Final Fantasy 3 - Final Thoughts

First and foremost...I forgot to make a little "Final Score" card on that last post, so I'm placing it here!
Final Fantasy 3 - Final Stats
Hours Played - 45-1/2 hours*
Final Party Levels and Classes

• Luneth  - Level 58 - Ninja Level 41
• Arc  - Level 58 - Summoner Level 40
• Refia - Level 58 - Devout Level 33
• Ingus - Level 58 - Knight Level 30

Now...for my final thoughts on Final Fantasy 3.
     Overall, despite my wanting to beat it sooner and faster, I enjoyed the overall experience. It had plenty of character and story while also allowing for a fully customize-able party. Would I play it again right now? No. Would I aim for the crazyness of a perfect game like the guide went over? Heeeeell no. I'm not a perfect game kind of person. If I were to make one comment, it would be the following. They must have programmed to the MAX to fit this entirety of a game on the FamiCom (Family Computer...Japanese equivalent to the Nintendo). They did pretty well for what they were limited to back then. It seems like programmers now can't get shit done like they used to...enough about that. Now...on to my thoughts!

     First and foremost, I want to talk about the gameplay of this title. They went ahead and went back to experience over leveling up everything like in Final Fantasy 2 (THANK GOD). They also took a page from Final Fantasy 1's class idea and expanded on it! That idea gave birth to...the Job System. There are some very interesting things about the job system as well. The first thing I'd mention is how at least half of the jobs (if not more) are based on or straight rip offs of classes from Dungeons and Dragons. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it is kind of funny. The next thing I'd mention is how the Job System (and jobs contained in) drastically affected later Final Fantasy titles. As far as the rest of the titles go, each character is a set class and can't be changed. Cecil (main guy in FF4) is a Dark Knight, and on top of that, he works JUST like the Dark Knight in 3. Later games do the same bit to the letter. In possibly my favorite Final Fantasy, Final Fantasy Tactics, the entirety of game play is based on the Job System. It contains around 20+ jobs that are almost exactly like but slightly different from those in 3. This basically makes the game incredibly awesome and what RPGs should be. You can fully customize your party to however you want it. You can have a pile of warriors OR a pile of mages for all that it matters. Sure, you will have a rough time if you go all one way or the other, but the freedom to do so is nice. The only flaw in that is that certain portions of the game requires you to have a mage so as to pass a certain point (the use of Mini and such). You will easily get past that of course. The battles were basically just battles. It's your basic turn based system with attack, magic, items, and such. They kept the front and back rows like Final Fantasy 2 did, but there's nothing really special to that. Put the strong in the front and the weak in the back. 

     The only true complaint I'd have about the job system...is magic. They eliminated the magic capacity in favor of having simply so many points per level. Basically, you have X points for level 1, X points for level 2, and so on. What this means is rather than each spell having a cost, all spells cost 1 point. In theory, this is really cool and makes it simple. However, it can be really annoying to lose the ability to cast higher versions of Cure because you only had 5 points to spend in its level. I NEED CURA, NOT CURE! On top of being limited by points, you only have so many points depending on your current job AND what level that job is. This makes switching jobs for magic people a bitch. If you switch your mage over to a slightly different mage, you have to reassign spells and start all over. It was mostly un-fun when I went from White Mage to Devout with Refia. I lost a lot of Level 1 spells in favor of a larger balance (nearly 10 per category if not more) over having more spells at lower levels and less at higher. All in all, it ends up working out but can be annoying. The Job Levels enhance this by making your spell casting level availability as well as magic points completely dependent on said Job Levels. It mostly sucks because the physical based classes do have bonuses from having higher levels in the Job, but they aren't as hindered as magic users can be. That's all I got so.../end rant. Overall, I still REALLY like the openness and tactical allowance given to you by the Job System. There is plenty of Job variety, classic jobs with improvement, and easily all options that you could want are available before the game finishes. I'd pick it over the default character class that you can't pick ANY DAY! Now...onward to story!

     Final Fantasy 3 went straight up and picked the same classic route. A band of misfits (in this case orphans) find out they are the sacred Warriors of Light and must come together to save the world as we know it. Your first basic task mimics the Final Fantasy 1 in that you have to go find the crystals and obtain their power. However, I guess there is nothing completely wrong with mimicking something that works. You do find out later on that there are two versions of the world...a Dark World and a Light World. You spend the majority of the adventure in the Light World trying to find the Light Crystals. I don't want to explain the fully story or give it all away...so moving on. It gives you a decent plot overall. The characters don't always jump out at you, but you do see a lot of death and destruction along the way. Plenty of people die in the line of saving the world. Outside of the main quest, there is plenty to do and see. There's even a secret side quest to get the fabled Onion Knight job, but apparently that is impossible without the use of the in-game Moogle mail system that requires another person with a copy of the game...so screw that. Err...back to the story. There is a lot of people and places to see. Each area is not just involved in the story but has its own story. Aside from the crystals, you do quite a bit that has NOTHING to do with the crystals. It means they didn't just make it all about the crystals! That's nice. It's not necessarily the deepest story or the most inspirational/exciting characters, but there is still plenty to enjoy. 

     Great job system, average battles, average story and characters...I'd say it's definitely worth a try if you have a NDS or 3DS, and you also want to play an RPG! The only true problem for most would be that your choice of play is indeed limited to...the Nintendo DS. Either way, I'd say give it a shot. You might just learn something and become a fan of the Job System like me. Final Fantasy 3...I enjoy the time we had, but now it is time...to move on to Final Fantasy 4!

Side Note -I shall begin my playing of Final Fantasy 4 this weekend! For aesthetics and such, I have chosen to play Final Fantasy 4 on my PSP. I only hope my PSP doesn't decide to crap out on me. Anyways~
I'd like to say thanks for reading and stay tuned for my dive into...Final Fantasy 4!!!

*Side Note 2 - Holy crap, I can't wait to finally add up all the hours I've played for all these titles. I bet the total time will be INSANE!

~May the Crystals Guide Me~

Day 24

Game - Final Fantasy 3, Day 24
Hours Played/Hours Total - 8-1/2 hrs / 45-1/2 hrs
Starting Point - Nearby Bahamut's Lair
Current Goal - Climb Syrcus Tower and defeat Xande. Save the world!

What Happened - This shall hopefully be my last post on Final Fantasy 3. Time for this adventure to come to an end!...So that I can start another one!
     I left off on my last post talking about some level up time before proceeding to the end. I spent somewhere around 4 hours (not paying much attention during) in Bahamut's Lair leveling up as best as I could. The biggest goal was to gain job levels since I swapped out everybody to different jobs. Although I had to re-level them, the new jobs were totally worth it. The Ninja (equipped with two blades) and the Black Belt (set of claws) were able to do large amounts of physical damage while the Summoner dealt out huge magic damage with fully powered summons. The Devout lost some points in Level 1 spells but gained a better amount of casting for higher level spells. Overall, it was a great change over. The enemies in Bahamut's Lair weren't very challenging, but they did hand out a decent amount of experience. It was generally enough experience that I could level up once every 4-5 battles. Not much more to add here...I eventually got tired of leveling up and decided it was time for the FINAL DUNGEON CHALLENGE THROWDOWN! So I left Bahamut's Lair and head back to the Ancient Maze.
     Before I could climb the tower, I was forced to traverse this perilous maze...That's how I would have described the maze if it were remotely perilous. The enemies were tough but none of them were ridiculously powerful. The maze wasn't so much a maze as it was a single path with a few branch offs with treasure. There weren't any real dead ends or traps at all, just a path with treasure branches. After making it past the maze, I was face to face with the massive and ominous Syrcus Tower! I saved my game outside and proceeded inside for final dungeon time.
     Inside Syrcus Tower, it was already apparent I was going to have fun going up the tower. All of the enemies I fought were remakes and upgrades of old bosses. Thankfully my new and improved jobs were able to kick ass and take names without too much of a fight. I did have to keep up with some extra healing of course. The first floor alone had like 8 treasure chests full of items! It was a split between armor I had no use for and items that cast like magic. Before proceeding upward however, I went into a chamber in the middle. This chamber contained a door that took me to The Forbidden Land, Eureka. I believe this is the sacred land chocked full of super weapons that Doga mentioned earlier on in-game. I began exploring this mystical place. The enemies weren't too tough, and there was treasure abound! However, the biggest prize here was a pile of legendary and powerful super weapons. Of course, they aren't free for the taking. I had to beat a specialized boss for every weapon. Unfortunately for those bosses, they weren't that challenging at all. Each one went down with very little trouble caused by any of them, and it fully healed me after every battle (as it does with all boss battles). After taking them all down (I got several swords, a staff, a rod, and some sort of circular blade), I proceeded forward and found...a secret magic shop! It contained all of the level 8 magic for black and white as well as the level 6, 7, and 8 summons (Odin, Leviathan, and Bahamut respectively). After accomplishing all of that, I teleported out of the tower and started again.
     Inside Syrcus Tower (Take 2), I finally began my perilous journey up the tower to find and defeat Xande. This would also mean saving the world from darkness or something. Either way...the journey of final journeys began! Let me tell you...this was a long ass trip up this damn tower. It certainly fell like forever. I doubt it was actually that far up, but it sure stretches the time out when you have to battle monsters every 5-50 steps. Anyways, one long and battle-filled trip later, I finally made it to the top. There was a mirror there...that cursed all the characters. Of course, this was a story element AND was quickly solved by the soul/spirit of Doga. He retrieved a pile of NPCs that somehow held the curse at bay while we charged into said mirror. Woo? I could explain it, but it'd take more time/almost as much time as I'm taking to type this. Inside the mirror was a dark and evil place...also Xande! He made a general bad guy speech, and we charged forward for BOSS BATTLE TIME! Although I probably shouldn't have all capitalized that because he was a big damn pushover. After his defeat, Xande mentioned something about Darkness succeeding regardless...and then he died. Cut scene time! Turns out, Xande was summoning a giant Cloud of Darkness to destroy all of everything as we know it and "return it to the Void." The final bit is how the Cloud put it. That's right...the actual final boss guy is a giant cloud named Cloud of Darkness. That my friends is an incredibly formidable bad guy. He begins his destruction of everything by attacking me for BOSS BATTLE TIME AGAIN! Unfortunately for me, he greatly achieves our destruction because he kills us first round.
     Oh noes! That is not the true reaction I'd have in this circumstance, but I already know (thanks to a guide warning) that he is set to win this battle. The party is dead...or so it seems! Through the power of story (and two stupid powerful mages), the group is resurrected. It seems that the Cloud of Darkness has retreated into the Darkness...realm to begin the ending of everything. With the group fully revived, I said goodbye to the friends and charged headfirst into the final area! The final area is a group of 5 teleporting circles leading to 5 different areas with 4 super bosses and the Cloud of Darkness. Apparently charging head first into the Cloud of Darkness will get me killed, so I get to fight off the 4 super bosses before going to him/her/it. Like my current time in the Final Fantasy games, this wasn't a very hard task. It was basically just pure, liquid annoying. I don't see why I need to run around enemy infested areas to fight four bosses that don't really have anything to do with the final guy (Cloud of Darkness). There's some story bits involved,and they all revolve around light, darkness, Cloud of Darkness, and basically explaining how and why shit happened. I don't plan to type all that so...onward! Anyways, I battle my way through difficult odds (kinda?) and multiple bone shattering monsters (again, kinda?). After defeating these 4 evil devils, I was finally able to turn my wraith to the Cloud of Darkness.
     My first thought before going into this boss battle was quite simple. "Please do not let this boss be a pushover like the final boss in Final Fantasy 2." I'm sorry! I'm still not over that...that was like Disappointment City. Population? Daniel. I apologize for the horrible joke, but I had to bring it up. Now on to the FINAL BOSS BATTLE! The Cloud of Darkness was a formidable foe. Although the look was kind of strange (green person in a black hole with yellow snakes at the shoulders), it proved itself to be quite tough. Unlike the previous titles, I didn't spend any time casting spells like Protect or Haste very often. They weren't as useful in this one. Most of the time, it would have been a waste of my Devout's turn when I SHOULD have cast Curaja. Seriously, Cloud of Darkness was dealing out enough damage that I needed a constant super heal every turn. As for offensiveness...I was just constantly attacking with the Knight and Ninja (both able to do at least 7000 each turn) while the Summoner brought forth a random choice of either Bahamut or Leviathan. I could have spent time taking down the tentacle arms, which mostly cast either Bad Breath or other spells, but I felt there was no point wasting any time on them. It was a fairly furious battle, and I came close to losing a person here and there, but I never did fall. After a harrowing battle, I was treated to...a great ending to the game. It had a decently long cut scene saying goodbye to all the people I met throughout. It had the usual...end of game explanation. It talked about light and darkness and such. Overall, I had a good time, but I'm glad it's over!
     Now...on to a final post with my final thoughts! I should have it up fairly soon, hopefully by tomorrow!

