Game - Final Fantasy 9, Day 66
Hours Played/Hours Total - 13 hrs / 50-1/2 hrs
Starting Point - Oeilvert.
Current Goal - Collect the Gulug Stone for Kuja. Save the rest of the group. Stop Kuja after that and save the world!
What Happened - So...I'm figuring at least 2 more posts and then finished! Unfortunately, that means two more weeks, so I won't be starting FFX until November...Let's look past that and enjoy the post though!
I went up to the building at Oeilvert. It seemed locked at first, but it mysteriously opened. With it open, I went inside to explore and found out something awful. As Kuja said to me, magic is sealed here. Therefore, two of my party members (Quina and Eiko) were nearly useless here! Luckily, they had decent weapons for this time and were able to do decent damage to the enemies here. I fought through a handful of enemies as I looked about, and I had to resort to items for healing. Luckily, I've been keeping my items almost 100% stocked at 99 each where I was able. The only real downside to the area is this one "mirror" enemy that copies one of your friends to attack you. If it copies someone on hand, that person is killed off instantly, even if you try to revive them! There was quite a bit of nice treasure to find here, and a whole lot of story. You best get ready...that's about the majority that happens throughout this post.
One room shows off a strange holographic display of a planet along with strange writing. Despite it's weirdness, Zidane seems able to read the writing. It mentions something about "Mother" and "Terra". They ask how he can read it, and he claims it speaks to him more than him reading it. We move on to the next couple of areas, and each one has more holograms telling of things. One group of holograms start talking about ancient ships and their technology. It says something about a prototype battleship called Invincible. The prototype was a failure but an improved version of it is still in use. Another hologram mentions the word "Terra" again and talks about it rising and falling. Eventually, I make it around to a large room with creepy looking faces decorating the walls. I head over to a platform and earn a history lesson.
They start off saying that the "seeds" decline wasn't their fault. The decay of vegetation and vessels and how the decay of Terra triggered all of it. Multiple methods were considered to stop it, and eventually, the greatest minds got together and attempted a final resuscitation on the mother continent. Unfortunately, that failed and was discovered later to be the catalyst. Subjects were selected and after four massive sacrifices, eternal prosperity seemed within reach. The flora and fauna were revived but remain in stasis. The final results of all this are still pending. The faces say they were constructed so that the history wouldn't die, and thus ends that large history speech. (I didn't write it down as well as I should have, but that's basically what they said.)
From the history room, I make my way back around to a previous room where I spotted a few moogles. This room had a strange pit in the middle, but after all that other stuff, it changed into a large star chart. It shows two similar looking planets as they combine together. Zidane isn't sure what it means though, so he ignores it for now. From that room, I found a lift that took me downward and deeper inside. At the bottom, there was a strange statue with a weird object in the middle. Obviously, this was the Gulug Stone that Kuja wanted. I grabbed it, but I wasn't to keep it without a fight! BOSS BATTLE TIME! For this boss battle, I have to fight an...airship. I get to fight off a large and somehow living airship. Luckily, I found out that Freya's Dragon abilities don't count as magic, so I'm allowed to do a little with that. Apart from that, I am forced to strike at the airship with physical attacks and heal whenever I can. I looted a couple of nice items off him as well. All in all...an easy and profitable fight! With the airship taken care of, the group is ready to head back in. Aaaand we switch back over to group two!
Before getting to them, I get a look in on Kuja. He's already planning to betray his promise to Zidane. The trap to drop the group into the lava will go off in ten minutes. Overhearing this, Cid decides he needs to go do something, so I have fun controlling a little dressed up frog! As I move about, a pair of Black Mages walk by and start talking about the current situation. One of them asks the other if what they are doing is right or not, but the other one says they can't really do anything about it. However, the second one also reveals how the traps are disabled. He mentioned something about "turning them all on". They walk off, and I head the opposite direction of them to turn the trap off. This involves a somewhat humorous mini game with Cid. This would be a lot more fun if I wasn't timed...like 5 minutes!The first step was retrieving a key from a monster's cage. Being as Cid is the size of a frog, the monster was pretty big in comparison to him. I had to slowly but surely sneak up. This took me way longer than it should have, but I eventually got the key. With the key in hand, I needed it to deactivate the trap switch above. Unfortunately, that switch is high up on a shelf. Lucky for Cid, there's a nice little scale set with weights. Using the weights (four made of different material), I had to get the scale to be fully weighed on one side to climb up. It should have been obvious, but I choose the wrong answer the first time. The second guess come up right though. From there, I climbed up, inserted the key, and flipped over a large hourglass. This stopped the traps and opened the other members' doors. Woo!
