In English it's almost certainly just a copyright dodge, the things are defined by spewing vile smoke everywhere. The Japanese is apparently moruboru which AIUI is not how you would transliterate Marlboro and which also doesn't transliterate malboro either.
What I'm saying is that it's Morbing time. These things are morbs.
Before we venture into Mysidia Tower, we have to go back.
You see, in Mysidia, there's this character:
When I saw that line, I rolled my eyes a bit, because how would I read those books? The games so far haven't included the 'interactive bookshelf' that would later be common in RPGs, where you click on a bookshelf and it gives you some information or lore. Like, if this was a feature in the game, surely this would have shown up earlier, right?
I'm a fool. FFII is in fact home to the first interactive bookshelf in the franchise. Emphasis on first. There is exactly one such bookshelf in the game, and it's this one:
I'm so mad I missed this. It had to be pointed out to me on Discord and it contains like half the backstory of the game.
Right. So, this isn't actually the first time Hell has invaded the world - the Emperor is doing the same thing that happened long ago - and so it makes sense to resort to the same means that were used to push back the last hellish invasion, the Ultima spell. Another book warns us about the doppleganger and that we need to mask the goddess to make it hold still - although it doesn't say anything truly instructive about it. We also learn that the mages of old were afraid of their own power, and founded a settlement in Mysidia to isolate themselves from the world, which is presumably while all their previous locations are now abandoned and the Leviathan's existence was forgotten.
We also learn that the first dragoon was a man named Haan, who went to Deist and spent thirty years cultivating a bond with the wyverns, and that the Sunfire is the result of a falling star that fell to earth and continued to burn endlessly. Just, random snippets of lore for half the stuff we've been doing in the game so far, except instead of being delivered organically during their individual questline they're in this one library.
Bizarre.
There's also this strange bit:
This is such a strange swerve. It's not like "technological advances cause magic to fade" isn't a common trope, but here it's completely unexplained and out of nowhere. It's just in this one book, not hinted at anywhere. Why would technological developments drive magic from the world? Is it because people would come to rely on technology and forget magic? But surely that would only affect human civilization, not all the weird magic stuff that's out there. Besides, the Airship and the Dreadnought were both reliant on Sunfire, a magical, eternally burning flame!
Unless I set up my Bullshit Generators to maximum and draw on the Flying Fortress as space station precendent, in which case…
The Sunfire isn't a magical flame at all, but rather, is nuclear material. Some kind of highly radioactive yet long-lived matter which came from a meteorite, which 'burns' without fire. Which would explain why it needs to be contained in a specific 'brazier' to shield others from its presence, and why only a 'torch' specifically constructed for that purpose can be used to carry it. Now of course one might wonder why the Kashuans would keep such a dangerous thing, but 'glowing magic rock that came from the Heavens and kills people if not handled with care' seems like the kind of thing people would be fascinated with and develop whole rituals around. The Sunfire was effectively 'useless' until Cid figured out how to use it to power a reactor - then the Empire used his technology on a much bigger scale. Which would mean the airships would be nuclear-powered, and we triggered a meltdown in the Dreadnought's engine, and now there's radioactive slag all over its landing site.
This is absolutely bullshit I just made up, but I like it anyway. Sunfire is Plutonium, you heard it here first.
Anyway, back in the present time (I loaded an earlier save to check out the library), we are at the Mysidia Tower.
Mysidia Tower has the feel of a final dungeon to it.
It's by far the biggest dungeon in the game so far, having a total of 10 floors. It's also the most interesting. The first floor is a 'neutral' stone floor, and above it the tower is divided into three tiers, each one associated with one of the spell elements, kinda like the Chaos Shrine, except instead of wind/fire/water/earth it's fire/ice/lightning:
It's the return of the environmental hazards, as well! Both lava floors and the ice spikes are back. The lightning areas don't have an environmental hazard, but as you can see above, they're built as narrow bridges over a yawning void rather than wide corridors divided by walls.
Look at this funny sprite. Firion isn't walking on lava: he's half-sunk in it! The Wild Roses are so powerful they can literally wade chest-deep through lava! I love it.
It's a bit sad that the theming doesn't extend to the enemies - the random encounters aren't elemental mobs, they're the generic enemy pool for that stage of the game:
Oh no, I hope the vampire girl doesn't use her Charm ability on me, ha-ha-ha-
This, however, is mitigated by one cool thing. Each tier is blocked off by one of these:
Hmmm.
