Before I got to explore, my ship got boarded by Kain. Golbez offered a trade – Rosa for the Earth Crystal of Troia. .So, after exploring the entire map and getting some nice items, I’ve reached the city of Troia. I’ve found Edward in an infirmary there, but he was too weak to join my party. He mentioned that the Earth Crystal was stolen by a Dark Elf and taken to a cave to the north east. To reach the cave, I needed a black Chocobo, as the cave is surrounded with a forest. I got a black Chocobo to the north of Troia.

There was a magnetic field in the cave, so I had to use non-metallic equipment. It was tough at first, but it got easier after gaining a few experience levels. After some fighting, I got to the crystal room where the elf was waiting for me. Off course, he kicked my ass. Just as I thought it was all over, at the castle Edward realized what was happening and started playing a song. This broke the elf’s concentration and got rid of the magnetic field. After that, the elf was a cakewalk.

When I got back to the castle, I got a bunch of nice items from their treasury. After getting back to the airship, Kain got there with his ship, and took me to the Tower of Zot where Rosa was waiting for me at the top floor. Now I gave to fight a bunch of enemies to get there.

We cleared the mountain, and met a monk named Yang on the way. He was from the city that Baron plans to attack next, so we told him all about it and promised his king to help out in the defense. The defense failed, off course, and Baron took the crystal, but not before I found out that Kain betrayed me. It turns out the king of Baron is actually controlled by a man in dark armor named Golbez. He somehow brainwashed Kain in to following him. Needless to say, I got my ass kicked, and they took Rosa.

After the battle, my party decided that the best move would be to surprise attack Baron by sea. The king gave as a boat, and we were on our way. At sea, Leviathan attacked our ship, Rydia fell overboard and Yang jumped after her. Edward got knocked out, and then there was a blackout. I woke up on the beaches near Mysidia, the town I attacked at the beginning of the game (in the flashback). Although angry at me, their leader said I can’t defeat Golbez as a Dark Knight, so he sent me to a mountain nearby to become a Paladin. He’s also sent Palom and Porom, the twin mages, to accompany me. On the way to the mountain top, I encountered Tellah the Sage again, who wants to learn Meteor on the same mountain. Off course, he joined me. At the top, we defeated the Archfiend of earth, Scarmiglione, in his both forms. Cecil became a Paladin, and now he rocks even harder.

After returning to Mysidia, the way to Baron was open. There, I’ve found Yang was brainwashed by Golbez to, so I kicked his ass and brought him to his senses. We entered the castle trough a tunnel from the town of Baron. There, I trashed a guard who was mean to me at the beginning of the game, and then got my ass handed to me (there’s allot of ass in this post) by the king, who was actually Cagnazzo, the Archfiend of water. Right now, I’m trying to figure out how to survive his Tsunami attack.

EDIT: Cagnazzo is no more. It turns out, in order to stop Tsunami, I had to Attack him with lightning attacks. Even so, I just barely killed him. All of my characters except for Cecil and Yang who was paralyzed were dead. Cecil was just about to die to, but his attack killed Cagnazzo. I love it when it’s that close. Sadly, while escaping, Palom and Porom had to turn to stone in order to save the rest of us. We saved Cid, and escaped in his airship, the Enterprise. So now I have my own airship. It’s time to explore the world.

After completing the last DS game, I decided to start this one. I’ve played for 3 hours and 15 minutes and got to a mountain I need to pass trough now. Since I started the game, two towns got destroyed (three if you count the one in the flashback). The main character is a Dark Knight named Cecil, and his companion is a Dragoon named Kain. Right now, my party consists of Cecil, a girl Summoner named Rydia, a White Mage named Rosa, and a Bard named Edward. Rydia is a girl from a village of summoners called Mist that I unintentionally destroyed, Rosa is Cecil’s friend, and Edward is the prince of an empire that got destroyed. I also encountered a Sage whose name I can’t remember right now. I really like the game, and I think I will finish it quite soon.

I’m 75 hours in to the game, and I’ve completed 210 quests. The story is almost complete, and as far as I know, I have one more quest until I finish it. Luso is level 58, and I have recruited Vaan and Penelo. Vann will be my new thief, as his skills are quite useful in that area. Adelle is level 32, and I have unlocked her special job – the Heritor. The job has some nice skills, but I’m keeping her as a Seer until she learns all of the level 2 Black Magick spells. Hurdy is level 46 and I’m training him as a thief to increase his speed. My Viera Red Mage/Summoner has learned double cast, and is now one of the most powerful characters I have. I’ll go play some more now.

