To Make a Fan: Let's Play Final Fantasy

[Wookieetank]

Unless I'm doing a speed run (or attempted speed run anyways), I don't usually have much issue with much of anything after making use of the penisula of powerleveling.

[Triaxx]

Definitely the favored choice. Especially since even early on the White Mage can mow down certain groups by herself.

[RagingKrikkit]

I'm back! I'M BACK! And its still technically summer like I said it would be when I got back to this! YAY!

Hey, everyone, good to see you again, now that things are settling into a new thing that I guess is going to have to settle for normal. Yes, it took eight months for things to start to resemble normal, so I'll just say thanks for waiting for me to return, and welcome back to our grand adventure.

Chapter 10: Mini Big Bad

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Welcome Back! When last we left, I was a civillian, and we had just defeated a vampire boss way too quickly. However, it appears that there is more to the dungeon locked away, and that means we'll be back here eventually. In the meantime though, I've crawled back to the surface, and now we can see what else there is to be seen here.



Our first order of buisness is to fall back to Melmond and get our team patched up and recharged.





I also take the time to get Elan and Durkon up-to-date on spells. All the spells are upgrades of previously seen versions, except Life, which is our "Raise Dead" spell.



I also upgrade Elan and Roy to Longswords, and Roy gets a new set of armor as well.



And with that done, it looks like we're headed West.



Dungeon: NES|GBA

The first thing of note we run into is this cave, which is sitting on a chokepoint between Melmond and those yellow dots on the map.



Is that a golem? Whatever it is, it's huge. I mean, look at that sprite! It's got to be four times the size of any other character we've seen.







Roy tosses the ruby (I missed getting a pic of it), and the golem turns away, and the audio plays what is presumably an om-nom-nom sound, but sounds more like what a Zelda boss would make when it gets hurt.





If you say so.



He then stomps off and lets us through.



As a matter of fact, he walks straight through a solid wall to get out of our way.



The path splits right past there, and the southern route takes us to a treasure room.



We get some money, an axe, and a helmet.



The axe isn't as accurate, but Roy hasn't had a problem with landing hits lately.



The helmet, on the other hand, is just a flat-out better idea.



By the way, there are monsters in here, but nothing we haven't seen before.



LEVEL UP!

Roy: HP +31, +STR, +AGL
Elan: HP +4, MP +16, +INT, +STA, +LCK
Durkon: HP +26, MP +7, +STR, +STA, +LCK

Eight months later, Elan is still getting sucky HP growth.



Well, that was short. Let's see what's over here.



Side note: Dat axe..



LEVEL UP!

Haley: HP +4, +STR, +LCK

Wow, that was even worse than Elan usually does.



(Mayota’s Cave: NES GBA)

Why do all the wizend NPCs always live in caves? Zelda, Final Fantasy, hell, even Pokemon did it once or twice.

Whatever, on with the story.









Alright, now that we've spent nine chapters running around killing pirates and making explosions so big you can see them from space, it's time to finally start doing what we came here to do in the first place.

You know, after we crawl through that dungeon again.



Huh, that's new.



Interesting: I would have expected its defences to be the other way around.



(Cavern of Earth/Gurgu Volcano: NES GBA)

*sigh* I hate this game's dungeons.



Anyway, here we are at the entrance to the rest of the dungeon.



I would have taken a screenshot if the effect had been anything other than a pathetic fade to white. There wasn't even a "You used the MacGuffin" text box.



Just another thing to whine about, I guess.



Yay. Treasure.



How far down does this accursed rabbithole go?



No deeper, it would seem.







Boss fight boss fight!



That's actually not a half-bad sprite.





And I am U.S. Army Infantry. I like those odds.



(Boss Fight: NES GBA)

Dayum. That is some friggin' cool character design.



And that means that this is either going to be pathetically easy or he has some really nasty magic stored up.



Lich hits us with Blizzagra for our fist really nasty full-party hit of the game.



And Durkon's not healing enough to win us that game...



