- Joined
- Mar 29, 2014
The FF1 overworld works like a donut.
Let's Sperg Let's Sperg: Final Fantasy 1 - Vintage JPRG Autism
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- Joined
- Jun 27, 2014
The northeastern continent intentionally resembles a bird.
- Joined
- Jul 18, 2016
Yeah, a lot of the parts of the overworld resemble other things. We've been in the donut for a while, now we've moved on to other areas.
On one hand, I kind of want to pump these updates out because there's really nothing stopping me, and compared to other games, FF1 is short. If you're not fucking around with screen caps and writing thread posts while playing, you can beat Easy Mode in about 10 hours even if you do grind for everything. That said, the other hand is the sooner I complete this, the sooner I have to move on to FF2...and I really, REALLY do not want to play FF2. Not because it's bad, it's really just tedious all things considered. I do intend to flood the Let's Sperg board with JRPG autism, so I have to do it eventually...
On one hand, I kind of want to pump these updates out because there's really nothing stopping me, and compared to other games, FF1 is short. If you're not fucking around with screen caps and writing thread posts while playing, you can beat Easy Mode in about 10 hours even if you do grind for everything. That said, the other hand is the sooner I complete this, the sooner I have to move on to FF2...and I really, REALLY do not want to play FF2. Not because it's bad, it's really just tedious all things considered. I do intend to flood the Let's Sperg board with JRPG autism, so I have to do it eventually...
- Joined
- Jun 27, 2014
You can do 'em in any order. I love FF2, but for fuck's sake, there's no defending that level of grind.
- Joined
- Jul 18, 2016
Eh, if you really wanna get down to it, FF3 is worse in terms of grinding, at least the remakes. FF2 is more system exploitation, and stabbing yourself to get more HP. I'm tempted to use the Dawn of Souls GBA version because the grinding is possibly rebalanced to be a lot easier-stat gains are handed out a lot more often and with a lot more points behind them, and I think the bullshit that was "raising one stat lowers another" was pulled out. I plan on doing them in order to give me something to look forward to while I suffer through the bad ones-and I really hope 12 gets a Steam release along with its enhanced edition, it's my second favorite and would make X worth it...
- Joined
- Jul 18, 2016
Welcome back kiddos, and HOLY FUCK WE FINALLY GET LIFE!
Yes! Yes! YES! And yes, spells are a massive 5,000 gil, but we get some sweet spells in exchange. Cure3 and Dia3 are upgraded versions of what we have, but are useful anyway. Life1 is, well, Life1. It rezzes people. Even Jaimas!
Heal2 is a group heal, but simply not as useful as the other stuff we have on offer. Get Life1, and the "3" spells if you can afford it. I can't, but that's what grinding is for.
The Black Magic on offer includes a spell we cannot learn-yes, the Black Mage cannot learn a spell from this shop. The spell is Warp1, which returns the party to the previous floor, and is useful for quick exits, but we can't get it until we class change, and we can't class change until we at least beat the Lich. The other spells on offer are Poison (useless), Slow2 (more then useless), and Fire3 (fuck yeah). Get Fire3, because oddly, it's going to help in the next dungeon.
The weapon shop offers nothing but downgrades from what Bruce has. If you have a Red Mage or a Thief, maybe you can get an upgrade here. Moving on.
The Armor shop is mostly stuff we got from our Mystic Key extraaaaaaavaganza, but does allow us to pick up an extra Silver Armlet for whichever mage doesn't have one. There's also a Knight's Armor on display for a massive 36,000 gil (40 big Gs if you're on normal), and in return grants!...a +10 Defense boost over Steel Plate, with extra evasion penalties. I don't think 36k is worth it, so we're skipping the Armor shop for this one.
Our objective this time around is the Terra Cavern, to the southwest. So, with a few extra spells, it's time to head on out. The Terra Cavern is split into two parts, however, and we need to take a little detour after part 1, so don't feel bad if you don't have all the spells you want. You'll be coming back to Melmond.
This is the original NES music for the Terra Cave and Gurgu Volcano. I like it a little better, and it is a BITCH trying to get the Origins soundtrack.
Welcome to the Terra Cave, and boy, we're in trouble. The map actually splits off into roughly 8, EIGHT FUCKING DIRECTIONS, and mapping it all would be a hassle. So, I thank those who came before me. West is death, it leads to a constant spray of encounter spots. Straight south is also a dead end, while the west halls loop around. Up North leads us to a room with 2,000 gil just about.
The East path splits here, not to far from the stairs. Heading south gets us some extra loot, while heading east from here leads to the level below. This dungeon is a significant departure from the other ones we've been into, which were relatively linear. Now, we actually have dead ends that don't result in loot!
Oh yeah, and these guys. These guys are basically Earth Elementals, and get reskinned for some of the other dungeons as well. These guys are weak to fire.
Yes...Earth...is weak to Fire...Don't think about it to hard. These guys hit hard, hard enough to do nearly triple digit damage to Bruce-to say nothing about our weaker members. Kill them quickly. Very, very quickly. These guys are half the reason Fire 3 is so useful, especially when they appear in packs.
By the way, I ran across something I hadn't come across in a while: Enemies fleeing. Yes, in the days of FF1 and 2, enemies sometimes ran away. FF2 has it happen a lot more, starting as soon as you start the game and start grinding around the first town. Here, it doesn't start until the Terra Cave, because I guess weaker monsters take a look at you and go 'fuck that'. Upside: Less enemies. Downside: No gil or XP from the fleeing foes.
The second level is basically a maze. There's treasure rooms to the south and to the east of the start, but if you head straight in those directions, you run into dead ends. Really, there's nothing I can do to help you here besides just flat out telling you the directions-so go ahead and look up a map, and save yourself the headache.
We pick up a lot of gil, some crap items (like a Leather fucking shield!), and the sweet Coral Sword. Basically, it's a sword enchanted with lightning magic and is great against aquatics. It'll get a gigantic amount of use in the Water dungeon (the Sunken Shrine), but for now, throw it in the bag with the rest.
Hilariously, we meet Minotaurs in this dungeon. They're lost in here, just like the mythical one.
Level 3 is a giant circle, more or less. There's a few extra pieces of loot to grab in rooms around the circle, so grab them and head on to the Vampire boss.
Well that's dark.
