Part 15: Quelb Your Enthusiasm

Part 15 Quelb Your Enthusiam

The Land Unknown (Pixel Remaster)


After getting thrown half the world away last time, we found our first town of Galuf's world. Today we're going to actively ignore what the people told us not to do.

Sealed Away (Pixel Remaster)


Kuza castle itself is completely linear and right now has only one occupant.


I mentioned before that the pixel remasters have issues with status effects still triggering despite an attack missing, before it was just annoying. Here it could be deadly.


If it hit, Knock Silly would have killed Seymour, instead it just confuses him. I run from this Shield Dragon because its a hard enough fight without having to deal with a confused ally. There will be other opportunities.

Sealed Book (Original)


We finally get to the basement of the castle, filled with priceless treasures. We can't interact with this shrine to Chrono Trigger save points so let's just get to looting shall we?




So these were used in a battle one thousand years ago?
They've all turned to stone...
Guess you cna't expect much more from stuff that's a millennium old.

So we can't do anything here since all the weapons are stuck to the wall, but we'll get to them eventually.


On the way out I finally get the jump on a Shield Dragon.


Shield Dragons have high defenses and innate Shell, Protect and Reflect. The game is using immersive story telling to reinforce to you that you do not belong here.


In addition to Knock Silly, they can just bite you for a ton of damage, or use Zombie Breath for major damage. Anyone killed by Zombie Breath becomes a zombie.

Despite their appearance Shield Dragons aren't undead. Their 19,999 HP means that the 1/4 Max HP damage from Blaze takes 5 uses since it rounds damage down. And in case these things aren't annoying enough and you somehow manage to fight them in a fair fight they'll escape at critical health.


The rewards are worth it if you can lock them down.


On the way to the other side of the continent I try looking for another special enemy, these aren't them.


Neither is the Mandrake back there.


...This isn't it either, but its worth pointing out. This happened as I was approaching the next plotpoint. In previous releases the game just removed encounters from most of the terrains in this square of the map. Here it goes to the default encounter table, which is from the area around Tule.

Critter Tripper Fritter (AKA Moogle theme) (Pixel Remaster)


I'll show off the enemy I was looking for later, several minutes of running away was enough to take the hint he didn't want to cooperate. Instead we walk into this circular forest in a mountain valley.


Didn't your parents ever tell you not to talk to strangers? I know I've been doing it constantly but I should set a better example for you, dear reader, to follow.


There's a whole other half of the continent to explore past here so let's just keep going.


That bean shaped pocket in the mountains up north of here looks important, surely we can find a way back to... wherever we're going if we get there.


Or maybe not, there's nothing here, or at least nothing we can recognize as something.


So we return to my renegade ways of talking to strangers.


Mog apparently danced himself into a snare. Didn't know that was possible.


Guess he didn't know it was either.


Never thought we'd see a moogle out here!
Moogle?
Strange little critters that live in forests. They're pretty timid though, so you rarely catch sight of one.
Let's help it!

Fate In Haze (Pixel Remaster)


Well we don't have anything better to do so may as well help.


Like the Desert of Shifting Sands we're on rails for most of this cave, however there's really only one rail so no need for trial and erroring a route or trying to interpret the currents by observation.


Also like the desert we get into fights while we're being carried by the current.


Lightning Scrolls still do work, especially when they're hitting a weakness.


There's just 2 treasures here, they're both in plain sight.


Here's the second treasure, and now that I'm writing I realized I missed another enemy. This cave isn't going away so its not urgent to get it now but if you're playing along at home for the cheevo spend some more time here til you see the Freezia Bat Lesser Lopros.


There is technically a second room to the cave to the south of here, but it's just a path back up before the waterfall in case you skipped the first chest.




Kupo kupo!


If we keep walking the skeleton gets pissy that we're interrupting his lunch.


But despite his size he isn't Heavy so phoenix downs and raise handle him nicely. There is a chance they miss but that's just a chance, not an immunity.


If you try a fair fight they have access to ??? and 5000 HP to chew through so it won't be long before you're looking at getting one-shotted yourself.

Critter Tripper Fritter (AKA Moogle theme) (Pixel Remaster)




Kupo...
It's all right now!
Kupo kupo! Kupopo!
I think it wants us to follow.


