ZerbanDaGreat
Daemon Noble of D E M O G R A P H I C S
- Pronouns
- They/them
Let's Play Every Final Fantasy Game In Order Of Release [Now Finished: Final Fantasy Tactics]
- Thread starter Omicron
- Start date
- Let's Play
I genuinely admire FFT for hyping up a certain someone for the entire game and then have him fucking deliver when you get him.
Just think, this guy was Ramza's dad's peer. Just imagine the unfiltered bullshit you would have access to if the old man trained him personally instead of dying of Tragic Parental Backstoryitis.
Just think, this guy was Ramza's dad's peer. Just imagine the unfiltered bullshit you would have access to if the old man trained him personally instead of dying of Tragic Parental Backstoryitis.
- Location
- Portugal
Okay, let's see, thoughts about the few last main story updates.
I think we're at a point where the narrative is now going pretty fast, and though it is - as observed - looking like the part of the Final Fantasy plotlines where "the freaks are taking over" overwhelmingly dominates the direction for the antagonists, there are still plenty of complex actors and factional elements involved. Even a few considerations that I thought we were past, but which Ramza and others are addressing directly in dialogue about motivations and other people's plans, like the notion of the Zodiac Stones serving as a symbol for the Church conspiracy. After the grim and grueling closing setpieces of Chapter 3, the most interesting part of this chapter may prove to be that, even with the monsters out they're not quite in public yet, and there are three or four whole other sides moving at the same time and even seizing pivotal items for the Lucavi plot!
This also brings me to, damn, some elements of the story really suffer, or rather feel like they're missing huge opportunities, by assuming that any story character but Ramza who joins the party might permanently disappear. Agrias is seriously sticking out to me, especially after this side-quests update where you discussed the topic of the party member spotligh. Agrias surely would be having a worthwhile character arc at this point, no less dramatic than Ramza's... if only the game was allowed to consider she was still around.
Otherwise, more specifics.
They successfully cast Barrington as a despicable and vile man of yet extremely dangerous means and influence in very little story time, but the Marach sacrifice and ressurrection had absolutely no aura. I liked Rapha, but for the build-up she got, that conclusion before being relegated to permanent party member (and hence vanquished from the story relevance dimension regardless of her status) was quite limp. I almost feel like this is a repeating thing in the stretch of story covered by the last few updates. There are a number of extremely effective moments and striking narrative beats, but they're also separated by a few elements that just don't land, as is for instance Alma's sudden and predictable abduction with the Zodiac Stones.
Riovanes Castle is a great bit for pulling down the curtain from over the conspiracy of demons within the conspiracy of the Church through completely flipping the mood of that political standoff into a flood of horrors that consumes the place entire... The trail of carnage feels quite vivid for the game's visuals, and I was pleasantly surprised by how much humanity went into Isilud's last moments. The confrontation with Wiegraf makes for a fantastic, unsettling scene as the final act for his character, having compromised nearly everything in his resolve to survive for his goals, until this point, where he's finally lost all that he was to the Lucavi. In a different world, in a different time, a final duel with Wiegraf could have put to rest with dignity his longstanding antagonism to Ramza and provided him with a more honorable end than as a demon consumed by malice. Alas. But great work for managing to overcome the game's ruthless gauntlet of the Wiegraf solo battle and the surrounding fights, using only what you already had at your disposal, Omi!
I've noticed, and it's curious, how Delita's most talkative and arguably emotionally sincere scenes at this point of the game mostly seem to be taking place in places of worship. Not all. That scene with Ovelia where we revist the grass whistle is compelling because of the different ways we can interpret it, and I really like what that does for her character. But Delita meeting Ramza in a church, and the conversation they have there, is the most interesting of these recent scenes. I am also not sure what to really make of Delita after it, because as noted, it seems to be trying to assert some positive emotional truths about Delita and Ramza's bond even in the face of their explosively conflicting plans, but at the same time it's still having the narrative paint Delita with a manipulative and ruthlessly determined brush even where it concerns Ramza. So maybe we're not supposed to come away from it with a solid conclusion or reliable statement about the trust Delita actually holds for Ramza yet. Maybe Delita's contradictory stances are the point here.
I think we're at a point where the narrative is now going pretty fast, and though it is - as observed - looking like the part of the Final Fantasy plotlines where "the freaks are taking over" overwhelmingly dominates the direction for the antagonists, there are still plenty of complex actors and factional elements involved. Even a few considerations that I thought we were past, but which Ramza and others are addressing directly in dialogue about motivations and other people's plans, like the notion of the Zodiac Stones serving as a symbol for the Church conspiracy. After the grim and grueling closing setpieces of Chapter 3, the most interesting part of this chapter may prove to be that, even with the monsters out they're not quite in public yet, and there are three or four whole other sides moving at the same time and even seizing pivotal items for the Lucavi plot!
This also brings me to, damn, some elements of the story really suffer, or rather feel like they're missing huge opportunities, by assuming that any story character but Ramza who joins the party might permanently disappear. Agrias is seriously sticking out to me, especially after this side-quests update where you discussed the topic of the party member spotligh. Agrias surely would be having a worthwhile character arc at this point, no less dramatic than Ramza's... if only the game was allowed to consider she was still around.
Otherwise, more specifics.
They successfully cast Barrington as a despicable and vile man of yet extremely dangerous means and influence in very little story time, but the Marach sacrifice and ressurrection had absolutely no aura. I liked Rapha, but for the build-up she got, that conclusion before being relegated to permanent party member (and hence vanquished from the story relevance dimension regardless of her status) was quite limp. I almost feel like this is a repeating thing in the stretch of story covered by the last few updates. There are a number of extremely effective moments and striking narrative beats, but they're also separated by a few elements that just don't land, as is for instance Alma's sudden and predictable abduction with the Zodiac Stones.
Riovanes Castle is a great bit for pulling down the curtain from over the conspiracy of demons within the conspiracy of the Church through completely flipping the mood of that political standoff into a flood of horrors that consumes the place entire... The trail of carnage feels quite vivid for the game's visuals, and I was pleasantly surprised by how much humanity went into Isilud's last moments. The confrontation with Wiegraf makes for a fantastic, unsettling scene as the final act for his character, having compromised nearly everything in his resolve to survive for his goals, until this point, where he's finally lost all that he was to the Lucavi. In a different world, in a different time, a final duel with Wiegraf could have put to rest with dignity his longstanding antagonism to Ramza and provided him with a more honorable end than as a demon consumed by malice. Alas. But great work for managing to overcome the game's ruthless gauntlet of the Wiegraf solo battle and the surrounding fights, using only what you already had at your disposal, Omi!
I've noticed, and it's curious, how Delita's most talkative and arguably emotionally sincere scenes at this point of the game mostly seem to be taking place in places of worship. Not all. That scene with Ovelia where we revist the grass whistle is compelling because of the different ways we can interpret it, and I really like what that does for her character. But Delita meeting Ramza in a church, and the conversation they have there, is the most interesting of these recent scenes. I am also not sure what to really make of Delita after it, because as noted, it seems to be trying to assert some positive emotional truths about Delita and Ramza's bond even in the face of their explosively conflicting plans, but at the same time it's still having the narrative paint Delita with a manipulative and ruthlessly determined brush even where it concerns Ramza. So maybe we're not supposed to come away from it with a solid conclusion or reliable statement about the trust Delita actually holds for Ramza yet. Maybe Delita's contradictory stances are the point here.
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Egleris
Vagrant Dragon
- Location
- Italy
I don't know that Sephiroth is a valid comparison in this sense - sure, he's part of the team, but just like Gafgarion in FFT, you never get to control his actions, he's just doing his own thing and you happen to be there watching as he slaughters his opponents, which are only your opponents too due to happenstance. That's not the same thing as having a legendary character that you can control and lives up to their hype.
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- Pronouns
- He/Him
I feel like the better way to do the 'legendary character joins you' is to just not hype a character beforehand, have them join the party as a hard carry, have the party gradually catch up, and then reveal they're actually X Legendary Figure.
That way when you get the reveal and your guys are now on-par with this towering figure, I think it gives a sense of accomplishment in your crew, and you're never disappointed in what the carry brought to the table because it was never hyped to you to begin with.
That way when you get the reveal and your guys are now on-par with this towering figure, I think it gives a sense of accomplishment in your crew, and you're never disappointed in what the carry brought to the table because it was never hyped to you to begin with.
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Thozmp
Gets my kicks above the waistline, Sunshine.
Is this "Legendary Figure X was hiding out under a false name" (A la Citan from Xenogears) or more like "You are 75% through the game before you even hear about Legendary Figure X"?
- Pronouns
- He/Him
You can even combine them! But I was thinking more of A than B.
Egleris
Vagrant Dragon
- Location
- Italy
This part was already sort of done by Agrias in FFT though, wasn't it?
Final Fantasy Tactics, Part 17.A: Beddha Sandwaste, Fort Besselat South Gate, Fort Besselat Sluice
New
- 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 Beoulve made his way through the chaos of war to secure new allies and face new challenges, but little does he grasp how the unfolding of events has shaken the stage once so familiar…
The Story So Far: Ramza Beoulve, renegade scion of House Beoulve, is caught in the turmoil of the Two Lions' War, in which his own family plays a major part. He has uncovered a conspiracy by the Church to manipulate the course of the war and claim power over the throne, but little do even those conspiring realize that there is a second, more malicious conspiracy in their midst, directed by ancient demons known as the Lucavi. Ramza now hurries to Fort Besselat, where a major battle is set to take place, hoping to convince Count Cidolfus Orlandeau to listen to his pleas…
Before I move on with the plot, let's briefly talk about our new recruits from the last update, since I don't end up using them in the plot battles of this update, but I did of course take them out for a spin with random encounters.
Construct 8 has some real cool abilities; including a straight up missile spam, or the ability to turn its fist into a drill. That's fun! And it does hit pretty hard. The problem is that it's just very slow, not just in terms of Speed but more in terms of ground coverage, so it takes forever to take it to the point of action, and since it has Faith 00 and is a monster unit, we can't use equipment of buff spells to improve this. So while fun, I'm unlikely to make much use of it.
As for Balthier…
There isn't much to say that wasn't already clear from his character sheet. He has a solid gun, but I could transfer that to Mustadio or Gillian for the same damage; his real advantage before spending any JP on his unique ability list is that his Speed is as high as Hester's before the Speed-boosting equipment he comes loaded with, and he has much greater range, so he's taking what feels like two actions for everyone another character takes while being able to hit most of the map every turn. It's really good! And it would only get better with time. It's really just a question of "do we want to use the crossover promo character that was added in WotL instead of Mustadio, or does that make us feel kinda bad."
years before the rise of gacha games there was war of the lions
Alright, let's move on with the story.
I. Buddha Sandwaste
There is only one node to cover on our way to Fort Besselat: The Beddha Sandwaste. Upon entering it, we are prompted to form a party, and…
Knight Templar Barich: "That's the last of it. The winds bear it onward now. And fair winds they are. They should keep it airborne for a half-day if they hold - more than time enough."
[He turns around, and sees Ramza and his party.]
Barich: "Now there is a creature I had not thought to find in these wastes!"
Ramza: "One might say the same of a Knight Templar so far from the Church. What is it you scatter to the wind?"
Barich: "Oh, that? I suppose there's no harm in telling you. There's naught you can do to stop it now."
Ramza: "Stop what!?"
Barich: "This."
[He throws a sphere to the ground, which explodes into a cloud of smoke.]
Barich, it turns out, just finished scattering a poison powder to the winds that will carry it to the camp of the Northern Sky. The poison is not lethal, but will leave the soldiers unable to fight. This will make them an obvious target for Goltanna, who will send his forces to wipe them out - thereby exposing his fortress to the Templarate's assassins, who will take him and Orlandeau out in one fell swoop. In the chaos, the incapacitated Duke Larg will be easy to take out as well.
Ramza: "You're inhuman!"
Barich: "You ought rejoice! This will mean an end to war and bloodshed. And with that end, a new beginning. The Church's hand shall rule. Such is the will of the people. They clamor for change - an end to groveling at highborn heels."
Ramza: "The war will end, but not like this. There is another way!"
Barich: "I expected you'd say as such - no matter!"
[OBJECTIVE: DEFEAT BARICH!]
This is an interesting twist on the poisoning of Doma - though the idea of an airborne poison that can incapacitate an entire army is very, okay why is everyone not using this all the time? Even if this is an invention of Barich himself (he's a Machinist), this would completely change the face of warfare.
