Ladies and gentlemen, I have been at this thing for about nine and a half months. It's been long and annoying, but now nothing stands in our way between where we stand now, and the final boss. Let's do this.
From this point on, The Mysterious Girl plays as background music, we can only encounter creatures called Maenads that look like the Mysterious Girl and The Dispossessd Eidolons plays as the battle theme.
The Maenads are interesting fights. There are two types, one that only uses physicals, and one that only uses high level spells. Neither are too dangerous, unless the spellcaster one pulls out Meteor. Ouch.
The path is fairly linear and indoors from here on out. The final treasures are on B22, where we find a Dry Ether and an X-Potion. Yay.
On B23, 8 of these things are standing around, doing nothing.
Maenad: ...
Maenad: I am a Maenad...
Maenad: Our will is as one...
Maenad: We are the Maenads...
Maenad: We must press forward to yet higher forms of evolution...
Maenad: We are the most advanced form of life.
Maenad: What is our next mission?
Maenad: Where is the next Crystal we must recover?
So if it wasn't already obvious, the Mysterious Girls are an alien race are called the Maenads. They are still the most boring characters in this entire game.
On B24, there are a ton of Maenads in stasis. One of them looks significantly younger, and doesn't appear to be properly in stasis. Let's check it out.
As we approach her, she awakens and walks out.
Maenad?: Who are you?
Rydia: I... er, my name is Rydia.
Maenad?: Your orders...
Rydia: Um... yes... Could you stay here and be a good girl?
Maenad?: You wish for me to remain here?
Rydia: Right. Can you be a good girl for us?
Maenad?: Understood...
This also somehow opens the door forward.
On B25, we find the Crystals. We pick up all eight of them. If there's a character associated with that Crystal, they'll blurt some line out before picking it up, but who cares about that. There are also four Crystals here that are not ours. We can't take them. There's also a Save Point and Interdimensional Elevator here.
Onwards we go!
Whoa. Things are starting to look trippy. B26 onwards hold the same aesthetic as the previous floors, but there's nothing ruined about them. There's also a galaxy or something in the background, I dunno. The path is linear, with no encounters, until the very end. The final Save Point and Interdimensional Elevator are on B29.
A teleporter takes us to the bottom floor, the Bottommost Depths. No music at all. At the top of the floor, there's something that looks... kinda like Lavos, I guess.
Ceodore: Is this... the leader of the Maenads!?
Porom: Nngh...! This force!
Rydia: The Eidolons... They are warning us!
Edge: Look at that thing! It's huge!
Golbez: This is it! The very core of this moon!
Battle time. We're fighting the front of this thing. It's not doing anything, though. I think it might be asleep. Eventually it starts doing things, but only Drain and Osmose. We smash it open quite effortlessly.
Out of the wreckage comes... a blue... thing.
Ceodore: That... that came from inside!
Porom: He... he's watching me! He's looking right into my heart!
Rydia: He's just staring at us...
Edge: Wh-what is that!?
Golbez: You... You're the master of this moon...?
???: Let me try this... to see if you can understand my words.
Ceodore: Understand?
Porom: Is he... Can he see right into our minds?
Edge: You must think we're some kind of inferior beings, don't you?
Rydia: What is he trying to do?
Golbez: You...
???: As you may have noticed, I am the keeper of the Crystals. You seem to see the Crystals as embodiments of wisdom, but that is not their sole function. Certainly, the Crystals have granted you the tools you needed to grow and advance as a civilization... But the Crystals are more than that. They record and store everything within... The process and final result of every evolution that ever takes place.
Edge: Every evolution of... what?
Porom: What are you going to do with everything that's been stored inside of them?
Would you lot please shut up? The final boss is trying to actually explain what the hell this game has been about!
???: Would you understand if I told you that I am in the midst of an experiment involving the future evolution of life? That was the reason why I created the Crystals. The Crystals I sent to your planet are no exception. Now, the time has come to harvest them. I had sent a force of Maenads to your planet to handle the duty.
Golbez: Those girls!
???: The Maenads were my latest experiment, built from the data stored within my countless number of Crystals.
Ceodore: So... so why is this moon headed for our planet!?
???: I am sorry, but your time is over. I fear that you have not achieved enough on this planet to satisfy my needs. I cannot allow the universe to be overrun by inferior species that fail to evolve to their fullest potential. Hence the reason why this moon has not stopped...
Now, I've heard theories before as to why the world of FFIV has failed. Something about how the genetic pool's been contaminated by the Lunarians, never mind the fact that there are only 3 people with Lunarian blood on the planet, and one of them didn't come back to the planet until after this whole mess started. I prefer to go with the theory that this guy's just a colossal dick.
Ceodore: You... you cannot do that!
Porom: N-no...!
Rydia: Are... are you serious!?
Edge: You monster...!
Golbez: You...!
???: You are all a part of the process... the output of the evolutionary plan conceived by the Crystals I created. In other words, this is all my work... The Crystals, the Maenads, and this new moon. That is why I am called the Creator!
Time to fight the Creator. Creator will only counter attack based on what you attack him with. He counters magic with Flare. Flare can be Reflected. I don't think I need to elaborate what my strategy is. He can put Reflect on himself, but, well, why directly cast on him when I have Reflect on myself? He falls pretty quickly.
He starts to mutate a bit.
Creator: Long ago... I was born on a blue planet, one much like your own. We prospered more than we could ever sustain... until we consumed our very planet down to its core. By the time a small group of experts had noticed, it was already too late to reverse the trend. So we abandoned our home planet and embarked on a space-wide search for another place to live... Months and years passed, and generations lived and died aboard our fleet as we voyaged. Eventually, our ability to survive slowly deteriorated to nothing... stunted by the artificial environment we lived in. The result is this new moon you see... the remains of our space fleet. I am the last survivor. What kind of civilization should we have built? How should we have evolved instead? In search of an answer, I embarked on a lifetime of experimentation, creating the Crystals to record all of my proceedings. After I made them, I sent them out to countless planets... any place that had the potential to sustain life.