I wonder what those are, exactly.
Like, the tower has been sealed for so long that even the Mysidians don't remember all the details about it, so these guys must have been there the entire time. Were they Mysidian mages who sealed themselves inside the tower, using transformation magics to turn themselves into a 'combat form'? Perhaps to ensure that there would be someone with human intelligence to monitor it, and to test any challenger who might have snuck past the monsters and lay claim to Ultima? Maybe the mages behind the creation of the spell, feeling some sense of guilt over creating such a dangerous thing, volunteered to be part of the tower's security system.
Or perhaps I'm completely missing the mark and the Gigas are their true forms. Gigas have been there since the first game but they never get any lore - 'gigas' itself appears to just be the game's word for 'giant', and a 'fire giant' can be anything in any setting. We've met Hill Gigas quite often, but the elemental ones are a first. Seeing as monsters come from Pandaemonium, perhaps they are elemental demons, summoned by the ancient Mystidians and bound to hold vigil inside the tower, merely assuming a mage's form when not fighting… Although why they would be doing that, I have no idea. It's interesting that the phrasing 'you made good progress, but you must defeat me if you want to continue your ascent' clearly suggests some degree of self-will and granting of permission - they're here as a test, rather than just 'nobody touches Ultima, fuck you die.'
Interestingly, the idea of an ancient race of powerful wizards who wear robes concealing their features and who use transformation magic to turn into a terrible form upon entering battle is one that would show up again as far as FFXIV, and I wonder if there was deliberate inspiration there.
Each of the Gigas is more powerful than the other, and they're actually a little challenging to fight, with a lot of HP and high damage - but layered buffs blunt their threat significantly.
The Thunder Gigas, strongest of them all.
But with the third Gigas defeated, we are allowed into the topmost level of the tower, where…
Okay there's another floor first that's just a 'fuck you' series of dead end doors with one leading upstairs.
This random encounter reveals that even Gottos was actually only a Gottos, further cutting down on the number of unique named opponents the game has had.
These particular monsters actually protect a chest containing something very near to Ultima - the Flare Tome, which teaches Flare; in FFI this was the most powerful Black Magic spell, available only to the Black Wizard. Here, though, the prospect of having to level it up makes me just put it back in the backpack unused.
Incidentally, one thing I've discovered going through this dungeon, getting new loot and equipping Ricard with it is that, when properly armed, he hits really hard. Like, nearly as hard as Firion sometimes. This is because of two factors - dual wielding increases his number of attacks and thus total damage, and he has a native Strength (boosted by Giant's Gloves he comes pre-equipped with) of 70. He's made of tissue paper, but as long as enemies aren't attacking him, he can actually be of some use!
And finally, finally at the top of the tower, we find…
Minwu! It's been so long!
Hmmmm.
How did Minwu get here?
He's not an Ancient Mysidian with secret paths into the tower, at least I don't think so. He had to go through Mysidia on his investigation like we did, which suggests he was gathering information.
Leviathan really confuses my understanding of the game, because it's mentioned he goes after people with crystal rods - which appear to have been the case of at least one old man among the swallowed survivors and potentially Ricard (it's unclear if he has his own rod or if he was on the same ship as the old man). I had to go through a long quests involving several dungeons, a doppleganger and a mysterious goddess in order to find my crystal rod. Where did all these bozos find theirs?
Minwu must also have had his own crystal rod to enter, right? Where did he find it? Furthermore, he must also have gone through all three Gigas - which is further evidence that they're some kind of test, because they were still there when I passed through. Either they gracefully step out of the way once defeated or their physical form disperses and they reform somehow, I guess?
However he did it, Minwu is here, and when he says he's been waiting for us he means he's literally been waiting on the doorstep to the final room this entire time, because he can't actually go through on his own.
Minwu will need all his power just to open the door, which means someone else will need to actually claim the scroll as he won't have enough strength left to do it himself. So he had nothing to do but sit there alone, waiting and hoping for our success.
Then the coolest thing in the game so far happens:
Minwu really said 'all of you better duck, because I'm about to turn left and I don't wanna smack you with my dick,' the converted all his healer power into a kamehameha and gave this door trauma from which it will never recover. An incredible moment in gaming.
Unfortunately this kills him.
That was sudden. And unfortunate.
RIP, Minwu. You probably would have still found a place in my party even after all these hours, that's how strong you were.
With the door opened, we are free to enter and claim Ultima.
