A Tale of Two Scripts: Let's play FF3 US & FF6 RPGOne!

Okay, I kind of have to call you out on this, because the map in Chrono Trigger it totally stylize. I would argue (and I've seen it said plenty of times) that Chrono Trigger is so much more impressive because the battles take place in the same environments you are exploring. The Overworld is just a hub system, and the tiny sprites are meant to be cute.

To avoid spoilers, I'll just say "yes" and leave it at that.

Lot of work for something so useless, eh? And it's called Poison Frog in both versions; it's just that Woolsey had to abbreviate it to Pois. Frog because of space issues. Whereas I had room enough to fit in attack names like Collapse of Heaven and Earth. Unfair advantage? Oh yes.

It's just you, actually. They didn't change the Gil drops at all. You probably just got into more battles than the norm and thus could afford more.

Really? Huh. So I was actually somewhat accurate, I guess. That line always did befuddle me, mostly because the kid's speaking in an informal tone so informal that he kinda forgets entire words.

He'll only talk to you properly during the sequence with Lock during the three-way story split. The rest of the time he just complains about how you don't have any wine for him.

No, you're just witnessing a quirk of randomizers, that being that they're really bad at being random. Something I've known for ages, since they love to roll really, really bad numbers for me at the most inopportune times.

That's one of the few changes to the GBA version. Random encounters have +/-10% HP than they would otherwise. Zagrems are supposed to have 137 HP, and always do in the SNES version.

Yeah, that's one of the weird things about Zagrems. They absorb poison-elemental attacks. No reason, they just do.

Oddly enough, that was implemented in FF5 as well. It stopped being implemented after FF6 because... well, characters stopped carrying shields after that for the next 4 games (Steiner and Tidus aside, but they hardly count). FF12 does bring back shield blocks, but the odds are so insanely low that you'll probably never see it happen. And to date, I believe FF6 is the only FF that allows for weapon parries as well as shield blocks for weapons that contribute to your evasion score.

Early on, Drain can put a dent in enemies since HP scores are so low. Later, it sucks a lot.

What exactly is there to fix? It boosts damage just fine in both the SNES and GBA versions.

Sucks, doesn't it?

Shields increase your evasion stat. This has existed in other games. The difference is that in Final Fantasy 5 and 6, it has a random chance to show the shield blocking animation any time an enemy's attack misses. If you have other things equipped that can cause the enemy to miss, it might choose one of those instead.

I have a feeling he meant the instant death Snare, not the massive damage Pois. Frog (though they both have the same effect in this case).

Ah, good point. That one's called Pitfall Trap, which is just a more long-winded way of saying Snare, when you get right down to it.

That's definetely true, I'm mostly talking about how FFVI was kinda a huge step up from other games and a lot of games still have different sprites for the overworld (like, well, Chrono Trigger).

Lucas said there was a bug that only increased attack by 25% as opposed to 50% (is that correct or did I misread something?).

It only seems like it's doing less than it should because most don't get what the +50% is being applied to. It boosts your base damage (ie. before factoring in your weapon's power) by 50%, not your total damage.

I'm not even sure what you guys are talking about. I can't remember any Giant's Gloves in this game. If you're talking about the Gigas Glove/Atlas Armlet, I don't recall ever mentioning it.

If I remember correctly, there are only two things in this game that use the bouquet's falling animation path. They are both in this picture.

For some reason, I find that connection hilarious Especially since they use the same music, and the fact that you used THAT screenshot makes it better --she completely ignored the message of her own song.

So I've gotten further in FFVI, and it's still really fun so far! Almost up to the Zozo part that confused me during my initial playthrough. So here's a (boring) summary of how it's went since last time;

So I went to the Returner's Hideout, and while I was rapidly clicking the "A" button to talk to everyone, I actually chanced upon the piece of paper that was on the table. However, despite leaving it there, I don't really remember any changed dialogue...wierd.

Yeah, like you said, it's a translation quirk. In the GBA version, she just says something along the lines of "But...I don't have anyone important to protect".

I think the first time I played FFVI, I got up till here, stupidly got myself killed (I have no idea how), and went back to the save point before Vargas. I quit playing the game for quite a while after that. ...

It's pretty cool how the game "kinda" puts a twist on the "But Thou Must" thing by rewarding persistent players. Kinda frustrated me that I couldn't get the awesome Genji Glove my first time through though.

I don't know how I managed to do it, but by the time I got to Lethe Falls, Sabin had already learned Rising Phoenix (or whatever is area of effect Blitz technique was called), so he could pretty much demolish anything the autoscrolling dungeon could throw at me. This pretty much has held true for however far I am now. I'd say he's the best character for at least the beginning portions of the game (although Gau may be better, I haven't gotten to test out all of his rages yet).

There's a faster way to max your level?

For the 3 way branch, I picked Terra's path because, well, it was the fastest/easiest, and also just to finish off Lethe River. I don't think anything of note happened, except that I did remember to forget to pick up the Rune Edge (I'm just being intentionally obtuse, I skipped it on purpose).

