Red's Progress Thread

[Red XIII]

Day 5 - July 24, 2008

Okay so I finally stopped chaining and training aboard the Leviathan to go fight Ghis again. Ghis got owned.

Story
Okay, so let me try and pick back up here...

Ghis falls, but still escapes with the Dawn Shard. After the battle, Vossler shows up with an Atomos (small ship) for everyone to escape in. The party leaves the Leviathan only to head directly back to Bhujerba, and directly back to the Marquis, who got them sent there in the first place. Makes perfect sense.

Apparently the Marquis Ondore, who is now revealed as Ashe's uncle, is feigning loyalty to the Empire, and his affection for the princess as his niece apparently overrides it.

Basch is appointed as the new protector for Ashe, and offers to escort her in her efforts to reclaim her proof of royal lineage rather than let her steal Balthier's ship or be "kidnapped."

So incredibly coincidentally, the party all ends up wanting to tag along for raiding the tomb of King Raithwall, where there are apparently other royal treasures. Ashe seeks the Dawn Shard, which is one of the treasures, but she speaks of it as if it will be found in the tomb. Doesn't Ghis still have it?

EDIT: Had a mix up here. Ghis had the Dusk Shard, which proved Ashe's royal blood. The Dawn Shard is a different royal treasure within the King's tomb.

---

Then the action cuts over to the first glimpse of the Archadian empire, which strangely reminds me of Home before it was destroyed in FFX.

Gabranth lands in a ship and enters a huge central structure Star Wars-style to meet with the sickly old Emperor. The Emperor and the Judge speak about Vayne and how he is too reckless to be named the successor after the Emperor dies of his illness.

The Emperor first questions Gabranth's loyalty, because his homeland was destroyed and he defected to the empire, and has a brother who is fighting against the empire. Gabranth says he is "tracking his every move" and that he "must be cut down." This is obviously Basch--I can't remember if that has been said in the game or not--they look exactly alike. But after this, the emperor then commends Gabranth for his sworn loyalty to the cause, and tells him to keep an eye on Larsa. Gabranth says that he should be Larsa's sword to strke where he may hesitate, but the Emperor says that he should rather be his shield... DUN-DUN-DUNNN.

---

Back to the party, who lands in Dalmasca Westersand... again. Balthier's ship is suspended in the air with some nifty cloaking device and the party prepares to move across the desert on foot. Something about stones not working because of something with the airspace... so no teleportation allowed.

So now the objective is to cross the desert to the Ogir-Yensa Sandsea, and into King Raithwall's tomb, where we will somehow find the Dawn Shard that Judge Ghis still has!

Summary
So every thing has been scenes so far for me today. I fought the Judge, and now I'm in the desert wandering and collecting while heading towards the sandsea.

[Earnest]

I'm pleased you approached this game with an open mind and gave it a fair chance. Your liking towards the party seems to be almost indentical to mine. Basch and Baltheir = pwnage.

How do you find Gabranth? He's my favourite FF character ever.

[Ephemeral]

As long as you can keep the story-line straight in your head then it's a good game.
I just kept putting it down so often that by the time I beat the last boss I forgot why they were all there in the first place.

[Red XIII]

Earnest Wrote:I'm pleased you approached this game with an open mind and gave it a fair chance. Your liking towards the party seems to be almost indentical to mine. Basch and Baltheir = pwnage.

How do you find Gabranth? He's my favourite FF character ever.

Well it's still pretty early. The scene in my last Progress Post was the first time I'd seen him without his helmet on. But he's got me interested, I'll give him that. I'm sure he's only going to become a more and more prevalent and integral part of the story.

Ephemeral Wrote:As long as you can keep the story-line straight in your head then it's a good game.
I just kept putting it down so often that by the time I beat the last boss I forgot why they were all there in the first place.

That's the whole point of this thread. I totally want to avoid that.

