-
Alright so before we head to the Iifa tree, we can get another one of our special coffees for Morrid in Eiko's kitchen
(SPOILER)
After that it's time to head to....
Yeah!
Either that or teens hang out here to vape
So anyway, there's a barrier protecting the tree, which we knew, and after Zidane bodyslams it to no avail, he asks Eiko for help
She does a whole little boom boom spell thing
And so Garnet starts to feel insecure about her lack of a horn
We head inside the Iifa Tree and deliver another mognet
Speaking of Vivi, he's not doing so hot
I'm right there with you, bro
Eiko takes this opportunity to act as his big sister and tells him to stay close. Zidane asks Eiko if she has any info on this weird mechanical/natural tree
Zidane does the obvious thing and steps on the big circle with the triangle on it
And finds that it goes down like an elevator
After waiting for it to come back up, they all head down, further in to the Iifa Tree. One of my least fave dungeons. It's just kinda super linear and ugly and the monsters are pretty annoying. Anyway
So we end up somewhere more vibrant looking
So Eiko hops on a sketchy looking leaf and it doesn't move. So we decide to all hop on it and then it moves because sure
I guess you need to weigh more than like 12 lbs. Also poor Vivi again.
So anyway, Eiko explains that moogles are like fairies (very plump fairies) she asks her friend Mog, who hides away in her dress, what she senses.
Good job Mog. Good job.
So after random battles with zombies and zombie dragons, we get to talking about the mist
Those seem like excellent and complicated questions that certainly won't be straight up answered in like 10 minutes
Eiko asks for an update and Garnet explains how Black Mages were being made there before apologizing to Vivi
He's so smart and precious
So we reach the bottom of the leaf.... thing and arrive and yet another high up place. Eiko asks Vivi for his company as she goes to scout things
"Helpless"
Zidane and Garnet also chat about how the tree seems alive but also like part machine and also like super old
Eiko asks Zidane to romantically gaze down below with her
It's very... green. But it turns out Eiko wasn't looking anyway
There there buddy
But before Eiko can creep Zidane out further, something happens
Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No.
IT'S ZOMBIE TREEEE
BUT WHY
Say what you will about Evil Zombie Tree, but man is he easy to get answers out of. None of that vague villain stuff for him. Just straight answers
But how does this tie in to Kuja?
DUN DUN DUUUUUUUUUUUUUNNNNNNNN
And if no more mist flows, that means there will be no more Black Mages...
And so we get a boss fight and I will give you a hint for making it super easy. He's a Zombie Tree. Maybe if you have some restorative items to spare...
So with Evil Zombie Tree defeated, the mist begins to recede
Not just here but also back on the Mist Continent
They're gonna have to rename it now
Oh we're being serious again
Poor Vivi. He wonders if this will make his fellow Black Mages hate him
Eiko can be a sweetie when she wants to be. Honestly I like her more and more everytime I play the game. I have mad respect for this six year old who lost her whole tribe and whose whole family died and it's up to her to keep the summoner legacy going and these people show up one day tangled up in this massive mess and she's like "I gotchu"
So the gang decides to wait for Kuja, figuring he'll show up with his mist supply gone, but unfortunately Eiko gets some bad news from one of her moogle friends
And because we're her new besties, we decide to go with her
Stay tuned next time to find out what's going on back in Madain Sari~!
Last edited by Pumpkin; 05-27-2017 at 06:46 PM.
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Yay we are at the same spot in the game 😀
-
Alrighty, we head back to Madain Sari to see what happened
(SPOILER)
Seeing that she's upset, Zidane tells her she can cry if she wants to
Six is pretty grown up
Nah I'm not trying to sell her short, she is pretty grown up for her age. But at the end of the day, she's still a small child. Poor thing
She wonders if it's her fault because she left the village and broke the seal on the Iifa Tree. Zidane comforts her
Eiko agrees and reiterates that she was not going to cry because she's a grown up and grown ups don't cry. Tell that to me when I play a sad game.
After she leaves, Zidane puts the moves on Dagger and tells her he always has a shoulder if she feels like crying
And so he starts teasing her again
What a goof. But before more flirtatious shenanigans can happen...
Uh oh
Sure enough, our old friend is back
Zidane tries to get Mog to help him with an Eiko rescue plan but Mog is too much of a coward, so we have no choice but to confront Lani head on.
Lani has since drugged Eiko with some sleeping weed since she was so rambunctious. Zidane gives Garnet the side eye
Lani says this is too good of an opportunity to pass up however. She came here trying to get Garnet's pendant and found one just like it here. She asks Garnet where her pendant is now and Zidane confesses to having it
However, sensing that Zidane is up to no good, she tells Vivi to bring it to her, which he reluctantly does.
BUT THEN
A mysterious hero comes to our rescue, opposing the dastardly Lani
Who is this mysterious man??
Lani asks him what his shedealio is and why he's betraying her like this
It's super embarrassing
And so, not wanting to take everyone on, she takes off threatening to collect his bounty some day
As for our hero
SURE
So after we beat him up with just Zidane, pretty easy fight, he asks us to kill him because it's what you do when you lose a fight
Zidane doesn't really care about that though and just wants Eiko's treasure back
The dude is still all like WHY HAVE I NOT BEEN KILLED YET
At this point the guy is just a broken record
And now Zidane is just tryna sound cool
So the dude leaves and Eiko demands Vivi follows after her when she goes back to where the treasure was being held
We also follow after Eiko to see how she's holding up
Friendship is hard
Eiko is struggling with a tough decision
But she wants to travel with us
It doesn't matter what you say though because-
Yeah
Aww Vivi. Too presh for this world
Mog is worried that Eiko is mad at her
But at the end of the day, they're both still besties
Not only are they besties, but they're like sisters
They even have matching ribbons they made for each other
She asks Zidane if he'll dance with her when that day comes
Smooth
Later on, Zidane finds Garnet in a little boat under Eiko's house
Muehehe
But before long it goes to more serious talks
Zidane says that they did all help, but they also each had their own paths to walk
OH YAY IT'S STORY TIME
After venturing together so far, Ipsen asked Colin
And the answer?
