Blame yourself or God! Let's Play Final Fantasy Tactics!

The two groups are going to be starting on seperate ends of the map, but this isn't too much of a problem as the
enemy is heavily divided too. Anyone packing Teleport, Fly, or Ignore Height should be thrown into Group 1, while
people with ranged attacks (or fast, mobile heavy hitters) work best in group 2.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

(Scene: Ramza's pursuit of Vormav leads him to St. Murond Temple,
where High Priest Funeral resides. A token guard awaits him outside.)

(Officer Cadet)

Shrine Knight Magician: What business do you have at Muron Temple? Identify
yourself!!


Ramza: My name is Ramza, Ramza Beoulve!

Magician: Heresy Ramza!!

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *



There is only one real "danger" in this fight, and suprisingly the terrain is not one of them as the enemies cannot
really take any more advantage of it than you can. The roof terrain is actually worse for the Geomancers, as the
Geomancy Effect "Gusty Wind" (Add: Slow) isn't as good as the Hell Ivy they could take advantage of on ground level
(Add: Stop). As your group is split up, the Summoner loses a bit of his punch, and giving the mediators at the back
guns can work in your advantage as bullets are easier to deal with than some of their abilities.

Yes, the biggest "danger" is the mediators spawning with "Threaten" (Brave -20) or "Solution" (Faith -20). Sure it's
fixable but it's still dang annoying. Not on the level of having rare equipment broken, but putting your own gun users or
high single target damage units (i.e. ninjas and monks) can save you some time grinding your stats up later.

The Dragon Rod that the Summoner carries might hold some interest to you. As a weapon, it's pretty poor (+1 weapon
power is a poor trade for the +2 MA you can get from a Wizard Rod) but it isn't sold in shops, and this is one of the few
opportunities to get it in the game, and certainly one of the easiest. Of course, Dragon Rods are poachable as a rare
item from Blue Dragons so there isn't any worry of completely missing it. I steal it for kicks of course.

Oh hey, I haven't talked about poaching have I?



Poaching

Poaching is relatively simple; if a unit has the Thief support skill "Secret Hunt" equipped when they kill an enemy with
weapon damage (this is important, spells and effects like Draw Out or Throw will not trigger Secret Hunt!) its corpse
will disappear from the field, and a new single-purchase item will be for sale at the various "Fur Shops" across Ivalice.
There are only three, and they're located in the "Trade Cities" (Dorter, Warjilis, and Zarghidas). When an enemy is
poached, they will usually give you a common item, but there is a 1/10 chance the item will be rare. All Fur Shop prices
are half what you'll find at a common store, so even if you get a common item like a Phoenix Down you can at least be
assured you're getting it on the cheap. Also oddly, you can sell items to the Fur Shop for 1/2 price, and buy them back
at full price later. Not too helpful (money is easy to get) but heck.

Rather than list what each enemy will poach into I'll pull out the best poach targets, although "best" sometimes means
"this is the only way to get this item". Keep in mind that you can as easily poach your own monsters, and in some
cases that is a more reliable way to get particular items! Thanks to Matt Hobbs' Poaching Guide for the easy info, you
can read his small FAQ there for the full list. Items are listen as common / rare.

* Note: there could be some mistakes on item availability below, but I tried to check shops and a Move-Find Item guide
to be sure that the items below I list as "poach only" really were only obtainable by poaching. Please let me know if I've
made a mistake! I'm going to try and compile an item list sometime before I'm done that clarifies where most items in
the game can be found.

Red Chocobo (Tier 3 Chocobo): Remedy / Barette
Remedies are nice, and the female only Barettes almost as good, but are much easier to get, than Ribbons.

Plague (Tier 3 Ahriham): Yagyu Darkness / Zorlin Shape
Zorlin Shapes are the strongest Knife in the game, and come with a powerful sleep effect (25% chance on hit). Of
course, Knives aren't as strong as many other weapons, and outside of Thieves you wouldn't likely be using them...

Sacred (Tier 3 Minotaur): Holy Lance / Ivory Rod
Ivory Rods are actually terrible compared to Octagon Rods which can be purchased and are slightly stronger, but this is
the only way to get them.

Great Morbol (Tier 3 Morbol): Elixir / Madlemgen
One of the weird cases where the common item is more useful. The Madlemgen is the strongest Dictionary in the game,
but that isn't saying much. Still, like the Ivory Rod, it's the only way to get one. Regardless, Elixirs for everybody!

