Let's Sperg Let's Sperg: Final Fantasy 4 - The point where the name stopped making sense.

[AngeloTheWizard]

Welcome, Kiwis.

Yeah, the name is an easy joke to make, but really, this was the first Final Fantasy sequel to be released in the US and therefore the moment it stopped making any sort of sense. For extra irony points, the American release was actually easier then the Japanese cut, though not as easy as another version my research has uncovered, Final Fantasy IV Easytype. Well, regardless of difficulty, the game was hit with heavy censorship and suffered from a moronic translation, leading to the rise of one Ted Woolsey who gave us a far superior translation for Final Fantasy 6, Chrono Trigger, Secret of Mana, Super Mario RPG, and quite possibly more.

Final Fantasy 4 has received a gut-busting number of re-releases, possibly more then the original one has. We're using the Steam version, of course, which has a much tighter translation, and oh yeah,

Hard Mode. As I tend to smash my face into a wall in games like Rogue Legacy and Dungeons of Dredmor, why not put my nuts in a vise for Final Fantasy 4? Get comfy Kiwis.

 

[As The Driven Snow]

Is the Steam one the DS version? I still need to get around to beating that... I got bored of trying to farm a rare drop for the Namingway sidequest. This game has some stupid low drop rates

 

[AngeloTheWizard]

Thanks to how the cutscenes work, getting captures is going to be rather difficult. So, bear with me if I end up doing a lot of telling and not a lot of showing, the game doesn't pause itself with every line and it makes it hard.

We meet our hero for this adventure, Cecil, the Lord Captain of the Baron Red Wings, an elite airship brigade. He's also a Dark Knight, so grab your favorite emo beats!

The original SNES version had us flying out to Mysidia, while here, it's all in a flashback. Basically, we went to Mysidia, grabbed their magical crystal, and are now returning home. The soldiers are antsy because they dislike being common thieves that cut down people who show no resistance, but Cecil dismisses their concerns.

That said, the soldiers also theorize that he is as troubled by what we're doing as they are.

We are then attacked and whisked away into battle.

This is where the ATB stuff all began, Kiwis. If you've played more recent entries, you know how it goes, so if you haven't, here's an explanation: Everyone gets a bar that slowly fills, and when it does, that character can act. Magic and some abilities have casting time, which in these versions is represented by a second, red bar appearing that counts down.

These battles are pretty easy. Handle them with basic attacks, you don't need much more.

After the battle, Cecil checks in with his men, who are all none the worse for wear. They wonder if all the monster attacks are an omen of some kind. Before people can philosophize too much, the ships come in for landing.

Baigan is a bit of a dick, and part of the reason why the plot kicks off. He escorts us to the King but stops us outside, and tells the King that Cecil's faith is beginning to waiver. Because of this, and Cecil asking what the King wants to do with the crystals, he is stripped of his command of the Red Wings and demoted to errand/bitch boy. We are sent to the Valley of Mist with a task.

A guy named Kain, commander of the Dragoons, also joins us. The King of Baron is a bit of a dick.

Kain tells us to leave the prep work to him, and that we'll be back in command before we know it. If only you all knew...

We now get control of Cecil, and can walk around and talk to people. Let's talk to people!

Talking to Kain who's actually pretty close by gets a quick flashback of the pair training together. Cecil was a much better fighter then Kain at the time, it seems. Cecil also says he didn't train as a Dark Knight to steal from innocents, and well, the plot twist is all well and spoiled because this game's been out forever, but, try to act surprised when Cecil stops being a Dark Knight, K?

As we exit the main castle area, we meet Rosa, the White Mage of Baron and "Most Obvious Love Interest". Then again, it's probably better to have it out in the open and not dance around the love thing for 50 hours. Cecil snarks off about how he fought mages that didn't fight back, and Rosa says she'll visit him in his tower later.

Fucker has a tower? I have to make do with an apartment. Where can I sign up to be Baron's official Black Mage?

We also meet the game's Cid fairly early. Cid has served as a mentor to both Cecil and Rosa prior to the start of the game, and considers them his son and his daughter respectively. This line seems to imply that he's her father, but that is not so.

Cecil tells Cid about what's going on, and Cid is flabbergasted. He's very vocal about his dislike for the King, which will lead to some problems down the road...

Namingway is one part retrofitted NPC, one part continuity nod. Thanks to voice acting, his original function of renaming the party is impossible. So, he's part of a game spanning sidequest to give him a new purpose in life, his own name changing as we go along.

TWO MOONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Cecil angsts about the changes in the King, then Rosa appears. She tries to ask what's happening, but Cecil is still in his Linkin Park phase and refuses to open up. He does admit what happened after some pushing from Rosa, though, so he's not too far gone. He thinks he's too far gone, though, believing himself to have no light and be beyond redemption. He also calls himself a coward who can't defy orders he knows are wrong, though Rosa doubts this. Eventually, Cecil tells Rosa to get some rest, for it is late.

The next day rises, and Cecil and Kain join together, ready to head out for the Valley of Mist.

