Game - Final Fantasy XII, Day 79
Hours Played/Hours Total - 10-1/2 hrs / 27-1/2 hrs
Starting Point - Bhujerba, Lhusu Square.
Current Goal - Figure out what I'm supposed to do next. Vague but involved the Marquis I believe.
What Happened - As it seems, I'm having a really hard time pushing through Final Fantasy XII. That isn't necessarily the game's fault of course. I'm getting new games to play left and right, and then there are other titles of interest. Of course, the blame still sits squarely on myself, so blargh me. That's enough of that talk...ONWARD! THROUGH IVALICE!
Okay, where we left off, I was about to revisit Marquis Ondore to continue this shenanigan of a story. I head for his palace, and the story starts up again. The game cuts partway into their conversation (thank the gods), and we come in on the tail end of Ashe's story. She's explaining that Vossler helped her escape that night long ago when the invasion took place. She figured that Ondore could help her, so she tried to come to him. Unfortunately, Vayne told the Marquis to announce Princess Ashe's suicide. He wasn't exactly happy to make the announcement, but at the time, he didn't see Vayne's real reason for giving it. It's clear to him now though...Vayne is a big schemer! (My words...not his) Ashe pleas with Marquis Ondore to fight with them now. He's unsure about this though...He has an entire city/country/skyplace that counts on him after all. He does seem to want to help, but he asks her a very important question. What does she plan to do when Vayne is defeated?
According to him, Ashe can't rebuild the kingdom without a proof of her royal lineage. Her lineage can only be proven with the Goddess magicite that the Judge took from us. The herka derka globba dobba ding dong won't recognize her as the rightful heir without proof. (That's not the name, but screw the real name. It was long, complicated, and I didn't catch it. Stupid name.) She might be the Princess, but she is powerless without some proof of her true identity. He says that she will remain here, and that they'll do nothing until the time is truly right. Ashe claims that they can't wait, but the Ondore asks her what they are supposed to do. Ashe doesn't have anything so...she walks away sadly. As she does, Balthier starts asking about a reward. Vaan and Penelo just watches her walk away. SCENE JUMP!
Now, Ashe is in Balthier's airship, and she's trying to hijack it. Vaan walks in on her and asks what she's doing. She says that she needs to go and retrieve the Dawn Shard. (I lost track of things earlier, but this is important it seems.) She knows where to find it and needs it for proof of her royal lineage. She says that she is doing it for everyone...like those who have fallen during all of this. She just wants to free her people! After saying her bit, the Marquis all of a sudden starts to speak from the back, but then Balthier appears? He holds up a little speaker in his hand and shows off his fancy voice changer. He says that things like this are quite useful in his line of work. He proceeds to tell Ashe that she is staying with the Marquis because she will be safe there. As he finishes that thought, Ashe suggests that he simply kidnap her instead.
This intrigues Balthier, but he does ask what she could possibly have for him. She mentions a Dynist-King Treasure. She says that the Dawn Shard is just one of many treasures located in King Raithwell's Tomb. Basch steps in around this time and lets Balthier know that kidnapping royalty is a serious offense. Balthier doesn't seem to care to much and figures that the price on his head will just go up. He does ask Basch what the price on HIS head would be at this point. Back to the story, Basch has come aboard because he plans to escort Ashe. Fran walks in with Penelo and asks Vaan if they'll be joining them. Vaan is up for it, but he doesn't want to get Penelo involved. However, she's not going to let Vaan leave her behind. Since the gang is all here, it's time to go...so we leave! As they are leaving Bhujerba, I get a nice/boring cutscene of what's going on elsewhere.
The cutscene starts off with a bird's eye view of a large and futuristic-ish city. (More futurish than previous cities I've seen.) If I were to guess, it's the Archadian Imperial Capital. An airship is landing on one of the taller buildings, and it is dropping off Judge Gabranth. Now the cutscene shifts into a regular scene. Gabranth is talking with what appears to be the Emperor. They are discussing all sorts of things, but the majority of the talk is focused on Vayne's current actions. It is suggested that Vayne is planning something with the Doctor Cid character. On top of it all, the Emperor seems to be sick and dying. He appears to be on his last days and needs to select a successor. The "Senate" fears Vayne and would greatly prefer someone else. They seem to favor Larsa instead.
