Zanarkand – Chamber of the Fayth
-There’s an empty statue. The fayth is long-departed. To where?
-The old dude who greeted us comes in, saying that the statue “lost its power as a fayth long ago.”
OLD DUDE: “It is Lord Zaon, the first fayth of the Final Summoning.”
-So maybe this’ll end up being a quest like near the end of FFIX where I have to go back across the world and compile various fayths together for Voltron Fayth.
-What happened to Lord Zaon?
-He doesn’t seem too worried. Says that Lady Yunalesca will show us the path forward.
-Hey, Auron knew about this but didn’t tell us. Wtf dude.
-We all head inside.
-The inside is surprisingly well-preserved. Doesn’t look like it’s in ruins at all.
-Lady Yunalesca greets us.
-Ok, come on, Square Enix. You really needed to have Lady Yunalesca basically wearing underwear, a bra, and some armbands?
Really?
-wait what
Yunalesca wants Yuna to choose “the one whom I will change…” This is starting to feel a bit like Ghostbusters where Gozer makes you choose the method of your destruction.
-Ah! One of us will take Zaon’s place, and become the fayth that Yuna summons. The whole purpose of this final summoning is to embody a close bond whose “light will conquer Sin.” Makes sense.
-I like that there are a variety of relationships that can serve as the final bond.
-How long has this substitute been going on for? Was Lord Zaon only the first to undergo this process?
-Oh!! Yes. She immediately answers this. Zaon was her husband (forgot his name, but he must’ve been the dude from Seymour’s example), and this bond “obtained” the Final Aeon.
-The word choice – “obtained” – interests me. Does it mean that this bond summons the Final Aeon as an external force? Seems to imply that, more than that it creates something with the power of a Final Aeon.
-Yunalesca worries me. I don’t quite fully trust her. She’s talking about how there’s nothing to fear, since calling the Final Aeon results in death, an end to worry and pain.
I don’t trust her because she’s selling Seymour’s line.
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Braska and Friends
-Quick flashback as we see Braska choosing this same path. And not just Braska choosing Yuna’s path, but Jecht choosing what I imagine will be Tidus’s path. Becoming the fayth for his summoner.
-This is incredible. Auron was in Rikku’s shoes back then, begging Jecht and Braska to turn back and try to find another way. Auron’s guilt over Jecht must be incredible.
-Young!Auron has some of my same thoughts. That this sacrifice doesn’t kill Sin – it just delays him briefly. The cycle continues.
-Jecht wanted to find a way to break the cycle. Did he succeed? Did he find a way to make this incarnation of Sin somehow more mortal?
-We haven’t yet seen too much practical significance of Jecht and Tidus coming from the dreams of the fayth. Perhaps this is the key – like, maybe someone from the dream doesn’t possess the kind of soul or energy that Sin needs to continue.
-Auron lashes out at the image of his prior self, slashing at the memory. The cycle continued.
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Zanarkand – Chamber of the Fayth
-Everyone in the party starts volunteering to be the fayth, but Tidus objects. He knows it’ll just continue the cycle.
-Wakka and Lulu both believe this isn’t possible. Tidus really believes there is a way. Rikku’s got his back.
An Al Bhed line of thought.
-I don’t know if I admire Tidus’s vision and tenacity or want to denounce his selfishness. Probably it’s both. I hope there’s a way. He’s playing double-or-nothing with countless Spiran lives on the line.
-Time to take a risk. Let’s see if Yunalesca has any ideas about breaking the cycle.
-This part of Zanarkand is called the Great Hall. Well named.
-We through a door, and… are we in the Farplane? It looks like we’re floating on a platform in space.
-Yunalesca confirms that Sin is “eternal,” and every aeon that defeats him takes his place. I don’t buy this. There was a time pre-Sin. There’s gotta be a way to defeat Sin without just seeding his replacement.
-Just… I’m more and more skeptical of Yunalesca. I think she’s trying to guard and protect this cycle. Why?
-Wakka and Lulu are more shaken by hearing about Sin’s persistence than the others. They grew up in the orthodoxy of Yevon, and always believed that if people just atoned, Sin would end. Yunalesca challenges this.
-Tidus begins to surge forward in a rage, and is stopped when he sees the echo of young!Auron doing the EXACT SAME THING.
-Young!Auron attacks Yunalesca. He’s repelled, knocked back. This must be where his scar came from.
False tradition that should be thrown away.
Yunalesca is so cynical. She wants to feed Spira false hope and lies. Yuna says NO. FUCKING HELL YES YUNA
-Look. I like Tidus. A lot. I do! But Yuna is the real hero of this story. She is the boss, she is the badass of badasses, and I love her. I love her mind, I love her shoes, I love her courage, and she’s such a glorious person.
-Yunalesca is going full on Seymour, selling the peace of death.
-MUSIC GOING INTO OVERDRIVE [Later edit: pun unintended, but no WAY am I deleting it. :D]
-HERE WE GO
-(Though I’m not sure what killing Yunalesca will change.)
-Scan tells me that Yunalesca doesn’t have a huge amount of HP, but uses the same tactic as Seymour Flux did of turning us into zombies and healing us. Kind of a poetic attack method. She and Seymour both see their attempts to kill us as cures.
