Final Fantasy Part 13: Adventures of the Deep

The Underwater Shrine

Well, since you said please!

Since I have the Oxyale now, I hop into the submarine and begin my adventures under the sea. I am greeted with a level that looks like the Chaos Temple with the same music, but everything is blue.

I move forward and to the top left to find a solitary chest that gives me 9900G. All the way to the top left I find a staircase, but before going down, I continue looking around for more treasure. When I reach the top right of the area I find a staircase going up! On the opposite side of the room with the first chest, I find a chest with 2000G. I decide to move to the staircase going down before moving up.

These monsters don't stand a CHANCE!

On my way to the staircase, I battle a pair of sea trolls and some (poisonous) lobsters. The sea trolls die quickly, but the lobsters gang up on Lee and kill him with poison and a critical hit! Once I get downstairs, a group of ghosts takes out my party (They are way too strong! Next time, they get the HRM2/FIR2 treatment!)

The Underwater Shrine, Take Two!

On my second try, I go upstairs first instead. I find a network of rooms. In a battle against several sahags, I try out my wizard staff, and I confuse the entire screen of enemies! Excited about my new toy, I hand it to Vic so he can use it while Jule heals with the heal staff during easier fights. After making my way around the series of rooms, I find 20G, opal armor, light axe, mage staff (not as exciting, just a staff that appears to cast a weak FIRE or FIR2), and 12350G. Once I find a set of stairs going up, I cast EXIT to heal and save before continuing.

I return for my third visit and try going down the stairs again. After moving to the north side of the screen, I find a set of stairs going up. This leads to another set going up, where I find an empty room and a set of stairs going down. Now I’ve officially confused myself. This may require more visits to finish all of the rooms. At least the only real difficult battles are with the ghosts. I have a chance of hitting many of these enemies with confuse when I use the wizard staff. Meanwhile, Jule sits in the back on regular heal duty with my guys in the front laying waste to everything they touch.

On the floor below, I find two chests with 110G and 450G in them, and yet another set of stairs going downward. I hope that these two paths connect at a point. In the floor below I find chests that contain 8135G, 7690G, 5450G, power gauntlets, 385G, light axe (Boo! I already found one of those!), 2750G, 7340G, 9900G, and ribbon (wonder what is so good about this? It doesn’t do more than the cap). On the way to another down staircase, I run into two ghosts, who Arek and Lee lay out before they can do any real damage!

Lee bravely fights the water.

On the next floor down, I find even more rooms to explore and pathways (meaning I can’t just cross over, meaning even more random encounters!).

Don't you just hate empty rooms?

Vic has had enough of the sea snakes and lobsters, so he shows them how to truly poison an enemy.

Poison to DEATH! Talk about crowd control!

On this floor, I find several rooms that take me across to other pathways, and it becomes even more mazelike. Once I reach the end of the maze, I come across an odd, pink orb. Boss time!

Whether or not I could have made it easier by having Jule cast INV2 and FOG2 on the party, Vic was doomed before he had a chance to blink! Nevertheless, Arek and Lee were tough and ripped the Kraken apart tentacle from tentacle (At least I imagine so. If only the enemies were not just static images!)! Before stopping for the night, I heal up and bring my characters back to see what I missed going the other way.

So What Was Upstairs?

When I return, I head up the first staircase going up again. This time, I actually continue the path, and I encounter mermaids! I do what I do best--mingle with the mermaids and then rob them of 900G, 1760G, opal bracelet, opal helmet, opal gauntlets, 2750G, 4150G, 5000G, and an opal shield.

Oh, is that why that woman is obsessed with her legs? Is this a Little Mermaid thing?

Why yes, I CAN breathe underwater! Thank you, Oxyale ™!

In a treasure box far up to the northwest (though I’m convinced there’s some Mario Bros going on here where I walk off one side of the screen and land on the other side), I find the slab that I can give to Dr. Unne. I know where I’m going next! As I’m about to leave, I speak with a mermaid who tells me that to unlock the Mirage Tower (desert tower?), I have to know a Lefeinish musical tone. I put two and two together and know that I need to unlock the language to learn the tone! Satisfied with my haul and having spoken to all the mermaids, I cast EXIT and save.

