Final Fantasy V Part #18 - Galuf vs. Gilgamesh

Part 18: Galuf vs. Gilgamesh

Welcome to Part 2, Galuf's World. Neither world has a real name, so I guess as far as this game is concerned the planet's official name is "Galuf's World."

There's no overworld music, which is preferable to listening to Four Valiant Hearts again.

Also, here's our current stats.

The only monsters on this tiny island are Paos, whose only remarkable feature are constantly dropping Tents. This is the game's way of telling you, "The plot won't proceed until you use a tent."

Since it'd be kind of a waste for the party to have traveled to another world just to live on a remote island killing creatures to create the world's biggest campground, let's take a nap.

... Reina...thar's somethin' I must ask ye... When we was on the North Mountain, why did ye risk yer life to help that dragon?

Do you remember mother?

Ah? ...Aye...certain things...

Whenever I saw that dragon, it reminded me of her.

What do ye mean?

The fire decides that's too much talking for this game and goes out to change the subject.

Bartz's dialogue just sells it here.

Reina, Faris!!

So some blue blob just shows up and manages to kidnap both women immediately.

Don't worry, it goes back to get Bartz.

This guy starts off using Hurricane to drop me down to single-digit HP.

Unfortunately, I don't have Mix yet, so Bartz is fucked.

Fortunately, it doesn't actually matter whether we win or lose, as Bartz gets kidnapped regardless.

-----

I see...prepare the giant mirror!

Yes, sir!

And now you're all going to help me!

Of course X-Death has a giant mirror he uses for evil purposes. I'd be more surprised if he didn't, considering how damn theatrical he is.

Our reflections...up in the sky!

-----

Bartz! Reina! Faris!

-----

X-Death you...

Curses!

So, since we're protagonists, our good intentions end up fucking up Galuf's plans and help the villain's agenda. And now we're captured by the villain. So now what?

-----

Yes, sir!

Now go back to Krile.

So this is it.

In the span of a minute, Galuf runs at the same speed as a fucking dragon, jumps onto its back, sneaks into the big bad's castle using a fucking dragon, leaps inside, and immediately finds the party's equipment stashed...in a chest right at the front of the castle? And all while the badass "The Four Warriors of Dawn" track is playing in the background.

This is how you kick off the second act.

Galuf's unchanged from before. While he has Lancer, I don't have any spears to use it, so for now I'm sticking with a Monk/Black Mage combo.

There's also free healing, because X-Death is a nice enough guy to leave healing water in his castle.

There's some random stealth thing you can completely bypass, but it's hilariously pointless as well.

Galuf won't have too hard soloing this section, especially if you're a fucking Monk punching out spiders in one hit.

Gilgamesh likes to scream after every swipe. It does good damage, but

so do Galuf's punches.

You're lucky... I'm letting you off easy! Don't you forget it!

Pfft, whatever.

Wait! I'll have this open in a second.

Thank ye, Galuf!

I'm glad we could see you again!

I never thought I'd see you all here.

In the GBA translation, Bartz apologizes for ruining Galuf's plans, while it gets implied when Bartz starts off before Galuf interrupts him.

At any rate, the party is reunited!

A few trivial minutes later...

And we're out of X-Death's castle and have reached the overworld! We also get to listen to this world's overworld theme, which is actually pretty good.

Only encounter I really run into involves Water Buses. Yep.

Bartz gets his first Chemist ability, at least. Medicine lets Potions and Ethers restore double their normal amount. It's not worth using a slot for, especially considering how late you get Chemist.

PARTY OVERHAUL TIME

We've got a nice stretch of battles coming up, so let's change things up.

Bartz can't really do anything as a Chemist, with pitiful attack and Drink not giving him offensive or defensive capabilities, so I switch him to White Mage because we'll soon be getting into L4 White Magic. Secondary is still Summon, of course.

Reina is back to Ninja, but this time I stick her in the back row and give her two Moonrings, since the upcoming boss doesn't have elemental weaknesses. She does full damage to any monster, no matter their row, which is always nice, plus two weapons is always awesome. Since Swordmagic doesn't work on chakras, I give her Critters since all her other abilities suck (but I'll still never use Critters as Ninja Reina).

Galuf is now a Black Mage with Barehanded. Same set-up as before, except more vulnerable with crappier armor and less HP. But I want to level Black Mage, so.

Faris is still a Samurai, but now she has Time Magic instead of Blue because Haste and Slow are great for boss fights.

Here's the moment many of you have been waiting for. That's right, this is the Big Bridge.

YOU SHOULD FUCKING CLICK THE BELOW LINK

WHY HAVEN'T YOU CLICKED THE ABOVE LINK YET GOD DAMMIT CLICK IT

Anyway, the next dungeon is a bridge.

It's also one huge enemy rush. We can heal and stuff after every fight, but the whole thing is fighting monsters at set points, though you can possibly evade/activate some by going on the left and right paths.

Anyway, the first fight is simple, fighting LilChariots.

That said, these guys are likely the most damaging enemy here, dealing ~300 damage with Mustard Bomb.

There's something about a Ninja summoning squirrels to kill an enemy which just seems awesome to me.

Bartz is on Healing Staff duty, which Galuf and Reina greatly appreciate.

Next up is two enemy encounters in a row.

The flying cats are WingKillers. They're unremarkable. The second encounter is so boring I didn't even bother capping it.

These are more WingKillers. Yawn.

I was starting to think you might not show up...

It's time for our rematch with Gilgamesh. He's not too scary right now, though he's a bit evasive.

It doesn't help his case that I layer Haste/Protes on my entire party while Reina and Galuf put on the hurt.

Overall, a pretty unimpressive opponent.

Your combined power...

...too great...

...can't possibly win...

NOT! Ha ha!!

...And this is the point where Gilgamesh goes from simple to pretty damn scary if you're not prepared. Jump can deal some serious damage, and he becomes much more aggressive with his attacks.

And of course, he takes reduced damage from physical AND magic attacks, plus he has Haste so he attacks more often. Overall, Gilgamesh can become a very real challenge at this point. The only consolation is that he only does this when near death.

That, and I prepared ahead of time to nullify his Haste advantage. Between that and my party's Protes shield, and Gilgamesh is still rather dull.

Also, here's what Titan does AFTER Shell. Probably my strongest ability right now after Blow Fish and L5 Death.

Urgh! I've got to be somewhere! I'll be back! Count on it!

Of course, Gilgamesh isn't going to die that easily. Look forward to seeing more of him in the future!

That said, we're still not done with the bridge. After all, we're literally fighting our way from the enemy's side back to ours. We've still got more battles to go, which can be a rude awakening if Gilgamesh beat the tar out of you and you haven't healed.