D'awww :3
As the boat drifts out to sea, Garnet hears the song she sings that no one else knows
And finds some of her memories triggered
And so we see a memory of Madain Sari undergoing a disaster
And a small girl and her mother escaping on a boat
So Garnet tells us some more about her past
And before then...
Garnet wants to ask Dr. Tot more when she gets home about who her mother was, how she got to Alexandria, and why she doesn't have a horn
With that, Eiko makes up her mind to join us on our quest, which surprises Vivi the next morning since he slept through all of this
But before we can leave, our friend comes back
OH MY GAAAWWWWWSSSSHSHHHHHHHHHHHH
And that's a good idea said no one ever
"Human"
And so we get our last party member.
Next time, we finish up disc 2!
Stay tuned~
Last edited by Pumpkin; 05-29-2017 at 06:01 AM.
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Theres amarant for you formy . He is a wee bit odd.
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After grinding Amarant a bit we head back to the Iifa Tree, where our newest party member wants an update
(SPOILER)
Kuja decides to show up at this point, pretty unconcerned about the mist being gone
They keep calling it a silver dragon, but it looks pretty green to me. Especially right next to Kuja
Our heroes heroically rush up the Iifa Tree in pursuit of Kuja, since that's the whole reason we came to this continent, but we hit a snag when most of the party can't climb up the steep trunk
But this of course is not a plan Zidane approves of, so he comes up with a different one
But now it's Amarant's turn to dispute the plan
And so off he goes with a child in each arm
Yeah, "spirit." Zidane grabs Garnet on a piggy back and away they go!
Kuja, meanwhile, is monologuing about how the strong imprison the weak or something. Very Darwinian
The party catches up to him and has some questions
He denies it, claiming he simply gave her a push. And the Black Mages?
Vivi, upset by what he's saying, tells him to stop
Zidane takes this to mean the dregs of souls is the mist. Garnet asks how he can be so heartless about everything he's done, but he doesn't see the big deal, saying people die all the time. He continues to deny that he made Brahne go all psycho
As if to prove him right, Brahne's ship fleet arrives
The Queen herself seems ready to betray Kuja, something he was anticipating
And so Kuja leaves to go fight Brahne and her fleet of ships full of Black Mages
Now, I know what you're thinking, and so is Zidane
They argue for a bit about this
And this part actually gets me because I have similar issues with my mom. I mean, she didn't try to kill me or anything, but we've had a lot of troubles. Yet still some part of me cares about her when I wish I didn't
SO ANYWAY
When Eiko points the way, Garnet runs off on her own to try and get the Eidolon to save her mom and the rest of us have to chase after her while being pursued by weird mist monsters
She arrives to the sealed Eidolon, Leviathan and asks for his power
But unfortunately...
Brahne isn't out of the fight yet though, and she has a trick up her sleeve. A trick Kuja was waiting for her to pull out
Bahamut faces off against Kuja and the Silver Dragon
And while it seems like Kuja probably lost that one, he's not out either
So pretty graphics for PS1 era~
But if you're wondering if Kuja made it out uninjured, well...
Not... entirely.
The fact that Bahamut is fighting on Brahne's side gets Garnet excited, although Mog is quite concerned
Kuja himself is quite pleased that Bahamut has made an appearance
He starts monologuing again about how Brahne's time in this play has come to an end
And so Kuja pulls out his own Ace
A giant eyeball in the sky! Gee, where have we seen that before
So the eye does something weird to Bahamut
And basically kills the black mages on Brahne's fleet. And that is when, to her horror, Bahamut betrays Queen Brahne and begins attacking her fleet
Before disappearing. Kuja leaves looking quite pleased with himself
Also he's finally sitting down, good for him
We don't know why Bahamut betrayed Brahne
This part always gets to me
Such genuine, human emotion. Grieving for someone who has hurt you and feeling empathy because that person was loved by a friend. It's just beautifully tragic
After telling her daughter that she will make a much better Queen, Brahne dies
They took Garnet's mother with them
And now I hope you're ready for disc 3, whoo~
We get to see Beatrix and Steiner again, both wholeheartedly agreeing to help Garnet
The citizens of Alexandria made a pretty rose bouquet for Brahne because even though she went a bit psycho, they remember the better days. After placing the wreath on her mother's grave, Garnet walks away and towards the kingdom she will now be ruling
After saying goodbye to Brahne, they head back to the castle
Zidane, meanwhile, is pouting in a bar
Figuring he doesn't want to talk (because he literally doesn't) Cinna asks Ruby about the new mini-theatre she just opened up. They all leave to go see it and Ruby tells Zidane to come along when he's ready. On the way out, they run in to Vivi and Blank explains how Beatrix, Freya, and Steiner fought so hard after the party split up that they had to carry them out on their backs
Now we get to be Vivi again, wandering the streets of Alexandria just like we did when the game started. Except a lot has happened since then.
Blank and Marcus talk about how difficult it must be to be in love with someone who is about to be Queen
And we finally meet the moogle who was supposed to be delivering all of the letters we've been delivering
Stilitzkin has some more stuff for sale so he can continue on his journey
And we get a few mognets, one of which was actually delivered by Artemicion!
Tune in next time as we continue in to my favourite disc of the whole game!
Last edited by Pumpkin; 05-30-2017 at 06:21 AM.
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That's some heavy plot stuff right there.
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So when we left off we were Vivi in Alexandria and you can do some nifty things like race a hippo.
(SPOILER)
You can also see that Alexandria has changed some since we were here last
We also see the dumbest and most tragic misunderstanding ever
We also see the Mayor of Dali is visiting Alexandria
And not having a good time.
Eiko is amazed at the castle
A gigantic house indeed
Meanwhile, Blank wants us to go watch Ruby's play with them
Because he's late and doesn't want Ruby to notice him sneaking in. How dare he use Vivi as a pawn in his game?
