The Sunken Shrine starts you off... in the middle, oddly. You can go up or down from the first floor.
It may not surprise you to learn that the enemies in the
underwater area aren't particularly vulnerable to fire. Tofu keeps zapping them with the Gauntlets instead.
On the topmost floor of the Shrine, you find mermaids!
Attina: If the light of the sea is lost, we will turn into sea foam, vanishing forever...
Aquata: One of our friends went to see the world above and hasn't returned. I wonder what she's doing now? I do hope she's alright...
Well, she's really proud of her legs. She hasn't left Onrac, though.
Andrina: Save the sea. Restore light to the Water Crystal.
Arista: Are those the crystals the legends speak of? Just who are you?
Adella: This is the uppermost level of the shrine. The kraken, the Fiend of Water, nests on its lowest level.
Alana: The Mirage Tower stands in the desrt on the continent to the east, right? Well, I saw someone go INTO the tower!
I won't even ask how, given that apparently mermaids can't leave the shrine without making a deal with the sea-witch and growing legs to parade around at people.
Alana: I remember hearing the most lovely chiming sound...
Ariel: While the Fiend of Water lives, the light of the sea grows ever darker. If the light of the sea is not restored, we will vanish as foam on the waves...
You can see the room where the Rosetta Stone is kept from the places where you can talk to the mermaids, but there's a channel of water keeping you from it. You have to do the unintuitive thing and walk in the other direction, realizing the map wraps around. Or just explore every nook and find it by accident. Whatever works.
Rosetta Stone in hand and mermaids comforted, it's time to head down back to the entrance level, stop by Onrac to rest up a bit, and delve into the ocean depths to confront the Kraken.
There he is! Do you have any idea how many water snakes and sea trolls I had to murder to get to you, you bastard?
You know what, Kraken makes a typical Final Fantasy villain speech here, and I'm sick of transcribing that sort of thing. Watch this instead.
The KrakenWhile Lich had powerful magic, Kraken has powerful physical attacks. Actually, not even that. Kraken has
lots of hits, thanks to his many tentacles. Therefore, Slow is one of the more useful spells to cast on him, as it neuters his attack power quite effectively when it works.
Or you can just blast the guy. w/e man
Kraken's special attack is... Ink. He sprays a cloud of the stuff over your party, occasionally inflicting Blind status. He's even less dangerous in the NES version, when the INK attack targeted a single character instead of the entire party.
Hooray! We're half done!
As happened after defeating Lich, a statue of Kraken somewhere in the world vanishes from its place in front of a dungeon entrance.