Monday, June 6, 2016

FFIX – Part 14: Tales of Lindblum (part 2)

Summary: Continuing to explore Lindblum.


Lindblum Industrial District – Zidane

-Cid VIII sounds like a great ruler.

-OH MY GOD CID VIII MOVES FROM GREAT RULER TO EPIC RULER. He was known for having cats and since then, a lot of engineers in the city got cats.

-The Doom Pub is serving Dark Stew. Uhh… I’ll pass. (Turns out they’re out anyway.)

-For any interested, I’m currently 21-14-7 in Tetra Master.

-Grandma Pickle’s grandson, Shig, is in the Doom Pub. He thinks Grandma loves pickles more than him.

-Seems like the new-fangled engine that they’re working on to replace the Mist engine is a steam engine.

-BLESS THIS DISTRICT. It’s full of cats.



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Steam Engine

-Picked up this ATE after arriving in the Theater District.

-LOL STEINER STILL LOST



-He’s beneath one of the docks and sees the massive Hilda Garde 2. A steam engine.

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Lindblum Theater District – Zidane

-I may have just found my first rare card – Cerberus, won from Thomas.



-There’s an art contest. The winner gets to pain the church walls.

-There are a lot of fans of an actor named Lowell. I seem to remember this kind of fan club being a thing in Crisis Core as well – are actor fan clubs common in Japanese culture?

-Zidane found the Tantalus building. I see a doll up on one of the beds, so maybe they got out!

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What can I do?

-A Dagger-centric ATE. She’s in the castle guest room.

-This is awesome! The time syncs up. The bell rang in Zidane’s building in the theater district, and she hears it to start this event.

-She wants to walk around, but the guards don’t want to let her. Too many people in town for the Festival of the Hunt, not enough security.

-She feels a bit useless. Wants to go out, work to help her mother. But stays put.

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Lindblum Theater District – Zidane

-Some kids wander in. They’re familiar with Zidane, since he was kind of a big deal in Tantalus, and tell him about some of the “treasures” they found for Uncle Baku.

-I’m not at all surprised that Zidane is great with these kids.

-LOL – they know Zidane well, asking immediately if he’s asked out the princess yet.



-The doll here is a “Mini-Burmecia.” It’s a key item in my inventory, a rare piece of a triptych.

-Hee! The Kupo Nut is a key item, and it’s description is glorious.



-this is amazing. The text for the Moogle Flute is a quote from a sleeptalking Baku: “Hey, let me touch that red… bonbon-lookin’ thing on your head… Zzz…”

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Baku and his Crew

-Another ATE. WOOHOO!!! Baku’s okay!

-The music here reminds me of Slam Shuffle from FFVI.



-They found a way out of the forest before it petrified thanks to Blank, who pointed the way to the river in time.

-They debate whether to save Blank. I thought the answer would be an easy yes, but Baku brings up a good point: is it worth saving Blank if doing so means freeing ALL of the Evil Forest? Probably not.

-To his credit, Baku still wants to look for a way to free just Blank.

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Lindblum Theater District – Zidane

-Found the actor, Lowell Bridges, surrounded by fans.

-I love the name of his show: “Moogle Wanna-Be 2.” From the company famous for singing “If I Were a Chocobo.” Gotta be honest, both of those sounds about 7,000 times better than Loveless.

-Heh, Zidane tries being a big-wig for these fans, but nobody has heard of him.

-Oh, that’s not Lowell himself. That guy is a bouncer trying to keep the fans out of the theater.

-Here he comes and the crowd goes WILD!!!


The Zidane jealousy is real.

-Lowell looks AWESOME! He’s got great hair and a big blue hat and I hope we get more of him.

-A dude in a Moogle costume wanders out past the crowd still clamoring for Lowell. Wait a sec.



-That’s Lowell, right? Hahahahaha

-Got another Cerberus card from a game. Maybe it’s not a rare.

-You know, for all the whining I’ve done about Tetra Master’s unclear rules, I get the gist of it at least, and it’s a lot of fun. The randomness in terms of the card-on-card battles is a positive for me. Sure, I’d like to know what the letters do, but it’s still pretty fun. Currently 44-17-12.

-Found Lowell in the artist’s studio. He (or she? Not sure, though I assumed from the crowd that Lowell is supposed to be male) came here in secret to get his portrait painted.

-He gave me an autograph! It’s a key item, that says he’s from Treno. Famous for his masculine charm.



-The artist, Michael, seems to dislike Lowell. Warns me not to get involved with him. Hm.

-Picked up Lowell’s Moogle Suit. Seems rude of us. But the flavor text implies that Ilia’s grandmother back in Alexandria would like it for Ilia, so I’ll try to remember to stop off there and give it to her.

-Lowell wants to amplify Michael, get his talents into acting but he’s disdainful of acting. Are these two an item? I’m getting that vibe a bit, but I’m doubtful because every other time I’ve hoped to see an overtly/canonically queer relationship in this series it’s been just me misreading something.

-Tried interacting with Lowell’s fans now that I have his autograph, but nothing changed.

-Time to head back to Lindblum Castle.

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Lindblum Castle

-Back to the guest room. Steiner is here, and the princess is gone.



-Steiner’s worried for her, and I don’t blame him given some of the crap that’s happened.

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Next time: searching for Garnet.