Lost Continent
-Exploring this place a bit on Choco.
-Ooh! One of these snowy mountains is a volcano filled with lava.
-Found a crack in one of the mountainsides that looks like something I should be able to bust through. No luck yet, but I’ll try to remember this.
---
Esto Gaza
-The terrace was bustling before. Now it’s empty.
-Strike that. Empty of citizens. Not empty of tough monsters. Garudas are here, which retaliate with Firagas. I swap my equipment around to give all party members gear that halves fire damage.
-The bishop is inside, and hostile to us. Says that Vivi is loud “just like the other pointy hats,” so Kuja must have come through.
-The bishop doesn’t respond well to Zidane’s concerns for Eiko’s life. “All life is equal. The living will return to the stars.” Something about that Shimmering Island religion maybe.
-The mage army came through here. Didn’t attack.
Just went for Mount Gulug, the ancient volcanoooooOOOOWAIT A SEC
THAT’S WHY THAT NAME SOUNDS FAMILIAR
THE VOLCANO WHERE THE FIRE FIEND MARILITH IN FFI LIVED WAS MOUNT GULG OR SOMETHING
-A race of great moles once lived there. We need Toph’s help.
-Ok, next stop is Mount Gulug. Zidane is locked in, and Vivi as well since he really wants to help free his black mage brethren. Will also take Dagger as my healer, and Amarant because he’s the lowest level. Gosh, I really want Quina too, but Quina is 38 while the rest are 31. I want them to catch up.
-I just remembered. The Garuda bird that I beat in pairs just before was in the same area as the Grand Dragon. Maybe we’re getting closer to that league of power.
-More about how this place is the only place holy enough to see and worship the Path of Souls. Hm. Before the black mages came and brought monsters with them, people used to come here to travel the Path of Souls.
So is that path metaphorical, spiritual? Or an actual road? I’m betting on a combination of the two. I’ll bet we’ll actually travel the Path of Souls, but that it won’t be, like, “oh yeah, just past the Seven-11 on Broadway hang a left onto the Path of Souls.”
-Mogrika the moogle here got a letter. From Artemicion! He’s in trouble because he “used too much.”
Uhhhh. Mogrika knows what he’s talking about. She warned him not to use “it.” Gives us a letter to deliver to Moolan, a moogle we haven’t met yet. Probably someone in Mount Gulug.
-Clicking the action button at a dais on a terrace here pans the camera over to a distant mountain. Must be Mount Gulug. Perhaps if we do this later, we’ll see it erupting in fire. The camera is certainly focusing our attention on it.
-Hm. Dagger is now again unable to do anything. Unable to concentrate. [Later edit: seems this is intermittent. Fair. We got a similar mechanic in FFIV: The After Years which was much more poorly done, where I could use Cecil technically, but he was unable t]
-The Garudas also use Stop, so I equip Locomotion on my party.
---
Mount Gulug
-Bouncy music in here.
The music in the original FFI Mount Gulug was pretty bouncy too…. Wait. Is this a variation on the same theme? LOLOLOL
I couldn’t whistle the Mt. Gulg theme on command from FFI or anything like that, but I’m getting major flashbacks to playing that particular level. I was on an airplane at the time on my most recent playthrough of FFI my mobile, and remember navigating the fiery maze while flying home.
I’m almost CERTAIN this is the same basic theme.
-Found a note from Slaar the Mole warning to pull the lever when we use the well. Maybe the moles are a friendly race.
-I’m encountering a monster down here called a Worm Hydra that looks like a Zelda boss and wrecks my shit.
-I had bought Vivi the Octagon Rod back in town. It gives him access to Firaga, Thundaga, and Blizzaga. Hell yes.
-This place is maze-like.
-Found Moolan. She says that Artemicion “rubbed it on himself.” And that “the machine needs it to function properly. ????? Some kind of oil? Moolan gives us a letter for Mogtaka.
-Found another note from a different mole that the well didn’t work until he pulled it three times. I found a lever on the well… let’s try pulling three times.
-Found Mogtaka. Moolan wants to complain to Mognet Central about Artemicion using the thing (which sounds more and more like some sorta addictive item) but he doesn’t know where Central is located. Don’t worry – Stiltzkin is on the case!
-Used Atomos.
God, that animation and art creeps the fuck outta me. He seemed to cast Demi on all targets.
-JESUS LORD
THAT SCARED THE SHIT OUT OF ME
A bird just bust in through the wall like the dog in Resident Evil.
-Oh, and by “bird” I apparently mean “Red Dragon.” Here we go. Not even a boss fight. I like how the dragons in this game have feathery wings.
-Been searching hard for that last coffee btw. No luck yet. Chances are good I just missed it at some point given how hidden the prior two coffees had been.
-I’ve been experimenting with status effects. Amarant’s weapon can inflict Venom, and it’s a blessing and a curse. Takes enemies out of the fight, but also means I don’t get experience if I win by Venoming each.
-Found another note, now from Maurine the Mole, to pull the lever down at the end.
To sum up: pull the lever up three times, then at the bottom pull it down. Ok.
-GOT IT! I was mistaken. Had to pull it down, but pull it down three times. I can now continue climbing down.
