Cecil's always been a boring wuss-pants because he just never seems to like getting shit done, and most of the stuff we do in FF4 is generally directed by the other characters. It's just that when he becomes a Paladin and encounters Golbez personally it becomes more apparent. Mostly because Golbez is a much better character (and Kain, to an extent). Cecil's simply a shitty leader in general.
Not a single argument here, although I do think that Cecil's character is largely implicit. He's revealed to be a very forgiving guy over the course of the two games.
Advent Children and KH Cloud might be the root, but its weird because the decision to make him that way in those things doesn't really make much sense compared to how he was in FF7. Crisis Core's pre-mental breakdown Cloud is pretty in-line with post-recovery Cloud, once you factor for his newfound self-confidence. In Dissidia he kinda walks the line, his voice actor shatnering while his character questions (rightly) why they're all fighting.
A lot of the other female FF characters exhibit more strength and personality than she does. She's generally, and irritatingly, one-note and lacked depth. For instance, Yuna ended up having a multifaceted personality later expanded upon in the second game, and imo, exhibited more meaningful strength in terms of narrative, will, and goals than Lightning ever did. Lightning was only there to deliver one-liners, look cool, and be related to the catalyst to the plot.
Not a single argument here, although I do think that Cecil's character is largely implicit. He's revealed to be a very forgiving guy over the course of the two games.
I never really liked Cloud's English voice actor. "The General Hospital dude? That dude? Why?" I don't think I ever had a voice in my head for Cloud, now that I think about it...
LAST TIME: We got to get some new members into our party! In this update, we get to meet yet another member of the "We Hate Beef" club. At least their team jackets are nice...
Our destination this time is Bervennia. From what I hear, the locals are very friendly, and the tavern has--
Oh son of a bitch. ANOTHER ACCUSATION? How many people are going to accuse us of killing someone!?
That's a damn good question! Who is this nobody accusing me of killing someone? I've killed hundreds of people, lady, so you gotta be more specific.
...Aw dang. Looks like there's no dodging Folmarv's family right now. And now we're being accused of killing Isilud? The one guy who didn't deserve to die? What rotten luck.
The mission here is simple: KO Meliadoul. She brings her own troops, but they're no tougher than the grunts you normally face. In fact, Meliadoul herself isn't all that tough. The only thing that's noteworthy about this fight is that she's carrying some good gear, including a female-only accessory that grants auto-life and auto-regen. Stealing from her is made a lot harder thanks to her sword skills, which not only do hefty damage but break your equipment. I managed to get off lucky and only leave with a broken helment, but in other runs you might not be so lucky.
Here we see Beef once again trying to explain to people that he's completely innocent, and that a gang of demons from another world is possessing people into doing their bidding in order to continue a nasty conspiracy involving overthrowing the crown and placing the church into power.
...What? It seems reasonable!
But I'm not lying! Why won't anyone believe my crazy story!?
...Stop bringing up relatives, Beef. I thought we established that whenever you do, bad things happen.
DAMMIT. "____ would never deceive me" is always a recipe for disaster.
OH MY GOD. Did she not just say that Isilud was her brother!?
...Oh wait, Beef wasn't there for that interaction. Oopsie! Forget I yelled at him.
Isilud might've wanted to legitimately change the world, but what he didn't know was that his Zodiac Stone was gonna eventually try and do bad things to him if he kept following Folmarv's orders. Best to leave those things to the professionals, like us! We don't do anything irresponsible with them, like stick them in random holes with the proper zodiac sign and...ohhhhhhh.
It takes a bit since we're trying to steal from her, but we eventually get what we want and then deliver the critical blow. And just like so many others, she vows revenge right before fleeing. One day, we're going to meet someone who isn't trying to kill us when a battle starts, and that person will want to join us instead of accuse us of murder.
MEANWHILE, IN...
We finally get to see how Delita has been doing while being with Princess Ovelia...in name only.
Poor guy. He's never gonna let her memory go, for better or worse.
Ovelia, on the other hand, is trying to learn how to make music from a blade of grass. Might as well do something while forced to stay in a castle, right?
Delita decides to put the snark aside for a minute in order to teach her something that he learned back at the academy. Once again, the screenshot feature is really bad at picking up sound, but she manages to pull it off!
Go Ovelia!
It took a while, but Delita shares what happened to his sister with Ovelia. She's since warmed up to him since he protected her at the waterfall, and she doesn't feel like running away in terror anymore. What a guy~
Delita...a true knight. I'd make a joke about Ovelia and a "true princess," but that would just be mean.
...Yuna??? I suppose she didn't give them back a dress she borrowed, we all know how this type of pop stars act. She has a different voice so she isn't Yuna, and has her own mooks!
Boss battle 1, ???? and Goon x2: I'm so glad to announce the glorious return of the ATB system after FFVIII!!!
IX didn't have it, and if anyone tells you the opposite, lies!
As we can see, the slower character has a longer ATB bar. All bars fill at the same rate (when not hasted/slowed).
In this game it's a pretty good idea not using the attack command much. And why is that? The growth system! Every skill a character uses gives 1 AP (killing normal enemies give 1 AP too so defeating a weak foe with Firaga gives 2 AP for example). Rikku has Steal to abuse this until the enemies stop giving items (one per enemy, so three thefts). Paine has Weapon Break, but that spends MP, so I only use attack.
Oh, no! She's escaping!
On the way, our girls find more mooks. I have to kill the women first because for some reason Fire slows the emulator and I don't want to endure it. There's a person disguised as a moogle in a pier that cures the party for free.
Two important bad guys appear to attack Rikku and Paine. The thin one is Logos and the fat one is Ormi.
Lara Croft Yuna comes to help them with her new guns!
After a jump beffiting of an athlete and imperfect aim (blood in mah lighthearted FF? No, no, no!)
Boss battle 2, Ormi and Logos: Yuna has a skill called Trigger Happy that consists of mashing the R1 button while a timer goes down to do multiple weak hits. That brings us to a new combat aspect in this game, the chains. When a character attacks an enemy while in its "stun animation" it adds 1 to the "chain". When the stun animation ends, the chain breaks. The higher the chain, the more powerful are attacks against that enemy. Trigger Happy isn't very damaging by itself, but it builds the chain so a timed attack after it can wreck the enemy. Rikku attacks twice with her normal attack (I loved the reference to Zidane here with the two daggers) so this can help building the chain too.
Ooops, I was in the middle of a battle! I love explaining these things even if I'm not an expert (I haven't completed Via Infinito). Logos is a gunner and has a big evasion stat. Ormi uses his shield as a boomerang and has high defense (He reminds me of Cindy of the Magus Sisters, he's so roooound and even attacks with his back!). After stealing and attacking them, they're defeated.
Evil Yuna appears to save her minions and my Yuna wants her "Garment grid" back. "Didn't you girls ever learn to share?", she responds. I like sharing clothes, but not with you!
She gives it back and then reverts back to her former self.
Boss battle 3, Leblanc: This battle teaches how to switch Dresspheres. Dresspheres are the jobs of this game and right now I have four: Gunner, Thief, Warrior and Songstress. "Jobs" don't share abilities in this game (with some exceptions I'll explain when I get the items/skills related to that), so switching between dresspheres is the form of "combining" jobs in this game. Each girl can equip a garment grid (right now they have the same) where the dresspheres are placed. You can freely switch to the adjacent dresspheres to the one you're using. Being a tutorial, this battle mandates you to switch Yuna to Songstress. Look how she changes clothes!
The rest of the battle consists of blinding Leblanc with Yuna while the others attack her.
Farewell, Leblanc! You were pretty tough...
Yuna starts dancing uncontrollably and...
Mission Complete! and all the spoils I didn't get earlier.
Just one last comparison to show off the wonderful PAL releases of X and X-2. Played on a PS2 the title screen of X-2 actually looks like this (after I cut off all the black borders):
It's interesting to see that this somehow isn't a problem on emulators.
Looking back at my original X-2 post, I saw it's already half a year old. I shouldn't always start games and then drop them again. I probably have 4 or 5 games in this thread for which I only made one post.
You're not alone! I love FFX-2; definitely one of my favourite FF games in the entire series and I sincerely mean that.
Also, damn that spoils screen looks sharp in an emu. If I play the International + LM version again, I think I know what I'm gonna do (provided it works).
Playing Playstation 2 games in my PC has opened me the gates to a new wonderful world. I think I'm going to put my PS2 in a closet and play rips of my games from now on. Now I understand the Dolphin guys!
Now that Dark Schala mentions FM+International, I want a release of X-2 and XII international versions in the West. Please Square Enix, use this "delay" in FFXHD to put the other two games!!!
But seeing how they didn't include FFX international in that expensive collection I'm not very positive
Zack, Lazard, Yuffie, Genesis, Hollander, Aeris, and Cloud have new additions to their profiles. Mission & DMW statuses are once again updated in the OP, so check out that 50% completion!
It's that good old "Missions & Memories" time again! A slew of new memories were unlocked and on the mission side of things a saga comes to a close!
