Bevelle Trials
-This looks to be another tricksy area. An elevator puzzle?
-I have what can generously be described as a horrific sense of direction. I’m beyond lost. Going to see if trial and error can see me through.
-There’s a twitch-reaction timing thing here too. Not bad, just taking some getting used to. Taking me back to my days of Donkey Kong Country on SNES in terms of timing.
-Found a destruction sphere. Good.
-Another 15 minutes or so of trying this, and it’s getting a bit frustrating. Not seeing the logic in it. I’m sure it’s there, but it’s really not clicking. There’s one particular area that I feel like I’m missing something major at, a connection that I can’t quite make.
-Maybe if I put two Bevelle Spheres into the pillar it’ll unlock some of these doors.
*15 minutes later*
/FujinVoiceActivated: “RAAAAAAGE”
*5 minutes later*
-I DID A THING MOTHER OF GOD I DID A THING?? Popped a Destruction Sphere where I’d been using a Bevelle Sphere. Let’s see if that impacts anything.
-Also learned to look for areas with purple lines coming out from them. Those are the places for Destruction spheres. Green doors for glyph, blue lines for [region] spheres, purple for destruction. Good good good.
-Still not sure what to do with this “pit stop” platform.
-Oh HELL YES. That destruction sphere allowed me to go up a ramp that I’d been missing. Hooray for HP Sphere reward.
-And another reward: a Knight Lance. Enjoy the massive strength boost, Kimahri. (lol – I actually had to edit this immediately because I accidentally typed in “Enjoy, Freya!” FFIX on the brain still.)
-Made it through the trials! [Later edit: I probably come across as angry, but actually found this set of trials fun and satisfying, if tricky.]
-The party awaits at the end. Any Yuna sightings? Probably communing with the fayth.
-Wakka tries to stop Tidus from breaking into the fayth, but I’m kind of with Tidus here. Not sure how much time we have. Even Kimahri helps open the door for Tidus to sneak through.
-HOLY SHIT IT’S THE TRANSLUCENT “TIME MAGE” KID WHO KEPT APPEARING IN FLASHBACKS AND EARLY IN THE GAME
-There’s a design on the floor that looks awfully Bahamut-esque. Or perhaps like Griever from FFVIII.
-Auron pops in. Explains that the translucent kid is a fayth.
-The fayth dives into Yuna, and she falls unconscious. Which fayth was that?
-We’re about to come out, but Rikku warns against it. Shit. Caught.
-Fucking Kinoc.
-Yup. That was Bahamut. The shadowy figure visiting us early in the game, keeping an eye out, seems like it was the Bevelle Fayth. Huh.
---
Trial
-Wow. I thought we’d fight our way out, but looks like we’re in the “High Court of Yevon.”
-A Ronso is the judge. In the back, we see the symbols of perhaps each race or people.
-Maester Kelk Ronso.
-Yuna is on trial. Seymour is looking on.
-She’s on trial for harm to Seymour and conspiring with the Al Bhed.
-Ok. She now has the chance to explain herself to the court. Will they believe her?
-Kelk is shocked (which tells me he’s not in league with Seymour), and even more shocking – Seymour doesn’t deny it! Just gives a casual “Hm? Hadn’t you heard?” Two possibilities jump to mind:
1)He’s gonna try to gaslight her. Act like, “Oh, yes, hadn’t you heard? Apparently, I killed Jyscal, and even Yevon himself! She’s quite imaginative.”
2)He might be preparing an overt coup. The kind where he doesn’t care if the judge hear the truth because he’s gonna summon Anima to attack those unloyal to him anyway.
-Maester Mika steps in when Yuna begs him to send the dead Seymour. Mika starts giving this creepy laugh. Crap. This isn’t going to go well.
-Pyreflies emerge from Mika. uhhhh
-HDFJKLSHFDJKLSFHDLSFDLSKJ MIKA IS DEAD TOO
KELK: “Grand Maester Mika is a wise leader. Even in death, he is invaluable to Spira.”
Wakka. Poor, poor Wakka. How much more disappointment and shock can the man take from the order of Yevon?
-See, the thing is, I’d be on board with letting the dead stay and help if they want. But Mika isn’t just dead – he’s dead and he committed evil acts, enabling the forced marriage of Yuna and threatening to kill our party.
Plus, what I learned about fiends in the FFX-verse teaches me that being a spirit is a bit like in Supernatural: there are rarely “good” fiends. The fayth is as close as it gets.
-Side note, but I really like the ornate designs in the courtroom. Reminds me a bit of beautiful and intricate arabesque designs like you see in some mosques.
-All the maesters are in on this. They’re basically a council of the dead.
-Wakka talked about how Sin will die when they atone for their sins. Perhaps something like this.
-Yuna explicitly asks about Sin. “I am a Jedi – ahem, summoner – [so I took some liberties in transcribing. Sue me. ] like my father before me. I am on a pilgrimage to stop the death that Sin brings. Are you telling me that too is futile? Grand Maester Mika, I am not alone! All the people who have opposed sin. Their battles, their sacrifices, were they all in vain?”
-Have I said before how amazing Yuna is? Yes, but not enough. Never enough. She’s the best.
Mika thinks that Sin can never truly be defeated. Summoners live, fight, die, give hope to others, rinse, repeat. An endless cycle. He even claims that this is the way of Yevon. The core of his faith.
Jesus. This sounds like a form of hell on earth. Full of false hope that Sin may one day be defeated.
-This really knocks Yuna aback. Mika goes full evil inquisitor, calling any who question this traitors.
-Al Bhed philosophy is looking better and better.
---
Prison
-Auron and Tidus in a cell. Not sure what happened to Yuna.
-Tidus continues his role of player surrogate, asking great questions: “Why is that everything in Spira seems to revolve around people dying?”
-It’s really true. Everything is about death and sacrifice and death and protecting and even more death. With the eternally reborn Sin at the center.
-Our sentence has been decided. Kinoc informs us. Are we to be executed?
-Tidus gets taken alone to some kind of pool. What the hell is happening? Sorry for asking so many rhetorical questions, just not sure what’s up and pretty freaked out. “Fate worse than death” seems likely.
-Wakka and Rikku are down here. Maybe we’re just supposed to drown over time from exhaustion of treading water. That’d be a pretty brutal way to die.
-Anyone else being put in mind of the Dark Souls series? Those games are focused strongly on themes of an endless cycle, the decision and morality around continuing the cycle, and the horror of the cycle as well.
---
Meeting of Maesters
-Seymour’s act of murder troubles the Ronso master. Good. Perhaps he’ll join our side.
-Seymour wants to keep Yuna alive. Mika’s against it.
-Kinoc thinks it’s hopeless, because…. Holy hell. Because “no one thrown into the Via Purifico has ever survived. So… probably not just us sitting in the water to drown.
Something about that path is supposed to purify us. Destroy us. Maybe this is a feeding trough for Sin or some powerful aeon. Also could be like the ordeal in FFIV perhaps.
-Seymour offers to finish us off in case we survive, but Kinoc is a bit mistrustful. Wants to be there to witness Seymour finish us.
---
Next time: the Via Purifico.
