Summary: Chappu’s choices. The joint Crusader-Al Bhed operation to take down Sin. It doesn’t go well.
Outside the Command Center
-Luzzu and Gatta here. Gatta wants to fight, but the Crusaders put him away from duty. He seems pretty young. Luzzu stands fast. Gatta is pissed, but goes to his post.
-We approach Luzzu. Tidus sticks up for Gatta, and I can see why. Wakka backs up Luzzu’s decision to keep him out of harm’s way, and I can also see why.
LOLOL – Wakka HATES machina so much that just talking about it drives him into a flailing, wordless, grunting frenzy.
-oh shit that turned fast. Luzzu thinks he may die, and has something to tell Wakka about Chappu. Lulu immediately tries to shut Luzzu up, so… she’s definitely been hiding something. Is Chappu alive but in fiend-form maybe?
-Nope. More guilt-ridden than that for Luzzu. Luzzu convinced Chappu to enlist. Well… shit.
WAKKA SLUGS HIM.
-Apparently, Chappu was enjoying his life, playing blitzball, even planning to propose to Lulu (!!). Then one day, seemingly randomly, he decided to become a Crusader.
LUZZU: “Chappu once said to me, ‘being with your girl is good. But keeping Sin far away from her is better.’”
I don’t blame Luzzu at all. This was Chappu’s choice, and Luzzu didn’t trick him or anything.
-And Lulu even knew. Oof. This has gotta be such a gut punch for poor Wakka.
-Lucil comes by to call the Crusaders to the beach.
WAKKA: “Luzzu! Don’t die out there!”
LUZZU: “…so you can hit me more? *small laugh*”
Wakka is so wonderful. He’s pissed, he’s emotional, but doesn’t let that explode into “I HOPE SIN EATS YOUR FACE.” He still cares about Luzzu, and isn’t afraid to show it.
-Yuna tries to stop Luzzu, but Auron says that he’s already chosen his path. Like Chappu did.
Fade to black, as Future!Tidus says that he only learned later why Yuna let Luzzu pass. Huh. More to it than just respecting Luzzu’s choices apparently.
---
Command Center
-Looks like the machina in question is some sort of cannon array.
-lol, Wakka walks up to one and kicks it.
-Ah. Chappu died fighting with a machina weapon, having left the sword (now in Tidus’ possession) behind. Though Wakka contests that this is why he hates the weapons, believing that they’re simply against Yevon.
Probably a little of column A, a little of column B.
-The Al Bhed language is still mostly unknown, but words and letters make things a bit clearer. This dude’s sentence lets me fill in some more language blanks.
The crossword puzzle solver in me thinks this pretty clearly means: “I will be the one to finish Sin off.” [Later edit: as I went through this, I kept a running cipher going with the letters I learned through context. I collated all the new letters I learned a bit later.]
Outside the Command Center
-Luzzu and Gatta here. Gatta wants to fight, but the Crusaders put him away from duty. He seems pretty young. Luzzu stands fast. Gatta is pissed, but goes to his post.
-We approach Luzzu. Tidus sticks up for Gatta, and I can see why. Wakka backs up Luzzu’s decision to keep him out of harm’s way, and I can also see why.
LOLOL – Wakka HATES machina so much that just talking about it drives him into a flailing, wordless, grunting frenzy.
-oh shit that turned fast. Luzzu thinks he may die, and has something to tell Wakka about Chappu. Lulu immediately tries to shut Luzzu up, so… she’s definitely been hiding something. Is Chappu alive but in fiend-form maybe?
-Nope. More guilt-ridden than that for Luzzu. Luzzu convinced Chappu to enlist. Well… shit.
WAKKA SLUGS HIM.
-Apparently, Chappu was enjoying his life, playing blitzball, even planning to propose to Lulu (!!). Then one day, seemingly randomly, he decided to become a Crusader.
LUZZU: “Chappu once said to me, ‘being with your girl is good. But keeping Sin far away from her is better.’”
I don’t blame Luzzu at all. This was Chappu’s choice, and Luzzu didn’t trick him or anything.
-And Lulu even knew. Oof. This has gotta be such a gut punch for poor Wakka.
-Lucil comes by to call the Crusaders to the beach.
WAKKA: “Luzzu! Don’t die out there!”
LUZZU: “…so you can hit me more? *small laugh*”
Wakka is so wonderful. He’s pissed, he’s emotional, but doesn’t let that explode into “I HOPE SIN EATS YOUR FACE.” He still cares about Luzzu, and isn’t afraid to show it.
