Game #46: Dragon Crystal (Game Gear*) - Because Dragons Are Cool (Finished)

Game 46

Title: Dragon Crystal
Released: 1991 (December 22, 1990 JPN)
Platform: Game Gear
Developer: Sega
Publisher: Sega
Genre: Rogue-like
Exploration - Top-down
Combat - Turn based
Series - Standalone (related to Fatal Labyrinth)

There was no clear release date for the US, so I stuck this at the end of the year in hopes I'd have a 3DS capture device by now. Unfortunately, that's not the case, so I used an emulator for now. Hopefully one will become available by the time I reach Defenders of Oasis (I've already completed Crystal Warriors). All US released Game Gear RPGs have been made available on the 3DS Virtual Console for those interested in playing them in an official manner. Trying to get video output on a Game Gear is complicated, and takes some soldering, so I opted not to go that route.

A short game from beginning to end, but getting there takes a few tries

My warrior by the end was not nearly as well equipped as the one pictured. Dragon Crystal is a rogue-like game with randomly generated floors, items of mysterious effect, and turn based action. Every action uses one turn, and enemies act after the player. Identifying each item is done by using them, or throwing them at enemies. Weapons and armor are static, but can randomly be cursed. The goal is to reach the 30th floor, and touch the dragon crystal. The story is inferred from images that show a normal looking man trapped in a crystal turn into a warrior. This game is very similar to Fatal Labyrinth, but it's not clear if they're supposed to be the same game, or merely were developed in unison.

*Plop*

The emulator I used had an optional overlay, which obscures the screen to the standard resolution, but I chose not to use that for this title. The result was graphical artifacts normally hidden from view that disoriented me many times.

Everything's fine, just keep your eyes focused on the center

The items in this game differ slightly from Fatal Labyrinth, and some are unique to this title. Scrolls are replaced by books, and there are rings, staves, and potions in addition to weapons and armor. There's a food meter, but no fear of eating too much. HP regenerates over time as long as the player is fed. Levels are once again obscured by titles rather than a set number. In my travels I only reached Dragonlord, which is two below max level. The floors are revealed by walking along the walls, where they'll change color from a dull grey to each level's color palette. The early levels are this forest green.

Exit in the very last place I look

Each floor has an exit denoted by a six-pointed star hiding along the wall inside a room. The rooms can contain enemies, gold, or items. Connecting each room are single-file passages clear of anything interesting. Enemies keep to their rooms unless aroused by the player's presence, whereupon they may give chase into the hallways. The player is accompanied by an egg, which grows into a dragon as progress through the floors is made. This dragon doesn't do anything other than act as a barrier to enemy movement, and he always trails behind the player.

Ninja throw shuriken guarding some food

Enemies have unique patterns that require their own strategy. Ninjas teleport around a room randomly, but will target the player if they're in a straight line. Most enemies will follow the player, but some get an extra action while others won't move at all. Even others move at half speed, and one type is asleep until attacked. Later enemies have permanent status effects such as lowering strength, levels, or rusting equipment. Sorcerers can cast dizziness or fog, and land sharks steal food. Enemies get stronger each floor, and after about floor 20 every battle is dangerous enough that I started to avoid them as much as possible. The last couple of floors contain dragons that hit for over a quarter of my HP, so taking them on is out of the question.

Especially since most status effects don't work; like the reshape staff that softlocks the game when used on a dragon

It took three good runs to reach the end, and a number of false starts. Many of the items can result in an unrecoverable situation. Knowing when it's safe to experiment, and which items are useful for dragons is half the game. Overall it was an enjoyable game, but there's not much to it. Death isn't permanent, but it costs gold to continue; more each time and it might be limited. I don't think I took out a single dragon in my winning run, mostly due to dying on the 29th floor. Getting to the crystal was nerve wracking, and unfortunately I forgot to take screenshots during that run, but at least I remembered during the ending sequence. I'm not sure how easy it would be to repeat this success.

Elapsed Time: 6h45m (Final Time: 6h45m)

Remember when games thanked the players?

Combatant - Combat is well balanced with a number of strategies dependent on random item placement. Enemies seem to be a hodgepodge of different types without any explanation for them to exist in the dungeon. Stats do play a role, but equipment is more important than character abilities. It's difficult to tell when the next level-up will happen as experience is hidden from the player. Later levels were rarely boring.
Rating: 7

Credits are strangely short

Admirer - There's not much here to excite a customizer. There aren't any abilities or special skills gained. About the only thing to customize is equipment, which changes the appearance of the character. Controls are smooth, and I had little problem with doing what I intended.
Rating: 3

I wonder how many of these people worked on Fatal Labyrinth

Puzzler - I'm only giving this points for the variability in how to reach the end goal. Different items and level layouts lend to different strategies, and figuring out how to optimize exploration against resource acquisition leads to interesting decisions. No side-quests, no actual puzzles, and not much to do outside combat.
Rating: 2

There's an SMS version, but it wasn't released in the US

Instigator - There's kind of a story here, somewhere. It's only a framing device to give the player some motivation to reach the end goal. It doesn't contribute to how a player might approach the game. Even the dragon following the player is never explained, and disappears at the end.
Rating: 1

It's easy to see in these shots the resolution of the Game Gear

Collector - While there are many items in the game, inventory space is very limited. Each category of item has 8 slots that quickly fill up by mid-game. Trying to have one of each is out of the question. Equipment strength is only identifiable while equipped, and offloading useless pieces is troublesome as they must be dropped or thrown one-by-one. Gold is available, but it's only used as payment for extra lives.
Rating: 3

Coordinated what exactly?