Ending Point - End of the game. I beat Final Fantasy 3!
Current Levels -

• Luneth - Level 58 - Ninja Level 41
• Arc - Level 58 - Summoner Level 40
• Refia - Level 58 - Devout Level 33
• Ingus* - Level 58 - Knight Level 30

*Yeah, I swapped him to Knight because of all the super swords I got in Eureka.

Goals Accomplished - Gained some extra levels. Made it through the Ancient Maze. Climbed the Syrcus Tower. Fought and defeated Xande. Defeated the Cloud of Darkness and his minions. Beat Final Fantasy 3!
Next Goals - Start Final Fantasy 4!!!

~May the Crystals Guide Me~

Day 23

Game - Final Fantasy 3, Day 23
Hours Played/Hours Total - 6-1/2 hrs / 37 hrs
Starting Point - Nearby the Cave of Shadows
Current Goal - Enter the Cave of Shadows and retrieve the Fang of Earth. Go to Xande's Tower and defeat him. Save the World.

What Happened - Here goes another day of FF3 play! I sure hope I can close this game up soon...I am trying to finish it before March is over. It isn't impossible, but I'm cutting it close. Onward!
     I started off in front of the Cave of Shadows. This dark and ominous sounding cave is supposedly the home of the Fang of Earth. Unei instructed the group to retrieve the fang and then report back to her and Doga at his mansion. This shouldn't be too bad of a cave to explore, and I was completely correct about this! The cave is made up of small rooms and hidden passageways between these rooms. The only true annoying aspect of this dungeon would have been the enemies. For some reason, they thought it would be fun to have enemies who can "divide." Basically, if you don't kill them in one hit physically (or attack with magic), the enemy won't die and instead will split into a second one, a third one, and so on. The only exception to this is the specialized sword known as a dark blade. Who can use a dark blade? You (hopefully) guessed it...a Dark Knight. Thankfully, I was fully okay with this idea considering that the Dark Knight is: 1. Powerful, 2. Cool, and 3. Actually Useful. With my two Dark Knights at the helm (switched Ingus to one because of all the extra equipment), I was able to beat most of these enemies with no real problems.
     As a bonus in this dungeon, there was lots of treasure to be found! Among that treasure was the fabled (and apparently Final Fantasy common) set of Genji Armor. I equipped my faithful Dark Knight Ingus in this armor, and he slowly became nigh invincible! (As a mention, I actually forgot one piece of Genji Armor and had to go all the way back down to retrieve it but whatever.) After delving all the way down, I finally found the Fang of Earth. However...one does not simply take the Fang of Earth without a BOSS BATTLE! The group was attacked by a mysterious dark figure with a sword. He had a name, but it wasn't really important since I was planning to slay him anyways. He didn't put up much of a fight and was quickly shown a one way trip to death. With the Fang of Earth in hand, it was time to meet up with Unei and Doga. Before that happened, I looked into a few more side quests.
     It was time...I was finally going to quest for the legendary and awesome final two summons! The summons I'm referring to are the ever popular and well known Leviathan and Bahamut. The super dragons are the last and most powerful summons available in Final Fantasy 3. However, just like Odin, you have to locate them where they are and defeat them in battle. With my guide at hand, I was able to locate each of them in their respective home. Leviathan was my first target. Leviathan was located at a lake (Lake Dohr) on the floating continent. The only reason I couldn't access it earlier was because of a set of "small mountains." The Invincible easily took me over these, and I dove under the lake to confront Leviathan. Leviathan fought quite well, but with a White Mage casting cure constantly and a set of Dark Knight dealing out the damage, it didn't stand a chance! Upon defeat, Leviathan congratulated me on the victory and gave up its power. With Leviathan defeated, I made my way to Bahamut's Lair (where Bahamut is obviously). Bahamut's Lair went about the same as Lake Dohr. There wasn't a whole lot to do here outside of a handful of treasure and meager enemies. However, I did come face to face with the great dragon himself...in BOSS BATTLE! Bahamut put up a bit more of a fight, but the same combo of White Mage and Dark Knights easily ended his crusade. Yes, my Evoker (Arc) did do some of the work but was only a meager portion compared to the others. With Bahamut defeated, I was awarded the last and very powerful Bahamut summon! With these two great dragons under my belt, I figured it was time to head back to the main story.
     My next goal was to get back in touch with Unei and Doga at Doga's mansion, so I made my way there. Unfortunately, I had to trade out The Invincible for The Nautilus. Why? Because the valley Doga's mansion in is super windy and only allows the Nautilus into it! I find this silly and lame, but there's nothing I could do about it. One quick round trip later, I was finally at Doga's Mansion and entered inside to learn the next step. I was immediately greeted by...no one. The group heard the voice of Doga and Unei talking to them from a different place. They told me to step into the portal (which just showed up) and to follow the path to them. They would then grant me a gift of some sort. I gathered up my courage and stepped into the portal. The portal teleported me to a place called Doga's Grotto.
     Doga's Grotto was a simple dungeon. It was just a straightforward yet downward crawl to the bottom. There were monsters and treasure here and there, but nothing came up that was incredible or anything. Upon arriving at the bottom, Doga and Unei inform the group that they require a special key to get to Xande. However, something necessary before handing over the key requires that we defeat them in battle! OH NOES! BOSS BATTLE! Doga charges at the group first and turns into a giant lizard floating on a weird platform with eyes. He was a fairly formidable boss. On top of his fairly decent physical damage, Doga was able to cast the highest forms of the three elemental spells! I had to constantly revive Luneth almost every other to every 3rd turn. However, with constant attacks and healing, I was able to put him down, but then Unei came forward for BOSS BATTLE NUMBER TWO! Unei transformed into a giant weird lion-cat demon person. She was quick and powerful! On top of that, she was able to cast Haste on herself as well as the ultimate white magic attack Holy on my party! She only cast it a few times, but once was enough to take out Ingus who I had to spend a turn reviving. For some reason, she went down slightly quicker than Doga, but she did not go without a fight. Upon defeat, the two lay there dying. Their deaths were sad...but thanks to whatever it caused, they were able to give me the Eureka and Syrcus Keys. These keys plus the fangs would allow me to approach Xande's tower, known as Syrcus Tower. It was finally time...to go and defeat Xande!
     From Doga's Grotto, I swapped out the Nautilus for The Invincible and made way for Syrcus Tower. The final area of the game left unexplored was the northeast continent. I went there and immediately ran into the group of statues blocking the way. At first, despite the fangs, it wouldn't let me through. I found out shortly later by experimenting that I couldn't fly through the statues in the Invincible. So I had to get out and walk across all the statues on foot to dispel them, and then I was able to get back in my airship and fly through. After flying past some mountains, I finally came upon the Syrcas Tower, but before I could reach it, I had to get through it's massive outer wall. Inside this building, I ran forward and located the great Earth Crystal. Of course, it was guarded by another BOSS BATTLE! Another straightforward giant warrior thing, like the Cave of Shadows, that was acting all high and mighty, but it went down shortly with swiftness! I believe its name was Titan...not like it matters now. With Titan defeated, the Earth Crystal revealed that Xande was using its power to bring darkness back to the land. It gave its power to me so that I could defeat Xande. I FINALLY got the final group of jobs! Awesome, kick-ass, powerful jobs! The jobs I got were the following: Black Belt (powered up Monk), Magus (super Black Mage), Devout (ultimate White Mage), Summoner (mega Envoker), Sage (some sort of mix of all three magic classes), Ninja (coolest class EVER!).
     With the power of the Earth Crystal, it was finally time to get through these final dungeons and confront Xande. Or that's what I would be doing but after switching everybody's job, I needed to take some time to level up! I went back to Bahamut's Lair and spent some time gaining levels and taking names! Looking over the guide, I really only lacked a few hours more of game before beating it, but I was going to desperately need the levels. So after spending some time gaining levels, I saved and turned it in for the night.

Ending Point - Nearby Bahamut's Lair.
Current Levels* -

• Luneth - Level 48 - Ninja Level 10
• Arc - Level 48 - Summoner Level 10
• Refia - Level 48 - Devout Level 9
• Ingus - Level 48 - Black Belt Level 9

*Considering that none of the games really have even levels of characters, I'm changing this category.