The vampire is so piss easy at this point, that I don't have any captures of him. Don't worry, he returns as a random encounter in later dungeons.
We get a Star Ruby! And we can't go further because of the seal the Vampire mentioned, so, it's time to head out.
Next time! Golems! Liches! The first Crystal restored!
Yes! Yes! YES! And yes, spells are a massive 5,000 gil, but we get some sweet spells in exchange. Cure3 and Dia3 are upgraded versions of what we have, but are useful anyway. Life1 is, well, Life1. It rezzes people. Even Jaimas!
Heal2 is a group heal, but simply not as useful as the other stuff we have on offer. Get Life1, and the "3" spells if you can afford it. I can't, but that's what grinding is for.The Black Magic on offer includes a spell we cannot learn-yes, the Black Mage cannot learn a spell from this shop. The spell is Warp1, which returns the party to the previous floor, and is useful for quick exits, but we can't get it until we class change, and we can't class change until we at least beat the Lich. The other spells on offer are Poison (useless), Slow2 (more then useless), and Fire3 (fuck yeah). Get Fire3, because oddly, it's going to help in the next dungeon.
The weapon shop offers nothing but downgrades from what Bruce has. If you have a Red Mage or a Thief, maybe you can get an upgrade here. Moving on.
The Armor shop is mostly stuff we got from our Mystic Key extraaaaaaavaganza, but does allow us to pick up an extra Silver Armlet for whichever mage doesn't have one. There's also a Knight's Armor on display for a massive 36,000 gil (40 big Gs if you're on normal), and in return grants!...a +10 Defense boost over Steel Plate, with extra evasion penalties. I don't think 36k is worth it, so we're skipping the Armor shop for this one.
Our objective this time around is the Terra Cavern, to the southwest. So, with a few extra spells, it's time to head on out. The Terra Cavern is split into two parts, however, and we need to take a little detour after part 1, so don't feel bad if you don't have all the spells you want. You'll be coming back to Melmond.
Welcome to the Terra Cave, and boy, we're in trouble. The map actually splits off into roughly 8, EIGHT FUCKING DIRECTIONS, and mapping it all would be a hassle. So, I thank those who came before me. West is death, it leads to a constant spray of encounter spots. Straight south is also a dead end, while the west halls loop around. Up North leads us to a room with 2,000 gil just about.
The East path splits here, not to far from the stairs. Heading south gets us some extra loot, while heading east from here leads to the level below. This dungeon is a significant departure from the other ones we've been into, which were relatively linear. Now, we actually have dead ends that don't result in loot!
Oh yeah, and these guys. These guys are basically Earth Elementals, and get reskinned for some of the other dungeons as well. These guys are weak to fire.
Yes...Earth...is weak to Fire...Don't think about it to hard. These guys hit hard, hard enough to do nearly triple digit damage to Bruce-to say nothing about our weaker members. Kill them quickly. Very, very quickly. These guys are half the reason Fire 3 is so useful, especially when they appear in packs.
By the way, I ran across something I hadn't come across in a while: Enemies fleeing. Yes, in the days of FF1 and 2, enemies sometimes ran away. FF2 has it happen a lot more, starting as soon as you start the game and start grinding around the first town. Here, it doesn't start until the Terra Cave, because I guess weaker monsters take a look at you and go 'fuck that'. Upside: Less enemies. Downside: No gil or XP from the fleeing foes.
The second level is basically a maze. There's treasure rooms to the south and to the east of the start, but if you head straight in those directions, you run into dead ends. Really, there's nothing I can do to help you here besides just flat out telling you the directions-so go ahead and look up a map, and save yourself the headache.
We pick up a lot of gil, some crap items (like a Leather fucking shield!), and the sweet Coral Sword. Basically, it's a sword enchanted with lightning magic and is great against aquatics. It'll get a gigantic amount of use in the Water dungeon (the Sunken Shrine), but for now, throw it in the bag with the rest.
Hilariously, we meet Minotaurs in this dungeon. They're lost in here, just like the mythical one.
Level 3 is a giant circle, more or less. There's a few extra pieces of loot to grab in rooms around the circle, so grab them and head on to the Vampire boss.
Well that's dark.
The vampire is so piss easy at this point, that I don't have any captures of him. Don't worry, he returns as a random encounter in later dungeons.
We get a Star Ruby! And we can't go further because of the seal the Vampire mentioned, so, it's time to head out.
Next time! Golems! Liches! The first Crystal restored!
- Joined
- Jun 27, 2014
Actually, Scourge (Poison) isn't as useless as you might suspect....
...It's the weakness of the Fiend of Wind. Yes, you can fucking Scourge her to death.
It's also really useful for Gulg Volcano and the Sea Shrine, which are loaded with enemies vulnerable to it.
So what's the problem? You get a goddamned weapon that casts the spell later.
It's also really useful for Gulg Volcano and the Sea Shrine, which are loaded with enemies vulnerable to it.
So what's the problem? You get a goddamned weapon that casts the spell later.
- Joined
- Jul 18, 2016
That's not all, apparently-wanting to confirm your thoughts, I looked up Tiamat. It turns out, the "Stone" spell (BRAK in the original) is considered a...wait for it...Poison-elemental spell. I'm not fucking kidding. That's why Tiamat is weak to getting Stone'd in all the versions of FF1! Diabolical indeed.
Of course, Warmech laughs in the face of your puny little BRAK spell, but Warmech just hates you. We'll get to him, I beat him before, I'll do it again.
Also, @Sable, you can hear it a lot more on Easy Mode where you get way more spell points-Normal Mode is closer to the original NES version with only a max of 9 spell points per level, while Easy Mode allows for up to 99 points per level. However, as the Astos fight showed, the bosses still aren't pulling any punches despite difficulty chosen. The Lich is also going to beat our asses red, but he's coming next episode.
- Joined
- Mar 29, 2014
A tactic I'm trying in the GBA port is a team of all white mages, armed with hammers.
It's enjoyably harder.
It's enjoyably harder.
- Joined
- Jul 18, 2016
Welcome back, Kiwis.
I'd like to direct your attention to the amount of gil we have. That's not a result of me grinding for hours, that's just how much we got from the first three floors of the Terra Cave. Whee! Go shopping! Buy everything! Get all the spells you didn't get for the past few levels! WHAHAHA!
