Final Fantasy 4 Walkthrough with Dagger

[Dagger Dias]

Welcome to Dagger’s video game walkthrough series! Some of the older members might remember this from 3 years ago. I started a thread with the intention of sharing a nostalgic walkthrough for the game Final Fantasy 4, but never finished it. We need more video game topics, so I thought I’d bring this topic back and have another go at it.

The first game will be none other than Final Fantasy 4, one of my all-time favorites. I plan on doing other games as well. Most of which will be oldschool titles so that I’ll be able to include gameplay footage as yours truly makes his way through various classics. I have walkthrough videos on my youtube page that I’ll be posting alongside the text, so you can see the action for yourself. I’ll be organizing it as one post per video, and beginning a new post every time the content in the text catches up to where the last video left off. That way the posts don’t get too lengthy.

Even though the box reads Final Fantasy 2, this is the version I am playing in the videos. A little trivia lesson for the few who still do not know. Final Fantasy 4 was the 2nd Final Fantasy title released in the US. The original FF2 and FF3 were NES titles that did not see a global release until many years later, so at first the 4th and 6th games in the series got released on the SNES as FF2 and FF3 respectively.

You’re welcome to share your thoughts on the game or ask me questions. Just please stay on topic and within the rules.

Let’s begin.

 

[Dagger Dias]

We start off with a string of prologue scenes.

Spoiler

[YOUTUBE]y-03hOuAnPs[/YOUTUBE]

Airships from the kingdom of Baron fly home on the way from Mysidia where they had to take a crystal under orders of the king. Dark Knight Cecil, the captain, remembers the events from earlier when they took the crystal. Then monsters attack the airships.



BATTLE: FloatEye (3)

PARTY: Cecil

Difficulty: N/A

This is a computer controlled fight, so you cannot lose. Cecil uses a FireBomb which defeats each of the FloatEyes in one turn. It’s possible to get FireBombs of your own, but not until very late in the game for some reason.



More monsters attack!



BATTLE: Raven

PARTY: Cecil

Difficulty: N/A

Another computer controlled fight. Cecil uses a Lit-Bolt on the Raven defeating it. I have never seen a Lit-Bolt during the actual story, and after 20 years of playing this game countless times that always amused me. What is also amusing is that the Ravens that you encounter later on actually have more health than the amount of damage the Lit-Bolt item in this fight does.


The airships make it back to Baron Castle where the leader of the guards Baigan takes Cecil to see the king. Cecil questions the king’s intentions and you are no longer the captain of the Red Wings. You instead are given a new misson to take a package to the village of Mist beyond the Mist Caven. Cecil’s friend Kain tries to stand up for him but is ordered to join him on this quest. Cecil apologizes to Kain. Kain tells you to talk to everyone in the castle and then go to sleep. You now have control over Cecil.

I’ll go over some basics before moving on to the actual gameplay which will begin in the next post. I know everyone likely knows all of these already but it wouldn’t be a walkthrough without the basics, so let’s get that out of the way:



Button Controls:

Directional buttons: Move on the map, move between commands in a menu

A: Confirm a selection, advance the text if someone is talking.

B: Cancel a selection, close the menu screen.

X: Open the menu screen.

Start: Pause during a battle.

L + R: Run from a fight if pressed simultaneously.





Menu Screen Commands:

Item: Use items you have obtained (greyed out items cannot be used)

Magic: Cast spells on your party (greyed out spells cannot be cast)

Equip: Change your equipment currently in use

Status: A detailed look at statistics of each member of the active party

Form: Change the battle formation

Change: Swap the front row and back row in formation

Custom: Edit options such as menu color and battle speed

Save: Save your data (available on world map and save points only)




Chocobos:

Yellow: You can ride them on the field and no monsters will attack you when you have a chocobo, they can only go in fields around their forest and they run home when you disembark.

White: They restore some Magic Points (MP)

Black: They fly you on the map but cannot pass mountains and they can only land in forests.

Large: Can store items for you.




Battle Commands…

Fight: Attack using your equipped weapon

Jump: Kain’s special ability, avoid combat for a moment and then unleash a powerful attack.

White: Mainly for casting restorative or supportive magic on your party.

Black: Mainly for casting magic to damage or debuff your enemies.

Call: Rydia’s special ability, summon powerful monsters to assist you

Hide: Edward’s ability to avoid combat until you decide to bring him back onscreen

Sing: Edward’s other special ability, sing songs for various effects

Aim: Rosa’s special, used for Bow & Arrow weapons to increase accuracy of attack

Kick: Yang’s special ability, hits every enemy in the monster party at once

Twin: Palom & Porom’s special ability, casts Comet or Flare on the enemies if both twins are healthy

Peep: Cid’s special ability, view the statistics of one monster

Sneak: Edge tries to steal an item, mostly useless it rarely works

Ninja: Cast ninja magic exclusive to Edge

Dart: Edge’s special ability, throw a weapon at the enemy (it is lost forever after thrown)

Item: Use one of your items obtained during the quest

Parry: Go defensive to take less damage, it is to the right from the main battle command list.

Row: Swap front and rear rows, it is to the left from the main battle command list.




That takes care of that. In the next post the actual gameplay begins....!

 

[Wally Dangerously]

Who's your favorite playable character in this game? Kain is mine because the Jump attack is so incredibly effective and it prevents Kain from being injured for one round of attacks.

 

[Dagger Dias]

Who's your favorite playable character in this game? Kain is mine because the Jump attack is so incredibly effective and it prevents Kain from being injured for one round of attacks.

Probably Kain for me as well. His character is incredibly complex given how old this game is. He kept you guessing what his true agenda was and his comeback was very memorable. Jump is also part of the reason.... It is crucial during the first Valvalis encounter and it's possible for him to survive the Shadow Dragon fight thanks to a well-timed Jump attack, when the scripted outcome is intended for only Cecil to survive it. Edge would be my favorite but his abysmal defense stat (for front line fighter standards anyway) can be a pain in the last leg of the game, otherwise he's an absolute badass.

 

[Dagger Dias]

We last left off as Cecil and Kain were ordered by the king to deliver a package to the village of Mist. You now have full control over Cecil for the first time.

Spoiler

[YOUTUBE]AMaLJKcaVkU[/YOUTUBE]

The first thing I always do here is open the menu to change the window color to red. You can also change your battle formation and view Cecil's statistics. There is something else that you don't HAVE to do, but it will be very helpful. Open the menu and go to your items. Scroll all the way down until you find "sort". It will be next to the trashcan. Select "sort" but do not hit A twice. When you select something you can move it to another spot on the item screen. I recommend moving it all the way to the top. You can have two items trade places if needed, such as "sort" and whatever is at the top left or right corner of the item screen. Swap those if needed. That way if your item list gets cluttered, you can "sort" immediately instead of having to scroll all the way down. Basically, if you have more than one of the same item then the "sort" command makes it to where they are in the same item spot. Up to 99 of the same item can be in the same spot. So if you have 4 Tents, "sort" would make it to where all 4 are in the same spot as opposed to up to 4 different spots. It becomes quite useful later on.

Anyways, enough on the menu. You can talk to Kain and the other soldiers but it does not do anything important. Go downstairs. The stairs immediately to your left and right lead to magic classrooms. The mages in there talk about magic and some say funny things, although it is not important. Hit the switch on the wall in front of the treasure chests to be able to open them. You'll get a Cure1 potion, a Tent, and 300GP (GP is this game's currency). Guards block off the paths that the right side's exit leads to, so head left. You'll meet first Cecil's girlfriend Rosa and then the airship mechanic Cid. They each speak to you on the way to your room in the tower. You can also go visit mages held in the dungeon although it does not accomplish anything. You're able to walk into the moat, this ends up being important later on. Go into the left tower and talk to the maid so that she will leave. Go to sleep. Rosa shows up to talk to Cecil, she is worried about him but he reminds her that Kain is coming too. The next day Cecil and Kain leave the castle and a long scene with floating text plays out that shares some of the game's backstory. I have seen it countless times so I usually use that time to go to the fridge for a snack or to get some water.

Once that scene is over, you are on the world map for the first time.



NEW CHARACTER: Cecil

CHARACTER CLASS: Dark Knight

WEAPON OF CHOICE: Dark Sword

COMMANDS: Fight, Item

I personally hate Cecil's Dark Knight form. The further you get into the game, the less useful it becomes. It also doesn't help that he only gets two commands in battle. In other versions he can use up some of his HP to create a Dark Wave, but it's not worth it honestly. He becomes MUCH more useful after he gains a new form and character class later on. He's not the worst character in the game though and he is useful for the first string of events at least.



NEW CHARACTER: Kain

CHARACTER CLASS: Dragoon

WEAPON OF CHOICE: Spear, Sword, Axe

COMMANDS: Fight, Jump, Item

Kain is one of the coolest characters in the game. Jump is extremely useful. It makes him avoid combat for a moment by leaping offscreen and then he comes back for a powerful attack on one target. He can avoid enemy attacks this way. Kain also has arguably the best story out of any character in the game. He's very complex.



Ok so at this point you can try to re-enter the castle, go into the town of Baron, visit the chocobo forest, or try to go through the Mist Cavern. Guards will not let you enter the castle. You are able to go into the town though. There's some free items there worth grabbing.

In the town you can go straight ahead to find the training room. Inside the students talk about various aspects of the gameplay found in the game. The guy at the table in the left is Namingway and he can change your names. The Inn is to the right of the training room and there are some treasure chests in there but I usually get them when I return to this town later on. The serpent trench is in the building in the lower left corner of town, you will eventually be able to teleport between Baron and Mysidia that way although it is sealed now. The underground path is north of that building but it's locked for now, so is the weapons & armor shop. The house up on the hill is Cid's although nothing relevant happens if you go there. Rosa's house is north of the inn and you can talk to her mother but nothing important happens. A jar by Rosa's house has a Cure1 potion in it. Take the bridge to the right of Rosa's house and you will find an old woman. There is a path hidden in the trees north and to the right of her. This leads to a grass meadow area with some items hidden in the grass including two Heal potions and a Life potion. The dancer up by the waterfall dances for you if you talk to her, although you get nothing from doing this. Go down the waterfall into the water. In the lower right corner in the water you will find two Tents hidden in the water. Really? Who would just throw tents into the water like that? Oh well, they are yours now.

Anyway, that wraps up the town exploration. Let's go to the Mist Cavern!

 

[Dagger Dias]

The Mist Cavern is to the northwest of Baron.

Spoiler

[YOUTUBE]DAA0ef2jUIU[/YOUTUBE]

MIST CAVERN
PARTY: CECIL, KAIN

Most of the enemies here are harmless. The Sandmoths might be a little frustrating if you have not leveled up Cecil and Kain. Other than that, the enemies in here are all easily taken care of. The path is rather easy to follow. You'll eventually be told to leave, but the party ignores this voice. North of where the voice told you to leave the first time is a treasure chest with a Cure1 potion in it. Cross the bridge to the right and take a quick detour up the steps and to the right, a chest is there with a Heal potion. Take the stairs leading down and follow that path around in almost a full circle, a treasure chest with a Tent inside is there. Head back onto the main path and you'll pass one last chest on the way out with a Cure1 potion. The voice soon asks you to leave again but the party chooses to fight their way out. Time for your first boss battle!


BOSS BATTLE: Mist Dragon

PARTY: Cecil, Kain

Difficulty: Easy

This guy isn't so tough. The only thing to look out for is when he turns into a mist form. When this happens, go defensive by selecting Parry for both characters instead of attacking. Press right once your battle commands come up and then you will see Parry, then select that to go defensive for that character's round. Repeat for each character until he turns back into the dragon. Otherwise he counterattacks and too many hits from this counter will kill you. He sets the pace for all of the boss battles to come.



