What makes a good Final Fantasy character (and others)? pt.1 Deaths

Playing Final Fantasy III and reaching Aria got me thinking about some stuff. What makes a good character? Are there any differences between main, playable, or secondary allies? What about villains? It has me thinking about a long series of essays to poorly attempt to answer those questions. My first point of discussion will start with a topic that everyone thinks about, death. Not ours, for once, but character deaths. There are a few that come to mind right away, but does that help or hinder them? How does it compare to others? What if they're stupid?
 

How will I decide this esoteric ruling? Rules!
1.) The character must be an ally at some point in the game. Flashbacks will not count, Sephiroth! They don't have to be playable, though.
2.) They have to remain dead. If they're revived, then they don't count. They can appear as a ghost, but they cannot be tangible. This also removes those who don't actually perish. Not sorry, Yang.
3.) We have to see them die. Off screen executions are boring, and if we don't see it, you probably weren't significant, to begin with. Ambiguity is also punished.
4.) Characters must die. If you can save them via a decision and get a different ending, then they're not here. I don't think this applies to Final Fantasy, but it might be for future series.
5.) Post final battle deaths don't count. I don't know why, but it just feels cheaty. Otherwise, Jin, Auron, and Tidus would own the top spots. Maybe it's something similar to flashback deaths; I don't know. But the demise needs to happen during controllable gameplay hours. If you can (or should) put your controller down, it's a loss of points. They will get an honorable mention, though.
6.) I know the title is about Final Fantasy, but I might want to make this FF adjacent, just for a broader array of options. Because the Xenosaga games are similar to Xenogears, a game also developed by Square, they count. Anything created by Enix is open for discussion. Any other RPG is removed from this, but I'll probably mention them at various times if I like them.
 

Not a rule, per se, but playable characters will be a higher score. Now, before I get into the nitty gritty, let's introduce the characters worth mentioning. After all, it's their personalities, context, and value that aids them in being good characters, dead or otherwise.
 
 
Final Fantasy I has only one death, which I'm being very liberal with. Robot in the waterfall is the closest that FFI has to fit here. It shares little personality, though, and bears no weight on the story afterwards. Also, it's not playable, but I do want to recognize its existence.
 
 
Final Fantasy II introduced a lot of characters who fit this bill. It's a bit of a trope, and it sorta ruins anyone from feeling special in this matter. I'm going to look past the trope part and look only at the character in a vacume. The story of the game is pretty dark. It's about a tyrannical Emperor trying to take over the world by military force. There is no supernatural stuff about him, at least until the very end. Nearly every place is air bombed, and many random citizens perish in the war: NPCs, named characters, and even those in your party.
 
Josef is always the first that comes to my mind when I think about the game. Despite that, he's only around for one dungeon, and his post death relevance isn't very high. I think it has more plot in Final Fantasy IX than II. However, he dies, sacrificing himself, to allow us to escape a direct attack from the Emperor's lackey. Josef isn't a one off character and has a family we see. In fact, telling Nelly about her father is an optional decision that can tug at the heartstrings. Writing this up makes me want to play the Dawn of Souls stuff just to see more of him.
 
Minwu is a white mage that stays with you for a long chunk of time. He's the one who saves the party from death at the start of the game if I remember right. He's a helpful guide for the first twenty percent of the game and tells us all the fun stuff in the world. His death is another sacrifice, this time for Ultima. But Ultima sucks, so it's a real disappointment. Because of his closeness to the party and Queen Hilda, he is referenced down the line.
 
Ricard is the first dragoon in Final Fantasy. His back story is that he's the last dragoon because of an attack by Palamecia. We met him in the stomach of Leviathan, becoming the fourth party member for a while. He's even around when we see what happens to Minwu. We met his "family," even before we met him, and we can inform them of his death. We can even have them meet to gain more backstory on them and Deist to make it deeper. Ricard sacrifices himself to protect us from the revived Emperor just before the final dungeon's march. If we return to Deist after this, we can gain the Excalibur and get a not-so-happy ending for Elena and Kain.
 
Cid comes off as a coldhearted character who doesn't let us love him. He's a business first type of guy who only permits us to partake of his services if we pay him. He only opens up on his death bed after being betrayed by Palamecia. His final gift is this airship, which feels kinda random. He's not a party member, but he is the first Cid, which is why I bring him up.
 
Scott: I don't remember this guy at all. More importantly, he's not playable in the main game and only in the Dawn of Souls.
 
There's also someone named Paul, but I also don't remember anything about him. He's not playable, either.
 

Final Fantasy III is a colorful game that belies a dark underbelly. It doesn't have as many deaths, but the ones it does have feel more powerful.
 
Aria is an essential character. She's the only thing keeping the world from being drowned in darkness as she's the last Maiden of the Crystal. She has the first theme in the franchise, and it's one of the saddest. Her death is another sacrifice to keep Krakian from killing the main character. But she's only around for one dungeon, and no one brings her up after we leave the Cave of Tides. She's not playable in the NES version, but she's a guest that works well enough in the DS remake, where she's a white mage. In the real world, her theme has had several rearrangements, and it just keeps getting more and more emotional.
 
Doga and Unei are the first duo. They're wise elders who tell us pretty much the entirety of the plot. Like Aria, they're not playable on the NES, but they function like black mages on the DS. They test out our strength, and it ends up killing them. But that was the plan the whole time, so I suppose that was a sacrifice. They show up later with our living friends to save us from the Cloud of Darkness. They have ties to the villain, Xande, making them very important to the whole story.
 
The Warriors of Dark are an alternative version of us. They're not playable at all and don't have much personality with their twelve lines. They sacrifice themselves after we save them from lackeys, weakening the Cloud of Darkness. This allows us to take her out and maintain the balance between worlds.  

Final Fantasy IV is where the trope of people dying becomes a joke; mostly because so few actually die. For this argument, though, the list is short. IV is another dark game with a lot of death. It starts with the main character killing people. And then he does it again. And then it just keeps happening everywhere he goes.
 
Tellah is a long standing playable character. He functions as a wise granddad and sage, keeping us both alive with heals and doing damage with magic. He tries to kill the final boss with a sacrificial Meteor right before our eyes. Despite the condemnation a lot of people have for the trope of FFIV, Tellah is the first actual death in IV. He's also the only. Because he's so involved with so many characters, everyone feels for his loss, and he stays relevant. Rydia, Edward, Cecil, Yang, Cid, Rosa... He shows up at the end to help restore our spirits against Zeromus.
 
Anna is a pivotal character to Tellah and Edward. We see her final moments and hear her last words just after we witness Cecil's former colleges, the Red Wings, bomb Damcyan. She's never in the party and only helps Edward to be less of a wuss. She also aids us against Zeromus with her father.
 

Final Fantasy V is sometimes called comedic, and some say it doesn't take itself too seriously. Despite that, it's not all fun and games, and there are a lot of heavy scenes.
 
Galuf joins the party at the very start of the game and stays around until world three. He leaves at one point, and the party feels empty and boring, proving how important he is. His death is a sacrifice to save his granddaughter (and us) from Exdeath. His powers go to Krille, which makes it a moot point from a gameplay perspective. Of all the heroics thus far in the franchise, I think his is the coolest.
 
Syldra isn't playable but a beast of burden/friend/pet of Faris. Early on, she sacrifices herself to a water creature so that we may continue on after the winds die. Faris keeps talking about her through the game, and she ends up becoming a summon towards the end.
 
Warriors of Light MK1/Warriors of Dawn. One dies off screen (Dorgann) but is the father of Bartz. Another is Galuf, who deserves his own spot. The other two are sacrifices. Xexat dies after giving us his submarine to sneak into Exdeath's castle, but I don't remember how Kelger died. All four of them aid us in the Void against Exdeath.
 

Final Fantasy VI is widely agreed to be one of the greatest RPGs ever made. The back of this claim is how well written many of the characters are. While no core member dies, a game's cast is more than just who appears in battle. The guests, friends, and allies we meet along the way are of utmost importance.
 
General Leo is widely agreed to be a rad, heroic dude, beloved by all who've played FFVI. He has an iconic death scene against Kefka that affects the entire party considerably, especially Terra and Celes. Leo has a connection to Cyan, as well. He may have battle commands, but he's only playable in one staged fight.
 
Elayne and Owain and the family of beleaguered Cyan. They alter the outlook of our samurai, but we never get to know them before they die. They keep appearing throughout the game, asking for aid in the dream world. Cyan can't let them go, and he uses their memory to guide his actions until the end of the game with Lola and beyond.
 
Espers have a mass die off several times in the game and aren't unique. Very few of them have personalities. Only Ramah, Shiva, and Ifrit matter. Maduin is also interesting, but he's linked to Terra and could have his own thing, But he dies off screen and in a flashback. And now I wonder why he's equippabale?
 
Final Fantasy VII is the game that got me hooked on RPGs. It's also the game that comes up when people think about character deaths. It was Square's first foray into 3D and massive storytelling, and it changed the face of gaming the moment it dropped. It hit every note the developers wanted, and the sales numbers showcase that. But the graphics and hype aren't why it's so beloved. It's the characters and the plot. Those, twenty five years later, still hold up. And there's one in particular that everyone points out to...

I wrote a love letter about Aerith already, several, so I'll spare the details again. The gist is: The entire Compilation revolves around her, her lineage, and she saves the world again in the movie. Without her, none of "this" happens.

