I'd argue that the game mechanics are lying to us here.
Yes, when we met her Rapha is trying to escape, but that's not the escape of a coward. It's an act of open rebellion against an overwhelming powerful figure who also has an outsized psychological influence on her, and going against her only family left to do so, as well as allying with a known criminal who has a bounty on his head and is being actively hunted down by the inquisition. And then, when persuading her brother failed, she decided to go ahead with an extremely risky and emotionally painful assassination attempt. That seems like extremely brave behavior to me.
Meanwhile, Malak was the one who refused to see the truth because it was uncomfortable and, despite wanting freedom, was far too scared of his master's reach to escape it. I know which of these two is the one who should have the 31 brave, and it's not Rapha.
Not saying that Ramza isn't more likely to be the one the stones are referring to as "the Valiant", just taking offense at characterizing Rapha as not being brave. She has a lot of spine, in my opinion.
EDIT: And let's not forget she's brave enough to charge Elmdor and get killed for it, in many a playthrough. Surely that counts, too.
For his brothers, well, Ramza can't exactly return to Eagrose without a very good reason. Zalbaag already disowned him, while
Dycegard doesn't give a shit. Maybe later in the civil war he will find reason to return, but his heresy charge won't let him rejoin as part of the family anymore. His Beoulve chapter is closed once the Church labeled him a heretic.
Which, now that I think about it, Ramza's heresy charge is one of the most mundane 'reason why JRPG protag can't return to their old life anymore'. Usually, there's some sort of magical reason why they can't- trapped in different time/space or become a god or have their hometown destroyed.
Ramza simply got labeled a heretic, and then was disowned. There you go, no home anymore.
Would've been even more hilarious if you could go on errands while escorting Ovelia.
Delita: "Only I can keep her safe, Ramza"
Ramza: "We've been traipsing around the country for months, nobody has even recognized her, I think we're fine."
Would've been even more hilarious if you could go on errands while escorting Ovelia.
Delita: "Only I can keep her safe, Ramza"
Ramza: "We've been traipsing around the country for months, nobody has even recognized her, I think we're fine."
Marach's words: A voice called to me in that land of pure white light, though whose it was I cannot say. "Return," it said to me. "Return to the side of the valiant - the one whose heart beats true." - also suggest whomever is 'up there', they're in Ramza's corner. Since the only people that seem to be a case of 'the valiant' are his sister or Ramza, and his sister... isn't all that valiant, in action or in game mechanics, but Ramza is the very image of his legendarily heroic father...
That's because the English translation is trying to be cute in trying to namedrop the chapter (Chapter 3 is called "The Valiant", remember?). The original Japanese line was "Return to the one who possesses a righteous heart."
That's because the English translation is trying to be cute in trying to namedrop the chapter (Chapter 3 is called "The Valiant", remember?). The original Japanese line was "Return to the one who possesses a righteous heart."
AJ Durai writing that Mustadio died at a location, went through his notes, and saw that the mechanic was mentioned as being a part of Ramza's band after his supposed death. He curses, and begins revisions again.
Batman: The Long Halloween is a critically-acclaimed comic book by Jeff Loeb and Tim Sale. Set in the early days of the Caped Crusader's career, The Long Halloween is a sequel to Batman: Year One, and drew praise for its heavily Noir-inspired storytelling and exploration of Batman's character and setting. One of the reasons why I find TLH fascinating is because it's deliberately constructed around a point of inflection in the story and genre of Batman: where Year One saw Batman exclusively battle mafiosi, gangsters and corrupt cops, The Long Halloween introduces the "costumed freaks" that make up Batman's most iconic antagonists. Initially, these are freak events, or mercenaries hired by the mafia to do their dirty work, but they increasingly come to take center stage as mafia boss Falcone becomes hard pressed by circumstances. Until, one night, the lights go out in his mansion, there's an attack, gas, his men are getting killed, Falcone rushes into his office…
This is probably the single most iconic panel in The Long Halloween. It tells a story, or rather the culmination of one, the turning point in the question of what genre Batman even is. Two-Face, once an ordinary attorney general, now a "freak," sits at Falcone's own desk, surrounded by costumed weirdos, several of which have actual superpowers.
The age of gangsters and corrupt cops is over.
The freaks have taken over.
…
Grand Duke Barrington has laid out his plans. He's built up his assets. He has every card in hand. Folmarv might refuse his generous offer and the Church turn against him, and in that case they would have to live with the consequences; that's something he's willing to risk. One thing that isn't on his mind at all, because it doesn't make sense, is that by inviting Folmarv, one lone man, into his office surrounded by his own knights, in the middle of a castle full of hundreds of his best men, he might have put himself in physical danger. This is a political situation, with political stakes. No one is about to pull a sword here. That doesn't make any sense.
Thunder flashes. The lights in the room take on a red tint.
Barrington: "Do not think to threaten me! This is a battle you cannot hope to win." Folmarv: "No, it is one we cannot hope to lose. Who is there to oppose us, save you feeble-bodied humans?" Isilud: "Father…?" Folmarv: "You misjudge the strength of your enemy, Grand Duke Barrington. There will be no sport in killing you." Barrington: "You would raise arms against your host under his own roof!?"
[He steps back behind his men, who advance on Folmarv; several more Knights enter the room at once.]
Folmarv was already one of the Lucavi. He lied to his son about the nature of the Stones, fully knowing the truth of their power. And now, he's going to show Grand Duke Barrington just how much his careful positioning and political maneuvring is going to serve him in the face of demonic power.
I really appreciate how you draw on other artistic works for really evocative insights and comparisons such as this. It's one of the big things I've appreciated about your playthroughs.
It's just a shame that Barrington's folly here gets muddled since he has to live long enough to settle the separate brother-sister arc.
I like that Barrington's end is different enough from Bart's that I can actually separate the two- their sprites look quite similar with each other. Also we get some wild sprite-on-sprite violence in Riovanes.
