Princess Maker 2 - An Introduction.

I kind of want to wait for Jamie before getting fully into the game, but I'm not sure when she'll be done moving and will have full internet access again and stuff. Meanwhile, let me introduce you to the game, in case you have not read the Wikipedia article I linked to my last post.

Princess Maker 2 is a game that was produced by Gainax, the same company that gave us such gems as Neon Genesis Evangelion. As the name indicates, it's the second in the series. I've never played the other Princess Maker games, personally. Maybe I will someday.

The game is pretty much a raising-sim; you're a hero who saved the world from evil, and you're given a 10 years old daughter by the gods. Your goal is to raise her to adulthood and watch her (hopefully) become a princess. The best ending of the game has her actually becoming the Queen, or marrying the Prince, but it depends on many things you may or may not have done while raising her. Heck, she can even marry you, her father, if the conditions are right. She can also become the ruler of Hell if you make her go on the evil path.

If you know me, I'm sure you've already assumed that this will go horribly, horribly wrong for this poor little girl. Trust me, it most likely will. I'm not going to aim for any particular ending, so we'll see what will become of her.

I also decided that for this playthrough, I'm actually going to be her mother. For the lulz. Not unlike the real world, I'm constantly confused for a man due to my gender-neutral name, it seems. Either that, or everyone in the kingdom is blind and hasn't noticed I have a massive pair of breasts.

Now, let's go through the game's introduction. When you select "New Game", you are greeted by a series of screens before you dive into the opening cinematics.



First, you enter your family name. Apparently, you don't have a first name. Deal with it.



Next comes the name of your daughter. For the records, I'm using the name Jamie suggested on AIM, because we're immature and it was full of lol. You'll see what horrible name I've chosen for my daughter, and you'll probably feel like clobbering me for what is the start of my terrible parenting.



Your daughter also has a birthday. You will always be prompted to buy her a present when her birthday comes up. Her birth date will affect her starting skills, which we can safely ignore, and her patron deity. June 6th was chosen.



Next, you need to tell the game how old you are. I've decided to use my real age.



Your birthday as well. Unless you have a really good father-daughter (or, in my case, mother-daughter) relationship, don't expect it to be remembered. Just so you know...

I've also used my real birthday.



Finally, your daughter's blood type, because the Japanese think your personality is based on it. She may not be my daughter by blood, but I decided to give her the same bloodtype as me. I predict disasters. A lot of them.

Then, we get into the game's introduction. I have too many screenshots for this one, so I'll just transcribe the text below, with a few images here and there. All text in italics are part of the actual introduction (but I've took the liberty of changing all the male words and pronouns and stuff referring to the hero to female ones). Normal text will be used for my commentaries.

There once was a city in the world of mortals.
Its king was proud of his position, and its people were arrogant about their wealth.
Its rulers made light of the gods and ceased to worship them.
It's people sank into debauchery and sloth.
The Lord became angry and summoned the Prince of Darkness, ruler of the Underworld.
Accepting the Lord's will, he attacked the world of mortals



It was a one-sided war...
The soldiers of the capital, grown accustomed to peace, fell helplessly before the powerful Demon Army.
The ramparts were destroyed, and the castle was engulfed in flames. It was clear to all that the fall of the castle town was at hand.



Seeing the plight of the capital, the wandering swordswoman Abyrae threw herself into battle against the Prince of Darkness.
One dark night, Abyrae stole into the demons' encampment, and defeated the Prince of Darkness in personal combat.

"You have beaten me. But why are you fighting for these people? It has been divinely ordained that I attack this decadent capital. It is no concern of yours. I killed only fools."

Abyrae didn't know how to respond.

Actually, that's not quite true...



Suddenly, the Prince of Darkness disappeared along with his army, returning to the Underworld to recover from his defeat.



"Brave warrior. You have saved the capital. It was I who foolishly brought this war upon us. It was divine punishment for my decadence. If you had not appeared, the people of the city would have surely perished along with me..."

"It was my fault as well. The king and I have resolved to make a fresh start. We will work together to restore the capital."


"You appear to have been wounded. Why don't you stay in the capital, and help us to rebuild? We beseech you."
And thus Abyrae came to live in the capital, and to be granted a salary by the king.

6 . 9 . 1209 K.D.



One night, when the stars were shining brilliantly in the heavens, Abyrae felt somehow drawn to go outside...
"Abyrae..."
A voice called out to Abyrae from the heavens...
As she lifted her head, she spotted a shooting star. Before her eyes, it slowly descended to the top of a nearby hill.
She ran to the hill.
There she found a floating sphere which was shining brightly.



Then, she noticed that inside the light there was a little girl...

Naked girl! Quick, hide the loli before Pedobear arrives!

"Abyrae... I am this girl's guardian, Mercury... This darling child has lived in the sacred light since the time she was born. she has an innocent soul, and knows nothing of the impure world of mortals."


