Jack's Quest through Final Fantasy

The Blog is Dead (A.K.A. Last Thoughts)

2005-12-24T04:45:00.000-08:00

Well, you may not have noticed this, but I haven't posted on this thing in more than six months. The reason is that the blog is basically dead. It is so dead that you probably won't even ever read this post, because you've gone on with your merry lives and have moved on to some other, brighter pasture in this realm known as cyberspace. Heck, this blog is so dead, advertisers are starting to take over the comment sections. I mean, really, what's up with that?

Just so you all know, starting in June I did go back and play through Final Fantasies V-X2. I no longer had any interest in writing down all my thoughts, so I just played straight through them all. I did experience several interesting things.

+ Final Fantasy VI is still one of the best games ever made.

+ Not only is FFVIII my favorite of the PSOne Final Fantasies, I'm beginning to think it could be my favorite in the series.

+ A second playthrough has not changed my low opinion of FFIX (and believe me, I did come in with an open mind and with hope that I would see why people are so wild about the game), but it did change my opinion of Tetra Master. I don't think the mini-game is as good as Triple Triad; mostly because at least the cards in Triple Triad could be redeemed for useful items, making playing the game worthwhile. I did enjoy Tetra Master more this time around, however, and actually took the time to get all the cards in this playthrough.

+ I FINALLY got Kimahri's Spirit Lance in FFX! Bloody stupid butterfly game....

+ It is *&#$ %^#@(!# impossible to get 100% completion on X-2 in one playthrough!!!

I had fun. I apologize that I was not ale to finish the blog. If anything, I just had a good time reliving the memories. Thanks for your support, and thanks for reading this last message, even though the blog is beyond dead.

So.. Uh... Yeah, Boco!

2005-05-19T17:40:00.000-07:00

So, as you may have noticed, it's May 19th, and I haven't updated the blog yet. Uh... heh, heh, yeah. Don't worry, I am close to re-opening the blog. And this time, I can fully promise to go through the remaining 5.5 games without stopping. The trick will be starting and, honestly, Final Fantasy V is kind of boring, so starting again has been difficult. It will be done, however, that I can guarantee. Furthermore, I pledge that by June 15th, I'll have begun FFVI, which will be good, because once I get into the games I truly like the speed will pick up considerably. I will definitely advertise the blog's return once it actually does return - don't be surprised if I rush through V though...

So, again, I apologize for the inconvenience.

To Be Continued... Soon.

2005-03-09T09:14:00.000-08:00

Just to let you all know, the Blog WILL soon be updated. In fact, I plan on not only continuing the quest, but following it through to its conclusion. The target date for the next update is around May 12th. Starting in May, however, I will regularly update the blog through at least August, and possibly longer.

Blogging Once More... Kind Of.

2004-11-15T06:27:00.000-08:00

Hey everybody. Yes, I am still alive, and I have not given up this project. I had some medical issues towards the end of the summer, causing me to be away from my PlayStation for awhile. When I got back, school started up again, and since then, life has severely cut into my videogame playing time. Frickin life. I will eventually continue the quest and the blog, but that might not be for awhile. Heck, it might not even be until next summer. We shall see. Thanks for all the encouragment to continue, however. It means a lot to know that people out there have been enjoying this.

New Faces, Familiar Surroundings

2004-08-13T11:28:00.000-07:00

Although it may not appear so at first glance, many of the innovations that led to the series arriving at the point it is at today began with Final Fantasy V. The game may appear to be nothing more than a rehash of old ideas, but those who look closely can see the early creation of some very familiar occurences.

The fifth installment of the classic role playing series starts off a tad more slowly than its predecessors. Until you reach the Wind Crystal, the game is nothing more than following simple instructions to move along the story. For example, even though there is a town to visit after acquiring a boat, it is of little use to veteran players at this point of the quest.

Speaking of veteran players, after playing through the past four Final Fantasies, FFV has lost much of its former lustre. Seeing the same ideas being put into place over and over again (i.e., Surprise! You acquired a boat from Pirates!) is beginning to get a little old, and I could care less if I never see another crystal again at this point.

There are some concepts, however, that do somewhat vary the gaming experience. The biggest example of this is the Job system, which essentially set the standard for how every ability since this installment would be acquired. Although this Job system does get its roots from III's original system, I would consider the two to be very, very different from each other. The Job system in III was unimaginative, and most of the jobs were useless. This changes in Final Fantasy V. Every character can change jobs at a whim, making it easier for every character to become adept at each occupation. And this time around, the game makes it worthwhile for the characters to try out each job with the biggest innovation by far in the series, Ability Points.

Ability Points have shown up in some form or another in every Final Fantasy since FFV. In their original appearance, they were used to raise the skill level each character had with each job. When a job level is raised, that character learns some kind of an ability, which can then be transferred from job to job. In other words, after gaining a level or so of White Magic, the character could switch to being a thief with the ability to cast Cure. If anything, there is not an RPG fan alive who would disagree with the fact that gaining these abilities for each character is a heck of a lot of fun.

The artwork is also different. The monster designs, for example, were done by Nomura, who later went on to draw much of the artwork for the post-SNES installments.

And, unfortunately, this is where I will have to stop for a short while. I realize that it may seem as if I have been distracted these past couple days. Unfortunately, something has come up, and I have been busier than expected the last few days. It also means that I have to go out of town through next Saturday, meaning the Blog will not be updated again until a week from Sunday.

Boco, The Wonder Chocobo!

2004-08-12T06:56:00.000-07:00

Final Fantasy V begins with a lengthy sequence that does its best to insinuate that the game will actually have a story. Little does the player know that they are in for some disappointment.

The epic tale of valiance and honor in the face of danger begins with the King of Tycoon heading off on his dragon to figure out why the wind stopped. Apparently, he believes that this is the result of something happening to the Wind Crystal, meaning that, for the fourth time in five games, the plot once again revolves around finding these magical objects. Oddly enough, while the other people in the world notice that the wind has stopped, nobody other than the King of Tycoon really seems to concerned about this happening.

The opening sequence introduces some of the game's main characters. We see that Reina, Tycoon's princess, is rather worried about her father. In the original emulated version of the game, Reina's name was Lenna. I actually prefer Lenna to Reina, and I am a little sad that they changed the name. We also see an androgynous pirate captain (heck, all the characters were androgynous in those days. Edge was the only member of FFIV's final party whose hair did not go down to his shoulders or beyond. And then we also see some random old guy who, with orangish/brownish hair, has to be labelled "old guy" so that we know he is old.

It all comes to a head when a wandering traveller named Bartz (thankfully changed from the original "Butz") and his chocobo sidekick witness the crashing of a meteor. Think all this sounds discombobulated and unorganized? Yeah, me too, and the game's story really never improves past this point.

The chocobo sidekick, though, is by far one of the coolest characters to grace a Final Fantasy title. He is Boco, the Wonder Chocobo! Able to run faster than the wind (which is easy once the wind has stopped), more clever than any other Chocobo (thus far), and able to leap over randomly appearing pits as if it were no big deal, Boco truly makes Final Fantasy V. If the chocobo were not in this installment, I probably would not have been hooked the first time I played the game.

Boco also happens to be the first Chocobo in the series that is actually owned by anyone. While you do see a couple chocobo stables in III and IV, they appear to be no different from a ranch, where the birds are only being taken care of and nothing more. Boco is more like the average horse, faithfully aiding its master with intelligence and charm. No character before Bartz had a chocobo to roll around on, and this begins a transformation of sorts from the olden days to the more modern worlds of the later installments.

I suppose that Boco is also the first regular chocobo to figure prominently in the series. Sure, you got a prize for riding III's bird around the island. And in IV, the black chocobo was a necessary story feature. For the most part, however, the birds have been optional creatures that had little impact on the story. Even the black chocobo's usefulness ended after leaving the Magnetic Cavern. Boco, right from the very beginning, places the Chocobo in a new light. The beasts are now friendly companions, and Square was pointing out that they could have prominent effects on the game's story. This set in motion all the popular Chocobo mini-games now seen as common place among the series. Boco is also the name that Square has since given all of its major chocobos since Final Fantasy V appeared.

Sorry for the lack of updates over the past week. I have been extremely busy, and have not had much time to sit down and play.

The Series Takes a Step Backwards

2004-08-09T04:53:00.000-07:00

I have heard it said that, in order to take a step forward, sometimes you just have to take a step backwards. While I do agree with this adage in some cases, I would find it to be a pretty pathetic excuse for the reason why Final Fantasy V is so different for the two games that preceeded and follow it. After finally hitting the nail on the head of what a console RPG should be in the fourth installment, Square inexplicably reverted to its old NES days in its programming of Final Fantasy V.

Before I go on, I should say that I do like Final Fantasy V. A lot. It would rank lower on my list of the Final Fantasy games than most of the other installments, but I do think that it is a fun game, and is indeed one worthy of the Final Fantasy moniker.

That said, the story is just plain terrible. The characters, for the most part, are extremely one-dimensional. After doing such an awesome job of building character depth in Final Fantasy IV, it just boggles my mind that in the installment that followed they would step away from this advancement and return to giving players characters about whom they have to reason to care. I cannot see how anybody could ever emotionally invest themselves to any of the game's five playable characters. I do not think that it can be done. The fifth installment's story is so bad that I would put it on par with the story from the very first game. It may be a little better than the original's tale, but not by much. The stories of Final Fantasies II, III, and IV may not have always been great, but they at least followed a clear, logical path that made sense and inspired the player's imagination. Here, the story is basically, "Oh crap. The wind stopped. We better do what those old guys did and go fight Exdeath."

While the story leaves much to be desired, if I had to rank the Final Fantasies based on gameplay, FF5 would be among the top three. The Job system is one of the greatest status building systems I have ever seen. Along the same lines, FFX-2 (another female-dominated game with a Job system) was a lot of fun to play, if only because of the way you developed the main characters' abilities. I have not met very many people who really liked FF5, but just about everyone I have talked with has admitted that the Job system was a pretty good idea. Besides being able to mix and match the various classes (an idea which later led to such systems as those found in FFVII, VIII, and X), the game rewarded you for mastering as many of the classes as you could by letting each character utilize all of the mastered abilities while in Bare mode. In other words, besides building up the characters, the game actually made it worthwhile to have each character gain each skill.

I am not positive, but I think seperate game crews (with a few exceptions) worked on the even and odd-numbered Final Fantasies. Therefore, the crew that created FFII also programmed FFIV, thus accounting for the similarities in the game's styles. The crew that made FFI then went on to do FFIII and FFV, which is why a lot of the graphics and themes are recurrent. I am not positive on this point, but it would make sense. After the lack of success of FFV, then, Square opted to concentrate more on story from here on out. I also think the reason we never got FFV was because it did so poorly in Japan. I am sure it sold well, based on its name alone, but I am also quite confident that the company received pretty poor feedback on this particular outing.

This is the last of the old breed of Final Fantasies, then, in which characters controlled everything regarding the characters, magic had to be purchased, and the game was more about the experience than the story. Thinking about it in those terms, FFV is a great exercise in nostalgia, as it returns to a time when video games were simpler. Even so, I for one am glad that the series moved in a completely different direction after this installment.

The First Real Ending

2004-08-08T09:50:00.000-07:00

Unlike the previous Final Fantasies, the fourth installment of this epic saga rewards players for making their way through the game. While the other three games did have some sort of a conclusion, these so-called endings were hardly worth the effort it took to reach them. They were simple messages, occasionally followed by cheap animation and ideas whose deeper meanings were incoherant to even the wisest player. In the third sequel to Square's "final" fantasy, this all changes.

The ending of this game tries to wrap up some loose ends, and gives the player some information about what will happen in the world they are soon to leave. To give you a cliff-notes version, everyone becomes either a King or a Queen (except for Palom and Porom, who have to go back to school), Cecil and Rydia get married, the second moon starts to drift away, and everyone lives happily ever after. Except for Tellah, of course, who is currently dead. There is even a little exchange between Rydia and Edge that, while unspoken, does lead me to believe that at some point the two will hook up. And then Rydia, naturally will become a queen. The ending is still a little short by today's standards, but I consider it to be one of the better in the series.

Well, I am now 2/5 of the way through the voyage. Huh. Right now, I can't think of anything more to say than that.

He Knows What Evil Lurks in the Hearts of Mortal Men. And Women.

2004-08-08T09:29:00.000-07:00

The quest through the Lunar Subteranne eventually leads Cecil and his friends to the central core of the artificial moon, where an epic battle is being waged between Zemus and FuSoYa and Golbez. The stage is thus set for the boss battle. After a long sequence in which Zemus is killed, but then reborn again as Zeromus, Cecil and his friends enter the battle nearly annihilated.

Much like in Final Fantasy III, many of the characters from the past return to help the characters out. Another sequence involving many of your past allies, some living some dead, leads to the restoration of the party and the chance to take on what some would call the toughest boss in all 10 of the games. Even though I find him rather easy to beat even on level 60, I would have to agree that he does do the most damage and can be the most difficult of all the Final Fantasy end-of-game bosses. The Chronicles version of the game attempts to make him even more of a challenge, almost requiring that players steal a new item called Dark Matter to bring him down. I did steal the Dark Matter, mostly to be able to say that I got it. When you have all your characters on Level 99, however, it does not make too much sense to cause a fight to become any easier, so I took down Zeromus without the Dark Matter's assistance.

Speaking of which, as this is the only time I plan on ever raising my characters to Level 99 (with the exception of FFVIII, where it is so easy to do that I will probably go ahead and do it), this would be a perfect time to talk about the lack of challenge of the End-Of-Game Bosses when characters are at the maximum level. Personally, this makes sense to me, as not everyone is willing to take the time to build their characters up as much as possbile. I think the first time I ever waited to beat a game before my characters were as maxed-out as I could make them was in Final Fantasy VIII, and I have since done it in IX and X as well. Before then, though, I saved the level-maxing for my second playthroughs of these classics, and thus would have been upset were the fight to prove too challenging. Even so, I do hear people complaining about how weak the final bosses are compared to super-characters. Well, that's just tough. If you are maxing out the characters, you should know from the start that you are only doing so for your own personal sense of achievement. The only time I have can think of where it would be almost required for players to max their stats to bring down a boss would be for some of the optional fights in FFX. Painless and boring fights are in themselves a reward for players who take the time to build their characters. So quit the hating, alright?

Anyway, after defeating Zeromus Square includes a message for all of the players out there - don't let darkness overcome your heart. In an attempt to include a tangible message of some sort, the fight on the moon concludes with the idea that Zeromus will survive as long as evil resides in the hearts of human beings. Cecil breaks down his own hatred by forgiving his brother. Kain embarks on a quest to purify his own self. The Summons talk at length about the goodness and love within Rydia. This is one of the first times that I can remember where a video game tried to spread such a deep message, and this no doubt led to some of the more serious themes found in the later installments.

Think Pink

2004-08-07T13:05:00.000-07:00

Of all the treasures found in the depths of the Lunar Subteranne, none is as special or rewarding as the elusive Pink Tail. This item can be traded to the tail collector for more Adamant rock, which in turn will provide the player the chance to obtain Adamant Armor, the best armor in the game. Besides having an incredibly high defensive value, the Adamant Armor can be equipped by all five characters. Of course, getting the armor requires getting some tail(s) and that, my friends, is another story altogether...

The Pink Tail is not found in any treasure chest, nor can it be located by randomly pressing the search button while walking around the final dungeon. The tail must be won, and its bearers are few. The only beasts that will drop the Pink Tail are Pink Puffs, little slime-like creatures that are among the rarest and oddest monsters of the game. They are only found in one small, otherwise unimportant room in the Subteranne. In the Super Nintendo version of the game, players had only a 1/64 chance of meeting and fighting a Pink Puff. In the Chronicles version, the odds have been decreased even further, as proven by the fact that I have twice gone more than 120 encounters between running into the petulant pink pests. What has stayed the same between the two versions is that they will randomly drop a tail at least once every 64 encounters, but getting those 64 encounters can be quite a hassle for even the most enthusiastic gamer.

There is a trick to overcoming these odds. If a player uses an Alarm item inside this room, 99% of the the time he or she will fight a Pink Puff. By using 64 Alarms in a row, the players is all but guaranteed that they will eventually acquire a Pink Tail. The key to this equation, however, is remembering to bring along enough Alarms to make this trick work. Alarms cannot be bought; unfortunately, they must be won from either Alerts or Searchers inside one of the Babil dungeons. Even more unfortunate is the fact that I completely forgot about this fact and did not steal 64+ Alarms while I had the chance. The game creatively prevents you from re-entering the Tower, making it inaccessible from the Underground, and sticking an Elban citizen right in front of the Overworld's entrance.

Fear not, I did get extremely lucky and managed to win a Pink Tail on my 11th try with the beasts. I did manage to get a set of the armor, which I equipped on Edge, as it seemed like his defense was much lower than it should have been at this stage of the game. Wandering around and attempting to encounter the Pink Puffs is a trying experience, but it is also very rewarding in terms of gaining experience. Even at the later levels, my characters still managed to level up two or three times in under 64 encounters. This is a good way to build levels while still focusing on a single goal.

One other thing about the Pink Puffs. When you fight these creatures, a message saying "Let's Dance!" appears, most of your characters become Berserk, and various Chocobo themes begin to play in the background. For the life of me I cannot remember this ever happening in the Super Nintendo version. While I am not insinuating that it did not occur, as I will be the first to admit my memory is occasionally faulty in terms of games I have not played in almost four years, but I really think that this would be something that would stick with me. I personally believe that the Pink Puffs were no different in the first American version, but were meant to be something special in the original version. I personally prefer this version, as it makes the fight a little more interesting and causes the Pink Puffs to be even more exciting to encounter than the other humdrum enemies of their chamber.

Nobody's Perfect

2004-08-07T12:52:00.000-07:00

While wandering around, searching for the elusive Pink Puff and fighting what seems like an endless supply of Trickers, I finally did receive the Imp summon as a reward. This means that my earlier statement about such hidden summons being merely the work of rumor-mongers was incorrect, and thus I am offering a retraction. It does seem rather odd to me that after years of searching for such objects, I finally stumbled across one. The odds of getting them must be extremely small, possibly less than 1/255. If I were Square, I would have made the Imp summon the best summon in the game. I mean, come on, the thing is nearly impossible to find, and who would expect that something as unthreatening as an Imp could pack such a wallop? If anything it would have been humorous. As it is, the Imp summon is worthless, as are (from what I have seen on the internet) all of the other hidden summons in the game. As players would have to spend hours upon hours attempting to obtain any one of these spells, the fact that they are so underwhelming is rather disappointing. I suppose that Square can be forgiven for its lack of foresight regarding making the installment's rarest objects less than spectacular, but even at this early stage in their development careers the makers should have realized that the rarer an object is, the more useful it ought to be for the player. In Final Fantasy IV, however, this is not the case, which is rather unfortunate.

The Imp summon, by the way, uses an attack called "Imp Punch." Now, if Square wanted this to be almost exactly like its Japanese counterpart (therefore the switch of the name Crystal Sword to Ragnorak, and so on), then why did the company not revert the name "Imp" back to its original "Goblin?" Why keep the American name, when it has called the beasts "Goblins" in all of its other American releases? Had the name been kept, this attack would clearly have been termed "Goblin Punch." In any event, it is the birth of what would later become a regularly used (and occasionally learnable) attack used by these otherwise inept fiends.

While I am on the subject of correcting myself, I realize now that there was one other statement I made earlier that was not quite accurate. I essentially said that Edge eventually had the best attack power in the game. That is incorrect, as I had forgotten how much of a stat bonus is given by Ragnorak. Cecil has the best straight out attack in the game. Edge does the most damage when he throws the Fumas, but when it comes to simply using the 'Fight' command, Cecil has the Ninja beat.

Best of the Best, From the Best

2004-08-04T13:30:00.000-07:00

Littered around the vast corridors of the Lunar Subteranne are a variety of treasures to be had by those brae enough to test their strengths. As in Final Fantasy III, there are a number of ultimate weapons identifiable by unusual graphics found on various pedestals throughout the depths of the artificial moon's surface.

These weapons are legendary, both within the context of the game and within the paradigm of Final Fantasy. The Holy Lance, often found as the best spear in several of the Final Fantasy games, is found on one of these pedestals. The Masamune is another common FF weapon that can be obtained while wandering the Subteranne. Players who search hard enough can discover a passageway leading to the Ragnorak, the best sword in the game for Cecil. While I have heard some people complain about the fact that the sword was changed from its American name to "better accommodate Final Fantasy VIII fans," I don't buy into this criticism. First, the name of the sword was originally Ragnorak in the Japanese version, making perfect sense for the classic name to be restored. The Ragnorak was the best sword of FFIII, so it makes sense for it to return as the best sword of FFIV. While I do agree that the Crystal Sword's title has more to do with the game's story, the Ragnorak has more to do with the series in general, making it a better fit in my opinion. I do, however, agree that its name should never have been changed in the first place.

