Part 108: Mozart's #16 Dance Tune

Time to finish the sidequests so I can head into the Rift. Not that this run's feeling old to me, but... you know, there're other things I want to do (like start that gimmick run I mentioned).

Mozart's #16 Dance Tune

Okay, let's see here, our collection of tablets was... one, two, and four, right? Guess I'd better go back and get number 3.


It's down here, at the bottom of the ocean. How they got it down here in the first place is open for debate.


First thing's first- time to smash some guards. Lenna and Krile one-shot them with Sword Dances. (Did you know Gargoyles count as humanoids? I didn't.)


Time to head in (after a brief side-trip to North Mountain because I forgot the magma in here until just now). Bards really shine here, even above their incredible supporting ability, for one very good reason.
: This place smells like decay. Either it's a leper colony, or we've stumbled on a nest of the undead.
: Maybe they're scavengers?
: Let's find out. We DO have that exorcism song, you know.


EVERYTHING here is undead. Thus, while Drain and its relatives are actively detrimental here, Requiem slaughters everything (which makes this THE Bard grinding spot).
: Ewww. Make 'em go away!
: It seems like they're undead.
: ... MY DAY HAS COME!
:


Don't care.


: Gross...
: The slime-drooling things are undead, too.
:


Another start-of-dungeon save point.


This switch extends that bridge over there. The next one, on the other hand, retracts a bridge, which would force me to wade through magma if I actually pulled it (not that I'd care, since I'm floating).


Despite Mozart's power trip escalating in-character, he has yet to actually get a turn here. Yes, Requiem kills everything here THAT FAST.
: What ARE these things?
: The drowned dead, apparently.
:


This switch creates a bridge to a Flame Ring in the top-left; all the others just throw you in a pit.


I should care about this... why?


These guys, while no exception to the "everything here is undead" trend, have enough HP that Mozart actually gets a turn!
: There's no way THAT'S not undead.
:


Sixth floor, I find this in the middle of the magma, and some Phoenix Down on a platform on the way to the next area.


In addition to the "end-of-dungeon" save point, we find... basically a pit stop. There're five guys, one of whom serves as a combined equipment shop (his stock depending on whether you talk from a horizontal or vertical position, although either way everything he's got is buyable without dungeon-diving), three just talking at you, and the last (who is way off on his own) giving a hint on the location of the Phantom Village.
: Dare I ask?
: No, you don't.


This chest currently just opens up a magma flow, pulling you back down the stairs.


There are three switches at the tops of staircases in the magma around here; hitting them makes a click, but gives no other indication what they do. A fourth in the top-right corner, though, opens up a niche with Kaiser Knuckles inside. A Monk would care; I do not.


After pulling all three of the magma switches, though, the magma here is apparently drained enough that opening this box again allows you to proceed.


Objective sighted. Boss time. (Incidentally, I take a moment here to heal up with Potions, since I can guarantee that the boss will take at least a slight effort.)


: Who's "us?"


: Kinda doubt you'll do any better than all the others he sent.


: These guys smell like rotting corpses...
: You sure that's not all the undead we've had to wade through to get here?
: There's an easy way to find out.


So. The Three Little Piggies... er, Three Stooges... well, whatever these guys are, there's three of them- one Fire, one Ice, and one Poison. Feel free to guess which is which. Anyway, if you kill one, the others will revive it and then Delta Attack you (which petrifies).


Fortunately for me, even these guys are no exception to the "everything here is undead" rule.
: Huh. Guess it WAS these guys.


Two of the Three Little Corpses die after a few Requiems, hitting Krile once for negligible damage. I mean, I've had trash mobs hit for more than these guys!


Mozart mops up. These guys were probably sealed away before exorcism was discovered. (Hey, I said SLIGHT effort. One of them managing to damage me qualifies for that in my book.)
: ...That was just pathetic.

Boss Deaths:
Total Boss Deaths: 5
Other Deaths: 2
Requiems Sung To Boss: 8


And with that, we have plugged the hole in our tablet collection.


We also (theoretically) get Meteor at this point, but since I'm not a Time Mage that's irrelevant.


I take a moment to grab the rest of the Sealed Weapons, and this guy walks up to tell us about the bonus dungeon existing as I'm leaving. I don't care, though, because I refuse to have anything to do with the Sealed Temple.


Hey, remember this place?


Climbing the wall in the back now places you inside Castle Bal's basement. What do you find there, aside from a ton of statues?


Why, Odin, of course.


Odin is humanoid, so a minute's all I'll need thanks to my Man-Eaters.


...well, assuming I can convince these idiots to Sword Dance.


That's better.

Boss Deaths: 1 (no screenshot taken of failed run because timer)
Total Boss Deaths: 6
Other Deaths: 2
Deaths By RNG Screw: 1 (they refused to even ATTACK him- they just spammed Tempting Tango and Mystery Waltz)


Managing to be not-RNG-screwed enough to beat him grants him as a summon. As is traditional, he instakills everything vulnerable to BEING instakilled (with a somewhat different definition of "vulnerable" than other instakills- the only thing that blocks HIM in this game is Heavy status).


After my first shopping trip in a while (since I was in Bal anyway), I head off to the Sunken Tower.


It's another timed mission- if you can't get in and out within seven minutes, you drown.


The only reason you'd have difficulty doing that is if you stop to fight everything. Since this isn't a 100% run, though, I see no reason to bother.


Oh, hey, it's the piece of the Water Crystal we couldn't reach before.


Of course, someone wants to fight us for it.


Hiya Gogo. Anyway, he takes a moment to spell out his gimmick...


If you attack, he nukes you.