After the boss you can leave the cavern. Open the menu and choose Equipment, then pick Kain. Un-equip him of everything he has, as he is about to leave the party. The town of Mist is just beyond the cave's exit. Once you enter the package automatically opens revealing a monster called a Bomb. These guys are in nearly every single Final Fantasy game. The bombs start destroying the town. They find a girl who is sad because her mother died, Cecil tries to take her to shelter but she is upset and attacks them.


BATTLE: Girl, Titan

PARTY: Cecil, Kain

DIFFICULTY: N/A

This is a scripted loss. You can attack the girl but it will not accomplish anything. She turns out to be a summoner and calls Titan to help her. Titan causes an earthquake, ending the battle/scene.



The earthquake destroys the path and you will not be able to return the way you came. Kain is nowhere to be found, but Cecil wakes up in a safe area. He decides to find a town to take the girl to a safe shelter in. The king's orders would have seen them kill the townspeople including the girl, but he is doing what he thinks is right by saving her life.

Next up will be the oasis town of Kaipo and the desert!

 

[Dagger Dias]

Start making your way to the oasis town of Kaipo once you reach the desert.

Spoiler

[YOUTUBE]kBmra50aD6o[/YOUTUBE]

The desert is large as far as regions on the world map go, so it might be easy for someone to get lost. If you go north until the mountains are in the way, then turn right and keep going, you'll find the town. Enter the town. Cecil automatically locates the inn so the girl can rest. He goes to sleep too. In the middle of the night you are woken up by soldiers from Baron who attack Cecil when they realize he will not do as they say.


BOSS BATTLE: Officer, Soldier (3)

PARTY: Cecil

DIFFICULTY: Easy

This is pretty easy. If you want to get a lot of EXP points, try to defeat the Officer. He has a lot of health but it can be worth it. Once you defeat all of the Soldiers then the Officer will run away. I usually defeat all but one Soldier, then the Officer, then the last Soldier. Any Soldiers that remain will become confused and attack themselves if the Officer dies. They really are that dumb. They do nothing unless he orders them to attack and then cannot function on their own without their Officer. Heal Cecil with a Cure1 potion if needed, but you likely won't need it.




After the fight the girl finally speaks to Cecil. She thanks him for protecting her and introduces herself as Rydia. She joins the party.


NEW CHARACTER: Rydia

CHARACTER CLASS: Caller

WEAPON OF CHOICE: Rod

COMMAND: Fight, White, Black, Call, Item

I'm not that big of a fan of Rydia's first form. She becomes awesome when she comes back late in the game though. In this form she gets some basic white magic spells, the Chocobo summon, and various black magic spells as she levels up. She's quite useful in this form during the beginning of the game but it pales in comparison to her second form, more on that as we get further into the game.


Make certain that Rydia is in the back row and NOT in the front line!!!! Open the menu and select Form. Move Rydia as necessary into one of the back row spots if she is not already there. She joined with only 30 health. Unless you level up she won't make it very far in the next cave. Let's explore the town a bit.


KAIPO
Party: Cecil, Rydia

You started off in the Inn, which is in the center of the town. Upstairs is a cafe, and to the right inside is an item shop. Leave the Inn, there's nothing else important to do here. In the lower left corner of town is the training room. Head there if you would like to change someone's name. I end up naming a large number of characters at this particular training room, many show up for the first time in this region. There is a dancer behind the Inn, she dances for you and jumps into the water for part of it. It's strange looking. Nothing important happens from watching this dance (or any other dance in this game for that matter. None of them really serve a purpose other than to be silly).

This is important. Go to the residence in the upper right corner of town. Rosa will be inside in a bed. She is very sick. Talk to her. The game will NOT continue if you do not do this. You'll be stuck in this area and an old man in the upcoming cave does not move out of your way if you do not talk to Rosa in this house first. She has to have a SandRuby from the Antlion cave in order to recover. The weapons shop is south of the residence where Rosa is resting. Go purchase a Rod. Rydia should already be equipped with one, but another new character is coming and he will need one. A jar above the weapon shop has an Ether1 potion.

Now you can either go to the Watery Pass or gain some levels. I'd suggest doing the latter first for a bit, and then the former. You're not completing this place yet though.... You are just getting a new party member before returning to Kaipo again. Enter the Watery Pass (once you feel Rydia has leveled enough to handle even a few steps in here) by going north of Kaipo and then following the mountains alongside them to the right until you find the cave. If you encounter monsters, have Rydia cast Lit-1. They are for the most part weak against that in there. If she doesn't know it then you NEED to level up.

Go to the left and cross the bridges to find an old man. This is the same old man who would have blocked your path if you had not talked to Rosa in the house in Kaipo. He is Tellah. His daughter ran off with a bard and he is looking for her. Tellah offers to help you heal Rosa if you help him find his daughter, then he warns you of a monster further into the cave. He joins and you get to hear this game's awesome "new character fanfare" for the first time. I love that fanfare!

NEW CHARACTER: Tellah

CHARACTER CLASS: Sage

WEAPON OF CHOICE: Staff, Rod

COMMANDS: Fight, White, Black, Item

Tellah is actually the game's weakest character in terms of base stats. He joins you on level 20 so unless you've leveled up significantly, he will appear to be much more powerful than Cecil and Rydia combined. Later on when other characters begin catching up to him, you will see that he has the game's lowest stats. Especially in HP. He has 90 MP and no matter what his level is, that NEVER changes. This is due to storyline reasons, kind of. There is a spell that he learns later on that costs more than 90 MP and he is only meant to use it during one scene. Tellah is also missing a bunch of spells that he forgot, within the story. He remembers them later on. The ones he has access to are still useful in the next couple of events.



Put Tellah in the rear row with Rydia. Equip him with the Rod you purchased, it is one attack stat weaker than the Staff but it's the better of the two. The basic Staff is an absolutely worthless weapon. It's rate of hitting the enemy as opposed to missing is horrendously low. Now at this point I recommend you return to Kaipo if you wish to rename Tellah or buy something at the armor shop located to the left of the Inn. I'd then take this time to level up your party a bit more if you would like. It never hurts.

What I often did at this point in the game was to walk each line of the desert on the map. Start at the top line of it and walk from left to right. Now go down one line, repeat. Go down one more line, repeat. By the time you have gone in between the mountains for each line of the desert map (ignoring the town) then Rydia should have leveled up to the point where she has more MP than Tellah. Cecil might have more HP than Tellah also by now. Level 20 is very high at this point in the game so I doubt either of the other two will catch up to Tellah soon in terms of their actual levels.... Unless you are very bored and want them to. It will take a while.

I'd actually recommend going on this leveling up spree BEFORE Tellah joins, as Cecil and Rydia gain more EXP in a party of two than they will after Tellah is on the team, but you're welcome to wait until he joins. It's up to you. Just at the very least make sure Rydia knows Lit-1 and Ice-1. You're going to need them both in the Watery Pass. Trust me.

When you're ready, return to the Watery Pass. That is where we will pick up next time....!

 

[Dagger Dias]

We now return to the Watery Pass.

Spoiler

[YOUTUBE]SUCGUux9ZMI[/YOUTUBE]

A trivial note before we begin the cave. Rods can be used as items in battle. When someone equipped with a Rod in battle gets their command window, select Item. Now move up and you will see your character's weapons. Now select the Rod and pick the enemy to use it on. A strange non-elemental attack will be used on the enemy doing much more damage than a melee attack with the Rod would. The Ice/Fire/Thunder rods do elemental variations of this and the Stardust Rod late in the game casts Comet. A cool little note that some might not know about.


Watery Pass time. If Rydia has Lit-1 and Ice-1 it will be much easier. This will be tougher than the Mist Cavern. The enemies put up a fight and you'll need to rely on Tellah or Rydia's magic more than simply having Cecil attack. Bring some Ether potions in case you run low on MP. Alligators are weak against Ice-1. Just about everything else here is weak against Lit-1. The Mad Toads might turn you into a frog. If this happens, have Tellah cast Heal. If Rydia knows Toad then she can undo it by casting that on the victim. The worst enemy in here though is the Tiny Mages. Despite looking harmless, these guys are very annoying. Cecil's attacks do decent damage but they are resistant to a lot of spells. Be on the lookout for them. Then there's the Zombies. They aren't too difficult but they are a pain if you do not know how to fight them. Cecil's attack won't do much to them. Tellah can cast Fire-1 on them or Cure-2, both dispose of them quickly. A similar strategy goes for the Jellies, only it is just Fire-1 that is effective against them.

So let's grab some treasures if you didn't the first time around when we recruited Tellah. The two just north of the entrance contain a Cure1 and a Heal potion. Now head over to the left across the bridge to where Tellah was. A chest south of where Tellah stood has a Tent. Cross the bridge north and you can either head to the right for more treasures or head left and up to exit this room. I'd recommend grabbing these items. Go right and open the first chest you see. It has 120GP in it. You can climb down into the water to explore some paths down there. One leads to a chest in the upper right corner of the room with an Iron Ring in it. Go back down into the water and walk into the waterfall. This leads to a secret room most people probably did not know about! The game marks it as "?". The chests in here contain an Elixir, a Cure2 potion, and 1000GP. Hold onto that Elixir until there is an emergency in a boss battle. It restores all HP and all MP to one character. Now you're done in this area so leave the waterfall room and climb out of the water, go to the upper left corner and exit the room.

In the next room you'll need to go down into the water again. Follow the path which is straightforward and grab the Ether1 along the way. You'll find yourself in a room with your very first Save Point! On these spaces you can use a Tent or Cabin to recover and you can use the Save command on the menu to save your data. If you saved and then die in combat, you begin again from the last time you saved. It gets more important to save the further into the game you get. A scene plays out where Cecil and Tellah talk. The party wakes up the next morning and you can leave the room now. A chest to the northeast contains an Ice Rod! It is very effective against the Alligators in this area. Use it as an item to cast Ice-1 without using any MP. Give it to Rydia. She's going to be in the party longer than Tellah is. Now follow the path and there will be a fork in the road. The right path gets you to a couple more chests containing 200GP and a Cure1 potion. Now head back and go through the door.

This room has a hidden path if you go to the left from the stairs. It takes you to the upper part of the room and then past that to a hidden room with a chest containing a Leather Helmet. There is also a Cure1 potion by the stairs, go up the stairs into the next room. This room has a cool looking graphic in the background for a body of water far below you. There are two Ether1 potions if you go downstairs to the left before moving toward the exit. Don't leave yet! Make sure you go downstairs on the right side to grab the Sword of Darkness for Cecil. There's also a Heal potion in the chest next to that which you will probably want as well. Now you can exit to be back on the world map!

This place really is long for something so early into the game. Your MP is likely nearing zero at this point so use a Tent and save your game. Now head into the second cave. There will be a waterfall that the party jumps down. In this portion of the cave you'll find the rest of Cecil's Darkness equipment set. Hopefully you grabbed that sword. The helmet and gauntlets of Darkness are downstairs in the first area right after the waterfall jump. Go through the door. The next room is the where the boss is. Grab the Darkness Armor and the Ether1 potion in the chests by the ladder first. Then go into the water and approach the weird looking creature by the water. That's one of the 8 tentacles of the boss, his other tentacles come out of the water and he is attacking you now!


BOSS BATTLE: Octomamm

PARTY: Cecil, Rydia, Tellah

DIFFICULTY: Easy

This guy has a lot of health but he is not much of a problem. Rydia can summon her Chocobo or cast Lit-1. Tellah should heal as needed with Cure-2 or attack by casting Lit-1. Cecil is your main damage dealer, especially if you grabbed the Sword of Darkness. As you damage him, Octomam loses his tentacles until he only has one left and he dies a few hits after that.


Now you can leave and for some reason the "new character joins" fanfare plays when you can see exit in the waterfall. Go through this waterfall to finally exit this cave. Be sure to unequip Tellah as he will be leaving during the next event.

Next time we will discuss Damcyan Castle and The Spoony Bard.

 

[Dagger Dias]

Approach the castle just north of the exit to the Watery Pass, this is Damcyan.

