Jecca Mehlota (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
jecca_mehlota) wrote2009-07-30 10:36 pm
jecca_mehlota) wrote2009-07-30 10:36 pm
Entry tags:
'NOTHER GAME POST
Surprisingly longer than I had anticipated, on account of finishing the game. LAST FFXII RAMBLING POST.
We took a bit of a detour to kill a few more marks (and stumble into another Esper. Zalera, the Death Seraph. Yeah, surprise! I went exploring after defeating the super bat and wandered into its lair. Actually, it was an easy fight, because all of my characters were outside the specifications for the mass of Level [#] [Status Effect] spells that started getting thrown around. Don’t ask me how I pulled that one off, because I don’t know either), but now we are back on our way to the Feywood!
Tsk, this area has the squiggly map again. That really does annoy me more than it should. STOP BEING SQUIGGLY, MAP. The yellow double-image flashes aren’t so bad, though they are distracting, but the map.
ASHE: STILL HALLUCINATING HER DEAD HUSBAND. How come she can walk into the mist and I can’t? Except I can now, so, uh. I dunno.
BOSS BATTLE! Rafflesia! Those only exist in the past in Vana’diel! And they’re nasty, as many things in the past are. This one stole my MP. NOT NICE. And then it inflicted me with Sap. EVEN MORE NOT NICE. BA----- oh, man, I am confused. I turned away to reply in an IM conversation and in the three seconds I turned away (and all of, you know, two minutes into the fight), they killed it. WHAAAAT. I AM NOT THAT OVERLEVELED I REFUSE TO BELIEVE IT. Whaaaat.
Hey, another candle. Hidden areas! Not so hidden.
Now, is this place actually snowy, or is it just doing a good job of appearing so? Because if it’s the former, why are there snake-types around? (And why aren't I leaving footprints? But mostly the snakes.)
... Illusion is the true path. Okay, so where’s th—never mind, I bet it’s that green forest. And it leads to another of the shrines. Zig-zag across the map. I already went to all these places, guys. And we skipped one. What was the point of that? It doesn’t seem to have done anything… The zone point was already here. Maybe I couldn’t cross it until I did the illusion-thing? I do not know.
Gigas summoner... I have to finally give someone one of the summons, don’t I? Argh. INDECISIVE. WHO DO I GIVE IT TOOO. ASHE IT KINDA SORTA BELONGS TO YOUR FAMILY YOU WIN.
.. Wow, haha, summoning’s pretty cool in this game! Kinda like FFX.
Hey, this place is pretty.
..... ahahaaa………….. Used the Way Stone to teleport and they zoomed over the figure, I immediately think, “another boss battle!” and glance up to the top left side of the screen. And then stare at the blank area in confusion. What am I looking for? It took me a few moments to figure out I was looking for my buffs. No, Jecca, protect, shell, reraise, utsusemi, SPECIAL BOSS BATTLE symbol, and everything else from FFXI STILL ISN’T GOING TO BE THERE THIS IS FFXII I thought you were getting better. Oh, self.
Oooh, neat. I LIKE IT HERE IT IS COOL. And creepy a bit. Definitely creepy a bit. BUT ALSO COOL.
Hey, there are things floating out in all that Mist. … Smaller things, I mean. Obviously there’s a massive crystal, but there are also smaller pieces of it floating about. Or I am assuming they are bits of it, anyway.
Also, the hidden paths do freak me out a little. Not just the AUGH WHAT shock when they appear when I’m not excepting them. More in a, how did they actually learn about them? Accidental misstep? OH GOD GOING TO FAL—floating? Whaaat? FWOOM! AUGH PATH?!
(In my case, someone backed onto one in battle, so I was surprised at the sudden path, but didn’t know it hadn’t appeared until someone had walked off the edge. And I noticed the matching glowing circles down below what we were walking on, so when I got to the next set, I figured there was another path…)
Hey, another boss. That was fast. No Technicks? … Um. Bummer?
AUGH USELESS MAP WHAT IS THIS.
I am not sure if I am lost of not. …Does that make me lost by default? The Way Stones keep counting down, which I assume is a sign that I’m going the right direction.
Haha, I love how everyone’s like, Fran, are you SURE you’re not about to snap and, I don’t know, murder us all?
Seems like we’re having a lot of boss battles lately. Is that just me?
Oh, thank goodness, the map is back.
Meanwhile, up in the sky…? Nnnno? Where are we? Those things are weird looking. And angry now, a bit. Maybe it’s just me, but I have a bit of a difficult time really trusting things that go on like these are. YES GO KILL MAIM Possibly just a little extreme, yeah?
And now Gabranth is coming to murder us, whee. HI VENAT WE SEE YOU THERE. Floating. Glowy-eyed. They remind me a bit of Heartless, with those black faces and glowing yellow eyes. EVERYTHING REMINDS ME OF HEARTLESS KINGDOM HEARTS WAS A BAD IDEA.
Mrf. Teleporting. I don’t feel like marching five thousand miles to get back to … that place. Port. Place. B-longname.
Yes, Vaan, we do, in fact, need to find the thing before we can cut away at it. Very good.
Oh, hey, the Strahl. It is still around.
YAY GUEST.
…a-airship. Do I get to keep it? You're not going to take it away? *CRY IN JOY*
And then we took another hunting detour and DEAR LORD WHO KEEPS A MALBORO AS A PET? WHO? I WISH MY IMMENSE CONFUSION TO BE KNOWN.
For the record, I keep thinking Float should be under Green magic. BUT NO, it is still under Time. How is that time, I ask you? (There are a couple, really. Time is really Time And Space, I guess, but even then Float would fit more under Green? BY MY STANDARDS, WHICH OBVIOUSLY THEY SHOULD BE ADHERING TO.)
I’m on some really stupid quest/hunt to prove a monster exists. Its name is Deathgaze, which, in my opinion, is kind of a stupid name! But it likes to harass the airships, which isn’t very nice, so, eh.
