Final Fantasy PR (Steam) Side Quest Challenge Part VII

I concluded this Side Quest Challenge playthrough on September 6, 2025 - although I guess it was actually September 7th in the end.

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I haven't really noted it, but in addition to doing these write-ups as usual, I've also been posting to this GameFAQs thread throughout. It's not bustlin', but there have been some reactions and a small number of new quests. Between the prior session and this one, we've ended up with six new quests... meaning we now have quests to unlock every single weapon, armor and spell in the game! Many of the new ones didn't have the "stories" that all of the older ones did, but that's okay.

I started out with some wandering around in lava to lower our HP. This was intended to make it so that Vivi was the only surviving character, although had some other effects, too.

Title: If You Can Dodge A ___

Author: Diamond_Dragon (2020)

Story: As their journey progresses, the party's thief has made some evasive actions that will be included in tales throughout the ages. The more party's black mage sees this, the more they think they could use magic to manipulate an enemy's evasive techniques.

Requirement: The black mage must be alive when a physical attack misses the thief while the thief is in critical (kneeling) HP.

Unlocks: (b)Focara

Since I had all the characters so low and Vivi in good condition, I just wandered up to a clump of Goblins and had Locke dodge them with critical HP.

I did not end up actually buying the Focara spell.

Title: Hey I Can Use That Too

Author: hawkeyerules (2020)

Story: The black mage watched as the party's white mage cast (w)NulShock on the party and thought how wonderful it would be to use lightning as a damaging spell. They started reading all the tomes of magic that they possibly could and still found nothing. He did, however, learn that Matoya had knowledge that preceded the books. It seemed like if someone would pay Matoya a visit and run an errand for her, they could cast (b)Thunder with the best of them.

Requirement: With (w)NulShock unlocked, starting from Matoya's cave with a character who can cast (b)Thunder leading the group, fight and kill a solo Shark, a 5 Buccaneer formation and finally a 4 Goblin formation.

Unlocks: (b)Thunder

This one I had been sort of putting off since very early on. Normally, you'd be able to do it as soon as you got the ship in Pravoka! At least in prior versions. With the new encounters the way they are, there's no such thing as a "solo Shark". However, the right kind of pedantic idiot could, in theory, parse the phrase "fight and kill a solo Shark" as "fight and kill a Shark on your own"... right??? I mean, I'd already beaten tons of Sharks, and even White Sharks. I decided if I could do this whole thing with Vivi solo, it would still meet the requirement... so that's what I did.

I did not end up actually buying the Thunder spell.

Title: Mage's Inner Strength

Author: Liguar82 (2019)

Story: The master of dragons is said to bestow a great gift on those who prove their courage. Hearing these tales has stirred a sense of courage within the party's black mage.

Requirement: With only the black mage alive, enter the Citadel of Trials and proceed to open the treasure chest that contains the rat's tail (whether or not the tail has already been claimed), and then return to Bahamut and speak to him.

Unlocks: (b)Saber

This is why I actually had Vivi in a solo state. Vivi didn't like running into dinosaur enemies, but other than that it really wasn't too bad.

I did end up getting the... usually not-so-useful Saber spell. I thought it might help with another quest.

Title: Turn Some Blind Eyes

Author: FreshFeeling (2019)

Story: After Matoya has restored her sight, she becomes keen on the study of semi-magical optometry so that things like this don't happen again! But to proceed with her research she will require some anatomical samples to learn more about the nature of blindness.

Requirement: After successfully completing Ableism Awareness or The Sound of Nature, defeat at least two Bigeyes, two Deepeyes, and two Evil Eyes.

Unlocks: (b)Blind

Next, I decided to go into the Sunken Shrine to finish this. No real notes! It was strange that I had never encountered Deepeyes nor Ghosts. I made a point to run into both for the sake of the bestiary.

During this stupid trip, I also tried to get the team into a duo state for the Fork Tower quest, and that's why the team looks, y'know, a little on the rough side. I did not end up actually buying the Blind spell.

Title: Quest for Healing

Author: gameenjoyer (2019)

Story: Legend has it that those who are proficient at healing can wield a powerful item that can heal at will.

Requirement: One character must deliver over 1000 points of healed HP in a single battle without themself or any of his allies dying before the battle is over. This healing may occur from either spells or potions. Note that only actual points of healing count.

