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The Hexatheon’s Blessings
-Chapter 5: Dark Clouds.
-Ardyn promises to grant us safe passage.
ARDYN: “Is it fair to begrudge a man the circumstances of his birth?” No, but the fact that he rose to Imperial Chancellor tells me he’s very much on board with what seems to be a pretty terrible empire.
-And yet… wow. He really does drop us off safely, wishing us luck finding the Regalia. I still give him a 0.1% chance of being an ally; he’s likely just playing a longer game.
-Several days later… High General Ravus has instituted a blockade, presumably to find us and Luna.
-The tremors have receded. Titan has disappeared from the Disc.
-Back to our party at the Wiz Chocobo Post.
-UMBRA! HI PUPPY! He leads me to the woman we saw with Lunafreya, Gentiana.
“By the Stormsender’s blessing will the path to the Stone [Crystal?] be opened. The Oracle goes hence in her King’s name.”
I wonder who the Oracle’s king is. I know that now Noctis is king-in-waiting, but Lunafreya’s from a different political sphere.
-Luna will be wait at the Walls of Water. Maybe by Leviathan? I think I need the approval of the other gods before seeing her.
GENTIANA: “Stray not from the path.” …you haven’t been following this LP, have you?
-Ah, she’s a messenger spirit faithful to Luna.
-There’s a more tangible message attached to Umbra. It’s a journal. On one page: “My prayers are with you, Noctis.” This hits him hard (and makes me feel sliiiiightly bad about making Noctis hit on Iris).
-Flashback to little Luna and little Noctis. She educates him about the crystal. It was gifted to all mankind, with the kings of Lucis as its designated protectors.
LUNA: “To crown the King of Light is the calling of the Crystal.” It picks a king? That’s it?
Ah, it sounds like the “King of Light” is more than just a name for each Lucian king. Something more final, more cosmic.
“Only the True King, anointed by the Crystal, can purge our star of its scourge.” Noctis is the literal “Chosen” one. I wonder if he was the first, or if there were other Chosen Ones who failed.
And what’s the “scourge” anyway?
-One of Luna’s jobs as oracle is to help Noctis fulfill this role.
-She seems so much wiser and more knowledgeable than young Noctis. Who taught her all this? The Empire’s government seems opposed to her, but maybe the political landscape was different then.
-Back to the present. Gentiana’s voice echoes in Noctis’ head, urging him towards the Light. In the distance, we see a repeated lightning strike. Really feels like the Trial of Ramuh is coming.
[Random side note, but FF2/4 on the SNES called Ramuh “Indra” and Ifrit “Jinn.” Why is that? Some translation changes make sense, like how they went with Cure 1, Cure 2, etc. over Cure/Cura naming. Not sure about the summon name changes.]
-Anyway, I have to find the three runestones of Ramuh around Duscae.
PROMPTO: “Another day, another deity.”
-I go northwest of the Disc to the first runestone. Touched it and lightning flashes.
-Flashback: Tenebrae, 12 years earlier.
-Kid!Noctis sits in a wheelchair. Gentiana introduces herself. She says how great it is that the Oracle and future king are close. “The fate of our world may depend on it.”
-Back to the present, where her voice persists. “Foreign hordes fear the true king’s ascension.” Foreign, like the Empire? Or something more alien to this world/dimension? I’m guessing the latter.
-I’m starting to get a vague sense of the cosmic layout. So there are the six gods, who have what seems to be a generally positive agenda. There’s people, and the Oracle serves people, striving to get the gods to help people. The Messengers similarly represent the gods to people.
I took a screenshot of a loading screen image of the Hexatheon that I’m trying to parse. There are some humanoids in the middle, and five gods on the side. I’m gonna guess the dude with the dragon wings is Bahamut and the woman with him is Ifrit:
On the other side of the screen, we see Titan and Ramuh, and then I’ll guess the scantily-clad woman is Shiva:
I’m not sure on Leviathan, and Ifrit was just a guess. One is missing.
Who is the antagonist here? Who opposes the gods? That scourge we heard about earlier probably.
And where does the Crystal fall here? Is it a tool of the gods, or something more sentient?
-Gentiana presses me to reach the cave before someone else does. Some antagonist.
-Got the second runestone.
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The Trial of Ramuh
-The third stone is in a dungeon, Fociaugh Hollow. Another underground cave.
-I’m over-leveled, but that doesn’t stop this place from being jump scare central. Bats from the ceiling, imps from the lakes.
-My personal favorite is when I start edging my way through a tight squeeze and imps crawl AROUND me. Scared the shit out of me.
-OK THAT ALSO SCARES THE SHIT OUT OF ME. A monstrous voice: “My baby…”
-And it snatches up Prompto briefly. He says it was a snake, and is clearly freaked out (me too), but I didn’t catch a glimpse.
-Found another of those vault doors. The only question for me is whether those will be part of a post-game superboss/extra dungeon mode, or part of the main story.
-YUP THE SNAKE NAGA IS CREEPY AF
-She jumps down. “My baby… Where…”
-I try to tell her I know where it is (though I don’t) when she attacks. She took my words to mean I stole her baby.
If/when I find the baby, I’ll bring it here but it may not matter now that I killed her. I kind of regret fighting – once she said that and engaged, I should’ve just run and try to find her baby. Probably just ruined an optional quest.
-The last runestone lies just past the naga. It shows Noctis a glimpse of Lunafreya approaching a classically-designed Ramuh. (Old man, big collar, long beard.) We only get a brief glimpse.
And… that’s it! Got the Mark of the Fulgarian.
PROMPTO: “Eh. I expected more fire and brimstone.” Me too! But I’m not disappointed. I’m glad we don’t just have a series of boss fights with the gods, at least not yet. Some variety.
-Outside the cave, the rain has stopped. A giant plane flies overhead.
-Cindy calls. She found the car! But it’s at an imperial base.
-The party thinks the plane is there to take the Regalia back to Niflheim. But… I don’t get why? Why would the empire care about getting the royal car? Our party would probably be better served by just getting a non-descript car.
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Side Stuff
-Some new chocobo races are available. I beat Ignis first, then race the full field.
-Both are tough. I need the stamina food to win, and even then it takes me 3-4 tries to beat the full field. 0:55:66 was my best time.
-Beat the last course currently available, the hoops Rocky Road course. I can keep trying for better times, but I’m good for now.
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Next time: Retrieving the Regalia.
