Part 50: Smashing Faces and Buttons

Chapter 43: Smashing Faces and Buttons



Now that we've got all that story nonsense out of the way, let's start this thing.



Now the final dungeon is bit of a doozy. We-



Oh wait, one second.


:Hiro....

Why is this even in the game?



: You can't possibly win against Zophar. He has bound my power, and the power of Althena stands ready for him to take. We must face the fact that our chance to stop him slipped by... and there is no way to get it back... Unless... Perhaps Althena was right and the power of humanity can overcome him. I cannot believe that it is so, but it is the only hope left! You must try... Here, this is the only assistance I can offer. Take it.






: The power of humanity is the key to defeating Zophar, just as Althena said. It's stronger than any magic ever devised. If you only believe... I'm coming for you, Lucia! Don't give up!

Just as a warning, strap yourself in for even more POWER OF HUMANITY speeches. If you've learned anything, you've learned this game is not subtle.

Anywho, let's look at this new thing Lucia dropped in our laps.



In the remake, the Goddess Crest is quite nice; what it does is increase the power of other crests. I remember you can combine it with a speed increasing crest and give a character astronomical agility, among other uses. Here... it's taking up space. Althena's Light does what Blue Dragon Vigor does in the remake, that is, it's a full party heal. Nice, but not worth 99 MP or an accesory slot.




Now Zophar's Domain here is a long ass dungeon with multiple parts. Like many final dungeons in older games, you really shouldn't do it in one go. Thankfully, the White Dragon Wings do work here, and you can heal up at the Destiny at any time. (Although you can't go anywhere, so if you missed your chance to buy items, then oops.) At the beginning, we have three paths to go down. There's no reason to go to the left at the moment, and we'll go to the right shortly, so we just head dead center.



The game throws you a bone by giving you a bunch of armor for Leo in this dungeon. Leo mostly came with Oynx stuff, so this is definitely appreciated. The King's Mail here also allows Leo to cast Soul Blaster, which is one of Hiro's spells. The game really loves to give you stuff that lets you cast Hiro's spells, almost as though they guessed you'd never pour MExp into them. Sadly, the dungeon doesn't cough up any new weapons for Leo.

At this point, we can go left or right. There's nothing to the right, but I didn't know that and when that way first anyway. And this gives me an excuse to talk about the enemies.



Gorgonka has a lot of HP, but its defense is shit. It can do a lot of damage with its attacks, but no AoE skills or anything. Jean can't quite kill one in a round because of its high HP unless she gets helps from crits, but as usual Poe Sword does the job.

Dark Sorcerers will do one of two things. When they're flashing, they'll try to inflict a status ailment, which might be stone but I'm not sure because it never hit. Also, when they're flashing you can't hit them with normal attacks.



They'll also cast Blizzard, and it does a far bit of damage. Their defense is high, but they have lowish HP. They're also a decent battery to steal MP from. (Actually, all the enemies in this part have MP to steal, these guys just have the most.) As you might guess MP conservation is going to be a concern. Throughout the entirety of the final dungeon, Lemina regularly cast Magic Swiper, and the Illusion Ring got passed to whomever needed it. As a matter of fact, I didn't use a single item until I was almost at the very end of the dungeon. It's a long haul, so I'm happy about that.



Go go, Ruby!



Lazer Boys can hurt like hell.



Jerks. Their normal attack is nothing to sneeze at either. At least they're fairly easy to kill.



Magic Hat's regular attack is laughable.



Although it's kind cute.



Their special can do some damage, and they're fast. But in general Magic Hats aren't too big a deal.



Oh, and MExp rewards here are insane. This isn't a bad place to grind, especially if you want to fill out your magic list. Naturally, I did some leveling over the course of the dungeon.



We finally got Ronfar's third and best single target heal. I'm actually going to leave Ronfar's Health at level 27 until the very end of the dungeon... you'll see why.



I feel kinda dumb that I didn't get this earlier. I've been neglecting Lem's Fire spells for Ice, but I really should have at least gotten her second attack buffing spell. Actually, for this part of the dungeon, fire spells do more damage than Ice, but neither do much damage, really.



Anyway, all the errata out of the way, back to the dungeon. From the chest with the King's Mail, go left, and keep going down that path until it splits again.