As you can see above, this battle has the additional complication that all our units start out poisoned… Something I thought I might alleviate with better preparation; the first time I came across this node I rolled in with the usual team, then I thought I would be very clever and instead reload, equip everyone with accessories that make them immune to poison plus Construct 8, who I'm pretty sure is or should be natively immune as a robot, and laugh in Barich's face.
As you can see from my screenshots above, that did not work. The poison is plot-mandated and we cannot make ourselves immune to it. So I just reloaded with a different team instead.
Our opposition is made up of two Archers, two Knights, a Black Mage, and Barich himself, a Machinist. They have the high ground and there are light fortifications on the way, the better to delay us and let the poison do its work.
It's not gonna be enough.
Hester goes first, so I advance aggressively and have her charge up a dance; Agrias follows, taking cover behind a wall and hitting Barich and the BLM with a Geomancy attack. Ramza then self-buffs with Shout as is now traditional, and advances on the high wall. Hadrian's lower movement speed as him lagging behind, but that doesn't matter; with Jump he can effectively threaten the enemy's back line, choosing the most vulnerable unit to hit from afar. Gillian brings up the rear, staying out enemy range while casting Curaga on Ramza - Hester is sadly just outside her range of healing.
Hester is unfortunately victim of her own speed - being first at the front means she is targeted by multiple ranged attacks and goes down before finishing her Dance.
That's their last W of the day. Because now Lipstick-Powered Agrias is close enough that she needs no measly Geomancy attacks to do the work.
306 damage, Jesus Christ. One Archer goes down instantly, one Knight is in critical. Then Hadrian completes his Jump, finishing off the knight. Two enemy units down. Ramza advances on the enemy back line but, after testing out a couple of Iaido commands, his damage is lackluster, so I just have him Shout again. Barich senses the better part of valor and flees the main melee, taking a powerful glacial shot at Ramza, which is… Actually enough to take him down, oops; I wasn't paying close enough attention to his HP. Meanwhile one of the Archers decide to plonk at Hadrian; this pretty much does nothing but trigger his Reraise, so it's actually to my advantage.
Agrias, whose permanent Haste means she takes about twice as many actions as everyone else, obliterates the enemy BLM with Northwain's Strike. I don't think that poor devil even got to do anything in this fight. Then it's Gillian's turn again - for comparison, in the time it took for Gillian to take her second turn, Agrias acted three times - and I have her cast Arise.
Suddenly the Ninja is back in the fight with a full CT gauge. She instantly kills the remaining Archer.
You can see in those screenshots that most of my characters are no longer green - it turns out Barich's poison has a limited duration and eventually runs out. While it did play a part in weakening Ramza enough to open him to a KO, ultimately, Poison just isn't a very good status effect, and it did not benefit our enemies that much. It was far more bark than bite.
The remaining Knight Rends Agrias's helmet, which, cool, buddy, you take what you can get, and then is immediately obliterated by her divine sword skills in return. That leaves Barich the only surviving enemy, so I have all the time in the world to raise Ramza again and just take my time beating the poisoner to death.
Barich: "Once you've put a stop to this fighting, what then? How do you propose to purge Ivalice of her corruption? Her fever will not cease to rage til her festered limbs are cut and seared! Even you must see that now!"
Ramza: "You would cut away the pure flesh with the foul. There is corruption, yes, but there are also good men in Ivalice, and they are not few! There are ways to heal a festered wound without the knife. The poison can be drawn!"
Barich: "Pray tell what poultice might draw the nobles from this land! So long as you blight it with your existence, we must bow to your whims. A man alone might know equality. Two men, never! One will ever seek to exploit the other. And I will not be exploited! I will claim your seat, and take what is my due. I should think I have at least that right!"
Ramza: "You think to cure the realm's corruption by becoming part of it? What when another comes to claim your seat? You care not for Ivalice's suffering - you care only for your own!"
Barich: "Such righteous words! More the greater your hypocrisy!"
I was not expecting Hegel's master-slave dialectic in my Final Fantasy game, but I'll take it-
No but it's kind of funny that Barich starts out by talking about purging the corruption within Ivalice before revealing that he doesn't believe equality is possible, he just wants to reverse the positions so he's the exploiter rather than the exploited, and then he calls Ramza a hypocrite.
But also my man is giving this defiant speech about taking the thrones of the lords while surrounded by Hester and Agrias, lmao. I give him another turn to live in case he has further dialogue (none that I can see) and he repays my kindness by taking down Ramza again so I just end it.
Thank God, he actually perishes, no magical escape.
Ramza: "Gods give us haste."
As a field test for Agrias's new accessory this was a tremendous success. Our girl's sword skills are good but her lower PA growth and lackluster Speed meant she never fully lived up to their potential; the Bracer gave her the strength to make her sword skills count but did leave her struggling to cover ground and lacking in actions compared to characters equipped with Hermes Boots (which grant +1 Speed). But now with the Tynar Rouge, she has the +3 PA to make her Sword Skills count and she just finished unlocking Attack Boost from Geomancer, meaning she hits with the force of a nuke, and she is permanently buffed with Haste, Protect and Shell, making her incredibly tanky (and tankier as soon as I swap her back to a heavy armor job) and taking enough actions to offset her lack of mobility.
Our girl is a tank. Not in the MMORPG role sense, in the "heavily armored front-line vehicle with excellent maneuvrability equipped with heavy ranged armament" sense. We may never need another unit again. (THIS IS FORESHADOWING.)
As the battle ends, we cut to Fort Besselat, where an unexpected scene is unfolding.
II. It Helps That Our Enemies Are Very Fucking Stupid
Orlandeau: "I, plotting against the duke? Are you mad?"
Southern Sky Knight: "Please, my lord. Do not make this harder than it must be. We have our orders."
Orlandeau: "Why in the name of all that's good would I wish to unseat my liege lord?"
[Duke Goltanna enters; the knights kneel.]
Duke Goltanna: "You ask the very question that vexes me. I am gravely disappointed in you, Cid."
Orlandeau: "Surely you cannot mean that, Your Grace! I am no turncloak! I am your most loyal man!"
Duke Goltanna: "The proof speaks otherwise. It seems you have been in league with members of the Church, working secretly to see me ousted from my rightful seat."
Orlandeau: "That is absurd! From what lying blackguard did you hear such reverie?"
Duke Goltanna: "Even yet you deny it? My information comes from the High Confessor himself. You can imagine his distress upon learning of the plot."
Orlandeau: "Your Grace, the High Confessor deceives you! It is he who schemes in the shadows!"
Duke Goltanna: "The High Confessor? Now there's an august claim! Have you any evidence of this?"
Orlandeau: "Twenty and more years of loyal service, and still you require evidence? Words fail me, Your Grace."
Duke Goltanna: "As you fail me. I cannot hope to fight a war without your Order's forces. Still, I am left with no choice. A lamentable situation for us both. Take him from my sight!"
[The Knights and Orlandeau leave.]
Oh wow so Goltanna is like, an actual idiot. "Hey Golty, this is your buddy the High Confessor. Yeah, I need you to arrest your most loyal and effective general without whom your entire support base crumbles and you absolutely cannot win the war. Yeah, he's plotting against you, with uuuuh, rogue members of the Church, totally. Just found out. Anyway, cheers." Outstanding stuff.
I can't say it's unrealistic, though. Historically "the popular, highly competent military commander on whose service your reign depends utterly" is like, one of the top threats to any regime, and rulers are accordingly paranoid about potential disloyalty from such commanders (often to excess, but, well, you only need to be wrong once). If Cid wasn't the loyal servant that he is, it would be incredibly easy for him to eliminate Goltanna and claim himself Lord Regent, and a solid chunk of Goltanna's vassals would probably be thankful. So I can see how a mediocre noble who is risking it all on a high-stakes gamble for the throne would grow distrustful and paranoid of Cid's power and popularity, and how someone might use that fear to manipulate him… But he's wrong, he should have realized that he's wrong, and it's about to cost him everything.
No prize guessing who exactly carried the "High Confessor"'s words to Goltanna, of course.
Delita and Valmafra enter the room following Orlandeau's departure.
Delita: "You summoned, Your Grace?"
Goltanna: "I want you to maintain your contact with Mullonde. Once the Confessional rescript is in my hands, Larg is as good as defeated."
Delita: "Fear not, Your Grace. The High Confessor's mind is most firm on that account."
Goltanna: "Hmm. He had seemed somewhat indifferent to me. There is another matter as well. I am placing the Order of the Southern Sky under your leadership. Henceforth, you are a Knight Devout."
Delita: "You grant me honor far beyond my due."
Goltanna: "I expect I shall not regret it. I place my full and utter confidence in you, Delita - you, and you alone."
Delita: "Your Grace."
Like I said. An idiot.
A "rescript" is an official edict, and can refer specifically to a Papal decree on matters of doctrine; Delita is promising Goltanna that High Confessor Funebris has decided in his favor in the conflict over who is the true heir to the throne and therefore who gets to be regent, and the fighting will be done as soon as he has the official announcement and Larg finds himself in a position of stopping the fight or being a heretic. Which would be great news for Goltanna, if it was true!
III. Fort Besselat: South Wall
Moving onto the Fort Besselat node gives us an unexpected choice point: We can either approach from the South Wall or the North Wall. That means we get to choose which of two different battles we fight on our way to the next story beat!
This would be really neat if we had any indication of what either of those battles would be like. As it stands, we have to choose blind, so it's about as interesting as randomly rolling for it. Still, it's neat for replay value, I suppose. I pick the South Wall, just because it's first in the list.
Ramza attempts to explain that he's not with the Northern Sky, but needs to urgently meet with Count Orlandeau. Unfortunately that's exactly the wrong thing to say; the Knight in charge hears this and immediately assumes that we're the assassins he's hired to kill the Duke, and declares his intent to throw us in the same dungeon they're currently holding Cid in. On the plus side, now we know where to look for him once we've blenderized our way through these jokers!
In theory, the enemy here has the advantage of terrain - we're surrounded by Archers, a Ninja and a Thief all high on the walls with a clean firing line to us, with three Knights at the far end also on a raised position. However, the walls are constructed in such a fashion that it is, in fact, possible to hop from step to step to the top, and…
Gillian learned Arcane Strength from Black Mage and has now swapped to Time Mage for the time being.
Agrias goes first and obliterates the Ninja with a 828 damage Divine Ruination. Holy shit. This is immediately followed by Hester going up and instagibbing the Archer, clearing one side of the battlefield. The Thief on the other side goes next, and immediately hops down from his superior position to stab Hadrian, which is definitely… A decision… He deals 100 damage, which is no small amount, but that triggers Dragonheart so now Hadrian has Reraise and immediately runs the poor rogue through.
That's 3/7 enemies down. Ramza uses Shout to self-buff and begins ascending the wall, while Gillian casts Haste on him to expedite the process. The three Knights finally take their turns, advancing towards our lines, but they lack ranged attacks, so all their elevated position does for them is actually make it harder to come support their allies. Next turn, I have Hester and Gillian advance along the far wall, and one of the Knight comes up to greet them with a stab - his attack deals 195 damage, nearly instantly taking out Hester, who only has 203 HP.
We're playing rocket tag at this point, though it's worth noting that Hester is my squishiest front line unit and she still managed to survive this attack, triggering her Dragonheart. Agrias immediately follows behind to back her up with a Hallowed Bolt…
…obliterating the Knight's entire bloodline.
A funny thing happens then, when on the left side, Ramza is advancing along the ledge and one of the Knights comes up to meet him, resulting in… A total stalemate.
Ramza has 100 Bravery with Shout active, so any standard Attack triggers First Strike. However, Knights have a very high chance to block or parry an attack. So any time this dude attacks, he gets preempted by Ramza's First Strike, which then bounces off his shield. Then if I have Ramza attack, he bounces off again. My best way around it is Iaido, but…
This is called "Doomed Aspirations" and it's really fucking cool.
Even with +2 MA from two Shouts, my strongest Iaido move "only" deals 162 damage, far below Ramza's physical attack power.
Samurai is just kind of an awkwardly designed class, I guess. It really wants you to be a Black Mage with Iaido instead of using the actual class.
So it takes time for Ramza to grind through this guy's HP, but the guy in turn can't actually hurt Ramza. But that's one more enemy tied down, which means only two left to actually do stuff, and I quickly close in on them with the rest of my team.
Hester stabs the back row Knight, Hadrian Jumps over Ramza to finish off his opponent, and Agrias somehow manages to not kill the last Archer but merely bring him down to his knees, whereupon Ramza gets up on the wall and finishes the job.
