Final Fantasy V: Part 7

Welcome back to the Shaded Resolve blog. Very sorry for the long time between posts...I've been playing a million things it seems. One of which is Final Fantasy Tactics; of which I will be covering next. As for now, onward with FFV.

After defeating Gilgamesh and taking the submarine, we find ourselves inside the Shield Generator. Besides the boss, only two things of note here. First: The Traveler enemy has the Time Slip blue magic; you won't need a Trainer to learn it. Second: Two of the treasure chests have dragon battles which can be a bit tough depending on which dragon you get (Red, blue, yellow). The Red Dragon has a blue magic but we won't be able to get it from him just yet.

Now we face Atomos at the summit. He'll bombard your party with Comet until he knocks one of them out, and then proceed to try to suck the downed party member closer to him every turn after. If you revive, he'll just start using Comet again, so it's best to just let your weakest member stay down until he is almost defeated. You can try using Shell to protect from Comet...but with its randomness with damage it won't help a whole lot, but it's all you've got if you want to keep all your members alive. My suggestion is to keep track of your damage (Atomos has about 20,000 HP)  and when you will defeat him with the next attack, revive your downed character. Keep in mind if the character gets to close to Atomos, he will be removed from the battle for good.

With Atomos defeated and the Shield Generator destroyed, the party gains full control of the submarine. Your destination is the sunken Gill's Shrine, but let's take care of some optional things since we have control of the submarine now. Submerge and head toward the white dot to the far north of the map; you will enter into a cave. Some new enemies in this cave, but nothing of real interest; just pass through.

 Outside on the world map, wander around the forests until you encounter Shoat, the summon monster. Really easy stuff here, just make sure you have Esna and Softs around if he petrifies one of your party members. After he is defeated, you acquire the item needed to learn Shoat as a summon. This will prove useful much later, but for now he can only be acquired while in Galuf's world so do not miss him! Before returning to the submarine, in the lower corner of this island is a chocobo forest where you can find a female chocobo. Not very helpful but does foreshadow some story for later. Now, look for the white dot almost in the center of the map: this is Gill's Shrine.

Now in Gill's Shrine, three things of importance. In the first couple of rooms you will frequently encounter the Metamorpha enemy. The Metamorpha will change into one of a set number of enemies and only one once per battle (So if he doesn't change into the monster you want, find another Metamorpha). As pictured, the Crew Dust is one such enemy. This enemy is unique only in the fact that it can only be seen here. It cannot be encountered anywhere else in the game. The second enemy to look for is its change into the Fan Wizard. It will use the blue magic Aero3 on you to learn.

However, the most important thing about the Metamorpha enemy is it drops the extremely rare Lumino-Staff. Besides a boss you can steal this from way later in the game, this is the only place to acquire the rare staff. Unfortunately for this staff, you'll be getting the best staff in the game soon, but for completionists do not forget to pick this up. You can still encounter the Metamorpha in the final dungeon of this game, but encountering it here is MUCH more common. The rest of Gill's Shrine is fairly easy with its simple stone-in-box puzzle. With the Elder's Branch in hand from Gill, let's take the submarine to Moore Village; it's to the FAR west of the world map surrounded by mountains. You'll need to submerge near the mountain range and then go up under the mountains and then surface in the lake near the village. Some extremely good things to stock up in Moore Village; especially magic. There is a Hunting Knife in a barrel in the western part of the town. Far outclassed by other knives at this point, but its ability to parry attacks will be useful soon; also don't forget the piano here. When you're ready, trek east towards the Moore Forest.