Bonus: The Red Wings Theme:

Castle Baron Theme:

Prologue:

 

[Ravelord]

I hope you are familiar with the changes to this version, though. Some bosses are way different and hard. Also, if you don't mind I would like to do the FF V Let's Sperg.

 

[AngeloTheWizard]

I hope you are familiar with the changes to this version, though. Some bosses are way different and hard. Also, if you don't mind I would like to do the FF V Let's Sperg.

V is where I'm totally blind. I'll probably still play it, but if you're better with it, well, be my guest. I call 6, though. It is my most very favorite of the series and I'll be damned if anyone else gets it.

 

[AngeloTheWizard]

Damn, kid. Ice cold.

I spend some time exploring Baron. There's some treasure to be grabbed on the second floor of the inn, how nice. Other then that, only the Inn and Item Shop is open, the weapon and armor shop as well as the "Devil's Road" to Mysidia is closed up. I grab some Antidotes anyway, can never be sure when you need 'em.

The World Map looks a hell of a lot different. And has a new theme too!

Namingway meets us in the cave to the northwest, which is where we need to go to deliver our package to the Valley of Mist. Oh, and kill the Mist Dragon.

Namingway has decided to map out the world, so he is now Mappingway. He gives us an enchanted map that reveals the dungeon map as we go, which is nice. Every map that's completed gives us an extra reward, too. Onward!

Just before we reach our first chest, a mysterious voice tells us to leave this place. We're obviously not fighting the Medusa, but yes, it is like the Tower of Owen somewhat.

The Mist Dragon gives us a warning, basically a "are you sure you wanna fight" moment, so we can heal up first at least. Potions restore 100 HP instead of 50 like in the last one, so Cecil doesn't get one for his booboo. Also the picture looks a lot better if you open it in a new tab.

Anyway, we don't have many tactics besides hitting it a lot and potioning where we need to. So...hit it a lot, and potion where you need to. The Mist Dragon can do about 60 HP of damage, so while Kain's Jump is very useful for doing more damage, I wouldn't advise using Cecil's Darkness attack, which is basically Souleater from 3. The Mist Dragon is also weirdly weak to Cecil's Dark Blade, so you don't need much extra benefit.

When the dragon dissolves into Mist, do not attack. It misses automatically despite what your accuracy report says (the game tells you your accuracy) and it counters with a BRUTAL freezing mist attack. I learned this the hard way, don't learn it my way. Just use potions at that point and get ready for it to reform.

Once it's dead, we can head on.

We also get 5 potions for completing the Mist Cave map. That's pretty much the amount I've used to keep myself healed.

The cutscene upon arriving is slightly different. Rather than seeing the results of us slaying the Mist Dragon (in the form of Rydia's mom being the first major plotline death), the ring we were given immediately summons a bunch of bombs and burns the town down. Cecil screams out a big old "WHYYYYYYYYYYYYY!?" upon learning of the King's true intentions.

We do see Rydia grieving over her dead mum after the village starts burning. Rydia overhears us talking about slaying the dragon, and then Kain steps up and says that since his Majesty wants this village torched and everyone dead, we'll need to kill her. Cecil tells him to fuck off, and when Kain asks if Cecil would betray his king, Cecil proclaims that a king who would wish for this is no king of his.

Kain agrees with us, and decides he's going to piss off too. We plan to deal with other nations, maybe pick up Rosa, gather allies so we can fight Baron.

Oh yeah, Rydia treats us to a boss fight instead of going with us. Well, it's more of a plotline "fight". She immediately summons Titan which causes an earthquake, knocking us out.

We wake up without Kain. Damn.

A short cutscene has Cecil plan to take Rosa somewhere safe, and we finally get back to the World Map, bringing this part of the Let's Play to a close.

Bonus: Ring of Bomb (Plays during the destruction of Mist)

Rydia's theme:

 

[AngeloTheWizard]

Is the Steam one the DS version? I still need to get around to beating that... I got bored of trying to farm a rare drop for the Namingway sidequest. This game has some stupid low drop rates

There are some similarities, and I apologize for not getting to this sooner, but the Steam version is more related to the mobile version. So, the answer is yes and no.

Anyway, continuing on.

We come to an oasis town in the middle of the desert, because where else would an oasis town be. We get a free night's stay at the inn for Rydia.

Cecil asks for her name when she wakes up, and then declares his wish to take her someplace safe. She is unresponsive.

These guys show up in the middle of the night. He tells us to hand over the girl and His Majesty will wipe away the debt, to quote Bioshock Infinite. Cecil tells him to fuck off, and we launch into a battle with him and three dudes, despite their only being two in this screen grab.

The general shouts orders, and when he dies, the rest of his men become confused. The soldiers are the only ones who attack, assuming the general doesn't start attacking when you kill them all. Also, I learned something: Darkness is not quite like Souleater, instead, it's a "buff" Cecil casts on himself, and allows him to do more damage with his attacks at the cost of some HP per attack. It's not bad, but probably not the most useful thing.

Rydia tries to apologize, saying it's all her fault. Cecil disagrees, but Rydia is glad to have been protected and introduces herself properly. She also joins us fully.

Rydia has a small selection of White and Black magic, including the Sight spell to give us a minimap. She also comes in knowing the Chocobo summon.

