Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Day 62


Game - Final Fantasy 9, Day 62
Hours Played/Hours Total - 6-1/2 hrs / 10 hrs
Starting Point - Village of Dali.
Current Goal - Figure out the next step of our plan and make it to Lindblum.

What Happened - Oh dear, I started playing and played quite a darn bit this time. You should brace yourself for an extra long super post with lots of details to the max! I'm going to try and cut it down where I can, but quite a bit has happened in such little time. Onward to the post!
     As Zidane is waking up, he hears someone singing and figures that it is Dagger. However, he also finds that he is the only one in the room currently. After getting up, I start moving about and trying to locate the others. Through ATE (Active Time Events), I see that each of them is exploring the village in their own manner. Vivi is having a strange time with the locals while Dagger is trying her best to fit in. I find Vivi first and start talking with him. He keeps hearing a strange "Kweh" sound that Zidane identifies as a Chocobo. He tells Vivi to meet him back at the Inn shortly and walks away. While Zidane is walking away, Vivi is grabbed up by someone unseen.
     As I walk around a bit more, I take the time to refill my item inventory and purchase some new equipment. There isn't much new to buy in the village, so I quickly finish shopping. I finally happen upon Dagger while looking about, and she shows to be making progress on her blending in. He tells her to meet him at the Inn, and she heads in. Around this time, I find out that Steiner is quickly trying to scramble up a way to take Dagger back to Alexandria. He manages to find out that a cargo ship comes by fairly often, and he sets off to acquire it as a transport. Going back to Zidane and Dagger, they start talking about the strangeness around the village. There are hardly any adults around, and the farm that used to be in the village is completely gone and replaced by strange symbols in the field. While talking, they finally realize Vivi hasn't come back yet and set out to find him.
     While looking about, I returned to where I last saw him. Once there, Zidane heard the Chocobo sound again, but more importantly, he heard someone crying below. Upon further investigation, we found out it was Vivi. He said someone grabbed him and stuck him there. A bit of searching revealed a hatch that went underground. I went down to investigate, and that is when things started getting interesting. Overhearing a group talking, they were saying some strange things. They mentioned the Queen of Alexandria as being involved. On top of that, Dagger identified some strange barrels nearby that she recognized as some she had seen at the castle. Whatever reason they had brought Vivi down, they were about to get him ready to send like the rest. Further inside this strange underground place, I finally rescued Vivi who had been stuffed inside a box for some reason.
     With him along, we happened upon a large grouping of strange machines. They were somehow being powered by nearby Mist and spitting out some strange-looking eggs. Of course with Mist about, I started running into random monsters. While doing this, I found out the next Trance ability. Vivi's Trance changes him into a glowing and snazzy looking mage. While in his Trance form, he gains the ability of Dbl Black (Double Black). This allows him to cast two spells in a row. It can be any combination of spells too! (Thus making it different from the Double or Triple ability of FF8.) Following along, we found out that the eggs were hatching into...Black Mage dolls. This freaked Vivi out, and Dagger was scared and unsure of why her mother was making these. Before anything else could be said, they had to hide in a nearby machine. I don't know why they chose the machine, but I guess it was a hastily made decision. They get boxed up somehow, and the game jumps back to Steiner.
     Steiner went to a nearby platform to find out more about this cargo ship. The old man was the one he was directed to in learning about it. He seemed to be examining something there and said it seemed about ready. Steiner followed after him and demanded to know when the ship would be there. The old man said it was already here, and Steiner rushed out to find it. He quickly spotted it and tried to figure out a way to gain passage to Alexandria with it. As he is running towards it, a group of villagers are startled by his running at them. They run off with several of the barrels, and he looks at one of the remaining ones. After poking it with his sword, Zidane flies out of the top and tells him he almost stabbed Dagger! With the group reunited, they want to figure out where the airship is going. Steiner quickly lies and tells them it is heading for Lindblum. The group is questioning this a little, but then a new foe appears!