Explorer - The game is pleasant enough, but I don't think it's anything to write home about. It's interesting that the path to the end is completely open from the beginning. Being strong enough to get there is another matter entirely. Just take a look at the TAS (Tool-Assisted Speedrun), which uses this fact to manipulate the RNG for a path straight to the end in about 1 minute. Extra bonus points for the new world every time.
Rating: 3

Final Rating: 19 [32%]

Thank you especially to these people and/or companies

Tied with Fatal Labyrinth makes sense given how closely they resemble each other. It's fun to play through the game every once in a while, but I don't think I'll have time to touch it again. I feel this game is harder than Fatal Labyrinth, but Dragon Crystal benefits from a run button.

Next up we have a childhood favorite. Lagoon holds a special place in my heart. I'm not even sure why I like it so much, but it's a stand out title that I enjoyed renting so much that I eventually bought it. We'll see how it holds up to the test of time.

Game #45: Final Fantasy II (SNES) - Unfinal Fantasy (Finished)

Time to wrap this up and move on

Blogger ate my post two weeks ago. I was doing final edits Monday before last when some key combination removed everything, and the undo button didn't work. I tried to close it before the auto-save took hold, but I was too late. Unfortunately I don't think I'll be able to remember all the details along the way, but Blogger was kind enough to have kept all the images I'd uploaded. The videos I usually reference were already deleted, and the local pictures gone. Thank you for bearing with the blog through technical difficulties, and now back to our regularly scheduled posts.

Ladies~~

The tower climb to Golbez had some difficult battles, but the hardest in my memory was the Magus sisters. Each one had a role to play: the tall one in back cast wall on the middle, the middle one revived her sisters, and the one in front used magic so it reflected off the middle one to hit someone in the party (for additional damage, or to avoid any walls I could potential throw up). With this knowledge I focused on the small one, then the middle. The last one had some status effect spells, but nothing too serious. In fact, the whole fight went so quickly I wondered what all the fuss was from the past. Golbez waited on the other side, but handing over the crystal made him completely forget about our deal to exchange it for Rosa. Tellah stepped up to challenge him, and through a scripted battle he cast spells of ever increasing MP cost until finally using Meteo. This weakened Golbez enough for him to retreat instead of finishing off Cecil, and left Kain unconscious. Tellah passed away, but there wasn't much time to mourn. When we awoke Kain to find out where Rosa was, he rushed off to the next room where a trap awaited.

Nice timing, one could almost say it was scripted

Rosa and Cecil were reunited once again. Kain, having regained control, told us how that even through Golbez's control he felt an urge to keep Rosa close. I attempted to cast Exit, but it was locked down for some plot related reason. As I walked out, Valvalis, fiend of air, made an appearance. She had the ability to turn into a tornado. While in that form she would counterattack with a weakening spell that dropped a character's HP down to single digits. Only Kain's jump ability could knock her out of that form. Once defeated, the entire tower started to collapse. Maybe it was the air fiend's power that kept the tower afloat and blocked the Exit spell. Rosa automatically took the entire party not only out of the tower, but to Cecil's room in Baron. Through some exposition Cid explained how the airship was magically back in Baron, and Kain produced a Magma key that led to the next plot point. Even though Golbez had the four crystals, Kain explained that there are four crystals of the underworld, and Golbez needed those to complete his plan (currently unexplained).

Should we move away from the erupting volcano?

Naturally we dropped the key in the only bottomless well we could find, and opened a path to the world below. The land of the dwarves was besieged by the Red Wings, still under Golbez's command. Caught in the crossfire, the Enterprise was damaged. Cid made an emergency landing right outside the Castle of the Dwarves. The king told me Golbez had already obtained two of the four crystals from the underworld, and it was nearly three had Yang not sensed something amiss in the crystal room. Dancing Calbrena dolls were attempting to abscond with the crystal, but we intercepted them. The fight is notoriously creepy, and difficult, although it really wasn't (par for the course). Golbez showed up after we'd won, and put the party under his boot with one hand behind his back. Luckily Cid had previously run off to make repairs on the Enterprise, which made room for Rydia to make a surprise entrance by summoning a mist dragon. With her help we took down Golbez once and for a... actually, he was only wounded, and while Rydia explained that she was taken by Levitan to live in the Land of Monsters (where time moved more quickly and she'd grown up), Golbez's hand came to life and took the crystal.

