Hilda Garde 3
-The cinematic continues as the new airship launches.
-Everyone’s shocked at the short hair, and more shocked at Dagger’s regained speech. Hurray!
-This is neat. It seems like this new airship has a kind of fast-travel associated with it where we can pick a city and it’ll instantly go there.
-Party selection time before Ipsen’s Castle. I’m a bit worried that I missed someone because there’s an empty slot in my party selection. Or perhaps that’s where Zidane would go if he weren’t currently locked in.
-Achievement: “Take to the Deck.”
-This is exciting. And stressful a bit, because as I’ve written before, these open world situations give me a bit of anxiety through sheer options overload. Here’s what I’m telling myself through: “Chill, Coldrun. I know you have this side of you that’s a completionist, that wants to explore everything and feels bad when you miss stuff. But it’s okay! Relax. This is a first playthrough. Give the world a decent once-over for as long as you find it interesting and fun, and move on. You’ll be back. Chill.”
-Time to explore.
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Forgotten Continent
-Dagger’s got a new portrait!
-The garnet grants Dagger Bahamut. This I gotta see.
-My first exploration attempt is thwarted. Saw a root-covered cave. Landed nearby, started walking to it, but was blown back.
The Gusty Valley.
-Summoned Bahamut for Megaflare against some poor cactuars.
Awesome as ever.
-oh lord
Oh lord oh lord oh lord
So I just equipped Freya’s new lance, Heavy Lance, to see what it might do. It gives her a new ability called “Six Dragons.” I pressed the help option to see how it describes the ability. “See for yourself.”
-Tried it. I’m not really sure what it did. It seems like a buff of some kind. It summoned a phantom dragon head that roared and split up. No immediate visible impact. I’ll have to try it again.
-Tried it again, and it set some of my party members to 1 HP and 1 MP. …Um. Ok. I’m guessing it gives random crap, like FFV’s oracle prophecies, and I don’t want to mess with that. No thanks.
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The Hilda Garde 3
-Turns out I can actually explore the ship. Neat! I can talk to all the party members.
-Eiko!!!
-Dagger is determined to move forward. In hindsight, her cutting her hair should have been anticlimactic. Like, if I borrowed a dagger from someone and told them to remember me how I used to be, they’d be terrified. But I get that her cutting her hair is symbolic. And as someone who struggles with depression, I respect the value of symbols to pull yourself out.
-Freya feels reflective. Wonders whether more technology would have helped save Burmecia, or led to more strife. I honestly don’t know.
-Vivi hates heights but loves windmills. Which reminds me – we should check back to that town with the windmill with treasure.
-Interesting! There’s a locked supply compartment on board.
AMARANT: “Hmph. Running around all over the world to find another world… it’s nonsense.” Not the most adventurous soul is Amarant.
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Forgotten Continent
-Went searching for chocobo tracks and finally found them. One of my remaining chocographs suggests this place.
-Something else on my list of things to do before heading to Ipsen’s Castle: Treno auction house.
-Ooh, thought of another thing! Head back to the moogle in the cave who enjoys Kupo Nuts.
-Success! Found my last open chocograph chest.
HFDJKLSFHDJKLSFHDSFDS DAMMIT I LOST ANOTHER FRIGGING CARD BECAUSE I WAS MAXED OUT.
I had kept my cards cleared down to 80, but forgot that I accumulate cards just from winning fights. That meant I lost out on an Iron Man card. It doesn’t affect me materially since I probably wouldn’t ever use it, but I really wanted to see it. Fuck fuck FUCK I hate that.
-Hm. I wonder if I can use my chocobo to get through the Gusty Valley…? Nope. Still blocked.
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Mist Continent
-Went to the Byan Heights to try my luck.
-Ragtime Mouse! This question is whether Lindblum Castle is larger than Alexandria Castle. Oh jeez, I dunno… I remember Alexandria having the crystal sword thing and multiple wings… I’ll say Alexandria is bigger.
Wrong
-The monsters in Byan Heights are weak. Aha! It’s because the POPOS Heights is the place I want to be. Grand Dragons here. Going to prep lightning resist. I wonder if I could beat one now.
