Game - Final Fantasy 5, Day 37
Hours Played/Hours Total - 9 hrs / 34-1/2 hrs
Starting Point - Nearby the Library of Ancients.
Current Goal - Obtain the 12 Legendary Weapons. Stop Exdeath from controlling The Void. Save the world.
What Happened - Every day I play...I get that much closer! I've only got 10 days left in this month to keep up with my goal, and I plan to keep with it! ONWARD! THROUGH FINAL FANTASY 5!
Starting from the Library of Ancients, I had to start finding some hidden lithographs so that I could unlock the sealed chamber where the 12 Legendary Weapons were. The Sealed Book had given hints towards where the four lithographs were hidden. With the details in mind, I made my way to the first one located in a pyramid in the nearby desert. Along the way, the group passed by the Elder Tree and stopped for a moment to remember those lost to Exdeath's villainy. With the merging of the two worlds, the one world contains every aspect of the separate worlds like all the different locations. Moving right along, we came into the desert. This is the same desert from earlier on with the sandworm and shifting sands. However, the sands weren't moving at all. With the loss of both Earth Crystals, the earth was starting to die. The group continued onward to the pyramid. The first thing I got to do there was...BOSS BATTLE TIME!
The boss here was a pair of gargoyles guarding the pyramid's entrance. According to the guide, this would be a rather ridiculous battle if done wrong. Basically, if you kill one without killing the other, they will revive the other one. If you aren't careful, you will get yourself stuck into a cycle of each one reviving the other. With that in mind, I took a costly approach (costly with gil) by simply applying the $toss move. Yet again, this move has come in handy. With a little attacking and a finishing $toss, the two gargoyles went down both fast and easily. I then made my way inside the pyramid. This pyramid was definitely designed with an Egyptian theme in mind. I realize that they're basically number one in pyramids, but I feel like this place was a bit overdone in that. I fought mummies, snakes, and snake people. There were sand traps, spike traps, snake traps, and sarcophagi. It was basically the Egyptian experience. Despite that, it was a fairly challenging dungeon. Many of the enemies were decently strong and were able to throw trouble my way. It didn't help the fact that I was down an entire party member (Reina). I also probably was making it worse with my not super-balanced party going into this. It was currently a Berserker, Blue Mage, and Samurai.
After a small ways in, I was encountering enough resistance that I had to swap Krile over from Blue Mage to Black Mage with White Magic. This helped out since Black Magic does have better offensive abilities than Blue. I actually died once at one point due to some bad luck and timing on my part. (An enemy used Level 3 Flare on my party...and they were all at levels with multiples of 3. -_-) After making my way through multiple trapped chests and some almost overpowered enemies, I finally obtained the lithograph! The first of four...Moving right along, the group is transported to the top of the pyramid where we get to witness several events happening. A portion of a continent sinks and transforms into the giant super dragon god we all know and love...Bahamut! (Seriously, it was the size of a continent) A ship steers its way towards the Library of Ancients. And just shortly after leaving the pyramid, I encountered Dragon carrying Reina to the group. They were overjoyed, but their celebration was too soon. It seems that some monster from the N-Zone had possessed her and was planning to kill the group. As that was going down, Exdeath appeared and destroyed the Library of Ancients with his Void powers. Then took off while Reina started destroying the group. Lucky for me, Dragon flew in and separated the person possessing her, so it was time for BOSS BATTLE TIME!
It wasn't necessarily the hardest boss, but I found out quickly that most of my attacks were useless. One character in their entirety (Faris) could literally do nothing to it, so I had to keep Faris on healing duty. Bartz (Berserker) could do damage if he managed to hit. Krile could do pretty good damage as a Black Mage, but the boss kept switching her magical weakness. After several frustrating rounds, I put the boss in the ground. Reina was okay, and the group continued onward. From there, my next goal was...I'm not sure. I ran to the nearby castle (Surgate Castle) and checked in with some of the scholars that got out of the Library of Ancients in time. One was able to read the book and point me to the next Lithograph temple...somewhere on an Island. With that new info, I made my way to the ship (it was the airship) that had landed nearby. Just as the group got on, Exdeath used his Void Powers to suck up and destroy multiple towns across the planet. It seems like I'll have to hurry up and get the weapons or the world is doomed. Of course, we know that by "hurry up" the game generally means "take your time and do what you want." My first stop with the airship back in my hands was the Sealed Castle containing the 12 Legendary Weapons. It seems that the first lithograph granted me access to three of the twelve. I took the Rune Axe, Masamune, and Magus Rod. Once taken, I left the castle for now and made my way to...Mirage Village!