It also sets Barrington up as a different breed of evil- a very human one, compared to the likes of Folmarv and Wiegraf.
"Wait... I'm alive...? I thought I-"
"Wake the fuck up, chuckles. Time for another beating!"
"Wait, you beat me senseless just five minutes ago!! Why are you doing this?!"
"We're farming you for XP doofus. Blame yourself or God for being so XP-rich..."
Of note on that particular strategy, the game actually knows that this is possible, and is programmed to discourage this, a tiny bit.
Essentially, the XP you get for killing an enemy is dependent on how many times that enemy was killed; you get a bonus on the first kill, but after the third kill the game start accruing penalties to the XP yield of the enemy, which caps when you kill the same unit for the tenth time - at that point, instead of the kill giving you more XP than a normal non-kill action, it actually gives you less XP than a normal action (such as healing yourself).
Of course, the JP gain is unrelated to the XP gain, and not modified by this, and very often you want to gain JP while limiting XP gain, so the fact that an enemy killed multiple times gives less XP might be considered a boon, depending on what you're aiming for.
Of note on that particular strategy, the game actually knows that this is possible, and is programmed to discourage this, a tiny bit.
Essentially, the XP you get for killing an enemy is dependent on how many times that enemy was killed; you get a bonus on the first kill, but after the third kill the game start accruing penalties to the XP yield of the enemy, which caps when you kill the same unit for the tenth time - at that point, instead of the kill giving you more XP than a normal non-kill action, it actually gives you less XP than a normal action (such as healing yourself).
Of course, the JP gain is unrelated to the XP gain, and not modified by this, and very often you want to gain JP while limiting XP gain, so the fact that an enemy killed multiple times gives less XP might be considered a boon, depending on what you're aiming for.
And, of course, you can just... not kill the enemy and slide on by with normal XP for an action, anyway. throw endless stones and keep healing, perhaps with an MPless heal like Chakra.
If I don't do it outside of trying to prep for challenges, it's because it's so terribly, terribly boring.
Things like this always put me in mind of NetHack devs talking about that game's horribly tedious but technically useful grind, where you do a horrible dance with a bunch of enemies called puddings to try to eventually get good advantages out of it: "The DevTeam has arranged an automatic and savage punishment for pudding farming. It's called pudding farming."
Hear ye, hear ye! 'Tis the year of our Lord 2024, and it has come to pass that Ramza Beoulve, the heretic, has crossed paths with Delita once more, and from that meeting perhaps the true designs of that mysterious conspirator may finally be glimpsed.
The Story So Far: Ramza Beoulve, renegade scion of the noble House Beoulve, has uncovered a conspiracy led by the Church which has been manipulating events behind the Two Lions' War which now ravages his country. But deemed a heretic by the selfsame church, he has very few places to turn to in order to make the truth of his words believed. For now, he hurries to Zeltennia Castle, where he hopes to speak with Count Cidolfus Orlandeau, his late father's old friend. Yet even as he hurries, the forces of Dukes Larg and Goltanna gather in a reckless attempt to break the war's stalemate…
I. I Hate Dragoons Now Actually
We begin with a bit of a debrief between Ramza, Rapha and Marach; Alma is nowhere to be found, but Marach, of course, knows that she was being held here under watch. That means the last of the three templar knights who showed up must have abducted her, and taken her back to Mullonde, the seat of the church. Reflecting on this, Ramza has a very interesting observation that ties together a bunch of stuff that was sort of implied but hasn't been made explicit before:
Ramza: "I wonder. I do not think their High Confessor knows the true power of the Stones. Consider this. Wiegraf did not know their secret until he had struck his bargain with Belias. And by the look of things, Isilud died fighting the Lucavi." Marach: "What are you getting at?" Ramza: "By inciting this war, the Church hopes to broaden its power. Clearly this is the High Confessor's ambition. But he only wants the Zodiac Stones for their symbolic power. To sway the minds of the people." Marach: "What are you getting at? Do you imply that someone is using the High Confessor's ambition to some other purpose?" Rapha: "This third man in the templarate's party. Who is he?" Marach: "I cannot say for sure, but I believe it was Lord Folmarv, commander of the Knights Templar." Ramza: "He is the key." Marach: "What will you do?" Ramza: "I travel to Zeltennia. Delita is there, and I must see him." Marach: "He succeeded Baron Grimms in leading the Blackram Knights, did he not?" Ramza: "The Church and the Knights Templar manipulate Delita from behind the scenes. With luck, he can shed some light on who this Lord Folmarv is, and what he wants."
IN THE NAME OF LOVE. What a title. Could be referring to Delita and Ovelia, could be referring to Ramza wanting to save his sister, could be referring to Delita and Ovelia but sarcastically… Hard to tell.
But, yeah. The High Confessor is corrupt, but he's the normal kind of corrupt. He is planning to use a popular legend and some ancient regalia to do a PR coup and get the people on his side, and his sights are on being the power behind the throne, in a still-functioning Ivalice kingdom, hopefully returned to peace under his rule. That's why I said earlier that High Confessor Funebris might have agreed to Grand Duke Barrington's offer of collaboration; he is playing the normal game of politics and warfare, at least from Ramza's analysis.
Folmarv isn't. He and his Lucavi are playing an entirely different game, one that they're keeping secret from as many of their ostensible co-conspirators as possible.
Does that mean that we could upset Folmarv's plans by revealing his treachery to Funebris? Eeeeh. We'd have to somehow get into Church territory without dying, and there's always the risk that Funebris asks Folmarv to confirm or deny and Folmarv goes "I assure you your excellency, the power of the Zodiac Stones is very real but it can only help us, would you like to make a cheeky pact with this here friendly angel from the beyond? Look, it even has the name of one of Ajora's disciples!" and then the High Confessor turns into John Carpenter's The Thing.
