Final Fantasy II Part 6: The Assault on the Warship Episode 2: Through the Ice to Get Some Fire

The Northern Snowfields

I make my way to the great white north to find the Goddess Bell. The Ice Sled is a lot like the Canoe in that it is always with you. You use it automatically as you need to.

This Ice Sled reminds me of the Canoe. Sure is crazy that they each take up as much inventory space as a Potion!

Watch out, Firion! Those Icicles look angry! 

Now these are Yeti, but the game disagrees and calls them Snowmen. 

The Ice Cave

After exploring the icy fields, I find the cave where I should be able to find the Goddess Bell (to get to Kashuon, to get the Egil Torch, to get the Sun Flame, to destroy the Warship, to fill the hole in the bottom of the sea!).

This cave is a palette swap of the Semite Cave. Look at that entrance!

While fighting my first battles in the Ice Cave, I wonder how often I should have Maria cast Fire. After all, she is the only character with a stronger version of it, but it costs her more MP. She is also my only healer (besides the potions I have stockpiled) and knows Life. I decide if necessary, Firion can also cast Fire. I hope as I make my way through that my characters will become stronger because the fights are already harder than before, and I’m only a few steps in.

It's nice to meet fans of The Grateful Dead in such a cold, lonely place.

The first floor is very straightforward, but then I have to make a choice.

This again?

I decide to go for the door (because I could just imagine this game throwing one treasure chest to justify all the empty rooms).

That's worse! Screw you, FF2!

Dejected, I head downstairs and find another door. This time it isn’t locked.

Of course. You should see the sad look on my face right now.

On my way out of the empty room,the room punishes me for entering it with two Dual Head monsters. They do massive damage, but Maria softens the blow with Safe.

This should be so cold! Will my characters die from hypothermia? On the other hand, they don’t take any damage from it. Arek and crew could learn a thing or two from Firion.

On the third level down, there is even more water around, so I go swimming for treasure. In another battle, Maria learns Fire 3 (so powerful, but once again, it’s more expensive to cast!). Firion dabbles with Fire and takes out some Icicles for me, and Guy gets my favorite string of end-battle messages: “Int Down…Pwr Up.” I want that man stupid and strong!

At this point, I get very tired of the battle music, so FF2 becomes a listen-to-the-radio-while-you-play game. I like the tunes in the game, but after a while, they become tedious to listen to after long periods of time.

When I least expect it, a Grenade (the Balloon's angry cousin) blows up and kills Maria in one shot, and since I’m caught at a fork in the road, I decide to cast Exit and heal up.

Seriously?

In the next fight, the Icicles take out Guy (I guess they fell on him.), and I’m left with Firion and Josef. It’s not looking too pretty, and suddenly everything is ambushing me! Since running away isn’t helping out, I focus on kicking enemy butt. I’m going to show them that if my party is going to die, I will go down kicking and screaming! In a weird turn of events, on my way out, after one battle, Firion gains intelligence then loses it and gains power instead. I use up a huge amount of Potions (I hope they’re not too expensive to replace.) in the process. I knew I should have bought Life; when I get back to town, first thing I’m doing is buying Life for Firion!

Thankfully I make it back, and after buying Life and bringing my party back with healing magic and then recovering MP at the inn (I find it’s the cheapest way to recover everyone since the rate at the inn depends on how much HP and MP you need to recover.), I buy Guy a Battle Axe, Bronze Gauntlets for Firion, and three Potions before heading back to the cave. When I get there, I save my game and close up shop for the night.

It’s not over yet, Final Fantasy II. Screw you big time!

Ice Cave: The Revenge

On my second trip, I go in the opposite direction in the watery area and find a load of treasure. When I open the chest that contains the Mithril Spear, monsters suddenly appear!

D'oh!

I get into a fight with four Grenades, two of which self-destruct and take out Maria (A grenade only seems to self-destruct if you hit it without killing it.). Out of curiosity, Firion casts Life to see if it’s effective during battle, and it works!

