Mission: Salt of the Earth (Bastok)
-Here we go. Final push on the Bastok storyline.
-To my surprise, the quest giver on this next mission is Senator Alois. A Hume senator who is kind of a lightweight. The only other mission he gave me was one where he asked me to find him some eggs for “the good of Bastok” (but in reality, because he wanted tasty eggs).
-Christ. It’s the same thing, this time, isn’t it. He wants me to find him a rare salt from Vollbow.
-THANK GOD FOR IRON EATER. Iron Eater steps overhears this “mission,” steps in, and stands up for me. Alois is pissed because Alois is a senator and Iron Eater is a mere soldier.
-This has larger implications though. The senate approved a budget for this mission, but Iron Eater points out that they could instead have funded more food for the starving Galka in the Mines District.
-Talekeeper Gumbah walks in to calm things down and Alois sees him.
“What is a dirty little Galka doing in the President’s Office?”
THAT’S THE GALKA POPE YOU ASSHOLE, WTF
-Alois wants something called “miraclesalt” from Vollbow. Gumbah… agrees? Thinks it’s a good idea? Gumbah says it slows down the aging process, so undoubtedly Gumbah has some other plan in mind here.
-Yeah. Talekeeper Gumbah definitely has a plan.
-My next stop is the desert town of Rabao. I’m supposed to contact a Galka named Dancing Wolf there. He tells me I can find the miraclesalt in the Gustav Tunnel.
-Hi, Gumbah!! He shows up in Rabao with Iron Eater beside him.
-So there’s an old Galkan legend about people setting off on journeys to find miraclesalt and postpone their rebirth. He even thinks that there’s a connection between the Galka being miners and this myth of miraclesalt.
-Gumbah wants me to go to the Gustav Tunnel to help track down the last of Werei’s path. He wants to know what really happened.
-Oh. Apparently, that’s not all. Gumbah has one more goal for this mission, but he’s keeping that a secret for now.
-I haven’t been to Gustav Tunnel before. TO reach there, I go from Valkurn Dunes to the cave entrance in the west.
-The enemy guarding the miraclesalt deep in this desert cave is interesting. It’s an ooze-type that keeps dividing into smaller and smaller enemies. Starts out as one Gigaplasm, but when it dies two Macroplasms spawn, and each macroplasm spawns two microplasms, and each microplasm spawns to nanoplasms.
-Miraclesalt in hand, I head back to Dancing Wolf in Rabao.
-Interesting! Dancing Wolf is surprised on seeing it. He’s surprised because he’s seen it before. Someone found a small Galkan child once carrying something that looks like this miraclesalt.
The boy had no memory of how he got there, so Dancing Wolf and all the rest assumed the kid got it on his way back from a journey of rebirth.
Wait the kid he’s talking about is here in Rabao?
Gumbah is here, shocked at what he sees.
“That’s impossible… He couldn’t have returned so quickly… He… he looks the same as he did when we played together… two hundred years ago…”
-WEREI????
-Werei is here??? And Werei is no longer an old adult, but rather a child.
-“Werei” walks over. He doesn’t remember his own name, but Werei sounds familiar to him. He’s about to leave with a caravan.
???: “Always on the road… never settling down… now that’s the life for me.”
And quite a different one from a Talekeeper. Be happy, Werei, and enjoy your new restful life.
-He leaves. Happy as a clam.
-I mean, it was PROBABLY Werei, but apparently even a Talekeeper can’t remember his rebirth let alone anyone else. Whether it is Werei or not, he looks like he’s gonna have a good life, that kid.
-Now to bring the miraclesalt back to Senator Asshole – ahem, Senator Alois.
-Alois is happy that he now has miraclesalt to add five years to his life, “I-I mean, our citizens’ lives!”
-Lucius, President Karst’s assistant, comes in. He hammers home that Alois had better use that miraclesalt to tangibly improve people’s lives. Apparently, Alois’s company was taking public money to “research” that salt, and Lucius is here to make sure he does so. Or else.
-Yay! Thanks, Gumbah. (I get the sense that Gumbah informed Lucius and is trying to get the Hume government to be at least slightly less shitty and corrupt.)
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Mission: Where Two Paths Converge (Bastok)
-An adventurer in the northlands was attacked. Normal. But the attacker reportedly was the dark knight Zeid.
-Uh... what?
-And “Zeid” (I don’t quite believe it was just Zeid and not possessed!Zeid or impostor!Zeid) gave a note to the adventurer.
-The letter was addressed to Captain Volker.
-OH SHIT I FORGOT
-So in the series of flashbacks earlier in the storyline, we learned that Captain Volker’s beloved uncle, Ulrich, was really a murderous jackass who killed Cornelia and mortally wounded Raogrimm. The straw that broke the camel’s back, pushing Raogrimm to become the Shadow Lord.
And Volker never knew. And nobody ever told him. They actively hid the info from him.
-The letter from “Zeid” describes Ulrich to Volker.
-Volker is here, enraged and shocked to find out how many people (including Cid) knew about this and didn’t tell him.
-Flashback. To the moment that Ulrich meant to stab Raogrimm (and Cornelia put herself in the way).
ULRICH: “Why? Because I never liked you, that’s why!”
As simple as that. Hatred for this sweet Galka.
-This hits Volker especially hard because there were always rumors that his uncle’s influence helped Volker get his position within the Mythril Musketeers.
-But because President Karst is a literal log of shit, he rips into Volker for “whining” about this and dismisses him from the Mythril Musketeers. Uh. Dude. Is Volker not allowed to have an emotional reaction even temporarily to this shocking news?