Zack gets his own game! A seemingly minor character with only one optional scene actually carries much of the Compilation on his shoulders. He's the reason Cloud lives and goes on to save the world. It is hus cells that implores Cloud to follow Aerith, Zack's love interest. Hell, I'm pretty sure he's the basis for all of Cloud's personality in the game. Getting rid of Zack made him bland and gloomy in the movie and books, so Zack really carried the weight across three entries. Despite knowing how Crisis Core will end, many of us have played the game and gotten emotional at the very end. If something you know will happen, and it still makes you feel things you don't understand, then it's probably significant.

Jessie, Biggs, and Wedge are bit players early on. They have some personality and interests during our short introduction. Sadly, we don't get to know them beyond their one note existence. Sure, we know they're loyal soldiers to AVALANCHE and the planet, but they're pretty simple minded from there. Jessie likes bombs, Wedge likes food, and Biggs...Biggs was there. They're mentioned a few times by Barrett here and there, but they don't provide much after the plate falls. It's heartbreaking and, despite not being playable, is as memorable and heavy hitting as one that is.


My apologies to Raine and Julia, but you don't die on screen. Because of that, Final Fantasy VIII has the least deaths. A grand total of zero! I've been trying to come up a stretch character for VIII, but I'm drawing a blank.


Final Fantasy IX has the cutest graphics but the darkest story. War crimes are committed at a rate of four a disk, and our villans have some of the highest body counts. Kuja, Brahne, Garland: all total bastards. But is there anyone I can grade?

Queen Brahne is, technically, against the rules, but she's the mother of Garnet, so I'll let it slide. We know from her daughter that she used to be a wonderful and loving Queen, embraced by her subjects. But that all changed one day. Ever since, she's been a thorn in everyone's side, especially our party's. She creates havoc and tries to kill us, but we see what happens when her power is used up. Despite being our primary adversary for two disks, her demise is felt by several cast members. Garnet cries and suffers because of it, but we also see that Vivi is slightly happy. In a low-key plot point, her death splits the party. Or it could have if the devs wanted it too. She, sorta, comes around in the end and overcomes her brainwashing by Kuja and apologizes. If she were a typical villain, I'd just skip her. But she is family to our deuteronomist, so I feel obliged to write something of an obituary.

Various Burmecians die en masse. Twice! But only Dan is seen, and it's passed quickly. We can save him, but it only hurts later on when he's cut down with no fanfare in Cleyra. I think we can meet up with his widow and children later on, but I don't remember how it goes.

Everyone else who perishes is nameless or so low that even long time players can forget about them. How many people are killed with Lindblum is attacked, but how many can you name?

The same goes for the Black Mages. Do any die over from when you meet them to after Memoria?

Kuja comes around at the end, but that breaks two rules: three and five. And I'm being very lenient with rule one, but it doesn't matter.


Final Fantasy X is another game filled with epic battles and carnage with high killstreaks. Well, one guy gets high counts. Most of the people who perish, though, are nameless. There are also three who break rule five, but I'll skim them in a moment.

Gotta or Luzzu are allies, though not playable, and spend a lot of time with the team early on. We learn so much from them about the world and Sin. We know Luzzu was a close relation to Wakka, Lulu, and Chappu. Gotta is an overly eager young man who wants to save the world from Sin. He's a great representation of his world: filled with confidence that quickly turns to despair. Afterwards, though, they're not mentioned until the credit roll at the end. In the sequel, neither of them make an appearance, proving they've become a total afterthought. They're neither playable and have alterable deaths.  

Auron, Jecht, and Tidus (sorta) all have post final boss scenes. They're fascinating, emotional, and amongst some of the best cutscenes in the franchise. Two of them are playable, but one comes back. One was already dead, and the last wasn't really an ally. So there's several broken rules, but I suspect we'll see all three of them in the future.

Final Fantasy XII is filled with political intrigue and (in game) religious symbolism. There's a lot of potential death and dread about, but little of it revolves around the playable cast.

Reks should have been the main character. Not really, but let's pretend. We see an end of his life in the tutorial, but does he actually die there? We know through Vaan flashbacks that they both spend a lot of time in a white room with Reks being mute. But we don't see him die and, if he does, it's off screen.

Reddas is the only BA in the game. He has ties to the main villain and a loose link to our playable cast. Sadly, little of this is brought up in required dialogue. XII did him dirty by not going into more details of his time as a judge. At the end of the game, though, he sacrifices himself so that our team may live and reach the final battle.

Vossler is an ally turned enemy, but only after he was an enemy pretending to be a good guy. He's a good point towards the political intrigue factor in the game. In that, he loves his country but thinks independence isn't safe for it. Regardless, after we kill him, he's never spoken about again.

Judge Drace is a sane enemy, but does she even meet the party?


Final Fantasy XIII is often dragged by people for various reasons. One such point is that the characters are dull. There's not a lot of them, either. We have the main party and an equal number of named bosses. There's not a lot of side characters from either side.

Nora is a simple mother who turns into a defender of people. This takes place in the first dungeon and is the focal point for Hope. And Snow, early on, kinda. However, she's not brought up unless Hope is reminding us she's his entire character arc. I don't know if that's a knock against her or the game she's in, though. None of the playable cast is down-to-earth and relatable. Also, she's not playable.


Final Fantasy Tactics is a game very similar to FFXII. Since it shares a director and setting, that's a good thing. Because of that, there are similar themes across both games.

While all playable characters CAN die (except Ramza), I feel this falls into rule five area as an optional thing. That and it doesn't affect the game going forward other than making it very boring. I'm not going to count this.

Tietra is the adorable sister of Delita and a close friend to Ramza and Alma. We meet her in chapter one, being told that she's trying her best despite the caste system screwing her over. We see her being killed, after being used as a shield by, the otter bastard, Algus. This kicks off the main plot. Had Algus not "sacrificed" the "peasant," then Delita wouldn't have overthrown the monarchy during the War of the Lions. She is the driving force for Delita, before and after, and she's mentioned by him very often. There's no forgetting her in FFT. Despite being around for such a short time, she's pivotal to the plot.

Zalbaag is one of the few noble nobles in Ivalice. He goes against his older brothers and tries to be more like his father toward the peasantry. He's not as good as his younger brother, Ramza, but he tires. We're told he gave the order to kill Teitra, but when he learns that Dycedarg killed their father, Zalbaag rethinks his actions. He gets caught up in the Zodiac Stones during a raid on Egross and gets killed by a transformed Dycedarg. We met him later as a mostly sentient undead. His last words are asking his brother to release him from his hell, which we do, causing much grief to Ramza.

There are a number of potential characters, like the Cardinal, as well. But I'll go with they were never on our side and always an adversary.


Xenogears was my favorite game for five or six years. Its story holds up, even if its second disk does not. The battle system can be a bit repetitive, but I'm not here for that. It has some of the most developed characters in any RPG. Several secondary characters have more depth and development than many main characters on this list. Dan, Wiseman, Great Joe. And it's filled with twists and turns that seem to come from nowhere but are usually explained well enough. And many of them lead to and from dark places where a lot of people die.

Alice and Timothy make a significant impact despite being around only for what amounts to a tutorial dungeon. Tim is the longest friend our amnesiac protag has, and Alice is a potential love interest. Both get killed by Fei going rouge and setting the plot, his development, and insight into his fraught backstory. Because of their early departures, we don't get to know them, and they don't make a lasting impression. However, Dan keeps them relevant, and I can never get rid of Alice's wedding dress after he makes us keep it.

Elly's Parents, Erick and Medina, go from loving parents to people more loyal to their nation than their daughter. But they do so in a way that wouldn't implicate them in our schemes and give us time to run away. They end up joining us in our escape from Solaris but it goes poorly for them. Hammer turns on us, and we have to fight The Executioner. Erick escapes and gets in a gear to provide us time to get away. While this happens, Hammer prepares to kill Elly, only for Medina to step in front of the bullet. We see both of them die in heroic fashion. However, we don't spend a lot of time with them due to the conflicting nature of the Solaris dungeons.

Maria's Dad, Nikola, is tied to her backstory and to that of Shevat and Solaris. Despite that, he's barely on screen, only as a staged mech battle where he becomes a victim of his own science and asks his daughter to kill him.

Hammer joins the group as an annoying and niche useful peddler after he somehow joins us when we break out of jail. He doesn't add anything to the story and becomes a villain in the second disc. And even before then, he just kinda disappears.

But none of these people are playable.


Xenosaga has a fun cast of characters.
Andrew Cherenchov is a bit bland and boring in the present, but he has a heartbreaking backstory. He's been used as a soldier, and his wife only married him for scientific clout and experimentation. Then he rejoins the army and is kinda just there. He's not mentioned after by the characters or the T-Tic organization that he was secretly working for.

Virgil joins the party as a guest and has a long story rife with antagonism and sadness. He knew Shion long ago, during the Miltia Conflict, which changed him into the deformed sadist he is. KOS-MOS kills him on board the Woglinde, but we meet him again when he's become a Testament and witness what came before it all. He's technically a playable character.

The last time I played the saga, I cried when Jin died at the end. He's only in two games, and the second kinda sucks, but his heroic sacrifice is painfully touching. The sneak attack by the gnosis that pierces his chest and leg was shocking. Despite the wound, he kept on fighting, thinking only of his sister. But it happens after the final boss.


