(This is gonna have to go in two posts because of the character limit.)
Part one: Goofus and GalufThis is the music that plays during this scene, it's very good and highly advised! The scene plays out automatically, no button pressing, to keep it timed with the soundtrack.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1FCo39UIvg
We start with a castle in the early hours of the morning.
As color comes in, we see someone walk out the door to the sleeping dragon. This is King Tycoon, the King of Tycoon. He's followed by his daughter, Lenna.
Do you really have to go?
You know I do, dear. I need you to protect the castle. Under no circumstances are you to follow me, do you understand? But Father... Something is wrong with the wind... I must go to the Wind Shrine to make certain nothing's happened to the crystal. Yes...I've noticed it as well. But to go alone is- Lenna. Don't worry. I'll be fine. Have faith.
With this, King Tycoon hops on the dragon and it flies off, and the scene cuts to a pirate ship.
The scene shifts again to an old man standing in what looks like a cavern. The screen is flashing red and shaking.
From this, we go back to Lenna, who notices what the pirate did earlier.
King Tycoon enters the Crystal Room, and after he says this the room darkens and...
Yeah. That's probably bad.
The music becomes a bit less ominous now, and we see a man and his yellow bird in the forest, warming themselves up by the fire.
But the screen starts shaking. Earthquake!
Or meteor. You can always tell an incoming meteor by the way the ground shakes.
The meteor plummets to the earth, crashing into the mountains. The man and the bird look at each other and nod, and he hops on and take off to investigate.
And now we finally have a reason to start pressing buttons! You can run around this tiny section of the world map, but it's pretty boring as there's nowhere to go except east, where you find the impact site of the meteorite.
Not wanting to expose his feathered friend to danger, the man orders the Yello Dello to stay behind. The path here is linear and you pretty much can't get lost. First there's one important change we'll be making.
Auto-Dash is getting set to on. Why hold down a button to run when the game will do it for you? There's no reason for the default walking speed honestly. I'm not sure why RPGs have a dash/run button anymore these days, or why they ever had one. What's the point of making your default speed purposely slow? That's not fun. If the player needs to go slow for whatever reason, then have the button be a "walk" button instead of a "run" button.
Well, anyway, moving on...
When you get to a certain point, the man will be surprised at something.
Monsters are carrying off someone! Well, we know it's Lenna, but he doesn't. He jumps out from the foliage and the monsters turn around to take care of him. We're in our first fight!
It's against two Goblins. Goblins are super weak.
??? here can take out a Goblin with a single attack, which is good because he can't do anything else anyway. As you can see, the Goblins are pitifully weak and the only way to die in this fight is if you fall asleep when this happens.
So we win, and the traditional Final Fantasy victory fanfare plays. Mysterious stranger helps the girl up.
Y-yes... I believe so... I give you my thanks. My name is Lenna. And you are...?
Me?The game prompts you to give our friend a name. This is the only one of the main characters you get to name, and there's no way to change it once you've entered it.
In a move that divides fans who played the fan-translated versions of the game and those who didn't, the default name is Bartz. In Japan, his name is Butz. While this is pronounced like "boots," obviously most English-speakers are gonna see this and immediately think the character is named Butts. I like butts, but I don't want to
be a butts, so Square tweaked the name a bit so you don't get visions of Flanders' ski outfit whenever you see your character's name. However, there are people who still insist that Bartz is terrible and how DARE you question glorious Nippon and he must forever be Butz.
If the game allowed you to change the other characters' names, I'd probably take suggestions on what to name this guy and give our team some pretty cool names. Or dumb names, running around as Goofus, Doofus, and Rufus. Unfortunately only having one character we get to name isn't as much fun, and it just seems wrong running around with Lenna, Faris, Galuf, and "Dudebro." So the default name stays.
Call me Bartz. Me and my chocobo just go wherever the trail leads us...Which, judging from the restricted space we could go on the world map, isn't very far.
Guess it's a meteorite. A meteorite... I wonder if it has a connection to the wind stopping?Lenna is less interested in the meteorite though. She may not want the wind to stop, but that's a secondary concern to what she's really after. With this, she turns to Bartz.