So I'm going to see if the Astos Manuver will work again.



Nope.



Then again,



It seems to not be needed.


(Victory Fanfare: NES GBA)

That was five or six turns of hasted Roy and Haley pounding on him, so I'm not screaming and yelling over boss fights that end way the hell to quickly. It's tricky to balance a boss fight to last for more than a handfull of turns without resorting to a way the hell too big pile of HP, and that usually ends up annoying more people than amusing them.



Anyway, we've defeated a Fiend and relight our first crystal! Huzzah!



Oh, hey, remember that bonus dungeon we dropped by back in chapter 2?



Well, it's available now.



And that's that. Now to just... walk... back... out...

If you'll excuse me, I need to go shoot myself now.

[Wookieetank]

Welcome back! Glad to hear is life is settling down at least a little bit for ya.

As for walking back out, I thought there were telepads behind the crystals in the gba version to get out?

[fizzmaister]

Welcome back. It seems like you've been gone for much longer than eight months, but I guess not. I think I'll have to reread the entire LP, because I don't remember too much of it.

[RagingKrikkit]

Okay, just throwing an interest check out there to see who still cares about this. It seems my nuzlocke is doomed (or at least needs to find a new home), so what about this? Anybody still onboard for this crazy project?

[fizzmaister]

Yeah, I'm all for it.

You could also resume your Sacred Stones LP, I would enjoy that as well.

[Wookieetank]

Its alive! *crosses fingers*

[ShneekeyTheLost]

I remember playing this game on my NES back in the '80's. SO MUCH YES.

An interesting note about weapons that can be used as items in combat: you don't have to equip them to use them. So, should you somehow come across one, you can put it in a character's inventory (at least on the NES, GBA may have the ability to access the Swag Bag) and use it. This is particularly good for the Heal Staff because free party heals are amazing. Or they were on the NES. In fact, I'd deliberately keep a fight going on longer than I needed to just to heal my party up.

[danzibr]

wb :)

Enjoying the lp. Love this game.

[ThePhantom]

Still here. By the way, while it might be late, if you stand on the circle thing that was behind Lich, it teleports you out.

[danzibr]

Still here. By the way, while it might be late, if you stand on the circle thing that was behind Lich, it teleports you out.

Good catch. I wasn't paying attention when I read the

And that's that. Now to just... walk... back... out...

If you'll excuse me, I need to go shoot myself now.

[RagingKrikkit]

Wow, wasn't expecting that much feedback. Okay, then, this is still going. Also:

Yeah, I'm all for it.

You could also resume your Sacred Stones LP, I would enjoy that as well.

Boy, when I saw that I went digging through my old threads for that and spent the better part of a day reminiscing and remembering all the ideas I had for that. And with Illven's LP of FE8 dead, that means that I could actually pull that off.

[RagingKrikkit]

Okay, quick update to let everyone know that this is still me, and to say that this is still moving, when I can pry myself away from the other five projects I have scattered across the internet, plus the closing in on 200 games in my to-do list, with the cherry on top of Team Fortress 2 and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive sucking up inordinate numbers of hours.

tl;dr: I'm not dead, and neither is this.

[Wookieetank]

tl;dr: I'm not dead, and neither is this.

Even if you were, some of us know Revive and/or have pheonix downs.

[ShneekeyTheLost]

Even if you were, some of us know Revive and/or have pheonix downs.

Pssh, you and your fenix downs. Back in the '80's, all we had was our Life and Life2 spells, and that was only if you had a White Wizard, no mere mage could learn these magics, and only if you had the spell slot still available, and only if it wasn't your white wizard who got killed! That was the only way, outside of a church, to bring back someone back.

Anyway, we're all eagerly awaiting your next installment, even us geezers who complain about uppity kids on their lawn.

[RagingKrikkit]

I've never really been one for new year's resolutions. Every time I try to take one, I end up abandoning it by the third week of January. But then again, my resolutions of past have usually been these big changes that fundamentally change my lifestyle, so perhaps this one will be easier to pull off.

