Need for Speed (FFII, Day 20)

After a long string of unproductive days in FFII, I knew it was time to really get cracking. The few tips I picked up from watching that speed run have helped me immensely. I made it through four dungeons last night, and started a fifth!

If you recall yesterday's post, I had been wandering around in that dungeon on the tropical island looking for the black mask. Before I started playing, I looked up a walkthrough and was reminded that I should head back to Altair because it was time to retake castle Fynn!

Altair was, of course, deserted, because all the rebels had gone to the forward camp. I hurried there, and was instructed to take down the guy in charge. Down went dungeon number one, which was really just a short walk to a boss battle. We were reunited with Leila on the way, and the Castellan went down easily thanks to my new and improved equipment setup.

Hilda and Gordon moved back in and I sent the crew to take a nap in Fynn town. Of course I fired off a few Cure spells to get everyone back to full health. Some people don't realize that the cost of inns in FFII are based on the number of HP and MP that you're restoring, so it ends up being cheaper using MP to heal and then using the inn to recover just your mana. #gilsavingtips

After a quick shopping trip to get some new goodies, it was back to the castle to chat with the princess. Remember Minwu? No one had heard from him. I was told to recover the white and black masks, and go to Mysidia to find out what was up.

The basement of castle Fynn is home to the white mask, and was dungeon two for the day. It was straightforward, and super quick to get through now that I was able to flee from almost everything. There were a few things that I learned I'd have to kill no matter what, but it was still pretty quick.  White mask get!


Next I was off to Mysidia to put the white mask on the statue beneath town. I replenished some items while I was there before heading back to the tropical island to finish it properly. Dungeon number three. The locals will probably be miffed when they find out I took their treasure, the black mask, but I kind of need it to save the world so... they'll have to get over it.



Sorry bro. I did findy and I did takey. Deal with it.

After that blatant theft, we returned to the continent to tromp around in dungeon number four, the Cave of Mysidia. There was a doppelganger blocking the way, but he let us put the black mask on him and promptly disappeared. Whatever. Dude was gone, and I blasted through the dungeon to get the crystal rod. Now that I had it, I headed back to the ship and sailed to the tower to go offer Minwu a hand.



It's going to take "guts" to get through this ordeal.
...and towels. Lots of towels. Viscera cleanup is a pain.
 

The tower is located in an atoll, with a very narrow entrance. I had completely forgotten about what happens at this point. So I was a little bit surprised when a whirlpool opened up and swallowed the ship. The bad news is that I'm in the belly of a sea monster and Leila is nowhere to be found. The good news is, I'll get to meet up with Batman soon. I mean, Ricard. He uses a spear, so I've been holding on to a few tridents in my inventory for him.

Anyway... 

Will our heroes escape the belly of the beast? Will the Leviathan have some epic indigestion? Find out all this and more tomorrow, Same bat time, Same bat channel!



I'm batman!