Walkthrough:Final Fantasy V/Apoqliphoth/Part 22

Castle Exdeath

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Enemies

#123 Twin Lizard #124 Blind Wolf #125 Hellraiser (White Wind) #126 Reflect Mage #127 Magic Dragon (Level 2 Old), (Off-Guard), (Aeroga) #128 Black Warlock

#129 Adamantite Golem #130 Bandercourl #131 Iron Fist #132 Blue Dragon #133 Red Dragon #134 Yellow Dragon

Items

• Ether
• Diamond Shield
• Ice Shield
• Ether
• Hayate Bow
• Elixir
• Ice Brand
• Kotetsu
• Elixir
• 8,000 Gil
• Twin Lance
• Partisan
• Fuma Shuriken

Blue Magic

Doom

Enemies: ???
Location: Exdeath Castle
MP: 10
Effect: Inflicts Doom on one enemy, KOing them after 30 seconds.

Don't expect this to work on many enemies. It doesn't even work on bosses like it does in Final Fantasy X, with its amusingly long countdown period. Also, a later Job (yes, there are more Jobs on their way) uses a faster, more efficient version of this spell.

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Why are you taking a selfie Lenna, the walls are made of biology.

Head straight. The sight of the defeated soldiers is not a good sign. On the 2nd floor are two chests which contain an Ether and a Diamond Shield. Head up to the third floor. As you enter the large room to the left, you'll notice your character slow down as you cross the tile (on the GBA version at least). I wonder what's happening there...double back to trigger the 'it's a dead end' cutscene. Krile uses Galuf and Kelger's power to break the illusion guarding the castle, revealing it as...being made of body parts? Eurgh.

Well, let's continue. Upstairs, go south then east, and go north at the split. There's a switch somehow built into the wall on the right, which opens a wall to the right. I do not want to think too hard about that one. There's an Ice Shield for the grabbing.

Head south and west. In the second small hallway you can clip through the left wall and end up at the top of the stairs to 5F. Head north. You can clip through the wall to the right to shortcut your way to a chest containing an Ether. Take the stairs to 6F. Here, cast Float on your party. Enter the lava and go south. You can enter the wall to the right at the bottom to find a chest containing a Hayate Bow. Go back north and anti-clockwise around the room to find an Elixir. Go up the stairs to 7F.

Here, step on the skull. Press the confirm button to stop the platform. The chests contain an Icebrand and a Kotetsu. The pillars contain imp-like enemies (including the Jackanapes from Castle Walse). Land it in the middle to create the path ahead. There's a Save Point here, which is nice. On Floor 8, go right first. Enter the wall two tiles north of the x-axis on which the chest is situated (yay, I snuck in graphs!) and hit the chest from the north to receive an Elixir.

Go up to the 10th Floor, then back down to the 9th. Float the entire party, then go for a lava walk. Convection? Not even a thing? No? Ah well. Climb the rightmost stairs up to find chest containing 8,000 Gil. Back down!

Author's Note #14: I am so glad Float doesn't wear off every time you change floors like it did in Final Fantasy IV. Passage of the Eidolons and Sylph Cave can go straight to hell. They're close enough already...

Go left and climb the 'middle' staircase. Here you'll come to a platform with a ring of skulls in the middle. Unnerving. Some of the skulls are trapdoors that drop you into the lava, apparently overriding Float. Take a lot at this to see which skulls are safe:

The right chest contains a Twin Lance. The north skull is a warp that leads you a shiny orb. Ooh, shiny orb. Examine it for a fight.

Boss Battle: Carbuncle
	Level: 44 HP: 15,000 MP: 10,000 ABP: 11 Steal: Goliath Tonic, Reflect Ring Drops: Ash Weakness: - Immunity: Earth Absorbs: -

Difficulty: Simple

Strategy: It has inherent Reflect status, so don't throw magic at it. You can use physical attacks to deal damage in the first phase. Eventually, it loses its Reflect and becomes weak against all elements. Alternatively, you can just use Bio Spellblade or summon Catoblepas to defeat it instantly.

You receive the Carbuncle summon. Head down and into the warp. Go back up the southern staircase and into the ring of skulls. Step onto the southern skull to create a bridge. Go through the path to come to a Save Point. In the next room, open the chest...it's empty though. Who could have beaten us to it? Leave to the north to find out. It's Gilgamesh!

Boss Battle: Gilgamesh
	Level: 44 HP: 15,000 MP: 10,000 ABP: 11 Steal: Hi-Potion, Gauntlets (First Form); Genji Helm (Second Form) Drops: Excalipoor Weakness: - Immunity: - Absorbs: -

Difficulty: Medium

Strategy: Initially, he likes to spam ailments at you. Expect Flash, Pond's Chorus, Lilliputian Lyric, Time Slip and Rocket Punch, as well as physical attacks. Summoning Golem is useful to block his physical attacks. After enough damage, there'll be some top (expository) banter between Gilgamesh and the party. He's not such a bad guy, really. He transforms into his true, four-armed form. At this point, cast Slow on him. You want to steal that Genji Helm before Exdeath banishes him to the Void. 3, 2, 1, say it with me now, huskies...dick move, Exdeath.

Head right to a staircase which, in over five playthroughs, I have never noticed. Up on 12F, raid the chests for a Fuma Shuriken and a Twin Lance. The things you learn. Go back and save, assuming you got the Genji Helm.

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This is the point of no return -- make sure your inventory and Bestiary is consistent with the checklist from the previous section. If you're ready to proceed, head up to Floor 13 to confront Exdeath.

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Exdeath quite rightly points out that Bartz and co. (and by extension, you) don't know what Exdeath's plan actually is. He wants to return the planet to its original form. Whatever that means. Bartz is having none of it, and Exdeath decides to stop sending minions after the party and do things himself. You're going down.

Boss Battle: Exdeath
	Level: 66 HP: 32,768 MP: 32,768 ABP: 0 Steal: Elixir, Judgment Staff Drops: Nothing Weakness: - Immunity: Poison Absorbs: -

Difficulty: Hard

Strategy: This is fittingly rough. That HP count, though. 215, and half as large as the highest number a 16-bit system can handle. Which is why numbers like 128, 255, and 65535 are common 'cap' numbers in Final Fantasy games -- the program can't handle anything higher than those values (depending on the console, of course). Anyway, the battle. He uses Condemn, which KOs a character in 30 'seconds'. It's easy to recover from, it just breaks your flow. Start by casting Hastega and Level 2 Old, as well as summoning Golem. Old will slow him down and weaken him over time, giving you an easier ride. Having Flame Rings equipped will absorb his Firaga and negate Blizzaga, but having even one at this point is difficult. His powerful magic starts getting out of hand later on, with Level 3 Flare and Meteor being all kinds of nasty. Your best attacking methods are Zeninage and -aga spells, as well as Rapid Fire.

And Exdeath is down! Whoo. Unfortunately, the three crystals shatter, and all is a blur.

Author's Note #15: Please don't tell me they ignored the fourth crystal just to make the Exdeath battle room symmetrical down the middle. Oh no wait, one shattered back in the Guardian Tree. Contrived!

The party wakes up in a field (they're good at doing that, aren't they?) and Faris recognises Castle Tycoon.

We're back home!?

Lenna

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