- Location
- Brittany, France
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Cid: something something ours is the manipulate mansplain manslaughter faction and boy i'm all out of manipulate and mansplain
Let's Play Every Final Fantasy Game In Order Of Release [Now Finished: Final Fantasy Tactics]
- Thread starter Omicron
- Start date
- Let's Play
Guile
Having a really great time right now
I know there's supposed to be thousands of soldiers fighting just offscreen on some of these maps, but on-screen it's hard to imagine a unit of Lionsguard like Agrias in danger from any number of Order soldiers.
- Location
- Brittany, France
- Pronouns
- He/Him
It's a little more complicated than that, I think. From the Rumors tabs updating throughout the game, we know that the Queen has been the de facto ruler of Ivalice during her husband's convalescence. The risk she's facing now is that with her husband dead, instead of bed-ridden/in a coma, she lacks the legitimacy to continue ruling in his name, but that's the key - continue to rule. She's been ruling for at least a year now, and has been using her personal influence to remove threats ever since the King died.
The reason stated in the PSX intro for why Larg doesn't get the title of Regent is because the nobles/parliament who are not aligned with the Queen are afraid that giving him the title will grant the Queen effectively full power over the country (that intro actually looks ahead a little further at events that haven't happened yet).
Effectively, the source of the conflict is that the Queen wants to seize power by proxy, and her enemies won't let her because they're (rightly) afraid of what she would do to assert her power, which she likely would do because she (also rightly) realizes that her position is precarious and defeat means exile or death.
The Queen and Larg are actually of royal blood themselves; they're descendants of Denamda II, the King who initiated the Fifty Years War. They're both part of the Atkascha branch, the same as King Ondoria Atkascha III, meaning they are both likely cousins to the late King, so it's most likely the Queen has relatives and clients of her own who can bolster her plays - just not enough without Larg's own considerable power as Duke.
It's most likely Louveria would have wished to be regent to her own son, the other nobles pulled out some old sexist law and said "nuh-uh, women can't be regent," [in this taking inspiration from how agnatic succession was used as a transparent ploy to keep the English Crown from laying claim to the French Crown IRL, leading to the Hundred Years War], Louveria went "fine then, I appoint my brother Larg," the nobles went "weeelllll no that doesn't work for us either," and now here we are. That's my read on it, at least.
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Being fair, there's no telling how many similar units the Order might have as well. After all, super ridiculous fighters like Agrias and Gaffgarion and (presumably, considering his reputation as The Thunder God) Cid all exist, Delita somehow got Holy Knight training in barely a year, Wiegraff is off Wiegging out somewhere unless he was unceremoniously killed offscreen during the timeskip...
Agrias is good, for sure, but if she can be part of a full elite unit of the Lionsguard, there's sure to be other, similarly elite units on both sides of the war.
Guile
Having a really great time right now
I guess we don't know how common Holy Knights – the class of Main Characters – are. Agrias's two girl pals Lavian and Alicia are regular Knights, after all. I was just assuming Lionsguard were predominantly Holy Knights on very little evidence.
Regarding other elite units, I think this happens during Omi's next update, might be the one after, so spoilered for now:
Delita claims to be part of a group under the Southern Sky called (I think) the Black Rams, and nobody is like '... Get the fuck out of town, Holy Knight in the Black Rams, get fucking serious, who are you really with'. And those guys got wiped out by a group called the Obsidian Eye, which I think is hinted to be Wiegraf's new group, so it's not like the Black Rams are the creme de la creme either.
Final Fantasy Tactics, Part 8.A: Tchigolith Fenlands, Clockwork City Goug, & Balias Swale
- Location
- Brittany, France
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Hear ye, hear ye! 'Tis the year of our lord 2024, and it has come to pass that Ramza Lugria is beset by enemies on all sides, and knows not whom to trust - yet it may be they who err in not fearing him.
The Story So Far: Ramza, scion of the noble House Beoulve, was betrayed by his own kin, who allowed his childhood friend Delita's sister to die. Separated from Delita, betrayed by his family, Ramza has abandoned the life of a noble and joined up with a mercenary band, only to be betrayed again by his new mentor after finding Delita again. Now tasked with seeing Princess Ovelia to safety, Ramza heads towards Lionel Castle, where Cardinal Delacroix could ensure Ovelia's safety. On the way, he has met with the Machinist Mustadio, who is on the run from the nefarious Baert Trading Company…
I. Cardinal Delacroix
Last time, we cut our way through Baert Trading Company goons, and finally reached Lionel Castle, where we hope to rely on the protection of Cardinal Delacroix.
Agrias: "I am Agrias Oaks, a knight of the Lionsguard. My companions and I have journeyed from Orbonne Monastery seeking sanctuary. By the grace of Saint Ajora, I beg you, lay open your gate!"
Guard: "The graces of Saint Ajora are in the keeping of His Eminence here. All who seek those graces are given like treatment - the gates of Lionel stand open to them. Raise the gate!"
Well, this is a nice surprise. I was fully ready to have to argue our way in or be told to fuck off. Our party is led into the castle, where we meet His Eminence Cardinal Delacroix.
Cardinal Delacroix: "I see, Lady Agrias. In such circumstances as this, I am fain to lend you whatever help I can. I shall dispatch a courier to Mullonde at once. High Confessor Marcel will have this news from my hand. We will expose Duke Larg's misdeeds, and ensure that no harm befall you, Princess."
Agrias: "Your Eminence, think you the High Confessor will hear our plea?"
Cardinal Delacroix: "Fear not, dear lady. You are in my care now. Princess Ovelia can scarce feel at ease while those tasked with her safety are vexed with such worriment. You may enjoy the comforts of the castle - wanting though they are - while we await a reply from Mullonde."
Ovelia: "You are most gracious, Eminence. Thank you."
Cardinal Delacroix: "So long as Saint Ajora is our guide, we have naught to fear, child. As for you, my young machinist, I have given consideration to your troubles as well. I will send a hand-picked company of my finest men to Goug to put an end to this Baert Trading Company."
Mustadio: "Thank you, Your Eminence."
Cardinal Delacroix: "Conditioned upon this: I would hear the reason they chose to pursue you and your father."
Mustadio: "This is - I mean to say it's not - "
[Mustadio looks down, visibly hesitating.]
Cardinal Delacroix: "Come, come. Mayhap this will give voice to your words."
[He produces a red stone that visibly gleams.]
It looks like he, too, has a piece of auracite.
Wait okay hold on. This guy has a purple cape, but it's over a gray habit. And he is a Cardinal.
…
He is literally an éminence grise.
Oh, and he's a Cardinal with a French name? This guy could not be more Richelieu-coded if he tried. I would trust this man as far as I could throw him and no further.
…
Sorry, let me elaborate because this is kind of a messy combo of references.
An éminence grise, or "grey eminence," is a term English borrowed from French, meaning a powerful advisor or decision-maker who operates "behind the scenes." It's not quite synonymous with "power behind the throne," because the éminence grise isn't necessarily actually ruling, but their words have considerable influence on those who officially hold power.
Cardinal Richelieu was a French cardinal who served as foreign secretary and chief minister to Louis XIII of France; for decades until his death, he held considerable power over French politics, far in excess of the nominal terms of his religious or civil office. Because he dressed in red and was a cardinal (referred to as "His Eminence"), he was nicknamed the Red Eminence.
Richelieu, in turn, had his own advisor, François Lecler du Tremblay, who himself had outsized influence over Richelieu's decision-making, granting him nearly as much power thanks to the trust placed in him by the cardinal; because du Tremblay was a friar dressed in grey, and held as much power as "His Eminence" the cardinal, he was referred to as the Grey Eminence.
In this painting, you can see Richelieu and du Tremblay together, l'éminence grise and l'éminence rouge in collaboration. Also a bunch of adorable cats.
Putting together all this, in Cardinal Delacroix, His Eminence soberly dressed in grey and purple (admittedly not red, but the historical connotations are closed enough) and with a French name, who is likely working schemes within schemes, what might very well be a fusion of historical references, du Tremblay and Richelieu fused into one man, the Grey Eminence of… The Church of Glabados? One of the Dukes?
Either way, a man to watch out for.
Delacroix asks the group if they've heard the story of the Zodiac Braves; Agrias says it's a fanciful tale she heard at mass and he chides her for that small impiety, then Ovelia recounts the tale.
Ovelia: "Long ago, before the mountains had ceased their wandering and struck their roots into the earth, the Lucavi held dominion over the world. Twelve heroes there were, who came forward to challenge these Lucavi. In a long and bitter struggle, they succeeded in driving the Lucavi to the spirit world, and Ivalice again knew peace. The Twelve each bore an auracite crystal emblazoned with a house of the night sky. And so in time, they became known as the Zodiac Braves. Ever after, when discord and strife paid visit to the halls of men, they would return to save us once more."
Delacroix: "You have clearly been a most apt pupil, Princess."
Ovelia: "Elder Simon himself instructed me at Orbonne - which reminds me of another thing he said. Saint Ajora walked with the Twelve, and together they saved Ivalice from ruin."
Delacroix: "We call the crystals of the Twelve the "Zodiac Stones." The stone you see before you now is a stone from that legend."
Ovelia: "Auracite - it exists? I did not think it possible."
Delacroix: "Or that it held the sacred power to keep the Lucavi at bay, eh? I confess, I feel some power deep within, but my eyes see only a common crystal."
Okay.
Okay okay okay okay. We're going to be looking at this in the context of the game proper in a moment but I just need to take a moment to-
Twelve? Crystals?? With constellations in them??? Connected to a group of ancient heroes from the mystical distant past????
Motherfucker.
FFXIV really is just The Best Of Final Fantasy, I keep tripping into new references every time I pick up a new game.
Wait, the description of Gariland said it was once time to a guy called Elidibus, the Zodiac Braves are literally the Convocation!! My mind is opening!!!
Anyway. 'Before the mountains had ceased their wandering' is a wild line to just throw in there. What the hell does that mean? Did Ivalice just use to have floating islands all over the place? Saint Ajora's story initially seemed like it would have been taking place during the Rome-equivalent era of this setting, and later details made it seem like this Rome was also Atlantis, but now it even more starts to sound like the world in which Ajora was born was a world of high fantasy and sci-fi technology, full of roaming mountains, airships, and with demons ruling the world with an iron fist, until the sinking of Pharism brought an end to that age and set us on the course of this relatively low-key late medieval/early modern setting.
Also - wait.
"Saint Ajora walked with the twelve Zodiac Braves."
THIS IS JUST "WHAT IF THE TWELVE APOSTLES HAD ANIME SUPERPOWERS," GAME, I'M ON TO YOU.
With that said, I'll note that Ovelia's story differs slightly from the one we'll get next time we get the chance to hit up a Tavern:
Tavernmaster: "Long ago, before Ivalice was united as it is today, the land was divided into seven kingdoms: Zeltennia, Fovoham, Lionel, Limberry, Lesalia, Gallione, and Mullonde. Each kingdom clashed with the others in an endless effort to expand its own territory. The conflict continued for centuries, until a brave and ambitious young king appeared in Mullonde. This king dreamed of uniting all of Ivalice under his hand, but such feats are not with ease achieved. Turning to ancient tomes and the dark magicks found within, he summoned a demon from the netherworld to do his bidding. But once unleashed, the demon could not be controlled. It slew the king and set out to destroy the world of men.Twelve brave warriors were gathered to slay the demon and the foul horrors that it had summoned. They soon defeated the horrors and banished the demon back to the netherworld. These twelve warriors each carried with them a crystal engraved with a sign of the zodiac, and so became known as the Zodiac Braves."
This more specifically refers to a single demon being summoned by one man and causing destruction, as opposed to a species of spirits ruling over the earth. It's probably just a choice of emphasis, though.
Mustadio goes pale, and the Cardinal guesses that Mustadio saw a similar stone himself below Goug. Mustadio reveals that when one of the auracite stones is taken close to the long-dormant machinery below Goug, it stirs to life; though Mustadio does not know the true power of the stone, it's clear Ludovich Baert wants to harness it as a weapon. His father would not give them the stone, and so they took him captive.
Cardinal Delacroix tells him to put his worries out of his mind, as the Church will swiftly strike-
Actually.
Delacroix: "The Church will see this matter dealt with. Our forces will strike, and wrest the Stone from their hands."
Mustadio: "Of… of course, Your Eminence."
We know that Baert does not have the Stone. That's why his men are hunting for Mustadio. Mustadio is either carrying the Stone on him, or has hidden it in a secret location. But Delacroix doesn't know that - he heard the sentence "My father would not give them the Stone, so they took him instead," and assumed that this meant the Baert Trading Company already had the stone, and immediately focused on retrieving it, rather than Mustadio's father.
And Mustadio does not disabuse him of this notion. He allows the mistake to go unremarked upon. He is clearly more suspicious of the Cardinal than he appears - and with good reason.
This is where we hit an interesting divergence point - Ovelia is, of course, now going to stay safe(?) at Lionel Castle. Agrias will, of course, continue to act as her personal guard. But what about Ramza?
At this point Ramza is no longer acting out of anything but the goodness of his heart, essentially. No one is paying his wages as a sellsword; the Cardinal has not offered to recruit him into his guard; his task to see the Princess safely to Lionel is over; Gaffgarion has betrayed him, Delita is in the wind; he has nowhere to really go. He could decide to stay with the Princess, double up on ensuring her safety. But I don't think our boy longs for the comfort of a castle, quite the opposite in fact. And Mustadio, his new acquaintance, is of course joining the assault on the BTC.
Ramza immediately volunteers to join the company headed for Goug. Agrias and Ovelia thank him for his service, expressing gratitude that they would never have reached the Cardinal without him, and wishing they could do more than give thanks. "Your words are all the aid I could ever ask," Ramza says, and he's gone.
