FFVIII – Part 30: Close Encounter at Mandy Beach

Summary: Exploring the Timber and Dollet overworld.


Timber Overworld

-Exploring the overworld here a bit before progressing to the Galbadia Garden. Quistis died in my first battle because she was still at one HP from the dream world. Starting in Yaulny Canyon.

-I have an immediate new favorite enemy design:

The chicken really kicked my ass around the forest. At least I got a new Blue Magic from it for Quistis: Electrocute.

-Ifrit learned “M** Rush.” Let’s see what it does…. Wow. It casts Haste, Protect, and Berserk on all. I don’t love it as a general ability, since I have some magicky characters, but if I decide to try a fully physical party, it may be a way to go.

[Non-rhetorical question for y’all: I see that items give Quistis her new limit breaks and Rinoa has her Pet Pals thing. For Squall, does he get new limit breaks like in FFVII, where you have to use old limit breaks a certain number of times to get the next stage? My best understanding so far from the tutorial is that he only unlocks new limit breaks by upgrading his weapon, and even then it’s the same Renzokuken but with a different finishing blow.]

-As this is not The Stand, I can’t run into the underwater tunnel.

-UHHHHH WHAT

THE FUCK

IS THAT

I was on Mandy Beach and got into a random encounter. No enemy appeared. Then an alien UFO sound came. And then a LITERAL UFO FLOATED ACROSS THE SCREEN HOLDING AN EASTER ISLAND HEAD IN ITS TRACTOR BEAM WTFFFFF

-It floated away and I was too stunned to attack. I honestly have no idea if this is a joke encounter or some major twist. Like, a hint that the Sorceress is an alien? FF has done it before.

-Continuing to try out Zell’s and Squall’s limit breaks and still incredibly uncomfortable with what I’m supposed to be doing.

-Yes!!! I finally understand Squall’s. I knew I had to hit the trigger button at various times, but could never understand when. I kept trying to hit it when the word “Trigger!” flashed. I changed it to trying to use the Trigger when Squall swung the gunblade on the screen, and it worked like a charm.

I even got (what I assume to be) my first finishing blow, Rough Divide. Woot!

”Rough Divide.”

-10-15 fights on Mandy Beach later, I’m giving up. I don’t know what that UFO was about and didn’t see it again. Maybe I’ll learn more down the line. That was some serious Star Tropics bullshit. I want more BADLY.

-Found a long bridge – one might say, a Big Bridge – leading east off the land mass, but the entrance is closed.

-I’ve come to the Lanker Plains.

-Found a town… oh, it’s Timber. Whoops lol. Backtracked a bit too far. I’ll take this as my signal to get my ass in gear and move onto Galbadia.

-Whoops. I went to fiddle with my GF abilities, and a number of things I thought were passive turned out to be… well, passed, but stuff I have to set-up. For example, I just assumed that Squall was getting the benefit of +20% and +40% strength because Ifrit learned them.

I didn’t know to actually EQUIP those abilities. *bonks self*

-In shocking news, the extra abilities help a ton.

-HUZZAH! I read through the tutorial on Zell’s Limit Break again and now I understand. It’s not about timing the Duel actions the way it is for Squall’s triggers. It’s more about using as many as I can as a quickly as possible before the timer runs down.

I really love that moment when a thing clicks, you know? It’s why I do crosswords.

-May have discovered a short-cut around getting perfect timings on Renzokuken: SPAM. Yeah, apparently spamming the trigger button works. That’s a bit disappointing (if easier). I would’ve thought that the designers would encourage precise timing, perhaps including a cooldown to prevent spamming.

-Fought an Anacondaur that looks like a scaled-down Midgar Zolom.

-Starting to come across monsters with second level spells to draw. Cura, Thundara, Blizzara. I’m tempted to sit on one and draw for a while but it’s boring so I usually give up after 5-6 rounds.

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Dollet

-Now I’m in Dollet. “Hasberry Plains.” A bit lost lol.

-Completed +40% STR on Ifrit. Now Squall’s got +60% and hits like a monster.

-Huh. I tried not spamming during Renzokuken and using the trigger at more precise timings and it seemed to work better. [Non-rhetorical question for y’all: is that coincidence and small sample size, or does using more precise triggers actually do better than spamming?]

-Shiva just obliterates those Anacondaurs. I got the hang of Zell’s limit break, but it sucks. I assume that’s because I don’t have him equipped with a strength-based GF.

-fml.

It’s an Ochu. These things are the worst in every FF game. As bad as Tonberries. It uses status changing attacks, it has lots of HP, and it DRAWS MAGIC FROM ME. Grrrr.

-LOL. I found the Galbadia Garden. It was like two feet from where I started this session.

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Next time: into the Galbadia Garden.