I've been playing Persona 5 lately, and comparing these two games, I had a realization. The physical comedy in FFV is equal-opportunity when it comes to targeting all the party members. Faris gets thrown off a cliff, Galuf gets left behind by the others, Lenna gets poisoned by a bush, etc. I think that actually makes the game better (more wholesome?) compared to other stories where one party member is the designated target of all bad luck and funny violence (such as Ryuji in Persona 5). The latter feels like bullying.
Assuming he wasn't sick with Traditional Anime Poorly Defined Will Be Fatal Eventually Coughing Blood Disease* for much of that period.
*Yes we all know it's probably TB, but nothing that uses it ever says its TB for some reason and it shows up in works set in places and times where TB isn't endemic
...wait, I think it's the other way around. Who do we know first died of a mysterious incurable illness that was unfamiliar enough to the people around them that they fought they were in remission when they were really terminal? That's right, Stella, Dorgann's wife.
I think he accidentally brought over Space Smallpox and Columbian Exchanged his wife.
I have to wonder if Hakuro in FF XIV was based on this guy a little. Similar sort of premise what with being a wolfman who demands a fight in order to prove yourself at any rate.
I'd say that's a stretch, but come to think of it Stormblood is the expansion where FFXIV starts actually drawing on FFV for inspiration (with Omega and Shinryu, which I am distantly remembering I think first appeared in this game), so you might be onto something.
I've been playing Persona 5 lately, and comparing these two games, I had a realization. The physical comedy in FFV is equal-opportunity when it comes to targeting all the party members. Faris gets thrown off a cliff, Galuf gets left behind by the others, Lenna gets poisoned by a bush, etc. I think that actually makes the game better (more wholesome?) compared to other stories where one party member is the designated target of all bad luck and funny violence (such as Ryuji in Persona 5). The latter feels like bullying.
That's an interesting comparison. I have only played the first arc of Persona 5, the one with the abusive gym coach, so the group dynamics were fresh enough that I didn't notice anything like that, but it'd be consistent with some complaints from my friends who've played the whole game.
If Hakuro is based on Kelger, he's not the only one. FFXIV has the whole quartet show up in one brief flashback shot in the Eureka weapon quest touching lightly on XIV!Galuf's backstory.
XIV!Kelger being Kelger is obvious, Xezat is adapted as an Au Ra due to the gigantic horns on his OG helmet, and the one on the far left is Dorgann going by the baby blue flowing outfit, aging hippie ponytail, and giant shoulder spikes.
Granted, it says nothing AFIK about what the other 3 did or where they went by XIV present day, just XIV!Galuf had the same friends in his youth as V!Galuf.
"Dragon mountain" is another plot beat from FF3 that FFV is revisiting, but this time mixing it up with some of FFIV's Mount Ordeals, because the mountain is named after dragons, but it turns out the dragons don't live there; instead, it's full of undead, like Mt Ordeals.
Notably, those are specifically undead dragons (and some extra non-undead wildlife). It looks like whatever fate befell the drakes of Drakenvale, it is keeping them animate even in death. Later dialogue will make it clear that the drakes did in fact go near-extinct in this world as well, though that wasn't initially clear, and I gotta say, "the dragons have gone extinct but steer clear of Dragon Mountain, where they are all still running around as undead dragons" is pretty fucking metal.
This is another standard two-sided dungeon with cave environments and grassy outdoors peaks, basically the same as North Mountain back on Bartz's world, with some loot and nothing much to note otherwise.
Although we do find the Hypno Crown in a chest; with the frog dude apparently giving a magic Pokéball, this seems like a bit of a game specifically meant to give Beastmasters shiny stuff.
And then we reach the end!
Our heroes approach the grass… and then things go wrong.
…is the game just going to keep using Faris and Lenna to get into trouble and be rescued by the boys or what, because it feels like a pattern. Anyway the grass rises out of the ground and starts whirling about, knocking the girls out, and Bartz and Galuf hurry to pull them away from its range.
Huh. So dragon grass is both very useful to dragons, to the extent it might be considered symbiotic with them, but also it's evil and wants to kill them? That's… weird. Could it be that Exdeath infected the grass with evil somehow?
Which, hm, means we might be in a Last of Us-type scenario: all these "undead" dragons are animated not by some generic necromancy but by the Dragon Pod's influence, having spread to the corpses of the dragons it killed and infested. Skeletons, bound together by vines puppeteering them about. "Zombies," carcasses preserved partly from decay into parasitic organisms of floral bodies running through their flesh, moving it about, releasing rotting gases for its "poison breath," bloating its HP pool by virtue of it being a dead frame that does not register pain or organ damage.
