Hilda Garde 3
-The ship’s getting sucked in. Some kind of pulling force on the island.
-Dagger reminds us that Esto Gazans called this the “Spirit Road.” That, plus all of the soul-necromantic crap that Kuja was pulling makes me nervous.
-So the path leads souls to Terra. And we know that Terra is drawing energy from Gaia. For what purpose? To wake up? To override Gaia? [Buffy spoilers: Gur znva vzntr guvf tvirf zr vf bs "Gur Tvsg," jura uryy fgnegrq gb oernx guebhtu gb Rnegu naq birejevgr vg.]
-Zidane’s got major league chutzpah. He wants to get the ship near what he believes is the teleporter to Terra and JUMP THROUGH FROM OFF THE AIRSHIP.
Poor Vivi. He and his fear of heights isn’t going to like this.
-Ok, this is a fucking awesome cinematic. Reminds me a little bit of the Lunar Cry in FFVIII.
-TRIPPY AS HELL!! The Lunar Cry maybe crossed with time compression.
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Terra
-Spacey music here.
-The architecture is aquatic, reminiscent a bit of the Ancient City of FFVII.
-Garland teleports in to meet us.
GARLAND (or OLD MAN as he’s called her, since Zidane hasn’t met him): “The one who folds time is here.”
-Hey, I was just making a passing reference to time compression. It seems like there may be more to that. Something about Zidane has a similar power perhaps. I’ll stick with my original guess that he’s part Terran.
-Garland sort of mocks Zidane for believing in names, calling him “bewitched by the light of the blue moon.”
-Beckons Zidane to join him and teleports away.
-God, this place is beautiful. And the status screen calls this something as mundane as a mere “hilltop” in Terra.
-Is this water below us, or a mirror? So pure and reflective.
-It’s water. This is the “path by the pond.”
-Someone who looks a helluva lot like Zidane keeps running ahead of us, leading us forward.
-First enemy is a Ring Leader. Uses Blind, and stole a Vaccine, so getting abilities against Virus and Blind active. He also used reflect, which makes me glad I have a physical-heavy party. (Zidane, Amarant, Freya, Eiko.)
-I don’t remember exactly what Amarant’s old victory pose was, but I’m pretty sure that him sitting down in a meditative or relaxed position when he gets a killing blow is new. Hm.
-Now we’re in “tree-tops,” and boy is this an alien place. Seashells, ethereal spiderwebbing, really amazing.
-We catch up with “Mysterious Girl,” the Zidane look-alike. She remembers him. He doesn’t know her. Or doesn’t remember her is probably more accurate.
-Hm. “Mysterious Girl.” In FFIV: The After Years, one of the core antagonists was a race of cloned Rydia lookalikes called “Mysterious Girl” before we learned their true name to be Maenads. Some definite similarities.
-She keeps urging us on, that the truth – including the truth of Zidane’s heritage – lies just over yonder.
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Approach to Bran Bal
-The music stopped.
-Checked the status screen, and the location is now “???.”
-We reach a place that Dagger describes as artificial compared to the rest of Terra. I like that word here. It fits.
MYSTERIOUS GIRL: “Welcome home. The place to which you shall offer yourself is here.”
-Creepy and sacrificial. Awesome.
-Zone name: Branbal. Looks to be a glowing green thing at the top of stairs. A shrine perhaps?
-Earthquake.
-NOW THAT’S A FUCKING AIRSHIP!!!!! LOOK AT THAT THING!!
-OH GOD IT’S THE RED EYE BENEATH IT
IT’S THE INVINCIBLE
-Dagger makes the connection and faints. Maybe. Hard to tell if she was overwhelmed with emotion, or if it was something that the Invincible did. I’m leaning towards the latter, given the disorienting powers we’ve seen it display.
-Text across a black screen: “You are completely oblivious. Like a newborn child.” Lol the game is both mocking Zidane and me the player.
“You don’t know why you were given life or for what purpose you exist…” Same goes for Vivi, but he seems to be doing great with some help from his friends. Making a real go of it.
“You simply shout to emphasize your life. Your own existence…” I know Zidane isn’t the most reflective of people, but he’s led a good life as well. Full of connection and warmth and humor and joy and love.
“You are completely oblivious.”
-Steiner offers to watch and take care of Dagger while we press on.
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Town of Bran Bal
-The music starts up again.
-Townsfolk all around. The glowing thing is a barrier that only the “chosen one” may unlock. Three guesses as to who the chosen one is and the first two don’t count.
-One of the citizens says “We develop into vessels…”
-The more I talk to them, the more certain I am that these are EXACTLY like the Maenads. Created by someone for some purpose. To spread, to adapt… something. Who’s the creator? Garland?
-There’s a sculpture here that looks like the Gurug Stone.
-A group standing around a glowing seashell thing: “The flow of souls means that a planet has life. The stoppage of souls means that a planet is dead.” A lifestream.
-A planet’s color indicates shape, whatever that means. Gaia is blue, Terra red.
-One quote in particular catches my eye: ‘When the souls of Terra and Gaia mix, Terra will be integrated into the larger Gaia.” I don’t know what to make of it, whether this kind of mixing is positive, negative, or neutral.
-Ok, this is SO FFIV:TAY. The genetic drive, the clones, right down to the stasis containers they’re grown in.
Had to check to see which came out first, and looks like FFIX came out nine years earlier.
-Vessels, vessels, vessels. With all the talk of soul traffic, they must be vessels for souls. Maybe Kuja was trying to use the black mage dolls to recreate what was already going on in Terra with these vessels. Filling them with souls…
-Found a moogle, Moorock. He never even heard of Mognet. Must be a native Terran moogle. But gives me a letter for Mozme anyway.
-Some great stuff sold by Moorock, including Orichalcon (“the most powerful thief’s dagger”),
CITIZEN: “Gaia’s blue light causes pain to those of us who were created by the civilization of Terra.” Physical? Emotional? “Pain resistance is also part of adaptation to the environment.”
-One core difference between this place and the City of the Maenads in FFIV:TAY is that that place felt like a sterile lab. Bran Bal feels much more natural, lived-in.
-Found an inn. A place for Dagger to rest.
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Eiko in Bran Bal
-Scene switches to Eiko. Trying to talk to people in town, ask for medicine, but nobody’s responding. She’s getting frustrated.
-hee! The Mysterious Girl walks by, says that Dagger will soon awaken, and asks where “your Man” is to Eiko. XD
-Mysterious Girl walks off, saying she’ll be in the underground laboratory waiting for Zidane.
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Bran Bal Inn
-Zidane’s unusually frustrated, which Freya comments on. Zidane’s response is ominous: “I just can’t concentrate with this blue light.”
-Dagger wakes up. She remembered. Remembered that it was the ship that destroyed Madain Sari, not a chance storm.
Dagger
-hahaha bless you and the way you pass on the Mysterious Girl’s message, Eiko.
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Zidane in Bran Bal
CITIZEN: “When the blue light becomes red – that is when souls will enter our bodies.” So that may explain why these people are so stiff and cold and sterile. They’re hollow right now.
-So is Zidane the exception? Or did he receive a soul? I’ll bet it’s the latter. Whose soul though? And for what purpose?
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Next time: to the underground laboratory.
