Ｆｉｎａｌ　Ｆａｎｔａｓｙ　Ｖ

As expected, the flowing sand prevents entry, ejecting intruders back to the entrance.

Cid and Mid arrive.

Upon getting agreement, he continues.

They ring their bells, and the sandworm attacks. Three holes appear in the battle, with the sandworm sticking out of one of them. It periodically switches holes during the battle. Physically attacking an empty hole triggers it to counter with  Gravity.

I have no idea why Mid makes what sounds like a warning against multitarget magic earlier, unless he means it gets ugly for the sandworm. The only reason not to cast against all is to avoid diluting the spell's effect. The script for the holes only has a "counter physical" reaction, which does not react to any pure spells (besides, of course, the standard !Battle command, it also reacts to !Items, !Kick, !Charge, !Steal, !Mug, !Wyrmblade, !Jump, !Throw, !Sword Slap, !Coin Toss, !Animals, !Aim, !Wild Strike, !Call, !Examine, !Fathom, !Release, !Mix, !Terrain, and !Dance)

The quickest, easiest, and most ruthless way to end the battle is with the Blue Magic skill Aqua Breath. It has 800% power against desert creatures. The sandworm is a desert creature. You're guaranteed a one-hit kill at level 11 and up, and will usually get one even as low as level 6. Overkill, much?

They hop up and down a few times.

They nod.

The way is now clear to enter the desert and continue south. There's a large pyramid in the midst of the sands, but even should the party manage to reach it (tricky but possible), there's nothing to do there at the moment.

The placement of this town may look vaguely familiar...

Nothing remarkable here, just ordinary ruined buildings.

Lenna nods to Butz, who nods back. As they explore the town, the party spots a familiar figure scurrying around.

After following several times, the party finally corners him in one of the ruined buildings.

Lenna and Faris exchange glances. The party advances, but the floor collapses beneath them. King Tycoon walks forward and gazes into the pit.

The party lands somewhere below, in a more intact part of the ruins, though it's missing parts of the floor. Galuf lands in a different room from the others. Lenna and Faris are the first to get up.

And they embrace, or as close as the character sprites allow.

Galuf gets up, shakes his head clear, and explores the room, but finds no way out. Butz finally gets up.

They all look downcast. Galuf stands against the wall with his hand raised, as though trying to listen through it.

Galuf looks stunned. He starts pounding the wall, but to no avail. Looking around, he spots a hole in the floor, hops in, works his way across what looks like machinery underneath, and leaps out in front of the others, startling them.

Now reunited, the party resumes exploring. In the next room they find a large platform that begins glowing when they step on it.

And with that, the party is magically transported...

...halfway across the world to Crescent Island, going by the panning view of the world map. The destination room looks just like the one they just left. Unfortunately, it starts shaking violently as soon as they arrive.

The party rushes out of the room, which falls apart behind them. They collapse. Fade out.

The black chocobo lands in the forest where Butz and the others found it. Cid and Mid get off.

How are they planning on leaving, though?

The scene shifts back to the party.

The area strongly resembles the one they recently left, with the same distinctive look and machinery running here and there.

A nearby set of rooms offers a place to rest, and an uncooperative switch.

In the flowers...

In the papers...

More literally, it's closer to "idiots look" in a taunting tone.

Butz looks annoyed. Lenna reaches for him.

A frog jumps out of one of the pots, then bumps into a bookcase and knocks a book to the floor.

Either set of directions leads to the switch that started all this. Pulling on it opens a small room nearby, containing two Shuriken and the Minimum spell, which fills that annoying hole in the White Magic list.

It's also possible to avoid the whole runaround. When prompted to push the switch, answer no, and you'll be prompted to pull the switch instead, opening the room without following the clues. Don't you wish more puzzles let people who already know the solution skip the annoying parts?

A locked door and another switch block further progress. This one doesn't have any silly diversions, but the room does start shaking once it's pressed.