All in all, an overwhelming victory. Ramza reflects on the need for quick action to end the battle that's raging just off-screen, and we transition to a cutscene.
And what a cutscene it is.
Cut for image count.
The Story So Far: Ramza Beoulve, renegade scion of House Beoulve, is caught in the turmoil of the Two Lions' War, in which his own family plays a major part. He has uncovered a conspiracy by the Church to manipulate the course of the war and claim power over the throne, but little do even those conspiring realize that there is a second, more malicious conspiracy in their midst, directed by ancient demons known as the Lucavi. Ramza now hurries to Fort Besselat, where a major battle is set to take place, hoping to convince Count Cidolfus Orlandeau to listen to his pleas…
Before I move on with the plot, let's briefly talk about our new recruits from the last update, since I don't end up using them in the plot battles of this update, but I did of course take them out for a spin with random encounters.
Construct 8 has some real cool abilities; including a straight up missile spam, or the ability to turn its fist into a drill. That's fun! And it does hit pretty hard. The problem is that it's just very slow, not just in terms of Speed but more in terms of ground coverage, so it takes forever to take it to the point of action, and since it has Faith 00 and is a monster unit, we can't use equipment of buff spells to improve this. So while fun, I'm unlikely to make much use of it.
As for Balthier…
years before the rise of gacha games there was war of the lions
Alright, let's move on with the story.
I. Buddha Sandwaste
There is only one node to cover on our way to Fort Besselat: The Beddha Sandwaste. Upon entering it, we are prompted to form a party, and…
Knight Templar Barich: "That's the last of it. The winds bear it onward now. And fair winds they are. They should keep it airborne for a half-day if they hold - more than time enough."
[He turns around, and sees Ramza and his party.]
Barich: "Now there is a creature I had not thought to find in these wastes!"
Ramza: "One might say the same of a Knight Templar so far from the Church. What is it you scatter to the wind?"
Barich: "Oh, that? I suppose there's no harm in telling you. There's naught you can do to stop it now."
Ramza: "Stop what!?"
Barich: "This."
[He throws a sphere to the ground, which explodes into a cloud of smoke.]
Barich, it turns out, just finished scattering a poison powder to the winds that will carry it to the camp of the Northern Sky. The poison is not lethal, but will leave the soldiers unable to fight. This will make them an obvious target for Goltanna, who will send his forces to wipe them out - thereby exposing his fortress to the Templarate's assassins, who will take him and Orlandeau out in one fell swoop. In the chaos, the incapacitated Duke Larg will be easy to take out as well.
Ramza: "You're inhuman!"
Barich: "You ought rejoice! This will mean an end to war and bloodshed. And with that end, a new beginning. The Church's hand shall rule. Such is the will of the people. They clamor for change - an end to groveling at highborn heels."
Ramza: "The war will end, but not like this. There is another way!"
Barich: "I expected you'd say as such - no matter!"
[OBJECTIVE: DEFEAT BARICH!]
This is an interesting twist on the poisoning of Doma - though the idea of an airborne poison that can incapacitate an entire army is very, okay why is everyone not using this all the time? Even if this is an invention of Barich himself (he's a Machinist), this would completely change the face of warfare.
As you can see above, this battle has the additional complication that all our units start out poisoned… Something I thought I might alleviate with better preparation; the first time I came across this node I rolled in with the usual team, then I thought I would be very clever and instead reload, equip everyone with accessories that make them immune to poison plus Construct 8, who I'm pretty sure is or should be natively immune as a robot, and laugh in Barich's face.
As you can see from my screenshots above, that did not work. The poison is plot-mandated and we cannot make ourselves immune to it. So I just reloaded with a different team instead.
Our opposition is made up of two Archers, two Knights, a Black Mage, and Barich himself, a Machinist. They have the high ground and there are light fortifications on the way, the better to delay us and let the poison do its work.
It's not gonna be enough.
Hester goes first, so I advance aggressively and have her charge up a dance; Agrias follows, taking cover behind a wall and hitting Barich and the BLM with a Geomancy attack. Ramza then self-buffs with Shout as is now traditional, and advances on the high wall. Hadrian's lower movement speed as him lagging behind, but that doesn't matter; with Jump he can effectively threaten the enemy's back line, choosing the most vulnerable unit to hit from afar. Gillian brings up the rear, staying out enemy range while casting Curaga on Ramza - Hester is sadly just outside her range of healing.
Hester is unfortunately victim of her own speed - being first at the front means she is targeted by multiple ranged attacks and goes down before finishing her Dance.
That's their last W of the day. Because now Lipstick-Powered Agrias is close enough that she needs no measly Geomancy attacks to do the work.
306 damage, Jesus Christ. One Archer goes down instantly, one Knight is in critical. Then Hadrian completes his Jump, finishing off the knight. Two enemy units down. Ramza advances on the enemy back line but, after testing out a couple of Iaido commands, his damage is lackluster, so I just have him Shout again. Barich senses the better part of valor and flees the main melee, taking a powerful glacial shot at Ramza, which is… Actually enough to take him down, oops; I wasn't paying close enough attention to his HP. Meanwhile one of the Archers decide to plonk at Hadrian; this pretty much does nothing but trigger his Reraise, so it's actually to my advantage.
Agrias, whose permanent Haste means she takes about twice as many actions as everyone else, obliterates the enemy BLM with Northwain's Strike. I don't think that poor devil even got to do anything in this fight. Then it's Gillian's turn again - for comparison, in the time it took for Gillian to take her second turn, Agrias acted three times - and I have her cast Arise.
Suddenly the Ninja is back in the fight with a full CT gauge. She instantly kills the remaining Archer.
You can see in those screenshots that most of my characters are no longer green - it turns out Barich's poison has a limited duration and eventually runs out. While it did play a part in weakening Ramza enough to open him to a KO, ultimately, Poison just isn't a very good status effect, and it did not benefit our enemies that much. It was far more bark than bite.
The remaining Knight Rends Agrias's helmet, which, cool, buddy, you take what you can get, and then is immediately obliterated by her divine sword skills in return. That leaves Barich the only surviving enemy, so I have all the time in the world to raise Ramza again and just take my time beating the poisoner to death.
Barich: "Once you've put a stop to this fighting, what then? How do you propose to purge Ivalice of her corruption? Her fever will not cease to rage til her festered limbs are cut and seared! Even you must see that now!"
Ramza: "You would cut away the pure flesh with the foul. There is corruption, yes, but there are also good men in Ivalice, and they are not few! There are ways to heal a festered wound without the knife. The poison can be drawn!"
Barich: "Pray tell what poultice might draw the nobles from this land! So long as you blight it with your existence, we must bow to your whims. A man alone might know equality. Two men, never! One will ever seek to exploit the other. And I will not be exploited! I will claim your seat, and take what is my due. I should think I have at least that right!"
Ramza: "You think to cure the realm's corruption by becoming part of it? What when another comes to claim your seat? You care not for Ivalice's suffering - you care only for your own!"
Barich: "Such righteous words! More the greater your hypocrisy!"
I was not expecting Hegel's master-slave dialectic in my Final Fantasy game, but I'll take it-
No but it's kind of funny that Barich starts out by talking about purging the corruption within Ivalice before revealing that he doesn't believe equality is possible, he just wants to reverse the positions so he's the exploiter rather than the exploited, and then he calls Ramza a hypocrite.
But also my man is giving this defiant speech about taking the thrones of the lords while surrounded by Hester and Agrias, lmao. I give him another turn to live in case he has further dialogue (none that I can see) and he repays my kindness by taking down Ramza again so I just end it.
Thank God, he actually perishes, no magical escape.
Ramza: "Gods give us haste."
As a field test for Agrias's new accessory this was a tremendous success. Our girl's sword skills are good but her lower PA growth and lackluster Speed meant she never fully lived up to their potential; the Bracer gave her the strength to make her sword skills count but did leave her struggling to cover ground and lacking in actions compared to characters equipped with Hermes Boots (which grant +1 Speed). But now with the Tynar Rouge, she has the +3 PA to make her Sword Skills count and she just finished unlocking Attack Boost from Geomancer, meaning she hits with the force of a nuke, and she is permanently buffed with Haste, Protect and Shell, making her incredibly tanky (and tankier as soon as I swap her back to a heavy armor job) and taking enough actions to offset her lack of mobility.
Our girl is a tank. Not in the MMORPG role sense, in the "heavily armored front-line vehicle with excellent maneuvrability equipped with heavy ranged armament" sense. We may never need another unit again. (THIS IS FORESHADOWING.)
As the battle ends, we cut to Fort Besselat, where an unexpected scene is unfolding.
II. It Helps That Our Enemies Are Very Fucking Stupid
Orlandeau: "I, plotting against the duke? Are you mad?"
Southern Sky Knight: "Please, my lord. Do not make this harder than it must be. We have our orders."
Orlandeau: "Why in the name of all that's good would I wish to unseat my liege lord?"
[Duke Goltanna enters; the knights kneel.]
Duke Goltanna: "You ask the very question that vexes me. I am gravely disappointed in you, Cid."
Orlandeau: "Surely you cannot mean that, Your Grace! I am no turncloak! I am your most loyal man!"
Duke Goltanna: "The proof speaks otherwise. It seems you have been in league with members of the Church, working secretly to see me ousted from my rightful seat."
Orlandeau: "That is absurd! From what lying blackguard did you hear such reverie?"
Duke Goltanna: "Even yet you deny it? My information comes from the High Confessor himself. You can imagine his distress upon learning of the plot."
Orlandeau: "Your Grace, the High Confessor deceives you! It is he who schemes in the shadows!"
Duke Goltanna: "The High Confessor? Now there's an august claim! Have you any evidence of this?"
Orlandeau: "Twenty and more years of loyal service, and still you require evidence? Words fail me, Your Grace."
Duke Goltanna: "As you fail me. I cannot hope to fight a war without your Order's forces. Still, I am left with no choice. A lamentable situation for us both. Take him from my sight!"
[The Knights and Orlandeau leave.]
Oh wow so Goltanna is like, an actual idiot. "Hey Golty, this is your buddy the High Confessor. Yeah, I need you to arrest your most loyal and effective general without whom your entire support base crumbles and you absolutely cannot win the war. Yeah, he's plotting against you, with uuuuh, rogue members of the Church, totally. Just found out. Anyway, cheers." Outstanding stuff.
I can't say it's unrealistic, though. Historically "the popular, highly competent military commander on whose service your reign depends utterly" is like, one of the top threats to any regime, and rulers are accordingly paranoid about potential disloyalty from such commanders (often to excess, but, well, you only need to be wrong once). If Cid wasn't the loyal servant that he is, it would be incredibly easy for him to eliminate Goltanna and claim himself Lord Regent, and a solid chunk of Goltanna's vassals would probably be thankful. So I can see how a mediocre noble who is risking it all on a high-stakes gamble for the throne would grow distrustful and paranoid of Cid's power and popularity, and how someone might use that fear to manipulate him… But he's wrong, he should have realized that he's wrong, and it's about to cost him everything.
No prize guessing who exactly carried the "High Confessor"'s words to Goltanna, of course.
Delita and Valmafra enter the room following Orlandeau's departure.
Delita: "You summoned, Your Grace?"
Goltanna: "I want you to maintain your contact with Mullonde. Once the Confessional rescript is in my hands, Larg is as good as defeated."
Delita: "Fear not, Your Grace. The High Confessor's mind is most firm on that account."
Goltanna: "Hmm. He had seemed somewhat indifferent to me. There is another matter as well. I am placing the Order of the Southern Sky under your leadership. Henceforth, you are a Knight Devout."
Delita: "You grant me honor far beyond my due."
Goltanna: "I expect I shall not regret it. I place my full and utter confidence in you, Delita - you, and you alone."
Delita: "Your Grace."
Like I said. An idiot.
A "rescript" is an official edict, and can refer specifically to a Papal decree on matters of doctrine; Delita is promising Goltanna that High Confessor Funebris has decided in his favor in the conflict over who is the true heir to the throne and therefore who gets to be regent, and the fighting will be done as soon as he has the official announcement and Larg finds himself in a position of stopping the fight or being a heretic. Which would be great news for Goltanna, if it was true!
III. Fort Besselat: South Wall
Moving onto the Fort Besselat node gives us an unexpected choice point: We can either approach from the South Wall or the North Wall. That means we get to choose which of two different battles we fight on our way to the next story beat!
This would be really neat if we had any indication of what either of those battles would be like. As it stands, we have to choose blind, so it's about as interesting as randomly rolling for it. Still, it's neat for replay value, I suppose. I pick the South Wall, just because it's first in the list.
