X-Death's death

Gilgame sucks!

We take our dragon across the Big Bridge and land it just beyond the mountains around X-Death's castle. We enter and see several soldiers tell us how powerful XD is as we begin our climb. It starts pretty easy and straightforward with simple mobs in our way. But then there's a dead end. I looked around for way too long before I headed back down. As I do, Bartz wonders if that really is a dead end. Krille agrees and realizes it's an illusion.

We cut to Kelga, lamenting he's the last of the Dawn Warriors, but he also knows his time is drawing near. Suddenly, the ghost of Galuf appears outside his window to tell him we need his help. Kelga accepts his death and, somehow, breaks the illusion of the castle as he dies. What was once an immaculate castle is suddenly transformed into a mass of fire, flesh, and lava. A doorway opens, and we continue our climb.

The monsters are stronger, and the structure is more maze like. Watch out for the Black Warlocks and the cat things. They like status ailments and instant death spells. When you come to a room with a stairway down to lava, cast float on the party. There's a secret chest down from it. There's another puzzle shortly above this where we need to navigate an invisible maze with pitfalls beneath. The holes lead to lava. There's a chest across, and the way forward (to a save point) is at the bottom. The upper path takes us to the Carbuncle summon.

Carbuncle is pretty tough if you play it straight. They'll bounce spells off themself, doing major damage to us on the reflect. But their tactics change every three offensive moves. The quick and easy way is to survive until Carb heals. That removes the reflect status and all their immunities. Cast Break for an easy win.

Past the chest is another optional boss. If you open it, Gilgamesh laughs at us. It seems he has the legendary sword Excalibur that was inside. This battle is pretty easy, but it has story, so it's worth doing. If you don't, you'll never see him again. Gilly poses little threat so long as you summon Golem, but remember to bring a thief. We can finally start stealing the Genji gear. After a while, Gully asks where Galuf is, and Krille tells him. He seems disappointed. But then, he transforms! He grows more arms and begins to wield the Excalibur. Or...not. It's actually the Excalipoor, and it sucks. Once he changes, begin stealing. After more fighting, we hear X-Death. He's mad Gilgamesh sucks, so he sends him to the "N-Zone" by using "X-Zone." So long, legend.

A few more quick floors up is XD himself. We prepare to stop his plans, which he deflects by saying his only goal is to reform the world. No one knows what that means, nor do we care.

Summon Golem again, or else he'll murder you with Vacwave. Later on, XD starts to soam spells twice a turn, so don't hesitate to use Shell. From here, go all out. Faris does what she does, Bartz jumps, and Krille uses Blow Hard. I summoned Titan a few times, but Reina was mostly on heal duty. He almost got me a few times, and I needed to use several phoenix downs. Even then, only Bartz and Krille lived.

The three crystals behind our dead BBG break as the screen goes blank. We wake up on a hill, but why is Tycoon in the distance? We return home, and the chancellor welcomes us back. He somehow knows Faris is Salsa... That night, a three day festival starts to welcome back both princesses. Faris even dresses the part, and Bartz starts drooling. A dance begins, and we can't reach either of them without getting stepped on. But Krille's mind is racing. She heads to the balcony to say Galuf is telling her to hurry. This world still isn't at peace. The two of them agree to leave, but they must continue without the Tycoons.

Bartz wonders how Boco is doing. Krille thinks that's a stupid name, ao Bartz punches a child as they leave. But Krille gets the last laugh, so it's fine? Across the bridge to the west is Faris' hideout. As we approach, Boko greets us. And then his wife shows up to tell us (via Krille) that she's pregnant! How long were we out for? We both hop on Boko and head to Tule, which I'll reach...

...tomorrow!

Why do we have a map of this merged world that no one's talked about? You'd think this would be more vital?