Final Fantasy V: Part 6

Welcome back to the blog. When we left off we had been to the Moogle Forest and are now at Galuf's castle of Val. There are a few things of note here. First off, is the Regal Cutlass sword. This will be your best sword for quite a long time and you cannot buy it yet. To find it, in the courtyard of the castle, there is a canal area in the bottom-left corner of the map. This will take you to the moat outside. Work yourself around the castle to the top-right of the area and examine the water around to find the "Great Sword", which is in fact a Regal Cutlass. For another hidden item, go down the stairs that takes you to the chests behind the item shop. You'll notice on the other side of the wall with the merchants, there is a switch. Activate it from your side and then talk to the merchants and they will give you a Lamia's Harp to get you to go away. This will be the best harp in the game until you can acquire the Apollo's Harp later. For the final, and important item here, go to the throne room and equip the Thief's Secret ability. You will see a secret wall where you will find the important Telepo spell. Don't leave without it. Defeat the Abductor enemy upon your exit and your next destination if Kelb Village to the north.

Before going to Kelb; just a few notes. First, there is a cave to the east that will lead you back to X-Death's Castle and the Big Bridge if you need to for some reason. There is also and incredibly hard optional boss in the cave there, which we will cover later on. The other note is to change a party member into a Trainer and have them capture the Kornago enemy (But don't release it), then make your way to Kelb. In Kelb, talk to the old wizard in the well and trade the Kornago for his extremely rare Kornago Gourd accessory. Talk to Kelba here and then exit north towards the Valley of Dragons.

There is something EXTREMELY important at the Valley of the Dragons and you only get one shot. The dungeon itself isn't too important until you reach the bridge area. After this, you will have a chance to encounter a battle with the summon Golem and some enemies. If you defeat the enemies without Golem dying or damaging him yourself, he will become a summon for your party and is easily one of the best in the game. This isn't too tough...but make sure nobody is a Berzerker and you only use single-target attacks. Enter your commands one at a time to avoid the enemy potentially dying and your attack being redirected at Golem. When the enemies are defeated, just wait and Golem will speak to you and join up.

Another very important item here: the Gale Bow. You'll find one later in the game in a chest, but other than that, stealing from the Poison Eagle enemy here is the only way to get one. The Gale Bow has innate !Sshot (4x Attack)  that occurs at a 25% chance rate. This will be the best weapons you will have at your disposal for a while. Of other note in the Valley of Dragons, there is a hidden Bonemail inside a dragon skull on the outside paths. Check them, and you will easily find it. Don't be fooled by its defense though, it actually makes the wearer undead (Not zombie) which means they will take damage from healing items and spells (Except White Wind). If you didn't get the Magic Hammer blue magic at the Biblos boss, the Drippy enemy here has it to learn. The Dragon Grass boss here is easy, put Golem to work and you will have little problems. Take the Dragon Grass back to Krile at Val Castle and you will gain control of the flying dragon; much like the one from the previous world. To find Gill's Shrine, head to the north-east of the Valley of the Dragons and you will see a small island with a marker in the middle of a forest. Trigger the scenes here and you will be in control of the dragon again. Your destination is Zeza's fleet, but first fly westward and you will see a castle near marshes you haven't been to yet. Good things for sale here and a minor puzzle. The Song of Speed is a book on the desk in Zeza's room, so make sure to pick it up. In the library you have a puzzle. If you examine the bookcases they will be alphabetical. The idea is to pick up the books on the tables and put them on the shelves that correspond to their beginning letter; then speak with the old woman who will open a door for you. This will lead you to other rooms with chests. Done at Surgate, you'll find Zeza's fleet in the ocean near X-Death's castle; simply land your dragon on the large boat.

Gilgamesh is back, and he will bring in his friend, Enkidoh. Priority of this battle is stealing his extremely rare Genji Glove accessory.

This is your ONLY chance to get this item, so it must be stolen from him now. As for the battle itself, target Enkidoh first to keep him from using White Wind. Gilgamesh himself is much tougher than he was previously, but shouldn't be anything you can't handle if you are properly equipped. After the battle, you will head towards the Shield Generator dungeon with Zeza, which will we cover next time. As always, thank you for reading and hopefully will have the next chapter up sooner than I did this one.