Yes, I like this.
The Dragon Pod manifests flowers as separate monsters, and uses status-based attacks like Confuse Powder or Poison Powder. The flowers are weak enough that a single casting of Titan kills them, but the main pod quickly buds out new ones, so the best thing to do given how latest gear upgrade is to just zero down the central body.
And what would you know…
…DUALCAST HAS BEEN MASTERED. RED MAGE IS MASTERED. VERGANG STAYS WINNING WOOOOOOO
You have no idea what these two pictures mean to me.
We have successfully achieved ultimate power.
Of course the irony of it is that in order to truly benefit from Red Mage's most iconic power, we need to swap Faris into a different job and equip Dualcast there, meaning it's time for Black Mage Faris! Or Summoner Faris? One of the two.
Once the Dragon Pod is defeated, it… withers..? Vanishes? And leaves behind the actually usable Dragon Grass we've been looking for:
Then we teleport away and head back to Bal through Queld.
Mutated, hm? I guess that makes as much sense as anything.
It's nice that the game acknowledges our historical success.
Of course, when we get back to Bal, it turns out Galuf's instructions to the soldiers didn't include anything to verify his identity and let him back in, so…
Yeah, we're swimming our way in. Everyone jumps into the water and we find a bit of the moat that connects to a pool inside the castle.
Which, incidentally, means Galuf, the King, knows about a secret entry point into his city that the guards don't know about, and has taken no steps to protect that obvious vulnerability. It doesn't necessarily not make sense - it's pretty clear by now that Galuf has an independent streak and likes to act on his own, so him keeping a secret escape route out of and into the castle is consistent, but if I was a mean storyteller I might have that bite him in the ass by having an enemy sneak in through that very same vulnerability he's actively cultivating for his own benefit.
We quickly head towards the top level where the dragons is lying sick, but before we can get there, a handmaid runs to us and says that Krile complained of a headache and suddenly collapsed! We rush to her bedside, where she lies in a haggard state, struggling to speak.
Hm.
Galuf, probably assuming she's delirious, tells her not to talk and to just rest, but Krile insists; someone called 'Ghido' is calling, and we must hurry and find him. Bartz asks who Ghido is and Galuf briefly fills us in.
I love this kind of misused word gag.
I am instantly suspicious. It's just… too convenient, and it comes through a kind of assault on the senses that, even if justified by necessity, seems pretty rude to do to a little girl. Now, the Sage Ghido seems to be real enough, at least historically, but how easy for Exdeath would it be to trick Krile into leading us into a trap by pretending to be him through a psychic message?
Incidentally, I mentioned in-between updates that the Stormblood expac of FFXIV was when the game started drawing on FFV; it's mostly in subtle or minor ways but, for instance, a character assaulted by an attempt at a psychic message that knocks them out and leaves them temporarily unconscious is a Stormblood patch plot point.
Galuf says they'll visit Ghido, Krile says "But you'll need the drake," and we reassure her that we have the dragon grass so all's well. However, once we meet up with the drake, we run into a hiccup.
…right. The mutated grass killed his entire species. That reluctance actually makes a weird amount of sense. Galuf insists that he has to eat the grass or he'll die from his injuries, but that kind of stubborn insistence is fruitless against an even more stubborn beast.
Which is why Lenna decides to pull off a Trademark Lenna Move:
No, Bartz, she didn't "forget," she's just Being A Lenna About It. And it works - giving the drake the example of eating the grass (which actually is toxic to her) to reassure him that it is safe to eat (which it is, for him), works in convincing him to eat it and heal his wounds… just in time for Lenna to collapse from her own intoxication. The irony running through this entire scene is… delicious.
The group gathers and panics, but thankfully Krile rushes up the stairs with some kind of elixir!
And in a few short moments, Lenna is back on her feet! Krile admonishes Lenna for doing things that are too dangerous, which raises the question of how she heard anything that was happening from her bedroom (I assume through that weird psychic sensitivity she appears to have?), while Faris wrings her hands about how she doesn't know what she would have done if something had happened to Lenna (which is a nice note that Lenna is Faris's one source of genuine vulnerability).
Of course, this is extremely hypocritical of Krile, Little Miss Bed-Ridden Who Just Ran Up A Bunch Of Stairs, who promptly also collapses.