Again, I give you my thanks. I wish I could do something more to show my appreciation, but I really must go...Lenna turns to leave, but Bartz isn't quite done talking to her yet.
Whoa--hey, hold up a sec... Bartz, did you hear something?The two look around confused a bit, hearing groaning. Bartz is able to get a fix on the source, not that the area is that large.
Bartz and Lenna rush to the side of the meteorite, and find an old man unconscious on the ground.
Sakes alive...what's happened? I don't remember... Ehh...? I can't remember anything! Looks like you hit your head pretty bad... Maybe you got amnesia.Ah amnesia, that old cliche of JRPGs. Someone's either got amnesia or was an orphan who doesn't know where they came from.
Actually joking aside, the amnesia bit works well in this game. If our friend here remembered everything, we'd just get a huge exposition dump right now.
The old man gets caught by a guard. Wait, no MGS alert sound, so that's not it.
Oh! Something came back to me... My name is Galuf! That's a start! Anything else? ...Nope, just the name! Other than that, my memory's a blank slate...Bit of trivia, in the manual, Galuf's name is given as Galuf Doe, as in "John Doe." This isn't his actual name, it's a placeholder name because Galuf's true identity is unknown. Unlike previous FF games, everyone in your party has full names. Our other two members are Bartz Klauser and Lenna Tycoon. Galuf's won't be revealed for a while.
But Lenna, while concerned for Galuf, can't do much for him and is pressed for time.
Where are you going? I must go to the Wind Shrine...Galuf perks up at mention of the Wind Shrine.
The Wind Shrine! Now that you mention it, I'm pretty sure that's where I was headed! It's decided, I'm going with you! But... I could never let such a sweet girl go all by her lonesome. Plus, I've gotta get to that shrine....I feel it in my bones. You've gotta take me with!Not sure why Lenna is objecting. If he wants to go to the Wind Shrine too, no reason to not let him come with her. Maybe she's just uncomfortable traveling with a weird old man she just met.
Bartz, what about you? ...Sorry, I'm gonna bow out on this one. Good luck, though.Bartz is free as a bird, and this bird you cannot change.
Lenna and Galuf start to leave, but Lenna walks back towards Bartz, and Galuf comes back as well.
Bartz... Thank you again. Farewell... Godspeed, and all that whatnot!Oh Galuf, I like you already.
They walk off, and Lenna turns and looks at Bartz yet again for a moment, but then she and Galuf leave. Bartz is on his own again. Before you leave, there's a minor treasure here. Nothing special, but hey, free loot. Go all the way down to the southeast corner of this area.
There is a treasure chest! How to get it? Enter the hidden path from the east at this spot, it's simple so you should be able to traverse it pretty easily.
You get a Phoenix Down for your trouble. Galuf and Lenna could have made better use of this, but Lenna was in too much of a hurry to look around.
There's nothing left of interest in this area, so head back the way you came in and head back out to the world map.
Well, there were only two ways to go from where you started in this game. We've gone one way, so that leaves only one other way to go. When you head into the narrow passage to the north...
Boko screeches to a halt and throws Bartz off. Bartz is understandably upset about this.
Ow!!! Boko! Bad, bad chocobo! What are you doing, stopping like that!?Boko gives Bartz "that look."
...Now don't you give me that look.
Despite the fact that Boko can't talk, being a giant bird and all, Bartz seems to understand him perfectly. It's like, if you're truly close to someone, you don't need words to communicate. That's deep, man...
Wait, no, that doesn't make any sense, he's a BIRD. Well, I guess it's like Han and Chewie then.
...I know, it's just a girl and an old man... And with all those goblins around... Fine, I got it, I got it.
Bartz doesn't have long to dwell on his decision, because the ground starts collapsing! He hears Galuf and Lenna in pain, hops on Boko, and charges through the pass. There's two encounters here with Goblins, and again, it is impossible to fall to them unless you do nothing. So don't do nothing.
After that, Boko will hop over a couple of pits.
Bartz grabs Lenna and Galuf and takes them to safety.
After a fade, Bartz is standing watch while Boko guards our friends. Lenna stirs, so Bartz hops down and greets her.