But why is she naked? Don't you guys have child-sized clothes in heaveHOLYCRAP! DON'T GIVE ME A CLOSE UP! GAH!!!



"Now, I entrust you with this child. Your actions alone will determine whether she will live or die, and what kind of life she will lead. It is all up to you. That is all I have to ask. I will be watching from the heavens..."


Okay, if you gods up there watch us mortals, explain to me how you have failed to notice that entrusting a child to an immature, irresponsible, foul-mouthed 20-something with a bad temper is a bad idea? You guys are either mad, or you're all a bunch of sadistic bastards. It's just a joke, right? RIGHT!?

A year passes...

Fuck! Looks like they were serious...



And that's how the brave warrior Abyrae saved the world and gained a daughter.



This will end in tears, I can feel it.

Next time, on 'Rae Does Video Games: you meet the lovable daughter and get an explanation about things that can be done to raise her.

IT'S ALIVE!!!

It's been over a year since my last update. As you can probably see, the images that were attached in my previous posts are gone due to the fact I had to cancel my subscription for my website hosting due to teh moniez, but I forgot to move the screenshots to photobucket. The images will be back someday, maybe, if I manage to find a job soon.

And while I have not abandoned on the original Final Fantasy, I had forgotten how boring level-grinding can be, and I did not want to update with screenshots of, well, level-grinding. So, I decided to revive this blog by treating you to another game instead! And even better, I got Jamie to play it with me! Expect a lot of immaturity to ensue (and I mean it, A LOT).

If/when I decide to update with FFI again, and if/when the previous images are back online, I'll make sure to post the link of my previous entries for your convenience.

It's however time for something completely different. This, ladies and gentleman, is the game I will be playing for the next few days/updates:



I will post the introduction tomorrow when I'm not so sleepy and have the brain power required to play with Image Ready to make it into an animated .gif. Meanwhile, here are some infos on the game, courtesy of Wikipedia.

Hum, oops?

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! True to my blonde hair, I think I saved over my FFI state, because I can't find it anymore.

Time to search for it, or start over. >_<

Not Dead!

I haven't given up yet. Just had been too busy trying to find a new job/scraping money to pay my bills every month to play. Posts should resume soon, I hope.

Meanwhile, rumours say Final Fantasy IV DS will be released to North America this summer. Yes! Will still import Japanese copy once I get a new job just for the yummy voice acting (I'm finally getting used to Kain's voice, even though it's not how Kain always sounded in my head).

Final Fantasy IV Original Soundtrack - A Not So Professional Review

I'm a big Final Fantasy IV nerd. It's one of my favourite video games ever, and I think the soundtrack is made of equal win.

You probably heard by now that FFIV was remade for the DS and released in December 2007, on the 20th if I'm not mistaken. On January 30th, they released the soundtrack for the DS remake. I've been listening to it all week-end, and ended up not playing FFI at all. Oh well. I love music, what can I say?

The soundtrack includes 2 CDs and a DVD. I couldn't watch the DVD because it's of a different region than my DVD player. I figure if I ever get a new computer and have a DVD player in it, there might be a way to go around the regional encoding with a patch or something. What do I know, I'm computer illiterate.

I've got a lot of time to waste, so this is going to be a long review.

The Jacket

First, there's what I call an outer case; it's made of a thin cardboard, dyed an off-white colour. It features the lineart version of the Dark Knight and Paladin Cecil illustration by Airi Yoshioka. You know, the image where Paladin Cecil looks like a chick? The lineart itself is purple. "Final Fantasy IV Original Soundtrack" is written on the cover in metallic blue letters. It's shiny, and I like it.

On the back, we have the Mysidian Legend. Or at least one version of it. Since I'm not a native English speaker, I'm uncertain if it's gramatically correct as far as archaic English go, or if it could be called Ye Olde Engrish.

The legend goes as follow:

Birthed from womb of Dragon's maw and borne unto the stars
By light and darkness cast aloft are dreamtide oaths resworn
Moon is swathed in ever-light, ne'er again to know eclipse
Earth, with hallow'd bounty reconciled

Now, the CD jacket itself is also made of cardboard, with plastic cd holders inside. On the top, you have the FFIV DS logo. On the back, you have the names of the FFIV DS team. Inside, first, you have the Dark Knight and Paladin Cecil illustration again, this time in colours, on the left, and on the right, you have the lyrics of Tsukino Akari (Ending version). I know hiragana, katakana, and a few kanji, but I cannot read Japanese, so I can't tell you what it all says. The background is dark blue and the lettering is white. It also includes the name of the team who made the song, a mini biography of Megumi Ida, and info about the Tsukino Akari single (which I also own, and it's great).

Then, when you flip open the case, you have on the far left, again in white letter over dark blue, the track listings for the 2 CDs and DVD. Again, written in Japanese. I'll list the title as they were called on the original soundtrack of 1991, if applicable, and I'll improvise for the others.