I experience the darkness side effect for the first time. Nice shades, Firion!

After several fights and debating whether I wanted to leave and save (I decide against it), I head down the stairs to find even more water!

Enough is enough, people!

I finally find the Ice spell (thank goodness I didn’t buy it yet!) and teach it to Maria. I give in and use the Ether I stole from Minh to restore Maria’s MP and then heal the party (I have a feeling I will be battling a boss soon, and since I already know I can’t warp out of this area, I know I will have to fight my way out as well).

They love to get me with these! If this keeps up, I may never open a door in my life ever again!

Then I head down yet another set of stairs (Just how deep is this cave?). I hope I make it to the end soon. I only had one Ether, and all of a sudden the game doesn’t want to give Maria more MP for casting so much! Meanwhile, I let Firion try out the Mithril Spear, but since he’s not as proficient with it as his weaker sword, I switch back to the sword.

Josef punches the Icicle with all his might!

Sigh...

...Groan!

I open another chest to find the Ancient Sword, but then monsters attack me! If it isn’t hot spots, it’s monsters-in-boxes with this series. Finally, I reach a door that has adorable beavers swimming about in the water. I try to talk to each of them, but they say the same thing.

No, we don't meet Gau until later in the series!

Then I try speaking to the beaver who isn't running around like a crazy nut, and Guy tells me shocking information.

Truly, his strong and stupid training has paid off!

 The beaver tells Guy that the Goddess Bell is hidden in the right wall, where I find yet another room. I find a creature who looks like a turtle with a sign behind him.

I wonder if the sign says, "It's cool. Take the treasure and have a great day!" 

Feeling gutsy, I take the chest, which just has a Silver Armor in it (Score!). After changing my equipment and formations, I decide now I have to talk to the turtle, and a boss battle begins!

Ugh. What a disappointment.

Training Montage

Another day, same old fight! I head back to Altea to teach Cure and Ice to Guy, and I pick up Life for him in Salmando. The biggest challenge in the Ice Cave is the Adamantoise, and I think with some more MP, I can take him. I hope that with the amount of grinding I do on my way there and back again, my characters will be strong enough to take him down. I will also be ready because this time I will conserve my MP and make sure Maria equips the ether before getting into that battle. For some security, I even beat the crap out of myself a bit. Look at the results!

Before beating myself up.

After beating myself up. What a difference!

Watch Out, Ice Cave: Here I Come!

As I make my way down the Ice Cave yet again, I reach the third level down, and all of a sudden, I encounter several Dual Heads. I defeat them, and a few steps over, I fight even more of them! Thankfully it’s not once per step, but I’m concerned that they are popping up all over the place instead of just in that chest. When I get the Ancient Sword, I equip it, but I notice that my accuracy drops from 75% to 35%, so even though it’s stronger, I decide I will sell it when I make it back to town.

Below you can find my second attempt against the Adamantoise. Boss time! Check it out below.

What a twist! The Adamantoise bites it, thanks to letting Josef use one of my Ice books as an item (which casts the spell at level 8!) and Guy using Ice (just the level 1 spell; who would have thought that ice would be the weakness of the Ice Cave boss?). Then I run into Borgan, who turns out to be a screaming joke, but what follows stops all laughter.

At this point, I have to remind you of Final Fantasy IX, over in Pinnacle Rock. The story that the Eidolon Ramuh asks you to piece together about a brave man named Joseph who helps rebels claim a Goddess Bell and sacrifices his life in the process; doesn’t it sound familiar now?

Just something fun to think about to ease the pain of losing a strong ally.

Ice Cave Treasure Haul: 100G, 150G, Ice Wind, Battle Axe (just bought one too!), Antidote, Mithril Staff, Potion, Ice book, Potion, Mithril Spear, Mithril Shield, Ancient Sword, Silver Armor, Goddess Bell

Journey to Kashuon

When I return to Salmando, the townspeople are shocked to learn that Josef is dead. I enter Josef’s house to find that the woman who told me earlier she loves him is now taking care of his daughter. Nobody seems to have told the daughter, but from what she says, I take it she is a smart girl and has already figured it out.

