Sunday, April 26, 2020

TEXT PLAY SIDE GAME: Final Fantasy II (Famicom 1988/PS 2003 [Origins]): Issue #018: Deist Cave, Part Three


I keep forgetting that VGMaps is a thing I can use as a reference, but then again, it often doesn't do much good when I'm playing in a different room from my computer.

Didn't think to look there for a map of this cave until after I'd finished the cave and the session. That's OK all the same, though. If I had, things going forward would probably be way harder than they're already going to be, and like so much in this game, that's already harder than it needs to be.

This whole ordeal with the Deist Cave is just one more example of how I wouldn't have had the patience to have played this on the NES, had it had a global release back in the late 80s or early 90s. These first two games, from my experience, tend to be really confusing and full of bullshit that would have put me off not only the series, but the genre as well, and I'm sure the fact that I wasn't, and still am not, really, into tabletop RPGs has something to do with it.

An example of that here is that this is a dungeon where the game likes to throw Hill Gigases at the party, two at a time. That's bad because they have high defense and high attacks, and even though I did get my party to a point where it's not as big a deal to handle that, it's still way harder than it really needs to be. On the plus side, I did get enough Titan Helms and Titan Gloves for Firion, Maria, and Gus to have the helms and Firion and Maria to have the gloves as well. Between the defense and attack power bonuses from that and the decent weapons I was lucky to get in decent quantities as well, getting through this thing was less of a chore than I remember the first time being. None of that would have happened if I'd looked at the maps online beforehand.

I still needed to make a resupply run to Bafsk before finishing this, because I was running short of a few things and my inventory was full of junk. It turns out I didn't necessarily need as much as I got, but it will still be a help to have it later.

The boss in this dungeon is the Chimera. It's one of a few where the party can, and probably will, have to fight a group of them. I think the group is capped at four, but don't quote me on that. I only had three this time, and that was plenty. Between the equipment and bonuses mentioned before and having got my stats up, the chimeras were easier than the Hill Gigases were. When the boss goes down, Firion and the gang gently puts the dragon egg into the hatching pool. From what I can tell, I should be OK for having used the Warp spell to get back out afterward. The mother and child in the castle say they're still terribly upset for having lost the last adult dragon, but are glad we got the egg to the hatching pond and are sure the baby dragon will be on our side, which is a good thing.

From there, it's back to Altair to talk to Princess Hilda, or at least who we think is Princess Hilda. Eventually, we're going to have a big reveal that it's not actually her we rescued, but I can't remember if that's now or later on still. At any rate, I'm doing this way later than I should be, so that'll have to wait for another time. Until then, stay safe, have fun, keep gaming, and DFTBA.

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