The name of the game this year is consolidation and revival. All my projects that are not off the ground yet are going on the back burner, and I'm digging up everything I've left withering over the last year. Joining the Army was a major shakeup, but I've adjusted and am fully capable of keeping these going. I just need to get my attention back where it needs to be: here.

[RagingKrikkit]

And three years later, here I am actually living up to that last post. Massive thanks to Glyphstone for letting me dig this back up, and the deepest of apologies to everyone I left hanging, assuming any of you are still around. Let's get this ball going again!

Chapter 11: The Plot Awakens

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Holy cow, we're back! When last we left, I was stuck making the trek back out of-

Still here. By the way, while it might be late, if you stand on the circle thing that was behind Lich, it teleports you out.

Wait, really?











YES! YEEEEEEEESSSSSSSS! Thank God! I know it sounds like an overreaction, but damn, I hate dungeons in this game.



Breaking out the world map, I decide to head around the peninsula and then north, to that small continent, and see what awaits us there. But first a quick supply trip to Melmond...





Where we learn this interesting bit of information.



And armed with that knowledge we set sail for parts unknown.



Then I take a second look at the world map and notice something: since this map is technically a secret, the developers couldn't have counted on players knowing it was there, and thus have to rely on other methods of guiding the players. I assume that in playtesting Square discovered that players wanted to stick to the coastlines for fear of getting lost (much as actual sailors did), and so to lead the player to the right places, they added that spot on the right side of the map where the southern and eastern continents come within spitting distance of each other.



And there it is!



But at the same time, there's this little inlet here...



...that leads us to the eastern half of the southern continent.



Interestingly, the monsters here are all the same as on the other half of the continent, no level jump in recognition of our trailblazing.



But a little more exploration soon reveals why this is: I have, in fact, not reached anywhere special, and this is a dead end.



Yet, according to the map, there is more to be found there, so South we go!



I find another dock and begin heading West...



...Which eventually brings me to Crescent Town Crescent Lake, where Roy and Elan get pimped out with Mithril gear, and Durkon gets himself a cure for the Stone (permanent paralysis) effect, as well as the group versions of Invis and Protect. Unfortunately, all of the level 6 dark magic requires a dedicated black mage, and so Elan gets to sit things out for a while.



Then to the East of the town proper, I find this circle of fine gentlemen. Let's see what they have to say.



Wait...

Oookay. However that works.

Oh, so that's how that works.



that about which our entire future revolves...





The four Fiends of Chaos block the power of the Crystals, claiming it as their own.



Defeat the Fiends that have taken root there and lift up the crystal you carry to the altar. The crystal should regain its brilliance.



The Fiend of Wind appeared four hundred years ago, followed two hundred years later by the Fiend of Water. Together they laid waste to the civilization in the north.







All will be revealed...



Warriors of Light, only you can do this!



The Fiend of Fire slept long within its passages, but she has awoken two hundred years before her time. Vanquish her before the world is consumed in flame!



Sadly, this has drawn the notice of the Fiend of Fire, who was not to have stirred for another two hundred years.



I can't find it for the life of me, but I distinctly remember once seeing a demotivational poster that read something like "Gordon Freeman, you are the last chance to save humanity. Here's a ****** crowbar."



Oh, well, key item get.

[danzibr]

Exciting! I'm glad to see this picked up :)

I just started FFI recently. Have a Fighter, Monk, Thief, WM. Playing it on my iPhone. Seems like a stellar party post-game.

Question: does the problem with agility and hit still exist (or whatever it was)?

[fizzmaister]

Woo! Glad to have you back.

This was a nice treat for finishing my second comprehensive exam. Looking forward to more FF from you, YakYak/Krikkit

[TheStranger]

Welcome back!