BACK AND FORTH AND BACK AND FORTH AND BACK AND
Whoo, monster on the airship and I don’t have to rely on ranged weapons! Though he has a physical attacks barrier. Hopefully that’ll go away. Casting spells is less exciting than pounding it into oblivion.
Ah! There we go!
…Though I still think Deathgaze is a stupid name. Also, ha, they speak of buying an airship and one hundred black chocobos and a summer home, but give me a very small reward. Perhaps airships and black chocobos and summer homes are actually quite inexpensive in Ivalice. (DOUBFUL)
Does the Strahl follow me city to city, or do I always have to remember where I docked it last? I’ve been working off the assumption that I need to remember, but this is probably something I should find out. Someday. When I care enough to test it.
…I bet it stalks us. The entire basis for this conclusion is that FFX / 2 didn’t have a world map and you could teleport to the Fahrenheit from any save point. FFXII doesn’t have a world map, either, but the save points already function as a teleport system. (Well, some of them.) And since the Strahl doesn’t even have an interior for us to run around in, obviously there is no telepoint. IGNORE THAT THE AL BHED WERE PILOTING THE SHIP AND THAT IT WAS NEVER LEFT DOCKED ANYWHERE.
SENTIENT AIRSHIP SAYS HELLO.
It leads to much confusion on the part of anyone not in the know.
Wait, didn’t we leave the airship in Rabanastre?
Yeeaaaah, about that….
“What is that?”
“?”
“It’s… following you! Your pilot must be incredible, to track you so well.”
“Actually, there’s no one on board right now.”
“!!?”
Or maybe I have really been watching too much Doctor Who lately and the thing has taken on TARDIS-esque qualities.
OH HEY BY THE WAY. FULLY COMPLETED LICENSE BOARD. One down, five to go. Exempting potential esper slots, because, as you may have guessed, I have filled exactly one, and that was only because it was required for me to advance. I can’t pick who to give each one to! What if I give it to someone and then it doesn’t fit them? Or what if I give it to one of my main party members and then decide I hate it? Or give it to someone I don’t use and then regret it because I really like it? NOT THAT I USE SUMMONS AT ALL EVER (not true, use them plenty in most of the previous games), BUT IF I DID.
(I do have this WHO DO I GIVE IT TO thing in every game, too, but it matters less. Either you don’t have a choice and only X person can summon, or you can swap them around.)
You know, by this point in pretty much every other Final Fantasy game (or at least the ones I have played) I feel I had a much better grasp of things. I dunno, it still all feels like OKAY SURE WE'LL GO HERE NOW WHY NOT I don't know. There's a story in here but I'm having a hard time caring much about it. Which is probably why I spend so much time wandering around looking at things or completing the special hunts and all.
While I’m making random statements, I really love my Arise macros. Party leader goes down and then gets back up so fast the game doesn’t prompt me to change leaders. It’s nice.
Anyway, what was I doing? Right.
So! The Ridorana Cataract. CUTSCENE WHOO. (Ridorana is fun to say.)
Ashe is understandably conflicted and Balthier is plotting a heroic suicide or at least something that’d look like it. … mmm, delicious foreshadowing.
(Please do not take away my high level characters. That would be unfortunate.)
Though, considering that thing can follow me around as it sees fit (DIDN’T I LEAVE YOU IN RABANASTRE WHY ARE YOU ANCHORED AT THE SAVE POINT IN THE MOUNTAINS), is assigning Vaan CARE FOR SHIP duty entirely necessary? Though I guess someone would need to pay for tune-ups and repairs.
Map map map map. FIND IT!
This place is YES HERE WE GO AGAIN pretty. Actually, it reminds me a bit of the coliseum-lsh area from Shadow of the Colossus. Only with more critteraJSDHF NO BASCH DON’T STEP ON TH-right, Float, never mind. Carry on.
Man, there are a lot of traps here. It is a little unsettling, and I keep forgetting I have Float on.
Haa, line of traps (six of them!) to the save point. That is hilariously evil.
NEW AREA that was kinda fast. BACK TO MAP HUNTING.
… Hrm, wait. Mist. Boss battle?
Yep. Hello, twitchy thing! Did we wake you up? Hydroooo.
Hydro, this is going embarrassingly poorly for you…
It’s okay, I’m sure it was just because you were still sleepy.
Those are some funky doors, indeed.
DEAD END DEAD END DEAD END WHAT WHAT WHERE DO I GOOOOO
…she asks for an embarrassingly long time before noticing there are two zone points by the way point. Whoops!
Chimera brain rolls across floor. Where is the silly chimera that has lost its brain?
Oh, hey, Floaty glowy thing. Black orb. I wonder how many of those I’ve accidentally left behind. And how many I need. Stupid alters should tell me how many of them there are. I mean, the three here, sure, but are there others later?
GUYS STOP PUTTING AWAY YOUR WEAPONS AND GET THE URN. GET THE UUUUURN.
Oh, I am completely without wisdom… Well, guys, party’s over! TIME TO GO HOME I GUESS. Since we don’t have wisdom and all.
LOOK THE DOOR SAID SO, I’M NOT GOING TO ARGUE WITH IT, ARE YOU?
Fine, fine. Be that way.
But don’t come crying to me when we all die or get our souls sucked out or something painful and horrible.
Oh, hello, desert. Fancy finding you here.
Weird rock thinghjgkl teleport. What.
Well, this makes finding the right path easy. WRONG WAY BACK TO THE BEGINNING WITH YOU.
Ah, we annoyed that one.
STUPID PHYSICAL AND MAGICK IMMUNITY. GO AWAY. STUPID PALADIN-TURTLE *keeps hitting it anyway, for lack of anything better to do*
Yeah, okay, run into the wall, that’s cool. I guess.
