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Dust to Dust
-This new zone is the Ashensand. Very similar look to the Burn in FFXIV, and likely for similar reasons.
-The music is effective. Mournful.
-Lots of Cie’th vampires here. A bad sign for the health of Fang’s and Vanille’s hometown.
-I just noticed that Cocoon appears to be leaking. There’s white stuff oozing down.
-Cie’th stone #28, “Faded Glory.” The Cie’th is shocked to see Oerba this way: “This timeworn ghost town is Oerba? I hardly recognize this place!”
-We reach the remains of the village proper. Everyone lived communally back then.
-We have two goals here. One is to find something to get rid of the brands. Another is… well, just for Fang and Vanille to be home.
-I didn’t expect such a technological civilization. I thought Oerba would be woodsy, like a viera town. This is lots of gizmos ‘n’ gadgets.
-There’s a box inside a hut. It’s no longer working, but I was able to examine it. Do I have to repair it?
-CREEPY. There are new “Seeker” enemies, just a giant disembodied arm and head.
-There’s a ton of what I assume to be flavor text here, stuff I can look at and get a line or two explaining it.
Like a young girl’s treasure chest, a broken mirror, a large communal cooking pot.
This is some powerful stuff. Picking through the ruins of what was once clearly a warm and loving – though not wealthy – community.
-I FIND BHAKTI, VANILLE’S OLD PET ROBOT
-Bhakti’s not in great shape. New mission: scavenge spare parts around town to repair her.
-New analects from completing mission #28: “The Heavenly Deceit.”
It tells how Ragnarok tried to destroy Cocoon, but “the Goddess” stopped him out of pity for those “fools” who followed Lindzei’s will. She put “the l’Cie to an early crystal sleep, Focus yet incomplete.”
Fang. So according to this legend, the Goddess (Maker?) intervened on Cocoon’s behalf.
-I go around town and collect all the parts. We got you, Bhakti.
-So I interact with Bhakti. This was apparently just the start. “Somewhere out there, long-forgotten equipment still waits to be found!”
-What follows is a series of “Bhakti’s Bonus Bytes,” little tips and tidbits about the game. Talking to her gives me a random one. Clicked on her for a while and found 11 overall.
Some I already knew about, some not. Some new ones:
Byte #1: “The Faultwarrens are home to some of Gran Pulse’s most dangerous denizens. If you plan to challenge them, you had best go prepared.”
If that’s tougher than the Archylte Steppe, I’m scared indeed.
Byte #4: “Have you triumphed over all the challenges the Faultwarrens have to offer? Reattempting the trial after doing so might draw the attention of a certain Cie’th.” This must come later.
Byte #5: “Hitching a ride from Sulyya Springs on the fal’Cie Atomos will allow you to reach a secret stretch of Mah’habara.” Gotta try this!
Byte #6: Weather changes on the Archylte Steppe affect the wool of resident sheep.”
I have no earthly idea what to make of this. I didn’t think I could even interact with those sheep.
Byte #8: “Complete a top-secret mission on the Archylte Steppe and new varieties of oretoises may emerge.”
That sounds like some SUPER endgame stuff. I can’t even deal with the current breed of oretoises.
-HOLY SHIT BHAKTI GIVES ME SO MUCH STUFF! Components, shrouds, the works.
-I used some upgrade items to raise Lightning’s Helter-skelter to star level. All I need now is the right transformational catalyst.
-The R&D store sells three transformational catalysts: adamantite, dark matter, and trapezohedron. I can only afford an adamantite, so I try buying that. No dice.
(I save scummed and reloaded to get my 220k gil back when I found the adamantite didn’t work.)
-Used my gil to buy more Ultracompact Reactors and get both Vanille’s Malboro Wand and Sazh’s Canopus AMPs to star level.
-Boo, the adamantite doesn’t upgrade either of those.
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The Twilit Cavern
-I head back to Sulyya Springs to find the super secret Atomos tunnel that Bhakti told me.
-JACKPOT, BLESS YOU BHAKTI! This took me to a new part of the Mah’habara.
-A hunt waits deep in a tunnel here, #53: “Freedom from Fear.” A-class. Fuck that lol. Gigantuar was #54 and I had no chance against him. This is for some monster in the Yaschas Massif.
-There’s one other path to explore here, past the cheerily named “Asylum from Light” and into an “Abandoned Dig.”
-It ends at a closed door blocking a currently unreachable room beyond it. Can’t find any switches, so I’ll leave. Maybe it opens up after I complete “Freedom from Fear.”
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Back to Oerba
-I return to Oerba to progress.
-I COMPLETELY forgot about accessories! Let’s try leveling up some.
-Whoops. I transformed a Whistlewind Scarf once (only one level) into a First Strike item. Leveled it up again, and it became a sentinel evasion item which I have only niche use for.
Lesson: Transforming accessories is not always good. Save next time before doing so.
-The road out of Oerba is a rusted and decaying set of train tracks.
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Their Own Worst Enemy
-As we cross the bridge, Vanille remembers a poem praying for Ragnarok, to hasten the “Divine Wanderer’s” return. The Maker maybe.
-OH SHIT THAT WASN’T VANILLE – it’s an image of Serah that appears before us, speaking.
-“Serah” runs up and embraces Snow. No way this is really her.
-Snow quickly realizes and pushes her away.
-Barthandelus’ bird flies overhead, giving away the game.
“SERAH”: “There are no gods with miracles to save us, no matter where you look. That’s why we have to call one. Destroy Orphan – we’ll save the world!”
LIGHTNING’S NAME IS CLAIRE (or her prior name anyway)
-He transforms back to Barthandelus. Come to speechify about how we’re fucking up.
-The fal’Cie have coddled Cocoon humans, which sparked fear of the alien in them. He’s using that.
-“Dynsley” resigned and appointed Raines as primarch. He thinks Cavalry will see this as a betrayal, and then Barthandelus will spread rumors that Raines is being played by Orphan.
The gist seems to be that he wants to spark a civil war…? Oh, no, he wants them to turn on Orphan. Orphan’s death is the goal.
(Not sure why he came down here to tell us all this, if his plan was going swimmingly, but anyway.)
-Time to fight Barthandelus 2.0.
-He starts fully armored. As I chip away, the armor peels back, revealing that array of faces once more.
-The fight itself isn’t too bad. I just keep up my standard mix of buff/debuff, stagger-builders (RAV RAV RAV), and Relentless Assault when staggered, healing when needed with Convalescence (MED SYN MED) or Diversity (COM RAV MED).
-Crystarium expanded AGAIN??? I really thought #8 would be the last. Heck, maybe there’s even #10 around the corner.
BARTHANDELUS: “The time has come. Allow me to extend my invitation. To save a people beyond salvation, there is only Ragnarok.”
-His bird turns into a ship once more.
BARTH: “Cocoon suffers. Release her from her pain.”
He’s giving us an airship again.
-I’m legitimately confused about Barthandelus’ motive. I thought he wanted to bring the Maker back because he was abandoned, but maybe he legitimately thinks Cocoon is suffering and needs a reset. But why? Why does he think the people of Cocoon (many of whom seem pretty happy) are suffering?
-The crystarium boost to stage 9 is fantastic. I’d already completed stage 8 for three roles on each character and had been working on the RIDICULOUSLY EXPENSIVE lower levels of a fourth role. This gives me room to grow in their main three.
-The datalog updated. Rygdea is now in charge of Cavalry, hell-bent on destroying Orphan.
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Next time: getting in the airship, presumably to head back to Cocoon.
