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chuckroApparently I’m in a randomized Final Fantasy mood. In this case, there are a lot of options at Free Enterprise. I set a bunch of randomizer toggles that interested me, primarily the key items, characters and chests, to see how the game played.
You get the Enterprise to start out and two characters: I had Dark Knight Cecil and Rosa, and the king gave me the Tower key. I started going to towns to check shops, and there were a lot of good bows to be had, but nothing for Cecil. I tried the Mist Cave, but the Magus Sisters wiped me in two spells, so I went to get more characters and some levels. The Watery Cave gave me Palom, and then it occurred to me I could go to Mysidia…where I got a second Palom and also Edward. Since good bows and arrows were available for everyone, I went to Mt. Ordeals, gained levels fast, and had the option of picking up Porom. (I rejected her.) There was Adamant Armor in a chest on Mt Ordeals, so clearly that was a good call. Cecil was kinda useless all the way up. (XP isn’t split among party members, so it’s effectively multiplied by 5, which means you level at a fast clip.)
Valvalis replaced the first Milon battle; Twin Magic (which works with any combination of Paloms or Poroms) saved the day. Milon Z was replaced by a trio of Dark Imps. The light granted me the Bahamut summon, and then I had to fight the four-fiends battle…which took all of two hits, because they had terrible stats. Afterwards “All Cecils became Paladins, All Tellahs recalled their spells, and All Tellahs learned Meteo.” Cecil could immediately equip the Defense sword, Adamant Armor, Aegis Shield and silver helm and gloves I’d picked up so far.
I gave the Magus Sister the what-for, but that didn’t actually get me anything. Then I opted not to take young Rydia (she was in Damcyan) and I cleaned out the Watery Pass (the game won’t let you go down the waterfall and trap yourself). Fighting Odin on the other side got me a Ribbon chest, so that was worth it. I was also up to four copies of the Bahamut summon at this point. (I turned off encounters after I finished Mt. Ordeals; the XP wasn’t worth the time.) The Antlion cave held a Leviathan summon and a Gungnir spear, and beating the Mist Dragon granted me a Hook.
The ice side of Mt. Hobs was “sealed with thick plot” but going up the other side let me fight a weak Octomamm and trade one of my Paloms for a Cid. The siege of Fabul was just a battle against Milon, which was straightforward. The king gave me the Baron key afterwards. I headed to Baron, fought Leviathan and Calbrena, and Yang gave me the Earth Crystal. (And joined, replacing Edward.) I turned encounters on for my trip through the Baron Waterway to get Yang and Cid up to speed. Baigan was replaced by KARATE Yang, and was easy. I checked the Odin clot, though, and Kainazzo wiped the floor with me. Dark Knight Cecil in Kainazzo’s usual spot was a pushover, though, and I claimed the Magma key.
I stopped in Eblan to claim various treasures, most notably two Masamunes and the Odin summon. In Tororia, Edward gives me a Defense sword, and the NPCs tell me how to get to Zot.
(I have a lot of options from here, though Zot and using the Magma key to reach the underground seem the best ones. I don’t think I can finish Cave Magnes without the TwinHarp, and Eblan Cave seems likely to be too hard at my current level.)
I raided Tororia’s treasures and opted to do the Tower of Zot. It didn’t find anything particularly noteworthy, but Rubicant was the first boss (he just spammed Fire2) and then I rescued Tellah and Kain. Tellah was sent packing, but Kain replaced Cid and was outfitted with a host of endgame gear I’d been collecting for him. (Did I mention that a store sold Whistles? So useful!) Ogopogo then attacked me, but he used percentage-based attacks and I knocked him out fairly quickly. Then I discovered a Zeus Gauntlet when I warped to Baron.
The Dwarf Castle had Crystal Swords and Crystal Bracelets for sale, so…yeah. Coupl of other upgrades around, too—I was loaded for Protect Bracelets and Ribbons by this point. The Fabul siege took the place of Calbrena, which was pretty easy. An additional Rosa offered to join (and was refused), then I was told that all Rydias grew up, where ever they were. Then Pale Dim jumped into Golbez’s slot, and promptly died in one hit to my Crystal sword. King Giott gave us the Pan afterwards.