M&Ms.5
Missions: Crying Wolf
"Stop that! Get away from me! Someone heeelp!" is something Zack would hear a bunch of times. Yuffie dropped the anonymous title and is now in danger! Once Zack cleared the monsters out of the area she popped out at him! "One, this one's been a long time coming... Two, with unshakeable resolve deep inside... Three, here she is to save the day..." Yuffie welcomes him to his doom! Yup she was faking being in danger and drops a save point for Zack to use before she steals all his goods but he didn't fall for that trap so off she went crying again! Once again she tells him where she's going and this time when the monsters are gone she sneaks up and loots the treasure chest, however she calls the item a piece of junk and leaves it. "What a twisted little brat." The next time she calls the loot a piece of trash! "...How does she know all these dangerous places?" She beats him to the treasure in the wastelands but once again isn't pleased with it. "I should put her address on my blacklist... ...But I am getting some rare items. Maybe these are worth the trouble."
Her next mail implied she was in danger but history repeats itself in the slums where she seems fine. "That's it! I'm never gonna help you again, Yuffie!" Zack changes his mind when the next mail is without a subject and the message in all caps. "One, all she desires is Wutai's recovery... Two, with a passion deep inside her heart... Three, a passion for vengeance!" Zack tells her to cool her jets since he'd just saved her. Yuffie spills the beans as to where she gets the locations of these places from. Some anti-Shinra group setup base in Wutai and she sneaks in to spy on their meetings. Now she demands he fight her, but before that sets up another save point for him to use! He turns to look at it then right back around at her who almost snagged something. She does her little crying act but wait! "YES! I got my treasure!" she stole Zack's Bahamut Fury materia! "You took that from me? No-no-no! Trust me, you don't want that! Give it back!"
Epilogue~ "The materia was sent back to Zack several days later. Its value was most likely lost on Yuffie, being more than she could handle. Later, Yuffie's talents would blossom, taking her on a path to become a materia hunter. But that's another story."
Memories: A Chance Encounter
Zack recalls finding out Cissnei's on vacation too.
Cissnei: "Zack!"
*Zack stares out over the edge of the boat as Cissnei approaches*
Zack: "Cissnei?"
Cissnei: "What are you doing here?"
Zack: "Dunno, I was just told to take leave at Costa del Sol. What about you?"
Cissnei: "What a coincidence! I was given leave by my supervisor as well. So I thought I'd take a little vacation here."
Zack: "My leave...wasn't an order from the director."
Cissnei: "Well, it's not often we have time off, so let's forget about work and spread our wings a little. See you around."
*Cissnei walks away*
Zack: "Wings...not my favorite word right now... Coincedence, huh...?"
Memories: He Never Learns
Zack recalls Cloud saving his butt.
*Zack just finished off monsters, not noticing one behind him*
Zack: "Way too easy!"
Cloud: "Zack, get down!"
*Cloud shoots the monster*
Zack: "Wow, looks can be deceiving! Thanks, I owe you one."
Cloud: "Glad to be of help."
Memories: A Solemn Exit
Zack recalls leaving Modeoheim.
Zack: "Sorry to keep you waiting... Let's go home."
Memories: A Show of Skill
Zack recalls Aeris asking him to show off.
Aeris: "Hey, Zack?"
Zack: "Hm?"
Aeris: "That thing you did before, where you jump onto your feet--can you do it on sand?"
Zack: "Of course! But if I do it for you, you've gotta promise me one date!"
Aeris: "Sure! But if you can't do it, you have to grant me one tiny wish."
Zack: "Deal!"
*lays in the sand to try but fails*
Zack: "Uh... Oops... Wait, wait! One more try, please..."
Aeris: "All right... Just one more try, though."
*Zack tries again and succeeds*
Zack: "Hut! Heh! Told you I could do it! Hm?"
Memories: What A Mess
Zack recalls a raid on Shinra HQ.
Zack: "Wow, they really did a number on this place..."
Tseng: "The Turks will track them down. After that it's all up to you, Zack."
Zack: "Yeah, no sweat!"
Memories: The Man in Red
Zack recalls the first time he met the real Genesis.
*no dialogue, its literally the same scene from chapter three*
Memories: Fitting In
Zack recalls his visit to the slums.
Zack: "So this is the slums..."
Aeris: "Is something wrong?"
Zack: "It's just so...cluttered."
Aeris: "Does it make you feel...uncomfortable?"
Zack: "Unfortunately, I feel right at home!"
Aeris: "Hooray! I knew that you'd say that!"
Zack: "Is that really something to be happy about...?"
Memories: And the Verdict Is...?
Zack recalls Aeris's reaction to his new hair style.
Aeris: "Tee hee hee..."
Zack: "Is...is it really that weird?"
Aeris: "It's just that it's so different."
Zack: "Maybe I should change it back."
Aeris: "No, no! It looks good, really."
Zack: "Right, right?"
*Aeris giggles again*
Aeris: "But I still can't quite get used to it."
Zack: "Gimme a break here..."
Memories: Fallen Friends
Zack recalls the result of an assignment he and others undertook.
Zack: "It's them..."
Tseng: "Yeah."
*they approach graves in the snow*
Zack: "It's been a long time... Sebastian, Essai."
Tseng: "Zack, I'm sorry. Our dealings with AVALANCHE resulted in SOLDIER casualties..."
Zack: "Don't worry about it. In the end they returned to their senses. And I can see them anytime I come here."
*Zack speaks to the graves*
Zack: "We're doing all right on our side. So rest easy. Don't worry about us. See you later."
So I finished Modeoheim, did the amazing beach-blanket-battle, and am done in Junon now. The scene with Zack crying and Aerith comforting him is as fanfic as it gets, but at the same time it comes off as genuine, endearing, and legitimately enhances their relationship within the narrative.
Kunsel told me he stalks me, though, so I'm creeped the hell out by him. Also, "build the wagon" is now a euphemism for hot, crazy sex, because that is the ONLY reason why Aerith should be so freaking insistant that she and Zack "do it now."
I never noticed the question mark in that screen before. And because I'm clearly never going to get to it, I'm glad to see you playing one of my favorite games in the series.
I never noticed the question mark in that screen before. And because I'm clearly never going to get to it, I'm glad to see you playing one of my favorite games in the series.
Zack being responsible for 7th Heaven's name is where I draw the line! But... "big bosom"? At least someone at Square still gets it!
Pt.13 "The Girl and the Seasoned Soldier"
Zack rushed from Junon to the Midgar slums and while approaching the church felt as though something was watching him. Inside the church he finds Aeris hanging out with an Angeal copy monster! This things no badguy though. As a matter of fact it takes out a Shinra mech which had barged in. Got itself a little banged up in the process so the monster goes to chill out up in the rafters. Zack treats it like a pet essentially telling it to stay and behave. Now while is Aeris shaken up, she still prods him to get going with the wagon building. Naturally she won't be the one going out searching for tools and materials.
So Zack heads outside and finds three more of those mechs waiting for him! They're no match for some highly suggested Dark Firaga! Tseng shows up and explains that these pathetically weak things were able to take out most of the Genesis copies in Midgar. Also they can't yet differentiate between monsters and members of SOLDIER bringing up that theme again. Zack has a bone to pick with Tseng for spying on Aeris but hey, it's part of the job and that Zack is free to continue playing with her all he wants. Then the former thief kid runs up to give Zack hints on where to find wagon parts! Some used tools are easily found on the ground. On the way to the market some new Shinra mail arrives stating both Lazard and Hollander were killed in action. uh huh.
There just so happens to be lumber lying around unattended in the market - or so Zack thought. A carpenter from Sector 7 says its his! He hears Zack out however and makes a deal. Give a good name for the bar and the woods all his! Seventh Heaven sounds good and gives the carpenter some really detailed ideas about how to design it, such as including a secret hideout for anti-Shinra forces. Um... our hero pretends not to have heard that part. Wheels are obtained up in Sector 8 from a guy with a nice car and building instructions are found back by the church where the hunt began! *sawsawbangbang* A wagon is born! Its a shame that Aeris is somewhat disappointed in it and wants a nicer one. It's just 1 of her 23 tiny wishes! She hands a list of them to Zack so he won't forget! But for now he has to head back to HQ cause Sephiroth called and said there are new developments.
The low down is that a ton of monsters have spawned near a mako reactor and members of SOLDIER on-site have vanished. Now the company wants Sephiroth and Zack to investigate. The missing guys had been tracking Lazard and the copy creating device may have been seen nearby. These orders, circumstances, and the way Shinra is handling things are bugging Sephiroth. Its time to prepare for the assignment and as always prepare means doing all kinds of unrelated stuff! First off is getting Kunsel to buy Zack some time! The supply pod contains Sprint Shoes which are very useful. Zack talks some sense into an Angeal fan club member who was going to abandon her kid, and also unites the rival Genesis fan clubs.
He then meets the chairwoman of his own fan club and becomes a member himself which is kind of strange. Finally he reports to Aeris and tells her he'll be gone for a little while but she can still call him! Since they each have so much free time they decide to start selling flowers! Aeris delicately pushes the cart and Zack fails to attract sales, but they have fun anyhow. He spots Tseng doing his spying thing and leaves the next potential customer to her while he goes to have a chat. Tseng tells Zack not to worry about Aeris because protecting her is also part of his duty. Zack's going to hold that to him!
*sawsawbangbang* A new and improved wagon is born! This one is extra cute and really brings in the customers! Aeris says that when Zack gets back from his assignment she'd like to try selling flowers in the parts of the city above. It's a promise! *sawsawbangbang* A suped up wagon is born! Aeris doesn't dig it, but Zack does! They try selling flowers with it but only attract oddballs who mistake it for some kind of new weapon. This is one wagon Aeris had better not take out on her own!
