When I stopped playing Final Fantasy IV last time, my posting here was about five posts worth of content behind where I was playing in the game. I had typed up some brief notes to help me write those posts, but as I look back on my notes now, I’m a bit foggy as to what some of them meant.

Also, during that brief time when I played a couple of times in the fall, I played about 40 minutes and took no notes at all. I kind of remember what I was doing and how I got to where I am now in the game, but the details are long lost.

What this all means is that the next week’s worth of posts might be vague on some of the details. In a few days, though, I should be all caught up with notes/playing.

The other thing that I noticed is that I’ve forgotten some of the mechanic’s of Final Fantasy IV. Combat, in particular, was a wild affair last night because I couldn’t remember what spells did what, what each character did well, and even what direction I was heading. Even the real time combat caught me off guard, and my party was half dead before I realized that I didn’t have all the time I wanted to decide on attacks, etc. Thank goodness for potions!

Bottom Line: For the short term I really am completely Lost in Japanese, but I hope to have my usual half a clue again in a few days.

Once back in Cecil’s room in Baron, everyone gets fairly bummed out about the fact that Golbez now has all four crystals. Kain, however, throws a monkey wrench into this conversation. He tells us that there are four more crystals—dark crystals—and that Golbez must have them as well if he is to carry out his plan. Aha! Hope is not lost.

Kain starts babbling about how those crystals are in a separate, subterranean land. Also, once all the crystals are found, the way to the moon will open up. Personally, I think Kain got his brain scrambled a bit too much under Golbez’s control, but we’ll humor the guy. Finally, he hands over a lava rock, and tells us that we’ve got to use it to open the way to the subterranean world. The rest of the party members accept this perfectly logical tale without the least bit of skepticism, and immediately decide that our next course of action will be to look for the dark crystals in the subterranean world.

The problem, of course, is how to get to the subterranean world. It’s not, after all, a Walmart. For this, we have no clue, but there is once again hope. The Enterprise had a homing mechanism built into it, so rather than getting blown up when the Tower of Zot fell, the craft is waiting for us outside the castle, in perfect condition. With it, we can search for the entrance to the subterranean world!

And after that long story and arduous day, all our party members jump into Cecil’s bed for a good night’s sleep. They don’t call them “party” members for nothing!

Status: Killing Stuff with a Purpose

*Sneaks back into the blog*

I’m a little afraid to read through the previous post that has 30 comments since I last posted. Very sorry for the disappearance again. I got a little ahead of myself last time when I thought my work schedule was letting up some. It did for a brief bit, then I got hammered for another two months. What free time I had available was mostly spent with my family. I did get a little bit of gaming in, as my son is hooked on Pokemon and we’ve been playing through FireRed and LeafGreen together.

But in any case, I now have a couple of weeks off from work, and I’m going to try and get back into the swing of things with Final Fantasy IV. My Japanese has gotten a bit rusty, and I’ve mostly forgotten where I was and what I was doing, but over the next day or so I’m looking to get my head back into this and see if I can make some headway into the game.

From January 10, things do look to get brutally busy again, and that looks to carry through until early May, so I’m not sure if I can promise much in terms of consistent posting until mid-spring. After May, things look very good to have the time to post regularly again. I’m really looking forward to getting back into this. I’m still determined to make it through all the games.

I’ll go through and read all the comments in the next day or two, and hope to make a post on Wednesday, December 26.

Until then, Happy Christmas to everyone out there that celebrates the holiday!