Although not found on pedestals, there are also a number of treasure chests yielding better equipment for each of the characters. Kain can acquire some Dragon armor, Cecil can gain some Crystal armor, and there is also a few other items to boost the defenses of the other three party members. The Minerva Armor, for example, lowers magic defense but will boost physical D and attack, making it ideal for Rydia. There are also two Ribbons to be found, making this magical status-preventing object, Excalibur, and the Masamune the only three significant objects to have made the jump from 8-bit graphics to 16-bit.

With these great items, however, comes a catch. Or, more specifically, a dangerous monster or two bent on preventing you from successfully acquiring the most powerful equipment in the game. Most of the treasure chests and all of the special weapons in the Lunar Subteranne are guarded by the best monsters in the game. A Bahamut clone - the Wyvern - and a Leviathan clone - whose name is unpronouncable and difficult to remember - guard the Ragnorak and Masamune respectively. Even more difficult than these powerful beasts, though, is Plague, another floating eye type with a dangerous trick up his, er, eye. Plague immediately starts the battle by casting Doom on each party member. This means that you have until the timer counts down to 10 to kill the fiend before your entire party is wiped out. To make matters worse, after casting Doom, Plague tries to speed up the process by casting Haste on your characters. Fortunately, the speed of the countdown varies slightly from character to character, so while you will not have enough time to revive any of your fallen comrades, you can still have the survivors get in a few licks before they succumb to the reaper. I think I had three characters remaining when I finally brought Plague down. If you have been saving Shurikens or Fumas (both of which can be purchased from the blacksmith in the underground after the Babil Giant has been stopped - and to tell you the truth, after wandering around the Subteranne for a while, there is no reason why you would not have enough Gil to buy 99 of each) now is the time to use them en masse.

To the Moon and Back

2004-08-03T18:06:00.000-07:00

The destruction of the Babil Giant leads to the spilling of the second big secret of the Final Fantasy series: That Cecil and Golbez are brothers. To tell you the truth, after playing through Final Fantasy II and seeing what happens with Maria's brother, this really is not that big of a shocker anymore. Most Americans had not played II before they played IV (including myself), however, so this announcement was even more gasp invoking than the revelation that Cecil is part little-green-martian.

Kain, finally free from Zemus' control, then joins the party to get his revenge. This leads to a small but dramatic cutscene where we see Rosa and Cecil get sappy and Rosa gain a 'tude with Edge. The characters then blast off to the man-made moon and the dungeon underneath its surface.

The Lunar Subteranne is one of the cooler end-of-game dungeons in the series. There are a variety of hidden passages to explore and side areas to discover, and the background is particularly cool considering the time period in which it was drawn. Visually, it is quite similar to the end dungeon of Final Fantasy II, adding fuel to my theory that the same design team programmed both games.

The Subteranne also yields a bevy of crazy new monsters to challenge the players. The Veteran, a flying eye who probably gets its name from the fact that it has appeared in so many other areas of this installment, is one of the more bothersome foes the characters encounter. It immediately casts Doom on a party member, giving you to the count of 10 to kill the Veteran before the affected character falls unconscious. Sometimes you can get lucky and have him cast Doom on the same character multiple times, resetting the countdown each time. For the most part, though, the fight requires players to be quick and deadly in dealing with this floating cycloptic adversary.

Another beast that is found around here is the Ging-Ryu, often accompanied by its brother, King-Ryu. Ging-Ryus are weaker, but can cast Flame, a spell that usually does a sizable amount of damage to each party member. The King-Ryus, which will occasionally only use Blitz on one character, are the more difficult of the two to take down. King-Ryus also counterattack with Entangle, which, when successful, paralyzes a party member.

One of the more unusual enemies is the Tricker, a floating orange incarnation of the classic Goblin foe. Trickers at first only cast Scan on themselves, letting players know that their weakness is Bolt. There is a catch to this seemingly helpful opponent. If Bolt is used on the beast, it does do massive damage to the monster, but also results in the fiend constantly using extremely powerful magic back on the characters. Fortunately, Square does try to subtly warn the player that this is the case by giving him the name, "Tricker." These are actually almost as annoying as the TinyToads, as the only thing they do is repeatedly cast Scan on themselves, and Scan does take a few seconds to cast.

In the later areas of the game Dragons, EvilMasks, and Behemoths become more common, signaling to the player that the end is nigh. Until then, however, there is plenty to keep the player busy as they work through the wonderful Lunar Subteranne.

Boostin' the Ol' Stats

2004-08-01T13:44:00.000-07:00

One of the innovations to be born in Final Fantasy IV was the opportunity to boost characters' HP and MP. Although this is not necessary, it is the only way to ever get Rydia up to 9999HP and Cecil and Edge to 9999MP. This is done by using rare items such as the Gold and Silver Apples and the SumaDrops found hidden around the various locales of the game. The Apples boost HP, and the Drop boosts the MP. They can be randomly won from a few of the game's enemies, making a lot of fighting neccessary for those hoping to achieve the ultimate stats. I have never personally been one of those players; getting everyone to Level 99 is enough for me. Rest assured, this will probably be the only game during these playthroughs in which I take the time to get the characters to Level 99. The only reason I am choosing to do so in this game is because it is the first time I have ever actually owned Final Fantasy IV, and the glitches in the battle sound are annoying enough that I do not want to come back and play the title for some time.

Although Final Fantasy IV is one of the only games in the series in which players can use items to boost stats, the concept was quite common among Super Nintendo RPGs. One of the reasons to play through Chrono Trigger multiple times, for example, is to acquire as many of the tabs as possible to boost each of the playable characters' stats to their maximum level. Although I cannot think of any other RPG off the top of my head that used this idea, I do know for a fact that was a very common idea that I remember seeing very often during the 16-bit glory days of video gaming.

Wandering the Giant

2004-08-01T13:31:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned earlier, upon returning from the moon the characters immediately enter a cutscene that ends with them being required to enter the Babil Giant. The sequence is actually kind of cool, and is of much better quality than the similar scene towards the end of Final Fantasy III. Again, many of the characters from the past return to help the party out. The dwarves, Yang and his Slyph guardians, Cid, Edward, and even the Mysidians with a newly restored Palom and Porom in tow come to assist in the defense against the evil giant.

The Babil Giant is one of the most linear dungeons in the game, with several chests containing nothing too terribly useful. Although they are inside a giant, the map is also rather short, with the characters quickly finding the Save Point and the Core Room.

There are two main battles the characters have to win before shutting down the giant. The first is against the Four Fiends, who have all been revived by Zemus for one last crack at Cecil and his friends. Yes, this idea is being rehashed from Final Fantasy I, and no, it is not as much of a pain because all four are actually fought in succession. Though, I suppose, to some players that could make this battle more of a pain than the seperate fights of the original game. All of the Fiends are considerably easier this time around.

The second battle is with the CPU unit controlling the robot. The very first time I played this game, this battle took me several tries and finally over an hour to win, mainly because I did not pay attention to FuSoYa's message before entering the fight. The CPU has an attacker and a defender that fight alongside it. If both of these units are destroyed, the CPU kills off two of your characters and then revives them. If, by chance, you are not someone who took the time to get all of the characters up to Level 60 before entering the fight, this battle can be a rather tough one to fight using the conventional hack-and-slash strategy. The first time I played, this battle was ridiculously tough. Once I realized that the game essentially told you how to win on each of my other playthroughs, however, the battle became a piece of cake. The key is to destroy only the Defender unit at first, as it revives the CPU. Then, ignore the Attacker and go straight for the giant CPU. After that is destroyed, the Attacker can be easily eliminated. This prevents the use of Globe99, the attack that will always successfully kill any of your characters. Then again, if you are someone who decided to get all the characters up to Level 60 before this fight, it is pretty much a safe bet that you can just hack-and-slash and rely on your healers to quickly revive any fallen comrades.

Practical Magic

2004-08-01T13:20:00.000-07:00

For most of the three NES Final Fantasies, magic was not very useful and players rarely casted it if there was a better available option. The elemental spells were decent for the earlier parts of the first three installments, but by a certain point in each quest the monsters started shaking off these spells, leaving characters to their physical attacks. Even the more powerful spells in each adventure did barely enough damage to be worthy of any note against the later enemies. The lone exceptions may have been FFIII's summons, although none of them were quite the force of a fully equipped Onion Knight.

Square clearly realized the error of this formula, and opted to improve it for Final Fantasy IV. Their work was so successful that, for the most part, the spells were now more powerful than the physical attacks. This would only last for a short period of Video Game history, although it is one that is fondly remember by those who lived it.

The Summoned Monsters are by far the most useful spells in the game. Even so, the regular magic can and does hold its own in a comparison challenge. Rosa learns Holy on Level 55. This spell, the lone attack incantation on the White Mage's roster, packs a very powerful punch and is extremely useful even late in the game. The previous versions of Holy were nowhere near as effective as this bad boy, and it is refreshing to play a game where the ultimate spell actually is an ultimate spell. The only downside to Holy is that it can only target one enemy. The upside to this is that, most of the time, you are only going to use it on bosses anyway.

The other spell of note is Meteo, the ultimate spell of the game. While it is overlooked thanks to the cheaper and more effective Bahamut, Meteo is considered the game's best spell due to the incident with Tellah earlier on in the adventure. FuSoYa and Rydia are the only two characters able to cast this spell in a normal battle, but like I said earlier, Rydia has Bahamut so it is only an effective spell for FuSoYa. Rydia learns Meteo on Level 60, and by that point, you are ready to take on the boss of the game. Meteo is a very strong spell, and will usually do as much damage as Bahamut. The only difference is that Bahamut costs 39 less MP to cast, making it a tad more useful in the long run.

Need EXP? Search No Further!

2004-08-01T09:24:00.000-07:00

Inside the Babil Giant, a poorly animated robot bent on destroying the planet, there are certain enemies known as Searchers. These robots provide some of the best opportunities for EXP that players will come across in the game. The key is to know how to get the most from these fights. Like the Alerts before them, the Searchers will call forth a new monster only as a counterattack. This means that you have until the Searcher is destroyed to keep pumping it for EXP. The way to turn a normally short rout of an opponent into an all-you-can-eat EXP buffet, then, is to simply make the fight last as long as possible. There are several ways to accomplish this feat.

The obvious method to provoking a counterattack without hurting the machine too much is to use an attack that will do the least amount of damage as possible. Fortunately, the Searchers are strong against magic. Venom is a spell that only costs two MP to use, and will do exactly 1HP damage to the robot. This means that Rydia and FuSoYa can continue to cast the spell every time that the Searcher is alone for a long, long time. Unfortunately, Venom has the potential to poison the Searcher occasionally, making it kind of a gamble to use regularly. Being poisoned does a whopping 600HP worth of damage to the machine every so often, meaning one of your three healers will have to waste 20MP on Esuna to keep the fight going. For this reason, it is better to find another alternative to Venom to use on the menacing summoner.

Enter Ice1. Or Fire1 or Bolt1, for that matter. All three cost only 5MP, and will do 1HP damage to the Searcher. Rydia and FuSoYa again have plenty of MP to cast these basic spells, making the fight last a very long time. Using Rosa as your healer will keep the fighters alive, and you probably won't even need to use skills that often, making it wiser to just have her defend and not waste any arrows. The best possible scenario for this strategy pits you against a Searcher that constantly calls forth Horsemen. These beasts can be brought down in only one hit apiece by Cecil and Edge, making the process go quicker and then assuring that Rosa will not have to heal as often. In fact, it is better to not even attempt this trick unless you are facing Horsemen, as the amount of time you would otherwise be spending healing will eventually wear on Rosa and FuSoYa a little too quickly.

But wait, there's more! What happens when FuSoYa and Rydia have run out of MP? No need to end the fight just yet! If Rosa has been able to save most of her MP up to this point, then the fun has only just begun! With FuSoYa in the back row, he will usually do less than 100HP worth of damage to a Searcher. Considering that each Searcher has 5500HP, this is another way to ensure your time with the Searcher can last much, much longer than usual. Furthermore, whenever you are worried about the machine's HP, Rosa is there to heal it! The fight can literally go on as long as you want it to go on. When the battle is nearing completion, go ahead an kill FuSoYa - yes, kill your own party member - and let Rydia handle the rest of the load. Her attacks will probably do a little more damage than Fu's, but she will still cause the fight to gradually meander on. This will earn the four living characters (all of whom are with you until the end of the game) a boatload of EXP. For example, I spent a little under 45 minutes on one fight with a Searcher, and when the battle ended, Rosa and Rydia both went up two levels each, and Cecil and Edge went up three apiece. Not too bad for the time it took. While I would only do this until all four are on level 60, as there is plenty of good EXP to be had while completing the Moon's other objectives, it will put you in good position to beat the rest of the bosses in the game.

So THAT'S Where They Came From!

2004-07-31T17:25:00.000-07:00

One other non-descript cave offers something for players on the moon. Within lie the Hummingways, brethren of the various Namingways seen wandering around the planet. One of the Hummingways even tries to justify this by suggesting that one of them had left for planet sometime ago to practice his art of naming. This Namingway must have spawned some offspring down there, as the planet is filled with these renamers.

As you might expect, if the Namingways get their title from their ability to name, the Hummingways get theirs from their ability to hum. Most of the Hummingways with whom you speak will hum a short tune for the characters. Nothing special, but nothing too annoying, either. There are three Hummingways in the back that will give you a little more detailed information about their people, but again, nothing special. There is also an actual Namingway in here as well, though finding him is like playing a game of Where's Waldo.

The big reason to come to this cave is that one of the Hummingways is a merchant that will sell some of the rarest items in the game to the characters. This includes Ether1s and Ether2s, Whistles (which summon Fat Chocobos to wherever you are standing), and Elixers. Needless to say, these items all cost a pretty penny, but are worth every cent.

There's Something ...Different... About Rydia....

2004-07-31T17:05:00.000-07:00

There is one more summon to be gained before moving on with the adventure. Rumor has it that there are actually a number of other summons, none of which are too particularly useful, that can be won from various random monsters. I personally believe this is a load of hogwash, but there are enough FAQs and Walkthroughs out there that say otherwise that lead me to have my doubts. One of these summons, for example, is Imp. You have a 1/64 chance of winning the summon from battling Imps or Imp-like enemies. I personally have tried to obtain these summons every time I've played through this game, both on the SNES and right now. Earlier today, in fact, after gaining Leviathan I spent close to an hour and a half and fought over 100 battles with Imp enemies outside of Baron and never got this supposed item. Because I have tried so many different times on different playthroughs on different copies of the game, I find it hard to believe that any of them actually exist without the use of a Game Genie or Game Shark.

At any rate, the final summon that I know actually does exist is Bahamut, found in an isolated cave on the moon. Before reaching Bahamut, the party must battle through a cave that contains the Genji equipment for Cecil, marking the second appearance for this storied armor. The items are only a small upgrade over the Diamond equipment, but the difference is notable in battle. This cave also contains three Behemoths that appear as random encounters, but are always encountered at the same three places. The Behemoths are pretty tough, as they counterattack everything directed at them, but can be brought down without too much difficulty.

Bahamut, on the other hand, is a different matter. The King of Dragons and leader of the Summons is also more difficult than FFIV's final boss, though not as hard as the moving wall. Bahamut only has one attack, but it is a whopper. He counts down from five and then unleashes MegaFlare, the strongest attack in the game. The only way to dodge this is by casting Wall spells on the characters. This reflects the damage back on to Bahamut. If two characters are Walled, he will sustain 9999 damage. A couple rounds of this brings the beast down and earns you the best spell in the game. What makes the fight difficult is that the Walls wear out pretty quickly, and the game gives you no indication they are gone until you get hit with a spell. The walls also last longer on some characters than others, making it hard to predict when it will dissipate. Even so, careful attention to detail will win the fight in the end. To give you an idea how close it can be, on this playthrough Rosa was the only one still standing when Bahamut died.

After defeating the dragon king, the Master Summon offers his services to Rydia. This, in my mind, confirms that there must be something different about Rydia that sets her apart from the other characters. I mean physically. Bahamut immediately saw she was a summoner, Odin immediately saw she was a summoner, the Slyphs immediately recognized her as a summoner. And this is without even going into the other NPCs that knew she was a summoner. How is this possible, if Rydia looks like the other characters? There must be something physically different about summoners that is impossible to see in 16-bit graphics. Whatever it is, it must be pretty obvious, and Edge obviously does not mind it. Heck, he's probably attracted to it!

Man on the Moon

2004-07-31T16:44:00.000-07:00

There are several places to go on the moon, but a couple of those locales can wait until you get a fifth character. For that reason, I opted to go to the Lunar Palace first and move the story along. There is no direct road to the Lunar Palace, so you have to go through a series of caves to reach your destination.

Inside, Cecil and company find FuSoYa, the weirdest-named character in the entire series. (Though I will admit, Yang is pretty bad as well.) FuSoYa shares the story behind the goings-on of FFIV, explaining that Golbez is really under the control of a man named Zemus, who years ago had tried to destroy the Earth. FuSoYa also drops the first big secret of the series: that Cecil's father was a Lunarian, making Cecil half a person.

The story of the Lunarians is that the planet they lived on was destroyed, forcing a handful of the planet's denizens to flee to the Blue Planet. Realizing that humans did not match their intellect (unfortunately, they are a fairly arrogant race of people), the Lunarians created a second moon and decided to live there for a while. Great. We've just gone from Star Wars to Superman.

FuSoYa joins the party after giving his spiel, finally giving you a replacement for Kain. FuSoYa's job is titled "Lunarian," though his classification would probably be closer to Red Wizard. He can use every spell in the game, though his MP is rather low in comparison to Rydia and Rosa. FuSoYa is essentially an upgraded Tellah. His other ability is Regen, which slowly regenerates each character's HP. If FuSoYa dies, the Regen effect wears off. At this stage of the game, recovering 10HP every 30 seconds really is not that helpful.

Flying a Free Willy

2004-07-31T13:54:00.000-07:00

After accomplishing all the side quests on the overworld and underground, it is time to head for the mystical, magical moon. To do this, a trip to Mysidia is first required. The legend about the hero is read again, and after a small cutscene a space ship flies out of the ocean. This is another event that can be linked to Final Fantasy III, as yet again the ultimate airship is found sealed under the ground.

Like Invincible, its FFIII predecessor, this ship has a subscreen where players can sleep, talk to a Fat Chocobo that somehow survived being under the water with no supplies (and that without losing any weight!), and choose when to take off. The ship is called the Lunar Whale, mostly because it looks kind of like a whale and can take Cecil and his friends to the moon.

One thing to note - This is the first Final Fantasy in which the characters do not go under the water for any reason at all. This is also the first Final Fantasy that sent characters into Outer Space.

The True King of Baron

2004-07-31T13:45:00.000-07:00

To Cecil's dismay, a walk down to the lower throne room of Baron Castle reveals the ghost of the real Baron King. The spirit will have nothing to do with the party until after the gang has visited the Land of Summoned Monsters, but afterwards will reveal himself to Cecil.

It turns out that after he died, the King of Baron somehow was turned into the summon Odin. This is never fully explained, although this does continue the tradition from FFIII of placing Odin in the basement of a castle. Before giving his powers to Rydia, the King requires the party to prove their strength in a fight against him. The proper wording probably should have been test their speed, as this is another battle with an unseen time limit that requires players to quickly kill a boss. Odin, fortunately, is easier to bring down than the moving wall. Which is a good thing, as you have even less time to defeat Baron's former King.

There is a (mostly) foolproof way to bring down Odin in four hits. Which is good, because I still only have four characters in my party. I am still kicking myself for that decision. The first step is to return to Fabul and show the dented frying pan to Yang's wife. She is grateful for what you have done, and hands over a knife. The knife is a thrown object that deals a guaranteed 9999 damage to whomever it hits. Place the knife at the start of your inventory, and then return to Baron. When the battle starts, have Edge throw the knife, have Rydia use Bolt3, and then have Rosa and Cecil attack. Bolt3 and the Knife should both deal 9999 damage, and then Cecil and Rosa's attacks are good enough to put him away.

As in just about every other Final Fantasy, Odin's summon attempts to destroy every monster on the screen instantly.

Underground Town

2004-07-31T13:32:00.000-07:00

The Cave of Summoned Monsters leads - Surprise! - into the Land of Summoned Monsters, a town filled with the various summons in the game. Players meet talking Chocobos, friendly Bombs, and other less-than-fearsome denizens of this polite neighborhood.

The town has all the conveniences of every other town in the game, and then some. There is an Inn, two item shops, an armor shop that sells Aegis Shields, a Weapon Shop with upgrades for Rydia and Rosa, and the first library in the series since Final Fantasy II. One of the houses even contains a save point.

There are also a number of items scattered around for the taking. One of the chests in the village contains the Rat Tail, an odd item that has not been seen since the original Final Fantasy. The tail can later be traded for a piece of Adamant, which in turn provides players with this game's Excalibur. Also found in the lower levels of the town is another Yoichi Bow.

