Part 19: Carnage Asada

Part 19 Carnage Asada

Last time we saw Exdeath add another notch in his belt. Today we stop him.

We're almost done here, so make sure that you get these bestiary entries if you're gunning for them.
Exdeath's Castle
Twin Lizard
Blind Wolf
Hellraiser
Reflect Mage
Magic Dragon
Black Warlock
Adamantite Golem
Bandercoeurl
Iron Fist
Blue Dragon
Red Dragon
Yellow Dragon


To start, we're going to roll with a team that can do 3/4 of Exdeath's HP in one turn.


Immediately after the room where Gilgamesh was cast into the N-Zone is this little hallway. It serves no other purpose but to give a few more steps to get into a fight, but more importantly...


Exdeath revels in being evil and needs to live on the 13th floor.


Stepping in this narrow hallway takes control from the player,so that was the last chance to do something else.

The Evil Lord Exdeath (Original)




Exdeath! No way we'll let you get away with this!
Mwa-hahahaha... Have you even the slightest idea what I plan to get away with?






You mean you'll turn it to a world full of evil!
Believe what you wish. Simpleminded fools such as yourselves could never hope to understand my motives. It matters not. I will tolerate no more interruptions!


Time to hug it out.

The Decisive Battle (Pixel Remaster)


Hooo boy, Exdeath here is not to be trifled with. His first turn here was actually a kindness, usually he opens with Doom, which is a Blue Magic that sets a countdown on the target where they'll die when it reaches 0.

...Things are going very well for a party that somehow manages to survive long enough to see that reach 0.


When I say he's not to be trifled with I mean it. I decided to get way too aggressive way too fast.


Lightning removes 1/4 of the target's HP, so Exdeath here has 32,768 to start. You remember who else had that much health? Damn Gil Turtle.


Halfway there...


And now just another 8000 and change before victory.


We're in the home stretch!


Vacuum Wave hits really hard but it missed here, we got him on the ropes!


At lower health Exdeath begins throwing doing 2 attacks per turn so that Vacuum Wave and this Firaga were done without interruption.


Here's where things start to go wrong. First off, despite the fact that I was sure I used a cottage after fighting Greg, my MP situation was terrible. And Krile here is going to die. And whats worst, she was equipped with the Bone Mail.


While this version doesn't force it on normally, it will equip it if its the last piece of armor you can equip. So Krile is DONE.


What follows is a vicious spiral that I should have just pushed through instead of trying to recover.


Several rounds of "revive Lenna, White Wind everyone to full HP, Lenna dies again" later.


Should have just kept Aeroga spam up. Drain Blade was not doing enough damage to keep up, especially since Exdeath has pretty high physical evade.


Round 2, basically same as the first. Still not full MP, still lacking equipment.




Exdeath's second turn usually ends up being Reverse Polarity. You might want to start the fight with your fighters in the back and mages in front, but as you can see with Seymour, it can be evaded so you can't rely on it to put your team in the best spot.


Gravity can't be lethal so this is a free turn.


Late in his combat script comes an earth elemental attack so float is a precaution.


We're now introduced to another reason why Exdeath is difficult, he counters physical damage with Dispel, meaning Haste, Shell, Blink and anything else you might want and spend time setting up can just be gone.


More damage than Gravity but still not directly lethal so its a free turn.


Exdeath really hates buffs.


So the whole plan of this second attempt was do 9000ish damage through normal combat then wrap up with 3 Lightnings. Between all the buffs getting snuffed out and keeping everyone alive that didn't happen, and now Krile is gone again and that means 17,000 HP or so of damage would need to be done to keep that plan going.


And we're back to the beginning of his combat script. Most enemies have a handful of possible actions before they start to repeat.

Exdeath has Ten... and even that isn't the half of it.


Those 10 turns are what he does until his health drops below half. After that he begins doing the combo attacks. With some luck the combo attack phase might be easier to live through, as instead of everyone being at risk of dying only one or two people per turn are.


The dispels took out my float. Thankfully it isn't too damaging.


...Blaze? What are you doing casting this?


WHAT MONSTER GAVE YOU REGEN!?


Other great attacks to look forward to is Zombie Breath (if its lethal the dead become zombies, great) And Level 3 Flare. He's level 66 so you could use reflect to bounce it back at him for good damage.


Round 3... FOIT.


I'm not losing again.


Since Seymour is now in a mage job that frees up the heavier equipment he was using so Krile can have some defense that won't leave her permadead if she falls over.