Dragon Quest V has Pankraz, the great and heroic father who saves us a bunch. First from a slime and later from an evil cult. We see him die, protecting us from an underling of the BBG. He remains relevant since he's the secret King of a far away land, has a family that we help grow, and is always in the hearts and minds of his former citizens.


Star Ocean One is a mostly whimsy filled romp through time to save a friend and father from being stoned. Demons attack with some regularity, but it's mostly peaceful. There is one exception with the entire village of Durss, though.

 
In Star Ocean Two, there is even more enemy incursion and even more death. Much of it doesn't work under the rules, but it's still worth mentioning.

Ronyx isn't playable in SO2, but he's obligated in SO1. We play his role in saving the world and then play as his son doing the same thing across two games. He goes from young, windowed space soldier to grizzled, old, twice widowed air fleet captain. He, and the rest of the Calnus, get turned to nothing by the Ten Wise Men in a tension filled scene that affected even nine-year-old me.

The entire planet of Expel is blown up but comes back. Energy Nede does too, but that's after the final scene.

Ameena exists in Star Ocean Three and resembles Fayt's love interest, Sophia. She's an adorable but sickly girl who likes flowers. I like video game characters who like flowers. We already saved her before, and she only dies because of the death of a long lost friend.

Dion is that long lost friend of Ameena. He's a genius when it comes to symbological weaponry, which ends up resulting in his death. Fatal wound occurs offscreen, which really takes out the tension. 

 
The Aquaelia Crew are a bunch of nobodies who sacrifice themselves to buy us time to get away from our attackers. It's a really rad, heroic death in one of the most exciting scenes in the genre.
 
Legend of Dragoon isn't going to be thought of in this ranking system, but I want to point out how cool I think Lavitz is.

Lavitz is a playable character who gains a close rapport with our hero, Dart. It's a true bromance. He dies early on to set the tone in a heroic sacrifice to save his King. Despite that early exit, he still impacts Albert and Dart and is memorable, remaining relevant afterwards. He comes back as a ghost to open up the point of no return to the final dungeon and closes his arc.


Isara, from Valkyria Chronicles, is a strange one. I felt the story was rushed, and we didn't get to know her much. We know she's not from here, and she's the adoptive sister of our main character, Welkin. I don't remember any scenes involving her, and she's mostly a guest character who only drives a tank.


Phantasy Star IV has Alys. She's our leader for the first part of the game, guiding us to the first main boss and half of the first planet. She gets killed by someone important with an unknown magical power. She manages to lead us to a potential cure, but it's all for naught, and she dies before our eyes. Her funeral shakes our main character, his future wife, and our coldhearted rival. She's used as a storytelling prop later on, but it makes sense. Her name also pops up from time to time as a driving force to Chaz.


Chrono in Chrono Trigger dies, but you can revive him at death Peak. Because he's a silent protagonist, he doesn't have much personality, and what you can change means little. I don't know if silent protags are good or bad, but we'll get to that elsewhere.


Buzz Buzz in Earthbound is a comedic character who guides us through, what accounts as, the tutorial dungeon. He dies in a funny fashion, telling us what we need to do to save the world, but is never mentioned again.


But what does all of this data mean for how the validity of a character's death? I mentioned as much information to build a character up and then disqualify them against the rules. Using all of that information will allow me to ascribe a number score to their soul.

If they're playable, it's a point. (1)
Can their deaths actively affect gameplay? (2)
If they show personality, they gain a point. If they're well rounded, then they get another. If they show growth, then they get a third point to the personality score. (5)
If their names are mentioned again, a point can be given. If they are brought up often through the story, a second point will be rewarded to them. (7)
If they affect the outcome of a boss or final scene, as a ghost or something, then they can gain a point. (8)
If their death is iconic, badass, and directly involved, a point will be granted. (9)
In what matter is it the death? Sacrifices will get a talley while being in the wrong place at the wrong time will not.
Revivable and post final boss deaths get a DQ, but I suspect we'll see all five of them in another subject.


Blogger has a pain in the butt table mechanic, so I'll switch to Google Sheets for the results. Sadly, despite both being owned by Google, they don't play well. So here's the link to the chart:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1a8brEedI0K6dIhWxnabnddBxs3QByalEpCrU2oIDOnE/edit?usp=sharing

Now let's discuss some findings.

As expected, Aerith got a perfect score. I'll be honest, since she's one of my favorite characters in video games, I'm biased and wanted her pretty high up there. For readers of my posts (and RPG gamers everywhere), this shouldn't be a surprise. The only other character with a perfect score is FFIV's Tellah.

I had expected Galuf to achieve that, as well, but then I remembered that his death doesn't affect gameplay. All of his job levels and stats go straight to Krille. From a gameplay perspective, it's great. But it's slightly less so for this. Galuf did get nine, tied for third best with Lavitz (who isn't considered).

The highest nonplayable character is also from FFV, Syldra. She has her link to Faris, acts as our ship's engine, and turns into a summon late game, keeping her around. Longevity is an essential point for these rankings. She got seven points!

The lowest playable character is Reks and Vossler from FFXII. Neither of them do much, and it really shows. Reks had promise, but he lacked the follow through. Reddas is the third lowest (five), and the fourth is Ronyx. Ronyx is surprising as his consideration spans two games, and he's a playable character longer than those below him!

The lowest, overall, is the Robot from FFI. But he was never meant to be an honest insert. The actual lowest are Cid (FFII), Cherenchov, and Nora.

Aria from Final Fantasy III only had a point total of five, which I want to be upset at. However, she's never mentioned again in the story, shows little personality, and doesn't help us like Unei and Doga do against the Cloud of Darkness. I'm disappointed, but I understand.

With thirty three characters, the average point total is 5.5.


But this is just one of the several ideas that I have planned. Why did I start with character deaths? I'm dumb! I had the idea that the best characters can be boiled down to one topic, and I have no idea why I thought that a few months ago! But I realized doing this that there are so much more to people than their final moments. So why shouldn't there be more about other characters who survived their game? You know, like most of them?! Next time I start this, I'll be discussing playable characters. Is Cecil better than Yuffie? Yes! But what about Red XIII? We'll find out in part two!
 
 

 
 
 In case anyone is curious about my top five:
Aerith
Aria
Galuf
Ricard/Minwu
Lavitz

Langrisser

 I have no idea what I'm doing tonight, but I got a late start again.

Rather than play Shining Force, I played a mod for it on Steam. If you don't know, mods can be entire game ROMs. I played once such, called Langrisser.

It starts out with our castle surrounded by an army of monsters. Our father, King Issax, tells us that we need to flee. An old veteran named Volkhov is ordered to follow, and he does. We now need to leave the castle. ...I think.

I kept dying, and I have no idea what's going on. The invaders are significantly stronger than us and make quick work of our troops, allied troops, and us. I got out of the castle once, but the bats killed me because I can't attack them.

I don't know what's going on, if this is a good game, or even how to win. But that's what I did tonight, and I'd rather do this again than play battle four in Shining Force. I'm not gonna give this update any labels to limit people seeing it because I'm unsure of the point of this.

Shining Force Sucks

Well, this is disappointing. Tedium and terrible game mechanics? That's a big no from me, dawg.

On the otherside of the tunnel is the small village of Rindo. Its claim to fame is that there's theater there, and a circus is planned to go up soon. All the kids love it. There's a show to see in town about Guardiana and how it fell to Kane. I'm confused why Runefaust deals in propaganda, but okay. To the east side of Rindo is a ship that's owned by the mayor. Kane showed up recently to buy the rest of the fleet, so we need to walk to get to Anri. I'm confused why an evil empire is using capitalism, but okay. Leave the village and enjoy the camel that broke my back.

It's an absolutely massive desert! As with mountains, desert drastically lowers movement speed. Combine that with the stupidly large size of the map, and this is gonna be boring.
But before we get there, we need to get past a small bridge. The enemies won't come to you. The dark dwarfs will wait for you to march across the bridge, which is the only way to cross, and ambush you. The bats from the north will come down as well to make sure you're surrounded. They will replace anyone you kill, so good luck getting past the first square. Once again, bats are agile and hard to hit, so this is going to be boring.
And don't forget that bats that make people sleep. No one passed out until I had one bat left, but Cid got it and was out for five rounds. That was boring.
And then you need to walk, slowly, through the desert and hope the mage doesn't Flare 2 you, all while trying to take out the dark dwarfs. And after that, you need to walk through even more desert to get to the new unit type, zombies, and their two mage handlers. Zombies hit for more damage than anything else, have high defense, and can poison you. Well, this sucks. Oh, and the mages can still cast Flare 2...
And the piece-de-resistance, if Cid (Max) dies, you lose the fight and have to return to the last save. This fight took me an hour, listening to that god awful, repetitive music in the background, until I died to an unknown battle mechanic. Leader dying being an instant loss sucks now, and it sucked then. I didn't want to go through the bridge portion for a second time and deal with the bats, nor do I want this crap to appear again going in the future.  

I'm already done with this. I don't know what's going to happen now, but I'm putting this one down and not picking it up. Fatal Labyrinth, maybe?

Runefaust Invasion

USU took 59:30 to beat UNLV, so I got to a late start. That and I had save issues. I had to redo the fight to Alterone for some reason. I have no idea what caused it, but it looks like more save states are in my future...

