Day 95

Game - Final Fantasy Mystic Quest, Day 95
Hours Played/Hours Total - 5 hrs / 13-1/2 hrs
Starting Point - Windia.
Current Goal - Restore the Wind Crystal at Mt Gale. Save Norma at the tower. Save the world!

What Happened - With only one Crystal left, I feel the game is getting closer and closer to the finish. Also the map is pretty small, so I can see a lot of the border. I figure this will be the last post for Mystic Quest, so I hope you've enjoyed this very short but still fun game! ONWARDS TO THE GAMEPLAY!
     Now where did I leave off... Oh yes! I'm heading to Mt Gale to restore the Wind Crystal which will stop all this wind blowing around because that messed up the fancy Rainbow Road maker so I can get to the strange tower north of us and rescue Otto's daughter Norma. Anyways, onwards to Mt Gale!
     Thankfully, this mountain is a short trip and is only made up of one map area. I shoot through it and head to the top. When I hit the top, I find this weird... silver-thing.

I am just so confused at what that is supposed to be, but I'm about to find out soon enough because it's a BOSS BATTLE TIME! Oh yeah, he also revealed before the battle that he isn't the one draining the crystal's power. It's Pazuzu. Before that though, I have to defeat the devious DULLAHAN! Screenshots below.

Dullahan (Headless Horseman type) comes to battle with his favorite Vampire friends!

Apparently I killed the horse, but he's cool just riding it as is...

The horse is gone completely now, so I'm just dealing with a headless knight who carries his head.

Now, in all truthiness, Dullahan was pretty dang hard for me. He didn't want to be any kind of a pushover, and I died a few times trying to beat him. He had a really powerful group attack (Headmarang or something like that... yeah.) There's an assortment of strong single shot attacks, and the worst of all is this one-hit kill move that does the entire bar of HP worth of damage. From what I saw, it has about a 50/50 chance of hitting. I'm finding more and more as I play through this game that a two-person party is incredibly annoying.
     Regardless of the challenge, I manage to defeat Dullahan. Nothing seemed to change right this moment, so I figured I should return to Windia. As soon as I enter, the difference is already apparent. The howling wind of Windia died down, and now Otto can extend the Rainbow Road! With the Rainbow Road extended, I'm able to cross over to Pazuzu's Tower and rescue Norma. Woop woop woop, and I'm there. Lucky for us, Norma is right at the bottom of the tower, so we're able to immediately rescue her. Of course, I still have to deal with Pazuzu and restore the Wind Crystal. Here's a few screenshots of the tower as I climb up and battle through.

Stair climbing!

That "blue weirdness" is a Dullahan clone called Thanatos.

OH NOES! MANTICOR-S! 

     The "puzzle" aspect of this tower is fairly non-existent, but I was told one thing before I came here. Otto told me that I'd need to use my Axe to flip switches here. What do the switches do? Basically, Pazuzu is almost immediately available when you enter the tower, but every time you speak with him, he escapes into a shaft at the back of the tower. You flip the switches throughout the tower to close off his exit point. To do this though, I have to travel all the way to the top of the tower and then back down to the middle. It was a bit of a process, but the game did make up for it by giving me the Flare spell. Woo! FLARE!
     Closing off the entire shaft required me to go all the way to the top of the tower and round my way back down to the bottom on an alternate path. After that, I had to climb back through a third path into the middle of the tower. Once there, I had Pazuzu trapped and ready to fight in BOSS BATTLE TIME!

HERE'S PAZUZU!

PAZUZU SLEEEEPY...

RAWR! DEMON-EYES PAZUZU!

     Aaaand good lord Pazuzu was ridiculous to fight. It's your typical setup of power single attacks and a couple group attacks. However, he also had the ability to petrify (always annoying), and the most annoying attack/ability of the game... Psychic Shield. After you get him down the middle stage of damage, he starts throwing up this shield ever so often. If you hit him while it's up, he'll deflect the attack and counterattack with insane power. I believe its power is based entirely on the power you throw at him. I was using my fancy new Flare spell, so he kept blasting Keeper dead. You have to wait a few rounds for the shield to go down, so this lengthens an already long battle. I died a couple of times but was victorious in the end so... Whatever!
     With Pazuzu's defeat, the Wind Crystal is restored!

