#also thank you Tidus for hasting her

[cygnahime]

FFX Reliveblogging Part...4?

I'm grinding in the Omega Ruins in my other save, and mildly frustrated because Tidus has the highest strength in the party but......chocobo racing sucks, so he's capped at 9999 damage. Meanwhile Auron in yellow HP is doing 50k and hit 99,999 with a crit. Just the once, but it got me that trophy. I'm pretty sure Auronlu has already talked a lot about the Luca/Bevelle Crusaders/Warrior Monks conflict taking place in the background of the game. It first really comes up in Maechen's little discourse about the history of Lord Mi'ihen. Notable is that the Crusaders, originally founded as the Crimson Blades, were not originally part of the Yevonite power structure, but were subsumed presumably as an alternative to holy war. (Which is kind of hilarious, considering the our-world history of "Crusaders".) Ahhhh it's my favorite lesbians! And Clasko. I could say a lot of unkind things about the Battle Thongs, but the narrative at least never treats Lucil (and Elma) with less than total respect. Which I guess just shows how...gratuitous the clothing is. It's completely inconsistent with the characters. Bad design. Speaking of outfits, I looooove Belgemine's dress. It's so elegant! I'm pretty fond of her as a person, as well. And not just because she heals our aeons for us. She is a lady. I mean, also an undead, but it's rude to comment on these things. I usually lose this first aeon duel, but I'll give it my all anyway. Yes! I got off two Energy Blasts with a whole 37 HP to spare! Is Belgemine looking for Yuna specifically? Did she maybe meet Braska, either while alive or after death? Or is she just meeting up with all the promising summoners to see if one of them will prove worthy of her sisters? She's so mysterious and cool, I love her. Everyone has to practice their smiling faces when little kids cheer for Yuna bringing the Calm. It's very awkward, especially for Callie's mom, who does know. Now I'm talking to Luzzu and Gatta again, which of course leads me to the eternal question: who shall live and who shall die, who by fire and who by drowning, who by sword and who by beast. It's like the one branching-paths decision we make in this game, which means I think about it a lot. Additionally, when I first played this game I was deep in my Achilles/Patroclus phase and these two gave me feelings. They still do, but now the feelings contain a strong element of nostalgia. This area is just full of NPCs I love. Shelinda is a doormat, but I am fond of her. Even if it a bit rich of her to say, "It's not about defeating Sin!" to a summoner. Defeating Sin is everything to Yuna. And she still goes out of her way to make Shelinda feel better. Yuna is so kind. Auron does not have time for your racist bullshit, Wakka. Also we're all low on MP, especially you, and MP is life. We are not doing the other half of the Highroad like this. Continued adventures of endeavoring not to boost Lulu's affection through the roof. Lu, I love you, and I love talking to you, but please, let me get cutscenes with Yuna. I firmly believe that Yuna asked her guardians not to tell Tidus the full truth, after this scene if not before. She doesn't want him to change how he treats her. (How he treats her: giving her minor crises of faith every time they talk, but in a good way.) She's in a particularly yearning mood here, not least because she's just been recording her will. And here comes Tidus, acting like she has a future... (And all her other guardians pretending not to be eavesdropping.) (Up until Auron can't take it anymore, anyway.) Enter Rin, Al Bhed ambassador (unofficial). At least, he's the one out there taking up space and being Highly Visible, suggesting strangers learn the language, doing all that stuff. He is, however, definitely wearing a kink collar. No, I do not know why. I knocked the Chocobo Eater off the cliff for the very first time! Usually I kill it before pushing it that far back, but with Lulu, Auron, and Tidus all hasted, it didn't get enough turns to push back. This is usually the part of the game where I save the chocobo ride for later and grind for Ability Spheres. With Extract Ability, this will probably take less time than usual, though I also appreciate the extra AP. Plus I want to get Kimahri 'round to Steal ASAP. [Some time later] I wonder what Dona does between getting turned away at the gate and meeting us in Djose. Is there another way around, or does she just wait until Operation Mi'ihen explodes and take the main road? She's quite close behind us. I wonder if she stays to help with the aftermath as well, or if she just heads onward. She definitely got ahead of us at some point (Guadosalam if not before). I find her blend of selfishness and selflessness very intriguing. Seymour's moving on Yuna even here. I wonder if he picked her over Dona and Isaaru because she was the one he happened to encounter, or if it was deliberate: she's younger, more naive certainly than Dona, and certainly seems very devout (liable to be dazzled by a maester's