The One Where Rydia Saves Everyone

We last left off just outside of The Underground Waterway before Damcyan. As we approach...

We should have stayed underground. Three airships, The Red Wings, approach from the east. They fly over the castle and destroy it from the skies. As the team enters the ruins of Damcyan, we see the bodies of her knights dead on the floor. One of them is still alive and informs us that Baron attacked. At the top of the castle is the dead body of a woman in a golden yellow dress. Tellah knows who the girl is: Anna.
 
A man steps out of the shadows nearby, and Tellah starts attacking him. This is the "spoony bard" that Anna ran away with. We then watch an auto battle fight, where our sage physically attacks the bard. Bardo just takes it. In time, they hear the voice of Anna telling them to stop. Anna is still alive but only just. She informs her father of why she ran away. The bard she loves is Edward, the Prince of Damcyan. He disguised himself to mingle with his people. She had plans to return to Kaipo because she wanted her father's blessing, but Edward, the man who just showed up, takes it from here. Edward says Golbez and The Red Wings attacked the castle to steal the crystal. Golbez is a fearsome human who killed everyone. Edward was to be killed, but Anna stepped in front of the arrows and took the attack. Tellah wonders how she loves Ed that much, but confusion quickly gives way to anger. Anna's last words are to Edward: "I love you," and Tellah plots revenge.

While Edward weeps over his lost love, Tellah swears to kill Golbez. He, in his way, tells Edward to stop crying and goes off to find his daughter's killer. Tellah leaves the party to get his vengeance. Edward keeps crying until Rydia calls him a coward. Men don't cry, and if a little girl stopped crying, a Prince should as well. Edward agrees with Rydia that he's a coward and promises to stay next to Anna. Cecil walks up and slaps him, telling him that everyone else is grieving. We need his help to save Rosa, which triggers Ed to come to his senses. Edward promises that he'll help save Rosa because she means the same to Cecil as Anna did to him. He tells us how to get there and provides us a hovercraft for the travel. As the party leaves, Edward looks back to Anna and tells her, "Farewell, my love."

Edward is the bard of the group. He's best at buffing the party and casting status effects on opponents. He's generally pretty terrible, but he can be useful if you plan to use him as a Regen bot. Most players hate him, and I'm one of them.

The hovercraft lets us reach the Antlion's Nest and return to Kaipo via small rocks in the ocean. I headed straight for the nest. Inside are a lot of insignificant creatures who die fast: Goblins, Flans, etc. There's also the adamantoise, which comes earlier than it does in most games. Flans don't have high physical defense, so they're really boring. Explore the three floors, get the completion rewards, and head to the bottom. There, Edward will try to get a Sand Ruby. Antlions are usually docile, even in mating seasons. This time, though, she attacks!

Our third boss battle introduces us to physical changes and counters. When the antlion has white eyes, it counters physical attacks (I think). When it has red eyes, it'll counter magic attacks. The counter for either move will be Pincers, which isn't that strong. Defend/wait if you want to. I had Edward using the Bardsong Life's Anthem to cast Regen on the party the whole time. At the end of the day, it's an easy fight. Afterwards, Edward finds the Sand Ruby/Pearl, and we return to Kaipo. Using the Ruby on Rosa will wake her up. She'll tell her boyfriend she was worried when she heard Cecil had died in the earthquake at Myst and went to search for him. Cecil introduces her to the party, but she's still a little weak. Despite that, Rosa still plans to travel with us. Cecil doesn't want her to, but she's pretty adamant. Edward tells the Dark Knight that Rosa wants to be with him no matter what, and Cecil gives in. Love conquers all! The team plans to head to Fabul, the likely next destination of Baron, as they have the Wind Crystal. Rather than head out now, they give Rosa another night of rest.

That night...
Edward walks out of the house we're staying in and heads to the oasis' edge. He's attacked by a sahagin! Edward can kinda hold his own, but he's urged on by the ghost of Anna. She tells him how much she cares for him and believes in him to save the world. Edward returns to the others a more emotionally empowered man. We then set out for Mt. Hobbs, the range between Damcyan and Fabul. When we get there, we see a massive ice wall blocking our path. Normally, a black mage could make quick work of this wall, but ours is afraid of fire. Rydia saw the flames destroy her hometown and has built a phobia around it. She's only seven years old, so it makes sense. Rosa, though, tries her best to encourage her. She warns the young girl that her overcoming her fears will lead to us saving many people. It's a lot better than how I would have put it, which would be cast Fire, or everyone'll die. Rosa's way is slightly less traumatic. She may have been pensive, but Rydia overcomes her fear and (re) learns Fire! Peer pressure works, kids!
 
