We're climbing a tower because we goddamn can

(If you want to think of a new intro, fine by me.)


Alright, the team's assembled. Lima and Lux (I changed Chas' name as it a) would fit and b) it's his proper name now. Or something) are behind TS as mutants are squishier and, according to GameFAQs (or something similar), the closer you are to the front, the more likely you'll be the target of an attack. TS has 6 defense, while Lima and Lux have none.

...with that little tidbit, interesting fact: TS is the only one who doesn't have 0 in at least one stat at the moment.






The party's stats and equipment. You may notice the number to the right. If you are genre-savvy enough, you'll think that these are usage points. You are correct. To my knowledge, the only way to restore these is if you're a monster and sleep at an inn.

Also, those top four slots for Lima and Lux? Spell slots. Mutants ("espers" in the Japanese version, hinting that these are more psychic abilities then magic) can randomly gain abilities after battle. This is, of course, both good and bad, as you can get an awesome ability at the beginning of the game, but then lose it for an ability that does essentially nothing.

But enough about game physics (for now)! Now we beat stuff up!




This is the Game Boy, so combat is obviously turned based. We have breakable weapons, so we obviously select our weapons.




Actually writing it out takes a long-ass time. Man, I feel sorry for those guys playing on the Game Boy.



It's still not dead Thankfully, it can't destroy our party with only one hit. However, that was on the guy with 6 defense.



I think why it only credits me (the group leader) is because of space limitations. Why it couldn't say "You won!!" is beyond me.

So yeah, we got 40 GP/gil. Woo.

Sadly, nobody learned anything, and no meat was dropped.



There we go. So, let's go over how monsters work.

Each monster has a rank and a family. For example, goblin is rank one in the goblin-type family. Lizards are rank one in the lizard family. When a monster eats meat, first, it checks the two types of monsters (goblin and lizard). The combination results in an albatross-type monster.

Next, it looks at the rank. As both are the same rank, they just use one. They normally use the higher rank. They then look one rank up, then down. We got a hit at level one, so TS will transform into...


...FFL defies math.

We still get 40 GP, don't worry.



O=Resist, X=weak to. Therefore, TS is weak to Fire (like all good undead) and resists Para and...weapons, I think?

He also now attacks by throwing his bones, but can only do so 25 times before he loses all non-needed bones. Or throws his non-throwing arm. One of the two.



Aw man, I could've gotten a ghost thing if I waited!



Non-friendly zombies are also fairly resilient. Dammit, I got cheated.

...although then again, this is a zombie, not a skeleton. Dammit.



Dude, that took, like, three turns to kill! 40 GP don't cut it.



Do goblins satisfy your badass requirements, TS? Because I think this is the most badass non-boss.

Also, christ, I'm low on HP. I'm actually 4 HP lower then the recruitable units.



Longswords start with 50 hits. Does this speak about how much the first guy gets attacked?



I really need to hike it back to the city. Why?



This.

I switch Lux and Lief (via select), and go forth.

Speaking of, you may wonder why I need reserves.



Those hearts aren't an indication of how healthy one is. See, Odin, god of battle, is kind of a dick. He lets people be resurrected, but only thrice each. Once you hit that three times, you're dead for good. Humans have found a way to artificially increase the amount of times one can be raised from the dead, however the procedure, which can be performed at any shop, is as pricey as hell. This is mostly a problem for our party leader (me), as he can't be replaced. If he loses all his hearts, then we'll just have to grind until we get sufficient funds to give him new life. Which is gonna take a while, because you'll also need to get new weapons.

okay I made that bit about Odin doing it up but the rest of it is completely true.


Either new mutant skills don't pop up after battle or I missed it. Anyway, Stench [10], according to the Mutant FAQ on GameFAQs, lowers one enemy group's strength. Greeeeat. C'mon, Lux, you couldn't've gotten an attacking skill?



Lima still has no skills, attacking or no.



The 7 is my damage. I'm currently doing the most damage of the group. Ironic, no?



I missed it, but Lux died. -100 GP and 1 heart. ._.



That is the most half-assed dead sprite ever.



But...Lux is dead.



Due to how the game deals with dead people after battle, TS is now the leader of our group.



Back in town, we learn this useful tidbit of information. At least I have a lead.

So, that's all for today! Next time: we go to the town in the southeast and try to revive Lux.

[rand]Also[/rand]

A kind of a dick move the game pulls is that revived people revive at 1 HP.

It means I have to spend 19 more GP at the inn, making me farther away from getting either a spellbook for Lima or a health upgrade for Lief. The health upgrade's higher priority, as Lima can possibly learn skills after battle.



The townsperson was right! Thank Odin I actually talked to him.




Lux's brother Dharc tells us this tidbit.



This doesn't look anything like Erdrick! Or his descendant!



When resting at the inn, I noticed Lux got an HP upgrade.



Oh hey look castle.


Ow. Thankfully, this doesn't nearly kill Lief, as he packs 60 HP.



