Modeo Ravine
-Outside the site, Cloud and Tseng are nowhere to be seen. There’s a cave to Modeoheim though, and Zack, assuming they left through there.
-He pursues.
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Modeoheim
-Oh man. Man oh man. I know this is an emulated video game, but I don’t even care. The image of the snowy town and pink sky as Zack emerges from the tunnel is heart-stoppingly beautiful to me.
-Kunsel sends me one of his checking-in emails, informing me about Modeoheim. It was once a candidate for mako excavation, but the plans didn’t go through. The town was abandoned, and anti-Shinra folks now crowd the place.
-Lazards sends out a newsletter warning of Shinra’s “distortions,” shadows of Shinra that seek to harm it. Um… yeah. SOLDIER does some fucked-up things, and what you call “distortions” are people fighting back.
At least in some cases. Still not sure what Genesis was on about, but chance are anyone who’s pro-Jenova is bad news. But the Wutai remnant and Crescent Unit? Totally different. Hard to blame them.
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Modeoheim Bathhouse
-There’s a phone set up inside. It has 23 voicemail messages.
-I start to listen to the messages, and they’re painfully mundane. People calling to reserve spots for large parties, asking if their bag was found, etc. But going to keep listening in case something jumps out.
One of the messages: “Can I reserve front-row seats?” …is that a normal bathhouse question? [Later edit: context from the rest of the bathhouse makes me think this is a combination theater and bathhouse. Is this kind of place a thing in Japan, or am I misreading it?]
Other notable messages:
“D-day is coming up fast. Make sure you’re open.”
“You’ve still got ‘the package,’ right? Deal’s still on even if you aren’t open.”
Eavesdropping.
“Sorry, but we’ll have to move D-day. We’ll call you later.”
“I’m in the soup now. Deal’s off. You’re not gonna see me for a while.”
“This is the Shinra Tourist Bureau. I wanted to inquire about reusing your facilities.” (So Shinra has been involved recently?)
-More about “the package.” It’s on the trunk left of the stage, according to the final voicemail.
-I found a crappy little “Power Wrist” accessory next to the stage. If that’s “the package” that everyone was going on about, I’ll be a bit disappointed.
-The atmosphere and environment design here are phenomenal.
-Deeper into the bathhouse… WHAT THE FUCK
-A griffon just popped in out of nowhere.
And in case you were wonder, “well, gee, a griffon isn’t unusual,” this one fired lasers out of its mouth. So yeah.
-Lol – look at my DMW roll.
”Cloud and Aerith sitting in a DMW. K-i-s-s-i-m-w!”
-Ah. Crap. It’s not just any griffon. It’s one of the Angeal monsters with its face.
-There’s a treasure chest in the bath water, but the water’s too hot. I have to find a way to turn down the temperature.
-More Angeal clones as random encounters. Aw. Is he going to be the game’s new Big Bad? I hope not. I really like Angeal.
-Cloud!
He got knocked out somehow on the bathhouse’s upper floor.
-Tseng too. They both come around, but both are injured. Hollander and Angeal lie beyond.
-I still don’t see a way to lower the water temperature to get to the treasure chest, but I’ll keep an eye out as I push forward.
-Found a machine with a “socket.” Didn’t cool the water though.
-Found a glowing thingy inside a vent, but the steam was too hot. I imagine that once I lower the temperature, it’ll open up a few goodies.
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Next time: deeper into the bathhouse.
