Zeromus EG (Day 116)

Here they are, all nine of the Lunar Summons. God that took a long time.

After a long process of hunting down and defeating all the Lunar Summons, I overcame and went on to defeat Zeromus EG. I'm not sure what the EG stands for, but it might mean, Extra Grade, like they have grade levels in Bandai Gundam model kits.
I had to beat the game two more times to unlock Edward, Cid, Yang, and the Twins' quests in the Lunar Ruins. It was not a tough feat, but a tedious one. Having to see the ending over and over again isn't that fun neither. But I was hungry for the prize, and in some ways, wanting to get it over with.

Here's my final setup for my party:

1. Kain (level 81 Dragoon)
   
1. Dragon Shield
2. Abel's Lance
3. Dragon Helm
4. Dragoon Plate
5. Dragoon Gloves
   
2. Rydia (level 75 Summoner)
   
1. Assassin Dagger
2. (empty)
3. Ribbon
4. Rainbow Robe
5. Mist Ring
   
3. Cecil (level 81 Paladin)
1. Ragnarok
2. Crystal Shield
3. Crystal Helm
4. Caesar's Plate
5. Protect Ring
4. Rosa (level 78 White Mage)
1. Perseus's Bow
2. Perseus Arrows
3. Ribbon
4. White Dress
5. Protect Ring
   
5. Edge (level 80 Ninja)
1. Sasuke's Katana
2. Mutsunokami
3. Ribbon
4. Assassin's Vest
5. Hanzo Gloves
   
6. Everyone else?
   
1. Maybe next time!

Onward to Final Fantasy V!

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• Game Time: 35 hrs and 48 mins + 50mins lost time.
  
• Days: 116
• Beastiary: 90%
• Defeated Zeromus EG.
  
• Deaths/ Gameovers : 4
  
• Chomped by Lunasaurs
• Charred by Red Dragon while trying to get Crystal Gloves
• Death by Plague while trying to get Holy Lance
• Sliced by Odin

Lunarian Ruins (Day 115)

It took awhile for me to retrieve all the sacred weapons in the Crystal Palace. Ogopogo that guards the Masamune for Edge took me up for a scare. The monster is a replica of Leviathan, but according to Wikipedia, it is of Salish myth. He does major wave damage, so you just have to cure regularly; I basically used both Rosa to do Curaja and Rydia evoking Asura to heal. I guess I was a bit under leveled still. It was not too bad though, no deaths. The next one that I had to fight was Dark Bahamut for the Ragnarok sword, which was once the Crystal Blade. He's a bit of a challenge because of his Megaflare attack, but thankfully it doesn't hit Everybody, but just a select three. I pushed back with summoning Bahamut myself and curing as much as I can. Once again, Rosa is my MVP.

After collecting all the final weapons for the fabulous five (Cecil, Kain, Rosa, Rydia, and Edge), I remembered that I had to get Odin. I was still a bit uneasy about fighting him after my defeat from him when I was at level 40 with 2500 HP. I was still under 4000 HP for the most part so I switched Edge out for Yang, just for a bit of insurance. This time I beat him without a problem. He was able to slice me once, but all of my party members survived and Kain jumped out of the way. Acquiring Odin meant the end of the summon magic quest, and I had only one thing left to do... beat the game.



Now beating the game was no biggie, I was actually kind of anxious to get to get this game over with. I wasn't sure if Big Bang will be a problem for me. The battle was usually kind of one-sided against him, you're easily having a really easy time or it will be hell. I read somewhere that the GBA version of the game is of normal difficulty, the SNES is of easy, and the PS-One is of most difficult. Since it was going to be harder than the one of SNES I decided to bring my "A" game to the battle. I had Edge throw everything including the kitchen sink at him and Kain jump as much as he can. I used Bahamut's Megaflare and almost both Cecil and Rosa to heal. It was a pretty long fight, but I got it done. I beat the game, yeah right. I didn't know there was a Lunarian Ruins section. No wonder my beastiery list was only up to 70%, there was a whole new dungeon to face.

