Point of no return

Shumi sucks! I learned there's an easy way to get Aura if you exploit a few Carbuncle and Tonberry abilities with an Esthar shop.

I finally go to the presidential palace, and Squall sees familiar faces. It's Ward and Kiros! And behind them, in informal attire, is the leader of Esthar, Laguna Lorie! He remarks that we must have been the fairies the three of them sensed, which raises so many time travel questions. But we finally meet everyone's favorite, and we can ask him questions. Selecting the top one forwards the plot, so ask the others first. I only asked about Ellone, and he filled in a few missing pieces. After Raine died, Elle went to the orphanage until Esthar started looking for Adel's successor again. She then spent ten years on the White SeeD boat while Squall cried. She then went to the moon after Laguna, so why was Laguna on the moon? Anyway, Galbadia found the escape pod and took Ellone. Good thing they left Selphie and Piet...

Once we ask about the mission, Odine enters and lays out the plan in a way I got lost. After that, everyone gets on the Ragnarok. Laguna tells everyone what's going to happen again but in a much better way. We're going to raid the Lunatic Pandora! Inside, we'll kill Adel, who's possessed by Ultimecia. After that, Ultimecia and Adel will inhabit Rinoa. When this happens, Ellone, who we saved, will send all three of them deeper into the past for some reason. That should cause Ulti to begin Time Compression, and Ellone will bring Rinoa back. But doesn't Ulti want to perform Time Compression? We'll then forces our way into the TC bubble and kill Ulti in the future. Makes sense? No? Too bad!

We take the Ragnarok to Lunatic Pandora, but we need to force our way in. Selphie and Zell turn on the guns to blow a hole in the side. They're blocked by a shield, which we plow through. After colliding into the side, we see the ship grow arms and crawl deeper in. And waiting for us are Fujin and Raijin!

They die fast.

We walk past Biggs and Wedge, fed up that Seifer is in charge, so they quit. Good for them! After this, we enter Lunatic Pandora again. It has the same layout, so I'd skip the tertiary stuff and just go left. We see Fu and Ri again, but they've brought back up. It's the robot that kicked Zell out before. This battle is slightly harder than the previous boss.

Mobile 8 counters everything while in defensive mode. Don't worry. The only thing you should be afraid of is when it switches to attack mode. Doing so will bring the entire team's Hp to one, and 8 will still counter. Besides this single round, everything is fine! Just make sure you can revive and heal.

This is the point of no return for FFVIII. Going any further locks us out of most of the world map and even returning to the airship is a journey. If you're done with everything, keep on keeping on.

Behind 8 is where the Disciplinary Committee is waiting for us. Seifer is behind F and R, with Ellone as a hostage, but the two decide to leave him. They set Ellone free, and she runs off to Laguna. F and R liked the old Seifer and want him back. Back when he was a leader and not a servant. They can't do anything, so they'll leave it to Squall.

As the battle begins, Odin shows up! He charges at Seifer, who sticks his gunblade out. This easily slices Odin in half, sending his sword flying into the sky, and is caught by a red hand. Seifer is quickly dispatched by Squall until Gilgamesh appears. He defeats Seifer with Odin's sword and returns to the Interdimensional Rift. How'd the sword reach him?

Rinoa is upset that Seifer would attack them because, I guess, she's still into him. She has horrible taste in men. She walks off, and Seifer gets up with a new plan. We let him run off, and Q comes in to tell us Seifer has kidnapped Rinoa. And with that, we're asked to change disks! Normally, I'd call it a night, but there's one more thing we need to do!

We see Seifer offer Adel, still in her cell, Rinoa. Rinoa protests, but Seifer is evil. A battle breaks out, and there's a gimmick here. Rinoa is fused with Adel. Occasionally, Adel will drain Rinoa of her HP and attack us. None of her moves are painful, even Ultima, so keeping Rinoa alive is your primary obstacle. I don't know Adel's sex, either, so don't worry about it.

We win, and Laguna and Ellone enter the room. Ellone begins the plan, and it goes perfectly! Even seeing it in action doesn't clear it up, though. We fall into a world of bubbles that replay our past experiences until we reach the sea. We're reminded to think about each other, or we won't survive TC. As we fall, we have to fight a number of "Sorceress," all of whom die in one hit and can be mugged for high level stones. Whenever they spawn in, the battlefield changes to variopus areas we've been, which is cool. Especially since I skipped most of them. Timber has the best stage. We'll come to Edea's Orphanage, but it's pretty much empty. Head towards the lighthouse to transition to the future. Several bodies of White SeeDs lay around us because SeeDs have been fighting sorceresses for millennia. We walk the chain to a massive castle that makes Dracula jealous until the rest of the party catches up. We enter the keep and are told our battle options have been sealed. We can't summon, use items or magic, or perform any special abilities until we find a boss and break the seal. We can't even Draw! Our junctions still work, so we'll be hacking our way through the final dungeon...

...tomorrow!

I'm finally at the end!