The 24 Days of Final Fantasy III -- 2009 Edition

[Destina Faroda]

Do any of you remember this challenge I tried a few years back?  Well I'm at it again.  If you're confused as to what this is, I suggest you read the previous thread.  To make a long story short, I'm playing through Final Fantasy III again, one day at a time, from December 1 to December 24, and beat the game on the last day.   Also, I have to write a report for every day I play, which is the hard part.  I failed last time because I didn't beat the game, but I hope to success this year!

Here is a brief review of the rules, as taken from the site of the challenge's creator:

1. I must play at least half an hour each day. I can play as long as I want beyond the half hour, but I must log at least half an hour of playing time.

2. No cheats, no codes, no sketch bug.

3. Sometime during the day, I must issue a daily report on how far I am in the game, who's in my party, how much time I've spent, etc. If I play another session after I've filed the day's report, my playing time will count for the next day, but I still have to play at least half an hour on the appropriate day.

4. When in the World of Ruin, I must reunite with every character in the game; no leaving anyone out.

5. All party members must still be developed somewhat evenly as far as level-building. Learning spells is another matter, though. (I'm not going to waste time teaching Gau and Shadow all of the spells if they're never going to use them.)

6. On Day 16, if I haven't reached that point yet, I must take on the Floating Continent, no matter how ill-prepared I may be.

7. And finally, I must storm Kefka's Tower on Day 24. Not only does this mean that I must be ready to take Kefka on by this time, it also means that I can't go after him before this day.

Let's get this party started and see if I'm operating up to spec!...oops.  Wrong fandom.  



Day One

LOCATION: South Figaro

PARTY MEMBERS: Edgar (Lv. 8 HP 142/169), Locke (Lv. 8 HP 83/168), Terra (Lv. 6 HP 114/94 MP 18/40)

ELAPSED TIME: 1:06

STEPS TAKEN: 3150

GP: 95

First of all, despite my disastrous 2006 run, I have no intention on making this a speed run or doing things any quicker this time around.  If I end up performing more efficiently than I did in previous attempts, it will be out of luck rather than planning or practice.

I started the game, watched the introduction, and skipped past the various patches of dialogue and the opening credits.  Immediately, I put Terra in the back row, as I knew I'd most likely forget to do this later.  Instead of making a beeline for the Narshe Cave, I wandered a little around town as much as I could (which isn't much).  I wanted to make sure I encountered all of the enemies before proceeding.

After a couple of battles, I wanted to change the default settings on this game, and changed the background screen menu color to a familiar green as well as speeding up the battle messages and setting the cursor to Memory.   After fighting the introduction battles I decided to save in the point provided in the cave, and I even read the save point explanation I've seen countless times.  Soon it was time for the first boss, the Whelk.  Since I hadn't played this game in a while, my timing was off, and I accidentally hit the Whelk's shell.  Nevertheless, the battle was over quickly, and it was time for Vicks and Wedge to be ushered off the stage.

Next came the brief section of the game where Terra tries to escape through the Narshe Cave, fighting off enemies all by her lonesome.  While I did grab the Elixir from the clock in Arvis' house, I left the treasure chests in the cave unopened, as I know they would turn into better items later on.  However, I didn't strip Terra of her equipment before she fell into the hole and lost consciousness.

It was now time for Locke to come the rescue alongside the Moogles.  I tried to maneuver the three groups of Moggles in the choke points to play it safe for the most part and let the enemy come to me.  I'm glad I did because the Vomammoth's Blizzard attack did a lot more damage than I had remembered.  Once the mobile enemies were beaten, I wasn't certain which group should battle the Marshal ad his Lobos.  After a moment of indecision, I let Mog's group fight the boss.  While Dancing, Mog took out Marshal with a PoisonFrog, and the rest of the enemy group was quickly defeated after that.

Sadly, I forgot to de-equip Mog before doing this and as a result, he ran away with equipment I could have used.  After this section, I checked out the Classroom in Narshe, grabbed a couple of items, then left Narshe for warmer, drier scenery -- Figaro Castle.

There's not much I can say about the next section as it would be mostly plot summary.  After seeing the king, I didn't head directly to Matron after Edgar invited me to explore the castle.  I took some time to talk to a few individuals and raid a few treasure chests.  I refused to buy any items or even any Tools, though.  After triggering the Sabin backstory scene, I headed back to Edgar to bring about the introduction of Kefka proper (as opposed to his appearance in Terra's flashback). I used this opportunity to explore the areas of the castle while controlling Edgar, but there isn't much change in dialogue from that spouted in Terra's wanderings.  I still get a kick of out of the maids talking about Edgar behind his back and noticing after their gossip that he's standing right there.

In any case, it was time for for the game to return control to Terra, and then subsequently Edgar again.  After this is was boss battle time against the M-TekArmors.   It was then I realized I had forgotten to take Terra and Locke out of the "back row" before the battle.  Since this boss battle was a "Back attack" formation, this meant she was now in the front row.  I decided to go through the battle with my intended plan, refusing to use Terra's magic unless absolutely necessary.   I beat the armored carriers without using magic, simply because I like to save the "reaction" scene for later.  After this and the escape to Figaro Cave, I launched the infamous "magic" reaction scene once inside the caverns.  I went through it and once again I left the treasure chests unopened.

After this, I went to South Figaro.  After following Shadow to the pub, I milled around aimlessly, talking to people and making a few purchases.  I foolishly bought a Hair Band instead of a Plumed Hat for Terra.  I did buy the Sprint Shoes relic though, as well as a few Jewel Rings.  In the end, I walked around South Figaro a little more, then headed for the save point in the house of Duncan's wife.

While I definitely will play more today, I stopped here for two reasons.  One, my Gamebridge is already starting to give me problems (and make me wish I had bought the Hauppauge PVR) and is causing noticeable lag.  The second is that I needed to allow enough time for me to actually write this entry.

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

Interesting.

Is there a cast of this, or is it all just playing offline?

[Destina Faroda]

Quick Answer:  Offline with video uploads, although obviously the uploads are delayed.  If I had the capacity to stream, I'd certainly do it, as it would be a lot less time consuming than recording and uploading.  Then again, as horribly as I play, I don't think there's much of an audience.

This is the playlist:

http://www.youtube.com/user/Nangbaby#grid/user/F2F0CECFF1EB8E54

Anyway here we go with...



Day Two

LOCATION: Outside eastern Mt. Koltz entrance/exit

PARTY MEMBERS: Edgar (Lv. 10 HP 222/222), Locke (Lv. 10 HP 191/221), Terra (Lv. 9 HP 186/186 MP 18/61), Sabin (Lv. 12 HP 259/259)

ELAPSED TIME: 1:40

STEPS TAKEN: 5587

GP: 7411


This was a mixed day.

To begin, sadly, despite my intentions, I did not get back to playing yesterday.  I foolishly thought I could upload the footage the same day as I played it, especially since I didn't have to optimize the videos to be under the 100 MB YouTube limit, but only had to crop it.  I was mistaken.  It took me until 4AM to upload eight files.  I've figure out what my mistake was, but in the end it cost me playing time I was counting on.

Excuses aside, I decided to raid as much of South Figaro as I could remember, and decided to raid chests and hidden spots.  Only after I took the items did I realize that these items also became "better" later in the game just as the chests in the Narshe and Figaro caverns.  However, since I've already made peace with the fact that this isn't going to be a perfect run, at least it prevented me from going to the Item shop, as I didn't need to buy items yet.

I bought a Plumed Hat and a Regal Cutlass for Terra, simply because I knew I'd probably forget to de-equip her when the time came to do so.  I also bought A Bio Blaster and a Noise Blaster for Edgar here.  I also noticed I had an extra Heavy Shld in my inventory, which means I bought one I didn't need.

After a little more exploration, since I'm a cheapskate and didn't want to go to the Inn, I left South Figaro and headed for Sabin's hut and triggered the scenes that followed.  After resting in the bed and talking to the old man who mysteriously appeared outside the small house, I wandered for a little to get into some random encounters.  After a few minutes of this, it was time for Mt. Kolts...or is it Mount Koltz.  I can never remember how that's spelled.