After we enter the town, we should loot everything we can get our hands on. Treasures are located throughout, which can help us. It's a good amount of money, a few power-up items (used on Cid), and a new spear for Ken. It lowers his range, so I can go either way on it. This also reminds me that I missed the chests in Guardiana now...

In time, head into the castle; the King is awaiting us. When we tell him what Runefaust did to our home, the King will inform us of his plan. There is a famed strategist nearby, and he'll ask us to follow him. We do so, and we see a familiar sight. That's gotta be Kane! He's standing next to the King, and he tells us that Alterone has already surrendered. His guards take us to jail.

While there, we can talk to the priest/fryer to save. But search the bars of our cell. A young dog girl named Khris will come to free us and tell us of a secret passageway. Khris was mentioned by a few NPCs in town, so I'm glad she's not totally random. More importantly, she'll join the party as another healer. We'll walk down an incredibly long hallway until we come to the headquarters, our own personal room that's in every city. We could just skip town, but we're the heroes! Also, Kane, and a large group of his soldiers, are waiting for us. One of the characters will tell Kane that his boss, Darkso, wants him to return home, which is wonderful news for us!

It's a massive battle against dark dwarfs and incredibly agile bats. There are also two new units: snipers and mages. The bowmen didn't seem strong, and I'll discuss the mages in a moment. I wanted to play defensively and let them come to me, but they had the same plan. Once I saw them guarding their paths, I made my way to the right side of the town. The bats got close to me, and my warriors kept missing, so I used Tao to burn them. Next up were the dwarfs. The snipers and mages remained in the back and let us get near. Use this to your advantage and rush them when you're ready. Focus on the mages first! I cannot stress that enough. At least one of them knows Blaze 2. Not only does it hit twice as hard as Tao's, but it hits multiple people in a plus shape. It one shot Ken and nearly took out three others.

But we survived! We spoke once more to the King, who asked for our forgiveness. We claimed that Kane brainwashed him... I don't know if the response changes anything, but he'll tell us that the path north can be found if we talk to the dragon head. The head is just outside his throne room, and the narrator of our tale will tell us that we've come to the end of chapter one!

Chapter two, Spirit of the Holy Spring, tomorrow!

We are the Shining Force!

Shining Force is another Genesis game on Steam. It's played the same way as Phantasy Star, and it's another game I don't remember how I got. I think I got it for free? Regardless, I tried to play it when I first got it but put it down. The first time was because I found the "speech" sounds annoying. There are little blips and bloops whoever a dialogue box is on screen to imitate a voice, but I wish there weren't. The second time was when I didn't get a secret character at the very start. I want everyone at my party, or I'm not playing! They're petty reasons, so I'm giving this another try. Shining Force is another game I've heard good things about. Whether it's only good because of nostalgia and the system it was on or because it's actually wonderful is something I'll decide over the next two weeks. Assuming my computer survives, of course, which I'm starting to think it might. I shouldn't think that, but I will...

 

This is a game that needs a proper pre-main menu cutscene to properly introduce itself. It starts out fairly generic: Light, the Ancients, and Darkness, led by Dark Dragon, do a lot of fighting. Light wins and seals Dark Dragon in another dimension, but he vowed to return in 1000 years. People ended up forgetting about Dark Dragon, but can ya guess what year it is now? Runefaust, not to be confused with the planet Rune, are an evil empire made up of hordes that bring death and despair wherever they go. They seem to be the dominant faction on Rune, but there are still some pieces of good around just waiting for a Hero to brandish the Light once more... So I guess it stays pretty generic, too!

A girl of unknown age is sitting in front of a book acts as the main menu in this game, which is a tad strange. I erase my old save and load up a new one. She asks me to name my character, and our MC is Cidolfus because the name is blank. I've read he's supposed to be Max, but I notice too late. This is now my story!

The screen goes blank as someone tells us we've had enough. Light comes to the world, and we see two people in a friendly duel. Well, one of us is a person. A centaur is standing over us. Lord Varios has grey hair and an aura of prestige about him. He's the general of the Guardiana military and answers only to the King. He's taken us under his... wing and trains us in the art of the sword. But our session is over for the day, so after another guy blocks out path, he heads to the castle. You're supposed to follow him, but I took my time to walk around the town. Nothing is really here, but we get an idea about the world. We know of the evil that is Runefaust and Guardiana is near something called the Ancient Gate. Also, the music is really annoying! Head to the castle when you're done exploring, and we'll walk in on the King and Varios having a conversion that isn't good. 

Runefaust at the Ancient Gate, but Varios can't go. He then thinks it would be a perfect time to test his star pupil, Cid! He and the King ask us to take up this test, and we say yes. You can answer no, but I'm the great hero. That Max guy would have said no! We then need to return to town for our squad to officially join up. Why they couldn't join there is beyond me, but I'll blame retro programming problems! Members of the Shining Force include:

Luke, a knight with a giant nose.

Ken, a centaur spear knight.

Tao, a mage with fiery hair and magic.

Hans, an elvan archer who doesn't like getting hit.

And Lowe, a healer. 

It's nice to see so many races come together to fight evil! But we then have to return to the King..., and he'll give us some spending money. The weapons dealer doesn't want to work today, but his son, who sells sundries, does. I got a few medical herbs for healing and gave them to my front line. If we return to the castle, there will be a centaur to the east of the throne room that will get upset and leave. He really wanted to lead Shining Force, but I'm sure we'll never meet them again. We left the town, and the wagon took us to the Ancient Gate. 

While there, we see goblins, just as Varios said. We overhear them looking for the key, so I'm glad they can't get to whatever may lie behind it. A small earthquake hits, which tears apart the west wall of the temple, but all of the combatants are fine. Being the heros, we jump into battle! 

I've never played a Fire Emblem game, but I get the feeling the combat in Shining Force is a direct rip off of that. It's probably not as it lacks the rock-paper-scissor aspect FE has, but it looks like it visually. So maybe a combination of FE and FFT? Each character can attack for varying damage based on class, and our mages do exactly what you'd think. Keep them behind our frontline of Cid, Ken, and Luke, but remember that Lowe can only heal one square around him. Ken can attack from range, so try to remember this in future battles. For now, though, this is a tutorial battle. The mobs in the back will stay back until you get right up to them and won't come close. Take out the small fry goblins upfront, and let the more dangerous dark dwarfs come to you later. We'll need to take out the rune knight last, which we do with ease. This should be easy, and the rune knight will tell us that they were just a distraction. Their boss, Kane, should be attacking Guardiana right now. 

Because of the earthquake, our path back is blocked. There is a path north, though, through the mountains and forest, so we'll have to take that. Along the way, we're attacked by more of the same mobs but on a much larger battlefield. It all functions the same way, though, but before you do anything. Take notice of the small hut to the right of the Ancient Gate. Have a character walk over to it, and we'll enter it. Chopping wood outside is a man named Gong, who'll offer to join us to protect the forest. Gong is a monk who attacks with his hands. He's not very good, but he can also heal. Two healers are always welcome in my party! You can talk to his relatives and see a talking squirrel to the left. He says he's waiting for us, but nothing comes of it. Return to the battle. 

I had Hans pepper the nearest goblins close to the start. They all retreat for some reason, so it's just free damage. It's going to take a while to get all of your characters out of the tiny path. The game properly simulates mountain and forest hiking. Ken and Tao, especially, tread poorly. But the goblins stay back and let you attack them. I think Hans could have taken them all out himself if you don't mind him getting all the EXP. Do make sure your whole group is near to each other after this. The dark dwarfs are no joke, and the line of rune knights near the castle can take out a player if you rush in. My first death was Luke, who ran in to save our fragile mages/archer from evil centaur spears. Reviving characters costs money, so try to avoid it! I wonder how limited gold is? From here, walk into Guardiana. 

The guards tell us they managed to fight off the invaders, but they took losses. We can walk around the destroyed town and see the buildings are in rubble. As far as I could tell, all the people are alive. Walk to the castle to see the King, but it's not going to end well. We walk in on Varios fighting with Kane, who's gained the treasure sword of Guardiana, The Dark Blade. He swings it, and Varios is killed with ease. His daughter, Mae, rushes at Kane to avenge her father, but Kane teleports away because we're not worth his time. The King asks us to see his daughter, Anri, at the magic academy at Manarina before he, too, passes. Mae will join the squad for her revenge quest, and we can walk around the town again before heading out. Walk to the tavern so an old timer named Gorn can join us. The weapons seller starts business again, but he doesn't have anything worth buying. In the keep of the castle are a few treasures that Kane didn't loot. They're basic, but I like opening chests. The inventory management in this game is going to get really annoying, though, isn't it? When you're ready, head out to the world map. Our first stop is Alterone to the north. 

But along the way, we have to fight more mobs. The goblins are gone, but they're replaced by the far more dangerous bats. Wait for the bats to the east to come to you before going north. After that, the dark dwarfs will march after you. Hug the left side of the map as not to arouse the suspicion of the rune knights and take out the second squad of bats. Then storm Alterone to kill the rune knights. The bats are harder as they can get two attacks per turn and have high dodge skills. One, in particular, weakened Ken and killed Gorn that way. Their attacks can also inflict status ailments. Sleep was the only one I saw, but who knows if there's more? Afterwards, enter Alterone, and we'll finally have some peace. I went back to the castle to revive the dead, saved, and called it a night. 

