Game - Final Fantasy X, Day 69
Hours Played/Hours Total - 8 hrs / 13 hrs
Starting Point - Kilika Temple.
Current Goal - Enter Kilika Temple and help Yuna pray or whatever it is they do.
What Happened - Let's push on through Final Fantasy X! With my constant playing, I should cover this game in no time flat.~ Let's get going.
I left off with the group about to enter the Cloister of Trials, so...we head in! As they enter the room, the group gets on top of a pad in the center so as to enter the Cloister. As Tidus gets on it, Kimahri pushes him right off. Since he isn't actually a Guardian, it is forbidden for him to continue with them. So, I get to wait up above. I go to leave, and it doesn't let me leave either...So I wait for an event! I don't have to wait too long though when Dona comes back in. She asks where the group went, and Tidus points towards the pad. She looks at her Guardian and then has him throw Tidus on the pad. They send the platform down and block the way back. So, I am forced through another Cloister of Trials.
I won't go into full detail here, but it did take a bit more work this time. There wasn't a lot of options to choose really, so all I did was constantly cycle the spheres around each area. I managed to make it through and obtain the hidden treasure here! Continuing on, I found the rest of the group in the area before the final chamber like last time. They are NOT happy to see Tidus here. Tidus explains that Dona had him thrown down here, but it's still a bad scenario. Apparently, Yuna could get in big trouble for him being here...possibly excommunication! Of course, there really isn't anything they can do now. To break out of that conversation, Tidus asks what's in the chamber beyond the current one. (It is the one only the summoner can enter.) They call it the fayth, and Lulu explains what it is. (She is always the one explaining it seems. XD) The fayth is a statue with someone's spirit inside. Basically, Yevon takes their spirit from the body willingly and places it in the statues. They live forever trapped in this form, but this is where the summoner comes in! Summoners make some sort of pact with the fayth, and this allows them to bring forth the soul of the fayth in the form of an Aeon. The summoner goes inside and prays to the fayth for a way to defeat Sin. Only summoners are allowed to enter the fayth, and Guardians are forbidden from going inside.
As they are finishing up, Yuna comes out from there and is exhausted once again. As the group goes to her, Narrator Tidus chimes in...with useful information! (It really surprised me.) He says that the song being sung at the temple is one from his childhood in Zanarkand. This leads him to believe that Spira and Zanarkand are most definitely connected. Interesting...Anyways, the Aeon I received from this was Ifrit! Of course, that feels fairly obvious considering the temple is all fire-themed. With a new Aeon in the bag, it's time for us to leave this temple. Just like last time, the people gather about her as she is leaving. Apparently, the people really like themselves some summoners! I guess they are saviours of the people or whatever. We push through and head back to Kilika Village. Once there, we board the boat and get ready to head for...Luca!
Luca is the next location on our group's journey, and it's also where the Besaid Aurochs are participating in the Blitzball tournament. While the boat sails on, I get to explore it again. Yuna is off to one side and talking with the Luca Goers. Let me just say...These guys are a bunch of assholes. They start talking bad about the Aurochs and Tidus. Yuna brought up that Tidus used to play for the Zanarkand Abes, and they find this stupid and silly. However, she follows up by defending Tidus. She truly believes that his Zanarkand does exist! They walk off, and Tidus asks why she feels so strongly about it. She explains that Sir Jecht used to tell her stories about it. She tells Tidus that she truly wishes to see it someday. They talk a bit more, but I stopped paying attention nor did I take notes. Also, there was more interesting things afoot!
While walking about, I stumble upon a very interesting and lengthy conversation between Wakka and Lulu. The topic at hand...is Tidus. The group is planning to leave him in Luca. Of course, that was what Wakka had planned from the beginning. He figured someone in that area would just know Tidus and be able to help. Lulu blames Wakka for having Tidus around since he's the one who wanted to help him. Now, Yuna is interested in Tidus being a Guardian, and that's a problem somehow. Lulu thinks the main reason behind it is because she believes that Tidus is Sir Jecht's son. Wakka listens to all this, and his final answer is that it all comes down to Tidus and Yuna. Lulu seems surprised by his answer and agrees that he's actually right. She follows up by telling Wakka that he should ask Tidus to be Yuna's Guardian. Lulu doesn't think she will because of Tidus's feelings on his father. She figures that Yuna will ask in a way that involves his father coming up in the scenario. Wakka plans to ask Tidus after the tournament finishes. I listen in a bit longer, but there isn't anymore on that situation.
