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 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!
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