On day 38 of my Final Fantasy Marathon, I left off after regaining the ability to summon Bahamut. Today, I’m making the final push toward the end of the game.

The Depths continued

I continue making my way through the Depths. I find a Lunar Helm for Cecil. I pass through a room full of Mysterious Girls, who are just standing there.

In the next room, I find more Mysterious Girls behind glass doors. They are identified as Maenads.

I find some Lunar Gloves, but don’t equip them. Cecil gets the Lunar Shield. I find what appears to be a Maenad child behind one glass door.

I interact with it, and it comes out of the glass and asks who Rydia is. Rydia tells the child her name.

The Maenad asks for orders. Rydia asks it to stay there and be a good girl.

The Maenad asks, “You wish for me to remain here?” Rydia says yes and asks her to be a good girl again, as if that phrase would have any meaning to her.

The Maenad says it understands, and the exit door opens. The next room contains a bunch of platforms with crystals.

Everybody gets a crystal

In this room, I must walk up to each crystal and interact with it. Some give the message that it’s a Crystal we’ve never seen before and those I leave.

The rest are the Crystals the Maenads took from Earth. Those I collect and then move on to the next room.

Lunar Odin

In the next area, there is a blue chest that prompts me whether I want to open it or not. When I do, it triggers a battle with Lunar Odin.

He’s basically a significantly more difficult version of regular Odin. I lose the fight and decide I need to do some leveling up to have a chance to beat him.

Since I’m going to grind anyway, I decide to do some tail chasing while I’m at it. I use Rosa’s Teleport and walk back to the Lunar Whale.

I buy three rare bands and two treasure hunter bands to increase my odds of getting rare drops. I then head to the Lair of the Father 1 to hunt the green dragon.

I didn’t get any tail, but after a bit of leveling up I did take down Lunar Odin. My prize was Ragnarok, which I gave to Cecil.

The difference maker was getting Rosa to level 55, where she learns the Arise spell. Beyond that, I just kept hitting him with bands and using Rosa to revive fallen party members.

Lunar Leviathan

Another blue chest held a fight with Lunar Leviathan. The main challenge here is that only Kain could survive his opening Tidal Wave attack.

Fortunately, Leviathan doesn’t do a whole lot between those attacks, so I was able to toss a phoenix down at Rosa and then use X-potions to heal Kain, while Rosa revived fallen party members.

Then I just hit him with my best available bands and repeated the process until he died. My reward was the Hero’s Shield, which I gave to Cecil.

Lunar Bahamut

The next blue chest held Lunar Bahamut. This one took me a few tries and some leveling up to get past.

Kain was the only party member who could survive his megaflare attack. My strategy was to have Kain throw a spider silk at him and then have everyone else use a light curtain to cast reflect on themselves, except Rosa who used her spell.

This left just Kain exposed to the first megaflare. I then had him heal with x-potions and had Rosa protect herself with reflect and Kain if she had time.

The complicating factor being that Bahamut has a black hole ability that gets rid of status effects, meaning I’d have to hurry up and try to cast reflect again before he megaflared.

In between, I used the best bands I had live party members for and focused on keeping Kain’s HP high enough to survive megaflare if he wasn’t protected by reflect. In the end, only Kain was still standing when I dealt the killing blow, fortunately he was able to survive Bahamut’s parting Meteor attack.

The Ultima weapon was my reward. I gave it to Kain.

What is that thing?

I reach a teleporter that takes me to the Bottommost Depths. We finally meet the big bad and it’s…a giant vagina ball with robotic tentacles?

I hit it with the Final Fantasy Band and it puts a metallic cover on its vag hole. I hit it with another band and a Flare and it transforms.

Dog with droopy boobs

A white dog with droopy boobs emerges from the vag hole. It says it is the keeper of the Crystals. It tells us that we see the Crystals as embodiments of wisdom, but that isn’t their sole function.

While the Crystals granted us the tools to grow and advance as a civilization, they were recording and storing the process and final result of every evolution. Boob dog tells us that it is in the midst of an experiment involving the future evolution of life.

That is why it created the Crystals. Now, it is time to harvest them. That is what it sent the Maenads to Earth to do.

The Maenads were its latest experiment, built from data stored in the Crystals. Cecil asks why the moon is set to collide with the Earth.

Boob dog says the Earth’s time is over. We didn’t evolve well enough and now he’s going to destroy us.

He attacks again and I hit him with a few bands. He transforms again.

Androgenous Humanoid

The boob dog transforms into an androgenous, vaguely humanoid-looking creature. He reveals that he once lived on a blue planet like ours.

His race consumed all of the planet’s resources, forcing them into space. However, most of their fleet was also destroyed, leaving just him.

He was curious how they could have evolved differently, so he created the Crystals, which is why he is called the Creator. He used the Crystals to study other civilizations.

He attacks again, and a single band takes him out. He tells us that the destruction of his outer shell has affected his mind, and he transforms again, asking how they were supposed to live.

Alien pufferfish woman

In his strangest transformation yet, the Creator evolves into a giant pufferfish with a winged woman on top. It knocks out our party and the Crystals gather around us.

We see scenes of people around the world sensing something is up. Everyone back at the Lunar Whale wills us to stay alive.

One-by-one our party members stand back up. The Crystals regain their light. We battle the Creator again.

At first we can’t harm it. When I shine the light of one of the crystals on it, it becomes vulnerable and the battle begins in earnest.

I use the same tactics as for most boss fights. I hit it with bands, summon Bahamut, and heal the party with Rosa.