Back at HQ, Zack and Kunsel make plans to meetup again in Midgar once their assignements are over. Over by the windows Zack sees a grunt loafing around and asks what the problem is. He whines about having trouble gathering everyone up and Zack's like get a move on despite all the goofing off he'd just done! "Sir!" Hey, it's Cloud! They'll be working together once again! He enthusiastically rounds up the other grunts and the four of them wait around until Sephiroth arrives late to the party. "By the way, where are we going?" All that time preparing and Zack didn't bother to learn where they're headed? It's good he can count on Sephiroth to be on top of things. Sephiroth states that they're assignment is to take place in Nibelheim.
Got FF4CC today! Pretty stoked. If only I didn't have CRITICAL MASS HOMEWORK to do tonight. Oh well. I'll begin playing it in tandem with FF7 after I finish Crisis Core. Which is only delaying because I insist on preparing Zack for his ultimate super final showdown where he kills Minerva in the afterlife.
Meanwhile, Zack goes out for contraceptives before building a wagon with Aerith.
Once again the OP has the latest Mission & DMW progress and some additional info for Tseng!
The shortest "Missions & Memories" yet! The DMW was unpleased with me, as I was with the growing mission difficulty!
M&Ms.6
Missions: The Sun, The Sea, and the Squats
Zack's previous vacation turned out to be short-lived so as a way of apology the company is giving him another opportunity for fun in the sun! "This is the vacation I deserve!" A man rushes up to him and says the guys from before are back and Zack should do something about it! These darn Genesis copies were extra annoying so at least there were only three this time! With the baddies down, Zack starts off his fun with some squats! Since those jerks interupted it the company gives him another vacation but this time a trio of monsters attack. Third times the charm? Not a chance! Some Bomb-type critters are raising the water temperature so Zack has to take 'em out! Another vacation permit is granted but wouldn't you know it, Hojo had been there to and kind of let some of his sample monsters run wild. The company calls it bad luck yet insists he try to make the next one count. He would've had he not been called upon to battle a hundred freaking sea worms infesting the beach! He's thanked for defending the resorts image but is told he'll only get one more shot at a vacation. Awaiting him there is a large Sea Hulk monster tearing up the beach which he has no choice but to battle. He takes it all in stride and makes the most of what little free time he had left with even more squats...
Memories: Company Policy
Zack recalls a difference of opinion with Tseng.
Zack: "Hey, Tseng. You have no problem with this village being bombarded? Because I have a big problem with it!"
Tseng: "All evidence of misconduct must be erased. As a Turk I must enforce company policy."
Zack: "That excuse again..."
Memories: Table for More
Zack recalls his dinner plans with Cloud.
Zack: "Cloud, there you are."
*Cloud's leaning over looking sick*
Zack: "Are you all right?"
Grunt 1: "Is he an acquainance of yours, sir?"
Zack: "He's a friend...and a fellow country boy. Do you think he's up for some food?"
Grunt 1: "Food? Yes, we're definitely up for some!"
Grunt 2: "Woohoo!"]
Zack: "Huh!? Wait a minute... Hmm, what to do..."
*Zack considers his options*
Zack: "All right, then! I'll treat you guys as well. But you have to look out for Cloud, you hear me?"
Grunts 1 & 2: "Sir! Yes sir!"
*Cloud finally gets up and speaks*
Cloud: "Thanks, Zack. Maybe I'll go with you, too."
ATB option was gone? I'm not a fan but why would they do that? FFX-2 looks like it'll pack alot of silly fun but I gotta say "Paine" is the worst name. And Yuna wielding guns seems... weird.
When I was a teenager, FFX's ending made me cry my eyes out. If Square-Enix decides to get off their asses and decides to work on that HD version of FFX we'll see if that'll still be the case.
I first played FFX at the age of 21 and it made me cry then... and then, when I rewatched the ending video a few years back at the age of 30, I cried even more. Granted, I've gotten more sentimental as I've aged but the game did a really solid job of selling the relationship between Tidus and Yuna.
The one thing we can be thankful for in FFXIII is that Toriyama didn't attempt a serious love story.
Your FFIV runthrough continues to amuse me. I didn't remember Cecil being so ineffectual in that version. The DS version (the most recent I played) evened out some of those rough edges, as I recall.
It's process of elimination, Aeana. The music in T3B was Shimomura. The visuals were Nomura and Kamikokuryo. The gameplay was Tabata. Development was HexaDrive and "production" was Kitase.
Guess who wrote the transcendental, glorious, majestic, mind-blowingly bad plot?
It doesn't sound hard: Get Phoenix Downs, get Costly Punch, get Genji Gear, MURDER THE WHORE GODDESS WHO SPARED THAT BASTARD GENESIS BUT NOT YOU NOR YOUR LOVER.
My great disappointment is that Shinryu is never going to be a challenge, and my entire playthrough of the entire series will end with the Warrior of Light tracking down that snake and utterly murdering him.
It's like IN DISSIDIA: Shinryuu's been absorbing heroes for cycles now, so he's like, at least level 2000! IN SOUL OF CHAOS: SHINRYU IS MAYBE LEVEL 60!
There's no going back now so I hope ya created a second save file before going into this chapter!
Pt.14 "This Just Can't Be Right"
The men arrive safely at Nibelheim, which happens to be Cloud's hometown. Sephiroth asks how he's feeling but Cloud has nothing to say. Maybe he got sick on the ride over? Zack pipes up and asks about Sephiroth's hometown. Sephiroth says he doesn't have one and his mother who was named Jenova died after his birth... then stops and wonders why he's divulging his life story to grunts and Zack and tells 'em all to get a move on! Suddenly a cowgirl named Tifa approaches to ask about SOLDIER and ends up scurrying away sort of dejectedly. "Weird girl..." Sephiroth babies the group by reminding them to get plenty of rest, then grants Cloud permission to visit his family & friends. Zack asks why Cloud's keeping the mask on "It's...personal." Next he meets a kid who speaks of the Seven Wonders of Nibelheim. That catches his interest!
Wonder #1 involves the towns drinking water turning red, like blood. Zack climbs the water tower and finds a Phoenix materia! Wonder #2 is about a painting with a disappearing girl on it. As he discovers, this is because it's a double-sided painting which gets turned around from time to time. Wonder #3 involves a 'Bomb' type monster with a face different from the others out on Mt. Nibel. Zack heads there where he finds and defeats it to bring back proof that this wonder was indeed wondrous! Wonder #4 is about a laughing safe in the Shinra mansion. On the way there he gets mail from Cissnei stating that they should go see the Loveless play when they both return to Midgar. Finding the safes combination took peeping through the keyholes of various room and when unlocked, out popped a Cactuar! The poor little thing must've been trapped in there and it happily runs off. Wonder #5 involves bloodcurdling screams coming from caverns beneath the mansion but that'll have to wait. There's a dude with a camera nearby who wants a picture of Sephiroth and not some small-time supporting character like Zack. Ouch!
One good nights sleep later and its off to the mako reactor with Tifa as their guide! The trip appears to be rather uneventful and when they reach their destination only Sephiroth & Zack go inside. Tifa wants in to, but some grunt tells her to talk to the hand. Denied! Inside the reactor Zack spots a sealed door with the name 'Jenova' engraved above it while Sephiroth finds the cause of the malfunction. He makes Zack seal the valve since that kind of oddjob is below him, then has him look into a pod. Take a look? Okay.... jesus christ! No more looking inside weird containers again! There's a monster inside created by Hojo, and by the way, average members of SOLDIER are enhanced with mako but still human claims, Sephiroth. "You said 'average' member. What about you?" Zack, you really shouldn't have posed that question.
Sephiroth starts feeling ill and questioning if he was created the same way. In swoops an uninvited Genesis who makes the claim that yeah, Sephiroth is indeed a monster. Genesis wants Sephiroth to share some of his perfect, non-degradable cells with him so that he may continue to live. "My friend, your desire; Is the bringer of life, the gift of the goddess". He offers a dumbapple to his old friend, which Sephiroth smacks out of Genesis's hand. Whether Genesis is telling the truth or not, it doesn't matter cause he'll rot anyway. "When the war of the beasts brings about the world's end; The goddess descends from the sky; Wings of light and dark spread afar; She guides us to bliss, ...her everlasting gift". Zack finally recovers and chases after them back out of the reactor only to find an injured Cloud and a frightened Tifa. He rescues them both from the Genesis copies and escorts them back to town.
Sephiroth is nowhere in sight so Tifa offers to locate him. In the meantime Zack gets Cloud into a bed at the inn. Cloud's feeling mopey over his failure to defend Tifa. Zack on the other hand is feeling anger and ready to lash out at stuff due how close SOLDIER and monsters seem to be, and because all he does is fight yet never solves anything. Cloud reminds him of his honor which snaps Zack back into his usual cheerful self! He thanks his friend, does a quick squat, then hits the sack! The next morning he finds mail from Cloud asking if Zack would come visit his mom with him since he feels uncomfortable going alone. Mail from Tifa asks if the grunt was okay and that she'd like to talk with him about SOLDIER. And speak of the Tifa, she rushes into the inn and tells Zack that Sephiroth was spotted at the Shinra mansion.