Go on...?

This clearly wasn't a well thought-out living arrangement.

None of those. I just don't feel like walking!

Coming next time! Look to the Skies!

Thanks for reading, and leave your comments below!

Final Fantasy Part 12: The Waterfall and the Submarine--Where Do I Go Next?

Before heading north to the waterfall, I spend some time leveling up my characters while watching TV. I find that the best spot for me to get consistent experience is right outside the town with the submarine in the river nearby. After a few battles, I have to change back to my old formation because my theory seems to prove true, that the person in front takes the most hits. That way I keep Vic from dying so much.

Before the level-up session.

Look how much my characters grew from graduation to before the waterfall! 

The Waterfall

The inside of the waterfall is very maze-like, with lots of corridors to navigate. As I walk around, I don’t find any treasure but lots of easy random encounters. Lee consistently critical hits like a truck averaging 400 HP a hit, leaving poor Arek in the dust. At the very least, Arek continues to stand strong as the company tank.

In the bottom left corner of the map, I find a room with treasure chests and an odd person walking around. I step in and fight a battle littered with a cockatrice and mummies. This could get bad, but then the cockatrice runs right after I tell Arek to attack it (which means someone’s about the hit the air and it isn’t the mummy!).

Inside the treasure room I find the wizard’s staff, ribbon, 13450G (because I am so desperately poor!), 6400G, 5000G, and a sword named Defense (why?). When I equip the oddly-named Defense sword, my defense doesn’t increase, but my attack power does. I wonder if there is an in-battle effect?

Is it that Gamecube I've been hearing about?

I speak to the odd creature (Is he the robot?) who gives me a cube to move to the Floating Castle (Thanks, but I’m trying to get submarine access. The Floating Castle will have to wait!). As I move to explore the other areas of the waterfall, I fight a battle where I find Arek’s attack power has skyrocketed. Ah, ha! Then I use the Defense sword in battle and it increases my evasion! They should have called it the Quick sword instead.

According to a weapon FAQ by Eric “Vegita” Johnson*, many of the magical swords in the NES version of Final Fantasy do not carry the advertised properties (maybe explaining why the Ice Sword did not really help me against Kary). This should make my weapon selling more bearable since I need to clear up inventory before the next area.

Finding nothing else of interest, I leave the waterfall and return to town to see what I should do about that bottle, but first I stop in Melmond to clear up my inventory! I try to use the bottle next to the girl by the submarine, but again the fairy pops out and leaves, so I reset and walk around town with it. When nobody else says anything new, I head back to my airship to regroup and come up with a new plan.

“Hey Vic?” “What is it, Jule?” “We forgot Arek and Jule in the waterfall!”

Ha ha! If I hadn’t come across you before I got the airship, I know who to talk to now!

After scouring the world for a hint, I temporarily give up on my search and decide to investigate the desert with the tower in the middle. There I encounter a terrible beast!

AAAHHH! 

Oh wait, he dies in two hits from Arek and Lee!

The Curious Town of Gaia

When I’m unable to enter the tower, I return to my airship and look at my world map. I completely forgot there was another dot at the northeast corner! I rush my airship to find a town isolated by mountains but accessible by airship. Could this be the clue I need to continue? I enter the town of Gaia, where the townspeople are wearing pink. Are they disciples of Dan?

I rush to the magic shops, where I find the rest of the level 7 spells. I buy ICE3 and BRAK (the break spell of Final Fantasy fame—turn an enemy to stone!) for Vic and then buy CUR4 (best cure spell-restores all health and even nullifies some status effects!) for Jule. I’m still unsure whether I want to get HRM4 (best undead-harming spell in the game) or HEL3, so I leave that last slot blank for now.

After leaving the magic shops, I have enlightened conversations with the townspeople.

AIIIIIIR-----SHIIIIIIIP!!!

Better than great. I have Nintendo Power!

Switch to Swiffer. They always talk in the normal direction.