EDIT: I’ve completed the main quest line, and with it, completed the game. The final quest consisted of three battles with a possibility to save between the first two. Luso ended up on level 59, with most of the characters (except for Adelle) closely behind. After the end credits stopped rolling, I was offered to save the game one more time. This gave me a “game completed” title on the save I chose. I’m guessing that completing the game unlocked some extra side quests. The final quest count was 211. I will off course continue to play the game and finish the rest of the side quests, but right now, I think I’ll start another game.

199 quests are solved now. I have advanced the story further, and got Adelle back. I had to fight her and she was level 46, so I hoped she would stay that way, but no such luck. Luso is level 55 now, and I have played the game for 71 hours. I have unlocked the Geomancer and Lanista jobs. The next story quest will take me against Vaan and Penelo, so I’m hoping I will be able to recruit them. There seems to be a Sky Pirate job (based on the weapons I have acquired) and a Dancer job, so that’s probably them. Both pages of the book at the top screen are almost completely filled (there’s room for two more lines), so I’m guessing the main story is almost over to.

I’ve finished 193 quests and advanced the story even further. I have kicked out my Nu’Mou Sage/Alchemist, and replaced him with Hurdy the Bard (and currently a Black Mage to). He learned geomancy, so he can kick as even at level 37 he’s currently on. Adelle is level 25 and I have decided to turn her in to a Seer. She has already learned a bunch of High Magick abilities but isn’t very useful yet. I also hired a Banga at level 30, and I’m training him every now and then.

Today, I actually looked at the back of the game box, and there it says that there are over 300 quests in the game, so I guess my 68 hours could turn in to about 120 before the game is complete.

EDIT: After finishing another story quest, Adelle has left my clan. She will probably be back, but it still sucks. Anyway, the quest count is now 198, and the auction season started again, so I’m in the middle of that now.

The quest count is now 160. I advanced the story again, but haven’t unlocked any new classes. Luso has mastered the Paladin job and will probably remain a Parivir for the rest of the game. I may train him as a Ninja for a few levels for speed, or as a Paladin for defense. I’m 59 hours in the game, the story is probably about 75% done, and Luso is level 50.

EDIT: The quest count is now 174. Most of my characters are now nearing the end of their builds. I have started training Adelle, so she can replace my Moogle thief. Cid finally caught up with the rest of the team, and I have dismissed some of the weaker clan members, so the average level can be lowered. I will probably end up with my main 6 clan members on high level, and maybe one or two backups. The backups will be one of each race, and they will learn the prerequisites for all of their jobs, so that I can dispatch them on quests when necessary. Luso is now level 53, and the rest of the guys are around 50. Adelle is level 15, so that will be a problem. I’m 63 hours in the game.

EDIT2: The quest count is 178. I have just dismissed all of the characters I have “on the side” and don’t use. They were all low level, so that lowered my average clan level. Now I can recruit high level units from the start. As I said, I will recruit one of each race, and make all of their jobs available. I will mainly use them for dispatch and wanted quests. Cid has mastered the Master Monk job, and has learned all of the available White Monk jobs. Adelle is now level 17. She’s still useless, but not for long. I also unlocked a bunch of new items at the store.

I played it pretty much since I woke up, so I’m taking a break now. The number of quests solved rose up to 143, and I have unlocked the Viking and Trickster jobs. Luso is now level 45, and I have unlocked a bunch of oriental blades at the shop, so he’s back to being a Parivir. I’ll play some more later. Oh, by the way, I have been playing for a total of 53 hours.

EDIT: The quest count is now at 150, and I have advanced the story by two quests. The bard didn’t have any info about my dreams, but he has decided to join my clan. I probably won’t be using him, but it is nice to have a unique character. The auction season started again so I got a bunch of cool new items. I got the Zeus’s Staff, the Master Sword, Genji Armor and a bunch of other high end equipment pieces.

I solved a total of four quests tonight, but one of them was a three part one. Luso is level 44 now, and he has almost mastered the Paladin job. As for the Parivir one, most of the equipment isn’t available jet. I have unlocked sprint shoes in the shop which increase my movement. I’ve also unlocked an Assassin sword that teaches the Ultima Masher ability. My Assassin did 360 points of damage with this one. The problem is it costs 32 MP, so I can’t use it that often.

Today there was a thunderstorm here, so I had to unplug my computer and stop playing Devil May Cry. This allowed me to return to this gem. I can’t believe I haven’t played it for over a week. I did about 7 or 8 quests and advanced the story. I’ve also unlocked the Seer job and learned a bunch of new skills. I’m dumping the Gladiator/ Defender for a Master Monk/ White Monk since that one is one of the main characters (Cid). I’m also thinking about dumping the Moogle thief and replacing him with Adelle. She learned a bunch of nice Parivir and Ninja skills, so she could be more useful. Right now my party is tracking a Moogle Bard that may have some information I need.