Final Fantasy II Part 8: The Warship!

Get Ready, Guys. This is Going to Be a Big One!


After walking north for what felt like a year (Random battles really suck when you don’t get experience points!), I finally reach the Warship.

You've cost me a lot of grief, Warship. Prepare to be destroyed!

Is it really going to be this easy?

Think they'd want to stop me at some point?

I pass by the very lax security checkpoint and make my way into a more futuristic-looking area. There are Captains everywhere, and I decide that I just won’t talk to any of them because every time I do, I have to fight one. Trust me, they’re still difficult to kill!

One floor down, there is a jail cell with nobody in it. I see a chest, but there’s no way to get to it!

Oh...a fake wall nearby!

Here, let me put that Sleep Sword back, nice and easy now, and nobody will get hurt!

I head up the stairs and find my old enemy.

...Doors!

The problem with many of the battles in FF2 is that so many enemies use magic, and when you have a fight such as the one below, you sit through a lot of the same spells over and over again. Not that each individual spell hurts; just that each round takes a very long time to finish.

Hang on, Mage. Let me grab a book first!

At least at the end of combat, I score two Berserk books (I forgot to mention I also got a Aero spell book I picked up from another battle during my leveling!). Firion learns Berserk (raises attack power). Then I notice something unfortunate in the inventory.

I'm out of space---time to use up some items!

Why do my key items have to take up all the space in my inventory? Also, look at the bottom. The Sun Flame effectively takes up two spaces because I have to have both the torch and the flame to carry it!

Firion equips the Sleep Sword, which hits less times than the Mithril Sword but puts enemies to sleep on occasion, which can be very helpful (Regretfully, I learn too late that the Ancient Sword puts a curse on enemies! Oh well, maybe next time!). The Warship has several twists and turns, and one level down on the other side, I find Cid and Hilda in a cell. After getting two chests nearby, I walk around the labyrinth and approach them.

I see you and Cid decided to wear matching colors today!

With my Hulk-like strength (I imagine Guy is on point now), I crack open both sets of bars (Why does it ask me twice? If I cracked the first set of bars, wouldn't I want to crack the other set too?). Hilda is too excited to tell me anything useful, and Cid tells us to destroy the Warship while he escapes with Hilda (They’ll be fine. After all, those Captains don’t really mind you unless you try to talk to them!).

After a few battles and several misses, I move the Sleep Sword to Firion’s item slot and give him back the Mithril Sword so he can score more hits again. He can always re-equip it if necessary. A few floors down, I find a disturbing number of Captains running back and forth. I wonder what they’re up to?

Whoa! Don't move to quickly, and nobody say a one-liner. I don't want a confrontation here!

I find four chests with some equipment, but at the third chest, there are two Mages and a Gigas! The Mages die quickly, but the Gigas rips my party to shreds with barely a dent in him.

If I put the Ice Shield back, can we not fight instead?

Motivation from the Crew

Frustrated at my game over, I reset the game and try to fight the Gigas again, with obvious results. I shout to the heavens, “I’ve had enough of this game!” I tell Mr. M that I’m done with the game, and he tells me I’ll be back because I want to. Even V and the Gameware crew tell me that I need to finish what I started, so I return to the Warship, a bit reluctant to skip over a treasure box but determined to finish the job.

Mr. M believes that the Gigas is just angry because he has been in that treasure box for a very long time! Wouldn't it be great if you could see which treasure boxes held monsters in them?

Back to Work!

I approach the treasure boxes a few hours later, and I sadly skip over the Ice Shield. Who knows how effective it really is? Firion cries a bit because he can't move of his own free will to get the shield, but screw you, Firion; if you can’t kill the Gigas, then you’re not getting the shield!

I'll always wonder...*queue sad song of your choice; suggest some in the comments below!*

On the next floor down, there are more Captains, but they are in the way of some of the turns, and they refuse to move.

No fair! I have to take the long way around to explore; First World Problem!

I move around the Captains and take the long way around the room, where I encounter some Eagles, but they look like something else to me.

Aaah! Headcrabs? You're not Gordon Ramsey; you're Gordon Freeman!

My least favorite enemy in the Warship (besides the Gigas, who Mr. M will probably call the Warmech of FF2) is the Ghast, a purple zombie.

I recommend fire magic. Even Firion's weak Fire 2 can take one out if he single-targets it!

I believe that most of the enemies in this game are either bruisers or status-inflictors. While some enemies rip you apart with physical attacks and magic, status-inflictors do very little damage but love to inflict several effects. For instance, the ghast does very little damage, but loves to either cast Blind or paralyze you with a physical attack. If you run into these bastards, make sure you kill them off as quickly as you can, or your fight gets a little more interesting (and not in a good, fun way!).

After several random encounters, I get past every Captain and reach the door.

I wonder if the guards are sitting there doing nothing because there's nothing on the other side of this door...

Luckily for me, there is no empty room! Instead, I walk along a path and reach the main engine of the Warship. After throwing in the Sun Flame (I hope it frees up an inventory space!), a cutscene follows. Let’s watch:

After all that hard work, I am spared a boss fight and instead witness a righteous explosion (Think of all the Captains flying about as Cid’s airship soars into the distance!). Cid drops me off in Altea, and I return to the Rebel Base to see what’s cookin’.

Warship Treasure Haul: 400G, Sleep Sword, 2 Potions, Blind Bow, Thief Gauntlets, Giant Helmet, Gauchet Knife, and Ice Shield (Watch out for the Gigas; I had to leave this item behind!)

Inside the base, I see that the Rebels have been completely brainwashed. Just before I left to rescue her, they told me she was kidnapped. Now listen to what they say.

What propaganda! Is getting kidnapped being kind to your father and King?

In other news, I find out that the King is doing worse, so I go visit him and Minh in the side room.

Time for what? Lunch?

Much worse, the King is dying, and he appoints Gordon to be his Commander-in-Chief (He couldn’t have done it without the Firion Tough Love program™!) and orders Minh to open the magic seal he has placed in the fortress. He tells me that I must go to Dist, home of the Dragoons. Recently, the Empire wiped out Dist, but the King (What is his name, by the way?) theorizes that there must be some survivors. My future depends on meeting the Hiryuu (Strider Hiryuu?). After telling us to look after Hilda, he passes away, and the party leaves to carry out his request.

No, really. What's his name?

I enter the throne room to find Gordon, who tells me more about Dragoons. Apparently they are the only people who can understand the Hiryuu, which must be some kind of dragon (and not an awesome and underused Capcom character!). The old man next to him tells me that Dist is on an island off the eastern sea.

I guess I better leave Hilda alone for now.

Before leaving town, I head to the item shop, where I sell off extra equipment (and find that I still possess the Egil Torch and Sun Flame…grr!) and find I actually have over 20,000G; I’m rich!

That's eight spaces taken up by key items!

Coming next time! The Land of the Dragoons!

Thanks for reading, and leave your comments below!