But the blue barrier only comes out when you go to ultimecias castle for the first time.
The last time you can enter those cities is on Disc 3, before you fight Adel. When you fight and defeat Adel, the game switches to Disc 4 and you end up outside Ultimecia's castle. That's when the blue barrier appears.
Money, power, sex... and elephants.
-- Capt. Simon Illyan, ImpSec