Game - Final Fantasy 9, Day 67
Hours Played/Hours Total - 15 hrs / 65-1/2 hrs
Starting Point - Pandemonium
Current Goal - Stop Garland and his plan. Deal with Kuja when that comes up. Save Gaia!
What Happened - Considering what little is left, I do hope that this post will be the last Final Fantasy 9 post. I will make it so if I have to! No point in rambling here, let's get it going.~
To put this quickly...I left off last time that Zidane wanted to take care of business solo, but the group wasn't about to let him do it alone. (Also it played one of the better songs in the game "You Are Not Alone". It is really good...You should go listen to it!) From there, they all band together and head off to fight Garland! I head out and begin my exploration of Pandemonium. The monsters here are not fun and basically mini bosses. The next room is a setup of a switch in the back with all forms of pipes jutting out of the ground. I went outside and found that it leads nowhere. Back inside, I hit the switch and start the un-fun game. The un-fun game is where I have to run all between the pipe-things and avoid the lit up ones. Hitting anyone that is lit up results in a battle, but after several tries (all my stupidity), I finally make it past and outside. With the switch on, a bridge of light extended from my area to the next...so I crossed it!
On the other side, I ran into another delightful puzzle of sorts. In one room, a control panel allows you to change the direction that the elevator in the next room is facing. I actually figured out the solution on accident my first time, but I ended up going back to try and get the treasure chest in there. As it turns out, the puzzle isn't that hard! It mostly requires a bit of time and patience. (To quickly explain, the platform spins as it goes up, and you have to point it the right direction at the right point so that it'll go up and into the next floor.) Next room is just teleports and treasure chests, but it also leads to...GARLAND! The Moogle warns me that danger is ahead, but I ignore it!
Garland speaks with the group, more directly Zidane, and tells him that life itself is death. Survival is killing others around you. To live is to give life meaning, but even then one must take others' lives to survive. He says that Terra's souls will sleep until they forget about this and start a new life in a dimension where life and death are one and therefore transcended. He once again asks Zidane who he is. Zidane answers that they aren't perfect, and they have friends to help one another. That is reason enough to live. Depending on the party members, each one has a different piece to say. Vivi says that it took some time, but they found their way. Freya says that one should live not to forget the past but to learn from it. Eiko says that living is protecting the ones we love.
In response to this, Garland throws a dragon at us. BOSS BATTLE TIME! Honestly, I did a little preparation for this battle, so there wasn't a lot to lose right here. I stole some nice equipment off the dragon, and then I smacked him all forms of around. With the dragon's defeat, Garland is somewhat impressed. Zidane asks him what he wants to accomplish. Garland replies with the restoration of Terra (of course!), but that isn't the answer Zidane meant. He knows that is what the people of Terra want. Why isn't Garland asleep with them? Garland says that he was created to oversee Terra and wait for the time when the world is without life or death. He is the controller of the planet!
BOSS BATTLE TIME! GARLAND EDITION! Garland proves to be a difficult boss...NOT! Although he had some powerful moves like Flare and Stop, he was no match for my team! I gave him the ol' one-two attack-spell! (Can't remember the exact moves I used, but it was mostly physical strikes from the two while the other assisted where need be.) As we defeat Garland, he's quite surprised to find that we were able to weaken him. However...it's all a ruse. The Invincible flies in and targets Garland. Who's flying the Invincible? It's Kuja! On board the massive airship, Kuja says that he now has the power to control all souls and obtained it from Garland without a fight! (Thanks to us you jerk!) Kuja comes down to see the group and gladly thanks us. He set up the group to break the seal on Terra and defeat Garland for him. He tells Zidane that he is a truly extraordinary Genome and fully deserving of his love. Zidane tells him to shut up, and Kuja turns to Garland.
Kuja tells Garland that Zidane plans to fight Terra, but Garland just asks what Kuja is scheming. Kuja claims to not be scheming anything and simply wants to defeat the enemies of Terra. Kuja turns towards us for BOSS BATTLE TIME! KUJA EDITION! Kuja brings a bit more to the boss battle table though. His biggest attack, Flare Star, is cast anytime you attempt to use magic on him. I managed to avoid this attack for a majority of the battle, but at some point, it activated and messed my whole team up. Regardless, I managed to finish Kuja off...or so I thought. As I hit him for what seemed like the finishing blow, Kuja hit his Trance! He casts Ultima and blows everybody away! That ends the battle because...we got our asses blown up!
Outside of the battle, Kuja is still in trance, and he's incredibly excited about achieving Trance. He talks about how it is the mighty power held by souls being assaulted by a destructive threat. Zidane asks what he means, and Kuja explains further. When he saw Mog achieve Trance earlier (refer to previous post), this gave him an idea. He needed to obtain a powerful soul in order to defeat everybody and achieve his own Trance. He devised a way to borrow the power of the wretched souls that wouldn't die. These souls were those of the people at Madain Sari, the Iifa Tree, and Alexandria. He mentioned that a particularly powerful spirit was drawn in during the Bahamut attack on the Iifa Tree...Queen Brahne's soul! When he took over the Invincible, he released the souls trapped inside, and they were quite eager to get out. He tells Garland that he is no longer needed, and that Kuja will rule over both Terra and Gaia with his unconditional love.