So yeah, honestly, out of a series of terrible leads, Delita might still be our best bet.
As we leave, we catch a glimpse of another cutscene unfolding at our destination:
Count Orlandeau is back from some duty he was tending to, and welcomed by Orran. They talk of how the war's going - poorly, everyone is only hanging by a thread, rumor has it that Goltanna's bannermen only remain at his side because Orlandeau continues to pledge his support, that kind of thing. Then Orran delivers his own report:
Orran: "The reports are true, my lord. The crystal discovered beneath Goug, the Stone the late cardinal found in the ruins of Zelmonia - both auracite for true, by all accounts. The Knights Templar, too, are passing busy, though the subject of their labors I cannot say." Orlandeau: "Do our ears in Mullonde hear nothing?" Orran: "Hear perhaps, but dead men tell no tales. If only we had some evidence of the High Confessor's plot, we might use it to compel a peace."
[Orlandeau approaches the window, and takes something out of his habit - it's a piece of auracite.] Orlandeau: "This shall not long remain hidden from their gaze. And then the storm will be upon us."
Well!
As before, it's nice to see that other groups have their own agency and are capable of noticing and investigating the plans of our antagonists, even if they don't see as much of the picture as we have from close proximity. And Cid has an auracite - I wonder what are the odds that we'll end up in a fight with him in which his nickname of "Thunder God" is made entirely too literal.
For now, new nodes have appeared on the map; we'll need to cross four of them to get to Zeltennia Castle.
New Errands are plenty, to the point that doing all of them is probably not going to be possible, big RIP. New Rumors too, including an update on the war which is basically what the closing card of Chapter 3 told us already: Duke Larg has pulled most of his forces from the front to march on Fort Besselat, an indispensable strongpoint on the way to Zeltennia that would allow Larg unchecked access to Limberry's food supply. As well, knowledge of Barrington's death has spread - apparently, not a single witness survived, with more than five hundred men dying in the massacre at Riovanes, torn apart at Folmarv and Wiegraf's hands. Even so, rumors of a demonic attack abound owing to the nature of the slaughter and the injuries of the dead, which… You know, fair.
We're starting to be outleveled severely again, so I engage in some errands and random encounters, spend some of my hard-earned cash in the shops, and then we're off to our next node, Duguera Pass, "once used by monks as a holy place of fasting and atonement."
Wonders discovered on Errands. Palamecian Empire, Semitt Falls, Crystal Tower, Kingdom of Baron… We're remixing all the hits.
Opposition this time is straightforward: Northern Sky Knights who are in our way. The enemy party is pretty beefed up, though - two Dragoons, one Knight, two Black Mages, one Archer could be a lot of damage coming our way, especially on a map this tight.
Notice how Ramza is rocking a new fit, by the way. I'm not sure when he changed it, or why, but he swapped from his trademark "carapace" purple spiked armor to a teal-and-black combo that's more balanced around his overall frame. It's interesting, if not quite as iconic.
I split my party in two: Ramza, Hester, and Mustadio go take care of the BLM/Archer ranged duo on the cliff. Hadrian, supported by Gillian, goes to deal with the Dragoons, Knight, and BLM. Now, you might be asking, "Omi why are you sending the smaller squad to deal with the larger enemy force," but that's just because you're not a strategic genius on my level, you see, Mustadio has a gun so he can hit at range anyway so it's fine, it's fine.
Okay I think this may legitimately be the first time in twenty hours that I've seen Hadrian eat an actual KO, what the fuck.
Uuuuuh QUICK, HESTER, DANCE AT THE ENEMY TO DISTRACT THEM
Oh my god they're all whiffing-
Okay no this is fine, Forbidden Dance managed to put one enemy asleep and one Poisoned, I don't care about the Poison but Sleep is good. And at least when Mustadio goes again he can finish off the topside BLM that Ramza already injured, then Ramza executes the Archer. See! It's going great!
Plus, as the downed Hadrian's CT gauge fills up, it reaches his "turn" - and, to my surprise, he gets up.
Dragonheart, the Dragoon's reaction ability, is an odd duck. It causes a character to cast Reraise on themselves upon receiving damage. Normal reaction rules apply - so they have to survive the hit in order to cast Reraise, which will then take effect if they get KO'd by another attack, later. And I'd assumed Reraise to trigger when the character goes down, but no; it seems it triggers when they would next take action, which means instead of getting up with their action several turns away and immediately getting whacked again, the character can take their action right away, so they can move out out of harm's way or take down an enemy immediately! That's very practical, you just have to, like… Look at your downed character and resist the urge to think that it must have not worked somehow and you should quickly Raise them before it's too late. Because that's counterproductive but god does it feel that way.
So, Hadrian goes up in the air, and-
…
I don't think enemies should be allowed to have Dragoons. I think only I should get to have them. I think that'd be fair.
A problem I'm running into is that I've optimized my characters towards damage, with builds like Attack Boost Ninja, Doublehand Dragoon, and Doublehand Samurai. The enemy, meanwhile, tend to much prefer defense; I am running into a lot more shield-counters and parries than I expected, and it's throwing my damage calcs out of whack. I have Hester go after one of the Knights and he just shield-tanks his way out of her dual attacks, it's rough.
Look at this disaster. I had Mustadio Raise Gillian, and Hadrian accidentally whiffed a Jump because I misread the enemy's CT gauge. Gillian instantly got shot down again, Hadrian got taken out by a BLM, one of the Dragoons impaled Mustadio, I executed the other Dragoon in his sleep, hunted down the BLM with Hester's superior speed, but now I have no characters capable of raising others. Everyone's timer is running down to zero, I am seconds away from Mustadio and Hadrian permadying. Thankfully, I manage to eke out a victory by the skin of my teeth, with Hester backstabbing the last Dragoon.
This was our most scuffed win to date. We mighty demon-slayers just nearly wiped to a random mountain patrol, god.
