Summary: Clearing past melees. Leviathan. Ultima. Hashmal. My first rank 3 pact.
Rally to the Cause
-A new set of Tomaj missions opened! Starts with “Rally to the Cause,” in the Underfane of Huin Qul.
-One of the aegyl here, Sharma, looks like a dragoon.
I love her portrait.
-Argh. Just noticed that I’m level 20-22. The enemies here are level 28. I’ll give this mission a shot, but even if I win, I’ll just go back to the main story for now. I don’t really like fighting against much stronger enemies than I’m intended to fight.
-Yeah, I’m bowing out for now. This is an escort mission where the aegyl I’m supposed to escort keeps charging ahead and pulling new packs of enemies while I’m already fighting one full pack.
”YOLO!”
It’s infuriating.
---
Ship Time
-Penelo thinks the Judge came to Lemures because of its connection with the Eternal, to find a way to bring Velis back. I’m not so sure.
Or maybe it started that way and now she’s just angry it didn’t work? I’m honestly not sure what made her go from “Maybe I can bring back my beloved” to “Imma take control of Ivalice.” Perhaps taking control of Ivalice is just a means some unknown end.
-Our next mini-goal is to find Balthier.
-Now that I’m back aboard the ship, I can read some of their experiences while stranded last chapter.
-The aegyl are vegetarians.
Makes sense, since the Yarhi that might bear meat just disappear back to the World of Illusions when you kill them.
-The north island is Arda, Heaven’s Pillar. Huge mountains are there, a neat trick for a sky island.
-Tomaj thinks the airship crashed because it didn’t WANT to fly. He’s not even sure how he fixed it. I’m not sure how trustworthy this instinct is.
-Llyud’s “anima” is missing. Hm.
---
Melees
-In the 10 minutes since I gave up on side missions, I changed my mind. WHAT, I’M FICKLE
There’s a part of the game I’ve ignored because it felt grindy and because last time I played it I got destroyed: melees. The parts that don’t really have story, but are just to revisit areas for extra combat.
I’ll try them again. Skipping melees may explain why I’m underleveled for Tomaj’s missions.
So I’m gonna go back to first island to clear each at least once and see how far I get.
-There are three different types: monster melees just against Yarhi, sky pirate melees (with enemy leaders) and summoning melees (where the enemies use summoning gates for reinforcements) both obliterated me.
-In this entire series, I’ve never used custom names (FFI aside). Until now, with Revenant Wings’ custom crafted weapon system.
The prophecies and legends whisper of the holy weapon: Runey McBladeface.
I really shouldn’t be trusted with literally anything.
Rally to the Cause
-A new set of Tomaj missions opened! Starts with “Rally to the Cause,” in the Underfane of Huin Qul.
-One of the aegyl here, Sharma, looks like a dragoon.
I love her portrait.
-Argh. Just noticed that I’m level 20-22. The enemies here are level 28. I’ll give this mission a shot, but even if I win, I’ll just go back to the main story for now. I don’t really like fighting against much stronger enemies than I’m intended to fight.
-Yeah, I’m bowing out for now. This is an escort mission where the aegyl I’m supposed to escort keeps charging ahead and pulling new packs of enemies while I’m already fighting one full pack.
”YOLO!”
It’s infuriating.
---
Ship Time
-Penelo thinks the Judge came to Lemures because of its connection with the Eternal, to find a way to bring Velis back. I’m not so sure.
Or maybe it started that way and now she’s just angry it didn’t work? I’m honestly not sure what made her go from “Maybe I can bring back my beloved” to “Imma take control of Ivalice.” Perhaps taking control of Ivalice is just a means some unknown end.
-Our next mini-goal is to find Balthier.
-Now that I’m back aboard the ship, I can read some of their experiences while stranded last chapter.
-The aegyl are vegetarians.
Makes sense, since the Yarhi that might bear meat just disappear back to the World of Illusions when you kill them.
-The north island is Arda, Heaven’s Pillar. Huge mountains are there, a neat trick for a sky island.
-Tomaj thinks the airship crashed because it didn’t WANT to fly. He’s not even sure how he fixed it. I’m not sure how trustworthy this instinct is.
-Llyud’s “anima” is missing. Hm.
---
Melees
-In the 10 minutes since I gave up on side missions, I changed my mind. WHAT, I’M FICKLE
There’s a part of the game I’ve ignored because it felt grindy and because last time I played it I got destroyed: melees. The parts that don’t really have story, but are just to revisit areas for extra combat.
I’ll try them again. Skipping melees may explain why I’m underleveled for Tomaj’s missions.
So I’m gonna go back to first island to clear each at least once and see how far I get.
-There are three different types: monster melees just against Yarhi, sky pirate melees (with enemy leaders) and summoning melees (where the enemies use summoning gates for reinforcements) both obliterated me.
