Job Wheel
-SO I WENT INTO MY STATUS SCREEN AND CLICKED ON LICENSES AND THE JOB SYSTEM JUST KIND OF “PHWOOOSHED” IN FRONT OF MY FACE
-Now I get why this is zodiac. There are twelve jobs.
-AAAH THERE’S A CHESS BOARD THING THAT’S LIKE A VARIATION OF THE FFX SPHERE SYSTEM AND IT’S TOO EXCITING
-Most jobs are straight forward. Knight, monk, white mage, etc. Some newer ones too are Shikari (thief-ish + some healing), Time Battlemage, Uhlan (a healy dragoon).
I know I’ll set my party up sub-optimally. Whatever! Here goes.
Vaan, you’re a Shikari. I choose this because Vaan already uses knives, and I like the healing mixed in.
---
Traveler’s Tips
-This tutorial section seems like it’ll be regularly updated.
-Walking or running restores MP, and it restores more MP when I have less MP.
-R2 tries to flee from combat. It can also be used to regroup, if my forces scatter.
-Different weapon types do different types of damage. Standard weapons are mitigated by target defense, piercing weapons (including something called “measures”) IGNORE target defense. Spears count as standard, not piercing.
Fast weapon damage scales with character speed. Daggers, ninja swords, and bows are fast. So Vaan’s dagger damage will increase if I boost his speed.
[Non-rhetorical question: the tutorial says standard weapons are mitigated by defense – does this imply that ONLY standard weapon damage is mitigated this way, or are fast and piercing weapons also mitigated by defense?]
-Striking weapons like axes and hammers and hand-bombs (!) do erratic damage.
-Poles are mitigated by target magick resist. So if a mage attacks with a pole, it won’t be a weak bop necessarily. I can even see a scenario where a physically resistant enemy becomes weak to the magick-bops of mage poles.
-Killing enemies gains me License Points (LP), which I spend on the license board for my job.
-BLESS! Purchasing a magick or technick (god, it’s gonna be tough to get used to spelling those words that way) allows ALL characters in the party to use it who have the relevant license.
-Few creatures carry gil. So most of my gil comes from selling loot dropped by foes. Interesting change.
-Defeating several of the same type of foe in succession creates a “battle chain” that increases the chance of loot dropping, rare item drops, multiple item drops. So if there’s a battle against four Imps and a Leaf Eater, I should either take out the Leaf Eater first or last, not in the middle.
-The bestiary entry for Dire Rat has a long narrative chain. I wonder if it’ll also tell me enemy weaknesses when those appear beyond the flavor text.
---
Dalmasca Estersand - Rogue Tomato Hunt
-I enter Dalmasca Estersand to hunt for the tomato. The entry screen gives me immediate FFVIII flashbacks as I see a fucking T REX pursue some prey.
-LOOK AT THIS COMBAT SYSTEM! No approaching a random tile and hearing “ZHHWWOMP dunununununu” and being thrust into combat – the enemies are just out there on the mini-map for me to attack!
-The T-Rex is “Wild Saurian.” Its name was red in my target window, so I backed right tf off.
-I found the (hilariously tiny) Rogue Tomato, but want to explore first.
-My main question early on is how I should be using the battlefield. Should I run from enemies? Should I hide behind stuff?
My initial answer: maybe kiting will be useful with a ranged weapon. For now, I’ll just try to pull an enemy away from its friends to avoid unwanted adds.
I also queue up first abilities when I’m out of range. For example, I’ll target a wolf when it’s far away, I queue up Steal and only close distance when the bar fills. That eliminates a window where the enemy can hit me before I take that action. A first strike of sorts.
-Bought my first license, First Aid. It restores HP to an HP critical ally. I wonder if that includes the caster. We’ll see. I haven’t yet bought the technick.
-Okay, Rogue Tomato. Let’s dance. A few hits and it flees off the cliffside, making the CUTEST SQUEAKY TOMATO SOUNDS
Also, lol that the wanted poster showed it with giants fangs everywhere but its mouth has no teeth. XD
-I follow-up and take it out. Not tough, but interesting that they’re introducing multi-phase fights this early.
-Vaan notices Galbana lilies nearby. I wonder what they signify.
-I want to explore further, but do I dare rush past the Saurian?
…fuck it. I do. RUUUUN!
