Top 10 Hardest Dungeons in Final Fantasy 1

[@TheTateful]

For when you get to it, Marsh Cave is harder than Diddy at a playground.

[@john1701q]

I can still remember my first trip to the Marsh Cave, it was brutal.

[@TheReturnersHideout]

As was mine. Simple random encounters will wipe the floor with you if you're not ready for it! Thanks for commenting!

[@gurvmlk]

When comparing dungeons, I feel like the main thing to keep in mind with the Marsh Cave is that inherently, it's not super difficult. Yes, it has some tough enemies, and the wizards at the end are particularly powerful, but overall the dungeon is rather short, straightforward, and not too difficult. The main challenge isn't the dungeon itself though, the the difficulty spike it represents. If it's your first time playing the game, there's about a 200% chance that you'll go to the Marsh Cave unprepared. And even when you are experienced, it's still very likely that your levels and spells are not up to snuff for what the dungeon expects. This results in the Marsh Cave gaining a lot of notoriety not simply because of the dungeon itself, but the inadequate strength of the player's party when they reach it.

[@Pangora2]

Money is tight, and you would need to suffer through the sequence of getting the cash for PUREs and actually knowing Grinding was essential in the game. Young me did not do such things.

[@Veylon]

I don't know that it's objectively hardest, but the Marsh Cave by far feels the hardest. It's unreasonably complex for the first real dungeon of the game. The layout has numerous dead-ends, you have to strategize when to use your limited stockpile of spells, and you have to gear up, stock up, AND level up beforehand. It's a huge step up from simply walking up to Garland and smacking him down at Level 1.

[@APackOfHungryGhosts]

Gotta disagree. Marsh Cave is hands down the hardest. Every low-level run gets hung up there and at the Earth Cave. Everything after Lich becomes a breeze. But the sheer amount of poison in Marsh Cave is unforgiving. Just getting TO the Wizards with everyone alive and unpoisoned is a challenge in itself. Escaping afterwards, if you manage to kill them, is also a feat because no Exit/Warp spells that early. The rest of the list I agree with, but #1 spot belongs to Marsh Cave.

[@TheReturnersHideout]

That's fair! I definitely know why the Marsh Cave *could* be placed at the top of this list, for sure! It is considerably shorter than most on this list, and I think that might be one of the only reasons why I put it where I did. Thanks so much for commenting!

[@runnersdialzero1244]

My first few attempts at this game on the NES always ended in the Marsh Cave. I was young and didn't *totally* get the levelling system (but got it enough to finish IV and V), but even when I did understand it, I was young, no maps, and here's this really repetitive dungeon with some **really** strong enemies as you go along. And, of course, when playing today, I've been grinding for hours near Pravoka and can just plow through the Marsh Cave in fifteen minutes if I get caught up in a lot of encounters. The only other dungeon that really got me for a while was the Sunken Shrine for very similar reasons.

[@ryanchurchill5081]

I definitely do two runs in that cave first for crown or treasure then save and go back for what I didn't get

[@APackOfHungryGhosts]

@@runnersdialzero1244 I am always doing low-level playthroughs, to transform at the lowest level possible for max-stat gain (on most classes), and the Marsh Cave is THE hardest part every time. When you run from everything except forced fights, have very limited gold, and no items or decent gear it is a grueling experience. Gotta pray for no more than 3 wizards or you won't survive.

[@Ghalion666]

I find ice cave harder because while the marsh cave is harder in the sense that I always take 2 trips, it doesnt wipe out my party due to bad luck sometimes like the ice cave does.

[@CaptainFES]

I remember having to abandon a playthrough after clearing the Ice Cave. I had a standard party of Fighter, Monk, White Mage and Black Mage. I ended up soft locking myself. My run was a disaster. By the time I exited, I only had my Black Mage and a tent. No other healing items. I could not make it back to my ship and to sail back to Crescent Lake.

[@franimal86]

Sailing back from the ice cave can be half the battle haha

[@goldengirl8355]

Brutal!! Ahhh!!

[@shirrenthewanderer414]

For the Ice Cavern, you forgot to mention the packs of Dark Elves that love to ambush you and spam Fire3 and BANE. Honorable mention goes to Mindflayers, and this is the first dungeon they appear in, and did I mention you need the Airship to buy ProRings.

[@franimal86]

If you see a dark elf, wizard or pack of zombies, run!

