Exploring Rabanastre
-Sounds like I can only ride chocobos for limited time in this game.
-I bought a map of Dalmasca Estersand from a moogle cartographer. I was hoping it would unveil secret passages or something, but I’m not sure it shows me anything I couldn’t have discovered myself. Will hold off on maps for now.
-The village on Giza Plains raises “some kind of big ol’ roly-poly birds.” Cockatrice farm?
-Westersand is tougher Estersand.
-The tone towards the Empire is mostly exhaustion, anger, but some cautious optimism now after Vayne’s speech.
-Most citizens of Rabanastre people live in Lowtown.
-Turned in the Rogue Tomato bounty, and picked up the next one. Thextera, a mutant wolf.
A townsperson: “I hear you hunted down the Rogue Tomato. They’ll probably be expecting you soon… who? Oh, you’ll figure it out, sooner or later.” Are the Rogue Tomato’s kids gonna try to take revenge?
-I sell everything in my Loot category. [Later edit: Not sure I should be doing this. Teleport Stones count as loot, but they are useful for warping between red crystals. Going forward, I sell all loot except teleport stones for Bazaar Goods.]
- I need a party before I can buy gambits.
-The unnamed building is “Clan Hall,” the headquarters of local bounty hunters called Clan Centurio.
-A moogle named Montblanc runs the clan and lets me join. I can rank up as a hunter!
-The Clan Centurio bazaar shop’s stock depends on my clan rank. He currently sells Decoy, making all foes focus on one enemy. And it’s… “green magic?” New magic type!
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Exploring Lowtown
-The music is so great!
-A girl named Filo wants to be a sky pirate. She runs away to hide in the South Sprawl as a training exercise for her proteges.
-A locked house here has stood empty for years. Its tenant from Nabudis fled during the war and died recently.
-I can access part of the Garamsythe Waterway, a big empty room. One door there is locked.
-I can’t get over the beauty and detail of this world! Even the waterways are ornately designed, suffused with a rich blue light.
-Ghosts live in the sewers apparently.
-A girl tells me that a “scary-looking man” says we’ll be taking our kingdom back soon.
-I’m continually warned about elementals.
-Giza Plains has “dark crystals” and a nomad village.
-I haven’t been able to find Filo…. Ah, I took too long! I head back to the North Sprawl, talk to her again, and find her outside Old Dalan’s home. No reward or anything. She just says hello.
-Reached Old Dalan’s. I love his design, and he’s petting a cute animal!
A hairless bunny of some sort?
-Vaan wants to steal from the palace to “take back what’s ours,” and Dalan is sympathetic. He has a Crescent Stone that will open a secret passageway to the palace if we combine it with the power of a sunstone. Nomads in Giza Plains will have that.
-A citizen talks about her anger at Captain Basch killing the king. You know, I’m not sold. We didn’t actually SEE the execution.
I’ve written before how FFXII reminds me in a few ways of FFII. In FFII, Leon was a rebel that the Empire “killed” early. We learn later that they took him and converted him into a dark knight. Keeping my eyes open for something like that.
-I like the naming conventions for the random NPCs. “Patient Boy,” “Guileless Girl,” etc.
-I’ve gone back to Batahn’s Technicks like three times hoping for First Aid. No luck.
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Bounty: Thextera
-Next up, Westersand. Ominous music.
-Found Thextera. She looks tough – plus she’s got two wolf puppers with her. I don’t think I can get her alone.
-My strategy is to kill the small wolves first. Took them out, used potions to heal up, and onto Thextera.
-Glad I sold loot in town. She poisons me, and the last bazaar pack I got had antidotes.
-Thextera uses “Cry for Help” to summon another wolf at low health, but I ignore it. FINISH HER!
YESSSS victory! That was a bit tricky.
-Thextera bestiary: “It is thought that a diet of creatures rich in Mist caused these mutations, though little is known for certain.” Are we talking FFIX-style Mist?
-There are three connecting zones within this first Westersand District. I actually like this, how it breaks up a large zone so it doesn’t feel overwhelming.
