Why am I 100 percenting a game I hate?
All I did was several side quests to get stronger. First up was the secret underground of the Deep Sea Research Facility. Bahamut's Zordon container broke, revealing access to the depths. We'll need to power each floor with steam. All you need to worry about are the first two floors. Use two for both, and don't forget to access the steam room on the second floor. You only have one option the rest of the way, but don't let Zell use the machine at the bottom. Apparently, this activates random encounters, but I had Enc-none on. Would it have mattered? At the very bottom is Ultima Weapon!
All I did was Draw Ultima from him. After I Drew Eden, the final GF, of course. Make sure to have Quake junctioned to elemental defense and a way to revive (items or magic). Light Piller does 9999 damage no matter what, so you'll need the revivals. His Meteor spell is pathetic, and his gravity attack barely aided him. Ultima is the best magic to junction anywhere, and I'm attaching it to strength. Sadly, I accidentally killed him before getting all 300, so I spent more time between the Islands and the Shuni Village.
While maxing that out, I decided to max out (as best I could) the rest of my stats. I went in search of Reflect, Pain, and Triple. Aura is a drag to get, so I'm gonna ignore it. I also went around and did the Odel Lake quest for a Luck Junction Scroll (Rinoa). I started and finished the UFO stuff for an Evasion Scroll (Squall) and Pupu's Card to turn into Abilityx4 (Zell). I accidentally got Irvine's best weapon, leaving only Q without hers. I will not he farming forty elvorets. Sorry. I didn't mean to do those last there, but I wanted big numbers.
I'll see what Esthar's president wants and, time permitting, do Suumi's Village quest...
...tomorrow!
Shumi is boring, and I got a Phoenix Pinion somewhere else. This might take us to the end of disk three and the point of no return. This is the first time I've ever gotten all the GFs. I've never even gotten Eden before Ultemecia's Castle.
Wednesday, November 30, 2022
Tuesday, November 29, 2022
Eyes on Me
But first, skin color based genocide!
The Ragnarok is infested with enemies called propagators. They come in four different skin tones and can revive one another. To kill all eight of them, you'll need to kill each color back-to-back. I started with the purple ones because the first one is hard to sneak past. The red ones followed, and the other two (green and orange) were nothing special. Once all of them are dead, we have access to the cockpit.
There's an incoming message from Esthar, and the senders give Squall orders on how to return to the planet. Rinoa wraps her arms around Squall's back, so it's kind of a hug. After Squall inputs random letters and turns off the gravity, for some reason, he takes his seat in the pilot's chair. He asks Rinoa to take a seat next to him, but she disobeys. Instead, she floats into his lap. Rinoa wants to be held, but Squall, despite being whiney about her for the last twenty hours, doesn't acquiesce. They talk about being a kid, but there's an obvious disconnect here. Rinoa was comforted by a loving parent at one point, and even the general was kind once upon a time. Squall never had that. The closest he had was a big sister. When she disappeared, he grew a shell. Why didn't he spend time with the other kids? Q, clearly, was there for him, and Selphie and Zell were cool kids. Irvine seems harmless. His trauma story is pretty weak. They get to talking about what's going to happen when they land?
Rinoa is an evil sorceress now. Will she be sealed away like Adel? Squall doesn't respond now. Rinoa is terrified and confused. This isn't helped when ground control informs us they'll need to do just that. Rinoa takes her seat, still scared, and Squall finally acts like a man. He holds Rinoa's hand as they land.
The ship lands safely in the desert south of Esthar, and a man comes to pick up Rinoa. Despite all her reservations, Rinoa knows she needs to go be frozen. Squall initially tries to stop her but stops being a man and reconciles that she chose to go. He heads to a passenger room just as Selphie shows up. The escape pod crashed, and Ellone was gone. Piet waited for the rendezvous group, but Selphie found a chocobo and rode it here. Zell and the rest arrive now to overhear what happened with Rinoa. Selphie left when he started talking about the spaceship, and Irvine went shortly afterwards. Zell and Q, though, insulted Squall. After all he went through, he's just let his girlfriend leave? He finally hits puberty and becomes decisive. We're gonna save Rinoa! Suddenly, the Ragnarok starts to move, and we know what's happened. The scene in the cockpit plays out exactly as they imagined! We now have Final Fantasy VIII's airship. We can explore around the planet now, but do that later. To the Sorceress Memorial!
Rinoa is being carbonated, but the guards let us through to "see off our comrade." We enter, and everyone gets mad. But we're determined, and Selphie and Zell prepare for battle. The guy in charge runs off, and Squall follows him to where Rinoa is. He breaks the pipes affecting her, creating a lot of smoke. Rinoa jumps out of that mood setting atmosphere, and our two main characters finally hug each other! We leave the building, but the guards are still ready for a fight. A large, mute man climbs the stairs and lets us pass. Back on the ship, Rinoa is still concerned and wants to go to the orphanage. There's also the Adel and Ultimecia stuff...
Zell left the couple after we followed the teleporting dog, Angelo, to a field of flowers. The two restate they want to be together, and Rinoa tells him about a dream she's had. Or, a nightmare. She's all dressed up and waiting for Squall, but he never comes. Check out. She starts running through various landscapes in search of him, but she never finds him. Squall, finally saying something good, tells her that they'll meet here. She kept running because they had no meeting place. But now, she can run here: the field we saw in the opening CG. Zell returns and informs us that Esthar's leader wants to see us. It might be a trap, but the message was from a guy named Kiros. Hmm... But I'll go there...
...tomorrow!
Maybe. I went exploring first. Jumbo Cactuar was across the channel from where we first gained control of the airship. More importantly, Zell told us about the Deep Sea Research Facility. They used to research Drawing and junctioning here, which makes me question how both of those things are explained in-world. After a tedious game of red light, blue light (or blue light, no light), I fought Bahamut. "Fought." I actually Drew Full-Life and Flare for twenty minutes while casually attacking. Junction Stop to your status defense and have more than 3500 HP. Afterwards, we'll get our penultimate GF and have 9999 HP! I also visited the Island Closest to Hell and Heaven for small but noticeable end game spell Draws. Finally, I beat up a million elvorets in Esthar to get my main party's ultimate weapons. Good thing the anacondas were the only fight before Bahamut. There's still one more thing at the DSRF and another side quest near Trabia I might do. But I'm finally coming to the end! For a game I hate, I sure am playing it a lot...
The Ragnarok is infested with enemies called propagators. They come in four different skin tones and can revive one another. To kill all eight of them, you'll need to kill each color back-to-back. I started with the purple ones because the first one is hard to sneak past. The red ones followed, and the other two (green and orange) were nothing special. Once all of them are dead, we have access to the cockpit.
There's an incoming message from Esthar, and the senders give Squall orders on how to return to the planet. Rinoa wraps her arms around Squall's back, so it's kind of a hug. After Squall inputs random letters and turns off the gravity, for some reason, he takes his seat in the pilot's chair. He asks Rinoa to take a seat next to him, but she disobeys. Instead, she floats into his lap. Rinoa wants to be held, but Squall, despite being whiney about her for the last twenty hours, doesn't acquiesce. They talk about being a kid, but there's an obvious disconnect here. Rinoa was comforted by a loving parent at one point, and even the general was kind once upon a time. Squall never had that. The closest he had was a big sister. When she disappeared, he grew a shell. Why didn't he spend time with the other kids? Q, clearly, was there for him, and Selphie and Zell were cool kids. Irvine seems harmless. His trauma story is pretty weak. They get to talking about what's going to happen when they land?
Rinoa is an evil sorceress now. Will she be sealed away like Adel? Squall doesn't respond now. Rinoa is terrified and confused. This isn't helped when ground control informs us they'll need to do just that. Rinoa takes her seat, still scared, and Squall finally acts like a man. He holds Rinoa's hand as they land.
The ship lands safely in the desert south of Esthar, and a man comes to pick up Rinoa. Despite all her reservations, Rinoa knows she needs to go be frozen. Squall initially tries to stop her but stops being a man and reconciles that she chose to go. He heads to a passenger room just as Selphie shows up. The escape pod crashed, and Ellone was gone. Piet waited for the rendezvous group, but Selphie found a chocobo and rode it here. Zell and the rest arrive now to overhear what happened with Rinoa. Selphie left when he started talking about the spaceship, and Irvine went shortly afterwards. Zell and Q, though, insulted Squall. After all he went through, he's just let his girlfriend leave? He finally hits puberty and becomes decisive. We're gonna save Rinoa! Suddenly, the Ragnarok starts to move, and we know what's happened. The scene in the cockpit plays out exactly as they imagined! We now have Final Fantasy VIII's airship. We can explore around the planet now, but do that later. To the Sorceress Memorial!
Rinoa is being carbonated, but the guards let us through to "see off our comrade." We enter, and everyone gets mad. But we're determined, and Selphie and Zell prepare for battle. The guy in charge runs off, and Squall follows him to where Rinoa is. He breaks the pipes affecting her, creating a lot of smoke. Rinoa jumps out of that mood setting atmosphere, and our two main characters finally hug each other! We leave the building, but the guards are still ready for a fight. A large, mute man climbs the stairs and lets us pass. Back on the ship, Rinoa is still concerned and wants to go to the orphanage. There's also the Adel and Ultimecia stuff...
Zell left the couple after we followed the teleporting dog, Angelo, to a field of flowers. The two restate they want to be together, and Rinoa tells him about a dream she's had. Or, a nightmare. She's all dressed up and waiting for Squall, but he never comes. Check out. She starts running through various landscapes in search of him, but she never finds him. Squall, finally saying something good, tells her that they'll meet here. She kept running because they had no meeting place. But now, she can run here: the field we saw in the opening CG. Zell returns and informs us that Esthar's leader wants to see us. It might be a trap, but the message was from a guy named Kiros. Hmm... But I'll go there...
...tomorrow!
Maybe. I went exploring first. Jumbo Cactuar was across the channel from where we first gained control of the airship. More importantly, Zell told us about the Deep Sea Research Facility. They used to research Drawing and junctioning here, which makes me question how both of those things are explained in-world. After a tedious game of red light, blue light (or blue light, no light), I fought Bahamut. "Fought." I actually Drew Full-Life and Flare for twenty minutes while casually attacking. Junction Stop to your status defense and have more than 3500 HP. Afterwards, we'll get our penultimate GF and have 9999 HP! I also visited the Island Closest to Hell and Heaven for small but noticeable end game spell Draws. Finally, I beat up a million elvorets in Esthar to get my main party's ultimate weapons. Good thing the anacondas were the only fight before Bahamut. There's still one more thing at the DSRF and another side quest near Trabia I might do. But I'm finally coming to the end! For a game I hate, I sure am playing it a lot...
Monday, November 28, 2022
Spaaaaaace!
Let's get shot!
I made our way to Lunar Gate, which is a terrible name. It's not a gate but a spaceship launch pad. Everything is ready for us, and Rinoa is already prepared, somehow. We'll be frozen for some reason, put into a bullet (which sorta makes sense), and launched into space...for some reason. Edea's stuff is elsewhere, and Zell offers to escort her there. Squall picks a third party member while everyone else takes mom back to Odine. Selphie joins as the third wheel, and Irvine stays behind to be annoying. As Zell leaves NASA, the world starts to rumble.
Something ginormous is approaching Esthar, so we all head to Odine's lab to see if he knows what's going on. Galbadia has procured the Lunatic Pandora, somehow. Odine tries to talk about it, but Zell's more concerned about how to stop it. LP will travel over the city, meaning it's over the ocean right now. How did Zell see it from the opposite side of the country? There are three points where we'll be able to climb aboard. I don't really know why we want to board it, but it's big and scary. Good enough? There is a time limit, but it's oddly wide. I boarded at the first point, so I had to wait around for five minutes. There are random battles in the city now, but why bother? As we tried to board LP, not Wedge and not Biggs attacked us.
Draw Meteor and head deeper in. You'll come to three elevators and should go right first. A lot of the rewards vary depending on how you interacted with them during the time Laguna was here. Things are slightly different, but this is definitely the second Laguna sequence dungeon. There are two hard-to-find transitions right (down and left). You'll end up finding another elevator that takes you back to the center. The left elevator takes you to the end. Draw Holy, find the J-Spd Item, and confront the robot. It'll throw you out, and Lunatic Pandora will carry on to Tears Point.
Because I skipped it earlier, Lunatic Pandora controls something called the Lunar Cry, which I'll get to in a moment.
Squall and Sell will be in space. They'll be sucked in a tractor beam, which works painfully well. They're probably asleep because the g forces on that thing would knock them out anyway. Once we're thawed out, Squall carries Rinoa to her observation bed. We'll then be tasked with finding Ellone. As we leave, Squall gets really toxic with his love for Rinoa. They're not gonna harm Rinoa, and you don't need to threaten them, you creep. Before that, play cards with Piet to get Alexander.
The main room of the space station lets us get a glimpse of something odd. We (the player) learn that monsters live on the moon. Every 100 years, they come crashing down to earth in an event called the Lunar Cry. Guess how long it's been since the last Lunar Cry? Anyway, go see Ellone. Ask her to play cards for Laguna. Afterwards, Squall pleads with her to help him save Rinoa. Ellone says she can't because she doesn't know Rinoa, but Squall brought her with. El joins us to see if she can do anything. As we approach Rinoa's room, her bed opens, and ominous music plays. A guy comes flying out of the room, and we see Rinoa zombie walking toward the main room. We can play one of her victims in cards... Ignore your girlfriend and go to her destination. She'll unlock a seal on Adel's Tomb before leaving elsewhere. Everyone's scared and confused, but we need to keep following her.
There's a hard-to-see room in the hallway before Ellone's room that takes us to space. We see Rinoa wearing a space suit as she heads out, and Squall follows. Three engineers are returning just as Rinoa takes advantage of them opening the door. It closes on us, though. We overhear the engineers expositioning about the happenstance of this event... Return to Ellone to see Rinoa break the final seal on Adel's Tomb. This coincides with the Lunar Cry! Millions of moon monsters form a pimple on the satellite and explode towards the planet, washing the tomb in its wake. Rinoa is thrown away, and the moon base people need to escape. There's a Meltdown Draw point hidden to the left.
Squall is a one note boy and keeps begging Ellone to help fix Rinoa. Despite still not knowing her, she agrees to the request. We witness how Rinoa got Irvine to return to the prison and when she asked Zell to make a replica ring. Finally, we see the aftermath of when we beat up our mom. Rinoa didn't kiss Seifer, but she told him he works for Ultemecia now! Rinoa was possessed by the future sorceress that had Edea under her thumb. This knowledge doesn't really help us. After thanking Ellone, she sends us to "the point closes to the future."
Rinoa is awake, but she's running out of time. Her spacesuit is out of oxygen, and she's floating about in space. Squall can speak to Rinoa, and the power of love, along with Squall's ring, adds time to the depleted live support system. Squall leaves the escape pod and, by holding down the left stick slightly to the bottom left, catches Rinoa. Now they both get to die in space! Suddenly, a red spaceship is seen twirling overhead, and Squall learns how to create gravity.
They board the ship and see that there's oxygen. They remove their spacesuits, and Rinoa asks for a closer hug. Squall doesn't give her one because he's the dumbest character in any video game I've played. To get home, they'll need to navigate this ship back to the planet, but there's a problem. There are several giant monsters onboard, including one that magically appeared between us and the save point. So that's our goal for...
...tomorrow!
You're alone with a girl who, for some reason, is really into you, Squall. If she wants a hug, give her one, you whiny, emo loser. I hate you so much. Also, why were they even in space?
I made our way to Lunar Gate, which is a terrible name. It's not a gate but a spaceship launch pad. Everything is ready for us, and Rinoa is already prepared, somehow. We'll be frozen for some reason, put into a bullet (which sorta makes sense), and launched into space...for some reason. Edea's stuff is elsewhere, and Zell offers to escort her there. Squall picks a third party member while everyone else takes mom back to Odine. Selphie joins as the third wheel, and Irvine stays behind to be annoying. As Zell leaves NASA, the world starts to rumble.
Something ginormous is approaching Esthar, so we all head to Odine's lab to see if he knows what's going on. Galbadia has procured the Lunatic Pandora, somehow. Odine tries to talk about it, but Zell's more concerned about how to stop it. LP will travel over the city, meaning it's over the ocean right now. How did Zell see it from the opposite side of the country? There are three points where we'll be able to climb aboard. I don't really know why we want to board it, but it's big and scary. Good enough? There is a time limit, but it's oddly wide. I boarded at the first point, so I had to wait around for five minutes. There are random battles in the city now, but why bother? As we tried to board LP, not Wedge and not Biggs attacked us.
Draw Meteor and head deeper in. You'll come to three elevators and should go right first. A lot of the rewards vary depending on how you interacted with them during the time Laguna was here. Things are slightly different, but this is definitely the second Laguna sequence dungeon. There are two hard-to-find transitions right (down and left). You'll end up finding another elevator that takes you back to the center. The left elevator takes you to the end. Draw Holy, find the J-Spd Item, and confront the robot. It'll throw you out, and Lunatic Pandora will carry on to Tears Point.
Because I skipped it earlier, Lunatic Pandora controls something called the Lunar Cry, which I'll get to in a moment.
Squall and Sell will be in space. They'll be sucked in a tractor beam, which works painfully well. They're probably asleep because the g forces on that thing would knock them out anyway. Once we're thawed out, Squall carries Rinoa to her observation bed. We'll then be tasked with finding Ellone. As we leave, Squall gets really toxic with his love for Rinoa. They're not gonna harm Rinoa, and you don't need to threaten them, you creep. Before that, play cards with Piet to get Alexander.
The main room of the space station lets us get a glimpse of something odd. We (the player) learn that monsters live on the moon. Every 100 years, they come crashing down to earth in an event called the Lunar Cry. Guess how long it's been since the last Lunar Cry? Anyway, go see Ellone. Ask her to play cards for Laguna. Afterwards, Squall pleads with her to help him save Rinoa. Ellone says she can't because she doesn't know Rinoa, but Squall brought her with. El joins us to see if she can do anything. As we approach Rinoa's room, her bed opens, and ominous music plays. A guy comes flying out of the room, and we see Rinoa zombie walking toward the main room. We can play one of her victims in cards... Ignore your girlfriend and go to her destination. She'll unlock a seal on Adel's Tomb before leaving elsewhere. Everyone's scared and confused, but we need to keep following her.
There's a hard-to-see room in the hallway before Ellone's room that takes us to space. We see Rinoa wearing a space suit as she heads out, and Squall follows. Three engineers are returning just as Rinoa takes advantage of them opening the door. It closes on us, though. We overhear the engineers expositioning about the happenstance of this event... Return to Ellone to see Rinoa break the final seal on Adel's Tomb. This coincides with the Lunar Cry! Millions of moon monsters form a pimple on the satellite and explode towards the planet, washing the tomb in its wake. Rinoa is thrown away, and the moon base people need to escape. There's a Meltdown Draw point hidden to the left.
Squall is a one note boy and keeps begging Ellone to help fix Rinoa. Despite still not knowing her, she agrees to the request. We witness how Rinoa got Irvine to return to the prison and when she asked Zell to make a replica ring. Finally, we see the aftermath of when we beat up our mom. Rinoa didn't kiss Seifer, but she told him he works for Ultemecia now! Rinoa was possessed by the future sorceress that had Edea under her thumb. This knowledge doesn't really help us. After thanking Ellone, she sends us to "the point closes to the future."
Rinoa is awake, but she's running out of time. Her spacesuit is out of oxygen, and she's floating about in space. Squall can speak to Rinoa, and the power of love, along with Squall's ring, adds time to the depleted live support system. Squall leaves the escape pod and, by holding down the left stick slightly to the bottom left, catches Rinoa. Now they both get to die in space! Suddenly, a red spaceship is seen twirling overhead, and Squall learns how to create gravity.
They board the ship and see that there's oxygen. They remove their spacesuits, and Rinoa asks for a closer hug. Squall doesn't give her one because he's the dumbest character in any video game I've played. To get home, they'll need to navigate this ship back to the planet, but there's a problem. There are several giant monsters onboard, including one that magically appeared between us and the save point. So that's our goal for...
...tomorrow!
