Macalania Woods

Things came up last night, and Lord Windows came up tonight, so I missed a lot of time I could have played. But I tried!

Tonight was all about the Macalania Woods and the stuff it's set up. We load into a three way path. Down takes us back to the Thunder Plains, so we'll go right. That's blocked by Captain Lucil and Elma. They tell us where Seymour went, which means they're so excited they're blocking us from going this way. They do warn us that summoners are going missing from the woods. So up to the left, we go!
 
This whole area is infested with chimeras, which Kimahri can learn Aqua Breath from. Other than that, we can laugh as Wakka can't kill a bee, but Lulu can't one-shot the water elementals, either, so don't feel too bad. It's a bit of a grind through the place, but nothing is scary or can wipe the team in one round.

About halfway through, Barthello, Dona's guardian, is seen screaming and running towards us. Dona has gone missing. Auron calms him down, and Bart returns to looking for his wife but calmer this time. Rikku runs forward but stops. She says she wanted to wish him luck, and we remember she tried to kidnap Yuna. I should get mentally prepared to fight more Al Bhed. We carry on until a harpist tells us about butterflies. This is a mini-game we're not going to do now. Come back here later with a no encounter armor on for a piece of Kimahri's ultimate weapon. Keep on keeping on until we reach a glorious save sphere! Just north of that is O'aka, who's adjusted his prices for the wedding announcement. We can raise or lower his prices for this location, but I doubt it does anything. A little more north and Auron tells us to stop. He hacks away at the crystal trees, which probably aren't related to Operation Mi'hen. He leads Tidus and Yuna through a small stream. At the base of this stream is a tree that Auron says Jecht was at. This crystal is used to make spheres, the camcorders we've seen a few times. It also attracts fiends, and we're suddenly attacked by a boss!

Sphereimorph is a puzzle boss that only slightly poses a threat. It has high physical defense and absorbs all elemental damage except for its weakness. That's cool if you ignore that that weakness changes all the time! Have Auron (or any physical attacker who doesn't have an elemental weapon), Yuna, and Lulu out for the fight. Yuna is in charge of keeping everyone alive. Auron can attack, which will cause the boss to counter with a spell. That spell is how we know what Sphereimorph's weakness is. Lulu can then exploit the vulnerability. Sphereboi's spells aren't very strong, and their physical attacks are slightly weaker. It can attack with a move called "Press," but I think that only halves the target's HP. It does use that against the whole party at the same time, though. It only has 12000 HP, so six attacks, and it's over.

Afterwards, the party finds a Jecht Sphere. These are records that Jecht made during his time with Braska and Auron ten years ago. The first recording is the three of them leaving Bevelle. Auron was a stick-in-the-mud even more than he is now. He seemed really intolerant back then. Jecht is upset that no one is seeing them off as a blitz fandom would. He then demands that more people show up when they return... The next scene is Jecht and Auron in front of Lake Macalania. Braska is the cameraman, taking pictures of his guardians. Jecht says we should get one of him for Yuna. Auron is annoyed. The last one is Jecht, alone, in front of the tree. He recognizes that he's stuck in Spira, but he's talking to Tidus. His last words here were, "I believe in you. Be good." He tries to say something else, but he can't quite state it. Not only does the sphere unlock story, but it also unlocks more Overdrives for Auron. This one opened Shooting Star, and the other nine will unlock two more. This was a piece of PlayOnline.com that I printed out. I still have it in my first case!

As the party leaves this place, Auron stops Tidus and tells him that Jecht loved him but never knew how to say it. Tidus doesn't believe it, though. The party continues on to Lake Macalania. There's a Rin's Travel Agency here, but no real story. Everyone either wonders why Yuna is sullen or why were waiting here in the first place. Maechen is here and tells us the lake is frozen year round. No one knows why, but most surmise it's because of the aeon nearby in the temple. But I'll find out why...

...tomorrow!

Hopefully! I'm enjoying replaying the game, taking notice of foreshadowing of things I know to come. Also, Blitzball is great. Kyou is OP as a midfielder at this level, and I'll keep him there until I can get back to Killika to pick up Kiyuri. Also, someone yell at me because I forgot to pick up Ropp on the Highroad.