We meet Mapping, er, Livingway. He dropped all his maps and pens, so he is now a vagrant. We also meet...

Wait, Rosa? What the fuck?! When did you get here?

She gives us the Auto-Potion augment, not even recognizing Cecil as, well, Cecil. The guide I'm using says to give it to Porom, and I see no reason to ignore it.

An old man near Rosa's bed tells us that the desert fever she suffers from can be cured by a Damcyan sand pearl. Seems we have our quest, boys. It's said to be in an Antlion cave, so we'll need to find that cave.

We get told the cave is to the east, but that only Damcyan royalty can enter the cave. As it turns out, according to a walkthrough I have, I need to head Northeast for the Waterway, to find Tellah. Damn.

And because it's Hard Mode, there's going to be a LOT of grinding. So, we're going to have to cut here, for now...

Bonus, Extra Music:

Dungeon:

Town Theme:

Rosa's theme/Theme of Love:

 

[AngeloTheWizard]

So what I've learned over my grind break is that it sucks to be a Mage in FF4.

The Waterway is similar to the Mist Cave, though it has a few branching paths. Head straight as you enter to find a couple chests with some consumables, then head west. The dungeon is a bit bigger then the Mist Cave, so 100% will take a bit more-but we're doing it anyway.

This is Tellah. He asks for Cecil's help to get his daughter back from the silver tongued bard (Edward), but if you talk around in town, you learn that she actually ran off on her own. Tellah's just an asshole who hates the Bard class, what with their Inspire Courages and excellent Perform skills!

And no, I don't know why he's wearing what appears to be Amethyst glasses. He just is.

Since we were heading that way anyway, Tellah joins us, and we head off to slay the monster that guards the way.

Tellah starts with a pretty sweet assortment, but he won't be learning any more until Mt. Ordeals. He also has Recall which allows him to cast random magic. For now, it's better to just use his regular stuff.

Completing the B1 Floor gets us 5 Eyedrops. Nice. Also, Rydia hits level 15 and learns Raise, which is very useful since Tellah comes with it, meaning the two can Raise each other. It has a pretty nasty MP cost at 25, but it works nice.

Final Fantasy 4 also has some ideas about people who are overweight. Seriously, it's ice cold.

Head to the southwest of the second floor. It brings you to this room, with a save point. You can't access the entire floor without visiting this room, so you'll need to come here first. It's quite useful as at about this point, assuming Rydia's been using her Thunder, she'll be running low and doesn't have Tellah's sweet Osmose spell.

Tellah also has a tent of his own that we use to rest up.

Tellah at least understands why Anna ran off, and isn't pulling a "Never my fault!" moment. Cecil mentions Rosa suffering from desert fever, and Tellah agrees that time is of the essence. After the cutscene is over, we can continue to fight the great, eight tentacled beast of the lake.

Anybody who makes a "seen enough hentai" joke in regards to Rydia gets a visit from Chris Hanson.

Completing the second floor gets us 5 antidotes. We then move on to the third floor, which is more bridges and therefore straight paths, and less of the twisty-turny nonsense of floor 2. There's a brief detour near the beginning for a couple items, but otherwise, it's a straight shot and three tents.

We now move to the "North" side, and we're back on B2. Confused yet?

Don't be. We have our first secret passage here, near the exit. It's almost better to Warp back down to the previous floor, as it's slightly faster then running back after getting the Feathered Cap here. I gave it to Rydia. Complete B2 North for 3 Phoenix Downs.

On B1 North, we find an upgrade for Cecil, a Shadowblade. Also, I never looked before, but my GOD that Magic Defense is shit. Also, earlier in the dungeon is an Ice Rod, which is a good upgrade for Rydia. Completing B1 North gets us an Ether.

Don't worry about healing before leaving. The boss is outside, and we can use a tent before we fight him. How nice of the boss to be so considerate.

Thought crazy waterfall leaping shenanigans were only in 6.

There's a smaller dungeon past the waterfall, we can find some upgrades to Cecil's armor in the form of Hades Gloves and a Hades Helm. Completing the B2 Map gets us another 5 potions.

B1 has Hades Armor, and it's possible to complete the map before we confront the boss, gaining 3 Zeus's Wraths in the process. Well, I think we have a plan.

I've seen enough hentai...to know what those tentacles are going to do to Cecil.

Jesus Christ how horrifying.

This bastard has 3,350 HP, and brings plenty of pain. He gets faster and stronger as he loses tentacles, but slows down when he has one left-I think. We don't attack them, he just loses them as he loses HP. Have Cecil use Darkness, and actually ignore the Zeus's Wraths, they only cast regular Thunder. Keep everyone healed, and you should get out fairly intact.

With that, Damcyan is just outside. We heal up and save before our next adventure.

 

[Ravelord]

Is the Steam one the DS version? I still need to get around to beating that... I got bored of trying to farm a rare drop for the Namingway sidequest. This game has some stupid low drop rates

Basically the Steam version is the same as the DS version, but without the summon Whyt or his minigames as far as I can tell.

 

[AngeloTheWizard]

Basically the Steam version is the same as the DS version, but without the summon Whyt or his minigames as far as I can tell.

