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Thread: Formy's Playing FFIV!

  1. #61
    'Just Friends' Formalhaut's Avatar
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    In this episode, we scale the Tower of Babil once more to snatch the seven crystals from under Golbez's nose. Yes, I know it seems like we've been at the part of the story for awhile. Don't worry though, we won't be scaling the tower for a third time.

    I think.

    Anyway, so where we left off, Edge had just gotten trounced by Rubicante, the archfiend of fire and the last one standing. Rubicante vanishes, and we're left babysitting a character who is like, a good fifteen levels or so behind us. I'm sure he'll be fine!



    To compensate, I give him the 'Reach' augment which allows him to deal front-row damage from a back-row position, which'll help him as he's a fragile speedster type. He still does pretty pants damage, but I'm sure he'll (eventually) become a damage-dealer.

    Edge, Cecil and the others go back to the Tower, where Edge sneaks us back in through the power of spinning round and round super fast.


    Just put it down to mad ninja skills, I guess. We traipse around getting map bonuses and generally laying down the hurt on enemies. I notice Edge has a stealing ability but honestly it has a fairly low chance of success with most enemies (16% or so) so I ignore it.

    Eventually we reach an area that holds... huh?



    Uh-oh. This isn't going to go well, is it.




    It even comes complete with totally-not-threatening ellipses... yes...



    Yep, they're monsters.



    Edge talks to them to try and make them see sense. Meanwhile we just keep attacking them because there's not much else to do, really.

    On and on this goes for a few minutes actually until eventually...



    The King and Queen of Eblan die, leaving Edge to his grief. Doesn't it make you want to cry?



    As if taking his cue, Rubicante appears to tell us how emotional we are. After Edge's parents died. How dare us!




    He also tells us how exactly they became monsters. Turns out our good ol' friend Dr. Lugae did it. Which does sound like something he'd do.




    Tapping into his inner anger, Edge finds something within himself to go super-saiyan and unlock his latent powers.


    It's a classic 'the bad guy cannot comprehend emotion' but it's effective nonetheless. Let's show Rubicante the power of emotion!

    Rubicante throws down the gaunlet like he's reciting a passage from Dante's Inferno.



    He even fully heals us beforehand, like a gentleman. A fiery, evil gentleman.



    So we go into combat with the final archfiend. He's actually laughably easy. The main thing to do is steal from him whenever he opens his mantle. This causes us to steal his manhood and emasculate him into cancelling his ultimate attack. The real reason is probably different, but I like that interpretation.

    Edge is on steal duty, and everyone else just attacks. I'm done before stealing his second testicle.



    Ah, we beat him not only with the power of our emotions, but also with the cliche power of friendship!

    He disappears, just in time for the calvary arrive and do nothing. Edge's people want him to help rebuild Eblan, but after giving Edge the crib note version of Golbez's plan, he wants to join us.

    So away we go into the Crystal Chamber, but we're defeated by a smurfing trapdoor. What are we, novice explorers?



    We die from massive fall damage and the game ends.

    Haha, just kidding! We're completely unharmed. Our plan thwarted by the trapdoor of all things (what happened to Edge's people who were behind us?) we have to escape the Tower through a side-exit. We get the consolation prize out of it however: a brand new airship!



    It just rises out the earth like it was nothing, so we quickly fly back to the Dwarven King to tell him the bad news.

    He seems remarkably non-plussed by our failure. Instead, he tells us about what's happening over at the Sealed Cave.



    He's still at it. By this point he might as well dig himself a new entrance.

    The King wants us to go check on the Sealed Cave. To do so, he gives us his daughter's necklace, which is the key to the seal. Clever.

    To get there though, we'll need mythril plating on our airship, the Falcon. We head to the infirmary, and look who's here...



    Yup, it's Cid. who apparently survived exploding himself and a hole in the earth's crust. Remember that? It certainly didn't look survivable.

    Well everyone's glad to see him but Edge, who wastes no time being honest and arrogant, just like Cid.



    Despite being bedridden, Cid wastes no time single-handedly putting mythril on our airship through the power of montage.



    He then plonks himself back in his bed and goes to sleep. Seems fair enough.

    With Cid alive, maybe Yang is alive too...



    Before the Sealed Cave, there's a whole host of optional areas now that we can fly over lava! So tune in next time while we visit some of the places the underground has to offer.


  2. #62
    Pinkasaurus Rex Pumpkin's Avatar
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    Yeah how Cid survived is...

    I have no idea

  3. #63
    'Just Friends' Formalhaut's Avatar
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    In this optional side-tracking episode of FFIV, we explore some of the different, hidden regions of the underworld and enter through a treacherous cave to encounter yet another companion who should be dead but totally isn't.

