Someday the Dream Will End

We last left off in the Mt. Gagazet caves. There are several small puzzles we will need to do to advance, but they’re all easy. To the left of the save point is a water filled cavern. Everyone wishes Tidus, Wakka, and Rikku luck as they’re the only ones who know how to swim. The first puzzle has Wakka trying to hit a target surrounded by two armored shells. Time your throw right, in the middle of the outer shell's rotation, and you’ll hit the mark. Go back to everyone else, and head to the now open section. The second puzzle has the three of them hitting a switch at the same time. To do so, place a character in a similar sized hole as the character. It’s just that easy. Return to the rest of the party and head to the exit. Auron will hang back to tell Yuna that “she” has sent fiends to test the resolve of summoners. When Yuna asks who “she” is, Auron states it’s Yunaleska. After a quick discussion about her still being alive, Auron warns us a boss is ahead.

But I’m left wondering how other guardian groups made it past these puzzles. That’s another thing that’s always bothered me about video games. Why are so many puzzles only doable by a group of this many people with these exact skills? Did Auron and Braska swim in these waters ten years ago?
 
Regardless, the moment we step out of the caves and onto open ground, we're attacked. Sanctuary Keeper is fragile. He's vulnerable to Power and Armor Break, so use them. Hastega up and wail on him with Limits Breaks. I think I summoned Bahamut to get the Overkill bonus. Watch out for Proton Wings, which can inflect several debuffs on the party. I brought in Wakka to use Dark Buster, which works for one turn, but I pretty much beat this dude with Yuna, Tidus, and Auron. I am far stronger than I ever have been in this game.
 
After the fight, Rikku asks to rest for a bit for obvious reasons. Auron doesn't let her. Tidus hangs back, and Wakka tries to get him to go. Auron laughs and reveals that Tidus reminds him of himself. Auron acted in a similar fashion ten years ago. He knew what was about to happen but could do nothing to change it. Wakka is shocked that a legendary guardian could "choke," and Auron says he wasn't legendary then. He was just a boy.  

The team turns a corner, and we see the megacity that was once Zanarkand. It's in ruins, and nothing is like it was in Tidus' mind. He tries to speak but can't muster anything up. Rikku tries to stop Yuna one more time, but Yuna can't stop. Rikku just wants to save her cousin. Yuna has been preparing for this her whole life, though. She rushes into Rikku's arms to give her a hug, and a sphere drops out of her dress. We don't see it yet, as Yuna tells Rikku to say goodbye to Cid. Rikku still thinks we can save her.

Tidus picks up the sphere, and we cut to the Mi'hen Travel Agency, where Yuna was sitting by the cliff overlooking the ruins. Yuna's talking to herself and saying thank you to all her guardians.
First up in Auron. She tells us the story of how she and Kimahri met. Auron met him after Jecht killed Sin, and he instructed the ronso to take Yuna to Besaid. She's honored to have him as a guardian, and her way to saying thanks is by beating Sin. She reveals that this is to be heard upon her death.
Next is Kimarhi, and she goes into more details about their first meeting. Everyone was joyous, including herself. But then night fell, and she realized she was alone. She went to the Highbridge to overlook where Braska did battle with Sin. Kimahri showed up and asked, "for the daughter of Braska." Yuna was scared at first but came around quickly because he's so gentle. He tells the child why he's here, and she began to cry, knowing Braska was dead. Kimahri held her. When they got to Besaid, Kimahri tried to leave, but Yuna started crying again as she didn't want him to go. Kimahri stayed. She then says how much she likes his broken horn.
Wakka and Lulu are combined here. Yuna happily recounts her childhood growing up with them and Chappu. When she wanted to become a summoner, they both said no, which made her happy. It taught her how much people care about her. Yuna views them as an older brother and sister and loves watching Wakka play Blitzball. She even loves when Lulu scolds her.
Finally, we come to Tidus. Yuna doesn't know exactly what to say, seeing as only just met at this point. It's clear she's in love with him, though. She finally knows love, and it's a great feeling, but it hurts sometimes. Probably because she knows the love can't ever be. She's about to redo the last portion until Tidus walks up to her, which was when they started making plans to live in a place like this.

We regain control of Tidus in the present and make our way down to Zanarkand. The cliffs quickly give way to the beautiful, destroyed, desolate city of Zanarkand. Everything is in ruins, and the shiny, vibrant colors we saw at the start of the game are replaced by sandblasted oranges and browns. "A city dead for 1000 years..." These images, coupled with the sun setting in the background inspired me to write a song about the place in high school.
 
We make our way down to sea level, and the opening cinematic plays again. It turns out that the whole game, thus far, has been Tidus retelling everything. This explains the narration before, during, and after many scenes. It's a strange framing device that angers some people, but it doesn't take anything away from the story. I really enjoyed the inner monologues and reflection! Eventually, though, all stories need to end. Yuna no longer wants to reminisce, obviously, and she says it's time to go.

