Summary: Doctor Ocktor. Dragoon unlock. Meeting Ribs in Camoa. Starting clan trials.
The First Step (side)
-A white mage will trade his Ocktor Tome of Medicine for my cactus fruit.
-Luso’s surprised. Why doesn’t the mage just get the fruit on the market?
-Ah. He needs the fruit NOW to treat a sick kid.
-And that’s it! No combat, and I still get ability points. I like it!
-The Buster Sword is now available in the bazaar.
-The quest name, “The First Step,” indicates this isn’t the last we see of the mage.
-I’m immediately proved right. A new pub notice thanks me for the cactus fruit. The sick boy recovered.
-The kid’s wealthy family paid the white mage well, so he’s traveling to Moorabella for more training.
-The mage is Mack Ocktor. (Hee! Doctor Ocktor.) I’m sure I’ll see him when I reach that city.
-I checked my Clan Info and find lore on this. House Ocktor is an old physician-producing house. Their tome (now my tome) is a core resource.
-Jealous rivals ruined House Ocktor, but recently Mack Ocktor rediscovered the book in a hidden passage beneath Ocktor Manse’s ruins. I’ll bet I get to explore that place in this game.
---
Kyrra, Dragoon (job)
-A young bangaa’s under attack. I go help.
-Actions targeting multiple areas are forbidden. So much for white and black magic.
-The bangaa is Kyrra, a dragoon.
-We defeat her attackers, though she’s gruff afterwards (“I’d have sent the lot of ‘em packing, yer help or nae!” I like this Scottish bangaa dragoon.
-Yaaay new job!
-My next bazaar trip confuses me. [Non-rhetorical question: why doesn’t the game allow me to trade this Xergis Tin for the Smallswords E-Class bundle? The name is listed in white on the metal trading screen, but the game will only let me trade Gikhet Lead.]
-I checked back to that chessboard-style Quest Report in Clan Info, and I’m noticing some rhyme and reason:
1) Related quests link together. Stranger in the Woods > A Paw Full of Feathers > The Yellow Wings.
2) The job-unlock quests are right next to each other, on the cluster smack in the middle of the board.
[Non-rhetorical question: what does the mission rank mean?]
The First Step (side)
-A white mage will trade his Ocktor Tome of Medicine for my cactus fruit.
-Luso’s surprised. Why doesn’t the mage just get the fruit on the market?
-Ah. He needs the fruit NOW to treat a sick kid.
-And that’s it! No combat, and I still get ability points. I like it!
-The Buster Sword is now available in the bazaar.
-The quest name, “The First Step,” indicates this isn’t the last we see of the mage.
-I’m immediately proved right. A new pub notice thanks me for the cactus fruit. The sick boy recovered.
-The kid’s wealthy family paid the white mage well, so he’s traveling to Moorabella for more training.
-The mage is Mack Ocktor. (Hee! Doctor Ocktor.) I’m sure I’ll see him when I reach that city.
-I checked my Clan Info and find lore on this. House Ocktor is an old physician-producing house. Their tome (now my tome) is a core resource.
-Jealous rivals ruined House Ocktor, but recently Mack Ocktor rediscovered the book in a hidden passage beneath Ocktor Manse’s ruins. I’ll bet I get to explore that place in this game.
---
Kyrra, Dragoon (job)
-A young bangaa’s under attack. I go help.
-Actions targeting multiple areas are forbidden. So much for white and black magic.
-The bangaa is Kyrra, a dragoon.
-We defeat her attackers, though she’s gruff afterwards (“I’d have sent the lot of ‘em packing, yer help or nae!” I like this Scottish bangaa dragoon.
-Yaaay new job!
-My next bazaar trip confuses me. [Non-rhetorical question: why doesn’t the game allow me to trade this Xergis Tin for the Smallswords E-Class bundle? The name is listed in white on the metal trading screen, but the game will only let me trade Gikhet Lead.]
