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Well, no time like the present, as they say. I shouldn't procrastinate on this if I can possibly help it...
Mozart's #11 Dance Tune
So, after fending off Gilgamesh last time, Xezat wanted us to help haul the lid off a box.
Let's go do that now, since we're no longer at the end of an update that already has 100+ screenshots.
: Huh. So this was actually the lid to some sorta chute?
: Yup. Hop in and I'll show you our real plan.
: ...the hell is this?
: It's a submarine. Can't you tell?
: I've never heard of that. Only reason I've got any idea what it is is the name.
: What is it, anyway?
: Probably something like a ship that moves underwater.
As we speak, Xezat starts steering the sub to the tower we're targetting.
: 
: Huh. So you actually managed to finish it, huh?
: Pretty much, yeah. We've got some ideas for upgrades, like on-board weapons, but we don't know how to actually do it.
: Don't tell me you doubted me!
: Considering you aren't confident enough to call yourself what you are, can you blame us?
: Oh, we're there.
: Hope things go smoothly.
While the tunnel reaches TO the tower, it seems the final breach was saved for the last moment; Xezat bombs his way in, now that it's go time.
: Is blowing up the wall to get in S.O.P. for you guys?
: Pretty much. Too bad the explosives're strictly controlled and hard to make- they might be useful if we could get our hands on 'em.
: Where else would it be- the circus?
: Progress is good.
: You hit the top floor and find the antenna.
: I'd ask why bother if we're cutting the power, but it's probably to keep them from just repairing it.
: Pretty much.
: Well, off we go, guys.
: Whisperweed, huh? You've planned this out pretty thoroughly, haven't you?
: Actually, I just always carry some with me. Just in case, you know.
These guys have a crapton of defence, but I want to see them anyway because I want their drop.
: 
: Okay, I know that look. What's he got that's so special, Mozart?
: He's wearing a Reflect Ring.
: 
Nice.
: 
: Dibs.
Conveniently, if you need healing you can head to the sub's lower level for a nap. You can also head back to the flagship by investigating the controls, should you feel the need to go shopping.
: I'm gonna be so cramped when we go back in...
: All right, that's enough to go around.
And they even had the decency to put a save point right at the entrance, so I don't have to lose my rings to any unfortunate encounters with Lvl 5 Death I may or may not end up having!
I don't like this prize...
Funny thing? These guys qualify as Undead. Requiem spam time! ...after I fix the fact that he just one-shot Lenna.
This is useless to me, but I'm picking everything else up so what the hell. The 9000 Gil next to it is more interesting to me.
Up on the sixth floor, I find some more money. Incidentally, that Stop-Regen combo I mentioned before has become my primary source of healing heading up here.
: Umm, why're you hissing?
: Uhhhh...
: What's this "over" business, anyway?
: Errrr...
Note that there aren't actually any goblinoids in this tower, unless you count the Magnetites (which do nothing but Magnet, from what I've seen, which is just fine since I tend to prefer being front-row in this game).
: What happened? Did something show up?
Note: The goblin charged Xezat, but he sidestepped and hit it with lightning after it crashed into the door. I think I've figured Xezat's build out: Freelancer, with !Sing and !Black (or maybe !Red). He's probably got an Elven Cape for an accessory, too (and I can't blame him).
Entering the tenth floor through the left door leads to a trapped box.
Oh boy. These two refuse to use anything but Lightning on me, and as if full-party 200 damage wasn't bad enough my Dancers decide to start spamming Tempting Tango, which they are immune to. Fortunately, Romeo's Ballad works, and they aren't Heavy, so it sticks.
All that for something that isn't even useful...
Entering from the right puts us at a save point. Time to equip Hide... (I also equip everyone with Reflect Rings, not that I expect them to help...)
And we're at the top now.
: Just let us know when to start... er, wait, how DO we start, anyway?
: I brought a bomb, just in case.
Down in the basement, Xezat shuts down the engine so we can smash the antenna safely.