The other three panels, where the plastic CD holders are, just feature screenshots of the opening movie. Makes me wish I could actually watch the DVD now, because it features the opening movie, and I figure it is of better quality than what you can find on YouTube.

The Discs

As I said, there are three discs; two CDs and one DVD.

The first disc is white, with the 3D models of Paladin Cecil, Dark Knight Cecil, Rosa, Kain, and Cid in blue, on the right side, and silver lettering on the left. The second disc features Adult Rydia, Gilbert/Edward, Edge, Yang, and the twins, this time in green. The third disc has Rubicante, Scarmiglione, Barbariccia, Cagnazzo, and Golbez in sepia.

Before I babble about each track, I'm taking this occasion to talk about some things I greatly appreciated from this version as opposed to the original. First, most of the tracks loop at least twice, something which was lacking in the original version. The Prelude, for example, didn't even loop once in the original. This means longer tracks for your hearing pleasure.

Note I said most of the tracks; there are of course some exceptions, like the first track, and Tsukino Akari, which didn't need looping at all because they are special tracks. They don't need to play continually like the in-game music.

There's also a very Final Fantasy IV Celtic Moon feel to the album. If you loved Celtic Moon, like me, you'll most likely love the DS soundtrack because a lot of the tracks sound similar to the arrangements by Máire Breatnach.

The Soundtrack: Disc 1

1. FFIV DS Opening Movie: If you've seen the opening movie on YouTube or another website, you have heard this one. It's an arrangement of Theme of Love, Main Theme of Final Fantasy IV, and Prologue.... Personally, I think it is one of the best tracks of the entire soundtrack, despite the brass and chords sounding too artificial (you can tell they were using synthetizers). The way the three songs merge into one another is very fluid, in my opinion.

2. The Prelude: This is, in my opinion, the best version of Prelude (or Crystal Theme as some people call it) in any FF game. I always liked the FFIV version, with the harp-like intro, but the FFIV DS version takes what is good from the original and made it 10 times better. The harp sounds, well, crystal-ish, but it doesn't sound as artificial as it did in the original version. The melody is very soft, and sounds orchestral. "Orchestral" equals "good" in my book. I'm a sucker for classical and instrumental music in case you never noticed.

3. Red Wings: Very militaristic, with the percussions and brass. As an ex-drum corps member, I should love this song. But I was disappointed, because the brass sounds very artificial. The mellophone player in me was screaming bloody murder. We're in 2008; you'd expect synthetizers to do a better job than this. We have the technology to make a synthetizer make a harp sound crystalline, but not to make the brass sound like, well, brass. You'll hear me rant a lot about the brass in this album, I'm warning you in advance.

4. Kingdom Baron: This version sounds very similar to the original, but again, it suffers from the artificial sounding brass that plagues this album. The snare drum sound is a tad too loud for me, and can be a bit distracting, but otherwise, it's tolerable.

5. Theme of Love: I'll be honest with you; I used to not particularly care about Theme of Love. I never liked how it sounded in the original. But this version is pure win with the harp and violins. They added a few bars for an intro, and it really made the song for me. It also has the Celtic feel I mentionned earlier. Celtic music fits FFIV very well, I think.

6. Prologue...: Also known as Theme of Final Fantasy to some people. Just like Prelude, I always thought the FFIV version was superior to any version of the other FF games, but FFXII's is a close second (because it was basically an orchestral-like version of FFIV's, but that's another story). Again, the brass at the beginning sounds a bit too artificial for my tastes, but this is still the great, heroic track I've always loved. It gave me goosebumps. Goosebumps is good. It still makes me want to exit Castle Baron with Cecil and Kain to go slay some Mist Dragon. Ah, nostalgia...

7. Welcome to Our Town!: Another track inspired by Celtic Moon. In fact, I think it's actually the same arrangement as Celtic Moon, but adapted for the DS. I'll have to relisten to that album, I guess. Another track I never cared for in the original, I can't say I care for it more in this version. But again, I rarely care for town themes. The few intro bars are a nice addition.

8. Main Theme of Final Fantasy IV: Another one of my favourite tracks. It sounds epic. It gave me goosebumps. It's greatly improved from the original. I'd listen to it on repeat for hours. I only have positive things to say about this one, so I'm gonna stop there.

9. Fight 1: Welcome to artificial land. The percussion sound fake, the brass is annoying synthetizer sound. It made me cringe. This is one of the best regular battle theme in the entire series, and they managed to ruin it. Junya Nakano, you disappoint me. Nobuo-san should smack you.

10. Fanfare: Junya Nakano strikes again with bad synthetizer-brass. 'Nuff said.

11. Hello! Big Chocobo: It sounds exactly like it did in the original, except with more echo.

12. Chocobo-Chocobo: Before the Chocobo Theme was called stuff like Samba de Chocobo, Cinco de Chocobo, Ukule de Chocobo and other names depending on what type of music Nobuo was inspired from, it was just called Chocobo-Chocobo. We could rechristen this one Jig de Chocobo because it kind of sounds like an Irish Jig. Or Bad Synthetizer Violin de Chocobo would also be appropriate. I never quite liked the original anyway, so I'm not overly disappointed by this one.