Ramza attempts to explain that he's not with the Northern Sky, but needs to urgently meet with Count Orlandeau. Unfortunately that's exactly the wrong thing to say; the Knight in charge hears this and immediately assumes that we're the assassins he's hired to kill the Duke, and declares his intent to throw us in the same dungeon they're currently holding Cid in. On the plus side, now we know where to look for him once we've blenderized our way through these jokers!
In theory, the enemy here has the advantage of terrain - we're surrounded by Archers, a Ninja and a Thief all high on the walls with a clean firing line to us, with three Knights at the far end also on a raised position. However, the walls are constructed in such a fashion that it is, in fact, possible to hop from step to step to the top, and…
Gillian learned Arcane Strength from Black Mage and has now swapped to Time Mage for the time being.
Agrias goes first and obliterates the Ninja with a 828 damage Divine Ruination. Holy shit. This is immediately followed by Hester going up and instagibbing the Archer, clearing one side of the battlefield. The Thief on the other side goes next, and immediately hops down from his superior position to stab Hadrian, which is definitely… A decision… He deals 100 damage, which is no small amount, but that triggers Dragonheart so now Hadrian has Reraise and immediately runs the poor rogue through.
That's 3/7 enemies down. Ramza uses Shout to self-buff and begins ascending the wall, while Gillian casts Haste on him to expedite the process. The three Knights finally take their turns, advancing towards our lines, but they lack ranged attacks, so all their elevated position does for them is actually make it harder to come support their allies. Next turn, I have Hester and Gillian advance along the far wall, and one of the Knight comes up to greet them with a stab - his attack deals 195 damage, nearly instantly taking out Hester, who only has 203 HP.
…obliterating the Knight's entire bloodline.
A funny thing happens then, when on the left side, Ramza is advancing along the ledge and one of the Knights comes up to meet him, resulting in… A total stalemate.
Ramza has 100 Bravery with Shout active, so any standard Attack triggers First Strike. However, Knights have a very high chance to block or parry an attack. So any time this dude attacks, he gets preempted by Ramza's First Strike, which then bounces off his shield. Then if I have Ramza attack, he bounces off again. My best way around it is Iaido, but…
This is called "Doomed Aspirations" and it's really fucking cool.
Even with +2 MA from two Shouts, my strongest Iaido move "only" deals 162 damage, far below Ramza's physical attack power.
Samurai is just kind of an awkwardly designed class, I guess. It really wants you to be a Black Mage with Iaido instead of using the actual class.
So it takes time for Ramza to grind through this guy's HP, but the guy in turn can't actually hurt Ramza. But that's one more enemy tied down, which means only two left to actually do stuff, and I quickly close in on them with the rest of my team.
Hester stabs the back row Knight, Hadrian Jumps over Ramza to finish off his opponent, and Agrias somehow manages to not kill the last Archer but merely bring him down to his knees, whereupon Ramza gets up on the wall and finishes the job.
All in all, an overwhelming victory. Ramza reflects on the need for quick action to end the battle that's raging just off-screen, and we transition to a cutscene.
And what a cutscene it is.
Cut for image count.
Final Fantasy Tactics, Part 17.B: Beddha Sandwaste, Fort Besselat South Gate, Fort Besselat Sluice
New
- Location
- Brittany, France
- Pronouns
- He/Him
IV. I Had No Expectations And You Still Failed Them
Zalbaag enters a chunk of the Northern Sky camp in the wake of the poison gas; many of the Knights are lying incapacitated on the grounds, while others are merely weakened, struggling to speak. He approaches a female knight, asking her what's wrong, and she says it's only her head and she'll be fine, before collapsing to the ground.
Dycedarg enters then.
Dycedarg: "They have befouled the air. A poison extracted from mossfungus spores."
[He falls to his knees.]
Zalbaag: "Lord Brother!"
Dycedarg: "I will be well. I worry only for the duke. Where is he?"
Zalbaag: "Would that I knew. My search has yielded naught."
Dyce Darg: [From afar] "Zalbaag… Dycedarg. I am here."
[They climb to the top, where they find Duke Larg seated against a wall.]
Zalbaag: "Excellency, are you harmed? Someone! Summon an apothecary at once!"
Dycedarg: "How do you feel, Your Excellency?"
Duke Larg: "My head… it is as though it were split in twain. But I do not think it serious. I just need… some time."
Dycedarg: "Most unfortunate."
Duke Larg: "What?"
And then.
Dycedarg produces a knife, and stabs Duke Larg in the gut.
Even Zalbaag is shocked and surprised. Needless to say, so is Duke Larg; even with the knife buried in his chest, he seems too surprised to believe it.
Duke Larg: "Urgh… What… have you done?"
Zalbaag: "Dycedarg!?"
[Dycedarg pushes the blade in deeper.]
Dycedarg: "Be silent, Brother!"
Duke Larg: [He looks up, staring at Dycedarg's face.] "You… you've betrayed me? You killed your father to… to gain control of your house. And now you have killed me."
[Dycedarg withdraws the knife; blood gushes out. He pants, visibly exhausted.]
Zalbaag: "Is this poison your work as well?"
Dycedarg: "No… No. It is a gift of those who would see House Beoulve take center stage."
Zalbaag: "Why do this?"
Dycedarg: "Duke Larg was slain in battle. It is now left to House Beoulve to carry out his wishes."
Zalbaag: "This - you go to far."
Dycedarg: "This dagger. Place it among the corpses. They were assassins. Sent by the Southern Order. You understand me… yes?"
[Dycedarg collapses.]
Zalbaag: "Dycedarg!?"
Man.
"Dycedarg killed his own father" is a way darker twist on the character than I was expecting; we knew he was power hungry, and we knew from what happened to Ramza that he isn't as attached to "family" as he would like to pretend he is. But I did actually believe he was loyal to Duke Larg, if for self-interested reasons, and loyal to some idea of "House Beoulve" that excluded Ramza because he's a bastard, but if Duke Larg's sudden insight in his dying moment is true, then not even that is real - he killed Barbaneth, whom everyone agrees was some kind of paragon of knightly virtue, martial prowess and general excellence, so he could take over. He's a snake, plain and simple.
It's unclear how much Zalbaag knows of his brother's deeds; he doesn't react to the mention of his kinslaying, so he might have already known? He seems to disapprove of murdering the Duke, so Dycedarg did not share his plans with him ahead of time?
At the same time… It's kind of fascinating to me that for all his treachery on display here, Dycedarg is nearly collapsing from poison the entire time, has to limp up to the Duke's position, and then commits murder seconds before passing out from pain and exhaustion. There's one man in this scene who shows resolve, determination, and commitment to see things through, and it's the traitor; meanwhile Zalbaag, who shows the thinnest veneer of moral qualms about the whole thing, and who is the only person here who is physically fine and did not suffer the effects of the poison, just stands there and watches him do it, raising milquetoast objection before going along with his brother's plans anyway.
Dycedarg may be a snake, but Zalbaag has no spine. And these are the trueborn heirs of House Beoulve.
What a sorry sight.
Also, I think, but am not sure, that Dycedarg here is implying he knew about the poison plan ahead of time? It would be very weird to assume that the poison was "a gift from those who wish to see House Beoulve take center stage" if he didn't know its origin, as opposed to assuming it's a plan by Duke Goltanna to wipe out the Northern Sky. It seems likely he was approached by a Templar agent who sold him a line in the same way Delita convinced Goltanna that Orlandeau was plotting against him.
Big moves being made, but Ramza of course sees none of it. He hurries towards Fort Besselat…
V. Fort Besselat: Sluice Gate
…and finds his way blocked by the sluice used to control the capacity of the lake next to the fort. Which is when he struck by a genuinely pretty cool idea, if one doesn't mind a minor ecological disaster: Opening the sluice all the way would spill the lake's waters downstream, flooding the plains between the Northern and Southern Sky camp, making battle impossible. That would give him the respite necessary to locate Count Orlandeau and try to bring an end to the fighting.
Of course, the Southern Sky Knights guarding the sluice aren't of a mind to let him tamper with that vital infrastructure, so we'll have to fight our way through.
Notably, our objective here isn't "defeat everyone," it's "open the sluice." This is the first time we get an explicit objective that isn't "kill everyone," "kill this one guy," or "kill everyone while keeping this one guy alive," but an environmental goal to achieve that's tangential to the battle itself. It'd be interesting to see it explored more.
It take me a moment to figure out what I'm supposed to do; using Select to check individual tiles reveals that at each end of the sluice's gate on top, there is a "thick iron plate" tile. Ramza confirms this when he takes his next turn, noting for the player's benefit that there should be a lever at either end of the sluice, and if we pull both, it will open. Which is all well and good, there's just one problem:
Currently, each of these two tiles is occupied by a Knight. In order to access the tiles, I will need to move them; either by drawing them away from their spots somehow, or by using forced movement, of which I have very little - only the Squire's Rush comes to mind as a "shove" action that can force a unit back.
Put another way: It's cool that the game gave us a special objective to fulfill, but it's simply going to be quicker and easier to just kill everyone than to play aggro games to get the guards to leave their positions.
Hester and Agrias take the left side of the sluice; Agrias immediately annihilates an enemy BLM, while Hester can't quite get into melee range so she defaults to throwing shurikens at the remaining BLM for a decent 80 damage (I need to remember to transfer Balthier's Speed equipment to her if I don't use him since Throw damage is based on Speed).
The enemy Knights outspeed my other units, so two of them come down to engage with Ramza, Hadrian, and Gillian; the usual Attack-First Strike-Parry stalemate plays out, Ramza turns on the Kaioken, and then I have Ramza and Hadrian just… Slip past the enemy Knights to attack their rear lines, with Hadrian targeting the enemy archer with a Jump. That leaves Gillian undefended and the last character in the roster to move, so I have her Haste herself then Wait so her next turn comes up faster.
You'll be fine, babygirl.
Validating my concerns about the difficulty of getting them to move out of their guarded tiles, the Knight occupying the lever tile on Agrias and Hester's side of the sluice refuses to move to engage them, and instead throw Stones, while the BLM behind him starts casting a spell. Fortunately, I realize then that the sluice gate is a one-tile narrow bridge where the enemies are perfectly aligned, so…
Hallowed Bolt takes out the KNT and the BLM in one fell swoop. Only the Archer remains on this side of the dam; the Archer finishes its Aim action and hits Hester for 100 damage, which just won't cut it; she goes after and immediately kills him.
The second sluice gate Knight also use Stone against Ramza for 4 damage rather than move from his spot.
Hadrian completes his Jump, dealing severe damage to the rear line Archer, though that doesn't really do the job - our boy's been stuck with the Partisan even as other characters unlocked new weapons for a while now and his damage has started to suffer, though he's still valuable for being the next best thing to invincible in our party. Luckily, Ramza will close the deal soon enough. Here, you can see a man about to make a terrible mistake:
That Knight decides to throw an attack at Ramza. He is immediately countered with First Strike and, this time, does not parry, taking him down instantly. I then have Gillian charge up a Protect on Ramza, and move our protagonist to finish off the Archer Hadrian already injured.
The enemy is now down to two units. The Knight at the bottom decides Gillian is a juicy vulnerable target while casting and hits her but can't actually take her out in one hit; Agrias moves up to the Knight on the other sluice lever and blasts him with Divine Ruination, taking him into critical HP while remaining one tile away from him - if I'm right, he will still default to throwing a Stone at her for basically no damage rather than step away from his lever.
I was correct. The objective is a lure - it's easier to kill everyone. Agrias goes again next, turning the guy inside out with another Divine Ruination, and I decide to close this off in style:
You go, girl.
And this concludes the Battle of the Sluice Gate. A dismantling in order, with an absolutely oppressive approach that left our enemies absolutely no chance. Even leaving Gillian completely exposed at our back line with Knights in range of her wasn't enough for them to land a KO because we were just too fast in taking them apart. I did not check the enemy levels thoroughly, but we seem to be hanging at about one or two level below on average, which is closer than we usually are; more importantly though is the absolute dominance of our gear and job setups. Agrias's Tynar Rouge and Attack Boost have turned her from a merely solid unit who was starting to show signs of reaching her ceiling in terms of power and struggling to keep up with some busted combos (female PA growth on a pure physical job, quite simply; very frustrating but the game is simply designed that way) into a unit-devouring juggernaut capable of solo clearing entire chunks of the battlefield while at basically zero risk to her health. Knowing the Tynar Rouge is a WotL addition that wouldn't have been in the original release gives me ambivalent feelings towards it; it really is a wildly overpowered item, but I wonder to what extent it was designed as a "fix" to let Agrias remain competitive late-game rather than be condemned to be outshone by other units.
