Pinch hits at Casefic Exchange!
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anime_mangacaseficexchange is looking for pinch hitters to fulfil requests that include anime and manga fandoms.About the event: Casefic Exchange is a fanwork exchange focusing on investigations. These can be solving murders, retrieving stolen items, finding missing people, missions, and mysteries. As long as it has an investigation as its core theme, it fits with the exchange. We are an AO3 exchange; you must have an account and be 18+ to participate.
Minimum requirements: We allow three mediums: a minimum of 3,000 words for fanfiction, a minimum of 10 panels for a comic, or a recording of a completed fic of 3,000 words minimum with "casefic" as one of its tags. Works must include a fandom, character/ship and be of a medium that the recipient has requested.
Event link:
caseficexchange.Pinch hit link: Current pinch hits.
Due date: Friday 22 August at 11:59pm EDT.
Available post-deadline pinch hits:
Thank you for considering!
Final Fantasy PR (Steam) Side Quest Challenge Part II
Monday, August 4th, 2025 06:28 pmfreshfeelingIn the first session, I completed about 30 quests of what was 116 at that time. On August 4th, I continued. With a few new additions from GameFAQs, there are now 125 quests.
I started out by realizing that the Battle Axe I was eligible for was probably worthwhile, so I scooted up to Pravoka to grab it. While I was there, I did a quick quest.
I had labelled this quest as "abandoned" so it wasn't showing in the list, but I realized it might be useful for other quests. Some quests are specified as pre-requisites of others, after all! And given all of the trouble I had getting Thunder, I may as well learn Focus. I was at Pravoka anyway and this was pretty simple.
Next, I went to the Marsh Cave. I had a few false starts caused by quick battles that went wrong. I bought lots of Antidotes and Potions for the trip. I sure fought a lot of wolves! Perhaps in a bit of foreshadowing, sometimes it seems like I just get the same encounter over and over. In the Marsh Cave, I grabbed the free Dagger, which I'm eligible to use, so Vivi wielded it.
Shortly after getting the Dagger, Locke died in a fight with Gargoyles. I figured I would get a quest done and back out instead of reloading entirely (partly because reloading complicates my quest tracking).
I happened to get into a fight with some spiders, a Green Slime and a Grey Ooze on the way out. Vivi wiped them with Fira and that made it easy.
Wouldn't you know that one I had activated a quest asking me to defeat Ghasts, that they never showed up again? I had seen them before going to the castle, but I don't think I met a single one after! After another round of healing, I went back to the Marsh Cave, where this happened:
This is one of the weirdest ones. I am not sure how effectively I'm playing by the rules here, because it turns out the Iron Armor chest has been fully removed from the Pixel Remaster version of Final Fantasy. I had recently played the GBA Dawn of Souls version and I had even said, when I played that I looked for Iron Armor and couldn't find it. In fact, one of the chests that used to hold Iron Armor now has a Phoenix Down... which didn't even exist in the original Final Fantasy!
With this in mind, I think getting this Phoenix Down - which, by the way, I'm not using - meets the requirements for this quest. If it doesn't, then this quest is now impossible (and it seems like this isn't the only one where subtle but significant changes in the game caused impossible quests). I got another Iron Armor from a chest shortly after in the locked Cornelian treasure rooms anyway. So... I marked it complete! Come at me, I guess?
The Piscodemons - or WIZARDs - were up next. In this version of the game, instead of being a "spiked square" they are a monster-in-a-box.
I got four of them. I had Vivi cast Fira to soften them up, which helped a lot. Despite his robust defenses, Cecil was utterly clobbered. But we won and got the Crown.
Before leaving, I kept checking every room I could in the Marsh Cave still seeking Iron Armor but it wasn't there. I left and it wasn't too bad getting out safely without Cecil. In fact, this might present an opportunity!
Reviving Cecil got him set to 1 HP, which made it pretty easy to enable the Iron Shield. In fact...
For fighting Astos, there were three quests where the first spellcasting enemy you can face made opportunities to complete quests. Really, I think this might be the last opportunity before Lich? So I thought I should take advantage. One in particular I wanted to do was this:
When I went into the Astos fight, I was really hoping he would cast Fira, and I intended (at first) to cast NulBlaze to mitigate it. But, when I opened my spell list, I saw Silence there, and I got tempted! So what actually happened? On turn 1, Astos cast Fira, and then Lenna successfully landed Silence. I couldn't have hoped for a better result! Without all of his other spells, Astos was nearly completely helpless.
We also wanted to do this one:
...and this one happened accidentally as I did it:
This is the one that I had to fix up because there were two quests that unlocked Helm. At some point that must've been a typo or a copy/paste error on my part, because on the original post with that quest it had said Leather Shield all along. Anyway, I've got a better shield already... but there's always a chance this could matter later.
Having had some success letting party members die by leaving all of their armor off during sea battles, I decided to invest in this:
This is the level 8 "power word-style" spell originally called XXXX. It's kind of neat to unlock this so early although I certainly won't be using it for a while. In a way, I'm sure it's easiest to do this while the team isn't amazingly buff. I actually died once in the course of this, but when I reloaded my save I managed to carefully have four consecutive battles where each had a different dead warrior. First was Locke, then Cecil, then Vivi, then Lenna. It helped to have them all start unequipped and then after I revived each of them I gave them all their gear so they could carry the team somewhat. For some reason it didn't occur to me that I ought to re-order the team.
I continued my Mystic Key looting after this. Elfheim and Cornelia were done, so I went to the Temple of Chaos yet. I was surprised that the spiked Gargoyles were gone. I got the Rune Blade, which was a fantastic upgrade for Locke the thief. Next, I headed to the Dwarf Cave. As I hit the port there, I noticed something.
I happened to have just barely crested 15,500 Gil! This is a reference to the Great Axe in Final Fantasy XII which I think is at Balfonheim Port. Then I talked to Nerrick. I also got the Great Helm here, which I could use because of what I did with the Shadows earlier.
I was also able to do this one, mostly:
To do this, I needed to consider my new Mythril Hammer "dropped" - e.g., ensure it's unequipped and then sell it. There was a hitch here where I had accidentally equipped the Mythril Hammer recently when I re-equipped Lenna. I feel a bit bad about that but it was a pretty minor oversight over a fairly short span of time so - although I wish I'd been more to-the-letter with the rules - I'm not going to dwell on it too much.
I had actually been waiting for ages to encounter a Lizard and finally ran into one. These Double, Double, Toil and Trouble quests are mostly linked so I'm really glad to get another out of the way; it had been feeling like a bottleneck. As I did this, I had Vivi in the leader of the party for a quest called
This required a mini-backtrack into the Marsh Cave. During all of this I had been hoping to encounter Green Slimes and Ghasts for another quest but they absolutely refused to show up. Also in the course of this, I tried going to the Mystic Key doors at the bottom of the Marsh Cave but I had a terrible time with Scorpions, leaving Vivi dead by the time we fought Anacondas (the ones that were COBRA on NES). Thankfully this particular quest was already complete.
We stayed here quite a while looking for both Green Slimes and Ghasts but neither appeared. I eventually got sick of waiting so we just won't have some of those Double, Double, Toil and Trouble quest rewards for a while. Those were mostly status effect spells. These enemies also appear in the Earth Cavern, I believe, so I'll probably still finish it without a terrible grind eventually.
I talked to Dr. Unne to start another quest and I got the Life spell. I popped over to Crescent Lake, mostly to get a Mythril Sword for Cecil, but I noticed when I fought Minotaurs and Trolls that they were worth over 1000 experience points altogether.
With that new info, I stripped Cecil down and did this quest:
With Cecil's bad armor situation he actually did get knocked out by Trolls once before I pulled this off successfully.
Y'know what's strange? The Cornelian dancer is unnamed in the Pixel Remaster version!
I actually didn't talk to her at this point chronologically; I did that after completing the next big quest. After that first visit to Crescent Lake, I decided to complete this:
This took a really long time and wasn't very fun (bad quest maker!), but it's nice that it is done. In terms of dedicated time for a single quest, this was probably the longest besides fighting 32 Goblin Guards.
I started out by realizing that the Battle Axe I was eligible for was probably worthwhile, so I scooted up to Pravoka to grab it. While I was there, I did a quick quest.
Title: Ableism Awareness
Author: FreshFeeling (2019)
Story: Matoya's blindness has left her particularly keen with regards to auditory information... in fact, she finds loud noises particularly annoying. Avoid disturbing her with noisy equipment and she will be able to help you learn a new trick.
Requirement: Visit Matoya, starting from Cornelia or Pravoka without using the ship or airship. From the time you step foot in the forest near her cave, avoid carrying any loud, rattling equipment, including Chain, Iron, Silver or Steel armor, helmets, or gauntlets, as well as the Iron Staff / Crosier and Iron Nunchuk weapons.
Unlocks: (b)Focus
I had labelled this quest as "abandoned" so it wasn't showing in the list, but I realized it might be useful for other quests. Some quests are specified as pre-requisites of others, after all! And given all of the trouble I had getting Thunder, I may as well learn Focus. I was at Pravoka anyway and this was pretty simple.
