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Since I didn’t go to the area of the next dungeon yet, I decided to explore around it for a bit. Misery Mire is located where the desert dungeon was located in the light world, but it was a swamp in the dark dimension. The exploration was worth it, netting me another two heat pieces as well as a bunch of rupies.

I couldn’t enter the dungeon yet, though. I was definitely at the entrance, but I couldn’t see any doors. What I did see was a small glyph on the floor nearby, which had the same yellow and brown coloring like the two spells I collected previously. This one, however, I didn’t have.

I started looking for it and it took me a good hour, but I finally found it west of the Tower of Hera. The spell is called Ether and it’s obviously lightning based, if the icon is any indicator. I got back to the Misery Mire entrance and used it on the platform to open the entrance.

A Link to the Past, Misery Mire Entrance

This is where you use the Ether to open the Misery Mire

Misery Mire required plenty of keys to get ahead, but the dungeon was designed so the key you needed was almost always nearby, usually attached to one of the enemies. Basically, the dungeon was way more focused on fighting than on puzzles.This dungeon was a lot harder and longer compared to the Icy Palace. The most annoying part was the large number of those laser shooting pillars from one of the earlier dungeons. I’m pretty sure these do a heck of a lot more damage than the ones I’ve seen before, though.

The second floor was in complete darkness, meaning I had to navigate slowly, and carefully. Of course, I didn’t really do that, so I had to restart in the first room plenty of times before I finally got through it. Eventually, I got to a room with a button that needed something placed on it, but no blocks nearby, nor any blocks or holes on the floor above.

A Link to the Past, Misery Mire Room

There’s a lot of projectile dodging in Misery Mire

I moved on and finally got the item of Misery Mire – The Cane of Somaria. This was what I needed for that button. The cane creates a movable block on the ground. Another use of the cane while the block is placed destroys it and causes missiles to shoot in the four basic directions, so it’s basically a bomb on a manual trigger. I placed the block on the button and was finally able to get to the boss.

A Link to the Past, Misery Mire Boss

I present to you, the Googly Eyes Boss

I got another crystal and another heart container. It was time for the next dungeon.The boss was, again, relatively straightforward. First I had to use the sword to destroy a bunch of floating eyes, while avoiding hits from the body. Once the small eyes were gone, the large one started following me around the room. I used my sword and the protection staff the name of which I keep forgetting, until my magic was gone. After that, another few hits with the bow and arrow were enough to beat it.

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The lunar station team consisted of Squall, Rinoa and Irvine, though Irvine didn’t have any use during these events. The Space part is where the story gets seriously weird. First of all, the president is up there and I meet him several times, but he’s always in a suit, so I don’t actually find out who he is until later.

Secondly, I’m suddenly told that this is where they keep Adel, the sorceress who ruled Esthar during the war and was overthrown sometime after Laguna’s imprisonment there. This whole idea seems pretty cool. They can’t kill her, probably because her powers would just transfer someplace else. Instead, they keep her suspended, or frozen, or something, in orbit around the planet. The station was built and deployed solely to monitor Adel and respond if anything unexpected happens.

Final Fantasy VIII, Space

There was a lot of FMV during the part in space.

Thirdly, I am told that the planet’s moon is infested with monsters. In fact, that’s where all the monsters on the planet come from. Periodically, similarly to how tides are caused by the moon, the planet causes a monster “bloom”. The amount of monsters dramatically increases; they somehow pile up and grow, and then finally fall down to the planet. This is what’s called a Lunar Cry and, if I understood this correctly, it happens at Tear’s Point, where Lunatic Pandora was heading. Pandora is somehow connected to the moon.

A lot of these things aren’t very well explained and are sort of just dropped on the player, so I can’t say I love the storytelling here, but the concepts are definitely pretty cool. The world of Final Fantasy VIII is, I’d say, much more alien compared to any other in the series, except perhaps Spira of Final Fantasy X, which is what I like, a lot.

Anyway, soon after we land on the station and I talk to Ellone, who is also there, Rinoa wakes up in a trance, under some sort of power. She trashes around the station with no one able to touch her, exits into open space and manages to free Adel. Then I have a series of events which advance the story and make me realize Rinoa is now under Ultimecia’s control and I’m forced to save her. It’s a lengthy series of scenes, but you don’t get to play much during them, so there isn’t to much to write about.

Irvine, Ellone and the station staff leave with an escape pod, while Squall remains behind to save Rinoa, who is drifting in Space. There’s another bunch of sequences where Squall really grows as a character,before they both finally remain alive, on an abandoned spaceship.

