Lurker > StartTheMachine

Been playing for hours and hours tonight. Still haven't figured out how to get Terra back or where these last couple of dungeons are, but I have done a bunch other stuff. I went back to Darryl's Tomb, having already looked up what to do with those four tombstones with the weird letters. I kind of figured those were anagrams or something, and sure enough, I was on the right track. I read to spell "The World is Square" backwards, so I did that, but I made my way to the Exp. Egg on my own. Aaaand then I found out you could get a whole bunch of Exp. Eggs from the Colosseum!

So yeah, for the last hour plus, I've been at the Colosseum. I got four Exp. Eggs, but I also wanted to hang onto the relics you get before the egg in that Colosseum battle branch. It goes:

Elixir -> Rename Card -> Marvel Shoes -> Tintinabar -> Exp. Egg

And now I have four Exp. Eggs and one of each the Marvel Shoes, the Tintinabar, and a Rename Card because why not. Aww yeah, double experience for my whole party though! Wish I knew about this before I grinded like crazy in the dino forest. Are there any better grind spots in the game?

Also still need to finish up the Shadow storyline from the inns. I think, at least. I just haven't gotten any more cutscenes from the last five or so times I've slept at one.
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cyko posted...

Well, I am going to leave something that's tough to find - based on my two questions. It's here, but only if you want it -


Who was in your party when you visited Gau's father?

Make sure you bring Gau and Sabin to see Gau's father.

Do you ever stay at any of the inns? Especially with one specific character?

Sleep at the inns with Shadow. Eventually you will discover why.

So about both of these things. I've been sleeping at the inns with Shadow and, yeah, this is very interesting so far. Gotta keep doing it and see where it leads. As for visiting Gau's father, yep, I guess I just happened to luck out having both Sabin and Gau in my party during one of my visits, but it just ended with Gau's dad not recognizing his son. Is that the end of his story? He keeps asking me to fix stuff though, but maybe I can't actually fix anything?
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I endorse this topic.
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Switch Pro Controller is maybe my favorite controller ever tbh
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GuessMyUserName posted...

Although I guess it should be obvious that you never defeated Phunbaba >_>

Wait what

Phunbaba was the first dragon I fought. IIRC.

Jakyl25 posted...

Ok so now

Who is the main character of Final Fantasy VI

Obviously the game was designed to have almost everyone be the main character, but fuck that. I'm going to say Kefka.

BakusaiTenketsu posted...

StartTheMachine posted...

Well...I can't honestly say it topped something like God of War or Mario Odyssey for me -- both of which are my favorite games of this generation and were strangely both recent.

I think it would be hard for a game that's 25 years old to be able to be able to topple current giants if you are experiencing it for the first time.

Story is always the most important thing to me in gaming, and at the time FF6 was one of the most endearing and greatest pieces of story I'd ever played. If I hadn't played it then and played it now, I can definitely see myself holding it to standards like Horizon: ZD, God of War, and other epic stories in gaming of the recent years.

It is usually a weird and unfair comparison to make, but plenty of old games still hold up and transcend their technical limitations. This is one of those games that I'd now consider timeless, despite also being limited by its own ambitions being created on such an old console, Nevertheless, it was so endearing that my first experience with it wasn't too far away my first experiences with those games I mentioned.
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Well that's absolutely true. I can't really remember the last time I bought a game at GameStop. Probably a couple of years ago and it was a used game impulse buy.
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From what I remember, I couldn't find her either! Not in Mobliz, anyway. It's sounding like I missed something obvious, huh?
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Punnyz posted...

Mozzezz posted...

Back then if you pre ordered Wind Waker, they also offered to give you a free copy of OoT Master Quest. I didn't pick them up when they released cause I had to wait like I think three days cause I needed a ride. When I came there they told me they gave away my copy of Master Quest cause I waited too long.

the holding period is two days

and preorder bonuses are while supplies last

This, and I remember I was told to pick my pre-order reward copy of OoT/Master Quest up immediately because it was only being offered "while supplies last." Seems incredibly childish to hate an entire company for this incident rather than, you know, the few people involved in your pre-order who didn't inform you of this/yourself for not realizing how limited supply pre-order bonuses obviously work.
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I mean, she's not anywhere in Mobliz anymore. I've visited that town like 10 times since she left. They just talk about Katarin being pregnant and Terra was nowhere to be found. I'm guessing she's just somewhere else, then? But I haven't found any NPC to give me hints about this.
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ZeldaTPLink posted...

