Game - Final Fantasy 9, Day 61
Hours Played/Hours Total - 3-1/2 hrs / 3-1/2 hrs
Starting Point - The beginning of Final Fantasy 9.
Current Goal - Start Final Fantasy 9. Beat Final Fantasy 9!
What Happened - It's that time again! Time to start a whole new adventure in the Final Fantasy world. For this time, I'm starting up on my current favorite title in the series. After 9, I've got 3 more titles in the series, and I have a bad feeling about what will happen after 10...But I'll get to that when it comes! For now, let's start up Final Fantasy 9!
The first thing I'll say...I'm so glad to be back to pure fantasy! The first thing FF9 does for me is return the series to a more fantasy setting like the old titles. Nothing against the mix of fantasy with other elements, but this one goes for the old style similar to the first game and other early titles. The game opens with a video. It's a storm on an ocean and someone is trying to sail about with little success. Before it finishes up, I find out it is a dream by a beautiful woman. She looks out the window, and we see a large airship floating on what appears to be clouds. It flies towards the destination of a very large castle town...and Final Fantasy 9 appears on the screen. I'm taken inside the ship and given control of my first character. It's a regular looking person with a monkey tail. As he walks into the room, I gain control and start looking about. He talks about meeting the rest of the group there, and I light the candles in the middle of the room. A couple people quickly fall in and things get started. We start to talk when a half-man, half-dragon looking figure walks in for battle time! (Not quite a boss but will find that out soon)
I already have a party of four here, but they all only have the Steal ability. Seems like I'm working with a group of thieves. I attack a couple the dragon man and find out it's just a head piece. It busts off and the battle ends. The man in the outfit congratulates them on a job well done defeating him, and they move into the next room to discuss their plans. The group heads in, and I follow quickly behind them after being introduced to the character...Zidane!
I head inside and find out even more details. The group is called Tantalus, and they are pretending to be a theater troupe in order to infiltrate the castle of the kingdom of Alexandria. Their ultimate goal is to kidnap the Princess of Alexandria, Garnet. They are doing the play for her 16th Birthday, and there is a plan to it all. Once there, the group will split into two teams. The first team of Marcus and Cinna (two of the bandits) will work the play while the second team of Blank and Zidane sneak around and kidnap the Princess. After discussing the plan, the game switches me to a different character on the ground.
Now, I'm playing as what looks to be a strangely dressed Black Mage. I explore the town and find out a few details. He (assuming) is in town to see the play being put on. I walk around a bit and find all sorts of fallen items. After looking around, I report in to get my ticket stamped and find out...The Black Mage's ticket was a fake, and according to the ticket person, it wasn't the first fake. He feels bad for the little guy and gives him some playing cards. I go off to find my next point of interest when I run into a little rat kid. He has me play the lookout while he steals a nearby ladder. Before I follow after him, I run into a guy named Alleyway Jack. He shows me how to play the card game "Tetra Master."
I'll be honest...It isn't great. Comparative to Triple Triad, it's a pretty crappy game. You set cards on a field and try to take other cards. It's the same concept, but the field is bigger and doesn't work quite the same. Cards can only attack other cards if its arrows are facing them. They might have to battle if arrows meet up between two cards. This results in a "What?" effect because the card stats don't appear to be anything and are not explained at all. I played 3-4 games and went about my business. Next up, time to find that rat kid.
I quickly find him running into a building and follow after. We are about to climb up the ladder when I get trampled by a Moogle! Glad to see Moogles again. (Although to be fair, FF8 has moogles, but you can only spot them in the Chocobo Forest side quest that I skipped.) The Moogle there talks with a friend of his who is about to head off. I'm then told that I can save at the Moogle. The Moogles are the save point in FF9. On top of that, he asks that I help him deliver letters. They usually have a thing for it called Mognet, but that's not been going well. I take the letter and head up the ladder. I run after the rat kid, whose name is Puck, and I quickly find out the name of the mystery Black Mage is...Vivi! (My favorite FF9 character! Wooo!)
The group is taking part in the play, and they all have a part. The play being done is a popular one in the kingdom called "I Want to Be Your Canary." Baku, the bandit leader, is playing the part of the king in the play while the rest of the group are miscellaneous other people (not sure and don't really care). They perform a battle on stage that I get to play as a real battle that is fake. The only points of interest in this is the temporary SFX ability where I can cast Pyro, Poly (Holy), and Medeo (Meteor). They don't do any damage, but it is funny that I have them. As the battle concludes, Zidane is set to run off in the play, and he gets into a sword fight with Blank. I get to perform this sword fight with button presses. If you do well enough (I did), you are rewarded with a pile of gil from the crowd and the Queen herself. I haven't mentioned her name yet...It is Queen Brahne, Queen of Alexandria. She is very fat and ugly. Moving right along, the two of them run off and start their part of the plan. They knock out a couple of guards and begin looking for the Princess. They don't have to go too far before running into a robed figure. She asks us to let her through, but upon further inspection, they discover it to be Princess Garnet! She runs past the two, and they give chase. Game switches again! (There are a lot of these...I'll do my best to make them separate!)