The Lunarian Ruins are unlocked once you beat the game. For every person (including the new party members like Edward and the Twins) that you that you beat it with, a section of the Ruins is unlocked. Theoretically, you only have to beat the game twice then, but since you cannot switch Cecil out, you have to do it three times. And now I enter another section of the game that I've never played.

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• Game Time: 30 Hrs and and 2 mins + 50mins lost time.
  
• Days: 115
• Deaths : 4

The Trials of Heroes (Day 106)

After the battle with the Robot of Babel, the new GBA version of Final Fantasy IV has a new added feature, the trial of the other heroes. You're allowed to use previous characters at Mysidia, and the new dungeon, a new section at Mt. Ordeals is opened. The purpose of that area is so that you can get final weapons and armor for the other characters: Yang, Edward, Cid, and the twins. I went through it without much trouble. You'd have to have them in your party, so it's best to take them one at a time. If you're gutsy, you can get 2 or 3 at a time.




For instance, your battle for Yang's final weapon brings you to a fight with a Storm Dragon. Not too difficult at level 53, but I think you can do it in your high 50's. Always have Rosa with you, so she can heal your party up. It's probably the most important person in your team. By now she has Curaja, and everything should be easy with that at your disposal. After defeating the Storm Dragon, you'll be rewarded with the "Hand of Gods" - probably the same final weapon for Tifa in Final Fantasy VII. Cid's trial leads you to a fight with a Death Mask, and his reward is Thor's Hammer (an item from Final Fantasy I, found in Kraken's underwater dungeon). Edward's trial leads you to a fight with a Gigas worm, where you are rewarded with Apollo's Harp. I think this is genuinely a new item, unless it was created in Final Fantasy V. Porom's boss fight is with a T-Rex, and upon defeating it you will receive the Seraphim's Mace. Palom's boss fight is probably the most difficult, but nothing too bad with cautious fighting. Defeating the Master Flan will grant you Triton's Dagger.

All in all my quest is nearing the end. I still haven't defeated Odin, but it's a matter of time before I can get my HP high enough to survive one strike. Of the final weapons for my own team, I have acquired two: the Muramasa and Holy Lance (which was once the Lance of White in the SNES version). I finally got the two Ribbons from the Lunasaurs and the Crystal Plate for Cecil. More leveling to be done until I fight with the uber bosses before the end.

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• Game Time: 19 Hrs and and 23 mins + 50mins lost time.
  
• Days: 106
• Deaths : 4
  
• Chomped by Lunasaurs
• Charred by Red Dragon while trying to get Crystal Gloves
• Death by Plague while trying to get Holy Lance
• Sliced by Odin

Descent of the Dragoon (Day 92)

It's hard to say who's the hero of Final Fantasy IV because although Cecil is made to be the leader of the final party of five, Kain seems to have won the hearts of many game players. Kain, the solemn dragoon that pairs up with Cecil at the beginning of the game and is later manipulated to betray him, is shrouded in mystery. Not only does he betray him, but he does it twice! Although Cecil passes the trial of ordeals through the mountain, Kain finds himself returning to the dark side a couple of times before he joins them in the end. Nevertheless, he comes back strong every time. Not to mention his implicit affection for Rosa, which might have been used to divide him and Cecil. He steals your equipment but we still love him though. Hell, he's the one on the original logo design of Final Fantasy IV. He brought the dragoon class to North American audiences, and we won't see another one like him until well... Final Fantasy IX's Freya Crescent?