The imprisoned members are all released and ready to escape. I form up the team of Steiner, Vivi, Dagger, and Amarant and roll out! It's a fairly balanced team really. Steiner and Amarant offer all physical, Vivi chimes in with powerful magic attacks, and Dagger just heals it up with some summon sauce on the side. It's your basic team really, but there is one flaw. Dagger is still "recovering" from all the trauma that is happening and can't currently speak. In battle, this is reflected by her having a random chance to "not be able to concentrate". Luckily, it didn't happen very often, but it was not a fun factor to have to account for. The place we are in question is known as the Desert Palace (knew so earlier but it finally did the "intro" words.
While I wander about, I notice there are candles all over. Basically, the majority of this dungeon is candle lighting to get results. Lighting all the candles or candles in a certain order reveals pathways and treasure. It's nothing too hard for this portion, and I'm finally able to get some decent leveling and ability learning in! This is especially nice for Amarant since I haven't used him much up to this point. The monsters in this area aren't too tough, so I was able to pass through without a lot of trouble. Some of the candle lighting was a bit annoying, but it never proved too tough. I did get a nice selection of items from the Bloodstones that appear as I lit the candles. I didn't know what they were at the time, but they proved to be something special soon enough.
As I reached the final area, the exit was just before me, but the Desert Palace wasn't completely undefended it seems! I hear a security system go off, and it says something about the "defense system" being activated. Steiner, the current leader, spots out the massive thing and charges at it for BOSS BATTLE TIME! The monster in front of me is not so much a monster but a giant stone slab. As soon as the battle starts, it mentions something about the Bloodstones not being active! It starts calling out a bunch of power-up failures for the system. This was by far one of the shortest battles I've had, and I'm assuming that is in part due to my diligent Bloodstone acquiring. I literally ended this battle in four attacks! Of course, they were some of the more powerful attacks, but I had no reason to hold back. With the final hit, the giant stone slab and security system go down, and the group is able to jump the nearby teleport out.
From here, I get switched back to Team Zidane. They have just gotten back via the Hilda Garde 1, and they are heading for Kuja to turn in the Gulug Stone. We hit the teleport from outside, but it takes us to a different area. As we arrive inside, Kuja speaks to Zidane and tells him to come alone. Of course, the entire group finds this suspicious (well DUUUUH), but Zidane has to do it for the sake of his friends. I head off and find Kuja in his chamber. Zidane tells Kuja that his friends had best be all right, and Kuja shows off an unconscious version of the other party in a chamber below. Switching to the others outside, they are waiting when suddenly the other party teleports in. As I put it, KUJA IS LYING! The group realizes this and goes in to stop Zidane. As they all run inside, Eiko gets locked out before she can make it through. She turns back, and we see Zorn and Thorn appear to grab Eiko.
The rest of the group rushes in to to warn Zidane, but it's most obviously too late. We hear Eiko yelling behind us, but she's being abducted by Zorn and Thorn. Cid tries to help, but he is just a frog. Kuja "magicks" the Gulug Stone from Zidane and tells the group he is taking Eiko as well. Zidane tries to get him, but he teleports out of the room. I try to catch him in the airship hanger, but he's already taken off. Cid suggests we use the Blue Narciss (name of the boat) to chase after him. I head out of the Desert Palace and climb aboard the boat to chase him. This leads us halfway across Gaia and eventually to the icy Lost Continent. We're forced to land nearby but watch as he flies off to a nearby place. Of course, there's only one thing located on the continent...Esto Gaza.
I head inside the small settlement and run into a bishop there. After a bit of talking, he informs the group that a group of people that look like Vivi came through holding a girl and with a mysterious man following them. They made their way through the temple and towards Mount Gulug. (If you don't recognize it, Mount Gulug is the name of the volcano dungeon in FF1!) I buy any necessary supplies and then make my way into Mount Gulug...which is right behind Esto Gaza. As I enter inside, I'm hit with a bit of a nostalgia bomb when the music starts up. The music used inside of Mount Gulug is a remixed version of the original Mount Gulug background music. However, Mount Gulug brings more than nostalgia to the table! Inside, there is a decent array of monsters, and they aren't quite as big of pushovers as previous enemies. I actually had a Game Over in here when a couple enemies kept hitting me with the Freeze and Heat status effects. (Freeze literally freezes the character and will kill them if they are physically hit after being frozen. Heat will automatically kill a character if he takes another action after being "Heated".) Beyond that, I think the rest of the trip went okay. (I equipped the 'Body Temp' ability and that stops both.)
