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[R^2]

Seems like it'd be easier to walk to Kashuan and pick up a chocobo, grinding money as you go. The chocobo can get you most of the way to Mysidia (although I discovered they can't cross rivers like I talked about before, and there's a river blocking off the Mysidia subcontinent), reducing the number of really brutal encounters on the way. Most of the world map is something you can walk to from the moment you step out of Altair for the first time -- it's just a matter of not getting brutally killed by enemies you can't lay a finger on.

[R^2]

And come to think of it, that river keeps you from getting to Mysidia just as soon as the game begins. You have to do the Fynn infiltration bit and get Minwu in the party so you have a canoe before you can get to Mysidia and the pricey shops therein.

[R^2]

Hilda: This would never have been possible had we not worked together. I thank you all. But one thing still troubles me. Minwu left for Mysidia, but we've not heard from him since. It pains me to ask this of you so soon after winning back our castle... Would you go to Mysidia?

Ah, so I didn't sequence-break all that much.

Anyway I'm going to skip some basic info you get because the game assumes you don't explore through all the nasty monsters and stuff until you have to.




Aha!

Hilda: You must speak an incantation to open the door that leads below. The words Ekmet Teloess have been passed down from antiquity.

Interesting phrase, and not one that ever comes up again in a franchise heavy on self-reference. What do they mean? Where are they from? The words "Ekmet Teloess" are an anagram for "Sleek Tome Set", and there we find the answer to our question.


Nobody knows where the door to the White Mask is, though, so you get to go ask Paul. He writes off the White Mask as not particularly valuable, so he'll tell you where it is instead of stealing it himself: behind the throne, on the right.


Guys! I just failed a spot check!


Twice!


Speaking the code word opens the door.


Where a series of passageways eventually leads into the basement.




The basement is full of trap rooms and monsters, of course.

[R^2]

Pipe must've sprung a leak somewhere. Better let Hilda know how bad the flooding is down here. Does anyone know a plumber who works in video games?


Oh fuck you, whoever designed this. Five of these are trap rooms.


Well, I have save states, so ha ha.

[R^2]

There's a cave near Mysidia. It's called the Mysidian Cave.


The monsters inside a-- oh, crap.


Malboros show up, too. They are oddly without their signature bad breath, for a monster named after cigarette-induced halitosis.


Who's that handsome devil?






Try as he might, Firion can't pass the doppelganger. You can't just fight it, either; perfectly symmetrical violence never solved anything.

[R^2]

ohhhhhhhhh.

[Brentai]

Why do you even need to stop him then?

[R^2]

Who, the doppelganger? Because... he's in the way? To justify the fetch-quests for the white and black masks? There's really not much reason for it.

[Brentai]

But I mean, why stop him to put the Black Mask on him?  It's not like he's particularly averse to getting near you.

[R^2]

Because... um... because the masks only work to destroy evil creatures when one is feeding positive energy from the goddess statue into the other? The whole sidequest doesn't make a lot of sense and is a pretty transparent example of game padding. A bit like Snowcraft -> Goddess Bell -> Egil's Torch -> Sunfire -> Dreadnought, this one is Black Mask / White Mask -> Crystal Rod -> Mysidia Tower -> Ultima Tome.

[R^2]

Deeper in the dungeon are Brains, which are pretty transparent copies of Grells from D&D because if it worked in the first game might as well keep stealin', who cast Swap. Hey guys, I said I wasn't going to do that trick!


There must be a water main busted somewhere. This looks just like the basement of castle Fynn.


yay


Now to sail to that tower I found when I first got my ship, since that's one of the few places on the world map I haven't explored.




oh for shit's sake


Firion: Leila!? Leila's missing!

[R^2]

Whatever this place is, it's filled with some sort of toxic goop that takes HP when you step in it. But like in Mt. Gulg, the damage floors prevent random encounters.


Oh. We're inside Leviathan. Guess he was in the ship-swallowing business before he signed on as a summoned monster (since summoned monsters don't exist until the next game).

Also, that doorway looks a little... um...




There's a settlement inside. This entire scenario was copied for the Tanzer sidequest for SaGa Frontier...


Well, not really "stolen" since apparently much of the creative team was the same.


Ask about Ultima Tome: Where'd you hear about that!?
Ask about Mysidia: I've been to Mysidia. A town full of mages.
Ask about Dragoons: As a matter of fact... I am a dragoon. What? The dragoons and the wyverns have all been destroyed? That's absurd!
Ask about Wyverns: Wyverns? What about 'em? What's with you people?
Show him the Crystal Rod: So you guys were after the Ultima Tome, too, when you got swallowed up. Well, since we're looking for the same thing, we might as well team up. There's a boat up ahead, but there's also one tough monster standing in our way.

Is it a slime pool?

Dragoon: Who knows? Together, we might be able to take it down.


Apparently his name is unambiguously "Richard" in Japan, despite being translated as Ricard, Gareth, and Edward in various English releases.


