Exploring Jeuno
-I didn’t really explore Windurst and San d’Oria fully because they were alternate starting cities, and I thought it’d be a fair bit of repeat or lower level content from what I got in Bastok. Jeuno, however, is a neutral, mid-level city. Going to talk to everyone I can.
-Still not sure what level I need to be for a chocobo license.
-There’s a fortune teller here that needs me to get her four different Tarut cards: Hermit, King, Death, and Fool.
-Holy shit, an airship pass costs 500k gil. Screw that. Those must have been from a time before the crystals that let me teleport from place to place. Though the vendor does say that the archduke occasionally issues them, so maybe that’s how I get one.
-An Adoulian travel permit is similarly expensive. 1 million gil.
-Bought a map of Qufim Island. It’s apparently nearby.
-Bought some more magic. One of the vendors here sells a bunch of magic available to red mages, specifically ones that boost resistances.
-BLESS YOU GOBLINS!! This goblin named Bluffnix offers to increase my bag size. I have to give him a square of linen cloth, a square of dhalmel leather, a steel ingot, and a peridot.
-I should keep an eye out for a “Tenshodo” pass to give to an innkeeper here. Sounds like a kind of secret store.
-uhhhhh
-I went into port jeuno and the sky went on fire?
-I think I’m the only person who can see this.
-I collapse. When I come to, some bearded eyepatch dude (not Gilgamesh) is standing over me.
-This guy is Joachim. And he says actually that what I saw was real, and says something about my potential. I should seek him out for answers. Again, this must be related to some expansion or another.
-Qufim Island is REALLY close. Connects right up with here.
-Found Joachim in Port Jeuno. He tells me that the flash I saw is called “noise,” and occurs when dimensions brush against each other. He gives me a traverser stone, something to take with me into a cavernous maw. But only a cavernous maw that is alive and moving, not a petrified one. Hm. Again, sounds like higher level stuff.
-Made my first big purchase at the auction house. Bought a halberd for 10k gil. It’s a good weapon, and more importantly, it makes me feel more dragoony.
-Watched a long cutscene about something called “Brenner.” It doesn’t hold much interest for me though. It sounds like some kind of team-based PvP thing.
-Got a little background on this world. The goddess Altana’s tears were the origins of the races of Vana’diel, but the god Promathia condemned her work and cursed the people to conflict. (Of course, this is in the temple of Altana, so maybe there are Promathian adherents who would disagree.)
-HOLY SHIT. I found a woman in the weapon shop browsing the wares. Here’s her dialogue:
“Hey, have you seen my good-for-nothing husband anywhere? I know he’s cheating on me! Once I get my hands on him, I’ll mash him into a bloody pulp! Now, which weapon would inflict the most pain…” LIKE JESUS LADY
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Mission: Hasten! In a Jam in Jeuno? (A Moogle Kupo d’Etat)
-I went to the Rent-a-Room in Jeuno, but nothing happened. This is where I was supposed to go for the next Moogle Kupo d’Etat quest. Hm.
-So I checked the rent-a-room in Port Jeuno and Lower Jeuno. Upper Jeuno, nothing… and the top level, Ru’Lude Gardens, nothing. Huh.
-I looked up where to go next, and apparently – despite the mission saying to go to a rent-a-room in Jeuno – I have to go to a completely different part of Jeuno. Ok then. I’ll keep looking.
-Found it! The door was just some random door in the town, and my handymoogle comes and brings me to the mysterious rent-a-room.
-There’s a letter written. It’s a welcome letter from “Dom Kupeliaure,” the MHMU (mog house something something) rep. The letter is hastily/sloppily written, which concerns my handymoogle.
-She floats up around the room, and sees that this room is in bad shape. Crumbling walls, ceiling falling apart, etc. I need a sturdy metal strip from mining to solve this.
-So… I guess I need to do mining. Okay then.
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Mission: Lakeside Minuet (Dancer Job Unlock)
-I got what I’m certain is the dancer job unlock quest. Dancer definitely interests me, and I loved it in FFV even if it wasn’t that great. But the quest is as mysterious as anything.
LAILA (dancing master): “I’ll tell ye what. If you can bring me a stardust pebble, I’ll rethink me stance. What kind o’ rock is that, ye ask? Well, that’s fer ye t’find out.”
Ugh.
At least Laila’s costume is amazing!
-OH! Whew. This Mithra nearby overheard us, and is offering hints. Tells me she’ll give me hints if I go to the Lion Springs Tavern in San d’Oria and dance on that stage.
-I head to that tavern in San d’Oria. The innkeeper lets me dance on stage, and…lolol I SUCK.
The only options I have are things like “clap for the audience” and “strike a pose.”
