Game #43: Final Fantasy Legend II (Game Boy) - Posing Pantheon

More like, "Obvious Passage!!"

Alright, so... where were we? Well, this game just so happens to have a handy dandy memopad. In it is stored all past important conversations. This is definitely a first for console RPGs, and we probably won't see it very often. I'm not sure the description by Johnny was necessary for the different colored block to appear, but reaching the Micronize (and a few other pieces of Magi) was a quick operation. Back at Ki I was able to use the potion to enter her body. It was a mass of tendril-like passages that ended in a single Magi piece until finally I was able to access a final passage with a set enemy encounter. With the final Magi in my possession, Ki seemed free from the monster infestation. She thanked me, and we headed to the next world.

We'll just see about that

Apollo was a gracious host, and even provided a Magi to help us in our quest. He posed riddles to find the rest, but answering them involved little more than just going to each cave in the world. In the next town someone named Lynn had run off into the nearby cave. A being named Dunatis was said to haunt the cave, protecting the Magi within. Lynn's mother was in a poor health, and Lynn thought the key to a potion lay within the cave.

Are you saying I look like a man?

I found Lynn in the cave standing before Dunatis. Unable to overcome his power on her own, she welcomed my help. Turned out it was some kind of security robot, and a very easy battle. Ako, my mutant, learned the ability O All. Monsters and mutants have abilities that indicate strengths and weakness noted by O and X. Robots start with an O Para/Pois, which protects against paralyzation, poison, and other related effects. Other examples are O Ice, O Fire, and so on that give elemental immunity as well. O All gives immunity to all status effects and nearly all elemental magic (wind seems to be the exception). When I returned to Lynn's house, Celd's father was there being called dad. Is he two-timing on Celd's mom? Before finding out, Celd and party walked out of the room, and back to the more important search of Magi.

The only time this Magi is used... seems like it should be more useful

We recovered more Magi from an undersea volcano, and even more in a dark cave where the walls were previously invisible. Thanks to the True Eye Magi we recovered, one of the few uniquely named pieces, we wrapped up our collection of Apollo's world. Next world was the guardians secret hideout. Using a clue about listening to the Heroic Tune, I found a secret door in the cafe; however, I was immediately captured. Luckily Celd's father was their leader, so I was released. I learned about two other gods, Venus and Odin, that were gathering Magi. That night, one of them sent monsters to attack the base.

Trust me, it'll be safer in my hands

I fought my way through many waves of enemies only to the find the base, and the town above, completely destroyed. One of the enemy commanders said they had captured Lynn, and were waiting in the next world. Lucky thing I collected all this Magi off them to open the next door. The next world was a staging area to show that Celd's father was not Lynn's real dad, only filling in while they searched for him. Celd's father sacrificed himself to take out the monster, and release Lynn; however, the monster reappeared victorious. I took him out, and returned Lynn to her world. A moment of silence for Celd's dad... okay, back to gathering Magi. Lynn's mom, having recovered from her illness, passed on a Magi she'd been holding back. The next world, now accessible, was home to Venus, goddess of vanity. She ruled her world with an iron fist, and nothing less than perfection was acceptable. My party was tolerated, and she laughed at my intention to gather Magi, saying none were left in this world.

Pretty sure you're wrong, Venus

Outside Venus' palace, a young woman named Flora bemoaned the exile of Leon, her love. He had broken his leg in an accident, and was banished for being imperfect. I visited the outcast village, and found Leon acclimating well to his new life, although he worried for Flora. Someone mentioned goodies in the sewer though, so I quickly forgot their plight in search of Magi. In the sewers I modified my robot build, increasing his strength and defense while relying on the Revenge sword, which only hits enemies through a counter-attack to physical attacks. Putting him in front increased his chances of getting hit, and turned him into a literal killing machine.

Except that one time we all died, but that was cool because we finally got to meet Odin

Everything was going well until I tried to open a chest that turned into a monster. The high level monsters easily wiped out my party with their magic attacks. I found myself in Valhalla, home of Odin. He admired my courage, and revived on the condition that when we finally met I would fight him. I agreed, and returned to the previous battle, this time aware of what was in store for me. I made it through alive on my second attempt. This aspect to the game is interesting, but it's strange to be able to try the same battle over and over without any drawback. I then fought a hermit crab, grabbed a key, and emerged on the other side of the sewer entrance in Venus' Palace.

Then a mysterious volcano emerged for no reason

Flora was still waiting outside of the palace, but this time she had an even sadder story. Venus was forcing her to marry Nils (some random dude). When she told me this, my whole world shook. For some reason, this caused a volcano to rise. I told Leon about Flora, and he asked me to help stop it. So, I ignored his request and went off to explore the pretty volcano. Inside, of course, was more Magi. As I collected it, Leon ran in and took one of them. Strange, I wondered what he was going to do with it. In any case, Venus had invited me to the wedding ceremony, so I thought the only polite thing to do was go. I arrived just in time to sit and watch the drama unfold.