Spoiler

[YOUTUBE]xyKaUIGd_tE[/YOUTUBE]

When you try to enter the castle you will see airships attack it. The castle has been destroyed and many people inside have been killed. You can enter now that the airships are gone. You can get a ton of treasures from the room at the top right corner of the castle on the outside if you want, before going inside. To get there take one step down, then follow the castle walls alongside them. Do not walk too far out or else you end up back on the world map. Talk to the guy who is laying in the path in your way, he asks you to guard the treasure. He then dies. So completely ignore his request and take the items for yourself.

Inspect the wall behind him and a door opens leading to a path behind the cells. Go through a hidden path in the walls in the cells. The chests in the cells contain a CrossBow, a Leather Helmet, and a Ruby Ring. With each cell the hole in the wall is one step further south. Now go back to where the soldier died and head down into the basement. There are chests and jars with more items down there. They include White Arrows, an Ether1 potion, 2 Cure1 potions, 500GP, Iron Arrows, and a Life potion. Now you have the treasures from this area of the castle, time to head back and go into the main portion of the castle. There is a chest with a Tent on the 2nd floor.

Be sure to unequip Tellah if you did not already, he is leaving the party during this event. As soon as you reach the 3rd floor, you find a young woman. This is Tellah's daughter Anna. You also find the bard who she ran off to be with. Tellah becomes enraged and attacks the bard in a computer controlled fight. It is the fight that contains an iconic silly line.

Wait for it....

Wait.... for.... it.........

I am talking of course about.... THIS!

Anyway, now onto the actual "strategy" for this "fight".


BATTLE: Bard

PARTY: Tellah

DIFFICULTY: N/A

This is a computer controlled fight. Tellah yells at the bard while the bard tries to calm Tellah down. What I never understood is why Tellah doesn't use any spells on him. He's SO angry at him for eloping with his daughter, why use his Staff/Rod/Fists when his regular attack is awful yet he can easily defeat him with Lit-1? Oh well. Sit back and enjoy the comedic exchange between the two until Anna as the voice of reason begs them to stop arguing.

Anna then dies after telling her father she loves the bard, his name is Edward. You also find out that Cecil's replacement commanding the Red Wings' name is Golbez. He led the attack on the castle to steal the Crystal of Fire. Tellah is livid. He storms off to avenge his daughter. You'll run into him again later. Rydia and Cecil encourage Edward to come with them. They need his Hovercraft to cross the shallows and reach the Antlion Cave where they can get the SandRuby to heal Rosa with in Kaipo. Edward joins and you get to hear the awesome fanfare once more. The odd thing here is though that for every single other character that joins it says their name and their character class (or just simply says [name] joins) but for Edward it reads "Prince Edward joined as a Bard!". What....? That never made sense to me. Why not simply "Bard Edward joined!"? That would make so much more sense.


NEW CHARACTER: Edward

CHARACTER CLASS: Bard

WEAPON OF CHOICE: Harp

COMMAND: Fight, Sing, Hide, Item

Edward gets a LOT of hate. He is regarded by some as the game's worst character and those arguments make sense. He joins on a low level with awful stats. The thing is.... if you take the time to level him up, he's not so bad. His harps end up doing a good amount of damage, the downside is you have to level him up a lot in order for him to reach a decent level of usefulness and by the time he leaves he may not have reached that level yet. I'd still place him in the bottom tier, but he is not the game's worst character. When you factor in how he is outclassed by Rosa in healing, Rydia in offensive casting, and well EVERYONE in base stats, the actual worst character in my opinion is Tellah. The fact that when he gets weak Edward automatically hides during battle gets to be very annoying. His songs also do not bring much to the table. So, yeah. 3rd worst overall beating Tellah and FuSoYa but only due to them both being extremely outclassed and having low stats. Edward's skills do suck but his stats are decent if leveled up enough.

You now also have your first vehicle, the Hovercraft! You can cross shallow water to reach the Antlion Cave or go back to Kaipo. I recommend returning to town. Edward and Rydia might need supplies from the Weapon/Armor shops and you can also rename Edward if you wish. Take this time to gain some levels. Try the walking in the desert levelling spree I described back when Rydia had joined. This works well for Edward too. He'll level up slower than she did as there are now 3 in the party, but Cecil and Rydia will gain levels too at the same time. He won't stand a chance in the Antlion Cave if you don't level him up. An alternative strategy is to level around Damcyan Castle. The top floors have jars full of restorative water that restore your HP and MP for free. You can go inside to drink of it if you get weak. When you are ready, use the Hovercraft to fly across the shallows to get to the Antlion Cave, it is to the east of Damcyan.

That's it for now. Next time we will go fight the Antlion in the Antlion Cave.

 

[Dagger Dias]

ANTLION CAVE
Party: Cecil, Rydia, Edward

Spoiler

[YOUTUBE]FlsKkWSRTqA[/YOUTUBE]

This place isn't as long as the Watery Pass but it's tougher if Edward is still on a low level. The only enemies to really watch out for are the Creams. if you find yourself fighting them just have Rydia cast Lit-1 against them. The turtles are very weak against Ice-1 or the Ice Rod. Other than that, you should not have any issues with the other monsters in here. Start off by going to your left to grab 190GP to your left and then down the stairs for a Cure1 potion. A chest across the bridge to the right has 210GP. A path leading underneath it goes to another that has a Cure1 potion. Go to the lower left corner of this first room and then down. This path gets you to two chests containing a Tent and another Cure1 potion. Now make your way back and go down the stairs in the bottom right corner of the room.

In the second room be sure to go through the first door you find on your way. There's also a chest with a Life1 potion next to it. Through the first door is a chest with a Charm Harp in it. Do not miss that! It's Edward's ultimate weapon. Yes, you read that right. He isn't in the party long, and he already has his best weapon. Equip him with it ASAP. Leave that chamber and head back to where you were. Ignore the "hidden" path for now. Go up and then there will be a bit of a fork. The treasure chests over here include a Heal potion at the end of the right path and 250GP at the end of the left path. The stairs lead to a portion of the first room you could not reach before. There's a Save Point in there but also more items including a Life potion, an Ether1 potion, and a Tent. Now you can either go back the way you came and use the "hidden" path or go down all of the steps. Go downstairs at the end of the path.

Now you are in the Antlion's Nest. I hope you saved. This is the first fight that might cause problems for you, he attacks once you reach the bottom of the sets of ladders.

BOSS BATTLE: Antlion

PARTY: Cecil, Rydia, Edward

DIFFICULTY: Medium

This is the first fight that can cause problems for you if you do not know what you are doing. Rydia should summon her Chocobo. Cecil should attack, he will cause a good amount of damage to the Antlion. However, it will fight back each time Cecil attacks it. Be sure to keep an eye on everyone's HP. You should have a ton of Cure1 potions by now. Have Edward use some of them to heal if needed. Otherwise he should just go defensive so that he can stay alive.

The awesome fanfare plays as you procure the SandRuby. Now leave the cave and return to Kaipo. You can finally heal Rosa! That's where we will pick up next time.

 

[Dagger Dias]

The party returns to Kaipo to heal Rosa.

Spoiler

[YOUTUBE]cYs0f7gipjM[/YOUTUBE]

Rosa wakes up and wants to come with you. Cecil is concerned about her safety but his friends convince him to let her come. She joins you and everyone goes to sleep. Except for Edward who stays up late playing his harp outside in town. Wouldn't you know it? A monster attacks him.


BATTLE: Water Hag

PARTY: Edward

DIFFICULTY: N/A

This is a computer controlled fight. No matter what Edward's level is, this fight lasts a few rounds. He is unsure of himself and then Anna's spirit motivates him to be able to win. This is one of VERY few fights that Cecil is not present for.


They all wake up the next morning and Rosa officially joins you.


NEW CHARACTER: Rosa

CHARACTER CLASS: White Wizard

WEAPON OF CHOICE: Staff, Bow & Arrows

COMMANDS: Fight, White, Aim, Item


Rosa is one of the best characters in the game. She learns every single White Magic spell and is absolutely crucial to your survival. Her main role is that of restoring everyone else's HP but by the end of the game she can also revive someone to full HP from zero, remove any negative status effect, buff your party with beneficial status effects, make them immune to damaging floors and even attack using the White (Holy in other versions) spell. She can fight using either a Staff or Bow & Arrows. Her arrows can take advantage of enemy weaknesses as they come in many elements and types but the downside is they run out if you use too many. The Staff of course has unlimited use, but it sucks for regular attacking. Rosa is mainly needed for healing and buffing though so it's up to you. Stick with the arrows if you want to do a little more damage (Use the Aim command otherwise she might miss!!!!) or have her equipped with a staff if you do not want to risk running out of arrows.


You can rename Rosa or purchase some supplies from the Weapons/Armor shops if needed. She joins at a good enough level that she might not really need to be leveled unless you choose to do so. Go ahead and fly back to where the Antlion Cave was using the Hovercraft. Go east of there and you'll find Mt Hobs. This is your next stop.


MT HOBS
PARTY: Cecil, Rydia, Edward, Rosa

At the very start of the climb the party is blocked by an icy path too dangerous to climb. Rydia is forced to overcome her fear of fire. She learns to cast Fire-1 thanks to Rosa's motivation as the awesome fanfare plays yet again. Rydia melts the ice. Fire-1 comes in handy against the skeleton monsters encountered on the mountain path. You might also run into Bombs. These are the guys that were in the package you took to the village of Mist. They can explode during combat which kills them but hurts you a lot. Rosa needs to heal anyone this happens to as soon as possible.

This place is actually a lot shorter than you would think it would be. Climb up and take the left door first. There's a Save Point and some treasures in there while you will fight a boss in the door to the right. The treasures in the left room include a Tent, a Cure1 potion, a Heal potion, and 350GP. Go Save if needed. Now go through the door to the right. This is the summit. Do not go to the north just yet, the boss is there. A chest will be to your right with some White Arrows for Rosa.

Before you approach the summit, open your menu. Make sure that the front line has two spots. One for Cecil and one for your new character who is about to join. The back row needs three spots for Rydia, Edward, and Rosa. If it is still set to 3 in the front and 2 in the back, use the Change command to swap the lines. Once you have 2 in the front move everyone but Cecil into the back row using the Form command if needed. This protects them from the explosion attack of the boss you are about to fight. Now go up. A monk is training and has been attacked by a boss and its party of monsters. The party watches as the monk fights off the underlings. The monk's battle cry had been mistranslated as "ACHOOOO" so it looks like he is sneezing and has a cold.


BATTLE: Imp Captain (3)

PARTY: Yang

DIFFICULTY: N/A

Scripted victory. This is just to show what Yang can do. He defeats them with little effort.


Then the boss monster gets angry and attacks him. The party jumps in to help knowing that it is too powerful for Yang to face alone. It's the mother bomb.


BOSS BATTLE: Mom Bomb

PARTY: Cecil, Rydia, Edward, Rosa, Yang

DIFFICULTY: Medium

You have a full party of 5 for the very first time! Rosa must be ready to heal at any given moment. Cecil and Yang should attack each round. Rydia should summon her Chocobo. Edward can use his Hide command to get out of danger when the boss warns that it is about to explode, but go ahead and bring him back after that. If Rosa dies from the explosion, immediately revive her with a Life potion. She has to heal everyone from their damage to that attack. Rydia can help if needed with the healing. The boss turns into 3 Bombs and 3 Gray Bombs after the explosion. Kill them quickly before they too can explode on you. It will be over shortly.


Yang thanks you for the help and he offers to join you. The party members each introduce themselves to him and explain the situation regarding the crystals. The party needs to get to Yang's homeland of Fabul before Golbez does, their crystal is in danger of being taken next. Yang will show them the way there. You can go to Kaipo to rename him and stock up on supplies if you wish.