But we're not allowed to have a dungeon without a boss fight, so... near as I can tell, the antenna comes to life and attacks us.
In the form of Atomos. Solo runs tend to have issues with this guy; however, I doubt he'll be a problem for me.
As expected, Comet ignores Reflect, and he will spam it (usually twice in one turn) until someone is dead, at which point he starts sucking the corpse in; if a corpse reaches him, he eats it so you can't revive them. After a few Phoenix Downs, I decide to say hell with it and just sacrifice Lenna (her DPS is lowest) while I wait for him to run out of MP (good thng she'll come back after the fight). Comparing Comet's cost of 7 to his INSANE 10,000 MP... This is gonna take a while; I wind up wandering off to play something else while I wait.
Finally. Now I can actually ATTACK.
: I'm never gonna hear the end of this, am I?
This is a recurring problem from here on: Magic-dependant bosses have five-digit MP, which takes absurd amounts of time for them to run through with even the most expensive spells, let alone Comet. From a programming standpoint I can understand, but from a player's perspective it's just... WHY?
: Oh, hey, he spat Lenna out. That's good- maybe we'll even be able to wake her up.
Boss Deaths: 0 
Total Boss Deaths: 5
Other Deaths: 1
With Atomos dead, the antenna explodes... or was the antenna itself Atomos?
: Sorry about the wait- there was a pretty strong monster, and we had to wait for it to exhaust itself.
Xezat attempts to exit the engine room, but an arc of electricity blocks his path. Why he didn't leave while we were fighting Atomos is beyond me- I mean, he probably had enough time to exit the generator, get to the sub, and sail all the way back to the fleet in the time it took Atomos to run out of MP.
: Wait, what about you?
: Forget about me, just GO!
: I have no idea what a "recursive energy feed loop" or whatever means, but it sounds bad.
Deus ex machina!
: Forget Xezat- there's no time! If we don't get out now, we'll be blown up with the tower!
: What he said.
: He knew the risks! I won't let any of you throw your lives away like this!
: I'm gonna try to talk some sense into this idiot a bit longer.
: Yup.
: Rrrrgh... right, that's it... lights out, Galuf...
Xezat monologues for a bit as the generator explodes around him.
Meanwhile, Mozart has managed to force Galuf back.
...and smacks Galuf until he stops struggling.
He then carries the unconscious old man to the ledge so he can jump onto the dragon.
How the hell did we get here, anyway? This is underground, and we're not exactly near the coast.
: Sorry to say, but there's no way Xezat could've made it...
Galuf's in denial... or maybe he just wants a bit of time to mourn before we head off again. This means we have to wait for him before we can actually move on.
Eventually, Galuf starts muttering to himself; it seems he's moved on to Anger.
Now that Galuf's finally boarded, we're just about ready to go accomplish things.
: How do you think?
: Suppose I'm not surprised he's taking it hard... At least he's not catatonic.
After that somber scene, we finally get access to the submarine! It behaves like a ship with the added bonus of allowing you to access underwater areas such as Ghido's Cave.
We run into this guy in a previously-inaccessible forest in the northwest.
After Sword Dancing him down and using a few Gold Needles to undo his Evil Eye counter, we get an item which teaches the Catoblepas summon. He may have hit pretty hard and he may have known Drain, but he honestly wasn't challenging enough to earn a boss death summary.
For the record, Catoblepas' forest is here; you enter through a cave accessed by submarine.
After saving and restocking (I have 99 Phoenix Downs now because I could afford them and there's not much else for me to buy at the moment), I head off to Ghido's Cave to finally see what he wanted from me.
Amazingly, an air bubble lets us breathe just fine. Exdeath should've made sure to crack the roof or something if he wanted to kill Ghido.
Ah, yes, THIS place. I've never liked this sort of puzzle- the closed chest determines which door you can go through (though there's no indication which opens what door), and I can never remember which one's the one I'm supposed to go through, which have treasure, and which are just there to troll you.