If only I could give you this Canoe to feel better! Unfortunately I will probably need it again. I can't even give you the Ice Sled, and that was your father's!

I enter the weapon shop and sell off my old equipment I found (except for the ancient sword because I want to see if I can use it as an item in battle ala FF1). All of a sudden, I have over 6,000G, and since I’m afraid of going three seconds without being poor, I buy Warp for 1,500G and give it to Guy in case I can’t leave a dungeon but can at least move some floors back.

Seriously? The whole town knows but you. Even his young daughter knows! Take your lazy butt and cross that bridge and find out yourself because I'm done with being the bearer or bad news!

While figuring out how to get to Kashuon to retrieve the Egil Torch, I head towards Bofsk, beating the stuffing out of my characters and grinding my magic by wasting lots of MP. The masochistic system grows on me a little bit as I start to gain more stats, and Maria finally crosses the 200 HP mark. Check out how I play the system at the inn.

Are you kidding? That's robbery!

I enter the menu and use the rest of Maria and Guy’s MP to cure the party as much as I can (since it will give Cure some more power anyway!). Here are the results.

Much better; I'm great at haggling!

While at Bofsk, I buy the Peep spell, which should be like Scan. I teach it to Guy, captain of the "etc." class of magic and then journey south of town, hoping to find Kashuon.

Take a look at Guy's stats. He is truly strong and stupid. That's my boy!

As I head farther and farther south, I continue to fight easy enemies. But then a few steps away from a desert, I encounter a nightmare of a fight!

Eek! Antlions!

Sometimes wandering leads to death...Unfortunate!

I decide that I would rather have a safe trip to my next destination, so I return to Poft and contract an airship to get there. Before I do, I head back to Altea to buy a Cure, Fire, Ice, and Bolt book and equip one of the books on each character. My idea is that since I learned that the books use the level 8 version of the spell, it would make a great emergency item should I have trouble with a group of enemies or a boss in a dungeon. It sinks half of my money, but then I sell the Ancient Sword and make the money back. I turn that money around and buy Mithril equipment for my party (not all of it, but a good amount for what I can afford) and then sell some Potions and Antidotes so I have travel fare to get to my next destination.

I could really use some extra storage space...

Cid drops me off far to the southeast (At least I know how to get back now!) to a castle that looks suspiciously familiar.

Looks like Astos's castle from FF1...

I may be poor, but look at my character growth! And they say beating yourself up is bad for you!

Let the Fire Festival begin!

Coming next time! The Assault on the Warship Episode 3: The Abandoned Castle!

Thanks for reading, and leave your comments below!

Final Fantasy II Part 5: The Assault on the Warship

Bofsk and the Sewers

When I enter Bofsk, I find a barren town. Even the grass is dead. I’m impressed because in the first game, everything was bright and green. Now I have been in a town full of snow and another town that was barren along with the normal green towns. I find out that the Dark Knight is away, and while he is in the capital city, Borgan continues to force the townspeople to work and build the Warship. I walk around to find a suspicious soldier on the side.

What are you doing over there by yourself?

When I utter Wild Rose, I find out that he is a rebel spy who has spotted a staircase. The stairs will take me to a sewer that connects Bofsk to the Warship, but I still have one question for the spy.

Couldn't I have just walked around the outside of town to get here?

Down the stairs, I find a series of water channels I have to navigate through. It is very mazelike, and I get memories of some of Final Fantasy’s dungeons.

Seriously, Minh. Why can't we use the canoe here?

Side effects of sewers--unsanitary conditions that lead to becoming a zombie. Does the Empire use bath salts?

Along the way, I fight several of the same monsters I fought before, including soldiers and balloons (the original bombs of the series; although I wonder why they are so weak to Fire!). Not much happens with stat growth, but at least I accumulate money for my trouble.

