Final Fantasy II Part 11: The Magical Land of Mysidia

Finding Mysidia

Before I set sail for Mysidia, I stop by Altea to sell off extra items and replace all the Ethers I consumed. For good measure, I get some additional Golden Needles to cure stone, Maiden’s Kisses to cure Toad, and Crucifixes to cure Curse.

Did you not get the memo? We won!

That's better. I have some breathing room now.

I sail to the southwest, where I find a tower in the middle of an island surrounded by mountains.

Wow, what a location!

Unfortunately, I can’t enter the tower, so I head back to the ship to search some more. To the south, I find a huge, forested continent. In the middle, next to some mountains, I find Mysidia.

Looks like a nice, quiet place.

Are you guys Red Mages, or are you Black Mages who just felt like wearing red today?

I enter Mysidia and find the grass is very bright green, and for some reason, all the mages outside are wearing red. They have no idea who Minh is, but they tell me that to unseal Mysidia Tower, I need the White Mask, the Black Mask, and the Crystal Rod. I can learn about them from ancient books found in the city. Another mage tells me that Mysidia houses the Goddess Statue that guards the Crystal Rod. Inside the spell shop, though, I find a wonderful sight:

Cure spells, black magic, support, oh yeah! You can find them, at the market. We're talkin' 'bout Flea Market: Mysidia! It's just like, it's just like, a mini...mall!*

It looks like Flea Market Mysidia has every spell shop so far, including a new one including Barrier, Wall, Change, and Holy, which costs 20,000G! Firion learns Heal, Layla learns Cure, and Maria learns Change and Holy. At the weapon shop, Maria finds the Ice bow while Guy finds the Ogre Axe, and in the armor shop, Firion finally finds an Ice Shield that’s not guarded by a Gigas! I also buy Giant Gauntlets and Knight Armors for the party except for Layla until I know that she is going to stick around for a bit.

After my shopping spree, I speak with some more mages, including one who tells me that the Black Mask is located on a small island in the middle of the sea. In one of the houses, I find a book that tells me that the White Mask’s destiny lies with a maiden of solid stone, while the Black Mask’s destiny lies with the likeness of a drone. Before leaving, I check the other key words, and I learn a lot of neat things about the world of FF2.

Ladies and Gentlement, Mass Effect and Star Ocean fans alike, may I present to you the original Codex--the Library!

Underneath the town, I find the Goddess Statue. I place the White Mask on it, and even though it is on the likeness of a maiden, it is strangely still in my inventory just to mess with me. I heal, save, and head towards the island in the sea. I head east from my location and find the small island in no time.

Found it!

Doesn't seem to leave much room to camp out.

The Tropical Island Cave

On the Tropical Island, I find a cave filled with vines and pools of water. The chests are hard to see here because they are green and blend in with the surroundings. Inside, I fight some of the more annoying enemies of the series.

Flan! Use magic!

In this cave, I meet two types of Flan. Mallows are weak to Bolt, while Jellies are weak to Ice. During many of my fights with Flan, they run away before I can kill them. In fact, even normal enemies are running from me. In a fight with three Dual Zombies and one Dual Head, one of the Dual Zombies makes a break for it before I can even hit it! Does living on a Tropical Island make you a wimp?

Look how powerful Guy's new Ogre Axe is! I'm so glad I continued to train him with axes while I waited for a new one.

After going up a set of stairs, I leave the Tropical Island cave and find a group of natives wearing peculiar masks.

I recognize you; you're the Cult of Shy Guys from Super Mario Bros. 2!

The Shy Guys try to sell me inferior equipment, but I pass and sell them some of my excess items. Another Shy Guy tells me that I can find a pretty black mask of my own deep down below. A few floors down, I find an odd sight.

This door doesn't fit here. I hope it goes somewhere useful.

When I cross the door, I find a huge room with what looks like a rhinoceros guarding a treasure chest. It’s boss time! Check it out below:

What an easy battle! I bet I could have come here earlier in the game based on how simple this area is. The only troubling part is having to use up MP to kill Mallows and Jellies, but because my party is so strong coming into this area compared to the enemies, many of them just run away.