Then, the subject just changes to Gabranth. The Emperor looks at him and asks about his loyalty. Gabranth is completely loyal to the Empire despite it destroying his homeland. He then asks about Gabranth's brother because his brother didn't accept the Imperial rule and fled to Dalmasca instead. He questions what happened to him. Gabranth claims to be watching him and will strike him down if need be. Finding those answers satisfactory, the Emperor asks for Gabranth to protect Larsa and to be his sword if the need arises. He also asks for the Judge to keep an eye on Vayne. He feels that Vayne is preparing something, and he doesn't wish to see his sons fighting again. (Obviously suggesting that some selection of them fought before. How many sons can there be?!) Finally, that scene comes to an end, and I jump back to the actual group I'm in charge of.
This game is starting to feel like one large cutscene with some fighting inbetween. I'm being overly harsh, but I have to pause so often during the scenes...Anyways, the group is setting down in Dalmasca Westersand. They have the airship parked, and Balthier turns on a cloaking device. Our current destination is the Tomb of King Raithwell. To get there, we have to pass through a large desert area, and that'll take us to the Valley of the Dead. The Valley of the Dead will lead us straight to the tomb. It's a long trek, but we have to make it. As I enter the next area, another damn cutscene throws up! (Seriously...Feels like there are too many of these.) This area is known as the Ogir-Yensa Sandsea, and it is exactly what it sounds like. Vaan is looking out at the very large body of water in front of them, and as it turns out, it's literally an entire sea of sand. It looks a lot like water and even flows like water. Honestly, it's actually pretty cool sounding and looking.
Moving right along, the group is starting the long trek. Penelo asks how far we are to go, and Basch confirms for her that it is a long distance. First, it's the Ogir-Yensa Sandsea. That's followed by the Nam-Yensa Sandsea. After those, we will finally be at the tomb, but that's at the completely opposite side of this large sandy sea of...sand. You might be wondering how they could possible cross the sea, but that is quickly answered. The span of the sandsea is covered by a large network of towers that are connected by bridges. As we start crossing them, Basch explains why they are even there. As it turns out, these towers are (more or less) oil rigs. They were built by Rozaria (the nation at war with Archadia/the Empire) to extract the oil from below the sandsea. During this explanation, Vossler magically appears out of nowhere!
He started following us as soon as it was obvious they weren't in Bhujerba anymore. He questions when Basch became so friendly with these Sky Pirates. Basch feels that Balthier can be fully trusted, and it was Ashe's decision to bring them into all of this anyways. As that group discusses things, Balthier is talking to Fran. She tells him that they should leave this place right now. Balthier asks if a sandstorm is coming, but Fran says it is much worse than that. Back to the other group, Vossler is talking with Ashe. He says that the Marquis can only do so much, and the Empire blah blah blah. (Apologies. I got tired of typing all this nonsense. He is acting slightly suspicious though.) Balthier comes over to them and says that we need to leave now. We're in Uruten-Yensa territory! And those are? CUTSCENE EXPLANATION!
It's out in the middle of the sandsea, and there are sandpeople riding atop sandfish in the sand sea. They are quickly charging towards us and the large oil rigs. After that, the group has decided it is time to move, and Vossler rejoins the party (as a guest of course). As we start to move, Ashe asks Vossler if he found a way to restore Dalmasca. He tells her that it all begins when they claim the Dawn Shard. Aside from that, it's just your average walk through a monster-infested area! There's a few smaller monsters here and there, but they aren't too hard. The majority of the enemies here are the Uruten-Yensa though. I couldn't tell at first, but I learned later on that they are actually crab-based people. That makes sense with what details you can see, and the clicking sound they constantly make.
Either way, the enemies in this area weren't too hard to defeat, but from what level Vossler was, I seemed to be a bit behind in levels. While I was crossing via the bridges and oil rigs, I killed a big ol' pile of Uruten-Yensa. It wasn't a very long walk across, but it seemed to last forever. I was interested in getting the entire map opened up and explored, but I was ready to move on. I figure I'll be back for some sort of Mark or Quest though. After what felt like forever and a lot of dead crab people, I finally make it to the Nam-Yensa. The Nam-Yensa is still a desert, but the area has a sort of beach look to it all. So! I am back on the land now, but I still have to traverse another desert area before I reach my destination. As I make my way through the Nam-Yensa, I spot a random Uruten-Yensa talking with a random Moogle. He runs off quickly enough, and the Moogle tells us what he said. The Uruten are currently dealing with some large tortoise. It's an enemy of theirs and is causing trouble for them. The Uruten that approached him asked for help and promised some sort of treasure to whoever helped it out. Sounds like a plan to me! I accept the task and head into the Nam-Yensa.