Hurray!

Now we head back to Windia for the next plan of action. I'm going to warn you now... It's a random-ish one. I go to Windia and speak with Otto! As I do so, Reuben appears and has a plan figured up to save Captain Mac! Basically, we're going to use the Rainbow Road machine to cross the empty chasm in the world. Then we'll blow a hole in the lake on the other side of the world, let the water fill up the chasm, and then the ship will come to us. We'll board the ship and save him.
     Kaeli wants to go and help rescue her father, but Keeper suggests that he and Reuben go in first. Kaeli stays behind to help Norma and Reuben rejoins the team. Before we can launch the Rainbow Road that far though, we need a fancy Thunder Rock. Reuben believes his father has it, so we have to head to Fireburg first. I have to run through to the Focus Tower, through the tower, up to Fireburg, grab the stone, and then run all the way back. I give the Thunder Rock to Otto, and he extends the Rainbow Road over to Spencer's Place.
     We enter the cave, Reuben tosses a grenade and blows it open. The lake empties out into the chasm, and now we have a different lake. We head back to Windia and speak with the crew again. We are heading in first to deal with the monsters, but Kaeli gives us Captain Mac's Captain Hat so that he knows she is coming for him. I can't get to Captain Mac's ship yet though because I'm missing this crest piece. (Long story short, the crests were these random items that let you use these random teleport pads throughout the game.) I need the Mobius Crest to reach the Ship Dock and in turn Captain Mac's ship.
     As it turns out, I forgot to retrieve it from Spencer's Place, so I have to cross the Rainbow Road again and retrieve it from the cave. Only took me a few minutes, and then I'm able to get to the Ship Dock and then to Captain Mac's ship! At this point, most of the monsters are just re-used ones from the past couple of dungeons. I clear out most of the ship, and yet I have no idea where I needed to go. I saw a middle section that I couldn't access, but I could never figure out how to get to it. (Full honesty? I checked a guide at this point.) Turns out, you can climb the center mast on the ship and access the middle section below deck. This is a very singular path and leads right to Captain Mac! There's also a chest with the Gaia Armor.
     Captain Mac is injured, but Kaeli quickly comes in to help him. She carries him off to Windia, and then it seems that Reuben is hurt as well. Thus, I have to head to Windia as well to drop him off. In Windia, I meet up with Spencer and Tristam. They mention that they brought Phoebe along and that I need to meet with her. I head over to the Inn, and Phoebe is here to speak with me and Captain Mac. I trade out Reuben for Phoebe, and we head back to speak with Captain Mac.
     All that he has to say is that there is a greater evil hiding behind everything that's happening. Even with the four crystals restored, we need to go and defeat the Dark King as well. He's hiding at the top of the Focus Tower. Captain Mac suggests we take his ship to head straight to the tower. TO THE SHIP! I'm on that now... TO THE FOCUS TOWER! Entering the Focus Tower from below leads into THE DOOM CASTLE! DUN DUN DUUUUUN!
     Let me just say... This dungeon is all sorts of random monsters. I guess it's just supposed to be a representation of the entirety of the game. Here's a few screenshots of the wacky.

That's just a handful of shots of 4 or 5 floors... I would have taken more, but I was too distracted finishing the game! There's really no special puzzle to this dungeon or nothing. You just slowly climb up through the center of the tower while defeating a boss on every floor. The bosses consist of powered-up versions of the main bosses I fought throughout the game. This includes the undead T-Rex.

He's regular-colored skeleton now but with red eyes.

Ice Golem changed to Stone Golem, but it still melts as you beat it.

Oh look! This one changed from red to green. BIGGEST CHANGE EVER!