So Vivi goes in and introduces himself to Ruby, who likes him because who wouldn't like Vivi? And he sees Cinna again and calls him Uncle Cinna, which Cinna is not a fan of
Blank takes this opportunity to sneak in
OR NOT
Back at the castle
Steiner tells Garnet she has better things to do than talk to Zidane. Dr. Tot comes in and gives us some gemstones
Awkward~
So Beatrix stays with Garnet to help get her in to her fancy coronation dress, and Garnet asks her if she can see Zidane, which also gets a no. Poor Garnet
Meanwhile, elsewhere in the castle
And so she decides to write him a letter, a foolproof plan. Conveniently, Dr. Tot appears
After calling his hat nerdy, she enlists his help in writing a love letter
The horn sends him to memory lane, remembering a ship that washed up with a dead woman and a little girl inside
And the girl
Except for one small detail
And then all of the other Ronso made fun of her with chants of HORNLESS, HORNLESS
Speaking of being adopted, Garnet decides to tell Beatrix, who takes the news rather well
Back with Eiko
That's how love letters work, apparently
She thanks Dr. Tot, introduces herself, and takes off to deliver the letter, leaving Dr. Tot rather confused about where she said she lives
On the way to deliver the letter, however, Baku ends up bumping in to Eiko and his huge belly sends her flying
And because it's Eiko, she gets caught on something and can't get down
And that's how Baku nearly killed Eiko
Not that he cares much...
Eiko's bad luck doesn't end there though
And so she asks Baku to deliver it to Zidane for her
On his way out, Baku and Steiner get in to an argument
During the argument, he drops Eiko's love letter and both he and Steiner take off in a huff
As for who finds the letter...
Zidane, meanwhile...
...is still pouting
His friends show up to try and console him but he isn't having it
Baku comes in and, desperate to get his mind on something else, Zidane begs him to be let back in to Tantalus
Unfortunately, Baku doesn't accept
Vivi comes in and breaks the tension as he does so well
And Zidane, being who he is, puts on a brave face for Vivi and agrees that they should go and encourage her before she becomes Queen
So off we go to the castle while Baku remembers he forgot something
What a carefree man
We also get another mognet
And so Stiltzkin is off on another adventure~
Freya and Amarant meet
It goes well
They start fighting and Zidane has to break it up, only to learn that Freya is pretty upset at him
She says that Kuja will probably come after Garnet next, but Zidane says she doesn't need him anymore
While exploring the castle we also get more of the Stellazzio story!
We also arrive just in time to see Eiko being kicked out of the castle by Steiner who as we all know is very against fun
Steiner then fusses at us for our general existence in the area before Vivi tells him they want to see Garnet
So Garnet comes out in her mega dress and everyone is like WOW SO BEAUTY but Zidane says nothing. Before Garnet walks away, Eiko runs up to say her goodbyes
D'aww
And so with gems traded, Garnet heads back to do... I dunno, get ready for her Queenly duties, I guess. Zidane then lets out his feels about how he made a whole big speech for her but it would be a lie and he couldn't bring himself to do it
That is one troubled young dude
I hope you didn't forget about the whole love letter affair because later that night
Eiko decides she's mad at him and wants to take off before Zidane can show up (not knowing he never got the letter) but she hides when more people appear
It turns out that Blank somehow got a hold of the love letter too
So while Blank goes on about what a stud he is, yet more people arrive and the two of them have to hide
Rushing to hide they accidentally, you guessed it, DROP THE LOVE LETTER
Which is promptly found by Steiner who is out on patrol
Good catch Steiner
Beatrix then arrives, since she got the love letter earlier asking her to be here
The two of them get close as the hidden onlookers get more and more invested
But in the end, Baku ruins this like he ruins everything
So anyway, Eiko storms off, pursued by Dr. Tot who has some questions for her
She says she will be glad to answer his questions and asks if they can go to his house to do so
And so we all decide to go to Treno using the Gargan Roo transportation method
That night, as they travel to Treno...
But when they see Blank and Marcus patrolling...
And so off they go, as quickly as they arrived
Before Eiko answers some questions, she decides she wants to go sightseeing and drags Vivi along with her
After she runs off, Vivi meets an old friend who helped him get to Alexandria at the beginning of the game
Who convinces him that maybe he should stop by his house
Amarant runs in to some trouble from the dude who scammed Garnet earlier on
Scared away by his reputation, he runs off as Eiko walks up
So he plans to use a little girl to collect the bounty on Amarant
What a creeper jackass
After his offers to help her sightsee fail, he offers her food.
Which has a rather unintended consequence
Muehehe
And finally, we get another mognet!
Next time we explore some more of Treno~
Stay tuned!
Last edited by Pumpkin; 06-03-2017 at 05:37 AM.
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So while in Treno for the card tournament, you can also get some nifty new stuff at the Auction House. Just make sure you have the funds. If you're short on funds, you can get some in the sidequest stuff I'm about to show you. Prioritize equipment/synthesis first though, the auction house will still be here when you have money and nothing to spend it on. But you can get the Dark Matter there now, which will allow Garnet to summon Odin!
Now for the sidequest!
(SPOILER)
Leave Treno and head over to Dali. On the way, we get a bit of good news!
Aww, she won him over :3 At least someone's love life is going well, poor Zidane
So anyway, head to Dali and sneak in to the Mayor's house. If you recall, he is currently in Alexandria on vacay. Now here things get a bit tricky. Go check the desk to get a Mini-Brahne figurine, and then keep checking the desk until the kid falls asleep. Then go check the heater and you'll get the Mayor's Key.
With the Mayor's key, go to the windmill next door. The windmills have stopped turning due to the disappearing mist so you can get some treasures upstairs. After that unlock the door with the key and head outside. Check the corner past the chocobo and grab a chest with mucha mula. And then, just because FFIX wants to be tricky, check the chest again. There, you will get the final coffee you need for Morrid. Ta da!
With that, you can deliver the coffee to Morrid, and in exchange he will give you the Prima Vista figuring next time you head to the Tantalus hideout, I believe. Yep, you just traded 3 rare items for one rare item. Yay.
But hey, you go to make an old man happy!
Oh...
Oh dear...
Err... so hey, maybe if we swing by Vivi's place, something happier will happen
If you recall, we found this place with Garnet back on disc 2. Vivi tells us a bit about how he ended up with his Grandpa
Grandpa Quan, of the perpetually hungry Qu tribe, was trying to fish for the mist in the air to try and eat it...