My ascent of the mountain was only eventful for the mount of backtracking that I do along the way.  I'm still not quite sure if I got all the treasures from the mountain.  On the bright side, I was able to snag a Bandana from a Brawler.  Of course, my fights were filled with whopping mistakes like using a Bio Blaster on a pair of Brawlers and wasting Terra's MP on needless Fire spells.  I also had trouble because this capture device, like the previous one I used, sometimes renders multi-targeting invisible, so I have to literally play it by ear.

Anyway, I got to the save point, healed with the items I'd been hoarding,  I fought my way through the seemingly endless iteration of random encounters with Two Cirpiuses, one Trillium, and one Tusker, I fought Vargas, who was a little easier than I remembered.  I really wasn't paying any attention in this fight, in part due to a phone call I got right in the middle on it.  In any case, with one Pummel Vargas was dead, Sabin joined the party, and I headed outside the cave to save before anything disastrous could happen.

[Destina Faroda]

Day Three

LOCATION: The Veldt

PARTY MEMBERS: Sabin (Lv. 12 HP 204/289), Cyan (Lv. 13 HP 163/319), Gau (Lv. 13 HP 311/311)

ELAPSED TIME: 3:33

STEPS TAKEN: 10201

GP: 9745

Due to the events of today, I had to break my gameplay into two sessions, one short and one long. The first session began with my party walking to the Returner base and talking to Banon. I explored the Returner base, talked to the various people in the base and grabbed as many hidden and obvious treasures I could find. I accepted Banon's request for help and got the Gauntlet, then watched the scenes that followed. With Banon now in my party, I put him in the back row and and leapt onto the raft.

The journey through the river was rather uneventful, as was the fight with Ultros. I played both the regular encounter and the boss encounter a little defensively by having Banon spam Health. The memory of a playthrough where Banon died due to a Tentacle attack still haunts me. After the boss battle and Sabin's forced expulsion from the party, I chose Terra and Edgar's scenario, fought the rest of the encounters, then wandered around on the world map. I wanted to get a few desert encounters in before going to the Narshe classroom and saving. End first session.

The second session was a little more productive. I grabbed the Tincture I missed previously, then after some slight hesitation, left the Classroom and went into the secret entrance of the Narshe Cave. I got through the security checkpoint, then doubled back I could fight trigger a fight with a group of Dark Side enemies. I thought there was another enemy combination so I purposely messed up the security alarm again, only to get the same result, so I went through it one more time and did not mess up. I visited the Moogle Cave, wandered a little, stripped Terra and Edgar of their equipment, then ended the scenario by going to Arvis' house.

Next I chose Sabin's scenario, even though I had no intention of finishing it today. I recruited Shadow, and I stocked up at the shop for some Shuriken and other goodies, then headed for the Imperial camp. I triggered a fight with both a pair of Dobermans and a Commander, but despite fighting Telstar and getting the visible chests, I'm quite positive I missed a treasure here. Anyway, it was the familiar scene-switching, chase-down-Kefka, Magitek-Armor-riding madness.

After this, I decided to knock out Shadow as soon as I could to prevent him from running. Too make this easier I stripped him of his equipment, only to forget to put it back on later! I didn't bother to travel to Doma -- if there's something I need from there, I'll get it later. After messing up in the woods that lead to the Phantom Train, I finally chose the right route and hopped aboard.

There's not much to say about the Phantom Train. I remember in one playthrough I sped through this section without encountering either Over-mind or StillGoing, so I made sure I encountered them. I may have missed some treasure here, since I wasted a lot of time talking to ghosts who wanted to fight me. Surprisingly, Shadow's lack of equipment didn't mean much except for the Spectre fight, when he got KO-ed by a lightning bolt, and I didn't even notice I had forgotten to re-equip him until after the entire scenario was over.

Thankfully, the fight against the Phantom Train was uneventful, despite the fact that I forget it was another "Back attack" boss fight. In a previous playthorugh, the train used Evil Toot and Scar Beam -- an attack I had never seen until that playthrough -- to kill my party. This time, despite the fact that Shadow was nearly naked (he still had his Relics), the fight was easy.

After this, it was time to say goodbye to Shadow and steal the clothes off his back, which is when I discovered he had no clothes! After this, it was a leap off the waterfall of doom, a fight against the killer fish, and then landing in the Veldt and meeting Gau.

Once I was able to control my characters again, I found the random encounters on the Veldt a little tougher than I remembered, I didn't want to use healing items, which resulted in Cyan getting knocked out. I contemplated running from these battles, but I decided to fight it out until I reached town, which I did. Once in Molbiz, I milled around somewhat, looking for a free place to rest my head and after a half-hearted search, I went to the Inn. While in town, I also bought the necessary Dried Meat and saw the beaten soldier and mailed a letter for him.

I went back the Veldt, but it took a few battles for Gau to show up. For fun, I decided to give Gau a Green Cherry before giving him the Dried Meat, even though I knew the former wouldn't produce any reaction. After getting the dried meat, I watched the hilarious scene and mini-tutorial that followed, then saved and quit.

[Destina Faroda]

Day Four

LOCATION: The Veldt (Outside Molbiz)

PARTY MEMBERS: Sabin (Lv. 12 HP 325/325), Cyan (Lv. 13 HP 358/358), Gau (Lv. 13 HP 349/349)

ELAPSED TIME: 4:47

STEPS TAKEN: 13575

GP: 65

Despite the length of time I spent today playing, I did not advance the storyline.  Instead, I went onto the Veldt and built up Rages.  I had a limited amount of success and made a lot of blunders.  For instance during a fight with a Telstar I used my only Remedy to try to alleviate Megazerk, which naturally didn't work.  I knew better than to do such a stupid move, but I decided to move on.  I also leapt into a Telstar battle, despite already having the Rage.  That meant I obtained one less Green Beret that I could have used.

In addition, there were quite a few times I failed in my Blitz inputs.  I also got a Game Over today on the Veldt.  I almost never get killed here, since the enemies are so weak, but unusually I tend to heal more in between battles.

In between stints on the Veldt, I decided to waste money in Molbiz by advancing the fallen soldier side quest.  I did buy a white Cape, but I'm going to pretend that the Evade bug was fixed and not abuse it.  I also bought a few items and much later a few pieces of armor.  At times I went to the inn.  At other times, I slept in the bed in the back of the Relic Shop.  Toward the end of my playthrough, the lag from my capturing device became simply unbearable, so I knew it was time to quit, which I did.

I still have yet to encounter Over-Mind or StillGoing, or any of the Mount Koltz enemies.  I was really hoping to get Cirpius so that I can obtain free Haste2 spells in battle.  I believe I'm going to leave the Veldt without encountering any of these enemies, which is a shame.  I'll just have to settle for having Stray Cat and Marshal's Wind Slash.  Given that I still have Locke's scenario to go through, I can't afford to waste more time here.

[Destina Faroda]

Day Five

LOCATION: Underneath the rich traitor's mansion in South Figaro

PARTY MEMBERS: Locke (Lv. 11 HP 225/280), Celes (Lv. 12 HP 240/275 MP 51/86)

ELAPSED TIME: 5:19

STEPS TAKEN: 15741

GP: 1318

Today, I had only the bare minimum of time available to play. I began the day by crossing the Veldt and Crescent Mountain.  Instead of triggering the side scenes as I am fond of doing, I went straight to the spot in the cave where the diving helmet was hidden.  The party leapt into the Serpent Trench and Gau's Hazer rage took care of the underwater life forms, even though Sabin was momentarily felled by a monster's bolt.  I went right both times, getting the treasures and landing in Nikeah.

Once in Nikeah I messed around a little, as I encountered the dancer who embarrased Cyan.  I also made a few unnecessary purchases which were funded by jaunts outside of Nikeah.  After a deal of wasting time and money, I hopped aboard the ferry and waited for the final scenario, that of Locke.

