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Graszton (main)
-We check back in with Cid.
-Adelle suggests Luso participate in an auction, the way FFTA2 clans vie for regional control. More local options, potentially more quests (maybe?), better prices. You bid with clan points.
Clans used battle for regional dominance. Auctions are more peaceful.
-Luso asks a fair question: why does Cid care? Why is he helping?
CID: “I needed you, that’s why.” I don’t quite understand this, though I believe Cid is a good guy. I’d be really surprised if he has nefarious motives. That’s even taking into consideration his weird secret meeting in Graszton and the assassin that shot him.
-Gonna check out local notices and rumors.
-The four Lang Brothers, members of the Arbiters of Death guild, fled after wounding 28 of their own clanmates. Yikes. Idk the difference between a clan and a guild.
-Carm Mercantile is a fairly new house. They recently started a new business devoted to… protection and preservation of endangered monsters? Ok lol.
-A rumor hints at undead coming. They seem to have unique mechanics, and have to be defeated at the same time. Really?? That can’t be right. There’s gotta be some kind of window.
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Wanted: Lang Bros. (side)
-The four brothers are a warrior, a knife-fighter, an archer, and a mage.
-Today’s law forbids most nu mou actions, so I swap in a back-up party member for my nu mou. Have I mentioned how happy I am that ALL party members – even the ones not in combat – gain AP? It means that I can develop my bench members for situations just like this.
-They’re a loquacious bunch, reminiscing about other folks they beat the crap out of over trivial stuff.
LUSO: “You knifed over 30 guys over a spilled drink? You’re a threat to society!”
Something about that last sentence cracks me up. For all Luso’s rebellious attitude in the school scenes that started FFTA2, he’s a straight arrow at heart.
-Moogle Knight feels much stronger than FFTA.
-Hee! They use an ability called Provoke which I think is intended to cause berserk. (It never landed so I’m not sure.)
The spell animation shows the caster taunting the target to make it mad.
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An Earnest Search (side)
-Someone seeks love! He met two women online/via mail and accidentally scheduled a date with both on the same day. It’s our job to meet the other in his stead and leave a good impression.
-The woman we go meet is another of that demon race. I don’t think the game has given them an official name yet.
-omg she demands that luso (thinking luso is her correspondent) recite a love poem OR ELSE
LUSO: “You are the sun/ And I am the moon/ And since I am the moon,/ I cannot shine with you… the sun! (phew, not bad.)”
Well played, Luso. XD
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A Simple Question (side)
-The petitioner wants me to investigate a GREAT question: who actually are the judges? How do they have the power to prevent death?
-I head to Lezaford’s house for answers.
-Very interesting. They aren’t individuals, but rather a magick given form. It’s not like an Ivalice resident could sign up for judge school.
LEZAFORD: “Only… do not tell anyone that it was I who gave [this information] to you.” This interests me as much as the info itself. Why doesn’t he want anyone to know the info came from him? Maybe he’s a guardian of the magick, sworn to secrecy.
But if so, why break that secrecy now? He mentioned Adelle is “gifted” – maybe he thinks Luso and Adelle are some party destined to do A Thing.
-My clan primer adds details. It introduces the Wellspring of Magick, a source that powers the judges. I can’t help but think of Li-Grim, that magickal being that somehow created a world on her own. Maybe she’s tied to that Wellspring.
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Veis, Assassin (job)
-A globetrotting assassin has come to train with House Bowen and wants a guide.
-I love the continuity! We worked with House Bowen against Klesta.
-Veis is a viera assassin. Her portrait looks SO BADASS. Like a gunslinger in a western.
-House Bowen is present, and Bowen himself is unsure. He wants Veis to prove herself before his clan accepts her.
-A test. All of us will fight the goofiest-looking malboro king in FF history so Bowen can see her in action.
-Victory! Veis passes her test and joins House Bowen. (Although all she did was turn invisible and walk towards the enemy while we did all the work.)
-Y’know, it’s more than just continuity that makes me enjoy this ongoing plot so much. It’s that House Bowen will continue as a friendly, allied clan that operates independent of Clan Gully.
That was missing in my beloved FFTA! Every clan we met either fought us or was subsumed. This is a new dynamic.
(It’s sort of like how I loved Dragon Age 2’s “rivalry romances,” where you could disagree with someone and still romance them, while there was only really one type of romance in Dragon Age: Origins.)
-HELLLL yes! Veis thanks us by teaching the Assassin job.
-Assassin is a viera job that requires mastering one sniper and two elementalist abilities. I’m currently building my viera up towards Elementalist. Definitely gonna try for Assassin as it was so powerful in FFTA.
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I Got a Bad Feeling (side)
-I head to Baptiste Hill to recruit a bangaa when something new appears. A quest on a tile, not from a pub.
“There is a fowl smell upon the air…” I’m betting Klesta… Yup.
-She’s level 19. I can only bring three party members.
-YAAAY!! It’s not just us three. House Bowen joins the fray as guests, complete with their new assassin.
[Non-rhetorical question: I’m only now noticing that MP doesn’t recover between fights. Is there a way to do so without using ethers?]
[Later edit: NEVER MIND! I just put it together. I remember a rumor early on about how mages require wind-up time. I thought then that it meant FFT’s cast-time returned, but it didn’t. I now see that it means characters starts at 10 mana.
What a great and creative mechanic! It means mages can’t obliterate you from the start. Melee characters have some time to close the distance.
Plus, it adds an element of choice. I have to decide whether to use low-level magick early in the fight or save up for more powerful stuff. Bravo, FFTA2!]
-Got her! With the whole raid at low health.
NO DON’T YOU DARE FLY OFF AGAIN
DAMMIT SHE’S GONE
BOWEN: “We won’t be seeing her again for some time, I wager.” This reminds me Ultros or Chrono Trigger’s Spekkio, bosses that test us as we level.
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Wayward Drake (side)
-Again with the pets that aren’t pets. Someone’s pet drake Goud has gone missing.
-This is tricky. I have to WEAKEN Goud and kill the rest.
The drake says, “Hareeth!”
-Success! Got Goud into critical range after defeating the other dragons.
[Later edit: I’ll bet this is what Carm Mercantile’s rare monster preservation is about. They’ll probably give me missions to weaken and capture them.]
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Bonga Bugle – Bloodfire (side)
-The newspaper needs reporters on this month’s topic: daily life of working folks.
-THIS SEEQ EDITOR’S PORTRAIT LOLOLOLOL
-He wants interview the Targ Woods shop clerk, but they fled in advance.
-His personality matches his portrait. He’s sleazy. Wants Luso to pretend to be the shop clerk so he can snap some photos for the paper.
-I’m getting flashbacks to one of World of Warcraft’s best questlines, “Welcome to the Machine,” where you take the place of an NPC questgiver.
-This is a puzzle quest. A series of customers asks for stuff (e.g. “What armor gives Defense Up?”) and I have to pick the right item from three choices.
The consumables are easy. The armor and weapon ability pairings make me guess mostly.
But educated guesses! Like, one customer wants Defense+. Is it Diamond Armor, Carabineer Mail, or Genji Armor? I don’t know, but I guess Diamond Armor because that seems the hardest material. I’m right.
-…two customers are chocobos lolol wtfffff
A meaningful conversation.
-Woot, got 8/10! I get an elixir. I’m sure there’s some amazing reward if I get 10/10. (Or maybe not. Maybe it’s just two elixirs or something.)
-We even get to see the paper afterwards as a pub notice.
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Next time: Side quests and trying the auction system.