On the topic of the world map being a secret, the original NES game shipped with a paper map of the world that was much more detailed than the in-game map. Not only that, but the locations were numbered in roughly the order that the player might want to visit them. Oh, and they gave you dungeon maps, monster stats, and weapon/armor stats, too. Amazingly, all of that was pretty common back in the day.

[danzibr]

Welcome back!

On the topic of the world map being a secret, the original NES game shipped with a paper map of the world that was much more detailed than the in-game map. Not only that, but the locations were numbered in roughly the order that the player might want to visit them. Oh, and they gave you dungeon maps, monster stats, and weapon/armor stats, too. Amazingly, all of that was pretty common back in the day.

Ahh yeah. I remember some sweet inserts back in the day. Me, I got my copy of Final Fantasy from a friend for $5 back in the 1990's.

[Wookieetank]

Welcome back!

You've made it to one of my favorite parts of the game, where the game really opens up. Depending on your talent for exploring/getting lost, you can now get your classes upgraded and the airship before ever setting foot inside the fire temple Gulg Volcano. Its been a while, but you might even be able to run the water and air dungeons before the fire one, but I'm not as sure on that one. Granted you might not want to since difficulty wise earth < fire < water < air ...

[ShneekeyTheLost]

Welcome back!

You may wish to consider rushing the Ice Cave for the levitation stone for the airship so you can go get the Rat Tail for speaking with Bahaumut about advancing the classes.

[GloatingSwine]

Yeah, I always rush class change after I get the canoe. Max them stat gains!

[danzibr]

What I do nowadays is off everyone but a black belt, solo the game with black belt until class change, then rez everyone and grind on the eye in the ice cave until I'm overpowered.

[Sam113097]

I enjoyed reading this thread so much that it convinced me to buy FFI on iOS. I'm a complete newcomer to the series, so I was wondering if anyone had any advice about picking classes for the party?

[danzibr]

I enjoyed reading this thread so much that it convinced me to buy FFI on iOS. I'm a complete newcomer to the series, so I was wondering if anyone had any advice about picking classes for the party?

Yup!

Pretty much play anything you want. Some parties are better than others. I'd suggest against repeats, though. Just choose what sounds fun then have fun.

Oh, there's no stealing. The thief starts out weak but gets good offense later.

[ShneekeyTheLost]

I enjoyed reading this thread so much that it convinced me to buy FFI on iOS. I'm a complete newcomer to the series, so I was wondering if anyone had any advice about picking classes for the party?

Fighter is a solid beatstick/tank. He can take a hit and he can dish one out. Later on, he gets some very useful support.

Thief starts off a bit weak on the offense, although a couple of weapons you can find will help him with this a bit. Later on, however, he gets to be about on par with Fighter and also gets access to additional utility.

White Mage. Get one. This is your healer. The only class that can eventually get a resurrect. In the original NES game, there was no other way to raise from the dead outside of a town. He can also pick up the Exit spell to get out of dungeons.

Black Mage. He goes boom with the blastomancy. Unlike most of these types of games, blastomancy is actually effective. However, it uses a D&D style spell slot system, so your number of booms is limited since there is no Rope Trick (and tents may only be used outside of a dungeon).

Black Belt. Starts off weak, but ends up with the highest damage output of any class. Defenses will ALWAYS be sub-par, and this will become painfully noticeable mid to late game. However, since his best weapon is his bare hand (after a few levels), and he can't wear armor, he's the cheapest to outfit.

Red Mage. Neither fish nor fowl, he's a jack of all trades and a master of none. He can cast a few spells of both white and black magic, but he can't get the really fun ones. He can use some weapons, but not as much as you'd like (although there is one weapon at the very end of the game that can make up for this).

[RagingKrikkit]

Black Mage. He goes boom with the blastomancy. Unlike most of these types of games, blastomancy is actually effective. However, it uses a D&D style spell slot system, so your number of booms is limited since there is no Rope Trick (and tents may only be used outside of a dungeon).

IIRC, the iOS port uses the version I'm playing as a base, so it should actually be the MP system instead of the spell slots.