HSUP B TCELES - Let's Play FF1! Again!

Heh, I've actually found myself saying (or at least thinking it) while playing games since the first FF LP. So ... a meme of two?

More games need classical guitar renditions. "Vamo' Alla Flamenco" from Black Mages II is fantastic as well.

Heck, you're not alone. I've said it myself once or twice, though I forgot where I got it from until now.

In all honesty, I get heartbroken over the great LPs that fade away, and there are a lot of them. I mourn for Suikoden II, and Star Control II, and Illusion of Gaia, and Mega Man X2, and, and, and...

Wow... It's strange to contemplate this game with Phoenix Down in it. And a way of restoring magic.

Don't forget "mysterious hole in the middle of a fold that has no known origin." Hated those.

Sad how getting ICE is such a massive event in old-school FF1, and here Blizzard is pretty much ignorable (for the moment - the tweaks to the calculations make it important later, of course).

But at least I finished Mother 3! ...not that it didn't take me forever.

I played through on the weekend with Fi/Fi/Th/Rm, and I learned a couple things. Yay!
The int stat makes my Rm cry now, he dealt half as much damage with thundara as Ika at twice his level. Now he is more useful for nulElement and Haste (and temper), and his regular attacks. Which is probably an improvement even if it made me kinda sad.
Stat-wise I think he had half as much hp as my thief for quite a while, and somewhere near lvl 20 I think he had 18 int, but I can't be sure because I gained levels so fast.

The only item drops I really noticed were the status healing items from the enemies that cause those statuses, ice shields from frost wolves, and a really sweet Rwiz-only sword from the new Badmen.

Out of curiosity, did you take his armor off too or leave it on? How does his DEF and EVA stats change at this point if you do that?

In the original NES version an unarmored BB's ABSORB stat was equal to his level, which meant it was best to leave him naked until silver bracelets became available. It looks like DoS has changed up the formulas though, so I don't know how it works in this version.

I'll touch on this in a future update, but yeah, it's better to leave him totally naked.

The Optimal button on the Equipment screen doesn't know this, though. That button has been bad news ever since it first popped up in FF6.

"Why, yes, this cursed item is a perfect equipment choice!"

That or the stupid boomerangs. It's like it thinks it's Dragon Quest.

I'm also guilty of that.

Wanted to make a point - the Rat Tail isn't the most important thing in there. For a lot of solo runs, the Heal Staff and / or Zeus Gauntlet COMPLETELY change the game.

♪♪ Dungeon ♪♪

The Marsh Cave is the first real dungeon in the game, and if you've read the previous LPs you already know how dangerous it can be. It's only slightly easier in DoS (because your characters, on average, are stronger), but more importantly, it's friendlier. Because you can save your game anywhere it's no longer super-risky to go after treasure boxes or explore the other nooks and crannies of the cave. There isn't a lot of great treasure down here, but since there's no chance of me getting stunlocked and losing a run why not go after it?


I've never been clear on whether or not Darkness has worked. As you can see it doesn't seem to bother BlBelt that much. In any case it cures itself after combat so there's no reason to run around with a bunch of Eyedrops... even though since I'm playing the DoS version I could if I wanted to.

(Er, I think. Does this game have Eyedrops? Who cares.)


On the top floor of the cave is a Broadsword, which gives Zach a nice boost in ATK without sacrificing any ACC.


Of course, no amount of ATK or ACC can crack a monster with outrageous DEF, like these Green Slimes. You either hope for a critical (which BlBelt and his 4 hits are happy to oblige us with) or use magic. Ika's not licking his fingers in this picture; he's preparing to rain electric death down on his enemies.


There are treasure boxes on the second floor, but they're duplicates of the boxes on the top floor. For some reason (possibly memory shortages?) FF1 hides some treasures in two separate boxes; open one, and you've cleaned both. DoS sometimes changes the contents of boxes, but it doesn't do anything with the duplicate chests.


The bottom floor is enormous, and contains sixteen rooms laid out on 4x4 a grid. Many of these have treasures, one contains the boss fight, and four of them are locked (for now).

The first row: Phoenix Down, empty, empty, 300-ish gil. We also clear L11 while we're at it.


We immediately put that Phoenix Down to work rescuing Ika from a faceplant... and thus does the previous alternate reality timeline catch up with me!

If this were an NES run, I'd have to abandon ship at this point. The bosses of the Marsh Cave are Piscodemons, and you have to fight between two and four of them. I could probably handle two without Thundara, but four would be pushing it. This also means Ika will be a little behind in the EXP from now on, but that's no big deal.


Second row: Copper Armlet, Cottage, empty, empty. Oh, and L12 GET... for everyone but Ika.