As for the Locke scenario, I really enjoyed it. Nice to see something a bit more creative as far as RPG dungeons go (or anything in a game, really). Funny thing is, for the merchant with the cider, if you steal his clothes, he'll still be gone so that you can actually take the cider.

Nice to know that he's so family friendly in the GBA version, eh? What's confusing is how she knows that Kefka is going to poison the people of Doma. I mean, if it's so well known (this is happening concurrently with Sabin's scenario, right?), then you'd think General Leo would try to stop Kefka or at least order his soldiers to stop Kefka.

It's telling how much Square doesn't, er, appreciate FF2 when they sneak in a reference to the game as a "FUCK YOU" moment.

This really helped speed things up for me though (how would anyone know about this without emulators?).

Wierdly enough, you can't look at what Bannan's got equipped in the GBA version, so the GBA version actually has less "content" in some regards. Who knew?

So after finishing the "easy" scenarios, I moved on to Sabin's, which is easily the longest, but also the BEST, of the 3 scenarios (although Locke's was pretty cool). Shadow is pretty fucking awesome, so instant points up for that. I always try to get a Ninja in games like Final Fantasy Tactics (or any of the job system games) if possible. Actually, thinking back, I don't think there was a Ninja class in FFV, was there? *Looks up on GameFAQs* Oh yeah, the Dual Wield class, how could I forget?

Apparently the FFVIA localization guys thought so as well.

If only Ultros could join the group, eh?

Underneath the mask is the next in line of a long generation of vampire hunters...Sonia ??? Belmont!

The Imperial Camp part went pretty smoothly, nothing really of note to say about it (the Satellite would be a lot harder without Shadow, I guess...). It's the first time you really learn how awesomeevil Kefka is, considering he was just kinda goofy before ("There's sand in my boots!"). Oh, and the Imperials first "attack" on the castle really has to be seen to be believed. It's so goofy that I can't take it seriously. Maybe everyone drank the poisoned water after getting so parched from laughing so much at the dopey Imperials (not like the Stormtroopers were any less inept). How does Sabin know how to use Magitek Armor (not like I'm complaining though; M. Armor is awesome)?

Never knew you could get the ghost guy as a party member, I generally ignored all of them after the first one attacked me (assumed they all did the same thing).

If it is a bug, they didn't bother to fix it in FFVIA. Makes the Rage even worse than it already is. It even stays after you revive Gau!

Wow, really? Never happened to me before. I guess it's because the time you spend on the world map is pretty short, at least until you get to Veldt, which by then he's already gone.

They can just wait in line again at the nearest train stop, right? Or the car could get reattached when the Phantom Train comes around again.

The Phantom Train bit also went great...maybe a little too great. So obviously I had to Supplex the train, right? Well, since I thought it'd be able to survive more than a round, I had Shadow use his Shuriken and Cyan use Fang. Unfortunately, Interceptor countered, which did just enough damage for the other two attacks to finish him off before Sabin even got a turn.

Baron Falls was so easy. I guess the game had to compensate for you having only 2 characters. Then again, Veldt could be a bitch if you got very unlucky.

I like to think this is the soldier that General Leo was talking to (I dunno, maybe the conversation with the General cooled his suicidal urges or something...OK, it makes next to no sense). Forgot to do the sidequest though, hopefully I can do it later in the game? The autoscrolling water section is fine, but a little anticlimactic. What, not even a miniboss?

Are you that Historian guy from FFX (Machen?) in disguise?

For the Defend Bannon thing, this is how I split my groups;

GROUP 1-
Locke
Edgar
Terra

Besides Celes, I pretty much put all of the less powerful characters in this group...and Edgar, to help bolster things out.

GROUP 2-
Cyan
Gau

I dunno what I was thinking with this one, but it actually managed to go pretty well (had to use a few Hi-Potions, though...).

GROUP 3-
Sabin
Celes

Well, Sabin OHKOed pretty much everything with Rising Phoenix, so yeah, it didn't matter who I paired him up with. I'm actually fairly certain I could beat every enemy w/ just Sabin without much effort, but I can't really try that out now.

So my strategy was to have Locke's and Cyan's group guard both ends to stave off the initial onslaught, then have Sabin's group sweep the remaining enemies, and finish off Kefka while he was at it...And it worked pretty well. Nothing can stand up to Aurablast.

Can't Imperial Soldiers use Magic? Or at least that's what their Rage can do.

Pffft, Shadow's totally that awesome. Also, I think he only attempted to leave my party once, but it was on the World Map and I only lost like one battle's worth of progress, so it wasn't that bad (wait...actually he left me before the boss in Zozo, that jerk; I take it all back).

So yeah, after I went to Zozo, I was way too lazy to remember all of the Clock hints (and my internet was down, so an FAQ was out of the question), so I systematically entered times until I got the correct one (I swear I could feel myself getting years older while I was doing this); it was all worth it for the Chainsaw though, which makes the Drill look like, well, a waste of moneyz. The boss was still easy though, he went down after two Chainsaws TO THE FACE!!

