So this is going to be a multi-session
issue here. It's mostly because I'm still in the bad habit of
playing way too late.
The first one was mostly trying to get
the last couple blue magic spells for Quina. At first, I did a
little running around outside the mid-level of Lindblum, and got one
called Limit Glove from a monster with a giant beak. This one
supposedly does non-elemental damage when Quina uses it with just one
HP left. This seems a bit limited in usefulness, and at least a
little bit difficult to use, but I've got it anyway.
The other one I got was from the beast
I thought would give me White Wind but wound up giving me Mighty
Guard instead. It'll come in handy against Gizamaluke when we go
through the Grotto. Thing is, it takes 64 MP to use, and that's
about all Quina's got right now. For as sure as I was that I got it
before the boss fight that'll come later in this chapter, for the
moment, I'm thinking not, as I seem to have run out of new monsters
to fight. So, I ended the first part of this by going to the
entrance of the Grotto and saving.
One interesting thing about Gizamaluke
Grotto is that it expands on a theme from the Famicom version of
Final Fantasy II, which was only released in Japan. I'm playing
through the Origins version of it again just to amuse myself when I'm
not in the mood for this game, and I'm just about there again.
There's a part of the original Final Fantasy II where the heroes have
to get into a place called Kas'ion Castle for a critical item in
their war effort against the game's demon king. The way in requires
another item called the Goddess Bell, found in the Ice Cave that I
referenced a few issues back.
In this case, though, the dungeon
requires several bells, this time called Gizamaluke Bells, to open
the various doors that allow access through the dungeon. There's one
or two that come from Burmecian soldiers, and one that comes from an
enemy along the way.
This is also our first head-on
encounter with Black Mages. Zorn and Thorn are here as well,
supervising the action. When they see the party enter, they sic a
group of the mages on us. After handing the mages their asses and
taking their bell, it's time to get on with the dungeon, and Zorn and
Thorn wuss out. The dungeon proper has some interesting monsters in
it. The three main types I saw were Skeletons, a bug creature that
tends to cast berserk spells, and a giant Naga type thing that uses
confusion. I know I got some Blue Magic for Quina from it, but for
the life of me, I can't remember what it was, and by the end of this,
the party had changed to Steiner and Dagger. I'll try to remember to
look when I get Quina back again.
Before we can get on to the boss fight
with Gizamaluke, there's one more party of Black Mages to fight for
another bell, and a scene with a newly married moogle couple. The
wife runs the save point, but we can't use it until we help her get
her husband out from under the giant bell that Zorn and Thorn and
their Black Mages dropped on him in their escape. Fortunately, Vivi
still had his Kupo Nut from the shop in Lindblum. The husband goes
nuts for it and Hulks the bell off himself to get to it. Because I'm
a nice guy like that I let him keep it. The pair goes running off to
where the save point actually is. The husband asks if the party
likes Kupo Nuts, too, and I tell the guy yes just because I'm that
kind of guy, too. Not sure if there's any consequence to either
choice, really. The husband asks for more Kupo Nuts if we see him
again, though I'm not sure if we do or not. There's a letter for the
wife, who was expecting her friend to send a congratulations note,
but it was a reminder about who won the Festival of the Hunt in
Lindblum instead.
There's a vine the party can climb up
in the chamber where the save point is that I honestly didn't know
was there until I accidentally went up it. It leads to an outside
place above the Mist. My first thought on this little discovery was
“Why do I get the feeling I don't want to be here right now?”
Turns out, that instinct was correct, as the only fight I got into up
there was with a giant dragon that took out Freya with a hit that did
about double her max HP. Even before that, though my reaction was to
say, out loud, “Well, I just fucked myself...,” but fortunately,
Zidane's “Flee” ability was enough to get the rest of the party
away so I could go back to the main Grotto.
On the way back to the room with the
big bell, the husband moogle will open up a statue and give you an
item called the Holy Bell, which is the key to the area where the
boss fight with Gizamaluke itself is. There's a Burmecian solder
there who tells you that Zorn and Thorn came through and that
Gizamaluke is acting very our of sorts as a result.
This is never an easy fight, but I'm
glad I had Mighty Guard in Quina's Blue Magic list and enough ethers
to keep his MP up enough to use it repeatedly, since it pretty much
drained it every time it got cast, and I had to use it multiple times
to get through the battle without having everybody die way too often.
Gizamaluke had several decent items, as most bosses in this game do.
I had wanted to get the Ice Staff for Vivi, but that was the only
one I didn't. At least I did manage to get the Magus Hat for him
which has the Slow spell.
After the battle, Freya takes a moment
to contemplate the situation then hurries the party along, as she
remembers that the king of Burmecia is in danger from what's going
on, and we switch parties to Steiner and Dagger as they cross South
Gate on their way back to Alexandria, specifically the town of Treno.
For once in this game Steiner acts like
he's actually halfway competent at his job and passes himself off as
a construction worker as he smuggles Dagger through the gate in a
giant sack filled with gysal pickles. The pickels are a good
deterrent to keep the guards, one short and one tall, from looking at
his pack too closely, and they let him by. After examining the
situation inside the gate, Steiner finds a place to let his princess
out of the pack, but first must distract some bystanders who would
see what's going on. One requires having a supervisor go get his
worker to actually do his job right, which I suspect is something
that may come in handy later in the game. The other involves hooking
up the owner of the lift station's shop up with his former employee
because the shop as it had been went out of business while she was
away.
One last thing that happens before
Steiner can finally put his pack down is that the short guard needs
to give him the official entry pass so he can cross the border
without being detained. Once that's taken care of, Dagger finally
gets out and changes her clothes so she doesn't smell so much like
the pickles she was buried under. There's a chance to have Steiner
accidentally peep, but I missed it. There's also a chance to stock
up on potions and other consumables before heading up the lift. I'll
have to see if there's any ethers at the shop. And if there's mail
for the moogle at the save point. But that's for next time. Until
then, stay safe, keep gaming, have fun, and DFTBA!
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