-Headed into Gizamaluke’s Grotto, and the two married moogles are here… WITH TWO BABY MOOGLES.
-Gave Moguta a Kupo Nut and he gave me an Extension. Nice little item.
-Ran into a Grand Dragon. LET’S DO IT BROSKI.
-Victory! It’s Thundaga still hurt like hell and the dragon killed Dagger and Steiner, but got it. That’s a morale boost right there! Used Detect on it, and saw it carries Rising Suns to steal. Good to know I could come here and farm those if I want to at some point, assuming they’re not super rare steals (which they may be for all I know).
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Treno
-Treno next. Swapping out Freya for Adamant, in case he has some special dialogue here.
-Two things to see here: the bird lady for coin turn-in and the auction house. Oh, also I want to see if the Knight has any new monsters to fight in the basement.
-A nobleman in the street stopped me. Asked about Une’s Mirror. GAH. They want me to sell it to them for 12,000 gil. I really don’t know.
-Fine. I’ll say yes. Let’s see if this opens up anything new.
-…boo. It didn’t. I just now have 12,000 gil. I regret this decision. Unless the auction house is an infinite gold system where you can buy things and find the right person to sell them to for more than I spent, but that would seem silly. I’ll hold out hope that I’m meant to save most of this key stuff and use it later. If I’m wrong, c’est la vie.
-Stellazzio’s house. Turned in Sagittarius for 10,000 gil.
-The synthesis is still selling Reflect Ring. I don’t want it now, but I want to remember it. In past games, it’s been crucial in some fights with up-front fatal magic damage. Anklet + Madain’s Ring = Reflect Ring.
-The scholar here still wants to buy Doga’s Artifact from me for 10k gil. Nope. Still nope.
-Auction House. I want to buy Une’s Mirror back, Griffin Heart, and Dark Matter.
-Bought the Griffin’s Heart. Its flavor text is a badass quote from Beatrix: “Fear its soul, for it knows no terror.” I mean, the griffins I’ve seen seem like pushovers relatively speaking at this point, but they’re noble enough I suppose.
-Bought Une’s Mirror back for 15,700. Worth it for the peace of mind.
-Woohoo!! Got Dark Matter for 14,700 gil. Let’s see what we got.
-Not a key item. OH HELL YES – ODINNNNNN
-Let’s do some more auctioning. Thief’s Gloves are on sale when I reset it. I don’t think I’ve gotten those yet. The most expensive item yet at 35k, which is promising.
-Ooh, nice! They give Zidane the ability to “steal better items.” Not sure whether this means he has a good chance to get the rarest item in the loot set of an enemy or if he gains access to a new loot table. The first seems more likely.
-Bought a Reflect Ring for 11k, and with that brought got a Steam achievement: “Auctioneer.”
-Ok, I’ve reset the auction house a couple of times and just keep getting the same set of basic items. I’ll assume I’ve exhausted it.
-There’s a new monster in the Knight’s House. Looks like a pterodactyl from above. First attempt will be a test run to see what abilities I need against it.
Amdusias.
-Used Bio.
-This is a really cool-looking monster. Like a blue and deadly Pegasus with a blade attached to its head.
-Victory! I wonder what resets this. Whether it’s some event flag or just flying elsewhere and returning.
-I’d guess that if I beat enough of these, I’ll get to meet the knight.
-Played some Tetra Master at the stadium. The players there have GREAT cards. Won a bit, about as much as I lost. I’ll come back.
-The waitress here tells me that my treasure hunter rank is now “C” instead of “F.” Still dunno what that’s about.
-Visited Doctor Tot. He just said “Oh, you look well!” and that’s it.
-One more thing before I end this session. I gotta see it.
YESSSSS ODIN!!!
He used his famous “Zantetsuken” to instant death my enemies. The Steam achievement name for summoning Odin confuses me though: “The Dim Mak.” Is that a common mythological epithet for Odin? (As always though, if you think the answer is spoilery, I’ll ask you to hold off from answering. )
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Next time: more world exploration.