However, I still don’t understand poison! Sometimes my characters are able to stand right back up and shake it off, and at other times, they retain it over multiple rounds and carry it after battle. I also notice that sometimes they are poisoned and at other times they are envenomed. Thankfully, Minh knows Heal and patches up Guy.

Before the reach the Warship, I decide to exit the sewers to heal and save, but I'm met with an awful in-game device.

That's cheap!! 

Unable to leave the dungeon with Exit (even though I know I can just walk right out), I heal up and move on. I walk down a long tunnel and find an enemy blocking my path.

Uh oh!

 It's the Dark Knight! I guess it's boss time, so I set up my recording. Then, just for Square to tell me I'm stupid for wasting my time, he and Borgan run for it. On his way out, Borgan says a familiar line:

Did we do something that implies that we are an amorous bunch?

Bofsk Sewer Treasure Haul: a long sword, a long bow (really glad I didn’t go buy any new equipment yet!), and Pass

The Key to Destroying the Warship

I find out the ship is moving to Poft. I hurry my way back to find just about everyone in town gone. Cid tells me that the Warship requires the Sun Flame to operate but that it can also overload and destroy it (I guess gasoline probably works that way too. Don't you love combustion engines?). 

With this news in hand, I hurry back to Altea, where Hilda takes Minh back (Good thing I took his ether and Ice Scythe items away.) to care for the King. Hilda asks me to stop the Warship (like I should; she took Minh away from me!), and Minh tells me that the Sun Flame can be found at Kashuon, home of the Fire Festival. All I have to do is find the Egil Torch. Something tells me that without Minh, things are going to get tough, so I decide to buy Heal for Maria.

I guess not everybody thinks I can do it! 

Like leave my party? I blame this on you, Maria!

On the way out of the base, I go and visit Minh with the king. I find that laying wounded in bed has made the king a rather sorry sack:

Those are fighting words, your Majesty!

I learn that I need the Goddess Bell (This is starting to turn into a huge fetch quest!) to open the gate to Kashuon, but where can I find it?

Still unable to afford Mithril, I head back to Poft to see if Cid has any more information for me. He tells me nothing new. Without the Goddess Bell, I can't get into Kashuon, so I use the process of elimination to head back to Salmando and see if there are any clues there.

Guess saving the world isn't payment enough...

I remember Josef telling me that he would repay me for rescuing his daughter, so I tell him about the Goddess Bell and find out that it is hidden in a cave to the north. I can’t get in without Josef’s ice sled, and he joins my party (This game is all about keeping the full party!). Just to be safe, I swipe the garlic that is sitting in his inventory (I’m a terrible person!) and head on my way back to the Semite Cave.

Next time someone owes you for lunch or moving their furniture, request that they join your party!

No spells, but it looks like he fights with his fists. He looks strong enough!

The Hunt for the Ice Sled

Here’s something odd about Final Fantasy II: Even when there are only two enemies left, if one of them is hanging out in the back, I can’t harm him! When that happens, I use some magic to make him feel the pain.

Hey! You're not far behind that goblin. Come here, you wimp!

When I reach the Semite Cave, I head towards the blue stone, convinced that's where Josef is hiding the ice sled.

Still nothing here? I was convinced that would be what Josef was talking about!

While I make my return trip through Semite Cave, Josef shows me how cool he is in combat.

He wears a cape, has male pattern baldness, and can punch really hard! I wonder if he's upset about his hair? He may be weak to Hair Club for Men...

The best fights are the ones where I select which skills I want to use and build up, and then Josef automatically takes the initiative against a single enemy because he’s so much faster than my party. He takes the enemy out with one strike, and my characters gain the benefits of using the skills without actually consuming MP!

No Firion! You're supposed to let Josef attack first!

I can’t find the entrance anywhere, and I suspect that when Josef said ground floor, he meant the bottom of the cave. There’s only one way to find out, so I head down the stairs. I approach some familiar looking doors.

Thank God I've been documenting my playthrough! Time to look back at my notes...

