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[R^2]

Strago: Gungho, listen to me! I defeated Hidon!
Gungho: You... WHAT!?

Gungho starts hopping up and down.

Gungho: Y-you beat Hidon? You're lying!


Strago: Ho-ho-ho... Well, a little monster like Hidon could hardly expect to stand up to the likes of me!
Gungho: I can't believe it... But it looks like I have to concede defeat! You showed me up, old man!
Strago: Ho-ho-ho...


Gungho finally stops hopping.






That they did.


Yeah, it was pretty easy after that stupid/awesome chest got out of the way.


Mostly you took on a healing/support role but w/e man take the glory you want.








...you're a mage. A seventy-year-old mage. Nobody's going to believe you just beat the thing down, man. At least pretend like you used magic to do it.

[R^2]

Gungho: Hmm? Oh, I think he finally tired himself out from all that jabbering and nodded off. But... do you think it's okay to leave him like this, with him thinking I was really hurt?
Relm: Don't worry about it! If we hadn't tricked him, he'd have spent the rest of his life doing nothing but talk. And even if you were faking, that monster wasn't!
Gungho: I don't know how a man like him ever managed to raise a granddaughter as wonderful as you...
Relm: Yeah? Well, I don't know how anyone could be as terrible an actor as you! Strago is probably the only man alive who would fall for a performance like that!



The next morning...


Sometimes you have to talk to Gungho a few times to make it happen, but if you missed Grand Delta (by killing Hidon without destroying his minions first), you can go back and do the coral-collecting to try for it again.




Anyway, next. I've been here twice, and still haven't taken the treasure at the top.


It's about time I did, don't you think?

Um.

Followers of the Cult of Kefka are said to have sold their souls to his service. And um, Strago was one of those. Is this literally the soul of a guy from Thamasa? Anyway, it allows doublecast.




What? No, I'm taking it back for Strago! It was his in the first place for all I know!

[R^2]

Meanwhile, a robed figure or phantom sneaks up behind the cultists...


...and attacks! The Magic Master's shtick is Barrier Change, and his... well, master of magic. He's basically Omnicient, except he doesn't need to reset the battle when he's hit physically because you just can't do that here.


You can Berserk him, though. That cuts down on all the Barrier Changing and spellcasting.


You can then Vanish everyone and blast him at your heart's content.


And after a long battle, he's finally reduced to 0 HP, so one more counterattack and we're good, right?


That counterattack is Ultima.




Splat.


It's a damned dirty trick, really. This is not an easy dungeon to traverse, because it's a straight hallway full of powerful monsters. This fight is a pain in the ass if you don't know how to shut him down (or justifiably assume that Magic Master would be immune to spell-sealing status effects). And then he just straight up kills you as a final attack. Hope you had Reraise set up! Which in turn means: Hope you went and got Locke before you even tried this!

[R^2]

The Soul of Thamasa having been earned, I... well, hell, that stupid shield still isn't uncursed yet. I take Locke and Gogo down to Solitary Island and have them steal from Land Rays and Peepers. Peepers have Elixirs and a rare steal, and Land Rays have Megalixirs. I get a couple of each.


Oh no!


It only takes about half an hour before the shield's bloody curse is finally undone.


Wow! Such shield! Very elemental absorb. Wow. Paladin Shield absorbs holy, lightning, ice, and fire -- then nulls water, earth, wind, and poison attacks. If it's elemental, the wearer ignores it.


That's in addition to the crazy bonuses to defense, magic defense, evade, and magic evade, no less. And to top it all off, equipping the shield teaches Ultima at x1. Since I had the Ragnarok magicite that teaches Ultima fashioned into a sword, this is the only way I had left to get the spell in this game.


I'll grant I'm not quite ready for endgame...


...but I can sneak into Kefka's Tower with Molulu's Charm and steal stuff from the early parts of the dungeon, right?


Like these, a fan favorite of twinks everywhere. Fixed Dice do the same kind of unblockable, never-miss damage as the regular Dice do... but there's an extra die. So you have (Setzer's level x2) x3d6 damage.


I'll go over Kefka's Tower in more detail when I actually explore it for realsies. For now: it's a three-party dungeon, and only one party has the Molulu Charm, so without the teamwork to advance all three parties I reach dead-ends regularly.


But once I leave for the airship, I can put Mog in other parties and sneak through that way.

[R^2]

The Gold Dragon is the lightning-elemental beast.


You can tell because he's hitting the party with Thunder. Not Thundara or Thundaga or Giga Volt or whatever else. Thunder. He's not even trying, honestly.


It's almost a mercy kill.




I take of Molulu's Charm to get into a few fights here (in order to get the monsters I find to show up on the Veldt, for Gau's edification). But uh... monsters here are hard. Random fights were tougher than that legendary dragon I just slew!






