Camp Crescent Lake

Saddly no basket weaving or marshmellows

With the Earth Fiend defeated all is set right in Melmond. Actually the place still looks like a ruin but at least the people are happy. So now you need to go to the next place, a town called crescent lake. You reach Crescent lake by traveling along the south side of the continent until you reach the east side. Beware the monsters around crescent lake are rather strong so keep your guard up. Also take plenty of antidotes as the town item shop (in the android version) doesn't have an antidote although the area has poisonous monsters.

You can't find this in the NES version

There are plenty of things so buy in cresent lake. You can buy a bunch of mithril gear in this town and you can even get it before you finish the Earth cave and if you feel like making a bit of a sequence break you can get the gear before taking on the Earth cave. If you get the android version of the game you can also buy good items like hi potions and ether. There is also level 6 spells in this town but they won't be too useful until you get a high enough level.

Where you get the canoe

The important thing in this town though is the circle of sages on the right side of the town. They give a bunch of advice and cryptic hints about the plot of the game. In the important thing though is that you can get the canoe from one of the sages, however the sage will only give it to you if you have beaten the fiend of Earth. The canoe allows you to travel in rivers. Unlike the ship the the canoe goes with you wherever you go. With the canoe you are able to travel to the volcano and take on the fiend of fire. 

The first fiend

Take that floor

With the way open all you have to do is go down the other two floors of the Earth cave and revive the crystal at the shrine of the Earth Crystal. Sound's easy right? Well the first part of it is easy enough, as the monsters on levels four and five of the Earth cave aren't significantly stronger than those on the first three levels of the cave.

Lich in all it's terrible glory

At the bottom of the cave there is a small shrine and an orb in front of it. Talk to the orb and you will find that it is the fiend of Earth also known as the Lich. Of course you go into battle once you talk with it. The Lich is a much stronger boss than anything you have fought before. Even with my warrior and black belt hasted I wasn't able to do all that much damage to the fiend. I found the firaga and diara spells worked quite nicely against it though. The lich can deliver a lot of pain to the players as it has spells that attack the entire party as well as melee attack which can paralyze you just those of some other undead monsters. In the NES version of the game I remember the lich having 400 hp but in the android version of the game it has significantly more hp.

The first crystal is saved

After overcoming the lich I was able to revive the Earth crystal and complete the first fourth of my quest as the light warriors. There is even a teleportation device behind the shrine that transports you to the entrance of the Earth cave. So now you can return to Melmond with your head held high as you actually did light warrior stuff this time. 

Problems you can't kill

Floors, arch enemy

Even though you defeated the vampire everything is still going wrong with the Earth crystal and the surrounding lands. The problem is even though you are four awesome warriors and magicians, all of your power is useless against a beefed up floor tile. Even worse unlike the problems with the elf prince there is less of a trail of breadcrumbs for you to follow.

No attack on this titan

The solution is to leave the Earth cave and go to a cave in the west. When you go there, there is a titan blocking your path. However you have the star ruby that you find in the vampire's room, you can give the titan the ruby and he will wander off, satisfied with his new snack. Once the path is clear you can loot the treasure at the bottom of the cave as well as reach the stairs on the other side.

So there was more?

On the other side you can go to the other cave where there is a sage who just gives you a magic staff which allows you to destroy the floor plate. At least you don't have to get a pick ax. You can now go all the way down to the bottom of the Earth cave. 

Cave-ilvania

This monster packs a punch. 

Once you have leveled up to your satisfaction you can start taking on the rest of the Earth cave. There are a lot of strong monsters in the cave as well as quite a bit of nice treasure. One thing you need to watch out for is the earth elementals that you can run into whenever you step in front of a treasure chest. A hit from an Earth Elemental can take a big chunk out of your hp so be careful and get heal up before you open a treasure chest.

This so called boss is about as easy as a lot of the random monsters

The layout of the Earth cave is kind of confusing so be sure that you are strong enough before trying to take on the cave. To get to the second level you need to take the eastern route when you start on the first level. On the second level the stairs to the third level is on eastern part of the cave. Other than the Elementals there are plenty of monsters that can poison you as well as cockatrices which can turn you into stone.

Be sure to take this before you leave

On the third level you can find the vampire, It looks sort of like the rest of the bats but stands still in the middle of a room. Talk to it and it will transform into the vampire and fight you. The vampire isn't that strong as in my experience the vampire crumbled in the face of one barrage of a hasted warrior's sword blows. In the back of the room you can find a star ruby if you walk out the other door you see a plate on the floor which is emanating evil, enough though you can do nothing about it at the moment.

Town of Ruin

Looks nice like all the other towns

Once you travel past the canal the first town you will come to is the town of Melmond, surrounded by marshes. Go inside and you will see that Melmond isn't fairing all that well as there huge patches of ruined land, a bunch of tombstones and even the church where you revive your dead is ruined. You are also told that this is the town that is nearest to the earth crystal and as the light warriors, your job is to defeat the fiend of the earth and set things back to normal.