No evil religion in a JRPG? Sacriligeous! (...wait a second)

Or at least Setzer.

Hey, guess what? I totally gimped myself for the upcoming Opera stuff. I don't know why, but I thought you could get Shadow to join you, so I left a spot open (Stupid Mistake #1). I also felt the need to balance my characters levels, so I put Gau in my party (Stupid Mistake #3; keep in mind I don't have very many Rages and don't know which ones are any good). So after the Opera-eh part (which I actually really enjoyed; great music and stuff), I had to do the Rat thing; which was kinda a bitch, because with only 2 of the weakest characters (again, not wise with the Rages), I barely made it in time (well, relatively, I had like 20 seconds remaining). Well, while I could enjoy the Opera, I'd say the 2nd song (while you're controlling Locke) is probably my favorite. Oh, and I finally see why the 3rd Black Mages album is called Darkness & Starlight. And here I thought it was just a Fire Emblem reference in disguise.

This chancellor right here? Totally the evil kind of chancellor...even if he's just an actor.

And then Ultros...argh. OK, so I first screwed up by using the Angel Whisper Rage, before remembering that you can't half Ultros' HP. To add insult to injury, the status effect kept on hurting Gau even after he died and got revived with a Phoenix Down. It cost me a few Hi-Potions, but after I turned him into a Templar, he totally owned Ultros with Fira (Locke helped with Fire, which was suprisingly stronger than his regular attack...which is kinda weak, so maybe not that suprising). At least his battle theme was cool. But man, by the end of the battle, I ran out of Green Cherries, so I just left Locke as an Imp.

Airships are only for the rich and the badass. I think Kefka had one before he blew it up...somehow.

Keep in mind that his starting level depends on the party's average level when he first appears (I think his starting level is actually 2-3 levels above your party's average, but don't quote me on that), so if Locke, Terra, and Edgar were around level 12 when you fought Vargas he'd learn Fire Dance right quick.

Yes. Not any time soon, but much later in the game there's a relic to double your experience and random encounters that give out thousands and thousands of experience. If you're high enough level to have Fire Dance by Lete River, you shouldn't have any trouble reaching that point.

Don't worry, you can. Actually, if you put it off until you have the airship you can actually find the girlfriend and check her reaction to everything. That can't save you the postage, though.

It's just the Rage, yeah. The Soldiers themselves only attack and counterattack.

You can if you don't hire him until after going through Zozo, I think. It's been years since I tried, so I can't remember for sure, but I do know he has a line at the Opera.

As you seem to have figured out, Templar and its Fire2 attack is a pretty good go-to Rage and easy to remember about. These days I just have a paper list of Rages and what they do instead of trying to remember them for myself.

Actual update is coming in just a moment.

If we keep exploring the Blackjack, we find this dude. He’ll be more useful later on when we’re using the airship as our hub and quarters for the entire group and switching parties often, but for now he’s handy for taking the relics off Gau and Cyan and stealing Shadow’s equipment.


Setzer’s holding down the fort at the blackjack table.


This view of recolored clouds isn’t very impressive, but there aren’t many times you’re actually on the ground to see it. But no one cares about that when we’ve got a whole new continent to explore! Leaving the Blackjack and entering the nearest town...


Around town:
“They say there’s something valuable to the east... The Empire built a base there, and no one may enter.”
“We have to bribe the troopers to do business here...”
“I’m a scholar of magic. Monsters on this continent have only weak magical power.”
“You’ll find some good weapons and items in Tzen and Maranda.” (In other words, don’t upgrade here. In fact, Locke’s the only person for whom we’ll pay for a weapon on this entire continent. While I’m thinking of it, Celes was stripped of her equipment during the opera scene, so don’t forget to fix that.)
“I’m a scholar of weapons. 1000 years ago, during the War of the Magi, 2 so-called Atma Weapons existed. One changed a person’s power into a sword, the other was an monster, bred for mass destruction.”
“Emperor Gestahl himself asked me to do his portrait... What if he doesn’t like it...?”
“Vector, capital of the Empire, is at the center of this continent.”


Generic Imperial soldier lines:
“Mess with the Empire and...!”
“Everything belongs to the Empire!”
“You’re in the way! Git!”
(Most of the Imperials here and in the next conquered city-state share these four lines; I won’t bother repeating them.)



Inside the cafe:
“This cafe is like an Imperial soldiers’ dormitory!”
“Nuts! These soldiers are absolutely insane!”
“Sure! No problem!” x4
“Ah...welcome!”
“Hey... you’re not of the Empire! Get outta here!”
“In any case, you’re probably broke!
“Ahaaa!! Whoopie!”

With that, we take off. We’ve got an entire continent to cover! In the very north is...