I began Locke's section with an extreme case of slowdown, only to realize that I has forgotten to de-equip the Sprint Shoes relic from the previous section.  This meant that I'd have to go through the town of South Figaro at half speed.  I stole a merchant's clothes to get to the blocked exit, stole a soldier's clothes for seemingly no reason, wandered around, then stole both the merchant's clothes and the cider.  I returned to the old man with the cider and with the password of "Courage," I was on my way to rescuing Celes.

Soon I had Celes in my party, and I equipped her with the finest gear I had before putting her in the back row.  I couldn't help but notice that she was a whopping two levels ahead of Locke, who was only at Level 10 at the time.  I suppose this was another indirect consequence of doing this scenario last.

Anyway, I went through part of the basement and raided chests, accosted by Vector Pups and imperial troops along the way.  In one chest I found an Iron Armor, an item I had already foolishly bought in Nikeah.  After several battles, though, I realized that I did not have the time to press on, so I backtracked all the way back to the previous Save Point in the call next to where Celes was held. I saved and called it a day.

[Destina Faroda]

Day Six

LOCATION: Outside Narshe

PARTY MEMBERS:  Edgar (Lv. 13 HP 315/315), Celes (Lv. 13 HP 310/310 MP 93/96), Sabin (Lv. 13 HP 364/364), Locke (Lv. 13 HP 314/314)

ELAPSED TIME: 6:13

STEPS TAKEN: 16637

GP: 12396

I continued Locke's scenario, and aside from a couple of places where I went the wrong way in the basement, I can report that this section of the game passed without incident.  I rested at Sabin's abandoned house, went through Figaro Cave, battled TunnlArmr, then watched the reunion scene.  Soon it was time for our seven heroes to stand united against Kefka and his troops and I had to configure the equipment for the characters.  This process took a few more minutes than I expected, as I wanted my groups to be balanced and planned accordingly.

For my groups I grouped Locke, Cyan and Gau.   Since Cyan is slow and Gau's attacks are randomized, having Locke as a third party member allowed him to fill a "tweener" role. He could heal in battle if necessary by using my limited supply of potions, or he could steal if necessary.

I used Terra and Edgar in the next group, with Terra serving as part-time healer and part-time attacker.  Edgar used his tools against the enemy, making their unit balanced in terms of offense and defense.  Finally, I paired Sabin with Celes.  Part of me was worried that the unit would be weak defensively, but I surmised that Sabin's firepower would more than make up for it.  After all, I slapped two Earrings on him.

After endless internal deliberations I made my choices and positioned my groups at the intersections that led to Banon.  It worked for the most part, but after the first wave, I advanced my groups, only to see that more troops were coming in a second wave.  After beating the countless enemies I dispatched Rider with Locke's unit, and Kefka with Celes and Sabin.

Once this was done it was time to watch Terra and the Esper interact, and for Terra to be transformed into her alternate form and fly away.  After I regained control of my character, it was decision time again.  Since Edgar, Celes, Sabin, and Locke had the least experience, it was these four who I would control.  After a few more adjustments, I equipped the Sprint Shoes on Edgar so I could move at a reasonable pace.  Soon, I regretted it, as lag reared its ugly head.  Nevertheless, I made it to the entrance of town and promptly saved.

[Destina Faroda]

Day Seven

LOCATION: Outside Zozo

PARTY MEMBERS:  Celes (Lv. 15 HP 393/393 MP 41/116), Cyan (Lv. 14 HP 358/402 MP 86/96), Gau (Lv. 14 HP 350/393 MP 91/101), Locke (Lv. 15 HP 397/397 88/108)

ELAPSED TIME: 7:33

STEPS TAKEN: 20306

GP: 15466

First, I headed back into Narshe and bought some equipment, most of it I probably didn't need.  After this, I went to Figaro castle, and as always when Sabin is in the party when he rests at Figaro castle, he left the party.  With Edgar in my party, I decided to go shopping with the limited funds I had remaining, buying a Flash and a few more items at half price.  Since I was in a cutscene watching mood, I decided to rest at Figaro castle.  It would have been more productive to do this later, given how many times,  After watching the sad scene, it was time to go to Kohlingen.

I talked to people for no reason and took a moment to visit both Rachel's old house and the old man's hut trigger Locke's sad memories and to retrieve any treasure.  While in town, I paid a visit to Shadow who wanted nothing to do with me since I had four party members.

After this, I decided to see if I could take advantage of the Figaro castle discount by beating up on FossilFangs.  I forgot after a couple of encounters that I wasn't supposed to attack them with normal physical attack.  As a price for my ignorance, I received a particularly nasty sandstorm counterattack.  After a little while, I had enough of them and visited the old man in the solitary hut to the north, then eventually headed south to Jidoor.

I played around in Jidoor a bit, buying a White Dress and some other items such as those Echo Screens,  I also left town and went to the Opera House, even though I knew it was closed.  After I headed back to Jidoor, I decided to rent a Chocobo to ride, then waddled my way, to Zozo.  I stopped for a few seconds to listen to the music until the end of the loop.

I entered Zozo, and there's not much to say here, other than lag rearing its ugly head again.  I got the chain saw, and I eventually remembered to de-equip Celes' Flail and equip a sword so I could Runic the various enemy magic attacks.  I fought and beat Dadaluma in an extremely easy fight, then I made my way into the room where Terra rested in a bed.  After stripping my party of its equipment and raiding the chests, I talked to her, listened to Ramuh's exposition, and watched him sacrifice himself.  I took the Magicite he left for us, then talked to my comerades at the bottom of the screen.

Once I had control of my party again, I switched Sabin and Edgar for Cyan and Gau.  I did this in 2006 as well, and it's scary how much I'm emulating that playthrough.  Then again, given that I won't get either Gau or Cyan for a while in the second part of the game, it might be better to build them up now.  I re-equipped everyone then allocated the Espers as follows.

Kirin went to Gau, as the kid has a decent magic stat already, and I don't think I have any curative rages yet.  Celes got Siren just so she could learn Fire.  Cyan got Stray as not only would it give him a sorely needed magic boost upon leveling up, but none of the spells Stray taught were dependent on the magic statistic.  That left Ramuh for Locke.  After this, I went outside and saved.

[Destina Faroda]

Day Eight

LOCATION: Magitek Facility right before the railway

PARTY MEMBERS: Cyan (Lv. 18 HP 568/568 MP 137/137), Gau (Lv. 18 HP 560/560 MP 142/142), Locke (Lv. 19 HP 625/625 MP 150/150)

ELAPSED TIME: 9:28

STEPS TAKEN: 24831

GP: 19249

The first thing I did upon exiting Zozo was to check my Esper setup.  It was then time to make the long walk to Jidoor, full of enemy encounters that were now granting me Magic Points to build up my spells.  Onto Jidoor I went, and after vising the Armor, Weapon, I went up Owzer's house.  I talked to the Impresario, who left a letter in his worry, then was treated to the introduction of Setzer.  I then went down to the Opera House and triggered the world-famous Opera house scenario.

There's not much to say about this part, as much of this section occurs at its own pace.  When I got control of Locke, I decided to wander around in this segment a little, to see how far I could go while the performance was underway.  Eventually, I delivered Ultros letter to the Impresario, which triggered the five minutes of doom.

Now this is where things got a little hairier than I would have liked.  Normally, I can clear this section with well over a minute, sometimes two, to spare.  I had a difficult time with the rats, thanks in part to two very, very stupid battle decisions.  One, I had Cyan use Dispatch which seemed to miss the target the Sewer Rats rather than the Vermin.  Two, I had Gau use the Were-Rat rage.  Not only did this cure the rats, it also ensured I could not clear the rats in the correct order, as a player must kill the Vermin before killing the Sewer Rats, or else the  vermin will merely summon more Sewer Rats, prolonging the fight.  I also seemed to be incapable of escaping any of the rats except for the one in the corner which you actually have to chase.

So then it was time for the Ultros Battle, and for some reason, this battle was a lot longer than I remember it being.  Usually, after a few attacks, he makes his escape, but this time, he decided to pull a lot of tricks and stuck around a lot longer than I would have liked, disappearing and reappearing in different parts of the screen.  After that fight, all I got was a lousy 2GP.