And this here is probably the ultimate spanner in the work. Everyone else is making their moves with orders from above, everyone has schemes within schemes and is hiding their true intentions, and then there's this fucking guy who is like 'me and my five friends are going to act on our own initiative with no idea of the full picture and topple everyone else's carefully constructed card castles.'
Hopefully, at least.
We take a brief detour, checking out the town shop and Errands; I decide to send my troops on another errand - this one is about Countess Zalmasse's "darling pet," a beast by the name of Carrot. Should be easy, right?
Why the fuck would you keep a malboro as a pet and how are you still alive.
Well, nothing for it. I put my top men and women on the job and then head back to Orbonne Monastery to do turns. This immediately results in disaster: It seems like random encounters are keyed off Ramza's level, which is 16, and my "B-Team" of Ladd, Alicia and Lavian is completely outmatched at lv 8. Even with Osric and a lv 14 Black Chocobo on the team I am unable to prevent a permadeath when we run into a random encounter. But after reloading and trying again, I get lucky and manage to complete the entire round trip without a battle.
"Throw your main team at Errands and just hope we don't run into a random encounter, reloading to try again every time we do" is… Perhaps a little against the spirit of the game. This is probably not something I can reasonably keep doing for the whole game. On the other hand, I really want to do Errands.
Fortunately, we'll have found a solution by the end of this update, at least I think so. For now, we return to a victorious party and are rewarded with a considerable sum of gil. We then send everyone on a second Errand - this one is another 'get some loot from a sunken ship,' separate from the Hindenburg. Easy peasy, and our reward is more JP and Gil.
Honestly, I'm really starting to have far more cash than I could possibly hope to spend. I wonder if the game will eventually give me a money sink to put it to use.
Alright, one last little thing before heading on with the plot: Ramza is almost at Thief lv 4. Let's just do one battle to bring him over the top…
And there it is.
Upon reaching Thief lv 4, Ramza unlocks Dragoon, and the JP spillover mechanic (I assume from having Hadrian in the party doing Dragoon stuff) automatically pushes Dragoon to lv 2. With Knight lv 4, Monk lv 5, and Dragoon lv 2, Ramza has unlocked Samurai - the first job we've unlocked to carry requirements from multiple jobs. Will it pay off? We'll see soon.
Oh my god.
Its signature Ability is literally iaido. Every single individual command bears the name of a katana or blacksmith and starts with the line "A TECHNIQUE THAT RELEASES THE SPIRIT IN THE USER'S KATANA."
This is my home. I am never using anything else. Ramza is a Samurai now. With First Strike equipped to best represent iaido as a defensive technique. And… Martial Arts, probably? Or Mettle? Mettle is probably better but Martial Arts is real good.
Okay never mind it turns out I don't currently own a katana. I have played myself. Utterly bamboozled. Ramza will have to stick to Monk for the time being.
II. To the Clockwork City
Now it's time to get on with the show and head to Goug, the Clockwork City. Unfortunately, this will require us to go through the Tchigolith Fenlands, which are like if a Swamp card from Magic the Gathering had been turned into a battlefield map.
Wait, is that a pig!?
Ramza: "Just when I thought this fen could grow no fouler…"
Mustadio: "Solid footing scarce enough, and rain to rob us of that. Be careful!"
Mustadio's line is gameplay-relevant information, by the way. Unfortunately it's failing to convey the truly important part of the problem. You see, in addition to normal Elevation mechanics, watery terrain can also have Depth. A character in Depth 1 is, I think slowed down, and might have a penalty to accuracy? But more importantly a character in Depth 2 cannot Act. This is something I ran into in an earlier random battle, so I at least know to look for it.
What Mustadio hasn't told me and what the game is only now introducing in this specific battle for the first time…
…is that Swamps are poisonous.
Any character who ends their turn standing in the water gets the Poison status effect, which saps HP at the end of each turn.
Oops.
This is troublesome, although in truth it's trying to navigate the narrow paths of solid ground above the water to our enemy that's the more pressing issue on this map. Characters with ranged attacks at least can stand up on random islands or floating pieces of wood and try and get a character within their spell range, melee characters are in more trouble, requiring enemies to obligingly step forward to meet them.
I swapped Gillian over to White Mage because I honestly couldn't really figure out anything I wanted out of Speechcraft other than Praise and Preach, so I thought I might as well have her learn more white magic. This ends up fortuitous as most of our opponents in this fight are undead, who are damaged by healing spells.
Beyond this, and the inherently comedic factor of one our opponents being a bipedal swine, the battle is fairly straightforward and ends quickly. The new terrain factor is a fun complication, but monster battles in general are fairly simple tactical scenarios, so "monsters + new terrain you aren't used to" is a fun way to create medium-complexity maps.
"Ramza of the lake, what is your wisdom?"
"Never. Trust. Anyone."
Ramza: "Mustadio! Are you hurt?"
Mustadio: "No worse for the wear. The channel shore lies just beyond the fen. Goug is not far now."
Our goal lies in front of us. Surprisingly, entering the Clockwork City of Goug does not immediately trigger a battle sequence.
Pretty place.
Mustadio: "Baert's curs are nowhere to be seen. Yet there's no sign of a battle with Lionel's Gryphons. Something's amiss. I'm going to see what I can find out. We'll meet afterwards."
Ramza: "Where will I find you?"
Mustadio: "The Goug lowtown is just down this road. We're not like to draw much attention there."
Ramza: "All right. Watch yourself."
Mustadio: "Don't worry. I can take care of myself."
[He leaves.]
I find this beat and what comes next fascinating, because it's an insight into the specific limitations created by Tactics's choice of presentation. In a traditional Final Fantasy game, this would be a standard 'new town' beat; Mustadio tells us we'll meet up later, and then we are free to roam in Goug, talk to NPCs, visit shops, until we hit a specific trigger (likely going to rest for the night) that leads to the next plot beat. But FFT can't do that due to not having traditional FF exploration, but it still wants to convey that same feeling of hanging out in Goug for a bit, rather than just jump to the next cutscene. So how does it do that?
Well, it leads us back to the world map.
From this screen, we can access the Tavern, Outfitter, and Warriors' Guild. We can stock up on items, check out Errands (though this is a trap!) engage in Melees and Rendezvous if we're playing the actual PSP version back in the day when that was viable, check out our party roster…
As I had hoped and anticipated, Goug is where we can buy Guns such as Mustadio's, which immediately makes Orator a lot more appealing as a class. They can equip guns natively, which is pretty nice!
Oh, also.
We have a new Chocobo.
THE RED CHOCOBO OF DOOM.
It can cast Meteor.
I mean, Choco Meteor. Which isn't going to be wiping out encounters the way real Meteor might, but.
This is still very funny and I want to take it into battle soon, though maybe not in a story battle.
I believe this is the first time the "red chocobo who can cast Meteor" concept was introduced to the series, though I'm familiar with it from FFXIV memes - I doubt this'll be as much of a horror show, though, if for no other reason than because this Chocobo is on our side.
Anyway, as I was saying - we're given "access" to the world map, but it's actually just us being "in town" so we can use menu. As soon as we move to another node, we instead get a "Prepare for battle!" screen. Which is how the game replicates the feel of 'hanging out in town' from mainline games, was my point.
The diagonally oriented terrain being created by a collapsed windmill tower is genius.
Ramza is hanging out in the slums, standing atop a collapsed tower like a badass, waiting for Mustadio. Rain starts to fall and Ramza holds his palm up to it, pondering aloud whether Mustadio might have been captured.
Surely not, right? I mean, the last thing Mustadio told us before leaving was "I can take care of myself." Surely he wouldn't go on to immediately get himself captured.
Man's Voice: "A friend of Mustadio's, eh?"
Ramza: "Who's there?"
OF COURSE HE FUCKING DID. MUSTADIO YOU FOOL.
Mustadio: [He falls to his knees.] "I- I'm sorry, Ramza."
Ramza: "Have they hurt you?"
Ludovich Baert: "Not a step further. Prefer to keep a little distance, if you don't mind."
Ramza: "You must be Ludovich. Let Mustadio go. Now!"
Ludovich: "I'm a reasonable man. I just want the auracite. Once I have it, I'll loose him soon enough." [He turns to Mustadio.] "So, where have you hidden it? Tell me!"
Mustadio: "..."
Ludovich: "Is that how you want to play it? Maybe this will hasten your speech. You there! Out with the other one!"
[Another Thief emerges, pushing forward another, older, bound man.]
Mustadio: "Father! What have they done to you?"
Besrudio: "I'm… I'm fine, son. Don't tell them where it is."
All very dramatic.
You know, it would be nice to have a villain who actually abides by trades like "give me the thing and I'll let him go" sometimes. Every villain in fiction follows that ultimatum and gets the thing they're asking for with "now kill them," every time; it's the opposite of a twist. In fact, it's so much not a twist, that in the movie Game Night, when it turns out that the big bad crime lord who has the protagonists at his mercy does in fact just want the McGuffin they have in their possession and doesn't have any intention of killing them after getting it, that is actually played as a twist!
Anyway, it's very clear that Ludovich is lying, but he still has Mustadio's father hostage. Ludovich has the dad thrown into a room in one of these derelict flats and asks Mustadio if he feels like talking now.
Mustadio: "There's a chimney just behind Ramza. You'll find it there."
Ludovich: [To Ramza.] "Bring that to us, would you? Small enough work to spare your friend's life."
[Ramza says nothing, but follows the instructions, retrieving the stone.]
There's a brief back and forth of the 'cut them loose and I'll throw you the stone' 'throw me the stone and I'll cut them loose' variety but ultimately Ludovich has all the leverage here; short of having a means of destroying the stone, Ramza can't threaten him, so he ends up complying and tossing the stone over to Ludovich… Who allows himself a moment of gloating and in so doing commits the classic villain mistake of revealing too much.
"This should bring a smile to the cardinal's face."
So he was in cahoots with Baert the entire time. This - hm. Let's put a pin in that. For now…
Ludovich: "You've been most helpful, most helpful! Pity you've outlived your usefulness. Kill them."
Wow. Who could have possibly predicted this.
Ludovich leaves the scene as Ramza exclaims, "the cardinal was with them from the start!" and battle begins.
Unfortunately for these poor bastards, that is when my crew steps out of the shadows.
It's time for extreme violence.
Guys, I've fought off the Order of the Northern Sky. You ain't no Northern Sky. What are you? A bunch of cheap sellswords hired by a criminal corporation to do their dirty deeds? Who trained you? Where did you even find two summoners?
I appreciate that you thought this looked like a back alley murder, but unfortunately it is, in fact, small unit tactics.
Mustadio goes first, and, okay, this is actually kinda funny - Ludovich's men actually did the smart thing and took away his weapons before the fight.
Our machinist is fighting unarmed.
He still has access to his special abilities, he just has to use them with punches. So what are these abilities? They are Leg Shot and Arm Shot. While this seems like the Knight and Thief's laundry list of 'ability targets a tiny piece of an enemy's character sheet, there are too many of them with too little impact to matter' abilities, Mustadio only has the two, and they're both incredibly powerful: Leg Shot inflicts Immobilize, locking the unit onto their tile until it wears off, while Arm Shot Disables the enemy, rendering them incapable of acting at all, as well as react or evade. Upon reviewing my screenshots, this is what caused one of the summoners to flee to a corner of the map during our battle at the big mountain - Mustadio disabled her and so she couldn't do anything for at least one turn.
Those are extremely useful status effects, of the 'it doesn't matter that Mustadio doesn't have any others, they are enough to make a character viable on their own' kind, provided their success chance is up to snuff. As for that part… We'll have to see later. Here, Mustadio succeeds, locking a Thief into a 1v1 with him. The second Thief immediately climbs down to flank and stab the poor machinist.
Inevitably he's going to go down, and we don't really care. Our objective isn't "protect Mustadio," so we won't lose the battle if he goes down, and without his gun he's simply not worth the effort of reviving (Arm Shot and Leg Shot are nice but without the ability to use them at range it's not enough).
Now, this map is actually quite similar to our previous fight with the Company: the terrain is convex, with a rising spine in the middle and two valleys on each side (though not nearly as pronounced as the previous one), and our enemies are two Summoners, two Archers, and two Thieves, which is relatively close to their previous set-up with the Thieves filling in for the knives. There are, however, three crucial differences. The first is that the elevation rises much more softly, allowing even characters with low Jump rating to move relatively freely. The second is that the enemy is poorly placed, with both Thieves on one side, both Archers on one side, and the Summoners on the peak.
The third is that we have achieved total ranged dominance.
Back to Mystic, now equipped with a gun, Gillian is able to hit pretty much the entire map from a single position. Hadrian isn't quite as fortunate, as he still doesn't have his Vertical Jump 8 Ability, but I can still hit most enemies simply by finding a tile with a specific elevation score and hitting any enemy who shares the same elevation anywhere on the map. The map does not constrain me; it constrains my enemy. Ramza is free to go punch the daylights out of these two Thieves you can see and the Archers are on the other side of the cliff, unable to come to help. From there, Hester can sneak through with her high mobility (I have equipped her, and Ramza, with the Move+2 Ability of Thief) to go stab their summoners directly, then move Osric over to blast the Thieves with Ramuh.
One of the Archers attempts to enter the alleyway horizontally crossing the map to get a line of fire to someone important, probably Osric, and that just means she gets a spear to the face.
The enemy Summoners are relegated to summoning Moogle to try and heal their party instead of any of the high damage nukes Summoners are best at. And to be fair, Moogle healing is a decent fallback position; it's a wide AoE heal that does not cure enemies, especially good as the enemy withdraws and pulls together into a tighter cluster. But its damage doesn't outpace mine.