Tomra had Adamant Armor for sale, so if I had any doubts about jumping straight to the Sylph Cave, that settled them. The only noteworthy thing in the cave itself was a White spear for Kain, but I gained about ten levels by having encounters on. I hit Yang with the Pan, and the Sylphs gave me a Life staff. Sheila gave me a White spear for finding Yang, then a Crystal for giving back the Pan.
I then headed into Lower Bab-il with encounters off, and monster chests provided me with more Adamant Armor, Crystal Armor and another White spear. The D. Lunars were in the Super Cannon room. Dr. Lugae was replaced by the Dark Elf/Dark Dragon, who dropped the Legend sword when I beat him. Then Cid’s assistants rescued me from the trap at the bottom and gave me the Rat Tail.
Inspired, I headed down to the Land of the Summoned Monsters. The chests were rearranged, but one of them had the Luca Key. The king and queen were Milon Z (who was a pushover and gave me the Spoon knife) and Golbez (who had the Dwarf Castle script, but both Hold Gas and Demolish failed against me, probably because of my armor). Golbez gave me the Crystal of Darkness.
I headed up to the overworld and brought the Rat Tail to the collector, who gave me a SandRuby. I used it to cure FuSoYa’s desert fever, but I didn’t let him join.
Then I headed through the Eblan Cave to Upper Bab-il. Not a lot to find—Porom was injured but I didn’t let her join. Beating Ashura made all Edges learn Flood and Blitz, then MomBomb was in the Rubicant slot. The pitfall drops you to the underworld and you can retrieve the Falcon, but there’s also a spark that’ll launch you back to the overworld right before the pitfall, so you can avoid getting stuck.
Still lacking a TwinHarp, I headed for the Sealed Cave. There was plenty of top-level equipment, but I threw pretty much all of it away. The crystal room gave me a Package, then Baigan accosted me outside. (Turning off encounters turns off the Trap Doors, which is really nice.) I took the package to Mist and blew up the village in a swarm of old men, fought Titan (not a real battle) and then wiped the floor with the CPU in the Kaipo Inn. Rydia offered to join, but I turned her down. The Enterprise had teleported to the Kaipo side of Mist, which was helpful.
The Dark Crystal allows you to get the Big Whale from Mysidia, so I did that. I headed straight for Bahamut’s Cave, and did that with encounters on to get everyone into the high 50s. There wasn’t any useful treasure, but Bahamut (the troops from the Kaipo Inn) gave me Adamant, so I went to Kokkol and traded it and the Legend sword for the Excalibur. New features include the ability for the Whale to land on craters (so you don’t have to do the Lunar Path), and a man in the Whale who takes you to the Giant of Bab-il. I checked in the Lunar Palace, and another FuSoYa offered to join, but I turned this one down as well.
At this point, the only things I was missing were the TwinHarp and the Pink Tail.
The Giant of Bab-il had the Sylph summon, which was one of the few things I hadn’t seen yet. The EvilWall was the first boss, and the Wyvern the second—both got me a little worried, but I got through them just fine. Another Rosa rescued me, but I didn’t invite her to join.
Lacking anything else, I hit the Lunar Subterrain. The first sealed weapon boss was Plague, guarding a Power robe. The second was Dr. Lugae (both rounds) and dropped the Avenger. The third was Bahamut, guarding the Murasame. The Antlion replaced the Zombie Dragons, guarding Adamant Armor and a Glass helmet. The last sealed weapon was hilarious anticlimactic: It was the Waterhag complete with Anna showing up to boost Edward’s spirits) and dropped a Dragoon spear.
I was there and I had the Crystal, so I fought Zeromus…that transformed into Birdomus, looking like Birdo from Super Mario Brothers 2.
The run took 4.5 hours, and the ending crawl shows you where all the key items were, which reminded me what I forgot about: Odin. Kainazzo (in the Odin slot) had the Twinharp, and the Dark Elf (whichever boss was there) guarded the Pink Tail. D’oh. Cave Magnes ended up being the only dungeon I didn’t do.
Overall: This was closer to the HMS Jayne randomizer—a treasure hunt that sent you around to various places and let you level up quickly—and much more what I was looking for. Fewer things are really gated by key items (and virtually none by characters) than FF1, but it was entertaining nonetheless.
