Strong words for someone in rend weapon range.
-Signed Mustadio
Let's Play Every Final Fantasy Game In Order Of Release [Now Playing: Final Fantasy IX]
- Thread starter Omicron
- Start date
- Let's Play
-Signed Mustadio
Nothing a small detour as chemist can't prevent.
Zap Rowsdower
Ex-cultist vagrant
- Location
- Bright lights, big city
- Pronouns
- He/Him
What is a dragoon in the end but an archer with a really, really big arrow?
Gargulec
impact!
- Location
- a garden
I think a good part of it is not just 3e, it is baked into the very premise of Exalted and the way that the gameline is built on critically investigating a number of power fantasy tropes (for better or worse; usually worse). The Chosen have at their disposal amazing powers to destroy and create - but those powers, for all of their greatness, cannot render them anything more, or less, than human. With all the failings and limitations that entails. Exalted is, on the whole, deeply sceptical of the concept that power is great on its own. If anything, it is far closer in spirit to one of the best pages from Kill Six Billion Demons:
Ultimately, it points at someone who has been given the quasi-divine power to kill a thousand men alone and then build out of their bodies a palace fit for the Celestial Emperor, and asks: so what? To what purpose is this power used, and why, so often, it is not so different from applying an especially sharp rock?
Final Fantasy Tactics, Part 19.A: Mount Germinas, Lake Poescas, & Limberry Castle
- 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 slew the vampire, Dracula.
The Story So Far: Ramza, renegade scion of House Beoulve, has uncovered a conspiracy by the Church to manipulate the events of the civil war tearing apart Ivalice. With clever thinking and quick action, he temporarily halted the fighting between the two camps and recruited the fabled Count Cidolfus Orlandeau to his cause; now he hurries towards Limberry, where his sister is being held captive…
(Yes I literally copied the blurb from last time; we did side quests, nothing really happened.)
I. "And people actually voluntarily attack you? Are they stupid?"
Before going on with the story, I spend a few weeks doing Errands to advance Gillian on the Arithmetician track. It doesn't go as far as I'd like it to, but it's a mild improvement, and also we find a bunch more references to other games in the series, which is always kinda cool.
One thing I appreciate about the way these Errands rewards work is that… It does a very good job at selling the idea that this world is layered? We only see Ivalice and the briefest mentions of foreign countries, and yet we see so many little glimpses of past history in this region, so many ancient kingdoms, successive civilizations rising and falling, that it almost feels like you could genuinely fit in all seven games in the backstory of this one area. It's rich in a way the games have sometimes struggled to convey.
Now let's head for our next destination - Mount Germinas. Predictably, we run into trouble.
A group of bandits have set up there and are barring the way. At first the leader just asks for us to pay the "toll" but one of his men soon recognizes Ramza's face from his bounty, and they quickly change their minds - the reward on our heads is too good to pass up, they'll be taking our heads.
Yeah, as if.
We haven't taken either Cid or Agrias for this battle and it scarcely matters. A Ninja opponent is a potential threat, the Thieves' Steal Heart can be potentially dangerous, everything else is trivial, and we're starting to have well-trod tactics to deal with Steal Heart.
One of the Thieves charms Gillian and Ramza immediately turns around to whack her back to her senses. This would normally be a dangerous move given Ramza's usual damage, but our boy is currently doing a short stint as Black Mage in order to learn Arcane Strength so I can finally make Iaido do damage worth a dam. Since Ramza doesn't have any Black Mage spells, that means he's currently somewhat nerfed (he can't use both Iaido and Mettle at the same time, and Mettle is kind of useless when I don't have a source of damage to use Shout's buffs on), but he'll be plenty enough.
Remember that Javelin II we got from the island temple last update? Yeah, Hadrian now obliterates any enemy in one hit. I'll take it off him after this battle or the next but for the time being it's very funny. 570 damage a pop, why not!
Enemies attempt to hit Ramza in melee, and each time they get First Strike'd. Since Ramza is equipped with a mage rod, that First Strike does basically no damage, but what matters is that every time it cancels out the enemy attack, giving me more time to visit devastation on them. Ramza's new Iaido Command, Sanguine Blossom, is a "long range straight line" move, and it puts in some work, obliterating the enemy Ninja. The Archers and one Thief try to team up to bring down Hester's low HP, but her high evasion and Dragonheart make that a doomed prospect. Speed of action, control of the terrain, and long range attacking power thanks to Jump and Mustadio's gun, plus Gillian acting as support caster, quickly overwhelm the opposition.
They'll have to do better than this. What's our next battle?
II. With The Power Of Math And This Gun I Found
Ghosts.
Ghost of the Lake: "What men of flesh and blood dare disturb the slumber of the dead? Men with… auracite!? We will have it from you! Then at last our souls will ascend to that lofty plane, as yours rot here in their stead!"
I love it when a game just gives you a throwaway one-liner to justify a basically random battle and just sort of implies not only the existence of a soul and an afterlife (which granted is consistent with Marach's resurrection) but also that the auracite specifically can act as a manual psychopomp that can allow souls trapped on earth to transcend to a different plane of existence, most likely the very same plane from which the Lucavi themselves came. Were the Lucavi once mortal souls who passed onto the Zodiac Dimension and there were transformed by the centuries and its fell energies? Who knows! Let's kill all these dead guys a second time.
We brought Reis along this time - I'd like to give her a chance to grow into her own for the endgame, though it's tricky because any battle that's truly challenging is a bit beyond her raw skillset until she's had a chance to learn some of her better Dragon abilities. For now, hitting ghost with 262-damage Fire Breath is enough to give her a bit of room to work with.
However, this battle is mostly a testing ground for Arithmetics, because I finally unlocked the first of its abilities.
As a reminder: The way Arithmetics work is that we choose an "algorithm" and a "magic." So for instance, here, we have unlocked Level, CT, and Multiple of 5. This means we can target a spell at either all characters with a CT count multiple of 5, or all characters with a level multiple of 5. The question you might be asking is, "but what spells do you have access to?" Like, is it a situation where you need to pair White Magic to Arithmetics? Well, no.
The Arithmetician has access to all spells she knows across all jobs. Black Magic, White Magic, Time Magic, Mystic Arts: Any of them can be used with Arithmeticks regardless of the equipped second command ability.
This is truly wild stuff. Even with just two algorithms unlocked, I can pull off some absolute bullshit.
Look at this. "CT Multiple of 5 Curaga." Instant cast Curaga, at no cost, with no range limit, on all characters whose current CT count is a multiple of 5. The game helpfully informs us of exactly which characters will be targeted with the green boxes; here, the Curaga will hit Gillian, Reis, and two enemies (who, being undead, take damage from healing spells). Ridiculous! *
If I were to, say, tweak my gear spread to ensure that all my characters have exactly Speed 10, then their Speed would always be a multiple of 5, and Gillian would be able to omnicast buffs and support spells on my party every turn!
I don't know if we'll have time to unlock the full ART kit by the end of the game, but even this taste is incredible.
Anyway - all-undead opposition means Mustadio turns into a one-hit kill machine with Seal Evil, Reis takes on as many ghosts as will come to her, and Ramza has finally unlocked Arcane Strength. Which means I've now swapped him back to Squire: His set up is Mettle, Iaido, First Strike, Arcane Strength, Move+2, I have equipped him with the Runeblade (which grants extra MA) and the Magepower Glove (which does the same) and our boy does work.
It's a total blowout and it's not even close. Hopefully these ghosts have been put to rest for good.
Cue cutscene.
Knight Templar Loffrey - a character we only ever met once, during the Wiegraf cutscene added by WotL, at which time I thought he was just Folmarv using a fake name due to how they resemble each other; without that cutscene this would be the first time we ever encounter him - is talking to Dycedarg.
Loffrey: "So, you are unwilling to compromise on your position."
Dycedarg: "Ivalice's reunification under its rightful king was His Grace's most fervent wish. We've no intention of laying down arms until Prince Orinus sits the throne that is his birthright. You will not steer the helm of Ivalice at your own pleasure. Not so long as this house stands."
Loffrey: "Do you not know who made your assassination of the duke possible?"
Dycedarg: "I mislike the question. Larg was felled by a Southern Sky assassin. Or do you mean to say that you were the ones who sent him?"
Loffrey: "I'll not play this fool's game. There is to be no convincing you, then?"
Dycedarg is an absolute snake but I kind of love his attitude. Just stare the guy who enabled your assassination of the duke in the eye and say "Of course we must continue the war to honor our poor, beloved duke's legacy. Assassinated? No, I have no idea what you mean." Like, he knows Loffrey knows, he's just denying what they both know to be true as a power play.
Dycedarg: "Were it our desire, we could crush the templarate like an overripe grape. Of that I am quite convinced."
Loffrey: "Pray remove that fine white cloak beforehand. Burst grapes oft leave a fearsome stain. Tell me, this poison employed at Besselat - do you know what it was?"
Dycedarg: "I believe it was an extract of mossfungus spores."
Loffrey: "So it was. An insidious thing, mossfungus. It takes a great quantity to kill a man, but the toxin never leaves the blood. The smallest, most undetectable of doses will prove lethal, if repeated oft enough."
Dycedarg: "..."
Loffrey: "Even a learned eye might confuse the symptoms with those of common affliction. Oft as not, the person poisoned is never even aware. And should they become so, it is almost invariably too late. Your late father was taken by malady, was he not?"
Dycedarg: "Do you make some implication?"
Loffrey: "I'm told you yourself have some knowledge in poisoncraft."
[There's a long silence.]
Dycedarg: "What of it?"
Loffrey: "I recently learned an interesting fact. I had wondered if you might be aware of it. Mossfungus poisoning leaves spores in the body. When a victim is buried, they say toadstools sprout above the grave."
Dycedarg: "..."
Loffrey: "Forgive me, I digress. Ah, yes, there was another matter - a gift from High Confessor Marcel."
[Loffrey produces a Zodiac Stone.]
Dycedarg: "A gemstone?"
Loffrey: "It is a Zodiac Stone - a blessed crystal from Mullone. The High Confessor wished for you to have it. Please accept it as a symbol of the Church's good faith."
One last shot reveals that Zalbaag was listening in on their conversation. This will be relevant later, for obvious reasons.
…
Giving Dycedarg a Zodiac Stone is a clever move, if potentially risky. Dycedarg does not trust the Templar Knights and the Church, and would likely be suspicious of any gift; but a gemstone is just a gemstone. He is not at all the kind of man to believe in tall tales of demons and heroes or in legends of the power of the stone. Short of the stone being slathered in contact poison somehow, there's, from his perspective, no risk in accepting this gift.
But the Stones do have power. And while that power can be used for good, it seduces men like Dycedarg - men of ruthless ambition, men who crave power, men driven by pride or spite or vengeance - with the strength of demons who eventually hollow them out from within and make all their previous desires irrelevant as they become no more than the demon possessing them. Dycedarg is exactly the kind of man to fall to the lure of a "bargain" with the Lucavi; and once he has done so, he may not become an agent of the Church… But he'll certainly become an ally of Folmarv. He'll happily join the other Lucavi in sowing chaos and destruction on the path to their greater objective. This Stone is a deadly trap, of a kind Dycedarg is not psychologically prepared to even imagine being possible.
III. The Gates Stand Open
And now the only node standing in our way is Limberry Castle. Of course, it's not going to be as easy as one battle. Now, we are in for a gauntlet. Does this mean we will once again find ourselves in a "do you want to backtrack to buy items relevant to encounter #3 and have to redo the first two battles or keep banging your head against the same wall over and over" scenario? Yes. Yes it does.
Let's go.
The castle seems utterly abandoned. The door even stands open. As Ramza approaches, he of courses suspects a trap. "There's something familiar," he says; "The battle with Cuchulainn, with Belias…"
It makes sense, of course. Folmarv and Belias showed that a single Lucavi could rampage through an entire garrison essentially unopposed. Meanwhile, Ramza has a proven track record of sneaking into highly defended castles and eliminating high value targets, bypassing most of their guards. So why would the Lord of Limberry not dismiss all his merely human guards, to better allow himself and whatever demons he has under his command to meet Ramza with their full power and no witnesses?
As Ramza approaches the castle gate, a sarcastic greeting rings from above.
Ramza, does it really count as a "trap" if they all but hung up a sign that said "THIS WAY TO THE KILLBOX, DEMONS INCOMING" above the front gate?
Lettie and Celia, Marquis Elmdore's assassins, are back with a small group of "Reavers," monsters whose main talent seems the ability to cast the Bio- line of spells. The Reavers are mostly just action economy filler; Lettie and Celia are our true threats. The sheer walls and the higher ground means they have freedom to target us with special moves while we'll need to reach up to get to them - luckily we brought Hadrian and his Ignore Elevation, but his base movement is low enough that he'll still struggle to reach the enemy.
Last time we fought Lettie and Celia (and Elmdore), people commented that I had been incredibly lucky to net a quick win because the Assassins can quickly disable our party and it's very frequent for Rapha to run ahead and get herself murked, resulting in an immediate game over. And I was lucky. But this time, there is no Rapha, so we'll get to see first-hand just how dangerous Lettie and Celia really are.
We go first, Hester tossing a flail at a Reaver's head and Ramza hopping on crates while Shouting himself to power, and then things immediately take a turn for the worse as Lettie and Celia throw Shadowbinds at us, Stopping Mustadio and Ramza. We're now down 2 out of 5 party members, it's not great!
Still, we have Gillian and Hadrian. Level Multiple of 5 Haste grants Haste to Mustadio and Ramza (for whenever Stop wears off, you see) and Gillian herself, as well as one of the Reavers, but whatever. Then Hadrian takes off, aiming to land a Jump on Lettie.
The Reavers take turn hurling the whole Bio- range of spells at my party, and it turns out those carry status effects a little worse than poison - Ramza is turned into a frog, Gillian is petrified. It's a pretty devastating outcome; I only have Mustadio and Hadrian left.
Then Hadrian lands and the battle is over.
570 damage Jump attack with Javelin II, instantly taking out Lettie. Although the Objective told us "Defeat All Enemies!" that was a straight up lie; it turns out taking out any of the two assassin sisters ends the battle instantly.
Cellia: "If you would see your sister again, you must fight your way to her!"
[She teleports away.]
Lettie: "I await within. But I've so little patience… Best be quick!"
[She also teleports.]
If I had known I would perhaps have done things differently. Let's perhaps put the Javelin II back on the shelf for the time being.
As it turns out, while we were battling it out with his henchwomen, Elmdore was entertaining a visitor - Folmarv himself.