I'm not digging the music so far, so that's one enormous knock against it. Hopefully, the gameplay and story make up for it. It can also get better, so stay tuned. It's day one, and I'm here for the long haul of gaming!

The End of the Millennium and an Era

Phantasy Star IV is my first foray into the franchise and the Sega Genesis as a whole (outside of a few games of Boogerman on my cousin's system). And I absolutely loved it! It has a lot of amazing things going for it that holds up nearly thirty tears later. All of the characters were fun and worthwhile, the music was enjoyable, the twists, while somewhat trite, were interesting. I'm not usually into sci-fi, and I'm not sure if PSIV will change that, but I can see why so many people hold this game and franchise in such high regard.

But, of course, it's not without its faults.
There's a lot of Deus Ex stuff going on. We need a car that travels through snow? Good thing our robot has one on his space station. I feel like all "airships" and spaceports felt shoehorned in, just popping out of nowhere. There wasn't any great search or trials and tribulations needed to get one, which is far less annoying, but it makes the sci-fi aspects feel forced. Especially since we're on a medieval type of planet. There aren't any guns, fancy technology, cars, boats, or anything that feels steampunk/futuristic. What is there is hidden from the view of players and NPCs. No one knows about the spaceports, Demi's place, or the high tech facilities. Robots are a foreign idea to them, being called Silver Soldiers. Why is there such a difference in settings, even if the fancy areas are just outside of town? I know it's 1993, so there's only so much plot you can toss into a game now, but I didn't like it. It makes me wonder if civilization regressed through the ages.

The difficulty levels are not even. They actually felt somewhat artificial and dependent on your party members. The Garuberk Tower with Krya was tougher than it needed to be because she's not very good. We just lost Raja for a borderline inane reason, and Krya is not the replacement we need. Why did Raja get sick but not us? I know it's good to get different characters and personalities into a game world, but, again, it felt forced. It's as though gameplay wasn't thought out.

And with that, what makes a lot of the characters feel special? What's Hahn's thing? How is Gryz different than Chaz or Rika? The five I used at the end have unique qualities, but why would anyone pick someone else unless they wanted an unfair challenge run at the final boss?

Some of those things are nit-picky, so I won't hold them against anything, but the only thing that actually makes me hate is the game is how I had no idea what most of my spells and techs do? I'm pretty sure Foi and Wat are fire and water spells, but what was Zan? Was Hewn wind damage? What did Arros do? There is no in game description of anything, and I was so confused. I kept using a move that I thought buffed physical attack, but I looked it up and found it removed paralysis.

And along with that, what's the deal with spell combinations? Why did they so rarely work? Grand Cross, the only one I remembered, went off about fifty percent of the time. And the one time I accidentally got Alys, Chaz, and Rika to perform their three way, I couldn't replicate it. A lot of the good combos have limited usages, so have them work more often! If there's ever a remake, add some descriptions or a codex for these things. And since we're here, why does Gryz not have any combinations? That's another reason to not use him.

Ya know, that's a lot of negatives. I enjoyed the heck out of this game, so I'm hoping the positives are frequent and overpowering.

The music is fantastic. I loved the Motavia Overworld theme, and the Dungeon song may be one of the best in the genre. I wasn't that big of a fan of the Dezolis, though I did enjoy it, but Motavia gave me everything I crave. The, aforementioned, Dungeon theme was surprisingly calm and down to earth, giving the Temple of Chaos from FFI a run for its money. The battle theme was exciting, and the main menu track was perfect. It got you pumped up to play a grand epic that takes you through space, relives ancient memories, and kill a galaxy eater.

Every character has their own personality. Their in battle functions can be lacking, but in cutscenes, they shine. I know who Chaz is as a person and that Rune is a cocky know-it-all. Rika is a young girl who's unsure of her feelings, thrust into a world she's only seen in books. I didn't see the big sister aspect of Krya, but Raja is a slacker, which is a very different archtype for a healer. Some are a bit one dimensional at times. Gryz loves his sister, and Alys is a veteran fighter, but I can see why people would grow attached to them. I really liked the different aspects of how Demi and Wren upgraded themselves. Everyone grows, develops, and changes better than any FF character until VI. Kyre learns she's not a badass, Rika learns to love, I didn't totally understand Chaz's overreaction to being the hero, but the devs tried their best.

The story is as grand as anything that had ever come before. As I said at the start of the final dungeon: Phantasy Star IV takes us through two dozen dungeons, three-and-a-half planets, eleven characters, and a thirteen hour journey in a 16-bit game released in 1993! FFIV had seventeen across one planet and a moon. Dragon Quest V gives it a good run with twenty five. Breath of Fire has, I think, eighteen. Lufia has sixty two locations, but I don't know how many of them are dungeons. Doing all of this makes me reminisce unfondly of Final Fantasy IV, so I'm going to move on...

There are a lot of sidequests for a game of its time. Eight Hunter's Guild quests, many of which are different from one another. We're not always killing some great bad guy. Sometimes we're saving a kid from a basic mob or finding two girls in jail. Anger Tower is purely optional, as are finding Wren's Special Weapons.

A few characters have multiple builds. Many guides suggest putting your mages behind two shields. You can throw a weapon and a shield on Chaz, Rika, and Kyra. Do you want Wren and Demi to attack one target at a time or the whole group? For such a primitive game, there's a lot more to it than a one-to-one "job."

I didn't find the game all that hard. I tried to limit running from battles, did all the extra stuff, and I never felt weak. As I said, a few places were difficult due to questionable choices, but I never had to grind, walk around for a while, and I always had JUST enough money for gear. Maybe if I had bothered to learn what some of the Dews did sooner, I wouldn't have had any issue whatsoever, but I blame game developers of early the '90s. And that's as a whole, I'm not calling anyone out. Go back in time and show me weapons stats, you cowards!

There's a lot of foreshadowing going on. Every twist, no matter how small, can be experienced before it happens. Even the Guild Quests give a clue that we'll be back to this area. In a similar vein, everything has an explanation. Why was the bridge north if Mile taken down? Because Zio commanded it. But we won't learn that until after we need it. I've called this Deus Ex, but it really that crazy to think the main planetary satellite created to monitor the area wouldn't have a means to navigate the areas? 

The art style is phenomenal! It's just basic pixel sprites on a background during cutscenes, but well detailed manga panels capable of showing emotion in our characters. We know if they're happy because we see them smile. We witness their fear, sadness, and joy without any need to guess at a deeper meaning. We know what they meant because of facial cues that no other game has done at this time. Hell, even modern games don't do faces very well. It's either soulless or way too much that you wish you could burn them for real. There were a few scenes where characters changed their clothes to be casual or mournful. It helped bring these 1s and 0s to life, and I don't understand why no other game hasn't stolen this idea outside of dating sims. Some probably half, but none are popping into mind now.

And finally, the fact you actually get to choose your team for the final fight was oddly satisfying. I know the choice is between Raja and four others, but how many other games have a forced party for the entire game? I wish I could have replaced Edge with someone more important. It lets the player be a player and make a choice in their experience while offering a slightly different playthrough each time. Even if I don't usually care for them, challenge runs and alterable difficulties are a good thing to add to the media.

I really wish I had played the Phantasy Star games in order. I think I'd have loved all the callbacks had I actually experienced them before. Lashiec did nothing for me, and Dark Force was here too often. But if I'd seen the entire four part saga, I think I'd like the game even more. I like stories that are told over a long period of time, and Phantasy Star is told over thousands of years. I want to grow attached to places and people, and I wonder how I would have felt seeing the statue of Alis in that random town or the giant cat who gave me the Silver Horn. Maybe I will, but why is the first game so hard to find? Phantasy Star IV isn't perfect, at least in hindsight. It needs a few quality of life changes, but it's almost there. Anything that makes me want to keep playing, enjoy a sequel/prequel, or just gives my life a pip is marvelous. And this is all that and then some. I don't know if the Online games are related to these, but I am, for sure, going to go back to earlier entries at some point. Even if it's by default so far, I'm comfortable saying Phantasy Star IV is the best game on the Sega Genesis.

The Edge of an End

The Edge is a very short dungeon, and I wholly appreciate that. It's about seven small screens with one clear path with just enough extra walkways to keep it feeling fresh. We've gone through two dozen dungeons, three-and-a-half planets, eleven characters, and a thirteen hour journey in a 16-bit game released in 1993! We don't need a grand journey that takes four hours and is filled with plot twists and new mechanics. Gotta love it!

The party reaches the bottom of The Edge and senses a disturbance coming through a deep, black dimensional gate. But it's weak and can be dealt with now before hell breaks loose. The Profound Darkness is a being that doesn't have much personality, so we get straight into the final battle!

It's a three part tale that more than makes up for the short dungeon length. The bang is here, not back there. Admittedly, neither of the forms have a lot of differences. Part one is pretty simple. Buff up and do damage. The first time I fought this guy, I went all out. As you should suspect from the "first," that was a minor mistake. By the time I finished getting strong, I had won round one.