So my adventure continues as I go on to collect the elemental crystals and defeat the guardians that Golbez commissioned to protect them. After disposing of Baigan and the fake king of Baron, I enter the Tower of Zot. My party now consists of Cid, Tellah, Cecil, and Yang, an interesting team of front line fighters. Who do you find at the top floor of the tower? three girls that are under Barbaricia's command, better known as the Magus Sisters. It's odd how of all the things that resurface from Final Fantasy IV, it's these three sisters that return in Final Fantasy X. Sandy is lanky, Cindy is fat, and Mindy is short. I guess they were meant to be a joke, but they did make a nice impression on us.

After disposing of them we battle Barbaricia herself and confront Golbez. Tellah loses his life casting Meteor (Meteo in the former version), and Kain and Rosa return. They realize that there are Dark Crystals in the underworld, literally the underworld and they travel to Agart to dive into the earth. Cid leaves the party. A fight with a possessed doll brings Golbez back into the picture, but Rydia returns to save the day.

A race to the tower of Babel leaves Yang killed in an explosion, and thrusts you back to the over-world. Saving the prince of Eblan, Edge, brings you back to a party of five. From there the fight leads you to find Yang again in the Sylvan cave. A return to the Cave of Summons grants you a visit with Asura and Leviathon, King and Queen of the land of summons. Alas Kain betrays me a second time at the Sealed Cave and retrieves the last Dark Crystal for Golbez. I fly to the moon to find FuSoYa and learn about my Lunarian lineage. I return to defeat the robot from the Tower Babel, and now the "End Game" Begins.

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• Game Time: 13 Hrs and 59 mins
  
• Days: 92

Cecil and Kain (Day 84)

So it's day 83 and I haven't completed the Final Fantasy Challenge, hell I haven't even completed half of them. Work has definitely taken its toll on me, but I'm not giving up. From here on till Final Fantasy 7, it's just getting my mind straight. My new goal is to complete them all in 360 days, hopefully that's a better estimate. Game Time isn't that bad though, I'm under 100 hours and I've completed three of them.

Forwards to Final Fantasy IV, or II to most North American game players. This is my favorite story of them all, but maybe it's because of the time of the release. I was about 10 when I first heard of it and when you're 10, any "story" for a video game seems awesome. I played the game about five times, and in some ways I've mastered it. I know how the bosses work, where the cut-scenes are (before the age of FMV's), and where the places for leveling up are. The first time took me 60 hours, then 40 hours, then 20 hours, and I think my latest time was 13 hours to get to the end on my WonderSwan Color edition.

The remake is good; as they included all the latest terminology from the present Final Fantasy worlds. No more "fire 2" or "cure 2", as they've updated the spells to "fira" and "cura". "Call Magic" is correctly retranslated to "Summon Magic". The names of the four fiends are changed for some reason, and even the character icons are a bit different. One of the odd things are that they re-wrote the Mysidian Legend, to perhaps a more linguistically correct translation. But I still miss the old "One to be born... from a dragon... hoisting the light.. etc." So many times me and my friends have made fun of that.

Story-wise, the game is basically the same. I noticed that the king of Baron gives Cecil a "Bomb Ring" to bring to the village of the mist with Kain. This changes a bit of the plot. In the original, you're given a "package", making the intentions of the king uncertain. But given a "Bomb Ring" should only mean one thing, the destruction of someone or some place. I guess it's just little things like that here and there.

The Active Battle System is up, and I'm glad to be seeing the bar again. I turn it on, because if you know what you're doing, you actually can take advantage of spells like "Haste" in the game.

Adventuring is easy. I've gotten to the point where I don't level up at all and rush from one cut-scene to another without fear. If you know the weaknesses of the bosses, you can do that without hesitation. I'm about five hours in, and I'm about to fight the Magus Sisters, this game is going to be short. I suspect half of the game time will be accounted for getting to the Crystal Palace, and from there the latter half will be to leveling up inside.

One last note about starting Final Fantasy IV is the much awaiting Gameboy DS version of the game. As you noticed, I'm using the latest Logo design featuring Golbez instead of the original design which features Kain. It's not because I'm a fan of the new over the old, but I just can't find a good scan of the old one yet. But yes, I would love to play the New FFIV, but it's going to be awhile before it hits the states. I hope it will not cost too much. Here are some pictures from the current GBA version: (1) the first party of five. (2) the second party of five.

