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[R^2]

Gau doesn't really have abilities based on any job that had been introduced into the series when Final Fantasy 6 came out. It wasn't until Tactics Advance that the series saw a skillset like his again: Gau is a Morpher! ...sort of.

Gau has two special abilities: Rage and Leap. Rage replaces the Fight command, so there's no "punch a dude" command for Gau. Leap only appears while on the Veldt.


The Veldt, as I said earlier, spawns mobs that you've seen elsewhere. Gau can Leap at them. This immediately ends the battle you're in and removes Gau from the party.




After a few more battles on the Veldt, Gau will reappear and rejoin your party.


The monsters in the mob Gau intially Leapt onto, and the monsters in the mob where he reappeared, are added to his Rage list.


Gau's Rage ability is available anywhere. Rage lets you select one of the monsters Gau has Leapt onto, and when activated, Gau pretends to be that monster for the remainder of the battle. He's really good at pretending! Gau picks up the monster's innate elemental resistances, weaknesses, and immunities, as well as their status vulnerabilities, immunities, and innates. For the rest of the fight, Gau will either use a physical hit (based on the monster's -- some claw, some bite, some punch, etc.) or a single special move that the monster employs.

For example, if Gau pretends to be a Bomb monster, he gets automatic Float status, absorbs fire, is weak to ice and water attacks, and becomes immune to Blind, Zombie, Imp, and Poison -- just like an actual Bomb. He alternates between punch attacks and Blaze every subsequent turn.

In this picture, Gau is pretending to be a Magitek Armor. He gains Protect status but becomes weak to Lightning, gains a bevy of status immunities standard to machines, and can fire Magitek Lasers.


Conveniently, in the process of collecting screenshots for this explanation, Gau picked up one of the most important earlygame Rages: Stray Cat. Stray Cat gives no elemental changes or status immunities, but its special attack is Cat Scratch. Cat Scratch is a single quadruple-power hit, does more damage than even Cyan's Sky, and is a hell of a lot easier to pull off.

Gau had a completely game-breaking build in the SNES version by equipping a Merit Award relic, but he can't equip that in this version, so it's moot.

[R^2]

Now that we have one of the more complicated party members, let's proceed!


Cyan: And where exactly might it be found, Sir Gau?
Gau: Gau... forget!
Sabin: Shall we look around?




Gau hands over a potion he's found, but it's not the shiny shiny shiny treasure.




As Sabin goes to investigate, Gau sneaks up behind him and roars.


...startling Sabin into to dropping 500 gil into the crevasse.


lol u mad

[R^2]

Gau: Treasure, treasure!
Cyan: 'Tis nothing but a dirty glass bowl...
Sabin: Kind of looks like it would fit over your head... Hmm...! I wonder if we could use this? It might let us breathe underwater.

Only because, like before in the Phantom Train, other people cease to exist on the map screens after they merge with the party leader. How else would one diving helmet fit three people?






I assume it's a tiny mountain stream that feeds into the ocean, since the Serpent Trench is clearly an ocean current between the Veldt and a town near the center of the map. I know, I saw the introductory sequence for it plenty of times while I delivered letters.




Gau is somewhat less enthusiastic about going, and this is a guy with a pretty fair chance of just pretending to be a fish and ignoring any problems with underwater travel.


Sabin and Cyan jump in without him.


And while reluctant, Gau eventually joins them.

[R^2]

Music: Serpent Trench


The Serpent Trench is a bit like the Lethe River, only with more Mode 7. You can't control where you're going and the fights are unavoidable.






Gau can use Megavolt attacks with the Belmodar rage, and underwater enemies generally do not like electricity.


Eventually you're given a choice of direction to go, left or right, and if you go right you get to a tiny underwater cavern.


Inside is an X-Potion.


Go right at the next fork for another cavern.




Inside is... a door. On hinges. With a doorknob. It's obviously a manufactured item that's been installed, but who the hell put a door in this cave under the ocean?






There's no boss in the Serpent Trench, so you just wash up at the harbor in Nikeah.

[R^2]

Nikeah is a bustling harbor town with plenty of merchants set up in the streets.


And I don't know if it's Nikeah specifically or if my game is just oddly buggy, but the menus for these shops have screwed-up window displays. Good thing there's no submarine in this game, huh?


