Basch Lives!
-We must reach Marquis Ondore. He channels money to anti-Imperial groups. Let’s get their attention.
-Ondore announced Basch’s execution. If Basch turns up alive, Ondore’s credibility plummets, specifically with anti-Imperial groups who detest Basch.
-Vaan plans to reach Ondore by spreading news that Basch is alive around town, forcing the anti-
Imperial groups to investigate. HIS IMPRESSION IS SO BAD LOLOL
-I have to wander town doing this Basch impression and saying “Basch Lives!” “Ondore lies!” etc. I have to beware where I say this though – if I say it near a guard, they threaten to arrest me and the bar resets to 0%.
-Rebels eventually catch me and take me to their hideout. Basch shows up.
-Scene change to Penelo with Lord Larsa. The kid has faith in his brother, Vayne.
-He’s shocked to hear that we fear the Empire. He has noble intentions and a lofty view of the Empire. He wants to use his power for good.
I trust him. I do NOT trust Vayne.
-The rebels agree to set up a meeting between us and the Marquis.
---
Marks: Nidhogg, Rocktoise
-First, some mark hunting. Nidhogg is just a regular monster. Rocktoise’s story is sadder. She’s a pet who escaped to the mines, and grew strong and violent on magicite. Poor pet.
-Nidhogg goes down. He seemed to get especially tough and resilient at low health.
-Killed another Rare Game, a bat named Aerieel.
-Turned in the Nidhogg hunt for a Great Serpentskin (loot), a Rose Corsage (silence immunity), and some light armor.
-Two Forgotten Grimoires are now available. I’ll save for them ASAP.
-Rocktoise has a great design. No face; just a huge rocky shell over a body.
-Vaan eats most of the single target damage and Basch heals through the spinning AoE attacks. She goes down. Fran has better defense, but she can’t pull aggro. I look forward to using the green magick spell Decoy with her.
-Thankfully, I defeated the Rocktoise without killing it. It returns to tiny size and is now a pet again.
CARBO IS SO CUTE I WANT TO SNUG HER
-The moogle asks me to pick up his diary from the technick shop. When I find the diary, I can read it or abstain. I really want to read it, but I’ve played “Chrono Trigger.” That feels like a trap. I abstain.
-WHEW. He asks me if I read it, and I can now truthfully say I didn’t. My reward is an evasion-boosting Jade Collar.
-I now buy a Forgotten Grimoire: Sage’s Monograph. I can now get superior loot from elementals.
---
Bhujerba Betrayal
-We meet the Marquis. He despairs seeing Basch, knowing what a bad position this puts him in. Although I’m still a bit confused about this. The resistance didn’t react badly on seeing Basch alive. Maybe if word comes out, it would undermine Ondore’s credibility on a wider world stage? Idk.
-We tell Ondore about Captain Amalia and Penelo. We want them back.
-Lord Larsa has already left for Rabanastre. Hang on, Penelo.
-Quick scene change to an Imperial fleet swooping down on Bhujerba. Are they attacking?
-Nope. Asshole Ondore betrayed us. He summoned the Empire to take us captive and keep his position.
”I’ve just made a deal that’ll keep the Empire out of here forever.”
-Scene change to Rabanastre. A Judge, Gabranth, tells Vayne about the suspiciously well-funded resistance in Rabanastre, probably backed by Marquis Ondore.
-Doctor Cid! In FFXII, he’s an Archadian, and confidante/friend to Vayne.
-Scene change to an Imperial airship. We’re all the Empire’s prisoners on the Dreadnaught Leviathan.
---
Prison Break
-I love the FFII callback with the Dreadnaught. It’s not just fan service.; FFXII has a similar tone to FFII, and the callback subtly builds it.
-This is the second Imperial ship named after a summon. Maybe XII won’t even have actual summons, and will just draw on those names as military hardware. Like, I could see the game introducing an electricity-based superweapon called the Ramuh, and some kind of icy AT-AT called the Shiva.
-A woman awaits us. Is this Amalia?