Timmy fell down a well, I guess.


Or just telling us that even walking without rhythm isn't an option and to stick to the woods and plains.


And now that we have a guide, we now know where to look for something in the woods.


Now we saw the moogle doing all that. But Seymour Butz doesn't have omniscience.


These guys aren't too much of a problem to fight.


Especially if you remember that desert is a class of enemy.


This fight however is a little scarier.


Well, it would have been.


The Sandcrawler hits hard and can cast Maelstrom to knock the party down to low HP.


Thankfully !Control is only broken by physical damage, magic is fair game to keep him locked down.


The rewards aren't that great, further reinforcing that You Shouldn't Do This, Go Fight Goblins You Moron. There is one more prize to get from them, but that can wait for later.

Also, the Sandcrawler isn't heavy and can be petrified so a mystic knight could Break Blade him with no worries.


Anyway here we are in Moogle Village.


They all scatter when we approach.


If you linger long enough you'll see a moogle dash across the screen in terror while screaming "Kupo!" It takes forever to resolve and give you control back. Thankfully this either doesn't exist in the Pixel Remaster, or the timer is generous enough that it is possible to get to where you need before it triggers.


Where we need to get is the northeast corner of the village and hassle this moogle.


After freaking the fuck out he stops dead in his tracks.




Kupo kupo!
Are you thanking us?




Though we can infer that he's thanking us by giving these treasures, we have to actually talk to him again to progress the plot.


Kupo!!!
I think it's telling us we can keep whatever's in the chests.


Most of the treasures are consumables but there are a few good prizes.


The chest immediately to the right has 1 gil in it


The Dancing Dagger is why I skipped the knife in Regole. Not only is it a big boost to damage from the Main Gauche, it also randomly uses !Dance instead of attack. That !Dance trigger is useless on Seymour since he's already a dancer but in a different job's hands that becomes relevant.


There's 2 other "houses", this is the middle one.




Okay sure, why not.


What's the worst that could happen.


Last door, the westmost one.


The worst could have happened.


I think we're getting a dowry.


It's worth it though.


Anyway, let's get out of here.


Kuku popo!
Hmm? What's it doing?




Kupo!!!
Is something the matter?
It's Grandpa- he's in the moogle village!
?




Even when they're far apart, they can keep in contact with their minds.
The moogle village... That's pretty far from here.
I know... And the wind drake is too tired to fly.


The wind drake bleats.




He says he has just enough energy for one more flight!
If you're certain it's all right...


Even in a weakened state the wind drake has enough energy to throw a moogle 8 feet.


Meanwhile the party is being treated to a nonleathal Forest Suite.


What's going on?




Kupopo!
Hmm? At the nose?


Guess its a magic eye trick, you gotta... force your focus back 4 inches and cross your eyes to see it I guess.






Krile!
Grandpa!
How did you find us?
The moogles told me you were here! Grandpa, we should hurry back to the castle!

The Castle of Dawn


And so they did.




Thanks for holding down the fort while I was gone.

Wait a second, can you run that one by me again Red Shirts?


Okay, just wanted to make sure.




There's been no activity since the barrier went up.
I see... And our troops?
They've been almost entirely wiped out by Exdeath's monster hordes...
...
I'm sorry, sire.




...Must've slipped my mind!
Well it sure is a surprise and a half!


Translation: Get out of here before my new Royal Fool makes too much of a fool out of me.


Yes, sire!




It's you- a king! I can't get over it, that's all!
You saying I'm not the epitome of kingliness?




What!?



... Listen here! Before you knew me as a king, you new me as a friend. Just "Galuf" is fine.
Understood, Just Galuf!


The team is still together. What's one more monarch in our party of princesses and a murder hobo?


These other 2 chests were empty when I got here, I swear. Wait a second do I see something off on the bottom of the screen?




Yup, and its a great find. Teleport will get the party out of most dungeons and acts as !Scram or !Smoke, but with the whole spell list of !Time in addition to it.


The barrier is blocking all access to Big Bridge. Without a wind drake, there's no way you can get near Exdeath's castle.
Kupopopo!
Lady Krile can speak with this moogle as if it were a person! What a mysterious talent.
Lady Krile is such a good kid! She's got a big heart, same as the king.
If we don't defeat Exdeath, he'll destroy the world...