NEW CHARACTER: Yang

CHARACTER CLASS: Karate

WEAPON OF CHOICE: Claws

COMMANDS: Fight, Kick, Item

Yang is a fun character to use. His character class is actually supposed to be Monk, it was translated wrong as Karate Man. His strength skyrockets as he levels up and his HP has the highest growth rate at first, until he randomly caps around the 6000 range. Cid ends up having the highest HP in the end, but Yang's growth rate until the cap is unmatched. He will likely have twice the amount of HP of anyone else in the party including Cecil later on. His claws can be extremely useful in taking advantage of enemy weaknesses such as equipping a Thunder Claw to use against enemies in a water level, for example. His Kick hits every enemy onscreen, it does less damage but can take out a whole team of weak enemies at once. I wish he were in the party longer than he ends up being, but oh well. I always enjoy his time in the party while it lasts.


That's it for now. Next time we make our way to Fabul, for a gauntlet of battles. That will be fun.

 

[Dagger Dias]

You have a long walk ahead of you. To get to Fabul follow the path on the other side of Mt Hobs and the forest on the world map. You'll eventually find the castle.

Spoiler

[YOUTUBE]UDUW8Bn_NLQ[/YOUTUBE]

FABUL
Party: Cecil, Rydia, Edward, Rosa, Yang


There is a shop through the right door in the main hall. Buy some claws for Yang as well as a new set of equipment for Cecil. A second Fire Claw, 2 Ice Claws, and 2 Thunder Claws. He will be eventually needing all of the above, better to get them now before you forget. As for Cecil.... there is a Black Armor, a Black Helmet, and a Black Gauntlet. Buy them all. You will need the boost in defense that it gives him. The door to the left leads to an inn. Go upstairs. Head outside by taking the door to the south. The left tower has a Namingway on the second floor who can rename Yang if you still have not done that. Yang's wife is on the top floor of that tower. Items found in the left tower include 2 Cure1 potions, a Heal potion, and a Tent. The right tower has a bar on the second floor with a dancer who does a.... strange dance.... if you talk to them. The king's chambers are on the top of the tower and you can sleep in the king's bed oddly enough. Items found in the right tower include 500GP, a Tent, as well as 2 Cure1 potions in the King's chamber and an Ether1 potion.

When you are ready go back inside and go north to the king's chamber but first you need to unequip Rosa. She will be leaving the party soon. Speak to the king and he will ask you to help defend the castle. This event can be tough, you will have to rely completely on items to heal as neither of the girls will be participating in the fighting. It is one fight after another, while the boss theme continuously plays. The first is against two Fighters and a General at the castle gates.


BATTLE: General, Fighter (2)

PARTY: Cecil, Edward, Yang

DIFFICULTY: Easy

This is nearly identical to the fight with the Soldiers and Officer from Kaipo. Defeat the General before the last of the Fighters to get a larger amount of EXP. If he is the last one left, he will run away.


The next takes place inside the main hall of the castle against a Weeper, Imp Captain, and Water Hag.


BATTLE: Weeper, Water Hag, Imp Captain

PARTY: Cecil, Edward, Yang

DIFFICULTY: Easy

This might be the most random enemy party in the whole game. Anyways.... Each of them are weak and easily defeated. Just attack them and get it over with.



The party moves to the upper floor and are attacked, this time by another party of a General and 2 Fighters. See the strategy for the previous fight against that enemy party above. They get to the throne room and the monk who followed you turns out to be a Gargoyle in disguise, he unlocks the door and attacks you.


BATTLE: Gargoyle

PARTY: Cecil, Edward, Yang

DIFFICULTY: Easy

The easiest of the fights in this event. Just use regular attacks until he dies.


Next you are attacked by another group consisting of the weird Weeper, Water Hag, and Imp Captain team. After that the party tries to run to the crystal room but Edward trips just as yet another group of 1 General and 2 Fighters enters the room. See the above strategy on facing them. A really cool song plays during that fight. They make it to the crystal room and are attacked by.... Kain? He is not acting like his normal self and challenges Cecil to a one VS one duel.


BATTLE: Dragoon

PARTY: Cecil

Difficulty: N/A

This is a scripted loss, you cannot defeat him. Attack yourself if you wish to make it end faster.



Rydia and Rosa show up and so does Golbez. He takes Rosa hostage and makes Kain take the crystal. They leave. Rydia heals the three guys and they decide to try to rescue Rosa. There is a switch in the throne room that opens a hidden path leading to a chest with a Black Shield in it for Cecil. Go to the Inn and the party plans their strategy of trying to meet up with Cid in Baron the next morning after speaking to the king. Yang says the king can get them a ship to enter Baron by sea so they do not have to worry about the airships. The king gives you a Black Sword. Give that to Cecil immediately. Also, unequip everybody except Cecil. The entire party other than Cecil is about to leave once you get on the boat. Yang comes back after a few events, but we will say goodbye to Rydia's child form (she comes back in her much more powerful adult form late in the game) and Edward will never be playable again after this event unless you are playing the GBA version.

What happens to Cecil as he is separated from his whole team? That's all for today.

 

[Dagger Dias]

Now we will return to Mysidia, where the Crystal of Water was taken in the intro of the game.

Spoiler

[YOUTUBE]oCHVy4FwINU[/YOUTUBE]

Get on the ship. Yang's wife sees you off and the party gets onboard. The ship is attacked by Leviathan before it can make it to Baron. Rydia falls underwater as the ship gets attacked. Yang jumps out to try to save her. The ship gets hit again knocking Edward out. As I stated in the previous post.... All of them leave during this scene but Yang returns later on, Rydia returns although in a different form, and Edward returns in a non-playable role unless you are playing the GBA version. More on that much later when that difference comes into full effect. The ship is destroyed by Leviathan and it ends up on a shore near Mysidia with only Cecil. The crew and your party members are nowhere to be found. You'll be on the world map and are only a few steps away from the town of Mysidia.



MYSIDIA
Party: Cecil

This is the same place that the Red Wings took the crystal from in the intro. You're not very popular here. The wizards remember you. One near the entrance will turn you into a frog. Talk to him again to reverse the spell. The dancer in the bar turns you into a pig, go sleep at the Inn upstairs to go back to normal. You can still fight as a pig but cannot use magic. The bartender gives you a drink that poisons you. Sleeping at the Inn will heal you of that as well. The building to the top right has a warp that takes you to Baron but it is currently sealed. There's a training room to the bottom left. North of that is a wizard who if you talk to her she jumps to the left. Talk to her again and she jumps again, this time going offscreen. How silly. There is also a weapons and armor shop there, you'll need to return there in a moment to get supplies for your new party members.

Go to the building to the north. The elder is inside. Talk to him. He says you cannot defeat Golbez as a Dark Knight. You have to undergo a test at Mt Ordeals and he sends two mage twins to assist you. They are Porom the White Wizard and Palom the Black Wizard. They join the party. They are useful during the time that they are playable as they more or less are temporary replacements for Rosa and Rydia respectively who both outclass the twins severely. The twins don't suck by any means, they just aren't as useful as the two primary playable casters.


NEW CHARACTER: Porom

CHARACTER CLASS: White Wizard

WEAPON OF CHOICE: Staff

COMMANDS: Fight, White, Twin, Item

Porom is 100% outclassed by Rosa, but she's useful while she is in the party. She eventually learns every White magic spell and learns them faster than Rosa although she's not in the party long enough to warrant you leveling up enough to learn the advanced spells. She can also use the twin command with her brother Palom. The stipulation is they both have to be in the party, both must be under a healthy status, and both need enough MP in order to cast the spell. The two twin magic spells are Comet and Flare, the game picks one of the two randomly.


Porom's twin brother Palom joins you too. One is never in the active party without the other unless you are playing the GBA version, more on that later on.


NEW CHARACTER: Palom

CHARACTER CLASS: Black Wizard

WEAPON OF CHOICE: Rods

COMMANDS: Fight, Black, Twin, Item

Palom is 100% outclassed by Rydia. He's still useful during the time he is in the active party though. He eventually learns every single Black magic spell. He learns them faster than Rydia does, but is not as powerful of a caster, not to mention the fact that he's not in the party long enough for you to reach the level 50 range, unless you are extremely bored and have too much time on your hands. He can cast twin magic with his sister but they both must be in the active party, both must be healthy, and both need enough MP to cast either Comet or Flare which the game randomly chooses.


Take the twins shopping for equipment. A Fire Rod for Palom and a Cure Staff for Porom at the very least. The initial Rod and Staff are terrible weapons now that you are no longer at the beginning of the game. You can rename them at the training room if you wish. The shops are full of equipment for Paladins. Cecil will be able to use these later on. The wizards around town open up and trust you a little more now that the twins are with you. The dancer however will still turn your party into pigs. This would be a great time to level up. Make sure that Porom knows Cure-2 before moving on. They tend to level up together so by that time Palom should have learned Ice-2, Fire-2. and Lit-2. Once those spells have all been learned, you should be ready for Mt Ordeals.

We head off to Mt Ordeals next time. Cecil goes through a huge change and a familiar face returns.

 

[Dagger Dias]

Mt Ordeals is at the end of a long but straightforward path on the world map.

Spoiler

[YOUTUBE]zLbeWWqmj3Q[/YOUTUBE]

If you get weak on the way to Mt Ordeals, visit the chocobo forest south of the mountain when you have gotten there. There will be a white chocobo in there who restores your MP. Have Porom cast Cure-2 on the party until either everyone is maxed out or until she runs out of MP. Visit the white chocobo and your MP is restored. Repeat until everyone is back at full HP as well as MP. This can be done at any chocobo forest. Enter the mountain path once you are ready.

A fire is burning in the middle of the field. Palom takes care of it with an ice spell. Meanwhile, a scene plays out where Golbez is holding Rosa hostage at a location you are not meant to know of until later on. Kain is there too. He wants to fight Cecil but Golbez instead sends Milon the elemental fiend of earth. The scene shifts back to the party and you regain control over them. Many of the enemies here are undead. Cure-2 and Fire-2 from Porom and Palom respectively will make very short work of the zombies and skeletons. Cecil's sword should suffice in dealing with most of the other monsters here, but he is not very effective against the zombies. Watch your MP counts and restore with Ether potions if needed.

There will be a chest right by where you start that has a Cure1 potion. Another just above it has a Cure1 potion as well. The next room, for whatever reason, is called the 3rd station. Tellah walks out from a doorway into the mountain path. Cecil approaches him. He agrees to come with you as you are both searching for Golbez. The twins are honored to meet him stating he is famous in Mysidia.


NEW PARTY MEMBER: Tellah

Tellah has been in the party before and he has not gained any new abilities, so no need to run an in-depth analysis on him again. He does gain some new abilities within the storyline during his second run in the party though.



The next room, for whatever reason, is called the 7th station. So it goes from the 3rd station automatically to the 7th station? That never made sense to me. Anyways.... Make sure Tellah is in the back row with the twins. There should be a chest to your left with an Ether1 potion and another one by the next doorway that also contains an Ether1 potion. This leads to the summit. You will hear someone hissing. Porom blames her brother but Palom claims he is not playing any pranks. That's not a good sign. There is a save point to your right. I highly recommend you save here before proceeding. You're about to enter not one but two boss battles. Go save, then cross the bridge. Milon attacks you!


BOSS BATTLE: Milon, Ghast (4)

PARTY: Cecil, Palom, Porom, Tellah

DIFFICULTY: Medium

Have Cecil attack Milon as he is useless against the zombies. Tellah and Porom can damage the zombies with Cure-2. If you target them all it will do a little less damage but it makes the fight go by faster. Palom is the MVP of this fight if he has Fire-2. It does a ton of damage to the zombies and it's effective against Milon too. Milon will be casting Lit-1 a lot, have Porom or Tellah ready to heal if needed. The twins could cast one of their Twin spells if you'd like, those are effective here. The fight's not too bad if you know what you're doing.


DO NOT CROSS THE REST OF THE BRIDGE YET!!!!!!!! GO SAVE IMMEDIATELY!!!!