After this, Setzer literally descended onto the scene and scooped Celes up, which triggered quite a few story scenes.  Before talking to Setzer, I decided to wander around the Blackjack while it was in flight, since I wouldn't get the opportunity to do so for some time.  I bought a couple of items, healed my characters, de-equipped those not in my party (even though they had already been stripped).

Once the Blackjack landed, I visited Albrook, then decided to take the long walk over to Maranda, and then from Maranda to Tzen.  Along the way, I was able to use Locke's Capture to get some items from the enemies.  Of course, half the time I simply selected Capture on enemies I had just targeted, so it may not have been the most efficient use of battle actions.  During the walk, I switched Espers when it came time for my characters t0 gain a level, but I missed a few instances (especially of Celes, whom I forgot had been stripped of all equipment)

It was then to Vector, and wandered around a little.  In the midst of my wandering, I encountered a soldier which triggered a battle, and had my characters running to the entrance.  I eventually talked to the old man who sympathized with the Returners and let him distract the soldiers so I could sneak in.  Once inside the facility, I went around and grabbed as much treasure I could remember.  I also encountered a nauseating amount of enemies.  When it came time for me to follow the discarded Shiva and Ifrit to the disposal bin, I did something different.  In a rare moment of insight, I actually went to the door that was not blocked saved instead of talking to these Espers.

I fought them, fought a few Flans and Trappers, then fought Number024.  Once the boss had been beaten, it was time for Celes to make her exit, so I stripped her and watched the scenes that followed.  After this, I followed Cid down to the escape route, and saved the game.

[Destina Faroda]

Day Nine

LOCATION: Outside Narshe

PARTY MEMBERS: Edgar (Lv. 17 HP 502/502 MP 127/127), Sabin (Lv. 17 HP 511/511 MP 124/124), Setzer (Lv. 17 HP 499/499 MP 107/107), Terra (Lv. 17 HP 497/497 MP 137/137)

ELAPSED TIME: 10:02

STEPS TAKEN: 2661

GP: 2563

Today was an awful day for playing a video game.  The weather outside was unusually warm, but this led to a passing thunderstorm and windstorm, both of which threatened to -- and did -- knock out the power.  Normally, though, this is a problem in the warmer months of the year, and not December.  (Yes, my Northern Hemispheric bias is showing.)

In any event I talked to Cid and off to the mine cart I went.  The Mag Roaders were pushovers, but I made the boss battle with Number128 harder than it had to be.  In part because I was distracted and in part because I was greedy, for the majority of the turns I had Gau cast Cure on the entire party while Locke tried to Capture items from the enemy while Cyan used Dispatch.  I tried to steal anything from either the body or the arms, but in spite of my efforts, I ended up with nothing.  Eventually, I ended up killing the boss without getting anything and waited out the riding sequence to save at the next Save Point.

After this, I encountered a Chaser, which led to three Trappers trying to use their various level-dependent spells on me.  During this battle I was again distracted by an outside matter.  Nevertheless, I plowed ahead only for the power to blip and for me to lose several precious minutes of playing time.  I was immediately returned to the startup screen and began from my last save, then fiddled around until I could find a Chaser in a random encounter.  I then went to the exit and met up with Setzer, and with dread I remembered there was another boss battle, and I had not used a tent at the Save Point, and the next thing I knew, Kefka had forced me to battle two Cranes in a Pincer attack.

Fortunately, I was automatically healed for this battle.  Gau played the role of healer at first, while everyone else was on offense.  I was able to summon Bismarck for big damage.  I managed to "win" the triple bar slot result, and instantly, I began to sweat bullets.  Fortunately, he summoned Kirin, whose whole party Regen I appreciated.  I also messed up when selecting a Rage for Gau once his MP got low, but fortunately, I was able to destroy the cranes without further difficulty.

From this point it was an automatic journey to Zozo, and I once again became afraid once I realized the implication.  The next sequence was the Maduin/Terra flashback, one in which there were no Save Points.  I dallied a little more than I should have given the circumstances (I love talking to the Espers), but the power did not go out during this section.  After it was over and I was able to get control of the airship I saved.  However, I still had a few minutes before it was technically thirty minutes of gameplay so I decided to travel the world and blow my new fortune in GP on useless items (such as a second pair of Earrings).  I then made my way to Narshe, and received the next mission, to go to the Sealed Gate.  After this, I boarded the airship, changed the party members to the lineup listed above, stripped everyone of equipment, then disembarked and saved.

[Destina Faroda]

Day Ten

LOCATION: Sealed Cave

PARTY MEMBERS: Edgar (Lv. 20 HP 659/685 MP 160/160), Sabin (Lv. 20 HP 694/694 MP 157/157), Setzer (Lv. 20 HP 682/682 MP 166/166),  Terra (Lv. 20 HP 488/676 MP 143/191)

ELAPSED TIME: 11:02

STEPS TAKEN: 29470

GP: 23633

I don't believe I can adequately express my disappointment in myself today.  I intended to complete the Sealed Cave today, putting me on a careful pace to get to the Floating Continent and beat it in two or three days.  At this pace I don't think I will get to it before Day 15, exactly one day before the cutoff day for doing it.  While I will almost certainly trigger the event before then (as after the Sealed Cave, there's only the banquet, the burning house, the mountain, and the Imperial Air Force prelude that are actually required to play through), I worry about the other tasks I have to do, such as building up Gau's Rage list.

In any event, I equipped all the characters in my party, and after optimizing them to my content, I wondered if Mog was now recruitable.  A quick trip to Figaro Castle confirmed that Lone Wolf had escaped from his cell, so I headed back to Narshe.  I went to the storehouse, then chased Lone Wolf all the way through the Narshe mines.  In the random encounters with Were-rats and Repo Men, I noticed that they did not give any Magic Points, but only experience.  At last I caught up with him and he took Mog hostage, so I stayed still until the choice came up.  Save Mog or take the Gold Hairpin.  The choice was obvious.  I chose Mog, only to find out later that he was at a whopping Level 22, so obviously taking him to the Lete River or the Serpent Trench was out for now. Then again, by the time my characters get control of the Airship again, he'll be on the low end of the experienced characters.

After this, I went to Albrook and bought an Amulet, then headed for the deserted Imperial base, then went into the Sealed Cave.  At first, I had little difficulty aside from blowing through Terra's MP as though they were out of style (she had Shiva equipped).  Until I got to the lava room, it was uneventful.  Then I got to the room and started messing up repeatedly and badly.  I must have spent ten minutes in the room, timing and positioning my lead character wrong so I'd fall in the lava when the planks shifted.

After this point things went as normal, although due to my idiocy with Terra's MP I ended putting her in the front row and hitting enemies with her Blizzard sword.  Other than making adjustments with Espers upon levelling up, the battles were very much Drill plus Aurabolt plus Lagomorph or "successful" Slot action (although I'd argue that summoning Ifrit with the Magicite result or using Chocohop on Ings don't qualify as successes).   I ran around and grabbed as many treasures as I could, including that Genji Glove.  I got to the Save Point, saved, fought the Ninja, saved, and triggered the next section on that floor before doubling back and saving.  I just hope I don't forget the AtmaWeapon tomorrow.

[Destina Faroda]

Day Eleven

LOCATION: Outside Vector

PARTY MEMBERS: Cyan (Lv. 19 HP 629/629 MP 148/148), Locke (Lv. 19 HP 625/625 MP 150/150), Gau (Lv. 19 HP 621/621 MP 127/153)

ELAPSED TIME: 11:46

STEPS TAKEN: 30475

GP: 44867

Once again, despite the amount of time I put in today, once again, I came up short of my expectations.  I finished the Sealed Cave, but it was rough, in part because I got momentarily stuck in certain parts, such as the section where your character must navigate a corridor blind.   Of course, this meant lots of experience points for my fabulous foursome -- Edgar, Sabin, Setzer, and Terra.