And so he caught Vivi
Uhhh
Yeah
No one tell him
We head back to Treno to card tournament and in a few optional ATEs, we learn about Amarant's past and his ties to Zidane and why he wanted to fight him so much.
That's right, Amarant is so unimportant to the story that it's relegated to optional ATE's.
It's flashback time!
So Zidane was stealing from the auction house, as he does, and Amarant decides he'd be good to fight
But just as they're about to fight, Zidane does a sneaky sneak and tries to make it seem like Amarant was the actual thief
And thus Zidane makes his escape
And Amarant's story comes to an end.
Freya then laughs at him for falling for such a childish trick and we go back to playing cards.
Quina, meanwhile, is having some struggles of his/her own
S/he decides that the water looks delicious in his hunger induced daze
But in the end, hunger wins out
Eiko heads back to talk to Dr. Tot about how her entire tribe is dead (lalala~)
So they get to talking about Garnet and Eiko shares that they've exchanged gems
I'm sure that won't become relevant in just a few minutes
Eiko then remembers that Mog hasn't come back from her play date with the Treno moogle
Zidane is still playing cards
You may not remember her, but Erin is one of the girls Zidane hit on in Lindblum when we first got there in Disc 1. She was going to be a pilot for the new airship. Well now she's kind of a stand in for poor Regent Cid who is the ACTUAL card champion but is also an ooglop
And so I beat Cid and win an item and a nifty Oglop card and I didn't even have to reset this time! Go me!
Zidane makes small talk about what regent Cid is doing here, chilling in his cape
That's right! Since we got rid of the mist, a lot of things stopped working, including airships. But now it seems the Hilda Garde is starting to get on track and it can fly without mist. Unfortunately, it's still pretty rough around the edges.
Not that we have time to worry about that though
Uh oh, spaghetti-o!
So back in Alexandria, our friend Kuja is being... Kuja
And so he summons Bahamut which, if you've been following the story so far, you know is no bueno
He starts blowing up the town, as you do, and Garnet is not super hype about this
She summons the Knights of Pluto and THIS IS WHERE THE NOTES I TOLD YOU TO TAKE BACK ON DISC 1 COME IN HANDY as you have to assign them to do certain tasks. The better you do the better your reward!
Steiner and Beatrix go out to destroy some baddies while having sexual tension
She suggests they return to the castle since there's no end to the enemies
D'awwwwwwwwwww <3
After some more fights, they find themselves surrounded
And so did Beatrix and Steiner become bf and gf and have beautiful knight babies with perfect hair and rusty armour~
Garnet is still in the castle hearing strange music and, if that wasn't weird enough, towers and staircases start appearing magically
What an exciting coronation this has been!
Zidane and co are headed for Alexandria on the rickety airship that's literally about to break down
Oh how fun...
Eiko, meanwhile, has her special gems that she traded with Garnet start to glow which, COINCIDENTALLY, is what was happening to Garnet
Yes, poor Vivi fell down again
I do like how everyone has stumbled except Zidane who's just chillin over there
So Eiko hears Garnet spiritually or something
And since we're right over Alexandria, Eiko decides to just suicide jump down to the new Queen
Kid either has guts or faith or both but good on her
The gems start resonating with one another which allows Eiko to survive and not become a pancake
Which is always a positive
The two of them coming together leads to pretty FMVs
And Eiko explaining to Garnet what the heck is going on
And so they pray for Alexander's blessings to protect Alexandria
This seems pretty cultish without context
So anyways, this leads to a light show and the summoning of the mighty holy eidolon, Alexander!
Alexander and Bahamut face off, which is super nifty and Alexander protects the kingdom from Bahamut attacks by shielding it with his massive wings
Eventually he even manages to defeat Bahamut in another fancy FMV
Super pretty, especially when you realize this was a PS1 game. I know I'm impressed and I've seen this scene like a million times.
Seriously, go play the game if you haven't already
Anyways, Kuja decides he wants Alexander now because he apparently thinks eidolons are Pokemon
And so the giant eye ball appears in the sky again to try and take over Alexander as it did Bahamut
At this point we learn that the Invincible/Giant eyeball in the sky is actually a ship.
A ship with someone aboard...
This mystery man fusses about how Kuja has gone against his purpose and he'll show him.
And Zidane too...
And with that he does some... video game magic stuff, I guess?
Anyways, the Invincible does not end up enslaving Alexander as Kuja wanted, which Kuja finds to be pretty upsetting
And with that, Zidane and co arrive in Alexandria
You can go fight a book at this point if you want but make sure you're ready!
We will find out what happens next time~
Last edited by Pumpkin; 06-04-2017 at 06:13 AM.
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This is such a hype way to get things rolling right back when they were cooling down. Alexander vs Bahamut is definitely one of the all-time classic FF moments.
Are you gonna fight Tantarian?
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I did, actually! It was tough, I had to use a few Elixirs, not gonna lie. Especially for poor Freya who was way underleveled. Also unfortunately she was dead when the fight ended so no AP for her >.<
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So after fighting a dastardly book and evacuating the castle we make our way up to the magical part of the castle
(SPOILER)
"We are in such a rush after we did all of those other things that now we're going to stand here and argue about it while we could be just heading up the stairs but THIS WILL SAVE TIME YOU GUYS HAVE TO GET OUT!!"
Video game time is odd time
Everyone else in the party: "Oh, OKAY"
After some time spent arguing that could be spent rescuing Garnet and Eiko, the others leave and Zidane heads up as Castle Alexandria begins to fall apart
So the Invincible starts attacking Alexander because Garnet's goal is literally to kill as many people as possible
Unfortunately it works and Alexander's pristine and beautiful wings start to turn black and burn up
STOP STARING AT HER BUM AGAIN
Garnet's gem also starts going crazy and electrocuting her
And things start going even worse for poor Alexander
As the castle falls apart, Garnet is about to fall to her death but HERO ZIDANE TO THE RESCUE
Straight out of an action movie
Happy to see him, she gives him a giant hug
His face tho
And so the two of them escape on some flag banner thing like they did at the beginning of the game. No clue where the heck it came from or how it's safe to use. Just don't overthink it
Oh yeah Eiko was rescued too
More rescue hugs and this whole thing just pissed Eiko right off
The look on her face is just perfect there I cannot get over that xD
So anyways, rescues happen and Zidane decides that this, of all times, is the time to confess his feelings
Like dude, get out of the castle first
Anyway so they eventually come to their senses and leave just as the Invincible decides to just mess everything up
And there goes poor Alexander
And there goes the rest of Alexandria
Garland says some vague cryptic things and now we fastforward a little bit and find ourselves in Lindblum, which is being reconstructed
Baku and Blank also show up and Blank is told to give Zidane a message to meet with Cid when he wakes up
Zidane wakes up after having been out for quite a while
Blank arrives but before he can give Zidane the message, Zidane rushes off in search for Garnet
Meanwhile...