At the bottom of the town there are two boss fights for characters to attempt. The first is with Asura, Queen of the Summoned Monsters. She was definitely a lot tougher to beat in the original SNES version of the game. In the previous American release, she cured herself almost every round, making it all but impossible to bring her down without casting Wall on her first. Asura has been seriously downgraded for the Chronicles rerelease. Instead of spending most of her rounds curing, she instead attacks. Her cure spells seem to have also lost some power, meaning that players could bring her down without needing the Wall spell. After defeating her, Rydia learns the Asura summon. This magic cures everyone in the party (although it randomly attempts to annoy players by shielding them instead) and is by far the best curative spell in the game.

The second boss battle is with Leviathan, marking the second time in the series players get the chance to fight the water dragon. If my memory serves me correctly, this is also the last time, although I could be mistaken. Leviathan uses his trademark Tidal Wave every so often, but constantly casting Bolt3 and Blitz bring him down very quickly. Rydia then earns the Leviathan summon, which is a powerful attack summon, though there is one that is better.

The Other Underground Cave

2004-07-31T12:56:00.000-07:00

The Cave of Summoned Monsters is constantly referred to as the best place in the game to gain levels. I highly disagree with this idea. Even though there is good experience to be gained by some of the battles in this otherwise linear dungeon, the final labyrinth in the game will build your levels a little more quickly.

The reason for the Cave of Summoned Monsters receiving such acclaim is that it is home to the Conjurers, a similar breed of monster to the Marions the characters have already fought. The Conjurers choose a monster at random and bring it forth each round. One of these foes, the Arachne, is the key to building levels down here. The only attack the Arachne will ever use is GaiaRage, the earthquake more commonly produced by the Titan summon. As the flooring in the cave is poisonous, chances are good that the party is in Float mode. If this is the case, then GaiaRage will do... absolutely nothing. The Arachne is also relatively weak, as Edge can usually bring them down with one hit. The Conjurer's attacks are so weak that they are of no immediate concern. Fighting these Arachnes for a couple hours will eventually boost your characters' levels astronomically.

It is getting these Arachne battles that is a challenge. Conjurers are able to summon forth a variety of other monsters, including RockMoths, Clappers, and Imps. The Clappers give good experience, but take a while to bring down and can do significant damage when their attacks find their mark. The RockMoths and Imps are worth ignoring.

There are also other monsters in the cave besides the Conjurers, none of which give nearly enough experience to quickly build levels. The enemies in the final dungeon are at least capable of giving you enough EXP to raise levels at a tolerable pace. By the time you get that far, you will also be capable of killing them in only one or two hits, which is always a plus. The monsters that reside in the Cave of Summoned Monsters are mostly harmless, although there a couple with the annoying ability to confuse a character. When you only have four characters in your party, this can frustrating.

The Land of Annoying Status Ailments

2004-07-31T06:46:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned in the previous post, I decided to skip two of the optional dungeons until after I had completed the Sealed Cave. I am still wondering what in the world I was thinking.

The first dungeon I traversed was the Slyph Cave, located in the northwest of the Underground. Of all the dungeons in the game, this is by far the most frustrating. The entire dungeon is based on the central goal to annoy the crap out of anyone who enters. The monsters in this cave are not the most difficult in Final Fantasy IV, but they are the most aggravating.

Much of the floor of the Slyph Cave is covered in poision flooring, a'la several of the previous installments in the series. Unlike in the past, however, stepping on these panels does more than 1HP damage. This means that players must cast Float on the party in order to avoid sustaining large amounts of damage outside of battle. While it may not at first appear to be so, Float is one of the status effects that make this dungeon incredibly annoying. While the characters are hovering, Cecil's Cover ability is nowhere near as automatic as usual. This means that if you are in the middle of a fight, and one of your characters is low on HP, the chances of Cecil helping the character are dramatically decreased. You would be surprised at how often this can be a problem.

Overlooking the very act of wandering around, the cave harbors some of the most frustrating foes in the game. The Ghosts and DarkTree monsters each attack at an unrealistically quick rate, considering one of them is undead and one is a piece of wood. The damage is nothing major, but can add up in time. Your weaker characters, most notably Rydia, are then in danger as Cecil will not always jump in front while the party is floating. The Ghosts are also able to cast a Fire spell, which does not do a whole lot of damage, but is unavoidable. Under no circumstances will Cecil ever jump in front of a spell.

This cave also reintroduces the Malboro to the series. I do not remember the Malboro being in the American release, but I do vaguely recall this monster being there under a different alias. This marks the second appearance of the Malboro, the second appearance of BadBreath, and the first time that the one ever used the other. The Rhyos enemy in FFII was the first to ever use BadBreath, but it was not like the attack we have all come to know and despise. BadBreath, here just called Breath, causes every status ailment possible (except Stone) to the character it targets. This attack also has the unfortunate side effect of working 90% of the time. In other words, your character becomes a confused midget toad/pig that is also blind and mute. This also means that in one or two attacks, the character will probably die, as they no longer have any defense at all. The Malboro can be brought down in three or four physical attacks, but when you consider the fact that you have to manage these blows while handicapped, this becomes significantly harder to manage. To make things even more fun, there are encounters with as many as three Malboros at a time. One treasure chest contains a fight with four Malboros, making it one of the hardest fights in the game. Not surprisingly, the weapon you get from this fight is not very useful.

One other random encounter in the Slyph Cave is with ToadLadies and their TinyToads. The ToadLady causes all of the frogs she brings to cast Toad on your various party members. This is the only attack any of them ever use. If you kill the frogs, ToadLady turns herself into a Toad, and then tries to turn your party into Toads. There is almost no point in healing from the condition until after the fight, as the chances are good that the Toads themselves will restore you from the condition before the fight is over. It is impossible to die in this encounter. These fights may take a while, as the characters are incapable of doing more than 100HP worth of damage while in their froggy state, but they will never be damaged in anyway. Near as I can figure, the only possible reason why Square would ever have thought to include such a battle was to royally annoy the game's players. That is the only thing this fight accomplishes. There is no threat of death from anything other than boredom, as the player must wait until one of the characters is well enough to bring down the frogs.

When you finally reach the Slyph's Home, the party finds Yang alive, but not well. He appears to be in some sort of a coma, and the Slyphs are untrusting of the party. The plan now is to leave the cave, find Cid, attach the drill on to the Falcon (one of the funnier cutscenes in the game), and then head back to the overworld and return to Fabul. Yang's wife gives Cecil a Frying Pan, telling him to wake up Yang's lazy behind. Then guess what? The party gets to go back to the Slyph Cave and wander through it to the Slyph's House all over again! Using the Pan wakes up Yang, but he finds himself too injured to continue fighting. Bowing up a Super Cannon using only one's bare hands will do that to a man. Instead, the Slyphs offer to help the party by giving Rydia the Slyph summon.

The Slyphs use a Wind attack that damages a monster and distributes its HP among the party. This is not a very useful summon. It does have its moments, but there are better ways to heal in the game, and there are better attacks as well. For only 25MP it does have some advantages, but not nearly enough to justify all the pain that players had to endure to get the spell. Then again, 85% of all my problems in the cave stemmed from my decision to undertake it with only four party members. Even with fivem however, the Slyph Cave is extremely annoying and is the first section of any Final Fantasy game that I can honestly say I do not want to go through again for quite some time.

Where the Walls Have Ears

2004-07-30T13:49:00.000-07:00

The player has a variety of choices in terms of where to go after enabling the Falcon to travel over lava. There are two caves that are optional, yet yield good rewards to those who traverse their grounds. It is a wise idea to undertake these caves now, as there are still five characters in the party. Unfortunately, I am not a wise person, and I chose to skip them for the time being and to instead head on over to the Sealed Cave, the next stop on Cecil's magical voyage.

The Sealed Cave is one of the emptier dungeons in the Final Fantasy series. There are very few random battles in this cave, and players can go down two or three floors at a time before being randomly encountered. The monsters are mostly bats and vampire women, all of which can be easily killed, making the trip through the cave little more than a walk through the park.

Instead, it is the fixed encounters that can drive players up the wall. Almost every door in the cave is a monster. These trapdoors will target and then kill one of your characters. If the door has not sustained enough damage by its next turn to attack, it will target and kill another character. From what I have seen, this death attack is unavoidable. If the player succeeds to deal significant dameage on the door but does not destroy it, the door yells, "Surprise!" and out pops either a Manticore or a Yellow Dragon, both of whom can be extremely irritating if your goal is to keep all five characters alive through the entire fight.

After battling through all the doors and picking up all the treasure, the characters finally achieve the goal they set out to accomplish: gaining the final dark crystal.

After leaving with the crystal in hand, though, is when the fun really begins. Upon exiting the crystal room, on of the walls moves in and attacks the characters, beginning what most players will probably agree is the toughest fight in the game. You literally have an unseen time limit place on this fight. If the wall reaches a certain part of the screen, it will quickly start to kill off all of your characters. The wall has A LOT of HP, and it has the advantage of moving multiple spots in between rounds. This is one of the hardest fights in the series to win, and I personally had to try several times on this file just to finish off the darn thing. You literally are required to rearrange your inventory and spell charts so as to not waste valuable time entering commands. Even with the final boss of this game, players have time to heal and carefully choose which attacks to use. You also do not have a time limit with the boss either.

After destroying the wall and reaching the entrance to the cave, Golbez starts his mind control games again, takes over Kain, and steals the Crystal. Oh, those evil brainwashing baddies....

A Red Wing of Our Very Own

2004-07-29T09:29:00.000-07:00

The fight with Rubicant ends with the gang falling into a trap hole. After walking around the tower just a little longer, Cecil and company come across one of the Red Wings. Edge promptly suggests that the party steal the airship and claim it as their own.

Once again, the Final Fantasy series is giving players multiple airships to control, each with different features and functions. The Enterprise can now pick up and move the Hovercraft. This new airship can eventually traverse the entire underworld.

Edge gives this new ship the name, "Falcon," marking yet another Star Wars reference in the Final Fantasy universe. Interestingly, the game is shifting from Star Trek's "Enterprise" to Star Wars' "Falcon." Huh.

After flying it back to the Dwarven Kingdom, the party finds that (surprise, surprise) Cid is still alive. The funny thing about FFIV is that Square went from killing everyone in FFII and FFIII to now making an almost running gag of people "dying" then coming back. Cid fixes the Falcon so that it can now fly over the magma in the Underground, allowing a number of new locations to visit and explore. Through the course of the game, only the Sealed Cave is required, meaning that a number of side quests of sorts have now just been unlocked.

One place that I will not spend a whole lot of time talking about is Torma, the other Dwarven Village. Besides having some better equipment for each of the characters, its only real attraction is that its dwarves say "Lalli-Ho!"

Fair Fight With a Fiend

2004-07-29T05:00:00.000-07:00

After meeting up with Edge, the characters must once again enter the Tower of Babil and start climbing up through the previously inaccessible floors. Along the way, the characters encounter a myriad of monsters, including the Mad Ogre. In fact, one treasure chest contains four Mad Ogres, and the prize is the Ogre Axe, which makes killing the beasts easier. Oh the irony. After all, if you had the axe before the fight, you could have killed them in only a couple of rounds. Clever Square.

About halfway through the second half of Babil, the party encounters Edge's parents, although not in their normal forms. It seems that the evil doctor had performed some crazy experiments on the King and Queen, turning them into vicious monsters. This fight is only of note because it is the first time, to the best of my memory, that two opponents in a battle share the same amount of HP. In other words, you could focus your attacks solely on one, and after draining the HP both would be defeated. For the purpose of storytelling, this is necessary, as it leads to Edge's tearful reaction towards his parents' passing and his swearing to assist Cecil in order to take revenge. Otherwise, though, this concept leads to some pretty short battles.

At the top the characters finally meet Rubicant, the strangest of the Four Fiends. He is actually upset that Edge's parents were mistreated so, and he does not immediately attack the party. Furthermore, he completely heals the party before the fight. Just goes to prove that not every boss meets the traditional stereotype. Although the game says that Rubicant is essentially invulnerable when he has his cloak raised, he still is susceptible to Kain's Jump. This is probably because the weak animation of the time prevented him from using the cloak to cover his head. At any rate, the fight can be over rather quickly if Kain simply jumps every round.

The Anguished Prince

2004-07-28T19:33:00.000-07:00

By my count, not including the eight players design themselves in the first and the third games, there are 69 main playable Square-created characters in the first ten Final Fantasy games. These colorful creations have ranged from wizards to warriors, a moogle to a mog-rider, a mysterious character of whom we wonder the gender to an androgynous white monstrosity whose gender we are not as concerned with knowing. All have been beautifully designed, many have been ingeniously constructed, some have been emotionally provoking, and all have had that peculiar Square flair for originality.

Of all these characters, however, my absolute favorite is found in Final Fantasy IV. He was the first character with an attitude, the first that seemed to have a lighthearted attitude, and the first Ninja I ever controlled. He, of course, is Edge, the brash, at times arrogant and at others genuine, cocky, sarcastic young prince at arms with his newfound leadership role and twisted up inside over the death of his parents. In short, the first truly complex character Square ever designed. This, of course, is going by the American version, which really gave little in the way of dialogue to convince me otherwise of most of the game's other characters. Sure, Rydia is torn up about working with her mother's killer, and Edward had his one-dimensional heartbreak over his fallen lover. The Kain subplot was vastly underplayed in the original American release, and is not given too much depth in the Chronicles remake. While those characters did have some layers of complexity, none went as deep as Edge.

His underlying consideration for others shines through his seemingly self-centered behavior. His determination to ease the pain of the destruction of his kingdom by focusing his attention on revenge is the type of plotline that inspires world-class novels to be written. His youthful playfulness conceals his maturity, which has given his parents reason to believe their kingdom is being left in good hands.

What strikes me more than anything else in the game, though, is the admittedly underdeveloped relationship between him and Rydia. The game is clear about his immediate fascination with the young summoner, but remains less obvious about how she feels about him in return. There are, in my opinion, enough clues that lead me to believe she likes him back, although these giveaways are ingeniously subtle. This kind of relationship laid the foundation for most of Square's future character development sequences, leaving the details that cause us to enjoy the characters up to the player to discover.

This is also the first romance to be developed over the course of any Final Fantasy game. The romance of Rosa and Cecil is extremely underplayed, sounding more like something out of an old Shakespearean play rather than any real and genuine.

"Oh, Cecil, I need you."
"Oh, Rosa, I will never let anything happen to you!"
"Oh! Hold me, Cecil!"
"I love you, Rosa!"
"And I you!"
Note: None of the above were actual game quotes. To my reccollection.

My point, of course, is that the players is introduced to the pair in the middle of an already solid romance. Nothing new is developed, nothing more comes to be in this relationship. It is a solid matching that everyone can tell will one day result in a successful marriage. Unfortunately, this type of relationship is also a rather boring substance in terms of storytelling. Rydia and Edge's relationship is less clear cut, and thus far more intriguing. It develops gradually, and leaves the player in suspension as it continues to play out.

As a playable character, Edge's unique abilities also contribute to his being my favorite character of them all. His Throw command, an upgrade from his FFIII predecessors, is invaluable, and the fact that things to throw are a tad easier to come by in this installment make it one of the most useful abilities in the game. Edge can also steal, although the command was called Sneak (I think) in the American translation. His Ninja magic is intriguing, although a little flawed in its execution. It offers very little that cannot be substituted by a similar, more effective spell cast by Rydia. Even so, the fact that it exists allows players another incentive for building him up, something that cannot be said about characters like Kain. Finally, the fact that Edge wields two swords means that his attacks absolutely dominate by the time you acquire the Murasame and Masamune blades.

Overall, Edge is in my humble opinion the best character Square has ever designed. There have been several other characters that have come close, but none have left the same lasting impact as this rogue with a heart of gold. He starts out a little weak in comparison to the rest of the party, but it all goes uphill from his introduction.

Hooking It

2004-07-28T19:16:00.000-07:00

Much like in Final Fantasy III, part of the storyline involves accessorizing the various airships that come the characters' way. After completing the first part of the Tower of Babil, Cecil and company are told to head to Baron for second customization of the game to the Enterprise. Cid's engineer underlings attach a hook to the ship so that the crew can now pick up and carry around the hovercraft.

The hook is an interesting idea. It is also terribly underused in Final Fantasy IV. There are only a handful of places to take and use the hovercraft in the game. One of those places is optional, and eventually aids in acquiring some of the best armor in the game. For the most part, unfortunately, the hovercraft is rather obsolete when an airship can do the trick.

The major drawback with the hook is that the airship has to be right over the hovercraft. Those of you who have been reading since the beginning will remember my complaints from the first game about certain places where there was only one square to land the ship, annoying players to no end. The same idea is in effect in this fourth installment, where players have to fly around until they are immediately on top of the vehicle, which can cause some frustration.

Babilin' Along

2004-07-27T19:32:00.000-07:00

There are a bountiful bevy of beautiful beasts to be beheld in the Tower of Babil.

Well, maybe not quite "bountiful..." And, perhaps, not beautiful... The beasts found in the Tower of Babil, however, are a quite interesting grouping of creatures from all over the Final Fantasy spectrum.

The Fire Dogs and Flame Knights (names actually could be different...) are the typical, bland enemy with little to distinguish them. The other monsters are far more interesting. The Chimeras, for example, make their reappearance in this tower. The Basilisk, an annoying little bugger that counterattacks by slowly stoning characters, also wanders the lower floors of the tower. The Naga, a classic beast from the previous installments, also wanders the floors. In the Japanese version, I would not be surprised if the Naga's name had been changed to more familiar Lillith.

The two most unusual monsters are the Alarm and the Egg. The Alarm, like the Marion enemy, has the unique power to summon monsters. The monster changes with each alarm, although the enemy you see first will be the one that will continue to reappear. The downside to the Alarms is that its summoning ability is the result of a counterattack. They are not very helpful in terms of level building therefore, as you can only continue to fight as long as the Alarm still has HP. Unless you can find a way to deal a very small amount of HP damage to the machine, it is quicker to kill it and then walk around some more for experience.

The Egg is another crafty foe. After being hit, it hatches and a randomly encountered monster from the area appears. The monster is different with each Egg, making it kind of fun as you never know what you will get. The problem with the Egg is that it does not have very many HP, meaning a powerful character can kill it before it hatches.

The Tower of Babil also brings back Encounter Rooms, an idea from the original Final Fantasy. It is possible they appeared earlier in FFIV, but this is the first I've noticed them. The Encounter Rooms in this installment have Treasure Chests in them, each with monsters. Walking around the room, though, reveals a random encounter at almost every step.

The boss of the tower is one of the oddest in the series. Doctor Lugas, a wily old scientist who actually does slightly resemble Dr. Wiley of Mega Man fame, is more of a comic relief encounter than anything. He and his robot attack the characters. The first thing the robot always does is attack the bad doctor. From that point on, it continues to randomly malfunction, alternating from attack to inducing status effects to healing - using all three on either the characters of he and the doctor.

You then unfortunately must face two more versions of Lugas, each quirkier than the last. He merges with his robot and then accidentally hits a self-destruct button. Next, he dons some kind of battle suit, and again will randomly heal the characters of the status conditions he afflicts. Ah, you gotta love 16-bit humor!

The first Tower of Babil sequence ends on a rather low note. The characters lose both Yang and Cid, and then are forced to leave the Underground for now. Oh the tragedy... First Tellah, then Palom and Porom, and now Yang and Cid...

One For the Makers

2004-07-15T08:06:00.000-07:00

Those with a keen sense of discovery can find a secret room in Final Fantasy IV, one filled with mystery and intrigue. It is the Square Developers Lounge, abundant with a number of out-of-game references only the makers would understand.

It used to be a big thing for programmers to add secret references to themselves in RPGs. Final Fantasy III, for example, included a nod to the helpline. Earthbound had a couple of signs dispersed through its world that talked about Nintendo and some of the game's developers. Robotrek (an Enix game that may very well be the best RPG that most of you have never played) hid an Enix Corporation inside the game. One of Chrono Triggers best endings allowed players to "talk" to the makers of the game.

For whatever reason, it is no longer cool to make self-references in the video games you work so hard to make. You almost never see such easter eggs anymore, even though the technology now makes them harder to hide and allows for more creativity in what is hidden.

The original U.S. version had a similar room, though it was nowhere near as elaborate. In the Chronicles version, there are several more people to talk to, and one can even pick up several of the rare "Smut" item. Believe it or not, I am actually cool with the inclusion of the Smut item, as it does show that the makers have a sense of humor about who they are. You can even battle some of the programmers, one of whom probably qualifies as one of the more difficult fights in the game. (The only way I brought him down was by poisoning him.)