Aeris finally gets a call through! Now is not the best time to speak which is disappointing but Zack promises to come see her soon. "Aeris, wait for me just a little while longer." He and Cloud run off to the mansion and along the way comes mail from Kunsel. He got back to Midgar and was going to look after Aeris but found the Turks were already doing that. Oh and one of the tires came off her wagon and she's waiting on Zack to come back and fix it! Mail from Tifa arrives, this time asking if there are any blond guys in SOLDIER and that she's learning how to fight for herself. Inside the mansion, mail from Luxiere shows up saying he'll follow Zack to the end! Sephiroth's in the basement but so is something else! Zack remembered about Wonder #5 and found the source. A guy sleeping inside a coffin!? "M-maybe... I should leave him alone..." He reports back to the kid who finds that a little curious. Wonder #6 is about a "treasure within the flames". Having not seen anything resembling flames around Zack decides its best to get back on track and find Sephiroth!
LAST TIME: we got introduced to Inigo Montoya Meliadoul, and we also got a glimpse of what life is like with Delita. This time, we actually get to MEET with him, as well as work on obtaining yet ANOTHER extra character.
We start things off with another animated cutscene, where Beef and Delita start talking more about Delita's plans behind the scenes (including an assassination plot). Soon, that jerk who labeled us as heretics back when we were meeting with Alma comes a-knocking, and he wants to finish the job!
Unfortunately for Delita, he gets spotted with us. It's not something that he planned on, so he makes sure to try and kill him. Beef wants to try and reason with them. I think he's been going to church far too often (ironic for being a heretic), because killing them seems a lot easier.
Even Delita jokes about it! Will his tact ever return?
The fight itself is fairly short. You only really need to take out Zalmour to end the mission, and the reason it takes long is because he has a bunch of healing spells, and he can even revive his own troops!
Our onslaught ends up to be too much for him, and he soon falls.
After the battle, Beef and Delita talk again about what our current plans of action will be.
It seems that things are finally coming up Milhouse! We've got hard evidence against the church, we're gonna get help from the motherfucking THUNDER GOD himself, and after that we're gonna get something to eat. Things couldn't get better!
She's kinda cute. She's also Delita's personal assistant/assassin. Not that he needs it.
She's also just as snarky as Delita, if not moreso.
Of course, Delita brings the snark right back. I also like how everyone knows me...too bad it's partly because I'm wanted across the country.
More fighting, it seems. Delita isn't looking to fill his plate with anything besides his current mission, so this is a setback he isn't going to particularly enjoy solving. Luckily, Beef is here to help him out!
What a guy, that Delita. Stay safe!
...What a guy, that Delita. :|
Women always know just the right thing to say to make something sting the most.
In the meantime, there's another character to be found. This involves more digging through taverns and reading the rumors. I'm not going to do your homework for you, but you'll find a rumor in one of the taverns that talks about a thief running around in a nearby city. When you enter that city, another animated cutscene triggers that introduces Balthier from FF12!
You're damn straight we won't object. This battle is another easy battle made even easier by the fact that Balthier is broken as fuck. His class "Sky Pirate" is a combination of Mustadio's Mechanist class and Thief, which means that if you get bored sniping with his gun (which happens to be one of the strongest guns in the game), you can get in close and steal things from enemies with a high rate of success because Balthier's base speed is ridiculously high. He also has a technique called Barrage, which is what makes him so busted to begin with. It deals 4 attacks to a square, each one at half-damage but without a chance to miss. This also stacks with Dual Wield if you have it, which means up to 8 unavoidable swings on an enemy unit. Did I mention how high is natural speed is? Because I should since it means he can get away with doing this multiple times in a battle before other units - including your own - can move.
He is arguably a better character than the THUNDER GOD himself, but that will be saved for another time. Once the battle is over, Beef and Balthier begin to talk, although Balthier talks about something vague.
I don't really know much about Balthier, but I'm assuming he has a reason to be searching for it...and for why he's in my universe.
...Something tells me that Balthier has a one-track mind. Does he act this foolish in his own world?
Whoawhoa, "leading man?" Check the script, buddy. This is MY story.
So this "Cache of Glabados" is hinted to have brought him here? No wonder he wants to find it. I kinda wanna find it myself, if only to get him out of my universe.
...I don't mean that. Please stay and kill everything for me plz.
You tell him, Beef! He may be one of the best characters in the game, but he can leave the sass behind!
I'm not even going to link the music for him. HMPH.
NEXT TIME: it's someone's birthdaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay! :3
My memory of these events shouldn't be fuzzy since I'd revisted them just a little over week ago and yet some of this stuff seems different somehow...
Pt.15 "Fire Starter"
Down in the basement mansion Zack finally pays Sephiroth a visit but the guy's got his face buried in books about the Jenova Project and doesn't want any distractions. "From that day, Sephiroth shut himself inside Shinra Manor... ...and proceeded to review document after document, like a man possessed. The lights in the basement never went off... And on the seventh day..." Zack awakens to the town aflame. He rushes outside and sees a downed Cloud along with something else. The face a million fangirls fell in love with. Sephiroth is heading one way, however Zack is still sane and stops to search for survivors. He rescues a kids precious mom from their burning home. ...? Oh! That's Wonder #6! Whatever the last one is, it'll have to wait since Zack goes running off towards the reactor.
There he finds a gravely injured Tifa. He tries to help but despite her injuries she wants nothing to do with him. "I hate you! I hate Shinra, I hate SOLDIER! I hate you all!" Zack puts on his angry face and slices the door to the Jenova room to bits! "Why did you kill the townspeople? Why did you hurt Tifa? Answer me, Sephiroth!" This interuption doesn't phase Sephiroth from continuing his chat with some machine then ripping it away to reveal Jenova. btw didn't I just say no more looking in weird containers?! >_< Sephiroth may want to "take back the planet" and visit the Promised Land with the corpse of some ancient monster, but Zack isn't about to just let him up and do so! Sephiroth knocks him away to the floor below but the battles only getting started!
Sephiroth moves so fast it's hard to get a ton of hits in on him! Zack gets some help from Aeris in the form of a fully powered Healing Wave limit break which restores his health and grants some much needed temporary invincibility! This made Sephiroth's Octaslash do zilch! Annoyed by this, he shatters the glass of the platform they're on giving Zack very little room to manuever. Zack would surely die if pushed off the edge so he hung back and spammed magic for all he was worth! Our hero's hanging in there but once they make it back to the main room Sephiroth gets in a decisive blow which sends him flying.
With Zack out of the picture there's no one left to stop Sephiroth... right? Not exactly. A grunt had made his way to the reactor and grabs the Buster Sword. He rams its blade right into the unsuspecting Sephiroth giving him quite a large wound! This grunt turns out to be Cloud?! He retreats into the previous room to check on Tifa who by now has totally passed out. Sephiroth comes limping out of the Jenova room with the head of his monster mother in hand and shoots Cloud a scowl that would make hell freeze over! "Just like you... How dare you...!"
The barely conscious Zack call outs to Cloud to finish the job. He obliges by picking up the Buster Sword once more and attempts an even braver leaping strike attack, however Sephiroth blocks it and Cloud gets knocked to the ground hard. "Don't...test me!" Apparently the gentlemens rule of not hitting someone when they're down is lost on Sephiroth who straight up impales Cloud!
It isn't over yet...! A sudden rush of strength coupled with the law of leverage allows Cloud to seesaw his way to the floor while lifting a stunned Sephiroth into the air! With all of his remaining might he flings the Shrina hero into a wall and down into the depths of the reactor, possibly into the lifestream itself. The mighty fell to the meek but the struggle has taken its toll on Cloud who then falls down the stairs near Zack.
"Cloud...you did it..." The two of them each lose consciousness shortly afterwards. Some time later... Zack opens his eyes and with faded vision vaguely sees someone in a white labcoat along with a couple of Shinra grunts. He sees Cloud who's still out cold and now being carried out on a stretcher. The lab man walks over to and examines Cloud and mutters "He'll make a fine test subject!" And then Zack's vision fades as his consciousness slips away...
OP has updated profiles for Sephiroth, Genesis & Cloud.
No new missions opened up in chapter 9 and the ones leftover were painful so to heck with it! This meek lil "Missions & Memories" update contains the lone memory which happened to unlock during the course of regular play, so that's something!
M&Ms.7
Memories: Kids These Days
Zack recalls meeting up with the form child thief again.
Zack: "Hello there, little thief! Long time no see!"
Aeris: "Is your mom feeling better?"
Kid: "Yeah. Although your wallet didn't help much, really."
Zack: "You're something else..."
"You call yourself SOLDIER? You tarnish the SOLDIER name!" Angeal helps Zack escape from the pod he'd been in... or was that just a dream? Either way Zack is free and he decks the researcher who'd been left to watch over Cloud and himself then frees Cloud as well. He leaves his unresponsive pal close behind several times in order to clear the way of monsters which are now all over the mansion rather than just the basement and a lot of new mail pours in along the way. The reporter he'd spared and fan clubs are in an uproar over Angeal & Genesis sightings, Shinra has classified him, Sephiroth, and two infantrymen as killed in action, while his pal Kunsel is sure that's false but is worried about Zack all the same. Once outside, the seven wonders kid mails Zack telling him of a gift he left for him and that Wonder #7 must be the town itself for reasons he'll see soon.