Anyways, Zidane finds Garnet at the telescope again
Unfortunately, no matter what Zidane says to her, she simply replies with silence
Kidding aside, Zidane begins to feel pretty insecure about her not speaking to him and decides to leave her alone and give her the space he thinks she wants
Aww
So back downstairs, Blank comes to give us the message and Zidane responds pretty poorly
After more snapping at Blank, he gives us the message to go see Cid. We also meet most of our pals in the conference room who are (mostly) happy to see Zidane alive
Garnet does not meet us there though, as she's lost in thought on the roof
Poor thing. As soon as she becomes Queen her kingdom is just destroyed
Back at the conference room, we discuss the situation with everyone
While we ponder Kuja's motives, Cid has some new info for us
He also saw some black mages with Kuja
Vivi does not take the news well
One of the few times Vivi ever shouts, poor thing
Speaking of Kuja and the Black Mages
He is indeed with some Black Mages and our old friends, Zorn and Thorn. Also, I never noticed before because the graphics look soooo much better on Steam but Kuja's clothes are burned and stuff, which is nifty. Showing that he's finally finding himself challenged
So while we were watching that, Cid explained the whole cheated-on-his-wife-so-she-turned-him-in-to-an-insect thing to everyone
Let that be a lesson to you cheaters out there
So Dr. Tot has been called in to see if he can help the regent and Eiko comes back with some bad news after checking on Garnet
Since Dr. Tot is here, he goes to check on her and confirms this to be the case
Fortunately this is not permanent, but it will remain an issue
Leaving Eiko to watch Garnet and babysit a blubbering Steiner, Zidane heads back to confer with Tootsie and Cid
Cid is desperate to become human, however, so that he can get working on his new airship and we can take revenge upon Kuja
Getting the solution from a strange comedic book, we need to get some uncommon ingredients
There's no way this could go wrong!
Remembering that Cinna has one of the potions, Zidane heads in to town to talk to his friend and find the other two ingredients.
Speaking of Cinna, the Tantalus is working to rebuild Lindblum and Marcus finds himself in need of a hammer
Things we know about Cinna:
-Has a Garnet doll he can't sleep without
-Loves Bundt Cake too much
-Obsessed with his hammer
In Lindblum we deliver another mognet
We find another Stellazzio coin
And we check on the people of Lindblum who are keeping their spirits up while they rebuild
You go Grandma Pickle!
Poor little Joanna
Even the birds are starting to rebuild their families
Precious :3
The blacksmiths son has also come in to his own since we've been away
Which yes this is the time to buy equipment and synthesize
Alice, who used to own the weapons shop before it got destroyed, has a potion for us
We also run in to some old acquaintances in the Theatre District
We rescued them back on Disc 1 from a collapsing statue and she was preggers at the time. Well now
That's... a lot of children
I love how much personality NPCs have in this game and how many have their own little side stories. Makes the world feel more alive that way
We get another potion in the artist's house
And then we go find Cinna for our last potion
With that done, we head back to deliver the correctly mixed potion to Cid
Yep, that's right.
He's a frog now
Back to the conference room we go!
So Cid, being fed up with everything right now, tells us he's going to give us a ship. As far as where we go to find Kuja, Vivi has a suggestion as to where we can get clues
So we decide to head to Black Mage Village to speak with the Black Mages and find out what's going on, where Kuja is, and why they went with him
On our way to the ship, we get another event with Quina
Feeling like he was offered a free pickle, Quina helps him/herself and we need to go to his/her rescue
I imagine if you try and leave without going to see Quina in the Business District that s/he will end up joining you anyway, but I never didn't go get Quina because I love Quina so maybe someone else can explain what happens?
Anyway
After we pay for the disagreement between Quina and Grandma Pickle, in which one thought "try" meant free sample and the other meant that try means buy and try, Quina joins up with us once again!!
This time for good, yay!
We head to the ship, the Blue Narciss, and see that Blank is our Captain!
And while Quina has an internal dilemma about whether or not to eat the Regent who is now his/her favourite food, we set sail for Black Mage Village!
The next update will be a while though because I finally have my entire party at once and I need to get them all of their abilities on top of sidequesting.
Stay tuned~
Last edited by Pumpkin; 06-06-2017 at 06:02 PM.
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So after copious amounts of grinding (har har), darn you Rebirth Ring, and some sidequesting, we are ready to resume our journey!
(SPOILER)
But first, here's some new things:
We can go to Chocobo's Lagoon now with our ship. It'll be a big detour with the river chocobo but it's worth it.
With river chocobo you can only dig in half of the lagoon, so it's half the time and half the price.
While hunting for Chocographs we get another Chocobolution!
With Mountain Choco you can head back to Chocobo's forest for some new stuff as well, which leads tooooo
And now Choco is officially more useful than our ship, although I guess we need to keep the ship around for party switching.
With your new ship and/or Ocean Choco you can go do some exploring and head to the Northwestern Continent for another little town
Esto Gaza is super pretty. There's not much going on there at the moment but you can pick up some new equipment.
Another note, when you have your River Choco and are heading to the Lagoon, the little island where you summon Choco has some super strong beasties. So either watch out or be prepared for some tough fights. If you can tough the fights out and have an abundance of tents and the like, this is a great place to grind. I got my party up to levels 50-60 here which getting my abilities learned.
ALSO do as much Chocograph stuff as you can on the world map. You'll get some amazing items. No matter how you go about it though, now is definitely the time to strengthen your party at least a little bit, especially since Steiner and Freya will probably be lower on the levels than the rest of your party.