I also gained some nifty new Blue Magic! I have a feeling I've forgotten to mention a few in the past, but since I'm not 100% sure what those were...I won't worry about them! The Blue Magic gained here was Twister and Mustard Bomb. Twister is one of the few wind element spells in the game. Mustard Bomb causes the ever so fun Heat status. I didn't have much use for either one at the moment, but it doesn't hurt to get all that I can either. The area inside of Mount Gulug is an abandoned town which used to be lived-in by dwarves or something (I forgot what the bishop said.), so there are remains of several broken down houses all about. There are plenty of goodies to find as well though. It seems that we aren't alone though...While looking about one house, a strange shadow flashes in and out. Zidane ignores it for now, but that's not the last of it. It pops up in a couple other places before finally showing itself for...NOT boss battle time!
The dormant volcano seems to be occupied by a couple of dragons who are looking for a fight! I had to fight a few of these dragon creatures (looked more like a griffin really...) before I got to the bottom of this mountain stronghold. Despite their dragon-y appearance, none of the creatures were too hard to deal with. After a bit of looking about, I managed to use a centrally placed old well system to climb down to the bottom. I made it to a spot where the group could see the jesters doing something. Zidane figured it was the extraction spell they performed on Dagger, but now they are trying it on Eiko! Dagger comes in about this time, and she desperately wants to save Eiko. Zidane tells her to leave it to them though (Zidane, Vivi, Freya, and Quina) and runs on ahead. Dagger stops momentarily but quickly follows them.
The game switches to the two jesters performing the ritual at the bottom. Despite doing it like they did before, it proves unsuccessful. This is due in part to her being too young for them to extract the eidolons from her. The two jesters start arguing over whose fault it is, but Kuja quickly tells them to shut up and try again. They tell him that another attempt will endanger her life. Of course, Kuja says he doesn't care because he needs a power that is stronger than Garland's. He adds something about how Garland's power is ridiculous in comparison to his own. The final note he makes is how he needs to destroy Garland before Terra's plan is activated and his soul will no longer be his. As the jesters approach Eiko to try again, Mog pops out and protects Eiko. Eiko tells Mog to hide, but Mog stands firm. Kuja tells them to kill it, but they dont' get a chance! Mog thanks Eiko for being with her and that they'll always be together. Mog turns into shimmering light and STORY BATTLE TIME! Zorn and Thorn come at Eiko, and Mog tells her to use Terra Homing. This starts up a summon that involves a crazy-looking lion-angel combo that attacks with a blast of holy energy! This blasts the jesters in one shot and ends the battle.
After the battle finishes, Mog tells Eiko that she wanted to be by her side so she turned herself into a moogle. She fades away as the rest of the group finally shows up. Zidane asks what happened, and Eiko replies that Mog protected her and never knew that Mog was actuall an eidolon. As she finishes this, Mog's ribbon pops out of nowhere and floats to Eiko. As this finishes, Kuja walks in and comments on how Mog went into Trance. He realizes that Trance is caused by an eruption of anger against one's surroundings rather than the will to live or the desire to protect another. He mentions something about needing a powerful soul, even if it isn't his. He says he doesn't need us anymore and starts to walk out. As he is leaving, he tells us that the "twins" put on a pretty good show but aren't really twins...Vivi goes after Kuja. The jesters start convulsing strangely and transform into a huge monster! BOSS BATTLE TIME!
The jesters have mutated and merged together to make a giant fleshy monstrosity with two heads that look like each of the jesters. The monster didn't offer much of a challenge and seemed to be limited on the kinds of attacks it had. The only bad thing it could truly do was cause the Virus status effect on a character. (Virus stops a character from gaining experience and AP. Basically, you can't level at all.) Anyways, I took the time to steal what I could off the monster and then put it out of its misery. With the battle wrapped up, the group gets a moment to relax. Vivi comes back in with a couple of Black Mages. They missed Kuja, but they were here to say something else. Kuja give them the truth of it all. He told the Black Mages that their life spans couldn't be extended, and that they were all fools for even believing him. They didn't take the news very well, and most of them were sitting about in another area. Vivi goes to sit with his people and to be with them during this time.
As he leaves the room, the group hears a woman's voice and goes to investigate. The woman seems to recognize Dagger as Princess Garnet almost immediately. This leads to only a few people...and Cid enters in to confirm that this is Hilda! Finally, we meet Cid's wife. She doesn't recognize the frog at first, but she says his mustache gives him away. (How a frog still has a mustache...I guess magic?) She apologizes to Cid for giving Kuja his airship, but he says he doesn't care as long as she is okay. Then...we time jump to Lindblum! Back in Lindblum, Hilda starts talking with Cid. She tells him that Kuja basically gave her all the information for his master plan for no apparent reason. She said it was a horrible plan, and that Kuja isn't from THIS world (Gaia). He's aiming to use Gaia to gain destructive power, and the obtaining of the Hilda Garde I was just part of this plan. However, kidnapping Hilda wasn't part of that, but he never did anything bad to her.
