Let me further emphasize this because I’m pretty sure Satan let’s you play video games in Hell, but only this game and only this last portion.
At the end of the game is the series of dungeons. The first of which is the Ancient Maze. Despite the name, it’s pretty linear and not that long but still takes like 7-10 minutes to run through if you already killed the boss. After you enter the this place there is no rest areas to restore health or MP. There’s a couple shops later on but they only give you the ultimate level magics (so basically useless restore longevity: any healing items you have when you enter is all you’re gonna get).
Between the Ancient Maze and the Crystal Tower is a small bit of Overworld. Like literally, you take 2 steps and you’re in the Crystal Tower. You can’t heal or restock so I’m pretty sure this is only here so you can save. Further proof that the Ancient Maze is just there to piss you off.
Then there’s the Crystal Tower. Take note from here on out, die at any point past here and you lose any progress made. At the beginning you have the gateway to the bonus dungeon, Eureka. This a pretty linear dungeon but can still take a good 30-40 minutes to get through. After completing this I recommend leaving the Crystal Tower to save…of course if you want to restock you still have to go through the Ancient Maze to fly to town.
Then there’s the Crystal Tower itself. The longest dungeon in the game, itself a maze-like series of corridors and the only dungeon where paths lead back and forth through several floors. And several of these paths lead to dead ends, which you’ll only find out after the path already took you up and down several floors.
And at the top of the tower is the main villain, Xande, up to this point. The moment you initiate the fight you enter the Point Of No Return. Up to this point you could technically leave the Crystal Tower to save so you don’t lose all your levels, but you still have get back up to Xande the hard way. This “convenience” is gone the moment you fight Xande. This dungeon can take a good 30-40 minutes if you know which paths to take.
After beating him you now have the final final dungeon, World of Darkness. In this dungeon you can either run straight to the final boss and die in 5 minutes or so, or you can spend a good 20-30 minutes on top of that fighting “Optional” bosses that will lower the final boss’ power for every one beaten.
Then you win.
Interspersed through all of this is the occasional boss and a random encounter with boss-like enemies, each of which suddenly has like 4-5 times the health of the Ancient Maze or Eureka’s bosses. Have fun.