Did you save? Did you use a Tent too? You might want to rest with a Tent too while you're at the save point. All healed up and saved your data? Ok good. Also, you might want to open the menu to reverse the rows using the Change command to where Tellah and the twins are in the front. This sounds ridiculous at first, but read on. NOW go cross the bridge. You'll be glad you saved and restored your characters because now Milon attacks you from behind, and he is much tougher this time. He attacked you from behind, meaning it reverses your row formations. Had you put the casters in the front, they start the battle in the back row where they are safer.


BOSS BATTLE: Milon-Z

PARTY: Cecil, Palom, Porom, Tellah

DIFFICULTY: Medium

If you have not had an attack from behind before, you may not know what to do here. If you did not reverse the rows before the fight like I suggested then have your first character select the Row command by moving left from the battle menu to select it, the character will do their respective victory dance/pose for a bit and then the rows swap. Now for the actual fight.... Palom is once again the MVP. Have him cast Fire-2 each and every single round to make Milon-Z miserable. Porom and Tellah should be ready to heal with Cure-2 or cast Heal if Milon-Z poisons you. Cecil should just attack regularly. The music that plays during this fight is incredible, by the way. It plays during fights with the elemental fiends as well as "more important" boss fights. It's the toughest fight yet, but as long as you had leveled up the twins enough to where Palom knew Fire-2 it is not nearly as bad.


Milon screams "GRRRR-BAAAH" as he falls off the cliff after the fight. Random. Might be a mistranslation of some sort. Have Tellah or Porom cast Heal on anyone who is still poisoned and Cure-2 on anyone who was weak after the fight. You can revisit the save point to use a Tent or to save again if you wish. When you are ready, approach the pillar. You're about to get the first of the 5 characters who permanently join the party. It's someone you are already very familiar with. More on who that is next time.

That'll be it for today.

 

[Dagger Dias]

Cecil is about to become a Paladin.

Spoiler

[YOUTUBE]3RaGWLNBNCg[/YOUTUBE]

Once you approach the pillar at the summit of Mt Ordeals you will hear a voice calling you its son. The party goes inside and Cecil goes through a huge change. We will now be saying goodbye to Cecil's Dark Knight form. It will never be playable again. The good news is, he is now a Paladin. He has a cooler looking new set of graphics, new abilities, and way better stats.


PERMANENT PARTY MEMBER 1 of 5: Cecil

CHARACTER CLASS: Paladin

WEAPON OF CHOICE: Holy Swords, Swords, Axes

COMMANDS: Fight, White, Cover, Item

Cecil had been in the party all along within the story, but as far as the game's data is concerned, this is a new character. Cecil's Paladin form is SO much better than his Dark Knight form. His stats are MUCH higher across the board. He also gains access to much better equipment. Cecil can cast basic White magic spells which can be useful if Tellah/Porom/Rosa/FuSoYa run out of MP to heal the party. Cover can protect another party member from taking damage, Cecil makes a sacrifice and takes damage in their place. It is replaced by the Off command once Cover is activated, which cancels it. Cecil's Paladin form has one of the highest HP counts in the game as well. He will remain in the active party in this form for the rest of the game.



Cecil's Dark Knight persona appears next to his new self. The party members try to save him from this other Cecil but the real Cecil insists on overcoming his evil self on his own.


BATTLE: Dark Knight

PARTY: Cecil

DIFFICULTY: Easy

This is pretty easy. Just defend for several rounds and then he will die from having used up all of his HP to try to attack you with the Dark Wave attack.



Cecil has overcome the trial and will forever be in your party as a Paladin. So long, Dark Knight form! Tellah remembers all of his old spells he forgot at this point, and he also learns Meteo! This is why Tellah's MP never increased. The game wanted to ensure that you are never able to make Tellah cast Meteo, it is reserved for an awesome in-battle scene later on. For Tellah anyway. Palom, Rydia, and FuSoYa can all cast it normally if they have it learned. Tellah's reached his full potential. Now that he has access to nearly every White and Black spell in the game, he has become your most powerful character unless for some reason you leveled the twins to the point where they too know advanced spells. Tellah is able to cause a great deal or damage or heal you, although his stats are still awful. He's outclassed by the twins if/when they are at high enough levels though, and extremely outclassed by both Rosa and Rydia in White and Black magic respectively once they return.

You'll notice if you open the menu screen that Cecil is now on level 1. He already has 600 HP. That's way more than the Dark Knight form had. Fight every single battle that you encounter on the way back to Mysidia so that he can level up some. If you bought any of the Paladin gear in Mysidia he will be able to equip it now. The full set includes Paladin Armor, Paladin Helmet, Paladin Gauntlets, and the Paladin Shield. Equip it all if you have it, purchase it if you do not. If you cannot afford it, fight battles around Mysidia until you can. As the only fighter in a party otherwise full of casters, Cecil will NEED armor. Make sure you have that set before moving on.

The elder at Mysidia is who you need to speak to next. He will have earned your trust now. The twins decide they wish to continue traveling with Cecil. He shares the Mysidian legend with you. After playing this game for over 20 years, I never watch this scene. I always use it as a time to go grab a snack or something as you cannot skip it and it takes a while for the text to show up, unlike dialogue scenes where you can scroll past all of talking if you choose to. Once the blue screen with the legend is gone, the elder undoes the seal on the Serpent Road. You can now use it in the house to the upper right in town to warp to Baron.

Now you're back in Baron! You cannot get inside the castle though. Find out how to get inside next time, that will be all for today.

 

[Dagger Dias]

Now we return to the kingdom of Baron.

Spoiler

[YOUTUBE]RiyRH1vxtrs[/YOUTUBE]

You should have used the Serpent Road to get from Mysidia to Baron. If you're still in Mysidia go to the building in the upper right corner of town, step on the tile inside. Once in Baron go inside the Inn, although I would save before going in there. Yang is inside the bar with a couple of guards. Do not talk to him yet. If you did not do so at the very beginning of the game, inspect the wall that has a sword hanging above you. This opens a door leading to some treasure chests. They have a Cure1 potion, a Heal potion, and a Tent. Ok, now go talk to Yang. He orders the soldiers to attack you!?


BOSS BATTLE: Guard (2)

PARTY: Cecil, Palom, Porom, Tellah

DIFFICULTY: Easy

These guys aren't bad at all. Just have Tellah and Palom cast their best spells on them. Cecil should attack if they somehow manage to survive that. Porom should heal if needed.



Now Yang himself attacks you.


BOSS BATTLE: Karate

PARTY: Cecil, Palom, Porom, Tellah

DIFFICULTY: Easy

Mistranslated as Karate, this is Yang who once fought on your team with you although now you must fight against him. Tougher than the guards but still not a big deal. Porom should heal if needed while Cecil attacks. Palom or Tellah should cast their best spells. A few hits from Ice-3 or Lit-3 should be enough. Yang will regain his normal state of mind and the fight ends.



After the fight the party goes to one of the hotel rooms. Yang apologizes and he is welcomed back into the group. He had a Baron Key. You can use this to enter the path under town leading to the moat and also to enter the weapons and armor shop in town. The awesome fanfare plays as you take the Baron Key.

NEW PARTY MEMBER: Yang

Yang has been in the party before, so no need to do another analysis on him. His abilities have not changed, but his strength and HP count continue to increase at a very quick rate. During this second run in the party expect him to have twice as much HP as anyone else in the party later on.



A random note.... For some reason the dancer in town is no longer allowed to dance if you speak to her during this event. She dances again after you have defeated the boss in Baron Castle. Go to the weapons and armor shop to unlock it using the Baron Key. It is north of the training room. Once inside go over to the table and walk south of the chair in the lower right corner. You'll find a secret path that takes you to the merchants and you'll be able to open the two treasure chests that are not empty. They contain 2000GP and a Thunder Claw. As for the shops.... At the weapon shop buy two Thunder Rods. One for Palom and one for Tellah. Also buy a Cure Staff for Porom. If you have not already, buy two of each elemental claw (Fire/Ice/Thunder) for Yang. These will come in very handy for him. There is a Karate outfit at the armor shop as well as Silver Rings and Headbands if you would like to purchase some of those. Go back outside onto the world map and save. Once you're ready, go to the locked door on the left wall of town.

The Baron Key opens the locked down in town on the left side. It reveals a path leading to the Waterway under town. This eventually takes you to the moat so you can get into the castle. The first room appears to just contain a stairway, but there is a path hidden in the wall. Go through the wall on the line that goes one space to the right. Keep walking until you reach a chest, it has 1000GP in it. Go downstairs. Before moving any further.... Make sure that Yang has a Thunder Claw and an Ice Claw equipped. This makes him effective against the Alligators as well as the fish enemies down here. You should be able to conserve Tellah and Palom's MP if Yang is able to take advantage of enemy weaknesses using a regular attack. Level up some if you are struggling.

There are 3 chests at the bottom in the first room. They have a Cure2 potion, an Ether1 potion, and a Life potion. Follow the path to the stairs. Now you'll see a fork in the road, both from "hidden" paths. Take the one going south. Grab the 500GP from the chest along the way as well as the Life potion in another chest. Continue through the "hidden" path in the wall in between rooms. You'll find another fork. Head north at this one first so that you can grab a Life potion from a chest further up that path. There's two ways to get to the stairs to the next room you can either go to the right of where you just went north in the fork to reach the life potion, or head back through the right path of the fork. Both get you up to the stairs you need to take. In this next room is a hidden path that goes to a chest with an Ether1 potion. The next room is the last one. The left door takes you to a save point. SAVE!!!! A tough boss fight is coming. If you want, you can take the hidden path through the wall which takes you to the chest containing the Ancient Sword. This thing is useless in comparison to the Legend Sword though. The stairs to the right take you to the moat.

Next time we will storm into Baron Castle. A tough boss fight, a new party member, and another elemental fiend await.

 

[Dagger Dias]

Time to battle the second elemental fiend, Kainazzo of Water.

Spoiler

[YOUTUBE]qf6Q09Yzdp0[/YOUTUBE]

Well, not quite yet. The end of the Waterway leads you to the moat. Now you're back at Baron Castle. Go rest at Cecil's tower if you'd like. Just make sure that you're at full health by the time you reach the main hall. Baigan the guard captain shows up and offers to come with you.


NEW CHARACTER (Sort of): Baigan

CHARACTER CLASS: Guard

WEAPON OF CHOICE: ????

COMMANDS: ????

Baigan is in the party for a grand total of 2 seconds before Palom and Porom realize he is not on your side. I honestly hate this. 20 years later, I still think that he could have made a really cool party member. Granted he is a bad guy and still has to be a boss fight within the story, but there's no reason why he couldn't have been a member of the party for a couple of events and then showed his true colors in the Tower of Zot or something. He could have made an excellent warrior type in battle. Just have him be able to equip all of the same stuff as Kain and have him only be able to use Fight or Item as his commands. Oh well. He still gets an analysis since he does officially join you, complete with fanfare and a textbox announcing it.



Palom and Porom see that something is wrong and expose Baigan as a traitor. He attacks you.


BOSS BATTLE: Baigan, Right Arm, Left Arm

PARTY: Cecil, Palom, Porom, Tellah, Yang

DIFFICULTY: Hard

This is the hardest fight yet. Baigan eventually casts Wall on himself. This reflects any spell cast on him, making it hit one of your characters instead. He only casts it on his body but not his arms. The twins should cast one of their Twin spells quickly before Baigan has a chance to cast Wall. Tellah should cast Bersk on Cecil and Yang. This will make them attack constantly with more damage. The downside is they will not be able to do anything else. You won't need them to do anything else in this fight though. Porom and Tellah should both be healing after that. Palom isn't as useful due to the Wall issue, but he can hand out potions if needed. This isn't as bad if you know what you're doing, but it can be tough since Wall makes you have to go about fighting with a different strategy than simply attacking and casting. Level up if he if needed.



Go rest at Cecil's tower and SAVE down in the cave if needed. I doubt you'll want to go through that fight again. Unequip the twins. They will be leaving after the next boss fight. When you are ready, head to the throne room. The king is there but you find out that he was really the elemental fiend of water, Kainazzo, all along. He attacks.