Hilda wants to call a meeting to inform everybody about this, but before that, Cid asks her to change him back. Hilda isn't sure she can trust him or his skirt chasing ways. Cid says he is sorry and promises to never do it again. After a bit of back and forth, she gives in and agrees to change him back. She does warn him that something worse will happen if he does it again. She changes Cid back, and we finally get to see the REAL Cid! (I honestly like Frog Cid better...JUST SAYING!) From here, the game switches over to Zidane. A soldier wakes him up and tells him that a meeting has been called. I head on up and meet with the rest of the group. As I get there, Zidane asks who the strange dude at the top is, and the group informs him that it is Cid. After the meetings starts, Cid heads out to get the Hilda Garde 3 running and says something about using part of the Blue Narciss to do it.
As he leaves, Hilda starts filling us in on all the details that Kuja told her. It doesn't get far before Zidane asks where Dagger is. It seems that she has wandered off, and Steiner heads out to find her. Continuing the meetings, she tells the group what she told Cid. Kuja is out for a greater power and isn't from this world. He's from a place called Terra. INSERT ATE! Steiner is looking around the city and runs into Tantalus. He thinks they are still hoodlums at first, but Baku offers to help find the Princess since they know the city better. This changes Steiner's mind about them. BACK TO MEETING! Terra is somehow connected to Gaia through a place called the Shimmering Island. We can't get directly to Terra through the Shimmering Island of course. Amarant adds in that THAT would be too easy. The ability to go to Terra is sealed, and the seal can only be broken in an old castle located on the Forgotten Continent. (Okay, they were a bit lazy on the continent names, but I guess simple and easy works all right.) Seeing as the castle is unnamed, Hilda refers to it simply as Ipsen's Castle. Unfortunately, the only known records of the Forgotten Continent are from an explorer who said the cliffs around the continent were too steep to climb and made the continent inaccessible. This means the only way to get there is with an airship, which Cid is working on. And that is all she knows.
When asked why Kuja gave her the information, she said that he gave it all voluntarily and wasn't sure why. Amarant figures that he did so because he's so much more powerful than us, and we're already at a huge disadvantage. Thus...he doesn't fear us or anything we could do. As they are wrapping up, Steiner walks in and says he can't find Dagger anywhere in Lindblum. Zidane thinks he knows where she went, so we time jump to Alexandria! Tantalus is looking all around the city for Dagger, but they can't seem to find her. Zidane is sitting by the castle and unsure what to do. He figures she would have been here as well. Baku walks in and says he can't find Dagger, but he did spot THAT chick. Zidane asks Baku who, but Baku walks off. Zidane follows after him and turns out...he's talking about Beatrix. Zidane keeps trying to get to Beatrix, but a nice little back and forth occurs as Zidane tries to catch her and fails. Eventually, she finally comes up and approaches Baku. She asks who he is, and he replies that he is one of the people who kidnapped the Princess. Beatrix says to forget about that for now. Baku comments that she has a big heart unlike the knucklehead Steiner. The group talks briefly, and Zidane asks Beatrix where Dagger could be. She points out the resting place of the late Queen and gives Zidane a Garnet to give to Dagger.
Zidane heads over and does find Dagger over by her mother's grave. However, it seems that something happened to her because she can talk again! She still plans to be Queen of Alexandria one day, but she wishes to travel with the group a bit longer. She explains that her primary concern when her mother was alive was just being a princess, and that when she was to become Queen, her thought process didn't change. She believes her people won't accept her as Queen nor does she have the right to rule the country. Zidane hands her the Garnet and tells her that it was given a wish and shined constantly. (He's using a metaphor here...) Basically, he says that she can rule someday, but the most important thing here is the desire to do so and shouldn't be rushed. She tries to apologize for using the group to run away, but Zidane tells her that what is important is that she wishes to stay with them. Dagger borrows Zidane's dagger once again and CUTSCENE! Dagger walks out to the water and looks upon the castle. She uses the Dagger to cut her hair, and now things have changed apparently! Before the scene ends, I see a massive airship taking off from Lindblum (assuming the Hilda Garde 3).
