Summary:
Rescuing Dagger from Alexandria with the help of allies old and new.
Tantarian. Beatrix. Beatrix Beatrix Beatrix? Beatrix, Beatrix Beatrix:
Beatrix.
Alexandrian Castle - Searching for Dagger
-Found some Knights of Pluto in a side tower who told me they heard Zorn and Thorn arguing earlier in the main chambers. Let’s head to the main gate then.
-A scholar found a reference to a purple flame. Perhaps the dark matter?
-The jewels we’re looking for aren’t three separate jewels, but rather three shards of a single jewel. Alexandria, Lindblum, and Cleyra all received the individual shards for safekeeping when they were split – so it was an intentional split it seems, not an accidental one. Interesting.
---
Tantarian
-Whoa! Found a book and it challenged me to a fight. Fuck it. Let’s do it, book.
-HOLY CRAP IT OBLITERATED ZIDANE WITH ONE SHOT
-I’m at a loss. Magic doesn’t hurt it. Physical attacks don’t hurt it.
Tantarian, book form.
-It finally opened up and a little dude was inside it. Maybe it’s massive damage to me was counterattacks, and I had to wait until it found the little person or demon or whatever inside and then do damage.
-Now we’re cooking.
-And it annihilated me.
-BLESS. I thought I’d have to do most of this session over from the last moogle, but “Continue” started me right back at the book room. Let’s try again.
Tantarian, demon form.
-Ok, key strat: stay high on health to not get wiped out by Paper Storm. Fight defensively until the book opens to the guy, then hit it once, and fight defensively again.
-Hm. It countered each potion with Paper Storm for massive aoe damage. Maybe I have to wait until demon form to even heal.
-Nope. That’s not it. Tested an attack, and it seems that physical attacks (regardless of the amount of damage done) give it a chance to summon the demon face. Let’s try that, getting it out of book phase and into demon phase as quick as possible.
-It worked. Found the demon face. Healing up, then I’ll try one big attack.
-Noticed something else: physical attacks make the demon face go away, but magic attacks may not. Gotta test further.
-Died again, but that attempt went way better.
-Another death. Two paper storms killed me before I found the demon.
Fuck Paper Storm.
-Next attempt going well. Keep hitting the demon with Fira and the sword art Fira, and he’s not hiding…
-Crap. Didn’t do enough damage. It said “See ya!” and went back to book form.
-Got into the next demon phase, but low on party members. Have to spend time reviging.
-ANOTHER BOOK PHASE GRJKLDSFHDJKLSFHDJKLSF. This is incredibly disheartening. I’m a couple of tries from noping out and hoping it’s still here to fight later.
-SWEET MOTHER OF MERCY I FINALLY GOT HIM HAHAHAHAHAHAHA
-Gave me a ton of AP (didn’t see how much, clicked through for fear of timer – currently 16 min left after that 9 minute fight) and Running Shoes. It said: “You are worthy…” [Non-rhetorical question for y’all: how many AP did Tantarian award?]
-Dunno if I’m actually worthy or not, but that felt great. By far the toughest fight thus far. I also feel a lot more pressure now from the timer because I do NOT want to have to do that again.
-One last note on the Tantarian: this fight was largely won by “Continue” being a thing. If I had to make the run from the moogle on the Red Rose each time, I wouldn’t have given Tantarian more than one or two tries. “Continue” made it possible to learn the fight, to test new things, to solve the puzzle. I love it deeply. [Non-rhetorical question for y’all: was Continue a feature in the PS2 version?]
Alexandrian Castle - Searching for Dagger
-Found some Knights of Pluto in a side tower who told me they heard Zorn and Thorn arguing earlier in the main chambers. Let’s head to the main gate then.
-A scholar found a reference to a purple flame. Perhaps the dark matter?
-The jewels we’re looking for aren’t three separate jewels, but rather three shards of a single jewel. Alexandria, Lindblum, and Cleyra all received the individual shards for safekeeping when they were split – so it was an intentional split it seems, not an accidental one. Interesting.
---
Tantarian
-Whoa! Found a book and it challenged me to a fight. Fuck it. Let’s do it, book.