From there, I head to the front of the ship and find a lone blitzball. Tidus picks it up and starts to have yet another flashback! (Seriously, that kid is all about the flashbacks.) The biggest thing I get from the flashback... Jecht is a horrible father. Basically, the kid tries to pull off this famous move called the "Jecht Shot" and messes up. Jecht makes fun of him for it and shows him how it is done. I'd like to add that it looked fairly hard and making fun of a kid attempting to do it seems just lame really. After that little piece, we come back to reality, and Tidus tries to pull off the Jecht Shot right there on the ship. It requires a little button pressing sequence where Tidus tries to push through Jecht berating him about it. So...he does pretty good then fails. Yuna is watching Tidus during all of this so I go talk with her. She asks if he was attempting to do the Jecht Shot. Tidus asks how she knew about it, and she says that Jecht showed it to her when she was a kid. Tidus goes off into a story about Jecht and the Jecht Shot, but it's mostly irrelevant here. (I'm sorry, it's got very little to do other than Tidus hating him.)
The biggest thing learned here is that Jecht is famous in Spira for being Lord Braska's Guardian. (Just a reminder, that is Yuna's father.) Tidus does inquire if Jecht is still alive, but she doesn't know. He starts talking with Yuna for a bit and asks if she has the same problem with her father being famous as well. She says that it is, but she also thinks it is a big honor to have a father that has surpassed so much. Tidus talks bad about his father for a bit. Yuna says he shouldn't talk like that, but he claims that he has the right to. Wakka comes out to tell them it's time to sleep. They head in, and Narrator Tidus chimes in. Tidus doesn't think he'll find anything at Luca, but he has a feeling that something bad will happen. Thanks Captain Snobby Foreshadow!
As the ship is pulling into Luca, we get to see a nice cutscene showing it all. Compared to the meager villages before, the city of Luca is massive and chocked full of people. Eventually, we come around to the Blitzball arena as the giant sphere of water is starting to fill up. This just made me wonder...They're super un-advanced as far as technology goes, but how do they magically fill up a giant ball of water for underwater soccer? Question never answered. As we are pulling up to the docks, a pair of announcers start talking about all the teams showing up. The ones most prominently told were the Kilika Beasts, Besaid Aurochs, and Luca Goers. After they mention those, they start talking about how the Luca Goers are the favorites to win because they won last year. After that announcement, Tidus steps up on a platform and uses a megaphone to inform them that they will lose! (Yeah...kinda makes an ass of himself.)
As this is wrapping up, everybody starts getting all excited about something and heading elsewhere. The name "Maester Mika" is mentioned and is said to have shown up today. Lulu explains that Maester Mika is the leader of all the people of Spira. He has come here from Bevelle because the tournament is being held to honor his fifty years as Maester. With that said, the group heads over to see him as well. When we get over there, another new name is learned...Seymour. He's the son of a recently passed Jyscal Guado, and he has recently earned the title of Maester. (Guado is a type of people in this game. Maester seems to be a highly coveted holy title...I think.) Seymour greets everybody and promises to be as good at the job as his father was. He stares Yuna down all weirdly too, but then Wakka calls the team together for a last meeting before their match.