I don't know if stage swamps remove buffs, but I reapplied the basic ones anyway (Barret and Saner). I've read they stack, so it's worth doing. From here, I went all out. I tried to use Grand Cross (Crossout and Effress), but it didn't combine very often. I really don't understand how Magic Combos work. Raja got to use St. Fire a few times, which is even more reason why he should be your fifth character. We started to run low on MP around now, so Raja can use Atraxia to bring it back. I don't know if it's a threshold thing, but at one point, PD jumped the line and hit us with AnotherGate. I was low on HP, so that's how I died the first time I did this battle. It taught me to go all out in stage two and not to be afraid to have Rika heal. She's a lot faster than ol' Raja, and her NaSar is pretty good, even if her mental stat is low. Maybe it makes the battle longer, but we're not going to die. Outside of that one random attack, this went smooth, too.

The third and final stage is a FFIII, Cloud of Darkness, type of woman. Did devs have a thing for naked women in the early '90s... ... ... Don't answer that. Things can get action packed here, but nothing feels cheap. She can attack the whole party with a few moves, all of which require a full heal. Whether it's Rika, Raja, or an item, use someone fast to heal. PD can also strike someone with a massive physical attack, which will probably kill Rune or Raja. I think this is why a lot of guides suggest equipping them with two Silver Shields. My favorite move of hers is when she puts someone to sleep. It only worked on Rune, but he woke up without missing a turn. It gave us a free round to go all out, so I'm a big fan of stupid boss moves. Another move I'm iffy on is her ability to remove buffs from us. I still re-upped my defense and speed, but I guess any move that doesn't do damage is rad. Profound Darkness will push your character's defense, speed, and marathon skills to their limits. But with Raja and level 40 characters, you should be fine.

After aeons of imprisonment, the great evil is dead, but she has one more trick left. Wren called it a Time Warp, and it tries to suck us into whatever is on the otherside. We can't fight against it, but the spirits of all other heros combined can. The sword, Elsydeon, begins to glow and forms a bubble around the party. Rika calls it pretty, but it looked pretty pixelated to me. It's 1993, so it was...

We appear safe and sound on the plains of Motavia with everyone together. It seems some time has passed as we're already saying our goodbyes. Wren plans to take Raja and Krya back to Dezolis, and Demi wants to live on Kuran with him. He's taking the Landale, so this means we'll never see our alien friends again. But someone important isn't here. Rika plans to leave the planet and has already made her way to the ship. I don't know why, but, regardless, she's not good with farewells. Once everyone has said their piece and loaded into the Landale, we see the ship lift off and fly away. Wren warns Rika that her future will be challenging but is entirely up to her.

The Motavians say their goodbyes to Chaz. Hahn will return to the Academy. He hates a lot of the people there, but he'll make do. Gryz goes back to Tonoe to be with his sister. This leaves just Rune and Chaz, the two rivals, together. It's not as awkward as you'd think as Rune gets to business. Despite just beating Satan, he doesn't believe he's strong enough. He plans to gain experience to make the next Lutz even better. I was wondering why he didn't return to the Esper Mansion, but who am I to second guess an immortal wizard? He says his goodbyes and ends with a promise that they'll never see each other again.

Chaz is now alone, but he isn't for long. As Rune walks away, the Landale returns into view. It's pretty low, and a door is open. It's Rika! She and Chaz call out to each other before she jumps out of the ship and into Chaz' arms. How romantic!

"Narration" plays over the final scenes of our characters, talking about all the people who've died in the last several thousand years. It promises that they'll never forget their sacrifices, but it's time to enter into a new age; One freed from the eternal curse.
Hahn is teaching somewhere.
Gryz and his sister are playing with a butterfly.
Raja is drinking with his friends.
Krya is just somewhere, probably the Esper Mansion.
Demi is happily spending time with "Master" Wren.
Rune is out and about in a setting sun.
Rika and Chaz are wearing casual clothes, simply spending time together.

The credits roll as the camera pans...downward, I guess...showing us the final images of the planets in space. When it's all over, we're in the town with the statue of Alis and her cat. Alis was the first hero in this franchise, so her story is finally over.

Fin.

Planet X Arrives!

Why does Seth use a lot of moves that enemies know? I'm sure it's fine...

Anyway, we have to climb the cave in a rock in the sea under the temple. Along the way, we get attacked by far too many monsters. None of them feel worthwhile, but there are about a million of them. I think the giant slugs will give you a lot of EXP, but I couldn't kill any before they split. Along the way, Seth tells us how strong and cool we are. Chaz tries to play it off like it doesn't phase him or that it proves that he's worthy of being a hero. Rika doesn't buy either of Chaz' stuff, though. We, eventually, get back outside, and Seth is still afraid of the monsters, so he keeps tagging along. We enter the temple to find a nice, peaceful room. In the middle is the item that the Pope told us to get, the Aero-Prism, just sitting there.

We leave the temple, and Chaz holds us the Aero-Prism. A powerful beam of light bursts from it, which makes Wren think it's pointing to Ryoko. He does some math stuff to coordinate the endpoint of the beam, but something strange happens to Seth. He begins to molt. His flesh falls off to reveal himself another Dark Force! We talk about if Dark Force can evolve or what this means for the universe, but the talk is quickly squashed because Seth Force attacks us.
 
Rune dies a lot because Rune sucks. Chaz gets focused a lot because Chaz sucks all of a sudden. Maybe it's because I didn't enter this fight at max health, but Chaz could not survive a physical hit and was a crit sponge. If it makes him feel any better, no one else did well against him. I tried and tried to keep everyone alive until I accepted my fate. I had Wren use all of his Barrera, which I think helped. Rika healed and got a few attacks in before she kicked the bucket. Rune and Chaz were dead, but I tried to get them to Grand Cross it up a few times. Ultimately, Wren has so much HP and defense that Dark Force III can't kill him in a timely fashion. It would take four of five shots to take out our android, but his highest usable skill is a near full recovery. Using Recover when he got low and peppering in offense, I managed to take out DFIII in my first attempt. Wren got 49999 EXP all to himself. We immediately tried to find the Ryoko again, so I used a spare pipe and made a b-line for Krup to heal.

Back to the Landale, Wren warns us that we're about to leave the solar system, and we start to worry. Suddenly, the Aero-Prism begins to shine again in Chaz' hand. If we look outside, we can see a fourth planet appear from out of nowhere. We somehow find a place to land, and a voice from nowhere starts to speak to us. It tells us of the origins of the universe.

Long ago, two forces went to war. One side won and imprisoned another. These forces were the Great Light and the Profound Darkness, respectively. Light sealed away Dark, but the seal grows weak every 1000 years. During this time, the elliptical orbit of Ryoko returns it to the Algo System to repair the seal with the help of a hero. The voice asks us to visit two towers on this planet to prove that we're that hero.

From here, we exit into the planet's surface. We can go to the northwest or the southeast. I went north, which might have been wrong. The mobs here feel a lot stronger and attack with far more frequency. And the boss, man... Regardless of where you go, they both contain the best gear in the game and are pretty short. At the top, we'll see strange entities being attacked by Darkness minions, but the entities hold their own with ease. They call us out, and a fight begins.

My strategy for the northwest tower was the exact same as the Dark Force III. Only Wren survived again. The one in the southeast, though, went a lot smoother, and I don't know why. Were two levels and a few pieces of gear that meaningful? Rika still had to heal for most of the fight, but enough Wren Barriers made its damage pretty negligible. Everyone survived. After each boss, the entities give us a handful of rings. Despite being rings, they're the best headwear in the game. The fifth one can't be equipped to anyone, though, even for anyone we're about to talk to.

We then return to the voice, and it'll tell us more. The seal that kept the Profound Darkness from entering this universe and destroying it is broken now. The seal used to be the three planets, but Palma was blown up. Should it enter this time, it'll surely destroy the galaxy. It is all up to Chaz and friends to save the universe... This upsets our hero, though. He believes following the Great Light's plan makes him the same as Zio. I'm unsure if he thinks this is him being a tool or a blind follower of a god. Chaz asks where the Great Light is, and the voice says he's no longer in this area of the universe, which upsets Chaz more. Why should he be the hero, having all this thrust all of this upon without consent? Chaz won't do it. Rune needs to concoct a plan, and he does just that. He asks Chaz to follow him to a room in the Esper Mansion.

We head back to Dezolis and enter Lutz' room. Rune enters a secret door, and asks Chaz to grab the sword at the end of this tunnel, which he'll have to do alone. It's a small dungeon, but there are mobs down here. At the end is a statue similar to the ones we've seen throughout the system holding an immaculate blade. As Chaz touches is, he has visions of previous wielders and the affairs they went through. We then sees the friends he's made along the way, and even a friend he's lost smiling at him. With the sword, Elsydeon, in his grasp, Chaz returns to his party. He apologizes for his outburst and says why he did it. It had something to do with Alys' death, which changed him from the one willing to sacrifice for his friends to someone else. I didn't really understand it, but he's back now, and all is well. As we leave, Demi sends Wren a message saying something terrible has happened on Matovia. A black hole has appeared near Piete, the first city in the game, and everything is dying. The end is coming.

We return to the Spaceport on Dizoris and see Raja and Krya waiting for us. They're geared and ready for anything and ask to come along, which we happily oblige. When we land on Matovia, Hahn, Griz, and Demi are also waiting for us and ready for the final fight! We can choose either of the five to use as our fifth party member. As much as I'm into Hahn, who gets his one set of gear, I'm taking a healer!