Why is this important? Because it's just a simple walk to get from the old drunkard's house where Sabin started this scenario to get to Nikeah, but you can't do it during this scenario because there are mountains in the way. You'd miss Cyan and Gau and a lot of plot development, but good lord this scenario could stand to be much shorter. Banon's and Locke's scenarios are barely a sneeze compared to this one -- it took almost as many screenshots to get through Sabin's scenario as it did the entire game up to that point!


Midwife: It was a problem birth. The mother didn't survive, and the man couldn't take it... went loony, 'e did! Thought 'is baby was some kind of monster and threw it out! Poor little thing never even 'ad a chance...

GUYS HAVE YOU FIGURED OUT WHO THAT OLD GUY IS YET HUH




Cyan does not take flirting well. "Licentious howler" is a pretty good line, too.


Dancer: Hey, do you like these? I call this one Humpty, and this one Dumpty!




The dancer grabs Cyan and drags him toward the bar, and he reacts so violently that he dashes straight into the opposite wall and bounces off.


Sabin: Cyan, you're too easy!
Cyan: Th-thou art unaffected by these... charms!?

They're called breasts, Cyan. Possibly boobs. Or tits. Or funbags. Mammaries. Sweater puppies. Ta-tas. Melons. Hooters. Jubblies. Mounds of joy. Weapons of mass destruction. Or if you prefer, Humpty and Dumpty.


More evidence for fanficsters to write Sabin as gay. Referring to himself as a "bear" earlier may not have helped.

[R^2]

And then EVERYONE IS ATTACKED BY LEVIATHAN THE SHIP SINKS THE PARTY WASHES UP ON THE OPPOSITE SIDE OF THE WORLD SABIN'S SCENARIO CONTINUES INDEFINITELY


SABIN AND CYAN MUST SNEAK THROUGH SOUTH FIGARO BUT DO NOT HAVE LOCKE'S ABILITIES WITH STEALTH AND RUN INTO PROBLEMS AT EVERY TURN


THE CAVE FROM SOUTH FIGARO IS FULL OF POWERFUL MONSTERS AND YOU MUST TRAVERSE IT A THIRD TIME BECAUSE FUCK YOU THAT'S WHY


Whew.

[R^2]

Music: Mines of Narshe


Arvis: That's not what we asked!
Elder: What you ask is the same.
Banon: Ha! You're absolutely right.
Arvis: Banon!
Banon: We're asking you to spill your blood. Emperor Gestahl is racing to acquire ever greater Magitek power. That's the reason he wants the esper that was discovered here. If we allow the Empire to continue amassing weapons of Magitek destruction...

I have a new euphemism for boobs now. Thanks, Banon!

Banon: ...history's greatest mistake will be repeated.
Elder: The War of the Magi...
Unnamed Narshe Guard: The legendary conflict that laid waste to the world...
Another Guard: You're saying it could happen again?
Elder: I had thought humans to be wiser creatures...
Sabin: Edgar!


Edgar: Who have you brought along?
Cyan: I am Cyan, a warrior from the kingdom of Doma.
Gau: Uwao... Gau!

It may be worth noting that "Gau" is the Japanese onomatopoeia for a creature's growl or roar. If the game originated in the English-speaking world, he'd be called "Rawr" or something similar.


Cyan: Kefka... poisoned them...
Elder: Barbaric!
Banon: Elder!
Elder: But... that was because Doma was collaborating with the Returners. As long as we remain neutral, we have nothing to fear from the Empire.
Locke: Think again!


Terra: Locke!
Locke: The Empire's poised to attack Narshe as we speak!
Edgar: What!?
Banon: Locke, where did you get your hands on information like that?
Locke: Celes here was one of the Empire's gener--
Cyan: So it is her! I thought she looked familiar. Sir Gau, step aside!


Cyan doesn't wait for Gau to do so. He flings Gau into the wall, forcing Terra to leap back out of the way to avoid getting a faceful of feral child.


Cyan: The woman single-handedly responsible for the decimation of Maranda... Stand and meet thy judgment, Imperial b--


Locke: Celes has promised to join the Returners! She's fighting on our side now!
Cyan: Be that as it may...!
Locke: I promised I'd protect her, and I won't give up a woman I've sworn to protect!
Edgar: Locke... You still haven't gotten over that, have you...?
Terra: I was also an Imperial soldier.
Cyan: WHAT!?
Edgar: The Empire is evil, but that doesn't mean that all of its citizens are.
Sabin: I'm going to have to defer to my brother on this one...