Trent (Tier 2 Trent): Gold Staff / Fairy Harp
Fairy Harps aren't purchasable. Of course, like dictionaries, harps suck.



Red Dragon (Tier 3 Dragon): Salty Rage / Dragon Whisker
Salty Rage is a pretty neat women-only accessory that confers auto-protect and auto-shell. Of course, that makes the
Chantage only the "third best" perfume (and it's still in competition with accessories like Gauntlets) but they aren't
purchasable otherwise. The Dragon Whisker is a definate upgrade over an Oberisk, but still ain't competing with the
Javelin II. Still, you're not getting one of these elsewhere.

King Behemoth (Tier 2 Behemoth): Ultimus Bow / Cherche
Dark Behemoth (Tier 3 Behemoth): Wizard Rod / Stone Gun
The Cherche has the designation as the "crappy perfume". Auto-Float and Auto-Reflect is impressing no one. Still, say
it with me: only way to get one. Poaching Dark Behemoths for Stone guns may be unneccessary, as sometimes you'll
encounter an enemy Chemist with one if you can get the Germinas Peak rare battle (try approaching from the north).
You'll know because it's the unit that starts the fight petrified. This drawback is not made up by the Stone Gun's
power; it'll deal about ~256 a shot, but most magical guns can do that without the need to deal with the initial
petrification the gun confers on the user.

Hyudra (Tier 1 Hydra): Blood Sword / Scorpion Tail
Hydra (Tier 2 Hydra): Setiemson / Rubber Costume
Tiamat (Tier 3 Hydra): Ryozan Silk / Whale Whisker
If you didn't steal one back from Gafgarion in chapter 2, you can get Blood Swords from Hyudras. Scorpion Tails are
rare, but they're also a Hammer (and are therefore terrible). Setiemsons are awesome and should by grabbed when you
have the chance. They're a women's only accessory that confer Ma +1, Auto-Haste, and Auto-Transparent, making
them my favorite perfume. Rubber Costumes offer great HP (+150) and immunity to lightning, but I still prefer Power
Sleeves (+70 HP, +2 PA). Poach only of course. Ryozain Silk are poach-only cloths for Dancers, which means they
suck. Whale Whiskers on the other hand, are great. At 16 Weapon Power they trump the Octagon Rod (WP = 12),
making them the weapon of choice for any MA focused Oracle. Of course, finding any tier of Hydra is difficult...

Uribo (Tier 1 Uribo): Maiden's Kiss / Cachusha
Porky (Tier 2 Uribo): Chantage / Nagrarock
Wildbow (Tier 3 Uribo): Ribbon / FS Bag
Speaking of hard to find, Uribos offer some of the best equipment, but you'll need to breed them to get it; Wildbows
cannot be found in the wild! Cachusha's offer protection from the worst status ailments, while Ribbons offer protection
from the whole lot of em. I don't like Nagarocks, but they're quirky and are rare outside of the Nelveska Temple fight.
FS Bags are not worth a spit, but like the rest of the items on this list, are poach only.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Bonus Money: 23,500 Gil
War Trophies: X-Potion

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

(Scene: Funeral confirmed the worst: Ramza is a bigger threat to his plans beyond the
strength he's used to defeat several Lucavi in battle. Still, he still had his sister. A bit
quickly perhaps, but Vormav always knew Ramza would eventually come to him...)

(Cry of a Bitter Heart!)

Vormav: I'd ask you to dinner, but I'm too busy... Forgive me. I don't have too much
time. So, let me get down to business.
/STOCK VILLAIN TALK

Vormav: If you don't do what I say, your lovely sister is dead. Now, hand them over!!

Ramza: Where's Alma?

Vormav: Didn't you hear me? You have no choice.

Ramza: I'll give you the stones only after I see Alma!

Vormav: Good, now that we know, they're finished.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

(Bloody Excrement)

Far from what the victory condition suggests, taking any of these jokers down to critical (or zero) HP is enough to end
this fight, and since none of them have any equipment worth stealing there is no good reason to prolong this fight
unless you enjoy having your equipment melt away to dual Mighty Sword users. Nothing this trio has is worth stealing,
not even the Dragon Rod (since if you didn't get it in the last battle, I would recommend poaching it instead).

The Chemist skill Maintenance can prevent either Mighty Sword user from breaking your stuff, but if you’re willing to risk
it (like I am) you can get away with keeping your Two Swords and such on. You can unequip any really valuable stuff
before the fight too.