All of the stairs… *SHINRA TOWER FLASHBACKS*
And, time for another random observation: Reddas fails at teamwork. NO WE ARE GOING OVER THERE – WHY ARE YOU – GET BACK HERE DAMNIT
This time I need strength. Okay, yeah, we’ve got that one, anyway. WHOO, DOOR. Back to the desert! Actually, there is water here. Not so desert. MARSH.
Oh, hey. This entite is actually hostile. Not seen that before.
HEY LOOK GUYS THAT WAS TEN FLOORS YOU DIDN’T NEED TO CLIMB YOURSELF! :D
I like the biki-biki-biki-biki-biki-biki-biki-biki music.
AND WHEN IS THIS “OBVIOUSLY MEANT FOR A LIFT PLATFORM” THING GOING TO ACTUALLY FUNCTION.
Hmmm… no, um, items I think, no… weapons? No Attack? No magick, and no… knowledge? What would that one be, Technicks? Gambits? Do I only need to go through one door, or do I have to do each one?
Either way, where to start? No Attack would be bad. I have spells and all, I just like pounding things better. It’s more effective. No magick’d be no good, either. So no items or no knowledge. I don’t know what they mean by knowledge, but I rarely use items, so, uh. SURE.
Altar of Wealth it is!
Yyyyep, no items. As long as I don’t get, I dunno, Doomed or Stopped, I should be fine…. Can swap someone else in for Vox if I get my entire party Silenced.
… Yes, game, I know I cannot use items. You already have an ever-present icon on the screen, must you remind me every time I zone, as well?
All right, look, Carven Pillars, this Ignorant Child is getting sick of your high and mighty attitude. You’re awesome, we get it, okay? Okay.
(You are so annoying.)
Fenrir! Hello! You look more feline than I remember, but whatever.
Oh, hello, Items command. Lovely to see you again.
AND THERE IS THE LIFT PLATFORM. I knew it would come eventually…
67… I have got to be getting close.
Okay, so… failing twice = punishment? Good incentive not to, I guess? Sigilllllllll. FIRST TRY. No failing yet…
And yet, and yet, I want to know what happens.
… Oh, hell. COME ON, GUYS!
…… oookaaaaay, so messing up nets me a map. HOW IS THIS PUNISHMENT. And, sure, some Undead, but really. I am unimpressed. Squeenix, I know you can do better than that. I mean, you guys came up with the mite pit for Diabolos. (Almost assured INSTANT DEATH for falling / being knocked off of a platform during a boss fight.)
ACK LIFT ATTACK run hide. Fight. Something!
SUN-CRYST. Hello! Very glowy, that.
AREN’T YOU, ASHE? AREN’T YOU? …woah.
Dead guy’s back again….
Right, yeah, that’s it, provoke them. That’s not gonna get her to do anything other than chop at you.
Oh, good for you, Ashe!
Seriously, dude, the dead are dead and… okay, Vaan is saying it. Vaan, I’m glad you’re finally doing something in these scenes.
Gabraaaaanth. Shut uuuuup.
(Are we supposed to be surprised Reddas was so directly involved with Nabudis? I honestly can’t tell.)
Eh, Cid, go away. You cause problems. And you’re kinda nuts, in the bad way.
Yeah, see, there we go with the causing problems thing.
…Maybe it’s just the double F thing, but man does Ffamran look awkward.
Reddas, he is invulnerable FOCUS ON THE BIG SCARY THING WITH VERY STUBBY LEGS.
That’s it, steal the dying man’s esper.
Oh, he dissolved. Oh, that’s weird.
Aw, Reddas! He failed amazingly as a team member, but he was still awesome. Woe.
(SE, the scenes you chose to actually animate seem a bit random to me in this game. Yeah, yeah, space conservation and whatall, but I'd've had a proper one for Reddas throwing himself at the thing instead of the group going "ALAS!".)
I WILL NOW HAVE THE OPTION OF SAVING MY GAME.
(It was good of them to inform me. I might not have known that’s what they were trying to provide me with otherwise.)
Balthier, seriously, okay, fine, go ahead and try to blow yourself up or whatever, but leave it until the ending cutscenes, yeah?
… Actually, I’m getting that “very close to the end of the game” sense. So maybe I’ll hold off on posting this until I go beat things, though, knowing myself, that… may be a while. BUT WAIT I HAVEN’T DONE THAT OTHER THING YET It will be there after you beat the game, too, you know BUT I WANT TO DO IT BEFORE I BEAT IT FOR THE FIRST TIME If you do everything now, there won’t be much reason to ever come back, you know BUT BUT BUT
Heeey, racing!
… Right, that’s enough of that for now.
So, I cannot figure out axes. All the shops have a bunch of new stuff, and the Golden Axe has an attack power of 110 (10 more than my current highest) so, why not? I buy one and equip it aaaaand… damage plummets. Down to triple digits. (From multiple-thousands to three hundred is horrible.) If this was a stand-alone incident, I’d probably be a bit perplexed but shrug and carry on with life, but no, this happens with every character and every axe. Why?!
(Not entirely true, as Vaan seems to have no problems with axes. Maybe these guys just don’t like them. Understandably, they aren't as nice as some of the other weapons, so even if they weren't completely weird about damage I wouldn't keep using them. Yes, I am possibly a bit strange about weapons.)
Also, I’ve decided to go for the final bosses now before I level too far and it’s too easy. I don’t know how hard it’ll be in this game, but, as I’ve discovered on later beatings of FFX, there’s not much satisfaction is OVERKILLing your way through the final battles. (I don’t mind so much with Yu Yevon, but he’s a giant tick and anyway, he is just pathetic. The others, though, it feels kind of … stupid and pointless.)
ONCE YOU LEAVE FOR THE BAHAMUT YOU WILL BE UNABLE TO RETURN.
JUST IN CASE YOU WEREN’T SURE IT WAS THE FINAL DUNGEON.
TORNADOOOOOOOOOOO. Panic in the streets!
Yeah, you’d know something about sons slaying fathers, wouldn’t you, Vayne?
Larsa, he’s kind of crazy, in case you hadn’t noticed. He’s not going to listen to you.