Because of the rules of the challenge, I have to keep the levels of my characters as even as possible.  Since Locke, Gau, and Cyan were my three lowest leveled party members (Gau was a measly Lv. 18!), and I hadn't used them in a while I had to choose them in a three-man party.  Don't worry, once these next few sections are done, Mog is going to learn both spells and Dances.  But I have to get past this dinner and the Thamasa-related events first.

Unfortunately, I forgot that the airship, upon crash-landed near Maranda, which meant I had to walk all the way to Vector.  I stopped in Maranda to determine if anything had changed and soon found that it was the same as it was on my previous visit.  Then I walked with purpose to Vector, then saved.

[Destina Faroda]

Day Twelve

LOCATION: Outside Thamasa

PARTY MEMBERS: Locke (Lv. 21 HP 680/757 MP 106/172), Shadow (Lv. 21 HP 754/754 MP 171/171),  Terra (Lv. 22 HP 711/812 MP 160/192)

ELAPSED TIME: 12:29

STEPS TAKEN: 34009

GP: 2194

I entered Vector and after looking around any buying things I didn't need, I headed northward, talking to people along the way.  It's sad in a sense that this scene is the last we see of Banon and the Returners.  Nevertheless, after taking a last look around Vector, I headed to the imperial palace and talked to the emperor himself.

I messed up when talking to the soldiers, or more accurately, when fighting the belligerent ones.  I forgot that the soldiers had high physical defenses and I used physical attacks.  That and I was depending on Gau to cast when I could have been more effective with him casting any spell.   Furthermore, I got somewhat greedy and opened treasure chests I knew would be available after the segment passed.  As a result, I missed out on the Charm Bangle, but given that in some playthroughs, I don't even get the Tintinabar, I consider my result a win and not a loss.

Despite this, this section did not take nearly as long as I anticipated.  So once I was left with Locke and Terra and took a quick look for any treasure I missed, I decided to walk over to the base and raid the storage room in the base, then walked back to Albrook.  Once in town, I took some time to look around.  I also spent a great deal of money on Relics, particularly a couple of Peace Rings, some Sniper Sights, and a few Amulets.  Since I don't know how much time I'll get later on to acquire these goods, I decided to get them now.

After surveying the town it was time to report to General Leo to begin another stretch of pure plot, the long boat ride to Thamasa.  From the return of Celes (and Shadow) to the evening of misunderstanding, there's plenty of tension even before the boat leaves port.  Even though it comes as no surprise that the journey itself also contains important scenes, I'm still amazed at how well it's put together.

Of course, eventually I regained control of my party and I decided to at least make sure that Shadow learned at least the basic Fire, Ice, and Bolt spells, so he got the Bismark treatment.  Even though he's no mage, his natural magic stat of 33 isn't that bad, and I wanted him to learn at least a couple of spells before he left the party.  So I walked to Thamasa and made sure he received enough Magic Points to learn the basic three attack spells.  After this, I stripped him of all equipment and Bismark and stepped into town.

Once I entered Thamasa, I bought a whole bunch of needless junk, including an Ice Rod, three Mystery Veils, and four Gaia Gears.  I'm pretty sure I would find a couple Gaia Gears later on, but right now I wanted to make sure I had enough equipment to go around.

After this, I talked to Strago and watched both his and Relm's introductions.  Although I decided to wander around and visit the Elder's house after this, I didn't bother about triggering any of the short sequences of the Thamasa residents using their magic powers.  Since stopping at the Inn would trigger the next sequence and render me unable to save, I decided to leave town, save and file a report now.

[bradypodidae]

Then again, as horribly as I play, I don't think there's much of an audience.

I think you would be very surprised at the turnout if you were to stream live... 

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

Depending on when, of course.

[Destina Faroda]

Sorry, but again, I have no clue as to how to do that.  Remember, I'm playing from an actual SNES, so I don't know if it makes streaming easier or harder.  So let's move onto...

Day Thirteen

LOCATION: The Esper Cave...or is it Gathering Place?

PARTY MEMBERS:  Locke (Lv. 23 HP 898/898 MP 173/195), Strago (Lv. 26 HP 1116/1116 MP 180/237), Terra (Lv. 25 HP 1046/1046 MP 140/228)

ELAPSED TIME: 13:22

STEPS TAKEN: 35585

GP: 8133

I went back into Thamasa and triggered two of the "Secret magic" scenes and went to the Inn and slept.  The burning House was a lot shorter than I remembered, and there was not much memorable about it.  One of the Balloons used Exploder in the battles, allowing Strago to learn it.  The FlameEater was boringly easy.

On a completely useless side note, one of the little things I noticed about Shadow in the post-rescue scene was he did react to Strago's confession by momentarily lifting his head.  Given what we know about Shadow, I wonder if this were merely to throw off the party, or if he were just surprised that Strago would tell them that.

With the money I earned, I bought both a Stout Spear and a Morning Star.  After talking to a few townsfolk, I decided to head to the mountain....where I quickly lost my way.  Thanks to my wandering, Strago was able to learn Pearl Wind from an Abolisher.  Quickly I backtracked to the entrance upon learning the Lore, then resumed my journey.

Despite the tendency for Locke to get Sneezed away at every opportunity (and costing him experience), it was all going well until I entered the room with the golden statues in it.  Instead of skipping past them and going to the next room, I approached them and walked away, which triggered which brought about the Ultros fight.

Ultros is normally a pushover, with his "Tri-elemental"attack being more of an annoyance than an actual threat.  This time, due to some bad battle decisions (Not using "Fight" until it was too late and not knowing where my items were), I got killed by that silly octopus.  Aside from one time where Ultros aimed a tentacle at Banon right after a four-party tentacle attack, I had never lost to him.

I decided to instead of resetting to just continue from the save point right outside the cave, then went through the mountain and past the room with the golden statues to the save point, then saved.

[Destina Faroda]

Day Fourteen

LOCATION: Outside Nikeah

PARTY MEMBERS: Cyan (Lv. 23 HP 828/902 MP 166/193), Relm (Lv. 22 HP 795/809 MP 161/194), Gau (Lv. 23 HP 894/894 MP 198/198), Mog (Lv. 23 HP 859/883 MP 59/204)

ELAPSED TIME: 14:38

STEPS TAKEN: 36946

GP: 11014

Well, I took on Ultros again, and this time, he was as easy as I remembered.  The primary difference is that I equipped a pair of RunningShoes on Strago, and that I remembered to follow up my magical attacks with physical ones to keep some sort of balance.  Before I knew it, Relm popped in and asked to draw Ultros' portrait, and I used the dreaded Sketch command to finish him off.

After this I got Relm in my party and moved forward.  In the next room, I picked the hole that led to the Espers, and watched the various sequences that followed:  Terra meeting with the Espers, everyone making peace in Thamasa, and Kefka thankfully breaking up the scene with his "surprise" entrance and wiping the floor with everyone at once.  Once I got control of General Leo, I engaged Kefka in mortal combat.  Kefka actually managed to poison Leo in the battle and I wasted an Antidote on him, even though I knew Leo was going to die anyway.  Still, I played through to Leo's end and watched as the more Espers fell to Kefka's hand.

After seeing the deaths of Espers and Imperial soldiers, I finally got control of the party again only to board the Blackjack and watch the Floating Continent rise into the air.  I then decided to change my party members, when I noticed that the straggling characters had been "bumped up" to Level 23.  This not only meant that Relm was my lowest leveled character at Level 22, but that I now had my pick of characters to select.  I decided to take Cyan, Relm, Gau, and Mog, then land in the Veldt to begin building up Mog and Gau's skills.

If Strago weren't at such a high level, I would have brought him on the Veldt so he could learn some Lores.  In fact, I still might do it later on if I have time before tackling the Floating Continent.  But I wanted to go from the Veldt to the Serpent Trench, and I didn't feel like switching characters after gathering Rages.  Even if the experience gained from the non-Veldt battles was minimal, I'd rather have it go to some people I wouldn't be getting for a little while (and could also be technically disqualified for going to the Floating Continent due to said experience).

