Ah yes… Parties are always wonderful. Welcome to world 3! Krile, let’s go on a journey instead of attending the party. This one turned out boring anyways. Oh hey, new bridge too, cool! We also haven’t seen Boko in a pretty long time. Let’s go! Huh, you know… There appears to be some changes… This seems odd… Boko, what are you doing, Boko, no!
So here I am, on this hmmm… slightly altered world. Wait, is that the big bridge? Hmm… Hey look, my airship! I’ve missed you! Too bad I can’t get to you right now. Darn. Strange cave out west you say? Sounds like a good place to go, let’s do this! I have an odd feeling though, let’s swap Krile on over to Monk real quick and then head into this new area.
Oh hey, what do you know, a pit. Oh hey, what do you know, a boss! I decided to take on Antolyon – who, yes, I did know about thanks to speed runs – with Bartz on Geomancer (with Mix set as a skill) and Krile as Monk (with Red set in case). Well, the Red didn’t really matter as much, since I just decided to Berserk up Krile and Samson’s Might her a bunch. Awww, come back Mr. Boss! I want to punch you more!
Hey, a rope. Nooo, stop doing that, I want up! Jerks… Wait, how’d you get here so fast and HOW did you get here so fast? In any case, welcome back, Faris! Time to swap Krile back to Red Mage then I suppose. Must get those ABP on it… Time to continue towards that cave! Wait a moment… Gill!? Indeed… It would appear we are now in a combination of the past two worlds. Hurrah! Oh hey… ExDeath!? Well then… Hold on a moment here… Reina!
Obtain 12 fabled weapons, huh? Maybe I don’t feel like it! Fine… I’ll head for the Pyramids. So since I’m still down Reina (my current Chemist), that’ll make this even more fun. Especially seeing as random encounters are kicking my butt now.
Welcome to the pyramids! We’re going to start off immediately with a boss fight too! Unfortunately, it appears my recent strat of just make Faris super overpowered isn’t going to work here… Monks aren’t really great at killing two things at once, at least not while Berserked! Guess it’s time to finally pull out Kick again. Though one eventually died on its own and didn’t revive… Well, regardless, apparently ExDeath’s castle did one other thing that I’m just now noticing – my stocks are starting to run low!
Onwards into the Pyramids! I’m just going to try and get through here, mainly since I lack my full 
team still. Eventually I run into the scary Omega clones and well… They are scary! Thankfully, they can be confused by my Geomancer and thus they can just kill themselves. I only ran into the one Omega-clone before I made it to the end of the area, though. Skeletons were blocking the exit, though some healing spells took quick care of them. After a few more twists, turns, and a bit of pain, I finally make it to the end where the Lithograph awaits me. Oh no, the piece of land my airship was on has changed into Bahamut! Well… Suppose that concludes the pyramids, time to head back!
So since I do know there is another boss coming up really soon, I decided to switch Faris off of Monk and over onto Chemist. Unfortunately, her Chemist is still level zero, but oh well. Hey there, Reina! Can I have my stuff back now? No, of course I can’t, because she’s been possessed by the next boss! Well, there goes the Library of the Ancients too…
So after learning a bit of how Mellusion works, I decided to restart the fight just so I could properly adjust my strategy. That and I was starting to run out of healing items. In the end, I ended up just mixing some Samson’s Mights and all the elemental resistances onto Krile (Red Mage) and just had her switch through all the rods and beat Mellusion up as she changed resistances. I didn’t even bother to raise Bartz when he died, because all I needed at that point was Krile.
With Reina back, I think it’s time to go claim those weapons I just worked so hard for. Wait a moment here, ExDeath. Anything but the Moogles! Okay, now you are going to pay. Anyways, now that ExDeath has officially made me on the hunt for blood, I decided to grab the Earth Bell, Assassin Dagger, and Excalibur from my tablet I got. I do believe it’s time to attempt to end this. Off to the N-Zone!
Well, okay… Maybe I’ll just stick to the entrance for a bit to gain some experience. I did an attempt at claiming treasure in the Pyramids and it didn’t go too well. After much debating on what to actually do, I finally just decided to do some leveling. A few hours of entrance grinding later, and making a quick trip to grab some items, I decided to delve on in.
It’s amazing how easy it is to get lost on what should be a straight path. Alas, many battles later – most of them I ran from – I made it to the first boss of this place. Unfortunately, I went into it completely unprepared. Ah well, I was still able to beat it, even if it did take a fair bit longer than it should have.
In the next area lies the ever-so-powerful Omega. I gave him one “attempt” but died quickly, and 
decided from then on to just avoid him. I sort of wasn’t expecting another boss so soon after and ended up going in unprepared yet again. I still managed to beat him and was able to continue onwards. The next boss was actually visible on the screen which meant I was actually able to “prepare” for it. Though, of course, it wasn’t enough preparation and I still died.
While this meant I had to fight the previous boss again, it meant I could actually go into it prepared! This time around, both of them died, and with the defeat of Azulmagia I was able to unlock the next save point. Catoblepas was next, and yet again he took a few tries. Once I realized I could just AI loop him by constantly mixing Float onto someone he went down. A quick trip back to the save point and onwards!
Yet again, I was able to beat the next boss with much issue. Though of course, I wasn’t prepared in the slightest for what game next – Twin Tania. I actually had quite a few issues and went through several strategy ideas before I beat him. In the end it turned into quickly super buff my Monk and then just pray I could win before Giga Flare. Hey, it worked!.
This is where things ended up becoming interesting. There was some combination of dying, more dying, and even more dying that lead to going back and doing a bit of grinding. At first it was just some level grinding, though that eventually turned into going back to try and farm my Geomancer a new weapon. I also went back to go check out Mirage Village and get some better equipment and elemental absorbing accessories.
After finally getting the new weapon for my Geomancer, I decided to go for what was take two at Necrophobe. The fight was extremely long and drawn out, involve making everyone immune to some elements, and a bit of luck on who was targeted on the non-absorbed attacks. Getting to hear that glorious Battle on the Big Bridge music one last time was also quite nice. Following the defeat of Necrophobe – and the unlock of the final save point – I decided to go play with Shinryu one last time. It didn’t end well, though I was able to actually survive a few turns!
At long last though, it’s time to end this thing. Let’s do this, ExDeath! Much dialogue and story later, I make a quick trip back to that save point just so I don’t have to rewatch the cutscenes. Alright, NOW let’s do this ExDeath!
Thanks to being able to get some ideas on some mixes (without too much help on an actual strategy), I was able to get through ExDeath without too many problems. I just did my usual berserk and majorly level up the Monk, though this time I added in the defense of the main elements, Reflect, and Shell. Of course, once ExDeath is down it isn’t over – because here comes Neo ExDeath! Well, I should say “Neo X-Deth” since I’m on the PlayStation version.
This fight was actually extremely challenging. There was several points in it where I was getting really scared, including one where all that was alive was my Chemist and Red Mage. My Monk was still Berserked and my Geomancer was abusing the fact that the only skill it could get right now was Wind Slash. A long, painful, battle later, Final Fantasy V was at last conquered.
I hope that you have all enjoyed reading about my adventures through the world of Final Fantasy V. The Four Job Fiesta proved a nice challenge for me, and in fact I’m looking to do a second run this year! I might give it a bit of a break before I do though, I’d like to actually finish my Zidane Solo in Final Fantasy IX first. Although man, it sure is tempting to start it now… What would I do for a second playthrough, you wonder? I mean surely I wouldn’t want to do just a regular run again! Well, perhaps I might be crazy… but I do believe I want to do a Random Natural run next.
Will I do it? Stay tuned…