-HOLY CRAP IT OBLITERATED ZIDANE WITH ONE SHOT
-I’m at a loss. Magic doesn’t hurt it. Physical attacks don’t hurt it.
Tantarian, book form.
-It finally opened up and a little dude was inside it. Maybe it’s massive damage to me was counterattacks, and I had to wait until it found the little person or demon or whatever inside and then do damage.
-Now we’re cooking.
-And it annihilated me.
-BLESS. I thought I’d have to do most of this session over from the last moogle, but “Continue” started me right back at the book room. Let’s try again.
Tantarian, demon form.
-Ok, key strat: stay high on health to not get wiped out by Paper Storm. Fight defensively until the book opens to the guy, then hit it once, and fight defensively again.
-Hm. It countered each potion with Paper Storm for massive aoe damage. Maybe I have to wait until demon form to even heal.
-Nope. That’s not it. Tested an attack, and it seems that physical attacks (regardless of the amount of damage done) give it a chance to summon the demon face. Let’s try that, getting it out of book phase and into demon phase as quick as possible.
-It worked. Found the demon face. Healing up, then I’ll try one big attack.
-Noticed something else: physical attacks make the demon face go away, but magic attacks may not. Gotta test further.
-Died again, but that attempt went way better.
-Another death. Two paper storms killed me before I found the demon.
Fuck Paper Storm.
-Next attempt going well. Keep hitting the demon with Fira and the sword art Fira, and he’s not hiding…
-Crap. Didn’t do enough damage. It said “See ya!” and went back to book form.
-Got into the next demon phase, but low on party members. Have to spend time reviging.
-ANOTHER BOOK PHASE GRJKLDSFHDJKLSFHDJKLSF. This is incredibly disheartening. I’m a couple of tries from noping out and hoping it’s still here to fight later.
-SWEET MOTHER OF MERCY I FINALLY GOT HIM HAHAHAHAHAHAHA
-Gave me a ton of AP (didn’t see how much, clicked through for fear of timer – currently 16 min left after that 9 minute fight) and Running Shoes. It said: “You are worthy…” [Non-rhetorical question for y’all: how many AP did Tantarian award?]
-Dunno if I’m actually worthy or not, but that felt great. By far the toughest fight thus far. I also feel a lot more pressure now from the timer because I do NOT want to have to do that again.
-One last note on the Tantarian: this fight was largely won by “Continue” being a thing. If I had to make the run from the moogle on the Red Rose each time, I wouldn’t have given Tantarian more than one or two tries. “Continue” made it possible to learn the fight, to test new things, to solve the puzzle. I love it deeply. [Non-rhetorical question for y’all: was Continue a feature in the PS2 version?]
---
Alexandrian Castle – More Searching for Dagger
-Made a beeline for the Queen’s room, running past the guards. Not exploring other rooms. I simply have no idea how long the rest of this will take me, so don’t wanna risk over-exploring.
-The purple flame people kept talking about wasn’t the Dark Matter, but rather a purple candle that I pulled and opened a secret passage through the fireplace.
-Got here. The extraction room. Zorn and Thorn still over her unconscious body.
-Boss time. Zorn and Thorn.
-Their schtick is that Thorn gives Zorn “meteor power.” This terrified me at first, but it turns out that it’s doesn’t let him cast “Meteor,” but rather “Meteorite,” a decent (but not super powerful) group attack. I just whaled away on Thorn and they backed off.
-They flee, doing the standard “We’ll get you next time, Gadget!” thing.
-We head to Dagger on the table.
-Steiner is distraught, to put it lightly. Wants to no longer be a knight.
Feels unworthy of anything.
-BUT PHEW. Freya says Dagger’s heart is still beating. I wasn’t really afraid that she’d die, but still – phew!
-The timer seems to have stopped with about 10 minutes to go. So I could’ve explored around a bit more for treasure and new lore, but I don’t feel bad. I had no way of knowing I was okay on time this first playthrough.
---
Friendship
-An ATE. Marcus in the Evil Forest.
-He’s exhausted. Can barely stand up from the running.
-But he’s coming. Friendship!!!
