Caraway Mansion
-The parade hasn’t started yet. The gates to the Presidential Residence haven’t opened, so there isn’t much that Squall and Irvine can do. The perspective swaps to the increasingly poorly-named “Gateway Team.”
-The team is freaking out, and it’s Selphie who thinks to look for a key.
-She sees a painting in a room that looks “fishy.” Maybe a key behind it? Using my action button on it does nothing. Maybe I have to talk to Zell first.
-No. Still can’t access the painting. There’s also a statue I can get real close to. Hm. Maybe I have to emulate the painting? She’s holding a glass in that painting
-…YES! I was able to pick up a glass from a wall. Put the glass into the statue’s hand, and POOF! Secret tunnel. (*sings about secret tunnels*)
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Deling City – Sewer
-Maybe I’ll find Vincent down here.
-Not quite sure what to do with GFs in this split party. I think I’ll try beefing them up. Selphie’s the caster, Quistis the GFer, Zell the puncher.
-Oh CRAP. The monster down here, Creep, kills its opponent when it dies. I wonder if Silence cancels that out.
…or not? We killed it but it didn’t kill any of us. Hm. Maybe that just means there’s a chance for it to kill its opponent when it dies. Or maybe since Shiva dealt the killing blow that time there was nothing to kill? I’ll have to be wary.
-As the Gateway Team creeps through the sewer, noise reaches them below. The scene switches to above.
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Deling City – Above
-Soldiers are dancing in the streets, and the Sorceress sits on a throne being badass af.
-Something I’m unclear about: did the crowd understand what happened? Did they hear and comprehend the Sorceress’s speech? If so, they seem awfully carefree for a people who just watched their (admittedly detestable) president get killed.
Like, even if they hated the guy, the Sorceress just admitted to tremendous atrocities and committed murder in front of them. [“Korra” spoilers, final season] Vg'f abg yvxr fur whfg chyyrq n Xhiven jvgu n zbfgyl oybbqyrff pbhc nsgre ohvyqvat yblnygl bire gvzr.
My assumption until I see otherwise is that they saw her kill the President, hated him so much that they’re okay with it, and were influenced by a mind-controller with a microphone. Not that all of them are mindless puppets now, but that something about the Sorceress is magically persuasive.
-Can I take a minute to YET AGAIN applaud the world building in FFVIII in something as simple as fashion? Not just Edea with her sleek black dress, fur collar, and that glorious evil Leia bun with demon horn jutting out – but even these random dancers in the street!
Scenes from a parade.
-Oh, I see! Edea isn’t on a stationary throne. She’s on a moving parade float. Look how vibrant this scene is! What a spectacle!
-Irvine and Squall are ready to move.
-Guess who’s on the float and not a ghost?
Hi, Seifer.
-It hits me that it’s also possible – hell, even likely – that the crowd didn’t see Vinzer killed. Maybe to them, it just looked like Vinzer left the stage. Maybe to them, this is just what it was supposed to be – a parade for President Vinzer’s “Peace Ambassador” while to Edea it’s a coronation.
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Deling City – Presidential Residence
-Irvine and Squall arrive where Rinoa started. I sure hope those demon dogs are taking their sweet time eating her. Really playing with their food. They climb the residence the same way that Rinoa did.
-lol. They can stand at the podium and wave to the crowd.
-Found the clock tower, but seems inappropriate given that Rinoa’s probably getting gnawed to death. I’ll come back.
-Yup! Next room over, the lizards are standing over Rinoa. Boss time.
”Iguion.”
-They use magma breath, but we have Shiva. She one-shots them.
-Rinoa is freaking out. I have no problem with this.
She doesn’t have Squall’s training, she just got mind-whammied by the Sorceress and attacked by gargoyle demon iguanas and watched President Vinzer Deilng get his soul sucked out. Not that she’ll lose sleep over just WHO got his soul sucked, but watching that happen to anyone has gotta cause a boatload of trauma.