The game jumps to a couple of the royal guards who are nearby Queen Brahne. A couple of strange jesters come up to speak with the Queen, and she is approached by the group. The woman is General Beatrix. The man in the odd armor of sorts is the Captain of the Knights of Pluto and our next party member. His name is...Steiner!
The game jumps into another short cutscene where the Princess grabs a line and leaps off the top of the tower. Zidane follows after her, and the two of them land on the theater ship. Steiner tries the same idea, but he fails horribly and misses the target. Now back in control of Zidane, I quickly follow after the Princess who is now aboard the large theater ship. He finally corners her in a room, and she makes a request of him. She wishes that the group would kidnap her and take her away from the castle! This works out greatly for Zidane and company, but for her sake, he acts out accepting the offer. Just as they are talking, Steiner and group bust in to give chase. Zidane and Garnet (the Princess) manage to evade him with the help of Cinna. However, he catches up, and the group is forced to fight him briefly. This fight doesn't go too far though, and he strikes at Blank and destroys his disguise. However, Blank had a bit of a backup plan. As his disguise is destroyed, this unleashes a pile of insects called Oglops. While Steiner is distracted, Zidane and Garnet manage to slip away and head to the deck of the ship. Steiner quickly follows them, but the entire group find themselves on the stage of the currently live play.
Unsure of what to do, the group starts to play along with the play. (Wowzers this feels confusing trying to explain XO) While the group is acting out their part, Vivi and Puck are spotted by some guards. They both try to evade the guards, and Puck leaves Vivi behind. At some point, Vivi makes his way onto the stage and sets Garnet on fire. Luckily, it only caught her robe on fire, but this reveals to everyone that she is very much there. The Tantalus group tries to make their escape with the airship, but they don't get too far. As they try to fly off, the Queen orders an attack on the ship. All sorts of cannons start firing massive spears with chains attached to stop the ship. To further add to this, a final large cannon fires off a strange cannonball. This quickly changes into...a Bomb! (The monster) It flies at us, and a battle ensues! However, Steiner is still convinced that he is going to take the Princess back, and he's still charging at us. The group is trying to warn him about the Bomb, but he doesn't believe them. As the Bomb reaches critical mass, he finally turns around...and the Bomb explodes. The next video looks like the airship has finally been destroyed, but the airship manages to limp out of the situation and away from the castle. It doesn't get too far before dipping below the misty cloudline...and crash landing in the forest below.
Everybody awakens to find themselves all scattered about in a spooky forest known as...the Evil Forest. The airship is completely broken at this point, and they are just trying to get the fire put out. As everything finally gets settled, Zidane heads out to locate the missing Princess. The game then reveals a cool feature that is one of my favorites in FF9...Active Time Events! (Abbreviated ATE) These events are used to give a brief look into what is happening to other people in other places. It is usually a small glimpse and used to help fill in small holes or give insight into characters. Many of the ATE are quite funny in nature, but they are fairly interesting and well spread throughout the game. The biggest thing revealed by the current ATE is that Vivi and Garnet are in need of my help. I make my way into the forest and quickly meet up with them. As I find them, Garnet is being grabbed by some strange plant creature. Steiner also appears out of nowhere to help. Zidane and Steiner charge at it for BOSS BATTLE TIME SORTA!
The first thing that happens is Zidane changing form. Steiner identifies this as "Trance." He says it is a powerful form that is activated by a surge of emotion. To translate into game terms and also explain, Trance is the "limit" system for FF9. It works off the same principle of FF7's limit break, but the end results is different. Basically, the meter builds as you are attacked (or during special battles), and eventually when you hit full, you go into Trance. This powers up the character in terms of strength and power, and you also gain access to a special command. For Zidane, it opens up a special set of super attacks under a command called Dyne. I would have used Dyne to lay the smack down on the plant, but unfortunately, Garnet was a target in all of this. I kept harassing the plant with attacks, but I also had to heal Garnet ever so often. The plant kept draining health off of her to heal itself. I managed to easily beat the plant, but then it ran off with the Princess in tow. As things can't possibly get worse, another plant leaps out and grabs Vivi! BOSS BATTLE TIME SORTA 2!