The four lesser crystals around the central one are all also interactable and provide raw stat boosts, which is pretty sick:
Interestingly, they're themed after the four classical elements, not the three spell elements, and each one grants a +10 increase in one of Strength, Agility, Spirit and Intellect to… I think all members of the party? That is an amazing boost.
Then, because I'm an idiot, I don't wait to be outside the tower and save to use the spell.
The reason this is a dumbass move is because the tome is white, so I went white magic = Guy and taught him Ultima because he has the highest Spirit stat in the group. But actually Ultima doesn't work off Spirit - it works off how many skill levels you have across all your weapons and spells. Which means that, in effect, it's a spell that is more powerful the stronger and broader your character's skillset. I should have taught it to Maria, who has more spells and more weapons than Guy.
Oh, well. Lesson learned: remember to hard save before doing important things.
The 'ultimate magic' is, of course, a lv 1 spell that can't even one-shot random encounters - but it is noticeably more powerful than any other lv 1 spell because it ignores all Magic Defense. So I decide it's worth leveling up, and Guy has been spending a lot of time practicing Ultima on enemies.
Now it's time to head back to Fynn!
I am going to briefly pause here - I have already played a bunch more and have most of the next update already written, but since it's gonna have to be split anyway due to image count, might as well post this one since it's done.
Or perhaps I'm completely missing the mark and the Gigas are their true forms. Gigas have been there since the first game but they never get any lore - 'gigas' itself appears to just be the game's word for 'giant', and a 'fire giant' can be anything in any setting. We've met Hill Gigas quite often, but the elemental ones are a first. Seeing as monsters come from Pandaemonium, perhaps they are elemental demons, summoned by the ancient Mystidians and bound to hold vigil inside the tower, merely assuming a mage's form when not fighting… Although why they would be doing that, I have no idea. It's interesting that the phrasing 'you made good progress, but you must defeat me if you want to continue your ascent' clearly suggests some degree of self-will and granting of permission - they're here as a test, rather than just 'nobody touches Ultima, fuck you die.'
Trivia: The gigas in ff1 have in older versions been translated as giant, full stop. I don't know offhand if this is also true of ff2, but yeah basically gigas is just the word for giant.
Some of the towns are no longer pinned in yellow on the world map. I wonder why that is.
Oh.
Oh no.
Altair, Gatrea, Poft and Paloom are gone. They no longer exist as locations that can be entered. All you can do is walk over the overworld sprite of their remains.
These aren't any towns. These aren't Salamand or Bafsk. These are the core of rebel territory, to be sure, but even more so - these are the towns that were already ravaged by the Dreadnought. Whatever new horror the Emperor has at his command, he decided to use it to go back to the fruit of his dread work and finish the job. He didn't strike Fynn first, which would have been the right strategic move. He selected towns that had already suffered so much destruction and death, but which were now allowed to feel hope, to know that their pain was over, that their sons and daughters could return to their homes, the refugees of Altair could finally stop hiding - and he told them, "You were wrong to hope."
Then he killed them all.
Jesus.
So the Emperor has summoned a cyclone. How? We have no idea. Perhaps he learned such fell sorcery from his Hellish friends. What matters is that not only is the cyclone totally destructive, it's also completely impregnable - trying to enter the cyclone and having the cyclone run you over are effectively the same thing. You Just Die.
We consult with the royals, and…
Wait, what is this?
Leila!!
She's alive!
I guess she… fell overboard when Leviathan swallowed us? And swam back to Fynn?
I'm not sure that makes a lot of sense, but you know what, I'll take it. Shame I can't just take her back on my team.
lmao.
About that.
I think it's time to loop back to an earlier plot point.
The wyvern hatches and, called on by the pendant and mirror, instantly flies to us.
This is cute.
With the dragon in tow, we enter the Cyclone-
With the dragon in tow, we first visit Paul so he can give us access to some sweet endgame loot.
This includes some high tier armor and the unique 'Blood Sword,' which has a low attack power but heals its wielder for as much as it deals damage, which I promptly equip to Firion, who's now going to be invincible.
Now we enter the Cyclone, which plays out this mildly terrifying cutscene:
Inside, we find ourselves in…
A dungeon?
I forgot to take a screenshot of the point of entrance.