“Our royal family was slaughtered by the Empire.”
“Most of the town’s youths were led off to serve as Imperial troopers.”
“I said it’s dangerous outside, so you can’t go out!”
“Some friendly advice! There’s a weapon called the Guardian. It can’t move, but it’s very powerful. Run, if you meet it!”

There’s a good chance you won’t bother coming here your first time on the Southern Continent - to get here from Albrook we actually had to walk right past our target of the Imperial capital. You shouldn’t pass it up though, as it’s a little more useful than Albrook. First, because it sells the Boomerang, a weapon that’s worth buying to replace Locke’s Full Moon if you keep him in the back row. Second, the old man with the friendly advice is right: when you encounter the Guardian run the hell away. It’s an endgame boss thrown into a few early areas to tell you shouldn’t be getting be there at this point and is physically impossible to beat until the end of the game.

And now, in the southwest peninsula we find...


“Maranda used to be this continent’s most beautiful town! Look what the Empire’s done to it!”
“These troopers are crazy! How long can things keep going on like this?”
“My son’s being forced to serve in the Empire’s army.”
“Tzen and Albrook, too, fell to the Empire.”
“Say, you wanna get hitched?”
“Aishya, no!!”


“You should hear the gossip floating around here!”
“Phew!”
“Scram!!”
“This is our only means of recreation.”
“Hee, hee... This town is ours to play with!”
“Place all bets here!”



Maranda’s been mentioned a few times already. The eager Imperial grunt at the Siege of Doma was Marandan, as was the injured soldier in Mobliz whose girlfriend, Lola, we just met above. Considering Tzen and Albrook were also smashed (did you notice the scorch marks on the walls and the broken railings in those towns?) and their young men conscripted, and Vector presumably contributed a few young men to the army, it’s odd that every soldier who mentions their origin comes from here.

We buy some armor for minor upgrades and then we’re finally off to Vector, the city we came here to invade in the first place. While we’re still in the vicinity of Maranda though, let me show you something in the nearby forest.


Ralph the dog (who’s in the middle of attacking right now; he’s not normally black and white) and the Wyvern aren’t special enemies, either in stats or rarity – they’re all over this continent. The ChickenLips are gold, though. Kill them first and don’t muddle them, because when alone or Confused they have a one in three chance to cast Quake. Now that we’ve seen them, we can find them on the Veldt and learn their Rage. While having a 50/50 chance to cast a spell that does massive damage to our own side doesn’t seem like a good use for Gau, at about the same time we can get the Rage we’ll also be able to get a full set of Earth-absorbing Gaia Gear armors.* This will make the ChickenLip Rage a great source of damage and simultaneous healing and one of Gau’s go-to moves for a good part of the mid-game.

*Admittedly, if you want them right away you have to farm them as a rare steal from a certain monster, one that might give you trouble at that point in the game. And getting a full set of four will probably take you a couple hours.

Equipment upgraded and ChickenLips added to the Veldt, it’s time to do what we came to do (according to the story). We’ve been in occupied cities before and caused havoc in an Imperial army camp, but this has a different feel to it. In South Figaro Locke was just playing some tricks on the Imperials before running; at the Imperial camp Sabin was just passing through. This is the first time we’re deliberately taking the battle to Empire.

Even Vector’s aesthetics hold up the whole “evil Empire” theme. Most other places we’ve been were either a little group of houses or an obvious castle on the map, but the Imperial capital is shown as a steel grey agglomeration. Things are no better inside the city – naked girders tower over the town and the city is suspended over a void (results of strip mining?), judging by simple blackness that can be seen at the edges. The overall effect is of a heavily industrialized town. Compare this to Narshe, which is also an industrial town but with cooler colors, copious steam pipes, and a location nestled in a small mountain valley. We began in small, fancifully industrial Narshe and now we’ve come to grimy, oppressive Vector – it’s like starting at Disneyland’s Tomorrowland and walking to Detroit.


They’re just as friendly here, too.
“It’s on the house. Have a snooze!” (Stay at the “free” inn and the host will steal a thousand GP from you while you sleep. Most people don’t pay enough attention to money to notice, though.)
“Guess I’ll stay here and volunteer to be a soldier...”
“In the army that destroyed our village??? What about your promise to begin anew in Maranda?”
“General Celes turned traitor! Why? The other side’s sure to lose!”
“General Leo refused a Magitek infusion! He’s a warrior’s warrior!”
“Cid, the director of Magitek research, is a genius! He gave my child the gift of cure magic!”
“And...CURE!!!”

...Thanks, kid. Need to find some better source of healing than this or the Thievery Inn. Edgar’s missing some MP because of a level up increasing his max since our last heal. There’s only a few things to spend MP on and Edgar has none of them.

Up those stairs is the north part of town, near Gestahl’s castle. Not only is this the location of the cafe, it’s patrolled by soldiers who, if we run into them, fight us with a “Hey, YOU! ... ... You’re Returners!!”