Finally, I have an airship! With the airship in hand, I'm to make my way to Ipsen's Castle and figure a way to Terra. Before I do that of course, I do a bit more side questing! Thankfully, most of the open and available side quests are more or less done at this point. I finish up the remainder of Chocobo Hot & Cold by collected the last couple Chocograph Pieces (6 of them in all). With all the pieces, I can finally upgrade Choco to the ultimate Chocobo...THE GOLD CHOCOBO! With this ultimate Chcoobo, I can fly all over the map and finally make it to Choco's homeland known as the Chocobo Paradise. With a little guide direction-ing, I find my way to it quite easily. I enter inside and get to directly meet the Fat Chocobo. He welcomes Chocobo to his homeland and offers him a place here. He didn't really approve of using the "humans" to help him, but he gives us some gratitude for helping Choco out. When asked to stay, Choco seems to refuse it for now because he isn't quite ready.
I leave Chocobo's Paradise and head for my next location...Chocobo's Sky Garden! Basically, it's the final frontier for chocograph hunting. However, it's a magical floating island, and you have to look all over the map for a "shadow" and then fly upward using Dead Peppers. Up in the sky, I find the last few Chocographs and obtain some of the best equipment in the game from them! Woo! With the chocographs done, I don't lack a whole lot to do, but there are a couple items left on the list. For now, I head for a city I haven't been to but know of. The location is on a secluded mountain top with a water source about it. I enter inside and find the library known as...Daguerreo! As I said, the place is more of a giant and ancient library than a city. It also houses a large water shrine to the water dragon, Leviathan, and that explains the constant supply of water that seems to be present. (But that doesn't explain the reason of making a water place a library say goodbye to those books if water goes wrong!) Despite this, Daguerreo is home to one of the best shops and synthesis shops in all of Gaia. I use my large pile of money to buy and synth all that I can. That didn't take too long though, and once I finished, I decied it was time to move on...TO IPSEN'S CASTLE!
The game marked Ipsen's Castle for me, so I'm able to auto-pilot my way there. (You can pick spots on the map while in the airship, and it auto-flies its way there.) Ipsen's Castle is quite a strange castle. It appears to be two castle's stacked on top of each other but with the floors being the connected portion. Before we can enter, Amarant presents a challenge to Zidane. He claims he works better alone, and that he can find what we need before the group can find it together. I'm given the choice here, and I let him go ahead. Zidane claims that "they can't change him", so I followed shortly after Amarant. As for my team, I take in Dagger, Steiner, and Eiko. It's not the most balanced team, but it does offer some extra healing. Upon entering, I prepare for the weirdness. An earlier guide mentioned something about weapon power values doing a flip-flop in here. Basically, the weakest weapons strike the strongest and the strongest weapons strike the weakest. This is proven easily in battle and supported by the items I get from the nearby chests. The chests contain a variety of incredibly old and weak weapons from the beginning. I equip Steiner and Zidane with weaker weapons while I keep the other two fully armed. (I'm trying to learn abilities here!) No idea why they thought this was a good mechanic, but I'm not a professional game designer.
I quickly make my way through the castle and find myself at the very top. Once there, it seems Amarant was right about something. He did make it to the top first. (I'd like to add that he got a headstart!) Zidane asks if he figured out how to break the seal, but he says he's clueless on it. Zidane walks up to the display and things fall into place (for me at least). There are four mirror objects placed on various points of what appears to be a world map of Gaia. They are each situated in a specific spot where I probably need to do something, and each mirror has a clue on the back as to where we should look. Amarant tells the group he is leaving now since he managed to beat Zidane. Zidane yet again lets him go because we can't really change him. As I try to leave myself, a monster appears out of nowhere and demands we return the mirrors. It says something about us messing with Terra's master plan and attacks us for BOSS BATTLE TIME!
I'm not going to draw this out much. Despite the Ipsen's Castle effect, the boss proved to be little trouble. It helped that I had powerful summons and the Holy spell with Eiko! With his defeat, he fades away on a dying note about how "One is all, all is one". With this bit wrapped up, I decided to head back out and try to get this mirror bit figured out. We make it back outside and find out that Amarant never came out. Zidane heads back in...alone. This presented a very unfun scenario for me. I had to run about Ipsen's Castle and locate a missing Amarant without the team. This wasn't fun at all since I was having a bit of trouble with enemies as is. However, I did happen upon a few extra items I missed, so it sort of balanced out. I find Amarant in an area below the main floor. When we hit the top, it activated some traps, and Amarant went and fell into one of them. Before he lets anything happen though, he asks Zidane why he came back for him. To sum it up, Zidane says it was against his nature to NOT come back and that they are all a team. With that thought in mind, Amarant decides it is okay to rejoin the group. We head back outside and...
