Thunder Plains
-Found Cid here still, though in a different place.
-He’s gruff, but as we walk away he calls back Yuna to apologize. (btw cid: nothing says sorry like a dressphere. Just saying.)
-The upgraded Iron Giants are here now. Gemini. I last saw them in FFX endgame, but pretty easy here. And strangely enough given the name, I only see one at a time.
-Found the Safety Bit accessory to guard against Petrify and Death. I seem to remember seeing Safety Bits first as an enemy in FFV, though I could be mistaken.
-Lian and Ayde are here. They won’t return to the mountain until they can repair Kimahri’s horn.
-They ask where Yuna thinks they should search for a fix to the horn. I get three options: Djose Temple, the Moonflow, and Kilika Island. I’ll say Djose Temple. I figure if anyone can help, it’s the Machine Faction.
-Just got “Bribe.” I avoided using it in FFX, but will at least try it here.
-First enemy I tried for 100 gil ignored me. The second enemy used “Guard” against it, was immune. I only have about 2k gil. Maybe I’ll hold off on trying bribe extensively until I’m wealthier.
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Macalania Woods
-The Guado here are still unsure of their place in the world.
-Oops! Wandered into Lake Macalania.
-Fiends are attacking the agency.
-Mission time: I have to win six consecutive battles without healing. Doesn’t sound too bad.
-Awesome! Landed a snake-eyes hit with Rikku’s Two Dice, and it gave me massive damage.
-Won the Pride of the Sword garment grid.
-Inside the agency are signs of a brutal battle. A destroyed machina and a dead fiend, and an Al Bhed whose dying words I can’t understand. Something about “machina” and “fiend.”
-BERSERKER DRESSPHERE HAHAHA FUCK YES
-This one has Paine written all over it. Swapping her Garment Grid to Selene Grid, the one with SOS Shell. It’ll supplement her Protect ring nicely, useful when she is berserking.
-It drops her Magic Defense hard, so I have to be wary of when to use Berserker.
-Heading back to the woods to finish up before checking out Lake Macalania.
-The Amorphous Gels are kicking my ass. At least I finally got a scan in and see that it’s weak to ice.
-Aesthetically, Berserker!Paine is one of my favorite things ever.
She’s dressed sort of like a Viking cheetah martial artist, with claws and shit, and does a rolling uppercut attack. But she seems to be doing less damage than as a Festivalist or Warrior. Hm. I’ll have to test this more.
-The gel enemies have extremely long death sequences. And one variety can alter its resistance, boooo.
-Yup. I think it’s safe to say I have a least favorite enemy (thus far) in FFX-2, and it’s the gel.
-Not much else to see here.
-Went back to Lake Macalania, but couldn’t get past the Agency. Tried walking forward but my characters just turned around. No explanation. Someone mentioned at some point that the Macalania Temple was underwater, so maybe that’s the answer.
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Bikanel Desert
-Nhadala needs our help with Cacti.
-OMG “MARNELA OF THE CACTUAR NATION” WANTS US TO REPRESENT THE AL BHED
THE CACTUAR HAVE A NATION
THE CACTUAR NATION
-Quick tangent: this is one of the things I’m most excited to explore in FFXI. I want to see all the lore they add to so much of the stuff I know. Will the kingdoms in that game draw on past FF games? Will there be, like, a land of the dragoons? A tonberry town to visit? A raid on Bahamut?
-An Al Bhed kid, Benzo, will interpret for us to the newly discovered Cactuar Nation.
-Alright, let’s head to the motherfucking cactuar nation.
-MARNELA IS A CACTUS AND HER VOICE IS ADORABLE AND I WANT TO PUT HER IN MY POCKET AND TAKE HER HOME IF IT WOULDN’T INVOLVE MY LEGS GETTING PRICKED WITH CACTUS THORNS
-So the cacti of this nation used to be full-on cactuars. Cacti is the initial and ending state of a cactuar. For them, dust to dust = cactus to cactus.
-I get the chance to either be in disbelief or say it makes perfect sense. I go with the latter. What, after all the crap Yuna’s seen you think that cactuar becoming and coming from cacti is the bridge too far? Hell no.
-So ill omens have come about. Some fiend from beneath the desert has awakened and that’s why Bikanel is windy af in X-2.
-It lusts for vengeance against the cactuars because the cactuars locked it away a long time ago.
-They must summon the Great Haboob to protect against this menace. I’ll bet the Great Haboob is this game’s Gigantuar.
-The ten gatekeepers can weave a magic barrier, but unlike X-2, those gatekeepers aren’t just chilling around the desert. They’re out in every corner of Spira. The Cactuar Mothers know where they went.
(I gotta say again, this is SO COOL to get more details on the cactuars! One of the things I specifically wanted more out of FFX from, that I felt it stopped short, and glad X-2 is picking up where X left off.)
-Cactuar Mothers are usually asleep. The awake mothers emit light or something.
LOBIVIA’S mother: went north to the Oasis, but might have wandered. The other mothers are asleep, so I think I'm doing this one at a time.
-In the distance is the lair of rogue cactuars. Probably the final dungeon I’ll have to go to after I get the ten gatekeepers.
-Interesting! It’s a specific kind of rogue cactuars – the unfaithful. It’s basically the cactuar version of LotR’s Paths of the Dead.
-Back at Nhadala’s base camp, I get access now to the Eastern and Northern expanses.
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Next time: hunting for the Cactuar Gatekeepers.