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• Game Time: 4 hrs and 46 mins
  
• Days: 84

Final Fantasy Evolution (part II)

Well now that Final Fantasy III is over, I should take some time to jot down some ideas about how Final Fantasy evolved. It's hard to say what evolved because so much is redone in the 2007 DS version, but I will note some major differences. Recall what was added in Final Fantasy II:

1. Ultima (magic)
2. snow craft (vehicle)
3. temporary party members (people come and go)
4. Chocobos
5. Cid as the air-ship maker/owner
6. Aura, Osmosis, Drain (spells)
7. Dragoons
8. Bows and Spear class weapons

Here are some additions in Final Fantasy III:

1. New Job Classes: Thief, Ranger, Scholar, Geomancer, Viking, Dark Knight, Evoker, Bard, Magus, Devout, Summoner, Sage, and Ninja.
   
2. First appearance of Mog and Moogle
3. Ragnarok Sword
4. Use of Mini and Toad in the story-line
5. NPC's that join in the battle
6. New Weapon classes: Throwing weapons, Books, Harps, hammer, and bell.
7. Ability to change job classes, and job class levels
8. Meteor Spell
9. Ability for Summons
10. Summons: Chocobo, Shiva, Ifrit, Ramuh, Titan, Odin, Leviathan, and Bahamut.

Hope Reigns Over the Void (Day 78)

After a harrowing battle with "the Cloud of Darkness" or the Void that lasted for 15 minutes, I finally beat Final Fantasy III. Too bad it's already day 78. Let's recap:

In the last blog I told you guys that I was beaten by the Cloud of Darkness, the last boss in FF3, and it really took a lot out of me. Not because of the defeat, but because there were no save points from the Crystal Palace all the way up to the last boss. There was a lost of an hour of playing and a sense of disinterest consumed me. Work mounted up at the company (Peterson Tractor, where I'm an order analyst), and I started getting into the TV show Heroes. I also took a few days off of the Final Fantasy Challenge to play Age of Empires DS - Stupid war strategy games always get me giddy. But last week I started playing Final Fantasy again, step by step. I had to start leveling up again, the old way. So I did about 30 minutes of leveling-up a day until I got to level 60, a comfortable level to be at, and rushed to the end.

I changed my party up a bit. My main character changed from Thief to Black Belt, I needed the more HP. Ingus changed from Dragoon to Knight, so that he can wield the Ragnorok and Excalibur. I kept on waiting for my Devout to be able to level up her White Magic, but it never got strong enough to cast Haste or Protect on everyone. Perhaps it didn't work. My configuration for the final battle was having the Black Belt attack, the Summoner summon Bahamir, the Knight using items to caste Haste/ Protect, and the Devout to heal after EVERY TURN. It was going to be a long battle, but it was a safe battle. I ended up with only one death because the boss used Particle Beam (her strongest attack that attacks all) and Lightning. I had Ribbons on everyone so that her Bad Breath attack was nullified. When push came to shove, I beat her with my defense.

The ending to Final Fantasy III was not bad, but not the best. Light is restored to the crystals and all the characters got to go home to their families. Every character that you've met kinda came back to help you out in the fight, not a first for Final Fantasy games - you kinda expect them to return in the end now. You have to defeat four mini-bosses before you can fight the Cloud of Darkness. Each of these bosses release a Warrior of the Dark, who supports you in your fight against the last boss. The story is confusing, but I guess you need to use both Light Warriors and Darkness Warriors to defeat the Void; which is something worse than light and dark, but the antithesis of Hope.