Since this fight is so easy, gang up on the member of your choice. Kletain is generally the easiest to take down as he
has lower HP and Magic DefendUP unlike the other two (who have Defense UP instead). This shouldn’t take more than a
round. I take out Vormav because I’m cheeky like that (and am a bad LPer and went in without double-checking the
"real" victory conditions).



If you insist on prolonging the fight, here’s some information about your opponent’s potential capabilities.The whole lot
of them are more or less immune to status ailments, save for Slow, so don't bother. Vormav and his underling Rofel are
both packing the same Mighty Sword skills that Meliadoul has, with Vormav with the whole set (Shellbust Stab -
helmets, Blastar Punch - armour, Hellcry Punch - weapons, Icewolf Bite- accessories), while Rofel is missing the
accessory busting Icewolf Bite. Like Meliadoul, it's necessary for them to be using a sword to break your equipment, so
one tactic you can use is to bust out an Excalibur-aided Hellcry Punch on either combatant.

(I prefer an Exaclibur-aided "Kiyomori" Draw Out because it's awesome but it is kind of unnecessary in this battle).

Both Vormav and Rofel seem to prefer to break armour over weapons (thankfully) so just keep your Genji Armor tucked
away. They both use DefenseUp as well, so most physical damage is going to be reduced by about 1/3rd.



I hate losing a Wizard Robe and Light Robe, but neither are that valuable compared to say, the Excalibur Jean is using.

Kletian is the groups magic guru, and he has basically cherry-picked several powerful spells onto his list. Still, he's using
male MA and he's using Magic DefendUp rather than Short Charge, so he's not too big a problem. His magic includes:

• Holy
• Flare
• Demi 2
• Dark Holy
• Raise 2

Raise 2 would be more useful if he could actually use it in this fight. Regardless these are all single-target spells, and
they can all be reflected aside from Dark Holy (which is his weakest damage spell). Of course, his partners are going to
probably Mighty Sword your Reflect Armour but thems the breaks (Ha)!

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Vormav: What?

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *



We'll play it your way Vormav.

I booted Meliadoul before I remembered she had a special conversation in this fight, but thanks to the magic of the
internet here's the script we're all missing (thanks and any translation errors to Tsogtsaihan Baatar's FFT Game Script):

Meliadoul: Father... Are you really my father?

Vormav: Of course, dear daughter. Why are you over 'there'? When did you become the enemy?

Meliadoul: That's because you're not the father who used to be.

Vormav: What do you mean?

Meliadoul: At Limberry, Marquis Elmdor used the Zodiac Stones to turn into a monster. Father, wasn't it
you who killed the people at Riovanes Castle and also Izlude?

Vormav: You're saying we're monsters?

Meliadoul: !! You're not my father...

Regardless, this fight is quickly finished. One more to go this update!

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Bonus Money: 13,500 Gil

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

(Scene: Ramza delves deeper into St. Murond. Is his sister not here either? His
conversation with Vormav weighs on him; why have they kept Alma alive?)

(Antipyretic)

Zalbag: What... am I doing? Can't feel a thing...

Ramza: You're being controlled by Lucavi!!

Zalbag: I'm... fighting... you? Why...?

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *



Like the last fight, this one last only as long as Zalbag does, and he's even easier to take down than Vormav was, if
that's your goal. Zalbag brings two sets of abilities to the table, the first being Blood Suck. This is identical to the one
Elmdor was using back in Battle 43. Unlike that fight, we don't need to be too worried about preventing the "vampire"
effect, but I'll get to that in a minute.

Zalbag's second ability is "Destroy Sword." This ability is basically like the Knight's stat break skills (i.e. Speed Break)
pumped up. They all have a range of 4, and affect a small area (but they cannot deal with height discrepencies).
They're naturally unavoidable, and I believe like most sword skills, breaking Zalbags weapon will prevent him from using
them. They also have a small charge time. Zalbag does start with Short Charge, but I don't think he has it naturally
(regardless CT 3 is super fast anyway). The one downside to his Destroy Sword techniques is that they cost 20 MP a
shot to use, so he can't toss more than a few at you. His abilities also have a success rate that is based on his and his
target's faith, like most status effect spells. However, the spell constant is quite high, so it's unlikely to miss barring a
real low faith like Junk's; anyone with a faith of 50 or higher is likely going to get hit. His four unique abilities are as
follows:

• Magic Ruin: Reduce target's MP by half of their maximum MP. "Destroy evil magic! Magic Ruin!"
• Speed Ruin: Speed -3. "Destroy all time! Speed Ruin!"
• Power Ruin: PA - 5. "Stop with a mighty blow! Power Ruin!"
• Mind Ruin: MA - 5. "Destroy magic attack power! Mind Ruin!"