That's right, even when the party wins we still lose the crystal

The king pointed out that Golbez was launching his assault from the Tower Bab-il, which extended from the over world. He proposed distracting their forces with his tanks while we breached it. We took him up on the offer, and climbed the tower without much trouble. At the top, Rubicant, the fiend of fire, mentioned heading off to deal with the kingdom of Eblan and left Dr. Lugae in charge. He had a robot, reminiscent of Frankenstein's monster. I actually had completely forgotten about this boss. It was a two part battle, and during the second Dr. Lugae merged with the robot where he was promptly defeated with ease. He dropped a key that unlocked the door to a super cannon that was powering up. The guards inside set it to auto-fire before they were defeated. Yang sacrificed himself to destroy it. Explosions went off inside the room, and the party feared the worst. As we made our way back outside, Golbez gloated telepathically, and sabotaged a bridge. The party fell from the tower, but were saved as Cid swooped in with the Enterprise. However, Golbez's Red Wings gave chase, and there seemed no safe harbor to land. We made our way to the surface, and at the final moment before emerging into the light of day, Cid jumped overboard, explosives in hand.

Things go boom, path back underground sealed

Cid's final instructions were to visit his engineering team in Baron to retrofit the Enterprise with a hook. How Cid knew this would help us retrieve the hovercraft and allow us entrance to a cave near Eblan, I'm not sure. Eblan castle lay in ruins, so we did the obvious thing: looted it. The cave nearby housed the survivors, and allowed the party entrance into the Tower of Bab-il. Edge, the royal prince, was deep inside the cave attempting to avenge his parents. Rubicant brushed him aside easily, so we thought it'd be a good idea to invite that weakling along. In the tower we fought his parents, who were transformed into monsters by Dr. Lugae. It was a scripted battle, and ended shortly. We met up with Rubicant a second time, who apologized for the way Edge's parents were treated. Always a gentleman, he healed the party fully before engaging us in a battle to the death. With a full party, and Kain jumping like a madman, Rubicant was defeated with some effort. Not difficult, but not too easy either. We Escaped the tower with ease as we found one of the Red Wing airships. Dubbed the Falcon by Edge, we took it to the Castle of the Dwarves where a recovering Cid was willing to equip it with heat shielding to withstand the magma (honestly, why didn't Golbez do this already).

Putting Edge to work while Cecil and Kain stood by watching

Finally able to explore the underworld I found a blacksmith who had lost his luster, the town of Tomra (where I decked out my party with diamond armor), the sealed cave (where the last crystal awaited), the Land of Monsters, and the Sylph Cave. I remembered Yang was in the Sylph Cave, so I explored it to the end first, but I couldn't interact with him at all. I then recalled using a frying pan from his wife, so I moved on to the sealed cave. I think naturally the monster difficulty suggests the Land of Monsters was next, but I ended up collecting Asura and Levitan after finishing the Sealed Cave. The king of the dwarves provided the key, and instructed me to protect the last crystal. Honestly, if we really wanted to prevent Golbez from getting it we should have tossed the Luka's key (named after the princess of the dwarves) into the magma. Instead, we opened the seal, blasted through all the trap doors, and defeated the wall protecting the crystal. If not one of the most difficult battles, definitely one of the most stressful due to the unseen time limit as it inches towards the party.

Evil? I think it's just misunderstood

We then walked the crystal all the way out only to have Kain suddenly take it, and return to Golbez's side. Golbez revealed his plan was to travel to the moon with the power of the crystals. Seriously, the moon. A little bewildered by the revelation, the party took a side trip to the Land of Monsters, and obtained new summons for Rydia as well as a rat tail. Back at the Castle of Dwarves, Cid was spurred by the news of Golbez, and attached a drill to the Falcon that once again opened passage to the world above. While we waited, the king of the dwarves suggested we return to Mysidia for guidance since they had the same legend of incomprehensibility (something about the moon). Once above ground I instead returned to Yang's wife and gained the frying pan, smacked Yang on the head back in the Sylph cave, and gained the Sylph summon for my troubles. Unfortunately, I failed to return the frying pan to his wife, so no spoon (the most powerful throwing item for Edge). I then traded the rat's tail for adamant ore, which was delivered to the underground blacksmith to forge Excalibur from the legendary sword Cecil received when first becoming a paladin.

And then there was the whole getting a giant whale ship so I could sail to the moon

As soon as we got to Mysidia, the elder met us at the entrance. He escorted us to where they were praying (err... wishing) for a miracle. This was answered in the form of a spaceship called the Big Whale. The whale offered a place to rest, a big chocobo for easy storage access (which I hardly used), and a crystal that when activated took the party to the moon. On the moon was a giant crystal palace, the cave of Bahamut, and a cave that housed a strange group of people named the Hummingways.

