For those wondering why this update took so long and doesn't contain information on the out of Ivalice Area Free missions, it's because much of that information is too tedious to put up here. Information on enemy positions and abilities, mission objectives, etcetera.

This update deals with the new Totema. I finally thought of a way to bring the missing Espers from FFXII in without messing up the plot. As I said before, my little Mage General will get his hands on the Gran Grimoire. He creates the new Espers and looses their power upon Ivalice. Unlike the Totema, these new Espers are not protectors. Far from it. Crafted from the shattered fragments of the Crystals, these creatures are incarnations of destruction (I use the term Totema to refer to the old Espers, that were protectors of the crystals. Both the old Totema and the new summons can be referred to as Espers). Thus there will be two Espers per race (which, if we include Seeqs as a new race, leaves us with only one left over, Zodiark, who I'll talk about later). In addition to the standard damage/MP damage, several of these new Espers will inflict Status effects. Zalera, for example, has a chance of instant death, while Cúchulainn will inflict at least poison.

Esper Battle: Belias, the Gigas
Belias is a primarily fire based creature, and his battle takes place in a highly volcanic area. In addition to his heavy hitting Fire area of effect attacks and standard Esper moves (like those wielded by the Totema in the original FFTA), he can also trigger an eruption for a full map attack. Heavy hitting, but definitely not the strongest you'll face, especially given how easy it is to get Fire Shields.

Esper Battle: Cúchulainn, the Impure
Cúchulainn's battle introduces a dangerous new aspect of the gameplay: terrain shifting (and, no, this isn't the only battle you'll see it in). Cúchulainn's mere prescence poisons the land around him, and every turn the tiles will shift, and many tiles will become poison tiles (a character standing on a poison tile takes a damage hit, like the poison status, but the effect is not persistent, so stepping off the tile stops it). In addition to Esper techniques, he has several annoying status causing effects, and quite a bit of HP.

More battles yet to come.