The Next Day
-Right back on the horse!
-I woke up this morning excited to try again. Not to try Dark Yojimbo again, but to continue exploring this wonderful and mysterious game. I already have a plan for Dark Yojimbo. Get money, then come back.
-Gotta remember what I love about the combat in this game: it relies on using strategy and thought. When I reach the point that I feel I’m hitting my head against a wall, I’ve messed up somehow. Should take a step back.
-Anyway! Where to go next?
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Besaid
-I come back to the beach.
-A kid says some people were here hunting for Yuna. Sounds like the soulless minions of Yevonite orthodoxy.
-So peaceful to revisit this place.
-Passed by the waterfall. I’ll bet that the airship is the only way to get down below to that treasure chest. That’ll be my next thing to check out after I’m done in the main part of Besaid.
-I see the code again on the ruined structured that I couldn’t translate when I first saw it. Now it’s clear. “Kilika and Bikanel join as one.” Dunno what that means.
[Later edit: I tried typing this into the password thing on the airship, getting as far as “Kilika and” before I ran out of characters. No luck. I still think this has something to do with it.]
-There’s a path in the road that I still can’t go down. Nothing barring my way – it’s just that Tidus stops and turns back whenever I try walking down it.
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Besaid Village
-Something’s happening.
-Crap. A summoner calls us “infidel” and attacks us with his not!Valefor.
-DARK VALEFOR???
-I thought Dark Yojimbo was a one-off. Maybe there are these Dark versions of each aeon. That’d be rad.
-He does 9999 with every hit, every Sonic Wing. I’m quickly obliterated.
-Ok. This is kind of hilarious. After the last session, I thought, “What’s the furthest away I can get from the ordeal of Dark Yojimbo? I know! Besaid! Relaxation, beaches, home.”
And I ran straight into the arms of Dark Valefor. XD XD XD
-The answer to Dark Yojimbo seemed to lie in Yojimbo. Perhaps the answer to Dark Valefor lies in Valefor. I’ll try to get her overdrive working...
OH. GOOD. LORD. Something just hit me. I didn’t need to keep summoning Yojimbo and having him get hit in order to raise his overdrive gauge. Yuna’s frigging overdrive gives her next aeon a full frigging overdrive. Grand Summon. That’s would’ve been WAAAAY easier. *bonks self*
-So I’ll do that now. Maybe Energy Blast will beat Dark Valefor.
-The Water Flans in the area have Dragon Scales and Fish Scales to steal.
-Ooh, that reminds me – I wonder what those rewards from capturing the two zones worth of stuff is used for?
1)I got 60x “Three Stars.” When used as an item, those set the party’s MP cost to 0. However, 30 of them can be used to add Break MP Limit. On a weapon, they reduce MP cost of spells to 1. Nice.
2)Also got a bunch of Silver Hourglasses for Slow Wards on armor or Slowtouch on weapons.
-Scanning through the configure, it seems like Dark Matter is the real powerhouse item. Enough would allow me to add Ribbon to armor or (even better?) “Break Damage Limit” to weapons.
-Dark Valefor, Take 2.
-Energy Blast did 9999, but no more than that. Hm. Energy Ray maybe?
-Take 3: an immediate Valefor Energy Ray wipes us out.
-Take 4: Got off an Energy Ray of my own, but it again just does 9999.
-Something I want to keep in mind is the possibility that these kinds of bosses are intended for once I have everyone superpowered. Like, for once I have everyone with their HP limit broken, at some ridiculous health total, able to take Dark Valefor in a straight-up fight.
-The last thing I want to try before backing off for now is a limit broken Bahamut.
-Take 5: Megaflare does 33k damage, but Bahamut dies immediately after.
-Not making progress. Let’s head elsewhere. To the waterfall!
BESAID FIENDS CAPTURED
-CONDOR
-DINGO
-WATER FLAN
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Besaid Falls
-The airship drops me right below the falls, at the save point and treasure chest here.
-Found a Dragoon Lance for Kimahri. Magic Counter, Evade & Counter, and two blank spaces. Awesome!
-Huh. Seems like that’s it. Can’t move anywhere else. I thought there’d be a cave or something behind the falls to explore.
-Good to know. Seems the locations accessible by the airship could range from huge dungeons (I assume) to little secret treasures.
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Baaj Temple
-This is first on the list, so presumably closest to Besaid. I have a hunch now that the Baaj Temple may even be those ruins above the path to Besaid, the thing that looks vaguely alien. On the “Ancient Road.”
-Nope. Somewhere else… wait, why do I know this place?
-oh shit. Oh shit oh shit oh shit. This is where Tidus first arrived, with the sea monster that chased him away. Before he even met Rikku and the Al Bhed.
-Found it.
Geosgaeno.
-Tried swapping out a party member, but can’t. It’s just Rikku, Tidus, and Wakka. The underwater crew.
-It obliterates Rikku with “Stone Punch.” Tidus has Ribbon, but I quickly give Wakka Stone Ward armor.
-Equipping lightning weapons, just in case.
-Yay! Got it. That wasn’t too bad.
-I head through the doors beyond.
-what the hell is this? There are these fish statues each guarding a spheres of different colors. Maybe this is where I use those crests I’ve been collecting through the game, like the Venus and Mars crests.
-There’s a chamber of the fayth! If I open all the chests within…
AH DAG NABIT
Ok. It seems like there’s a special fayth (the secret aeon referred to in some item description I saw), but I have to have gotten the secret treasures in each temple’s trials. This is where getting closed off in the early sessions comes back to bite me I guess. Unless I can get back to those cloisters and try again (one of which is guarded by Dark Valefor), I may be SOL.
-It’s ok. I’m definitely curious to see what’s in here after I finish the game if I can’t get back to the trials.
-Three of the statues lit up, three didn’t. Three secrets still undiscovered.
-uhhhh
quick question
how do I get out of here? There’s no sphere to get back to the airship, and no way to back up to the platform I came from.
-Been wandering around for about 5-10 minutes trying to find a way out, and I just don’t see one. I guess the only way out since I can’t go through is to reset the game. Seems like a not-great design choice.
-Not a huge problem though. The Geogaenos didn’t give notable loot or experience, and only found some Megalixirs and Mega Phoenixes in the chamber beyond.
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Next time: continuing to work my way down the capture list. Kilika next.
