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Okay, enough sidetracked-ness, time to go to the Rift!
Mozart's #17 Dance Tune
...after taking care of prep work and one last loose end.
For the prep work, I take a quick trip to North Mountain to get Floated for future boss-cheesing. This screenshot also serves to give a good idea of where my party stands while heading into the Rift; I'm a bit higher level than I expected, but I think I'll need the HP.
And the loose end is the Ghost of Syldra, thus completing the list of Summons I Will Never Use (with the only summons I'm missing being the store-bought ones which I have no reason to buy).
Speaking of shopping, though, I have over 700,000 Gil on hand, not counting the useless stuff I know I'll never use and can thus sell (though I'm keeping all the Legendary Weapons, out of respect if nothing else); after restocking my Hi-Potions and Phoenix Downs, I have enough to buy 16 Elixirs at the Phantom Village. Yes, Elixirs are HUGELY expensive- what did you expect from the strongest healing item in the game?
Think I'm as ready as I'll ever be. In we go.
: ...Methinks this was not our brightest idea ever.
: To be fair, we've had worse ones.
: I'm not so sure of that, and even if we have that doesn't make this any smarter. I mean, does the Rift even support life?
: ...That's a pretty valid concern...
: Another one is "what are we going to meet in there, and how do we kill it?"
: Assuming we live that long, of course.
: Let's see, not suffocating, haven't exploded, no horrible, gruesome deaths yet... Those're good signs. I think we'll manage.
: Looks like we landed in water, and I think I see a beach over there. Let's go exploring.
There are no new encounters in the Rift's entrance, for the record; it seems to use the same set as the desert North Mountain and Phoenix Tower wound up in.
: Beach indeed, though I see a few elements of "desert" mixed in for variety.
: Odd place for a door...
: Figures... Now that we're here, everything's gonna jump us at once...
: Wasn't the Void sealed away because it was so uncontrollable that it ate the last guy who tried?
: ...Huh. They disappeared. Wasn't expecting them to be chivalrous about things...
: Either that or they were using an illusion to taunt us.
: I think we can ride this chain down.
: Just hope it isn't a pit of spikes or sawblades or arrow traps or whatever...
: Kinda surprising that we haven't run into anything horrible yet.
: It's only the entrance...
: I was expecting deathtraps and abominations we've never seen before every step of the way, but so far there's been nothing.
: Yeah, the only monsters we've seen here we've fought before.
The next room has this, a Cottage on the other side, an Elixir in the bottom left, and Dark Matter in the bottom right. Well, that's a 50% potentially-useful-to-useless ratio so far at least...
I get this by riding the far-right chain; the chain two to the left of it leads to progress.
: ...I don't like this room.
This would be nice if I could use swords. Since I can't, though, it's just clutter.
Next up is the Phantom Village. While the villagers are still there, they're also frozen in time, so you can't interact with them. This is also the only part of the Rift without random encounters.
: ...Wait, what? 
: Weren't we just in some Ronkan ruins?
: How'd we get to the Phantom Village?
: I think this is the part of the village that hasn't escaped the Rift yet.
: So... what we saw in that forest was basically its "soul," but the "body" is still here?
: Basically.
: Still a jarring change.
Leaving the Rifted Phantom Village puts you in a forest, akin to the Forest of Moore back in World 2.
:
:
: Uhhhh...
: ...Well, to be fair, we DID find the Phantom Village in a forest.
Local treasures include this, Ribbon #4 (in case you ever decide to go with a full party of Dancers or, more likely, Freelancers), a Lilith Rod, and an Enhancer.
: There's a presence in that hole... Like the ones in the Forest of Moore, but malevolent.
: No, thanks, I've got things to do, songs to sing- all that stuff.
Calofisteri is a chump to anyone wearing Bone Mail, but since I don't have that option I'll have to rely on Sword Dances and outrunning her to win.
Fortunately, I have Rainbow Dresses and Man-Eaters, both of which boost my damage potential against her enormously (to the point where she only had time to cast Reflect on herself, and THAT was just because I got two Mystery Waltzes), and my Hermes Sandals help with the "outrunning her" part.
Boss Deaths: 
Total Boss Deaths: 6
Other Deaths: 2
Rift Bosses Stomped: 1
Time for the Waterfall Cave section.
:
: What're you so confused for, Mozart? This actually makes sense.
: Actually, the ground here is too rocky to support a forest like we were just in...