And before I'm done, the final path gets me ambushed by Inferno. Dude's got a crazy high damage output with Atomic Rays and his special Sobat counter, and when his arms are still active, he has a fondness for Delta Attack.


It's a tough battle, too.

[R^2]

But Inferno blocks the way to the last dragon.


Skull Dragon is, yes, poison-elemental. So he's weak to fire and holy, but not actually undead!


He also dies at 0 MP, and only has 2000 MP in the first place. Depleting his MP with Rasp is faster than blasting him with Holy spells.


And since he's not undead, I can bring characters who are low on MP (from, say, random battles) and have them refill with Osmose. Osmose from an exhausted character tends to pull more MP out of Skull Dragon than Rasp can do as straight damage -- except for morphed Terra, who can do 800+ MP damage with Rasp thanks to her raw magic power.


Skull Dragon has 2000 MP + Terra can do 800 MP damage per turn = this is not a lengthy fight.


Wait... what? Aw, buttons, who did I forget?

[R^2]

The last one's hiding out at the Opera House.




The first switch... barks. That's weird.






The second switch turns off the house lights, baffling the audience.


The third switch is a trapdoor...


...that dumps you onto the stage. Who designed this crazy opera house, anyway?

[R^2]

The Earth Dragon is last! And, not surprisingly, the earth-elemental one of the bunch. If I were a smarter man, I'd have gone back to the Auction House in the World of Balance for Angel Wings... or at least kept some of the Gaia Gear armor for sale back then. As it is, only Strago has auto-Float.


Locke has the Paladin Shield, though, so that helps with Quake and similar effects from the Earth Dragon.


But if you cast Float to avoid that sort of thing, Earth Dragon removes it with 50Gs. And he learned a thing or two from Catastrophe, because if he can't remove Float? He'll just murder you with a powerful, physical Honed Tusk instead.


Like any good ground-type, Earth Dragon is weak to wind and water.


Bringing Strago along was a great idea.






Crusader teaches Meteor at x10 and Meltdown at x1, and gives MP+50% on level up. But it's the worst summon in the game: Crusader is actually three espers, and their summon puts the party's battle in the center of the esper's ongoing war. As far as raw magic power goes, only two attacks beat it -- and those are enemy exclusives. The problem is, it hits both enemies and allies! By the time you're doing any damage to the enemy, you're wiping out your entire party in the process!

[R^2]

The seal is broken and I am free... You who defeated the legendary eight... I shall await you at the Dragon's Horn...

Turns out defeating the eight dragons unlocks a bonus dungeon. Whee.


All right, I got a bunch of stuff. Come with me, assassin boy.


Shadow is one of the better people to take into the Coliseum. Any character who knows a useless ability in their entire skillset or spell list isn't a good choice, so that removes Sabin, Strago, Gau, Mog, and... well, anyone who bothered to learn Sleep or Imp spells, really. But Shadow will never use his Throw command in the Coliseum, and I never taught him any magic, so all he does is fight. Nice and predictable.

Other good candidates for the Coliseum are Setzer, who will never use Slot; and Umaro, who only ever fights anyway.


With the Paladin Shield and Ribbon running defense and a Master's Scroll boosting his damage output, Shadow does a pretty good job.


Master's Scroll also never misses, making the Cactuar standing between my Elixirs and the Rename Cards I want a simple matter. Rename Cards are good for two things: using them lets you change a character's name.


Betting them puts you in a battle with a Fiend Dragon for a pair of Miracle Shoes.


These handy little things give the wearer Protect, Shell, Regen, and Haste. That's nothing to Snort at.


Oh, and this Ragnarok sword?


Sic 'em, boy!


Nets you the Lightbringer. It was hands-down the best sword in the SNES version, and with the new content in the GBA version, it... still might be. It's attack power 255, always performs a critical hit (at the cost of 20 MP), randomly casts Holy, and gives +7 to Strength/Speed/Stamina/Magic, and +50 to Evade and Magic Evade.

[R^2]

Good job, Shadow, let's take a quick--


Man, this guy can't even get a good night's sleep.

Baram: How bad is it? ...This isn't m-my blood... is it, Clyde?
Clyde: Don't worry, you're gonna be okay!


Clyde: Don't talk! The town's just a bit farther...
Baram: You don't have to pretend. I know. This is... my blood, isn't it? I'm done for... Get going! Leave me here. I'll only slow you down.
Clyde: But...!
Baram: You wanna get caught?






Baram: You know what they'll do to me if they catch me alive! I don't want to have to go through that... Touch my arm.


Baram: Please, before I wet myself and have to die a coward... Just take your knife, and--
Clyde: I can't do it!