-Yuna tries to stop Luzzu, but Auron says that he’s already chosen his path. Like Chappu did.
Fade to black, as Future!Tidus says that he only learned later why Yuna let Luzzu pass. Huh. More to it than just respecting Luzzu’s choices apparently.
---
Command Center
-Looks like the machina in question is some sort of cannon array.
-lol, Wakka walks up to one and kicks it.
-Ah. Chappu died fighting with a machina weapon, having left the sword (now in Tidus’ possession) behind. Though Wakka contests that this is why he hates the weapons, believing that they’re simply against Yevon.
Probably a little of column A, a little of column B.
-The Al Bhed language is still mostly unknown, but words and letters make things a bit clearer. This dude’s sentence lets me fill in some more language blanks.
The crossword puzzle solver in me thinks this pretty clearly means: “I will be the one to finish Sin off.” [Later edit: as I went through this, I kept a running cipher going with the letters I learned through context. I collated all the new letters I learned a bit later.]
-Everyone in camp is preparing. There’s some huge monster they’re feeding…oh, must be the sinspawn.
-Yuna still sticking up for them joint forces. Common goals with the Yevonites.
-Maester Kinoc is also here. Another master. Hm
-lol fucking O’aka ripping everyone off. He’s got some GREAT stuff. I would farm for a while if I could, but I don’t feel like running all the way back and fighting more stuff. Hopefully this will be still for sale later.
[Later edit: I regret this decision. I haven’t seen O’aka again, and I don’t know if he’ll still sell these items, but I shouldn’t have rushed. I was too excited to see Operation Mi’ihen. Going forward, I’ll try to grind for items as they appear on vendors.]
-Gatta’s here, and still frustrated. Auron wisely tells him that to prove himself, he has to first complete his given tasks.
-I get the chance to either empathize with Gatta, telling him he should be on the front lines, or telling him that guarding the command center is important. I go with the latter. (I also think he will go to the front lines anyway and meet a messy end.)
-Chocobo Knights are skilled riders with combat merit. Lucil is the best, and Clasko is apparently a disgrace… oh, maybe not. A chocobo-whisperer more than a fighter. Clasko must be the silent dude who was with her.
-Wen Kinoc is here, one of the “Four Maesters of Yevon.”
I like his character model. He hugs Auron, friendly towards him, reminiscing about 10 years ago, but I don’t get the sense the love is returned.
-WHAT THE FUCK KINOC – he is confident this will fail, that the Crusaders and Al Bhed are just dreaming, but… dude! I just learned that you’re the leader of the Crusaders. If this isn’t going to work, call the damn thing off!
-Auron says he spent the last 10 years fulfilling a promise to a friend. Watching out for Tidus on Jecht’s behalf.
-Ok, wandering around. Final preparations before the operation begins.
-Talking with an Al Bhed. Let’s see if I can translate what he says:
“We have the ancient machina. The operation will succeed. Our machina will prove that Yevon’s teachings are not the way.” So the Al Bhed are ideologically opposed to Yevon. Not outcasts, but real opponents.
Adding more to my little decoder key:
A -> E
B -> P
C -> S
D -> T
F -> W
H -> N
I -> U
J -> V
K -> G
M -> L
N -> R
U -> O
-Wakka is especially disgusted by the presence of Maesters, seeming to approve this.
-Ready to start.
-Yuna still sticking up for them joint forces. Common goals with the Yevonites.
-Maester Kinoc is also here. Another master. Hm
-lol fucking O’aka ripping everyone off. He’s got some GREAT stuff. I would farm for a while if I could, but I don’t feel like running all the way back and fighting more stuff. Hopefully this will be still for sale later.
[Later edit: I regret this decision. I haven’t seen O’aka again, and I don’t know if he’ll still sell these items, but I shouldn’t have rushed. I was too excited to see Operation Mi’ihen. Going forward, I’ll try to grind for items as they appear on vendors.]
-Gatta’s here, and still frustrated. Auron wisely tells him that to prove himself, he has to first complete his given tasks.
-I get the chance to either empathize with Gatta, telling him he should be on the front lines, or telling him that guarding the command center is important. I go with the latter. (I also think he will go to the front lines anyway and meet a messy end.)
-Chocobo Knights are skilled riders with combat merit. Lucil is the best, and Clasko is apparently a disgrace… oh, maybe not. A chocobo-whisperer more than a fighter. Clasko must be the silent dude who was with her.
-Wen Kinoc is here, one of the “Four Maesters of Yevon.”