Garland questions what Kuja plans to do with all this power, but Kuja replies that Garland should accept his defeat gracefully. Kuja asks Garland if he has any last words but then kicks him off into the depths of Terra. Kuja starts asking the group if they want to die quickly or slowly, but he doesn't get to say too much when a voice chimes in out of nowhere. Garland isn't ready to check out yet though, and despite his fall, he lives on to reveal a secret to Kuja. Garland tells Kuja that his rain could never be eternal because Kuja is defective and was built to last only until Zidane was ready. He figured it was too dangerous to let Kuja live any longer. Kuja asks what he means....Garland says that the limit on his life is coming close, and he will die very soon. As he dies, Kuja will be unable to leave a mark on the world. Kuja doesn't want to believe anything Garland says, but Garland says he was created to destroy and is just a mortal.
Kuja is furious and hysterical at all of this. He doesn't want to die and lose his soul. He mentions that it is basically comedy that he will die just like the black mages he despises. He proclaims that he won't let this world exist without him! CUTSCENE! In his Trance form, he flies up and starts destroying all of Terra. He blasts everything in sight, and the world begins to fall apart. It cuts back to the group, and Steiner suggests they make use of the abandoned Invincible to go back. Zidane fully agrees, but he wants to go back to Bran Bal to rescue the Genomes. Dagger tags along with him, and the two make their way to Bran Bal. On the way, Zidane takes a moment and thanks Dagger for saving him earlier. (It's better said in the game, but I'm trying to wrap this up now!) The rest of the group is seen running out of the tower and making their way to the Invincible. Zidane and Dagger make it to Bran Bal and start telling all the Genomes to evacuate.
Zidane finds the last Genome and tells her she needs to escape. It's the girl from earlier on (previous post), and she doesn't see the point in trying to escape. She says that none of the Genomes have souls and don't even matter. Zidane asks if she truly believes that. She reveals that Garland gave her a soul just like Kuja and Zidane in case they needed to be replaced. She restates that with Garland dead and Terra destroyed...What's the point? Zidane admits that he considered that thought himself, but he came to the answer of "just try". He realizes that the going will be hard, but he has friends so he wants to try. He finally asks her name, and she says that it is Mikoto. He tells her it is a nice name, and that people will call her that from here on. She has to find the answer to all of it herself. It will be hard, but she can do it. They run off to the Invincible, and it's time for another cutscene!
The Invincible is starting to fly up and away from Terra. The planet has seen better times, and it is almost completely gone by the time the Invincible gets away. Next thing I know, the Invincible is flying through the warp and reappears back on Gaia. Once there, Zidane is seen aboard the Invincible. He talks briefly with Amarant and Freya who ask him directly if he thinks it is really over. Of course, nobody thinks it is over. They doubt Kuja is dead and figure he'll try to destroy Gaia next. About this time, Steiner comes from the bridge and tells them they need to see something. They go up to the bridge, and Steiner points out...clouds? Steiner quickly explains that they aren't high up enough to be clouds. They all come to the sudden realization, and Vivi says it...It's the Mist. The entirety of Gaia is now covered in Mist, and it seems Kuja's plan has already started. /End Disc 3.
Insert Disc 4, and I find myself in the Black Mage Village. Vivi is talking with the well known Mr. 288. He says something about them being uneasy at first but thinks they'll all get along. Zidane walks up as Vivi is walking away, and he asks Mr. 288 if it really is okay. Mr. 288 confirms it is okay and asks if it was Vivi's idea. Zidane confirms that and said that Vivi thought this would be the best place for them to start their new lives. (If it isn't obvious at this point, they are talking about the Genomes.) Mr. 288 says that the Black Mages and Genomes are a lot alike, and maybe they can understand one another and help each other open up. Even better, Zidane thinks this could help the humans and Black Mages get along someday. Mr. 288 points out like Zidane and Vivi do, but Zidane admits he doesn't think he truly understood Vivi until now. They conclude their talking, and I get a glimpse at the rest of the village.
One of the Genomes is looking at the chocobo and asks about it. A Black Mage and Eiko explain that it is a baby chocobo whose name is Bobby Corwin. The baby chocobo chases after the Genome and scares it off. Next up, a Genome is asking all forms of question of the Black Mage at the Item Shop. It's your basic "why?....why?" scenario. Quina interrupts him and tells him to stop caring about small things. "World is simple place with only two things: things you can eat and things you no can eat." Amarant and Freya are outside of the item shop and listening to a Genome and Black Mage talk. Amarant says they all act like kids, but Freya responds that they are just starting their life after all. Amarant asks her if lost time can be recovered. She isn't sure about that, but she knows they can all do one thing...They can protect the village from anyone who might try to take their time away.