The shaking extends to the surface, where Cid and Mid stand by the black chocobo. A hole opens in the ground, and the two of them fall in. The black chocobo peers into the hole, looking confused.

Back underground, the door opens, with no other apparent complications. The path continues to what appears to be a dock, complete with a ship.

You can go back inside the steamship now, in case you missed anything or felt like fighting its monsters.

The dock continues to another ship. This one looks a bit odd.

And just then, a familiar duo falls from above and lands on deck.

Cid looks around as they talk. He appears to be overwhelmed.

Mid nods. Cid disappears below deck.

Mid looks around, then heads below deck. Looking rather confused, the party follows, to find Cid marveling at a room full of machinery like that in the ruins.

He walks off, looking around.

He keeps looking, and seems to find what he was searching for.

The ship starts shaking. Cid hops up and down with excitement.

Fade out. A hangar of some sort opens where the steamship sank—and whose idea was it to build this place in the open ocean, anyway?—this ship rises to surface level, the propellors start spinning, and it lifts into the air! Everyone stands on deck.

As in FFIV, "airship" is a bit of a misnomer, since it turns out that's an actual English term referring to any powered and steerable lighter-than-air craft. This vessel, though, looks little different from the steamship except for its massive propellers, and wouldn't qualify as lighter than air. However, "airship" is an established part of FF canon by this point, so we'll stick with that even if it might be more appropriate to use a made-up term ("skyship", maybe?).

The ship starts shaking with a jolt.

Boss time. The Cray Claw is quite weak to Thunder, though, so use of appropriate magic and weapons like the Coral Sword, Trident, and Shock Whip should make short work of it. Many status effects work, too. It has a Coral Sword to steal, and drops an Ice Bow when beaten.

Cid takes the wheel and lands. Some time later...

Cid and Mid step off the ship. Butz works his way toward the helm, pausing along the way to speak to the others.

Wheeee, airship! It's a little like the black chocobo, but lands on plains instead of forests. It also flies higher and faster, so even the tallest of mountains are no longer an obstacle, and it's never taken so little time to travel. Thanks to using the system's Mode 7 abilities, the world even appears in a perspective view that offers vastly increased visibility. And for anyone who missed the sea monsters, the airship can also land on water and sail around just like the steamship could.

Incidentally, you can also still ride the black chocobo, but the airship can get you essentially anywhere the bird can.

This trip remains entirely optional, and the contents of the visit still vary after a certain event later on...

The scene starts off the same, but after Lenna agrees to stay the night, Faris remains in bed instead of going out on the balcony. She turns to Lenna.

The screen pans to another room. It's daylight, and a girl sits at a desk while an older woman paces nearby.

The woman walks closer.

Sarisa leaves the room. She then arrives in the sleeping room, where she places a small child in one of the beds.

She looks confused.

Sarisa runs over to the far side of the adjacent bed. The view pans back to the classroom, where Jenica is looking impatient.

Pan back to the bedroom. Sarisa has pushed the beds together, and is sleeping next to Lenna.

Return to the present.

Lenna nods, and the scene fades. Everyone gets up normally in the morning.

Sorry, Butz doesn't make a fool of himself any more. Everything else is as before, though.

Let's get back to the main plot now, shall we? Upon approaching the town, by land or by air (it doesn't matter which, beyond determining whether the airship or the ground appears as the backdrop), we hear a sudden loud rumbling.

Making a mess of the ground, a large object that looks more like a massive fortress than a town lifts into the air, quickly rising beyond the reach of even the airship.

Although I've seen it called the Catapult, this area has no in-game name as far as I can tell, so we'll just call it the airship hangar.

As the party starts to leave the airship, Cid and Mid arrive.

Mid pulls out a book.

Galuf looks startled.