I like his character model. He hugs Auron, friendly towards him, reminiscing about 10 years ago, but I don’t get the sense the love is returned.
-WHAT THE FUCK KINOC – he is confident this will fail, that the Crusaders and Al Bhed are just dreaming, but… dude! I just learned that you’re the leader of the Crusaders. If this isn’t going to work, call the damn thing off!
-Auron says he spent the last 10 years fulfilling a promise to a friend. Watching out for Tidus on Jecht’s behalf.
-Ok, wandering around. Final preparations before the operation begins.
-Talking with an Al Bhed. Let’s see if I can translate what he says:
“We have the ancient machina. The operation will succeed. Our machina will prove that Yevon’s teachings are not the way.” So the Al Bhed are ideologically opposed to Yevon. Not outcasts, but real opponents.
Adding more to my little decoder key:
A -> E
B -> P
C -> S
D -> T
F -> W
H -> N
I -> U
J -> V
K -> G
M -> L
N -> R
U -> O
-Wakka is especially disgusted by the presence of Maesters, seeming to approve this.
-Ready to start.
---
Operation Mi’ihen
-One of the sinspawn is loose!
Sinspawn Gui.
-Four parts to it. Two armored arms that block the body, a head that I have to hit to disable venom, and the body.
-Its left arm goes down in two shots.
-Got a warning, “The head is moving suspiciously!” Must be its pre-venom signal. A shot from Wakka stops that.
-Going to try ignoring the head except when it moves suspiciously, and just go for the body.
-Yup. The arms regenerate. Only a limited window to go for the body.
-Cura would be really nice right now, but still a bit away from it in the grid.
-Aha! Got “Dragon Fang” to work. That blinking yellow arrow pointing right that didn’t go away just meant I should pay attention to the keys to input. Ok.
I love Kimahri’s “Fire Breath” overdrive animation.
-It keeps hitting me with Demi.
-The head is dead, arms are dead, and I have an opening. Valefor, I choose you!
-My party has been gradually picking up the Warrior Overdrive mode, but Yuna just got a new one: “Healer.” Using that.
-GOT IT!! That was a LONG fight. Long, strategic, and fun.
Operation Mi’ihen
-One of the sinspawn is loose!
Sinspawn Gui.
-Four parts to it. Two armored arms that block the body, a head that I have to hit to disable venom, and the body.
-Its left arm goes down in two shots.
-Got a warning, “The head is moving suspiciously!” Must be its pre-venom signal. A shot from Wakka stops that.
-Going to try ignoring the head except when it moves suspiciously, and just go for the body.
-Yup. The arms regenerate. Only a limited window to go for the body.
-Cura would be really nice right now, but still a bit away from it in the grid.
-Aha! Got “Dragon Fang” to work. That blinking yellow arrow pointing right that didn’t go away just meant I should pay attention to the keys to input. Ok.
I love Kimahri’s “Fire Breath” overdrive animation.
-It keeps hitting me with Demi.
-The head is dead, arms are dead, and I have an opening. Valefor, I choose you!
-My party has been gradually picking up the Warrior Overdrive mode, but Yuna just got a new one: “Healer.” Using that.
-GOT IT!! That was a LONG fight. Long, strategic, and fun.
-oh shit here it comes
The toxin heralding its arrival.
-is that a city on its back??
-The cannons are landing, and knocking off those sinscale parasites from it.
-Charge of the chocobo knights! Go Lucil!
So badass. More badass than anyone on a chocobo should reasonably be.
-Is this the first time we’re seeing Sin’s full head and body?
-HOLY SHIIIIIITT SIN LIGHT SHOW
-IT JUST SUMMONED THIS BUBBLE OF PAIN AROUND IT AND EMITTED A PULSE THAT FUCKING ~~DISINTEGRATED~~ ITS ENEMIES
-We flash now to Seymour facing down a Sinspawn. Seems to be cowering, bowing? No, just preparing to cast/fight.
-Wait. Seymour is in our party now? Was I wrong, and he’s actually just a party member and not a villain?
-No. He’s got 1,000 MP. That screams “very temporary party member” to me. I like his portrait in the turn order list.
-I can’t swap any party members out of this second Sinspawn Gui fight. Just using the powerful magic of Seymour to go straight for the boss’s body. It works, with some summon help.
-Where’s everyone now?
-Sin is pushing back against a huge cannon assault. This must be the ultimate machina Al Bhed was relying on.
Its defense is successful. It obliterates the cannon.
---
Next time: the aftermath.