There is one hair-rising moment, when an enemy Thief actually pulls off Steal Heart on Gillian.
Charm means Gillian is now on their side, and this is pretty scary. Not because she has the ability to turn the tide of battle - her gun is good but not that good - but because I just bought her the ability that lowers Bravery in case we ran into a Monk or an enemy with powerful counters, and if she uses it, she could permanently lower Ramza's Bravery, and we can't have that.
Fortunately the solution to Charm is extremely simple: you literally slap some sense into them. As in, any physical attack will end the effect. Convenient!
And with this, it's basically just a matter of mopping up the remaining enemies.
And the battle is won!
Thankfully, Ludovich did not park a man inside the shack he threw the father in, so he's unscathed after the fight.
Mustadio: "Are you all right?"
Besrudio: "My wounds will heal. But the auracite - they have it. Ludovich will use it to wake the machines beneath the city. In time, he may even learn to harness the sacred power of the Stone itself. *sigh* I'd never thought the man we turned to for help would turn on us. There's naught we could do to foresee such treachery."
Mustadio: "Ha. Are you sure?"
Besrudio: "What do you mean?"
Mustadio: "I thought something of the sort might happen, so I took the precaution of readying a false stone."
Ramza: "And that's the one I gave Ludovich!"
Mustadio: "The same. By now they've probably realized. Ah, to see the looks on their faces."
Mustadio's defining character trait so far is how little trust he extends others, and it's interesting how the game is validating him for this. He refused to reveal his goals to Agrias and Ramza, he concealed from the Cardinal that he still had the Stone in his possession, he did not trust Ludovich's offer of a trade, he did not confide to his father or Ramza that he had made a false stone. In this, he was correct at every turn, and has scored us one of our few unambiguous wins on a strategic scale - we've retrieved Mustadio's father, we still have the Stone, and we've uncovered Cardinal Delacroix's treachery.
Speaking of which.
Ramza: "Then Princess Ovelia and Lady Agrias are in danger!"
Mustadio: "Danger? How?"
Ramza: "The cardinal was working with Ludovich to get the Stone. His gambit failed, but he may try to ransom the princess and Lady Agria for it now instead."
Mustadio: "That's ridiculous! He would only make an enemy of the Crown!"
Ramza: "Why do you think he wants the auracite in the first place? The people tire of war. They tire of these endless struggles for power. They are afraid, and they seek salvation. The cardinal means to use the legend of the Zodiac Braves to bring it to them. Only once he's gathered the Stones, he'll summon the Zodiac Braves and use their power to rule."
Besrudio: "Just so. We cannot give the Stone to the cardinal."
Ramza: "Then we must rescue the princess and Lady Agrias!"
Mustadio: "And we will. But the roads leading to Lionel Castle will surely be blockaded. We'll never be able to approach from the fore. We go by ship, to take them unawares."
…
Okay, there are several things to address here.
One: This is the first time I am kind of raising my eyebrow at the plot developments and how they're conveyed. Namely, where the hell did Ramza pull "Cardinal Delacroix wants to use the auracite to summon the Zodiac Braves to rule Ivalice" from? How does that leap of logic make any sense? How do we know the Stones can summon the Braves? Why would these ancient heroes help him? Why are we assuming a plan this esoteric instead of just a political alliance of convenience with one of the Two Lions? This is such a wild swerve.
Also by the same token, Mustadio's line about "he would only make an enemy of the Crown" is once again referring to a very strange and nebulous concept of "the Crown," similar to when Agrias does it, only when Agrias says it it seems to be because she is talking about some platonic ideal of "the Crown" as loyalty to a greater concept of 'the righteous ruler' or 'the royal family as a whole' (possibly to justify to herself protecting Ovelia), but we know that the main representative of 'the Crown' right now would be Queen Louveria, who is currently wielding her power to eradicate any threat to her son's inheritance including her mother-in-law and Ovelia, so who exactly is Delacroix supposed to be making an enemy of by hurting Ovelia?
This beat would scan so much more cleanly if it just said something like, "But he would make an enemy of the Crown!" "No, Duke Larg and the Queen want Ovelia out of the way to strengthen Orinus's claim to the throne! The cardinal will probably sell her to them to further his own agenda!" We would have the same immediate goal, the same stakes, but we wouldn't have the "Cardinal wants to summon the Zodiac Brave to rule Ivalice" randomly dumped on us with very little justification. It kinda feels like the game just needs us to have that information now regardless of how much sense it makes to come to that conclusion, so it just throws it at us.
Anyway. Ramza has once again been betrayed, and now we must hurry to save Ovelia and Agrias. The themes of trust and deceptive authority figures continue to build up; considered in light of what we said earlier, Mustadio not entrusting the Cardinal with his Zodiac Stone proved correct and Ramza entrusting him with Ovelia's keeping proved incorrect. Once again, an older, wiser figure in a position of knowledge and authority has deceived him. It seems that we are building towards the idea that none of these people can be trusted - only those who are Ramza's equals, and whom he is gathering around him.
Speaking of which: This "Mustadio Joined" screen? That represents Mustadio joining our party as a playable party member. Going forward he will not be the unplayable 6th party member acting on his own; he will be a member of our Party Roster whom we can choose to deploy or not, and have full control of when deployed.
…
Which means that in order to field him I have to keep one of Hadrian, Osric, Gillian and Hester out of the field. My previous blorbos that I have labored over for eight hours of gameplay. Just as they are starting to fully come online. And now instead I would have to find what toolkit to teach Mustadio to support his unique Machinist job that other characters can't unlock.
Bluh.
Let's not think about this for the time being. For now, we must reach Lionel Castle through sea.
Let's take a break for image count.
The Story So Far: Ramza, scion of the noble House Beoulve, was betrayed by his own kin, who allowed his childhood friend Delita's sister to die. Separated from Delita, betrayed by his family, Ramza has abandoned the life of a noble and joined up with a mercenary band, only to be betrayed again by his new mentor after finding Delita again. Now tasked with seeing Princess Ovelia to safety, Ramza heads towards Lionel Castle, where Cardinal Delacroix could ensure Ovelia's safety. On the way, he has met with the Machinist Mustadio, who is on the run from the nefarious Baert Trading Company…
I. Cardinal Delacroix
Last time, we cut our way through Baert Trading Company goons, and finally reached Lionel Castle, where we hope to rely on the protection of Cardinal Delacroix.
Agrias: "I am Agrias Oaks, a knight of the Lionsguard. My companions and I have journeyed from Orbonne Monastery seeking sanctuary. By the grace of Saint Ajora, I beg you, lay open your gate!"
Guard: "The graces of Saint Ajora are in the keeping of His Eminence here. All who seek those graces are given like treatment - the gates of Lionel stand open to them. Raise the gate!"
Well, this is a nice surprise. I was fully ready to have to argue our way in or be told to fuck off. Our party is led into the castle, where we meet His Eminence Cardinal Delacroix.
Cardinal Delacroix: "I see, Lady Agrias. In such circumstances as this, I am fain to lend you whatever help I can. I shall dispatch a courier to Mullonde at once. High Confessor Marcel will have this news from my hand. We will expose Duke Larg's misdeeds, and ensure that no harm befall you, Princess."
Agrias: "Your Eminence, think you the High Confessor will hear our plea?"
Cardinal Delacroix: "Fear not, dear lady. You are in my care now. Princess Ovelia can scarce feel at ease while those tasked with her safety are vexed with such worriment. You may enjoy the comforts of the castle - wanting though they are - while we await a reply from Mullonde."
Ovelia: "You are most gracious, Eminence. Thank you."
Cardinal Delacroix: "So long as Saint Ajora is our guide, we have naught to fear, child. As for you, my young machinist, I have given consideration to your troubles as well. I will send a hand-picked company of my finest men to Goug to put an end to this Baert Trading Company."
Mustadio: "Thank you, Your Eminence."
Cardinal Delacroix: "Conditioned upon this: I would hear the reason they chose to pursue you and your father."
Mustadio: "This is - I mean to say it's not - "
[Mustadio looks down, visibly hesitating.]
Cardinal Delacroix: "Come, come. Mayhap this will give voice to your words."
[He produces a red stone that visibly gleams.]
It looks like he, too, has a piece of auracite.
Wait okay hold on. This guy has a purple cape, but it's over a gray habit. And he is a Cardinal.
…
He is literally an éminence grise.
Oh, and he's a Cardinal with a French name? This guy could not be more Richelieu-coded if he tried. I would trust this man as far as I could throw him and no further.
…
Sorry, let me elaborate because this is kind of a messy combo of references.
An éminence grise, or "grey eminence," is a term English borrowed from French, meaning a powerful advisor or decision-maker who operates "behind the scenes." It's not quite synonymous with "power behind the throne," because the éminence grise isn't necessarily actually ruling, but their words have considerable influence on those who officially hold power.
Cardinal Richelieu was a French cardinal who served as foreign secretary and chief minister to Louis XIII of France; for decades until his death, he held considerable power over French politics, far in excess of the nominal terms of his religious or civil office. Because he dressed in red and was a cardinal (referred to as "His Eminence"), he was nicknamed the Red Eminence.
Richelieu, in turn, had his own advisor, François Lecler du Tremblay, who himself had outsized influence over Richelieu's decision-making, granting him nearly as much power thanks to the trust placed in him by the cardinal; because du Tremblay was a friar dressed in grey, and held as much power as "His Eminence" the cardinal, he was referred to as the Grey Eminence.
In this painting, you can see Richelieu and du Tremblay together, l'éminence grise and l'éminence rouge in collaboration. Also a bunch of adorable cats.
Putting together all this, in Cardinal Delacroix, His Eminence soberly dressed in grey and purple (admittedly not red, but the historical connotations are closed enough) and with a French name, who is likely working schemes within schemes, what might very well be a fusion of historical references, du Tremblay and Richelieu fused into one man, the Grey Eminence of… The Church of Glabados? One of the Dukes?
Either way, a man to watch out for.
Delacroix asks the group if they've heard the story of the Zodiac Braves; Agrias says it's a fanciful tale she heard at mass and he chides her for that small impiety, then Ovelia recounts the tale.
Ovelia: "Long ago, before the mountains had ceased their wandering and struck their roots into the earth, the Lucavi held dominion over the world. Twelve heroes there were, who came forward to challenge these Lucavi. In a long and bitter struggle, they succeeded in driving the Lucavi to the spirit world, and Ivalice again knew peace. The Twelve each bore an auracite crystal emblazoned with a house of the night sky. And so in time, they became known as the Zodiac Braves. Ever after, when discord and strife paid visit to the halls of men, they would return to save us once more."
Delacroix: "You have clearly been a most apt pupil, Princess."
Ovelia: "Elder Simon himself instructed me at Orbonne - which reminds me of another thing he said. Saint Ajora walked with the Twelve, and together they saved Ivalice from ruin."
Delacroix: "We call the crystals of the Twelve the "Zodiac Stones." The stone you see before you now is a stone from that legend."
Ovelia: "Auracite - it exists? I did not think it possible."
Delacroix: "Or that it held the sacred power to keep the Lucavi at bay, eh? I confess, I feel some power deep within, but my eyes see only a common crystal."
Okay.
Okay okay okay okay. We're going to be looking at this in the context of the game proper in a moment but I just need to take a moment to-
Twelve? Crystals?? With constellations in them??? Connected to a group of ancient heroes from the mystical distant past????
Motherfucker.
FFXIV really is just The Best Of Final Fantasy, I keep tripping into new references every time I pick up a new game.
Wait, the description of Gariland said it was once time to a guy called Elidibus, the Zodiac Braves are literally the Convocation!! My mind is opening!!!
Anyway. 'Before the mountains had ceased their wandering' is a wild line to just throw in there. What the hell does that mean? Did Ivalice just use to have floating islands all over the place? Saint Ajora's story initially seemed like it would have been taking place during the Rome-equivalent era of this setting, and later details made it seem like this Rome was also Atlantis, but now it even more starts to sound like the world in which Ajora was born was a world of high fantasy and sci-fi technology, full of roaming mountains, airships, and with demons ruling the world with an iron fist, until the sinking of Pharism brought an end to that age and set us on the course of this relatively low-key late medieval/early modern setting.
Also - wait.
"Saint Ajora walked with the twelve Zodiac Braves."
THIS IS JUST "WHAT IF THE TWELVE APOSTLES HAD ANIME SUPERPOWERS," GAME, I'M ON TO YOU.
With that said, I'll note that Ovelia's story differs slightly from the one we'll get next time we get the chance to hit up a Tavern:
Tavernmaster: "Long ago, before Ivalice was united as it is today, the land was divided into seven kingdoms: Zeltennia, Fovoham, Lionel, Limberry, Lesalia, Gallione, and Mullonde. Each kingdom clashed with the others in an endless effort to expand its own territory. The conflict continued for centuries, until a brave and ambitious young king appeared in Mullonde. This king dreamed of uniting all of Ivalice under his hand, but such feats are not with ease achieved. Turning to ancient tomes and the dark magicks found within, he summoned a demon from the netherworld to do his bidding. But once unleashed, the demon could not be controlled. It slew the king and set out to destroy the world of men.Twelve brave warriors were gathered to slay the demon and the foul horrors that it had summoned. They soon defeated the horrors and banished the demon back to the netherworld. These twelve warriors each carried with them a crystal engraved with a sign of the zodiac, and so became known as the Zodiac Braves."
This more specifically refers to a single demon being summoned by one man and causing destruction, as opposed to a species of spirits ruling over the earth. It's probably just a choice of emphasis, though.
