Cultists’ Tower
-There’s Strago. Marching with a line of cultists. Right in front of my face. *facepalm*
-Before continuing on, I swap out Terra and Umaro, and swap in Shadow and Relm, in case of any interaction. I want to why Shadow left Relm with Strago.
-Super creepy music.
-Relm (as am I) is really disturbed to see Strago walking with the cultists, seemingly hypnotized.
-And it’s even worse/better. He’s not hypnotized or brainwashed. He just gave up hope that she was still alive, and if I understand Kefka at all, despair would likely be core to that cult.
STRAGO: You think I was really gonna check out before you, you old geezebag?
RELM: Oh, you’re as foul-mouthed as ever, bless your heart!
-I love this.
-Well. That was easy. Strago’s back with us now.
-Some thieves outside offer to tell me about hidden treasure for 100k gil. Fine. He says there’s an ancient castle in the desert around Figaro loaded with treasure. Nice! Had no idea.
-The cultists gave their souls over to Kefka. (Not sure if literal or figurative, or if that even matters.)
-Only magic works inside. Um, Shadow…. You may have to take a seat. New party is Strago, Relm, Edgar, and Sabin. Edgar’s not really magicky, but I remember someone back in Figaro saying that loved ones and friends can snap people out of their coltishness. That may have just been referring to Relm/Strago, and probably was, but on the off-chance Edgar and Sabin can help any Figaro Kefka-ites, I’ll keep them.
A realistic depiction of my early experiences with the Cult of Kefka.
-FUCK THAT.
-I die horribly. So horribly. So so so horribly. They didn’t just mean non-magic isn’t effective. They meant the only actions I have available are magic (not even blue magic, just esper magic) or items. Sabin and Edgar, see ya. Oh, and some monsters have Reflect.
-New party: Relm, Terra, Celes, and Strago.
Climbing the tower.
-Dispel doesn’t work against Reflect on these monsters. Grrrr. Ok, reflecting damage off ourselves.
-Huh. Now we fight Magic Urns, who replenish our magic points. …ok.
-This is brutal.
-Come on, Coldrun. Be smart. Think.
*deep breath*
So far, I’ve just seen magic attacks. Let me try my four Reflect Rings.
MUCH better! Still hell on my mana, but I’m starting to win fights.
-I remembered what the thief said and pushed the wall right of the chest here. It opened a door on the level below. Got an “Air Anchor” tool.
-Halfway up the tower. I harbor rage in my heart right now. Let’s just say I deeply regret thinking Osmose wasn’t important until now.
-Hi, Dragon! It’s the Holy Dragon.
Success! Actually, a very easy fight. Its only damage was casting Holy, and our Reflect Rings prevented all of that. “Holy Lance” for a reward. Five down, three to go.
Level 80 and 90 magic enemies.
-Note to self: not EVERY enemy here has Reflect up. Most don’t. Don’t make this harder on yourself than you need to, Coldrun.
-Top of the tower.
-A chest. “Soul of Thamasa.” No guardian? No boss?
-No sooner spoken than broken. Here come the guardians.
-All the cultists want the treasure back. A ghost (boss?) starts flying around.
Magic Master.
Every time we hit him with an elemental spell, he casts “Barrier Change” to alter his vulnerabilities. He blinks yellow, red, green, then blue, indicating I think the progression of vulnerabilities. Or maybe it’s random. I’m not sure. We can carefully orchestrate a symphony of attacks, weaving the proper ones in at the proper time. Or…
ULTIMAAAAA! Celes doesn’t care a whit for your puny resists. She is the true magic master. And especially when Celes has the Soul of Thamasa relic equipped which grants Dualcast and can spam Ultima, using Osmose whenever she runs slightly low on mana, she becomes power incarnate.
Basically…
[SPN S9 spoilers] http://oi60.tinypic.com/6garft.jpg
It almost worked, too. But he had one of those deathrattle spells that wiped our party out, an Ultima cast of his own. Next time, I’ll cast Reraise on one of us.
-VICTORY HAHAHAHAHAHAAHAH YES!!! BITE ME, CULTISTS
-The game’s not letting me use a Teleport Stone. I have to walk all the way out. What sadistic fuck designed this place? Whatever. Osmose Dual Cast Ultima makes the way down way quicker.
-Finally. Done. Our long national nightmare is over. Still not sure why they felt the need to make me walk all the way back down.
-I actually like that dungeon in hindsight. It made me push my party to its limit. I ended up grinding a TON of spells out from different espers, and learned how to use my magicians much more effectively than before.
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Next time: Stuff? Yeah. Brain’s mush right now. I think I’ll do a Veldt grind next with Gau, Relm, and Strago.
Note: I use save states. I don’t super abuse them (like, to get better damage rolls on spells in combat or anything weird like that), but I do save regularly. This is one ofthose cases, like the final dungeon in FFIII, where save states makes my experience with this place not nearly as bad as playing it on a non-emulated system, so take my ability to complete this with a grain of salt.
If I were doing this on the SNES or GBA without save states, I have no doubt I’d have thrown things, given up, or both. Probably both.