[Non-rhetorical question: there seems to be a difference between the length of a battlechain and the LEVEL of a battlechain. My battlechain “leveled up” once at 10 kills to start dropping silver coins instead of regular loot bags. Other chains I’ve experimented with “leveled up” at 7 or 12 kills. Is it random, or do I have any control over when the battlechain levels up?]
-Checked out the Westersand connection zone to the left, and the first wolf targets as Red. Noping out of here. Same thing with the enemies I encounter in the other Westersand connections.
-When I return to the first Westersand zone, the enemies have changed! Now there are cactids sleeping peacefully, and a friendly Bangaa patrolling. No more wolves.
THAT’S SO COOL! By taking out Thexetra, the mutant wolf mom, I changed the entire system of this part of Westersand. The merchant who hired me to kill Thexetra to protect his trade route made a good call.
-I return to the petitioner, Gatsly. He returns to the Bazaar to open up.
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Bounty: Flowering Cactoid
-The next bounty is for a Flowering Cactoid in Dalmasca Estersand.
-None of the vendors in town sell potions!! Grr. [Later edit: This is my bad. I was just looking at the first category, while the potions were probably in a different category.]
-The Clan vendor now sell a new green magick, Oil. It increases fire damage taken.
-Gatsly is now in the Bazaar. He offers me a bonus for taking out Thextera, something now available under Bazaar Goods.
It’s a Forgotten Grimoire, for… 18,000 gil! Holy shit that’s a lot. “Text dating from antiquity, prescribing tactics and guidance to those who would walk a given path.” Sounds like a gambit.
[Non-rhetorical question: once a good is available in the Bazaar, do I only have a limited time to get it, or will it stay until I buy it?]
-An elder in that Estersand village tells me Yardang Labyrinth connects with Giza Plains.
-Found Dantro at the Estersand Village. The cactoids keep to themselves, except for the bloodthirsty flowering cactoids (lolol). It lurks in Yardang Labyrinth.
-I head north and find the Flowering Cactoid. It’s just too hard.
It’s evasive, parries a lot, hits moderately, and I simply don’t have the sustain with my limited supply of potions to take it out and no First Aid technick. I’ll be back.
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Exploring Estersand
-Found a new enemy, a Slaven. Weird dude with huge legs.
-What is THAT? It’s this glowy rock thing, with a flappy bird flapping at it.
-THIS FUCKING RABBIT! IT’S CURING THE URSTRIX
-wait. After the fight it cures me. Whose side are you on, lil rabbit?
-The glowy thing is a “dark crystal.” I find another dark crystal elsewhere, except it’s not glowing. Just pure rock.
-Cool!! I found where the Giza Plains connect with Estersand.
-Pushed on and found Nalbina. The intro cinematic shows the Empire rebuilding it.
NALBINITE: “They say a horrible creature that lost a war with the gods lurks now in the Mosphoran Highwaste. ‘Tis a local legend.” Jesus, a creature that lost a war with the gods?? Is it Satan?
-Another legend says that the eerie cry of a woman echoes in the Barheim Passage.
-Yet ANOTHER legend: a great palace lies buried deep within the earth, south of the capital, and it houses a terrible wyrm. Bahamut? Shinryu?
-There are some in town labeled “Stonemason?” with the question mark included. They came here to rescue their friends from a dungeon but got mistaken for workers.
-That’s really all I can explore here for now. The path to the Mosphoran Highwaste is blocked.
-Huh. When I fight now, I have the option to use Black Magic. I didn’t get a license for it – maybe it just naturally opens up when I hit a certain level on this job.
-Found a hut with two brother seeqs. “The boss is going to take them treasures from inside Barheim!”
-lol, he wasn’t supposed to say that. His brother scolds him for spilling the beans.
-I continue north through Estersand until I reach a village on the River Nebra. It has a ferry across the River Nebra, but the ferry isn’t operating right now.
-There’s a locked door southeast of that village. Nobody here. Explored this direction as far as I can.
-I use the red crystal in that river village to teleport back to Rabanastre. Good session today! Explored as far as I could in Westersand and Estersand, checked out Lowtown, picked up my next hunt target.
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Next time: exploring the Giza Plains and its bestiary, and checking out that nomad village for the sunstone.
