Final Fantasy II Part 10: There's Something About Hilda

What's Up With Hilda?


I head into the Rebel Base to find that the talk of the town is Hilda’s strange behavior. Chalking it up to nerves and losing her father, I go and investigate.

You wish, boyo!

Why is everyone calling her a Princess? She should be a Queen now!

You're lookin' at him!

My party members walk out of the room for what promises to be a sultry display by Hilda, but the fun immediately stops and it’s boss time. Check it out below.

As you can see, Queen Lamia has nothing on me as I rip her a new one. She confuses Layla after her turn ends, and when she confuses Firion in a subsequent round, he kills her while he’s confused! Great times.

In a strange turn of events, the real Princess Hilda has been kidnapped by the Empire and will be the prize of a contest in Paramekia (Some Rebels you guys turned out to be. Can’t you get better security?), and while Layla sits back in Gordon’s comfortable chair to “organize the Rebels”, I get stuck with Gordon again. If I knew he was coming back, I would have kept that Trident from earlier!

Geez, look at him. He’s not even at full HP/MP! Did he not sleep during his shift?  Layla, please! 

Yeah, when is Minh coming back? Can he switch with Gordon please?

Before I try to figure out where Paramekia is, I decide to take care of a little business.

Yeah, I'm talkin' to you!

I challenge one of the Captains in Phin (the same ones that also swarmed the Warship), and I successfully beat him up. Progress really does feel good.

I keep knocking him down, but he keeps getting back up! No wonder Phin fell to the Empire!

I take my ship to Poft to see if Cid knows how to get to Paramekia, but I don’t get much help from him. I decide to take my ship over to Kashuon and then ride a Chocobo until I find the city.

It's like I never met the man before. I saved you from certain doom in the Warship!

With my Chocobo friend, I head south into the desert (where Antlions would surely rip me to shreds again), and off to the east, I see a castle in the mountains. Obviously I can’t reach the castle, but I find the Coliseum in the forest next to the castle. I save while still on my Chocobo in case I need to reset the game and return to my ship.

Found it! Thank you, Chocobo friend, for allowing me to travel without random encounters!

Winning Back the Real Hilda!

I enter the Coliseum, which appears more like a trap the further I walk into it. Sure enough, the gates crash down, and the Emperor announces that I can win Hilda back if I play along and win the fight. Check it out below:

I am excited about this boss battle because it’s the first boss theme ever in a Final Fantasy game to this point (Think about it: there was only one battle theme in FF1.). The fight itself is not too difficult, but Gordon is too weak to keep alive, regardless of all the Safe 2 spells Maria casts. Firion Berserks the party and teams up with Guy to beat the crap out of the Behemoth while Maria casts Fire 5 and occasionally cures the party. Thankfully, the Behemoth goes down without too much trouble.

Follwing the fight, I find out that the Coliseum is a trap laid out by the Emperor and the Dark Knight (I wonder who it could be. Maria seemed to recognize the voice back on the Warship.), and now I’m in jail.

Hey, I have all my equipment in prison!

I go to investigate the bars, but unlike the ones in the Warship, I can’t crack these bars. Just when I’m about to give up, Paul the Thief sneaks in and breaks me out.

Everybody gets one.

I enter an empty room, where I fight several Spectres. Just when I think I have the upper hand, they slap me with one of my least favorite status effects.

Ugh, stone!

During my second attempt, I try to cast Warp to leave another empty room, only to find that there is an energy field blocking warp spells (makes sense since it’s a prison and all…).

But there are so many doors!

While navigating the different rooms, I fight an enemy called a Sucker. When it attacks, it does very little HP damage but steals MP with each successful hit. Very sneaky, game!

I finally enter a door that takes me upstairs to the next level, where a group of Revenants and Spectres ambush me. They kill Guy and petrify Maria and Gordon, but Firion manages to escape. I use a Golden Needle to cure Maria’s petrification, but her Heal spell is not powerful enough to cure Gordon’s, so I bring Guy back to life, effectively leaving me with only three party members (Let’s be honest; was Gordon really helping out?).  Unfortunately, right when I see Hilda in a prison cell, I fight four more Spectres who petrify the rest of my party.

In my third attempt, I skip the chests with the Cottage and the Antidote. The best part of retrying an area is that I know which doors take me to empty rooms, so the trip to Hilda’s cell is less difficult than before.

Bye, Gordon! Don't rejoin my party now, you hear?

Left with only my main three, I try to make my way out of the prison, but I am turned to stone and have to try again. On my fourth try, I encounter several Spectres, but none of them cast Break. I am in the clear!


Prison Treasure Haul (When will I ever get to say that again?): Ether, Elixir (restores all HP and MP), Cottage (skipped), Antidote (skipped)

On the way out, I realize that they left me with no guards. I guess the Dark Knight follows the Bond villain routine of placing me in escapable situations and expects me to die. And another thing: Why does Firion tell Gordon to take Hilda and escape? Gordon is the weakest party member, we were close to the exit, and we could have all gone together to ride the Chocobo and take the ship back. I can just picture both of them dead in the desert by this point.

The Battle for Phin

When I return to Altea, a man tells me that the Rebels have organized outside of Phin and are planning to re-take it.

Shouldn't we replace Princess with Queen and Prince with King? After all, they are the only survivors of their respective lineages.

I found the camp south of Phin. Quick canoe break, first!

Check it out: Maria has more HP than Firion!

Wow, this is a really nice tent!

Inside the luxurious tent, I find several men in hats running around. They tell me that monsters have attacked Phin, so now is the perfect time to take it back from the Empire. I speak with Hilda, who asks me to help the Rebels out.

