I'm at work on lunch right now, so I don't have time to respond to everything, but just in case you get the chance to play again, here's the important part. The epic choice is:
1) try to convince Ceo to let you talk to Cecil, or
2) continue on to Mist to see Rydia
now let's see what else is here...
You can also buy them at Mysidia. I didn't run into Larva outside the Agart Siege however.
There's a small desert north of Eblan. Larva can be found there pretty easily. I expect the price of Cure2s would prohibit buying too many of them in Mysidia at that stage in the game.
I think a Boss should always have a method of damaging the party. I've done a little bit of research on Ramuh through the FF series and it seems while his attacks are predominantly Thunder he has had two other attacks. One is Judgement Staff, which is just as it sounds, attacking with his staff, may want to give it one ailment or another. In FFV he casts Mini in battle so I could see his physical attack inflicting that. And the other one is Chaotic Strike which apparently deals heavy damage and stuns a foe. I would personally only let him use that one if there's another character in the party. Of note in FFVI he also imparts Poison in his Magicite. Maybe give him Venom as well?
Good insights. Thatnk you, I will definitely use some of that to rewrite his AI a bit.
Hmm, I noticed that you can steal the Thunder Rod from Ramuh (and the Mute Dagger is made for them than it is Furio). Maybe a White Mage Staff of some sort in that chest to balance out the bonus for the Black Mage?
Also good. To this point I don't think there's been much incentive to use poor Ruby.
Hmm, if there is any more map room to spare and if the scenario allows it why not add in a Naval battle? This was an idea I was kicking around for Combat Boost at one point to play with the party of Cecil, Yang, Edward, and Rydia one last time. One of the bonus dungeons in FFIV:TAY has an example of a Boat filled map.
That's a fun idea, but it's not really in the cards. The kingdoms are going to remain relatively distant from the conflict in this story.
OK, I gotta go now. More later!
Speaking of such was the formula on Throw changed? I noticed that I was dealing only 90-140 damage with them as my Level should should have been allowing me to deal much more.
Yes. The whole pint of doing so was to allow for elemental consideration. Throw, essentially, runs the fight routine, using the thrown weapon as the equipped weapon, with 255 attack %.
Seems as if the Underground Waterway is gone now.
Yup. Gone, and not coming back. I mean, how many times are you going to let undesirables sneak into your castle before realizing that the not-so-secret passageway is a bad idea? Besides, as you noted, King Cecil is pretty liberal. If you never get locked put of the front door, you'll never have to sneak in through the back.
Whoa, Cure3 and JobCards! Did not expect that from the Baron Item Shop. Unfortunately I somehow have exactly 0 GP.
It will be possible to complete this game with Ceo being the closest thing to a healer in your party (and I think he only goes up to Cure2), so it was necessary to make the cure potions relatively available, even if they're cost prohibitive at this juncture.
Job Cards, while expensive, also were not intended to be rare. By the time you get to Damcyan, you'll have access to all of the hired guns (except the secret one), and I don't want the player to be afraid to experiment with different party builds.
I like the new sign in the Baron Inn, works well to the Dragoon's renewed importance.
They're not looking for dancers anymore... Speaking of which, did you make the connection that the drunken dragoon is the "boyfriend" that the not-kissing-girl is waiting for by the fountain?
The bar is actually... well a bar, everyone aside from that one guard appears to be rather wasted. The Bartender is even talking about drinks instead of local gossip!
Mil Espinas Fermented Agave Nectar, just imported from Kaipo. By the way, the actual way that they make tequila is by fermenting a mixture of water and agave nectar. So they're drinking tequila, without me actually saying so in so many words. Also, an agave is a cactus. And "Mil Espinas" is Spanish for, literally, "one thousand needles." A new side quest will become available surrounding all of this info once the game gets up to Kaipo...
I do find it a little odd that Ceodore's name has been changed to just "Ceo". Or is it more of a nickname? If I'm not mistaken he should be pushing about exactly 40 by now.
