Just about halfway through this marvellous adventure
I don't have a lead off picture. This was a big week, and I don't want to delay any longer!
DAY 11 (1/12/15. PLAYTIME: 7:34 TO 8:26)
Went back to Troia with the recently acquired Earth Crystal. Cecil meets up with Kain to do the trade (if you forget: Rosa for the Earth Crystal). The party is taken to the Tower of Zot. After fighting through five floors of this area (filled with tough enemies with a proclivity to back attack), you come to a boss battle with the strange Magus Sisters. They are easily dispatched. You enter the room they were guarding, and here you hand over the Crystal to Golbez. And aah shucks! Golbez actually ISN'T going to trade Rosa for the Crystal. For some reason, everyone in the party is shocked by this. Haven't they ever played a video game before?
In a fit of rage over this, Tellah enters into a(n) (automatic) battle against Golbez. He starts getting housed. As a last ditch effort, Tellah casts the mighty Meteor. Of course, since this is such a powerful spell, it kills him. But it does make Golbez run away. He does again pass up an opportunity to kill Cecil, it must be noted. Hmm...
Tellah, in his dying breath, tells the party to avenge his daughter's death. Well, duh, Tellah. At this point, Golbez has to answer for more than just his daughter.
After Golbez escapes, Kain comes to his senses. He had been under Golbez's control, but him being injured by Meteor broke the spell. They then rescue Rosa in the nick of time, and both Kain and Rosa join your party! Of course, there's no time to celebrate, because the third Elemental Wizard attacks! It's the buxom Lord of Wind, Barbariccia.
After this battle (another pretty easy one), they escape the Tower as it crumbles around them. They make it back to Baron, where Kain tells them that even though Golbez has the four Crystals, those are only the Light Crystals. There are also four Dark Crystals hidden in the Underworld. Apparently, with the eight Crystals, a pathway to the moon (!)(?) opens. Who doesn't want to go to the moon?
The last thing I have to say for this day is that Kain gives us a Magma Stone, which will open the way to the Underworld. Now, to find this Underworld...
- I'm sad to see Tellah go...
- ...but STOKED to get Rosa back. FINALLY a character with a substantial amount of MP (200+), so I don't always have to worry about running low
- Speaking of MP, here's a little grip of mine: during the "battle" with Golbez, Tellah uses Bio, Firaga, Blizzaga, AND Meteor. Meteor alone costs 99 MP to cast. Tellah only had 90-something MP to begin with, so how in the hell did he cast so much magic that he would have needed close to 200 MP? I HATE when RPGs do this kind of stuff. Breaking their own rules to advance the plot. Bah humbug!
- The Tower of Zot was TOUGH. I used most of my potions, hi-potions, and ethers. Tellah and Cecil both had 0 MP before I found a save point.
BOSS:
MAGUS SISTERS
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| Why do they look like Disney characters? |
This is a very easy battle. The sisters really just use Reflect and a variety of second-tier magic (Thundara, etc.). I had Cecil, Yang, and Cid attack the first sister (Mindy). Tellah healed or used magic on Sandy (the tall one in the back). At one point, Mindy & Cindy (the fat one in the middle) both had Reflect on them, so Tellah was pretty useless besides attacking Sandy. After I took Mindy down, I focused on Cindy. I used the same strategy: just pound with physical attacks. They revived Mindy, but Cindy fell soon after. I killed Sandy, and focused everything on Mindy then (which makes sense, since she was the last one left). It got a little hairy at the end because Tellah was confused and Yang was mini'd. Cid had something on him as well (not sure what. Paralyze or Stop or Hold or whatever the hell it's called) that made him unable to move. But Cecil just whaled on Mindy until she died anyway. Easy peasy.
BARBERICCIA
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| Yowza! Hatchie matchie! |
This battle, unlike the other two Elemental Wizard battles, was very easy. Cecil and Cid attacked; Kain used Jump (great ability!); Yang used Double; Rosa healed/buffed. That's all there is to it. The four physical attackers are so damn powerful that she goes down pretty easily after not much fighting. I honestly don't remember any attacks she has.
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DAY 12 (1/13/15. PLAYTIME: 8:27 TO 9:18)
Flew around a little bit until I found the small town of Agart. There's a well here that is very deep. So deep, in fact, that no one even knows how deep it is. You can throw the Magma Stone in. Once you do that, a large mountain right next to Agart explodes, exposing a large hole. You can fly the Airship right down into that sumbitch. Do you know where it brings you?
