Medal of Smiting (Day 242)

Following up on your slaying of Neo Shinryu, I walked into Enuo's court. The last dungeon resembles the crystal palace and contains two uber items: Robe of Lords and Mutsunokami blade (the Sixth God?). Both items they made up just for Final Fantasy V's bonus dungeon. A sub-boss guards Enuo, and naturally his name is Guardian. This replica of the soul canon is not much of a challenge for a couple rounds of !Rapid Fire defeats it easily.

Onwards to Enuo. I won't lie, he beat me the first time because of my carelessness. He attacks with Maelstrom and Almageist, in addition to use constant use of Zombie Powder. I luckily survived because of my holy waters and elixirs. Yes, I had to use elixirs because my mages ran out of MP. With 600 MP and Gold Hairpins (halves MP cost), I still ran out of MP quick because of dual-casting. My word of advice is to not foresake healing at every chance. It shouldn't be too much of a problem if you keep at it with Bahamut and !Rapid Fire. It's going to be a long battle. My reward for defeating him? the last job class, Necromancer. Do I care about this class? Not at all. Why gain another job class when there's nothing left to fight? I have no idea.

I take that back. There is one more dungeon left, the Cloister of the Dead, which sounds like some place you'd find in Diablo II. There are six groups of five monsters here. You have to fight them all consequetively and are only allowed to refresh after defeating a group. This is totally easy after fighting the bosses in the bonus dungeon. Here is my configuration for the final fights:
Bartz (Freelancer) - Set him with !Sword Magic and !Rapid Fire to do damage on elemental bosses. Equip him with Ultima Weapon (from Neo Shinryu), Apocalypse, Ribbon, Maximillian, and a Coral Ring.
Krile (Mime) - Set her with !White, !Time, and !Zeniage so she can heal and do physical damage at the same time. By then you don't need money anwyay. I equip her with the Chickenknife (by now it was doing 250 dmg), Flame Shield, Gold Hairpin (halves MP cost), Robe of Lords, and Coral Ring.
Faris (Freelancer) - She became the tank with !Rapid Fire and !+30% HP. She ended up with 9300 HP at level 75. I equip her with Mutsunokami and Masamune (For some reason these swords do many critical hits). She wears a Ribbon, Vishnu's vest, and a Coral Ring.
Lenna (Mime) - She's set with !White, !Time, and !Summon as the designated mage. The dual-cast Bahamut comes from her. She equips the Gladius Knife, Force Shield (from Omega Mk.II), Gold Hairpin, Black Robe, and Crystal Orb (Guardian).

With this I defeat the monsters in the Cloister of the dead. My prize for this? the Medal of Smiting, or better known as, bragging rights. Or better yet, the right to move on to Final Fantasy VI.

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• Game Time: 49 Hrs and 32 mins (+70 mins lost time)
  
• Days: 242
  
• 14 Gameovers
• Charred by Lasers from the "Soul Cannon"
• Killed by Gil turtle
• Killed by Gil turtle's quake
• Killed by Possessed Crystals
• Killed by Possessed Crystals again!
• Nuked by Bahamut's Mega-flare
• Bashed by Twintania in the Castle within the Rift
• Poisoned by Shin-Ryu in the Crystal Palace
• Drowned by Shin-Ryu in the Crystal Palace
• Nuked by Shin-Ryu in the Crystal Palace
• Burned by Dark Elementals in the Sealed Temple
• Defeated by Grand Aevis in Sealed Temple
• Burned by Omega in Tomb of Memory
• Crushed by Omega in Tomb of Memory
• Zombified by Enuo
  

Hall of Tranquility (Day 241)

It's really a feat to still be playing Final Fantasy V after two months, but I do have one excuse: Final Fantasy XII. I played and was thrilled by the gambit system and killer graphics. Yes, it was a big contrast. I beat it in about 70 hours, but I know there are a lot of items left in Ivalice for me to find. But back to the task at hand.

The road to the Bonus Dungeon is long, as expected. I know now that these things are just as long as the game itself. I got in there at level 67 and was highly under-leveled for the area. After hours of leveling, I reached level 70.

The first boss, the Grand Aevis killed me three times. Turning my guys into zombies really bugged me. Finally, after getting my guys up to 9000 HP, I was able to survive long enough to beat him at level 71.

The second boss, Archeodemon, is a push-over. Casting Bahamut on him while sending guys with !Rapid Fire will quickly finish him off.

The third boss, Omega Mk.II, was actually not so bad. I was pretty well leveled, and I had two guys with !Rapid Fire and !Sword Magic. By now I have designated characters: two swordsmen, and two mages. The mages are Mimes equipped with !White, !Time, and !Summon. Dual-casting with the Quick spell is a must! Omega Mk. II is tough because he has changing barriers, but all you need is that one hit with !Rapid Fire (either Thundaga, Firaga, or Blizzaga). Eight hits of 9999 will surely kill it.

The fourth boss, Neo Shinryu, is a monster of a boss. His evasion is the highest in the game. You will barely hit him, he dodges the Meteor spell, and on some cases, he will dodge Bahamut's Megaflare. What can he do in return? Everything that Shinryu has and Almageist, a spell that does 7500+ damage to everyone; this means you better have a dragoon in the air when you are about to defeat it. How did I do it? I had four guys with over 9000 HP. I had two guys that jumped, but without any Dragon Whispers. I had the Spear of Longinus and the Holy Lance, but I ended up with using just swords. Holy Lance was useless because it actually heals Neo Shinryu. My strategy? My mages kept at it with Bahamut and occasionally Golem for defense. I used three elixirs because they ran out of MP, but in the end I got it done; at level 76. My reward, Ultima Weapon. So long dragon god. By the way, Shinryu means "true dragon" or "new dragon"... so New true dragon? Odd.

Enuo is next, the one that started it all.

the Deaths Continue (day 222)

As the defeat of Shin-Ryu marks the end of the most difficult boss in Final Fantasy 5, I had nothing left to do but beat the game. Yes, I fought Ex-Death. He was attached to a giant tree and turned into something with with four body parts. It was a hell of an easier fight than dealing with Shin-Ryu. For one thing, Ex-Death didn't have any attacks that can wipe out all four of you. Next it's evasion was not impossibly high. I beat him by summoning Bahamut over and over, while healing and using Quick to do double casts. He dies, we return to the earth, and see a long cut-scene. The crystals' strength is restored and the elements return to the earth. The girls become princesses, our lonely hero wanders off, Krile visits his grandfather grave. We see them all get back together and well, it ends.








No, it doesn't end. I'm still stuck in a rut. There is an earthquake undersea and another "Sealed Temple" surfaces. I am definitely under-leveled here. I beat the Gil Turtle the second time, but the fact that there aren't many consecrated save spots around makes it really hard. Until the finishing of the end game, I'll be fighting.

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• Game Time: 36 Hrs and 4 mins (+55 mins lost time)
• Days: 212
• 11 Gameovers
• Charred by Lasers from the "Soul Cannon"
• Killed by Gil turtle
• Killed by Gil turtle's quake
• Killed by Possessed Crystals
• Killed by Possessed Crystals again!
• Nuked by Bahamut's Mega-flare
• Bashed by Twintania in the Castle within the Rift
• Poisoned by Shin-Ryu in the Crystal Palace
• Drowned by Shin-Ryu in the Crystal Palace
  


• Nuked by Shin-Ryu in the Crystal Palace
  


• Burned by Dark Elementals in the sealed Temple