Woah, okay, that’s … violent. Yikes! Run away, guys! (It’s like… Death Star versus Rebellion. SLAUGHTER YAY … hey, they even have a princess.)
...Larsa, he’s nuts.
YAY AIRSHIP BATTLE (less yay for the dying all over but, you know…)
‘Finding Vayne where he’s perched and knocking him off’ only gives me a silly mental image of someone sneaking up behind him while he’s in a chair and then shoving him off to do a face plant on the floor.
OH GREAT ANOTHER USELESS MAP THANKS GUYS I HATE YOU TOO.
Haha, I like how the lift, despite being right next to the catwalk, is a new area. All the guards that are probably still coming just stand there at the zone line and stamp their feet in frustration.
Ah, I see. They were waiting for him, not fuming at the zone. Judge Magister with one heck of a limp. Gabranth, you really shoulda stayed gone. Your sanity-loss is showing even more so than before.
UNDERDRAMATIC REVEAL OF NAME AS NOAH. I’d say Heroes ripoff, but I think FFXII did it first, so, uh. Whatever.
Anyway, we’re actually gonna use the lift this time. No interruptions! Though kinda surprised Gabranth… Noah, whoever isn’t dead yet. I’m sure it’s coming, though.
VAYNE WHY ARE YOUR EYELASHES RED AT THE ENDS WHAT THE HELL
Fwaaa, good job, Larsa!
Dude, really, they can’t be that futile if we’ve made it this far. Nice attempt at discouragement, though, I suppose.
Balthier, Fran. It’s cute and all that you keep curing each other, but you do it in synch, You could just cure yourselves, you know. I mean. I’m just saying. (How are you both getting hit like that, anyway? You're on opposite sides of the area. And why isn't Basch getting hit?)
Mmm, twitchyfits. … That is… really not a good look for you, Vayne.
Everyone’s all FISTS UP guys you have weapons remember
I can barely understand anything he says during those hugelong attack sequences, which only adds to the image of him being completely out of his mind. "AHGSDHASJKFSBASHUDF ASHD DIE AHFDSHSDK"
SURPRISE LARSA COUNTERATTACK. DEFENSE. WHATEVER.
PFF WE REALLY DID KNOCK VAYNE AWAY TO THE FLOOR THAT’S AWESOME.
Muuutaaatioooooon. Hm. Okay, that’s kinda cool. Immeasureably freaky, but cool.
This guy doesn’t have a HP bar, does he?
Jecca: HOW COME ONLY ONE PERSON IS BEING AFFECTED BY HOLY WHY DOESN’T IT HURT THE OTHER TWO WHAT IS GOING O---oooh, they’re wearing White Masks. I get it. *changes third’s head gear*
… Self. It’s the final boss. You don’t need to worry about remember your Gambits setups. Or about item conservation. Really, you’re being silly.
STOP SNIPING ME and stop being immune to damage it’s cheating. AH, THERE WE GO. ATTACK!
… no, no, I didn’t say STAND THERE ANTICLIMACTICALLY I said ATTACK.
Yeah okay, so opening the menu and swapping out members when you accidentally get your entire party killed by not paying any attention probably is sort of like cheating, but if he can be all OH LOOK IMMUNE TO DAMAGE then I can be all OH LOOK SWAPPING IN ALIVE PEOPLE.
By the way, Vay— “The Undying,” whoever you are, Squall wants his Blasting Zone limit break back. (Well, that's what it reminds me of.)
WHOOO THERE WE GO
Strange, Fran’s hair looks better with the in-game graphics.
Oh, my god, Basch, your brother is half-immortal. Not entirely, because I really don’t think he’s gonna last much longer, but man, he can take a beating.
Ashe, he just said they’re not going to die, don’t be silly. Look, it didn’t even really explode. (THANK YOU FOR WAITING UNTIL THE ENDING CUTSCENES I'M PRETTY SURE I WOULDN'T HAVE WON IF TWO OF MY PARTY WERE UNDER LEVEL 30)
ENDING SOOONG
Nice of you to finally return that, geez. (And you know they didn't come steal the Strahl. The Strahl went and fetched them, and then they had to go back to leave the stuff behind.)
I like her new hairstyle, but it… is slightly odd to me that after doing almost nothing all game, Penelo is the one giving the closing remarks. The way they arranged it makes it make sense (hooray for Larsa and Penelo being adorable, there wasn't enough of that), but, still.
I dunno, maybe whenever I get around to replaying, she and Vaan will be more noticeable? They got pretty cool in the last, you know, twenty minutes of game time, anyway, and I fully admit my memory of the beginning of the game is a little faulty.
SO ANYWAY YEAH! Took me a while – a… very, very long while – to get into it, but once I did, I think I really liked this game. EVEN IF I STILL OCCASIONALLY FORGET I AM NOT PLAYING XI argh. And I really, really wish there had been more, or perhaps just better, interactions between all the characters, not just occasional snips here and there mostly between the same two or three people each time.
Still got some things to do (couple more summons to gather, couple more weapons and spells to get, I’d like to have more than 5k gil to my name at some point - actually, I had over 400k once, but then I spent it - should probably level my non-party up past 25…), but I have other things I… really need to beat before I go running around completing all the end game activities. Besides, gives me something to look forward to later!
... Man, I wish I had more icon space. I want icons.
Anyway, in memory, I had a full wipe once, but I know I saw the GAME OVER screen a bunch waaaay back when I was trying to kill Nighogg (THE HNM only lower level than the endgame one from THAT OTHER GAME) while being something like three levels lower than it and with little MP and fewer items. I DID WIN EVENTUALLY, THOUGH! And once to Nekhbet. So I have no idea what the death count is. STUPID COMPUTER DYING AND MAKING ME LOSE EVERYTHING jecca that was almost a year ago please get over it NO I REFUSE
Let's say five. Five is a nice number.