The Underworld, dummy! You arrive to see the Red Wings, in their airships, locked in a battle against tanks. Your airship crashes near the Dwarf Castle. The king inside, his named Giott, informs you that he is the king of the Underworld. He also informs you that Golbez already has two Dark Crystals. God, that guy gets around awfully quickly.
You enter the Crystal room here to defend it from Golbez. You immediately fight a bizarre doll boss. Once it's defeated, Golbez appears (SHOCKING!). You fight him, but he wipes out everyone (save Cecil) easily. Golbez summons a Shadow Dragon, and it looks like it's the end of the line for Cecil and his pals.
Well, is it?
NO!
Right before the Dragon can do damage, someone else (off screen) summons a Mist Dragon (it looks identical to the very first boss of the game). But who could it be? Who could have swept in and saved the day? Who has the power to summon?
It's Rydia! She's back! She revives Cecil, and the two of them fight Golbez. After defeating him (!!), his arm (?) still manages to crawl away with the Crystal anyway. Oi fucking vey, amiright?
After this, they all decided to let Golbez steal the final Crystal (hell, he'd do it anyway, even if we tried to intervene) and then meet him at the Tower of Babel to steal them all back. Seems a little reckless, but what the hell! That's where I saved.
- The Underworld, perhaps not too surprisingly, looks like hell. Lots of lava
- VERY HAPPY to have Rydia back. Besides the fact that she has some badass new summons (Ifrit, Ramuh, Shiva, Titan, and Dragon), and besides the other fact that she's not a little kid anymore (something about being with Leviathan in the Land of the Summoners), she has a SHITLOAD of MP! Now I have TWO characters with loads of MP (one with white magic, one with black)
- I REALLY like the makeup of my party. Not a single weak character
BOSS:
CALCABRINA
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| Oooh dolls. How scary! *ultra hard scoff* |
This battle starts as one against six dolls. Three are Calcas and three are Brinas. I attacked them normally: Cecil attacked, Kain Jumped, Yang Doubled, and Rosa healed. After I destroyed three of these dolls, they form into a large, creepy-as-hell looking monstrosity, called Calcabrina:
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| Ignore that "8". Poorly timed photo on my part |
I just walloped this boss until I couldn't wallop anymore. I used all my strongest stuff (as per usual. See above). She does some attack that (I believe) confuses a party member. This I healed with Rosa's Esuna immediately. Calcabrina went down easily for me.
GOLBEZ
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| The man himself |
At the beginning (before Rydia appears), he uses very strong magic and kills everyone but Cecil. After Rydia joins, I had her summon Ifrit and Ramuh, and Cecil attack (and heal when needed). Golbez went down pretty easily (Cecil's sword was doing 1000+ damage per hit). I didn't bother reviving the other three. Oh well!
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DAY 13 (1/14/15. PLAYTIME: 9:19 TO 10:06)
I started in the Tower of Babel (which is where I saved the day before. I don't think I was clear about that above). I climbed to the top, and there I found a bizarre doctor. He was helping someone named Rubicante into a warping device. After a short exchange, you fight the good doctor. He fights first with a large robot-Frankenstein-kind of thing named Barnabas (of course it is). If you destroy the robot, the doctor jumps into the destroyed remains of it, and he calls himself Barnabas-Z.
After you defeat this boss, the doctor isn't done! When are they ever? You fight him again, but once the battle starts he turns into some robot-monster thing. Beat him, and you receive his key.
This key opens a previously locked door. This is the cannon room. You see, the cannons are set to destroy the Dwarf Castle. Once inside the control room, you fight some stupid ass goblins. Before they die, they destroy the controls so the cannons can't be turned off. Desperate, Yang stays behind and urges everyone else out. I'm not sure exactly what he does, but he dies doing it. I guess he's disabling the cannon controls...or something? Who knows. He's dead (I assume). That sucks.
You rush out of the Tower, but as you leave, Golbez (I think) destroys the bridge you are crossing. Luckily, Cid, back from trying to fix up his ship, flies to save you. Unfortunately, he's got Red Wings on his tail, and he can't shake them. Handing the controls to Cecil, Cid decides to grab a bomb and jump out of the airship. Apparently, this bomb will seal up the opening you made earlier with the Magma Stone. So he jumps and explodes a bomb. And dies. Yup, two awesome, not to mention powerful characters are killed off, within mere minutes of each other. Why do so many characters sacrifice themselves in this game? At my count, I think it's four!
