The party enters the Red Moon's Crystal Palace for the final time. Behind where we met Fusuya are the Moon's eight crystals. If we talk to them, they tell us stuff we should already know. In the middle of this room is the teleporter down to the Lunar Subterranean.
"The Baron Red Wings" plays as we head to the center of the Moon. This is a long, perilous maze that kinda sucks. Actually, it's probably a perfect Final Dungeon that isn't much different from other titles from the time. It's eleven floors down, and it took me two days to fully explore it all. The first seven has us walking on rocky terrain, looking for secret passages, and searching caves. The last three are made of what appears to be crystalline in nature. The random battles are also different down here, but we'll get to them later.
The most common mobs are what we found in the Bahamut's Lair. However, there also several types of dragons down here, as well as a giant robot. Ahrimen are also common on floor four. Many of the treasure chests are defended by a somewhat random assortment of local mobs. Everything down here is worth getting. Kain (Dragon), Cecil (Crystal), and Edge (Black Garb) all find their best armor down here. Rydia and Rosa also have the Minerva Bustier, but it's not great for their magic stats, so we won't be using it. Rosa does find a White Robe down here, so only Rydia misses out. Rydia does have her best weapons in the Subterranean, so not all is lost. But the best weapons for the men are behind some truly diabolical bosses. Zemus has sealed the power of their Ultimate Weapons behind minions to protect them from our hands.
The first I found was the Murasame. This is the first of Edge's ultimate weapons because he can dual wield! It is protected by the White Dragon, which should not be confused with the Myst Dragon Rydia's mom summoned. It can counter all elemental magic which a likewise elemental spell. It will also respond to all summons. It also counters all physical attacks with slow, so cast slow on it before you do anything. Believe it or not, it does have its own actions that aren't tied to what the player does. It can attack with Maelstrom, leaving the whole party with critical HP. Have Rosa waiting for a Curaja at all times. Accept the slow and have Rydia use Flare.
Next up Cecil's actual best sword, The Ragnarok! We have to beat up Dark Bahamut, who is a lot harder than regular Bahamut. Like the White Dragon, DB counters a lot of things. All summons will be met with a Megaflare, and magic causes the user to be hit with average Flare, assuming you can get past Reflect. Bahamut's basic actions are casting Reflect and bouncing Flare off of himself. Regular attacks also retort with physical attacks. I didn't see it, but Bahamut's attacks can result in Insta Death. He starts the battle with a Megaflare, but even Edge should survive it. Heal lots and lots, and hope the randomness of a Reflected Flare won't hit the same character twice.
In the room to the east of the B6 Save Point room is the Holy Lance for Kain. It's guarded by the Plague Horror, a hyped up version of the Ahriman. It casts Doom on the whole party, so we only have a set amount of time to kill him. Fortunately, this guy is simple. Go into full on attack mode. I think I even had Rydia and Rosa attacking as well, but Holy and Flare would probably have been better. Rosa should only do one Holy as PH will cast Protect and Shell on himself on his fourth and fifth turn. Dispel them.
To the east of that room is the Lunasuar. It likes to cast Bad Breath, which functions like a Marlboro attack of lore. It changes its pattern once struck with a physical attack, though. Once hit, it casts Reflect on itself and will bounce Bio off itself on to us. Since Rosa can't cast Holy, have her heal every turn. Rydia should still use Ifrit or Bahamut even though Lunasaur will cast "Heal" on itself in response. Alternatively, since Lunasuar is an undead. Use a few Elixers. I got a lot of them looking for tails, so you should have plenty. Casting Reflect on your whole party and using Curaja on them will also do a lot of damage. Lunasaur was defending two Ribbons, so it's a bit poetic he uses Bad Breath.
From here on are the final four floors of this place. The mobs are a lot harder or have some interesting lore about them. You'll run into a lot of Behemoths down here, as well as something called a Deathmask. Its strategy is to either Reflect magic off of him or spam Laser Barrage. It's probably better to run, honestly. There are also a few guys called Zemus' Breath and Zemus' Malice. One will cast Libra on the party to inform Zemus of what he's going to be up against, and the other is a boring mob with a lot of HP and attack power. I don't think the Libra fella actually affects the final boss, but it's a nice story, regardless.
