Celsius
-A thing! I was puttering around the Celsius looking for new stuff, went to the engine room, and got a visit from Buddy.
-He talks about his love for the ship, the Celsius.
-He found the Celsius at the bottom of the sea in the north. There was a huge fog, and it was cold af. Then they saw a lone gull, chased it, and as they chased the gull, they found the ship.
-Neat! That explains the name Gullwings.
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Bikanel Desert
-The camp is in shambles.
-Fiends are attacking the Cactuar Nation! THEY MUST DIE.
-We see what looks like a swarm of basilisks flowing from the ground.
-They make way for an absolutely titanic fiend that follows them. Yikes.
-Marnela the cactus says we need to raise “The Great Haboob” to help against this ancient fiend. The ten gatekeepers are the answer, so we have to gather them.
-WHAT??? MARNELA FIRES A LASER BLAST AT THE ATTACKING BASILISKS TO HOLD THEM AT BAY, FUCK YES
-Time to finish what we started with the gatekeepers.
-Chiapa went to a secret place where he can take in the town and the woods. Hm. My first guess is the hot springs, but dunno.
-Ooh, hey, the Central Expanse is now open to us!
-I get to explore this place by chocobo. I want to find the key to that chest in the main camp.
-Neat, found an Omega Weapon Coin. Not sure how to check what that does from here though.
-The added challenge in the Central Expanse is that there’s another dude on chocobo trying to snatch up my treasures.
Back away, Broseph!
-Found Nature’s Tome, a nice berserker accessory if I find myself using Instinct often.
-My hope is that I can find the key as a rare treasure in the Central Expanse. We’ll see.
-My 60th successful dig gets me a new rank: “Zen Master of Digging.” I don’t know if the rank advancements do anything in particular or just are little achievement trophies.
-Yes! On successful dig #66, found the desert key. Let’s see what’s in that chest.
-It’s the Horn of Plenty Garment Grid. Gives the ability “Nab Gil,” and one node swap grants “Gillionaire.” I have about 400k gil at the moment and nothing in particular I want to buy… though I suppose I could do a titanic Spare Change against the final boss, really turn Vegnagun’s arena into Scrooge McDuck’s vault!
-So now I have all the Al Bhed tomes and got the key to that chest. Even the title “Zen Master of Digging” sounds pretty final (though for all I know at 100 successful digs I’d become “Grand Lord and Emperor of Digging” or something). I may well be done with the digging game for now.
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Mt. Gagazet
-Garik comes to Kimahri for advice. He wants to know what the good of training and getting strength from the mountain is if they won’t use it. Kimahri doesn’t have an answer.
-Kimahri feels some shame here. He wants to know how to lead.
-The Ronso kids are back! Do they have the horn?
-No. No success there. But Kimahri isn’t upset of course. He’s just happy they got to see Spira.
-They want to go back out on their journey. To find a new path. Kimahri approves – especially in light of that last conversation with Garik.
-Kimahri starts to walk up the mountain. We follow.
-Halfway up the mountain, I come across Kimahri and Garik arguing again. Or rather, Garik yelling at Kimahri.
-HAHAHA YES!!! KIMAHRI HAS ENOUGH OF GARIK’S SHIT AND UPPERCUTS HIM
-He uses Lian’s and Ayde’s journey as an example. Invites Garik to join him as an equal in deciding their path.
-The scene switches to higher on the mountain, by the path to the hot springs.
-It’s a statue of Kimahri! He has gathered the Ronso to him, giving a speech about the need to look towards the future.
-Garik comes around. “Long live Elder Kimahri!”
-Yuna and Paine observe this. “Better than looking back on things lost.” This has special meaning for them.
-Episode complete. Scored the Sacred Beast garment grid. Yay! This is an awesome grid. It fills a niche I hadn’t really met yet. Grants the wearer Holy Eater, and one node swap gets Holystrike, and all four node swaps grant Holy.
-I get taken back to the Celsius but return here immediately.
-The cactuar isn’t in the hot springs. Hm.
