Ziekden Fortress
-I leveled up a bit, but not much. Went up from 9 to 10 and tried again. This time, the fight went waaaay better.
My key strategy here was to just go for Argath. I didn’t want to do so last time because I thought he was too tanky. He used range and autopotion.
But this time, I brought a high-aim archer, a fire-using black mage with a fire rod, and used Pummel on my monk, turning Ramza into a mini-Sabin. I also positioned my characters so as to lure Argath close to us. Killed him and didn’t even need to engage his knights and black mages.
Probably for the best. Two black mages and three knights supporting Argath is a scary opposition. When the game doesn’t tell me I have to kill all the enemies, I should probably try exploiting that going forward as I did here.
-Victory doesn’t make Delita feel much better. We win. The fortress explodes around us, filled with unstable gunpowder.
-Major shades of Sephiroth here as I see Delita walk away, fire at his back as he turns away from the world that screwed over his family.
Sure, Delita is more sympathetic here than Sephiroth, but the image comes to me still.)
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The Manipulative and the Subservient
And we’re back to the present! When Ramza’s flashback began. He’s with the mercenary Gaffgarion in the aftermath of Delita’s successful kidnapping.
-Agrias, the knight, is still pissed that her princess got snatched from under her nose. She’s determined to make up for this with just the Lionsguard – she, Lavian, Alicia. (Some of these names may not matter or may be incidental NPCs, but for now I don’t know who matters and who doesn’t so I’ll err on the side of noting them down.)
-Elder Simon, the priest dude who was praying with the princess at the start, is safe.
-I like Agrias. She seems earnest and intense.
-Gaffgarian won’t help. It’s beyond his pay. But Ramza insists on joining. It’s personal for him.
-Oh, yay! Gaffgarian will go along anyway. I get the sense that he legit likes Ramza and wants to protect him.
-New chapter!
That’s a pretty awesome chapter name. I wonder who is the manipulative and who the subservient.
-I get a squire appearing before me, the level 8 Ladd. WAIT… DO I NOT GET TO KEEP MY PREVIOUS NPC PARTY I’D BUILT UP??
-Alicia, a level 8 Knight, also joins. I have the option to refuse these characters, but not sure why I would.
-Lavian too, a level 8 knight.
-WHEW! My party stays. It’s just that Alicia, Lavian, and Ladd join on top of that party.
-We also keep the same map as before. I thought the hotspots on it would reset when we went back to the future, but the Orbonne Monastery is just added on top.
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Merchant City of Dorter
-Next tile over brings me to a fight with Ramza, so a story fight. Going with monk, archer, black mage, chemist.
-A knight and sellsword are negotiating a price to kill us, the pursuers.
Not sure who that knight is, but I like his portrait.
-ARGH! The thief used Steal Heart on my healer to start. Brutal. I’ll try getting that on my thief.
-Gaffgarion is SUPER STRONG in combat. He’s a Fell Knight, and his Shadow Blade drains health from range.
Agrias is a Holy Knight.
-Ramza’s Lifefount is working out pretty well btw. It recovers a decent amount of HP on movement.
-Victory! Agrias is convinced that Lady Ovelia (THAT was her name! I’d forgotten lol) has been taken to a particular fort.
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Rumors
-I buy some new equipment for the party in Dorter and check out the tavern. Three new rumors, and a new tab called “Errands.”
-King Ondoria III has died,a dn Queen Louveria seized control. She even banished the queen mother to Bunahan for criticizing her. Perhaps even killed her.
-Duke Larg (Louveria’s bro) and Duke Goltanna (th elate king’s cousin) are fighting for control of Ivalice.The queen supports Larg while many nobles back Goltanna.
-Duke Goltanna’s province, Zeltennia, has an outbreak of peasant riots due to rising taxes and crap crops.
-The Order of the Ebon Eye (a group of former knights) has stirred the peasant revolts. Baron Grimms’ Blackram Knights fight against it.
My first thought on reading that name is whether Gaffgarion is part of the Ebon Eye. I don’t have much to go on other than that “Ebon Eye” sounds kind of dark and Gaffgarion is a Fell Knight. The Ebon Eye is also made up of former knights, and I get that sense that Gaffgarion might be that.
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Errands
-Let’s see what’s up with “Errands.” I’m expecting this to be an FFXII-hunt-style mechanic.
-Yup! I have to catch some bandits between Dorter and Gollund before they steal more wine from the Bacchus Winery.
-There’s a cost to accepting it. 600 gil.
-OHO! I have to pick a specific party to take them down. I’m only allowed three party members. I go with monk, white mage, and archer.
-I then pick a number of days for the job, between 11 and 13. I go with 12.
-And… they’re off! I guess it’s automated? That’s a surprise. I’ll go around and level up for a few days and see how they did.
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Next time: Passing time leveling, the results of my first errand, then pressing east for Lady Ovelia.