Next, I went to the Marsh Cave. I had a few false starts caused by quick battles that went wrong. I bought lots of Antidotes and Potions for the trip. I sure fought a lot of wolves! Perhaps in a bit of foreshadowing, sometimes it seems like I just get the same encounter over and over. In the Marsh Cave, I grabbed the free Dagger, which I'm eligible to use, so Vivi wielded it.
Shortly after getting the Dagger, Locke died in a fight with Gargoyles. I figured I would get a quest done and back out instead of reloading entirely (partly because reloading complicates my quest tracking).
Title: Take This Copper!
Author: Diamond_Dragon (2020)
Story: The Elves have learned to work with copper to make protective gear, but their methods are very unorthodox. To craft the perfect bracelet, they need some ingredients.
Requirement: Kill a Green Slime and a Grey Ooze.
Unlocks: (a)Copper Armlet
I happened to get into a fight with some spiders, a Green Slime and a Grey Ooze on the way out. Vivi wiped them with Fira and that made it easy.
Title: Pure Bodyguarding
Author: FlamingXP (2025)
Requirement: Starting from the empty room at the dead end in the first level of the Marsh Cave, return to Elfheim with at least one living party member taking no damage.
Unlocks: (w)Poisona
It turns out that dead end is just a dead end with no empty room - FlamingXP or I had mis-remembered - but I think I covered this by intent. I went to the end of the dead end, then walked back to Elfheim. Locke was dead, Cecil and Lenna took damage, but Vivi didn't, staying at 113 HP and effectively bodyguarding the skittish elven child!
Back in Elfheim, we revived Locke and healed up and got Copper Armlets for the three of our party members that it might be an asset for. We also grabbed Poisona. I visited the NW Castle (Western Keep) to start one of the Double, Double, Toil and Trouble quests, and then to run into Ghasts I chose to do this:
It turns out that dead end is just a dead end with no empty room - FlamingXP or I had mis-remembered - but I think I covered this by intent. I went to the end of the dead end, then walked back to Elfheim. Locke was dead, Cecil and Lenna took damage, but Vivi didn't, staying at 113 HP and effectively bodyguarding the skittish elven child!
Back in Elfheim, we revived Locke and healed up and got Copper Armlets for the three of our party members that it might be an asset for. We also grabbed Poisona. I visited the NW Castle (Western Keep) to start one of the Double, Double, Toil and Trouble quests, and then to run into Ghasts I chose to do this:
Title: Appreciating Nature: Elfheim Edition
Author: FreshFeeling (2019)
Story: When travelling through the Elfheim region, it was said that Wood's companions were able to convince him that nature needed no further appreciation because the elves are a bunch of tree-hugging hippies. Wood travelled through the Elfheim region, hiding his tears, as his companions urged him toward their destinations. It would put Wood's nature-protecting soul at ease if someone were to carefully inspect and appreciate the forests of Elfheim.
Requirement: In a single trip, step in every single contiguous forest tile in the area west of Elfheim / south of Northwest Castle.
Unlocks: (w)NulBlaze
Wouldn't you know that one I had activated a quest asking me to defeat Ghasts, that they never showed up again? I had seen them before going to the castle, but I don't think I met a single one after! After another round of healing, I went back to the Marsh Cave, where this happened:
Title: How Can You See In That Thing?
Author: Diamond_Dragon (2020)
Story: Helmets can be very useful, but not if it impairs the wearers vision. The party's fighter must get used to fighting in the dark before becoming comfortable wearing one.
Requirement: Kill 4 enemies with the party's fighter while he's inflicted with the Dark status.
Unlocks: (a)Great Helm
It's funny, but there are relatively few enemies in this game who can inflict the Dark status, and it doesn't stick around after battle. This means you need to do this during the battle where you get afflicted with blindness. It turns out the early-game Shadow enemies are perfect for this, because their damage and general threat level is very low. I just sat there waiting until they blinded Cecil, and then had Cecil clobber them all with his eyes closed. This happened in two consecutive encounters with 3 Shadows.Title: Chain Is Great But Steel?
Author: hawkeyerules (2020)
Story: The party's fighter was walking through Cornelia when a guard called them over. They had a conversation about the value of chain armor compared to iron plate. "Legend has it", the guard drew nearer and whispered, "that in a chest in the Marsh cave there is a suit of Iron Armor for FREE.".
Requirement: Gain access to the Ship and Chain Mail. Go into the Marsh Cave and retrieve the Iron Armor from the chest.
Unlocks: (a)Iron Armor
This is one of the weirdest ones. I am not sure how effectively I'm playing by the rules here, because it turns out the Iron Armor chest has been fully removed from the Pixel Remaster version of Final Fantasy. I had recently played the GBA Dawn of Souls version and I had even said, when I played that I looked for Iron Armor and couldn't find it. In fact, one of the chests that used to hold Iron Armor now has a Phoenix Down... which didn't even exist in the original Final Fantasy!
With this in mind, I think getting this Phoenix Down - which, by the way, I'm not using - meets the requirements for this quest. If it doesn't, then this quest is now impossible (and it seems like this isn't the only one where subtle but significant changes in the game caused impossible quests). I got another Iron Armor from a chest shortly after in the locked Cornelian treasure rooms anyway. So... I marked it complete! Come at me, I guess?
The Piscodemons - or WIZARDs - were up next. In this version of the game, instead of being a "spiked square" they are a monster-in-a-box.
I got four of them. I had Vivi cast Fira to soften them up, which helped a lot. Despite his robust defenses, Cecil was utterly clobbered. But we won and got the Crown.
Before leaving, I kept checking every room I could in the Marsh Cave still seeking Iron Armor but it wasn't there. I left and it wasn't too bad getting out safely without Cecil. In fact, this might present an opportunity!
Title: Pity of the Guard
Author: FreshFeeling (2019)
Story: The guards of Cornelia are among the most consistently well-equipped in the land. And given that Garland has left, the rest are mostly well known for their compassion as well. They won't mind the discipline that they'll take for misplacing their equipment if it means helping out someone in desperate need.
Requirement: Speak to any guard in Cornelia with a character who can equip an Iron Shield having 1 HP.
Unlocks: (a)Iron Shield
Reviving Cecil got him set to 1 HP, which made it pretty easy to enable the Iron Shield. In fact...
Title: The Gift of Life
Author: FreshFeeling (2019)
Story: Each party member must die and be revived in a clinic at least once.
Requirement: In a single trip, step in every single contiguous forest tile in the area west of Elfheim / south of Northwest Castle.
Unlocks: (w)Life
I let Lenna die as well. Each character had died and been revived once now, so when the time comes I'll be able to make use of Life or Raise or whatever it's called.
For fighting Astos, there were three quests where the first spellcasting enemy you can face made opportunities to complete quests. Really, I think this might be the last opportunity before Lich? So I thought I should take advantage. One in particular I wanted to do was this:
Title: The Princess' Secret
Author: FreshFeeling (2019)
Story: In another universe (or timeline or something), the black mage's journey with the princess of Alexandria started off with clumsiness, coincidences, and plans gone awry. As part of this, the black mage accidentally let loose a fire spell that singed the white cloak of the princess of Alexandria, revealing her identity to the masses and throwing a wrench in the plans of his eventual companions. The black mage wishes they had used any other spell, or perhaps one that could put the fire out!
Requirement: The party's white mage must be hit by a fire-element spell or special attack while the party's black mage is alive and has no negative status effects. Both characters must survive the battle.
Unlocks: (b)Blizzara
When I went into the Astos fight, I was really hoping he would cast Fira, and I intended (at first) to cast NulBlaze to mitigate it. But, when I opened my spell list, I saw Silence there, and I got tempted! So what actually happened? On turn 1, Astos cast Fira, and then Lenna successfully landed Silence. I couldn't have hoped for a better result! Without all of his other spells, Astos was nearly completely helpless.
We also wanted to do this one:
Title: You Runed My Day
Author: Diamond_Dragon (2020)
Story: One of the rune smiths in town has practiced channeling magic into weapons, but he needs the magical energy of an evil creature to recharge his runes.
Requirement: Use a bladed weapon to kill an enemy that can cast spells. Then drop the weapon used to kill the enemy before another encounter.
Unlocks: (e)Rune Blade
Cecil landed the finishing blow on Astos with a Saber! You can see that Lenna was using "defend", and that's because she was the only character not using a bladed weapon. Since this version of the game doesn't allow dropping weapons, I unequipped the Saber and sold it reasonably promptly, which is as close as I can get. (Don't worry, I wasted tons of money in other ways to compensate for the financial difference.)
This also means we get the Crystal Eye, allowing us to do tons of game progression and the quests that go with that.
While I was dealing with Matoya, I did this:
Cecil landed the finishing blow on Astos with a Saber! You can see that Lenna was using "defend", and that's because she was the only character not using a bladed weapon. Since this version of the game doesn't allow dropping weapons, I unequipped the Saber and sold it reasonably promptly, which is as close as I can get. (Don't worry, I wasted tons of money in other ways to compensate for the financial difference.)
This also means we get the Crystal Eye, allowing us to do tons of game progression and the quests that go with that.
