Banora
-Hey, I was right about a thing! The apple Genesis carries around is a clue for Banora.
-Cloud’s still 100% out of it right now.
-The bombing of Banora exposed the lifestream beneath.
-See, game? This is how you do it. I went to a giant pit and got a message that said, “If I go down, I probably can’t come back up. Go down? Yes – No” You give me the choice! You don’t spring the end of an explorable area on me. Thank you.
-Alas, nothing left to explore up here. Down we go.
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Tunnel Beneath Banora
-There’s a desk here complete with a scrapbook and awards and stuff.
Writings/notes from Genesis about his youth, his goals, etc. An earlier Genesis. Perhaps… the genesis of Genesis? (sorry)
Seeing this renews Zack’s desire to save the guy.
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Depths of Judgment
-What an ominous name for the deeper segment of the tunnels.
-The combat music here seems new. I like it.
-Crystalline depths here. Really beautiful grotto-like area.
-Save point. I know this seems like weird timing, but I’m going to catch up on missions. The story mode has gotten really fast paced of late, and I don’t know if I’ll have a real rest period the way I had earlier in the game where Zack was just between missions, hanging out.
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Mission: Shinra Electric Power Company > Training Missions > Shinra’s Advanced Training (2/6)
-Some of these will feel a bit weird since Zack is cut from Shinra, but I can RP them as memories of stuff he did earlier.
-Killed some turrets in Shinra’s training room. They call them “Gun Bull Heads.” Weird.
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Mission: Shinra Electric Power Company > Training Missions > 50 Shinra Troops (3/6)
-Preparing Zack for quantity over quality in terms of enemies.
-My trusty Hell Thundaga seems at first like it’s the way to go in clearing these waves, but I have to be careful. Osmose only pulls a few mana from these infantry.
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Mission: Shinra Electric Power Company > Training Missions > 100 Shinra Troops (4/6)
-This feels like the most blatant of the game’s grindy mission design. When in doubt, just as more stuff to fight.
-I tried equipping a new aoe-looking ability, Blast Wave, but Zack just stands there and winds up for like 17 minutes before using it. The swarm of infantry doesn’t let him get any casts off.
Rinse, repeat. Repeat. Repeat.
-Woo hoo! Got a timely Meteor Shots. Just what the doctor ordered for this mission.
-Good. It’s not just more mobs, but harder mobs. They are now tossing grenades all over the place. Gotta keep moving.
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Mission: Shinra Electric Power Company > Training Missions > 200 Shinra Troops (5/6)
-…really, game? I’m already regretting the decision to come back to missions, but the part of me that needs to do as much stuff as possible overruled my better judgment. If the final mission in this series is 400 troops though, I quit.
-YES CAIT SITH!!
-NOOOOO!!! Damn you, Tonberry. Her image rolled into the DMW wheel at the last second and blocked a Cait Sith limit break. I wanted to see Cait Sith.
-Just noticed that I seem to have “No MP cost” constantly up. A perk of this mission maybe? [Later edit: no, just a lucky streak.]
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Mission: Shinra Electric Power Company > Training Missions > 1,000 Shinra Troops (6/6)
-*sigh*
-I stopped midway through this to watch a movie. Not sure how long the fight took. An hour and a half? Two hours?
I don’t get it. I don’t get who thought this would be fun. What game designer had someone test this out, play it, and see in their reaction, “Gosh, they’re really enjoying this, let’s add more stuff to fight?” By the end I was playing on my couch in autopilot, half falling asleep.
That was it. 80% autopilot, 10% chugging ethers, and 10% panic as I got stun-locked and close to death. Wave after wave after wave.
This happened about an hour in.
Yes, this was likely a challenge mode, something there for people who like the kind of tests of endurance such as grinding to max level or doing the bonus dungeons. But in that case, why stick it right in the middle of the game?
This mission fills me with rage and boredom. It’s like the Platonic form of Things I Hate About Crisis Core, the original on which other missions I dislike are mere copies. The kind of mission that makes me want to never do another side mission again.
-Oh yeah, the reward? A “Mug” materia. The chance to steal when attacking. *throws controller*
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Next time: More missions if I can bring myself to face them again, or just saying “fuck it” and going on with the story. Dunno.
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