---
Escape from Alexandria
-heeeee – I get that it’s a game mechanic, but it’s still hilarious to me that in the midst of all this chaos and the ticking clock, we can rest in a tent with the moogle that appeared here.
-This moogle is Mosh. Mosh just received a letter from Kupo – is that the first moogle we met? The letter is about what Kupo heard about Garnet’s disappearance and whether she still believes in Queen Brahne.
-The party runs back up the stairs with Zidane carrying Dagger.
-It just hit me – the Alexandrians are all about the Red Rose. Brahne’s bedroom has carpets with a big red rose. I wonder if this is a callback to FFII. In FFII, the good guys (rebels against an evil emperor) had a defining key word/password: “Wild Rose.”
-Steiner takes this moment in the Queen’s room to rage out against her betrayal.
-They rest. Steiner wants Zidane to be his usual teasing self, to rip on Steiner for being incompetent. He feels he deserves it. But Zidane does not.
-This was a bad time to rest. Zorn and Thorn come back in the room, with backup.
-BEATRIX! I legit have no clue what’s going to happen right now. Will she kill Steiner? Will she join us? Will she take us into custody? THIS IS SO EXCITING
-Another boss fight. Now against Beatrix. And this time, we don’t have the super awesome Quina to Mighty Guard us.
-Stole a Survival Vest.
-She hurts bad this time, using brutal lightning attacks. If I die, my strat next time will be to swap each character’s armor to include one lightning damage reduction piece if possible.
-Victory!! Though like all “victories” against Beatrix, she doesn’t actually die. She just gets fed up and uses an ability (that was a limit break from FFVII iirc) against us, Climhazzard.
-…and doesn’t kill us. Tells us to never come to Alexandria again. This isn’t her being foolhardy though, this is her being merciful.
-Zidane notices too. He tells her that as general of Alexandria, Beatrix’s duty is to protect the royal family, including Dagger.
-Beatrix sees Dagger on the couch, unconscious. It hits her that Brahne really was going to kill her. omgomgomgomg….
OMGOMGOMG
BEATRIX: “Steiner, it is time for you to accept the truth. All this time I have been mistaken.”
-FHDJKLSFHDJKLS SHE ASKS FORGIVENESS OF FREYA FOR BURMECIA
-And Freya of course says it’s too late… but not too late to help Dagger.
-Beatrix says she’ll try to help.
Alexandrian Castle – More Searching for Dagger
-Made a beeline for the Queen’s room, running past the guards. Not exploring other rooms. I simply have no idea how long the rest of this will take me, so don’t wanna risk over-exploring.
-The purple flame people kept talking about wasn’t the Dark Matter, but rather a purple candle that I pulled and opened a secret passage through the fireplace.
-Got here. The extraction room. Zorn and Thorn still over her unconscious body.
-Boss time. Zorn and Thorn.
-Their schtick is that Thorn gives Zorn “meteor power.” This terrified me at first, but it turns out that it’s doesn’t let him cast “Meteor,” but rather “Meteorite,” a decent (but not super powerful) group attack. I just whaled away on Thorn and they backed off.
-They flee, doing the standard “We’ll get you next time, Gadget!” thing.
-We head to Dagger on the table.
-Steiner is distraught, to put it lightly. Wants to no longer be a knight.
Feels unworthy of anything.
-BUT PHEW. Freya says Dagger’s heart is still beating. I wasn’t really afraid that she’d die, but still – phew!
-The timer seems to have stopped with about 10 minutes to go. So I could’ve explored around a bit more for treasure and new lore, but I don’t feel bad. I had no way of knowing I was okay on time this first playthrough.
---
Friendship
-An ATE. Marcus in the Evil Forest.
-He’s exhausted. Can barely stand up from the running.
-But he’s coming. Friendship!!!
---
Escape from Alexandria
-heeeee – I get that it’s a game mechanic, but it’s still hilarious to me that in the midst of all this chaos and the ticking clock, we can rest in a tent with the moogle that appeared here.
-This moogle is Mosh. Mosh just received a letter from Kupo – is that the first moogle we met? The letter is about what Kupo heard about Garnet’s disappearance and whether she still believes in Queen Brahne.