VALDEROTAUX, the innkeeper: “You know, I’m not sure my establishment is the right place for such an ‘original’ performance…”
-I return to Rhea Myuliah, the friendly dancer in Jeuno. She heard word of my “unique” dancing, and wants to help me. XD
-She tells me that the stardust pebble I need to find used to be at the bottom of Lake Mechieume in Jugner Forest, but they’re all but gone now.
-I haven’t yet been to Jugner Forest, but I see it on my map. I port over to La Theine Plateau and head east into the forest.
-Mostly lower level enemies here. I see the lake at the north end on the map.
-Wandered around here for a while, clicking all over to find a stray pebble that might have survived. No luck. I got excited when I found a “???” target, but it was just a random tree. Ah well. I’ll try later – this job is one of those from a later expansion, so like the puppetmaster job quest, I just might not be able to do it yet.
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Mission: Jeuno (Bastok)
-I arrive at the Bastok Embassy in Jeuno with my letter of introduction. The ambassador is out, exploring Delkfutt’s Tower.
-Two people come into the embassy, one after the other. Wolfgang (some kind of leader/captain) and Monbereaux, an Elvaan physician. Monbereaux is here to treat the Bastok ambassador, and Wolfgang threatens him for this.
-Wolfgang is specifically pissed that the Bastok ambassador has gone to Delkfutt’s Tower. No idea why.
-Wolfgang is the captain of the guard for Archduke Kam’lanaut, the leader of Jeuno.
-Well, I’m off to Delkfutt’s Tower on Qufim Island.
-As I head over there, someone stops me and says that Delkfutt’s Tower is incredibly complex. Traps, portals, etc. …crap. However! He offers to trade me a map for a Kaiser sword. Again, I have no idea what that sword is or where it is, so, well, I look it up.
SORRY, I HAVE LITTLE PATIENCE FOR THIS CRAP. I’ve gotten to the point with FFXI where, if the game gives me a super vague clue and I really want to do the quest, I’ll look up something to hint at my next step. It happens a fair bit, so I’ll stop doing this whole “mea culpa” thing.
-It’s something that drops off an enemy on Qufim Island. Ok. A rare-ish enemy called Dancing Weapon. Time to hunt.
-This is the first place in the game I’m encountering giants.
-Finally! Maybe an hour of killing later, got the Kaiser sword off a Dancing Weapon and turned it in. Got a map to Qufim Island, including Delkfutt’s Tower and a place tantalizingly named Behemoth’s Dominion, also bordering Qufim Island.
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Chains of Promathia Expansion Intro
-I head into Delkfutt’s Tower and get a “Chains of Promathia” title screen.
-Wolfgang, the guy from before who wanted us to stay away, is back. Telling us to stay away. He charges in.
-“Chapter 1: Ancient Flames Beckon.”
-We zoom in on a pale dude in a cloak. “The northern line… the flow of energy has begun to reverse!”
-Some kind of reactor looks like it’s in bad shape. Alerts and sirens are going off.
-The scene changes to an ocean or sea. A purple light begins to emerge. First gently, then into a towering column of water.
-OK THAT’S BAHAMUT EMERGING FROM THE OCEAN
BAHAMUT: “Children of Vana’diel, I, Bahamut, ruler of the skies, have come to deliver you a warning!”
So maybe Bahamut is a protector, a good guy.
“The time has come… the arrival of the Keeper of the Apocalypse is near!”
Maybe?
“Come forth, my minions! Let the blood of the gods spill forth on the soil of their creation.”
Ok, never mind. Bahamut is probably not a good guy.
-The music is kicking serious ass right now btw.
-We swap back to Wolfgang and his troops outside of the tower.
-A light blasts out of the tower, knocking him down. He leads his troops inside.
-Inside, he sees what I called “the reactor” earlier. It looks a bit like a Star Trek warp field or something. It’s yellow now, and nobody is around.
-One survivor. A boy, unconscious. Wolfgang calls for a medic, for that person he sees as his enemy/rival from before, Monbereaux.
-Back to me. [Later edit: this is the last thing chronologically in my current session. I’ll pick it up next time.]
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Missions: At Heavens’ Door/The Lion’s Roar (Rhapsodies of Vana’diel)
-On Qufim Island, I find an “undulating confluence,” a swirly black thing with a red light at its center. Lion meets me here.
-She wonders where it leads us. Rumor is, to another dimension.
-OH SHIT LION GOT SUCKED INTO THE CONFLUENCE
-And… hi, Iroha! She appears. She calls me “master,” so this is the version of her from the future, not the younger version I’ll eventually meet.
-A giant red yeti beast appears. Ophiotaurus.
It kicks my party’s ass. Twice. I get it about halfway down, but I’m just overwhelmed. I’ll try again later, at a higher level.
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Next time: Delkfutt’s Tower, searching for the Bastokan ambassador.
