Summary: Rikken’s crew hunts treasure. Ba’Gamnan’s crew hunts Ba’Gamnan. The Judge hunts Bahamut.
Pirates in Peril! – Isshu, Jewel of the Skysea (4-1)
-omg an enemy gunslinger on this island is named Souffle.
-Rikken went to claim a treasure from Souffle before Souffle summoned some espers. Now we have to protect Rikken – we need to know what he knows about the Judge of Wings.
Yes, Filo, and the treasure.
-The enemy espers give us a look into Shiva’s love life. This is a first for the FF series.
-I adore RW’s expanded look at the esper structure. It reminds me strongly of fantasy portrayals of the faerie court hierarchies.
-My party is unusually limited for this encounter. I can only bring two leaders.
-A weird frenemyship is developing between our two crews. I help protect Rikken’s crew while also trying to steal the treasure on the island before they can reach it.
-Afterwards, Rikken still won’t talk about the Judge. He just runs off to find more treasure. The Grand Hunt continues.
---
Pirates and Parrot in Peril! – Cebe, Isle of Treasures (4-2)
-Rikken continues to hunt treasure as we continue to protect him in hopes he’ll tell us useful info about the Judge..
-Rikken’s crew is brawling against a bunch of sky pirates. They’re at a disadvantage without espers.
-The cartooniness of Revenant Wings enhances the creepiness factor whenever the game wants to go there. That’s the case now as I see Cuchulainn for the first time.
One of the most stressful fights in FFXII.
-This mission is tricky. I have to protect more ground, more summoning gates, from a bunch of enemy leaders that keep trying to steal them back..
-Tomaj finds a temple below this particular island. That must be the water shrine we heard about.
-Sounds like the Judge is down there.
(and treasure too)
---
Ship Time
-Before the next mission, I hit up Cu Sith for an upgrade. Amazing that you get to name the weapons she crafts.
My custom thunder rod and ice sword.
-I’m unsure just how much resists matter. In terms of espers it’s a lot, but if I have a water weapon that’s WAY better than my lightning weapon, but the enemy I’m against is weak to lightning, I don’t know whether to swap it over.
[Non-rhetorical question: is there a number on this? Like, does resistance against an element halve normal damage? Does a weakness against an element cause you to take double damage from it? Or is it more an edge thing, like 15% bonus/penalty?]
Pirates in Peril! – Isshu, Jewel of the Skysea (4-1)
-omg an enemy gunslinger on this island is named Souffle.
-Rikken went to claim a treasure from Souffle before Souffle summoned some espers. Now we have to protect Rikken – we need to know what he knows about the Judge of Wings.
Yes, Filo, and the treasure.
-The enemy espers give us a look into Shiva’s love life. This is a first for the FF series.
-I adore RW’s expanded look at the esper structure. It reminds me strongly of fantasy portrayals of the faerie court hierarchies.
-My party is unusually limited for this encounter. I can only bring two leaders.
-A weird frenemyship is developing between our two crews. I help protect Rikken’s crew while also trying to steal the treasure on the island before they can reach it.
-Afterwards, Rikken still won’t talk about the Judge. He just runs off to find more treasure. The Grand Hunt continues.
---
Pirates and Parrot in Peril! – Cebe, Isle of Treasures (4-2)
-Rikken continues to hunt treasure as we continue to protect him in hopes he’ll tell us useful info about the Judge..
-Rikken’s crew is brawling against a bunch of sky pirates. They’re at a disadvantage without espers.
-The cartooniness of Revenant Wings enhances the creepiness factor whenever the game wants to go there. That’s the case now as I see Cuchulainn for the first time.
One of the most stressful fights in FFXII.
-This mission is tricky. I have to protect more ground, more summoning gates, from a bunch of enemy leaders that keep trying to steal them back..
-Tomaj finds a temple below this particular island. That must be the water shrine we heard about.
-Sounds like the Judge is down there.
(and treasure too)
---
Ship Time
-Before the next mission, I hit up Cu Sith for an upgrade. Amazing that you get to name the weapons she crafts.
My custom thunder rod and ice sword.
-I’m unsure just how much resists matter. In terms of espers it’s a lot, but if I have a water weapon that’s WAY better than my lightning weapon, but the enemy I’m against is weak to lightning, I don’t know whether to swap it over.
[Non-rhetorical question: is there a number on this? Like, does resistance against an element halve normal damage? Does a weakness against an element cause you to take double damage from it? Or is it more an edge thing, like 15% bonus/penalty?]
-The new lore entry on Rikken, Elza, and Raz confirms that they were with Reddas’ group.
-The log entries remind me a lot of the message boards in Balamb Garden back in FFVIII.
That early internet message board style of writing and dialogue.
-Awww! Kytes is worried about Ba’gamnan.
VAAN: “Don’t you have any festivals, feasts, something like that?”
LLYUD: “We gather only when there is a need. Idle chatter holds no lure for us.”
What a cool race to introduce into the FFXII-verse. Sort of like Vulcans? But I get the sense that they simply don’t feel strong emotions rather than feeling them and repressing them.