Considering that the town was old enough to be in ruins, and that these events seem to be recorded in this book, that presumably all happened ages ago. It would have been nice if they'd warned the rest of the world about overtaxing the Crystals. Or maybe they did, and everyone forgot, or never listened in the first place.

Lenna and Faris look at each other.

Cid pulls out another book.

Galuf looks excited.

Several nods go around, and Cid and Mid pack up their books.

Nothing's changed here. Upon arriving at the meteorite, Galuf moves to the side and reaches for something on the stone.

A doorway opens in the meteorite.

The meteorite contains what appears to be a warp tile like in the others, but it doesn't do anything. There's also a bluish crystalline stone in the back.

Galuf takes it.

As they're leaving, the screen goes dark.

A giant tortoise of some sort. Though the Adamantoise has high defenses, its HP is also low for a boss at this point in the game. Ice is its weakness, so taking advantage of that helps. It drops a Turtle Shell, and has only a Protect Drink to steal.

More concretely, attack with an Ice Bow, Blizzara enchantment, or Blizzara or Shiva with an Ice Rod equipped. Breaking an Ice Rod on it will also deal considerable damage, though it's a bit of a waste. And if you're feeling mean and have Level 5 Death, well... it's level 20. You know what to do. Otherwise, Gravity and Death Claw or Missile will cut off large chunks of its health, assuming you can get them to hit. The creature has high magic evade plus innate 'shell' status, which halves the hit rate of spells that can miss. If you're worried about its attacks, don't be. All it can do is plain physical damage, and while it sometimes attacks twice in one turn, that's frankly dull compared to earlier bosses. No magic, no group attacks, no status effects, no counterattacks, just boring physicals.

Cid and Mid again arrive as the party prepares to leave the airship. Everyone regroups on deck, and Galuf produces the Adamantite.

Cid and Mid take the Adamantite and head below deck while the others leave the ship. Fade out, scene change to Cid and Mid working frantically in the airship's machinery room. Fade out again, scene change back to the sleeping room. Butz leaps out of bed.

Cid and Mid walk in behind Butz.

Butz looks astonished.

The others wake up. Cid raises an arm.

...but the dialog claims Mid speaks, but the style sounds more like Cid, but... well, whatever, the information's fine regardless.

Cid and Mid exchange glances and look downcast.

He pulls out a book, and the party gathers around.

Cid picks up the book, and the party leaves for the airship.

The airship can now fly higher, as described, and the flying town has a number of gun emplacements, also as described.

Some (it seems to be random) are Flamethrowers (かえんほう) and fairly easy to beat. The others are Rocket Launchers (ロケットほう) and more problematic, largely thanks to their Rocket Punch causing 'confusion' status. There's an easy way around it, though. Get 'berserk' status on everyone by any means available (switching jobs to Berserker is the simplest), and they become immune to 'confusion'. Once that's taken care of, the Rocket Launchers are pushovers, since all their attacks inflict percentile damage, meaning they can't actually kill anyone directly.

As their name suggests, Flamethrowers use Flamethrower, and nothing else.

Rocket Launchers often use Missile, alternating between a 33% and 67% chance on successive turns.

Back away from the city at any time to return to normal altitude, a good way to recover and resupply as needed. Also note that the Thief's Dash ability works here.

Once all four gun emplacements are destroyed, the scene shifts to the airship deck.

With a rumbling, part of the city opens to reveal another, larger cannon.

The massive Sol Cannon and its two Launchers count as a boss. Battle opens with the following message:

Joy. In any case, kill the Launchers immediately. Left alone, they'll attack with rockets that remove half of current HP and inflict 'aging' status, which you really don't want to have to deal with. Level 5 Death will eliminate them easily, but they'll also self-destruct if damaged when under 10,000 HP, and since each starts at only 10,800, that means you only have to inflict a measly 800 damage plus one more hit. The Sol Cannon will also finish itself off (and the Launchers, if they're still present) once hit when below 10,000 HP, but since it starts at 22,500 HP, that's going to take quite a bit more effort.

