Summary: Friendly combat against all-comers on Mushroom Rock Road and the Al Bhed experiment in Djose Temple. Deathseeker Nooj.
Mushroom Rock Road
-Elma and Lucil greet us. They loved the concert.
-A truce is near between New Yevon and Youth League.
-Some members still want to blow off steam, so Lucil is holding a battle tournament. Interesting. I wonder if it’ll be individual entry or team entry.
-Nope – it’s gonna be like the chain of battles at the Macalania Lake agency. I have to win 7 in a row.
-First fight is Yaibal. He’s excited to fight us, but nervous given his Yuna-worship.
-LOLOL one of his attacks is called “Sorry!” when he throws a grenade.
-A few rounds of random mooks, then Elma fights (and goes down easy). I get the sense that I’m a bit overpowered for this, but we’ll see. Lucil is probably the final one.
-Yup! Lucil.
-It’s all very gracious. Polite and gracious.
-After the fight, Lucil tells us that Sin’s defeat made many lose their purpose. Nowhere to lose their energy.
-Meyvn Nooj was the one who helped guide her (and many others) to finding a new purpose.
-Nooj’s “Deathseeker” title was individual, unrelated to Crimson Squad rankings. “…who made no attempt to hide his despair.”
-Something made him change from that despairing fellow into a leader.
-Now they’re too power-intoxicated, in danger of becoming mindlessly violent.
-She wants to remind the Youth League that they should seek Spira’s past as the foundation for its future.
-She gives this all as a wonderful speech to the entire Youth League.
-Episode complete.
-Back aboard the ship, Rikku drops a truth bomb: “Commander Lucil makes Brother look like a pretty sad leader.”
-Went back to Mushroom Rock Road after being transported to the Celsius to see if I missed anything, and I found a path down below the road that I’d missed.
-ok this is new. I wound my way around to an area called “Ravine.” The music stopped.
-There’s a seal or something with a bird on it. The bird has 8 heads with gems at each head, and a big head in the middle. A Spiran menorah.
-I interacted with it. Pressed it. The heads lit up… well, seven of them did. Two of them didn’t. Hm.
-It could be related to completed episodes, or to some type of bosses killed, or something else. I’ll come back later.
-Found the key item Machina Booster by the Youth League HQ, that gives Rikku’s Machina Maw special dressphere the ability to break the damage limit.
-Things at Youth League HQ are much calmer and quieter than before. Largely thanks to Yuna’s concert.
-Ooh, I can explore inside the headquarters now!
-Beclem is in here, and still an asshole.
-On the deck out here, Lucil is commanding things, issuing orders to Yaibal and Elma.
-She gives me Nooj’s Sphere. Perhaps this will fill in the gap between murderous gun-totin’ Deathseeker Nooj and the Noojie-Woojie of today.
Mushroom Rock Road
-Elma and Lucil greet us. They loved the concert.
-A truce is near between New Yevon and Youth League.
-Some members still want to blow off steam, so Lucil is holding a battle tournament. Interesting. I wonder if it’ll be individual entry or team entry.
-Nope – it’s gonna be like the chain of battles at the Macalania Lake agency. I have to win 7 in a row.
-First fight is Yaibal. He’s excited to fight us, but nervous given his Yuna-worship.
-LOLOL one of his attacks is called “Sorry!” when he throws a grenade.
-A few rounds of random mooks, then Elma fights (and goes down easy). I get the sense that I’m a bit overpowered for this, but we’ll see. Lucil is probably the final one.
-Yup! Lucil.
-It’s all very gracious. Polite and gracious.
-After the fight, Lucil tells us that Sin’s defeat made many lose their purpose. Nowhere to lose their energy.
-Meyvn Nooj was the one who helped guide her (and many others) to finding a new purpose.
-Nooj’s “Deathseeker” title was individual, unrelated to Crimson Squad rankings. “…who made no attempt to hide his despair.”
-Something made him change from that despairing fellow into a leader.
-Now they’re too power-intoxicated, in danger of becoming mindlessly violent.
-She wants to remind the Youth League that they should seek Spira’s past as the foundation for its future.
-She gives this all as a wonderful speech to the entire Youth League.
-Episode complete.
-Back aboard the ship, Rikku drops a truth bomb: “Commander Lucil makes Brother look like a pretty sad leader.”
-Went back to Mushroom Rock Road after being transported to the Celsius to see if I missed anything, and I found a path down below the road that I’d missed.
-ok this is new. I wound my way around to an area called “Ravine.” The music stopped.
-There’s a seal or something with a bird on it. The bird has 8 heads with gems at each head, and a big head in the middle. A Spiran menorah.
-I interacted with it. Pressed it. The heads lit up… well, seven of them did. Two of them didn’t. Hm.
-It could be related to completed episodes, or to some type of bosses killed, or something else. I’ll come back later.
-Found the key item Machina Booster by the Youth League HQ, that gives Rikku’s Machina Maw special dressphere the ability to break the damage limit.
-Things at Youth League HQ are much calmer and quieter than before. Largely thanks to Yuna’s concert.
-Ooh, I can explore inside the headquarters now!
-Beclem is in here, and still an asshole.
-On the deck out here, Lucil is commanding things, issuing orders to Yaibal and Elma.
