Besaid Village
-An old woman in town’s “favorite” is Lord Ohalland. Local god? Politician? Hm.
-Fiends are around during the day.
-Besaid is devoted to the teachings of Yevon.
-PUPPY!!!!!
[Non-rhetorical question for y’all: I think I LOVE the look of the village, and love Wakka’s accent too, but tbh I don’t know whether it’s offensive, appropriative, or what. It seems to borrow from a bunch of real cultures… but then again, so do most fictional worlds. I’m not conversant enough in the topic to speak on it. What do you guys think? (Please rot13 anything that addresses anything I haven’t seen yet as always though, ty )]
-Yay! An elder here offers to instruct me on stuff I forgot.
-Sin is a “raging demon intent on reducing Spira to rubble.” Good. Well, not good, but I was afraid from what Wakka said that Sin might be viewed as an avenging angel of sorts.
-You know, something interesting just hit me. I keep hearing that Sin’s toxins make you forget stuff. But Tidus has been near Sin twice, and hasn’t forgotten anything. Not really. Maybe he has a sort of “chosen one” immunity.
-Zanarkand is in the north of the land. Ah, this guy repeats what Wakka mentioned about being destroyed as punishment for machina reliance. Which, as I wrote last time, I’ll withhold judgment on. I’m skeptical to say the least.
-Look at the colors here! Wakka’s hut alone is just stunning.
-“Mainlanders” love to buy fabric weaved in Besaid.
-In the Crusaders hut. I like this guy’s haircut. Not sure what its real name is; the only thing that jumps to mind is a “warrior’s wolftail” as Sokka called it in Avatar.
-Luzzu’s voice reminds me a bit of Tim Russ.
-The Crusaders are very nervous about Sin. Wondering why it hasn’t attacked the island if it’s so close, and whether it has any connection to Tidus. I don’t really blame them for being suspicious.
-Wow. I thought the Crusaders would just be a Disney villainish rival blitzball team. Their purpose is nobler. They are an organization dedicated to battling Sin.
-Mi’ihen formed the Crusaders 800 years ago. They started as the Crimson Blades.
-Tidus, don’t be a dick. He wonders why they haven’t beat sin after 800 years, but Luzzu replies that they’ve fought Sin off many times. Sounds like it’s someone else’s job to beat Sin (I’m betting some prophesied Chosen One that’ll turn out to be Tidus); Luzzu doesn’t tell us, thinking it’s better for us to remember on our own to fight the toxin.
-I think my first impression about Luzzu was wrong. I like him.
-Got an Al Bhed Primer, volume 2. P -> B.
-KITTIES!!!!
-This dude in here looks a LOT like Wedge from FFVII. No way that’s not intentional.
-Huge tutorial menu in the Crusaders Lodge. Let’s see if there’s anything new I haven’t seen yet… nope. All the stuff I’d seen.
-The Crusaders have a plan to defeat Sin.
-!!!That’s unexpected. Luzzu says they’ve been excommunicated from Yevon. That sounds like kind of a huge deal. What happened?
-My question about Tidus not seeming infected by Sin’s toxin is answered. Some dude in town says we don’t look too bad, and that our blitzball training meant we were able to hold our breath and not breathe much of the toxin in.
---
Besaid Temple
-Awesome temple! Tons of giant statues.
-Lord Braska became High Summoner 10 years ago. When Tidus asked what a high summoner was, he got shocked looks, and went through the same “sin’s toxin! Sin’s toxin!” excuse as before.
-lol at least the game is self-aware here
-The summoners are sworn to protect Yevon people. Some can call forth “aeons.” They sound like summons.
-The huge statues in here seem not to be aeons, but rather high summoners. Current high summoners, like a council of them, or a line of them?
-Gandof, Ohalland, Braska…
-The worshippers here speak of an apprentice summoner being trained by Braska. Five bucks says that we’ll get that apprentice as a party member.
-There are two side-rooms here with nothing of note in them. “Nuns’ Chambers.” Hee!