Coming back and reading this thread helps me immensely. It usually puts me right back in the same place I was when I turned off my PS2 the last time, which is exactly where I want to be when I start it back up.

[Red XIII]

Day 6 - July 25, 2008

Story
So the Sandsea is cool.

Basch talks about how the oil structures were constructed by the Rozzarians, and how they were abandoned. The Rozarrians are far to the west, and ever at war with the Archadians. He talks about the small powers that have fallen in between them--Dalmasca, Nabudis, and Landis.

Vossler shows up and seems surprised to see Basch with sky pirates... yet no one even acknowledges Vossler's evanescent entrance other than Ashe, who just talks normally and isn't surprised at all.

After Ashe explains what's going on and Basch has a little emo moment, Vossler joins the party, only for Fran to give a warning sign that the party should leave the Sandsea as soon as possible.

Of course it's too late, and the Urutan-Yensa show up on their sandsharks, and the party decides to make haste before these skinless, Banta-wannabies get any closer.

Licenses
This is where my chaining and training is really starting to pay off. I'm making extremely good headway on the license board with all of my characters.

I'm trying to unlock only the basic skills that I need, and get to all of the stat-raisers and time/cost-cutters. I really don't need that many gambits right now, so I'm skipping those, and I'm just making sure everyone has the basic magic that they need. As for equipment, I haven't seen a town in quite a while, and no one is selling equipment, so I really don't need those right now, either. Lastly, I'm holding off on the quickenings until I understand them a little better and can decide who I want to have them.

Everyone is rounding out quite nicely, and my help is needed less and less during battle. Some may not like this, but I do.

Summary
So I've completed the Ogir-Yensa, and I'm preparing to move on to the Nam-Yensa.

I didn't spend any extra time ch/training, but I did get all of the treasure chests, so I ended up killing quite a few enemies on the way. There's one random enemy that was not listed in the guide, who just looks like a giant Fire Orb. He killed my entire party and my other three had to run from him. I don't know where he came from, but I've been avoiding him at all costs.

These big, red, round towers make me think for split-seconds that I'm playing MGS2.

Characters
Just to update on my building of everyone.

I temporarily switched Ashe from a sword user to a pole user because I picked up a powerful pole from a chest and she had the license for it. I thought it was only going to be until I got a better sword, but it's grown on me. It gives her some range, and that makes up for the evade stat that normally would have been provided by her shield. So naturally, she's stronger, with better evade, and a faster action time than sword and shield. This is greatly useful as she's healing more often than the rest of the party.

My best party right now seems to be Vaan, Ashe, and Penelo. Basch is also very strong, but he's slower than the three of them, so I leave him in secondary. I want to stick with Bow and Gun for Fran and Balthier, respectively, so they suck right now and have for a while. There are like 3 guns and 3 bows in the game right now.

Having Vossler right now is a big plus, as usual, because he's a beast. He crushes everyone, and never stops attacking since he doesn't have any gambits or healing spells. His only spell seems to be Telekinesis, which he uses on flying foes to deal huge damage. I'll be sad when he leaves the party again; I'm loving guests.

Story, cont'd
I beat the Giant Tortoise in order to help the Yensans, and I'm headed to claim my reward... some berries. Apparently they'll help me in the tomb. This is immensely humorous because I've killed hundreds of their people. I'm kinda pissed that they didn't give them voices during this scene or even dialog to read... they could have been really cool.

The Urutan-Yensa tribesman who asked for help is going to be executed for seeking help outside the tribe, but the random moogle steps in to save the guy. The queen does not comply, and annihilates the tribesman, leaving the moogle in shock.

So there's a rare flower left behind, and I claim my Eksir Berries. Yeehaw.

Summary, cont'd
So now I'm through the second Sandsea, preparing to enter King Raithwall's tomb to get back the Dawn Shard and to also reward the party (specifically Balthier) with the Dynast-King's treasure.

Upon entering the tomb, the game prompts me to save, and I do, because I know I'm about to fight a big Garuda. That's why I went to all that trouble to get those berries.