Mustadio goes pale, and the Cardinal guesses that Mustadio saw a similar stone himself below Goug. Mustadio reveals that when one of the auracite stones is taken close to the long-dormant machinery below Goug, it stirs to life; though Mustadio does not know the true power of the stone, it's clear Ludovich Baert wants to harness it as a weapon. His father would not give them the stone, and so they took him captive.
Cardinal Delacroix tells him to put his worries out of his mind, as the Church will swiftly strike-
Actually.
Delacroix: "The Church will see this matter dealt with. Our forces will strike, and wrest the Stone from their hands."
Mustadio: "Of… of course, Your Eminence."
We know that Baert does not have the Stone. That's why his men are hunting for Mustadio. Mustadio is either carrying the Stone on him, or has hidden it in a secret location. But Delacroix doesn't know that - he heard the sentence "My father would not give them the Stone, so they took him instead," and assumed that this meant the Baert Trading Company already had the stone, and immediately focused on retrieving it, rather than Mustadio's father.
And Mustadio does not disabuse him of this notion. He allows the mistake to go unremarked upon. He is clearly more suspicious of the Cardinal than he appears - and with good reason.
This is where we hit an interesting divergence point - Ovelia is, of course, now going to stay safe(?) at Lionel Castle. Agrias will, of course, continue to act as her personal guard. But what about Ramza?
At this point Ramza is no longer acting out of anything but the goodness of his heart, essentially. No one is paying his wages as a sellsword; the Cardinal has not offered to recruit him into his guard; his task to see the Princess safely to Lionel is over; Gaffgarion has betrayed him, Delita is in the wind; he has nowhere to really go. He could decide to stay with the Princess, double up on ensuring her safety. But I don't think our boy longs for the comfort of a castle, quite the opposite in fact. And Mustadio, his new acquaintance, is of course joining the assault on the BTC.
Ramza immediately volunteers to join the company headed for Goug. Agrias and Ovelia thank him for his service, expressing gratitude that they would never have reached the Cardinal without him, and wishing they could do more than give thanks. "Your words are all the aid I could ever ask," Ramza says, and he's gone.
And this here is probably the ultimate spanner in the work. Everyone else is making their moves with orders from above, everyone has schemes within schemes and is hiding their true intentions, and then there's this fucking guy who is like 'me and my five friends are going to act on our own initiative with no idea of the full picture and topple everyone else's carefully constructed card castles.'
Hopefully, at least.
We take a brief detour, checking out the town shop and Errands; I decide to send my troops on another errand - this one is about Countess Zalmasse's "darling pet," a beast by the name of Carrot. Should be easy, right?
Why the fuck would you keep a malboro as a pet and how are you still alive.
Well, nothing for it. I put my top men and women on the job and then head back to Orbonne Monastery to do turns. This immediately results in disaster: It seems like random encounters are keyed off Ramza's level, which is 16, and my "B-Team" of Ladd, Alicia and Lavian is completely outmatched at lv 8. Even with Osric and a lv 14 Black Chocobo on the team I am unable to prevent a permadeath when we run into a random encounter. But after reloading and trying again, I get lucky and manage to complete the entire round trip without a battle.
"Throw your main team at Errands and just hope we don't run into a random encounter, reloading to try again every time we do" is… Perhaps a little against the spirit of the game. This is probably not something I can reasonably keep doing for the whole game. On the other hand, I really want to do Errands.
Fortunately, we'll have found a solution by the end of this update, at least I think so. For now, we return to a victorious party and are rewarded with a considerable sum of gil. We then send everyone on a second Errand - this one is another 'get some loot from a sunken ship,' separate from the Hindenburg. Easy peasy, and our reward is more JP and Gil.
Honestly, I'm really starting to have far more cash than I could possibly hope to spend. I wonder if the game will eventually give me a money sink to put it to use.
Alright, one last little thing before heading on with the plot: Ramza is almost at Thief lv 4. Let's just do one battle to bring him over the top…
And there it is.
Upon reaching Thief lv 4, Ramza unlocks Dragoon, and the JP spillover mechanic (I assume from having Hadrian in the party doing Dragoon stuff) automatically pushes Dragoon to lv 2. With Knight lv 4, Monk lv 5, and Dragoon lv 2, Ramza has unlocked Samurai - the first job we've unlocked to carry requirements from multiple jobs. Will it pay off? We'll see soon.
Oh my god.
Its signature Ability is literally iaido. Every single individual command bears the name of a katana or blacksmith and starts with the line "A TECHNIQUE THAT RELEASES THE SPIRIT IN THE USER'S KATANA."
This is my home. I am never using anything else. Ramza is a Samurai now. With First Strike equipped to best represent iaido as a defensive technique. And… Martial Arts, probably? Or Mettle? Mettle is probably better but Martial Arts is real good.
Okay never mind it turns out I don't currently own a katana. I have played myself. Utterly bamboozled. Ramza will have to stick to Monk for the time being.
II. To the Clockwork City
Now it's time to get on with the show and head to Goug, the Clockwork City. Unfortunately, this will require us to go through the Tchigolith Fenlands, which are like if a Swamp card from Magic the Gathering had been turned into a battlefield map.
Wait, is that a pig!?
Ramza: "Just when I thought this fen could grow no fouler…"
Mustadio: "Solid footing scarce enough, and rain to rob us of that. Be careful!"
Mustadio's line is gameplay-relevant information, by the way. Unfortunately it's failing to convey the truly important part of the problem. You see, in addition to normal Elevation mechanics, watery terrain can also have Depth. A character in Depth 1 is, I think slowed down, and might have a penalty to accuracy? But more importantly a character in Depth 2 cannot Act. This is something I ran into in an earlier random battle, so I at least know to look for it.
What Mustadio hasn't told me and what the game is only now introducing in this specific battle for the first time…
…is that Swamps are poisonous.
Any character who ends their turn standing in the water gets the Poison status effect, which saps HP at the end of each turn.
Oops.
This is troublesome, although in truth it's trying to navigate the narrow paths of solid ground above the water to our enemy that's the more pressing issue on this map. Characters with ranged attacks at least can stand up on random islands or floating pieces of wood and try and get a character within their spell range, melee characters are in more trouble, requiring enemies to obligingly step forward to meet them.
I swapped Gillian over to White Mage because I honestly couldn't really figure out anything I wanted out of Speechcraft other than Praise and Preach, so I thought I might as well have her learn more white magic. This ends up fortuitous as most of our opponents in this fight are undead, who are damaged by healing spells.
Beyond this, and the inherently comedic factor of one our opponents being a bipedal swine, the battle is fairly straightforward and ends quickly. The new terrain factor is a fun complication, but monster battles in general are fairly simple tactical scenarios, so "monsters + new terrain you aren't used to" is a fun way to create medium-complexity maps.
"Ramza of the lake, what is your wisdom?"
"Never. Trust. Anyone."
Ramza: "Mustadio! Are you hurt?"
Mustadio: "No worse for the wear. The channel shore lies just beyond the fen. Goug is not far now."
Our goal lies in front of us. Surprisingly, entering the Clockwork City of Goug does not immediately trigger a battle sequence.
Pretty place.
Mustadio: "Baert's curs are nowhere to be seen. Yet there's no sign of a battle with Lionel's Gryphons. Something's amiss. I'm going to see what I can find out. We'll meet afterwards."
Ramza: "Where will I find you?"
Mustadio: "The Goug lowtown is just down this road. We're not like to draw much attention there."
Ramza: "All right. Watch yourself."
Mustadio: "Don't worry. I can take care of myself."
[He leaves.]
I find this beat and what comes next fascinating, because it's an insight into the specific limitations created by Tactics's choice of presentation. In a traditional Final Fantasy game, this would be a standard 'new town' beat; Mustadio tells us we'll meet up later, and then we are free to roam in Goug, talk to NPCs, visit shops, until we hit a specific trigger (likely going to rest for the night) that leads to the next plot beat. But FFT can't do that due to not having traditional FF exploration, but it still wants to convey that same feeling of hanging out in Goug for a bit, rather than just jump to the next cutscene. So how does it do that?
Well, it leads us back to the world map.
From this screen, we can access the Tavern, Outfitter, and Warriors' Guild. We can stock up on items, check out Errands (though this is a trap!) engage in Melees and Rendezvous if we're playing the actual PSP version back in the day when that was viable, check out our party roster…
As I had hoped and anticipated, Goug is where we can buy Guns such as Mustadio's, which immediately makes Orator a lot more appealing as a class. They can equip guns natively, which is pretty nice!
Oh, also.
We have a new Chocobo.
THE RED CHOCOBO OF DOOM.
It can cast Meteor.
I mean, Choco Meteor. Which isn't going to be wiping out encounters the way real Meteor might, but.
This is still very funny and I want to take it into battle soon, though maybe not in a story battle.
I believe this is the first time the "red chocobo who can cast Meteor" concept was introduced to the series, though I'm familiar with it from FFXIV memes - I doubt this'll be as much of a horror show, though, if for no other reason than because this Chocobo is on our side.
Anyway, as I was saying - we're given "access" to the world map, but it's actually just us being "in town" so we can use menu. As soon as we move to another node, we instead get a "Prepare for battle!" screen. Which is how the game replicates the feel of 'hanging out in town' from mainline games, was my point.
The diagonally oriented terrain being created by a collapsed windmill tower is genius.
Ramza is hanging out in the slums, standing atop a collapsed tower like a badass, waiting for Mustadio. Rain starts to fall and Ramza holds his palm up to it, pondering aloud whether Mustadio might have been captured.
Surely not, right? I mean, the last thing Mustadio told us before leaving was "I can take care of myself." Surely he wouldn't go on to immediately get himself captured.
Man's Voice: "A friend of Mustadio's, eh?"
Ramza: "Who's there?"
OF COURSE HE FUCKING DID. MUSTADIO YOU FOOL.
Mustadio: [He falls to his knees.] "I- I'm sorry, Ramza."
Ramza: "Have they hurt you?"
Ludovich Baert: "Not a step further. Prefer to keep a little distance, if you don't mind."
Ramza: "You must be Ludovich. Let Mustadio go. Now!"
Ludovich: "I'm a reasonable man. I just want the auracite. Once I have it, I'll loose him soon enough." [He turns to Mustadio.] "So, where have you hidden it? Tell me!"
Mustadio: "..."
Ludovich: "Is that how you want to play it? Maybe this will hasten your speech. You there! Out with the other one!"
[Another Thief emerges, pushing forward another, older, bound man.]
Mustadio: "Father! What have they done to you?"
Besrudio: "I'm… I'm fine, son. Don't tell them where it is."
All very dramatic.
You know, it would be nice to have a villain who actually abides by trades like "give me the thing and I'll let him go" sometimes. Every villain in fiction follows that ultimatum and gets the thing they're asking for with "now kill them," every time; it's the opposite of a twist. In fact, it's so much not a twist, that in the movie Game Night, when it turns out that the big bad crime lord who has the protagonists at his mercy does in fact just want the McGuffin they have in their possession and doesn't have any intention of killing them after getting it, that is actually played as a twist!
Anyway, it's very clear that Ludovich is lying, but he still has Mustadio's father hostage. Ludovich has the dad thrown into a room in one of these derelict flats and asks Mustadio if he feels like talking now.
Mustadio: "There's a chimney just behind Ramza. You'll find it there."
Ludovich: [To Ramza.] "Bring that to us, would you? Small enough work to spare your friend's life."
[Ramza says nothing, but follows the instructions, retrieving the stone.]
There's a brief back and forth of the 'cut them loose and I'll throw you the stone' 'throw me the stone and I'll cut them loose' variety but ultimately Ludovich has all the leverage here; short of having a means of destroying the stone, Ramza can't threaten him, so he ends up complying and tossing the stone over to Ludovich… Who allows himself a moment of gloating and in so doing commits the classic villain mistake of revealing too much.
"This should bring a smile to the cardinal's face."
So he was in cahoots with Baert the entire time. This - hm. Let's put a pin in that. For now…
Ludovich: "You've been most helpful, most helpful! Pity you've outlived your usefulness. Kill them."
Wow. Who could have possibly predicted this.
Ludovich leaves the scene as Ramza exclaims, "the cardinal was with them from the start!" and battle begins.
Unfortunately for these poor bastards, that is when my crew steps out of the shadows.
It's time for extreme violence.
Guys, I've fought off the Order of the Northern Sky. You ain't no Northern Sky. What are you? A bunch of cheap sellswords hired by a criminal corporation to do their dirty deeds? Who trained you? Where did you even find two summoners?
I appreciate that you thought this looked like a back alley murder, but unfortunately it is, in fact, small unit tactics.
Mustadio goes first, and, okay, this is actually kinda funny - Ludovich's men actually did the smart thing and took away his weapons before the fight.
Our machinist is fighting unarmed.
He still has access to his special abilities, he just has to use them with punches. So what are these abilities? They are Leg Shot and Arm Shot. While this seems like the Knight and Thief's laundry list of 'ability targets a tiny piece of an enemy's character sheet, there are too many of them with too little impact to matter' abilities, Mustadio only has the two, and they're both incredibly powerful: Leg Shot inflicts Immobilize, locking the unit onto their tile until it wears off, while Arm Shot Disables the enemy, rendering them incapable of acting at all, as well as react or evade. Upon reviewing my screenshots, this is what caused one of the summoners to flee to a corner of the map during our battle at the big mountain - Mustadio disabled her and so she couldn't do anything for at least one turn.
Those are extremely useful status effects, of the 'it doesn't matter that Mustadio doesn't have any others, they are enough to make a character viable on their own' kind, provided their success chance is up to snuff. As for that part… We'll have to see later. Here, Mustadio succeeds, locking a Thief into a 1v1 with him. The second Thief immediately climbs down to flank and stab the poor machinist.
