Part 25: Galuf puts all others to shame.

Picking this up was a bit of a pain.



Butz is a jerk to turtles.


2nd best character in the game right here folks.


Now we can enter the Forest of Moore. One thing to do before then.

Boss Fight: Catoblepas


This thing is nasty, it does hard physicals and counters spells with Break.


This thing is vulnerable to Stop, however, so it's Bard time.



It doesn't have much HP so just throw several 1000 Needles at it.


You'll win and get the summon eventually.


I'll leave it up to your imagination on why you can't ride a female Chocobo.



Moore has some awesome things.


Finally! I am a Piano Master!


Oh screw you.


Most importantly, level 5 magic! Especially Hastega, precious precious Hastega.


And some weapon upgrades. The Air knife is unique in that it boosts wind elemental magic. Water is the only element that doesn't have a booster, one reason why Leviathan isn't so hot.


Look. I got it. I didn't need to go through Karnak Castle after all The Main Gauche is like the Elven Mantle in that it has a flat chance to block physical attacks. Put both on a character with a high evasion shield and they're not going to be hit by any physicals any time soon.


The Forest of Moore. As far as I know, the music here only plays here.


The enemies here are a pain they don't have anything worth stealing and they like to cast Osmose.


The Fairies are back!


The upgrade to the Flail. Still can't think of a reason to use it!


Not the pretty forest.


If you leave this behind it becomes a Flame Shield. Since one hit kills me anyways I'd rather have the Petrify immunity and 1/3 chance to block magic. Since, hey, a Flame Ring can do the job.


Moogles save the day again.


This is a trap right here. A Fire elemental sword right before a boss that has fire immunity.


Onto the tree...

Boss Fight: Crystal Guardians


These things are dicks. They use physical attacks until you get them to around half HP then they use a powerful all hitting attack.


The trick is to first break in my new Hastega spell.


Next, use Golem to make myself immune to their physicals.


Use Samson's Might to pump up my attack power to the point where they get taken out quickly.
_{You should probably assume I'm using Samson's Might liberally in every fight from now on.}


Slow them so they don't attack as often.


Even though Faris is only summoning Golem, pumping up her level a bit is useful. One Samson's Might brings the amount of HP it will block to 1750.


Galuf has Focus, since he doesn't know Mix or any other crazy abilties, I just focus on maximizing his damage.


The Dancing Dagger is so great. Why yes I do like doing 4000 damage at level 4.


Eventually I win.


Oh darn it. (Seriously why does the seal attack anyone who gets near it?)


Yay somebody blows back Exdeath!


It's Kirle! Yay!


Oh no!


And then Galuf decides he's had enough of this and decides to smash Exdeath's face in.

Boss Beatdown: Exdeath


He opens knocking Galuf to 0 HP.


Galuf's having none of that and just hits him with the biggest sword he has.


Nothing.


Absolutely nothing.


Is going to stop Galuf.


This is actually an interesting scene. Every other time Exdeath appears he's smug and confident. He has much more power then the heroes and knows it. This is the only time he shows fear and runs away in the entire game.


You're the coolest old guy in all of Final Fantasy.


And thus they sidestep the question of "Why don't they just use a phoenix down?" Well they tried.


And we've got a new party member.

Next Time: Avenge Galuf!