While I was dealing with Matoya, I did this:
Title: The Sound of Nature
Author: FreshFeeling (2019)
Story: Let us follow in the footsteps of Wood the fighter once again and recall that his interest in nature was the product of someone who adored being able to magically restore one's voice. There is a lot of quality nature outside of Matoya's cave, and oh how she hates loud noises. If you appreciate her nature and scare some of the birds and monsters away from her cave perhaps she will help you restore your noisiness as well.
Requirement: After giving Matoya the Crystal, in a single trip, step in every single contiguous forest tile directly outside of Matoya's Cave.
Unlocks: (w)Vox
...and this one happened accidentally as I did it:
Title: An Old Man and his Horses
Author: FlamingXP (2025)
Requirement: After completing An Old Man and His Worms, defeat a group of 4 Crazy Horses in a forest.
Unlocks: (a)Leather Shield
This is the one that I had to fix up because there were two quests that unlocked Helm. At some point that must've been a typo or a copy/paste error on my part, because on the original post with that quest it had said Leather Shield all along. Anyway, I've got a better shield already... but there's always a chance this could matter later.
Having had some success letting party members die by leaving all of their armor off during sea battles, I decided to invest in this:
Title: The Power of Death
Author: FreshFeeling (2019)
Author: FreshFeeling (2019)
Story: To truly understand the power of death, you must become death and feel its hold falling over everyone you hold most dear. Recall the story of Tick the fighter and his companions, who were compelled to face each of the four fiends with a different member of the party having already succumbed to the beyond, each of them marked upon Tick's soul as an "X".
Requirement: Finish four consecutive battles each with a different light warrior dead at the end of the battle.
Unlocks: (b)Kill
This is the level 8 "power word-style" spell originally called XXXX. It's kind of neat to unlock this so early although I certainly won't be using it for a while. In a way, I'm sure it's easiest to do this while the team isn't amazingly buff. I actually died once in the course of this, but when I reloaded my save I managed to carefully have four consecutive battles where each had a different dead warrior. First was Locke, then Cecil, then Vivi, then Lenna. It helped to have them all start unequipped and then after I revived each of them I gave them all their gear so they could carry the team somewhat. For some reason it didn't occur to me that I ought to re-order the team.
I continued my Mystic Key looting after this. Elfheim and Cornelia were done, so I went to the Temple of Chaos yet. I was surprised that the spiked Gargoyles were gone. I got the Rune Blade, which was a fantastic upgrade for Locke the thief. Next, I headed to the Dwarf Cave. As I hit the port there, I noticed something.
Title: Pretty Good Axe
Author: FreshFeeling (2019)
Author: FreshFeeling (2019)
Story: The Titan guards an axe that's usually pretty unimpressive... at least in this game. In another game where it's a little bit better you can simply buy this axe at a port. Let's suppose you can do that now.
Requirement: Have 15,500 GP on hand and step on any port tile.
Unlocks: (e)Great Axe
I happened to have just barely crested 15,500 Gil! This is a reference to the Great Axe in Final Fantasy XII which I think is at Balfonheim Port. Then I talked to Nerrick. I also got the Great Helm here, which I could use because of what I did with the Shadows earlier.
I was also able to do this one, mostly:
Title: That's Not a Knife
Author: Diamond_Dragon (2020)
Author: Diamond_Dragon (2020)
Story: Whether or not your nickname is "crocodile" you can still get a bigger knife. The dwarves don't get to work with silver as much as they'd like, so they're eager to help.
Requirement: Drop a dagger/knife and any item made from mythril/silver in the room with the dwarf smith. You may purchase/find a locked item for the purposes of dropping it in this quest, but it cannot be equipped or used in battle.
Unlocks: (e)Mythril Knife
To do this, I needed to consider my new Mythril Hammer "dropped" - e.g., ensure it's unequipped and then sell it. There was a hitch here where I had accidentally equipped the Mythril Hammer recently when I re-equipped Lenna. I feel a bit bad about that but it was a pretty minor oversight over a fairly short span of time so - although I wish I'd been more to-the-letter with the rules - I'm not going to dwell on it too much.
Title: Double, Double Toil and Trouble II
Author: beege_man (2020)
Author: beege_man (2020)
Story: The witch in Cornelia mentioned an even more powerful witch in a cave up north. After visiting her, she tells you to bring her the eye of a Lizard, a Warg Wolf's tooth, pus of Gigas Worm, and a poison sac. With these she can teach you to do more than just put things to sleep.
Requirement: Visit Matoya, then kill 1 Lizard, 1 Warg Wolf, 1 Gigas Worm, and 1 Tarantula or Cobra, then visit Matoya again.
Unlocks: (b)Dark
I had actually been waiting for ages to encounter a Lizard and finally ran into one. These Double, Double, Toil and Trouble quests are mostly linked so I'm really glad to get another out of the way; it had been feeling like a bottleneck. As I did this, I had Vivi in the leader of the party for a quest called
Title: More Than Just a Pretty Face
Author: Primus_Ultimas (2020)
Author: Primus_Ultimas (2020)
Story: The party's black mage is growing frustrated at being relegated to simply support and wishes to prove that they are a valuable member of the party.
Requirement: With the party's black mage leading the party, win battles with a Goblin Guard, a Sahagin Chief, a Crawler, an Ogre, and a Grey Ooze in any order. The black mage must be in front for the battle and also land at least one physical strike on said monster, and survive.
Unlocks: (b)Temper
This required a mini-backtrack into the Marsh Cave. During all of this I had been hoping to encounter Green Slimes and Ghasts for another quest but they absolutely refused to show up. Also in the course of this, I tried going to the Mystic Key doors at the bottom of the Marsh Cave but I had a terrible time with Scorpions, leaving Vivi dead by the time we fought Anacondas (the ones that were COBRA on NES). Thankfully this particular quest was already complete.
We stayed here quite a while looking for both Green Slimes and Ghasts but neither appeared. I eventually got sick of waiting so we just won't have some of those Double, Double, Toil and Trouble quest rewards for a while. Those were mostly status effect spells. These enemies also appear in the Earth Cavern, I believe, so I'll probably still finish it without a terrible grind eventually.
I talked to Dr. Unne to start another quest and I got the Life spell. I popped over to Crescent Lake, mostly to get a Mythril Sword for Cecil, but I noticed when I fought Minotaurs and Trolls that they were worth over 1000 experience points altogether.
With that new info, I stripped Cecil down and did this quest:
Title: Fashionista Arylon
Author: FreshFeeling (2019)
Author: FreshFeeling (2019)
Story: Arylon is one of the most talented and beautiful dancers in the known world and she holds others to a fairly high standard. There is no reason you can't fight evil while looking good, and she will reward warriors who can prove this.
Requirement: Win any battle with total experience over 1000 while only wearing defensive equipment each with an evade penalty of -2 or less, then talk to Arylon.
Unlocks: (a)Silver Armlet
With Cecil's bad armor situation he actually did get knocked out by Trolls once before I pulled this off successfully.
Y'know what's strange? The Cornelian dancer is unnamed in the Pixel Remaster version!
I actually didn't talk to her at this point chronologically; I did that after completing the next big quest. After that first visit to Crescent Lake, I decided to complete this:
Title: The Great Barrier Reef
Author: FreshFeeling (2025)
Requirement: Circumnavigate the entire southern continent by circling it with the ship, without entering a town or dungeon. Outside of battle, at least one tile of coastline should be visible at all times.
Unlocks: (e)Coral Sword
This took a really long time and wasn't very fun (bad quest maker!), but it's nice that it is done. In terms of dedicated time for a single quest, this was probably the longest besides fighting 32 Goblin Guards.
Title: Dwarven Hammer
Author: FreshFeeling (2019)
Author: FreshFeeling (2019)
Story: The dwarven blacksmith is known for his ability to craft quality hammers for metalwork, and the crude iron hammers made using salvaged iron is questionable for the kind of work he would normally undertake. If you can provide 5 pieces of fine elven mythril or silver, he'll be able to create much improved hammers that will surely help you down the line.
Requirement: With access to at least one Hammer, bring 5 pieces of Silver or Mythril equipment to the dwarven blacksmith and drop these when you speak with him.
Unlocks: (e)Mythril Hammer
This one was kind of dumb. While I was in Crescent Lake, I grabbed 5 Mythril Gloves. In getting those for 2000 gil each instead of Mythril Knives for 640 gil each, I wasted a ton of money that ought to pretty well make up for any I should've dropped instead of selling in the early game. I sold those Mythril Gloves and thus effectively completed this quest.
This one was kind of dumb. While I was in Crescent Lake, I grabbed 5 Mythril Gloves. In getting those for 2000 gil each instead of Mythril Knives for 640 gil each, I wasted a ton of money that ought to pretty well make up for any I should've dropped instead of selling in the early game. I sold those Mythril Gloves and thus effectively completed this quest.
Title: Bikke's Boys Bite
Author: FreshFeeling (2019)
Author: FreshFeeling (2019)
Story: Bikke's pirate are woefully underprepared for any serious battle and the light warriors learn this first hand. If they're ever going to be an effective pirate crew again in this crazy world, they'll need to seriously upgrade their gear. You can start by showing Bikke a selection of traditional pirate weapons that have more than 10 attack power.