You're alone with a girl who, for some reason, is really into you, Squall. If she wants a hug, give her one, you whiny, emo loser. I hate you so much. Also, why were they even in space?
Sunday, November 27, 2022
Salt Lake City circa 3022
Why did the prisoner keep this machine gun?
I walked down to Rinoa in the infirmary, and Garden teleported to FH. Despite having two people in the party, they both disappeared, and Squall did something stupid. He picked up Rinoa and s l o w l y walked through FH. I'm sure no one wondered why this guy gave an unconscious girl a piggyback ride. He then proceeded to take another lengthy walk down the train tracks. He's hoofing it to Esthar to see Ellone. He recognizes that this is probably stupid, leaving without telling anyone he's doing this. He takes a break and thinks about some things. A secret between him and Rin. He sure has changed, but I think it's for the worse. When the walk is over...
Everyone's here! They say nothing about the kidnapping nor how they got here before Squall did. Zell and Q are here with Edea as her guard. Edea, fearing Ultimecia might possess her again, nerds to see Dr. Odine to remove her sorceress powers. Irvine and Selphie return from their scouting trip with no information. They also say nothing, but we need to go east! Edea joins the party, and she's almost level thirty. She adds nothing special to combat, but I used her anyway. It's different.
There's nothing before us except a massive dried lake bed. Why does the horizon flicker? Welcome to the Great Salt Lake, an area with one monster type and a lot of bones. There's also a one time Meteor Draw point. It's a short trip, especially if you climb the bones in the first level, but there is a boss. Abadon dies quickly to restoration magic or a phoenix down. For some dumb reason, it has Cura as a Draw, and you can also undo its confusion spell with its Esuna Draw. Don't Mug it because the ten Flare Stones are better. Eventually, we'll reach that flicker, and Squall will open a hole in the sky. A barely visible ladder leads to it, which Squall, still carrying Rinoa, climbs.
We'll enter a metallic room that leads to a great elevator. That elevator turns into a moving platform that has us fly over a massive, futuristic megacity! It's genuinely pretty awe inspiring, especially for being released in 1998. When it stops, though...
We're Laguna, and we're being used as prison labor. Kiros and Ward are escorted elsewhere while Laguna befriends a moomba. We hear our friends starting a riot, which lets us escape. Find the First Edition of Weapons Monthly here before leaving. I'll be honest, the game unjunctioned Kiros and Wards' stuff, so I was too annoyed at this garbage game to pay attention. Laguna became the leader of an Anti Adel force and found Ellone.
Squall wakes up as a limousine pulls up, and a man escorts us to Dr. Odine. The car takes us over the city, which is still impressive, and we meet with the doctor. He has a stupid clown collar and accent. Edea speaks of her plight, which Odine thinks he can help with. Squall tries to interject about Ellone, but mom tells us to shut up. We leave Rinoa under Odine's care to see if he can do anything. There's time before we can meet Ellone anyway. We need to head east to the Lunar Gate to save Edea and Rinoa. However, I found Tears Point. There's an item called the Solomon Ring. Along with six steel pipes, six marlboro tentacles, and six remedy+s, the ring can be combined to get a new GF. For the first time in my life, I have Doomtrain! We'll save our family...
...tomorrow!
Sure was happenstance that Edea asked everyone but us to escort her to Eshtar. She didn't even ask us? How'd they beat us there?! Why did Laguna keep his machine gun when he was a prisoner?
I walked down to Rinoa in the infirmary, and Garden teleported to FH. Despite having two people in the party, they both disappeared, and Squall did something stupid. He picked up Rinoa and s l o w l y walked through FH. I'm sure no one wondered why this guy gave an unconscious girl a piggyback ride. He then proceeded to take another lengthy walk down the train tracks. He's hoofing it to Esthar to see Ellone. He recognizes that this is probably stupid, leaving without telling anyone he's doing this. He takes a break and thinks about some things. A secret between him and Rin. He sure has changed, but I think it's for the worse. When the walk is over...
Everyone's here! They say nothing about the kidnapping nor how they got here before Squall did. Zell and Q are here with Edea as her guard. Edea, fearing Ultimecia might possess her again, nerds to see Dr. Odine to remove her sorceress powers. Irvine and Selphie return from their scouting trip with no information. They also say nothing, but we need to go east! Edea joins the party, and she's almost level thirty. She adds nothing special to combat, but I used her anyway. It's different.
There's nothing before us except a massive dried lake bed. Why does the horizon flicker? Welcome to the Great Salt Lake, an area with one monster type and a lot of bones. There's also a one time Meteor Draw point. It's a short trip, especially if you climb the bones in the first level, but there is a boss. Abadon dies quickly to restoration magic or a phoenix down. For some dumb reason, it has Cura as a Draw, and you can also undo its confusion spell with its Esuna Draw. Don't Mug it because the ten Flare Stones are better. Eventually, we'll reach that flicker, and Squall will open a hole in the sky. A barely visible ladder leads to it, which Squall, still carrying Rinoa, climbs.
We'll enter a metallic room that leads to a great elevator. That elevator turns into a moving platform that has us fly over a massive, futuristic megacity! It's genuinely pretty awe inspiring, especially for being released in 1998. When it stops, though...
We're Laguna, and we're being used as prison labor. Kiros and Ward are escorted elsewhere while Laguna befriends a moomba. We hear our friends starting a riot, which lets us escape. Find the First Edition of Weapons Monthly here before leaving. I'll be honest, the game unjunctioned Kiros and Wards' stuff, so I was too annoyed at this garbage game to pay attention. Laguna became the leader of an Anti Adel force and found Ellone.
Squall wakes up as a limousine pulls up, and a man escorts us to Dr. Odine. The car takes us over the city, which is still impressive, and we meet with the doctor. He has a stupid clown collar and accent. Edea speaks of her plight, which Odine thinks he can help with. Squall tries to interject about Ellone, but mom tells us to shut up. We leave Rinoa under Odine's care to see if he can do anything. There's time before we can meet Ellone anyway. We need to head east to the Lunar Gate to save Edea and Rinoa. However, I found Tears Point. There's an item called the Solomon Ring. Along with six steel pipes, six marlboro tentacles, and six remedy+s, the ring can be combined to get a new GF. For the first time in my life, I have Doomtrain! We'll save our family...
...tomorrow!
Sure was happenstance that Edea asked everyone but us to escort her to Eshtar. She didn't even ask us? How'd they beat us there?! Why did Laguna keep his machine gun when he was a prisoner?
Friday, November 25, 2022
He got worse!
Squall sucks.
Our MC is in his bed, confused about what's happening. He's suddenly really into Rinoa and only wants to be with her, so he heads to the infirmary. Rather than sit in the chair, he lurches over her like a creep. He's eventually called to the cockpit.
Edea is back to normal and is more than willing to speak to us. We're near the orphanage, so let's stop there. Cid's with her, but he isn't important. Squall asks mom about what's happened over the last few years. This is another terrible twist, so here's the gist. Another Sorceress from the future, Ultimecia, possessed Edea. Matron thinks her shell was going to be used to free Adel, Esthar's sorceress leader during the Sorceress War a decade ago. Something about changing the past and time compression are mentioned, but Squall's zoning out because none of this helps save Rinoa. Eventually, after returning to Rinoa, Squall falls asleep.
We're with Laguna, and he's a movie star. It's to make money for whatever it is Kiros, Ward, and himself are doing. Laguna, playing the Sorceress' Knight, fights another QTE scene against a Ruby Dragon. We see a strange thing in the distance as we return to Squall. If you paid attention, all of these moves were animations Seifer copied. Squall calls out of Ellone because he thinks he can save her, but Ellone learned she can't change the past. She wanted to save Raine, who died shortly after giving birth, but that will never happen. Squall is still insistent and has a plan.
Squall thinks Ellone can help them. If she sends him back in time, we can learn something. It's time to find the white Seeds. Edea has a note that shouldn't be necessary, and now we need to find the ship. It's a pain in the ass to do, and I hate this game. It's hidden in a bay north of the orphanage. Everyone hates us, but Zone and Watts are here. The SeeD ship saved them when they ran away. Watts tells us Ellone went with an Esthar ship, and the leader of this ship confirms it. They were attacked by Galbadia, but an Esthar fleet met with them. Ellone jumped away to join them "with a smile on her face." Give Zone some porn to get the Shiva card. Do I want this card... We now have to go Esthar, which I'll do...
...tomorrow!
The amount of moodiness Squall displayed tonight was unbelievable. He went from being a loner to an emo in the span of one day. This is character regression.
Our MC is in his bed, confused about what's happening. He's suddenly really into Rinoa and only wants to be with her, so he heads to the infirmary. Rather than sit in the chair, he lurches over her like a creep. He's eventually called to the cockpit.
Edea is back to normal and is more than willing to speak to us. We're near the orphanage, so let's stop there. Cid's with her, but he isn't important. Squall asks mom about what's happened over the last few years. This is another terrible twist, so here's the gist. Another Sorceress from the future, Ultimecia, possessed Edea. Matron thinks her shell was going to be used to free Adel, Esthar's sorceress leader during the Sorceress War a decade ago. Something about changing the past and time compression are mentioned, but Squall's zoning out because none of this helps save Rinoa. Eventually, after returning to Rinoa, Squall falls asleep.
We're with Laguna, and he's a movie star. It's to make money for whatever it is Kiros, Ward, and himself are doing. Laguna, playing the Sorceress' Knight, fights another QTE scene against a Ruby Dragon. We see a strange thing in the distance as we return to Squall. If you paid attention, all of these moves were animations Seifer copied. Squall calls out of Ellone because he thinks he can save her, but Ellone learned she can't change the past. She wanted to save Raine, who died shortly after giving birth, but that will never happen. Squall is still insistent and has a plan.
Squall thinks Ellone can help them. If she sends him back in time, we can learn something. It's time to find the white Seeds. Edea has a note that shouldn't be necessary, and now we need to find the ship. It's a pain in the ass to do, and I hate this game. It's hidden in a bay north of the orphanage. Everyone hates us, but Zone and Watts are here. The SeeD ship saved them when they ran away. Watts tells us Ellone went with an Esthar ship, and the leader of this ship confirms it. They were attacked by Galbadia, but an Esthar fleet met with them. Ellone jumped away to join them "with a smile on her face." Give Zone some porn to get the Shiva card. Do I want this card... We now have to go Esthar, which I'll do...
...tomorrow!
The amount of moodiness Squall displayed tonight was unbelievable. He went from being a loner to an emo in the span of one day. This is character regression.
Thursday, November 24, 2022
Demolition Garden
Another twist.
Edea's Orphanage is far to the south, in the Centra region. We don't get there because the Galbadian Garden is nearby, and that draws our attention. Why were they there?
Squall decides to go on the offensive, and we have to make a series of decisions, much to his chagrin. We have a choice of stuff to do, but making too many orders will get us, the leader, yelled at by the pilot. Make sure to decide the offense plan, defensive plan, and make sure all the underclass kids (both of them) will be safe. Most of our teammates will be waiting for us below, and Irvine will get mad. He feels like Squall doesn't like him. Squall and I agree. Zell is asleep... We have to defend the most likely point of attack, the quad, so make your team and head there.
Zell's there, and he's in command in the SeeDs. He's doing a good job! For some reason, he asks for a ring that has never been mentioned and accidentally brings up Rinoa. Rinoa joins us now as Squall hands it over. We're called back to the cockpit, and Zell, Q, and Rinoa join the defense force. Squall sees Seifer commanding the motorcycle troops as they launch themselves into Balamb. We get to play as Zell just as Galbadia rams into us. This causes the balcony to collapse, and Rinoa nearly falls to her death. She manages to hold on, but she's too far to reach. Zell and Q go to find a rope because Q's whip is too dangerous. I guess? We see Squall running to defend the front and join him with the bad news.
Shockingly, Squall is overwhelmed. His group is failing on two fronts, the kids are about to die, and now his love is about to be threshed against the spinning things below Garden. Can he sacrifice her to save everyone? It's not up to him. Zell will try to get Rinoa, Q will defend the front, and everyone else will go to the second floor. Irvine shotguns the green guys who jet packed their way in. But now the doctor wants to see us.
Kadowaki inspired Squall to be cool for once, and he gave a speech that perked everyone up. Apparently, everyone in Balamb looks up to this guy?
Squall ends up getting attacked by another jet pack guy. The two have a QTE fight while hanging on a rope, which is kinda cool. We can see the fighting going on in the background because, despite how much I hate FFVIII, the cinematography was cutting edge AF for 1998. Guard every other turn and kick when you're not. Squall kills a man, pilots the mech to Rinoa, and the two land in the middle of a war zone. We see more top notch graphics as they run to the left.
Zell gave Rinoa Squall's ring before they were rammed. She tells her client she wants to make a replica of it for herself and asks if the monster/lion has a name. It's Greiver. This ring will never be brought up again. We cut to everyone else running towards Galbadia, screaming their reasons for fighting. Both groups meet up in the back of Galbadia, home of the Sorceress.
From here, we'll need to navigate the halls to find three keycards to unlock the doors. Head right first and go up the stairs. We'll see Fujij and Raijin, and they'll ask us to bring back the old Seifer. The first key (3) is in one of the nearby dorms. Card two is located on the other side, and it'll let us reach the inner courtyard of Galbadia Garden. In the entry hall is a new GF, Cerberus.
The first time I fought him, something went weird. I was able to Draw Triple from him, but his Thundaga spam ruined me. Being passive will be my downfall. The next time, he had Quake but no Triple. Despite Squall only Drawing Quake the whole fight, Zell failed to Mug the J-Spd Scroll, but I won with ease. You cab Dispell Triple. The final key to in the left Wing from here, and it unlocks the elevator to Edea.
Seifer is guarding her, and his response to seeing us changes based on who's here. He mentions his relationship with Rinoa, but she stops him before we learn anything fun. Anyway, Zell beats him up. He only had a Mega Phoenix. Edea will melt into the floor, and we'll need to go to the auditorium below us.
Draw Alexander before Zell beats up our mom. Her worst move is Maelstrom, which is gravity damage. It can't kill, but it does bring us to limit levels. She's super fragile! Oh, yeah, Seifer was here. He only got insulted by mom, though.
Seifer falls, and Edea lets out pink gas. Everyone stops moving, but we see Rinoa zombie walk towards Seifer. Did...did she kiss him? Seifer gets up and walks away as Rinoa collapses. Q runs in to revive everyone as we hear our names called out. It's Edea. She says she's happy to see us, even if it's under "odious" circumstances. Q interrupts to inform us somethings happened to Rinoa. And we'll find out what that is...
...tomorrow!
Disk three hype? The melodrama is about to amp up!
Edea's Orphanage is far to the south, in the Centra region. We don't get there because the Galbadian Garden is nearby, and that draws our attention. Why were they there?
Squall decides to go on the offensive, and we have to make a series of decisions, much to his chagrin. We have a choice of stuff to do, but making too many orders will get us, the leader, yelled at by the pilot. Make sure to decide the offense plan, defensive plan, and make sure all the underclass kids (both of them) will be safe. Most of our teammates will be waiting for us below, and Irvine will get mad. He feels like Squall doesn't like him. Squall and I agree. Zell is asleep... We have to defend the most likely point of attack, the quad, so make your team and head there.
Zell's there, and he's in command in the SeeDs. He's doing a good job! For some reason, he asks for a ring that has never been mentioned and accidentally brings up Rinoa. Rinoa joins us now as Squall hands it over. We're called back to the cockpit, and Zell, Q, and Rinoa join the defense force. Squall sees Seifer commanding the motorcycle troops as they launch themselves into Balamb. We get to play as Zell just as Galbadia rams into us. This causes the balcony to collapse, and Rinoa nearly falls to her death. She manages to hold on, but she's too far to reach. Zell and Q go to find a rope because Q's whip is too dangerous. I guess? We see Squall running to defend the front and join him with the bad news.
Shockingly, Squall is overwhelmed. His group is failing on two fronts, the kids are about to die, and now his love is about to be threshed against the spinning things below Garden. Can he sacrifice her to save everyone? It's not up to him. Zell will try to get Rinoa, Q will defend the front, and everyone else will go to the second floor. Irvine shotguns the green guys who jet packed their way in. But now the doctor wants to see us.
Kadowaki inspired Squall to be cool for once, and he gave a speech that perked everyone up. Apparently, everyone in Balamb looks up to this guy?
Squall ends up getting attacked by another jet pack guy. The two have a QTE fight while hanging on a rope, which is kinda cool. We can see the fighting going on in the background because, despite how much I hate FFVIII, the cinematography was cutting edge AF for 1998. Guard every other turn and kick when you're not. Squall kills a man, pilots the mech to Rinoa, and the two land in the middle of a war zone. We see more top notch graphics as they run to the left.
Zell gave Rinoa Squall's ring before they were rammed. She tells her client she wants to make a replica of it for herself and asks if the monster/lion has a name. It's Greiver. This ring will never be brought up again. We cut to everyone else running towards Galbadia, screaming their reasons for fighting. Both groups meet up in the back of Galbadia, home of the Sorceress.
From here, we'll need to navigate the halls to find three keycards to unlock the doors. Head right first and go up the stairs. We'll see Fujij and Raijin, and they'll ask us to bring back the old Seifer. The first key (3) is in one of the nearby dorms. Card two is located on the other side, and it'll let us reach the inner courtyard of Galbadia Garden. In the entry hall is a new GF, Cerberus.
The first time I fought him, something went weird. I was able to Draw Triple from him, but his Thundaga spam ruined me. Being passive will be my downfall. The next time, he had Quake but no Triple. Despite Squall only Drawing Quake the whole fight, Zell failed to Mug the J-Spd Scroll, but I won with ease. You cab Dispell Triple. The final key to in the left Wing from here, and it unlocks the elevator to Edea.
Seifer is guarding her, and his response to seeing us changes based on who's here. He mentions his relationship with Rinoa, but she stops him before we learn anything fun. Anyway, Zell beats him up. He only had a Mega Phoenix. Edea will melt into the floor, and we'll need to go to the auditorium below us.
Draw Alexander before Zell beats up our mom. Her worst move is Maelstrom, which is gravity damage. It can't kill, but it does bring us to limit levels. She's super fragile! Oh, yeah, Seifer was here. He only got insulted by mom, though.
Seifer falls, and Edea lets out pink gas. Everyone stops moving, but we see Rinoa zombie walk towards Seifer. Did...did she kiss him? Seifer gets up and walks away as Rinoa collapses. Q runs in to revive everyone as we hear our names called out. It's Edea. She says she's happy to see us, even if it's under "odious" circumstances. Q interrupts to inform us somethings happened to Rinoa. And we'll find out what that is...
...tomorrow!
Disk three hype? The melodrama is about to amp up!
Wednesday, November 23, 2022
The twist...twit...
Take Zell because Zell is who you want for a sneaky infiltration mission.
Balamb is under siege by Galbadia Garden. Talk to the guard to be reminded they're looking for Ellone, and then hang out with the hotel owners to hear their daughter is still in town. I say hang out because we'll be waiting for a moment. The guard thinks we're suspicious because Zell is acting up. It is his hometown, to be fair. Squalls calms the situation by saying they're messengers with word about Ellone. With that, we're allowed into Balamb.
From here, we need to find the commander. She's supposed to be in the hotel, but those guards are better at their job. So now we talk to someone else. The captain is supposed to be doing his rounds, but he's more likely taking a nap. Either way, visit Zell's mom. We can inspect Zell's room now, too, to learn about his hero, his grandfather. Squall says something mean, which gets a laugh out of Rinoa before she tells him Squall is acting "too cool." They think he should lighten up, and we can use Zell's room to rest and save. From here, go to the docks and talk to everyone, especially the dog. Head to the station. Return to the docks to learn the captain just went fishing. Return to the station to see the aftermath with the smelly fish. Talk to the dog at the docks again, and chase him back to the station. We'll see Raijin run out, so go to the hotel. Fight him. Are you excited by this gameplay?!
We'll then have to fight him and Fujin at the same time. Use Protect to negate their attacks and Draw Pandemobia. She (?) is our wind GF. The Disciplinary Committee tell us they're not working for Edea but for Seifer. They're his only friends, after all. Squall lets them go out of some weird sense of understanding, and the rest of Galbadia leaves.