G'morning. Bartz! It seems I cannot escape being in your debt... Hey, don't worry about it.See, if they'd just had that Phoenix Down.
The shockwave from the meteorite's impact caused landslides... The road's covered in rubble. I don't think you're gonna be able to make it to Tule that way. But...if I can't get to the Wind Shrine, then... Uhhh...Hearing Galuf respond, they walk over to his side.
The old guy's pretty dead set on getting there, too... All right. I'll go with you and personally see to it that you get there safely!What a totally unexpected turn of events, Bartz joining with Lenna and Galuf!
Oh! Really?Nah, just joking, you're on your own.
Yeah! You know, it was my dad's dying wish that I go out and travel the world... Plus, this time, it feels like--like the wind is calling me. What a sweet-talker! As if you don't just have the hots for the little missy.You're one to talk, Mister "I can't let a sweet girl go by her lonesome."
Don't sound so surprised. This old dog is always ready for anything!Galuf jumps up, and pounds his fists together, showing he's ready for ACTION.
Still, if the road is blocked, that makes things a sight more difficult... I won't give up. There must be a way to reach the Wind Shrine! Right! And we'll find it! All right! Let's ride!Everybody hops on Boko and it's back to the world map! Just keep heading north. Y'know, the only other way to go that leads somewhere we haven't already been.
A cave! If you'd come to the north before going to the meteorite at the beginning of the game, you wouldn't have seen this. It only appears afterwards.
Lenna even mentions that it wasn't here.
Probably opened up during one of those quakes. Boko, I think this is gonna be a little too dangerous for chocobos. You stay here, okay?
Kweh!
The first "dungeon!" The cave is extremely linear and there's no way to get lost. However, now is the time to talk about something very important. Something that won't come into play for many hours, but is being affected right now.
I won't get into too many details, there's time for that later. However, for those of you playing along, know that much later in the game you will be given a choice between two weapons: the Brave Blade and the Chicken Knife. You can only choose one, and the deal with these weapons is simple. Starting from this point (you couldn't run from the Goblin fights, and Boko prevented random encounters before), every time you run from a battle, the Brave Blade will lose one point of attack power, and the Chicken Knife will gain one point of attack power. This applies to the Thief's !Flee command and the Ninja's !Smoke, but those aren't a concern at this point.
The point is, you need to decide if you want the Brave Blade now. If you do, you want to never run, ever, if you want the Brave Blade to be worth it. If you change your mind and decide to go for the Chicken Knife, you'll have plenty of opportunity to run and increase the Chicken Knife's power, but if you go for the Chicken Knife first, you're stuck with it because the Brave Blade will be too weak to be worth it if you've been running.
There's pluses and minuses to both weapons and we'll get into that when they become available, but since the run counter starts now (and not when you choose the weapon), I wanted to make sure you didn't get screwed out of a powerful Brave Blade, since the game obviously will never tell you about this your first time playing.
Well, that's out of the way, let's get back to this cave.
Steel bats can use Vampire, which will drain your health and restore theirs if they're not at full health. It will deal damage equal to the amount of HP they've lost, and heal them for the same. That's the only interesting thing about them.
Oh yeah, at the moment, Galuf is unarmed. He'll attack with his fists, which gives him two attacks per turn, but at a very low attack power. You could take one of the weapons off Lenna or Bartz to give to him, but that'd just leave them unarmed, so don't bother.
When you move north, Bartz will make mention of a spring off to the west.
It's a recovery spring, so you don't need to worry about healing for now, this will take care of you.
The Devil Crab shows up in the first and second rooms of the cave, but not the third. If you're going for a full bestiary, make sure you run into one. Their defense is pretty high though, so Galuf will not be able to damage them with his fists unless he gets a critical hit.
Stropers are the final enemy in here and are completely uninteresting.
In the next room, the party will press themselves against the wall to hide from a pirate. The pirate will look around, and not seeing anyone, will press that tiny skull on the wall, opening a door. After that, off to the west is a chest.
Everybody needs one, I usually give this one to Lenna, do what you like. It's a free country. Go press the skull switch and head through the door.