attention), less experienced...younger. But I expect Seymour would have gotten quite a long way with Isaaru, who is after all the most devout of the three - and besides, if Seymour told him what becomes of a chosen guardian, Isaaru might do a lot to keep his brothers from that fate. Seymour says all the right things to and about the Crusaders, even things Tidus thinks (and we are likely to think) are true, but he doesn't mean any of them. He just wants the operation to occur as part of his power struggle with Kinoc, with a bonus of having an effect on Yuna, making her more urgently want to complete the pilgrimage before more people die. I doubt Auron's 100% got Seymour's specific number yet, but he does know he's a maester, and Auron is the founder of Team Fuck Yevon. He knows you don't move up in the ranks without stepping on the people below you. (I mean, also Seymour advocates blatant hypocrisy, which is just the Yevon leadership trademark.) Being asked to perform the sending before people die may be more of a burden than being asked after. That's a heavy emotional burden to place on a teenager. (Although I do think legal/cultural adulthood in Spira is younger than it is for us - life is short no time for childhood.) Fact: the first time I played, I didn't even notice Luzzu and Gatta standing over there and missed the scene entirely. It's a good scene, and really highlights how much Tidus still doesn't understand on a gut level. He sees Gatta wanting to fight, and doesn't think that he could die, and of course there're warring impulses there. God though, the HD remaster takes all the character out of Wakka's face, and I hate it. You know, some people might see saying, "I'll propose when we win the cup," as meaning, "when pigs fly". But I guess that doesn't make sense considering Lulu's behavior. "Being with your girl is good, but keeping Sin far away from her is better." God. Men. I mean, in Spira it's not just men - Lulu went on two pilgrimages to try to keep Yuna alive - but she's also not someone who appreciates being protected. Yeah, Tidus doesn't understand yet why Yuna let Luzzu go, because he doesn't know that she's going to her death, too. And if she feels it right to ignore all the people she loves and who love her telling her not to go, then it's right for Luzzu to do the same. They both think saving the world is more important. Wakka, Wakka no, Wakka don't - see? Racism and religious fundamentalism leads to hurting yourself by kicking a cannon when you're wearing sandals. (I do appreciate the realism though.) I flipped a coin, and it looks like this run, Gatta lives and Luzzu dies. I don't really have an opinion on which is best; it's tragic either way. Though I guess it feels a little more narratively awful to have Tidus naively suggesting Gatta go to the front lines where he gets killed...But the coin has spoken. I appreciate how they give Kinoc character and relationships in so little time. Just his intro - he walks up and hugs Auron, not a huggable person - says something. Auron is still stiff and cagey with him, but that he allowed himself to be embraced says there's more there. Of course, he's also plotting Operation Mi'ihen to break the Crusaders (and, if X-2 is taken into account, setting up the deaths of the Crimson Squad - I think to take out potential rivals), so it's not like he's a good person or anything. But he's less flat. Got the overkill on Gui with ease, thanks to Energy Blast. (And got everyone AP.) Man, Sin's arrival is Lovecraftian as fuck. I like it. The black tendrils snaking through the bay... top creepiness. How Lucil, Elma, and Clasko - how anyone - survived Sin's blast I'll never know. People were disintegrated where they stood! I also don't know how Seymour, a full caster, has the Strength to physically hold off Gui2. It's been weakened, sure, but come the heck on. (His Summon command, which he must have, is also not there. I guess we're not allowed to get a sneak peek of Anima yet.) I appreciate the extra touch of giving Seymour AP, to trick you into thinking he's going to join the party long-term. :C They almost got a shot off on Sin, but unfortunately, horseshoes and hand grenades. Also heartrending: the messages that come up when you check the corpses. Shut up, Seymour, I have another Energy Blast in me. Besides, he could go for Sin at any time; he has his Final Aeon, after all. But he won't. He'd rather destroy the world than save it with his death. And he wants Yuna to feel helpless, so she'll feel like she needs him. Oh no the dead kid who we saw practicing to avenge his sister...no...stop it... Before Jecht came to Spira, his drinking didn't have real consequences to him. He was "still the best", after all. He still had a wife who wouldn't leave him. He hurt other people, but they didn't confront him about it. It took Spira to make him see that it was a problem. Hell of a thing to put on your kid, like, "Hey, son, can I get a mercy kill? Thanks." Though I guess that is...I mean, end-of-life care is a traditional part of a child's duties. Just...not usually in your teens.