Inevitably he's going to go down, and we don't really care. Our objective isn't "protect Mustadio," so we won't lose the battle if he goes down, and without his gun he's simply not worth the effort of reviving (Arm Shot and Leg Shot are nice but without the ability to use them at range it's not enough).
Now, this map is actually quite similar to our previous fight with the Company: the terrain is convex, with a rising spine in the middle and two valleys on each side (though not nearly as pronounced as the previous one), and our enemies are two Summoners, two Archers, and two Thieves, which is relatively close to their previous set-up with the Thieves filling in for the knives. There are, however, three crucial differences. The first is that the elevation rises much more softly, allowing even characters with low Jump rating to move relatively freely. The second is that the enemy is poorly placed, with both Thieves on one side, both Archers on one side, and the Summoners on the peak.
The third is that we have achieved total ranged dominance.
Back to Mystic, now equipped with a gun, Gillian is able to hit pretty much the entire map from a single position. Hadrian isn't quite as fortunate, as he still doesn't have his Vertical Jump 8 Ability, but I can still hit most enemies simply by finding a tile with a specific elevation score and hitting any enemy who shares the same elevation anywhere on the map. The map does not constrain me; it constrains my enemy. Ramza is free to go punch the daylights out of these two Thieves you can see and the Archers are on the other side of the cliff, unable to come to help. From there, Hester can sneak through with her high mobility (I have equipped her, and Ramza, with the Move+2 Ability of Thief) to go stab their summoners directly, then move Osric over to blast the Thieves with Ramuh.
One of the Archers attempts to enter the alleyway horizontally crossing the map to get a line of fire to someone important, probably Osric, and that just means she gets a spear to the face.
The enemy Summoners are relegated to summoning Moogle to try and heal their party instead of any of the high damage nukes Summoners are best at. And to be fair, Moogle healing is a decent fallback position; it's a wide AoE heal that does not cure enemies, especially good as the enemy withdraws and pulls together into a tighter cluster. But its damage doesn't outpace mine.
There is one hair-rising moment, when an enemy Thief actually pulls off Steal Heart on Gillian.
Charm means Gillian is now on their side, and this is pretty scary. Not because she has the ability to turn the tide of battle - her gun is good but not that good - but because I just bought her the ability that lowers Bravery in case we ran into a Monk or an enemy with powerful counters, and if she uses it, she could permanently lower Ramza's Bravery, and we can't have that.
Fortunately the solution to Charm is extremely simple: you literally slap some sense into them. As in, any physical attack will end the effect. Convenient!
And with this, it's basically just a matter of mopping up the remaining enemies.
And the battle is won!
Thankfully, Ludovich did not park a man inside the shack he threw the father in, so he's unscathed after the fight.
Mustadio: "Are you all right?"
Besrudio: "My wounds will heal. But the auracite - they have it. Ludovich will use it to wake the machines beneath the city. In time, he may even learn to harness the sacred power of the Stone itself. *sigh* I'd never thought the man we turned to for help would turn on us. There's naught we could do to foresee such treachery."
Mustadio: "Ha. Are you sure?"
Besrudio: "What do you mean?"
Mustadio: "I thought something of the sort might happen, so I took the precaution of readying a false stone."
Ramza: "And that's the one I gave Ludovich!"
Mustadio: "The same. By now they've probably realized. Ah, to see the looks on their faces."
Mustadio's defining character trait so far is how little trust he extends others, and it's interesting how the game is validating him for this. He refused to reveal his goals to Agrias and Ramza, he concealed from the Cardinal that he still had the Stone in his possession, he did not trust Ludovich's offer of a trade, he did not confide to his father or Ramza that he had made a false stone. In this, he was correct at every turn, and has scored us one of our few unambiguous wins on a strategic scale - we've retrieved Mustadio's father, we still have the Stone, and we've uncovered Cardinal Delacroix's treachery.
Speaking of which.
Ramza: "Then Princess Ovelia and Lady Agrias are in danger!"
Mustadio: "Danger? How?"
Ramza: "The cardinal was working with Ludovich to get the Stone. His gambit failed, but he may try to ransom the princess and Lady Agria for it now instead."
Mustadio: "That's ridiculous! He would only make an enemy of the Crown!"
Ramza: "Why do you think he wants the auracite in the first place? The people tire of war. They tire of these endless struggles for power. They are afraid, and they seek salvation. The cardinal means to use the legend of the Zodiac Braves to bring it to them. Only once he's gathered the Stones, he'll summon the Zodiac Braves and use their power to rule."
Besrudio: "Just so. We cannot give the Stone to the cardinal."
Ramza: "Then we must rescue the princess and Lady Agrias!"
Mustadio: "And we will. But the roads leading to Lionel Castle will surely be blockaded. We'll never be able to approach from the fore. We go by ship, to take them unawares."
…
Okay, there are several things to address here.
One: This is the first time I am kind of raising my eyebrow at the plot developments and how they're conveyed. Namely, where the hell did Ramza pull "Cardinal Delacroix wants to use the auracite to summon the Zodiac Braves to rule Ivalice" from? How does that leap of logic make any sense? How do we know the Stones can summon the Braves? Why would these ancient heroes help him? Why are we assuming a plan this esoteric instead of just a political alliance of convenience with one of the Two Lions? This is such a wild swerve.
Also by the same token, Mustadio's line about "he would only make an enemy of the Crown" is once again referring to a very strange and nebulous concept of "the Crown," similar to when Agrias does it, only when Agrias says it it seems to be because she is talking about some platonic ideal of "the Crown" as loyalty to a greater concept of 'the righteous ruler' or 'the royal family as a whole' (possibly to justify to herself protecting Ovelia), but we know that the main representative of 'the Crown' right now would be Queen Louveria, who is currently wielding her power to eradicate any threat to her son's inheritance including her mother-in-law and Ovelia, so who exactly is Delacroix supposed to be making an enemy of by hurting Ovelia?
This beat would scan so much more cleanly if it just said something like, "But he would make an enemy of the Crown!" "No, Duke Larg and the Queen want Ovelia out of the way to strengthen Orinus's claim to the throne! The cardinal will probably sell her to them to further his own agenda!" We would have the same immediate goal, the same stakes, but we wouldn't have the "Cardinal wants to summon the Zodiac Brave to rule Ivalice" randomly dumped on us with very little justification. It kinda feels like the game just needs us to have that information now regardless of how much sense it makes to come to that conclusion, so it just throws it at us.
Anyway. Ramza has once again been betrayed, and now we must hurry to save Ovelia and Agrias. The themes of trust and deceptive authority figures continue to build up; considered in light of what we said earlier, Mustadio not entrusting the Cardinal with his Zodiac Stone proved correct and Ramza entrusting him with Ovelia's keeping proved incorrect. Once again, an older, wiser figure in a position of knowledge and authority has deceived him. It seems that we are building towards the idea that none of these people can be trusted - only those who are Ramza's equals, and whom he is gathering around him.
Speaking of which: This "Mustadio Joined" screen? That represents Mustadio joining our party as a playable party member. Going forward he will not be the unplayable 6th party member acting on his own; he will be a member of our Party Roster whom we can choose to deploy or not, and have full control of when deployed.
…
Which means that in order to field him I have to keep one of Hadrian, Osric, Gillian and Hester out of the field. My previous blorbos that I have labored over for eight hours of gameplay. Just as they are starting to fully come online. And now instead I would have to find what toolkit to teach Mustadio to support his unique Machinist job that other characters can't unlock.
Bluh.
Let's not think about this for the time being. For now, we must reach Lionel Castle through sea.
Let's take a break for image count.
Final Fantasy Tactics, Part 8.A: Tchigolith Fenlands, Clockwork City Goug, & Balias Swale
- Location
- Brittany, France
- Pronouns
- He/Him
III. Delita in Warjilis
As you can see, the previous road which we took from Lionel Castle to the Clockwork City has been erased, as the Cardinal's Gryphons are likely patrolling them as we speak. Which means that we cannot do anything but move on to the next node, which means we won't be getting any opportunity to do random battles before our next main story battle. Which means it would be, once again, possible to softlock ourselves here - although considering that we are on a city node and so can avail ourselves of the item shop, this would be unlikely to be much of a problem unless we had somehow death marched ourselves to this story event at ultra-low level with no grinding whatsoever.
So let's take a ship and head to our next destination - the Port City of Warjilis. There's no battle waiting for us there (which is good because I accidentally clicked to move to the next node before I had time to save the game)
As soon as we've arrived, Ramza spots Delita, armor covered in a cloak he probably used to hide his identity (one would think maybe dropping the armor might be more effective but that would increase the CGI model costs). He approaches him, and the two of them begin walking and talking through the docks.
Ramza: "What brings you to Warjilis?"
Delita: "We have ears in many places. Few things escape our hearing."
Ramza: "'Our'?"
Delita: "I say this for your sake, Ramza. Return to Eagrose. Delve no deeper into matters of royal maidens… or those of sacred stones."
Ramza: "What have these ears of yours been telling you?"
Delita: "You think to save a princess from a burning tower. In truth, you would but set her on a higher floor. There is only one person who can truly save her. And that is what I mean to do."
Ramza: "Just what do you imply?"
Delita: "It's simple, really. Noble endeavors do not always reach the end that we desire. You cannot save the princess. However hard you endeavor to save her. You would do well to remember that."
Oh my god look how sad he looks. Poor Ramza. The CGI cutscenes may be worth it just for this.
Ramza: "What then is your end in all of this, Delita? I fear I do not know."
Delita: "The Dukes Larg and Goltanna, your brothers, and all the rest… They are all of them swept up in a mighty current… A current they cannot see or feel."
[The camera fades to black.]
Delita: "I simply swim against it. Nothing more."
[We fade back in to the both of them."
Delita: "We'll meet again - I should hope."
Hrm. Delita is definitely giving off Protagonist Energies here. He's also implying he belongs to a powerful group with spies everywhere, without revealing which group - if they're not trying to kill the princess, then neither of the Dukes, nor Cardinal Delacroix.
Honestly, the fact that Delita obliquely refers to what's been established about how Ovelia can never be safe as long as she is royalty because she will alway be either a threat or an opportunity to someone else's designs on the throne, and that he is 'swimming against' the current everyone else is swimming with, makes me tempted to suspect he is a genuine revolutionary - a man who is out to abolish royalty, nobility, and the entire class system of Ivalice. Or at least, that's who he's implying he is.
If that's the case then extremely based, we are pro-Delita in this household, put on La Marseillaise and let's kick down the whole rotten edifice.
But I still don't trust him.
AT LAST.
We take a break in Warjilis, where it turns out the shop finally stores Katanas. Now we can equip Ramza as a Samurai. There's also a music instrument and a book; the music instrument goes to a class called "Bard" that we haven't unlocked yet, the book is another Mystic option that can be used for the Arithmetician. There's also a number of throwable items like Shurikens and Bombs, but Chemist's Item command doesn't list throwing items as an option, so that's most likely intended for Ninjas.
So, we stock up on equipment, then check out the Errands - we have another sunken ship! The merchant ship Highwind sank off Warjilis Harbour, and a special product needs to be retrieved from the wreck. Since Warjilis is directly connected to Goug by sea, we can just send the team off on the Errand, then go back and forth between Goug and Warjilis until it's done.
The moment we go to live Warjilis back to Goug, however, another cutscene plays out - this time one of those our characters are not privy to.
Gaffgarion, Ludovich, and Delacroix are all gathered in what looks to be Delacroix's own office in Lionel.
Gaffgarion: "You would use the princess as bait to regain the Stone? I would not expect such cunning of a man of the cloth."
Ludovich: "You've some gall to speak, sellsword! It was you who let them escape!"
Gaffgarion: "That I don't deny, but it was not my task to save them!"
Cardinal Delacroix: "Still your tongue, Ludovich. We will hand Princess Ovelia over to Lord Dycedarg as promised. That much serves us both. But it is no concern of mine if those who know the truth of her kidnapping live. I had no hand in it. Be that as it may, the thieves who stole the gem are now with them. If we use the princess to lure them out, we get two birds - and one Stone."
Gaffgarion: "I won't deny the truth of it. But such a plan has risks."
Cardinal Delacroix: "Your reputation would not cast you so craven."
Gaffgarion: "I am *cautious,* Your Holiness. A soldier does not live to become old and gray charging onto the battlefield unawares."
Cardinal Delacroix: "Very well. I will see that every possible precaution is taken. And let us sprinkle a trail of crumbs to ensure they find our snare."
Gaffgarion: "A prudent move. The maid's the perfect bait to lure them to us. I'll assume responsibility for the rest. Far better me than *him.*"
Ludovich: "How *dare* you!"
Cardinal Delacroix: "Very well. I shall leave the matter to you, Gaffgarion."
Ludovich: "Your Eminence, you jape, surely!"
Cardinal Delacroix: "Go with my blessing."
Gaffgarion: "The Stone is as good as yours."
[He leaves.]
I like that Gaffgarion is the only person in the room to go 'perhaps baiting the Beoulve kid who's so far won every fight he's gotten into could potentially maybe be a little risky?' Ludovich had us dead to rights and he left town with a fake stone without securing the kill and now his men are dead and we're on his trail, but no. Not a threat at all. Of course, that's also a problem for us, because if there's one person who might actually take Ramza seriously, plan appropriately, and lead us into a trap from which we actually can't get out, it's him.