Nibelheim had been completely rebuilt! The place seems to be under tight surveillance because a flood of infantrymen come running in to stop the pair from leaving. "It'll take more than your average grunt to take me down!" They may be average but Zack isn't their only target. While he battles with some, others start dragging Cloud away! He eventually defeats them and discovers he isn't doing all that well himself. The experiment on him had been deemed a failure but spending 4 years in a pod has left him at less than full strength so it's right back to the mansion for some rest. Zack thinks the near comatose Cloud may have a mako addiction due to the experiments so after finding him a bed he changes his clothes into ones that aren't soaked in mako to try and help. "Looks pretty good on you." He takes out the list of 23 tiny wishes Aeris had given him and finds a note instead. She'd combined all the wishes into just one: "I'd like to spend more time with you." This prompts him to decide he has to get back to Midgar and asks if Cloud wants to go too. The non-response is taken as a yes and they leave under the cover of darkness.
Another worried mail comes from Kunsel and one from Luxiere as well, though the latter one sounds disingenuous somehow. Mechs are patrolling the area so Zack places Cloud in a safe place and just so happens to find a sniper rifle close by. Guns aren't SOLDIER-style but he makes due and takes out all but 3 of them with a little twilight sniping. Down at the shore he encounters Cissnei who regretfully informs him that it's her job bring back the fugitive samples. She chucks her weapon at him but Zack easily deflects it and tells her to stay away or he'll really have to fight her. He gets back to Cloud and tells him they'll rest until dawn, however Cissnei followed them there. She appears concerned about the two of them and turns a blind eye to their escape, even going so far as to give Zack keys to a vehicle!
Zack's enjoying zooming down a highway on the motorcycle when Genesis and a couple of his copies spoil the fun by getting in his way near the outskirts of Cosmo Canyon. He hops off the bike and tries to attack but the copies latch on and hold him down. "When the war of the beasts brings about the world's end; The goddess descends from the sky; Wings of light and dark spread afar; She guides us to bliss, her everlasting gift" One of the copies rips out some of Zack's hair and eats it! Genesis says Zack has some modified version of Jenova's power running through him and that his cells will stop the degradation. "Legend shall speak; Of sacrifice at world's end; The wind sails over the water's surface; Quietly, but surely". Genesis and a copy flies away while the one that ate the hair turns into even more of a monster! It had an annoyingly long reach and took Zack some effort to defeat. He then returned to the bike and hit the road again.
Noticing they're near his hometown of Gongaga, Zack stops there and parks the bike near the ruined mako reactor and gets a tip off from Kunsel. Worried about his parents, he leaves Cloud there and heads towards the town where he finds Cissnei waiting for him. He'd walked right into an ambush! Or not. She let him know his parents were doing okay. Zack asks about her parents but it turns out she doesn't know hers, as she was raised by Shinra. He then asks her to keep his parents company which she agrees to do, and by the way... 'Cissnei' isn't her real name. She leaves him be again and he hurries on ahead after spotting someone that looks like Angeal.
Instead he finds Genesis copies begging for S-cells, but Zack doesn't have any of those according to Hollander and the real Genesis. Hollander himself is now degrading having used his device on himself to save his life after Genesis nearly killed him. They're aware that two people are on the run and while Zack's cells are of no value, the infantryman Cloud has the last pure S-cells in the world within his body! Hollander flies off to collect Cloud while Genesis once again makes Zack eat dirt. "Legend shall speak; Of sacrifice at world's end; The wind sails over the water's surface; Quietly, but surely". Genesis then flies away, leaving behind a dumbapple for Zack. "Cloud's in a lot of danger! I gotta get back to the reactor! Run like you mean it, Zack!" He runs until passing by a waterfall with treasure chests floating down it! He stops to collect 10 of them while avoiding monsters also floating by! Back at the reactor Hollander calls in some copies to keep Zack back but Angeal knocks them away!
Now to protect Cloud he'll have to fight Hollander. "I'll do whatever I have to!" The doctor isn't very strong, normally. But he has lots of health and several ways of buying himself time to pull off his ultimate attack. His small bag contains a ton of worms to get in Zack's way! It also has health restoring items and ones that grant him invincibility! Zack now knows how Sephiroth must have felt when his Octaslash was gaurded by invincibility, because the same happened here, only this time Hollander was the one being protected from the Octaslash! The scientist pulled out his most powerful attack... a freaking missile which he lobbed at Zack! This did a ton of damage! However it wasn't enough to keep Zack from finishing him off.
Zack approaches Angeal and teases his less than awesome performance versus the copies. "I can't fight like a 1st. I'm just an Angeal copy." This copy turns out to be Director Lazard! The former director explains he was the one who'd helped Hollander escape Junon because he needed the scientist to help him get revenge on Shinra. His choice of allies was poor because he instead got turned into an Angeal copy. His drive for vengeance is now gone and in its place is a desire to help Zack and save Genesis, and the world itself. He again asks Zack what his dream is and receives the same answer! Zack asks Lazard and Angeal to lend him a hand in stopping Genesis and they'll all be heroes! He agrees and asks where Genesis could be? It must be the place where dumbapples come from...
So I'm in Nibelheim now, and things are gearing up for the grand finale. What surprises me, though, is that even though I've been doing missions like crazy and Zack is OBSCENELY OP at this point (I have 40k HP and almost 99 ATK and MAG.) I've still only done 45% of the missions in the game. And I'm still missing the magic pot from the DMW. Urgh.
Anyway, something really weird sticks out: Sephiroth asks Cloud how it feels to be home again and gives him leave to visit family and friends, but no scene is made to establish that Sephiroth knows that this is Cloud's hometown. The two of them won't be interacting for a little while more still.
Sephiroth has also kinda cracked up a bit, which is understandable. His two best friends are traitors and one's dead and he's considering skipping out on the organization himself. But still, when he mentions his father, it's damn creepy.
I'd be gearing up for that to except I don't start playing the next chapter before I'm done posting stuff about the previous one!
What surprises me, though, is that even though I've been doing missions like crazy and Zack is OBSCENELY OP at this point (I have 40k HP and almost 99 ATK and MAG.) I've still only done 45% of the missions in the game.
How?! Are you New Game+'ing or just a master of materia fusion?? I try all kinds of combinations but nothing statwise comes from it. Doesn't help that much of my materia isn't mastered but that's up to the game not me! Zack's stats are in the toilet >_<;
And I'm still missing the magic pot from the DMW. Urgh.
I was looking for that one to and a search on gfaqs boards told me you can find one in random battles of the final Tonberry mission! You'll need to equip and use Jump, Fira, Gravity, and Assault Twister on it.
Anyway, something really weird sticks out: Sephiroth asks Cloud how it feels to be home again and gives him leave to visit family and friends, but no scene is made to establish that Sephiroth knows that this is Cloud's hometown. The two of them won't be interacting for a little while more still.
Might've overheard Zack & Cloud talking about it on the way over? They had to cross the sea by ship and land by truck, plenty of time for chattering about stuff.
School has been kicking it into high gear, so I haven't had much of a chance to sort my screenshots. Once things die down a bit, I can get back to updating.
Y'know, I should really start working on the next entry before I get destroyed in the coming fortnight. But I'll just post the thing that I have written up already if that's cool. It's not long. I haven't played much because I'm trying to finish up my third playthrough of Xillia + trying to get my second plat for that. Et j'étudie pour mes examens aussi. Si j'étudie pour mes examens, j'obtiendrai les bonnes notes. Er... J'espère, lol.
Last time, we found out that Rubicant should be on our team along with Golbez. Also, Golbez found a way to win even though he wasn't present. Also, LET'S GO CENA! CENA SUCKS.
Today, we're going to dump this poopoo airship in the garbage. It's useless to us! We decided to throw it into King Giott's dumpster, and maybe he probably won't notice we didn't come back with the crystals!
They had to add that line in there because both dwarf men and dwarf women grow beards. This is a Fact.
Yeah, we'll probably be taking him back home in a casket. I'm sorry, everyone.
Aw, he's genuinely concerned for us. This is why King Giott is one of the best monarchs in this game. King from Fabul kinda has nothing on him at this point.
OH GOD LET'S GET OUT OF HERE. D:
Sometimes I wonder about this guy. There’s only one crystal in the world that’s completely guarded and secure. But his best strategy is to make the guy who mucked up getting and protecting the other seven crystals protect the final crystal? Nothing about this makes sense at all, and any monarch would be losing his or her patience by now.
But this is Batman’s Dying Dream. I completely forgot.
how many necklaces are you wearing
Wouldn’t it be a better idea to hold onto the key instead? Based on Batman’s track record, it’s either going to be stolen, or something bad will happen…
This is code for “we’re going to fuck this up in the worst way possible”.
He's dead.
Anyway, one of the dwarves said that we could find someone who could fix our airship in the infirmary. They probably captured one of Golbez's lackeys and...
It’s a ghost! That means we’re playing Corpse Party. RUN and don’t look in its eyes for the love of all of the pancakes! I sure as hell don’t want another bad end.
They live in the underground. They don't have the environment to grow fancy herbs and shit.
British-GAF tell me whether or not chap is a bad word. I just know it comes from customer or cheap/chapman. Or lad. Something.
