A more productive two evenings than my last post. So as my last paragraph sort of let on, my team might be kicking ass in story mode, but side content had a big leap in difficulty, I have also lost out of the boons I could have received with the Second Board, and it's becoming a bit more obvious to me what I'm missing out on such as extra HP gains. Belias only really helped Ashe's Knight class as well to earn her a Potion Plus bonus. The real trick will be seeing which Espers are going to whom as I'm looking at the chart and I've got some tough choices ahead of me.

So with all the extra bits too tough for me, we moved forward and proceeded through the Giza Plains during the Rainy Season and I honestly like the rains seasons a bit better, from there we reached the Ozmone Plains, which might be one of my favorite minor eareas in the game. The lore speaks about it being the sight of a massive airship battle in the past, and so you can see old school airship wreckage dotting the landscape. It also has one of the more convenient entrances to the Zertinian Caverns and the one closest to Adrammalech who might be in my future as I hope to take advantage of my extra guest character to clean up some stuff.From here we reach Garif village and I've always found the Garif kind of fascinating, especially since we have a Geomancer among their ranks who sends you on a few Mark hunts and eventually will lead you to Zodiark...

Anyway, the journey was a bit of a waste as the Garif are clueless as to how to use the Nethicite anyway to both the Occurians and Lady Ashe's disappointment. Course, Ghis' little experiment ended up using all the Mist inside the Dawn Shard anyway, so it's now a mostly useless trinket, though not a bad accessory for my magic-less Monk and Shikari classes. On the other hand, we are reunited with MVP guest character Larsa who wants to help Lady Ashe regain her throne so the Resistance won't spark a war between Archades and Rozzaria. With no more clues to help her, Lady Ashe reluctantly agrees to go to Mt. Bur-Omiscace to meet the Grand Kiltias and have him recognize her as the princess and announce it to the world. We also get a nice scene between Vaan and Ashe where we learn Vaan is also seeing the ghosts but he can't tell if it's Prince Rasler or his brother Reks. But we get a real nice character moment for Vaan as he admits he's been just an angry kid lashing out and just trying to find a way to grieve his brother's death. But now that he's with the group, he resolves to stay so he may find a real path for himself. So we've reached sort of the emotional end of Vaan's arc in the story, and he'll return to being the clueless man-child the party knows and tolerates. We also get a nice exchange between Basch and Balthier with Basch checking Balthier's allegiance since he's still reeling from Vossler's betrayal. Balthier, in true sky pirate fashion, feigns allegiance and is still keeping his cards close to his chest after getting his feather's ruffled after Larsa mentioned Draklor Laboratory.

With the story out of the way, I was able to shop for some much needed equipment upgrades, finally get my first -ra level spell, and take down a few hunts and even took down the Earth Tyrant, who is nice sly reference to FFVI according to the Clan Primer. I went back to the Waterway and was able to hold my own, and managed to complete the Ring Wrym, White Mousse, and Marilith Hunts. Marilith is especially a pain as she must have the ability Adrenaline cause she can start one- shotting party members once she's at critical health. I had to resort to using a Quickening to beat her in the final stretch. I am also debating about ignoring Bazaar goods going forward. I managed to Unlock all of the main Monographs so I can start getting better drops. I just need the funds to get the Dragoon one and obviously it's a bit early to get the Canopic Jar, but with my party's limited weapon pools, I don't really need to drop my gil to go after some bazaar goods anymore, so I'm thinking of just ignoring any bazaar items I unlock until I reach endgame. I'll instead try to hit up Balfoheim as early as possible and use my money to keep the team well equipped with conventional goods from shops, treasure finds, and enemy drops. Though I may need to make an exception for Ninja Blades as I don't think they appear in shops as normal items. I'm honestly ready for Greatswords and Ninja Blades as the team needs a bit more oomph that isn't magic and Basch getting lucky with a full combo. I miss range weapons, Spears, and katana's far more than I thought I would.

I'm going to finish the Gil Snapper and Orthros Mark Hunts and see if I can finish the Desert patient and missing villager quests. If I'm feeling saucy, I might explore the Zertinian Caverns and try my luck against Adrammalech. I'm going to have to do some serious prep work before I can tackle CuCuchlainn, even though I finally acquired the Water System Key. I have a feeling I may have to wait until I've passed Archades and heading to Giruvegan before I can seriously tackle some of the espers with the challenge I've given myself.