I missed a lot of side quests in the game because I couldn't get my Mognet Mail to work, but I'm tired of FF3. Onwards to Final Fantasy IV, what some may say is the greatest FF story ever written. In some ways, it's "easy street" from here on, because I've played Final Fantasy 4 through 10 before. The second, third, and twelfth ones are the only ones new to me. Let the games begin! Thats the last save screen after the credits roll. I got three stars to show that I beat the game, but I'm not sure what does three stars mean. Perhaps a perfect game is four stars? Anyways, here goes some numbers.

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• Game Time: FF3: 31 hrs 19 mins + 1 hr 15 mins (Gameovers and ending)
• Attained all job classes, spells, and summons.
  
• Gameovers: 2 (1 from the beginning, and 1 from the Cloud of Darkness).
  
• Days: 78
  

Clouds of Darkness (Day 61)

So it had to happen, death by a last boss. I went as far as the very end of the game, but I couldn't defeat her. It was just not fair to have no save spots after Xande. I was level 53 and my HP was still under 2800. Doesn't add up. I really need to level up, but it seems like the crystal palace is not that great for leveling. I need something better but I'm not sure where. I had a level 99 Thief, a level 80 Dragoon, a level 20 Summoner, and a level 20 Devout. It was no match for the battle that ensued. My mind's not clear for the battle in the end. Everything seemed so simple until the end. Another hour set back, and I have to rethink my battles. I'm really considering jumping Final Fantasy 4, but I know if I jump, I'll never pick up FF3 again. Just need a good place to gain levels!

Summoners? (Day 49)

The world is a strange place for adventurers in Final Fantasy III, and to help them along their way they have to conjure aids in their battles. What am I hinting at? You can all them Espers or Aeons, but we'll just remember them as Summons. Final Fantasy III introduces the notion of Summoning or Call Magic in Final Fantasy IV. The first five are the regular ones:

1. 1. Chocobo
2. 2. Shiva
3. 3. Ifrit
4. 4. Ramuh
5. 5. Titan

But from there on you have to fight for the rest. From there you had to prove yourself to the later three. Odin awaits you under Sardonia Castle, Leviathan lurks beneath lake Duhr, and Bahamut awaits in his own lair. I thought that they were pretty difficult to fight, but I think I went there a bit too early.

My party now consists of a Thief, a Summoner, a Dragoon, and a Devout. Hopefully I will change into a Knight so I can use the Excalibur and Ragnorak. Thief is pretty weak, but since he's already at level 78 for his job, he might as well finish it up. I finally got all of the crystals, so now the end game awaits. What about my equipment? Well after my travels in Eureka, I acquired the Masumune, Excalibur, Ragnorak, Moon Blade, Elder Staff, Omni-Rod, and Gungnir Spear. So it's all about training people to use them from here on. Hopefully the end game isn't that hard, I can't wait to play something more familiar.

• Game Time: 20 hrs 6 mins
  
• Deaths: 1
  
• Days: 49

The Invincible! (Day44)

The Invincible, a ship in Final Fantasy III, can fly and submerge into the sea. What a wonderful vehicle. Now what has happened so far? After rescuing the Kingdom of Sasune, I have acquired INGUS and REFIA, the third and forth party members. Unlike Final Fantasy II, this game has a permanent party. I really think that Final Fantasy game designers were at odds in deciding do they want permanent members or temporary members in their games: FF1, 3, 5 had permanent members, while 2, 4, and 6 had continuously changing ones. I guess the latter team won, because from FF7 on people came and left, and parties got a lot bigger. But as I said, the permanent party is formed from the beginning, but what you want them to be has to be determined. I really didn't get too creative with it. I started out as a warrior, a monk, a black mage, and white mage. And 13 hours later, it's pretty much the same: monk, viking, black mage, and white mage. Perhaps I'm just the kind of guy that likes to know what my guys can do.

The game so far is fun. A lot more better than FF2, and the characters are a bit more likable than those before. Naturally, this is the 2007 remix of FF3, so there are many changes. I believe that the original game started with the 4 characters starting in one place, with no back story to them. So I'm glad they took the time to fill in the gaps.