-I checked back to that chessboard-style Quest Report in Clan Info, and I’m noticing some rhyme and reason:
1) Related quests link together. Stranger in the Woods > A Paw Full of Feathers > The Yellow Wings.
2) The job-unlock quests are right next to each other, on the cluster smack in the middle of the board.
[Non-rhetorical question: what does the mission rank mean?]
---
Aptitude I (trial)
-Trying out my first Clan Trial. I go with Aptitude 1 because it takes place in Targ Wood.
-This trial improves my aptitude but tanks my negotiation. Hell, I don’t even really know what aptitude IS.
-I have five different difficulty choices. I don’t really know what’s coming so I go with the middle option, “Machinists.” It’d give me +10 Aptitude, -5 Negotiation.
-I succeed in this trial by examining six barrels and finding a “winning” barrel in three rounds.
-Phew. I can use three party members to explore the map’s barrels within three rounds of “combat.”
-The next clan trials are all in Camoa.
-ARGH DAMMIT – I can’t pick the next two side quests up because they require a certain minimum amount of Negotiation and Adaptability. Grrrr.
-That’s all I can do in Targ Wood for now. Off to the next main area, Camoa.
---
To Camoa! (main)
-We enter the bustling city of Camoa and meet Cid’s seeq streetear friend, Ribs. Maybe he’s seen a wizard who can help Luso.
CID: “I’m talking upper-crust. Someone at the akademy or even a Kiltias… a sorcerer.”
Two FFXII ties here that weren’t there in FFTA necessarily. The “akademy” was an Archadian thing, and the Kiltias were those priests on Mt. Bur-Omisace.
-Ribs may know someone. He’ll share that info in exchange for… a tomato stalk?
-Ribs is super shady, but we’ll play along for now. Time to hunt is a (presumably rogue) tomato.
-The game now officially introduces changing jobs. Way ahead of you, but I still like how gradually it rolls these out for newer players.
Aptitude I (trial)
-Trying out my first Clan Trial. I go with Aptitude 1 because it takes place in Targ Wood.
-This trial improves my aptitude but tanks my negotiation. Hell, I don’t even really know what aptitude IS.
-I have five different difficulty choices. I don’t really know what’s coming so I go with the middle option, “Machinists.” It’d give me +10 Aptitude, -5 Negotiation.
-I succeed in this trial by examining six barrels and finding a “winning” barrel in three rounds.
-Phew. I can use three party members to explore the map’s barrels within three rounds of “combat.”
-The next clan trials are all in Camoa.
-ARGH DAMMIT – I can’t pick the next two side quests up because they require a certain minimum amount of Negotiation and Adaptability. Grrrr.
-That’s all I can do in Targ Wood for now. Off to the next main area, Camoa.
---
To Camoa! (main)
-We enter the bustling city of Camoa and meet Cid’s seeq streetear friend, Ribs. Maybe he’s seen a wizard who can help Luso.
CID: “I’m talking upper-crust. Someone at the akademy or even a Kiltias… a sorcerer.”
Two FFXII ties here that weren’t there in FFTA necessarily. The “akademy” was an Archadian thing, and the Kiltias were those priests on Mt. Bur-Omisace.
-Ribs may know someone. He’ll share that info in exchange for… a tomato stalk?
-Ribs is super shady, but we’ll play along for now. Time to hunt is a (presumably rogue) tomato.
-The game now officially introduces changing jobs. Way ahead of you, but I still like how gradually it rolls these out for newer players.
---
Camoa Rumors
-There’s a rumor of a chocobo-riding moogle back at Muskmallow Field.
-VERY interesting! Location and timing determine what recruits offer to join the clan. For example, I’ll find humes if I go to Targ Wood as the new year approaches, or viera in Camoa in autumn.
-Better clan titles grant better recruits.
-OH GOD MIMICS ARE A THING IN THIS GAME!
That makes sense. There have been far more treasure chests in FFTA2 than in past games. Of course they’ll use that to fuck with me.