You get the Enterprise to start out and two characters: I had Dark Knight Cecil and Rosa, and the king gave me the Tower key. I started going to towns to check shops, and there were a lot of good bows to be had, but nothing for Cecil. I tried the Mist Cave, but the Magus Sisters wiped me in two spells, so I went to get more characters and some levels. The Watery Cave gave me Palom, and then it occurred to me I could go to Mysidia…where I got a second Palom and also Edward. Since good bows and arrows were available for everyone, I went to Mt. Ordeals, gained levels fast, and had the option of picking up Porom. (I rejected her.) There was Adamant Armor in a chest on Mt Ordeals, so clearly that was a good call. Cecil was kinda useless all the way up. (XP isn’t split among party members, so it’s effectively multiplied by 5, which means you level at a fast clip.)
Valvalis replaced the first Milon battle; Twin Magic (which works with any combination of Paloms or Poroms) saved the day. Milon Z was replaced by a trio of Dark Imps. The light granted me the Bahamut summon, and then I had to fight the four-fiends battle…which took all of two hits, because they had terrible stats. Afterwards “All Cecils became Paladins, All Tellahs recalled their spells, and All Tellahs learned Meteo.” Cecil could immediately equip the Defense sword, Adamant Armor, Aegis Shield and silver helm and gloves I’d picked up so far.
I gave the Magus Sister the what-for, but that didn’t actually get me anything. Then I opted not to take young Rydia (she was in Damcyan) and I cleaned out the Watery Pass (the game won’t let you go down the waterfall and trap yourself). Fighting Odin on the other side got me a Ribbon chest, so that was worth it. I was also up to four copies of the Bahamut summon at this point. (I turned off encounters after I finished Mt. Ordeals; the XP wasn’t worth the time.) The Antlion cave held a Leviathan summon and a Gungnir spear, and beating the Mist Dragon granted me a Hook.
The ice side of Mt. Hobs was “sealed with thick plot” but going up the other side let me fight a weak Octomamm and trade one of my Paloms for a Cid. The siege of Fabul was just a battle against Milon, which was straightforward. The king gave me the Baron key afterwards. I headed to Baron, fought Leviathan and Calbrena, and Yang gave me the Earth Crystal. (And joined, replacing Edward.) I turned encounters on for my trip through the Baron Waterway to get Yang and Cid up to speed. Baigan was replaced by KARATE Yang, and was easy. I checked the Odin clot, though, and Kainazzo wiped the floor with me. Dark Knight Cecil in Kainazzo’s usual spot was a pushover, though, and I claimed the Magma key.
I stopped in Eblan to claim various treasures, most notably two Masamunes and the Odin summon. In Tororia, Edward gives me a Defense sword, and the NPCs tell me how to get to Zot.
(I have a lot of options from here, though Zot and using the Magma key to reach the underground seem the best ones. I don’t think I can finish Cave Magnes without the TwinHarp, and Eblan Cave seems likely to be too hard at my current level.)
I raided Tororia’s treasures and opted to do the Tower of Zot. It didn’t find anything particularly noteworthy, but Rubicant was the first boss (he just spammed Fire2) and then I rescued Tellah and Kain. Tellah was sent packing, but Kain replaced Cid and was outfitted with a host of endgame gear I’d been collecting for him. (Did I mention that a store sold Whistles? So useful!) Ogopogo then attacked me, but he used percentage-based attacks and I knocked him out fairly quickly. Then I discovered a Zeus Gauntlet when I warped to Baron.
The Dwarf Castle had Crystal Swords and Crystal Bracelets for sale, so…yeah. Coupl of other upgrades around, too—I was loaded for Protect Bracelets and Ribbons by this point. The Fabul siege took the place of Calbrena, which was pretty easy. An additional Rosa offered to join (and was refused), then I was told that all Rydias grew up, where ever they were. Then Pale Dim jumped into Golbez’s slot, and promptly died in one hit to my Crystal sword. King Giott gave us the Pan afterwards.