-No, it’s someone new. Basch calls her “Majesty,” which I don’t quite understand. He doesn’t seem like he’d honor the Imperial hierarchy.
“Princess Ashelia B’nargin Dalmasca.”
-WAIT WHAT THE FUCK THIS IS PRINCESS ASHE???? AMALIA WAS A COVER HAHAHA
DID ~~ANYONE~~ FROM THE BEGINNING REALLY DIE? IS KING RABINAS ALIVE?
-King Rabinas entrusted Basch to give Asche something important: a Dusk Shard. It’ll prove Ashe is really Dalmascan royalty. Only Basch knows where it’s kept.
-lol nm. Vaan’s Goddess Magicite starts glowing. It’s the Dusk Shard. from the treasury starts glowing. This is the Dusk Shard.
-We’re led away in chains, separate from Ashe. Garanth wonders: why does Vayne care about this? Same. Idk.
-AHAHAHHA YESSSS, ONDORE IS STILL ON OUR SIDE! We attack our captors, and one of the “Imperials” reveals himself to be the resistance leader, Azelas Vossler. Let’s rescue Ashe.
-I like the look of the Levaithan. Cool combo of regal and high-tech.
-The cargo bay is full of coffin-like boxes.
-Picked up the Sleep magic from a treasure chest. [Non-rhetorical question: are the magicks/technicks from treasure chests randomly rewards, or always in those specific chests?]
-Got “Infuse,” a technick that fully consumes MP to change an ally’s HP to ten times that amount. That sounds not super great, but a decent “Oh Shit” heal.
-We reach a central room swarming with Imperials. Another quasi-boss fight.
Took out the two Judges leading them with focused Mist attacks.
[Non-rhetorical question: I keep expecting the game to explain these Quickening attacks and what I’m supposed to do with shuffle, but haven’t seen a tutorial yet. Will the game eventually give me a tutorial on this?
And if not, how does it mechanically work? My current theory is that shuffling the quickenings to get high rank stuff gives the attack more damage, but I have no idea. For some reason, just holding down R2 during Vaan’s Red Mist does massive damage, which contradicts the idea that I should be careful in how I “shuffle.”]
-lol there are some moogle vendors we also help break out of prison. I wonder if this is gonna be like Stiltzkin from FFIX where we keep seeing them in weird places.
-We reach Princess Ashe’s cell and unlock her. She seems a bit woozy, out of it. She claims she’s alright, that it’s nothing. But I’ve played video games. It’s probably not nothing.
-ASHE JOINS THE PARTY!
I was leaning hard towards Black Mage for my next party member, but I especially like it for Ashe. The idea of her as a burning spirit of vengeance roasting those who destroyed her kingdom appeals to me.
-My full gambit lists makes me think this is my last party member. I’m disappointed that they’re all human. Would’ve liked a seeq and/or bangaa.
-We start cutting our way out amidst the alarm, and then SUDDENLY PENELO! With Lord Larsa.
-Larsa knows who we are, and wants to help us anyway. He legitimately seems to want to restore Ashe. And in SERVICE to the Empire, not in rebellion against them. He wants a more just Empire for its own sake.
-He gives Penelo a jewel as a token of good fortune. Manufacted Nethicite.
-Judge Ghis stops our escape at the exit.
AHA! Now I see his plan. He intended to present Ashe with the Dusk Stone proving that she’s really Ashe and use her to end the rebellion, restore peace to Imperial-run Dalmasca.
-Ghis blasts us with fire, but the nethicite absorbs it. EAT IT JUDGE GHIS
-He goes down. Vossler has secured an Atomos (lol), a little ship. We make it out.
-We get back to the Bhujerba aerodrome. Hee! I think Penelo has a bit of a crush on Balthier.
Vaan looks a weeeee bit jealous..
-Basch urges Ashe to meet up with Ondore, to trust his heart rather than his surface alignment with the Empire. After all, he just helped us escape. I do trust Ondore now, personally.
-Vossler departs to seek ways to fight the Empire.
---
Next time: Trying to regroup with Ondore.
