The Iifa Tree
-One fight on the way over here. Amarant’s special abilities are called “Flair.” The only one I have access to right now is “Spare Change.” If it’s anything like past games, it’s high damage but spends my gil. Saving that for boss fights.
-Amarant hears that they defeated the beast that produces the Mist and is awestruck at the party’s power. It’s especially hilarious because as he’s thinking how wonderful they must be, Zidane is in his butt-scratching idle animation.
-Kuja flies in above. STANDING on his winged dragon, because that’s how he rolls.
-Says he’s looked forward to this day! Wow. He’s not even mad that the Mist is gone. (Or he hasn’t noticed, which seems unlikely.)
KUJA: “Now it no longer matters if the Iifa Tree is liberated! It means nothing to me! Mwahaha… the tree is so beautiful! Its beauty becomes the great mother tree that lives among the stars. ”
Color me confused. Liberated? He was trying to free the tree?
-One possibility: us defeating the Soulcage was just breaking open the prison, releasing the Iifa Tree’s true form.
-Kuja wants to watch whatever’s about to happen happen. That’s probably not a good thing.
-Party selection time again before fighting Kuja. I’d want Quina with me, but they’re not an option currently. After this, I’ll have to remember to try checking out the Qu Marsh on this continent in case they wandered back over there.
-Really loving Kuja’s music. This sinister orchestral thing. The lone violin is really effective.
-Kuja’s on the trunk. We can’t get there immediately, and the monkey-tailed Zidane is the only one comfortable with climbing.
-lol. Zidane has a plan to use the grass around here to lure a Gargant to bring them all to the trunk of the tree, but Amarant’s just like “really dude?” and picks up a few party members and delivers them himself to the tree.
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Trunk of the Iifa Tree
-Scene switches to Kuja.
“The weak lose their freedom to the strong. Such is the way of the strong, and it is the providence of nature that only the strong survive. That is why I needed strength. I learned of powers that would daunt even him… over ten years ago.”
-A few things.
a) It TOTALLY fits Kuja’s character that he’d be villain-monologuing to himself. He has that dramatic flair that I buy it.
b) “Daunt even him.” An even bigger bad is teased. Or perhaps a Big Good, if he opposes Kuja. But probably Bad.
c) “Over ten years ago.” The destruction of Madain Sari. He didn’t learn of it ten years ago (which would imply that seeing the city’s destruction was the first he learned of it), but rather OVER ten years ago, perhaps implying that he learned of the power before the hurricane and in fact summoned it himself to test that power out.
He’s got forces squirreled away somewhere, ready and waiting.
He expects Brahne to show up.
-Ok, my party is now Zidane, Dagger, Amarant, and Vivi.
-The party each goes through their reasons for being ready for this. Vivi sees Kuja as creator of black mages. Eiko… well, any enemy of Zidane’s is an enemy of hers.
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Confrontating Kuja
-Kuja was expecting them. He’s very casual about this meeting, and earns my undying hatred by calling Vivi a “bloodthirsty little puppet.”
-He likes being a “behind the scenes” guy. Saying that he didn’t create war on the Mist Continent, just gave others the tools to make it happen if they so choose. (Though from what he said about revealing himself, I get the sense that he won’t be behind the scenes much longer.)
-Kuja made his weapons out of “the dregs of souls?” My time in the Iifa Tree makes me not that surprised that there’s a necromantic element to the Mist and to his magic, but where did he get the souls from in the first place to churn and process?
-Kuja is the frigging devil. He doesn’t just want destruction - and frankly, I’m not sure yet what he wants – but he does seem to relish people feeling awful and seeing the worst in others. Even now, Dagger defends Brahne as sweet and innocent before being corrupted by Kuja, which he contests. Disparages Brahne as consumed by greed (not exactly wrong).
KUJA: “First act: The End of the Ugly Desire. It’s showtime!”
I’ve mentioned this before, but he really pulls off the theatrical villain in a way that seems 1000x more genuine, natural, and effective than Genesis.
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Showtime
-Queen Brahne’s navy is here, with Brahne at the helm.
She wants to take down Kuja.
-She wants her mages to all focus on unleashing on massive spell to take him out. Meteo?