And here, my friends, is where the Blog will have to stop for a couple of days. I am currently outside of the Tower of Babil. (Interesting facts - not only can you walk on the Dwarven tanks, you can be encountered on top of them as well.) I will be leaving the country for about two weeks or so, and will not be near the game to play any further. For that matter, I will not have access to a computer, so I would not be able to update the Blog anyway. I promise that by June 29th there will be an update of some sort. For the next couple weeks, though, do not be alarmed by the lack of postage.

Land of the Lost

2004-07-14T05:09:00.000-07:00

Following FFIII's idea of having two different sections to one world (Floating Continent and Main Overworld), FFIV decided to follow in suit by giving the player two different sections of one world to explore. In addition to the overworld, Square designed an underworld; a land found underneath the surface. Square liked this idea of two worlds so much that it incorporated it into every Final Fantasy game up through FFVII.

The only problem I have with Final Fantasy IV's story is that much of it is based on coincidences. For example, Yang conveniently had the key to the waterway of Baron. Rosa just happens to have made it to Kaipo right before Cecil and Rydia arrive. In the most recent example of my playthrough, Kain was coincidentally given a piece of Magma, and somehow through the hypnosis remembered for what purpose it was to be used. These happenstances are rather unimaginative, but after playing three games that had very little story at all, I welcome this change. I also can be reassured in the knowledge that most of the future installments have improved stories, as Square did a fantastic job of learning from its mistakes.

Throwing the Magma down a well of a town that just happens to be filled with Dwarven descendants causes the path to the underworld to open. After flying down inside, the party comes across the Red Wings taking on a group of tanks. For some reason that I never fully understood, Cid decides to fly through this gunfire - and then promptly watches as his beloved Enterprise is all but destroyed. This does give him a convenient exit, though, as he takes the airship back to the surface to improve its armor.

The party is then left outside the Dwarven castle. The Dwarves in the Chronicles rerelease all say "Rally-Ho!" which is what the Dwarves in FFI said. It used to be "Lalli-Ho!" which is the greeting I prefer my Dwarves to use. I will not quarrel over such a petty language difference, though. Of all the changes in the Chronicles version, this is one that I do not mind as much.

Going Delta

2004-07-13T13:51:00.000-07:00

The Tower of Zot probably is a literary reference of some sort. There is some famous fantasy novel that takes place in the Land of Zot. Unfortunately, I cannot recall the name of the story, although I am pretty sure it was well-known.

The tower features two bosses. The Fiend of Wind, who I am pretty sure is supposed to be female, and the Fiend of Wind's three underlings. It is the underlings that first greet the characters. They are Sandy, Cindy, and Mindy, the Magus Sisters.

The three sisters try to complement one another. Sandy gives the commands, Cindy casts wall on herself, and then Mindy casts a spell which reflects off Cindy and on to the characters. Cindy also has the power to revive the other two characters, and although I did not see this happen during my most recent playthrough, I am pretty sure one has the power to cast curative magic.

The three sisters call their attack the Delta Attack, marking the first time in RPG history that such an attack is used. I know for a fact that it is famously used in Chrono Trigger by Flea, Slash, and Ozzie. I am also positive that it has appeared in other games, though I cannot think of any off the top of my head. The Delta Attack is a combination of the elements. It is seen when three enemies combine their strengths into one awesomely powerful attack. Taking down of the three attackers prevents the Delta Attack from occurring.

The second boss is the Fiend of Air, a person named Valvalis, or maybe Valvano. Obviously she left quite an impression on me! Seriously, though, what I did notice was that when she has her hair in tornado form, the characters no longer chant, "Jump, Kain! Jump!" That was my absolute favorite part of the fight, and I am a little sad they removed it for the rerelease.

Unlimited EXP

2004-07-13T05:13:00.000-07:00

For those interested in gaining levels, there are several monsters in Final Fantasy IV that make this process easy. The first is encountered in the Tower of Zot, a location that is not on the map (to my knowledge), and is apparently completely and utterly destroyed upon finishing this point of the story that returning is an impossibility.

While walking around the tower, chances are good that you will run into the Marion monster, always accompanied by 1-3 Puppets. All three only do basic attacks to the characters, although after time the attacks can be enough to wear even the strongest character down. If all of the Puppets have been killed, the Marion will "Call" forth a new puppet to attack the characters. Unlike the cloning monsters of FFIII, these opponents actually give decent EXP. Plus, as long as the Marion is still alive, more Puppets will just be called upon to enter the fray.

The trick, then, is to keep the fight going as long as possible. With the rare exception that a Puppet will cast Berserk on the Marion (this almost never happens), the Marion will always continue to call new Puppets to try and attack the characters. The trick, then, is to have Cecil, Yang, and Cid in the front row and Tellah in the back. At the start of the battle, have whoever attacks first use the Row command. Odds are, in one or two hits, Tellah (now in the front) will be hit so hard that he is kneeled down with the low-HP indicator appearing. Anytime Tellah is attack, then, Cecil will jump in front and take the damage. Instead of receiving the usual 100HP damage, though, as Cecil is in the back he usually will only be hit for 1HP damage. Only Yang, who probably has a lower defense than Cid and Cecil, will ever be hit for more than 1HP damage. So, instead of ever worrying about healing, you can now make the fight last as long as Cecil's HP lasts.

This is a fantastic way to build levels early on in the game. There are several other places where such a trick is possible, each giving more EXP than the previous. This is also a low-risk method, as you almost never get hit and you do not have to use MP or healing items during the fight. After spending between 5-10 minutes on one Marion battle, my party earned over 8,000EXP and everyone increased a level. This works better than walking around fighting enemies, especially as I do not have to worry about healing anyone other than Tellah afterwards.

On the Wings of a Chocobo

2004-07-12T05:30:00.000-07:00

The Dark Elf's cave is not accessible via airship, as it is surrounded by forestry. Instead, a more unique mode of transportation is necessary for this journey. A sizable amount of water prevents a normal Chocobo from reaching the destination. But one with the ability to fly... Now that's a Chocobo of a different color!

The Black Chocobo is a rare species of Chocobo with the limited ability to fly. I say limited because there are not a whole lot of places in the world that can be reached with this bird of flight. Riding one is needed to continue the adventure, and it is an experience like none other.

The Chocobos historically have been land animals, kind of like penguins. These Black Chocobos, though are unique in that they not only can take to the air, but they will actually stick around and wait for the rider. The second time on the back of a Black Chocobo is a flight back to the Black Chocobo's forest north of Toria. This flight is actually controlled by the game, and is the only time in FFIV where it is possible to see a Chocobo flying over mountains.

Anti-Metal Man

2004-07-12T05:14:00.000-07:00

One of the more infamous dungeons in the series is the Dark Elf's cave in Final Fantasy IV. The Dark Elf has stolen Toria's Crystal, causing Cecil and friends to have to trek up to his cave to recover the item. The Dark Elf obviously thought about his plan to steal the Crystal in advance, as he even built his own Crystal Room to store the Crystal. Note the sarcasm.

The Dark Elf also devised a magical field to prevent anyone equipped with metal from being able to fight in his cave. This includes all the nice Mythril equipment the characters just bought, unfortunately. The Dark Elf's cave is another handicapped dungeon, where the player must make the journey without decent armor or weapons equipped. This dungeon is an interesting challenge, but it is nowhere near as hard the dungeons in FFIII where the player is required to control a party of Mini characters.

Conveniently, all the weapons and equipment sold in Toria are crap, so they can be equipped in the cave. The cave is of medium length, and is slightly longer than some of the other dungeons encountered thus far. To help players out, Square included two save points in the dungeon, one very close to the boss' chamber. This save point creates a tradition of placing save points very close to the boss, and players eventually caught on to the clue about when they needed to start preparing.

The game goes through one of its weaker plot points, in which Edward saves the party by playing his harp despite being in poor health. This seems like a rather cheap way to make Edward the hero. While Gilbert actually became a strong leader through his travels, Edward continues to be a weak hero more willing to help from a distance.

On the other hand, Edward sets up a tradition that runs counter to Square's earlier ideas. Edward is the second supposedly dead character to reappear and help out the party. Yang is the first. While Yang could be considered the exception, Edward now becomes the rule. In the previous two Final Fantasies especially, Square was really fond of killing off its characters. Oh, the violence... Now, however, Square starts finding ways to make sure that very few people die in the game. This shows a level of maturity previous lacking in the series, as the creators have learned that it is more important to care about characters than to just watch random people die.

One more thing: When fighting the Dark Elf the second time, make sure Cecil is equipped with Legend and NOT the Mythril Sword. I learned this the hard way. As I had never gone to Mythril Village this early in the game before, I had never had a problem with this fight. I actually died during this playthrough, though, as I re-equipped Cecil with the more powerful Mythril Sword instead. This causes less damage to the elf, and makes it really difficult to do enough damage to bring him down quickly when he starts using Dragon Breath.

Equal Rights...?

2004-07-12T05:01:00.000-07:00

The idea of the kingdom of Toria does not seem to work as well in the Chronicles version of FFIV. Toria is supposedly an Amazonian Kingdom, a land ruled by women. In the original U.S. version of the game, this added an edge of political corectness to the game, touching on real world events while maintaining a fantasy edge. In the Chronicles rerelease, however, the idea of Toria seems to be more of a joke.

The dialogue of most of the citizens residing in the village outside of the castle has been changed. Most of these changes are not for the better. The club that requires the Pass is a little more raunchy, even though much of the same animation has remained. I was almost expecting a lap dance sequence to be added in. The women act more like prostitutes in this installment, and one is given the idea that one of the women is sunbathing in the nude. These scenes actually worked better in the toned down American version, as they made it clear that the women had the power in each relationship. This remake, however, represents the same females as being objectified. It almost takes the humor out of certain circumstances.

The real problem, though, lies when entering Toria Castle. I do not believe any of the dialogue changed in this sequence. If they were going to make one part of the kingdom edgier, they should not have stopped halfway. The women in the castle are in definite power positions, but only the doctor seems to have any clear authority. Thanks to the dialogue, the women in charge of the kingdom are now portrayed as weak. While one citizen declares their land to be more cultured because it is ruled by women, the rulers themselves are doing nothing more than standing in a room, moaning about their inability to recover the missing Crystal while sexual immorality is pervading the nearby town. These women are anything but strong. The dialogue in the American version actually did portray the eight leaders of Toria to be rather strong rulers. This version just makes them appear to be weak and ignorant of the intolerable behavior of their citizens.

An Engineer For Every Occasion

2004-07-11T12:32:00.000-07:00

Just before the mishap with Palom and Porom, the party is introduced to Cid, Baron's airship engineer. He then becomes the second Cid to join an FF party, but the first to join as a playable character. He is one of the more colorful playable characters in the game, and his big, toothy grin after battles tells the player everything they need to know about the man.

Of all the Cids in the Final Fantasy series, Final Fantasy IV's is my favorite. I do not know if it is because he was the first Cid I met, but he is a fun character and adds interesting depth to the party. He is also the first Cid in the series to have offspring. He has a daughter, giving the player some sort of indication of where all the other Cids are coming from!

Cid also introduces to the series the job of Engineer. The only other time this job appears is in Final Fantasy VI. As Cid is able to Scan enemies in battle, it would seem to me that this evolved from FFIII's Scholar job. Cid also becomes the only character that I know of in the series to wield a wrench as his main weapon.

After gaining the airship, there are number of other places to go before heading to the next location. Mist, for example, is an option, provided you hadn't gone there already. The town of Mythril is an excellent place to go as well. The town is full of people who have been subjected to status abnormalities, kind of like the mini village in FFIII. Mythril is full of Mythril equipment, most of which is better than the items currently equipped on the characters. If you got the rod for Tellah in Mist, only the Mythril Rod is weaker than any of the characters' other current items.

One other place that the characters can fly to is a hidden Chocobo forest on an island west of Kaipo. There does not seem to be any point in coming here, as one can only have so much fun riding around an island. In the middle of the forest is a hidden chest containing a Carrot/Gysahl.

Stoned

2004-07-11T12:23:00.000-07:00

Ah, the loss of Palom and Porom... Such a famous event in the Final Fantasy series, and probably the first time that the loss of a character could potentially provoke emotion in the player. The twins give their lives to save Cecil and his friends, an act of self-sacrifice that goes down as one of the bravest in the series, especially since it was done by children.

The reason this is so famous, however, comes from a glitch on Square's behalf. Trying to talk with either of the twins brings up an item box, leading the player to believe there might yet be a secret item to be found somewhere in the game. The existance of this item box has provoked much debate over the past few years, as it seems like a rather odd mistake for Square to make. My take on this is that there used to be a way to cure the twins, but at some point during the development of the game Square decided to change its mind about including this idea. While the twins would not rejoin Cecil after being destoned, they would give up an item in return. My guess is this item moved to a different location in the game.

As programming such a quest would require a lot of coding, it is possible that the item box was just one strain of coding that the programmers forgot to delete. As trying to talk to Palom and Porom would be an obscure action at best, the developers either never noticed this error or did notice but decided it was too late to correct the gaffe. Either way, I am completely confident that there is no item that can heal the twins, and the item box is just a mistake.

A Short Little Side Trip

2004-07-11T12:16:00.000-07:00

After getting Yang back, the party is not forced to immediately head to the underground waterway. While I normally wait until getting the airship to do this, this playthrough I decided to head to Mist Village now to see if there was anything useful available.

While the items in the village shops were worthless, there are a number of valuable items lying around worth gathering. In one house with a secret passageway, for example, a better helmet for Porom and one of the best weapons in the game for Tellah can be found. Also in the town the party can pick up a decent gauntlet for Yang. There are several Bomb items scattered around the grassy areas as well, although their value is up to the player.

It is probably better to head up and collect these items now, as they can be helpful against the tougher enemies found in the waterway.

In the Chronicles version, by the way, the dancer at the north end of Baron does a strip dance if you talk to her before leaving. Of all the completely unnecessary ideas to place in a video game, that is one of the most pathetic. I suppose that about five years or so ago I probably would have been immature enough to think that was pretty cool. Now, though, it just seems stupid. Thankfully, the dancer does not do that during the return trip to Baron.

Quite an Ordeal

2004-07-11T12:02:00.000-07:00

After entering Mt. Ordeal, one of the first away-from-action cutscenes in the series takes place at the base of the mountain. I say one of the first because, while I do not remember it happening, another cutscene away from the action may have occurred either earlier in this game or in FFII. This scene shows what is happening with Kain, Rosa, and Golbez, and sets up a trend that is continued in most of the future installments.

Midway through the climb, the party runs into Tellah, who is still trying to recall his old spells. While Tellah was a valuable asset earlier in the game, he is more of a liability this time around. Despite gaining a couple levels, his MP has not risen at all, meaning Palom and Porom are both probably better spell-casters at this point of the game. Furthermore, Porom can learn the extremely valuable Quake spell if you level him enough, something Tellah does not have in the entire game.

At the top of the mountain, Cecil and company meet Milon, the first of the four Elemental Fiends. The Fiends of the Elements are a throwback idea to the first Final Fantasy. Milon attacks with a brigade of undead, all of which can be brought down by using the twin attack once. After finishing Milon off, walking across the bridge provokes another attack with Milon's undead form, Milon Z. The very first time I played through Final Fantasy IV, I remember having a great deal of difficulty with this fight. I'm not sure if I was not levelled enough, or if I did not realize I could go back to save and heal between fights, but I do not think I beat him before my third try. My other playthroughs he has not given me too much trouble, however, and this time through I beat him relatively quickly.

Cecil then enters the chamber at the top of the mountain to become a Paladin. This idea probably is also borrowing from the idea of Bahamut granting the power to change jobs in FFI. Cecil must face his former self in a fight where, to win, the player is required to parry. After doing so, Cecil becomes a Paladin, Tellah remembers most of his former spells, and the party is able to return victorious to Mysidia.

During this playthrough, I have discovered a few things I had not noticed before. The first is that Tellah does not have in his inventory every spell in the game. He is missing Quake, Nuke, Holy, and another Black Magic spell, though at this time I cannot remember the name of the spell.

I also discovered that, while the other Mysidians forgive Cecil his transgression, the dancer will still turn him into a pig. ;)

And Twiiiiiiiiiiiiins

2004-07-11T08:41:00.000-07:00

The Elder of Mysidia urges Cecil to give up the path of darkness and turn to the light. To this, Cecil must head to Mount Ordeals to become a Paladin and wield the sword of light. In an effort to help Cecil, the Elder instructs two young mages, a pair of twins named Palom and Porom, to accompany the Dark Knight on his quest.

Now, I preface this post by stating that I hate to lump both of them into one entity. Every set of twins I have ever met disliked being joined together like this, each preferring to distinguish themselves from their siblings. Even so, I am going to go ahead and discuss Palom and Porom in such a manor anyway.

Palom and Porom are an interesting duo, both intended for comic relief while assisting Cecil. Palom is brash, Porom is bossy, and I'm sure both annoyed Cecil while entertaining the player. The two are able to use a unique Twin command, which allows them to combine MP to perform a devestating attack. The Twin attack is usually fire based, making it extremely useful against the undead enemies faced at this juncture of the game. Both also learn magic rather quickly, making them useful against other types of monsters as well.

Palom can also use a command called Bluff, which boosts his magic power. This way, in each further round of the fight he is able to unleash more powerful attacks and take down bosses more quickly.

Porom is able to Cry, which the game says "flusters" opponents, though I personally have never seen any real change. I am not completely sure what Cry is supposed to do, and I doubt is is as useful as her other abilities.

The two are fairly useful considering they are only in the party for a short while.

The Plot Thickens... For a Change

2004-07-11T08:31:00.000-07:00

In one of the more startling plot twists, Kain appears during the invasion of Fabul and reveals he is now working for Golbez. He attacks Cecil, but Rosa's voice stops him long enough to save Cecil's life. Golbez then makes his first appearance, chides Kain for his weakness, and then steals both the Crystal and Rosa.

The plot becomes to actually get deeper, something that never happened in the previous installments. While Leon did act as the sentinel type in the first sequel, his actions were never clear, and he only appeared as a good guy for one small sequence in the opening. Kain, however, was once a playable character, but now is betraying his former friends.

The relationship between Kain and Cecil begins to add a new layer of complexity to the adventure, as Cecil actually does appear to be hurt by this turn of events.

The party decides to try to recover both the Crystals and Rosa, so Yang obtains the use of a boat to reach Baron. Along the way, Leviathan makes his third appearance in the series, this time actually being visible in the overworld map. The boat sinks, and Cecil wakes up outside Mysidia.

Mysidia is just another in a long line of similarities this game has to Final Fantasy II. I already mentioned the relationship between Leon and Kain. Leviathan sinking the boat is another. Mysidia once again returns as a town inhabited strictly by magic users, all of whom remember Cecil's previous transgressions. One of them turns Cecil into a Pig, adding a new status abnormality to Square's colorful list.

What's in a Name?

2004-07-11T08:17:00.000-07:00

Square had a hard time breaking away from the traditional Role PLaying Game format. Since its creation, the very definition of role playing meant that the player created a character and controlled every aspect of that character's development. Final Fantasy I allowed the player to create a character. FFIII allowed players to name the characters and then decide for themselves how to develop them. FFII tried to compensate for the fact that the character was already created by allowing you to control what advantages and disadvantages each character contained.

I am not sure that Square realized that players would still go for a game where they were controlling preconstructed characters with preconstructed backgrounds and abilities. Final Fantasy IV was more or less a gamble for the company, as this was the first time a game had set characters and did not allow any kind of customization. FFIV also became one of the most popular RPGs that Square ever released.

In an effort to try and alleviate some of this concern, Square opted to include a way for players to personalize each character. For the first time in the series' history, Square created a way for players to change the names of each of their characters. In their minds, Square must have thought that a player would enjoy the experience more if they were able to control characters with names given to them by the player. I personally do not see this, and have always kept characters' original names. Even so, this must have been a popular feature, as it reappeared in some variation in every future installment.

The means to rename the characters in Final Fantasy IV went through Namingway, a character whose history is not discovered until late in the game. Namingway appears in each town, and Square began to get creative about where they placed each one. Namingway appears at a bar, talking with a bartender in one town. In another, he is found lying in a bed.

Namingway's only purpose was to change a character's name. Even so, he is still one of the aspects of FFIV I fondly remember, and it is a shame that he was not one of the creations kept from installment to installment.

Multicolor Chocobos

2004-07-11T08:04:00.000-07:00

The first Chocobos were yellow. In Final Fantasy III, they became white. In a unique attempt to explain this, Square opted to introduce a world cohabited by numerous Chocobos of different colors. Final Fantasy IV, therefore, became the first FF to feature several different-colored Chocobos, each with unique abilities.

Every Chocobo forest contains at least thre different kinds of Chocobos. The normal yellow Chocobo can be caught and then ridden. Like the white ones in FFIII, these Chocobos are able to cross rivers as well. A white Chocobo also roams around each forest. These rare birds have the ability to completely restore a party's MP.

