Preamble to the End

For a straightforward path, this sure was long.

We've got nine areas to navigate through, and each is pretty different.
The first area is the desert, and it's filled with mobs from around Phoenix Tower. There are sand currents, but they're smaller and easier to follow. We'll reach a door, and nine sealed underlings of X-Death appear to taunt us.
Inside that door is the Ronka Ruins. The mobs are stronger versions of what was in the earth crystal dungeon. Death Dealers are the only thing to worry about as all they do is spam Roulette. Climb across the chains to get to area three.
From the ruins to Moore Forest! The most common enemy is an annoying mushroom and its two friends. They're not hard, but they're annoying. The hard-to-see canopy is back, but the area is small, and chests are easily seen. Our goal is to find the tree with a hole in it, but it's guarded.

The first boss is WoodSprite. If you equip a Wallring on someone, you'll be unkillable due to her AI. Even if you act like normal, she's not very hard. Giving Bartz time magic and learning Guardian was a great idea.

Beyond her are the caves. It's a single path with nothing to note except... Just past the save point is the optional superboss Omega (Weapon). DON'T TOUCH HIM! I cannot stress this enough, but Omega will murder you before you can even act. I'd avoid him. You can pass by just fine, but I had to tiptoe the path below him.

The next place is a single room library. The book on the desk is the boss, Apprehendr.

The cheese strategy is to use Ifrit. Ifrit scares Aps, giving us a free round. Ifrit has a low MP cost, so we can spam this to avoid his terrible attacks. Alternatively, get ready to treat toad. The books on the shelves give us backstory on Omega and another superboss I'll avoid later, but Panda's book is now a switch. Open it to advance, or close it to go back.
The Tower is a single path connected by invisible walkways. There are two enemies, and the only thing of note is the ninjas have high evasion.
The castle is densely packed and sucks. All the mobs are annoying, so go down the stairs in the back. There's treasure that doesn't mean anything in the right and left paths. There's a save point in the prison, but we have to fight for it. All the way to the right is the blue mage Azulmagia.

The cheese strat is to use Self Destruct on him. Azul will learn this move and immediately use it. Two characters are dead, but you can revive them on the save point that appears. If you do it normally, good luck. This guy is pretty tough.

The two chests are blocked by old men who turn into birds. The old man form can erase a character, and the birds ate vulnerable to Odin. Neither of the chests are worthwhile. Freeing the woman from her cell summons another boss.

Catastrophe is easily cheesed. Keep casting Float, and it'll keep removing it. That's the whole strategy, and you'll win with only that initial Earthquake, which can be avoided by having Float before you open the door. We can talk to the woman, and she'll give you a kiss before climbing the stairs beside her. I sense something's a miss. Following her brings us to the throne room. The path down won't stay open if you go back down, so don't use it. We'll try to leave through the stairs to the left, but an unseen force keeps us here. The woman reveals herself to be Halicarnasis, a minion of XD.

Hali is simple if you know the trick. She'll make everyone a frog, so heal that before buffing up. Summon Carbuncle to negate her strongest attack, Holy, and then never summon again. Summoning results in a counter that did 6000 damage. The rest of their moves are weak, and Protectring's regain negates it. Heal up because there's another boss up the stairs.

Twintania hates Holy. Like, a lot. It'll counter both physical and magical attacks, but I barely noticed. Spamming Holy, Holy Lance, Excalibur, and double lance Sshot resulted in me winning before it began to cast Gigaflare.

Behind Twiny is The Last Floor, which is actually three floors. But this has been a king trek, and there's still more to go. So I'll kill X-Death...

... tomorrow!

Assuming I don't play Smash with my friends... I really like how FFV has so many ways to defeat powerful bosses. It's a great idea I don't see a lot going forward in the franchise. I also forgot to mention we revisit the Mirage Village, but everything is frozen, so what's the point?