---
Unrelenting Nemesis – Yapih Caverns (4-3)
-The Yapih Caverns lead to the temple below. Rikken’s crew rushes past us towards the treasure, but we know the Judge of Wings isn’t too far below.
-We start out sans espers. Just our five party members alongside Rikken’s crew.
-Ba’Gamnan’s old crew is here. AND HERE’S BA’GAMNAN, GOING HAM ON THEM! REVENGE!
-He’s also ready to go ham on us. We make our way through the cavern and take him down. (Again.)
-Rikken’s crew are like a really bad type of MMO dungeon party member you might get matched up with, always running ahead of the group to pull new enemies and try for treasure.
-Looks like we lost the Ba’Gamnan’s Bane muzzle. Good. Felt super uncomfortable using that to control him.
-NEVER MIND, FUCK BA’GAMNAN. Filo went to help him up and he knocked her down and kidnapped her.
---
Filo in a Bind – Underfane of Yaxin Qul (4-4)
-Rikken, Elza, and Raz stow their treasure lust to heap scorn on Ba’Gamnan for kidnapping a kid like Filo.
-They start like they’ll charge us for their help in rescuing them, and at the last second are like “My payment is to see her smiling face, safe and sound!”
I’m fully Team Rikken.
-Ba’Gamnan’s old crew is back up and scheming. We take em out and then Ba’Gamnan too.
-Penelo heals up Filo. Whew. She’s okay.
Noooo don’t feel bad, Filo! You’re doing fine! She’s guilty about getting kidnapped, but it wasn’t your fault!
KYTES:
“Sure, you cause lots of trouble, but no more than the rest of us. I
don’t know what I’d do if you weren’t here. I really don’t think we’d
have made it this far without you.”
This is very sweet.
-Team Rikken will collect the bounty on Ba’Gamnan’s crew – though I still doubt we’ve seen the last of them. They leave.
-An earthquake rocks the cavern andwe’re engulfed by purple energy. The Judge of Wings’ signature.
-It affects us emotionally. Penelo feels overwhelmed by sadness, Kytes by anger.
-Interesting! Llyud is unaffected. All the stuff we learned about aegyl stoicism might make him immune to this sort of emotional mojo.
Deeper into the cave we go.
---
Rite of Despair – Dais of the Auracite (4-5)
-This isn’t a full-on auralith down here. Just lots of auracite.
-The Judge is here, doing a thing. (Judging by the mission name, I assume she’s conducting a Rite of Despair.)
-She summons what looks to be a giant robot thing then peaces out.
It’s our old friend Belias the Gigas!
-Picked off summoning portals around the zone, then threw everything I had at Belias. The fact that killing a boss kills their minions too incentivizes me in a way similar to FFTA, to just kill the boss ASAP even if it means I barely win and leave their minions untouched.
-This opens up a new mechanic: quickening! Vaan can use the Pyroclasm quickening when the Mist Charge fills.
-The Judge returns.
JUDGE OF WINGS: “Come, Bahamut, ancient lord and master! Purge this wretched world of its sorrow!” Ruh roh.
-Scene change outside the cavern. We see Bahamut descending from the sky, using some electrospear thing to blast the easternmost island of Lemures (the one we’re on with the skysea). It’s brutal.
-Chapter 4 complete.
---
Next time: Uhhhh hopefully not dying to Bahamut idk idk idk. We saw an image of the Galbana flying post-Bahamut so maybe that picked us up.
This is very sweet.
-Team Rikken will collect the bounty on Ba’Gamnan’s crew – though I still doubt we’ve seen the last of them. They leave.
-An earthquake rocks the cavern andwe’re engulfed by purple energy. The Judge of Wings’ signature.
-It affects us emotionally. Penelo feels overwhelmed by sadness, Kytes by anger.
-Interesting! Llyud is unaffected. All the stuff we learned about aegyl stoicism might make him immune to this sort of emotional mojo.
Deeper into the cave we go.
---
Rite of Despair – Dais of the Auracite (4-5)
-This isn’t a full-on auralith down here. Just lots of auracite.
-The Judge is here, doing a thing. (Judging by the mission name, I assume she’s conducting a Rite of Despair.)
-She summons what looks to be a giant robot thing then peaces out.
It’s our old friend Belias the Gigas!
-Picked off summoning portals around the zone, then threw everything I had at Belias. The fact that killing a boss kills their minions too incentivizes me in a way similar to FFTA, to just kill the boss ASAP even if it means I barely win and leave their minions untouched.
-This opens up a new mechanic: quickening! Vaan can use the Pyroclasm quickening when the Mist Charge fills.
-The Judge returns.
JUDGE OF WINGS: “Come, Bahamut, ancient lord and master! Purge this wretched world of its sorrow!” Ruh roh.
-Scene change outside the cavern. We see Bahamut descending from the sky, using some electrospear thing to blast the easternmost island of Lemures (the one we’re on with the skysea). It’s brutal.
-Chapter 4 complete.
---
Next time: Uhhhh hopefully not dying to Bahamut idk idk idk. We saw an image of the Galbana flying post-Bahamut so maybe that picked us up.