They aren’t especially threatening – they appear as random encounters in the upcoming dungeon, actually – but after each fight the party retreats to the Vector entrance. Conveniently, that puts us close to a small house where a lone old woman asks us:
“Pledge your allegiance to the Empire?”
Choose “No” here and you’ll be jumped by a pair of toughs...


These guys are the same as the Narshe guards from way back when. We may not have Magitek armor this time, but they’re still pushovers of the highest degree. Once they’re beaten the old woman expresses her confidence in us:
“Right... I’m sure you can do it! Young people... Hang in there!”
And provides us with free healing from here on out.


Sneak around the soldiers successfully and you can this lovely little coffee shop.
“You’re Returners? Not a problem by me. Shall I tell you something neat? All the soldiers in the Magitek Research Facility can use magic! That Prof. Cid is truly a genius! Here’s one for you... That guy Kefka? He was Cid’s first experimental Magitek Knight. But the process wasn’t perfect yet. Something in Kefka’s mind snapped that day...!”
“General Leo’s a good man. Compared to him, Kefka’s a... Oh! What am I saying?!”
“Tzen... Maranda... Albrook... They’re all controlled by the Empire. It’s all because of the Returners...”
“Is it true they extract magic from monsters inside the facility?”

With that, we’ve seen just about everything in Vector. But how do we get into the heavily guarded Magitek Research Facility?

With the aid of the Vector Resistance, of course.
“While I distract the soldiers, climb onto the steel tower from this box, and enter the facility! All ready?”



While the old man distracts the guards, we scamper along the girders above, drop down behind the guards, and make a break for the next dungeon.


Welcome to the game’s first real challenge! Almost all the enemies in here combine numbers with powerful attacks and a high physical defense; if you aren’t prepared with magic group attacks like Flash and Fire Dance (preferably boosted by Earrings and/or combined with RunningShoes for permanent Haste), you can get worn down quickly. The other challenge is that, while the Factory/Research Facility isn’t a huge dungeon, it can be confusing....


One-way conveyors!


One-way hooks!


Traveling through pipes!


One-way elevators!


Oh, and somewhere in there Celes hits level 18, learning the Scan spell. This lets you peek at an enemy’s current/max HP/MP and see their elemental weaknesses. It’s cheap and useful for your first time through the game, but after a couple playthroughs it just sort of sits in your repertoire.

Most of the loot in the Factory is either consumables or minor defensive upgrades, but it does contain these two treasures. These weapons deal elemental damage and have a chance to cast Fire and Bolt respectively when attacking. With these on hand and her native Ice spells, Celes is ready for enemies weak to any of the big three elements. Additionally, their damage is high enough that they outpace Celes’ Flails even from the back row.


Eventually you want to hop on the conveyor carrying the Magitek armor (also the only one that seems to actually do anything in the Factory). It’ll drop you off in the next room just in time to see Kefka’s next crime against all that’s good and holy:


“And... ... ... I’ll restore the...Statues!”



Kefka pitches the two half-dead Espers onto the belt and leaves, probably muttering angrily about how they’re too big for his doll collection or something. The party hops onto the rollers after he’s gone and follows the Espers into the pit.

The blue esper is unresponsive, but we approach the brown one and


It’s still quite alive. We can fix that, though.


This fight is notable for being one of the few where Celes’ Runic command is useful. Without it we’d be hit regularly with Fire2, which can kill any of our characters in two hits (well, maybe not Sabin). When Ifrit’s attacked by anything, he’ll respond with Fire and, after five times, will be replaced with the other Esper; if he’s hit by magic three times he’ll use Fire3 on the party. As you should guess from his copious use of fire spells, do not use Fire Dance or the Flame Sabre on Ifrit or you’ll heal him.


Shiva operates similarly to Ifrit, but she has a bit more luck at getting an Ice counter out while Runic’s active, then hitting me much harder with an Ice2 on her action. She can phase out and be replaced by Ifrit, but you only need to reduce one of the pair to 0 HP. Shiva has a little less HP and slightly lower defenses than Ifrit so it’s possible that even if you can’t kill Ifrit before he’s replaced you can kill Shiva in one go; even if Ifrit comes back odds are you’ll take care of him before he can leave a second time (assuming you aren’t healing him with fire spells or something).

Instead of casting Ice3, Shiva’s special is casting Rflect on one of your guys so spells cast on them will bounce back to the Esper, healing them. While bouncing spells can be a legitimate strategy later in the game, here it just makes it impossible to kill the Espers. Oh, and if you really want to fight with the elemental swords here, remember you can equip shields and weapons from the Item menu without using your action, so you can use the ThunderBlade on Ifrit, switch to the Flame Sabre when Shiva appears, and switch back.


[IFRIT reappears on the battlefield.]
“I sensed a kindred spirit...”
“You have Ramuh’s power...? Wait!”
“Espers...”


SHIVA: They drained our powers, then threw us away to... We haven’t long to live...
IFRIT: Gestahl has grabbed our friends and is trying to drain them of their power. I, too, suffered my turn in one of the glass tubes... We will follow Ramuh’s lead, and give to you our power...