Then I get really excited when I find a new armor shop. I rush in and buy the rest of my party (sorry Arek, you’re doing just fine!) gold bracelets and ProRings (Protect Ring? Apparently it’s something you wear as an accessory!). Hopefully this will bring my defense up to muster. I find a Cat Claw inside the weapon shop, but I am fine with everybody’s attack power, so I don’t buy any. Then I walk outside and speak to an old lady who gives me very important information that should help me along.

YES! I have a solution for this!

Why are pirates such jerks in Final Fantasy? Didn't you hear what happened last time a pirate crossed me?

After putting two and two together, I pop open the bottle, and the fairy returns to her spring! She gives me Oxyale (is it a drink?) from the spring. Not too shabby for blind flying! On my way back from the spring, I notice in the woods another pair of magic shops! I turn the corner and enter the white magic shop, where I find FADE (damages all enemies-Holy? You never know with Nintendo of America.), WALL (protects all characters from all magics!), and XFER (takes away enemy defenses, but I read in Dan Simpson’s magic FAQ that it only works when enemies use it on me, so I know which spell not to buy when I come back). In the black magic shop, I find STOP (holds all enemies), XXXX (kills one enemy), and ZAP! (kills all enemies). Since up to this point there are four magic choices per level, I know there is still a spell shop hiding somewhere, and it doesn’t even matter since I can’t afford any level 8 magic yet.

With my prize, I leave town. After all, it’s submarine time!

Coming next time! Submarine Time--Adventures of the Deep!

Thanks for reading, and leave your comments below!

*You can find the weapon FAQ at http://www.gamefaqs.com/nes/522595-final-fantasy/faqs/22571. Thank you for the interesting read, Eric “Vegita” Johnson!

Final Fantasy Part 11: Graduation and Expedition to the North

Cracking the Code

Unsure of what to do with my mysterious new prize, I return to Crescent Lake to heal, restore my hefty potion supply, and save before consulting my favorite circle of old people. While at the item shop, I lament being able to only purchase one item at a time, but at least I can have up to 99 of it. Then I step into the weapon and armor shops to clear up my inventory of equipment that Arek doesn’t use.

A little better, but I bet I'll be back to sell more soon. Is Arek an equipment hoarder, or is it the player behind the fighter?

My favorite circle of old people loses its appeal when I show them the FLOATER and get no reaction at all, like they’ve all seen it before. Instead, they give me the same old, same old info.

You've already told me this! I wish you updated more often!

Ha ha! What took you ten years to probe took me an hour to get!

I head south and find a wide open desert that I haven’t visited yet. If memory serves me correctly,  my next goal is in this desert. Out of options, I take out the FLOATER and hold it up in the air.

I hope there's no sand stuck in the propellers after being buried all that time!

Ta-da! The airship comes out of the ground, ready to take flight! I can thank my memory for that as I hop in and head to the northern continents. The music is automatically stuck in my head while I fly around.

If only it were an AIR-SHIP, if you know what I mean! Thanks, I’ll be here all week!

What Are In Those Holes?

As I fly around the northern continents, I see a town covered in forest, a gigantic desert with a tower, a town accessible by canoe, and a river that leads to a waterfall. I decide to return to those odd holes in the ground, starting with the one at the northwest spot. I land my airship, save my game with a tent, and enter the first hole.

Inside the hole, I find dragons, except that they talk to me instead of fight me!  One of them tells me that courageous ones bring back proof of courage (I get the feeling he’s talking about the TAIL). I also find a cabin, 575G, and soft.

Excited about what the other holes will bring me, I head to the marsh-covered hole to the east. I have to land on the grass next to the marsh and hoof it, just one disadvantage of the airship. In this hole, another dragon tells me something that I already did.

I totally broke sequence! I wonder if I could have gotten the FLOATER in the Ice Cave and had an AIRSHIP before I even fought Kary? Think of the possibilities!

In this hole, I take a house, 500G, and 10G right under the noses of some innocent, helpful dragons and then head to the hole north of this one. On this island, there are two holes, where I meet some more dragons.

I hope Bahamut doesn’t mind that I’m taking his dragons’ goods.