Requirement: Talk to Bikke while carrying a Broadsword, a Sabre, and a Longsword. Carrying these, but not using them, is allowed for the purpose of fulfilling this quest.
Unlocks: (e)Longsword
Well, this was easy. Pointless, but easy.
I got a few more consumables, including some Gold Needles to prepare for Cockatrices in the Earth Cavern. Then I rested and saved up in Melmond.
Well, this was easy. Pointless, but easy.
I got a few more consumables, including some Gold Needles to prepare for Cockatrices in the Earth Cavern. Then I rested and saved up in Melmond.
Changelog August 4th
Monday, August 4th, 2025 10:37 pmmarinehaddock- Overhauled the whole site design
- Yaoi Feed Updated
- Ooe Shrine - Updated
- Beyond the End - Updated
- Karaoke Iko! - Updated
- No.1 Sentai Gozyuger - Updated
- Slow Damage - Updated
Weird Japanese Horror Films
Sunday, August 3rd, 2025 11:11 amhowdyadoitsnatty posting in little_detailsHello again (thanks for the collective 'you should probably re-consider this' last time because I kind of needed that), I've got some more weirdly specific questions that I kind of am not sure how to begin tackling:
So one of my characters is a Japanese man who sort of has a thing for schlocky pulpy horror movies, and while I'm aware of some popular-ish examples of sort of cult horror films in Japan ( Like House (1977) or Tetsuo The Iron Man (1989) which vaguely fit his themes of 'being deeply uncomfortable with the world and his body') but these always struck me as kind of obvious and well known even outside of japan and not something someone who was really into weird stuff would actually select as a 'favorite'. For the sake of clarity: this is set in the present so even relatively recent films are okay.
I guess in general I'm looking for recommendations for stuff this sort of guy would be interested in, or at least something that someone who's a bit of a weird horror junkie would consider a personal favorite.
So one of my characters is a Japanese man who sort of has a thing for schlocky pulpy horror movies, and while I'm aware of some popular-ish examples of sort of cult horror films in Japan ( Like House (1977) or Tetsuo The Iron Man (1989) which vaguely fit his themes of 'being deeply uncomfortable with the world and his body') but these always struck me as kind of obvious and well known even outside of japan and not something someone who was really into weird stuff would actually select as a 'favorite'. For the sake of clarity: this is set in the present so even relatively recent films are okay.
I guess in general I'm looking for recommendations for stuff this sort of guy would be interested in, or at least something that someone who's a bit of a weird horror junkie would consider a personal favorite.
Weekly summary: July 27 - Aug. 2, 2025
Sunday, August 3rd, 2025 08:44 amalchemicinkFor the past week or so, I keep waking up around 5 or 5:30am ish. Which is annoying since my alarm doesn't go off until 6:30. But on the bright side, I'm finally sleeping more at night. So that's a win 🥳
And today, waking up early means I got to write this post early too lol
( Read more... )
And today, waking up early means I got to write this post early too lol
( Read more... )
Final Fantasy PR (Steam) Side Quest Challenge Part I
Saturday, August 2nd, 2025 12:52 pmfreshfeelingThree months ago, I posted about my intent to play a Side Quest Challenge for the Pixel Remaster version of the original Final Fantasy, as popularized (?) by Diamond_Dragon back in 2019. In the meantime, I finished up what I was doing with Valkyrie Profile and Final Fantasy V's Four Job Fiesta, and then I recently shared my intent to play this Side Quest Challenge back to the GameFAQs Final Fantasy 1 board that spawned it years ago.
Having shared that about a week ago, a small number of new quests were generated and I've compiled a new list of quests on a Google Sheet that I'll attempt to keep updated. As of right now, there are 121 side quests! I finally started playing it on August 1st.
To briefly introduce this yet again, all weapons, armor and spells are locked and unusable until I do a side quest that unlocks them. The quests were generated by the community, which is mostly the FF1 board on GameFAQs. This includes some quests that I wrote myself but they were for Diamond_Dragon back in 2019. It also includes a small number of quests generated by one of my kids who was interested in this idea. (I am not particular about the medium or community that the quests come from, so I welcome quests anyone suggests in comments here or gives me via Bluesky.)
The little Python tkinter app I'm using to track things currently has its source sloppily managed on GitHub.
When I started, I picked a warrior named Cecil, a thief named Locke, a white mage named Lenna, and a black mage named Vivi. These are the same names Diamond_Dragon used, and while I didn't want to be a total ripoff it happens to work well for certain quests that make references to the other games that characters with those names are from. The Pixel Remaster starts the characters with some minor equipment, so I stripped that off and got down to questin'.
Then I did some quests!
No problem! Although there was some tension in that it felt like the black mage might die during this. It is quite funny that having a Staff on a warrior, a white mage, and a black mage can seem like such an asset. After this quest, I said, "Boy, this is going to be a loooong playthrough.".
A funny thing about Pixel Remaster (and other newer versions of the game) is that what used to be called a "Tent" is now a "Sleeping Bag" and what used to be called a "Cabin" is now a "Tent". For the sake of this quest I decided to follow to-the-letter and used an actual Tent. On a somewhat related note, this was around the point where I started shouting about how every new release of this game gets easier.
Having shared that about a week ago, a small number of new quests were generated and I've compiled a new list of quests on a Google Sheet that I'll attempt to keep updated. As of right now, there are 121 side quests! I finally started playing it on August 1st.
To briefly introduce this yet again, all weapons, armor and spells are locked and unusable until I do a side quest that unlocks them. The quests were generated by the community, which is mostly the FF1 board on GameFAQs. This includes some quests that I wrote myself but they were for Diamond_Dragon back in 2019. It also includes a small number of quests generated by one of my kids who was interested in this idea. (I am not particular about the medium or community that the quests come from, so I welcome quests anyone suggests in comments here or gives me via Bluesky.)
The little Python tkinter app I'm using to track things currently has its source sloppily managed on GitHub.
When I started, I picked a warrior named Cecil, a thief named Locke, a white mage named Lenna, and a black mage named Vivi. These are the same names Diamond_Dragon used, and while I didn't want to be a total ripoff it happens to work well for certain quests that make references to the other games that characters with those names are from. The Pixel Remaster starts the characters with some minor equipment, so I stripped that off and got down to questin'.
Then I did some quests!
Title: Chain You Say?
Author: hawkeyerules (2020)
Story: After leading his party back to Cornelia one particular day, the party's fighter was relaxing in the Inn. As he was sipping some ale he overheard 2 guards talking about using chains to make armor. He went to the guards to Inquire about it.
Requirement: Talk to three guards within Castle Cornelia.
Unlocks: (a)Chain Mail
This was nice because I was able to score the very nice early-game Chain Mail for my warrior before I even entered a battle, so I did it immediately. Some of hawkeyerules' quests were weird; even back in 2020, there were a few where they just were so trivial that Linguar82 or whomever had to add a bit more challenge or structure. Some of the other ones are just random collections of enemies to beat. But whatever, this one was welcome.
After this, I had to go weather a few fights with goblins with no weapons.
After this, I had to go weather a few fights with goblins with no weapons.
Title: A Walk in the Park
Author: Diamond_Dragon (2019)
Story: George is just starting his walking stick business. He thinks he can get his business up and running if he just has the right promotional assistance, and who better to show off his walking sticks than the legendary Light Warriors? George needs to make sure these Light Warriors can walk with style though, so he needs to see them take a few laps around Cornelia first.
Requirement: Walk 3 laps around the town of Cornelia without resting (inn/sleeping bag/tent/cabin/house).
Unlocks: (e)Staff
No problem! Although there was some tension in that it felt like the black mage might die during this. It is quite funny that having a Staff on a warrior, a white mage, and a black mage can seem like such an asset. After this quest, I said, "Boy, this is going to be a loooong playthrough.".
Title: Stabbity Death
Author: Diamond_Dragon (2020)
Story: The party's black mage had a vision, or nightmare rather, of a group of brave mages who conquered the world with their daggers. There were four, but their death toll numbered in the thousands. Could that truly be the way?
Requirement: Win a battle against exactly 4 Goblins. The party's black mage must be alive at the end of the battle.
Unlocks: (e)Knife
This was done incidentally, and made Locke the thief able to contribute a bit more effectively. Pixel Remaster seems to have the balance of Dawn of Souls and such, where thief accumulates hits really quickly and thus contributes a lot in terms of damage.
This was done incidentally, and made Locke the thief able to contribute a bit more effectively. Pixel Remaster seems to have the balance of Dawn of Souls and such, where thief accumulates hits really quickly and thus contributes a lot in terms of damage.
Title: Patrolling the Forest
Author: Shadow_FF6 (2019)
Story: Cornelian wood is known throughout the world for it's remarkable sturdiness. It's even used by many local commoners as a cheaper replacement for real weapons and armor. Unfortunately, the heavy Imp population has been causing real problems for the lumber industry as of late. The Carpenters Guild needs someone to check out the forest, and figure out which areas are safe to work in.
