Celsius
-Reports of an “awesome” sphere. Is it, like, rocking out somehow?
-In Kilika Woods.
-Whoops – accidentally selected the mission when I meant to back out.
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Kilika
-Look at this place! It’s all rebuilt and everything. Last time I saw it it was in near-ruins.
-The Youth League helped rebuild it. Maybe they’re not so bad.
-Signs of trouble recently. Tension between the Youth League and New Yevon.
- Anyway, let’s back out. I want to check out Zanarkand against just in case anything changed.
-Or not? I can’t go back to the airship yet.
-Hey, it’s those weirdo animal musicians who must’ve warped in from FFIX.
-He’s a bit hyper. Hawking his band’s concert on the Moonflow.
-The musicians are Daraya the fish drummer, Pukara the rodent brass blower, and Borra the bird.
-Everyone’s talking about the awesome sphere, how much fun it is. Rikku and Yuna are especially excited, but Paine is strictly business.
Random woman: “New Yevon keeps all the spheres to itself. No wonder Spira isn’t making progress.” Not sure what to make of this just yet.
-The monkeys I thought were lemurs are “squatter monkeys.” Known for being shy. (And in my experience, felonious.)
-The leader of the Youth League may make an appearance.
-A kid suggests there are bad people in the temple.
-LOLOLOL YESSS IT’S BARTHELLO AND DONA!!
They seem to be having a tiff. She’s with the Youth League, he’s with New Yevon. I’m surprised he’d ever go against her wishes.
-Yuna tries to offer advice, to help, but Dona isn’t having it.
-This town seems to be with the Youth League.
-They’re building a Youth League base here in Kilika.
-Meyvn Nooj seems to be the Youth League leader. We’ve heard his name before.
-We arrive at a briefing by Nooj. In the crowd are Dona, some of the Kilika Beasts, others
-Nooj’s character model is awesome. Got a prosthetic leg, badass garb, cool glasses.
-He’s advocating for New Yevon (which must be the successor to the Yevon Order) to release spheres showing the true history of Spira. Seems to have good intentions.
NOOJ: “Our opponents aren’t as young as they used to be.” Yeah, definitely a new order vs old order going on.
-Rikku can sometimes grate on me at times. Some of her writing makes her sound like an 8-year old. E.g. “Oh, poopy!” *stamps her feet*
-Hard to say which Yuna is my favorite because the answer is probably “all of them,” but outlaw Yuna is right up there.
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Awesome Sphere Heist!
-lolol that’s the name of this mission.
-Into the Kilika Woods. There are some soldier-types (New Yevon) facing off against the Youth League.
-New Yevon doesn’t seem overtly villainous. They are nervous about the Youth League, seeming to protect themselves.
-I love a lot of this game, but there are these moments that the writers stick in that irk me. We just won a fight, and Paine said, “turned on?” Really, game?
-The Youth League password is either Squirter Monkey or Squatter Monkey. Probably Squatter Monkey, since that’s the monkey’s real name.
Black Mage Yuna looks pretty great.
-These Stalwarts (the huge armored turtle types) are brutal. Way tougher than any other enemy pack here. They can’t be Armor Broken or blinded, their Body Splash does huge damage, and they have a ton of HP.
-I tried having Rikku fill every dressphere in battle because I thought it did that thing like an aeon summon, but no luck. I’ll bet I have to discover that first.
-Reached a point in the forest where I hear voices… aha! Overhearing the password. If the number of guards is odd, it’s Carved Monkey. If it’s even, it’s Craven Monkey.
-Hee! Trying out Festivalist!Yuna, and one of her first attacks is Fire Fish. “No one expects the goldfish!”
What is Festivalist!Yuna holding?
-Ascending a series of steps, using my passwords to get past the guards. I got one wrong because I thought the bearded guy counted, but he didn’t.
-Dona and some Youth League are confronting a New Yevon monk. He keeps saying he doesn’t know about any sphere, and I believe him. He sounds like he’s telling the truth.
-Never mind lol. Someone from the Youth League says they found it.
-Stompy feet herald a fiend boss incoming.
-Some sort of mech enemy. A New Yevon guardian.
YSLS-Zero.