Dagger and Steiner are conversing near the front of the village. He asks her if she is completely sure of what she wants to do. She isn't sure what he means, and he restates if she is determined to go after Kuja alone and without consulting Cid. She says that with all the problems, like the Mist appearing again, that she doesn't want to start a panic. Zidane comes up and asks them if they are all ready to go. Mikoto walks in and comments that we don't stand a chance against Kuja. The way she words it confuses the nearby Black Mage, and he adds that she's smart and knows a lot of big words. Zidane chimes in that she is a bit cynical, but he wants them to take care of her because she is basically his little sister. This flusters Mikoto. Zidane says that although they are small compared to Kuja, they will prove how powerful they can be! And so...we need to head for the Iifa Tree for the final battle...
After I complete some of the last side quests of course! I only lack a few more, and then I'll head off for the Iifa Tree and the final dungeon. There's not a lot left to do of course, but there is some useful stuff to gain. The first thing I do is turn in the last Stellazio. (the fancy astronomy sign coins) After turning it in, the lady collecting them informs me that there is a secret hidden in their messages. Basically, there is a 13th Stellazio out there! She gives me all twelve of them to try and locate it. I don't have to do that since I have online guides though! I head towards Quan's Dwelling and pick up the 13th Stellazio. I return to Treno, and she rewards me the Hammer for the 13th Stellazio. The Hammer (Cinna's hammer actually) is a special item for synthesis and story reasons! My understanding is having the Hammer on hand for the ending credits adds extra scenes to it all. With that done, I start on another quest.
Next in line is the Moogle Mognet problem. Mognet is the secret station where all the Moogle mail gets sorted and delivered from. Once again, I hit up the guide (out of impatience and wanting to wrap it up) and immediately find the place. Long story short, one of the Moogles messed up the sorting machine. Rather than use the Superslick on the machine (keeping it running), he used it on himself to make his fur all nice and shiny. I have to fly all about and deliver mail from one moogle to another while they try to figure out the problem. Eventually, one of them works out that they need the Superslick. It turns out that Ruby (random lady from the beginning...mostly unimportant) has the Superslick and lets me have it. I hand it over to Mognet, and it gets going again! It's a fairly simple side quest overall, and it is more or less worth the award for as little trouble as it truly is. With that done, it's time to do some Frog catching!
By now, all of the Qu's Marshes in the game have recharged their frog supply. Unfortunately for me, even when I catch almost all that I can, I only end up with 74 Frogs. I need 99 Frogs to unlock a special battle versus Master Quale for Quina's Ultimate Weapon. Despite my want for that weapon, I don't waste anymore time with Frog Catching and head for the next activity. Despite the frog disappointment, I do obtain a couple new Blue Magic spells like Earth Shake. (Just a note now...I don't get all of them.) Before heading off for the final side quest, I take Choco, the Gold Chocobo, for a quick flight and swim. I dive beneath the remains of the Shimmering Islands (gone now with the portal all destroyed I guess?), and I locate Zidane's Ultimate weapon...Ultima Weapon! (Soooooo original) From here...I lack only one more quest, the Friendly Monster quest!
Before I get into the details, I'd like to say one thing...THIS IS AN AWFUL SIDE QUEST. The only benefit of the Friendly Monster quest is that you obtain their blessing when fighting Ozma. (Will touch down on this in a bit.) What does that translate to in game terms? You can physically attack him now....and that is it. Back to the quest! You have to fly around to special spots all over the world and meet these "friendly" monsters. When they show up, special music plays, and the monsters looks all nice and asks for an item, typically Ore or other jewels. This went pretty well...except for the last 2 monsters I needed. While searching for the monsters, I kept running into another side quest known as Ragtime Mouse. He's a "special" monster that asks you True or False questions about all kinds of things in-game. It's mostly actual details of the game like "What happened when" or "This thing is this". I cheated for it of course, and the reward was worth the effort. The only bummer is that encountering him occurs in the same fashion and music that friendly monsters do. I ran into more Ragtime Mouses than I did Friendly Monsters. I managed to complete both quests before it was said and done, but I ran into one thing that really irked me (aside from Ragtime Mouse).
The final friendly monster is called Friendly Yan. Yans are the devils in FF9 form. They look like tiny little sheep with big heads and big eyes, but they are far from just being sheep. They have the most random combo of ridiculous power behind those tiny little bodies. They can and do cast Meteor with varying amounts of success. It can do anywhere from low hundreds to high thousands to basically just insta-kill. To accompany this, they have a lot of HP, a Virus spreading ability, the ability to kick a person out with Snort, and above all, they tend to run in groups of two or three. I only tried to fight a few, and then I just started running. I died several times before that though, and I was incredibly frustrated. By the time I found the Friendly Yan and finally received the blessing...I realized something. I did all of this for nothing because I was ready to just beat the game.
I stopped right then and there, but I decided to give a shot at the ultimate side boss Ozma before I went. I mean...I did do all that extra crap back there just for fighting him! As I stated earlier, the Friendly Monster's blessing is simply to allow you to physically attack Ozma. As for Ozma, Ozma is a massive ball of ridiculous power. As far as I've read, it is one of the hardest side bosses in the entire series. It is definitely the hardest boss in Final Fantasy 9 by a long run. I can't remember any of the spells it cast...because it feels like it cast them all at once. As soon as I entered the battle, it was over before it really got anywhere. I might have gotten in one attack before it threw me around like a rag doll. At that point, I was just scrambling to get everybody back up, but it was already over at that point. Ozma kicked my ass in all forms of ways, and I wasn't ready to face him at all. Unfortunately, I wasn't up for trying again or fully preparing. At best, I'd have to pour another 5+ hours to gain the extra levels to give me any kind of a chance against the monstrous planet of evilness. (Ozma looks like a giant glowing orb of a planet. Evil personified!) With that in mind, it was time to quit the side dishes and head for the main course.
