For the life of me, I've been having a hard time updating this

So we have finally reached Mt. Bur-Omisace and met Gran Kiltias Anastasis who is apparently from a race called Helgas race. It's interesting spotting some of these races that weren't in FFTA, though according to the wiki, they are spoken of in FFTA2. FF fans should recognize his voice too, as he's voiced by Dwight Schultz who famously voiced Maechen, Mika, and Oaka XXIII in FFX and even played a minor character in The Spirits Within. We also got to meet Al-Cid Margrace, who spends the first minute of his introduction feeling a bit out of place with his sunglasses and then hilariously tries to flirt with Ashe with the same level of success as Edgar to Terra.

We also learn that Emperor Gramis has been murdered, so no more Larsa for me, which I will come to regret later. Still the political intrigue scenes we get in Archades are fascinating. Between the infighting among the Judges about Vayne, the Seante using the lost of the Leviathan as a pretext to finally be rid of Vayne, and the ambiguous conversation between Gramis and Vayne where I really do feel they plotted Gramis' death so they could use it as pretext to setup the Senate; Archades has some interesting politics going on.

So with all that going on, Anastasis decides that Vayne can't be trusted to sign a peace accord with Ashe, so instead, we need Ashe to travel to the Stilshrine of Miriam to collect the Sword of Kings, which will allow her to destroy nethicite. So off we go...

Well no, I finished up some sidequests instead. I took down the Couerl that was attacking pilgrims on the mountain, helped Clan Centurio member Monid to tackle the always annoying Trickster and his overpowered Choco-Meteor attack, and even got access to deeper parts of the Lhusu Mines to save some runaway rich kids. I also finished the Patient in the Desert quest to get the key back into Baraheim Passage so I could fight and obtain Zalera The Death Seraph.

While I know it's never been outright confirmed, I feel Zalera, like many of the Espers, is a callback to classic FF villains. In his case, I would say Sephiroth. He has a one wing physical trait, he's connected to a shaman he exploits, and his ultimate goal is to kill all life so he can absorb it into himself. Throw in the fact the shaman has some thematic and even physical characteristics that are reminiscent of Jenova and Aerith, I feel it's obvious.

Anyway, off the the Stilshrine of Miriam next.