When we last saw Benjamin, he was about to enter Pazuzu's Tower on an epic quest to save Otto's daughter Norma.
Well that was easy.
Norma: I was afraid no one would find me, but now I can go home!
Benjamin: Your Dad's waiting for you.
Norma then proceeds to just walk out the front door. This may be the most unnecessary rescue ever.
Up this central path, there are eight enemies. At first glance, it looks like you'll need to fight two of them to advance.
You'd be wrong. That pillar just to my left? The top of isn't on the ground, and thus isn't treated as a wall. Therefore...
You can walk straight through it. Eight enemies blocking a path, and you have to kill a total of one in order to advance. Somehow, I don't think this was intentional. We'll go for that bird at the top right.
The Garuda is a reskin of the Roc and Sparna. It's main weakness is Aero. This is a recurring feature among enemies in this dungeon. Considering that this is the wind area of the game, this is rather surprising.
It looks like a boss, but it can't actually be the boss. Not this early.
And he disappears. How very Ice Golem-esque.
Remember what Otto said? There are switches on even-numbered floors, and the elevator can't move past a floor if the switch on it is hit. From the looks of things, we're going to have to go up, hitting switches on the way, then track down Pazuzu and kick his ass.
Remember that platform Norma was on?
Just to the right is a door. At the bottom of the screen is a small flight of stairs that is impossible to reach. Logic would dictate that we have to go through the door.
And we have ourselves another new enemy.
Beholders are reskins of Gathers from the Ice Pyramid and, like them (even though I didn't know this at the time), they can reflect magic. If you know this, it stops being dangerous, but it does make battles against other monsters dangerous if a Beholder just happens to be there, as you can't cast a spell that targets all monsters. The reason why should be obvious.
Like Gathers, Beholders are weak against explosives. Trouble is, if there's more than one of them, the explosive doesn't kill them both. Combine this with the fact that they have Cure for some reason, which can undo the damage, and you have an enemy that can be incredibly annoying.
Oh man if I was one of those people that named their weapons, I could have called my sword "Beauty", and had the best one-liner ever.
...
It'll click in a minute.
...
No?
Beauty is in the eye of the Beholder!
*stabs*
So, anyways, we kill them, and head up the stairs.
Oh my god how unnecessary. Contrived gameplay lengthening? I think so! Actually, I think the idea of the stairs might be to convey the idea that...
You're actually going up two floors at once. See? I started on Floor 1 and I'm now on Floor 3. This dungeon's layout is like one of those crazy multi-storey car parks, with stairwells that only take you up or down floors in sets of two. The problem, if all those switches are on even floors, and these stairwells will only take me to odd floors, how the hell am I supposed to get anything done?
Far side of the room, we've got some enemies guarding a staircase. On the right, we have a smaller set of stairs going down. Further around the path...
...and we have ourselves a new enemy.
Manticor. A reskin of the Sphinx from the Ice Pyramid. They're weak against Ice, but since Blizzard is so weak at this point, it's not paricularly effective. These aren't much of a threat really.
Apparently, the Manticore is a mythical creature. Wikipedia tells me it's similar to a Sphinx, which leads me to believe that they've actually done fairly thorough research for their monsters. This is actually kind of surprising, to be honest.
They still couldn't spell it right though could they?
Check out those small stairs below. Just like the little stairs on Floor 1, we can't get to these, or the ones going down, either.
Hmm, the monster ahead looks familiar.
Ah yes, the Chimera. We may have already ran into this in the basement of Focus Tower. Specifically, Doom Castle, a dungeon we haven't been to. The Chimera is a reskin of the Gidrah, the boss of the Giant Tree, or maybe it's the other way around. It's still exactly the same as it was when we probably fought it though, so I won't go into detail (again) here.
Maybe.
They do seem to have poison-touch, which I didn't notice before (if that battle happened). It inflicts poison on you if you attack it physically, much like the petri-touch of the Stoney Roost from the Ice Pyramid. Except different.
A whole crowd of enemies guarding two treasure boxes, both of which contain Explosives.
So now that we're done here, we'll head across to the other side of the room, through the Beholder, Manticor and Chimera, then head up the stairs. Today's stairwell monster is the Beholder.
Floor 5. At first, it looks like we've come out into a dead end but...
...a stealth tunnel!
Stairs, but we'll keep going around through these enemies. Speaking of which, there's a new one.
Thanatos. A reskin of Dullahan, the boss of Mount Gale. It's a slightly purplier shade of blue, and weak against Blizzard, Aero and Thunder. It's not difficult to kill in the slightest.
Hmm. A Mage reskin.
Sorcerers are reskins of the Mages from the Ice Pyramid. Sorcerers are weak against Aero, and pretty easy to kill if you focus your attacks on one at a time. Try to take on a few at the same time, though, and they'll have a chance to Cure themselves.