I thought that guy was a little out of this world

I know I had a lot more to say here in the previous post, but I can't for the life of me remember it all. I made my way to the crystal palace after deciding I should probably not venture too deep into Bahamut's cave. Inside the crystal palace was FuSoYa, a Lunarian, which are a people sleeping deep inside the moon. Actually, this is the second moon orbiting the blue planet, and it was artificially constructed because the Lunarian's previous planet was dying. They thought to come to Earth and inhabit it, but found people already living on its surface. So, they entered a deep sleep until one day all people could live in harmony. One named Zemus had other plans, and wanted the Lunarians to awake and take over the planet. While Zemus was sealed away deep withing the moon, another Lunarian was allowed to go to the planet. It was revealed that Cecil was the son of that Lunarian, and the whale and serpent road were his creation to help the people progress towards enlightenment. However, Zemus' evil influence slowly seeped out into the world and took hold of Golbez.

Uncle?

FuSoYa joined the party to help bring an end to Zemus' control over Golbez. We returned to the planet to find Golbez had activated the giant of Bab-il to destroy every living thing on the planet to make way for the Lunarians. All residents of the planet combined their strength to distract the giant while the party entered an opening in the giant's chest thanks to Cid's airship. Inside, I battled the four fiends once again, but this time in a single battle one after another. It was a close battle, but I managed to get through even without Kain. Beyond them was the CPU that controlled the giant. It had two smaller units, one that attacked and another that recovered. Destroying both caused the main core to outright kill two party members before reviving the units. I ended up out damaging the recovery unit and easily, although slowly, defeated it. Golbez showed up, and FuSoYa broke Zemus' control with a crystal. When he came to, he had some startling news.

Fancy that, that's Cecil's father's name too

It was revealed that Golbez and Cecil were brothers all along. The story doesn't really ever explain why Cecil didn't know any of this, his father, his mother, or even that he had a brother. In fact his mother really isn't mentioned at all except to explain the existence of Cecil and Golbez. What happened to either KluYa or that unnamed woman isn't ever explored. Brushing that aside, Golbez, once again himself, joined FuSoYa to take down Zemus. Kain showed up, also relieved of his mind-control, and joined the party. We escaped the giant, and made our way back to the whale. Unsatisfied with leaving the destruction of Zemus to Golbez and FuSoYa, Cecil decided he should go as well. But wait, how did Golbez get back to the moon without the whale? Ah, never mind that. We're then treated to another scene where we tell the women-folk to stay behind, but when whale arrived on the moon they're discovered to have stowed away. A good thing too; I can't imagine going in without a full party. I collected Excalibur, and visited the king of Baron's ghost, which turned out to be the summon Odin (mostly useless).

Without Rydia, who would learn to summon Bahamut?

Before heading to the Crystal Palace again, I stopped by Bahamut's Cave. The only way I survived his MegaNuke attack was by having Kain jumping in the air. When he landed I had just enough time to use life on everyone and get in enough damage before his next explosion. Good thing too because I mistimed Kain's last jump. I went all out in the cave below the Crystal Palace. It took a couple trips to collect all the treasure, which included final weapons for nearly everyone. None of the battles were difficult, but the behemoths were troublesome; them and an enemy called 'Mind'. I arrived to find Golbez and FuSoYa already defeating Zemus with the same crystal that awoke Golbez from his trance.

Thanks for taking care of the first form guys, we've got it from here

The final battle with Zeromus had some close calls, but in the end it went without a wipe. It began with everyone being wiped out after Cecil used the crystal, but slowly the party's friends prayed for their success, and everyone was revived to full strength. Zeromus' worst attack was Big Bang, which damaged the party for 1500 - 1900, and slowly drained everyone's HP. Rosa and Rydia were on healing duty while Kain jumped, Edge threw old weapons, and Cecil attacked. Every now and then I'd have Rosa use white (holy), and Rydia would summon Bahamut. Zeromus could also cast nuke and virus, which were single target; Black Hole (a status nullification spell); and Meteo, which actually did less damage than Big Bang. The Hummingway's had a store where I could have bought elixirs, which fully heal HP and MP, but I ended up not needing anymore than I had already picked up over the course of the game.

Every little bit of damage helped

Zeromus crumbled, and all was right with the world once more. Golbez decided to stay behind on the moon to look after the Lunarians with FuSoYa. The party returned to Earth. Cecil ascended the throne of Baron, and took Rosa as his queen. Kain left on an adventure of self-discovery. Rydia decided to live in the Land of Monsters. Yang returned to Fabul where he was crowned king. Edward returned to his castle to start rebuilding while Anna and Tellah watched over him from above. Edge also returned to his castle to rebuild. Palom and Porom were restored to life, and returned to their studies. Cid became master engineer of Baron once again. The Lunarian moon then shot off with a solemn goodbye from Golbez. I'm not sure what caused it to leave, and nothing more is really said on the subject.

Raise your hand if you're a main character

Overall an enjoyable game. Not exactly thrilling since I knew most of what was going to happen, but it was nice to experience it once again. I suspect Final Fantasy VI will be even easier since I don't remember having any trouble with that game, but it'll be many years before we get to that point. Without further ado, the review.