Elmdore: "Belias and Cuchulainn… defeated. We are all that's left - we and Adrammelech, who waits trapped in the Rift."
Folmarv: "Do not worry about Adrammelech. He will join us ere long."
Elmdore: "You've found a host?"
Folmarv: "Not I. The Stone. The Stone chooses the flesh, as it was with us."
[Elmdore gets up and goes to look out his window.]
Elmdore: "Of course. Then all that remains is the revival of the master. Once that is done, we will have no need of auracite - nor of these vessels. We will come and go as we please. Do we have a host for the High Seraph? Do not tell me it is that girl."
Folmarv: "There is but one host fit for the High Seraph. The girl is the chosen. Now we need only find the way to the necrohol, and the High Seraph's soul."
[Celia teleports in.]
Celia: "He's here."
[Lettie teleports in.]
Lettie: "I've drawn him into our web. What would you now have me do with him?"
Elmdore: "Ah, Ramza. So long you kept us waiting. We have a score to settle from Riovanes."
Folmarv: "Do not make light of him. He is a worthy foe. Not even Belias could stand before him."
Elmdore: "You needn't worry about me. I shall deal with him. You've matters of far greater import. You must find the gate to the necrohol."
Folmarv: "Be at ease. I will not disappoint you."
[Folmarv teleports away.]
Elmdore: "See that you don't. Now fly!"
Hmmm.
I went into the Artifact tab to do a count of our Zodiac Stones - we have:
Aries (acquired from Belias/Wiegraf)
Pisces (retrieved from Isilud at Riovanes)
Taurus (last recovered from Marach at Riovanes)
Scorpio (last recovered from Marach at Riovanes)
Aquarius (found in the coal mine with Holy Dragon Reis)
Libra (gifted to us by Cid upon his joining)
Cancer (acquired from defeating Construct 7)
That's seven, leaving five stones unaccounted for: Virgo, which is meant to be used by Alma; the stones held by Folmarv and Elmdore; the stone gifted to Dycedarg; and a last one unaccounted for.
We… actually have more of the Zodiac Stones than our enemies do at this stage of the game. Huh. I did not expect that. Which ties into a peculiar mood this beat is going for, which is that…
The Lucavi aren't losing, exactly, they clearly think they're on the cusp of victory, but also they've been severely pushed back? It turns out that there weren't that many Lucavi active - with Cuchulainn and Belias (neither of whom seemed to have truly "completed" their possession, psychologically speaking) gone, it's only Elmdore and Folmarv left. And they are now waiting for their brother Adrammelech to possess Dycedarg with the stone gifted to him by Folmarv. There's almost a kind of… loneliness to that meeting between Folmarv and Elmdore, with Elmdore being the only person we've ever seen Folmarv treat with respect as a peer, perhaps even as a superior.
This all definitely reinforces that this is one of the worst and most insidious depictions of possession. Where it's not a case of two souls within one body, a demon taking over as the human soul is pushed back, but instead a progressive hollowing out, memories and personality traits of the entity slowly writing over what the host once has, in a way where they never truly understand what happened to them, not until they are fully thinking of themselves as "Belias" and "Cuchulainn," inhabiting a "vessel" to be eventually discarded, working toward some centuries old scheme. The original human safe entirely erased. I think we caught Wiegraf partway through that process, at a point where he still thought of himself as "Wiegraf" but no longer cared about any of the things he once cared about, and Elmdore and Folmarv are the "end state," completely possessed, no longer seeing their human selves as anything but flesh they are currently inhabiting.
This is the fate they have in mind for Dycedarg. Couldn't happen to a nicer guy, but it's still kind of horrific. And it also, of course, the fate they have in mind for Alma, who is meant to host the "High Seraph."
It seems likely that they mean to turn Ramza's sister into the final boss of the game.
Minor note, but the way Lettie and Celia act as a duo yet they both use the first person singular ("I've drawn him into our web") like they're each the one specifically doing whatever they're doing as a unit, has me wondering what exactly their relationship to one another is.
Cut for image count.
The Story So Far: Ramza, renegade scion of House Beoulve, has uncovered a conspiracy by the Church to manipulate the events of the civil war tearing apart Ivalice. With clever thinking and quick action, he temporarily halted the fighting between the two camps and recruited the fabled Count Cidolfus Orlandeau to his cause; now he hurries towards Limberry, where his sister is being held captive…
(Yes I literally copied the blurb from last time; we did side quests, nothing really happened.)
I. "And people actually voluntarily attack you? Are they stupid?"
Before going on with the story, I spend a few weeks doing Errands to advance Gillian on the Arithmetician track. It doesn't go as far as I'd like it to, but it's a mild improvement, and also we find a bunch more references to other games in the series, which is always kinda cool.
One thing I appreciate about the way these Errands rewards work is that… It does a very good job at selling the idea that this world is layered? We only see Ivalice and the briefest mentions of foreign countries, and yet we see so many little glimpses of past history in this region, so many ancient kingdoms, successive civilizations rising and falling, that it almost feels like you could genuinely fit in all seven games in the backstory of this one area. It's rich in a way the games have sometimes struggled to convey.
Now let's head for our next destination - Mount Germinas. Predictably, we run into trouble.
A group of bandits have set up there and are barring the way. At first the leader just asks for us to pay the "toll" but one of his men soon recognizes Ramza's face from his bounty, and they quickly change their minds - the reward on our heads is too good to pass up, they'll be taking our heads.
Yeah, as if.
We haven't taken either Cid or Agrias for this battle and it scarcely matters. A Ninja opponent is a potential threat, the Thieves' Steal Heart can be potentially dangerous, everything else is trivial, and we're starting to have well-trod tactics to deal with Steal Heart.
One of the Thieves charms Gillian and Ramza immediately turns around to whack her back to her senses. This would normally be a dangerous move given Ramza's usual damage, but our boy is currently doing a short stint as Black Mage in order to learn Arcane Strength so I can finally make Iaido do damage worth a dam. Since Ramza doesn't have any Black Mage spells, that means he's currently somewhat nerfed (he can't use both Iaido and Mettle at the same time, and Mettle is kind of useless when I don't have a source of damage to use Shout's buffs on), but he'll be plenty enough.
Remember that Javelin II we got from the island temple last update? Yeah, Hadrian now obliterates any enemy in one hit. I'll take it off him after this battle or the next but for the time being it's very funny. 570 damage a pop, why not!
Enemies attempt to hit Ramza in melee, and each time they get First Strike'd. Since Ramza is equipped with a mage rod, that First Strike does basically no damage, but what matters is that every time it cancels out the enemy attack, giving me more time to visit devastation on them. Ramza's new Iaido Command, Sanguine Blossom, is a "long range straight line" move, and it puts in some work, obliterating the enemy Ninja. The Archers and one Thief try to team up to bring down Hester's low HP, but her high evasion and Dragonheart make that a doomed prospect. Speed of action, control of the terrain, and long range attacking power thanks to Jump and Mustadio's gun, plus Gillian acting as support caster, quickly overwhelm the opposition.
They'll have to do better than this. What's our next battle?
II. With The Power Of Math And This Gun I Found
Ghosts.
Ghost of the Lake: "What men of flesh and blood dare disturb the slumber of the dead? Men with… auracite!? We will have it from you! Then at last our souls will ascend to that lofty plane, as yours rot here in their stead!"
I love it when a game just gives you a throwaway one-liner to justify a basically random battle and just sort of implies not only the existence of a soul and an afterlife (which granted is consistent with Marach's resurrection) but also that the auracite specifically can act as a manual psychopomp that can allow souls trapped on earth to transcend to a different plane of existence, most likely the very same plane from which the Lucavi themselves came. Were the Lucavi once mortal souls who passed onto the Zodiac Dimension and there were transformed by the centuries and its fell energies? Who knows! Let's kill all these dead guys a second time.
We brought Reis along this time - I'd like to give her a chance to grow into her own for the endgame, though it's tricky because any battle that's truly challenging is a bit beyond her raw skillset until she's had a chance to learn some of her better Dragon abilities. For now, hitting ghost with 262-damage Fire Breath is enough to give her a bit of room to work with.
However, this battle is mostly a testing ground for Arithmetics, because I finally unlocked the first of its abilities.
As a reminder: The way Arithmetics work is that we choose an "algorithm" and a "magic." So for instance, here, we have unlocked Level, CT, and Multiple of 5. This means we can target a spell at either all characters with a CT count multiple of 5, or all characters with a level multiple of 5. The question you might be asking is, "but what spells do you have access to?" Like, is it a situation where you need to pair White Magic to Arithmetics? Well, no.
The Arithmetician has access to all spells she knows across all jobs. Black Magic, White Magic, Time Magic, Mystic Arts: Any of them can be used with Arithmeticks regardless of the equipped second command ability.
This is truly wild stuff. Even with just two algorithms unlocked, I can pull off some absolute bullshit.
Look at this. "CT Multiple of 5 Curaga." Instant cast Curaga, at no cost, with no range limit, on all characters whose current CT count is a multiple of 5. The game helpfully informs us of exactly which characters will be targeted with the green boxes; here, the Curaga will hit Gillian, Reis, and two enemies (who, being undead, take damage from healing spells). Ridiculous! *
If I were to, say, tweak my gear spread to ensure that all my characters have exactly Speed 10, then their Speed would always be a multiple of 5, and Gillian would be able to omnicast buffs and support spells on my party every turn!
I don't know if we'll have time to unlock the full ART kit by the end of the game, but even this taste is incredible.
Anyway - all-undead opposition means Mustadio turns into a one-hit kill machine with Seal Evil, Reis takes on as many ghosts as will come to her, and Ramza has finally unlocked Arcane Strength. Which means I've now swapped him back to Squire: His set up is Mettle, Iaido, First Strike, Arcane Strength, Move+2, I have equipped him with the Runeblade (which grants extra MA) and the Magepower Glove (which does the same) and our boy does work.
It's a total blowout and it's not even close. Hopefully these ghosts have been put to rest for good.
Cue cutscene.
Knight Templar Loffrey - a character we only ever met once, during the Wiegraf cutscene added by WotL, at which time I thought he was just Folmarv using a fake name due to how they resemble each other; without that cutscene this would be the first time we ever encounter him - is talking to Dycedarg.
Loffrey: "So, you are unwilling to compromise on your position."
Dycedarg: "Ivalice's reunification under its rightful king was His Grace's most fervent wish. We've no intention of laying down arms until Prince Orinus sits the throne that is his birthright. You will not steer the helm of Ivalice at your own pleasure. Not so long as this house stands."
Loffrey: "Do you not know who made your assassination of the duke possible?"
Dycedarg: "I mislike the question. Larg was felled by a Southern Sky assassin. Or do you mean to say that you were the ones who sent him?"
Loffrey: "I'll not play this fool's game. There is to be no convincing you, then?"
Dycedarg is an absolute snake but I kind of love his attitude. Just stare the guy who enabled your assassination of the duke in the eye and say "Of course we must continue the war to honor our poor, beloved duke's legacy. Assassinated? No, I have no idea what you mean." Like, he knows Loffrey knows, he's just denying what they both know to be true as a power play.
Dycedarg: "Were it our desire, we could crush the templarate like an overripe grape. Of that I am quite convinced."
Loffrey: "Pray remove that fine white cloak beforehand. Burst grapes oft leave a fearsome stain. Tell me, this poison employed at Besselat - do you know what it was?"
Dycedarg: "I believe it was an extract of mossfungus spores."
Loffrey: "So it was. An insidious thing, mossfungus. It takes a great quantity to kill a man, but the toxin never leaves the blood. The smallest, most undetectable of doses will prove lethal, if repeated oft enough."
Dycedarg: "..."
Loffrey: "Even a learned eye might confuse the symptoms with those of common affliction. Oft as not, the person poisoned is never even aware. And should they become so, it is almost invariably too late. Your late father was taken by malady, was he not?"
Dycedarg: "Do you make some implication?"
Loffrey: "I'm told you yourself have some knowledge in poisoncraft."
[There's a long silence.]
Dycedarg: "What of it?"
Loffrey: "I recently learned an interesting fact. I had wondered if you might be aware of it. Mossfungus poisoning leaves spores in the body. When a victim is buried, they say toadstools sprout above the grave."
Dycedarg: "..."
Loffrey: "Forgive me, I digress. Ah, yes, there was another matter - a gift from High Confessor Marcel."
[Loffrey produces a Zodiac Stone.]
Dycedarg: "A gemstone?"
Loffrey: "It is a Zodiac Stone - a blessed crystal from Mullone. The High Confessor wished for you to have it. Please accept it as a symbol of the Church's good faith."
One last shot reveals that Zalbaag was listening in on their conversation. This will be relevant later, for obvious reasons.
…
Giving Dycedarg a Zodiac Stone is a clever move, if potentially risky. Dycedarg does not trust the Templar Knights and the Church, and would likely be suspicious of any gift; but a gemstone is just a gemstone. He is not at all the kind of man to believe in tall tales of demons and heroes or in legends of the power of the stone. Short of the stone being slathered in contact poison somehow, there's, from his perspective, no risk in accepting this gift.
But the Stones do have power. And while that power can be used for good, it seduces men like Dycedarg - men of ruthless ambition, men who crave power, men driven by pride or spite or vengeance - with the strength of demons who eventually hollow them out from within and make all their previous desires irrelevant as they become no more than the demon possessing them. Dycedarg is exactly the kind of man to fall to the lure of a "bargain" with the Lucavi; and once he has done so, he may not become an agent of the Church… But he'll certainly become an ally of Folmarv. He'll happily join the other Lucavi in sowing chaos and destruction on the path to their greater objective. This Stone is a deadly trap, of a kind Dycedarg is not psychologically prepared to even imagine being possible.
III. The Gates Stand Open
And now the only node standing in our way is Limberry Castle. Of course, it's not going to be as easy as one battle. Now, we are in for a gauntlet. Does this mean we will once again find ourselves in a "do you want to backtrack to buy items relevant to encounter #3 and have to redo the first two battles or keep banging your head against the same wall over and over" scenario? Yes. Yes it does.
Let's go.
The castle seems utterly abandoned. The door even stands open. As Ramza approaches, he of courses suspects a trap. "There's something familiar," he says; "The battle with Cuchulainn, with Belias…"
It makes sense, of course. Folmarv and Belias showed that a single Lucavi could rampage through an entire garrison essentially unopposed. Meanwhile, Ramza has a proven track record of sneaking into highly defended castles and eliminating high value targets, bypassing most of their guards. So why would the Lord of Limberry not dismiss all his merely human guards, to better allow himself and whatever demons he has under his command to meet Ramza with their full power and no witnesses?
