On my way to Giruvegan, but going to stop and do some Hunts and the boatload of quests that just opened up.

Pros:
  • I always seem to forget how deliciously hammy Dr. Cid is in this game. I love the fact he's just as fast with his quips as Balthier is. You can really see he takes after him.
  • Zeromus was finally taken down thanks to getting access to the new weapons in Balfoheim. Now I just need to deal with Exodus and Chaos.
  • Balfoheim is easily my second favorite city in the game in terms of design and feel. It's amusing talking to the residents and listen to them argue over whether Reddas coming in and cleaning up the place was the best thing to happen to the place or an affront to everything pirating stands for.
  • Did the Runaway Cockatrice quest, which was still hilarious. Helped by all of the the Cockatrice having Cockney accents. The loot given was nice as well.
  • Greatswords!
  • The fun part of this playthrough is running into things I didn't notice in the last playthrough, like how after the Medallion quests in Rabanastre, the Orphans all move into the abandoned apartment and form the Buccaneer Brigade, with Kytes and Filo arguing over who is leader.
  • Two of my favorite Mark Hunts just opened up in Clan Centurio: Oblito, the "what the hell happened to Ba'Gamman" fight; and the Man of Mystery Hunt, or Gilgamesh Part 1.
  • Started the Hunt Club quest as well, now let's have fun being jumped by the thirty or so secret Rare Game I missed in previous areas. I do appreciate the fact that rewards have apparently been reworked and this is the quest that nets you the Zodiac Spear and Zodiac Shield.
  • Debating on whether I should tackle the Great Wyrm yet. I have the key item needed to start the quest.


Cons:
  • Despite doing everything right, I can't seem to get the last part of the Nabradia Medal quest to activate so I can finally go fight Chaos. I have a suspicion it's locked behind a story event, like I need to complete Giruvegan first but it's still annoying that I have to wait.
  • While the fishing minigame is a nice surprise, it's nowhere near as funs as FFXVs. Not helped by the command prompts being in the tiniest font and the color for Circles and Squares look similar from a distance. Adding shoulder button prompts in the second area is asking a lot of my feeble coordination. The Wyrmhero Blade may have to wait.