Summary: The home of the Exiled in a familiar volcano. Mydia/Judge of Wings backstory. By far the most brutal fight in RW.
Eastern Ivalice
-Phew. Filo and Kytes are still on the ship. In hindsight, how would they even have left the ship? That was a foolish worry.
-They found an old map in the ruins. Fran identifies it as a map to the hidden village of the Exiled. Nice find, kids!
-The Exiled live in Roda Volcano, in Bervenia.
-Wait. Bervenia? Like, the place from FFT??
WAIT RODA VOLCANO?? THAT WAS IN FFTA
(lmk if that was also in FFXII and I’m just forgetting – my memory is turrrrible)
-I’d always wondered if the world of FFT was far in the past or future, and if FFTA was set in the past or future (even a constructed past or future). The world is coming together geographically, if not chronologically.
---
Fighting Back Tears – Roda Volcano (8-3)
-It’s hard to breathe in here. Makes sense. It’s a literal volcano.
FRAN: “The Mist… rages.” Oh come on, we’re in a volcano! The perfect set-up for “The Mist… burns.”
-She kneels, dizzied. The tears she’s fighting back are tears of pain.
-We push to the top of the volcano through packs of fire espers. Using my rank 3 esper – Leviathan in this case – to tank has been a real boon.
-There’s a tree deep within the volcano. The entrance to the Exiled home. Jesus. What the hell did they do to deserve viera banishment?
---
Wayward Soul – The Feol Warren (8-4)
[Later edit: The true mission name is “Fucking Wayward Soul.” Oh my GOD this mission.]
-The Judge of Wings is here in the village.
She’s… killing everybody? What the actual fuck? I thought you were avenging their mistreatment!
JUDGE OF WINGS: “I bring an end to our race!” She summons Chaos.
-I bring my water esper party and take out Chaos. Got Kytes his quickening: Nature’s Wrath. A series of elemental magick attacks.
-The Judge reappears: “What is life, weighed against the past I have lost?”
Two things:
1) I totally get that feeling of despair.
2) YOU JUST KILLED THE LAST OF YOUR RACE WTF MYDIA
Fran talks to her, tries to make her remember she used to have more than this.
FRAN: “We viera are long lived. There is yet time.”
Eastern Ivalice
-Phew. Filo and Kytes are still on the ship. In hindsight, how would they even have left the ship? That was a foolish worry.
-They found an old map in the ruins. Fran identifies it as a map to the hidden village of the Exiled. Nice find, kids!
-The Exiled live in Roda Volcano, in Bervenia.
-Wait. Bervenia? Like, the place from FFT??
WAIT RODA VOLCANO?? THAT WAS IN FFTA
(lmk if that was also in FFXII and I’m just forgetting – my memory is turrrrible)
-I’d always wondered if the world of FFT was far in the past or future, and if FFTA was set in the past or future (even a constructed past or future). The world is coming together geographically, if not chronologically.
---
Fighting Back Tears – Roda Volcano (8-3)
-It’s hard to breathe in here. Makes sense. It’s a literal volcano.
FRAN: “The Mist… rages.” Oh come on, we’re in a volcano! The perfect set-up for “The Mist… burns.”
-She kneels, dizzied. The tears she’s fighting back are tears of pain.
-We push to the top of the volcano through packs of fire espers. Using my rank 3 esper – Leviathan in this case – to tank has been a real boon.
-There’s a tree deep within the volcano. The entrance to the Exiled home. Jesus. What the hell did they do to deserve viera banishment?
---
Wayward Soul – The Feol Warren (8-4)
[Later edit: The true mission name is “Fucking Wayward Soul.” Oh my GOD this mission.]
-The Judge of Wings is here in the village.
She’s… killing everybody? What the actual fuck? I thought you were avenging their mistreatment!
JUDGE OF WINGS: “I bring an end to our race!” She summons Chaos.
