LogFAQs > #947297920

Thanks, that's the one!

The fire-powered ship is a cool dungeon, this is already way more complex than IV's dungeons. It's pretty straightfoward really but I'm excited at there even being puzzles and things other than linear corridors, hopeful for how this will develop in the later dungeons. I like seeing the lower levels from above, this whole area gives me a Chrono Trigger vibe. There's an enemy called 'Crew Dust' which is a bit unsettling, and it takes me far too long to notice that I can fall down the chute things >_>

Into the boss room and the Queen is possessed, so we fight Liquid Flame. It has three forms including one resembling Barbarricia's cyclone thing where it heals itself. Not that easy really, I spend a lot of time Curing my party but we're never in real danger of wiping out and eventually it goes down. The crystal shatters (Yay free jobs- I mean oh no not the crystal!!) and a big friendly wolf man who knows Galuf seemingly sacrifices himself to buy us some time, and to repay him we just kinda stand there for a while. RIP Mr Wolf.

The unexpected gameplay additions aren't done yet though, because it's time for a classic Metroid-style escape countdown before the castle blows up! We have 10 minutes and I figure it's probably an overly generous countdown so I'm not too bothered, but then I spot some chests and it becomes clear what the actual challenge is here- whether I can resist my own greed and stroll outside or if I'll make it hard for myself and try to gorge on every Elixir imaginable. Of course I try to open all the chests, I even get a big side one at the end of a bunch of stairs, head to the front door with a minute left aaand the last bad guy is a bit harder than the others and has a True Form, time out, restart. >_>

Second time round I skip some of the chests (The Gigas enemy is so annoying, it's not a threat but the constant casting of Aero that disrupts ATB is ughhh. At least we learn Aero though!), making sure to get the equipment ones I remember (Ribbon, Main Gauche, Lightning Scroll, couple others I think), and we wipe the final Sergeant before he can even turn into the Iron Claw this time! Karnak Castle is no more, and we receive three of the crystal shards- Beastmaster, Geomancer, and Ninja. Geo and Ninja I used a lot in Tactics so I'm hype for those. I think Beastmaster is new to me!

So far I am very impressed at how improved the gameplay is from IV. Not that IV's was bad but it was pretty basic in establishing what would become the new blueprint for the series, and this has iterated on that way more than I thought it would considering their respective reputations.

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Congrats to azuarc, Guru Champion 2020!