For those of you looking for the Let's Play of Interlude, it starts here
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Hello Tropers and people who haven't had their life ruined yet! I'm Some Color Mage, and today, we're going to play Final Fantasy IV.
"But SCM!" I hear a hypothetical voice say, "There are way too many versions of FFIV to keep track of! Which one are you playing?"
Well, hypothetical voice, I'm going to be playing The Complete Collection. This Playstation Portable version of the game also includes the sequel, Final Fantasy IV The After Years, as well as a chapter bridging the two games, Final Fantasy IV -Interlude-, plus it throws in the original SNES soundtrack if you don't particularly like the default (from the Nintendo DS version) soundtrack, so 'complete' is definitely a good way to put it.
Well, let's get started.
The scene opens two five flying ships circling the world.
Soldier: Captain, we will arrive at Baron shortly.
Cecil: ... Very well.
A name? Must be a major character.
Soldier: The captain seems kinda down.
Soldier: After what we did, who wouldn't be? Orders are orders, but killing innocent people to get the Crystal isn't right.
Flashback to Cecil and a small troop of soldiers taking on a few mages, beating them effortlessly and taking this Crystal.
Soldier: The Red Wings are supposed to protect people, not harm them!
Cecil: That's enough!
Soldier: But, Captain!
Soldier: Surely you don't condone what we've done?
Cecil: All of you, listen well. The raid on Mysidia was imperative. For Baron to prosper, we need the Crystals' power... The king and his council concluded that the Mysidians knew too much about the Crystals. We are the king's Red wings! We... cannot defy his orders...
Sounds like an evil plan to me
Soldier: Captain...
Soldier: Captain! Monsters sighted dead ahead!
Cecil: Prepare for battle!
Cannons fire, and Cecil instantly destroys the enemies approaching him with a Red Fang. After trying to check if everyone's OK...
Soldier: We've got more hostiles!
Cecil: Damnation!
Another battle, Cecil destroys the enemy with a Blue Fang.
Cecil: Any losses?
Soldier: All accounted for, sir.
A little debate over how monsters are getting more vicious, and we reach the town of Baron. We enter the castle, to be met by some guy.
Baigan: Well done! So the Crystal is now ours.
Cecil: The Mysidians put up no resistance. In fact, they were completely helpless.
Baigan has no problem with this. What a dick. We head to see the king, but Baigan stops us so he can chat in private beforehand. Baigan then rats us out for somewhat doubting orders. Once again, what a dick.
Cecil is let in, and he hands over the Water Crystal. Cecil is about to leave, but goes back to talk to the king.
Cecil: Your Majesty!
King: Yes?
Baigan: What is it, Captain?
Cecil: Your Majesty, forgive me, but what are your intentions? My men are confused and displeased.
King: And you? Do you question my command?
Cecil: No! I only ask...
King: Silence! Dissension only leads to treason, and that I will not tolerate. I hereby relieve you of your command of the Red Wings.
A bit harsh, don't you think?
The king then tasks us to kill an Eidolon in Mist Valley, and deliver a Carnelian Signet to the nearby village. Another person enters.
Kain: Your Majesty, I beg you to reconsider! Cecil has done no wrong.
King: You insolent cur! How dare you barge in here! If you are so concerned about him, you may share his fate! Take the ring and begone from my sight, both of you!
We then get thrown out of the room. Cecil apologizes to Kain, but doesn't really care much. He goes to prepare, and we're free to walk around. We first take a couple of items from the castle's very small storage room by pressing a switch and opening it up. We get a Tent, which restores some HP and MP on the world map or at Save Points, an Ether, which restores some MP, and 480 gil, the game's Global Currency. More like the Multiversal Currency of Final Fantasy, but whatever.
Afterwards, he head the only way we can, really, and get interrupted by another person.
Rosa: Cecil! Thank goodness you're all right. I was so worried. You left on such short notice.
Cecil's still depressed over the Mysidians, so Rosa decides to visit him later. Even further on, another person starts talking to us.
Cid: Well, well, well! Look who's back unscathed! Rosa was worried sick about you. Don't you ever worry her like that again, you hear? So how are my ships? I'll bet you and your goons wrecked them up something awful!
Cecil explains the situation. Cid is quite annoyed, especially as his airships were never meant to be used to kill people in the first place. He then heads home. We finally get to bed.
Cecil starts contemplating over the king's change in behaviour from when he was young. He's the king's adopted son, apparently. Rosa then shows up.
Rosa: What's going on? You just returned from Mysidia, and now you must journey afar to battle this Eidolon? It's not normal for you to be given such an order...
Cecil: ...Everything's fine.
Oh please, saying that NEVER works. EVER.
Rosa: Cecil, look at me.
Cecil: ...In Mysidia, we killed innocent people to steal their Crystal. It was horrible. I suppose this is my fate as a dark knight. Soon, I won't even feel remorse for my actions.
Rosa: You and I both know that would never happen.
Cecil: So I should feel guilt but never dare defy my king? I am a hopeless coward.
Rosa: The Cecil I know would never whimper like this! The Cecil I love...
Cecil really knows how to win the ladies.
Cecil assures Rosa that nothing will go wrong. After all, Kain's with him tomorrow. Rosa leaves.
Cecil: Thank you, Rosa... But you know I am a dark knight and the two of us can never...
Cut to tomorrow morning. Cecil enters the main chamber of the castle to find Kain waiting.
Kain: So, are you ready for some real combat?
Cecil: Always.
Kain: Then lead the way.
Cecil and Kain leave the castle.
And so, the dark knight Cecil was stripped of his command of the Red Wings. He and the master dragoon Kain head toward the dark valley for the village of Mist.
The advent of the airship marked the realization of Baron's dreams, but also the birth of its milatirism.
With its Royal Air Force Red Wings, Baron soon reigned supreme. Now, as monsters multiply and stir unrest, Baron only exploits its power to collect the world's Crystals. Why?
The Crystals silently shed their light...
Now that that's over, we're dumped onto the world map and now we have some more control over what we can do. And I'm going to cut it there, because that took way too long to type up (I had to reset the game several times to get all that text at the end, it scrolls automatically). So next time, maybe later today, we go and kill that Eidolon! Whatever that is!
Comments
. So ominous...
Cecil works quite well as a Paladin. His "Cover" basically makes him a meat shield for the whole party (which is for the better here since everyone else's a Squishy Wizard right now). And while he's crap at it, I found myself using his White Magic quite a lot for in-dungeon, out-of-battle healing (because items cost money, and I don't want to use up my actual in-battle healer's MP).
Good point about Slow. I'm the kind of player who nearly never uses buffs and debuffs, but for FF 4 I made the exception of systematically spamming Slow at bosses. I wonder how I survived my first playthrough without it, when I didn't know about it.