We should probably pause and head back to level up some more but whatever, let's see what's on the next node, the Free City of Bervenia.
II. Am I Your Brother's Keeper?
"I've slain very many brothers. You will have to be more specific."
Ramza: "Your brother? Who are you?" Meliadoul: "Do not play games with me! I am Meliadoul Tengille. You killed my brother Isilud at Riovanes! And now you will die! Not by any order of His Holiness. I do this for Isilud!"
[OBJECTIVE: DEFEAT MELIADOUL!]
Okay lady you have got to get off my back I will absolutely not be blamed for the murder of a guy who abused cutscene teleportation to get away from me before I could get my hands on him.
Well, nothing to do but fight it out. What's Meliadoul's deal anyway?
Oh she's another Divine Knight? For real? Guess God is handing those out like candy to all his favored sons and daughters, but I'm not mad!
Two enemy Archers, two enemy Summoners, a Ninja and a Divine Knight. This would be a tricky situation if Meliadoul wasn't lv 35. I kinda jumped the gun here. Let's just accept that this will definitely be a loss and use it to at least scout out what the opposition is like. What does Meliadoul's Unyielding Blade ability look like?
…
Meliadoul has an ability called "Crush Armor" that's a ranged Rend Armor that also damages HP and appears to have a 100% success chance.
What the fuck.
I knew that the benefit of an ability like Rend Armor was that destroying armor would take away enemy max HP. But I thought that was max HP. Turns out no; when Meliadoul uses Crush Armor, she deals the damage shown, but she also removes max and current HP covered by the armor. So if Mustadio had, I don't know, +80 HP from his equipped armor? Well that was just a 176 dmg attack that also reduced his max HP (which matters a lot thanks to calculations like Raise and Arise).
This run of the fight is an extended sequence of me staring in disbelief as Meliadoul goes around using Crush Armor on each member of my party in turn, obliterating tens of thousands of gil in wealth along with deleting my characters' HP, all while I can do almost nothing to retaliate because of the shape of the terrain, which prevents low-Jump characters from doing anything but slowly circling around the sides of the central house for the single tile on each side that lets them hop up to the next level. There's one Summoner who just completely blocks Ramza from progress just by sitting on a particular box.
Awful.
Long story short, while I am able to have Agrias connect with Meliadoul and engage her in a duel, Meliadoul just Crushes Armor until Agrias is dead. By the time I've dealt with the Summoner and finally gotten Ramza up onto the higher tier of the level, Agrias, Mustadio, and Gillian are all down. I try to have Hadrian and Ramza hunt down Meliadoul, but in vain; Crush Armor also deletes Ramza's HP, leaving only the Dragoon, and then…
…the Mustadio Curse strikes again, forcing a reload.
We did, however, get some character dialogue out of the ordeal:
Ramza: "You say Isilud was your brother. But I am not your brother's killer! Do you not know what happened at Riovanes? The murder done there was not done by the hand of any man. An abomination - a Lucavi killed your brother!" Meliadoul: "A Lucavi? So the Lucavi again walk among us, killing for their own delight? Ha! A splendid tale! But a lie less fanciful might better persuade." Ramza: "They keep the truth from you as they did your brother. You are puppets, dancing on strings you can or will not see! The Zodiac Stones are much more than holy stones to be revered. They hold real power, the power to work wonders. A power in itself is neither good nor evil, but the purpose your masters would put it to is plain enough. Open your eyes, Meliadoul! Let Folmarv deceive you no longer!" Meliadoul: "Do you think to convince me with this prattle? You are a fool indeed! My father would never deceive me so." Ramza: "Lord Folmarv is your father!?"
Every time I am reminded that Ramza doesn't have access to the Personae tab of the Chronicle menu it's sending me. Oh woops this was critical information that the reader knew about for the past several hours… And Ramza was just kind of out of the loop. Unfortunate!
But yes, it's clear now that the Lucavi are operating their own, much tinier conspiracy-within-the-conspiracy, and that even many of the high-ranking conspirators among the Knights Templar have no idea what Folmarv and his few demonic allies are up to.
Alright, let's try again.
…
Really, we don't need to grind for this, do we? This is an assassination mission. All we need is to take Meliadoul out before she can ruin all my precious, precious armor. Yes… That makes sense. Mostly, the thing is, this is a fight I can't afford to drag out and approach systematically, taking out all my enemies one by one, not because it would be too difficult but because it would be too expensive. I simply cannot afford to have Meliadoul wreck my entire armory, and I'm not taking the time off to teach everyone Safeguard to protect their gear. No, this is not a fight I'm interested in doing the long way at all. Let's just take her down.
"Omi, didn't you just say that the elevation was a problem, why didn't you take Hadrian this time?" Well, first of all, shut up.
Advance Hester. The options for Throw damage against Meliadoul are disappointingly low, so we just have her do Forbidden Dance. Have poor Mustadio be the sacrificial lamb for the first Crush Armor (his armor is slightly less valuable than that of my heavy units), taking care of Meliadoul's first turn. Have Gillian cast Reraise on Hester, since she's the one who's heading for close combat with the enemy boss.
Forbidden Dance triggers, and it… Whiffs completely, holy shit. It "Misses" against 4/6 enemy units, and the last two instead say they "Blocked." They blocked!? A Dance? That's not allowed!
The enemy Ninja wreaks havoc on my front line, taking out Gillian first - I have Mustadio throw a Phoenix Down at her, and then the Ninja turns around and takes Mustadio down. Which is fine. I only really needed one thing:
To get Hester into close range with Meliadoul. Each attack deals 56 damage, and she hits twice, for 112 damage a turn. And not just that…
Agrias doesn't need to climb the village the long way around if she can just get within range of a Hallowed Bolt that ignores the difference in elevation with her target.
Meliadoul gets another round, which to my frustration she uses to Crush Armor on Ramza, losing me some expensive gear, but if I can get out of this with only two pieces of gear lost I'll consider it a win.