This will, huh, be relevant very quickly.
Hester, meanwhile, remains incredible value, her frailty as a Ninja partially made up for with Dragonheart and the sheer damage output of her dual wielding + attack boost combined with her sheer speed making her my best "assassin" unit (plus she can Throw or Dance any turn she's not in stabbing range). Hadrian has been slowing down in terms of damage output compared to the rest of the group but he mostly just needs a new spear to fix that issue, I think (and I got some pointers on where to look for one such spear), and Jump remains an extremely versatile offensive tool. Gillian's performance isn't as eye-catching as any of the others, and ever since ditching the gun and changing jobs she's lost a bit of what made her so distinctive, but she remains high value, putting in the unspectacular work of throwing healing spells, protective buffs, and now Haste, which is especially valuable when running the other four because they're all incredibly aggressive units with almost no support (though that could be ameliorated by swapping Mustadio back in at the cost of some DPS).
The odd one out is really Ramza here - he essentially starts the fight one turn later than everyone else due to taking an action Shout-buffing, at which point he becomes a fast, hard-hitting unit that isn't quite as fast as Hester or as hard-hitting as Agrias; the combination of Doublehand and the Bracer has racked up his physical attack power so high that it's left Iaido completely in the dust, though Iaido does still have benefits in its more support-oriented skills. Maybe I should tweak his loadout, or have him spend time in another job, though he still works just fine, he's just not the main powerhouse of the party.
Why the impromptu party breakdown? Well, partly just to reflect on why we just carved through the last three battles like a knife through butter, and what changed that brought about this sudden ease of victory. Partly because… Well.
Ramza opens the sluice gate, and the lake's water pour down the river, flooding its banks and raising the water level several tiles above where it sat previously. We then immediately transition to the inside of Fort Besselat.
VI. He Is The Hype
I genuinely experienced a kind of whiplash at how quickly this happened. We went from "Ramza just sabotaged the sluice gate and forcibly broke up any fighting by flooding the plains" to "Ramza is inside Fort Besselat, has found and teamed up with Orran and also Valmafra, Delita's right hand, and just entered the dungeon were Cid is held," like what? There's at least one scene missing here! It really is Valmafra's presence that makes it so weird for me, because like, Delita openly told Ramza "btw I'm planning to kill Orlandeau" so we're missing a beat where we get to see why he's now fine with just letting Ramza release him instead and lending him his lieutenant's aid? And what is Goltanna even doing while all this is happening?
It's fine, it'll make sense in a few minutes, it was just a weird swerve but it ultimately works out.
Notably, they both kneel before introducing themselves.
Orran: "I pray you've been kept well, my lord."
Count Orlandeau: "Well enough, as you can see. And this must be Ramza. How you've grown, boy! Still, I recognized you at once."
Ramza: "Have we met, Excellency?"
Orlandeau: "Yes, though I can't say I'm surprised you've forgotten. You were only a child of some three or four years at the time. You gave us all quite a fright, trying to lift my sword. Your father gave you a scolding that left you in tears, though at least you weren't hurt. Ha ha ha. And now here you've come to rescue me. I thank you. There's no need to kneel."
[Ramza and Valmafra stand up.]
Orran: "The battle is ended, with only light casualties on either side. This, too, thanks to the help of Ramza and his companions. We've managed to hold the fires of war at bay, for a time."
Orlandeau: "I see. You are a worthy son of Barbaneth, young Ramza. There are many who owe you their thanks, and I give it now in their stead. And mine with it, to be sure."
Ramza: "I do only what must needs be done."
Orlandeau: "I see your likeness to Barbaneth is more than skin deep. Your deeds honor him, boy."
Valmafra: "Pray forgive my interruption. But Duke Goltanna means to execute Your Excellency on the morrow. We should waste no time in fleeing."
Orran: "It is as she says, my lord. We should continue this elsewhere."
Orlandeau: "Yes, yes. It won't do for me to remain here with Goltanna in this ill temper. Orran, the hour of this war's end will not be long in coming. Until it does, I mean to travel with Ramza. We must put a stop to the High Confessor's plans."
Orran: "Then I will go with you, my lord!"
Orlandeau: "No. You will return to Zeltennia and see to the safety of Lady Ovelia. She alone is the rightful heir to the throne. You must see that she comes to no harm."
Orran: "I understand."
Orlandeau: "Well, Ramza, you've no objections, I trust?"
Ramza: "None at all, my lord."
Orlandeau: "Then let's away before we're found."
Wait.
Surely they can't mean…
No.
There's no way.
THE THUNDER GOD HAS JOINED THE PARTY!?
Holy shit.
Wait, he's wielding Excalibur!?
His job is sword saint???
…
Yeah, so, there's a reason I described my feelings towards the WotL adding the wildly overpowered Tynar Rouge item that massively buffs Agrias as 'ambivalent'. Because five minutes later, the game gives us this. Count Cidolfus Orlandeau, a man the game has spent its entire runtime hyping up as an absolute legend, the Thunder God himself, the only man on Goltanna's side of the war who isn't incompetent or a traitor and who has somehow been able to single-handedly keep them in the running for the Throne, is added to our party.
And he's not nerfed or anything either. Here are Agrias's stats vs Orlandeau's without any gear equipped:
Same base Move (Agrias has Move+1 enhancing it slightly), same Speed, Agrias has +1 Magic Attack that she doesn't need, and Orlandeau has +4 Physical Attack that is the trait which they both need for their job abilities, on top of +78 HP. He also has slightly higher Bravery and Faith. He is the superior version of Agrias in every possible way; frankly, he is most likely better than all my other characters, or will be with just a tiny bit of JP, but Agrias is the most direct comparison. Because, uh, let's check out his Command list:
He has access to all Holy Sword Skills (which he can use better thanks to his superior PA), but he also has access to the entire Crush [Gear] line of abilities we witnessed from Meliadoul, and also Gaffgarion's previously-unique trademark skills, Duskblade and Shadowblade.
He is the Sword Saint. He has every sword skill in the game.
Holy shit.
That's not even counting the fact that he comes packaged with Excalibur, which grants him Auto-Haste. At least that one's transferable. But no, Orlandeau is just Built Different. He genuinely lives up to the hype.
…
He is so good that he will probably be a better replacement for any character I drop from my standard line up. But also, he very specifically occupies the same niche as Agrias, but better in every way. Especially without the Tynar Rouge (which admittedly does change the cards somewhat with its existence), there is no justification for fielding Agrias instead of Orlandeau that won't become irrelevant with just a little JP to round him out with some support abilities. At best, we could double up on Special Knights and claim that it's double the power, but he'll still be doing that job better than her. People (justifiably) ragged on Balthier for being a promo character added years after the original release who is just a better Mustadio in every way. But there's clearly precedent for this in the original release!
…
I am going to say what is possibly the most Me thing I've ever said here:
I'm a little disappointed.
No, no, don't get me wrong - I'm not disappointed in Cid as such. He absolutely lives up to the hype, and seeing him join the party is a genuine "oh shit let's fucking go" moment and I can't wait to use him in battle.
But I thought I would get to fight him.
The game has been hyping him up for hours! I genuinely thought it was to build him up as a threat leading to a boss fight! Like Gaffgarion and Wiegraf before him!
Now he's our ally and I will probably never get to throw down with him in a no holds barred climactic battle. What a shame.
…
So what's going on with Goltanna while we're having this hype moment?
VII. Never Stop Scheming
Duke Goltanna: "How has the sluice been opened? I suffer a plague of fools!"
[Delita enters and kneels before the Duke.]
Delita: "You called for me, Excellency."
Duke Goltanna: "You are to gather a company of soldiers and move against the Northern Sky at once!"
Delita: "The water from the sluice makes movement difficult enough, let alone fighting."
Duke Goltanna: "What's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. This is an opportunity we cannot let pass! They will not be expecting an attack. If they slip away now, who can say how long this war may drag on?"
Delita: "I must refuse."
Duke Goltanna: "Refuse!?"
And so we see our second betrayal-murder of the day. Delita runs Goltanna through, the man managing to gasp an "How dare you!" to which Delita angrily replies, "No man would wish to see you king!"
We've seen relatively little of Goltanna over all, but this definitely feels like a point where business and pleasure mixed for Delita: Goltanna had to die regardless of his personal qualities for the Templar Knights' plans (and Delita's own) to come to fruition, but the kind of person Goltanna turned out to be meant that Delita also took personal satisfaction in finally putting a sword through that idiotic blowhard's chest.
Delita pulls out the blade, and the Duke collapses. No final words of sudden insight for this man. Delita turns around, and summons Valmafra, who walks in with… Count Orlandeau?
Well.
They found a lookalike - engineered one, perhaps, with magic of some kind? Either way, they found a devout of the church who looks like Cid, dressed him up in Cid's clothes, and promised him paradise for his sacrifice.
Delita runs him through.
Valmafra: "The real Count Orlandeau has escaped with Ramza."
Delita: "Then we can but hope that Ramza does not fail us."
Count Orlandeau was arrested by Duke Goltanna for his plans to betray and murder his liege. He then broke out of the dungeons, found Goltanna in his chambers, and the two men killed one another in the ensuing fight - or else Orlandeau killed Goltanna then fell upon his sword, either story works. It's a clever narrative, and definitely set up ahead of time - Delita could not have known Ramza would specifically use the sluice gate to break up the fighting, but Orlandeau's earlier arrest perfectly set up the murder-suicide/double-murder later on, and Duke Goltanna played wholly into Delita's hand. They can't have found a Cid lookalike on such short notice, so that too must have been part of the plan; they always meant to stage this incident, which means they always planned for Orlandeau to escape. Indeed, Delita likely heard about Ramza's plans, factored in how his own plans involved Orlandeau getting arrested and slated for execution, and concluded that the best course of action was to fudge things a little by having Valmafra outright helping Ramza break Orlandeau out while preparing to stage the double murder.
What a devious little schemer.
I suppose the question is: Is this the Church's plan, or Delita? That is to say, is the Church okay with allowing the real Orlandeau to escape with one of their devouts taking his place as a corpse, or is Delita pulling one over the Church by letting them believe that the real Orlandeau has died, so that Ramza and Cid together can act in a way that Delita will somehow take advantage of? It's hard for me to tell at this stage.
We get another narration panel over a sick shot of the Besselat sluice flooding the plains, telling us that the High Confessor came forward with the planned offer to "mediate" - of course, things didn't go according to his original plan. Dukes Larg and Goltanna have ided, and Orlandeau was taken off the board, but Dycedarg and Zalbaag are very much alive and were always the brain and brawn (respectively) holding up the Northern Sky, and therefore Goltanna's faction; they (really meaning Dycedarg) have no intention on giving up so close to the throne. It's unclear who on Goltanna's side is left in leadership (aside from Delita), but presumably some lesser nobles are still intent on trying to make it work.
The important part isn't just that the Church failed to decapitate the leadership entirely; it's that, by flooding the plains, Ramza prevented both armies from meeting in a grand final clash that left them both exsanguinated. Whichever petty nobles are now taking up Goltanna's cause, they still have a full army.
With little hope for peace, Ramza instead decides to go back on Alma's trail, and to do so, he follows his only lead: to Limberry, home of Marquis Essam "Sephiroth" Elmdore de Limberry.
There's a fair distance to cover before getting there, of course. And some party composition choices to make. But with 40 main story battles, we're now reaching the point where the previous free chapters would have ended; if we assume Chapter 4 is "merely" twice as long as any other chapter (with this voice-over/painted background sequence marking the halfway point), that leaves us about ten battles - we are inching towards the endgame. Which fits with several of our characters having reached their endgame builds with little room for further growth beyond "spending a couple hours getting Shirahadori on everyone because it's slightly more optimal than Dragonheart" which I absolutely don't want to be getting into), though it does raise the question of whether we'll have time for the late game recruits to grow into their full potential - perhaps the only balancing factor of Cidolfus "Thunderchad" Orlandeau is that we won't have time to unlock all these ridiculous sword skills.
That seems doubtful, though.
Thank you for reading.
Next Time: I'm given to believe we'll probably run into side quests before reaching Limberry.
Main Story Battle Count: 40
Side Quest Battle Count: 5
Random Encounter Count: 59
Zalbaag enters a chunk of the Northern Sky camp in the wake of the poison gas; many of the Knights are lying incapacitated on the grounds, while others are merely weakened, struggling to speak. He approaches a female knight, asking her what's wrong, and she says it's only her head and she'll be fine, before collapsing to the ground.
