It's also a chance for us to check out something we haven't really had a chance to properly see so far: Quistis and Selphie's Limit Breaks. Now, we know Selphie has Slots, which typically casts one to three of the normal elemental spells. But she has unique options, including Full-Cure which heals everyone to full HP, and even more strikingly, her ultimate LB, The End, which…
Exploiting the fact that absolutely nothing is immune to The End is a popular tactic for harder enemies in low level runs.
It's not as easy as it sounds due to the hidden mechanics as to how Slots works. Whenever you trigger Slots, the spells that appear are selected from a Spell Set, and selecting 'Do Over' will cycle randomly through spells in that set, but nothing outside that Set. Each Set has 8 spells, and there are 15 different Sets that can appear. Spells frequently appear in multiple Sets, making it difficult to tell which Set you are in. If you want a particular spell you have to use 'Do Over' a few times to figure out what Set you're currently in, then if you're in the wrong one back out completely and trigger Slots again.
The End only appears once, in Set 15, which only has a
chance to appear depending on what level you are and your crisis level. You have to manipulate crisis level depending on Selphie's level to get the best chance at getting Set 15, and hope you don't give up too soon and back out before you're sure whether you're in the right Set or not.
Set 15 itself only appears twice in the Spell Set table which runs from 0-65.
By and large this keeps The End as a thing for getting as a fun surprise, and not something you aim for.
Laser Eyes isn't strictly speaking Quistis's Limit Break; it's one of her LBs. Her LB's proper name is… Blue Magic. That's right, Quistis is our Blue Mage. You'd be forgiven not to notice, given that the game doesn't call attention to its mechanics, but Quistis can learn monster abilities… although not, it seems, by being subjected to them; rather, some monsters drop items which teach their special technique. For instance, those Gester enemies in Centra dropped a Black Hole, which when used on Quistis, allows her to learn an LB move that automatically removes an enemy from battle. Neat! It's the only such item I've found so far, so I don't know what degree of shenanigans our former instructor can get up to, but it's intriguing.
Figuring out what items even unlock Blue Magic is the main pain for her, or realizing you already have the item before you use it for something else like weapon upgrades.
I mean, her questions make perfect sense. On its face, if we assume that the Bangle works, then a garment that would neutralize the Sorceress's power would be invaluable… but that requires getting it on her. This is an item that has two real uses - as shackles for a captured opponent, or as something you'd sneak on them with an elaborate plan to trick them into putting on. The first angle would require achieving their objective of neutralizing Edea to begin with, and the second angle would require significantly more prep work than they have available.
She is pretty aggressive about it, though. Once again, that same accusation of treating this whole thing like a game, a proxy for her father-daughter dispute. Quistis shuts Rinoa down, and leaves; once alone, Rinoa slumps down, muttering that this isn't a game to her, clearly depressed. Those series of rejections have done a number on her morale.
Rinoa comes at things from the angle involving sentiment, and tbh, vibes. Through hopes and dreams they will cast down the evil tyrant.
Whereas the mercs who operate on specific actionable plans with precise steps unsurprisingly look at this attitude as someone, yes, treating it as a game.
Irvine: "So like… if you knew that your enemies were pure evil, you'd get more fired up to fight them, right?"
Squall, mentally: "(Right and wrong are not what separates us and our enemies. It's our different standpoints, our perspectives that separate us.)"
Squall, mentally: "(Both sides blame one another. There's no good or bad side. Just 2 sides holding different views.)"
Irvine clearly looking for support and someone to persuade him he will be doing the right, heroic thing with this assassination.
Go back and apologize.
…
Her argument for this is that they still have time before 20:00 but that feels like… I mean, they're operating at such close margins that this feels like a wholly unnecessary risk. But… well, Quistis's problem is that she hasn't found anyone who likes or respects her, and now she's acting like Squall and biting people's head off for minor stupid ideas that could have been explained plainly? I can see how it would make sense for her to decide she has enough time to go back and try to patch things up, but it feels so weird.
I think it mostly scans, given their job is literally to push a button, and the mansion is less than five minutes walk away. Quick walk, say sorry, walk back and then sit on their assess for another half an hour with nothing to do.
Still sloppy, but an
excusable sloppy.
