New Jobs!
-Now that Agrias and Mustadio are full party members, I can start messing with their jobs!
-Another ranged job in machinist is nice, but seems a bit limited. The active abilities focus on crowd-control. Arm Shot especially intrigues me if the disable lands regularly.
-Holy Knight is another story. It’s BEASTLY. Agrias has heavy armor AND ranged power AND status effects. Looking forward to incorporating her into my main rotation.
-For secondary jobs, thinking about white mage on Agrias and chemist for Mustadio. But idk. There are still a bunch of locked jobs awaiting me that I haven’t figured out how to open yet.
-Completed the salvage of the Highwind. Just some gil and JP.
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Lionel Castle
-I have to select Lionel Castle Gate. I wonder if this means it’ll be a multi-stage battle to reach Ovelia (though, again, I doubt she’s actually there).
-First squad is just Ramza. A solo fight?
-Grr. I wish there were a way to change jobs in the squad select screen. [Non-rhetorical question: is there?]
-Oh, THIS IS COOL. This is really cool.
[Later edit: I’ll regret these words before long.]
[Later LATER edit: Y’know what? I don’t. This was a cool set-up. Salty as I got, it’s (mostly) my fault for not figuring out the puzzle.]
Ramza snuck into the castle to open the gate, but Gaffgarion and his squad ambushes us. Ramza vs. Gaffgarion on one side of the gate, and my other party members fighting Gaff’s troops outside.
I hope this is the last fight with Gaffgarion. I like him as a character, but he keeps showing up and retreating and I just want it to finish.
-The fight outside is super intense since the parties start right next to each other.
-The enemy knights are annoying, but in a long-term way. “Rend X” is scary in a different way from the enemy summoner dropping Titan on me.
-The outside fight is surprisingly not bad. It’s the inside fight that’s tough. Gaffgarion just keeps Shadowblading Ramza, draining HP. Ramza is set up as a geomancer with Martial Arts abilities. He can heal himself up with Chakra. But he can’t do both. He can’t survive and also take out Gaffgarion.
I tried moving Ramza near the inside gate, but nothing happened. Really hoped it would open the door.
*10 minutes later*
GOD THIS IS SO BORING
I’m able to cast Haste from outside the gates up above, and a little cure spell, but not much more. Can’t throw potions up there. And Gaffgarion stays out of range of my black mage. He just. Keeps. Healing.
Occasionally, I land a Tanglevine from Ramza’s geomancy to stop Gaffgarion. I then try to high-roll a Pummel to finish him off before Stop wears off, but no luck. Pummel ends up hitting for low damage, he wakes up, and heals back to full.
*10 minutes later*
Jesus. I found it. I found the thing.
I wasn’t supposed to go behind the door. I was supposed to see what looked to my bad eyesight on my iPhone just like another brick but was actually a lever. Only saw it when I zoomed in.
Anyway. WE’RE COMING FOR YOU, GAFFGARION.
-After an eternity at these gates, he FINALLY goes down.
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Zeltennia Falls
-Delita and the Princess are here. Is he breaking her out?
-She’s pissed off. I’m more and more understanding how this chapter got its name. She was given no choice but to be subservient, basically.
-Some Northern Sky folks arrive and spot us.
-Ooh, my objective is to protect Ovelia! I get to play as Delita, which is super cool.
-Delita is now a Holy Knight. I can’t remember if that was his job last time we fought here.
-Holy knight Delita tears through the Northern Sky scouts like butter.
-This is a perfect example of how screwed Princess Ovelia is. If she goes along with the Cardinal, she may become queen and survive but she’s doing what they want. If she fights her captors, she’ll almost certainly die.
OVELIA: “It appears… I have no choice.”
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Lionel Castle Oratory
-Showdown with Cardinal Delacroix.
-He’s not opening up about Ovelia… and he’s also not wrong. Ramza alone can’t do a whole lot.
”Join me, and we can rule the galaxy as cardinal and parishioner!”
-Oh god. The Cardinal is summoning something.
-WAIT LOL NO, HE’S TRANSFORMING INTO CUCHULAINN THE IMPURE!
HI AGAIN BUDDY! You’ve got the same beautiful smile you had in FFXII, albeit with one fewer sword in your head.
-This iteration reminds me of Mr. Oogy Boogy, with the stitches across his belly.
-This is new. A boss fight against a single enemy.
-I panic. I do all the wrong things. I haste the boss. I firaga my own party members. It’s bad.
-Mid-fight, Cuchulainn lets us know this is “Lucavi pow’r made manifest!” This is where the Lucavi enter the picture. The stone transformed him into one of those things.
[Later edit: This must mean that those creatures who rebelled against the gods in FFXII were Lucavi. The zodiac stones that we found in XII were auracite. What a cool tie-in.]
-One of my party members got crystallised, so I reset.
I like when his tummy opens up.
-Dead again. This is brutal. I wish I could skip the dialogue on subsequent attempts.
-Okay. Think, Coldrun. His Bioga and Biora hurt me, but the Doom and Sleep suck up so much of my time. I have a few Protect Rings to equip against Doom and Sleep. Perfect.
-MUCH better – victory! The Rings were key, along with bringing Agrias to the party.
CUCHULAINN: “A death come early, ere my master could return.” My money is currently on the Lucavi leader possessing the High Confessor.
-He falls apart, leaving only the stone.
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Zeltennia Castle Keep
-Delita kneels before Duke Goltana and introduces himself as “a Blackram lieutenant in the service of His Excellency the Baron Grimms.” I don’t remember this name. Or was it the original name of the person who knew.
-He presents a prisoner to the Duke. One of the would-be assassins against the princess. He was ordered to do so by one of Duke Goltanna’s advisors. Chancellor Glevanne. Apparently on orders from Queen Louveria.
-Delita cuts him down. It appears that he’s fully on Team Goltanna. Unless he’s playing some larger game, which is not out of the question.
[Later edit: I cannot believe he’s truly on Team Goltanna. I think this is part of a larger game with an as-yet-unrevealed faction. Delita is so hardcore anti-nobility that I can’t imagine he just picked a different duke to side with. It also bothers me how quickly he killed Chancellor Glevanne, as if trying to silence him.]
-He urges the Black Lion to take action securing the throne for Princess Ovelia.
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End of Chapter 2
-This seems to be an afterward to chapter two. Text over battling chocobo knights.
-Duke Goltanna followed Delita’s advice. He sacked the royal capital, Lesalia, and banished Queen Louveria to Besselat.
-Ovelia is now queen. Still not quite sure why Goltanna wants her there. I suppose he thinks she’ll be more favorable to him? Or maybe she just literally has to be, since the other choice is apparently trying to kill him.
To be honest, I’m still pretty lost in all the various factions and lines of succession.
-Duke Larg doesn’t accept this. He crowns Orinus king and names himself regent. Larg wants to free Queen Louveria.
-This conflict – Larg for Louveria, Goltanna for Ovelia – is the official start of the War of the Lions.
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Next time: starting chapter 3.
