Galbadia Garden
-Went to the waiting room. This place is seriously fancy! We wait.
-Selphie wonders if they have a Garden Festival here. I love that she’s still like a student on the prom committee on top of being a deadly mercenary.
-Quistis studied here. She rejoins us.
-Woohoo!!!! Zell’s off the hook. The attack on President Vinzer is classified as an independent action, not something directly from Balamb. I don’t quite believe this thought – Vinzer doesn’t seem like someone who would disregard that info. More likely biding his time.
Still. At least Balamb Garden isn’t in flames for now.
-???? THE TRIAL AND SENTENCING OF SEIFER IS OVER? I assumed he was being groomed to be the Sorceress’s puppet, not that he’d get tried and sentenced. Makes sense I guess.
-HE WAS FUCKING EXECUTED???
Ok. No. I don’t believe it. Seifer was a main character. He wouldn’t have died off screen like that. I believe they told people he was executed but that he’ll come back as EvilSorceressBrainwashed!Seifer.
-Rinoa is crushed by this. In a really nice touch, Quistis gives her only cold comfort. “You must have been prepared for this. Your group got him involved. He sacrificed himself for the cause, not for you.” That sorta thing.
-Damn, Quistis.
QUISTIS: “I don’t have any good memories of him. I’ve seen some troubled children, but he was beyond troubled. Well, he wasn’t really a bad guy.”
-LOVE how muted this mourning is. No rose-tinted glasses here, and yet mourning nonetheless. Even Zell wants revenge.
Except for Rinoa.
They weren’t dating or anything, but she loved him and his feelings towards her were ambiguous.
-Rinoa’s only 17. I’m not surprised the way I was with Quistis.
-Fascinating shift of perspective from Rinoa’s story to Squall’s thoughts. He and Zell both feel “the dude sucked but he was one of us,” but Squall’s thoughts turn more introspective.
He wonders what it’ll be like when he dies, how people will regard him. What they’ll say.
My reaction surprises me. I thought I’d be annoyed by this, but I like it. It’s a selfish line of thought, and one that’s TOTALLY realistic. I hope this leads him to be more open as a person, wanting to develop relationships in a way he had fought before. We’ll see.
-Then he gets angry. “I won’t have people talking about me in the past tense!” He’s scared.
-He bolts, leaving the room alone.
-Squall alone. Not really sure where to go… wandered around the 2nd floor a bit, but I’ve been everywhere. Maybe he’s just supposed to rage outside and come back in?
-Went back into the reception room. Everyone’s gone but Quistis. There’ll be an announcement soon she says. Free time for now.
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Around G-Garden
-The G-Garden master has an under-the table relationship with Cid.
-Lol – some students are doing push-ups in the hallway. Zell is among them for some reason. Probably just felt like doing some push-ups I guess.
-Lots of the school is still off-limits.
-Hey, it’s Raijin and Fujin! They’re passing a message to the G-Garden headmaster from Cid.
-Aw shit. Fujin doesn’t know about Seifer. She’s gonna punch someone. With RAAAAAGE.
RAIJIN: “It’s Seifer! There’s no way he’d put up with a trial. Or an execution for that matter.” I… I’m kinda with you there.
-The duo heads off to Galbadia to search for Seifer. Sure, you guys can be jerks at times, but you’re loyal. I can give you that.
-There’s a rumor that the Sorceress wants to control the Galbadia Garden.
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Outside the Garden
-Time to meet the headmaster.
-lololol – Rinoa is pretending to be a SeeD to fit in, and she’s SO BAD AT IT. The real SeeDs are all saluting and doing specific things and she’s really far behind. It’s like watching me playing as Cloud during some of the “pretend to be a Shinra soldier” mini-games that I sucked at in FFVII.
-Martine is the headmaster. He’s got an awesome car. He read Cid’s orders to us and has decided to cooperate with him. Exposition time.
-Gee. The sorceress is Vinzer’s “peace ambassador” only for the purpose of the threat she provides and fear she instills in others rather than for actual peace. Golly. I am Squall’s complete lack of surprise.
-Galbadia’s goal is world domination. Nbd. I’m convinced at this point that we’re heading on an FFVI-style plot where Galbadia goes far with Vinzer Deling at the head using the power of the sorceress only to have her usurp things and turn crank the “We’re Fucked” dial up to 11.
-She wants to use the Galbadia Garden as her base. (Maybe we’ll eventually see a World of Ruin-style Galbadia Garden where the sorceress plays EVIL HOCKEY?) This explains why Martine wants to cooperate with Balamb Garden.
-Cid’s orders say we’ll need a sniper. We don’t have one… new party member?
Irvine Kinneas.
-Yup. Though this cowboy-looking dude doesn’t get a “choose his name” screen, so I’m unsure whether he’s long-term or just a temporary party member.
-Heh. He calls the B-Gardeners “rubes.” Of course this invokes ZELL RAGE.
IRVINE: “I say things to get a rise out of people. Just don’t let it bother you and you’ll be fine!”
Oh sweet Christ. We have an internet troll in the party. Can I just skip this guy?
-The next mission specifically is to “assassinate the sorceress.” From afar, with a sniper – probably so she can’t mind control someone trying to assassinate her from close range. Makes sense.
This is early in the game though. I give this plan a 0.003% chance of success.
-Next step is to head to Deling City and meet up with “General Caraway.”
-Party choice time for Deling… okay, that made me laugh.
Cowboy!Setzer put himself in a party with Selphie and Rinoa because of course he did. I change it up though. The party is now Irvine (who actually has a portrait in party window), Rinoa, and Squall.
[Later edit: I may have misunderstood this, and just made false assumptions about why Irvine put himself with Rinoa and Selphie. After all, I just met him and want to beware of judging unfairly.]
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Next time: the trek to Deling City. I’m excited, because I hope to learn the answer to some of my lingering questions about the Laguna group.