Goals Accomplished - Retrieved the Fang of Earth from the Cave of Shadows. Obtained the Leviathan and Bahamut summons. Delved into Doga's Grotto and fought Doga and Unei for the final keys, the Syrcas and Eureka Keys. Dispelled the ancient statues and their barriers with the elemental fangs. Defeated Titan and freed the Earth Crystal. Gained the powers/jobs from the Earth Crystal. Gained some extra levels.
Next Goals - Climb Syrcus Tower and defeat Xande. Save the World!

~May the Crystals Guide Me~

Day 22

Game - Final Fantasy 3, Day 22
Hours Played/Hours Total - 4 hrs / 30-1/2 hrs
Starting Point - Inside the Saronia Kingdom
Current Goal - Find the Temple of Time and retrieve Noah's Flute. Wake Unei. Save the World.

What Happened - Going to attempt a quick post! Let's hope it is quick and not lengthy!
     I started off in Saronia Kingdom. I had just recently excavated a sunken cave of its tasty treasure, and along the way, I gained a few new levels. With this in mind, I gave another shot at fighting Odin. Of course, it seems that I had yet another SURPRISE! I beat Odin on my first try this time. I always run into this in basically all games. I come to a point of trying to beat something and constantly fail, but I return back to it at a later date (whether days, weeks, or YEARS) and are able to beat it on the first try. It's a nice feeling, but it can also be really frustrating. Why? There's a good chance I might have gotten pissed off before I gave up the previous time, so this time almost feels like a slap in the face. Anyways...Odin summon acquired! Woo! I found out later that the Odin summon is basically useless...
     After defeating Odin, I figured it was time to find the Temple of Time and move on in the game. I was hoping to beat this game before March is over, but I have a feeling that this will not happen. I still have a little hope left though. The Temple of Time was said to be located at "Cape Twin Horn." This points to a place that is both: 1. A cape and 2. Looks like horns. You would think that would be easy, but apparently I'm the only one who thinks that half a dozen land formations look like a set of horns. A quick look over my guide informed me that the set of "horns" located South of Saronia was the correct one. I dived underwater and began the search of the Temple of Time. There was nothing really special about this dungeon. I was almost frustrated by the number of Magic Keys needed to open doors, but I thankfully had JUST enough. Seriously, I had eight of them, and I used every single one. Had I been off by one key, I probably would have just stopped playing completely. Either way, I descended down into the depths of the temple in order to obtain Noah's Lute. There were many great items to be found, and thankfully the enemies weren't too powerful. I did run into the classic Behemoth here, but his only troubling quality was his ridiculous amount of HP. I looked it up...one has 12,000 HP. I realize I'm a good ways into the game, but that feels like an awful lot for a simple enemy. However, outside of his large HP number, he wasn't really any challenge.  A handful of floors later, I found and recovered Noah's Lute. Now I just needed to find Unei's cave and awaken her from the dream realm!
     After coming up and out of the cave, I immediately set air sail for her cave. I had already found it a bit earlier, so I didn't have to go looking for it. It's a simple cave with only a small walk and a strange person lying on a stone slab. Turns out that person is the all powerful mage known as Unei. The group played Noah's Lute, and she immediately sprang up from her endless sleep. A cut scene ensues with what is supposed to be a funny bit of the old lady running around and stretching her legs. After it slows down, she tells the group that she already has been informed by Doga about what needs to be done. She knows where to find the airship known as the Invincible and plans to helps us get it. As she is walking out of the cave with the group, she handed over the Fang of Fire, and finally I was informed of the Elemental Fang's true purpose. Apparently the bad guy, Xande, set up a protective barrier in front of his tower that can only be passed with the four fangs in hand. Our group had two, she gave us one, and now I just need to find the last one, the Fang of Earth. Unei informs us that we need the Invincible to obtain the last fang...so off I go!
     Unei directed the me to head northward to a set of ancient ruins known as...The Ancient Ruins. It's a really classy name. Anyways, the ruins are currently occupied by some archaeologists who are researching the ruins. They inform me that a recent cave-in blocked a portion of the tunnel off and separated them from the rest of their team (siiiigh). Thankfully, Unei quickly solves the problem by making the giant adamantine rocks disappear using dream powers somehow...With the path cleared, I began to explore the ruins. Nothing too big to deal with here. There were the occasional monster here and there, but nothing was too hard for me to beat. I found some nice items while I was going through, but nothing was by far amazing. All in all, it was a fairly boring dungeon delve. After climbing down multiple floors, we finally come to a large water area with what appears to be a huge ship in the water. The group climbed aboard the ship, and Unei revealed it as The Invincible.
     Now this is by far the coolest air ship in any FF game ever! It's incredibly massive compared to the previous two airships. Of course, that also makes it much slower. The cool part is that you are actually able to explore the ship in its entirety! Inside, there is a Moogle (For the FF3 mail thing), a set of beds for free healing, the Fat Chocobo (storage), and an automated shop where you can buy limited magic, armor, weapons, and items! This is both awesomely useful and fairly unique from most Final Fantasy games, where the ship is simply just a transport. This means I have a kick ass flying fortress! Unei explained how it all works (controls and stuff inside) and then instructed me to find the Cave of Shadows. She said that it would hold inside it the Fang of Earth that I need to reach Xande. After imparting these words upon me, she was being called by Doga (wherever he is) and would meet up with the group at Doga's mansion after we retrieved the Fang of Earth. Time for some adventure!
     Before going to the Cave of Shadows, I consulted my guide for another side mission of sorts. I was to locate the Dark Knight secret village of Falgabard. I wasn't able to reach it until now because it was located behind some "small" mountains. You see, that is the specialty of The Invincible! I can fly over small mountains by getting RIGHT next to them and hitting A. This is both annoying and feels pointless...Why not just make the ship automatically able to go over them? Why make me hit A every time? Regardless, I made way to find Falgabard, which was easy to locate with a guide. This is the coolest village so far! It's chocked full of awesome Dark Knights and specialized equipment just for them. Finally, Luneth (current Dark Knight) was able to get better armor and weapons. After selling a few things, I was able to fully outfit him. I then confronted an old man who challenged me to a fight for the ownership of a powerful sword. He turned into a Shinobi and fought valiantly, but that wasn't enough to save him. After defeat, he told me that it was a great battle and rewarded me the Kiku-Ichimonji, a powerful Dark Blade for you know who. After defeating him, I searched around town and inside a nearby cave for even MORE tasty Dark Knight treasure. After fully looting the town, I finally made way for the Cave of Shadows.
     The Cave of Shadows (unfortunately) was located on the entire other side of the map, and I had to climb over a dozen small mountains made into a maze-like formation. Thus began my annoyance with the having to mash A every time I wanted to cross one. Anyways, after crossing the mountains, I sat down in front of the Cave of Shadows...and stopped there for the night. It wasn't a super glorious post, but I did manage to get a decent amount accomplished, both story and side quest!

Ending Point - Nearby the Cave of Shadows.
Levels Achieved -

• Luneth - Level 40 - Dark Knight Level 52
• Arc - Level 40 - Evoker Level 31
• Refia - Level 40 - White Mage Level 54
• Ingus - Level 40 - Dark Knight Level 1

Goals Accomplished - Found the Temple of Time. Retrieved Noah's Lute. Woke up Unei. Searched the Ancient Ruins and located The Invincible. Discovered the awesome village of the Dark Knights, Falgabard. Looted Falgabard of its awesome treasure. Located the Cave of Shadows.
Next Goals - Enter the Cave of Shadows and retrieve the Fang of Earth. Go to Xande's Tower and defeat him. Save the World.

~May the Crystals Guide Me~

Day 21

Game - Final Fantasy 3, Day 21
Hours Played/Hours Total -  10-1/2 hrs / 26-1/2 hrs
Starting Point - Nearby Replito.
Current Goal - Figure out what to do next. Fix the Earth Crystal. Save the world.