At least they tried to explain why Galuf isn't tooling around in Gold Armor and a Sleep Blade.


Castle Bal has a long and rich history. It's so old, we don't even know all the secrets it holds.
Curse that Gilgamesh! Our troops have been decimated thanks to him!


Hang on, we already solved this puzzle.


Fool me once, shame on you.

Fate In Haze (Pixel Remaster)


Well at least the text box shows that we aren't just failing to follow directions.


Not only does Galuf's basement have a locked door, but its got a bunch of broken statues.


FYI, you don't get a courtesy heal between the Moogle Village and the King Galuf reveal. Well, on to plan B, hopefully it doesn't hardlock me like last time.




Well one didn't lock it up. Let's go for double or nothing.


Well that's enough for now, I'll come back shortly after a good night's rest.


Art appreciation doesn't give you too much experience, but it does help level up your jobs and wallet nicely.

Now that King Galuf has returned, I know things will turn out all right!
Lady Krile is at the top of the tower. I could've sworn I heard her crying...
Not long after she was born, Krile's parents went off to save a wind drake in the Gloceana Desert. They were never heard from again...
Exdeath has really been giving our men a beating... Now we don't have many soldiers left.
Exdeath's castle is protected by a super-strong barrier. We can't even get close to it.


Bal's shops are the same as Regole, so no need to worry about upgrades quite yet.


Instead we're looking at the room behind the shops.


See that room over to the right? That's where we need to get.


The mini map spells it out if you don't see it yourself, there's an stairway obscured by the turret.


The Angel Robe is a chemist exclusive piece of armor thats main claim to fame is poison immunity, both as an element and as a status.


When you "optimize" your equipment, it only takes into account attack and defensive values, not other effects. It's a convenient feature, but one must be careful, lest items with useful enhancements but lower stats be removed! You wouldn't want an elven mantle or gold hairpin to be unequipped at an inopportune moment, now would you?

I've been fighting with the elven mantle issue for a long time, so this guy gets it. However his warning is a little less severe in this version. This version does prevent some equipment from showing up on optimize.


In the previous screenshot you may have noticed a lever on the wall by the shopkeepers, instead of being a switch its a hint that there is a door there.


They don't take kindly to you muscling in on their turf, especially since we might just sell something to a customer at 3/4 shop price.


They don't seem to realize their King is involved.






Thanks for the 1600 gil. And yes I am selling it to the one who gave it to me.


One last thing to do. It could wait for a bit but may as well show it off, heading into the water supply leads to a secret passage.


Running along the moat leads not to a cave full of worms, fish and jerk guards who mini you...


But to an okay sword. I mean its stronger than the sleep blade, but right now everything I'm using is more for their effects than their attack numbers.


The conspicuous switch flushes us back into the castle.


I guess that's long enough, let's check in on that crying sound that soldier heard.


...
Krile?
The wind drake... He's dying...
What?
What happened?




He tooke me to find you anyway.
He sacrificed himself to rescue us...
Is there any way for us to save him?
...
We'd need dragon grass...
Dragon grass? Will that heal his wounds?
Yes. But I don't know if such a thing even exists in this world...
Back home, wind drakes always nest near dragon grass. I expect these drakes are no different. If we go to where drakes roost, we ought to find dragon grass nearby.
Hmm, if that's the case, then...




Our best bet is Drakenvale, the valley of the wind drakes. However, no one who's entered has ever returned...






Drakenvale is north of the castle. It's just past Quelb, the werewolf town.
But what about the monsters outside? There are so many of them!
Don't worry! No monster is a match for the four of us!




Right!
And we'll bring back that dragon grass, never you fear!
I hope you find the dragon grass...


I'll find the dragon grass once I find some aesthetic sense.




Unfortunately the 5 statue fight shorts you of 2 ABP but its still more MP and time economical to hope for them.




Exdeath's monsters lie in wait outside the gates.


The soldier changes his tune if you talk to him from the front. I wonder if the little girl in Regole was used to test for NPCs engaging event triggers from different directions or something.


Then we'll fight in the shade!