-I also need to figure out how to get those treasure chests on the mountain that keep dancing away when I get close. Perhaps now that the Ronso are sorting their problems and path out, they can commune with the mountain for me.
-Lian and Ayde thank Yuna for her help with the Conflagration garment grid. From their “Guado friend,” who gave them lots more. Hm.
-Ooh, nice! Conflagration grants access to black magic, and after three node swaps, to Flare.
-Ascended to the peak of the Floating Ruins. No cactuar.
-I’m about to give up on those treasure chests, but see a Ronso I missed near the hot springs. Please be useful!
-Never mind. She’s the sculptor I met before.
-LadyLuck!Paine has one of my favorite victory animations ever. She uses some sort of magic to spin cards in a spira around her body and down the length of her arm into her hand.
-The dress is (for me at least) a bit on the uncomfortably male gazey side, but the animation is absolutely top notch, the epitome of cool.
*a long while later*
-I explored literally everywhere I could find on Mt. Gagazet, but no luck. Maybe something from one of the other zones will open those two floating treasure chests for me.
-Going to head back to the Cactuar Nation real quick for another look at this cactus mom’s words.
“He says he’s going to meet up with some friends. The meeting point? It’s some secret place high, high up – somewhere he can take in the town and the woods.”
-Three possibilities: the top of the waterfall to see both Besaid Village and the woods around it, somewhere between Kilika Woods and Kilika Village, or somewhere near Macalania Woods and Bevelle. I’ll go in order, starting with Besaid.
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Besaid
-I’m pretty optimistic about this. The mother described it as a secret place, and the area above the waterfall counts.
-Never mind. Not here. I suppose the forested area isn’t exactly “woods.”
-Well… one more place to try here. That secret-ish area above the beach.
-No luck. Still glad I checked.
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Kilika Island
-People around the island are holding balloons from the temple. Yay for peace!
-Sort of? I dunno. The barriers and checkpoints are still up, but people are looking forward to reuniting.
-This woman here is still asking me to collect monkeys.
-That Youth League HQ is done.
-People are slamming against the checkpoint, really wanting to see their families in the temple.
-Yuna gives the guards new orders: “Make way!” HELL YES
-Yuna escorts the villagers through all the subsequent checkpoints, opening them all.
-She’s convinced that it was Lenne’s feelings in the song that changed so many hearts and minds.
-DONA! I see you lurking, heading towards the temple.
-But first, I’m gonna head back to the village and see what I missed.
-Ooh, they’re letting me look at the new Youth League base up close and personal.
-This is a bit weird. We’re seeing it through the cameraman’s camera.
-Got 5 Georapella Coins and an Invincible accessory. Invincible allows me to break the damage limit, which is pretty sweet.
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Kilika Woods
-I hear monkeys, but don’t see any to interact with.
-No signs of a cactuar either.
-Oh, I see! I have to press a button when I hear a monkey.
-lololol one of ladyluck!Yuna’s victory cries is “Game over, man! Game over!” That’s gotta be an Aliens reference. I wonder if it was there in Japanese.
-I FOUND THE CACTUAR HOLY SHIT!!! I say holy shit because this was a secret area I never saw until I was squatter monkey hunting just now. A “jump” prompt came up by a tree, and that took me to this secret place.
-Also found a treasure chest here with the Arcane Lore accessory, allowing the wearer to use Dark Knight abilities.
-Chiapa made friends with some coeurls.
-I even won the shooting game afterwards. Everything is coming up Yuna.
-I returned the 8 squatter monkeys I found. No reward. She just says more are out there, which tells me there’s a finite number to find.
-Ok, I’m brute-forcing this. Equipped my no-encounter accessory and spam clicked every wall in the Kilika Woods. Let’s see if I found them all.
-Woohoo!! In exchange for my 13 monkeys, the woman in Kilika gave me a Chaos Maelestrom garment grid, one granting access to any previously-learned Dark Knight abilities. It’s funny – this is a really satisfying reward, eve though the chances of this being way better than whatever I would’ve used in its place are slim.
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Next time: Kilika Temple and continuing the cactuar hunt.