-The middle path is the “Cloister of Trials,” and I can’t go there yet.
---
Besaid Village
-Went back to Wakka’s hut and took a nap. One of the priests (summoners?) came in, and talked with Wakka about visiting “them.” It’s been a while, but Wakka says that there’s a rule prohibiting this visit.
It’s all pretty vague, and they walk out.
-Dream time! Sepia tone and everything. Not sure what’s going on. It sounds like Tidus is hearing the rest of their conversation as he dreams, or perhaps the start of that conversation led into an unrelated dream of his own.
In this dream, people are searching for someone.
OOH! I’ll bet this is just after Jecht disappeared, and people telling Tidus’s mom that everyone’s searching.
-JEEESUS – young Tidus was ROOTING for his dad to die! What the hell happened there? That's way beyond standard "grrr dad ur so annoying."
-Tidus wakes up back in the village. It’s emptied out, so heading to the temple.
---
Besaid Temple
-Lots of people here. Praying to help someone – the apprentice summoner? Maybe the apprentice returned from wherever they were in bad shape.
-Ah. Apprentice ISN’T back from their trials, and people are worried.
-Wakka may want to help, but obeys the rules prohibiting him from entering the Cloister of Trials.
LOLOLOL!! Tidus starts to run in.
GUARDIAN: “The precepts must be obeyed!”
TIDUS: “Like I care.”
Not the subtlest or most diplomatic, this Tidus.
---
Cloister of Trials
-Following the right way takes me to the Chamber of the Fayth [sic].
-First door has a glyph on it. A line flashes on it like a hand on a clock. 12:00, 3:00, 6:00, 9:00, and 12:00 again. A map maybe?
-Touched the first door on the right, so I’ll assume that direction is 12:00. Next I’ll try to hang another right.
-No, that seems wrong. Hm. Now a sphere puzzle. Glyph Spheres open doors. Destruction Spheres open the way to treasure. And Besaid Spheres are … also a thing.
-Along the wall further on is a sphere recess. That must be for a Destruction Sphere.
-Found a Besaid Sphere, and moved a pillar thing into place.
-Wakka joined me!
-Wakka is a Guardian!
-Summoners go on a pilgrimage to the temples of Spira. Guardians protect them.
-There are guardians inside.
-Wait, I wasn’t done upstairs yet!! Ah damn. I better be able to go finish up upstairs. I want to explore more, and try to find the Destruction Sphere for the wall.
-Arrived at a main stairway and we see two characters I immediately need to know LITERALLY EVERYTHING ABOUT. A woman and an anthropomorphic lion unicorn are here. Their designs are incredible.
-The woman is pissed at Wakka, feeling like he’s stepping on her toes and questioning her competence by even showing up here.
-The door up the stairs opens. A woman emerges.
-HERE SHE IS!!
The woman with two different color eyes from the intro. Exhausted, drenched in sweat and barely standing. She passed the trials. She’s now a summoner. Yay!
---
Besaid Temple
-FUCK FUCK FUCK. I can’t go back into the temple. I’m pissed right now. Not a happy kind of pissed, a pissed kind of pissed. I wasn’t done in there and didn’t know that one Besaid Sphere would end my ability to explore in there. Bad job, FFX. One of my major pet peeves and you hit it square in the gut.
I almost want to reload an earlier save and try it again exploring the rest of the cloister before I use the Besaid Sphere, but that goes against the standards I’d set for this series. Grrrrr.
-Whatever. Moving on.
-The crowd rejoices at the new summoner emerging from the cloister. I also like the Tidus DIDN’T save the day. She was fine. The apprentice did well and the guardians had her covered. No help needed.
-The new summoners is doing something in the town square. Her dress looks fucking amazing btw.
-She summoned an aeon. Quetzalcoatl?
-Nope, Valefor. A new entry to the series. Even got to name her, FFVIII-style.
-The summoning is quite beautiful. Both the act of summoning and Valefor herself.
---
Next time: victory celebration!