-The party runs back up the stairs with Zidane carrying Dagger.
-It just hit me – the Alexandrians are all about the Red Rose. Brahne’s bedroom has carpets with a big red rose. I wonder if this is a callback to FFII. In FFII, the good guys (rebels against an evil emperor) had a defining key word/password: “Wild Rose.”
-Steiner takes this moment in the Queen’s room to rage out against her betrayal.
-They rest. Steiner wants Zidane to be his usual teasing self, to rip on Steiner for being incompetent. He feels he deserves it. But Zidane does not.
-This was a bad time to rest. Zorn and Thorn come back in the room, with backup.
-BEATRIX! I legit have no clue what’s going to happen right now. Will she kill Steiner? Will she join us? Will she take us into custody? THIS IS SO EXCITING
-Another boss fight. Now against Beatrix. And this time, we don’t have the super awesome Quina to Mighty Guard us.
-Stole a Survival Vest.
-She hurts bad this time, using brutal lightning attacks. If I die, my strat next time will be to swap each character’s armor to include one lightning damage reduction piece if possible.
-Victory!! Though like all “victories” against Beatrix, she doesn’t actually die. She just gets fed up and uses an ability (that was a limit break from FFVII iirc) against us, Climhazzard.
-…and doesn’t kill us. Tells us to never come to Alexandria again. This isn’t her being foolhardy though, this is her being merciful.
-Zidane notices too. He tells her that as general of Alexandria, Beatrix’s duty is to protect the royal family, including Dagger.
-Beatrix sees Dagger on the couch, unconscious. It hits her that Brahne really was going to kill her. omgomgomgomg….
OMGOMGOMG
BEATRIX: “Steiner, it is time for you to accept the truth. All this time I have been mistaken.”
-FHDJKLSFHDJKLS SHE ASKS FORGIVENESS OF FREYA FOR BURMECIA
-And Freya of course says it’s too late… but not too late to help Dagger.
-Beatrix says she’ll try to help.
-She casts some kind of healing spell on Dagger. Zorn and Thorn can’t
believe what they’re seeing, insisting that it won’t work, that their
spell was too strong.
BUT IT WORKS – EAT IT ZORN AND THORN
-Enter Brahne. SHIT JUST KEEPS ESCALATINGGGGGGG
-Brahne orders Zorn and Thorn to throw Garnet in prison, AND BEATRIX FUCKING SAYS NO
[Steven Universe spoilers] Fur snyyf fubeg bs pnyyvat ure n pybq evtug gb ure snpr, ohg abg ol zhpu. Gur vzcnpg ba zr vf fgvyy gur fnzr.
-Queen Brahne leaves, allowing Zorn and Thorn to try solving this. Vivi, Zidane, and Steiner make a break for it, while Freya and Beatrix say behind to guard the escape.
-Z&T send in a “Bandersnatch,” that most frumious [later edit: and adorable! It’s like a toothy tiger bunny] of beasts, to take us out.
-BEATRIX AND FREYA ARE TEAMED UP AND I CANT TAKE ITTTTTT
-I GET TO USE BEATRIX, AND HER SUPER OP ABILITIES OH GOD PLLEAAASE LET ME KEEP HER AS A PERMANENT PARTY MEMBER
-Rejoining Zidane, Vivi, Dagger, and Steiner. Making their way downstairs, walking fast, faces pass and they’re exit-bound.
-Some black mages attack. Type C.
-Steiner’s thinking. Beatrix served the Queen her whole life and now turns against her to protect the princess. Freya lost her Burmecian comrades, but now fights to protect the princess. The Queen will likely kill them both if she can.
-A request from Steiner to Zidane: to get the princess to Doctor Tot, out of Alexandria. I mean… that’s fine, but are you not coming?
-OH. I see. He wants to go join Freya and Beatrix now to help protect the rear of the escape directly. Cool. I thought it’d be a foolish self-sacrificial act, but this is reasonable.
-The remainder run.
-We rejoin Beatrix and Freya and I had no idea I needed this team-up in my life so desperately until FFIX gave it to me.
-Steiner runs up on the stairs to back them up.