I travel all the way down to find absolutely nothing, which convinces me that Josef really did mean ground floor as in the first floor, so I cast Exit and investigate the ice block after reading a FAQ.*

How long would I have taken to figure this out without a guide?

Well, it took way too long, but at least I got the ice sled and some money for  the fights.

With my money, I decide that I’d rather outfit my three party members (Josef seems strong enough) with bronze armors and helmets. I even buy Firion a bronze shield. I figure that things may get more difficult, and I’d rather have the defense up than another Life spell. Let’s hope that doesn’t screw me over! Time to head (further) north.

*You can find AKishan’s FAQ for Final Fantasy II at http://www.gamefaqs.com/nes/563414-final-fantasy-ii/faqs/10175. Thanks for being there when I had no clue what to do!

Coming next time! The Assault on the Warship Episode 2: Through the Ice to Get Some Fire?

Thanks for reading, and leave your comments below!

Final Fantasy II Part 4: Finding Mithril

Journey Into Semite Cave

Three steps into the cave, I fight four yeti who continuously attack Minh without hitting him. I realize that with such low MP, I will have to keep fighting with Maria. I hope her intelligence doesn’t drop in the process.

But it looks different from everything else!

Suspicions confirmed: I can only use the items that I have equipped during battle.

This is the Sprinter I was talking about earlier. What is it; looks like an ostrich!

Concerned about the future for Maria, I place her in the front row. Even though she does not get hit in the back, she only has 25 HP, and I figure the second someone casts a spell, it will kill her with one shot. No pain, no gain, right?

After getting all the treasures out of the first floor, I cast Exit, which takes me out but also significantly damages the caster! I have Minh cure the party, and after saving, I step right back in. Then in the next fight, Maria takes a huge amount of damage and dies. Luckily, I revive her quickly enough for her to benefit from extra vitality and HP (In a sick way, it's kind of like working out; sometimes you practically have to kill yourself to get stronger!). 

On the next floor down, I have to wade through water.

Come on, Minh. Let us use the canoe!

After fighting several more monsters as I navigate through the water (There are so many random encounters in this game!), I find four doors, side by side.

Dear lord! Which door do I go through first?

I step through door number one and find stairs leading down. In case I missed treasure, I head back up and try the other doors. Bad choice! The remaining three doors put me in the middle of an empty room, and those extra steps cause me to fight more random encounters, which is very inconvenient when I’m trying to conserve my MP (Speaking of which, I notice Minh has an ether and an Ice Wind item equipped I don’t want to use at the moment, so I swipe, er, unequip them, from his inventory! Everyone knows in console RPG's that really strong characters never stay with you forever, so why have them keep their good items?)

I have a bad feeling I'll be seeing this screen a lot! 

Glad to be finished making huge choices, I go down the stairs in door number one and walk to the left side of the room. What I see makes my stomach turn.

The first real area and it's already become a sick joke!

I try doors two and three, but both of them take me to the now dreaded empty rooms. Then I try the first door and find the miners from Salmando.

Nothing there; just some dead slave.

I talk to Paul the thief (Robin Hood's Law: Thieves do not have to be bad guys!), who tells me that the girl next to him is Josef’s daughter and was being held hostage by Borgan (Named twice for selling out Phin and taking a NPC’s daughter hostage? Definitely an enemy to remember.) He agrees to take the hostages and Josef’s daughter to safety while I continue my search for mithril.

Deeper into the Cave

After searching through all the piles of bones for treasure (with no results), I continue downward, where I find the Fire spell! Since Maria already knows it, I teach it to Firion (Even though he won’t be as good with magic as Maria because of the way I have trained him, it’s always useful to build up magic with more than one character just in case.). There is yet another door that leads to an empty room, and when I get to the four-way intersection, I try every way but up, which all lead me nowhere. While the random encounters are frequent, I am noticing my characters are becoming much stronger. On the next level down, I find the Exit spell, which I will teach to Firion. I figure that if my healers are dead, chances are Firion is still alive and can cast Exit to quickly get out of there.