Yeah, way to stand around gabbing instead of sending out the alarm and equipping everyone to fight off an attack, guys.

[R^2]

Music: Troops March On


Soldier: Kefka, sir... What about the civilians?
Kefka: What about them? Kill them all!
Soldier: But, sir, Narshe is a neutral city...!
Kefka: Idiot! Read my lips -- mercy is for wimps! There's a reason "oppose" rhymes with "dispose"... If they get in your way, kill them! March!


Banon: They're here for the esper...
Elder: We moved it up into the cliffs above the valley.
Edgar: Then that's where we'll make our stand!


Everyone files out.


Edgar: Don't go falling for him now, thinking he was protecting you out of love back there.
Celes: Thanks for your concern, but I'm a soldier, not some love-starved twit.
Edgar: So much for my next suggestion...


Terra: You can use magic, too... can't you? But... it's different from mine.
Celes: I was raised to be an Imperial Magitek knight. When I was still very young, I was artificially infused with magic.
Terra: ...Is it possible for you to love other people?
Celes: ...? Are you mocking me?

Terra's worried about ever being able to feel emotions other people do. Celes is just frigid. Her magic is thematically appropriate!


Everyone has something to say to Celes!




At this point the party lines up. You can talk to them to switch them into the active party, allowing you to manage everyone's equipment.


Once that's done, you can talk to Banon to initiate the Imperial attack on Narshe.

[R^2]

Music: Save Them!


As with the battle to protect Terra from the Narshe guards, you have three parties at your disposal here. Unlike that event, you're not given a bunch of moogles to round out the ranks. Like that event, we'll be winning with a concentrated strike force, rather than hanging back and playing defensively.


The party with magic, tools, blitz, and bushido is the strike force. Locke/Celes and Gau will be hanging back to protect Banon, because despite his general irrelevance to the plotline from here on out he's the last person standing between the Imperials and the Esper -- if the enemy reaches Banon, I lose!


Kefka: Excellent! Now I won't have to hunt you down later!


Kefka gives his trademark screechy laugh.


And calls in the regiment he'll be using to kill us all.


The enemy troops have a maze to wander through, which is probably why this location was chosen as the easiest to defend.




There are a lot more enemies this time, though. Individual fights aren't difficult, but keeping everyone healthy enough that you don't have to stop and heal up outside of battle or switch to a secondary party can be a little rough.


Brown soldiers are tougher fights than green soldiers...


...and the last brown soldier is the toughest of all.


He's vulnerable to Cyan's third Bushido technique, Wheel, though. It cuts his HP in half and inflicts Sap, making the battle a bit less burdensome.


As Doma taught us, if you take out the commander, the rest of the army flees...

[R^2]

Music: Decisive Battle
This is the boss music that's played for every battle since Ymir, but this seems like an appropriate time to actually link it.


Kefka has some basic magic at his command: Fire, Thunder, Poison, and Drain; and a weak physical attack. His only dangerous move is Blizzara, which powerful enough to oneshot virtually anyone in the party. If Celes is present, having her Runic every turn can absorb most of Kefka's assault.


As it is, he never gets a chance to Blizzara anyone. Fang, Aura Cannon, and Autocrossbow whittle him down while Terra keeps everyone patched up with Cure.




He's not slain, of course. He just flees. You get a Peace Ring for winning; the irony of getting a relic that grants mental clarity from a homicidal maniac is not lost on anyone. If he poisons entire castles and kills innocent civilians when he had this ring, what's he going to do now that he doesn't?




All the other soldiers vanish. Locke, Celes, and Gau never had to lift a finger, and that's just the way things should be.


Locke: Is it all right?

[R^2]

Edgar: Whew... The esper's safe.
Cyan: It also appears to be... alive.
Sabin: Is that even possible...?


There's a flash!


Locke, you might wanna--


...uh, not stand directly between the esper and Terra right now.


So of course he climbs up and stands in the exact same spot.

[R^2]

Edgar: They're reacting to each other!

Music: Esper World


Hey, the esper remembered its name.




Valigarmanda starts shining again, just like he did in the mines when Terra approached it in Magitek armor.


