Ｆｉｎａｌ　Ｆａｎｔａｓｙ　Ｖ

The man gets off his chocobo near the meteorite.

Throughout the game, his speech is set off with the thicker 『 mark, rather than using a name. This is most likely because his is the only name the player can change, and doing things this way saves the trouble of adjusting text boxes to match the name length.

Unicode refers to the 『』 symbols as White Corner Brackets, while the more basic 「」 symbols are simply called Corner Brackets. Japanese dubs the 「」 marks 鈎括弧 (kagi kakko, literally "hooked enclosures") and the 『』 marks 二重鈎括弧 (nijuu kagi kakko, literally "doubled hooked enclosures"). Both are used much like quotation marks in English, with the doubled version typically reserved for quotes within quotes or for such things as the name of a work.

A bit further ahead, he spots some monsters carrying off Lenna. He follows, and they turn to attack him. Fortunately, they're weak. After fending them off, he goes to Lenna's side.

The player names him. Although there's no in-game default, he's generally known as...

Or Batz, or Bats, or Batts, or Barts, or Bartz, or Butts, or whatever.

The older man who looked like he was in a shaking cave in the opening is lying next to the meteorite. Could he have been... no, never mind.

Lenna nods in agreement.

Lenna and Galuf start to leave.

They leave, Lenna rather hesitantly. Butz heads back to Boco.

Boco stops suddenly, throwing Butz off and into the cliff wall.

The ground starts shaking, and a pit opens behind them.

They head off. Goblins attack from the cliffs, but Butz fights them off. More pitfalls open, but Boco jumps over them. They find Lenna and Galuf on the ground father along, and stop long enough to pick them up before leaving the area.

Later. Butz stands lookout on a rise while Boco watches over Lenna and Galuf.

Lenna gets up slowly. Butz hops down.

ホの字 (HO no ji) comes from 惚れる (horeru, to fall in love with, to take a liking to, to be charmed by, and similar meanings).

Possible double meaning here... 気がつく (ki ga tsuku) can mean both "to recover consciousness" and "to notice". So Butz's line could also mean "You've noticed!?", though it's unlikely that he intends for it to come across like that.

The party stops at the entrance.

They head inside. Shortly after, Butz notices something.

It's a recovery spring, of course. How nice of them to put one in the first area with random battles.

Speaking of battles, I would suggest giving Butz's sword to Lenna, since it should kill anything in here in one hit, and she's the quickest of the three.

A bit further into the cave, they spot a pirate, and conceal themselves. After looking around and not seeing anyone, the pirate hits a semi-hidden switch on the wall, opening a door. He passes through, and the door closes behind him.

The party hits the switch to proceed. A bit father, they spot an opening, and looking through...

...they see a ship moving across the sea despite the lack of wind.

The next cavern has black skull and crossbone flags, and, yes, pirates.

They slip in and reach the boat. All the pirates seem to be asleep, so it's easy enough. Butz takes the helm...

...but nothing happens.

Faris enters, leading a large group of pirates.

Something shiny is seen around Lenna's neck.

The pirates surround them.

Scene change to the brig. Butz, Lenna, and Galuf are tied up in a guarded room.

It grows dark. The scene shifts to the adjacent cabin, where Faris stands.

The scene changes to the ship deck the next morning.

The pirates on deck look shocked. Others bring up the prisoners.

The pirates look even more shocked.

And they do.

Lenna nods.

A sea monster sticks its head out of the water in front of the ship and sounds off. Lenna, Butz, and Galuf are startled. Faris just laughs.

As the boat is about to leave the bay, a pirate walks up to Faris at the helm and offers to take the ship to the Wind Temple (saving the player from navigating).

But for now, it's not a bad idea to head back to the pirate hideout (through the cave again). Butz stops at the cave entrance.

Thar be loot t' plundar in the pirate hideout, and in the sleeping quarters...

A group of sages are gathered in a room by the entrance. Their leader speaks.

First, let's see what everyone says about the situation...

Ascending the temple, the party finds that there are indeed monsters, though not particularly strong ones.

On the second floor, there's a glowing circle of light.

On the third floor, a monster guards the stairway up. Grabbing and equipping the Broadsword in the left room and the Leather Cap in the bottom right before approaching it will help, because...

...it's the first boss monster. The extra equipment couldn't hurt. As might be expected from a first boss, it should go down without putting up much of a fight. The only thing to watch out for is that attacking when its wings are shut provokes a painful counterattack.

If you really want an easy fight, head first to the nearby village of Toole and outfit everyone with the best gear money can buy. Well, the best so far, at least.

There's a Staff hidden in the bottom right corner of the fourth floor. The fifth floor houses the Wind Crystal... or it did before the Crystal shattered. Shards lie strewn around the room.

The shards sparkle.

The scene shifts to an outdoor birds-eye view and pans west to a castle.

An intact Crystal is shown in a reddish room inside. Something shining flows from the Crystal... ...and into the Wind Crystal's room, settling on Faris.

The scene shifts to an outdoor birds-eye view and pans east to a tower.

An intact Crystal is shown in a bluish room inside. Something shining flows from the Crystal... ...and into the Wind Crystal room, settling on Lenna.

The scene shifts to an outdoor birds-eye view and pans south to a town.

An intact Crystal is shown in a yellowish room inside. Something shining flows from the Crystal... ...and into the Wind Crystal room, settling on Galuf.

Something shining flows from the Wind Crystal's stand and settles on Butz.

While the other three are fairly straightforward, this one doesn't seem to have a direct English equivalent, and has been translated a number of different ways. As near as I can tell, it has to do with searching and exploring, the thrill of discovery, and ultimately obtaining or achieving some kind of goal. It's adventure with a purpose. Which may make an interesting contrast with the aimless journey Butz told Lenna he was on.

The king appears on the Crystal stand.

The king floats up and is surrounded by what appears to be a dark mist...

...and he disappears.

The shards suddenly jump into position around the party.

Lenna walks back up to the Crystal stand.

As they leave through the warp, a chocobo comes on screen and offers to explain the ability system and how to use the Crystal shards. The explanation includes demonstrations of where these actions are in the menu.

Which doesn't necessarily mean the best, especially when it comes to certain pieces of equipment.

Blue Mages, unlike other types of casters, need to earn their spells by getting hit with enemy magic. I'll be using asides styled like this one to highlight learning opportunities for each of the spells as they first become available, as well as other convenient or otherwise noteworthy chances.

Three Blue Magic spells are available immediately, and you may have already seen some or all of them.

Inside the Wind Temple, Mold Wind (モールドウインド) has a 33% chance to use Aero every other turn. It's a basic Wind attack spell that, aside from having a relatively uncommon element, is a bit stronger than the basic Black Mage spells, regardless of having the same casting cost.

All over the early overworld, Goblin (ゴブリン) has a 33% chance to use Goblin Punch each turn. So does Black Goblin (ブラックゴブリン) inside the Wind Temple. This skill is similar to a perfect-accuracy long-range physical attack, costs nothing, and additionally gets a massive power bonus if the target is the same level as the caster.

Back in the cave to the Pirate Hideout, Steel Bat (スティールバット) has a 33% chance to use Bloodsuck each turn. This is a draining spell that steals enough health to recover half of what the caster is missing, making it a decent source of cheap healing in a pinch that can also do some damage.

A canal with a locked gate is to the east, so let's head west to a nearby village instead.