According to the guide, it's a fairly good place to run by before continuing on. I don't really love using a guide, but I hate missing big and powerful items because I forgot to take three seconds to go a different way. Anyways, off to Mirage Village! I flew over to the location and went inside. It has an unusual way of entering the town. It tricks you into thinking it is a random encounter. Once inside, you find out some interesting things about this village. It seems that Mirage Village is a mysterious "time-travelling" village that was lost to the N-Zone long ago. The people there talk about and recall seeing and being around the events that occurred long ago such as Enuo's uprising and defeat or the planet splitting in two. (Enuo was the villain who tried to control the Void long ago.) Aside from that, the village is home to some of the greatest items, equipment, and magic that you can buy in-game. After buying what I could, I began the search of the 8th and final piano. You see...The entirety of the game I've been finding and playing these pianos. It's part of some big side quest that I have no idea about. However, if you manage to find and play all of the pianos, it is supposed to reward you somehow at some point. I'm still unsure of what or where, but I will find it! I didn't mention it until now because it was mostly unimportant. Anyways, I left Mirage Village and made my way for the next shrine.
It was supposed to be located on an island protected by the wind or something like that. After flying around a bit, I located what seemed to be the right place and went inside. The Island Shrine was waaaay easier than the Pyramid. The enemies weren't nearly as hard (although there was the annoying druid...), and the puzzles were basically nonexistent. It really helped having a pile of super holy weapons on my side. That is for sure. I pushed my way through until I found the second lithograph, but of course, I couldn't take it without a fight! A minion of Exdeath appeared, called the group little girls, and attacked me for BOSS BATTLE TIME! His name was Stoker, and his strategy was multiple images of himself with only one real him. I was already warned to not attack him with a group attack, and the only thing left was a game of Whack-A-Mole featuring Stoker! Lucky for me, outside of the annoyance, he wasn't all that tough at all. His best attack was Hurricane, but all that did was reduce an enemy's health down to single digits. I kept the party healed up and smacked all of the images until he was slain. Woo!
With the Second Lithograph in hand, I unlocked the Fork Tower. The lithograph said that the tower housed the ultimate White and Black magics (Holy and Flare respectively). Before going that way, I made a trip back to the Sealed Castle to obtain three more Legendary Weapons! This time, I grabbed the Excalibur, the Holy Lance, and the Sage Staff. The other weapons start being more and more specific like a bell (Geomancer only), a harp (Bard only), a bow (Hunter), and a couple more like them. I still look forward to getting them, but they won't be as useful as the others I have at the moment. Anyways, with my new weapons equipped and ready, I made way to the Fork Tower for some kick-ass new magic!
Turns out Fork Tower was straightforward, fairly easy, and completely required. You can't actually get through the rest of the game without doing this part. Anyways, for the tower, I had to split the party in two teams of two. If you tried to take the two super spells at separately, they would explode and destroy the tower. So...time for the ol' team split! I sent two groups upward and each tackled a different boss. I say it like that because there weren't many random encounters, and the splitting of the team was more of who was to deal with which boss. The guide suggested the physical warriors take on the Holy boss ,and the magical folk take on the Flare boss. So let's fast forward to BOSS BATTLE TIME! To claim Holy, I was forced to fight the Minitaurus. He was able to deal out some fierce damage to my two fighters, but I easily conquered him with a Fighter and Samurai combo (Bartz and Faris). I was able to easily beat him with no trouble. Now...as for the other two, basically the same thing happened. To consider Flare as my own, I had to defeat the boss Omniscient. It was a powerful wizard-type boss. It was easily taken down with a carefully summoned Carbuncle (casts Reflect on the party) by Reina plus strong Black Magic attacks from Krile. I did get beaten up, but I never was truly challenged. With the two bosses down, I now had a hold of the best magics available for Black and White Mages. Woo!