ANYWAY THAT IS ALL. Next I will be playing Star Ocean: Till the End of Time, which I also started three years ago. sghfkjdglfghl
Really I probably could have put those last few sentences outside the cut instead of this. OH WELL.
We took a bit of a detour to kill a few more marks (and stumble into another Esper. Zalera, the Death Seraph. Yeah, surprise! I went exploring after defeating the super bat and wandered into its lair. Actually, it was an easy fight, because all of my characters were outside the specifications for the mass of Level [#] [Status Effect] spells that started getting thrown around. Don’t ask me how I pulled that one off, because I don’t know either), but now we are back on our way to the Feywood!
Tsk, this area has the squiggly map again. That really does annoy me more than it should. STOP BEING SQUIGGLY, MAP. The yellow double-image flashes aren’t so bad, though they are distracting, but the map.
ASHE: STILL HALLUCINATING HER DEAD HUSBAND. How come she can walk into the mist and I can’t? Except I can now, so, uh. I dunno.
BOSS BATTLE! Rafflesia! Those only exist in the past in Vana’diel! And they’re nasty, as many things in the past are. This one stole my MP. NOT NICE. And then it inflicted me with Sap. EVEN MORE NOT NICE. BA----- oh, man, I am confused. I turned away to reply in an IM conversation and in the three seconds I turned away (and all of, you know, two minutes into the fight), they killed it. WHAAAAT. I AM NOT THAT OVERLEVELED I REFUSE TO BELIEVE IT. Whaaaat.
Hey, another candle. Hidden areas! Not so hidden.
Now, is this place actually snowy, or is it just doing a good job of appearing so? Because if it’s the former, why are there snake-types around? (And why aren't I leaving footprints? But mostly the snakes.)
... Illusion is the true path. Okay, so where’s th—never mind, I bet it’s that green forest. And it leads to another of the shrines. Zig-zag across the map. I already went to all these places, guys. And we skipped one. What was the point of that? It doesn’t seem to have done anything… The zone point was already here. Maybe I couldn’t cross it until I did the illusion-thing? I do not know.
Gigas summoner... I have to finally give someone one of the summons, don’t I? Argh. INDECISIVE. WHO DO I GIVE IT TOOO. ASHE IT KINDA SORTA BELONGS TO YOUR FAMILY YOU WIN.
.. Wow, haha, summoning’s pretty cool in this game! Kinda like FFX.
Hey, this place is pretty.
..... ahahaaa………….. Used the Way Stone to teleport and they zoomed over the figure, I immediately think, “another boss battle!” and glance up to the top left side of the screen. And then stare at the blank area in confusion. What am I looking for? It took me a few moments to figure out I was looking for my buffs. No, Jecca, protect, shell, reraise, utsusemi, SPECIAL BOSS BATTLE symbol, and everything else from FFXI STILL ISN’T GOING TO BE THERE THIS IS FFXII I thought you were getting better. Oh, self.
Oooh, neat. I LIKE IT HERE IT IS COOL. And creepy a bit. Definitely creepy a bit. BUT ALSO COOL.
Hey, there are things floating out in all that Mist. … Smaller things, I mean. Obviously there’s a massive crystal, but there are also smaller pieces of it floating about. Or I am assuming they are bits of it, anyway.
Also, the hidden paths do freak me out a little. Not just the AUGH WHAT shock when they appear when I’m not excepting them. More in a, how did they actually learn about them? Accidental misstep? OH GOD GOING TO FAL—floating? Whaaat? FWOOM! AUGH PATH?!
(In my case, someone backed onto one in battle, so I was surprised at the sudden path, but didn’t know it hadn’t appeared until someone had walked off the edge. And I noticed the matching glowing circles down below what we were walking on, so when I got to the next set, I figured there was another path…)
Hey, another boss. That was fast. No Technicks? … Um. Bummer?
AUGH USELESS MAP WHAT IS THIS.
I am not sure if I am lost of not. …Does that make me lost by default? The Way Stones keep counting down, which I assume is a sign that I’m going the right direction.
Haha, I love how everyone’s like, Fran, are you SURE you’re not about to snap and, I don’t know, murder us all?
Seems like we’re having a lot of boss battles lately. Is that just me?
Oh, thank goodness, the map is back.
Meanwhile, up in the sky…? Nnnno? Where are we? Those things are weird looking. And angry now, a bit. Maybe it’s just me, but I have a bit of a difficult time really trusting things that go on like these are. YES GO KILL MAIM Possibly just a little extreme, yeah?
And now Gabranth is coming to murder us, whee. HI VENAT WE SEE YOU THERE. Floating. Glowy-eyed. They remind me a bit of Heartless, with those black faces and glowing yellow eyes. EVERYTHING REMINDS ME OF HEARTLESS KINGDOM HEARTS WAS A BAD IDEA.
Mrf. Teleporting. I don’t feel like marching five thousand miles to get back to … that place. Port. Place. B-longname.
Yes, Vaan, we do, in fact, need to find the thing before we can cut away at it. Very good.
Oh, hey, the Strahl. It is still around.
YAY GUEST.
…a-airship. Do I get to keep it? You're not going to take it away? *CRY IN JOY*
And then we took another hunting detour and DEAR LORD WHO KEEPS A MALBORO AS A PET? WHO? I WISH MY IMMENSE CONFUSION TO BE KNOWN.
For the record, I keep thinking Float should be under Green magic. BUT NO, it is still under Time. How is that time, I ask you? (There are a couple, really. Time is really Time And Space, I guess, but even then Float would fit more under Green? BY MY STANDARDS, WHICH OBVIOUSLY THEY SHOULD BE ADHERING TO.)
I’m on some really stupid quest/hunt to prove a monster exists. Its name is Deathgaze, which, in my opinion, is kind of a stupid name! But it likes to harass the airships, which isn’t very nice, so, eh.
BACK AND FORTH AND BACK AND FORTH AND BACK AND
Whoo, monster on the airship and I don’t have to rely on ranged weapons! Though he has a physical attacks barrier. Hopefully that’ll go away. Casting spells is less exciting than pounding it into oblivion.