-In this entire series, I’ve never used custom names (FFI aside). Until now, with Revenant Wings’ custom crafted weapon system.
The prophecies and legends whisper of the holy weapon: Runey McBladeface.
I really shouldn’t be trusted with literally anything.
Back in chapter 1, I could do the monster melees okay, but the other two
obliterated me. I’ll only give it a couple of attempts if I fail one.
[Non-rhetorical question: why does Penelo constantly get lower xp than everyone else, and is there anything I can do to change that?]
Penelo lags behind.
-It’s going way better than my first attempt so far. Cleared the first isle, even the sky pirate and summoning missions. Makes sense – last time I tried these, I had very few espers. Many more tools at my disposal now.
Still no access to rank three espers. I mean, I can sign pacts with them (like Shiva and Titan and Belias), but I don’t yet have any rank three spots in my troupes.
*a long while later*
Okay, all caught up on past melee missions. I’m around level 26-28.
---
Serpent’s Rage
-I found a new type of mission on one of the islands.
-Bahamut destroyed Leviathan’s home when he obliterated the Skysea. Now Leviathan’s enraged and I have to help quell his anger.
A sweet beard on this sea serpent.
-His final pack is brutal. Vaan’s quickening (my first use) helps close the deal.
-Penelo has a bit of Krile in her. After the fight, she speaks to Leviathan. Says how sorry she is for what happened to his home. He doesn’t respond verbally, but they seem to communicate.
-WOOHOO! I’d been holding off on purchasing any rank 3 esper pacts until a troupe slot opened, but I just went for it and THEN a troupe slot opened. Purchasing the pact did the trick.
---
Tomaj Missions
-First, “Rally to the Cause,” where we defend an aegyl shrine. It had a twin, which we must defend. That escort mission. I’m going to ignore the loot and just stick with the escorts.
-It works. I miss some loot but complete the mission.
-The next mission, “Otherworldly Beauty,” sends us to another shrine. Ultima is here.
-She also looks a lot like Minerva, the FFVII Crisis Core superboss.
-And she obliterates me. She’s super aggressive and the Yarhi packs around the room converge on me quickly, meaning that instead of fighting the Yarhi packs one by one, they get me all at once.
-I’ve said it before, but I LOOOOVE how the game gives you experiences after a failed mission. Not a lot, but still takes some of the edge off a close loss.
-My second attempt goes much better. I play more aggressively and attack the different packs around the room so I don’t get swarmed by all of them at once.
[Non-rhetorical question: why does Penelo constantly get lower xp than everyone else, and is there anything I can do to change that?]
Penelo lags behind.
-It’s going way better than my first attempt so far. Cleared the first isle, even the sky pirate and summoning missions. Makes sense – last time I tried these, I had very few espers. Many more tools at my disposal now.
Still no access to rank three espers. I mean, I can sign pacts with them (like Shiva and Titan and Belias), but I don’t yet have any rank three spots in my troupes.
*a long while later*
Okay, all caught up on past melee missions. I’m around level 26-28.
---
Serpent’s Rage
-I found a new type of mission on one of the islands.
-Bahamut destroyed Leviathan’s home when he obliterated the Skysea. Now Leviathan’s enraged and I have to help quell his anger.
A sweet beard on this sea serpent.
-His final pack is brutal. Vaan’s quickening (my first use) helps close the deal.
-Penelo has a bit of Krile in her. After the fight, she speaks to Leviathan. Says how sorry she is for what happened to his home. He doesn’t respond verbally, but they seem to communicate.
-WOOHOO! I’d been holding off on purchasing any rank 3 esper pacts until a troupe slot opened, but I just went for it and THEN a troupe slot opened. Purchasing the pact did the trick.
---
Tomaj Missions
-First, “Rally to the Cause,” where we defend an aegyl shrine. It had a twin, which we must defend. That escort mission. I’m going to ignore the loot and just stick with the escorts.
-It works. I miss some loot but complete the mission.
-The next mission, “Otherworldly Beauty,” sends us to another shrine. Ultima is here.
-She also looks a lot like Minerva, the FFVII Crisis Core superboss.
-And she obliterates me. She’s super aggressive and the Yarhi packs around the room converge on me quickly, meaning that instead of fighting the Yarhi packs one by one, they get me all at once.
-I’ve said it before, but I LOOOOVE how the game gives you experiences after a failed mission. Not a lot, but still takes some of the edge off a close loss.
-My second attempt goes much better. I play more aggressively and attack the different packs around the room so I don’t get swarmed by all of them at once.
KYTES: Ultima looks friendly enough, but she sure is scary when she gets angry…
FILO: Just like Penelo!
lololol
(Btw, still weird to me how casually these kids are treating someone who basically led an army to rebel against the gods.)