Tropical Island Treasure Haul: Eye drop, three X-Potions, Ether, Thread, three Valiums, two Aero books, Thread,  two Blind books, Garlic, Phoenix Down,  Earth Drum, Death God, 1,000G, Sleep book, and Black Mask.

Mysidia Cave

With the Black Mask in hand, I sail back to Mysidia to figure out what to do next. The mages don’t tell me anything useful, so I travel east and find a cave.

It's nearby, so it's probably worth checking out!

The inside of Mysidia Cave is a maze (of course) and has many doors (of course!). Many of the monsters are the same, including the yellow Brains from earlier and Flan monsters. The Flan du jour is the Pudding. He can poison me when he hits, but he's weak to Fire.

Meet the Cockatrice of Mysidia Cave. If he hits you, you'll turn to stone, and you're not going to have a good time!

One day, I'm going to look back at these empty rooms and laugh!

After wandering around the top floor of the cave, I find a peculiar sight.

Easiest boss battle ever! All I had to do with talk to him.

I think about the text I read in Mysidia: “The Black Mask’s destiny lies with the likeness of a drone.” I place the Black Mask on the Doppelganger, and he disappears without a trace.

Hey, another FF staple: the Malboro! While it doesn't have Bad Breath, it can paralyze me if he successfully hits.

Hidden wall!

Another hidden wall!

My party experiences a new status effect: Dumbfounded. In this state, characters are unable to cast any spells, so it's Mute/Silence in later titles.

That's my favorite pre-battle message; free hits!

Yay! This is why I check all those freakin' doors!

I find my way to the bottom of Mysidia Cave, where there are even more chests hidden behind fake walls. The enemies suddenly get tougher, and next thing I know, a Great Chimera turns Maria and Layla to stone! I cure Maria, but poor Layla gets the shaft because I want to save my last Golden Needle in case Maria turns to stone again.

Sorry, Layla! Heal 3 doesn't cure stone.

Unfortunately, I rush through a few of the battles without any thought, and I run out of HP. After all that work, I’m dead!

During my second try at the cave, I make it to the second floor when I run into a pack of six Cockatrices. I try to fight them off, but when Maria and Layla become petrified again, I try to run away. My luck runs out, and I go two turns without fleeing. The angry birds petrify Guy and Firion, and it’s over before it even begins.

 On my third try in the cave, I take it very slowly. I take my time to fight the battles, making sure I’m leveling up magic and carefully plotting my next move so I don’t screw myself over by rushing it. I know the game will try to screw me, so why rush it? Instead, FF2 is going to have to work to mess me up again!

Three Malboros? They really don't want Guy moving!

When I reach the fifth level down, I start to run low on MP. A couple characters still have Ethers equipped, and I can give them to Maria if I need them to. Guy repeatedly runs low on HP because the Malboros have chosen him to be their whipping boy, and I put Maria in the back row so the other three can get some HP. 
There’s just something about her having more HP than Firion that weirds me out.

The awesome thing about replaying a level is that I know which chests I can skip. There are four potions in there. La de dah!

I make my way to the northwest corner of the room and find a door. I take a deep breath, hoping that it’s not a trap. Inside, I find three treasure chests, including the Crystal Rod. I have never used Exit and saved as quickly as I have in leaving Mysidia Cave!

Mysidia Tower, here I come!

Mysidia Cave Treasure Haul: Black Armor, Power Staff, Flame Spear, Ice Bow, Ogre Axe, Phoenix Down, Silent B, Golden Needle, two Drain books, Mini book, five Potions (skipped four), Aspil book, and Crystal Rod

Before I sell off some of my spells, I look up what Aspil does and find out it drains MP, much like Osmose later in the series. Maria learns it since she uses the most magic. Many thanks to the magic list found at this link: http://www.uffsite.net/ff2/magic.php.

As I approach the Tower, several waves barrage my ship.

What in the world?

Next thing I know, I’m in a strange passageway, and Layla is nowhere to be found! I hope she’s OK.


*If you haven't seen the crazy video ad for Flea Market Montgomery which I spoofed in Mysidia, check it out at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJ3oHpup-pk.

Coming next time! Unsealing Forbidden Magic!

Thanks for reading, and leave your comments below!