Where to next? Selphie wants to see Trabia, so head to the frozen north!
There's a wall for some reason around Trabia Garden, so we have to climb over. But even from here, we can see the ruins. Selphie runs ahead, filled with all the feelings you'd expect, and everyone else catches up to us. Irvine wants to help her the most. We'll see Selphie talking to an old friend, and she'll tell us to wait for her at the basketball court. Take your time getting there, and you can witness her reconnect a few times. The scene at the cemetery is pretty heavy.
We'll all reconvene at the court, and then we get to the stupid, awful twist of the game. Rinoa wonders if there's another way to stop Edea without killing her. It's mostly because she feels left out. While we're all highly trained warriors, she's just some chick. Rinoa feels like she's falling behind us and trying to play catchup. Can she keep doing this? What happens if something bad happens to her friends? I don't remember how, but Irvine switches the conversation to his youth. He grew up in an orphanage and mentions two girls he liked: "Sephie" and "Quisty." Selphie asks if the orphanage was made of stone, and Q asks if it was by the ocean. "You got it!" The three kids go off to play war while we gain control of ghost Squall for this memory, and we see Charlie Brown upset about "Sis.". Zell suddenly piped in about setting off fireworks and recalled he wanted to tattle on them. Another kid called him a crybaby. Seifer was there too. Both of them were there. Squall says he was there. Bar Rinoa, everyone in this (extended) party grew up together in an orphanage after the Sorceress War.
Irvine remembers everything, but why doesn't everyone else. There's anti GF sentiment in the world that says GFs ruin memories. Maybe it's true? Irvine never junctioned a GF until joining us, but neither has Selphie. She suddenly remembers connecting with a random, nameless GF six years ago. What is a guardian force?! But can we stop using them? The answer is no, so none of this matters. The group discusses how they reconnected before remembering Ellone. She was older than everyone, so they all looked up to her until she left. And they bring up Matron. Her real name is Edea Kramer.. So we're all in agreement that we're killing our mom and return to Balamb Garden. Rinoa hung back for a moment, but I can't remember why. Either way, we're gonna find the orphanage, but I'll do that...
...tomorrow!
Amnesia is stupid. Five people forgot about spending five years together, but some of them had latent feelings for each other that carried over? And a single use of a GF can wipe those formative years away? But they don't destroy any memories that formed while at Garden? Bullshit! And Irvine didn't say thing sooner? I understand why someone could like the awful, forced character growth for Squall, but the overarching plot is so garbage I swore for the first time in over two years.
I also finished the CC Group side quest for the first time ever. ...whatever.
Balamb is under siege by Galbadia Garden. Talk to the guard to be reminded they're looking for Ellone, and then hang out with the hotel owners to hear their daughter is still in town. I say hang out because we'll be waiting for a moment. The guard thinks we're suspicious because Zell is acting up. It is his hometown, to be fair. Squalls calms the situation by saying they're messengers with word about Ellone. With that, we're allowed into Balamb.
From here, we need to find the commander. She's supposed to be in the hotel, but those guards are better at their job. So now we talk to someone else. The captain is supposed to be doing his rounds, but he's more likely taking a nap. Either way, visit Zell's mom. We can inspect Zell's room now, too, to learn about his hero, his grandfather. Squall says something mean, which gets a laugh out of Rinoa before she tells him Squall is acting "too cool." They think he should lighten up, and we can use Zell's room to rest and save. From here, go to the docks and talk to everyone, especially the dog. Head to the station. Return to the docks to learn the captain just went fishing. Return to the station to see the aftermath with the smelly fish. Talk to the dog at the docks again, and chase him back to the station. We'll see Raijin run out, so go to the hotel. Fight him. Are you excited by this gameplay?!
We'll then have to fight him and Fujin at the same time. Use Protect to negate their attacks and Draw Pandemobia. She (?) is our wind GF. The Disciplinary Committee tell us they're not working for Edea but for Seifer. They're his only friends, after all. Squall lets them go out of some weird sense of understanding, and the rest of Galbadia leaves.
Where to next? Selphie wants to see Trabia, so head to the frozen north!
There's a wall for some reason around Trabia Garden, so we have to climb over. But even from here, we can see the ruins. Selphie runs ahead, filled with all the feelings you'd expect, and everyone else catches up to us. Irvine wants to help her the most. We'll see Selphie talking to an old friend, and she'll tell us to wait for her at the basketball court. Take your time getting there, and you can witness her reconnect a few times. The scene at the cemetery is pretty heavy.
We'll all reconvene at the court, and then we get to the stupid, awful twist of the game. Rinoa wonders if there's another way to stop Edea without killing her. It's mostly because she feels left out. While we're all highly trained warriors, she's just some chick. Rinoa feels like she's falling behind us and trying to play catchup. Can she keep doing this? What happens if something bad happens to her friends? I don't remember how, but Irvine switches the conversation to his youth. He grew up in an orphanage and mentions two girls he liked: "Sephie" and "Quisty." Selphie asks if the orphanage was made of stone, and Q asks if it was by the ocean. "You got it!" The three kids go off to play war while we gain control of ghost Squall for this memory, and we see Charlie Brown upset about "Sis.". Zell suddenly piped in about setting off fireworks and recalled he wanted to tattle on them. Another kid called him a crybaby. Seifer was there too. Both of them were there. Squall says he was there. Bar Rinoa, everyone in this (extended) party grew up together in an orphanage after the Sorceress War.
Irvine remembers everything, but why doesn't everyone else. There's anti GF sentiment in the world that says GFs ruin memories. Maybe it's true? Irvine never junctioned a GF until joining us, but neither has Selphie. She suddenly remembers connecting with a random, nameless GF six years ago. What is a guardian force?! But can we stop using them? The answer is no, so none of this matters. The group discusses how they reconnected before remembering Ellone. She was older than everyone, so they all looked up to her until she left. And they bring up Matron. Her real name is Edea Kramer.. So we're all in agreement that we're killing our mom and return to Balamb Garden. Rinoa hung back for a moment, but I can't remember why. Either way, we're gonna find the orphanage, but I'll do that...
...tomorrow!
Amnesia is stupid. Five people forgot about spending five years together, but some of them had latent feelings for each other that carried over? And a single use of a GF can wipe those formative years away? But they don't destroy any memories that formed while at Garden? Bullshit! And Irvine didn't say thing sooner? I understand why someone could like the awful, forced character growth for Squall, but the overarching plot is so garbage I swore for the first time in over two years.
I also finished the CC Group side quest for the first time ever. ...whatever.
Tuesday, November 22, 2022
A...date!?
Let the side quests begin...later.
So we crashed into a makeshift city built on an offshore solar farm. Meeting with the mayor, Dobe, has him acting very aggressively towards us. He doesn't like Garden because we're a war faring group. Our presence will only attract further violence. Squall assures him we'll only stay once we figure out how to use our boat. Dobe okays the engineers of FH to fix it up and asks us to leave. As we walk the long walkway back to town, we hear someone yelling about Galbadian soldiers! Dobe goes ahead of us because he thinks diplomacy can save FH. Follow him to see he's getting harassed by a guy in red who wants to burn the town down. He's looking for Ellone.
When we save Dobe, the army attacks us with the remains of the Iron Clad, the thing Selphie fought before. I spent the whole fight Drawing Stop until it exploded again. As the mech drops into the sea, we see our not dead friends claw out of it! Selphie, Zell, and Bob Sr. are alive! Even Squall's glad, but we only know because of his thought bubbles. Q escorts them home, but Rinia hangs back. She noticed how happy Squall was, but I played it off as a responsibility thing. We can speak to Dobe, who still hates us. We can try to bring him around, but who knows if it worked?
Return to Balamb to see Irvine waiting for us. He says Selphie is sad at the quad and asks if the engineers can set something up for him. As long as it doesn't distract from fixing Garden... Head to the quad to see it in ruins. It was fine before... Selphie is upset that her high school dream of putting on the Garden Festival seems to be gone. We have the option to cheer her up, but I let Irvine do it. Sorry, Selly. We're called to Cid's office.
Cid makes an announcement about the future of Garden. We're all going to focus on killing Edea, and Squall's in charge!. Squall is mad that he's leader now. Q was fired for lacking leadership qualities...
Squall goes to bed to mope, and he does a lot of questioning. Why him?! Why does Cid want to kill his wife? Who is Ellone, and how does she let us experience Laguna? During this time, Selphie and Irvine plan something for Squall's coronation. We form a band! We choose from eight different instruments to make one of three songs. A slow song, a fast song, or one that sucks. I've always gotten the bad one, so I cheated. The slow tune is a 1950s variation of Love Grows. Q said she has no musical tallet, but she sure played a great sax!
Squall wakes up later that night because he's bored and takes a walk. We see Rinoa in a white, skimpy dress. I tried to walk by, but she stopped me. I attempted to get out of it, but we're going on a date. After Irvine tells us he left a "special" magazine in a spot for us, and we ruin his attempt to hit on Selphie, we make our way to the mayor's house. The song is pretty okay, but check out the "naughty magazine" Irvine left for us. Squall and Rinoa talk with that in the middle of them, while Rinoa takes a rather provocative stance. She tries to get Squall to open up more, but he's hesitant. Eventually, he agrees to try, but Rinoa doesn't believe him. He's just saying things to get out of the conversation, so she runs away, asking him why he's like this. That's a very good question, Rinoa! Why are so many people trying to be around this guy? Squall has that Charlie Brown dream again.
Cid calls for Squall and gives another speech. Garden is now controllable, and our mission can begin! He tries to let Squall say something, but he doesn't want to. We don't know where Edea is, but we know she's looking for Ellone. Perhaps we should check out Balamb!?
Or, we can explore the world! We have a ship and can see a lot more than before. The first thing I did was explore the southern continent to get Odin. Without random fights, the time limit was a mere suggestion. I also did something I've never done before: get Tonberry King! It took two hours, but I killed twenty tomberries. They were not worth the stress. I don't know if TK is good, but I think he's adorable. I can't believe he apologized for attacking us. All he was doing was protecting his kin. I feel so bad...
I also visited Winhill and found two vase pieces. Finally, I did a bunch of CC Club card games on Balamb. Why won't Xu fight me! Anyway, we'll see why Galbadia Garden is anchored off the coast of Balamb...
...tomorrow!
I used to think Garden being a flotilla was a stupid concept when I was young. Now that I know about cruise ships and megayachts, I see it's pretty chill, actually.
So we crashed into a makeshift city built on an offshore solar farm. Meeting with the mayor, Dobe, has him acting very aggressively towards us. He doesn't like Garden because we're a war faring group. Our presence will only attract further violence. Squall assures him we'll only stay once we figure out how to use our boat. Dobe okays the engineers of FH to fix it up and asks us to leave. As we walk the long walkway back to town, we hear someone yelling about Galbadian soldiers! Dobe goes ahead of us because he thinks diplomacy can save FH. Follow him to see he's getting harassed by a guy in red who wants to burn the town down. He's looking for Ellone.
When we save Dobe, the army attacks us with the remains of the Iron Clad, the thing Selphie fought before. I spent the whole fight Drawing Stop until it exploded again. As the mech drops into the sea, we see our not dead friends claw out of it! Selphie, Zell, and Bob Sr. are alive! Even Squall's glad, but we only know because of his thought bubbles. Q escorts them home, but Rinia hangs back. She noticed how happy Squall was, but I played it off as a responsibility thing. We can speak to Dobe, who still hates us. We can try to bring him around, but who knows if it worked?
Return to Balamb to see Irvine waiting for us. He says Selphie is sad at the quad and asks if the engineers can set something up for him. As long as it doesn't distract from fixing Garden... Head to the quad to see it in ruins. It was fine before... Selphie is upset that her high school dream of putting on the Garden Festival seems to be gone. We have the option to cheer her up, but I let Irvine do it. Sorry, Selly. We're called to Cid's office.
Cid makes an announcement about the future of Garden. We're all going to focus on killing Edea, and Squall's in charge!. Squall is mad that he's leader now. Q was fired for lacking leadership qualities...
Squall goes to bed to mope, and he does a lot of questioning. Why him?! Why does Cid want to kill his wife? Who is Ellone, and how does she let us experience Laguna? During this time, Selphie and Irvine plan something for Squall's coronation. We form a band! We choose from eight different instruments to make one of three songs. A slow song, a fast song, or one that sucks. I've always gotten the bad one, so I cheated. The slow tune is a 1950s variation of Love Grows. Q said she has no musical tallet, but she sure played a great sax!
Squall wakes up later that night because he's bored and takes a walk. We see Rinoa in a white, skimpy dress. I tried to walk by, but she stopped me. I attempted to get out of it, but we're going on a date. After Irvine tells us he left a "special" magazine in a spot for us, and we ruin his attempt to hit on Selphie, we make our way to the mayor's house. The song is pretty okay, but check out the "naughty magazine" Irvine left for us. Squall and Rinoa talk with that in the middle of them, while Rinoa takes a rather provocative stance. She tries to get Squall to open up more, but he's hesitant. Eventually, he agrees to try, but Rinoa doesn't believe him. He's just saying things to get out of the conversation, so she runs away, asking him why he's like this. That's a very good question, Rinoa! Why are so many people trying to be around this guy? Squall has that Charlie Brown dream again.
Cid calls for Squall and gives another speech. Garden is now controllable, and our mission can begin! He tries to let Squall say something, but he doesn't want to. We don't know where Edea is, but we know she's looking for Ellone. Perhaps we should check out Balamb!?
Or, we can explore the world! We have a ship and can see a lot more than before. The first thing I did was explore the southern continent to get Odin. Without random fights, the time limit was a mere suggestion. I also did something I've never done before: get Tonberry King! It took two hours, but I killed twenty tomberries. They were not worth the stress. I don't know if TK is good, but I think he's adorable. I can't believe he apologized for attacking us. All he was doing was protecting his kin. I feel so bad...
I also visited Winhill and found two vase pieces. Finally, I did a bunch of CC Club card games on Balamb. Why won't Xu fight me! Anyway, we'll see why Galbadia Garden is anchored off the coast of Balamb...
...tomorrow!
I used to think Garden being a flotilla was a stupid concept when I was young. Now that I know about cruise ships and megayachts, I see it's pretty chill, actually.
Monday, November 21, 2022
SS Balamb
Yeah, okay.
Squall and his entourage of women get into the elevator. He unlocks access to the MD level, and they begin to descend. For no particular reason, it stops. The button doesn't work, but there's an obvious panel on the floor. As the three climb down a ladder that shouldn't exist, the cab starts to move again. Luckily, there's a convenient human sized tunnel just in range. Happenstance!
The rest of this place is a linear tunnel filled with mobs that are weak to fire. Q reminds us to junction Fire to our weapons once we step into an oil pipe. I kept Enc-None on for most of this, so I don't know how true this is. There's also a room where Squall struggles to turn a wheel, and Rinoa needs to help him. After a lot of ladders, we'll reach a central tower. We'll see another ladder up that leads to another room. We have the option to ascend here as either Squall, someone else, or the whole group. I volunteered a Squall solo run, so I assume that's how it would be regardless. Halfway up, the ladder breaks. Squall crashes through a window and into a room. There's a computer here that opens the floor around the tower, which is how we get to the boss. It's two creatures who died before I remembered their names. Behind them is a large engine looking thing. Squall pulls a Selphie and starts hitting random buttons. Electric spews from it, and the cogs begin to turn.
At various points through the dungeon, we (the player) have seen a few scenes of the missiles approaching Garden. And they're now in sight. After Squall activates the engine, the whole area is elevated into Cid's office. All four of us are now atop a tower to watch Garden's transformation. There has been a strange glyph/awning/whatever that's hung over the campus. It begins to lower now as more light envelops the building. We now start to float! The missiles fly by us and crash in the area, but Garden has turned into a moving ship, barely getting out of the impact. The dust nearly takes us down, but we've moved just far enough. But we're not out of the woods yet. We're about to smash into the town! Squall Selphie's again, and we float over the rent-a-car building, saving Balamb. We make a splash as we land in the ocean, but we float, so all is well!
A few days later, Squall is being moody and confused. He can't figure anything out, so he just keeps ruminating over these questions until he falls asleep. Rinoa wakes him up because Mr. Loner can't lock a door. Rinoa asks for a tour, which Squall actually agrees to do. It kinda sucks, though. He's very deadpan and overly serious when he talks about the hotdogs. I don't know how many places you need to take her to, but I showed her everywhere. Even the parking lot that isn't flooding. The strange girl who saw Squall in the infirmary is in the library. Squall asks her how she knows him, but she's afraid he's forgotten her. At the entrance, though, is a not dead facility member. We've been called to the basement to meet with the Garden Master, NORG.
Q joins us as we overhear Cid being assaulted, and he becomes sweary. He'll return to the surface as we face the strange being known as NORG. I think he looks like an octopus, but maybe that's me. Anyway, NORG yells a lot and uses hyphens instead of spaces. He wants to know our report, and we tell him. He gets angry because he thinks Cid wants to overthrow him. Cid is working with his wife, Edea, to make NORG a nonfactor. But NORG also fears Edea, so he plans to kill Cid and us to appease her. Huh?
A boss fight happens. NORG has two colored pods that occasionally cast magic at us depending on their color. I tried to break them, but their defense was too high. Or they're resistant to fire... Focus on NORG's pod until it breaks. Once it does, Draw Leviathan from him. We now have half to GFs in the game! Keep hitting him until he dies.
We're all very confused, so go see Cid in the infirmary. We can ask him to clarify things.
He and Edea are married. Long ago, she was normal, but then she changed. Garden was her idea, and SeeD was designed to defeat the Sorceress.
NORG is the financier for Garden. He was a black sheep of the Shuumi Tribe. He got his money back by using SeeD as mercenaries. He got his money, and the witch hunters got training. Win-win.
I don't remember the rest, but Squall winds up in his room again, thinking to himself. He dreams about a boy cosplaying as Charlie Brown in front of Roman columns. It's raining. He talks to someone named "Sis," who recently left him, so he's promising to be strong and self reliant. Is this Squall? Does this explain why he wants to live without the aid of others?
Rinoa wakes him up, and the same type of conversation from before NORG happens. We can blow her off, though. Regardless, we're called to Cid's office as we leave. There's a boat coming, and we need to see whose side it's on. Take the fire escape on the second floor. We'll meet with the Sorceress' SeeDs, which rouse no suspicion. They're here for a girl named Ellone, which shocks Squall. Cid shows up and asks us to find her. Is the same Ellone from Winhill? Head to the library to learn that it is. Squall adamantly asks what's going on, but she's cagey. He sits in a chair, confused, and Ellone leaves with the others.
After Squall asks himself more questions, we cut to a man fishing. He's not having a good day, but it's about to get worse! Garden is about to crash into his fishing spot. We knock through several windmills, and the water we splash somehow avoids him. Cid asks us to make first contact even though Squall has no social cues.
We tell the first responders of Fisherman's Horizon that we come in peace. They suggest seeing the mayor to let him know, which is a good idea. En route, we learn we can get to Esthar from here. But I'll see the head honcho on his solar panel field...
...tomorrow!
I wonder when Squall will learn about the fate of Zell, Selphie, and Bob Orton?
Squall and his entourage of women get into the elevator. He unlocks access to the MD level, and they begin to descend. For no particular reason, it stops. The button doesn't work, but there's an obvious panel on the floor. As the three climb down a ladder that shouldn't exist, the cab starts to move again. Luckily, there's a convenient human sized tunnel just in range. Happenstance!
The rest of this place is a linear tunnel filled with mobs that are weak to fire. Q reminds us to junction Fire to our weapons once we step into an oil pipe. I kept Enc-None on for most of this, so I don't know how true this is. There's also a room where Squall struggles to turn a wheel, and Rinoa needs to help him. After a lot of ladders, we'll reach a central tower. We'll see another ladder up that leads to another room. We have the option to ascend here as either Squall, someone else, or the whole group. I volunteered a Squall solo run, so I assume that's how it would be regardless. Halfway up, the ladder breaks. Squall crashes through a window and into a room. There's a computer here that opens the floor around the tower, which is how we get to the boss. It's two creatures who died before I remembered their names. Behind them is a large engine looking thing. Squall pulls a Selphie and starts hitting random buttons. Electric spews from it, and the cogs begin to turn.