And let's not forget that diffusion wave cannon either! Further messages follow as the battle continues...

Thanks to kahran042 for noticing that the Sol Cannon, particularly its almost comically extensive charge-up routine, is an homage to the Wave Motion Gun from Space Battleship Yamato. Among other things, the original Wave Motion Gun needs to charge to 120% before firing, and is so bright that any crew able to see it must wear anti-shock anti-glare goggles (in addition to the viewports being tinted in the first place) for safety.

For the remainder of the battle, the wave cannon will continue to recharge and fire, with fewer preparation steps after the first time. Fortunately, the Sol Cannon can't do anything else, but the wave cannon hits everyone for half their max HP and inflicts 'slip' status, which is plenty to keep healers busy. As such, a White Mage comes in handy, especially since Esuna can cure 'aging' status. Victory awards a Dark Matter and two High Potions.

There's no real quick and easy with this one. The Minstrel's !Hide may come in handy for defense. For offense, the Coral Sword, Trident (if using Normal class), Lightning Bow, and Shock Whip all help, as do the usual sword magic or spells and summons boosted with a Thunder Rod, while Ninjas can throw Raijin no Jutsu. If you have money to spare, buy extra Thunder Rods and break them on it for heavy damage, but that really isn't necessary unless you're playing a low-level game. Speaking of which, low-level gamers should note that you'll get 10 exp from this battle, like it or not.

In order, that's Butz (of course), Galuf, and Faris speaking.

This is possibly the best time to go loot the basement in Worus Castle. Refer to the end of the And Beyond section for details, but in short, a team of Berserkers gets the job done surprisingly well. Equip someone with Alertness and have !White Magic handy to heal between fights.

The architecture should look familiar by now. The Thief's Secret Passages ability helps navigate some rooms here, and the Geomancer's Pitfall Evasion is all but required in a room full of both treasure chests and hidden pitfalls. This is the only chance to get the treasures here, so thorough exploration is key.

!Control a Fan Demon (せんぷうまじん) to add the ever-useful White Wind to your Blue Magic collection. This heals the entire party by an amount equal to the caster's current HP, can't be reflected, and even heals the undead normally. It doesn't depend on magic power, and pairs nicely with high-HP classes.

!Control a Lamia (ラミア) to make it use 1000 Needles. This skill always inflicts exactly 1000 damage to a single target, regardless of defenses or evasion.

The Hydra (ハイドラ) deeper into the ruins—not to be confused with the similarly-named and similar-looking Hyudra (ヒュドラ) also in this dungeon (both names are accepted renditions of "hydra", with the first rarer but based on the English pronunciation; the most standard rendition is ヒドラ and comes from the Greek pronunciation)—casts Level 4 Graviga on death. This skill hits all enemies with a level evenly divisible by 4 (unless Heavy) and reduces their HP to 25% of its current value. As with Level 5 Death, you'll need to have a compatible level and get hit in order to learn it, but at least this can't cause a party wipe by itself.

Several previously-available Blue Magic skills make repeat appearances as well. !Control Archeotoad (アルケオトード) for Frog Song, or wait for it to use the skill naturally with 33% chance every other turn. Fan Demon has Aerora as well as White Wind, and can be controlled for it or will use it with 33% on two turns of its three-turn cycle. (And Stoned Mask (ストーンドマスク) has Flash in its !Control list, but it will only target the monsters if used that way, so you can't learn that skill here.)

Some of these enemies have interesting items, too. The Fan Demon may drop a Darkness Bow. Thieves may be able to pilfer a Lamia's Tiara from a Lamia, but it's a rare steal so you're more likely to get a Maiden's Kiss. The Hydra has a Killer Bow for a rare steal (and no common steal, so you can keep trying for it).

Deep in the ruins, the party finds King Tycoon. Or is he? He seems to be acting rather oddly.