[@ryanchurchill5081]

The funny thing about death touch it is considered non elemental so pro rings don't even help

[@cedhabs20]

My top 3 hardest dungeon are the Marsh Cave, the volcano and the final dungeon, 2000 years before. The Marsh Cave is one of the hardest dungeon, at that point, I arrive at the Marsh Cave around level 6, so your party is not powerful enough for it. You get poison and paralyse a ton and have enemies like scorpion, Red Skull and Wizard that are incredibly hard for that level. Volcano has some strong enemies to fight and you lose a lot of health just going around. The final boss has fight where you'll fight 4 green dragons, it's insanity.

[@Pangora2]

As a wee lad, my first time playing the game I couldn't beat Garland until I came back later and realized a "Tent" could be used outside the Temple to restore HP. These things are not obvious when its your first RPG. Then I ran from most of the fights, got the Marsh Cave and the game said No. Even when I discovered levels and grinding, it was hours of Creeps and Ogres and that Cave still beat my ass. The only thing comparable was the Ice Cave. And that was the last dungeon with a map!!

[@shinmalestat9272]

Lol. Took me a month to realize have to EQUIP my weapons and armor. After that Garland was a breeze.

[@afterglow-podcast]

Haven't watched the whole thing yet but my money is on Marsh Cave at 1, Earth Cave at 2, and Mt Glug at 3. Marsh Cave is crazy hard for as early in the game as it hits, and every time requires me to do some heavy grinding to beat. Earth Cave sucks mostly for having to backtrack back out halfway thru than redo it. Finally, Glug and its damaging floors suck, especially when hunting for the goodies in there.

[@TheReturnersHideout]

You’re very close! But there’s one that is worse than the volcano!

[@faerieknight2298]

To be honest, ever since I first discovered the "Giant hallway" back in the 90's on my first FF1 play through, I've used it as a level grinding tool. One trek through that loop gets you well prepared for the Earth Cave.

[@Shivelybanetek]

Anybody who has played final fantasy? One on the nintendo only we'll understand just how frustrating the marsh cave is because there are no save points inside and it is a very hard dungeon for that level. If you've played final fantasy, one on any other platform, the narrative save points in faster running speeds and everything else. So it's not nearly as hard plus nintendos, notorious resetting your whole game, any racing, your previous game That was a problem as well. That people who played final fantasy, one on other platforms. Never had to deal with.

[@nop6713]

Amen to the Marsh Cave. My last playthrough, it was the end of any challenge. I think I over-leveled by accident.

[@franimal86]

All of the elemental bosses can be cheesed by using items/spells. Lich can be silenced with the lvl2 spell MUTE, Marilith can be put to sleep or paralyzed, like you mentioned, Kraken can be confused (the Wizard Staff comes in handy here), and like you mentioned, Tiamat can be TKO’d using Bane (or by using the Bane Sword AKA Razer that you get right before fighting them).

[@TheReturnersHideout]

Try as I might, I could not mute Lich or paralyze Kary - the spells kept saying "ineffective" over and over, sometimes I can get Bane to work on Tiamat, but nothing just works right out of the box! But on top of all that, sometimes those bosses just hit SUPER hard! Thank you so much for commenting!

[@goldengirl8355]

I thought bane was a broken spell. It never worked for me but I was playing on the original nes

[@unusualdepths8213]

Oh please do this with all the games. Love this.

[@TheReturnersHideout]

Heya! That’s exactly what I plan on doing! I’m going through each game chronologically!

[@JustinEvitable80]

Great work, but I'd move Castle of Ordeal up the list a bit. Not only are there Sorcerers/Mindflayers but there are also R Goyles & Mancats who always start with FIR2 which will easily kill your group. In Origins version on Playstation, their spell orders are different making them more forgiving. Also, Medusas can turn you to stone easily at this point. Original NES version, the realm is easy to fail more than once. I knew Ice Cave would be Number one. Like mentioned, the undead are the problem, but my vote for the biggest problem are the Mages/Dark Wizards. Sorcerers/Mindflayers are also here and the Fr/White Dragons are also a big challenge.