Monster-in-a-box!

The monster is a huge turtle that takes out Minh (strong character not as advertised in the face of serious adversity!) and Guy, leaving me with Firion unable to harm it with his sword and Maria without any MP left. Thank heavens I taught Fire to Firion (has a nice ring to it!), so I burn up the turtle that would surely have taken out my party and killed an hour of progress! I teach Exit to Firion (not as nice of a ring, but leaving certainly is) and save as soon as I’m out. With my extra money, I buy Life for Maria and then heal my party. Don’t think you’ve won yet, Semite Cave. I’m coming back!

At the Bottom of the Cave

At the bottom of the Semite Cave, I battle the Sargeant (Hey, that’s not how you spell it!), the first beatable boss of Final Fantasy II! Check it out below.

As you can see, despite the growth of my characters, I am painfully outmatched. I have to rely on magic with Firion and Maria, while Guy fights with little results and Minh casts support and healing magic. I finally pull through, and I think I will be doing some serious grinding in the future. I read in online FAQs that the Sergeant can drop mithril equipment occasionally, but I am not so lucky. Instead of redoing the fight,  I get the mithril and cast Exit to save and return to Altea with my prize.

My Semite Cave Treasure Haul: 200G, 10G, Eye Drops (must be for darkness), two potions, 1G (what a sick joke when every step can lead to another encounter!), 50G, Fire (spell), and Exit (spell)

Score!

On the way back, I see that the townspeople have made it back safely to Salmando. Since I can’t afford any more spells, I head back to Palm, where I buy Safe, Shell, and Blink (Uh oh! I can’t afford Ice anymore like I planned!). Upset, I head back to Altea.

The Dark Knight? Cecil from Final Fantasy IV? Batman?

When I make it back, Hilda asks me to hand the mithril to the blacksmith Tobul so he can make new equipment.

And I want a mithril sword, axe, hat, slippers, ...

I HAVE TO BUY IT?! I risked my life out there!

Unsympathetic to my first-world problems of having to buy mithril gear, Hilda tells me to head to Bofsk to stop the warship. Disgruntled about not being able to afford anything new, I head back to the other continent and head towards Bofsk.

I head to the east of Poft (I would be richer if I didn't have to keep paying for boat fare between Palm and Poft!) and find the Warship parked in a cave by Bofsk. Something tells me the next chapter of Final Fantasy II will be epic!

Holy moly! Look at the size of that airship!

Coming next time! The Assault on the Warship!

Thanks for reading, and leave your comments below!

Final Fantasy II Part 3: The Search for Mithril

Disclaimer: This post may have words inappropriate for younger readers. Please be advised.

Before I begin, I think I should talk a little more about the system mechanics behind Final Fantasy II.

Having played a long time ago, I remember having a difficult time getting stronger. Leveling is based on use and necessity. For instance, if you use your magic, your magic attributes such as MP, intelligence, and soul may increase. If you neglect them and prefer physical attacks, you may find that those attributes might decrease while your physical attributes such as strength might increase. It’s all about how you want to play your characters.

Like I mentioned earlier, your weapons, shield, and spells also have skill levels. As far as I know, these do not decrease with neglect. I have read online that there is a “select/cancel” exploit that involves repeatedly selecting a command and then canceling when it’s time to pick the next character’s commands (In the first three entries of the series, you select every character’s command at the beginning of each round.). Because of the way the game is programmed, the proficiency increases depending on how many times the action is SELECTED rather than executed. Therefore, you can quickly increase your proficiencies by selecting and canceling multiple times per round.

Another exploit that players use involves HP and MP. According to guides online, you can increase your HP by losing a large amount of HP in a battle and increase your MP by using up a large amount of MP in battle. To increase their HP, many players choose to attack their own characters to quickly wear them down and increase their HP. Can you imagine what the enemies must be thinking when they see the heroes whack themselves over the head to become stronger? At the moment, I do not plan to whack my characters over the head to gain HP, but I will keep the tactic in mind should the going get too tough for me. I guess we’ll see as we progress through our tour of Final Fantasy II, right?