#Cygna Fantasy X #ffx #Final Fantasy X

[mezzopurrloin]

Mezzo Plays Final Fantasy X: Part 11

Yuna and her guardians have managed to escape pursuit, but they'll have to stay away from Bevelle in the future.

They camp in Macalania Woods for the night. Yuna seems to have gone off on her own, though.

Tidus finds her wading in a nearby pond.

He takes the time to apologize to her for everything he cluelessly said, about what she'd do after defeating Sin. Yuna accepts it gracefully, saying that it made her happy, not said.

She thinks that maybe she should just give it all up. Tidus agrees, and says that maybe she could go to Zanarkand with him, enjoy a blitzball game, and party all night long.

But she can't. She can't give it up, not while Sin is still alive.

Romance between the male and female leads of a Final Fantasy is pretty common, but to my knowledge this is the only one with an onscreen kiss.

The lovebirds dive into the pool together, sharing an underwater kiss too.

Yuna's resolve is a bit better after that. She requests that Tidus stay with her until the end, and he agrees. He is her guardian, after all.

They walk back to camp hand in hand, and inform the other guardians that they leave at dawn.

This is their next destination. The Calm Lands are a great plain that lies between Bevelle and the Zanarkand ruins. This is traditionally where summoners defeat Sin and bring the Calm, hence the name.

Yuna lies on her back and looks up at the sky a moment, and then they proceed onward. Unlike most areas in the game, this is one wide open plain rather than a narrow linear path. The encounter rate is pretty high too.

We run into Maechen yet again, and he provides some backstory on the place. This was a battlefield in the great machina war, and was abandoned after the rise of Sin. Summoners found it the best place to fight Sin, as there is no inhabited territory nearby.

Belgemine is here too, and she challenges Yuna to another aeon duel. She isn't really bothered by Yuna being branded a traitor to Yevon, since summoners' true duty is to defeat Sin.

Yep, it's this again.

Nogard barely scraped out a victory. Belgemine is impressed, and thinks Yuna has the potential to defeat Sin.

And she leaves with a hint.

She also gives us the ability to boost aeons' stats using items. This honestly isn't that useful, since the aeons' stats are boosted along with Yuna's anyway.

When they stop at a campsite, an old friend of Lulu's shows up to tell the group what's going on with Yevon. Mika has framed them for Kinoc's murder, and Kelk has left Yevon. Seymour's still at large too, but he and Mika don't seem to be getting along. He says it's best for them to avoid any temples for now, and thankfully there aren't any on the path to Zanarkand.

The chimeras are back, and they've got an edgy recolor now. They're still pretty difficult to deal with.

Stone Breath works like a charm, though.

In an alcove on the eastern side of the field, there's a guy setting up a monster arena. He needs captured fiends to fix it up, and sells weapons with the Capture property, allowing you to catch them. We're not really gonna do much with him now, but it's good to know about as this is important for postgame stuff.

North of the plain lies a small valley, and there a pair of Guado guards request Yuna's presence. She has nothing to discuss with Seymour, naturally.

So they bring in a robot.

This thing is basically just a punch bot, but it punches really hard and has lots of HP. It occasionally retaliates with a rocket punch that delays the target's next turn.

Grand Summon saves the day again. Also, check it out. Nogard is not actually bound by the 9999 damage limit, and with enough power can reach the secondary cap of 99999. This can be unlocked for other characters too, but that's mostly a postgame thing.

After the robot was junked, I decided not to head forward just yet. There's an alternate path here that leads to something good.

At the bottom of the gorge lies the Cavern of the Stolen Fayth. Lulu knows the place well, as a summoner she guarded once lost her life here.

The cave, as its name suggests, holds a fayth stolen from a temple. There are some new fiend types in here too.

These guys are gimmicky and annoying. There are five targetable eyes on their pot and you have to pick the right one. If you do, you get an item. If you guess wrong, it explodes.

Wakka and Lulu explain that the fayth was likely stolen to prevent summoners from using it to train, and thus, prevent them from sacrificing themselves.