And that’s all for this week. For now we go into the left door and save; next week we’ll penetrate deeper into Vector and liberate the other Espers.

Part XIII - The Great Imperial Heist

Parasite Eve? Really? Oh Squenix, you really have given up on luring me away from this LP. And just in time, too, 'cause now things start to get much more interesting! Let time we went through a somewhat contrived yet decidedly fun opera and found ourselves stuck on the southern shores of the much-foreshadowed Imperial continent. The best place to start today seems to be exploring the nearby town.

Imperial Continent
Enemies: Dribekanstneb, Don, Joker, Wyvern, Grass Wyrm, Dragon Fossil, Bug

(Read that first monster name backwards to get the reference.)



♪♪ Under Martial Law ♪♪

ALBURG BLASPHEMY ALBROOK FOREVER! (Blame Square for this one. They named the town, not me. I'm just the translator...)

Talk About Town
Majick Armor Rider "Those who oppose the Empire recieve the death penalty for treason!"
Majick Armor Rider "Follow the Empire's rule!"
Man "This is the port town of Alburg. This town is occupied by the Empire..."
Old Man "You can find far superior equipment for sale in the shops of Tsen and Maranda, to the west."
Imperial Soldier "This place belongs to the Empire!"
Imperial Soldier "Get outta the way! Move, move!"
Majick Armor Rider "Entrance to the harbor is forbidden!" {He means it, too! If you try to enter, he gobsmacks your ass and repeats this bit for good measure. I think the metal bitchslap was evidence enough, dude.}
Scholar "I am a scholar of magical properties. Monsters present on this continent have very little to no magical power." {Except those Dribekanstnebs, who cast Quake when confused. That's pretty significant.}
Dancer "The Imperial capital of Vector is located at the center of this continent."
Imperial Soldier "Oppose us, and face our wrath!"
Merchant "Unless we bribe the Imperial soldiers, we can't trade any of our wares in this town. Bah..."
Man "There is a rumor floating around that there's something of high value on the east side of this continent. But the Empire built a lookout post there, and nobody can get past it." {I'm sure this will never be relevant ever.}

Weapon Shop
Scholar "I am a scholar of weapons. 1,000 years ago, during the Great War of Magic, it seems that there were two Ultima Weapons made... One of them was a sword that turned its wielder's spirit into a weapon. The other one was a living weapon, bred for mass destruction utilizing magic." {I sure hope we never run into the latter. That would suck.}

Armor Shop
Old Man "Emperor Ghastra himself approached me, asking me to do a portrait of him... But... How should I proceed to paint it?" {With brushes and paints, I'd assume. I'm sure this will never be relevant ever.}

Pub
Bartender "This pub has become the Imperial soldiers' favorite hangout."
Man "Shit... Those Imperial soldiers have taken over my pub."
Waitress "In any case, you probably don't have any Gil!"
Waitress "Say, you're not from the Empire, are you? Go on, then, get out of here!"
Waitress "Ahuh... Welcome!"
Waitress "Whoo... Now this is the life... *hic*"
Soldiers "It's all cool, it's all cool!"
Soldier "Get outta the way! Move, move!" {All and all, this is more of a brothel than a pub now.}

So what can we surmise about the Empire? That they fucked up Alburg, that the people of Alburg hate it, and that nobody is willing to lift a finger to do anything about it. First-class. Okay, let's explore this continent some more!



Actually, I lied. We're gonna check the airship out first. Along with free healing, there's a convenient shop that will come in handy later.



This room is conspicuously empty. It looks like it'd be a great place for wild boys, monks, machinists, rune knights, adventurers, and samurais to hang out, though.



Suspicions that his airship will be our next home base soon are both highly paranoid and highly accurate.



Hey, you'd be pretty scared too if you had this quadrio banging down on your door! Okay, NOW we're gonna go see what the rest of this continent has to offer.



A pleasant walk along the southern coast takes us to Maranda, the much-mentioned presumably former powerhouse of the southern continent. It looks pretty wrecked now.

Wandering Sorts
Old Man "At one time, Maranda was called the most beautiful town on the continent... When the Empire invaded, they turned it into this hell-hole..."
Man "The Imperial soldiers always get their way. I don't know how much longer things can go on like this..."
Old Woman "My son was forced to become an Imperial soldier... I hope he comes back home safely..."
Dancer "Tsen and Alburg have been destroyed in a similar manner by the Empire..."
Little Boy "Always bet on the strongest dog!" {Street dog-fighting? Shameful!}
Imperial Soldier "This town has been turned into a defensive outpost... And here I am, unable to get a promotion."
Imperial Soldier "Hehehe... This town is our little puppet!!"
Imperial Soldier "What to do, what to do!"
Imperial Soldier "In the state this town's in, this is our only way to enjoy ourselves."
Man "Go away! Shoo!!"
Merchant "Place your bets here!!" {Utterly depraved, these people are.}
Woman "I'm gonna be persistent and get married!"
Imperial Soldier "Aisha!" {He's chasing that woman around. Sounds like she wants him to...}

Girlfriend's House



Ahh, so this is where the Mobriz-bound soldier's squeeze lives. She seems content enough, though conspicuously has no mother in dire need of a Potion. In fact, she clearly lives alone. Hmm, someone may have been played for a fool, and I think it's us...