I went to Molbiz, landed, talked to the beaten former soldier and received the Tintinabar.  So I wandered on the Veldt for a little while, trying to build up Rages.  Eventually, I decided to stop fighting and went to Crescent Mountain, when lag reared its ugly head.  I jumped into the Serpent Trench and took the long path, fighting as many enemies as I could.  Once I got to Nikeah, I bought a few too many Magus Hats (they'll be good for the Fanatics Tower), a few needless items, then exited town, and saved.

[Destina Faroda]

Day Fifteen

LOCATION: The Veldt

PARTY MEMBERS:  Strago (Lv. 26 HP 1116/1255 MP 180/237), Relm (Lv. 23 HP 881/881 MP 206/206), Gau (Lv. 24 HP 970/970 MP 210/210), Mog (Lv. 24 HP 959/1078 MP 216/216)

ELAPSED TIME: 15:23

STEPS TAKEN: 39323

GP: 1382

Sadly, it looks like I'll have to take on the Floating Continent on D-Day, Day 16.

First, I went to the Chocobo Stable in Nikeah and bought a ride on one.  I rode the Chocobo all the way to the falls, then jumped off the falls and back onto the Veldt.  After a few random encounters, I boarded the Blackjack.  I went to various spots around the world to learn Dances.  I also revisited the former Esper Gathering Place and grabbed the treasures I missed the first time around, and leveled all the characters up, so that the four I started today's entry with (Cyan, Relm, Gau, and Mog)  would be considered developed enough to ignore.

I made a party of Edgar, Sabin, and Setzer and equipped them with Espers and weaponry, and designated them as the party to combat the IAF and take on the Floating Continent.  Although I could have included Celes, as she is Level 23 at the same level of the other stragglers, as she will be forced into the party and I will have no choice but to develop her, I have decided to let her stay behind.  I then went to the Jidoor and immediately the Esper Golem was up for sale, so I bought it.  With the remaining money I went to Narshe and bought a Poison Rod.  Looking at the time, I realized there was a distinct possibility that I would be late filing the report if I took on the Floating Continent today.  As a result, I proclaimed this day as mostly a lost cause, changed party members again, then descended to the Veldt and saved.

I'm filing this report now because I know I'm going to need at least an hour on the Floating Continent and the Imperial Air Force, and I want to make sure my report is filed for today.  Also, I'm going to make one last attempt to earn some more GP, build up some Rages, and develop characters I won't see for a while.

[Destina Faroda]

Day Sixteen

LOCATION: Solitary Island

PARTY MEMBERS: Celes (Lv. 27 HP 1211/1211 MP 251/251)

ELAPSED TIME: 18:28

STEPS TAKEN: 41803

GP: 45392

Oh, what a day!  Despite my worries, and relative lack of progress to this point, I was able to complete the Floating Continent on Day 16 despite countless interruptions from outside of the game.  How I did it is another matter entirely.

As I planned yesterday, I wandered on the Veldt.  Aside from acquiring a couple of new rages, the effort proved fruitless, so after I earned enough GP, I took the party to Jidoor and went to the Auction House.  I resisted the temptation to buy the Cherub Down (which came up twice) and purchased Zoneseek when it came up for bidding. also wasted a few minutes to go back to Narshe to buy some useless mementos of the World of Balance (a Tiara, a Power Sash, and some Bard's Hats), then went outside to save.

From here, I boarded the Blackjack and then remade my party to feature Edgar, Sabin, and Setzer.  Of course, it was a complete waste of time since when I went to the helm and selected the option to find the Floating Continent, the game asked me again to select a party of three.  After I re-selected my dedicated characters, I went through the gauntlet of Pincer attacks.  In this series of battles, I began to get worried and both the Spit Fires and Sky Armors were able to do a decent amount of damage to my characters.  I had mixed results with Slots as sometimes I would get three bars, resulting in Magicite that at times helped my party and other times hindering it.  Also, unlike the Sealed Cave where Lagomorph healed enough to offset the damage I received, here it was annoying, as it did not eliminate the need to heal in between battles.

After a while, it was time to face Ultros and his new buddy Chupon.  While the battle wasn't extraordinarily tough, it was full of stupid mistakes on my part, such as trying to remove the Blind status (a status which has no effect) and targeting the wrong character.  Still, the triple Sneeze attack sent my characters falling into the battle with Air Force and its attachments, MissileBay and Laser Gun.  I usually have only minor difficulties with this boss, and that's when I have Locke in my party as I get greedy and try to steal anything I can.

This time, the triple threat of this boss proved to be more than I could handle.  I must have not been thinking when I played through this battle, as the enemy completely and throughly devastated my party with Tek Lasers, a barrage of Missiles and a Diffuser.  My party had been annihilated.

I didn't reset, which allowed my characters to keep the experience they gained.  While no one had gained a level, all three characters were far closer to level 24 than they were before I began the IAF sequence.  Since it would be a bit unethical to keep the party in tact and ignore those who were further away from the next level, I did what I had been dreading -- I put Celes in my party, and I also put Relm in there as well.  I also selected Edgar since he was on the same level as the ladies and would be useful enough to drag along.  Since the ladies were not well versed in curative spells (for Celes this was because I hadn't done anything with her in days, for Relm it was because I planned to wait until the second half of the game to develop her repertoire of spells), I slapped a Healing Rod on Relm and hoped I could move my thumbs fast enough to have her attack her teammates when necessary.

The ensuing battles became even more difficult and lengthy as my offensive power had been reduced dramatically.  Nearly every turn I had to have Relm poke someone and recover their HP.  Soon it was time to engage Ultros and Chupon, and I began to regret not taking Relm and Celes on a spell-building session on the Veldt.  After this was the fight with Air Force, Laser Gun, and MissileBay.  This time, the battle went slightly more smoothly thanks to the Healing Rod I put on Relm (as well as the Memento Ring).  This weapon saved my bacon at times, as well as the fact Tek Laser can be absorbed with Runic.  It was still a rough battle, but I was able to beat Air Force, to my relief.

With the boss' defeat, my characters landed on the Floating Continent and saved, then picked up Shadow.  Much like in the Sealed Cave, my characters gained a lot of levels, despite the relatively straightforward nature of this map.  For some reason, it seemed as though the encounter rate was higher than I recalled, which frightened me when I first got on the continent (Brainpan can kill me with one Blow Fish!), then simply became a pet peeve as I got toward the end (yawn...two Behemoths...can I get to Kefka yet?).  After getting to the save point, I resisted the urge to jump on the Blackjack with my spoils of battle.  Instead, it was time for the fierce battle against AtmaWeapon.

AtmaWeapon wasn't difficult, although he did manage to knock out Celes toward the end due to stupid actions on my part.  Once the battle was over, I did remember to run back to the save point just in case I messed up in the next section.  I also put a Wall Ring for Celes in preparation for the next section.

I watched the segments that followed (bye-bye Gestahl) and waited to get control over my characters again.  Soon it was the six minute dash to nowhere.  In the first battle, the Naughty at first lived up to her name and froze Celes solid, leaving me with no quick way of unfreezing her.  Fortunately, this Naughty only stood for a couple of rounds.  The rest of the Naughtys were nicer to me and allowed me to slaughter them swiftly.

Then it was time for Nerapa, and it seemed as though it took longer for him to cast Condemned than it did for the party to to finish him off.  I bounced a few Ice2 spells off Celes and killed him, then walked over to the part where I could leap onto the Blackjack.   Since I need Shadow for the next part of the game, I selected the wait option, took a step away from the point and stepped toward it again and chose to wait for Shadow.  Having nothing else to do, I de-equipped everyone while I waited for the clock to tick out, even though I didn't need to take any action.  Shadow arrived at his usual five-second mark, and the party escaped the Floating Continent, only to have both the airship and the world break apart at the same time.

Then second half of the game opened up and minutes later, a comatose Celes crawled out of bed and put Cid in it.  I equipped Celes using the Optimum and ran outside to save the game.  I now have eight days to gather everyone, do all of the side quests, and storm Kefka's tower.  I failed to do this in 2006 and am now a full day behind that playthrough's pace.