I did a little stocking up and supplying at the Black Mage Village and then made my way to the Iifa Tree. Above the tree is a large glowing portal of sorts, and I enter inside for a cutscene! As we are flying towards it in the Invicible, hundreds of dragons fly out of it and right at us! It already doesn't look good, but as they close in, explosions happen all about and blow many of them out of the sky. A pile of airships (identified as Lindblum's air fleet) come out from the clouds and start firing upon the dragons. It jumps over to the Hilda Garde 3 where Cid and Baku are sitting, and they are here to help us get through. Continuing the cutscene, the Invincible heads straight for the portal, but dragons begin to pursue us. They don't get too far when the Red Rose flies in between us and the dragons! Beatrix is aboard along with the Pluto Knights. She tells them that they need to protect their captain as he is entering Valhalla! One of the Pluto Knights comments that she came along because she was worried about him. Going back to the group, Zidane comments to Steiner that he fell in love with quite a woman. Steiner says that he is one to talk, and Dagger asks Steiner what he meant by that! The Invincible finally hits the massive portal, things get all bright as it slips partway in, and...
BOSS BATTLE TIME! #1 (Counting the final battles starting now.) The boss for this battle is one of the dragons (might be bigger...hard to tell), and it's not letting us get to Kuja without a fight! Honestly, the dragon wasn't that hard to fight at all, but nobody told Dagger that. For some reason, she was the only person I couldn't keep going. I had to revive her two or three times before the battle was up. It might have been more of bad luck on my part, but she wasn't up for surviving it seems. With the dragon defeated, it was time to enter the final area. The group departs from the Invincible and finds themselves in a mystical place. The area has a giant castle of sorts (Why is it always castles?) with paths going in all different directions. Zidane wonders where they are and receives an answer from an unlikely source! He hears a voice and asks if anybody called his name. As it turns out, Garland is speaking directly to his mind. (Still alive! No clue how either...) Garland tells Zidane that this place is Memoria, a place of memories. He says that Zidane's memories are what brought forth this place. Zidane looks about and realizes he's been talking with himself while conversing with Garland. He tells the rest of the group what Garland informed him. With that out of the way, it's time to make it through Memoria!
As I'm going along, I quickly run into Memoria's cast of monsters. Many of them are memorable faces from the past like Chimera and Iron Giant. While walking through one area, I run into a random...BOSS BATTLE TIME? (#2) This boss battle is a familiar foe that I haven't fought before! It is the Fire Chaos Guardian from the Fire Shrine, Maliris! She's a fire snake of sorts wielding several swords, and she is one mean boss. The very first thing she does is cast Reflect on herself. This is great considering I have Vivi in my party, so he's almost useless for this battle. I have to use the workaround of casting Reflect on him and having him reflect spells off himself. (For those who don't know, you can get past Reflect by reflecting off yourself.) I only lost one party member to this fight, but I managed to get Dagger back up. I also got to steal some pretty nice equipment off of her. It seems that most of the final bosses, outside of the final-final bosses, have items on them. She has a nice grouping of fire attacks, but those aren't enough to save her snake-y hide! I beat her and continue my journey through Memoria.
We are just moving along when we find ourselves in front of...Alexandria Castle! (The undestroyed version) The castle seems to be fully intact, but it doesn't stay that way for long. Suddenly, the background flashes scenes of the destruction that went down, and suddenly the castle is fully destroyed. Quina wonders what everybody is talking about because he doesn't see it. Zidane thinks he knows why and explains that Quina wasn't there when it happened so it isn't his memory. Garland chimes in a little side note after this to add in extra detail. (Going to warn you now...obviously a lot of SPOILERS ahead, but there is also a lot of background information to explain the story and such. Going to try and shorten it where I can.) He says that Kuja tried to acquire Alexander in a plot to defy him. An incident ten years ago started everything...
Moving right along, we come to another area of Memoria where it suddenly starts to storm. Before I get much further, Zidane spots a couple people below a bridge. He yells at them about the storm, but I don't understand why. They quickly disappear, but Zidane says that can't be from his memory. As he starts to walk away, Dagger tells him that was one of her memories and wonders why he could see it. Zidane is curious about the same thing and asks Garland for an answer. Instead of giving an answer, Garland talks about Gaia a bit more. He says that he feared the eidolons of Gain more than anything, so he felt he needed to deal with them before they became a major problem. Continuing from there, the enemies are pretty hard in this area. Many of them are more like sub bosses than just your average enemies. Luckily, most of them don't have any moves that truly put them over the top. The next screen surprises me with a giant eye in a swirling red vortex in the sky! (The Invincible's Eye) Dagger says that this is the eye she saw the night of the storm in Madain Sari.
