First of all, if anyone had intelligent banter, this wouldn't be The After Years. In any case, this time, it would be a boon to have a pretty white magic heavy team, so Porom is coming along, and we'll really want a Black Mage that can bypass Reflect, so that's Rydia. Porom's pretty low on levels, so to compensate, we head back up to Subterrane B1 and walk all the way back down. Tedious, yes, but anyone who can figure out what's coming up on the next boss floor will know why.
On the way back down to where we were, Porom learns Reflect and Curaja, Rosa learns Holy and Rydia learns Flare. By the time we get back to the Depths B12 boss area, Porom is at level 51. Eh, good enough.
The warp tile down to B13 is in the north. There's nothing of interest here, so let's just go on ahead to B14. From the start, we head south, then west, to get to a room containing Lunar Mail. Lunar equipment is even stronger than Crystal equipment, and we'll want every point of defence we can get. From there, we just keep heading south whenever we can.
We eventually reach an area with a spider-like robot walking around. We heal up to full and then talk to it.
Alternative Music: Battle 2 from Final Fantasy V
This is Omega, and he is really fucking hard. He starts with Reflect, then Omeguard. Omeguard makes the next two attacks on him do 1 damage. He also has Black Hole, and every other attack he has will hurt. Hard. He can confuse, he can petrify, he can inflict stop, he can halve your HP and inflict Sap at the same time, he can reduce your HP to one, he can and will use those last two at the same time, he is an all around nuisance.
Our strategy? First, Spider Silk. Omega is ridiculously fast, and Slow will make it a bit easier. Not by much, though, as he's counter heavy. Now, Rosa and Porom are on permanent Curaja duty (no point to buffs when Black Hole's in play). Ceodore attacks, Kain Jumps, Rydia uses Thundaga if Reflect is down, otherwise she attacks, use Elixir on anyone who falls under 100 MP. Anything bad happens, pretty much wing it and throw Phoenix Downs like mad.
It takes ages, as the only two things that deal decent damage are Thundaga (about 9.5k) and Jump (about 4.5k). My original plan to basically ignore Reflect and use Summon kinda failed when it turned out the summons were hardly doing any damage.
For beating Omega we get the Hero's Shield. The Hero's Shield is the best shield in the game, but unfortunately is not as broken as its FFIV incarnation. Still, 45% Evasion is a very useful thing.
Ceodore: Such a terrifying machine...
Kain: The Giant of Babil? No, something even more powerful...
...How the hell do you confuse a robotic spider about the size of the party with a tower sized robotic human?
Rosa: Who could have made such a weapon?
Porom: I didn't sense any hate coming from it...
Rydia: I am sorry... If we had never come here, then...
Time to get to the next fight, then. We head to the south, outside. Porom learns Holy on the way out. We then head southeast into a room with a Crystal. It shatters...
Alternate Music: Clash on the Big Bridge from Final Fantasy V
... Actually, one version of Clash on the Big Bridge is never enough. Here, have some more versions;
Final Fantasy XII Final Fantasy 20th Anniversary Dissidia Final Fantasy Final Fantasy XIII-2
Gilgamesh: Found you, monster!
Okay, Gilgamesh isn't really that difficult. He can use Quake, so we cast Float, and we also Slow him, just in case. His attacks are painful, but come on, Omega's physical attacks were guaranteed KOs to anyone but Kain and Gilgamesh is only doing about 1000 with his. We can handle this.
After a while...
Gilgamesh: This is all my fault...
He casts Haste.
Gilgamesh: My stomach was hurting...
He casts Protect.
Gilgamesh: I can't reach my full power...
He casts Shell.
Gilgamesh: Just kidding!
He can now use Jump, four physical attacks a turn and can also use Zantetsuken. Of course, in true Gilgamesh style, he's also got the Excalipoor, which deals 1 damage. Despite this, he's still quite manageable, especially after getting Slow back up.
Gilgamesh: ...Bartz...?
And so Gilgamesh dies. :(
We get the Excalipoor for winning. This sword only has 1 Attack, so is basically worthless. It's not even good for Throw like in its game of origin.
Ceodore: He looked hideous... and yet I wasn't scared, for some reason.
Kain: That man was no monster...
Rosa: I felt a sense of warmth from him, somehow.
Porom: Did he... used to be human?
Rydia: He did not seem like such a bad person...
The space where the Crystal was leaves behind a Save Point. We rest. That night, Ceodore looks out over the edge.
