But you all knew that already. I said I wanted to crush Kefka tomorrow, but that ain’t happening. Tomorrow is tomorrow; tonight is now! I accomplished nothing. PS: I’m gonna edit this until I storm the final dungeon. I made a giant post at the start, and I’ll end with a giant post at the end.
What I did do was get Raiden and found Terra’s extra dialogue. It’s one line and boring...
Next up was taking Cyan, Sabin, and Gau to meet Gau’s dad. He’s the crazy person who wanted us to fix the clock at the start of Sabin's story. He still wants us to fix things even after the world has ended. We walk out of the house, and the wheels start spinning in Sabin’s head. He wants to reintroduce the two to each other. We fly to Jidoor, and some mildly funny scenes happen. The party tries to teach Gau manners and grammar and then go buy him new clothes. They return and learn Gau’s backstory: his father thought he was a demon. One day, he took his demon child onto the Veltd and left him there. Before Sabin can punch the guy, Gau stops him. The dad says that Gau, in his flashy digs, is a good kid who any father would be proud of, and the party is leaves. Gau says he’s happy that his dad is still alive. Gau’s better than I think he is. He’s a good person, but I still think he’s a bad character. Maybe in a different game...
My next task was finding Blue Magic. I had wanted to do Ebot’s Rock tonight, but I ran out of time. We found all the good ones: Aero, Big Guard, Doom. Most of the rest are on the Veldt, which is too random, or in bosses and late-game mobs, so who knows if I'll be getting the rest.
Lastly, I took Locke back to Narshe for that thing I’ve been dreading. In one of the treasures chests is a fight with three Pugs. Locke can steal the best female armor from them, Minerva’s Bustier. They’re also supposed to drop one. Sadly, everything sucked. I won but gained nothing new. Despite trying for ten minutes, Locke failed to steal anything. Locke sucks.
I also found Doomgaze for the first time and felled the Blue Dragon in Narshe. There are six more to go.
I felt like I did more, but I guess I didn’t. I will do the last two dungeons tomorrow and, hopefully, finish things on Friday. I’m giving myself a hard deadline of Sunday to finish the game. I really dig the quality and quantity of extra stuff in Final Fantasy VI.
From here on out is day two of pre-final dungeon prep. Today involved taking down the last two proper dungeons.
First up was Ebot’s Rock, so return to Thamasa with Relm and Strago. Despite it being the end of the world, Strago is relieved that everything seems fine. Relm ran ahead but hurriedly returns. She says a man named Gungho, an old friend of Strago’s, is hurt, and the two go to his side. Gungho says that Ebot’s Rock has risen from the ocean and a beast called Hidon, along with it. Hidon is a monster that Strago and Gunho hunted decades ago but were never able to slay. Gungho gave it a try, but that’s why he’s injured now. Strago leaves, promising to get revenge. Relm wants to come, but her grandpa says this is something he needs to do alone. Despite saying that, nothing changes if you bring a full party, even one including Relm, along.
Ebot’s Rock is straight north of the town and is a small cave with an odd gimmick. Navigation is difficult because vision is limited. You also randomly teleport around when you step on a plate. To advance, we need to find 22 pieces of coral, in one lump sum, located in randomly placed chests throughout the dungeon. In the second room of the place is a sentient chest that eats the coral. When it’s sated, the chest steps aside, seemingly unwillingly, and clears the way to Hidon, himself.
Hidon is joined by five Hidonites. Each has an elemental weakness and strength, but three died with no problem before I could figure them out. One has reflect on, which is the only real problem here. Ideally, you don’t want to beat Hidon too fast. I don’t know what triggers it, but Hidon has a Blue Spell that only he can teach. Ultimately, Sabin does his OP stuff and easily kills the ancient beast. Strago takes credit, and we return to Thamasa.
We inform Gungho that his nemesis is dead, and he gets out of bed in a fashion reminiscent of the old dude from the first Willy Wonka movie. He doesn’t dance, but he does have some overreactions. That night the two men recall their youth until Strago falls asleep. Relm thanks Gungho for acting, which only Strago could fall for, and we wake up the next day.
Last up today was a dungeon that took two hours to successfully finish. And even more in failed attempts... The Cultists Tower is surrounded by mountains on the risen Serpent’s Trench. The gimmick is characters can only use the magic command. Not even Lore can be used. This takes quite a bit of pre-planning before climbing. Ideally, bring as many Fire Shields as you can and cast Float on everyone. Equip a Wall Ring on everyone too. Enemies can also only use magic, so reflect negates MOST of the spells. Float removes another (Quake), and Fire Shields cancel a third (Merton). You’re still not safe, but you’re as close as you can be. Level60 and Level80 Magics are the only things to be wary of. Lastly, you’re gonna need a lot of MP or expensive tinctures because there are no save points to tent up at.
Once you’re ready, it’s a very straight forward climb. Climb fifty flights of stairs, open the four (and one hidden) chests, kill the Holy Dragon, and gain a lot of AP. Mobs don’t give EXP or Gold, but it’s the best place to learn spells. At the top is a room that contains a Gem Box. The Gem Box allows the user to Duel Cast magic. As we try to leave, two dozen cultists join us. They’re upset because we stole Kefka’s favorite thing, and a ghost attacks us.
There are two methods of doing this. Option one is to cast Rasp 82488484 times to drain Magic Master’s MP, making his last attack fail. Option two is to treat it like a normal fight. He changes his element weakness and strengths every time he attacks, and is attacked, so it can be really tedious. Ultimately, he’s easier than most of the mobs we’ve fought getting up here. But he has one tricky last-ditch move against us. Once he dies, he’ll cast Ultima on us. It does over 5000 damage to everyone. So, for even more preparation in this dungeon, use Phoenix’s Life 3 on everyone. Life 3 is re-raise, so the party, or whoever it was cast on, will be revived upon death. It’s unaffected by reflect, so as your will.
All the cultists are gone when we return from the battle, and we take the long climb down. Warp doesn’t work here... There is still a conga line of cultists at the bottom, but, otherwise, all is well.
I leave, save, and call it a night.
We’re mostly out of story now. Shadow still has some, but I won’t go through the tedium of sleeping in beds in hopes of a flashback scene. The scenes show him go from murderous bandit, to traitor, to father, to deadbeat dad of Relm. Yeah, he’s Relm’s dad, and that’s why Interceptor liked her. Nothing comes from this knowledge, so who cares? That means all that’s left is a Penta-Dragon Hunt, maybe some colosseum stuff, and some final levels for Kefka’s three partied dungeon. But probably not Doomgaze. Sorry, Bahamut.
Day Three:
Today I found some of the missing Dragons. There’s one in the Opera House, another in the Ancient Castle, and the last one that isn’t in the final dungeon was in Mt. Zozo. There are still two more, but they’re in Kefka’s Tower. I’m pretty sure the point of no return is dropping in there, so I’ll have to wait.
And that’s all. We’re finally out of things to do. There are still a few items we can find in the colosseum but, since it’s random and we can’t control our character, I’m not doing it. I don’t like gambling, and the rewards, while nice, won’t change any outcomes. I spent the rest of the night grinding spells and levels. I’m half done, so I’ll finish it tomorrow. Sunday WILL be the final night of Final Fantasy VI. I’m ready.
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