Thankfully it was a fakeout. Lenna tells Krile that she is in her debt, but Krile says that Lenna saved her wind drake, so they're square. Galuf tells his granddaughter to rest now, and the group gathers up to fly away on the drake.
Right. So, I've mentioned before I've been spoiled on the fact that Krile is a playable party member at some point; and I think I would have figured it out regardless at this point; she is getting a lot of buildup, narrative beats, and character establishing moments. Which is good! FFIV had a big cast, and it established most of its characters to some degree before they joined the party, but nothing to the extent of Krile's extended presence through the party and having saved the party or a member thereof twice now.
She's really badass. Not just for a kid her age; she's just plain badass, period.
And now, we have a fully armed and operational dragon!
Incidentally, riding dragons is really fucking cool, as cool or arguably cooler than airships, and I am glad this game is making this a Thing.
Now, I know someone is going to be like, "Omi you fool, you should have been using the dragon to visit place X or Y," but don't fret; I saved and just went through the next story sequence because I was burning to know if I was right about Ghido's message being a trap, and stopped immediately afterwards. I can just reload for whatever I might have missed, or otherwise keep going, it's no big deal.
So, let's find out, shall we?
Rescued at the last second by the wind drake.
HAH!
Vindication!
See what I fucking told you?
Alright, see you next time for the follow-up to our heroes' last-minute survival!
Right. So, I've mentioned before I've been spoiled on the fact that Krile is a playable party member at some point; and I think I would have figured it out regardless at this point; she is getting a lot of buildup, narrative beats, and character establishing moments. Which is good! FFIV had a big cast, and it established most of its characters to some degree before they joined the party, but nothing to the extent of Krile's extended presence through the party and having saved the party or a member thereof twice now.
She's really badass. Not just for a kid her age; she's just plain badass, period.
…right. The mutated grass killed his entire species. That reluctance actually makes a weird amount of sense. Galuf insists that he has to eat the grass or he'll die from his injuries, but that kind of stubborn insistence is fruitless against an even more stubborn beast.
Which is why Lenna decides to pull off a Trademark Lenna Move:
No, Bartz, she didn't "forget," she's just Being A Lenna About It. And it works - giving the drake the example of eating the grass (which actually is toxic to her) to reassure him that it is safe to eat (which it is, for him), works in convincing him to eat it and heal his wounds… just in time for Lenna to collapse from her own intoxication. The irony running through this entire scene is… delicious.
Between the dragongrass in Bartz' world, getting poisoned by that bounty hunter, and now this? I think Lenna developed a taste for it. She's not flagrantly playing with her own life, oh no - she's getting high as balls.
Of course, this is extremely hypocritical of Krile, Little Miss Bed-Ridden Who Just Ran Up A Bunch Of Stairs, who promptly also collapses.
Thankfully it was a fakeout. Lenna tells Krile that she is in her debt, but Krile says that Lenna saved her wind drake, so they're square. Galuf tells his granddaughter to rest now, and the group gathers up to fly away on the drake.
I dunno about you but every time someone switches to a face-down sprite in these games I automatically insert an earth-shatteringly loud cartoon THWACK of impact, like a Family Guy character falling over. It improves most scenes but especially ones like this where in-universe it isn't likely to be as severe and dramatic an occasion.
Speaking of missing things, there's a unique random encounter in one of the later Drakenvale screens, against a Bone Dragon, a Zombie Dragon, and a ???. I'd highly recommend going back and doing that encounter without killing the ???, the reward is well worth it.
I don't think I've ever had that random encounter not fire.
Also, the first time I played this on PSX over twenty years ago, Drakenvale is where I basically got stuck and couldn't progress and ended up re-doing the whole game again up to that point. From difficulty, you may ask? Nope!
You see, at one point there is a locked door with a visible switch on a "lower" area, and I could not figure out how to reach said area. I searched and searched. As it turns out, the game doesn't tell you this, but you have to step on a specific point near the door to fall through a hole that appears, then you can trigger the switch, open the door, and progress.
You see, at one point there is a locked door with a visible switch on a "lower" area, and I could not figure out how to reach said area. I searched and searched. As it turns out, the game doesn't tell you this, but you have to step on a specific point near the door to fall through a hole that appears, then you can trigger the switch, open the door, and progress.
Of course, when we get back to Bal, it turns out Galuf's instructions to the soldiers didn't include anything to verify his identity and let him back in, so…
In the hypothetical D&D campaign that this story was based on, I wonder where this plot point came from. Was the DM throwing obstacles in their way out of annoyance? Wackiness?