Final Fantasy VIII, Ragnarok

Ragnarok – The coolest airship of the franchise.

The ship is infested with monsters that revive one another. I had mixed feelings about this part back in the day. On the one hand, it was the first time I encountered non-random encounters. The monsters are actually visible in the field and the game switches to battle once you “touch” them. On the other hand, it took me a while to figure out the idea behind revival. Plus, I was weak on my first playthrough, which wasn’t the case this time around.

The revival mechanic is quite simple, really. There was a total of ten monsters, divided into same-color pairs. If you kill one, the other revives it after your next battle. This means the monsters forming a pair need to be killed one after the other, with no battles between these two. Basically, I had to figure out which colors are easiest to reach and eliminate them first, which then made the rest simpler.

I also used the opportunity to stock up on higher level magic, since the monsters can be mugged for wizard stones. I didn’t have to do it for too long, though, since I already had a nice supply available.

Once I was done clearing the place, I could access the cockpit and land the ship down to the planet, with the help of people on the surface. Squall and Rinoa had a nice moment there with actual music with vocals accompanying them. Once that was done, it’s revealed that Rinoa is in fact a sorceress and will be taken by Esthar soldiers once Ragnarok, as the ship is called, lands.

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Since I pretty much stumbled into the Ice Palace entrance by accident, I decided to just go for it. Right at the start, I had plenty of trouble. The enemy in the first inhabited room wasn’t getting hurt by my sword. It took me a while, because I somehow apparently went blind, but eventually, I figured out that the Fire Rod kills it in one hit. After it was dead, I realized there’s a sign on the wall that flat out said the enemies are hurt by fire.

A Link to the Past, Ice Palace Spikes

These spikes can hurt a lot.

Another new enemy appeared a few rooms later, after I got the compass. I’m not sure what they’re called, since I don’t have the game manual, but they’re giant skeletons which crumble with a single sword hit, but get back up seconds later. This time, I immediately noticed a sign on the wall, which said I need to use a different weapon once they’re down. It wasn’t too hard to figure out the bomb was what I needed.

The Ice Palace, of course, had plenty of ice tiles I had to walk on, which means plenty of rooms with spikes and those spinning fire things to crash into due to the slippery ice floor. Suffice to say, it was hard and annoying, but eventually, I managed to get through most of it.

The puzzles consisted of finding holes in upper floors to jump through, so I could access more areas on the lower floors. One of them even involved pushing a block through the hole, so it lands on a button on the lower floor.

The contents of the boss chest were my favorite part of the dungeon. The chest contained the Blue Mail. It’s a stronger armor which increased my defense and severely reduced damage I was getting from enemies. As I said, A Link to the Past really knows how to make you feel more powerful while not lowering the difficulty of the game at later areas.

A Link to the Past, Ice Palace Boss

This boss was more of a skill challenge then a puzzle.

The boss was relatively easy, though I needed enough magic to defeat its first form. I used the Fire Rod to destroy his outer frozen shell and then the same item against his second form. Once I was finally out of magic, I continued to hit him with the sword, while avoiding the stuff coming at me. The fight was simple and straightforward, but still not too easy. I picked up another heart container and another crystal, so I was ready for my next dungeon.

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I get that this game is a waste of time. I get that there’s no progress in it, no goals, no obstacles to pass. I get that in the long run, it doesn’t provide the same experience as  a Final Fantasy, Zelda or any other more meaningful game.

It’s fun, though. It’s also addictive. It provides short bursts of entertainment which serve amazingly well to spend those five minutes when I’m waiting for my ride, or I’m in line for something. Sadly, another thing it does amazingly well is that it drags me in past those five minutes, so I end up playing it for an hour.

Hill Climb Racing Unlock Screen

Of course! Unlock it!

For instance, I was waiting for the train yesterday. It took five minutes to get there, during which I played Hill Climb Racing. Then I continued to play it during the entire train ride, which was another fifteen minutes. Then I got out and continued to play it on the train station, instead of immediately walking home. I stood there, next to the street, like an idiot, for another 10 minutes.

During all of that, I managed to break my record on the desert and arctic stage, which got me enough money to buy the final car, which is a race car. I’m still not sure if this one is an improvement over the second vehicle, but I’ll be using it for the next while.

Anyway, then I got home and instead of playing stuff on my PC, or my PSP, I spent another half an hour on my phone, getting enough money to buy some upgrades for my new car. I’m still not sure it’s the best option for driving, but it’s definitely getting a lot better with the upgrades. It’s hard to decide which upgrades should be priority, though.