Bartz notices something when you enter the third area in the cave.
A ship goes sailing by outside, which confuses our heroes.
Looks like we have a mystery on our hands! There's no reason to head through the door above Bartz.
You CAN go out there to use a Tent or save, but you don't have any Tents now. You can still go out and do a full-fledged save if you like though, since you can only save on the world map and certain marked areas. You can quicksave whenever you like though, but if memory serves it's one of those "When you restore from quicksave the quicksave file will be deleted" deals.
Anyway just keep along the path and eventually you will end up in the pirate hideout.
When you try to go west, Bartz will jump back behind the wall as a pirate shows up to see if anyone's sneaking around.
I wonder if they would give us a ride? Um, I think the only ride they'd be interested in would be a keel-haul for all three of us.Kind of a weak joke, Bartz. That's like the kind of joke I would make. You're better than me, come on.
Yeah...you can't ask a favor from a pirate! That's why we'll just sneak on and steal their ship!Oh come on, you guys act like pirates are ruthless criminals. Everybody knows pirates were polite and friendly, well-dressed with impeccable hygeine, and treated women respectfully!
Whoa! You're pretty gutsy for an old-timer.Maybe he just has nothing left to live for and therefore doesn't care if you succeed or fail.
You can press this switch over to the west, but it does nothing for you right now, so don't bother. Or go ahead and do it if you want, doesn't matter to me, but my time is valuable.
These two pirates are sleepy, so you won't get caught if you talk to them, but they don't really say anything interesting anyway. The destination (and only way to go) is that dock to the east. You'll board the pirate ship. You can explore it if you like, but there's nobody on it and nothing to find, so when you're done running around it head to the aft of the ship (that's nautical talk for "back") and examine the wheel.
Nothing happens.
Well? "Cast off" means start sailing, kid. I know that! The wheel won't even budge. How do you work this thing?
Uh oh, busted!
...or mayhap you're just lacking in brains! I'd wager it's the latter.He's pretty sharp, I'll give him that.
This is Faris Scherwiz. Although he doesn't introduce himself, the captions show his name. So I guess the party figured out who he was telepathically or something.
In the PS1 version of the game, Faris had a ridiculously over the top pirate accent. They mercifully toned it down in this version.
Please accept my apologies for attempting to commandeer your ship. Wha? Princess... ...of Tycoon!?Lenna never told Galuf or Bartz who she was, so this comes as a bit of a surprise to them. It's odd that Bartz expresses surprise at the "princess" part and Galuf expresses surprise at the "Tycoon" part though. Galuf doesn't know what Tycoon is. This is probably due to translation quirks, since I think the title "Princess of Tycoon" would be said "backwards" in Japanese, meaning Bartz would be saying the "Tycoon" part and Galuf would be saying the "princess" part. However since there's no real way to do that in English, and it'd be WAY too hard to change the character portraits around, we get this.
Please, allow us the use of your vessel. I must get to the Wind Shrine--my father is in danger! Oho, the princess of Tycoon, here on my ship? I'm sure we could fetch a good price for this one.I can think of two things this could mean, and I don't think I want to know which one it is.
Hey! Leave her alone, you degenerate, lecherous, piratey...pirate!Bartz...what did I say earlier?
Faris notices the pendant on Lenna's chest, and seems to recognize it. This changes his attitude slightly, but only slightly.
...Toss the lot of 'em into the brig!
Aye-aye, Cap'n!Well, the brig is better than being keel-hauled, or sold into slavery. The pirates cart the party off, and we rejoin them in the brig, all tied up.
What genius came up with the idea to steal a pirate ship, anyway? Look in the mirror, pops.Galuf hops over to the other edge of the room.
...And your amnesia oh-so-conveniently returns.Galuf using amnesia as an excuse for his stupid idea amuses me, and it's another reason why I don't mind the amnesia cliche. With that, Bartz turns his attention to Lenna.
I'm sorry... I didn't intend to keep it a secret. It's not that big a deal. But, if you're the princess, why were you going to the Wind Shrine all alone? My father is there. He hadn't been gone long when the wind slowed to almost nothing... I just can't shake the feeling that something terrible is happening. I slipped out alone to head to the shrine, but then that meteorite fell, and...you know the rest.The screen darkens, indicating that it's nighttime (I guess), and the camera pans over to Faris.