Once we're all stocked up and the Warrior has shiny new Knight's Armor (yes I said it was skippable, but come on, I have 50,000 bucks!), we head west to a small detour dungeon.
He eats the Star Ruby and lets us through. Man, if that vampire was still around, the Lich would be so fucking pissed right now, because it's time to load up: We get a bunch of gear to the south, and the north leads to the Earth Sage that hands us another key item:
The sage explains that the vampire was merely a minor minion, as if the fact that Jaimas one-shot the motherfucker wasn't enough to tell you. Seriously, at this point, Jaimas is one step below bear-punching in terms of manliness.
He gives us the Earth Rod and tells us to probe beyond the Vampire's chamber-so, back to the Cavern!
Getting back is easy but...the stone isn't moving. Why isn't it moving? We have the key item, right? Right?
Up until now, every key item has been used automatically. This time, we need to go into our inventory and use it by hitting X twice while pointing at it.
This allows us to proceed.
The next two floors are as maze like as Floor 2, which is going to test the limits of your healing spells and items. Floor 4 has some extra loot (including a shiny new Mithril Shield), while Floor 5 has nothing but a bunch of twists. So basically, the last floor is a straight shot to the boss.
This is a common thing in many of the dungeons.
Alright bitches, let's do this.
There are two ways to do this fight. The first is the "Hope I kill him before he kills me" strat, where Tina and Angelo unleash a combination of Dia and Fire spells. This leaves the party open to his powerful magic, and leaves the fighters unable to do much as the Lich has a lot of HP (800) and defense (40, more then Bruce has even with Knight's Plate).
The second strategy involves playing it save, starting with NulIce, then NulBolt and ending with NulFire. Angelo should Haste and Steel both Bruce and Jaimas, while they do their thing. This strategy is safe...and boring.
We're going to do it the ballsy, magical-fuck-you way.
The Lich's physical attacks can inflict Paralysis, but even with taking down Angelo in the first round, the first Fire3 did 300 damage and the Lich is down by round 3 thanks to some well timed Crits.
Always go ballsy.
Having killed the Lich, we relight the Earth Crystal and head on out using the portal behind the Crystal.
Next time: Volcanoes! Canoes! Snakewomen!
I'd like to direct your attention to the amount of gil we have. That's not a result of me grinding for hours, that's just how much we got from the first three floors of the Terra Cave. Whee! Go shopping! Buy everything! Get all the spells you didn't get for the past few levels! WHAHAHA!
Once we're all stocked up and the Warrior has shiny new Knight's Armor (yes I said it was skippable, but come on, I have 50,000 bucks!), we head west to a small detour dungeon.
He eats the Star Ruby and lets us through. Man, if that vampire was still around, the Lich would be so fucking pissed right now, because it's time to load up: We get a bunch of gear to the south, and the north leads to the Earth Sage that hands us another key item:
The sage explains that the vampire was merely a minor minion, as if the fact that Jaimas one-shot the motherfucker wasn't enough to tell you. Seriously, at this point, Jaimas is one step below bear-punching in terms of manliness.
He gives us the Earth Rod and tells us to probe beyond the Vampire's chamber-so, back to the Cavern!
Getting back is easy but...the stone isn't moving. Why isn't it moving? We have the key item, right? Right?
Up until now, every key item has been used automatically. This time, we need to go into our inventory and use it by hitting X twice while pointing at it.
This allows us to proceed.
The next two floors are as maze like as Floor 2, which is going to test the limits of your healing spells and items. Floor 4 has some extra loot (including a shiny new Mithril Shield), while Floor 5 has nothing but a bunch of twists. So basically, the last floor is a straight shot to the boss.
This is a common thing in many of the dungeons.
Alright bitches, let's do this.
There are two ways to do this fight. The first is the "Hope I kill him before he kills me" strat, where Tina and Angelo unleash a combination of Dia and Fire spells. This leaves the party open to his powerful magic, and leaves the fighters unable to do much as the Lich has a lot of HP (800) and defense (40, more then Bruce has even with Knight's Plate).
The second strategy involves playing it save, starting with NulIce, then NulBolt and ending with NulFire. Angelo should Haste and Steel both Bruce and Jaimas, while they do their thing. This strategy is safe...and boring.
We're going to do it the ballsy, magical-fuck-you way.
The Lich's physical attacks can inflict Paralysis, but even with taking down Angelo in the first round, the first Fire3 did 300 damage and the Lich is down by round 3 thanks to some well timed Crits.
Always go ballsy.
Having killed the Lich, we relight the Earth Crystal and head on out using the portal behind the Crystal.
Next time: Volcanoes! Canoes! Snakewomen!
- Joined
- Jul 18, 2016
Might as well put these out quick. The faster I get to 2, the faster the pain will stop. 
Anyway, on my way back to my ship, I realize I really love the Fire3 spell. It's animation is basically me hurling Proto-Meteor at my opponents, which is great.
Getting to the next city is easy, but also infuriatingly long, more then Pravoca was. You have to sail past Elfheim-and now that the land mass has been blown, you can use the dock to the south of the town if you want to grab spells you didn't get last time. Hug the continent until you come to the last dock we'll see all game, then disembark and head to the town.
Welcome to Crescent Lake. I took this shot further into town as the start location sucks for showing this town off. It's a rather nice place...could settle down, have some kids. It's probably the last "nice" town we'll see for a while, so look upon it and weep.
On to the good shit. The armor shop is selling a bunch of Mithril gear, so anything we're missing can be bought here. It also carries bucklers, a shield that Red Mages and Thieves can use. Best of all, the prices are quite reasonable.
The weapon shop also carries Mithril weapons-knives, hammers, swords, and axes. The axe is slightly stronger than the sword, but is less accurate, and the attack difference is only 2 points, so we'll be keeping our sword. Also, we have full mithril weaponry from all that Mystic Key looting anyway. Didn't think this one through, did you Square?
Anyway, the White Magic shop has several goodies on offer, and even has the upgraded version of Warp1...which was Black Magic. Warp2 is vastly superior, warps us clean out of a dungeon, and isn't even competing for spell points with Cure or Dia spells. It is competing with Stona (cures Petrify, which is basically a KO condition for whoever's suffering it), Shield2 (raises party defense by 12 points, pretty good) and Invis2 (raises everyone's evasion by 40 points). It's best to grab Stona and one of the defensive buffs and leave the last slot open for Warp2 once you class change, as like Warp1, regular White Mages can't use it. Each spell is also 13,000 gil, so perhaps hold off on White Magic and instead check out Black Magic...