     Another Black Waltz flies in, and this time is it Black Waltz No. 2! Zidane mentions the encounter with the first Black Waltz, and No. 2 mentions something about taking the Princess back to Alexandria regardless of anything. Even when Steiner chimes in about wanting the same thing, the Black Waltz doesn't care and BOSS BATTLE TIME! Lucky for me, this battle is a group of four against a single guy. He did have some powerful spells backing him up, but it's not two on one like the last time. During this battle, I gain privy to Steiner's Trance! He changes into a full set of shiny and snazzy-looking armor and gains an immense power boost to his physical strike. (It was apparent but hard to tell mid-battle.) Outside of a few groupwide spells he cast, he never really did much damage. I managed to stay ahead of it all and beat him without a lot of effort. With his defeat, I was given a choice of going right now or resting at the Inn briefly. I decided to rest at the Inn real quick just in case. After that, the group went back out and was ready to go.
     As Steiner goes to "obtain" the ride to Lindblum, Zidane and everyone already knows he was lying about the ship's actual destination. However, Zidane is assured that he has a plan to get the ship heading towards Lindblum. The remaining three run and jump on the airship as it is starting to take off. They head inside to find out that the Black Mage dolls are running the ship. Vivi tries to communicate with them, but they all seem to just ignore him for now (depressing shot...). Zidane heads up top to check things out and enact his plan. When he gets up there, we find Steiner moping about. He thinks the ship took off without the Princess, but he is quickly enlightened when Zidane speaks up. Steiner claims that they are going to the castle, and that Zidane will be hanged for his crimes. Zidane just ignores Steiner and goes to turn the ship towards Lindblum. He takes ahold of the wheel and starts turning the airship around. However, this attracts the attention of the Black Mage dolls. They all come up top, but they are quickly overshadowed by something else...Black Waltz No. 3!
     The final and most powerful of the trio has shown himself to reclaim the Princess. He's not going to leave without her but plans to destroy all of us. Strangely enough, the Black Mages come to surround the group and namely Vivi. They don't directly say anything, but No. 3 seems to talk with them somehow. He does mention something about them protecting Vivi though... However, he doesn't really care about them and unleashes an attack on all of them. Next up is a fairly sad cutscene of all the Black Mage dolls flying about as the Black Waltz unleashes his attack. His attack flings many of them off the ship and ravages a good portion of it. The group is currently deciding what to do, but they realize they have to face him. Dagger stays behind to pilot the ship, and Zidane leaves the choice up to her if she wants to head for Alexandria or the South Gate. The rest of them charge out there to face Black Waltz No. 3. BOSS BATTLE TIME!
     As the battle opens, Vivi flies into Trance mode automatically, so I make use of his current Double Black magic to deal the damage on No. 3. He quickly proves that he is vastly more powerful than 2, or he certainly seems that way. It didn't help that I was lacking Dagger's white magic, and I kept the battle going for a bit though. I was trying to steal what I could off the bosses (I didn't realize it before this point, but enemies can have multiple items on them in this game!), but I had to hurry up and finish the Black Waltz off before he killed anybody. As the battle subsided, he somehow managed to shamble away in his broken state. The game shows that the jesters from the castle (named Zorn and Thorn) were right behind us. It turns out that they were the one who empowered the Black Waltz mages. They seem to be flying some sort of mini-airship, but they quickly abandon it as Black Waltz No. 3 comes back. Being partially damaged and crazy, he heads towards our group in the mini-airship.