...Oh, wait, they were probably trying to point the players towards that hidden item in the moat that @FunkyEntropy is going on about.
And in a few short moments, Lenna is back on her feet! Krile admonishes Lenna for doing things that are too dangerous, which raises the question of how she heard anything that was happening from her bedroom (I assume through that weird psychic sensitivity she appears to have?), while Faris wrings her hands about how she doesn't know what she would have done if something had happened to Lenna (which is a nice note that Lenna is Faris's one source of genuine vulnerability).
Of course, this is extremely hypocritical of Krile, Little Miss Bed-Ridden Who Just Ran Up A Bunch Of Stairs, who promptly also collapses.
The Dragon Pod manifests flowers as separate monsters, and uses status-based attacks like Confuse Powder or Poison Powder. The flowers are weak enough that a single casting of Titan kills them, but the main pod quickly buds out new ones, so the best thing to do given how latest gear upgrade is to just zero down the central body.
So from what I recall, this boss works entirely by spawning the pods which do all the actual damage and status effecrs to the party. So actually, one of the most effective ways of fighting the boss is to throw in a monk and just have them Kick every time to pods spawn while everyone else beats the crap out of the main body. Quick and resource free.
Which, incidentally, means Galuf, the King, knows about a secret entry point into his city that the guards don't know about, and has taken no steps to protect that obvious vulnerability. It doesn't necessarily not make sense - it's pretty clear by now that Galuf has an independent streak and likes to act on his own, so him keeping a secret escape route out of and into the castle is consistent, but if I was a mean storyteller I might have that bite him in the ass by having an enemy sneak in through that very same vulnerability he's actively cultivating for his own benefit.
Between the dragongrass in Bartz' world, getting poisoned by that bounty hunter, and now this? I think Lenna developed a taste for it. She's not flagrantly playing with her own life, oh no - she's getting high as balls.
It's been a while and pretty much my favorite tune of FFV showed up again, so it's time some more thoughts on FFV's OST!
Harvest Hoedown is just a fantastic town theme full of bright energy. The original starts with some enthusiastic clapping followed by some pretty choice midi tin whistle and bagpipeish sounds. It's just a simple energetic folk dance and I love it. Of particular note in the original is that it has a brilliant textbook example of how a hemiola can give so much joy and life to a dance piece. Great stuff. Side note: the tin whistle melody has some fantastic ornaments. Fiddly woodwind ornamentation bullshit at its finest.
The Pixel Remaster version doubles down on the clapping, which is a really great decision. Unfortunately it fills the same space as the hemiola, so it's a bit sad to see that clever rhythmic trick go. Much as I miss it, it's not the the detriment of the piece because of the strong rhythmic energy imparted by the clapping. If this clapping stuff is your jam, I highly recommend Steve Reich's Clapping Music which immeidately sprang to mind when I first heard the new PR version. Anyway, this version also uses a fiddle to restate the melody to great effect and a very deserved, "yehaw" finishes off the track before it loops.
Big Bridge gets a lot of well-earned praise, but Harvest Hoedown is definitely one of the better things Uematsu's written.
This is another standard two-sided dungeon with cave environments and grassy outdoors peaks, basically the same as North Mountain back on Bartz's world, with some loot and nothing much to note otherwise.
It's time for another episode of "Things @Omicron missed."
Omi! You missed out on a special battle! It's something you'll really enjoy because you like Summoners so much! Omiiiiiiiiiiii!
Also, too, on that same screen there's an easy to miss item on one of the bone piles. It's...well, it'd be great if it wasn't for the downsides (it causes the wearer to be treated like they're an undead, which means normal healing options don't work and you can't revive the character at all. OTOH, huge defensive stats) so all in all its a bit of a wash.
The Dragon Pod manifests flowers as separate monsters, and uses status-based attacks like Confuse Powder or Poison Powder. The flowers are weak enough that a single casting of Titan kills them, but the main pod quickly buds out new ones, so the best thing to do given how latest gear upgrade is to just zero down the central body.
…DUALCAST HAS BEEN MASTERED. RED MAGE IS MASTERED. VERGANG STAYS WINNING WOOOOOOO
You have no idea what these two pictures mean to me.
We have successfully achieved ultimate power.
Of course the irony of it is that in order to truly benefit from Red Mage's most iconic power, we need to swap Faris into a different job and equip Dualcast there, meaning it's time for Black Mage Faris! Or Summoner Faris? One of the two.