This was before dragoons got their signature jumpy attack style (which shows up in the next game, like summon magic). Ricard is just a strong physical attacker with a fondness for spears. I say "strong", but he's way behind the other three, like every fourth character since Minwu has been.


Black Mask / White Mask -> Crystal Rod -> Escape from Leviathan -> Mysidia Tower -> Ultima Tome


Old man: It looks like he swallows up anyone who has a crystal rod. See? I've got a crystal rod right here!

And here I thought mine was special. Did all of you jerkholes have to go get the masks and defeat your doppelgangers, too?

[R^2]

I rather like that the end screen of this dungeon has giant spikes all around that resemble teeth, like we just climbed up Leviathan's throat and are running around on his tongue.


Sitting right on his fangs is a giant worm. Could Leviathan be infected with a giant tongue-eating louse?


Well, it's a pretty obscure biology reference.


The Roundworm doesn't have any magic or special attacks, so it's just a matter of hacking away at it until it dies.


We are, without any further explanation, back on the ship outside.

[R^2]

Detour. To Deist. A Deist-our, if you will.


Ricard: Elina! Where are Phillip and the others? Have they really all been killed?
Elina: They have... After you left, we lost the wyverns. Then it was only a matter of time...
Ricard: Elina, I want you to be strong. I'm here. And when the fighting is over, I'll come back. You and Kain look after Deist for me until then!


Ricard: I am. The last dragoon. Your father was a good friend. I plan to get revenge enough for him and everyone else. Once the emperor's dead, I'll be back. And once I am, I'll raise you... I'll raise you to be a fine dragoon.
Kain: Okay, I guess. All I know is, I want you to get that emperor!

The child here didn't have a name until this rerelease. Ricard's last name is "Highwind", he's going to adopt a child named Kain and train him to be a dragoon, ha ha self-referential franchise. I'm sure if more people played this game it'd lead to a Glenn-from-Chrono-Cross level of speculation on whether the two Kain Highwinds from Final Fantasies 2 and 4 are the same person, despite that being kind of stupid.

[R^2]

Now to do what all those other losers in Leviathan's belly couldn't do!

Wait, did we save the others from Leviathans belly, or did we just leave them there? Apparently our own ship was destroyed and we got the one Leviathan had stuck between his teeth, but if that's the case, can anyone else ever get out?


Well, whatever.




The Mysidian tower has two fire-themed floors, two ice-themed floors, and two electricity-themed floors. There are pools of lava and spikes of ice as traps on the first two sets, but oddly the last floors are just a labyrinth.


Like most party members filling in the fourth slot, Ricard is kind of useless. Most of these fights find me hacking away at monsters with the Firion and Maria, while Guy constantly heals Ricard of poison or HP damage. So Ricard is worse than useless, he's taking turns from a useful party member who has to babysit him.




At the end of the third floor is a fire gigas boss.


At the fifth, an ice gigas.


And at the seventh, a thunder gigas.


This is the dungeon that does not end! Yes it goes on and on my friend! Some people started exploring it not knowing what it was, and they'll continue exploring it without ever finding the Ultima Tome just because... this is the dungeon that does not end...


Sounds better than it is!


Oh hey, Gottos. Guess he was about as unique as my crystal rod.


Another chest holds a Black Robe and a White Dragon.


I'm taking the Black Robe and leaving a frog.

[R^2]

Hey! I wondered what happened to you. How'd you get past Leviathan?


(The world will never know.)

Minwu: Though I've managed to reach the seal, the magic binding it appears to be extremely strong. I will concentrate every bit of power I have on the door. If it is enough, the seal should shatter. Everyone, stand back.


SHINKUU


MINWUKEN


Newton's Third Law even applies to giant magic lasers, as Minwu is blasted backwards.


Minwu: Do not grieve... This... this was my destiny...
Firion: Minwu!

[R^2]

The room is full of crystal balls.




In addition to the power burning flame, there's quiet solitude of earth (spirit), sparkling clarity of water (intelligence), and swiftness of gusting wind (agility).




Sounds great!


In a small mercy, you can teleport out of the tower through a portal that appears.

Ultima... is pretty terrible, really. It's not only based on the caster's skill with Ultima and their Magic and Spirit stats -- oh yeah, it counts as white magic -- but the level of every other skill the user has is also a factor. Getting Ultima to do triple-digit damage is no small matter of grinding, and getting it to outdo other spells would demand more time than I've spent on the rest of the game combined.

I taught it to Guy, since he has better magic than almost everyone else, but almost never use it.

[Brentai]

Apparently his name is unambiguously "Richard" in Japan, despite being translated as Ricard, Gareth, and Edward in various English releases.

All of which are six characters long, so at least there's a justification.  I guess they didn't really like Rich Dragoon, Richie the Dragoon or Dragoon Dick.

[A²]

Playing Dawn of Souls really drives home that the PSX Origins re-release was done by people who had never played FF games before, in both translation and programming.

Or just didn't give two fucks.

[Brentai]

Dragoon Dick

Wait.  No.

I'm doing this wrong.