This battle would almost go the same, but the key difference here is Vivi! Vivi doesn't just sit while the plant slowly drains him dry. He constantly casts Fire from his captured position on the plant. I have to throw him a few potions, but this plant monster goes down faster than the previous one. Outside of the battle, as the plant monster dies, he sprays Vivi and Steiner. Zidane rushes them both back to the airship wreckage to help them. As it turns out, the plant monster had planted seeds on them with the spray. Had they not received some of Blank's medicine, the plant seeds would eventually burst out of them. (I'm assuming in Alien-style.) Zidane tries to convince Baku to let him go rescue Garnet, but Baku doesn't want to risk his own people to go and get her. Zidane decides to head off anyways. Before going too far, he speaks with Vivi, who thanks him for helping. While talking, Zidane is thoroughly convinced that he needs to go rescue Garnet. However, Baku isn't about to let him go without a fight. I have a quick one-on-one fight against Baku and conquer him quickly! As the battle ends, Baku gives Zidane permission to go and smacks him as he walks away. Zidane mentions how that smack was a lot harder than any of his attacks.
Before heading off, I visit both Steiner and Vivi. Steiner is eager to save the Princess, but he doesn't want Zidane involved at all. Zidane simply tells him that he is going to help regardless. The two then seek out Vivi, and they talk him into helping out. Steiner seems oddly impressed and humbled by Vivi. He calls him "Master Vivi" due to his incredible magical prowess. After that bit of talking, I gain two allies for my search of sorts. With the two extra members, finding Garnet should go pretty easy. As I am about to leave, Blank hands over more of his medicine to give to Garnet. I say farewell and head out. I walk about the Evil Forest and try to find her. I run into a couple of monsters here and there, but there was nothing to worry about. Also, Steiner talked with Vivi before we left and asked him to try something. Basically, Vivi can combine his magic with Steiner's sword for Sword Magic. It allows him to strike an enemy with a magically powered-up sword strike. This can have surprisingly awesome results, and the overall cost is fairly cheap (and done with Steiner's MP rather than Vivi's). Along the way, I meet another Moogle, exchange some mail, and head further in. I finally came upon the Princess, but she was behind some giant evil plant...BOSS BATTLE TIME! (For real this time!)
Now, this would probably be the first TRUE Boss Battle of the game. It even has the actual Boss Battle music! Anyways, this battle quickly showed me that I was behind in levels...I was able to deal some decent damage, but it kept knocking my health levels waaay down. It killed all of the party members at least once during the battle. He kept doing a group-wide Thunder attack, and this either horribly drained people or clear knocked them out. Luckily, I had readily stocked up on all the items, so I was able to revive people. Just as things looked bad, Blank came in during the battle and helped out. Had I not wasted all my time healing and reviving, I could have had the giant monster plant beaten pretty quickly. With a couple uses of Vivi's Fire spell (only one I got currently...), I was able to deal some decent damage to the big guy. With the battle's conclusion, Steiner goes to grab Garnet. They administer Blank's medicine to her, but they don't get too long to rest. Suddenly, these giant rose-looking insects jump out of basically everywhere and charge at us. It looks pretty bad, so the group turns tail and runs out of there.
I have to fight a few of them as I'm running off, but they are easily defeated. As I start to run out, the game jumps to a cutscene. The group of Vivi, Steiner carrying Garnet, Zidane, and Blank are running away from a massive army of the rose-looking insects. It seems as if the entire forest is chasing after us. (Zidane points this out briefly before the cutscene.) Things are starting to look bad, and one insect is about to leap on Zidane. However, Blank pushes Zidane out of the way, and before Zidane can turn to help him, the badness just keeps piling on. The forest around them starts turning to stone. The trees, the insects, and everything else starts petrifying. Before he goes, Blank tosses a map to Zidane. Zidane manages to barely clear the edge of the forest before the entrance turns completely to stone. The group decides to rest for the night seeing as they just barely got away. That...and Garnet is still out of it. Steiner is completely at odds with Zidane the entire time though. He's determined to take the Princess back to Alexandria, but Zidane calls him out asking what his plan is. Since he doesn't have one, Steiner goes along with everything for now.
The group wakes up and decides to head to a cavern that Blank mentioned briefly before. Looking at the map given to me, it shows that the cavern is to the north of the forest. I spend a little time farming up some extra levels and money, but I quickly proceed to the caves. Upon entering, we find out that the caves in question are the Ice Caverns. Most of the group is well versed on the cave itself. Vivi mentions his grandpa telling him about the cave and how it leads up above the Mist. The Mist has been mentioned a few times before this, but I have neglected to include it. The "cloud line" I mentioned waaay back there was actually part of the Mist. Apparently, the Mist produces monsters as well (aka the Evil Forest monsters). That's enough about the Mist for now. Steiner compliments Vivi's grandpa as being a "scholar." Vivi does follow up that his grandpa recently passed away. After that bit of awkward exchange, the group enters the Ice Caverns and I make my way.
