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[R^2]

Looks like Lenna's worries of King Tycoon going by himself were unfounded, because somehow the Tycoon chancellor and a bunch of scholars got here before we did.


Surprise!


Like Lenna's princesshood, the player already knows even if the characters don't.




Yeah, some guy in the little backwoods town we were in mentioned the same thing.


Did you try unplugging it and plugging it back in?


Guy on the right manages the healing pot that acts as a homebase if you need it. Guy on the left gives you five potions.




Being the first real dungeon of the game, there are all the monsters advertised. But being the first dungeon, they're not difficult and don't have any dangerous tricks.


Sometimes they even leave their footwear behind when they die. Not the white serpents, of course, why would those even have shoes in the first place? Unless you're making shoes out of them, but then they'd be snakeskin instead of leather! (I think Leather Shoes drop from Black Goblins.)

[R^2]

It's a Wind Shrine, so there's a bird.


How King Tycoon slipped by without killing it is never addressed.




Wing Raptor's only dangerous attack is Breath Wing, which takes 1/4 of each character's maximum HP. He's the typical first boss in a Final Fantasy with the ATB meter, in that he has an alternate form that prompts vicious counterattacks when he's in it.


But the fight's over so quickly I don't even see it.

[R^2]

The screen glows, and the camera pans over to a distant castle near a bustling town...


A still-intact crystal spits out a sparkle...


...which flies into Faris.


In a tower on a peninsula, another crystal...


...blesses Lenna.


High in the mountains, another crystal still...


...has a gift for Galuf.


Finally, the remains of the Wind Crystal...


...grant their essence to Bartz.

[R^2]

Faris: !?
King Tycoon: Listen, and listen well. You four are the chosen ones, the warriors of light...bearers of the four crystal essences.
Lenna: Father... What do you mean?
King Tycoon: The wind crystal has already shattered. The other three crystals are in danger as well. You four must protect them! An evil presence is awakening... One that wishes to return everything to darkness...


He's a g-g-g-g-GHOST!

(We knew that already. Seriously, he took a million glimmering crystal shards to the face in an explosion. He didn't have a prayer.)






Lenna collapses in despair.

[R^2]

The crystal shards drift into the party's possession.


Knight     Monk     Blue Mage     Thief     Black Mage     White Mage


Sounds like the starting party options for Final Fantasy 1... except they got a color wrong.


King is discovered dead, mission received, crystal shards collected, job system unlocked. Guess we're done here.

[Büge]

If you're taking suggestions for jobs, I nominate Lenna as the Monk based on the sprite alone.

 

[R^2]

Now we're able to switch jobs into the six listed previously. For demonstration purposes I use Blue Mage for everyone, because... well, because I like Blue Mages. Don't judge me.

Being a Blue Mage limits the characters to knives, swords, and rods for weapons, with only light armor available for protection. Shields are okay.

With jobs available, battles now grant ABP as well as experience and gil. ABP are used to gain the abilities of the equipped jobs; once you reach a threshold of ABP, you learn a new skill and proceed to the next level of that job. Once you've learned all the skills, you've "Mastered" that job.

(Very few mobs this early in the game give 3 ABP. There are groups of three Bandersnatch that roam south of the Wind Shrine that do, and groups of three Nutkins around the Wind Shrine that give 2. All other mobs I can reach right now give only 1. Bandersnatch are dangerous, which is why Lenna is lying in the dirt in this shot.)




After a few battles, Galuf -- the only person to not get killed by Bandersnatch at any point -- is the first to gain a job level after 10 ABP. This gives him the ability to equip Check, which mirror's Cid's ability from the last game. Check tells you monster HP.


Of course, the signature of Blue Mages is Blue Magic, the magic learned from monster attacks. At this point there are only a couple available, and Goblin Punch is the first one. It does the same damage as a physical attack for 0 MP. So why bother? Because it does the same damage as a front-row physical attack from the back row, keeping your mages safer...




...and if your experience level is the same as the target monster's, you do something like octuple damage. Compare a Goblin Punch damage to the Bandersnatch, the same level as the party, and the Big Horn, one level below. It's a big difference!


Abilities are either active or passive. Active abilities appear in the battle window and are selectable as commands in combat, they're marked by having an exclamation point in front of their names. Passive abilities don't appear as selectable options because they're always active -- some don't even affect in-combat performance. For example, !Check is an active ability. When used, you target a monster and it tells you what the monsters current and maximum HP are. Learning here is a passive ability; it allows the user to learn new blue magic spells by having the spell cast on them.

Some jobs have their own abilities innately. For those, the abilities are always on, as long as you're in the job in question. Blue Mages, for instance, have Learning innate -- it's how I learned Goblin Punch before anyone earned the ABP needed for the Learning ability.

Other than !Check and Learning, the other Blue Mage abilities are !Blue (the ability to cast Blue Magic spells when not a Blue Mage) and !Scan (a full study of an enemy that tells its HP, weaknesses, and any status ailments it suffers from).


