I feel like they don't give you enough time to dig for Chocobo's Air Garden.
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I feel like they don't give you enough time to dig for Chocobo's Air Garden.
We are back and getting to the end of the game, can you believe it? A few sections left and they're pretty story heavy so bare with me. Afterwards I will be hopping right in to Final Fantasy VIII if that interests you!
(SPOILER)
First thing's first, Zidane finds a spot for Garnet to rest, but he starts not feeling so hot himself
Eiko meanwhile is asking the locals for some medicine without much success
>Eiko travels to a whole new place with a different culture
>Calls them all weirdos
Anyways, cute pink Zidane from before shows up and asks where Zidane is, which Eiko misconstrues as flirting
Her response doesn't do much to clarify things, let's be honest
Eiko, as you can see, is having none of it. Ain't nobody allowed to flirt with the man her bestie is in love with that she has a crush on
Back with the others, Garnet is resting and Freya notices that Zidane has been a bit gloomy
Garnet wakes up and explains why she fainted when she saw The Invincible
It's because she realized what we realized a whole disc ago
So Zidane glooms about and heads to the Underground Laboratory after Eiko begrudgingly gives him the message and upon seeing the people in the weird test tube like things, he realizes what's been going on
Pink Zidane explains a bit more to fill in some of the blanks
And Regular Zidane is pretty bummed about the whole thing
After wondering why he's not a zombie like the other Genomes
STOP FLIRTING OMG
She basically explains how the Genomes are basically without souls and that Garland made them
See the Genomes aren't the Terran people. They're basically soulless vessels. If you remember the Oeilvert section, Terra fell on some hard times etc
Well that doesn't sound concerning!
Oh, okay!
When Zidane asks why now, Pink Zidane explains that they had to wait until the right time
Garnet gets worried about Zidane and sends Eiko out to look for him. But he is first found by Quina who tries to find the food in every situation
After awkwardly licking the stone to taste it, he sees Zidane who is moping about.
Elsewhere in town, Vivi is trying to converse with the Genomes, who aren't being very responsive. When Zidane comes along, Vivi says they remind him of how the Black Mages were when the first saw them way back on the cargo ship
Can't tell if insulting or not
After Zidane mops away some more and talks to Amarant about how mopey they both are, he meets back up with Pink Zidane so that he can go and meet with Garland
People with castles are so pretentious
Eiko saunters up after Zidane leaves and wonders why he went alone, not fully believing Mr. Teamwork WOULD go alone
Sensing that something is off, Eiko rushes to get the others
Zidane, meanwhile, magical tree harp teleports to Garland's castle
And immediately insults it
We meet up with Garland who is basically all business and not at all concerned about us showing up in his soul castle unannounced.
Zidane is pretty upset about the whole Terra taking over Gaia thing that Pink Zidane mentioned
"I don't want to destroy Gaia, I just want to essentially destroy it"
So anyways more plot dump about the genome sent to disrupt the flow of souls on Gaia through war
Omg Zidane, you can't just ask people why they don't have tails
So he's basically a teenager
Garland continues to walk very slowly through his castle while monologuing
But you see, eventually Kuja would die, so he made a new Genome, Zidane, to essentially replace him
It's not uncommon for an older sibling to feel rejected when a newborn arrives in to the family
That is usually less common though
So he creates wars because wars mean more deaths which means more soul stuff
And yes, we did do that Zombie Tree battle on disc 2, but Garland assures us that we didn't stop anything
He also shows us his nifty glowing soul globe
I wish I had one.
So after all of that, Zidane is pretty bummed that it turns out he was created to destroy Gaia
And so he reacts in the most reasonable way possible
Uh, sure
And he decides to do it solo because it's a family matter or whatever, but with everything going on, he kind of has a breakdown
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And thus did FFIX sum up depression
He is woken up by Vivi and Eiko
But Zidane is not really feeling it
After the two press him further, he snaps
He leaves them behind and ends up in a fight against a beastie, when Freya and Amarant arrive to rescue him
After leaving them behind, he runs in to Quina and Steiner who are also concerned about him
Aww, he cares about him
But Zidane leaves them behind too
We end up in another fight and Garnet has to show up to heal our sorry behinds
And fuss at us a little bit too
Okay, a lot
Garnet gets upset at him again because the whole game he was Mr. Friendship and always there telling them to rely on him, but he won't do the same
A few others arrive to show that she's right and they care about our hero
You tell 'em Quina
They're besties now :3
And with that, Zidane's character comes full circle. He apologizes for being a jackass and the group decides they're going to go kill Garland TOGETHER
BECAUSE FRIENDSHIP IS POWER or something to that effect
Next time we go face off against Garland and probably get to the last disc. Stay tuned~
Absolute best part in the game right there. :zidane:
Big update incoming as we finish disc 3 and finish up some sidequests before the final dungeon!
