8 min read

Final Fantasy I - Heavy is the Head

The Battle with Astos

He starts by casting Death, which is ominous for my goals of a no-death episode, but fortunately he misses Kaili. This time. The next round I try a similar approach, but he drops a Thundara, which hits the whole party for about 80 damage each. This could be nasty, so Clair's going on healing next round, particularly given she whiffed her attack.

Rukus and Kaili continue to attack, while Clair goes for a Heal, and Glitz decides that even if there's just one enemy, he's going to try busting out a Fira, which is effective, doing 81 damage this time. Astos has already cast Haste on himself though, which is ominous for our chances of out stripping his damage output with our healing.

Heal only does 30-ish HP recovery per-person, so I think I'll just keep that going as a baseline for as long as I can in this fight, and the next round is a repeat on our end. He re-hastes himself, which has me worrying if it stacks, but then Rukus hits him for about 30 damage and he just dies... Cool.

We net a haul of 2000 gil and 2250 EXP, which gets all of the party except Kaili up to level 16, Rukus crosses 300HP, making him the clear beefcake of the crew, whereas Glitz only picks up another 2HP, bringing him to 176HP in total. I'm not sure if the HP gains are random or fixed, but either way, he's still gunning for that leaderboard top-spot. I wish he wouldn't.

Astos dissolves into nothingness, leaving behind the crystal eye in his possession. Finally, something I know what to do with - I know a witch who was moaning about needing one of these.

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Part of the series: The First Step: Final Fantasy I (20 posts)
  • 1. Final Fantasy I - The First Hour
    A retrospective on the first hour of Final Fantasy I Pixel Remaster - my thoughts and feelings so far.
    • 15 min read
  • 2. Final Fantasy I - Out into the World
    The first steps into the world of Final Fantasy I, Matoya's Cave, and the town of Pravoka.
    • 9 min read
  • 3. Final Fantasy I - Elfheim
    The first steps into the world of Final Fantasy I, Matoya's Cave, and the town of Pravoka.
    • 14 min read
  • 4. Final Fantasy I - Heavy is the Head (current)
    Getting back on track, heading to the Western Keep
    • 8 min read
  • 5. Final Fantasy I - Magical Mystic Key Tour
    Heading around the world with the Mystic Key, and seeing what we can unlock.
    • 9 min read
  • 6. Final Fantasy I - Go West, Young Warriors
    Setting sail to the west, exploring Mount Duergar, and the town of Melmond.
    • 9 min read
  • 7. Final Fantasy I - Into the Bowels of the Earth
    We head into the Cavern of Earth, with a goal of defeating the Vampire and restoring the Earth Crystal. Things are never quite that simple though, are they?
    • 14 min read
  • 8. Final Fantasy I - The Wandering Heroes of Melmond
    We return to Melmond, but struggle to find our next task.
    • 9 min read
  • 9. Final Fantasy I - Everybody Get Into a Big Canoe (and Then Into the Lava)
    With a renewed sense of purpose, we're ready for some amphibious adventuring. We head to Mount Gulg, and find ourselves in a lava-filled dungeon with a fiery boss.
    • 10 min read
  • 10. Final Fantasy I - Shattered Ice, Frayed Nerves
    We get some more mileage out of our canoe as we head further north and into the Cavern of Ice, where both the party and I have more trouble than we have in a while.
    • 11 min read
  • 11. Final Fantasy I - Warriors on Trial
    In this post, we try to find what to do with our newly acquired Levistone, but end up being put to the test.
    • 8 min read
  • 12. Final Fantasy I - A Rat's Tale
    Hot on the heels of collecting a Rat's Tail from the Citadel of Trials, we head out on the task of working out what to do with it, and make some nice progress along the way!
    • 10 min read
  • 13. Final Fantasy I - Out of the Bottle
    Today we continue to explore the new areas that our airship has opened up - starting with the town of Onrac.
    • 8 min read
  • 14. Final Fantasy I - Canoes, Cubes, and Cat Claws
    This morning, we head out to try and use the oxyale that we've been given, and head to the waterfall we'd spotted to the north.
    • 7 min read
  • 15. Final Fantasy I - Under The Sea
    In this outing, we make our way down into the Sunken Shrine, in an attempt to save the mermaids from the wrath of the Fiend of Water.
    • 11 min read
  • 16. Final Fantasy I - Duolingo on Steroids
    We make our way back to Lufenia, but it turns out that just having the Rosetta Stone in our inventory isn't enough to bridge the language gap - we need a teacher!
    • 6 min read
  • 17. Final Fantasy I - The Flying Fortress
    We make our way to the Mirage Tower, and with our Warp Cube in and onto the Flying Fortress to take on our final Fiend
    • 12 min read
  • 18. Final Fantasy I - Entering the Chaos
    With all four of our Crystals illuminated, we head back to the Chaos Shrine, where this all began and try to unravel the mystery of the world's decay.
    • 10 min read
  • 19. Final Fantasy I - From Utter Chaos to Calm
    We reach the depths of the Chaos Shrine - time twists, fate unfolds, and history demands a reckoning.
    • 19 min read
  • 20. The Chronicles of the Lightbound
    From the annals of the legends, a tale of four heroes emerges - Rukus, Kaili, Clair and Glitz - the Warriors of Light
    • 11 min read