Final Fantasy V: Part 5

Back in the world of Final Fantasy V, we're ready to head off to Galuf's world. After looking for Cid at the airship base, you'll be traveling around to the various meteors to power them up. You'll face a boss at each, with the exception of Tycoon. They're all fairly easy with not a whole lot to note. Byurobolos and their constant reviving may be an issue if not for the fact they will use Exploder and take care of themselves. When all the meteors are activated it's time to head to the warp point, but be advised that some places will no longer be accessible once you leave for Galuf's world. Make sure you have visited Tycoon Castle and looted the treasure there (At this point, there is also a new scene to see there.). Defeated the summon monster Shiva and looted Walz Castle as well as buying any equipment you want to keep from Walz Town. Gotten the Ramuh summon and the Love Song from Easterly Village. And finally, visited Rikks Village and acquired the Temptation Song. All of these things will be unavailable for the remainder of the game unless you do them before going to the warp point.

Warping off to the new world, you'll find yourself on a tiny island. The object here is to use a Tent item, but hold off on that for a moment. You will only encounter the Pao enemy here on this island and it ALWAYS drops a Tent item. Although not as good as a Cabin item, use this as an opportunity to increase your inventory of Tents. You'll be glad you did later. Using a Tent sets forth events where Bartz will have to battle an Abductor alone. Win or loss isn't an issue, but you shouldn't have much trouble handling it. When you're in control of Galuf, equip him with the Thief's Flee ability and head towards the bottom of the basement to fight Gilgamesh. If Galuf is a warrior class, he should be able to take the enemies here as well as Gilgamesh easily, but if not, Flee can save your life.

The party's back together! Before leaving, snatch a Spear from the Shell Bear enemy. While this is the weakest spear class weapon in the game, this is the only way to acquire it. This enemy is also only available for a limited time, so make sure to pick up as many as you want now. Nothing else of note in the castle except for the recovery spring which is a few rooms north of the exit. Outside the castle, you'll see the world is a bit different. One feature that is exclusive to Galuf's world are the marshes on the world map. If you are a player that likes to see everything, the Geomancer's Earth ability produces attacks in the marsh that can only be seen there (Peat Bog, Poison Mist). If you missed the Doom Claw blue magic earlier at Karnak Castle, the Block Head enemy outside has it if you control him. Your next destination is the Big Bridge.

The Big Bridge...but not very interesting. You'll fight a good number of battles before facing off against Gilgamesh. Easy stuff here. You'll be blown off the bridge afterwards and have a bit of a walk towards the town of Lugor. You can dance on the stage of the pub here to get 100GP infinitely, but I think you'd be better off fighting outside if you need the money. Stock up and head south, passing by the Sealed Castle on the way. Kuzer enemies outside there are dangerous, but if you didn't get the ???? blue magic earlier, they'll pound you over and over again with it. Inside Sealed Castle is barren, with the exception of the Shield Dragon enemy. We are absolutely no match for them at this point in the game, but if you want to be cheap, you can use control of them and have them use Blaze on themselves until they're dead and you'll gain a tremendous amount of experience. Also, just want to say I apologize for the lack of screenshots at this point, but it will pick up

Pass by Sealed Castle and east towards a patch of a forest where a scene will place you in the underground river. This is a tiny dungeon, with only two chests, and an easy boss. Blood Slimes here have the Red Feast blue magic if you didn't get it earlier as well. The Tyrannosaurus boss is of absolutely no concern. Exit the river and watch where the moogle walks and then enters the forest at. Note that he didn't step in the desert...That's because there are some real nasty critters there. If you want to try them out, I recommend saving first since you cannot run from the battles; there's not much reason to fight them though. Step on the exact spot the moogle did in the forest to be taken to their village. Our rescued moogle is in the far-corner of the screen. Speak with him and then loot the treasures inside. Make sure not to talk to him again until you have grabbed the Elf's Cloak treasure in one of the houses. You'll need to put on a moogle suit from one of the houses before the moogle guarding the Elf's Cloak will let you have it. You should have an Elf Cloak already, but it's one the absolute best accessories in the game and will be crucial to defeating the optional boss of this world. Grab it and talk to the rescued moogle again to set forth scenes that will leave you in Val Castle where I will see you next time. Thank you for reading.