(it causes the wearer to be treated like they're an undead, which means normal healing options don't work and you can't revive the character at all. OTOH, huge defensive stats)
I've found it and it's honestly kind of a shame, "your party member is now undead on a permanent basis with all the advantages and drawbacks thereof" is honestly my jam, I would love to go "Galuf is a lich now," but *wow* that seems painful in the context of an FF game and how healing and party targeting work and how regularly you have to revive chars.
Apparently some other versions of FFV have a Necromancer job that is permanently undead and has super powerful spells that you acquire Blue Mage style except by killing powerful does? Which sounds insanely cool, I would have a permanent subscription to that job if it were in this game, but alas.
I've found it and it's honestly kind of a shame, "your party member is now undead on a permanent basis with all the advantages and drawbacks thereof" is honestly my jam, I would love to go "Galuf is a lich now," but *wow* that seems painful in the context of an FF game and how healing and party targeting work and how regularly you have to revive chars.
Apparently some other versions of FFV have a Necromancer job that is permanently undead and has super powerful spells that you acquire Blue Mage style except by killing powerful does? Which sounds insanely cool, I would have a permanent subscription to that job if it were in this game, but alas.
It was added in the GBA version and is also like, post-game-ish content. After almost every other job get and by a fair margin. (the GBA version adds some like, post game type dungeons and some new mostly gimmicky late-to-post game classes)
Tangentially to the game, I have downloaded Screenlight, which should hopefully make it easier to take screenshots; by the time I started using it my computer had decided to fully rebel against the PrScr touch and no longer registered it as an input, so that was a whole problem to deal with. Hopefully that's fixed now!
Last time we left, we'd been lured to the island of the sage Ghido (either on purpose, or the message was honest but Exdeath simply caught us while we were out in the open), and sunk into the sea. Thankfully, we had a friendly wind drake with us that pulls us out of the drink!
Thank you, friend.
Before heading onto further adventures, let's do a quick drop by Castle Bal, check on everybody, investigate the moat for hidden loot…
A sweet new find, although it's not equippable by any of my current jobs and the Twin Lance Massacre is currently suiting my purposes just fine. Besides, strange item prompts lying in moats distributing swords is no basis for a combat system.
Back in the castle, though, we do learn some interesting news!
Other guards tell us that "Exdeath's forces aren't showing any kind of movement… He must be up to something," which is definitely ominous, and "there are four towers that maintain the barrier day and night," which I had sorta guessed from the map but is nice to have confirmed.
Ah, there's the fourth members of the Dawn Warriors finally showing the tip of his nose. This definitely looks like something we'll want to check it out.
That's some fleet alright.
Thankfully, Xezat recognizes the wind drake before his soldiers can start firing arrows at us (interesting note that he specifically recognizes the drake; how old is that old wyrm, or how much contact does he keep with Bal?) and orders his men to stand down, as "we're friends."
Galuf introduces Bartz as "Dorgann's son," which doesn't seem to surprise Xezat overly, and Lenna and Faris as "nobility from another world," which, now that I think about it… Bartz is the son of a hero of this world, but is he the only one who isn't royalty? Between Galuf, Faris and Lenna, this is the most concentrated nobility we've had in a Final Fantasy game, ever; even Cecil and Rosa only become royals at the end of their game. And that's assuming we don't find out Bartz is actually also royalty an hour from now!
We're growing increasingly closer to having to regretfully deem this heroic parties enemies of the revolution.
Either way, and in contrast, this new fellow introduces himself as "the swordsman Xezat." Galuf immediately teases him for not using his title of King, but Xezat counters the title doesn't suit him that well, and Galuf immediately agrees and says he's the same way.
Interesting! A character who's acquired a crown but who still defines himself by the primary skill he used as a hero adventuring and saving the world is always a cool theme, especially when that skill is "swords." I love swords. Between that and Xezat's fantasy horned helmet, I'm getting some real Phoenix on the Sword-era Conan vibes from him. We'll see if he delivers!
Galuf asks if Xezat has found a way into Exdeath's castle already, and Xezat laughs and tells him they're halfway there already, but refuses to elaborate, instead suggesting we all go downstairs to take a nap in preparation for "the fireworks."
As far as plans go, that seems sound enough, provided we can actually get to those towers.
We head downstairs, everyone goes to bed, and…
…is woken up in the middle of the night by the ship rocking hard enough to toss everyone out of bed.
The dorkiest Final Fantasy protagonists so far, defeated by beds.
We head upstairs, where it looks like demons are already on the attack… which appears to have been part of the plan all along, as one of the soldiers informs us that the fleet is "just a decoy." I wonder for what purpose - this is a significant investment in resources and manpower, and will risk many soldiers' lives. Xezat's plan has better be clever to make it worth it.
