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All Set to Sail
-We hop back in the car with Iris and resume our drive to Cape Caem.
-The FFV airship music fits perfectly for a roadtrip here btw.
-We make a stop at the Malmalam Thicket. Just some side exploration.
-Woot, maxed out at level 10 on my chocobo! Now he can help with link strikes, though idk if it’s just random whether he’ll join in or if I can influence it. [Non-rhetorical question: Can I influence it?]
-I love that Iris joins our fight here. She even gets her own martial arts technique!
Flipping out.
-Lots of signs along the road here forbidding hunters.
-The thicket is a woody dungeon, with a frumious, dinosaur-like Bandersnatch at the end.
-Oh hey, and it’s guarding a royal tomb! Tomb of the Pious. It holds a Scepter of the Pious, that boosts dark resistance and magic.
-Not seeing another locked vault here.
-Awwww! When we hit the road again, Iris expresses how sad she’ll be when we’re no longer all hanging out together after we reach Caem.
Look. I just really like Iris. (Sorry, Luna. I’m sure you’re awesome.)
-We take a rest stop. I overhear some fellow resters say that Luna is apparently in Altissia (where we’re heading). Imperial territory.
-Another stop along the way lets me explore some especially challenging Cape Caem fishing. Challenging = have to respool the line after every fish or two. Almost level 9 fishing. Still a super fun mini game.
-Cindy, Cid, and Talcott are here. Cindy and Cid are preparing the boat for travel while Talcott and Iris will settle down here.
-My next task is to find some mythril to reinforce the boat. Gladiolus will break off and go his own way for now.
-And that’s the end of chapter 6! Which also means it’s time for my first break from the main game for a DLC, according to my friend Hatstand’s road map.
-Though first, we see Luna happily receive Noctis’ pup-mail journal.
I feel almost sure we’ll meet her next chapter in-person.
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Episode Gladiolus
-Prediction: I think this will be a mix of prologue looking into Gladiolus’ past and seeing how he takes care of leftover business remains from that past today.
-The DLC intro screen shows two dudes who look like brothers maybe, or maybe they’re both Gladiolus? I’m bad with faces. There’s a mysterious hooded person in the middle with a sword.
-Huh, there’s a further title screen. The music is pretty solid.
-Three menu options I’m unfamiliar with: Score Attack, Hall of Fame, and Final Trial.
-I’ll stick with Normal difficulty.
-We open up on our full party sitting around a campfire. The others ask Gladio about the scar on his face.
(I don’t remember his face enough to say if the scar has been there or if it’s new.) Sounds like it was from some fight with “The Blademaster.”
-Combat tutorial time against some voretooths! Definitely doing this.
-Similar controls to the main game, but blocking seems more important and less telegraphed. Gladio can also chain together regular attacks.
-He’s got a valor meter. He can spend valor to perform Glaive Arts. Not sure how you get valor.
-He’s also got a rage bar. The more you block, the higher the rage, and the stronger his attacks are.
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Of Muscle and Mettle
-Afterwards, he gets a call from Cor. They’re planning to meet. The meeting was requested by Gladio, and it sounds like they’re going to go on a journey together.
COR: “Are you mentally prepared?” Some sort of ordeal.
-They meet up in a Crow’s Nest.
COR: “Are you sure you’re ready to go up against the Blademaster?”
GLADIO: “I went up against the high commander and got my ass handed to me. I didn’t stand a chance.”
Aha! So this ordeal is some attempt for a power boost after Ravus tossed Gladio around like a ragdoll.
“Gilgamesh awaits challengers in the deepest recesses of those ruins.” GILGAMESH HAHAHAHA YESSSS, GILGAMESH MUST BE THE BLADEMASTER. God knows he’s collected enough weapons from across the FF franchise. Welcome back from the Rift, friend.
-They uncovered a network of caves about 30 years ago. Most who explore the caves never return, but Cor is the exception. He underwent some trial down there.
-I’ll bet Gilgamesh is the mysterious dude from the title screen. He looked thin instead of monstrous, but he’s wearing the signature red and has a sword. Could very well be his XV version.
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The Well-Tempered Gladio
-We head into the cave network. Very near the entrance are bodies pinned to the wall with swords.
-The bodies get up to attack. Souls following their leader in death, though they’re called Souls of Valor and of Fortitude, so I assume they’re sorta good guys.
“We test those determined to become the King’s Shield, and prepare them to inherit the power they pursue.” Yup.
-Next monster up is Brunnsormr, a giant snake.
-It uses a “guard breaking” attack. I can’t block it or the shield will shatter. Not quite sure how to discern those. [Later edit: As I go through the dungeon, I think it’s only when they have this red/purple flaming glow that their attacks break my guard.]
-The spirit of Gilgamesh appears, draped in purple smoke. One-armed instead of… what is he usually, eight-armed? He looks INCREDIBLE. Badass af. I like his voice actor too.
-A quick fight destroys Gladio, but this was just the intro.
-I get the sense that Gilgamesh was the King’s Shield for the first king of Lucis, whoever that was.
-Cor says that Gilgamesh punishes the weak for aspiring to beyond their station, for what he sees as a sort of hubris. What’s especially surprising here is that Cor says he failed his own test.
Was Marshal Cor down here to gain enough power to become the King’s Shield and failed at that? And if so, why did Gilgamesh let him live when pretty much everyone else died?
-Gladiolus’ pro-wrestling move where he grabs an enemy’s legs and swings them around just cracks me up.
-As we continue, Gilgamesh mentions something about having the strength to defeat “the darkness.” There’s some Big Bad looming out there that he’s familiar with, one alluded to before.
-We fight our way through to a trial chamber, and again Gladio will go solo.
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Undying Allegiance
-The boss here is a nergal, a necromancer that uses magic and keeps summoning a host of skelebuddies.
-The fight is tough at first. I’m really bad at this block timing.
-OH WAIT, I can block magic too! [Non-rhetorical question: can I phase-out/block magic attacks as Noctis in the main game too, or just physical attacks?]
-After defeating them, Gladio sucks up the souls nearby.
And I like that they’re willing. Helping those who defeat them is their purpose.
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Path to Perdition
-Cor rejoins, and we take a rest.
-Gladio’s father never took this trial. He was scared of failing as leader of the Crownsguard and as Shield of the King. I mean, the trial is pretty all-or-nothing. He couldn’t leave the king alone.
-Oh hey, I think I know where we are! We must be in that crystalline divide between Duscae and Clough.
-LOLOL – some turtles and wyverns attacks, so Gladio yanks a GIANT PILLAR out of the ground and swings it like a baseball bat. XD
-Next trial chamber.
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On Wings of Fire
-Of Enkidu is a boss in the Trials of Gilgamesh. In this case, he’s closer to his gargoylish FFV form than his FFXIV chicken form. A flaming bird.
-I’m still rough at the block timing, but practice is helping.
-I especially like the part where Gladio hops aboard Enkidu’s back.
He slaps at Enkidu a few times before remembering he has a giant sword to slam home.
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Next time: continuing Episode Gladiolus.