And the nearby Archaeo Avis attacks. It actually has five forms, changing from one to the next after taking sufficient damage. The first four forms transition seamlessly between each other, with the only indications of a change being a different set of attacks and different strengths and weaknesses. The varying elements make this a poor time to use Black Magic. Non-elemental physical attacks are probably the way to go.

As it goes through the forms, physical defense gradually drops, while magic defense gradually rises. Also note that, as usual, all these form changes are done via reaction scripts, so finishing off any form with anything that prevents reactions (such as a counterattack) will bypass the form change and cut the battle short.

After the fourth form is beaten, it appears to die, then comes back as the fifth form.

And now it's time for a Blue Mage to humiliate it with Level 5 Death (this final form is level 20). Failing that, smacking it around with non-elemental weapons works nicely, since it's now immune to Flame, Ice, Thunder, Wind, and Earth in addition to having higher magic defense and lower physical defense. Without a quick kill, healing is likely to be critically important as well, since it can use Maelstrom, which reduces everyone to single-digit HP. Its special attack will also inflict 'confusion'. This may be another good battle to use Berserkers in.

Um. That was creepy. He shoves the party aside and proceeds further in. Maybe we shouldn't have done that.

In the next room, the king stands before the Crystal, and the music is... rather less than cheerful. He turns around slowly.

The king leaps down from the platform. Butz and Galuf exchange glances, but Lenna and Faris cut them off before they can take action.

They refuse. The king draws nearer.

That gets their attention. Lenna and Faris turn around, then fall back to join Butz and Galuf. But just then, there's another one of those rumblings, and everyone starts looking around. Yet another meteorite falls from the sky, striking the ruins (judging by the way the party is knocked to the ground and tossed around a bit). A nearby wall blasts open, and Karulu rushes inside and hits the king with something shiny. He's knocked away and falls to the ground. Butz and Galuf get up and shake their heads rapidly as if to clear them. Karulu hops up and down excitedly.

She rushes to his side.

Galuf takes a step away, looking confused, scratches his head a few times, then appears to have a revelation and flings the floating '?' bubble aside.

After a special fanfare, Karulu runs around him excitedly and hops a few more times.

Faris and Lenna get up and immediately go to check on the king.

The king stands, looking a bit unsteady.

And while that's surely touching, the screen darkens, and Butz takes a closer look at the Crystal.

And the Crystal shatters, leaving four shards behind. Meanwhile, halfway across the world, there's a big scary light show where the seal had been. A sparkle rises from the forest and shortly thereafter lands on the Crystal platform.

Exdeath materializes from the sparkle. He wears what appears to be dark heavy armor from head to toe, with a dramatic evil cape for good measure.

Exdeath raises his arms, and the Crystal shards begin moving. After circling the other six with increasing speed, they arrange themselves some distance away in a semicircle.

Butz takes a step toward Exdeath.

But energy rises from the shards and blasts him back.

Exdeath warps himself away. King Tycoon steps forward.

The king raises an arm, and there's an answering glow.

With a rumbling and a red glow, the shards do some more zapping, knocking everyone back and to the ground. The king gets up and advances again, but the shards just zap him back down.

He advances again, and this time the shards close in and circle around him. He does something, and they fall harmlessly to the ground, but he also collapses.

Faris nods. Lenna just looks downcast.

Butz nods.

But he's gone. The shards sparkle and converge on Lenna.

Anyone remember what was keeping this thing in the air? So no one should be surprised when...

...the ruins start violently shuddering.

Okay, so Butz can be a bit slow on the uptake at times...

Galuf too, I suppose... and now I have to wonder if the others weren't expecting it either, but simply declined to open their mouths and remove all doubt.

Lenna hesitates as the others leave, but Faris goes back for her.

They rush out through the ruins, as explosions and arcing electricity wreak havoc on the machinery. At the airship, Faris takes the wheel.

The airship flies out of the exploding ruins, which continue to fall.