(SPOILER)
We head through the annoying dungeon that is Pandemonium and deliver a mognet from that Terran moogle that was super hype about this whole mognet thing
The other moogle was sufficiently less hype about it
We find Garland further in, monologuing to himself as he likes to do
Someone just took Philosophy 101
Get em Zidane
"I'm the only one allowed to monologue!!!"
I hope you're ready for a boss rush~
First we fight a Silver Dragon
It was very easy, I beat him with counterattacks while I was trying to steal
So then we have some more questions for Garland about this whole Terra souls thing
There's actually a neat little touch of body language here. He was facing us all head on and confident until he mentions that and then he turns away
This leads to another boss fight, this time with Garland. If you Focus Vivi while Zidane steals, Flare should do a full 9999 damage to him and the fight won't be super hard. Worst thing is he likes to cast Stop so remedy that fast
After the fight, we prepare to lecture Garland about friendship again but Kuja comes in with The Invincible
Who is he even talking to?
Himself, I guess
So Kuja pops on down
And that leads to our third boss fight. Still not super tough, should be able to deal with it without much problem if you've put the work in and equipped good skills like auto-regen
But after we defeat him
He goes all Trance on us
And pulls that crap. But hey, he has a tail now!
Basically, The Invincible absorbs souls when it does its whole evil eye thing and he is using their power to Trance
And apparently it absorbed a very powerful soul by the Iifa Tree. Queen Brahne's soul
Look at Zidane taking a nap over there. Lazy
And so he just kicks Garland off the edge. And so does Garland meet his anticlimactic end
Although he does manage to antagonize Kuja one last time before he finally passes
Garland created Zidane to replace Kuja and now that Zidane has become more powerful, it'll soon be bye bye Kuja
And so Garland gives Kuja one last massive Screw You before his life ends
Kuja doesn't deal with this news very well
Ah yes the "If I can't be alive neither can anyone else" line of reasoning. This is why people who are afraid of death don't get to have superpowers
And then Kuja begins angrily destroying Terra. Juts like straight out destroying the entire planet
The party decides this is a good time to leave
Garnet joins Zidane and the two of them head back to Bran Bal while the others secure the ship
On the way, Zidane gets a bit creeped out
And Garnet gives zero craps
While they wait for the teleporter to activate and bring them to Bran Bal, Zidane apologizes for his earlier behaviour when he went all selfish antisocial jerk and tells her he has something else to say, but gets shy about it
After Garnet fusses at him for the stupid joke, he finally says what's on his mind
He thanks her for rescuing him and the two get close as the teleporter finally activates
Meanwhile, during the escape...
The others get to the ship, while Quina somehow teleports from underneath it
And Zidane goes to rescue the Genomes, where he finds his sister Pink Zidane and tries to get her to leave
When she asks if he has an answer he responds with
She also finally opens up to us a little bit and we learn that he name is not Pink Zidane, sadly
And so everyone hops on The Invincible and gets the heck out of Terra before it is annihilated
And we arrive safely back in Gaia
But our troubles aren't over yet
The party doubts that this will be the end of Kuja
And they easily figure out the most important place on Gaia where they can probably confront him
There's more bad news though
Welcome to disc 4!
Before we get to the whole confronting Kuja thing, we need to drop our friends the Genomes off at a special place where they will be well cared for
So the Genomes try and get used to the locals, including the absolutely adorable Bobby Corwin
Look how cuuuutee
Bobby Corwin then proceeds to chase the Genome
Quina offers his/her own life advice
And others learn about the differences between the two worlds
With the Genomes resettled, we go to head out on our quest to the final dungeon
Mikoto comes out to show her support
Zidane calls her his little sis, which she says is silly while turning away in embarrassment, and then we head out to sidequest before the end game!