Time to discuss the next plan! Zidane briefly goes over what they do know. The mirrors were situated on a world map in specific spots. This was further enhanced by clues in the Zidane-only language written on the backs of the mirrors. Zidane figures these locations are definitely part of the seal breaking process. On top of this though, he thinks the big monster they fought gave him another insight. He believes the "One is All, All is One" line means that all four spots have to be conquered at the same time. With eight characters total, this means two people are dropped off at four locations. Before this though, I did a bit of side tracking for items and side quest. I returned to Daguerro briefly to buy more items and synth more things. (Still haven't gotten it all!) Apart from that, I stopped off at Treno to deliver a few more Stellazio and hit the auction house up. All I got out of it was Dark Matter, but that is okay since it teaches Dagger the Odin summon. (Woo! Odin is BACK!)
After that, I revisited Vivi's home for a short and interesting cutscene involving Vivi, Quina, Quale (Quina's master), and Quan (apparently Quale's master). Quina starts this by eating n imaginary feast that isn't there. From here, he runs outside to see the Qu out there. The Qu present is Vivi's grandfather Quan. He tells Quina that what he saw was his imagination, but it was just as real as real could be! Quale rushes in about this time and says that Quan was HIS master but ran off to do something else. Even Vivi came in and was greatly surprised to see his grandpa. What Quan basically said to them was that a powerful imagination can make one live well past their actual self, and a true gourmand is able to taste things even when just being told about it. With that, he says goodbye to the three of them and fades away. However, it seems that Zidane didn't see any of this happening. Vivi tells him that he'll explain to him later, and Quina adds in that Zidane has a looong way to go. After a couple more small stops, I figured to move on and look for those places...called shrines!
Of course, this was a very easy task since the game just gives you the shrine locations! The first one is the Water Shrine, and it is assigned to Dagger and Eiko. From there, I drop off Freya and Amarant at the Fire Shrine. The Wind Shrine is left to Vivi and Steiner. That leaves Zidane and Quina for the Earth Shrine. All the groups proceed inside with little trouble other than a few traps. They all find the spot where the mirrors go, but they all realize at once...It was too easy. Just as they go to set the mirrors in place, a guardian appears at every shrine. The funny thing about these guardians is that they all resemble the appropriate boss per shrine to the Final Fantasy 1 major fiends! (The elemental crystal ones...FF1 versions not the FF4 ones.) They call themselves the Guardians of Terra, and each group gets to deal with a separate guardian. As for the Earth Shrine, we get to deal with the Lich. (It's also the only battle I have to actually do.)
BOSS BATTLE TIME! Despite the handicap of only two people, it happens to be that these two people are probably the better characters in the party. Zidane deals out the damage while Quina assists with fairly powerful physical strikes and some great blue magic, namely White Wind and Mighty Guard. With the guardian's defeat, each group places their mirror in place and regroup. They all regroup on the Hilda Garde 3, and I do a quick preparation for my trip to Terra. I really only stopped a Daguerro for supplies and more equipment. After that, I head for the Shimmering Island. To warp to Terra, the group jumps off the Hilda Garde 3 and into the torrent of energies surging from the island...CUE CUTSCENE! The group jumps off the Hilda Garde 3 and fly upwards and onwards in the spiraling vortex of energy. When they awaken, they find themselves in a strange and very blue place.
I have finally arrived...at Terra! It's a very odd looking place with a lot of blue and funkyness about. Before anything happens, Zidane is approached by an evil-looking man. (We know him as Garland.) He asks Zidane what his name is, and before Zidane replies, he says something about Gaia instilling a different sense in him. He simply tells Zidane to explore Terra and to remember his true self. He vanishes after this, and the rest of the group shows up. I take some time to explore the new place, but I don't get too far when a mysterious girl lies ahead of us. Zidane calls out to her, but she just turns around and runs. This reveals that she has a tail like Zidane's! Of course, I have to give chase here. I follow her all about, and when I finally catch up, she tells Zidane to follow her so that he can remember his heritage. And thus...I find myself in a Bran Bal.
As we enter inside, she welcomes Zidane home and tells him that this is where he will offer himself. As she finishes, a cutscene pops up and reveals something else. From below our position, a massive airship flies up and above us. As it turns out, this airship is the Invincible. Upon seeing the evil eye at the bottom, Dagger finally realizes that this ship was the cause of Madain Sari's destruction! The trauma of this causes her to pass out, and thus ends the cutscene. Zidane looks for a place for her to rest, and I start to explore this Bran Bal. The people here all look almost exactly like, and even more so, they all look just like Zidane! However, unlike Zidane, they all speak with a very direct and almost scientific tone. One of them gives him an answer about an "inn", and he takes Dagger over to rest.