Winged monster on one side, mooks on the other, Xezat elects to engage the larger fiend and leave us to take out the mooks, saying, badassly, "Leave this trash to me." I'd rather it be the other way around, but Xezat's willingness to engage the ostensible commander of the enemy force alone while calling him trash goes some way to further build his hype. Xezat immediately engages in as impressive a display a battle prowess as the spritework will allow; first by circling around the beast, then by jumping along with it across to the next ship over, where they roam among the deck while battling each other. As far as this goes, it's pretty good at selling Xezat as the kind of guy badass enough to engage a boss monster in a sprawling swashbuckling duel, Pirates of the Carribean style. I dig it.
Meanwhile, the foes we're left to handle are, uh…
I'm gonna go with "beneath my dignity."
The entire time the game is doing a clever bit of musical foreshadowing; the music that plays during the attack is Battle on the Big Bridge, which means by the time we've cut through several rounds of goblins and reached the boss of this sequence, we already know who we're about to face.
I only captured the tail frame of it but Xezat escapes this mook by jumping off a sail, landing on the deck, turning around and slamming the monster with a massive lightning bolt. Dude's confirmed badass, and certainly more than 'just' a swordsman.
He does seem to have some trouble with that winged fiend, though.
It looks like Xezat might be in trouble - unfortunately, we have more pressing concern, as our strongest foe has decided the monster crowd had built up enough tension for him to show up again!
He's just happy to be there, killing soldiers by the dozen.
This is our first 'conventional' boss since we went through the Objet d'Art dungeon, since the Dragon Pod was more of a gimmick boss.
Hey, you know how the !Mug command works is that it allows you to both Steal and Attack as part of the same action?
Did you know that if you have multiple attacks, this compounds?
So for instance, if you have the Twin Lance, you Attack twice, and you Steal twice?
Yeah so on the first turn Lenna first fails to steal anything, then successfully snatches the Genji Gloves off Gilgamesh, all while dealing about a thousand damage.
Other fun mechanical fact, here's what Faris's casting menu looks like:
Right, for the non-FFV players sitting at home: what's got me curious about this setup is that Faris, right now, has Black Magic lv 6 and Dualcast equipped, but she can still cast White Magic. The way this works is that Dualcast passively lets her use the whole Red Mage catalogue - no matter what other command she has equipped, as long as Dualcast is equipped, she can at least dualcast both Black and White Magic up to lv 3. At this stage of the game that is still pretty damn strong/versatile - she can easily serve as a backup healer by dualcasting Cura while retaining significant offensive potential even if I made her, I don't know, a Bard with no magic otherwise. But Dualcast also takes into account any other magic ability I have equipped; which is why, in the above picture, Faris can Dualcast Bio for massive damage. The part that surprises me about it is that I expected Dualcast to only take into account the other set equipped, to be an "extra" stapled onto it; the fact that it actually also factors in the White Magic she knew as a RDM is a very welcome addition at this stage of the game (especially because with Galuf shifted to Time Mage/Summoner I have no other healer job).
Between Bartz's four hit combo, Lenna's Twin Lance-enhanced Mug attacks, Galuf casting Hasting everyone, and Faris's Do You Love Your Sister And Her Two-Hit Dualcasts, Gilgamesh is quickly pushed to his last resorts.
GILGAMESH AND ENKIDU!! BATTLE BROS!!
Enkidu is even like half-man half-beast!!! And they have mutual supporting moves!!!
Finally my Sumer-loving self is being catered to by something that isn't Fate….
Unfortunately, even with the Dynamic Duo teaming up to face us and healing Gil for 4,000 damage, it's just plain not enough to survive my absolute onslaught of DPS. We promptly Mug Enkidu out of a Green Beret, and then…
Anyone who suggests I might have gone overboard mastering these jobs is cordially invited to eat my shorts.
Understandably worried for the safety of his sidekick, Gilgamesh once again flees before he's given the chance to unleash his full power. A shame.
However, Gilgamesh is not quite done. Having proven unable to defeat us within the Combat World, he decides to try and defeat us… with the power of cutscene.
Gilgamesh tackles us and leaps off the ship into the sea. Thankfully, Galuf manages to catch hold of one of the masts while Gil topples below; Gilgamesh curses Galuf and claims he won't forget this before going "glub glub glub" and disappearing underwater, no doubt to come back and plague us again later on. Unfortunately this still leaves Galuf about to fall. Xezat, still standing after his fight with Enkidu, comes to help him, but seems too winded to make the jump.