The story unfolds as the world is being tormented by an unknown evil. As you do your adventuring, you realize that the crystals are defaced, and your job is to once again retrieve them and restore them. With every crystal, more jobs are unlocked. The Salamander guards the fire crystal. Luckily by then you have the Blizzaga spell. Defeating him grants you the second set of job classes.

After that chapter, we find out that the continent is in danger. Actually we find out that the continent is actually a floating continent, and only a part of a larger world that has been frozen in time. Taking the airship Nautilus you journey out of the world that you know to a murky cloud-filled sky of an outer world. With the aid of a priestess you journey to the temple of Tides and battle the villain that has drained the power of the water crystal. Who might that be? the Kraken again, yes, again!. He shoots out ice, but fears lightning. Defeating him grants you a third set of job classes: including the Dragoon, Viking, and Evoker. The cloud lifts and you see the continents at large.

Flying westward you see a castle surrounded by four towns and a long wall. Upon closing in on the castle, you're shot down, a cut-scene ensues and you realize that your beloved Nautilus is being destroyed by cannon fire. Nothing like landing in between a war. The kingdom is on the verge of being divided and you save the day by restoring Prince Alus in power. The culprit behind it all? GILGAMETH, any relationship to Gilgamesh? perhaps. Saving the prince and the kingdom grants you a pile of treasure chests in the castle and the new ship: the Invincible. And then we're back to square one, the hunt for the last crystal.

• Game Time: 13 hrs 26 mins
  
• Deaths: 1
  
• Days: 42
  

Final Fantasy III (Day 37)

No, not the one with Terra and Locke, but the original Final Fantasy III. So I'm finally playing the only Final Fantasy game re-made for the D.S., and it is amazing! I'm so glad that they took the time to redo it.

After the first hour or so I found myself in the second town. I had just found Arc, my black-mage destined party member. The townsfolk told me not to go towards the cave in the back, but of course I had to see. Five steps in, and I meet two skeletons and my doom. Another game over. Ahh, it's gonna be a hard game.

The game brought back levels (no more uncertainty about what level you are from FF2), and introduced job classes and job levels. I will add more about this game next time, but here's a picture of the cute outfits!

• Game Time: 3 hrs 2 mins
  
• Deaths: 1
  
• Days: 37
  

Final Fantasy Evolution (part I)

In the beginning there was Final Fantasy I. This is the bare-bone edition of the game, the core of it all. No CGI's or FMV's, no summons or job classes, nothing but 8-bit graphics and imagination. Here's a quick summary of core items that carried onto the series after Final Fantasy I.

1. Four Elemental Crystals (plot)
2. Four character Party
   
3. Airship, ship, and Canoe (vehicles)
   
4. Job classes: 12 in all
5. Masamune Blade, Excalibur, Cat claws (weapon)
6. Ribbon (helm)
7. 1 mini game
   

Here's a quick recount of what was added in Final Fantasy II.

1. Ultima (magic)
2. snow craft (vehicle)
3. temporary party members (people come and go)
4. Chocobos
5. Cid as the air-ship maker/owner
6. Aura, Osmosis, Drain (spells)
7. Dragoons
8. Bows and Spear class weapons
   

Forgiveness? or an eternity of suffering? (Day 33)

Hello again from the land of Final Fantasy 2. After a harrowing eight hours of game-play and THREE more deaths, I completed Final Fantasy 2: The Soul of Rebirth. It felt impossible the first two hours, as I died and died with my pitiful gear. Starting with only two party members was the worst. If you don't know, you restart the game as Minwu in an alternate universe. You collect Josef, Scott, and Ricard. What seems like the afterlife becomes a hell for many, not just any hell, but Arubuf: a hell ruled by the Emperor reincarnated.