KARST: “And while you’re gone, why don’t you try finding Zeid and bringing him back to Bastok? He’d be a lot more useful around here than you.”
JESUS SHUT UP SHUT UP YOU’RE THE WORRRRST
-The consensus is that Zeid gave the letter to prod Volker, to get Volker to come fight. I don’t quite understand this because I don’t quite understand what Zeid’s role in all this is.
-And apparently my next stop is Castle Zvahl. The Shadow Lord’s castle, and where Zeid is now waiting.
- I teleport over to the Castle Zvahl throne room.
-I didn’t think I’d be back here again, but here I am. Zeid is waiting.
“No matter how many of the Kindred are slain, the darkness that engulfs Bastok will remain until the past that haunts him is vanquished.”
-So I guess he blames Volker for his uncle being a murderer? I don’t get it.
“The enemy lies within me. Raogrimm stood up to rid himself of what plagued him. Now it is time for Volker to do the same.”
-So maybe Zeid is just trying to help Volker clear what even Volker sees as a “cursed bloodline.”
“Let the sound of our blades ring forth to Gustaberg… and to Volker’s ears. You need not hold back. I am prepared to face whatever may come.”
-At 70% health, Volker walks in.
ZEID: “I’ve waited twenty years…”
VOLKER: “I want some answers, Zeid. Why are you doing this?”
WHEW. I’m super glad Volker asked that, because I’m also confused. Glad it’s not just me.
-I think I sort of see. Zeid thinks that Volker’s success comes from his uncle, but Volker hasn’t reckoned with the true past. His success is fruit of the poisoned tree until he deals with it.
ZEID: “Do you not realize!? You are just another page in the bloody history of the Talekeeper!”
-Twenty years ago, their lives took different paths. The fight resumes.
-Midway through the next phase, two Shadows of Rage spawn out of Zeid. Makes sense.
-He goes down.
-I see. This was all a lesson.
ZEID: “You finally see… you do not need to fight alone. Others will always be there to… Twenty years ago, when my blade met that of the Shadow Lord, I felt his anguish… That anguish forced me into the shadows.
However, there I did not find what I sought. It was only then that I realized the answer lay in the light.”
And yet, Zeid still feels overwhelmed by the anguish he felt when clashing with Talekeeper/Shadow Lord Raogrimm. He wants Volker to not feel trapped by the same thing.
“Your place is out in the light.”
-Volker is still unsure. Still feeling guilty, not up to the task.
”Volker, we studied and we fought and we killed for the notion of a nation that we now get to build. For once in your life, take a stand with pride. I don’t understand how you stand to the side.”
-Awww! The rest of the Mythril Musketeers came to help and support him.
Iron Eater, and Ayame, and Naji.
-So even though Zeid is popular within Bastok, he doesn’t think he’s right for the city at this time as a leader. Zeid sees himself as a wartime consigliere. He wants Volker and Gumbah to create something different.
“The time for conflict between the Galka and the Humes is over. I ask you to support Gumbah in his efforts in bringing our people together.”
-Zeid walks away to brood in the shadows on rooftops or whatever. Volker returns to Bastok, newly empowered, and I follow.
-Back in Bastok, President Karst is outwardly pissed that we didn’t bring Zeid back as captain, but his aide says he’s secretly happy with how things worked out.
I guess? I get President Karst’s value to Bastok, but still actively dislike him. That’s okay.
-That’s it. Max rank achieved. Rank 10 with Bastok.
-On my way out, Naji hands me a letter. It’s from Cornelia, President Karst’s daughter and aspiring ally to the Galka.
“Dear Detolilla,
‘Do you really like Bastok?’ I… I hated my country. A country ruled by gil. A country where people don’t care about anyone but themselves. I tried to chane it, but with each passing day, I came to think that maybe I really was powerless against the system.”
She’s become more hopeful of late. She’s not powerless. She has started asking that “Do you really like Bastok” question of citizens, and we get a montage of people talking about why they appreciate (or don’t) this city.
“I haven’t had the easiest life here in Bastok, but I don’t think I could have pursued my dream anywhere else. Being in this country gives you the confidence to tell everybody, ‘I’ll show you!’”
“Some criticize the money-hungry ways of the merchants and adventurers, but without them, where would Bastok be today?”
-Both respondents so far have been Humes. The Galka have a different response.
“What the hell kind of question is that? How could I like a country where Humes have stepped on us Galka for hundreds of years?!”
“The bridge between our people cannot be built in a day…”
-Gumbah gives an especially nuanced answer about the relationship between community and personal responsibility.
-Most of the Humes embrace this as a land of opportunity.
“I do not think that we shall ever see a perfect Bastok, but that does not mean we should stop trying to build one.”
Lololol we then see President Karst’s answer to his daughter’s question: “What is that supposed to mean!? Now stop asking foolish questions and get back to your room and study!”
-This is a really great montage. I love this. It captures the character and ambition and harm and brutality at the heart of Bastok’s character.
-Cornelia finishes her letter by hinting that she might one day have high aspirations. She doesn’t say it, but… President Cornelia? Perhaps.
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-And that’s it. That’s the Bastok story.
I can’t say it’s my favorite in FF – even within this game, I like the Zilart storyline more – but what it lacks in epic punch it makes up for in nuance. I appreciate the way FFXI creates this divided city with a challenging history and hope for the future and a past that has to be dealt with, and makes it seem not all wrapped-up.
This is ongoing. The new hope on the Hume side with Captain Volker and on the Galka side with Talekeeper Gumbah makes the future bright but far from settled.
It’s a start.
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Next time: Chains of Promathia.