If you’re interested in the details, you can read all about it at http://www.gamefaqs.com/nes/563414-final-fantasy-ii/faqs/21734. Thank you Onion Kid of GameFAQs for providing this helpful FAQ!

Back to the Show

Well as soon as I boot up I decide that it takes too long to make money grinding, so I get enough to buy Fire (which I give to Maria) and Bolt (which I give to Firion). Then I’m on my way to Palm! I use the canoe to cross rivers where there is a bridge within one step, and there are no random encounters while in the canoe, so it’s a step up from the first Final Fantasy.

What a lovely lake to canoe in! And is that a ship I see? Maybe some pirates to win it from?

Oh! You’re just a transporter? Arrr’nt you tempted to take up piracy wearing that gear?

Everything is so expensive that I can’t afford anything right now, so I give up shopping and explore the town of Palm. All the people are dressed up like sailors, and one even puts the moves on Maria!

Maria then calls him a sleaze. You go, girl!

Some of the townspeople predict that Poft, Bosfk, and Salmando (Who names these towns?) will be taken next by the Empire.

I beg to differ; I see a lake! Also, why can't I go for a canoe ride in this town? I always keep it around!

See? I'm always prepared. Check out that sweet canoe!

While you’re looking at the new inventory screen, notice that I can’t keep multiples of the same item. Each individual item takes up a slot. I also can’t throw away any of the key items, and the trash can is a spot in my inventory! To make things a little better, the characters can equip up to two items. I wonder how items in battle work…

Darn it! Shouldn't have slept at the inn. Back outside to fight!

Meeting the First Cid

When I fight outside, Guy gets poisoned, but once again heals up after a round. I don’t get how poison works in this game! Thankfully it only takes one fight to get enough money, and I’m on my way to Poft! After my incredibly fast, uneventful boat ride, I land in Poft, where I learn that Salmando is to the north and Bofsk is to the east of here. The people here are all pink instead of blue (The port of Dan from Street Fighter?). Then a pink sailor tells me that Cid lives here, so now I search around hoping to meet one of the first main staples of the series.

I still can't afford anything new!

I finally find him in the pub, even pinker than the other sailors in the room! Maybe he's Dan!

Hahaha! I suspect there is no cursing in the original Japanese version.

After Cid drops the s-bomb (See? I told you that there may be inappropriate language!) , I ask the kid next to him about riding, and he tells me I can go to several towns for varying amounts of money. Maybe I'll return when I’m richer, but a man can dream. Before leaving town, I talk to the sailors, and all of them say the same line about something terrible being built to the east in Bofsk (Warship). There must not be anything else going on that's interesting.

When I leave town, I head north towards Salmando to meet Josef.  Other than two new enemies, the sprinter (looks like an angry looking ostrich/vulture if that makes any sense) and a queen bee (tends to fight in groups with hornets), I don’t meet any new enemies along the way. In fact, many of the hornets now flee from battle as I fight. I notice that now I can fight up to eight enemies instead of nine like in the first game.

Snow? But we only walked a couple miles north!

In Salmando, I learn that the men are being forced to mine for mithril in the Semite Cave, southwest of the town. I meet Josef, who is very purple, and he asks me to help out.

So purple!

On my way to the cave, I fight a soldier, but he isn’t as intimidating as he looks. Thank you, hornets!

New game mechanic alert! Item drops after battle! 

Speaking of hornets, I fight seven of them with a queen bee. They get the ambush on me, but four of them do nothing and four of them flee! I find out I can’t even select the back two rows until I take out the front row, but I can target the back rows with magic. Not even Maria’s bow can hit the back!

I finally make it to the Semite Cave, where I will be able to find mithril. Before I go, though, I have to again thank Minh for bringing his canoe with him.

Good thing Minh brought his canoe; otherwise, we'd be swimming right now!

Coming next time! Maybe we'll actually fight a boss?

Thanks for reading, and leave your comments below!