Cid, before he stupidly killed himself, instructs you to go to Baron. Cid's guys attach a hook to the airship, so now it can pick up the hovercraft (remember that thing?). Somebody mentions something about the town of Eblan. So, looks like that’s where I’m headed. I wonder what will await me there…
- I really can’t believe I lost both Yang and Cid. They were so damn strong. Remember when I just mentioned that I feel I have a very strong party? Yeah. Well, I still do (no weak characters), but they definitely took a blow
- I’ve had a string of pretty-easy boss battles. I’m just waiting for a very tough one
- Actually, the dungeons are usually harder than the boss battles at the end.
BOSS:
DOCTOR AND BARNABAS
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| Is he wearing boxing gloves? |
Again, this battle is pretty easy. It starts off with the oddly-named Barnabas attacking the doctor (which is fairly amusing). I focused everything on Barnabas, and had my heavy hitters do their thing (attack, Jump, Double. You know the drill). Rosa was in her normal support role, and I had Rydia use Thunder magic (both Thundara and Ramuh). After some damage, Barnabas was destroyed. I then focused the attacks on the doctor. He didn't take much before he decided to jump into the ruined remains of his dumb robot. The result? Barnabas-Z:
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| At this point, why not? |
This part of the battle is more of the same. I think all these boss battles have been so easy because everyone in the party is pretty beefy and strong. I like beefy and strong. Anyway, once you attack this clown enough, he'll "die".
Because every boss in this game can't just die, he's still alive.
DR. LUGAE
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| Dr. Wily's long lost brother? |
He starts the battle like this, but I don't even think you can attack him before he...transforms(?) into this:
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| He couldn't transform into something more menacing? |
This battle is a tiny bit tougher than the previous one. He can use a Sleeping Gas attack to put someone to sleep (although it only actually seems to work about 1-out-of-4 tries), which is the most annoying part of the battle. Otherwise he can only poison (which is not used as much as Sleep) and use a Flamethrower attack which, to my characters, did very little damage. He will occasionally use an attack called Panacea, which...heals MY entire party of all the negative status effects he uses. Not sure why he would do this, but it's pretty helpful. But at any rate, attack with Cecil, Cid, and Yang as usual. Rosa has her hands full with healing and using Esuna/antidotes. Rydia is still slamming away with Thunder magic. This battle is pretty easy.
There you have it! My week in Final Fantasy IV Advance was quite an eventful one. Before I close this diary entry, I'd like to provide my (very) brief thoughts on the game so far. According to my friend Max who's played through the game, and a few online walkthroughs (used only to reference my position in the game), I'm about at the halfway point. I wanna do a quick "cons/pros" list like I do with my normal B-LOG SLAYING posts. Here goes:
CONS:
- By far the most irritating thing is the rate in which you encounter random battles. It gets very old very quickly.
- Another thing I find mildly annoying is that, at least in the first quarter of the game, whenever you get new party members, they are all severely under-levelled. Sometimes 10+ levels below where everyone else is. It doesn't take too long for them to catch up, but they are vulnerable for a bit
PROS:
- The graphics are great. They look colorful and vibrant on my Gameboy Advance SP screen
- The story, while starting to lose a little steam, is very good. I'm intrigued at where it could be headed, and I like Golbez as a villain, even though he's not the most fleshed-out guy
- The gameplay is fantastic. Yes, there are a lot of random encounters, but it doesn't get in the way of enjoying the game. The turn-based mechanics are spot on. And hey, ever played a recent Final Fantasy game? Notice that Active Time Battle? It's introduced here!
Okay, THAT'S everything. I think I will do a very neutered B-LOG when I finish this game. The meat of the game (and the bosses) will be here in these diary entries. Finally, here's my character progress at the roughly-halfway point:
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| I love Gil |
According to one walkthrough I used to reference for something (after the fact, I assure you. I will openly admit, as I already have, when I need to look something up), that the suggested level for the Tower of Babel was 34. So that would mean I'm a little under-levelled, but I'm getting on just fine.
Thanks all for reading, and check next week for another whizz-bang installment of my diary!
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