Tomra had Adamant Armor for sale, so if I had any doubts about jumping straight to the Sylph Cave, that settled them. The only noteworthy thing in the cave itself was a White spear for Kain, but I gained about ten levels by having encounters on. I hit Yang with the Pan, and the Sylphs gave me a Life staff. Sheila gave me a White spear for finding Yang, then a Crystal for giving back the Pan.
I then headed into Lower Bab-il with encounters off, and monster chests provided me with more Adamant Armor, Crystal Armor and another White spear. The D. Lunars were in the Super Cannon room. Dr. Lugae was replaced by the Dark Elf/Dark Dragon, who dropped the Legend sword when I beat him. Then Cid’s assistants rescued me from the trap at the bottom and gave me the Rat Tail.
Inspired, I headed down to the Land of the Summoned Monsters. The chests were rearranged, but one of them had the Luca Key. The king and queen were Milon Z (who was a pushover and gave me the Spoon knife) and Golbez (who had the Dwarf Castle script, but both Hold Gas and Demolish failed against me, probably because of my armor). Golbez gave me the Crystal of Darkness.
I headed up to the overworld and brought the Rat Tail to the collector, who gave me a SandRuby. I used it to cure FuSoYa’s desert fever, but I didn’t let him join.
Then I headed through the Eblan Cave to Upper Bab-il. Not a lot to find—Porom was injured but I didn’t let her join. Beating Ashura made all Edges learn Flood and Blitz, then MomBomb was in the Rubicant slot. The pitfall drops you to the underworld and you can retrieve the Falcon, but there’s also a spark that’ll launch you back to the overworld right before the pitfall, so you can avoid getting stuck.
Still lacking a TwinHarp, I headed for the Sealed Cave. There was plenty of top-level equipment, but I threw pretty much all of it away. The crystal room gave me a Package, then Baigan accosted me outside. (Turning off encounters turns off the Trap Doors, which is really nice.) I took the package to Mist and blew up the village in a swarm of old men, fought Titan (not a real battle) and then wiped the floor with the CPU in the Kaipo Inn. Rydia offered to join, but I turned her down. The Enterprise had teleported to the Kaipo side of Mist, which was helpful.
The Dark Crystal allows you to get the Big Whale from Mysidia, so I did that. I headed straight for Bahamut’s Cave, and did that with encounters on to get everyone into the high 50s. There wasn’t any useful treasure, but Bahamut (the troops from the Kaipo Inn) gave me Adamant, so I went to Kokkol and traded it and the Legend sword for the Excalibur. New features include the ability for the Whale to land on craters (so you don’t have to do the Lunar Path), and a man in the Whale who takes you to the Giant of Bab-il. I checked in the Lunar Palace, and another FuSoYa offered to join, but I turned this one down as well.
At this point, the only things I was missing were the TwinHarp and the Pink Tail.
The Giant of Bab-il had the Sylph summon, which was one of the few things I hadn’t seen yet. The EvilWall was the first boss, and the Wyvern the second—both got me a little worried, but I got through them just fine. Another Rosa rescued me, but I didn’t invite her to join.
Lacking anything else, I hit the Lunar Subterrain. The first sealed weapon boss was Plague, guarding a Power robe. The second was Dr. Lugae (both rounds) and dropped the Avenger. The third was Bahamut, guarding the Murasame. The Antlion replaced the Zombie Dragons, guarding Adamant Armor and a Glass helmet. The last sealed weapon was hilarious anticlimactic: It was the Waterhag complete with Anna showing up to boost Edward’s spirits) and dropped a Dragoon spear.
I was there and I had the Crystal, so I fought Zeromus…that transformed into Birdomus, looking like Birdo from Super Mario Brothers 2.
The run took 4.5 hours, and the ending crawl shows you where all the key items were, which reminded me what I forgot about: Odin. Kainazzo (in the Odin slot) had the Twinharp, and the Dark Elf (whichever boss was there) guarded the Pink Tail. D’oh. Cave Magnes ended up being the only dungeon I didn’t do.
Overall: This was closer to the HMS Jayne randomizer—a treasure hunt that sent you around to various places and let you level up quickly—and much more what I was looking for. Fewer things are really gated by key items (and virtually none by characters) than FF1, but it was entertaining nonetheless.