So... you just abandoned Terra permanently?

Someone here is a big Charizard fan.

Whatcha mean? Is there a way to get her back in the party, prior to her reappearance at the end? If so, I was not able to figure that out!
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Aaaand hah. Thanks, FFWiki.

The first treasure room has a hidden switch in the wall to the right of the treasure chest. The switch reveals a second treasure room on the floor below, which contains Edgar's final Tool, the Air Anchor.

Just happened to be reading the page about the Cultists' Tower right after I beat it. This little final tool of Edgar's was absurdly hidden, to the point it's practically impossible to find without looking up. But neat! I just went back and got it.
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Awww yeah, Cultists' Tower beated! That was also easy. The boss at the top was kind of challenging simply because he kept reflecting/blocking my shit, but at no point did he ever come close to wiping my party. Plenty of the other regular enemies there had reflect statuses on as well, and though I tried to find other ways of dealing with them, I quickly realized Esper Summons ftw. Are there any other viable options though?

But yeah, super easy. I eventually was running low on MP with Relm and Celes, but a few Osmose spells took care of that no problem. Didn't even have to bother using Tinctures.
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I forgot this in that final statz post:

GP: 643,185

Yeeeeep.
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Ahhh, I got a ribbon! I think I found it in a chest though, and yeah, I definitely equipped it on someone in that final dungeon. Could use some more of those, for sure.

That is strange though. I was encountering Brachosaurs all the damn time in that same area earlier. I'd say a solid 1 out of 3 times I'd stumble on them instead of T-Rexes. And then last time, I literally played 15+ fights in that forest and never encountered a single one. Very, very bizarre.
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hey I attempted a ranking for fun

DKC 2 > Super Metroid > FFVI > Super Mario World > Super Mario RPG = A Link to the Past > FF IV > Mega Man X

SNES library forever god tier. Haven't played Earthbound (will change soon though thanks to my Classic) or Chrono Trigger. And to be fair to MMX, it's been a while since I've given it a whirl, and I've just never been huge on the series.
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I'm going to have to stick with DKC 2, but you're not wrong if you pick Super Metroid or FFVI either.

I kind of think Super Metroid is the objectively correct answer.
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I gotta correct what I said about Dancing Mad earlier. The "fast part" that I super liked is only in phase 1. I didn't realize that this:



was divided into its four different phases. But yeah, I certainly didn't hear the entirety of that last part, and it's goddamn epic.

And GMUN, jesus, that is one OP Relic. I swear, I spent forever trying to encounter more Brachys so I could steal it with Locke! I was literally only getting T-Rexes. Do the Brachys disappear after killing enough of them or something? Also yeah, I kind of forgot that I did leave Setzer behind.
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Logience posted...

You didnt have any trouble with the dinos in the forest? Weird.

Were you talking about the Brachosaurs here? Yeah, those guys whooped my ass the first time I played them! The Tyrannosaurs never gave me trouble though.
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Overall, this was definitely one of my more memorable gaming experiences in recent memory. Well...I can't honestly say it topped something like God of War or Mario Odyssey for me -- both of which are my favorite games of this generation and were strangely both recent. But apart from those, this game wowed me more than most any modern game has in a long, long time. So many great moments, so many heartfelt lines, and a soundtrack that has come to possess my mind. It is certainly a timeless video game, every bit worthy of its iconic, beloved, legendary status. And I'm undoubtedly positive it's shot its way straight to the upper echelons of my favorite RPGs list.

Thanks for sharing this journey with me.

GuessMyUserName posted...

if you go to Gogo's Status menu you can equip abilities onto him - magic, blitz, steal, etc

say whattttttt

Okay, that's awesome. And yeah, I had no idea! I mean, I figured out pretty much instantly that mimic did exactly as its name implied, but I had no idea he could get all those other abilities too! Shame, because I definitely checked his status screen a few times, just must have only looked at his EXP and stats and never messed around on it.