After I beat it up enough, it tells me the destruction has already begun and that we should run. We take off back the way we came.

The Creator occasionally catches up to us, attacking from behind and we must fight it off again. Fortunately, it’s attacks do more damage to itself than us.

We encounter the Maenid child waiting where we left it. The Creator catches up to us again, and this time, after we fight it for a while, a Maenad shows up to help.

Rydia tells the Maenad child to come with us and she does. We go through several more rounds of the Creator attacking and Maenads coming to our aid.

The Maenads tell us to watch the child. The child is them. The child is their future. One questions how the Creator could do what it is doing.

The Maenad says the creator is their father and then destroys it with Meteor. The Creator thanks us.

The aftertmath

Corio spots the True Moon moving away from Earth. Rydia hopes it will leave us once and for all.

Edge wonders if the creator sent the moon away for us, just before it fell apart. Kain wonders what this means for the future of their Crystals.

Cecil says the Crystals are just a tool, like his sword or our magic. The scene shifts to Earth.

Young love

The Epopts are happy to get their Crystal back in one piece. They make Leonora an official Epopt, as Izayoi spies in the background. Leonora thanks them, but has something to say.

Back in Mysidia, Palom is staring at the Water Crystal. Porom tells him the Elder wants to see him.

They go see the Elder and he asks Palom if he has made a decision about sage training. Palom says that can wait, because Mysidia needs him.

The Elder says that is what he has been waiting to hear, and hands over the care of Mysidia to Palom and Porom. He says their differences are exactly what will lead them along the right path.

A visitor arrives from Troia. It is Leonora. She tells them she gave up being an Epopt and wants to train as a Sage instead.

Porom says she’ll help however she can. Palom tries to play it off like he doesn’t care. Tsukinowa spies on the proceedings, disguised as a frog.

Underworld

King Giott and Luca are discussing their Crystal in the Underworld. The King says he doesn’t care what the Crystals were made for.

He sees no reason not to continue to protect them as they always have. Cid shows up with his grandson Mid.

Mid is excited to see Luca again. They all leave for the Falcon. Luca and Mid make some upgrades to the Falcon.

King Giott promises Cid anything he needs. Luca says they need a crew. Giott volunteers, but she says she meant his bodyguards, one of which is Zangetsu in disguise.

Fabul

The Duke Consort and the Chancellor are staring at the Wind Crystal. The Chancellor wonders if things can ever be the same now that they know the Crystals’ true nature.

Sheila walks in and asks what difference it makes. She says people pray to the Crystals because the Crystals are always there for them.

The Chancellor asks after Yang. She tells him Yang is training with Ursula. They remark on how much Yang’s attitude toward Ursula has changed.

Sheila says he told her, “How can I believe in my people’s future if I can’t believe in my own daughter?” We see Ursula and Yang training.

Gekkou is watching. He remarks that Fabul has its own honor to uphold.

Damcyan

Harley asks Edward if the Crystal is the same as always. He says it is. However, he thinks their Crystals are different from the others the Creator made.

He says it would have taken more than their nation’s belief in the Crystal for it to regain its light. Edward believes the Crystals are evolving in response to their own evolution.

The Chancellor shows up and asks if they obtained the material they were discussing earlier. Harley says she made the necessary arrangements.

Edward thanks Anna and Tellah. Their ghosts appear as Edward walks away.

Eblan

The Seneschal is looking for Edge. Edge is walking on the castle ramparts. The Eblan Four show up and make their reports on the various kingdoms they spied on.

Edge tells them they are free to live the life they have wished for. They all say they will stay with Edge.

Mist

Some kids are teaching the Maenad child, now called Cuore, how to speak properly. The Eidolon King and Queen show up to see Rydia.

They call Mist a fine place and say if Rydia can’t come visit them, then they will come visit her. Rydia introduces them to Cuore.

The Queen says she looks a lot like Rydia when she was a child. Edge arrives and Cuore calls him out for being late.

The Queen says it was Edge who suggested they come visit Rydia. Edge goes off to play with Cuore and Rydia thanks him.

Baron

Cecil is practicing the sword with Ceodore. Kain shows up and announces he is now Ceodore’s squad captain.

Cecil tells Kain he is counting on him. Kain and Ceodore leave.

Rosa and Cecil wonder how Golbez is doing. We see Golbez on the Lunar Whale. He flashes back to Mount Ordeals.

He is kneeling at the monument to his father. Cecil asks him if he is sure he wants to go.

Golbez says he has to find out what happened to FuSoYa and the Lunarians. He bids the Baron crew farewell.

Ceodore tells him he hopes to see him again someday. Golbez thanks him.

The fucking Red Wings

Luca asks if it’s really in the best interest of the Red Wings not to upgrade the airships. Cid says Cecil decreed they disarm all the airships and never rearm them.

Luca says it seems like a waste, but that does sound like something Cecil would do. Cid tells Kain they are ready when he is.

Kain says they are going on a reconstruction support mission to every nation in the land. We get a view of Biggs and Wedge’s ghosts.

Kain says the first stop is Damcyan, where Edward has some building material for them. The Red Wings take flight and the credits roll.

We see some small scenes of the characters interacting, one of which implies FuSoYa is still alive. It ends with one final shot of all the game’s playable characters, followed by a Crystal and the words “The End.”

I finally get to save my game. The game has a New Game+ mode that lets you start a new game while keeping your levels and band abilities.

I don’t see the point in playing the whole thing over again. I may try playing just the final Tale with different groups of characters, so I can see how they perform.