Ah! There we go!
…Though I still think Deathgaze is a stupid name. Also, ha, they speak of buying an airship and one hundred black chocobos and a summer home, but give me a very small reward. Perhaps airships and black chocobos and summer homes are actually quite inexpensive in Ivalice. (DOUBFUL)
Does the Strahl follow me city to city, or do I always have to remember where I docked it last? I’ve been working off the assumption that I need to remember, but this is probably something I should find out. Someday. When I care enough to test it.
…I bet it stalks us. The entire basis for this conclusion is that FFX / 2 didn’t have a world map and you could teleport to the Fahrenheit from any save point. FFXII doesn’t have a world map, either, but the save points already function as a teleport system. (Well, some of them.) And since the Strahl doesn’t even have an interior for us to run around in, obviously there is no telepoint. IGNORE THAT THE AL BHED WERE PILOTING THE SHIP AND THAT IT WAS NEVER LEFT DOCKED ANYWHERE.
SENTIENT AIRSHIP SAYS HELLO.
It leads to much confusion on the part of anyone not in the know.
Wait, didn’t we leave the airship in Rabanastre?
Yeeaaaah, about that….
“What is that?”
“?”
“It’s… following you! Your pilot must be incredible, to track you so well.”
“Actually, there’s no one on board right now.”
“!!?”
Or maybe I have really been watching too much Doctor Who lately and the thing has taken on TARDIS-esque qualities.
OH HEY BY THE WAY. FULLY COMPLETED LICENSE BOARD. One down, five to go. Exempting potential esper slots, because, as you may have guessed, I have filled exactly one, and that was only because it was required for me to advance. I can’t pick who to give each one to! What if I give it to someone and then it doesn’t fit them? Or what if I give it to one of my main party members and then decide I hate it? Or give it to someone I don’t use and then regret it because I really like it? NOT THAT I USE SUMMONS AT ALL EVER (not true, use them plenty in most of the previous games), BUT IF I DID.
(I do have this WHO DO I GIVE IT TO thing in every game, too, but it matters less. Either you don’t have a choice and only X person can summon, or you can swap them around.)
You know, by this point in pretty much every other Final Fantasy game (or at least the ones I have played) I feel I had a much better grasp of things. I dunno, it still all feels like OKAY SURE WE'LL GO HERE NOW WHY NOT I don't know. There's a story in here but I'm having a hard time caring much about it. Which is probably why I spend so much time wandering around looking at things or completing the special hunts and all.
While I’m making random statements, I really love my Arise macros. Party leader goes down and then gets back up so fast the game doesn’t prompt me to change leaders. It’s nice.
Anyway, what was I doing? Right.
So! The Ridorana Cataract. CUTSCENE WHOO. (Ridorana is fun to say.)
Ashe is understandably conflicted and Balthier is plotting a heroic suicide or at least something that’d look like it. … mmm, delicious foreshadowing.
(Please do not take away my high level characters. That would be unfortunate.)
Though, considering that thing can follow me around as it sees fit (DIDN’T I LEAVE YOU IN RABANASTRE WHY ARE YOU ANCHORED AT THE SAVE POINT IN THE MOUNTAINS), is assigning Vaan CARE FOR SHIP duty entirely necessary? Though I guess someone would need to pay for tune-ups and repairs.
Map map map map. FIND IT!
This place is YES HERE WE GO AGAIN pretty. Actually, it reminds me a bit of the coliseum-lsh area from Shadow of the Colossus. Only with more critteraJSDHF NO BASCH DON’T STEP ON TH-right, Float, never mind. Carry on.
Man, there are a lot of traps here. It is a little unsettling, and I keep forgetting I have Float on.
Haa, line of traps (six of them!) to the save point. That is hilariously evil.
NEW AREA that was kinda fast. BACK TO MAP HUNTING.
… Hrm, wait. Mist. Boss battle?
Yep. Hello, twitchy thing! Did we wake you up? Hydroooo.
Hydro, this is going embarrassingly poorly for you…
It’s okay, I’m sure it was just because you were still sleepy.
Those are some funky doors, indeed.
DEAD END DEAD END DEAD END WHAT WHAT WHERE DO I GOOOOO
…she asks for an embarrassingly long time before noticing there are two zone points by the way point. Whoops!
Chimera brain rolls across floor. Where is the silly chimera that has lost its brain?
Oh, hey, Floaty glowy thing. Black orb. I wonder how many of those I’ve accidentally left behind. And how many I need. Stupid alters should tell me how many of them there are. I mean, the three here, sure, but are there others later?
GUYS STOP PUTTING AWAY YOUR WEAPONS AND GET THE URN. GET THE UUUUURN.
Oh, I am completely without wisdom… Well, guys, party’s over! TIME TO GO HOME I GUESS. Since we don’t have wisdom and all.
LOOK THE DOOR SAID SO, I’M NOT GOING TO ARGUE WITH IT, ARE YOU?
Fine, fine. Be that way.
But don’t come crying to me when we all die or get our souls sucked out or something painful and horrible.
Oh, hello, desert. Fancy finding you here.
Weird rock thinghjgkl teleport. What.
Well, this makes finding the right path easy. WRONG WAY BACK TO THE BEGINNING WITH YOU.
Ah, we annoyed that one.
STUPID PHYSICAL AND MAGICK IMMUNITY. GO AWAY. STUPID PALADIN-TURTLE *keeps hitting it anyway, for lack of anything better to do*
Yeah, okay, run into the wall, that’s cool. I guess.
All of the stairs… *SHINRA TOWER FLASHBACKS*
And, time for another random observation: Reddas fails at teamwork. NO WE ARE GOING OVER THERE – WHY ARE YOU – GET BACK HERE DAMNIT
This time I need strength. Okay, yeah, we’ve got that one, anyway. WHOO, DOOR. Back to the desert! Actually, there is water here. Not so desert. MARSH.
