Fossil Roo
-I have two paths I can try – the north or south. I’ll start with south.
-Found Fairy Earrings, with Level Up on them. Enjoy, Vivi!
-Quina ate a manta ray looking thing and got Level 4 Holy.
-North path next. It took me to a place to switch the gargant’s route.
-Ok. This took some getting used to, but I think I understand how this works now. Found a new area, with the Treasure Hunter here.
-I’m opening treasure chests as I go, but my memories from the beginning of Chrono Trigger make me hesitant about whether there’ll be any negative consequences after the Treasure Hunter told me to lay off the treasure.
-Walls of ivy, and now the treasure hunter is letting me “excavate” the area. Pick-axe mini-game. Suspicious looking pile of rocks.
-YES! Poking at it a bunch eventually drew out a “Ku…” The moogle is hiding here.
-Kuppo! Got an achievement, “Peek-a-Boo.” Kuppo wants me to give mail to Kupo.
-Found a treasure that had been bugging me with its inaccessibility. Lamia’s Tiara.
-I seem to have suffered no loss of reputation with the Treasure Hunter. Phew.
-Time to leave. That was fun! I was a bit afraid that it’d be frustratingly labyrinthine, but it was very non-frustratingly labyrinthine. (The most immediate labyrinth that I remember finding a bit on the frustrating side was the Tomb of the Unnamed King or whatever it was called from FFVIII. Still a fun place, but definitely felt more lost.)
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The Outer Continent
-WE MADE IT! And the world just basically tripled in size.
-The Donna Plains to start out.
-And my first enemy is the Ragtime Mouse. He asks me whether the 15th Lindblum War was in 1600. I remember there was a statue commemorating the Knights of Pluto in the 16th Lindblum War, but I really have no idea what year it was.
Flipped a coin. It came up tails, which I decided would be “False,” and… correct!
-Fought a Goblin Mage. Ate it, learned Goblin Punch.
-Got a Peridot from a Griffon. It can teach Dagger to summon Ramuh. [Later edit: lots of peridots as the session went on. Perhaps peridot is the new “ore.”]
-There’s a structure that looks like a building or a town balancing on two long planks across a valley.
-HEY IT’S THE LADYBUG THAT THE FRIENDLY GHOST TOLD ME TO GIVE THEIR REGARDS TO!
-Gave her two Ore. She gave me 20 AP, which YES PLEASE. Also told me to give my regards to Yeti, so I expect to see this kind of encounter again when I reach a snowy area.
-HOLA GRACIALSGC!!
High health. I accidentally killed it testing out Ramuh. Hopefully I can find another for Quina to snack on. On the Dyshnose Shores.
-Found another. Learned 1,000 Needles. Quina died for it, since the Cactuar’s deathrattle is 1,000 Needles, but unlike FFV’s blue mage, they didn’t need to live through the fight to learn it.
-I spy with my little eye a Qu Marsh.
-Major mechanical improvement from past FFs: for the first cast of Ramuh, we saw the full thing. He emerges from the sky, drops his staff, rains lightning on the enemy. Awesome!
Even better? THE SUBSEQUENT RAMUH CAST JUST SHOWED THE END OF THE ANIMATION!!!
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Qu Marsh
-The tutorial moogles are here?
-Quale’s here too? They travel fast. I won’t worry about it too much – just gonna chalk it up to gameplay mechanics, like how Choco can be summoned wherever.
-Frog catch time! Caught 16.
Quale gave Quina a Silk Robe and an Elixir as rewards. Still not sure what’s up with the frog gender being mentioned.
-That’s all I see. Didn’t find a hut or anyone living here. Just the froggies and Quale.
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The Outer Continent
-Chocobo tracks. Reunion with Choco!
-Found another treasure chest. 9 Phoenix Pinions, 5 Phoenix Downs, 12 Peridots, and Diamond Gloves. [Steven Universe spoilers: Pna lbh vzntvar gur furre birejuryzvat nzbhag bs areqnyvpvbhf wbl sebz 12 Crevqbgf gbtrgure?]
-Nobody in the current party can wear the Diamond Gloves.
-Huge tract of woods here, the Magdalene Forest.
-Another Ragtime Mouse encounter. The question: true or false, the Chocobo Forest is located between the South Gate and Lindblum. Hm. I don’t think so. I mean, it is, but not immediately. Like, if you’re running on a beeline, you don’t hit the Chocobo Forest. I’ll say false.
-Wrong lol. Whoops.
-Found a new area amidst the Magdalene Forest.
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Dead Forest
-The forest certainly doesn’t sound dead. Lots of animal life hooting and making noises. Owls about.
-Some ominous sign-work.
“This road leads to a dead end.”
-First fight is against some level 20 mushrooms, Myconids. Good, by virtue of not being, say, Grand Dragons.
-Two paths. Left or right. I’m a lefty, so I’ll go left.
-WHOA WTF
-THAT’S SOME LOST WOODS BULLSHIT RIGHT THERE
-I went left, the air went wavery (like in a desert), and I popped back out of the entrance.
-This is one unique owl. Something about it makes me imagine it voiced by Ian Richardson.
Zemzelett.
-A trippy owl to boot. Its spells included Rainbow Wind and Psychokinesis. WTF is going on in this forest?
-Same thing with the right path. Some definite shenanigans going on here. I’ll come back later.
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The Outer Continent
-I was really hoping for a chocobo forest. No luck.
-Only one place left to go.
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Next time: into that structure/town/thing overhanging the valley.