If, for some reason, you're being really stingy with your money, you can get away with equipping this Copper Armlet and buying one fewer than you need back in Elfheim. (Example: an all-mage game, where everyone needs expensive magic and an Armlet.) Actually you can get away with buying two fewer, if you don't mind letting one mage go naked through the Piscodemon fight, because we'll be coming back here later for another even better free Armlet.

Some of these "empty" rooms actually contain already-cleared duplicate chests. I'm not certain of this, but you might be able to get everything in the Marsh Cave without ever visiting the top floor, were you so inclined.


Just as Zach's shiny new weapon lets him catch up with Percy's damage, Percy pulls back ahead by earning his fourth hit. Thieves are so awesome in this version, you guys!

Remember: Zach is pulling his weight by eating up most of the damage. It might look as though he and Percy are pretty close in HP, but Zach effectively has three or four times as much thanks to his much higher DEF. The moral of the story is: in this version, Warriors and Thieves both have their roles to play. Think of Zach as my SEN and Percy as my COM if that helps, and if you're a gigantic nerd.


Third row: Empty, Piscodemons, empty, 380-some gil.

If you don't care about the treasure in this place, and just want to get out with the Crown as fast as possible, all you need to remember is two over, three down.

♪♪ Battle ♪♪

I was actually kind of hoping the boys would run into four Piscodemons instead of just two, but oh well. They can still hit pretty hard, but Ika can give as well as he takes. They have a little more than 80-odd HPs, so one blast of Thundara makes this a single-round fight.


The utter randomness of this fight in the original game is what makes the Marsh Cave such a pain. Make no mistake: the cave itself can destroy you. It's got several monsters who can stun-lock you, several more who can poison you, and it's fairly large as well. (You only have to go through a small part of it, but a first-time player wouldn't know that.) The bosses, though, are the kicker: the fight ranges from moderately difficult to flat-out impossible depending on how many ZOIBERGs you spawn. So you can have a great run through the cave only to get your shit kicked in by four ZOIBERGs, or you can luck out with a two-ZOIBERG fight then get picked apart by a mob of undead on your way out.

I don't know how many players gave up on FF1 because of this cave, but I'm betting it's been quite a lot over the years. I feel like it tries to throw too much at you too early in the game; later dungeons manage to be more challenging without being all-or-nothing like this. (Although there are a couple all-or-nothing caves left, too...)

Our boys don't have any trouble, though. They've got the Crown and now it's time to leave.


Speaking of leaving: they get L13 while doing so. Ika catches up a few fights later and picks up Magic Level 4! He'll be able to learn one of the most useful spells in the game when we get back to Elfheim.


Once again, the guys decide to camp outside of King Niceguy's house. This time they use a Cottage so as to completely heal themselves, as opposed to the partial healing they'd get from a Sleeping Bag or a Tent. (Not that they need healing. King Niceguy isn't a threat to them at all, right?)

By the way, in the NES version it's TENT -> CABIN -> HOUSE. In DoS it's Sleeping Bag -> Tent -> Cottage. If that's at all confusing to you, we have something in common!

♪♪ Mini Boss Battle ♪♪
Okay so it turns out King Asshole was a big fat liar but whatever, we all already knew that. I've also already talked to death about what Astos can do in a fight, and I won't beat that drum anymore. Perhaps as penance for eighty dozen dead FUKTs, Astos decides to roll over like a bitch without even trying to cast a single spell.

Percy's hits in this fight are miles above anything FUKT was capable, of even though he was fifteen levels higher.

Is... is it okay if I never speak of Astos again? I kind of never want to speak of Astos ever again.


He-who-must-not-be-named coughts up Matoya's Crystal Eye upon collapsing into a pile of grease and guts. Also, all this fighting have left the boys rollin' fat. It's time to do some serious shopping once they return victoriously to Elfheim.


L14! We're kind of past the point where individual level-ups are game-changing, but it's kind of tradition at this point and anyway I think it's cool to have some metric of how a party progresses through the game. I'll be sure to hit any hightlights, though.


♪♪ Shop ♪♪

After resting up back at town, the guys drop some gil. First they pick up a full satchel of Potions, since this is the only source of healing they have. Next, the buy Ika his most powerful spell: Haste. How powerful? Well...


Haste outright doubles the number of hits the recipient can dish out. This translates, on average, to a little over double damage. This single hit could have killed anything in the game I've been up against so far, except As-- that one ugly green guy.


♪♪ Matoya's Cave ♪♪

Matoya rewards the return of her Crystal Eye with a bottle of Jolt Tonic. Also, she has no interest at all in boning any of us. And why would she? She has an entire cave full of vibrating brooms.