Also, minor note that I love - Gaffgarion refers to Delacroix as 'Your Holiness.' Everyone else in the story so far has correctly referred to Delacroix as 'Your Eminence,' the title afforded to a Cardinal. 'Your Holiness' is the style of address reserved for the Pope in the Catholic Church, and likely for whatever figure replaces him in this story (I'm going to go out on a limb and guess 'Archbishop'.) Gaffgarion is using the wrong title either because he's careless enough about religion that he doesn't really keep track of proper styles, or because he's deliberately mollifying the Cardinal by flattering him with titles in excess of his status. My instinct is the former, but we know that Gaffgarion is good at navigating the whims of the nobility to avoid getting on the wrong end of a noble's petty murderous anger from his interactions with Dycedarg.
A trait which Ludovich Baert does not share.
Ludovich: "Your Eminence, you cannot mean to trust this to a man like *that*!"
[Cardinal Delacroix gets up from his seat and slowly circles the table towards Ludovich.]
Cardinal Delacroix: "I trust things to those who can be trusted. Men who fail me time and again are rewarded in another way."
Ludovich: "Y-Your Eminence, wh-what are you doing!?"
Okay, the screen turning red is a really fun touch. There's also an extremely funny sound effect that plays as this happens that I can't really describe.
Whatever else we might say about Delacroix, he is a man who is not afraid to take care of business with his own two hands. Wonder if we'll fight him personally.
…
The early modern period is interesting in many, many respects, but one of these aspects is the progressive transition of a society dominated by nobility to a society dominated by the bourgeoisie. And in the transitional period, we see a lot of social phenomena that are odd by our standards - bourgeois whose wealth vastly exceeds that of nobles yet recent their lack of prestige or political power, impoverished nobles torn between the need to personally deal with merchants to fund their excessive lifestyles yet resenting that in doing so they elevate the common rich.
Ludovich Baert misread the historical moment. Cardinal Delacroix is by no means poor (he lives in a castle and commands an army and great lands), but his power is rooted in nobility and piety, in his position in the aristocratic and religious orders. The head of the Baert Trading Company, a vast trading consortium dealing in trades licit and illicit, owning the latest military technology in the form of guns, trading slaves and opium far and wide, capable of fielding its own private army out of its own coffers, is almost certainly richer than the Cardinal.
But he lives in a time when wealth is not yet the final measure of power. Delacroix murdered him in his own office, and his own men will come in, wordlessly grab his body and go dump it in a ditch to rot like the common man he is, trusting that this, too, is the will of God.
IV. Power Absolute
Hester and her team are back, and the mission is once again a tremendous success, earning us a bunch of gil and JP. This is enough to finally buy Hadrian Vertical Jump 8, so the next battle will be very funny.
There's another Errand of note - replacing some trapped miners after a cave-in. (The exact wording, "a cave-in has left us with a shortage of miners, anyone willing to work is welcome to apply" is grimly funny in how it glosses over the implied death toll). This is easily solved and nothing much more to report aside from more gil.
So let's head to our next node - Balias Swale.
Without surprise, battle awaits.
I am not taking on Mustadio for this encounter. I want to test out the Red Chocobo at least once. The new Machinist remains benched for now so I can use most of my main team and the big bird.
We switch in to one woman running through a marsh.
Looking up this line, incidentally, is how I learned that 'gosling' literally means 'young goose.'
So, the Northern Sky are in blue, 'commoner bands' like the Corpse Brigade or the Baert Trading Company goons are in green, and it looks like the Lionel Gryphons are in red. I appreciate how the game is actually color-coding various enemy outfits so we can identify them on sight.
The head Knight whistles, summoning his troops to surround Agrias. As strong as our Divine Knight friend is, she's hopelessly outmatched.
Good thing she's not alone for long.
I'm gonna be real with you game, I think she can mostly protect herself.
Two Black Mages, two Knights, two Archers - a very orthodox order of battle we are, by now, well used to handling. The battle is divided into two sides, with a river running down the middle; crossing from one side to the other is inconvenient but far from impossible. Hester being a Thief is unfortunately relatively fragile and I'm not sure how much her red chocobo friend will help, but on the other hand the Ramza/Hadrian/Osric side is a powerhouse, merely lacking in support.
We'll simply have to kill everyone so fast it doesn't matter.
You know, I don't intend to keep the Red Chocobo a long term member of my team, which is too bad, because god that's some funny moves. Choco the Red acts before everyone else, has a better move range than anyone, ignores elevation, and can drop a Meteor on people's heads. The Meteor sadly only hits 1 tile, and at 60 damage a hit, it's basically just a decent ranged hit rather than anything game-changing. Still, stapled to the movement chassis of the redobo, it could be a potent tool, just unfortunately not enough to make up for the loss of a full character with combined job abilities.
Agrias: "Ramza!? What are you doing here?"
Ramza: "We've come to rescue you. We thought to breach the castle from its postern. But why are you here?"
Agrias: "The cardinal betrayed us - was betraying us all along! He plots with Duke Larg! We escaped the castle, but the princess was retaken. I was returning to save her - and here you find me. We must hurry, Ramza! They are to execute her!"
Ramza: "First these. Then the princess."
Oh, Agrias.
There is zero doubt in my mind that you are the 'bread crumb' that Gaffgarion meant to scatter to draw us into his trap. I think you were allowed to escape, to better lead us to the princess's execution site.
Problems for later.
Agrias remains powerful, though she's not as much of an obliterating presence as she once was: She's still lv 12 like last time we met, whereas the enemy is lv 14 to 15. Judgment Blade deals 50 damage, which is only about ¼ to ⅓ of any given enemy's HP bar. Still, her native kit being that good makes up for her comparatively low level.
Enemy Mages and Archers go into charging stances, and unfortunately Ramza lacks the movement and range to get to them and kill them before their attacks fire off. No matter.
It's time to field-test our boy's new kit.
Ramza raises his sheathed katana over his head, light descends upon it, then in a flurry of particle effects and sword strikes all enemies within an area of effect centered on him are cut down.
Fuck. I am never going back. This is Ramza's life now.
Oh, yeah, and?
Look at this. This is Hadrian's Jump range. It covers the entire map (except from a tiny corner). He can just post himself on a random rock in the middle and attack anyone for 171 damage.
Hadrian is currently, by far, the most powerful member of my team. More powerful than Ramza, or Agrias, or Mustadio. The man is an orbital strike of doom that cannot be escaped.
Reddo the Boco is unfortunately the first of our party members to go down, victim of a coordinated strike by both BLMs before it has a chance to receive a heal. Meanwhile, Osric is kind of dragging behind, his move speed too low to get within summoning range of more than one enemy, so I have him haste Ramza instead.
I've been eyeing Osric's Time Mage job, which has a movement ability named Teleportation which would allow him to travel much more easily and further with certain limits. I haven't committed to buying it yet, but mobility is our boy's greatest issue so far. If he stays with us on a permanent basis…
Well, that's no longer certain. We'll see.
God Iaido is so fucking cool.
Hadrian obliterates the first enemy BLM, Ramza starts throwing around AoE iaijutsu, Agrias's Judgment Blade does its work. One Knight down. One of the Archer retreats to the peak at the top left of the map, away from melee attacks and where her ranged attacks can hit downrange across a large chunk of the map.
But not large enough.
I keep trying to capture the animation of the Dragoon landing on the enemy and bouncing away, but it's so fast it's really difficult; if you look very closely you will actually see Hadrian's sprite in transparency in the air above and to the right of the Archer being struck here.
The last BLM casts Thundara on Ramza, dealing 68 damage, but Samurai is a heavy armor class, so our boy has recovered the durability he once enjoyed as a Knight/Monk. He survives, goes down into the water and takes out the BLM, then Hadrian descends upon the Archer who thought to find safety in the peaks.
Four down. The last Archer and the remaining Knights are the only enemies left.
Let's summon God and call this a wrap.
Ramza: "Lady Agrias, are you all right?"
Agrias: "I'm fine, but there's no time for that. We must hurry to the princess! They're taking her to the Golgollada gallows. It's not far, but we've little time!"
Ramza: "Of course. With all haste!"
Well then.
This is going to complicate matters. In the past two battles we've acquired not one, but two unique characters with special jobs. I could pass on Mustadio, but… Man, Agrias, though.
…uh, her job is Holy Knight. I thought she was 'Divine Knight' like Wiegraf, but clearly that was just me getting mixed up between all the Divine, Holy and Fell Knights we've been getting - she's the same job as Delita.
I can't pass on Agrias as a playable team member. And if I take her on board I might as well take on Mustadio and whoever we get next, and bench several of my non-speaking party members.
And that's painful. I have spent eight hours of gameplay and more outside laboring over these little guys. They are my little guys. And the outcome of all that work is only just starting to pay off, and god, how is it paying off. We've gone from our many deaths at Dorter, at Windflat Mill, at Ziekden Fortress, from being hard carried by NPC friendlies at Zeirchele Falls, to obliterating the past three encounters with very little concern for our NPC allies. Hadrian has become death incarnate, Osric is fragile but a walking nuke with unexpectedly powerful utility in Haste who I have a bunch of JP to unlock new Summons and versatility for, Gillian just unlocked The Power Of Gun and has been, despite an understated performance in combat, continuously permanently upgrading other characters' Bravery and her own Faith, one little point at a time. And Hester, who's been languishing for a while now…
Hester just unlocked Ninja.
*Sigh.*
For the time being I'll simply rotate characters in and out of the party, but in the future there will inevitably come a time when I have 5-6 named NPCs in the party with their own unique skillset. And in theory, any of these NPCs could also just learn everything I just taught my blorbs, it'll just take… More time. And the named NPCs are just inherently more appealing from a narrative perspective.
It's just not the same.
Anyway, that's it for now, almost.
One comment: I always forget to note this down, but the Select button offers location lore, which is how I first found out about Gariland being home to one Elidibus and then forgot to screenshot it. So before we leave, let's look at some locations.
"Balias Swale" is "the barren valley where Balias, the first of Saint Ajora's disciples," hid from the Holy Ydoran Empire's pursuers. Balias is then our Peter equivalent - complete with martyrdom; Balias Swale is south of Lionel Castle, and north is Balias Tor where we had one of our previous battles, which is the location where Balias was put to death by the Empire. Lionel Castle itself is an ancient city of the Empire, which is interesting - it seems that Lionel is old Ydoran territory and has now become entrenched Glabadosian territory with rule by clergy rather than secular nobility; combined with Mustadio and Besrudio's names, it looks like Lionel is our Italy equivalent.
As for our next destination… Golgollada Gallows is "the site of Saint Ajora's execution, now employed as a public execution grounds by Lionel."
Golgollada. Seriously. This is the opposite of a subtle reference to Mount Golgotha. What's kinda fucked up though, is that apparently instead of this holy site becoming the site of a Church and veneration and so on, they just keep executing criminals there!? Fucked up.
Alright.
We went through a lot this update, from our very first meeting with Cardinal Delacroix to his immediate betrayal. Ludovich Baert was introduced, and disposed of. Mustadio and Agrias have joined our party not as guest members, but as permanent, playable characters. We have never been more powerful, and our last opponents folded before us like cheap paper.
Let us walk forward with bold confidence, unaware that Gaffgarion is in charge of the plan to seal our dooms.
Thank you for reading.
Next Time: We walk into an obvious trap.
As you can see, the previous road which we took from Lionel Castle to the Clockwork City has been erased, as the Cardinal's Gryphons are likely patrolling them as we speak. Which means that we cannot do anything but move on to the next node, which means we won't be getting any opportunity to do random battles before our next main story battle. Which means it would be, once again, possible to softlock ourselves here - although considering that we are on a city node and so can avail ourselves of the item shop, this would be unlikely to be much of a problem unless we had somehow death marched ourselves to this story event at ultra-low level with no grinding whatsoever.
So let's take a ship and head to our next destination - the Port City of Warjilis. There's no battle waiting for us there (which is good because I accidentally clicked to move to the next node before I had time to save the game)
As soon as we've arrived, Ramza spots Delita, armor covered in a cloak he probably used to hide his identity (one would think maybe dropping the armor might be more effective but that would increase the CGI model costs). He approaches him, and the two of them begin walking and talking through the docks.
Ramza: "What brings you to Warjilis?"
Delita: "We have ears in many places. Few things escape our hearing."
Ramza: "'Our'?"
Delita: "I say this for your sake, Ramza. Return to Eagrose. Delve no deeper into matters of royal maidens… or those of sacred stones."
Ramza: "What have these ears of yours been telling you?"
Delita: "You think to save a princess from a burning tower. In truth, you would but set her on a higher floor. There is only one person who can truly save her. And that is what I mean to do."
Ramza: "Just what do you imply?"
Delita: "It's simple, really. Noble endeavors do not always reach the end that we desire. You cannot save the princess. However hard you endeavor to save her. You would do well to remember that."
Oh my god look how sad he looks. Poor Ramza. The CGI cutscenes may be worth it just for this.
Ramza: "What then is your end in all of this, Delita? I fear I do not know."
Delita: "The Dukes Larg and Goltanna, your brothers, and all the rest… They are all of them swept up in a mighty current… A current they cannot see or feel."
[The camera fades to black.]
Delita: "I simply swim against it. Nothing more."
[We fade back in to the both of them."
Delita: "We'll meet again - I should hope."
Hrm. Delita is definitely giving off Protagonist Energies here. He's also implying he belongs to a powerful group with spies everywhere, without revealing which group - if they're not trying to kill the princess, then neither of the Dukes, nor Cardinal Delacroix.
Honestly, the fact that Delita obliquely refers to what's been established about how Ovelia can never be safe as long as she is royalty because she will alway be either a threat or an opportunity to someone else's designs on the throne, and that he is 'swimming against' the current everyone else is swimming with, makes me tempted to suspect he is a genuine revolutionary - a man who is out to abolish royalty, nobility, and the entire class system of Ivalice. Or at least, that's who he's implying he is.