Lima's Rapier's damage. .3.



Goblin meat, obviously. Eating this transforms TS into a lizard. I accept...



...giving TS a nice HP boost...



...and some good stats, but X-Ice. I don't think anything attacks with ice, though, at least in this world.

If you notice, Lima also got an HP boost.



We have enough GP to net an HP200 potion.

In case you're wondering, no, HP200s do not give a human +200 HP. Instead, they give a decent boost of HP if whoever you use it on (humans only) has less then 200 max HP. It becomes near-useless after that, only giving a boost of 1-2 HP. That's what HP400, 600, and 800 potions are for. Same deal. At the end of the game, though, once you exceed 800 HP, you should just get HP200 potions, as they're the cheapest.



This nets me a boost of 18 HP. Woo!

In the future, I'll just save up for other potions and weapons until everyone has more HP then me, or I have 'nuff money to spare. Or I'm desperate.



Let's check what's going on in this castle that I totally didn't just chance upon while grinding no sirree.



...

I can't get a screenshot of it, but walking up to a guard makes him say:

:onguard:: You're not welcome in here. Get out.

He then boots us out.



The king needs to be better at giving orders.

: If anybody who isn't me or one of the guards comes up to you, boot them out. They aren't welcome.

:onguard:: Yes sir!

...wait, that's a Zombie guy. I should know, TS was one and they show up on the character create screen for new guys.



So King Shield's a zombie/skeleton/zombiton.

...

Maybe his friend who looks like he could be my guy's twin could shed some information.




He's worse at his job then the guards. He doesn't even boot us out.

Wait, we want the shield? Yeah, this might not make sense to a player who just wandered in here. Let's look at this:




Three other guys in the town also say this:





Ignoring the Engrish (really, Squaresoft?), this basically tells us that we need a special sword, shield, and armor to advance in the plot.




Thanks, guys.

Now, a bit of a disclaimer: I'm learning this stuff too. I mean, I knew you needed to get the king's stuff, but I didn't know where it is or how to get it.

Alright, so that's that. A bit more grinding and we'll be good.



Dammit Lux.



Telling you this now: eating the meat of another of your kind (or what you share a sprite with) is pointless.




I like the King of Armor already.



He's not a monster. That's good.

[Lux]: My lord. You look ill. What is wrong?
(I dunno why Lux is talking when I'm at the front of the party, but whatevs.)
: I'm in love.
Ooh? Who is the lady?
: She is a girl in the south, but she wouldn't accept my proposal.
(Aw, poor Shield. ...or is it Sword? Armor?)
: I see. I may be able to help you for a reward.
: I'll give you anything you want.

Calling it now, King Armor is this world's version/a puppet-type-thing of the Nightmare King. Y'know, like what he uses to rule this world. Or whatever. I dunno.

So, anyway, we got our first quest. The only fighting is getting from here to the southern town. Already better then DQIX's, although those weren't needed to beat the game. Whatever.

Find out what happens next time!

...wait a second, ARMOR was to the northeast!

And it is! However, there is a pressing concern I want to tell you about this game: monster-class units suck.

Well, compared to, say, humans and mutants, anyway. By the end game, monsters are more of a support unit. This is a pressing concern and fits nothing with TS (the user).

Before then, however, there's the concern that TS (the monster) will fall behind everyone else. End-game, there's nothing we can do about it. Now, however, we can consume monster meats to make TS seem like a badass in comparison. We need to reset TS as a goblin.

...except...apparently...I forgot to save. Or Game Boy games have save issues. Or Game Boy games can't save over time. Any way, this means we have to start all over, which actually isn't too bad, as we're only an nth through the plot.



Lizard meat. We're going for zombie meat, however.



Yes!





Zombies are relatively rare on the world map, too. According to the FFL LP on the Archives, however, in the afformentioned cave, we get a) plot and b) a ton of zombies.



While we're here, we also get bronze...armlets? for Lux and Lima.



...now that I think about it, this ability fits Lux a bit.

Still sucks, though.



The cave.



Talking to monsters inside of here gets you into an encounter.

Also, the game isn't broken: instead of two monsters showing up, they just use the one sprite. They're called "stacks" of monsters.


Called it.

Quite annoyingly, monsters don't leave the map screen when killed. This caused me to get a game over next encounter.



Aw come on, that rapier's mostly new!



Lima continues to show superiority over Lux. Two HP upgrades vs. none and a worthless ability.



Scratch that; make it a not-very-useful ability. Mirror raises the evasion of the mutant using it a bit. Not enough to be effective, especially as Lux is rarely targeted, but better then an ability that lowers strength by 0.



If only I got a zombie



The not-very-useful thing about mutants is that sometimes they power up with X-abilities. This is bad, because in this game, weaknesses don't mean damage increases, it means a chance of instant death.



TS is at one HP because, you guessed it, he died.

Anyway, this is where I'll leave off for now. Next time, we're going to see if Vizzed works for Game Boy games.