To my surprise, after a good four floors of nail-biting battles you surface to a town. Towns in hell? Well yeah, and Cid's waiting for you at the bar. How appropriate? The town has everything a role-playing game character needs: an INN, a magic shop, an item shop, an armory, and a weapon's forge. Hell isn't that bad of a place eh?

Moving on. There are two other warps in town, and the townsfolk say monsters have been leaking out of them. One of them, to the far east of town leads to a familiar tower. Yes, it's a similar one to the one that holds the Ultima tome in the present world. No world as great as the present! But anyway, the only difference here is that Minwu won't die when he tries to get the tome, no, he cannot die twice. Here he has to face the Ultima Weapon. Yes, he is added on again, an optional boss that hits you hard with magical attacks. I read an FAQ that said that he is immune to physical attacks. That's B.S., I powered up my magic for nothing. In the end I just put Berserk and Haste on my hitters (Scott and Ricard) and beat him to death. My reward, the Ultima spell, which is useless. Even at level 16 it only hits 800? Why bother, just level up your swords and spears.

To the north of the town is the major dungeon. There you will find four more sub-bosses and the Emperor. Nothing too hard after you get the hang of it. As your party levels up to 2000HP, the enemies get a lot easier. Some notable weapons appear, probably the strongest weapons in the game: the Stardust rod (does level 16 fire, which is similar to Meteor), Bracers (gauntlets that enhances attack), Wyvern Lance, and the Wild Rose blade. All pretty sick weapons, and pretty much exclusive to Final Fantasy 2. Not a bad deal. Take those and stick it to the Emperor of the underworld? You betcha.

So you reach the last boss and she gives you a nice long speech about death and afterlife, and the reason why you're there. Yes, this new emperor looks like a woman. She lets you have two choices: to ask for forgiveness in the things you have done or spend an eternity suffering there. Naturally, you picked the third choice, to fight! Not a bad fight, but pretty damn easy. It didn't last more than 20 turns and she basically bruises like a peach.

After the long battle with story-sequence, you get to travel back to the real world as spirits. We find out a pretty big secret about Ricard. He is the father to the kid that wants to be a dragoon. The kid happens to be called Kain. Like father like son. I wonder when will he show up again? Oh nevermind, I just wish we had Final Fantasy 2 when the Japanese folks did, Final Fantasy 4 will make a lot more sense. Now, to Final Fantasy 3, and the wonderful world of "job classes".

• Game Time: FF2: 25 hrs 40 mins + 15 mins (Deaths and ending)
• Game Time: FF2 - Soul of Rebirth: 8:05 +20 mins (Deaths and ending)
• Beastiary: 98%
  
• Deaths: 5 (2 from FF2, 3 from FF2:SoR)
  
• Days: 33
  

Pandemonium (Day 30)

So the final four does turn out to be the main character, Maria, Guy, and Leon. The same four guys that you started with? Well yes! We find out that the Emperor has resurrected himself with the powers of hell, and to defeat him, you had to travel through the Jade tunnel and into Hell itself, the Pandemonium Palace. This is not without some bosses.




The King Behemoth was a push-over. I used the basic Haste + Berserk spells on my fighters and kept healing with Leon. I was hesitant to use magic on it because I feared that it will do WEAK on me, a spell that was automatic in Final Fantasy 4 when you attacked a behemoth. I think they do METEOR on you in Final Fantasy 10 if you use magic on them; what mystical beasts they truly are. It was nothing that the Excalibur couldn't cut through.



Next up there was the multi-headed dragon Tiamont. Didn't we see him in FF1? Well, yes he was. Not a bad idea to bring him back. He looks like he went on a work-out regime and yoked up a bit. Not to worry, magic works well on him as well as the old-fashioned wacks from from hard steel. I really should look up where the name Tiamont came from, it seems to go well with dragons.



Next up, Beelzebub, the lord of the flies. Odd how many references there are to Satan in these games. This one is a bit more complicated as magic does more damage than physical attacks. I started using my Fire spells along with Ultima, Flare, and Holy. My party wasn't meant to be mages, so it took a bunch of ethers to complete this battle.




