The OG

Akin to nothing, Final Fantasy Renaissance is cheap as hell.

Irate-o Forest lies between us and our hometown of Tania. But before is a woman in a crystal no one wants to acknowledge. There's an old man beside it for some reason, but something will happen to him. The spirit of the crystal lady will possess the poor man and speak to us. She warns us of a being called the Dark Lord. He was sealed for 1000 years before he was released. We (the player) see a scene where a rude man is escorted into a tomb, seeking the Dark Crown. His guide is worried and doesn't wish to go further, and the ruse man calls him a coward and tells him to wait here. He quickly changes his mind and cuts the man down. The thief wants that crown and the power that comes with it all to himself. He enters the tomb and approaches the grave. The crown begins to shake, levitate, and fill the room with light. The thief runs away, and the scene returns to the Irate Forest. The spirit asks us to stop the Dark Lord before he revives Bone Dino. The spirit retreats from the man, who runs off in terror.

Enemies in the forest are things we've already fought. The only thing new is the bees. Explore everywhere and dig up those plants. I'm starting to notice that sifting through every single little corner of a map is how one finds and earns money in this game. Mobs don't drop giv, nor do they drop poached furs or something. So it's gonna be tough sledding until I figure out some stuff. At the end of the path is the gremlin who ran away from us back home. She informs us they were sent to burn the sprite and promises we'll meet grandpa again as a battle against her begins.

She's surrounded by sentient fires, and she'll spawn more her first three turns. The witch has a lot of HP, so I don't think you can stop her from calling them. Go slowly and kill the slugs before her, and let everything come to you. Witch lacks any offensive powers once her fires are dead. Her final words mention someone named Lord Hel. Besides that, there is no fanfare, so head onto the world map.

I like that there are no encounters here, and the music is fun. It also feels open world, as there are five places we can go to now. So add Chrono Trigger to the list of games the game feels like. Rather than explore things early, I just went to Tania Town. As with other villages, there's a lot of neat stuff around. Finding clothes that suck, falling for traps filled with bats, killing bees, and learning more about dad. He often told wildly over-the-top stories that no one believed. At least his public persona was the same as his private. Outside our old house are the training guys from Runion, and they'll teach Blue a new trap.

The boys enter their former home and announce they're back. The place is empty. The boys want to find dad's adventure room, so they start to look for clues. After a few false leads and a mild bomb, they discover a secret staircase behind the bookshelf. It takes them to a room so dark no one can see. Blue bangs his knee on something as he finds a source of light. There are more pots, but they eventually find a note from dad. It's a note to them. It tells them dad always sought adventure but stumbled upon something world altering. He didn't write much of it, as he's a rather flippant man, but he speaks of things called Oparts and the world's trees. One in particular, especially. He handed that stuff over to "academia," but an angel came to him shortly after. She "turned into a map" that showed dangers and the Earth Tree. There was something about saving the world that called out to him, so he took on that quest. He hopes to see his sons again after finding the Earth Tree and asks them to take a second letter, found beside this one, to a magician on Mt. Abnoba. He signs off as "Brown G." So we're the G in Treasure Hunter G! Red and Blue wonder if this letter is another tall tale, but Rain joins them in the basement and urges them to obey. Red knows she's hiding something, but Rain refuses to say anything. ...for now. But her words reach Blue, so that's our next destination.

Abnoba is to the east, but visit the Port Town of Oceana. There are new weapons and armor here, but I only bought a sword for Red for some reason. I also found a bunch of Smelly Boots. The perks are not worth equipping them!

Mt. Abnoba is filled with monks who test us often. Every time we win their test, someone will learn new skills. At last, Pongo isn't the only one with extra stuff to do! Blue still seems pretty mid, but his teleport trap did help us out up here. Rain, sadly, still sucks. The new mob is something terrifying. It's a clam that attacks the entire battlefield with ice. It can't move and is protected by friends, so abuse the teleport trap. It works on allies as well. The party then has to avoid an eternal rockslide as they climb a sheer cliff. Fortunately, they move side to side quickly. We'll eventually reach a tower where the guards tell us to find the hole. There's a save point on the second floor, so I'll look for this mage...

...tomorrow!

I kinda see why Square kept this local. It's a big break from convention, which they didn't like to test foreign markets with. But of a learning curve, ya know?