Friday, January 6, 2017

FFX-2 – Part 23: Exorcising Kilika

Summary: Cleansing the fiends within Kilika Temple, with a little help from Dona. Raising and dispatching chocobos.



Kilika Island

-Everyone here heard about the fiends from the temple, but many are skeptical about whether it’s real or a New Yevon ploy.



-A woman in town wants me to bring her Squatter Monkeys from the jungle.

-Dona is quite compassionate about the plight of the New Yevon members.



-As compassionate as she usually is, anyway.

-She snarks about Barthello as well.

-Oh! She’s helping!! She’ll distract a guard and allow us to pass through.

-The Youth League HQ is coming along nicely.

-Mini-game to get through the gate. I have to go when the gate opens AND when Dona has the other guard distracted. A couple of practice runs and I’m ready to try.



-Whew. Success.

-I think I see one of the dresspheres I probably missed along the way. Samurai. Picked up an accessory called Bushido Lore that lets me use any ability I learned (or would have learned) as a Samurai.

-Guards spotted us on our way out. We rush on.

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Kilika Woods

-The woods are burning.

-Both monks and youth league are running in terror.

-The Youth League have barricaded the main exits, stopping New Yevon from escaping.



-Dona said there was a hidden treetop path… there it is!

-We hop up and over.

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Kilika Temple

-This place is in bad shape.

-Mission time: “Pest Control.” Stamp out the fiends pouring out of the temple.

-The monks are using machina inside the temple. War machina. They are devastated, and given what I know about the old ban on machina, I can believe it.



-Blue fire is everywhere.

-Walked into the cloister, and a demon awaits. Daeva.

-BARTHELLO, YOU BETTER NOT FUCKING BE DEAD

-Whew. He’s okay. He was holding the line.



-Aw… Barthello loves Dona so sincerely. Don’t worry dude, the Gullwings will save you.

-As we push through the temple taking out fiends, the fire they stoke goes out.

-The demons throughout the place are imposing but go down quickly.

-OH SHIT I FOUND THE SAMURAI DRESSPHERE HERE!! I WASN’T TOO LATE!! As soon as Yuna completes her final Gunner ability (Scatterburst, critically damaging all enemies), I’ll start her on that. It seems like more of a Paine sphere, but she’s working on the 400 AP Evade and Counter for Berserker right now.



-Ifrit.

-Yuna is matter-of-fact. She’s hurt to have to do this, but clearly puts that hurt aside since it’s business time.



I love Yuna so much. The X-2 version of her is everything I wanted it to be.

-Another hole afterwards.

-Mission complete. The fires in the temple torches/sconces return to their normal red.

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Celsius

-Everyone is kind of bumfuzzled about why fiends were coming out of the temples.

-The fiends came from the chambers of the fayth specifically.

-hahahahahaha shinra pretended like he knew what was going on, then as everyone looked at him and the camera dramatically zoomed in on his face, he basically said “LOL JK” and ran off.



What a troll. XD

-The holes are somehow connected to Vegnagun and more deeply.

-Distress call from Djose Temple.

-Brother wants to ignore Gippal’s cry for help, but since nobody gives a shit about Brother we head there anyway.

-Though first I head back to Kilika. I want to see if anything is different now.

-Barthello is probably still at the temple. Dona thinks we won’t be let through again.



She’s not worried about any repercussions for her role in our breakthrough.

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Bikanel Desert

-Bikanel, and Chiapa’s mom still doesn’t want me to look for him.

-Going to try some more expeditions. I wonder if I can make it to the next digger rank.

-For abilities, currently working on Alchemist!Rikku’s Ether (0/400), Berserker!Paine’s Evade & Counter (211/400), and Gunner!Yuna’s Scatterburst (86/120).

-Trying out Samurai!Yuna now. The dressphere looks to be a melee one of course, with the everpresent Spare Change ability.


Samurai!Yuna.

-One of my pet peeves from these digs is when I complete a dig, make it back to the hover in time, but am not on the right spot of the hover. I keep running against it, but the game doesn’t acknowledge me as “back,” so before I can hunt for the right part of the hover to touch, time expires.

-Love the animation on Samurai!Yuna’s basic attack. She runs up to the enemy and spins aroud with her hooked blade.

-Trying out Spare Change. 1,000 gil dealt about 450 damage to enemies.

-Completed my 50th successful dig. This didn’t advance me in rank, so I’m stopping for now. I hope that the Central Expanse opening to me isn’t dependent on rank.

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Calm Lands

-Before I wrap this session up, I want to check out that chocobo ranch. I’ve collected a few of them, so maybe I can start doing stuff with them.

-I can send the chocobos I raise across Spira to find items. The higher the level, the better the items.

-Choco-Runners are ready for dispatch. Choco-Reserves are on standby.

-I have to check back at the ranch regularly.

-Chocobos can be timid, normal, or bold. Some chocobos are more well-suited to different areas. So it’s likely, say, that only a bold chocobo will do well in a place like Thunder Plains or Gagazet.

-I can adjust the ration of nutritive greens for Clasko to give me. I don’t quite understand this. Like, I’m not sure what the value of doing 60% Pahsana/40% Mimett is versus 40% Pahsana/60% Mimett.

-To raise chocobo levels, I have to feed them nutritive greens. Sylkis, Mimett, Pahsana.



-AH! It seems that different chocobo levels require different greens.

-I currently have 8 bold chocobos, 2 timid, no normal.

-Okay. I think I get the gist. Let me try sending my first chocobo out. A bold level 2 chocobo out to Mt. Gagazet.



-oh god I’m legit nervous! I’ve only had indoor cats and the idea of one of these things wandering on its own sets me on edge.

-I also send a bold level 3 runner out to the Thunder Plains, a timid level 1 out to Besaid Island, and a bold level 2 to the Zanarkand Ruins.


Be safe, li’l buddies.

-So I’m not certain what causes enough time to pass for chocobos to return from their missions. I’ll check in after every zone or so.

-For anyone interested, I’m 42% through the story and just over 34 hours. Not sure what the 42% means, if it refers to the primary story only in a such a way that I always complete 100% no matter how few sidequests I do or if it takes into account sidequests (meaning that I could complete the game’s story and still only be at, like, 60%). We’ll see. I kind of like not knowing for now.

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Next time: Djose Temple.