Besaid
-The mini-map now shows a pink dot at the traveler’s shrine outside the village, the thing where I click on it and see “6.” There was no pink dot previously.
-Brother checks in. His “heart is aching.” Ok bud.
-Oh, maybe these numbers are a code! 6, 9, 5… One missing.
-Found the last number on the beach.
The pink on the mini-map signals well where I should be looking, which seems kind of necessary in a game where there isn’t a clear indication of what kind of walls are climbable and what kind are not.
-The control panel now unlocks and opens up a passageway.
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Besaid Cave
-Wakka is sitting inside.
-He’s acting really weird. Is there a thing? Is there not a thing? Does he want to know?
-He heard there was an old sphere. Won’t say of what – I’m guessing of his parents. It’s a job for the Gullwings!
-There’s a button near the entrance to this cave. I’ll have to watch for four more cipher numbers hidden in the cave.
[Non-rhetorical question for y’all: why does Yuna consistently get less experience per kill than Rikku and Paine?]
-Brother keeps checking in. It’s getting a little annoying.
-Short cave. Reached the end.
-OH SHIT HELLO GIANT MONSTER
-lol gunner!Yuna learned a new Demi-style ability. It’s called “Quarter Pounder.”
Flame Dragon.
-Blind seems exceptionally powerful so far in X-2. The boss goes down pretty easy – it used a hard-hitting flame breath early, then just missed all it’s physical attacks with a blind on.
-Got the White Mage dressphere.
-We get back to Wakka and see a sphere. It’s not much. Someoen scoping out the treasures around the Besaid Falls.
-Not what Wakka was hoping for. I’m guessing the sphere he was looking for is behind that secret door.
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Besaid Island
-He admits he was looking for a sphere from his parents that Chappu told him about.
-Wow. Little Chappu was a dick.
-Ah. Chappu used to play in the cave, so Wakka thought he’d find the sphere here.
-Poor Wakka. He always had this very specific image of his parents in his head, and he worries that he might not really want to see them on a sphere. Maybe that’ll go right against his own image of them.
-Yuna offers to keep looking for him, but Wakka says he doesn’t want us to. BUT… THE SECRET PASSAGE AT THE ENTRANCE…?
-lol right there with ya buddy.
-So mission is complete, and got the “Protection Halo” Garment Grid. My second grid.
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The Celsius
-Rikku describes her own pop as “good for nothing.”
-OH WAIT I REMEMBERED A THING – that woman in the Besaid temple told her to return after we finished in the cave. Let’s do it.
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Besaid Village
-New dialogue here. Ok, this is a great lesson for FFX-2: explore after the mission is over too.
-The woman who was selling the key for 900,000 gil said she already sold it to a traveler on his way to the “cave up north.” So perhaps I wasn’t supposed to buy it, but rather find that person and get it from him.
-Chappu loved to explore the island and a woman suggests he might have left other surprises behind.
Hee! Imagine if this was really just a rumor. If there were actually no surprises, Besaid was totally finished, and the game was just fucking with me.
-Someone from the Youth League is rumored to be coming to Besaid. I don’t trust them. They sound… I dunno. But the first thing that comes to mind when I hear Youth League are those young fascist organizations.
-A dude says he’s happy Besaid isn’t polluted with politics like his own home town. Where’s he from? Bevelle is my guess.
-I KNEW IT!!! The woman in the temple says there are four more ciphers in the cave, barring its “true bounty.” I can only uncover the clues with a Search Sphere.
-Seems that the Search Sphere is the thing locked in the chest needing the key with the emblem of Besaid.
-So. First, get the key. Second, get the search sphere. Third, use the sphere to find the code. Fourth, go back to the cave and open it up.
-The first question that jumps out at me: is the “cave up north” on Besaid? I hope so but I also doubt it. There aren’t a lot of caves here. Gonna take another look around the island just in case.
A random Paine victory shot I like.
-No luck. Did another sweep of the island and didn’t see anything. I’ll guess that the cave up north then is the Gagazet Cave.
-This brings me to one of my main questions about FFX-2: how open world is it really? Am I supposed to just stay at the hotspots? I have to assume they’re just suggestions since the game allows me to travel elsewhere. And yet, Mt. Gagazet is listed as 4/5 stars in terms of challenge.
-Fuck it. The Zanarkand mission can wait. Let’s try it. If it’s too tough, I’ll come back when I have a stronger repertoire of dresspheres and abilities.
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Next time: Gagazet.