Closing the top-left chest leads here. Pulling the switch retracts a wall blocking a different path.
Right-side chests don't go anywhere, so I close the bottom-left one, which puts me in the hall opened by the switch in the top-left room. Incidentally, I got a Staff of Light from one of the Metamorphs. Sure wish I could use it.
That hall leads downstairs, where I find a switch down a dark path; this one opens another staircase in the center of the main room.
After an uneventful segment where I go through three dark paths (and confuse and murder several more Metamorphs), I reach this pool.
Walking up to it shows a turtle in the water, rather than our reflections.
: Presumably, that's Ghido we're seeing.
: But how do we get to him?
: Swim, presumably.
Jumping into the pond brings us here.
: Errr... I take it this is him?
: Yes, this is Sage Ghido.
: Okay, I'll let you do the talking then. I'm bad with authority figures.
: Oh really? And what if I want to talk to you?
: Considering my tendency to refer to royalty as, say, "Your Royal Kinginess" I'd probably end up insulting you.
: ...Does he really do that?
: All the time. To our faces.
: ...Okay, never mind. If you're gonna talk like that you deserve all the insults I can give.
: You condescending little-
: Why the hell should I care about that?
: Uhhh... wait, so Exdeath really IS a tree?
: This is why you spend time working out a way to KILL whatever you sealed WHILE it's sealed, you know. Seals ALWAYS break.
: Who's being condescending now?
: Me, in retaliation for your own condescension.
: And then they collectively wandered off and forgot about it.
: Bunch of idiots.
: Great, now you're ganging up on me...
: You should've investigated the forest when that tree got possessed instead of putting it off until he decided to go back.
: Yes, well, hindsight and all that.
: Wait, Sage Ghido actually agreed when Mozart said he made a mistake?
: Considering how big of a screw-up it might turn out to be, it's not like he has much choice.
: So how do we tame them?
: By bringing a branch FROM the forest with you.
: And where're we supposed to get one of those?
: I happen to have one, actually. Here.
: That's convenient.
: Sure beats going on a massive detour in search of the only key in existence or whatever.
: And since he's actually a tree FROM Moore, he won't have to bother with this branch business, right?
: Naturally.
: Right. Well then, we'll stop wasting time and head off then.
: Are you implying I'm a waste of time?
: Arguing with you certainly is. Later!
And now I have to hike my way back OUT of Ghido's Cave. Fortunately, it's pretty simple as long as you know where you're going (and more so if the switches have already been triggered).
To get to Moore, pilot your sub to this point under the western continent and emerge.
This puts you here, next to a town.
The town of Moore, to be precise. Time for town stuff.
The armor shop has upgrades for everyone. I keep my accessories and Faris's Ribbon, but otherwise get a complete overhaul.
The weapon store's got a new toy, too. I grab one for everyone, but keep the old ones in case something resists Air before I can get something else.
I also find another of these in a barrel. Old, but still serviceable, should I ever feel the need to go on the defensive.
: How about a song, to get everyone's minds off things?
(Note that the game hints at the existance of another piano at this point, but that doesn't show up until World 3.)
: ...I'm not THAT good.
: At least you know what you're aiming for now.
And I'm done with Moore's town (for now, at least), so off to the east!
: Across this bridge is where the real Forest of Moore starts.
: Let's see, where'd I put that stick...
: Find it yet?
: Not yet. Did I give it to someone else or something?
: HERE we go! Found it!
: Now that the underbrush has gotten out of our way, let's see if we can't find out what Exdeath's after.
There are chests lying around the forest. This chest really isn't all that impressive, since the local enemies are weak and lucrative- an excellent combination for grinding, if I wasn't trying to minimize that. I also find an Ether to the right near a tree with a hole in the trunk.
Speaking of which, looking at the hole will open a passage for us.
There's more treasure on the other side. There's also a Phoenix Down and 9500 more Gil on this screen (in the far north and far east, respectively).
