First time player!

[Shorty]

More observations:

I forgot to mention that I liked the fact that Cid's story included him having an affair. It puts a very real and ugly situation in with a fantasy world that isn't quite so unreal as a mother kidnapping and executing her daughter for magical powers. I liked the humanity of it.

Acquiring Ramuh. I liked his little test at the end and the reasons he gave for giving it, and the fact that he questioned Garnet over her decisions. I am always questioning how people have reached their decisions and answers because the answer isn't important to me, it's why they chose it. What I liked even more was when Zidane was puzzled about the old man trying to assign an arbitrary meaning to her choices and he got schooled. I enjoyed this scene.

I about had fit in the Mage Forest when I kept going in circles. But I finally figured it out!

I am a little confused as to why the eidolons were even a part of Garnet's inventory if they couldn't be used and were then taken away. Does not make sense.

I am finding that I do not care about stealing from general monsters. It just prolongs battles, and I receive plenty of items at the end of battles, anyway. Stealing from bosses, though, that's some trout I will waste my time on. I spent ages and ages and ages trying to get the Gold Helm from the Antlion and the Coral Sword from Lani. It got to the point where wasting my time, energy and resources I was expelling in order to sustain myself during battle did not seem worth it, and thus I slaughtered them and moved on.

I hope I haven't built this game up in my head as something more than it is. For years I've heard that it's so amazing and many people I've spoken to claim it as their favorite or as one of their favorites. Right now I'm excited to see where the story goes, but I'm afraid of disappointment after thinking it would be great all this time.

Do any potentially old members remember the FFIX music video Squally Leonharty created?

[Heath]

As mentioned above, there's a reason for their Eidolons being in the skill set but not available which will become clear later.

On the stealing front, I think you have it right stealing just from bosses. That's all I ever bother with.

So glad you're playing this though, as FFIX is great.

[Depression Moon]

Yeah, I think I only stole from bosses myself as well. From baku at the beginning for the Iron Sword, The Ice Lion for the Mythril Dagger, attempted to steal from Hildegigas, but that was taking forever, and I think I didn't bother much after that. I can just buy whatever I missed. Money isn't that big of a problem in this game, except for maybe the beginning.

[Shorty]

I am imagining Bleys speaking to me as these little Scottish toad dwarves.

[Psychotic]

I wish I could marry Quina

[Relena Peacecraft]

"World only have two things: Things you can eat and things you no can eat."

It's philosophical brilliance like this that makes Quina the best character.

[Psychotic]

You stand here say nothing, then you just like other dummy-dummies! No can tell difference!

[Rantz]

There old saying in my tribe... "Leftovers good!"

[Freya]

I think what's great about this entry is that it has that whimsical feel to it while still tackling things like the ramuh stuff. It has its serious moments and they don't feel out of place.

rally ho. Rally ho yourself

[Shorty]

Eiko is annoying. Is she really six? I thought she might just be really small. It's weird to me that she's all up in Zidane's business, but when she was "talking" to her grandfather about how she won't be so alone anymore, that definitely tugged at my heart. Then when she talked about axing Garnet out of the picture, I lost all sympathy for her because that's totally bitchy. Pretty silly for Zidane to get a glimpse of how he treats poor Garnet with his fawning over her, though!

Between Zidane looking like a Gelfing, Eiko looking like even more of a Gelfling who has her own little pet(s), and a precious stone being stolen from Eiko's village, I have confirmed that this story is retelling of The Dark Crystal. I am just waiting for some Skeksis to pop out from somewhere and ruin everything.

Can I bitch about moogles for a minute and possibly get hate for it? I hate having to go through dialogue options every damn time I want to save. In FFVIII it's as simple as walking up to a save point and accessing your inventory screen. I hate hate hate having to click through dialogues and waiting for them to open their big stupid books every single time. I just want to save and run on with the game! Why do you keep making me do this, it's making me resent them! They are adorable and whimsical and I do like the mognet messaging (though I wonder if there's a point to it?) and all of their different names and personalities, but this is the one qualm I have with them.

That big tree guy was weird. I wonder how it's going to affect the Mist and if Kuja will counter with a ploy of his own.

Also, thank you to the advice from those on Quina. Understanding how to can acquire Blue Magic is very helpful.

[Scotty_ffgamer]

I kind of like the save moogle, but I would prefer to just save and move on with my adventure. My favorite part about the save moogle is to just keep calling him a bunch of times in a row without actually saving to piss him off.

I'm not a fan of Eiko. I find her annoying too. She has her moments in the story, but especially starting out I can't stand her.

As much as some of the characters look like Gelflings, I can confirm (at least based on my memory) that there never is a trial by stone in this game, which is unfortunate.

[Shorty]

Trial by stone! Trial by stone! Me the Emperor!

[Scotty_ffgamer]

You should make an effort to shout out "The Crystal calls!" anytime a crystal type thing is mentioned, though.

[Pumpkin]

I really like the save moogles too. One of my favorite parts of the game. Eiko is annoying at first, but she gets better in my opinion. She'll never be my favorite but I liked her more and more as the game goes on. She and Garnet actually develop a good friendship.

[Shorty]

Saw Garnet's adoption coming from miles away. Interesting! I wonder if she and Eiko are related.

Amarant's addition to the party felt a little... afterthought-y? What purpose does he have for joining the party? I confess that I did cheer to him telling Eiko she was a brat and to shut up. He's pretty broody, and I'm not loving that hair. Also, what the smurf kind of skill does he have? Throwing trout? Seriously? I selected for him to throw a Mythril Rod to see what would happen, and now it's gone from my inventory! Why is that even an option! Worst skill ever!

I like Fenrir. I am partial to Greek and Norse mythologies, and I know that many of the summons throughout these games reflect on that. I have never seen Fenrir before, though! I like him.

You know when you're prompted twice leading up to a battle that it's going to be a big one. I was pretty disappointed with how easy the Mistodons were. Every battle that I enter, I hope it's going to be a challenge. The only time anything has been proven a challenge is when I hold off inflicting damage in order to steal something. Nothing so far has proven to be difficult at all. I'm only on level 28-30 for the party.

I like Kuja quite a bit. Is he riding on Quetzalcoatl? Pretty surprised that Brahne decided to attack Kuja; that seems like the worst idea ever. But she seems stupid enough and consumed enough by her greed, considering her past actions. Garnet's sentiment for Brahne is puzzling, but I can probably empathize with how she feels. If it was a question of letting someone destroy themselves who has raised me and only recently become such a horrible, cruel person, I might have trouble letting go from them as well.

Bahamut's introduction was awesome. What the trout is that eye, though? What is it?

The entire bit leading up to the scene of the attack and Brahne's death all feels... underwhelming. All in all, I feel like disc 2 was a little underwhelming. And short. Felt short. I feel like I haven't had to fight many bosses at all, and I feel like most of the disc changes end or should end with boss fights. Oh well. Maybe disc 3 will be better!