     Back on the airship, Dagger has steered us towards the South Gate. So we head for Lindblum! But we aren't going to get there without a fight. Cue one of my favorite cutscenes! The group is quickly flying towards the South Gate (looks like a giant circular hole going through the mountains). The gates are quickly shutting, and No. 3 is in hot pursuit. His smaller ship appears to be quite fast, and he rapidly approaches us. As he comes around for an attack, Vivi (who was sadly starring at a remaining Black Mage hat) looks up at him and opens fire...with Fire! He awesomely blasts the Black Waltz and his ship out of the way. (Somehow doesn't destroy it though...) Both ships fly through the first gate with no problem, but they are approaching the second gate which is rapidly closing. The group manages to barely clear the gate, but the Black Waltz got unlucky. As they leave the gate, a large explosion flies outward and damages the gate. /end cutscene
     The game shows the airship flying slowly but surely towards a large castle. It briefly switches back to our crew who are talking after all this happening. Steiner has decided to cease his constant attempts to take the Princess back. He simply states that he remain by her to prtect her...until she decides to return to Alexandria. Vivi is the most shaken by all of this, and he asks everybody if they think he and the Black Mages are alike (namely the Black Waltz's right this moment). Zidane tries to help him feel better, but Steiner chimes in with the best line (a first for the moment). He wonders why Vivi even cares about it and thinks that he shouldn't care because he is his own person and a remarkable individual. Back to the rest of the world, Lindblum is a sight to behold. Lindblum Castle is insanely larger than Alexandria Castle. On top of this, the city is waaay more advanced. There are airships flying all over the area and all around the city. As we dock our airship, Steiner comments that airship dock could easily accommodate Queen Brahne's Airship. As we set down in Lindblum Grand Castle, we are questioned by a group of soldiers. Dagger announces herself as Princess Garnet of Alexandria and shows them her necklace as proof of her royalty. They call in someone, and he immediately identifies the item in question. Furthermore, he immediately recognizes Dagger and says that the Regent Cid (CID IS BACK BITCHES!) is expecting them. (Dun dun duuuuun!)
     I follow after this guy (some sort of high chancellor or something) and he explains the basic layout of the city. Lindblum is made up of three levels: a base level at the ground that leads outside, the mid-level is city where everything basically is, and the third and top level is restricted to Cid himself. We quickly ascend to the top floor to meet with Cid. As we enter the throne room, it's obvious something isn't right. Cid isn't seated in the large throne, and instead, there's a large oglop behind the throne. It approaches the group, and Steiner smacks it. It is quickly revealed that the oglop is actually Cid Fabool, Regent of Lindblum. He says he was assaulted one night, and his wife, Lady Hilda, was abducted. He says he already knows the situation at hand, but he believes the group needs some rest. He offers to let them stay at the castle and eat. Zidane heads off on his own to eat in town though. As he walks inside a familiar diner (If not mentioned yet, Zidane and Tantalus are based in Lindblum.), he takes back into his old habit. Zidane has quickly shown to be quite a ladies man. He tries to woo the waitress, but he is derailed by a strange woman in the diner. Zidane jokingly identifies her with several different names before admitting that he never forgets a pretty ladies' name. And thus...we are introduced to Freya, a Burmecian Dragon Knight. (Burmecians are rat-people.)
     Freya is definitely one of my favorite characters in FF9. Let's get back to the going-ons of course, only a few details are brought up about Freya for this part. Zidane asks her if she has managed to find her missing boyfriend, and she answers no to this. He also asked if she ever planned to return to Burmecia, and she says that there is nothing there left for her. Of course, he also wonders why she is in town. She answers that she is in town for for the Festival of the Hunt. Then the game jumps back to Dagger at the Castle.
     She is talking with "Uncle Cid" currently at the castle. He actually knows quite a bit about the current situation. He had promised the late King of Alexandria (who he was great friends with) to help Garnet/Dagger if the need should arise. He reveals that he was behind the kidnapping plan with Tantalus. He's good friends with Baku, and they had set it up for the travelling theater to make the kidnap. Had he tried anything more direct, it could have led to war. Dagger brings up the incident at the Village of Dali and talks about the Black Mages there. This does concern Cid somewhat, but he doesn't think Alexandria will ever attack as long as Lindblum has their airship force. While walking about, Cid reveals the truth about his current state. What actually happened....Lady Hilda used her magic to turn him into an Oglop after finding out about him messing around with another lady. She ran off with the newest airship he had made called the Hilda Garde. Apparently, it was specially made and could even run without the use of Mist. With the Hilda Garde gone, he was trying to work on a Hilda Garde 2, but his Oglop mind had left him unable to work or think nearly as well. Back to Zidane!