The Nam-Yensa is basically just the same as the Ogir-Yensa, but we are on actual land now. I don't have to go too far before I spot this enemy of the Uruten. The game makes it quite obvious that he's an enemy...He's called an Uruten Eater, so it is pretty obvious that they wouldn't get along with the giant tortoise. The Urutens waste several of their people fighting it, and I swoop in afterwards to finish the beast off. Of course, the Uruten-Yensa didn't do much to the large Uruten Eater, so they were merely a small distraction. As for difficulty, I honestly put no strategy into beating the thing because it didn't REQUIRE a strategy. I attacked it with all my attacking might! With its defeat, I was given a special message clarifying that I defeated it. I ran back to the Moogle to learn more about this treasure reward.
Of course, it's never quite that simple. When I talked with him, he said the Uruten had just ran back to the Ogir-Sandsea to get the treasure. I ran out there, and then he ran past me and went back to the Nam-Sandsea. Thank you annoying task! I ran back after him, and it turns out he did something bad. There's a huge group of the Uruten Yensa gathered in one spot. The one who requested the help is currently speaking to their leader, and it seems that what he did was considered wrong to them. The leader (labelled as a Queen) executes the rogue Uruten Yensa. The Moogle steps in and asks why she did that despite his plea for help being good for them. She simply warns the Moogle that the Uruten aren't to be taken lightly, and she leaves with the rest of the group in tow. After they leave, the Moogle spots a rare flower where the Uruten was killed. He says that flowers are rare in the Yensa Sandsea area, and this flower is especially rare. The flower is known for a special berry that is disliked by some powerful bird monster. I take the strange berries from the flower and head on my way. Overall, I'm hoping the small quest was worth my time.
I continue through the Nam-Yensa and quickly find that...I don't have the foggiest clue of where to go. It's a fairly big area to traverse, so I had to spend quite some time going around. At one point, I somehow managed to find an exit that took me to a different part of the Ogir-Yensa Sandsea, so I literally took a step back at that time. There was a merchant there though, so that helped a little bit. After that, I went back and found yet another wrong way! It took me underground into a cave, and those enemies were pretty darn tough. I ended up turning around and leaving the cave, called Zertinan Caverns. With those spots both covered, there is only one area left. Obviously, that direction should take me where I needed to go. I head that way and meet the merchant from before! He talks about the "treasure" I got from the Uruten Yensa and mentions how I should be able to beat the bird with it. Time to meet this infamous bird!
I head onward, and a cutscene reveals that I am most definitely in the Valley of the Dead. Ahead of me is a massive temple and most likely the Tomb of King Raithwell. The group heads towards the temple, but it seems we finally get to meet the reason nobody comes here. A giant bird comes from around the other side and swoops in, and it is BOSS BATTLE TIME! The giant bird, called a Garuda, looks quite menacing, but unfortunately for it, it was very much the opposite of that. I threw the Eskir Berries at it immediately (the treasure), and they...did some damage. I couldn't tell if they did anything more than that though, but the monster was beaten quite quickly without a lot of effort. The only problem that occurred during all of this was the fact that it was a flying monster. Nobody could hit it except people with ranged weapons. In my case, only Fran with a bow and Balthier with a gun could shoot at it. They kept shooting with fair consistency and speed, and they quickly finished it off. With the Garuda's defeat, I get a nice CONGRATULATIONS!
With the Garuda out of the way, the game lets me see a random bit of the temple and simply states that "THE ANCIENT DEVICE STIRS". Yeah, this game just loves to do things like this. I head up the steps and get to listen to a fun history lesson about "why we are here". Ashe tells us all about King Raithwell and who he was. I'm going to try and wrap this up quickly, so please forgive me on the finer details. King Raithwell was a great leader of the past. He ruled over pretty much everything from Rozaria to Archadia. Despite being the Dynast-King (what they call him), he was a pretty cool guy. He had great compassion for his people and didn't approve of war. He passed this philosophy on through his descendants, and this allowed for a long period of peace and prosperity. During that time, both Rozaria and Archadia, allies of Raithwell, began to root and grow. Things were going well for the world.