So once aaaaallllll of that stuff is done, we head over to Black Mage Village to find it mostly abandoned.
But why did they go with Kuja?
And thus does the fear of death drive them to do bad things.
See, they really are just like real people!
Vivi, however, believes that Kuja is a liar
When Mr. 288 wonders if maybe they are really just puppets, Vivi asks where they went and Mr. 288 says he won't betray the others and tell us. Vivi then leaves to go see the two left at the Chocobo shack
The two at the shack are actually celebrating a birth!
Is little baby Chocobo :3
The happy couple then begins to cry
We head outside to see that Mr. 288 was listening in
Vivi then asks him how long until he himself stops
Vivi has to work through some of his emotions. He says when his Grandpa died, he was told not to be sad. But when he found out he would die, he didn't know what to feel. After seeing Garnet cry when Brahne died, however, he realized that he was sad and scared.
Having gotten through to Mr. 288, we learn the location of Kuja's super secret base
Having heard the conversation, Garnet goes back to berating herself for not being able to stop the attack on Alexandria
She starts wishing she were strong like Vivi, when little Eiko comes to the rescue
We head over to the desert to find his palace. You'll see four quicksand things and if you pick the wrong one you'll have to fight some antlions. When you do find the right one, it turns out Kuja had been waiting
After locking us in tiny circular rooms and threatening us with fiery death, Kuja has a proposal
You get a choice but you don't really get a choice.
With that, Zidane and Cid are let out of their room and Zidane is summoned to Kuja's private bed chambers.
This is getting kind of indecent, I know, but stay with me here
He will even send us on his fancy airship, the Hilda Garde I. As for why he doesn't just go himself
Such a flatterer
We get to pick 3 party members to join us. Keep in mind that whoever is left behind will form another party, so try to balance for that while also keeping in mind you can't use magic while in Oeilvert. You can use it to heal up if you leave and whatever, but that's up to you.
I usually put Garnet in my Oeilvert party but I decided to do something different this time and have a physical party at Oeilvert and a magical one at the Desert Palace, so I took Steiner, Freya, and Amarant with me.
So after telling Kuja he'd better keep his promise to keep our friends safe, we head out
On the airship ride over, we get to see our best friends, Zorn and Thorn again!
But they started developing a consciousness without a strong sense of self, which has led them to being easily manipulated.
Zorn and Thorn then laugh about how stupid the Black Mages are to join them when they won't be extending their lives anyway and they're basically just toys ahahaha
And with that, Zidane goes to chill for the rest of the ride over.
We basically get dropped off at the other end of the continent because why not, but the clowns will sell you some stuff if you need it. If you opted for an all melee party like me, maybe stock up on some healing items while you can. Especially since there are cactuars in the area.
There's also a shop moogle once you arrive in Oeilvert. Which we do. It's a weird place.
There are monsters here that will summon a clone of one of your characters. Take em out fast because if they do summon the clone, they'll kill off the party member in question. I think you may be able to kill them with a soft, if that helps.
Anyways, Oeilvert is basically a giant history lesson.
Wondering why Zidane can read the strange language he responds with
And that's when Zidane went to a special facility
We do meet up with Stiltzkin again who got here somehow???
As you can see, the moogles give zero craps about the strange place because they are LIVID about the mail not getting delivered. Which I get. Mail is important, you know?
Anyways, more history
But then it didn't
But then there weren't
Oh, hello strange wall heads. Nothing concerning here.
That sounds like a negative thing
It failed
Isn't history fun?
But then they came up with another solution that has been left vague for no reason I'm sure
Apparently the results of this last attempt are still pending
After leaving the talking heads, we go in to another area to see Terra and another planet merging together. That probably doesn't mean anything, best move along!
So we find the stone we need but boss fight of course. It's a toughie because you can't use your healers to heal in battle and you can't use black magic. Try to steal if you can but it's not a huge biggie if you can't, you can get the equipment later on.
Meanwhile, back at Kuja's palace of evulz
Stop showing off, Kuja. We get it, you decorate
Well gee whiz that wasn't part of the agreement! But don't worry
CID TO THE RESCUE
And thus begins a silly minigame where you have to approach a key on the cage of a beastie by pressing X repeatedly. But if he spots you you have to start over so you have to be sneaky. Zany music also plays because of course it does
Afterwards you have to put weights on a scale to climb up the scale and flip the hourglass. It's pretty easy, just put the heavy stuff on there.
Anyways so everyone is free yay!
And with that we will end this for now. Find out what happens next time on This Game Cannot Take Itself Seriously
Stay tuned~
Last edited by Pumpkin; 06-08-2017 at 03:42 AM.
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So when we left off, the gang was trying to escape
(SPOILER)
Basically it involves lighting candles and getting bloodstones which are actually nifty pieces of equipment. If you get all of the bloodstones through puzzle RPG stuff, the boss fight will be that much easier!
Also I just thought about it today but if you already had the anklet and Garnet learned Healer you could bring her to Oeilvert and have her heal that way but OH WELL, SOMETHING FOR NEXT PLAYTHROUGH
Anyways, mail time!
The mystery of the missing mail continues.
After enough puzzle shenanigans it's boss fight time!
I took all your bloodstones, watcha gon do now?!
After a relatively easy boss fight, we get a meanwhile with Zidane getting back from his errand
He heads inside where Kuja uses his intercom again, I dunno what he's doing
Kuja pls, his heart belongs to Garnet
Anyways so we head inside and after demanding to see that our friends are okay, we see this
Outside, Steiner is freaking out and pacing back and forth
At that moment, Eiko and the others arrive
Vivi's already going, look at him
So everyone rushes in to Kuja's room but Eiko gets shut out
And unfortunately...
Anyways, when the gang bursts in, Zidane is a bit confused
Kuja confesses that they were fakes and that he planned to kill everyone anyway after he got the Gulug stone. But since that plan failed, he decides to just magic the stone away from Zidane
So he takes off in the Hilda Garde
Also there's a cute Namingway card you can get in his room
Anyways, we give chase in our ship and somehow catch up even though I know I parked that ship a ways off and this dude is in an airship
Look at us go!