By the way... I think it's time to take on the Cultist's Tower!
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"Life... dreams... hope... Where do they come from? And where do they go? Such meaningless things...I'll destroy them all!"

My god that credits music. Was that a 20 minute composition!? It was masterful. Loved hearing bits and pieces of everyone's themes, but it needed more Terra's theme! At least I got a whiff of its greatness near the end.

So, I'm a little disappointed that final phase took me so little time. I swear Dancing Mad had only just barely kicked in and it was over in like two minutes. That's what I get for casting 9,999 damage spells on him twice every turn (thanks, Celes and Relm). Yeah...I'm actually listening to it as we type and I honestly think I beat him in a little over two minutes, because I'm pretty sure the fast part of the theme -- the fucking good part -- didn't even loop around a full time!

The fight was still epic overall though. What the fuck was that? It was like...a tower of dead people? His monument to non-existence... or something. I also wanted a little more Kefka in general and a longer final speech! But ah well, it was still great. They saved the epic, extra lengthy cutscene for that ridiculously long credits scene. That was, like, Twilight Princess levels of long credits! Definitely the lengthiest of any SNES game I know.

And archangel Kefka was fucking sick. That thing was an absolute beast. I only managed to lose 2 party members in the whole fight (that's awesome that you actually get to use all 12 and choose their order of appearance), so I definitely wish they made it harder. Especially since, yeah, you do get to use everyone. But it wasn't short. That tower of dead people thing had like four phases! I just wish Kefka himself had more than one, or had an insane amount of HP. When he did an attack that brought all my party members, except one, to 1 HP each, I got a bit scared. But nah, one Cure 3 spell and then I never really had to worry about much regeneration again.

What a game. I loved it. I do think the highest highs were earlier on for me. It's hard to say that I prefer the World of Balance, because I don't think I really do. I think a lot of what kept me so engaged at first was just the amount of variety the gameplay threw at me early on, my semi-low expectations going in, and my immediately resonating with the story and characters. But I also love the World of Ruin, because the game opens up so much more and your options do too. You have a greater number of Espers at this point, and this is where I truly started fiddling with the deep systems of customization and spell-learning more than ever before. So in a way, I perhaps preferred the gameplay of WoR, but the consistent greatness of the storytelling of the WoB made that better, plot-wise. The WoR is still stellar from a plot perspective, but it's, you know, less consistent, because you have to go out of your way to find the cool plot scenes.

The apocalyptic, World of Ruin moment was probably the highlight of the whole game for me. But let's have some fun. Off the top of my head, here's a list of some the most memorable scenes other than that:

- First revelations of Kefka's true madness - poisoning Doma. Probably my other favorite Kefka moment, alongside destroying the world
- Sabin and Edgar reflect upon the death of their parents. That one hit hard.
- Celes' backstory revealed in a playable Esper World
- Post-WoR, Cid, and exploring the ruined world
- Journey into Cyan's soul, reliving the Phantom Train, then witnessing the flashbacks of him mentoring his son and eventually letting go of his son and his wife
- That one boat scene that I honestly don't remember much of -- just that Shadow has one of my favorite quotes of the whole game!

Yeah, I'd have more too. Shoutout to the Phantom Train 1, the Opera House, of course, and anything with Ultros!
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"Welcome, friends! I knew you'd make it here so I've prepared some suitable entertainment for you. How long are you going to let the destruction continue?"

The statue battles are undoubtedly tough, but I'm not dying again! I play cure heavy and equip my, well, "summoners" (the party member in each group that has the most magic power and therefore the one I use cure spells the most with) with Gold Hairpins so as to halve their MP usage. This also allows me to pull out Bolt 3, Fire 3, and Ice 3 spells like a madman and put these statues to rest once and for all.

Each group makes their way to a different save point, where I at last use the most useful item in the game -- my tents! I recover every group to full status. Full HP, full MP, equipped with the relics and gear I am sure I want going in (just got some more goodies after beating the statues that needed equipping as well).

I step on the final of the three switches at the end of the path. A beam of light shines down upon each group, lifting us up. All 12 members of my party step outside to confront Kefka himself. He welcomes me.

