Final Fantasy World Tour: Final Fantasy Part 9: The Crescent Lake and the Volcano

Unsure of where to go next, I travel west until I hit the east side of the map (Thank you, Christopher Columbus!) and find a port to land on (those ports really do give away where I should be going while on the ship). There I find a lake in the shape of a crescent with a town in the middle. Hoping I can find some new magic for when I start to gain level 6 MP charges, I enter the town.

Neat.

I walk right to the armor shop where I give Arek the full silver treatment (I gave the other members the same treatment with silver bracelets while in Melmond.). At the weapon shop, I decide I don’t need to buy anything else. Everything is for Arek since Jule uses a power rod and Vic already owns a silver knife. Besides, I have so many weapons for Arek that I have him covered!

I’m very excited to find EXIT in the white magic shop, but I can’t purchase it yet! Magic is even more ridiculously expensive here, too. Everything now costs 20,000G. Thankfully I don’t have to buy much equipment anymore. I see SOFT, and I have trouble deciding whether to have INV2 (higher evade for the party) or FOG2 (higher absorb for the party). While considering my options, I move to see the black magic shop and decide I want to buy LIT3 (strike down all who oppose me), QAKE (quake; kill all enemies), and STUN (Why also get RUB? Isn’t one level 6 kill enemy spell enough?). I buy LIT3, QAKE, and FOG2 right off the bat and will come back later to purchase the rest of my spells. I also decide that I will skip the SOFT spell because for its cost, I can also buy 25 soft items, which can be used by anybody. For what it’s worth, what happens if an enemy turns the white mage into stone?

To the right of the magic shops, I find a clearing in the woods where a gang of old men are hanging out. I learn several things from the sages, mainly that the world has been losing its powers since 400 years ago. Why didn’t the LIGHT WARRIORS come earlier then? For destroying LICH, one of the sages gives me a CANOE (Let me make some room between the house and the cabin to hold this.) to travel to the VOLCANO and destroy the fire fiend.

Darn it! Why can't you just tell me everything now? I am writing all this town anyway!

Maybe if Jule changes his/her outfit, he/she too can join the Knowledgeable Old People’s Club one day!

Why thank you! Always nice to meet a fan!

With my new canoe, I jump right into the crescent lake and travel upstream to explore my new surroundings (The world has been in trouble for hundreds of years, so what’s wrong with having a little fun first?). Unfortunately, like in the ship, there are random encounters in the river. As I travel farther west, I run into Elf Land again (I thought I parted ways with this town!), so I purchase all the soft and healing potions I can handle and then head back to the crescent lake. I learn some very valuable information, though.

Giggle! Why is everyone so hooked on this FLOATER?

After leaving Elf Land (for good a second time!), I travel back east to rest and save at the town on the crescent lake. Then I row my canoe through the maze of rivers, fighting several fish and an odd green beast called an Ocho (So they’ve been in Final Fantasy since the first one?) that poisons me each time it strikes. The most remarkable part of my trip is when Vic strikes at a fish and does 56 damage, killing it! He really has moved up in the world. I pull out a tent and the party sleeps outside of the volcano, home of fiend number two!

Inside A Volcano. Hope You Brought Your Fire Extinguisher!

When I enter, I try to navigate around, but I can’t get to certain areas without stepping into lava that takes 1 HP off per step…youch! That doesn’t sound like much, but in a game with limited inventory and MP charges, that adds up. If only there was a float spell.

After walking around the firey first floor, I go downstairs to find a series of doors. Suspecting more surprise encounters, I heal a little. This time I am more prepared with 40 healing potions! When I walk inside, I find a maze scattered with treasure chests. Like in the Earth Cave where I fought Earth spirits, in the volcano, I fight fire spirits. Thank goodness for being cliché! Hopefully I find some elemental gear to harm them. As I try to navigate my way through the labyrinth, red gargoyles attack me and tear me apart with FIR2. Two of my members die, and I run for it. Clearly I will have to take advantage of the AFIR spell and see if it really works. After healing up, I try to make my way out to use my other house and recover my MP and save my current progress, but then I am ambushed by two more red gargoyles who fry up Jule. I change my plans and run back to Crescent Lake, where two hydras kill my remaining party members.

My first game over!

After two more tries, I finally make it back to Crescent Lake, where I bring my party to full strength and buy 99 healing potions (Fun fact: In Final Fantasy, 99 healing potions will cost you 5940G.). I’m serious about success this time!

In the Volcano, Take Two!

When I enter the volcano a second time, I cut corners and take the 12HP punishment so I don’t have to put up with the extra encounters. Then I reach the maze for a second time. It’s plunderin’ time! Where Arek has become a tank for the party, Lee has become the monster truck as he rolls over enemies and scores critical hits left and right. Now if only Lee could get some better armor, we’d be in business!

Hot mama, look at all those chests!!

Proud of my massive haul, I step outside since I am still close to the entrance to heal and save with a cabin (This is one of those times when I look forward to learning WARP and EXIT). I am satisfied with my progress as I have not used many spells.

When I get down to the third level of the volcano, the screen is a darker red. Evil must be close by! There are hot spots everywhere, scattered in no particular order. I move left first and reach a dead end, so I hoof it to the right side, laying fake mythological creatures to waste!

Doesn't look like Cerberus to me! Also, that's not how you spell it!