Unlocks: (e)Healing Staff

Between the duo runs for the Fork Tower quest, I had an opportunity to heal massive amounts by having Lenna and Vivi both at 1 HP.

I happened to be near Pravoka so I ran into weak little groups there. Lenna got killed on the first attempt, but the second one worked.

In this battle, Lenna healed a total of 1185 HP.

Title: The Fork Tower

Author: FreshFeeling (2019)

Story: The Mirage Tower is said to have a link to a tower in another world where the strongest magics have been sealed away from evil forces. Only cooperation between those who have mastered the physical arts and those who have mastered the magical arts are said to be able to access these abilities.

Requirement: "In two separate trips from the entrance to the Mirage Tower up to the teleporter guarded by the Blue Dragon:

• one party may only access the Fight and Run commands
• one party may only access the Magic and Run commands

These two parties must be separated such that characters who are alive on one trip are dead throughout the other trip. For example, one might be a duo Knight/Ninja and the other might be a duo White Wizard/Black Wizard."

Unlocks: (b)Flare, (w)Holy

This FF5 reference is one of my favourite cross-game references that I made among the older quests, although it might be a tad on the easy side for such good rewards. Given that its so late in the game, I suppose that doesn't matter. Cecil and Locke went first, with no real issue.

Followed by Lenna and Vivi, using only the Magic and Flee commands. It was hard to help myself from using spellcasting items, actually, especially when I wanted to cast Fira and the Mage's Staff was available. It took me three attempts to just avoid accidentally using items!

With that, we unlocked Holy and Flare! These ones we actually would purchase.

Title: Meltdown

Author: nesplayer (2025)

Requirement: Face a Death Knight and allow it to use Flare. Any party members who can learn (w)Dispel must survive the attack.

Unlocks: (w)Dispel

This is one of the brand new quests. We ran into a Death Knight shortly after the two teams, uh, reconvened in the Flying Fortress. I had been leaving Locke at 1 HP hoping he might be able to help us unlock Protect Cloaks, so he didn't survive the Flare... but Lenna did!

I did not end up actually buying the Dispel spell.

Title: Dimension V

Author: CannonTrys & FreshFeeling (2025)

Story: If your Black Wizard can escape the space station in Dimension V, they should learn how to warp their enemies to an alternate dimension with such wonky gravity that they won't be able to return.

Requirement: After doing class change, access the "window" in Flying Fortress 3F. Either turn your display upside down or use operating system features to flip the display. Exit the Flying Fortress without using Teleport or Exit. The Black Wizard must survive the trip.

Unlocks: (b)Warp

This was... about as hilarious as I expected. Since I'm playing on PC, I changed my monitor settings to be upside down. This didn't rotate my stream, so I had to set that up separately.

It wasn't too hard to get used to in terms of controls, but conceptually I wasn't used to it. I kept just laughing at how silly it was. The fights were easy, too, and I stuck around long enough to beat several Spirit Nagas for another quest that I didn't end up finishing. I was kind of hoping to run into WarMech, but that didn't happen.

Title: Mechanical Analysis

Author: nesplayer (2025)

Requirement: Talk to the 3 robots in Mirage Tower and each of the two banks of computers in the Flying Fortress.

Unlocks: (a)Diamond Shield

I had gradually been doing these things during the last few quests, and after exiting Dimension V I quickly re-entered the Mirage Tower to talk to the B1 robot that I had skipped.

Title: The Shield of Perseus

Author: FlamingXP (2025)

Story: Perseus has apparently grown old and taken up residence as one of the sages in Crescent Lake. He can allow you to use the Aegis Shield, but only after a worthiness of its gifts has been shown.

Requirement: Defeat 3 Medusas or Earth Medusas using the (b)Break spell. If a character with (b)Break or a character who can use the Aegis Shield are slain or petrified, start the counter back at 0. After beating 3, report to the Circle of Sages.

Unlocks: (a)Aegis Shield

I had tried to do this in the prior session, and even marked this complete, but it turns out I didn't since Cecil had been petrified. Well, I petrified some Earth Medusae earlier - and just lacked the spell charges to finish because I used Blizzaga so much during the Fork Tower.

When I returned to talk to the final robot, I ran into another group of Medusae. Vivi used Break, and neither Vivi nor Cecil were petrified or dead. So it's actually complete!