    So we start our side-tracking adventure by heading due south and west of the Dwarven Castle to arrive at a small town called Tomra. It's pretty quaint, all things considered, with friendly dwarves. Lali-ho!


    WHAT.

    We... um... 'hi-ho' to the locals and raid some of their items they've left lying around, because this is an RPG.

    Don't worry though, it isn't stealing, they're asking for it.

    No, really!



    The dwarven idea of 'souvenir' is different, to say the least. Instead of postcards, I get bomb fragments. Maybe they're trying to tell me something?

    Not all of our companions are impressed by Tomra's hospitality.



    In spite of Edge, Tomra has some awesome items and equipment that I purchase and equip.

    Moving on east to the southeast corner, we encounter a rather isolated building.



    Inside, it is indeed a forge, though one that isn't currently active. Upstairs, we find the forgemaster:



    He seems to be in a bit of a slump, apparently. We leave him to it, though I'm sure we'll be visiting him again.

    From the southeast corner, we travel to the northwest landmass to find the Slyph Cave. This cave was mentioned by someone in Tomra.



    True enough, we don't actually see any sylphs at the entrance to the cave, only annoying enemies. Also, the floor is dangerous: I have to use float to negate the damage.

    It's also really... marshy.



    But the cave is bright and full of treasures. There's plenty of areas in this cave that have like, three or four chests in them.



    There's also a mysterious sigil that can be found in one of the later areas, that leads to a treasure room full of chests (with monsters in, but also sweet loot).

    The main purpose of this area though can be found in a random wooden house located at the very end of the cave.



    Hey, it's Yang! He isn't dead, just in a coma. What luck! The Sylphs have been keeping him alive, but aren't really sure what do with him. And neither do we, as it happens. Like the forgemaster, I think this'll be something we'll have to return to later.

    We leave the cave and head to a tiny island surrounded by lava. Guess where this particular cave leads?



    One wonders how Rydia actually made it through this cave, seeing how she doesn't know the Float spell, and it's surrounded by an entire ocean of lava.

    Either way, we make it through the cave well enough and on the other side we enter the Feymarch.



    It's pretty normal-looking, to be honest. All this power, and they're using wood? How did they make it past the lava? The Feymarch is giving us more questions.

    Rydia's happy to be back though, as are the generic eidolon NPCs.


    20170625143319_1.jpg


    We also bump into Mopingway. Thankfully he's turned a corner and is no longer wanting to kill us in a bar fight. Progress!

    20170625143454_1.jpg

    Instead, he's met someone else and is very happy. So happy in fact, he wants us to tell us who we have in our hearts.

    Because I'm a sap, you can probably guess who I put down.



    Moving on swiftly, we restock and purchase some new armour and weapons, and head into the Feymarch's Library.

    At the bottom of the library, is a small dank room that supposedly doubles as the throne room. Doesn't look very regal.

    We seek Asura's aid, but the code must be obeyed...



    Asura's main trait is hard-hitting attacks coupled with a love of white magic. This is easily rectified though with a casting of reflect. Now Asura heals us!

    All in all this is a very easy fight. Cecil draws all her attacks and defends while everyone else just wails on her. She's down pretty quick.

    Next up though is the big King, who we finally get to fight. The King is none other than Leviathan, the thing that wrecked our ship a long time ago.



    Leviathan is more dangerous. It has a deluge attack that nearly wipes out Edge, but Rosa's on hand to quickly curaja everyone back up to speed. After a dose of shell, it's just up to Rydia to spam Ramuh and target Leviathan's lightning weakness to defeat it. It only has time to cast fairly weak blizzaras.



    And with that, we've gained the power of Asura and Leviathan! This'll surely be useful in the fights to come.

    This entire Feymarch bit reminds me of Wutai slightly. Optional area, female party member-focused, and you have to defeat your father. Only with less materia-stealing. Everyone's happy!

    Tune in next time as well tackle the unseal the Sealed Cave!


  4. #64
    Pinkasaurus Rex Pumpkin's Avatar
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    The Namingway stuff in this version is pretty neat

  5. #65

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    They don't build Cids like they use to.


  6. #66
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    In this episode, we venture into the Sealed Cave and secure the final Dark Crystal! We screwed up once so we can't screw up again, surely!

    So we start all the more powerful from our adventures in the Sylph Cave and Feymarch. We journey to the Sealed Cave that - true to its name - is sealed on all sides by rock.


    We use Luca's Necklace to open the seal and away we go! The dungeon's main gimmick is the use of ropes to climb down into the deeper regions of the cave.

    Strangely, even though I'm using Kain on the field, only Cecil has the power to climb down ropes.



    Kain complains it is too quiet.


    Don't know about you Kain, but the cave seems busy enough.



    Though it's true that Golbez and his forces are nowhere to be seen.

