Leveling the Dragoon
-I’m comfortable with Dragoon as my main job for now. Maybe I’ll eventually see a bard or dancer or blue mage and get the urge to swap over – I don’t want to lock myself away from that possibility – but good enough to go on.
-I also think I want white mage for my support job. Having a reliable trust party means that I want to be able to support and enhance them, and white mage seems a reasonable choice.
-So that’s my next goal. Build up the dragoon to about 35, and the white mage to around 25. That’ll make me good on the support job until I hit the 50s.
-1-5 in the Zeruhn Mines. 6-19 in Dangruf Wadi. 20-30 in Valkurm Dunes.
-Neat! Lady the Dragon has breath attacks.
Fire and lightning and frost.
-I get access to a “jump” attack as a dragoon. It doesn’t do much damage, but it’s a nice extra burst.
-I started leveling up my white mage, but…nah. Never mind. I still like the idea of keeping my initial red mage job as a support job. If it’s sub-optimal, so be it. Ready to continue.
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Mission: To the Forsaken Mines (Bastok)
-The Gusgen Mines in the Konschtat Highlands are abandoned, but apparently some new type of ore – glocolite - might be there. I have to find a Galka named Davyad.
-I find Davyad in the Bastok Mines District. He tells me I have to find a pool of groundwater in the mine, bait out a monster that lives within it with a slice of hare meat, and kill the monster for its glocolite.
-Went over to Dangruf Wadi, killed some rabbits for hare meat, and it’s onto this new dungeon: Gusgen Mines.
-I find it in the east of Konschtat Highlands. The quest-giving tome here makes it seem like another split dungeon, half in the 20s/30s and half in the 80s.
-Once inside, I accidentally wandered into a new zone, “Oldton Movalpolos.” The initial enemies are higher level, but not much higher. Still, will stay away from here until I have a reason to come back. I like the music here, an old-timey-sounding piano piece.
-The Bandersnatch enemy here isn’t nearly as cute as its FFIX counterpart.
-Found the pool of water. Dropped the hare meat in and killed the fish-gator-thing that came out, Blind Moby, for a chunk of glocolite.
-lololol wtf. I killed a Bandersnatch on my way out of this place, and it dropped a revival tree root. That’s the thing I needed for the paladin quest that I was camping off that single rare enemy that I never got to drop. Wow. Not even mad.
(Ok, I’m a little mad.)
-Returned to Bastok and turned in the glocolite to the guard.
-By coincidence, Captain Volker of the Mythril Musketeers popped by, asking the guard if the Galka unrest in the Mines District has begun to disrupt the Market District.
It hasn’t. Specifically the unrest due to Werei’s disappearance. I think Werei is a major Galka leader.
-Volker hears that I’ve seen Zeid. The Dark Knight trainer. Huh! I wouldn’t have gotten this bit of text if I hadn’t already done the dark knight quest.
-It’s not like this opens up a whole new story chunk or anything. Volker hears me tell the story of Zeid and the shitty kill-100-bats quest, and says something like “Hm, it’d be awesome if Zeid ended up returning to Bastok. The Galka love him.”
-End of mission.
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Mission: Jeuno (Bastok)
-YAY! This next mission has Jeuno in the name. That’s the city where I have the next Moogle Kupo d’Etat mission.
-Sir Lucius, the president’s aide, asks to see me about a mission to Jeuno.
-Lucius gives me a letter for the Bastok consulate in Jeuno. I’ll have a bunch of missions to do there it sounds like.
-Just checked out my map. It looks like I have to go first to Konschtat Highlands, northeast through the Pashhow Marshlands to Rolanberry Fields, and northeast again to Jeuno.
-Really enjoying the chill music in Rolanberry Fields. This zone is quite beautiful. It looks like rich farm or wine country, with vineyards and farmers.
It’s just… the farmers are a bit different than what you find in California or Italy.
---
Into Atomos
-OH GOD OH FUCKING OGD
IVE MADE A HORRIBLE MISTAKE I CLICKED ON ONE OF THOSE ATOMOS PORTALS, A “CAVERNOUS MAW”
I JUST DID IT CAUSE IT WAS THERE, I M SORRY AND REGRET THIS DECISION IMMEDIATELY
THIS TIME IT SUCKED ME IN, IT NEVER REACTED EBFROE
OH GOD IM IN THE TWISTING HELL DIMENSION
-A “disembodied, metallic voice” starts talking to me. Something about being tired of spinning, tired of the journey.
“Ah… so blue… perhaps… some help… better…?”
WHAT?
-A cat just appeared and pushed me into the void.
-It’s called “Regal Feline.”
Is it… is that Cait Sith?