I guess it means I just have to get playing.

[Destina Faroda]

Day Seventeen

LOCATION: Outside Molbiz

PARTY MEMBERS:  Celes (Lv. 29 HP 1396/1396  MP 118/277), Sabin (Lv. 28 HP 1106/1315 MP 177/252)

ELAPSED TIME: 19:15

STEPS TAKEN: 45070

GP: 22132

So much for progress.

I decided to try and keep Cid alive, so I fed him as many good fish I could find.  It was a time-consuming process, but I did succeed in making him healthy again.  I took the raft one a one-way trip to the area outside Albrook.  I decided to look around town, only to find that they weren't selling anything of importance.  I was able to purchase some Gold Armor for Celes, though.

After this, I went north to Tzen, and triggered the "collapsing house" sequence.  Although I have skipped this section in past runs until later, the long trip ahead would be a lot easier with another character.  I had cleared the house in previous runs without the Sprint Shoes, so I de-equipped them and set my Relics to RunningShoes and Jewel Ring, and went inside.  The random encounters were not too frequent, but the Scorpions were tougher than I remembered, requiring two widespread Ice2 spells to kill instead of one.  I grabbed the kid and opened the chests, even the ones with Pm Stalkers in them.  However, while downstairs, I realized I would not have enough time to escape, so I re-equipped the Sprint Shoes and dashed upstairs.  I still tried to open the chests I'd missed and my greed did me in as time ran out while I was in the middle of another time-consuming random encounter.

Frustrated after being annihilated once again, I kept the experience this endeavor had given me and tried again, this time with the Sprint Shoes.  It seemed, though, that the random encounters themselves increased in frequency.  I being very foolish and checking out the chests that had monsters in them (although the Pm Stalkers were easy) and as a result, my second run was almost as bad as my first one.  Toward the end I got caught in another battle that would have taken up too much time for me to fight my way out of. Out of frustration, I used a Warp Stone in possibly the first time I have escaped from battle in this playthrough.  I hate running, but it saved me from having to play all the way through this section again and I took the child outside, although I'm quite sure I missed a treasure.

After this ordeal was over, Sabin joined the party.  Tzen's shops didn't have much to offer, but I bought two Super Balls on a whim.  After setting my equipment and Espers, I left town and made the long journey to Molbiz.  Although I could have ventured north instead, I wanted to make sure I got as many overworld random encounters in as possible while limited to being on foot in the outside world.  I stopped just outside Molbiz and quit for the day.

[Destina Faroda]

Day Eighteen

LOCATION: Outside the Figaro Caverns

PARTY MEMBERS: Sabin (Lv. 30 HP 1051/1509 MP 172/278), Celes (Lv. 31 HP 1371/1595 MP 217/303)

ELAPSED TIME: 20:19

STEPS TAKEN: 48435

GP: 781

Today started out so well. I talked to Terra, fought Phunbaba, AND got Fenrir.  I took the Chocobo in the hidden forest stable to the south and went to Nikeah.  After wandering around town, buying an Enhancer and some other equipment, I talked to "Gerad."  After sneaking onto the boat to South Figaro, I walked around South Figaro and found a few treasure I'd missed the first time around.  After more wandering, I talked to "Gerad," then went outside of town to attack three silly Nohrabbits who cured me with their parting spells of kindness.

Then I entered the cave and grabbed the upgraded treasures.  Since, I had a very bad feeling about the next section, I backtracked and went outside to save, as there is no save point before one of the absolute toughest bosses in the game -- those Tentacles.  However, I ventured into the cave once again and countless random encounters later I made it to the submerged Figaro Castle.  After lots of wandering and making sure I did not miss any treasure, I decided to talk to "Gerad" and trigger the battle with the Tentacles.

What makes them difficult is if your characters don't have the proper Relics equipped and/or don't know all of the Level 2 spells, this battle becomes next to impossible because you only have three characters, including a character you don't even get to optimize.  To make matters worse the Relics you need for this battle are completely different from the ones you need for the battles beforehand (since the caves are full of enemies that confuse you, and you fight Tentacles than can poison and slow your characters down)  You can't Runic the Bio and Poison spells because the intervals between attacks don't make it impractical.  I fail to understand why there was never a Save point put here given the length of the caves which preceded it.  Not even the Phoenix Cave or Kefka's Tower is this bad.

Anyway, the battle began.  I was able to kill the lower-left Tentacle, but the rest managed to slow, seize,  entwine, and poison my characters in second.  I also had targeting problems at times (although this was probably just stupidity on my part), as I was unable to heal Celes at a critical moment, which lead to the party's downfall.  They were annihilated, and thus I was deposited at the last point I saved, and quit.

[Destina Faroda]

Day Nineteen

LOCATION: Just outside Daryl's Tomb

PARTY MEMBERS: Edgar (Lv. 31 HP 1600/1600 MP 269/294), Celes (Lv. 32 HP 1578/1696 MP 198/316),  Sabin (Lv. 31 HP 1609/1609 MP 288/291), Setzer (Lv. 31 HP 1597/1597 MP 301/301)

ELAPSED TIME: 20:51

STEPS TAKEN: 49623

GP: 1787

As you can tell by the amount of time I spent today, I actually did very little.  This will definitely be the last of these half-hour minimum days, though, so I have optimism I can reunite everyone and finish all the side-quests before Day 24.

As for today, I ran through the caves again and grabbed the treasure under Figaro Castle before facing the Tentacles, this time, equipping both Celes and Sabin with RunningShoes and giving each a Relic which protected against poison.  I really didn't bother about optimal tactics as between the immunity to poison and the inherent Haste status, the battle, once nightmarish, became easy with those two minor changes.  The Tentacles were defeated and I grabbed the Soul Sabre from the back room before returning upstairs.  Soon Figaro was up and running, and soon, I was on my way to Kohlingen.

Once in Kohlingen I looked around town and talked to various citizens while window shopping in town (I spent most of my money earlier in Figaro Castle with the regal discount on Tinctures.) before I talked to Setzer, and after a moment of self-pity, he came to his senses and joined the party.  I walked over to the tomb, saved, and quit.

[Destina Faroda]

Day Twenty

LOCATION: Outside Maranda

PARTY MEMBERS: Edgar (Lv. 32 HP 212/1701 MP 307/294), Celes (Lv. 33 HP 1798/1798 MP 154/330), Sabin (Lv. 32 HP 1710/1710 MP 304/304), Setzer (Lv. 32 HP 1698/1698 MP 185/314)

ELAPSED TIME: 21:51

STEPS TAKEN: 50991

GP: 650

I went through Daryl's Tomb. Other than not being able to remember the order of engraving "The World is Square" (backwards) and backtracking because I forgot the sequence of what to do in his dungeon, it was not really memorable. In fact, the only thing of note was that I was in an impatient mood so I killed the Presenter with X-Zone. I fought Dullahan, using a great deal of of Runic to absorb a lot of his spells. After killing him, I walked down the long stairs and watched the sequences that followed. Before I knew it, I was on my way to Maranda and I entered it.

While in town, I talked to the people and bought some armor, then talked to Lola and sent the carrier pigeon on its way. I saved then took one step on the map onto the Falcon's landing space, and the next thing I knew, I was attacked by a Mantodea, a Sprinter, and Two Spek Tors. The latter two weren't too bad but the giant mantis kept killing my characters in one hit. Before I knew it my party had been annihilated.

I was instantly kicked back the spot I saved and took another step, which triggered the same battle. This time, I did remember to summon Golem (who was equipped on Setzer). The enemies killed Celes and Sabin, and since Edgar and Setzer were behind them by approximately a whole level, I left them dead, allowing the two laggers to win the battle and gain the experience.

After healing my characters, I decided to knock the battle with the Earth Drgn out of the way, and re-equipped my characters to face an Earth-based monster. I then took to the skies and flew over to the Opera House. I grew a little scared, hoping I wouldn't run into Doom Gaze just yet, and fortunately, I did not. I went into the Opera House and fought the Earth Drgn, which was not a difficult task with a Cherub Down on Edgar and Gaia Gears equipped on the other characters.

