THE ENDGAME: Final Dungeons of the Final Fantasy Series Part II

Final Fantasy II: Pandaemonium

In stark contrast to the Chaos Shrine, Pandaemonium doesn’t require nearly as much imagination to realize how freaking awesome it is. Again, with our experienced eyes, its not much to look at as you can see, but the PSP version helps this immensely with the crystal sheen moving across your screen.

But, regardless of version, the fact remains that David Bowie The Emperor that you have killed did not magick himself back into existence, or find some contrived loophole in death, no. Death was simply not interesting enough and so he decided to overthrow Hell. Yeah. Remember this series is not about final bosses but final dungeons, however, what makes Pandaemonium so cool is the fact that you are entering the palace of Hell to kill the Emperor who has conquered it and brought it to the surface of the planet. Satan’s got some catching up to do. Damn.

You cannot deny how badass this looks. Keep in mind that those are MOUNTAINS in the foreground.

Traveling through the dungeon is kinda frustrating with so many false doors and walls, and lots of overly long routes when you can see your destination when you first enter an area. But again, this is where the ruler of Hell lives, so…yeah. The music is cool, and is the ever-appropriate “go forth!” sounding song. Triumphant with that hint of trepidation. The problem with it, again, something we’ve just been spoiled by in later games, is its length. Its very short and loops a lot. In a long dungeon, it really starts to get grating.

Once again, though, it is Hell. So maybe that was intentional.

In short, a huge step up from the Chaos Shrine if you ask me, which you did. Kinda. Maybe its just because it takes place in a realm commonly depicted in other forms. Telling someone the game ends in going to Hell means more to them than saying Memoria. However, I think its due to both the Emperor being awesome, and how connected the final dungeon is to him, rather than just a natural phenomenon where the Big Bad has taken up residence.

Next up, the Cloud of Darkness’ similarly titled realm.

*pictures care of our friends at the FFWiki, except The Far Side, naturally, which belongs to Gary Larsen.