This means that any of the Ruin abilities hitting an appropriate unit can be pretty nasty, but given the victory
conditions it's certainly not the end of the world.

Zalbag's downfall is that he was turned evil so quickly he didn't enroll in basic boss status immunity; nearly everything
works on this guy! Slow, Stop, Don't Act, Sleep... an Oracle can reduce Zalbag to tears. Zombie tears.




The Archaic Demons should be pretty familiar. The Ultima Demon you've sort of fought before (the Assassins turned into
these) but this is the last time you'll fight one before the end of the game. And I mean the end! It has a few familiar
abilities, a new one, and has innate Short Charge and Counter like his peers. Really, the only reason to worry about this
guy is if you did not get Ultima from the twin assassins, Celia and Lede back when you have the opportunity to. This is
not an easy fight to teach Ramza Ultima; Keeping Zalbag locked down isn't hard, but there is always the potential for
him to wake up from a status effect and Blood Suck a unit. The demon is also likely to prefer one of his other abilities:

• Nanoflare: Moderate damage spell that hits in a wide area.
• Dark Holy: Just like the spell the Archaic Demon's use. single target, does moderate to heavy damage.
• Hurricane: The King Behemoth has this as its "Monster Skill". Hits a wide area, and reduces the target's HP by
  about 1/3rd their maximum. Instant Cast too!
• Ulmaguest: The Dark Behemoth has this as its "Monster Skill". Hits a wide area, and deals damage equal to the
  demon's Max HP - Current HP. Unlikely to be used!
• Ultima: Moderate damage spell that hits a small area.

Part of the problem is that by all accounts, Ultima is one of the weakest abilities it can do! Against a single target, the
demon will generally prefer Dark Holy or Nanoflare, while against a group Hurricane will often be used. Here are some
tips you can use to try and learn it:

1. Remember that Ramza MUST be in his Squire class to learn this! He also has to survive the spell, but that
   shouldn't be too hard.
2. Equip accesories and items that prevent Blood Suck. Not entirely necessary, but makes everything easier.
3. Bring a Knight; Speed Down is useful on Zalbag, and you can reduce the Ultima Demon's MA too to make things a
   little easier.
4. Kill off the Archaic Demons, of course.
5. Hit the Ultima Demon with Don't Move and Confuse. The first will allow you to make sure that ONLY Ramza is in
   range of his abilities, while the second will increase the chance he casts Ultima. Try and make sure you Don't
   Move him away from Zalbag, but if that fails just keep Ramza close by and keep both of them healed.

Certainly not an easy skill to acquire!

Since my Ramza doesn't need it, we'll just ignore the Demons. My Ramza gets Blood Sucked, but that's okay, as the
Demon's (for whatever reason) focus him down. And then we focus Zalbag down.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Zalbag: Save... Alma... you're the only one... who can... I... have to go now... Good
bye... Ramza...

Bonus Money: 20,300 Gil
War Trophies: Elixir

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

(one trip to the other side of the country later...)

Warjilis Trade City

Hey Talking Time!

With our brother Zalbag put to rest, the game allows access to the optional "Deep Dungeon" stage. Accessing it merely
involved going to Warjilis Trade City, and then it will appear on the map slightly to the east. Inside are some rare and
powerful items, but getting them is not easy (...without a guide).

The next "story" battle locks us into a series of fights that are inescapable and will finish the game. I don't need the
equipment in Deep Dungeon at all, but I thought I'd put it up for a vote.

Do you want to see the riches of Deep Dungeon before or after I finish the game? You decide!

See you next time!

The riches of Deep Dungeon must be acquired BEFORE you finish the game! This is the way!

Sidequests are best done when the world is about to come to an end, so go now!

Eddie: Great work on the LP. I've really enjoyed what I've read of it (unfortunately I haven't been following this since the beginning). I've often thought if I ever did an LP of a game Final Fantasy Tactics (the PSX/PS1 version) would be one I'd want to do. But my standard play style is different than the one you're using in this LP. I generally focus on gaining JP to get skills and protecting equipment so I either use Gained JP Up or Maintenance (for when I know I'll be fighting Knights). And instead of overwhelming the enemy quickly I prefer to skew the war of attrition in my favor by avoiding damage - that's why I like to use shields, mantles and Abandon.

Nooooo!!! I think you should have kept Meliadoul for a little bit longer so that she and Cid could have given Vormav and Rofel a taste of their own medicine.

