There's quite a bit of grinding going
on in the sessions that this post covers, but I think I mentioned
there would be last time.
It's really not a terribly important
thing while Cecil's still a Dark Knight, of course. Even though we
start the game with Kain and wind up with Rosa and Rydia in the party
now, all three will be swapped in and out of the party a few times
between now and the end of the game, and I'm not sure if they're at a
fixed level when they come back each time or if they get to keep
anything above that, should they be at a higher level when they go.
At any rate, I spent most of the first
session grinding for the Imp summon in the area of Damcyan Castle,
like I usually do in the SNES version. I did some before I got Rosa,
as well. I'd forgotten there was a secret area in the pass from Kaipo
to the little break in the mountains just south of the castle, so I
went and got all that. In this
version, it has a Life potion, an X-Potion and an Ether2 in it.
After I got Rosa, I
spent most of my time in the area of the castle, trying to get the
Imp summon, as I mentioned. It looks like that may be a more
difficult thing in this version, because I remember Imps being a much
more common enemy in the area. I suppose I also knew that the
TinyMages they also sometimes appear with could be confused by
Edward's harp attack and cast the Death or Fatal spell on the party
instead of their normal attacks. I've done this game often enough
now that I probably should have, but still forget anyway.
Once I realized
that trying to get that summon now was going to be unproductive, I
decided to call it a night and move on to Mt. Hobbs in the next
session.
The second session
for this one was a reminder that this version is noticably more
difficult than the US version I'm used to. I usually don't have much
trouble getting through this part in the US version, but in this
case, the party took a lot of damage, and I even lost Rosa a couple
times. The extra challenge will get increasingly frustrating from
here, I'm sure, but at the same time, I do find it enjoyable. It's a
nice change compared to what I've become used to over the last 30
years or so.
Another thing I
like, as I've mentioned a time or two, is how they've cleaned up the
story some so that it's less clunky and makes a little more sense.
The scene where Rydia learns the Fire spell to melt the ice blocking
the path is quite a bit clearer about why it's important that it
happens.
Better yet is when
the party meets Yang on the Summit. They explain who he is and how
and why all this is going down much better. They even call him a
High Monk rather than a Karate Man like in the US version.
Between the
difficulties I'd had getting through Mt. Hobbs and then being dumb
about getting to the Fat Chocobo in the Chocobo Forrest near Fabul,
it seemed like a good place to stop for the night, so when I pick up
next time, I'll be outside Fabul, ready to do that part one more
time.
And with that in
mind, I think I'm gonna wrap this part of the series up, too. I've
been a bit lax about posting things lately, and kind of want to get
more up again. So, as I was saying, we'll be starting with Fabul
next time.
Until then, stay safe, have fun, keep
gaming, and DFTBA.
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