STEINER: “Grant me the honor of assisting you brave knights!”
-Back with Zidane, Vivi, and Dagger. Trying to escape through the Gargan Roo… and they fall into Zorn and Thorn’s same damn cage trap from before.
-Zorn and Thorn start to gloat on the ledge above.
-LOLOLOLOL AND MARCUS COMES UP FROM BEHIND THORN AND KNOCKS HIM RIGHT THE FUCK OUT
-AND BLANK (BLAAAAANK HI!) SNEAKS UP ON ZORN AND DOES THE SAME!!!!
-We get a brief flashback to the moments after Marcus used the Supersoft on Blank. Marcus telling Blank to hurry up, that they have to help Dagger and Zidane. I wish Steiner could’ve seen that.
-Marcus and Blank will block pursuit while Dagger, Zidane, and Vivi hop in the gargant.
-Dagger is feeling guilty about all the people staying behind. Zidane gives some of the best support he can, telling her that while they are fighting for her, they are also fighting because they know they have to fight against Brahne.
It’s their choice.
---
Next time: Back to the Gargan Roo.
BUT IT WORKS – EAT IT ZORN AND THORN
-Enter Brahne. SHIT JUST KEEPS ESCALATINGGGGGGG
-Brahne orders Zorn and Thorn to throw Garnet in prison, AND BEATRIX FUCKING SAYS NO
[Steven Universe spoilers] Fur snyyf fubeg bs pnyyvat ure n pybq evtug gb ure snpr, ohg abg ol zhpu. Gur vzcnpg ba zr vf fgvyy gur fnzr.
-Queen Brahne leaves, allowing Zorn and Thorn to try solving this. Vivi, Zidane, and Steiner make a break for it, while Freya and Beatrix say behind to guard the escape.
-Z&T send in a “Bandersnatch,” that most frumious [later edit: and adorable! It’s like a toothy tiger bunny] of beasts, to take us out.
-BEATRIX AND FREYA ARE TEAMED UP AND I CANT TAKE ITTTTTT
-I GET TO USE BEATRIX, AND HER SUPER OP ABILITIES OH GOD PLLEAAASE LET ME KEEP HER AS A PERMANENT PARTY MEMBER
-Rejoining Zidane, Vivi, Dagger, and Steiner. Making their way downstairs, walking fast, faces pass and they’re exit-bound.
-Some black mages attack. Type C.
-Steiner’s thinking. Beatrix served the Queen her whole life and now turns against her to protect the princess. Freya lost her Burmecian comrades, but now fights to protect the princess. The Queen will likely kill them both if she can.
-A request from Steiner to Zidane: to get the princess to Doctor Tot, out of Alexandria. I mean… that’s fine, but are you not coming?
-OH. I see. He wants to go join Freya and Beatrix now to help protect the rear of the escape directly. Cool. I thought it’d be a foolish self-sacrificial act, but this is reasonable.
-The remainder run.
-We rejoin Beatrix and Freya and I had no idea I needed this team-up in my life so desperately until FFIX gave it to me.
-Steiner runs up on the stairs to back them up.
STEINER: “Grant me the honor of assisting you brave knights!”
-Back with Zidane, Vivi, and Dagger. Trying to escape through the Gargan Roo… and they fall into Zorn and Thorn’s same damn cage trap from before.
-Zorn and Thorn start to gloat on the ledge above.
-LOLOLOLOL AND MARCUS COMES UP FROM BEHIND THORN AND KNOCKS HIM RIGHT THE FUCK OUT
-AND BLANK (BLAAAAANK HI!) SNEAKS UP ON ZORN AND DOES THE SAME!!!!
-We get a brief flashback to the moments after Marcus used the Supersoft on Blank. Marcus telling Blank to hurry up, that they have to help Dagger and Zidane. I wish Steiner could’ve seen that.
-Marcus and Blank will block pursuit while Dagger, Zidane, and Vivi hop in the gargant.
-Dagger is feeling guilty about all the people staying behind. Zidane gives some of the best support he can, telling her that while they are fighting for her, they are also fighting because they know they have to fight against Brahne.
It’s their choice.
---
Next time: Back to the Gargan Roo.