(Incidentally, the magic shops are now staffed by the Wizard versions of their respective classes. Why aren't they fighting monsters?)
Bolt3 is on offer, and is a damn near requirement for what's coming next. The rivers of Final Fantasy 1 are teeming with monsters, most of which are weak to Bolt, so grab Bolt3 and prepare for a repeat of Elfheim grinding-that is, a lot of fried kalimari.
Other spells include Reaper (that one Astos killed Jaimas with), which misses so often as to be useless-but hey, the animation is cool, and when it works, baby, it works. Quake is also here, which is a mass death spell, yes, mass fucking death because the quake fucking swallows the baddies. Finally, we come to the humble Stun spell, an upgraded version of Bind from before, but can be quite invaluable in the coming dungeon.
I'll just spoil it: The boss is weak to Paralysis.
There's a bridge northeast of the magic shops that lead us to the circle of prophets. They dispense tons of exposition here if you'll hear it all, but if you're not interested in staying a while and listen, talk to the prophet directly to the right of the one with the fancy hat. That one with the hat is Lukan, who made the original prophecy about the light warriors, i.e. US. He doesn't give us the canoe. His buddy standing right next to him does.
What kind of sense does that make?
He tells you the Fire Fiend has woken up 200 years before it was supposed to, and that's why he gives us the canoe, so we can go kick its ass. We're also told by another prophet that the fiends have marshaled at the elemental shrines, where the crystals lie. Basically, find the fiends, find the crystals. KILL the fiends, relight the crystals.
That's right. No vague hints. No muddy visions. Just a direction, an objective, and the threat of world destruction if we fuck it up. It's a simple story, sure, but it's one that's well told and isn't taking itself incredibly seriously, it knows its a cliche-ridden thrill ride, and is focusing on the "thrill" part of that ride, where every dungeon is vastly different from the last and filled with awesome monsters and sweet loot to beat the crap out if. In many ways, it feels like a DM's first attempt at running a campaign, he doesn't really understand the rules or the settings or what the monsters do, but he's putting his heart into every battle, and when he throws really big monsters at the party, he's doing it in a cool way that makes the party feel like they've beat something that was really tough, and they've had a major impact on the world.
To TL;DR that last paragraph, Final Fantasy 1 is an earnest young kid that just wants to make you smile with a really fun story.
Canoeing isn't much different from walking, in fact, if you walk onto a river tile (the light blue water), you'll automatically start canoeing. The difference is that there's a ton of kick ass monsters in the rivers, like crocodiles. This is why you need Bolt3, and possibly a Cottage to save your game once you hit Mt Gulg.
Anyway, we have a maze of rivers to deal with. Our destination is where the hand is, in the middle of the blue circle. The world map is a godsend here, use and abuse it. Get to Mt Gulg, and step inside the volcano.
Music: Same as the Terra Cave.
Mt Gulg has a wrinkle: Hot lava. Every step on a lava tile deals 1 damage to everyone. The upside is the monsters aren't as suicidal as we are, and won't go into the lava, meaning no encounters while on it.
Floor 1 has no treasure, while Floor 2 offers a choice: Go straight to Floor 3, or, run around a twisty windy passage to get all the treasure in the known universe. The answer is, of course, to get all the treasure.
Due to encounter spots with "Pyros" (Fire Elementals), Jaimas can now add "punching fire so hard he goes up a level" to his awesome checklist.
Along the way, we find a Claymore, a sword effective against Giants. While there aren't as many monsters in the "giant" class as you might believe, we still fight enough orges and Hill Gigases here for the Claymore to be useful-and it's only 2 points weaker then the Mithril sword, for a 5 point Accuracy boost! Might as well let Bruce use it. Maybe we'll run into a yokai, or something.
The next two floors are...weird. We actually bounce up and down between Floor 3 and 4, with Floor 3 being a confusing maze and Floor 4 just being lava lava lava. Head east on Floor 3 and Southeast on Floor 4, using potions and Cure1 to patch up the booboos from the hot floor. Then head southwest on the second part of Floor 3, and ignore all the detours-they are traps, that will kill you. May want to get a map, though, because my directions aren't perfect.
The second part of B4 is loot-filled, just like B2 was. Plenty of rooms full of dangerous guards and sweet loot, including...
This beautiful thing, the Ice Brand. Since I'm going with the over enthusiastic DM here, I imagine him presenting it to the party like it's the best thing ever: "You've found the Ice Brand, the sword of fire's bane. Its light blue hue hides the deathly chill of winter, ready to cover all in its icy embrace." And right now, it is the best thing ever. Ironically not so useful on the boss, as the boss resists Ice (just go with it), but helpful for now, and is the first sword we've gotten to outclass the Mithril Sword completely. Right next to the Ice Brand is the Fire Shield, "The shield of fire's bane!", and both items are making Bruce's life a million times easier right now.
With Jaimas and Bruce now dealing equal damage, though not for long, it's time to rip and tear on a whole new level!
Feel free to insert tons of ass kicking. Here, I'll help:
Anyway...A Cottage is found in one of the chests, so I decide to leave the dungeon and rest up to restore MP. Tina is going insane trying to keep everyone alive, and I pity her.
Back to Floor B5...
The floor splits into eight directions. Like the Terra cave, we care about a few-two, in fact. We head west to get the Armor of Flame's Bane-I mean, Flame Mail. Which is sweet. Then we head Southwest to fight the boss. The Flame Mail has the protection of Knight's Armor with a hell of a lot less Evasion penalty-to the tune of 20 points worth.
I have nothing clever to add. Let's do this shit.
The Marilith is actually a demon enemy in D&D, which may explain the Ice resistance-those bitches resist everything. The strategy here is simple: Lead with NulFire and Hasting Jaimas or whoever your damage dealer is. Pour on Physical Damage while Tina heals and Angelo does his best to Paralyze Marilith. She's got 1,200 HP to cut through and no elemental weaknesses, so get carving. Or punching. Seriously, it's fine to just buff up Jaimas and let him fuck shit up.
Anyway, two crystals down, two to go. But first things first: We need a new method of moving around, as our ship and canoe combo is about to stop cutting it. We'll be getting to that next time.