As Ramza approaches the castle gate, a sarcastic greeting rings from above.
Ramza, does it really count as a "trap" if they all but hung up a sign that said "THIS WAY TO THE KILLBOX, DEMONS INCOMING" above the front gate?
Lettie and Celia, Marquis Elmdore's assassins, are back with a small group of "Reavers," monsters whose main talent seems the ability to cast the Bio- line of spells. The Reavers are mostly just action economy filler; Lettie and Celia are our true threats. The sheer walls and the higher ground means they have freedom to target us with special moves while we'll need to reach up to get to them - luckily we brought Hadrian and his Ignore Elevation, but his base movement is low enough that he'll still struggle to reach the enemy.
Last time we fought Lettie and Celia (and Elmdore), people commented that I had been incredibly lucky to net a quick win because the Assassins can quickly disable our party and it's very frequent for Rapha to run ahead and get herself murked, resulting in an immediate game over. And I was lucky. But this time, there is no Rapha, so we'll get to see first-hand just how dangerous Lettie and Celia really are.
We go first, Hester tossing a flail at a Reaver's head and Ramza hopping on crates while Shouting himself to power, and then things immediately take a turn for the worse as Lettie and Celia throw Shadowbinds at us, Stopping Mustadio and Ramza. We're now down 2 out of 5 party members, it's not great!
Still, we have Gillian and Hadrian. Level Multiple of 5 Haste grants Haste to Mustadio and Ramza (for whenever Stop wears off, you see) and Gillian herself, as well as one of the Reavers, but whatever. Then Hadrian takes off, aiming to land a Jump on Lettie.
The Reavers take turn hurling the whole Bio- range of spells at my party, and it turns out those carry status effects a little worse than poison - Ramza is turned into a frog, Gillian is petrified. It's a pretty devastating outcome; I only have Mustadio and Hadrian left.
Then Hadrian lands and the battle is over.
570 damage Jump attack with Javelin II, instantly taking out Lettie. Although the Objective told us "Defeat All Enemies!" that was a straight up lie; it turns out taking out any of the two assassin sisters ends the battle instantly.
Cellia: "If you would see your sister again, you must fight your way to her!"
[She teleports away.]
Lettie: "I await within. But I've so little patience… Best be quick!"
[She also teleports.]
If I had known I would perhaps have done things differently. Let's perhaps put the Javelin II back on the shelf for the time being.
As it turns out, while we were battling it out with his henchwomen, Elmdore was entertaining a visitor - Folmarv himself.
Elmdore: "Belias and Cuchulainn… defeated. We are all that's left - we and Adrammelech, who waits trapped in the Rift."
Folmarv: "Do not worry about Adrammelech. He will join us ere long."
Elmdore: "You've found a host?"
Folmarv: "Not I. The Stone. The Stone chooses the flesh, as it was with us."
[Elmdore gets up and goes to look out his window.]
Elmdore: "Of course. Then all that remains is the revival of the master. Once that is done, we will have no need of auracite - nor of these vessels. We will come and go as we please. Do we have a host for the High Seraph? Do not tell me it is that girl."
Folmarv: "There is but one host fit for the High Seraph. The girl is the chosen. Now we need only find the way to the necrohol, and the High Seraph's soul."
[Celia teleports in.]
Celia: "He's here."
[Lettie teleports in.]
Lettie: "I've drawn him into our web. What would you now have me do with him?"
Elmdore: "Ah, Ramza. So long you kept us waiting. We have a score to settle from Riovanes."
Folmarv: "Do not make light of him. He is a worthy foe. Not even Belias could stand before him."
Elmdore: "You needn't worry about me. I shall deal with him. You've matters of far greater import. You must find the gate to the necrohol."
Folmarv: "Be at ease. I will not disappoint you."
[Folmarv teleports away.]
Elmdore: "See that you don't. Now fly!"
Hmmm.
I went into the Artifact tab to do a count of our Zodiac Stones - we have:
Aries (acquired from Belias/Wiegraf)
Pisces (retrieved from Isilud at Riovanes)
Taurus (last recovered from Marach at Riovanes)
Scorpio (last recovered from Marach at Riovanes)
Aquarius (found in the coal mine with Holy Dragon Reis)
Libra (gifted to us by Cid upon his joining)
Cancer (acquired from defeating Construct 7)
That's seven, leaving five stones unaccounted for: Virgo, which is meant to be used by Alma; the stones held by Folmarv and Elmdore; the stone gifted to Dycedarg; and a last one unaccounted for.
We… actually have more of the Zodiac Stones than our enemies do at this stage of the game. Huh. I did not expect that. Which ties into a peculiar mood this beat is going for, which is that…
The Lucavi aren't losing, exactly, they clearly think they're on the cusp of victory, but also they've been severely pushed back? It turns out that there weren't that many Lucavi active - with Cuchulainn and Belias (neither of whom seemed to have truly "completed" their possession, psychologically speaking) gone, it's only Elmdore and Folmarv left. And they are now waiting for their brother Adrammelech to possess Dycedarg with the stone gifted to him by Folmarv. There's almost a kind of… loneliness to that meeting between Folmarv and Elmdore, with Elmdore being the only person we've ever seen Folmarv treat with respect as a peer, perhaps even as a superior.
This all definitely reinforces that this is one of the worst and most insidious depictions of possession. Where it's not a case of two souls within one body, a demon taking over as the human soul is pushed back, but instead a progressive hollowing out, memories and personality traits of the entity slowly writing over what the host once has, in a way where they never truly understand what happened to them, not until they are fully thinking of themselves as "Belias" and "Cuchulainn," inhabiting a "vessel" to be eventually discarded, working toward some centuries old scheme. The original human safe entirely erased. I think we caught Wiegraf partway through that process, at a point where he still thought of himself as "Wiegraf" but no longer cared about any of the things he once cared about, and Elmdore and Folmarv are the "end state," completely possessed, no longer seeing their human selves as anything but flesh they are currently inhabiting.
This is the fate they have in mind for Dycedarg. Couldn't happen to a nicer guy, but it's still kind of horrific. And it also, of course, the fate they have in mind for Alma, who is meant to host the "High Seraph."
It seems likely that they mean to turn Ramza's sister into the final boss of the game.
Minor note, but the way Lettie and Celia act as a duo yet they both use the first person singular ("I've drawn him into our web") like they're each the one specifically doing whatever they're doing as a unit, has me wondering what exactly their relationship to one another is.
Cut for image count.
Final Fantasy Tactics, Part 19.B: Mount Germinas, Lake Poescas, & Limberry Castle
- Location
- Brittany, France
- Pronouns
- He/Him
IV. Symphony of the Night
Elmdore: "At last, the hour of my retribution is come."
Ramza: "Where do you hide my sister!?"
Elmdore: "Questions are the right of the victor, Ramza - not that of a man about to meet his end!"
[OBJECTIVE: DEFEAT MARQUIS ELMDORE!]
Alright, let's go. 3v5, we got this baby! Maximum speed, maximum aggression!
Oh.
Oooooh.
Well then.
Okay. Let's take this from the top and see what just happened.
Lettie and Celia seem to mostly be similar to how they were before, but they behave differently. Previously, they liked to use Shadowbind to disable my characters. This was an extremely effective strategy because it reduced my action pool and allowed them to take free shots at the paralyzed unit. But Stop wears off, so those characters would eventually come back into the fight, or else Lettie and Celia would have to take turns actually finishing them off.
This is no longer the case. Now, the Assassins move into close range and use Suffocate, an instant death attack with 100% accuracy. That's two characters down per turn.
That's not all. Elmdore has finally revealed his true nature. Sephiroth clone? Perhaps. But also…
Silver-haired noble in embroidered black cloak? This is Alucard. Elmdore is a vampire. He is also fully equipped with the Genji armor set, which in various previous game was the highest tier of armor available.
I mean, he can't actually have been inspired by Alucard because Tactics released a mere three months after Symphony of the Night, but, like… The similarities are striking.
Elmdore utilizes a combination of his superior speed, tight initial placing on the map for my unit, perfect teleportation, and Iaido to immediately teleport into my party and hit multiple units with a devastating AoE Iaido attack. It's brutal. Anyone who survives gets to suffer Suffocate.
Still, this is a strong initial push but not hopeless. The Assassins have fairly hefty HP pools, but some of my units are faster; I can go before them and take out one of the two, freeing up the pressure from at least one Suffocate. Just one problem…
…killing Lettie or Celia causes them to reveal their true form as an Ultima Demon.
Ultima Demons have less HP than Assassins, but it's still substantial. They also retain considerable attacking power. It's still better to be dealing with their demonic form than their human form, but it's a far cry from "take an enemy off the board"; the time it takes me to wear through one of the Assassins' HP and then kill their demon form allows the other Assassin and Elmdore to just carve through my party.
It's not ideal.
Alright, let's bring in Agrias. How does that go?
The Assassins reveal they can cast Ultima, yes, that spell, and Agrias is quickly the only survivor. What the fuck.
Agrias's considerable offensive poçwer and survivability allows her to take out Celia and then destroy her demon form, and to still be alive when Ramza crystallizes and we get another game over. That's not enough to cut it for the win.
Fine, then.
We're tagging inJulius Belmont Cidolfus Orlandeau. And swapping Gillian back to White Mage again. Orlandeau, Agrias, Hadrian: Maximum offensive power.
Problem is, while Orlandeau's auto-Haste from Excalibur does allow him to go first, he hasn't yet earned enough JP to unlock far-reaching attacks like Divine Ruination or Hallowed Bolt, so he has to stopped short of reaching the enemy line on his first turn; only Agrias is able to move up far enough to Hallowed Bolt the opposition.
She is, in fact, able to hit the entire enemy party for significant damage. Unfortunately Elmdore then immediately teleports behind my lines and strike all three of my remaining characters with Iaido and Celia Suffocates Agrias.
But wait. What better way to counter Iaido… Than with Iaido?
Ramza's Murasame/Rain of Wisdom is able to heal for all but ~40 damage from Elmdore's attack, also in an AoE. Finally, the diversity of his skillset is paying off.
Anyway then it turns out that Cidolfus Orlandeau is not immune to Suffocate and the Man Himself just goes down instantly to the next Assassin attack. This is fine. I just have Gillian cast Raise on him…
IT WHIFFS. IT. WHIFFS. Gillian is an Aquarius and Cid is a Scorpio, meaning they have terrible compatibility and I hate the Zodiac System so much. Miss chance on resurrection spells is the most obnoxious mechanic in the universe. Elmdore then murders Gillian so we only have Hadrian capable of using Phoenix Down to raise people and I don't care, it doesn't matter. Reload.
…
I've been, of course, considering ways to deal with the Assassins' abilities. If I could just turn off Suffocate, that'd go a long way. And there is an item for that! The Angel Ring is an Item which grants Reraise when equipped, but also, importantly, immunity to instant KO. Unfortunately, I only have one of these Rings. And acquiring more would require reloading before the main gate battle, which I will do if I have to but I'd rather not. So for now, the Angel Ring goes on Gillian, since she's the only one with Rise and Arise. Other items might also help - there's Stop-immunity gear for instance, useful against Shadowbind - but frankly if I can't deal with Suffocate it won't matter and if I can I can probably force Lettie and Celia into their true forms before they get a chance to Shadowbind.
Let's go again.
Hadrian has considerable damage power and high HP, but in this fight he's too slow. By swapping him for Hester, we can have an extremely offensive first turn; Agrias blasts everyone with Hallowed Bolt, then Hester immediately goes next and "kills" one of the two Assassins, forcing her transformation into a more manageable Ultima demon and reducing the number of Suffocates we risk suffering, as well as scattering our units so that Elmdore cannot hit more than two units with his Iaido.
Then Elmdore decides Agrias would make a great Mina Harker impression.
Elmdore's Vampire ability bites his victim, inflicting moderate damage, healing himself for the same amount, and inflicting the status effect of the same name.
So what does Vampire do?
Well, Agrias is now no longer controllable. Her defenses have dropped to zero, she's now unable to use reaction or movement ability, and every turn, she attacks the closest enemy with her own Vampire skill.
She's been turned into a vampire and is lashing out, berserk, at the first target in range to drink their blood, but still retains barely enough awareness to prioritize enemy units rather than her own allies - unless there are no enemies within her moving range, in which case she will go after an ally instead. This is honestly a pretty big flavor win compared to how weird the Zombie status can get in these games.
Alright. Current status: One Assassin demonified. Agrias is a Vampire and out of our control. Orlandeau has only had one turn and not acted again yet. Ramza and Gillian are up.
Ramza's Doomed Aspirations takes out the demon, Celia uses Suffocate to neutralize Hester. Gillian is up, and I do a quick check.
Elmdore's CT gauge is at 20, and he has Speed 10; he will act in 8 ticks. Holy has a Speed of 17, so it will fire in 6 ticks. Holy predicts an instant kill on cast. As long as Gillian survives to the cast - and she should, because Celia also just acted - we have this in the bag.
Or even earlier.
Cid finally goes again, flanking Elmdore and blasting him with Shadowblade for a cool 322 damage.
And then…
The neonate Agrias turns upon her sire.
Agrias's Vampire attack consumes the remainder of Elmdore's HP. It turns out he wasn't immune to his own bite.
I couldn't have scripted it better myself. This is cinema.
Battle ends, and Elmdore rises to one knee to give us the traditional acknowledgement and escape.
Elmdore: "You are strong. There… there is no denying that. It is more than I can overcome… so bound within this fragile shell of flesh."
[He teleports away.]
Elmdore: "I await you in the undercroft. It is there your darling sister sleeps."
One might almost say that he is stifled by this vessel of flesh, eh?
Celia of course disappears as the battle ends, presumably killed within the narrative even if the gameplay didn't quite pan out that way.
That was a hair-raising battle, and definitely gave me an appreciation for Cid's clutch support. Could I have pulled it off without him? Well, in practice he only fired off a single Shadowblade, and Elmdore was on track to die to Holy. Without Cid or Tynar Rouge Agrias… It's rough.