I suppose this is as good a place to mention this again. The Four Job Fiesta rule set isn't necessarily harder or a challenge run. It frees the player from some mundane things, like having to have equipment for any job you might switch into on a whim, or buy all the magic you find. It also means that you are dedicated towards getting everything you can out of those few jobs. Currently aside from !Blue I have no one who can cast a all the magic of another job. I can cast !Black4 with Seymour, !Time4 with Krile and !White4 with Faris. This means no Firaga, No Hastega, No Reflect or Curaga.

So far the challenges that bosses serve could be locked down by just throwing someone in a job at it, Exdeath requires you to multi task and won't let you half ass your secondaries.


So a few seconds ago I mentioned that Exdeath is level 66.


The Pixel Remaster made Old immunity stick even with casting it by math. So you can't force him into Old status and then launch a tactical Level 5 Death anymore.

So just to make this clear, previous times where I said "older games did this different" were just trivial "you might need to take your mind off GBA autopilot for a second or you'll just waste a bit of time with UI fuckery" at the least and "You're fighting a bonus boss, deal with it" at worst. This is detrimental to existing recognized Blue Mage strats on a required fight and that waste of a turn trying to get old to stick might kill you.


I said I'm not losing again, I didn't say I was going to win. This was just a demonstration.


This also is a demonstration, but in hindsight I could and probably should have just followed through with it. Seymour here is equipped with a Reflect Ring.


Carbuncle here looks like their normal appearance rather than Lorj.


Unfortunately my plan didn't work out. I hoped to reflect reflect onto Exdeath, but Carbuncles Ruby Light doesn't cast reflect which can be reflected but just sets reflect.

Reflect on the word reflect now and realize that it has lost all meaning.


I could have and should have persisted but I had plan B already in my mind.

For reference what I could have done was kept going, and had Lenna multi target Aeroga on the party and back onto Exdeath. This would have turned her ~2000 HP casts into 4000 HP casts. 2 of those and then I could turn on the Lightning spam.

The whole reason for this attempt and doing fancy reflect tricks was to cast slow on Exdeath. Exdeath is immune to everything you'd want to stick on him but slow. But he'll immediately counter with Haste, so only bouncing spells around would save you from having a Very Bad Day.


But here we are, victory is certain now that I'm focused on the goal.


Wait, shit there was one more fuck up.


Again, I could have kept on with this attempt since I wasn't going to throw a punch but there's only so much logic that you can muster when you're LOOKING AT THAT!


Seriously, last time.


With !Mix Seymour isn't going to cast any spells. In order of priority he will: Revive someone at full HP, Shove Levels in Lenna's face.


Antidote + Holy Water


For purposes of damage calculations, Lenna is now level 40.


2200 HP down, 6400 HP to go.


Right now Krile and Faris are on standby, since I'm not throwing punches there's no fear of Dispel.


Lenna is most important right now so we need to keep her upright.


Annoying but not a real problem.


Halfway there now.


Even if Dispel is off the table, Exdeath could just negate float anyway to set up Earth Shaker.


Lenna is now 50.


She's now doing 50% more damage than she would have. It's not like this matters since she still needs to cast it one more time either way but its fun to make number bigger.


Since she doesn't need to reach level 60 may as well prevent a stray Vacuum Wave from screwing up the plan.


Exdeath is now within lethal lightning range.


I jumped the gun a little so I was afraid Exdeath was going to get a turn and show how mad he really could get


With less than 7000 HP he can cast Meteor. 4 shots of probably lethal space rocks.


Golem saves Butz from getting kicked.


It's over now.


As Exdeath crumbles and we definitely finished the game, I just want to point out how when Galuf was soloing Exdeath, Exdeath was basically using many of the same moves in that fight as he did here. And the damage was similar to boot. It wasn't an overtuned fight or anything, it was the real deal.


In hindsight, the lack of ABP or anything to dole out really does show that the first attempt would probably have succeeded if I dedicated Seymour's time to murder and had Faris dedicated to keeping them alive and leaving Lenna down.


We saw this room a few updates ago when Exdeath sank Ghido's island, apparently the Masonary Glamour was limited to the first few floors.


Also it was a good thing Galuf shattered that first crystal, otherwise Exdeath would have had to prop it up in the corner or shoved two of them in the tooth doors.




...Where are my jobs?


...too soon?

Four Hearts (Pixel Remaster)


Well we're dead and in the Elysium Fields I guess.


