Friday, December 16, 2016

FFX-2 – Part 11: Machines Ex Machina

Summary: Clasko and Lucil on the Mushroom Rock Road. Bevelle. Gippal in Djose Temple. Introspective Cid on the Thunder Plains.




Mushroom Rock Road

-Lots of Al Bhed and machina on the road.



-The statue of Lord Mi’ihen is still here with some treasure chests around it.

-Yaibal and other Youth Leaguers are here to welcome us. We’re not really joining them, but at least sort of aligning with them.

-HI CLASKO!!!!



-Clasko seems kind of down. He runs away, upset. Doesn’t like being a Youth League grunt.

-The Youth League provides us with a defensive escort. They say things like “Don’t… worry…” which makes me think they’re either out of breath or hiding something.

-There’s a huge frigging Grat in the way. I like being able to see Fiends even when walking on the map.

-Fought a Tonberry, whose design was a bit disappointing. He just kind of walked up to us and started doing a low damage “Chef’s Knife.” None of the normal “slow walk of doom” followed by massive damage as usual.



I don’t mind the game departing from tradition, but not sure I understand why the game went this route. Not just with the Tonberry, but also with the fairly weak Iron Giants and Behemoths.

-I can sneak past the Grats if I want, but screw that. I want to at least try fighting them.

-Ooops – Ochu, not Grat.

-I feel certain that I’m missing something. There’s some way to get to the lower part of the Mushroom Rock Road and I just can’t remember how.

---

Youth League Headquarters

-Lucil is here!

-Yaibal’s been spreading rumors that seem to overemphasize Yuna’s ties to the Youth League.



-Lucil is awesome. I really like her.

-THE TRANSLATOR BROUGHT THE YIDDISH!! A CHARACTER IN THE FF-VERSE SAID “VERKLEMPT,” I’M SO HAPPY

-There’s a large influx of new recruits since hearing of Yuna’s support. Lots of enthusiastic participants.

-Outright war with New Yevon seems possible. 
---

Bevelle

-Djose Temple is next on the list, but after checking in with the Youth League, I want to at least see Bevelle. Hostile reception or not.

-We immediately meet resistance. The guards attack.

-As I push through, each of the guards expresses shock at Yuna’s betrayal. They never imagined this day would come, etc.

-I can skip some of these guards, but I talk to/fight all of them. Dunno if this is the right choice or not.

-At the door, a guard asks us to withdraw… then appears shocked when he sees Bevelle soldiers with machina behind us.



-We win the fight, but get kicked out to the Macalania Woods exit. The guards there are disgusted that Bevelle attacked us. Seems like New Yevon is not single-minded. Some factional divisions perhaps.

-Went back into Bevelle and the guards had respawned. Guess it’s off limits for now.

---

Djose Temple

-This seems to be a hub of Al Bhed activity.

-The temple still has the lightning effect around it. I’m surprised. Thought with the departure of the fayth that would’ve left too.

-Gippal walks by, leader of the Machine Faction.



-Interviews? Huh?

-The Leblanc Syndicate is here and wants to go to the desert.

-As I talk to people here, there’s a line to get shovels or something that keeps getting shorter.

-The Machine Faction is hiring workers to dig for stuff in the Bikanel Desert. Materials, building supplies, research stuff.

-Ah. That’s what Gippal’s interviews are for. The hiring process.

-He seems… bemused that we’re trying for an interview.



-Gippal strikes me as a bit creepy.

-Rikku is on good terms with Gippal.

-And… ok, this is weird. He seems to know Paine and not be on good terms with her, but she doesn’t know him. The fuck’s going on?

-He hires us on the spot. We’re supposed to give a letter of introduction to Nhadala in the Bikanel Desert.

-That whole conversation was weird. I feel like I’m missing something major.

-In a touch I really like, I learn that the Al Bhed are calling the mechs “machines” rather than machina to get away from the negative connotations among Yevonites with the word Machina.

-The Bikanel Desert now shows up as a hotspot on the map. I’ll visit there a bit later.  

---

Thunder Plains

-Some Al Bhed here are working to repair the lightning pillars.

-I keep seeing Chocobo in combat, but they run away before I can do anything.

-Found Cid!



-He’s “trying to sulk.” Rikku’s annoyed at him.

-Rikku thinks Cid’s upset that Yuna told him off. I don’t think that’s the case. I’ll bet he’s upset that he thinks they were RIGHT to tell him off. He probably feels guilty.

-He won’t say anything else. But he has a pink “x” marker on the map, so no way I’m done with him.

-Not a lot else to see here so far. Lots of random encounters. Even the Agency just has some people talking about the Al Bhed that helped fix the lightning towers.

-Lots of elementals here. Songstress!Yuna’s Samba of Silence gets a workout.

-Warrior!Paine got Excalibur, a pretty sweet Holy attack.



-OH DANG!! One of these enemies uses an attack called Shatter Ether. I thought it would lower our magic, but it actually destroys precious Ethers. What an asshole.

-Even zoned out and zoned back in to see if Cid’s dialogue would change. No luck.

---

Next time: Calm Lands.

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