Holy does a lot of work, though. For the sake of experiment, I went back and I did reload out of the castle, purchase Angel Rings (and Black Garbs, which grant immunity to Stop and therefore Shadowbind), and I tried it again without Cid, first with Agrias being boosted by the Tynar Rouge and then without. And I did win, but it's not as satisfying a win. Two of my units - Agrias and Hadrian - can equip heavy armor and only heavy armor, which means they can't enjoy the Black Garb's immunity to Confuse and Stop; that leaves them vulnerable to Shadowbind and the Marquis' own Doomed Aspirations. Filling everyone's item slot with Angel Rings also takes away a lot of my offensive power invested in stuff like Bracers and Magepower Gloves, so we're operating a more low-power operation, which means less big flashy KOs. On the other hand, not dealing with Suffocate is a godsend, and every character has a single-use Reraise effect that brings them back into the fight. The first fight actually ends when Gillian goes, blasting a wounded Elmdore with Holy and sending him to the shadow realm. The second battle (without Tynar Rouge to grant a Hasted Agrias an immediate blast on all enemies) is a lot messier and has several KOs, but the enemy understands the threat of Gillian and actually spawn-camps her on Reraise with a Shuriken before she can use Holy… Which gives a Reraised Ramza time to limp up to Elmdore and finish him off with Sanguine Blossom.
So yes, Cid is by no means necessary for this battle, neither is the WotL-added Tynar Rouge, and you can even eke by at lower than encounter level (Ramza is lv 40 to Elmdore's 41, the Assassins are lv 39 and most of my party is 35 to 38, with Orlandeau at 39). You just have to strategize based on enemy status effects and available immunity items. It's one of the battles with the most strategic depth we've had in the game so far, and I enjoyed it.
Of course, this is not the end of Marquis Elmdore, and we must-
…
Oh, fine.
I was not able to acquire Ultima in this fight.
People have obliquely referred to this and I appreciate their efforts at pointing me towards the way without spoiling the big deal, but to spare you an aneurysm: I checked what was the big mystery about needing Squire in the castle fight specifically, and it turns out that Ramza, if he has the Squire job, and takes damage from an Ultima cast, then learns Ultima as a Squire Ability that he can then use.
This is probably another important block of the whole "Squire is Ramza's true job in the narrative" argument. And certainly, no Divine Knight we've seen can use Ultima, so that's definitely pretty special!
Unfortunately Lettie and Celia are stingy as hell on Ultima. When they do use it, they seem to refuse to target Ramza. Also, they're incredibly dangerous, so I need to kill them before they have a chance to act very often. All in all, at this level, this battle is extremely rocket-taggy; I have won it three times (with Cid, with Tynar Rouge, without either), and lost it many more times than this, and at no point did Ramza chance to have Ultima cast upon him, take damage and survive.
So, yeah. I'm not going to do this all over again just for one spell that isn't even signposted in the game proper. Probably.
Let's move on. It's time, no doubt, to confront Marquis Elmdore in his true demonic form. We get another save point, another battle menu, and I decide since I took Cid to the last battle I might as well just continue to carve through Limbery Castle with the power of the Sword Saint.
V. Worst Boy Returns
The game is reusing the Fort Besselat South Gate map, though with a slightly different color palette. There are no visible enemies at first - but of course, this is a trap. It looks like we'll have to deal with yet another obstruction before moving on to the dark crypts were Elmdore dwells (and I do like his commitment to the vampire aesthetic, as well as his tastefully understated yet undeniably sinister implication in saying that Alma "sleeps" in the undercroft that she may already be dead and interred in the crypts, or else a vampire herself). As Ramza makes his way through, a "mysterious voice" calls to him.
Mysterious Voice: "You'll not enter the undercroft on my watch. The way is shut."
Ramza: "Who speaks? Reveal yourself!"
Oh-oh, what's this? Another lieutenant of Elmdore? Another demon or elite killer to bar our way and make himself a miniboss? How exciting! I can't wait to find out-
Mysterious Voice: "Naive as ever, I see."
…
Ar-
Argath!?
Argath??? Of all people??? What the fuck! I saw you die, you piece of shit! I had you stabbed in the back by Hadrian myself!
Wait, that armor - it's a slightly pinker shade than Ramza's purple, but that's the same spiked carapace as Ramza wore in Chapters 2 and 3! He stole Ramza's fit! And what's with his face? Look at his ashen skin tone! Is he sick!?
Argath: "Ha! To think my luck so fair that we would chance to meet again!"
Ramza: "Argath! How did - I thought you for dead!"
Argath: "Dead? Oh, Ramza… Your mind's as common as your friends! I did not *die,* I was reborn! Chosen by a greater power! I did not fall before, nor shall I here. That fate belongs to you!"
[He raises his arms and summons several Ultima Demons.]
…
"Reborn…" "Chosen by a greater power…" Face like an ashtray…
Yeah, he's a vampire. Or at least some kind of undead. A corpse animated by necromantic energy courtesy of the good Marquis himself.
Of all people to raise from the dead as an undying minion imbued with fell necrotic power, you chose Argath? Are you for real?
Fine! I killed him once, I'll kill him again!
Argath: "You've no hope in this fight. Come! Let us kill these maggots!"
Our opposition is five Ultima Demons and Argath himself, positioned on the walls around the central path. A difficult position, but we've dealt with this map once before and the conditions this time are actually similar.
Orlandeau obliterates a demon with Northwain's Strike, Agrias brings another into critical with Hallowed Bolt, then it's Ramza's turn and some dialogue.
Ramza: "So, your soul is bartered as well. Your grandsire would be proud."
Argath: "How dare you! You, pampered and coddled from your earliest days! What do you know of our affairs? Of being made to toil for another's pleasure, near without reward? Being trod upon even by peasant filth, struggling endlessly to rise back to our feet - what do you know of this? I'll purge this kingdom of all who once looked down on me! There is no place in this world for the meager!"
Ramza: "You'll do nothing of the sort!"
Oh my god Argath, shut the fuck up. "Woe is me, I am impoverished nobility struggling to earn back my respect" while the peasantry is literally starving from taxation to fuel endless war in which the likes of him claim their honor and prestige, please be quiet.
Ramza actually starts the fight a few tiles ahead of the rest of the party, which gives us a great opportunity to immediately walk up to an Ultima demon and murder it with Doomed Aspirations. Two down, three to go, and Argath, who just won't stop yapping.
Argath: "How do you intend to stop me? You who cannot even defend his own sister! A son of House Beoulve, and meek as a butterfly all the same! Ha ha ha!"
Ramza: "Guard your tongue!"
Argath: "Worry not, I'll soon send your dear sister beyond the veil to be with you! Just as I did Delita's!"
Argath, for the love of God, I am literally murdering demons in front of you right now, how the fuck do you imagine to even dirty my-
…
Argath.
Has Shadowblade.
I need to check something.
DEATHKNIGHT!?
HE'S A DEATHKNIGHT? THIS FUCKING GUY! OF ALL PEOPLE!
Agrias, sure, she was raised from childhood as part of an order of sacred guards of the royalty. Gaffgarion is a veteran with decades of experience mastering the art of the blade Wiegraf was some kind of like, righteous paragon of knighthood tainted by resentment. Delita is like the Templar Knights' golden child. Cid is the ultimate swordsman.
But Argath!? Argath gets to be raised from the dead and empowered by demons to master the Fell Sword and use Gaffgarion's techniques against us?
…
Fine.
Please hold for just a second here.
Cut for image count.
Elmdore: "At last, the hour of my retribution is come."
Ramza: "Where do you hide my sister!?"
Elmdore: "Questions are the right of the victor, Ramza - not that of a man about to meet his end!"
[OBJECTIVE: DEFEAT MARQUIS ELMDORE!]
Alright, let's go. 3v5, we got this baby! Maximum speed, maximum aggression!
Oh.
Oooooh.
Well then.
Okay. Let's take this from the top and see what just happened.
Lettie and Celia seem to mostly be similar to how they were before, but they behave differently. Previously, they liked to use Shadowbind to disable my characters. This was an extremely effective strategy because it reduced my action pool and allowed them to take free shots at the paralyzed unit. But Stop wears off, so those characters would eventually come back into the fight, or else Lettie and Celia would have to take turns actually finishing them off.
This is no longer the case. Now, the Assassins move into close range and use Suffocate, an instant death attack with 100% accuracy. That's two characters down per turn.
That's not all. Elmdore has finally revealed his true nature. Sephiroth clone? Perhaps. But also…
Silver-haired noble in embroidered black cloak? This is Alucard. Elmdore is a vampire. He is also fully equipped with the Genji armor set, which in various previous game was the highest tier of armor available.
I mean, he can't actually have been inspired by Alucard because Tactics released a mere three months after Symphony of the Night, but, like… The similarities are striking.
Elmdore utilizes a combination of his superior speed, tight initial placing on the map for my unit, perfect teleportation, and Iaido to immediately teleport into my party and hit multiple units with a devastating AoE Iaido attack. It's brutal. Anyone who survives gets to suffer Suffocate.
Still, this is a strong initial push but not hopeless. The Assassins have fairly hefty HP pools, but some of my units are faster; I can go before them and take out one of the two, freeing up the pressure from at least one Suffocate. Just one problem…
…killing Lettie or Celia causes them to reveal their true form as an Ultima Demon.
Ultima Demons have less HP than Assassins, but it's still substantial. They also retain considerable attacking power. It's still better to be dealing with their demonic form than their human form, but it's a far cry from "take an enemy off the board"; the time it takes me to wear through one of the Assassins' HP and then kill their demon form allows the other Assassin and Elmdore to just carve through my party.
It's not ideal.
Alright, let's bring in Agrias. How does that go?
The Assassins reveal they can cast Ultima, yes, that spell, and Agrias is quickly the only survivor. What the fuck.
Agrias's considerable offensive poçwer and survivability allows her to take out Celia and then destroy her demon form, and to still be alive when Ramza crystallizes and we get another game over. That's not enough to cut it for the win.
Fine, then.
We're tagging in
Problem is, while Orlandeau's auto-Haste from Excalibur does allow him to go first, he hasn't yet earned enough JP to unlock far-reaching attacks like Divine Ruination or Hallowed Bolt, so he has to stopped short of reaching the enemy line on his first turn; only Agrias is able to move up far enough to Hallowed Bolt the opposition.
She is, in fact, able to hit the entire enemy party for significant damage. Unfortunately Elmdore then immediately teleports behind my lines and strike all three of my remaining characters with Iaido and Celia Suffocates Agrias.
But wait. What better way to counter Iaido… Than with Iaido?
Ramza's Murasame/Rain of Wisdom is able to heal for all but ~40 damage from Elmdore's attack, also in an AoE. Finally, the diversity of his skillset is paying off.
Anyway then it turns out that Cidolfus Orlandeau is not immune to Suffocate and the Man Himself just goes down instantly to the next Assassin attack. This is fine. I just have Gillian cast Raise on him…
IT WHIFFS. IT. WHIFFS. Gillian is an Aquarius and Cid is a Scorpio, meaning they have terrible compatibility and I hate the Zodiac System so much. Miss chance on resurrection spells is the most obnoxious mechanic in the universe. Elmdore then murders Gillian so we only have Hadrian capable of using Phoenix Down to raise people and I don't care, it doesn't matter. Reload.
…
I've been, of course, considering ways to deal with the Assassins' abilities. If I could just turn off Suffocate, that'd go a long way. And there is an item for that! The Angel Ring is an Item which grants Reraise when equipped, but also, importantly, immunity to instant KO. Unfortunately, I only have one of these Rings. And acquiring more would require reloading before the main gate battle, which I will do if I have to but I'd rather not. So for now, the Angel Ring goes on Gillian, since she's the only one with Rise and Arise. Other items might also help - there's Stop-immunity gear for instance, useful against Shadowbind - but frankly if I can't deal with Suffocate it won't matter and if I can I can probably force Lettie and Celia into their true forms before they get a chance to Shadowbind.
Let's go again.
Hadrian has considerable damage power and high HP, but in this fight he's too slow. By swapping him for Hester, we can have an extremely offensive first turn; Agrias blasts everyone with Hallowed Bolt, then Hester immediately goes next and "kills" one of the two Assassins, forcing her transformation into a more manageable Ultima demon and reducing the number of Suffocates we risk suffering, as well as scattering our units so that Elmdore cannot hit more than two units with his Iaido.
Then Elmdore decides Agrias would make a great Mina Harker impression.
Elmdore's Vampire ability bites his victim, inflicting moderate damage, healing himself for the same amount, and inflicting the status effect of the same name.
So what does Vampire do?
Well, Agrias is now no longer controllable. Her defenses have dropped to zero, she's now unable to use reaction or movement ability, and every turn, she attacks the closest enemy with her own Vampire skill.
She's been turned into a vampire and is lashing out, berserk, at the first target in range to drink their blood, but still retains barely enough awareness to prioritize enemy units rather than her own allies - unless there are no enemies within her moving range, in which case she will go after an ally instead. This is honestly a pretty big flavor win compared to how weird the Zombie status can get in these games.
Alright. Current status: One Assassin demonified. Agrias is a Vampire and out of our control. Orlandeau has only had one turn and not acted again yet. Ramza and Gillian are up.
Ramza's Doomed Aspirations takes out the demon, Celia uses Suffocate to neutralize Hester. Gillian is up, and I do a quick check.
Elmdore's CT gauge is at 20, and he has Speed 10; he will act in 8 ticks. Holy has a Speed of 17, so it will fire in 6 ticks. Holy predicts an instant kill on cast. As long as Gillian survives to the cast - and she should, because Celia also just acted - we have this in the bag.
Or even earlier.
Cid finally goes again, flanking Elmdore and blasting him with Shadowblade for a cool 322 damage.
And then…
The neonate Agrias turns upon her sire.
Agrias's Vampire attack consumes the remainder of Elmdore's HP. It turns out he wasn't immune to his own bite.
I couldn't have scripted it better myself. This is cinema.
Battle ends, and Elmdore rises to one knee to give us the traditional acknowledgement and escape.
Elmdore: "You are strong. There… there is no denying that. It is more than I can overcome… so bound within this fragile shell of flesh."
[He teleports away.]
Elmdore: "I await you in the undercroft. It is there your darling sister sleeps."
One might almost say that he is stifled by this vessel of flesh, eh?
Celia of course disappears as the battle ends, presumably killed within the narrative even if the gameplay didn't quite pan out that way.
That was a hair-raising battle, and definitely gave me an appreciation for Cid's clutch support. Could I have pulled it off without him? Well, in practice he only fired off a single Shadowblade, and Elmdore was on track to die to Holy. Without Cid or Tynar Rouge Agrias… It's rough.
