Back to the Beginning
-So after the problems I hit last time, I’m starting again outside the tower.
-I still am level 16, but instead of testing a bunch of different dresspheres, I’ll try to focus on building a few up higher. Will also be more careful around the cactuars. Losing a higher-level sphere was demoralizing.
-This Leblanc Folio seems kind of hilarious, but I’m scared to try it.
-Got an item called “Special Pass” that’ll let me buy secret stuff at vendors. Nice.
-Okay. Back at Floor 15.
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Back to Floor 15
-One of my challenges here is figuring out how to unbar the elevator. So far, I’ve found one thing that works: ending my turn without taking action when one square away from an enemy.
-Another 15 minutes go by. Or something like that. I don’t know for sure, but I’m super frustrated now. I don’t know how to get past this floor. The problem isn’t the cactuars anymore. I use Spinner on them to stop them then hit them, and they die. It’s the second frigging puzzle to get past the elevator that I can’t figure out.
-I’m now walking over every tile of this floor, and suddenly got a message: “Eerie laughter rings out from afar…” YES!!! FINALLY. Must’ve hit the right tile. (But also yikes? Creepy ass message.)
-“The eerie laughter is coming closer” oh god
-“An intense aura can be felt from somewhere on this floor!” OH GOD WHAT’D I DO JUST TELL ME
-Is that Maester Mika?
-No, it’s “Founder.” Trema.
-He hits me once and turns me into a frigging Leblanc Goon. I guess I get to see that folio in action after all.
-Then he comes back and teleports me out. Uh. What?
-I’M NOW LEVEL ONE WITH NO DRESSPHERES? WHAT THE FRESH HELL?
-So I’ve been staring at the screen for about three minutes now, trying to figure out what to do. “Start all over again” is not something I have any interest in.
-I reset, load up my last save. Not doing that all over again.
-Spent about an hour here on floor 15, and I really have no clue how to unlock this second barrier on the elevator.
-Okay. This is honestly ridiculous. Going to try once more until Trema comes and kills me again, then fuck it. I’ll cheat and look up the answer. Ugh.
-Yup. Trema came again. I managed to dodge him long enough to find a pit trap, but I’m pretty sick of this. Things I’ve tried to get past floor 15:
1)Kill a billion fiends.
2)Uncover all the traps.
3)Touch every tile.
4)Touch every wall.
5)Use/clear every item on the floor.
6)Hold my position as an enemy comes into an adjacent square. (Ridiculous I know, but I swear it removed an elevator barrier once.)
7)Swap dresspheres a bunch.
8)Kill enemies from a distance.
9)Kill enemies in melee.
10)Kill enemies with physical attacks.
11)Kill enemies with magic damage.
So I’m done.
-Let’s see what the answer is. I’m checking here, using control + F to get to the floor answer and ignore the rest:
https://www.gamefaqs.com/vita/708347-final-fantas...
Three things were required. Kill five fiends (did that), perform an action other than movement (did that), and… drop two items? Really?
Are you kidding me? How the fuck was I supposed to figure out the elevator was sealed still because I didn’t put two items on the ground? Were there clues, or was I just supposed to perform random actions until I hit the right one?
Ugh. I’m salty.
-20th floor. Boss time it looks like. An Ochu.
-Yay! I beat it, finishing with the Trainer ability “Pound,” which seemed to summon a bunch of squirrels to assault the poor Ochu.
-Took the elevator up, and it’s another relaxing break.
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Outside the Tower
-Paine thinks this might be the ruins of a pre-Zanarkand civilization.
-I wonder what’s at the top. Perhaps it’s whatever Iutycyr itself. Herself. Themselves. Hm.
-Paine had hoped to get together with the faction leaders again, but it’s complicated. New Yevon is about to break up and the Youth League is already broken apart.
-Paine says there’s something she wants to do before getting back together with Baralai, Nooj, Gippal. But won’t reveal it. It’s a secret.
-Got a treasure this time since I had cleared inventory space. It’s a Dressmaker. (A dressphere of my choice.)
-For some reason, I like Rikku in “Last Mission” way more than just in regular X-2.
She has a sense of purpose and maturity here that felt a bit lacking in X-2.
-I’m really happy we have these moments. The reward for continuing every 10 levels isn’t so much the new dresspheres and items for me; it’s this. Seeing the Gullwings interacting again.