We jump over to the locker room with all the Aurochs. They are waiting around to hear what Wakka drew for the match. He comes in and tells us that our first opponent are the Al Bhed Psyches. However, they've been seeded! If they win that match, they'll go straight to the finals. This is good news since it gives them a really good chance to make it. Before we go out, I get to learn how to play the mini-game of Blitzball! (Hard to call it a mini-game since it's a full sport more or less.) There's a long tutorial to do here, but I'll try to summarize it. Blitzball is sort of like underwater football with hints of soccer. The playing of Blitzball (from my end) is just controlling when people make their passes and take a shot at the goal. You can manually control the person with the Blitzball or set them to auto, but anybody without the ball are always automatically controlled. You also deal with encounters between your players and enemy players. There is a lot of stats and abilities to deal with all throughout, but I won't go into it.
As the team is getting ready to go out, Yuna comes in and says that someone spotted "Sir Auron" at a cafe in town! Tidus recognizes the name of course and decides to go with her. Wakka tells him to hurry up and return because the match starts soon. As we head out, Yuna explains that Auron was her father's other Guardian. Tidus, despite his doubt on other things, just knows that this Auron is his Auron! I get to wander about the docks briefly, and I come across some nice items as I do. As Tidus and Yuna are walking, Tidus teaches her how to whistle...because that's how people cheered for Blitzball players in Zanarkand. He also tells her that she can use it to call him when she is in trouble. I explore around a bit more and discover the Sphere Theater. All of the things I can buy here are super expensive, but I figure this is the game's way of letting you watch previous videos and listen to the music. Of course, I can't afford any of it yet, so I don't actually know.
We got a bit further in, and Tidus comments on how big Luca is. Compared to the previous villages, he just didn't expect such a large city here. Yuna says that Luca is a bit of an exception, and most places are like Besaid and Kilika. If too many people gather, Sin tends to come in and destroy it all. Luca has survived throughout all of this because of the Blitzball Stadium. The Crusaders have always worked to protect Blitzball because it is Spira's only real form of entertainment. It gives people hope and such...Anyways, we head to the cafe and find that Auron isn't there. However, Kimahri is approached and talked to by a couple of Ronsos. They seem to know Kimahri and start talking with him. They ask why he's not talking and talk bad about him. Tidus eggs Kimahri into fighting them, and he punches one of them. Unfortunately, the tournament has also started...and Tidus is here.
The TVs start broadcasting the start of the tournament. Maester Mika gets up to give a speech before the tournament begins. It's your general speech about the teams and sportsmanship and blah blah blah. As the speech ends, the blitzball sphere is filling up, and the teams are taking their places. The Besaid Aurochs are entering the match to go against the Al Bhed Psyches. We come back to Tidus and Kimahri at the cafe. They just now notice that Yuna is gone. They run outside to try and find her when Lulu shows up. Lulu came to inform us that the Al Bhed Psyches have kidnapped Yuna. They will return her if the Aurochs agree to throw the game. Lulu doesn't believe they will do anything bad to Yuna, but she thinks we should still go get her right away. So...we head back to Al Bhed's ship in the docks!
As we are making our way around the docks, a group of machina show up and start fighting us. The Al Bheds aren't letting us get there without a fight! For this scenario, I'm forced to use Tidus, Kimahri, and Lulu for all of the battles. Lucky for me, Lulu is the elemental queen! Thunder works wonder on all these damned machines. Even without the Thunder, they aren't too tough of a fight. That...and they are called "Workers", so I can assume they aren't much for fighting. Apparently, the Al Bheds recover all the machina from ruins all over Spira. After we fight our way to the ship, it briefly switches over to the blitzball game. Wakka is taking a beating from the Psyches, and it isn't looking good. The group decides they need to hurry it up because Wakka can't take a lot more. The ship starts to leave the dock, so we have to jump on. As we get on the ship, another machina appears in front of the group for BOSS BATTLE TIME!
This machina is a bit different from the previous ones, and by a bit, I mean quite a damn bit. It's a monster of a robot, but it also seems to be a blitzball launcher for practicing...ANYWAYS! It has a pretty good amount of health, and it also has a good selection of attacks. Nothing was super powerful, but I'd have to manage between hits and healing quite a bit. Lucky for me, this battle has an interactive shortcut! Off to the side, there is a large crane arm just sitting there. Tidus suggests we use it on the bot to take it down, but it doesn't seem to want to power on. The game heavily suggests that a few rounds of Thunder would certainly get it going. I kept Kimahri on the bot while Lulu shot Thunder at it. Strangely enough, it seemed to focus almost entirely on Kimahri rather than the other two. Guess it maybe just didn't like him attacking it? Whatever! I get the crane powered up, Tidus hits a few switches, and the crane rips the ball launcher off the top of the robot. With its balls gone (hah!), the machina has nothing left to do. Another shot of Thunder from Lulu finishes the monstrosity off.