Thankfully despite being dead we're pretty lively about it.






...what?


Back home? I don't remember this much home around the last time we were here...


Lenna and Krile's time as Beastmasters are done for now.


Lenna's time for clothes is done for now too.


I don't want to go back to Tycoon, only cutscenes live there. But I can't reach the pirate cave because there's a river here. Since I didn't get the Banker, Carpenter or Farmer jobs from those crystals that exploded I can't caulk the wagon and ford the river.


There's more land north of Tycoon.


But eventually this too runs out.

Royal Palace (Pixel Remaster)


So let's bite the bullet and get this over with. No one in the court yard has anything new to say.


Even the Chancellor barely says something new, only now he knows Faris is the long lost princess.


Father... he-
The king's passing was a great loss... However, we must do our best to continue on without him. Furthermore, Princess Sarisa has returned when we thought her dead... It is cause for celebration!
Sarisa... My true name...
Yes, my lady.
The name Papa gave me...


Oh good, the Chancellor finally is making his move and the guards are attacking from behind.






Come now, Princess!



I have no idea who is saying this, I assume one of these random NPCs down there but I guess this is as good a time as any to use this character portrait.

She... she's gorgeous!
Wow... She really is!









Waltz Clavier (Pixel Remaster)


So we stand around a bit staring at people awkwardly walking in place.


Krile gets bored after about 30 seconds, which was 28 seconds longer than I held out.


Krile walks out to the balcony, Seymour is free to check out the castle.




Getting anywhere near Lenna or Faris leads to the dancers to immediately check Seymour out of the way.


I hope Princess Lenna and Princess Sarisa never leave us again! How wonderful it would be if they stayed here with us forever.
Is it true that Princess Sarisa called herself Faris? What a weird name.

The celebratory banquet is to last for three days!
I never thought anyone could match Princess Lenna's beauty, but Princess Sarisa certainly can!



I hope Princess Lenna and Princess Sarisa never leave us again! How wonderful it would be if they stayed here with us forever.
Is it true that Princess Sarisa called herself Faris? What a weird name.

Not a typo, the third dancing pair says the same thing as the first. At least this lady has a pair of human shields between her and Faris.




Finally, the King's room is unguarded!




I can hardly contain my excitement.








This is the same flashback Faris had about skipping school and snuggling up to Lenna.


Please, take your time looking around the castle.
Well, things worked out just fine in the end.




The one soldier NPC off to the left still says the old line about him being on guard, but makes no mention of anything strange in the sky. If only I could get to talk to Lenna or Faris, this lady should be the guard.


Hey, Krile. How're you holding up?
All right... It's not so painful anymore, but... I just feel so anxious. It's like Grandpa is fussing at us to hurry somewhere...
Hmm... I might have an idea... Come on, let's go.
Huh? What?
We're back in my world. There's gotta be a reason for that, right? Let's go find out what it is.
...Okay!


So we're given a new quest. Follow a vague feeling that Force Ghost Galuf wants us to keep adventuring. It's either that or watch people shuffle around for 3 days while Lenna and Faris stare on like Tseng Tsung watches a Mortal Kombat fight from his throne.

What about Faris and Lenna?
No way they can slip away right now...


Krile feels bad about abandoning her friends to boredom.








I was just rushing over to tell everyone the bridge over the western river is complete!
Boko might still be over in that cave to the west...
Boko?
He's my chocobo, and my best friend.
Oh, really?
What, you don't believe me?
Well, you're so poor at riding wind drakes...
Hey! You cheeky littl-


*doink*

Ow! Take this!






Geez, I can't win against this kid...


Once again, the call to adventure leads us back to Pirates.



Boko's Theme (Original)

Kwehhh!!! Wark!!!
Hello! I'm Krile!
Huh? You speak chocobo?
Just a little. I think he wants to introduce us to someone.




Huh? For real? He says this is his wife! Her name's Koko.


Seymour, you really don't know the half of it.


Listen, Boko, I've got a favor to ask...
Kweh! Wark!
He says he already knows.
Really?
He guessed you'd be leaving on another journey.
Boko, is that okay? I know you've settled down now...



He says that he loves her...
Boko...



Chicks!?
Koko has little ones on the way! She says she'll be waiting here for him.
Koko... thanks! And don't worry, we'll come back safe!


Wait, why do you wark with an Northern Surgate accent?




Sorry Koko, I can't hear your answer over the Call To Adventure!