 Speaking of which, where are the shops?

Disappointed I find no goods in this hole, I travel to the other hole on this island, where I have to walk down a long chasm leading to another staircase. Am I about to meet Bahamut? Worse yet, am I about to FIGHT Bahamut like in later Final Fantasy games?

Wow, not even a hello or I'll kill you, you thieving adventurers? Right to business.

Holy moly! He made my party reach puberty!

I take a minute to take in what just happened. By bringing him a TAIL, he helped me graduate and become true warriors. It reminds me of later Final Fantasy games when certain characters would change class due to story reasons, except this time, it’s everybody!

After admiring my new party, I continue exploring the holes. I put Vic on point because I think he has the best-looking character sprite out of battle. I hope it doesn’t mean that enemies will attack him more.

Come on, don't you agree?

Then I move the airship to a lonely hole on the northeast corner of the region. I speak to a dragon who tells me that if I am courageous, Bahamut will reward me (too late!), and I move on to the last hole all the way to the east, where I find 2750G, 2000G, 1455G, 160G, 9500G, 2750G, and 1520G. Being able to fly really pays off, doesn’t it!

Afraid of you? Please, I just took 20135G from you and your neighbor!

Exploration of the North

After become the true LIGHT WARRIORS and raiding the Den of Peaceful Dragons, I land my airship at the edge of the forest of the northeast continent and hoof it to the town surrounded in woods. When I make it to town, I get a feeling I won’t be learning much about this town just yet.

Uh oh...Where is Google Translate?

When I return to my airship, I return to Crescent Lake to buy EXIT for Jule and Melmond to buy WARP for Vic. Both spells should be helpful when navigating dungeons and for emergencies. I’m excited to see that many of the townspeople of Melmond are doing better. They thank me for helping the Earth revive and compliment my appearance. 

Then I return to the north continent, but this time I go to the town accessible by canoe. I suspect there is something in the waterfall, so I enter the town to gather information. For example, there is a man named Underhill, the caravan manager, who has something strange. I think I should pay this Underhill a visit in the oasis, where he is having a closeout sale. There is a lot of talk about mermaids, which makes me wonder if I am close to the fiend of water’s domain. I learn that the mermaids were driven away, and to save them, I need OXYALE to travel deep in a submarine (Everybody got that?). I also learn there is a robot in the waterfall and that Dr. Unne can translate the townspeople to the east with a slab that sank with the water shrine.

Not to mention you need them to walk.

Watch yerself, mate! Last time I spoke to a pirate, I got a free ship! 

Why is everyone here obsessed with legs? 

In the black magic shop, I find SABR (This supposedly raises attack power but the guide I use claims it doesn’t work as advertised, so I will stay away.) and BLND (blinds an enemy), so I purchase BLND and move to the white magic shop. There I find ARUB (protects from instant kill spells so YES PLEASE!) and HEL3. I buy ARUB right off the bat and wait to see what other level 7 magic I can find. Oddly enough, each store only has two level 7 spells, so I wait to see if I can find the others before making my other magic purchases.

A robot in a RPG? Get out of here, you lunatic! 

You mean Dr. Unne really IS somebody? I better find this SLAB so everything makes sense in the other town!

After my shopping spree, I search for the caravan to see what Underhill has that’s so special. When I reach the oasis, I find he has a bottle for 50000G. Since I obviously have to purchase it, I cave in and spend it. I open the bottle, and a fairy flies out. It’s gone! Having wasted my money, I reset the game and buy the bottle again, this time not opening it until I reach town. When the girl doesn’t react to my owning the bottle, I decide to save and visit the waterfall to see what’s going on with this robot.

Coming next time! Domo Arigato, Mr. Roboto, and Other Wild Watery Adventures!

Thanks for reading, and leave your comments below!

Final Fantasy Part 10: Searching for a Way North

As I search for the FLOATER, I head north where I learn I can take my canoe right off the ship and into a river (This gives me two types of places where I can dock-ports and rivers!). I head into the northern section of the channel of rivers and I see a sight that makes me really want to make it to subsequent Final Fantasy games!