Hilda Kidnapping Count: 2 so far. I think I deserve another party member. How about Layla?

When I enter the castle, I see a familiar face standing by the stairs.

Dreams do come true; you're not Gordon!

I try to get some of the treasures, but I decide that if I can take back Phin, the treasures will still be around. I focus on my goal instead because the monsters are very tough. So far, I have had to fight groups of Spectres, Chimeras, and an assortment of Imperial enemies. Instead, I run up the stairs as quickly as I can, and when I reach the Throne Room, I find an Imperial officer sitting on the Throne. Check it out below:

The battle against Commander Gotus has the potential to be a very scary battle. He likes to cast Haste 6 on himself, which increases how many times he can strike you per turn.  He also drinks, which raises attack power. This can be a very deadly combination, but I luck out because he tries to cast Haste 6 on himself more than once, meaning he wastes some turns. I believe that if the AI were smarter, I would have lost that fight.

In any case, the battle of Phin is over, and the castle is once again ours! When I speak to Hilda, she tells me that while she is happy that we drove out the Empire, she is worried about Minh, who has not returned since the King ordered him to go to Mysidia. I find out that Mysidia Tower contains deadly magic that has been sealed away. I will need two masks: the White Mask and the Black Mask. The White Mask is located in Phin Castle, and Hilda teaches me a chant to open the chamber.

Geez, Hilda and Gordon. I need a break! How about sending the army?

Before searching the Castle, I use the Inn in town and find that people are finally outside. I speak with many of them, and they tell me the typical “Thank you” messages. There is one amusing conversation below.

Wow! Guy is a jerk! Does he really say that in the original?

I find Paul the Thief’s house, and he tells me that I can find the hidden door in the upper right corner (of which room?). Then I enter the weapon shop and buy Guy a Trident so he can train with a weapon alongside his axe. I also enter the armor shop and buy the party some better helmets, but for the most part, the areas I have visited have given me the equipment I need. At the magic shop, Firion learns Fog, and Guy learns Slow. Before heading back into the Castle, I also stop by Palm and buy Guy Shell to learn and throw it out of Maria’s inventory.


Searching for the White Mask

When I return to Phin Castle, I check out the bottom-left corner, which leads me to a hall with a mirror.

Shiny! I'll come back later.

I head to the opposite corner and find a treasure room with some deadly magic. Maria learns Break and Death, while Firion learns Toad for kicks. On the second floor, I find the Aura spell, which is guarded by monsters.

I'm amazed this Imperial Platoon didn't suffocate while waiting in the treasure chest!

Then I head upstairs to the Throne Room, where I check the location Paul told me.

Thanks Paul the Thief! Now I owe you one.

In the basement, I find several doors and random battles abound, including Suckers and Brains. The Brains are tricky because they can cast Change, which allows the enemy to swap HP and MP with its target.
The strange enemies and undead monsters are guarding some of the most worthless items in the game, including Potions, a Knife, and Clothes. I travel further down the stairs, hoping to find the White Mask.

This is getting so old...

...Yep, so old.

On the fourth level down, I fight a group of Mantises, which have a large amount of HP and are tough to boot. They kill Maria and rip Guy up, but I manage to beat them before losing all of my progress.

To speed up the process, I skip a chest and hurry down to the next floor to avoid any more battles with Mantises, and I find yet another maze. The fights here are more tolerable as long as Firion takes out the Wizard Ogre before it can blind the entire party. Things turn worse when Maria uses an Ether out of combat to recover half of what she would have recovered if she used it in combat, and now I am out of Ethers. The only MP recovery item I have left is an Elixir, but if it is the difference between beating this area and starting over again, I am willing to use it.

You have to be kidding me! How many basements are there?

The watery floor is full of Columns (a palette swap of the Icicles), and while they can do a lot of damage, they fight in such large groups that most of them can’t fight at the same time. This gives me enough time to take them out without much trouble. Maria uses the Elixir, so I switch to physical attacks, only using MP to heal the party. It’s now a race against the clock.

I get into a fight with two Great Chimeras over the Orchacon Knife. During the fight, they use Breath and turn Guy and Layla to stone. With only one Golden Needle (and Heal 2 doesn’t seem to cure petrification), I bring Layla back.

I'll make it up to you later, Guy!

Just when I think I’m in the clear, my worst nightmare comes back to life.

So many doors!

In the fifth door, I find a lone treasure chest. Wary of what could happen next, I heal my entire party (poor Guy!), and go for it. The game takes pity on me by giving me the White Mask without making me fight a boss battle and providing an Exit circle. I made it out!

There are many things I need to thank for my successful hour and a half excursion. Maria is my MVP for her magic as well as her Flame Bow, which does a huge amount of damage. Firion earns the “Striker” award for just about always being the first to attack, and since he has the Winged Sword, he does plenty of damage each round. I also have to thank Layla for being tough enough to stand with the party after being absent for a little while. I’d also like to thank the Elixir for restoring all of Maria’s HP and MP when the need arose. Finally, I have to thank Guy for being such a good sport while being petrified.

Phin Treasure Haul: Potion (guarded by monsters), Break book, Death book, Toad book, 2,000G, 1,000G, Aura book, Knife, Clothes, 2 Potions, Maiden’s Kiss (heals Toad status effect), yet another Potion, Blood Sword (guarded by monsters), Flame Armor, Orchacon Knife (guarded by monsters), and White Mask. I only skipped one chest in the middle of the dungeon.

Before heading to Mysidia, I say goodbye to Hilda, but I get a typical aloof response from her.

Not even a thank you for all of my hard work...It's always do this, get that!

Coming next time! The Land of Mysidia!

Thanks for reading, and leave your comments below!