In the back of each Chocobo forest is a Big Chocobo. In the original version, the item used to summon one of these massive creatures was a carrot, as was seen in FFIII. In the Chronicles version, Square inexplicably changed the name to Gysahl. As the original Japanese translation of the word was Carrot, and as the original Japanese version has been out for more than 13 years (much longer than the Chronicles version), I am going to stand by my earlier statement the Gysahl did not appear as an item until FFVII.

Fabul-ous

2004-07-10T16:11:00.000-07:00

The road to the kingdom of Fabul takes the characters through Mt. Hobs, an area filled with fierce monsters. A few of them are attacking a monk, a man named Yang, and yet another addition to the Final Fantasy IV party.

Yang becomes the fifth member of the group, making Final Fantasy IV the only FF to ever have more than four people in a party at once. From this game, the series dwindled down to four, and then to three, with IX being the only game to break this tradition. Either the monsters got easier or the characters got weaker. I'm not sure which, but I do know that the five character group makes FFIV an unique experience.

Yang is a karate-man, one of the elite of Fabul's number. The battle in which you meet him is what truly made the Bombs famous to FF fans. The characters have to fight a gigantic bomb, which eventually splits into multiple smaller bombs. FFIV is the first one in the series to also feature transformable bosses. The Bomb you fight with Yang changes form twice. The Octopus guardian of the cave to Damcyan gradually loses tentacles as the fight progresses. The Mist Dragon occasionally changed into a shape that was invulnerable to attacks.

This battle allows the first glimpse of Yang's abilities. He starts out with a decent attack but with low speed, another provocation of level building. His kick attack is his most well-known ability, allowing him to hit every enemy at once. Inlike Cecil's Dark attack, this does not cause Yang to lose HP. The Kick is pretty spiffy, to say the least, but not very powerful.

Yang has two other abilities exclusive to the Chronicles version. After giving it some thought, I actually think that most of the abilities that were taken out were actually not very useful, and I can't say they enhance the game too much. Although I have had a lot of fun playing through the early parts of this version of FFIV, I think I would rather have had a straight port of the US version where the music in the battle sequences actually worked.

Anyway, the first attack is called Power, and essentially works like BuildUp in FFIII. Yang is defenseless and inactive for a short period of time, but then releases a powerful attack. This is not exactly that helpful until Yang's speed increases, as he could just pull off two attacks in the time it takes for him to use this ability. The other Command is called Bear, and raises his defense until his next turn to attack. Only under special circumstances could I see this ability being useful.

Yang, like his FFII counterpart Josef, is bald but for a small lock of hair in a ponytail. I think he was modelled after Josef, as they do share similar facial features. Yang is a lovable member of the party, though, and one of the first characters I always think of when considering the series' fourth installment.

The Price of Cowardice

2004-07-10T15:43:00.000-07:00

It does not pay to run away in Final Fantasy IV. Quite the opposite, really.

Retreating has become a more simplified process in FFIV, requiring the player only to hold down on the controller's shoulder buttons instead of using up a character's turn. Characters can actually run away in FFIV when trying to run, which is a huge improvement from FFIII.

Running away can be costly, though, in more ways than one. As in the previous games, retreating leaves the characters vulnerable to attacks. In FFIV, however, successfully running away can occasionaly cause the party to drop some gold. The amount of money lost varies from instance to instance, and can be anywhere from a pittance to a sizable sum.

This is the only Final Fantasy game to discourage running in such a way, and I personally wish that the series had kept this idea. This ensures that players will only run when it is absolutely necessary, while making some think twice about choosing to not finish a fight. The idea of being penalized for escaping is a good one in my book, but apparently was not a good one in Square's.

Behind Every Great Man...

2004-07-10T15:35:00.000-07:00

After claiming the SandRuby from the Antlion (an enemy that originally appeared in Final Fantasy II, if memory serves me correct), the party returns to Kaipo to restore Rosa's health. After doing this, Rosa joins the group to be with the one she loves.

Rosa is one of the more useful party members, as her skill with the bow is decent and her ability to cast White Magic unmatched. Interestingly enough, though the game does not have a job system per se like FFI and FFIII, the story does make it clear that each character except for Rydia chose to pursue his or her particular job. Rydia is the exception because she comes from a race of people who have the rare ability to summon monsters. Rosa, though, chose to become a White Mage to try and help Cecil out on his adventures. Isn't that the sign of true love? The woman does not want to be saved, she wants to adventure with the knight... I can only hope to one day find a female to permanently adventure with me... :)

Anyway, sappiness aside, Rosa can cast curative spells, include Life, which is essential throughout the game. Her regular attacks with the bow are excellent, and her Aim command allows her attacks to become even better. The Chronicles version also allows Rosa to Pray and restore health to the characters. This works like Edward's Heal, but does not cost you a potion.

Aided by two helpful magic users and one not-so-useful Bard, the party heads to Fabul to try and save another of the Crystals from Golbez' grip.

"You Spoony Bard!"

2004-07-10T11:35:00.000-07:00

After an awesome (well, for the time) cutscene of the Red Wings destroying Damcyan, the characters race up to find Tellah's daughter, Anna, dying of wounds sustained while protecting her boyfriend. That boyfriend, a bard, then appears and Tellah immediately attacks him. The scene switches to that of a normal battle. The first thing the players see is a message of Tellah shouting words that would forever live in video game infamy:

"YOU SPOONY BARD!"

Thankfully, Square wisely decided not to change this when rereleasing the game for the Chronicles edition.

That "spoony bard" is Edward, Prince of Damcyan, a character very similar to FFII's Gordon. He is a prince who does not like fighting, a weaker character in the Final Fantasy universe. Edward is a coward, as is proven by the fact that Anna was protecting him and not the other way around. He stands for a while to grieve the passing of his loved one until Cecil and Rydia convince him that it would be better to help them out.

Tellah, meanwhile, vows to kill Golbez, the new leader of the Red Wings and a man whose name is unknown to Cecil. Edward joins the party at this time. Obviously, this not a trade for the better. In fact, the game becomes a little harder with Edward on hand, because, as well all know, in the Final Fantasy series the Bard is always useless.

Well, that might be an exaggeration. Unlike his FFIII counterparts, Edward does put enemies to sleep fairly often and can inflict other status disorders as well. He cannot use magic, though, and his regular attack is terrible. The Chronicles version allows Edward to use the Heal command, which restores a small amount of health to each party member and is slightly useful. Both versions give Edward the Hide command, which gives him the unique ability to be completely ineffective in a battle. Needless to say, I almost never use that command.

With Edward comes a Hovercraft, a brand new vehicle that enable users to ride over the rocks that appear in the ocean. This is a pretty cool invention, and is much better than a canoe in my opinion.

I Can Use a Tent Where...?!

2004-07-10T11:25:00.000-07:00

One of the nice things about the Final Fantasy series is that Square is constantly looking for ways to improve each installment. The company also frequently uses the series to pave new ground in both RPGs and video games in general. The first of the series to appear on the Super Nintendo, Final Fantasy IV took advantage of the new technology and introduced several new concepts to the popular series. The best innovation to the genre of Role Playing Games by far is the ability to save one's game inside a dungeon by using a Save Point, and the first save point of the series is found in the cavern between Kaipo and Damcyan.

Save points are rare and beautiful things. They allow players to save their games without having to be outside. They enable dungeons to become longer, as players can now save their games halfway through and not worry about losing everything in one fight. Save points are also places where players can use items like tents to rest themselves up and restore their characters health. Save points are awesome.

Most modern players grew up with the save point, and never knew of a time where such items did not exist. In fact, games that came out after the save point was invented were usually considered to be of poor quality if they did not allow players to save inside of dungeons. Most players then do not realize that saving was extremely limited back in the NES games. I personally consider them to be a luxury at this point, having played through three entire RPGs where save points were non-existant.

The creation of the save point changed the RPG for eternity. They, combined with better technology in terms of systems and cartridges/discs, allowed games to become longer and the game experience to be more enriching. Players could now take longer to explore, knowing that a nearby save point could bail them out of any trouble.

The First to Wear Sunglasses

2004-07-10T08:58:00.000-07:00

Tellah wears sunglasses. There is nothing else those glasses could be other than sunglasses. They look like sunglasses on the overworld and battle screens, and the player cannot see his eyes when looking at his portrait on the main menu. Therefore, they are sunglasses, making him the first character adorned with such an object to appear in the series.

The characters meet Tellah while trying to head to Damcyan to find a Sand Ruby to cure Rosa's desert fever. Besides an old man telling the crew that they need a Sand Ruby, there is a book in the home where Rosa is lying in bed that says, "Ingredients needed to cure Desert Fever: Sand Ruby." What a complicated cure.

Tellah is an old man who used to be a powerful wizard. In the game he is referred to as a Sage. If we are to go by FFIII's definition of Sage, however, it would appear that Tellah is more of a Red Wizard and Rydia is a Sage. Sages are able to cast every spell in the game, and Rydia is able to use all three types of magic. On the other hand, Tellah can only cast White and Black magic, which fits more in line with the idea of the Red Wizard.

The old man is very useful, as he has high MP and HP for this point of the adventure. One thing I noticed through this playthrough, though, is that the game basically tells the player that Tellah will not be in the party for very long. By looking at how much EXP is required to level him up, the player finds the number to be so unnaturally high that it would take a very long time for anybody who was even trying to have him gain levels succeed at raising him by even one.

One of the nice things about the Chronicles version is that it restores to each character the commands that they had in the Japanese release. Tellah, for example, can now use Recall, an option that allows him to momentarily remember one of the spells he had forgotten and use it in battle. Sadly, the spells he remembers are usually not much better than the ones he currently is able to use, and the command still drains MP, making it practically worthless.

The Littlest Caller

2004-07-10T08:40:00.000-07:00

Kain and Cecil deliver an item called the BombRing to the town of Mist. In the U.S. version, the item was simply called "Package," which I think is the better term to use. If Cecil is bringing an unknown package to the town, then he has no clue what is inside and for what purpose that item could be used. This makes it appear that he does not know what he is doing, causing his reaction to betray the King of Baron more practical. When the item is called something as blunt as BombRing, though, then he would have to be an idiot not to know what such a device would be use for, causing his reaction to the event of Mist burning down to be less realistic.

Amidst the burning wreckage, Kain and Cecil discover a small green haired girl crying over her dead mother. It turns out that by killing the woman's summon, Cecil and Kain also caused the woman to die. When she learns of this, the girl attacks the heroes by summoning a Titan to cause an earthquake. Cecil then wakes up with a new travel companion, as Kain is nowhere to be found.

This little girl is Rydia, the last of the callers of Mist. In the Chronicles version, the term has been changed from caller to summoner, which I think makes more sense. The only thing Rydia is able to call at this point of the game is a Chocobo to run out and kick the opponent. The game never explains what happened to the Titan she was able to call against Cecil and Kain.

Despite the fact that Rydia's only summon is weak at this point of the game, she is still a very useful character for the upcoming battles. Rydia is able to cast both White and Black magic, although she has to learn those spells prior to casting them.

This brings me to the magic system, which, in my honest opinion, is greatly improved from the first three games. Instead of having to buy magic, spells are learned as levels are gained. This once again encourages players to gain levels, as by doing so they can unlock newer and better spells. This, unfortunately, appears only in FFIV. While you can gain a couple spells by levelling up Terra and Celes in FFVI, this happens so infrequently that it makes more sense to just go the Esper route.

Rydia gains a number of useful spells early on, making her a great asset to the party. She can also equip a bow, allowing her to assist in combat while remaining in the back row. She may also be the only character in this game to start out at Level 1, as Cecil and Kain both started at Level 5.

This also sets up a trend of characters leaving and rejoining the party, one similar to that which was found in Final Fantasy II. The difference in this installment is that the only character who does not leave the party is Cecil. In Final Fantasy II, until the player acquired Leon, there was really no point in boosting the skills of the fourth character too much, as the player knew that they would be leaving the party soon. This time around, any of the characters are likely to leave at any time, meaning that the layer has to level up all of them. This also works wonders for story purposes, and I approve of this system whole-heartedly.

Active Battles

2004-07-10T08:29:00.000-07:00

Two of the greatest innovations to console Role Playing Games were introduced in Final Fantasy IV. I have played a lot of RPGs on the SNES, and I do not remember anything having either feature before FFIV was released.

The first one noticed by players, and the focus of this particular post, is the creation of the Active Time Battle system. No longer did rounds have to be turn-based, which each player inputting the commands for each character at the same time before the action starts. Instead, characters could now attack individually, with the player inputting options each time the command list appeared. This way, if one character took longer to perform his or her command, another could actually attack twice, making the battles a little more realistic.

This is the second-best innovation to ever grace RPGs. This speeds up the random battles considerably, thus making them less of a chore in certain parts of the game. This also rewards players for having a higher speed than the opponent, making levelling up more of a necessity. It also, for the first time ever, actually makes spells like Haste and Slow to make more sense. Before, those two spells would only affect the amount of damage their target did in a round. Now, it could actually make the target attack more frequently or less frequently, adding more of a strategy element to the fights.

The ATB received a number of upgrades as time passed on, and it probably did not even reach its peak until the recently released FFX-2. It did make the battles more fun, cause players to plan attacks accordingly, and altered the RPG genre forever.

A True Dragoon

2004-07-09T14:53:00.000-07:00

The first character that joins Cecil in his adventure is Kain, a master Dragoon. The backstories of Cecil and Kain are complicated, with the two becoming best friends who would do anything for each other. This relationship even includes a competition over a woman, one which is won by Cecil.

Kain proves his loyalty to Cecil by going with him to cheer him up after Cecil loses his position as head of the Red Wings. Kain's biggest asset is the fact that he, like the Dragoons in Final Fantasy III, has the ability to jump and land with his spear drawn upon an enemy. This makes him one of the best attackers in the game, although he is absent for much of the quest.

The Darkest Knight

2004-07-09T14:45:00.000-07:00

Final Fantasy IV tells the story of Cecil, a man who falls from glory because of his convictions. Cecil is a Dark Knight under the employ of the kingdom of Baron. He begins the game as leader of the Red Wings, and is returning from a successful mission to forcibly take one of the Crystals from the town of Mysidia (something we have seen before).

Cecil is the first complicated hero ever designed by Square. Early on we see him struggling with what he is doing, trying to justify his action while still questioning whether they were right. Cecil is what really draws players into FFIV and sets the game apart from any RPG that it followed. The character has a real and understandable problem, one that lies as the underlying theme of the first part of the quest.

In the Chronicles version, Cecil is able to use Darkness, an attack that harms every monster. For some reason, Square took this feature out of the American release. I am not sure why, as it is not so powerful that it gave the player an unfair advantage.

Cecil is also the only character who changes class during this installment. The game revolves around his quest, using his transformation from dark to light as a living metaphor for the game's bigger story.

Chronicled for Eternity

2004-07-09T14:35:00.000-07:00

While I will admit that I am not very far into the game, I must say that I am thus far disappointed with the rerelease treatment given to Final Fantasy IV in the Chronicles collection. In fact, I almost wish that I was playing this particular installment on its original system, as the "improvements" to the game have so far been terrible.

For starters, some of the dialogue has significantly changed from the SNES version. Swearing has been added, and it has been used way too much in this early phase of the game. Now, I do understand that the version that originally came to America was a tamed down version of the game, as Nintendo was very uptight about the content allowed on its systems. These swear words may very well have been included in the Japanese version of the game. If that is the case, then the writing is to blame, because the swearing has added absolutely nothing to the experience. In many cases, it looks like the characters are swearing just for the sake of swearing. This is not an improvment at all. Besides the fact that it tarnishes the memories I have of the game, it just looks ridiculous. I do not mind the occasional swearing in games like FFVII and FFIX, because it is rare and often is used to suggest something about the character. Placing so much of it in FFIV was simply unnecessary, and I really hope that this does not continue throughout the game.

The other major problem I am having with the Chronicles version is in the fact that the music in the battle sequences does not seem to be working. It occasionally stops, meaning the rest of the battle is fought in silence, which is really irritating. Furthermore, the amount of time it takes to save is ridiculous. If anyone has any suggestions on how to fix those technical glitches, I would love to hear them.

When the Fantasy Became a Legend

2004-07-09T13:40:00.000-07:00

I cannot adequately explain my feelings toward Final Fantasy IV. It was the very first RPG I ever played, and I remember enjoying every minute of it. It was the first to feature a rich and endearing story, and contained many of the first characters in video game history about whom I could honestly say I cared.

From the very beginning of the game the player is drawn into a wonderfully written story about trust, betrayal, and, most importantly, frienddship. The relationships between characters suddenly dominated the plotline, and was a welcome change from FFIII's go here-do this attitude.

Final Fantasy IV was the first game in the series where the developers decided it was necessary to put you completely inside a character's life. Instead of allowing players to create and customize their own characters, the playable characters of FFIV each already had a background, had set personalities, and allowed players to see the world through their eyes. The only prior game in the series to have set character names was FFII, and the personalities of those characters was severely underdeveloped and barely followable. FFIV's characters also all have set jobs, and only one character ever changes jobs during the game, meaning that the amount of customization possible was limited. I personally prefer this to games like Final Fantasy VII, where the materia systems allows you to essentially use three of the same character.

I love this game. I do not know if it is because it is the game that introduced me to the series or if it is the nostalgic feeling I get from playing the game again, but the first few minutes of watching nothing but cutscenes definitely rejuvenated my love of the series. This is a fantastic game, the first quality RPG to grace the market. Final Fantasy IV is not my favorite game of the series, as there are several I like more than this third sequel. The game will always have a soft spot in my heart, though, as I would never have tried the rest of the games if this one had not have been so good.

This, my friends, is where the quest starts to get interesting.

A Breakthrough in Video Game Bosses

2004-07-08T16:25:00.000-07:00

The DarkCloud is not just notable for being one of the few creatures selected as Final Fantasy Bosses. This is a high honor, one that only nine other creations share, but the Cloud of Darkness is known for something even more historic. After defeating Zande, the characters face the darkness that has been threatening to consume their world. They come face to face with pure darkness, the end-all cause of destruction for the world and find that it is female. Hmmm... Square decided that its embodiment of pure evil needed to be in the form of a woman? Yeah, that sounds about right. ;)

DarkCloud was among the first of the video game bosses to break the gender barrier. The majority of video games, especially RPGS, prior to Final Fantasy III's release were affiliated with the male gender. It was practically unheard of for a female to be so malicious as to try and take over the world. Square, however, was on the verge of cutting-edge political corectness, arguing the age old mantra that anything a man could do, a woman could do better. Proving that a woman could be just as vile as a man, Square brought the quest of Women's Lib supporters one giant step further, as it granted equality to both genders, allowing either to be villainous enough to destroy a planet.

Some might argue that DarkCloud does not really count, as she was an idea rather than a purpose. If this is the case, then it is not until FFVIII that Square actually takes this monumental plunge. I, however, fully support the idea that DarkCloud is a woman and does count, breaking down the stereotypes of RPG women being weak and unable to go after their dreams. The Cloud of Darkness' dreams were simply a tad askew.

DarkCloud could also be the toughest of the ten bosses. Overlooking the fact that the long tower could very well have drained players of the resources necessary to heal, without a party of Fully Equipped Onion Knights, the going against her could be rough. Even with the Onion Knights, she can still be tough if you are not doing enough damage each round. Fortunately, DarkCloud is also one of the least thought-out bosses in the series, and the only thing she does each round is cast FlareWave. This is a tough spell that does significant damage to all four characters, but as this is the only command she ever uses, you never have to worry about her healing. DarkCloud has 45,000HP, the most of any boss to this point of the series.

Unfortunately, much of the ending is not translated, though I doubt it would be anything worth reading. The parts that are translated definitely are unfulfilling, meaning that the toughest boss of the series could have one of the least rewarding endings following the battle. This, of course, is all up to personal opinion.

Finally, I have finished the NES trilogy. It is now on to the Super Nintendo games, starting with Final Fantasy IV, one of first truly good console RPGs, and the one that introduced me to the genre. The games will thankfully start having stories to accompany the plots, and FFIV has a bevy of characters that still have a fond spot in my heart.

As a little sidenote, as I am now starting to get into the games that many people have already played, the format of this blog will slightly change. The games are going to start getting a little longer, meaning I probably will not focus on some of the smaller details as I did while covering the first three. My discussion of the plot will probably have more to do with analysis as well. Hopefully, this will spare the redudancy of repeating each game for those who have played them before, and will add a little flavor in terms of sparking debate and other discussion.

Again, to those who have followed me so far, thank you. And to those who will probably start following more as the games are now more familiar, welcome aboard. So far, it has been a strange and crazy journey, but it is about to become much, much more enjoyable.

The Flying Cyclops

2004-07-08T16:18:00.000-07:00

One of the four Crystal bosses at the end of Final Fantasy III is more notable than the other three, as it introduced a brand new species of creation to the Final Fantasy series. This boss is the Ahriman, a winged ball consisting of an eye and a mouth.