:
That shadowy figure down there is Omega. After looking at its stats, I've changed my mind and will (probably suicidally) challenge it.
: I think I hear something from down there...
: How could you not? That's LOUD!
: Anything that can afford to make that much noise in the Rift is something I want to avoid.
: Looks like you've rediscovered your survival instinct.
By the way, you can find this hidden behind the waterfall I was standing next to in the previous screenshot. Not that it's very interesting by this point, but... y'know, just in case you wanted to know where all the boxes are.
These guys would be SO much more intimidating if they had status immunities...
Anyway, there's a Coral Ring on a platform in a cave partway along the walkway I was just on, as well as progress off to the right.
Here's a save point, just in case you can't dodge Omega well enough. Me, I'm actively hunting it down.
So. Omega. Incredibly powerful superboss? Check. Immune to all status effects? NOT check.
: Oh, crap. Umm, umm... sing?
CKSD will be the entirety of my offense for this fight... damage-wise, at least.
Yup, the mighty Omega is vulnerable to Stop. What's more, it's coded so that Romeo's Ballad will NEVER MISS. That said, I wouldn't recommend relying on this too much, since it is, as one would expect, Heavy, and thus Stop will primarily serve to reset its ATB.
: Not like we've got any better options at this point.
After a few turns of Swift Song from Mozart and Faris, the fight settles into a routine of Krile Stopping Omega, followed immediately by Lenna Dancing.
: ...Why isn't it attacking? 
: 
Thus falls Omega- humiliatingly Stopped to death, with the only attacks it managed being two Rocket Punches used as counterattacks early on.
: ...I can't believe that worked.
: Me neither.
Boss Deaths: 0 
Total Boss Deaths: 6
Other Deaths: 2
Rift Bosses Stomped: 2
Superbosses Slain: 1
: Some of the plating broke off, it looks like. It's got a picture of a bell or something on it.
: That's an omega, Faris.
Killing Omega causes the screen to shake while about twenty or so explosions go off (I counted, since the game wouldn't let me do much else).
: Well, no way they could've missed THAT.
: True, but maybe we can use the fact that we killed that thing to intimidate them.
Anyway, two rooms later we emerge in a library.
:
:
:
: This is probably like that time we ended up in Castle Bal's basement.
: Hey, I think I found something about that thing we just killed.
: ...wait, what? 
: You mean... we actually managed to outdo legendary heroes?!
: Nice. Go us!
: Even the legendary weapons... but we... what... huh...?
: Hey, if we ever find this Shinryu, do you think we can go two for two?
: Faris? Stop it with the power trip already and let's go.
: Dammit, I thought we were done with possessed books after the Library...
This is, as has been previously noted, a good thing.
: That implies that, hypothetically speaking, if I closed it things would go back.
: Did you overhear us talking about how we just killed Omega?
: ...Seriously?
: Yeah, we got a piece of its armor right here, see?
: ...This is gonna suck, isn't it?
: For you? Briefly.
Apanda looks just like Byblos... and also bears a great deal of similarity in combat strategy.
Too bad for him that the Byblos strategy is no longer a threat to me.
Boss Deaths: 0
Total Boss Deaths: 6
Other Deaths: 2
Rift Bosses Stomped: 3
Heading back out with Apanda's book open puts you in the Castle section of the Rift (the section most recognizable to modern gamers because this is the area that Dissidia's Rift stage is based on).
: Wait, didn't that door lead back to the waterfalls before?
:
:
:
After reaching the castle proper, I head downstairs to the dungeon.
: How much do you wanna bet that those old men're actually monsters?
: I don't bet on sure things unless I'm the one winning.
Azulmagia (also known by his name's translation of Blue Mage) awaits us in the bottom-left cell. Amazingly, if you say no to his question he actually buys it... but I'm not doing that.
As you might expect, this guy has a wide array of Blue Magic to pester you with, and even has a script to learn what few Blue spells he doesn't already know. Thing is, he's flimsy- never a good thing to be around me.
Y'know, you might've accomplished something if you'd done something other than Off-Guard...
Boss Deaths: 0
Total Boss Deaths: 6
Other Deaths: 2
Rift Bosses Stomped: 4
The reward for killing him is a save point. Always welcome in a place with a boss density as high as this.
All the old men are Alte Roites. They can cast Encircle (which I consider grounds for a restart on the spot, because screw losing my Chicken Knife, even if I could win without it), but I have no idea what else because they're REALLY flimsy.