We can now travel to Fabul, home of the monks. All the monsters here seem to attack in groups of six. There's a lot of undead, which are weak to fire, and a few spirits that don't like holy. They die to one Cecil attack, regardless. If you stopped at Damcyan before heading here and found the secret treasure room, Rosa should have Holy Arrows and a Bow. This is the only time her DPS will be good! At the top of this screen are two exits. The left path takes us to a save point and treasures, and the right takes us onward. On the next screen, we'll see a lone man taking on a small squad of goblins. He makes quick work of them. But we then see a large bomb approaching. We decide to step in and aid the monk, and he needs it. This fight has three stages.
Her first form is that of a normal bomb but with a few more HP.
The second form has her turning into a giant tomato stain. In this stage, she just charges up an explosion. At 1, the monk tells us she's planning to explode and that we should defend. I had Cecil and Yang Defend (Brace) but forgot to do so with everyone else. Rosa somehow survived, though. Even with Protect on us, it killed Edward and Rydia.
In the third stage, we're up against six bombs. All of them die in one hit, but they, like their mother, can also explode on us. I managed to revive Rydia, so the important characters got EXP.

Afterwards, the monk will introduce himself as Yang of Fabul. He and his army came out to Mt. Hobbs to train but were attacked by these mobs. He is the only survivor. When Cecil introduces everyone, he still takes the blame for destroying Rydia's village. After, he warns him of Baron's approach. Rosa suggests it was they who attacked the monks. Yang joins the group, and we head to Fabul. FFIV is the only game in the series to feature a party of five. I don't know if I love it, but I'm not against it. It gives us even more room to play with, but I kinda feel like that fifth member is a bit of a hanger-on, ya know?

At Fabul, the monks guarding the castle will lament the loss of their brethren, but we're to see the King. If we explore, Yang's Wife yells at us for not talking to the King, a dancer..."woman" can confuse us, and we can sleep in the King's bed for a tent. When we finally speak to the King, we warn him, but he doesn't seem to believe it. Cecil is a Dark Knight, a stalwart legion of Baron, so why should he? Yang's word can only go so far, so Edward steps up. The Damcyan Prince manages to convince the King of the dangers lurking. The King asks us to provide aid to Fabul, which we agree to just in time. Baron's siege of Fabul is, conveniently, just about to begin. Edward and Cecil join Yang at the frontline while the women hang back to heal the injured.

The next segment has us constantly fighting staged battles. Usually, we're against knights, but sometimes we fight monsters. Each time we do, we have to retreat for some reason. The first fallback makes sense; the airships started attacking us. But why do we need to fall back to a narrow flank if we already have one? My poor grasp of warfare aside, we end up needing to retreat all the way back to the crystal room. As we get there, a lone knight approaches us.

Kain?

He demands the Wind Crystal and even fights Cecil over it. The fight between them is a one-on-one duel but is pretty easy. Kain pretty much lets us beat up on him in between his weak jumps. I think one of them even missed. I got a three-to-one ratio out of it. But our attacks don't seem to affect him. As Kain goes to attack us again, Rosa calls out to him, making our Dragoon, former, friend stagger. Edward and Yang attack, but they're thrown aside with ease. Kain and Rosa have a moment where she almost manages to make him snap back to reality, but then our real enemy appears. Golbez, clad in black and gold, comes into the room. He takes notice of Kain's fondness for Rosa, and he whisks her into his interdenominational cape, where she disappears before our eyes. The men of the group try to attack, but we're Force Lightninging. Kain is ordered to take the crystal, which he does, and the two walkout. Kain congratulates us on surviving. Rydia is the only one still standing, so she casts Cure on the rest of the party.
 
When we speak to King Fabul the next morning, we agree to sneak into Baron via the sea. Our next target is the talk to Cid. He might know how to weaken the Red Wings, thus giving the rest of the world a chance. Baron's navy is weak, so a ship should be able to get through. The King hires a ship, and we head to the docks to the north. Yang's wife meets us and gives us the Counter Augment, and everyone else sets sail. En route, we're reminded of the plan. Shortly thereafter, though, things get changed. High winds assail the ship, and massive waves impact her. The sailors on hoard scream in fear as the legendary Leviathan shows itself from under the waters. Rydia falls into the raging ocean, and Yang jumps in to save her. Edward is knocked out as we see Leviathan break the water and attack. The screen goes white...

...Cecil wakes up, alone, on a beach just west of a city. We'll see what's in store tomorrow.

Rydia was my first waifu before that word was even in the zeitgeist. I've always liked her attitude and the way she treats Edward. Her ability to overcome all the trials before her was amazing. It's a bit shallow in 2021 and in my thirties, but when you're just learning to read in the late 90s, she was something, alright.