Peekaboo; Arek sees you! Doesn't this look like a chocobo forest to you too?

Finding nothing else of interest in the northern channels, I move to the port nearby and explore on foot. I head northwest and find Pravoka, the second town I came across in the beginning of the game. After checking up on them I get back into my ship and head north.

I'll show you!

Then, after some clever maneuvering, I find a river in the north, just like when I found the river to dock at just a few minutes before.

HA! With the canoe, I make my own ports! I just hope I anchored my ship before exploring.

After showing the man from Pravoka who’s boss, I canoe my way to a castle on the north continent, where I fight some difficult cat men who poison me and beat up Vic. I sleep outside in a cabin and enter the castle.

Looks like a safe place to sleep.

The Abandoned Castle

Inside of this castle, I show my CROWN to the old man, who tells me I must test my courage. I walk over to a throne and am whisked away to an odd maze where I teleport from wall to wall every time I touch a pillar. At first it’s straightforward, but as I progress, I have to choose different pillars to go through, and I realize after a little while there is only one correct path. Many of the pillars knock me back to earlier parts of the castle, and the enemies in here are tough. Among the enemies I fight are the Medusas, which can poison me with a physical attack and turn me to stone with the GLANCE attack. As a trade-off, I get excellent experience points and money here.

Once I find what I think is the correct pillar to leave the screen, a pack of six red gargoyles ambushes me and almost kills the entire party with FIR2! With a stroke of good luck, Arek finds an opening for the party to run away. Then my good luck turns to garbage when the game crashes on me!

Knowing what to do right off the bat this time, I go in a second time, guns blazing! When I reach the second floor, I get the drop on some red gargoyles, but I learned my lesson and ran for it. After crossing a straight path (thankfully without any more teleporting), I encounter the Nightmare.

I thought unicorns were friendly!

After taking out the ferocious Nightmare, I run to the chest and get a heal staff. As I cross the entrance to get to the other side of the room, the same spot triggers two more of those demonic horses! I guess instead of monster-in-a-boxes, there are spots that are guaranteed random encounters, just like the Hall of Giants and when I fight monsters in front of chests. Without stopping, I march on through and collect treasures, and when I reach the throne at the end of the castle, I find the token of my courage.

Really? That's gross! Whose tail is that?!

Right before I can make it to the throne, several MENCAT attack me. Even though I have a solid game plan, they prove me wrong by killing Jule. So much for a nice, leisurely stay at the abandoned castle! Then I make the next worst mistake—I take another step without healing and encounter a Zombie Dragon!

Why didn't I take that one second to heal?

The Zombie Dragon is graceful and attacks Lee instead of killing Vic, giving me enough time to kill it in one round. Now without any more steps to the throne, I high tail it out of there and sail back to Coneria to revive, buy healing potions, and save at the inn before continuing my search for the FLOATER.

What’s with all of these weird holes in the ground? More importantly, how do I reach them?

In the abandoned castle, I find the Zeus gauntlets (which Arek can’t equip for some reason), heal staff (which lets me cast HEAL on my party for free!), gold bracelet, another ice sword, iron gauntlets, house, 1455G, 7340G, and TAIL.

Unable to find any more spots to land my boat in the northern continents, I head back to the river channel area, convinced I missed something. I keep thinking back to what the villager in Elf Land told me about the FLOATER. He said I needed to go to the north of the volcano, so I return to the river channel area, and sure enough, I missed a turn earlier that takes me into a cave. I save with a cabin and continue my journey.

The Ice Cave

The cave is covered in ice and only goes in one direction, so I walk to the right, where I encounter several wizards. Thankfully by this point, wizards are finally pushovers, and I take them down without any effort. It’s so rewarding to see progress!

In the second level of the ice cave, I can move left or down, so I more left to see what is around me. I am surrounded by wraiths and images, so I let Jule do the heavy lifting with HRM2. When I see another staircase at the bottom left, I walk around and see that it circles around without any treasures. On my way back to the bottom left, I encounter a frost giant and frost wolf. When Arek attacks the frost giant, I realize that I still have the ice sword equipped, but it still does 173 damage to him. How strong is the concept of elemental strength and weakness? I also remember it not doing that much more damage against Kary.