Dycedarg enters then.
Dycedarg: "They have befouled the air. A poison extracted from mossfungus spores."
[He falls to his knees.]
Zalbaag: "Lord Brother!"
Dycedarg: "I will be well. I worry only for the duke. Where is he?"
Zalbaag: "Would that I knew. My search has yielded naught."
Dyce Darg: [From afar] "Zalbaag… Dycedarg. I am here."
[They climb to the top, where they find Duke Larg seated against a wall.]
Zalbaag: "Excellency, are you harmed? Someone! Summon an apothecary at once!"
Dycedarg: "How do you feel, Your Excellency?"
Duke Larg: "My head… it is as though it were split in twain. But I do not think it serious. I just need… some time."
Dycedarg: "Most unfortunate."
Duke Larg: "What?"
And then.
Dycedarg produces a knife, and stabs Duke Larg in the gut.
Even Zalbaag is shocked and surprised. Needless to say, so is Duke Larg; even with the knife buried in his chest, he seems too surprised to believe it.
Duke Larg: "Urgh… What… have you done?"
Zalbaag: "Dycedarg!?"
[Dycedarg pushes the blade in deeper.]
Dycedarg: "Be silent, Brother!"
Duke Larg: [He looks up, staring at Dycedarg's face.] "You… you've betrayed me? You killed your father to… to gain control of your house. And now you have killed me."
[Dycedarg withdraws the knife; blood gushes out. He pants, visibly exhausted.]
Zalbaag: "Is this poison your work as well?"
Dycedarg: "No… No. It is a gift of those who would see House Beoulve take center stage."
Zalbaag: "Why do this?"
Dycedarg: "Duke Larg was slain in battle. It is now left to House Beoulve to carry out his wishes."
Zalbaag: "This - you go to far."
Dycedarg: "This dagger. Place it among the corpses. They were assassins. Sent by the Southern Order. You understand me… yes?"
[Dycedarg collapses.]
Zalbaag: "Dycedarg!?"
Man.
"Dycedarg killed his own father" is a way darker twist on the character than I was expecting; we knew he was power hungry, and we knew from what happened to Ramza that he isn't as attached to "family" as he would like to pretend he is. But I did actually believe he was loyal to Duke Larg, if for self-interested reasons, and loyal to some idea of "House Beoulve" that excluded Ramza because he's a bastard, but if Duke Larg's sudden insight in his dying moment is true, then not even that is real - he killed Barbaneth, whom everyone agrees was some kind of paragon of knightly virtue, martial prowess and general excellence, so he could take over. He's a snake, plain and simple.
It's unclear how much Zalbaag knows of his brother's deeds; he doesn't react to the mention of his kinslaying, so he might have already known? He seems to disapprove of murdering the Duke, so Dycedarg did not share his plans with him ahead of time?
At the same time… It's kind of fascinating to me that for all his treachery on display here, Dycedarg is nearly collapsing from poison the entire time, has to limp up to the Duke's position, and then commits murder seconds before passing out from pain and exhaustion. There's one man in this scene who shows resolve, determination, and commitment to see things through, and it's the traitor; meanwhile Zalbaag, who shows the thinnest veneer of moral qualms about the whole thing, and who is the only person here who is physically fine and did not suffer the effects of the poison, just stands there and watches him do it, raising milquetoast objection before going along with his brother's plans anyway.
Dycedarg may be a snake, but Zalbaag has no spine. And these are the trueborn heirs of House Beoulve.
What a sorry sight.
Also, I think, but am not sure, that Dycedarg here is implying he knew about the poison plan ahead of time? It would be very weird to assume that the poison was "a gift from those who wish to see House Beoulve take center stage" if he didn't know its origin, as opposed to assuming it's a plan by Duke Goltanna to wipe out the Northern Sky. It seems likely he was approached by a Templar agent who sold him a line in the same way Delita convinced Goltanna that Orlandeau was plotting against him.
Big moves being made, but Ramza of course sees none of it. He hurries towards Fort Besselat…
V. Fort Besselat: Sluice Gate
…and finds his way blocked by the sluice used to control the capacity of the lake next to the fort. Which is when he struck by a genuinely pretty cool idea, if one doesn't mind a minor ecological disaster: Opening the sluice all the way would spill the lake's waters downstream, flooding the plains between the Northern and Southern Sky camp, making battle impossible. That would give him the respite necessary to locate Count Orlandeau and try to bring an end to the fighting.
Of course, the Southern Sky Knights guarding the sluice aren't of a mind to let him tamper with that vital infrastructure, so we'll have to fight our way through.
Notably, our objective here isn't "defeat everyone," it's "open the sluice." This is the first time we get an explicit objective that isn't "kill everyone," "kill this one guy," or "kill everyone while keeping this one guy alive," but an environmental goal to achieve that's tangential to the battle itself. It'd be interesting to see it explored more.
It take me a moment to figure out what I'm supposed to do; using Select to check individual tiles reveals that at each end of the sluice's gate on top, there is a "thick iron plate" tile. Ramza confirms this when he takes his next turn, noting for the player's benefit that there should be a lever at either end of the sluice, and if we pull both, it will open. Which is all well and good, there's just one problem:
Currently, each of these two tiles is occupied by a Knight. In order to access the tiles, I will need to move them; either by drawing them away from their spots somehow, or by using forced movement, of which I have very little - only the Squire's Rush comes to mind as a "shove" action that can force a unit back.
Put another way: It's cool that the game gave us a special objective to fulfill, but it's simply going to be quicker and easier to just kill everyone than to play aggro games to get the guards to leave their positions.
Hester and Agrias take the left side of the sluice; Agrias immediately annihilates an enemy BLM, while Hester can't quite get into melee range so she defaults to throwing shurikens at the remaining BLM for a decent 80 damage (I need to remember to transfer Balthier's Speed equipment to her if I don't use him since Throw damage is based on Speed).
The enemy Knights outspeed my other units, so two of them come down to engage with Ramza, Hadrian, and Gillian; the usual Attack-First Strike-Parry stalemate plays out, Ramza turns on the Kaioken, and then I have Ramza and Hadrian just… Slip past the enemy Knights to attack their rear lines, with Hadrian targeting the enemy archer with a Jump. That leaves Gillian undefended and the last character in the roster to move, so I have her Haste herself then Wait so her next turn comes up faster.
You'll be fine, babygirl.
Validating my concerns about the difficulty of getting them to move out of their guarded tiles, the Knight occupying the lever tile on Agrias and Hester's side of the sluice refuses to move to engage them, and instead throw Stones, while the BLM behind him starts casting a spell. Fortunately, I realize then that the sluice gate is a one-tile narrow bridge where the enemies are perfectly aligned, so…
Hallowed Bolt takes out the KNT and the BLM in one fell swoop. Only the Archer remains on this side of the dam; the Archer finishes its Aim action and hits Hester for 100 damage, which just won't cut it; she goes after and immediately kills him.
The second sluice gate Knight also use Stone against Ramza for 4 damage rather than move from his spot.
Hadrian completes his Jump, dealing severe damage to the rear line Archer, though that doesn't really do the job - our boy's been stuck with the Partisan even as other characters unlocked new weapons for a while now and his damage has started to suffer, though he's still valuable for being the next best thing to invincible in our party. Luckily, Ramza will close the deal soon enough. Here, you can see a man about to make a terrible mistake:
That Knight decides to throw an attack at Ramza. He is immediately countered with First Strike and, this time, does not parry, taking him down instantly. I then have Gillian charge up a Protect on Ramza, and move our protagonist to finish off the Archer Hadrian already injured.
The enemy is now down to two units. The Knight at the bottom decides Gillian is a juicy vulnerable target while casting and hits her but can't actually take her out in one hit; Agrias moves up to the Knight on the other sluice lever and blasts him with Divine Ruination, taking him into critical HP while remaining one tile away from him - if I'm right, he will still default to throwing a Stone at her for basically no damage rather than step away from his lever.
I was correct. The objective is a lure - it's easier to kill everyone. Agrias goes again next, turning the guy inside out with another Divine Ruination, and I decide to close this off in style:
You go, girl.
And this concludes the Battle of the Sluice Gate. A dismantling in order, with an absolutely oppressive approach that left our enemies absolutely no chance. Even leaving Gillian completely exposed at our back line with Knights in range of her wasn't enough for them to land a KO because we were just too fast in taking them apart. I did not check the enemy levels thoroughly, but we seem to be hanging at about one or two level below on average, which is closer than we usually are; more importantly though is the absolute dominance of our gear and job setups. Agrias's Tynar Rouge and Attack Boost have turned her from a merely solid unit who was starting to show signs of reaching her ceiling in terms of power and struggling to keep up with some busted combos (female PA growth on a pure physical job, quite simply; very frustrating but the game is simply designed that way) into a unit-devouring juggernaut capable of solo clearing entire chunks of the battlefield while at basically zero risk to her health. Knowing the Tynar Rouge is a WotL addition that wouldn't have been in the original release gives me ambivalent feelings towards it; it really is a wildly overpowered item, but I wonder to what extent it was designed as a "fix" to let Agrias remain competitive late-game rather than be condemned to be outshone by other units.
This will, huh, be relevant very quickly.
Hester, meanwhile, remains incredible value, her frailty as a Ninja partially made up for with Dragonheart and the sheer damage output of her dual wielding + attack boost combined with her sheer speed making her my best "assassin" unit (plus she can Throw or Dance any turn she's not in stabbing range). Hadrian has been slowing down in terms of damage output compared to the rest of the group but he mostly just needs a new spear to fix that issue, I think (and I got some pointers on where to look for one such spear), and Jump remains an extremely versatile offensive tool. Gillian's performance isn't as eye-catching as any of the others, and ever since ditching the gun and changing jobs she's lost a bit of what made her so distinctive, but she remains high value, putting in the unspectacular work of throwing healing spells, protective buffs, and now Haste, which is especially valuable when running the other four because they're all incredibly aggressive units with almost no support (though that could be ameliorated by swapping Mustadio back in at the cost of some DPS).
The odd one out is really Ramza here - he essentially starts the fight one turn later than everyone else due to taking an action Shout-buffing, at which point he becomes a fast, hard-hitting unit that isn't quite as fast as Hester or as hard-hitting as Agrias; the combination of Doublehand and the Bracer has racked up his physical attack power so high that it's left Iaido completely in the dust, though Iaido does still have benefits in its more support-oriented skills. Maybe I should tweak his loadout, or have him spend time in another job, though he still works just fine, he's just not the main powerhouse of the party.
Why the impromptu party breakdown? Well, partly just to reflect on why we just carved through the last three battles like a knife through butter, and what changed that brought about this sudden ease of victory. Partly because… Well.
Ramza opens the sluice gate, and the lake's water pour down the river, flooding its banks and raising the water level several tiles above where it sat previously. We then immediately transition to the inside of Fort Besselat.
VI. He Is The Hype
I genuinely experienced a kind of whiplash at how quickly this happened. We went from "Ramza just sabotaged the sluice gate and forcibly broke up any fighting by flooding the plains" to "Ramza is inside Fort Besselat, has found and teamed up with Orran and also Valmafra, Delita's right hand, and just entered the dungeon were Cid is held," like what? There's at least one scene missing here! It really is Valmafra's presence that makes it so weird for me, because like, Delita openly told Ramza "btw I'm planning to kill Orlandeau" so we're missing a beat where we get to see why he's now fine with just letting Ramza release him instead and lending him his lieutenant's aid? And what is Goltanna even doing while all this is happening?
It's fine, it'll make sense in a few minutes, it was just a weird swerve but it ultimately works out.
Notably, they both kneel before introducing themselves.
Orran: "I pray you've been kept well, my lord."
Count Orlandeau: "Well enough, as you can see. And this must be Ramza. How you've grown, boy! Still, I recognized you at once."
Ramza: "Have we met, Excellency?"
Orlandeau: "Yes, though I can't say I'm surprised you've forgotten. You were only a child of some three or four years at the time. You gave us all quite a fright, trying to lift my sword. Your father gave you a scolding that left you in tears, though at least you weren't hurt. Ha ha ha. And now here you've come to rescue me. I thank you. There's no need to kneel."
[Ramza and Valmafra stand up.]
Orran: "The battle is ended, with only light casualties on either side. This, too, thanks to the help of Ramza and his companions. We've managed to hold the fires of war at bay, for a time."
Orlandeau: "I see. You are a worthy son of Barbaneth, young Ramza. There are many who owe you their thanks, and I give it now in their stead. And mine with it, to be sure."