Anyway, on my way back to my ship, I realize I really love the Fire3 spell. It's animation is basically me hurling Proto-Meteor at my opponents, which is great.
Getting to the next city is easy, but also infuriatingly long, more then Pravoca was. You have to sail past Elfheim-and now that the land mass has been blown, you can use the dock to the south of the town if you want to grab spells you didn't get last time. Hug the continent until you come to the last dock we'll see all game, then disembark and head to the town.
Welcome to Crescent Lake. I took this shot further into town as the start location sucks for showing this town off. It's a rather nice place...could settle down, have some kids. It's probably the last "nice" town we'll see for a while, so look upon it and weep.
On to the good shit. The armor shop is selling a bunch of Mithril gear, so anything we're missing can be bought here. It also carries bucklers, a shield that Red Mages and Thieves can use. Best of all, the prices are quite reasonable.
The weapon shop also carries Mithril weapons-knives, hammers, swords, and axes. The axe is slightly stronger than the sword, but is less accurate, and the attack difference is only 2 points, so we'll be keeping our sword. Also, we have full mithril weaponry from all that Mystic Key looting anyway. Didn't think this one through, did you Square?
Anyway, the White Magic shop has several goodies on offer, and even has the upgraded version of Warp1...which was Black Magic. Warp2 is vastly superior, warps us clean out of a dungeon, and isn't even competing for spell points with Cure or Dia spells. It is competing with Stona (cures Petrify, which is basically a KO condition for whoever's suffering it), Shield2 (raises party defense by 12 points, pretty good) and Invis2 (raises everyone's evasion by 40 points). It's best to grab Stona and one of the defensive buffs and leave the last slot open for Warp2 once you class change, as like Warp1, regular White Mages can't use it. Each spell is also 13,000 gil, so perhaps hold off on White Magic and instead check out Black Magic...
(Incidentally, the magic shops are now staffed by the Wizard versions of their respective classes. Why aren't they fighting monsters?)
Bolt3 is on offer, and is a damn near requirement for what's coming next. The rivers of Final Fantasy 1 are teeming with monsters, most of which are weak to Bolt, so grab Bolt3 and prepare for a repeat of Elfheim grinding-that is, a lot of fried kalimari.
Other spells include Reaper (that one Astos killed Jaimas with), which misses so often as to be useless-but hey, the animation is cool, and when it works, baby, it works. Quake is also here, which is a mass death spell, yes, mass fucking death because the quake fucking swallows the baddies. Finally, we come to the humble Stun spell, an upgraded version of Bind from before, but can be quite invaluable in the coming dungeon.
I'll just spoil it: The boss is weak to Paralysis.
There's a bridge northeast of the magic shops that lead us to the circle of prophets. They dispense tons of exposition here if you'll hear it all, but if you're not interested in staying a while and listen, talk to the prophet directly to the right of the one with the fancy hat. That one with the hat is Lukan, who made the original prophecy about the light warriors, i.e. US. He doesn't give us the canoe. His buddy standing right next to him does.
What kind of sense does that make?
He tells you the Fire Fiend has woken up 200 years before it was supposed to, and that's why he gives us the canoe, so we can go kick its ass. We're also told by another prophet that the fiends have marshaled at the elemental shrines, where the crystals lie. Basically, find the fiends, find the crystals. KILL the fiends, relight the crystals.
That's right. No vague hints. No muddy visions. Just a direction, an objective, and the threat of world destruction if we fuck it up. It's a simple story, sure, but it's one that's well told and isn't taking itself incredibly seriously, it knows its a cliche-ridden thrill ride, and is focusing on the "thrill" part of that ride, where every dungeon is vastly different from the last and filled with awesome monsters and sweet loot to beat the crap out if. In many ways, it feels like a DM's first attempt at running a campaign, he doesn't really understand the rules or the settings or what the monsters do, but he's putting his heart into every battle, and when he throws really big monsters at the party, he's doing it in a cool way that makes the party feel like they've beat something that was really tough, and they've had a major impact on the world.
To TL;DR that last paragraph, Final Fantasy 1 is an earnest young kid that just wants to make you smile with a really fun story.
Canoeing isn't much different from walking, in fact, if you walk onto a river tile (the light blue water), you'll automatically start canoeing. The difference is that there's a ton of kick ass monsters in the rivers, like crocodiles. This is why you need Bolt3, and possibly a Cottage to save your game once you hit Mt Gulg.
Anyway, we have a maze of rivers to deal with. Our destination is where the hand is, in the middle of the blue circle. The world map is a godsend here, use and abuse it. Get to Mt Gulg, and step inside the volcano.
Music: Same as the Terra Cave.
Mt Gulg has a wrinkle: Hot lava. Every step on a lava tile deals 1 damage to everyone. The upside is the monsters aren't as suicidal as we are, and won't go into the lava, meaning no encounters while on it.
Floor 1 has no treasure, while Floor 2 offers a choice: Go straight to Floor 3, or, run around a twisty windy passage to get all the treasure in the known universe. The answer is, of course, to get all the treasure.
Due to encounter spots with "Pyros" (Fire Elementals), Jaimas can now add "punching fire so hard he goes up a level" to his awesome checklist.
Along the way, we find a Claymore, a sword effective against Giants. While there aren't as many monsters in the "giant" class as you might believe, we still fight enough orges and Hill Gigases here for the Claymore to be useful-and it's only 2 points weaker then the Mithril sword, for a 5 point Accuracy boost! Might as well let Bruce use it. Maybe we'll run into a yokai, or something.
The next two floors are...weird. We actually bounce up and down between Floor 3 and 4, with Floor 3 being a confusing maze and Floor 4 just being lava lava lava. Head east on Floor 3 and Southeast on Floor 4, using potions and Cure1 to patch up the booboos from the hot floor. Then head southwest on the second part of Floor 3, and ignore all the detours-they are traps, that will kill you. May want to get a map, though, because my directions aren't perfect.
The second part of B4 is loot-filled, just like B2 was. Plenty of rooms full of dangerous guards and sweet loot, including...