Requirement: Without using the Inn, take a step in every forest tile outside of Cornelia, noting each tile you get into a fight in. Completed upon stepping into the Weapon or Armor Shop.
Unlocks: (e)Nunchaku
This doesn't matter but I guess I wanted to get it off the list! As much as quests like this seem completely irrelevant, there's always a chance some new quest could emerge that's like, "Defeat [x] using only Nunchaku" so I may as well not ignore it completely.
This doesn't matter but I guess I wanted to get it off the list! As much as quests like this seem completely irrelevant, there's always a chance some new quest could emerge that's like, "Defeat [x] using only Nunchaku" so I may as well not ignore it completely.
Title: Ninja Vanish!
Author: FreshFeeling (2019)
Story: Supposedly, ninjas have the ability to disappear at will! A Thief can start to develop this ability using their keen dodging and escape abilities, and perhaps it will help to inspire their teammates, too.
Requirement: With a Thief at the front of the party, enter a battle and escape without taking damage three times. During these battles only the Thief may select the Run command.
Unlocks: (w)Invis
This was surprisingly quick-and-easy. Turn order seems to be fixed to be based around characters' agility values, and I even made use of the game's new Defend command to have the other characters skip their turns. This was sort of necessary, especially since this version removes the ability to use itemcasts for items that don't have itemcasts - in other words, there's no other means to fully "waste" a turn. I remain unsure whether the Defend command actually does anything (i.e. does it provide a defense boost?).
Obviously, I can't get Invis yet, but I got this quest off the list.
This was surprisingly quick-and-easy. Turn order seems to be fixed to be based around characters' agility values, and I even made use of the game's new Defend command to have the other characters skip their turns. This was sort of necessary, especially since this version removes the ability to use itemcasts for items that don't have itemcasts - in other words, there's no other means to fully "waste" a turn. I remain unsure whether the Defend command actually does anything (i.e. does it provide a defense boost?).
Obviously, I can't get Invis yet, but I got this quest off the list.
Title: Basic Magic Training
Author: Shadow_FF6 (2019)
Story: In the past, mages learned their trade in great colleges. However, while knowledge of magic still exists, there are few places to teach magical theory. Instead, most mages learn their trade out of necessity, in the right circumstances. Heating camp fires, keeping rations chilled, and mending the scrapes and bruises of the hike go a long way to encouraging young mages to learn their trade quickly.
Requirement: Head to the northern part of the Cornelian forest and pitch a Tent.
Unlocks: (b)Fire
A funny thing about Pixel Remaster (and other newer versions of the game) is that what used to be called a "Tent" is now a "Sleeping Bag" and what used to be called a "Cabin" is now a "Tent". For the sake of this quest I decided to follow to-the-letter and used an actual Tent. On a somewhat related note, this was around the point where I started shouting about how every new release of this game gets easier.
Title: Double, Double, Toil and Trouble
Author: beege_man (2020)
Story: The party's black mage stumbles into a dark shed behind the Black Magic shop and bumps into a cackling witch feverishly working over a cauldron. Unfortunately the cauldron only has water in it for now. The witch explains that she needs some spider legs, a few Goblin Guard claws, and a horse's tail to craft a potion that will allow someone to put their foes to sleep.
Requirement: Kill 1 Black Widow, 2 Goblin Guards, and 1 Crazy Horse
Unlocks: (b)Sleep
I happened into the Goblin Guards and Crazy Horse before I remembered that this quest existed, and once I spotted it I wandered up into the Temple of Chaos to find a Black Widow. It was my second fight there! Very nice. At this point, I think my characters were already level 3. Cecil and Locke died before we got back to town; I revived them and actually healed them manually with Potions to avoid resetting my progress on the Goblin Guard quest. I should've used this opportunity to do the Pity of the Guard quest, but I forgot.
Around this point, I was saying, "Boy, there is something to this! There is something to this. It's the dumbest thing that I am going to say here: this is like, really satisfying... because I'm constantly unlocking things and that's, y'know, just naturally nice."
I may not have made the point very effectively but checking things off of a list and constantly making a form of progress feels really good. Later on, I elaborated on this. "There is something to be said for this as a format. Like, the feeling of doing stuff and getting something for it. Like, I really like the Xenoblade games and I'm starting to think maybe there's just something psychologically about that side quest-heavy format."
We observed the bridge scene and wandered to Pravoka. I fought the pirates, but also did a couple of quests up front.I happened into the Goblin Guards and Crazy Horse before I remembered that this quest existed, and once I spotted it I wandered up into the Temple of Chaos to find a Black Widow. It was my second fight there! Very nice. At this point, I think my characters were already level 3. Cecil and Locke died before we got back to town; I revived them and actually healed them manually with Potions to avoid resetting my progress on the Goblin Guard quest. I should've used this opportunity to do the Pity of the Guard quest, but I forgot.
Around this point, I was saying, "Boy, there is something to this! There is something to this. It's the dumbest thing that I am going to say here: this is like, really satisfying... because I'm constantly unlocking things and that's, y'know, just naturally nice."
I may not have made the point very effectively but checking things off of a list and constantly making a form of progress feels really good. Later on, I elaborated on this. "There is something to be said for this as a format. Like, the feeling of doing stuff and getting something for it. Like, I really like the Xenoblade games and I'm starting to think maybe there's just something psychologically about that side quest-heavy format."
Title: An Old Man and His Cows
Author: FlamingXP (2025)
Requirement: Defeat 3 Goblin Guards in a forest.
Unlocks: (a)Leather Armor
At first I was just tracking the Goblin Guards (GrIMPs) I defeated, but then I encountered three of them together in a forest regardless, so this was fine.
At first I was just tracking the Goblin Guards (GrIMPs) I defeated, but then I encountered three of them together in a forest regardless, so this was fine.
Title: Spinning Wool Into Yarn
Author: FreshFeeling (2019)
Story: It would be easy to convince the shops in Cornelia to sell you cloth if only they hadn't run out of yarn. I guess the closest thing to a sheep that we see in this game is maybe a... horse? It will have to do. Once you've sheared the animals, you'll need to spin the wool to make yarn.
Requirement: Defeat 4 Crazy Horses. After defeating the fourth, rotate the control pad 5 times before leaving the world map.
Unlocks: (a)Clothes
This was done over four different encounters. I did a few extra rotations just to be sure and ended up in another encounter, which was sort of the point intended.
This was done over four different encounters. I did a few extra rotations just to be sure and ended up in another encounter, which was sort of the point intended.
Title: Swing That Sword With Pride
Author: hawkeyerules (2020)
Story: While hitting things with a stick is an effective way to level up using metal would be much better.
Requirement: Kill 1 Gigas Worm in the Temple of Fiends.
Unlocks: (e)Rapier
I did this while I was doing the Foggy Memory quest. Gigas Worms actually hit fairly hard! Even the chain-equipped warrior took 19 damage.
I did this while I was doing the Foggy Memory quest. Gigas Worms actually hit fairly hard! Even the chain-equipped warrior took 19 damage.
Title: Laid to Rest
Author: Linguar82 (2019)
Story: Lisa has long performed the funeral rites for those who perish in the village of Cornelia. But its been reported that many of those dead now walk the halls of the temple to the northeast of Cornelia. She needs your help to lay those souls to rest.
Requirement: Defeat 10 Undead type monsters in the Temple of Fiends
Unlocks: (w)Dia
Although I'd hit a few weak undead enemies, it was two groups of four Zombies that allowed me to complete this during the Foggy Memory quest.
Although I'd hit a few weak undead enemies, it was two groups of four Zombies that allowed me to complete this during the Foggy Memory quest.
Title: Foggy Memory
Author: Diamond_Dragon (2020)
Story: The party's white mage met an old wizard in Cornelia. He could teach them to use fog to protect their allies, but he forgot the correct incantation. He needs someone to perform a ritual to learn it. The white mage must go to the Temple of Fiends and examine the five doorways in the correct order, and return to him with the symbols on the door fresh in her memory.
Requirement: Touch the doors in the Temple of Fiends (stand in the space next to the door) in the order: SW, SE, NW, NE, and then the Center door, and return to Cornelia without resting (inn/sleeping bag/tent/cabin/house).
Unlocks: (w)Protect
I was about level 4 and with the unlocks from above the Temple of Chaos was no longer scary, so I did this. It ended up that about three or four quests were completed at the same time.
I was about level 4 and with the unlocks from above the Temple of Chaos was no longer scary, so I did this. It ended up that about three or four quests were completed at the same time.
Title: You've Got The Touch
Author: Diamond_Dragon (2020)
Story: Protecting your allies is great, but even the best wizards have yet to develop spells that grant total immunity. People can still be injured no matter how much FOG there is, and magic bedsheets aren't common in the field. Fortunately there are healing spells.
Requirement: End a battle with any two non-white mage characters below 20% of their maximum HP and return to an inn without them going above that threshold.
Unlocks: (w)Cure
As I walked back from the Foggy Memory quest, I was also eligible for this! Awesome. I bought both spells at the same time.