Ramza: "I do only what must needs be done."
Orlandeau: "I see your likeness to Barbaneth is more than skin deep. Your deeds honor him, boy."
Valmafra: "Pray forgive my interruption. But Duke Goltanna means to execute Your Excellency on the morrow. We should waste no time in fleeing."
Orran: "It is as she says, my lord. We should continue this elsewhere."
Orlandeau: "Yes, yes. It won't do for me to remain here with Goltanna in this ill temper. Orran, the hour of this war's end will not be long in coming. Until it does, I mean to travel with Ramza. We must put a stop to the High Confessor's plans."
Orran: "Then I will go with you, my lord!"
Orlandeau: "No. You will return to Zeltennia and see to the safety of Lady Ovelia. She alone is the rightful heir to the throne. You must see that she comes to no harm."
Orran: "I understand."
Orlandeau: "Well, Ramza, you've no objections, I trust?"
Ramza: "None at all, my lord."
Orlandeau: "Then let's away before we're found."
Wait.
Surely they can't mean…
No.
There's no way.
THE THUNDER GOD HAS JOINED THE PARTY!?
Holy shit.
Wait, he's wielding Excalibur!?
His job is sword saint???
…
Yeah, so, there's a reason I described my feelings towards the WotL adding the wildly overpowered Tynar Rouge item that massively buffs Agrias as 'ambivalent'. Because five minutes later, the game gives us this. Count Cidolfus Orlandeau, a man the game has spent its entire runtime hyping up as an absolute legend, the Thunder God himself, the only man on Goltanna's side of the war who isn't incompetent or a traitor and who has somehow been able to single-handedly keep them in the running for the Throne, is added to our party.
And he's not nerfed or anything either. Here are Agrias's stats vs Orlandeau's without any gear equipped:
Same base Move (Agrias has Move+1 enhancing it slightly), same Speed, Agrias has +1 Magic Attack that she doesn't need, and Orlandeau has +4 Physical Attack that is the trait which they both need for their job abilities, on top of +78 HP. He also has slightly higher Bravery and Faith. He is the superior version of Agrias in every possible way; frankly, he is most likely better than all my other characters, or will be with just a tiny bit of JP, but Agrias is the most direct comparison. Because, uh, let's check out his Command list:
He has access to all Holy Sword Skills (which he can use better thanks to his superior PA), but he also has access to the entire Crush [Gear] line of abilities we witnessed from Meliadoul, and also Gaffgarion's previously-unique trademark skills, Duskblade and Shadowblade.
He is the Sword Saint. He has every sword skill in the game.
Holy shit.
That's not even counting the fact that he comes packaged with Excalibur, which grants him Auto-Haste. At least that one's transferable. But no, Orlandeau is just Built Different. He genuinely lives up to the hype.
…
He is so good that he will probably be a better replacement for any character I drop from my standard line up. But also, he very specifically occupies the same niche as Agrias, but better in every way. Especially without the Tynar Rouge (which admittedly does change the cards somewhat with its existence), there is no justification for fielding Agrias instead of Orlandeau that won't become irrelevant with just a little JP to round him out with some support abilities. At best, we could double up on Special Knights and claim that it's double the power, but he'll still be doing that job better than her. People (justifiably) ragged on Balthier for being a promo character added years after the original release who is just a better Mustadio in every way. But there's clearly precedent for this in the original release!
…
I am going to say what is possibly the most Me thing I've ever said here:
I'm a little disappointed.
No, no, don't get me wrong - I'm not disappointed in Cid as such. He absolutely lives up to the hype, and seeing him join the party is a genuine "oh shit let's fucking go" moment and I can't wait to use him in battle.
But I thought I would get to fight him.
The game has been hyping him up for hours! I genuinely thought it was to build him up as a threat leading to a boss fight! Like Gaffgarion and Wiegraf before him!
Now he's our ally and I will probably never get to throw down with him in a no holds barred climactic battle. What a shame.
…
So what's going on with Goltanna while we're having this hype moment?
VII. Never Stop Scheming
Duke Goltanna: "How has the sluice been opened? I suffer a plague of fools!"
[Delita enters and kneels before the Duke.]
Delita: "You called for me, Excellency."
Duke Goltanna: "You are to gather a company of soldiers and move against the Northern Sky at once!"
Delita: "The water from the sluice makes movement difficult enough, let alone fighting."
Duke Goltanna: "What's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. This is an opportunity we cannot let pass! They will not be expecting an attack. If they slip away now, who can say how long this war may drag on?"
Delita: "I must refuse."
Duke Goltanna: "Refuse!?"
And so we see our second betrayal-murder of the day. Delita runs Goltanna through, the man managing to gasp an "How dare you!" to which Delita angrily replies, "No man would wish to see you king!"
We've seen relatively little of Goltanna over all, but this definitely feels like a point where business and pleasure mixed for Delita: Goltanna had to die regardless of his personal qualities for the Templar Knights' plans (and Delita's own) to come to fruition, but the kind of person Goltanna turned out to be meant that Delita also took personal satisfaction in finally putting a sword through that idiotic blowhard's chest.
Delita pulls out the blade, and the Duke collapses. No final words of sudden insight for this man. Delita turns around, and summons Valmafra, who walks in with… Count Orlandeau?
Well.
They found a lookalike - engineered one, perhaps, with magic of some kind? Either way, they found a devout of the church who looks like Cid, dressed him up in Cid's clothes, and promised him paradise for his sacrifice.
Delita runs him through.
Valmafra: "The real Count Orlandeau has escaped with Ramza."
Delita: "Then we can but hope that Ramza does not fail us."
Count Orlandeau was arrested by Duke Goltanna for his plans to betray and murder his liege. He then broke out of the dungeons, found Goltanna in his chambers, and the two men killed one another in the ensuing fight - or else Orlandeau killed Goltanna then fell upon his sword, either story works. It's a clever narrative, and definitely set up ahead of time - Delita could not have known Ramza would specifically use the sluice gate to break up the fighting, but Orlandeau's earlier arrest perfectly set up the murder-suicide/double-murder later on, and Duke Goltanna played wholly into Delita's hand. They can't have found a Cid lookalike on such short notice, so that too must have been part of the plan; they always meant to stage this incident, which means they always planned for Orlandeau to escape. Indeed, Delita likely heard about Ramza's plans, factored in how his own plans involved Orlandeau getting arrested and slated for execution, and concluded that the best course of action was to fudge things a little by having Valmafra outright helping Ramza break Orlandeau out while preparing to stage the double murder.
What a devious little schemer.
I suppose the question is: Is this the Church's plan, or Delita? That is to say, is the Church okay with allowing the real Orlandeau to escape with one of their devouts taking his place as a corpse, or is Delita pulling one over the Church by letting them believe that the real Orlandeau has died, so that Ramza and Cid together can act in a way that Delita will somehow take advantage of? It's hard for me to tell at this stage.
We get another narration panel over a sick shot of the Besselat sluice flooding the plains, telling us that the High Confessor came forward with the planned offer to "mediate" - of course, things didn't go according to his original plan. Dukes Larg and Goltanna have ided, and Orlandeau was taken off the board, but Dycedarg and Zalbaag are very much alive and were always the brain and brawn (respectively) holding up the Northern Sky, and therefore Goltanna's faction; they (really meaning Dycedarg) have no intention on giving up so close to the throne. It's unclear who on Goltanna's side is left in leadership (aside from Delita), but presumably some lesser nobles are still intent on trying to make it work.
The important part isn't just that the Church failed to decapitate the leadership entirely; it's that, by flooding the plains, Ramza prevented both armies from meeting in a grand final clash that left them both exsanguinated. Whichever petty nobles are now taking up Goltanna's cause, they still have a full army.
With little hope for peace, Ramza instead decides to go back on Alma's trail, and to do so, he follows his only lead: to Limberry, home of Marquis Essam "Sephiroth" Elmdore de Limberry.
There's a fair distance to cover before getting there, of course. And some party composition choices to make. But with 40 main story battles, we're now reaching the point where the previous free chapters would have ended; if we assume Chapter 4 is "merely" twice as long as any other chapter (with this voice-over/painted background sequence marking the halfway point), that leaves us about ten battles - we are inching towards the endgame. Which fits with several of our characters having reached their endgame builds with little room for further growth beyond "spending a couple hours getting Shirahadori on everyone because it's slightly more optimal than Dragonheart" which I absolutely don't want to be getting into), though it does raise the question of whether we'll have time for the late game recruits to grow into their full potential - perhaps the only balancing factor of Cidolfus "Thunderchad" Orlandeau is that we won't have time to unlock all these ridiculous sword skills.
That seems doubtful, though.
Thank you for reading.
Next Time: I'm given to believe we'll probably run into side quests before reaching Limberry.
Main Story Battle Count: 40
Side Quest Battle Count: 5
Random Encounter Count: 59
BarnabusBarnabus
Something like spice and something like pine.
- Location
- A beach, limned in silver like the painted moon.
Cid really is That Fucking Guy, huh.
E.I.G.
Robo-Bird
- Pronouns
- It/They
Presumably the comment about the state of the wind is the issue here.
One bad release and your side is the one disabled and dying.
Not to mention it is unclear how easy it is to get this much poison, it is entirely possible that is the sort of investment you need a larger group like the church to actually pull off, and one that is a waste outside of this level of larger than normal conflict.
Parabola
Divided Loyalties Librarian
- Location
- The Destination of Fate
- Pronouns
- She/Her
That last quote should be Duke Larg, not "Dyce Darg".
'Sword saint' (Kensei, 剣聖), for those unaware, is an honorary Japanese title that in real life was used to refer to famous swordsmen - though the one everyone who isn't a hardcore Japanese history nerd remembers is Miyamoto Musashi. Though you could colloquially translate it as 'sword master', the literal translation of 'sword saint' is so much cooler, holy shit. Cid IS That Guy.
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GilliamYaeger
M'crazy.
One thing I really, really love about FFT's story is that, even when the freaks take over and Ramza's story turns away from politics and scheming in favour of hunting demons and fighting a no-doubt ancient conspiracy within the church, the politics and scheming that made the early game storyline so strong doesn't go away.
It leaves Ramza's story, as he becomes the demon-slaying hero with a pure heart...but sticks around for Delita's story, as he plays the game of thrones and backstabs and betrays his way up the ladders of power. It's frankly some absolutely brilliant writing that means that Final Fantasy Tactics, with it's twin heroes (for a given definition of "hero" since Delita is an absolute bastard of a guile hero) gets to both have its cake and eat it too in a way that a lot of initially grounded stories that shift gears to fighting a supernatural threat just can't do.
And now that Thunder God Cid has joined the party...
View: https://youtu.be/Ds9_PRQHjG8
Here's his absolutely INCREDIBLE voice acting from his boss fight in the third of FF14's Tactics alliance raids, where he absolutely lives up to the hype in terms of spectacle...and, on release, in terms of difficulty as he was infamous for regularly wiping whole alliances.
"I have been called the God of Thunder. You will now know why. Upon my holy blade the very world lies in balance, AND NOW THE SCALES WILL TIP!"
HOLY SHIT HES SO GOD DAMN COOL
Edit: One thing I neglected to mention - most of his lines (the extremely flowery and cool ones) are retranslated skill incantations! Agrias, who you fight before Cid, shares a bunch of them!
View: https://youtu.be/4ew-ClaIxnc
And if you want to see the full boss fight, here's a video of that too:
View: https://youtu.be/DgcwJ4jSgj0
I mean just look at him, he's an awesome looking giant with THREE swords!
One of his more interesting mechanics is that he has SEVERAL attacks named "T.G Holy Sword" which all do very different things and need different responses (ie when he jams his swords into the ground you need to get in close behind the swords to avoid the attack, and when he pulls his blades back for a spin attack you need to stand back out of his reach) meaning that you need to actually pay attention to what he's doing to respond to it rather than just reading the skill name. It basically implies that his swordsmanship is so perfect that you can't just instinctually read his moves like almost everyone else you fight - he's truly a cut above the rest in terms of skill. It's a pretty great fight.
It leaves Ramza's story, as he becomes the demon-slaying hero with a pure heart...but sticks around for Delita's story, as he plays the game of thrones and backstabs and betrays his way up the ladders of power. It's frankly some absolutely brilliant writing that means that Final Fantasy Tactics, with it's twin heroes (for a given definition of "hero" since Delita is an absolute bastard of a guile hero) gets to both have its cake and eat it too in a way that a lot of initially grounded stories that shift gears to fighting a supernatural threat just can't do.
