Treasure of Aht Urhgan – Thoughts and Expectations
-So I’m about to embark on the next expansion. No intro cinematic that I remember. All I’ve done so far is earn the boat pass that will take me to the new land, Aht Urhgan.
-I’ve seen a couple of mercenary companies in Jeuno and Bastok that hail from Aht Urhgan. They were color coded iirc. One was blue, one was red, something like that.
-The mercenaries’ clothing seemed to draw from middle eastern and Arab environs.
-The first two expansions focused on Altana/Promathia, the role of the Emptiness, and the Zilart trying to bust into Paradise. I predict ToAU will depart from that storyline, be more self-contained.
At least, aside from the overarching Rhapsodies of Vana’diel storyline that picks up in Aht Urhgan.
-The new jobs for this expansion are Blue Mage, Corsair, and Puppetmaster. Puppetmaster and Corsair don’t interest me much. Blue Mage does.
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Mission: Land of Sacred Serpents (Treasures of Aht Urhgan)
-This mission has been sitting in my log for a long, long time. The description basically says that new adventures await to the east.
-I head to Mhaura and take a boat to Al Zhabi which I think/hope is in Aht Urhgan.
-I dig this boat music.
The Aht Urhgan skyline in the distance.
-About 15 minutes later, I arrive in Al Zahbi, in Aht Urhgan Whitegate.
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Mission: Desert Winds (Rhapsodies of Vana’diel, ch.2)
-lololol. I was all ready for the end of Chains of Promathia to be the last I saw of Tenzen for a while, and Tenzen runs up and greets me off the ship. Hi again buddy.
-He’s with his ninja friend, Kagero. They want me to infiltrate a group called Salaheem’s Sentinels.
-OH!! That’s why I was confused. This isn’t for the Aht Urhgan mission. This is continuing with Rhapsodies of Vana’diel. It’s been a while since I touched that.
-Refresher: last time in Rhapsodies of Vana’diel, Iroha – the priestess from the future – was accosted by Volto Oscuro – the Emptiness ambassador. He drained her Phoenix essence or something. Volto Oscuro left for Aht Urhgan seeking an “Astral Candescence” for unknown reasons.
-Tenzen landed here in Aht Urhgan and met a weird dude named Gessho. Gessho started to investigate Volto Oscuro, but a Mithra within Salaheem’s Sentinels kidnapped him. My job is to infiltrate Salaheem’s Sentinels and track down Gessho.
-…oops. Looks like I apparently need to push a bit through the Aht Urhgan missions before continuing with this. I’ll come back to it later.
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Mission: Land of Sacred Serpents (Treasures of Aht Urhgan)
-This mission really starts at the headquarters of Salaheem’s Sentinels, a mercenary group. The woman who meets me at the gate looks AWESOME.
Naja Salaheem.
-She wants to know if I came to be a mercenary, so I say sure. Why not! So this mission chain will start out with me climbing the ladder within Salaheem’s Sentinels.
-Salaheem’s Sentinels is (are?) trusted by the royal family of Aht Urhgan. So they’re at least not totally shady. They sound a bit like the Tenshodo in Jeuno – shady and independent, but helpful too.
-The Immortals are the Empress of Aht Urhgan’s bodyguards. So this land has an empress. The Immortals are composed of top blue mages.
-My first mission as a newbie Sentinel is to bring a package to the Immortals and introduce myself.
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Mission: Immortal Sentries (Treasures of Aht Urhgan)
-Naja’s secretary, a snively dude, makes the Sentinels sound hilariously corporate. Lots of corporate lingo and and dependant on pyramid scheme marketing for new mercenaries.
-The royal family of Aht Urhgan seems to have some relationship to snakes. The first mission was “Land of Sacred Serpents,” and there’s a part of the city called Serpentking Square with an awesome snake-themed fountain.
-The guards in Aht Urhgan Whitegate have beautiful armor sets.
-There’s an awesome-looking temple in the city, Walahra Temple.
-I take a ferry out to the first location it goes to, Nashmau, a port northwest of this city. A staging point is near there.
-The music in Nashmau is INCREDIBLE. A+++ to the ToAU music so far.
-Nashmau is full of cute rat people named Qiqirin.
-I just found the weirdest cutscene ever. A Qiqirin says he’s terrified of Tarutaru, and we soon see why. A family of Tarutaru appear and they are all basically Elmyra from Tiny Toons.
“The three of us came to this island in search of something warm and fuzzy! You see, my husband and I love all things cute and cuddly, and we have spent the last five years roaming the globe in search of things that meet our strict standards.”
This family takes their love of cute things to a terrifying new high. No wonder the Qiqirin ran away.
“The nerve of that beast to run from my daughter. We should skin and stuff him. And then Rapipi could play with him every day now, couldn’t you? Yes you could! But noooo, the flea-infestified scruffmonger has completely disregarded my daughter’s happiness.”