But the final Ultimate Weapon for Edge is down here. The Ogopogo guards the Masamune. He looks and functions a lot like Leviathan in the Feymarch. You should expect a lot of water attacks but don't use Lightning magic. I think Ramauh was fine, though? Heal lots and good luck.
As we get deeper and deeper into the Lunar Core, we see the center of the Red Moon in the background. In the room just after this is the lair of Zemus, himself. Fusuya and Golbez beat us here as we see a scripted battle between them. Golbez casts -ga Black Magic spells, and Fusuya casts White Magic debuffs, that kinda work, and Holy. To put the finishing touches on the great evil, they decide to combine their powers into one Twin Meteor! It does 99999 damage, and Zemus dies.
Edge runs forward to remark that we're too late, and the rest of the party congratulates Fusy and Golby. But it doesn't last long... From the body of Zemus comes a voice telling us that it is hatred that gives him life. Black miasma spews from the spirit of Zeromus, and Golbez prepares to keep his vow of revenge. He and Fusuya enter another battle with the tendriled being. They both cast Meteor, but they do 0 damage. Golbez tries to use the Crystal, but nothing happens. Zeromus says no man of darkness can ever use such an item and will only stain it further. Zeromus casts his own Meteor that wipes wipe the two combatants, as well as our party. As Cecil, Rosa, and the others lie there defenseless, we return to the Tower of Prayer in Mysidia. All of our friends are there. One of the twins senses that we're in trouble and starts a prayer for us. Everyone says something, and we cut back to the party. Golbez has landed near Cecil and is barely alive. Cecil calls out to his "brother," and Golbez hands him the Crystal he tried to use on Zeromus moments before. The prayers from the Blue Planet reach Cecil, who manages to regain some stamina. He stands up and prepares to fight Zeromus.
The final battle begins, but our party is as critically close to dead as can be. Cecil has one HP, and everyone else is KOed. The images of our friends and their cheering of us on reach us. Polom and Porom cause everyone to be revived. Edward and the spirit of Tellah restore the HP to Rosa and Rydia. Yang and Cid give Edge and Kain their life. Finally, Golbez and Fusuya give Cecil back his HP. From here, we're in a stand-off. Zeromus does nothing, and our attacks do even less. To bring the fight in full, use the Crystal Golbez gave to Cecil. He's the only one who can use it. However, buff up before you do. Cast Haste, Shell, and Protect on everyone. If you're playing the SNES version, steal the Dark Matter. It doesn't do anything in the version, but you want it anyway because it exists. I had Kain Focus for three turns but ended up blowing it because I have bad timing. When you're ready, use the Crystal. It'll take a moment, but Zeromus begins to groan in pain and starts to change shape. He turns into his final form, and the fight commences properly. From here, go full out. Attack, attack, Focused attack, Bahamut, and Holy. I had four turns of free reign, even if Zero used Black Hole to remove the buffs on his first turn. He used Big Bang twice, but I don't think it did any damage on the first go around. From here, have Rosa wait to heal incase he does something that hurts. I made the mistake of letting Rosa attack only to be struck by a Meteor/Big Bang combo, wiping out my whole party except Cecil. Cecil had just enough speed, though, and was able to get four attacks in, which was enough to kill Zeromus. Even with my grind, I still had problems with my mortal enemy. Thank you, Tails!