Garland jumps in and tells Zidane that the memory earlier was from him and not Dagger. Zidane says he wasn't there during the storm at all. Garland says that he still doesn't understand but will find out soon enough. Zidane asks him if other people's memories can somehow become his, and Garland replies that the answer will be in front of him when he accepts everything. Garland goes into history mode by talking a past event in Gaia. It seems that a tremendous force was summoned to Gaia during its age of war. However, the Gaians weren't ready to harness this power and it terrified them. They broke the jewel into four pieces and prayed to never see it again. (If you haven't been following all the story, they are talking about Alexander.) I take the path upward into the eye and....random BOSS BATTLE TIME #3! (Yeah, there are a couple more like this coming up.)
The boss for this round is another Chaos Guardian! For this time, it is the wind dragon Tiamat. (Although some of you probably recognize the name as a commonly known evil dragon's name.) This was an interesting battle...Namely because I didn't get too far before he flung Freya from the battle. Apart from that, I was prepared enough to deal with him effectively. The biggest concern for the majority of these boss battles is blocking Heat and Freeze. I had to permanently equip Body Temp, an ability, to deal with this, but it keeps you from dying from a lame status effect. Apart from that, Tiamat didn't throw anything too powerful my way. With its defeat, I continue through Memoria.
The next area of Memoria starts by throwing gravity right out of the window. Several of the paths become confusing to walk on since the camera's orientation seems to mess with the movement. Further along, there is an area that displays a pair of planets colliding. Zidane recognizes the image from Oeilvert, and Garland explains that this is an image from 5,000 years ago. It is when Terra, an already old planet, was trying to assimilate Gaia to survive. However, Gaia already had life and caused problems with the fusion of the two. Life on Terra was coming to an end and was forced to proceed with the fusion regardless. Terra was too old to assimilate everything and ended up destroying Terra's native civilization. To ease the process, Garland created the Iifa Tree to regulate the flow of souls back to Terra. I continue on and find myself in the middle of the ocean. Quina is swimming about and trying to catch the fish that are around. He starts drowning when Zidane informs him that the ocean isn't real. Quina snaps to his senses and falls down from where he was swimming. Looking about the area reveals a secret something. Behind a large rock and coral area, I find a mysterious voice. It tells me to leave because I have disturbed its sleep. I refuse and begin a round of (OPTIONAL) BOSS BATTLE TIME #4!
This optional boss isn't to be scoffed at. The boss is known as Hades, and he even got his own special music! (Dunno why but he did...) Before I get anywhere, Hades starts flinging all forms of status effects my way. Luckily, I already had the Body Temp equipped...to everybody but one person. This threw a wrench in my already half-assed battle plan. From there, things just got worse and worse. He had some fairly powerful attacks that were wiping the floor with me. I was down to one person as he unleashed his ultimate attack upon our group! I couldn't stop him in time and was defeated....Let's try that again. I had to sit through a few extra scenes, but I came back for a second attempt at Hades! I came fully prepared this time and started swinging as soon as the battle started. Thanks to the extra prep, the battle went off without a hitch. I threw all I had at him and came out with barely a scratch! (At this point, I think the party was Zidane, Eiko, Steiner, and Quina.) With his defeat, he congratulated me on beating him and told me he could make something special with two Pumice Pieces. Basically, I unlocked the Legendary Synthesis shop!
With this shop open, I could synthesize some special items like the Tin Armor and Pumice. I didn't want to sacrifice my Hammer to make the Tin Armor, but I did come out with an extra Robe of Lords (actually stole this off Hades...), a Save the Queen (It is Beatrix's sword, but it supposedly unlocks an extra ending bit for the credits like the Hammer), and the Pumice! The Pumice is an accessory for Dagger that lets her learn the Ark summon. The Ark summon, like most final summons, is incredibly lengthy and insanely awesome! An airship flies down to the planet from the moon and...transforms into a giant robot. I found this both awesome and hilarious though. The entire game sticks to an almost purely fantasy setting throughout the entire game, but then it breaks character for a single summon. Don't get me wrong! It's a cool and powerful summon, but it is hilarious that they did it. Moving right along, I decided to switch up the party (namely to get Dagger) and do a bit of extra leveling before I moved on.
For the next couple of portions and bosses, I used the lineup of Zidane, Dagger, Steiner, and Amarant. That's right! Amarant might not seem the best, but his abilities make him an all around decent character. He has fairly strong physical attacks and can double as an extra healer with his Chakra and Revive abilities. Moving along, I made use of the Ark ability and was glad to finally use it! I didn't spend too long on this activity because I kept running into Behemoths. They wouldn't be that bad of an enemy, but they can counter with the damn Meteor spell. Meteor is random in the damage amount, and although it doesn't always hit, it tends to hit with a huge amount of damage. Basically, if I met a Behemoth, I had to either take my chances to beat it or run away. So...I moved on!