Characters, cont'd
I wanted to make sure that everyone had the Black Magick 2 License for this fight, since the Garuda is weak against water spells.

I've decided to use Balthier, Fran, and Ashe, since all of their regular attacks are ranged and can hit the flying beast. That plus the water spells, and Vossler's Telekinesis should knock the Garuda down pretty quick after having the Eksir Berries knock off the initial 15% of the bird's health.

Story, cont'd
The Garuda was hardly a boss. The water spells at my level did more damage than the "legendary berries," and Vossler's kinesis absolutely raped the avion beast. The first hit took away nearly half of his health. I'm not even that over-leveled.

After the flapper flaps his last, "The ancient device stirs" inside the tomb, meaning I can enter it. A daunting rite of passage indeed... *giggle*

Ashe tells the story of the Dynast-King:
King Raithwall formed the Galtean Alliance. Rozzaria and Archadia were two city-states who joined the alliance, and it caused them to flourish and become large powers. As we know, they are now empires at war with each other.

The King was a lover of peace and looked upon war with "disdain" as described by Ashe. His efforts were somewhat of a secret outside of his alliance, as they saw him as more of a peaceful commissioner rather than a powerful king. His peaceful reign lasted a long time.

Ashe then describes the royal treasures of the Dynast-King:
The Midlight Shard was left to the house of Nabradia, The Dusk Shard to the founders of Dalmasca, and the Dawn Shard that remains inside the tomb. Aside from this, Ashe also mentions general "treasure" of the King, which I'm guessing is plain old loot for Balthier, but there could be a twist to this.

So I was confused earlier. Ghis had the Dusk Shard, which he used to prove Ashe's lineage and followed up with trying to kill her because he thought he could use a doll or fake princess once the Shard was activated in order to usurp her power without people knowing she was really gone. The Dawn Shard is apparently different, and will allow Ashe to prove her lineage as well. I hope I have this right.

EDIT: Yep. I had it mixed up. Ghis had the Dusk Shard, which makes sense because it proved the lineage of the Dalmascan heir, Ashe. The Dawn Shard is in Raithwall's tomb, and will apparently prove her lineage as well.

Summary, cont'd
And with that, I've reached the save point and I'm going to take a break before entering the tomb.

[BigMikeTheTerror]

so your now officially where i am. congrats, lol

[Sanity]

If I'm thinking of the right place, that tomb has like 4 boss fights. One after another.

[Red XIII]

Yeah, I've got to fight the Demon Walls as soon as I get inside. I haven't read any farther ahead, though.

[Red XIII]

Day 7 - February 18, 2009

Holy sh1t it's been a long time... haha.

I've spent a few minutes regaining my bearings and reading back through my old posts in here. They've helped so much!

Now entering the Tomb of King Raithwall...

Characters
Upon defeating the Demon Wall, Vossler and Ashe get into a little fight... where did this come from? Perhaps my memory is just that poor, but when Ashe said "We will continue this later..." I had no idea what she was talking about.

Licenses
I've just spent some time getting new equipment and buying new licenses and I'm FINALLY starting to get some immunities/innates going. One of my favorite things to get established in an FF game.

Story
The Dynast-King apparently defeated a Gigas that stayed in the tomb to guard the treasure. Oh ho no... the Gigas was the treasure. I was right! A twist! So I have my first esper, yay! Say hello to Belias the... Ifrit clone. Oh well I don't care. I have one now. Some boss, though... the Demon Wall was harder.

Upon reaching the Dawn Shard, Ashe sees a vision/ghost of Rasler. Ashe seems a little broken up, and says that he will be avenged. Has she ever mentioned him before? No.

Okay, so we have the Dawn Shard now. Joy. As I'm leaving, a custcene occurs, and a massive Imperial Fleet is swarming the party. Crazy Star-Warsy ships are landing errwherr... and it's Judge Ghis!