-But it looks like it wasn’t sure if I was there. “Hello? Was there someone hereabouts? Or am I jumping at shadows?”
-Lysander and Carlisle are two chocobo riders I now see, fighting beastmen.
-I’m SO confused, but I’m pretty sure I must have started an expansion’s intro.
-This squad I’m seeing is going around seeing the Atomos/Cavernous Maws for the first time. Nine maws have been discovered in total.
LYSANDER (one of the riders): “Could it be the arrival of the ‘Harbinger…?’”
Perhaps that’s the big bad of this expansion.
-The Maws appeared as the beastmen grew in strength and number.
-These are all Jeunoan soldiers. They find me knocked out from my brief trip into the void.
-They tell me that although Jeuno’s civilian entrance is currently restricted, I should head south for the “Crawlers’ Nest.”
-End of the cutscene. I got a key item, a “pure white feather.” It glows with a platinum light.
-I go a bit south, and the enemies are all different. Much much higher level. I think the version of Rolanberry Fields I’m now in an alternate dimension. The sky is dark with odd particles in it.
-I have a new mission in my log, for the “Wings of the Goddess” expansion. That must be this. “Could this war-torn land you have been thrust into truly be the outskirts of Jeuno?” Not ready for this. I’ll be back at higher levels. The Adventuring Primer says that it’s level 75+ content.
-I go back into the Maw using the pure white feather, and find myself in my own land again, my own version of Rolanberry Fields.
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Mission: Jeuno (Bastok)
-Arrived in the city of Jeuno. MY Jeuno, not that weird alternate Jeuno.
-Seems a pleasant city. Not war-torn at all.
-During this cutscene, a huge flash of light. A crystal?
-This isn’t normal. Everyone in the city is gawking, wondering what it’s doing. A giant shining crystal in the sky.
-Elsewhere in Jeuno, some higher-ups named Trion and Claidie are wondering what it means also. They think it’s an omen of some kind. A poem or song begins.
“It began with a stone…
…or so the legend says…”
Scene switches to Bastok, President Karst even seeing this crystal and hearing an “ethereal voice.”
-Ayame and Naji hear the crystal singing. Cid is shocked at the energy the crystal is giving off.
“In ages past…
…a sentient jewel, enormous and beautiful…”
…banished the darkness.
Its many-colored light filled the world with life and brought forth mighty gods.”
-The scene switches now to Windurst.
-Shantotto is here, excited for the chance to challenge her intellect.
-A Tarutaru holy person, Star Sibyl, says: “It is… not meant to exist in this world.” She’s terrified.
STAR SIBYL: “No!! The horror! The pain! Love! Love will be the ruin of us all!!”
WHAT A GREAT LINE! I'm super hyped to find out about love as the main villain.
[Later edit: Something I remembered afterwards. I don’t know if this is related, but one of the things about this game I remember hearing about this game from waaaay back is that one of the bosses took like hours upon hours upon hours to defeat in one go. Absolute Virtue. I bring it up now because I also remember that it was related to a boss called “Jailer of Love” or something and spawned when the Jailer of Love died. So could be related.
The crystal shatters, and sparkly things drift out.
“Bathed in that light, the world entered an age of bliss…
…until, after a time, the gods fell into a slumber.
That world was called Vana’diel.
Our world, Vana’diel.”
-Title screen appears.
One of the expansions, “A Crystalline Prophecy.”
-Just like that, everyone who was watching forgets what they just saw. “Must be my ol’ noggin playing tricks on me!” “This is no time for daydreaming!” As if they never saw anything at all.
-These two Jeunoans, Aldo and Verena, do not forget though.
They seem to be an exception. The two who remember.
-WHAT THE FUCK
TIME JUST FROZE, EXCEPT FOR ME
EVERYONE IS STANDING STILL BUT I’M STILL MOVING
???: “Did you hear the ancient song?”
Well, not everyone. This one dude can move too.
???: “That was the memory of the crystal, ‘Memoria de la Stona.’ The song of ages past that heralded the birth of the gods…”
-It’s a kid. I mean, probably not a kid, probably a god in disguise or something, but he looks like a kid.
-The kid points at me. Says I’ve been chosen by the echo of the crystal.
-If I care for the future of Vana’diel, I should seek out Seedspall Lux, Seedspall Luna, and Seedspall Astrum. The rays of light that just fell from the heavens, that settled in forests, marshes, and mountains.
???: “Open your ears to the echo of the ancient melody…”
-He asks me to bring him those three shards. He’ll await me at Qufim Island.
-Oh. This kid is Aldo. Wait, the guy we saw before who remembered was adult Aldo. And this is Kid!Aldo. Uh. Ok…
-Kid Aldo vanishes. Leaving me confused af.
---
Next time: exploring Jeuno.