That is one of the bigger ones. For a full list of differences, see here:

http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Final_Fantasy_IV/Version_differences

There may not be an update tomorrow, I will be somewhat busy with real life concerns.

 

[AngeloTheWizard]

What the fuck happened while I was gone? I swear to Yevon, you turn your back for five fucking days and the whole place gets upended on you.

Well, whatever. It's good to be back and sperging about stuff I love instead of stuff that grows on ya.

We arrive at Damcyan Castle in time to see it get blown the fuck up, by the Red Wings too. The King of Baron is a dick.

We search for survivors, of which there are few. The Red Wings stole the Crystal too, just to further put the boot in.

We get no option to actually help him. Come on Square, lemme be the hero you want me to be!

Who's Anna? That's Belle!

The bard that Anna ran off with appears as well, and Tellah, in a fit of fury, attacks him.

Yes, we get the Spoony Bard line. *Squee!*

Anyway, Anna eventually pops up to stop Tellah hitting Edward for all of 2 damage a swing. Anna reveals that Edward (the Bard, if you haven't been paying attention) is the prince of Damcyan. She also speaks the name of Golbez, the new leader of the Red Wings. After dropping the needed exposition and begging Tellah for forgiveness, she dies in the arms of her father.



Tellah leaves our party to go find Golbez and kick his ass. Cecil tries to stop him but the man is far too headstrong. Edward weeps over Anna's death, until Rydia tells him to man up and stop crying like she has. Lady, your mum died yesterday, I don't think you get to go around saying shit like that.

Edward more or less gives up on living and decides he'll stay by Anna's side, and nothing else matters. Cecil picks him up and slaps him right across the face. And let me tell you, there is no more satisfying feeling then hearing that smack. If Cecil could jump into some of the other games and deliver more righteous face slaps, I would be so happy.

After getting some sense literally bitch-smacked into him, Edward tells us of the Antlion's cave and hooks us up with a hovercraft-yes, really-that can help us navigate the area.

Edward joins us at level 9, so his stats are lacking. However, his abilities are FUCKING SWEET. Hide still exists, but that isn't the draw here. What IS the draw here is his multiple free songs that cause all kinds of debuffs with Bardsong, and his Salve ability that lets him hit the whole damn party with one item. It's pretty sweet.

The third floor of the castle, now that plot relevant stuff is over, has healing urns we can freely use to heal, rez, and restore MP. The heal/rez urn and the MP one is different, so head left for heals, right for MP.

With all that settled, it's time to grind Edward up into something resembling useful.

Bonus: Sorrow and Loss, played during Edward and Anna's last scene, but I think I only have the original:

 

[AngeloTheWizard]

The hovercraft seems to make you immune to random encounters, therefore, you can use it to drive to the Antlion cave, grind in there a bit, head out and head to Damcyan for free healz and drive on back. Teeheehee.

The Antlion Cave is a sandy sort of cave. Edward complains about sand in his vagina.

Edward's Bardsong, as soon as he hits level 10, is the best goddamn thing ever. He gets Life Anthem, which is a Regen style effect, and Regen gives you something like 5% or so of your max HP every tick...and every tick is a half second. I dunno if actual Regen is that fast, but Edward's is. The lone disadvantage is that it takes a long while to start playing, and I think if he gets hit, the effect is lost. Still pretty good, though.

Also, we can find Adamantoises in this dungeon. If you recall from FF2 how weak they were to Ice, congrats, they haven't changed a bit.

This chest can be found in a side room on B2 and contains a Lamia Harp, an upgrade for Edward. His harps can inflict a variety of status effects, his starting weapon can put people to sleep while Lamia can confuse, making them more useful for the debuffs then the actual attack score.

You can also find an extra Shadowblade in the southwest corner of B2, if you didn't get the first one. A similar chest holding an Ice Rod can also be found in about the same area. Ah well, good for hawking for some gil.

Completing both maps can be done at nearly the same time-completing B1 requires going down to B2 and then up to a side area. B1 grants 5 potions, B2 grants 3 precious Phoenix Downs.

Said side area is a save point, with chests that contain a Phoenix Down, an Ether, and an Emergency Exit item. Hell yes. Tent up and Save, especially if you picked up some levels, before heading down to B3.

B3 is the nest, and doesn't have any map completion bonus.

Well that's rather phallic.

Edward says the Antlion is docile, but is almost immediately proven wrong when the Antlion tries to bisect him. This launches a boss fight.

I'm sorry, I can't take this thing seriously.

The Antlion switches between White eyes and Red eyes. When White, it counters physical attacks, while Red, it counters magic. Luckily, Rydia can hit its weakness regardless of what it's countering!

It's got 2,000 HP, and is weak to Ice, so get cracking. Cecil should defend while its in white eyes, and Edward is probably best doing Life's Anthem or Salving with potions. The Antlion can change his eyes on a dime, so watch carefully before you confirm an attack.

With the Antlion dead, we get our Sand Pearl, and head on back to Rosa to heal her.