Compared to the rest... Pazuzu did a pretty big change. It's all color, but it at least looks drastically different. 

Every time you beat one of the bosses, the next floor is opened up. There isn't much to say about each floor, but they are designed to be like the dungeon from which each boss hails. I could go into details, but I honestly don't remember them all. Also there is really nothing special to say at this point. It's just the final round of powered-up old bosses, but that's not all...

Random floor that doesn't match the rest~

     I hit this floor, and there's just a lone statue in the room. When I examine it, it blesses us with the power of the crystals and then it's on to the final area.

Let's just assume that's the Dark King.

I head into this pretty awesome looking room and talk with the kingly figure you can see above. We speak to him, and he reveals the great secret/twist of the game... The Prophecy was all just a rumor that the Dark King started long ago. (Still can't help but laugh at how it was worded. Literally said "rumor.") Guess what time it is guys? FINAL BOSS BATTLE TIIIIIIME!

Form 1: Dark King

     As per most final bosses, the Dark King comes with multiple forms. His first one (pictured above) is pretty straightforward and looks exactly like he did on the map. I just fling all the Wizard spells I can at him (White/Holy and Flare), and then he quickly changes to his secondary form...

Form 2: Dark King - Hindu Deity

So far, he's not a very hard or inspiring final boss. This form offers a few new attacks, but I just keep after him and then he gets angry and changes into...

Form 3: Dark King - Spider Mode

     Now he's a giant tarantula spider! Rawr! Look at how vicious and evil he looks and... Okay not really. He's kinda just random changing, and this doesn't seem like a very final-bossy-ness form. At this point, I've kept Phoebe on healing duty. I don't necessarily need her to heal every turn, but I figured it'd be best to prevent any unnecessary deaths. Just as I thought it was ending, he turned into his TRUE FORM!

Form 4: Dark King - Tentacle Spider Mode...

I have no comment for this form. He's just... yeah, I don't get what they thought was going on here. Regardless, this mode doesn't last too long because I blast him into the void! TAKE THAT! He flashes all red-like (Think FFVII boss deaths.), and the Dark King is now vanquished. Hurray!
     Our two heroes celebrate their victory, and the Old Man appears before us. He reveals himself to be the Crystal of Light. He says that he took the form he did to help lead us to defeating the Dark King. Hurray again! From here on, the game goes into Epilogue Mode.
     Keeper goes throughout the world and visits the various people in their hometowns. This "cutscene" journey goes from Windia to Aquaria and Fireburg to Foresta. Along the way, he borrows Captain Mac's boat in order to go on an adventure! Keeper feels that he just can't sit still and needs to go on another journey. The group says goodbye to Keeper at the Ship Dock, and Keeper boards the ship to sail out onto the water... But then this happens!

Dang it Tristam!

Tristam appears on the ship and joins up with Keeper on his adventure. He's in it for the treasure of course, but it's all good. This is followed by a very nice credits and the following "The End" screen.

Fin

     Aaaand it is finally over! Good lord I made that last a lot longer than I should have. I started the game back in October, and I'm finally finishing it as of mid-November. Is that bad? Yes, but I can honestly say that... I kept getting distracted. It's not a GOOD excuse, but it is my excuse. No matter, it's all good now. I've just gotta write up the Final Thoughts, and then it's finally time to start Dragon Warrior/Quest! I figure at least a couple weeks break before I start up Dragon Warrior/Quest, but it shall be started before December begins!

Ending Point - End of the Game!
Current Party -

• Keeper - Level 37
• This - Level 34

Screenshots - IMGUR album.
Goals Accomplished - Defeated Dullahan on Mt Gale and stopped the crazy wind. Climbed Pazuzu's Tower and defeated Pazuzu which restores the Wind Crystal. Did a series of events to rescue Captain Mac and gain the use of his ship! Climbed the Focus Tower and defeated the Dark King. Completed the Game!
Next Goals - Start Dragon Warrior I (Dragon Quest I)!

~May the Crystals Guide Me~