If that's the case then extremely based, we are pro-Delita in this household, put on La Marseillaise and let's kick down the whole rotten edifice.
But I still don't trust him.
AT LAST.
We take a break in Warjilis, where it turns out the shop finally stores Katanas. Now we can equip Ramza as a Samurai. There's also a music instrument and a book; the music instrument goes to a class called "Bard" that we haven't unlocked yet, the book is another Mystic option that can be used for the Arithmetician. There's also a number of throwable items like Shurikens and Bombs, but Chemist's Item command doesn't list throwing items as an option, so that's most likely intended for Ninjas.
So, we stock up on equipment, then check out the Errands - we have another sunken ship! The merchant ship Highwind sank off Warjilis Harbour, and a special product needs to be retrieved from the wreck. Since Warjilis is directly connected to Goug by sea, we can just send the team off on the Errand, then go back and forth between Goug and Warjilis until it's done.
The moment we go to live Warjilis back to Goug, however, another cutscene plays out - this time one of those our characters are not privy to.
Gaffgarion, Ludovich, and Delacroix are all gathered in what looks to be Delacroix's own office in Lionel.
Gaffgarion: "You would use the princess as bait to regain the Stone? I would not expect such cunning of a man of the cloth."
Ludovich: "You've some gall to speak, sellsword! It was you who let them escape!"
Gaffgarion: "That I don't deny, but it was not my task to save them!"
Cardinal Delacroix: "Still your tongue, Ludovich. We will hand Princess Ovelia over to Lord Dycedarg as promised. That much serves us both. But it is no concern of mine if those who know the truth of her kidnapping live. I had no hand in it. Be that as it may, the thieves who stole the gem are now with them. If we use the princess to lure them out, we get two birds - and one Stone."
Gaffgarion: "I won't deny the truth of it. But such a plan has risks."
Cardinal Delacroix: "Your reputation would not cast you so craven."
Gaffgarion: "I am *cautious,* Your Holiness. A soldier does not live to become old and gray charging onto the battlefield unawares."
Cardinal Delacroix: "Very well. I will see that every possible precaution is taken. And let us sprinkle a trail of crumbs to ensure they find our snare."
Gaffgarion: "A prudent move. The maid's the perfect bait to lure them to us. I'll assume responsibility for the rest. Far better me than *him.*"
Ludovich: "How *dare* you!"
Cardinal Delacroix: "Very well. I shall leave the matter to you, Gaffgarion."
Ludovich: "Your Eminence, you jape, surely!"
Cardinal Delacroix: "Go with my blessing."
Gaffgarion: "The Stone is as good as yours."
[He leaves.]
I like that Gaffgarion is the only person in the room to go 'perhaps baiting the Beoulve kid who's so far won every fight he's gotten into could potentially maybe be a little risky?' Ludovich had us dead to rights and he left town with a fake stone without securing the kill and now his men are dead and we're on his trail, but no. Not a threat at all. Of course, that's also a problem for us, because if there's one person who might actually take Ramza seriously, plan appropriately, and lead us into a trap from which we actually can't get out, it's him.
Also, minor note that I love - Gaffgarion refers to Delacroix as 'Your Holiness.' Everyone else in the story so far has correctly referred to Delacroix as 'Your Eminence,' the title afforded to a Cardinal. 'Your Holiness' is the style of address reserved for the Pope in the Catholic Church, and likely for whatever figure replaces him in this story (I'm going to go out on a limb and guess 'Archbishop'.) Gaffgarion is using the wrong title either because he's careless enough about religion that he doesn't really keep track of proper styles, or because he's deliberately mollifying the Cardinal by flattering him with titles in excess of his status. My instinct is the former, but we know that Gaffgarion is good at navigating the whims of the nobility to avoid getting on the wrong end of a noble's petty murderous anger from his interactions with Dycedarg.
A trait which Ludovich Baert does not share.
Ludovich: "Your Eminence, you cannot mean to trust this to a man like *that*!"
[Cardinal Delacroix gets up from his seat and slowly circles the table towards Ludovich.]
Cardinal Delacroix: "I trust things to those who can be trusted. Men who fail me time and again are rewarded in another way."
Ludovich: "Y-Your Eminence, wh-what are you doing!?"
Okay, the screen turning red is a really fun touch. There's also an extremely funny sound effect that plays as this happens that I can't really describe.
Whatever else we might say about Delacroix, he is a man who is not afraid to take care of business with his own two hands. Wonder if we'll fight him personally.
…
The early modern period is interesting in many, many respects, but one of these aspects is the progressive transition of a society dominated by nobility to a society dominated by the bourgeoisie. And in the transitional period, we see a lot of social phenomena that are odd by our standards - bourgeois whose wealth vastly exceeds that of nobles yet recent their lack of prestige or political power, impoverished nobles torn between the need to personally deal with merchants to fund their excessive lifestyles yet resenting that in doing so they elevate the common rich.
Ludovich Baert misread the historical moment. Cardinal Delacroix is by no means poor (he lives in a castle and commands an army and great lands), but his power is rooted in nobility and piety, in his position in the aristocratic and religious orders. The head of the Baert Trading Company, a vast trading consortium dealing in trades licit and illicit, owning the latest military technology in the form of guns, trading slaves and opium far and wide, capable of fielding its own private army out of its own coffers, is almost certainly richer than the Cardinal.
But he lives in a time when wealth is not yet the final measure of power. Delacroix murdered him in his own office, and his own men will come in, wordlessly grab his body and go dump it in a ditch to rot like the common man he is, trusting that this, too, is the will of God.
IV. Power Absolute
Hester and her team are back, and the mission is once again a tremendous success, earning us a bunch of gil and JP. This is enough to finally buy Hadrian Vertical Jump 8, so the next battle will be very funny.
There's another Errand of note - replacing some trapped miners after a cave-in. (The exact wording, "a cave-in has left us with a shortage of miners, anyone willing to work is welcome to apply" is grimly funny in how it glosses over the implied death toll). This is easily solved and nothing much more to report aside from more gil.
So let's head to our next node - Balias Swale.
Without surprise, battle awaits.
I am not taking on Mustadio for this encounter. I want to test out the Red Chocobo at least once. The new Machinist remains benched for now so I can use most of my main team and the big bird.
We switch in to one woman running through a marsh.
Looking up this line, incidentally, is how I learned that 'gosling' literally means 'young goose.'
So, the Northern Sky are in blue, 'commoner bands' like the Corpse Brigade or the Baert Trading Company goons are in green, and it looks like the Lionel Gryphons are in red. I appreciate how the game is actually color-coding various enemy outfits so we can identify them on sight.
The head Knight whistles, summoning his troops to surround Agrias. As strong as our Divine Knight friend is, she's hopelessly outmatched.
Good thing she's not alone for long.
I'm gonna be real with you game, I think she can mostly protect herself.
Two Black Mages, two Knights, two Archers - a very orthodox order of battle we are, by now, well used to handling. The battle is divided into two sides, with a river running down the middle; crossing from one side to the other is inconvenient but far from impossible. Hester being a Thief is unfortunately relatively fragile and I'm not sure how much her red chocobo friend will help, but on the other hand the Ramza/Hadrian/Osric side is a powerhouse, merely lacking in support.
We'll simply have to kill everyone so fast it doesn't matter.
You know, I don't intend to keep the Red Chocobo a long term member of my team, which is too bad, because god that's some funny moves. Choco the Red acts before everyone else, has a better move range than anyone, ignores elevation, and can drop a Meteor on people's heads. The Meteor sadly only hits 1 tile, and at 60 damage a hit, it's basically just a decent ranged hit rather than anything game-changing. Still, stapled to the movement chassis of the redobo, it could be a potent tool, just unfortunately not enough to make up for the loss of a full character with combined job abilities.
Agrias: "Ramza!? What are you doing here?"
Ramza: "We've come to rescue you. We thought to breach the castle from its postern. But why are you here?"
Agrias: "The cardinal betrayed us - was betraying us all along! He plots with Duke Larg! We escaped the castle, but the princess was retaken. I was returning to save her - and here you find me. We must hurry, Ramza! They are to execute her!"
Ramza: "First these. Then the princess."
Oh, Agrias.
There is zero doubt in my mind that you are the 'bread crumb' that Gaffgarion meant to scatter to draw us into his trap. I think you were allowed to escape, to better lead us to the princess's execution site.
Problems for later.
Agrias remains powerful, though she's not as much of an obliterating presence as she once was: She's still lv 12 like last time we met, whereas the enemy is lv 14 to 15. Judgment Blade deals 50 damage, which is only about ¼ to ⅓ of any given enemy's HP bar. Still, her native kit being that good makes up for her comparatively low level.
Enemy Mages and Archers go into charging stances, and unfortunately Ramza lacks the movement and range to get to them and kill them before their attacks fire off. No matter.
It's time to field-test our boy's new kit.
Ramza raises his sheathed katana over his head, light descends upon it, then in a flurry of particle effects and sword strikes all enemies within an area of effect centered on him are cut down.
Fuck. I am never going back. This is Ramza's life now.
Oh, yeah, and?
Look at this. This is Hadrian's Jump range. It covers the entire map (except from a tiny corner). He can just post himself on a random rock in the middle and attack anyone for 171 damage.
Hadrian is currently, by far, the most powerful member of my team. More powerful than Ramza, or Agrias, or Mustadio. The man is an orbital strike of doom that cannot be escaped.
Reddo the Boco is unfortunately the first of our party members to go down, victim of a coordinated strike by both BLMs before it has a chance to receive a heal. Meanwhile, Osric is kind of dragging behind, his move speed too low to get within summoning range of more than one enemy, so I have him haste Ramza instead.
I've been eyeing Osric's Time Mage job, which has a movement ability named Teleportation which would allow him to travel much more easily and further with certain limits. I haven't committed to buying it yet, but mobility is our boy's greatest issue so far. If he stays with us on a permanent basis…
Well, that's no longer certain. We'll see.
God Iaido is so fucking cool.
Hadrian obliterates the first enemy BLM, Ramza starts throwing around AoE iaijutsu, Agrias's Judgment Blade does its work. One Knight down. One of the Archer retreats to the peak at the top left of the map, away from melee attacks and where her ranged attacks can hit downrange across a large chunk of the map.
But not large enough.
I keep trying to capture the animation of the Dragoon landing on the enemy and bouncing away, but it's so fast it's really difficult; if you look very closely you will actually see Hadrian's sprite in transparency in the air above and to the right of the Archer being struck here.
The last BLM casts Thundara on Ramza, dealing 68 damage, but Samurai is a heavy armor class, so our boy has recovered the durability he once enjoyed as a Knight/Monk. He survives, goes down into the water and takes out the BLM, then Hadrian descends upon the Archer who thought to find safety in the peaks.
Four down. The last Archer and the remaining Knights are the only enemies left.
Let's summon God and call this a wrap.
Ramza: "Lady Agrias, are you all right?"
Agrias: "I'm fine, but there's no time for that. We must hurry to the princess! They're taking her to the Golgollada gallows. It's not far, but we've little time!"
Ramza: "Of course. With all haste!"
Well then.
This is going to complicate matters. In the past two battles we've acquired not one, but two unique characters with special jobs. I could pass on Mustadio, but… Man, Agrias, though.
…uh, her job is Holy Knight. I thought she was 'Divine Knight' like Wiegraf, but clearly that was just me getting mixed up between all the Divine, Holy and Fell Knights we've been getting - she's the same job as Delita.
I can't pass on Agrias as a playable team member. And if I take her on board I might as well take on Mustadio and whoever we get next, and bench several of my non-speaking party members.
And that's painful. I have spent eight hours of gameplay and more outside laboring over these little guys. They are my little guys. And the outcome of all that work is only just starting to pay off, and god, how is it paying off. We've gone from our many deaths at Dorter, at Windflat Mill, at Ziekden Fortress, from being hard carried by NPC friendlies at Zeirchele Falls, to obliterating the past three encounters with very little concern for our NPC allies. Hadrian has become death incarnate, Osric is fragile but a walking nuke with unexpectedly powerful utility in Haste who I have a bunch of JP to unlock new Summons and versatility for, Gillian just unlocked The Power Of Gun and has been, despite an understated performance in combat, continuously permanently upgrading other characters' Bravery and her own Faith, one little point at a time. And Hester, who's been languishing for a while now…
Hester just unlocked Ninja.
*Sigh.*
For the time being I'll simply rotate characters in and out of the party, but in the future there will inevitably come a time when I have 5-6 named NPCs in the party with their own unique skillset. And in theory, any of these NPCs could also just learn everything I just taught my blorbs, it'll just take… More time. And the named NPCs are just inherently more appealing from a narrative perspective.
It's just not the same.
Anyway, that's it for now, almost.
One comment: I always forget to note this down, but the Select button offers location lore, which is how I first found out about Gariland being home to one Elidibus and then forgot to screenshot it. So before we leave, let's look at some locations.
"Balias Swale" is "the barren valley where Balias, the first of Saint Ajora's disciples," hid from the Holy Ydoran Empire's pursuers. Balias is then our Peter equivalent - complete with martyrdom; Balias Swale is south of Lionel Castle, and north is Balias Tor where we had one of our previous battles, which is the location where Balias was put to death by the Empire. Lionel Castle itself is an ancient city of the Empire, which is interesting - it seems that Lionel is old Ydoran territory and has now become entrenched Glabadosian territory with rule by clergy rather than secular nobility; combined with Mustadio and Besrudio's names, it looks like Lionel is our Italy equivalent.
As for our next destination… Golgollada Gallows is "the site of Saint Ajora's execution, now employed as a public execution grounds by Lionel."