Holy does a lot of work, though. For the sake of experiment, I went back and I did reload out of the castle, purchase Angel Rings (and Black Garbs, which grant immunity to Stop and therefore Shadowbind), and I tried it again without Cid, first with Agrias being boosted by the Tynar Rouge and then without. And I did win, but it's not as satisfying a win. Two of my units - Agrias and Hadrian - can equip heavy armor and only heavy armor, which means they can't enjoy the Black Garb's immunity to Confuse and Stop; that leaves them vulnerable to Shadowbind and the Marquis' own Doomed Aspirations. Filling everyone's item slot with Angel Rings also takes away a lot of my offensive power invested in stuff like Bracers and Magepower Gloves, so we're operating a more low-power operation, which means less big flashy KOs. On the other hand, not dealing with Suffocate is a godsend, and every character has a single-use Reraise effect that brings them back into the fight. The first fight actually ends when Gillian goes, blasting a wounded Elmdore with Holy and sending him to the shadow realm. The second battle (without Tynar Rouge to grant a Hasted Agrias an immediate blast on all enemies) is a lot messier and has several KOs, but the enemy understands the threat of Gillian and actually spawn-camps her on Reraise with a Shuriken before she can use Holy… Which gives a Reraised Ramza time to limp up to Elmdore and finish him off with Sanguine Blossom.
So yes, Cid is by no means necessary for this battle, neither is the WotL-added Tynar Rouge, and you can even eke by at lower than encounter level (Ramza is lv 40 to Elmdore's 41, the Assassins are lv 39 and most of my party is 35 to 38, with Orlandeau at 39). You just have to strategize based on enemy status effects and available immunity items. It's one of the battles with the most strategic depth we've had in the game so far, and I enjoyed it.
Of course, this is not the end of Marquis Elmdore, and we must-
…
Oh, fine.
I was not able to acquire Ultima in this fight.
People have obliquely referred to this and I appreciate their efforts at pointing me towards the way without spoiling the big deal, but to spare you an aneurysm: I checked what was the big mystery about needing Squire in the castle fight specifically, and it turns out that Ramza, if he has the Squire job, and takes damage from an Ultima cast, then learns Ultima as a Squire Ability that he can then use.
This is probably another important block of the whole "Squire is Ramza's true job in the narrative" argument. And certainly, no Divine Knight we've seen can use Ultima, so that's definitely pretty special!
Unfortunately Lettie and Celia are stingy as hell on Ultima. When they do use it, they seem to refuse to target Ramza. Also, they're incredibly dangerous, so I need to kill them before they have a chance to act very often. All in all, at this level, this battle is extremely rocket-taggy; I have won it three times (with Cid, with Tynar Rouge, without either), and lost it many more times than this, and at no point did Ramza chance to have Ultima cast upon him, take damage and survive.
So, yeah. I'm not going to do this all over again just for one spell that isn't even signposted in the game proper. Probably.
Let's move on. It's time, no doubt, to confront Marquis Elmdore in his true demonic form. We get another save point, another battle menu, and I decide since I took Cid to the last battle I might as well just continue to carve through Limbery Castle with the power of the Sword Saint.
V. Worst Boy Returns
The game is reusing the Fort Besselat South Gate map, though with a slightly different color palette. There are no visible enemies at first - but of course, this is a trap. It looks like we'll have to deal with yet another obstruction before moving on to the dark crypts were Elmdore dwells (and I do like his commitment to the vampire aesthetic, as well as his tastefully understated yet undeniably sinister implication in saying that Alma "sleeps" in the undercroft that she may already be dead and interred in the crypts, or else a vampire herself). As Ramza makes his way through, a "mysterious voice" calls to him.
Mysterious Voice: "You'll not enter the undercroft on my watch. The way is shut."
Ramza: "Who speaks? Reveal yourself!"
Oh-oh, what's this? Another lieutenant of Elmdore? Another demon or elite killer to bar our way and make himself a miniboss? How exciting! I can't wait to find out-
Mysterious Voice: "Naive as ever, I see."
…
Ar-
Argath!?
Argath??? Of all people??? What the fuck! I saw you die, you piece of shit! I had you stabbed in the back by Hadrian myself!
Wait, that armor - it's a slightly pinker shade than Ramza's purple, but that's the same spiked carapace as Ramza wore in Chapters 2 and 3! He stole Ramza's fit! And what's with his face? Look at his ashen skin tone! Is he sick!?
Argath: "Ha! To think my luck so fair that we would chance to meet again!"
Ramza: "Argath! How did - I thought you for dead!"
Argath: "Dead? Oh, Ramza… Your mind's as common as your friends! I did not *die,* I was reborn! Chosen by a greater power! I did not fall before, nor shall I here. That fate belongs to you!"
[He raises his arms and summons several Ultima Demons.]
…
"Reborn…" "Chosen by a greater power…" Face like an ashtray…
Yeah, he's a vampire. Or at least some kind of undead. A corpse animated by necromantic energy courtesy of the good Marquis himself.
Of all people to raise from the dead as an undying minion imbued with fell necrotic power, you chose Argath? Are you for real?
Fine! I killed him once, I'll kill him again!
Argath: "You've no hope in this fight. Come! Let us kill these maggots!"
Our opposition is five Ultima Demons and Argath himself, positioned on the walls around the central path. A difficult position, but we've dealt with this map once before and the conditions this time are actually similar.
Ramza: "So, your soul is bartered as well. Your grandsire would be proud."
Argath: "How dare you! You, pampered and coddled from your earliest days! What do you know of our affairs? Of being made to toil for another's pleasure, near without reward? Being trod upon even by peasant filth, struggling endlessly to rise back to our feet - what do you know of this? I'll purge this kingdom of all who once looked down on me! There is no place in this world for the meager!"
Ramza: "You'll do nothing of the sort!"
Oh my god Argath, shut the fuck up. "Woe is me, I am impoverished nobility struggling to earn back my respect" while the peasantry is literally starving from taxation to fuel endless war in which the likes of him claim their honor and prestige, please be quiet.
Ramza actually starts the fight a few tiles ahead of the rest of the party, which gives us a great opportunity to immediately walk up to an Ultima demon and murder it with Doomed Aspirations. Two down, three to go, and Argath, who just won't stop yapping.
Argath: "How do you intend to stop me? You who cannot even defend his own sister! A son of House Beoulve, and meek as a butterfly all the same! Ha ha ha!"
Ramza: "Guard your tongue!"
Argath: "Worry not, I'll soon send your dear sister beyond the veil to be with you! Just as I did Delita's!"
Argath, for the love of God, I am literally murdering demons in front of you right now, how the fuck do you imagine to even dirty my-
…
Argath.
Has Shadowblade.
I need to check something.
DEATHKNIGHT!?
HE'S A DEATHKNIGHT? THIS FUCKING GUY! OF ALL PEOPLE!
Agrias, sure, she was raised from childhood as part of an order of sacred guards of the royalty. Gaffgarion is a veteran with decades of experience mastering the art of the blade Wiegraf was some kind of like, righteous paragon of knighthood tainted by resentment. Delita is like the Templar Knights' golden child. Cid is the ultimate swordsman.
But Argath!? Argath gets to be raised from the dead and empowered by demons to master the Fell Sword and use Gaffgarion's techniques against us?
…
Fine.
Please hold for just a second here.
Cut for image count.
Final Fantasy Tactics, Part 19.C: Mount Germinas, Lake Poescas, & Limberry Castle
- Location
- Brittany, France
- Pronouns
- He/Him
VI. Who's The World's Specialest Boy Now, Asshole?
It took me half a dozen more attempts playing in counterintuitive ways to kill Lettie and Celia as quickly as possible then leaving them in their Ultima Demon forms as long as possible while scrambling frantically to keep my whole party alive while Elmdore was allowed to run rampant, but eventually I managed to place myself in a position where Ramza was not vampirized, at nearly max health, and targeted by Ultima. Then I learned it and obliterated Eldmore's human form.
Ultima isn't even that good. Ramza just did 192 damage with it. His better Iaido skills do more damage than this. But fuck it.
I will not allow Argath to be more of a special boy than Ramza. He now has the Ultimate Spell.
Which apparently sucks, but whatever.
Now let's kill the bastard.
Now, this next beat is a little tricky. Not killing Argath, of course. That part's easy. But I've tried… Repeatedly… To specifically land Ultima as the final blow.
This is very difficult.
Here you can see Ultima's damage forecast: 84 damage. That's just… Ridiculously low. And Ultima has a hefty cast time. And Argath likes to move around and use Shadowblade to heal himself. So I need to time things perfectly so that I can bring down Argath's HP enough for him to be killed by Ultima and time CT counts so that he doesn't slip away and use Shadowblade to heal up before the cast is finished.
Eventually I lose patience.
Rest in pieces, bozo.
A freaking Deathknight. Unbelievable.
At least he will trouble us no more. Let's go.
VII. It's An Anagram For Azrael, Get It
Ramza: "Elmdore! You fight a battle already lost! Release Alma, and end this vein struggle!"
Elmdore: "*chuckle* How could I release what I have never held? There are but ghosts within these walls."
[Several ghost units appear.]
This is honestly hilarious.
Like, it was pretty obvious given Folmarv's lines earlier that Alma mattered to his plans and he was heading to her so it's not exactly a surprise that she's not here. But Eldmore and his cronies have spent so much time laying it on so thick about how they hold Alma, how Alma is totally in our grasp, we're going to kill Alma soon if you don't hurry it up, boooo let me make sinister implications she might already be sleeping in a coffin if you know what I mean, having him turn around and say "who, me? I never even had your sister to begin with!" is high tier trolling behavior. Love this for the asshole vampire marquis.
Alright. Let's see what his true form has got in store for us.
Zalera, the Death Seraph: "Here dying, join my legion of undeath. Your blood, the roses on unhallow'd graves!"
[Meliadoul enters.]
Meliadoul: "The marquis is made a demon!? What devilry is this?"
Meliadoul girl what the fuck are you doing here. No I mean literally, why are you here, how did you get to this place in the castle specifically, did you just have some message to pass on to Eldmore and then notice the trail of corpses and follow it to the crypt, what's going on here?
Well, no matter! Battle begins! And fortunately, Meliadoul is on our side.
Cid goes first, and uses Judgment Blade's ability to hit at high elevation to obliterate one of the skeletons. Agrias goes next, hitting Zalera, the Death Seraph for 238 damage with a Hallowed Bolt, really just a basic handshake in greeting. Zalera goes next, drifting gently towards our main party and starting to charge up an attack.
Ramza respond by moving up to those tombs at the far end, and with a single Doomed Aspirations, obliterates both ghosts. Zalera is now down to two allied units. But it's time for its big, charged up spell. So what does it have in store for us?
"Flareja."
Not Flare. Not Flarera or Flarega, the natural steps in escalation. Flareja.
And just like Ultima, it does not perform nearly well enough to deserve that lofty title.
264 damage is enough to take out Gillian, but is barely a scratch on Hadrian.
Here's a thing about Zalera: It's ultimately a letdown.
The problem is that Cuchulainn had no real act to follow, Cardinal Delacroix being just a portly dude in a chasuble who transformed in a Hellraiser-looking motherfucker. Wiegraf was a very hyped up opponent, but still just a human with Holy Knight abilities, and his transformation was into a four-armed, ram-headed juggernaut (who inexplicably was primarily a summoner). It worked as an escalation.
But Elmdore was Weeaboo Dracula, the teleporting storm of death, the katana master with vampiric power, every turn moving anywhere on the map to devastate my ranks. He had style, power, and a very distinctive fighting style. It doesn't read like anything; it looks like a dried shrimp with tiny cosplay bat wings and a gimp mask. It looks like it has splinters on its arms as a mobility aid and a neck brace. Flareja? Okay, cool. "I know a big spell" is never going to make up for the loss of "infectious vampire bite."
You're a downgrade.
Meliadoul: "This… This is the work of the auracite?"
Ramza: "Do you now believe me? Your brother Isilud learned this foul truth, and died fighting it!"
Meliadoul: "You… you speak true? My father, Folmarv - does he know of this?"
Ramza: "I… I tried to-"
Zalera: "*cackle* Before me stands the seed of Folmarv's loins? So much alike with brother Isilud, both heirs of father's numen unpossessed. The sire's flesh, a vessel without flaw!"
Meliadoul: "My father is host to a demon!?"
Zalera: "Truth dawns with this child's naivety. Who once was hers, now kin to naught but woe. Let not such trifles weigh upon you now. Ere long you shall know darkness deeper still!"
On the one hand Meliadoul's Crush Armor is nice to have on our side. On the other hand she starts the fight in the corner of the map with all the monsters, who don't carry armor, so it can't actually help us much aside from being some extra damage (which is good). Then Hadrian goes next, and scores a critical hit for 642 damage.
That should be a good half of Zalera's HP at least. On the other side, Cid finishes obliterating both skeletons with a single Judgement Blade. That leaves Zalera standing alone. I have Agrias blast it with Divine Ruination (accidentally taking Hadrian out in the process, oops), and the beast flees to the corner of the moat, using Nightmare (Cuchulainn's signature ability) to put Cid to sleep. Yawn.
Meliadoul: "Forgive me, Ramza. I took your words as false. I thought you for an enemy."
Ramza: "I might have done the same in your place. But now let us avenge your brother's death!"
That's cute. Ramza keeps making new friends wherever he goes. Meliadoul does nothing this turn, though, owing to the Sword Saint having Thundered all opponents within her attack range, so she just moves up a little.
Alright. Can Ramza do the thing? Will the timing allow it this time?
AND FROM THE DEEPEST PIT OF THE SEVEN HELLS TO THE VERY PINNACLE OF THE HEAVENS, THE WORLD SHALL TREMBLE! UNLEASH ULTIMA!
I mean, it did all of 191 damage, but still, it did kill the Death Seraph. We take what we can get.
With its dying words, Zalera pleads to "Hashmal" to "bring order" where it has failed. I can only assume that Ashmal is therefore the true name of the demon possessing Folmarv.
Zalera disintegrates, and leaves behind another Zodiac Stone.
Battle over.
This was honestly kind of a walk through the park compared to the Elmdore fight. Of course, we brought Cid, but even with Cid the battle in the hallway could give us some serious trouble - Cid isn't innately immune to status effects anymore than any other character is, he can get infected with vampirism, stopped with Shadowbind, instantly killed with Suffocate, afflicted with Confusion. There's simply a lot more to deal with in that battle than against Zalera, who is mostly a plodding monster with a lot of HP and some scary but not all that effective moves, plus a bunch of trash adds.