Keep making that shit up, Cena. We all know otherwise. Also, why do characters treat royalty as respectful and eternally regal in this game? Some of them can be downright spoiled and irritating, like that one guy from DQ8. Cena’s playing into that stereotype.
He should check into Dating-Age and see whether or not Clair is into him or not. I will give one strawberryblossomdoughnut.png to anyone who can draft the most hilarious dating-Age post from Cena wondering whether or not Clair likes him, he’s done and said to her so far, and what he should do next.
Henpecked?
I guess you couldn’t say stuff like “whipped” back then, huh?
Then Batman tells Captain Haddock how much of a failure he is because Golbez whips his ass every time and they somehow defeated the Four Fiends. But to be fair:
- Slam and Jam were the leading stars in the fight against Milon Z
- Slam and Abe (freaking Abe) were the MVPs of the Kainazzo fight
- It was mostly Tommy who destroyed Valvalis
- Clair and Tommy destroyed Rubicant
Batman hasn’t proven his worth at all. Batman sucks.
I’m surprised Beer said anything at all. Since we came to the Underground, I’ve noticed that she’s barely said a single word, while Clair’s gotten a lot of lines. How are these lines even designated, anyway? They all seem like standard responses or standard lines that anyone can say and the only people with hints of personality are the lefties (Tommy, Golbez, Slam), Haddock, and Cena. The characters’ relationships with each other and their interactions with each other are barely existent.
Phantasy Star II, probably one of the first games that had a very in-depth story for its time, had characters with more depth than this, and that was released a few years before Final Fantasy IV. To be fair, Phantasy Star II was very revolutionary for its time, especially for its ending. Even FF4’s predecessor, Final Fantasy II, had better character motivations than this, though to be fair, a lot of it came from NPCs or characters that weren’t playable for very long. FFIV had better presentation (arguably), a decent encounter rate, and a newly-introduced battle system and thus it’s more accessible.
Regardless… Haddock and Cena loving to hate each other kind of lets them play off of each other to expand on their personalities a bit. Cena’s spoiled and doesn’t want to work. Haddock’s a hardass.
Well, Batman can’t do anything by himself. He’s proven this quite a bit both during Final Fantasy IV and Batman’s Dying Dream. The only time he even managed to do something by himself was when he dreamed of Moonside.
The hell? You weren’t even bedridden for that long! And I think you blew up into tiny little pieces. You shouldn’t be jumping around, bro.
Haddock has a better beard than they do so they’re charmed enough to join his League of Extraordinary Repairmen/women.
Does this kind of lead into the After Years with
Luca building her own stuff and fixing things
?
I’ve always liked this scene. Again, I’m dismayed that the DS version didn’t have anything like this. So basically, Haddock told the dwarf nurses to fix the ship and put mystic silver, and he made Cena start doing some of the work. Cena pleads for the others to stop Haddock from taking him away from spectating but to no avail. He lazes around and Haddock watches him like a hawk, presumably yelling at him. And then for some reason, the nurses are running around trying to learn how to fix the airship and one falls off the bridge. Haddock doesn’t notice for a while because he’s yelling at Cena until he turns around and sees. Then everyone tries to help the poor dwarf nurse up.
Do you see how much story is told just by the freaking animations alone?! This is called good scene direction. You do not need pages and pages and pages of dialogue to tell your story. You don’t need 10-minute cutscenes featuring a monologue or characters talking back and forth to expand some stuff in a story or to symbolize a change in a character. Character animations and sprite animations in detail are things I cherish very much when it comes to storytelling in games, and there aren’t a lot of games that have that anymore. People seem to want to make (barely) interactive movies more than games, I guess, and rely a ton on dialogue rather than pretending that the game part of the game is probably just as important. Hm.
Welp, he’s dead. Let’s leave before we get accused of murdering him.
…for fuck’s sake, Batman. Stop keeping this man alive in your dream. Let him die with dignity.
Awriiiiiiight, we got an airship. Do you know what means?
SIDEQUESTIN’. Instead of holding our hand like the game did for almost the entire game and making us follow this super-linear path but only giving us an illusion of nonlinearity in the form of a world map and having a tiny bit of freedom when we got the Enterprise, the game is letting us explore an entire other world map in the underground.
This is the Underground Smithy. He’s obviously unemployed because no one can get to his place from across the magma. We must have been his first visitors in centuries.
Well, obviously… if you’re living out here in the sticks where no one can get to you, of course your business is going to rot.
Well, I don’t feel like helping you if you can’t help me. Good bye.
I’m going to steal your money too.
This was awfully boring. This was as entertaining as Agart. Next stop.
Tomra is a village right next to the Sealed Cave. My guess is that they maintain the cave or something. And its NPCs generally have some decent things to say as you'll soon see.
Hi-ho? Is that copyrighted somewhere?
Again, these guys are finding it completely fucking mindblowing that people are coming here to buy things! Because no one in their village comes to buy things here. They go to the black market instead.
Also, I like that the two shops are joined up together like that. I had neglected to take screens of the stuff they’re selling but I’ll save that for the next update. A lot of the stuff here is expensive, but worth it. Though to be fair, the Diamond Armour just increases defense a little bit, but it provides Lightning resistance. And lawd, we know we need TONS of that now in this day and age.
No one proofread any of this at all.
They don’t even know that the half of the castle got wrecked from bombardments. You’d think they’d construct boats or something that could float on the magma because magic or something just so they could relay messages to all of the outlying towns.
Shit, I love the dwarves! They love giving things out like candy.
No you aren’t. I don't see any arable land around here, do you?
Look at all of this sidequest stuff we can do now! Screw the Sealed Cave. We’re screw-ups anyway and Golbez is going to get the crystal. We’re going to look for real treasure instead. But honestly, this is a good way to mention other places you can go to here in terms of design. They’re good places to visit, and the difficulty isn’t too ramped up (Sylph Cave is debatable depending on the version you’re playing). By contrast, we visited Eblan earlier in the game before we were supposed to and we were supposed to have a lot of trouble with it. Now this is a good way to break the player out of linearity and push them a little bit into doing the sidequests which are all accessible in this part of the game.
Next Time: Probably shouldn’t expect an update for two weeks cuz I’ll be busy with school and stuff. But we’re going to meet Navi the Fairy and play Final Fantasy Pocket Monsters for a little bit.
Been playing through FFVI again. By far my favorite of the series. Trying to play through with characters I don't normally use, like Gau. After that, going to move on to VIII, as I've never played it and have heard/read good things about it.
Zack, Lazard, Tseng, Hojo, Cissnei, Hollander, Aeris, and Cloud have had their profiles updated in the OP. Mission & DMW statuses have been updated too.
Looks like we're plum out of missions with tales to tell so these last "Missions & Memories" will only focus on the memory angle.
M&Ms.8
Memories: Original Crisis
Zack recalls Sephiroth explaining what he'd been reading about in the mansion basement.
Sephiroth: "Long ago, catastrophe struck this planet."
*Sephiroth turns to face Zack*
Sephiroth: "Your ancestors survived by scurrying about and hiding in fear. The planet escaped certain doom through the sacrifice of the Cetra. After which, your kind would multiply and assume control over the planet as if nothing had happened."
*Sephiroth paces around the room*
Sephiroth: "Now, the Cetra are but a memory that exists only within the pages of history."
Zack: "So what does that have to do with you?"
Sephiroth: "Don't you see? There is Jenova, an Ancient unearthed from a 2000-year-old stratum. And then, there is the Jenova Project. The aim of the project was to create a human being with the powers of a Cetra. Thus, they created me."
Zack: "Created...?"
Memories: Professional Wardrobe
Zack recalls wondering why Tseng wore a suit to the beach.
*Zack stops Cissnei*
Zack: "Wait, Cissnei... Does Tseng wear that suit everywhere he goes?"
Cissnei: "Were you hoping to see...swimming trunks?"
Zack: "No! But isn't it kind of hot for a suit?"
*Tseng briefly looks back wondering why they aren't following*
Tseng: "What's the matter? Let's go."
Zack: "Aren't you hot...?"
Memories: Blue, Blue Skies
Zack recalls daydreaming about Aeris.
*Zack's lying on the ground facing the sky*
Zack: "I wish I could show this sky to..."
Cloud: "Zack, we have to go soon. Something the matter?"
Zack: "Eh, just guy stuff."
*Zack hops up to his feet*
Zack: "Let's go!"
Memories: Pretty in Pink?
Zack recalls trying to rope Aeris into some new clothes.
Zack: "Hey, Aeris. From now on, why don't we make a promise every time we meet?"
Aeris: "Promise? For when to meet next time?"
Zack: "No, more of a 'general' promise about meeting... For example, when we meet, you always have to dress in pink."
Aeris: "Heh. Don't be silly!"
I've reached my limit! The OP has been updated with the final Mission & DMW statuses. 85% of missions completed. Pretty solid if ya ask me!
The conclusion of the "Missions & Memories" posts is here. They've now all been unlocked and posted!
M&Ms.9
Memories: Nothing Personal
Zack recalls speaking to Cissnei before leaving Junon.
Zack: "I'm about to head back to Midgar."
Cissnei: "I see... Meanwhile, we have to clean up this mess. Zack, about Costa del Sol, I was actually..."
Zack: "Don't worry about it. You're a Turk, after all. Anyway, it's all water under the bridge."