Terra: Please... tell me! Who am I? Who!?
Locke: Terra!
Celes: The esper... It's responding to her!
Edgar: Terra... Get away from that thing...!


Terra and the esper glow blue, and again, electricity arcs between them. Whatever Valigarmanda was doing in the mines before, it resumes now...


...and Terra transforms into a furry humanoid, with feral eyes and claws.

[R^2]

Terra spins wildly in place...


...and rockets offscreen.

I rented this game a few times before purchasing a copy for myself. I had reached this scene at the end of my first rental, the day before I had to take the game back. It was after midnight, I was the only one awake in the house. I'd just finished a damned difficult battle (I played defensively with three parties of around equal strength, and didn't know how to properly utilize Gau's Rages, so he was kind of useless. It was hard.), finally reached this ancient magical beast I'd been trying to get back to for the entire game, and it transforms one of my central party members into... something. Terra's scream as she launched into the sky sent a shiver down my spine.

I had to save at the next opportunity and wait a couple of weeks before I could rent the game again. This is one hell of a time to cut off a narrative.


Anyway. Terra flies into the distance as a tiny sparkle of light.






And spends a while flying uncontrollably around the world map.

[R^2]

Locke: Uhhhn...
Celes: Are you awake?
Locke: ...Where's Terra!?
Celes: She turned into a... something... and flew off. She looked like...


Celes would know. She grew up in the Imperial capitol, got infused at an early age, and presumably had access to all sorts of intel on the central source of the Empire's military might. She's probably seen a number of espers in her day.


Edgar: Something happened to Terra... There must be some sort of connection between her and that esper... We need to find her! Witnesses said she went streaking westward across the sky, beyond Figaro.


Celes: Locke...
Edgar: Let's not get ahead of ourselves. The Empire will be back again for that esper.
Sabin: And someone needs to protect Banon...
Cyan: A former Imperial soldier... But still... We must help her!
Edgar: Let's split up. Those who aren't searching for Terra will stay here to guard against further attacks. Figaro Castle can shuttle the others to the western province. It shouldn't be hard to track down clues in Kohlingen or Jidoor as to Terra's whereabouts.


Terra's gone. Everyone else is available. Form me a party!

Some things to remember:
If there's an empty slot, I can pick up Shadow too.
Edgar and Sabin get a special scene if they're both present.
Locke gets a special scene if he's present.
Both of those scenes can be viewed later if the needed characters aren't present.

Voting is open!

[Metal Slime]

I'm going to go with a party I never used in all my playthroughs.

Celes, Gau, Cyan, and Shadow

[Brentai]

If there's an empty slot, I can pick up Shadow too.
Edgar and Sabin get a special scene if they're both present.
Locke gets a special scene if he's present.

Uno, dos, tres.  This is not difficult.

[R^2]

While you guys vote, I'm gonna do a thing. It starts by putting Gau in the party.
















As I said, you can hire Shadow in Kohlingen. So I do!




...who then ditches me. Bastard!


Okay, reload and try again.

[R^2]

Shadow checks to see if it's time to leave the party after winning a fight. So instead I run from every battle.


I head back through Figaro, through the cave to South Figaro, across Mt. Kolts, through the Returners Hideout...


...down the Lethe River, through Doma...


...through the Phantom Forest, down Baren Falls...


...to the Veldt! Where Gau leaps away.


Shadow is left by himself.


Shadow leaves Gau behind on the Veldt, swims through the Serpent Trench, takes the ship from Nikeah to South Figaro...


Incidentally, a sailor smuggles you out of town in a chest to keep you out of Imperial grasp.


Shadow goes back to Narshe.

[R^2]

However! Shadow doesn't go into Narshe. Instead he does his bit about having earned his pay...


...and leaves!


So, um...


At this point my party is completely empty. The game has no idea what to do.


Leaving the menu takes me to a glitched out part of the Narshe map.


Most of the menu options don't work. Trying to bring up a status screen crashes the game entirely. This is a fatal glitch, and demands you reset to a point where you can put someone in the party to get into Narshe or complete the next stretch of the game.

[Beat Bandit]

Separating the pages for the next batch of updates seems like as good a place as any to bring this up.



When I first saw this image, I thought the counterattack was him reemerging from the shell holding a machinegun in its head stalk. I never want to believe anything different.