The next area has the group looking out over the ocean that they just walked out of. Zidane tells the group that Gaia used to be one big ocean long ago, Eiko asks how he could possibly know, and he responds that he doesn't but his memories tell him that it is. It is even weirder for him because he was born on Terra instead of Gaia. Vivi chimes in and says that his memories say the same thing. Gaia used to be covered with water. Freya says she gets the same feeling as well. Zidane thinks to himself that maybe all existence can be traced back to a single source. As I start to move on, I find my path impeded by BOSS BATTLE TIME #5! GET KRAKEN EDITION!
Sorry for the bad pun, but I had to use it. As you might have guessed, the next boss is the Water Chaos Guardian Kraken. This water monster didn't have too much power behind him, but a poor ability choice on my part made this battle last a bit longer. Amarant has the Return Magic ability, and this causes him to cast any spell cast on him and throw it back at its caster. Keep in mind, I still receive the spell and its damage, but he throws it back at the enemy with power and such. Unfortunately for me, this Return Magic messed me up by throwing the Waterga spell back at Kraken. He's a water-based enemy, so this just healed him every time Amarant threw it back. Thankfully, the healing wasn't more than most attacks caused, so I managed to prevail regardless of my bad choice. With Kraken defeated, I left the water portion of Memoria behind.
After we passed the water, the castle starting looking like it was all broken up. The path at this point is just pieces of castle floating about in empty space. One noticeable part in particular is a large clock that's stuck in time. Past this area, we see a massive ball of fire in the sky. Garland tunes in to tell me that this is the birth of Gaia. It's from over 5,000 years ago, but that doesn't explain how they know this. A strange ladder leads straight up into what seems to be nothingness. Zidane asks where it goes, and Garland says to see for himself. Garland goes off into another story bit after that though. He says that Terra had reached its peak of prosperity around that time. He says the people of that time believed their future was fully secure, but that very hubris is what ultimately lead to Terra's demise. Garland was created at that time to deal with their plights. I take the ladder up, and it leads me into a mysterious room with multiple doors. However, that is just a huge ruse, and the room melts into an open space of outer space!
Also, BOSS BATTLE TIME #6! Lich congratulates the group on making it that far, but he says we won't be going any further. Unfortunately for Lich, I am fully prepared for anything he could throw at me. Sure, he did have the Death spell at his disposal, but that was easily dealt with. Amarant has an Aura ability that casts Regen and Auto-Life on a single character. Despite his "almighty" power, Lich is no power for the combination of friendship and guide reading! With his defeat, I am left with just one path. Zidane walks to the side and sees that there isn't anything more beyond that point. Garland explains to him that this is just space, but that his journey isn't over yet. He tells Zidane to not fear it and step forward to come closer to the truth of it all. Zidane says that is easier said than done of course, but he takes a step and starts moving into empty space. Zidane twirls about and such as I float there. I strangely move forward towards a glowing spot in the sky. As I get there, Garland imparts his last message to us.
Garland says we are about to enter a new realm where there is no more worlds or space. We need to follow our memories, the original ones, and march onward. Zidane asks Garland what exactly is their memory and why he can remember other peoples' experiences as well as events before his time. Garland hesitates at first but finally gives him an answer. He tells Zidane that memories aren't limited to a single individual's experiences. That is just the surface of it all! Every life born, whether natural or artificial, requires a parent. That parent requires a parent as well and so on and so forth. All of life is connected through this, and if one traces the root of life, you come back to a single source for it all. The same thing can be said for memories as well. They are not isolated within individuals. Memories accumulate throughout generations as they continue to evolve. Most life forms don't truly understand the nature of memories and this explains why memories rarely cross paths. Zidane asks what he'll find by tracing the memories back. Garland answers that the source of it all is a presence that presides over all life and memories...the Crystal. He tells Zidane that from here on he is on his own. He needs to protect the Crystal and take care of Kuja. Before he leaves, he gives us a final parting message. Garland says that despite being created for his one purpose, he doesn't regret being born into this world.
From here, I enter the new realm of Crystal. This place is a very sparkly and pretty location. It's located in a space of sorts with crystal objects all about. As I go about in this crystal realm, I have to deal with crystal versions of the four Chaoses! Luckily, they don't have as much health as they did before, but they aren't fun to deal with a second round. I reach the final save of the game and take some time to choose the final party. I don't really want to decide, but after some thinking, I come to a decision. For my final party, I picked Zidane, Eiko, Freya, and Vivi. I head into the final area of final areas. Once there, I find Kuja sitting there before the Crystal.
He says that he is surprised to find that we have defeated the four Chaoses that he recreated from the Crystal's memories. However, he informs us that we are too late! He told us to take a good look at the Crystal (You know...the one I just learned about like 15 minutes ago?) This is the beginning and birthplace of all things. Once he destroys it, nothing will exist ever again. All of Gaia, Terra, the universe, and everything else will cease to exist. Our lives and our memories will vanish into nothingness as well. Zidane tells Kuja to shut up because he'll be the only thing gone when they are finished. He plans to take Kuja down here and now, but Kuja responds that even if he does, it won't change anything. He claims that Gaia is already doomed. It's being assimilated by Terra, and the Iifa Tree will incite a cataclysmic destruction of Gaia beyond that. It is all over for Zidane and his friends. Either way, Kuja figures that he wins. Zidane says that this doesn't matter because regardless of Gaia, the planet will remain. They'll start all over and make a new home. He calls Kuja a coward and tells him that if he plans to die, he can leave the rest of them out of it. Kuja claims that a world without his existence isn't fair and won't allow it. If he is to die, we all shall die!