Also known in some of the later games as the Flying Eye, Floating Eye, etc., the winged eyeball is one of the more memorable monsters in the series. Like the Chimera, few people think of them when listing the popularly reused enemy types in each game of the series. Even though this is the case, this species of monster has appeared in many of the games in the series, and is always a welcome sight to longtime fans.

There really is nothing notable about the Ahriman, which is why it is often overlooked. It has a long history in the series, but as it is not known for anything other than its appearance, many people forget about them until encountering one. They often appear at different points in each of the games, with varying degrees of difficulty. Their abilities have changed from game to game, but the classic design has since remained.

Support For the Light

2004-07-08T15:43:00.000-07:00

After mastering the Sylx Tower, the characters are taken to the land of Darkness, where Zande is waiting to fight them. After beating Zande - surprise - it turns out there is a bigger boss waiting for the Onion Crew. Called by many who have played the game Cloud of Darkness, the final boss of the game is more properly known as DarkCloud.

The first battle with Darky is impossible to win, as none of the characters' weapons or spells have any effect on the cloud. Fortunately, after falling in battle many familiar faces return to restore the characters' health and to help them continue on. I think Square wanted there to be some kind of dramatic reunion, ala It's A Wonderful Life, where all the people you helped come back to help you. Unfortunately, this sequence lacks the emotional provocation that comes with the timeless film.

At this point, the game is almost over. Players can either head north and take on the cloud right away, or they could head to the corners and take on a few more bosses. In this final part of the game, the Onion Dudes learn about the four Dark Crystals, the power of which is sustaining the DarkCloud. Each Crystal is being guarded by a boss. Now, it seems from what I have been seen on the internet that it is possible to defeat DarkCloud without freeing the Dark Crystals. I personally do not think that it is, as DarkCloud is nearly impossible to hit with physical attacks or spells before the Crystals have been saved. If someone can prove otherwise, I would love to hear about it.

Jacks of All Trades

2004-07-08T05:43:00.000-07:00

There are two last jobs to be earned in Final Fantasy III, neither of which are bestowed by the Crystals. They are instead found by defeating an optional boss in the lower levels of the Forbidden Land Eureka. If you do not have the Onion Equipment, then these two jobs are by far the best in the game. They are the Ninja, something we have seen before, and the Sage, something we have not.

The Ninja has received some upgrades from its FFI counterpart. The most significant of these improvements is that the class is now able to throw Shurikens at opponents. This, mind you, is before the days of the Throw command, so one Shuriken has to be equipped in each hand. You then lost both Shurikens after they have been thrown, although both will do an enormous amount of damage to any monster or boss. For this reason, it is beneficial to hold off on throwing any of the Shurikens found until the last few bosses of the game. Because the items are lost afterwards, though, you have to spend the rounds of battle to reequip new ones, which is annoying to say the least.

The Ninja is also not limited in the types of weaponry it is able to wield. The only thing I know of that it cannot equip is the Onion Sword, which unfortunately also happens to be the best sword in the game. Imagine equipping the Ragnarok and the Masamune on one person, though, and the awesome damage that would follow. It is a little weird to picture a Ninja wearing Knight's armor, though...

The Sage is also a "jack-of-all-trades" type, although its experience lies within the realm of magic. The Sage is able to equip and cast every single spell in the game. Therefore, it could cast Cure4 on the party one round and then summon Bahamut the next. Most end-of-the-game parties then consist of two Ninjas and two Sages, as this gives you enough in terms of powerful attacks to complete the game. This party does not compare to one consisting entirely of Onion Knights, but it does give you the added the benefit of being able to cast curative magic during battle, which could come in handy during the fight with the game's final boss.

A Boss For Every Occasion

2004-07-08T05:29:00.000-07:00

Part of the problem inherent in attempting a job system in which each class carries a different weapon is in maintaining a high level of difficulty for acquiring each job's "best" weapon. This is quite a challenge, and Square did get it right. In Final Fantasy V. But back in Final Fantasy III, however, Square tried to execute two ideas, neither of which were extremely successful.

The first idea was to pick certain weapons to have extremely high defense, and have them guarded by various bosses. For this reason, and this reason alone, FFIII probably has more bosses lurking in the final dungeon than in any other Final Fantasy game. Some are hidden in chests, others appear when an icon representing the item to be won is present on the screen. These include the Excalibur, the Masamune, and, for the first time in the series, the Ragnorak. These weapons are for only certain classes, as you may have noticed, meaning that the other jobs' best weapons do not receive similar treatment.

The second idea Square implemented was to simply not include best weapons for many of the classes. Their best weapons were found along the regular quest, and once they hit a certain item there was no longer any improvement. When you combine these two ideas then, you essentially have Square saying to the player, "You were able to get through the game so far through inventive customization of the characters, but from this point on we're just going to go ahead and tell you which jobs to use." This almost defeats the purpose of the system, as it creates self-fulfilling prophecy about with which jobs the players will finish the game. In other words, by selecting certain classes the developers think the players will be more apt to use and giving those classes the best equipment, Square is essentially causing players to decide to switch to those classes for the final fights of FFIII.

In any event, you get a number of assorted bosses, most of which are found in the odd land of Eureka. In fact, at the bottom of Eureka players can purchase some of the summon spells they had to earn, including Bahamut. While I understand that this is to allow more than one character the opportunity to use those spells in battle, it still almost negates the purpose of even including those side quests.

Final Fantasy III's Ultimate Job

2004-07-07T17:31:00.000-07:00

As I have already hinted, the best job in all of Final Fantasy III does not come from any of the Crystals. Although those jobs are needed to get through most of the game, they are not needed to beat the series' third installment. Nor are they neccessarily the best option. When fully equipped, the Onion Kid job is unstoppable.

Only an imagination as creative as those belonging to Square developers could devise a way to make the seemingly worst job into the best. The Onion Knight normally has terrible stats, and gaining levels rarely seems to help. When equipped with the rare Onion Gear, though, a party of Onion Kids is by far the best party possible.

Much work needs to be done before the Onion Kid is a suitable occupation. The Onion Sword, Onion Gauntlet, Onion Armor, and Onion Helmet all need to be found, and they do not come very easily. Onion Equipment is randomly dropped by the three colorful dragons that lurk the final dungeon. Encountering the dragons does not happen frequently; seeing them drop a piece of Onion Equipment happens even less often.

For this reason, the better route to take when trying to gain enough Onion Equipment for everybody is to do the Item Upgrade trick. Simply put, when the items are placed in a certain pattern in one's inventory, the item in one spot will upgrade into something better. This is actually kind of like Final Fantasy VI's Collisseum, as you can keep trading in items for better ones. As I did not discover the Item Upgrade trick, I will not print it on this Blog. I will, however, say that an extremely useful FAQ on how to work the Item Upgrade trick has been written and posted on GameFAQS.com by Onion Kid. Onion Kid and Sir Bahamut know more about this game than any other person I have found on the internet, and I give them credit for the advice. As for whether or not the Item Upgrade trick is a reasonable and fair way to acquire the equipment, I will say that the trick is so detailed that Square had to have known about it. It works every time, so it is not a glitch. And it is not something that can easily be stumbled upon. You almost have to know how to do it in order to make it work. Therefore, I would consider its use even less of a cheating method than the Vanish/Doom trick in Final Fantasy VI. It does make acquiring the Onion Equipment much faster, but it is entirely up to you. I personally had no problem using it.

With two Onion Swords, the Onion Kid suddenly has over an Attack rating of over 400 and can single handedly take out just about any monster in the game. With the Gauntlet, Armor, and Helmet, the character's defense skyrockets higher than any other class' max defense in the game. As the Onion items are so difficult to obtain via the longer method of waiting for them to be dropped, I would say that Square kept the Onion Kid's usefulness as the best-hidden secret in Final Fantasy III.

And, once again, confirms my opinion that the Onion Kid is by far one of the coolest things Square has ever invented.

Warlocks and Shamans and Summoners, Oh My!

2004-07-07T17:22:00.000-07:00

Two of the jobs found after rescuing the final Crystal are that of Warlock and Shaman. Both are essentially equivalent to the Wizard upgrades obtained in Final Fantasy I. The Shaman is a better version of the White Wizard, while the Warlock is a better version of the Black Wizard.

At this point in the game, it is better to have only a White Wizard change classes to the Shaman. The Shaman and the Warlock both offer better stats than their counterparts, and both provide more MP and a boosted Magic for character utilization. Even so, while it is almost paramount to have a White Wizard change into a Shaman, there is a different role for the Black Wizard to fill.

The third job to be had from the fourth Crystal is the Summoner, the better version of the Conjurer. With the Summoner comes the ability to bring out the best of each summon. While the eight friendly beasts do have to something to offer when called by a Conjurer, it does not compare to what they have to offer when called by a summoner. The Summoner is thus the best attack-magic user in the game, as the summons do more damage than any of the black magic spells, and often do equally high amounts of damage to multiple opponents. Using a black magic spell against multiple opponents usually does not work nearly as well as calling a summon to come out and play.

The optimum party then would seem to be that of a Genji-Geared Magic Knight, a Shaman, a Summoner, and a Karate Master. This gives a good balance of magic and physical attacks with a healer there to back up the other three.

A Test of Endurance

2004-07-07T17:10:00.000-07:00

Judging by how long Final Fantasy II's dungeon was, it seems to me that Square equated challenge in that game with dungeon length. Considering that the amount of carryable items was severely limited, the developers of the first FF sequel probably had a valid point.

For some reason, however, in a game where it is possible to carry 99 of any given item, Square figured the best way to conclude the third installment was by having players crawl through one of the longest dungeons found in any RPG. This dungeon isn't just long, its ridiculously long, combining several smaller dungeons into one massive headache. The tower takes you up to the clouds where, not surprisingly, darkness is waiting for the player. Inside are a number of new monsters, including a return of the colorful dragons from the first two Final Fantasies.

I must give FFIII some credit for the innovative location of the dungeon. In the first two games of the series, the Final Dungeon more or less simply appeared towards the end of both quests. In III, the final dungeon is located on the World Map from the very beginning, making this game possibly the only one in the series where the final dungeon does not magically spring-up out of nowhere towards the game's finale. The catch is that it is guarded by four sets of statues which will kill characters who try to pass through them prematurely. In order to pass, the characters must find four magical Fangs scattered across the land. The final dungeon is thus accessible as soon as the Invincible is obtained, as the Cave of Darkness holds the last of the Fangs. Players can go into and through much of the last dungeon before even engaging Dorga and Unne.

At the entrance to the dungeon is the chamber of the game's last Crystal. The only thing standing in the way of the powerful object is a boss called the Titan, possibly one of the easiest bosses to defeat in the entire game. I can definitely think of several bosses found earlier on that gave me more trouble than Titan, and he is that easy regardless when you enter the Crystal chamber. If you are powerful enough to fight through the Cave of Darkness, it is a safe bet you are powerful enough to take on the Titan.

After conquering the all-too-gentle giant, the Crystal awards you the last jobs of the game.

When Bad Plotlines Grow Worse

2004-07-07T16:57:00.000-07:00

The Final Fantasy series used to be extremely violent. As you may have noticed, I have told the tales of a number of deaths that have occurred in FFII and FFIII, making the Aeris ordeal almost expected. Probably borrowing from the Aristotle's Dramatics, Square seemed to think that the only way to generate true emotional response from an audience was to go the route of the ancient tragedies and have everybody die. Unfortunately, there is no way even the most die-hard fan can ever truly sympathize with any of these characters, as the so-called stories back in the NES era were so weak that a character dying did not provoke any emotion at all.

Final Fantasy III's story gets a D for execution and a C for effort. It is bad. Square did try, but the original Super Mario Bros. had a better story than this grand RPG. Heck, FFIII's story was barely better than Duck Hunt's. The problem was most likely with the amount of memory with which the programmers had to work. In fact, I will just give them the benefit of the doubt and go ahead and believe that this was the case. FFIII did try to have some sembelance of a story, but failed miserably. For starters, the story was too predictable. And when you are one of the only RPGS in an era before the genre reached any real kind of popularity even in Japan, having a predictable story is one of the worst problems for an RPG to have.

And just when you thought the story could not get any worse, Square decides to try and improve it by having some more characters the players hardly care about bite the dust.

The game concocts some silly idea about having to fight and kill Dorga and Unne to continue the quest. Mind you, these two allies do not turn against you. They do not reveal that they have been leading you into a trap, or that they are being brainwashed by Kefka, or that they are acting this way because Ultimecia is causing a Meteor to fall towards the lifestream in order to try and destroy Sin. No, those kinds of plot twists would have been refreshing improvements to the story. Instead, Dorga and Unne tell the characters that they have to kill them without ever giving a satisying explanation, and when the Onion Patch Kids protest the two sages attack anyway.

Both Dorga and Unne are pushovers, and the quick end to the battles leads to another dramatic scene where the characters mourn the loss of their two friends that twisted programmers forced them to kill.

The King of Them All

2004-07-07T16:46:00.000-07:00

As one might have already guessed, the final summon in the game is the indomitable Bahamut, King of the Dragons. Although acquiring the spell does not answer the lingering questions of his gender, it does answer the question of which spell in the game is the most powerful. A Summoner who has gained several levels of skill in the job will find that Bahamut's Mega Flare to be utterly and truely awesome, and it is encouraged that players maintain use this spell as often as possible against some of the game's tougher bosses.

To find Bahamut, the characters must head west of the mountain at which the dragon originally appeared. There, to the east of Gisahl, is a cave landlocked by mountains, requiring the Invincible's ability to jump for access.

Inside is another fairly straightforward dungeon, this one also filled with treasure chests. At the end is a path outdoors, where a content Bahamut flies to challenge the characters. As with Odin and Leviathan, defeating the dragon leads to him lending you his powers.

This battle is one of the more challenging contests in the game, unless the player is highly prepared prior to the encounter. Bahamut's MegaFlare has only a shadow of the power it contains when used on your side, but it is still enough to do serious damage to all four characters at the same time. And while Bahamut does occasionally waste his turn doing a less powerful physical attack to a single character, he is more often found using MegaFlare at will.

Beating Bahamut adds his summon to the list, completing the summoner's repertoire and giving players the best attack spell found in Final Fantasy III. Casting Bahamut frequently is the key to success for parties lacking a fully equipped Onion Knight, which I shall explain in a later post.

Dorga's Pet

2004-07-07T16:21:00.000-07:00

While talking to the many colorful denizens of Final Fantasy III's universe, players may hear that on the Floating Continent Dorga is keeping a water dragon that he caught. It is currently swimming around in a lake, unable to escape. Sure enough, earlier in the game players may have seen a shadow swimming around a lake. Now it is time to discover the creature's true identity.

Armed with the Invincible, players can now return to the Floating Continent and explore a couple areas they were previously unable to access. One of those areas is the lake where the shadow is seen. Hovering over the mountains places characters at the foot of the lake, where it is now time to find out what it is that the player saw earlier in the game.

This is also one of the very few times in the game when it is necessary to use the canoe. In fact, the canoe is needed so rarely that in retrospect it seems like a waste of memory to have included it in the first place. One of the things I learned during this playthrough is that the Chocobos in FFIII can actually travel through rivers, making them a much more enjoyable alternative to the canoe.

After canoeing a short distance into the water, the canoe capsizes and the Onion Boys are left to tackle yet another dungeon. This outing is refreshingly straightforward, with a number of chests to be found along the way. At the cave's conclusion, a voice congratulates the characters and challenges them to a battle. The characters then come face to face with Dorga's "pet" - Leviathan.

Unlike in FFII, this time we actually get to see what this Leviathan looks like, albeit in combat. The monster is not difficult to defeat, although his signature Tidal Wave (occasionally also called Tsunami) can do a large amount of damage to each character at once.

After defeating the dragon, Leviathan gladly lends his aid to the party's struggles and joins as a summon. The characters have now obtained seven of the eight summoned monsters... It is time to find the last.

Random Musings

2004-07-06T17:06:00.000-07:00

~ The Cave of Darkness is by far the most annoying dungeon in the game. At this early juncture of the quest, with six more games to play each utilizing better technology than the last, I will boldly predict that it is the most annoying dungeon in the entire series.

- I'm pretty sure the Magic Knight is supposed to be an early version of the Dark Knight. They actually share the likeness of the Dark Knights, and the swords they use are called "Dark Swords."

~ Speaking of the Magic Knights, one thing I had mentioned in a previous post was that they were only useful for one small section of the game. I am going to retract that suggestion. At the time, I had forgotten that once you find all of the Genji equipment in the Cave of Darkness, the Magic Knight becomes better than the actual Knight.

- Genji equipment. Where did they get that name, Genji? A long-running theme in terms of equipment, the Genji Gear is always supposed to be some of the best stuff ever made. In FFIII, it is not the best, but it is pretty darn good.

~ While I am still considering retracting some of my former comments, add my suggestion about using the cloning enemies more often to the list of things I am taking back. Occasionally calling companions to aid you is one thing. Cloning every single time a non-Magic Knight hits you is something altogether comepletely different and much, much, much more annoying.

- The Chocobos are completely underused until Final Fantasy VII. It is fun to ride them in the preceding games, but its not until the racing in VII that the noble steeds reach their prime.

~ The path leading up to the Cave of Darkness is another area in the game where players can be attacked while in the airship. Inside the Invincible, however, the ship will aid in battle by firing a volley of cannonballs to weaken each opponent at the start of each random encounter. Only Setzer and Cid's airships were as helpful as the Invincible.

- The Invincible also has the capability to park just about anywhere there is land, as it merely hovers over the ground as the characters drop down a rope. This marks the first time players would have to get on board an airship and then immediately have to move to a steering wheel to let it fly. This idea picks up speed - and more convenient alterations - as the series goes on.

~ If I Square, and this is just me, I would have the last boss of the last Final Fantasy game ever made be a suped-up Goblin, appearing in NES-graphic form.

- I'm beginning to wonder if one of the reasons the U.S. has not yet seen a port of FFIII is because Square realized the game's run command was completely worthless, and they are hesitant to ship an inadequate product. Note the sarcasm in that statement. And note that I am completely serious about the inability to run.

~ Am I hurrying through this game just to get onto Final Fantasy IV, the first of the really good FFs? ... .... ... Yeah, I think am.

The Magical Knight

2004-07-05T17:38:00.000-07:00

The Invincible, the airship found in the Ancient Ruins, allows entry to the previous blocked-in Fargabaad. This village is home to the Magic Knights, the final class found with the Water Crystal. The Magic Knight is very different from its FFV counterpart, and is only semi-useful in Final Fantasy III.

The Magic Knight is not as powerful as the regular Knight, and are slightly more restricted in their equipment. Their only real advantage is the ability to equip Dark Swords, weapons that can hurt enemies while taking away their ability to clone. This advantage is only useful during certain sections of the game, but it is very helpful, meaning that players might choose to sacrifice HP growth for a less annoying trip through some of the upcoming dungeons.

On the other hand, by this stage in the game many of the splitting enemies have already been encountered, meaning that the usefulness of the Magic Knight comes a little too late. Even so, players interested in varying their party a little more from one they might have had in FFIII can find fewer effective occupations.

Atom Edge

2004-07-05T17:16:00.000-07:00

One of the first places to visit after turning the Nautilus into a submarine is the Salonia Catacombs, found by diving in the ocean south of Salonia. The Catacombs feature a number of random encounters with Cyclops and Trolls, and can be a real drain on the HP if taken too lightly.

At the end of the Catacombs is a stairway back up to Salonia Castle. The stairway leads to a room with no other entrances and exits, and is empty with the exception of a lone man. This man soon would become famous throughout the series. He is Odin, the first summon in the series acquired by performing some sort of optional task.

Odin challenges the characters to a battle, the reward being his summon. Odin is the first optional boss in the game, and he can be a challenge without a sound strategy and a little bit of luck. Odin marks the start of a tradition of defeating powerful optional bosses for equipment and spells, one that is still heavily used to this day. The idea of fighting a boss simply for the challenge did not start in this installment, but it was inspired by fights like this one with Odin.

This also marks the start of a tradition of finding Odin in the basement of a castle, one that carries on at least until the PlayStation Final Fantasies.

Odin uses an attack called Atom Edge, one that in the future is capable of bringing down a monster with one blow. In this installment, Atom Edge causes damage to all four characters. Beating Odin wins his respect and his summon, leaving two more spell spots for the Summoner to later fill.

The Dangers of Cloning and Other Misadventures

2004-07-05T16:51:00.000-07:00

Although Final Fantasy III did not really have a story, this fault did not come from a lack of trying. The game tried to have a backstory, initiating a short-lived plot involving the lives of three pupils of a dead master. Two were happy with the inheritances they received upon his death, one was not. In retaliation, the unhappy pupil caused the earthquake felt at the beginning of the game and opened up the door for discord across the land. This person's name is Zande, and he is the cause for the characters' quest.