     Zidane wakes up in one of the cities's inns. He decides to go check out the Tantalus hideout to see if anyone had returned there yet. He offered Vivi to come with, but Vivi felt like exploring the town on his own. Right before heading out, the game informs me about the Synthesis system! (All of the tutorials are done with an ATE event involving two Moogles.) Basically, the Synthesis system is a modified version of FF8's weapon system. You can buy weapons like a normal FF title, but there is another way to obtain items this time! Basically, making use of old items and equipment, you can combine them to form new and better equipment. This means I shouldn't be selling anything since it can all easily be used as materials for Item Synthesis. The tutorial also lets me know that Lindblum has a Synthesis shop that I should go try out. I begin exploring all over. I do make a beeline for the shops though since I need to upgrade my equipment and restock on items.
     The unfortunate problem I ran into while buying things was that I didn't have a lot of money. I had to end up selling a few nonessential items to get what I wanted. A visit to the Synthesis shop proved quite beneficial, but it also showed that I needed more items and more money. I managed to get everything I wanted in the end though, but I did have to sell more items than I would have preferred. The benefit outweighed the cost so...whatever! Exploration of the town showed that there was quite a bit to see. The city even has airship taxis to travel between locations! (Snazzy!) As I explore, I'm made privy to the things going on with everybody else with ATE. Steiner is wandering around the city and completely lost. Vivi looks about and obtains a strange nut called a Kupo Nut. While walking about, I also learn more and more about this "Festival of the Hunt." Apparently, it's some incredibly old tradition where anyone able and willing fights off monsters in a sportsman-like manner. The winner is given the title of Master Hunter. Anyways, I finally make my way around to the Tantalus hideout in the Theater district, but I quickly find out that nobody is there.
     Zidane wonders if the group is all right, but he doesn't get too long to think. He's interrupted by a couple of kids that he knows. They ask about the group, but he says they are currently away. They also ask about the Princess at the castle (apparently everybody knows now). They run off in preparation to see the Festival though, and Zidane decides to return to the castle. Along the way, an ATE let's me know that the Tantalus group managed to escape the forest, and they are considering their next options. They want to save Blank, but they fear that anything they do might reawaken the forest. Unsure of what to do, they try to make do with what they have. I quickly made my way to the castle, and I had to sneak up to the third level to find Dagger. Once there, she's singing once again, and Zidane asks her about it. She isn't sure where she got the song, but she always sings it when she is feeling sad or lonely. Zidane tries to make a pass at her to get a date, but he fumbles pretty badly. (He says something about an airship ride which he offered to the waitress girl waay back there.) Dagger takes offense to this though, but he does have a backup. He asks for a date if he should win the Festival of the Hunt. She agrees to this but doesn't seem overly enthused. Before heading off, she does ask Zidane one thing. Had she not come willingly, what was their plan to capture her? He said they would have put her to sleep with Sleeping Weed. She asked if she could have some to help her sleep. Zidane didn't really want to give it to her, but he ends up giving her some.
     Jumping ahead a ways, the game throws me to the point where the festival is about to start. Zidane and Freya are planning to attend, and Zidane signed up Vivi to also take part in it. Vivi isn't super sure about it, but Zidane says he thinks he would do quite well with his magic. He also promises to set him up with a date with Dagger if he won. Vivi is unsure about this, but the contest is about to start. I head on down...and thus begins the Festival of the Hunt! Basically, I start in the Theater District and have fourteen minutes to kill whatever monsters I can. For this contest, I can see the monsters running about, but I only receive points on their defeat rather than money or experience. I run all about defeating the monsters I can, but my biggest goal is the boss monster available in all this. From a previous experience (and in-game things), I know there is one larger one that is worth a pile of points. After looking about, I happen upon a giant monster of a pig. It's trying to attack some kids, and Freya quickly hops in to join me for this battle. BOSS BATTLE TIME!