At this point, I was seriously considering whether to rush the endgame or not! There really were not that many quests remaining. I decided I ought to do some shopping, which resulted in me fully filling out everyone's spell lists.

There was one more quest I thought would benefit me that I could get done nice and easily.

Title: Mass Healing

Author: nesplayer & beege_man (2025)

Story: There has to be a more efficient way to heal...

Requirement: Get hit by a dragon's elemental breath weapon, then have a single character use a Potion on all four heroes while the rest of the party does nothing. Then win the fight.

Unlocks: (a)Healing Helm

I feel like I've been breathed on by White Dragons a lot in this playthrough. It didn't take long to run into one in the Cavern of Ice, and then the quest was easy from there.

Okay... on to the game's final area!

This wasn't quite the end of our questing regardless. There was nothing too unusual at the beginning. We got to encounter Jimera/Rhyos and Purple Worms for the first time. Phantom was easy, but I was a little surprised by the treasures he was guarding.
 

Title: Mass Harming

Author: beege_man (2025)

Story: There has to be a more efficient way to harm...

Requirement: Encounter a group of at least two Dragon Zombies. Defeat them without using regular attacks, spellcasting items, or any magic spell other than Dia.

Unlocks: (w)Diaja


This was actually really easy. We were absolutely not going to be buying Diaja, but I guess it's nice to be done another quest.

 

Title: Proof of Worthiness

Author: gameenjoyer (2019)

Story: Legend has it that, at some point in the past, a weapon of great power existed that could be wielded by anybody who could prove themselves worthy to wield it. Prove yourself worthy, and you might be its next wielder.

Requirement: Defeat at least 120 of the 128 monsters in the game (note that second version fiends count as unique from first version).

Unlocks: (e)Masamune

While I didn't actually grab the Masamune yet, I quickly perused the bestiary before Lich and realized the only enemies I hadn't met yet were WarMech, Iron Golem, and the five remaining bosses. I was already done this!


Proceeding through the final dungeon, we encountered Lich II. I was sort of surprised at his defenses.

Also, unfortunately, he landed a Warp spell on Cecil early in the fight. I tried to avoid using many resources, figuring he probably only had a couple hundred hit points, like the original. This made it take longer than I'd normally like... but, hey, he didn't use Flare!
 
Later, I checked Lich II's status in the bestiary, and was surprised even further.


I used Cecil's death as an opportunity to try to unlock Protect Cloaks by saving his life with a last-minute heal, but in the course of this I just utterly wasted about 5 or 6 of Lenna's level 5 white magic charges casting Life on him repeatedly. It did not pay off. We also grabbed a Protect Cloak in this interval, but we couldn't use it.


I ramped up how seriously I was going to take Marilith; I started the fight with Cecil and Locke each using the Defender twice and Giant's Gloves twice. After that we just used standard violence and it didn't feel too dangerous.
 
Here is how Marilith II's stats appear in the bestiary:


We did similar with Kraken, although I realized I could also make use of Haste. Like with Lich II, I was surprised at his defenses, as he was only taking a few hundred damage from most of my melee barrages even after the buffs. Perhaps I didn't stack them enough? We won regardless.
 
Here are Kraken II's stats from the bestiary:


When I went down the stairs, I made a beeline for the Masamune.

I decided to put it on Cecil; it really may have been stronger on Locke, but I didn't think about it too hard. It made a difference! Cecil's damage against Tiamat II was radically higher, and Tiamat II went down pretty quickly.

It is somewhat surprising that this fight seemed maybe the easiest given Tiamat II's enormous HP glow-up. Check out these stats:


Yikes! Well, that did leave me feeling prepared for the final boss.
In the NES version, you actually talk to Garland multiple times, so I thought I'd have another chance to heal up when I interacted with him. I wasn't in bad shape though, so it wasn't a big issue.

As you might expect, I started with buffs! I through up tons of Defender/Ruse effects, stacked some offensive buffs on Cecil and Locke, and even put NulAll on Cecil so he would avoid earth- and time-based attacks.

This didn't go amazingly well at first, as Chaos' physical attacks were doing around 300 damage before he used Haste on himself. He actually killed Cecil once in the early going. I had to think about whether I was going to let Lenna revive him in battle or not, because in a few respects I've tried to keep the gameplay close to the original version's features - for example, ignoring the new consumable items. But I said something like, "I guess I'll accept that this is the game I'm playing" and revived Cecil and buffed him up a second time.