On the third level, I find a staircase leading back up, which takes me to a treasure room with suspicious circles that I expect will break and knock me a floor below.

Step lightly.

As I approach the first chest, I encounter a mage who looks just like Astos, and like the jerk he resembles, he casts RUB and kills Jule on the spot! During the first round of combat, he also casts LIT3 and takes out Vic. All that for a cloth! I don’t like the feeling I get here. Now I’m left with just Arek and Lee, but at least I still have my healing potions! Once I go for the third chest, which is completely covered in holes, I fall into a room where I am ambushed by nine undead enemies. Lee escapes with barely any life left, and after healing, I explore my new surroundings and find pools of what I’ll call “icy lava” with the same effect as the lava in the volcano. To the left I find another treasure room, this time without holes but with frost dragons instead! Lee critical hits both dragons before Arek even gets a chance to draw his new flame sword.

Not again! If only there were a float spell.

Once I exit the treasure room, I look across and see the right side has no treasure room, so I skip crossing that patch of icy lava and move downward to find a room with six chests in the southwest corner. Happy to know that just one chest gave me more than enough to refill all my healing potions, I move to the southeast corner, where I encounter another mage who uses RUB to kill Lee before he has a chance to fight back. Now it’s just Arek!

Go Arek! Think of all the experience you will have for yourself!!

Arek makes it for a little while and even kills a big eye (who misses with the XXXX instant kill spell) to get the FLOATER in the chest that I couldn’t reach earlier, but during the return trip, I encounter two sorcerers who take him out with one shot. Disappointing, but it’s nothing a break can’t fix.

Subsequent Attempts to Conquer the Ice Cave

The second time around, I take some extra precautions. First, I have Jule on strict HEAL duty with the healing staff as an item in combat (While it doesn't restore much HP per round, there's nothing wrong with free). Second, I pass over the chest that I know is a cloth so I don’t risk another early case of instant death. Third, I use the information that I had already written down from my previous journey to move straight to the treasure chests and plan accordingly. Despite my careful approach, I encounter three mages who strike down Arek and Jule! Now it’s up to Lee and Vic to make it out safely, but then Lee and Vic die horrible deaths.

What annoys me about this area is that my characters are strong enough to beat it, but the enemies have so many chances to instantly kill me that I am not getting the chance I need. Determined, I give it a fourth try (Let’s not even mention the third try, when three sorcerers kill two of my party members outright that leads me to reset without wasting my time!). To make things easier, whenever I see a sorcerer, I have Vic and Jule attempt to run in case things go haywire.

Then I drop down and face the Eye. Judgment time! The Eye attempts to cast XXXX on Lee and fails, giving me the opening I’ve needed. Lee fights back and hits critical, and Vic goes in for the kill with FIR3 before Arek can raise his sword (Oh get over it, Tankie; we survived as a full party for once!). Now I can finally claim my prize.

Finally! It's the talk of the town!

Before I can leave (another time I wish I could learn EXIT), I have to drop into a hole and repeat the last couple levels, so I cross my fingers and hope I can tough it out. Then I run into three sorcerers and freak out, but when they go for the TRANCE/STUN instead of the one hit kill, I successfully flee with everybody still alive. As I approach the final staircase, I encounter three cockatrices and three mummies, which Vic fries to a crisp with FIR3. Thinking the coast is clear, I run into the same exact encounter, but this time the cockatrices turn Vic into stone while Arek makes the escape. Free at last!! 

In the ice cave I find a cloth (guarded by that pesky Mage. If I die here, I am NOT getting that chest), flame sword (which I immediately equip), silver gauntlets, ice mail (which I also immediately equip—again with what I’ll call the Mega Man rule), 7900G, 9900G, 5450G, 5000G, 180G, 12350G, heal, 10000
G, 9500G, tent, ice shield (I drop the worthless cloth to hold it), and FLOATER.

Coming next time! The Stuff of Legends!

Thanks for reading, and leave your comments below!