His age depends a bit on what version of TAY you use for reference, and I tend to figure for the one that puts him closer to 36 or so. Anyway, the name change came primarily from the six character name limit. I guess I could have gone with "Ceodor,"which would be OK, since his name is a combination of Cecil and Theodor (Golbez), except TAY firmly sets his name with an E at the end, so I shortened it to Ceo.
If you haven't noticed yet, Ceo will be portrayed as a troubled soul. He's the human embodiment of "A Threat from Within," as he struggles with the light/dark struggle within himself, and has difficulty dealing with the loss of several loved ones. Anyway, to me, that kind of makes some sense of a conscious change of his name from one that combines those of his father and uncle to simply, Ceo. But it won't ever be explained exactly like that in the game.
Shadow Sword, Steel Sword, and Wind Lance, none of which Furio can equip. Moving on then.
The next several equipment shops you visit will primarily sell equipment that makes some contextual sense. So, Baron trains knights and dragoons, thus they sell swords, spears and heavy armor.
Seems as if you sealed off the backway to the treasures behind the counters, but did add a pot with a Cure 2.
Yeah, for a place that is widely regarded as the strongest military power on earth, Baron sure is big on getting raided and pillaged, huh?
Well I just found the secret in the Baron Training Hall, I was just going up to it to inspect it, heh. Some good stuff there, especially if you have a Dragoon.
If you hire Lando and then talk to all of the NPCs in the training hall, one of them will actually tell you about it.
I don't know what's going on with the right wall though, some of the tiles look out of place and there's a glitchy looking stairwell far off to the right. Is that intended?
Um, no. Definitely not. I'll have to look into that...
Highwind Pass hmm? A fitting name for the mountain that Kain and Ceodore scaled.
Ladies and Gentlemen, the
real reason there's no ancient waterway.
I love the new Magic Classroom where both the Black and White Mages get to test spells on the player now.
King Cecil is so liberal he lets total strangers sleep in his bed!
The reason the black mage poisons you is actually to lead the player to realize that you can sleep in Cecil's bed. That fact is sort of semi-important.
The Throne Room is just beyond this door? Did Baron go through some interior modeling?
As a matter of fact, those guards always said that. I didn't change them at all.
Aww, this graveyard area speaks well to a character's personality being shown through actions. The silence is also perfectly fitting, well done. Did not realize that Rosa had also passed away since the lady that mentioned it only said she was ill. I am surprised there's no grave for the original King Baron.
I tried to imply that with what the old lady says. I wanted it to be like a thing that she couldn't bear to utter. But anyway, yeah, Rosa's dead. That's supposed to be the sort of straw that broke Ceo's back.
As far as King Baron goes... Do we even know where his body is? I think Kainazzo might have eaten it. The fact that Cecil tore down the tower where Odin's soul rested is both story-significant and developer-convenient, though. Rydia's Limit skill is Phoenix, which replaces Odin entirely. So Odin will not appear in this game at all.
Hmm, a secret path in the Graveyard. No idea how to get to that grass patch though, maybe I can't yet? Did manage to get the Elixir on the otherside, maybe this one is more just to taunt the player?
There's just the Elixir. And a little passage to give you fits :)
I like the elaborate entrance into Baron Castle.
Not sure what you mean here. Are you talking about the guards hopping and spinning?
Whoa, searching around the moat I ended up in a secret room. May be plot related as there is no entry beyond it.
It will be a long time before the room beyond that point is accessible.
Now that is interesting about Ceodore learning to use the Dark Sword. In the original FFIII the class that was to become the Dark Knight (at the time called Mystic Knight) could use the Dark Sword but had access to low level White Magic.
It jives with the mythos of this game, too. Dark energy is Lunar, and Ceo is part Lunarian, but also inherited white magic from Rosa.
So anyway, yeah, your choice now is to try to convince Ceo to let you talk to Cecil, or to go onward to Mist.
I just thought of something. There's one boss left that you haven't fought yet. The way you're playing... It might be completely impossible. You will have acquired a new character by that point, and as having that character is not optional, the game presumes you will be
using that character. I will be, shall we say, extremely impressed if you manage to win with only Furio.
I mean, by all means, try. But... Fair warning...