Killing an Alte Roite turns it into a Jura Aevis- simple enough, considering a single Sword Dance from anyone will one-shot them. Amazingly, they're actually less threatening that way.
This times six.
Encircle-Induces Resets: 1 (not counting as a death, since in hindsight I feel I could've won even without Lenna and her Chicken Knife)
The boxes in their cells are this one, plus another containing Red Slippers. Meh, I've already stolen several of both of those last update.
I make sure to equip Reflect Rings to everyone before stepping here, since looking this guy in the eye causes him to break out and attack you.
Meet Catastrophe. His whole thing is trying to earthquake you to death.
To facilitate this, he has an attack called 100 Gs which does nothing but remove Float status, and he will spam it for as long as it takes to get everyone on the ground to eat his attacks... but it's reflectable. 
Since a combination of Float and Reflect renders him completely helpless, I decide to insult him a bit by using him as an opportunity to heal after one of the Jura Aevises hit me with a Breath Wing during a fight where the dancers were reluctant to finish it off.
And then I start whacking away with regular attacks. 
I even pull out the Thief Knife just to mug him for a healing item.
Well, I don't quite hit max HP before plinking him to death, but it's close enough, I say.
Boss Deaths:
Total Boss Deaths: 6
Other Deaths: 2
Rift Bosses Stomped: 5
Heading back to its cell (since it pushed us all the way to the save point before actually starting the fight) prompts this woman to come out and thank us.
: Back off, okay? I don't trust you.
: But she's been locked up here for so long...
: And did it never cross your mind that there might be a REASON for that?
Following the suspicious woman up the stairs in her cell (and why didn't she just climb those to leave?) puts you on top of the castle, where I go down the stairs on the other side to grab this in the one cell that doesn't actually have a door.
Heading in the central door up top is where you're supposed to go, but it also leads to a staircase back to the entryway; we couldn't come this way because of this door, which the switch I just pulled in this image opens. Unfortunately, it resets when you exit, so no shortcuts for you even if you've already been through the whole castle.
That said, I have a reason to backtrack: This is in a tower through the left exit of the entryway, and there's a set of Hermes Sandals mirrored on the right; I could've gotten these before, but I went straight to the basement. Anyway, back to the dungeon, since the door didn't stay open.
Trying to go through that door on the left just drags you onto this throne.
Trying again prompts the suspicious woman from earlier to show up, bragging about how she fooled you.
: Knew it. This is your fault, Lenna. If you hadn't distracted me she never would've gotten close enough.
: Sorry... 
She then reveals her true form: Halicarnassus.
You know, maybe it's just denial to prevent discomfort, but I've always seen Hal as a female, and will thus refer to her with feminine pronouns. It's not like it matters, though- either way, it's gonna die now.
Regardless of gender, though, Hal's quite a bit sturdier than the last few non-super bosses we've fought.
Despite appearances, she also doesn't count as Humanoid.
That said, she doesn't accomplish any more than the other Rift bosses so far: She Toaded Mozart (quickly fixed with a Maiden's Kiss) and used a Reverse Polarity (hence my messed-up rows), but died immediately after the latter because CKSD does a LOT of damage.
Boss Deaths: 0
Total Boss Deaths: 6
Other Deaths: 2
Rift Bosses Stomped: 6
Now that Hal's dead (and who cares what an enemy's real gender was?), we can actually go through that door.
After a quick trip back to the prison so I can save (just in case), I head up to the roof to pick a fight with Twintania.
Big hulking bull monster time! As you can expect from how tough he looks, this guy's got nearly as many HP as Omega!
He's just as vulnerable to CKSD as anything else not named Omega, though, so this'll be over a LOT faster.
...I didn't know this guy had Tidal Wave.
Let alone as a counter. Hmm... Minor change of plans.
Namely, break out the Coral Rings.
Uh-oh. You girls had better start Sword Dancing!
Right on cue, Twintania dies to a CKSD.
Boss Deaths: 1
Total Boss Deaths: 7
Other Deaths: 2
Rift Bosses Stomped: 7
Killing Twintania creates a staircase to the last section, but I don't think I should push my luck much further this update.
Therefore, I head back to the prison and save.
Next time: Endgame. (I don't think I can stretch out the way to Exdeath for more than an update, even if I fight Shinryu.)