Elapsed Time: 11h23m (Final Time: 17h39m)

Combatant - The variety of enemies, especially bosses, is one of the best parts about this game. There are numerous spells, the majority of which aren't necessary, but it's nice to explore different strategies. The balance edges on the easy side, but defeating each boss is rather satisfying. There are stats, but there's no need to pay them much attention.
Rating: 7

The moon shooting off into the distance

Admirer - There aren't many options when the game spoon feeds pre-made characters. Abilities do advance based on combat, but which characters are available is always determined by plot. It's possible to rearrange the magic list, but spell acquisition is solely based on character level. While sprites don't change with equipment, it's possible to change the one shown while exploring. I look forward to more options going forward in this series.
Rating: 4

For the curious, Kain has blond hair

Puzzler - The main quest is clearly defined, but there's not much to solve. The side quests are interesting, but seem out of place. There aren't any real puzzles to speak of, and there's only one way through the game.
Rating: 3

The real puzzle is trying to piece together the story

Instigator - This may seem like a harsh score, but NPCs lack active advice with many nonsensical dialogue. The plot developed well in the beginning, but it rarely supported the backstory which consisted of a vague notion of familial responsibility with lot of hand waving. I felt less like an active participant, and one that was merely pressing buttons to make the story move forward, a story that isn't influenced by me at all. Maybe I expected more from it, but it's not as impressive as I recalled. Once again I'm looking forward to the next Final Fantasy.
Rating: 4

Credit roll

Collector - There's a rather large inventory, and a place to store items. If only the game tracked collecting them all. The economy becomes rather broken by the end, much like other games, but the game tries to smooth it over by selling high-priced elixirs. The strength of weapons and armor are only known when equipping them, but tends to follow the cost to power ratio trend of early games.
Rating: 6

Still unsure when to use Square and when to use Squaresoft

Explorer - The music alone is brilliant. The graphics have a pleasant style that I enjoyed as well. However, the world itself has few opportunities to discovery interesting places. Exploration is mostly open, but the game contains the open regions to plot related scenarios. My past experience colors my view a bit here, but it wasn't much fun to dive back in a second time.
Rating: 5

Uematsu is brilliant

Final Rating: 29 [48%]

Overall it's an experience I'm glad to have, but I don't think I'll be selling it to anyone else. The story is a bit shallow compared to other games, and the world is constrained. Options to the players are limited in both use and quantity. It's a solid entry, and a milestone for its time, but it doesn't stand up as well anymore. I think if you're curious about the history of Final Fantasy or RPGs, then it's a good experience to have, but as a game it's somewhat lacking.

Completely miss-able named character

At the same time I've been taking some time away from the blog, I've also taken a few weeks off from playing RPGs. I've just gotten back into it, and just wrapped up Crystal Warriors. I'm considering taking a break from playing RPGs until I'm fully caught up on the blog once again. The edge of a year seems like a good time to do so as I'm nearly four (albiet short) game posts behind, and need to research all the games for 1992. For the blog it'll probably be nearly seamless, but it'll help me work through some other games and projects that have interested me. Thanks for reading, and it shouldn't be as long before the Dragon Crystal post.

Game #45: Final Fantasy II (SNES) - Meanwhile...

Has anyone ever said no? I often chicken out even when I know it's not a real choice

Our party was last outside Fabul. When we explained the situation to the king there, he expressed the same doubts Yang had about Cecil's character, even though the shop clearly sold dark knight armor. The men quickly put the lady folk out of the party to tend to the defenses. With as Yang the only fully trained karate master, we were easily pushed back multiple times. The final stand took place in the crystal's chamber through a cutscene where Kain appeared as an antagonist. Kain challenged Cecil, and a scripted battle began in which I was destined to lose. Rosa and Rydia showed up to stop Kain from dealing the final blow. However, behind them, Golbez suddenly appeared. He seemed to have control over Kain, but upon seeing Rosa it nearly broke. To maintain control Golbez took Rosa and the crystal, commanding Kain to follow. Rydia cured the party, and we dragged ourselves to the king's chamber, who had been injured in the attack. He bestowed the black sword upon Cecil, and arranged a ship to take us to Baron. So, we set sail for Baron on a short 3 hour cruise.

What could possibly go wrong?

Having the ship attacked by a giant sea monster didn't factor into our plans. Cecil woke up alone on a beach just outside the town of Mysidia. The very town where he had stolen the water crystal, and killed many wizards. Most of the inhabitants were aggressive towards him, even going as far as casting spells that turned him into a toad or pig. The elder heard his pleas though, and described a trial he would need to overcome at Mt. Ordeals to the east of Mysidia to prove his change of heart. He would need to give up the dark sword and become a paladin. To spy on... I mean aid him in his travels, the elder ordered Palom and Porom to accompany him.

And so continued the journey of Cecil to find a princess that would kiss this poor toad

While the music and graphics are a great improvements, it's the combat that really deserves a bit of recognition. It isn't the standard turn based model, and it's not quite action based. Instead, each character (and monster) works off a personal timer; once that timer is full they get to enter an action for their turn. There's also a delay between selecting and executing that factors in, which depends on actions. The rate at which the timer fills varies from character to character, and is probably reflected in their stats. I haven't talked about character stats at all because, while accessible, there's no control over them; I found no reason to look at any point in the game. In my previous post, I mentioned how each character has a special attack, except Cecil's was removed during localization. Apparently, Tellah's was removed as well. He had an ability called recall that would cast a random spell, since his spell list was so limited. The fact he didn't remember the other spells never really came across in this translation. Palom and Porom came with an ability called Twin that casts either flare or comet, but costs quite a bit of MP.