     Unfortunately for me, the clock is ticking. I don't really get any time to "enjoy" this battle so to speak. I have to quickly attack the monster and take his fat monster pig ass down! Lucky for me, I recently acquired some overly powerful swords and was using them for this challenge of sorts. It took a good chunk of my time (I think from the 7 minute mark to the 1 minute mark actually! AKA 6 minutes). The monster proved to be quite easy really. He wasn't able to get a lot of attacks out while we went crazy on him. (Throwing this in here now, Freya's extra abilities are Dragon and Jump. Dragon is some sort of spells and Jump is the general FF game Jump ability.) With the giant monster down, I was awarded 150 points! Considering most of the monsters only gave around 10 points, this put me in a healthy lead over everyone else. The contest quickly wrapped up, and I (Zidane) arose victorious. As for the Festival's prize, each person was allowed to choose their price. Freya asked for an add-on (accessory), Vivi asked for a card, and Zidane asked for money. So...I got a pile of money (GREAT TIMING...jerks). 5000 gil to be exact.
     Right as I was awarded the Master Hunter title, a Burmecian Soldier came running in. He had come all the way from Burmecia (obviously) to report that Alexandria was attacking them. It was also made known that the assailants at this time were strange figures wearing pointed hats, aka Black Mages. Cid plans to help out since he and the King were old friends. However, it is going to take time to mobilize the Lindblum troops. He also mentioned something about pulling their airships from the Alexandria border. This was still going to take take too long, so the group volunteers to go. Freya is the most determined to go, and Zidane plans to go with her. She objects at first, but he convinces her that he plans to go regardless. Vivi also wants to go as to find out more about these Black Mages. Dagger wants to come with as well. She believes that she should be able to convince her mother to stop whatever she is trying to do. Zidane doesn't want her to and explains that this is way too dangerous for her to get involved. She eventually concedes to his decision on the matter and drops it.
     Before heading off though, Cid tells the group to enjoy the Festival of the Hunt feast before leaving. Freya has mixed feelings about all of this, but Cid says that they should eat while they can since the journey will be long and hard. As the group is enjoying the massive feast, they all start feeling sleepy and pass out...except for Dagger and Steiner! Steiner thinks he has been poisoned though and apologizes for not testing the food for the Princess. Of course, she says that she didn't do anything to his. The two of them hurry off and make their own way. As the group comes to, Zidane realizes that she "poisoned" them with the sleeping weed he gave her earlier. They believe she is heading for Burmecia, so the group heads out and makes their way for Burmecia. There aren't any airships to spare at this moment, so we have to leave through the bottom level of Lindblum known as the Dragon's Gate. Our current destination is a cave known as Gizamaluke's Grotto. It will take us through the mountains and into Burmecia. Before heading that way though, I took the time to do a few side quests.
     This is the first time I've gotten any freedom to really explore, so I decide to really look around and do some stuff. I know there are two things I can do right now, so I head for the first of two locations Qu's Marsh. Qu's Marsh is home to a race of creatures known as the Qu clan. It is here that I meet the next character in the FF9 lineup...Quina!
I know for a fact that...Quina is not well liked. I'm cool with Quina myself because he/she is such a useful character. And yes, the game even goes with that identification of Quina's gender. There are times where the characters refer to him/her as she/he. Going back to the "how" Quina joined the group. I was walking along in Qu Marsh when I spotted Quina trying to catch frogs. I caught a frog myself and offered it to him. (Out of ease and typing, going to refer to Quina as a he.) As this happened, Quina's mentor came along and scolded him. He said that Quina would never learn about being a true gourmand if he didn't go out and try other foods. Quina spent too much time trying to catch and eat frogs. Master Quale (his mentor) admitted that eating frogs was a big thing to Qu's and helped them grow, but Quina needed to expand his horizons. After saying all this, he requests that Zidane take Quina along to help him grow. I agree of course and gain a new character for the journey.
