Let's Play the BEST GAME EVER!!! (FFIX)

[Pumpkin]

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~