Mt. Gagazet
-This time, I’m heading to the mountain cave.
-Things are going WAY better than yesterday. The main difference is that I’m using Yuna’s crowd control with Brake Dance as a songstress. Makes things less overwhelming. Also I’ve set it up so I won’t get auto-killed or confused by the dogs.
-Gun Mage!Rikku’s scan is similarly useful. Her scan lets me know when to use what dances, what spells. Just feel much more in control than yesterday.
-Another thing: I’m taking advantage more of “wait” moments in combat. Like, as soon as a character’s turn comes up, I press “attack” to buy myself time to think on the target-selection menu. I’m sure there are players who are hardcore about using the active time battle system with no wait moments, but I’m not one of them.
-Reached the end of the Mountain Cave. I think garik is probably beyond here, but I’m hesitant to continue. I really want to explore the Ruins again. Well… I’ll see how this goes. HopefullY I can explore the ruins afterwards.
-Yup. Garik is here.
He thinks the mountain wants him to stop. Yuna goes into BADASS AS FUCK mode, pulling her gun and telling him if the Gullwings win, he will stop.
-Used Brake Dance to stop and then take out his two Ronso Youth guards. Had Paine use the berserker ability to remove most of Garik’s Mighty Guard. And Yuna’s Darkness Samba removes a lot of Garik’s outgoing damage.
-After the fight, Garik honors Yuna’s wishes. Stops vengeance.
-Well… temporarily, anyway. He says he wants to become a better warrior before taking out the Guado. So there’s a bit of a ticking clock on this.
-Got the Wishbringer garment grid. It’s pretty awesome, granting Curaga and regen stuff.
-Before moving on, I want to try the Ruins above Gagazet once more.
-A Ronso woman is trying to calm her anger up here by sculpting a statue.
-Upon arriving at the ruins, I immediately encounter an enemy that makes me reconsider whether I should be here. A Rukh.
-WOOHOO!! I learned my first blue bullet ability: seed cannon.
-Shortly after, got the second one: Blaster, from a Queen Coeurl.
-Reached the peak of the Floating Ruins, and… nothing. Nothing new. Just the empty platform where we fought poor Boris early on.
I’m a bit confused because I felt so sure that this area opening up in chapter 3 when it wasn’t open in chapter 2 meant I’d face new stuff, but no go. Perhaps as I progress through the chapter story.
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Zanarkand Ruins
-Many of the tourists have left. The monkeys have replicated and chased them away. Good monkeys!
-These turtle enemies (Ironside, the ones with guns in their chests, not the adamantoises) are such a pita.
-The monkeys are still in their loving pairs, with hearts coming off them.
-Isaaru is here. The ruin tours are over because of the monkeys and Cid hasn’t returned (as we saw).
-He calls himself Zanarkand’s “lone defender.” Against what? The rando fiends in the dome?
-Lots of treasure chests around here to grab. Mix of potions and gil.
-Even checked the treasure chamber. Nothing new here. The boss from before is here but goes down easily.
-Something I actively dislike compared with, say, FFV’s version of blue magic: when one character learns blue magic, she’s the only one who does. The other gun mages have to learn the same spells independently. Boo.
-I’m nervous about all these “Transmitting Log…” type enemies. Like, I’m afraid that each time they transmit their log, they’ll give some big bad an increasing buff down the line.
-Backtracked fully through Zanarkand to find Isaaru. No luck.
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Calm Lands
-When I port in, I’m not around the amusement park, but by Yojimbo’s cave. Tons of wounded people here. Fiends inside.
-We have to rescue the tourists trapped inside.
-Found the first tourist, and I get a list of two “eccentricities” about his preferences. He seems to have anxiety.
-I wonder what the point of it is. Probably something to do with maximizing the Calm Lands.
-OH! This is a logic thing. Like the puzzle about trying to get a wolf, a goat, and a cabbage across a river.
-I wonder if I can make multiple trips. I hope so.
-Looks like I can. I escort a group out and they all give me Energy Cores to power up the transporter.
-Glad I kept my anti-confuse stuff equipped.
-Ok, I think I found everyone without needing the teleport. There are probably still folks trapped in the two side rooms by the chamber of the fayth though.
-HOLOY FUCKING SHIT
THE BESAIID KEEEEEEEEEEEEY FHDJKLSFHDSJKLFHDKLSFHDSFLDS
-To be honest, I’d given up on that. I thought that it was lost to the sands of time, the kind of thing I could only have gotten from fully exploring the zones in chapter one. HAHAHAHAH YESSS
-Got enough energy cores now to reactivate the back teleport pad. Still three people to find.
-Teleported into the Chamber of the Fayth.
-YOJIMBO IS HERE FFFFFUUU
-The aeons really are coming back. This can’t be good. I think their return is more likely Pet Sematary-style than something more benevolent.
-Yojimbo has a ton of HP.
-oh shit he’s using zanmato
-Dead. His Zanmato knocked us all down to one HP and one MP, and poison plus follow-up attacks finished us off.
-Second attempt. Using a Healing Spring on the party for regen to give us a buffer.
-Here comes Zanmato…
-Survived the first. The second caught me. Fuck.
-He’s down to 3422… so close…
-OH GOD HE’S DOING ANOTHER ZANMATO
-HELL FUCKING YES, GOT HIM
-I mean, I’m sorry and all, but Yojimbo was always kind of a jackass so I’m not as bothered as I was with Bahamut lol.
-Huge hole beneath now.
-Wait, they thank me… but I missed three? Where were they? I assumed they’d be in the Yojimbo chamber, but I guess not. Huh.
-Got the Tetra Master Garment Grid. A fantastic grid whose sphere transitions allow me to get all the element eaters. Also gives me Tetrastrike, which I assume is a multi-elemental attack.
-That completes the mission, but I want to return to the cave just to see if there’s any way to get to the side caverns now, or to get back to the chamber of the fayth where there was a treasure chest.
-Yes!! Got Counterattack on Berserker!Paine. It turns her into a monster.
-Got the chest. It was an accessory. A Star Bracer that grants reflect.
-That’s it though. Just a pit that I can’t go into, and can’t access the side rooms still. Rikku said she heard things/people moving down in the hole.
I’ll be back. I’m sure of it.
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Next time: revisiting the Calm Lands games.