-Made it without aggroing the T-Rex. Whew. Worth it for the little treasure bits, and because it lets me access the next area.
[Non-rhetorical question: how frequently does the game auto-save, if at all? Like, if I had aggro’d the T-Rex and gotten killed, would I have had to do everything over again since the last save crystal?]
---
Dalmasca Estersand Outpost
-This next place is a little hut.
-ugh I can’t talk to the chocobo worst game ever 0/10
-This is the road to Nalbina. Currently closed.
-A merchant says that his chocobo likes shiny things, buries everything it can. I wonder if this signals a return to Chocobo Hot & Cold.
-I find little glints in the ground all over the area, gil that the chocobo buried from the poor merchant. Tried giving it back to the merchant, but no go. *tsk tsks at Vaan*
---
Meet the New Boss
-Kytes meets me outside the locked gates. He and Penelo worried that the Fiendish Fruit would kill me.
-A parade chocobo is allowed through… but it stomped on his flower. This seems to be the last straw for Vaan, symbolic of the empire stomping on him for good.
-Migelo comes out of the gate, chatting up the Imperial guards. He’s super smooth! He bribes the guards with wine to let everyone in line through.
This shows me a lot about Migelo. He uses the little power he has to help curry favor with the imperial forces, for the sake of his countrymen.
-The ceremony will start soon.
-Vaan just kind of brushes past Pinelo and runs into the city. Maybe ask how she’s doing – she was worried about you. Don’t be a dick.
-The new consul is on parade. I think it’s the guy who killed Captain Basch. Vayne Solidor.
-Vayne speaks, and it’s not the “BOW TO THE EMPIRE” speech I expected. Although the Empire is widely hated, he’ll serve these people as best he can, honoring the peaceful aspirations of their fallen king.
“Though King Raminas and Lady Ashe be but gone, they stand ever at the side of your people.”
It’s a really great speech. Selfless, respectful, realistic - even noble. Even the hostile crowd applauds. Not from Vaan and Pinelo though.
-Vayne is the emperor’s son, but not a prince. He describes himself as just an elected official – no dynastic rule in Archadia apparently.
-His tone as he talks with Migelo is super casual. He’d rather be addressed as Vayne than Lord Consul – and yet, I’m sure it’s all a façade. However casual he acts, Migelo still has to bow to him. Vayne is still an occupying governor. And Vayne knows this all.
-Vaan is angry about Migelo bowing to Vayne, but Pinelo is more practical. She acknowledges that this is just the reality of Migelo’s position, doing what he has to do. I like Pinelo.
-The two leave, walking through the streets. Thinking on how much the city has changed.
-Vaan wants to get into the fete tonight for Vayne. He’s planning something against the Empire – or maybe he just wants to steal something to help build money towards his sky pirate dreams. Or both.
-Our next stop is to talk to someone named Old Dalan in Lowtown for help getting into the party.
---
Final Steps
-Checking through my inventory, I looted an accessory called Firefly. It reduces EXP earned to 0. I don’t think enemies scale to your party, so… not sure why I’d want this. Maybe for a challenge run. Idk.
-The First Aid technick I was hoping to find isn’t in the technick shop. Only Libra. I’ll buy it now and get the license next. (Only need one more LP.)
-I sold a lot of the loot I picked up from the desert and got some bazaar gear. So those are one-time purchases, one was Chromed Leathers and the other was a potion two-pack. Cool!
-The Cactoid bestiary entry says to collect a “bundle of needles.” An item maybe? Or blue magic? IDK.
-I go back to the desert for Cactoid-hunting. My battle chain goes up to 21 as silver coins dropped. I got a Virgo Gem, but no bundle of needles.
-I think I hunted the Cactoids here to extinction. They stopped spawning. Maybe later.
[Non-rhetorical questions: do enemies stop spawning if I kill them enough times?]
-The “Need” counter for Cactoids and Wolf in my bestiary are empty, while the Cockatrice “needs” is still at 7.
I love these rolly-poly turkeys.
I kill 7 more Cockatrices, and the bestiary entry expanded with “Sage Knowledge!” It gives me some lore about the Dalmasca Westersand. Lots of sandstorms there.
---
Next time: Re-exploring the city, its shops, technicks, gambits, and eventually heading to Lowtown.