She said her father's at the Wind Shrine...Faris has the same shiny gleam on his chest that Lenna had earlier. This explains why the pendant changed his attitude about the party. The next morning...
But Cap'n... What about the landlubbers? Untie 'em.The pirates all jump in surprise at this.
Still, the captain is the captain, and his orders are absolute. They do as they're told, and our party is untied, striking victory poses.
I reconsidered your request. You can go back into the brig if you'd rather. Pull anchor! We sail for the Wind Shrine!Once again, the pirates are shocked and confused by Faris' orders.
Well!? Aye...aye-aye, Cap'n!Still, they know their place, and reluctantly carry out the order.
Full of curiosity, aren't you, lass? Syldra! Come up and say hello!
Faris has a sea monster towing his ship!
Beautiful, isn't she? Syldra and I were raised together. We're close as siblings.Mystery solved! Good going, gang.
Now we have a ship! When you try to go north, you'll get a small scene where one of the pirates offers to sail the ship for you directly to the Wind Shrine. Tell him to go fly a kite, since there's another, better place to go than the Wind Shrine right now. You won't run into any battles while on the ship, so that's nice. What you'll want to do is go sailing west. There isn't much to this part of the game, so you can't really get lost.
This is what you're looking for, the town of Tule, the original destination of Galuf and Lenna if you remember. When you first run in, the pirates will rush past you, eager to get some grog from the pub, and Faris will head off to do his own thing.
This guy offers to take you to the Greenhorn's Club. You can walk there yourself, and it's not hidden or anything, so who knows why this guy wants you to close your eyes. Probably just wants to feel important I guess. Indulge him, he deserves to be happy.
Actually, I've played this game lots of times. But let's lie and say we're new. It may seem wrong, but we're probably going to be on a mission to save the world soon so we need this stuff much more than some other random guy.
All three of the containers here have an item. The barrel has a Phoenix Down and the crate has a Tent.
There's a secret passage here the old man below it will mention. It takes you to a chest with an Ether, which is always nice. The other, more accessible chest contains 100 Gil (monies).
Did you know Gil is named after Gilbert (Edward the bard) from Final Fantasy IV? In supplementary materials, it's mentioned that his ancestors were the first to use coins in trading. Kinda neat.
The chest upstairs has a Goblin in it, which is easily dispatched. You get a pair of Leather Shoes for your troubles. This is an accessory which increases Defense and Magic Defense by a small amount. Give it to whoever you think needs it most.
By the way, want to know what happens if you're honest like me and tell the woman you're not new to adventuring?
She kicks you in the face and sends you flying out the door. I think lying to avoid being kicked in the face is justifiable. Especially considering there was no need to. We can't enter the place unless she lets us in!
Back outside, you can find a Tent in this crate.
This guy gives us helpful advice. If we ever have to go through Torna Canal, poor Lenna is going to get the worst of it.
At the top of the town we find Zok's house.
Someone you know? Yes. He built the Torna Canal.There's nothing to do in the house itself...
...but to its left and right you can find another pair of Leather Shoes for someone, and another Phoenix Down.
Oh and this barrel by the Inn has 150 Gil in it. That's all the treasure we can find, now let's check out the shops.
The item shop is inside the Inn, and doesn't have anything special in it. You're better off saving your Gil for the other shops.
The Magic Shop has the basic Black and White Magic spells for sale. No one in our party can use magic, so this place is
mostly worthless. But who knows, maybe our magic ignorance will change soon...?
If you really want to buy some magic, just buy one Black Magic spell (Blizzard can hit an enemy weakness in the next dungeon) and Cure. You can get the rest after the Wind Shrine.
I wonder how this guy makes money? It doesn't seem like spellcasting is a thing anyone can do. Oh well. On to the weapons shop!
When you enter, Faris will barge in. He won't rejoin your party, but he does this so you can see his equipment and buy for him as you see fit.