None of the characters comment on this, but 'the Cyclone' is ostensibly a flying fortress inside the actual hurricane, generating the storm around it as it moves. So we're 2-for-2 on flying fortresses. Interestingly, this place largely lacks the industrial aesthetic of the Dreadnought, and there were no prior hints of it being constructed whatsoever - my guess is, the Empire didn't build this. Facing the humiliation of losing both the Dreadnought and Fynn and being put on the backfoot by the rebellion, the Emperor pulled back, went to his hellish contacts, and whatever price he had to pay or coercion he enacted, he pulled this thing straight out of hell.
The electrified corridors might be a Palamecian addition, though. That seems their style.
I'm going to make a long story short. The Cyclone has some neat opponents (the first appearance of the General unit type, a green dragon, lamias) but ultimately we're just cruising through several similar levels all to the top.
It's time to meet the Big Man himself.
"Nevertheless, your performance was underwhelming, and I remain unconvinced of your worthiness."
There is this cool bit where Firion takes a few steps forward, the Emperor triggers a fight with Royal Guards, we kill them, Firion advances a little more, the Emperor triggers another fight, until…
This is interesting. So far, all we've seen of the Emperor was a schemer, someone who works from a distance, through powerful minions, endless armies, grand weapon projects, and foul sorcery. When we confronted him in the Coliseum, he contemptuously absconded with magic. This man spends his time reclining on his throne and setting things in motion.
But it looks like he's something of a fight fiend himself. He absolutely does not see us breaking into his fortress and murdering our way through his guards as threatening, he sees it as interesting. It's enough to make him go to the effort of getting up from his throne and actually dusting off the ol' battle magic.
I like it. It's not an especially ground-breaking characterization, but it's enough to give him a sheen of charisma. Especially when it turns out that he's not merely 'the Emperor of Palamecia,' no, no, nothing so small…
He's Emperor David Fucking Bowie.
What, think I'm joking?
Here's Amano's concept art:
That's the Goblin King right there.
There is absolutely no way this isn't intentional, and furthermore it enhances everything about this character. Yes, the Emperor should look, and sound, like David Bowie. Yes, his fight scene should be preceded by him standing up from the throne and launching into a diegetic performance of Cat People.
Absolutely outstanding.
The Emperor fight design is the first time I see the game actually be cleverly designed. The Emperor is sitting in the third row, protecting him from melee attacks, while protected by two effective attackers and one giant wall of defense in the Wood Golem. This gives him time to self-buff, and in theory even if injured he can use an Elixir to heal back to full, effectively 'starting over' with his full buff suite. Unfortunately, that's just not enough of a jump forward in power compared to the mobs I've been slaughtering to get to him, and he quickly falls under the Wild Roses' blows.
It doesn't help that David Bowie doesn't have an AI as such; he has a random chance to use any of his moves on any given turn, weighed weirdly, and as a result uses his Elixir on his first turn while at full HP and MP.
Didn't even break a sweat.
But die he does. Cornered in his throne room, the Emperor's guards are slain, and his magical power cannot defeat four youths (...three youths and one old man) who have gone through so much together.
How far they've come from the four (well, three) kids who were run down and nearly killed in the woods by a party of knights - to wield the ultimate magic, and slay the would-be emperor of the world.
And then, they do this very cute thing that I can't really show you because I only have screenshots and I don't know how to make gifs (OR CARE TO LEARN BEFORE ANYONE @s ME), where the characters pair up and start dancing to joyful music:
Gordon pairs up with Hilda, Maria with Firion… Signs of romances to come? I'd be sad for Leila who's all alone in a corner but, as we've established, she likes to watch.
A fitting, cheerful conclusion at the end of all this struggle. The Emperor is gone, Palamecia is defeated, freedom is returned to the land.
That was Final Fantasy II. Thanks for reading, everybody!
There is absolutely 0 chance that that man doesn't use "dance, magic, dance" as his spell-casting battlecry. He'd have done it in Dissidia if not for the legal reasons, they absolutely leaned into the Jareth thing in his design for his HD model too
I've never played FF2, or even know anything about the plot, but I 100% don't believe that this is the end of the game.
There are too many obviously hanging plot threads and there's a certain... vibe to the endgame of a JRPG (my favourite part tbqh) that you haven't hit yet.
I've never played FF2, or even know anything about the plot, but I 100% don't believe that this is the end of the game.
There are too many obviously hanging plot threads and there's a certain... vibe to the endgame of a JRPG (my favourite part tbqh) that you haven't hit yet.