Once we're clear, shut the doors and seal them tight!
Sire! If we do that, you won't be able to reenter the castle! Are you certain that's what you want?
Yes/No




If you so command...
Yipes... Didn't take long for Exdeath's creeps to spot us... On your toes, kids, here they come!




Despite 3 of these guys walking up, we only have to kill this one, the other 2 fly aw- wait, why don't these jerks just fly over the walls, they flew off with Lenna and Faris.


I was ready to Death Claw him, but a Sword Dance is more lethal.


So we're back to the world map, and need someone to be a Beastmaster for a few minutes.


As mentioned, Quelb (AKA Kelb in the PSX version, so I might accidentally call it Qelb since sometimes things skip the "u" to feel fancy) is north of Bal. But before I get there I want to deal with something first.


This isn't it. Cursed Beings were called Ridicules in the PSX version, I guess because they look pretty clownish with their bright pink frilly mane and walking on their hands.


This is what I need to deal with.


Kornagos run, they run when they're weak, or they might just run when they feel like it. But they can't run in their sleep.


The snake paralyzed Faris, so I'm just lurking and waiting for that to pass.


I think you can guess what's happening since I'm breaking out the percentage attacks.


Here we go.


Well, here he goes.

Harvest (Pixel Remaster)


With the toad in a hole we can go on to Quelb.


Almost every building in town is locked up, the only thing moving around are these three sheep over here.




We don't need to do this, we could just go find Kelger and skip a step but dialog is dialog.


He has to be in the only house we can get into.


The game expects you to walk all the way to the door at the top of the screen, find its locked and walk away. You can take one step up and then back to the door though.




Werewolves fall from the rafters. They're ninjas apparently.




Seymour Butz, calm down! They're our allies!
If our allies are pointing blades at us, I certainly don't want to meet our enemies!




Oh, Galuf!
Kelger!
It's been quite a while, has it not?
Sure has, my old friend! Kelger here's one of the four Dawn Warriors.
He fought Exdeath with you, thirty years ago?
Who are the pups?
Folks from the world where we sealed Exdeath.


Its been a whole update since we've seen that this is a Saturday morning cartoon. Time for someone to jump to arbitrary and poorly justified conclusions in the name of plot.


Huh!? Wait, we're not-
These cads are the ones who destroyed the crystals and brought Exdeath back... and you've led them here!?


Galuf and Seymour are being the voices of reason. Let that sink in for a second.


Stand down, Galuf! Seymour Butz- or whoever you are- prepare yourself! I would test your blade!
!?
Kelger...
Crony of Exdeath or no- show me what kind of warrior you really are!
Stay back. I've gotta settle this on my own.


Seymour takes a step towards Kelger, but he jumps back rather than engaging.


The PSX called it the luPine Attack. Hey, there was an anime that called a whole style Rice Rope so I see no reason why Kelger can't be screaming about trees.


The gif's a bit rough, Kelger runs in circles rather than vanishing and reappearing randomly but that's a bit more predictable than blinking in and out of existence.


After getting tickled a couple times Seymour just closes his eyes and focuses.


With the power of The Force he can see where Kelger is, rather then where he isn't.


Seems like today is "I remember the PSX one" day because there he said "See ya!" which was a nice double meaning of knowing where he is, and where he's going to go.


And spins around with a blind haymaker. See ya, Kelger!


Seymour Butz! There was no need to hurt him!






Hell's bells, Kelger, always overdoing it! Why don't you act your age, for once!
Still... to foil my Lupine Attack so easily... You're more skilled than I predicted.
Nah. It's just a trick I learned from my dad.
From your father? What was his name?
Dorgann.

Reminiscence




What? What're you two making those faces for?
No way... You can't be...
Dorgann's son...
Yeah, so what's the big deal?




So you all are just gonna gloss over how your old friend had a Batman style contingency plan on how to kill you if you went rogue?


Sure, Seymour has a little bit more to think about going on in his head, but Galuf and Kelger should be very cross right now.


Correct.
...
We followed Exdeath to your world, and then...




How much punishment can he take? Even when we knock him down, he won't STAY down...
We'll have to seal him here.
Yeah... that's our only out.




What other choice do we have?
Look sharp, lads, he's recovering!


Interesting, Galuf apparently forgot how to swear when he got amnesia.