The power of this system is that it allows customization by giving an ability from one job to a character currently in another job. Here Bartz has jobchanged into a Monk, but can still equip the !Check or Learning abilities he's picked up as a Blue Mage.


Monks have a small oddity in their jobs: their normal battle command is !Kick, functioning the same as Yang's did in the last game and doing a little damage to all enemies. But they don't learn !Kick from gaining job levels -- only characters currently in the Monk job can use the ability. The abilities learned from being a Monk include !Focus (charge up for double attack power), Barehanded (passive skill, allows empty-handed attacks to do good damage), !Chakra (restores a little HP and removes Poison and Dark status), Counter (passive skill, prompts counterattacks when hit), HP+10%, HP+20%, and HP+30% (passive skills, increase maximum HP as indicated).

[R^2]

Monk training is pretty great, in no small part because Barehanded is only their second skill and is so goshdarned useful. I don't know exactly the mechanics of how its damage output is determined, but characters with swords can do about 60 damage to an enemy with a strike -- while Monks punch an enemy for over 100. With each fist. Barehanded martial arts are three times more effective than longswords! Crazy.


The Thief allows characters to Steal items in combat. Their abilities are:
- Find Passages (passive, displays secret passages on the map screen to make them easily navigated)
- !Flee (runs from battle, better than just holding L and R together)
- Sprint (passive, characters move faster on the map. This was a lot more useful on the SNES and Playstation, before auto-dashed was introduced in this version)
- !Steal (Steal items when in a job other than Thief)
- Vigiliance (passive, party cannot be attacked from behind)
- !Mug (Steal and do damage with a physical hit. Sadly does not replace !Steal when in the Thief job...)
- Artful Dodger (Your Speed and Evasion are the same as a Thief's, regardless of job)


A Knight is a specialist with big swords and heavy armor. Their abilities are:
- Cover (passive, as Cecil's ability; protect other characters who are HP-critical)
- Guard (character takes 0 damage from physical hits)
- Two-Handed (grip a weapon in both hands for extra damage)
- Equip Shields (equip shields regardless of job)
- Equip Armor (equip armor regardless of job)
- Equip Swords (equip swords regardless of job)

I don't have screencaps of Black or White mages because they're the easiest to describe: at each job level, they learn to take !Black or !White magic commands to another spell level in their other jobs. !Black level 1 allows the casting of Fire and Blizzard, !Black level 3 allows Fira and Blizzara. White Mages get MP+10% at their last job level, Black Mages get MP+30%.



Finally, there is the Freelancer class, the same as characters were before they found the Crystal shards. There are two advantages to this...


...the first is that Freelancer has no innate abilities, so they get two slots to customize exactly what they do.

The second I can't show off at this point in the LP, because it only works after a character has Mastered jobs. See, each job gives a bonus to the character's base stats. Knights give +23 Strength and +20 Stamina, but only +1 Agility and a -14 penalty to Magic. Monks are the same but more: +26 Strength and Stamina, +1 Agility, -23 Magic. Black Mages get +15 Strength, +24 Agility, +12 Stamina, and +55 Magic.

If a character is a Freelancer and has Mastered another job, the stat boosts from that job are applied to the Freelancer. In the case of multiple job Mastery, the highest boost from all jobs applies. A Freelancer who has mastered Knight and Black Mage gets +23 Strength and +20 Stamina from the Knight job, but the +24 Agility and +55 Magic from the Black Mage job.

Strangely, the very first crystal in the game gives two of the jobs that give three of the biggest bonuses. No other job can match a Thief's +40 Agility, and no other job tops the Monk's bonuses to Strength and Stamina.

[A²]

Will you be covering all sidequests? I'm going to assume that the Extra Advance Content is "Under Review", given how awful it is, but this game has a rather meaty amount of side content you don't "have" to do.

[R^2]

I intend to give it reasonably comprehensive coverage depending on how excruciating it is to provide that coverage.

So yeah, the postgame content I'll probably decide on when I get to it.

Anyway, I'm open to recommendations for how to put up the party. It's been shown that it's not implausible to get through the game on severely limited options (including an all-Freelancer party), so very few combinations should make the game impossible.

Just not fun.

Anyway, one vote for Lenna as monk.

[A²]

I did the Post-Game content for my run through of the 4JF. It is insanely awful. Even with grinding to where the final boss of the main game was a chump, the game just amps up the bullshit to 11.

Jobwise, I want to suggest always having one or two as Blue Mages, or as Learning, because Blue Magic is baller as shit.

[patito]

I vote whatever gets Galuf to the end game as a White Mage or Berserker.

[R^2]

In the interests of getting on with it, I pick a decent party -- Lenna as a monk, a blue mage or two -- and get on with it.


We're back in Tule.