-Woot! Unlocked Penelo’s quickening, Dance of Rapture, which fully restores all allies and removes all debuffs. I wonder if it revives too.
-Next up: “That Left Behind.” Penelo forgot something on the island and we fight off some sky pirates at our old camp.
-One of the enemies is a “Time Pirate” which is pretty much the coolest job ever.
-That night, Vaan apologizes to Penelo for being a bag of dicks recently. GOOD.
PENELO: “When I talk to Velis, it’s like talking to someone I’ve known all my life.” Huh. Strange wording. Long lost relatives?
PENELO: “Maybe he reminded me of my brothers.” I like that better than if they were secretly related. Has impact in a non-soap-opera way. We don’t really know about her family.
-Kytes and Filo are happy to see Vaan and Penelo back on better terms. I imagine it was a bit like seeing their dad grumpy with their mom.
Again though, that tiff was weird because it was so one-sided. Vaan got jealous, Vaan was a dick, Vaan apologized and is trying to better.
But I get it. Lord knows teenage!Coldrun did the same nonsense when I dated.
-Last mission in this batch is “Rumble in the Jungle.” Tremors have rocked the Zwaua Rainwood, part of the deserted island we were on. Sounds like Titan.
-Nope, but close! It’s Hashmal. Was he the guy we fought in XII in that tough tower place? (Can’t remember the name.)
-Again, I’m underleveled. I’m 28-29. The enemies are level 34-35. I have a feeling I might at some point just ignore the notice board missions. I have zero interest in grinding to keep up, if that’s what they require. Maybe next time, I’ll try doing the notice board missions later in the chapter to take advantage of the levels.
-It takes a few attempts. Hashmal has brutal area effect attacks. Going straight for him didn’t work, but once I took out the golems surround him I eked out a win. (BARELY. All my espers were gone and only Kytes, Vaan, and Penelo survived, with low health each.)
-Defeating Hashmal grants Llyud the Fanfare quickening, fortifying all ally Yarhi.
-FF has always had problems with making a limit break-type ability that is impactful but not overpowered, that can be used regularly but not ALL the time.
Quickenings in Revenant Wings are definitely impactful, but they don’t even always fill each mission. Mostly there for boss fights.
---
Next time: starting chapter 6 and pursuing Balthier.
FILO: Just like Penelo!
lololol
(Btw, still weird to me how casually these kids are treating someone who basically led an army to rebel against the gods.)
-Woot! Unlocked Penelo’s quickening, Dance of Rapture, which fully restores all allies and removes all debuffs. I wonder if it revives too.
-Next up: “That Left Behind.” Penelo forgot something on the island and we fight off some sky pirates at our old camp.
-One of the enemies is a “Time Pirate” which is pretty much the coolest job ever.
-That night, Vaan apologizes to Penelo for being a bag of dicks recently. GOOD.
PENELO: “When I talk to Velis, it’s like talking to someone I’ve known all my life.” Huh. Strange wording. Long lost relatives?
PENELO: “Maybe he reminded me of my brothers.” I like that better than if they were secretly related. Has impact in a non-soap-opera way. We don’t really know about her family.
-Kytes and Filo are happy to see Vaan and Penelo back on better terms. I imagine it was a bit like seeing their dad grumpy with their mom.
Again though, that tiff was weird because it was so one-sided. Vaan got jealous, Vaan was a dick, Vaan apologized and is trying to better.
But I get it. Lord knows teenage!Coldrun did the same nonsense when I dated.
-Last mission in this batch is “Rumble in the Jungle.” Tremors have rocked the Zwaua Rainwood, part of the deserted island we were on. Sounds like Titan.
-Nope, but close! It’s Hashmal. Was he the guy we fought in XII in that tough tower place? (Can’t remember the name.)
-Again, I’m underleveled. I’m 28-29. The enemies are level 34-35. I have a feeling I might at some point just ignore the notice board missions. I have zero interest in grinding to keep up, if that’s what they require. Maybe next time, I’ll try doing the notice board missions later in the chapter to take advantage of the levels.
-It takes a few attempts. Hashmal has brutal area effect attacks. Going straight for him didn’t work, but once I took out the golems surround him I eked out a win. (BARELY. All my espers were gone and only Kytes, Vaan, and Penelo survived, with low health each.)
-Defeating Hashmal grants Llyud the Fanfare quickening, fortifying all ally Yarhi.
-FF has always had problems with making a limit break-type ability that is impactful but not overpowered, that can be used regularly but not ALL the time.
Quickenings in Revenant Wings are definitely impactful, but they don’t even always fill each mission. Mostly there for boss fights.
---
Next time: starting chapter 6 and pursuing Balthier.