This beautiful thing, the Ice Brand. Since I'm going with the over enthusiastic DM here, I imagine him presenting it to the party like it's the best thing ever: "You've found the Ice Brand, the sword of fire's bane. Its light blue hue hides the deathly chill of winter, ready to cover all in its icy embrace." And right now, it is the best thing ever. Ironically not so useful on the boss, as the boss resists Ice (just go with it), but helpful for now, and is the first sword we've gotten to outclass the Mithril Sword completely. Right next to the Ice Brand is the Fire Shield, "The shield of fire's bane!", and both items are making Bruce's life a million times easier right now.
With Jaimas and Bruce now dealing equal damage, though not for long, it's time to rip and tear on a whole new level!
Feel free to insert tons of ass kicking. Here, I'll help:
Anyway...A Cottage is found in one of the chests, so I decide to leave the dungeon and rest up to restore MP. Tina is going insane trying to keep everyone alive, and I pity her.
Back to Floor B5...
The floor splits into eight directions. Like the Terra cave, we care about a few-two, in fact. We head west to get the Armor of Flame's Bane-I mean, Flame Mail. Which is sweet. Then we head Southwest to fight the boss. The Flame Mail has the protection of Knight's Armor with a hell of a lot less Evasion penalty-to the tune of 20 points worth.
I have nothing clever to add. Let's do this shit.
The Marilith is actually a demon enemy in D&D, which may explain the Ice resistance-those bitches resist everything. The strategy here is simple: Lead with NulFire and Hasting Jaimas or whoever your damage dealer is. Pour on Physical Damage while Tina heals and Angelo does his best to Paralyze Marilith. She's got 1,200 HP to cut through and no elemental weaknesses, so get carving. Or punching. Seriously, it's fine to just buff up Jaimas and let him fuck shit up.
Anyway, two crystals down, two to go. But first things first: We need a new method of moving around, as our ship and canoe combo is about to stop cutting it. We'll be getting to that next time.
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- Joined
- Jun 27, 2014
Time to give the big secret of FF1 away for our newcomers that aren't familiar: That Final Fantasy 1 is, without exception, a blatant ripoff of Dungeons and Dragons. All the monsters are found in the Monster Manuals and Fiend Folio, the weapons are almost all clones of existing weapons from the early DM's Guide, and the spells are literally ALL spells that actually exist in D&D:
It's actually kind of amazing just how much Squeenix got away with here.
Black Magic:
Bolt1/Thunder - Shocking Grasp
Fire1/Fire - Burning Hands
Slep/Sleep - Sleep
Lock/Focus - Faerie Fire
Ice/Blizzard - Chill Touch
Steel/Temper - Magic Weapon
Dark/Darkness - Darkness
Slow - Slow
Fire2/Fira - Fireball
Bolt2/Thundara - Lightning Bolt
Hold - Hold Person
Lock2/Focara - Dancing Lights
Ice2/Blizzara - Ice Storm
Conf/Confuse - Confusion
Fast/Haste - Haste
Slp2/Sleepra - Sleep (Single Target, Higher Success Rate)
Fire3/Firaga - Delayed Blast Fireball
Slo2/Slowra - Slow (Single Target, Larger Debuff)
Poison/Bane/Scourge - Cloudkill
Warp1/Teleport - Dimension Door
Lit3/Thundaga - Chain Lightning
Quake/Earthquake - Earthquake
Reaper/Death - Death Spell (works the same way, too)
Stun - Power Word: Stun (works the same way; auto-success on any non-immune enemy below a specific HP threshold)
Blind - Power Word: Blind (Again, works the same way)
Ice3/Blizzaga - Cone of Cold
Break - Flesh to Stone
Saber - Enchant Weapon
Stop - Time Stop
Flare - Meteor Swarm
Warp3/Warp/X-Zone - Gate
Kill - Power Word: Kill (SAME FUNCTIONS TOO)
White Magic:
Cure1/Cure - Cure Light Wounds
Protect/Fog - Shield
Harm/Dia - N/A
Ruse/Blink - Mirror Image
Invis - Invisibility
Nulshock/ALIT - Protection from Elements
Blindna/Lamp - Cure Blindness/Deafness
Mute/Silence - Silence
Nulblaze/AFIR - Protection from Elements
Cure2/Cura - Cure Serious Wounds
Heal - Mass Cure Light Wounds
Diara/Harm2 - N/A
Fear - Cause Fear
Nulfrost/AICE - Protection from Elements
Vox/AMUT - N/A
Poisona/PURE - Neutralize Poison
Cure3/Curaga - Cure Critical Wounds
Life1/Raise - Raise Dead
Diaga/Harm3 - N/A
Heal2/Healara - Mass Cure Serious Wounds
Protera/FOG2 - N/A
Invisira/INV2 - Invisibility, 10' Radius
Soft/Stona - Stone to Flesh
Exit/Warp2 - Teleport
Cure4/Curaja - Heal
Dia4/Harm4 - N/A
Nuldeath/ARUB - Negative Protection
Heal3/Healaga - Mass Cure Serious Wounds
Wall/NulAll - Globe of Invulnerability
Full-Life/Life2 - Resurrection
XFER/Dispel - Dispel Magic
Holy/Fade - Holy Word
Bolt1/Thunder - Shocking Grasp
Fire1/Fire - Burning Hands
Slep/Sleep - Sleep
Lock/Focus - Faerie Fire
Ice/Blizzard - Chill Touch
Steel/Temper - Magic Weapon
Dark/Darkness - Darkness
Slow - Slow
Fire2/Fira - Fireball
Bolt2/Thundara - Lightning Bolt
Hold - Hold Person
Lock2/Focara - Dancing Lights
Ice2/Blizzara - Ice Storm
Conf/Confuse - Confusion
Fast/Haste - Haste
Slp2/Sleepra - Sleep (Single Target, Higher Success Rate)
Fire3/Firaga - Delayed Blast Fireball
Slo2/Slowra - Slow (Single Target, Larger Debuff)
Poison/Bane/Scourge - Cloudkill
Warp1/Teleport - Dimension Door
Lit3/Thundaga - Chain Lightning
Quake/Earthquake - Earthquake
Reaper/Death - Death Spell (works the same way, too)
Stun - Power Word: Stun (works the same way; auto-success on any non-immune enemy below a specific HP threshold)
Blind - Power Word: Blind (Again, works the same way)
Ice3/Blizzaga - Cone of Cold
Break - Flesh to Stone
Saber - Enchant Weapon
Stop - Time Stop
Flare - Meteor Swarm
Warp3/Warp/X-Zone - Gate
Kill - Power Word: Kill (SAME FUNCTIONS TOO)
White Magic:
Cure1/Cure - Cure Light Wounds
Protect/Fog - Shield
Harm/Dia - N/A
Ruse/Blink - Mirror Image
Invis - Invisibility
Nulshock/ALIT - Protection from Elements
Blindna/Lamp - Cure Blindness/Deafness
Mute/Silence - Silence
Nulblaze/AFIR - Protection from Elements
Cure2/Cura - Cure Serious Wounds
Heal - Mass Cure Light Wounds
Diara/Harm2 - N/A
Fear - Cause Fear
Nulfrost/AICE - Protection from Elements
Vox/AMUT - N/A
Poisona/PURE - Neutralize Poison
Cure3/Curaga - Cure Critical Wounds
Life1/Raise - Raise Dead
Diaga/Harm3 - N/A
Heal2/Healara - Mass Cure Serious Wounds
Protera/FOG2 - N/A
Invisira/INV2 - Invisibility, 10' Radius
Soft/Stona - Stone to Flesh
Exit/Warp2 - Teleport
Cure4/Curaja - Heal
Dia4/Harm4 - N/A
Nuldeath/ARUB - Negative Protection
Heal3/Healaga - Mass Cure Serious Wounds
Wall/NulAll - Globe of Invulnerability
Full-Life/Life2 - Resurrection
XFER/Dispel - Dispel Magic
Holy/Fade - Holy Word
It's actually kind of amazing just how much Squeenix got away with here.
