My headcanon theme music for a pretty epic game segment.
Summary: The party wanders over towards Eblan, which is on fire. It’s under attack by Ifrit and his toasty minions. Ifrit hunts them through the castle, but eventually Edge confronts him to save the Eblanians. Rydia joins him, then the rest of the party, before finally unshackling him. The slowest confrontation in the history of time itself continues in Baron.
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Mithril
-Not much here. Just some potions.
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Overworld
-Found another meteor in a forest, but this was a Monster-in-a-Box. With three Dark Sages (moon mages).
-Ow.
-Died about seven times before finally winning. They move SUPER fast, usually getting in two full cycles of attacks before I got one. Eventually I remembered Spider Silk to slow them down, which helped, and had to use multiple Firagas per Dark Sage.
-Nice reward, a knife for Edge called “Mage Masher,” but HOLY CRAP was that hard.
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Eblan
-Castle’s on fire! It’s Ifrit!
-Shifted phase to the Waning Moon before entering to boost my melee.
-Ifrit is just at the entrance to a tower, not in the throne room or wherever a boss would be. Interesting.
-He keeps popping up, hitting us, and running away.
-Melt Golem looks REALLY cool!!
It’s not as creepy as Malboro, but I do not want this guy angry with me.
-Ifrit shows up, but I have to run since magic can’t touch him. This is like the end of Edge’s Tale.
-While mechanically I don’t love Ifrit popping up, since I just run, I like the story feel of it. Instead of killing trash and then a boss fight at the end, it’s like a monster is stalking us through the castle. Like a horror movie.
-Not having a white mage really hurts here. Yes, Edge has “Heal Pill,” but it’s single target only, and pretty weak.
-Fire blocks me from some of the tower treasure. Maybe once I kill Ifrit, I can reach it.
-Luca, I like you, but you’re slow as fuck.
-Hee! A save point, so I set up a wooden cottage and take a nap. In a burning castle. While being stalked by an enraged Eidolon fire god.
-Throne room. The citizens of Eblan are trapped in here.
-And so Edge CHALLENGES Ifrit! To distract him, so the citizens can escape.
Uh oh.
-Aaaaand he gets WHOMPED by hellfire. Last words: worry for Rydia.
-wtf
-is that
-IT’S RUBICANTE!!! WTFWTFWTF
-How the FUCK is Rubicante here? Why the FUCK is Edge back to full health? What the FUCK is happening? Is he trying to help Edge?
-Seriously. I feel like Jay at the end of “Dogma.” Head to 2:50 of the following clip to see my reaction seeing Rubicante again. Spoilers for the movie, of course.
-Rydia came to help!
-“Flood” does no damage, although Rubicante isn’t covered in his cloak. Melee seems to be the way to go.
-Rubicante hasn’t attacked. He just stands there taunting Edge. “What’s the matter? Have you been defanged?” “Is that all the spirit you’ve got?”
I am rubber, you are glue.
-RUBiCANTE: “Now recall it. That true flame which has been etched into you.” He then cast “Inferno” on Edge and Rydia, a fiery tornado spell. It doesn’t do damage, but ends the combat, and Rubicante disappears.
-This fight (or hallucination or SOMETHING?) gave Edge an idea, that an explosion will help quell Ifrit’s fire. Fighting fire with fire, literally. Um. Is that a science thing that ever happens? Either way, it’s pretty cool in this context.
-New band attack with Rydia, “Inferno”!! WOOHOO!! Part of my joy is that a band attack between the two brings my ship of them a step closer to reality.
-BRING IT, IFRIT
-The rest of the party joins in!
Attempt #1: Death. Fiery, brutal death.
Attempt #2: Death. Even more fiery and brutal.
Attempt #3: Success! Barely. Ifrit may have a soft enrage timer, since near the end he was spamming Firaga.
-I’m still not really sure who Rubicante was. A vision? A piece of Edge, like with Kain? A ghost? That he was actually Rubicante’s spirit is entirely possible. Rubicante definitely seems like the kind of dude to help out Edge just because he wants to see Edge be his best. The fact that Rydia was in combat makes the ghost theory even more likely.
BFFs.
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Baron
-Evil Moon Cecil challenges Kain, and demanding Ceodore’s help. How about you die in a fire, EMC?
When paladins collide
-Jump, Kain, jump! We’re doing good damage, but then Cecil whacks us, we fall to our knees (wow, that sentence didn’t come out exactly right), and then the fight fades back to…
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Eblan
-Some of the treasure blocked by fire now opens to us.
-Everyone’s like, “I got this, do you thing.” Time to move on.
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Next time: more world exploration, possibly more Eidolons to unshackle.