13. Into the Darkness: It sounds similar to the original, but the melody is softer, and there is a bit more eccho added. This is another track I think that was greatly improved.

14. Fight 2: AKA The Boss Battle Theme of FFIV. All I have to say is: WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!? The track would have been awesome if it wasn't for the brass. When there's no pseudo-trumpet, it sounds fantastic, but the rest of the time, it makes me cringe. 'Rae is one picky brass player.

15. Ring of Bomb: This is another track I never particularly cared for, but I think it was improved from the original. The melody is more harmonious, even for a suspense-ish theme.

16. Rydia: One of the prettiest versions of everyone's favourite green-haired summoner's theme I've heard, but on this soundtrack I actually prefer Theme of Love. The few intro bars at the beginning are very nice, and the tempo is a tad slower than in the original. It's more instrumental than the original too, which is always a big plus.

17. Castle Damcyan: Also a bit slower than the original, a bit more instrumental, and easier on the ears. It sounds dramatic, like it should.

18. Cry in Sorrow: They really made this one sound ten times better than in the original. It sounds like a lullaby, but it's still a very melancholic track.

19. Melody of Lute:I never knew why they originally called it Melody of the Lute in the original, especially since it sounded more like a harp. Gilbert/Edward plays the harp in the game anyway. This one still sounds a bit like a harp, but a bit more like a lute. It's still pretty.

20. Mount Ordeals: No, just... no. Sounds too techno for a game like Final Fantasy IV. Damn those synthetizers. The marimba at least sounds like a marimba, for once.

21. Fabul:This version sounds a bit more like traditional Chinese music than the original, but the flute's melody sounds more like it came from Saudi Arabia. Hey, the Middle-East is considered to be in Asia, so I guess it fits. This version doesn't get on my nerve, unlike the original.

22. Run!: You can tell it was Kenichiro Fukui who arranged this one because the brass doesn't sound nearly as artificial as Junya Nakano's. It's, again, a tad bit slower than in the original, but it's barely noticeable.

23. Suspicion: Another one that is a tiny bit slower than the original. The bass is a bit too distracting in this one, however.

24. Golbeza, Clad in Dark: I never thought you could make pipe organ sound more fake... Seems Nakano is bad at brass, and Fukui is bad at organ. Oh well. The arpeggio is faster than in the original, so it sounds too me like the notes aren't as clear as they were in the original, which is a big disappointment for me because that was the best part of Golbez's theme. If you can ignore this track's flaws, however, it still sounds like some badass villain music.

25. Hey, Cid!: Okay, so Fukui can't do brass well either. I'm going to blame Hirosato Noda instead, because he (or she, I can't tell with those Japanese names) is the synthetizer operator for this soundtrack. My deepest apology to Nakano and Fukui for blaming them until now. I never thought you could make this track sound more annoying, but they managed it. The pseudo-tuba at the beginning made me laugh out loud, at least, because it was so horrible.

The Soundtrack: Disc 2

1. Mystic Mysidia: I love this one. The xylophone is nice, but for some reason there's an off "woot" sound that plays every now and then. It used to be more like a "hoot" in the original. You know, like a owl. Owl and wizards fit so well together; everyone who read Harry Potter knows that! Why did they take out that sound? This is me sulking, but still liking the song.

2. Long Way to Go: I call this one the Mysidian Elder's theme. It was greatly improved from the original, but sounds more militaristic due to the snare drum in the background.

3. Palom and Porom: Except for the fake brass, I also think this one is an improvement. The xylophone and flute sound like they're arguing, just like the twins.

4. The Dreadful Fight: I think, despite the brass, this one is the best battle theme so far on this album. It was also the best battle theme in my opinion in the original, but I'm satisfied about how it sounds now. Makes me want to fight the four fiends once again. Note to self: go play FFIV after finishing this review.

5. The Airship: I never liked airship theme in FFIV, but this version sounds rather nice. That's all I'm going to say because I don't know what else to tell you about this track.

6. Troian Beauty: This is my favourite track of the entire album, as well as my favourite track on any version of the FFIV soundtrack. I just love Troian Beauty. I love this one so much that whenever I play FFIV, I go to Troia Castle just to listen to the music for hours. The only other song in a game that made me do that was Corridors of Time from Chrono Trigger, which is the song that plays when you go to the floating islands where Zeal Kingdom is in 12,000 B.C. But enough about CT, this is FFIV. This is another track with a definitive Celtic feeling. The harp is as lovely as ever. when I listen to this track and close my eyes, I can picture a white castle with tall columns made of white marble, covered with vines, and with waterfalls. My dream place, in other words, and how I always pictured Troia in my head. I'm going to stop now or I'll never talk about the rest of the soundtrack.