You'll have to go down both of these paths eventually. For now, left.



This room here is a very large one with a lot of doors, but the thing is that it's also full of these spikes that act as a barrier. If you were to look at the map, it looks complicated, but in reality we're on a straight path.



And we reach the end of it almost immediately. Hey, there's a weird thing on the wall. Let's poke it.


: What... what was that? It sounded like something crumbling!

As you might have guessed, this is a switch we have to press to open the way later on. And, as you also might have guessed, there is another one. Let's head back to the previous fork in the road and go right this time.

This time, the path's a little longer, and there's a treasure along the way.



Seven. I have seven Angel Rings. I really should use them, but I just never want to give up an accessory slot for them. Eh, guess I could put one on Leo? Really, it seems weird, but I really should have sold all of them or most of them off earlier. A Silverlight's worth more at the moment.



Anyway, we've pushed the second face button, so no-



Wait, wha?



Weirdly enough, the trap actually saves us time. Remember when I said at the very beginning of the dungeon we had three paths we could go down? This is the path on the far right. Of course, we could have just warped out and came over here and it would hardly be inconvenient, but the gesture is nice, I guess.



The shield is nicer, though.

Both Hiro and Leo can equip it, but I gave it to Leo. My reasoning was his shitty equipment, but I guess I didn't realize how good the King's Mail is because he actually has better defense than Hiro. Ah well. Also the Storm Shield protects against confuse.



And on the next floor, some armor for Lemina. It allows her cast Recovery Litany, which means the Heat Ring is kinda useless to me now.



Oh, and I finally hit the inventory limit for Ruby! Fortunately, I've got plenty of free space in the character's inventories themselves, but this will make item management a bit more inconvenient. No where near the headache of the original Lunar, though.

Anyway, I warp out and heal up before continuing on.



Oh hey, you really can't see it too well, but Leo's weapon apparently can confuse. Who knew? Barely ever happens anyway, but hey, a little bonus.

So after getting the treasure and pushing face buttons, we head left.



Step into the teleporter an-



It doesn't lead us out of the first half of the dungeon just yet. Anyway, we just go straight.



And there's a goodie along the way. Despite what you may think, it's actually for Ronfar. Its attack power is shit, but as you might guess it's mostly good for Wisdom. Actually, if you're going for a Wisdom boosting for Ronfar this is the best one. Doesn't cast a spell, though, so I will be keeping the Holy Staff for free Pulse Lasers. (Unless he's healing, he has nothing else to do in random battles.)



And now we're in the second half.

The final dungeon is split into two parts; the blue almost palatial part, and this weird organic looking tower. Like most dungeons, the remake's version of this barely resembles the original. But my word is it cut down. There's, like one switch "puzzle" and apparently one of the floors is kinda complicated? That's it. It's, like, five floors. I remember playing the remake wondering where half the damn dungeon went. Also apparently they made up for it by jacking the enemy difficulty up, so that's fun.

Now back to the game. The game doesn't tell you directly, but our goal here to find the white, blue, black, and red switches (naturally) to activate a portal. Simple enough.



First, treasure. The Angel Armor is for Hiro or Leo, and it's actually worse than what they have. However, it protects against dragon breath.... which is weird, since all the fiends are gone. Ah, well, we'll just tuck it away for now.

Anywho, we can either go outside or up the stairs. Let's go out.





On the outside there's a bunch of these tubes.



And despite what you may think, yeah you can totally go up them. No point here; this one just leads to a dead end.

Oh hey speaking of... nothing... erm... Enemies!



The two are the most common, and easily least threatening. The Cannon Angel has a single target attack that does moderate damage and an AoE.



Cannon Angels are not really worth worrying about. At least you can steal MP from them, which you wouldn't think you could. There's only one other enemy you steal MP from in the second half.

Power Zappyr, however, does status ailments. It can do two; I know one is poison, but I don't know what the other is because I always resisted it. Not scary. The worst part about these enemies is they have pretty high defense. Jean is absolutely shit here. Leo and Hiro are slightly better, but even Poe Sword doesn't one hit kill the Zappyrs.



Also the Power Zappyrs' attacks are just adorable.

Although they're not the scariest enemies, they-



HOLY SHIT LOOK AT THAT MEXP.