-Traps too, but I can lure enemies into traps potentially. I can imagine seeing a trap, going next to it, and turning my back to that trap to entice the enemy to that square.
-Status effect tutorial time. Most are expected, but some new ones or things I forgot at least.
Again great how they present tutorials within the story.
-Charm makes you attack allies while Confused makes you attack either allies or foes.
-Addle makes you forget abilities. Yikes. Auto-attack only I guess.
-The clan talents (story-wise, anyway) are what I expected except for “Aptitude.” That specifically refers to aptitude with machinery.
---
Negotiation I (trial)
-For this next trial, I’ll go for one title higher: “Brokers,” a rank below “Orators.”
-This is a combat trial. I have to defeat five enemies in four rounds while upholding the law t not target distant units. Uh oh. Let’s try a little bit easier one. I go with “Intermediaries,” the second difficulty. I don’t have a lot of damage right now.
-The enemies are dreamhares. They have an annoying charm, but very low defense. Damage is not an issue. (Still glad I did a lower trial since I had no way to know that.)
[Later edit: this is the first time I used “Power Up 2” as a privilege, so maybe that was the key.]
-OH COME ON. It says I can’t hit enemies at a range, but it counts a critical melee attack that knocks an enemy back as a “ranged” attack, I guess because the damage registers only once the enemy is away. What bullshit.
-You know what? I’m reloading and trying that against, just because it’s such bullshit.
-I actually can adjust my strategy in this scenario, but I still hate it. I have my warrior attack only when another character is on the other side of his target, so no knockback is possible.
-Another point towards at least maybe sorta fairness here is that I can use the edges of this platform as a wall. No knockback possible if I melee an enemy against a wall.
BUT STILL. GRRR.
---
Next time: Finishing off the rank 1 trials.
Camoa Rumors
-There’s a rumor of a chocobo-riding moogle back at Muskmallow Field.
-VERY interesting! Location and timing determine what recruits offer to join the clan. For example, I’ll find humes if I go to Targ Wood as the new year approaches, or viera in Camoa in autumn.
-Better clan titles grant better recruits.
-OH GOD MIMICS ARE A THING IN THIS GAME!
That makes sense. There have been far more treasure chests in FFTA2 than in past games. Of course they’ll use that to fuck with me.
-Traps too, but I can lure enemies into traps potentially. I can imagine seeing a trap, going next to it, and turning my back to that trap to entice the enemy to that square.
-Status effect tutorial time. Most are expected, but some new ones or things I forgot at least.
Again great how they present tutorials within the story.
-Charm makes you attack allies while Confused makes you attack either allies or foes.
-Addle makes you forget abilities. Yikes. Auto-attack only I guess.
-The clan talents (story-wise, anyway) are what I expected except for “Aptitude.” That specifically refers to aptitude with machinery.
---
Negotiation I (trial)
-For this next trial, I’ll go for one title higher: “Brokers,” a rank below “Orators.”
-This is a combat trial. I have to defeat five enemies in four rounds while upholding the law t not target distant units. Uh oh. Let’s try a little bit easier one. I go with “Intermediaries,” the second difficulty. I don’t have a lot of damage right now.
-The enemies are dreamhares. They have an annoying charm, but very low defense. Damage is not an issue. (Still glad I did a lower trial since I had no way to know that.)
[Later edit: this is the first time I used “Power Up 2” as a privilege, so maybe that was the key.]
-OH COME ON. It says I can’t hit enemies at a range, but it counts a critical melee attack that knocks an enemy back as a “ranged” attack, I guess because the damage registers only once the enemy is away. What bullshit.
-You know what? I’m reloading and trying that against, just because it’s such bullshit.
-I actually can adjust my strategy in this scenario, but I still hate it. I have my warrior attack only when another character is on the other side of his target, so no knockback is possible.
-Another point towards at least maybe sorta fairness here is that I can use the edges of this platform as a wall. No knockback possible if I melee an enemy against a wall.
BUT STILL. GRRR.
---
Next time: Finishing off the rank 1 trials.