As the group celebrates their victory, Yuna pops out of the ship. Trailing behind her is a couple of unconscious Al Bhed. They make sure she is okay of course, and Lulu is glad to see she handled herself there. They start talking about the Al Bhed next. Tidus comments that all Al Bhed can't be bad because a group saved him earlier on, and he starts to wonder if they are okay after the brief ordeal with Sin. Yuna asks Tidus if he happened to meet an Al Bhed named Cid. (Cid is back baby!) She explains that Cid is her Uncle on her mother's side. This makes her half-Al Bhed, and Lulu warns them all to not say anything about Yuna's Al Bhed relation. At this point, the group suddenly remembers that the game is going on! Lulu sends up a magical signal of light into the sky.
We jump to the arena where Wakka sees it and kicks some ass to win the game! The rest of the group reaches the shore and are heading back in. Lulu looks at the very tired Wakka up on the screen and mentions that Chappu would have made it through while still standing. Tidus comes forward to her and tells her to give Wakka a break. He isn't trying to replace Chappu and wouldn't want to try to. Tidus starts to say more, but Lulu tells him to NOT finish that sentence. Definitely something going on there...Back to the adventure at hand! The group heads back to the locker room, and Wakka is completely out of it. Yuna apologizes to everybody for getting into the situation with the Al Bhed. Wakka asks how she could let them kidnap her in the first place. He warns her that all Al Bhed are trouble and should be avoided. (That's some heavy racism there!)
Regardless of Wakka's views on things, it's time for the second and final round of the tournament. If the Besaid Aurochs win this, they are the champions. It's time for us to go out, and Wakka finally drops the bomb on everybody. He informs them that this will be his last game, and he will be retiring from blitzball when the tournament finishes. He's beat up enough that he plans to take the bench and let Tidus take his spot on the team for the next match. The group heads out after that to take their place on the field. As they are all heading out, Wakka has a small moment with Lulu. She comments about how he was just floating there at the end. He responds by saying she wasn't supposed to see that. On to the game~
The game starts up and the first thing that hits me...This team just plain sucks, or it sure seems that way. It doesn't help that their stats are nearly double what our stats are. I tried my best to get through them, but after they scored their first point, I knew it was all over. At halftime (five minutes), the score was 1 to 0 with us losing. I knew I had to step up my game at this point, and then...3 to 0. Everybody is cheering for Wakka. The game stories it up a bit, and Tidus ends up leaving the field/pool/whatever. Next thing I know, Wakka is entering the field, and this game has kicked it up a notch! AAWWW YEA-I still lose. 4 to 0. Do not like Blitzball, but I have seen in a couple places that this match is incredibly hard to win. As the game is now over, Tidus swims back out to Wakka to congratulate him or whatnot. However...we aren't alone!
Fiends start attacking the stadium. They are all over and chasing after people. On top of that, the blitz-sphere has all forms of fiend-fish in it. We have to fight off quite a group of them, and things are just not looking good. We cut over to Yuna and the rest of the group, and they are all wondering what's going on. Next up, a cutscene plays of a giant bird-looking fiend entering the stadium. And guess who shows up to fight it? Auron!
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| Auron |
Next thing I know, the whole event has concluded, and Wakka is saying his goodbyes to the team. He's officially leaving because Yuna needs him as a Guardian. The group is sad to see him go, but he tells them to cheer up because the Blitz season has just begun. He finds Yuna and informs her that he is now full-time Guardian. He turns to Lulu and asks if she learned anything about what just went down. She informs him that nobody knows how the fiends got there, but we do know that Maester Mika is safe thanks to Seymour.
