Alexandria
-Either a statue is talking or someone behind a statue. Probably someone behind the statue. And given what they’re saying - “Peace is but a shadow of death, desperate to forget its painful past” – and the music, I’m guessing it’s Kuja.
“…And while the moon still shines blue, by dawn it will turn to scarlet hue.” CREEPY AF
-Yup. It’s Kuja. Here to “light things up” for the celebration. Why??? He already got Bahamut. Can’t he just deal with that dude he was talking about wanting to daunt already? What does he have to gain from Alexandria now?
-…crap. Speaking of Bahamut...
-Cinematic. Bahamut tears out from the clouds and starts tossing his megaflare into the city.
-Dagger looks on in shock. Bahamut floats down to her eye level.
-End of cinematic. The townsfolk we know and love, including Hippaul and his mom, are running.
-Beatrix assembled her soldiers already for Dagger’s orders. Dagger is ready.
-Steiner is trying to get his knights ready.
-Oh lord. It’s another of these choices that I’m certain I’ll get wrong. Four choices: gather info, protect the townspeople, ask Lindblum for reinforcements, or begin preparations to fire the cannon.
DUDE I DON’T KNOW
-Ok. Think. First up, defense. Protect the townspeople. Then ask Lindblum for reinforcements, then gather info, then prepare to fire.
-Not only do we have to pick what to do first; we have to pick which knights to go. I’m happy I paid attention and took notes before. I’ll opt for Weimar and Haagen for this.
-Blutzen and Kohel, the “super-sleuths,” will gather info. Laudo and Breireicht (the writer and… dunno, the older guy) can contact Lindblum. Dojebon and Mullenkedheim were the artillery people, so they can prepare the cannons.
-Beatrix gave Dagger Angel Earrings afterwards, complementing her. Hopefully this means I did well.
-The knights have gone. Steiner and Beatrix leave too. Dagger alone. Wanting her mother. :(
-WHOA WTF WAS THAT. Some magic stuff swirled around Dagger and she collapsed.
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Streets of Alexandria
-Mistodons are invading. Ground forces to support Bahamut’s aerial assault.
-The music is incredible and positive. Beatrix and Steiner charge out.
-Beatrix’s weapon is called “Save the Queen.” Uh oh. I can’t equip her with anything that’ll grant her abilities. Does this mean she’s not a long-term party member? I hope not. This makes me nervous. If she dies here, I’ll be pissed, and not in a good way.
-The two take on Mistodons through the street and kick ass together.
-Wow. Steiner in trance form does ginormous damage. I also love that his look changes when in trance. The full face helm looks great.
-Their post-battle dialogue shows that they care for each other. <3
-Steiner is hurt, but his honor and duty won’t let him retreat.
BUT MORE THAN THAT HE DOESN’T WANT BEATRIX FIGHTING ALONE :D :D :D
-More and more Mistodons.
STEINER: “This might be it for us.”
BEATRIX: “I have no regrets.”
These two are wonderful. So wonderful.
-Steiner’s about to give Beatrix the “I love you, goodbye” speech, but she stops him.
-They fight off two more Mistodons.
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Castle Alexandria
-Dagger wakes up. Hears music. From upstairs.
-So naturally, since upstairs is progress, I check downstairs first. But don’t get very far, because a blinding light shocks here away from one of the downstairs paths.
-That happens with almost every path except one in each room. Guiding her.
-Up and up the tower.
-OH GOD THAT’S CREEPY
-She passed between two stone knight statues. As she passed, they crossed their swords so she couldn’t get back. I have literally no idea what’s going on. No guesses. Just the words “bad” and “Kuja.” On the other hand, this came as she wished for help from Brahne, so maybe this is Brahne doing an Obi Wan Kenobi thing.
-Stairs open in a burst of purple light to a new tower, rising up from the castle.
-Dagger’s never seen this part of the castle before.
-She still hears the music. Starts to wish for Brahne and Zidane to help before deciding she’s on her own. “As queen of Alexandria, I must protect my kingdom.” This idea of feeling the need to cut ties is a bit scary. I hope this isn’t the start of a heel turn.
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Hilda Garde 2
-The party from Lindblum is aboard Regent Cid’s airship. It’s not in great shape.
-Poor Vivi. The shaking ship is making him sick. Amarant gives him great advice, to stay near the middle of the ship where the shaking is less bad.
-ruh roh. Eiko gets the same spell particles around her that Dagger got before she passed out.
-Eiko’s still conscious. Seems to be some shared consciousness with Dagger. She hears Dagger’s voice.
-Occasional bursts of fire rock the ship.
-Eiko thinks the light is “holy judgment.” I don’t remember which eidolon is the holy eidolon.
EIKO: “The summoner is being called… Alexander’s judgment has come!” Oh. Right. Alexander. (don’t forget to wriiiiite…)
-OK BUT EIKO JUST JUMPED OFF THE AIRSHIP MIDFLIGHT????
-Beautiful cinematic here. Eiko jumped off right as the airship was above Alexandria Castle, and fell slowly next to Dagger.
-She’s hovering in an aura of green light, and Dagger’s pendant is going wild with light.
-Eiko calls this the light of destiny, brought on by the hidden powers of the four jewels. It appears when a holy eidolon (Alexander I suppose) calls for its summoners. What spurred this? Did Alexander sense a disturbance in the force that he has to correct when Kuja hijacked Bahamut?
-this if really fucking cool
-Eiko walks Dagger through the summoning ritual. Holding hands. Prayer. The survivors of Madain Sari together.