 

[AngeloTheWizard]

Returning to Kaipo is easy with the hovercraft. Head southwest of Damcyan Castle and navigate around the mountains by flying over the shallow water. I guess that kind of makes the Hovercraft FF4's version of the canoe, but whatever.

You have to actually scroll through your inventory and select the Sand Pearl, much like FF3. Once you do so, Rosa hops right out of bed.

Rosa says that Cecil was reported dead in Myst, and she suspects Golbez of manipulating the king to gain the crystals for himself. Damcyan and Mysidia have fallen, and Fabul is next. Rosa is still weak from desert fever, but wants to come along. She's a white mage, she'll be fine. Rosa asks Rydia if she can cast Fire, Rydia replies that she can't (and this is true, it's not currently in her spellbook, but it's for a damn good plot related reason). We need a Fire spell for the ice wall on Mt Hobbs, which is the only way to get to Fabul from here. Regardless of magic status, we decide to bed down for the night and depart early morning.

Edward can't sleep, and decides to head out to the waterfront and play a little tune. Before anyone can chuck a rock at him and get him to stop, he's attacked by a Sahagin.

Fuck me.

A vision of Anna appears to encourage him, and considering that harp of his does about 70 damage per shot and causes confusion...hey, maybe he has a shot.

It also helps his chances when the monster never attacks.

A short cutscene plays between Edward and Anna, who's pulling a Force Ghost thing and can be here for a while before "The Spirit" calls her onward. She confirms what we already know, that Golbez can't be allowed to have the crystals. Edward says he will try, and I want to go Yoda on his ass every time he says "try". He isn't sure what Anna would have him do, and I think it's obvious: Kick some fucking ass, you little bitch!

In the morning, we can check Rosa's stuff. She comes in at level 15 but has an awesome selection of White Magic, including Libra, Cura, and Raise. Sadly, she can't use the Ice Rod, but her gear is solid for the moment.

Before you leave, head to where Edward fought the Sahagin. It's in the north of town, west of the dancer, between these trees. You'll find a glittering spot that marks the location of the "Item Lore" augment. According to my guide (Which is actually a "three playthrough get best stats for augments" guide) this needs to go to Palom. Still don't see a reason to doubt it.

Return to the other side of the mountain and head east past the Antlion Den to Mt. Hobbs.

As it turns out, Rydia CAN cast Fire, but is scared of it because of the whole "we kinda burned Myst to the fucking ground" thing. Rosa gives her plenty of encouragement though, and eventually, she confronts her fears and burns away the ice.

Rydia also gets Fire added to her spellbook.

Completing the West Slope (starting area) map rewards us with three hi-potions. There are two exits from the West Slope, the one on the left leads to a save point room with a ton of loot while the other one leads to the way forward.

By the way, be wary of Cockarices in the area. The monsters are more powerful overall, but Cockatrices can, as always, inflict Petrify. Unlike in previous titles, it's not immediate, allowing you to end the fight before the Stone effect happens and heal the status effect that way, useful if you don't have any Gold Needles. Also, they can drop the Needles themselves. Just be careful until you have a few.

Also, don't hit any Bombs you encounter with Fire. While that worked in FF2, here, they counter with Self-Destruct and deny you any XP or Gil you would have gotten.

Back in the "way up the mountain" room, we encounter Yang, a monk of Fabul, being menaced by six goblins and a Mom Bomb boss monster. He kicks the ass of three of the goblins in a cutscene and graciously allows us to take control to fight the rest.

The whole team jumps in to help him with the Mom Bomb, making it our first battle with a full party.

The Mom Bomb is definitely no ordinary foe, as Edward says. It takes extra damage from Ice and Darkness, but attempts to take us with it after it transforms by blowing itself up. Edward should keep up the Life's Anthem while Rosa heals as well, and the rest of the party lays on the damage. After the explosion, the Mom Bomb will "transform" into three Grey Bombs and three regular Bombs, each of which explode after a single point of damage. In other words, be fucking careful.

It's also possible to kill Mom Bomb with Rydia's Bio, if she is level 26. And considering it's hard mode...well, Mom Bomb's final attack leveled my damn party, so I had to try it.

And this means, grinding break!

Next Time: Meeting Yang, and heading to Fabul!

Bonus: the music for Mt. Hobs is also the music for Mt Ordeals, and I know this because the theme is "Mt. Ordeals"

 

[AngeloTheWizard]

One realization that Defend is a command that exists later, and the Mom Bomb becomes much easier when combined with Rosa's ability to Protect and Shell the team.

Spoiler: Full strategy here:

In the opening phase of the fight, Rose should immediately cast Protect and then Shell while Edward uses Life's Anthem and the rest of the party lays on damage. Once Mom Bomb shifts, have everyone defend, though Edward may be trapped in his song. Once the explosion happens, Yang should use Kick to immediately kill the regular bombs, Cecil should attack the Grey Bombs, Rosa and Rydia should both heal, and Edward will probably be dead. Get rid of the Grey Bombs after Mom Bomb goes boom, and you'll win the fight.

Yang introduces himself as the Grandmaster of Fabul monks. The party theorizes that the monsters were sent against Yang and his order to leave Fabul undefended. Yang declines our offer initially, but after the party explains their stake (including Cecil outright stating that he allowed the enemy to deceive him), he humbly accepts. We now have a full party!