Speaking of which, I got Lemina's third level single target ice spell. Considering that Lemina doesn't do great damage with spells anymore, and since I don't have much use for the defense buff, I'm leaving Ice at level 27.



Slightly less common are these... things with the birds. I have no idea why they're called Velma & Louiez, but they are. You can see kind of see that they're doing the whole flashy orb thing.



They cast Magic Barrier, which is a little odd for a random encounter.



Oh, and they can cast pimped up Fire Ring on you, which I only saw once and does pretty low damage. So, uh, there's that.



Oh, and random fact: Dark Sword works against the Cannon Angels and not Velma & Daphne. I was thinking Dark Sword only works against "alive" enemies, basically anything organic and not a zombie. So Geena & Susan are zombies? And Cannon Angels are living things? Or... Dark Sword makes no sense? I have no idea.

Anyway, Velma also hits pretty hard, but takes decent damage from attacks when not barriered. A moderate threat.



Oh, but the star of the show here are the Phantoms. They have 700 HP (thankfully they will die in one hit to Poe Sword) high defense, two attacks, and a lovely special attack.



Yeah, they can just up and kill you, and as far as I can tell, there's nothing that defends against that. (I don't think the Tri-Ring does, anyway) And the tell is subtle; their tail spins a bit faster. Dick. Move.



Hell, even attempting to run from them is dangerous. In case you were wondering, this was after only two failed attempts to run.

Back to dungeon shit.



Hey, look, it's the teleporter, and they put it here where we can't get to it to be dicks. I mean, I couldn't (and wouldn't) use it right now anyway, but still. Each corner here and a staircase. You'll want to go to the bottom left one. (There's a doorway leading outside, but no reason to go outside)



First off, new armor for Jean! Gives her a counter ability that I never saw. Eh.

From here, go outside. There's two chutes, one going up and going down. Go up.



And the white orb is down.

There's nothing down the other chute, so go back to the room with the teleport and go up the stairs to the northwest.



Now, I didn't count it exactly, but I've got... erm... 20 or so Silverlights, if I had to guess. Wouldn't you say that's enough? No. No it is not.

Anyway, if you go out, you-



Wait, where's the



Ground.

So, yeah, to get back you have to go down a chute and it takes you to the beginning of this tower. There's no real reason to go this way, so once you get the Silverlight you should just head back to the teleporter room.

Speaking of which, however you get back to said room, go up the upper right staircase.



Oh, and look, the game taunts you with visions of future treasures. Tease.



Guys I think this might be for Lemina. Anyway, it boosts luck and also gives Ronfar a counter that I never saw. Yay. I guess.

Anyway, from here we-



Damn it.

Oh, and unlike the previous drop, you can't get to the beginning of the tower from here. At least I cannot see a way unless I missed something, and frankly it'd be easier to just warp out and try again anyway. So hopefully you found the white orb before you dropped down. Otherwise have fun climbing this tower again. Not that this happened to me. Noooope. No way. That'd be silly.

Back to dungeon crawling. Now you'll want to go left first.



And we found the black orb! Two more to go.

From here, go right.



Up we go.



All right, we found the blue switch. Only one more!

From here, go to the right and inside.



We have three staircases, one to the left, center, and right. Center and right go to the same place, so let's go left first.



And finally, to complete the JUSTICE set, we- actually, no, I took off the Justice Clothes. Damn. In any case, this allows Ronfar to cast Magic Swiper, which is more than appreciated.



You know, while the original's inventory system is a lot more unwieldy, the fact that the remake only limits you to 20 of any item is kind of a drag. It's almost as though they don't want you walking around with an inventory of nothing but Silverlights.

So after you grab these two treasures, go outside, go up the chute, and...



Excellent!

From here, go back and this time take the center or right staircase. Go up, then outside.



And go down a series of chutes.



As in, four chutes. Basically, just keep going until you reach the door.



More treasure! This is a Hiro-only helmet that gives him the ability to cast Rest Litany. That's pretty freaking nice. Leo takes Hiro's leftover Pyro Helm.



And we're at the end. And of course you made sure to get all of the orbs before coming here, otherwise you'd have to warp out and climb the tower again. But that'd be silly.

...

Anyway, through the teleporter.



Well. This is different.

Somehow I know to go to each of the corners of this room and check them out. Hm....