-I’m feeling the passage of time here. I’ve had to start overwriting old saves, so now I’m remembering so many earlier times in this game. I’m about 53 hours in, and just overwrote a save 5 hours in at the Ice Cavern.
-Just summoned Ifrit for the first times. Cast Flames of Hell. Somehow both goofy af and metal af, like a Tenacious D album cover.
Hee!! The Steam achievement I got for doing so was “Heat of the Moment.” Not quite so metal.
-Really loving this dungeon. So many branching paths to explore with treasure!
-lol, I think all these mole notes are a bit contradictory. Found another note from… hey, from Une the Mole. As in Une’s Mirror maybe?
-Dangit. These Red Dragons keep scaring the crap out of me. Two of them now.
-This fight was really close. Came down to Vivi versus the Great Red Dragon.
The indomitable Vivi.
Our li’l mage exploded the shit out of it.
---
Bottom of Mount Gulug
-We found Zorn and Thorn performing the extraction spell on poor Eiko.
-Who are they draining from her? Carbuncle? Alexander?
-Dagger is panicking. Still can’t get words out, but everyone understands her perfectly. LET’S GET EM.
-Oh btw, Kuja is down there too, so I don’t know how we’ll do this. We’re tough and all, but this guy took Bahamut’s full blast and barely got scratched.
-Scene swaps down to Z&T. Whew. Something went wrong. GOOD.
-Ah! They think it can only be safely done at 16 years old. Kuja doesn’t care about “safe.” He wants something more powerful than Alexander. And he thinks such a thing resides within Eiko?
KUJA: “I must destroy [Garland] before Terra’s powers become activated or my soul will no longer be my own.”
Hoo. Lot to unpack there. So he definitely feels dwarfed by Garland’s power. Terra is the planet of that race I suppose, and I believe that the planet Terra was merged with Gaia. Garland wants to wake up Terra somehow, and in doing so Kuja loses his free will. How? Will he just get merged into Terra’s lifestream or whatever, subsumed into a unified whole?
-HAHAHA – Zorn and Thorn are about to dive back in to the extraction (and tbh, even they look like they are a bit hesitant to permanently harm Eiko) when Mog BUSTS OUT
-They think Mog caused the failure of the extraction. Go mog!! But now Kuja wants to kill Mog. What the hell kind of monster are you? Destroying cities is one thing. Killing Mog? FHDJKLSFHDJKLSFHDJKLS
-Mog is communicating with Eiko. Thanking her. Oh god, please don’t let this be a self-sacrificial goodbye.
No no nononononono
She starts drawing in power. Mog does, I mean. No no no no, I’m already tearing up just in anticipation of this, please don’t go through with it.
-Mog became some glowing blue light. Team Zidane got knocked back by the power.
-Battle time. Eiko versus Zorn and Thorn.
-Stones that look exactly like the Gulug Stone surround this battle arena. One gap. Is that where Kuja will place the missing Gulug Stone?
-Mog is coaching her, directing Eiko. Directs her to use “Terra Homing.” Ordinarily I’d think this was a simple earthquake, but Terra has new meaning in FFIX.
-It summons an earthquake, but WHAT an earthquake.
Pure rainbow destruction. Led by a winged lion. Griever? Is Mog really Griever?? Hm.
Black screen. “I wanted to be by your side, Eiko… so I became Mog. Don’t worry. I’ll always watch over you, kupo.”
Was that her grandpa? Perhaps. Perhaps. Or perhaps just a friendly eidolon. I think this latter is more likely.
OH LORD HER RIBBON MOG’S RIBBON
-I’m a mess. Uhghhhhuiuuugh.
-Kuja steps into the picture. Shocked at what just happened – oh! He says Mog went into a trance.
-Oh crap. Kuja puts together that trance-state can come from anger at one’s surroundings. Is he about to harness some anger to go super Saiyan? Not quite.
-He’s about to leave, but casually mentions that Zorn and Thorn aren’t twins. Are they about to Voltron together?
-Vivi runs after Kuja in anger at his treatment of the black mages, but Z&T are getting up. Definitely some “When our powers combine, we form Captain Planet!” bullshit about to go down.
-Boss time. Meltigemini.
-He spews some virus at us, says we’re now all carrying a virus too. Probably just general villain banter, but I wonder if this means he was plagued and corrupted in some way.
-Pretty easy fight. He uses bio and venom and stuff, but we all have Antibody up.
-Vivi returns with two black mages in tow. He’s heartbroken. The mages all still chose to follow Kuja, even though they know he’s a liar.
Oh, I misunderstood. Kuja admitted that he lied, that he doesn’t know anything about how to extend their lifespans. The other black mages are sitting nearby. And Vivi is the one who has to break the news that there is no cure.
He doesn’t know what to do. All he can do is show empathy. Care.
Jhdfshfjklshfdklsfh lVIVIVIIIIIIIIIIII I LOVE YOU
-HuH? A woman is here. Noble looking. She seems to know Kuja. And seems to… live down here maybe?
-She knows Dagger. What is going on?
-OH!!!! Hilda. I see. Cid hops in, begs her forgiveness, and lololol at the way she talks to Cid.
-So chill. She seems somewhat willing to forgive.
---
Next time: regrouping in Lindblum.