-I bring my water esper party and take out Chaos. Got Kytes his quickening: Nature’s Wrath. A series of elemental magick attacks.
-The Judge reappears: “What is life, weighed against the past I have lost?”
Two things:
1) I totally get that feeling of despair.
2) YOU JUST KILLED THE LAST OF YOUR RACE WTF MYDIA
Fran talks to her, tries to make her remember she used to have more than this.
FRAN: “We viera are long lived. There is yet time.”
-Mydia doesn't let up. She summons a swarm of espers to attack us.
-We have a new mission: take down Mydia herself.
-Holy shit this part is tough. Getting to Mydia is no problem, and but she simply obliterates my party suddenly with some area effect thing. I can’t parse what’s going on.
Full disclosure: I’m using load states to try new strategies. I do not want to do that whole long mission to reach the Mydia part only to die.
8-9 attempts later, I don’t regret this decision.
-I KEEP DYING GRRRRRR. It’s beyond frustrating. I’ve tried spreading out my party, going whole hog, rebuilding to an all-flying team to counter her melee, mixing it up.
-Wipe wipe wipe. God this is so boooooring. [Later edit: I believe this boredom set in because I gave up on trying to solve the puzzle of this fight with strategy and just started rushing her. See also my ending note.]
-Eventually I defeat her. I feel relief more than joy.
The final attempt before she goes down.
Idk how, and idk why she didn’t use her total party kill ability on me this time, but whatever. Thank god this mission’s over. For what it’s worth, on the final attempt, I spread my party out into four small groups so that her area effect didn’t obliterate me.
-I have a feeling I’m going to have to start micromanaging my spells and adjusting my gambits more regularly to make better use of them. I’m not looking forward to that.
-She removes her Judge armor, revealing the Exiled viera beneath.
-She LET us win. Wow. If that was letting us win, then Mydia is terrifying.
“I will not suffer him to use others as he has used me. In death my people are free.”
-We flash back to her childhood. She’s fighting with her mom. She wants to leave this place.
MYDIA’S MOTHER: “One day, we will be among the clouds.” This tells me that Mydia’s dad really is an aegyl.
-She gave Mydia a book with words she couldn’t yet understand. Some mystical language that her mom assures her she’ll understand in time.
-She was told not to leave the village until then, but she did. She loved it outside the village. She met Velis in Rabanastre.
-We see her talking with Velis as he decides to join the Dalmascan army to make the world safe, free. He was a legitimately good and brave man.
MYDIA: “But Velis never came back. The war ended, and I waited. But he never came back. I was alone.”
-We have a new mission: take down Mydia herself.
-Holy shit this part is tough. Getting to Mydia is no problem, and but she simply obliterates my party suddenly with some area effect thing. I can’t parse what’s going on.
Full disclosure: I’m using load states to try new strategies. I do not want to do that whole long mission to reach the Mydia part only to die.
8-9 attempts later, I don’t regret this decision.
-I KEEP DYING GRRRRRR. It’s beyond frustrating. I’ve tried spreading out my party, going whole hog, rebuilding to an all-flying team to counter her melee, mixing it up.
-Wipe wipe wipe. God this is so boooooring. [Later edit: I believe this boredom set in because I gave up on trying to solve the puzzle of this fight with strategy and just started rushing her. See also my ending note.]
-Eventually I defeat her. I feel relief more than joy.
The final attempt before she goes down.
Idk how, and idk why she didn’t use her total party kill ability on me this time, but whatever. Thank god this mission’s over. For what it’s worth, on the final attempt, I spread my party out into four small groups so that her area effect didn’t obliterate me.
-I have a feeling I’m going to have to start micromanaging my spells and adjusting my gambits more regularly to make better use of them. I’m not looking forward to that.
-She removes her Judge armor, revealing the Exiled viera beneath.
-She LET us win. Wow. If that was letting us win, then Mydia is terrifying.