The game switches over to Auron and Tidus, and I have myself a huge amount of spoilers and game revealing in a matter of like 10 minutes (a bit more when you have to type it all to remember it). Tidus is blaming Auron for everything that has happened to him. Auron laughs at this and reveals quite a bit right here. He admits to helping Jecht and Braska defeat Sin ten years ago. At that time, Jecht asked Auron to go to Zanarkand to watch over Tidus. Tidus asks if Jecht is still alive, and Auron simply states "depends on what you mean by alive". Auron knows Tidus felt the presence when he came into contact with Sin. It was Jecht's presence...because Jecht IS Sin! (Dun dun duuuuuun!) At this point, Auron gives Tidus a choice of what to do. He can come with Auron to figure it all out, or he can leave and go off to do whatever. This just makes Tidus angry because he knows that there truly isn't a choice right here. Auron turns away and heads out. He plans to offer his services to Yuna as her Guardian, and the game continues.../end big-ass reveal
I get to walk the distance to Yuna, but we find them talking amongst themselves about Tidus. Auron approaches the group and asks if she could use another Guardian. They are more than glad to accept the help of the fabled Auron...best Guardian ever! (Their words more or less) However, they do wonder why he is offering. Auron claims that Braska asked him to do it. (Everybody demands things of Auron it seems...) Auron has one catch though, and obviously enough, his request is that Tidus comes with him as of his promise to Jecht. Yuna asks Auron if he has seen Jecht, but he claims to not have seen him in ten years. She is worried about this, but Auron claims they'll meet again eventually. For now, it is time to head to our next goal! Auron asks Lulu where they are heading next, and Yuna takes Tidus off to the side to talk.
I'm going to summarize this as best I can...and it just has the stupidest and most awkward part ever. Proceeding that event, Yuna shows Tidus that she can whistle now. Tidus says that is great, but he's still kinda shaken by the news Auron gave him. She asks if he wants to yell again. (He yelled stupidly at the Kilika Temple exit.) Yuna tells him that she feels that summoners and guardians are the only hope left for everybody in Spira. With that in mind, she's learned how to keep herself smiling despite the sadness. She tells him to smile, and he does so awkwardly. That didn't work. Next up, she suggests that he laughs out loud to make himself happy, and thus starts the stupidest and most awkward event so far! Yuna and Tidus are laughing out loud, and I just hate it...so much. The voiceovers are bad enough, but this part just seems stupid. As they finish their laughing out loud, Yuna quotes Tidus from earlier on. She tells him to "whistle" if they are separated, and she'll come running. As they turn about to face the group, the group stares at them and asks if they are okay or not.
Now, as for our next goal, we are heading for a Temple at Djose. As we head along the Mi'ihen Road, I'm informed that I can play Blitzball at the save points now. I'm able to scout random people throughout the game as players for the team. A man's statue is placed at one part of the road, and an old man there tells me about the history of the road. The Mi'ihen Road is named after the man who founded the crusaders. Basically, when the crusaders were first formed, Yevon and his followers thought that this group might start an uprising. Mi'ihen traveled this road to go and refute the charges. In the end, the Crusaders became a part of the clergy and gained their current name. (They were Crimson Blades beforehand I believe...I mentioned it in the previous post.) Interesting stuff...I guess.
As I continue along the road, I get to be privy to ANOTHER tutorial battle! Auron explains that he has the ability to "pierce" enemy armor with his weapon. What he actually has is a weapon with the "Piercing" ability, and Kimahri has one too. SO HA! Basically, enemies with heavy armor will take basically nothing from melee attacks unless you use a Piercing weapon. The characters also constantly bark at me to "Leave that to Sir Auron!" Moving along the road shows all forms of ruined buildings. The old man from earlier explains that these buildings are remnants of an ancient city destroyed by Sin. It seems that humans are nothing in comparison to it. However, Yuna responds that she truly believes in humans holding the power to beat Sin. The old man is glad to hear this from her and introduces himself as Maechen the Scholar. He's travelling all over Spira and looking into the history and secrets of it. He moves on his way...and so do we.