Time for section 3.
Yes, there's treasure here, too. There's also a Goliath Tonic to the right, an Elixir a little ways ahead, and a Morning Star at a turn.
There's a save point in this area. Guess there's a boss coming.
I could get an Aegis Shield at this point, but I'll hold off until it turns into a Flame Shield since that sells better.
: Exdeath must've lit the forest on fire to get rid of us... Not good.
After a while, a moogle opens a hole in the ground, looks around at the fire, and then proceeds to dive back in. Naturally, we follow.
: Yeah, I'm not crazy enough to run around in a forest fire.
: Neither am I.
: Thank you, moogles!
: Kupo!
There is a healing spring down here, for those of you who need it.
After another wait, the moogle blocking the exit starts moving, allowing us to exit into the now-burnt forest.
First thing I do is grab this, an Ash a little off to the left, and a Flametongue all the way to the left. Note the lack of those annoying leaves blocking your view.
: Question is, WHAT seal?
Recognizing the branch we're carrying, the trees and undergrowth blocking the way to the Guardian Tree disappear, while a hole appears in the Tree itself. Problem is, entering will give us some nasty bosses.
: I think we're being invited.
While the path back to the save point is cut off, there is, at least, an exit to the world map nearby; I use that to save, since I'm expecting to die against the next boss. A lot.
After equipping my elemental rings and a Reflect Ring for Faris (which I really should've thought of before saving), I head in.
: Guess we're stuck here for a bit.
: Let's look around this tree.
: Good question.
: They might just be the guards... I mean, if I sealed something I'd want to place guards.
: Whatever they are, they're coming this way!
: Probably getting ready to attack.
Meet... um... a boss. Yes, the name field is blank. Top is Fire-element, front is Water-element, bottom is Earth-element, and back is Air-element. They all absorb their respective elements and are immune to Holy, Poison, Lightning, and Ice (not that most of this elemental stuff matters to me). They also completely lack status vulnerabilities for me to exploit (Slow works, but nothing else), meaning I have to do this the old-fashioned way. Oh, joy...
Since each one of these things starts casting spells related to their elements at low health, I start on the top one (henceforth referred to as Fire), since three of my characters are immune to Firaga (its spell) while the last one has Reflect, which will hopefully boost my DPS against the other three. I plan to weaken this one until it starts casting, then move to a different target, focus-firing the other three down before finishing Fire off. Hope it actually works out that way. Mozart, naturally, will be spending most of the fight on healing duty.
Fortunately, their physical attacks aren't much to worry about; it's when they start CASTING that you've got problems. I've got Mighty March up to take a little of the edge off, and when someone starts getting low I toss them a Hi-Potion. Beyond that, it's just "whack until they drop."
Fire's in casting HP now, so time to start in on the others. Think I'll go with Earth first, since it's probably the most dangerous.
Earth's in critical HP. Better kill it quick.
Fortunately, Galuf managed a Sword Dance to finish it off. I'll take a bit of time to heal before starting on the next one.
Water's probably about to start casting- it's eaten a few reflected Firagas and a couple normal attacks before this.
And Air's probably not too far behind.
Ow.
That's two down. Time to heal again.
Of course, after an absorbed Sword Dance to Air (I forgot I was using those Air Knives) I get an idea: Keep my Air Knives equipped to keep it from going into Aeroga mode and spam Dance until it runs out of MP. With a few attacks to Fire to keep it casting, that'll neutralize the risk for the rest of the fight!
As soon as they stop spamming this, that is.
After a while I get sick of Dance's randomness and just grab my old knives to kill it; I mean, I managed to tank the other two, I should be able to handle this one so long as I kill it fast enough, right?
I forgot that Aeroga is reflectable too. Guess I was worried over nothing. Anyway, Fire is now helpless, so I'll just finish it off real quick.
Ironically, it's Mozart who lands the final blow. That fight could've gone SO MUCH WORSE if I hadn't gotten Sword Dances while Earth and Water were casting.