Oh, hey. This entite is actually hostile. Not seen that before.
HEY LOOK GUYS THAT WAS TEN FLOORS YOU DIDN’T NEED TO CLIMB YOURSELF! :D
I like the biki-biki-biki-biki-biki-biki-biki-biki music.
AND WHEN IS THIS “OBVIOUSLY MEANT FOR A LIFT PLATFORM” THING GOING TO ACTUALLY FUNCTION.
Hmmm… no, um, items I think, no… weapons? No Attack? No magick, and no… knowledge? What would that one be, Technicks? Gambits? Do I only need to go through one door, or do I have to do each one?
Either way, where to start? No Attack would be bad. I have spells and all, I just like pounding things better. It’s more effective. No magick’d be no good, either. So no items or no knowledge. I don’t know what they mean by knowledge, but I rarely use items, so, uh. SURE.
Altar of Wealth it is!
Yyyyep, no items. As long as I don’t get, I dunno, Doomed or Stopped, I should be fine…. Can swap someone else in for Vox if I get my entire party Silenced.
… Yes, game, I know I cannot use items. You already have an ever-present icon on the screen, must you remind me every time I zone, as well?
All right, look, Carven Pillars, this Ignorant Child is getting sick of your high and mighty attitude. You’re awesome, we get it, okay? Okay.
(You are so annoying.)
Fenrir! Hello! You look more feline than I remember, but whatever.
Oh, hello, Items command. Lovely to see you again.
AND THERE IS THE LIFT PLATFORM. I knew it would come eventually…
67… I have got to be getting close.
Okay, so… failing twice = punishment? Good incentive not to, I guess? Sigilllllllll. FIRST TRY. No failing yet…
And yet, and yet, I want to know what happens.
… Oh, hell. COME ON, GUYS!
…… oookaaaaay, so messing up nets me a map. HOW IS THIS PUNISHMENT. And, sure, some Undead, but really. I am unimpressed. Squeenix, I know you can do better than that. I mean, you guys came up with the mite pit for Diabolos. (Almost assured INSTANT DEATH for falling / being knocked off of a platform during a boss fight.)
ACK LIFT ATTACK run hide. Fight. Something!
SUN-CRYST. Hello! Very glowy, that.
AREN’T YOU, ASHE? AREN’T YOU? …woah.
Dead guy’s back again….
Right, yeah, that’s it, provoke them. That’s not gonna get her to do anything other than chop at you.
Oh, good for you, Ashe!
Seriously, dude, the dead are dead and… okay, Vaan is saying it. Vaan, I’m glad you’re finally doing something in these scenes.
Gabraaaaanth. Shut uuuuup.
(Are we supposed to be surprised Reddas was so directly involved with Nabudis? I honestly can’t tell.)
Eh, Cid, go away. You cause problems. And you’re kinda nuts, in the bad way.
Yeah, see, there we go with the causing problems thing.
…Maybe it’s just the double F thing, but man does Ffamran look awkward.
Reddas, he is invulnerable FOCUS ON THE BIG SCARY THING WITH VERY STUBBY LEGS.
That’s it, steal the dying man’s esper.
Oh, he dissolved. Oh, that’s weird.
Aw, Reddas! He failed amazingly as a team member, but he was still awesome. Woe.
(SE, the scenes you chose to actually animate seem a bit random to me in this game. Yeah, yeah, space conservation and whatall, but I'd've had a proper one for Reddas throwing himself at the thing instead of the group going "ALAS!".)
I WILL NOW HAVE THE OPTION OF SAVING MY GAME.
(It was good of them to inform me. I might not have known that’s what they were trying to provide me with otherwise.)
Balthier, seriously, okay, fine, go ahead and try to blow yourself up or whatever, but leave it until the ending cutscenes, yeah?
… Actually, I’m getting that “very close to the end of the game” sense. So maybe I’ll hold off on posting this until I go beat things, though, knowing myself, that… may be a while. BUT WAIT I HAVEN’T DONE THAT OTHER THING YET It will be there after you beat the game, too, you know BUT I WANT TO DO IT BEFORE I BEAT IT FOR THE FIRST TIME If you do everything now, there won’t be much reason to ever come back, you know BUT BUT BUT
Heeey, racing!
… Right, that’s enough of that for now.
So, I cannot figure out axes. All the shops have a bunch of new stuff, and the Golden Axe has an attack power of 110 (10 more than my current highest) so, why not? I buy one and equip it aaaaand… damage plummets. Down to triple digits. (From multiple-thousands to three hundred is horrible.) If this was a stand-alone incident, I’d probably be a bit perplexed but shrug and carry on with life, but no, this happens with every character and every axe. Why?!
(Not entirely true, as Vaan seems to have no problems with axes. Maybe these guys just don’t like them. Understandably, they aren't as nice as some of the other weapons, so even if they weren't completely weird about damage I wouldn't keep using them. Yes, I am possibly a bit strange about weapons.)
Also, I’ve decided to go for the final bosses now before I level too far and it’s too easy. I don’t know how hard it’ll be in this game, but, as I’ve discovered on later beatings of FFX, there’s not much satisfaction is OVERKILLing your way through the final battles. (I don’t mind so much with Yu Yevon, but he’s a giant tick and anyway, he is just pathetic. The others, though, it feels kind of … stupid and pointless.)
ONCE YOU LEAVE FOR THE BAHAMUT YOU WILL BE UNABLE TO RETURN.
JUST IN CASE YOU WEREN’T SURE IT WAS THE FINAL DUNGEON.
TORNADOOOOOOOOOOO. Panic in the streets!
Yeah, you’d know something about sons slaying fathers, wouldn’t you, Vayne?
Larsa, he’s kind of crazy, in case you hadn’t noticed. He’s not going to listen to you.
Woah, okay, that’s … violent. Yikes! Run away, guys! (It’s like… Death Star versus Rebellion. SLAUGHTER YAY … hey, they even have a princess.)