Lenna used a few Protera casts when healing wasn't needed, which I thought might soften the nasty physical attacks. I occasionally had Vivi use Flare, but that was only doing ~450 damage so I mostly decided he was better off using healing itemcasts. Both Cecil and Locke were doing well over a thousand damage with buffed physical attacks. It made me think this game might be quite hard with a pure mage party.


Oh, we still had one more quest we could do!

Title: The Ultimate Trophy

Author: FlamingXP (2025)

Story: What better reward could there be for defeating the final boss than a shiny, new pair of Iron Nunchuks?

Requirement: Defeat Chaos ;)

Unlocks: (e)Iron Nunchaku

 

 

What a wonderful trophy it is!
I was wondering about Chaos' actual buffs in this version. It is clear they were there, but I wasn't counting my damage numbers. It turns out the bestiary offers no help with this:


So, how about this playthrough? It was fun! It was actually like, very fun. It had very few points of actual challenge though. Still, if I'm a person who says I like variant playthroughs and constraints to experience familiar games in new ways, this delivered to an incredible extent. I'd like to extend a big thanks to the GameFAQs Final Fantasy board of past and present for all of the side quests.

Which ones did I not manage to get to?

• Bringer of Fear was just too hard to count, even though I bet I finished it by accident. If the prize - the Fear spell - were better I might have cared more.
• Protect the Weak is one that I may have done incidentally and not realized it or recorded it. Toward the end, I made a conscious effort to get it done a few times and it just really didn't work out. The prize was Protect Cloak.
• Sight Unseeing was added right at the end, and while I love the idea, I wanted to get things finished that night when I played and I had no idea how long it would take. The prize was Invisira/INV2, which is actually really good (certainly better than Stona). If someone really wanted me to do it, I could still try.
• Witness the Cure was added at the end. It seems that they swapped the Rakshasa/Catman's spell list so they use Curaja instead of Cure, so it may actually be impossible exactly as written. The prize was Curaga.
• The Time Mage Sequence, it turns out, is impossible in Pixel Remaster even though it can be done in all prior versions. This is because the Evil Eye can only be found in the Cavern of Ice once. Too bad. The prize was the Stop spell, which is very unimportant.
• High Wizardry was just casting a whole bunch of black magic spells. The prize was the Wizard Staff, which really doesn't matter at all. It wouldn't be hard at all to finish, just a bit time consuming and I'm unlikely to make use of its reward.
• White Robe at the Bazaar is a weird one. I beat all of the required Spirit Nagas and Chimera, and just needed to defeat 5 more Crocodiles... but with their general rarity heightened by the changes to the mapping of encounters for river enemies, it was going to become a hassle. The White Robe is a good item, but Lenna was using the Diamond Bracelet at the end anyway, so it didn't matter too much.
• Diamond Legacy is a relatively recent quest where part of it was quite specific about visiting the lake above the waterfall. That is impossible in Pixel Remaster, so it's marked abandoned. The prize was intended to be Diamond Gloves, which are more-or-less never useful.
• Finally, Hard to Forge Adamant was my ticket to Excalibur! The only part I was missing was WarMech. As I said toward the end, as much as I would've liked to fight WarMech - and I did spend some time looking - I didn't want to go all in on that because it could've been 5 minutes or it could've been an hour.

It's hard to say which quests were "good" and "bad". Quests of the style, "go to place and kill [x]" or "kill [n] of [x]" were absolutely the most boring, but that doesn't make them bad. The solo quests were interesting, but cumbersome to set up. I liked the idea of quests that forced different party members into the lead. I am just glad they were somewhat varied. As stated above, it was fun overall.

It's also worth a note that this was my first playthrough on the Pixel Remaster version of this game. It's strange what they did for this release. It's very, very inauthentic to the original versions... but it's a heck of a lot better than Dawn of Souls in terms of difficulty and balance. I do like this version, but I think Final Fantasy Origins remains the version of Final Fantasy I'd recommend to someone who wants an authentic experience but with better visuals and a touch of QoL.

The team was fine, and certainly the best makeup with the nature of this "challenge". I played almost the entire game with 0.5x experience and still had levels well beyond what any casual player would need to beat the game. It was bound to happen given the number of extra trips and enemies I had to beat for quests, so I can't really comment on the changes to the experience curve.

Anyway... this was fun!

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