It is time.
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Well, my friends, it is finally time to finish this.

After some last minute grinding on the overworld -- in the usual forest area near the Veldt, where I can strangely only seem to find Tyrannosaurs and not Brachosaurs now -- I decide it is at last time to make my way to Kefka's Tower. My airship lowers upon the presumed final dungeon, and I am given the responsibility of crafting three different parties.

This is the first time in a long time I've been tasked with making three groups, and it's an excellent design choice for a final dungeon. It forces you to have enough party members decently leveled so that each and every group can manage their way through lengthy portions of a rather enormous dungeon. While I did not check my stats upon entering this final area, as I type, I have just finished taking out the three statues and stand in front of the madman Kefka himself. These are my character levels and time right before our climactic duel.

Final Statz (post-dungeon, but pre-final boss!)

Celes - Lv. 60
Edgar - Lv. 54
Locke - Lv. 51
Gogo - Lv. 50

Relm - Lv. 57
Mog - Lv. 50
Cyan - Lv. 40
Gau - Lv. 40

Sabin - Lv. 59
Shadow - Lv. 47
Strago - Lv. 43
Umaro - Lv. 47

Time: 46:04

(Characters are listed here in the same three groups I have put them in.)

Before I see what lies at the end of this epic tale, let's discuss the dungeon I just navigated my way through. Kefka's Tower is quite the labryinth, complete with a plethora of treadmills, multiple paths that each group must help one another to open further sections in, and some familiar environments that appear to be lifted straight from the Empire's Castle. I suppose this tower was built directly upon that castle after the World of Ruin event.

The process of picking my three groups here was indeed tough. I'd been used to having a party of Celes, Relm, Sabin, and essentially one floater for a decent while prior to this, so the aforementioned three were quite a bit higher leveled than the rest of my crew. I figured...best to be safe, and basically split up my manpower evenly.

The dungeon took me at least a couple hours to navigate, especially with my constant Esper switching (I'm addicted! I couldn't bring myself to stop) and a few dead ends I inevitably encountered upon the path, where I was supposed to use another group to open the way forward first. I did die once here, due to some really sloppy, half-asleep gameplay and not using enough curing spells. I think it was that Goddess boss? I can't remember, but I believe it was right after a save point so I lucked out! (Though I would have been a lousy cheater and reverted to a save state, I'm sure.)

I battled two different legendary dragons here to boot, aww yeah. They were all pretty much a piece of cake at this point, and I reveled in joy at the message of "2 dragons remaining." Here's hoping I get a cool reward for beating them all. You know the deal -- no spoilers at all! -- but I'm hoping for an optional dungeon or something cool like that.

I struggled a bit with the three switches segment near the end, in the factory. It took me a while to figure out how to converge the paths, and then to figure out to go outside again with my group in the middle (which was Relm's group) and hit the switch upon a balcony to open up secondary doors for my other two teams to make it inside. Eventually, I figure out to do just that, and we all make our way through a palace fitting of a final area. At the end of each of three paths lies one of the statues that Kefka used to burn the world to the ground a year ago.
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mnkbear907 posted...

One of the remaining places I actually didn't even learn existed until years later after numerous playthroughs.

Yesssss. Good to know that there are things like that still in the game.
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Logience posted...

mnkbear907 posted...

FYI aside from Cultists Tower, there are still at least two side dungeons you haven't done yet.

Already told him this. He got really defensive about me spoiling his experience.

I mean, you were telling me literally everything I had left. I think if you had waited until I beat the regular game, I wouldn't have minded so much. It's no big deal either way.
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Okay yeah, Kefka's Tower is like, one of the first places I ever tried to go to period when I first got to the World of Ruin. The thought did not cross my mind to actually try landing above the tower though -- I originally tried to get in from the sides like everywhere else, and then I forgot about it. Haven't played the game much at all the last day and a half, but I did just boot it up now and beat my fourth dragon! I beat the one on stage at the Colosseum and it took all of like, 6 attacks. Ahhh, still so overleveled!