-As they pray together, a spinning green gyro of light between them grows in size and speed. I’m really curious if Alexander will once again be a robot.
-Cinematic again. A giant lance of blue-white light.
-HJDKLSHFDSFHDKLS TITANIC ANGEL WINGS FRAMING THE CITY
-BAHAMUT FIRES A BLAST AT THEm, AND THEY ABSORB IT.
-THE WINGS UNFURL AND ALEXANDER UNCLOAKS
AND HE
LOOKS
AMAAAAAAAZING
-Alexander throws a storm of bright blue light at Bahamut, wrapping him into an orb and seeming to disintegrate him.
-Camera swaps to Kuja. He’s not at all mad that his Bahamut got blown away. He finds Alexander beautiful.
-crap crap crap, he plans on hijacking Alexander too.
-He calls forth “Invincible” as a magic carriage for Alexander. That sounds bad.
-That eyeball again. It starts to descend from the sky.
---
Uhhhhh???
-Scene swaps to a new person. The person perhaps that Kuja wished to “daunt.” Someone who said Kuja went too far now.
-I’m pretty sure this guy is a sith lord judging by his dress.
-So he’s Kuja’s overlord, ruler, director, boss. And Kuja’s overstepped the bounds set. (The fact that he looks like a sith lord and, more directly, that he found Kuja’s actions within acceptable bounds for so long makes me think he’s evil.)
NOT!SITH: “You have not the slightest idea who you are defying, Kuja.”
-THIS GUY KNOWS ZIDANE??? HFDJKSHFDLSF?????? HOW IN THE SWEET HELL IS ZIDANE ON THIS DUDE'S RADAR?
-He starts to use his not!Sith powers to summon not!the-dark-side-of-the-force.
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Kuja in Alexandria
-For pretty much the first time in this game, Kuja looks flummoxed. His “invincible” (which seems more like a technological tool than an eidolon) didn’t act as he wanted it to act. I’m guessing not!sith overrode its codes or whatever.
-lololol that guy was GARLAND??? i can't i can't remotely WHAT
-hahaha I can’t get over this. The guy who’s an even bigger bad than Kuja here is fucking Garland. I wonder if he’s actually Garland or if his final form will be Chaos like in FFI. I also wonder if there are time shenanigans going on similar to FFI.
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Castle Alexandria
-The whole crew from the airship arrives.
-Haagen charges by, looking for Steiner.
-Went around talking to the various scholars in the castle, telling them to evacuate.
[Non-rhetorical question for y’all: if I hadn’t killed Tantarian earlier, would I have been able to fight him now?]
-Got the chefs to evacuate as well.
-The secret passage in Brahne’s throne room won’t move. Not unexpected; the game seems to be funneling me to follow along Dagger’s path.
-Cid notes this newly risen turret as “the secret of Alexandria Castle.” It may imply that he knows more about its purpose.
-But Zidane won’t take the time to listen. He just barrels on ahead, asking everyone else to flee while they still can.
Lol Amarant: “Man, you make me sick. I’m outta here.” He’s not really into the whole self-sacrifice thing. Or maybe he’s just annoyed at Zidane’s ego.
-Freya warns Zidane to get Dagger and get out, not to bull-headedly try to fight Kuja alone.
-Vivi is super reluctant to leave Zidane, but ultimately trusts his instincts. I wonder if there is something more than needing to play the hero here, if there really is something in Zidane’s instincts that suggests this is right for him to do alone, something tied to Garland knowing him.
-While Zidane is running up the stairs, the castle begins to shake.
-Cinematic time. The eye (which may be the Invincible that Garland is in) starts to do its thing. It pours now down blue waves. They seem to make Alexander dissipate.
-A few things are reacting. The giant crystal sword-looking thing embedded in Alexandria lights up, and Dagger’s pendant reacts too. The castle starts to crash apart.
The blood on Alexander’s wings is an especially nice touch.”
-Zidane does an action movie thing, jumping onto the falling platform that Dagger is standing on. They embrace.
-GO EIKO!! Eiko gave him a string thing to hang onto and he and Dagger are saved.
---
-The three of them are save, at the bottom of the stairs of the new turret. Zidane continues to be awesome by apologizing for being dishonest and elusive with Dagger before, and tables the discussion until things are less chaotic.
-Cinematic again. The eye charges up, and we see it’s the bottom of a giant ship. It launches a blast down upon Alexandria.
-And when I say “a blast,” I mean it. Jesus.
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The Ship
-Scene swaps to Garland: “More souls have returned…” so perhaps that was Kuja’s mission. Harvest souls for this guy.
-In FFVII terms, it seems like Garland’s goal is to drain Gaia’s lifestream or something. He wants to take the souls out of “circulation.” Really interesting terminology, and his music is SO DRAMATICALLY EVIL AND I LOVE IT.
-Garland’s also speaking in very long-term language, leading me to believe he may be semi-immortal or at least very long lived.
-He’s disappointed that Kuja will now live out his days on Gaia. Not killing him, just exiling him? Maybe even stripping him of some of his powers.
KUJA: “I, too, cannot escape my fate. Someday I must face your counterpart…” ??????
I really don’t know what to make of this. Is Zidane Kuja’s counterpart somehow? Like, a Cecil/Golbez thing? Very unlikely because of how wildly different Golbez is from Kuja. It was hinted throughout FFIV that Golbez was under mind control of some kind, or conflicted, and Kuja’s anything but.
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Next time: Lindblum. I have so many questions.