7. Samba de Chocobo: I don't know how I feel about this one. I think it's a tiny bit slower than the original, and sounds a bit more like samba. But I preferred the original for his wackiness, I guess.

8. Tower of Bab-Il: Bad brass and echo. Why? I loved this track in the original. It sounded majestic. I was expecting something much better for this version.

9. Somewhere in the World: This is the track that plays whenever you see Golbez and Kain plotting bad guy stuff in FFIV. It seems most of those short tracks were improved to make them sound less annoying in this version, which I'm thankful for. It's still filled with suspense, as it should.

10. Land of Dwarves: This is another one that sounds a bit too techno to fully fit into FFIV, but it's surprisingly pleasant to listen to. I never liked the original, but this one, I can tolerate.

11. Giott, the Great King: Uuuuuurrrrrkggrble...

12. Dancing Calcobrenas: Yum, percussions and a haunted flute melody. It's still as creepy as the original.

13. Tower of Zot: Whereas Tower of Bab-Il sounded 100 times better in the original, Tower of Zot sounds 100 times better in this version. Due to Shimmer, I can picture Kip and TsuMeTai walking in the dark halls of Zot now when listening to this track.

14. Illusionary World: I used to find this track extremely boring. The tempo was too slow and it made me want to sleep. Now, the tempo is a bit faster, so it's not as boring. The melody sounds a bit odd, but I guess it fits considering what it represents in the game.

15. The Big Whale: The only brass in this soundtrack that actually sounds good. A good arrangement, faithful to the original.

16. Another Moon: This one also sounds very close to the original, with more echo. The music is a bit more instrumental, so that's a great improvement, in my opinion.

17. The Lunarians: I remember how in the original I thought this one sounded like crystals making music. It's still the case in this version, except much better.

18. Within the Giant: The trumpet sounds actually pretty good in this one. Go figure; the one track where music sounding techno-ish would have been normal (you can't get more technologically-advanced than a freaking mecha), and it sounds almost like the real thing.

19. The Final Battle: If you've paid attention to my whining about the brass on this soundtrack, you should be able to predict what I'm going to say. The brass ruined this battle theme. Otherwise, it sounds great, albeit slightly less epic than the original, and a tad slower too, I think.

20. Epilogue 1: The next three tracks used to be just one in the original. This is the part from the beginning until the part where you see Kain climbing Mount Ordeals. I'm disappointed that it just fades away at the end. In the original, before the part with Kory and the moons, there was somekind of mini-finale with four notes and a few bars of the harp fading. If you heard the original, you probably know what I'm talking about. This track would have greatly benefitted from those last few bars because it otherwise ends too abruptly. Besides that, it sounds good. The brass isn't too fake-sounding.

21. Epilogue 2: In the original, this was the music playing from the part with Kory and the moons until the wedding, just before the credit rolled. The melody in this part, especially when Theme of Love plays, right before Prologue... is as lovely as ever. I got the goosebumps again. And the Prologue... part made me grin like an idiot because I could picture myself beating the game again and seeing all the characters come to Baron to congratulate Cecil and Rosa.

22. Epilogue 3: That's the part of the original where credits rolled. It's still being used for the credits in the DS version, mind you. It actually sounds much better than the original, despite the synthetizer-brass. Yes, I'm definitively going to be playing some FFIV after this.

23. Tsukino Akari - Ending Version: This is an abridged version of Tsukino Akari - Final Fantasy IV Ai no Theme which was inserted during the credits. I think it's the same length as the video clip of the song, too. I find that Megumi Ida has a lovely voice, and the song is beautiful. The full version is even better, so I recommend you get it one way or another. (I have the .mp3, if anyone is interested. >_>)

24. Fanfare 2: The next four tracks I don't know what they're called. This one is the fanfare that plays when Cecil becomes a Paladin, and when Cecil and co. arrive just as FuSoYa and Golbez defeat Zemus. This was not in the original soundtrack. It sounds okay.

25. Chocobo Forest: The music that plays when you enter chocobo forests. It wasn't included in the original soundtrack either. It sounds a bit too techno for my tastes. I feel like I'm at the disco rather than in a forest.

26. Dance Music: I know Nobuo was inspired by a classicla song for this one. I can't remember which one. Was it Flight of the Bumblebee? Oh well. It wasn't included on the original soundtrack either. It sounds okay, I guess.

27. Goodnight!/What?/Sadness/Fanfare 3/Fanfare 4: This track is five little tracks in one. First, you have the music that plays whenever your party sleeps. Then you have what I call the "what?" music which plays whenever something unexpected happens. I'm trying to think of an example of when it's used in game, but I can't think of any. I *think* it plays just before you fight Yang in Baron? Meh, I have a bad memory. What I call "Sadness" is the sad music that plays when something sad happens. Generally, it's followed by Cry in Sorrow. "Fanfare 3" as I call it is the fanfare that plays when a character joins your party or you get a special item. "Fanfare 4" is another fanfare music, but I think it was only used in the DS version of the game since I don't recall it from the SNES version or GBA version. None of these short tracks appear on the original soundtrack either.

