Summary:
End of the Tsviets’ attack on WRO headquarters. We take out Azul, and
defeat his companion Orangehair (real name: Shelke, who turns out to be
Shalua Rui’s sister).
Siege on WRO Headquarters - Continued
-Made it back to where the game crashed. The hunt for Azul continues.
-Went back to the bottom floor and found a new passage. Azul must’ve gone through here.
-I think my favorite form of combat is limit break mode. Satisfying to go all wolfy and claw stuff up.
-Whoa! Orangehair (Azul’s accomplice) was behind me the whole time. She must’ve been in some kind of stealth mode. Shalua saw her though.
Something to do with being blind in one eye maybe.
-Shalua names her “Shelke.” That’s who Shalua saw before. Shelke doesn’t recognize Shalua though. Hm. Memory shenanigans?
Shalua: “You haven’t changed at all. Not in ten years.” Shalua’s been searching for her for a long while.
-OH SHIT SHELKE BREAKING OUT THE LIGHTSABER!!!
I love Shelke’s design so much.
Shelke: “My current mission as a Deepground soldier is all that is relevant.” (This must mean that Tsviets are part of Deepground.) Sisters is my guess for these two.
-Yup. Sisters.
-“They manipulated my mind until I was a shadow of my original self. The pain. The fear. For ten years I lived in a hell far deeper than any you could imagine.” Shelke got screwed up by Deepground’s super soldier shit pretty hard.
-The anticipation during this sisterly reunion is building. I just know that Azul’s gonna bust out of one of these doors, or that Shelke’s gonna use her lightsaber on Shalua or Vincent. Just a matter of time.
-This emotional reunion is neat to see, but doesn’t really impact me. I barely know any of these characters. It feels SUPER rushed, like they’re pushing for the emotional payoff without doing any character building or set-up.
I don’t know these people independently. The reason the sister reveal and relationship between Lenna and Faris in FFV was so powerful was that the characters were so well developed. I knew who they were, what they were like, their struggles and personalities and lives. I just Shalua and Shelke. Maybe there’s character development down the line though – I’ll withhold any kind of firm judgment of course. This is early.
-Reeve pops in as Shelke’s about to finish off her crying sister with her twin electric lightsabers. Tries to stop her with talk about how hard Shalua’s worked the past ten years to find her sister, but it doesn’t sway Shelke. She moves in for the killing blow.
-Reeve with the save! He shoots not Shelke, but the sprinklers in the ceiling. They go off, short-circuiting the lightsabers.
-Vincent, Reeve, and Shalua retreat, leaving Shelke standing in the room.
-Boss fight! Vincent vs. Shelke. Reeve says that Vincent’s bullets will only sedate her, so this looks to be a non-lethal boss fight.
Have I said yet that I love Shelke’s design?
-She’s SUPER fast, like a little monkey. “Shelke the Transparent” indeed. I’m terrible at dodging, but I get a couple in. Limit break really helps here.
-Victory! Shalua takes the unconscious Shelke away.
Siege on WRO Headquarters - Continued
-Made it back to where the game crashed. The hunt for Azul continues.
-Went back to the bottom floor and found a new passage. Azul must’ve gone through here.
-I think my favorite form of combat is limit break mode. Satisfying to go all wolfy and claw stuff up.
-Whoa! Orangehair (Azul’s accomplice) was behind me the whole time. She must’ve been in some kind of stealth mode. Shalua saw her though.
Something to do with being blind in one eye maybe.
-Shalua names her “Shelke.” That’s who Shalua saw before. Shelke doesn’t recognize Shalua though. Hm. Memory shenanigans?
Shalua: “You haven’t changed at all. Not in ten years.” Shalua’s been searching for her for a long while.
-OH SHIT SHELKE BREAKING OUT THE LIGHTSABER!!!
I love Shelke’s design so much.
Shelke: “My current mission as a Deepground soldier is all that is relevant.” (This must mean that Tsviets are part of Deepground.) Sisters is my guess for these two.
-Yup. Sisters.