First thing Imma do is get all of the Stellazzio. There's actually one on The Invincible, which we now get to fly around
We bring all 12 coins to Queen Stella
And with that we head to a place very nearby to get the conclusion to our story
Aww :3
Using a Dead Pepper, we can also solve the problem of Mognet Central
Basically one of the moogles was using the oil for the gears to give himself shiny fur
First step is to head back to Alexandria where we can check up on the rebuild efforts
Little Ilia is super presh
You can also get a card here from one of the townsfolk and we see that Ruby is having some trouble with her main star
Dem legs on Lowell tho
At the bell tower you can buy the final items from Stiltzkin who escaped Terra just fine, obviously
And he gives us a ribbon. You can also speak to Kupo who will initiate the quest to help Mognet Central
We then have to go around the world delivering letters to moogles. At one point we are brought back to Black Mage Village where we can check up on everyone, and apparently an item in my inventory reacts with the musical box in the Inn
That's quite the music box...
Mikoto wonders what the point of cemeteries is since the dead people probably don't care, and Mr. 288 explains that it's a way to show that they will remember them
Mr. 288, always a well of knowledge, also explains why he thinks the Genomes and Black Mages are so similar
We continue delivering mail
Which eventually leads us right back where we started, in Alexandria
And it turns out Ruby had it the entire time. So we get some from her and head back to Mognet Central where things get fixed back up again
Now there are a few more sidequests you can do like fighting the super boss in Chocobo's Air Garden, getting all of the Dead Pepper locations, finding the beaches and Chocobo's Paradise. I'll leave some things to mystery for those who have never played the game. But I'll only be doing one last sidequest, which is incredibly convoluted.
First, head back to Madain Sari with Garnet in your party and go to the outdoor area of Eiko's house. You'll see Lani who will run away. Head back to The Invincible and make up a party that has neither Garnet nor Amarant and head back. Lani will talk to you this time and tell you a bit about what's been going on
She got tired and the moogles took her in and have been taking care of her. She now feels bad about the selfish, money grubbing lifestyle she once had, and mentions that Eidolon Wall might have some nifty info
So head over to Eidolon wall and walk clockwise around the circular room, past the ! of the entrance, until you hear a chime sound in the song. The walk counterclockwise and do the same thing. Then switch back to clockwise and continue this pattern 9 times until you get a message saying everyone has been healed. Now you can head around the room and learn more about the summoner's tribe
As you examine all of the summons and get info, you'll notice one of the summons (Ifrit) isn't able to be examined. Once you've examined all of the other ones, return to Ifrit where you get the final message, some words from Garnet's father
And that is where we will end for today. Next time we take on Memoria and finish up the game!
Stay tuned~
Are you guys ready for the finale? Big update incoming, I apologize in advance.
First thing is to head to Memoria when you're ready. Make sure you are ready because it's basically like 8 bosses with story and a bit of walking in between. You'll be able to recognize Memoria because it looks like this
Oh and also just a ton of silver dragons come flying out
Like just... a TON of them. We start getting attacked, but thankfully some backup arrives
Now that the mist is back, the airships can fly again!
Pew pew dragon airship fights happen
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But not only did the Lindblum fleet and the Hilda Garde 3 show up, the Red Rose arrives to lend a hand too
Aww they're in love :3
When Garnet asks Steiner what he meant by that, he goes scurrying to the side
Anyways, thanks to the help of the others, we get a clear path in to Memoria
Where we have to fight this thing in the ugliest background of all time
It's not a super hard fight if you can keep from ripping your eyeballs out
Anyways, we head in to Memoria, which is weird, and Zidane starts hearing a voice
And the voice belongs to none other than
Our good friend Dead Garland!
Creative naming there
Further in the dungeon, we get to fight the Fiend from the Fire Shrine
Not a very hard fight. I should mention to CHECK EVERYWHERE THOROUGHLY in Memoria, even if it looks like there's nothing. There's a lot of hidden save and card masters (for some reason?) and ultimate weapons. Be thorough in your search
Further in we see Alexandria castle
And suddenly the attack and Bahamut vs Alexander thing starts playing back
But Quina apparently didn't see anything
And then Garland starts giving us history lessons
Further in, we see another memory of a little girl and her mom
Which Zidane could oddly see even though he wasn't there
Instead of a straight answer, we get more History Time with Garland
But he explains a bit more as we get further in
But once again, back to history lessons. Garland is nothing is not cryptic and vague
As we walk up to the giant eyeball in the sky (as you do) we fight another one of the fiends, this time from the Wind Shrine
But Tiamat was wrong and now Tiamat is dead
Further in we see some more weird stuff
Also you probably didn't notice just from the LP, but there are two moons in the game, a blue one and a red one. We now know that the red one is actually Terra's moon
In all honesty, despite the planet assimilation nonsense, I'm starting to feel a bit bad for Terra
Next we end up in an ocean
After a brief moment of Quina worrying that s/he is drowning, Zidane tells him/her that it's all in the mind and we proceed forward with Quina being able to breathe again
It's actually neat learning about the history of this fictional planet, I like it
Next is the water fiend we didn't get to see when Eiko and Garnet were at the Water Shrine
So ugly. Probably also the easiest of the fiend fights. Enjoy your breather boss, it only gets worse from here!