-Not too bad of a fight. Some decent damage, but no weird status effects or massive damage spikes – at least, not once I used Armor and Power Break. Got an achievement: “Zeroed Out.”
-omg they do their album cover pose, swipe the sphere, and hop aboard the Celsius.
-We obtained a Fiend Tale Bonus and three Trap Pod SPs.
-Save and end of chapter 1.
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Aboard the Celsius
-Yuna wonders if they overdid that whole threatening “WE’RE THE GULLWINGS, NOW GIVE US THE MOTHERFUCKING SPHERE” routine. Perhaps. Plus, it really seems like the Youth League is doing what they’re doing for the sake of the Spiran citizenry.
-Prediction: this’ll come back to bite us.
-Brother is happy that we acted “notoriously.” Paine is more cautious.
-hahaha, both Rikku and Brother agree and Shinra, Paine, and Yuna are freaking out. They know that if the two most irresponsible and flighty members of the crew think something is a good idea, then they’ve erred.
-Let’s see what’s happening with the awesome sphere.
-Seems like Tidus. Or not!Tidus, depending.
-OH SHIT WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT???
MaybeButProbablyNot!Tidus: “You’re all I can count on to save Lenne.”
I’m pretty sure that somethingsomething!TIdus is making a deal with Satan. Why in the fresh hell did anyone think this sphere was “awesome?” I assume it would have disco and unicorns and shit.
-Shinra thinks it was a weapon.
-Yuna doesn’t know who Lenne is.
-Brother wants to give the sphere back. Thinks it’s bad news.
-Buddy wants to give the sphere back for the sake of Spira’s history – the original goal of sphere hunting.
-Brother is really dramatic.
-Buddy’s voice actor reminds me of Buck Dewey from SU.
-Now everyone wants Yuna to dance because why the fuck not.
-Brother picked up some hitchhikers on Kilika. Going to see what’s new on the rest of the ship.
-Like…. I can’t get over how much this game just ramps up the weirdness to 11. XD
[Later edit: I see that even this early, the musician told me exactly what to do, but for whatever reason I didn’t understand his words here.]
-The engine room has new consumables in it.
-One of Brother’s pieces of dialogue is in Al Bhed, but I get the sense that it’s a bit bawdy.
-I’ve been wandering the bridge for a while. How am I supposed to dance?
-lol I can push against the various musicians on the bridge and move them around. I shoved the ratty horn player into the elevator.
-This is getting a bit frustrating. How do I move the story along? I tried swapping Yuna’s dressphere to Songstress, but that doesn’t seem to get her dancing or whatever.
-Wandering the ship again.
-OHHHHH!!!! I get it. I thought pushing the musicians into the elevator was a weird bug. It’s not. It’s a feature.
Shoved em all into the elevator and it’s party time.
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Night Parties and Dreamscapes
-Look. I’ve never taken any kind of drug, or mushrooms, or hallucinogenics, or whatever. But I get the sense that this concert replicates some of that experience.
-After singing and dancing a bit, Yuna, goes by herself, lets out some rage. “Who the heck is Lenne?” She’s pissed. Why? Jealous? Or just weirded out by the whole prospect that Tidus might be having this whole other life?
-That night, she dreams. Of running in Bevelle (I think?) with Tidus.
-But they wind up near that giant machina from the sphere. The monks have their guns on them.
-The soldiers fire. The bullets connect.
-As they lay dying on the ground, her and Tidus, the symbols around them are all Yevon. The camera pans up to see the satanic machina above their corpses.
-This got dark as FUCK.
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The Next Day
-So who do we return the sphere to? New Yevon or the Youth League?
-Rikku thinks the groups are equal. I dunno.
-AHA! This is like a faction thing, right? If we return it to the Youth League, then we become their allies. If we return it to New Yevon, then we’re with them.
Hm. Just in general, I think we align more with the Youth League, so I’ll go with them.
-New Yevon is more conservative, but the Youth League is picking fights, reckless. I still think Youth League fits the possibilities of a new Spira better.
-In reality, I want to go back to Zanarkand Ruins to explore a bit, or even Kilika. No go. We have to move forward.
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Next time: Mushroom Rock Road, home of the Youth League HQ.
