Cage of Binding
-Hey, it’s Movers.
I remember you guys! They and some other monsters drop various Goddess Keys.
-This is the southern part of the Howling Fang map. A prison. But though it has normal cells that I can open and get treasure in, to access new parts I have to open these super ominous doors etched with designs of the goddess.
-It does a great job of building anticipation and terror, similar to the feeling I had as I ventured down, down, down in the final dungeon of FFIV: The After Years. (http://coldrungaming.blogspot.com/2014/08/ffiv-after-years-part-56-revenge-is.html)
-Speaking of which, I feel like this is the final dungeon but I’ve been so wrong before that I’m not staking too much on this. I’ve only completed about 50% of the missions at this point. I’m okay with that. It may mean that I’m only halfway through the game, but the way the missions are set up makes it feel like you have to grind through repeating missions to get strong enough and high enough level for full completion.
I’d say… 60/40, 60% that this is the final dungeon or at least part of the final path.
It’s also possible that this is like the end of World of Balance in FFVI, and I’ll unleash the Goddess, some wild shit happens, and I have to quest through a whole new world. This seems unlikely, given that FFVII didn’t mention anything like that, but possible through any number of magical memory-wipe retcons.
-More wall scrawlings from unsuspecting Shinra employees sent here as test subjects.
-The Movers are annoying, but they’re also kind of cute! Three bouncy balls that sometimes form a little tower and throw themselves at me. I want them as a pet irl.
…or do I? When my cat wants breakfast, he meows. When Movers want breakfast, they’d probably use Delta Attack and shoot lightning at me.
-I hope I find the next Goddess Materia here.
-My favorite materia at this point isn’t flashy, but it’s HP++. It gives me such a needed buffer for some of the hard-hitting abilities.
-Got access to the Laboratory.
-There’s a note here about how five test samples escaped, didn’t transform, and are expected to perish naturally. I wonder if that’s referring to Cloud and Zack. Probably not, since it seems unlikely that notes on research done at the Shinra Mansion would wind up here.
-Another note says the samples were sighted at the subterranean lake. AHA! The escaped samples were the G Caina, etc.
-COOL! In the Laboratory, I get to fight materia. A bit like the crystal boss fight in FFV.
When materia attacks!
-Door to a new section of an old area.
---
Howling Fang
-The south part of the prison we saw before.
-Some of the prison doors were busted wide open. From inside. And a note inside from a prisoner about being experimented on and needing to get out. Horror movie stuff.
-Eye monsters in here, Evileyes, use Stop Gaze, so I swap an anti-Stop materia in for an anti-Curse.
-Another prison wall note.
These prisoners were pissed. Rightfully so.
-Thank goodness for the map here. Helps me keep track of where I’ve been really well in such a labyrinthine area.
-holy crap, just fought a TANK.
-Coming to the end of the passage. Very nervous.
-Oh. The end of the passage just takes me back to the main Howling Fang starting point. Let’s see if I can access that behemoth now.
-That’s a big ten-four.
”Behemoth King.”
-Quake wrecks it hard, dealing 9,999. It casts Quake back on me, but I can time my dodges to avoid it.
-Victory! He drops the “Goddess Wing Key.” The door beyond him has a different sigil on it than all the prior doors.
-I head back to the save point.
---
Next time: Whatever lies beyond the Behemoth King.