Anyway, that's Maranda for you. It's miserable, but... No, it's just miserable. Hopefully Tsen is a happier place.



Ooh, probably not. Far on the northern tip of the continent we find this little hellhole.

Woman "The royal family of Tsen was killed brutally by the Empire."
Old Woman "Almost all of the young men of this town were forced to become Imperial soldiers."
Little Boy "Mom says it's dangerous outside, but I don't see anything too threatening."
Old Man "Let me teach you a secret... (!) The Imperial weapon Guardian is extremely powerful, but almost incapable of moving on its own. If you ever run into it, you'd be smart to run!"
Old Man "There is a gigantic door in the inner part of the cave on the eastern continent... I wonder what's beyond those gates sometimes." {That sounds like ominous foreshadowing, so it probably isn't.}
Woman "Oh no, our son's not here! I warned him that there are Imperial soldiers roaming all over outside, and that it's not safe..." {All of the Imperial soldiers repeat stuff said by soldiers in Alburg.}

Yep, Tsen's pretty thoroughly unenjoyable too. Okay, now we'll get our butts to Vector.

♪♪ Ghastra's Empire ♪♪

Did we just walk onto a set from Blade Runner?

Outdoors-Like
Man "You're an eyesore. Get out of here!"
Boy "And now, CURE!!" *casts Cure* {1HP back each? Thanks, kid.}
Woman "Doctor Cid of the Majick Research Institute is a genius. He gave my son the ability to use Cure magic!" {Yes, quite poorly, I might add.}
Man "General Celes decided to change sides to the Returners, but I can't figure out why... The odds against them are staggering."
Rogue "General Leo doesn't have the ability to use magic. He's a truly honorable man. I like him much better for it."

The Inn

Innkeeper "Hey, you can stay for free. Don't worry!"
Yes/No {That's a great big No, cap'n. Never trust any business that says their services are free.}
Man "I've been thinking, maybe I should stay here and volunteer to become a soldier..."
Woman "In the Empire that ruined your home town......? What about your promise to restore Maranda......?" {Man, they just name-drop Maranda like crazy, huh? Pity it's not that plot-relevant.}

Pub
Bartender "There are rumors that they're extracting magic from monsters at the research institute... It's not true, right?"
Scholar "The countries of Tsen, Maranda, and Alburg are all governed by the Empire. But, they support our efforts." {Someone believes the propaganda a bit too much, I see.}
Imperial Soldier "General Leo is a great man. Compared to him, Kefka is... Oh! Forget what I just said."
Man "Say, aren't you Returners?" *Party SHOCK!* "Ah, don't worry, I won't expose you... Would you like to hear something interesting?"
> Yes/No
"Thanks to the genius Doctor Cid's efforts at the Majick Research Facility, any Imperial soldier can have the power of magic infused into them..." {That sounds like a very, very, VERY bad idea.}
"Hey, here's another tidbit... Doctor Cid infused General Kefka early on, before the method of transferring magic was perfected, and Kefka lost his mind in the process, started hating everybody..." {I'm going to assume this was also the point when he started playing with dolls. And Ghastra didn't have him killed because...?}

Tiny Little Hut



Hell no!

"What!?"



OH SHIT SHE'S GOT GOONS!



...Narche guards. She sent Narche guards. What the hell.



Damn skippy. Heal me!

"Young ones... Do your best..."



OH SNAP! FIGHT IT OUT!



Yeah, avoid the soldiers around here...



LOOK MA I'M INFILTRATING!



Oh shit the fuzz!



That was close. Let's try that again.



CRAP!



This cannot be good. Every attack misses or does 0 damage, no matter what. I think this must be the Guardian we're supposed to not fight. RUNRUNRUNRUNRUN!

Aww, come on! I'll give you 50 Gil!



Wow, we even have inside agents!



Sounds convoluted and unlikely to work. Let's do it!

"Are you ready?"
> Yes/No



Really? We're using the "sick man" routine? Is that just not horribly cliche'd and predictable in Japan yet or something?



Even the soldiers know they shouldn't fall for it.



Hey, no blowing chunks on the pathway!

Imperial Soldier "Hey, hey..."



Success!



Goddamn it, Edgar!



♪♪ Devil's Lab ♪♪

Okay, so this is the Majick (not Magic-Based; that's the old translation!) Factory. Not the Research Institute, in other words. But it might lead to it!

Majick Factory
Enemies: Sergeant, Belzecue, Proto Armor, Onion



There's some nice goodies here in plain sight, and you can even steal some decent stuff rarely from the enemies here.