Final Fantasy V: Part 4

In the last post, we finished up some side-quests and got the black chocobo. We're ready to head for the Earth Crystal and the airship: which means those Sand Tides. Bleh.

The Sandworm boss is a pain...One cast of Aqua Rake blue magic should do in him though.

The Sand Bear encounter here has the very rare Javelin to steal. The only way to acquire this item is from the Sand Bear. Sand Bears show up as a random encounter in some deserts parts of the final world, so no rush; but might as well pick at least one up here. It's going to be the strongest spear you can find for a while (When you finally gain the Lancer job soon). I really hate these Sand Tides. Keep heading downward and you will eventually find your way out, but trying to explore the entire Tides is a choir; granted there isn't much reason to except to find the Pyramid dungeon which you can't enter for now.

Exiting the Sand Tides continue on to Gorn and eventually into the underground where you will obtain the airship. Most probably know how to get the chests hidden beyond the wall in the room where you can rest, but if not, check the flowers on the right-hand side of the bedroom for a note. Then check the note on the table in the rightmost room. Afterwards check the jar in the leftmost room, and finally examine the switch and choose to "pull" instead of "push'. Gaining the airship now you will fight Clay Claw (Which somehow I missed a screen of...) but he's not much of a problem.

Did you get L.5 Doom back at the Ancient Library? Well, now that you have the airship, remember that nasty Harpy in the Walz basement? It will wipe the floor with him. The reason? None other than revenge. Not much else to do with your new airship that you didn't already do with the Fire Ship and the black chocobo. So, just return to Gorn and see the Ronka Ruins rise up and head for the Tycoon Meteor to find the Adamantite for Cid. As for the Adamantaim boss, again, nothing to write home about. You can L.5 Doom him if you want like you did Harpy. After defeating Adamantaim and having Cid patch the airship up to reach the ruins, this is your last chance to do anything in this world before Galuf leaves your party 'til later on. So keep this in mind if you want to do some leveling.

Yikes, the difficulty spiked a little bit here. Before you fight the Soul Gun, try to learn the Burn Ray and Missile blue magic from the Rocket Gun and Flamethrower enemies before him. You might have to reset if you get 4 groups of the same enemy, but it's worth it to get these now. Use Bolt 2, Ramuh, and Coral Swords on the Soul Gun itself. The main issue here is the Old status being set by the Launchers. Have someone constantly casting Esna to get rid of this or your damage will drop significantly. Try to be fully healed by the time he finishes his countdown and uses its Beam Cannon and you should be alright. Now into the Ronka Ruins.

Lamias here have the excellent Lamia's Tiara helmet as a steal. Try stealing every chance you encounter one and you should end up with at least one. I got two personally. You can buy this later, but it is a huge upgrade from what you have right now. For blue magic you have the superb White Wind from the Fan Wizard and Blow Fish from the Lamias; you'll need to control with a Trainer in order to acquire these. Keep a Thief in your party or a character with the Secret ability to find the hidden routes here and pick up all the treasures. You'll fight Archeoavis at the end and Galuf will leave your party temporarily. Archeoavis attempts to be clever with his elemental changing, but you can just use physical attacks to take him out easily. You'll now have all the jobs in the game (With the exception of the secret Mime).

That's it for today. Thanks for reading. Next up: We warp off to Galuf's world.

Final Fantasy V: Part 3

Now that we have the Fire Ship, we've got a few options available to us. Our destination is Crescent Town, but let's stop by Jachol and Jachol Cave first; it's on the southern end of the continent nearest the Ancient Library. Jachol itself isn't interesting, but you can fight Bombs outside and learn Exploder blue magic if you didn't get it on the Fire Ship.

