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~