"Someday the Dream will End" plays, which is one of my top four favorite video game songs of all time. The sun has set by now, and we walk the home stretch of our journey. The song keeps playing in battle as we walk the same road that Tidus walked with Auron at the start of the game. At least, I always thought it was the same. We come to the Blitzball dome, where a random spirit appears before us and looks into Yuna's eyes to see her resolve. He allows us passage and tells us to see Yunaleska. Inside the dome, we fight machina and dead Bevelle monks. I assume these are remnants of the Machina War from 1000 years ago. More importantly, we see the last images of several people.
The first we see is the guardian of Lady Yocum, the first High Summoner. Her guardian says she's willing to die for her. Auron tells us how this works.
The Second such vision is a small child. He's crying because he doesn't want his mother to die. His mother, though, says she doesn't have much time left. Wakka and Rikku recognize the kid as Seymour.
The third vision is Braska, Auron, and Jecht. Jecht is trying to talk Braska out of this, and we see Auron's faith waver for the first time. Auron has been the stoic warrior for thirty hours, so to see him in such a state is enlightening and a bit scary. We see then again when Jecht complains about another trial.

The Zanarkand Cloister of Trials sucks. It's tedious and boring. We have to light up various floor panels as indicated on the board to the north. They're not to scale with the room, but the shapes are scattered about. They don't change between puzzles, but we have to five of them! Place the Kilika and Besaid spheres in their pedestals, and an elevator down appears. But first...

The Spectral Keeper appears. Have Auron use Provoke and, using the trigger commands, move your other two characters behind the boss. Use Hastega, and have Yuna heal Auron when need be. Protect and Regain may be wise, too. When a glyph bomb is placed, move your characters, or else they'll die. SK counters all attacks, and he hits all three locations in front of him, which is why you need to move Yuna and Tidus behind him. If the Keeper berserks Auron, leave it on. He'll do more damage that way. Don't use summons, as they might mess up the official facing of the boss. This was one of the easiest fights in the game!

Yuna gets on the elevator while everyone else waits here. We hear Jechts voice complain that there's no fayth, and Yuna comes back up to concur. The whole party goes down this time. Yuna tells us this isn't a fayth, and another random spirit talks to us. This is Lord Zaon, the original Final Aeon. His soul has long departed, though, but that's a part of the plan. The spirit tells us to speak to Yunaleska behind him. She has the power to make a new Final Aeon. Rikku and Tidus get mad at Auron for not saying anything, but would that have changed anything? Inside the new room is a lavish hall with a nearly naked woman in it: Yunaleska. She congratulates Yuna on making it here but asks Yuna to choose which guardian will become the Final Aeon. The Final Aeon can only be summoned if the bond between summoner and guardian is strong enough. Which guardian will become the fayth of the Final Aeon?

Another vision of Braska's party appears. Auron wants everyone to leave, but Braska doesn't want another group to have to deal with this. Jecht has decided and volunteers to become the fayth. He can't make it make to his Zanarkand. He'll never train Tidus to become a star Blitzball player. This may be the way to give his new life meaning. Auron tries to talk him out of it. Braska accepts and thanks him. Jecht tells Auron to protect Braska until he fights Sin. Auron has lost all faith and says that Sin always comes back, making their deaths mean nothing. Braska insists it might work this time, and Jecht declares he'll find a way to break the cycle and starts to laugh. I begin to cry a little, not gonna lie. When Braska and Jecht leave, Auron's vision remains, and our Auron loses his temper and starts to attack it. He then says, "and the cycle went on." Tidus says, "we'll break it."  Ignoring him, Lulu volunteers for the aeon, and so does Wakka. Tidus says the same thing Auron did ten years ago. Wakka and Lulu try to tell him there's no other way, but he doesn't care. Tidus believes there's another way. Maybe if we ask Yunaleska, we'll come up with something. Yuna says she'll do what she'll do with no regrets.

We step into the door where Yunaleska went through and exit out into space. Before making her choice, Yuna asks about the Final Aeon. Yunaleska says that Sin is eternal. Any aeon that defeats Sin becomes Sin, and Sin is reborn. Sin is never ending. Wakka gets upset because of the Yevon teachings, but Yunaleska asks if humanity can ever atone. Lulu finally shows some emotion and gets angry because she realized that she's been misled her whole life. Yunaleska states that the teachings are for hope and nothing else. Hope allows us to accept fate, no matter how tragic. The vision of Auron returns from Braska's Calm. He yells at Yunaleska, asking about the sense in it all. Yunaleska states the same thing she just told us about hope, and Auron rushes in. It doesn't go well for him...

Yunaleska restates that everything is about hope, even if it doesn't mean anything, and she asks who'll be the Final Aeon.

"No one." "The Final Summoning is a false tradition that should be thrown away."

Yunaleska insults Braska by misunderstanding what he died for, and Yuna says he died to rid the world of sorrow. The 1000-year-old woman responds with, "sorrow can not be abolished." Yuna says she'll live with her sorrow and live her own life until she can conquer it. She will do so without false hope. Yunaleska starts acting like Seymour and says she'll kill us in hope. It's better than dying in despair.