Oh, my, doesn't she look pretty...

Leon showed up in the middle, and challenged Venus. But,with only one piece of Magi he didn't stand a chance. Flora begged for mercy, then slashed her face so she could be banished as well. Venus took offense to the undermining of her authority, and it was about this time my party finally woke up and took down Venus. I honestly don't remember the fight, so I'm going to assume she was a pushover. I collected the last of the Magi off her body. Flora and Leon hardly notice as they were finally reunited. Nils became the third wheel, while Flora assured him she'd hook him up with one of her friends. They lived happily ever after. As for me, on to the next world!

Why is Till-bot always blinking in these pictures? Better yet, why do robots blink?

In the next world, Apollo was hosting a dragon race with some Magi as the prize. I scouted out the dragons, and accidentally picked the slowest one thinking I was just test driving it. I immediately fell behind. As I made my way toward the finish though, it became clear something was amiss. The other racers were hurt, attacked by a monster, their Magi stolen. So I did the only noble thing I could. I defeated the monster, claimed all the Magi for myself, then moved on to the next world.

Huzzah!

The next world had a Japanese theme to it. A shogun ruled from his giant pagoda with a large town next to it named Edo. A gang known as the Hatamotos hassled me as soon as I reached their turf. This world had a lot of tough enemies, and I struggled here just a bit, especially trying to find a good monster to use. After beating the initial group, more members showed up, but a girl named Hana, a detective, sent them away with a "how rude" attitude.

Tut?

Someone named Echigoya was employing the Hatamotos, and Hana's father was investigating Echigoya at some point before he disappeared. Now Hana has taken up that burden. I confronted the shopkeeper at Echigoya's, and he told me a shipment had just arrived at the harbor. The ship was well guarded. In the hold I found Hana and Taro, a teacher from the small village Hana lives. Finally, we found evidence of Echigoya's criminal dealings.

Ba...na...nas?

Apparently bananas are illegal in this world. Maybe bananas are a euphemism for drugs or guns, but the game has guns. Whatever it stands for, it's apparently serious business, and Hana joins me to alert the judge. He immediately sent the police to confiscate the...bananas... and arrest Echigoya. When they returned, they reported no bananas. Back at Hana's house we discussed the situation. Maybe the police, the judge, or both were paid off by Echigoya. Before we could get too serious into these assumptions, Kame (Hana's friend), returned in bad shape. She had tried to sneak into Echigoya's shop, but was found by the Hatamotos. She barely escaped with her life. Hana joined the party once again to investigate the shop. Inside, we heard the Shogun discussing his plan to sell bananas on the black market to afford buying up all the Magi. Echigoya was helping with the import, and I assume taking a small cut.

It's the Heroic Tune! You're about to be busted

The shogun escaped while we fought with Echigoya and a group of nine Hatamotos. Echigoya pleaded after the battle that he was under duress by the Shogun (I just realized it's actually Sho-gun for some reason). I dropped off Hana, and picked up Taro to take on the Shogun. He had the powerful Muramas sword, and a back-up katana. It's really unfortunate that I can't remove equipment from NPCs.

I don't think I can even buy a Muramas

Unfortunately, before I could get to the boss, Taro contracted blindness. Blind reduces agility, which affects hit-rate with the Muramas, and I had just used the last eye drops on Celd. Blind is one of the few status effects that follow outside of combat. Poison and paralysis resolve themselves. Stone requires an item called soft, but I carried a soft through the whole game without needing to use it. Same with curse, which I never actually saw.

The Shogun was another push over, but for good reason this time. He was actually a puppet for a demon collecting Magi. Magnate showed up to challenge me on the roof. This battle was quite challenging. Till, who had focused on strength and defense increases, didn't have enough agility to actually connect with any of his attacks. Taro was out on the damage dealing for the same reason. Luckily, the revenge sword doesn't rely on agility.

I really should have bough more eye drops

In the end, it came down to just Till and Taro. With Till on revenge duty and Taro healing, I was able to whittle him down. I collected the Magi off Magnate, and set out to the next world. Oh, and Taro and Hana hooked up.

So, the game is suddenly going to give me only 1 per world now, right?

With the realization that Till is going to need some agility to hit bosses, it was time again to rethink his build. I hadn't quite decided what to do, but I knew it was going to cause problems going forward. Especially once I start running into those enemies that focused solely on magic. I samurai bow I found in the pagoda as a possibility. While I did find some missiles and tank cannons, the limited charges didn't seem useful when cut in half. I had also been finding more and more mana based weapons, and foolishly depleted their durability trying to equip them on my robot. But, I'm getting ahead of myself. Join me next time for the thrilling conclusion.

Elapsed Time: 7h18m (Total Time: 9h50m)