But there is one thing we need to do first. There was a third tower on Ryoko, the Anger Tower, west of the southeast one. It's an even smaller tower with a strange sight atop it. Alys is waiting for us. Chaz wonders what's going on, but she attacks us. She's easily dispatched, but this causes him more anger. The world goes black as another voice speaks to him, asking if he wants to unleash the power of anger and hate onto the world. If you answer, No, the voice/robot will grant him a new skill. If you say, Yes, then you're going to die for giving in to evil...

I saved just outside The End, and I'll look to finish this...tomorrow!

I also got Wren's final move, which I didn't get in last night in Vahal Fort. Tonight was surprisingly rough, so I'm a bit worried if I'll be able to finish the game tomorrow. That's the plan, though, so let's see if I can take out the final boss before my computer dies!

Dead Force

I went back into Geruberk Tower and made my way to the top. It's a good thing I piped out because I was not going to survive this encounter. 

After finding the eye trigger and opening the path forward, I got to the top of the frozen spire. There we saw a sight that probably would have terrified child me. It was Dark Force in its true form, a spider! We could also confirm that the weather did originate from here. It gets upset that we're here, which is just fine for Chaz, and the battle begins! 

I only took one attempt, and I wasn't even at full HP. Dark Force can harm the entire party, but it tended to only use a single target physical move. Climbing the tower drained Rika of most of her MP as the mobs are numerous and tough, so I made liberal use of Kyra's Medicine Tech. It's only a single target move, but a few Barriers by Wren can lower the DPS enough to make it worthwhile. I assumed Dark Force would be weak to Light magic, but physical damage did plenty. He did negate some magic, though, if I recall correctly. Ultimately, I didn't find DF and more difficult than the average boss we've been fighting. 

 

When it dies...again...the entire tower begins to collapse. We quickly leave and see it explode. The skies begin to clear around where the tower once stood, flowing out to the rest of the planet. This now makes two worlds we've saved from evil, so take that Final Fantasy! Despite planning on going to the same place, Krya says her farewells here. She says she's grateful we showed up because she never stood a chance alone. She teases Chaz and now thinks of him and a little brother and returns to Meese. As we head there, separately, we notice an explosion in the distance where Eclipse Torch was held. Teleport there, and we'll see the world map has been changed. There is now a crater where the flame temple once stood. 

Entering the ruins take us, I assume, to the location we weren't allowed to get to before. Most of the clergy is here in the bunker, including the Pope. He tells us that Dark Force isn't the trouble that caused all of this to happen. Instead, it's was the Profound Darkness. Darkness has been using Dark Force, Zio, and Lashiec to gain control over the Algo region in an attempt to destroy it. He then tells us about something called Ryoko. The way to finding Ryoko is through the Aero-Prism, and Wren says we need to return to Motavia. Near Krup is a ruin that may help us in finding Ryoko. We're aromatically put in the Landale and shipped off to the first planet. As we exit the spaceport, Wren contacts Demi and asks for another ship. This one allows us to travel across water. I teleport to Krup and use the new toy to traverse the inner sea. 

We can see a temple located on a large rock, but there's a cave we'll need to traverse first. Inside is a man named Seth. Seth is an archaeologist trying to reach the temple for research purposes. Because of the monster nests inside, though, he can't get through. He asks to join us and promises he can hold his own. We agree and enter the cave, but that'll have to wait until...

 

...tomorrow!

The last four Guild Quests open up now that we have full access to the world. We found two lost daughters of the desert village, saved another town from evil birds, saved a kid from his mental sickness, and saved the world again from an AI gone rogue. The last one was quite hard, actually, as the Vahal Fort is filled with strong enemies and has the highest encounter rate thus far. Fortunately, we were able to fight off the mobs sent by Daughter, the daughter of Seed, and stopped her from gaining control over every AI. And, more importantly, eradicating any that doesn't belong to her like Wren and Demi. This one actually has plot, so that's cool. Remind me to figure out how to get Wren's secret weapon down there, though. I'm not looking forward to going back down there. 

I think we're coming to the finale of the game, but who knows?

Lashiec

He stopped me when I was unprepared, but will he stop me when I'm at full power?

Yes. Yes, he will.

This dude is hard, and I'm pretty sure I only won because of luck. He has three moves but rarely ever uses his sleep spell. Usually, he uses a lightning attack or AnotherGate. Both of these hit the whole party and can two shot everyone. Buff up on round one. Wren's Barrier is the most important here, but I read Kyra's Warla is good, too. Rika should up our agility at least once. From here, Wren should be using Recover every turn, so he doesn't die. Rika will use GiSan, so the humans don't. Kyra isn't good here, but her Medicine can help in a pinch, and any damage is better than nothing. Chaz and Rune will be attacking as often as possible, combining Crosscut and Efress for Grand Cross. Chaz may need to revive Rune because Rune sucks. As I said, I got lucky. On my fifth attempt, the boss tried to use sleep three times. It didn't work against Wren, so I got a free turn. I upped magic defense with another Barrier, and Rika finally got an attack. At about 2/3rds HP, he'll cast a buff on himself to up all his stats. Use the Psycho Rod on him and end this. It took an hour with the help of save states, but I did it!

As he dies once more, he tries to take the Eclipse Torch into the lava around him. He promises that we'll die too, but he'll come back. As long ad "He" lives, so shall Lashiec. However, Rika, and her catlike reflexes, snatches the Torch from his hands, and Lashy dies again. The Air Castle begins to collapse, so we all get out to see the last vestiges of Palma explode.

We return to the temple that I'm not gonna try to spell, and the priest gives us the go ahead to use the Torch. We head to the evil forest, use it, and see all the trees burn to ashes. I wonder if we can use the basement now?

We enter the tower, and floor one hurts my head. It has a strange filter that makes seeing hard. The rest of the place is fine, but it's a long maze in of itself. There are a few triggers to open up passages, but I wound up getting lost. The mobs are similar to the Air Castle, but the encounter rate is terrible. So I had to back out, and I'll finish this...

...tomorrow!

Lashiec is the final boss in PSI, and I kinda love all the callbacks in this franchise. I don't understand them, but it makes me want to experience the whole series. I may end up doing that! Does Rune suck there, too?

This is a not a good team.

I did save right outside the Esper Mansion. Good job, me!

We enter and walk around the colossal Air Castle. There are rooms on either side, but we should head to the back of the place. Two espers guard us from entering Luts' personal sanctum, but, for some odd reason, they let us pass when Rune gives the word. Rune sucks, so why are they listening to him. He's not even from this planet. We enter a courtyard that contains a smaller building that leads to Luts' room. Inside we see...nothing. The only thing that's here is a floating eye looking thing. Rune tells us that Luts passed long ago. Kyra is confused because she has seen him, but Rune tells us the eye is a memory device that contains the will of Luts. More importantly, it jogged Rune's mind. It turns out Luts is a 2000 years old wizard because he can reincarnate every few hundred years. The original Luts was a member of the team that first killed Dark Force, presumably in PSI. This time, he has returned as Rune Welsh, the very guy who sucks. With Luts' mind in his new body, we get a new outlook on life. The only way to get past the evil trees is by using the Eclipse Torch, a religious icon in the Gumbious Temple. I accidentally found that last night north of a city named Jut, so I simply teleported there.

Gumbious Temple seems to be the religious and political head of Dezolis. It's all about fire warship, which makes sense as we're on a frozen hellscape where the only thing that keeps civilization around is a flame. There's nothing on the first floor, and two guards won't let us by in the basement, so head upstairs. We'll find the Eclipse Torch behind the Fire Pope. The priest in front of us refuses to let it out of the temple, which kinda makes sense, even if it's to save the planet. While we argue, three figures teleport in behind him. He/They mock us by promising to use Dark Force on us or something. They pay no heed to Rune's line about anything, and they make off with the Torch. Before they do, they tell us they work for Lashiec at the Air Castle. The Air Castle is where Dark Force was killed thousands of years ago. But the planet it's on, Palma, was destroyed centuries ago, which Rune thinks might have caused the reemergence of Dark Force now. But it might still be out there in the asteroid belt...

Taking the Landale to space, we do find the Air Castle in the middle of it all. It has a breathable atmosphere and gravity, so we wonder if they planned for us to come here. I may have assumed some stuff about the last scene.

The Air Castle gives me final dungeon vibes, and maybe it was in a previous game. All of these callbacks make me want to play the older games. They're all pretty cheap on Steam, so I might. I've heard II might be the best, so I'll check that one out one day. But back to the castle... It's incredibly long but not that windy. You'll come near, or close, to every treasure in here, and the dead ends are pretty short paths. There are no battles outside the castle, and the inside is manageable. The encounter rate isn't too high, but the mobs are a bit tougher than previous dungeons. They tend to get surprise attacks in more, at the very least. Most everything are just pallet swamps of things we've already fought, but there is one guy of note. They look to be blinking in and out of dimensions, and they can only be harmed with magic. Rune's Psycho Wand can one shot them, and the Silver Tusk we got last night for Rika deals over 200 damage to them. Despite all of this, I didn't need to pipe. There are two healing circles in this area, which make this a decent place to level up.

