Part 47: Island Shrine? Alright, Fine.

Chapter 44: Island Shrine? Alright, Fine.


Haste, in this game, not only fills the ATB bar more, but makes it start fuller. By giving Faris some Hermes Sandals, I can make her go first despite having the lowest agility, assuming no one is holding the Masamune currently.


Here's my favorite desert, now titled Grindy Desert.


LAPRAS used THUNDERBOLT!


ANKHEG fainted!


Ankhegs appear with some sand anemones sometimes.


The most profit comes from fighting a group of 5 Ammonites.


This is a pretty chunk.


The game can be beaten with everyone around level 40. The bonus dungeon takes about 45-50.


The temple surrounded by mountains from Burtz's world and the Big Bridge have overlapped, allowing access to the temple!

...After I murder some encounters in the sea.


Water Scorpions look pretty cool, I think. Shame the sprite is so unused.


Rukhs cast Breath Wing a ton and sometimes fling in a Zombie Breath as if you weren't suffering enough already. Their rare steal is a Murasame, a 97-power Katana with the highest critical rate of all katanas(at 25%).


The Island Shrine has two interesting random encounters. Unlike the pyramid, you can run into them while not bugging the gargoyles!


Tot Aevises(Aevi?) carry around Aevis Killers, which are 91-power bows that deal extra damage to... Aevises. Otherwise, they're chunks of 33,090 HP.


Executors cast every Level X spell. I keep Lenna at level 33 while the rest sit at 34. They get Level 2 Olded while Lenna gets hit by Level 3 Flare.


Level 3 Flare does a lot of damage for the cheap 18 MP cost.


All the enemies in Grindy Desert are level 48!


There are 16 zones for oceanic random encounters. Of note are the seas around the Island Shrine, where no enemies give Experience and Ruhks have nice katanas to steal, and the seas near the late Walse. Walse's seas have Burtz's world's monsters, and...


The Stingray.


You can steal Dark Matter and rarely Rune Blades from the Stingray. It rarely drops the Dragon Whisker, a whip which deals extra damage to dragons.


It can take a few tries to control the Stingray. The bastard's level 93.


What's that there? That's right, Mighty fuckin' Guard.


Protect, Shell, and Float on the whole party all at once.


The Stingray has 30,000 HP and 60 defense. Magic is your best course of action for killing it.


Too expensive for random encounters, Mighty Guard still saves asses from bosses.


Krile knifes down some Gargoyles a little bit before Faris sics Syldra on 'em. I don't know why I want in here so bad. It's really boring.


Welcome to the Island Shrine proper. Guess the theme.


If you guessed HVAC, you're completely right.


This maze is navigated by...


flipping switches. The initial position is both up, so let's try down-up.


It leads to a trapped treasure chest!


The Chicken Knife shows him what-for.


There's another Covert in the exact same spot now. The second one dies just as easily.


The Rising Sun is a very powerful boomerang for Ninjas and Thieves.


This switch configuration also leads to the tablet, but we aren't done looting yet.


Both down!


I... what? Just 9000?


Up-down!


The Ship Graveyard got smushed when the worlds merged, so the best source of Elixirs is coughing up 50K gil for one. Free ones are dearly appreciated.


Alright, time to complete this dungeon.


I can't pronounce that damned imp's name. It's French for 'rare bird', I think.


I remember the chest monsters in FF2 and 3.


FF5 has pretty wimpy ones compared.


Protect Rings are always welcome.


The Beast Killer skips the beast taming part and goes straight to dead beasts.


If you were in this boring dungeon, I'd feel numb too.


Anyway, I'd get the tablet, but one of Exdeath's dick-suckin' minions shows up.

ANNOYING, BORING, SLOW BOSS: WENDIGO


Wendigo has three fake images. You hit the real one and it takes damage. Hit a fake and nothing happens. Try hitting all 4 at once and they each cast Blaze.


I remember Son of Sun in Chrono Trigger. He only took about 5 hits to die and could be cheesed with Ruby armors.


Loki in Devil Survivor was a good boss with fake images. There were subtle hints at which was the real Loki- The real one had 3 more speed, 1 more magic, and had a shadow.


Wendigo has 20,000 HP and casts paralyzing magic. All 4 of his images cast paralyzing magic. The real Wendigo has a different level, so he inflicts different physical damage. This would be useful if damage weren't random and different characters didn't have much different defense. Giving up on that and flinging Firagas at random works out in the end much better.


The only fun part is watching all four of the bastards die, one-by-one.


Woo! I'm done with this boring place!


A much more interesting dungeon!


The tablet also tells us that if we don't get both spells in Fork Tower at once, the tower explodes.

It's not that exciting in reality.


A new tablet means 3 more weapons!


The blocking effect will be handy for this next part.


As will a better bow for Burtz.


This? I just fancied having it, is all.

NEXT TIME:


Omniscient, the coolest boss in the game!

And the rest of Fork Tower and some other stuff I guess.