Anyway, maybe this more archaic form of Jolt Cola is just what the Elfheim prince needs to bolster his get-up-and-go.


♪♪ Castle Cornelia ♪♪

Way to repeat what I just said, big guy!

I said I was going to try and stick closer to the story for this LP, which means I probably should have come here to Elfheim Castle before now, but man... old habits die hard. One way or another, though, the boys come into possession of the Mystic Key, so it's all gravy.

Pretty much every important location so far has had locked doors that can now be opened, and pretty much all of them have decent treasure to grab. Here's your official MYSTIC KEY CHECKLIST:

Room #1: Right her in Casa de Elfheim. Zach gets his first decent set of gloves here, but we're going to replace them pretty quickly. There's also a Mythril Hammer here if you happen to have a White Mage.


♪♪ The Ruined Castle ♪♪

Room #2: Western Keep. There are three boxes here, all with spiked squares in front of them. A black mage with Fira (which I also picked up for Ika) could farm here for hours raking in the delicious, delicious EXP. Or you could just open the boxes from the sides and avoid the fights altogether.

Before we get to the loot here... are you keeping up with the music? DoS uses a few neat tricks to bolster FF1's nice-but-dated soundtrack. In the NES version "Castle Cornelia" and "The Ruined Castle" were the same song. In DoS they share a melody, but are mixed two different ways, with the latter sounding much more like a dungeon than an inhabited keep. The other trick they like to use is playing around a bit with instruments and harmonies after the first loop, effectively doubling the length of a lot of tracks. You can hear this especially in Castle Cornelia, which picks up an organ harmony on its second loop and a snare drum on the third, without ever deviating from the original melody. I far prefer this to the more typical method of completely re-writing the track, where the original melody is often lost in an ocean of orchestrated muddle thereby defeating the whole purpose of remixing the track to begin with.

To be fair, FF remakes/remixes/callbacks usually get this right. Compare these three tracks:
Not only is the original melody very much alive in both remixes, but each remix brings its own stuff to the table. (The DoS version even has elements of the FF9 version. Joy!)

To see someone fuck this up, we need look no further than Capcom:
The original is already a pretty speedy high-energy kind of tune; kicking the pitch up to make it sound even speedier is not at all necessary. That's even assuming your ear is sharp enough to hear the melody hidden somewhere in all those overbearing drums. The loop in the original sounds natural, where the beat winds down, then back up again for the next rotation. The remix just kind of... stops entirely for four or five seconds. The original maintains a pretty even pace throughout the song, where the remix tries to hit the nitrous at around the 38-second mark. The whole thing just falls apart entirely, in my opinion.

I kind of went off on a tangent there... sorry. Where was I? Oh yeah: PHAT LEWT.


New weapons for Percy and Ika. Percy's is only a temporary boost until we get him an even better weapon later this update. Ika just gets a few extra points so he can pick off stragglers in fights where I don't want to waste 15 MP.


Here, BlBelt shows that he's reached the point where his stats actually worsen if you try to equip him with gear. Since he has no gear worth equipping anyway, we're just going to let him run around naked.

WARNING: BORING TECHNICAL STUFF
In the NES version, a Bl.BELT's ABSORB rating was equal to his level, as long as he wasn't wearing armor. Of course, like everything else in that goddamn game, it's bugged all to shit. Instead of checking to see if he's wearing armor it checks to see if he's wearing a weapon. Unlike most crazy FF1 bugs, though, you can use this one to your benefit! The game makes the (bugged) check at two spots: level-ups, and on the armor screen. So you can give you Bl.BELT or MASTER, say, a Ribbon and ProRing, then go level him up. As long as you never go into your armor screen after that point, you'll enjoy both the special protection of the Ribbon/ProRing and the awesome natural naked ABSORB! (Most useful in solo runs, of course.)

Now that the bug is fixed, though, it is not BlBelt's destiny to remain naked forever. However great his natural DEF might get, it simply is not better than having the magical protection afforded him by Ribbons etc. When he starts needing equipment I'm just gonna do it the old fashioned way: give him the second-best Armlet I have, and leave him on the back line where he's less likely to get injured.


♪♪ Dungeon ♪♪

Rooms #3-#6: Bottom floor of the Marsh Cave. (More level-ups woo.)


Shiny new Silver Armlet for Percy. Huge DEF boost without any drop in EVA. I haven't actually experimented with this, but I'd almost say that two Thieves taking turns in the top rank is a better option in DoS than a Warrior/Thief pair: better damage output without sacrificing much survivability. Let's revisit this idea after promotions, though, because Knights and Ninjas change the game up some.