Yet up close things are different

There are plenty of things to get at the town of Melmond. Most notably this is the town where you can get level 5 spells, including the spell of life which is sort of the replacement for the church.  However you might need to level up a bit to use level 5 spells, especially if there is a red mage in your party. There is also the knight armor (steel armor in the NES version) which is great protection for the warrior but is also very expensive, costing 36000g.

Even more money, still no pants

If you want to level up fast one place that you can go to is the first level of the Earth cave. You go to the west and there is a corridor where you can find hill gigas (giants in the NES version). They are pretty strong opponents but on the up side they give out a lot of xp and over 800g for each one you defeat. Hopefully this will allow you to level up pretty fast. 

Tales of Looting

All rpgs are better with explosives

One of the great joys of old jrpgs is excitement you will find when you get a new key (dragon quest fans know this quite well) because once you get a new key you search all of the areas that you have been to and hopefully find new treasure. In Final fantasy this is what happens when you get the mystic key. There are several doors that can be opened by the key but in reality the only one you need to open is the one in Cornelia castle where you find the explosives that the dwarfs need to go open up the canal so you can get to the next area.

even better against the right foe

However there are several other doors with cool treasure in them. Most notably is the treasure in the temple of fiends. There you will find a couple of swords that are stronger than what you have already. Also in the elf castle you can find a mithril hammer to power up a white mage you have with your party. Other treasure is found in the castle where you fought Astos and at the bottom of the swamp cave. In fact with your slightly better levels and newfound weapons this might be the best time for a thorough looting of the place.

Added cutscene in remade versions of the game

To get the game progressing once again you need to visit the dwarfs on the west side of the sea. They have some more treasure to get as well as a smith on the northern section of the cave that wants some Adamant. However who you really need to talk to is the dwarf at the bottom of the cave. Give him the nitro powder and he will be able to clear a path for your ship to reach the wider oceans.

Grand fetch quest

I guess we were double crossed

Once you get the crown you have to get out of the swamp cave the same way you came. The next step is to return the crown to the king in the ruined castle. As it turns out he is actually Astos in disguise so you have to fight him. Astos isn't that strong of a boss but he can throw instant death attacks at you so you want to beat him as quickly as possible. Once you defeat him you will get the crystal eye.

The ultimate energy drink

If you remember the witch Matoya was missing her crystal eye, just like the one you got from defeating Astos. So next you need to take your ship up to her cave and return the crystal eye. If you were wondering why there was a stone harbor right next to her cave, it was for your convenience. Give her the crystal eye she will be so grateful that she will give you the jolt tonic (herb in the Nes version).

So was he keeping it on him while he slept?

You take the medicine that Matoya gave you to the sleeping elf prince. He will wake up right away (and in the android version get out of bed) and in according to the ancient prophecy give you the mystic key. 

A real dungeon

sure we trust you

If you talk to everyone in the elf village you find someone who says something about a castle in the west. If you go there you find no one except some bats and a king who asks you to retrieve his crown that was stolen by Astos and hidden in the swamp cave. To progress with the plot you need to help this completely innocent king that I don't suspect for a second of anything bad (wink wink) and go into the swamp cave to the south.

worse than on Nickelodeon 

The swamp cave is the first real dungeon of the game. I know there is technically the temple of fiends but you won't be able to waltz in this dungeon and fight the boss the first door you enter. There are a lot of difficult monsters that can mess you up if you are not prepared. In particular I suggest you get the fira spell and the diara spell from the elf town (called fire2 and harm2 in the nes version) as well as plenty of potions and ways to deal with poison.

No you can't be king in this game.

There is some nice treasure in the swamp cave but nothing vital except for the crown. To reach the crown you need to go the downward path then go down the stairs. Then go to the bottom and to the right, enter the door and go out the door to the right. On the third floor there is sort of a grid. The room with the crown is on the third row down and the second column from the left. When you approach the chest you will fight some piscodemons. They can hit pretty hard so have high hp when you fight them.

The quest for more money

The lovely lands of the elves

Once you get a ship you can travel the seas and can disembark any place that has a stone port. This opens up less areas that you originally think it would. the next place you should go to is the kingdom of Elfheim. The elves have a big problem in that their prince has been placed into a magical slumber by the dark elf Astos. To wake up the prince is perhaps most of the biggest fetch quest in the entire game.

Sadly not in this town in this version

What is more important right now is to buy all of the cool stuff you can get in the shops of Elfheim. There are level 3 and level 4 spells sold in the shops of the village. There is also some more equipment, depending on the version. In the original version of the game you can get the silver sword for your warrior for 4000g. This sword is removed some versions of the game including the one that I am playing. Instead I suggest you get a broadsword for your warrior and red mage in Pravoka. There are also the armor upgrades and getting all the spells you want. This is going to be pricey.