-We head to the clocktower. Irvine time. I can’t tell you how little that comforts me.
-A disconcerting possibility – well, let’s be honest: likelihood – that Squall brings up: if/when Irvine fails, will Squall have to face Seifer before attacking the Sorceress directly?
-Rinoa hears this and… yeah. She’s not having a good day. She wants both of them to fight to a stalemate probably, since she likes them both.
-Wow! I thought Irvine was just revving himself up, concentrating, but HE’S freaking out too.
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Deling City - Sewers
-Rejoining the Gateway Team down below. The music turned goofy.
-You know what? Screw dividing my power. I’m going to concentrate power/GF and just hope that when I swap parties I can exchange junctions. This group sucks with minimal GFs.
-No clue where I’m going down here. NO sense of direction. I hope the sewers are on rails leading me the right way rather than a maze I’m supposed to figure out.
-Been wandering down here for a while and it’s pretty boring. Dunno where I’m supposed to go.
Rinse, repeat.
-I keep circling back to the place where I started. YAWWWWN. Just running from fights at this point because I’m tired of fighting creeps and bats and not knowing where I’m going or having direction. Plus there are so many random encounters.
-Got a new blue magic for Quistis: “Aqua Breath.”
-FINALLY. Made it to the Gateway. Talk about taking the wind out of the sails of an exciting section.
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Deling City – Gateway
-They made it in time. The clock hits 20:00. The sniper team pops out on the clock.
-Oh crap. The Sorceress senses something is up.
-Quistis slams the gates shut with the Sorceress inside.
-Irvine freezes. Says he acts all cool but in reality can’t take the pressure.
Squall implores him to at least try, but he won’t. Standing in the gaze of history, pantless.
-Squall demonstrates perhaps his first act of good leadership in the game, telling Irvine to think of the shot just as a signal. No pressure.
-No music. Just a heartbeat. Irvine takes his shot.
-It’s a good shot. On target.
-But bullets can’t penetrate force fields.
-The Sorceress blocks it. Squall comforts Irvine as best he can, then moves to take on the Sorceress head on, diving through the crowd, hijacking a car and plowing towards the gate.
(Btw, the Sorceress has some long fingers.)
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The Gateway
-Squall vs. Seifer.
-Boss fight vs Seifer. Seifer keeps saying this is his dream.
Really? Working for the Sorceress? Or maybe he just feels respected.
-Pretty easy fight, but Seifer always was terrible.
SORCERESS EDEA: “A SeeD planted in a run-down Garden…
-New boss fight vs. Edea. I doubt this’ll be as easy. Irvine and Rinoa join in.
Fighting back.
I wouldn’t even be surprised if I can’t win this.
-Ah crap. I stripped Rinoa and Irvine of their GFs. Lesson learned for next time I guess
-Her x-aga magics destroy us. Plus, she taunts us: “SeeD, is that all you’ve got? How boring.”
-I’m especially frustrated right now that I don’t have magic. I want to scan her. Honestly contemplated losing on purpose to get that back, but… nah.
-Ifrit does okay against her, but the party is dropping like flies. Irvine and Rinoa down, Squall low health.
Cinematic. She summons an ice spear.
-HOLY SHIT SHE ACTUALLY LANCED SQUALL. The crowd cheers. Wow. I thought something would save him at the last minute, but here he is with an ice spear in his torso. Um. I mean, it’s in his side rather than straight through the middle so he'll live, but the dude’s fucking impaled.
-Squall falls off the Gateway. Rinoa looks on, screaming after him. We get a final zoom-in shot of fire dancing in Sorceress Edea’s eye.
An eye that doesn’t really look all that human. I’m betting she has some awesome dragony/demony final form.
-The game then brought me back to the save folder. Wow. What an ending!
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Next time: Immediate cliffhanger resolution? Jump to two years later as Edea tosses the Light of Judgment from Deling City? Rejoining Laguna? Playing in a field with Angelo? Honestly no clue what comes next.