He wants the "nethicite." Not the manufactured nethicite, but the "deifacted" nethicite which apparently means it came from the Dynast-King. I didn't know this guy was so important. Ghis says they want the three stones to win the war. Against? Vossler turns and reveals that his goal is to save Dalmasca no matter what, which means his view is obviously clouded, and Ghis offers Ashe her throne back upon her return of the Dawn Shard.

The crew is taken to the Shiva to return to Rabanastre in shackes. Ghis has the Dawn Shard immediately tested for "powers."

As soon as they start testing the stone, Fran starts freaking out and says that Mist is burning her up. She goes berserk and starts kicking everyone's asses. Vossler makes a stand as the party attempts to escape and it's time to fight.

Between the new hammer I got for Basch and Fran being berserk, Vossler wasn't too tough. I had to keep everyone's health up because of his ability to make several hits at a time, but he dropped.

The engines of the ship freak out from the shard, and they can't get it out in time and they overload. Vossler swears his infinite fealty to Dalmasca upon being defeated, and questions his own motives as he lays his "charge" upon Basch. The party flees.

The whole ship implodes in a pretty impressive cutscene and annihilates the whole fleet. Balthier manages to get everyone out unscathed on a ship, and at the last second, Penelo notices that the Dawn Shard is the only thing left floating amidst the debris-less wreckage/giant fireball. They return to grab it.

Shift to Memoir of Marquis Ondore:
Leviathan. Gone. Shiva and 8th Archadian Imperial Fleet. Gone. Judge Ghis? Hopefully.
As word of what happened spread around the Empire, the Marquis left Bhujerba "citing sudden Malady." What? 'My true motive: to bring the various counter-Imperial Forces scattered throughout Ivalice together in unified Resistance.'

Ashe and company return to Rabanastre undetected. She wants the Dawn Shard to remain secret. And she also wants to protect the Marquis from looking like an idiot for announcing her suicide so that he still has enough clout and respect to form a Resistance. Ashe is still a secret, and the Dawn Shard is still a secret.

Archadia has lost a fleet, but they're still way to powerful to be stopped by anyone.

---

Shift to Imperial City of Archades showing a round table discussion of cloaked men.

They speak of an imminent attack against Archadia. They suspect Rozarria. They blame Vayne for losing the 8th fleet. They say he will answer for his actions for "deploying them so capriciously." These guys are the senate. They reveal the leader of the senate as Vayne's father. Another senator suggests Larsa in the place of Vayne as emperor. Another mentions older sons of Lord Gramis---Vayne's older brothers--who were failed as leaders before him. Gramis agrees to bid Vayne return to Archades.

Ashe is shown with the Dawn Shard and Rasler's apparition again. What is the connection here? Vaan shows up for very un-Tidus/Yuna moment. *Wipes forehead*

Nabudis is revealed to have been destroyed by a power similar to what we saw destroy the 8th Imperial Fleet--the Midlight Shard of Nabradia. Ashe claims her stake against Vayne. The party has to use the Dawn Shard to take back the other two. Vaan asks if Ashe even knows how to use it and she stammers. Lol. Awesome.

Fran talks about the 'Garif' people who may know. So we have to go find these Garifs. Ashe parts with her beloved ring as payment to Balthier for he and Fran's continued loyalty and service to the party. He says he'll return it when he finds something more valuable. Pwner. Vaan is asked by Baltheir what he's looking for and he has no answer... fitting.

Summary
Alright, so quite a bit has happened. Vossler and Judge Ghis[?} are out of the picture. We have the Dawn Shard. The Empire has the Dusk and Midlight shards. We want all three, and so do they. The next destination is clear--to meet with the Garifs in Jahara in order to discover the secrets and powers behind the Dawn shard. Time to shut it down for now.

[Ephemeral]

Geez Red, I thought you forgot all about the game. Atleast you have this tread to help you remember what you're doing.
Last time I played it I was at Leviathan. I can't remember why so I just gave up.