Next boss is the Earth Shrine fiend who likes to try and death at your characters
After beating him up we head further in and find just... space
And wander through space we do
Until we reach a small light
Is it just me or is this starting to feel like a school field trip to a museum
And gee, what could that presence be?
You didn't really expect this throwback to classic FF to not have the crystal show up at some point, did you?
And with that, Garland is gone. Again
Can't shut up even after death
Kuja is so polite, what a nice young man
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OOOOHHHHHH we get right to the heart of it. Thems, of course, fightin words
But first we have to fight this stupid thing
And then we get to fight Kuja
So he pulls the same Ultima crap when we win the fight and things start falling apart
And then NO LAST BOSS FIGHT HAPPENS THAT IS ABSURDLY TOUGH and we get brought back to the Iifa Tree somehow, which we find going all kooky and haywire
Apparently Memoria kind of exploded and the Iifa Tree is going psycho, so Beatrix worries that this is the end for our heroes
And she knows this and where they are because she can hear "him"
Since the Hilda Garde is closer, the Regent comes to our rescue
But before we can board the ship to our happy ending...
And Zidane being Zidane cannot refuse to help someone in need, even while the others try and talk him out of it
Aw :(
After realizing it's futile to try and talk him out of it, the others leave him to it with some parting words
And he and Garnet have their touching goodbye
Good guy Steiner over here giving them some privacy
And so the two part as the Hilda Garde takes off and Zidane stays behind to rescue Kuja
Goodbye short haired Garnet, you didn't get nearly enough time in the spotlight
So Zidane daredevil runs through the crazy Iifa Tree routes to go and rescue Kuja. Very reminiscent of Evil Forest from the beginning
And eventually he reaches Kuja, who is happy to learn that our friends escaped
Zidane tells him that no one is worthless and that they were rescued because of Kuja (the one Mikoto heard so she could tell everyone where we were). Kuja then says that he finally learned what it means to live, just in time to die
But unfortunately that is exactly what he does as Zidane then shields Kuja with his own body as the killer plant stuff comes attacking once again
Mikoto has some parting words for Kuja
In the end, Kuja kind of got his wish and he now gets to live on in the Genomes memories forever
"Vague amount of time later"
We are back in Alexandria, and it seems there is a play going on. 'I Want to Be Your Canary'
A young black mage boy walks through town before being bumped in to by a brat kid named Puck.
Puck immediately recognizes the black mage as Vivi
But he isn't Vivi
Soon we say many little Vivi's run through the town on their way to see the play
As for what happened to Vivi...
Freya and Sir Fratley have fortunately found themselves with a happier ending
As have Lani and Amarant, who are also headed for the castle. Quina is the chef for the event once again
But Beatrix has made the sad decision to leave the Kingdom
Vivi's last testament reads out in the background as we see what everyone is up to
Eiko has now been adopted by Cid and Hilda and finally has a family again
And Steiner confesses his feelings for Beatrix before she makes the mistake of leaving
And so she runs in to his arms, content to stay here with him
Garnet mourns the loss of Zidane, whom she has not seen since the Iifa Tree incident
But she puts on a brave face and decides to press forward
The play begins
As it continues on though, we have a surprise
It's not Marcus playing the lead this time
Seeing him after "some time" (it has to be decently long for all that hair to grow back) Garnet rushes through the crowd to him
She drops her jewel on the way
But she decides that Zidane is more important and keeps running, even discarding her crown as she goes
And leaps in to his arms where she punches him for a bit for being gone for so long
The kingdom rejoices
And Zidane explains that he survived because he had to. And
The credits role as the crowd, tour friends, and the new little Vivi's celebrate their happiness
And so ends the amazingly beautiful story of Final Fantasy IX
What a journey.
I hope you all enjoyed and if so, I'll be starting an FFVIII LP in a few days! Not quite as majestic but still a wonderful game~
Thanks for following!
It was an awesome LP to follow along =P
Reminded me again of just how good this game actually was.
It always appeared to me that Eiko adopted Cid and Hilda rather than the other way around.