At various points through the dungeon, we (the player) have seen a few scenes of the missiles approaching Garden. And they're now in sight. After Squall activates the engine, the whole area is elevated into Cid's office. All four of us are now atop a tower to watch Garden's transformation. There has been a strange glyph/awning/whatever that's hung over the campus. It begins to lower now as more light envelops the building. We now start to float! The missiles fly by us and crash in the area, but Garden has turned into a moving ship, barely getting out of the impact. The dust nearly takes us down, but we've moved just far enough. But we're not out of the woods yet. We're about to smash into the town! Squall Selphie's again, and we float over the rent-a-car building, saving Balamb. We make a splash as we land in the ocean, but we float, so all is well!
A few days later, Squall is being moody and confused. He can't figure anything out, so he just keeps ruminating over these questions until he falls asleep. Rinoa wakes him up because Mr. Loner can't lock a door. Rinoa asks for a tour, which Squall actually agrees to do. It kinda sucks, though. He's very deadpan and overly serious when he talks about the hotdogs. I don't know how many places you need to take her to, but I showed her everywhere. Even the parking lot that isn't flooding. The strange girl who saw Squall in the infirmary is in the library. Squall asks her how she knows him, but she's afraid he's forgotten her. At the entrance, though, is a not dead facility member. We've been called to the basement to meet with the Garden Master, NORG.
Q joins us as we overhear Cid being assaulted, and he becomes sweary. He'll return to the surface as we face the strange being known as NORG. I think he looks like an octopus, but maybe that's me. Anyway, NORG yells a lot and uses hyphens instead of spaces. He wants to know our report, and we tell him. He gets angry because he thinks Cid wants to overthrow him. Cid is working with his wife, Edea, to make NORG a nonfactor. But NORG also fears Edea, so he plans to kill Cid and us to appease her. Huh?
A boss fight happens. NORG has two colored pods that occasionally cast magic at us depending on their color. I tried to break them, but their defense was too high. Or they're resistant to fire... Focus on NORG's pod until it breaks. Once it does, Draw Leviathan from him. We now have half to GFs in the game! Keep hitting him until he dies.
We're all very confused, so go see Cid in the infirmary. We can ask him to clarify things.
He and Edea are married. Long ago, she was normal, but then she changed. Garden was her idea, and SeeD was designed to defeat the Sorceress.
NORG is the financier for Garden. He was a black sheep of the Shuumi Tribe. He got his money back by using SeeD as mercenaries. He got his money, and the witch hunters got training. Win-win.
I don't remember the rest, but Squall winds up in his room again, thinking to himself. He dreams about a boy cosplaying as Charlie Brown in front of Roman columns. It's raining. He talks to someone named "Sis," who recently left him, so he's promising to be strong and self reliant. Is this Squall? Does this explain why he wants to live without the aid of others?
Rinoa wakes him up, and the same type of conversation from before NORG happens. We can blow her off, though. Regardless, we're called to Cid's office as we leave. There's a boat coming, and we need to see whose side it's on. Take the fire escape on the second floor. We'll meet with the Sorceress' SeeDs, which rouse no suspicion. They're here for a girl named Ellone, which shocks Squall. Cid shows up and asks us to find her. Is the same Ellone from Winhill? Head to the library to learn that it is. Squall adamantly asks what's going on, but she's cagey. He sits in a chair, confused, and Ellone leaves with the others.
After Squall asks himself more questions, we cut to a man fishing. He's not having a good day, but it's about to get worse! Garden is about to crash into his fishing spot. We knock through several windmills, and the water we splash somehow avoids him. Cid asks us to make first contact even though Squall has no social cues.
We tell the first responders of Fisherman's Horizon that we come in peace. They suggest seeing the mayor to let him know, which is a good idea. En route, we learn we can get to Esthar from here. But I'll see the head honcho on his solar panel field...
...tomorrow!
I wonder when Squall will learn about the fate of Zell, Selphie, and Bob Orton?
Sunday, November 20, 2022
Why did we help?
General Calloway ruined the all rule, and he didn't even tell me.
Selphie, Zell, and Irvine ride their military APC into the Galbadian missile base to disrupt the attack on Garden. The guard is fooled by the uniforms they found in the car, so it's an easy entrance. From here, the team has several options about how to stop the attacks. We can sneak our way through, which is surprisingly fast and easy. Or we can storm everyone. I went incognito because there's no reason to fight in this game. Walk by holding down circle past guard one, and talk to the lazy maintenance guys in the left room near the save point. This'll let us into the room guard one blocked. I don't know if it matters here, but I selected the bottom options to have Selphie interact with the console and kill the base's power. Select "we were about to call for you" when confronted. Help push the missile launcher into the bay, then fulfill the mission. This feels like the opposite of what we were supposed to do, but okay. Inspect the console outside the room to adjust the missiles' trajectory. From here, inform the base commander that everyone is a go. I don't remember how different any of this would have been had we choose violence from the start, but it won't matter. Regardless of how we got here, everyone does the wrong salute, and our cover is blown. We get to kill knock off Biggs, Wedge, and Wedge's brother, Bedge. From here, we do something with one computer before finding the self destruct one in the next room. I set it to ten minutes. As we leave, Bedge will activate something on the computer.
We'll run outside and see all the soldiers fleeing the base. We regain control and see a giant mech blocking us. This is a boss. It's weak to water and lightning. It's also vulnerable to physical attacks backed up by Tornado, Quake, and Demi. Apparently, you'll need to remove the last twenty percent in three character turns or lose the rewards. Defeat the soldiers to be done with this.
The team will run around the courtyard only to see they're locked in. What's worse, the missiles we tried to prevent are launched beside us. The party laments that they failed and think Squall knew they would. The self destruct sequence goes off, and we see them blow up. Why did this military base even have a self destruct mechanism?
We're back to Squall, Rinoa, and Q. Everything seems fine, so they think Selphie succeeded. But the missiles could be on their way, so let's prepare a backup plan. There's one problem, though, everyone is panicking. The faculty members want Cid dead, so all the students have taken sides. Seeds are with Cid, while everyone else is with someone named Norg. We're on Cid's side, so we're attacked. None of the monsters are too bad, but watch out for the tyrannosaurus rex. From here, we'll need to liberate each wing from the Norgians. We'll be rewarded with items from happy SeeDs. After hitting every offshoot, we'll see Xu running towards the elevator. Follow her to the second floor hallway, and she'll tell us Cid is in his office. Why didn't the Norgians check there first?
Anyway, he's there, and we inform him of the attack. He wants us to evacuate everyone but says he'll stay there. Squall asks why, and Cid says he's going down with the ship. He also has a plan! Cid stumbles, which makes our MC offer to help. Cid asks why Squall would do something like that, and Squall struggles to answer. He thinks a lot, though. Cid and Q laugh at him, but we learn the plan. Cid hands us a key to the nether regions of Garden. This used to be a vault, so maybe there's something down there to defend against missiles? Cid is now a save point, so we'll check out the base of Garden...
...tomorrow!
I remember the missile base being worse than that. Regardless, I did it so well my SeeD rank went up two levels!
Selphie, Zell, and Irvine ride their military APC into the Galbadian missile base to disrupt the attack on Garden. The guard is fooled by the uniforms they found in the car, so it's an easy entrance. From here, the team has several options about how to stop the attacks. We can sneak our way through, which is surprisingly fast and easy. Or we can storm everyone. I went incognito because there's no reason to fight in this game. Walk by holding down circle past guard one, and talk to the lazy maintenance guys in the left room near the save point. This'll let us into the room guard one blocked. I don't know if it matters here, but I selected the bottom options to have Selphie interact with the console and kill the base's power. Select "we were about to call for you" when confronted. Help push the missile launcher into the bay, then fulfill the mission. This feels like the opposite of what we were supposed to do, but okay. Inspect the console outside the room to adjust the missiles' trajectory. From here, inform the base commander that everyone is a go. I don't remember how different any of this would have been had we choose violence from the start, but it won't matter. Regardless of how we got here, everyone does the wrong salute, and our cover is blown. We get to kill knock off Biggs, Wedge, and Wedge's brother, Bedge. From here, we do something with one computer before finding the self destruct one in the next room. I set it to ten minutes. As we leave, Bedge will activate something on the computer.
We'll run outside and see all the soldiers fleeing the base. We regain control and see a giant mech blocking us. This is a boss. It's weak to water and lightning. It's also vulnerable to physical attacks backed up by Tornado, Quake, and Demi. Apparently, you'll need to remove the last twenty percent in three character turns or lose the rewards. Defeat the soldiers to be done with this.
The team will run around the courtyard only to see they're locked in. What's worse, the missiles we tried to prevent are launched beside us. The party laments that they failed and think Squall knew they would. The self destruct sequence goes off, and we see them blow up. Why did this military base even have a self destruct mechanism?
We're back to Squall, Rinoa, and Q. Everything seems fine, so they think Selphie succeeded. But the missiles could be on their way, so let's prepare a backup plan. There's one problem, though, everyone is panicking. The faculty members want Cid dead, so all the students have taken sides. Seeds are with Cid, while everyone else is with someone named Norg. We're on Cid's side, so we're attacked. None of the monsters are too bad, but watch out for the tyrannosaurus rex. From here, we'll need to liberate each wing from the Norgians. We'll be rewarded with items from happy SeeDs. After hitting every offshoot, we'll see Xu running towards the elevator. Follow her to the second floor hallway, and she'll tell us Cid is in his office. Why didn't the Norgians check there first?
Anyway, he's there, and we inform him of the attack. He wants us to evacuate everyone but says he'll stay there. Squall asks why, and Cid says he's going down with the ship. He also has a plan! Cid stumbles, which makes our MC offer to help. Cid asks why Squall would do something like that, and Squall struggles to answer. He thinks a lot, though. Cid and Q laugh at him, but we learn the plan. Cid hands us a key to the nether regions of Garden. This used to be a vault, so maybe there's something down there to defend against missiles? Cid is now a save point, so we'll check out the base of Garden...
...tomorrow!
I remember the missile base being worse than that. Regardless, I did it so well my SeeD rank went up two levels!
Saturday, November 19, 2022
ACAB
Meanwhile, All Mombas Are Good. AMAG!
We start tonight with Laguna. He's living in a small hamlet called Windhjll. It's in the middle of nowhere, so monsters constantly attack it. Because of that threat, little girls aren't allowed outside. Little girls like Ellone! This small child has come to tell Laguna that Raine wants him. We leave the house, and Laguna can talk to a few G-Soldiers "guarding" the area. They're here to prevent Eshtar from finding a new Sorceress, which many believe Ellone could be. After Laguna okays Ellone's travel, they enter Raine's bar.
Inside is Kiros! They talk about the two years since Laguna threw his friends off the cliff. Lag got messed up, and Raine cared for him when he couldn't move. Did he drift here? Kiros has been looking for him since, and Ward works as a janitor in a prison. It seems Julia became a singer and married a man named Calloway, a general in the army. Rinoa's dad!? It's almost lunchtime, so the men go on patrol. Head to the front gate of town and then return to the bar. As they do, Kiros asks Laguna about becoming a writer. The Timber Newspaper is looking for someone with Laguna's experience, but he's noncommittal. Does this soldier want to remain in the boondocks?
They get to Raine and Ellone and overhear them talking. They both really like Laguna but wonder if he should stay here? It's time for lunch, but Lag needs a nap first.
We now enter the worst dungeon in the franchise!
Zell wakes up in jail with Q, Selphie, and Rinoa. Several guards come in to beat him up because they're looking for Rinoa, who goes with them.
We cut to Squall, alone in a box. His hox is taken to a torture chamber run by Seifer. He's crucified Squall and wants to know the secret mission of SeeD. Squall doesn't understand.
A momba brings everyone their food but trips, and the guards get upset. So Zell beats one up.
Squall is still being tortured until the warden tells Seifer the missiles targeting Garden are ready.
Zell, realizing he's a monk, beats everyone up to get everyone's weapons back. Biggs and Wedge have been penalized for some reason, so we beat them up too. They survive and turn on the alarm. We now have to escape, and this sucks. We have to run around a boring, circular tower four times. Stupid, stupid, stupid.
We save Squall, Irvine (via Rinoa) saves us, we save them, don't drown in sand, and prepare to save the world. We now split into two teams. Squall, who's forced to be leader, will return to Balamb to evacuate because missiles will blow them up. Edea wants SeeD gone. Selphie will go to the army base to stop them altogether. We see volley one launch towards her old Garden, Trabia. After Squall steals a train, we're in control of Selphie, Zell, and Irvine. But I'll do this...
...tomorrow!
The worst part of this terrible game is behind us. Too bad these next two dungeons still kinda suck. But Squall's the leader, even if he doesn't want the role. Remember, Q got fired for not having the qualities.
We start tonight with Laguna. He's living in a small hamlet called Windhjll. It's in the middle of nowhere, so monsters constantly attack it. Because of that threat, little girls aren't allowed outside. Little girls like Ellone! This small child has come to tell Laguna that Raine wants him. We leave the house, and Laguna can talk to a few G-Soldiers "guarding" the area. They're here to prevent Eshtar from finding a new Sorceress, which many believe Ellone could be. After Laguna okays Ellone's travel, they enter Raine's bar.
Inside is Kiros! They talk about the two years since Laguna threw his friends off the cliff. Lag got messed up, and Raine cared for him when he couldn't move. Did he drift here? Kiros has been looking for him since, and Ward works as a janitor in a prison. It seems Julia became a singer and married a man named Calloway, a general in the army. Rinoa's dad!? It's almost lunchtime, so the men go on patrol. Head to the front gate of town and then return to the bar. As they do, Kiros asks Laguna about becoming a writer. The Timber Newspaper is looking for someone with Laguna's experience, but he's noncommittal. Does this soldier want to remain in the boondocks?
They get to Raine and Ellone and overhear them talking. They both really like Laguna but wonder if he should stay here? It's time for lunch, but Lag needs a nap first.
We now enter the worst dungeon in the franchise!
Zell wakes up in jail with Q, Selphie, and Rinoa. Several guards come in to beat him up because they're looking for Rinoa, who goes with them.
We cut to Squall, alone in a box. His hox is taken to a torture chamber run by Seifer. He's crucified Squall and wants to know the secret mission of SeeD. Squall doesn't understand.
A momba brings everyone their food but trips, and the guards get upset. So Zell beats one up.
Squall is still being tortured until the warden tells Seifer the missiles targeting Garden are ready.
Zell, realizing he's a monk, beats everyone up to get everyone's weapons back. Biggs and Wedge have been penalized for some reason, so we beat them up too. They survive and turn on the alarm. We now have to escape, and this sucks. We have to run around a boring, circular tower four times. Stupid, stupid, stupid.
We save Squall, Irvine (via Rinoa) saves us, we save them, don't drown in sand, and prepare to save the world. We now split into two teams. Squall, who's forced to be leader, will return to Balamb to evacuate because missiles will blow them up. Edea wants SeeD gone. Selphie will go to the army base to stop them altogether. We see volley one launch towards her old Garden, Trabia. After Squall steals a train, we're in control of Selphie, Zell, and Irvine. But I'll do this...
...tomorrow!
The worst part of this terrible game is behind us. Too bad these next two dungeons still kinda suck. But Squall's the leader, even if he doesn't want the role. Remember, Q got fired for not having the qualities.
Friday, November 18, 2022
Final Fantasy the Oversight Within
What a dumb way to give the code! In reverse order, starting from the ones place...
The guard lets us in, but Rinoa stops us before entering. She asks if our contract is still on, which it is. She then asks us not to leave her in the house. The whole group will be in a meeting room, waiting for the general. We've been waiting for a long time, and everyone's getting antsy, except for Irvine. He's being annoying by sitting in the general's chair with his feet on the desk. Great houseguest, fella. Rinoa ends up getting fed up and goes to look for someone. Before leaving, she tells us this is her house. The rest of the team is now concerned we've gotten involved in a family squabble.
Just as Rinoa leaves, General Calloway enters. Did they not pass each other in the hall? He informs us his daughter is, indeed, an anti imperialist. Regardless, he doesn't want her involved in this because she doesn't have the training SeeDs do. As clients, Squall is fine with this. At this point, we all leave the building to confirm the plan without Rinoa.
En route, Calloway tells us things, but I kept wondering why he's saying all of this in public. I'm pretty sure Squall thought to himself if it's okay to question his employer. For example, why is the general trying to overthrow his government! We'll walk to the Presidential Palace, and Deling City suddenly stops for him. The plan is: Edea, the Sorceress, has a parade planned. Her float will take her under the Arc de Triumph, which is when our strategy begins. One team will lower the gates of the Arc, trapping the target. At this point, Sniper Team will shoot her. There are several holes here, but I'll get to them later. At this point, we separate and have free time until we want to begin. I used this time to learn a few refine and junction skills for Siren, Diablos, and Brothers. The beach near Dollet has three fish for nine AP! I now have a lot of Meltdowns and Tornados!
Back at the manor, we'll start. Squall splits up the team, with him going with Irvine as the Sniper Team. The others will be Arc Team, which Q is in charge of. Sniper Team heads out, but Arc Team tarries. Suddenly, Rinoa enters the room with a thing. It's an Odine brand anti magic armlet. Rinoa wants to give it to Edea to weaken her, but Q yells because Rinoa has no actual plan to get it to her. Rinoa gets upset because she's left out, and Arc Team catches up to Fury. Everyone takes their spots, but Q is feeling remorseful. Was she too harsh? The answer is no, but she wants to apologize anyway. Arc Team leaves their mark.
Fury tells his daughter this is for the best, and she blows him off. Rinoa hears a beeping, which means he's locking the door. What a stupid door mechanic. Rinoa rushes out just as Arc enters. Did they not pass each other in the hall? The door closes, and we're locked in. They see the parade start, so they assume this is a spy movie and there's a secret exit. There is! Pick up a glass off the shelve near the door and put it in the statue's hand. We're now in the sewer!
We cut to Rinoa, beginning her plan. She slowly climbs a makeshift scaffolding made from boxes and crates to break time and space. How'd she get behind Edea? How'd she enter the grounds anyway! Rinoa speaks to Edea and tells her she's Calloway's daughter and has a gift for her as a welcome to the government present. Edea doesn't care. She telepathically lifts Rinoa and causes her to pass out. Edea walks to a pedestal to speak to the crowd. She calls them vermin and dumb, and everyone loves her. She then kills Deling to prove she's in charge now. Rinoa is behind her for all this, but she moves like a zombie now. Edea walks away and says she's going to end this with a sacrifice. An iguana statue on the Arc becomes real, runs towards the palace, and two of them attack Rinoa. Squall and Irvine want to help, but how do they get in? The parade starts, and they can now enter the grounds. They try to keep a low profile, and they're totally, 100 percent inconspicuous. I knew they were there, but I couldn't see them. Great plan! *wink wink* As they ninja walk passed the float, we see Seifer is alive and well, working for Edea. Sniper Team climbs the same way as Rinoa and finds her being attacked! Draw Carbuncle before killing them. I don't know their attack patterns, but I get that new GF. Summoning Carbuncle will give your team the Reflect status, so I might use him occasionally. Maybe.
Rinoa is fine but scared. A fact she repeats a lot. Squall promises he'll stay next to her, and they proceed to the sniper point. Irvine picks up the gun and goes to take his place. He got quiet all of a sudden. Squall tells Rinoa Seifer is alive, but they might have to fight him if Irvine fails. Rinoa is conflicted but understands. Squall walks to Irvine, and he's freaking out. Irvine suddenly has self doubt. He says he always chokes and doesn't think he can do it. Oh boy...
We jump to Arc Team, and they have to walk through the sewers. With Enc-None on, it's fast and simple. Without it, this is the second worst dungeon in the game. Remember that you can climb on waterwheels, and several bars are actually doors. They'll climb a ladder that takes them inside the Arc. Happenstance! It's just in time, too, as Edea is in position. Q flips the switch, and now it's up to Irvine.
Squall manages to encourage the terrible cowboy by telling him to think it's a signal. It works, but Irvine's bullet is easily blocked. Why did they think this would work? For starters, Irvine is shooting into the back of the float? He has no shot. Who designed this crap?