Conclusion:

It was a good album, but it could have been better. I've whine about it a lot in this post, but the brass sound terrible. They could have done a better job, even with Synthetizers. FFIII DS did it much better. But the Celtic feel of some tracks make up for it, and the music is generally of improved quality compared to the original. I'd give it a 7.5/10 because it's a good soundtrack despite its flaws.

Ogres, fetch quest, and 'Rae's life ambition.

No, I'm not dead, and neither is this project. I may be a slacker but I'm not one to abandon after only 3 posts. The thing is that the Elfland part of the game can be extremely boring because of two things: 1) level grinding in preparation for the Marsh Cave, and 2) fund raising for those darn expensive spells and equipment in Elfland. I can only stand so much ogre-slaying every day before getting sick of it all. They're pink, for Pete's sake!

Alright, enough of me complaining about them pink ogre and more of me talking about the progress made.

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Welcome to lovely Elfland, where everything is peacef- okay, not so peaceful. Apparently, the pointy-eared, inbred punk that calls himself the Prince of Elfland is in trouble. Time to investigate!

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Ah, so that's what happened. I wonder if someone knows how to fix this, or if the people of Elfland are like most of their Cornerian counterparts and only speak nonsense when asked a simple question...

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Wow, look at that! Useful information!

But I wonder...

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Colour me surprised; them elves sure are helpful NPCs! They know their stuff.

Unfortunately, if you go to Matoya hoping she'll give you that herb, you'll be disappointed. She just repeats the same stuff as before about her crystal. Bah. Unhelpful old people...

Someone else in the town mentionned something about a spooky castle to the northwest, so I say it's time to investigate, but before...

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IT'S OGRE-SLAYING TIME! If you go to that area east of Elfland, ogres are pretty common. Each ogre you defeat also gives you 195 gp. Pretty useful since most of the equipment and spells sold in Elfland aren't cheap. For example, the Silver Sword I wanted to buy LOL cost 4000 gp. Level 3 spells are 1500 gp apiece (so 3 spells per mage is 1500x6=9000 gp) and level 4 spells cost 4000 gp each (for a total of 24000 gp). Aren't you awed by my 1337 math skills? I so didn't use a calculator! *eyeshift*

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So, after getting sick of slaying ogres and other local fauna, it's time to head to the Northwest Castle. Which lies Northwest of Elfland. As if the name wasn't obvious enough. Har har har!

For some reason, I'm reminded of Troia because of all the trees. It just lacks the scantilly-clad females loitering in the castle. Instead, you find this fellow:

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Old King dude with green hair and pink robes! Talk about fashion faux pas.

Yeah, I know the text box hides his face. Believe me, he has green hair. And some sickly, greenish skin. It clashes with the pink. What is it about all the pink in Elfland? Did they run out of green? First, the ogres, and now, that King.

Okay, so the King of Fashion Disaster Northwest Castle asks you to find his crown, which is in Marsh Cave. Head to the south of Northwest Castle, around the mountains and through the marsh, until you find the hole in the ground, which is the entrance to the cave.

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Using a tent to save is recommended if you're playing the original, as opposed to an emulator. The Marsh Cave is a difficult area of the game.

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I hate these guys. They're not super tough, but they take a lot of time to kill because they're strong against physical attacks, which means most of the time my characters only hit for 1 or 2 points of damage. I didn't want to waste my spells for monsters that have like 24 HP. And they can poison attack, too.

Thankfully, LOL and OMG would occasionally do crits, which would kill the scums instantly, as seen above.

Most of the monsters in the Marsh Cave do poison attacks. Boy, am I glad I stocked on Pure potions...

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And after some challenging encounters, our brave heroes finally reach the last floor of the Marsh Cave. Within one of the trunk, you can actually find the crown, but you'll have to defeat a group of wizards first.

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Wait a minute. Those aren't just regular wizards, they're Mind-Flayers! Or something like that. I'd have to look in my Dungeons and Dragons bestiary.

Or maybe they're Cthulhu and Davey Jones in disguise. Was it Halloween in Elfland? I didn't notice.

These guys are tough; I'm actually glad I only fought two. You can face up to five of them at once. x_X But, at last...

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Woohoo! The crown!

And so, the Light Warriors retrieved the crown from the Cave of Marsh, and facing the boreal skies, trekked back to the King's castle hidden in the lush forests of Elfland...

Yeah, I was feeling poetic.

I bet the King will give me some reward. I mean, he's a KING! He's bound to have some riches hidden under his throne, no?

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OH NOES! We've been tricked! To arms, Light Warriors!

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So, Astos is the ancestor of the Dark Elf from FFIV.

"But 'Rae, how did you figure that out?" you ask. I'm psychic, that's how. Gimme $4,95 per minute, all I'll predict your future.