: Told ya these rings were worth it!
Boss Deaths: 0
Total Boss Deaths: 5
Other Deaths: 1
: HURF DURF I'M A TREE!
: Great. HIM again.
: Wait, what?
: At least that explains why they were all different elements...
: Come to think of it, how'd you get out the first time?
Rather than answering, Exdeath uses the crystals of Galuf's world to laser us into the wall.
How does Krile keep doing this?
Well, at least moogle telepathy isn't some sort of "fire and forget" plot point...
What're you talking about, Krile? Wind drakes can't cross mountains.
: And now he's moved on to overly-poetic death threats...
: How're you still being sardonic at a time like this?!
: Practice.
I couldn't get a good screenshot because the screen was shaking so much, but someone (gee, I wonder who...) just shot Exdeath with a sparkly. When he fell from getting sparkled at, the lasers shut off.
: Medic...
Galuf's about to warn Krile that Exdeath's not dead...
...but a certain tree gets up before he can finish his sentence.
...and casts some sort of fire ring spell on her.
He then uses telekinesis to slam her into a few walls. Seriously, why not just use Firaga? That'd work well enough for most opponents. Failing that, you know Flare.
Galuf is understandably upset at this development.
I'm sorry, did I say "upset?" I meant "so frickin pissed he starts ignoring the lasers when Exdeath turns them back on."
After breaking the crystal trying to pin him down, Galuf forces his way into the ring surrounding Krile to get her out.
...and then charges Exdeath, even after the ring contracts around him.
Exdeath tries to ward him off with Blizzaga, but Galuf doesn't care. Yes, that is a 0 where his HP should be.
Since Galuf's effectively invincible for this "battle," might as well just start stabbing to get it over with.
Even Exdeath's trademark Vacuum Wave does nothing.
At this point, the fight's essentially over; Exdeath triple-casts the top-tier spells...
of Black...
White...
...and Time magic.
Galuf's still truckin' though.
: even if it means I have to take you into the afterlife myself!
: would never be enough to defeat me!
Well then what is it?
Exdeath, too, doesn't know what to make of this.
And the fight ends.
Afterwards, the lasers stop again, and both Exdeath and Galuf are knocked to the floor.
Exdeath decides to take the crystals and run while he's got the chance, lest he face the wrath of the seemingly-invincible Galuf.
: You two okay?
: I'll live.
: How're the others?
: What happened? I was starting to black out.
: Hang in there, old man!
: You gotta be... Is this some sorta sick joke?!
Everyone pleas for Galuf not to die...
...but he knows he doesn't have much time left after The Most Badass Death Scene In Final Fantasy History.
Faris attempts the tried-and-true healing items I'm carrying around...
...but not even Elixirs are strong enough to heal all the damage Galuf took fighting Exdeath.
Krile is, of course, heartbroken.
: G-Galuf... 
: Damn it, old man... Why'd you have to go and do that?!
: Galuf... Damn it...
After another mandatory waiting period (seriously, three in ONE DUNGEON?!) Krile apparently hears Galuf's ghost, and runs outside to investigate.
Seems he's talking to her through the tree.
His plan? Pass the blessing of the Earth Crystal (you remember that happening way back when, right?) on to his granddaughter.
This is probably a bit of a step down, really- I mean we lost one of the most badass old men in the entire SERIES, and are getting a little girl as a replacement.
Krile just wants her grandpa back... a sentiment I'm sure we can all agree with. Too bad he's DEAD, as opposed to just KO status.
: ...I suppose the only real way to honor Galuf's sacrifice... is to finish the job.
: Yeah. That's the best thing we could do for him.
:
: Still?
: To Exdeath's castle!
How the hell did he get here, anyway?
...Oh. Apparently there were a lot of explosives involved.
Anyway, that's quite enough for one update. Next time: VENGEANCE WILL BE MINE!!! (theoretically)