This is a useful lesson for all supernatural monsters out there: If your base form is a vampire? Don't bother trying to upgrade. You're not going to do better by turning yourself into a fifteen-foot tall horror of misshapen flesh, claws and limbs; you're just signaling to the player that now is the time where you're most vulnerable to a permakill, probably with a rocket launcher or something.
Yes, I am looking at you, Lady Dimitrescu.
Still - up until that last fight, Elmdore was, I would say, one of the more stylish of our opponents, him and his two assassins possessed of a certain iconic flair, unique and interesting (if at times frustrating) ability combos, and giving us a glance at an enemy who actually has a quirky miniboss duo that is sadly in low supply in this game. For my money the "Limberry Arc" was one of the more memorable parts of the game. Also fucking Argath was there? Argath!?
VII. We Worried Too Much About Chocobo Spawns When The Named Units Were The Real Problem
With the fight concluded, Ramza and Meliadoul have a word.
Meliadoul: "My mind reels to think such evil lay concealed within this tiny crystal. These holy relics of the Church… I'd thought them no more than strangely colored stones. I knew not that they sought to work true miracles through them."
Ramza: "The truth was kept well guarded, from you and Isilud alike. Even Wiegraf knew naught of their true nature until he became a Lucavi. It is as I thought. Lord Folmarv guides even the High Confessor's scheming to their ends."
Meliadoul: "What is it they wish?"
Ramza: "I cannot see their ends. If we are to judge from Riovanes, they possess power enough already to drive an army to its knees. Yet still they do not use it, or even flaunt it openly. There must be a reason, and that reason is our answer."
Meliadoul: "Surely they stay their hands for something. The Lucavi are cruel and wicked, and cannot be felled by men. Every tale and legend paints them the same."
Ramza: "So they do. But I have seen these monsters slain. They do not appear to be the undying demons of which the legends speak."
Meliadoul: "Legends are but stories, embellished with each new telling. Mayhap the Lucavi are no more than ordinary fiends."
Ramza: "Let us pray that you are right."
[Meliadoul produces a Zodiac Stone, and gives it to Ramza.]
Meliadoul: "I trust the auracite to you. But I ask a favor in return. Take me with you. I must know what made my father as he is. And… There is another thing I would know as well."
Ramza: "What is that?"
Meliadoul: "My father did a puzzling thing. He gifted the Capricorn Stone to Lord Dycedarg. But I cannot begin to fathom why."
Ramza: "He gave a Zodiac stone to my brother?"
[End dialogue; Meliadoul joins the party.]
Tactics please I cannot take any more of these late game units that have no time to grow please spare me my generics are starving Reis has been doing puppy eyes at me this entire time hoping to take part in the Limberry Battle Beowulf is forgotten in a ditch this is too much, please, I am begging you to go back and introduce some of these in Chapter 3 or something
Gah.
So, let's do a quick count. Earlier, we said we had: Aries, Pisces, Taurus, Scorpio, Aquarius, Libra, and Cancer. From Elmdore/Zalera, we acquired Gemini; and from Meliadoul, Sagittarius. That means the only stones left are Virgo (meant for Alma), Capricorn (gifted to Dycedarg), and Folmarv's own Stone - the only one missing, which would be Leo. A "noble" sign for the leader of our opponents, though there's little nobility to be found in his character.
And there we go. The "Limberry Arc" is over, and we are back on the map, with Limberry Castle open as a node we can access.
We could stop here, but given how combat-intensive this update has been, I'd like to touch on the two cutscenes that follow when we go to leave town.
Ovelia is at her window, looking out onto the night, when a commotion starts outside her room. A voice shouts "He disappeared!" Another, "Search the eastern hall!" A third, "He was injured when he sprung from his cell! He can't have run far!" Ovelia approaches her doors, then raises her hands to her mouth in shock as they open and a bloodied, limping Orran Durai - the Astrologer, Cid's adopted son and Ramza's friend - enters and nearly collapses into her arms. We haven't seen them interact before but, of course, she recognizes him - he would be a well known figure at court.
Ovelia: "Orran! What happened!? You're bleeding!"
Orran: "Lady Ovelia… there is something… something I must tell you…"
Ovelia: "You mustn't speak!"
Orran: "I beg you… hear my words. The man who murdered Duke Goltanna was not… not my father, Count Orlandeau. My father, he… he was framed for treason. He escaped from Fort Besselat with… Ramza Beoulve. He fights now to frustrate the High Confessor's plot."
Ovelia: "I did not think the Count a man who would plot at rebellion."
[Voices call out from outside, asking if Ovelia is safe.]
Ovelia: "But if not your father, then who?"
Orran: "It-"
[The doors smash open; two Knights walk in.]
Southern Sky Knight: "Princess, has he harmed you?"
Second Knight: "We found him! He's in here!"
[Delita enters.]
Check out Delita's sweet new coat. Lord Commander of the Southern Sky called for a new fit, eh? How… regal. Our man is definitely feeling himself in his new position of authority and power.
The Knights are surprised at Delita's request to be left alone with this dangerous fugitive, and he snaps at them to get the fuck out. Once they are gone, Valmafra enters.
Ovelia: "I beg you, hurt him no further!"
Delita: [Kneeling next to Orran] "This is a foolish thing you've done, Orran."
Orran: "Traitor… You have no right to speak to me."
Delita: "You ask as if you did not wish for what I did. Look around you. Do you see any earnest tears? You were not alone in praying for his fall. I even made your father out for dead. You should thank me. No one pursues a man known slain."
Orran: "I am in no mood for japes!"
Ovelia: "Why would you do such a thing, Delita?"
Delita: "I told you, didn't I? I work to see you made a queen for true."
Ovelia: "Naught you do is for true! You wish only to use me like the rest!"
Delita: "You do not trust me?"
Ovelia: "..."
Delita: "You trust me or you don't, Ovelia. Which is it?"
Ovelia: "I… I want to trust you. I do. But… It is not such an easy thing."
Delita: "Return to your chambers. I need have words with Orran."
Ovelia: "Please, do not hurt him."
Delita: "I won't. You have my word."
[Ovelia appears to leave.]
God, what a manipulative little shit.
I want to linger a little bit on Delita's claim to Orran, that he did a kindness to Cid by making him pass for dead. Remember Argath's story: His house, once esteemed, fell into dishonor, poverty, and obscurity based off his grandfather's comparatively minor betrayal. One man sold out his soldiers, and the whole House of Thadalfus was tarred and brought into ignominy.
Delita framed Cidolfus Orlandeau as having murdered his liege lord. Even if no one bore Goltanna any love, the House of Orlandeau is doomed. There's no escaping that betrayal. Orran is headed for, if anything, a worse fate than Argath's kin. And Delita makes the subterfuge around Cid's death sound like a kindness. Then proceeds to leverage Ovelia's trust by forcing her to just accept a completely unreasonable demand in the name of "trust" or tell him to his face she doesn't trust him, which she can't do and can't afford; this is frankly abusive behavior!
However, Ovelia isn't quite so naive as to go along with it, as has been suggested by her moments of thoughtfulness before; she closes the door while remaining inside the room, then walks back to under the wall to eavesdrop on their conversation.
Orran defiantly states his goal has been met, and asks only that Delita kill him quickly - he of course expects Delita's promise to Ovelia to be empty words and to be killed the moment she's gone, which is frankly what I would expect if by now it hadn't become clear Delita is playing a deeper game. And indeed, Delita tells him killing him would be a waste, and that he instead can find use in Orran's "loyal service." Orran thinks this is a joke; why would he serve Delita? And that's when Delita drops the bomb:
Delita: "I am going to bring down the Northern Sky. And when that Sky falls, the land of Ivalice will again be made level. Then I build a new kingdom for Ovelia. The High Confessor will face judgment as well, of course. I am not the Church's hound."
Orran: "Are you mad?"
Delita: "You know what I do is right. It is undeniably so. A commonborn squire takes the reins of a knightly order, and leads a wayward kingdom from the midst of chaos. The masses yearn for a hero. I give them what they wish."
Orran: "Using aught and all to forge your legend?"
Delita: "Is that so wrong?"
[At this point, Valmafra falls into a combat stance and draws a blade; she takes a few steps to the side, circling Orran while facing Delita.]
Delita: "What? Do you mean to kill me? I know full well the High Confessor sent you to keep watch on me. Your orders are to kill me at the first sign of betrayal, no?"
[He advances boldly towards Valmafra, who backs away and brandishes her dagger.]
It looks like Delita underestimated his personal bond with Valmafra, and her cynical lack of loyalty to the Church. Or did he? This is all very theatrical, all very staged. It's a production for someone's benefit - I suspect Delita knows Ovelia is observing; it could be meant for her, or it could be meant as a recruitment speech for Orran. Or it's a test of loyalty for Valmafra. Whichever way it is, when Delita decided to deliver a big theatrical speech about betraying the Church and bringing the High Confessor to justice, he knew he'd force Valmafra to act one way or another, and he could capitalize on this by either cementing her loyalty, getting rid of her once she proved herself disloyal to him, and make an impression on Orran and Ovelia at the same time.
I feel confident in saying this, because…
Delita: "Do it, then. Stab me with that dagger. I stand before you unarmed! Strike me down! If you will not, then do not blame me for this!"
[He advances upon Valmafra; the camera pans up; the game plays out a female death cry.]
Did… Delita kill Valmafra?
I mean it seems like the implication, but we won't find out for sure until she either shows up again, or someone tells us she died. But what I really meant is - I fully do not believe that Delita would show up anywhere unarmed except on purpose. That man has had to fend off multiple assassination attempts on Ovelia including in his own fortress. He is a manipulative freak who is always a step of everyone else and trying to keep control over everything. He is also a Holy Knight whose entire superhuman power set is based on having access to a sword. That man brings his sword to church. He probably sleeps with it, too! You're telling me he had time to put on his fancy mink-hemmed coat but not to grab a sword on his way to arresting Orran? Pull the other one.
If he's opening his arms, telling Valmafra is unarmed, and daring her to strike him down, that's because he planned to do this before he even entered the room. Whether that's to see if their bond would make her falter, or whether it was to make an impression on his small audience as he then proceeded to throttle her with his bare hands, I don't know which, but the point is: It was on purpose.
RIP Valmafra. Or maybe not. We'll find out eventually.
To my surprise, this cutscene is followed immediately by another - Zalbaag Beoulve is entering an unfamiliar map. He is quickly followed by a man using the Chemist sprite and labeled as Herbalist; from his tone and demeanor, he's a commoner.
Zalbaag turns around, and approaches the monument that dominates this piece of landscape…
…the grave of Barbaneth Beoulve, his father.
When we saw Zalbaag at the site of the poison attack, I called him spineless. I stand by that judgment; he followed his brother's instructions, hid the dagger to blame Southern Sky assassins, covered up the murder of Duke Larg, and never asked about the accusations made by Larg with his dying breath. But clearly, those words have weighed on him ever since. When he eavesdropped on his conversation with Folmarv, he heard the Knight Templar mention a fact about mossfungus poisoning, and it gave him a chance to know the truth.
Zalbaag approaches the grave, picks up something from it, and tosses it at the Herbalist.
Zalbaag: "Can you tell me the name of that mushroom?"
Herbalist: "Of course. It's mossfungus, my lord. Not the deadliest of poisons, but not something you'd want in your stew, either. The stuff gets you in the end."
Zalbaag: "So I hear."
[Zalbaag turns to stare silently at his father's grave.]
Herbalist: "I, uh - do you not think we should be getting back now, my lord?"
Zalbaag: "What has you so terrified?"
Herbalist: "Don't you know, my lord? Mossfungus grows only on corpses. And, well - they say it's a right bad omen to find it growing on a family grave. The house falls as the cap rises… or so they say."
I really like this. Folmarv is learned enough, and connected enough, to have heard a scientific understanding of mossfungus - it builds up in victims, then after death, sprouts from the body; so anyone whose grave bears mossfungus is someone who died of mossfungus poisoning, and thus likely the victim of an assassination. But for those who once lacked that specific understanding of the mechanics of the fungus' reproduction cycle, this would be a legend; any family where someone was poisoned is likely a family rife with internecine conflict, soon to fall to murder and rivalry. Even if one lacks the understanding of the poison, one can see the correlation between the growth of the fungus and the fall of the family.
Zalbaag tosses a coin purse to the Herbalist, telling him this is the promised fee - along with a healthy extra to help him forget all he saw. "Forget what?" the herbalist asks, before turning around and leaving. I'm pleasantly surprised; I honestly expected Zalbaag to just kill the man to ensure his silence.
But I think, whatever else his faults, Zalbaag might be starting to wonder where it's all gone wrong - for him, for his brother Dycedarg, for his father, even, perhaps, for his half-brother Ramza.
Zalbaag has been blind and morally complacent. Now the House of Beoulve stands poised to fall. Zalbaag is having a very belated revelation, while his brother Dycedarg now holds a stone meant to have him possessed by a demon from the netherworld, and his forsaken heretic brother Ramza rides now to Eagrose for a fateful confrontation. All stands poised to come into collision and collapse.
There are no new nodes on the map, but there is this:
Eagrose Castle is now a red node. Battle awaits us there.
It's time to settle matters with our brothers once and for all.
Thank you for reading.
Next Time: To Eagrose Castle!
Main Story Battle Count: 46
Side Quest Battle Count: 7
Random Encounter Count: 65
It took me half a dozen more attempts playing in counterintuitive ways to kill Lettie and Celia as quickly as possible then leaving them in their Ultima Demon forms as long as possible while scrambling frantically to keep my whole party alive while Elmdore was allowed to run rampant, but eventually I managed to place myself in a position where Ramza was not vampirized, at nearly max health, and targeted by Ultima. Then I learned it and obliterated Eldmore's human form.
Ultima isn't even that good. Ramza just did 192 damage with it. His better Iaido skills do more damage than this. But fuck it.
I will not allow Argath to be more of a special boy than Ramza. He now has the Ultimate Spell.
Which apparently sucks, but whatever.
Now let's kill the bastard.
Now, this next beat is a little tricky. Not killing Argath, of course. That part's easy. But I've tried… Repeatedly… To specifically land Ultima as the final blow.
This is very difficult.
Here you can see Ultima's damage forecast: 84 damage. That's just… Ridiculously low. And Ultima has a hefty cast time. And Argath likes to move around and use Shadowblade to heal himself. So I need to time things perfectly so that I can bring down Argath's HP enough for him to be killed by Ultima and time CT counts so that he doesn't slip away and use Shadowblade to heal up before the cast is finished.
Eventually I lose patience.