- Joined
- Dec 28, 2014
- Joined
- Jun 27, 2014
I actually had that chart for a friend of mine, who was interested in the list around the time I was working on my shitty FF1 Romhack. He was intending to use that to see if he could make the spell list more like D&D's, though I don't know if he got anywhere with his project, considering he probably used FFHackster like I did.
Interestingly, Square did face legal issues over FF1 - but not due to copying basically everything there; rather, it was the case that one of the enemies... Well....
....Yeah. So that got changed, and since FF1's mechanics were only sort of similar to D&D's despite being an obvious reference, TSR let it slide, since if you want to be technical, D&D borrowed like crazy from Tolkien, mythology, et al.
An interesting quirk is that a lot of works from Japan that somehow involved or centered around D&D started to emerge around this time; several, such as Record of Lodoss War, the company was allegedly pretty flattered by. I remember reading that Lodoss was actually pitched to TSR at the time as an official setting, but since TSR was going through the Lorraine Williams phase, the attempt ended in failure. I need to double-check that later.
- Joined
- Jul 18, 2016
Really, the whole "Final Fantasy ripped off D&D" thing is just another example in a long line of examples of how Japan rips off American culture and puts their own spin on it, which at least gives them an identity all their own. Creating fiction is a lot like a river-it constantly flows, with inspiration coming from all different sources, and it's really more in the execution. It's not straight AD&D (which would have been the major edition out at the time), it's more like they treated the Monster Manual and DM Guide chapter on magical items as a free idea bucket, which plenty of people have done.
Anyway, Ice Cave will be coming, I've got some things I gotta go today but we'll be having a friendly chat with the most Evil of Eyes soon enough!
Anyway, Ice Cave will be coming, I've got some things I gotta go today but we'll be having a friendly chat with the most Evil of Eyes soon enough!
- Joined
- Feb 23, 2015
When you class change and get the prorings. Evil eye is great grinding.
- Joined
- Jun 27, 2014
Reminds me of a certain quote. I'm paraphrasing here, but it's by Salvadore Dali and is along the lines of "Every great work is inspired by something else." Everyone borrows from everyone. It's all good and part of creating. Just don't pull a Brianna Wu and steal content or we'll mock your ass.
- Joined
- Jul 18, 2016
Welcome back Kiwis. Today, we have the Ice Cave to tackle. The Ice Cave will lead us to getting our very own Airship, which is practically required for the rest of the game-you can probably get away with the Ship/Canoe combo, but on the other hand...airship. So we're getting the airship.
With the canoe, we can now dock at rivers, which I've mentioned before. Our destination is just north of the Crescent Lake dock-there's an extra dock here, but we'll be getting nowhere without the canoe. Also, it's advisable to have all the sweet gear from Mt Gulg first, though you can technically come here first (this is probably a major component of the Level 11 challenge).
As before, it's a maze to get to the damn Ice Cave, so much in fact that the picture is named "Mazebitching" in my files.
I want to talk about Monk progression for a moment. At level 10, Jaimas was equaling Bruce. Now, at level 20+ (we're about 24 now), he's outpacing the dude. He gets 6 hits, and the only way Bruce can even keep up is if he's using a weapon the enemy is weak too. Game balancing has been broken with a sickening crunch.
The Ice Cave is a twisty, turny, windy mess that has us bouncing up and down between floors until we finally reach the end, with the Levistone and the Evil Eye. The first floor, at this point, is just a straight shot to the next floor, but we'll be coming back via another stair case to get some lootz.
By the way, the music the Ice Cave uses? The same as Matoya's Cave. Man is it a disconnect, being in this lethal ice cave and having THAT fucking music playing.
Ice Cave B2 has our final objective, but we can't get to it from here. All we can do is run to the staircase in the lower left.
This map is a lot smaller then Mt Gulg, but has plenty of things to beat our asses. Jaimas mentioned Mindflayers, which can pull off a party-wide Paralysis and hit pretty hard to boot, but we also have Dark Wizards, a palette swap of Astos that can use Poison and do a party wide kill. After seeing Jaimas and Tina both die to a single Poison, I just reloaded-because I brought Cottages to save my game before I went in.
Anyway, B3 is, at this point, just three steps that take us from the southwest of B2 to near the center of B2. Don't ask. That is the Levistone, but those cracked ground tiles will send us plummeting if we step in one. So, grab the treasure first, because we do need to fall to advance through the dungeon. The chests contain a Shirt and a Flame Sword. Guess which one is guarded. Go on, guess.
Much like Mt. Glug, the Ice Cave has spots that hurt us but lack encounters. They're ice spikes instead of lava, and are therefore far more logical. We can find a suit of Ice Armor in the northwest, guarded by a White Dragon. The Ice Armor is the same as Flame Mail in terms of stats, but protects against Ice based attacks.
