask Grandpa about that. Huh? Wait, where'd he go?
Like the Fire-powered ship before things look normal at first.
Then it turns into stone.
Hot diggity dang! This thing is mind-blowing! Hey, Cid- Don't bother me, sonny! If I tighten this... and adjust this... Righty tighty... lefty loosey... Voila! That should do it!
That should get this ship moving!
For those keeping score at home, excluding my side trips: Got ship, lost ship. Got Black Chocobo, fought a boss, did a Benny Hill chase, and got an airship.
Cid, what is this thing? Isn't it obvious? It's an airship! I've only ever seen pictures in old texts! I can't believe I"m getting to use one in the flesh! ...Er, well you know what I mean! Oof, what was that!? Something's dragging us down!
Whose ready for a boss?
The Fierce Battle (Pixel Remaster)
Craw Claw is just like Karl Boss, here he comes putting Seymour in critical HP.
Here he goes after getting torn in half by a bear.
Musica Machina
Not transcribing this to prove I'm not making it up. Cid docks the airship again.
Looks like the damage to the ship was minimal... We can use parts from the fire-powered ship to make the airship good as new. Cid... If you're going to thank me, I don't need to hear it. We'll stay here and search for clues about the earth crystal! The skies are yours. Now get out there!...I forgot Mid pulls a Scooby Doo "split up and search for clues" at me when I called him Scrappy Doo.
The Airship (Pixel Remaster)
So we launch the airship for real and the first thing I want to show is this. See how I'm one tile diagonally away from the catapult doors.
Seriously LOOK. The landing spot for the airship is effectively 9 tiles. This is probably one of the top 5 reasons for "this version is good."
Great googly-moogly! What a discovery! So many books, so little time...
First thing on the docket, getting Dark Spark from these guys since we're right near Crescent Island anyway.
Dark Spark cuts the target's level in half, its like Dischord but... I dont' know why there's 2 different ways to cut level in half.
Lenna's Theme (Pixel Remaster)
Since Faris stopped deluding themselves
Its strange that Lenna isn't sleeping in her room this time around, but then again if she didn't we wouldn't get story time.
Lenna, you awake? Yes... Is something wrong? Not wrong, just... strange. I was just a wee lass when I fell overboard... I think the shock caused me to forget a lot of my life here. Faris-Sarisa... But for some reason, being backhere- being backin this room- is making those memories return...The camera pans right to the east wing of the castle.
Cure... Cura... Curaga... Cure... Cura... Curaga... Phew... I'm pooped!
Your mother has asked you to put Princess Lenna to bed. Take care of that while I mark your test, please.
And come right back here! No dawdling!
You just said you were done for the day, you're the worst teacher.
We swing back to the west wing, still in the past. I'm realizing reviewing this how inconsistent the flashbacks are between using the sepia filter on the background and leaving it unaltered.
Papa, Papuuu! Flyin' up high is s'posed t'be the bestest thign ever, Papa says. An' when you look down on them, all the people're s'posed to look like they cast Float on themselves!
Wait... Um, not Float, but... Toad, was it? Teleport? Uhh... Mini? Yeah, that's it!
Yeah? Perhaps we should keep this a secret fromt he chancellor for now. He would only make a big fuss if he knew,and he certainly would't let you leave the palace again... Aye... And we have to get out there and find Papa...Doing one quick lap of some towns to see if I missed anything, or if they give you a hint to progress.
And all they did was drink in the bar and invigorate the local economy.
The airship can touch down in water and behaves like a regular ship. The canal is inaccessible now so you do need to get the Soccers and Octokrakens first time around.
In Carewin Seymour apparently forgets that we solved the problem of getting to Walse. For us I mean, this place is toast.
You didn't say anything, you didn't even exist until I talked to someone else.
Congratulations.
Next step in the roundup is getting this jerk in the bestiary.
With no thief the back attacks are back.
Thankfully a ninja in the back row has good enough equipment to take 0 damage from him.
Galuf and Seymour less so.
Everyone else ate it (Galuf took way too long to die, since I forgot to unequip a rod he was randomly healing him), but thankfully the prize is so terrible it doesn't matter that they missed out.
The rest of the fight was just Faris stabbing him with a knife while he countered with moon flute and 0 damage attacks. Despite having insanely high evasion it didn't take long.
Why? Because knives have a passive bonus of halving enemy evade, so instead of being a 90% chance to whiff, it was only 45%. Knives in this game are viable.
The Desert of Shifting Sands... The sand currents are so strong that it's impossible to enter. I wonder if that really was King Tycoon... It's true! King Tycoon did go into the desert!
So nothing new tells us where to go, we just need to remember that we left King Tycoon alone so we should go back and check on him.
Look! The town...
I think we need a bigger boat.