     As for what Quina's job/class, he is the Blue Mage in this game. You gain new spells by "Eating" certain enemies. To Eat enemies, you have to get them down to 1/8th of their health. From previous experience, Quina has some of the best spells in the game. It takes a little time and effort to get them, but they are almost all worth it. I managed to get a few from the monsters in the swamp alone. Before I left though, I took a bit of time to do Quina's sidequest. While in any of the swamps in the game, you can catch frogs as Quina. They're fairly easy to catch, but it takes a lot of time and patience. After catching so many frogs, Master Quale shows up to praise Quina. He says that he is doing well in his training and rewards him with an item. I managed to catch enough frogs that I earned a couple of items. After clearing the swamp of frogs, I went ahead and left there. My next destination of interest is the Chocobo Forest. It's a small distance to walk, but this next sidequest is the biggest one in the game!
     Upon entering the Chocobo Forest, I'm greeted by a Moogle. He tries to introduce me to the Chocobo in front of him, but it runs off rather quickly. The Moogle hands me same Gyashl Greens and tells me to go out and call him. I leave the forest briefly and find some chocobo tracks. I use the Gyashl Greens to call the bird back, and he comes running. I ride him back into the forest, and the Moogle is glad to see we are getting along. He then offers to let us try out a little treasure hunt in the forest. Basically, he gives me a minute to run around the small forest area and try to dig up items with the chocobo. As I attempt to dig, the chocobo makes different sounds to inform me of how close I am to the item, aka a Hot and Cold system. Of course, that reveals why the name of the game and sidequest is Chocobo Hot & Cold. By playing the game successfully, I earn random items from the ground, points to buy things from the Moogle, and sometimes find these ancient tablets called Chocographs. The Chocographs are the real aim of this sidequest of course. They lead to amazing treasure chests on the world map. I found like 6 or 7 Chocographs in the forest before I was told that there wasn't anymore to be found. I won't go into anymore real details on this quest at the moment, but I ended up spending like 2-3 hours on it and got a large pile of great items and equipment.
     Feeling I had done enough for Chocobo Hot & Cold at this moment, I finally made my way around to the cave known as Gizamaluke's Grotto. Once there, I ran into more fallen Burmecian soldiers. We went further inside to find another soldier on the brink of death. Before he died off, he handed us a silver bell. The silver bell looked just like the one on the nearby door. When I went to the door, it asked if I wanted to ring the bell. Doing so cause the door's bell to ring as well and opened the door. Of course, this also shattered the bell I had in my hand. Going on through the door brought me into a large chamber where Black Mages were killing all of the Burmecian soldiers. As we tried to help out, we spotted Zorn and Thorn above us commanding the Black Mages. They sicked a group on us and ran off. The Black Mages were easily defeated but had fairly strong magical attacks. As I went around, I had to fight another pair of Black Mages and random monsters. The monsters weren't too bad, and I even got a glimpse at two more trances, Freya's Trance and Quina's Trance. Freya's Trance changes her Jump command into the Spear command. Basically, rather than just jump up and come down for a single attack, she flies up, flings spears all over the entire enemy party for several turns, and then finally slams down for a powered Jump attack. Quina's Trance changes his Eat command into the Cook command. All that does is make it easier to devour enemies. (In game terms, you can Cook them at 1/4th health as opposed to Eat-ing them at 1/8th health. It's useful nonetheless.) Using a silver bell I picked up, I worked my way around to a Burmecian soldier who gave me another bell. I used this to enter the next chamber.