    Instead the main thing in this cave is a crap-ton of trap doors. They would be very difficult: their Ninth Dimension attacks instantly KOs a character, but it can be reflected, and because Cecil has 'Draw Attacks' on, he's always targeted. Rosa, come on down. Rosa can just reflect Cecil and the trap door can defeat itself!

    The other enemies aren't particularly difficult, with the exception of the Chimera Brain whose 'Blaze' attack basically halves Edge's health.

    Not everyone is impressed with the trap doors.



    Sure enough, we get down to the bottom of the cave and enter the Crystal Chamber. No trap floors here, thank goodness. We get the Dark Crystal!

    As we leave though...



    Demon Wall! The walls do have eyes.


    The Demon Wall doesn't have any attacks, though if it managed to move towards us, I'm guessing I was screwed. Thankfully, my experience in the Feymarch proved useful, and I killed it with plenty of time to spare.


    Trap doors, trap walls, I'm surprised there wasn't any trap floors.

    So we just have to make it out of the cave. But something is amiss.


    Kain is having a private freakout. And that's not all, his animations haven't been right ever since I gave him an axe and not a spear.



    Watch him plant that axe into the... air?

    As we reach the entrance, the Golbezy Purple Fog of Doom appears.



    So Kain is being mind-controlled. He tries to resist...

    Success!



    Well that's a relief.



    Kain shoves Cecil, which apparently is enough to wrest the Dark Crystal from us. Ugh. Golbez taunts us through a disembodied voice.



    Well drat. At least Kain's happy.



    Kain scarpers off, and leaves us to tell King Giott the bad news over at the Dwarven Castle. He must hate seeing us return.



    The Lunar what?



    Turns out we might be able to call The Lunar Whale in Mysidia. The Elder's been praying there since we left. He'll hold the answer to all our questions...

    Tune in next time as we ignore the pressing issues concerning the Lunar Whale and do some optional sidequests!


  7. #67
    Pinkasaurus Rex Pumpkin's Avatar
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    That Yellow Dragon is super derpy looking

  8. #68
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    In this episode, we wrap up some last sidequests before we head to Mysidia and witness the reality of the Mysidian Prophecy.

    First up, a trip to some cave to give some creepy man a rat's tail, which we found just lying around in a barrel in Tomra.


    He's super happy to recieve a rat's tail, so he gives us an Adamantite as (fair?) compensation. Hey... who needs an Adamantite?



    Yes, you remember Kokkol of Kokkol's Forge, don't you? In the underworld? He was bedridden in a bit of a funk, but now we've given him a new metal to work with.

    He quickly sets down the forge and gets to work. Unusually for an RPG, he isn't ready right away, so we have to come back. We'll return to Mr. Kokkol later to recieve our reward.

    Back up to the surface then to head back to the Baron Castle. It's time to complete another sidequest that's been waiting in the wings for a long time.

    A loooong time ago, we headed down here to meet the King of Baron. He told us to journey to the Feymarch first before meeting him. Well, we've done just that, so we head back to speak to him.



    I did think it mighty strange that the King of Baron would still be alive after having his Castle taken over, so that clears up that particular mystery.

    The King's turned into an eidolon, and he seeks to test our strength so we can summon him. By the Code, apparently. I'm getting Mass Effect 2 callbacks.




    The battle actually ends up much like that GIF, to be honest.



    So the King of Baron is actually Odin, in what might be his first appearance? FF Fact-checkers?

    He's weak to Lightning so Rydia and Edge do some great damage to him through Ramuh and shurikens/Blitz respectively. He's dead by the time you can say 'Zantetsuken!'

    So we gain Odin's power! The soul of the former King live on.



    Our final stop in our sidequest journey involves Yang, who is still sleeping down in the Sylph Cave.

    We decide to go speak to his wife and tell her the good-ish news.





    Thus we get a glance into Yang's marital life.

    So we take the frying pan and head back into the Sylph Cave to thwack Yang over the head with a frying pan just like in the good old days.


    This isn't standard medical practice.



    Shockingly, it works.



    Yang wants to join us, and hey guess what we even have a space in our party for it, but the Sylphs are having none of it, saying he still needs to rest. Well drat.

    This makes Edge's job security go through the roof.



    Instead, the Sylphs allow themselves to be summoned in lieu of Yang going, so we get something out of it all along, yay!

    Well, that along with saving Yang. That's its own reward!

    Before heading topside we quickly head over to Kokkol's Forge to recieve our reward: turns out this guy's been working on Excalibur! Awesome! This immediately goes on Cecil.

    Topside, we return the frying pan to Yang's wife, because we were always taught when we were little to return what we borrowed.



    We get a surprisingly aggressive 'knife' as thanks.

    We also go augment hunting. Back in Troia Town, there's a pub with some sort of gentleman's area (gag) which requires you to purchase a Member's Writ. Upstanding citizens we are, we purchase it and head on through the doors.