“I will not suffer him to use others as he has used me. In death my people are free.”
-We flash back to her childhood. She’s fighting with her mom. She wants to leave this place.
MYDIA’S MOTHER: “One day, we will be among the clouds.” This tells me that Mydia’s dad really is an aegyl.
-She gave Mydia a book with words she couldn’t yet understand. Some mystical language that her mom assures her she’ll understand in time.
-She was told not to leave the village until then, but she did. She loved it outside the village. She met Velis in Rabanastre.
-We see her talking with Velis as he decides to join the Dalmascan army to make the world safe, free. He was a legitimately good and brave man.
MYDIA: “But Velis never came back. The war ended, and I waited. But he never came back. I was alone.”
-At this point, Mydia was able to understand the book. It told of her clan’s winged patriarch, Feolthanos.
-She had lost everything – except the book her mom had given her. She follows its instructions now.
-Mydia found the Cache of Glabados. She felt Feolthanos’ presence, and sought him to fill the hole left by Velis and her mother.
(Cool motive. Still genocide.)
-Back to the present. She tells that Feolthanos once led the aegyl. He’s bound by a magick that grants him eternal life. Whew. Some magic.
MYDIA: “Free him from it. End his suffering.” Something tells me he won’t see it that way.
-She disappears. Not sure mechanically where she went. Like, because she lost her anima is she now like the Yarhi?
-Llyud can sense Mydia’s anima. It may guide us to Feolthanos. So he probably called her anima back, or her anima exhausted.
-Chapter 8 complete. An awesome chapter, but holy hell did 8-4 suck. I’m afraid of the coming chapters.
-I can now travel to the Keep of Forgotten Time, where Feolthanos hoards his anima.
---
Tomaj/Notice Board Missions
-Two more esper missions appear. The first is to take out Zalera and her zombie hordes.
-Holy hell. She’s level 65. My party is around 40. I’ll try this once, but I may just say screw it and head back to the main story. I’m really getting a sense that the notice board missions at this point intend me to grind.
-Getting a bit salty and frustrated, so I’m stopping here for now.
[Later edit: I’ve been charging ahead rather than thinking. It’s been okay, but recently that mindset has caused me to hit a wall. I’ve spent little time understanding esper abilities and party abilities. I’ll focus on that before moving onto the next batch of notice board missions.]
---
Next time: reviewing party member abilities and espers.
-She had lost everything – except the book her mom had given her. She follows its instructions now.
-Mydia found the Cache of Glabados. She felt Feolthanos’ presence, and sought him to fill the hole left by Velis and her mother.
(Cool motive. Still genocide.)
-Back to the present. She tells that Feolthanos once led the aegyl. He’s bound by a magick that grants him eternal life. Whew. Some magic.
MYDIA: “Free him from it. End his suffering.” Something tells me he won’t see it that way.
-She disappears. Not sure mechanically where she went. Like, because she lost her anima is she now like the Yarhi?
-Llyud can sense Mydia’s anima. It may guide us to Feolthanos. So he probably called her anima back, or her anima exhausted.
-Chapter 8 complete. An awesome chapter, but holy hell did 8-4 suck. I’m afraid of the coming chapters.
-I can now travel to the Keep of Forgotten Time, where Feolthanos hoards his anima.
---
Tomaj/Notice Board Missions
-Two more esper missions appear. The first is to take out Zalera and her zombie hordes.
-Holy hell. She’s level 65. My party is around 40. I’ll try this once, but I may just say screw it and head back to the main story. I’m really getting a sense that the notice board missions at this point intend me to grind.
-Getting a bit salty and frustrated, so I’m stopping here for now.
[Later edit: I’ve been charging ahead rather than thinking. It’s been okay, but recently that mindset has caused me to hit a wall. I’ve spent little time understanding esper abilities and party abilities. I’ll focus on that before moving onto the next batch of notice board missions.]
---
Next time: reviewing party member abilities and espers.