Memories: Pit Stop
Zack recalls a brief moment of rest with Cloud.
Zack: "We'll be relatively safe here."
*Zack faces Cloud*
Zack: "Cloud, go ahead and sleep. I'll keep watch, so don't worry."
Memories: No Can Do
Zack recalls asking Cissnei out.
*Cissnei exits an elevator near Zack*
Zack: "Oh, Cissnei. How about dinner tonight?"
Cissnei: "Sorry, I was just given an assignment."
Zack: "Hmm, that's too bad... You want me to talk to your superiors?"
Cissnei: "I wouldn't recommend that."
*Cissnei turns and walks away*
Cissnei: "Our supervisor is pretty scary."
Memories: VS: Genesis
Zack recalls charging into battle with Genesis.
*no dialogue, its literally the same scene from chapter six*
Memories: The Night Before
Zack recalls finding Cloud up late.
Zack: "Can't Sleep?"
Cloud: "Yeah, I was just thinking about the past."
Zack: "The past... You wanna talk about it?"
Cloud: "Thanks, Zack, but we've got an early day tomorrow. I should try to get some sleep."
Memories: A Little Lesson
Zack recalls learning about magic.
Zack: "What's this?"
Sephiroth: "A mako spring. Truly a marvel of nature."
Tifa: "It's so beautiful, but... If we continue to siphon Mako energy, this spring will run dry one day, won't it?"
Sephiroth: "Materia are formed by condensing Mako energy. Naturally-formed materia are a rare sight indeed."
Zack: "By the way, how is it that materia allows us to use magic?"
Sephiroth: "You call yourself SOLDIER without knowing something that basic? Materia contains the knowledge of the Ancients. Knowledge to control the power of this planet at will. It is this knowledge that binds us to the planet and calls forth powerful magic."
Zack: "Magic...such a mysterious power..."
Memories: Another Ambush
Zack recalls defending Cloud.
Zack: "Sorry, Cloud. Time for another break."
*Zack sets Cloud down and spots Infantrymen*
Zack: "As you can see, my friend is sick. Let's get this over with."
So I just did the whole Nibelheim thing in Crisis Core, and it's hilarious that despite being legally dead and KIA, Zack is receiving missions from Shinra still. Like, dudes, c'mon.
So the more I thought about it, the more I kinda feel that the three Tabata games for PSP kinda have a formula. Spoilers follow.
1) You are a Government/Military Agent during a time of crisis at the game's beginning. (Zack-SOLDIER-Wutai/ Aya-CTI-Twisted/ Class 0-Suzaku-Militian War.)
2) The really cool guy who was on your team
betrays you
(Sephiroth, Clay, Machina.)
3) A WHAM episode where things suddenly get really bad.
Modeoheim/Nibelheim, CTI's murder, the assassination of Queen Andoria
4)A creepy scientist. Hojo, Maeda, Kazusa
5)
The hero dies. Zack, Aya, Class 0
There's probably more, but these are off the top of my head. There's other things, like costume swaps, similar HP bars and gameplay, but I was mostly talking story.
Have I mentioned how broken Zack is? I finally have a Curaga with a 999% HP bonus, and Gil Toss with a +55 ATK, as well as like, Death with MAG +45, and Wall with VIT+45. That's not the ideal set-up, but since Zack's HP breaks up to 70k, and he does nearly 10k damage a hit these days, who cares?
School has been kicking it into high gear, so I haven't had much of a chance to sort my screenshots. Once things die down a bit, I can get back to updating.
Next Time: Probably shouldnt expect an update for two weeks cuz Ill be busy with school and stuff. But were going to meet Navi the Fairy and play Final Fantasy Pocket Monsters for a little bit.
So I just did the whole Nibelheim thing in Crisis Core, and it's hilarious that despite being legally dead and KIA, Zack is receiving missions from Shinra still. Like, dudes, c'mon.
Yet he didn't receive any new ones in the last chapter that he was still "alive" in. Then they get piled on you at the end and you get burned out and just wanna finish the game!
Have I mentioned how broken Zack is? I finally have a Curaga with a 999% HP bonus, and Gil Toss with a +55 ATK, as well as like, Death with MAG +45, and Wall with VIT+45. That's not the ideal set-up, but since Zack's HP breaks up to 70k, and he does nearly 10k damage a hit these days, who cares?
One of my secrets, Lindsay, is that I blew all my Elixirs and X-Potions in boosting my HP stat. It costs a hell of a lot of SP, but Elixirs and Phoenix Downs boost the HP boost phenomenally.
Everything else has been the meticulous grooming of Independent and Attack/AtkMag materia for this purpose.
I'm trying to figure out how I will transfer my attack bonus to Costly Punch when I can, because then Zack will be pretty much untouchable. As if he weren't already.
I've also been doing every damn mission. I'm about 60% of the way through, and so I'm a walking death machine. Even "Very Hard" missions are jokes to me now. Oh, and reached about level 60 today.
Gotta blaze through these missions so that I can kill Minerva after Zack dies.
It's no crater but this is still one nice dungeon!
Pt.17 "Creeping Evil"
Dumbapples only grow in Banora and since Genesis always had one on hand, his secret base must have been there all along! Zack, Cloud, and Lazard arrive at the now ruined village. Zack asks Lazard to stay behind and take care of Cloud while he proceeds further into the ruins. He climbs down an opening in the ground and comes across an entryway into some previously secret underground tunnels. A strangely out of place trophy room with information on Genesis's past was there. As a youth, Genesis once dreamed of serving some dumbapples to Sephiroth since they're close in age, to show him what he'd accomplished in life. Zack wonders if there's anything he can do to save Genesis as he moved forward into a cavern.
As it turned out this was only the hub of the cave and through one of its paths, Zack learned he would need to find seven special materia in order to make his way to Genesis. Along the way he found the prologue and summaries of the first three acts of Loveless. One of the paths led to prison cells and a dead end, while the other opened up into an underground lake! This area held the remaining three materia and five mako springs which held powerful monsters within! Defeating them all opened up a new path...
More prison cells were found within, along with gates which blocked the way and required special keys to unlock. Monsters, mechs, and a freaking tank all held the keys needed to progress so Zack got quite a workout! There was also a small laboratory which is where those five monsters from the lake were created... and living materia?! At the end of the facility he bumped into the king of all Behemoth's and toppled it with just a couple of punches! With nowhere else to search and all seven goddess materia in hand, Zack went and used them to open the final gate standing in his way. From behind the gate came one last monstrous Genesis copy! But by now these kinds of things were no match for Zack.
Genesis was now within his reach and Zack decided he was ready to get things over with. The next area had a large goddess statue holding a huge materia, and Genesis who was of course quoting Loveless as always. "You're late. You have succeeded Angeal's spirit, and carry a part of Sephiroth within you. Thus, the three friends are reunited once again... ...and 'LOVELESS' is reenacted." Zack however doesn't want to go along with his little play. He keeps talking to Genesis, trying to bring the guy back to his senses even as the "gift of the goddess" materia lights up and shines down upon Genesis. "Keep talking to me! Don't let it take over! You're not a monster, you're one of us!"
His words fell on deaf ears and Genesis was transformed, leaving Zack with no choice but to fight. Genesis Avatar's body was out of reach of physical attacks and he'd send in many copies to interupt Zack. While dealing with those and avoiding powerful attacks like Shadow Flare, he focused on destroying the materia within the sword. This did the trick and without the power of the now destroyed materia, Genesis returned to normal.
Zack had hoped that would have been the end of it, sadly though, Genesis demanded that the fight continue. He appeared to be back at full power as his sword glowed and he utilized attacks he had once used against Sephiroth such as the homing attack. Zack however had friends on his side, such as memories of Angeal which allowed him to use a full powered Rush Assault again Genesis! In the end, Zack won the battle and sent Genesis flying a short ways before finally making him the one to eat dirt!
As Genesis's consciousness faded he saw a glimpse of the lifestream, and also of his so-called goddess. His vision of her vanished as the statue crumbled and he hit the ground. Despite all that had happened, Zack wasn't going to leave the guys body in a place like this. He lifted Genesis up over one shoulder, carried him out, and set him down with his growing pile of men. The injured Lazard told Zack that Shinra had attacked but he and the Angeal copy monster from the church had held them off and defended Cloud, before passing away.
Zack mourned the loss of the director and monster, the final Angeal copies. He pulls himself together by getting apples for himself, Cloud, and Genesis. "Okay, let's eat!" ...of course he's the only one able to eat. Shockingly enough, Genesis speaks up to ask him if it tasted good! Zack said it did and Genesis then spoke to the deceased director. "Angeal... The dream came true." Lazard's body vanishes, returning to the lifestream. As did the monsters right afterwards. However, it left behind a message.
"How are you? I wish you were here. It's already been four years now. This is the 89th letter that I've sent to you, but I don't even know where to send them to anymore. I really hope that this final letter I am writing gets to you. By the way, the flowers are selling very well. They make everyone so happy-- thanks to you, Zack!" - Aeris. Zack's astounded to learn he'd been out for 4 years, and upset that Aeris may have given up on him! He hurriedly scoops Cloud up and gets them both back on the road to Midgar.
This is not a drill! All personnel mobilize and move out!
Pt.18 "In Your Memory"
With Zack & Cloud gone, Genesis has been left unconscious all by himself. This changes as a Shinra copter lands close to him.