Anyway, Squall jumps into action. There's fighting happening on the roads for some reason, so Squall steals a car. He climbs the back of the float, but we're warped to the front of it. How did this get passed QA? Seifer is waiting for us, but my Tornado junctioned strength attack one shot him. I'm glad he's the Sorceress's Knight, though. Irvine and Rinoa catch up to fight Edea, who's only slightly tougher. Carbuncle would have been wise. In a CGI scene, Edea summons a giant ice spike and throws it at Squall, piercing his chest. He falls to the ground, and Rinoa lets out an ear shattering scream as we're asked to insert disk two.
The worst part of this game happens tomorrow.
What is space in this world? What's the deal with teleporting around to set up a scene. Add a door and learn the layout of buildings!
The guard lets us in, but Rinoa stops us before entering. She asks if our contract is still on, which it is. She then asks us not to leave her in the house. The whole group will be in a meeting room, waiting for the general. We've been waiting for a long time, and everyone's getting antsy, except for Irvine. He's being annoying by sitting in the general's chair with his feet on the desk. Great houseguest, fella. Rinoa ends up getting fed up and goes to look for someone. Before leaving, she tells us this is her house. The rest of the team is now concerned we've gotten involved in a family squabble.
Just as Rinoa leaves, General Calloway enters. Did they not pass each other in the hall? He informs us his daughter is, indeed, an anti imperialist. Regardless, he doesn't want her involved in this because she doesn't have the training SeeDs do. As clients, Squall is fine with this. At this point, we all leave the building to confirm the plan without Rinoa.
En route, Calloway tells us things, but I kept wondering why he's saying all of this in public. I'm pretty sure Squall thought to himself if it's okay to question his employer. For example, why is the general trying to overthrow his government! We'll walk to the Presidential Palace, and Deling City suddenly stops for him. The plan is: Edea, the Sorceress, has a parade planned. Her float will take her under the Arc de Triumph, which is when our strategy begins. One team will lower the gates of the Arc, trapping the target. At this point, Sniper Team will shoot her. There are several holes here, but I'll get to them later. At this point, we separate and have free time until we want to begin. I used this time to learn a few refine and junction skills for Siren, Diablos, and Brothers. The beach near Dollet has three fish for nine AP! I now have a lot of Meltdowns and Tornados!
Back at the manor, we'll start. Squall splits up the team, with him going with Irvine as the Sniper Team. The others will be Arc Team, which Q is in charge of. Sniper Team heads out, but Arc Team tarries. Suddenly, Rinoa enters the room with a thing. It's an Odine brand anti magic armlet. Rinoa wants to give it to Edea to weaken her, but Q yells because Rinoa has no actual plan to get it to her. Rinoa gets upset because she's left out, and Arc Team catches up to Fury. Everyone takes their spots, but Q is feeling remorseful. Was she too harsh? The answer is no, but she wants to apologize anyway. Arc Team leaves their mark.
Fury tells his daughter this is for the best, and she blows him off. Rinoa hears a beeping, which means he's locking the door. What a stupid door mechanic. Rinoa rushes out just as Arc enters. Did they not pass each other in the hall? The door closes, and we're locked in. They see the parade start, so they assume this is a spy movie and there's a secret exit. There is! Pick up a glass off the shelve near the door and put it in the statue's hand. We're now in the sewer!
We cut to Rinoa, beginning her plan. She slowly climbs a makeshift scaffolding made from boxes and crates to break time and space. How'd she get behind Edea? How'd she enter the grounds anyway! Rinoa speaks to Edea and tells her she's Calloway's daughter and has a gift for her as a welcome to the government present. Edea doesn't care. She telepathically lifts Rinoa and causes her to pass out. Edea walks to a pedestal to speak to the crowd. She calls them vermin and dumb, and everyone loves her. She then kills Deling to prove she's in charge now. Rinoa is behind her for all this, but she moves like a zombie now. Edea walks away and says she's going to end this with a sacrifice. An iguana statue on the Arc becomes real, runs towards the palace, and two of them attack Rinoa. Squall and Irvine want to help, but how do they get in? The parade starts, and they can now enter the grounds. They try to keep a low profile, and they're totally, 100 percent inconspicuous. I knew they were there, but I couldn't see them. Great plan! *wink wink* As they ninja walk passed the float, we see Seifer is alive and well, working for Edea. Sniper Team climbs the same way as Rinoa and finds her being attacked! Draw Carbuncle before killing them. I don't know their attack patterns, but I get that new GF. Summoning Carbuncle will give your team the Reflect status, so I might use him occasionally. Maybe.
Rinoa is fine but scared. A fact she repeats a lot. Squall promises he'll stay next to her, and they proceed to the sniper point. Irvine picks up the gun and goes to take his place. He got quiet all of a sudden. Squall tells Rinoa Seifer is alive, but they might have to fight him if Irvine fails. Rinoa is conflicted but understands. Squall walks to Irvine, and he's freaking out. Irvine suddenly has self doubt. He says he always chokes and doesn't think he can do it. Oh boy...
We jump to Arc Team, and they have to walk through the sewers. With Enc-None on, it's fast and simple. Without it, this is the second worst dungeon in the game. Remember that you can climb on waterwheels, and several bars are actually doors. They'll climb a ladder that takes them inside the Arc. Happenstance! It's just in time, too, as Edea is in position. Q flips the switch, and now it's up to Irvine.
Squall manages to encourage the terrible cowboy by telling him to think it's a signal. It works, but Irvine's bullet is easily blocked. Why did they think this would work? For starters, Irvine is shooting into the back of the float? He has no shot. Who designed this crap?
Anyway, Squall jumps into action. There's fighting happening on the roads for some reason, so Squall steals a car. He climbs the back of the float, but we're warped to the front of it. How did this get passed QA? Seifer is waiting for us, but my Tornado junctioned strength attack one shot him. I'm glad he's the Sorceress's Knight, though. Irvine and Rinoa catch up to fight Edea, who's only slightly tougher. Carbuncle would have been wise. In a CGI scene, Edea summons a giant ice spike and throws it at Squall, piercing his chest. He falls to the ground, and Rinoa lets out an ear shattering scream as we're asked to insert disk two.
The worst part of this game happens tomorrow.
What is space in this world? What's the deal with teleporting around to set up a scene. Add a door and learn the layout of buildings!
Thursday, November 17, 2022
The plan to save the world.
Dollet exists to ruin Tripple Triad with the random rule. There's nothing here but woe (and maybe the Siren card).
There's a forest across the road from where we were supposed to get off. As we enter, we'll see our not-party member waiting for us. Sure looks a lot like where Laguna was. Zell lets out that he's feeling guilty about what he said in Timber. He recognizes that he's to blame if anything bad happens to Garden. Squall ignores him because he sucks, which causes Rinoa to get mad. She agrees with me that Squall is a terrible leader. He's leaving his teammates to flounder and can't say anything in return. Alas, nothing comes from it because Squall, Selphie, and Quistis fall asleep.
We're back with Laguna Squad, and they're lost. We don't know where they are, but this ordinary patrol went weird. And Laguna is now Naruto running... After taking out a few Eshtar soldiers, in their flashy outfits, the three of them explore a giant crystalline structure. This area changes a few things that I remember. If Laguna activates all the traps in the area, the end of this sequence will be much easier. This gives no exp, so I shouldn't have done them. We can also change some things for the end of disk three, but that's a long time away. Eventually, the group will come to a cliff: a dead end. I only had to battle one ambush, but the scene plays the same regardless of how many you killed. The three of them collapse in exhaustion, and Ward's throat is damaged. Laguna and Kiros daydream about going back to Galbadia, and Laguna throws his friends off the cliff to the water. He calls them crazy and tries to climb down, but he slips and falls.
Squall and co. wake up. The topic of Squall's leadership skills is dropped as Rinoa apologizes for being correct. But Zell runs ahead to Galbadia Garden.
It's much more militant than Balamb. Balamb felt like a normal high school, whereas Galbadia is an army academy. Quistis goes ahead of us because she knows the headmaster. When we enter, the PA system tells us to wait in the reception area on the second floor. Quistis joins us quickly with information. Firstly, Galbadia has viewed Seifer's actions as a rouge attack. Zell is glad. The second thing, though... Seifer's trial has already happened. He was found guilty and executed. This shocks everyone except Squall. Zell is sad because Seifer was a fellow Balalmb guy. Selphie liked his excitement, as did Q. Rinoa, though, might have been in love with Seifer. They met a year ago, and she was instantly attracted to him. And that's all we get about their backstory.
Squall starts thinking to himself, mentioning all the past tense verbiage about Seifer. Would they use the same words about Squall if he died? This rouses something in him, and he yells about not being a memory. He runs out of the room for some reason, but there isn't really anywhere he can go. I think everyone else will look around Garden too, but I only found Zell doing pushups with the ROTC group. As Squall wanders, the other two members of Seifer's Disciplinary Committee show up. The monosyllabic yeller, Fuujin, and Raijin, ya know. They've got a new mission for us from Cid, but it's not vital. They're also looking for their leader. When Squall gives them the bad news, they don't believe it. They're gonna go find him now.
Another PA announcement tells us to wait by the gate. After we talk to everyone, a car begins coming towards us. This is Headmaster Martine. He and Cid have come up with our next mission. Martine tells us that Deling has no plans for world peace. Instead, he plans to use the Sorceress as a nuclear threat. This Garden will likely become her base. Rather than let this happen, we're gonna kill her. The plan for this involves the use of a sniper, which means we get a new teammate. Irvine Kinneas is a cowboy and our final (permanent) party member. The seven of us are to go to Deling City and meet with our liaison there, General Calloway. When we're on the train to the city, Irvine hits on Selphie and Rinoa. Both of them ignore him, and Q tells him off. He then over romanticizes being a gunman. I now hate half our party.
When we get to the city, Rinoa drops hints she knows this place. The general's mansion is near the train station, but we can't talk to him yet. We need to pass a test. Far to the west is the Tomb of the Unknown King. A student went there a few days ago but never returned. We're to find their id and report it. The id is two screens in, but there's so much more here. As we enter the area, two SeeDs run out, yelling, "Float." Doing everything in her le is quick and easy, so do it. Hug the right wall as you make your way around the tomb. The first room houses a giant talking statue. Minotaur fights us, but he's easy. Keep circling to activate the other two rooms, which open up the center building. Minotaur is joined by his "big" brother, Sacred. This is a little tougher, but there's a trick. Cast Float on them. They have an automatic regain effect when they're on the ground, which can be a massive advantage for them. Go after Mini first because he's weak. Taking one out removes their best attack, and Sacred falls, with ease, afterward. The two will join us as our new GF. The coffin they were standing on opens to reveal a ghost. They'll thank us for freeing them before wondering why the living lock up the dead on their journey to the afterlife.
We're done here, so return to Calaway's Mansion. But I'll do that...
...tomorrow!
Was this character growth? Also, my code was 142...I think.
There's a forest across the road from where we were supposed to get off. As we enter, we'll see our not-party member waiting for us. Sure looks a lot like where Laguna was. Zell lets out that he's feeling guilty about what he said in Timber. He recognizes that he's to blame if anything bad happens to Garden. Squall ignores him because he sucks, which causes Rinoa to get mad. She agrees with me that Squall is a terrible leader. He's leaving his teammates to flounder and can't say anything in return. Alas, nothing comes from it because Squall, Selphie, and Quistis fall asleep.
We're back with Laguna Squad, and they're lost. We don't know where they are, but this ordinary patrol went weird. And Laguna is now Naruto running... After taking out a few Eshtar soldiers, in their flashy outfits, the three of them explore a giant crystalline structure. This area changes a few things that I remember. If Laguna activates all the traps in the area, the end of this sequence will be much easier. This gives no exp, so I shouldn't have done them. We can also change some things for the end of disk three, but that's a long time away. Eventually, the group will come to a cliff: a dead end. I only had to battle one ambush, but the scene plays the same regardless of how many you killed. The three of them collapse in exhaustion, and Ward's throat is damaged. Laguna and Kiros daydream about going back to Galbadia, and Laguna throws his friends off the cliff to the water. He calls them crazy and tries to climb down, but he slips and falls.
Squall and co. wake up. The topic of Squall's leadership skills is dropped as Rinoa apologizes for being correct. But Zell runs ahead to Galbadia Garden.
It's much more militant than Balamb. Balamb felt like a normal high school, whereas Galbadia is an army academy. Quistis goes ahead of us because she knows the headmaster. When we enter, the PA system tells us to wait in the reception area on the second floor. Quistis joins us quickly with information. Firstly, Galbadia has viewed Seifer's actions as a rouge attack. Zell is glad. The second thing, though... Seifer's trial has already happened. He was found guilty and executed. This shocks everyone except Squall. Zell is sad because Seifer was a fellow Balalmb guy. Selphie liked his excitement, as did Q. Rinoa, though, might have been in love with Seifer. They met a year ago, and she was instantly attracted to him. And that's all we get about their backstory.
Squall starts thinking to himself, mentioning all the past tense verbiage about Seifer. Would they use the same words about Squall if he died? This rouses something in him, and he yells about not being a memory. He runs out of the room for some reason, but there isn't really anywhere he can go. I think everyone else will look around Garden too, but I only found Zell doing pushups with the ROTC group. As Squall wanders, the other two members of Seifer's Disciplinary Committee show up. The monosyllabic yeller, Fuujin, and Raijin, ya know. They've got a new mission for us from Cid, but it's not vital. They're also looking for their leader. When Squall gives them the bad news, they don't believe it. They're gonna go find him now.
Another PA announcement tells us to wait by the gate. After we talk to everyone, a car begins coming towards us. This is Headmaster Martine. He and Cid have come up with our next mission. Martine tells us that Deling has no plans for world peace. Instead, he plans to use the Sorceress as a nuclear threat. This Garden will likely become her base. Rather than let this happen, we're gonna kill her. The plan for this involves the use of a sniper, which means we get a new teammate. Irvine Kinneas is a cowboy and our final (permanent) party member. The seven of us are to go to Deling City and meet with our liaison there, General Calloway. When we're on the train to the city, Irvine hits on Selphie and Rinoa. Both of them ignore him, and Q tells him off. He then over romanticizes being a gunman. I now hate half our party.
When we get to the city, Rinoa drops hints she knows this place. The general's mansion is near the train station, but we can't talk to him yet. We need to pass a test. Far to the west is the Tomb of the Unknown King. A student went there a few days ago but never returned. We're to find their id and report it. The id is two screens in, but there's so much more here. As we enter the area, two SeeDs run out, yelling, "Float." Doing everything in her le is quick and easy, so do it. Hug the right wall as you make your way around the tomb. The first room houses a giant talking statue. Minotaur fights us, but he's easy. Keep circling to activate the other two rooms, which open up the center building. Minotaur is joined by his "big" brother, Sacred. This is a little tougher, but there's a trick. Cast Float on them. They have an automatic regain effect when they're on the ground, which can be a massive advantage for them. Go after Mini first because he's weak. Taking one out removes their best attack, and Sacred falls, with ease, afterward. The two will join us as our new GF. The coffin they were standing on opens to reveal a ghost. They'll thank us for freeing them before wondering why the living lock up the dead on their journey to the afterlife.
We're done here, so return to Calaway's Mansion. But I'll do that...
...tomorrow!
Was this character growth? Also, my code was 142...I think.
Wednesday, November 16, 2022
Mission: One
The tickets for the train are 3000 gil. Take a guess if our child mercenary organization will reimburse us.
We get on the train and learn Selphie is really into trains. She loves looking out the window as we travel under the ocean. Apparently, she can feel a breeze? Right behind her is SeeD's personal cabin. It's well furnished, and we even get a complimentary pet magazine. But we don't have any pets.
After Zell stops butt bouncing the couch and Selphie joins us, everything gets weird. Selphie collapses on the sofa as Zell begins to fall asleep himself. What Squall lacks in personality, he makes us for in status resistance. But even Mr. Stonic gives in.
Suddenly, we're playing three strange men running through a forest. Laguna, Kiros, and Ward are three Galbadian soldiers during the Timber special military operation. Rather than be on the front lines, they're going home. We learn this as they get through the underbrush and talk to each other. Occasionally, shadow text boxes pop up, which are the thoughts of our first main characters. They get through the forest, find their car, and desert their position to go to the capital city of Deling City!
Laguna parks the ATV in the middle of the road, little to the chagrin of the bus they blocked behind them. You can explore a little of the city now, but I don't want to see the sewers yet. I have enough of the shadow cards, anyway. More soldiers are blocking other paths, so all we can do is visit the high class inn. There's a certain pianist playing tonight.
In the basement is where the local talent, Julia, is playing. After Laguna's group orders the usual, proving they've left their post before. Before we're served, though, a woman in a red dress descends the stairs and sits at the piano. As she starts playing, Kiros and Ward encourage their leader to talk to her. Laguna must have been crushing on this girl for a long time. She's playing, though, so why now? Laguna awkwardly walks up to the piano and stands there, thinking to himself. This is a trait he does often. While he stupidly stands there, his leg cramps up. He tries to walk it off, fitting the scene, but his nervous tick remains. He returns to his booth and encouraging friends, even though Kiros called it a -3 on the manliness scale. The piano has stopped, and the two underlings head out. The camera pans out to reveal Julia standing behind Laguna. She tries to talk to him, but Laggy is really...uh...odd. Charming, though. Julia asks if he'd like to converse in a more private room as we see everyone creeping around them.
So it's off to Julia's room. Laguna remains awkward but manages to talk Julia's ear off. It took some wine to do so, but he tells her about his dream to be a writer. He's in the army to visit new locations and hang out with Kiros and Ward. After too much wine, Laguna falls asleep. Julia wakes him up just for Kiros to knock on the door. Our orders have changed. But, despite being weird, the date went well. They each want to see each other again. Before he leaves, Julia tells Laguna she wants to be a singer but sucks at writing lyrics. But, after tonight, she might have an idea.
We're back to SeeD, just as the train system warns us that we're reaching Timber. Selphie tells us about her dream, which involved someone named Laguna. Zell remarks that he also had a Laguna. Squall thirds it after he says, "I dreamt I was a moron." He plans to file this under the mission report when this is over.
We finally reach Timber, and some dude mentions a key phrase. I responded accordingly to the report Cid gave me. This is a member of our client, The Forest Owls. Watts takes us to their hideout, which is a train. He introduces us to Zone, but that's all he can do. Zone tries to shake Squall's hand, but Squall ignores it because he's a great leader! Anyway, Watts wants us to wake up the Princess down the hall. The SeeDs get upset because we're not here for busy work. Squall heads down the aisle anyway to find the girl from the party. After another weird conversation, where she's sad Seifer isn't here, she finally tells us her name is Rinoa. And then she gives us a tutorial on her dog. Seifer gave them an in with Cid, somehow, so she thought he'd be here. At least Squall shook her hand.
But on to the mission! We all head into the briefing room. We're given backstory on Timber and our target, President Victor Deling. Eighteen years ago, Galbada invaded Timber as a way to show force to the empire. Deling was very unpopular, being a tyrant and all. Now, though, he's come to the city for some reason. He's traveling by train, and we're gonna take that train car through a convoluted method that shouldn't be possible. We'll use three parallel tracks to combine our two trains, switch out a decoy president, and confront Deling away from prying eyes. We'll have to avoid detection and sensors to unlock two passcodes in five minutes to accomplish this goal.
It's all pretty easy. Just make sure to look over when unlocking the cars. During this time, we'll see a poor soldier lose his monthly paycheck twice. I did it perfectly, and my SeeD rank went up to nine! Alas... Also, for some reason, Zell and Sell's junctions are off.
When Rinoa leads the charge into the president's car, we see it was all a trap! A body double begins to talk stupidly before attacking us. This is a two part battle, but part one is easy. And part two can be finished in one turn by using a phoenix down on it. We failed, after all.
While overlooking what's next, we get annoyed. The Forest Owls sit on the floor to plan their next moves. This is unprofessional in our eyes, but not shaking our employer's hand isn't. This makes us want to see the contract. Essentially, we're stuck working for Rinoa until Timber is independent. Why did Balamb take this? Why was it so cheap? I don't remember if this is ever explained. Also, how did Seifer help?