Buy a Broadsword for Galuf, that's all you really need here for now. Yeah Lenna still has a Knife but you get a free Broadsword in the Wind Shrine so don't buy one here.
When you're done shopping, Faris waves and heads back out.
You need three Leather Caps (unless you got one from the enemies outside Tule) and three Leather Shields.
That's it for the shops, but there's still a little bit more to do here. Head for the Pub.
In the Pub, you'll find the pirates having a good time. And a pirate who's drank so much that he's given up hiding his homosexual urges. Good for him.
If you sit on this stool and face the stage, these women will do a dance for you and then hop on your lap. Politely thank them and then head for the stage, and go up to the piano and play it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9jHkv6X_lMWow Bartz, you suck! Playing this piano is important though. You want to play every piano in the game. Well, we've searched everywhere else, so Faris must be upstairs. Let's go up and check on him.
Bartz goes in alone and Faris turns in his sleep, causing Bartz to jump in surprise and then...uh...well, hmm.
Uh...nothing, I didn't see anything! Must've been a trick of the light or something... For crying out loud, shove over and let me see!Come on guys, watching someone sleep is creepy...
Galuf has the same reaction Bartz does.
Well then. Looks like the pirate at the bar isn't alone.
What in the world are you two going on about?While Lenna is starting to learn new and wonderful things about our friends, Faris wakes up and joins us.
I need a little time to myself. So shove off, you!Faris goes back inside and locks his door, so you can't reach him now. And there's nothing left for us in Tule at the moment, so let's get to the Wind Shrine.
Faris, you're the one who locked your door and told us to leave.
Sail all the way to the northeast, and you'll find the Wind Shrine, where Lenna has been itching to go since we met her.
Let's head in and see if her father's okay!
When you get inside, head west first.
What's happened? What's the matter?
The wind suddenly stopped, and now there are monsters in the shrine! What about Father!? The king went up to the top floor... He has yet to return. Something must have happened to him... The crystal's up on the top floor, right? Won't hurt to go up and take a look. Faris... Come on!And we're back in control of the party again. The king's other men tell us some interesting things.
The other one tells us that the amplification machine suddenly stopped responding. Both very useful pieces of information.
This guy gives you five Potions.
And the vase between these two serves as a full heal. And with that, we're ready for the Wind Shrine! There's stairs on the east side of the shrine, take them up. There's no random encounters on the first floor, but there are on this one.
Bypass the first door you come to and keep going west.
Because Tents are always nice.
Whenever you see this, you can save your game and heal up. There's no monsters in this tiny room.
Two of the monsters you'll face in this dungeon. The Black Goblin is a stronger version of the Goblin. No racist stereotype jokes here. This is a classy LP. Neither of these enemies is much of a threat, but Black Goblins can sometimes drop Leather Shoes. After you leave the save point room, go east and up the stairs there.
You'll find a Leather Cap for your trouble, which may or may not be useful depending on what you bought in Tule. But you can always sell it for cash if you're fully equipped now.
Head back to the second floor and go up the west stairs.
There's a secret passage here.
And the nearby room contains the free Broadsword I mentioned. There's another door on the other side of the main room on 3F, but it leads to an empty room.
These are the other two enemies you'll fight once you get to the third floor. Moldwynd is notable for something later, but not now, so just smack it around.
For now, let's just take on this bird in front of the stairs leading up. Our first boss fight!
This is Wing Raptor. It is a very easy boss, and has a small trick that I almost never get to see.
I didn't get a shot of the attack's name, but this is Breath Wing.
The damage it deals isn't too bad. If you were doing a low-level run, this would probably be a lot more dangerous.
His physicals are a joke too.
You can't really do anything except attack, so attack! If you're like me, you've gained a few levels and the battle will be over before he gets a third turn. If you haven't gained enough levels though, this is where the gimmick comes in. Remember the Mist Dragon from FFIV? This guy is kind of the same. He'll go into a defensive stance, which makes your physicals worthless, and he'll counterattack you if you hit him. Like I said, I've never actually seen this because I'm always able to beat him before he does it.
You get a Phoenix Down for beating him and are free to continue to the fourth floor.//i22