No notes.
All in all, a pretty good action scene. This whole sequence has the vibe of a swashbuckling pirate movie and I really dig it. It's making me want to rewatch Pirates of the Caribbean, although if I'm honest, I'm probably gonna end up watching Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World again instead 🤔 What can I say, I'm a sucker for grounded depiction of period life, duels that stretch on for weeks and thousands of miles, and the British getting dunked on by Napoleonic ships for two entire hours (even if I guess they did manage to turn it around at the end).
Xezat and his soldiers announce that, now that the first wave of monsters has been thwarted and must no doubt be reconvening to assess the next step of their strategy, it's the perfect time to enact their true plan.
We actually do have to go around and press the button to trigger the scene, which is a neat little way to add some interactivity.
Huh? What's this? Another technological room inside the ship?
It's a submarine!!
An early submarine, launched from a wooden sailship… Fuck, we're in some serious niche historical territory here. We're squarely within the American Civil War era in terms of technology and tactics.
True beauty.
Well, except for the giant glowy magical barrier and the interplanetary teleport-equipped meteorites.
Anyway, as Xezat explains, the fleet was a decoy meant to give them enough time to reach one of the barriers by submarine - Galuf says "that's kind of brilliant, actually," and he's not wrong! As far as heroic plans go, Xezat is blowing the rest of the party out of the water.
A quick underwater trip, and here we are.
Xezat promptly deploys a stash of explosive and blows a hole towards the lower stage of the barrier tower, and we're in!
On the one hand, love the planning and efficiency. On the other, slightly concerned by any plan that involves splitting the party, even with an NPC.
Xezat hands us some Whisperweed, making a return from (the original language version of) FFIV, allowing us to stay in contact, and we head for our next dungeon!
I like Xezat. He's cool, competent, and he has fun banter with Galuf. So far, he's a standout character from the Dawn Warriors. Hopefully nothing bad happens to him WHILE HE'S SPLITTING OFF FROM THE GROUP ON A SOLO MISSION.
Ahem.
Actually, before doing the Barrier Tower, let's just quickly head back to take care of some minor business (Xezat is a good sport and drives us back on demand), take the wind drake, and head back to Drakenvale.
The Bone Mail was hiding, quite literally, under a pile of bones. It is the strongest armor in the game, which is crazy to get at that level, and carries with it immunity to instant death, poison, darkness, old, confuse and berserk, while absorbing poison and halving ice-elemental attacks. Crazy, uh?
However, this is because the wearer effectively "becomes undead," with all the benefits and drawbacks thereof. That means weakness to fire and holy, and the character cannot be revived in battle. Which is pretty onerous! We'll see if I find a use case for it as we go.
Also, we have this really neat set of encounter that I have unfortunately missed in the past due to being too fast with my murder commands and also being a meathead. It starts like this; there is a common random encounter on one of the 'open' levels of the mountain that looks like this:
Some kind of stone golem, but labeled ???, and with a very odd behavior; its first action in any encounter is always to Flee, which is always successful. If you're fast enough, you can hurt it, but it is pretty hardy; killing it is probably possible with the right set-up, but looking it up, only nets you some XP and nothing else of note, nothing that warrants this degree of mystery.
This is because our friend ??? has a different emergent narrative to tell. It is some kind of golem, that is always spotted and immediately flees from our 'attention'; it's peaceful in the most literal sense (it never tries to hurt us), and we would only end up in a 'fight' with it by deliberately trying to kill it.
However, if we happen to run into it while it's cornered by obviously mindless monsters intent on destroying it, and it sees us looking like normal people, whom it clearly fears but is still desperate enough to take a chance on…
Looks like just a normal set of enemies, right? Except if you wait and give it time to play out…
Each of the undead dragon enemies turns towards the golem, and starts attacking it.
Which all but confirms my theory that the "undead dragons" are a separate category from the other wildlife of Drakenvale, puppeteered by the Dragon Pod and hostile to sentient beings, like that golem that can talk and ask for help!
A few concerted attacks and magical spells later…
He 'drops' the Golem 'item' that you can use to learn his summon. I like his casual, familiar register. That golem is a bro. That… rock dude… is a… guy…
HE'S A GEODUDE.
Ahem.
The Golem is a summon we can use! I have no idea how much use it actually is, but at the very least it avoids the pitfall of being a mid-tier damage summons that deals earth damage like Titan but less; instead it appears designed as a defensive power, which the game tells me "protects all allies from physical damage under a certain limit." Whether that is useful, I don't know, but at least it's making a real attempt.