I blocked out in rage, but Rinoa now has to be in the main party. The hideout drops us off in Timber and takes off with Selphie still on it. Apparently, the real Deling is still here and at the TV station. Seventeen years ago, all radio waves broke, and they've never been repaired. But they're being turned on now. Maybe it's good news? Make your way past the porn, violent soldiers, a bar, a drunk, and two kids who know we failed. But we can't get to the station. There are too many soldiers, so we'll wait outside the giant screen. Squall eventually gets mad because this whole thing is rushed and unprofessional. Rinoa thinks about canceling the contract and runs off, just as a homesick Selly rejoins the party.
The TV flips on as Deling calls for world peace. He's teamed himself with a "The Sorceress," but then it goes bad. Seifer rushes the place and takes the president hostage. Quistis is with him and asks us to join them. Good thing all the soldiers are gone. When we get there, Zell starts getting wordy. He accidentally lets slip we're from Garden, much to everyone's dismay. Seifer retreats to a backroom, and we give chase. A portal and another woman from the opening cutscene appears to mind freak Seifer. She convinces him to join her, and they go through the portal. Rinoa comes back, and we're still working for her. But we need to leave town. After hiding out in another resistance fighter's house, we reach the last train leaving Timber. Fortunately, it's heading for Galbadia Garden, which fits with Garden code. Happenstance!
Sell wants to look out the window.
Rinoa is there.
Quistis is there.
We have the option to talk to Zell about how he screwed up, but I don't think Squall has the leadership skills to do that, so I let the scene end. I didn't get off at Galbadia Station and carried on to Dollet Station. So I'll explore the aftermath of our SeeD exam...
... tomorrow!
I hate Squall.
We get on the train and learn Selphie is really into trains. She loves looking out the window as we travel under the ocean. Apparently, she can feel a breeze? Right behind her is SeeD's personal cabin. It's well furnished, and we even get a complimentary pet magazine. But we don't have any pets.
After Zell stops butt bouncing the couch and Selphie joins us, everything gets weird. Selphie collapses on the sofa as Zell begins to fall asleep himself. What Squall lacks in personality, he makes us for in status resistance. But even Mr. Stonic gives in.
Suddenly, we're playing three strange men running through a forest. Laguna, Kiros, and Ward are three Galbadian soldiers during the Timber special military operation. Rather than be on the front lines, they're going home. We learn this as they get through the underbrush and talk to each other. Occasionally, shadow text boxes pop up, which are the thoughts of our first main characters. They get through the forest, find their car, and desert their position to go to the capital city of Deling City!
Laguna parks the ATV in the middle of the road, little to the chagrin of the bus they blocked behind them. You can explore a little of the city now, but I don't want to see the sewers yet. I have enough of the shadow cards, anyway. More soldiers are blocking other paths, so all we can do is visit the high class inn. There's a certain pianist playing tonight.
In the basement is where the local talent, Julia, is playing. After Laguna's group orders the usual, proving they've left their post before. Before we're served, though, a woman in a red dress descends the stairs and sits at the piano. As she starts playing, Kiros and Ward encourage their leader to talk to her. Laguna must have been crushing on this girl for a long time. She's playing, though, so why now? Laguna awkwardly walks up to the piano and stands there, thinking to himself. This is a trait he does often. While he stupidly stands there, his leg cramps up. He tries to walk it off, fitting the scene, but his nervous tick remains. He returns to his booth and encouraging friends, even though Kiros called it a -3 on the manliness scale. The piano has stopped, and the two underlings head out. The camera pans out to reveal Julia standing behind Laguna. She tries to talk to him, but Laggy is really...uh...odd. Charming, though. Julia asks if he'd like to converse in a more private room as we see everyone creeping around them.
So it's off to Julia's room. Laguna remains awkward but manages to talk Julia's ear off. It took some wine to do so, but he tells her about his dream to be a writer. He's in the army to visit new locations and hang out with Kiros and Ward. After too much wine, Laguna falls asleep. Julia wakes him up just for Kiros to knock on the door. Our orders have changed. But, despite being weird, the date went well. They each want to see each other again. Before he leaves, Julia tells Laguna she wants to be a singer but sucks at writing lyrics. But, after tonight, she might have an idea.
We're back to SeeD, just as the train system warns us that we're reaching Timber. Selphie tells us about her dream, which involved someone named Laguna. Zell remarks that he also had a Laguna. Squall thirds it after he says, "I dreamt I was a moron." He plans to file this under the mission report when this is over.
We finally reach Timber, and some dude mentions a key phrase. I responded accordingly to the report Cid gave me. This is a member of our client, The Forest Owls. Watts takes us to their hideout, which is a train. He introduces us to Zone, but that's all he can do. Zone tries to shake Squall's hand, but Squall ignores it because he's a great leader! Anyway, Watts wants us to wake up the Princess down the hall. The SeeDs get upset because we're not here for busy work. Squall heads down the aisle anyway to find the girl from the party. After another weird conversation, where she's sad Seifer isn't here, she finally tells us her name is Rinoa. And then she gives us a tutorial on her dog. Seifer gave them an in with Cid, somehow, so she thought he'd be here. At least Squall shook her hand.
But on to the mission! We all head into the briefing room. We're given backstory on Timber and our target, President Victor Deling. Eighteen years ago, Galbada invaded Timber as a way to show force to the empire. Deling was very unpopular, being a tyrant and all. Now, though, he's come to the city for some reason. He's traveling by train, and we're gonna take that train car through a convoluted method that shouldn't be possible. We'll use three parallel tracks to combine our two trains, switch out a decoy president, and confront Deling away from prying eyes. We'll have to avoid detection and sensors to unlock two passcodes in five minutes to accomplish this goal.
It's all pretty easy. Just make sure to look over when unlocking the cars. During this time, we'll see a poor soldier lose his monthly paycheck twice. I did it perfectly, and my SeeD rank went up to nine! Alas... Also, for some reason, Zell and Sell's junctions are off.
When Rinoa leads the charge into the president's car, we see it was all a trap! A body double begins to talk stupidly before attacking us. This is a two part battle, but part one is easy. And part two can be finished in one turn by using a phoenix down on it. We failed, after all.
While overlooking what's next, we get annoyed. The Forest Owls sit on the floor to plan their next moves. This is unprofessional in our eyes, but not shaking our employer's hand isn't. This makes us want to see the contract. Essentially, we're stuck working for Rinoa until Timber is independent. Why did Balamb take this? Why was it so cheap? I don't remember if this is ever explained. Also, how did Seifer help?
I blocked out in rage, but Rinoa now has to be in the main party. The hideout drops us off in Timber and takes off with Selphie still on it. Apparently, the real Deling is still here and at the TV station. Seventeen years ago, all radio waves broke, and they've never been repaired. But they're being turned on now. Maybe it's good news? Make your way past the porn, violent soldiers, a bar, a drunk, and two kids who know we failed. But we can't get to the station. There are too many soldiers, so we'll wait outside the giant screen. Squall eventually gets mad because this whole thing is rushed and unprofessional. Rinoa thinks about canceling the contract and runs off, just as a homesick Selly rejoins the party.
The TV flips on as Deling calls for world peace. He's teamed himself with a "The Sorceress," but then it goes bad. Seifer rushes the place and takes the president hostage. Quistis is with him and asks us to join them. Good thing all the soldiers are gone. When we get there, Zell starts getting wordy. He accidentally lets slip we're from Garden, much to everyone's dismay. Seifer retreats to a backroom, and we give chase. A portal and another woman from the opening cutscene appears to mind freak Seifer. She convinces him to join her, and they go through the portal. Rinoa comes back, and we're still working for her. But we need to leave town. After hiding out in another resistance fighter's house, we reach the last train leaving Timber. Fortunately, it's heading for Galbadia Garden, which fits with Garden code. Happenstance!
Sell wants to look out the window.
Rinoa is there.
Quistis is there.
We have the option to talk to Zell about how he screwed up, but I don't think Squall has the leadership skills to do that, so I let the scene end. I didn't get off at Galbadia Station and carried on to Dollet Station. So I'll explore the aftermath of our SeeD exam...
... tomorrow!
I hate Squall.
Tuesday, November 15, 2022
You're the best looking guy here...
...[close up of pixel face]!
Squall puts on his fancy new SeeD uniform, and he does looks pretty snazzy in it. Sadly, this is not character development. Neither are the events at the coronation ceremony. He's standing in a corner, drinking alone. It's a martini looking thing, but it's probably warm milk. Room temperature dairy seems like the drink of people with no personality. Zell comes over to congratulate him for getting into SeeD, but Squall ignores him until Zell slinks off. Selphie enters and tries to make a connection with him by asking our MC to join the Garden Festival Committee. We have the option to do so, but why would Squall do that? It would be so out of character to join any club, so I felt compelled to ignore her. Poor Selphie slinks off. Finally, a strange black haired girl, the one from the opening cutscene, notices that Squall's the best looking guy here and wants to dance with him. Squall can't dance, so he tries to get out of it. Alas, the girl drags him to the dance floor.
The first few movements are terrible. Squall has two left feet and keeps bumping into people, including his partner. He tries to leave, but the girl is dumb. Then, out of nowhere, Squall magically gains rhythm. He's suddenly in time and in line with the rest of the room, leading the girl perfectly. ...whatever. After the song, the girl notices another group and joins them.
Squall is alone on a balcony until Quistis joins. Why isn't she in uniform? She questions how he'd dance with a stranger while ignoring his teacher. He doesn't care. Quistis talks about her "final order" and asks Squall to meet her at the training center.
Change your clothes and head over. Our teacher warns us about t-rexes and tutorializes status junctions. We're to head to the secret spot, a place SeeDs go to make out or something. A mile away from Garden is a blue overlook. Quistis tells a bored Squall that she's been fired as a teacher. She lacked leadership skills. Squall, though, really doesn't care. When she gets mad at him for not listening, he yells that she should talk to a wall.
As we leave the training center, we hear a girl scream. The strange woman from the infirmary calls out to us, using a nickname for Quistis, and we save her from an insect and its friends. They're immune to Card but die in one GF and basic attack. People in white outfits show up to escort the woman away, so we don't have time to ask her who she is. Zell tells us we have a new room, and all our stuff is already there. I'm sure we'll spend a lot of time here.
We're awoken by Selphie telling us we have our first mission. Run passed the gate, and we'll wait for Zell with Selphie, Cid, and a faculty member. Zell shows up on a hoverboard, which is against the rules, so it's taken away. Our first mission will take us to Timber. We're to aid a poor group of people with their task. I don't remember exactly what we were told, but it's a mission Garden wouldn't normally take. The money sucks, but we're not informed why they took it. Either way, Timber is across the ocean, so we'll need to take the train from Balamb. Despite Quistis being sacked for lacking leadership skills, Squall is given the role of leader. Talk to Cid, and he'll give you a cursed lamp. Save and use it to fight Diablos, a fifth GF. He uses gravity and time magic, and I did some grinding to get his No Encounter skill. Fighting is bad in this game...
I then spent the next two hours grinding AP and getting cards. I now have Squall's fourth best weapon as well as Zell and Selphie's second best. All without trying! I've given up on getting the Lionheart on disk one because the card I need to too rare. I've been doing this for too long, and I'm bored. So I'm gonna get this show on the road...
... tomorrow!
Everyone who interacted with Squall tonight got rudely shoved off. This guy is an asshole, and why do people like him? Vaan sucked as a main character, but at least he was likable and tried to be friendly.
Squall puts on his fancy new SeeD uniform, and he does looks pretty snazzy in it. Sadly, this is not character development. Neither are the events at the coronation ceremony. He's standing in a corner, drinking alone. It's a martini looking thing, but it's probably warm milk. Room temperature dairy seems like the drink of people with no personality. Zell comes over to congratulate him for getting into SeeD, but Squall ignores him until Zell slinks off. Selphie enters and tries to make a connection with him by asking our MC to join the Garden Festival Committee. We have the option to do so, but why would Squall do that? It would be so out of character to join any club, so I felt compelled to ignore her. Poor Selphie slinks off. Finally, a strange black haired girl, the one from the opening cutscene, notices that Squall's the best looking guy here and wants to dance with him. Squall can't dance, so he tries to get out of it. Alas, the girl drags him to the dance floor.
The first few movements are terrible. Squall has two left feet and keeps bumping into people, including his partner. He tries to leave, but the girl is dumb. Then, out of nowhere, Squall magically gains rhythm. He's suddenly in time and in line with the rest of the room, leading the girl perfectly. ...whatever. After the song, the girl notices another group and joins them.
Squall is alone on a balcony until Quistis joins. Why isn't she in uniform? She questions how he'd dance with a stranger while ignoring his teacher. He doesn't care. Quistis talks about her "final order" and asks Squall to meet her at the training center.
Change your clothes and head over. Our teacher warns us about t-rexes and tutorializes status junctions. We're to head to the secret spot, a place SeeDs go to make out or something. A mile away from Garden is a blue overlook. Quistis tells a bored Squall that she's been fired as a teacher. She lacked leadership skills. Squall, though, really doesn't care. When she gets mad at him for not listening, he yells that she should talk to a wall.
As we leave the training center, we hear a girl scream. The strange woman from the infirmary calls out to us, using a nickname for Quistis, and we save her from an insect and its friends. They're immune to Card but die in one GF and basic attack. People in white outfits show up to escort the woman away, so we don't have time to ask her who she is. Zell tells us we have a new room, and all our stuff is already there. I'm sure we'll spend a lot of time here.
We're awoken by Selphie telling us we have our first mission. Run passed the gate, and we'll wait for Zell with Selphie, Cid, and a faculty member. Zell shows up on a hoverboard, which is against the rules, so it's taken away. Our first mission will take us to Timber. We're to aid a poor group of people with their task. I don't remember exactly what we were told, but it's a mission Garden wouldn't normally take. The money sucks, but we're not informed why they took it. Either way, Timber is across the ocean, so we'll need to take the train from Balamb. Despite Quistis being sacked for lacking leadership skills, Squall is given the role of leader. Talk to Cid, and he'll give you a cursed lamp. Save and use it to fight Diablos, a fifth GF. He uses gravity and time magic, and I did some grinding to get his No Encounter skill. Fighting is bad in this game...
I then spent the next two hours grinding AP and getting cards. I now have Squall's fourth best weapon as well as Zell and Selphie's second best. All without trying! I've given up on getting the Lionheart on disk one because the card I need to too rare. I've been doing this for too long, and I'm bored. So I'm gonna get this show on the road...
... tomorrow!
Everyone who interacted with Squall tonight got rudely shoved off. This guy is an asshole, and why do people like him? Vaan sucked as a main character, but at least he was likable and tried to be friendly.
Monday, November 14, 2022
Our purpose is found!
It's to play cards and steal magic.
After pregaming by beating up a child in a game to steal his stuff, I finally went home. I changed into my uniform, went to the entrance of the school (the wrong way), and awaited further orders.
Instructor Trepe, along with Robin Williams lookalike, Headmaster Cid, informs us of our final exam. A nearby country, Dollet, has been attacked by the Galbadian Empire. Dollet has hired us to defend them. Yep, we're child soldiers. Actually, no. We're child soldiers in training. Garden is using Ukraine to test its ability to raise biological killing machines. Rad! Anyway, we meet our group for this assignment as well. Zell Dincht, a guy who doesn't understand why he keeps losing Mike Tyson lookalike contests (it's because he's white), and our BFF Seifer. Seifer is our leader, and everyone is annoyed.
We go the wrong way to reach the garage and take a car to Balamb Town. This is a giant car, and Zell stands up to start punching the air after Squall doesn't show him the gunblade. Seifer yells. Squall asks Quistis about the girl he saw in the infirmary, but she doesn't know. Seifer yells. When we reach the docks, we all jump into a boat. Xu, another SeeD, reaffirms our mission. We, specifically, are to fight our way to the center of town, killing the G-army as we go. Once there, we're to remain until further orders. Seifer yells.
Our boat makes a cool landing at the beach after we get a good look at the moon. Seifer, Squall, and Zell then make their way to the goal. Our test has officially begun, and how we act will affect our score at the end of this. It's based on how often we talk to people (don't) and how many people we kill (a lot). We easily mow down the few soldiers in our way, and even the unjunctioned Seifer can one shot them. It's a short walk, but Seifer wants more action. After we've secured the square, everything calms down. All that's here is a dog, and I'm bored. Eventually, Seifer can't handle it anymore.
The dog howls, and we hide. A squad of soldiers runs past us and up towards a radio tower. Seifer wants to follow. Zell reminds us we're to remain here, but our gunblade rivals demand action. So away we go!
En route, we save several allied soldiers from a giant snake and reach the tower. We overhear them trying to repair it. Seifer jumps ahead to make a push, but he shouldn't have. We do have a fun conversation about dreams, which is kinda deep. Sadly, Squall has no personality and, therefore, no dreams. A voice comes from behind us. A messenger from another SeeD training group named Selphie falls down a cliff for some reason and informs us we're to return to the beach. Sadly, we're not given the option of leaving without Seifer. For more points, don't jump down the cliff. Seifer wants to tell us about his ROMANTIC dream one day...
We'll see Seifer chase several fully trained soldiers out of the tower. Selphie tries to give him our new orders, but he ignores her. Inside is an elevator, which takes us to two soldiers repairing the tower. It's not a technician but an army commander. Makes sense. The three of us (Seifer disappeared) corner the red armored Wedge. Before doing anything, he turns on the tower, and we see a massive satellite dish emerge from within. Wedge notices us and tries to escape, but Dear Leader shows up and strikes something out of his hands. With no option, a battle begins!
Wedge is joined by Biggs after a few turns. They're not important, though. After a while, the real boss shows up. Biggs warned his boss of this guy: Elvoret. Before doing anything, Draw Siren from him. This'll be our next girlfriend. One of the many things I hate about FF8 is how boring the battles ate. GFs are terrible at DPS, and using magic weakens your stats. So the only thing to do is attack. I tried to Draw Double, but I got bored fast. You can also steal Cures from him if you don't want to use your own. Heal after you're stuck with Lightning Breath, his only real move, and this'll be fine.
With the dust settled, Selphie reminds us we're going home. The retreat time is thirty minutes, so we'll need to hurry! As we head towards the elevator, Wedge crawls to his tablet and turns on the tower's defense.
It's a mechanical spider! Or...half spider. After three turns, it'll collapse, and Zell suggests we run. We have no choice but to follow his request. For now... As we turn around the cliff, X-Ato58 repairs itself and attacks us. We're supposed to keep running, and it's possible to reach the beach without fighting it again. It's faster, and we get more points on the exam score. I'm not sure how to avoid it, though, so I just fought it on the bridge.
X-ato58 will fall down and repair itself when you take out twenty percent of its HP. It can only do this five times, so get ready to take out 200 percent of a giant robot's health. It's weak to lightning, but Qutzelcolotl takes too long to summon. Time still runs in battle! You can Draw Protect from it, which I did to half damage. Draw Cure after it uses Sister Ray. It took fifteen minutes, but I got fifty AP, and the rest of the walk down was a breeze. I missed a fun scene of Quistis shooting it with a minigun, but that fifty AP is more important. You'll also get 100 bonus points, which should offset the time penalty.
We'll return to Balamb. Seifer and his Disciplinary Council, Fuujin and Raijin, take the car back alone, so we walk. Quistis, Xu, and Cid congratulate us on not dying! And then they yell at Seifer for disobeying orders. Cid's kinda glad Seifer isn't a robot, but that conversation ends quickly. Cid has a meeting to attend... Try to go to your dorm, but we'll be ushered to the classroom. Talk to Zell twice, and a faculty member will say the names of the candidates who passed. It's only Zell and I. Everyone else does a dance if dejected in unison.
The two of us are joined by Selphie and some rando. Cid has to hurry to a meeting, so he gives us a word of advice, and we get our grades. Return to the classroom, and Seifer will start a clapping symphony to congratulate us. Our results appeared, and I got to level seven. I think my best is twenty, so I barely passed.
We'll be warped to our room, and Selphie is waiting. She wants us in our new SeeD uniform because there's a party in our honor. But I'll do that...
... tomorrow!
Child soldiers...
After pregaming by beating up a child in a game to steal his stuff, I finally went home. I changed into my uniform, went to the entrance of the school (the wrong way), and awaited further orders.