The only problem with this plot device is that the game has already informed the player that the true opponent is the everpresent Darkness trying to take the land. This is not a simple subtle hint given just once and only noticeable by the most observant players. No, Square bangs this idea into the heads of the players, letting them know very early on their ultimate goal is to fight DARKNESS, making its way across the land as if it were a CLOUD. If anything, the idea of Zande being an opponent is subtle and easily overlooked before meeting Dorga.

Dorga sends the characters on a multifaceted quest, complete with transforming the Nautilus into a submarine. Anyone even slightly familiar with Jules Verne saw this coming a mile away. In other words, the airship can now go over the water, and it can go under the water, but it cannot sail on top of the water. This does open the door for some extra exploration, though, as there are a couple extra dungeons hidden under the ocean for players to discover. This also marks one of the only times in the series where players can actually control the underwater travel.

Dorga sends the characters to find Unne (Unne? Yuna? Nah...), another of the apprentices. Unne then sends the characters up to some Ancient Ruins, where a miniature town has been set up filled with places to buy and sell items. One of the features of this dungeon is a new brand of foe, one that simply does not go away. These monsters are capable of cloning themselves, possible making Final Fantasy III the first RPG where the player could end up fighting more monsters than were present at the battle's start. Some of these monsters clone at will, while others only do so when hit with a physical attack. The one upside to this is that the clones are exact, meaning that if the monster is left with 38 HP after the attack, the clone will only have 38 HP. Players do receive EXP for each copy they kill, meaning that if a foe gives, say, 80 EXP, killing it and four of its clones nets 400 EXP. The sad thing is that Square made sure the clonable monsters gave horrible quantities of EXP, meaning that they are not too good for level building at this point of the game. Cloning, or calling for help, is a cool, albeit occasionally annoying, idea that I believe is underused in modern RPGs.

The ultimate reward of the dungeon is another airship. How many does that make in the game? Four? This airship can hover over mountains for a short time, although the hovering is limited and only useful in certain areas. From this point on, Square just allowed players to travel over mountains at ease instead of hovering, a smart move on the developers' part. This airship also offers a free inn, magic, armor, and weapon vending machines, and a Fat Chocobo.

Unnamed, but Not Unloved

2004-07-05T14:31:00.000-07:00

If they had been born in the early 80s, odds are good they would have been turned into a Saturday morning cartoon series. Children all over Americana would have tuned in each week to be entertained by all of their amazing adventures. Like the Smurfs, they each had similar appearances. Like the Carebears, they were cute, cuddly, and lovable. Like the Snorkles, nobody could figure out what they were. Unfortunately, they were created around the turn of the decade, when action shows ruled the airwaves and cartoons were nothing more than highly successful 30-minute-long advertisements for toys.

One of the locations accesible after acquiring the new airship is Dorga's Manor, the next stop on the Onion Kids magical adventure. The path through the mountains to the house was previously blocked by excessive wind, but the Nautilus' speed is capable of ripping through the gusts. Along the way, the characters are susceptible to encounters with random enemies, making this the first time in the series (and one of the extremely rare occasions) that battles are fought on board the airship. One of the encounterable foes is the classic Chimera.

After arriving at Dorga's manor, the characters immediately encounter an even bigger innovation to the Final Fantasy series. They were not human, though they spoke the human language. Their appearance was eerily similar to that of a certain race of cave beavers in Final Fantasy II. They were small but flightless, despite being adorned with pink wings. They, of course, were the Moogles, although, to the best of my knowledge, they were never given this nomenclature at any point during the series' third installment.

To be perfectly honest, I think the Moogles are one of the odder creations imagined by Square's developers. With the exception of their appearance in FFVI (and that mostly through the presence of Mog), the creatures have added little to benefit the series. Although the Moogles role in Final Fantasy IX added an entertaining sidequest to the game, it offered nothing tangible to the story and its presence was little more than a diversion of illogical proportions. (I'll explain why I both love the Mognet and consider it an extremely farfetched idea when I reach FFIX.)

The Moogles have appeared in six of the games in the series, though their roles in VII and X were minute at best. With the exception of VI (and, arguably, IX) their presence adds nothing to the story, and in III and V they appear only for comic relief purposes. (As in, oh, its a Moogle! Awww, its so cute. And funny!) Fact is, it is similar to the Dwarves, Elves, Mermaids, Beavers, and Lufenians of the previous two games. They were created in an era when the developers thought it important to give the series more of a fantasy feel. This meant creating exotic races, and somehow the Moogles were the only ones to survive into most of the future installments. It has since become difficult for the programmers to find logical ways to work the Moogles into the various new worlds they have created, and I would be highly surprised if they appear in anything more than a video game or doll format in any of the upcoming releases within the series.

Having said all that, I love the Moogles. They, truthfully, are low on my list of favorite Final Fantasy creations, and they are not one of the species I check for in each new installment. Even so, the little creatures still bring a grin to my face whenever they appear, and they do bring a true and distinct fantasy element to the series that, if it were not for the constant appearance of Chocobos, may not otherwise exist in some of the more modern installments.

Just Call on Me

2004-07-04T10:32:00.000-07:00

Perhaps the most significant innovation to the Final Fantasy series brought on by FFIII was the birth of the Summoned Monster. One of the jobs provided by the Water Crystal is that of Conjurer, a wizard with the ability to Call forth beasts to temporarily aid in battle.

The Conjurerer class is fairly useless at first, and even once you start obtaining a few of the summons the job does not improve too much. The Summoner job, which is obtained later and is an upgrade from the Conjurer, is however one of the best jobs in the game. The Summoner is gained at a time when Calling monsters becomes extremely helpful in battle, so the idea of the occupation was successful during its first appearance in the series.

Conjurers have nothing to conjure until a trip to Leprit. After saving Salonia, the characters are given yet another airship, this one being known as the Nautilus. The Nautilus is able to land on any clear patch of ground, but is unable to touch upon water. Using the Nautilus can take one a bevy of different locations, including the Leprit, the town of Callers.

For sale in the magic shop in Leprit are the first five summons in the series. They are the Chocobo, Shiva, Ramuh, Ifrit, and Titan. I have never seen a translated version of the game that did not call Shiva, Ramuh, or Ifrit anything different, though I will admit I have only played at most two translations of the game. This would indicate that these three creatures' original names were their most famous nomenclatures, and that the bizarre alternative names given in the American version of FFIV were nothing more than aberrations.

Calling is not an exact science before landing the Summoner job, and for that reason should probably be avoided altogether prior to the job upgrade. Summoning a monster will cause one of three spells to be used by that monster, and which one is chosen is entirely random. The monsters are more likely to use their most useful options when under the guidance of a summoner. This is an interesting idea, and is seen in some instances later on in the series, but the idea of Calling improved immensely when each monster only had one attack that it always used.

All You Gotta Do is Jump (Jump!)

2004-07-03T20:37:00.000-07:00

Perhaps the most entertaining job (if not the most useful) provided by the Water Crystal is that of Dragoon. Unlike the occupation's previous incarnation in Final Fantasy II, this Dragoon is more typical of the warrior we have come to know and love as our fighter from above.

The Dragoon is only necessary for one section of the game, although keeping one in your party is never a bad idea. The boss of Salonia is the Garuda, a bird that can damage the entire party with a powerful Thunder attack. Needless to say, being anywhere but in front of the spell is a good place to be, which is where the Dragoon comes into play.

The game does not make it a secret that being a Dragoon is the ticket for beating the Garuda. For starters, a number of townsfolk mention that the Garuda can only be brought down by the Dragoon. Another not-so-subtle clue is the fact that one tower contains a number of equipment only usable by the Dragoon. If players do not take the hint from these clues, they should be able to figure it out by the fact that the only available store is a weapon shop that only sells spears.

The Dragoon can jump, meaning that it disappears for one round then lands on top of an opponent the next. If the characters are not on screen when it is the Garuda's turn to attack, it cannot harm the characters. If all the characters are in the air during the start of any round, the Garuda does not get a turn at all!

An interesting sidenote: The Garuda is really a man, an evil aide to Salonia's king, who transforms into this beast to take on the Onion Kids. The aide's name is Gigames - which, if the game ever came to America, I think would be switched to Gilgamesh. I am less sure of this than I am of Gisahl's name being changed, but I am still fairly confident this would be the case.

Another interesting sidenote: Hmm... An aide that brainwashes a king; a tree that walks around and carries characters with it; a city of dwarves being attacked by a fiery creature; a knight, archer, and axe-user for jobs; an end-of-game boss that is more an idea of power than an actual person; a villainous wizard trying to take over the land; No, this does not sound at all like anything that happened in the Lord of the Rings.

Smells Like Chocobo...!

2004-07-03T20:24:00.000-07:00

A short-lived, though otherwise interesting, idea Square devised for Final Fantasies III and IV was the creation of a Fat Chocobo. This friendly, oversized Chocobo allowed players to store excess items in its stomach to reclaim later.

The first time this beast of unburden is found in the story is in the town of Salonia, although it is possible to find the Fat Chocobo before then. After flying the airship directly over Salonia, an extremely large kingdom of Esthar-like proportions, the Enterprise is destroyed and the Onion Kids are trapped inside the castle's walls. Salonia is divided into four regions. A house in one section contains the first appearance of the Fat Chocobo.

The creature can be extremely helpful in Final Fantasy III, as players are severely limited in the amount of items they can carry. Storing some items inside a Fat Chocobo, though gross-sounding, can make the transition between jobs much easier by allowing more room to unequip. Items that do not come into play until later on in the game are also good to keep in this large living storage bin.

To make a Fat Chocobo appear, all one needs to do is use a Carrot anywhere that "Smells like Chocobos." These areas appear in some towns and most Chocobo forests. The Fat Chocobo was no longer necessary when Square realized that if the characters could easily lug around a canoe, they could just as easily lug around all the items they find in the game. For now, though, the friendly obese bird is a welcome addition to the FF Saga.

Using the Terrain Wisely

2004-07-03T20:18:00.000-07:00

Another not-so-useful job offered by the Water Crystal is that of the Geomancer.

One might be noticing by now an alarming trend where the only jobs I have recommended are ones that actually appeared in the first Final Fantasy. I can assure you that this is most likely just a coincidence. While Square had a number of amazing ideas for jobs that characters could use, in the 8-bit era of videogaming the technology was not practical enough for many of these jobs to be useful. Case in point, the FFV versions of many of the jobs I am currently proclaiming to be worthless are actually quite useful. For now, however, the jobs are little more than interesting, though unproductive, ways to spice up the gameplay.

The Geomancer does have a Terrain command, but it is not very effective for most of the game. As one might expect, the effects of Terrain change from location to location. The Geomancer's stats are more similar to a magic user's, and his attack and defense are, if anything, worse.

The Geomancer is nothing more than another in long list of good ideas gone bad in this installment, although the programmers did find ways to improve it for FFV and FF Tactics.

The Karate Kid

2004-07-03T20:11:00.000-07:00

One of the more useful jobs that can be obtained from the Water Crystal is that of the Master Karate man, simply called "Master" on the job list. The Master is much more than an upgrade from the Monk; it is by far the best pure attacker in the game.

The Master's specialty is his ability to use BuildUp, a command that causes him to do nothing for one turn then do double damage the next round. Needless to say, this causes some extremely powerful attacks, and can take out many enemies with a single blow. If you BuildUp twice in a row, he lets loose with an attack that does four times the normal amount of damage, making him the best fighter in the game.

The downside to BuildUp is that it decreases the Master's vitality to zero. This means that the Master is vulnerable to all attacks and is practically defenseless in battle. Even so, this is worth the risk, as the damage done is incredibly useful. The Master's regular attacks are also far better than a normal Monk's, making this a natural upgrade.

Golden Boy

2004-07-03T19:58:00.000-07:00

To the characters dismay, after waking up they learn that the Enterprise has been chained by Goldor, a fiend obsessed with gold in a way only Goldfinger could ever hope to understand.

Before heading down to the shiny-lover's mansion, the characters have to acquire Floating Boots to make it past a trap set in front of the manor. To obtain these boots, the Onion Kids must enter a sewer under the town of Amur, a popular hiding spot for a deranged woman.

Speaking of deranged, this part of the game features a very unelaborate side plot regarding four old men who believe they are the heroes of light. In addition to being unelaborate, this idea is also underdeveloped, leaving it to appear as little more than a failed attempt at humor. The tomfoolery ends when the Onion Kids save these frauds from a herd of... goblins. The old men return to help the boys get the shoes from the woman, but this is more nonsensical than humorous.

After acquiring the boots, the characters are able to travel into Goldor's mansion. Everything in here, including the monsters, are comprised of gold. A path to the north leads to a treasure room filled with useless (but expensive) swords that can be sold for quite a pretty penny. The rest of the rooms are locked, requiring either Magic Keys (which can be bought cheap in Gisahl) or a Thief for entry. Your better bet are the Keys.

Goldor himself is one of the easiest bosses encountered to this point. He has high magic resistance but falls quickly to physical attacks, giving you more reason to spare the shield and double the damage.Defeating him earns you nothing but your ship back.

Musical Mayhem

2004-07-03T19:50:00.000-07:00

If putting enemies to sleep is your idea of a fun time, then the Bard job is for you! Well, that is, if you have a harp. You can't sing enemies to sleep (or, well, sing at all for that matter) unless you have a harp. Unfortunately, the harp is not available for some time in the game. And it kind of sucks as a weapon... And you can't really cast spells or do anything else useful... And singing an enemy to sleep fails more often than it succeeds... But, if the idea of putting enemies to sleep is up your alley, so is the Bard job!

In other words, becoming a Bard is pointless, adding the class to list of jobs players ought never to use.

The idea of the Bard was never a good idea. Ever. The idea of a dancer, on the other hand, is a fantastic one, but I will explain that when the job actually is created, which is sometime down the road. Occasionally being able to inflict status effects on opponents is really not that helpful, especially later on in the game when all the monsters are strong against that kind of magic. This is true for every game in which the Bard has ever appeared.

If the Bard had some other redeeming quality, I could understand keeping him around. The sad thing is, he does not, and, in the series, never will.

Arrgh! More Viking Stuff!

2004-07-03T19:42:00.000-07:00

One of the jobs that the characters can enjoy after dealing with the Water Crystal is that of the Viking. This job is, if anything, an early precursor to the Berserker, if only because of the job's favor towards using an axe.

The Viking is a stalwart defender, able to take many blow while wearing some of the best equipment at this stage of the game. The Viking also has a high natural defense, meaning that its usefulness lies more in sustaining other characters' health while taking heavy blows from the opposition. For this reason, the Viking job is basically useless. FFIII is a game that is more easily won by physical attacks than by careful planning and strategy. Shields are useless for this reason, and so having a job where the goal is to serve as a human shield only adds dead weight to the collection of jobs.

The idea of being a Viking is a silly one, no matter how it is looked upon by the player. There is nothing special about a Viking, as the warriors were nothing more than Scandinavia's form of the Fighter class. The Berserker would later have many of the same characteristics, but be capable of a boosted attack, making much more useful to the player. For now, in a long series of trial and errors, the class is little more than another check under the error column.

Waterworld

2004-07-03T19:33:00.000-07:00

A quick trip to a Solitary Island reveals a shipwreck that has stranded two denizens of a nearby town. One reports that the reason for all the water is that an earthquake has caused all the land to sink under the ocean. After giving a Potion to a sick girl, she promises to follow you to the Water Shrine.

The Water Shrine is a better-crafted dungeon than some of its FFIII predecessors, as it contains numerous dead ends while giving no indication that those paths lead nowhere. At the bottom of the shrine is the Kraken, another talking Octopus.

After defeating the Kraken, the Water Crystal bestows several more occupations upon the busy Onion Kids. The Kraken jumps up and tries to assassinate the characters with some sort of an arrow, but the woman who had been following you jumps in front and takes the arrow herself, killing her. Oh, the violence...

The Onion Kids, for no apparent reason, then wake up in a bed in a town, and learn that the land had been restored. There is now a brand new world for the characters to explore, filled with more towns, dungeons, and of course, Chocobos.

Seeing the World

2004-07-03T09:04:00.000-07:00

After exiting the Floating Continent, it becomes very plain to see why Square never reused this idea of having two World Maps. Almost everywhere in sight is water, and players really have to fly around everywhere just to find someplace to go. The sad thing is that the one place players need to go next is easily missable, meaning that relying on the world map is key for success.

In the previous FFs, accessing the World Map was as easy as pressing the B and Select buttons at the same time. For some reason, Square decided this process needed to become even more complicated, so they made it so that the World Map was only accessible by wasting MP on a spell or using an item called Midget Bread.

Either way, players only see part of the World Map, which almost gives you no help at all. Fortunately, in the future the company opted to just put the World Map at the bottom corner of the screen. For now, though, the process is tricky and rarely useful.

We Have an Airship! ...Again!

2004-07-03T08:46:00.000-07:00

The overall goal of the Onion Boys for most of this early part of the game has been to find the King of Arguss and have him tell you how to obtain another Airship. After rescuing the King, he returns to Arguss Castle and waits with his knights at their round table.

The King gives the kids a Time Gear, suggesting that Cid might know what to do with it. He also tells the characters that they are on a Floating Continent, which would explain the clouds seen in the background while riding around the Continent on a Chocobo.

Cid takes the Time Gear and uses it to turn the Enterprise into an airship. The Enterprise can now sail both water and sky, but it has the interesting disadvantage of being able only to land on water.

The goal now is to fly off the Floating Continent and into the real world to continue the adventure. Before doing so, the characters have one last pit stop to make. The only other town that has not yet been explored is Gisahl, a town that, if FFIII ever was shipped to America, I have every bit of confidence would be renamed, Gysahl.

This town is obviously the basis for the Gysahl Green. The people of the town are simple farmers, and magic is the only productive item that can be used in battle that is purchasable in this town. There are animals all over the town, including a stable of Chocobos. Furthermore, this marks the one place where carrots are purchasable, an item I will explain later.

One interesting tidbit about this place: If you go through a secret passage in one of the houses, you meet a character sitting at a desk who claims that he and his friends are eager for questions, and then remarks that he is a member of Square's friendly development team.

When Weaknesses Change

2004-07-03T08:24:00.000-07:00

With all due respect to Final Fantasies I and II, neither of them had nearly as challenging of bosses as some of the dungeon-keepers the Onion Lads meet in FFIII. While a few of the bosses in the previous two installments may have had powerful attacks and HP galore, none were really that challenging to those who maintained high levels.

This changed to a large extent in Final Fantasy III. Already I have discussed the fact that players have to go through certain areas with the severe handicap of being miniaturized. This includes battling a boss in this form. The level of challenge raises with a return visit to Tokkle after helping the Dwarves, and the following boss is one of the most annoying in the series.'

After restoring peace to the Dwarven community, a man chases the characters down and tells them to return to Tokkle. He then promptly dies. Immediately after revisiting Tokkle, the Onion Kids are captured and shipped to a dungeon in Hyne Castle, where they encounter the King of Arguss and his motley crew of soldiers. One trooper hands over an item that causes/restores Mini-ness, and then promptly dies. Oh, the violence...

Although the characters have to be Mini to escape the dungeon, they do not have to stay in the form for long. Wandering around the rest of Hyne Castle becomes more managable once the charactes have returned to normal size.

The boss of Hyne Castle is Hyne himself. Although I defeated this villain on my first try during this playthrough, I will still say that Hyne is the first boss during my entire quest through the series that really gave me any difficulty. Hyne is a master wizard who has gone astray, kind of like Garland in FFI. Hyne challenges the characters, vowing to detsroy them then and there.

Hyne is unique in that he is able to change his weakness at will. Furthermore, he has a high defense against physical attacks, so while it is possible to hurt him with the regular fight command, it would take a really long time to bring him down that way. Which means that the characters then must resort to magic. Unfortunately, as I mentioned before, Hyne changes his weakness every three rounds. If the characters use a spell of an element other than Hyne's weakness, that spell will cure Hyne, lengthening the fight. Furthermore, the spot during each third round when Hyne changes varies, meaning that it is impossible to predict whether to use his current weakness spell or try something else should the change happen before the Black Wizard's turn.

Several other fights in the future also offer such handicaps, the most prominent being the MagiMaster battle in FFVI. Players are not given Scan as a spell in this installment, though, meaning parties that do not include a Scholar must go by trial and error. Later on in the game players can obtain Libra magic, which I have never used. I have been told that this spell allows players to see HP, but it does not show enemy weaknesses. Again, I have never used it, and probably will not during this playthrough, but if I do I will confirm it in a later post.

As the Scholar is rather useless other than to scan, and as the amount of HP the Monk and Knight have make them fantastic targets, plus that they can occasionally deal more than 50HP damage with each attack therefore erasing most of the errant healing, I chose to take on Hyne without a Scholar. I do not think this made the fight that much harder, though, as the Scholar would not have helped me in any other way. Hyne's weakness was easily devisable, and using the spell he is weak against does significant damage.