With Zeromus' dying breath, he screams at the party that he can never die. He will always exists in the darkness of man! Fusuya wonders if the power gap between the Lunarians and the Earthlins has been shortened and outright surpassed, but we then turn our concerns to Zero's last words. As long as darkness lies in the hearts of men, he will always be around. When everyone wonders what could mean, Fusuya tells us that darkness will lie in the hearts of man. But so will light. Our light should always be stronger than Zemus' darkness. Edge says something cocky, and Rydia tells him off. Fusy tells us he's gonna go back to sleep, and Rosa says our friends are waiting. Golbez walks towards us and asks the Lunarian if he can join him. Golbez believes he can't return to the Blue Planet after what he's done and wants to meet his lineage. Fusuya warns him of what that means, but he comes anyway. Golbez tells Cecil how nice it was to be called brother despite all the suffering he's caused. They walk away, but our party asks Cecil if he's really going to let his brother walk away. Cecil tells Golbez, "Farewell, brother," and Golbez turns around. His dark armor falls off, and we can see Theodore's smiling face for the first time. It hangs on the faces of the son of Kluya before the camera cuts to space.
We see the Planet and its two moons revolve around the sun as we see the Lunar Whale go back to sleep beneath the waves near Mysidia. We now see our characters in their final story moments.
The twins are in Mysidia getting their daily lecture from the Elder. The male one is missing, so the female one goes to find him. He's telling a fair young maiden how he helped saved the world but is interrupted by the scolding sister. The two return to the Elder, who punishes Polom (?), much to his chagrin.
Edge has reluctantly taken his birthright as King of Eblan. He keeps thinking about Rydia, and his chancellor keeps telling him to focus.
Speaking of Rydia, she's in the Feymarch with the King and Queen. A random denizen shows up and wonders the difference between humans and eidolons. Rydia says there is no difference, and the royal family remark how much things are going to change.
Yang has taken the throne of Fabul, even though the former King is still there. He's standing right behind him! Shiela refuses the get the hang of formal speech, and Yang is more interested in training. He runs off while his wife and former liege talk about great he'll make Fabul.
Edward is overseeing the rebuilding of Damcyan. Three kids show up and ask him to retell the tale of The Paladin. Ed will only do so after they've done their chores, so they all run off. He talks to Anna and asks her to wait for him a while longer. He hopes she and Tellah are resting well.
King Giott and the dwarves are repairing the castle from the Red Wing assault. They lack the necessary supplies, so the King tells them to dismantle the tanks since they won't need them. Giott tells Luca that Cecil and Rosa are to be King and Queen of Baron, and they're invited to the ceremony. One of the workers tells him that he's not helping, so he gets mad they all run away.
Kain is alone on Mt. Ordeals. He removes his helmet, revealing long blonde hair, and tells the aether that he refuses to see Cecil and Rosa until he's atoned for all he's done. It takes seventeen years until he does, so I kinda hate this.
We return to the astronomer in Agart, who's noticing something strange about the moons. We cut to space and see the same revolving scene we saw before the Lunar Whale landed. In time, though, one of the moons leaves the Planet's orbit and flies away.
Cecil and Rosa are in his room, just like they were when the game began. Cecil says he thinks he heard a voice, but it could have been his imagination. Cid runs in and tells the two to cut out the lovey-dovey until later as the day is too beautiful to lounge around. Cid gets asked not to call them King and Queen as they're friends before anything, and Cid runs off to prepare for the ceremony. Rosa remarks that it's been a while since they've seen everyone and then leaves to get ready herself. Cecil still thinks he heard Theodore say, "Farewell."
Finally, we return to the Baron throne room. Cecil is his Paladin gear, and Rosa is a queenly dress of white. Baron soldiers and mages are on either side as our traveling companions greet them. There's no dialog but plenty of pantomiming.
Edge is first and says something to Rosa before Cid pushes him away.
Giott and Luca enter and are as proper as can be.
Yang enters and shakes Cecil's hand.
Palom and Porom walk up, and the boy one climbs into the King's throne. He's told off by girl one but tries to talk to Luca before joining the order.
Edward is next.
Rydia is afterwards, and Edge tries to act like she's not there.
Cid walks up to place the crown on King Cecil's head. While the soldiers and mages overact in hilarious fashion with high jumps, hugging, and swan dives into people piles. The party mates rejoice with a round of applause as the credits roll.
We see Kluya, young Theodore, and Cecilia staring at the Blue Planet with the words "The End" over it all.
Namingway asks tells us about save data and NG+ as we're booted to the main menu.
The End!
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