WK Plays FFX

[Wolf Kanno]

Auron's reasoning for staying secretive doesn't actually bother me. I just think it's weird people call out another character I love for this same behavior and yet no one minds when Auron does it.

I get that we're showing Yuna's naivete, but I guess it's just not an attractive trait to me, especially since I feel that Seymour has proven to her time and again that he can't be trusted. The marriage part only really bothers me because I just don't really understand Seymour's obsession with Yuna. Like politically, I can see why he would bother with this, but his endgame is to become Sin so he can spread more misery onto Spira until everyone is dead, so in that case, why bother with the one Summoner that doesn't trust you and knows your secrets? Brand that one a traitor and cozy up with another Summoner. His fixation with no real explanation bothers me.

I've been thinking about how interesting it would be to replay I am Setsuna after this, because the story is similar, yet I feel I am Setsuna sort of delivers what I was expecting from FFX and didn't get. So it would be interesting to go back through that game with this one still fresh in my mind.

[Wolf Kanno]

Update Time!

After avoiding it for awhile, I finally entered Mt. Gagazet. I am currently working my way through the cave system but sort of needed to go to bed, so I'll hopefully finish this tomorrow and reach Zanarkand.

Pros:

• I forgot to mention this before, but since I did go back their the capture monsters for the Arena, I really liked the added visual effect in Macalania Lake with the wind blowing all the characters hair and clothes. Was a neat touch I wish we could have gotten more of.
• Managed to get the five treasure trophy Achievement with the Reminan Temple Chocobo Race. Sadly, I did hit some posts, so I only got the potion as a reward, but whatever, I can farm the rest.
• I have also managed to defeat up to Yojimbo in the Unsenst Summoner questline.
• I saw Dark Yojimbo and opted to teleport out rather than see how poorly outmatched I would be.
• Despite dreading the hell out of it, I did pretty well with the Kimarhi solo fight. I sort of forget the two Ronso base their own stats on how you built Kimarhi, so I easily out-maged them both.
• Acquired the two holy grail Blue spells of White Wind and Mighty Guard.
• Got the final Braska Sphere and Unlocked Auron's final Overdrive.
• Kicked the trout out Seymour on the mountain, didn't even get one character killed. The Behemoths in the cave have been more difficult than he was. Though I could partially chop this up to foreknowledge on his boss gimmick, I only actually had one character with any Zombie protection. He really does just destroyed easily with a few debuffs and unloading a bunch of Overdrives into him. I even finished him off before his big ultimate attack but using Bahamut's Overdrive instead.
• Finally learned Quick Hit for Tidus and Doublecast for Yuna. As well as Bribe for Rikku.
• I find it amusing a lot of the side characters lately are singing the song of the Fayth. It was a pretty powerful moment with the Al Bhed, slightly silly with the Ronso but it's a good track nonetheless.
• Forgot about Wantz and his way better wares than Oaka. Managed to get Lulu a significantly better weapon that finally allowed her to pull off some real damage. Likewise, I have a weapon for Rikku with Alchemy to help her items.

Cons:

• There is a moment where Tidus narrates a part about Yuna gazing off into the distance before leaving a place where Tidus mournfully speaks about her taking it all in since it will be the last she sees of it, and this is sort of the story moments that makes me feel it was silly to make Tidus in the dark about the Pilgrimage's true endgame. It would have been nice to have more moments like this in the game. I feel the game never quite hits the melancholy aspect like I wanted it to.
• I really think the Dream Tidus revelation is absolutely silly and feels a bit like Nojima trying too hard to surprise people like he did with the Zack revelation so he really had to pull something out of left field that players could have never guessed. Personally, I feel they should have gone with their original idea of making Tidus an Unsent. Especially since I felt that would have fit perfectly with the Spiral of Death theme. The fact it's also used to create a very contrived way to switch Tidus and Yuna's fate was also dumb. Oddly enough, I remember my first time playing that I suspected they were going to find a way to do this, I just didn't think it was going to be this ridiculous.
• Goddamn you need a lot of Lv. 3 and 4 spheres by the end of the party pathways.
• Soon, I will get the airship, and then we begin: The Grind!!!!

[Wolf Kanno]

Update Time!

Zanarkand is complete. While it's not exactly an exciting dungeon mechanically, it does hit all the right story beats. It is interesting how Yunalesca and the temple chamber really feel like callbacks to Ultimecia and her castle in FFVIII. I've always felt that FFX has some good bookends. I've been feeling a bit disengaged with the plot for a bit but getting to Zanarkand has brought me back around, though now we're entering the Grind part of the title because I do want to attempt to do the Monster Arena and the extra bosses in this version.

Pros:

• Zanarkand is a cool atmospheric place and I loved seeing all the memories of former visitors, including the conclusion to the prequel game we'll never get. Still, the story beats here are strong and the game finally gives you that sense of dread of feeling like we're reaching an inevitable end. It's at this point, and something I mentioned earlier, that I felt keeping Yuna's fate a secret from Tidus hurt the potential of this game.
• Much like Seymour 3/4 before, Yunalesca is a bit of a pushover if you know her gimmick. Thank god I invested in that armor for Rikku that has Auto-Med
• I wish there were more boss fights like the Spectra Keeper. I liked the gimmick of the enemy countering and needing to stay one step ahead. Likewise, I liked how during the Benke/Girian fight, the two had attacks that allowed them to reposition themselves. Sad there is no back attack damage, but this was a neat Idea I felt the game should have taken advantage of more.
• I have an airship, and while we're still in the disappointing airship games, it will be nice to get access to the rest of the sidequests now.
• Auron is honestly the best written character in this story. Like Tidus and Jecht are no slouch either but Auron's story is still riveting.