Or maybe it's because the sprite of Astor uses the same pose as the Dark Elf's, and is similar, albeit more primitive. It was the age of 8-bits, after all. Sprites weren't as detailed due to a more restricted colour palette.

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After defeating Astos, bring back Matoya her crystal that Astos had stolen, and she gives you the herb to heal the Prince.

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Matoya's also the Final Fantasy equivalent of what I dream to become; an old, grumpy lady living alone with many cats, sitting on her porch all day and yelling at kids to get off her lawn. Except that she has talking brooms instead of cats, and yells at kids to get out of her cave as opposed to get off her lawn.

So, it's time to get off Matoya's lawn get out of Matoya's cave and head back to Elfland.

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Waking for a five years long nap. I hope for his sake that the other elves saw to his personal hygiene, otherwise the smell might just knock him out again.

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No, it's all happening in your head. We're an hallucination provoked by your putrid body odor. But don't worry, Prince of Elfland! Soon enough, you'll wake up, walk into your bathroom, and find your husband, Bobby Ewing, alive in the shower.

LOL, Dallas reference. I rock.

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At least, the Prince is thankful of your help, unlike Matoya.

So, now you have the Mystic Key, which means you can now open all those locked door in Corneria Castle, the Temple of Fiends, Elfland Castle, the Northwest Castle, and the Marsh Cave for treasure.

Next time, on 'Rae Does Video Games: the Light Warriors venture toward their next location/plot point, which 'Rae doesn't remember. Stay tuned while she looks at a walkthrough on gamefaqs to figure out what needs to be done next.

Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me.

The journey to Pravoka was not as uneventful as expected. While there were some easy encounters against your regular wimpy Imps...

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... there were also more less pleasant ones. For example, my party fought against two manly ogres, who were very unhappy about their palette including a lot of pink and proceeded to beat up our brave heroes. I had to run back to Corneria to heal, screaming like a little girl after these two brutes obliterated OMG, WTF, and BBQ, leaving poor LOL all alone with a mere 10 HP.

The other monsters in the area provided some humourous screen caps, though. For example:

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That's pretty much what I said the first time I saw one of these ugly critters.

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This one isn't funny, but let me tell you that Iguanas are nasty little buggers when you're only level 3.

After a long trip toward the east and many random encounters, our courageous Light Warriors finally reach their destination.

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Welcome to Pravoka! Looks like a peaceful little port town...

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Or not. OH NOES! NOT PIRATES!?

Now, I know a lot of fangirls who never played this game before would go all "SQUEE!!!" at the mention of the word "pirates", hoping to find some bishie pirate dudes, and then proceeding to write bad fanfics featuring the sexy pirates and their own Mary Sue sailing the seas of Final Fantasy.

If you happen to be one of these fangirls, prepare to be disappointed. You won't be finding any Captain Jack Sparrow here.

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Meet Bikke. He's not sexy, he's got a black beard, and he's probably portly. And for some reason, I have a bad feeling that even he has fangirls somewhere, and I hope they don't draw yaoi.

Bikke is, of course, too cowardly lazy to fight you himself, he's sending his nine mates to do all the job for him.

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Newbs to FFI are probably thinking this the first time they play the game without a walkthrough: "Oh s**t, oh s**t, oh s**t! Nine pirates! I'm gonna die!" But always remember this; quantity does not always equal quality.

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Fearsome pirates? What fearsome pirates? They only have 6 HP. Even WTF was able to kill one in one hit, and s/he's usually struggling to hit for more than 4 points. Bikke has no other choice than to surrender after that embarrassing defeat.

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You got a freakin' sweet new ship! Woohoo!

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It is now time for our fearless quartet to travel to Elfland, which is located, if I recall correctly, somewhere to the southwest of Pravoka, across the sea.

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I love the ship music in FFI. It goes all "doo doo dooooo, doo doo doo doo dooooo, doo dooooo, doo doo doo doo dooooo, doo dooooo, doo doo doo doo dooooo, doo doo doo dooooo..."

You can also fight some monsters while sailing; they are a bit tougher, but they offer good XP and and a lot of money. Trust me, you will need those for the Marsh Cave.

There is something I forgot to do on my way to Pravoka that I should complete before heading to Elfland...

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There's nothing quite as heartwarming as looting potions from a blind, old lady's cave. Hey, free potions are free potions. And Matoya has all those funny brooms hanging around, and they're speaking backwards. The music in her cave is catchy, too!

Anyway, that's all for today. I need to grind some more levels and gain some GP for all the equipment, spells, and items I will need to buy before going further. Here's my current level:

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Next time: Elfland, the Marsh Cave, and possibly more catchy music for 'Rae to sing along!

Final Fantasy: And so, it begins...

Ah, Final Fantasy... I don't think there is a single gamer who hasn't heard of the series. With twelve titles plus countless spins-off and remakes, it would be hard to pretend it doesn't exist. Personally, my favourite FF title remains FFIV; it wasn't my first FF (the original Final Fantasy was the first one I played, but I never beat it back in the days), but it was the first that really caught my attention.