That is, if you guys want me to promote. If you don't, that's cool. I'm cool. We're all cool.


Second room is an Antidote (booo), third room is empty (BOOO-URNS).


Last room is some gil. All four of these locked rooms have spiked Piscodemon squares, which bump us up to L16.

What ho? BlBelt's ACC is over 64? That means...


...two more hits. Bigeyes = bigtears, and your tears are delicious to me.

♪♪ Chaos Shrine ♪♪

Rooms #7 & #8: The now Garland-less Chaos Shrine. There are two pretty sweet swords here: the first is a totally decent buff for Zach and, unlike the special weapons in the original, is not bugged and actually will do increased damage to spellcasters.


In the other room is the equally decent Werebuster... which Percy can't equip. So I gave it to Zach, and gave Percy the Rune Blade, replacing his barely-used Falchion.


If there's anything in this green world of ours I hate, it's distorted air.

Anyway I'm lost now. What say you, Dancing Girl!?


Riiiight. Mystic key. Got it.


♪♪ Castle Cornelia ♪♪

Rooms #9 & #10: Castle Cornelia. Most of what's here is junk, including this Iron Armor. It'll get used for a few minutes, but it's destined to be vendor trash like the rest of the stuff here.


...except this! Important quest item is go! The question is, what do I do with it?


Ah, yes, I seem to remember something about this. Well, let's hook a dwarf-brother up.

♪♪ Matoya's Cave ♪♪





Room #11: Mt. Duergar. And that about does it for the insane stat boosts for now. Phew!


Wow. Was it as good for you as it was for me?

So we've blown apart the isthmus that prevented us from leaving Newbie Sea. Now what?


...Dancing Girl, you have failed me for the last time. Now get your bitch ass back in the kitchen and make me a pie.


Looks like we're on our own now, guys. Wait... what's that whirlpool?

Next time: "All things in this vorld are destined to end in death..."

Right here.

When I first played FF, I acquired the Crown by the skin of my teeth. Then some bully monster separated my head from my shoulders on the trip back to the surface. I was so pissed off, I never picked up the game again.

I also lacked the foresight to pick up enough PUREs, so throw that grinding "poisoned" noise on top of my frustrations. "SCREEEEEEEE"

Thank you for finally posting the Chaos Shrine music, it is my favourite.

Also, I loved Maverick Hunter X, but that game completely missed the point of what made the music in the original Mega Man X so bloody awesome.

Exception: Sigma Stage 1.

FF1 is the only RPG let's play I can ever read because of the snappy pace. I never tire of reading about it, though I've never actually played it. I am interested in seeing how they reinterpreted the blighted region near the lich.

You should absotively show off the promoted classes! After all, you'll be able to heal without spamming the Heal Staff or Potions or whatever!

...sorta.

BlBelt's DEF would have been 8 with only a Copper Armlet on?! Anyone else would net a DEF of 4 from that, wouldn't they? (As Percy and Ika apparently did.)

Do Monks in DoS get an inherent DEF boost even when they wear armor? In the original NES FF1 their armor was effectively identical to that of White/Black Mages/Wizards in the second half of the game, perhaps the designers of DoS thought that needed to be rebalanced upwards slightly.

I'm not sure, but I do know that the bonus part of the game offers armor designed for monks and their promotions.

In case it is not already obvious, I have done the heresy of playing the remake without ever playing the original.

You know, while I find the PURE spell nigh worthless considering how you can get way more PURE items with that 4000G than you'd get spell charges in the NES version, I totally bought and used Poisona on a regular basis in Dawn of Souls. I'm getting a whole new respect for that implemented MP system, even though I'd love to see the charges return in a Hard Mode in a potential future FFI update.

I think you may be on to something there.

Aw, yeah. My first main FF game was IX, and when I reached Gurgu Volcano I found myself thinking that the soundtrack had suddenly become quite a bit more awesome. Imagine my pleasant surprise when I played Final Fantasy I (DoS version), and found myself listening to the same tune!

Who here thinks the Marsh Cave was Kawazu's invention?

Kawazu isn't credited anywhere for helping with FF1, as far as I know. I'm not sure what else he's done before FFII, since most of what most people associate with early Square products (Deep Dungeon series) were actually products of HummingBird Soft and only published by Square, and most of the actual Square products and not Square-published stuff seems to be a plethora of adventure games of various kinds, a few shooters, and 3D Worldrunner and its predecessors. Final Fantasy wasn't even Square's first RPG, as that honor goes to the Magic of Cleopatra which was released half a year before in July of '87.

I'm not sure Kawazu was even with Square at that point, although my history that far back is fuzzy on the details.