Graszton (main)
-We head west to the Bisga Greenlands and south to the port city of Graszton Graszton.
-Cid is alone at an inn with his contact.
CID: “…And thanks again. I know the danger put you in by being here.” We don’t see who he’s speaking to.
-He walks away inn when someone approaches him. “Glad I left the little ones behind on this trip.” Interesting. I wonder where Luso and Adelle are.
-HOLY SHIT THE PERSON SHOT CID!
-Scene change to Cid lying in a bed with Luso standing over him. Adelle joins.
-Cid awakens briefly. He learned that the mage is in the Aldanna Range.
-Luso feels guilty leaving Cid like this, but Adelle convinces him to move on it.
-A rumor in town tells of trinkets the can summon “creatures of myth and legend.” I already have a staff that (once I unlock Summoner) lets me summon Ifrit. These sound like something different.
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Wanted: Shiny Maces (side)
-A weaponsmith, wants help polishing maces.
-This seems like a dispatch-only quest. Let’s go with my bangaa warrior. She seems weapony.
-AH DAMMIT NO! I immediately regret that decision and reset. Warriors can’t use maces. Instead, I try green mage.
-I kill about ten days on the world map (wish there were a time skip mechanic). Success! No clue if I would’ve been fine with the warrior, but glad I swapped to a mace-wielding job.
-I haven’t found any random encounters yet. FFT had random encounters, FFTA had semi-random encounters… I wonder if FFTA2 eliminates them completely. (I kind of hope not.)
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It’s the Thought (side)
-An apprentice wants to give his employer fruit as gift.
-This nu mou describes the fruit’s skin as an anti-venom on top of the taste.
-That’s kind of it lol.
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Shipping Out (side)
-This quest is to help a freight with some shipping.
-It’s a simple delivery. I head to Targ Wood for pick-up and back to Graszton.
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Komodo Departure
-This is an escort mission to protect a Komodo Trading rep.
-omg check out the portrait on this trader XD
-The bandits protest that they’re NOT bandits. They just want to buy some of this guy’s potions lol.
-This trader is still panicking. He’s afraid of his own shadow.
TRADER: “A-And I just drank all our extra potions.” That actually makes me wonder. What do potions taste like? I imagine they’re a bit like Sprite or ginger ale.
-The enemies are kind of hilarious. They still want to take potions from this guy since he won’t give an answer, but they insist that they’ll leave gil to pay for it.
Still, even if they pay, that’s against this guy’s wishes and thus stealing. I guess we’ll help.
-I’m thankful for the Komodo Trader’s cowardice. He runs behind our party rather than trying to fight.
-FUCK. This is a loooong fight where I don’t do much damage, and they get him. The law is especially brutal since it prohibits me using targeted spells.
-I adjust my party makeup, try again, and FINALLY win. It’s the toughest winnable fight thus far.
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Tree Hugging (side)
-Monsters are chewing on a tree that holds sentimental value for a nun.
-This is another holdout-style quest. PROTECT THE TREE! I have to kill 10 antlions all while keeping them from the tree.
-It’s another long, long fight. I don’t have enough damage output the first time. Another party-adjustment but we finally chase down all the enemies.
[Non-rhetorical question: how does level scaling work in FFTA2?]
-There’s something carved into the tree’s bark… AWW! This is where two kids (the nun and her brother probably) measured themselves growing up.
-Afterwards, I find a new recruit in Targ Woods. My first random recruit!
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Wanted: Gilmunto (main)
-Gilmunto is a variant of “nidhogg.” It’s so weird after playing FFXIV: Heavensward to see that as just a type of enemy.
-There are new map nodes in Galderria Deep, swirly rather than empty. I think those indicate that the location is underground.
-This takes place in the Aldanna Range. The battlefield is suffused with a film of Mist.
ADELLE: “It suffuses every person, creature, and object in the world. Even the sky above us.”
-Huh. Adelle is sick at this overwhelming amount of Mist. Luso is unaffected. Maybe it affects those most closely connected to the world. Luso’s alien nature to Ivalice may grant him immunity.
-The enemies we fight are Mist-Mutated, led by the dragon Gilmunto.
-Victory!
-We approach the fallen Gilmunto when an old wizard (who I assume is Lezaford) stops us.
???: “The Mist bound about it will soon release!”
He seems to be of Cid’s race. And he’s right – Gilmunto soon dissipates into Mist.
-This is a very Yoda-esque introduction. Luso’s asking for Lezaford, and Lezaford’s all “Hm, hm, I haven’t heard that name in a while. Yeah, I know where Lezaford is!”
He doesn’t overplay this hand though. He introduces himself.
-We head Lezaford’s home. He looks over Luso’s journal and thinks the journal is key to Luso’s hopes of returning home.
LEZAFORD: “What is a life without words to tell its story? There is great power in words.”
The more things Luso does, the more the journal’s power grows.
-I don’t quite get Luso’s carefree attitude about being trapped in Ivalice, but it’s not like this is a bad place. He’s excited to learn that his way home is doing what he likes: exploring. Adventuring here.
-Luso walks out. Adelle goes to follow when Lezaford stops her. “And how fare you, gifted one?”
I love how easily she accepts that term. Fits her confidence.
There’s definitely more to Adelle than meets the eye.
-The AP boost from this quest pushes me over the top to try some new jobs. My nu mou goes up to sage, Luso tries paladin, my moogle gets tinker. I’m not wild about tinker – the randomness doesn’t feel great when it hits the wrong target – but mastering two tinker abilities opens up Juggler. That job was amaaaaaazing in FFTA.
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Next time: Checking in with Cid.