But more on IV later. The reasons I started this blog in the first place are so I can record my progress as I play various video games, and because I just can't keep my big mouth shut and decided to write about it all to kill time.

The facts that I'm interested in improving my writing and that having something creative to do keeps me from moping like the heartbroken emo chick that I am have nothing to do about it all. Nope. Nuh uh!

So, earlier today, I started a new game of the original Final Fantasy because everybody else was doing so. I'm a big sheep, I know, shush! I unfortunately lack a NES, so I'll be using an emulator, which will allow me to create screen caps. Whoo! I could have played Dawn of Soul on my DS, I guess, but the original was more challenging than the remakes, and I felt particularly masochistic, so emulator it is.

You will notice that my caps are of very bad quality because I was too lazy to make them using Photoshop. That, and my computer is so old and slow that running Photoshop and the emulator would have just killed my hard drive. No, I don't know if that's what would really happen; I'm a graphic artist, not an informatician. HEY, REMEMBER WHEN I SAID I HAVE A BIG MOUTH THAT I CAN'T KEEP SHUT? THAT LAST PARAGRAPH WAS A GOOD EXAMPLE! Also, I love using Caps Lock.

Enough of me digressing. On with the game!

So, our adventure begins as such:

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Welcome to the NES era RPGs. Your cliché of the day will be the mysterious prophecy. I don't know why, but I have always been amused by the word "orb" being written in caps in that intro. Yes, small things amuse me.

So, the prophecy spoke of four warriors, huh? Let's meet our heroes:

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Bwhahahaha! I R SO WITTY! Such heroic names for our courageous quartet. I guess it could be worse; one of them could have had a really dorky name like Theodore. *eyeshifts*

Your quest begins in Corneria (or Cornelia, depending which version you are playing), where you learn from the King that poor Princess Sara has been abducted by Garland. You are tasked with saving her.

Before you go, it's always recommended to speak to the locals to see if they have some valid pieces of information to offer you. This guy here apparently loves to keep you in the dark about what exactly happened:

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Until what? Until he found hair in his soup? Until he discovered his wife was having an affair with the milkman AND the mailman? Until he found his Villainy License in a box of Cracker Jacks? Man, the suspense is, like, killing me.

Next, find the mysterious invisible NPC of Corneria Castle to learn this relatively useless piece of information.

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Um, cool. Would have been helpful to know why she was looking for our studly adventurers, but it's never really explained as far as I recall.

After gathering all the information (or lack thereof) needed for our intrepid quest, it's time to grind them levels. Because, trust me, you'll need those levels in Final Fantasy if you've not beat the game a thousand times already. The original is very tough if, like me, you don't know what you're doing half of the time. Hey, I only beat the original once, hush! And I've not played DoS since I beat it years ago when it was released, and I have a very bad memory. Why am I justifying myself to you, blog? You're not even sentient!

Oh, one thing I did not miss in FFI...

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You know that feature in later FF titles that makes you hit another enemy if the one you selected died before you got to strike? It does not exist in FFI. As demonstrated above, the hit will just be ineffective, which gets really annoying if you're like me and don't always pay attention, making you waste a turn.

On a random note... "WTF IMP" Bwhahahahahaha! Told you I was easily amused. Shows how mature I am.

After some fighting, I eventually reached level 2, which made the HP of my party nearly double. Yum!

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As you can see, my guys were getting a bit low in the magic and HP departments, so after level up, it was time to go back to Corneria to stock up on Heal potions and for a quick nap at the inn.

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On another random note, you see that NPC? I figure it's supposed to be an elderly woman, but why does it look like the love child of Jabba the Hutt and Britney Spears to me? Hmm, must be the lack of sleep.

Eventually, I reached my goal and got to level 3, which I remembered being a good level to survive the Temple of Fiends and the fight against Garland. As you can imagine, I was sorely disappointed by the abysmal HP gain of WTF and BBQ. *sighs* Stupid mages.

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None the less, it was time to head there:

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And face:

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And after an epic battle (yeah, right):

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"LOL GARLAND", indeed! He is such a pushover...

Congratulations! You've defeated Garland, rescued Princess Sara, and are now the proud owner of a lute. Now, head north to cross the newly-repaired bridge.

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Introduction.

I'm Abyrae; you can just call me 'Rae for short (yes, the apostrophe is important). Of course, this is a pen name. Over the years, I've grown paranoid and am not as willing to reveal personal info just anywhere as I used to be.

Anyway, as you probably noticed, I have decided to make this blog a place where I'm going to babble about video games. Why? Boredom, I guess. That, and I can't shut up about stuff that passionates me. Or you could also say I've been inspired to start this project by two things: Eyes on Plays Final Fantasy I and Blogging Final Fantasy.

You're also likely to see some weird grammar with those rants since English isn't my first language (it's French, if you're wondering).