Blocking a clear path in and out are figures who resemble the guys who took our Torch. Once we kill them, we don't need to take the long way around. It's also why piping is a bad idea. Eventually, though, we reach them. I don't remember the borderline random string of letters that was their name, but they're kinda weak. They don't enjoy light magic or physical hits. They managed to take out Rune a few times because Rune sucks, and Kyra came pretty close because she's pretty mediocre, too. Rika was using Gisar most of the fight to stave off the big magic blasts they did. Focus on one at a time to get limit their ability to combine spells. Rika's not a good healer, so I had Krya use a few Sun Dews, which functions the same as a GiSar. They don't pose too much of a threat.

With them gone, we can fully explore the Air Castle. The only place we couldn't reach before was the basement. For as bad as the Air Castle outside was, it's nothing compared to its basement. I found an actual map, and it doesn't look that bad. But trying to navigate the place was a nightmare. Eventually, I decided to just use any stairwell I could find and figure it out from there. I got to where I needed to go and found a chest containing the Eclipse Torch. But it was fake. We fight a ghost fella, but that was just the preamble.

From behind us appears Lashiec. Rune knows who this is, but I didn't catch anything. I think it was a playable character from an earlier game. Regardless of who he is, he hates Rune. He and I could be friends, but we have to fight. I was not prepared. Not that I'm underleveled or anything. It's just that half of my team is dead. I wanted to rush through this for some reason, and it cost me. We'll have to hold off on the exciting conclusion of this battle until...

...tomorrow!

I did the Climate Control dungeon tonight, too. It was perfectly fine, but we found a guy who looked like the three we killed tonight guarding it anyway. Raja would have been right, so I'm glad we left him behind. I also did the Weapons Center. It's totally optional, and Wren even tells us there's no reason to do this. You can find some good equipment for him if you do, though. And also exp and masala/gold

Kyra is kinda bad. She can do a lot of things, but she's not good at any of them. She has fun magic and boomerangs, but she lacks the stats to make them worthwhile. Worst still, she's really slow. If she went before our opponents, she'd be great in the setup role Alys had. Instead, Rune is faster than her, and Rune sucks.

Cold Steel to Cold Weather

In order to save Matavia and Dezoris, too, we need to go to the main satellite of the Argo system, Kuran.

It's a lot like the other advanced dungeons we've been in and is filled with similar enemies. There are a few formations you should probably flee from, though. There are two, in particular, that get a special attack. If you see two of anything around a Tower type monster or two floating mines around a similar looking mech, run. The three of them will unleash a massive attack on your whole party and will kill Rune because Rune sucks. They will continue to do this until one dies. I thought it was questionable until it hit me that mobs can combine their magic attacks, too. Turns out it's pretty rad. The dead ends here are less often but take longer to get back from. Plus, there's not much treasure when there is. Why does Wren get three new armors before we get through one dungeon with him?

I only piped out once, so we got to the bottom pretty quickly. When we got there, we saw something disturbing. We see something moving "in the shadows" of the mainframe. Rune knows this as Dark Force, the guy Zio called out to, and you should remember this in a moment. It's a biological looking monstrosity trying to fuse with the computer. It gives me a Master vibe from Fallout. But it doesn't matter what it is since it's screwing everything we care about up.

Dark Force has two attacks: one hits everyone for way too much damage, especially Rune. It'll also physically hit one character for even more damage. Fortunately, Raja is here. His Sar move will practically undo all of the damage. If things get messy, Rika can use her Sar too much less fanfare. Otherwise, he seems weak to fire and is definitely weak to light, Githu. DF's defense doesn't seem high, so Rika can do plenty with Double Slash. If Raja runs low on MP, use Ataxia or whatever it was called. Rune died because Rune sucks, but everyone else survived.

After the fight, Chaz asks Rune how he knew that THAT was Dark Force? Rune says he's seen it before, but he doesn't go into details because Rune sucks. But Wren does his thing and fixes the computer, restoring everything to its unnatural order. We now return to Zalan and see that Matavia is fine, but Dezoris is still in the middle of its blizzard. Raja tries to remind us about the tower he mentioned last night that I skipped over, but everyone ignores him. To get through the snow walls, Wren gives us the Snow Car, So it's back to Dezoris.

Travel eastward from Tyler, and you can use the Ice Picker to get through the snowdrifts. We'll come to a town filled with giant penguins. There's a few mage type equipment here, but nothing else. I traveled to the northwest until I arrived at a cave system, Myst Valley. Inside are mobs that give us really good EXP, but in the back is an odd sight. It's talking cats! They grant us access to see the Old Man and more talking cats. The Old man is a giant cat with wings, and he gives us the Silver Tusk, a legendary item handed down from eons past. It's a weapon for Rika that's only slightly stronger than what she's using now... Return to Roza and travel east. Eventually, you'll come to a town and be attacked immediately by zombies. This entire area is invested with the undead and offers no other services.
 
On the otherside of a mountain range north is the Climate Control system. Once again, we're immediately attacked by the guy we killed when we got the Psycho Wand. We kill him, and we begin our investigation into fixing Dezoris. Or...actually no. Raja, once again, tries to tell us Dezoris' problem is in Garubeck Tower! Not wanting to upset my healer, I leave the area to go in search of said tower. Just south of the zombies is the village of Meebe. We learn more about the zombies here and see the town has turned the inn into a hospital. It's staffed by a race calling themselves espers, and they're doing their best to keep those infected alive. It's all for naught, though, but it's all they can do. Unfortunately, Raja gets infected and collapses.

While treating him, Rune and Rika have the same feelings they got when Alys died. Whatever is causing this illness is using the Black Wave that Zio used. An esper runs into the room to tell us that their boss, Krya, has run off alone to the Gaurberk Tower. The problem with that is the place is protected by man eating trees. We run to find her, get in a fight, and immediately retreat. But we did bring her with us. Krya then tells us about her boss, Lutz, a 2000-year-old wizard living in the basement of Esper Mansion. She thinks he'll know a way past the evil forest, and we make our way there. So I'll be there...

...tomorrow!

Dezoris is a confusing place. I think I saved before the mansion, but I don't know. I found two more cities that don't mean anything right now, but I already miss Raja. Kyra fights like Alys, but she lacks the speed needed to set things up. She also can't heal... I should have done the Climate Control dungeon first...

Revenge!

The enemies in Nurvus are no joke. The assortment of mechanical mobs and humanoids will wreak your face. The encounter rate seemed high, they have a lot of HP, and they spawn in large numbers. It's closer to a fair fight sown here with plenty of five-on-fours. It's a long walk with plenty of even longer dead end paths. Usually, there's treasure at the end, but some are just traps. And the new claw for Rika is way out of the way.

But at the end is Zio. He tells us he'll finish us off this time, and we get right down to the fight. As he did before, he'll call out to his god and cast Mag Barrier on himself. This time, though, we have the Psycho Wand. I assumed it was useful, but I didn't bother to check. This nullifies all buffs on Zio, which is the effect that had us doing one damage. Because Rune is slow, use this round to buff up. From here, Zio will do one of two things. He can attack the whole party for a big chunk of damage or one massive blast with the dragon that killed Alys. Fortunately, Zio goes last if you use Saner. Rika has San, a weak team heal, and Demo has Medical Power to complement it. Make sure she uses Recover or a repair kit because healing magic doesn't affect her. The battle is long, you'll be hearing a lot, but I managed to keep my whole team alive ( on my second attempt, which gave me more EXP somehow).

As his arms begin to disparate, he wonders how we could be killed by mere mortals. His last words seem to be calling out to someone, but I'm sure it's nothing... Behind him is Motavia's main computer, Nurvus. It's malfunctioning, but Demi knows what to do. If she fuses with it, she can gain control. She does, and Demi shuts everything down, saving the planet. Not all is well, though, as the main satellite over the planet is also sending bad information. The only way to fix that is to go there ourselves and talk to an old friend of Demi and Rika, Wren.

Demi opens the path to the space hanger, where a spaceship is waiting for us. It's a bit ex-machina, but whatever. Gryz, however, does not join us for this. He got his revenge on Zio and is worried about his sister (not brother). He leaves our party, so now we're a three piece. We board the plane, and Rika, using the knowledge Sees taught her, pilots us to Zelen, the orbiting control station.

It's a perfect landing, so we all casually walk up to the hulking man/android in black armor. Despite his looks, he's on our side. He informs us that the malfunction goes beyond even this station. We need to go higher, to Kuran. He joins the team, we collect the new items in the station, and we head back to space.

En route to Kuran, the engine starts to break. Investigation reveals we're under attack. A boas fight happens that oddly easy, especially for the amount of EXP he gives. Unfortunately, the damage was already done. We now are forced to crash on the nearby planet of Dezolis.

It's a cold world made even more fridged by our first encounter. Raja is an old priest who's upset that we crashed on his temple. There's some minor bickering between the two parties, but it all blows over after an explanation. Raja has an odd sense of humor us Motavians (and Earthlings) can't pick up on. He offers us knowledge on a new spaceship but only on the condition that he joins the party. Wren sees no alternative, so Chaz okays it. Far to the north is the town of Tyler, named after a character from a previously PS entry. En route, we see that this planet's climate is buggy as well. It's been experiencing a massive snowstorm for three straight months!

In Tyler, we find long lost Matovians, inspect a massive gravestone, and find the new spaceship, Landale.

But I'll show this off tomorrow!

I did some more guild quests, so tomorrow was the wrong word to use. Wren functions like Demi but is even tankier. Raja is a pure healer, so I'm a big fan!