Now there really is no choice- we must cast the seal. This chance may not present itself again!




Dorgann, we can't seal him with the crystals unless all our hearts are united. Are you with us?
Dorgann!


He can either do something terrible and pawn the problem off on this world in a few decades. Or something dumb and terrible and pawn a living breathing monster on this world now.


He chooses to kick the problem down the road a bit.








But why?
Safe journey!


Gotta wonder if Dorgann had already met Stella during Final Fantasy V-0: Dad Warriors or if they met later.


I mean he definitely felt guilty about pawning this off on someone else, but there's always the chance of an ulterior motive.


There's a lot of jokes that people make about Seymour being a bit of a dolt (especially later) but finding out you're the son of an alien and you'd been adventuring with his drinking buddy the King and just punched his other friend a werewolf chief in the jaw is a bit much to take in all at once.


How fares old Dorgann, anyway?
Three years ago, he got real sick, and...
I see... My sympathies. Son of Dorgann, anything you ask of me shall be done! You need only name your request.


I didn't skip a line, I triple checked. Seymour just suddenly slips into silent protagonist mode and nods that he wants the gate open.

Harvest (Pixel Remaster)

*cough cough* I wish I, too, could fight by your side...




Exdeath set his monster hordes against us... Now there's hardly anyone left in the village who can fight.
You want to go to Drakenvale!? Insanity! That's a veritable monster's den!
No one has ever returned from Drakenvale alive.


Same inn and item shop combo as most towns have again. But we don't need to use the inn if we need a heal.




All you need to do is sit on this stool against the wall and off he goes to give you the grub.


Gobble, snarf, snap.








You might be wondering if there's a catch, or if its just good hospitality, especially after their leader caused a commotion. Well there is one catch. You only get Quelb dinner three times. Which really isn't baaaaaa-d, you'd have to go out of your way to need 3 full heals here.



Blink and you'll miss it, but the werewolf that went to Karnak had a name. You may also remember that one soldier in Walse Tower had a Bal colored uniform rather than the usual blue that everyone else wore in the first world.


A strange voice has been coming from the well... It is slightly disturbing.


Well there's a prompt here now.






Sweeto! I'll eat like a king tonight!


The gourd increases the threshold for !Catch from 1/8 to 1/2 max HP. One mere Gravity casting.


Quelb has 2 merchants for armor and weapons. This guy has the new armor, the one next to him has the same as Regole and Bal.


Being ninja town we get strength boosting armor.


The new weapons are worth getting. Killer Bow is (usually) superior to using the Death Sickle, as it is a flat 8% chance to set dead. The Death Sickle death proc is a 1/3 chance to cast and then has to overcome enemy mEvade and such. Setting dead bypasses that and the complications Death casts on undead.

The poison rod boosts poison elemental attacks like Bio, and casts Bio on a single target when broken.


Oh yes, you can buy more scrolls to throw too. Speaking of, Faris leveled ninja enough to get !Throw. Time to put it on a real magic stat that can rod boost it further.


To this day, no one knows why the wind drakes died out...




All that's left is these three to talk to. I've heard there's a way to softlock here if you get stuck if you get in their way in a certain corner.


I pray for your safety, and give you this song. It is quite effective against the undead.


Requiem is the only Bard song that actively damages the enemy. It only works on the undead though. There is some undead in Drakenvale, but there's a later area where it really shines.

We're conducting a ceremony to pray for your safe return.

More audio shitposting


I can't stop this feeling


so I'm just gonna leave.


Girl you just don't realize

To The North Mountain (Original)


I'm going to keep doing this until someone points out that I'm doing it.


Drakenvale is pretty linear but here's a map anyway.


These are cats, not wolves or dogs as the name might imply from Lycoan. Here, have a relevant Greek reference.


Faris has a Gaia Robe on, so earth element gets boosted.


Magic is real and strong and my friend.


It was here that I remembered that Seymour got !Dance when showing off art appreciation. Time to negate the main threats of Drakenvale.


Poison Eagles have a special attack that inflicts poison and high evasion. Drippy just exists, but also is a source of Magic Hammer if you missed it from Byblos.


Zombie Dragons are big walls of HP but vulnerable to petrify.




