Final Fantasy VI might very well be my favorite game of all time. It's a classic in every sense, and I'm sure it'll be the subject of many of my posts here. It has a great story with numerous memorable moments, with a vast cast of unique heroes and crazy villains. With so many things I could write about, how would I choose just one to do first? I sat for several minutes, staring into the monitor, trying to decide what choice would be best. Then it hit me: when you have a dozen great choices, it doesn't matter which you pick, because no matter what, it'll be a great one. So I simply went with the first one off my list: Ultros, the the lovable, purple, insane octopus.
It's hard to explain just how wacky this guy is if you aren't familiar with the game. When you first meet him when rafting down a river to escape capture, he appears out of nowhere, and appears to be just another mini boss. Well, except for the random moments when he stops the battle to make jokes. That's probably not so normal. Classic lines include "Seafood soup!" when you hit him with a fire spell, and "Muscle heads? Hate 'em." when he targets Sabin, the martial arts expert. The fight ends abruptly, when Ultros tries to run away, only to have Sabin jump in the water after him. The tide takes Sabin away, the game moves to the next scene, and the player assume that's the end of the weird octopus.
Of course, if that were the case, Ultros wouldn't be so memorable, would he? You encounter him another four or five times throughout the game, with each meeting even more crazy than the last. During the famous opera scene, he appears out of nowhere on the balcony above the stage, threatening to drop a four ton weight on Celes below. After you break it up, what does he do? He decides to join the play mid-show, challenging the hero to a duel because you interfered with the plans of "octopus royalty", in his words. WHAT? Don't ask me. After defeating him, the audience comes at you with a thunderous applause, as they assumed it was all planned. Ultros escapes once again.
Next time you see him? You're searching for legendary god statues, find them, have a little discussion, turn around to continue your journey, and BAM - Ultros falls from the ceiling and knocks the party out. That's three for three on appearances completely out of the blue. For reasons unknown he plans to steal the statues to impress Ziegfried, a treasure hunter of sorts. Don't ask me why he cares about impressing him. You then battle him for a bit, until the young artist Relm shows up and interrupts. Why is she there? To paint Ultros, of course! Ultros tells her to get lost, but eventually relents after the party scolds him for being mean to a little girl, telling her "Uncle Ulty really wants you to do his portrait". Uncle Ulty? Anyways, after Relm draws him, he runs away yet again. Hope you didn't think I was lying when I said each meeting is crazier than the last.
Another few game hours go by, another meeting with Ultros comes to pass. The party is on their airship, heading towards the floating continent, preparing to jump down. But not before Ultros jumps down first, attacking your group. This time he has a pal with him, Mister Chupon, a big pink ... thing, whose main attack is sneezing on you. Okie dokie. What's not different this time around is that there is still not logic in why he is attacking you. Is he just bored? Anyways, the battle ends when Chupon actually sneezes you off the ship, accidentally sending you to the floating continent below, which is where you were going anyways. Most noteworthy aspect of this fight: Ultros promises you that this will be your final battle. Could he possibly be telling the truth?
As a matter of fact, he is. You never have to fight the purple octopus again. That doesn't mean you never see him again though. If you wander over to the colosseum in the World of Ruin, you'll find Ultros ... working as a receptionist! If you do a little snooping around, you'll find out that he lost so much on colosseum bets that he couldn't repay his debt, so the owner is forcing him to work until he can pay everything back. Yes, that's right - Ultros moved from a typical mini boss to an opera wrecker/performer to an art model to a receptionist.
Could there be a more fitting ending to the tale of Ultros?
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