The Transformation

His friends are dead, his lover is taken captive by an unknown threat, and his best friend has turned against him. And to top it off, Cecil is alone in a strange and hostile place that is about to be even more hostile.

The city to our east is Mysidia, the same place Cecil raided days before to obtain their crystal. The residents are, as you'd expect, furious at us. They don't attack, but they alter our form or act accordingly. Everyone yells at us or runs away. Some condemn us and ask us not to kill them. The first black mage you see turns Cecil into a toad. The bartender will offer us a drink, but it's poisoned. The dancer nearby will put us in a trance, where we fall asleep and wake up as a pig. Yes, a pig. Final Fantasy IV is the only game that has Pig as a status ailment. Oddly, the shops still sell us stuff at reasonable prices. With nowhere to go, we might as well speak to the village elder.

He's not happy to see us but senses a desire for change in our heart. When asked why he's here, Cecil tells him all the details and how he wants to fix things. The Elder informs us that the Dark Sword cannot fight against the darkness and Golbez. King Fabul told us the same thing before we left. The Elder suggests doing an impossible task: climbing Mt. Ordeals. It is rumored that a holy spirit is at the top that can make anyone into a Paladin. To watch over us, the Elder sends his apprentices, Palom and Porom, the guide us. I'll never forgive Square for naming these two nearly identical names as I've never been able to tell them apart. Polom is a braggadocious black mage. His sister, Porom, is a well mannered white mage who only gets physical when knocking sense into her brother. With these two on our side, we set out the climb the unclimbable. This is a totally understandable task to send two children to do...

Far across the continent is the mountain in question. Just south is a Chocobo Forest, and we see Recordingway in here. I forgot to mention him last time, but in Fabul, after the siege, he's decided his new purpose in life is to record all the actions of the world. Now, though, he's changed his mind and just wants to camp under the stars. Campingway buys ALL of our tents for 300 Gil and leaves. Take a chocobo back to town and buy cottages; you'll need them. You can also find a white chocobo that restores MP. This was the first of two games to have a white chocobo in it. Because of that, it's a good place to level up, which your young mages will need to do for a while.

Back to Mt. Ordeals, it's blocked by a wall of fire. Polom extinguishes the flames and is proud of himself. Maybe a bit too proud as Porom knocks him on his head for being too cocky. With that aside, we can begin our ascent...or can we? The camera cuts to an unknown location with Golbez, Kain, and a tied-up Rosa. Golbez knows that Cecil is about to search for the Paladin Spirit and calls for an underling. Kain wants to be the one to kill Cecil, but Golbez mentioned how he failed last time. In comes a creature in a black cape, Scarmigilione. Scar is a ruler of undead, which Cecil's sword is powerless against. It's actually just as effective as it is against everything else, but whatever. He's also one of the four Archfiends, having power over Earth. Scar happily takes us his task and leaves.

Back to the party: Mt. Ordeals is a straightforward path. All of the mobs here are undead and stronger versions of what we fought on Mt. Hobbs. Along the way, we run in Tellah. The mages know him as the greatest sage in the world and praise him. Polam gets smacked again by being disrespectful to "the old guy." Tellah tells us he's seeking Meteor, the strongest black magic known to exist. With that at his command, even Golbez should die. The mages think a man of his age shouldn't use such a spell, but Tellah cares not if he lives or dies. All he wants vengeance for his daughter. Since we're both seeking the same location, he re-joins the party! At the top of the mountain, Porom will hear hissing and tell her brother to stop making sounds. Don't forget to hug the right cliff here to find the save point. The third time she hears the hisses, Scarmigilione shows up. He introduces himself as the Archfiend of Earth, underling of Golbez, and a boss fight starts.

Scarmigilione has four zombie shields, which a round or two of Fira should wipe out. Every time we attack him, he counters with Thunder. Keep Porom waiting to heal, and this battle is strangely simple. Return to the save point for reasons... As we walk across the bridge and get to the otherside, a voice talks to us! "Death brings about true power," and a buffed-up, monstrous Scar is behind us. Try to swamp roes in the menu before this fight as this is a back attack boss. Cecil will be in the back row, and our fragile mages will be in front to take more damage. This reminds me, this was the first game to have the Row System. Scarmigilione is still weak to fire and holy but can also be damaged with Curative magics! That's cool, but good luck getting damage out. Every time Cecil attacks, Scarmigilione will counter it. He has a move called "Gas," which infects the party with several status ailments: Blind, Silence, and Poison. Silence is debilitating for our mages, but blind isn't a big deal. I took care of poison before it, though. Cecil ended up being my chemist, as that's all he was good for. I had the twins using Twin Cast with Tellah using Cura. I've read Gas is a counter to Fira, but I used the spell more than once but saw Gas the one time. Don't be afraid to have both white mages use Cura. What's worse is I ran out of MP during the fight. I didn't heal up after round one because I was cocky. I don't know why I felt such emotions as this guy was the bane of my existence when I was a kid. He was the first major roadblock I ran into, and it showed me why here.

When we manage to win, we see a somber sight just before us. It is a gravestone. As we approach it, Cecil hears a different voice than what we heard. This voice calls out to his "son," and the party is sucked into a mirror room. The voice tells us that he's been awaiting this day, even though it would cause him more pain. Even so, the voice tells Cecil that he will grant him his power, "though in so doing, I condemn myself to sorrow greater still." A sword levitates down to Cecil, and he grabs it. His Dark Knight armor tights up and transforms into an armor of shining white and blue. But to finish the transformation, Cecil must battle his former self. A Dark Knight comes out of the mirror before us, and Cecil has another duel.

I could have sworn this was more exciting back in the day, but all you have to do is guard. It's supposed to represent that vengeance is futile and there's also a path forward without violence, but it's boring. After getting punched in the face for a minute or two, the Dark Knight poofs away, and Cecil becomes a Paladin! The light that shined earlier also triggers Tellah to remember all of his spells. Before, we only knew the basic stuff. Now, though, he has access to every white and black magic. He also learns Meteor, but he lacks the MP needed to use it. I wonder why...? With Tellah willing to die for vengeance and Cecil pure again, the kids try to tell them something but are rushed out by the death seeking Sage.

Cecil is at level 1, so I spend the next forty or so minutes leveling him up. I got to level eighteen on the zuus on the world map. When I returned to Mysidia, everyone was shocked that he could become a Paladin. The dancer still turns the party into pigs, though. Buy his new gear at the armor shop and speak to the Elder. The Elder will join the others in not believing Cecil was capable of such an act. But he was, so everyone, mostly, forgivers him. The Elder tells us of a legend about something vague that I'm not supposed to understand yet and opens the Devil's Road trade route to Baron. It was closed recently for obvious reasons. We return to Baron, where talking to everyone reveals the King has gone more mad with power, but we'll understand more...

...tomorrow.

This was such a powerful scene that I wish young me would have understood. There's always time for redemption, which, even now, is something I should look into. Not that I've done anything wrong, but I really should try to fix my life at some point. Sadly, there's no disembodied voice, or even those with a body, to guide me along. I really like Cecil, and I don't care what everyone thinks about him! How many other main characters get a total body transformation that's earned in their game?