-Dagger is shocked that Brahne wants to continue conquest beyond just one continent. But it’s not like this disproves her claim that Kuja corrupted Brahne – all it says is how deeply the corruption went.
-Ah. Here we go. There may be no more Mist, but the monsters created by the Mist still lurk. That’s Kuja’s army.
-Combat. Two monsters, “Mistodons” (lol).
Creepy design, but not too tough.
-Amarant wants us to sit back and watch Brahne and Kuja fight each other, weaken each other. Not a bad strategy. Mist monsters versus Alexandrian navy.
-But Dagger won’t allow it. She’s not neutral here. These aren’t two random enemies she wants to destroy. She still wants to protect and save Brahne.
-Zidane protests, reminding Dagger of all the horrors Brahne has committed and that she’s not even Dagger’s real mother, but Dagger says “fuck that” and I completely understand. She was Dagger’s adoptive mother for a long time, and it sounds like she was a great mother to her before she changed. Not willing to throw that away. Really nuanced, subtle, and beautiful moment for Dagger here.
-Dagger runs off to find the eidolon imprisoned near here. A Mistodon stops, preventing us from following Dagger immediately.
-Mocchi the moogle is here. Got a letter from Stiltzkin. A simple, powerful letter asking whether the Mist being gone is really a good thing.
-We chase Dagger, pursued by Mistodons. They can cast Mist which puts us to sleep, so equipping the Insomniac ability. (Though given what I know about Mist, I’m surprised it doesn’t induce the Berserk status instead.)
-Dagger reaches the stone eidolon and begins to wake it up. I can’t tell immediately from looking what it is.
-Wings appear. Bahamut? Leviathan?
-Dagger got an Aquamarine gem, so guessing it’s Leviathan.
-Well crap. A tidal-wave eidolon is probably not the most effective thing to save a woman in a ship. Sorry, Dagger.
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With the Alexandrian Navy
-Though speaking of Bahamut...
The Alexandrian navy is in trouble, out of ammo, but the magic is ready.
-Bahamut rises in a fiery blast from the ocean and flies directly in front of Kuja and the silver dragon.
-Instead of collapsing in raw terror like I probably would’ve done, Kuja just smiles. He expected this. Will he somehow judo Bahamut into his control back against Brahne?
-Not immediately. Bahamut blasts out his classic megaflare, and Kuja and the dragon just kind of… fly around or through or over it. Hard to tell. Nary a scratch.
-Strike that. A scratch. His forehead is bleeding, which (like most things) seems to please Kuja.
-Scene swaps back to the party. I like that we keep seeing little aside thoughts from Amarant, wondering about the party from the outside.
-Mog is terrified. Bahamut is here.
-Scene swaps to Kuja. He’s DEFINITELY not human. Or if he is, he’s been altered by magic in some way that makes him ridiculously strong. Bahamut hit him with megaflare, drew a bit of blood, and that just leaves Kuja impressed.
KUJA, to BRAHNE: “I’m sure you’ll enjoy the second act from your soul’s hellish prison, since the stage will be your former home!” JESUS DUDE. It sounds like he’s going to extract her soul in some way and use it as grist for whatever evil mill he’s running. Alexandria. (Although that’s her current home, so maybe her former home is somewhere else.)
-Kuja’s got a nemesis. Someone away from Gaia. Like, away from the planet? Are we moon-bound again in FFIX?
-HFDJKLSFHDKLSFD THAT FUCKING EYE
Something about eyes scares me, and Kuja just summoned a ginormous eye from above.
-The eye has this targeting reticule at first and then pours down a rainbow of torment and pain that seems to hurt everyone. Brahne, the black mages, even Bahamut.
Well, everyone except for Kuja.
-It’s hard to say what it actually did. Wasn’t physically destructive. But it turned Bahamut against Brahne and the Alexandrian navy. Perhaps a Jubilee-esque disorientation/confusion eidolon. I don’t know what could be more powerful than Bahamut based on prior games though. This clearly wasn’t Knights of the Round – perhaps Eden, but I thought raw destruction was Eden’s thing. We’ll see.
-He flies down to their level, looks at Brahne (who is now terrified and knows what’s coming), and lets loose.
RIP Queen Brahne. RIP most of the Alexandrian navy.
-The destruction is complete. And Kuja flies off. Smiling.
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Next time: ???