Musica Machina
Yes, we're well aware. We saw what happened to the ruins through the telescope! It means the earth crystal is way up there in that flying pile of rubble! The ancient Ronkans amplified theearth crystal to make their town float. But once they realized amplifying the crystal could cause it to shatter, they stopped the machine. Shake a leg, miscreants! Somebody's turned the machine back on! It couldn't be- You don't think that Father... Never! He would never do such a thing! How're we supposed to get that high?
Adamantite! We can use it to reinforce the ship so you can reach higher altitudes. But we'll need to find some first... That's simple enough! That meteorite I came here in... I remember seeing a pocket of adamantite in the rock inside! Are you sure? You calling me a liar!? Of course not... It's just that your memory's still kinda spotty, right? 
It's as good a place as any to start. Let's go check it out. We'll stay here and get everything prepared. You guys hurry and bring us that adamantite!Four Hearts (Pixel Remaster)
How about that! Pretty sharp memory, huh? Says the amnesiac! Ah-hahahahaha! ...Wait, are you mocking me?
It's been awhile since we've had a good freeze frame to roll credits on.
Purple circles have never bode well for us, and here comes 4 of them.
The Fierce Battle (Pixel Remaster)
Adamantoise is a big jerk with high defenses and innate shell and protect to make it even harder to hit him.
He alternates between 2 consecutive attacks and one hit. In older versions his Shell is enough to soften the blizzaga from a rod snap enough to survive one, a boosted snap would be enough to kill him probably.
But my low res boy hungers.
Musica Machina
Quick, give it here so we can upgrade the airship! Seymour Butz, you guys take a break.Hurry! Hurry!! (Original)
While the party sleeps Cid and Mid activate their stand powers or jutsu powers or something to start stapling adamantite to random places in the engine room.
What? (Original)
Rise and shine! It's done! Yikes, you work fast! After you take off, press the confirm button and you can choose to fly higher with the up arrow! So, can we go to the floating ruins now? Technically, yes, but... Well, take a gander at this. Library of the Ancients (Original)
The floating city is protected by a robust defense system... If you don't disable it, you won't be able to enter. According to this book, the cannons are really powerful... But we have to go!
When we attempt to land we instead get the option to either land or fly into low orbit.
Musica Machina
There's 2 sets of cannons on each wing, fly into them to fight and break them.
Battle 1 (Pixel Remaster)
There's 2 different types of cannons, so if you're going after complete bestiary make sure you see both.
Flame throwers throw flames and nothing else.
If you don't choose to exploit lightning weakness gravity does the job well enough.
Flame Thrower is basically a cheap single target Fira.
Rocket Launchers are the second enemy formation here,and probably the more annoying to deal with.
Rocket Punch is the main reason for the annoyance. Its Graviga with a garnish of Confuse. The launchers can't kill you, but your own party sure can. In writing this I just realized that this is probably the one and only use case for Moon Flute... or just Quadzerkers since berserk offers innate immunity to confuse.
e: Missile is the Blue magic, its gravity in a different hat.
All four turrets are broken, which causes a skyquake somehow.
A bigger cannon is deployed front and center.
The Fierce Battle (Pixel Remaster) (for the last time this update and for more than 20 seconds!)
The original SNES name for this is Sol Cannon, which personally I think is the better name, it just shoots you with
The Soul Cannon spends most of its turns yelling status reports to the party.
Most of the offense of the fight are the launchers.
Launchers hit for half current HP and inflict Old. If you don't have a means of curing Old you'd better kill the character quick so they don't lose too many levels since the fight is on a timer. You need as much damage as you can get.
Snapping a thunder rod will take out the launchers. The fight is in the bag now but may as well show what happens if you don't follow through with rampant murder.
LASER CROSSHAIR BRIGHTNESS: 20Some of these alerts seem like some Ancient Ronkan middle manager demanded features for the death beam and the programmer just added them for a paycheck.
Seymour gets healed a little, as a treat.
SAFETY LOCK: DISENGAGED BARREL PRESSURE RISING BLASH SHIELDING: ACTIVATED
Just wasting time here.
I'm surprised this shows numbers, I'm pretty sure in previous releases you just get ???? HP because scripting fun happens behind the scenes.
ENERGY CELLS: 128% CAPACITY FIRING
Wave Cannon is dangerous in that it does 50% of Max HP and inflicts leak. So if any damage is left unhealed by the launchers that party member is dead.
The sequence repeats, but now the Laser Crosshairs and Safety Locks are already off so those steps are skipped, Wave Cannon will fire every 4 turns now.
But enough about what would happen if I just didn't throw Thundaras at it until it fell over. Though Soul Cannon shows 22500 HP, it really only has 12500, as its combat script involves "make fancy explosions and remove self from field" when it dips below 10000 HP.
Dark Matter is another item like the Turtle Shell that we can't use yet. If you don't go out of your way looking for them they're probably the rarest of these to find.
Sure looks like it. We'll find out soon enough!Next time is soon enough, right?