The East Slope is a straight run down. Completing the map grants 3 Bomb Cores.

Once on the other side of the mountains, head east. It's a long walk, but eventually, you'll reach Fabul.

The Krillin look-alikes greet us warmly as we enter Fabul Castle. This is a far cry from the death and destruction that awaited us at Damcyan.

Fabul has a couple shops. It's best to buy one of each kind of elemental claw for Yang, they're all rather solid and allow his massive attack damage to exploit enemy weaknesses with ease-maybe even get two if you feel really nasty. It is better to double up in case of elemental absorbtion, if one claw hits a weakness and the other hits absorb, absorb wins.

There's also some armor Cecil can get that are upgrades, but the Class Change is very soon to come, so get the helm and the gloves if you like but dropping 3000 on the armor doesn't strike me as a good idea.

On the other side of 1F from the weapon/armor shop is an Inn, where Name, er, Map, er, Livingway awaits.

He gave the bestiary to Fat Chocobo, and now allows us to rewatch cutscenes as Recordingway. This will also likely get passed on to Fat Chocobo.

We meet with the King, and Yang states that they must secure the castle. The king is rightly suspicious of Cecil, as his armor is that of the Dark Knights of Baron, but Yang vouches for us (pictured above). Edward also informs the King of the fate of Damcyan, and the king asks us for forgiveness as he found it hard to believe we spoke the truth.

We agree to help in the defense, and Yang would have us stand with him on the front lines. Now we're talking some hero business.

The party does split for now, however. Rosa and Rydia are requested to assist the healers, while Yang, Cecil, and Edward (who is kind of a healer in his own right) man the defenses.

We are attacked by Baron Forces, and as before when we defended Rydia, killing the leader confuses the rest. The enemies are, for some reason, weak to Lightning claws, so have Yang strap 'em on and go kick ass. Kick is useful here to attack all enemies at once.

After the ground forces are battled, the Red Wings begin a bombing run and we pull back inside.

Yang thinks it's hopeless, but Cecil isn't willing to give up yet. The enemy breaks through, and we're forced to fight against a sort of Lamia thing, a Sahagin, and a goblin. They all go down quickly.

A third battle against more Baron Marines follows. Even though we crush our foes easily, we continue to retreat, moving up to the throne room. The crystal is in the chamber just above, so we must hold them here. A monster disguised as a monk unlocks the door and attacks us, making our lives a bit more interesting.

The throne room gets swamped and we decide to make a final stand in the crystal chamber. Before we can get there, Edward trips and eats shit, so we fight yet another wave of Marines. An enemy approaches us in the crystal chamber, it's...

Kain?!

Buddy, it's three on one. Would not recommend.

Well, Kain decides to even the odds and pulls Cecil into a one on one duel. Cecil doesn't understand, but he will in due time. We all will. MUWAHAHAHAHHA!

Kain uses Jump, and when he's on the evil side, it's instant instead of needing to wait a turn, the prick. Use Hi-Potions when needed, but otherwise, it's a straight duel boss, with more plot relevance then actual challenge.

In fact, you may not get to use it, as the fight seems to be coded to end after three jumps, or maybe when Cecil is reduced to "caution" status.

Kain attempts to murder-fuck Cecil with his spear. Yang attempts to intercept but Kain bats him away. This buys just enough time for Rosa to jump in, causing Kain to hesitate.

Golbez makes his first appearance as Kain struggles against the mind control (whoops, I just blew the surprise).

The man can make an entrance.

Golbez blows our party away with purple lightning, and Kain is now fully back under his control. They take the crystal of wind and walk off. Rosa tries to stop Kain, but Golbez simply warps Rosa away as a hostage. Neither Kain nor Golbez do the smart thing and fucking kill Cecil, but hey, that's Final Fantasy for ya.

Rydia uses a healing spell once the bad guys are gone, so that we can pick our asses up and get moving. The party is pretty bleak at the moment, but Rydia kicks our asses into gear by telling us that Rosa is unharmed and we just need to rescue her and take back the Crystal. Youthful optimism, is there no angst you can't cure?

We head off to lick our wounds and figure out a way to get Rosa and the Crystals back.

Bonus: Fabul Theme:

Run! (Plays during the last few fights before Kain):

Suspicion (Plays during the scene with Kain)

Golbez, Clad in Darkness:

 

[AngeloTheWizard]

It has come to my attention that the Steam Hard Mode is actually the DS "Normal" mode. The DS does not have a mode select. They just can't be satisfied with this game's difficulty, can they? I still say we're slightly harder as we lack Whyt.

The party gets a free night at the inn, and begins to formulate a plan. Cecil states that Baron's naval forces are weak compared to the air force, so we'll need a boat. We can get one from the king tomorrow. However, there's a small side trip we'll be going on before then.

The King gives Cecil a pretty sweet sword, but reminds him that such a blade will do nothing against those of pure evil. FORESHADOWING!

A little exploring to grab some items, and we meet Yang's Wife. Were this Chrono Cross, she'd be a playable character, since that game had its own character using kitchen utensils as weapons.