Hey, we finally found one of these, and now we can activate a Luck Sphere! I decided to place it on Rikku's path, since she seems to be the lucky one.

These purple things are dark elementals. They're similar to the other elemental-based fiends we've seen, but have no weakness. They can also cast a lot of nasty spells like Bio and Osmose, which drains MP (luckily, Kimahri's Lancet can drain it back). They cast Reflect on themselves too, and will then reflect spells off of themselves onto you.

Yuna got a new trick to help deal with them. Her Dispel magic removes all buff effects from an enemy, and ignores reflection. Then Lulu and Kimahri can use their spells to finish it off.

We've picked up a couple of these spheres for the Sphere Grid, and they're quite handy. They let one character immediately learn an ability of the specified type, provided an ally has already acquired it. I used the Special Sphere to teach Steal to Kimahri, as it's always good to have more people who can snatch items.

Lulu learned the spell Demi, and thanks to a black magic sphere Kimahri got it too. If you remember the tutorial boss, this spell deals damage equal to 1/4 of the enemy's current HP. It's really good to use on high HP enemies, and Lulu can cast it with her Overdrive to dish out some fast-paced whittling down. Bosses are often immune, unfortunately.

There she is, the unsent soul of the summoner Lulu failed to protect. Yuna attempts a sending, but is blocked by an unknown force.

Lulu: "Allow me to perform my last duty to you. My last as your guardian."

She summons an aeon we haven't seen before.

Yuna's Grand Summon is ready to go.

A devastating blow, but not quite enough to finish him off.

Everyone else had to step in, including Lulu of course.

After the aeon dies, her soul is sent.

They can now proceed to the chamber of the fayth.

This fayth asks to be paid before he will join us. His offer: 250,000 gil. Unfortunately, I can't afford that right now, so it's back off to grinding a bit and selling things off. Getting everyone further along the Sphere Grid will help with those late game bosses anyway.

The nice thing about this being a screenshot LP is that I can skip over a lot of that. But I will take the time to point out a few new fiend types that show up, like this ghost here.

Its Doom special places a countdown over a character that decreases every turn. When it runs out, they will die.

Kimahri can learn this as an Overdrive too. Once the ghost was doomed, I had Tidus cast Haste on it, ensuring its counter would count down faster than mine.

Boom.

I also went back up to the Calm Lands and did some grinding there. This guy has "bad news" written all over him.

Its Bad Breath deals out pretty much every negative status of the game, save death and petrification. Still, I had to fight it because yes, Kimahri learns that as an Overdrive too.

The basilisks from Djose Highroad got an edgy color upgrade too. Rikku (and Kimahri, now that he knows Steal too) can steal petrification grenades from them, a very useful tool.

I also got the chance to try out a new spell for Lulu. Death summons the grim reaper to take an enemy's soul, ending its life instantly. It doesn't always work, but when it does, it ends the fight in a snap.

I managed to negotiate the price down to 208,000 gil, and the fayth was satisfied.

His canon name is Yojimbo, and I got three different people saying I should call him Greg. It's apparently a XIV joke, but I haven't played far enough in XIV to see it. Whatever, his name is Greg now.

On the way back, I ran across a mysterious apparition.

Hoo boy, we do not need to be dealing with you right now. This is one of the Dark Aeons, the postgame superbosses. Each one mimics the appearance of an aeon we have. I didn't even realize this thing could show up at this point in the game, and challenging it would be suicide, so I didn't come any closer. Thankfully, there's a nearby warp to go back to the entrance.

Greg is unlike any other aeon we've obtained. To use him, you must pay gil for his services, and then he'll randomly use one of his four special attacks. He doesn't have an Overdrive, but filling the bar makes it more likely for him to use his strongest move. Daigoro is an attack from his dog, Kotetsu is a set of throwing knives, and Wakizashi is a slash with the blade at his hip. If you pay him nothing, he leaves.

And the last one... somehow I was lucky enough to get this on the second try, even though I only paid 200 gil.

This blade deals death, and absolutely nothing can avoid or resist it. Even bosses are slain in a single stroke. If that sounds game breaking, well, it is, but it's balanced out by its extreme rarity. You have to be really lucky for him to use this move.

With that out of the way, we are ready to resume Yuna's pilgrimage, but the next step on the path won't be easy...

#mezzo's screenshot lps #final fantasy x