What Happened - So I was hoping to get a second post in really quick after that last one, but all I accomplished since then was a couple hours of leveling up. That couple of hours wasn't worth posting about,  and I added it all in to make one post. With that all said, on to the show!
     Nearby Replito, I began farming up a storm. I kept killing and killing and killing. My plan was to get a massive pile of gold so I could buy all the summons available in town. I found out when looking through a guide that the summons would soon become unavailable for a really long time. Therefore, I spent time fighting a lot of random battles so I could muster up 35,000 gil (7000 each with 5 of them) to buy the summons. It took quite some time, but I eventually finished. With that done, I decided it was time to proceed through the story. The next step...was a little/large kingdom known as Saronia.
     Saronia is the largest area/town/kingdom so far. It composes of a castle and four pieces of a town separated into sections. However, I was not allowed to arrive in a fun fashion. My beautiful, awesome airship gets shot down...Why is this game determined to take away my one love? I love my airship, but the game doesn't want me to have an airship apparently. Anyways, the group somehow survives the crash and "lands" in Saronia. From there, I was forced to look around and figure out my next step. With the kingdom being the size it is, I ventured into all of the different sections before finding out a few things. Apparently, the king went crazy, kicked his son (the prince) out of the castle, and has begun a civil war among himself. Honestly, I wasn't really caring or preoccupied with that thought. I just wanted out of the place. While looking around, I located the prince (Prince Alus) being bothered by a group of soldiers. I fought and scared them off. The scared-y cat Arc finds Alus to be like him, so they start getting buddy-buddy for the time. With Alus with me, I started looking around some more.
     There isn't too much you can do inside the walled kingdom of Saronia. There aren't any monster encounters on the world map while inside the kingdom. However, there is a tower called Dragon Spire in the southeast section of the kingdom that you can climb. Inside it are monsters as well as a set of dragoon exclusive equipment. I went ahead and took the time to venture in as to claim it all for myself. There wasn't anything too hard enemy-wise, but it was still worth the climb for the experience and equipment. With my new dragoon equipment, I swapped Ingus from Viking to Dragoon to try the stuff out. Turns out that most of it wasn't really any form of improvement over the Viking, but I decided to stick with it anyways. I really need to stop switching classes and just keep with the ones I have. Side note! I also changed Arc from Black Mage to Evoker...I just wanted to try out the summons, but I probably should have kept him a Black Mage.
     After the climb up Dragon Spire, I figured there couldn't be too much more to do, so I made my way to Castle Saronia. I actually had tried to enter the castle upon initial landing/crashing, but they wouldn't let me in then. With the prince in tow, we were allowed back into the castle for some reason. I know that the prince would normally be let in, but he was just recently kicked out. Suspicious! Anyways, story and cut scenes occur. Turns out that the king's right hand man Gigameth was controlling him all this time. Gigameth...really? What kind of name is that? It just sounds terrible...With his plan starting to fail, Gigameth resorted to his only other tactic...BOSS BATTLE TIME! Gigameth turned into some large bird-person, and it turns out that he was actually kind of difficult. I fought with him twice and went down both times.
     Seeing as I couldn't beat Gigameth, I went back to the Dragon Spire and started to farm some levels. Unfortunately for me, it was taking a lot of experience to level up, and the large amount of experience turned into a large amount of time. Thankfully, all the time and effort paid off! I went back to fight Gigameth for a third time, and I managed to come out on top. It wasn't a perfect fight, but I finally beat him! With Gigameth defeated, the king was truly free but at a price. He sacrificed himself to protect his son and died. Prince Alus (I guess now King Alus) took over the kingdom and thanked the group. With him in control, he put a stop to all the madness that Gigameth had caused. With the kingdom back at peace, it was time for me to move on. Of course, I was still lacking in air transportation. However, after a little looking and talking around the castle, my worries of air travel were soon over. A group of engineers told the party that they had recently uncovered an ancient airship called the Nautilus. It was in working order, and they were giving it all to us. Woo! Got my airship back! If I lose this one...I will just be very depressed.
     With the Nautilus at my command, I was a lord of the sky once again. This airship looked more like a flying yellow submarine than an airship, but I guess I will just have to deal with that. My next goal was to fly to the continent of Dalg and search for the wizard known as Doga. I was told to seek him out a long time ago, but I guess the game figured to sidetrack me for the Saronia Kingdom adventure. That and apparently it would be impossible to fly to Doga's mansion without the Nautilus. Something about powerful winds in the valley leading to his home that would have kept me out. Anyways, I flew through the twisting paths and valleys of Dalg and located his mansion. Inside the mansion, Doga....joins my party as a follower. He explains that the one behind everything is a man named Xandu. Xandu, Doga, and another mage named Unei were apprentices to a very old and powerful wizard known as Noah. Long ago, Noah presented each of them with a gift. Doga received great magical prowess. Unei was given power and control in the realm of dreams. Xandu was given mortality. So basically, Xandu was mad that the power he was given sucked in comparison to the other two. Back to current time, Doga plans to lead the group to the Cave of the Circle so that they can get their hands on ancient powerful weapons. Doga feels that the group desperately needs these weapons in order to fight and defeat Xandu. Without further questioning, he tells the group to take the secret passage in the back of his home to the cave, so onward I went to the Cave of the Circle!
     The Cave of the Circle turned out to be a huge waste of my time. The secret passage required that I go Mini to travel forward. Just an FYI, Mini status causes your strength and defense to go to 1, which means that only magic does any good while Mini. On top of Mini, I walked through a pile of no treasure and few enemies. Then I get to an area where Doga casts a spell on the Nautilus to allow it to travel underwater. On top of that, he tells me that the group needs to head for the Temple of Time. It's located underwater by a landmark known as Cape Twin Horn. Once there, I'm to retrieve Noah's Lute so that I can wake up Unei from the dream world. After that, apparently I will obtain the ultimate ship known as the Invincible! Glad I walked all this way for something I could have done/been told in his house. Thanks Doga, I am glad I got to escort you to a hole under the ground. Dunno why mister master wizard couldn't have done it himself. He heads on over to obtain the weapons while we are off to find the familiarly named Temple of Time.
     Before the Temple of Time, I have a few side quests in mind (according to the guide). I do find it somewhat shameful to use a guide, but FF3 seems to be fairly harder than previous. Of course, I could just be under leveled. I'm not looking to get a perfect game here, but I would like some awesome aspects on my side (like a certain set of summons...Bahamut, Leviathan, and Odin). So thus begins some long and hard side quests for great rewards! I started off by heading to a secret village known as Doga Village. Turns out that it's just a large repository of almost all the white, black, and summon magic. I couldn't afford anything ,so I left that place quickly. Next step was an underground dungeon known as Saronia Catacombs. According to what I've read, I should be able to get some awesome equipment and obtain the Odin summon in there. I have a bad feeling I won't be able to beat Odin, but who knows? I might get lucky! However, lucky I did not get. The enemies inside were decently tough, and once I got to Odin, things just went downhill. I was holding my own in most aspects except that my Dark Knight was dying every round/other round. Unfortunate for me because he's my best and hardest hitter. As he was constantly going down, my other members were barely holding on. I eventually hit a point when everybody just went down, so I lost the progress since entering. I retried it all once again. I really slimmed down on everything. I saved up all my spells and items. I almost got Odin...and then he cheated me with a stupid one-hit kill move that can attack the whole party. I decided to say screw that side quest and moved on to the next.
     The guide I used pointed me towards a cave located in the southeastern corner of the world map. Under the water was a cavern known as the Sunken Cave. Inside is said to be filled with vast amounts of tasty treasure. I decided I would make this treasure mine. Nothing too big about this cave. Enemies are decent, but I didn't run into anything crazy hard. The only problematic items were the last four located in the cave. They were locked inside chests along with traps! The traps being set enemies of course. They decided it would be worth my time and effort to force a battle on me for super items. Each of the four chests had a separate but equally difficult enemy. Thankfully all of the items were worth the time and effort. After clearing out the cave, I returned to town to heal and save for the night.
     And thus ends another stupidly long post by me. I'm sorry for those who started to hate me before the end...but I'm getting ever so closer to finishing it! Then it'll just be Final Fantasy 4 glory days~

Ending Point - Inside the Saronia Kingdom
Levels Achieved -

• Luneth - Level 38 - Dark Knight Level 40
• Arc - Level 38 - Evoker Level 22
• Refia - Level 38 - White Mage Level 46
• Ingus - Level 38 - Dragoon Level 27

Goals Accomplished - Got a lot of experience, gil, and pile of summon spells. Entered Saronia. Located and rescued the missing prince (Prince Alus). Climbed the Dragon Spire and claimed the dragoon set of equipment. Defeated Gigameth. Obtained a new airship, the Nautilus. Located Doga's Mansion on the continent of Dalg. Entered the Cave of the Circle and sent Doga on his way. Upgraded Nautilus for underwater travel. Obtained a pile of treasure. Attempted to fight Odin and failed!
Next Goals - Find the Temple of Time and retrieve Noah's Lute. Wake Unei. Save the world.

Side Note Time - This post...just feels terrible. I always try to type this up while I'm actually playing it, but yet I always somehow miss a few details (mostly names of people and places). I'm doing my best to explain what happens without revealing every detail (although I still do generally), and it just seems to feel not as good as older posts. That and the further I get in the series, the more plot they start to have and can be revealed. I realized the few people who read this will probably never play some of the older ones like I am. However, it can be a downer if you learn all the plot of something you might have considered playing.

~May the Crystals Guide Me~

Day 20

Game - Final Fantasy 3, Day 20
Hours Played/Hours Total - 3-1/2 hrs / 16 hrs
Starting Point - Nearby Canaan Village.
Current Goal - Give the Wheel of Time to Cid so he can make an airship. Use the airship to travel to the surface below.

What Happened - I'm going to try and get out a quick and dirty post today. Hopefully chocked full of progress, but any progress is good progress as far as it is concerned. Current goal is to finish this game and start the next one before the month is over.
     Starting outside of Canaan, I immediately went into the village to find Cid. Cid was just waiting at his house for you to bring him the Wheel of Time. With the Wheel of Time, he was able to turn our sea ship, the Enterprise, into an airship. I find this acceptable, and the only real problem is that it has to land in water. I can live with this so much that it hurts. Anyways, with the ship ready to go, Cid has one last thing to tell the group before they left. It turns out that Cid and the party of orphans are not native to this land. It turns out that they came from the world below, which is currently overrun by darkness. Things happened, they were the only survivors. I won't say anymore for those who might seek out this game and play it. With more plot unfolding, I jumped on my airship and took to the world beyond...
     Turns out the world I was in (that felt MASSIVE) was actually just a portion of the much, much larger actual world. However, when I first entered, everything was sunken beneath darkness and water. The world map showed that there were three small bits of land showing above it all. A small journey later, I discovered that one piece of land had nothing but mountains. The second had a temple and cave I could do nothing in, so that left the 3rd piece of land. Of course, it did have the next spot for my goal. There on the land was a crashed ship. I entered inside and found an elderly man protecting a young lady. I had to waste an Elixer on her to get her up and going, and she revealed herself as Aria. She immediately was able to identify the group as the Warriors of Light. She said she could help us get to the Water Crystal, and that it would also restore light to the surface world. With that in mind, I immediately set course for the Temple of Water.
     Funny enough, the Temple of Water didn't have the crystal. It just had a crystal shard that Aria needed to   restore the Water Crystal. She then pointed us to a cave north of the temple, and upon entering, I encountered a sealed door which she eagerly opened for us. Then...dungeon crawl time! It wasn't too hard of a dungeon, but the enemies were starting to do more damage. Had to heal at least once every other battle if not every battle. Moving along, we finally came to the Water Crystal's chamber. The group approached it, and Aria began to restore the power of the crystal using the shard. After returning it to power, she tells the group to combine their light power with the crystal's to restore the world. However, as the group is starting to do that, tragedy strikes! A servant of the major villain (who I know only as Xande) came to strike the group down, but Aria managed to stop the sneak attack. Kraken then proceeded to attack the group for another BOSS BATTLE! Not much to say on this boss battle either, it wasn't a pushover, but I was never truly worried either. After the battle was over, the group approached Aria and mourned. Before she passes, she was able to give you the Water Crystal's power (more jobs! woo!). Unfortunately, the cave starts to collapse in on itself, and the group wakes up several days later in a far off village called Amur.
     The Water Crystal gave me a new batch of jobs, and so of course, I immediately jumped on many of them. The jobs I got were: Viking, Dragoon, Dark Knight, Evoker, Bard. A really nice grouping of new jobs compared to the last set. I immediately jumped on Dragoon and Dark Knight, but I eventually changed the Dragoon to Viking since Dragoon felt useless. It seems the game was determined to make most secondary abilities near useless on anybody except mages. There is the exception of the Dark Knight's Souleater ability. It allows you to sacrifice 10% of your HP to do a MASSIVE amount of damage to ALL opponents on the field. With a decent setup, I was able to deal out 1000 damage easily to a group. This is just too awesome to pass up. Anyways, back to the game!
     In Amur, I was quickly informed that someone named Goldor chained my ship up so I can't go away. Goldor apparently owns some large mansion made entirely of gold, but it's located behind an impassable bog. The solution? I have to get a pair of hover shoes called Levigrass Shoes. Who has Levigrass Shoes? Some old woman named Delilah who resides in the sewers of Amur. Now that is a completely off topic quest. I had to travel all over town for random events before I could go down into the sewers of course. First off, I learned about a group of four old men who believed themselves to be the Warriors of Light. Next, I proceeded to talk to the town mayor of sorts who opened the way to the sewers. Then, it was finally time for the typical yet common sewer dungeon crawl. Nothing too special about it, but around halfway through, the group encountered the fake Warriors of Light who were being cornered by monster frogs. SO MENACING! The group took it upon themselves to help. With the frogs defeated, the fake Warriors admit that you must be the real ones, and they promise to go back to the surface. Further downward I came face to face with Delilah. The group asks her to give them a pair of Levigrass Shoes. She responds by throwing a bomb at us. (The fake Warriors came in and warned them of it in time.) They ask Delilah to give us a real pair of Levigrass Shoes, and she obliges them. I don't get it, but whatever! I can cross the darn bog now. Before leaving town, I stocked up on some new armor, weapons, and some items. I then made my way for Goldor's Golden Manor.
     Goldor's Mansion is very much Golden. It's supposedly made entirely of gold. The enemies present there are even made of gold! When they wanted a theme on this place, they really wanted it to stand out and be THE theme. Although the place was rather small, I was clueless where to go. There was 4 locked rooms (unlockable as a thief or magical keys) and a staircase to a treasure room. After collecting the treasure, I was clueless where to go. After looking at a guide, I found out that I barely overlooked the correct path. So I continued inward until i was face-to-face with Goldor himself. He claimed that there was no way our group was getting the crystal he was guarding. Yeah, on top of locking the ship, he also somehow was in possession of the Earth Crystal. BOSS BATTLE TIME! With my current team, he wasn't too much of a problem. He did confuse one of my people, but I was far enough in that I pushed forward and beat him regardless. As he is about to fall, he yells out that nobody will have the crystal! He goes over and smashes it then disappears. Thankfully, he dropped the key, and so my group could push forward. Of course the biggest question is...what do we do about the Earth Crystal?
     With that portion done, I took my ship back and started random travelling. Random travelling being going all over except for where I needed to be (used the guide...yeah). I gained some really nice new equipment, that I was in desperate need of, in a small village in the middle of the world called Duster Village. Then, it was off to Replito to buy some summoning spells for the Summoner/Evoker I didn't have. However, I had already spent all my money that I had. With the need for money apparent and a lack of want to do battles, I decided to stop there for the night.