This whole time we've been going there's been no random encounters, there's none in here either so there's no need to drink meat juice enchanted to look like pure water.

Pirates Ahoy! (Pixel Remaster)


So let's just continue on our playable epilogue. It's sort of sad that FFV's job system is so good, it eclipses the other things that it did well, like interactive endings.


Thank you, Koko! We'll be careful!
Once ye get used t'lookin' at 'em, chocobos're pretty cute! Wonder when Koko's chicks be due?
Yar, har, fiddle-de-dee...hic!
I heard tell that the cap'n is really a princess o' Tycoon!




So that explains why Faris is Faris, back when the pirates picked them up out of the sea the combination of a kid's pronunciation and I swear I read somewhere they bit their tongue lead to Faris. I also like how there still were members of the pirate crew who knew Faris's birth gender and give 0 fucks and let's Faris be themselves so much Faris thinks they didn't know.


Charming.


I thought this guy was the NPC who shared the Faris/Sarisa story. Reason being my head canon decided that he's like a doctor, not really a pirate. Also he's old. I thought maybe it was a Dread Pirate Roberts situation that the original captain pensioned off the crew who knew about Faris and set up a new crew for them to captain.

Nope, the regular crew knew, just didn't care. Pirates are good people.


Might need to stage an intervention for some of them for chemical dependence but that's just because we love them too.


It never really came up in this game, and in older games it was just a curiosity but Chocobos can wade through rivers, giving us access to what lies north of Tycoon. The canal is still here.


So is the airship, but without a forest nearby for a black chocobo or sailing or fire ships available we have no way to pick it back up right now.


It's been awhile and everything seems a bit off, but we're west of the canal, north of the airship, and the town is between a lake and the sealake... this must be Tule.

Tenderness in the Air (Pixel Remaster)


It's been a long time since we've been here so the locals have new things to say.


Galuf and Seymour weren't the only ones apparently.

Haven't seen any pirates around lately.
Did you hear? They cound Tycoon's missing princess.
I felt dizzy all of a sudden, and when I came to, the hills and fields around the village had completely changed...


There's a healthy mix of people talking about Faris, or about how the world is slightly off, and then there's a few who just realized the engines of creation are broken.




Zok needs to nok it off.



Some folks saw a ship with propellers down south, at the bird-shaped peninsula. I wonder what the heck it was.
Does the land around here look different to you?
There's some big bash going on at Castle Tycoon! Wonder if they'd let me in...




If you say yes he tries to convince you to get your teeth kicked in by the beginners hall bouncer.


If you say no he accuses you of just mashing !Attack at everything like a berserker.


The crystals are all gone...


If you say no she lets you in like normal.


If you say yes...

*Proceeds to explain advanced freelancer tech like inheriting mastered job stats and getting class passives for free*


To the west of Tule is this river and valley. In older versions those three little pebbles in the way weren't there, here it's indicating... something?

Fate In Haze (Pixel Remaster)


I'm getting memories of the last time Boko was running through a valley. Something was happening that made Boko have to run like mad to escape... wonder what it was.


Like the memory has fallen out of my mind.


Ow!!!
If you hadn't been riding so fast...
...Boko! I say this is all your fault!


Such language, you kiss your wife with that beak?

Don't take it out on him! There's nothing he could've done!




It's big.



The Fierce Battle (Pixel Remaster)


Okay, maybe not that big, its just a Desert Killer, but a little bit paler.


Maybe a bit stronger.


And a lot more annoying.


It takes a lot more effort to do it, but like a desert killer it runs.

What?

Stuck in a monster's nest... Great, just great.
I don't think it's very great at all. Now what'll we do?


I should make a counter for how many times they turned off timer triggered events. But I think this was the last one.


Is that...?


A golden shiny wire of nope?


It is!




Someone is having a fun time up there.


Seymour... not so much.




Supafly!?




Whoever it either is strong enough to lift up a chocobo, or smart and equipped enough with block and tackle and other rigging to get mechanical advantage.




Faris!




It's great how emotive the game can be with just a tiny square of pixels.




o7 o7






Everyone still can goof off.




What's wrong?
Owie... I think I got a splinter... Don't worry about it.




Boko's Theme (Original)


Strangely enough the game lets you go back to Tycoon without Faris hanging back or any conversations. I can walk right up in the Chancellor's line of sight and he doesn't bat an eye. The pirate cave is unchanged too.


Past the antlion ambush is a cave and... nothing else, its a dead end.




So next time we deal with the evil turtle or whatever.