This'll be where the lift comes up. Look to each side. Little tiny stairs on each side going each direction.
We'll need to head up the big stairs now. The stairwell enemy du jour is the Manticor.
Immediately notice: tiny stairs on the right.
Notice: clouds on the left hand side. We're now on the roof.
Big chest just by where Pazuzu would be were he on this floor? Fairly sure you can take a stab at what's inside it. Seriously, guess. Get a piece of paper and write down what you think it is. I'll wait. I am just text after all.
Hint: It's not money.
Anyways, Thanatos, Sorcerer, Chimera...
And we have a peg with no purpose. The thing above looks like it should be a UCETC. but it isn't. I'm not sure what the hell's going on to be honest.
And in the top right, we have further tiny stairs.
Through the Sorcerer, Chimera, Sorcerer, then down to the left and through a Thanatos, and we're at the first set of tiny stairs I mentioned.
We head down the stairs, and hey, no stairwell. We're just downstairs on Floor 6. Even numbers, finally.
We'll head back upstairs for now though.
Through the Thanatos and down the other stairs.
To the left, you'll see a switch. These are the switches we need to flip to stop the elevator. We'll head through the Sorcerer, and down to the new enemy.
Naga, a Lamia reskin. Weak against Blizzard, Aero and Thunder. The exact same as Thanatos, in other words. You couldn't have just left one off for the sake of uniqueness, could you?
We beat it, head down through a door and bam, we're back at the first set of stairs. I really can't see the need for the two sets to be honest. It really just seems like they're there to confuse you.
They succeeded.
That treasure box contains Cure Potions, by the way.
Ooh we're going to need that. Through the Naga and the Sorcerer, and we'll see what's inside.
It's a Wizard spell. It's the last Wizard spell. You all know exactly what Flare is.
Let's see the scale of it.
958 damage each on two enemies.
And on one?
Bahahah. This must be what God feels like.
The Sorcerer was guarding little stairs.
We'll blow up this door...
The path above was accessed by jumping, contained a Naga, Sorcerer, Naga and Sorcerer, and led to the big stairs. Big stairs always lead to stairwells and go up or down two floors. We'll be ignoring those from now on, and just using the little stairs, to make sure we get everything we need on every floor.
And now the elevator can't get past Floor 6. Hurrah. Those Nagas are guarding the spot where Pazuzu would be were he on this floor. We'll be leaving them for now, and heading down the tiny stairs.
Back down to Floor 5. You should remember these stairs. Through the Thanatos then down the path.
Through the Sorcerer and Garuda, then over the gap.
I do not know what's in either of those treasure boxes because I never bothered getting them. Further up, there's another Thanatos, then the stairs down to the next floor.
Floor 4. Is that a treasure chest I spy in the bottom right corner? And there's Pazuzu, just hanging around in the middle of the room. Chillaxing with all his... well just what the heck are these anyway?
Gargoyles, Avizzard reskins. Weak against Aero. And just as liable to die if Flared as anything else.
Chimera, door, Sorcerer, tiny stairs, door.
Somehow, I find it difficult to believe that if you actually had two Sorcerers and three goat-lizard-lion hybrids, they'd just clump together in one corner of the room. More importantly, if they were, what would they be doing?
Ew.
Anyway what's in the box?
And that completes our weapon collection! Excalibur increases the Knight Sword's attack power from 127 to 207. Just for comparison, the Giant's Axe currently has an Attack power of 185. Considering that neither Excalibur nor the Giant's Axe cause any status ailments, the Giant's Axe usefulness rating now slides all the way down to zero. Sucks to be you, inanimate object.
Through the other door, and we end up here. Left and down takes us to the big stairs leading up. Left and up takes us to a Chimera, and the big stairs leading down. Yeah I don't get why they have them like that either. It also takes us to...
...the all important switch!
We'll head back and go down the tiny stairs. May as well wait until we've hit all the switches before we have a chat with Pazuzu.
Downstairs, there's a box containing Cure Potions.
And we claw our way over to the platform with the tiny stairs going down. Those two Beholders don't seem to be guarding anything, so I have no clue whatsoever as to why they're there. But they're there, which means I can ignore them and go downstairs.
We'll go for the Thanatos first.
We're going to need these stairs sooner or later, but first, we'll kill the Naga and Gargoyle, and go get the treasure boxes. Heal Potions and Cure Potions are our rewards.
Back up, we'll kill that Naga and see where we end up.
Oh well that's nice.
Oh so that's what happens when you throw the switch. That should have been obvious.
I'm kind of confused at how you get to that big pile of the rest of the room though.
Oh, that's how.
I'm going to assume that this path leads up to Pazuzu's platform and go to those stairs instead.
Cure Potions out here, and in that door with the Beholder, we have Cure Potions, Heal Potions and Refreshers.
Hmm...
I wonder when the last time we found Seeds in a box was...
