Cyril
-The bartender warns me not to bite off more than I can chew with the clan wars.
-New jobs have opened up! Not sure when that happened. Montblanc can get Gunner and Mog Knight. Matias can access Bishop. Leo can access Beastmaster. I’ll have to check those regularly.
My plan is to build up these primary jobs until I master all the available skills, then move on. I’ll prioritize party diversity.
For example, Leo is working on White Mage. When she completes her last available weapon skill, Shell, I can choose to swap her to Beastmaster or Black Mage. I’ll choose Beastmaster, because Montblanc already is working on Black Mage.
-The “monster bank” is now open.
I can raise captured monsters here. Maybe that’s a beastmaster thing.
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Clan Rumors
-The recent round of clan clashes was set off by the Borzoi clan’s rise.
-Monthly tournaments take place across Ivalice.
-There’s a special ribbon that exists that turns red cards you get into yellow cards.
-Clans have levels. The higher the level, the better the title, the cheaper the items available.
-There’s a wide variety of clan skill levels. Not sure what to make of it.
-Clans have turf that’s visible on the map.
-There are 17 pages of possible missions! 300 individual missions total. Wow.
-Clan Nutsy doesn’t have any territory yet.
-I have two current mission items: Gedegg Soup, soup from the Isle of Ged made of (I swear to God this is what it says) bomb and eggs. Oh, and a sprinkler.
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Mission: Fowl Thief
-A thief has been stealing chickens. HEINOUS.
-Only three of us are allowed on this mission. I’ll try to prioritize the story members over generics, so going with Marche, Montblanc, and my healer generic Leo to round it out.
-It’s a boss fight against the chicken-thief. My first boss fight.
-The thief is tough, largely because he uses Counter.
-A rumor afterwards tells me the thief was part of Clan Borzoi. It hints also that they might try to break him out of prison. Sure enough…
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Freeing Cities
-Cyril has fallen into the hands of Clan Borzoi. It’s up to us to set a trap and free the town.
-Awww. “Free Cyril!” is a dispatch. I was hoping to get a closer look at Borzoi face-to-face.
-I sent Milly, my Viera, but she failed!
-My second try with the thief Neuman is successful.
[Non-rhetorical question: does the level and gear of the clan member sent on dispatch missions impact either the mission’s chance of success or rewards?]
-Clearing it reduced prices in Cyril for missions and the inn. A counter came up: 29 areas to go.
-Next task is to free Sprohm. Though it’s hilarious that “freeing” cities basically means putting them under the iron grip of Clan Nutsy.
-Unlike “Free Cyril!”, the “Free Sprohm!” mission is not a dispatch. I go to Sprohm and do the freeing myself.
-The music is wonderful. Starts out bleak and intimidating before picking up into an “Okay, let’s go” theme.
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Clan Fights
-Two bozos now appear on my map, bouncing around. Perhaps they’re part of Clan Borzoi.
-I chase them down on the map and it’s fight time. I don’t quite know what’s going on, but I’m assuming this is a clan fight.
-OH! I chased down the second dude on the map and it’s with “Clan Marble.” For some reason, when I first read that I thought it was an item. Like I was supposed to use my clan marble. But no. These are clans encroaching on my territory.
-…Uh oh. Fighting is forbidden. Color magic is recommended.
-BLESS FFTA! I just learned I can change my jobs just before the fight starts but after I’ve seen the law.
-I love the “Aim: Legs” animation.
A little sniper scope hovers around and settles on the target’s legs.
-This fight takes fooooreeeeeverrrrrr. But eventually Clan Marble goes down.
-My next clan fight is against the Rangers. All viera and a moogle.
-A couple more of these fights, and I think these might be the closest thing to random encounters in FFTA. If that’s true… I LOVE IT. It means I can engage in them if I want, or avoid them if I want.
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Treasure Hunting
-Got into a fight in Cyril. I saw the city shake on the map which means there should be treasure here, but I can’t find anything.
-Huh! I assumed treasure hunting was like FFT where you had to step on the right tile. Apparently not.
After the Cyril fight, I saw a new option in the city menu: “Treasure Hunting.” I clicked it, got a “…searching…” message, then found a Fortune Ring.
That’s straightforward. I wonder what impacts the chance of a successful treasure hunt.
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Mission: The Skypole
-A skypole (?) on the southern peninsula is supposedly a stairway to the gods.
-Cleared! Simple dispatch.
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Mission: The Cheetahs
-A criminal group called the Cheetahs were sighted in the Nubswood.
-IS THAT FUCKING RITZ????
-She and her viera friend have tracked the Cheetahs down.
-Yuuuup that’s Ritz. She even recognizes Marche when he enters.
“He’s from the other world…”
I’m not the only one who got sucked in here! Or who survived when things transformed. Maybe those near the book when it was being read survived the transformation with their true selves intact.
-btw not to sound like a broken record but this MUSIC THO! Triumphant and ready.
-The fight allows me to pick three party members to go with Marche, Ritz, and Shara (the viera).
-Ritz is brave, but not the most tactically-minded person. She’s the kind of AI who runs straight into the teeth of the enemy line and attacks the front of a person.
-Sounds like Ritz is in a clan too. She’s surprised that Marche is in one – and so am I, given his timidity back in the school world.
-The importance of positioning in FFTA has grown on me. Side and back attacks are so much stronger than front attacks.
I also like how it weakens the Counter reactive that dominated FFT. Now you can attack from the back with an advantage, and when the enemy turns and counter (attacking your face), they have a low chance of hitting.
-please please please tell me that ritz joins us now
-After the fight, she introduces me to her fellow clanswoman, Shara. Shara was basically Ritz’s Montblanc.
RITZ: “This is ‘Final Fantasy’ – the game! But this is real!”
More than that, she thinks this is their real life town of St. Ivalice, but it somehow has become part of the game.
-Ritz doesn’t want to look too closely because she doesn’t want to go back. Interesting.
-This is where the intro starts to pay off. The kids here have respect, independence, agency that they didn’t have back in the normal world when all they could rely on was Mr. Leslaie to break up the rock fight after they started bleeding.
-Ritz and Shara leave. You know what? I’m glad. She has her own thing going on. She wasn’t just cowering in a corner (like I would have been) waiting for Marche to save her. And now she and her Viera pal are back to their clan life.
I’m also sure that we’ll join up down the line.
-As I think about it now, I know that Doned was in and out of hospitals his whole life. Doned and Marche have no father in the picture. Mewt’s mother isn’t in the picture either, and his father is not coping well, and he’s bullied at school.
Ritz is the kid in that group whose home life I know least about. But she clearly is happy to be away. Hm.
-I get to place a new symbol on the map: Eluut Sands.
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Next time: More missions for Clan Nutsy, more territory.