Zok: Ohhh, Princes Lenna!
Lenna: Zok! It is good to see you.
Zok: Yes... It's been a long time.
Lenna: Zok...I have a favor to ask. We must go to Walse, so we need to pass through the Torna Canal.
Zok: Oh, dear. Ever since the wind crystal was destroyed, the beasts in the canal have multiplied like rabbits! It is much too dangerous to enter! Moreover... I-I seem to have lost the key to the canal somewhere... I'm sorry I cannot help you with the key. Still, since you've come all this way, won't you at least stay the night? Wonderful. Then, follow me!


So we do. Faris is still at the pub, enjoying some time to himself.


This was supposed to be the screenshot indicating that Bartz has gotten up in the middle of the night. I'm so good at LPs you guys.




A flashback!


Bartz's Dad: Stella - if anything should happen to me, never tell Bartz about the crystals... They aren't his burden to bear.
Stella: Oh, darling...please don't say things like that...




Meanwhile, Zok is watching Lenna sleep. Because that's not creepy at all.


Bartz: Nothing... I just was reminded of my folks... They died a while back, though...
Zok: ...Here. Take it.
Bartz: Huh? Take what?
Zok: The key to the canal. With it, you can open the gate and travel to Walse. I was worried about Lenna, so I hid the key, but... Please! Take care of her!

[R^2]

Pirates: Cap'n! But why!? You know we'd follow ye to th' ends of th' earth!
Faris: I know, and I thank you for it. But not this time.
Pirates: Cap'n!!!
Faris: This smells of a long journey... While I'm gone, I need you louts to guard the hideout. We can't just let anyone raid our booty!
Pirates: But, Cap'n!


Pirates and buccaneers are not generally known for saying "Please."


So the out-of-character moment is enough to get the crew to agree.

[R^2]

Lenna: The wind crystal has shattered... Right now, the only difference is that the wind has slowed... But soon, it will stop blowing completely. And in a few years, the air will grow stagnant, and the birds won't have any place to fly... Father said that we had to protect the three remaining crystals.
Bartz: ... Three crystals?
Lenna: Yes, the crystals of fire, water, and earth.
Bartz: If those were lost too, then...
Lenna: At first, nothing would happen. But it wouldn't be very long before the earth began to decay... the seas dirtied and rivers ceased to flow, fires lost their heat and the world became dark and cold... It really would become an unlivable world...


Bartz: Huh? Did that trigger any of your memories?
Galuf: Nope... Doesn't matter. I'm still gonna help!


Faris: Plus, we still have to find Lenna's father.
Bartz: King Tycoon? But he disappeared into thin air.
Faris: He still lives, I feel it in my bones! Never for a moment believe otherwise!
Lenna: Bartz... Will you come with us?
Bartz: Before, I was just coming along for the ride... But seeing everyone here...
Lenna: The crystal shards...
Bartz: We were given power to protect the world... The power of the wind crystal... ... ... ... That's it, I'm in! We've got some crystals to save!


Galuf, get off the bow before you hurt yourself.

[R^2]

Better swing by and get Boko, t-- aw, nerts.


The pirate crew are still supportive of Cap'n Faris. This guy hands over a stash of potions.


Some pirates are a little more... supportive than others.





Boko: Kweh...
Lenna: Oh! He's been hurt!
Doctor: Found him zonked out in the cave, so we brought him back here. But he'll be fine, now that he's in my capable hands.
Bartz: Please, if you can help him, doc...
Doctor: Leave everything to me!

[R^2]

The other reason to return to the pirate's cave is that the Steel Bats inside occasionally use Vampire, the next blue magic spell to pick up. Vampire drains a bit of HP from the target and gives it to the caster. If the caster targets himself, it just restores a lot of HP. I've no idea why that works.


There's a bit more exposition from the scholars at the Wind Shrine about the crystal amplification machines overtaxing the crystals, but mostly we're here to pick up Aero from the Moldwinds inside. Aero is about as powerful as Fire or Blizzard, but it's wind-elemental.

Like all magic, blue magic is shared with the party. If one person picks up a blue magic spell, everyone gets to use it when they have the !Blue ability equipped.

[R^2]

The canal, not surprisingly, is a straight shot from start to finish.


There are monsters inside the canal, but you can gain a lot of ground between random encounters. They're less frequent than in other areas.


But I've played enough Final Fantasy to know what that chokepoint means...


Yep. Cinema scene.

[R^2]

Syldra is not pleased with this procession of events.






It's totally not "Karabos", the Greek word for a spiny lobster. But it's better than the Origins release, where it was named "Karl Boss", like if your manager at work was a giant crustacean named Karl.


Karlabos has a Tail Screw attack that can drop a character to HP critical in one shot and a Feeler attack that causes paralysis. It also has 650 HP. With Lenna punching this hard twice a turn...


It's not long before the party can break out the cheddar biscuits and drawn butter.

[R^2]

With the Karlabos defeated, the ship manages to break free of the whirlpool.


But Syldra, wounded in the attack, is not!


Bartz: I'm sure she's okay. She's a fighter, and you know it.
Faris: Syldra!!!


Bartz and Galuf have to hold Faris back from leaping into the water and saving Syldra himself.


With a drawn-out cry, Syldra sinks into the whirlpool.