Cons:

• Forgot how annoying the Zanarkand puzzle is and I'm not looking forward to coming back for the treasure.
• Kind of feel like we should have gotten more lore drops about former summoners coming to Zanarkand.
• Kind of wish they had shorten Mt. Gagazet so we could have gotten more Zanarkand. Like did we really need the cave and underwater sections?
• I feel I got derailed a bit wandering the Sphere Grid for a few characters, I noticed I'm missing some skills for some characters and its weird Flare looks like it's now in Rikku's portion. I wish there was a way to pan out so I could see the whole map better. Likewise, the controls for it are not very user-friendly. Kind of understand better why XII went with panels on a grid.
• Now the funness of having the Dark Aeons punish me for thinking I can backtrack in the game without maxed stats.

I am really thinking of replaying I am Setsuna after this entry.

[Karifean]

For the record, you can zoom out on the sphere grid to a certain extent with originally the Select button. Not sure if you just meant it doesn't go far enough.

[Wolf Kanno]

For the record, you can zoom out on the sphere grid to a certain extent with originally the Select button. Not sure if you just meant it doesn't go far enough.

Might just be mapped weird on the PS4 controller, but I'll try next time I play.

[Wolf Kanno]

Update Time!

I mostly avoided going to speak to Mika, though it looks like I might have to in order to get Wantz to show up in Macalania Forest. Instead, my evening was mostly spent capturing monsters from previous regions so I can unlock the fabulous prizes from the Monster Arena. I also managed to finish the Unsent Summoner questline and acquire Anima and the Magus Sisters for Yuna. I also fully unlocked Tidus, Yuna, and Auron's Celestial Weapons and at least acquired all the weapons and the Crests for everyone. I also realize I am pretty close to being able to start the AP farming nonsense a guide I'm using suggests, but I might hold off for a bit until I finish Omega Ruins.

The goal going forward is going to be acquiring the last sigils so I can unlock everyone's celestial weapons, and then I'll likely finish the Omega Ruins. I have never actually completed Wakka's Celestial Weapon, so I'm getting myself in the head spcae of knowing I'm going to have to play Blitzball for a few nights...

Pros:

• While I still need to get ten of a few enemy types and still need to collect monsters from the final and optional dungeon, I was able to get like 80% of the Monster arena unlocked.
• Oh thank god the Zanarkand Destruction Sphere Puzzle is actually incredibly simple.
• I have acquired Anima! She's probably my favorite summon in this game, and I find it interesting she takes some design cues from Ultimecia's final form. Obviously Nomura must have liked that design with the odd two people attached at the waist thing.
• While a funky summon in general, I do appreciate the Magus Sisters being brought in as a summon and I like they sort of stayed true to the design of the FFIV boss they stem from. The bug/flower aesthetic is neat too.
• Belgemine is one of my fave NPCs in this game and I like dueling her with aeons. Especially amusing when you see her summon some of the stronger summons. I destroyed Anima with Yojimbo and crushed the Magus Sisters with Anima's Overdrive.
• Barring the armor, I have the initial items needed to make some AP farming weapons for Don Tonberry.
• I can't remember where I acquired it, but I have a weapons with the No Encounters ability, so now I should have an easy time attempting the quests to get Kimarhi, Lulu, and Rikku's final Sigils.
• I finally learned Blitz Ace, I was trying not to rely on Overdrives so much this playthrough so go figure, I had to grind a bit to unlock this. Still haven't tried it out to see who I wound up with.
• While the quests attached to unlocking them are annoying, I do like the Celestial Weapons conceptually. So many times unlocking one doesn't take too much effort and then you just have a god tier character on the team going forward. More on that complaint when we reach FFVII.

Cons:

• It kind of bugs me that we don't really have as much lore behind the Celestial Weapons. Their Japanese name roughly translates to "Weapons of the Seven Luminaries", meaning they all should have some lore implication, but only Wakka and Auron's weapons are attributed to historical figures from Spira's past. Lulu doesn't even get the special showing up to show off their weapon animation the other characters get due to finding it in a random treasure chest in Baaj Temple. I feel like Yuna's weapon should have come from Belgemine's quest as well instead of just being a treasure lying around the Monster Arena. Likewise, Kimarhi's weapon and crests should have come from the Monster Arena considering he's a Blue Mage. Finally Rikku's Godhand should have had a connection to the Thunder Plains seeing how it also features Cactaur and the lore of the region states the tower were built by an Al Bhed. Not to mention the irony. So, I'm a little disappointed here. Granted, not every ultimate weapon gets backstories but it feels weird the quest to acquire them is so long but has only partial story references. Likewise, coming off of that logic, the whole Celestial Mirror, praying at the big flower in Macalania Woods also feels a bit out of left field. You would think there would be most explanation why this is all a thing within the game.
• I am absolutely dreading all the Blitzball I will have to play...
• I must say, I am really out of practice for the Thunder Plains, I haven't started to attempt the 200 strike challenge, but I have been really bad with the timing when I was just passing through, so this might be a headache.