I'll be wrapping things up soon, but may save it for tomorrow. I had every intention of playing this game yesterday, aaaaand then I went into a YouTube rabbit hole watching To Catch a Predator videos >_> I forgot how hilarious/creepy/sad those were. Then after that I somehow got into a crime show rabbit hole. Goddamn autoplay function on YouTube.
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hey I was a kid but the DS trilogy cemented my love for Metroidvanias and that's what's important
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Lmao that's amazing
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I'm just wondering if I'm leveled enough to beat Cultist's Tower. Don't tell me, I'll find out!

Hopefully I'm not though because it sounds like it's maybe supposed to be the hardest dungeon in the game and that would be kind of sad if I could already beat it.
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Now I know they're totally not. GOSH LOGIENCE

but seriously what if I beat Cultist's Tower first
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Logience posted...

Dare you to beat Cultistss Tower before you go to sleep.

I won't be home for a while so I don't know about that!

Hmmm, Cultist's Tower and Kefka's Tower are connected in some way, aren't they? I hope I'm wrong.
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Not reading that spoiler tag, but I even spent some time trying to explore the world and memorizing the whole map!

I dunno, I just haven't stumbled upon it, I suppose. I'm also guessing the final dungeon is going to be way too easy for me at this point.
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Raka_Putra posted...

MOltres
Zapdos
ARTicuno

...Mozart!?
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It's really that obvious huh?

see this is what makes first playthroughs of games so memorable and why you shouldn't spoil them and/or tell people what to do
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I still don't know where Kefka's Tower is! and don't you dare tell me

also this game has not once at all felt like "being a checklist" even in the second half, so even though it might be structured that way, its actual presentation and execution is good enough that it transcends that fact. and I love it.
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dammit Logience stop making this game into a checklist for me

e: that didn't come across as sarcasm as much as it should have; I do take issue with that kind of stuff but everybody here has already told me that's what I have left, so no worries. also are there supposed to be two blank slots on the party member select screen after you get everybody?
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Lopen posted...

Voted Portrait mostly on strength of the extra character modes adding some replay

Oh yeah, the extra modes in those games are definitely the best. I can get behind this.
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I'm listening to episode 5 of The Show right now and I have an important request:

please link me to an archive where I can find all previous episodes of this season's The Show thank you in advance Showstoppers

e: oh yep! it's literally just http://board8.speedrunwiki.com/interviews/theshow/
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Well my Celes just hit level 60 and I think Sabin's at level 57 for me. I'm not that far off Level 70... for whatever you guys might be talking about!
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Ewwww, this poll having Aria > Dawn. I'm thinking this is one of those situations where if you played Aria first, it blew your mind, but if you played it second like me it's clear how inferior it is.

Dawn > Portrait > Order > Aria > Harmony

Never played Circle of the Moon.
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benjamin3740 posted...

Look em up. Play FF8 instead :^)

I have by far the most interest in FF9 honestly, solely because I have been in love with that soundtrack for almost a decade.

Thanks, VGMC, for infecting me with such magic. It is weird loving a soundtrack to a game so damn much and never having played it.
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how big of a deal is knowing that Auron spoiler for the overall plot?

I was legitimately thinking of picking up the FFX remaster for the PS4 now that I love this game so much, but I was also dreading walking in a straight line for another 10 hours. it's just hilarious to me that the first 10 hours of FFVI are so damned fantastic and the first 10 hours of that game were so awful.

I'm also betting that almost no one involved in the development of FFVI was involved in that game?
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i give this topic 10 anagrams out of 10
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y/n should I just look up all spoilers for FFX to once and for all kill my desire to ever play that game again
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https://sd.keepcalm-o-matic.co.uk/i-w600/keep-calm-and-stick-to-the-plan-2.jpg
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As an instrumental vessel in The Plan, I played Symphony of the Night earlier this year for the first time and it changed everything.
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mnkboy907 posted...

StartTheMachine posted...

So yeah, my Celes and Sabin group was significantly stronger than my Edgar and Relm team. This was actually a fun way to experience this dungeon though. I mean, my weak team was still beating everything with relative ease, but my Celes and Sabin team was just one-hit KOing most monsters period and it was a joke. So this time, instead of being totally OP, one group was overpowered and the other was just right!

Wait, were you only using two 2-person parties?

No no no, check my stats update on the update post prior: those were my two parties. I was just too lazy to list everybody, so I listed my two strongest in each party!