And there it is. We brought her down to critical HP, so what does she do?
I mean, she is Isilud's sister. There's only one possible answer to that question, and it's "make an overly dramatic vow of revenge that she can't back up, then teleport away."
Meliadoul: "Hear me, Ramza. When next we meet, your blood will soak the earth!"
Yeah, girl, your brother said something similar and look where it got him.
And that's the fight wrapped up. We now have access to the Free City of Bervenia's facilities. First order is, of course, buying back our armor. Then we send part of the group on errands and go around looking for some battles because we need to replenish our coffers and to catch up a little to the game's level scaling.
As we leave town, however, we are presented with a cutscene.
Delita is alone at night, staring out the window and looking at Tietra's pendant, thinking of his sister. Then, he hears a strange sound; as he comes down to investigate, he finds that Princess Ovelia is trying to make a grass whistle.
A familiar beat plays. Ovelia tells of how a friend at the monastery once taught her how to make a grass whistle, but she never seems to get it quite right, illustrated by playing a kinda disappointing quack sound. Delita shows her how to do it, and at first, she doesn't get it, but soon, they are both together blowing their grass whistles, and Ovelia cheerfully exclaims that she did it. She notices a shine then - Delita's pendant. She asks him what it is, and he opens up to her with a piece of information we already know to be true: This was his sister's.
Delita: "She… she was caught up in this fighting and died. She died for the nobility's convenience. They used her and cast her away, and for that I cannot forgive them. I shall not let them deal to you the same fate they dealt to her. I will protect you from aught and all who use you." Ovelia: "Delita… thank you."
[Scene ends.]
Yada-yada, very sweet, Delita is saying factual things that we know are true but the emotional content could be a clever ruse to manipulate Ovelia, same old same old.
The thing is…
This really is the same beat that played out all those hours ago when Ramza and Ovelia were on the road together. Down to the fact that Ovelia couldn't get the grass whistle right, Ramza showed her how to do it, and she managed it and laughed it off. And now, she can't get the grass whistle right, Delita shows her how to do it, and she manages it and laughs it off.
The straightforward read of that scene is also completely plausible: Tricky things don't stop being tricky because you pulled them off once. Ovelia managed to do the grass whistle trick once with Ramza's direct aid, she can't do it again, so she tries and has to be shown how to do it. Thematically, the obvious read is, "Delita and Ramza are more similar than they appear; they each have the same bonding moment with Ovelia, showing that Delita's intent may be pure after all."
But I don't think that's what's going on, quite? I think this is Ovelia being… Well, manipulative isn't quite the right word.
But I think she's doing the same thing as people who use "can I borrow a cigarette" as a way of introducing themselves to someone else they're interested in, or "wow this computer thing is so hard, could you show me how to do it" as a way of getting someone to spend a few moments in their company where they can try to connect. Once, she met Alma at the monastery, and they had a bonding moment over the grass whistle. Since then, Ovelia uses the grass whistle trick, a relatively common and uncomplicated trick that still "feels" like some piece of secret knowledge when you only know it because your father taught you to, to get people to open up, spend a bit of time with her, and show her something they think is cool. It's a way of getting an emotional foot in the door.
There's incredibly little Ovelia can do to ascertain Delita's true motives or ward off against any hidden evil plans he might have for her, if he's been leading her on. And she's not completely naive to just take his promises for granted. This is one small way to try and get a read on him, a small Insight check using the grass whistle as a proxy.
Or I'm completely wrong. But I think it fits the evidence.
Anyway, we take a few weeks off the main plot to discover the ruins of the Ronkan Empire.
III. The Red Chocobo Meteor Onslaught
They have actual flying castles sitting empty in the sky??? Fuck me why are we bothering with Italo-Frengland down here, someone get an airship up there ASAP.
It's crazy how many of these lost ruins, ancient wonders, fantastical remnants of fallen empires, high-technology pieces of architecture we can find in these Errands, that are barely reflected in the game we play. To an extent this is just a factor of the map construction; we barely ever see any landscapes, so it's entirely possible that the Crystal Tower could be sitting between the Free City of Bervenia and Finnath Creek and we'd never see it because that's right in the gap between "strategic world map" and "tactical battle map" that the game isn't concerned about, stuff that'd normally be part of the skyboxes of towns and dungeon screens or the visual overworld map of a Final Fantasy game.
But Ivalice so far has been a much more… densely populated and thriving world than that of the average FF game, yeah? There are many actual cities, connected by trade routes, within a unified country with several seats of local government. We're not looking at individual, fortified city-states scattered across the surface of a barren, hostile monster world. As a result the impression that's given is that, like… Ivalice is fine, it's large, dense, and thriving, but what lies beyond its borders? That's the undiscovered country, the forgotten eras, where one has to hold frontier marathon to survey even a fraction of the wonders lying about abandoned for centuries.
A very strange mood.
Finnath Creek is our next mandatory battle, though I'd struggle to call it a "story" battle; we're really just running into a preset chocobo encounter. It does have the comedy factor going for it, though: three red chocobos is a lot of Choco Meteors to be hurling about, creating chaos.
HESTER, RUN, IT'S THE KT IMPACTOR!
Choco Meteor is cheap, deals solid damage (around 100 at this level), has no cost or cast time, and has solid range. Winning this chocobattle is mostly a matter of ensuring we can physically get to the redobos before they finish raining down destruction on us. Thankfully, we are aided in this by one of Ramza's new skills:
The goddamned Kaioken.
Shout, one of Ramza's new Mettle abilities for his special version of Squire, has him tense his body and surge with red light and a fierce glow, following which he gains all of +10 Bravery, +1 Speed, +1 Physical Attack Power, +1 Magical Attack Power. That's… Kind of a crazy package, isn't it. Tailwind was already good at just +1 Speed, having it automatically max out Bravery and then increase PA and MA? Crazy stuff.