Ending Point - Nearby Replito.
Levels Achieved -

• Luneth - Level 26 - Dark Knight Level 12
• Arc - Level 26 - Black Mage Level 36
• Refia - Level 26 - Bard Level 2
• Ingus - Level 26 - Viking Level 8

Goals Accomplished - Got a new airship. Traveled to the surface world. Restored the Water Crystal and opened up the surface to travel. Obtain a pair of Levigrass Shoes. Defeated Goldor and obtained the key to unlock my ship. Did some minor travelling around the world for new items and equipment.
Next Goals - Figure out what to do next. Fix the Earth Crystal. Save the World.

~May the Crystals Guide Me~

Side Post!

Today's Side Post will be all about...the changing of video game RPG style!

Classic RPGs VS Current RPGs


Round 1 - Classic RPGs
(For this post, RPG = video game AND role playing game = pen & paper)
     Classic RPGs are basically the oldies. Anything that was more or less the standard of RPG before the last generation of consoles (PS2, Xbox, GCN). I am referring to the turn-based RPG style of yesteryear. This style of RPG game play was the original style, and it was (more or less) taken from the popular pen and paper role playing games, such as Dungeons and Dragons. D&D and most role playing games play along the style of everybody getting turns. Each person chooses what they want to do (going from fastest to slowest) and the actions happen in that order. This is more or less how old RPGs went about it. Your team of heroes went in order based on their speed stats and chose their actions to perform. After everybody chose, it all goes down at one time. It makes the action bits go all swift and cool-like. Going back to the main point of Round 1...
     RPGs used to be about strategically choosing your moves and spells as to get the best results. Basically, you saved your big spells for the bosses, healed your party as they needed it, and took out the hard enemies first! If you were a certain type of gamer though (like I kinda became), you eventually got tired of specifically choosing attacks and started just mashing the physical attack option. This meant that even the weak and pitiful mage would smack everybody with his rod or staff. However, it generally gets you through the battle faster because everybody else could actually deal out damage. Also, it was pointless in most situations to waste your magic on lower enemies when you needed them to deal out the big damage to the boss. Turn based RPGs were basically the standard of RPG back in those days. Some games stood out from this and did quite well despite their limitations, but I don't know if all of them could/would be considered an RPG title. The only title I can think of that might fit that is Brave Fencer Musashi (an old PS1 title). Now for the next point!
     Next up in Round 1 is the common and arguably annoying Random Battles! This is just how it goes for (yet again) RPGs and role playing games. You get in random encounters for possible experience, money, and sometimes items. If you are like me, you tend to walk around in circles so you can farm up some extra money and experience. Unfortunately, they always seem to occur when you don't want them or need to get back to town to heal. You dash for the nearest healing or save point so that you don't lose it all...when suddenly a giant monster bear thing jumps out and kills you. Screw you monster bear thing! On the more challenging side, random battles keep you on your toes! Although you might be safe some of the time, you never know when an enemy will step out and try to beat you. Anyways, random battles have been a staple for RPGs all the way up until more recently....More on that in Round 2!
     Old RPGs are the classics. Games like Earthbound, Chrono Trigger, the older Final Fantasy titles, are all examples of great memorable games. If you grew up playing old RPGs, you remember that they had fun yet emotional stories, lots of battles, lovable and/or annoying characters, and more! You can never forget that rag-tag team of random misfits with nothing in common outside of the end goal to save the world one way or another! This is so easily seen in old RPGs when you have a group of four to five people that look and battle nothing alike! If nothing else, old RPGs gave you more than enough time for your money. Many of these old games could easily eat up 30 or more hours of your life, if not more! They may not have been perfect, but they provided enough entertainment for me.
     Overall, the classic RPG lineup is basically that...classic, but many people might refer to them as old instead. Many of them haven't withstood the test of time. They are old with outdated (and sometimes broken) systems of play. Sometimes an old RPG gets remakes, but the chances of this are slim and limited to the larger titles (Namely Final Fantasy). Thankfully, despite this age, many of them shine as well as they did back in the day! I would gladly go back and pick up Earthbound to play through the fun, the challenge, and the nostalgia! One of the greatest things offered by classic RPGs is the nostalgia of remembering when you played it long ago. That wonderful feeling that can sometimes cause you to spend a lot of money that you don't need to spend on some great games. (Seriously, if you are even remotely curious, go look up on eBay how much most SNES RPGs go for. Would greatly advise using ROMs and emulators for people who want to try old RPGs.) I wouldn't give up any of these classic RPGs for anything, but I don't plan to ignore all of the future. Now...on to Round 2! Current RPGs!

Round 2 - Current RPGs
     First and foremost, the "current RPG" that I'm referring to is how most RPGs are turning to Live Action versus Turn Based. I realize that not all of them are doing this, but if you look over it, a large majority are going this direction. Titles that I would include in this style are games like Mass Effect, Fate of Resonance,  and typical MMO titles like World of Warcraft or Guild Wars. Keep in mind, I'm not saying these are bad games, not at all. I'm just trying to state the major change that has happened to the world of RPGs. Role playing games aren't free from this either! The 4th edition of D&D took a fairly different approach to how the game was played. Many elements of it were compressed and simplified for people new to role playing while also trying to attract the video game crowd. Now...on to the first part!
     The most obvious way in which they change from the old style is the game play. Rather than having turns, everybody and everything are just running around actively and attacking each other with swords, guns, or magic. No more commands or boxes! Generally, you have a health gauge, possibly a magic gauge (or something similar), and sometimes ammo and item selections. This can be a fairly fun style of gameplay. Although it doesn't always require strategy, it can be easy to back yourself into a corner by making mistakes.  The only problem that tends to arise from this...AI allies. Your AI allies tend to fight all out by using any and all things available to them. This sounds great...until they start wasting their MP/special points/whatever and gets better when they start using up items. A few titles managed to fix this with better AI, but the AI is never perfect. Thankfully, the next solution was adding in a sort of command slot system. You make the AI do X action during X condition and keep them from doing X action unless X happens first. That's a lot of Xs, but it keeps from from doing stupid stuff all the time. Either way, it's a fun new happy time battle system! It still can face the same flaw for me as Turn based though. After a while, I start doing the same move/moves over and over just to beat minor enemies. Next up, the enemy encounter system.
     Sticking with the same style as Round 1, this portion is going to deal with enemy encounters! Considering that it's all live action, they general format of enemy encounters is them being flung into the environment. Enemies waddle/walk/whatever around the map. This means you can attack them at your leisure, and sometimes, you can walk past them entirely! It's generally not a good idea to walk past all of them, but many games will let you walk past them without any real negative outside of a lack of levels/experience. Overall, it can be a very nice style if you are looking to kill a specific enemy or need to get back to home base for healing. One problem that can happen here...is if enemies give chase. Most of the time, if they give chase, they will give up after a small ways. This isn't always the case though. Sometimes the enemy AI has been programmed to follow you unto the ends of the earth. It always seems to be the super tough enemy that does this too. Regardless, enemies crawling all over has its advantages and disadvantages. Most of all, it does make an area appear more lived in when it is literally crawling with enemies.
     It might just be me, but I am finding most newer RPGs to have fewer and fewer likable characters. Of course, I can be pretty picky on who I do like. I tend to dislike the majority of the main cast with only a soft spot for one or two people. Many new and recognizable characters have been made in recent RPGs. The stories have grown into large epics spanning multiple games at times! I would mention that the stories don't seem to be as great, but I can't really go forward with that thought without thinking about this. There have been so many games with so many stories that making a new game with a completely unique story has to be incredibly hard if not impossible anymore. That and many of the best story/plot ideas have been done by the old RPGs, movies, and books. On the other hand, it feels like some people aren't trying. I've seen scores of unique games, so when a game comes along and doesn't try to do something new, I just feel disappointed at best. The newest Final Fantasy (13) seems to make my case valid. Although I have yet to play it, the characters and story (from what I read) just feel terrible and all done before. I won't say anymore since I haven't had direct contact with it yet. One good thing is the possibility of stories that are larger and grander than ever before! Mass Effect, by itself, has shown that a massive space odyssey with aliens, robots, and an entire universe to explore can be done successfully and with intrigue abounding! Another great thing about these new RPGs is that they are constantly pushing the boundaries of beautiful and breathtaking cutscenes. Scenes that push graphics to the limit and bring us closer into the RPG world we are walking through. I could go on and on, but I feel my point for this part has been more or less made.
     New RPGs are coming along every year. They aren't all necessarily something we haven't seen before, but many of them do make strides to be different yet cool. Mass Effect (if you consider it RPG) has offered us with an epic space opera that could be compared to Star Wars while also holding anybody with a liking of 3rd person shoot-ary. Beyond that? A good RPG with memorable characters and engaging story. With the rise of online gaming, came the rise of the MMORPG. MMOs offer a great and MASSIVE multiplayer experience while also giving you a dose of RPG goodness. You can buff, nerf, farm, explore, socialize, level, and so much more to your very heart's desire. With most MMOs gaining new content all the time (expansions and such), you could pour endless hours into the game and never get bored. Personally? I'd only play an MMO if I had some friends to play them with...or high speed.  Either way, I have nothing against new RPGs and their new style. Heck, they are just going with the times. Turn-based RPGs still exist here and there, but they are becoming fewer and fewer as they go. Maybe the future will hold something new and different for us.
     On to the final round with some final words and fun times!