The boat is just north of Fabul. Yang's Wife sees us off, and gives us the Counter Augment. This goes to Cecil. The boat moves on its own, and partway through, a cutscene begins. Cecil plans to rescue Cid, as we need an airship to bring the fight to Golbez. Edward seems slightly nervous about something, though. They don't go into it.

A little while later, we get interrupted by Leviathan. Rydia is knocked overboard in the ensuing storm, and Yang jumps in after her to save her. The crew and Edward are knocked unconscious by a particularly powerful impact, and then Leviathan promptly shipwrecks us, leaving us alone on a new island.

We're on the southeast portion of the world now. We head east, the only way we can go, and reach Mysidia.

Yes, Mysidia. The town we attacked in the game's opening. Think they'll remember us?

As this Black Mage hits us with Toad, I would assume so.

Look, just head straight north and enter the Hall of Prayer. This triggers a cutscene when you approach the Elder. The Elder gives Cecil a good measure of hell for his sins, but...

The Elder tells us that so long as we lean on that Dark Sword we wield, we cannot defeat this evil foe. We are told to go to Mount Ordeals in the East, to cleanse ourselves of the darkness creeping into our souls and become one with the Light.

This whole thing is a redemption story done quite well. We've seen Cecil commit his dark deeds and struggle with defying his King, then decide to break away from said King, attempt to do some heroic things, and now he seeks absolution. An absolution that we get to play through!

The Twins, Palom and Porom, are sent to aid us. Palom calls us a "dirty knight", so it's clear Cecil has his work cut out for him when it comes to the whole forgiveness of sins thing. Porom is at least polite to us.

With them in the party, we can pass a few Augments around, to make our future Augments better.

Next Time: Mount Ordeals!

Bonus Content:

Mystic Mysidia (Theme of Mysidia):

A Long Way To Go (Plays during the talk with the Elder):

Palom and Porom (Twins Theme):

 

[AngeloTheWizard]

The weapon and armor shops don't sell anything better then what we have already for our party-or, in Cecil's case, they sell Paladin armor. As you may guess, even though many say that none have returned from Mt Ordeals, Cecil is gonna break that streak.

Porom has a healing staff, which can be used to heal the party. Or just use her damn White Magic, you fool.

Head East, and you'll find Mt Ordeals.

It's very grey.

Near the beginning, we come across a magical wall of fire. Palom Blizzards it away.

After that, Golbez calls on Scarmiglione to stop us. His army of the undead is strong against our Dark Blade...

Or, actually, not quite. We can still crank out a lot of damage against the undead hordes, just perhaps not as much as we could. Porom's cry can help us get some more damage in, and while the undead are immune to the Deathbringer's Instant Kill ability (sometimes, an attack with it will flat out kill a living creature), they aren't immune to being cut in half.

Don't use elemental attacks against the "soul" type enemies. They absorb all of it. Cecil can oneshot all of them, however.

Mapping out the first floor awards 5 Antidotes.

On the second floor, we meet Tellah again. He's a good dude to have around. He thinks we've come here seeking the Meteor spell. Palom and Porom tell him that they're actually here to guide Cecil to the top of the mountain. Porom gives Palom a few smacks upside the head, though, because Palom is a bit overconfident and disrespectful.

Once Cecil speaks of his desire to become a paladin, Tellah decides to join up with us, so we can all go kick ass together.

Completing the Trail map gets us 3 Hi-Potions.

Tellah has everything and is at the same level he was when he left us. He's bound to pick up a few levels with us, though.

The Crossing (the next area) doesn't have any tricks, just an Ether when we're done, and a couple items in chests.

The fourth area has a save point, good for saving and using tents. We also got greeted with a hiss, and while Porom thinks it's Palom making noises, we know it's Mr. Scar.

As we approach, Scar jumps us and attacks.

Scar attacks us with a bunch of backup. Palom should use Fira, Tellah and Porom should use Cura, and Cecil should chuck Hi-Potions at Scar, as Scar only takes half damage from Dark Swords. If by some miracle you have an Elixir, throw it right at his face for an easy win. Otherwise, keep the party healed and unsilenced (Scar can silence) and cast away!

Scar only has 1,200 HP, so a pair of Hi-Potions and a single spell from someone else can kill him, even before his backup is killed off. The other monsters still need to be killed, though, they don't go with him.

After he dies, cross the bridge...

And he attacks us again.

His second form has 7,000 HP, but the same strategy applies. It is a back attack, so swapping before the fight can be done. If you don't, however, Cecil (who will probably act first) can swap everyone's Rows with a simple Swap Roes action (it's down at the bottom).

In this form, Scar's basic attacks can inflict Blind, but considering the circumstances, this is the one fight where Blind is useless. Since Cecil isn't attacking and the rest of the party is a bunch of mages, no one cares about being blind. Silence is more worrying, but we have a good stock of Echo Herbs for that.

Also, it's said that Scar has Cursed Elegy, which slows the party, and he uses that when hit with Fire. He sure doesn't use it all the time, though, or my party would have been hit with it more often then "never".