Lastly there is Astaroth, a prince in Hell. Well, not according to FF2, he's a lady in this one. Quite a change of appearances between her and the Astaroth in the Soul Calibur series. He does have the wings, and besides that there wasn't much to it. By the time I met him/her I had the Masamune and it was enough to fix her good; even without enfeeblement boosts. Nice outfit, hotshot.




But who has the greatest outfit? Of course the Emperor himself. Sure he looks like a amazon shaman from San Francisco, but hey, he's the emperor. He can do anything he wants. I played around with using two swords: Excalibur and Masamune with the hero, but it really didn't do much of a difference. I stuck with the Masamune and a shield for him. It really didn't matter because the person that did the most damage was Guy, with his Rune Axe. Somehow with Haste, Aura, and Berserk, he was able to do 3000 damage per hit. Quite substantial since the Emperor only has 15,000 HP. Leon was on stand-by again. It was a much more easier boss than Final Fantasy I. Yet I'm not done yet, FF2: Soul of Rebirth begins now. Another 20 hours of pain and leveling? Maybe just leveling.

• Game Time: 25 hrs and 45 mins
  
• Days: 30 of 80

Evil Empire (Day 24)

It's so hard to play a game that I haven't played before without stumbling down beginner's traps. First of all you don't know who's going to leave, so you're never too sure about who to devote your leveling up on. It's especially heart-breaking when the person that you've been leveling up leaves and you lose a chunk of your equipment. In Final Fantasy IV, I knew exactly when to strip Kain's armor off when he deserts you; it really came in handy later on. Anyways, I finally got Leon, and it seems like he is the last party member.

I fought some notable bosses. First up, the Roundworm that was infesting inside of Leviathan. Yes, he's in this game, and he does wreck your ship (as a prequel to what will happen in FFIV?). But instead of just separating your party, he swallows you whole and you have to battle the monsters from within him. The cool thing is that you gain RICARD. Can we say Kain's template? He's a dragoon that's been trained from the Kingdom of Deist. I guess it was shocking to see him for the first time in Final Fantasy II, but now it makes FFIV not so ground-breaking. I thought that they just added Chocobos and Dragoons out of no-where. Nope, they both started in FFII.




Next there is this White Dragon. Dragons look really cool in Final Fantasy, and for some reason, you can't help but wonder how Enix thought about this. If Final Fantasy had dragons, imps, and golems to fight, what special monsters were reserved for Dragon Quest? Anyways, the boss was a cinch, and I really think I'm a bit over-leveled for the game again.

I reached Mysidia, the land of the Mages, and bought the HOLY spell. I found FLARE in Mysidia Tower. Naturally I found the ULTIMA spell there too. I guess it's the first time to see that spell. It was not in Final Fantasy IV, but returned in later episodes. This is so trippy, I'm finally piecing the parts together. The spells sound strong, but the game's spell system involves powering them up, which is a total drag. You get ULTIMA, and it starts at level 1 ULTIMA, that does like 60 damage. You can hit like 1000 already. Anyways, tough stuff.


After defeating the Emperor at Paloom, we find out that LEON was leading the empire to destroy you again. You confront him at his palace, and just when the fight begins, he says something totally wicked. Actually, it was kind of funny, I had to take a picture of it. "Weak words, from the weak". There's something so blatant about it that it cracked me up. The fight did not happen because we find out that the Emperor resurrects himself from HELL and claims Ricard's life. Yes, he dies. For a silly video game from the 80's, a lot of people die. Of course Leon realizes his wrong ways and to combat a greater evil, he joins me. Hurrah! I'll leave you guys with some numbers.

• Game Time: 19 hrs 7 mins
  
• Total Time: 40 hrs 45 mins
• Deaths: 2 (from FFII)
  
• Days: 24 of 80