We come to this room, with a crack in the floor. That crack will let us get the Levistone. But first, loot. We get an Ice Shield, a great pick up for ol' Bruce.
Heal everyone as much as you can before you step in front of the Levistone. The Evil Eye jumps us.
Final Fantasy 1 is not known for long battles that take 10 or more turns to complete. It's very fast, and the Evil Eye exemplifies it. It has less then 200 HP, but has plenty of instant kill attacks that will fuck you right in the ass. So what do you do? What you always do: Haste and Steel Jaimas up and let him proceed to punch the Eye's lights out...
Or at least that was the plan. Jaimas got hasted, and then Bruce stepped forward and...killed the thing in one attack. Damn, Bruce. Guess he was tired of being shown up. Grab the Levistone then fall back to the third floor, returning to the first via a staircase and then leaving.
(Fun fact: The Evil Eye is what the Beholder turned into outside of Japan, hence why it has 4 different Gaze attacks)
I may have hyped this place up a bit to much. That was relatively painless, Poison-wiping-half-the-party not withstanding. So, Dungeon Master, where do we use this Levistone?
When you were sailing to Crescent Lake, you may have noticed a desert in the mountains. It's to the south of Crescent Lake, and it's where we're heading to get our Airship.
Head to about the center of the desert, then use the Levistone from your inventory. A brief cinematic will play, and then you will have your Airship.
Hell yes.
Join us next time for: CLASS CHANGE!
With the canoe, we can now dock at rivers, which I've mentioned before. Our destination is just north of the Crescent Lake dock-there's an extra dock here, but we'll be getting nowhere without the canoe. Also, it's advisable to have all the sweet gear from Mt Gulg first, though you can technically come here first (this is probably a major component of the Level 11 challenge).
As before, it's a maze to get to the damn Ice Cave, so much in fact that the picture is named "Mazebitching" in my files.
I want to talk about Monk progression for a moment. At level 10, Jaimas was equaling Bruce. Now, at level 20+ (we're about 24 now), he's outpacing the dude. He gets 6 hits, and the only way Bruce can even keep up is if he's using a weapon the enemy is weak too. Game balancing has been broken with a sickening crunch.
The Ice Cave is a twisty, turny, windy mess that has us bouncing up and down between floors until we finally reach the end, with the Levistone and the Evil Eye. The first floor, at this point, is just a straight shot to the next floor, but we'll be coming back via another stair case to get some lootz.
By the way, the music the Ice Cave uses? The same as Matoya's Cave. Man is it a disconnect, being in this lethal ice cave and having THAT fucking music playing.
Ice Cave B2 has our final objective, but we can't get to it from here. All we can do is run to the staircase in the lower left.
This map is a lot smaller then Mt Gulg, but has plenty of things to beat our asses. Jaimas mentioned Mindflayers, which can pull off a party-wide Paralysis and hit pretty hard to boot, but we also have Dark Wizards, a palette swap of Astos that can use Poison and do a party wide kill. After seeing Jaimas and Tina both die to a single Poison, I just reloaded-because I brought Cottages to save my game before I went in.
Anyway, B3 is, at this point, just three steps that take us from the southwest of B2 to near the center of B2. Don't ask. That is the Levistone, but those cracked ground tiles will send us plummeting if we step in one. So, grab the treasure first, because we do need to fall to advance through the dungeon. The chests contain a Shirt and a Flame Sword. Guess which one is guarded. Go on, guess.
It's the one with the Shirt.
Much like Mt. Glug, the Ice Cave has spots that hurt us but lack encounters. They're ice spikes instead of lava, and are therefore far more logical. We can find a suit of Ice Armor in the northwest, guarded by a White Dragon. The Ice Armor is the same as Flame Mail in terms of stats, but protects against Ice based attacks.
We come to this room, with a crack in the floor. That crack will let us get the Levistone. But first, loot. We get an Ice Shield, a great pick up for ol' Bruce.
Heal everyone as much as you can before you step in front of the Levistone. The Evil Eye jumps us.
Final Fantasy 1 is not known for long battles that take 10 or more turns to complete. It's very fast, and the Evil Eye exemplifies it. It has less then 200 HP, but has plenty of instant kill attacks that will fuck you right in the ass. So what do you do? What you always do: Haste and Steel Jaimas up and let him proceed to punch the Eye's lights out...
Or at least that was the plan. Jaimas got hasted, and then Bruce stepped forward and...killed the thing in one attack. Damn, Bruce. Guess he was tired of being shown up. Grab the Levistone then fall back to the third floor, returning to the first via a staircase and then leaving.
(Fun fact: The Evil Eye is what the Beholder turned into outside of Japan, hence why it has 4 different Gaze attacks)
I may have hyped this place up a bit to much. That was relatively painless, Poison-wiping-half-the-party not withstanding. So, Dungeon Master, where do we use this Levistone?
When you were sailing to Crescent Lake, you may have noticed a desert in the mountains. It's to the south of Crescent Lake, and it's where we're heading to get our Airship.
Head to about the center of the desert, then use the Levistone from your inventory. A brief cinematic will play, and then you will have your Airship.
Hell yes.
Join us next time for: CLASS CHANGE!
- Joined
- Jul 18, 2016
Expanding on my fun fact from last time, to help with the fact that I have a Firefly tabletop game tomorrow and I won't be posting a new update: TSR was well aware that most of their monsters were cribbed from other sources, mythology, folklore, legends, etc. The sole exception to this in the early days of D&D was the Beholder, which is why Square changed it-the Beholder is not only the Mascot Minion of D&D, but it one of the few (in not the only) original monsters of D&D.
And yes, TSR and Square both had little interest in a protracted legal battle. Both companies were small, and if they had any communication, it probably went like this:
TSR: "Hey, Square, that beholder? That's our thing. Can you change it?"
Square: "Oh yes, very sorry, it's an Evil Eye now."
TSR: "Cool, that looks awesome, good luck with your game!"
And yes, TSR and Square both had little interest in a protracted legal battle. Both companies were small, and if they had any communication, it probably went like this:
TSR: "Hey, Square, that beholder? That's our thing. Can you change it?"
Square: "Oh yes, very sorry, it's an Evil Eye now."
TSR: "Cool, that looks awesome, good luck with your game!"