BOSS BATTLE: Kainazzo

PARTY: Cecil, Palom, Porom, Tellah, Yang

DIFFICULTY: Very Easy

This is honestly one of the easiest bosses in the whole game. Just have Tellah (and Palom if he is leveled up enough) cast Lit-3. Palom is also able to cause a ton of damage to him with Lit-3 (or Lit-2 if he doesn't know Lit-3 yet). It will be over in a matter of moments. Cecil and Yang should attack, if he lasts long enough for them to get a couple of turns in. Porom should heal. Since this is the last fight the twins are playable for (disregarding the GBA version) I like to use their Twin spell one last time in this fight, before Tellah finishes him off with Lit-3. That's up to you though. The same amazing piece of music you heard when fighting Milon plays again here.


After the fight Kainazzo dies and Cid enters the room. He sees the party but not the fake king and they all introduce themselves. The walls begin closing in on the party. Palom and Porom sacrifice themselves to save the others by turning into stone. Tellah tries to restore them to human form, but it has no effect. Neither will any type of item you try to use on them. Cid joins in their place. The twins will never be playable again unless you are playing the GBA version.

A scene then plays out between Kain and Golbez in a location you still won't know where it is unless you have played the game before. Rosa is held hostage in the background. Kain suggests they make Cecil get the next crystal for them. Scene shifts back to the party and Cid takes them to his airship that he hid within the castle. They take off, only for Kain to show up on an airship full of monsters right next to you. Kain tells Cecil if he wants to save Rosa then they have to bring him the Crystal of Earth.


NEW CHARACTER: Cid

CHARACTER CLASS: Chief

WEAPON OF CHOICE: Hammer, Axe

COMMANDS: Fight, Peep, Item

It wouldn't be a Final Fantasy game without a Cid character in it! FF4's Cid has the best HP of any playable character in the game. Yang's HP count grows faster, but his has a cap for some reason. Cid's will max out if for some reason you become bored enough to level him up to the 90+ level range. His stats aren't bad and he is able to fight on the front line without having to worry much. His special skill is Peep which can tell you the HP and weakness (if any) of one monster per turn. He fights with Hammers. Cid can also equip Axes although by the time you finally get access to any Axes he has already left the team. In the GBA version he comes back and can fight using some Axes.



You will be stuck with the party of Cecil, Tellah, Yang, and Cid without a 5th character for a while so get used to this lineup. You now have an airship! Fly it using the directional buttons and press the A button to land. You can only land on grass fields. Any other terrain will cause you to take off again if you try to land. Cid randomly tells you how to fly as a response to Cecil asking if he can fly them to Toroia.

Toroia is where we will pick up next time.

 

[Dagger Dias]

There are a couple of optional areas you can visit before going to Toroia, where you need to head next.

Spoiler

[YOUTUBE]LC1yFzHYVSM[/YOUTUBE]

Let's explore some optional areas first.

Fly the airship to the village of Mist where you took the package from Baron long ago. The village appears to be doing well despite the package incident. Walk up to the house in front of where you originally met Rydia. Inside you can enter the fireplace to find a hidden path leading to chests containing a Tiara, a Cloth, and a Ruby Ring. You can also grab some items from the grass in town. The grass to the east of the house you were just in has 100GP in it. You can also go grab a Cure1 and a Heal potion from the grass east of the weapons and armor shop through a hidden path in the trees. There's nothing else really to do here so go ahead and leave.

Fly the airship north of Mt Ordeals. The town you'll find on the island is the town of Mithril/Silvera. It is a very strange town. Go inside the Inn and you'll find Namingway at a table sitting with two people. He can rename Cid for you at this point if you have not done so already. Go to the grass at the east side of town toward the middle of the map, there is a Silver Staff in there. Keep that for Tellah but do not equip it yet. There's a Silver Dagger in the grass north of that, and 5000GP in the grass north of the equipment shop. The shops here are expensive and you won't really need any of the gear here yet. Talk to the pig, frog, and guy in front of the weapons and armor shop will do a funny dance for you if you talk to them. One of the frogs in town asks you if you want ant steak. Buy the set of Silver armor (Helmet, Shield, Gauntlets, and Armor) for Cecil as well as Cid. Also buy a Silver Hammer for Cid but do not equip any of it yet. This is a good area to level up a bit. I usually fight outside of this town until Cecil, Cid, and Yang have all reached 1000 HP or more. Once you are at that point, it's time to go to Toroia.



TOROIA
Party: Cecil, Tellah, Yang, Cid

Fly the airship northwest of Baron. Land right next to the castle in the one little square of grass in the forest. Enter the town first. Go to the weapons and armor shop. As far as weapons are concerned you should be fine other than Cecil who will need a temporary replacement for his sword in the upcoming cave. If you still have Porom's Cure Staff, give him that. Otherwise you might be stuck having to buy him a staff or some arrows. The staff is your better bet, arrows are awful unless you use Rosa's Aim command which is exclusive to her. You can also buy a new Hammer for Cid if you sold his original Hammer in favor of the Silver Hammer, do not equip that yet. The armor shop also has non-metallic sets. Un-equip anything metallic such as Cecil's entire gear (trust me) and anything Iron or Silver. Buy gear from this shop as needed to replace it temporarily, don't sell any of it though you will need to re-equip it eventually.

Now to explore the town a little. The building above the shops is quite interesting. The first room in it is a cafe full of people, one of which sells you an extremely expensive Pass to a bar in the basement. Save first, then buy the pass. Use it to enter and you get to watch the mother of all dance performances in this game. The funny part about doing this NOW as opposed to later is the fact that Cecil and his friends are sitting there at a dance show being hit on by dancers while Rosa is waiting patiently to be rescued. She would be SO proud of you for having your priorities in order if she could see where you are at this moment. If you return here later with Rosa or Rydia as the front man of the party on the world map they still get hit on too by the dancers, it happens no matter who it is. You literally get nothing by doing this.

So re-load your save file, now you have saved money on the Pass. Upstairs in the same building is some apartments. You can talk to the people, but nothing relevant happens. In the room on the right there is an NPC who you will never be able to reach. That always bugged me. She is blocked by an old man and a fireplace. They never caught that when testing the game. East of that building is a lady who is sunbathing. East of her is a chocobo farm. You can go down into the basement to talk to the chocobos but you cannot take them with you out of the house. An old man is in the grass by the water south of the Inn watching the girls in the water. Weirdo. Go down into the water and the girls tell you your armor is going to rust. Follow the water to the north of town and head left into a hidden path. It takes you to grass that has 1000GP, a Cure2 potion, an Ether1 potion, and an Ether2 potion. That's all there is to do in town.

Now go to the castle. Head left in the main hall and you'll find a nursing room. Edward is in there. Tellah forgives him and Edward gives you a TwinHarp. This is VERY important. Without this the next boss is invincible. As in, even a level 99 party will die if you fight him. I always thought Edward should rejoin you here, so that you have a full party of 5. It's not like he can't play the TwinHarp in front of the Dark Elf in person. Oh well. Exit the castle and go north until you find a chocobo forest. Locate a Black Chocobo and he will be able to fly you to your next destination, Cave Magnes. It is east of the chocobo forest you just left. Black Chocobos can land in forested areas only. Save before entering the cave.


CAVE MAGNES
Party: Cecil, Tellah, Yang, Cid

This place is a PAIN!!!! Once you enter a magnetic field makes you hit with paralysis if you wear anything metallic. Now do you see why I made sure you took off the metallic gear? Keep it off until you reach the boss. Put Cecil in the rear row with Tellah for now. A chest east of the entrance has a Cure2 potion in it. There is a Heal potion by the stairs. Make sure you fight every battle in here so you get the EXP points for it. As annoying as this place is, it's nothing compared to the tower you go to afterwards and you WILL need to be leveled up. If you are struggling, cast Exit and level up around Toroia. Go through the door in the northeast corner of the next floor. Chests in there include Ether1 and 500GP. Go downstairs using the stairs in the upper left corner.

The door by the stairs leads to a save point, save if needed. Enter the door across the bridge in the next area and there are three chests in there. Open them for a Cure2 potion, a Cure3 potion, and a Life potion. Through the next door is a Charm Claw. Give that to Yang. It makes him effective against giants such as those frustrating Ogre enemies in here. The next room has a door across the bridge to the east leading to a save point. You'll want to save in there and use a Tent to restore everyone. Go back outside and grab the Ether2 by the door to the boss. Go inside and talk to the Dark Elf who attacks you.


BOSS BATTLE: Dark Elf

PARTY: Cecil, Tellah, Yang, Cid

DIFFICULTY: Medium

This guy is more annoying than tough. At first you still cannot use your metallic gear. After a few rounds Edward begins playing his TwinHarp and you will be able to re-equip all of your metallic gear! Edward has neutralized the magnetic field. Cecil needs his Legend Sword and all of the Silver gear you purchased for him (assuming you did that sidequest, otherwise you hopefully still have the Paladin gear). Cid should have the Silver Hammer and the Silver gear. Yang and Tellah might not have had to lose anything silver/iron/metallic. Tellah can equip the Silver Staff now though if you wish.

Edward's bard song plays for a few more rounds. Tellah needs to cast Bersk on Cecil who will be the MVP in this fight. The Dark Elf is very weak against holy weapons. Yang and Cid need to be attacking as well. Tellah should be ready to hear every round but can cast offensive spells if you feel everyone is at decent amounts of health. The Dark Elf changes into a dark dragon form once Edward stops playing his bard song. Tellah must be ready to heal every round after that. The dragon is much more powerful than the original form of the Dark Elf was. Cecil should be able to kill him after some rounds have passed, so focus on keeping Cecil alive.


The Dark Elf dies and you can grab the Crystal of Earth. Keep everyone's gear equipped. Take the long way outside if you are up to it. The fights are much easier now and you could use the EXP points. One of the toughest areas in the game is next and you'll need all the EXP that you can possibly get in order to stand a chance. Save when you reach the world map and have the chocobo take you back to Toroia.

That's all for today. Next time we will grab a ton of treasure from the castle in Toroia and then go to the infamous Tower of Zot, an incredibly tough event.

 

[Dagger Dias]

Ready for one of the most difficult events in the game? Read on.

Spoiler

[YOUTUBE]jEW9W5eOFlA[/YOUTUBE]

Head back to Toroia Castle after having grabbed the Crystal of Earth from the Dark Elf. The clerics are glad to have the crystal back, but before they can take it Kain shows up saying he will take you to where Rosa is if you bring the crystal. The clerics allow you to borrow it assuming they will get it back. Go visit Edward. Tellah and Edward reconcile. Now before you head off to your next destination, there are a ton of treasures in the basement of the castle. They include Ice Arrows, Fire Arrows, Thunder Arrows, 2000GP, 2 Elixirs, 2 Ether2 potions, 4 Ether1 potions, 2 Heal potions, 4 Cure2 potions, a Great Bow, 1 Ruby Rings, and 2 Tents. Get on your airship. Kain appears on his and takes you to the Tower of Zot.


TOWER OF ZOT
Party: Cecil, Tellah, Yang, Cid

This place is insanely tough if you have not been leveling up. Make sure that Yang is equipped with two Fire Claws. Most of the enemies here are weak against fire. Tellah can cast Fire-2 or Fire-3 on them for a lot of damage but watch his MP. Cid and Cecil will need their Silver gear to be at their highest defense, although Cecil will slowly be gathering Fire gear here. First is the Fire Armor in the top left corner of the first room. Go through the door at the top right corner. In the next room you'll come across a chest that has a monster inside of it. Swap Yang's Fire Claws to Ice Claws before opening it.


BATTLE: Flame Dog

PARTY: Cecil, Tellah, Yang, Cid

DIFFICULTY: Easy

This guy isn't hard if you are prepared. He has the potential to completely kill you if you are caught off guard though. Yang fighting with two Ice Claws should finish him off, if not then have Tellah cast Ice-3. Pretty much the only enemy in here who is weak against Ice as opposed to Fire. Ironically, he was guarding the Fire Sword.