So he heads to Esto Gaza and we ask someone if he saw Kuja come this way
That's... helpful
This is starting to sound like a cult thing
Anyways he eventually tells us that Kuja did indeed pass this way
He tells us about Mount Gulug which used to be inhabited by mole people or something and since Kuja opened the sealed door, monster attacks are a thing that is happening
Also new equipment here yay! And more insight in to the missing mail mystery
So of course we head to
Watch out for dragons, they can be pretty nasty. Some neato treasures around here though.
We also get some more mognet stuff done
...........oh my
Eventually we find Eiko with our two favourite clowns
Yes, that is the eidolon extraction ritual, how fun
Unfortunately for them, it does not seem to be working
Kuja loses patience with them and tells them to get it done
Because the eidolon extraction is not supposed to happen before age 16, as we saw with Garnet earlier
Kuja, however, couldn't give less of a crap about Eiko's life
So they try to get back to the extraction, but Eiko has a little hero
Who turns out to be a bigger hero than expected
And so a battle begins in which Eiko summons the actual form of Mog
Who just decimates Zorn and Thorn
Aw how sweet
Kind of sad too
Trance is this game's special attack/limit break type of deal in case you didn't remember
So after his monologuing he announces that he's done with us and sicks the clowns on us one last time
Nope, they're actually this ugly thing
Anyways, Kuja leaves, Zorn and Thorn die, and Vivi comes back looking sad
Turns out the black mages aren't having the easiest time coping with what happened
And so tiny, clumsy, naive little Vivi became our most mature and wise party member
Anyways a lady's voice calls out to us so we go check that out
The woman recognizes Garnet and we learn that it's Cid's wife!
After confessing that she surrendered his airship, we decide to talk back in Lindblum. Turns out that when Kuja stole the airship, he didn't expect to get her too and basically kept her prisoner
It's something?
And since he's a villain he decided to tell Hilda his plan, which she found both scary and yet dull
OUCH
After apologizing, groveling, and promising to never cheat again, Hilda agrees to turn Cid back in to a human
And with that, Cid is finally human again!
Old habits die hard
And that is where we will end today. Stay tuned~
Last edited by Pumpkin; 06-09-2017 at 04:47 AM.
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We have a short update today
(SPOILER)
Lady Hilda calls us in for a meeting to discuss Kuja's evil plans of evilness
Unfortunately, Zidane's not used to seeing the regular regent
So he leaves to go work on that while Hilda gives us the deets
She also talks about him being an alien
In case you missed those plot points, there you go!
While we're having this discussion, Steiner is out looking for the Princess
He runs in to Baku and the gang who are trying to rebuild their home
Despite his rudeness, Baku and the others offer to help him look for Garnet
Back in the meeting
But of course it's not just that simple
And since they don't know much about the continent or the castle, they decide to call it Ipsen's Castle after the explorer that Zidane talked about in his story earlier
When they decide to head over there, Steiner comes back with some bad news
To Alexandria!
How he and the Tantalus get there like right away when the Blue Narciss is being used for the new airship which isn't ready yet and all of the other airships are grounded is never explained. I guess they could have taken the Gargen but that's still a hike to Treno first.
How did Garnet get there?!
Eh whatever. Video game magic.
While Blank is supposed to be looking for the Princess, he's instead chatting up Ruby
Zidane isn't having much luck himself
Baku arrives and also says they haven't seen her, but he spotted someone who might be able to help
He means Beatrix. So after chasing her around the harbour, we finally track her down but she hasn't seen the Princess either
But when Zidane says he's sure she was here, Beatrix suggests they head to her mother's grave and asks him two favours
So we head to Brahne's resting place to find that, happily, Garnet is there and also got her voice back!
Se still has a lot on her mind though and decides that she wants to keep journeying with Zidane. She says she always worried about looking and acting like a Princess and then a Queen, but she isn't ready and the Alexandrian people deserve better. So she's going to be selfish and join us.
Zidane gives her the thing Beatrix asked us to
And with that we can have her learn to summon Bahamut, yay!
By knife she means the dagger that helped her make her last important decision
And that's when she kills herself, how sad
No, of course she doesn't. But it issssss
HAIRCUT TIMMMEEEEE
Which a lot of people will recognize as a physical way to express making a change in your life. It's why some people die/cut their hair or change up their look when romantic relationships end, for example, or when consciously choosing to start a happier chapter in life.
And so she lets her long luscious locks fly away in the wind as we see Alexandria being rebuilt
Symbolism ho!
Gosh I love her short hair so much. It's my ideal short haircut, it's just amazing
As if she'd cut it that perfectly though
Anyways, as Garnet beings a new chapter in her life, the Hilda Garde 3 gets up and running!
And now we have a nifty airship~
The gang comes to pick us up and are shocked by Garnet's new look but even more shocked by the fact that her voice has returned
So we set our sights on Ipsen's Castle, but not before taking care of a few side things!
First we go get two more Chocograph Pieces by playing Chocobo Hot & Cold and then we unlock another chocograph which gives us
Gold flying Chocobo yaaaaay! Now he can climb mountains, cross the ocean, and fly!
1000% amazing, you go Choco
We can also head to an island that has a great place that I love
It's filled with books and water and you think that wouldn't work out but it does and I love it and I want to live there
We also get another Stellazzio here
I think we can agree that Capricorn is the real hero of the Stellazzio story
You can get some nifty new items here by doing a lift/switch puzzle and also there's a good synthesis shop as well.
On top of that, we run in to an old friend from Cleyra!
And we will leave off with that happyness and stay tuned for next time!
Last edited by Pumpkin; 06-12-2017 at 05:23 AM.
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Welcome back, both of my viewers! We have an exciting update today.
(SPOILER)
First off, remember how we got our Gold Chocobo? Well once we collect all of the chocograph pieces, we can go to the last Hot & Cold area to get the last of the hidden treasures!
As you probably would have expected, it's the toughest area yet, but there's only a few Chocographs left.