And some nice goodies not so easily spotted. (This room is accessed via a sneakily hidden pipe near some crates in the second area. Often missed by even veteran players. The other chest's a Wind Mantle, which makes your evasion rock the socks.)



Another oft-missed chest! This completes the Gold armor set, which makes Edgar quite a bit harder to hurt.

Something hilarious this way comes!



I will draw out more magic power from them... And... ... ... I shall revive the three Gods of Battle!!!"

Ouch, literal translation strikes again! I actually kinda like the GBA's dubbing them as the Warring Triad, even if that does drop the religious reference. But we'll stick with my overblown name here, just because.



And he tosses her down the conveyor belt. How rude!



And this vaguely familiar dude gets the same treatment!



Yeah, laugh it up, psycho. We're gonna kick your ass now!



What the fu...? Argh, glitch! Fortunately it has no ill effects.



Huh, he's just gone. Well that's weird. Okay, into the pit we go to save those poor sweet Eidolons!



Those poor sweet Eidolons don't want to be saved, apparently. To be fair, they do only know humans as murderous monsters.



It's the duel of the elementals! Let's get ready to rrrrumble!



That was a pretty one-sided smackdown. Mostly because the Drill combined with Seal Sword messes these two up good.

I feel a familiar power radiating from you......
You have Ramah's power......?
Wait......
We are......
Eidolons......

Yeah, no shit. You attacked me, remember?

Surprised we know Ramah, huh? Talk to us, kiddies!

Shiva "Ramah did entrust them with his powers..."
Shiva "When our powers have been drained in full, we are abandoned here. Only in death do we find peace... Our lives, too, will soon end..."
Efreet "We were caught by Ghastra, and drained of our powers to feed their ambitions... I also spent my time in one of those test tubes, and had my powers stolen from me..."
"Ramah and ourselves are the representatives of the three main elements, respectively. We also give our powers to you, as Ramah did..."



Thanks! Let's get a rundown of our new summonable buddies before we quit for the week!

Efreet

It's everyone's favorite fire demon! This flaming genie is the third-most plot-involved summon to date, and also one of the most consistent: every single Final Fantasy from 3 through 10 has featured him as the fire-elemental summon, much like his counterpart Shiva has always been the ice-elemental summon. Poor Ramah got replaced by an electrified Aztec bird-god and an electric unicorn named after a Greek ne'er-do-well for two games, however. Sucks to be him.



Efreet's key attack is nothing less than the Flames of Hell... which is about on par with Fira, but costs more MP. Since he teaches Fira very easily, that means you probably won't summon him unless you're particularly bored.

Spells Taught
Fire x10
Fira x5
Drain x1

Level-Up Bonus: Strength +1

You won't find a better way to learn the Fira spell. Of course, most perfectionist players are gonna slip Efreet on everyone for ages anyway since he's the only way to learn the decidedly underwhelming Drain spell. Being a perfectionist sucks sometimes.

Shiva

This hot Hindu god-turned-goddess is ironically the mistress of ice in the Final Fantasy 'verse. She's had the role of the more or less silent counterpart to Efreet for the entire run of the series, and pretty much gets shoved into irrelevance compared to her fiery buddy. Though she does somehow manage to lose more and more of her clothing as the series goes on, trumping herself in FF8 where she finally said "screw it" to wearing even so much as a loincloth and went starkers.



Her attack is Diamond Dust, and as you may have surmised, it's about as effective as Blizzara and costs quite a bit more. A pity, really. Then again, summons in FF6 tend to follow that trend: flashy, cool to watch, utterly inefficient.

Spells Taught
Blizzard x10
Blizzara x5
Rasper x4
Asper x4
Cure x3

Level-Up Bonus: None

Again, great way to learn a mid-range elemental spell (Blizzara, in this case). Shiva often gets ignored late-game, however, since everything she teaches can be learned elsewhere, and many of the things she teaches are taught faster elsewhere.

And that's all we have for now! Join us next week as we infiltrate the much-anticipated Majick Research Institute!

Am I the only one who was disappointed by the lack of attention paid to the Tzen royal family being slaughtered? You'd think that it would be more relevant to the plot, but...it's not. :-P

Ah, but that's the Square Guarantee! They always stick in at least a half-dozen dead-end subplots and references to interesting past events that never get brought up outside of a single entirely-optional NPC dialogue! Side-content letdown: it's what makes Square RPGs tick!

Everybody's always picking on Detroit. At least we have the Red Wings (not the airship kind).

They're setting up for spinoff games, man. 2011- The release of Final Fantasy VI- 015 The Tzar's Final Days- Renewal Of Hope & Goodness, Darkness & Starlight.

Huh. And here I thought they just called it "Xenogears". Shows what I know.

I'm holding out for FFVI: The Middle Days, which take place during the missing year and focus on Ziegfried, Banon, and the Narshe Moogles' untold tale.

I always liked to think that when Square went to make FFVII, they looked at Vector and said "hey, let's do that again, but HUGE" and that's how we got Midgar.