One of the nice side-effects of Poach is that it prevents undead monsters from reviving.

Also, I agree with TK Flash and recentteen14 - raid the Deep Dungeon and use its treasures to destroy the end game (even more than you already can). Of course I am a bit biased since there's a theory I want to discuss regarding something from the Deep Dungeon.

Deep Dungeon after D:
. . . would have been better for the flow of the story, but I can bend to the popular winds and back some DD action now. Besides, this just gives us more incentive to follow the LP to the end. :3
Man, you have not lived until you've destroyed the entire Grog Hill story battle with a single instant casting of Odin.

Or you know, using math.

Sunflares taking each enemy apart individually isn't as majestic as the Norse God of Wisdom slicing the battlefield in two with his sword of judgement, nor is dropping a gigantic burning rock from space on top of them. I mean, both options do more damage but they're not Odin slashing the entire battlefield in two.

The Fur Shop doesn't appear if you don't have a unit with Secret Hunt support skill. The Byblos' innate skill does not count. I once went crazy trying to figure out why I couldn't go to the shop to buy the stuff I'd poached.

Now I dream of my own race of atomic monsters, atomic supermen with octagonal-shaped bodies....

This is the greatest. Ramza's team isn't so different from Ivalice's other adventurers after all!

Welcome back! People wants to see Deep Dungeon, so we're going to go see Deep Dungeon. As a purely optional area
of the game, Deep Dungeon offers some of the best equipment in the game, as well as some of the more rarer enemies.
That said, Deep Dungeon plays by a few unique rules. As a fan of "show don't tell" however, let's check them out, first
by reading some of the creepy help text! (Forget to check the flavour out the first time and therefore put a screenshot
completely out of order: check.)



(War Funds: the best investment.)



All Deep Dungeon battles are treated like random battles (save the last one), meaning that Ramza is not required to
come along. Pick your favorites! I'm simply taking the units that are lowest on exp...







First rule about Deep Dungeon: no light sources. You can use movement and square targeting to roughly see the terrain
(such as via all the squares that a gun can target, as seen above) but seeing the whole area isn't going to happen
outside of Teleport (another great way to see the entire terrain).



Second rule about Deep Dungeon: bring a unit with a really low Brave! There are four hidden items strewn about the
area, and your chance of getting them is (100 - Brave%). If you fail or are unlucky, you get a Phoenix Down instead
(and potentially causing you to reset the game). As always, I'm sternly telling Jessica to gather them, although perhaps
I went too far...

These items (like all hidden items) can only be grabbed once, regardless of result. I recommend getting two at a
time, as getting all four in one go is a bit of a crapshoot (~65% of being successful with a 10 Brave unit). Of course,
I'm a man using an emulator and looking to put this LP to bed, so I'll mostly grab them on my first go.

I of course forget to put Move-Find Item on Jessica and she spends most of this fight wondering why the rest of the
party is being mean to her.





Third rule about Deep Dungeon: squares that are trapped are where the special items lie. Units without the Chemist's
Move-Find Item are going to encounter a trap, ranging from a bit of damage, sleep, death sentence, to outright losing
a level when they step on a square containing one. Use this to your advantage in finding them! Watch out for "human"
units too; always check them to see if they've randomly been assigned the skill "Move-Find Item." They can pick up
these items and steal them from you forever!

For Geomancers: Sand Storm, Local Quake and Kamaitachi are going to be the skills you're using. Not that Geomancy is
all that effective at this point in the game, but given the large terrain in Deep Dungeon getting a poke here and there
with it isn't bad.

(Muramasa looks cool in Deep Dungeon.)



Fourth rule about Deep Dungeon: crystallized units provide illumination! The more the better (the brightness stops at
four crystals), and it makes no difference where the crystals are (they illuminate the entire area equally). Collecting the
crystals diminishes the amount of light, naturally. Of course, past two crystals the effect is negligible. although it's
good to know that they really didn't just throw a series of featureless maps at you...

After killing the last enemy, we're brought back to the main map screen, but are still only presented with a single map!
What gives? You're still ignoring that misplaced screen from before right!?

Fifth rule about Deep Dungeon: you've got to find the exit! It's randomly placed in each level (but in a few specific
spots), and if you don't find it before you kill the last enemy, you've got to restart the level and try and find it again.
Move-Find Item is not necessary, but if you don't know what squares in particular can hide the exit, scouring them all
might be necessary. You only need to find the exit ONCE for a level; after that you can traverse between levels on the
world map freely.