    Inside, we subject poor, sweet Rosa to utter filth.



    At the end of it all, we end up getting the Gil Farmer augment out of it, so it was worth something... right?


    ---

    Sidequests complete, let's head over to Mysidia to get back to the main story.

    Upon arrival, the Elder greets us and takes everyone to the Tower of Prayer.



    The Elder and six(!) mages pray for the Lunar Whale to return. The Mysidian prophecy is repeated once again:

    Birthed from womb of Dragon's maw
    And borne unto the stars
    By light and darkness cast aloft
    Are dreamtide oaths resworn
    Moon is swathed in ever-light
    Ne'er again to know eclipse
    Earth, with hallow'd bounty reconciled

    Yet fleeting is the reverie
    When moon from shadow has egressed
    Guided forth anew by light made manifest

    Two bound by ties of blood
    By Time and Fate when wrest apart
    Unto lunar light and Gaian breast

    They keep praying until...



    The Lunar Whale appears! Streaked in a fairly menacing black and red but this is a good-guy ship, honest.



    So apparently some voice spoke to the Elder and told him to tell us to go to the Moon and meet this... someone. On the entirety of the moon. I hope the Lunar Whale knows where to find him!

    Tune in next time as head to the Moooooooooon!


  9. #69
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    Quote Originally Posted by Formalhaut View Post
    So the King of Baron is actually Odin, in what might be his first appearance? FF Fact-checkers?
    Sorry, Odin is in FF3 (the first game with Summoner as a job in general).

  10. #70
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    Sorry it's been delayed this episode!

    This time, we journey to the Moon and somehow not suffocate from lack of an atmosphere. If that wasn't shocking enough, we end up getting a new party member! Huh!?

    So we start off by inspecting our swanky new spaceship, the Lunar Whale. it's a fantastic piece of engineering, boasting teleportation crystals, sleeping pods, and even our very own Mecha Chocobo.


    No more going to Chocobo Forests, now we can look at the bestiary, listen to music, and watch the cutscenes from the comfort of our own ship.

    No time to waste gawping however. We've got a job to do!

    In the time it takes to boil a kettle, we make it to the Moon.

    It looks, well, like a Moon.



    It even comes complete with a face. It's kinda rude to stare, though. Disembarking from the ship, we discover to my amazement that we don't immediately die from oxygen deprivation, exposure or radiation. Instead, the only threats to us are these monsters.

    So our main goal is this crystal tower in the center of the map. No it isn't FFIII, it's just a smaller crystal tower.

    To reach it, we have to traverse a cave system. It's full of glittery stones, but otherwise fairly linear and, well, typical. We get through it fairly quick.

    At the end of the cave system though, we arrive to a familar sounding melody and location.

    It's certainly familar to Cecil.



    In the middle of this blue palace, we meet an old man. His name is Mr. Exposition.



    Oh, hello Maechen.



    Yes, that's great, Maechen.


    Please, carry on.



    Well, crap.

    Next, Maechen talks about Cecil's father. Plot twist!



    Cecil correctly deduces that the voice on Mount Ordeals was the disembodied voice of his father.

    What a day, huh?



    He's the main character of an RPG. Something like this was bound to happen.

    Mae- I mean Fusoya, joins our party to stop this new threat. For now though, we haven't quite yet finished exploring everything on the Moon.

    Over to the east, there's a place called Lair of the Father. No, not Cecil's father. The father of the eidolons, Bahamut.

    To reach him, we have to get through this long cave. The enemies are mostly tame, except for one. BLOODY MAGES. Their spells can two-shot Cecil, and obviously they often come in threes. Even with Shell, they deal major damage and were a right pain.

    We get through it though, to meet Bahamut's child servants. Where's Child Services?



    Bahamut begins by saying even though we have Leviathan, it doesn't prove anything. Bahamut's a bit of a jerk.




    Naturally, he turns into his dragon form.

    He literally does nothing. He just flies there, counting down to Megaflare. At least chuck in a claw swipe or something!

    All it means is Rosa can shell and haste everyone. Rydia can summon Leviathan (ha!) and everyone else can just... spam attack. He doesn't even manage to get a megaflare off. Laaaaame.

    Not that we have Bahamut, we can actually look at Megaflare in action.



    Ooh, planets. Very celestial. Fusoya is suitably impressed. And now we're equipped to take on... whatever the Giant of Babil is.

    Tune in next time as we finish up the last odds and ends on the moon as we head back to Earth with a crash.


  11. #71
    Pinkasaurus Rex Pumpkin's Avatar
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    Planets are indeed very celestial

  12. #72
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    Very disappointed in the capitalization of FuSoYa's name in this version.

    He's the coolest, with the best mop death sprite and the best concept art in the series.

    FuSoYa_art.jpg

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