Round 3 - They Both Win!...in their Own Ways + My Final Words
     As you can see, I have praised and belittled both sides (although more belittling for the New RPGs). However, each side has their reasons for being the greatness that they are. The classics are both honored yet stuck because they are only that...classics. Many of them will never be heard or seen by scores of people out there, despite the incredible ease one can acquire them. Some people will overlook these titles simply because they are old. The new RPGs show off the power and ability of those in the gaming industry ever year! They show that RPGs can be beautiful, well written, and fun to play for the masses. Despite that, many of them don't really appeal to me nor do they make me want to play them. I've had bad luck in the past with random RPGs, and that has unfortunately turned my opinion to be skeptical of all.
     Overall, Classics are great for being classics, having memorable characters, showing off grand tales and stories, and the old style of gameplay.
     New RPGs constantly stride to be easy to access, lots of fun, and just straight up pretty. With the better hardware, they can even perform and do more than anything the old systems could even think about considering to try and dream of.
     I'll be honest. I've really thrown this thing together, and yet I didn't want to get too much into it. I could have easily doubled or tripled the length of this post. I also could have organized it a might better. It began as a simple thought and evolved into all of this. It's not as much as I'd like to have done, and I even skipped the mention of several titles along the way. All in all, RPGs are great games. They allow us to take place in something far more than we could ever do. They bring us into storybooks full of amazing tales about heroes fighting evil.

To finish off my post...I'm going to suggest some great RPGs for those who have been living under a rock and are clueless where they should go on the classics and the new ones. I will apologize because I haven't played quite all of these, but many of them are considered great if not among the best. I will also probably miss a few titles in there, but I will try to edit it later if I think of more.

Highly Suggest
Chrono Trigger, Dragon Age series, Earthbound, Elder Scrolls series (Namely Morrowind, Oblivion, and Skyrim),  Final Fantasy series (obviously but namely FF6 thru FF9), Grandia series (my favorite RPG ever!), Mass Effect series,  Secret of Mana, Shadow Hearts series (really fun PS2 RPG series), Super Mario RPG

Noteable*
Brave Fencer Musashi, Chrono Cross, Dungeons of Dredmor, Evolution Worlds, Fallout 3 or New Vegas, Resonance of Fate (for something different), Paper Mario series, Persona series, Tales of series (large pile of these all over), Threads of Fate, Torchlight, Vagrant Story, Wild Arms series, The Witcher

*Noteable titles are ones that I have either played very little of OR just know very little of. Doesn't mean they aren't worth trying!

If you like a good Tactical RPG...any of these are great suggestions.
Final Fantasy Tactics, Tactics Ogre series, Front Mission 3, Front Mission 4 (it is okay...suggest 3 over it), Disgaea series (only for the fully dedicated. It is super grindfest with hundreds of hours gameplay necessary.), and I can't think of anymore at the moment.

Day 19

Game - Final Fantasy 3, Day 19
Hours Played/Hours Total - 6-1/2 hrs / 12-1/2 hrs
Starting Point - Nearby the village of Tokkul.
Current Goal - Figure out where I need to go. Find the other crystals. Save the world.

What Happened - Strap in for another ride on the Final Fantasy express! Next stop...hopefully a lot further in and through Final Fantasy 3! Also prepare for an extra long read, it's another double-day post.
     I started off nearby the village of Tokkul. I wasn't 100% sure where I needed to go, so I did consult a guide which suggested heading southwest for a different village. There was a fair distance between that village and my current spot, but that was full of what feels like fairly easy monster battles. And unfortunately, it seems the best character on my team (physical attack-wise) is Arc as a Black Mage. He has a bow & arrow combo that allows him to easily do more damage than my Fighter or Monk...I don't get this. I realize now that maybe I could switch the bow over to the fighter, but the main reason my black mage has a bow is so that he can strike faraway targets from the back row without a penalty. Anyways, one small trip later, I end up at a village known as the Ancients' Village. I feel like the people who wrote names in these games either wanted to go insanely simple or really strange/stupid. However, I realize from running campaigns in D&D that naming villages/cities sometimes tends to be hard to make a name that sounds both good and somewhat realistic. The Ancients' Village was full of mostly old men telling of ancient times, histories, and prophesies, namely those involving the party's current quest. However, they also had some new weapons, armor, and equipment, so I stocked up and left the village for a different location.
     If I talked with my follower guy, he kept mentioning something about a valley with blind seers in it. With a little help from a map, I was able to locate the valley with ease. The valley, known as Gulgan's Gulch, was pretty simple and straightforward. A big ol' pile of blind seers giving up oodles of information. One in particular revealed to me where Desch and the party needed to go and fulfill stuffs. He also gave me the white magic Toad. The place he revealed as our next destination was the Tower of Owen. I had already happened upon this tower earlier on, so I was able to get there with speed and ease. Nothing super special about the tower really, the only noteworthy thing would be that enemies really jumped up a notch on their available magic. Many of them seemed to have -ra offensive spells available. For those who don't know/realize, -ra is the second tier of offensive magic. As I climbed the tower, it kept doing these mini scenes of a mysterious voice telling me I'd never make it to the top or something along that line. I then proceeded to make it to the top, and I found out the voice belonged to Medusa! BOSS TIME!
     Apparently, the boss Medusa is just a massive floating red-colored head with snakes for hair. No body whatsoever it seems. That made little difference to the overall outcome though. She didn't seem to have a lot going for her. She did a double attack on her turn and tended to aim for Arc and Refia (the mages). I just unleashed everything I had, and she went down without much of a challenge. Upon defeating Medusa, you find out that she was trying to destroy the Tower of Own, which is important for some reason. Desch suddenly remembers who he is and what his purpose was (not to reveal much but it involves the tower). He leaves the party to try and fix the tower. Before he goes, he tells the group to head to Fire Islands to meet with the dwarves there. The group doesn't want him to go, but he teleports everybody to the sea ship. Thus ends the chapter of faithful follower, Desch.
     Back at my ship and ready to go, the passageway out of the middle of the world is now free of whirlpool, and I'm free to travel to the outside world! This doesn't really open up a lot of options, but I can get to that fire island with dwarves...so ONWARD! The fire island had two caves in mountains, so I entered the closest one, which was the correct guess. Upon entering the dwarves start yelling their Final Fantasy 1 catchphrase of "Lali-ho!" and start going on about an Ice Horn or something. I approached the head dwarf near an altar of sorts. He asks the group to retrieve one of the stolen ice horns that was taken by a guy known as Gutsco the Rogue. They can't go after him because he went into an underwater cavern, and the dwarves can't swim. I got to the lake, cast Toad on my party, and traveled to the underwater cavern. The underwater cavern was fairly straightforward dungeon. You just keep going forward, collect chests, and search for this Rogue guy who stole the horn. You finally find him at the end, and he's just standing on a pile of ill gotten treasure. Upon approaching him, he attacked me. It was a fairly unimpressive battle. He had the ability to strike twice, and he could heal himself. Outside of that, he didn't really offer much of a challenge. After the battle, his body disappears, and the group recovers the stolen Ice Horn.
     I then proceeded to get out of the cave...however, I already noticed something was up. I could tell our group was being followed by someone because there was a shadow spot behind my guy as I walked. You can't talk to it, and nothing you do can stop it. Whatever! I proceeded out of the cave with the use of the magic spell Teleport. Teleport takes you out of your current place and throws you nearby it on the world map. Really love this spell...so nice to not have to climb back up. Although it would have probably been a good idea for experience and money. The group talks to the dwarf leader who lowers the barrier to the altar. I proceeded to replace then ice horn, and suddenly, the shadow leaps forward and appears at Gutsco the Rogue. (Surpriiiiise!) He grabs both horns and makes his way to the northern cave, Molten Cave. He claimed he could use the Ice Horns to get to the Fire Crystal. What does that mean? Something about world is in danger, but the more important part is that I'm going to get new classes soon! (Hopefully...)
     I immediately charged into the Molten Cave and began my search for the Gutsco the Rogue and the crystal. It's your typical lava/fire based dungeon. There's fire enemies, lava that damages you as you run through it (and you HAVE to go through it), and chests with ice-based items for use against said fire enemies. Nothing too special. I did see the return of the Adamantoise here, and his weakness was once again ice. I made my way through the Molten Cave to find myself face-to-face with the Fire Crystal! As I approached it, a cut scene went off revealing that Gutsco has gained the power of fire and plans to destroy my team as to gain power from them somehow. He moves forward and attacks the group. BOSS BATTLE TIME! At some point between the screen flashing and the battle popping up, Gutsco changed into a giant red dragon named Salamander. For the first several rounds of battle, Salamander was mostly a pushover. Multiple ice attacks plus two powerful physical characters were able to deal out the damage to him. However, apparently when he reaches lower health levels, he gains a fire breath. I didn't think it was a problem...until I had a total party knockout. On top of that, Final Fantasy 3 can only be saved on the world map. This meant that I not only had lost to the boss, but I also had to redo the entirety of the Molten Cave. With this in mind, I took some time to level up before re-entering the cave. After I gained a handful of levels, I went back into the Molten Cave. This time I was determined to make it through AND defeat Salamander! And I did! The extra levels made all the difference, and my reward was gaining new powers/jobs from the Fire Crystal! The new jobs I got were: Geomancer, Ranger, Knight, and Scholar.
     I immediately changed 3 of the 4 party members in my group to new classes. I made Luneth a Geomancer, Arc into a Scholar, and Ingus into a Knight. It probably wasn't the best choice, but the new classes have some very interesting powers and abilities. Scholars are able to study/scan enemies to tell you their HP and weakness. Knights just have a crazy high defense value while also keeping some attack prowess. The Geomancer is a class I recognized from Final Fantasy Tactics! Although their weapon of choice appears to be a bell...They gain the ability to cast elemental magics based on whatever landscape they are on. That means the spells they use are more or less random (you can't choose, you simply select Terrain and hope), but they tend to be incredibly powerful and useful. Moving back to my gameplay...
     After the crystal gave me its blessing, I returned to the dwarves' cave to return their Ice Horns and received a hefty reward! Seriously, if you talk to this one dwarf who was guarding their treasure earlier, he lets you at all of it. It's a pretty nice gift of around a DOZEN chests! Woo! After restocking and re-equipping my party, I went to leave the cave when PLOT HAPPENED! A man comes inside the cave and claims that Tokkul is being burned to the ground. I immediately set course for Tokkul...after spending an hour or more doing some power leveling with my new jobs. I did eventually get tired of that and head towards Tokkul. Upon entering, my group was immediately captured and imprisoned in a giant cursed tree. Inside the tree, I was stuck behind menacing bars beside a king and some of his faithful followers. Apparently someone named Hein, who was an adviser to King Argus, turned evil due to darkness after the earthquake (something along that line). With his new found power over darkness, he turned the king's troops against him and then cursed a tree to use as his home base. Trust me, that is almost exactly how it goes. It sounds weird, but that's how some games work! However, I easily evaded the bars using the doorways that very much existed. There's a small hole near the end too, and you can guess what you have to do next. After getting through the hole, I started traversing the tree in hopes of stopping this Hein character. Some rooms, monsters, and treasure later, I was face to face...with a skeleton guy! Turns out that it was Hein. He had been transformed by the power of darkness, and he was completely transfixed by its allure and power. After a small speech about his love for darkness, he attacked the group for yet another...BOSS BATTLE!
     At some point in the game, it was mentioned that I would need use of someone with the Study ability (Scholar) to get around this boss's weakness changing ability known as Barrier Shift. However, by the time I finished this battle, I realized that I neither needed to waste the time on the job nor had any use for its absurd and borderline useless Study ability. It took some time to beat him, but I never felt that my party was in any danger of dying. It was another typically under powered boss. It seems to me that early Final Fantasy bosses aren't much for being a challenge, outside of some extra and final bosses. With Hein defeated, the tree was freed from its curse. It thanked me for doing so and promised to return everybody there to where they belonged. After doing such, I was teleported to the Living Woods. The tree revealed that in order to save the world I would need to go do the surface world and stop the darkness there. It claimed that it would need to go to sleep now as to fix the damage caused by the curse. I was then forced out of the Living Woods, which then proceeded to be locked forever. Now I wonder...how in the hell do I get to the surface world?
     Figuring that King Argus and his men would be returned to Castle Argus, I went there immediately so I could figure out what to do next. The king thanked me for all that I done, and then he gave me the mysterious Wheel of Time. He said that the Wheel of Time was some item left behind by the Ancients, and that Cid could use it to build a new airship. Heck yeah! I've been waiting all this time to get myself a new airship...since the game forced me to break my first one. With the Wheel of Time in hand, I made way for Canaan Village and decided to stop there for the night.
   