God, how weird is that? I finished played FFX-2 only last week, but the way X-2 ended and the way “Last Mission” opened makes me feel like I’ve been away from them forever.
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Tower – Floors 20-30
-My Mascot is getting pretty high. Currently 8. I LOVE the animations of CaitSith!Rikku. Kind of always bouncing around and dancing.
-There are some super creepy fiends up here in the mid-20s. Creepers.
Facehugger.
They are insectoids that grab my face and explode.
-I forgot to really talk about the dressphere strategy I’m going with. Starting with Mascot because it seems a good all-rounder. White mage is a solid support dressphere for Curaga. I’ll probably try for Gunner after to give myself long range options. Dark Knight probably after for some larger group clears, or maybe Black Mage.
-Floor 25 has more barriers. Not moving eliminated one.
-Took a while, but I solved the second barrier without looking at the answer, and still hate the solution. I had to throw items.
I hate it because the clue is literally “do things in the game and hopefully some of them will work.” The tutorial said I’d need to use “cunning.” That’s not cunning. That’s brute force.
A better design choice might have been to leave a clue on the floor by the elevator. Make it as obscure as you want. Like, “To rise, prove your detachment from material goods.” But ANYTHING other than “do random game things until one works.”
I dunno. For all I know, this was obvious to many. If I’m being fair to the game, they expect that I’m dropping crap on the floor all the time to manage my inventory and would unlock the elevator naturally I guess. I don’t though – I very rarely drop stuff. I usually just don’t pick new stuff up, or use it from the floor.
-A Pairika on 26F casts Doom on me. It’s kind of terrifying since death is such a horrific outcome in this game (barring resets or loading up saves), but while the counter stays on me, it stops ticking down after I kill it. Whew.
-I fight most fiends I see except for cactuars. They’re not a problem to kill – I just use Spinner (from Festivalist support dressphere) to stop them and hit them once – but I feel so bad hurting them. I only kill them if they’re in the way of progress.
-I can’t get over how adorable Mascot!Rikku is.
LOOKIT THE KING HIPPO TAPE ON HER TUMMY!! THE PUPU!!!
-Floor 30. Two barriers. Drank a potion and neutralized the first. Put an item on the ground for the second.
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Outside
-We’re atop some ruins. Really high now.
-Yuna opines on how the sunset looks different every day. Hm.
-Yuna has been in Besaid. But it’s different. She wanted a change and left the island. She’s at a different point in her life.
-Yuna “met someone.” WOOHOOO GO YUNA, GET IT!! She doesn’t continue. I wonder if this is pressing on with the “good ending” of FFX-2.
-Seems like it is. She’s probably talking about Tidus.
-She’s taking it easy. Doesn’t want to rush into anything.
PAINE, to herself: “I suppose it would be stranger if nothing at all had changed.”
-There are banners out here, red with green triangles and black snaky/gangly symbols in the middle.
Not sure what they represent. Perhaps the older civilization.
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Quick Thoughts
I’m usually fine with obscure puzzles. (And maybe I’m alone in thinking that the “drop two things to advance” solution was obscure.) The key: AS LONG AS THEY’RE OPTIONAL. There are plenty of weird and obscure quests in prior FFs, many of which I didn’t complete, but they were optional so I didn’t sweat it. Not this time.
At the same time, that was one single puzzle/moment out of 20 floors. Outside of that, I’m having a blast! I love the mechanics, and (again) how it feels like a Final Fantasy tabletop RPG. I also love that it goes back to the turn-based pace of FFX. I never need to rush. Even when that Trema asshole was hot on my trail, there was no rush. I could plot the best course to reach the exit calmly.
I’m also loving the story interludes. So low-key. Not the end of the world again – just friends catching up and having an adventure. Great change of pace.
Still not sure what is at the top of the tower. Trema’s presence as the ticking clock might mean he’ll be there, but I kind of doubt it. I think it’s more likely that the wonderful thing they see at the top will be something abstract, like how their friendship is still strong after time apart.
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Next time: the next batch of floors. Twenty until… whatever. Probably more than this time since I have the hang of the tower by now. If I run into another elevator that I just can’t solve after giving a solid try, I won’t feel the need to morally grapple with looking up the answer or any such nonsense.