How crazy?
"378-damage attacks" crazy.
In practice though, the MVP of this particular field ends up being Hester. Chocobos have very high mobility, so having a character with great speed and range who deals great physical damage ends up mattering the most in terms of chasing down those red 'bos and taking them out. By contrast, Hadrian's been kind of plodding along behind the others - I have him with Ignore Elevation as his Move Ability ever since the Meliadoul battle, but that's significantly reduced his ability to cover ground in flatter areas, so maybe I'll remove it in favor of Move+2 again; the problem is mainly that I don't know which story battle will call for IE or M+2 ahead of time, so unless I'm reloading after losing the first attempt it's always a coin flip.
Anyway, apply Chicken Drumstick Acquisition Method and that's a wrap, most of these mandatory monster battles aren't really anything to write home about.
The same is not true of what lies ahead of us, however.
Cut for image count.
Final Fantasy Tactics, Part 15.B: Duguerra Pass, Free City Bervenia, Finnath Creek, Outlying Church
Interesting. Ramza is found at church, in prayer, even though he's not just labeled a heretic; his faith has genuinely taken a terrible blow from reading the Scriptures of Germonique. I wonder; is it just the familiarity of habit even absent faith, or is Ramza trying to recapture the connection he lost with the reading of the scriptures, praying to find faith again? Of course, it could be he just knew this was the place to wait for Delita, but - well, he was praying.
If I may steal @Egleris's thunder for a bit here by touching on a version change I'm sure he was waiting to make a point about, this ended up something I was curious enough to check a PSX version of the cutscene for as I wrote this update; in the PSX version, there are people in attendance at the church. Ramza and Delita meeting there is very clearly because they chose to meet in a public place where neither is likely to start hostility, and they are kneeling in prayer merely to stay discreet while they discuss in hushed tones that the local grandma in the pews can't hear. This is an extremely different vibe from the dramatic speeches being delivered here, with physical flourishes, sweeping orchestral music, very dramatic vocal performances, and the implication that Ramza did spontaneously decide to pray while waiting for Delita, despite his shattered faith.
The two versions of these scenes imply different things about our characters. Better, worse, I won't pronounce myself on it at this stage, but this is not just a difference in presentation, it's a difference tout court.
So, back to the WotL version.
Delita: "A heretic at prayer in a church. Passing bold, Ramza." Ramza: [Without looking at him] "I shall ask it plain. Why has the High Confessor planted you among Goltanna's men?" Delita: [He stands beside Ramza.] "I see no harm in telling you. Duke Goltanna and Orlandeau. I am to assassinate them." Delita:[He kneels at the altar.] "Groups such as the Corpse Brigade, ill-contended with the Crown and the nobility, are in no short supply. The Church only fans rebellion's flame. The people tire of war, and their disdain for the Crown waxes with each passing day. Of course, Goltanna and Larg want to put down the rebellions at home, only they lack the troops to do so. To break the impasse, they seek to bring an end to the conflict for good and all. Even as we speak, their armies mass at Fort Besselat to that purpose." Ramza: "Then these months of rebellion and unrest… it all goes as the High Confessor had planned."
Delita: "Yes. But it will not end as they have hoped. Larg and Goltanna will be assassinated once the battle begins. Cut off one head, and two more spring forth, so naturally their closest allies must die with them. Count Orlandeau of the Order of the Southern Sky, Zalbaag of the Northern. And, of course, Lord Dycedarg." [Ramza's expression at this is tense, but neutral.] "With their leaders gone, the fighting will cease, and they will have no choice but to embrace the peace we offer." Ramza: "A peace? Or surrender on the Church's terms?" Delita: "The people will proffer to the Church the role of mediator with hands upraised. What's more, the Church will have the Zodiac Braves."
Delita: "One thing yet remains between the Church and the auracite. The heretic. Ramza Beoulve." Ramza: "Is that it? You've come to fetch the auracite for your masters?" Delita: "I am no hound heeling at the Church's skirts. I answer to no one but myself." Ramza: "Meaning what?" Delita: "Meaning I would not think twice of killing you, Ramza, should the hour come. But not this day. Though our methods be different, our goals are not. As long as they remain so, you are no enemy of mine." [He starts to leave.] Ramza: "Delita. Let us fight this together." Delita: "I cannot join you. She needs me - far too much to leave her now." Ramza: "The princess?" Delita: "Prince or princess, the Church cares not. It craves only power. A puppet state, with the High Confessor at its strings. This is their grand plan for Ivalice." Ramza: "And you? Do you not use Ovelia to fulfill your own ambitions?" Delita: "I cannot say. I am sure only of this." [The screen goes black.] "To save her life, I would gladly give my own. You must think this strange." Ramza: "No. I understand only too well.]
[A voice suddenly shouts from outside.] Voice: "I address the heretic, Ramza Beoulve! You are besieged! You will surrender yourself up to us at once!" Ramza: "I know that voice. Confessor Zalmour!"
[End cutscene.]
Okay, wow. This was… Honestly kind of crazy, but let's put a pin in this whole church scene and come back to it after the fight, because I want to look at it in the context of the post-fight dialogue as well.
Confessor Zalmour was the Inquistor who first deemed Ramza a heretic when he refused to allow himself to be captured at Lesalia. Now he's back, hopefully for the last time.
Zalmour immediately notices Delita, and, of course, assumes him to be an ally. This puts Delita in a tricky position; he can't very well just leave without helping the Church in the presence of a heretic, and he's not going to turn on Ramza now, so his only option is to make sure to kill everyone so no one can report Delita Heiral's association with an infamous heretic. Ramza attempts to explain that Zalmour is a true believer in the Church and the Inquisition who is unaware of the Templar conspiracy, and that it might be possible to talk him down from a fight, and Delita mocks him for thinking this would ever work.
