IV - What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

Catch up on Part 1 here!

As our heroes pull themselves out of the ship graveyard after setting it ablaze, they wonder where to go next. More like I wondered where to go next. FFV is a game of many strengths, telling you where to go is not one them. Okay, scratch that, they do tell you where to go, they just frequently neglect to to you how to get there.

Unfortunately, our heroes are stuck. The Water Crystal is in Walse and since there's no wind, no ships are sailing there, and there are mountains blocking the way by land. So clearly, one option remains. Let's go find ourselves a flying dragon creature!

The North Mountain is home to many lovely flora and fauna. One of which is a pretty flower that poisons your entire party by simply stepping on it. Awesome. Upon nearing the summit, Lenna is suddenly shot with a poison arrow.

LENNA GETS POISONED COUNT: 1

A charming lady appears and reveals herself as Magissa, a hunter. She claims a princess could fetch a fair price on the apparently existing black market so she attacks the party with her husband, Forza.

Like most living things, the pair can be set on fire. YOU DEFEATED.

The group ascends to the summit to find a sickly wind drake. The dragon grass, or whatever it's called, to cure it is conveniently located about 7 steps away. BUT ALAS! Those pesky poison flowers are in the way! Lenna decides to brave the plants and save the drake.

LENNA GETS POISONED COUNT: 2

Thankfully, they brought antidotes.

Success! Our heroes have procured a flying machine! Surely nothing stands in our way now!

Okay, well, surely nothing slightly above sea level stands in our way now! We'll just sidle around those dirty mountains and make our way to Walse.

Upon arriving in Walse, our courageous companions figure that finding a town with an extensive canal system is probably is in the right direction to a Water Crystal. They proceed to mingle with the locals.

The King of Walse is fairly confident that nothing bad will happen to the crystal on his watch. Who cares if one of the mystical objects that controls the elements of nature exploded? That can't POSSIBLY happen agai... Hey, what's that rumbling?

Another meterorite has fallen near the tower where the Water Crystal is housed. Butts should probably check that out. Oh, and something about a rampaging beast called Garula attacking the tower. The guards at the tower have been trampled by the Garula and as our heroes ascend the tower, they come upon the king in a bad way.

It's okay, pal, we'll take care of it. Garula is quickly dispatched when Galuf snaps a Frost Rod in half over his knee. More on that trick later. Bigger problems are now afoot. Garula had managed to shatter the crystal anyway. Now everything is going to shit. What were you saying about the crystal being safe, King Walse?

Well this is pretty bad. That's two crystals destroyed and Syldra has ...died again? saving the party from drowning. Apparently she kind of survived the whirlpool and had barely enough energy to save everyone again. Hey, good news though! Our Water Crystal jobs have been unlocked! Let's roll the dice and see what we get!

We got Bard!

No joke, Bard is stupidly overpowered. The songs Bards learn have ridiculous support effects including one that inflicts Stop on entire parties of enemies, and one that raises the level of our party up to a max of 255! At this rate I may actually attempt the superbosses.

BUT. Bard is a Fire Crystal job. Meaning we don't have access to it yet. Well, the Disco Inferno from the back row continues until then.

V - "Always bet on Black Magic" or "Get out of my dreams, and into my Kar-nak"

Well saving the Water Crystal was a bust. Good news is we get two more chances at it! Say, where's the Fire Crystal? What's that? Halfway across the world? Okay well, we'll just fly over to...sorry? The area of the world we are in is completely enclosed by mountains? Then how does anyone even know that there is... you know what? Nevermind. We'll find a different way.

Those meteorites conveniently have magic circles inside them that act as warp points to one of the other meteorites. The coincidental convenience continues with our party arriving at the meteor near the Fire Crystal upon using the magic warp circle. Butts and the group mosey on over to Karnak, a city on fire. No, really, the streets of the town are literally on fire.

Karnak is unique for being the town where you can purchase rods for 750 gold. Flame Rods, Frost Rods, and Thunder Rods all have a unique effect. If you open your inventory during battle and use a rod as an item, it will cast a level three magic spell on the enemy. That is why having a mage that can equip rods (you need to be able to equip them to use them), is so useful in the early game of a Fiesta. Level three magic spells, the -agas, do between 1500 and 3000 damage. At this point in the game, random enemies barely have over 500HP and bosses average around 2000-4000HP. You see how overpowered this is. So let's buy as many as we can! Hey wait...

The locals apparently saw Butts and his crew emerge from the meteor and assumed they are in league with the monsters that also came from it. When he goes to purchase something, Butts is arrested and gets his bitch ass thrown in prison. (A side note: whatever you try to buy will be placed into your inventory for free, so be sure to pick something expensive.)

That's it for now, guys. I'll try to update this every couple of days or so. Thanks for reading!

Part 3!