…Okay so Caraway didn't, like, close the door on her and lock it behind him; he left it open but triggered a timed lock that has an audible warning sound. Was he expecting… anything other than the obvious to happen? Because yeah, Rinoa just… gets up and leaves. Although she does have to take a moment to psyche herself up.
I'd read it more as activating the mansion's general security, like setting the alarm. It gives you a minute after setting it so you can leave through the front door before everything locks. I figure Caraway genuinely didn't think Rinoa would leave, after all he Told Her Off, so she will sit quietly and think about what she has done, because father knows best.
This is a very strange cutscene. In case it's not clear what's happening - at the start, Edea has long, flowing dark hair, which rapidly starts receding into the bird-like mask she's wearing, even glowing red before the last strands pull in: then the beak has that same glow and parts, while Edea tilts her head back with a strange expression; when the mask is gone, she opens her eyes, which were closed, and stands up
She does have a great look.
Edea takes her place at the lectern, and Rinoa follows after her, smiling dreamily and wobbling in place.
They do do a good job of showing that Rinoa is out of it, not going along due to a threat.
Edea: "...Lowlifes."
Edea: "...Shameless filthy wretches."
Edea: "How you celebrate my ascension with such joy."
Edea: "Hailing the very one whom you have condemned for generations."
Edea: "Have you no shame? What happened to the evil, ruthless sorceress from your fantasies?"
Edea: "The cold-blooded tyrant that slaughtered countless men and destroyed many nations?"
Edea: "Where is she now?"
Edea: "She stands before your very eyes to become your new ruler. HAHAHAHAHA."
Edea: "A new era has just begun."
I find this interesting for what it tells us about Edea's character here. She's obviously been working behind the scenes to amass power, and she values that power, so it would make sense to give some pat speech to keep the people happy. Instead she
indulges. Like, sure, she's clearly done something so that the crowd doesn't
really register what she's saying, but to me it speaks of a bitterness and a dislike for how she has had to put on a performance to gain power in the first place. She clearly harbors deep disdain for having to play the role, so she takes a safe chance to vent that dislike.
Edea: "This is reality. No one can help you now. Sit back and enjoy the show."
One might expect confusion from the crowd, even a wave of panic, if not at Edea's speech, at least at the apparent public murder of their leader. But no. The camera pans up over the crowd, just as vast, just as enthusiastic, still cheering.
Yeah, I'd say it's some kind of fascination effect. The crowd hears her words, but doesn't register what she's saying or doing.
Squall: "Irvine Kinneas!!!"
Irvine: "I… I can't… I'm sorry. I can't do it. I always choke like this…"
Irvine: "I try to act all cool, joke around, but I just can't handle the pressure…"
Squall: "Forget it, just shoot."
Irvine: "My bullet… The sorceress… I'll go down in history. I'd change the history of Galbadia… Of the world!" (He turns around.) "It's all too much…"
Squall: "Enough! Just shoot!"
Irvine: "I can't, dammit!"
Squall: "Irvine, calm down. Everyone's waiting on you."
Squall: "I don't care if you miss. Whatever happens, just leave the rest to us. Just think of it as a signal. A sign for us to make our move."
Irvine: "Just a signal…"
Squall, mentally: "(That's it.)"
Squall: "Please."
(Irvine rises to a kneeling posture and braces his rifle.)
Irvine: "Just a sign…"
Personally I would read it as Irvine having moral objections, especially given his earlier comment where he was pushing for Squall to reassure him his target was evil.
Squall knows it, too. That's the first thing he says, when Irvine sees that his shoot failed and apologizes: "It's ok. Your aim was perfect. Just leave the rest up to me." It's genuinely a really striking moment of character growth for Squall, to comfort someone else and tell them they didn't fuck up, and he'll take care of it from there.
Notably after this Irvine stays slumped there. My personal read is that Irvine viewed himself as morally superior to the SeeDs, as he despite his posturing he thought of himself as the kind of person who wouldn't do something like this. And now he has found out that actually he
is the kind of person who would pull the trigger. Whether or not it worked is irrelevant. He took the shot, and didn't spoil it, he was dead on target.
YouTube has started posting spoiler videos in my recs; I quickly clicked "Do Not Suggest" but now I'm afraid of stepping there as well.
I suspect you're further into Rebirth than I am, but I'm also very keen to avoid spoilers on it, so I can continue being Very Normal about what I'm playing through.