The Emperor fight design is the first time I see the game actually be cleverly designed. The Emperor is sitting in the third row, protecting him from melee attacks, while protected by two effective attackers and one giant wall of defense in the Wood Golem. This gives him time to self-buff, and in theory even if injured he can use an Elixir to heal back to full, effectively 'starting over' with his full buff suite.
This is interesting. So far, all we've seen of the Emperor was a schemer, someone who works from a distance, through powerful minions, endless armies, grand weapon projects, and foul sorcery. When we confronted him in the Coliseum, he contemptuously absconded with magic. This man spends his time reclining on his throne and setting things in motion.
But it looks like he's something of a fight fiend himself. He absolutely does not see us breaking into his fortress and murdering our way through his guards as threatening, he sees it as interesting. It's enough to make him go to the effort of getting up from his throne and actually dusting off the ol' battle magic.
I like it. It's not an especially ground-breaking characterization, but it's enough to give him a sheen of charisma. Especially when it turns out that he's not merely 'the Emperor of Palamecia,' no, no, nothing so small…
Okay, now I'm wondering if this is a version difference thing, because my distinct recollection of Dawn of Souls is that the Emperor is amusingly a chump. Bands of generals rove the halls and are actually hella threatening, in packs of up to eight, and then the Emperor comes with a six pack of them and is just kinda sad himself. So basically the boss fight is a step down from its own hall fights.
Indeed, I distinctly recall the dungeon having Emperor doppelgangers running around, who basically fight like him... but with more HP and other stats.
So maybe I'm somehow drastically misremembering, but this is a surprising contrast for me with my experience of the Emperor as naught but a political player, a weakling only made slightly challenging by his legions of loyal troops.
Okay, now I'm wondering if this is a version difference thing, because my distinct recollection of Dawn of Souls is that the Emperor is amusingly a chump. Bands of generals rove the halls and are actually hella threatening, in packs of up to eight, and then the Emperor comes with a six pack of them and is just kinda sad himself. So basically the boss fight is a step down from its own hall fights.
Indeed, I distinctly recall the dungeon having Emperor doppelgangers running around, who basically fight like him... but with more HP and other stats.
So maybe I'm somehow drastically misremembering, but this is a surprising contrast for me with my experience of the Emperor as naught but a political player, a weakling only made slightly challenging by his legions of loyal troops.
It's about presentation, more than actual mechanical strength. Everything is easy at this point in the game except for some of the Mysidia Tower challenges, so him underperforming compared to hype doesn't register, and the way he goes 'then you shall have the honour of dying by my hand' sells him as someone with total confidence, and that confidence isn't really turned around into a joke at his expense because him collapsing to a couple rounds of buffer attacks is still doing better than anything else in his flying fortress.
It's about presentation, more than actual mechanical strength. Everything is easy at this point in the game except for some of the Mysidia Tower challenges, so him underperforming compared to hype doesn't register, and the way he goes 'then you shall have the honour of dying by my hand' sells him as someone with total confidence, and that confidence isn't really turned around into a joke at his expense because him collapsing to a couple rounds of buffer attacks is still doing better than anything else in his flying fortress.
My point is that my distinct recollection is that he's like, literally weaker than every single mob in the fortress, including his own doppelgangers.
Also, that I coulda sworn he had six generals, which is not what your screenshot shows, so like I said, either my memory is off or there's some major version difference here. I'm genuinely not sure which.
That doesn't quite describe the Blood Sword of FF2. It seems weak because of it's low stats, but what it does is drain 1/16th of the enemies hp as an additional effect. Which well, I'm sure you can do the math.
The Wyvern key item iirc can also be used in battle to cast Blaze VII, making it the first protosummon of Final Fantasy.
That doesn't quite describe the Blood Sword of FF2. It seems weak because of it's low stats, but what it does is drain 1/16th of the enemies hp as an additional effect. Which well, I'm sure you can do the math.
Yeah, Blood weapons - there may be more than just the sword, can't quite remember right now - function as the spell Drain.
Drain, like 'proper' healing spells, has an inverse effect when used on undead enemies.
Meaning hitting an undead enemy with a Blood weapon is a quick and easy way to have a character kill themselves.
I'd make some joke about this being a great way to grind revive spells, but this might be one of the games where using those on undead is an instant kill anyway so you could probably cut out the middleman there.
In the Dawn of Souls version, it was further mitigated by the game's damage cap. I remember it being a strict downgrade against normal endgame mooks, but absolutely vital against the bosses that actually gave me trouble.
