Mideel
-I don’t exactly know where I’m going now. I think maybe the Forgotten City, so I’ll try heading there shortly, but all that talk about Aeris and the lifestream made me want to check out Mideel.
-There’s a woman here whose husband got lost in the quake. Hm. Will keep an eye out for him.
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Overworld
-OOH OOH!! Flying around, I found a cave on the eastern coast that I hadn’t seen before. I can’t land nearby, so it looks to only be accessible by boat.
-Under the sea, found a crater. Tried exploring it but nothing happened beyond some REALLY close calls with Emerald Weapon.
It looks to be her spawn point.
-I see a red… thing? Under the sea. Learned my lesson from last time and saved. Let’s see what you are.
-Oh. It’s the leader sub I shot down from before. We grab the Huge Materia.
-Not much else down under here. We seem hemmed in. It’s kind of peaceful under the sea, as long as I ignore the giant green death machine that lurks.
-I think I’ve reached my limit of where the sub can explore. Going to try finding the ship.
*10 minutes later*
-ok, wtf. I could’ve sworn that at an earlier point in the game I had a boat or plane that could land on beaches, and now I can’t find it anywhere in the world. GRRRRR.
*10 minutes later*
-I give up. Can’t find where that first plane was. Oh well.
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Forgotten Capital
-Made my way back here. I want to check that big orb up top before heading back down to where Aeris died.
-In one of the houses in the Capital, came across a glowy stone that stuns Cloud. “…Words of the Ancients?” Whatever it’s trying to say, he can’t understand it.
My guess is that Spirit!Aeris will join us in some form and we’ll come back here.
-Bugenhagen seems entranced by that giant glowing stone in the middle of the Capital.
-It somehow transmits knowledge of the Ancients to him – that the planet’s in “a crisis beyond human power or endless time.” Jesus. This sounds like more than a simple meteor about to hit. (Though it’s a magic meteor maliciously summoned, to be fair. Nothing simple about it.)
-When the time comes, we have to find “Holy,” a white magic that can counteract the Meteor. Only a worthy soul can seek and find it, and when it does it may wipe out everything.
-Oh, it’s a good news-bad news thing. Good news: “Holy” will wipe out all that’s bad. Bad news: that may well include humans. It’s up to the Planet to decide.
-We have to seek the White Materia. That’ll let us talk to the Planet, and then it’ll decide.
-I don’t remember this, but Aeris had the White Materia and it fell from the altar when she died. Let’s go find it!
-Bugenhagen seems awfully jolly.
-There’s some writing on this seashell thing… (Even sunlight can’t reach) and (key). We’re probably going down.
-Hm. Where can’t sunlight reach? Going to start with the Forgotten City and see if it’s there.
-All the houses around the Capital have these glowy stones, which are in the language of the Ancients that Cloud can’t understand. It’s very possible that these were here before and I was supposed to use Aeris in my party to understand them.
(Wait, nm… last time we were here she was down below, so we couldn’t have had her in the party then.)
-I tried heading back down to the Forgotten City, but the jump seems to be blocked by a giant fish and kelp now.
-I still see the red arrow indicating there’s an exit there, but can’t get through…
-Huh. I really feel like the answer is in the Forgotten City, and I just have to find a way to get through to where Aeris died. Maybe that empty pillar/altar on the right side of the city can now open the way?
-No luck. What am I missing? I mean, I can think of other underground places in the world. Any number of factories of caves. But I feel like the answer is more likely to be in this zone.
-Tried exploring the area east of the city, but got lost, stuck, and bored from all the random encounters.
-Fuck this. Been wandering around for the last 15 minutes, clicking on everything in sight, and no closer to finding the answer. I hate feeling lost.
-Trying again that area east of the city, but I keep getting stuck in a MILLION FUCKING RANDOM ENCOUNTERS. They’re easy fights. There’s a cave up top that I’m trying to reach and I keep hitting dead ends and can’t remember or don’t know how to get there and I’m ready to punch my keyboard.
-Found it. It’s just the Coral Valley Cave. I remember this place, and am pretty sure this isn’t where I need to go.
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Next time: the search for the right place continues.