Before he died, Raithwell left behind three relics to signify decent and linage to himself. Of these relics, the Midlight shard was given to those who became House Nabradia (Prince Rasler). The Dusk Shard was given to the founders of Dalmasca, also known as Ashe's ancestors. The final relic, called the Dawn Shard, was hidden in his tomb, and this fact was only known to those with Royal Blood. So! We're going inside to get the Dawn Shard, but Ashe points out that only descendants can safely enter. As for anybody else...as Balthier nicely puts it, there is a lovely arrangement of traps, monsters, and all sorts of other things. Ashe reminds him that the Dawn Shard is at stake, and that King Raithwell's treasure is also located inside. Time for us to enter inside!
I head to the top and touch the "stirred" ancient device. It teleports us into the Tomb of Raithwell. As soon as we are inside, Vaan asks about the device, and Balthier quickly answers him. It's an ancient contraption found in ruins. You touch it and are teleported somewhere. The finer points elude him, but he feels the finer details are unimportant and we know enough. There's another teleport device in front of me, but it currently isn't working. So, I take the bridge right in front of me. As I go onto the bridge, the strange-looking wall behind me suddenly comes to life! It traps me on the bridge and slowly chases after me. I have a choice now to either fight it or run...BOSS BATTLE TIME! Of course, I choose to fight! But...that doesn't go very well. I attempted to fight it, but I wasn't doing a lot of damage. It kept pushing forward, and I had to turn and run or be crushed to death. There's a door at the end, and I ran through it.
As I come out of that door, I come face to face...with another machine-monster wall. BOSS BATTLE TIME!...again! However, this time I'm starting from the opposite end. I have to run down to meet the wall monster, and I don't have any way to escape this time. However, compared to the previous one, this one is quite a bit easier and moves pretty slow. I run up and begin my assault on the wall as it slowly pushes us back. Everything is going pretty well until it doesn't! There are pairs of torches all along the bridge, and by activating them, you can change the movement of the wall. One torch speeds it up while the other one halts it. Of course, I didn't know this at first and activated both of them at one point. This small mistake completely turned the tables on myself, and then the wall starts being a super jerk. He starts casting all sorts of status effects on my team, and I can't keep up with him. I try to swap out the characters where I can, but the wall eventually backs me right into the door....and auto game over time! Time to reload and try again!
Wall Boss Attempt #2! I fight the wall again, but I don't make the same mistakes! Basically the same attack pattern as I did last time (just physical strikes really), but I don't use both torches! It still throws a pile of status effects at me. I deal with those as I can though. I also learned that it had a lovely "destroy all your MP attack", but that only targets a single person at a time. The only thing that really surprised me during this big fight was when it gave people a status called X-Zone! (If you don't remember, X-Zone was a move/magic spell from the old 2D FF titles. It threw enemies into another dimension to kill them.) Regardless of the troubles, I managed to destroy the wall and CONGRATULATIONS! Time to move along.
The next scene shows off the interior of this large tomb. It's all maze-like and quite complex. The group is just walking through now and admiring the scenery. Vossler comments on how sad he is that they are going to pillage this place. He says this as he is looking over at Fran and Balthier. Ashe replies that they need the help, and despite thinking of his own profit, Balthier will stick with them. Vossler doesn't seem to share that same trust of the duo though. Ashe says they can talk about it later and should currently focus on obtaining the Dawn Shard. Before the scene ends, Ashe tells us that she just KNOWS the Dawn Shard is here because she can feel it. Time to begin my true exploration of the tomb!
The only noticeable thing in the area is a pair of the strange teleportation devices. The ones I currently see aren't activated, so there's bound to be a way to get them up and running. The room has three paths, but I can't access the middle path. I head down the left first and try to find the other half of the teleport device. I head through a maze with all forms of monsters and eventually end up in a room with the other half of the teleport device! Nothing happens when I touch it though, but there is a strange crystal structure on the wall. I touch that and things start to happen. The crystal disappears, the device activates, a nearby wall moves, and then a ghost pops up! I quickly fight off the group of ghosts (called Lichs), and then I use the nearby teleport to head back to the middle. From here, I head off to explore the right area.