Answer: Too damn long ago.
Back up and down the other little stairs and hey, we're back at the front door. How convenient.
Oh wait shit Pazuzu's on an even floor.
FFFFUUUUUUUUUUU-
SEVERAL MINUTES LATER
After having climbed all the way up to the top, then back down to Floor 4, we're here again.
Those boxes have Cure Potions and Heal Potions.
Pazuzu: You can't catch me!
And he disappears. Of course, considering he can't move down past Floor 4, or up onto Floor 6, there's only one place he can be.
Alright, how do I get down there? Maybe the other side?
Oh wait hang on. You can only get to Pazuzu from the big stairs on this floor.
But that means...
...
FFFFUUUUUUUUUUU-
SEVERAL MINUTES LATER
After having climbed all the way up to the roof, then back down to Floor 5, we're here.
Pazuzu: And you can forget about Captain Mac!
"What does Captain Mac have to do with this? What are you even doing anyway? The wind in Windia had nothing to do with you. We rescued Norma, so why the hell are we even here? Just what the fuck is going on?"
My thoughts exactly.
This is Pazuzu. Pazuzu is weak against Aero. This only matters for Kaeli because Benjamin is basically going to use Flare FOREVER.
After a surprisingly large number of hits.
Psychshield? What does that do?
Oh. It's an appearance change, in disguise as a technique. Except it actually has a purpose as well. Psychshield basically causes all magic to be reflected for a few turns. It says when it wears off though, so it's not like there's any risk. In other words: we're forced to use Excalibur and the Giant's Axe for a few turns. Oh no.
Hmm. I'm slightly uncomfortable with how his new form looks more relaxed than the old one.
Pazuzu has an attack which causes petrification, so you might need to heal once in a while. I didn't because for some reason he didn't use it AT ALL, but you might not be so lucky.
If it weren't so demonic looking, I'd almost say this was seductive.
How creepy is that?
Fairly.
And after a few more hits, he goes down.
Wait, what are you going in there for? We've jammed the lift, remember? That was kind of the point of the ridiculously long trip up and down the tower?
Oh apparently now it works for some reason.
Hey we're on the roof and here's the Crystal.
Now get that piece of paper you wrote on earlier ready because I'm about to open the chest.
You ready?
Here we go!
Note: Unless you actually wrote "Sky Coin", you don't win. "Green coin", "Coin with a trophy on it" and "green coin with a trophy on it" are all unacceptable, as is any phrase ending in the word "GET".
And we're done here. Let's Exit and...
...actually what the heck are we supposed to do now?
We're back in Windia. Normally after we free the Crystal there'd be some sort of geological change but that hasn't happened this time. What the hell are we supposed to be doing?
Let's talk to Otto. He's clever, he's bound to know.
But before Otto has a chance to reply, something stupid happens.
Yes, it's Reuben.
Reuben: Yeah! And guess what I found when I fell?
"Uhm, your shattered legs?"
Reuben: A stairway to the top of the Focus Tower!
Benjamin: Stairway?!
"Metal Gear?!"
Also, I'm not entirely sure I like how the stairway's existence is revealed almost immediately after we got the coin for a door in the Focus Tower we can't reach. Seems a bit too contrived for my liking!
Otto has an idea! An idea that is not relevent whatsoever to the conversation Benjamin and Reuben are having, but an idea nonetheless!
Benjamin: How?
Otto: Go to Spencer's tunnel. Set a bomb there, and the water from the Upper Lake will spill into the dry lake!
Benjamin: But Spencer's tunnel has caved in.
"How?"
"It happened when Phoebe did the exact thing you're suggesting now."
Otto: If you power the Rainbow Road Machine with Thunder Rock, you can reach Spencer's Place!
Reuben: Dad will know about this!
Benjamin: Kaeli, would you take care of Norma? Reuben and I know the Focus Tower well, so we'll be back from Fireburg in no time.
Kaeli: Of course.
As I understand it, Kaeli went from Foresta to Aquaria, then we picked her up from there and brought her to the Giant Tree. She's thus been through the Focus Tower twice. Tristam started in the Bone Dungeon, and has since been in Fireburg and on the Rope Bridge, before coming back, with me, to Aquaria. He also might have been in Aquaria before he went to Fireburg depending on whether that bullshit I made up in Chapter 9 about him meeting Kaeli is actually canon or not. So he's been in the Focus Tower three or four times. You, on the other hand, started in Fireburg and fell off the Rope Bridge, and as such, have been in the Focus Tower once. The only person who has been in the Focus Tower less than you is Phoebe, who's far too depressed to even leave the house, let alone go exploring some tower.
My point is, Reuben, the fact that you know the Focus Tower better than Kaeli is both an incredibly stupid reason to have you come along instead, and a reason that is completely and utterly wrong.
Now fuck off.
"Reuben, try not to die, you moron."