This was a really cool short story told through gameplay, and I'm glad I was given the pointers to check it out more thoroughly.
Alright, we're done here. Teleport out, and fly back to the fleet, and dive back to the Barrier Tower…
Neat combo of old-fashioned cobblestone walls, industrial-looking metal pipes, and whatever is going on with these floor tiles.
...and that is our update for today! The Barrier Tower is a full dungeon in its own right and I absolutely did not get lost in some job playtesting, and so it seems appropriate to cut it off here and finish our expedition up the tower later.
The Golem is a summon we can use! I have no idea how much use it actually is, but at the very least it avoids the pitfall of being a mid-tier damage summons that deals earth damage like Titan but less; instead it appears designed as a defensive power, which the game tells me "protects all allies from physical damage under a certain limit." Whether that is useful, I don't know, but at least it's making a real attempt.
I assume it summons up a barrier of an arbitrary amount of hitpoints, so enemies have to grind through that before they can start actually damaging the party.
Checked against the wiki and yeah that's correct it's a big Shield Heal mitigation.
He 'drops' the Golem 'item' that you can use to learn his summon. I like his casual, familiar register. That golem is a bro. That… rock dude… is a… guy…
HE'S A GEODUDE.
Ahem.
The Golem is a summon we can use! I have no idea how much use it actually is, but at the very least it avoids the pitfall of being a mid-tier damage summons that deals earth damage like Titan but less; instead it appears designed as a defensive power, which the game tells me "protects all allies from physical damage under a certain limit." Whether that is useful, I don't know, but at least it's making a real attempt.
It's useful. Can be somewhat situational due to only blocking physical hits, but Golem's Earthen Wall gives the party a not-insignificant amount of Temp HP. In XIV terms, compare Succor/Eukrasian Diagnosis/Shake It Off.
The Golem is a summon we can use! I have no idea how much use it actually is, but at the very least it avoids the pitfall of being a mid-tier damage summons that deals earth damage like Titan but less; instead it appears designed as a defensive power, which the game tells me "protects all allies from physical damage under a certain limit." Whether that is useful, I don't know, but at least it's making a real attempt.
It's solid in it's niche, since it's basically like a heal but pre-emptive. Since it's only physical damage it's not useful if the issue is some kinda crazy archmage or whatnot, but at the point you acquire it it's a lot of damage blocked and can last a fair few rounds so even against mixed spell/physical damage it's unlikely to go to waste.
Given Summoner doesn't have a ton of defensive options, it opens up your options a bit.
On a different note, Dual Cast is yeah categorically superior to red 3; it gives you the spells you could equip with the final tier of the !Red command, in addition to the obvious allowing you to dual cast, and can be combod with any of the other magics for full effect: all of !Black, !Blue, !White, !Summon, !Time, and even, though not particularly usefully, !Spellblade. (casting two spellblade spells in one turn is pointless, because casting a second one always disables the existing buff for spellblade. If you want to enhance the Mystic Knight, you're better off spending the slot on something that, you know, enhances physical attack capacity, such as two handed or duel wield passives, mug, or perhaps especially humorously... Blue magic
I've found it and it's honestly kind of a shame, "your party member is now undead on a permanent basis with all the advantages and drawbacks thereof" is honestly my jam, I would love to go "Galuf is a lich now," but *wow* that seems painful in the context of an FF game and how healing and party targeting work and how regularly you have to revive chars.
Apparently some other versions of FFV have a Necromancer job that is permanently undead and has super powerful spells that you acquire Blue Mage style except by killing powerful does? Which sounds insanely cool, I would have a permanent subscription to that job if it were in this game, but alas.
The Bone Mail was hiding, quite literally, under a pile of bones. It is the strongest armor in the game, which is crazy to get at that level, and carries with it immunity to instant death, poison, darkness, old, confuse and berserk, while absorbing poison and halving ice-elemental attacks. Crazy, uh?
However, this is because the wearer effectively "becomes undead," with all the benefits and drawbacks thereof. That means weakness to fire and holy, and the character cannot be revived in battle. Which is pretty onerous! We'll see if I find a use case for it as we go.
There is an equipment-based workaround to one of the major vulnerabilities of the Bone Mail. You should be coming up on it, well, not immediately but soonish. My cryptic hint is that some people might want to run and hide but other men just want to watch the world burn. Yes, this is a missable item BTW.