And now that Thunder God Cid has joined the party...
View: https://youtu.be/Ds9_PRQHjG8
Here's his absolutely INCREDIBLE voice acting from his boss fight in the third of FF14's Tactics alliance raids, where he absolutely lives up to the hype in terms of spectacle...and, on release, in terms of difficulty as he was infamous for regularly wiping whole alliances.
"I have been called the God of Thunder. You will now know why. Upon my holy blade the very world lies in balance, AND NOW THE SCALES WILL TIP!"
HOLY SHIT HES SO GOD DAMN COOL
Edit: One thing I neglected to mention - most of his lines (the extremely flowery and cool ones) are retranslated skill incantations! Agrias, who you fight before Cid, shares a bunch of them!
View: https://youtu.be/4ew-ClaIxnc
And if you want to see the full boss fight, here's a video of that too:
View: https://youtu.be/DgcwJ4jSgj0
I mean just look at him, he's an awesome looking giant with THREE swords!
One of his more interesting mechanics is that he has SEVERAL attacks named "T.G Holy Sword" which all do very different things and need different responses (ie when he jams his swords into the ground you need to get in close behind the swords to avoid the attack, and when he pulls his blades back for a spin attack you need to stand back out of his reach) meaning that you need to actually pay attention to what he's doing to respond to it rather than just reading the skill name. It basically implies that his swordsmanship is so perfect that you can't just instinctually read his moves like almost everyone else you fight - he's truly a cut above the rest in terms of skill. It's a pretty great fight.
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- Pronouns
- Him/He
This sort of hand out is another reason why I prefer generic blorbos. First, they're slightly less underpowered, and when they get overpowered it's because you worked for it, or managed to get a good set up.
Second, you get to keep the same characters throughout the game, and don't have to make choices about swapping developed characters for new shiny.
From a game design standpoint I'm not sure if it's an unwise choice, people losing interest in late game is a real thing, and fucking up builds is possible when you realize that a job or class just is never going to scale properly. Plus giving you new toys, or new goals to reach when you've probably unlocked everything you're going to unlock at this point can revive interest as well.
As for Samurai damage... I always thought the AoE was the real benefit of it. If you're too mobile enemy units might not bunch up, but if you can draw them into a cramped melee that 169 damage repeated 3 times is looking a lot more useful to soften up units. No charge time and no chance to block or dodge is pretty nice. Plus the utility spells of course.
With that said, Screaming Ninja Ramza gets twice the benefit from any PA boosts because of double attack, and the increased speed also buffs his throw damage if he can't reach anyone this turn. Or get two hands, where Double Samurai Swords does more damage then two-handing one.
Second, you get to keep the same characters throughout the game, and don't have to make choices about swapping developed characters for new shiny.
From a game design standpoint I'm not sure if it's an unwise choice, people losing interest in late game is a real thing, and fucking up builds is possible when you realize that a job or class just is never going to scale properly. Plus giving you new toys, or new goals to reach when you've probably unlocked everything you're going to unlock at this point can revive interest as well.
As for Samurai damage... I always thought the AoE was the real benefit of it. If you're too mobile enemy units might not bunch up, but if you can draw them into a cramped melee that 169 damage repeated 3 times is looking a lot more useful to soften up units. No charge time and no chance to block or dodge is pretty nice. Plus the utility spells of course.
With that said, Screaming Ninja Ramza gets twice the benefit from any PA boosts because of double attack, and the increased speed also buffs his throw damage if he can't reach anyone this turn. Or get two hands, where Double Samurai Swords does more damage then two-handing one.
Wade Garrett
Just trying to do the right thing
- Pronouns
- He/His/Him
On the one hand Dycedarg is a thin skinsuit over a sucking void of ambition but there is something...I'm not sure sympathetic is the right word, but he's dragging himself forward on his hands to carry out his scheme, whatever else you can say about him he's a teeth gritted striver and I always have a soft spot for characters like that.
Egleris
Vagrant Dragon
- Location
- Italy
It's also holy elemental, in case that was something you were interested into.
I always thought the idea here was that Delita caught up with the scene, too late to save Duke Goltanna, but just in time to personally slay Orlandu in single combat. Because, you know, if you're going to build yourself a legend, might as well make people quail in fear at your being the second coming of the Thunder God. It seems like it works very well to further gild his historical reputation as this incredible hero.
Construct 8 is pretty cool... but in the end, even a good monster type ally is still a monster type ally, and somewhat held back by that. No classes to mix in support abilities, no equipment to cover up weaknesses, and so forth. Not a back pick for the party by any means, but especially showing up in chapter 4 means they're competing with what's likely to be a fully kited out, near endgame team with all their main classes mastered.
God, it's amazing how he can go from "Church will rule everything with an iron fist" to "yeah see we're getting rid of all that icky highborn power", as if the church isn't usually run by, hm, let's see... oh yeah that's right it's highborn people who joined because they were second or third sons or whatever who wouldn't be inheriting all the good shit.
Yeah, Jesus Christ is right, Agrias is a powerhouse now. Not that she wasn't pretty good before, but that lipstick really making a difference, shame Mustadio was murdered shortly afterwards.
Oh come on Omi
What the hell could the game give you that can compare to this goddess of war? You'd need to be a straight up Saint or something.
Pretty sure he gave it all to Agrias, but hey, that's enough of "us" to dominate the battlefield from what I'm seeing.
Yeah, it's absolutely a big mistake on his part... but also it's a somewhat understandable one to make, it only takes one backstabbing top general or right hand man to suddenly oust you and take all that power for their own.
HOLY SHIT
GIRL CALM DOWN PLEASE, THAT NINJA PROBABLY ONLY HAD LIKE 200 HP
Samurai got that cool factor, but the "scale on magic while having abysmal magical growth" special moveset is certainly... A Design Decision. If anything, it's best as a secondary on Geomancer if you really want a physical/magical hybrid setup, but then that also means Ramza specifically is giving up his unique Squire skills to use Samurai ones instead.
I'm reading it as Zalbaag being in too much genuine shock at what just happened to really process it. The entire situation turned in an instant from "the enemy launched a poison gas attack, I need to get my brother and the Duke to safety" to "my brother just shanked the Duke, his boss and old friend, and was also accused of murdering our father in the process". He doesn't know where things turned so quickly, he doesn't know if Larg was telling the truth or spouting nonsense in his last moments after being betrayed... so, for the moment he just goes along with things numbly.
Or he's really that spineless, it's also possible!
It's a rarity in these tactical games, but it's always nice to get the occasional map with an objective that isn't just "kill the boss" or "kill everybody". Fire Emblem likes to occasionally have things like defend maps where you have to defend a fixed point or unit for a set amount of turns, or escape maps where the goal is to get everyone across the battleground to safety ASAP while being pursued by stronger units.
Unfortunately, just like Fire Emblem, the optimal strat for these other objectives still tends to be "kill everyone". Even the aforementioned escape missions can turn from "turn limit before you get murderized by big strong enemies" to "experienced/overgrinding players will use your reinforcements to get even stronger".
It's really the Samurai that's weighing him down in comparison, I think. I mean he's still Ramza, meaning he's still good, but he's got a mixed and matched skillset of physical fighting with magical specials without fully committing, and only a few particular builds pull that off well (like Geomancer).
FUCK YEAH HE HASWait.
Surely they can't mean…
No.
There's no way.
THE THUNDER GOD HAS JOINED THE PARTY!?
CONGRATULATIONS OMI, YOU GOT THE THUNDER GOD, HE'S GONNA THUNDER ALL OVER YOUR ENEMIES
Frankly, he is better than all your other characters. Cid shows up potentially overleveled, with top tier equipment (including a one of a kind sword that lets him start fights with Haste), and his skillset is three powerful classes smooshed into one, when all three of said classes are plenty strong already on their own.
Whoa, hey now
He can't use Beowolf's status sword abilities! That counts for something, right?
(implying Thunder God Cid would leave an enemy alive long enough to need status effects)
No, no, it's understandable to be a bit disappointed. After all, the game just handed you a super overpowered character on a platter, and it can feel a bit silly-
Well okay I guess it could also be because you wanted to duke it out with this guy, Omi you madlad. Can't deny with those stats he would have been a monster to fight, though maybe not as bad as say Wiegraf considering how the game is slowly turning into Rocket Tag.
Anyways, to talk a bit more about Cid, I'm gonna lean over to Fire Emblem yet again (since that's the strategy RPG I know best) and talk about one of the character archetypes that shows up in a number of FE games: The Gotoh. In the original Fire Emblem and its remakes, Gotoh is a high level Sage you interact with throughout the game, who for the very final map shows up and joins the party. He can be a pretty big help because he's an endgame-scaled Sage, with magic and healing out the wazzo. It's a pattern that's been repeated in other FE games, often giving you some overpowered carry unit in the last map or two as a failsafe just in case the player has too many dead characters. Cid reminds me of that...
Except unlike Fire Emblem, Cid isn't showing up for the final map, the point of no return, 95% of the way through the game. No, Cid is showing up at... what, the 70-80% mark? Idunno, somewhere around there sounds right, but it means you have a character who is blatantly and obviously overpowered (again three unique class skillsets merged into one) and can, if not hard-carry the rest of your playthrough, is at least objectively a Best In Slot character that you'd want to deploy for every future map. Just by existing, he can make Agrias feel worthless, in WotL he makes unlocking the Dark Knight a silly thing for anyone else since he's That But Better.
And it's also not helped by the fact that while FFT and Fire Emblem do both have permadeath, Fire Emblem is a much simpler game overall. If one of your characters dies, you often still get 2 or 3 more characters with the same class who can replace them to varying degrees of success, so getting an endgame unit of one of those classes who's just really really good still means in theory a trained member of your team keeps up. But Tactics is a game where you're class hopping and skill grabbing so everyone becomes fairly unique, and deaths are so much more punishing that players are drastically less likely to shrug their shoulders and continue playing after someone bites the dust. One character death can mean a dozen hours of investment, where in Fire Emblem I'm gonna get a dozen Caveliers to fill the "guy on a horse" slot. Cid joining this early feels like it undermines that, and may or may not trivialize the rest of the game.
I suspect the plan was always "Delita kills fake Cid" in this scenario rather than a suicide or double murder, myself - just makes him look a bit better if he comes out and says "oh sadly Cid murdered Goltanna, but I was able to avenge him". Places him as Goltanna's close confidant who was able to avenge him and was able to take on The Thunder God.
Does he even need to unlock all of them? It's helpful sure, but he already looks like he starts with multiple good ones, at most one or two battles will give him the Dark Knight ones for extra sustain.
Heavily considering Mage Ramza if I do get back into FFT at this rate... though it's also made Dragoon Ramza pretty tempting.
Maybe there's an Ivalice Geneva Convention somewhere? I imagine it goes something like this:
- No exploding frogs
- No chemical weapons at scale
- Chocobos are for mounts and mounts only
- Pronouns
- He
Was there ever any doubt?
- Pronouns
- He/Him
@Omicron: If you're having issues smacking enemy Knights, I believe Concentration will allow a unit to completely ignore evasion, including weapon and shield blocking.
Also I'm not sure the Agrias / Cid comparison was completely fair since you have her in Geomancer instead of her own sword class. Not sure how exactly it'd change things but every class has a different set of multipliers to the base stat pool that shift things like PA/MA/MP/HP/etc around.
Also I'm not sure the Agrias / Cid comparison was completely fair since you have her in Geomancer instead of her own sword class. Not sure how exactly it'd change things but every class has a different set of multipliers to the base stat pool that shift things like PA/MA/MP/HP/etc around.
MiskWisk
Hoot
- Location
- Somewhere devoid of wit
- Pronouns
- He
The historical example of this that comes to mind is Admiral Yi Sun-sin, most famous for kicking Japanese arse up and down Korea when they tried to invade in the late 16th Century. Funnily enough, it happened to the man twice. First time he was charged with desertion and served his sentence, and the second time was after he refused to follow a stupid order prompting his enemies at court to call for his arrest. His supporters managed to get his punishment set to demotion and he was placed under the command of a general.
He remained there until his replacement got himself killed and Yi got put back in charge of the Korean navy, where he would remain until his death in the final naval battle of the war.
Anyway, historical tangents aside, Delita has managed to maneuver himself through the various factions pretty neatly. It's interesting, because I think he's managed to portray himself to everyone bar Ramza and Valmafra as just being totally loyal to whatever side while also being minor enough that people just hand him stuff to do without really thinking things through.
He's sort of like a janitor. Every large organisation needs them, but people don't think a lot about how much freedom to move they've been given.
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