After claiming the spells, the Fork Tower disappeared and revealed itself to be located on top of the underwater laboratory from earlier on (where we found the airship). I went inside to find Cid and Mid still hard at work. They recently discovered another book with more technology! They quickly adapted the airship to give it submarine capabilities. Now I was able to dive underwater! With the airship now capable of all forms of travel, all I have left to do is obtain the last two lithographs and procure extra supplies/summons with some side quests. First up on the list was Walz Tower. Earlier on in the game, Walz Tower sank below the ocean. However, with the submarine at hand, I was able to dive down and go inside it. I was limited to 7 minutes down there, but that was more than enough to claim a missing crystal shard for...Boss Battle Time? I say it like that because it wasn't so much a Boss Battle as it was a staring contest. I encountered a mysterious man named GoGo. He had the special ability to Mime any and everything we threw at him. You beat him by simply doing nothing. After a whole lot of nothing, he congratulated us and gave me the final crystal shard with the final job...Mime! After Mime, I sought after several more side quests for greater power, equipment, and abilities.
Next up was a small request by a man in Mirage Village. He would give me a special gift if I ran around the world on a Chocobo! One trip around the world later, and I'm rewarded with a Mirage Vest. Of course, during the trip around, I also collected a Magic Lamp on a waterfall. After the Mirage Vest, I took the airship to the Pirate Cove (the one from the VERY beginning) and was given a new summon...Hydra! There was a little moment where the spirit of Hydra came back and offered the group its help. It was a nice touch. After Hydra, I only had a few items left on my list of "Side Quests." All three items left on the list involve summons. I started by going after Odin in Jachol Cave. I visited this cave earlier on and basically got nothing out of it. With the world back together, the cave had a new location it lead to. After going through the cave, I found myself in the bottom section of Val Castle. The door down there was locked when I tried from the other side, but the cave lead right into it. Inside was Odin, and it was time for me to claim him! BOSS BATTLE TIME!
If you remember Odin from...basically any of the previous titles with summons, you generally can only get Odin by defeating him in battle extremely quickly. If you fail to do it quickly, he will make quick work of you. As for FF5, he gave me ONE minute to prove myself. The battle started, and I threw everything I had at him. Super attacks from Legendary weapons and several rounds of Flare was able to shut Odin up and add him to the Summon squad. After Odin, I began looking for the next in line...Phoenix! The summon was located in..Phoenix Tower. I required a Black Chocobo to get to the tower. The only one left in the world was in Mirage Village. After the small trip to retrieve that, I made way to the tower in the desert. It was a quick walk to it, and then I had to climb 30 floors. It sounds like a daunting task, but there really weren't any dangerous enemies inside. Nothing much for items either, but there was a special battle located on a handful of the floors. The battle was with a monster called a Magic Pot. All it does is sit there and ask for Elixers. Most of them were satisfied with 1 Elixer and then ran off. The benefit of all this? 100 Ability Points per Magic Pot. There was around 5 of them during the climb up, so it was a very good thing. I gained many, many job levels out of that, so it was a huuge plus. Eventually, I reached the top and was lead into a cutscene. Reina's dragon was located on the top of the tower. It flew off the tower to sacrifice itself...It sounds really harsh and sad, but Krile informed us (she can talk to magical animals and such) that it was doing it to help us. The dragon sacrificed itself and turned into a Phoenix! And thus...I earned the Phoenix summon. Next up would be Bahamut, but I don't think I'm quite ready for that yet, so I'll continue with the rest of the lithographs and then come back to Bahamut. You'll get yours soon enough Dragon God!