SOLDIER 1: "This must be an important matter if they are sending the two of us."
SOLDIER 2: "Apparently the subject will become our brother."
SOLDIER 1: "Is that so? But, will he... ...accept his fate willingly?"
The two members of SOLDIER carry him to the copter and take off to parts unknown. A paper with one last verse of Loveless flutters down to rest in the lone chair. "Even if the morrow is barren of promises; Nothing shall forestall my return; To become the dew that quenches the land; To spare the sands, the seas, the skies; I offer thee this silent sacrifice".
On the roof of Shinra HQ, Cissnei prepares to take off in a copter herself.
Tseng: "Cissnei! The army's mobilizing. Find the targets before they do."
Cissnei: "Understood. The army won't be as subtle."
Tseng: "I want them alive, you hear me? You're going to save Zack's life."
Cissnei: "Of course! I haven't even told him my real name."
Tseng: "Help them, Cissnei. I have letters for Zack. 88 of them."
Cissnei then takes to the skies, leaving behind an anxious Tseng.
Zack and Cloud seem to have hitched a ride in the back of a truck and are enjoying smooth sailing on their way to Midgar, as Zack kids around with his still comatose friend.
Zack: "I'm just kidding. You know I wouldn't do that to you. We're friends, right?"
Turks members Reno and Rude are flying around in a copter themselves.
Reno: "They can't be serious. There's no way we're gonna find two needles in a haystack this size."
Rude: "There's no mission that's impossible for the--"
Reno: "Turks, yeah yeah..."
Rude: "Also... Tseng apparently has something to give him."
Reno: "Who, the target? So we're couriers now, delivering packages to fugitives, huh?"
Cissnei: *via radio* "Reno, Rude, status?"
Reno: "We got nothing."
Cissnei: *via radio* "I'm heading to Point 235. You two take Point 120."
Rude: "Roger."
Reno: "All right, let's get going."
Back on the ground, Zack and Cloud have gotten off the truck in the outskirts of Midgar. Having caught wind of danger ahead Zack places Cloud in some cover. He turns and goes off to confront whomever is awaiting him, never noticing that his friend is finally showing some signs of regaining consciousness. Kunsel had warned Zack that an absurd amount of infantrymen were out for his head, and he wasn't kidding. "Boy oh boy... The price of freedom is steep." Zack draws his sword and charges into combat with them.
No matter the numbers, grunts like these are no match for him! His sword, magic, and fists take out a good number of them. Yet more kept coming! A well placed grenade goes unnoticed in the mass of men and does a surprising amount of damage to Zack... but a modulation phase starts up! DMW to the rescue! He's flooded with memories of Sephiroth, Tseng, and Cissnei! But... something strange is happening. The memories are blurry, the phase fails and suddenly all three of them are gone from the DMW.
Cissnei: "Zack, I gotta go."
It's okay, it's okay. He's still got plenty of health and strength to fight on. More and more troops fall and things seem to be going well until a missile from a copter hits Zack, leaving him badly injured. Luckily another modulation phase has begun. This should help him to recover and bounce back! Fuzzy memories of Angeal, Aeris, and Cloud flood his mind... and then begin to fade. Angeal and Cloud are now gone from the DMW leaving just Aeris.
Cloud: "Hold on."
Things are looking up though! Just three more guys remain in his way! But this battle has taken its toll. He's left staggering from one man to the other, his sword swings weak and clumsy, as they keep firing at him. Before long, it is Zack who falls. An infantrymen steps up to Zack and shoots him at near point-blank range. This cannot be the end! Even though he's down, another modulating phase starts up. This time holding on to just blurred memories of Aeris. If this works out her Healing Wave could... no. She's also removed from it. For Zack, everything goes black.
Ugh, this game really ends in a Game Over. It's pretty depressing seeing the mighty powerful hero dying at the hands of some mooks (even if they're an army). Etro could do a little favor and revive him.
Ugh, this game really ends in a Game Over. It's pretty depressing seeing the mighty powerful hero dying at the hands of some mooks (even if they're an army). Etro could do a little favor and revive him.
NO MAN SHE GOTTA SAVE THE HERO AND GIVE THE GIFT OF THE GODDESS TO GENESIS BECAUSE NOTHING SHALL FORESTALL HIS RETURN.
Except for the fact that no game has ever been made after Dirge of Cerberus, and that if DoC was his "return," he was still forestalled by like, ten years.
UGH I HATE GENESIS. I hate how in an intense and emotional scenario like everything following Zack's escape from Nibelheim, the literal walking piece of crap that is Genesis has to crap it up with THE GIFT OF THE GODDESS.
50 more missions before I give the Goddess the Gift of the Buster Sword to her bust as I bust her face up with a good, old fashioned Costly Punch.
Speaking of, now that I have Costly Punch I'm like "Attack? why would I do something that does a 9th of the damage that is the Godly Punch?"
Worst villain. Well, one of the worst ones. And he gets all the breaks because he... shows up out of nowhere and recites a damn poem.
Sometimes I like to pretend that the Genesis parts of Crisis Core didn't happen, and that the modified Nibelheim scenario didn't happen. The best thing to come out of Crisis Core was Zack because at least he's a decent character worthy of my time.
Fuck Genesis. If he was supposed to be in there in the first place then he would've been in there in FF7 if he were popular enough to have his own fan club, and if he were so gosh darn close to the goddess. Talk about a shitty retcon.
From a story standpoint, the part of the plot concerning Genesis should have ended before the Nibelheim incident to not reek of retcon everywhere. The problem is that it would have impacted the "gameplay" during it: Point of no return with no missions, Sephiroth as the final boss, loooooooots of cutscenes with no gameplay. Thanks to Genesis, the balance between gameplay and story at the end of the game was saved but the plot suffered in the process.
Worst villain. Well, one of the worst ones. And he gets all the breaks because he... shows up out of nowhere and recites a damn poem.
Sometimes I like to pretend that the Genesis parts of Crisis Core didn't happen, and that the modified Nibelheim scenario didn't happen. The best thing to come out of Crisis Core was Zack because at least he's a decent character worthy of my time.
Fuck Genesis. If he was supposed to be in there in the first place then he would've been in there in FF7 if he were popular enough to have his own fan club, and if he were so gosh darn close to the goddess. Talk about a shitty retcon.
My thoughts precisely. I really think Genesis is, barring Team NORA the worst character in the history of the series, and I would be willing to write WALLS of text to internet bully anyone who said otherwise.
Everything about the guy is a terrible retcon, though, and the worst part is that he has NO chemistry with Zack at all. Hell, let's compare the pairing the next worse we can get: Lightning and Barthandelus (I know some people think II was worse, but let's be honest, as of Dissidia Firion and the Emperor are a great pair.)
Barth and Lightning at least you can do some ass pulls to make their opposition work out: Lightning was a workaholic, and Barthandelus represents the order she worked so damn hard to uphold, for instance. The best I can do is that Genesis is supposed to be the monster that SOLDIER is not, and Zack is supposed to be the hero and all. Except the plot spends its entire time on its knees sucking his dick, giving you Genesis' absolute escape from all the bullshit he did as the money-shot.
Like, HONESTLY, the man murdered his parents and everyone in Banora bar Angeal's mother. He mutated a legion of men, essentially infecting them with a horrible virus. He staged attacks on Junon, Midgar, and Nibelheim. He helped Hollander escape.
At what point did Genesis do anything to earn the favor of Minerva?
Fuck that shit. When Zack dies, here's what happens: FF7 Soul of Rebirth. He gets all the way there to the top of Arruboth, decides that Minerva is FULL of it, and murders her so hard and so fast that even Firion would blush.
From a story standpoint, the part of the plot concerning Genesis should have ended before the Nibelheim incident to not reek of retcon everywhere. The problem is that it would have impacted the "gameplay" during it: Point of no return with no missions, Sephiroth as the final boss, loooooooots of cutscenes with no gameplay. Thanks to Genesis, the balance between gameplay and story at the end of the game was saved but the plot suffered in the process.
They could've made the final boss anybody else. Why not Hojo? He'd been set up as evil, and it is his actions, not Genesis' which cause all the drama in that final chapter. Or how about Heidegger? It was his troops that took Zack down. Or Tseng, just to make it that much more heart-breaking. Or, I dunno, Rufus.
As badly as Genesis sticks out in the WHOLE game, he is never worse than from Nibelheim onward. The only redeeming part about his presence in Nibelheim was Sephiroth telling him to get lost and rot.
To be honest, I have a hard time believing Sephiroth was ever friends with Genesis. With Angeal, sure, because he was upset when Angeal defected, and he let Zack do everything he could to bring him back, but Genesis? I just don't feel it.
I mean, Sephiroth was brought up knowing to some extent or another that he was special, and everyone in Shin-Ra accorded him that treatment. Genesis, on the other hand, acted like he was God's gift for no goddamn reason. I can a no-nonsense guy like Sephiroth putting up with Angeal's sentimentality, but I can't see him honestly being anything more than grudgingly tolerant of Genesis' horrible prattle.
I can already imagine Heidegger in a giant robot as the final boss.
The soul of rebirth thing was a really good idea: You already know Zack dies, but that isn't the end! You must save the world behind the scenes without it being recognized by anyone. A true hero.