Ending Point - Nearby Canaan Village.
Levels Achieved -

• Luneth - Level 21 - Monk Level 28
• Arc - Level 21 - Black Mage Level 25
• Refia - Level 21 - White Mage Level 27
• Ingus - Level 22 - Knight Level 9

Goals Accomplished - Locate Gulgan's Gulch and take to the seers there. Climbed the Tower of Owen and stopped Medusa from causing trouble. Helped the dwarves by recovering the Ice Horns. Chased after Gutsco the Rogue and stopped him from causing trouble with the Fire Crystal. Obtained new powers (jobs) from the Fire Crystal. Returned the Ice Horns to the dwarves (again). Investigate the attack on Tokkul. Defeated Hein, released the captured King and his men, and freed the tree from its curse. Received the Wheel of Time.
Next Goals - Give the Wheel of Time to Cid so he can build a new airship! Use the airship to travel to the surface below.

Side Note - I apologize for making another horrendously long post. I didn't get enough time on one day of playing it to make a post, but then I got TOO MUCH time on the next day of playing it. It turned half a post into around two and a half posts worth of information. Although my goal is just to beat the Final Fantasy titles, I'd really like to accomplish this before the year is up. It's a bit over hopeful, but I think I can manage it if I buckle down.

~May the Crystals Guide Me~

Day 18

Game - Final Fantasy 3, Day 18
Hours Played/Hours Total - 2-1/2 hrs / 6 hrs
Starting Point - Nearby the village of Canaan.
Current Goal - Find a dragon on a mountain. Find the other crystals. Save the world.

What Happened - Another glorious day in the playing of Final Fantasy, and so we begin!
     I started off nearby Canaan. With my business there done for the moment, it was time to journey up the mountain and confront a dragon! Of course, it is too early for a group of young adventurers to fight a dragon. I ran into the dragon, and it carried the group off to its nest. The nest was full of baby dragons and the missing man Desch. He approached the group and suggested we start running because of the dragon. The dragon swoops in and attacks! I attempted to fight, but I should have followed Desch's advice. The dragon immediately killed 2 of my party members, so I went ahead and ran away the next round. Turns out that you are SUPPOSED to run because it immediately threw me into a scripted cut scene of the group + Desch jumping out of the dragon's nest.
     The group comes to at a far off location to the south. Desch tells the group about him having amnesia and remembering nothing about his past. The only thing he knows is some nagging feeling that he has a job/quest to do, so he joins up as the follower character. I don't think I went into details on the last post about followers, but I wasn't 100% about what they were until I traveled with him some. It seems that you sometimes get guest characters that are part of the party, can participate in battle, but you have no control of. They will sometimes randomly unleash an attack or magic on the enemy during battle. Otherwise, they follow behind you, and you can talk to them for advice, insight, or just learning stuff. Anyways, the group has appeared in a remote area of the continent, and the only thing I knew was something about a mysterious and hidden gnome village that was supposedly nearby. However, to get into the village required the use of the spell Mini (which can be bought or given to you in multiple ways). The bigger problem for me was the requirement of a White Mage. Considering both the need and the usefulness of a White Mage, I switched over Refia to White Mage, taught her the Mini spell, and set out to find the village. You have to cast Mini on your whole team and then start looking around area for the village. It took a little time, but I eventually stumbled upon the gnome village of Tozus.
     I'll give this game one thing. Making you shrink your characters so they can enter a miniaturized village is kind of an interesting physic to have in the game. Upon entering the village, you are greeted by one of the little gnomes there. Of course, I guess my party is also currently small...but whatever! Not too much to buy here except some new spells, so I stocked on up on everything. Next up, I searched the houses until I found the one house with something to do. The only doctor in the village was sick and needed an antidote to heal himself. Lucky for him, I had plenty to share, so I handed one over. Upon healing, he thanked me for it and opened a passage to the Tozus Tunnel. I figured it was the only way out of the current separated portion of continent, so I pushed forward. The monster battles for the duration where very unfun for one big reason...Mini. While your characters are mini sized, they have their strength and defense reduced to 1. Meaning that unless you have a magic caster or two in the party, you are screwed. Luckily for me, I have had Arc as a Black Mage since the beginning, and I recently changed Refia into a White Mage. Those two plus Desch's random castings of Thundara allowed me to push through the monsters in the tunnels.
     The tunnel was luckily short lived, and I came out the other side ready to proceed forward. I was also finally allowed to return my team to their original size. This game already proves that you have to be at least somewhat versatile in your team selection. I'm pretty sure that part would have been impossible without at least ONE Black Mage. You could maybe get away with a Red Mage, but it wouldn't go as well. Anyways, after the tunnel, the only place I could go to was a nearby cave. The cave is the Viking's Cove, which is home to a group of vikings (obviously). The Vikings have a problem though...Apparently a sea dragon recently awakened and is causing havoc on the sea. With the sea dragon loose, the Vikings lost all of their ships except one, and they are unable to do anything until the dragon leaves. The leader offered to give me their last ship if I could rid them of the sea dragon. The only problem is...nobody was telling me how to get rid of it.
     I left Viking's Cove and jumped on the ship outside. Now THAT was a huge mistake. I immediately ran into the dragon which wiped out my party without trying. Reload. Let's try that again. So I ventured back outside, but I didn't get on the boat this time! Instead, I looked around the current area and happened upon the only other thing out there...a temple. The temple was called Nepto Temple ,and based on the statue in the first room, it was a temple to the sea dragon. The group noticed that one eye socket on the statue was missing a gem, AND that the statue itself had a gaping maw tunnel thing. So guess what? Mini time again! I miniaturized the party and went inside. Inside was a handful of rooms, some treasure chests, and a MONSTER PURPLE RAT BOSS! I encountered the rat near the end, and he was hoarding a giant red crystal, the missing eye. He was decently hard considering I could only use magic while being Mini. Upon defeat, the group grabs the eye and takes it outside of the cave. I placed the eye in the dragon statue, and the dragon thanked me for doing this with an item and returning to below the sea.
     With the sea ship in hand, I was free to roam a large portion of the world. During this time, I revisted a few locations for generally no reason. I did wander upon some forgotten items and such, but I mostly accomplished nothing overall. I visited the castle in the northwest, Aragas Castle, by mistake, but I found some great items and money while there. After venturing around with little payback, I talked to my follower a couple of times which revealed...basically nothing. I sailed southward and discovered the village of Tokkul in ruins. Apparently an army of soldiers came by, ravaged the town, and took all the able-bodied people away. They village elder asked that I try to find and rescue whoever I could. After getting all of the hidden items there, I made my way to the west and found...nothing. I was basically just lost at this point and figured that now was as good a time as any to wrap it up for the night. I don't feel like I really accomplished anything tonight, but any form of game play is better than none I guess!