Once Scar is dead, he falls off the mountainside. He'll probably fight us again someday. We're not done yet, though, as completing this map gets us a Red Fang, and we still have to become a Paladin!

Uh, what?

We get teleported to a strange room, and Mufasa tells us that the hour is late and a tragedy is unfolding. To end it, he will give us his light, in the form of a Paladin blade.

We are then instructed to vanquish the Dark Knight, as the Dark Knight form of Cecil steps out of the mirror and attacks us.

While Dark Knight is in the middle of buffing in this shot, this is the trick. Attacking Dark Knight Cecil hurts us, because he is our reflection, see. Choose Defend, heal yourself when needed, and let DK Cecil kill himself. This whole battle is a test of non-violence, and well...autism ahead.

Spoiler: Autism

The Paladin is the complete antithesis of the Dark Knight, as one mage in Mysidia told us. This is exemplified in their special abilities: The DK can sacrifice health to hit harder, while the Paladin can "Cover" others, taking blows meant for his allies. So how can we become a Paladin if we continue to walk the self-destructive path of the Dark Knight? We can't. Therefore, we need to outlast the Darkness, letting blow after blow rain down, as we give the Darkness a simple answer: "NO!"

Realistically, all you have to do is Defend until a voice begins speaking again. A cutscene plays where Cecil's father grants him a hallowed light, the last of his strength, and implores Cecil to stop Golbez.

Welcome to the Hero Side, buddy.

The mysterious light isn't done-Tellah relearns all his old spells, and also learns Meteor. It costs so much MP, however, that he will never get to cast it until the plot says so.

Palom and Porom get close to telling Cecil something important, but Tellah cuts them off, and we all leave before more exposition can make this update any longer.

Now, for your usual Bonus Content:

Battle With the Four Fiends (the fight music for every Elemental Archfiend boss)

 

[AngeloTheWizard]

Hey remember that armor in Mysidia? I really fucking hope you bought it, because otherwise, Cecil is level 1 with no armor for the walk back to town. Well, no one said Paladin was easy.

Just to prove I'm not kidding.

That said, the first random fight you get into, if Cecil survives (which he might with all that HP), he'll instantly shoot up in level. My first fight had him jump to 6.

The return to Mysidia can be relatively painless if you at least keep healing Cecil, even without any armor. One quick bankrupting when I return to Mysidia (that damn armor is super expensive), and then we report to the Elder.

The Elder, after Palom's slip of the tongue, informs us that precisely no one, including him and the twins, believed we could do this. Cecil is quick to forgive them for not telling him, though. The Elder also tells us that our sword has writing on it, and engraved on the blade is the Legend of Mysidia:

Birthed from womb of Dragon's maw​

And borne unto the stars
By light and darkness cast aloft
Are dreamtide oaths resworn
Moon is swathed in ever-light
Ne'er again to know eclipse
Earth, with hallow'd bounty reconciled​

​

Yet fleeting is the reverie
When moon from shadow has egressed
Guided forth anew by light made manifest​

​

Two bound by ties of blood
By Time and Fate when wrest apart​

Unto lunar light and Gaian breast
​

Awww shit man, now we're getting into some prophecies!

The Elder says that the Mysidians have been told to trust in the legend, and to trust the hallowed one of whom it speaks. The Elder believes that Cecil may in fact be that Chosen One.

The Elder agrees to reopen Devil's Road so we can reach Baron and get an airship to fight Golbez with. Palom and Porom are told their duty is over, but they refuse to leave, instead wanting to come with us.

After reaching my personal grind capacity of getting Cecil up to level 15, we're ready to embark on The Devil's Road.

For all the talk of how dangerous it is, it's just a teleporter.

We can meet Yang in the Baron Pub. He's on Baron's side now, and first throws his goons at us, then attacks us himself, calling us a "traitor to Baron" and a "Blackguard". Yang throws Kicks at us which do about 100 damage to each party member. After fighting him for a bit and throwing a 600 damage Bio at him, the battle ends. He suffered from amnesia, see (and possibly a little of Golbez's mind control).

We decide to get a room as Yang rejoins our party, giving us a full squad again! Let's see how long it lasts...

 

[Ravelord]

Just a small piece of trivia. In FF IV: The After Years, you The Devil's Road is actually a dungeon. Maybe in the original they didn't have the memory to put it in and then didn't bother to put it on the remakes.

 

[AngeloTheWizard]

Just a small piece of trivia. In FF IV: The After Years, you The Devil's Road is actually a dungeon. Maybe in the original they didn't have the memory to put it in and then didn't bother to put it on the remakes.

That fits with the reputation it has in Mysidia. Doesn't exactly fit with how the one soldier guarding it in Baron says it's a trade route, but then again, perhaps the Devil's Road was more patrolled prior to the events of 4 and After Years. I like it, how's the Devil's Road dungeon in After Years since there's no Steam version of it for me to grab (unless there is and I'm too lazy to look)?

 

[Ravelord]

There is actually a Steam Version, but I knew about this because I watched HCBailly's LP. I think is not too difficult, it's basically Saffron City Gym with random encounters. Just be careful with the new mechanics which can screw you over if you don't plan ahead.