The next location was hidden underneath a waterfall. I had to use the submarine to access it, but it was quickly found and gained entrance to...Easterly Falls! Inside here was the "last" lithograph according to the characters. This is number three for me though...Whatever! I traveled through the perilous waterfall cave (not very perilous). The enemies weren't much of a challenge here, but I was looking forward to more Legendary Weapons. I made it through, grabbed up the lithograph, and was greeted by Leviathan. It killed off one of Exdeath's minions who attempted to stop me. It offered to join me if I could beat it...BOSS BATTLE TIME! Thanks to the usual guide tip, I easily beat and obtained Leviathan. I won't go into details, but I'll just say that Water-based attacks are completely useless against a party with Coral Rings equipped. (Coral Rings absorb water-based magic/attacks.) Yet another summon to add to my squad of summons! I've almost got all of them now. I'll grab Bahamut later, but now it is time for the final lithograph! It's also the 3rd one, but the order isn't important apparently.
Before going to the next location, I returned to the Sealed Castle for another trio of Legendary Weapons. I picked out the Apollo Harp, Assassin's Dagger, and the Ninja Blade. With those in hand, it was time to find the next and final lithograph. The final (and third one technically in-game) is located somewhere under the ocean in a great sea hole. They call it the Great Sea Trench, but the area I entered into looked more like a giant hole. Anyways, I went inside and began the search for Lithograph #3! This was by far one of the weirder places. There was lava everywhere, and all of the enemies looked like mangled, inside-out monster things. Lucky for me, one of the best abilities to put to use here was the Bard with the Requiem song. It would damage the entire enemy group for 3000ish damage each! With the enemies not being much trouble, I could mostly focus on moving right along. Halfway in, I found a dwarf village with...5 dwarves in it. The first one I talked to even exclaimed about there being only 5. You'd think they would be worried, but they seem all right with this fact. I kept moving forward through lava, pressed some switches, and finally located the last lithograph. It seems I wouldn't get it without a BOSS BATTLE TIME!
The boss this time was a trio of hideous...demon baby monster things. They weren't super tough, but they had two annoying things about them. The first was that you have to kill all three at the same time. The second was that killing one would only knock him out momentarily. He would then come back and the group would use a move called Delta Attack on one random party member...turning them into stone. After several frustrating rounds, I was able to put this trio of monsters down. I then claimed the final lithograph! It also granted me the Time spell Meteo! Woo! With the final lithograph in hand, I made way to the Sealed Castle to take the final three Legendary weapons. The remaining weapons were the Yoichi's Bow, Fire Bute (it's a whip), and the Earth Bell. With the weapons at my disposal, it was almost time to head to the N-Zone. Before that, I had one last location to visit. It was time to confront Bahamut on the North Mountain.
I made a few pit stops and then used the Black Chocobo to get there. It was another location where I couldn't fly my airship in. Anyways, the mountain proceeded as it had the first time I climbed it (for the Dragon Grass). It was a slow and pointless climb to one of the game's hardest battles...BOSS BATTLE TIME! According to my guide friend, I had only a brief period of time before Bahamut would cast Mega Flare and wipe out my party. With that in mind, my goal was to deal out damage quickly and heavily. I jumped in, buffed up my party, and beat him in around 4-5 rounds. I..kinda expected a harder battle. Regardless, I added Bahamut as the Squad Leader in Summon Squad! Woo! All that's left now is petty leveling, item buying, and then...final area commences!
Seeing as I have quite a bit typed up here for this post, I'm going to end the post here and begin a new post for the final area. That one will probably be overly short minus the dozen-ish boss battles that will take place. So...ONWARD! TO THE FINAL FANTASY 5 FINAL POST!
Ending Point - Nearby Mirage Village.
Current Party -
- Bartz Level 40 - Samurai Level 4 with Two-handed ability.
- Reina Level 39 - Black Mage Level 6 with White Magic ability.
- Krile Level 40 - Time Mage Level 6 with Black Magic ability.
- Faris Level 40 - Knight Level 2 with Two Sword ability.
Next Goals - Enter the N-Zone and defeat Exdeath. Save the World.
~May the Crystals Guide Me~
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