(Written 18 August 2006)

After spending another two hours slogging through more of those repeatable dungeons, and searching the world over for more hints and clues, I gave in. I looked at a walkthrough. Low and behold, I had missed a person in the town of Onlak who owned a submarine. The good thing about this is that my getting stuck wasn’t a language problem, it was a problem of simply not exploring enough. Matter of fact, the three times this game that I’ve gone to outside sources for information I’ve discovered that I’d gotten stuck because of not exploring enough. So that might be something I can use to get myself unstuck in the future, and it makes me feel that my Japanese skills are getting better again.

Anyway, once I got in the submarine, I was taken to some underwater palace where I kicked butt on the badguys and got the water crystal! And the hit parade of wonder treats doesn’t stop there. I also found the Rosetta Stone. And I discovered that I need something called a “chime” to open the mystery tower in the desert. And…, that’s right, there’s more! And I triggered the door of the dungeon inside the whirlpool. I’ve got a veritable list of things to do now!

Apparently, I’ve got to take the Rosetta Stone to someone’s brother, but I think I have an idea where this guy is. That will open up that village where I can’t understand anyone. Things are rolling rolling rolling. Three crystals down, one to go.

The only thing I don’t quite get yet is that I’ve only encountered abou 63% of the monster types yet. If I’m getting close to the end of the game, why haven’t I encountered a greater percentage?

Status: Killing Stuff with a Purpose

(Written 15 August 2006)

Well, a lot has happened since I last wrote. I have both good news and bad news. First, I found Caravan! I wasn’t a city after all. It was a travelling caravan. Someone in a town gave me specific directions where to go: near the forest on the north side of the desert to the west. Got it. Except I still couldn’t find the damn place. Finally, a few night’s ago, I was randomly searching the area and bingo! I found it.

Well, I bought the little fairy bitch from the caravan master and took her back home, and she made me something that allows me to breathe under water. Except it doesn’t work. I can’t get under any water to use it. Defective goods! I’ve been had.

Well, that’s not actually true. In a moment of actual intelligence, I figured out that the whirlpool I remembered seeing in some random ocean might be a way to get under water. Sure enough, inside the whirlpool there is a dungeon antechamber with some big stone statue blocking the main entrance. This is, I think, the dungeon for the water crystal, but beats me how I’m supposed to get through it, except find the fish people, who can only be found if I can figure out how to use my defective underwater breathing apparatus. Argh. Somewhere in there is a Catch 22, but I’m not sure where.

And I found out who wanted the mouse tail. It was the dragon king! Who says games don’t teach you useful things? This is what Final Fantasy I has taught me: Next time you’re about to get mauled by a dragon king, just give him a mouse tail and he’ll make you a ninja. The dragon king wanted the tail, and he got so excited he gave all of my party titles like knight instead of whatever they were called before. So far, this is as useful as the defective underwater stuff from the fairy bitch.

And that’s where I am now. I know I need to find the Rosetta Stone to be able to talk to the people that don’t speak any known language. I know there are fish people underwater somewhere, behind the cave in the whirlpool, perhaps, and they have lots of valuable stones. My stones are valuable, too, so I’m not sure what’s so special about this. I found a couple of random dungeons that have multiple fights at the end that would require you to go back in a few times to kill all the bosses, and I’m wondering if that’s what I need to do next, because I’ve been in cluelessly lost mode for two hours now. Only problem is that I don’t remember where those random dungeons are, so I’m still cluelessly lost.

Status: Cluelessly Lost

(Written 4 August 2006)

Aha. I wasn’t able to fly, but the pirate’s words tipped me off that perhaps I could find a different flying ship down here on this underground continent as well, and sure enough, I almost immediately found one at an oasis. With the flying ship, I made quick work of the continent, and found a hole that led me to…

…more dungeon. Level 8, or something like that. It quickly became apparent that I was now working my way back up to the surface, but about two levels in I ran into a mombo boss dude. What a fight! I had to have put 10,000 hits on the guy and he just wouldn’t go down. Finally, with two of my party knocked out and my white mage nearly drained of mana, the dude fell. Best fight so far. Picked up a kick-ass sword that boosted my thief’s potential damage significantly.

Knocking off the boss also led us directly to the surface, where we can once again resume our wandering in circles in normal places. We’re still cluelessly lost, but at least we know where we are!

(Written 3 August 2006)

Well, a bit has happened in about a half dozen play sessions. I had been feeling frustrated with the lack of a mapping feature in the game, so I went online and looked for a map. I found one, and immediately noticed that there was a huge continent to the northwest that I hadn’t found yet. Oops. Also, on this continent there was the name of a town: Caravan! Aha. Because I used an outside source for information, I’ll have to call this my second peek at a cheat sheet.

Immediately I headed to this new continent and looked for Caravan. Problem: it’s not there. I found another town, and talked to some people that mentioned that I should find a certain person in the town of Caravan to speak with, but no matter where I look, I can’t find Caravan.

Oh well, there still seems to be plenty to do, as there were a half dozen holes in the ground on some small islands between the two northern continents. The first three I went into were simple dugeons that seem to be connected to plots I’ve yet to uncover, but the fourth one is where I’m currently totally lost. I fought my way through about four levels in some kind of molten dungeon, beat a boss, then got dropped into another level where all the people keep telling me to turn back. But there was no way to turn back as far as I could tell, so I kept going. Now I’ve dropped out into the seventh level of the dungeon, which is a huge outside level that seems to go on forever. I’m wandering around here, looking for I don’t know what. Well, actually, I’m looking for a way out, but I assume there is something I should find before I leave. I’ve only run into one person, a pirate, who told me about how to get the flying ship, but I’ve already got that, on the surface anyway—oh, wait, maybe I can still fly down here?

Status: Cluelessly Lost

(Written 25 July 2006)

Um, I’m not quite sure what happened in last night’s play session. As usual, I played game right before I went to sleep, and last night I was both tired and somewhat drunk. I know I played, and I remember thinking that I might have missed a hint in the town with the missing fairy, and that I should go there to wander through the town again. But when I checked the game this morning, my party was in the middle of a desert. Humm. Wish I could tell you more. I’m guessing I didn’t find the fairy, as I think I’d remember that much, but as to what my four party members were doing in the middle of the desert remains a bit of a mystery.

In many ways Final Fantasy reminds me of college, where often you wake up in strange places with only the vaguest recollection of how you may have gotten there.

Status: Level 45, Confused (I think).
Total Time: 20+ hours