We start moving along and get interrupted by ANOTHER group. This group is on armored chocobos, and they stop briefly to warn us of something. Apparently, there is a large fiend on the road with a taste for chocobos. They warn us to keep an eye out for it and be careful if we rent a chocobo. They move along, and the group briefly discusses this. Tidus thinks we should go after the fiend and deal with it. Auron asks why it is relevant, and Tidus responds that it's the right thing to do. Auron laughs at this and says that Jecht used to say things like that a lot. Anytime he did say it, it just meant more trouble for Jecht and Braska. After that, I moved right along and fought a few enemies here and there. We eventually meet another summoner named Belgemine. She challenges Yuna to an Aeon fight to test her abilities. So...we get the first of what I hope is many AEON FIGHTS!
For this battle, Belgemine summons Ifrit, so I'm forced to work with Valefore. As I learned later, the Aeon's stats are based on Yuna's stats. I had to level Yuna up a bit to help increase their abilities, and it was still a fairly close battle. Basically, I had to change between shielding and attacking Ifrit. If I didn't mention it earlier, Aeon's have their own Overdrive attacks, so I had to quickly deal with her Ifrit. It had a little meter below it, and if it got off its Overdrive, I'd lose for sure. I got in my last Blizzard spell (Ice is obviously his weakness) with just enough HP to be considered alive. For my victory, Belgemine gave me an Echo Ring for Yuna. She tells Yuna that she thinks Yuna could beat Sin. Yuna claims that Belgemine will beat Sin long before she does. Belgemine says she can't and walks away. She suggested that she had tried to and failed to do so.
Before going further, I figure I should explain the equipment system. I haven't really touched down on it, but there's not a whole lot to say here. Each character has two kinds of equipment: weapons and armor. Each type of equipment has its own abilities and slots. Weapons can have elemental type abilities like Firestrike or Waterstrike, and they can have improvements like Piercing or Melee Damage boosts. Armor tends to carry abilities like Health Percent boosts or Immunities to statuses. Weapons and armor seem to come from all sorts of places, but the ones most hidden tend to have the best abilities. Also, weapons tend to have open slots on them, and this suggests that I could add my own abilities somehow. I haven't gotten to that point, but I do look forward to the customization! Let's get back to the game.
As we head along...SURPRISE! Another scene happens! A little girl and her mother approaches the group. She asks Yuna if she'll bring about a Calm very soon, and Yuna tells her she will very soon. The little girl seems quite overjoyed to hear this, and Lulu explains it for Tidus/the player. The Calm is the period after Sin is defeated where people are free to rest easy for a while. Of course, Tidus asks how many times Sin has been defeated and why it has to be constantly defeated. It seems that Sin is reborn somehow every time it is defeated. (Finally answers that question.) As the road is traversed, we run into Luzzu and Gatta (Crusaders from the beginning in Besaid). They are ragged on by the lady from the Chocobo Knights, but Luzzu manages to appease her by sucking up. The two mention something about being rejected by Yevon and head onward to work on their mysterious operation. It's been brought up several times at this point, and I'm ready to find out what the damn thing is! (I will quite soon it seems.)
Next in the lineup of "people I met on this darn road" is a disciple of Yevn named Shelinda. When we caught up to her, she was getting ragged on by a Crusader. The Crusader walks off, and she explains what is the up. She's attempting to stop the Crusaders because they are planning to use machina to defeat Sin. (Apparently, it is forbidden to use machina through Yevon's teachings.) Auron comments almost immediately that they won't defeat Sin regardless of how they try to do it. Shelinda responds that it isn't about defeating Sin but upholding Yevon's teachings. However, they won't listen to her because she is just a lowly acolyte. Yuna convinces the girl that her rank doesn't matter, and she compares her to how she was before. (They're both just starting out in the current position and such. blah blah blah) From here, I was just a short run from the rest area.