Also why am I equipping the Angel Armor and the Dragon Angel Crests? Oh well, guess I've gone insane. Anyway, let's check out the upper left-hand corner.






Say whaaaa?

Guess what? We've got to fight all four of the fiends again! This isn't really a challenge as it is more of a resource drain. The fiends themselves do get stat changes, but at according to guidebook it's kind of random. The Black Fiend, for example, is actually weaker in a lot of ways, but higher defense and waaaay higher HP. They get the exact same attacks, though.

But we're not the same, now are we?



Now, Pressure Cooker was glitched on Fake Althena, if you recall. Honestly... I think it's glitched for the fiends, too. For one, my damage against the Fiend actually decreased.



But so did theirs. If I had to guess, I think Pressure Cooker messes with resistance/weaknesses. Without Pressure Cooker Hiro's Poe Sword does over 700 damage, which to me indicates to me that it's hitting a weakness. Conjecture on my part, though. Still, Pressure Cooker is still worth doing as it weakens that enemy that much. The battle is long, but we're never even remotely in danger.

Since we've seen this fights before and this time it's even more boring, let's skip it.



And the reward is pretty underwhelming, which fits.

Really, the hard part is having enough items to keep your HP/MP decent. I probably used up waaaay too much MP, but, hey, finally an excuse to use up a bunch of those Starlights I've got!



Looking at the guidebook, the White Fiend is exactly the same, just with slightly lower attack power. Consider that the White Fiend was the first one, one would think it'd get buffed, but I guess not. In any case, it's a much quicker battle.



Wait, why does the easier fight give me better EXP and MExp?!



At this point I was pretty confused, so I decided to do this without using Pressure Cooker.





I regret that decision.

According to the guidebook the Blue Fiend is pretty much downgraded across the board, which doesn't seem right to me. The Blue Fiend was probably hardest Fiend fight, but I don't recall it kicking my ass that hard. Huh.



Oh, and the Blue Fiend has a sleep/freeze attack. I didn't know he could do that. I didn't run across it the first time, or I didn't put it in the LP. Huh. I don't think any of the Fiends get new attacks, but I suppose I could be wrong. (Doubt it, though.)



Still, at least it was a short fight.



As far as I can tell, the Red Fiend stats have largely been improved. Like the Blue Fiend, this has the potential to be a real nail-biting fight. Could be, but wasn't. Thanks Pressure Cooker! I know it's not sporting, but fuck it. If I've got a tool, I'm going to use it.



Also, look at that! Urgh, terrible.

So if you haven't guessed, yeah, the remakes took out the re-fights. Considering that these fights can drain your resources like hell if you're not abusing Pressure Cooker, so you can leave yourself seriously deprived of items if you're not careful, I can see why they were removed. Still, feels like something's missing, you know?



I'd like to thank me of the past who didn't take the two freaking seconds to just stand in front of this thing while the barrier was active. Thanks me of the past!

But yeah, hop into the light there and-



We are finally at the end of the dungeon! There's a staircase, but no monsters. I had to heal up, take off the Dragon Angel stuff, rearrange inventories and other fun stuff. Basically, I just made sure to equip the useful Dragon Crests and to fill my character's inventories with as many Silverlights and other high end consumables as I could. Oh, and let's use up the last of my MExp.



This, my friends, is why I was reluctant to level up Ronfar's Health further. 45 mp. Now, one might wonder why Game Arts felt that your highest level party heal spell, the spell Ronfar is going to use the most, had to be so expensive. It's a double kick in the pants because Ronfar has the lowest MP. Well.... they didn't. It wasn't that expensive in the Japanese version. Yeap, this is our friends Working Designs' fault. They more than doubled the cost of the spell. A lot of the other little tweaks they did to gameplay are excusable in my eyes, even rational. (I mean, it only makes sense that Blue Dragon Vigor be 99 MP.) This, though, is just mean.

So, yeah, hope you got the Snake Ring! 'Cuz Ronfar does, and he's not taking it off.



Oh he's got the highest level of Light Litany. And it's somehow cheaper than Tranquil Litany. Motherfucker.

I didn't have enough to max out Ronfar's Health, but I'll live without level 3 HP regen.



Before we sign off, let's look at our characters one last time.











We've come a long way, haven't we? Next time we're gonna stop the senseless killing and end this evil war!