Thursday, March 24, 2016

FFVIII – Part 75: Greatest Interdimensional Hero

Summary: Exploration of Tears’ Point, then the L. Pandora. Rescued Ellone from Seifer with the help of some old friends in Fujin and Raijin, and ultimately an even older friend. Polka dot pants and all.


The Ragnarok

-Selphie wants to blast her way through into the Pandora.

-Awesome attack cinematic as the Ragnarok pushes through the Pandora’s shields.




-Ok. Look. The Falcon will probably always be my favorite airship. But the one that’s most badass? The Ragnarok. By a LONG shot. IT’S GOT MISSILES AND MACHINES GUNS AND FUCKING DRAGON CLAWS AND IT’S A DRAGON

-So we’re in the Pandora itself.

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Tears’ Point

-I’m gonna back out and try my hand at Tears’ Point down below before proceeding in here. I know the game is telling me to just move directly within the Pandora, and I may later end up at Tears’ End for the story, but I’ll head to Tears’ End on the off chance that it’s a bonus area with a GF or something neat to get.

-Another brutal Iron Giant and I’m at the center. Got “Solomon Ring.” Not sure what it is, but I’ll save before I try using it.

-Those statues in the middle are both huge and creepy business.

-Yikes! Behemoth plus Imps. If I ever had any doubt that I was approaching end game stuff soon-ish, this obliterates it.

-Not much else beyond a Reflect draw point and that ring.



-Maybe I have to use this in combat?

-Ok, I’ve hardly ever done this, but I’ll do it now: I’m going to save and try it in combat. If it’s a single use piece of awesomeness, I’ll reload.

-Hm. I can’t even use it in combat. Maybe I have to head back to the center of Tears’ Point and use it there…

-Fought a Behemoth on my way back in. Really tough monster (as is to be expected), and the fact that she retaliates with Meteor doesn’t help.



Siren silences her. Still a ridiculously long fight because of her massive HP.

-Quistis learned Mighty Guard. Go Quistis!

-Back at the middle of Tears’ Point and still can’t use Solomon Ring. Will try it every so often in case it needs a particular location to use. Definitely GF-related.

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L. Pandora

-Fujin and Raijin! Boss time again. They want us to hand over Rinoa. Screw that.



-They kick my ass.



Part of it is that they absorb thunder, which Squall has junctioned, but this is as good a time as any to go back to the drawing board with my party set-up.

*20 minutes later*

-Ready to go now. With more HP all around and Bio on Squall rather than Thundaga, I obliterate them. They retreat.

-Hi, Biggs and Wedge!

LOLOL - They’re annoyed by having Seifer as a superior. Biggs decides to quit on the spot.



I was expecting some huge boss fight, and instead they walk off the job.

-Found a strange item: “Luvluv G.” It raises a character’s compatibility with all GFs. Names tickles me. :D

-Getting a bit lost down here.

-Found a new Zell limit break, My Final Heaven.

-Something weird here. The Iron Giants go down WAY faster than the ones in Tears’ Point. [Non-rhetorical question for y’all, as long as the answer isn’t plot spoilery: If they scale, why is that? Am I misunderstanding something about the nature of scaling? I assumed that all enemies of a type would be equal no matter where I found them.] Same goes for the Imps in here. Either that, or my junctioning since losing to Fujin/Raijin is that much better.

-Came to a central chamber where three elevators meet. Came from #3, let’s try #2 next… nope, that’s the entrance.

-What about door #1?

-After some walking, Fujin and Raijin! But they’re not alone. They bring down that mech thing that blew my party off the Pandora.


Mobile Type 8.

-It retaliates to physical attacks with Twin Homing Laser.

-YIKES! It went into a second phase and reduced all my party’s HP to 1. Squall used Renzokuken, I got “Perfect,” and finished it off. That was close.

-Ahead, Fujin and Raijin are holding Ellone. Seifer’s up above watching.



-YES HAHAHAHA EAT IT SEIFER

F&R say they’ve had enough and turn on Seifer, letting Ellone go. She heads outside to meet up with Laguna.

-Fujin has a Silent Bob moment. Silent Bob is a character in Kevin Smith movies who rarely says anything, but when he speaks it’s profound. Fujin here tells Seifer she still supports him, and will help him do whatever it takes to achieve his dreams – but he’s being manipulated.



What a wonderful friend. (That sounds sarcastic, but I mean it sincerely.) She verbally wrecks Seifer, all while maintaining her loyalty and supporting him as best she can. What a great character. F&R leave.

-Seifer hops down, says he’s done with the “knight” thing. Wow, did Fujin actually get through to him?

SEIFER: “I guess you could call me a young revolutionary.”

Oh. Never mind. He still sounds like he’s a proud homeowner living on Jackwagon Lane. He wants to fight us – doesn’t want to share anything with us.

-OHHH GET WRECKED, HERE COMES ODIN! ZANTETSUKEN!!

…wait wtf!?!?! Odin charged Seifer and SEIFER got the best of him. Sliced ODIN in half!



SEIFER: “I won’t go down that easy!” Ok, that’s really funny. Well played, FFVIII. Real boss fight.

-fjdklashfadklsfh

watiwaitwaitwaitwait

HDJKLHFDJKLSFHDKS



AHFJKLDAGHFJKLADHFJKLADHFLDSHFJKLDHSFKLHDSJKLF



I’m CRYING HAHAHA THIS IS THE BEST???

YOU’VE GOTTA BE SHITTING ME IT’S GILGAMESSHHHHHH

After Seifer killed Odin, Odin’s sword flew into the sky and a hand grabbed it. I assumed that Odin didn’t really “die,” but just got sent back to the ether or wherever he hangs out when he’s not using Zantetsuken and grabbed it.

In hindsight, I see that was Gilgamesh’s hand. Gilgamesh, the weaponmaster, always on the lookout for Excalibur. I hope this was it, and that he can now head back through the interdimensional rift for a life of fun and adventure with Bartz.

-god you have no idea how HAPPY I am right now that I got to see this.



And Gilgamesh was the one who dealt the final blow to that asshat Seifer.

-Seifer bounces back up…. And he took Rinoa? Boo. Zell joins me.

-Now this is getting creepy. “Succession of Witches” starts playing. Seifer drags Rinoa towards Adel as Seifer, his dreams dashed, finds himself backed into a corner. Adel’s corner.

-Really nice touch: the background is stacticky, wavery. Not sure if it is meant to demonstrate the nightmare state for these two, Rinoa’s dizziness, or Seifer’s desperation, but it could go any way.

-Fade to black. Save point. Looks like end of another “disc.”

Lord, that was AWESOME!

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Next time: Onto the next disc!