Let's try this again!

Here's the map with crystals to illuminate it. The blue circles represent potential exits, whereas the numbers and
green circles show where the items are. They are as follows (thanks to FFBeowulf's Move-Find Item Guide):

1. Elixir: (0,6); height 20
2. Glacier Gun: (0,9);height 22
3. Kiyomori: (9,4); height 17
4. Blaze Gun: (2,2); height 7

Pretend the bottom left square represents (0,0), where the top left square is (0,9) and the bottom right square is
(9,0), and height is the elevation the square rests on.

Elixirs aren't particularly handy in FFT, so you don't need to worry too much about getting them. The Kiyomori is
purchasable in stores, so it's safely ignorable unless you're a completist/me. The Glacier and Blaze Guns, on the other
hand, are awesome and should be nabbed.

Exits are as follows:

(1,1); height 1
(3,1); height 3
(8,3); height 7
(9,0); height 2
(9,6); height 17

Nogias is layed out in sort of three layers, with the party starting on top, enemies on bottom, and the majority of
fighting going on in the middle. The terrain gives you a huge advantage to spray the enemy with arrows and bullets, so
take advantage of it to pick off the more troublesome units before they hit your front-line units.

Given the large number of enemies, Calculators are even better here. But then, I don't need to tell you that. Movement
skills are really useful here too, particularly Teleport, which allows you to zip all around the area. In fact, Teleport is
awesome in pretty much the entire Deep Dungeon. However, I recommend double-checking every movement, as it's
very easy to misjudge the terrain here, particularly when there are no crystals out. Playing zoomed out (L2) and with
the view tilted (R2) is recommended.




We see Jessica picking up our first item (after remembering to actually give her Move-Find Item), and a successful
pickup too! Glacier Guns are slightly stronger than the Blaze Gun we're currently packing, but it deals fire damage
instead of ice making it a bit less useful on monsters.

I grab an Elixir too. I save the other two items for a different fight (mixed into this fight for maximum confusion. How did
it take me so long to update when I'm obviously so pro at this?).

We find the exit to the next level down in the corner. You'll see the message above when you stop on the correct
square.

You can also see that I've put a goblin to sleep; delaying the end of the battle is crucial towards finding the items/exit
in a level. The Oracle comes in handy here with skills like Sleep and Paralyze, but the Knight can be a real powerhorse
too, hitting enemies with Speed and Power Break. Mediator's can use Threaten to reduce an enemies Brave below 10,
turning it into a chicken and blunting attacks.




Blaze Gun get! This is the second one we now own. We also kill a Summoner and get a few free skills. It isn't much, but
that is a good 1000 JP one character won't have to earn. We end it with a big Excalibur backed hit to a chicken.



Oh Jessica, there is nothing wrong with wiping the majority of the enemy out on your first move! The fans, they expect
it.

Speaking of enemies, there are several "groups" that can appear in each fight. I will not be listing these as we go
through these fights as most are unremarkable, but I will note any that are worth looking for. In Nogias, the enemies
are mostly goblins, but there is a chance of fighting a small group of enemies in which a male time mage can appear
with a rather effiminate name...



This time mage, if invited and recruited via Talk skill, will show him (her?) self for all purposes except portrait and battle
sprites to be female. MA/PA growth will be female specific, and even class choice. If turned into a Dancer, Tia here will
appear as a Bard (but with the Dance ability). This is the only place in the game where such a phenomenon exists; and
yes, unlike Cloud he can equip perfume!

Onward!

These quotes look like nonsense, but in reality they tell a deep, moving story of what it means to be human.

1. Save the Queen: (0,1); height 1
2. Elixir: (2,10); height 9
3. Elixir: (4,0); height 0
4. Blood Sword: (6,7); height 6

Exits:
(0,0); height 1
(0,9); height 2
(1,4); height 5
(6,1); height 1
(8,0); height 8

Terminate presents very rough terrain, but one that is a bit less hostile to enemy units. Effects like Haste and Chakra
are going to have a harder time hitting multiple enemies here, but at least it's easier to move around. Move +2 and +3
are valuable here as Teleport is obviously weaker than those two with this relatively flat terrain.




The Blood Sword could have be stolen from Gafgarion well back, but if you didn't grab one (or poach one from a hyudra,
which is fairly unlikely given how many you've probably fought), you can get this one. They're still not very good. You
could have taken Meliadoul's Save the Queen by this point too, but here's another you can get. It gives Auto-Protect
which would pretty nifty if the Excalibur's Auto-Haste wasn't five or ten times better.