As I walked back from the Foggy Memory quest, I was also eligible for this! Awesome. I bought both spells at the same time.
Title: How to Heal Properly
Author: Diamond_Dragon (2020)
Story: The party's white mage has become frustrated. Healing these allies one at a time simply won't do.
Requirement: Restore HP to all four characters with the party's white mage when they are not at full HP in the same battle.
Unlocks: (w)Heal
Once I spotted this quest I realized it was pretty easy to get out of the way, so I did it while I was grinding Goblin Guards.
Once I spotted this quest I realized it was pretty easy to get out of the way, so I did it while I was grinding Goblin Guards.
Title: Rare Drop from Goblin Guards
Author: FreshFeeling (2019)
Story: Aren't we glad that this game doesn't have 1/128 items? Well now it does. Sort of. The odds are better.
Requirement: Defeat at least 32 Goblin Guards between saves.
Unlocks: (e)Dagger
Well, I did this. It was annoying. I must admit that my 2019 self didn't always deliver. It's sort of barely worthwhile although I guess we won't know yet since the earliest Dagger is Elfheim.
Around this point I realized that side questing had actually left me dramatically over-prepared despite the limitations and that I really needed to get Garland down. I was level 7! That is kind of an absurd level for Garland. I had forgotten to get Rapiers, but it didn't matter. After an inn stay, we wandered up and beat him, which was stupid.
Well, I did this. It was annoying. I must admit that my 2019 self didn't always deliver. It's sort of barely worthwhile although I guess we won't know yet since the earliest Dagger is Elfheim.
Around this point I realized that side questing had actually left me dramatically over-prepared despite the limitations and that I really needed to get Garland down. I was level 7! That is kind of an absurd level for Garland. I had forgotten to get Rapiers, but it didn't matter. After an inn stay, we wandered up and beat him, which was stupid.
Title: Fashionista Mars
Author: FreshFeeling (2025)
Requirement: Buy one of every available option at once at an armor store you have never visited before. In the event that you have visited every possible armor store, purchase two Ruby Armlets and two Protect Rings.
Unlocks: (a)Helm
I figured with all of the extra battles I had already done I was probably loaded with cash and I may as well get this done now! I bought everything in the Pravoka armor store. The Iron Armor there is pretty expensive and we can't use it yet, so it drained our cash.
Index | Next >I figured with all of the extra battles I had already done I was probably loaded with cash and I may as well get this done now! I bought everything in the Pravoka armor store. The Iron Armor there is pretty expensive and we can't use it yet, so it drained our cash.
Title: The Perfect Drink
Author: FreshFeeling (2019)
Story: It would be nice to purchase the (b)Ice spell in Pravoka but there's an alcoholic woman passed out on the door. She says she would move if only she could have her favourite drink, made from the water of the fountain in Cornelia. It must be carefully carried without being spilled.
Requirement: After visiting Pravoka, check the fountain in Cornelia. Designate a character to carry the drink. That character must walk to Pravoka without hitting being killed, petrified or stunned.
Requirement: After visiting Pravoka, check the fountain in Cornelia. Designate a character to carry the drink. That character must walk to Pravoka without hitting being killed, petrified or stunned.
Unlocks: (b)Blizzard
This quest is actually a reference to a bizarre shrine quest in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. It happened that I had a Zelda-lover in my chat so I explained this in some detail. In the midst of this quest, I made good on my statement that I'd reduce my experience gains to 0.5x using the Boost feature. I had said this on GameFAQs, and the idea is I don't want to be grossly over-levelled because then I don't need to do side quests to finish the playthrough. I am already seeing the effects of all of the extra monsters and such, so I think this was a good idea.
Now it was time to fight the pirates. They have beards in this version! They've also been buffed substantially, which surprised me. They still weren't tough at all though.
With the ship I started a new batch of quests, gradually starting work on the awkward quest to get Fira since that would make so many quests faster and easier. Fira is also a pre-requisite for getting Thundara, so it's important. I also started tracking my dodges more carefully so I could earn the Blink spell.
This quest is actually a reference to a bizarre shrine quest in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. It happened that I had a Zelda-lover in my chat so I explained this in some detail. In the midst of this quest, I made good on my statement that I'd reduce my experience gains to 0.5x using the Boost feature. I had said this on GameFAQs, and the idea is I don't want to be grossly over-levelled because then I don't need to do side quests to finish the playthrough. I am already seeing the effects of all of the extra monsters and such, so I think this was a good idea.
Title: You Underestimate My Sneakiness
Author: Diamond_Dragon (2020)
Story: Although only a thief, the party's thief occasionally he shows some promise towards becoming a ninja. The party's white mage is watching his silent methods and slowly learns to recreate it with magic.
Requirement: With the party's white mage alive, the thief must kill an enemy in the first round of a fight in which you get the chance to strike first. Then the thief must flee the battle before he takes any damage.
Requirement: With the party's white mage alive, the thief must kill an enemy in the first round of a fight in which you get the chance to strike first. Then the thief must flee the battle before he takes any damage.
Unlocks: (w)Silence
I carefully set this up during a pre-emptive I had against two Goblin Guards, one Goblin, one Wolf, and one Warg Wolf. It still required some luck, but it came together.
I carefully set this up during a pre-emptive I had against two Goblin Guards, one Goblin, one Wolf, and one Warg Wolf. It still required some luck, but it came together.
Title: Long, Narrow Things of Power
Author: KingRamz (2019)
Story: Cyrus, the mohawk guy in Pravoka, has heard tales of a long, narrow peninsula that's not so far away from the town. Horrifying tales of beasts that should not be. You know, the sort of threat a self-respecting quartet of Light Warriors would be very interested in stopping. Cyrus is friends with the weapon shop owner in Elfheim, and if you can send those scary monsters packing, he'll tell you the secret phrase you can say to the weapon shop guy that'll get him to show you his best merchandise - a long, narrow, powerful sword.
Requirement: Win two battles in a row at the (former) PNEoP without running away or resting (inn/sleeping bag/tent/cabin/house). After the second victory, return to Pravoka without a TPK and talk to Cyrus.
Requirement: Win two battles in a row at the (former) PNEoP without running away or resting (inn/sleeping bag/tent/cabin/house). After the second victory, return to Pravoka without a TPK and talk to Cyrus.
Unlocks: (e)Mythril Sword
and
and
Title: Thor's Courage
Author: Diamond_Dragon (2020)
Story: The party's white mage looked out at the horizon. A thunder cloud was rolling in, the perfect time to impress the deity, Thor.
Requirement: Walk from Pravoka to the (former) PNEoP and back to Pravoka with the white mage leading the party. The white mage must stay alive the entire trip.
Requirement: Walk from Pravoka to the (former) PNEoP and back to Pravoka with the white mage leading the party. The white mage must stay alive the entire trip.
Unlocks: (w)NulShock
I decided to do these two PNEoP quests at the same time. Seeing as this version of the game solved the domain mapping bug, it's really easy. It occurs to me that I never actually talked to Cyrus at the end so I better make sure to do that before I try to claim a Mythril Sword.
I decided to do these two PNEoP quests at the same time. Seeing as this version of the game solved the domain mapping bug, it's really easy. It occurs to me that I never actually talked to Cyrus at the end so I better make sure to do that before I try to claim a Mythril Sword.
Now it was time to fight the pirates. They have beards in this version! They've also been buffed substantially, which surprised me. They still weren't tough at all though.
With the ship I started a new batch of quests, gradually starting work on the awkward quest to get Fira since that would make so many quests faster and easier. Fira is also a pre-requisite for getting Thundara, so it's important. I also started tracking my dodges more carefully so I could earn the Blink spell.
Title: Honoring Erdrick I
Author: FreshFeeling (2019)
Story: Allegedly, a great hero named Erdrick who came from another world once saved that world and then died, only to somehow be interred in Elfheim. It is said that one of Erdrick's first weapons was a bamboo pole, wielded while he was wearing simple clothes. What better way of honoring this great hero could there be than laying a bamboo pole at his supposed grave site?
Requirement: Bring a Staff and Clothes to Erdrick's grave in Elfheim, then Drop both.
Requirement: Bring a Staff and Clothes to Erdrick's grave in Elfheim, then Drop both.
Unlocks: (e)Battle Axe
Well, this is kind of weird for a few reasons. For one thing, it ain't Erdrick's grave in this version!
I'll overlook that. There's also the fact that this quest and a couple of others require you to drop items/equipment, and it turns out there's no way to do that in the Pixel Remaster. Instead, I just sold them. It's not going to make some significant financial difference, after all. I'm considering this quest met. I never actually got the Battle Axe, but seeing as Elfheim doesn't sell Mythril Swords in this version I might want to do that.
Well, this is kind of weird for a few reasons. For one thing, it ain't Erdrick's grave in this version!
I'll overlook that. There's also the fact that this quest and a couple of others require you to drop items/equipment, and it turns out there's no way to do that in the Pixel Remaster. Instead, I just sold them. It's not going to make some significant financial difference, after all. I'm considering this quest met. I never actually got the Battle Axe, but seeing as Elfheim doesn't sell Mythril Swords in this version I might want to do that.