The right side of this area is quickly explored. It does have a few different monsters compared to the other side, but nothing is necessarily amazing or hard. I quickly dispatch any of the enemies that get in my way and head around to find another mystical device alongside another crystal. I repeat the steps from last time, and it comes out with the exact same results. I quickly defeat the group of monsters that pop up (zombies instead of ghosts if I remember right). The wall to the side moves, but this time it fully lowers to reveal another path! I head through this new path and it takes me to the very bottom of the tomb. Once inside, I get another scene where they FINALLY discuss Mist. Down in this deep area of the tomb, there's a strange fog about us. Penelo asks about it, and Fran identifies it as the Mist. Explains that it can be visibly seen when there are large concentrations of it. Penelo asks if it is dangerous, and Fran replies that it can be dangerous. However, the Mist can also enhance magic and allow them to cast stronger magics. Time to move along though.
I head to the bottom of this area, and we find a huge monster standing right in front a door. Of course, that's the door we need through. Need I say more? BOSS BATTLE TIME! The large beast picks up its massive spear and charges at us! Before attacking, I decide to give the buffs a try. I cast Protect and Shell on my current party (Basch, Penelo, and Ashe), and then I charge at the beast. It was a fairly long battle that took place here. The monster was fire-based, so I had to attack it with Water spells where I could. Of course, that quickly drained what little MP I had, so I had to either physically attack or make use of the Charge technique. (I've found that Charge is insanely useful and gives around 20ish MP per use. It's free to use! Of course, if it fails, then you lose ALL your MP. It's really only good if you have nothing to lose. Back to the battle.) It was mostly alternating between physical strikes and Fire spells. Outside of that, it kept using a special move that would buff it. That added Shell and Protect, but it didn't do this until it was about a third of its health left. Of course, at that point, it is really only delaying the inevitable. Upon its defeat, the massive beast turns into a square-shaped crystal and now I am confused. However, it is quickly explained.
The monster we just fought was a powerful Esper called Belias. Fran says something about these creatures attempting to challenge the gods, but they failed and were forced to walk the Mist until the end of time. It's a legend of the Nu Mou (Another Ivalice race that isn't super common. They're like short and reptile-ish though.) Ashe says that there is a story passed down through her family that talks about the Esper. It's said that in the Dynast-King's youth, he defeated a mighty Gigas. The gods took heed of this and bound the Gigas to him forever. Balthier comments that the Esper was here to protect the Dynast-King's treasure then. Unfortunately for him, Ashe responds that the Esper IS the treasure. Balthier doesn't really approve of that, but Ashe insists that they now have a powerful Esper to fight by their side. It's strength and power makes it a treasure without measure. Balthier states that he prefers a kind of treasure that can be measured, but there's really not anything he can do at this point.
Before heading on, I check my License Board out. I'm informed that Belias is now on it, but only one character can obtain each Esper. (Thus suggesting there are more on the way.) I think about it briefly and end up letting Vaan have Belias. After learning/obtaining/whatever, I go ahead and try it out. The summoning system runs off the same idea as the Quickening system. It requires an entire magic bar to summon up an Esper. (You gain an extra magic bar for every Quickening you gain. Each character gets three so...three magic bars is the max.) I summon Belias, and it seems to work a lot like it does in FFX. The Esper replaces the two party members (the ones who didn't summon it) and follows me wherever I go. I can't directly control the beast, but I can cast spells or use items on it. I can't really see what it does without enemies around, but I'd say the summon comes out a bit better than the Quickenings, as far as cost goes. Let's go ahead and get that crystal!
I head into the next room, and we have to descend a bit further into the depths of the tomb. I finally come to a large platform and a glowing orb floats ahead of us. I'll assume this is the Dawn Shard aaaand scene! Ashe approaches the Dawn Shard, and she suddenly sees her dead husband/the prince Rasler! From everybody else's perspective, she just appears to be staring off into space, but for some reason, Vaan can also see him! (Suspiiiicious) The ghost figure of Rasler walks past the group, and of course, Vaan and Ashe are the only ones to watch him go. Ashe does notice his response to all of this. Regardless, we now have the Dawn Shard! Mission success! Thanks to the teleporters, getting back to the entrance is both quick and easy. As I head outside, I start to wonder what the next goal is...As it turns out, I don't get a chance to think about it because CUTSCENE!