During the climb up Mt. Ordeals, I was treated to a sneak peak of what Golbez was up to

Some foreshadowing of the boss I'd face against in Mt. Ordeals was shown while I climbed up. I ran into Tellah, who seemed a bit befuddled about why he was there, and made a vague reference to some hidden power. At the top of the mountain was Milon, the earth fiend, one of the four fiends in service to Golbez. With no surprise he was fairly easy to take down. Weak to fire, and me with plenty of fire attacks, I didn't even blink when I faced him a second time on the other side of the bridge. He raised as a zombie Milon, which made him weak against cure magic as well. Beyond him was a mirrored chamber where Cecil faced his reflection. A light spoke to him, calling him son, and granted him the legendary sword of light; however, he then needed to overcome his dark past. During the battle the voice told me that to become a paladin, I needed to learn when to fight and when to not. In this case I waited out the battle by parrying, and it ended before too long.

Cecil's reflection could use Darkness, so why couldn't he?

As you can see I changed some of the names, but I'll still refer to each by their originals. After the battle, the blinding light shined bright again, and Cecil was truly a paladin. Tellah recalled all the spells he had forgotten, including the powerful Meteo (although with not enough MP to cast it). Back in Mysidia, the elder was pleased to learn we had succeeded, and wondered if this could have anything to do with an ancient Mysidian prophecy, the same one inscribed on the sword Cecil now carried.

And nobody has any clue what this means

The elder now accepted Cecil's commitment, and opened up the serpent road. A magical gateway that connected Baron and Mysidia before the attack. Palom and Porom continued to accompany me, and we soon found ourselves in Baron while the elder prayed... I mean "wished" for our success. I found Yang in Baron. Suffering from amnesia he had accidentally became one of the commanders for the guard. After knocking some sense into him, he joined the party with a key to a secret waterway that led into Baron castle, bypassing all the guards. The same key opened up the previously locked equipment shop. The castle was strangely empty, except for Baigan, the king's advisor. Cecil, being the trusting individual that he is, allowed him to join the party on our way to confront the king. Palom and Porom sniffed him out as a monster, and a fight ensued. His two arms acted as separate enemies that took their own actions. Of course, even with at least one misstep where I accidentally cast Flare (using Twin) on Baigan after he cast wall (which reflects spells), him and the water fiend that the king turned out to be were once again easy battles. Kainazzo, the water fiend, died in a single round.

I think this is the first truly heart wrenching moment I experienced in a game

Once the fake king of Baron was defeated, Cid showed up to challenge him. He found the party instead, and joined us. He was leading everyone to an airship before we could realize having six party members upset the cosmic order, so someone had to leave. A small entrance hall was rigged as a trap in the event that Kainazzo died. The walls started to close in. All hope was lost, except in the minds of the twins. It doesn't come off well my description, but they had a lot of banter that made their company rather charming. Palom and Porom turned to the walls, and cast stone on themselves. This somehow stopped the walls from moving any closer, and illogically unlocked the doors. Tellah attempted to heal them, but they remained stone through their will. As the party solemnly made their way to the Enterprise (Cid's latest airship), I was treated to a cutscene where Golbez described a plan to trade Rosa for the final crystal.

Followed by another cutscene where Kain told the party the same thing

At this point the game loosened the reigns a bit by allowing me to explore the entire world with the airship. Actually, there are a couple caves that remained unreachable since they required access by hovercraft, which was stuck in the small area near Damcyan. In my travels I found Silvera, a small mining town with a stock of silver equipment; Agart, home to a bottomless well, and a people born from a Hidden Land; and Toroia, home to the Earth Crystal, which was recently stolen by a dark elf. The elf's cave was on a secluded island with nowhere to land the airship. The only access available was by black chocobo, which can only land in forests. The council requested I recover the crystal, and agreed to let me borrow it for a short time after.

I just realized I never returned to this point, and I have no idea what's behind this door

Edward was in the castle, bedridden, but alive. He couldn't join the party, but insisted on giving me a twin harp. I was also warned that the dark elf's cave restricts anyone wearing metallic equipment. The town helpfully sold non-metal items for everyone, but I opted to instead run away from every encounter. I knew that the restriction was lifted when I faced the dark elf by Edward playing his other harp. The melody protected the party from the elf's magic, and he fell quite easily after an initial battle that required me to lose. Unwinnable battles that the player controls are a pretty terrible idea. It usually turns into a waste of resources. Most of the unwinnable battles in this game are obvious after a turn or two, so they don't drag on. However, I think this is a pitfall in other RPGs, especially the lack of distinguishing it from a normal boss battle. I gained the crystal, and returned to Toroia to find Kain had been monitoring my efforts.