Ending Point - Nearby the village of Tokkul
Levels Achieved

• Luneth - Level 14 - Monk Level 10*
• Arc - Level 14 - Black Mage Level 15
• Refia - Level 13 - White Mage Level 10
• Ingus - Level 14 - Warrior Level 12

*The reason that Luneth is only level 10 Monk is because I briefly switched him to a Thief until I figured out that was borderline pointless...also I got a new weapon that the Monk could actually USE!

Goals Accomplished - Found and ran away from the dragon. Found and joined with Desch. Located and entered the gnome village, Tozus. Helped out the gnome doctor and found the Tozus Tunnel. Traversed Tozus Tunnel and made it through to Viking's Cove. Helped the Vikings solve their dragon problem and earned a ship! Used the ship to travel places. Learned about the situation at Tokkul and began the journey to help out.
Next Goals - Figure out where I need to go. Find the other crystals. Save the world.

~May the Crystals Guide Me~

Day 17

Game - Final Fantasy 3, Day 17
Hours Played/Hours Total - 3-1/2 hrs / 3-1/2 hrs
Starting Point - Beginning of the Game.
Current Goal - Play the game!

What Happened - A new day and a new Final Fantasy title...I am making progress! Also fair warning to my readers...this is a loooong one.
     Final Fantasy 3 (for those who don't know) is one of the many early Final Fantasies that didn't make it to the states like it did in Japan. Final Fantasy 3 is (that I know of) only available here in America on the Nintendo DS. Like the earliest Final Fantasy titles, you are given quite a bit of leniency and choice of what your characters will become. It makes use of the Job System. The Job system is present in a handful of Final Fantasy titles, and it consists of being able to make your character whatever you have available. Basically, your character has their own level, but their current job also has a level. Like the original Final Fantasy, you can build and tailor your party to your combat style and/or the situation. I'm hoping this game will go well. I have tried to play it a long ago, but I got distracted and just wasn't interested at the time. Moving along.~
     I began the game, and I am immediately thrown into a dungeon. The first main character is a young man by the name of Luneth. Game just started, and he's fallen down a hole. You are thrust into your first battle against a group of goblins, the classic Final Fantasy enemy! I took them all out and began my search of this cave. There wasn't too much to the cave though. It had a handful of chests, goblins all over the place, a spring for drinking (drinking from springs heals you fully!), and finally...a BOSS BATTLE! You come to the final area of the cave that holds a giant crystl. However, as your approach it, you get attacked by a monster. It's a giant turtle boss thing! Using some items I found along the way, I was able to easily beat the monster and move on with the game.
     Upon defeating the monster, Luneth approaches the crystal, and the crystal begins to talk to him. Tells him that he is the chosen one and such, and that he must return here along with 3 other chosen warriors to receive a great power. After the crystal says its piece, I was taken out of the cave. With the cave behind me, I head towards the nearest village, the village of Ur. Ur is the home of the current only party member I have (Luneth). Upon arrival, I began the usual process of talking to the NPCs. One of them tells me that I should talk to the elders. Looking around, there was only one building present without a sign, so I assumed that was where I needed to go. I entered and talked to the people inside. One of them turned out to be the Elder who revealed more about the main character. It turns out that he knew Luneth was a chosen one. Also something about Luneth being brought into town when he was very young by a mysterious person. Anyways, it is your destiny to save the world or something. Nothing apart from the usual, but you are supposed to be one of four. Time to start looking for the rest.
     I walked around town some more after talking to the Elder. There are shops to visit, people to talk to, and some chests in town to find. However, in one small corner of town, you run into Luneth's childhood friend Arc. Arc is the bookworm frightened type. As I approached him, he was being bullied by a bunch of kids. Luneth quickly chases them off, but Arc decides he should be brave and charges off towards the village of Kazus. Apparently there's rumors of the village being haunted by ghosts! Being the only thing I have going...I made my way to Kazus. As soon as I got there, I ran into the cowering Arc. He joined my team, and we proceeded to search the village. Turns out that there aren't ghosts, but the town is full of invisible cursed people who needed me to help them. According to everybody I talked to, the curse was caused by a Djinn ,and a mythril ring would be needed to cure everyone of the curse. The blacksmith in town should be able to make one, but upon talking to him, he can't/won't because no mythril and his missing daughter. Fantastic. One specific cursed individual named Cid (Woo! Cid is here!) offered me use of his airship to try and fix the problem. Around fifteen minutes in the game, and I already has an airship...awesome.
     He informed me that the airship was stored in a nearby desert. I went to the desert and immediately entered his airship. However, his airship was not alone! Inside the airship was the blacksmith's missing daughter, Refia. I think she was trying to claim partial ownership over the ship because she and her father had made many of the parts that went into it. Anyways, the group talk it out, and she ends up joining in your quest to cure the curse! My party of 2 has gone up to 3! With the way it seems, I lack only one position to fill now...With the airship at my command, I flew to the only other location the map seemed to contain, a lone castle northwest of my current spot. The castle is known as Castle Sasune. When I got there though, it seems that everyone there had fallen to the curse except a lone knight/guard named Ingus. He leads you to the king as to find out more about the mythril ring. The king doesn't have the ring because the Princess has the ring, but she is (SURPRISE!) not here at this moment. The king informs you of the Sealed Cave that contains the Djinn causing the curse. He gives me the quest to go and slay the Djinn. Off to the Sealed Cave!
     At the Sealed Cave, it's the usual dungeon setup. Run around, fight monsters, find chests, and eventually...run into somebody! Turns out the Princess (one with the ring to cure them all!) came to the cave to deal with the Djinn. She joins your party (as a follower), and I move onwards to slay the Djinn! I actually came to this cave one time before finding the princess or moving on. I was a bit under leveled and the enemies were slaying me with ease, but I did a bit of leveling up before coming back, so it worked out. Anyways, one cave trip downward later, we ran into the evil Djinn! The princess pointed the mythril ring at him (which was supposed to do something I guess?), but he claimed that the ring had no power over him since he had been boosted by DARKNESS! I don't get it either, but I'm assuming something story-related is definitely involved. Anyways, if you talked to your follower earlier (which you can totally do), she informs you that the Djinn is a fire elemental who is weak to ice. So, as soon as the battle started, I flung all the ice I could at him! Two rounds later, he went down without a fight. Booyah! With the Djinn weakened, the princess used the mythril ring again and was able to destroy/seal him. After that happened however, your party is mysteriously teleported away...and back to the crystal!
     It turns out that your current party are the Warriors of Light! Chosen by fate and the crystal to save the world or something. The crystal gives up the remainder of itself (it's a crystal but also a person somehow) so that your group can evolve and do their part. It also gives you the ability to gain power from the remaining crystals. What the crystal gives you is the ability to change your Job...kinda strange but also useful! You are given the following jobs: Warrior, Monk, White Mage, Black Mage, Thief, Red Mage. If you didn't notice, they are the original classes from Final Fantasy I! I set up my group as a Monk, Black Mage, Thief, and Warrior. Not necessarily the best combo, but it will be a power house...of POWER! Also a strange fact, this little sequence of killing the Djinn is a opening sequence of sorts (like killing Garland in FF1). You are treated to a small video and credits as soon as the crystal grants you power. Moving along. With my fancy jobs in hand, I returned to Castle Sasune for the next step. The princess had returned there, and with the rest of the group, she tosses the mythril ring into some magical spring below the castle. And thus the curse is broken! Everybody returns to normal, and the king thanks your party by giving you a magical folding canoe. I didn't mistype that at all either. It's a magical folding canoe, which I guess is better than imaging a group of people carrying around a full sized canoe somehow constantly.
     The group reveals to the king that they are the Warriors of Light, and that they have a job to do. With the task in mind, I return to Kazus. Everybody there is very much cured along with Refia's father, the blacksmith. He runs off with her, and you are free to explore the town. Considering that the people were people again, I visited all the shops and bought up everything I was able to. Yay for more spells and better equipment! While looking around again, you are able to finally meet Cid, the owner of the airship. He is glad that you were able to cure everybody and even offers to give you his airship to help you out. Awesome. All he wants is for you to escort him to his home south of the mountains. All I need now is to re-collect Refia and head on out. She wants to go, but she doesn't believe her father will let her. Cid asks her father to create a mythril ram for the airship so that you can get through a pile of rocks that is blocking your path. Why not just make explosives or something? Seriously...seems a bit much to RAM a pile of rocks with my super awesome ship...A few moments later, Refia's father has created the ram and attached it to your ship. I can't find Refia, so I take my leave of the village. Upon entering the air ship, apparently she was hiding/waiting there for me. She reveals that she was an orphan, and then we get the landslide of ALL OF THEM ARE ORPHANS! Dun dun duuuuuuuuun! I'll assume we'll find out more about this later on, but for now...off to ram a ship into a pile of rocks. One ramming of rocks later, my ship blew up. Thanks game...thanks for taking away my airship. With the rocks gone, you are free to escort Cid back home without an airship.
     Cid's home is the village of Canaan. Upon entering, he leaves your party and goes home. If you follow him up, you find out his wife is sick and needs a cure. If you talked to a random NPC on your way here, you know that a cure exists somewhere in the village. I walked around a bit and spotted a chest, which held an elixer. After giving the elixer to Cid's wife, he thanked me by giving me access to his airship hanger. The airship hanger is full of chests with awesome items and a hidden room with more awesome items and money!  With that problem all solved, I ventured around town for new stuffs. After that, I talked to people and happened upon a girl with a problem. She was worried about her boyfriend of sorts named Desch. He has decided to climb a nearby mountain and deal with a dragon. The group decides that maybe they should check out this dragon ordeal and deal with it. Although I'd only put in 3 hours, I decided now was as good a time as ever to check in. That and I realized it was going to be a hell of a post to type up. Seriously...this is a long one. Possibly the longest one, and I'm just making it longer. Done now.

Ending Point - Nearby the village of Canaan.
Levels Achieved - Considering that characters have their own levels AND their job levels, I'm going to do a small list thing for this category for this game. It'll have the character name, their level, and their current job with level.

•      Luneth - Level 8 - Monk Level 2
•      Arc - Level 8 - Black Mage Level 2
•      Refia - Level 8 - Thief Level 2
•      Ingus - Level 8 - Warrior Level 2

Goals Accomplished - Started the game. Found the party members Arc, Refia, and Ingus. Gained the airship. Found the Sealed Cave. Found the princess! Slayed the Djinn. Used the mythril ring to stop the curse.
Next Goals - Find the other crystals. Save the world. Find a dragon on a mountain.

~May the Crystals Guide Me~