On the other hand, if you DON'T...
: ... *pose*
: No, no, you've got it backwards!


Which takes a while, incidentally.


: (...wait, I do?)


See you in Final Fantasy 6.


Incidentally, there's a chest down here which will reset the drowning timer, should you ever find yourself needing it. (Also, since I found myself with so much time I decided to fight a couple encounters on my way back. Turns out they're all World 1 enemies, with the toughest enemy present being Jackanapes.)


Back at North Mountain! You need the Black Chocobo to get here, as well as the other optional dungeon I have available, since the Airship can't land in deserts. Fortunately, there's a small forest about halfway between them.


The mountain itself is identical to how it was when you left it in World 1, right down to the tightrope you set up to get at Magissa, so let's just skip to the top.


Hope you brought Reflect Rings.


: Funny, he looks a lot smaller up close.


First successful action he takes is Frost, which I'm still healing from here; after that, though, he Atomic Rays himself since I remembered to wear my Reflect Rings.


He CAN'T be feeling good after that.


He retaliates by Aqua Breathing me for obscene damage.


Been a while since I've used these.


He attacks Mozart before I can heal him, though; Lenna retaliates with a CKSD, while the others get him back on his feet. Bahamut, in turn, tries to Mega Flare me.


That was a poor decision on his part.
: Owww... Okay, maybe that was a bad idea after all.
: Look on the bright side: It went better than I expected.


This just proves how thorough I'm being about boss hunting, nothing more.


And here we go- the last optional dungeon in the game, barring postgame BS.


Phoenix Tower has a bunch of annoying gimmicks- you can't run from ANYTHING (except Magic Pots), you have to check the walls to find the stairs, those walls sometimes attack you (often with disproportionately strong monsters), there are far too many floors, there is infuriatingly little variation IN those floors...


1F's staircase.


3F now. (2F already had its stairs open.)


4F on the right (I decided to try my hand at the Soul Cannon on the left afterwards. Went better than the original).


: ...This is new.


Note: This game's version of Magic Pot is completely invincible, and WILL NOT GO AWAY until you waste an Elixir on it.
: Why the hell should I do that? WE need these!


Time for the Thief Knife to make a reappearance!


You can steal these from Parthenopes (the naga... or is that a lamia? Hard to tell, since modern media tends to use the words interchangeably)...


...and these from the Cherie in the back. Both are Dancer-exclusive equipment which, like the Lamia's Tiara, replace Tempting Tango with Sword Dance. Also: Both are common steals; you can also steal Elven Mantles from Cheries if you want a full set.


The Red Slippers aren't worth consideration, since there're so many other worthwhile accessories competing for your attention, but the Rainbow Dress... hmmm... decisions, decisions...


Also, if you find yourself short of Ribbons, the Lemures around here have them as a rare steal. I don't bother, though, since I've got enough for my Dancers, and there's still another I haven't gotten yet.


After stealing my way to 3 of all the dancer-exclusive gear here, I head up to the seventh floor, where the stairs are on the left.


: Too... many... floors...


Tedious as hell, isn't it?


This reminds me, did I ever check the left pot on the last floor like this? I should check on my way down. Anyway, the other one's just another Magic Pot.


Left again on the next "indentation" floor, then another left on a flat wall. Yes, I'm having to skip floors and move around to prevent duplicate screenshots. Phoenix Tower is repetitive.


Anyway, right again.


Yes, every five floors is like this, but this one mixes it up by switching the Magic Pot to the left side.


So boring...


: Please tell me we're almost at the top...


: How much farther is this, anyway?!


Another rest area, another pot of gil.


: Okay, this is getting stupid.
: Getting? It was already stupid ten floors ago!

Note: Faris isn't exaggerating here.


: Why're we even climbing this tower, anyway?
: It was there, and we wanted to see what treasure was inside.
: I feel like we've already got everything worthwhile, though...
: We won't know until we reach the top.


: Does this tower even HAVE a top?!


: If nothing else, money won't be an issue when we're finished here.
: Dying of boredom, on the other hand...


: My legs hurt...


: How the hell tall IS this thing?!


: Please be the last floor, please be the last floor...


This floor has no point where you can open a staircase without a fight; fortunately, I only need to butcher a Bandercoeurl to open it.
: That's it, I quit. If the next floor isn't the top, I'm turning around and going back down as soon as I'm sure my legs'll support me.


30 floors of some of the most repetitive BS in the game. Seriously, Square?
: Huh. So there IS a top floor. I've been wondering for about ten floors now.


: I'm just gonna sit down for a while. Lemme know when you're ready to leave.


: Diving off the tower, obviously.


Hiryu's body bursts into flames as he plummets (or so I surmise from his sprite turning red).


Diving into a magical maelstrom to sit on your possessed mistress will do that.


: Wait, what is this tower, anyway?
: The Tower of the Phoenix. Legend says that a dying wind drake dove off the top, and was transformed somehow.


: Apparently a "phoenix" is a bird made of fire or something.
: First time I've seen it, too. I used to think it was just a legend.


And there was much rejoicing. "Yaaaay." (/Monty Python)
: Okay, we'll rest an hour, then start heading down, okay?
: An hour? Why not now?
: Try to make me go back down without a break and you're taking the express route, friend or not.
: ...Point taken.


I knew I missed this on the way up! So there you have it: Every fifth floor has two pots, one with a Magic Pot and the other containing a thousand times the current floor in Gil.


: We'll head to the Rift tomorrow, okay?
: Finally feel ready, eh?
: I just feel like there's nothing else left to do now.
: Maybe you should make it the day after- my legs have NEVER been so sore!
: That's... negotiable.

Well, I think that's a good time to leave off. Next time: The Rift!