Rest in pieces, bozo.
A freaking Deathknight. Unbelievable.
At least he will trouble us no more. Let's go.
VII. It's An Anagram For Azrael, Get It
Ramza: "Elmdore! You fight a battle already lost! Release Alma, and end this vein struggle!"
Elmdore: "*chuckle* How could I release what I have never held? There are but ghosts within these walls."
[Several ghost units appear.]
This is honestly hilarious.
Like, it was pretty obvious given Folmarv's lines earlier that Alma mattered to his plans and he was heading to her so it's not exactly a surprise that she's not here. But Eldmore and his cronies have spent so much time laying it on so thick about how they hold Alma, how Alma is totally in our grasp, we're going to kill Alma soon if you don't hurry it up, boooo let me make sinister implications she might already be sleeping in a coffin if you know what I mean, having him turn around and say "who, me? I never even had your sister to begin with!" is high tier trolling behavior. Love this for the asshole vampire marquis.
Alright. Let's see what his true form has got in store for us.
Zalera, the Death Seraph: "Here dying, join my legion of undeath. Your blood, the roses on unhallow'd graves!"
[Meliadoul enters.]
Meliadoul: "The marquis is made a demon!? What devilry is this?"
Meliadoul girl what the fuck are you doing here. No I mean literally, why are you here, how did you get to this place in the castle specifically, did you just have some message to pass on to Eldmore and then notice the trail of corpses and follow it to the crypt, what's going on here?
Well, no matter! Battle begins! And fortunately, Meliadoul is on our side.
Cid goes first, and uses Judgment Blade's ability to hit at high elevation to obliterate one of the skeletons. Agrias goes next, hitting Zalera, the Death Seraph for 238 damage with a Hallowed Bolt, really just a basic handshake in greeting. Zalera goes next, drifting gently towards our main party and starting to charge up an attack.
Ramza respond by moving up to those tombs at the far end, and with a single Doomed Aspirations, obliterates both ghosts. Zalera is now down to two allied units. But it's time for its big, charged up spell. So what does it have in store for us?
"Flareja."
Not Flare. Not Flarera or Flarega, the natural steps in escalation. Flareja.
And just like Ultima, it does not perform nearly well enough to deserve that lofty title.
264 damage is enough to take out Gillian, but is barely a scratch on Hadrian.
Here's a thing about Zalera: It's ultimately a letdown.
The problem is that Cuchulainn had no real act to follow, Cardinal Delacroix being just a portly dude in a chasuble who transformed in a Hellraiser-looking motherfucker. Wiegraf was a very hyped up opponent, but still just a human with Holy Knight abilities, and his transformation was into a four-armed, ram-headed juggernaut (who inexplicably was primarily a summoner). It worked as an escalation.
But Elmdore was Weeaboo Dracula, the teleporting storm of death, the katana master with vampiric power, every turn moving anywhere on the map to devastate my ranks. He had style, power, and a very distinctive fighting style. It doesn't read like anything; it looks like a dried shrimp with tiny cosplay bat wings and a gimp mask. It looks like it has splinters on its arms as a mobility aid and a neck brace. Flareja? Okay, cool. "I know a big spell" is never going to make up for the loss of "infectious vampire bite."
You're a downgrade.
Meliadoul: "This… This is the work of the auracite?"
Ramza: "Do you now believe me? Your brother Isilud learned this foul truth, and died fighting it!"
Meliadoul: "You… you speak true? My father, Folmarv - does he know of this?"
Ramza: "I… I tried to-"
Zalera: "*cackle* Before me stands the seed of Folmarv's loins? So much alike with brother Isilud, both heirs of father's numen unpossessed. The sire's flesh, a vessel without flaw!"
Meliadoul: "My father is host to a demon!?"
Zalera: "Truth dawns with this child's naivety. Who once was hers, now kin to naught but woe. Let not such trifles weigh upon you now. Ere long you shall know darkness deeper still!"
That should be a good half of Zalera's HP at least. On the other side, Cid finishes obliterating both skeletons with a single Judgement Blade. That leaves Zalera standing alone. I have Agrias blast it with Divine Ruination (accidentally taking Hadrian out in the process, oops), and the beast flees to the corner of the moat, using Nightmare (Cuchulainn's signature ability) to put Cid to sleep. Yawn.
Meliadoul: "Forgive me, Ramza. I took your words as false. I thought you for an enemy."
Ramza: "I might have done the same in your place. But now let us avenge your brother's death!"
That's cute. Ramza keeps making new friends wherever he goes. Meliadoul does nothing this turn, though, owing to the Sword Saint having Thundered all opponents within her attack range, so she just moves up a little.
Alright. Can Ramza do the thing? Will the timing allow it this time?
AND FROM THE DEEPEST PIT OF THE SEVEN HELLS TO THE VERY PINNACLE OF THE HEAVENS, THE WORLD SHALL TREMBLE! UNLEASH ULTIMA!
I mean, it did all of 191 damage, but still, it did kill the Death Seraph. We take what we can get.
With its dying words, Zalera pleads to "Hashmal" to "bring order" where it has failed. I can only assume that Ashmal is therefore the true name of the demon possessing Folmarv.
Zalera disintegrates, and leaves behind another Zodiac Stone.
Battle over.
This was honestly kind of a walk through the park compared to the Elmdore fight. Of course, we brought Cid, but even with Cid the battle in the hallway could give us some serious trouble - Cid isn't innately immune to status effects anymore than any other character is, he can get infected with vampirism, stopped with Shadowbind, instantly killed with Suffocate, afflicted with Confusion. There's simply a lot more to deal with in that battle than against Zalera, who is mostly a plodding monster with a lot of HP and some scary but not all that effective moves, plus a bunch of trash adds.
This is a useful lesson for all supernatural monsters out there: If your base form is a vampire? Don't bother trying to upgrade. You're not going to do better by turning yourself into a fifteen-foot tall horror of misshapen flesh, claws and limbs; you're just signaling to the player that now is the time where you're most vulnerable to a permakill, probably with a rocket launcher or something.
Yes, I am looking at you, Lady Dimitrescu.
Still - up until that last fight, Elmdore was, I would say, one of the more stylish of our opponents, him and his two assassins possessed of a certain iconic flair, unique and interesting (if at times frustrating) ability combos, and giving us a glance at an enemy who actually has a quirky miniboss duo that is sadly in low supply in this game. For my money the "Limberry Arc" was one of the more memorable parts of the game. Also fucking Argath was there? Argath!?
VII. We Worried Too Much About Chocobo Spawns When The Named Units Were The Real Problem
With the fight concluded, Ramza and Meliadoul have a word.
Meliadoul: "My mind reels to think such evil lay concealed within this tiny crystal. These holy relics of the Church… I'd thought them no more than strangely colored stones. I knew not that they sought to work true miracles through them."
Ramza: "The truth was kept well guarded, from you and Isilud alike. Even Wiegraf knew naught of their true nature until he became a Lucavi. It is as I thought. Lord Folmarv guides even the High Confessor's scheming to their ends."
Meliadoul: "What is it they wish?"
Ramza: "I cannot see their ends. If we are to judge from Riovanes, they possess power enough already to drive an army to its knees. Yet still they do not use it, or even flaunt it openly. There must be a reason, and that reason is our answer."
Meliadoul: "Surely they stay their hands for something. The Lucavi are cruel and wicked, and cannot be felled by men. Every tale and legend paints them the same."
Ramza: "So they do. But I have seen these monsters slain. They do not appear to be the undying demons of which the legends speak."
Meliadoul: "Legends are but stories, embellished with each new telling. Mayhap the Lucavi are no more than ordinary fiends."
Ramza: "Let us pray that you are right."
[Meliadoul produces a Zodiac Stone, and gives it to Ramza.]
Meliadoul: "I trust the auracite to you. But I ask a favor in return. Take me with you. I must know what made my father as he is. And… There is another thing I would know as well."
Ramza: "What is that?"
Meliadoul: "My father did a puzzling thing. He gifted the Capricorn Stone to Lord Dycedarg. But I cannot begin to fathom why."
Ramza: "He gave a Zodiac stone to my brother?"
[End dialogue; Meliadoul joins the party.]
Tactics please I cannot take any more of these late game units that have no time to grow please spare me my generics are starving Reis has been doing puppy eyes at me this entire time hoping to take part in the Limberry Battle Beowulf is forgotten in a ditch this is too much, please, I am begging you to go back and introduce some of these in Chapter 3 or something
Gah.
So, let's do a quick count. Earlier, we said we had: Aries, Pisces, Taurus, Scorpio, Aquarius, Libra, and Cancer. From Elmdore/Zalera, we acquired Gemini; and from Meliadoul, Sagittarius. That means the only stones left are Virgo (meant for Alma), Capricorn (gifted to Dycedarg), and Folmarv's own Stone - the only one missing, which would be Leo. A "noble" sign for the leader of our opponents, though there's little nobility to be found in his character.
And there we go. The "Limberry Arc" is over, and we are back on the map, with Limberry Castle open as a node we can access.
We could stop here, but given how combat-intensive this update has been, I'd like to touch on the two cutscenes that follow when we go to leave town.
Ovelia is at her window, looking out onto the night, when a commotion starts outside her room. A voice shouts "He disappeared!" Another, "Search the eastern hall!" A third, "He was injured when he sprung from his cell! He can't have run far!" Ovelia approaches her doors, then raises her hands to her mouth in shock as they open and a bloodied, limping Orran Durai - the Astrologer, Cid's adopted son and Ramza's friend - enters and nearly collapses into her arms. We haven't seen them interact before but, of course, she recognizes him - he would be a well known figure at court.
Ovelia: "Orran! What happened!? You're bleeding!"
Orran: "Lady Ovelia… there is something… something I must tell you…"
Ovelia: "You mustn't speak!"
Orran: "I beg you… hear my words. The man who murdered Duke Goltanna was not… not my father, Count Orlandeau. My father, he… he was framed for treason. He escaped from Fort Besselat with… Ramza Beoulve. He fights now to frustrate the High Confessor's plot."
Ovelia: "I did not think the Count a man who would plot at rebellion."
[Voices call out from outside, asking if Ovelia is safe.]
Ovelia: "But if not your father, then who?"
Orran: "It-"
[The doors smash open; two Knights walk in.]
Southern Sky Knight: "Princess, has he harmed you?"
Second Knight: "We found him! He's in here!"
[Delita enters.]
Check out Delita's sweet new coat. Lord Commander of the Southern Sky called for a new fit, eh? How… regal. Our man is definitely feeling himself in his new position of authority and power.
The Knights are surprised at Delita's request to be left alone with this dangerous fugitive, and he snaps at them to get the fuck out. Once they are gone, Valmafra enters.
Ovelia: "I beg you, hurt him no further!"
Delita: [Kneeling next to Orran] "This is a foolish thing you've done, Orran."
Orran: "Traitor… You have no right to speak to me."
Delita: "You ask as if you did not wish for what I did. Look around you. Do you see any earnest tears? You were not alone in praying for his fall. I even made your father out for dead. You should thank me. No one pursues a man known slain."
Orran: "I am in no mood for japes!"
Ovelia: "Why would you do such a thing, Delita?"
Delita: "I told you, didn't I? I work to see you made a queen for true."
Ovelia: "Naught you do is for true! You wish only to use me like the rest!"
Delita: "You do not trust me?"
Ovelia: "..."
Delita: "You trust me or you don't, Ovelia. Which is it?"
Ovelia: "I… I want to trust you. I do. But… It is not such an easy thing."
Delita: "Return to your chambers. I need have words with Orran."
Ovelia: "Please, do not hurt him."
Delita: "I won't. You have my word."
[Ovelia appears to leave.]
God, what a manipulative little shit.
I want to linger a little bit on Delita's claim to Orran, that he did a kindness to Cid by making him pass for dead. Remember Argath's story: His house, once esteemed, fell into dishonor, poverty, and obscurity based off his grandfather's comparatively minor betrayal. One man sold out his soldiers, and the whole House of Thadalfus was tarred and brought into ignominy.
Delita framed Cidolfus Orlandeau as having murdered his liege lord. Even if no one bore Goltanna any love, the House of Orlandeau is doomed. There's no escaping that betrayal. Orran is headed for, if anything, a worse fate than Argath's kin. And Delita makes the subterfuge around Cid's death sound like a kindness. Then proceeds to leverage Ovelia's trust by forcing her to just accept a completely unreasonable demand in the name of "trust" or tell him to his face she doesn't trust him, which she can't do and can't afford; this is frankly abusive behavior!
However, Ovelia isn't quite so naive as to go along with it, as has been suggested by her moments of thoughtfulness before; she closes the door while remaining inside the room, then walks back to under the wall to eavesdrop on their conversation.
Orran defiantly states his goal has been met, and asks only that Delita kill him quickly - he of course expects Delita's promise to Ovelia to be empty words and to be killed the moment she's gone, which is frankly what I would expect if by now it hadn't become clear Delita is playing a deeper game. And indeed, Delita tells him killing him would be a waste, and that he instead can find use in Orran's "loyal service." Orran thinks this is a joke; why would he serve Delita? And that's when Delita drops the bomb:
Delita: "I am going to bring down the Northern Sky. And when that Sky falls, the land of Ivalice will again be made level. Then I build a new kingdom for Ovelia. The High Confessor will face judgment as well, of course. I am not the Church's hound."
Orran: "Are you mad?"
Delita: "You know what I do is right. It is undeniably so. A commonborn squire takes the reins of a knightly order, and leads a wayward kingdom from the midst of chaos. The masses yearn for a hero. I give them what they wish."
Orran: "Using aught and all to forge your legend?"
Delita: "Is that so wrong?"
[At this point, Valmafra falls into a combat stance and draws a blade; she takes a few steps to the side, circling Orran while facing Delita.]
Delita: "What? Do you mean to kill me? I know full well the High Confessor sent you to keep watch on me. Your orders are to kill me at the first sign of betrayal, no?"
[He advances boldly towards Valmafra, who backs away and brandishes her dagger.]
It looks like Delita underestimated his personal bond with Valmafra, and her cynical lack of loyalty to the Church. Or did he? This is all very theatrical, all very staged. It's a production for someone's benefit - I suspect Delita knows Ovelia is observing; it could be meant for her, or it could be meant as a recruitment speech for Orran. Or it's a test of loyalty for Valmafra. Whichever way it is, when Delita decided to deliver a big theatrical speech about betraying the Church and bringing the High Confessor to justice, he knew he'd force Valmafra to act one way or another, and he could capitalize on this by either cementing her loyalty, getting rid of her once she proved herself disloyal to him, and make an impression on Orran and Ovelia at the same time.