BOSS BATTLE TIME #7! FINAL BOSS TIME! You might think it's Trance Kuja, but it isn't! Before we fight the big guy, we are forced to fight his giant demon dragon devil pet named Deathguise. Before I get anywhere, Deathguise casts Meteor and messes up the entire team. Alongside this, he starts attacking the entire party with a party-wide physical strike. I get to spend the next several turns trying to revive people and catch up to him. Luckily, after I got back up, the battle just went downhill from here. I struck out with all the power of a super team and beat back Deathguise. Upon his defeat, Kuja is surprised yet again that we easily beat Deathguise. However, he doesn't plan to let us go any further. It's time for round two of FINAL BOSS TIME!
BOSS BATTLE TIME #8! Trance Kuja isn't about to give up without a fight. Like a couple bosses before him, he throws up a Reflect spell to protect himself. This eliminates a majority of Vivi's spells, but I remembered about a special detail around this point. Spells like Comet and Meteor are able to penetrate Reflect, so I made use of them here. Unfortunately, the first half of this battle was a constantly fight to revive the two pipsqueaks here. On top of that, Kuja was crazily abusing the use of his Flare Star spell. It seemed to have a low accuracy, but it was devastating when it did hit. At some point, I finally reached a good spot and turned the tables! I started throwing everything I could at Kuja, and he wasn't able to retaliate too well. As I get the final hit in, Kuja talks about there being no point in fearing death now. He doesn't plan on dying alone and unleashed Ultima on all of us! Everything around us blows up, the team is knocked out, and the screen goes white.
Some time later, the screen comes back and everybody is down and out. It all looks really bad, and Zidane finally comes to. He looks about and wonders where they are and where the crystal went. Then...a mysterious voice speaks to him. The voice tells him that they stand before the final dimension and that it is the darkness of eternity. He asks who or what it is, but it goes on to quote Star Wars. The being responds by saying that all life bears death from birth, and life fears death but lives only to die. This starts with anxiety becomes fear. (Wait for it...and yes, this is EXACTLY how it worded it.) Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, and hate lead to suffering. (Yuuup, that was taken.) It claims that the only cure for fear is total and utter destruction. Kuja, being a victim of his fear, concluded that he could only save himself by destroying the Crystal, the origin of all things. Zidane keeps prodding the being with questions, but it mostly ignores him. The being claims that the theory is undeniable and Kuja's actions were proof that all things life to perish. Life has finally uncovered the truth, and the world must now end.
Finally, the being does answer Zidane's questions. It claims that its existence is for only one purpose. It is to return everything back to zero world where the crystal doesn't exist and therefore life doesn't exist. In a world of nothing, there can be no fear. That is the world that all life desires. This angers Zidane, and he tells it that it isn't about to end anything. Not as long as they have the will to live! The being calls Zidane a foolish creature who is deluded by his fears. It claims that Zidane will one day choose destruction over existence as Kuja did. It tells him to come and enter the zero world like he desires. Zidane plans to destroy it and prove it wrong. He says that through their memories future generations will overcome any fear. They can't give up now and have to fight it together. Even if they lose, their memories will live on inside others. Zidane ends with saying that even if he was born to die, he won't be afraid and chooses to live!
At this point, I get to pick my party and enter the menu briefly to prepare. The members that don't get chose give up the last of their energy so the others can go on. They each say a little something before giving us their power. Amarant tells us to not screw up. Steiner claims to be unworthy but gives us his power. Quina tells them to come back after killing the bad guy. He will prepare a big meal for us all. Dagger simply tells us to accept her powers. They've all come too far to lose...It's time to end this!
FINAL ULTIMATE BOSS BATTLE TIME #9! The monstrosity before us is a massive angelic being with wings and spinning rings. His name...is Necron! Being so ridiculously big, he lifts the group to fight them face to face. He has some pretty powerful moves up his sleeves. Among these, he has the all powerful but rarely seen (in any title) Grand Cross. The video for this attack is the planet being surrounded by six planets and causes explosive forces or something like that. I attack him with everything I have. Eiko is on healing duty. Vivi strikes out with Flare as he can. I use Freya's Reis Wind to fortify the party. (It casts Regen on everybody.) Zidane is just the physical strike king here. I keep after him as I can, but I do have to break strategy here and there to revive a few people. Luckily enough, I was fully prepared for him as far as abilities go. Zidane goes into Trance at one point, and after that, the battle is basically over. I strike out with Grand Lethal, and after three uses of that, Necron is finished. He asks why we defy our fate so much as the final hit finishes him off. As the group teleports out, the place starts exploding and falling apart. He wonders if the will to live is truly that strong. As he starts to fall apart himself, he says that this isn't the end. He is eternal and will be around as long as their is life and death. End scene.