Of course, we know that there are no speech checks in Final Fantasy Tactics battles. It's time for murder. Our objective here is to defeat Zalmour. Our levels have significantly increased since our last battle (Delita himself is lv 32, less than Ramza now, and incidentally less than it was during the WotL-original Monastery battle): We're no longer in a position to have to rush the objective because the enemy is too dangerous. Rather, the battlefield is the main reason we might want to rush the objective. Finding the right set of angles is tricky, but:
High Confessor Zalmour is sitting at the top of the bell tower. The Church is constructed in an "upwards spiral" fashion. Unless we have a very high Jump rating (which would allow us to hop onto that marginally shorter outcropping at the bottom, making the path slightly shorter), our only path to the Confessor is to go the full length of the spiral. There are three Knights posted on the way, two Mystics to disable our characters as we go through, and Zalmour himself, whose Priest Magicks are a combination of support spells and debuff spells; while Zalmour is very high up, White Magick ignores elevation and cover, so I can only assume his Priest Magicks do too. This means we have to make a slow, grinding ascent the long way round, while being thwarted by Knights backed by mages until we reach Zalmour past all these lines of defenses. Difficult? Maybe, maybe not. A huge grind? Definitely.
Except.
DRAGOON'S IGNORE ELEVATION VINDICATED AT LAST.
Hadrian with IE on just completely ignores all elevation. He literally walks up to the sheer wall of the bell tower, jumps, and lands in melee with the Confessor on turn 1, hitting him for 220 damage. That's nearly a wrap right there, before Zalmour has even taken his first turn. Whe does, it's with some dialogue.
Zalmour: "You realize what it is you do? This man is a heretic! You that do abet him shall share his fate! I did not think to find the commander of the Blackrams a traitor to our cause!" Delita: "My choice is made. If it means I must slay each of you to the man, so be it!" Zalmour: "You should tremble with fear to mock the Heavens so! To slay a man of the cloth is to wound this fair land's peace, and turn your back on the natural order the Father has bestowed upon us! It is to turn your back on the gods!" Delita: "Wound the peace? Ha! You hide behind this peace only as it suits you! You invoke the name of the gods to subjugate the weak. This peace you hail is a vile farce! Men such as you profane the gods to speak their names!"
This definitely feels like Delita is taking advantage of being in front of a high-ranking cleric who isn't going to live past the next ten minutes to vent a little about how he really feels about High Confessor Funebris's plans. This may be the most honest we've ever seen him!
Now, unfortunately, plan "Hadrian immediately blenderizes the Confessor" is going to run into the slight trouble that all the enemies who are up in the rooftops panic and turn around to converge back on Hadrian, who is alone. But this is also good - It means one of the Knights turns around to head up instead of going down to stop us, both Mystics turn on Hadrian to cast disabling spells, and Zalmour charges up a Cura to cast on himself to make up for the damage he just suffered, which is significantly better than him supporting any of the enemy units or casting debuffs at us.
Also Ramza activates the Kaioken again.
This leaves the opposition at the bottom level significantly weakened, and allows us to carve through easily.
Up top, Zalmour heals himself, one of the Mystic Disables Hadrian, and his turn comes up. Hadrian is Disabled, so I just pass his turn to make his CT gauge fill up a little faster. Without any debuffs much stronger than Disable, the Mystic and Zalmour take turns beating Hadrian with their puny physical damage. However, note the unit position:
Hadrian is blocking the only way out for the Confessor.
The scaffolding next to the bells is one tile wide, and Hadrian jumped onto that tile. The same environmental parameter that would make the Confessor difficult to engage for more than one character at once also means that I completely locked him in on Turn 1. He has nothing to do but cast heals, hit with a flimsy rod attack, and hope Hadrian stays Disabled.
Which is the point where I reveal that my earlier mention of White Magic ignoring elevation was foreshadowing.
Gillian did not follow the main party's advance. Instead, I had her sit at the foot of the bell tower, where she can cast all her array of White Magic at Hadrian, including Esuna, which clears Disabled.
The good Confessor is brought down to critical HP and attempts to "flee" to the last tile on the bell tower, while the rooftop knight finally reaches Hadrian and attempts to backstab him with a Rend Helm (which does destroy his Circlet, more money down the drain). But the same rule applies to enemies: they, too, can only engage Hadrian from one tile. And that Knight is about to say hello to Hester.
Ramza: "It is not the gods that concern me, but the truth!" Zalmour: "Truth, you say? Do you name the charges against you false? Our Holy Office offered you a forum in which to clear your name, to absolve yourself of the charges of murder and theft that dog you. But you discarded this chance like so much night soil. You fled, and in so running proved your guilt! You have been tried and found guilty, Ramza Beoulve! Your only absolution now is in death! The hour of your plea comes too late!" Ramza: "Then you force my hand!"
See, this is why you don't tell people you want to surrender "oh we've already tried you in absentia and sentenced you to death." Like, Zalmour could be trying to offer literally any concession to Ramza. "You will die, but your soldiers may go free." "Think of young Agrias, whom I will pardon if you surrender." "You will at least be given a chance to make your case, though the outcome be settled." Literally anything. He could even just lie. But no.
Ramza: "Gillian, what's the penalty for heresy?" Gillian: "Death." Ramza: "And what's the penalty for resisting arrest by the Inquisition?" Gillian: "Death." Ramza: "Well, I have news for you: We're heretics."
Incredibly, he doesn't teleport away.
Thus ends Confessor Zalmour.
(We then presumably execute every single one of his remaining soldiers while they beg for us to surrender because no one can be allowed to know of Delita's treachery or something; the implications of the VIP battles are sometimes grim, even though most of the time it can be assumed that the enemies scattered in rout in the ordinary way.)
The promised follow-up.