Upon entering the rest area, Auron suggests we rest for the night. Wakka is opposed to this because it is run by Al Bheds. Auron asks why that's a problem, and Wakka claims that they don't believe in Yevon and kidnapped Yuna. So...that's reason enough! Auron simply asks him where her Guardians were at. The answer to this is silence all around. Wakka says that he isn't tired, but Auron claims he is, so we are going to rest here. With a place to rest at hand, I look about the place first. There's a shop here too, so I stock up on a few items. Of course, Inns are kinda useless in this game because you are fully healed when you hit save points. As the group rests for the night, Tidus and Yuna have themselves another little pow wow of talking. (Yaaaay....)
Tidus and Yuna are at a nearby cliff and being absorbed into the beautiful sunset. They begin to talk about a couple of things, and eventually Yuna just says that she hopes she can beat Sin. Tidus says she definitely will and do so over and over again because she is the best! He eventually asks her why Sin keeps coming back. Yuna explains that Sin is their punishment for their vanity and won't go away until they atone for it all. Now Tidus asks what happened to start it all? He wonders if it has to do with the machina, but he doesn't believe that is so wrong really. Of course, this gets Yuna starting to wonder because she never questioned it before Tidus asked. Tidus backs all this up with a horrible analogy involving Blitzball and keeping your eyes on the game. Basically, he tells her to not worry about the future until Si is gone.
Now it finally hits Tidus though...How are summoners supposed to beat something so big like Sin? Yuna answers that it is through the Final Summoning. The Final Summoning brings in the ultimate Aeon to defeat Sin. This is the goal of a summoner's pilgrimage. The Fayth of the final summoning lies far to the north at the world's edge in Zanarkand. Tidus seems surprised at this and wonders about it. Auron claims that it was all in ruins from a thousand years ago, but regardless of this, Tidus plans to stick with it and see Zanarkand. After their little talk, it's finally time to get some sleeps.
Upon waking up, I get a second tutorial for the Sphere Grid. The subject this time..are locks! Located throughout the Sphere Grid are locks that keep you from ultimate abilities, extra enhancements, and other people's grid areas! You unlock the locks with key spheres, but of course, there are multiple key levels. The higher the level, the better the goods! Yay for knowledge! After this little explanation, I make my way to leave the Al Bhed agency when I bump into someone. The man is the owner of the place and talks with Tidus briefly about the Al Bhed and their language. He explains that books exist throughout Spira to help translate the language. I have already found quite a few of these, and he gives me another one. Of course, I shall briefly explain. Whenever a person talks in Al Bhed, the script is differently colored and not understandable. Each Al Bhed Primer reveals that a letter in Al Bhed actually refers to a different letter! (example but not necessarily true...A = J) As you collect Al Bhed Primers, their language starts to be automatically translated. Near the beginning of the game, you only have a handful of letters, but as you continue onwards, you start to get more and more and can almost fully understand them. I did unfortunately miss a few of them, but the ones I missed weren't lost to the event and can be gotten later.
As the Al Bhed finishes up his explanation (and I finish mine), someone outside yells about the chocobos. Of course, the group charges out to investigate the trouble. We find that the large chocobo-eating monster has made his way here, and he currently has a chocobo in hand. The fiend drops the chocobo at one point, and we are stuck in an interesting BOSS BATTLE TIME! The boss had some fairly powerful strikes, but he also had an absurd weakness to Darkness. I just used Wakka's Dark Attack to keep him blinded while we smacked him around. The boss itself wasn't terribly difficult, but this particular boss has another mechanic that occurs as we fight it. As we beat up on it OR it on us, the one receiving the damage is pushed back to one side or another of a rather large cliff on both side. Thus, the battle is a fight to both defeat the monster and do so before we get pushed off. I did honestly get pushed off one time, but it wasn't so much a Game Over as it was a disappointment. I reloaded and managed to beat it the next time!
