Barrier Tower

The barrier tower is an unrevisitable location in Final Fantasy V existing only in Galuf's world. It is one of four constructs Exdeath uses to shield his castle within an impassable barrier.

History[]

The barrier tower was completed sometime before Galuf Halm Baldesion led his siege on Castle Exdeath over the Big Bridge after Exdeath returned to Galuf's world following his revival. Galuf was unaware that the barrier was finished when he sieged the castle, and it would have crushed his army had they activated it earlier.^[1] When the barrier was activated after the battle against Gilgamesh on the Big Bridge, it flung the Light Warriors Galuf, Bartz Klauser, Lenna Charlotte Tycoon, and Faris Scherwiz over to Gloceana, and ended the siege.

Xezat Matias Surgate, seeing that Castle Exdeath was well-protected on the Big Bridge side but relatively unprotected on the east,^[2] launched his fleet as a decoy to deploy the submarine and attack the barrier tower. While the fleet engaged Exdeath's forces, Xezat and the Light Warriors sneaked into the barrier tower through the seafloor where a tunnel had been dug by Xezat's troops under the tower.^[3]

Once inside, the party and Xezat went their separate ways to find a way to disable the tower, so that the barrier that protected Exdeath's castle would be destroyed. The party climbed to the top and defeated Atomos and destroy the antenna, disabling the tower. When the machine powering the tower exploded, Xezat was killed.

Geography[]

The barrier tower is one of four other towers located around the small island in the middle of Galuf's world, where Castle Exdeath is situated. Like the others, it is situated just outside the mountains surrounding the castle, as the barrier blocks surrounds the entire island. A tunnel underneath the ocean, dug by Xezat's men,^[3] is used to reach it.

The tower is a mixture of a medieval building with advanced technology. Though the structure is almost entirely made of stone, the antenna at the top, and the heavy machinery below, use advanced technology to project the barrier around the castle.

Gameplay[]

Items[]

Name	Location
9,000 gil	Second Floor
Blood Sword	Second Floor, guarded by Red Dragon, or Yellow Dragon x2
18,000 gil	Sixth Floor
Gold Hairpin	Tenth Floor, guarded by Red Dragon or Yellow Dragon x2

Enemies[]

Quests[]

The Barrier Tower is entered after completing the short quest at Xezat's Fleet. It is a dungeon in which the party must climb to the top. The tower itself is fairly challenging as is the boss at the top of the tower, meaning it is wise to level grind a fair amount before beating it. Once the Barrier Tower is complete, the next quest requires the player to use the newly-acquired submarine to travel to Ghido's Cave.

It is useful to bring a Blue Mage to the Barrier Tower as this is the first location where the following Blue Magic spells can be learned:

Time Slip from Traveler
Level 3 Flare from Red Dragon in a monster-in-a-box
- Use Chemist's Mix ability Dragon Defense (Phoenix Down+Dragon Fang) to cast reflect on the enemy
- Control it with a Beastmaster
- Use Level 3 Flare on the Red Dragon and bounce the spell onto a single randomly targeted party member
- The learner must be on level divisible by 3
Level 2 Old from Level Tricker (found towards the top of tower)
- Use Chemist's Mix ability Dragon Defense (Phoenix Down+Dragon Fang) to cast reflect on the enemy
- Control it with a Beastmaster
- Use Level 2 Old on the Level Tricker and bounce the spell onto a single randomly targeted party member
- The learner must be on level divisible by 2