Friday, May 18, 2018

FFXII Revenant Wings – Part 7: Skysea

Summary: Fighting off sky pirate colonizers. East to the skysea and Port Marilith. A friendly new pirate crew.


Ship Time

-Sky pirates have been swarming on the Skysea, so we’ll have a fight or ten on our hands.

-Filo found a fold-out canoe! That should help. [Non-rhetorical question: the FF series has had a variety of boats and watercrafts, but is this the first canoe since FFI?]

-Penelo hints that there might be more friendly sky pirates out there.

-The Judge of Wings’ lore entry is creepy:

“I hear her in my mind. Behind my eyes. Her words a siren song fo me: Attack Ivalice? Never! And yet… I cannot do otherwise. I am powerless to stop.”
--A Sky Pirate’s Lament

-The Muruc Cahuac Skysea sounds idyllic.

-The relationship between the master artificer Cu Sith and Tomaj is fascinating.




-I can now travel to Port Marilith on the eastern continent. Maybe we’ll find a snake lady there.

---

Tomaj Missions - Colonizers

-Sky bandits on Tormelado have impressed or enslaved the aegyl. Altea, a viera, leads them.



Too bad she’s awful, cause I like her portrait and the fact that she wields a rapier.

-Ifrit looks WILD!



-I like that you can save after you modify your party before a fight, but before the fight starts. You couldn’t do that in FFTA, which meant if I lost a fight, I’d have to redo the whole party set-up. No more!

-Post-fight, Llyud wonders whether we’re just like the sky bandits. We’re both just after treasure, right?

For Team Penelo, it’s as much about adventure and exploration as treasure. But… I mean, if it’s someone else’s treasure…

[Later edit: nah, that’s not fair in this instance. Llyud gave a solid justification why it’s okay for our party to take treasures on Lemures.]

-My favorite part of Revenant Wings so far isn’t the plot, and it’s definitely not the mechanics.


Good luck with precise clicking in this mess of combat.

It’s how the game treats the missions as a vehicle for character development. We get to see Vaan and Penelo as teachers, mentors.



Not that Kytes and Filo make it easy. XD

-The Temple on this island has been infested by Yarhi. No sky pirates in sight around here though. They’re doing this on their own.

-An odd friendship is developing between the Ivalicians and Llyud – odd because their very presence on Lemures is an unnatural and destructive omen.

-This mission batch ends with “The Trodden Past.” More sky pirates plundering Lemures.

-omg I adore how cartoony the sky pirate enemies can be.



-Digging the anti-colonialist narrative, to the extent it’s not undercut by outsiders saving the day. (This’d probably work better if Llyud were the protag.) Paula the Plunderer mocks the aegyl as barbarians who deserve to have their stuff stolen.

-Oof. There’s a 6-7 level gap here. My party is level 15-16 and the enemies are level 22-23. Noping out of this.

-…NEVER MIND! I tried it and succeeded. It gave me a boatload of xp. It pushes me to 16-17.

-For all her cartoonishness, the pirate’s words (calling Llyud and the aegyl barbarians) really hurt Llyud.

-Our party gets super defensive.



They want to take Llyud to Ivalice to PROVE that not all are like that and… come on guys. This isn’t about you.

---

Chapter 4: A Grand Hunt (The Muruc Cahuac Skysea)

-I fly over to the eastern continent, with its body of water, the skysea.

-We even get to ride our canoe!



-We enter Port Marilith. Chapter 4 title screen. I wonder what “A Grand Hunt” refers to.

-It’s a bright and bustling port. Tomaj heard it’s dangerous, though Filo and runs off joyously into the city. No way that’s ending well.

-Ba’Gamnan’s old crew is in town. He’s out for revenge.

-I’m not really sure whether Ba’gamnan will be a long-term party member or just a guest. Leaning towards temporary guest, since I haven’t found any weapon or armor upgrades for him yet.

-The aegyl run this port, but it has a higher-than-expected population of peaceful sky pirates roaming about.

-They only cross the skysea in a boat, despite having… y’know… wings.



-Ah, it’s a display of humility! That’s nice. I like that. Humility to a shrine beneath the skysea. Sounds like we’ll be visiting there sooner or later.

-Llyud is still confused/overwhelmed by human exuberance and facial expressions.


My cat feels the same way.

-A sky pirate named Rikken is holding a hunt here. That’s what’s attracted so many pirates to the port.

-I love his portrait! He looks like a good dude.



-Rikken and Vaan know each other already. [Non-rhetorical question: was he in XII and I’m just not remembering him?]

-HIS CREW – ELZA AND RAZ – HAVE AMAZING PORTRAITS TOO!!!!



-We ask Rikken about the Judge of Wings, but he clams up. Whatever he knows about the Judge is scary shit apparently.

-Rikken’s holding a hunt alright, but not a normal monster hunt. It’s an auracite gathering scavenger hunt.

-This group seems like a good crew. Not only are their portraits glorious, but they also have similar goals to us.

ELZA: “Dogs waggin’ their tails as this mock magister tosses them scraps. It pains the eyes to look on! A black mark on every honest pirate’s name.”

RIKKEN: “Havin’ your treasure handed to you’s no way for a pirate to live.”

So they have problems with the Judge of Wings, but their issue is philosophical more than any desire to protect the aegyl specifically. Rikken sees the Judge harnessing the sky pirates and he wants to stop that.

-The Rikken Cup takes 100,000 gil to enter. Uhh…. I have a fraction of that.

-Filo, Kytes, and Penelo want to enter. This sounds fun, whatever it is. But what about Llyud?

-Just as the party’s getting excited, he wanders over. Ba’gamnan’s missing. Well… shit.

“Ba’Gamnan leaves the party.” I was right at least about him being a guest, however much I wish I weren’t.

-YAAAY! Filo and Kytes talked Rikkens’ crew into waiving the entry fee. Nice job, friends.

-I can now travel to an island called Isshu, Jewel of the Skysea.

---

Next time: the Grand Hunt.

1 comment:

  1. There was a canoe I. FFII, and I think in FFIII, but I don’t think there’s been one since the ...

    ReplyDelete

If you're commenting on the Final Fantasy playthrough, DO NOT INCLUDE ANY SPOILERS. This includes any hints or references or teasers for content beyond where I have played. Thank you.