Give the Fire Sword to Cecil. Swap Yang's Fire Claws back immediately. Go through the door. No treasures in the next room. You'll come across a fork in the road. Take the first path which leads you to three more doors you can go through. The one on the left leads to a Poison Claw for Yang (don't equip it yet) and further down is a Fire Shield for Cecil. Go back and enter the door in the middle to get the Earth Hammer for Cid. This is his ultimate weapon in this version of the game. Equip it on him immediately. Return and go through the door on the right. It takes you to a Wizard Robe. Now return to the fork and take the other path toward the right side of the room and go through the door. You're almost done! There is a save point here. USE IT! A horrific boss fight is about to take place once you try to move on to the next floor and you will want a save file ready to go right where you are in case you get defeated.


BOSS BATTLE: Sandy, Cindy, Mindy

PARTY: Cecil, Tellah, Yang, Cid

DIFFICULTY: Very Hard

This is widely regarded as the most difficult boss in the game. I honestly don't think it's THE hardest, but it's easily in the top 3. Either way, they are far tougher than any other boss you have faced before. The middle sister revives the other two after a few rounds if you defeat them before her. The tall sister casts Wall on the middle sister first, then later on casts it on your party members. You will not be able to cast offensive spells on the middle sister so rely on regular attacks with Yang's Claws, Cecil's Fire Sword, and Cid's Earth Hammer. The worst part is that Tellah will not be able to cast restorative spells on the characters who get a Wall cast on them by the tall sister. The small sister casts spells on the middle sister to reflect them onto you, they can deal a large amount of damage. Hopefully it does not hit the characters who get a Wall cast on them, so that Tellah can heal as needed. Once the middle sister dies, have Tellah cast Fire-3 on the tall sister and Lit-3 on the small sister while your three fighters continue to relentlessly attack. This fight is VERY tough so if you are struggling then you should level up around the save point. The enemies here give a good amount of EXP.



GO SAVE AFTER THE FIGHT!!!! Few tips in this walkthrough will be as helpful as that one. Your worst nightmare at this point would be to die later on and have to go through THAT fight again, so.... SAVE!!!! Oh, and unequip Tellah. He will be leaving soon. I'll wait for the top floor of the tower until next time though as it is in the next video, which is where I will pick up in the next post.

 

[Dagger Dias]

One of the coolest scenes in the game plays out here. We'll also fight the third elemental fiend, Valvalis of Wind.

Spoiler

[YOUTUBE]Zr0fLRSxSE4[/YOUTUBE]

Make sure that you unequipped Tellah of everything. We will be saying goodbye to him following the next scene. Go through the door the three sisters were guarding. Golbez and Kain are in there. Cecil hands over the crystal but they do not reveal where Rosa is. Tellah runs up and challenges Golbez to a fight.

If you have not been following along in the videos, this is one you'll want to watch. The Tellah VS Golbez fight is from 1:00 until 2:15 in the video.


BATTLE: Golbez

PARTY: Tellah

DIFFICULTY: N/A

This is one of my favorite scenes in the whole game. It is a scripted fight. You get to watch Tellah unleash spell after spell on Golbez. After having gone through a few of his advanced spells, he converts his HP to MP in order to cast Meteo. This is why he never gained more MP upon leveling up, so that he is unable to cast Meteo outside of this scene. Tellah casts Meteo, resulting in what is likely the first time you've ever seen anything do 9,999 damage to any enemy. 20 years ago, this scene was bone chilling. My jaw dropped as a child at how awesome it was. Ah, the memories....



So Tellah gets knocked unconscious from having cast a spell too powerful for him to handle casting. Golbez managed to survive, but it freed Kain of the hypnotism. Golbez leaves. The party checks on Tellah. Check the spoiler tags at your own risk:

Spoiler

He's dead.

Tellah will never be playable again regardless of what version you are playing. Kain rejoins you in his place. He says he will take you to where Rosa is but you have to hurry.


NEW PARTY MEMBER: Kain

Kain has been in the party before, he is as useful as ever. No need for further analysis as he has no new abilities.



The party runs into the back room and free Rosa just as a trap was about to kill her. She hugs Cecil and rejoins you permanently. Awesome fanfare plays yet again! Open the menu ASAP, do not even move on the map. Rosa and Kain should be in the back row. You have 4 fighters in this party but Kain can still do a good amount of damage from his Jump command if he is in the back row. Cid, Cecil, and Yang can be in the front line. Equip Yang with two Thunder Claws. Valvalis is weak against Thunder. Give Rosa some better equipment if you have any for her also.


PERMANENT PARTY MEMBER 2 of 5: Rosa

Rosa has been in the party before and she comes back with the same abilities as before, so need to do further analysis. She will be in the party for the rest of the game as your main healer. She's absolutely crucial to your survival in the second half of the game and is one of the best characters.



Once you try to leave the room, you are attacked by Valvalis the elemental fiend of Wind. She is upset with Kain for rejoining you. Kain's line about how she's not the only one who can fight in the air is a hint for this boss fight.


BOSS BATTLE: Valvalis

PARTY: Cecil, Yang, Cid, Rosa, Kain

DIFFICULTY: Medium

The epic battle theme plays here again. This fight can be tough but it's nothing compared to the three sisters. Kain is the MVP here. Any time she switches to her tornado form Kain needs to use his Jump attack to get her to revert back to her normal form. She'll attack someone as she reverts, but this lowers her defenses. Have Rosa cast Bersk on Cecil, Yang, and Cid. In that order. They can just attack non-stop while Kain Jumps. Rosa will then need to be curing or casting Heal if someone gets turned to stone. As long as Rosa is able to heal you and Kain is able to Jump, you're fine.


After the fight Valvalis dies and tries to destroy the tower. Rosa warps them all out with Exit. You somehow ended up in Cecil's tower in Baron Castle. The party is concerned now that Golbez has all of the crystals. Kain reveals that he is still missing a few. The Dark Crystals which are in an underground world. He gives you a Magma Key that is the way to get there. The game never actually tells you where to go next or how to get there. You're meant to explore the world map at this point, and that's how you're supposed to find the next destination. I'll make it easy. It's a town south of Baron, fly there. Equip Yang with two Ice Claws first though.

That's it for now. Next time we are going into the underground world!

 

[Dagger Dias]

If you had not already returned to the village of Mist or visited the town of Silvera/Mithril, now is your chance. You can also go to Eblan Castle although I recommend waiting until Edge has joined to go there. You're about to go to the underground world and will not be able to go anywhere on the main world map for a while once you are there.

Spoiler

[YOUTUBE]HdNYe437k4c[/YOUTUBE]

Fly south of Baron to reach the town of Agart. There isn't much to do here really. The weapons and armor shop doesn't sell anything you need at the moment. The inn is huge and has a dancer in it who will dance for you, although all of the dances that remain pale in comparison to the one from Toroia. In the lower left corner of town is a house with a telescope. You can view the moon there, this does nothing but it's kind of cool. In the grass in the corner north of that house is a Cure2 potion. What you need to do is go to the well in the middle of town and use the Magma Key. This opens a hole in the mountain, you can fly into there to enter the underground world.

SAVE BEFORE GOING UNDERGROUND!!!!

Once you enter the underground world, the airship will get stuck in a battle between the Red Wings and an unknown army of tanks. You crash in front of a huge castle. This is the Dwarven Castle. You will be stuck in the underground world for a while. This is a great chance to level up a bit. Everyone including Rosa should have over 1,000 HP before moving on. Rest at the Inn in the castle as needed. Just don't go up into the king's chamber until you are ready to move on. Most of the castle is blocked off by guards at the moment. A girl is looking for her dolls. This ends up being kind of important in just a moment.

Be sure to unequip Cid before you speak to the king. Also open the menu and have Cid trade places with Kain in the formation. Cid's replacement must be in the back row as she is a caster. Cid leaves when you speak to the king. He comes back in a non-playable role a few times in the main story and is playable again in the GBA version but he will never be playable again otherwise. Cid goes to repair the airship and once he leaves Yang gets suspicious that someone is spying on you. The king lets you go check on the crystal which is in the room behind his throne. Inside are a bunch of dolls, very likely the same ones the girl was looking for. They do a creepy dance and then attack you.


BOSS BATTLE: Cal (3), Brena (3), Calbrena

PARTY: Cecil, Yang, Rosa, Kain

DIFFICULTY: Medium

This isn't too bad. It's possible to defeat all of the dolls before they turn into the larger Calbrena form. You get more experience from defeating the Calbrena though, so let them transform. Once the regular boss music begins playing, she shows up in her true form. The dolls do not put up a fight whatsoever. They mainly just sit there letting you attack them until they transform. The Calbrena however has an annoying skill that confuses party members. Also, if you do not defeat her fast enough she reverts back to the dolls and the fight starts over. Have Rosa cast Bersk on Cecil and Yang so that they attack relentlessly. Kain should Jump. It's not that tough of a fight, more annoying than hard.


After the fight, something unexpected happens. It's a rather cool scene. Unfortunately I'll have to end this post on a cliffhanger, as that is where the video cuts out. Plus it's getting late. Next time we get our third permanent party member and explore the rest of the castle.

 

[Wally Dangerously]

I've hooked up my Wii after three years and I've discovered I can download the SNES FFII (FFIV), so as soon as my controller arrives, 80 hours of pure enjoyment will ensue.

I was in 5th grade when this game came out, and I was stoked to play it. I had played FFI only once as a rental, but it was Dragon Warrior, which I received as a gift for renewing my Nintendo Power subscription, that got me hooked on RPGs. Nonetheless, I knew FFI had more depth than Dragon Warrior, and the what-seemed-like 15+ page beginner walkthrough devoted to FFIV in my Nintendo Power made me crave its release.

Anyway, my gameplay experience with the SNES FF2 came soley on a rental basis. My small town's video store only had one copy, so I saved my game in all of the save spots, hoping that one of the games would be available when I next rented FF2(IV). Luckily, I had progressed further than others who had rented the game, so one of my saves always stayed on the cartridge (cartridge, HA!). I always hoped to see a really advanced game in one of the save spots each time I rented FFIV, but I was never able to get a glimpse of future game events from a saved game further along than my own.

Have you ever tried to complete a FF or RPG cartridge game on a rental-only basis? If so, any frustrations/rewards?


On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being complete shit, how shitty is Prince Edward?

 

[Dagger Dias]

I've hooked up my Wii after three years and I've discovered I can download the SNES FFII (FFIV), so as soon as my controller arrives, 80 hours of pure enjoyment will ensue.

You're going to have a great second half of the summer then, my friend! Feel free to use this walkthrough to ensure that you don't miss a single thing.

I was in 5th grade when this game came out, and I was stoked to play it.

I was in 1st grade when it came out. I spent nearly my entire 1st and 2nd grade years playing this game. I have since replayed it more than any other video game. I have beaten foreign versions of it simply out of having memorized where every command/item/treasure/etc is including Swedish (I'm fluent in it to begin with), Spanish, and even a Japanese version.

Anyway, my gameplay experience with the SNES FF2 came soley on a rental basis. My small town's video store only had one copy, so I saved my game in all of the save spots, hoping that one of the games would be available when I next rented FF2(IV). Luckily, I had progressed further than others who had rented the game, so one of my saves always stayed on the cartridge (cartridge, HA!). I always hoped to see a really advanced game in one of the save spots each time I rented FFIV, but I was never able to get a glimpse of future game events from a saved game further along than my own.

I rented it a couple of times at first before actually purchasing it. Few video game purchases were as great as that one. One of my fondest memories is inviting a classmate over who also liked the game, when I told him I finally purchased my own copy. We spent the ENTIRE weekend playing FF4. We got to the Calbrena (oddly enough, where my last post left off) before he had to go home that sunday evening. I then kept playing and got to the Sealed Gate by the time my parents forced me to go to bed so I could be up for school. During the brief time that I spent renting it I only saw one save file make it further than mine. All I remember is that the file had Edge in the party and at the time I didn't know who he was. I had only gotten to the Baigan fight before at that point.