[@Jikkuryuu]

Putting the Sea Shrine before the Earth Cave was a choice? I can see the Volcano being after simply because remembering to heal the damage you take from the lava is an added layer of difficulty. I'm for sure not going to argue over those top 3. The Earth Cave might be designed to _make you_ clear clear a dungeon in multiple trips, but the Marsh Cave is so harrowing that you _need_ to make multiple trips. Nice double-whammy of a tutorial there. Makes sense that the hardest dungeons in the game are the ones which can hurt you even when you're fleeing from fights. Ice has instant-death and stunlocks, Marsh has poison and stunlocks, ToC is mostly just so long that it eats all your healing.

[@TheReturnersHideout]

Adding the tips at the end of each section was a last minute addition that I'm very glad I threw in there. It may not be much (especially with my "speedy walkthrough" coming out next week) but I figured I would do something more than just make a top 10 list and leave it at that. Thank you so much for adding some more information to the list, I think having different opinions and even stories of just how difficult some of these dungeons are will help any new player that cycles around to the NES version of this game! Thank you so much for commenting!

[@Pangora2]

Earth Cave also gave you easy access to grind Giants. Aside from getting paralyzed on lower levels I think that's when a natural party starts to accelerate in power. You can even sail off to Crescent Lake for gear or levels if you're getting blocked.

[@DLPChris]

Marsh Cave is the filter. If you can make it through that, you can handle anything.

[@franimal86]

Teleporting in the Castle of Ordeals is a breeze once you figure out the route is always to take the bottom-most pillar

[@TheReturnersHideout]

That's a solid way to remember it. I've got a speedy walkthrough releasing next week and I just give the basic run down of which teleports to use - but your way of explaining it made me stop and rethink it LOL - thanks so much for commenting!

[@kevinstanton5998]

Back in the day i had to start a new game because of the marsh cave. I had 2 dead characters, no potions left, no antidotes, and the 2 remaining characters were poisoned. I saved the game so i wouldn't have to do the marsh cave again, but with them being poisoned i could never make it back to town. The poison drained my HP, and then eventually got a fight and 1 hit kills ya... and there was only 1 save slot originally. ... so...start new game lol

[@amyheartsyou]

Is the lino at the end pointing to the wrong video for anyone else?

[@TheReturnersHideout]

Video isn’t out yet !

[@timleader3253]

My gut reaction was Marsh Cave, but Ice Cave might be even harder.

[@veghesther3204]

It only SUCKS on the NES/Pixel remaster where poison pretty much has a 100% chance to work but at least in the Pixel version you can just turn OFF random battles.

[@jaysuede2627]

I personally had the most trouble with the Sunken Temple, if only because the RNG gods are unkind. Packs of ghosts can absolutely end your run.

[@TheReturnersHideout]

You're 100% correct - and I brought this up in a previous video, but random encounters can wipe the floor with you more than a lot of the bosses can! The undead enemies are a prime example of this! Thanks so much for commenting!

[@BlakeAustin2011]

So level 12-13 for earth and 14 for waterfall…but you have to beat ice to get to waterfall. I can’t imagine being 12-13 for earth wouldn’t net 16-17 for waterfall with ice song the way. And since most do volcano as well, that’s just more xp.

[@TheReturnersHideout]

No no I said 18 for waterfall, recommended is 22

[@kellysamuel3383]

The first time going into marsh cave you don’t know where everything is Which makes it take several runs to complete

[@gartrellwhite7504]

You might want to put an epilepsy / flashing light warning for the sections of the video where the damaged tiles are being stepped on.

[@TheReturnersHideout]

Ah crap yep - I did in one of my last videos and I thought I put it here too - thank you

[@mindlessmeat4055]

I hate teleport puzzles. They are almost as annoying as sliding puzzles...I'm looking at you Pokemon games (which has both).

[@TheReturnersHideout]

I’ve got a walkthrough coming out very soon that simplifies it quite a bit! I remember it like the back of my hand now!

[@tehcodingmonkey]

isn't there like only 10 dungeons in ff1? (ok maybe not but i'd imagine it not being a super high number)

[@Gimili10]

I'd say the Sky Castle was the hardest when the game first came out. No Internet with which to help you when you get to the floor where you need to walk in a specific combination of directions to move on, remember? You needed Nintendo Power's "Strategy Guide." Greedy MFs!

[@Matisaro]

Top 10 dungeons in ff1.....which has like 6 dungeons. lol

[@TheReturnersHideout]

There's 1 or 2 that didn't make it on this list!

[@franimal86]

I was thinking the same thing, but he found 10! Haha

[@Matisaro]

@@franimal86 I know I had to eat crow by the end lol