...Larsa, he’s nuts.
YAY AIRSHIP BATTLE (less yay for the dying all over but, you know…)
‘Finding Vayne where he’s perched and knocking him off’ only gives me a silly mental image of someone sneaking up behind him while he’s in a chair and then shoving him off to do a face plant on the floor.
OH GREAT ANOTHER USELESS MAP THANKS GUYS I HATE YOU TOO.
Haha, I like how the lift, despite being right next to the catwalk, is a new area. All the guards that are probably still coming just stand there at the zone line and stamp their feet in frustration.
Ah, I see. They were waiting for him, not fuming at the zone. Judge Magister with one heck of a limp. Gabranth, you really shoulda stayed gone. Your sanity-loss is showing even more so than before.
UNDERDRAMATIC REVEAL OF NAME AS NOAH. I’d say Heroes ripoff, but I think FFXII did it first, so, uh. Whatever.
Anyway, we’re actually gonna use the lift this time. No interruptions! Though kinda surprised Gabranth… Noah, whoever isn’t dead yet. I’m sure it’s coming, though.
VAYNE WHY ARE YOUR EYELASHES RED AT THE ENDS WHAT THE HELL
Fwaaa, good job, Larsa!
Dude, really, they can’t be that futile if we’ve made it this far. Nice attempt at discouragement, though, I suppose.
Balthier, Fran. It’s cute and all that you keep curing each other, but you do it in synch, You could just cure yourselves, you know. I mean. I’m just saying. (How are you both getting hit like that, anyway? You're on opposite sides of the area. And why isn't Basch getting hit?)
Mmm, twitchyfits. … That is… really not a good look for you, Vayne.
Everyone’s all FISTS UP guys you have weapons remember
I can barely understand anything he says during those hugelong attack sequences, which only adds to the image of him being completely out of his mind. "AHGSDHASJKFSBASHUDF ASHD DIE AHFDSHSDK"
SURPRISE LARSA COUNTERATTACK. DEFENSE. WHATEVER.
PFF WE REALLY DID KNOCK VAYNE AWAY TO THE FLOOR THAT’S AWESOME.
Muuutaaatioooooon. Hm. Okay, that’s kinda cool. Immeasureably freaky, but cool.
This guy doesn’t have a HP bar, does he?
Jecca: HOW COME ONLY ONE PERSON IS BEING AFFECTED BY HOLY WHY DOESN’T IT HURT THE OTHER TWO WHAT IS GOING O---oooh, they’re wearing White Masks. I get it. *changes third’s head gear*
… Self. It’s the final boss. You don’t need to worry about remember your Gambits setups. Or about item conservation. Really, you’re being silly.
STOP SNIPING ME and stop being immune to damage it’s cheating. AH, THERE WE GO. ATTACK!
… no, no, I didn’t say STAND THERE ANTICLIMACTICALLY I said ATTACK.
Yeah okay, so opening the menu and swapping out members when you accidentally get your entire party killed by not paying any attention probably is sort of like cheating, but if he can be all OH LOOK IMMUNE TO DAMAGE then I can be all OH LOOK SWAPPING IN ALIVE PEOPLE.
By the way, Vay— “The Undying,” whoever you are, Squall wants his Blasting Zone limit break back. (Well, that's what it reminds me of.)
WHOOO THERE WE GO
Strange, Fran’s hair looks better with the in-game graphics.
Oh, my god, Basch, your brother is half-immortal. Not entirely, because I really don’t think he’s gonna last much longer, but man, he can take a beating.
Ashe, he just said they’re not going to die, don’t be silly. Look, it didn’t even really explode. (THANK YOU FOR WAITING UNTIL THE ENDING CUTSCENES I'M PRETTY SURE I WOULDN'T HAVE WON IF TWO OF MY PARTY WERE UNDER LEVEL 30)
ENDING SOOONG
Nice of you to finally return that, geez. (And you know they didn't come steal the Strahl. The Strahl went and fetched them, and then they had to go back to leave the stuff behind.)
I like her new hairstyle, but it… is slightly odd to me that after doing almost nothing all game, Penelo is the one giving the closing remarks. The way they arranged it makes it make sense (hooray for Larsa and Penelo being adorable, there wasn't enough of that), but, still.
I dunno, maybe whenever I get around to replaying, she and Vaan will be more noticeable? They got pretty cool in the last, you know, twenty minutes of game time, anyway, and I fully admit my memory of the beginning of the game is a little faulty.
SO ANYWAY YEAH! Took me a while – a… very, very long while – to get into it, but once I did, I think I really liked this game. EVEN IF I STILL OCCASIONALLY FORGET I AM NOT PLAYING XI argh. And I really, really wish there had been more, or perhaps just better, interactions between all the characters, not just occasional snips here and there mostly between the same two or three people each time.
Still got some things to do (couple more summons to gather, couple more weapons and spells to get, I’d like to have more than 5k gil to my name at some point - actually, I had over 400k once, but then I spent it - should probably level my non-party up past 25…), but I have other things I… really need to beat before I go running around completing all the end game activities. Besides, gives me something to look forward to later!
... Man, I wish I had more icon space. I want icons.
Anyway, in memory, I had a full wipe once, but I know I saw the GAME OVER screen a bunch waaaay back when I was trying to kill Nighogg (THE HNM only lower level than the endgame one from THAT OTHER GAME) while being something like three levels lower than it and with little MP and fewer items. I DID WIN EVENTUALLY, THOUGH! And once to Nekhbet. So I have no idea what the death count is. STUPID COMPUTER DYING AND MAKING ME LOSE EVERYTHING jecca that was almost a year ago please get over it NO I REFUSE
Let's say five. Five is a nice number.
ANYWAY THAT IS ALL. Next I will be playing Star Ocean: Till the End of Time, which I also started three years ago. sghfkjdglfghl
Really I probably could have put those last few sentences outside the cut instead of this. OH WELL.