Sticky Fingers

2004-07-02T10:24:00.000-07:00

The Thief job lends two breakthrough skills to the Final Fantasy saga. The lesser of the two is "Escape," an ability that serves the same purpose as the run command, only with a higher success rate. The second, and greater of the two is the ability to steal.

For the second time in the series, monsters and bosses have items that they randomly drop after battle. For the first time in the series, those items are available to parties with a thief during battle.

The steal command has become more noted in later games by allowing players to steal rare and fantastic items from monsters and bosses. During its first appearance, however, the ability was rather underwhelming. There is almost nothing worth stealing in the game, as the majority of th items received are antidotes and potions. The idea of grabbing a rare item was one that was either unprogrammable during this early phase of the series or one that simply had just never occurred to the developers.

As the Thief has lousy attacks and offers only speed as a benefit, the fact that the Steal command offers little to players causes the job to not be worth using. The Thief can open a few doors later on in the game that would otherwise require keys, but these are keys that can be bought, and switching to a Thief just to open these doors is otherwise a waste of CP.

Wise Guy

2004-07-02T10:17:00.000-07:00

The Scholar job is a class unique to Final Fantasy III. This is mostly because it is an extremely worthless job that is only useful for one fight in the entire game.

The Scholar, a precursor to the Engineer job that two other characters in the series would have, uses various books to attack. This alone should tell you that the class is probably not known for its fighting ability. The sad thing is, the Scholar does not cast spells, meaning it is not useful for its magic ability as well.

The one redeeming factor of the Scholar job is that it is the first in the series to be able to Scan opponents. Scan has long been a favorite of the Final Fantasy series, and a couple recent games have found new ways to play around with this spell to open new opportunities for players to explore. Scan tells the player how much HP and MP the target has remaining, and can also identify a monster's weakness.

While it is useful and fun to scan the various monsters and bosses in Final Fantasy III, the next boss that players encounter is the only one where the ability is useful. And even then, patient players can get by without. Square recognized this and opted later on to make Scan a spell. For now, however, the skill was only mildly useful, and in the hands of an otherwise terrible job.

Cover Me

2004-07-02T10:12:00.000-07:00

The job of the Knight was fist seen as the Fighter's upgrade in Final Fantasy I. As in that installment, FFIII's Knight offers a more powerful version of the fighter. Unlike the first game, however, FFIII's Knight is unable to use magic. What he can do, however, is Cover.

For the first time in the series, different jobs have different abilities. As I mentioned before, the Knight and Monk have the Defend option instead of the Magic option. The Knight will also automatically cover allies with low HP.

As one might expect, cover means that the Knight will boldly step in front of an attack and save his fellow comrade. This is an incredibly useful ability, unlike the defend command, as it can be used to maintain the life of a more necessary ally. If a boss is weak against a certain type of magic, for example, the Knight can cover a diminished-HP Black Wizard and ensure that the magic user is able to finish the fight. Especially against opponents that are resistant to physical attacks, the Cover ability allows the Knight to do something productive while still being able to attack.

Impenetrable Lava

2004-07-02T09:58:00.000-07:00

Guzco flees to the northern cave, a place with red walls and flowing lava that is creatively titled, "Flame Cave."

Stepping into the lava is the only way to get through this dungeon. Unlike the previous installment's incaranations of lava, however, walking around in the scalding hot liquid does no damage at all to the characters. The only time the character get hurt is while walking under a lava-based waterfall. I guess the head is the Onion Kid's weak point.

This dungeon is not as linear as the previous cave, although it only offers dead ends instead of alternate routes. Some good treasure is to be found in here. Personally, I am not too sure why players could not just head down this cave before visiting the dwarves. I have never tried, but at the very least, players could get some of these goodies early. The problem is that, unless something changes after Guzco steals both horns, players could follow the dungeon to the end, which would potentially hurt the story of the game. Then again, as the game really has no story, this might not be such a bad thing.

At the bottom of the Flame Cave is another of the four crystals. Guzco is trying to absorb the magical item's power, but realizes he cannot do so until the Warriors of Light (read: Onion Kids) are killed. He then turns into a Salamander and attacks. Personally, I think fighting the thin white line would be more entertaining.

After destroying Guzco, the Fire Crystal grants the youths four more job opportunities: The Knight, the Thief, the Archer, and the Scholar. All of them except for the Knight are rather useless.

Even though the two horns are nowhere to be found upon Guzco's death, all is well in the land of the dwarves. They somehow managed to get the horns back without your knowledge of the event. To thank you, they hand over a number of treasure chests, one of which contains an OtterHead. Apparently, the head of an Otter is useful for magically transporting characters out of caves. Oh how I long for the days when its just called "Warp" or "Exit."

The Thin White Line

2004-07-02T09:42:00.000-07:00

Conquering the Tower of Owen causes a whirlpool blocking a nearby path in the ocean to disappear, allowing the Onion Buddies to explore more of the continent.

Sailing directly north reveals an island hosting two caves. The lower cave leads to a town of Dwarves, marking the little guys' reentry into the Final Fantasy series. The Dwarves in this game say Lalli-Ho, but, as this is a fan translation, it is impossible to tell whether Square intended them to say Lalli or Tally.

In any event, the Dwarves are in a panic because some horn of theirs has been stolen by an evil fellow name Guzco. Both he and the horn disappeared under a pond found later on in the cave. Following the path down reveals a passage that, once again, the characters reason that only frogs could enter. Transforming into a frog is necessary to enter the dungeon, but remaining a frog is not.

Following the linear cavern to its end prompts a battle with Guzco. After winning and grabbing the horn, a small white line appears behind the characters. This is a very cheap (in terms of graphics, at the very least) way of letting the player know that his or her party is now being followed.

Exiting the cavern and restoring the horn in turn cause the white line to reveal itself as Guzco. I guess when you have as much power as this maniac claims to have, transforming into a little white line is probably a cool way to pass the time. Anyway, he shouts something about having tricked the characters and runs off with both of the Dwarves prized horns. Right... He tricked them... Those Onion Kids are lovable fellows, but they really are not the brightest bulbs on the Christmas Tree.

It's Not Easy Being Green

2004-07-01T05:13:00.000-07:00

The first required trip after obtaining the Enterprise is to a cave to the north filled with a race of people known as the Gurgans. The Gurgans are supposed to be important to the story somehow, but, as this is still back in the days of 8-bit video gaming, it is never exactly clear how they relate to the story. The Gurgans are mentioned in the small story that accompanies the Prelude before pressing start to begin a new game, but even after watching it several times I am not really sure how they fit in anywhere. Fortunately, once I beat this game I enter the 16-bit era, when storytelling actually becomes an important part of each Final Fantasy.

But, I digress. The Gurgans are a race of bald men who can see into the future. They tell the characters that the main forces of the world are Light and Dark. Years ago, a Beam of Light tried to destroy the world, but four warriors of darkness went on a quest and defeated the light. Now, darkness is trying to reign supreme, meaning the light has chosen the Onion Boys to come to the world's rescue.

At this point I usually laugh, as the idea of fighting such intangible ideas as "Light" and "Darkness" seems a little too out there. Unfortunately, the game's story never really improves, and this is pretty much what you have to go on for the remainder of the quest.

One of the Gurgans hands over Toad magic, required for the next dungeon in the game, the Tower of Owen. Once inside the tower, the characters find themselves in water with no apparent entrance to the main structure. Again, the Gurgans just gave the characters Toad magic. There are frogs all over the water (that actually say Ribbit when spoken to!). And, if this did not make your next objective obvious enough, stepping on the spot of the entrance causes one of your characters to say, "You'd have to be a frog to go through there!" Not a fish, not a turtle, not even an eel, mind you. No, you have to actually be a frog to get through this hole. Thus, shortly after requiring players to turn themselves Mini, the game is now forcing players to make themselves frogs.

Fortunately, after entering the main tower the players can ditch the frog guise. The Tower of Owen is nowhere near as cruel as the last dungeon. It is also a little more simplistic in design, with no side paths and only a few dead ends with which to contend. At the top of the tower the characters face Medusa, who appears in the fight as nothing more than a floating face with snakes in place of hair. Medusa is probably the first true pushover boss of the series. Unless the party is severely underlevelled, physical attacks bring her down pretty quickly, and she puts up little resistance.

After the fight Desh recovers from his apparent amnesia (no, the game never makes it clear he has amnesia) and remembers that he has to fix something on the tower. The Onion Kids somehow immediately figure out that doing so will kill Desh. And, it does, adding more violence to the series. At some point in the future, Square learns that these deaths are more emotional when players actually feel attached to the characters. For now, though, they continue the theme started in II of having minor NPCs die in over (or possibly under)dramatic ways.

Around The Continent on the Wings of a Chocobo

2004-07-01T05:02:00.000-07:00

The first traditional Chocobo forest appears in Final Fantasy III, and is accessible as soon as the Vikings hand over the Enterprise. This stage of the game is mostly based upon exploration, as there are several villages to visit, only one of which being required to move the game along.

When I say traditional Chocobo forest, I mean a small, circular patch of forest surrounded by other forestry with a thin road encompassing the patch. This image of a Chocobo forest was reused in Final Fantasies IV, V, and VI, and (if memory serves me right) in FFVIII as well.

Inside, the player encounters several Chocobos, making the forest different from the one-bird-wonder that appeared in Final Fantasy II. The player also finds that Square came extremely close to ruining the idea of Chocobos by making them white in this game. White Chocobos... What a terrible idea.

There really is no place to go at this point of the game that requires using a Chocobo, but there is an item you can receive by climbing aboard a bird and taking a quick little ride. The continent the players are currently on is round, with a pathway serving almost as a track around the landmass. It is possible to ride the Chocobo all the way around the continent.

Upon doing this, if the player enters the Village of the Ancients and talks to a little kid, he will be amazed by your ability to ride a Chocobo around the continent and will give you a small item. It is not a very important item, just a status-curing device, but it beats having to buy one in a shop.

The Village of the Ancients, by the way, is the first time in the series that players meet descendents of a famous group of people that somehow caused the land to be in its current state. This idea is repeated throughout the series, be it in the form of the Thamasans in FFVI or the Cetra in FFVII.

Bringing the D

2004-06-30T17:22:00.000-07:00

Sometimes the right equipment is not always enough to protect a character. Knowing this, Square gave a few of the classes in Final Fantasy III the opportunity to spend a turn boosting their defense instead of attacking.

Before FFIII, each character had to spend a turn doing something. In other words, if all you wanted was for a wizard to cast a spell (this was more likely to be the case in II than in I), you had to have the other characters using an item instead of attacking. While the option is limited, some classes in the series' third game can now select to spend their turn on defense using the brand new "defend" command.

The opportunity to defend is not yet open to every character. Magic users had a magic command instead of a defend command, for example, meaning they would still need to waste their turns should the player choose to focus on another character's attack.

Personally, I think the defend command is one of the most worthless ideas in the history of the series. The command becomes even more worthless when the series introduces the idea of Active Time Battles, meaning that you can just wait for the character you want's turn to arrive instead of wasting another character's turn. Final Fantasy II is probably the only Final Fantasy before the ATB system was created where a player would want to focus on having only certain characters use certain skills, and Square missed the boat by not having defend available for that game. While the command does nothing more than waste a space on the menu, and therefore is not really worth complaining about, I still feel that it was an idea that sounded more interesting in theory than in execution.

Whoa, How'd We Get on the Left?

2004-06-30T16:59:00.000-07:00

Back in the days before the third-dimension, role playing games had a strict format from which most companies never deviated. The heroes would appear on the right side of the screen, the villains on the left. A couple RPGs broke this trend during the SNES era, including Lufia and the Fortress of Doom and The Seventh Saga, but most games stuck to this traditional format.

Square, however, was never satisfied with always following a tradition when there could be an opportunity to improve. With this in mind, as early as Final Fantasy II the company started playing around with new ways to change a player's experience, even during the otherwise tedious random battles. FFII introduced the Row system, a way to guard weaker characters and strengthen the attack of better fighters. The Row system continued in the third installment to the series, this time allowing players to change what row each character was in during the middle of a battle.

For their third outing under the banner of Final Fantasy, Square also decided it was time to add the possibility of the random battles becoming even more challenging. To do this, they created a new form of attack called the "back attack." This literally meant being attacked from your back, as you were now on the left side of the screen and your characters' row positions had switched. Characters in the back row, for example, were now in the front row, and vice versa.

Prior to the back attack, the only variations on the random battles were being able to strike first (later called "preemptive attacks") and being ambushed. Back attacks are similar to being ambushed, though there is a greater risk for the characters typically in the back row.

Square's refusal to give in to the cultural norm has always been impressive, and later led the way for more unique battle designs when the series entered more realistic graphics. It is also a nice change of pace from the usual random battle, and I am glad that the company realized this need so early on in their developing days.

Arrgh, We Be Vikings

2004-06-30T15:02:00.000-07:00

The cave from Tozas leads the party right outside another cave, this one regular size. Inside, the Onion Kids find a number of Vikings who are in need of some help.

The Vikings, which surprisingly look a lot like the pirates from Final Fantasies I and II, are worried about a dragon named Nepto who has been terrorizing the seas. The normally docile Nepto has become hostile, attacking ships at will. The captain of the Vikings offers the services of his ship, the Enterprise, to anyone willing to help relieve the seas of this scourge.

The Enterprise is outside. There is no need to board it just yet, however, as trying to sail anywhere at this point of the game only leads to an encounter with Nepto. Nepto, like Bahamut, is impossible to beat, if only because of its exorbitant HP. Instead of fighting the dragon, the best course for the crew is to head north to the Nepto Shrine.

A jewel is missing from a giant statue of the shrine's namesake. The only path to take is through the empty eyehole of the statue, meaning the characters have to turn Mini once again. While the cave from Tozas is difficult, this may very well be the most difficult dungeon created so far in the series. It definitely gave me more trouble than any dungeon I've crawled to this point of my quest through the series. While the monsters do not have a whole lot of MP, unless you are fighting with two Black Mages in your party, odds are good that you will struggle through most of the dungeon. Further complicating things is the fact that several monsters are capable of casing spells, which do a lot of damage to your miniaturized party members. I only had one black mage in my party, and it took me four tries to get in and out of the cave. It probably would have only taken me two if I had left the cave, bought some more black magic spells and returned with another black mage, but I wanted to embrace the challenge.

This cave also has a boss, which makes the trip back much more difficult. The boss is an oversized rat (well, oversized to your party), and is also capable of using some powerful spells. The battle itself is not that hard to win if you cure regularly, but the amount of attack magic it takes to bring him down could haunt your characters as they try to leave. The game can be rather annoying about when it wants to let you run away from fights, and some fights may not be winnable if the magic users are short on MP.

Restoring the jewel to the statue somehow calms down the sea dragon, allowing the party to travel the seas safely once again. The Viking boss is so thankful that he allows the characters to keep the Enterprise. Not that they cannot just sail away with the ship anyway, but it is poilite to go back and talk to him anyway. As you can see, Square is learning to be more creative and not rely on material they have used before to move along stories. In the previous two games, the ship was obtained from pirates. This time, the ship is obtained from Vikings, which are obviously completely different.

Land of the Midgets

2004-06-29T17:49:00.000-07:00

Gulliver had the Lilliputians. Dorothy had the Munchkins. Final Fantasy III has Tozas, a city full of miniature people.

The game is never clear as to whether these are people who have had Mini cast on them and never recovered, or if they were just born this way. Casting the Mini spell on the characters is the only way to enter their town, however, making the first time that Square has capitalized on its quirky sense of humor to add a unique twist to the normal role playing flavor.

By becoming Mini, the characters are able to interact with the denizens of Tozas and enter their houses. One house has a bevy of awesome items available in a series of shelves. In that same house is an ironically sick doctor requiring an antidote. Giving him one opens a passage way out of the town and into a forest near the game's next town.

The dungeon is also miniaturized, meaning that the characters have to remain in their smaller conditions while wandering the cave. The dungeon in straightforward, but does have a number of enemies, meaning you have to fight through the cave in Mini form. This is by far the most interesting challenge yet, although you most likely will not appreciate it until it is over! There are two ways to go about this. The first is to simply escape from every battle, but this leaves your characters open to heavier attacks, meaning your party can be decimated quickly, and the game has a tendency to screw over players using this strategy. The other strategy is to cast attack magic. The monsters are not too terribly tough, so this strategy probably works the best.

A Mighty Wind

2004-06-29T17:43:00.000-07:00

While scaling the mountain, one of the chests to be found contains the powerful Aero spell. Whereas before the magic was usually classified as being of the fire, ice, or thunder elements, Final Fantasy III introduces the element of wind, an idea that will continue for some time in the series.

The spell has changed names a couple times, typically being called Tornado or something similar in the later installments. The way the spell works has also changed over the years. Initially the spell was an attack spell. It later was altered to work similarly to the modern Demi. Occasionally the spell tries to reduce characters' HP to 1, though I think only monsters have been able to cast this form of the magic.

One of the nice things that I will be able to do while playing through the series is watch how things have changed from the start. I have already noticed a number of changes within the first three games alone. The Aero spell in particular, though, typifies the changes I shall see as the series progresses. My memory is a little faulty, though I do not think the magic has had the same effect in any two continuous games. This is one thing I will have to pay attention for as I continue my quest through Final Fantasy.

The Master (or Mistress?) Dragon

2004-06-29T17:27:00.000-07:00

Next to Canaan is a mountain, the first of its kind in the series. While previous FFs had you climbing mountains, it was always on the inside, far from the traditional mountain climbing fans of the series have come to know and love. This mountain is a actually set outdoors, and the animals that attack are birds and the like.

Before scaling the mountain, an animation of a dragon hovering around the summit provides a foreboding atmosphere to the climb. Either that or, as in my case, the corniness of it just made me chuckle.

The mountain continues Final Fantasy III's tradition of throwing advanced monsters at you, meaning it is wise to level up some before entering. The fiends are not too terribly difficult, but I had to make two trips through after taking excessive damage at one point. Square does not really figure out the levelling system until Final Fantasy VI, unfortunately, although I am sure there will be those who beg to differ. Some fights in FFIII are too hard here unless you actively build up your levels. Many in FFIV are too easy despite not building up levels. Then in FFV, levelling itself just took too ridiculously long, and it is the only Final Fantasy I have ever played (not including the level cap of 50 in FFI) where I have not levelled the characters to 99 because it took so darn long. It really is not until VI that Square finds an appropriate balance that makes the game difficult, though not too difficult, while still keeping in mind the player's average level.

About halfway through the mountain the dragon seen earlier arrives and ambushes the characters. The Onion crew is whisked to the summit, where the dragon swiftly deposits the characters in its nest. Now, the funny thing about this whole ordeal is that it is soon revealed that the dragon is none other than Bahamut, and the eggs in the nest (some hatched, some not) are baby Bahamuts. The babies all say Wark, by the way, proving me right when I say that real Chocobos say Kweh. But that's a whole other argument.

Anyway, as Bahamut is typically viewed as being a male creature, the fact that he/she/it has laid eggs calls all this to question. For example, is there another dragon somewhere, one that *ahem* helped in the creation of these eggs? Or are dragons in this realm asexual reproducers? Maybe they are like sea horses, and the males lay the eggs. Or maybe there just is something about Bahamut of which we are unaware.

On the other side of the nest is Desh, a traveller who has suffered a similar fate. He gives the characters the Mini spell, magic that comes in handy a little later on. Bahamut returns, and one of the first battles in the series that is unwinnable (with the noticeable exception of the beginning of FFII) occurs. The only way to move the story on from here is to run away. Given Bahamut's reputation, the idea to run away should come naturally to players anyway!

Can't Go With Just a Bow

2004-06-29T16:28:00.000-07:00

By this point in Final Fantasy III, many players will have accumulated a considerable number of an item that is brand new to this installment: Arrows. Only one game in the series prior to III, FFII, allowed characters to equip Bows. Doing so required both hands, but did not require additional ammunition. It was assumed that an unlimited supply of arrows came along with each stringed weapon.

Striving towards realism, the developers of Final Fantasy III decided it was time for players to make an honest decision about whether or not to have a character hide in the back row and fire off arrows every round. A bow alone is useless. Along with the bow the player now had to also equip Arrows. This gives a certain amount of selection, as some arrow types work better in certain situations than others. The arrow supply is limited, however, as one arrow is reduced from your collection each time the bow is used in battle, regardless if the arrow hits its target.

This is definitely an interesting idea, one that I must say I am sad to have seen left out as the series has moved away from its fantasy roots. The closest thing to this system that has been seen in recent years is in Irvine's ammunition, as this is essentially the same idea incorporated into a more modern weapon. Collecting or purchasing arrows forces the player to be more aware, as they do not want to run into a situation where they are without a backup supply. While its doubtful the Bow and Arrow idea will ever find its way back into the series, it was indeed fun while it lasted.