Instructor Trepe, along with Robin Williams lookalike, Headmaster Cid, informs us of our final exam. A nearby country, Dollet, has been attacked by the Galbadian Empire. Dollet has hired us to defend them. Yep, we're child soldiers. Actually, no. We're child soldiers in training. Garden is using Ukraine to test its ability to raise biological killing machines. Rad! Anyway, we meet our group for this assignment as well. Zell Dincht, a guy who doesn't understand why he keeps losing Mike Tyson lookalike contests (it's because he's white), and our BFF Seifer. Seifer is our leader, and everyone is annoyed.
We go the wrong way to reach the garage and take a car to Balamb Town. This is a giant car, and Zell stands up to start punching the air after Squall doesn't show him the gunblade. Seifer yells. Squall asks Quistis about the girl he saw in the infirmary, but she doesn't know. Seifer yells. When we reach the docks, we all jump into a boat. Xu, another SeeD, reaffirms our mission. We, specifically, are to fight our way to the center of town, killing the G-army as we go. Once there, we're to remain until further orders. Seifer yells.
Our boat makes a cool landing at the beach after we get a good look at the moon. Seifer, Squall, and Zell then make their way to the goal. Our test has officially begun, and how we act will affect our score at the end of this. It's based on how often we talk to people (don't) and how many people we kill (a lot). We easily mow down the few soldiers in our way, and even the unjunctioned Seifer can one shot them. It's a short walk, but Seifer wants more action. After we've secured the square, everything calms down. All that's here is a dog, and I'm bored. Eventually, Seifer can't handle it anymore.
The dog howls, and we hide. A squad of soldiers runs past us and up towards a radio tower. Seifer wants to follow. Zell reminds us we're to remain here, but our gunblade rivals demand action. So away we go!
En route, we save several allied soldiers from a giant snake and reach the tower. We overhear them trying to repair it. Seifer jumps ahead to make a push, but he shouldn't have. We do have a fun conversation about dreams, which is kinda deep. Sadly, Squall has no personality and, therefore, no dreams. A voice comes from behind us. A messenger from another SeeD training group named Selphie falls down a cliff for some reason and informs us we're to return to the beach. Sadly, we're not given the option of leaving without Seifer. For more points, don't jump down the cliff. Seifer wants to tell us about his ROMANTIC dream one day...
We'll see Seifer chase several fully trained soldiers out of the tower. Selphie tries to give him our new orders, but he ignores her. Inside is an elevator, which takes us to two soldiers repairing the tower. It's not a technician but an army commander. Makes sense. The three of us (Seifer disappeared) corner the red armored Wedge. Before doing anything, he turns on the tower, and we see a massive satellite dish emerge from within. Wedge notices us and tries to escape, but Dear Leader shows up and strikes something out of his hands. With no option, a battle begins!
Wedge is joined by Biggs after a few turns. They're not important, though. After a while, the real boss shows up. Biggs warned his boss of this guy: Elvoret. Before doing anything, Draw Siren from him. This'll be our next girlfriend. One of the many things I hate about FF8 is how boring the battles ate. GFs are terrible at DPS, and using magic weakens your stats. So the only thing to do is attack. I tried to Draw Double, but I got bored fast. You can also steal Cures from him if you don't want to use your own. Heal after you're stuck with Lightning Breath, his only real move, and this'll be fine.
With the dust settled, Selphie reminds us we're going home. The retreat time is thirty minutes, so we'll need to hurry! As we head towards the elevator, Wedge crawls to his tablet and turns on the tower's defense.
It's a mechanical spider! Or...half spider. After three turns, it'll collapse, and Zell suggests we run. We have no choice but to follow his request. For now... As we turn around the cliff, X-Ato58 repairs itself and attacks us. We're supposed to keep running, and it's possible to reach the beach without fighting it again. It's faster, and we get more points on the exam score. I'm not sure how to avoid it, though, so I just fought it on the bridge.
X-ato58 will fall down and repair itself when you take out twenty percent of its HP. It can only do this five times, so get ready to take out 200 percent of a giant robot's health. It's weak to lightning, but Qutzelcolotl takes too long to summon. Time still runs in battle! You can Draw Protect from it, which I did to half damage. Draw Cure after it uses Sister Ray. It took fifteen minutes, but I got fifty AP, and the rest of the walk down was a breeze. I missed a fun scene of Quistis shooting it with a minigun, but that fifty AP is more important. You'll also get 100 bonus points, which should offset the time penalty.
We'll return to Balamb. Seifer and his Disciplinary Council, Fuujin and Raijin, take the car back alone, so we walk. Quistis, Xu, and Cid congratulate us on not dying! And then they yell at Seifer for disobeying orders. Cid's kinda glad Seifer isn't a robot, but that conversation ends quickly. Cid has a meeting to attend... Try to go to your dorm, but we'll be ushered to the classroom. Talk to Zell twice, and a faculty member will say the names of the candidates who passed. It's only Zell and I. Everyone else does a dance if dejected in unison.
The two of us are joined by Selphie and some rando. Cid has to hurry to a meeting, so he gives us a word of advice, and we get our grades. Return to the classroom, and Seifer will start a clapping symphony to congratulate us. Our results appeared, and I got to level seven. I think my best is twenty, so I barely passed.
We'll be warped to our room, and Selphie is waiting. She wants us in our new SeeD uniform because there's a party in our honor. But I'll do that...
... tomorrow!
Child soldiers...
Sunday, November 13, 2022
I lied...I regret.
I had hoped I would never replay this game. Sadly, due to nostalgia and having a song stuck in my head, let's go to Balamb.
I've had the Balamb Garden theme bouncing around my head for a few days, and it's triggered something inside me. It made me want to replay Final Fantasy VIII. I really don't like this game. I find the characters to be awful, the gameplay boring, and the story moronic. I last tried to do this in 2014 or so and got bored before the disk one climax. I knew the next several dungeons were gonna suck, I already wasn't having fun, so I stopped.
FFVIII is one of the few games I didn't buy locally. I picked it up on vacation in Wisconsin, so I didn't even play it for a few days. My cousins and I skimmed through the manual and thought the gunblade was really cool. Another cousin also bought it, but I don't know how she felt about it. Despite me owning it, though, I have to emulate it. My disk three is scratched to hell and freezes up on the Ragnarok. But enough of the 90s!
I start my game and select "new game." We're on a beach, and the camera flies out to sea as not-Latin starts to be chanted. We see many, many images of a woman calling out to someone before we see two men having a fight with their oddly shaped swords. They end up giving each other a scar on their face as we get one more look at this mysterious woman as well as another woman of unknown origins.
We jump to an infirmary as a nurse checks on us. We're Squall, a man with no personality, and our feud with Seifer, the other guy, is well known. Doctor Kadowamy calls for our teacher, Quistis Trepe, who looks at us dejectedly. But there was a strange girl there too... Quistis escorts us to class, mocking us the whole way. Squall is an easy boy to understand because he has no personality. When we get to class, Seifer is there. I guess he won the duel in the opening cinematic. Quistis reminds everyone that the test to become a SeeD will take place later today, but we need to finish our prerequisites first. Squall, especially. When we approach our beloved teacher, her fan club walks away. Quistis reminds us we need to get Ifrit before we can join SeeD, and she'll join us for the Fire Cavern, our tutorial dungeon. Make sure to pick up our first two Guardian Forces, Shiva and Quetzalcoatl.
Before heading there, though, we can explore the massive campus that is our school, Balamb Garden. I didn't, though. On our way to meet up with our teacher, a girl bumps into us. She asks us to give her a tour of the grounds, but Squall has no personality, so I blow her off. Make sure to speak to the guy on the bridge before the elevator. He'll give us cards, which we'll use to break the game. Take the long walk to the exit, and Quistis will tell us about junctioning.
The Fire Cavern is across to woods. We'll get taught how to junction magic to raise our stats because leveling is optional in this game. Two strange creatures will block our path until we tell them we'll finish this area in under ten minutes. This place in a test, but we won't get our grades until much later. The goal is to defeat Ifrit with less than seven seconds on the clock. I stopped paying attention, but I got close. The normal mobs are easy to defeat in one or two basic attacks, but make sure Shiva can be summoned if you're against bombs. Once Ifrit is down, the area is opened up, and you can leave.
And now I went to grind. I want to finish FF8 fast, so I'm setting myself up early. I ground out Quetzal's Card and Card Mod ability to make sure I don't gain exp and to make sure I have access to late game stuff early. Head to the beach and summon Quetzal. Have Quistis attack once before Squall uses Card. You'll get six AP, GF ability points, and no exp. FFVIII is odd because the higher your level, the harder the enemies are. I want to stay low. I did this for an hour and a half until I got the two moves I wanted and a few other junction skills. I went back to the Garden, and Quistis told us to get ready for the SeeD test. What I actually did was get better cards, which I'll use to get better cards until I use the Card Mod to get our ultimate weapons on disk one. I did enough, so I'll become a child soldier...
... tomorrow!
Why does Squall, a man with no personality, want to play a card game all the time?
I've had the Balamb Garden theme bouncing around my head for a few days, and it's triggered something inside me. It made me want to replay Final Fantasy VIII. I really don't like this game. I find the characters to be awful, the gameplay boring, and the story moronic. I last tried to do this in 2014 or so and got bored before the disk one climax. I knew the next several dungeons were gonna suck, I already wasn't having fun, so I stopped.
FFVIII is one of the few games I didn't buy locally. I picked it up on vacation in Wisconsin, so I didn't even play it for a few days. My cousins and I skimmed through the manual and thought the gunblade was really cool. Another cousin also bought it, but I don't know how she felt about it. Despite me owning it, though, I have to emulate it. My disk three is scratched to hell and freezes up on the Ragnarok. But enough of the 90s!
I start my game and select "new game." We're on a beach, and the camera flies out to sea as not-Latin starts to be chanted. We see many, many images of a woman calling out to someone before we see two men having a fight with their oddly shaped swords. They end up giving each other a scar on their face as we get one more look at this mysterious woman as well as another woman of unknown origins.
We jump to an infirmary as a nurse checks on us. We're Squall, a man with no personality, and our feud with Seifer, the other guy, is well known. Doctor Kadowamy calls for our teacher, Quistis Trepe, who looks at us dejectedly. But there was a strange girl there too... Quistis escorts us to class, mocking us the whole way. Squall is an easy boy to understand because he has no personality. When we get to class, Seifer is there. I guess he won the duel in the opening cinematic. Quistis reminds everyone that the test to become a SeeD will take place later today, but we need to finish our prerequisites first. Squall, especially. When we approach our beloved teacher, her fan club walks away. Quistis reminds us we need to get Ifrit before we can join SeeD, and she'll join us for the Fire Cavern, our tutorial dungeon. Make sure to pick up our first two Guardian Forces, Shiva and Quetzalcoatl.
Before heading there, though, we can explore the massive campus that is our school, Balamb Garden. I didn't, though. On our way to meet up with our teacher, a girl bumps into us. She asks us to give her a tour of the grounds, but Squall has no personality, so I blow her off. Make sure to speak to the guy on the bridge before the elevator. He'll give us cards, which we'll use to break the game. Take the long walk to the exit, and Quistis will tell us about junctioning.
The Fire Cavern is across to woods. We'll get taught how to junction magic to raise our stats because leveling is optional in this game. Two strange creatures will block our path until we tell them we'll finish this area in under ten minutes. This place in a test, but we won't get our grades until much later. The goal is to defeat Ifrit with less than seven seconds on the clock. I stopped paying attention, but I got close. The normal mobs are easy to defeat in one or two basic attacks, but make sure Shiva can be summoned if you're against bombs. Once Ifrit is down, the area is opened up, and you can leave.
And now I went to grind. I want to finish FF8 fast, so I'm setting myself up early. I ground out Quetzal's Card and Card Mod ability to make sure I don't gain exp and to make sure I have access to late game stuff early. Head to the beach and summon Quetzal. Have Quistis attack once before Squall uses Card. You'll get six AP, GF ability points, and no exp. FFVIII is odd because the higher your level, the harder the enemies are. I want to stay low. I did this for an hour and a half until I got the two moves I wanted and a few other junction skills. I went back to the Garden, and Quistis told us to get ready for the SeeD test. What I actually did was get better cards, which I'll use to get better cards until I use the Card Mod to get our ultimate weapons on disk one. I did enough, so I'll become a child soldier...
... tomorrow!
Why does Squall, a man with no personality, want to play a card game all the time?
Tuesday, November 8, 2022
Alundra sucks.
Alundra, I assume, was an attempt for Playstation to get a Legend of Zelda on their hardware. It's certainly Zelda like, but it's also bad.
It's such a tedious slog, and there are no breaks between annoyances.
There's a lot of combat in Alundra, but it's not rewarding. For starters, you do so little damage, and everything takes so long to kill. Basic slimes take five hits, which isn't fun when you're heading for dungeon five. And when you finally get a new weapon, the devs made the new mobs twice as sturdy.
The puzzles are fun, but there are too many of them. Many of them are unique and tricky, but if you have to look up a strategy guide for every other one, it kills the flow. I don't mind admitting I'm dumb, but the fact that dungeons are so long and have a puzzle in every room is just too much.
There are also many annoying technical issues. I got sick of getting stuck on corners, and jumping long distances was a coin flip on if it'd work. Why did it take multiple attempts to lift up the rocks in the desert temple?
Alundra is also a silent protagonist...
Tonight the devs had me hopping through a desert. The sand made it hard to jump and slowed your walking speed. Between that and the annoying slot machines, I called it quits. The story seemed like it could be fun, but it's not worth it. I suspect most of the town is going to die, so maybe it's doubly not worthwhile? Maybe if I hadn't played two similar games before this...
A Front Mission this weekend.
It's such a tedious slog, and there are no breaks between annoyances.
There's a lot of combat in Alundra, but it's not rewarding. For starters, you do so little damage, and everything takes so long to kill. Basic slimes take five hits, which isn't fun when you're heading for dungeon five. And when you finally get a new weapon, the devs made the new mobs twice as sturdy.
The puzzles are fun, but there are too many of them. Many of them are unique and tricky, but if you have to look up a strategy guide for every other one, it kills the flow. I don't mind admitting I'm dumb, but the fact that dungeons are so long and have a puzzle in every room is just too much.
There are also many annoying technical issues. I got sick of getting stuck on corners, and jumping long distances was a coin flip on if it'd work. Why did it take multiple attempts to lift up the rocks in the desert temple?
Alundra is also a silent protagonist...
Tonight the devs had me hopping through a desert. The sand made it hard to jump and slowed your walking speed. Between that and the annoying slot machines, I called it quits. The story seemed like it could be fun, but it's not worth it. I suspect most of the town is going to die, so maybe it's doubly not worthwhile? Maybe if I hadn't played two similar games before this...
A Front Mission this weekend.
Monday, November 7, 2022
Oh, hey, it's Lars.
Oh boy...
I took the flowers to Olen's grave. It was a simple task, and I even said a prayer. Suddenly, the sky darkened. Never pray! A voice spoke out and guided me to the next dungeon. To get the voice message to stop yelling at you, head northeast.
This is Lars' Tomb, and I hate it. It's filled with too many puzzles, and none of them were fun. Rather than relive it poorly, as I usually do, I'll just run through the solutions.
The first puzzle is one of those "which one is a liar" types of things. None of them are, but we only get one sentence to figure out the order of importance to their cult. 3, 2, 4, 1, 5. The guy in the next room will let us pass after the priests s l o w l y open the way.
Read both plaques and kill the mobs that spawn.
Only use the left switch.
The crystal order is: right, left, bottom, down.
When you're in a room with three stationary platforms, kill the zombies. Do not block the platforms from moving! Doing so can get them out of synch, and you'll have to kill these annoying mobs again. This is what annoyed me the most.
The next few involve using barrels as stepping stones. You'll need to time your jumps well to grab one, get back on the moving platform, and avoid the floating spike blocks. Kill the slimes in the basement of this room and use the barrels to reach the golden falcon. This room also sucked.
The statue adds mire Sylph Co. moving floors on a previous room that takes you elsewhere. This also activates another platform that will lead you deeper in.
I didn't understand the "one step forward, two steps back" clue. I brute forced my way through.
Throw bombs at the boss. He likes to stand around and make rocks fall forever. This takes way too long.
We'll meet Lars from Alundra's dream! He tells us the same thing Septimus said, so cool. He does fill us in on the crests and warns us that, should all seven be united, Meltaz will become a real boy. Our task is to prevent this, probably collect all seven. Which is the opposite of what we're supposed to do... As a reward, we get a heart piece and learn magic. The Earth Scroll sucks! We also get the Ruby Crest.
Back in town, we hear that Nadia and Bonairie have fallen ill. Nadia has had a crush on Bon, but he's never shown her the time of day. Speak to her first, and Olen's house will be destroyed. Apparently, she kept the village safe but could only do so while awake. Sep doesn't let us enter her dream, so deal with Bon.
He's muttering about a woman named Sara. This woman seems to have taken his brain, so we'll have to save him. I think he's also the key to awakening Nadia.
In Bon's dream, we follow him and Sara around a maze. She's coaxing him around with platitudes while we all deal with his awful surf accent. Gameplay wise, we have to get through several blocked paths. Hitting a dragon statue flips which blocks are transparent and corporeal. Several fake blocks teleport us to a sub dungeon which'll take us elsewhere. In the valley beside a level is a rock that reveals a series of ladders around the spike balls. There is nothing to indicate that this stone bacn be moved... There's a key before this area, though, so get it. After another scene with Bon and Sara, we have to jump across a gap. Throw a bomb at the lever to get to the room with the Gilded Falcon. Beyond this is when our concerns about Sara are confirmed. She sicks her zombies on us. I'd suggest returning to the save room after dealing with them. I know it's a trek back, but a boss battle is coming up, and it's pretty tough
Sara reveals that she's a succubus. She's subsisting on Bon but considers playing with us first. Alundra doesn't react because he's mute, so she transforms and attacks us.
Sara has a number of attacks. The one you hope for is when she clones herself and surrounds us. Attack anything that comes close until you strike the real one. This is the most likely time you'll attack her.
The second best is when she appears and randomly runs around the room. She tends to run away, but I'll take any opportunity. The downside of this is it's very similar to another attack.
A shadow appears around Alundra and shoots three light balls at us. Because the last two moves are so similar, you'll probably get too close and take damage. Good luck.
Her last move is when three light balls appear around us in a triangle. Stand in the middle of the room when she's preparing her attack and walk slightly to the left to avoid it.
Do this for an hour and a half until Bon stops being dumb. Sara shows up to warn us she's got one more trick. She's going to possess and kill the woman who loves Bonairie the most.
We'll be back in his room, and Bon reveals that Sara is his dream girl who only existed in his brain. Septimus enters the room to tell us Nadia is dead. ...Not with a bang, but with a whisper.
A day passes, and Nadia is buried. Alundra gets out of bed and hears his new dad, Jess, hard at work. I don't know what it is, but I'll find out...
... tomorrow!
I hope it's a better weapon. Bosses should not be this tedious this early. Once you get the pattern down, it's a simple task, but it's also boring!
I took the flowers to Olen's grave. It was a simple task, and I even said a prayer. Suddenly, the sky darkened. Never pray! A voice spoke out and guided me to the next dungeon. To get the voice message to stop yelling at you, head northeast.
This is Lars' Tomb, and I hate it. It's filled with too many puzzles, and none of them were fun. Rather than relive it poorly, as I usually do, I'll just run through the solutions.
The first puzzle is one of those "which one is a liar" types of things. None of them are, but we only get one sentence to figure out the order of importance to their cult. 3, 2, 4, 1, 5. The guy in the next room will let us pass after the priests s l o w l y open the way.
Read both plaques and kill the mobs that spawn.
Only use the left switch.
The crystal order is: right, left, bottom, down.
When you're in a room with three stationary platforms, kill the zombies. Do not block the platforms from moving! Doing so can get them out of synch, and you'll have to kill these annoying mobs again. This is what annoyed me the most.
The next few involve using barrels as stepping stones. You'll need to time your jumps well to grab one, get back on the moving platform, and avoid the floating spike blocks. Kill the slimes in the basement of this room and use the barrels to reach the golden falcon. This room also sucked.