Next up, we see Eiko running about the town and trying to find some medicine. She runs into the girl from before who tells her to pass a message to Zidane. She wants Zidane to meet her at the underground laboratory. Eiko passes on the message, and Zidane heads out to find her. Along the way, I talk with a few more of the people around here. The key words brought up throughout are souls, vessels, and life. When I find the girl in the laboratory, it's shown that these people are created! She finally gives us a name for them...the Genomes! Zidane wonders why they all act like they do and is somewhat saddened to find out that this place is his home. The girl (yeah, it never gives her a name at this point...) tells Zidane that he was specially made for a greater purpose. She tells him that the "will of Garland" is absolute, but he just asks who Garland is. (Be prepared! The rest of this post is basically just a pile of story that I'm going to try and summarize where I can.)
She says that Garland is the one who watches over Terra and his mission is to restore the people of Terra. The Genomes are simply vessels for when the real Terra people awaken from their sleep that has lasted ages. When the time comes, the light of Terra will change from blue to red, and Gaia will become Terra. She acts as if Terra has been absorbing new planets to survive for some time. The Genomes only purpose in all of this is to house the souls of the Terra people. Of course, Zidane asks why they don't simply eliminate them with all the power they have. She responds that Garland tried a forceful method once, but it failed and forced him to wait a long time. He waited until Gaia's civilizations gained the tremendous power of summoning eidolons. And thus came about the destruction of Madain Sari. She explains that planets have a cycle of souls where the souls are born from the planet and return back to it. (Yeah, I'll admit this is a straight rip of the Lifestream theory from FF7.) Garland was trying to gain control of that cycle, and Zidane was created to help him achieve this. However, that's all she says for now and leads Zidane off to talk with Garland.
Switching back to the rest of the party, Dagger asks Eiko to go look for Zidane. I head on out as Eiko and start searching for him. As I go, a pile of ATEs show other party members talking with Zidane. Quina talks with Zidane and asks why he's so down. They talk about how people look like their people, and Zidane brings up that these are his. Next, Zidane bumps into Vivi trying to speak with the Genomes. Zidane tells him it is useless, but Vivi feels that they are a lot alike. He says that they seem like the Black Mages. They can think and answer, but they are missing something that keeps from from being more. Zidane bumps into Amarant last, and the two of them talk briefly. He asks Amarant about his family, and Amarant says he can't remember any. Zidane simply states that he has no parents and walks on. As I look for Zidane (as Eiko), I run into each of the ATE people, and they join up. I come to a spot where the girl directs Zidane onward into a warp. She says that Garland is at the floating castle where the souls bide their time until restoration...It's name is Pandemonium! (Yes, the name of the purgatory place in FF2. This game is making fun use of lots of past stuff. I STILL LOVE IT!) Zidane heads on to meet Garland and figures it is up to him to deal with this little "family problem". As Zidane leaves, Eiko learns from the girl that Zidane went off to see Garland and mentioned something about being an enemy of Gaia now. Eiko runs off to tell everybody else, and we jump back to Zidane!
I'm going to warn you right now...This next part is basically the entirety of the "What's going on?" for this game. It is all the secrets piled into one massive speech. I'm going to summarize it as I can, but the biggest thing I wanted to state here was...OMG! SPOILERS ALERT BELOW! OMG!
Zidane comes face-to-face with Garland, and this is where the story gets nearly fully explained. Garland says that he sent his most prized Genome to Gaia twelve years ago to help him disrupt the cycle of souls. The Genome he sent was Zidane, and Zidane demands to know why he sent him to grow up there and why he even wants it destroyed. Garland claims he has no intent of destroy Gaia and only wishes to make Gaia into Terra. However, problems arose for him during this whole plan, and one of those problems was how Zidane was raised on Gaia. He then changes the subject to say another Genome was created much like Zidane, and that it is the most responsible for his current plans being messed up. Zidane questions who it is, and Garland simply states that Zidane already knows him and that they are quite alike. Garland starts heading towards something and tells Zidane to follow.
Garland created the Genomes to house the souls of the Terra people when they awaken. (We know this of course) However, 24 years ago, he gave life to a different Genome much like Zidane. The will of this Genome was too strong to be a proper vessel and was going to be discarded. However, he figured out a use for this Genome and tried to use it to disrupt the cycle of souls on Gaia. Zidane asks again who he is talking about. Garland is surprised he doesn't know, and this Genome might even be considered Zidane's BROTHER! So he finally reveals that the Genome in question...is named Kuja! (DUN DUN DUUUUUN!) Zidane says he doesn't have a tail, but Garland explains that he hides it. He hides the tail as a means to reject his existence and tries to assert his own individuality. Zidane claims the two are nothing alike, but Garland replies that Kuja said the same thing about Zidane. Kuja seemed to be perfect for the mission he was sent for. He was sent to bring war and create chaos on Gaia. The disruption of the flow of souls is best brought about by war, and Kuja did this and exceeded expectations.
