11 min read

Final Fantasy I - Shattered Ice, Frayed Nerves

Hello Darkness, My Old Friend

Those clothes came at a heavy price though, and for the first time in a long time the death counter is back - twice in the same fight! Four Dark Wizards protected the chest, and weren't afraid to use some heavy multi-target spells - and in the same Thundaga attack, both Kaili and Glitz are downed.

  1. Kaili - 3
  2. Glitz - 2

After the fight, with our underwhelming loot Clair revives the two of them and flings Hi-Potions at them until they're nearly at full HP again.

In the meantime, Rukus takes the Flame Sword, as it's another point to his Attack, and one would presume very useful in an Ice-based area. Seems weird they'd just leave it lying around here.

There is also a grey-ish Diamond in this room, but it's impossible to access without stepping on what I assume to be the thin ice. Looking back outside though it seems like we're at a dead end, so we might as well give it a try, and...

Oh no!!! We fall into a small room in B3, with a hooded monster blocking our exit. Turns out that one monster is in fact 9 monsters as the fight begins, but nothing a bit of Fira can't handle. Seems that Glitz is wanting to make up for the shame of dying again by taking out hordes of enemies en masse.

This part of B3 must be the 'main' part, as using the map, I spy 2 more store rooms with 2 and 6 chests in respectively. However we're also introduced to some sharp spiky bits on the floor - giving us a similar effect to the lava in Mt Gulg. Nothing we can't handle though.

The first room contains:

  • Mythril Gloves
  • Ice Armour

Once again, it's gear only Rukus can equip. These dungeons make me feel like this is a Warrior's world and we're merely living in it. I could probably sell some of it off at some point, but with nearly 250,000 gil, it feels pointless. I think the economy of this game is a bit all over the place to be honest, but that's probably something to sum up at the end of the playthrough.

On our way to the other store room, we run into another 4 Dark Wizards, and we've clearly found our Kryptonite. They hit like a truck again, and before we can react:

  1. Kaili - 4
  2. Glitz - 3

Why is always those two, you ask? I think it's a combination of slightly lower defence and HP. Particularly Glitz, who at 316 max HP has less than half that of Rukus's 676. The two remaining members scrape through taking them out, but we now know we need to be careful when it comes to healing after fights in this area.

We reach the next storeroom and pick up:

  • 7900 gil
  • 5454 gil
  • 1180 gil (guarded)
  • 12350 gil
  • 5000 gil
  • 9900 gil

Clearly the cashflow levels are supposed to be high at this point, further to my previous point.

We reach the end of this area of B3 and it takes use through to that previously inaccessible part of B1. So that's nice, but also it feels like we're almost back to the start again. The only way we can go is into a room with a chest, which I think had an amount of cash in it, but to be honest I missed when opening it. Looking at my inventory it must have been either a dupe or cash. No monsters guarding it at least.

In a small room below we find a chest with:

  • 10000 gil

Again, crazy amounts of money round here.

A final storeroom has 3 chests in it:

  • 9500 gil
  • Sleeping Bag
  • Ice Shield

There's also a tiny crack on the ground that I assume could set us back, so we avoid it for now - it looks like there's some stairs in the north east of this section.

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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
    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 (current)
    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!
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  • 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.
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  • 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.
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  • 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.
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  • 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
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