[R^2]

Remember when this game had a plot? Me too. Anyway, I go dick around on the Veldt for a few hours.

Gau's Rage has two purposes: in the World of Balance, it gets you a few moves well before you're supposed to have them: Quake, Reraise, an effective Thundaga. In the World of Ruin, there are only a handful worth having, because you don't need Rages to cast powerful magic anymore. Magic Urn is a top contender, because Gau gets all their elemental absorbs and status immunities when he Rages as one. His special skill is Curaga, so he can keep the rest of the team in top shape, too.


Rafflesia is a good one, too. Its special skill is Entice, which has enemies turn on each other and can't be removed or cured. They're only one screenshot apart in this LP, but I wandered for hours between Magic Urn and Rafflesia. It'd been so long I almost forgot to take a screenshot.


The other reason to dick around on the Veldt is to fight monsters again. The Behemoth King and White Dragon appear here, the only bosses to do so. And while the White Dragon doesn't drop another Holy Lance...


...you can still skin the Behemoth King's two forms and wear 'em like a suit.


Betting one of those Behemoth Suits at the Coliseum earns you a Snow Scarf for Gau or Mog. Umaro can wear it, but he's already got one. Snow Scarf is one of the best pieces of armor in the game: it gives 128 defense and 90 magic defense, +10 to evade and magic evade, absorbs ice, and nulls fire.

[R^2]

I'm running out of sidequests to do! Might as well level up a bit, since people are still juuust under level 40.


Well, shit. Cornered by Tyrannosaurs. This forest has the fan nickname "Jurassic Park", because almost all you find here are Tyrannosaurs (and because Jurassic Park was a lot more topical in 1994).


Tyrannosaurs who can open rifts in spacetime and pelt you with meteors.


They're worth more EXP than almost any other monster in the game, though.


And they drop odd imp-only weapons.

But really? The Slagworms near Maranda give almost as much EXP, and are a lot less dangerous because they're vulnerable to Death. I can do without a supply of Impartisans as I level-up, I think.

[Friday]

but but but you can throw them for 9999 dam

and you won't get economizers

[A²]

Crusader teaches Meteor at x10 and Meltdown at x1, and gives MP+50% on level up. But it's the worst summon in the game: Crusader is actually three espers, and their summon puts the party's battle in the center of the esper's ongoing war.

Crusader's Japanese name? Jihad.

[R^2]

Yeah, I discovered the main benefit of Tyrannosaurs before too long. Once you're strong enough to reliably win? You can fight two of them. And that's a lot of experience points.

Also I forgot to put up the poll. There are some three-party dungeons coming up, including the final one. Twelve characters get to come along! But I have fourteen, thanks to Gogo and Umaro showing up. So I'm putting up a poll, where the two characters who get the fewest votes don't participate in Kefka's Tower or the Dragon's Den. Somebody's gotta stay behind!

As of this writing:
Terra is a globe-cracking magician. I've been able to get her the most level-ups holding Zona Seeker or Valigarmanda, so she's got the raw magic power to blast away anything in her path. Is likely to be holding the Soul of Thamasa for a long time.
Locke is the only thief treasure hunter I've got. He tends to level up with strength-boosting espers, so his Mug damage is tops.
Cyan is also extra-super strong but his Bushido meter can't be sped up by anything ever. His level 4 and level 7 Bushido hit several times, so if I'm willing to wait he can easily break damage limit.
Shadow is at a disadvantage, as my dedicated Coliseum fighter I never gave him any espers. He has no magic and no level-up bonuses. He should be fine standing in the back row and hucking Fuma Shuriken, though.
Edgar has all the tools for success.
Sabin is starting to lose effectiveness simply because his battle commands are a pain to enter. Left up up up right down down down left A to do 9999 damage is a lot more complicated than selecting "Flare" from a list.
Celes is not as good a magician as Terra and her unique skill is still situational at best. If she goes, she's going in a party with Edgar, Cyan, Setzer, Mog, or Umaro because those guys can fight without magic.
Strago is a blue mage and blue mages are awesome. Mighty Guard is a little less useful now that I have Miracle Shoes, and the versatility of Lore is starting to suffer in comparison to white/black/gray magic.
Relm still sucks noodles, but her magic power is pretty good. She's a second Terra with crappier equipment.
Setzer has Fixed Dice and I know how to abuse Slot, so he's both fashionable and capable.
Mog is a terrifying Dragoon to behold.
Gau is missing one of his three endgame Rages, for a guy I just can't convince to ever show up on the Veldt. But he's got Magic Urn and Rafflesia, and goshdarnit Catscratch is still a pain train.
Gogo can do anything half-assedly.
Umaro does exactly one thing but does that thing very well.

So vote away. Whoever loses the popularity contest gets kicked to the curb and shunned forever. Just like real life! Hahaha!