Golgollada. Seriously. This is the opposite of a subtle reference to Mount Golgotha. What's kinda fucked up though, is that apparently instead of this holy site becoming the site of a Church and veneration and so on, they just keep executing criminals there!? Fucked up.
Alright.
We went through a lot this update, from our very first meeting with Cardinal Delacroix to his immediate betrayal. Ludovich Baert was introduced, and disposed of. Mustadio and Agrias have joined our party not as guest members, but as permanent, playable characters. We have never been more powerful, and our last opponents folded before us like cheap paper.
Let us walk forward with bold confidence, unaware that Gaffgarion is in charge of the plan to seal our dooms.
Thank you for reading.
Next Time: We walk into an obvious trap.
Alectai
Speaks Words of Wisdom... On occasion
So, just a heads up, now that they've become playable, Mustadio and Agrias no longer have Plot Armor, they can permadie like anyone else!
Under no circumstances should you ever allow Mustadio in particular to die. That's all I'll say on the matter. That being said, yeah, Machinist doesn't have a lot of tricks but they're very strong, and using Guns is always a good place to be, while Agrias has a solid battery of AoE, instant activation sword arts that don't have a certain Rake you're likely going to step on very soon from what I've observed already
Incidentally, congratulations! You've reached the first Fuckpoint, I hope you like that last map you just did for grinding! Because if you're not ready for what's ahead, you're going to be spending a lot of time there, because that's the only random encounter location you have access to for the rest of the Chapter.
Under no circumstances should you ever allow Mustadio in particular to die. That's all I'll say on the matter. That being said, yeah, Machinist doesn't have a lot of tricks but they're very strong, and using Guns is always a good place to be, while Agrias has a solid battery of AoE, instant activation sword arts that don't have a certain Rake you're likely going to step on very soon from what I've observed already
Incidentally, congratulations! You've reached the first Fuckpoint, I hope you like that last map you just did for grinding! Because if you're not ready for what's ahead, you're going to be spending a lot of time there, because that's the only random encounter location you have access to for the rest of the Chapter.
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GilliamYaeger
M'crazy.
As far as I know, Samurai is actually a pretty bad job. Doubly so if you want Ramza to be a sword-swinger rather than a spell-slinger.
It's not because Iaido is bad, no it's quite the opposite...but because Iaido is actually a magic ability. It's the Blue Magic of this game, a very wide variety of powerful utility skills that all key off magic ability rather than physical ability. So, when you have a physical-focused job with a magical ability...yeah it doesn't blend that well.
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Ryumancer
Dragons Are Romance
if i remember correctly, isn't there a chance your weapon just spontaneously disintegrates after any Iaido attack, too?
- Pronouns
- Him/He
So far we've had four sword skill users, and only one has unambiguously been on our side the entire time.
This is correct for the PSX version, but WotL adds a lot of content tied to characters like Agrias as well. No one dies is a good plan I think.
Also as was mentioned by others, draw out has a chance of breaking the sword used, and you cannot 'draw out' an equipped weapon. So you're probably going to want a few extras in your inventory, since they aren't in most shops.
If you do end up using a Ninja, they will probably be auto-equipped with knives. They won't suck with them (better then thieves) but I think that going bare-handed is actually superior in damage to knives.
This is correct for the PSX version, but WotL adds a lot of content tied to characters like Agrias as well. No one dies is a good plan I think.
Also as was mentioned by others, draw out has a chance of breaking the sword used, and you cannot 'draw out' an equipped weapon. So you're probably going to want a few extras in your inventory, since they aren't in most shops.
If you do end up using a Ninja, they will probably be auto-equipped with knives. They won't suck with them (better then thieves) but I think that going bare-handed is actually superior in damage to knives.
Blame yourself or the Devs for your lack of trust.
You can also get a little quote from your characters. Some have an in character tip about weapons, armor or abilities. Others bring up their past or thoughts.
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Let's see now:
1. A princess on the run;
2. Nominal authority figures deeply untrustworthy;
3. A guy with good intentions blundering into the middle of it all;
4. Crystals that spark strange reactions in mysterious machinery;
5. References to ancient floating cities/airships/mountains;
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ykEy-yPBFc
If *somebody* -- protag or otherwise -- doesn't use auracite to turn Goug into a flying city I will be deeply disappointed.
1. A princess on the run;
2. Nominal authority figures deeply untrustworthy;
3. A guy with good intentions blundering into the middle of it all;
4. Crystals that spark strange reactions in mysterious machinery;
5. References to ancient floating cities/airships/mountains;
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ykEy-yPBFc
If *somebody* -- protag or otherwise -- doesn't use auracite to turn Goug into a flying city I will be deeply disappointed.
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- Location
- Spain
You are going to regret saying this.
FunkyEntropy
Occasionally insightful, possibly grumpy
- Location
- Los Angeles
Cats halping. Clearly doing most of the work and keeping the two gentlemen on task.
I'm sure there's a way to fit the consciousness expanding meme in here, but I haven't played XIV so sadly such a thing eludes me. Someone get on it.
That's our boy Ramza, doing the right thing simply because it's the right thing to do.
Bright side is at least you learned your lesson and CHECKED before heading out so you didn't step on that rake again.
Yup. Good ol' Mustadio. Looks like his suicidal tendencies at Zaland weren't just a fluke.
I mean…he couldn't even catch one dude with all the resources at his disposal as the head of a trading cartel. I'm not sure competence is this guys strong suit.
MiskWisk
Hoot
- Location
- Somewhere devoid of wit
- Pronouns
- He
Yup, XIV draws heavily from Ivalice.
Honestly, excluding MMO settings, Ivalice is probably the most fleshed out setting in the FF catalogue. Mainly it's helped by the fact that Square keep going back to it, but it also means there's a lot to draw from too.
Making a note of this for later.
I imagine it would depend on how Marlboro develop their bad breath. It could be a case of a creature adapting to use the rotting remains of its food in combination with its own fluids. Ensuring a strict diet would, at the least, nullify that particualr issue.We take a brief detour, checking out the town shop and Errands; I decide to send my troops on another errand - this one is about Countess Zalmasse's "darling pet," a beast by the name of Carrot. Should be easy, right?
Why the fuck would you keep a malboro as a pet and how are you still alive.
We also don't know how intelligent Marlboro are; for all we know they could be trainable should you get one from a young enough age.
Hadrian, he's the Azure Dragoon.
Something something, spilling the blood of the sinners on ground sanctified by the blood of a Saint ensures they are judged properly in the afterlife.
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Alternatively, as a Countess, Zalmasse obviously has ribbons in her outfits.
UNLIKE OMICRON
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Ramza: "Well I literally have nothing better to do, went me to help you get your dad back?"
Mustadio: "...Why do you want to?"
Ramza: "I have an unquenchable blood lust and need for riches.... Ha ha! No I just want to put some good in the world."
Mustadio: "I don't have to pay you right?
Ramza: "I honestly can't go a week without someone trying to kill me while their pockets are full, its a real problem."
Mustadio: "...Why do you want to?"
Ramza: "I have an unquenchable blood lust and need for riches.... Ha ha! No I just want to put some good in the world."
Mustadio: "I don't have to pay you right?
Ramza: "I honestly can't go a week without someone trying to kill me while their pockets are full, its a real problem."
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- Location
- Not your place of residence
"You would not BELIEVE how good Malboro secretions taste when you don't have to worry about getting poisoned by them, you just have to prepare them right!"
GilliamYaeger
M'crazy.
FunkyEntropy
Occasionally insightful, possibly grumpy
- Location
- Los Angeles
It's one of the many different death rattles that gets played when people die. You've had your people get KOd often enough I'm surprised you didn't recognize it
Dragoons, everybody.
They're pretty good.
Man, I don't need references to distrust a medieval religion man in a JRPG, that just comes inherent with the territory. Pretty sure the only JRPG game series I've ever played that didn't have some big evil church stuff going on with its religious institutions is Dragon Quest.
Alright, general TL;DR question for those of us who have not and probably will not play FFXIV, what's this referring to exactly?Okay.
Okay okay okay okay. We're going to be looking at this in the context of the game proper in a moment but I just need to take a moment to-
Twelve? Crystals?? With constellations in them??? Connected to a group of ancient heroes from the mystical distant past????
Motherfucker.
FFXIV really is just The Best Of Final Fantasy, I keep tripping into new references every time I pick up a new game.
Come on now Mustadio, when has a member of the church ever been untrustworthy?
Please ignore just a few battles ago the church hiring some thugs to try and kill us all, under threat of declaring them all heretics if they refuse
Ramza flexing that true dunderheaded protag energy, just run ramshackle through everyone's carefully laid plans with zero regard for anyone or anything.
Haha yeah, who would do thatWe take a brief detour, checking out the town shop and Errands; I decide to send my troops on another errand - this one is about Countess Zalmasse's "darling pet," a beast by the name of Carrot. Should be easy, right?
Why the fuck would you keep a malboro as a pet and how are you still alive.
(I would totally keep a mini-Malboro as a pet given the chance, they look kinda adorable)
I'm sure equipment prices will ramp up eventually? That and there's some certain cash sinks you'll run into eventually, depending on your class choices.
And hey, look on the bright side, it's still better than FFVIII's economy.
Lol, LmaoOh my god.
Its signature Ability is literally iaido. Every single individual command bears the name of a katana or blacksmith and starts with the line "A TECHNIQUE THAT RELEASES THE SPIRIT IN THE USER'S KATANA."
This is my home. I am never using anything else. Ramza is a Samurai now. With First Strike equipped to best represent iaido as a defensive technique. And… Martial Arts, probably? Or Mettle? Mettle is probably better but Martial Arts is real good.
Okay never mind it turns out I don't currently own a katana. I have played myself. Utterly bamboozled. Ramza will have to stick to Monk for the time being.
Can't deny I saw "I don't own any Katanas" coming the second I saw you unlock Samurai.
Closest I can think of off the top of my head is the still hilarious secret ending for Far Cry 4, where the main villain near the start of the game tells you to wait in a room while he handles something... and if you do in fact wait, he comes back, apologizes for the wait, helps you complete your objective, and congrats you peacefully completed the game. What a great guy.
Absolutely nobody, Omi, when has the church ever been shifty, or villains ever broken their word?
Yeah, Machinist is simple but effective with its unique ability list: just cripple enemies from across the map so the rest of the team can sweep them up.
If we're talking toolkits for Mustadio? Chemist is a decent pick with his Machinist secondary, since Chemist is a great support and can already use guns inherently. He does kind of pale in comparison to Agrias joining shortly after this though, I doubt anyone would mind much if Mustadio went to warm the bench instead.
But yes, this is also where the problem of having generic characters for 8-10 hours runs headlong into "and now you can recruit actual characters with unique skillsets". Doubly so since everyone just replaces Squire with their own default class, which means they lose... basically nothing of value. Oh nooooo, Agrias can't use Accomodate, I guess she'll have to stick with instant ranged AoEs that inflict Stop.
Strangely, it's kind of hard to trust someone who wanders into the scene each time to go "hmmmm important things are happening, maybe-friend, sadly I cannot tell you the details..." and then immediately leaves.
How many goddamn sunken ships are your blorbos going to salvage. And don't think we didn't see a brief screenshot about a ship called the Highwind Omi, what did you skip over exactly?
R.I.P. BOZO. Guess that's another reason for Mustadio to join the party for good now, his major plot arc is pretty much wrapped up with Ludovich getting suddenly executed and his father saved.
Sadly, that's the lot of most recruitable monsters in FFT. Cool concepts especially when you get one in their strongest form, a neat gimmick... but it's really hard to compare "unit with I guess bulky HP and a special move or two, and inate counter" to "This is my Samurai/Ninja/Dragoon, he dual-wields Katanas and can Jump Attack people from 8 tiles away".
Considering we got a scene just thirty seconds ago of Gaffgarion and company going "Hm yes we must return the Princess in one piece", yeah this is absolutely some bullshit they spun up to use Agrias as bait for Ramza's party.
Yessss Omi
Embrace the Weeb, between this and Ninja
As I said before, Dragoon may be simple and possibly even boring... but it's very, very effective on any physical fighter to just be able to go "that space, I want to orbital bombardment that space over there". Pretty sure 8 spaces is the maximum range of pretty much anything in the game, too, between guns and jumping.
Ah, and here we hit the ever-present problem of combining your own lovely team of blorbos with the game giving you unique characters with their own super useful classes. I can't deny it, the first time I played through FFT? By the end of the game, my team was the Ramza, Agrias, and other cool awesome named characters show, my blorbos had been regulated to the Expeditions Fodder sadly. Agrias in particular is super hard to pass on because... hello??? Holy Knight??? Magic Sword buster attacks??? Armored Knight Lady???
Yeah, named NPCs that actually permajoin you in Final Fantasy Tactics? They basically operate under Fire Emblem rules, where having them alive can mean extra dialogue and scenes... but also you can totally just go get them permakilled and completely removed from the plot. Mustadio and Agrias both are now on the chopping block.
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E.I.G.
Robo-Bird
- Pronouns
- It/They
Despite having never played a Final Fantasy game that featured them, I love the Red Chocobo of orbital bombardment.
I absolutely adore birdies that declare "the sky is falling" as a threat.
They are by far my most enjoyable part of Final Fantasy oddity, and I would probably be far too tempted to try and maximum Chocobo this game to actually finish it.
(Mostly joking, but only in the case that this is not my kind of game and I probably would never play it.)
I absolutely adore birdies that declare "the sky is falling" as a threat.
They are by far my most enjoyable part of Final Fantasy oddity, and I would probably be far too tempted to try and maximum Chocobo this game to actually finish it.
(Mostly joking, but only in the case that this is not my kind of game and I probably would never play it.)
