The Past
-Laguna, Kiros, and Ward are in what looks to be an Estharian facility. A prison? Factory? Hard to say. There’s one of those furry red dudes with spiky hair as well. They mention L****** Pandora.
-Laguna asks for food, but a “Security Guard” tells him to quit whining, it’s only been three days. Uh. That’s a long-ass time to go without eating. I have trouble waiting between breakfast and lunch today, and instead of hard labor I was playing FFVIII.
Maybe a prison then.
-The dinner bell rings, but as punishment the guards say they won’t let Laguna or the guy I think of as Snarf the Hedgehog eat.
-Snarf is a Moomba. Laguna asks after him, and the Moomba thanks him for caring. Thanks him in his Moomba language consisting of growls.
-Laguna, you’re wonderful.
-They’re working for Dr. Odine.
-Some emergency upstairs. Maybe Ward trying to help them escape.
-One of the dudes working alongside them comments how nice and kind Laguna is, suggesting he’d be a good leader for those dissatisfied with the direction Sorceress Adel is taking Esthar. There’s currently disorganized restlessness, a movement in search of a leader.
I wonder if I’m witnessing the origins of the Forest Owls.
-This seems to strike a spark in Laguna. A guard overhears him, Laguna fights back, and kills him.
-Ward and Kiros join the fray, and they move to fight off some guards. I guess they all got captured on fleeing from the Ruby Dragons.
-Elevator up to Dr. Odine. They’re talking about a Lunar Base that was built to observe the moon.
Odine is a serious asshole – though that’s a light term for someone using slave labor and kidnapping kids for experiments, as it sounds like he’s doing.
-They leave. The Moomba and resistance dude are outside waiting. Moomba scurries free, but the resistance guy wants to help.
-How does the resistance seem to know so much about Odine’s activities? They had a spy on the inside: it’s one of Odine’s assistants.
-The assistant tells them that Ellone is Odine’s brainchild, plaything. Something interesting enough to distract Odine from the moon base.
-Hah! They talk about how scary/adorable Ellone can be. Kiros references the “J Disaster,” when Ellone got upset at Laguna and put jam in his shoes. XD XD XD
-Back into the lab whose name is just asking for things to go wrong (L****** Pandora Laboratory).
-Found the first Weapons Monthly issue, with some badass weapons.
-Took out some guards with an Elastoid and then chase Dr. Odine away, asking him where Ellone is.
-We’re told she’s in Odine’s Laboratory (a different place), and hop in a car to go.
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Odine’s Laboratory
-There’s a mini chairlift/elevator thing here that takes me to a Flare drawpoint. The sound it makes makes me believe that the UFO I saw twice was Estharian in origin.
-Dang. These guys use Death frequently, and I don’t have that magic stocked to stop it. Going to instead give Kiros the Treatment and Revive abilities. I don’t have an ounce of prevention; might as well apply the pound of cure that I do have.
-Found Ellone.
-The resistance dude is here, telling us to “Go see her…” and it’s giving me weird vibes. Like he’s trying to play us.
-Huh. Maybe I was wrong. He runs up to her, hugs her, and the scene fades out.
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THE WORLD OF TOMORROW!!! Ahem, I mean, Esthar
-A car emerges as the team wakes up. Squall asks after Ellone, and the guy who greets us is a bit confused, but Edea persuades us to go along. We all hop into his futuristic hover car for a ride.
-This city is so incredible. A real departure from pretty much anything the FF series has provided so far. We’ve gotten sword ‘n’ sorcery high fantasy, steampunk, and now a full-on city of the future.
-JUST LOOK AT THIS FRIGGING PLACE IT’S LOVELY
-I was expecting… I dunno, a ruined post-war Berlin kind of thing. Blown away by this.
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Esthar – Presidential Palace
-We arrive. The music changed, and is the sci-fi-ish serious of BLEEP-BLOOPS and WWEEEEOOHHS
-Dr. Odine overhears, emerges, and says he can remove the sorceress capabilities from Edea. He’s still wearing the collar that’s part Elizabethan, part dilophosaurus.
-…Did he just say “Sorceress Odine?” [Later edit: not sure. I clicked through this too quickly and may have been mistaken.]
-Doctor Odine wants to observe Rinoa as trade for showing us Ellone. I trust Odine approximately 0%.
