Summary: Meeting Gladiolus’ sister in Lestallum as I continue with chocobo stuff and other side quests in Duscae.
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Burden of Expectation (chapter 3)
-Onto Lestallum to meet Iris, Gladio’s sister. (My side quests were taking me into Cleigne, which told me it was time to move on with the main story quest.)
-The city gives me old Los Angeles vibes, like from Who Framed Roger Rabbit with the palm trees and cable car.
-Just as I type that, a minor earthquake hits. Including a CREEPY AF close-up of an eye for Noctis, a vision of some kind.
-Another copy of Cosmogony lies outside the hotel. It describes covenants as rites by which the Oracle summons the gods to make the will of mortals known to them.
So more and more, I get the sense that Iedolas’ plans will revolve either using Lunafreya to summon the gods as weapons for him, or perhaps prevent her from summoning them as weapons against him.
-Iris physically reminds me of Selphie from VIII, but totally different personality. Much more in control.
-She describes the attack on Insomnia is brutal, but targeted. They didn’t just raze everything.
She also delivers the news that Lunafreya is okay. A relief for Noctis; he didn’t see the cutscenes we saw.
-The next day, Iris takes Noctis out for a stroll around town. They seem to be old friends, and something about the interaction makes me think she had a bit of a crush on him.
-Talk around town about an increase in tremors. With the Disc of Cauthon nearby, I’m guessing this is related to Titan.
-We also see the powerplant. Only women work there; not sure on the reason for that.
-She seems to like the place, feel at home here.
IRIS, leaning in to Noctis’ shoulder: “Y’know Noct, this almost feels like a date!” Yeah, she’s crushing.
SHE’S ADORABLE AND I LOVE HER.
I’ve had some dialogue options along the way. Every time it gave me the choice to be either interested or dismissive, I went with interested. Maybe that had a role.
(I feel a bit of VII déjà vu. That game was setting me up to go with Aeris, and I just kept flirting hard with Tifa cause I loved her so much.)
-And yet. Iris seems awesome, but Noctis is engaged to Lunafreya. And everything we’ve seen tells me that’s not just a purely political relationship.
-AWWW she bought a gift for Noctis in the market. A surprise, to be seen later. Have I said I really like her yet? Cause I really like her.
-Later, I camped for the night and saw a photo Prompto snapped of Iris with Noctis sitting on the bed. Gladio sees it and just says, “Iris…”
Noctis joked earlier that Gladio would kill him if he found Noctis and Iris were a thing, but I can’t believe that. Gladio doesn’t seem like that sort of asshole, and this confirms it. The way he said “Iris…” makes me think he sees her crush and feels bad that Noctis is unavailable, not angry that the crush exists.
-Back at the hotel, a kid - Talcott - shares a legend of a sword behind a waterfall. Smells like a lost tomb.
-Party dialogue through the town shows that the tremors/headaches is a regular combo for Noctis.
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Side Stuff: Chocobo
-I ended up Googling how to get my chocobo (Pigeon) back after it leaves, and it’s by R2 + right for a chocobo whistle. Not sure how I missed that, unless they just didn’t tell me.
-Heeeey Pigeon hit level 2! Not sure… how? But I Like the “Con-kweh-tulations” message. XD
Adding some color to my party.
-He’ll occasionally help me in battle! And I can summon him mid-fight to help me flee with Dash de Chocobo when I use my whistle! This gets better and better.
-omg I can drift on my chocobo lolol
-Ok ok, it seems like Pigeon levels up just from riding him in the open world.
-I thought Pigeon was mine for good, but I still have to rent him from the chocobo stops. Boo.
-I love how random “heal the injured person/bird” side quests use game mechanics! I use an actual potion or antidote in my inventory. Loved this as far back as FFV, when the party tried to save a dead person with raise spells and phoenix downs.
-Hee – one quest to cure a poisoned person is “Conceal, Don’t Feel.” After playing so many older games for this series, it’s strange to see modern references.
-Wooooot, I beat Gladiolus in the race! Lost at level 4 barely, and a stamina-boosting food pushed my chocobo over the edge right after.
-The next race is a solo obstacle course, a “Hoops Challenge.” Fun, and not too tough!
-That’s all they have for now; I’ll come back later.
No snuggles like chocobo snuggles.
[Non-rhetorical questions:
1) Is there an experience bar that shows my progress towards the next chocobo level?
2) Is there an auto-trot option when riding, or do I just have to hold R2 the whole time?
3) I can use my chocobo whistle to activate Dash de Chocobo, but how do I activate Kick de Chocobo and Dance de Chocobo?]
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Side Stuff (other)
-Arrived at the Disc of Cauthon. The Empire’s guarding it now.
-Really fun fight against the magitek armor boss here! I like being able to attack the boss appendages. Feels like I have control in the fight.
-Hunt pet peeve: I hate when I’m engaging a hunt target and then imperials drop in to double my targets. Even worse when they do it REPEATEDLY during the fight, even after I clear out the first batch.
-This carries over for search quests. It feels pointlessly punishing that I’ll be searching a quest area for a small item (a dog tag in the most recent case) and the same group of hyenas keeps spawning on me.
-There’s a smoking crater west in Cleigne.
So there’s the Disc of Cauthon, the meteor in Lestallum, and this thing to the west. A pockmarked world.
-I like how my FF soundtrack in the car accentuates different moment. Like when the FFV theme “Four Hearts” plays to XV’s party of four adventuring, or when FFII’s imperial theme plays as a dropship flies above.
-My favorite new hunt from Lestallum is to kill a giant griffon. It even gets its own epic boss music.
-Graffiti in Lestallum says, “Long Live the Oracle!” I wonder if she’ll be a resistance figure or inspiration, Leia to the Empire’s… well, Empire.
-The ravine between Duscae and Cleigne is the Taelpar Crag. The book that tells me this also mentions the “War of the Astrals” and a rift between the gods. So the six aren’t hostile to each other?
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Next time: Seeking a tomb behind a waterfall.
