Summary: Our parties reunite, with no small tension. They can’t quite convince the Narshe authorities that the Empire will attack them, but then the Empire attacks them. Problem solved! We head on over to Narshe Cliffs to guard the esper, fight off the Imperial attack, and defeat Kefka again. He still sucks.
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Narshe
-Ok, so we’re trying to convince the Narshe authorities to fight with us. Gestahl is racing for the esper too, so this is a bit time sensitive.
-Again: really great build-up so far, by not showing Emperor Gestahl beyond one brief megalomaniacal speech. More and more nervous about seeing him up close.
-Cyan and Gau meet the rest, along with Celes when Locke comes in.
-The Empire’s heading to attack Narshe. Like, right now. So that makes Narshe’s choice easier.
-Cyan is enraged seeing Celes. How did I not expect this? Of course he would be. He doesn’t know any backstory on how she met Locke.
-He calls her “the woman single-handedly responsible for the decimation of Maranda.” I actually like that he doesn’t hate her just because he thinks she poisoned Doma. This would make things way too simple, cleared up by Locke saying what he saw.
FFVI is going a much more interesting route. It’s not setting up Celes as some Returner-plant dismantling the Empire from the inside from the beginning. We have no reason to believe Cyan is wrong – she probably did decimate Maranda! She’s probably a highly skilled and efficient Imperial general, which involves beating the Empire’s enemies efficiently. And she probably would have wanted the destruction of Doma as well.
Just not its destruction no matter what the cost. She may still be a decent person. And that’s a huge difference. Maybe all the difference.
-Cyan freaks out once again when he learns that Terra was an imperial soldier as well, but his outrage is interrupted by the Empire commencing its attack.
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Desert
-A squad of soldiers marches, led by Kefka. Where’s Leo?
-Kefka wants to kill any civilians who get in the way. The soldiers object, but Kefka’s their commander for the moment.
Kefka’s philosophy.
-Leo would be appalled.
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Narshe
-Team power-walk!
-Edgar has two suggestions for Celes. First, he warns Celes to not think Locke fell for her. Celes’s reply?
Celes cares zero for your bullshit.
Edgar’s reply? “Well, there goes my second suggestion.” Of course. Just minutes before combat, of course you’d hit on Celes. Because Edgar.
-Celes and Terra get to talk. Celes says she was raised to be a Magitek Knight, artificially infused with magic. So that’s a no go on the “secret sisters” route, which I’m more than fine with. Terra wants to know if it’s possible for Celes to love other people.
Celes must be thinking “wtf is with all these people and romance,” and feels insulted by this question hot on the heels of Edgar. We know though that this was about Terra rather than Celes. Poor Terra.
-Celes and Cyan. Cyan says he doesn’t trust Celes, but Celes responds that the proof will be in combat.
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Narshe Cliffs
-I’m now Terra.
-I can talk to party members standing in a line and switch with them, but not sure what I’m supposed to do.
-Banon asks if I’m ready. NO. WTF IS GOING ON.
-Oh. I can upgrade equipment and adjust relics, and heal up as well. That’s what this prep period is for. Let’s go.
-Mog pops up: “Protect the esper from Kefka.” Three different parties. So this is like a more advanced version of the “Moogles Defend Terra” set-up from earlier.
Party 1: Sabin, Celes
Party 2: Edgar, Terra
Party 3: Locke, Gau, Cyan
-Kefka and his armies enter at the other end of the rocky maze. He barks out that horrifying laugh.
-Gau’s “Guard Leader” (wind slash rage) and Sabin’s “Rising Phoenix” blitz obliterate everything. Terra and Edgar are my weakest party, but still not bad.
-Great music! This is like a combat-version of Terra’s theme.
-I defeat all the troops, and near the end, a “Hell’s Rider” guards Kefka. Looks like a mini-boss, but defeated pretty easily with a couple of combat rounds.
-Something tells me Kefka won’t be a push-over the way he was in the Imperial Camp. My strongest party is with Gau, Locke, and Cyan, but I really want to see Celes kick his ass. So I’ll engage with Celes and Sabin.
-*deep breath* Here we go.
-Boss music. He also has a combat sprite now apart from his overworld one.
-Meteor Strike doesn’t work.
-He uses Thunder, as well as Poison and Confuse. I guess he really is a mage. Natural like Terra, or built like Celes?
-Because he’s a mage, Celes’ Runic dominates the fight while Sabin’s Raging Fist does heavy damage.
-Kefka flees. Victory!
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Next time: Aftermath of the battle.
-I’m now Terra.
-I can talk to party members standing in a line and switch with them, but not sure what I’m supposed to do.
-Banon asks if I’m ready. NO. WTF IS GOING ON.
-Oh. I can upgrade equipment and adjust relics, and heal up as well. That’s what this prep period is for. Let’s go.
-Mog pops up: “Protect the esper from Kefka.” Three different parties. So this is like a more advanced version of the “Moogles Defend Terra” set-up from earlier.
Party 1: Sabin, Celes
Party 2: Edgar, Terra
Party 3: Locke, Gau, Cyan
-Kefka and his armies enter at the other end of the rocky maze. He barks out that horrifying laugh.
-Gau’s “Guard Leader” (wind slash rage) and Sabin’s “Rising Phoenix” blitz obliterate everything. Terra and Edgar are my weakest party, but still not bad.
-Great music! This is like a combat-version of Terra’s theme.
-I defeat all the troops, and near the end, a “Hell’s Rider” guards Kefka. Looks like a mini-boss, but defeated pretty easily with a couple of combat rounds.
-Something tells me Kefka won’t be a push-over the way he was in the Imperial Camp. My strongest party is with Gau, Locke, and Cyan, but I really want to see Celes kick his ass. So I’ll engage with Celes and Sabin.
-*deep breath* Here we go.
-Boss music. He also has a combat sprite now apart from his overworld one.
-Meteor Strike doesn’t work.
-He uses Thunder, as well as Poison and Confuse. I guess he really is a mage. Natural like Terra, or built like Celes?
-Because he’s a mage, Celes’ Runic dominates the fight while Sabin’s Raging Fist does heavy damage.
-Kefka flees. Victory!
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Next time: Aftermath of the battle.