He led me to Golbez's floating tower, and then disappeared

At this point in the game it's only possible to ascend to the tower with the airship, but it's thankfully possible to return to the airship and land next to Toroia. I wonder why they would bother to lock the airship down like that, but it might be the only mechanism they had for giving access to the tower, which is never seen on the world map.

Elapsed Time: 3h38m (Total Time: 6h16m)

Sorry for the lack of posts. This one should have been posted already, or been twice as long, but work has been cutting into the time I usually devote to this. Hopefully after this week things will settle back into a normal routine. I've actually beaten Lagoon, so I need to do some serious writing to catch up. Looking forward to doing that over the 3-day weekend.

Game #45: Final Fantasy II (SNES) - Slipping Into Familiar Shoes

Game 45

Title: Final Fantasy II (IV JPN)
Released: November 1991 (July 1991 JPN)
Platform: SNES
Developer: Square
Publisher: Square Soft
Genre: RPG
Exploration - Top-down
Combat - Active Time Battle
Series - Final Fantasy

This intro is so good, but I never got that they were flying away from Mysidia

First of all, I'm amazed by the release schedule for this game: only a five month gap between regions. Granted the translation isn't great, but the amount of text to translate is a great task. Someone also decided it'd be less confusing to renumber the game since the actual II and III never made it to the US. For quick reference, simply multiply by 2 to get the actual number for the SNES Final Fantasy games.

The intro sequence sets the stage for Cecil, commander of the Red Wings, and his internal strife over the recent command to steal crystals away from helpless individuals. The kingdom of Baron created airships, and now the king was using them to eliminate any threats to his total control.

I'm sure he has his reasons; he's a complicated guy

Cecil didn't blink while carrying out the act, but he had plenty of time to think about it on the ride back to Baron. The crew shared in his doubts, but discussion was cut short when monsters suddenly attacked the flying ships. Still the intro, I watched as Cecil took out two groups of monsters using magic items that were removed from the game in this version. There are actually a number changes in the conversion, including the removal of a lot of items. As an example, status effects used to have an item associated to cure it (antidote for poison, soft for stone, etc.), but those all got replaced by the remedy item, which was renamed to Heal. Many of these changes made the game easier, but they weren't all that way. Cecil lost his Darkness ability, which deals damage to all enemies.

One time use combat background

Back in Baron, Cecil faithfully delivered the crystal, but he couldn't keep silent over his reservations towards stealing from helpless people. The king stripped him of his command, but decided there was a way to make up for his insolence. All Cecil had to do was deliver a package to the village of Mist, home to a people known as Callers. They had the power to summon monsters to battle. Kain, longtime friend of Cecil, came to his defense, but he only managed to get assigned to the same task. In the middle of a short dialog where Cecil apologized for getting Kain mixed up in his troubles, the game suddenly broke the fourth wall and started talking about controls (e.g. use the Control Pad and A-Button). It appeared as though Kain was saying those things.

*Plop*

Even the residents of the castle spoke in hushed tones about how the king had changed. It was the king who ordered Cecil to master the dark sword, but strangely Cecil thought it was for a good cause. On my way to Cecil's room, Rosa welcomed him back, but had no time to talk. Cid, master engineer, creator of the red wing airships, stopped me to ask how the ships were handling. When he heard what happened, he assured me he never intended them to be used as weapons. Still loyal to Baron, Cecil rested for the night hoping this task would reassure his king of that. In the middle of the night Rosa came calling. After hearing Cecil's tale, she berated him for being mopey. In the morning, Cecil met up with Kain, and headed to the city of Baron to gather more information.

Upon leaving the castle, the final scene of the introduction plays out

The story telling is beyond anything we've seen so far. Even with the reduced script lost in translation, there really isn't anything else to compare it to. Obviously this was possible by the increased space available, but even compared to other 16-bit titles I feel the story has more depth than any of the Phantasy Stars. Many of the guards commented on the state of the king, the Red Wing crew voiced uneasiness with the events that took place, and nearly everyone in town feared the Dark Knight of Baron (except for one kid that thought he was kind of cool). The music is outstanding, the locations large enough not to get lost, but not too small either. The pacing is well spaced, and one of the defining features is the number of unique boss-like fights that occur in nearly every dungeon.

These training rooms were added in the US version, and may also be the first in-game tutorial in an RPG

Most training rooms have a character called Namingway that allows the player to rename anyone in the current party. I chose not to rename them right away, but as the game went on I felt I should probably make use of him. While this is the only appearance of this character in the series, another makes its first appearance and becomes an iconic figure: the chocobo. Although first presented in Final Fantasy Adventure, this is the first in the main series (that made it to the US). Yellow chocobos can cross rivers with ease, and they easily dodge enemy encounters. White chocobos refill magic points, and black ones can even fly if you can catch them. Catching them involves chasing them down and talking to them, a reverse on the annoying NPC always in the way. Speaking of NPCs, when trying to move through them they'll move faster and usually out of the way unless they're cornered.