Now this is just a pain. Hot spots everywhere!

On the fourth level of the volcano, things become even more ridiculous. Remember that 1HP you lose every step? How “not bad” does that sound now?

Remember next time you request something from your local LIGHT WARRIOR: He swam through LAVA for you!

On the other hand, while I am in lava, I do not seem to fight any random battles. Which is the better trade-off? More so, I wonder if there was an item or spell I missed out on that would prevent this foolishness from happening.

Once I finish my lovely swim through the fires of the fourth level, I climb up a different staircase and find those hot spots that seemed worse just a bit earlier. I’m relieved and heal up before continuing. I have already used 50 of my healing potions! I start with the left side again, hoping to find some treasure.

Unfortunately I find nothing, only more lava (I wonder if there is anything I could find in the lava? But I have better sense than that in this title.), so I circle back and head to the south side of the screen, where I find another staircase heading down. I get a bad feeling I’m about to be swimming again! On the bright side, I have made more than enough money to replace every last healing potion I have consumed.

Below, I find some more treasure and head counterclockwise. I then head to the northwest corner of the floor to find a stash of more treasure, including an ice sword. Now there are two things wrong with this picture. First off, how has this sword not lost its edge being at the bottom of a volcano for hundreds of years? Second off, why would the fiend of fire be okay with having this sword? It would be like Mega Man getting the boss’s weakness weapon right before stepping through the gate!

Arek: "Hey guys, can you hold my stuff for me while I fight? Thanks!"

I then enter a treasure room where a monster pops up and attacks me right as I’m about to open it, but I get the drop on it and get to attack first. Wait, how does that work? So much for an ambush, you red iguana! My guys are smarter than that! Once I hit the bottom of the screen, I am greeted with yet another set of stairs. It’s darker than ever, and I’m praying this is the boss so I can use up my healing potions without worry. Unable to wait any longer, I heal up and run to the top of the screen where I find an empty room! Ugh! I then run to the bottom of the screen. Where do I go?!

Then the worst imaginable happens: When I reach a treasure chest, I encounter a red dragon that burns me to death. I have to start over again! But at least I had that first treasure room cleared and can move right on down.

I was so close!

I decide to try again, but this time, after clearing each floor, make my way back up to heal up and save. Hopefully this process will save me some grief and give me the extra experience I need to make it through the volcano alive.

Volcano Excursion: Third Time's the Charm!

After taking a fifteen minute break to stretch and play with the dog, I get back to it and enact my plan. Once I hit the third level, though, I decide to go for it again. After all, my characters are tough, and as long as I am careful with my healing items and magic, I can make it. So I get down to the bottom floor again and take out the dragon before it gets a chance to burn me to a crisp! I am rewarded with flame armor. I move to the room on the right and there is an empty chest, so now I make my way to the bottom of the floor to where I will hopefully find the fiend. Vic saves me a couple times with his ability to run away (Are you sure you’re not really a thief?). When I open the door at the bottom of the floor, there is nothing there either! Is there something in one of the diagonal corners? This just got a lot more frustrating! By luck, I find what I am looking for in the bottom left corner. Is there anything else here? If so, it’s just going to have to wait for my second trip down after I beat this boss fight.

Without further ado, ladies and gentlemen: Team Arek vs. Kary, The Fiend of Fire!

As you can see, I rip her to shreds before she can do any significant damage. I attribute my quick win to casting FAST to power up Arek and Lee’s attack strength and AFIR to reduce the damage caused by her FIR2 (Good thing the fiend of fire doesn’t know FIR3!). My successive plan is to cast ICE2 with my remaining level 4 charges, but she drops dead long before that happens. After lighting the orb of fire and seeing that I have plenty of health left, I check the remaining corners for treasure. Why not since I’m here, right? Although in the back of my mind, I know I am playing with fire (snicker). At this point, I know to play it safe and that I should run if I encounter more than 2 enemies.

As if Square knew I was going to explore the rest of the floor after Kary, all the chests in the corners of the bottom floor are empty! I finally exit the volcano and use a cabin to save right away (Let’s not take ANY more chances!).

The volcano was a very profitable place for my adventurers! They found a silver helmet, 1520G, 4150G, giant sword, silver gauntlets, silver helmet, healing potion, cabin, 1975G, pure, 1455G, 1520G, 1760G, silver shield, silver axe, heal, 795G, 750G, soft, 2750G, 1760G, pure, 880G, ice sword, 7340G, flame shield, 10G, 155G, house (The shock has worn off. I believe my heroes can hold whatever they want!), 2000G, wooden staff, 1250G, and flame armor!

Once I make it to Crescent Lake, I sell off all the weapons and armor Arek’s companions are kindly holding for him and then buy STUN and INV2 for Vic and Jule. I also replenish all of my healing potions and buy some more cabins and houses because I’m still rolling in the money. Following my shopping trip, I visit the Knowledgeable Old People’s Club to see what’s new and what I will get for killing Kary. They tell me the same old information, leading me to believe they’re not really sages but old men who browse Wikipedia once a week. Maybe I completed the volcano too quickly before they could get new information for me.

Disappointed for not getting any more prizes (besides the feeling of accomplishment for kicking Kary’s butt in less than a minute!), I rest at the inn to save, and then I head north of the volcano to find this mystical FLOATER I keep hearing about.

…giggle.