The enemies at this point are kinda tough actually. Many of them are able to deal decent damage, so I'm having to keep constant with healing. Garnet brings white magic to the group, so I can rely on her for group healing. (Most of the spells in this game can be both single or multi targeted.) On top of this, Vivi brings the pain to the enemy with his black magic. Before going much further, I should cover the "Abilites" portion of the game. In FF9, the character's gain and learn abilities through their equipment. Nearly every piece of equipment can teach at least ONE ability. Abilities are separated into two types. (Forgive me if I call them the wrong name!) The first type is the action abilities. This covers special attacks like black magic, white magic, Zidane's skills, or Steiner's sword abilities. The second type is the passive abilities. This is where the real magic happens! Basically, passive abilities grant specific stats, boosts, special abilities, or guards based on the ability in question. There are abilities that boost your attack against a certain type, like Bug Killer or Beast Killer. Then there are abilities that do specific things like "Protect Girls" (self-explanatory). The best abilities are those that completely block of status effects! I didn't have any of those at this point though, but I plan to have them soon! Moving right along...
As I continue through the cave, I found a couple spots of interest. Using Vivi's magic, the group melts through some hollow ice walls to access paths and extra treasure. Pretty cool stuff if you ask me. There was an interesting mechanic going on in the cave though. There are brief gusts of icy wind that blow throughout. If you wait for it, it will dissipate, but if you try to run through it, BAM! Enemy battle! Once again though, with Vivi's magic, many of these enemies present very little challenge to the group. Every chance I get though, I steal whatever I can off who I can. This provided me with a decent supply of potions and other items. It's especially nice since I couldn't hit any shops for the moment. I located a Moogle in one part of the cave and had to defrost him. Once done though, I saved my game and proceeded forward into a little scene. The group is moving through what appears to be a blizzard. The group starts passing out all over the place. Zidane is the last to go down, but he is awakened by a bell ringing. I head forward to find the owner of the bell. It's a strange-looking and large black mage with wings. His name says that he is Black Waltz #1. Zidane blames him for the blizzard, and the battle starts! BOSS BATTLE TIME!
Before we get going, the Black Waltz summons up a giant sealion! Despite not sounding fearsome, it's actually quite big and monstrous looking. The crappy part in this battle is that I only have Zidane to fight them off. This battle actually took a couple of attempts. As soon as I killed one off (the Black Waltz every time), the Sealion would rush in and strike me down. It took my meter long enough to charge that he'd get in at least two if not three attacks before I could go. On top of this, I was trying to steal items off the both of them. In the end, I had to build up my Trance to finish them both off. I did have a hell of a time with it, but I finally came through. With his defeat, the blizzard lifted up. As I was about to leave, someone said something about the second and third ones coming to get the Princess back. I left to go and check on the group. With the coldness lifting, the group finally came to. Zidane didn't tell anybody about what happened though, and we joined back up and left the cave.
As soon as we got outside, it was clear that we were above the Mist! In the distance, Zidane spotted a village that he recognized. The group figured it to be the next move since they were unsure of what to do otherwise. Before heading out though, Steiner and Zidane got back into it again. Steiner was bound and determined to get the Princess back to Alexandria. However, at this point, Garnet came out and said she wanted to leave the castle. She had no plans to go back, but before going on, Zidane suggested she change her name and try to act different as to not be recognized. She saw one of Zidane's daggers and asked him about it. He confirmed it was a Dagger, and she chose that name. So from hereon....Garnet is Dagger, and that's how I will refer to her. With all that solved, I continued to the village.
The village is known as Dali. Before doing anything else, the group made their way to the Inn to rest for the night. They talked for a bit before turning in though. Dagger stated that she was planning to use the theater ship to make it to the country of Lindblum. She didn't give us a reason why she was heading there though. With this goal in mind, Zidane figures they will have to travel through the border at a place called the South Gate. As they started to talk again, they saw that Vivi had already fallen asleep on his bed. The group decided to turn in for the night, and so did I. I saved up and quit there.
So...hell of a delay on this post! I've been trying my best to get it done, but I haven't made a lot of progress. There's a huge pile of text and talk-ary for not much time. I'm going to have to start condensing it even more than I already am. Oh well, I'll get it figured out. For now, the first day is done! I won't be able to finish it before October, but my current goal is mid-October anyways. Sorry for the long post, but stay tuned for another post in a couple of days! Thank you.
Ending Point - Village of Dali.
Current Party -
- Zidane - Level 7
- Vivi - Level 7
- Steiner - Level 7
- Dagger - Level 6
Next Goals - Figure out the next step of our plan and make it to Lindblum.
~May the Crystals Guide Me~
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