Title: IF ALL ELSE FAILS, USE FIRE
Author: Zzonkmiles (2019)
Story: The Light Warriors have heard tales about an enchanted plain northeast of Pravoka where there are legendary beasts that are many times more formidable than what can usually be found around the town. That doesn't exist anymore so let's cook seafood.
Requirement: Kill 10 Sahagins damaged only by using the (b)Fire spell (eg. no other spells nor weapon attacks are allowed).
Requirement: Kill 10 Sahagins damaged only by using the (b)Fire spell (eg. no other spells nor weapon attacks are allowed).
Unlocks: (b)Fira
It took two Fire spells to kill a single Sahagin, and Vivi currently has a maximum of 5 spell charges, so this took a few intentional trips to get it done. But it got done! Note that this is one of those quests that got edited because different versions don't have the same encounters at the PNEoP. This change was suggested by Zzonkmiles in post #58 in 2019.
It took two Fire spells to kill a single Sahagin, and Vivi currently has a maximum of 5 spell charges, so this took a few intentional trips to get it done. But it got done! Note that this is one of those quests that got edited because different versions don't have the same encounters at the PNEoP. This change was suggested by Zzonkmiles in post #58 in 2019.
Title: Captain's Prerogative
Author: Linguar82 (2019)
Story: Bikke is concerned that you may not be able to handle the life of a pira...err sailor. So he wants you to plun… err travel around the Aldi sea to prove your worth.
Requirement: Sail to and dock at each port that can be reached without the use of the TNT canal without resting (inn/sleeping bag/tent/cabin/house).
Requirement: Sail to and dock at each port that can be reached without the use of the TNT canal without resting (inn/sleeping bag/tent/cabin/house).
Unlocks: (b)Scimitar
Title: Captain's Prerogative Bonus
Author: Linguar82 (2019)
Story: You will particularly impress him if you also defeat all of the monsters of the Aldi Sea along the way.
Requirement: Sail to and dock at each port that can be reached without the use of the TNT canal without resting (inn/sleeping bag/tent/cabin/house) or running away. Defeat at least 1 Buccaneer, 1 Sahagin, 1 Sahagin Chief, 1 Bigeyes, and 1 Shark during the trip. (This can be completed at the same time as Captain's Prerogitive.)
Requirement: Sail to and dock at each port that can be reached without the use of the TNT canal without resting (inn/sleeping bag/tent/cabin/house) or running away. Defeat at least 1 Buccaneer, 1 Sahagin, 1 Sahagin Chief, 1 Bigeyes, and 1 Shark during the trip. (This can be completed at the same time as Captain's Prerogitive.)
Unlocks: (a)Leather Cap
This was originally one quest with a "bonus feature" but I've taken steps to remove those to ease the tracking, so it's sort of two quests now. In any case, it was easy to do both at the same time. I am glad I had Fira for this trip! It really helped with swarms of Sahags and Buccaneers.
This was originally one quest with a "bonus feature" but I've taken steps to remove those to ease the tracking, so it's sort of two quests now. In any case, it was easy to do both at the same time. I am glad I had Fira for this trip! It really helped with swarms of Sahags and Buccaneers.
Title: Sneaky Sneaky Sir
Author: vp5489 (2019)
Story: The butler at Hotel Cornelia leads a double life. By day he's a loyal servant with a love of feet. By night he's a cunning rogue with a penchant for subterfuge. He's willing to teach you if you show that you're not an amatuer.
Requirement: Evade 25 attacks.
Requirement: Evade 25 attacks.
Unlocks: (w)Blink
The large Sahagin swarms accelerated the pace at which we could see our team dodging attacks and eventually I tracked 25 of them. Done!
The large Sahagin swarms accelerated the pace at which we could see our team dodging attacks and eventually I tracked 25 of them. Done!
Title: Coppers and Robbers
Author: FreshFeeling (2019)
Story: Traders in the Aldi Sea have found that many ships have been attacked by pirates recently, and they are formalizing a unified Aldi Police Force among Cornelia, Pravoka and Elfheim in order to contain this thread to local trade. If you join their ranks, you, too, can wear the uniform of the "coppers". Solving the pirate problem would surely convince them to let the Light Warriors join.
Requirement: Defeat at least 10 Buccaneers. Then, prove that the Buccaneer threat is dealt with by travelling between the ports at Cornelia, Pravoka and Elfheim in any order and finally speaking to any guard NPC all without encountering any more Buccaneers.
Requirement: Defeat at least 10 Buccaneers. Then, prove that the Buccaneer threat is dealt with by travelling between the ports at Cornelia, Pravoka and Elfheim in any order and finally speaking to any guard NPC all without encountering any more Buccaneers.
Unlocks: (a)Bronze Gloves
This quest made more sense when the Bronze Gloves were called Copper Gauntlets. Anyway, this was fine.
I hadn't even noticed this quest, honestly, but at this point I saw it and realized I had already done it. A freebie!
This quest made more sense when the Bronze Gloves were called Copper Gauntlets. Anyway, this was fine.
Title: Fight Like a Pirate
Author: Diamond_Dragon (2020)
Story: True pirates fear nothing from the sea.
Requirement: Defeat 10 Buccaneers, 2 Sharks, 12 Sahagins, and 2 Bigeyes.
Requirement: Defeat 10 Buccaneers, 2 Sharks, 12 Sahagins, and 2 Bigeyes.
Unlocks: (e)Saber
I hadn't even noticed this quest, honestly, but at this point I saw it and realized I had already done it. A freebie!
Title: An Old Man and His Worms
Author: FlamingXP (2025)
Requirement: After completing An Old Man and His Cows, defeat at least 1 Gigas Worm while in view of a mountain tile. Return to a town while experiencing 3 or fewer encounters after the Gigas Worm.
Unlocks: (a)Leather Gloves
I wasn't intending to do this one, but it happens that on the way to my first visit to the dwarves I ran into some Gigas Worms with an Ogre. I had only just got off the ship so I was confident I could make it back to Cornelia. It worked out!
I wasn't intending to do this one, but it happens that on the way to my first visit to the dwarves I ran into some Gigas Worms with an Ogre. I had only just got off the ship so I was confident I could make it back to Cornelia. It worked out!
Title: Appreciating Nature: Dwarf Cave Edition
Author: FreshFeeling (2019)
Story: There is a story told of Wood the fighter and his companions... his poor, poor companions who had to follow along with Wood while he insisted they inspect every darn tree in each forest they found on their journey to save the world. Wood even insisted that, because the dwarves didn't care for forested lands, they must inspect the forest adjoining the Dwarf Cave twice. If you walk in the footsteps of this legend, the dwarves may have a gift for you.
Requirement: In a single trip to the Dwarf Cave, step in every single forest tile outside of the Dwarf Cave twice before proceeding inside.
Requirement: In a single trip to the Dwarf Cave, step in every single forest tile outside of the Dwarf Cave twice before proceeding inside.
Unlocks: (a)Steel Gloves
My stream dropped in the middle of this, so my record of it continues in a second video here. At first, I was walking through the wrong forest! I went through the one near the Dwarf Cave port rather than the one actually adjacent to the Dwarf Cave. Once I got to the correct forest it wasn't bad.
My stream dropped in the middle of this, so my record of it continues in a second video here. At first, I was walking through the wrong forest! I went through the one near the Dwarf Cave port rather than the one actually adjacent to the Dwarf Cave. Once I got to the correct forest it wasn't bad.
Title: Hammer Time
Author: Diamond_Dragon (2020)
Story: Dwarves are known for their crafstmanship, metal hammers are no exception.
Requirement: Talk to the Dwarf Smith.
Requirement: Talk to the Dwarf Smith.
Unlocks: (e)Hammer
Easy peasy.
Around this time, I wanted to wrap up... but I was affected by an urge to complete just one more quest. I really wanted to meet Matoya to start more quests involving her.
I briefly equipped a Leather Shield at this point, but I never used it in combat. Equipping it was an oversight; not only was it still locked, but there was no quest to unlock it! That's because I had two quests to unlock the Helm and one of the "Old Man" quests was supposed to do the Leather Shield instead. I've fixed that up between play sessions, but it didn't impact anything in the gameplay.
I really wanted to do Hey I Can Use That Too to unlock Thunder, which requires beating a formation of a single Shark. While I know that existed in the NES original, I hadn't encountered a lone Shark (hah) in my entire time playing thus far. I wandered around for like 10 more minutes looking for lonely Sharks and found none! I remembered those being pretty common. I guess the formations must have been adjusted for Pixel Remaster or something - I don't think this can be attributed to just bad luck. Anyway, I couldn't complete that and this ended up being where I left off!
Level 10 and we're more than ready for the Marsh Cave!
Easy peasy.
Around this time, I wanted to wrap up... but I was affected by an urge to complete just one more quest. I really wanted to meet Matoya to start more quests involving her.
I briefly equipped a Leather Shield at this point, but I never used it in combat. Equipping it was an oversight; not only was it still locked, but there was no quest to unlock it! That's because I had two quests to unlock the Helm and one of the "Old Man" quests was supposed to do the Leather Shield instead. I've fixed that up between play sessions, but it didn't impact anything in the gameplay.