Aaaand GOGO GET! Yessss. And uh, this...thing is indeed interesting.
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charmander6000 posted...

Who do you have left to get? I think you are almost done.

I think it's just Terra and Gogo.
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And that's about where I'm at. All I've done since beating the dungeon is

benjamin3740 posted...

get yourself swallowed boy

And I'm currently inside a Zone Eater, oh yeah! Honestly, I legit thought about trying to get my whole party eaten when I first encountered one of these. I was going to do it, but it took so damn long for the Zone Eater to use his engulf move, I got bored. I psyched myself out of thinking that was a thing, and figured I'd save myself what would inevitably be a game over and just kill the Zone Eater with my last two, unengulfed party members. Hah. I should have been patient and trusted my first intuition.

Oh, and I should mention: holy shit there's a Life 2 and a Life 3 spell! This Phoenix Esper is dope. And it's got a faster learning rate for Cure 3, so it looks like more people will be learning that move. Aw yeah.
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"You must now cast off the anguish you've been harboring inside for so long... Today, I set your heart free."

Well, well, well, it's looking like that whole dungeon was just a big quest to get Locke back, and I still have no idea where to find Kefka! No worries, this is how I like it. Even if I knew how to get to Kefka, I'd want everyone back in the party first before our final confrontation. If I hadn't already been told otherwise, I would assume that the Cultist's Tower was the way to him. Hmmm. But thank you guys for spoiler tagging everything now! I like playing my games as blind as possible, though the more subtle hints here and there have mostly enhanced my experience with this game, so it's been a good balance.

Enough of that talk, this dungeon was great! Really like the sequences in this game where your party splits up into groups, and it had been a looooong time since the last one. So yeah, my Celes and Sabin group was significantly stronger than my Edgar and Relm team. This was actually a fun way to experience this dungeon though. I mean, my weak team was still beating everything with relative ease, but my Celes and Sabin team was just one-hit KOing most monsters period and it was a joke. So this time, instead of being totally OP, one group was overpowered and the other was just right!

I really enjoyed the puzzles here. Working with two teams intermittently to hit switches and open up new paths for each other was a great concept to build a dungeon around. The spike switching, the rock hopping, draining the water into the lava on the floor below -- all great stuff. Though I'm still a bit upset about that chest I mentioned earlier that I couldn't figure out how to get to! As far as I know, that's the only chest I've missed so far in a dungeon. Though I did beat the Red Dragon here (making for three dragons down! wait I thought I had beaten more dammit), and that guy was a joke.

Like I said, I took forever with this dungeon too. Wouldn't be surprised if my playtime was around three hours. It's certainly not that huge from front to back (though I'm quite certain it's the largest in the game so far) -- it's just the way I've been playing lately.

So I'm really particular about switching Espers all the goddamn time to make sure I'm learning spells in the most effective way. And more importantly, I'm constantly checking my status screen to see when the next level ups are happening, and switching Espers out to then get my preferred stat boosts. I'm like, really overdoing this element of the game. I'm realizing what with all the time I spend changing Espers around in between battles, I could be playing more battles and leveling up faster if I wasn't so particular. But eh, I figure if I keep coming back to this game and eventually max out some characters, I'll have some killer Lv. 99s. I'm assuming once you've reached 99, there are no more stat bonuses from Espers equipped because there will be no more leveling up? So yeah, I dunno, I might play a little more leniently and not obsess so much about my level boosts, but either way, I'm having fun.

Beating the dungeon, it turns out there is no boss, just Locke deep inside snagging some treasure. Ahh, Locke, it has been too long! Excited to see everyone else still alive, they share a brief reunion before Celes puts two and two together. She figures that the Magicite he found deep within the dungeon was for Rachel, and she asks if they should return to Kohlingen. They depart.

At Kohlingen, Locke uses the Magicite and the power of the Phoenix Esper within to awaken Rachel. It works! -- but only very briefly. What follows is another heartfelt scene that grants Locke some closure, but also more grief, as he witnesses his beloved Rachel pass away before him. She departs with some final wisdom to Locke: her hope that he will cast off his anguish and relearn self-love and self-respect.
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