Up above us, there are a pile of airships flying towards the tomb. They land all around the party, and we are officially captured again. Jump ahead a bit, and the group is being greeted once again by Judge Ghis. He greets Ashe, but she just asks what he wants. He demands that they turn over the nethicite. Penelo thinks he means the manufactured nethicite, but he says that is just an imitation and what he wants is the Dawn Shard, which is deifacted nethicite. He then questions Vossler for not telling them about it. As it turns out, Vossler seems to have made a deal with the Empire. He exclaims that he was tired of fighting a profitless war, and he was always thinking of Dalmasca. Judge Ghis explains that Vossler made a deal with the Empire. They'd hand over the Dawn Shard, and the Empire would allow Ashe to reclaim the throne and restore Dalmasca. Ghis thinks it is a pretty good trade...a stone for a kingdom. Ashe doesn't want to do it, so Ghis makes it more of a point. Balthier says something about his master having another pet, and Ghis threatens to kill everyone there...starting with Balthier. Ashe hands over the Dawn Shard. Ghis takes it and says something about Doctor Cid being interested. Balthier asks about that, but he's shut down. Vossler and a couple of Imperial soldiers escort the group off of the Leviathan and to the Shiva.
As we are being escorted away, Ghis hands the Dawn Shard off to someone and orders them to assess its power. The guy comments that they were supposed to turn it in immediately for testing. Ghis replies that he won't be returning with a stone that hasn't been proven yet. Jumping away from that...a cutscene! An airship is flying away from the Leviathan and towards a smaller airship. It's identified as the Shiva, and we are now inside of it. Vossler starts talking with Ashe about announcing her alive status to the people. After that, they'll need to continue negotiations with the Empire, and he suggests they go through Larsa. Vossler believes that Larsa will listen to them. Ashe isn't very happy with him though and isn't really responding to any of this. She's not happy with Mr. GaveUsUpToTheEmpire. As they are talking, Fran starts having problems. The guards tell her to keep moving, but then she goes into berserk mode and starts attacking them. While she has the guards distracted, the others set to make their escape. (Balthier magically escapes his handcuffs again.)
The game then briefly jumps back to the Leviathan. They're testing out the Dawn Shard with their engine...because that's just a fantastic idea. As it turns out, the stone is being tested at the exact same time as Fran is going berserk. (Coincidence? No, she said something about the Mist burning.) The stone is super energy-ifying the ship, and Ghis is basically all "MWAHAHAH! POWER!" Of course, he holds that thought as things starts to take a turn...Back to the other group!
Everybody is getting out of their handcuffs while Fran is going crazy in the background. As we try to leave though, Vossler stops us. He claims that he won't let us Sky Pirates stop Dalmasca's future! BOSS BATTLE TIME! For this round, I get to fight Vossler plus a trio of Imperial Guards. Of course, the Imperial Guards go down pretty quickly, so all that leaves is Vossler. I figured that three on one should go pretty easy and that the rest of this battle wouldn't be a challenge. I was...more or less wrong about that. The first half of the battle was very much in my favor. I hacked and slashed my way through his health, but then Vossler jumped into asshole mode, also known as haste. During his asshole mode, he was able to almost constantly attack with little to no wait inbetween strikes. Everybody got caught in a heal cycle, and things weren't going well. I had to start reviving people, so I said screw that! I threw Vaan out and summoned Belias into the battle. Belias finished Vossler off in two hits! BOOYAH! With Vossler down, the game turns back to the Leviathan.
As I was saying before the battle, the testing of the Dawn Shard starts to take a bad turn. The Dawn Shard begins to drain power from the ship, and they can't stop it or get it out of the chamber. Oh noes! Back to the other group. They are leaving the current area and trying to find a way off. Basch and Ashe both stop by Vossler briefly. He claims that he only did what he did for Dalmasca and asks that Basch take over as Ashe's protector. Then they head on....back to Ghis. The ship is beginning to act badly, and although it looks bad, it then blows up! CUTSCENE! The Dreadnought Leviathan implodes into itself...and then explodes. This blows up pretty much all of the ships around it. The Shiva tries to hobble away, and the group has commandeered an airship to make their own escape. (It's a Tonberry model I believe. Very small.) They are flying away from the explosion and wreckage when they notice something floating among it all. It's the Dawn Shard! They turn around to go and grab it, so that means we win...for now. Now we switch to history lesson mode.
The game is going over the events that just took place as well as what proceeded after that. (Also realize that it's Marquis Ondore doing this bit.) He talks about the Dreadnought Leviathan being destroyed and taking out most of the 8th fleet with it. With that setback, the Marquis fakes illness so that he can start bringing together the various resistance efforts in the area. He wants to concentrate all of the anti-Imperial forces together to form one great unified Resistance effort. Lady Ashe heads back to Dalmasca, but she doesn't reveal herself or the Dawn Shard to the people yet. Ondore comments that it is best that she didn't yet. Her current alive status would have made his suicide announcement a complete lie. This would have undermined all of his current efforts. On top of that, Dalmasca's restoration would simply bring the Empire's wraith down upon them all. Despite the loss of the 8th fleet, Archadia was still a strong military power. And thus ends the history lesson...and begins a long ass scene of events taking place elsewhere.