Confession time! One of the reasons it's taken so long to do this update (aside from working too much + Planescape
Torment) is that Deep Dungeon is pretty boring!

I've never shown off any random battles because they're absolutely dull to do in a screenshot format. Deep Dungeon is
pretty much random battles.

Next level!

1. Mace of Zeus: (1,6); height 0.5
2. Elixir: (2,15); height 1.5
3. Elixir: (5,3); height 1.5
4. Yoichi Bow: (7,9); height 4.5

Exits:
(1,1); height 0
(3,11); height 1
(7,8); height 6
(8,2); height 0
(8,8); height 0

First goblins, then undead, now fish?

Delta is similar to Terminate, except the terrain is a bit harder to move in. This level introduces bottomless pits that
must be navigated around. They're not actually dangerous; they're impossible to end in (whether via movement or
throw stone). The enemies will have as hard a time manuevering around them as you will, so you can use the pits to
block them off from particular areas like you could in past stages with water tiles.




I got unlucky here and missed my chance at an Elixir. That wasn't really enough to make me reset tho. Side note: it's
really nice that they refund you for getting an item that would put you over 99 owned! As always, use traps to help
locate items if necessary.

The Mace of Zeus is a sweet staff, but is functionally identical to a Wizard Staff. It's advantage over one is higher WP
(six versus 4) and a bonus +2 PA. Of course, what a staff user could want with PA is beyond me. Staves don't even
use PA in their calculations! I guess for Geomancy?



The Yoichi Bow is the second strongest bow in the game, but the first strongest is way better (and appears later in
Deep Dungeon). Of course, bows are kind of terrible as they're glued to Archers!



*Yawn* next.

Okay I was totally lying about this telling the player anything meaningful.

1. Elixir: (2,12) height 7
2. Faith Rod: (8,4) height 4
3. Fairy Harp: (9,5) height 4
4. Kaiser Plate: (10,5) height 4

Exits:
(2,2) height 2
(3,4) height 3
(4,1) height 1
(6,0) height 1
(10,7) height 3

Valkyries is kind of similar to Nogias in that you start with much better positioning due to holding the higher ground. The
snakey nature of the map makes it a bit more difficult to reach the enemy, but you're a (wo)man with Magic Guns and
Calculators, I'm sure you'll figure it out.

Amusingly, curing confusion doesn't technically require damage; as Junk's Faith is so low, this magical gun shot is going
to deal zero damage. That's still enough to knock him back to his senses.

Incidently, I made Junk a Squire with the idea of turning him into a Mime but I'm not sure that's happening without
some massive reader outcry. So speak up, all three of you!



The Faith Rod is kind of interesting in that it confers "Faith" to it's wielder; even Junk, who has long shunned God and
has recently turned to debating former British Prime Ministers over the existence of Him would turn into Ned Flanders
(Lazy pop culture reference: check!).

The Harp is pretty much there to auto-equip itself when you change into the Bard job to get Move +3, but it's actually
kind of nifty, causing Charm 25% of the time when it hits.

When I say "nifty" I of course mean "functionally worthless."




Jessica ends up getting confused by the Mindflare, but luckily stumbles into the last item on the map. The Kaiser Plate
is a pretty solid shield that offers a nice 46% evade/20% magic evade and strengthens Fire, Lightning, and Ice attacks.
Of course, none of the classes who can use a shield naturally have an elemental attack, Geomancers aside (and those
attacks are fairly rare).




A fitting end to the fight. Incidently, bringing a low-faith unit not-equipped-with-a-faith-rod is an excellent thing to pair
with a Calculator. Not only will you then rarely lose to amusing confusion shennanegins, but many times you can open
with CT (Charge Time) + "4/5" + Holy/Flare and auto-win. A unit using Excalibur works too since it can absorb Holy
attacks.

Okay, these quotes are getting a bit disturbing. If you don't get it, read the name of the level backwards.

1. Elixir: (0,0) height 1
2. Iga Knife: (0,11) height 7
3. Excalibur: (2,8) height 18
4. Elixir: (6,11) height 11

Exits:
(1,2) height 0
(3,4) height 10
(4,2) height 0
(6,0) height 1
(6,4) height 0

Sorry, the terrain in this level makes it very difficult to capture every important square in a single screenshot. The elixir,
as the screenshot above indicates, is in the very corner of the map.



Goblins, Squids, and now trees. They don't have any evasion but I give em some Calculated Holy because they've got
a lot of HP (Remember that Flare can be avoided through M.Ev).