I feel confident in saying this, because…
Delita: "Do it, then. Stab me with that dagger. I stand before you unarmed! Strike me down! If you will not, then do not blame me for this!"
[He advances upon Valmafra; the camera pans up; the game plays out a female death cry.]
Did… Delita kill Valmafra?
I mean it seems like the implication, but we won't find out for sure until she either shows up again, or someone tells us she died. But what I really meant is - I fully do not believe that Delita would show up anywhere unarmed except on purpose. That man has had to fend off multiple assassination attempts on Ovelia including in his own fortress. He is a manipulative freak who is always a step of everyone else and trying to keep control over everything. He is also a Holy Knight whose entire superhuman power set is based on having access to a sword. That man brings his sword to church. He probably sleeps with it, too! You're telling me he had time to put on his fancy mink-hemmed coat but not to grab a sword on his way to arresting Orran? Pull the other one.
If he's opening his arms, telling Valmafra is unarmed, and daring her to strike him down, that's because he planned to do this before he even entered the room. Whether that's to see if their bond would make her falter, or whether it was to make an impression on his small audience as he then proceeded to throttle her with his bare hands, I don't know which, but the point is: It was on purpose.
RIP Valmafra. Or maybe not. We'll find out eventually.
To my surprise, this cutscene is followed immediately by another - Zalbaag Beoulve is entering an unfamiliar map. He is quickly followed by a man using the Chemist sprite and labeled as Herbalist; from his tone and demeanor, he's a commoner.
Zalbaag turns around, and approaches the monument that dominates this piece of landscape…
…the grave of Barbaneth Beoulve, his father.
When we saw Zalbaag at the site of the poison attack, I called him spineless. I stand by that judgment; he followed his brother's instructions, hid the dagger to blame Southern Sky assassins, covered up the murder of Duke Larg, and never asked about the accusations made by Larg with his dying breath. But clearly, those words have weighed on him ever since. When he eavesdropped on his conversation with Folmarv, he heard the Knight Templar mention a fact about mossfungus poisoning, and it gave him a chance to know the truth.
Zalbaag approaches the grave, picks up something from it, and tosses it at the Herbalist.
Zalbaag: "Can you tell me the name of that mushroom?"
Herbalist: "Of course. It's mossfungus, my lord. Not the deadliest of poisons, but not something you'd want in your stew, either. The stuff gets you in the end."
Zalbaag: "So I hear."
[Zalbaag turns to stare silently at his father's grave.]
Herbalist: "I, uh - do you not think we should be getting back now, my lord?"
Zalbaag: "What has you so terrified?"
Herbalist: "Don't you know, my lord? Mossfungus grows only on corpses. And, well - they say it's a right bad omen to find it growing on a family grave. The house falls as the cap rises… or so they say."
I really like this. Folmarv is learned enough, and connected enough, to have heard a scientific understanding of mossfungus - it builds up in victims, then after death, sprouts from the body; so anyone whose grave bears mossfungus is someone who died of mossfungus poisoning, and thus likely the victim of an assassination. But for those who once lacked that specific understanding of the mechanics of the fungus' reproduction cycle, this would be a legend; any family where someone was poisoned is likely a family rife with internecine conflict, soon to fall to murder and rivalry. Even if one lacks the understanding of the poison, one can see the correlation between the growth of the fungus and the fall of the family.
Zalbaag tosses a coin purse to the Herbalist, telling him this is the promised fee - along with a healthy extra to help him forget all he saw. "Forget what?" the herbalist asks, before turning around and leaving. I'm pleasantly surprised; I honestly expected Zalbaag to just kill the man to ensure his silence.
But I think, whatever else his faults, Zalbaag might be starting to wonder where it's all gone wrong - for him, for his brother Dycedarg, for his father, even, perhaps, for his half-brother Ramza.
Zalbaag has been blind and morally complacent. Now the House of Beoulve stands poised to fall. Zalbaag is having a very belated revelation, while his brother Dycedarg now holds a stone meant to have him possessed by a demon from the netherworld, and his forsaken heretic brother Ramza rides now to Eagrose for a fateful confrontation. All stands poised to come into collision and collapse.
There are no new nodes on the map, but there is this:
Eagrose Castle is now a red node. Battle awaits us there.
It's time to settle matters with our brothers once and for all.
Thank you for reading.
Next Time: To Eagrose Castle!
Main Story Battle Count: 46
Side Quest Battle Count: 7
Random Encounter Count: 65
Alectai
Speaks Words of Wisdom... On occasion
So yeah, Ultima, it's got the cast time of a tier 2 spell but the damage output of just under a tier three spell while lacking an elemental affinity--so it hits everything equally, combined with the cheese to give Ramza 100 Faith and a caster build with Mettle as a secondary skill, you get The Theoretical Best Caster In The Game who is always capable of doing respectable damage no matter the target, and can be buffing himself up when he doesn't have something to cast on.
Alas, Casters in Tactics are undervalued compared to the murderblenders that are high end fighters, even disregarding the uniques and their overpowered as shit skills.
Alas, Casters in Tactics are undervalued compared to the murderblenders that are high end fighters, even disregarding the uniques and their overpowered as shit skills.
Two points here:
One: Alucard's first appearance was as an optional character in Castlevania 3 on the NES, so yeah there actually definitely is room for Elmdore to be based on him.
Two: This makes... what, three main story recruits who've had big character moments as they join up but aren't even referenced in FF14's raids, between Rapha, Marach, and Meliadoul?
Why?
Couldn't they have made, say, Agrias' boss encounter in Orbonne shared with Meliadoul, or replaced one or both of the random trash mob packs with showings by her and/or the siblings?
Is it not enough that Cid joins before Meliadoul with her entire skillset already built into his, he has to take three party members' relevance out of the raid series too?
One: Alucard's first appearance was as an optional character in Castlevania 3 on the NES, so yeah there actually definitely is room for Elmdore to be based on him.
Two: This makes... what, three main story recruits who've had big character moments as they join up but aren't even referenced in FF14's raids, between Rapha, Marach, and Meliadoul?
Why?
Couldn't they have made, say, Agrias' boss encounter in Orbonne shared with Meliadoul, or replaced one or both of the random trash mob packs with showings by her and/or the siblings?
Is it not enough that Cid joins before Meliadoul with her entire skillset already built into his, he has to take three party members' relevance out of the raid series too?
- Pronouns
- Him/He
Huh. I knew that Argath showed up again in the PSP version so you can kill him again, but I didn't know it was a mandatory fight scene.
Especially not one in what was already a three-battle gauntlet. By reputation this isn't a particularly hard gauntlet to beat, but is one with lots of side objectives (Get ultima, steal all of Elmdore's shit, including his one-of-a-kind Samurai sword and thus skill).
If a player got through the utter bullshit that was the end of chapter 3, there's no question they're capable of beating this, even before the Cid factor, but I still wonder at extended the back-to-back battles. PSP add ons really make me scratch my head sometimes.
Especially not one in what was already a three-battle gauntlet. By reputation this isn't a particularly hard gauntlet to beat, but is one with lots of side objectives (Get ultima, steal all of Elmdore's shit, including his one-of-a-kind Samurai sword and thus skill).
If a player got through the utter bullshit that was the end of chapter 3, there's no question they're capable of beating this, even before the Cid factor, but I still wonder at extended the back-to-back battles. PSP add ons really make me scratch my head sometimes.
- Location
- Somewhere between the stars
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Folmarv: You need prepare thyself. Our foe Ramza grows ever close, distract him with your theatrics while i abscond with his sister, for our plans.
Elmdore: You have my word, i shall put up the greatest of theaters. Now, i merely need to find a Death-knight, to wound and draw out his stamina.
Folmarv: Do not underestimate him, for he has allready slain our kin, despite being a mere squire.
Elmdore: Of coure i will-....A mere squire you say? I have the most comedic of ideas.
Thus, even Argath become a Death Knight, leaving Ramza as the only squire.
This is only rational explanation i can think of. Elmdore trying to future troll Ramza.
I do really like the way they tied the poison into this though. With it's historical and cultural mythos and how it tied into the two times Ramza's brother committed an treacherous act. It is a foul omen indeed for a family to have it grow.
Also god. I think Delita is rapidly becoming one of my favorite character across the Final fantasy series. What an absolutle manipulative asshole. Genuinly really solid written character. For a game with such sparring dialogue and cutscene, these feels like some of the most complex and life-like character so far in the series.
Elmdore: You have my word, i shall put up the greatest of theaters. Now, i merely need to find a Death-knight, to wound and draw out his stamina.
Folmarv: Do not underestimate him, for he has allready slain our kin, despite being a mere squire.
Elmdore: Of coure i will-....A mere squire you say? I have the most comedic of ideas.
Thus, even Argath become a Death Knight, leaving Ramza as the only squire.
This is only rational explanation i can think of. Elmdore trying to future troll Ramza.
I do really like the way they tied the poison into this though. With it's historical and cultural mythos and how it tied into the two times Ramza's brother committed an treacherous act. It is a foul omen indeed for a family to have it grow.
Also god. I think Delita is rapidly becoming one of my favorite character across the Final fantasy series. What an absolutle manipulative asshole. Genuinly really solid written character. For a game with such sparring dialogue and cutscene, these feels like some of the most complex and life-like character so far in the series.
- Pronouns
- He/Him
SOMEHOW, ARGATH HAS RETURNED?!
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Exalted is skeptical of power but not that skeptical.
The Chosen do fight with purpose in their hearts. Heck, one of the core themes of every corebook of Exalted is about the Solars, the mightiest of their number, first among equals. While there's an undercurrent of critique, the central theme is about the glorious march of the returned: The Usurped God-Kings miraculously returned from a place beyond death, wielding panoplies of an age gone by, their earth-shaking steps the key to either save creation or doom it.
K6BD is ultimately very skeptical of Great Man theories; In Exalted, the Great Man really is - for all his humanity - Great. In K6BD, everyone who picks up a weapon to fight would have been happier as a common noodle-seller. In Exalted, continuing violence and conquest is a valid path to enlightenment.
Hollowed out from within by an insidious infection, unnoticeable to all, from what you believe to be a simple gift? How ironic, no?
The funniest thing they could do is keep it in the remake and make it worse, somehow.
Well of course, you know - blonde lady knight, pure and dedicated, vampires can get a bit obsessive about that. We were about due for Agrias Alter.
Turned for not even half an hour and already committing diablerie.
Ha Ha Ha HA Ha ha Ha
Argath's presence here is meant to be a personal needle turned toward the player. He was already a hate sink, so why not some more? I love it.
Also he may or may not count as some sort of Lucavi now, which means that depending on the mechanics of how it works, he might come back and possess some other guy later-
This smacks of another case of "writers can't make a plot point happen naturally for some reason, so they force it."
Also don't call a girl "the seed of (a man's) loins," gross.
I love the lack of an exclamation mark. He's disappointed, but not surprised.
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- Location
- Spain
Well, almost.
A few spells, like Meteor, aren't compatible with Math Skill. In general, any spell that can ignore Reflect can't be used via Math.
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He must have left some kind of impression on Elmdore with his dedicated bootlicking skills. Now he gets to bootlick eternally from beyond the grave.
That is not dead which can eternally oppress the lower class, and in strange marches even Argath may keep coming back forever to get stabbitied.
- Location
- Somewhere between the stars
- Pronouns
- She/Her
So, generally speaking i've prefered the WoTl version so far. But this is a very bizzare change. Cause, yeah funny that this might just be Elmdore further trolling Ramza, how on earth did they even hear about Argath of all people. Dude was basically a foot-note!
He was a really minor noble that barely mattered in the wider scheme of things! Sure Ramza and Delita probally deeply remembers Argath and have a grudge, but it's not like Elmdore can mind-read them into knowing what would be the most heckling possible corpse to rise.(If he had a choice, why not Ramza's father, who's apparently just as much of a That guy as Cid. Though, this might need a willing host to raise up from the dead)
Edit: Okay, so i stand corrected. Argath was such a footnote, that i'd kinda forgotten he was there for that part
I still don't feel like this fully fits in with the rest though.
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Algus was there when they saved Elmdore, though.
Since you've mentioned you don't care about stealing and so on, I just want to make a footnote that Elmdore is also the only source of Genji armor in at least some versions of the game, via thievery. Other versions added other sources, from quests or ridiculous luck with Catch or the multiplayer content. I don't recall what your version provides for.
And before. Argath was serving as Elmdore's goon before he got caught by the Corpse Brigade.
Egleris
Vagrant Dragon
- Location
- Italy
So, as others mentioned, Argath was a WotL addition, and by my mark one of the worse by far, both because of how nonsensical it is and because it retroactively robs the satisfaction of killing him at the end of chapter 1, but I am curious: considering how many signs there are that this is an add on (reused battle map, sprite being Ramza's instead of unique to him, in the middle of the much more natural progression of the two Elmdor fights following each other in the same way as the Wiegraf > Belias fight did), how quickly did you realize this was a WotL addition when playing through it?
Come on now, that doesn't matter. If they'd not immediately retrieved the body after the Fort Zeadken explosion (which itself presumes it would have survived said explosion, instead of being torn apart by it), it should have decomposed into a skeleton by now. And why would they have done that then? Ramza wasn't an issue to the Lucavi at the time, and while Zalera is shown to be able to raise undeads, he only did so on the moment - what, did he add an undead to his escort when leaving Gallione? With no one the wiser? Or did he summon the corpse halfway across the kingdom just to mess with Ramza?
After which, he left Elmdor's service and moved to serve the Northern Sky and Zalbag. Why would Elmdore care about a defector like him?
I'm sure that, with enough creative argumentation, a chain of events can be conceived that led to Elmdore both remembering about Argath and resurrecting him - with special power to give him Gafgarion class, too; why not do that in the catacombs instead of raising normal knights? - that somehow holds together, but it'd be very obviously contrived. In no way is this a natural development of the story.
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This Let's Play has genuinely made me super curious about that rumored remake. Not in a 'I want to play it' sense, but from the meta perspective.
Because this game just seems so full of weird old design choices that a high-quality faithful remake could genuinely end up as some cryptic 6/10 to modern audiences.
Wade Garrett
Just trying to do the right thing
- Pronouns
- He/His/Him
o7 Argath, even in death he continues to "Praise the gods you have arrived, Lord 10! The strain of independent thought was almost more than a lowly 4 like myself could bear."
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