-“They manipulated my mind until I was a shadow of my original self. The pain. The fear. For ten years I lived in a hell far deeper than any you could imagine.” Shelke got screwed up by Deepground’s super soldier shit pretty hard.
-The anticipation during this sisterly reunion is building. I just know that Azul’s gonna bust out of one of these doors, or that Shelke’s gonna use her lightsaber on Shalua or Vincent. Just a matter of time.
-This emotional reunion is neat to see, but doesn’t really impact me. I barely know any of these characters. It feels SUPER rushed, like they’re pushing for the emotional payoff without doing any character building or set-up.
I don’t know these people independently. The reason the sister reveal and relationship between Lenna and Faris in FFV was so powerful was that the characters were so well developed. I knew who they were, what they were like, their struggles and personalities and lives. I just Shalua and Shelke. Maybe there’s character development down the line though – I’ll withhold any kind of firm judgment of course. This is early.
-Reeve pops in as Shelke’s about to finish off her crying sister with her twin electric lightsabers. Tries to stop her with talk about how hard Shalua’s worked the past ten years to find her sister, but it doesn’t sway Shelke. She moves in for the killing blow.
-Reeve with the save! He shoots not Shelke, but the sprinklers in the ceiling. They go off, short-circuiting the lightsabers.
-Vincent, Reeve, and Shalua retreat, leaving Shelke standing in the room.
-Boss fight! Vincent vs. Shelke. Reeve says that Vincent’s bullets will only sedate her, so this looks to be a non-lethal boss fight.
Have I said yet that I love Shelke’s design?
-She’s SUPER fast, like a little monkey. “Shelke the Transparent” indeed. I’m terrible at dodging, but I get a couple in. Limit break really helps here.
-Victory! Shalua takes the unconscious Shelke away.
-Long stage. Still going on.
-!!HI AZUL!! He pops down literally from the ceiling to get philosophical with Vincent. “Do you know your destiny?” and stuff like that.
-Vincent tries to shoot him, but Azul’s is tougher than that.
Maybe this has to be a melee fight.
AZUL: “Enough of the games, Vincent. Give me the protomateria.”
-LOL – maybe this will help.
Breaking out the big guns...
...Buffy-style.
It doesn’t help, and Azul just laughs it off. (Again, this is all in cutscene.) ...Oh, nm. It does help – it breaks the armor barrier. Boss fight #2!
-Really high pressure fight here! Azul has a massive gun that does massive damage to me, but there are explosive barrels around the room. I have to kite him to an explosive barrel, blow it up, and repeat. Phoenix Down saves me.
-He dies. [Later edit: I keep forgetting to take fight screenshots because I panic in combat and feel like I need to always be moving or shooting.]
See ya, Azul.
-Vincent is off to Nibelheim, to Shinra Manor. Reeve and his “feline companion” will look into what Deepground is really up to.
-Hurray! I got a “B” for the stage. I’ll take it.
---
Next time: Shinra Manor.
-!!HI AZUL!! He pops down literally from the ceiling to get philosophical with Vincent. “Do you know your destiny?” and stuff like that.
-Vincent tries to shoot him, but Azul’s is tougher than that.
Maybe this has to be a melee fight.
AZUL: “Enough of the games, Vincent. Give me the protomateria.”
-LOL – maybe this will help.
Breaking out the big guns...
...Buffy-style.
It doesn’t help, and Azul just laughs it off. (Again, this is all in cutscene.) ...Oh, nm. It does help – it breaks the armor barrier. Boss fight #2!
-Really high pressure fight here! Azul has a massive gun that does massive damage to me, but there are explosive barrels around the room. I have to kite him to an explosive barrel, blow it up, and repeat. Phoenix Down saves me.
-He dies. [Later edit: I keep forgetting to take fight screenshots because I panic in combat and feel like I need to always be moving or shooting.]
See ya, Azul.
-Vincent is off to Nibelheim, to Shinra Manor. Reeve and his “feline companion” will look into what Deepground is really up to.
-Hurray! I got a “B” for the stage. I’ll take it.
---
Next time: Shinra Manor.
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