Inside, there were ninjas, who obnoxiously jumped around and threw shuriken for lots of damage. No, I don't know how humans visited this shrine already. Maybe they're Julius' guards? Revi fought them with his spear, as they were too dangerous to be fought up close.
The shrine's first boss was a dragon! Unfortunately, despite its stature, it wasn't a very remarkable opponent. It just sort of meandered around while hurling fireballs.
The shrine had teleporters connecting its various sections. I was a little apprehensive of the map turning into a teleporter maze. Thankfully, the game knew better, and didn't make it overtly convoluted.
This is, at once, the most complicated ice puzzle as well as the game's cleverest puzzle so far. You need to first steer an icicle around the maze to get rid of one minotaur, then steer the other to freeze the minotaur on the button tile. Why couldn't the game have more puzzles of this caliber?
Dragon round 2! It's...exactly the same as the first dragon, only it's red. On a black and white system. You slay me, developers.
In their continued attempts to convey their sense of humor, the developers make this room. I remain unamused.
The next fight is a blast from the past, the two headed dragon in skeletal form! It was actually a considerable step up because it threw lots of fireballs, but still quite manageable.
Beneath the dragon lay an ominously zigzagging path. The haunting background music added to the eerie atmosphere, and kept me on my nerves.
It led to a divine garden where Revi finally got the Excalibur, and a divine directive to defeat Julius. Thanks, goddess!
He soon came to face the vile man, who taunted him about having already absorbed the power of Mana. He also curiously suggested that he "didn't need Revi anymore!" Umm, when did he need him, exactly?
The first fight against Julius had Revi facing against three of him! Despite this, they were all dispatched easily.
Of course, Julius, being a final boss, didn't have just the one form. This form was...well, obnoxious. It constantly spent its time hovering and throwing lightning bolts, and was kind of a nuisance, as the cramped arena gave few good opportunities to dodge. Still, with a bit of perseverance and careful application of the sword slide, he was taken down too.
But that wasn't the end of it! Revi and Luna had a brief chat, only to be rudely interrupted by Julius' third form: the demon face with the burning beard! This was, honestly speaking, the easiest of the three forms - all he did was teleport randomly and shoot two fireballs, and with Luna's healing and Cure, there was more than enough healing around. His only real chances of defeating Revi came when he teleported into him while he was in an inconvenient spot, or when he flubbed his sword slides...both of which happened far too often, embarrassingly enough!
But eventually Julius was defeated...and the Mana tree, along with him. Huh? That was definitely not planned...
The goddess, who is also Luna's mother, appears one last time and informs Luna that she needs to turn into the new Mana tree, else the world is fucked. Oh, and also she's the last surviving member of the Mana family, so she better be well defended!
Luna solemnly accepts her new role, then turns to say her goodbyes to Revi. The goddess then orders him to protect her, making him stay in the shrine for the rest of his life...
He visits all of his acquaintances one last time to bid them farewell...
And the game ends with a glimpse of the new Mana tree, currently a tiny, fragile sapling. Here's hoping it fares better than Luna's mother...
So, that was Final Fantasy Adventure! A game that, on the whole, is fairly good, and certainly a solid first step for a new franchise. There were two bad pieces of design, the first when I had to go hunting for Fangs and then solving a terribly hinted puzzle, and the second when the game decided to be obnoxiously long and convoluted for no reason.
I was a little disappointed that after Marsh Cave and the creepy vampire castle, the game kinda didn't really build up much in terms of puzzle complexity. I also wish keys and mattocks were handled differently, I'm not sure what making them consumables really added to the gameplay. The ice puzzles were also a touch too volatile for my liking. But those gripes aside, this was a solidly fun action RPG, and a cute little spin on both Zelda and Final Fantasy.
Next time, we jump to the SNES! Oh. glorious color, how have I missed you!
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