Jachol Cave is also rather meh, with the exception of two things: The Shock Whip and the SkullEater enemy. SkullEater's are very powerful and pretty much nothing will damage them. Thankfully, a lot of the time they will escape at the beginning of battle and you will gain 5AP anyway; if they don't escape: run. However, if you have Geomancer's Earth ability, you can kill it with Stalactite (Pictured) or Wind Slash, although Wind Slash tends to do 0 damage a lot of the time. 5AP is amazing at this point in the game. The Shock Whip is a phenomenal weapon for the Trainer; also very rare. Note that if you released Lone Wolf from the Walz dungeon, the chest will be empty. This is all to find here.

Next stop: Easterly Village, which is far to the north of Karnak near the waterfall. This town won't exist later in the game, but the only thing you will miss here is gaining the Ramuh summon and the Love Song. Ignore those extremely expensive rings in the shop, you can buy and find them later on, but raid the magic shop if you like. Have the sheep kick you over the fence and talk to the bard to learn the Love Song. You can also get the Toad spell by walking on the flower bed in the town. Ramuh is a random encounter in the forest to the east. Not too hard; use Ice2, and make sure to use the Ramuh item after the battle to learn the summon. Next stop: Crescent Town.

Good items outside of Crescent Town. Pictured is the rare Death Sickle. These are dropped by the Crescent enemy. You won't find this weapon outside of an enemy drop and it is WELL worth the time to acquire. It will be the strongest weapon you will have for some time. Black Flames have the BlakShok blue magic for you to learn. These are outside Easterly as well. For some extra GP, look for the Bio Soldier enemies. They have a Battle Axe for a common steal and a War Hammer for a rare steal. None of these are even close to the Death Sickle in power, but better than buying them and you can sell them for decent gold. After you have the events and gaining the black chocobo, fly to Rikks Village which is surrounded by forests and mountains north of the Wind Shrine. This town will also not exist later in the game, so make absolutely sure that you visit Bartz's house and learn the Temptation Song from the bard by examining the music box. Note that doing so removes the Memento item from your key items (Why?). You cannot get the Temptation Song anywhere else, so the sacrifice is unfortunately necessary. Don't concern yourself with the shops here, they can all be bought elsewhere.

Thanks for reading. Next time: We finish up World 1.

Final Fantasy V: Part 2

We've made it to Karnak, where everybody loves fire. On your way here, make sure to pick up the blue magic ???? from the Wild Dogs in the forests. Not a whole lot else going on here. Onward to the Fire Ship.

In the Fire Ship, equip those Silver Glasses to prevent Cool Dusts' Flash (Which can also be learned for blue magic.) The Mottletraps have Exploder blue magic if they get hit with Bolt as well. Don't miss the Thief's Glove accessory in the dungeon as well. It will be invaluable the rest of the game. At the end you fight the Liquid Flame boss. The only thing to note here is you want to defeat it in its cyclone form (Pictured). This will cause it to drop a Fire Bow. You can buy this later, but the amount will be a little much; best to get a freebie here. It will only change forms after a hit and using the current forms special attack, so if it gets low on HP you can cast Fire on it to heal some HP to keep it alive until the cyclone form. Make absolutely sure that you go back and save after the boss. The next part is extremely frustrating.

So....I could have swore I had a picture here...but apparently not. Countdown at the Karnak Castle time. You got 10 minutes to get all 15 chests and hopefully learn Doom Claw from the boss; and maybe Aero2 from the Gigas (But not prioritized). The Sorcerer enemy has Mage Slasher to steal, which you won't be able to buy until later, but the Hunting Knife you are about to find way outclasses it. Make sure the character with the highest speed stat has the thief's Flee ability since they will get their turn first. Personally, I would make a blue mage with black secondary ability, a monk with Learning ability, Knight with white ability, and Thief with flee. This will give you two chances to learn the blue magic and good offense. This isn't too terrible if you know where you're going and don't push too much time trying to do optional things. If all goes well, you should have 2+ minutes to get Doom Claw from the Iron Claw boss. This isn't the only chance you have, but the next opportunity comes a lot later in the game.