The statue adds mire Sylph Co. moving floors on a previous room that takes you elsewhere. This also activates another platform that will lead you deeper in.
I didn't understand the "one step forward, two steps back" clue. I brute forced my way through.
Throw bombs at the boss. He likes to stand around and make rocks fall forever. This takes way too long.
We'll meet Lars from Alundra's dream! He tells us the same thing Septimus said, so cool. He does fill us in on the crests and warns us that, should all seven be united, Meltaz will become a real boy. Our task is to prevent this, probably collect all seven. Which is the opposite of what we're supposed to do... As a reward, we get a heart piece and learn magic. The Earth Scroll sucks! We also get the Ruby Crest.
Back in town, we hear that Nadia and Bonairie have fallen ill. Nadia has had a crush on Bon, but he's never shown her the time of day. Speak to her first, and Olen's house will be destroyed. Apparently, she kept the village safe but could only do so while awake. Sep doesn't let us enter her dream, so deal with Bon.
He's muttering about a woman named Sara. This woman seems to have taken his brain, so we'll have to save him. I think he's also the key to awakening Nadia.
In Bon's dream, we follow him and Sara around a maze. She's coaxing him around with platitudes while we all deal with his awful surf accent. Gameplay wise, we have to get through several blocked paths. Hitting a dragon statue flips which blocks are transparent and corporeal. Several fake blocks teleport us to a sub dungeon which'll take us elsewhere. In the valley beside a level is a rock that reveals a series of ladders around the spike balls. There is nothing to indicate that this stone bacn be moved... There's a key before this area, though, so get it. After another scene with Bon and Sara, we have to jump across a gap. Throw a bomb at the lever to get to the room with the Gilded Falcon. Beyond this is when our concerns about Sara are confirmed. She sicks her zombies on us. I'd suggest returning to the save room after dealing with them. I know it's a trek back, but a boss battle is coming up, and it's pretty tough
Sara reveals that she's a succubus. She's subsisting on Bon but considers playing with us first. Alundra doesn't react because he's mute, so she transforms and attacks us.
Sara has a number of attacks. The one you hope for is when she clones herself and surrounds us. Attack anything that comes close until you strike the real one. This is the most likely time you'll attack her.
The second best is when she appears and randomly runs around the room. She tends to run away, but I'll take any opportunity. The downside of this is it's very similar to another attack.
A shadow appears around Alundra and shoots three light balls at us. Because the last two moves are so similar, you'll probably get too close and take damage. Good luck.
Her last move is when three light balls appear around us in a triangle. Stand in the middle of the room when she's preparing her attack and walk slightly to the left to avoid it.
Do this for an hour and a half until Bon stops being dumb. Sara shows up to warn us she's got one more trick. She's going to possess and kill the woman who loves Bonairie the most.
We'll be back in his room, and Bon reveals that Sara is his dream girl who only existed in his brain. Septimus enters the room to tell us Nadia is dead. ...Not with a bang, but with a whisper.
A day passes, and Nadia is buried. Alundra gets out of bed and hears his new dad, Jess, hard at work. I don't know what it is, but I'll find out...
... tomorrow!
I hope it's a better weapon. Bosses should not be this tedious this early. Once you get the pattern down, it's a simple task, but it's also boring!
Sunday, November 6, 2022
Prayer for the minors
I like games with save titles. I can just sample them.
The pope was a waste of time, so let's follow up with Septimus. It's mostly just the obvious stuff: Alundra can enter peoples' dreams. This is good because a number of people in the village are in a constant state of nightmaring. So much, in fact, it's what drew Septimus to Iona. He wanted to cure everyone, but his knowledge has ended at where we currently are. This was a fruitful conversation, but it's time to leave. As we do, though, an earthquake shakes the town. Sep notices that something happened at the nearby coal mine.
The only person who survived the quake is Olen, who's recuperating at the mayor's house. I investigated the mine, but nothing much was there. Instead, head to Olen. Before he collapsed, he muttered about the monkeys and blamed them for the quake. They invaded the mines and caused the caves to become unstable. For some reason, no one believes him. Septimus suggests we enter Olen's dream. I suppose it was worthwhile because we're taught the lever code to turn the power on. Which makes me realize that there must be electricity in this world. Why else are they digging coal? We see the final peaceful moments of the miners' life, but it's done in a way that seems we were genuinely there. It is confirmed that Olen was correct. Sadly, his body cannot survive any longer. We leave the building and see a love interest silently mourn his passing. Her brother is afraid to tell her the truth, but I think she understands.
We head back home and see Jess working on a bomb. The tragedy has spurred Jess to work again, and he wants to get back to helping people. I wish he'd make me a better sword, but this explosive device works. He goes to scout the mine to see if the bomb will work, but he doesn't want us to do anything. We ignore that, take the bomb, and blow our way into the coal mine.
The path to the engine is locked, so follow the only path you can. This was a painfully long dungeon, and I started getting frustrated. It's simple early on, so quickly find Lyman. Use the infinite bombs to destroy the turtles and keep heading down. Lyman's being attacked by monkeys in a basement, but we chase them off. Sadly, we arrived too late. His dying act is to give us the key to the engine. Turn on the power using the code the foreman taught us in Olen's dream. This allows us to use the carts and reach deeper in. Jump on, and the cart will blow through the rocks in our path. And this is when I first got stuck.
Head through the left door first and climb up. Rocks will fall to block our path, but they'll also blow up the wall across from us. Go back and through the right door to find a dumb maze. More rocks fall as we traverse, but I couldn't find a good way to get through unscathed. In the back are very hard to see stairs that lead us up. They're nearly impossible to see, which is why I got stuck. Jump across the gaps and use the lever. This opens the path south from where our mine cart is. Use the new lever there to reach another new level. There's yet another switch to hit, which opens a door to the right. I got lost there, too. In that room, we'll need to jump across the poles to find the dead minor and take his key. This key opens the new area we should go to.
Return to the start, flip the switch in the second room, and take the cart there. The purple glyph will take you to a save room, which also fan restore HP. This area will have us pushing filled minecarts to use them to reach higher areas. There's another switch in the lower left that drops a block next to us. Jump towards that block to reach another new room. There's a switch here to open the way for another minecart ride.
There are a few jumps that are pretty hard here, which is why I got lost again. I didn't think I could make them. There's also a missable golden beak here. The rest of the path is obvious, so let's skip to the end.
We'll see monkeys being scolded but their leader, Zazan. Zazan is a giant, naked gorilla who speaks English. I really hope that's his tail there... He wants everyone to find seven sigils as ordered by Malzas. But they've only found two! He pirouettes out, and we kill the four remaining. We get a heart piece for doing so! Follow the paths south, chasing monkeys, until you climb a massive tower that overlooks Yggdrasil, where the monkeys live. We can go no further, so go back home. We'll see a few people on our way, but a woman is waiting for ha outside Jess'. She won't let us save until we talk to Sybil.
Sybil shows us a waking nightmare she has. Kline is hunting a monster through the town. We can't see it, but we can hear it. Suddenly, he turns into a werewolf.
The second dream consists of the monkeys and Zazan dancing with Meltas behind them.
There's a third, but I don't remember it.
Jess tells us that this area used to believe in household gods, but the lord stopped that. Then his castle sank into the lake. Now, though, he asks us to place flowers at Olen's grave. But we can save now, so I'll do that. We'll attend a funeral...
... tomorrow!
I could only open one blocked path with the bombs, so that's disappointing. Can you see that I didn't enjoy this dungeon?
The pope was a waste of time, so let's follow up with Septimus. It's mostly just the obvious stuff: Alundra can enter peoples' dreams. This is good because a number of people in the village are in a constant state of nightmaring. So much, in fact, it's what drew Septimus to Iona. He wanted to cure everyone, but his knowledge has ended at where we currently are. This was a fruitful conversation, but it's time to leave. As we do, though, an earthquake shakes the town. Sep notices that something happened at the nearby coal mine.
The only person who survived the quake is Olen, who's recuperating at the mayor's house. I investigated the mine, but nothing much was there. Instead, head to Olen. Before he collapsed, he muttered about the monkeys and blamed them for the quake. They invaded the mines and caused the caves to become unstable. For some reason, no one believes him. Septimus suggests we enter Olen's dream. I suppose it was worthwhile because we're taught the lever code to turn the power on. Which makes me realize that there must be electricity in this world. Why else are they digging coal? We see the final peaceful moments of the miners' life, but it's done in a way that seems we were genuinely there. It is confirmed that Olen was correct. Sadly, his body cannot survive any longer. We leave the building and see a love interest silently mourn his passing. Her brother is afraid to tell her the truth, but I think she understands.
We head back home and see Jess working on a bomb. The tragedy has spurred Jess to work again, and he wants to get back to helping people. I wish he'd make me a better sword, but this explosive device works. He goes to scout the mine to see if the bomb will work, but he doesn't want us to do anything. We ignore that, take the bomb, and blow our way into the coal mine.
The path to the engine is locked, so follow the only path you can. This was a painfully long dungeon, and I started getting frustrated. It's simple early on, so quickly find Lyman. Use the infinite bombs to destroy the turtles and keep heading down. Lyman's being attacked by monkeys in a basement, but we chase them off. Sadly, we arrived too late. His dying act is to give us the key to the engine. Turn on the power using the code the foreman taught us in Olen's dream. This allows us to use the carts and reach deeper in. Jump on, and the cart will blow through the rocks in our path. And this is when I first got stuck.
Head through the left door first and climb up. Rocks will fall to block our path, but they'll also blow up the wall across from us. Go back and through the right door to find a dumb maze. More rocks fall as we traverse, but I couldn't find a good way to get through unscathed. In the back are very hard to see stairs that lead us up. They're nearly impossible to see, which is why I got stuck. Jump across the gaps and use the lever. This opens the path south from where our mine cart is. Use the new lever there to reach another new level. There's yet another switch to hit, which opens a door to the right. I got lost there, too. In that room, we'll need to jump across the poles to find the dead minor and take his key. This key opens the new area we should go to.
Return to the start, flip the switch in the second room, and take the cart there. The purple glyph will take you to a save room, which also fan restore HP. This area will have us pushing filled minecarts to use them to reach higher areas. There's another switch in the lower left that drops a block next to us. Jump towards that block to reach another new room. There's a switch here to open the way for another minecart ride.
There are a few jumps that are pretty hard here, which is why I got lost again. I didn't think I could make them. There's also a missable golden beak here. The rest of the path is obvious, so let's skip to the end.
We'll see monkeys being scolded but their leader, Zazan. Zazan is a giant, naked gorilla who speaks English. I really hope that's his tail there... He wants everyone to find seven sigils as ordered by Malzas. But they've only found two! He pirouettes out, and we kill the four remaining. We get a heart piece for doing so! Follow the paths south, chasing monkeys, until you climb a massive tower that overlooks Yggdrasil, where the monkeys live. We can go no further, so go back home. We'll see a few people on our way, but a woman is waiting for ha outside Jess'. She won't let us save until we talk to Sybil.
Sybil shows us a waking nightmare she has. Kline is hunting a monster through the town. We can't see it, but we can hear it. Suddenly, he turns into a werewolf.
The second dream consists of the monkeys and Zazan dancing with Meltas behind them.
There's a third, but I don't remember it.
Jess tells us that this area used to believe in household gods, but the lord stopped that. Then his castle sank into the lake. Now, though, he asks us to place flowers at Olen's grave. But we can save now, so I'll do that. We'll attend a funeral...
... tomorrow!
I could only open one blocked path with the bombs, so that's disappointing. Can you see that I didn't enjoy this dungeon?
Saturday, November 5, 2022
The highest rated Ps1 JRPG I haven't played.
Alundra is a game I've heard about but have never played. I don't know anything about it other than it's well received. I'd like to say more, but I'm going in blind!
A bird is soaring across the sea and lands on a boat. A crewman descends from the crow's nest for reasons, and we see a few civilians on board. And then our noble hero emerges! We can speak to people to learn we're going to the island of Inoa because of a reoccurring dream he has. The NPC's reasons for their journey are less important. We can get the basics of control here, and it's a bit confusing. Press square to talk to people, but use X to say yes or no. Square is also the attack button, so it'll take some getting used to. It's not enough to earn negative points, but it's definitely an odd game design choice. Keep exploring and learn to throw boxes until you want to speak to the captain in his quarters. Leave, then talk to him at the ship's wheel to get him to tell you to go to bed.
While there, Alundra has his dream. A strange beam of light named Lars talks to him. Lars warns of a monster in the lake north of Inoa that only Alundra can seal. Speaking of whom, Melzas shows up. The two speak to each other about their pasts. Melzas' power stems from human growth, but the blue light no longer wants them. Melzas kills Lars after the purple light refuses to tell him anything about "the Releaser."
Alundra wakes up, and the ship has sailed into a powerful storm. The crew believes their captain can save them, but we sail too close to the reefs and get torn in half. RIP.
We end up on a beach, and a man drags us home. We wake up sometime later and meet our savior, Jess. Jess is the town's blacksmith and has taken a liking to us. We can look around town now and get our bearings. This is a pretty large town. I have the feeling we'll get to know a lot about the community over the next few days. We can get some foreshadowing for a few of them now, but our goal is a house on the west side of town. Inside is a dying old man. He's been suffering for a matter of days, and a man named Septimus has been the acting doctor. The man's family asks us to find him, and he's just to the north. Septimus has done all he can to the man and can't bear to see the family suffer anymore. He will not help us. As we leave, though, he notices the scar on our head. This is something he's seen in his dreams, and he knows we can save the island. Septimus comes up with a plan now. If we can find a book in Tarn's Manor.
I got lost looking for this, and I'm a little annoyed. There's no exp in this game, so this was a big waste of time. But I guess I did gather several herbs and get the basics of combat and jumping. Rather than use the north exits, leave through the south. It was blocked earlier, which is what threw me.
Head east for a while until you find a giant house. It's before a dead end, so you can't miss it. As we enter, our new friend, Melzas, warns us that whoever comes to this house will die. He has no idea we're the Releaser. The rest of the manor is filled with floor switches we'll need to keep depressed with crates and levers to pull until we find the key. Occasionally, spike balls drop from the ceiling, but they're easy to trigger and avoid. The only monsters I remember are slimes and the monkeys that attacked us at the gate. The slimes inhabitant the basements, and the monkeys block our path on the upper floors. For the first dungeon in the game, the puzzles are surprisingly tricky. That's probably not the correct word, but if you're unfamiliar with the game's mechanics, it'll take you a brief moment to get everything down, especially the lever puzzles. It took me a moment to realize you can hit it multiple times to open one of three gates on the bottom floor. That key will open the door on the second floor. Inside is the book Severus wanted. Melzas shows up for some reason, but we can return to poor Wendel.
Septimus takes the book and leafs through it. He finds out we're from the clan Elna, and it means we can experience people's dreams. If we enter Wendel's dream, maybe we can save him?
Inside is a maze. We can see Wendel is being assaulted by slimes, and we need to reach him. To do so, we'll navigate a maze and turn a few levers. The levers move blocks in our path, and we'll need to backtrack after the third one. That one confused me. We'll get ambushed by eight slimes, and then we'll need to navigate another maze. To get past that one, we'll need to find the correct path through two wooden walkways. This can only be done via trial and error, so it kinda sucks. If we walk the wrong path, blocks will fall before us.
Wendel's slimes merge into one giant one, and this battle will be boring. Our dagger does almost no damage, so we'll be here awhile. In short, Minecraft stole their slime idea from Alundra. They both function the same way, except ours has invulnerability frames. After forever, Wendel will be saved! We're returned to the house for a happy ending, and the camera cuts to an eavesdropper. As Sep and I leave, Giles, the creeper, will ask us to visit the pope. The pope requests we pray, which I do. Giles makes this feel like a cult meeting. I don't know what the point of this was, but we'll talk to Sep about who we are...
... tomorrow!
According to a number of ranking sites, Alundra is the best game I've never played. I want to see if this is true, but I probably should have waited. How Zelda is this?
A bird is soaring across the sea and lands on a boat. A crewman descends from the crow's nest for reasons, and we see a few civilians on board. And then our noble hero emerges! We can speak to people to learn we're going to the island of Inoa because of a reoccurring dream he has. The NPC's reasons for their journey are less important. We can get the basics of control here, and it's a bit confusing. Press square to talk to people, but use X to say yes or no. Square is also the attack button, so it'll take some getting used to. It's not enough to earn negative points, but it's definitely an odd game design choice. Keep exploring and learn to throw boxes until you want to speak to the captain in his quarters. Leave, then talk to him at the ship's wheel to get him to tell you to go to bed.
While there, Alundra has his dream. A strange beam of light named Lars talks to him. Lars warns of a monster in the lake north of Inoa that only Alundra can seal. Speaking of whom, Melzas shows up. The two speak to each other about their pasts. Melzas' power stems from human growth, but the blue light no longer wants them. Melzas kills Lars after the purple light refuses to tell him anything about "the Releaser."
Alundra wakes up, and the ship has sailed into a powerful storm. The crew believes their captain can save them, but we sail too close to the reefs and get torn in half. RIP.
We end up on a beach, and a man drags us home. We wake up sometime later and meet our savior, Jess. Jess is the town's blacksmith and has taken a liking to us. We can look around town now and get our bearings. This is a pretty large town. I have the feeling we'll get to know a lot about the community over the next few days. We can get some foreshadowing for a few of them now, but our goal is a house on the west side of town. Inside is a dying old man. He's been suffering for a matter of days, and a man named Septimus has been the acting doctor. The man's family asks us to find him, and he's just to the north. Septimus has done all he can to the man and can't bear to see the family suffer anymore. He will not help us. As we leave, though, he notices the scar on our head. This is something he's seen in his dreams, and he knows we can save the island. Septimus comes up with a plan now. If we can find a book in Tarn's Manor.
I got lost looking for this, and I'm a little annoyed. There's no exp in this game, so this was a big waste of time. But I guess I did gather several herbs and get the basics of combat and jumping. Rather than use the north exits, leave through the south. It was blocked earlier, which is what threw me.
Head east for a while until you find a giant house. It's before a dead end, so you can't miss it. As we enter, our new friend, Melzas, warns us that whoever comes to this house will die. He has no idea we're the Releaser. The rest of the manor is filled with floor switches we'll need to keep depressed with crates and levers to pull until we find the key. Occasionally, spike balls drop from the ceiling, but they're easy to trigger and avoid. The only monsters I remember are slimes and the monkeys that attacked us at the gate. The slimes inhabitant the basements, and the monkeys block our path on the upper floors. For the first dungeon in the game, the puzzles are surprisingly tricky. That's probably not the correct word, but if you're unfamiliar with the game's mechanics, it'll take you a brief moment to get everything down, especially the lever puzzles. It took me a moment to realize you can hit it multiple times to open one of three gates on the bottom floor. That key will open the door on the second floor. Inside is the book Severus wanted. Melzas shows up for some reason, but we can return to poor Wendel.
Septimus takes the book and leafs through it. He finds out we're from the clan Elna, and it means we can experience people's dreams. If we enter Wendel's dream, maybe we can save him?
Inside is a maze. We can see Wendel is being assaulted by slimes, and we need to reach him. To do so, we'll navigate a maze and turn a few levers. The levers move blocks in our path, and we'll need to backtrack after the third one. That one confused me. We'll get ambushed by eight slimes, and then we'll need to navigate another maze. To get past that one, we'll need to find the correct path through two wooden walkways. This can only be done via trial and error, so it kinda sucks. If we walk the wrong path, blocks will fall before us.
Wendel's slimes merge into one giant one, and this battle will be boring. Our dagger does almost no damage, so we'll be here awhile. In short, Minecraft stole their slime idea from Alundra. They both function the same way, except ours has invulnerability frames. After forever, Wendel will be saved! We're returned to the house for a happy ending, and the camera cuts to an eavesdropper. As Sep and I leave, Giles, the creeper, will ask us to visit the pope. The pope requests we pray, which I do. Giles makes this feel like a cult meeting. I don't know what the point of this was, but we'll talk to Sep about who we are...
... tomorrow!
According to a number of ranking sites, Alundra is the best game I've never played. I want to see if this is true, but I probably should have waited. How Zelda is this?
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