A big chocobo is hidden until it smells a carrot; it'll store items, but hardly necessary

Well, let's get into the thick of it. I remember this being a challenging game, so it may take a while to get through... no wait, I breezed by the Mist Cave where I fought a Mist Dragon controlled by a caller. In the village of Mist the package I was carrying sprang open. Fire creatures poured out, burning the village in their wake. Rydia, a small child, was the only caller to survive; however, when she learned that I was the one that killed the dragon, and her mother in the process (some kind of psychic link that never comes into play for Rydia), she summoned a titan that sealed off the valley. Cecil woke to find Kain missing, and Rydia unconscious. A vast desert lay before Cecil, and an oasis in the middle supplied the town of Kaipo with water. In the middle of the night, while resting at the inn, guards from Baron showed up to finish the job I started. I'm not sure how they got through the sealed pass (let alone how they knew one caller survived), but taking them out proved to Rydia that the man whole killed her mother wasn't all bad. Mistakes were made.

How did Rosa get here from Baron?

Rumor around town was that a young woman had wondered in with a terrible fever. Turned out it was Rosa, and the only cure lay in an Antlion cave accessible only by Damcyan royalty. The passage through the only cave north was blocked by an old man that forced himself on my party. Tellah, the sage, told us how a wicked bard tricked his daughter, Anna, into running away with him to Damcyan. We might as well travel together. At the end of the watery passage was a giant octopus called Octomamm (no relation to Octodad). Another troublesome part from my memory was a cake walk. Just beyond the cave entrance was Damcyan, and steps away from walking in I was treated to a scene of the red wings bombarding the castle, completely destroying it. Inside, Anna was dead, and Tellah raged hard at the bard that stole her away.

and thus a meme is born

Well, Anna was mostly dead. Her last breath(s) stopped the fight between Tellah and Edward, the prince of Damcyan who only pretended to be a bard. She described the attack: someone named Golbez commanded the red wings, and stole the fire crystal. Tellah headed off to find Golbez, leaving the party. While Cecil was eager to figure out who was Golbez, Roas still lay ill. Edward bemoaned the loss of Anna. Rydia had to knock some sense into him, telling him he wasn't the only one to have lost a loved one, but he had a chance to save someone else by retrieving the Sand Ruby. He agreed, and provided a hovercraft that allowed the party to cross over shallow areas of the water.

Once again, Antlion easier than I remember

The Antlion Cave was easy, and the Antlion itself much easier than I remember. Mainly, I recall his counter move dealing more damage. He strikes back any normal attacks, but it wasn't a problem. Edward remarked before the fight that Antlion was tame, but times were changing. Monsters were becoming commonplace, and tame animals were turning wild. Sand Ruby retrieved, the party rushed back to Rosa. Once revived she joined the party, and explained the events that took place after Cecil had left. The king of Baron gave control of the Red Wings to Golbez, a mysterious man who seemed to control the king rather than the other way around. His intent was to collect all the crystals, obviously for some nefarious purpose.

Strangely, the only time a character joins without a job title

That night, while the party rested, Edward ventured out near the oasis to reflect on his lost love. From out of the watery depths a water hag appeared. A vision of Anna appeared, spurred him on, and he easily trounced the hag. Before disappearing, the ghostly vision told Edward to believe in himself, fight, and to prevent Golbez from obtaining the crystals. The next castle with a crystal was Fabul, across Mt. Hobs; however, the path was blocked by ice. To pass through, Rydia needed to overcome her fear of fire. As a caller, she has a natural talent for black magic as well as summons. Although, even though she'd called a titan to cause an earthquake, she can only manage a lowly chocobo at the moment (and an imp summon, which I found after a fight with imps). After some coaxing, and reassurances (mostly pleading), Rydia overcame her fear, and melted the ice.

Attack animations have a variety that make each character unique

At the top of the mountain we met a karate master from Fabul. Yang was ambushed by monsters, and while he took most out without problem the party jumped in to assist with the MomBomb. It exploded into six smaller bombs, but we wrapped up the fight cleanly after that. Yang explained that he was out on a training exercise when these monsters appeared. He was the only survivor. We explained the danger to the crystal of air at the castle, and the party surmised that the monsters here weren't meant as a distraction to weaken the castle. Cecil explained all their motivations for stopping Baron, and Golbez, from obtaining all the crystals even though he was a dark knight. Yang agreed to their assistance, and the party was now full at five members.

I ended the first night outside Fabul

In this short time the game has provided much more enjoyment than many titles I've already played through. Even so, the ease with which I've progressed makes the experience feel a bit shallow. I played through this game many times in my youth, grinded for hours to gain early levels, and find rare item drops without really knowing which enemy they might come from. The grinding I did while young felt necessary, but coming back to it years later I wonder why I felt that way at all. Obviously difficulty is subjective. With as much experience as I have now, I know what works and what doesn't. It's nice to experience something I loved so much, but it's not the same experience it once was. I think that's why when I look at the list I'm more eager to get to the games I've never played before.

Elapsed Time: 2h38m (Total Time: 2h38m)