“If only there were some kind of magic that would force Qiqirin to love our daughter, then we wouldn’t be in this pickle!”
JESUS, THE TARUTARU ARE CONSISTENTLY THE WORST
-They leave (thank God) and the Qiqirin, Kakkaroon, comes out of hiding. He’s creeped out by evil Tarutaru children. Me too.
-A gate guard says that Lamiae are nearby who animate the corpses of their prey. Dang. Lamia are always nasty enemies in FF games because of their charm magic.
-Lots of the side-quests I’ve found in ToAU are really funny so far.
-Got to the Azouph Isle Staging Point outside of Nashmau, and found a blue mage guard to talk to. SHE LOOKS SO GREAT.
Not only is the music top-notch so far, but the armor design is too.
-I give her the supplies package, and she thanks me by telling me about a “runic portal” nearby, a transporter. Nothing too impressive nowadays with home points and survival guides that port me everywhere cheaply, but back in the day it must have been a HUGE convenience.
-After, I see: “Your Imperial Standing increased!” This must be like a faction system.
-I take the runic portal back and return to Naja Salaheem.
-Naja agrees to take me on as a mercenary in her company, making me sign a contract:
“I vow…
Through rain and through wind,
Running not from storms of arrows, and fearing not blasts of magic,
To defend in times of beastman attacks,
And to venture out in times of peace,
In sickness and in health,
Through curses and petrification,
I pledge myself to Salaheem’s Sentinels. For all eternity.”
Yeesh. Intense pledge that, if I fall in love with a fellow FF fan, could double as a wedding vow. Just replace “Salaheem’s Sentinels” with my spouse’s name and I’m all set.
-I’m now a “Private Second Class” in Salaheem’s Sentinels.
“Ya don’t like ‘Second Class’ bein’ part of your title? Tough luck! I don’t care how spoiled ya were in the west. Whether ya were a knight or musketeer or wizard. It don’t mean a thing to me… You’re gonna love worrrrrking under me. I have plenty to keep ya busy.”
Got it. Work hard, and don’t let the multiple apocalypses I averted go to my head. I’m a rookie here.
-I raise my rank is by participating in “Assault missions.” I head to the Commissions Agency to learn more.
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Mission: President Salaheem (Treasures of Aht Urhgan)
-I register as a mercenary at the Commissions Agency in Aht Urhgan and get a mini-tutorial on Assaults.
-Assaults are missions conducted by the Imperial Army in enemy territory. (I wonder who the enemies of Aht Urhgan are.) I can do a mission every 10 minutes or so, so I guess they’re short bursts rather than long dungeons, but not sure.
-These are party missions. I hope trust NPCs will count as a party, and I expect they will.
-Once I reach the staging point for a specific assault, I talk to an Immortal guard at the staging point and they port me to the mission.
-The enemies on the mission will be based on my highest level. I wonder if that’s capped at the level cap for this expansion or if it’ll go up to 99.
-The missions are timed. GRRRRR I FUCKING HATE TIMED MISSIONS. WHAT IS THIS, FFVIII?
-I return to Naja Salaheem and a new mercenary walks in. He acts super-self-important, and from the instant we hear him Naja’s eyerolling is epic. “I have returned!” Naja just kind of looks annoyed that he took so long on his first mission.
-He’s an Elvaan knight named Raillefal, and I immediately want to smack him. He clearly thinks that as a Western knight he’s above this whole rank system in the mercenaries.
I LOVE NAJA SALAHEEM BECAUSE SHE JUST MOCKS THIS ASSHOLE. “Oh, was that your name? You’ll have to forgive me. These damn foreign names are so hard to rrrremember.” This douchebag comes here acting all imperious and demanding respect and she’s just not having any of it.
“R-a-i-l-l-e-f-a-n? Ya pronounce that like ‘really fun’ or something’”?
I LOVE YOU SO MUCH
[Later edit: Cornelia, Lion, Shantotto, Prishe, now Naja Salaheem… FFXI is knocking it out of the park in creating interesting and awesome female characters.]
I’m almost always against mocking someone’s name, but this San d’Orian jackass clearly is expecting Naja Salaheem to be in awe of him and cater to him and shit.
NAJA: “Hey you, Private Second Class!”
RAILLEFAL: “My name is pronounced ‘rye-fall.’ Raillefal! It’s not that difficult! You must learn to address me with respect!”
NAJA: “Hey Riffle, wake up and smell the roses. Just who d’ya think ya are anyway? A prince?”
NEVER STOP, NAJA
Raillefal turns to me to complain about Naja acting like a queen. SHUT UP, SHE IS A QUEEN (queen of my heart but w/e)
-He leaves in a huff. Great. Now it’s my job to go watch out for him and teach him to not suck as a person. Ugh.
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Next time: chasing down the golden knight.