Have you ever tried to complete a FF or RPG cartridge game on a rental-only basis? If so, any frustrations/rewards?

Nope. I always end up purchasing them at some point. FF is my favorite series and with the exception of the MMORPG titles I must own them all. Every game I played during my rental days I somehow was able to find a copy of. Ogre Battle was the toughest to track down. That one is RARE!

On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being complete shit, how shitty is Prince Edward?

8 by your scale. He's low tier, but he's not the worst character like most think. I put him in the bottom tier with only FuSoYa and Tellah being worse. They both have really bad stats, not to mention how they are severely outclassed by Rosa in White Magic and Rydia in Black Magic. In the GBA version you're able to finally level him up enough to the point where he is useful enough to warrant a place in the party. Have you played that one? Edward, Palom, Porom, Yang, and Cid can all be re-recruited for the side quests and the final temple on the moon.

Next walkthrough entry coming within the next hour or so.

 

[Dagger Dias]

We will immediately pick up where the last video left off. Another boss fight, a new party member, and exploration of the Dwarven Castle.

Spoiler

[YOUTUBE]k2QJHFZAMPc[/YOUTUBE]

The game does not give you a chance to save or heal. Golbez shows up as soon as you defeat the Calbrena! He summons a Shadow Dragon and a very cool scene plays out, with a short boss fight following. This is also the return of none other than Rydia! She is your 3rd permanent party member. That's why I had you put Cid in the rear row. Rydia ends up showing up in whatever formation spot Cid had been in when he left.


PERMANENT PARTY MEMBER 3 of 5: Rydia

CHARACTER CLASS: Caller

WEAPON OF CHOICE: Whip, Rods

COMMANDS: Fight, Black, Summon, Item

Rydia has been in the party before, but as far as the game's data is concerned, this is a new character. She gets new graphics to show how she has become an adult while spending time in another world where time goes by much faster. She lost her White magic spells but learned more advanced Black magic spells as well as gaining access to more Summons. Rydia joins Rosa and Kain in the top tier of most useful characters. Her HP count still sucks, but the rest of her stats have improved a lot in her adult form. Keep her alive as best you can, she will be your main damage dealer for the rest of the game.



BOSS BATTLE: Golbez, Shadow Dragon

PARTY: Cecil, Yang, Kain, Rosa, Rydia

DIFFICULTY: Medium to Hard (Depends on your levels)

The first half of this fight is scripted. The Shadow Dragon will defeat Yang and Rosa no matter what you do. It is possible for Kain to jump offscreen in time to avoid the Shadow Dragon's attack. Golbez had inflicted paralysis on the party, so Kain would need to have avoided that as well with a perfectly timed Jump command. An unknown helper restores Cecil's status with a heal potion and then the Mist Dragon from the very beginning of the game shows up to kill the Shadow Dragon. Golbez is surprised by this.

Rydia shows up, it was her that summoned the Mist Dragon! Kain should have come back by now too. The awesome theme from the elemental battles now plays. No complaints from me on that. This part of the fight you can actually lose during, though. Revive Rosa with a Life Potion and Yang as well, if you wish. Cecil should attack, Kain if he is alive should Jump. Yang if he is alive should attack. Rosa, as usual, should be healing. Rydia should summon Titan or the Mist Dragon. Defeat him as quickly as possible. This fight ranges from medium to hard, depending on your level. If Rydia returns on a low level, it is much harder. On the DS version it's significantly harder, although that version is a topic for a whole other thread.


After the fight the group welcomes Rydia back. Awesome fanfare plays yet again for Rydia's rejoining textbox. Golbez wakes up and turns into a hand....? Yeah, that never made sense. He grabs the crystal and teleports out. The party returns to the king to deliver the bad news. You're encouraged to sneak into the Tower of Bab-il to get the crystals back since only one remains. You can now explore the Dwarven Castle all you want.

In the main hall go to the right. The stairs go up to a weapons and armor shop. You can buy a Dwarf Axe for Cecil and Kain if you want, I don't recommend if though as there is one for free in a chest upstairs. There is also a Flame Spear you might want to get for Kain instead of the Dwarf Axe. The Flame Shield and Flame Armor for Kain would be a great idea to buy as well as the Priest Helmet and Priest Robe for Rosa. There is a bar in between the shops where a dwarf who had a few too many drinks does a dance for you. It is probably the worst dance in the game, it's also the last one. There is a hidden path in here that can take you to the secret developers office. You can talk to the staff who made the game represented by various graphics. Some fight you for fun. There is a magazine in the room on the bottom, and that is the reason it got left out of the US SNES version. It's in the PSX and GBA versions though. The jars on the floor above that have 500GP in one. Then on the top floor go around grabbing the chests for a Strength Ring, an Ether2 potion, an Elixir potion, and an Ether1 potion.

Go downstairs and outside, cross over to the left tower. The jars upstairs have 500GP hidden in one. Now the top floor of this tower is a bit confusing. Namingway is up there but he seems impossible to get to. Follow these directions. From the stairs go left to get the Cure2 from the chest. Now go to the wall where the hole was, to the left of the stairs. Go up 3 spaces, left 3, up 2, right 1, up 1, right 2, up 1, right 4, down 3 to grab the chest with an Elixir north of the stairs. Go back into the hole and down 1 space, right 4, down 4, left 1 (face up to grab an Ether1 from the chest), left 2 (face up to talk to Namingway if you want to change anyone's name), left 1 more, down 3 to grab a Black Belt Robe from the chest south of the stairs, go down into the hole in the wall again from one space to the right of the Black Belt chest, left 3 spaces, up 1, left 2, up 1, left 1, up 2, left 1, and up 1 to be back where you started! Got it? Ok good.

Downstairs on the left side is the Inn, no longer having dwarf guards blocking the stairways. Go downstairs and you will find a room with a large empty space in the middle. You can call the Big Chocobo in here if you have a Carrot for him. There is also a door leading to the nursing room. The red dwarves in here apparently are female. This room ends up being important later. Talk to the dwarf standing by the shelf left of where the Big Chocobo can be summoned. He opens the door to the basement base. 3 Chests each containing a Cabin are to your right, make sure to grab those. They restore more HP than a Tent does on a Save Point or the world map. Go downstairs to be on the bottom floor. There is a jar by the exit with water that restores you to full HP and full MP. Use this as a place to heal yourself while gaining a few levels. I recommend leveling until Rydia breaks 1,000 health before attempting the Tower of Bab-il. That might take a while, but you will be glad you did it if you choose to. While not as difficult as the Tower of Zot, it is one of the harder enemy lairs in the game.

Tower of Bab-il will be where we pick up next time.

 

[Dagger Dias]

The long climb up to the top of the Tower if Bab-il begins....

Spoiler

[YOUTUBE]TaUkpk5oAEE[/YOUTUBE]

TOWER OF BAB-IL
PARTY: Cecil, Yang, Kain, Rosa, Rydia

I really like this party combination. It's a shame this is the only event we get it for. Before entering make sure Yang has 2 Ice Claws equipped. You will be fighting many enemies in here who are weak against Ice. The enemies here are not too bad. Most of them are weak against Ice like I had already stated. Flame Dog and Flame Man are both common, a regular attack by a melee fighter quickly gets rid of either. Alert is one you'll find a lot and they are one you need to look out for. If an Alert is by itself, it calls another monster for help once attacked. Defeat the Alert first and then the monster it calls otherwise it will just keep calling more. Tofu is weak against Ice but you'll have to rely on Rydia's Ice-3 spell, the melee attackers even with Ice gear are not very effective. The worst of all though is the Chimera. It has strong attacks and Rosa must be ready to heal at all times if you encounter one. Heal up after fighting any Chimeras as you do not know if another will attack you if you take another step.

Begin your climb up the tower. In the first room go left to grab Ice Arrows from two chests. There is also a chest on the right with an Ether1 potion. Go through the door. Grab the Bandana from the chest right by the door. The first door you come across has a chest containing a Blizzard Spear in it. Give that to Kain. The door to the right has a chest with an Icebrand Sword for Cecil. Now the enemies weak against fire truly have a reason to regret attacking you as all three of the melee fighters have access to ice-elemental weapons. Some of the chests in here are guarded by monsters, but none are anything too dangerous as long as you do not open a chest with anyone in the party at a low health count.

The chest just beyond the door to the next room has a Cat Claw for Yang. This is technically his ultimate weapon, but keep the Ice Claws on him, they are more effective due to enemy weaknesses. Keep all of his Claws too. More on the reason for why later. There is a chest to the right with a Cure2 potion in it. A chest in the bottom of the room has a Life potion. The door right above that leads to an Archer Bow for Rosa. The right end of this room has another Life potion in a chest. Go back into the room the Cat Claw was in. Follow the path now that you have gotten the items in here and enter the door at the end. There will be a door to your left with a save point. Not a bad time at all to save. This place can be tough so every save point helps. Use a Cabin to restore if you are running out of MP from Rosa's healing or Rydia's offensive casting. There are two doors south of the end of the first bridge. The first has a chest with an Ice Shield in it. Give it to Cecil. He will need the Ice gear more than Kain. The room to the right of that is empty. How annoying. Go back up and enter the room by the end of the bridge to get the Ice Armor for Cecil. Cross the bridge to the left.

The next room contains the long stairway leading up to the Super Cannon. This ends up being important in a moment. It's locked right now. Items along the way in here include 2000GP and a Cure2 potion. By now you'll start seeing rooms to the side of where you are that seem impossible to reach. There's a whole second half to the Tower of Bab-il that goes from the upper world down to the lower world. You obviously entered from the side that goes up from the underground. These areas are available later. Make sure to go to the right in the area following the room that led to the Super Cannon. There will be a room leading to a save point. You're almost at the boss and this has been a long climb, so.... SAVE! Use a Cabin too if you are in need of a restore. Also do not forget the Ether2 potion at the lower left corner before going up to the room where the boss is.

When you get to the very top of the tower. Rubicant of Fire the fourth and last elemental fiend is up there talking to a doctor. Rubicant leaves and orders the doctor to look after the tower for a while. You'll have to fight him one day, but luckily for you that is not during this event. He is the toughest elemental. The Doctor starts dancing and is excited to be the highest ranked person there for a change. Rydia calls him weird, and he attacks you upon realizing you are there.


BOSS BATTLE: Dr Lugae, Balnab, Balnab-Z

PARTY: Cecil, Yang, Kain, Rosa, Rydia

DIFFICULTY: Easy

This is pretty easy. Attack either the doctor or his robot Balnab until one is defeated. At first Balnab attacks the doctor which is funny. He begins attacking you after that though. Defeat the doctor first and then Balnab will explode after asking for oil. Defeat Balnab first then the doctor will repair him which results in Balnab turning into Balnab-Z. Either way, the fight ends in somebody getting hit by an explode attack for a ton of damage after you win.


Now the doctor claims he can reveal his true form.

BOSS BATTLE: Dr Lugae

PARTY: Cecil, Yang, Kain, Rosa, Rydia

DIFFICULTY: Medium

This is the real boss fight of the tower. It's a little harder. The doctor turns into a skeleton and can now inflict negative status such as poison or sleep on you. Cecil and Yang should attack. Kain should Jump. Rydia should summon Titan. Rosa should heal everyone as best she can with Cure3 (hopefully you have that by now) or revive anyone who dies. It's honestly not a problem but you will be glad you saved in case this fight goes horribly wrong. At one point he randomly heals you. That never made sense and I always thought it was some type of mistake by the programmers that never got fixed. On the DS version this fight is much harder, although that's a topic for another day.


The video cuts off after the boss fight, so that's it today. We'll pick up next time with what happens as you try to leave the tower. Somebody will be leaving the party, find out who next post.