Thankfully, the scene begins with a very pretty cutscene. It's a large city scene with all sorts of flying vehicles and prettyness. Of course, that is followed up by a long and boring talk-y scene. Yaaay. The Senators are talking with the Emperor. They talk of how Rozarria is assembling troops under a training guise, but they believe they are simply waiting to strike. The loss of the Leviathan and 8th fleet was a hard blow, and this could easily make their upcoming battle very hard fought. They also tack on that Lord Vayne is partially to blame for setting the fleet up where he did. Despite his position, Vayne must be punished. (Although technically, it's not his fault for the Leviathan blowing up. Way to go Ghis!) The Emperor responds by saying that they are making him choose between his throne and his son. Senator comments that it is quite a predicament. They feel that Vayne isn't right for the throne anyways, and they all suggest Larsa instead. The Emperor says that Larsa truly loves his brother and is way too young for the throne. A senator comments that he won't be young forever, and he's actually making progress as is. He's started to unravel Vayne's scheme and is doing so with quite a bit of enthusiasm. The Emperor asks who set him to this very task. A senator changes the subject and mentions that Lord Vayne once brought his elder brothers to justice. They promise the Emperor that they will keep the Empire going regardless of anything that happens to him. The Emperor breaks down and agrees to bring Vayne in. And finally that long scene ends.
We jump back to Ashe. She's in a random spot somewhere and holding the Dawn Shard. She is looking at the ghost Rasler, and then Vaan appears and is looking on as well. Time jump! The group is back in Rabanastre, and they're talking about the next step. They all realize that the Dawn Shard is what destroyed the Leviathan and in turn destroyed the fleet. Basch mentions something about seeing that kind of destructive power before. He looks over at Ashe and says that she knows where he means. She says the word Nabudis, and Basch fills in the details from there. Nabudis was the capital city of Nabradia, Lord Rasler's homeland. Imperials entered the city and fighting began, but then suddenly an explosion took out most of the city. The coincidence here was that another of the Dynast-King's treasures was located here, the Midlight Shard. They all seem to agree that the Empire was after more nethicite. Ashe says that the Empire can't be allowed to claim the nethicite! Balthier brings up the thought that they kinda already do. They already have the Dusk Shard and most likely the Midlight Shard. On top of all of this, they can also manufacture it.
With all this in mind, Ashe makes a conclusion on it all. They must use the Dawn Shard to fight the Empire. She goes off into a huge speech about Dalmasca and using the Dawn Shard as her sword and such. Vaan brings up a good question though...Does she even know how to use it? Ashe doesn't have an answer, but lucky for her, Fran does. Fran makes mention of a tribe known as the Garif. She says that they live by the old ways, and magicite lore is part of their culture. They'd probably know all about it as well as how to use it. Ashe realizes this path is dangerous, but she feels it is the path they must take. She asks Fran to take her to the Garif. Fran says that they live beyond the Ozmone Plains. Balthier steps forward and comments on how it is a bit of a long trip. Ashe catches on immediately and asks what he wants for compensation. He asks for her wedding ring from Rasler. She doesn't seem too keen to give it over, but in the end, she does. Balthier assures her that he will give it back when they find something more valuable. Vaan asks him what that might be, but Balther claims he will know it when he finds it. He then asks Vaan what he is looking for, and Vaan doesn't have a clue...Time to move on!
The group heads outside, and Balthier suggests that we prepare ourselves before moving on. The path we need to take is south through the Giza Plains, which is currently in the rainy season. After we pass through the Giza Plains, we simply have to make our way across the Ozmane Plains to find the Garif village. The best part of all this? I can finally explore again! The first stop on my exploration? To the shops for purchases! Unfortunately, I don't have much money, and there is a HUGE pile of items I need to buy. You know what that means? It means I get to go kill and loot a huge amount of monsters. I grab up all of the new marks and head out in pursuit of loot! However, I did make one more pit stop before going. I went to Migelo's store and talked with him. He has a talk with Penelo and Vaan. He realizes he can't stop them from leaving, but he asks for the two of them to be careful. With that done, it's time to check out these marks.