Then Zidane was created, and Kuja didn't like this at all. He didn't like that Zidane had more power than his and felt threatened by it all. Kuja threw Zidane onto Gaia since it was going to be destroyed. Zidane's purpose was to be the same as Kuja's, but Garland didn't expect Kuja to abandon Zidane despite it being Kuja's nature. For Kuja, his bringing war onto Gaia was proof of his victory over Zidane. Garland figures that Kuja's desire to justify his existence is the only reason he let Zidane live. Zidane asks if that is why the blood of thousands were so readily spilled. Garland inquires to if he means Kuja's ambitions or the overall plan to disrupt the cycle of souls. Zidane figures both and asked what was to be gained from the disruption.
Garland wants to disrupt the cycle of souls on Gaia, drain them, and replace the void with the souls of Terra. The speeding up of the cycle would speed up the work as a whole, and thus war was necessary. In time, Gaia will be gone and transform into Terra.
The Iifa Tree's part in all of this was to be the role of Soul Divider. The Mist given out by the tree is comprised of the stagnant souls of Gaia. Zidane told Garland that they stopped the Mist, but Garland claims that what they saw was just the back of it all. The Iifa Tree blocks the flow of Gaia's souls so that Terra's souls can flow freely. The tree actually blocks the souls at the core of the planet where it contains the beginning and end of the cycle of souls. The light that remains is still Gaia's, but he says that it will soon change from Blue to Red, and thus the restoration will be complete. He wrapped that light up in the Iifa Tree to prevent the judgement of souls on Gaia from inside the very planet. And that is the Iifa Tree's true purpose and form. Everything they saw was simply the material form, and the flow isn't going to change by stopping the Mist disposal.
Kuja adds to this process by being an "Angel of Death". He sends souls to the tree, and this keeps them trapped. Of course, Zidane's role here was to take on Kuja's role after he passed on. Garland knew that Kuja couldn't last forever and planned to replace him with Zidane when the time was right. With this explanation, he has given Zidane his true existence back. Zidane says he's aware of all his life back on Gaia and just wants a place to call home. Garland tells him he is destined to live among the stars for all eternity. He has the power, position, and motive to accomplish it all. Zidane doesn't want that and just wants to protect his home and freinds on Gaia. He plans to defeat Garland and destroy Terra to prevent more pain from reaching those on Gaia. Garland finds it regretable that Zidane chose this action as he would have been a perfect Angel of Death. Zidane wants to take on Garland here and now, but Garland asks if he knows the phrase "meeting his maker". Garland does something, and Zidane passes clear out. Before everything changes, Garland says something about Zidane being too good to be a regular Genome vessel, but he has no choice. /end scene
Game makes a quick pit stop at Kuja who is now back on Terra. He can't believe he came back, but he claims that the power will soon be his. He plans to show everybody why he is the ruler of them all. NOW BACK TO ZIDANE!
Zidane wakes up in a strange place, and he can't seem to think straight. He gets up and tries to stumble away. Eiko and Vivi show up to rescue him, but he just tells them to go away. As he's walking, he gets into a fight with a monster! Things are looking grim, but then Freya and Amarant step in to help him. They beat the monster, but Zidane walks away without them. Next up, Zidane comes into a room where Quina and Steiner are dealing with an enemy of their own. They're fighting some large insect monster, and things are going just okay. Zidane jumps in and helps them defeat it, but yet again...he walks off without them. He comes to a chamber where he is finally alone, but another monster appears to stop him! Things are looking bad, and when the beast puts its foot down...Zidane isn't alone! Dagger comes in and heals Zidane. We fight through this monster, and we finally come back.
Zidane tells Dagger that he felt he had to do all of this himself and didn't want anybody to get hurt. The group starts coming back together and tell him that he doesn't have to do it all by himself. They have always been with him and will back him up to the death. Basically, they are going to help him do it. He apologizes to them all about his actions, and now it's finally time...Time to take down Garland...
On the next post! Yeah, I figured I have one big post left for this game, and I'll finally be done! I'm going to pour all of my power and ability into that last post! Also, I'm going to attempt the ultimate extra boss fight...OZMA! Want to learn more? I'll tell you about my horrible defeat in the next and final post of FINAL FANTASY 9! Stay tuned for more Recurring Fantasy, and as always, I thank you for reading my insanely large amount of rambling on. Thank you...thank you very much.
Ending Point - Pandemonium
Current Party -
- Zidane - Level 46
- Dagger - Level 38
- Amarant - Level 34
- Quina - Level 38
Next Goals - Stop Garland and his plan. Deal with Kuja when that comes up. Save Gaia!
~May the Crystals Guide Me~
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