Cave of the Gi
-Two downsides to Cloud’s Berserk Ring: 1) he can’t use limit skills; 2) he sometimes attacks the monster in the back row. Two I’m not worried about, but one is a big loss.
-Lots of ghosts here. Bugenhagen says these ghosts were killed in “a certain battle,” and didn’t rejoin the lifestream. Why? What was it about that battle?
-Ow. Next room, I ran into a wall trap. When I got into combat, I was at 1hp on all characters.
-Got the “Added Effect” materia.
-AARGH GIANT SPIDER! And it hits like a Mack truck, to boot.
-New Enemy Skill: Death Sentence.
-As we push further into the cave, we learn more about this cave. It was a bottleneck against the Gi forces. “Someone” (Nanaki’s dad) led them through this bottleneck, fighting them one by one.
-Hell. No. We come to a stone goblin face that reminds me briefly of Evil Wall from FFIV.
-HJKLSFDSJKL It made me jump, even though I knew it was coming. Boss time. “Gi Nattak.” A conglomeration of nasty Gi souls.
-It’s a big ghostly dude with two yellow balls in front of him. Not sure what the mechanic is just yet.
Gi Nattak.
-The yellow balls are “Soul Fire,” and cast Fire2 to heal themselves and hurt us. Ice magic takes em out.
-Really nasty fight. Gi Nattak has a ton of HP, and keeps resurrecting the Soul Fires. Victory!
-Past the boss, we arrive back at another entrance to Cosmo Canyon. That the Gi would have invaded. If it weren’t for Nanaki’s dad. Seto.
Seeing his father in a new light.
BUGENHAGEN: “Even if they stop Sephiroth, everything will perish.” Aren’t you Mr. Sunshine. At least he encourages Nanaki to go with us.
-Materia falls from Seto’s stone body. Nanaki howls at the moon, walks over, and picks it up. His father’s son.
-Time to go. Rolling out with Cloud, Aeris, and Barret. (I’ve tried Cloud-less parties, but the game won’t let me.)
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Overworld
-I don’t think it’s possible to fully express my joy at various negative combat states NOT persisting. Like, when my characters have gotten toaded, petrified, or poisoned in combat, I no longer have to cure them after the fight. SO GOOD. This was one of my most hated mechanics about the early FFs.
-There are a few places I can explore. There’s a city on the western “wing” of the continent, and a few due north. I’ll head north first.
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Nibelheim
-oh shit
-just came from Nanaki’s hometown, and now at Cloud’s and Tifa’s.
-Aeris, I’m sorry, I like you, but I gotta swap in Tifa for this.
-Wait. Nibelheim is here. It’s not a pile of ash. Wtf is going on? One of the townspeople denies this ever happened. I’m super confused.
-There’s a man in a black cape in the back here with a tattoo of the number 6 on his hand. We get “Luck Source” from him, and he groans about going to “Re…un…ion.”
-Another cloaked person in the town.
STOP MINDFUCKING ME WHAT IS HAPPENING WHY DOES SEPHIROTH HAVE A CULT DID HE TEAM UP WITH KEFKA
-Cloud doesn’t remember any of these people!! And one of them is in his old house.
-In Tifa’s house, a man in a black cloak, #5 this time, moans about wanting to get “it” and become one with Sephiroth. UMMM
-I have access to the piano. Going to try the piece from Cloud’s Nibelheim flashback (since I think I wrote it down in an earlier post… yes!)
-Messed it up the first time, and found Tifa’s “secret stash of 1gil.” Got it the next time I tried, but no reward.
-Elsewhere in Tifa’s room, I either overhear something or read a note. I think it’s the latter but hard to tell, since I can’t read the note again. It’s someone reporting to Hojo. Someone’s watching the “CLONES” (maybe they’re the monsters from the tank near Jenova?) in town and reporting in to Shinra, that the Clones keep talking about the Reunion and Sephiroth. Also, the townsfolk are Shinra actors, hired to make the town seem like it never burned down.
-To reiterate: I’m so confused.
-One of the Clones senses Sephiroth. Inside the mansion.
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Next time: into the Mansion.
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