I've never played FF2, or even know anything about the plot, but I 100% don't believe that this is the end of the game.
There are too many obviously hanging plot threads and there's a certain... vibe to the endgame of a JRPG (my favourite part tbqh) that you haven't hit yet.
ust, random snippets of lore for half the stuff we've been doing in the game so far, except instead of being delivered organically during their individual questline they're in this one library.
If you think that's bad, just wait until FFVIII comes around - in that game, if you fail to talk with every single NPC, check every computer terminal, read every book lying around, go over every entry in the guide hidden in the menu, and go after all the sidequests, you miss something like 75% of any lore, foreshadowing and even portions of the plots; a careless enough playthrough can make the story nearly incomprehensible.
Also, speaking of missing things, be sure to visit the dragoon's castle and let the family there know the wyverns came back! It's a nice spot of hope in the current downward thread events are taking.
I coulda sworn he had six generals, which is not what your screenshot shows, so like I said, either my memory is off or there's some major version difference here. I'm genuinely not sure which.
You remember incorrectly - the Emperor fight had him having two knights and a golem as support in every iteration of the game.
However, the Emperor's shade is indeed stronger than the Emperor, seeing as it doesn't appear in Pandemonium, but rather in the final dungeon only, which is still three dungeons away from where the let's play is currently at. That's also where the groups of eight generals showed up - in Pandemonium I think they only show up in pairs.
Interestingly, the idea of an ancient race of powerful wizards who wear robes concealing their features and who use transformation magic to turn into a terrible form upon entering battle is one that would show up again as far as FFXIV, and I wonder if there was deliberate inspiration there.
Don't forget they're also a group of precursors from a culture capable of power that is only dreamt of nowadays, and that they're giants in comparison to you.
(If Amaurotians are giants because this fucking game used Gigas for the battle sprites...)
The 'ultimate magic' is, of course, a lv 1 spell that can't even one-shot random encounters - but it is noticeably more powerful than any other lv 1 spell because it ignores all Magic Defense. So I decide it's worth leveling up, and Guy has been spending a lot of time practicing Ultima on enemies.
Could be worse, could be getting a spell that's technically the strongest spell, but that uses so much mp/has a long charge, that it's completely useless for all practical purposes. That's another genre staple.
She appears to have become some sort of royal advisor!
....
I assume once this is all over she's going to steal the entire treasury and sail off into the sunset with it. Because they let the pirate walk around the castle freely.
Now Omicron, you can't just refer back to FF14 all the time just because it has 'superb writing' and 'clever incisive societal commentary' or is 'playable for free until level 60 now including the heavensward expansion', or even because it's rife with references to the content from previous games even if you're technically playing them right now.
I've never played FF2, or even know anything about the plot, but I 100% don't believe that this is the end of the game.
There are too many obviously hanging plot threads and there's a certain... vibe to the endgame of a JRPG (my favourite part tbqh) that you haven't hit yet.
Wonder when the JRPG tradition started of the ass-pull last boss from nowhere with no plot relevance you fight after what was clearly the last boss? I know later FF games have them on occasion, but I don't know when it got started.
If you think that's bad, just wait until FFVIII comes around - in that game, if you fail to talk with every single NPC, check every computer terminal, read every book lying around, go over every entry in the guide hidden in the menu, and go after all the sidequests, you miss something like 75% of any lore, foreshadowing and even portions of the plots; a careless enough playthrough can make the story nearly incomprehensible.
Wonder when the JRPG tradition started of the ass-pull last boss from nowhere with no plot relevance you fight after what was clearly the last boss? I know later FF games have them on occasion, but I don't know when it got started.
It doesn't help that David Bowie doesn't have an AI as such; he has a random chance to use any of his moves on any given turn, weighed weirdly, and as a result uses his Elixir on his first turn while at full HP and MP.
Who are you to question His Majesty? He desired to taste the elixir at that moment, and so he did, as is only right. That you think it a mistake only shows how feeble your mind is in comparison to Emperor Stardust.
Sort of depends on your definition; I can think of several that fit, as long as you're willing to accept "revealed during the final dungeon" as a valid interpretation. And, if you're willing to accept "revealed just before the final dungeon", FFI sort of qualifies - there's no indication in the game of the existence of Chaos until very near the end of the story, although maybe the fact that the plot also gets revealed all at the same time might give that one a pass.