Like turtles, "Dragon" style enemies have a 100% drop of Dragon Fangs. Chemists love these, but if you don't care about breaking the game completely Dragon Fangs sell for a nice amount too.


Bone Dragons are not "Dragons" so no big windfall of Dragon Fangs.


They Break just as well though.


While shuffling around I noticed the descriptive text for Chocobo. It's not completely accurate. It doesn't simply trigger Fat Chocobo for multi target or anything, its a chance that it will trigger.


Poison Breath is probably the most dangerous thing you'll see in a random fight at Drakenvale.


At least if you don't have good Magic Defense.


This is the one treausre that isn't in a chest here, and its important.


The Bone Mail is one of 2 "cursed" items in the game (the third cursed item is dummied out). Bone Mail has incredibly high physical defense and a few good status immunities, but at the expense of becoming undead, meaning conventional healing in battle causes damage and brings with it the expected elemental weaknesses of holy and fire.

Previous versions would shove Bone Mail on you if you so much as blink at the Optimize command. The Pixel Remaster requires you to equip it manually, the second best piece of armor is equipped by default.


Speaking of version differences, this cracked tile is invisible in older releases, this trap is required to trigger for progress so you might have difficulty wandering blindly for proceed.


This hole leads to a path that lets you push that skull switch and open up a new path outside.


Like so.


Surprisingly this took a lot longer to show up than usual. ??? sucker punches you once and flees. We'll be able to fix that gimmick soon.


These two chests lead to a Wind Slash katana and Hypno Crown.


The Hypno Crown improves the chance of !Control succeeding. But look at that weight.


The Kornago gourd is ridiculously heavy as well. Beastmaster equipment is one of the few items where equipment weight might actually drop agility.


Almost done with the valley of the dragons, here's a savepoint.


We've already seen Bone Dragons, but this is a good chance to demonstrate something else. Tail inflicts paralysis, which since Seymour is doing the major work of instantly killing these guys puts a minor snag in that plan.


If it hit, Bone would have put Lenna's HP into single digits. Even more of a reason to do what I was planning.


Return is for when battles go south.


So let's try this from the top without the main dragon slayer disabled.


Much better.


After this we change up to the boss slaying team.




Dragon grass!






Grass isn't supposed to attack people!
That's no grass, that's a beast! A foul, leafy demon!
This must be why the drakes are practically extinct!


The Dragon Pod will be our boss today. It only has one action.


It summons up to 5 Dragon Flowers.


It isn't heavy so Instant Death is on the table.


Forgot they have fairly high magic defense so I wasn't able to knock it out with this.


The killer bow didn't set dead but it did at least 691 HP more than it had left.


Each of the flowers have their own status effect inflicting attack. The fact that these trigger whether you evade or not is troubling if you have to keep swatting them down if you don't instantly kill the pod.


Thankfully Seymour already took his turn.


Sword Dance from the dancing dagger. Note that this is on a mage, in the back row. Everything is stacked against it doing damage but it tore this thing in half 3 times over.


Free elixir from the pod.




Look! Come on,let's takesome and go!


One more thing to do here.


After running around outside a bit longer this fight shows up. The Bone Dragon and Zombie Dragon usually don't show up outside.


This isn't me confusing or controlling anything, these guys legit have had enough of Golems bullshit on their own.


But unfortunately I don't want to join in, despite all that we've seen of golem being unworthy of saving we have to.


There is a good reason, I promise.


He's got plenty of HP but 2 of these guys wailing on him and us having to hold back on multitarget spells (though Cura on them would be viable) could add up.


These are a special type of Bone and Zombie Dragon, so while I can petrify this one, the zombie dragon in this formation is immune.


Stop works, but he's heavy so it doesn't last long.


Ooops


Comet has a high damage range. Like all the other !Time spells, it doesn't care about the user's magic stat. Golem still has half his HP, he's fine.






Golem becomes a summon. Despite his initial sucker punching ways he is not an attack.


I forgot to use the Ramuh item so used that as well. Also, in previous versions the World Map was a key item... why is it usable here?


It just brings up the world map the same as it would with the controller/keyboard keys.


But we're done here now, so let's use that shiny Teleport spell we picked up.


And poof back to the world map we just looked at.

Next time: Ballyhoo On the Burgeoning Bowsprit