LogFAQs > #949764208

I take Strago, Relm and Shadow over to Thamasa and get exactly what I hope for, scenes and access to Ebot's Rock! Shadow doesn't say anything but Strago meets with a dying Gungho who convinces him to finally go kill that monster. Ebot's Rock is another odd one, it's like a pokemon dungeon without Flash and there's a hungry hungry treasure chest who wants a bunch of coral. At first I try to map the place out in my head but I soon give up on that and just start wandering around randomly, eventually I get 25 pieces of coral and the chest is satisfied with that. Another unique gimmick!

Hidon has 4 underlings but the fight is super easy, between this guy and the monsters around here it feels like I should've come here earlier but you need Relm and Strago so it's not like I could've gotten here that long ago. Back at Thamasa we learn that Gungho and Relm had plotted to fake his injury to get Strago up and about again, and Strago is more energetic than we've ever seen him. It's a nice sequence and some good adoptive grandfather/daughter bonding, though I guess we're just not gonna address how/why he got into the Cult of Kefka.

While we're here a guy outside the inn points us to an island with a monster that inhales people. Not sure how I missed him last time I was here! Naturally we fly right up there and sure enough fight the Zone Eater, only to kill it and nothing happens. Next time around I sit back and let it suck us all up ("Mmm... munch, munch!"- Zone Eater for SMFFFC), and we have another dungeon in its belly. Take that Jabu Jabu, FFVI did this first.

Now this is a cool dungeon. The music, as always, kicks ass (amazed at how many cool themes only seem to get used for one area), and there's a bunch of cool loot (including Genji Armour and... a Fake Mustache?) and traps/puzzles. Past the guarded (for some reason) bridges, a very handy save point, some crushing rock, and bouncing over treasure chests we face our bo- oh, not a boss. We get our final character, Gogo the Mime! I didn't click the spoiler bars before so this is a nice surprise. I was all ready to mimic him in battle like that mime in V, but he joins us right away so as to mimic us saving the world. Can't set Espers on this dude but we can pick any command for his list, and he seems to know all the Magic that someone else already knows. Not sure how much I'll use him but I'm sure there's some mighty powerful Mimic builds here, as there tends to be in these games. Woo, full roster!

We then head to Figaro to look for the Ancient Castle, and I scan over the desert but don't see anything. On the way to Figaro Castle to look for clues we bump into Deathgaze for the first time! He seems to have some decent spells but we throw everything we have at him, and Celes manages to get off an Ultima before he flees. Glad I finally found him but probably not the best time to test out Gogo in battle for the first time!

Finding nothing here I decide to just try moving the castle back to Figaro for the sake of doing something, and it works! We bump into something, and head through the Cave to the Ancient Castle. This is pretty open and every path seems to wind around to every other path, there's some more good items and a monster box fight with Master Tonberry. Thankfully I don't take him lightly, knowing what these assholes are capable of, and smash him with two consecutive Ultimas and a few hits until he's down. He gets off a Barrier Change but it doesn't save him for long.

We wind up at the Ancient Castle itself, and witness some flashbacks to shed light on what happened here a thousand years ago. Not sure if I should've brought a specific character here, I have Edgar for the Figaro connection but the party dialogue is generic, not specific to anyone in particular. Odin's statue crumbles into Magicite and we pick him up for our own, and there's some more items lying around and a note from the Queen detailing her love for Odin. Feels like the plot is unfinished here but nothing I can see to do while looking around. Except another monster-in-a-box!

Samurai Soul is the hardest fight of the day, until this point I was thinking I'd gone here too late in the game but this guy catches me off guard. For a while he's not a problem but he pulls some status shifts and seems to gain power after a while, as well as gaining Reflect at the worst time for us (thankfully I only used Holy on him and not Ultima, phew!). We manage to outlast him and get the Master's Scroll you guys were talking about, as well as stealing a Murakamo. I feel bad about leaving this place but I just can't see anything else to do, so I head back to the castle where an NPC alerts me to new info in the library. For once the inhabitants of this place actually looked around and saw what was going on, and investigated it themselves! Good on them. The guy in the library tells me an excerpt from a book: "when the queen stands and takes 5 steps...". That's all. I guess I should head back to her room and walk out of her bed or something and hope something happens, but that will have to wait.

3 new areas today but no new dragons! Still, we got an Esper and the final character, and I didn't mention it but I did head to Narshe to pick up that Shield, thanks Fiop. I have many more things to do but I'm running out of places to look for them! Hoping the three remaining dragons (and... 10 Espers >_>) are all together somewhere cos I'm not sure how I've missed 3 full locations. Not asking for spoilers, just thinking aloud!

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Slowly becoming a Final Fantasy aficionado. Currently playing: FFVI
Congrats to azuarc, Guru Champion 2020!