Delita: "Where will you go now, Ramza?" Ramza: "Two errands brought me to Zeltennia. The first was to meet with you. The second is to speak with Count Orlandeau." Delita: "The Thunder God?" Ramza: "I mean to enlist his aid in exposing the Church's intrigues." Delita: "How?" Ramza: "I have powerful evidence of the Church's misdeeds." Delita: "The Scriptures of Germonique!" Ramza: "I spoke with the Count's adopted son, Orran, not long past. He pledged their aid should I bring hard evidence against the Church." Delita: "Orran, eh?"
[Just then, a woman enters from the left.]
Delita: "It's all right. She's with me. Mullone has provided several others to help me carry out my task. She is but one." Woman: "Help you? I was sent to keep *watch* on you." Delita: "And a fine job you're doing of it. Only she knows our plans in full. I trust no other in Goltanna's army more." Woman: "You're the youngest Beoulve, Ramza, am I right? My name is Valmafra." Delita: "I take it you did not come for idle chat?" Valmafra: "The Northern Order moves." Delita: "They make for Besselat?" Valmafra: "Count Orlandeau himself has departed for the same only just now. Duke Goltanna is like to join them soon. At the head of your Blackram Knights, no less." Delita: "Then we're too late. The fighting will continue." Ramza: "Do not give up yet. I might still convince the count to avoid this needless bloodshed." Delita: "Then our paths part once again." Ramza: "Be safe, Delita." Delita: "And you, Ramza."
[They shake hands; Ramza leaves.]
Valmafra: "You mean to let him go?" Delita: "He acts as I expected he would." Valmafra: "Even your friends are only pieces to be played." Delita: "Mind your words! You know not what you say!" Valmafra: [She turns her head away] "Such outbursts ill become a man." Delita: "Haven't you somewhere else to be?"
[She leaves; end cutscene.]
…
Okay so like. Setting aside the obvious ominous implications regarding Delita having anticipated and accounted for Ramza's behavior and planning to use it somehow.
This is crazy, right?
Let me sum up the past two exchanges with Delita:
Ramza: "What's your plan, Delita?"
Delita: "I am planning to kill Dukes Larg and Goltanna, both your brothers, and Cidolfus Orlandeau in the chaos of the fighting, on behalf of the conspiracy I'm using to my own advantage. What's your plan, Ramza?"
Ramza: "I am planning to convince Cidolfus Orlandeau to step down from the fighting by using the Scriptures of Germonique to unravel the conspiracy that you're using to achieve your own goals and exposing the Church's lies to everyone."
Delita: "Sounds good."
Ramza: "Sounds good."
Then they shake hands and part amicably.
Delita said in a sort of handwavy fashion that his goals and Ramza's are currently aligned, and only their means differ. But their means are completely incompatible. It is literally impossible for both of them to succeed. Either Cidolfus gets killed in the fighting or he convinces everyone to stand down, and if everyone stands down without all the leaders being assassinated first then the Church is no longer in a position to casually sweep in oh and also Ramza's plan relies on exposing the entire conspiracy that Delita is using to (allegedly) put Ovelia in power!
Also, even though Ramza's brothers have now betrayed him at least twice so I can't imagine he's too broken up over them, I'd at least expect him to mark a little bit of a hesitation at the thought of Zalbaag and Dycedarg both getting murked by assassins.
It's not like this scene is trying to tell us that Delita and Ramza are bound by such powerful bonds of friendship that they're willing to allow one another to work on their own paths even if those paths are inherently in contradiction; Delita literally says 'I will cut you down without a second thought if it suits me' and ends the scene acting offended that he's being accused of using Ramza like a chess piece but also, by all evidence, just… Using Ramza like a chess piece.
I really don't know what to make of this whole beat. I feel like it was trying to show one thing ("Ramza and Delita still share a bond of trust") while telling another ("Delita is a manipulative dipshit even if his true intentions might be good").
It's also notable that by all indications of what we've seen in this update, Delita… Isn't part of the Lucavi inner conspiracy? He is talking about High Confessor Funebris's plans, how he is going to be aiding them and then using them to his and Ovelia's benefit, and he speaks of the Zodiac Stones only exclusively as symbols that the Church covets to sway the people. At no point does he show any awareness of the demons in their midst. So, huh… Ramza, might want to fill him in at any point? No?
Okay, I guess.
This was an interesting story beat but also bizarre in other respects. It did clarify the whole Conspiracy vs Inner Conspiracy angle that was implicit so far, though, and gave us a clear view of Delita's operational goals, and reinforce that, if Delita is playing Ovelia, then he is very committed to the bit.
Hopefully we'll soon meet with Cidolfus Orlandeau, and from this, gain a new perspective on events.
Valmafra's character entry. Interesting that it calls out both of them as only superficially faithful and self-interested, yet tells us he trusts her greatly.
Now, as an aside…
People in the thread have mentioned that "side quests" open up in Chapter 4. That's interesting to me because so far - 30 hours in! - the game hasn't had any side quest whatsoever. Battles are either story battles (including the Luso battle which was a WotL addition but was placed on a node you can't bypass on your way to the intended next story beat) or random encounters, with Errands functioning as the "side quest" replacement. If the game has such a thing as proper side quests, beats of narrative that are optional and involve their own cutscenes and random encounters, then I'd love some pointers, because right now I'm just going to either run into them by complete accident or miss them entirely; I wouldn't even know they exist without prior warning, I'd have just gone on to the next plot beat assuming side quests didn't exist.
So, yeah, feel free to give me useful indicators of where to go.
Thank you for reading.
Next Time: To Besserat?
Main Story Battle Count: 37 Random Encounter Count: 54
It starts with letting a poor traumatised boy tell his father about all the deaths adventures he went on.
Then it's just a matter of hearing around whether anyone has any local stories about sidequests. Also, don't pick the wrong conversation choice.
Did you forget you taught Gillian 'Holy'? Because unless the zodiac compatibility is really bad that would've probably just finished Zalmo.