I really wanted to do Hey I Can Use That Too to unlock Thunder, which requires beating a formation of a single Shark. While I know that existed in the NES original, I hadn't encountered a lone Shark (hah) in my entire time playing thus far. I wandered around for like 10 more minutes looking for lonely Sharks and found none! I remembered those being pretty common. I guess the formations must have been adjusted for Pixel Remaster or something - I don't think this can be attributed to just bad luck. Anyway, I couldn't complete that and this ended up being where I left off!
Level 10 and we're more than ready for the Marsh Cave!
Weekly watching post!
Saturday, August 2nd, 2025 01:35 pmalchemicinkThis past week: the Gozyugers get a new toy, the SSBC team chases an arsonist, Whale Store made me cry, the 10 before 40 guys go shopping, and Ultraman Omega goes on a solo trip.
Gozyuger (episode 23)
( Read more... )
SSBC (episode 4)
( Read more... )
Whale Store (episode 6)
( Read more... )
10 things... (episode 5)
( Read more... )
Ultraman Omega (episode 5)
( Read more... )
Gozyuger (episode 23)
( Read more... )
SSBC (episode 4)
( Read more... )
Whale Store (episode 6)
( Read more... )
10 things... (episode 5)
( Read more... )
Ultraman Omega (episode 5)
( Read more... )
The Pretty Cure & Tokusatsu Merry Christmas in July!! 2025 Round Up!
Saturday, August 2nd, 2025 10:48 amprecuretokumod posting in precuretokupromptFriends, thank you again!! This year's brief summer soiree has been wonderful but now it is a month later, and we draw ever closer to autumn proper! In the meantime, please enjoy the below fills, and thank you all for providing so many new prompts! This will keep us going for, ah, some time... or at least until December 6th. :p
kamen rider gotchard, rinne kudo, sunset bysonofgodzilla.
Any Power Rangers characters giving gifts or something of the like byshadowhenshin.
kamen rider gotchard, lachesis, the hand that feeds bylinky.
Stay tuned for winter, friends!
kamen rider gotchard, rinne kudo, sunset by
sonofgodzilla.Any Power Rangers characters giving gifts or something of the like by
shadowhenshin.kamen rider gotchard, lachesis, the hand that feeds by
linky.Stay tuned for winter, friends!
A belated Scooter Mishap Report
Friday, August 1st, 2025 07:46 pmbuttonsbeadslaceTechnically the car didn't hit me, I hit the car!
( Read more... )
Writing this out was helpful, because now I realize more clearly that
1. This was really not the same type of situation as those other near misses with turning cars that I have had, because there was truly no reason for him not to have seen me.
2. The driver really was very shaken up, and possibly the reason he Did That was that he was already in a hurry and shaken up about something else.
( Read more... )
Writing this out was helpful, because now I realize more clearly that
1. This was really not the same type of situation as those other near misses with turning cars that I have had, because there was truly no reason for him not to have seen me.
2. The driver really was very shaken up, and possibly the reason he Did That was that he was already in a hurry and shaken up about something else.
August '25 writing goals
Friday, August 1st, 2025 07:51 pmalchemicinkAugust?!
August already?!
I can't keep up. Last month's goals post is here
Let's check in to see how successful I was in July:
( Read more... )
And now, some August goals:
( Read more... )
And that's it! Good luck everybody! Hope we all have a nice successful August 🥰
August already?!
I can't keep up. Last month's goals post is here
Let's check in to see how successful I was in July:
( Read more... )
And now, some August goals:
( Read more... )
And that's it! Good luck everybody! Hope we all have a nice successful August 🥰
Quick Rec Day
Friday, August 1st, 2025 12:06 pmbedes posting in dunmeshiEnjoy a fanwork recently, but don't want to create a whole new post to recommend it? Drop a link here! Every week, I encourage you to share a fanwork that you enjoy!
Please try to include some information on the ship or character(s) involved, as our members' specific interests vary! Provide trigger warnings, if applicable, as well. And please make sure you're properly linking back to the creator of the fanwork. So, no reposts!
Self-recs are encouraged, too! Creators, feel free to rec any Dunmeshi fanworks you've made recently (or not-so-recently!).
Remember: if you want to see all of the recs people have to offer, consider clicking the "Track this" button to be notified of all future replies! And also keep in mind you can always make a separate post for your recs. This helps keeps our community active, on top of giving your recs more visibility.
I look forward to seeing what everyone shares!
Please try to include some information on the ship or character(s) involved, as our members' specific interests vary! Provide trigger warnings, if applicable, as well. And please make sure you're properly linking back to the creator of the fanwork. So, no reposts!
Self-recs are encouraged, too! Creators, feel free to rec any Dunmeshi fanworks you've made recently (or not-so-recently!).
Remember: if you want to see all of the recs people have to offer, consider clicking the "Track this" button to be notified of all future replies! And also keep in mind you can always make a separate post for your recs. This helps keeps our community active, on top of giving your recs more visibility.
I look forward to seeing what everyone shares!
Arcade Archives: Field Day
Friday, August 1st, 2025 08:33 amtepidsnakeThis week's Arcade Archives release is... Field Day (Taito, 1984)
PSN
EU
US
Switch
EU
US
Only the JP ROM (The Undoukai) is included. Preference Settings allows players to adjust game speed.
"... Can the band stop playing for a second, this microphone isn't... OK, have we fixed the feedback? Ahem, ahem, test one-two, test one-two... Right, we're on. Welcome, everyone, to Some Womens' Dorm's Sports Day, or Field Day, or The Undoukai, the kids at the local elementary school made signs for all three names, it's confusing. Let's hear it for our athletes, everyone! (Pause for applause) So, we've got a lot of events today! We'll start with the Ball Toss (get the angle right to dunk the balls, please don't throw the balls at each other), the 3-Legged Race (timing and being in-sync with your partner is key), the Bell Ringer (get the timing right to ring that bell), the Obstacle Race (get over the pommel horse, grab the food with your mouth and more), the Softball Toss (throw that sucker as far as you can, but only the first bounce counts), the 120-Meter Relay Race (pass the baton to the next person along) and of course, the grand finale, the Tug of War (don't give up, get that rope over the line). Let's cheer on our competitors without getting too rowdy, because they've got to hit the qualifying time to move on to the next event! And let's all stay hydrated as well, there's water stands all around and it's a warm one today, so be careful everyone. Let's also thank our sponsor, Taito, who supplied... What the hell is a Chack'n? You're making that up,that's not re- oh, balls, we're still live, ahem, ahem, let's all have fun, everyone!"
Oh this is great, my job's way easier this week- I've written about this game at length before! Yes, go and visit Gaming Hell for all your Field Day needs! I'll still give a little summary here though. This is of course a multi-event sports game very much in the vein of Track & Field, but themed around a traditional Japanese sports day or undoukai which you can learn more about here or consult this concise video guide so the events are a little different. The buttons are the standard for a game like this- two power-building buttons and one action button- and it works pretty well, with a nice variety of events and some that are probably easier than some of the Track & Field events (looking at you, High Jump). The qualifying times are also fairly lenient if you're decent at mashing and timing, and there's a lot of cute details in the presentation, like the band playing notes wrong in the intro, hidden bonuses like Chack'n appearing and the vibrant colours, that make this one of my favourites of the genre from this point in time. Another Taito charmer, as expected~
A month of Kidd Pirates [One Piece] Sketches - July
Thursday, July 31st, 2025 05:31 pmmekachu04 posting in anime_mangaFandom: One Piece
Author/Artist: Mekachu04
Title: July Punk Aibou Sketches
Pairing: Eustass Kidd & Killer
Rating: teen? it varies from gen/all audience to teen
Word Count: art
Highlight for Warnings: *some implied death/violence but nothing graphic. all are unfinished sketches so clothes might not all be there. *
Disclaimer: Kidd, Killer, the Kidd Pirates and other characters belong to the world of One Piece by Eiichiro Oda. I'm just playing in the sandbox. this is my first time sharing here - i hope this is okay?
AN: I'm trying to draw something everyday. So most of these are drawn at about 3-5am in about an hour or two at work during the down time.
( thumbnails linking to each day under cut )
Author/Artist: Mekachu04
Title: July Punk Aibou Sketches
Pairing: Eustass Kidd & Killer
Rating: teen? it varies from gen/all audience to teen
Word Count: art
Highlight for Warnings: *some implied death/violence but nothing graphic. all are unfinished sketches so clothes might not all be there. *
Disclaimer: Kidd, Killer, the Kidd Pirates and other characters belong to the world of One Piece by Eiichiro Oda. I'm just playing in the sandbox. this is my first time sharing here - i hope this is okay?
AN: I'm trying to draw something everyday. So most of these are drawn at about 3-5am in about an hour or two at work during the down time.
( thumbnails linking to each day under cut )
SMOF News, volume 4, issue 48
Wednesday, July 30th, 2025 07:02 pmpetrea_mitchellCancelling and vanishing with the money is apparently what media cons do now. If we get a third one in a row, I'm making the recession indicator joke.