You would think with all that money they could buy some decent pants

Regardless of the version this means that you will probably need to grind for money at this time. My personal favorite way of doing this is to walk around Elfheim and fight the monsters there. You will run into ogres a lot of the time and they give you 195g for beating them. Just remember to keep a few antidotes on hand because a lot of the monsters that aren't ogres are either snakes or spiders. 

A tale of pirates and stuff

So with the princess rescued the king keeps his promise and rebuilds the bridge. I guess he can care about infrastructure when he wants to.When you cross the bridge you are treated to a scene of scrolling text about how you are now beginning your journey. It also raises the question of just how did those light warriors get to Cornelia in the first place if there was no way to leave the place until just now.

There are two places of interest on the other side of the bridge. The first is the cave of the witch Matoya. There are four reasons to go there right now. 1.To get a clue about the future plot of the game. 2.To get a couple of potions, that like almost every jprg you can take without reprocussion. 3. To find out how to see the world map by talking to the brooms (the mobile version the brooms say something different since the way you view the map is different. 4.To listen to the really cool Matoya theme.

The other point of interest is the village of Pravoka. There are some worthwhile things to buy including level 2 spells and some equipment. The other and more important thing is the village is now run by a gang of pirates. Try talking to the pirate captain and you get into a fight with the pirate gang. If you have full hp the fight shouldn't be too hard. I noticed the mobile version the pirates have more hp as they pretty much drop like flies in the NES version of the game. Once you beat the pirates the captain gives you a ship.

Garland says knock you down

Now on my fourth post I get to playing the game in earnest. As this is an rpg the what you need to do first after buying equipment is to walk around the first village and start grinding for xp. In final fantasy this means fighting imps in the forest near Cornelia. This brings us to one of the big changes in the mobile version of the game. In the NES version if you chose to target an enemy with more people than is needed to kill it the monster the extra characters end up wasting their turn. In the android version those extra characters attack other monsters. I know there are some purists who might decry this change as making the mobile version not authentic but especially given the prevalence of random battles in this game the change is something like going to a medieval fair and finding the lack of cholera to be unrealistic.

After a few minutes I leveled up and decided to go to the temple of chaos. It shouldn't be to difficult unless you are stupid like I was and forget to equip my armor and get my fighter killed. In the temple monsters are a bit tougher than the surrounding area. There is some treasure but the only thing worth getting before you get the mystic key is the leather cap you can find in the lower left room of the temple. Don't even try to go to the two rooms on the right as they are locked and not even having a thief with you will help you.

After making a second trip to the temple (after equipping the chain armor on my warrior) I was able to walk around the temple will little problem and by the end I suffered little damage. So decided to take Garland on. As a first boss Garland is kind of easy (I might have been over leveled at the time being level 5) but just attack him with with all of your characters and he should fall in a couple of turns. After you dispatch him the grateful princess Sara asks you to escort her back to the castle and you warp back to a grateful king who orders the bridge rebuilt and  a princess who gives you are lute for some reason (whose purpose is unknown at the moment). 

No Starfox

The mobile version of the game begins with a quick montage stating that the world is messed up but hope lies in four heroes known as the light warriors. In the original NES version this was all in text but in the mobile version there is some pictures to go with it.

Then the play is plopped in front of the castle and town of Cornelia. In the original version there was no point of going to the castle if you knew where the first dungeon was. In later versions it is pretty much the same but there is a little more information on Garland and you get to have a little speech with the king. As the story goes the strongest warrior in the land, Garland has kidnapped the princess Sarah. The king wants her back and if you do so he will rebuild the bridge in the north (he somehow doesn't care about the land's infrastructure).

Where you really need to go is the town to buy equipment. This is a bit easier in the mobile version as equipment is slightly cheaper, especially the spells which are 50g instead of 100g. So what I bought is a rapier for the warrior and red mage, some nunchuku for the monk and a hammer for the white mage (she can't use knives which makes her name all the more ironic). You can only get body armor in the starting town so I got some chain armor for the warrior and red mage and some leather armor for the monk. As for spells I got cure for the red mage and white mage, I got dia for the white mage and thunder for the red mage.

Final Fantasy 1 Setup

My Final Fantasy journey starts with the game Final Fantasy, also known as Final fantasy 1 because the game is a series. I am playing the game on my smart phone as it gives me plenty of opportunity to play the game. When I was young I played the game on the Nintendo entertainment system so I know most if not all of the differences between this version and the original one.

My party setup is a warrior, a monk, a red mage and a white mage. I know it is a bit different from the normal (namely I switched out a black mage for a red mage). I decided this on the advice from the play through from the long time let's player HC bailey You can find his channel here. Thinking about it kind of makes sense as the only thing that the black mage is good at is burst damage from high level attack spells and doesn't contribute as much to most battles. It is sort of the reverse of old dungeons and dragon in that the wizard is considered to be one of the strongest classes once you get enough spells but in computer games you aren't allowed to be as creative as you can be in a pen and paper rpg.

If you look close enough you can see what Final Fantasy games I am looking forward to the most this year.Look forward to start of actual game play next