Okay, of all the places they could have gone for this, they went for the green angle. Then ramped it up to absurdity. Urgh.
Creator: Ngh...! I am sorry... but my craft cannot hold out any longer... The chemical reactions... that were controlled by my outer frame...! They are changing... me... My brain has started to... transform...!
The Creator's now actually humanoid, and attacks us again. He attacks fast and hard. He can also Paralyze, which is kinda annoying in this fight. We put Slow up then go all out, basically. Also, thanks to Doublecast, I can cast Curaja and Esuna on the same turn. Giving Porom Doublecast was a great idea. Creator doesn't fall as easily as the previous form, but still easy enough.
Creator: Tell... me... How... How... were we... supposed... to live...? Howww!?
Another battle. And the Creator's turned into... Neo Exdeath, I guess. We can't even hit the guy as he approaches us.
It's going to swallow us!
Aaahhh!
We cut to... Rosa's house? Okay... We can hear the sound the Crystals make.
Rosa's Mother: Ceodore!
Cut to Kluya's grave. The Crystals sound.
My... sons...!
Cut to Mysidia. The Crystals sound.
Elder: Palom?
White Mage: Elder!
Elder: Porom!
Cut to Mist. The Crystals sound.
Girl: !
Village Chief: What is it?
Boy: It's Rydia!
Cut to Eblan.
Seneschal: We can't let them defeat us! Not until His Young Highness returns!
The Crystals sound.
Young Highness!
Seneschal: What on...!?
Those last few scenes change based on who's in our party. Back at the Bottommost Depths, the Crystals appear and surround our party. Cut to outside the Lunar Whale.
Calca: (Stay... alive...!)
Brina: (Get... home...!)
Izayoi: We believe in you!
Gekkou: If you give up, then all is lost!
Tsukinowa: You promised me! You said you'd stop the moon... and we'd all come back home together!
Zangetsu: Please! Fight until the end for me!
Yang: You must believe! I know you can live through this ordeal!
Ursula: All my heart... I put it into my fist!
Harley: Everyone back home is fighting for you!
Edward: The will of the people shall be your courage!
Leonora: C-can you hear us!? Our feelings!?
Palom: Don't you give up now!
Luca: Please! Stand back up!
Cid: We're waiting for you... and so is everyone else!
Rosa: I believe in you!
Kain: You aren't alone in this battle! We are all here for you!
Cecil: You have to survive!
Our party starts to get back on their feet.
Porom: I believe in the Crystals... and I believe in all that lives on the Blue Planet!
Rydia: Everyone is waiting... waiting for our return!
Edge: This isn't over... We aren't dead yet, people!
Golbez: This moon is going to be stopped... and so will you, right where you stand!
Ceodore: It's true! We are not alone here!
The Crystals regain their colour, and the fight begins. Of course, we haven't fully rehashed this scene until we shine a Crystal right in the face of the final boss.
Creator: This... this Crystal... What is it?
The Crystal's glow has stopped the Creator's rampage!
Creator: Stop... stop me... now!!!
Music: Survival of the Fittest
The Creator has some pretty nasty attacks. And he can chain them together. Black Hole, of course, Multiply, which creates a clone of him to attack the party, Split, which does huge damage to one party member, Regenerate, which heals for 9999, Fuse, which is a group Drain, Explode, which is the Creator's Big Bang, Transform, which changes his elemental weaknesses (who cares about that though, our best stuff has no element) and Metastasis, which, um, damages him for 3000 and seemingly not much else. He also has some high level elemental spells. But in the end, he's really not that hard. We can outdamage his healing easily, and his best moves tend not to be chained together. It's a long battle, but we eventually get him.
Creator: The destruction has... already begun... My destruction... and that of this new moon... You must... run!
And he dies.
Porom: An earthquake!?
Ceodore: We're going to be overwhelmed!
Edge: Are... are you kidding me!?
Rydia: We... we need to hurry!
Golbez: We must hurry!
We grab the Crystals and run. Within the Giant plays now, and the Save Points and Interdimensional Elevators are disabled. On B27, we get into an encounter with... the Creator. It's OK though, all of his attacks hurt him more than they can hurt us. Crush is multi-target, Destroy is single target, and Collapse just hurts himself. Hell, we don't need to do anything. He's just that pathetic.
When we get to B24, the Maenad child is still waiting.
Edge: Not you!
Rydia: You're still alive!
Maenad?: I waited, as you ordered...
The Creator attacks us again. But this time, a Maenad interrupts the fight.
Maenad: We will stop them.
She casts Firaga on the Creator, giving us time to escape.
Rydia: Come along with us!
Maenad?: Understood...
On B23, it happens again.
Maenad: Watch that child.
She heals us to full, and we run for it. On B22, it happens yet again.
Maenad: That child is us.
She casts Protect on us which somehow distracts the Creator long enough for us to run. I have no idea how. Of course, it happens again on B21.
Maenad: That child is our future...
She casts Flare on the Creator and we run yet again. For us to be attacked again on the same floor.
Maenad: Creator, how could you...?
This one casts Holy. Again, we run. Of course, the encounter happens again on B20.
Maenad: You are our father!
This Maenad casts Meteor and hits herself in the process, killing her.
Creator: Th... Thank... Thank you... Thank you all!
And so, the Creator finally dies. For real. No more fighting him. Seriously. We leave this floor, and the dungeon.