From here, the group reappears outside and back on Gaia. They are right in front of the Iifa Tree, but it is starting to begin it's cataclysmic reaction. What Kuja said is true, and nobody knows what is going to happen next, but it isn't good. It jumps over to Beatrix aboard the Red Rose, and she doesn't believe anybody could have survived the explosion that happened. However, Mikoto is with them and claims the group is still alive. She points them out to Beatrix, and Beatrix has a Pluto Knight call the Hilda Garde 3 since it is closer. Cid receives the call and briefly talks to Mikoto. She tells him that the group is still alive, so Cid takes the ship down to pick them up. The group is glad to see the Hilda Garde 3, and Cid tells them to hurry up and get on. They all start to board the airship, but Zidane suddenly hears a voice tell him farewell. He says damnit out loud, and Daggers asks what is wrong. Zidane tells everybody to go on ahead because he has something that needs to be taken care of.
When Dagger asks what it is, Zidane responds that Kuja is still alive and refuses to leave him behind. The group tries to convince him that he doesn't have to do this and shouldn't. Zidane explains that he can't blame Kuja for what he did because he might have done the same thing in his situation. He figures he would have wreaked havoc and fought everyone on Gaia much like Kuja did. He realizes this is crazy, but he has to do it. He couldn't live with himself if he left him behind. Zidane claims that this boils down to a big decision in his life, and he has to face it like Vivi did when he confronted his origin. Zidane claimed that he learned a lot from Vivi about taking life more seriously. The group offers to come with, but he tells them that this is his moment right now. They'll eventually have their own, and that they have bigger things to return to right now. As Zidane is about to speak again, Amarant interrupts him and says what he's about to say. "I can't just walk away. It goes against my nature." With that, Amarant says they can't change his decision and boards the airship. Everybody says a little something as they board the ship to take off. Dagger stays behind briefly to thank Zidane for everything he's done for her. He tells her that the abduction must come to an end and apologizes for being selfish. She says he wasn't selfish and changed her for the better. She thanks Zidane and asks that he promise to come back to her. In a cutscene, the Hilde Garde 3 takes off as Zidane sees them go. He faces the Iifa Tree and prepares to get Kuja.
Zidane tells Kuja that he is coming to get him. Kuja says that Zidane still has time to run, but Zidane says he needs to shut up and stay put. Zidane starts running down and under the tree while avoiding the living tree roots and branches. They all attempt to strike Zidane down, but he dodges them and actually rides one of them on his way down. He finally flies through the air and dives into a hole leading downward. This takes him through the tree and right to Kuja. As Zidane makes his way to Kuja, Kuja says he doesn't understand Zidane at all. Zidane claims that Kuja would have done the same thing for him, but the silence that happens kinda says the opposite. He tells Kuja that it is their time to go now, but Kuja doesn't believe he deserves to live after all he's done. He feels that he is useless to the world now. Zidane tells him that no one is useless, and he figures that Kuja is the one who helped them escape it all. Kuja admits it and says that he realized after his defeat what it truly means to live. He realizes that it was a bit too late now and passes out. Zidane goes to him, but the roots all fly into the room and seem to crush the two as the screen fades to black.
The screen comes up with "Some time later...", and it presents a small epilogue of the whole crew. I won't go into details, but it's basically each of them thanking Zidane for changing their life. They were glad to travel together, but many of them realize that time is over and the world moves on. They go about their lives and such. Dagger is Queen now, and the Tantalus group is coming on to put on a play for Alexandria. Everybody has gathered for the play and such, but Zidane seems to be missing from all of this. The play is the same one from the beginning, "I Wanna Be Your Canary", and we get to see a fuller version of the play this time. The robed character is playing the leading man Marcus, and it seems the play is going normally. Suddenly, the leading man removes his robes and calls out for his Dagger! We cut to the final cutscene of Dagger running through the castle and trying to reach Zidane. As she reaches him, she beats him up briefly and the two embrace as the game comes to an end. (If you want to know anymore, play the game yourself! I think it is one of the best in the series, so you should give it a shot.)
The game plays through the credits, and I come to the final The End with a great feeling of satisfaction. Before I wrap this up though, I will reveal a fun little secret about the end screen. I copied this straight from GameFAQs so I got this right. At the screen that says The End (after the final credits) put in the following command... press R2, L1, R2, R2, Up, X, Right, Circle, Down, Triangle, L2, R1, R2, L1, Square, Square. Finally, press Start to play, and the game loads up a little BlackJack game! It's pretty fun and kinda neat that it exists. I played my hand, enjoyed my accomplishment, and got started on this post.
And it is finally done! Wooooo! It took me nearly two months to do it, but I finally go through all of Final Fantasy 9 with a few days to spare. The entirety of Final Fantasy 9, despite the long time it took, has been a great pleasure to undertake. Despite some trouble along the way, it still shines through as my favorite title in the series. I've definitely enjoyed the journey as I went back through it all, and it is now time for me to type up the final thoughts. Stay tuned for the Final Fantasy 9 final thoughts! Thanks for reading and soon...I shall begin Final Fantasy X!
Ending Point - End of the game!
Current Party -
- Zidane - Level 61
- Eiko - Level 47
- Freya - Level 49
- Vivi - Level 51
Next Goals - Start Final Fantasy X!
~May the Crystals Guide Me~
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