Final Fantasy - The Journey Begins!

So, we've met our intrepid heroes and now it's time to just dive right into adventure!  It's been MANY years since I've played Final Fantasy, so if you're reading this and it it seems as though I'm fumbling my way through the game....it's because I am.  I forgot how absolutely BRUTAL this game is!

Arriving on Coneria, things are looking on the up and up.  Nice castle, beautiful hedgework around the sides....looks like a nice place to hang.  

Not surprisingly, the Princess has been kidnapped by some goon named Garland and she's in need of some rescuing!  Never fear!  The Warriors of Light are on the job!

 WHOOOO boy!  Okay, so I completely forgot how much grinding you had to do to get anywhere in this game! It gets extremely tedious when they only send one imp your way.  Do you have any idea how long it's going to take me to level up?  We're gonna be at this for a while....

Really?  I'm still on the first damn area!  Either I'm doing something way wrong, or this game is cheating.  There's only two of these bastards and no matter what I do, I can't seem to hit them....swords, magic....it don't matter.  They just continue to wail away on me.  This is not looking good.  Everyone but Klov is dead, and he's just barely clinging to life.

Here goes nothing.....I'm going to try and cure myself and maybe with a little luck I'll be able to fend off these Creeps!

Well, that didn't work out as planned.  At least I took one of them out in my last ditch effort.!!!

Glad I saved before I got wiped out.  With everyone revived, I set out to grind and level up in the area immediately around the castle.  Finally, getting myself to level five, I was able to storm Garland's stronghold to the Northwest.  After a tense battle, I was able to defeat him and save the princess.  Unfortunately, I got so wrapped up in the whole thing that I forgot to get screenshots of it....so you'll just have to take me word for it.

After returning the princess to her castle, the king builds a bridge to the north and the princess gives me a lute as a gift (just what I've always wanted!).  I make my way east to the town of Pravoka, which apparently has been overrun by pirates, lead by some dude named Bikke.  After whupping his (and his merry band of pirates) ass, they give us their ship and promise not to cause any more problems.  Again, I was so caught up in the moment, that I completely forgot to grab any screen shots.  Seriously though.....they were pirates...you've seen one, you've seen 'em all.

After loading up on supplies and learning a couple more magic tricks, I set off on the high seas.  About two seconds after leaving port, I ran into this motley bunch of fellows.  I defeated them, but I nearly lost everyone in the process.  Apparently, it's time to do some more leveling.  So back to the woods of Pravoka I go to grind away......


So this is about four hours into our quest.  Grinding is the order of the day and what is taking up the majority of the time.  I promise that the rest of the legs of the quest will have many more screenshots.  Join us next time where you will hear Degh say:

"Dark Elves?  Lord Jesus, ain't nobody got time for that!"

Setting out on a Final Fantasy - Meet our Heroes!

In anticipation of Final Fantasy XV being announced for PS4 (and XB1) the other day at E3, I thought it would be fun to go back and play through the Final Fantasy series in order.  No small feat, I"m sure...but I'm feeling cheeky.  I've been neglecting the Space Dungeon and there are cobwebs everywhere.  The prisoners have all died of hunger, so I'm not all alone up here.  What better way to ease my loneliness than  to immerse my self in a quest of epic proportions.  I'm hoping that this undertaking will compel me to fire up the space dungeon on all thrusters and get some more damn prisoners in here!  You can't have a space dungeon if you don't have any prisoners!  How can you have prisoners if you neglect that space dungeon?  You Laddie.....Yes!  YOU!  Stay Still......

Okay that was weird....I went all Pink Floyd on ya there for a minute.  Okay, what do you say that we get this party started!

Ah yes.....that old chestnut.  It's been a while since these words have played across my screen!  Well....best get to it!

Oddly enough, I started out wanting to play this on my PSOne version (prettier graphics and all) but then I decided to go old school and do it NES style.  I wasn't planning on starting my quest with this particular run...it was only meant as a test, hence the ridiculous names I gave my characters:  

 Meet Barz!  A Red Fighter with a sordid past.  His parents sold him at the tender age of four to a den of thieves to pay off gambling debts.  The thieves tried to train him in the ways of a criminal, but Barz just didn't take to it.  What he did excel at was fighting.  And so he was forced to fight in underground fight clubs, where the fights were usually fixed.
When he accidentally killed another young fighter, Barz escaped and swore that he would never harm another innocent.  He spent three months wandering and hungry before Degh found him in a back alley scrapping for food.

Johnny Degh, a martial artist who spent the early part of his career as a movie star.  Fame and fortune went to his head and he found himself face down in the gutter with no home, no money and no work.  Scrapping himself together, he hitchhiked his way across the US, heading for a new start in Maine.
However, one dark night on a back road in Pennsylvania, he came across a small Chinese restaurant.  He was down to his last few dollars, but he was starving.  The restaurant was open, but there were no customers.  A lone chef stood behind the counter.  Johnny pleaded for food, offering to work the food off by washing dishes.  The chef nodded and disappeared into the kitchen.
Sitting at the table, Johnny scarffed down lo mein and crab rangoons.  The chef brought him a pot of herbal tea, which he immediately drank.  That was the last thing that Johnny remembered.  When he awoke, he was in a strange new world full of magic.  He swore to cleanse his soul in this new land.

Klov, a young mage from the mountains spent much of his youth doing magic shows for the livestock on his parent's farm.  While many youths were taught magic at an early age, Klov found that his powers came naturally, however he could never get a full grasp fully on either the White or Dark arts.
This caused him to be very unpopular at the low rent magic school that his parents sent him too (think low rent Hogwarts).  Because his peers would pick on him, Klov also picked up many of the skills of a fighter.
Unknown to him, his teachers were keeping a close watch on him...they knew he was destined to go forth and bring together three companions to become The Warriors of Light

A feisty young black mage with a heart of gold and a wicked sense of humor.  Darn was named so because he was the 13th child of a local woman.  When he was born she said "Oh Darn!  Another one!"
Though Darn's a master of the dark arts, he refuses to use his powers for evil.  Darn's philosophy is that there can be no light with out darkness and harnesses his powers to prove so.
Though Darn is referred to as "he" by his companions...they actually have NO idea what gender Darn is, do to an androgynous voice and the fact that much like his cousin, Orko (who lives on Eternia) no one has ever seen his face.

These four are The Warriors of Light.  Stay tuned for their adventures!