Beneath Bevelle
-*deep breath*
-This next area is called “Limbo.”
-I see lots of pyreflies in this wide-open space.
-The runes on the wall are shifting and moving. Eerie.
-OH SHIT IS THAT BAHAMUT?? HOW??
-Rikku is freaked out. She’s sure it’s an aeon.
-Yuna is heartbroken. She wants to stop it, is shocked by its appearance, but Paine thinks they have to kill it.
-It’s even called “Bahamut.” What the fuck is going on? (I'll bet my friend Erin Lynn Jeffreys Hodges has a good guess.)
-The music is the opposite of intense for this fight. It’s mournful.
-Scan describes Bahamut as “an aeon that once fought alongside Yuna.” This is absolutely the same.
-Unless it’s a copy? I mean, maybe that’s what Vegnagun does. Makes malformed copies of things. That might explain MaybeNot!Tidus.
-Bahamut is counting down. I pop reflect and Shell on us, just in case.
-Victory. Ugh. I feel awful. The achievement we got is “Defeating an Old Friend.”
-GOD THIS IS HEARTBREAKING
-We look down. There’s a huge hole, one made recently. Was Vegnagun ripped out of place and moved somewhere maybe?
-Leblanc comes in. She says something ridiculous on the surface, yet something that makes me think. She says it must’ve fled her in terror.
And of course it didn’t, but… I wonder: can it flee? Is Vegnagun sentient?
-Yuna is terrified at what this might mean for the “Eternal Calm.”
-Brother radios in from the ship in a panic.
-Chapter 2 is complete.
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Celsius
-Emergency. Fiends are pouring out of the temples. All the temples.
-New variation on my earlier guess about Vegnagun: I think it’s not just making copies of dead things, but doing some form of manipulation of pyreflies and the Farplane. I’m remembering that when we went to Guadosalam, the Farplane was hyperactive somehow and we couldn’t visit.
-So what to do?
-Yuna wants to help, but not necessarily in the same way as she did before. Split the difference between hero and sphere hunter. Mercenary.
-A message comes through to Buddy. Baralai and Nooj are both gone.
-A host of new missions are available now. Going to follow my Chapter 2 method of first exploring the non-hotspot zones first, then moving onto the hotspots.
-First though, let’s explore the ship. See what’s new.
-Shinra invented a CommSphere. He doesn’t really say what it is, but it sounds like it requires a Spira-wide network to work.
-Calli and her chocobo are still aboard.
-No sign of Leblanc. I guess she want back to Guadosalam.
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Luca
-The airship menu says that the winner of a Sphere Break tournament gets a dressphere. *braces self* I really want that dressphere… and yet I know I’m no good at this game.
-Still. The old college try and all that.
-The city is looking very much alive.
-Another report by Shelinda.
-omg lord rin is the sponsor and he’s looking like the cheesiest used car salesman ever
-I have to win three matches to advance, and losing three matches disqualifies me. This is one of those moments where I can choose to keep reloading from a save point to ignore losses, but I won’t do that. Just kind of goes against the spirit of the unspoiled play rules I’ve kept to up unti now.
If I lose, I lose. Hopefully the tournament takes places over and over so it’s not just one chance, but I’m saying now that if I never see this dressphere during this play, so be it. I’ll see it after I finish X-2, worse comes to worse.
-I finally “piqued the curiosity” of a woman about the matchmaking thing. She’s up on the bridge above Luca. No follow-up. Hm.
-Told another woman, “I have the perfect person for you!” and she seemed excited. Again, not sure what the follow-up is.
-Lost my first game in the last round. Barely. Miscalculated in the last round. But now I understand echo, so that’s good! That was the Dream Shop Core Sphere.
-Next, Fresh Catch Core Sphere. A fisherman.
-WOOHOO!! Victory. Echoes help a TON.
-Another victory, this time in a rematch vs. Shades.
-I see a sphere thing on the ground that looks exactly like Shinra’s CommSphere. I’ll try to remember it. Near the bar.
-THERE’S A PUPPER WITH A CORE SPHERE
I don’t play him because he’s a 3-star challenge and too skilled compared to what I want in a first round match-up, but LOOKIT HIM WHAT A GOOD BOY
-Trying out a three star, the Slacking Guard Core Sphere... and lost. :(
-2-2. Going to try to sneak into the next round against another 2-star. Grandpa Core Sphere.
-Yay!! Won. Next round.
-holy crap Shinra is the next opponent. A four star. I have no chance. None.
Trust me, Shinra, I know.
I haven’t really come that close to even beating a three star.
-Ok. Chill, Coldrun. Try to get as many four-echoes as possible. One round at a time.
-Doing better than I expected. Currently turn 10/15, quota of 36/50, on a third rolling echo of 4.
HOLY FUCKING SHIT I DID IT
UI DID IT I BEAT SHINRA HAHAHAHAHA
IM JUMPING UP AND DOWN IN MY APARTMENT BECAUSEEE I HAD NO IDEA I COULD EVEN REMOTELY STAND A CHANCE I WON HAHAHAHAHAHHFJKLHD
CONFETTI RAINS DOWN AND I AM VICTORIOUS AND I AM THE LORD OF ALL SPHERE BREAKS HAHDJKSLHF
-Got the Lady Luck dressphere. Can’t wait to try this out. Expecting Setzer-esque results. Giving it to Rikku.
-Wandering around the city a bit as I cool off after my victory. Most people are winding down as well, from the excitement of the tournament.
-Before I leave, I want to play two more games against people who previously scared me off.
-First match is against a dude whose name may or may not be a slur. I just don’t know enough about sex work and Google hasn’t been super helpful. It’s the Tvtbyb Core Sphere.
-I win. Handily. Learning about and using echoes has broken this game wide open for me. And it feels more balanced than the Jecht Shot in blitzball. The Jecht Shot made games uncompetitive, but Sphere Break echoes make me feel I have a chance now.
-Now is the one I still don’t think I’ll win: the punk kids.
-Lost. And yet? I feel really great about it anyway. Got 58/80. My concentration slipped at times and I made some goofy errors, and got a few core sphere numbers of “1” which break any echo.
I’ll get you one day, punk kids.
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Next time: Mi’ihen Highroad.