-Sweet mother of toast! Challenged Dr. Odine to Triple Triad and the rules are no longer random. I can pick the cards I play with. I’m in heaven.
-He plays a Ward card… FUCK! A final “Plus” play steals the game for him. Won Ward the next game at least.
-The ruleset just makes such a huge difference in my enjoyment of the game. This is probably my favorite ruleset yet. Plus, Elemental, Trade Rule: One. The Plus and Elemental can be fun quirks. Not random means I only lose cards I actively wager so I don’t feel mugged, and Trade Rule: One is better than Direct because my focus is on winning the game, not losing in style (by protecting my favorite card or sacrificing a win to win a certain rare card).
The only thing I’d make different is to eliminate the possibility of Combos from Plus or Same. Those aren’t fun. At all. They feel random and swing the game way too wildly.
-Some more games, then we head out. Explore the city then meet at the Lunar Gate.
-There’s a painting of a rural town above the entrance to the building.
Almost looks like Winhill, the part of town with the flower hotel. Strange artistic choice for such a futuristic city.
-Hey, my SeeD level is going down! What gives?
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Esthar - City
-The colors in this place are beyond vibrant.
-Teleporters/elevators around the city are pretty convenient.
-Two girls talking about the moon.
The moon keeps coming up. Are we gonna pull an FFIV and head there for endgame – like, confronting the Ultimecia/Adel hybrid in her moon lair?
-No sorceresses have reigned since Adel 17 years ago. Atrocities committed during her reign, but peace since then.
-They didn’t intend to isolate themselves apparently. It just sorta happened.
-Dr. Odine has a reputation as fickle, constantly changing his mind about various projects.
-hahaha – the dangers of electronic purchasing systems in Esthar as we see a kid who accidentally punched buttons on the terminal and made her mom purchase 999 Potions.
-Upgraded Squall’s weapon to Twin Lance, Selphie’s to Morning Star.
-All the shopping is done through a computer terminal.
-Cheryl’s shop is the only one closed.
-HOLY SHIT MOON CONFIRMED MOON CONFIRMED (not quite, but it’s definitely looking like space may be a thing in some fashion)
Someone asked Squall how he got here. I went with the joke answer of “we came in a space ship,” and she replied, “Spaceship? I thought only we had the technology to make them…”
-She also tells us that Gardens were manufactured in Esthar.
-Some people left for Fisherman’s Horizon after the Sorceress was out of power.
Conversation in the streets:
PERS. #1: “It’s coming again.”
#2: “It’s inevitable.”
#1: “Last time, it came down near Trabia.”
#2: “The Lunar Cry…”
-This city really has rejuvenated my love of Triple Triad. Not because I’m winning a lot – my win rate is probably 50-60%? – but because I feel like I have control again over the cards.
-The President is rarely in.
-The Esthar Airstation is closed temporarily. That must be the airport or space station. Maybe that’s how I get an airship in FFVIII! Esthar will be like, “Thou must undergo this task so take this that thou mayest fly towards the dawn!” and then they give me an airship.
Gratuitous Esthar shot.
I should write games I’d be awesome right.
-A guard warns us that Dr. Odine doesn’t really care about people, especially research subjects. That’s probably my signal to get back to Rinoa.
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Overworld – Esthar City
-hahaha - the overworld here is even urban and futuristic!
-You can see camouflage barrier they put up around the city.
-Just saw Edea’s limit break, Sorcery – Ice Strike.
It’s awesome.
-Getting in a ton of random encounters and I don’t even care, because it’s so much fun to use Ice Strike.
-Arrived at the L****** Pandora Laboratory, but I think this is the wrong place. Can’t really do anything here. Heading back to the city.
-IT’S AN OCHU
KILL IT WITH FIRE
-Ok, not sure where the Lunar Gate is. I thought it was an east entrance to the city, but not sure anymore.
-lol. Found the FFVIII version of the Weekly World News.
Except for the fact that I myself saw this and now that I know the moon is a thing and possibly scary so maybe that UFO is a legit possibility for an enemy.
Call Scully.
-A guard here said that the Lunar Gate is east of the city. Maybe I just keep going past the Pandora Lab.
-I love when Odin thunders out to use his peak swordsmanship to slay… a Bite Bug.
-Found it!
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Next time: Lunar Gate.