     In here, I found a Moogle crying by a bell. She said that her husband was trapped underneath it, and she wanted our help getting him out. Before she said anything else, she ran over to Vivi and started smelling him. She mentioned the Kupo Nut that he had on his person. She requested it from him, and I let her have it. With the Kupo Nut, her husband busted out from underneath the bell (It was a pretty big bell...). The two run off into the back room, and I follow after them. Inside there, she thanks me for helping her husband. I use this time to save my game and heal my people with a tent. I set out to leave the room, and the husband comes after me to give me a Holy Bell. Before running back, he asks if we have anymore Kupo Nuts and also says that "I'm kupo for Kupo Nuts!" I laughed a little and went on. Using the Holy Bell, I'm able to continue past this room into the final chamber of the Gizamaluke Grotto. However, as I am going through, a soldier warns us that "Master Gizamaluke has gone mad" and also suggests that the strange jesters (Zorn and Thorn) are behind it. Before we can say or do anything, a large serpent monster (presumably Master Gizamaluke) leaps out of the water and attacks us for BOSS BATTLE TIME!
     Here we are with another Boss Battle on our hands. Gizamaluke isn't going to let us win without a stern fight of course. Luckily, I recruited Quina now and not later. The extra hand was helpful in keeping everybody up to full on health. I spent most of this battle trying to loot a set of items off of Gizamaluke. This went quite poorly despite one of Zidane's abilities that were supposed to "improve" his stealing chance. I could have ended the battle fairly quickly, but I was determined to get all three items. However, this was pushing me towards a losing slope as I did it. I had to keep at least two party members focused on healing and also trying to not attack and kill Gizamaluke. Vivi's Slow spell helped keep me in a better way for part of the battle, but it didn't last long enough (still fairly long though) to finish the battle up. I also didn't have access to Quina's Mighty Guard spell. I mean, I had the spell, but he didn't have enough MP to cast it (64 MP for ONE casting!). Eventually, after exhausting a lot of potions and hi-potions, I gave in and just started attacking Mr. Gizamaluke all out. With his defeat, he fell back into the water. With his defeat, we needed to hurry out of the Grotto and to Burmecia!
     However, the game felt it imperative to switch over to Steiner and Dagger after the battle. Steiner was seen approaching the South Gate (and therefore not where Zidane thought they were...I think). They talked about going up and through the South Gate. Once there, they mentioned a town of Treno and getting back to Alexandria. However, Steiner had to sneak the Princess by the front gate of this small sheltered fortress. He managed to sneak her in with a bag filled full of gyashl pickles (apparently smell super bad and only like by some people...like Steiner!). After getting past the guards, Steiner set the bag down in an alley and let Dagger out. The two needed to go up and through the South Gate. Apparently, there was a way to climb up and over the mountains by the South Gate. Dagger was determined to get home to her mother and try to talk her out of her actions. Unfortunately, I've got more than enough stuff typed up for this post, so I saved my game and stopped there for now.
     Woo! That is a heck of a lot of happenings of typing for only 6 and a half hours of play! (Remember that like 2 hours of that was Chocobo Hot & Cold.) I'm certainly progressing through FF9 now, but I'm definitely not making the pace I was hoping for. It's becoming tediously harder and longer to type these posts. More is happening in less time than the previous games, but I still enjoy it nonetheless. I've started making small notes as I play the game so as to not forget everything that happens. I'm still leaving out a lot of extra details, but many of those are either currently extra or will be revealed later when more relevant. I've actually had all the details to type out this post for like...3 or so days. I would have had it up by now, but it is a lot easier to play the game than to talk about it. Ah well, that's enough for now! Thanks for reading, and I'll see you next time on Recurring Fantasy when we find out...what happens next!

Ending Point - Nearby the South Gate.
Current Party -
  • Dagger - Level 7
  • Steiner - Level 7
Goals Accomplished - Found out what was going on in the Village of Dali. Defeated Black Waltz No 2. Defeated Black Waltz No 3. Escaped the Black Waltz No 3 and made it to Lindblum. Explored the large city of Lindblum. Participated and won the Festival of the Hunt. Found and recruited Quina. Started the Chocobo Hot & Cold side quest. Made it to the Gizamaluke's Grotto. Defeated Gizamaluke and made it through Gizamaluke's Grotto.
Next Goals - Make it through South Gate and back to Alexandria (with Steiner and Dagger). Make it to Burmecia and try to help out (with Zidane and co).

~May the Crystals Guide Me~

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