-She gives me Nooj’s Sphere. Perhaps this will fill in the gap between murderous gun-totin’ Deathseeker Nooj and the Noojie-Woojie of today.
---
The Celsius
-It hits me that I haven’t yet watched Crimson Sphere 5. Let’s start with that, then Nooj Sphere.
-Shinra keeps saying “My last mission with the Gullwings.” I’m not sure if that’s because he thinks after we deal with Vegnagun that’s it for us, or if something else is going on. I still know so little about him.
-Sphere 5 starts with lots of yelling and grunting.
-OH SHIT!! Vegnagun seems to be forcing the members of the Crimson Squad to fire on each other indiscriminately. Is it some kind of mind controlly thing?
Or is it even Vegnagun? Maybe it’s Trema.
-No, it’s some sort of swarm of pyreflies that are causing this. Like possession.
-One swarm goes into Nooj and causes him to point his gun at Baralai. He’s resisting though.
-Mexican standoff. [Non-rhetorical question for y'all: is this term generally okay? My Googling didn't turn up any sense that it has racist or offensive roots/implications, but I could be 100% wrong.]
-Paine eventually screams from behind her sphere, gets them to snap out of it.
-That was SUPER creepy. If Vegnagun has some sort of possession thing going on, maybe the Gullwings will end up in a standoff similar to what we just saw with Crimson Squad. Paine vs. Yuna vs. Rikku.
-I don’t see any treasure sphere in the menu called Nooj’s Sphere. Maybe it’s Crimson Record 2?
-Oh, no. It’s “Deathseeker.”
-Lucil is talking to Nooj. He is ill.
-Or “broken” as he calls it. He’s half-unsent and half-machina. Cyborg Nooj.
-Jesus. Nooj is DARK.
-Lucil has a tough love approach with him. She really cares for him, appreciates him.
NOOJ: “I profess to seek Spira’s true nature, yet I do not even know my own.” A man conflicted.
---
Djose Temple
-There’s a trio of monkeys chilling outside the temple in a triangle. Probably just for decoration, but I can’t help but feel that I’m supposed to do something. Bring an object to the middle of the group or something.
-A cutscene inside Djose Temple.
-oh no. They built a superweapon here they want me to test. Superboss incoming.
-OH!!! THAT’S what the digs in the desert were for.
-Currently “The Experiment” is at Attack, Defense, and Special level 5. Dunno if those are good or bad.
-Let’s try this.
-It wipes the floor with me quickly. I wasn’t prepared for it, and was in my leveling gear.
Experiment.
-I didn’t even have Gun Mage equipped to scan it. Let’s try that again.
-Ah, 18,000. Not too bad. I thought it’d be similar to Angra Mainyu with like 400k.
-It has high defense, but a few shots of Dark Knight!Paine’s darkness take care of things.
-Got “Magical Dances, Vol. II.”
-Afterwards, Paine shares that she learned Al Bhed to broaden her horizons. She gives a beautiful speech on change, on how to change.
-AWWW PAINE THANKS RIKKU AND YUNA FOR HELPING HER CHANGE!! “For one thing, you got me to talk. I.. well, I finally feel I can talk about things.”
Omg
YUNA: “That’s good. We thought we were bothering you.”
PAINE: “Oh, you did at first. You never shut up. I was ready to lay down some serious hurt.” XD XD XD
-This really hurts Yuna’s feelings (or she’s kidding? I’m not sure, since the music is kind of goofy) and she and Rikku run out as Paine follows.
-Oh, yeah, they were fucking around with Paine. That was awesome. I love the Gullwings.
-Episode complete. As usual though, I head back here to see what I missed.
-One of the Al Bhed engineers says something cryptic. That since they can’t build a machine to outfight us, they have to build one that can outdo us in some other way. Like, outdance us?
-Just checked what Magical Dances, Vol. II does, and it’s AMAZING. It lets Songstress learn “Magical Masque,” which nullifies magical attacks against the party whie dancing. Volume I (wherever it is) must be for anti-physical attacks. This gives me a very small hope if I decide to try again against Chac.
-There’s a guy in the temple who asks for a password. Um. What?
-Tried “Ixion.” No go. I’ll have to keep an eye out for this.
-A woman says to us: “Thanks, Frenzied Newlywed Gullwings!” I don’t get it.
-Nice, got a key item: “How to Repair with Soul.” …ah. This must be for fighting Experiment again. I wonder if anything is different.
-Hah. Found a quiz I have to take to get a raise for digging. It has weird questions, like “I love to work – agree, disagree, no opinion?” And I don’t get a raise. Boo.
-Never mind on the repair. Can’t find anyone to give it to.
-I talk to Paine back aboard the Celsius, and she says: “That’s the place. That’s where… Never mind.” WHAT?? STOP BEING SO MYSTERIOUS (ps never stop) AND TELL ME!!
-Oh. Rikku says we can’t get into that place until we find all the spheres. All what spheres?
-I think I now know what’s needed to get to that ravine door. Two more of the story spheres. Either yellow or pink. I have Gagazet, New Beginnings, Leblanc’s, Logos’, Gaol, Nooj’s, Ormi’s, and Reassembled. Two are missing. That would make a set of eight.
---
Next time Guadosalam.