[Roger]

Well I know for certain I'd want Shadow to sit out.  No sense in risking your Colosseum fighter accidentally gaining skills!

[Mothra]

Crusader teaches Meteor at x10 and Meltdown at x1, and gives MP+50% on level up. But it's the worst summon in the game: Crusader is actually three espers, and their summon puts the party's battle in the center of the esper's ongoing war.

Crusader's Japanese name? Jihad.

THAT is how you localize.

[R^2]

It's Leviathan, the first of the Advance-version-only espers. As you'd expect, he's very fond of water-elemental attacks and is weak to lightning. He always opens with Tsunami...


...and counters any lightning-elemental hits with El Nino, which is Spanish for "The Nino".


Only I had the foresight to equip everybody with Reed Cloaks beforehand. Reed Cloaks are utter crap -- their defense value only applies if the wearer is in Imp status -- but they do absorb water-elemental hits.




I don't know what Leviathan was expecting. He can hardly hurt anyone in the party, and I can crank out some pretty impressive damage.


Leviathan teaches Flood, a new water-elemental spell, at x2. Strago used to be the most reliable source of water-elemental damage with Aqua Breath and Tsunami, so now he's a hair obsoleted. Summoning Leviathan, yes, hits with water-elemental damage. His level-up bonus is Stamina +2.

[R^2]

Oh my yes, I've butchered hundreds of them.


Oh. Um. Hmm. Pretend nobody heard me say that, then.


Hmm.


Well, there is this little patch of desert I've been carefully avoiding...


Haatmadesa! Some cactuars live long lives and grow huge. This cactuar is one of those.


The Gigantuar has a Cactuar's natural evasion, so this is a fight where Sabin and Cyan bring the pain while Strago and Celes keep everyone healed. Gigantuar attacks almost exclusively with 1000 Needles, which can't be evaded, reduced, blocked, or absorbed. And as he gets hurt more and more, Gigantuar starts using 1000 Needles several times in a row. This is a battle that can only be won by having enough hit points.


Regular Cactuars fight by "bundling up something", then unleashing 1000 Needles. If they're not slain quickly, then their "workload increases tenfold!" and they use 1000 Needles ten times in a row. The Gigantuar does something similar: right before he dies, he blasts 1000 Needles ten times. And there's nothing you can do about it but soak it up.


But he does it, you know, right before he dies.


Cactuar magicite teaches Teleport at x20, Vanish at x10, and Hastega at x5. No new spells here, sorry! Its summon is likewise iffy, since it just summons a Cactuar to use 1000 Needles at all opponents and rarely summons Gigantuar to use 10,000 Needles? for 9999 damage to all opponents instead. I guess one needle misses.

But Cactuar really shines in its level-up bonus: Speed +2. Only one other esper in the game gives a Speed bonus, and it's only +1.

[R^2]

Yep, gotta do this crap again.


Oh hey, neato. Got what I was looking for on the first try.


It's expensive, but again, I've killed hundreds of Cactuars by now, and those little guys are worth 10k each.


Hmm.


Not much to do with this, really...


Merit Awards are a relic that allows the character to equip any equipment, such as having anyone use Lightbringer instead of the Terra/Edgar/Locke/Celes knightsword-users-by-default. Gau and Gogo explicitly can't equip it, thanks to some game-breaking bugs on the SNES version.






You know when Excalipoor is grafted into a game, Gilgamesh is sure to follow suit looking for it.


I wish I'd read up on the Gilgamesh battle before doing this fight, because hoo boy Gilgamesh is good at blue magic. He opens with a chance to use Aero or Dischord, follows with a shot at 1000 Needles, follows that with either Stone or Aqua Breath, and on his fourth turn has a shot at using Quasar. That's one I don't have yet!


Alas, I pummeled him too quickly. He does the bit from Final Fantasy 5 where he protects, shells, and hastes himself, followed by a Jump attack. At this point all his attacks turn to physical hits of varying power, culminating in throwing Lighbringer, Zantetsuken, or Mutsunokami at the party.


But again, I pummeled him far too quickly for that to happen.


Gilgamesh teaches Quick at x1 and Valor at x5. Quick allows the caster to take two actions, and Valor triples the damage of the targets' next physical hit.
Summoning Gilgamesh drops his three favorite swords onto the battlefield. Gilgamesh will pick one and hit the enemy with it: Excalipoor does 1 damage, Masamune pierces enemy defenses, and Excalibur hits all enemies for holy damage. Sometimes Gilgy will in turn summon Enkidu to blast the enemy with magic instead.
Gilgamesh's level-up bonus is Strength+2. I've had Bismarck since a story event in the World of Balance, but it's nice to have a backup for that kind of bonus.