Lines in the Fog

Contents

  1. 1. Curse of the Techie
  2. 2. Back in the Canoe
  3. 3. Into the Cavern
  4. 4. Hello Darkness, My Old Friend
  5. 5. My Rage Knows No Bounds
  6. 6. Conclusion
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11 min read

Final Fantasy I - Shattered Ice, Frayed Nerves

Part of the series: The First Step: Final Fantasy I

My Rage Knows No Bounds

This takes us back out to the overworld, and in something that I'm immediately furious about - back to the start of the dungeon basically. Looking closer, the arrow on the dungeon map looks the same as that of the entrance, but there's no indication that it's an exit. Every other dungeon so far is one way in-and-out.

It's another version of the Crescent Lake issue - the game teaches you a rule many times throughout the previous dungeons, then for no real reason subverts it.

That's it, it's No Encounters time. I'm not redoing all of that slog.

I'm getting too old for this...

Without the encounters on, running around is actually a breeze. There's the one forced encounter where you need to get past the monster after dropping through the ice, but that's it.

I'm back in that storeroom in B1, and with No Encounters turned back off, I stand in front of the cracked ice and...

Drop inside of the part of B2 that I couldn't get to, walk up towards the diamond and clicking on it we're taken into a fight with an Evil Eye - a unique enemy, but given we have regular music, I don't think a true "boss"...

Particularly given it drops to a single attack from Kaili before it has a chance to do anything.

We go to it and we obtain ourselves a levistone!

Unfortunately it seems like we need to fall through the ice and loop round again to get out. I'm not a fan of this dungeon design, it just feels tedious rather than anything else. I'll probably have more to say on this too in my series wrap-up.

I'm going to stick to my principles and leave No Encounters off on the way out, to play it 'properly', though it really does feel like such a nicer experience being in control of it.

As we exit back to the world map again, our party makes its way to Level 35, Kaili being the last. Kaili and Glitz are now a decent way behind Rukus and Clair, with their couple of deaths in here, but similarly to earlier, that amount should become less noticeable as levels require more EXP. The gap stays the same but relative to a level it's less, and whatnot.

Hello Darkness, My Old Friend
Conclusion
EconomyDungeon CrawlFinal FantasyLet's PlayCombat NotesFatigueParty DynamicsReal-Time Reflection
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Final Fantasy I - Everybody Get Into a Big Canoe (and Then Into the Lava)
Final Fantasy I - Warriors on Trial
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!
    • 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