Day 9

Game - Final Fantasy II, Day 9
Hours Played/Hours Total - 4-1/2 hrs / 5-1/2 hrs
Starting Point - Village of Galtrea
Current Goal - Deliver the message to Altair.

What Happened - Blargh, this is going to be kinda un-fun. To put it simply, I don't really like the level up system. It's a cool concept and has been used in games around now...but still can be un-fun. Onwards to the game talkery!
     The journey began from Galtrea, which is only a small distance from Altair. One small trip later, I'm back in the starting town and talked to Hilda. You show her the ring and plot happens. Seeing that you managed to make it to the town of Fynn and did so with little trouble, she decides you are qualified to join the rebel movement. With your newly acquired rebel status, she makes a request for your group to find mythril for the movement. Apparently the rebels are having trouble fighting the empire since they have better weapons and armor. She sends you eastward with the character Minwu (guy who healed you in the beginning) and his canoe. It seems that Minwu is the Keeper of the Canoe (I'm joking...but still seems silly). Fun thing about Minwu is that he joins your party with multiple levels in skills already! He comes with a large array of white magic in tow, and I believe he has all of it. :D
     With Minwu and his fancy canoe, you can travel eastward to the port city of Paloom (great name -_-). At Paloom, you can take a boat northeastward to Poft (another classic!). The reason for heading to Poft is to locate a man named Cid (a staple character in the Final Fantasy starting with this one actually!). Cid owns an airship which you can charter to fly all over. Unfortunately for me, I forgot which city I had to go to for the mythril. With a little internet looking up cheatery, found out that I needed to head towards Salamand. Of course, this was after about an hour of grinding. For those unfamiliar to the term grinding (probably nobody that reads this), grinding is the slang for wasting time in an RPG by trying to just get in constant battles for experience, money, and items. I was mostly doing it for the money. Constantly feel like I'm really, really poor in this game. Of course, without any real level, it can be hard to know if/when you are ready to go on. After the grinding for money, I finally set air-sail for Salamand.
     Salamand is a northern winter city. There's not too much to have/see there, but if you walk around, you eventually find one unmarked house. Considering there aren't too many unmarked houses in this game so far, I'm figuring any unmarked house is important somehow. I went inside and talked to a man who wouldn't tell or give me anything until I helped out the people being forced to work in a mine. With the new information in mind (and some new equipment), I began the journey to the mine known as Semitt Falls. Semitt Falls is essentially the first dungeon you get to delve into. From previous attempted playthrough, I remembered it as being a fairly tough place. However, with my earlier level grinding, I made it through with very little trouble. Saved the people and defeated the soldier at the bottom guarding the mythril. With the mythril in hand, I immediately set course back towards Altair. Once there, I completely ignored running to Hilda and went to the blacksmith instead. Handed over the mythril to him, and he immediately got to work.
     A brief time later...he told me I could now purchase mythril weapons in his shop. What the fuck is this shit? Seriously, I do all that and have to PAY for the equipment. I think that's just in poor taste if you ask me. Whatever, I guess I just have to get over that. With the quest more or less done, I finally proceeded to talk to Hilda again. She tells me that the next mission for our group is to destroy (or at least hinder) the Dreadnought. Deciding I had put enough time in, I went ahead, saved, and quit for the evening. Not necessarily very eventful, but at least I finally got some progress in!

Ending Point - City of Altair.

Goals Accomplished - Delivered the message to Hilda. Became a rebel member. Gained Minwu and his canoe. Found my way to Paloom and then to Poft. Flew towards Salamand. Rescued the slaves from Semitt Falls. Obtained mythril.
Next Goals - Destroy the Dreadnought.

Side Note - Yeah, I took a bit too long to get back to this. Final Fantasy 2 is not being very fun (again, I blame the level up system). I got several days off though, and I hope to make more progress over the next several days. Hoping I can finish it before the end of the month. Should be pretty simple if I keep at it.

~May the Crystals Guide Me~