Also there's an option to examine something related to eidolons or summon magic or something. Just leave it alone. LEAVE IT ALONE until you've completed the friendly monster sidequest and are very VERY prepared and have saved. If you have not done those things
LEAVE
IT
ALONE
Now then, after completing that and doing some level and ability grinding and getting some super cool items from the chocographs, we head to Ipsen's Castle
You can't see the full thing but it's basically like... reflection castle. It's upside down on the bottom and right side up on the top
So since we got here and Amarant realized he's had no plot points, he decides to go be a jerk again
You can see the upside down bit there
So Amarant leaves and no one really cares and inside we go
Ipsen's Castle is an odd place where the stronger your weapons are, the weaker they are! So hopefully you saved some of your beginner weapons, but not a huge deal if you didn't. They have them scattered about the place. We also get another Stellazzio coin!
And we deliver another mognet
So after going through the odd but still pretty straightforward dungeon
We arrive at the obvious plot area to find Amarant is already there
Okay bye
So he leaves and we go check out the mural on the wall, which is a world map with some mirrors on it. Each mirror has a little hint
So we take the mirrors because this is a super weird, mysterious, and unknown place so why wouldn't we just take these things and oh no something happens
And then this gross thing shows up
If you've been leveling and ability grinding appropriately, this boss should be a breeze, especially if you have Vivi in your party. He does less damage than is regenerated by auto-regen in a single heal. Just Focus Vivi while Zidane steals and then you should easily be doing damage like this:
If you haven't put hours in to grinding because you have a life or something (loser) then it still shouldn't be the most challenging of fights.
So we defeat the gross thing who mumbles incoherently about one for all or something and head back, at which point Vivi almost falls through a trap door
We head back outside to be told that Amarant never came back out
So we head back in and if you fall through the right trap door you get a treasure. Just keep trying. We also find Amarant
After some talk about independence this and why are you rescuing me that
Zidane yells at him a bit about teamwork and friendship and Amarant decides to join us again and for some reason is suddenly just fine despite having been injured before
The power of friendship!
I didn't want to screencap the whole convo but it's basically:
A: Why you helping me?
Z: Cuz that's what I do
A: Is this what teamwork is?
Z: Yeah, sure
A: Cool cool, let's head back
So we leave and go back to the airship to discuss the new things we learned
The mirrors are each on a certain area
"Nah I figured out exactly what we have to do based on the cryptic ramblings of the weird monster"
Which means 4 teams of 2. Conveniently we have 8 party members. And now we know why Amarant is in this game!
Also I am going to tell you right now that if you have not learned a lot of Blue Magic with Quina or taught him/her some abilities and leveled him/her up with the rest of them... drop everything and do that now.
Anyways, back to the plot
Eiko immediately teams up with Garnet
Like makeup and shoes and boys and the mystical beats that we can summon to do our bidding that can wipe out entire cities.
Just girl things~
Also can I just point out here how much happier Garnet looks in her portrait now than before. I'm telling you, the new haircut is amazing
So anyways, first shrine is where we drop off the summoners, and it is the Water Shrine
Looks safe
Next is the fire shrine where we drop off Amarant and Freya
Amarant fuses about being teamed up with Freya until Zidane asks if he'd rather have gone with Eiko, which causes him to silently accept the pairing
Next is the Wind Shrine, which doesn't look the most... flattering, let's say
Steiner and Vivi get sent there
Vivi immediately gets blown back by the wind so he has to walk behind Steiner and it's pretty cute
And then last but not least, Quina and Zidane head to the Earth Shrine!
Quina is very happy because s/he is always happy
Zidane explains that it was more of a case of getting stuck with him/her than anything, but Quina doesn't care
So presh
So anyways, everyone heads further in and sees places to put the mirrors, but booby traps and bosses because of course
Everyone has a moment of LET'S DO THIS and Amarant packs all of his character development in to a few sentences with his "Hey maybe there's more to life than not trusting people and picking fights"
Vivi and Steiner are best team <3
You know, that is a super valid question and Zidane's response is literally "I guess we'll figure it out when we get there!"
So anyways we get to boss fight with Zidane and Quina. If you've been leveling Quina properly and have some good Blue Magic, like White Wind, you should be fine. If not this might be a frustrating fight. We don't fight the other three bosses right now, and we don't even get to see the one Eiko and Garnet fought yet. Not that I'm complaining much because it's pretty ugly
So anyways, baddies defeated, mirrors placed to break the seal on the Shimmering Islands so we can get to Terra. Only one issue remains
But before Garnet can answer (we all know her answer anyway)
Now all that's left to do is prepare to go to Terra via the Shimmering Islands
It's super close to where they start you off near Esto Gaza, so just head on over after you've prepared and this happens
Nothing concerning here
Nope, nothing at all
We get to watch the souls going through
And then the airship makes its way through the... soul waterfall thing
And then we start floating because why wouldn't we
And then we get the old school Doctor Who intro
And arrive at this...
place...
And then we thought to ourselves, gee, this is weird, maybe we shouldn't have been so blasé about going through a soul portal in to another world
Or we think about the blue light
So anyways Garland appears in that hole beside the tree after it grows magical harp strings
As you do
After Zidane tries to tell him his name, Garland calls us an ignorant fool because who cares about names. Culture shock!
So we also meet a girl with adorable pink ribbons in her hair
She also has a tail and looks similar to Zidane.
Probably not important.
So we head further in to find a sort of town
Oh, we're back to the cult stuff
before we can explore though, we see our old friend The Invincible!
Zidane and Garnet look up in awe
And no that didn't need a screenshot but I think we do need to keep appreciating the new Garnet hair
Anyways, as The Invincible flies up to do who knows what, Garnet has flashbacks to it destroying Madain Sari. And if you recall from before, when she remembers that stuff she faints. And so does she faint again this time
And then FFIX sums up the human condition
So we head to Bran Bal to look for a place to rest Garnet
And yes, they are just as exciting as Zidane is!
Haha, classic Zidane! Always going on about creating perfect Genomes to be vessels for souls!
They're just as upbeat and friendly as he is too!
Also, yes, that is a moogle in that basket. A moogle who has never heard of mognet no less!?
Stiltzkin, how did you even get here???
So next time we look for a place to rest Garnet and figure out more about what's going on!
Stay tuned~
Last edited by Pumpkin; 06-13-2017 at 05:47 AM.
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