Ceodore: ...
???: What's wrong?
Kain walks up to him.
Ceodore: Kain...
Kain: Doesn't having Cecil back make you happy at all?
Ceodore: O-of course! I'm overjoyed! It's just that, well...
Kain: ...
Ceodore: Just that...
Kain: Having a world leader as a father would be a heavy burden to bear for anyone.
Ceodore: Huh?
Kain: My father was a dragoon himself. The dragoons of Baron once formed the most prestigious of all armed divisions... Until the Red Wings were formed, that is. I idolized the dragoons since childhood... but I hated my strict and unrelenting father...
Ceodore: ...
Kain: Do you hate Cecil, Ceodore?
Ceodore: N-no...
Kain: Good. That means you too will come to understand, eventually.
Ceodore: What happened to your father, Kain?
Kain: He's gone. He died when I was about the same age you are, actually.
Ceodore: ...
Kain: ...We have to stop this moon.
Ceodore: Yes!
The camera pans over to show Rosa looking onto the conversation.
Rosa: (Thank you, Kain!)
Kain and Ceodore learn Double Jump after that. It does what you think it does; the two Jump and hit the enemy at the same time for an attack that can break the damage limit. Oddly enough, one of my sources says that if Ceodore is affected by Awaken, he can't perform the band but, eh, I've never tested that, as Awaken is kinda crappy.
Let's move on. There's an Interdimensional Elevator point here, and we'll certainly be coming back to it for the next update. Anyway, we head south. Heading directly south from the Save Point takes us over an invisible bridge to the Lunar Shield. It is absolutely better than the other shields we have, aside from the Hero's Shield.
We follow the path until it forks. To the west, there's a treasure chest with a very powerful enemy, the Nova Dragon.
Wait, Nova Dragon? What happened to Shinryu? Eh, whatever. That's what he is anyway. Shinryu starts with Tidal Wave. It wipes our party. Suffice to say, we are nowhere near ready to take this guy on.
We instead head south at that fork. This takes us to a maze-like area. To get out, we need to find a door that looks kinda like an open mouth. The way is east to an intersection, south three stairways, and west to the exit. Interacting with this door takes us to the Twisted Space. We navigate the confusingly looping area to a Crystal. It shatters, and we start a fight against Atomos.
Atomos' battle patterns, as far as I know, is based on how many party members are alive. With a full party, it casts Meteor over and over. As such, I have Porom and Rosa on heal duty, let Ceodore spam Shell and do most of my damage through Flare and Jump. It's really, really easy.
We are dumped at the door we went into, which we've now unblocked and is now going the right way.
Ceodore: Was that monster the one blocking our way?
Kain: A monster that controls space itself...
Rosa: The magical wall... It's gone.
Porom: The door must have been sealed shut by that enemy's magic.
Rydia: If we had all been swallowed into that creature's mouth...
A chest appears south of us, containing the Robe of Lords. This is some really nice White Mage equipment that resists all elements.
Next time, we're bringing along Cecil, Edge, Rydia and Edward. However, I'm gonna limit who comes along with us saying that next time we need to bring along of Palom, Porom or Leonora. Keep in mind that between Cecil, Edge, Edward and the ton of healing items I can and will buy, we have decent healing, and both another Black Mage or a White Mage would be helpful. I'd also like to point out that whoever of the three that comes along will be getting something special. See you next time.
Stats:
Rydia: Lv 64 HP:3022 MP:668 Str:37 Spd:44 Stm:50 Int:86 Spr:54 Atk:125 (7x91%) Def:78 (9x92%) M Def:54 (5x72%)
Ceodore: Lv 61 HP:4067 MP:369 Str:73 Spd:48 Stm:66 Int:29 Spr:55 Atk:173 (13x95%) Def:95 (9x45%) M Def:30 (3x33%)
Rosa: Lv 64 HP:3547 MP:552 Str:56 Spd:33 Stm:64 Int:25 Spr:78 Atk:94 (10x99%) Def:70 (4x42%) M Def:42 (4x49%)
Kain: Lv 65 HP:4891 MP:269 Str:92 Spd:48 Stm:70 Int:31 Spr:45 Atk:189 (15x91%) Def:81 (6x0%) M Def:17 (3x19%)
Porom: Lv 53 HP:2236 MP:542 Str:41 Spd:41 Stm:42 Int:36 Spr:85 Atk:135 (8x98%) Def:116 (5x40%) M Def:40 (4x47%)