Our characters then get pumped up to fight the first person to slay Sin 1000 years ago.
Auron's is too good to sum up, so here it is the full thing: "Now! This is it! Now is the time to choose! Die and be free of pain or live and fight your sorrow! Now is the time to shape your stories! Your fate is in your hands!"
Rikku says she's fighting (she won't).
Wakka and Lulu think about running, but they couldn't live with themselves.
Tidus is with Yuna all the way.

What many people consider to be the hardest fight in FFX happens. If you can, head back to the dome and fight the monks. Have Rikku steal Candle of Lifes from them. Ten can be customized to an armor to create Zombieproof. Yunaleska tries to turn everyone into zombies and casts Cura and Regen on them, which is bad if you're dead. Yunaleska has three forms.
Form one is simple. Hastega up. It won't last long, at least on your attackers, but Yuna should be at full speed all the time. Attack with basic attacks to deplete her 20000 HP. She tends to counter with a weak hit that negates the buffs. It also afflicts blind on the attacker. Her regular move is Absorb, which halves the max HP of the target, healing her as well. The target will be whoever has the most HP. Yuna should heal Auron afterwards. Round one is simple, but round two can be a dozy.
Form two starts off with the move Hellbiter. This inflicts Zombie status on everyone and leads to the scenario I stated above. Buffs will last longer in this form, though, so Hastega up again. With the Zombieproof armors, this form poses no threat.
Form three, though... Her third form starts the battle with Mega Death. This kills everyone who isn't a zombie. It can be prevented with Deathproof, which is an easy to get ability. Simply capture all the fiends in the Calm Lands, but you only get enough to make put three of them. With these two abilities, you'll still have to be wary of Mind Blast. This can inflect curse on characters, preventing them from using their Overdrives. More concerning, it confuses them. If you're practically immortal, curse has no effect, but confusion can be scary when Auron is attacking you for 6000 damage. I didn't have enough room to add Deathproof to my armor, though. What I did was summon an aeon to put the final touches on Form Two. The aeons never lasted long, but they bought time. After they died, I attacked with Tidus and Auron until it was Yuna's last turn before the boss. Summon another aeon to use their Overdrive and repeat. This strategy allowed me two kill Yunaleska without dying once, barely taking damage, and only using Yuna, Tidus, and Auron. I'm sure a similar team could have accomplished this feat ten years ago...

Yunaleska dies and laments that all hope is gone from Spira. Only she can bring the Final Aeon, the only way to fell Sin. Even if we destroy Sin, Yu Yevon will simply recreate Sin. Tidus wonders who that is, but Yunaleska apologizes to Zaon, and the pyreflies take her away. Yuna is shocked, and Tidus suggests we keep doing more things unbelievable. He doesn't know how, but we'll figure it out. Get the Sun Sigil and exit the room. What was once a lavish room is now more ruins, and Auron talks to Tidus. Auron tells us he is an Unsent. He tried to get revenge against Yunaleska, but we just saw him die. He somehow got to Kimahri, and the plan went into motion. Being dead allowed Auron to ride Sin to Tidus' Zanarkand. When Tidus asks why, Auron reveals the last scene with Jecht. Jecht asked Auron to take care of Tidus. Jecht almost doesn't ask, but Auron insists. Auron has no idea how he'd get there, but Jecht believes in him. The whole time, Auron has been following through on the promise he made to Jecht, even though he never liked him until the end. Auron is one of my favorite characters in any game. He has so much growth if you pay attention to all the timeline stuff, but I'm noticing it even more than before.

The party leaves the dome as the sun begins to rise. Sin is in the distance but is as calm as can be. Tidus talks to him as best he can and promises that he'll find a way to end this. The airship comes from behind Sin and picks the team up. In the cockpit, Cid says that we look so happy. They don't... No one has any ideas on how to beat Sin. Auron reminds us that Sin is Jecht, and we have his son; that bond may be the key. Auron leaves and passes by Yuna. He gives her a strange look... Yuna comes in and tries to talk to Cid in the most respectful way. He ignores her, but only because he's crying. The facial animations in FFX were great! Yuna and Kimahri walk off. We gain control of Tidus and can talk to everyone. Everyone tells us to think. Hunting down Yuna and Kimahri, Yuna also has no idea. She only knows the teaching of Yeven, which we know now are false. Kimahri suggests the teachings may offer some clue, though, and we should talk to Mika. He knows more things than he lets on, so we make plans to re-raid Bevelle. Tidus comes back to the cockpit, and Wakka and Rikku have a fun bicker over who came up with the idea. Lulu buts in and says, "The Hymn." Jecht likes the hymn, and it can calm him down. If we use that, he may be able to get a sneak attack on him.


So we're either raiding Bevelle or fighting Sin tomorrow. I've forgotten which!



But I kept playing. We now have full control of the airship, or as full as FFX lets us. It doesn't work like it did in previous games, but it's whatever. I went around and did a few airship related sidequests involving the Input and Coordinate search stuff, so I got a bunch of Rikku's junk. I also got Auron's Masamune. It still sucks, but I'll master the celestial weapons later. I also paid Yojimbo.