-HOLY SHIT SHE WENT INTO PHASE 2
-Is she closer to Sin than I had imagined? Like, is she an avatar or keeper of Sin?
-This version of her has 48,000 HP.
-She keeps zombifying us. Going to go with Auron (who has Ribbon), Yuna (zombie ward), and… someone else. Dunno. She also uses Silence, but I can deal with that more easily.
-Yuna’s Holy keeps plinking away for 9999.
-Her main attack is “Hellbiter” now, summoning snakes/tentacles from the ground to zombify the party.
-Glad I stocked up on Holy Water a while back.
-One more Holy… Come on for no phase 3…
-JESUS FUCKING CHRIST
JEEEEESUS THAT SCARED THE PANTS OFF ME
-Now she’s got 60,000 HP.
-This boss design is simply incredible.
-DAMMIT. Her “Mega-Death” (lol) got me. Insta-kill when she had about 20,000 HP left.
-Oh, come on, game. I have to watch that whole series of conversations again?? Ugh. Seems to be no way to skip this.
-I can’t count on this being my final attempt on Yunalesca, so I’m saving after that whole series of dialogue.
-Preparing for the Lady Medusa McSatanface again. Configuration will help. I can Death Proof one character’s armor, and giving that to Yuna. Glad I found Belgemine since she’s the one who provided the 60 Farplane Wind I needed.
-Yuna – with the Holy spell, with Zombieward, with Deathproof – is the key to my strategy. This seems fitting. This is her story.
-All set to try again. Take 2.
-Phase 1 down…
-Phase 2 down… here we go. Phase 3.
-God. I thought I was mentally prepared for this mentally, and still the art design on phase three of Yunalesca gives me the creeps. Literal chills.
-Yuna survived the Mega-Death. Whew. Come on…
-Still going okay. This is totally the Yuna show. Keeping her healed and protecting her while she raises us after Mega-Death and rains Holy on Yunalesca.
-Deep in phase 3. Yuna just got her overdrive charged. You know what time it is.
-YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
-EAT IT LADY YUNALESCAAAAHJKLH HAHAHAHAHHA FUCKING YESSSSS
[Later edit, with a request for a rot13’d answer: I keep thinking about the Mega-Death. I really, really got lucky that I found Belgemine and won the 60 Farplane Winds. I don’t know how I would’ve won this fight without that Deathproof item.
How do you do it? My theory that I didn’t test is that if I had left my characters in zombie mode, Mega-Death wouldn’t impact them. I don’t want to know the answer right now in case the scenario comes up again later, but if you could put your strategy and answer in rot13 so I see it when I finish this playthrough, that’d be awesome. Thank you :)]
-Yunalesca says if she dies, the Final Aeon dies with her.
-“YU YEVON???” YU YEVON THE IMMORTAL WILL RECREATE SIN?? WAIT WHAT WAIT WAIT WHAT
-Yunalesca really had good intentions. That’s an incredibly pleasant surprise. She wasn’t secretly feeding on death or anything. She hadn’t made a pact with Sin for power. She didn’t feed on the dead of Spira. She wasn’t secretly Sin’s lover. Nothing like that.
Sure, she kept the cycle going, but it seemed like she honestly believed there was no other way, that the Calms were the best they could hope for.
I love that. Well played, FFX.
-We’re in “The Beyond.” If Auron had been there, I wonder if that’s what it meant when Seymour said he smelled of the Farplane.
-Found the Sun Crest.
-The party heads back to the gradnd hall. It looks wrecked and ruin. Its grandeur was an illusion maintained by Lady Yunalesca.
Fitting. A lie that granted hope.
-Auron pulls Tidus aside: “We must talk.” OH GOD ANOTHER THING??
-Oh. My question was answered just now. My first theory was right. Auron is unsent. Tidus had guessed.
-!! AH!! Yunalesca didn’t just “knock him back.” She killed him. He tried to avenge them, and she killed him.
-Yay! I was actually prepared for a thing.
-Auron says that the only way he was able to “ride Sin” and get to Tidus’s Zanarkand was because he was dead. So that’s a plus I guess. That’s how he was able to get into the dream. He was ethereal.
-I’ve mentioned my love for how direct Tidus can be before, asking questions that the player (me) is asking in real life. He does that again now. Asks Auron, why him? Why Tidus, this weird dream dude?
-Wow. Auron’s going to actually show him. I thought he’d just leave it at “it’s tough to explain.” I see his increased willingness to open up to Tidus as a strong piece of character development, the result of hard-won respect for Tidus.
And empathy. I don’t think Auron expected Tidus to feel about the cycle just as he did.
-Auron basically dives into his Pensieve and brings out the image of Jecht and young!Auron. Flashback time.
-Jecht asks for Auron’s help to care for Tidus, in the most dickish way possible.
Auron promises to try to find a way to get to dream!Zanarkand.
JECHT: “Thanks, Auron. You were always such a stiff, but that’s what I liked about you.” That’s one of the best ways to summarize my affection for Auron I could think of. Well said, Jecht.
-The music here is incredible yet again btw.
-Save point.
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Next time: I really don’t know. The linear part of the pilgrimage is over. We’re at the “uh, hopefully we think of an alternative since the whole Final Aeon thing crapped out” section of the game. Seymour is unaccounted for. Sin is unaccounted for.
