Golbez

I do think the big picture was a little bit formulaic.

Like, the, the individual, like, the small character moments are quite strong, but overall it's, it's a very s- you, for a very formulaic game where basically you're going to get these crystals, you're stopping the, uh, Golbez, the, the, the big bad from getting all these crystals.

Oh, he's after this one.

Let's, let's go and stop him.

You...

The world is pummeled by meteors from the true moon, and then, uh, the overworld everywhere is populated by monsters that were on the lunar surface in Golbez's chapter.

Okay.

From the red moon?

But it's probably not the same kind of, like, uh, Zemus mind control.

No.

Whatever is being done to Cecil is far more traumatic and far more replacement-based than whatever happened to Golbez and Kain.

Would you say that's a fair description, Crystal?

[upbeat music] Fly me to the moon and let me play among the stars.

Golbez, don't tell me that you're my sibling and my brother.

[laughs] All right, Frost.

[laughs] Hi, everybody.

Sometimes in this game, it's a bit ambiguous, isn't it? It's just like, are you actually brainwashed, or is it just like when, once we've beaten him up, he's just like, "Oh, I was in mind control." [laughs]

[laughs]

I swear Golbez has got mind control.

You get to the end of the game and you're like, "Hey, you've been mind-controlling all my friends," and Golbez is like, "What?" [laughs]

I was just saying, Crystal, that if they were willing to take out the challenge dungeons entirely, I don't think that it would be necessary to play them in order to finish building the characters.

In fact, after having played one of the challenge dungeons, uh, in the Lunarians chapter, I anticipate that either Golbez will join the party quite late or that he will be so strong when he joins that it's going to take a while for him to fall back onto the, uh, uh, regular curve of character development.

That makes sense.

So- What happened in the first tale, the Palom's tale?

Oh my gosh.

I would say two to three, depending on how much, uh, side content you want to see.

I probably spent four or five hours in Golbez's chapter, but that's because, uh, he has two challenge dungeons and I ran through each about 10 times.

You can get them down to about five minutes per run, is the thing.

That's still one of the coolest moments in the series, I think.

The defeated Golbez's arm crawling past you while your party talks to each other to grab hold of the crystal is pretty sick.

And FFIV: The After Years, I mean, FFIV is very, like, ambitious for its day, right? In 1991, that would've knocked your socks off.

They, they were trying to get out from the shadow of Dragon Quest.

Let's talk about the last 18 years of Kain's life.

Okay.

So the last 18 years of Kain's life, he is mind-controlled by Golbez, and then, like, fights alongside Golbez and the four evil kings of the different elements, and he is, uh, also mind-controlled by Zemus, recognizes the darkness in his heart, is welcomed back into the fold and offered to be part of the throuple between the two people that he loves best in the world.

He defeats the devil, and he says, "Okay, I'm not going to go immediately back.