After beating the Earth Drgn, I left then went back to Maranda. I bought an Oath Veil for no other reason than that I could, then went outside and saved.

I'm not done playing for the day, but I wanted to take a break and actually write a report, rather than actually continue playing, make up a good portion my lost time, and then forget to write a report. Besides, after an hour of playing, lag begins to rear its ugly head on this thing, and it wouldn't do me much could to stumble around aimlessly any more than I usually do.

[Destina Faroda]

Day Twenty One

LOCATION: Outside the Colosseum

PARTY MEMBERS: Terra (Lv. 34 HP 1903/1903 MP 346/346), Cyan (Lv. 33 HP 1812/1182 MP 320/320), Sabin (Lv. 34 HP 1914/1914 MP 332/332), Gau (Lv. 31 HP 1601/1601 MP 298/298)

ELAPSED TIME: 24:28

STEPS TAKEN: 55175

GP: 25158

There's not much to report.  I went to Zozo, got the Rust-Aid and climbed the mountain.  I fought Ursus who stole my GP and other enemies in random encounters.  I released the Storm Drgn from its prison and battled it, losing to it once, only to beat it in the return engagement.  I got Cyan, but I did not return to Maranda.  Instead, I went to the Veldt to try to get Gau with a three person party, only for it not to work initially.  So I revisited Molbiz and recruited Terra, then returned to the Veldt.

I tried to get a few Rages for Gau, but it wasn't a fruitful effort, so I entered the cave and went through it.  I missed a treasure in the cave (not the Striker), but I intend to go back to the cave.  Nevertheless, I was able to rescue Shadow and fought the SrBehemoth.  After this, I was taken to Thamasa, searched around Relm's room one more time for the hidden Memento Ring, then went to the Colosseum.

So now I have eight characters.  Too bad the rest of them are inaccessible or require a decent amount of backtracking unless I complete semi-lengthy sidequests, and there are so many optional sidequests to go through as well.

[Destina Faroda]

Day Twenty Two

LOCATION: Inside the Phoenix Cave

PARTY MEMBERS: Celes (Lv. 35 HP 1959/2003 MP 319/362), Edgar (Lv. 34 HP 1897/1905 MP 321/339), Sabin (Lv. 34 HP 1914/1914 MP 332/332), Setzer (Lv. 34 HP 1588/1912 MP 232/342)

ELAPSED TIME: 27:10

STEPS TAKEN: 58486

GP: 35021

I actually played after I posted yesterday and started and ended Cyan's sidequest. This was time consuming because of stupidity on my part. For instance, I forgot to equip Relics that prevent petrification on Gau and Terra during the fight against the three Dream Stooges. However, my worst bout of stupidity came from battling Wrexsoul. I seriously forgot how to beat this guy the legitimate way, and as a result, the battle went on for quite possibly an hour as by the time I did recall, I had run out of items. I figured I'd make it up with a productive session today to make up for this failure.

So much for that idea.

I know now I'm not going to make it. I barely had time to actually put in a half an hour today, on a day "off" no less, and it took me this long to actually just get to the halfway point. I'll play to see how far I can get in the game, but on Day 24, I'm quitting one way or another.

All I did was get halfway through Phoenix Cave today, one party made up of the members listed above, the other made of Terra, Cyan, Shadow, and Gau. I will note that the latter combination is far more effective than it has any right to be, as with Gau's automatic attacks, Terra's spell animations, and Interceptor's impromptu appearances, I have enough time to charge up SwdTech to some of the higher levels.

Other than that, and opening chests that I had forgotten were empty, there isn't much more to write.

[Destina Faroda]

Day Twenty Three

LOCATION: Outside the Fanatics Tower

PARTY MEMBERS: Edgar (Lv. 36 HP 2112/2112 MP 367/367), Sabin (Lv. 36 HP 2131/2131 MP 208/360), Celes (Lv. 36 HP 2107/2107 MP 284/376), Relm (Lv. 36 HP 2100/2100 MP 375/375)

ELAPSED TIME: 29:49

STEPS TAKEN: 64021

GP: 26363

I was able to find my way through the Phoenix Cave and fought the Red Dragon, a boss that was was somewhat easier than I remembered.  Finally,  I finally made my way to Locke and watched the scenes that followed.  With Locke now back in the group, I headed to Narshe.  I grabbed the Ragnarok Esper and the Cursed Shld, even though it's unlikely I'll have time to uncurse it.

I also got Mog and finally grabbed the Moogle Charm.  Since Mog was at a reasonable level, I equipped him with the Moogle Charm, fought the tiny Snow Drgn, then Tritoch, and then ventured into the Narshe caverns further in order to to get the Esper Terrato and the character Umaro.  I missed a lot of chests and treasures, but as far as characters went, it was 11 down and three to go.

After this I went to the Isle of Zone Eaters and de-equipped the Moogle Charm.  I was worried that Umaro would be stubborn and kill the enemy that I was trying to let win .  Fortunately, the Zone Eater froze Umaro and he was able to be Engulfed.   Despite various gaffes regarding my attempts to get the treasures in Gogo's cave, I was able to get them and reach the mime.  However, I did not want to press my luck with the crushing ceiling of doom (it killed my party when I tried to get to Gogo) and Warped my way out of the cave.

It was time to get the last two characters, which meant I had to go to Jidoor.  My four lowest leveled characters were Locke, Setzer, Mog, and Umaro, and in the spirit of the challenge, I took them.  I also slapped and Exp. Egg onto Umaro as due to the fact that I probably won't be using him very often, and had the Moogle Charm de-equipped at certain intervals.  Of course, this made the Chadarnook boss battle even more difficult than normal, as Umaro would attack when the woman as active (although to be fair, so would my other characters due to poor timing on my part).  I eventually got so mad that I decided to kill him off, only for the battle to end just after poisoning him.   However, now I had Relm, and that's all that matters.

Once there, it was a quick ride over to  the Fanatics Tower with Relm in the party and she shouted Strago back to his senses, bringing him into the party.

So I have all the characters, but I not only have missed four major side quests (Ancient Castle, Hidon, finding Doom Gaze, and of course the Fanatics Tower itself) even more woefully short in spell development.  I have literally 24 hours to get my act together.

[Destina Faroda]

Day Twenty Four

LOCATION: The Credits

PARTY MEMBERS: Edgar (Lv. 37 HP 2228/2228 MP 352/381), Sabin (Lv. 34 HP 2237/2237 MP 250/374), Mog (Lv. 37 HP 2208/2208 MP 335/387), Terra (Lv. 36 HP 2353/2353 MP 323/403) *

ELAPSED TIME: 36:03*

STEPS TAKEN: 71486*

GP:  57568

Does it count if the end credits are playing as I actually submit this?

Let me just say that there are treasures I missed.  I did not fight the Master Pug, or even any Pugs.  I did get Odin and immediately upgraded Raiden, even though I did beat the Blue Drgn.  I also did go after and fought Hidon, but forgot to let Strago learn Grand Train, rendering the whole exercise a waste of time.

I also decided to spend some time in the desert south of Maranda to get Celes to learn Life 3.  I took Celes, Relm, Mog, and Umaro to the Fanatics Tower to raid the chests and lay the smackdown on both the White Drgn and Magi Master.

Regarding Kefka's tower itself, with the exception of the Number 128 clone and Atma (who actually managed to kill me), the rest of the bosses weren't much trouble at all.  During the process of traversing the tower, I got Relm to finally learn Ultima, which literally saved my butt in the final fight. As of 11:20 PM Kefka was defeated, and I'm listening to the prelude them at the end of the game.

*All of these are of the very last save before maneuvering the party to the third (or first from left to right) trigger point.

[bradypodidae]

So... success? I have never played any of the Final Fantasy games so please pardon me if my ignorance is showing. That said, I have seen/read/heard enough about the games to enjoy following along as you played through FFIII. Thanks for the ride!

[Destina Faroda]

Oops, I forgot to answer.  Yes, it's success.  And now I can put this challenge to rest!

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

Yay!