With the creatures death, the owner comes out to thank and reward us. He offers us a free Chocobo rental for defeating the monster. (Not much of a reward since rentals are kinda cheap...but whateva) I immediately take him up on the offer and use the chocobo to continue my journey. Of course, while riding a chocobo, I don't have to fight any fiends along the road. I also gain access to otherwise unobtainable treasures. None of the treasure was super amazing persay, but it was nice to get it all anyways. I eventually dismounted the chocobo and did some extra training while I could. Sphere levels aren't too hard to get, but I try to gain some extra where I can. Continuing on through the road eventually brought me to the end, but unfortunately for our group, the road had been blocked off by the Crusaders. I also spotted Dona there trying to continue on, but they wouldn't let her through, so she was mad about that.
When I initially try to move on, we spot Luzzu and Gatta again. They are preparing for this ultimate Crusader's operation that they keep going on about. They are escorting a large carriage with what appears to be a fiend inside. This just brings up more questions, but they are about to be answered. I go around and start talking with the Crusaders who lovingly give away the majority of the plan. Basically, they have collected various Sinspawns all over Spira, and they plan to use them to lure Sin into a trap. The operation is a joint effort between the Crusaders and the Al Bhed. (It seems they hate Sin too...but who wouldn't in this world?) The Crusaders will lure Sin in, and the Al Bhed will attack it once it is in place. The biggest conflict here is that they are planning to make use of machina in the operation. As it turns out, the Crusaders taking part in this operation are being excommunicated for their use of machina here. The Crusader telling me all of this hopes the mission is a success, or they will all be outcasts after this.
Since we can't continue further in, I decide to turn around and run smack dab into Seymour. He asks Yuna if there is anything he can do for her, and she explains the situation. Seymour walks past us and talks with one of the Crusaders. While talking, they mention something about a command center up ahead. Seymour asks that Yuna and her guardians be let through. The guard tries to argue with him, and Seymour says that he'll take full responsibility for it. So...we are allowed through! (And this angers Dona who turns back at this point.) Tidus speaks up and asks who Seymour thinks he is (not to his face of course :P). Wakka tells Tidus that he's a Maester, and there isn't much you can do against a Maester since they seem to have all the power!
Before going any further, I hit the nearby save point and try out a game of Blitzball. The Blitzball mini game is playable from any save point after the tournament. On top of gaining Blitzball experience (because that's totally important somehow), you can also earn items by winning the tournament. I decided to jump on a new tournament and get started right here. I only played one game, but I actually didn't do too bad! I had the luck of getting a second match against the Luca Goers. Despite this, I managed to score several goals and come out ahead of it all though! I was fairly excited about this, but I also had to run away with the ball once I was ahead. It's basically the easiest way to win these games. Score more than the opponent and just play keep away with the ball. Regardless of my shameful tactic, I won the game! However, I feel I've done more than enough for this post, so I saved the game here and quit for now.
Let me just say...daaaaamn there is a lot going on. This game isn't holding back anything, and it seems to give away information as if it were a free thing (like it should be). Seems crazy how much people will tell you if you just take the time to talk with the NPCs. Regardless of all this, I am enjoying the game so far. The story isn't the best, but it isn't too shabby either. The only problems I'd have at this point are the countless tutorials, characters yelling at me about Sir Auron in battle, and the horribleness of stupid parts, like Tidus and Yuna laughing out loud. I just wanted to smack them both at that point. I've actually had the majority of this post ready for a while, but I've finally gotten around to typing it up. My current pace keeps leaving me with more content than I need per post. Thus, I end up starting a second post before the current one is finished. It's nice to have it all laid out and a bit of a buffer, but the hardest part is forcing myself to take the time to type it all up. Ah well, when I finally do get around to it, the post seems to just fall together.
As always, I thank anybody for reading, and I hope you all look forward to the next post! I've got to keep trucking through FFX if I plan to beat it before the month is up. Lucky for me, it's going pretty well so far, so I feel my goal is easily obtainable. And...done!
Ending Point - Mi'ihen Highroad - North End.
Current Party -
- Tidus
- Wakka
- Lulu
Next Goals - Head for the "Command Center" and find out what the Crusader's operation is all about most likely.
~May the Crystals Guide Me~
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