Karnak Castle is gone, but you got some new jobs. Try to get Trainer to level 2 so you can gain the Control ability. It will be useful for the entire game and necessary for many blue magics. Now that the fire is out in town, there is a Fire Rod in a barrel you couldn't get earlier on the ramparts of Karnak Town. There is a new merchant in the weapon/armor shop now as well. Making your way to the Ancient Library now, make sure you save, and engage the sole monster in the desert section of the world map. He's got Aqua Rake blue magic and you can steal a Trident from them if you wish; you can buy this shortly though. In the forests you can find the Mythril Dragons, control it for the Pep up blue magic. Speaking of blue magic, lots to be had in the Ancient Library's underground. Page 64 has L.5 Doom, Page 32 has Aero2, Page 256 has Guard-Off (Control) and Moon Flute, and finally the boss Biblos (Pictured) has Magic Hammer. For an extra scene you can summon Ifrit during the Biblos battle. Isn't it crazy how this obscure boss would later become a playable character in Final Fantasy Tactics? After this, you gain the Fire Ship and we can do a few optional things; which will be covered in part 3. Thanks for reading.

Final Fantasy V: Part 1

Welcome back to the Shaded Resolve blog. For those that were interested in the SaGa Frontier II rare items play years ago, I got burned out on it nearing the end, but plan to finish it at some point. I'm hoping to turn this blog into a play diary of sorts. It will mostly pertain to notes on 100% completion and things that are easily missed or passed over. My first game will be Final Fantasy V. This first post will be short, with greater ones to follow.

The journey begins! Not much happening in the beginning. Don't miss that hidden Phoenix Down in the corner of the screen of the Tycoon Meteor. Also, the Knife that Reina comes equipped with is the only one in the game; so don't lose it.

Got the first jobs now and on to the first real boss of the game; Karl Boss. An interesting story; I remember a screen of the Karl Boss battle used for promotion of the Anthology collection really got me excited for the game many, many years ago. After enjoying IV and VI, seeing V get released and being able to enjoy a new 2D FF was incredible. This would later be the case when Origins was released as well.

Past the Ship Graveyard and into North Mountain. Nothing of real interest here except the Silver Glasses accessory. These are a common steal and extremely easy to acquire (Also the only way to get more than one.). They are much better than the Leather Shoes and will be helpful in the Fire Ship dungeon later (Prevents Darkness). You can also sell them for some GP. After you have the dragon, don't forget to return to the Pirate Cove and have your Blue Mage learn Red Feast from the Steel Bat, Goblin Punch from the Goblins, and Aero from Mauldwin at the Wind Shrine.

On to Walz from North Mountain. Not much here except that this town will not exist later in the game, so make sure you pick up the items in the shops for completion sake. Take the treasures in Walz Castle basement, but have a Thief's Flee ability to run from the Harpies; don't worry, we'll be back later to get revenge on them. And by the way, do NOT release Lone Wolf from the dungeon. He will steal some treasure chests from you (Most importantly a powerful Shock Whip.) Then there is Shiva; an optional boss in the Walz Watertower. Not easy at this point in the game...but doable and the gained summon is worth it. You can get the Toad Song blue magic from the Elf Toad's here. Ice Soldiers have Mythril Swords to steal here too. These can be sold for good money. From there to the Walz Tower; another uninteresting place. There is an enemy here called "Y Burn" that is of interest. I guess it's suppose to translate as WYVERN but somehow they got Y BURN. Odd. After defeating Garula and the Walz meteor falls, I would suggest taking the dragon to Tycoon Castle before venturing to Karnak. You can see some optional scenes and pick up from decent items; including the Healing Staff. There is a tower on the right side of the castle with two Cottage items; this is apparently unknown to some people even though you can clearly see it by exploring the right side of the area. Next stop: Karnak.

Part 2 coming next.