First up, I go to learn about the Wyvern Lord. An Imperial Soldier set up the mark because he felt worried about the possible threat from it. It's located in the Sandsea, and we need to go beat it! LET THE HUNT BEGIN! From there, I head out into the Giza Plains for some training and looting. Also, there is another Mark maker there. The village is currently cleared out due to the rainy season, but a lone guy is there. He wants us to deal with the Croakadile (hardy har) and retrieve some ring it swallowed. LET THE HUNT BEGIN! As I wander the rainy version of the plains, I quickly found out that half of the enemies here are almost too much for me to handle. The small guys aren't too bad, but there's a stupid Lightning Elemental that is floating about. It remains neutral unless it sees you attacking monsters. Then it starts throwing out Thundara all over the place. It was enough to kill me, and it actually did once. With that in my way, I decide to make a small trip to Bhujerba.
Once in Bhujerba, I go to turn in the Rocktoise mark from waaay back there. After that, the Moogle who requested the Mark asks a small favor of him. It was super quick and simple and doesn't bother a mention though. Since the Giza Plains was a bit too much, I head into the Lhusu Mines for training and looting. I spent about an hour in there fighting off what I could. These enemies were almost too easy, but they helped the overall money problem. From there, I decided to head out to the Sandsea to deal with the Wyvern Lord. While looking around for the Wyvern Lord, I fought a whole pile of the Uruten Yensa. I fought enough of those to need a restock trip. I head back to a nearby store to restock my stuff, and then I head back out. I spent quite a bit of time training on both Sandsea areas. During the training part, I spent a lot of time just searching for the Wyvern Lord. I wasn't very confident that I'd be able to beat it, but I was going to give it a shot. I looked all over the place before I realized...He's probably in the one area I haven't been to before. As luck has it, I head to that one area and there he is! He was in a remote spot of the Nam-Yensa Sandsea. MARK BATTLE TIME!
Before I go into details, I'd like to say...This was a very enjoyable and entertaining battle. I started off with a trio of Quickenings, and despite my inability to do those right, it knocked off a pretty good chunk of the Wyvern Lord's HP. I did learn that obtaining a certain amount of hits in a Quickening combo results in a final hit combo breaker of sorts. For this time, it ended the Quickening combo with Inferno. With that done, I was out of MP, and I'm quickly finding out that probably wasn't the best idea. This wouldn't be a problem if the Wyvern Lord wasn't a FLYING monster...and most of my team uses melee weapons. Luckily, I had just the right time to fight him. I took control of Vaan and disabled his Gambits, so he just played the part of healer and commander. I let Balthier and Fran just go crazy with physical strikes using a Gun and Bow respectively. Basically, while they wailed on him, I just ran around taking out outer lying enemies, using Charge to gain MP, and healing as needed. Overall, this was a fairly easy Mark to deal with and is now VANQUISHED! Woo! Time to go turn it in.
I head back to Rabanastre now. I sell all of the loot I found and turn in the Mark. The Mark rewards generally aren't that great, but the loot makes up for it at least. I had enough loot earnings that I was able to upgrade everybody's weapons! Unfortunately, I need to do MORE looting so that I can upgrade all of their armor. Yaaay...Oh well! That's more work for another post. I go to save and will end the post here.
So! That took...way longer than it should have. Yet again, I've had most of the notes ready to go for a while, but it took me some time to get it all typed up. Enough excuses though. That last mark battle started to make the game feel a little funner. Don't get me wrong, the game isn't too bad, but the story just feels exhausting at times. So many people and places, and I might as well go read the Game of Thrones book series. Seriously, it's just a big pile of people and treachery. Either way, I look forward to more Marks to fight. They could prove fun to fight as well! I'm doing my best to double time FFXII when I can because I want to have it done this month! It'll be close, but if I keep up this kind of rate, I could easily have it done. Either way, I'd like to thank anybody who has stuck with the blog. It's been a rough ride lately, but I appreciate those who have stuck around in interest. Stay tuned for another thriving post from RECURRING FANTASY! (Also should have a Side Post up soon...I won't say anything other than game review!)
Ending Point - Rabanastre, South Gate.
Current Party -
- Basch - Level 21
- Ashe - Level 21
- Penelo - Level 22
Next Goals - Prepare for the next part. Head south through the Giza Plains and locate the Garif village.
~May the Crystals Guide Me~
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