This second Excalibur to go with the one Orlandu came with is a real treat to find, especially since by this point you're
probably put Ramza back in Squire (and you've got enough special characters to use it anyway).

The Iga Knife? Less so. I mean, it's a pretty good Ninja weapon but trading 2 WP for a 25% chance of inflicting "Don't
Act" with a Spell Edge is a difficult trade to make, and neither compete with Martial Arts either.

One interesting thing about this map is that you'll find movement difficult. That's because quite a few of the tiles on
the map are considered "River" tiles which causes units inside to act as if they're waist-high in water.




This map's terrain does a weird swirly thing that loops down to the ground. It's actually one of the neater maps in
Deep Dungeon (and one of the smallest too). Shame these Dryads are completely useless here; one of the quirks about
Dryads (and many monsters) is their inability to stand on water. This means that quite a few tiles are completely
inaccessible to them. You could probably sit at the top using Throw Stone at them exclusively and win.

I stick to the good ol "Spear Totheface" technique that has served me well thus far.



And that's half of Deep Dungeon done! I was planning on doing it all at once in one massive update, but given the
amount of extra effort that would take and how patiently you've all been waiting (seriously!) I'll get to the rest of it in
the near future (the screen shots are done, they just needs to be formatted and the text written).

One thing I am going to do (maybe even today) is give you guys a list of everyone's skills such that perhaps people
who are interested in building the "final" party can do so?

Oh man I haven't updated about the adventures of Guts at all recently either! Seriously if I'm not careful Comb
Stranger is going to win everything forever.

See you next time! I mean, er...

To be continued...

Fun fact about Deep Dungeon: the names of the floors roughly describe the overall story arc of Apocalypse Now. Hence: NOGIAS (which is Saigon backwards), TERMINATE with extreme prejudice, the River DELTA, Ride of the VALKYRIEs, MLAPAN (Napalm), a run-in with a TIGER, (the) HORROR, etc. As badly maligned as the PS1 localization may be (and rightly so), I love how they managed to sneak this little easter egg into the game.

*mimes a mime*

Something I didn't know! Papps, you win the prize!

- Eddie

I'm helping!

Ah, one thing I forgot to mention. My favourite part about the Apocalypse Now naming scheme is the line of thinking it invites with it. By relating the Deep Dungeon to the movie, the localization team was (I believe) teasing at the idea that Elidibs is a sort of Colonel Kurtz-esque figure in the FFT world. It lines up surprisingly well under scrutiny as well, with both of them being war heroes with a mysterious air of power surrounding them that went AWOL and got caught up and consumed by their own inner demons, (though, granted, Ramza only happens upon Elidibs by chance instead of being ordered to actively seek him out). It's not that it's just a clever reference, but it's one that adds some really interesting flavour to the game's world as well.

It's a shame that the localization team wasn't given enough time to do a proper translation of the game. Little tidbits like this hint that they could've done a really awesome job of it if they were given a chance.

EDIT: On that note, I request that we name the Byblos Capt. (Benjamin) Willard. That way, the allusion will be complete.

I didn't know about Tia or the Apocalypse Now references. I learned two somethings today!

Also mad for mimes.

'Tweren't just the localization team.

Sixth rule about Deep Dungeon: you don't talk about Deep Dungeon! ... OK, that's not really a rule.

In my opinion the Deep Dungeon rules were interesting in theory but kind of annoying in practice.

Beowulf is also really useful here. But did you kick him to the curb?

I agree. I wish more games did this or something like it.

Hey! I think there's at least four of us... Eh. I'm neutral on the Mime issue. I've seen them in my playthroughs so it wouldn't be anything new for me but I guess not everyone has actually seen them in action. My issue with Mimes (and Calculators) is that while they're pretty powerful it's also a giant pain in the ass to use them effectively. I find it easier and just as effective to do other things - like give a spellcaster Draw Out as a secondary ability.

I usually prefer the Bloody Strings for my Bards.

Huh! I stand corrected then; I assume that the changes in the PSP version were to be closer to the original instead of a rewrite.

That said, the fact that WotL went with incredibly lame dungeon names instead is just another strike against that version, to be honest. Seriously, "the Crevasse"? "The Stair"? Ugh, blech.

Never seen mimes in action but they don't sound that interesting. Unless I'm way off base there, I say don't bother with them.

Without a Mime, this will be the best FFT LP made to date.

With a Mime, it will be the best for all eternity.

Your move, - Eddie.

The crystal sheds its light silently....