By Vicks.
Well, OK, not the pharmaceutical
company mentioned above. Vicks was actually the Woolsey translation
of the character's name, originally part of the Biggs and Wedge duo
seen here. From what I understand, this was kind of a recurring joke
in Square games at the time, through at least Final Fantasy 8, where
they'd reference Wedge Antilles and Biggs Darklighter, from the first
three Star Wars movies. I know in this game, and also in Crono
Trigger, they change Biggs to Vicks for some reason. I think they do
the same in one other game that came out around this time, Secret of
Mana, I think, but don't quote me. I know the original three Star
Wars movies were pretty good, but I'm not sure about the change of
names.
Anyway, enough with the trivia for now.
I'll get to more later, but on with the game for now.
As our story begins, we see three
people riding mechanized armor to the edge of a cliff overlooking the
mining town of Narshe. The two barely distinct imperial soldiers,
who do all the talking at first, are Vicks and Wedge, have been
ordered to take a mysterious and as-of-yet unnamed woman to Narshe to
find something called an Esper. Both men find it hard to believe
that one has been uncovered when the common belief is that they all
vanished a thousand years prior.
Wedge is worried that their charge
might go nuts on them and kill them both because she's got
“super-ultra-mega” magic power as well as the same armor they do.
Not quoting the game there, but it'll do. Vicks reassures him that
as long as she's got the mind control helmet on, they've got nothing
to worry about, but just to be safe, they put her on point and march
on the town.
When they get there, it's not exactly a
“We are the Borg”
moment, but the resistance from the local militia doesn't really put
up much of a fight, either, especially at first. The town itself is
guarded by militia men and their dogs, which, judging by the in-game
name, must be something like huskies
of some sort. On the way into the mine, we're met with guards who
bring mammoth-like creatures with a special attack. Farther into the
mine itself, we get our first random encounters of the game, as
opposed to the fixed-point battles we had up until this point.
As we enter the mine, Vicks and Wedge
comment that the Esper was “found in a new mine shaft, perhaps this
one.” when there's really no perhaps about it, because we're only
given one place to enter. At the far back of the tunnel, we have the
first boss fight of the game, against a compound monster called
Whelk. Perhaps his first name is Lawrence?
I must say, this was an easier fight than I remember, since it's
pretty easy to spam the attack the monster is weak to, as everybody
has access to it.
With that in mind, I should point out
that this is one of only two times that the game lets us do much with
the MagiTek armor units I mentioned earlier, and the only time they
really got creative with its powers. Vicks, Wedge, and the unknown
character all have access to beam weapons based on fire, ice, and
lightning elemental magic and a healing power, and the unknown
character also has powers based on poison, a power called “X-Fer”
and a projectile as well.
In past Text Plays, this is where I'd
stop and pick up in a new issue, but this game is a little different,
as it's a perfect example of Square being at its best when it comes
to storytelling in its games. As a result, there's a couple more
things that will happen before we get to our first decent place to
break.
Once the Whelk is defeated, our party
moves on to the chamber it was guarding. This is where we see our
first Esper. It is indeed frozen in ice, and it's called Tritoch, as
is revealed in what looks like another battle scene, but really isn't
. This Esper seems to have a psychic connection with the unknown
character, which freaks Vicks and Wedge out, with good reason, as a
moment later, Vicks and Wedge are vaporized or sent into the void, or
something. The unknown character has a different reaction, as there
are sparks between her and the Esper, and then they both glow
briefly.
Our story then cuts forward an
unspecified amount of time, to a house in Narshe, with the woman, now
minus her mech and the mind control device, waking up from her
experience. The man there says that she'll remember things as time
goes on. The woman then remembers that her name is Terra, and the
man tells her that she's coming around more quickly than most others
in her situation.
Just then, some other imperial soldiers
come along to take Terra and her associated equipment back to the
Empire. The man tells Terra to sneak out the back of his house and
escape into the mines. It almost works, but Terra is spotted by the
soldiers, who look an awful lot like the Narshe militia men from
before in this version. Since they weren't in position to catch her
there, Terra does get away into the mine, but not very far, as the
guards do corner her there, where Terra falls down a hole and gets
knocked out and has a dream about what the game's villain, a crazy
dude named Kefka, did to her to get her into that spot.
Meanwhile, a guy named Locke shows up
at the man's house and gets briefed on the situation. The man calls
Locke a thief, which is his character type, but he prefers the term
“treasure hunter” instead.
Locke's assignment is to make sure
Terra gets through the mine safely and get her to a place called
Figaro. While he's there, Locke is also supposed to ask the king for
help. As the man explains in an obvious but necessary bit of
exposition, if Narshe wants to stay free, it'll need “help from the
Returners, a rebel organization.”
The good news is that we're spared
having to go back over the same ground with Locke, because we'll be
back here several times over the course of the game. The better news
is that we're also introduced to one of the coolest mechanics in this
game: the multi-party battle. We'll see this a few times in the
game. In this case, most of the characters used in these battles are
NPCs called Moogles, which US audiences saw for the first time in
this game, as I recall. The basic principle here is that we've got
three parties of characters that we need to use to defend Terra
against a horde of monsters and then take out the leader. In a bit
of foreshadowing, Locke is in one of the teams, and another
character, a Moogle named Mog, is in another team. It's wise to use
him, because he'll be in the pool of playable characters later on,
and it's nice to have a start on his special ability development, a
dance move.
Once again, the associated boss fight
here was easier than I remembered. Since I had pretty much three
shots at this one, I went in with what I thought was my flimsiest
party and won on my first try.
Once that battle's over and done with,
Locke carries Terra out of the mines so they can escape Narshe and
get help in Figaro. Just as Locke opens the secret exit to the mine,
Terra comes to and asks what's going on. Locke explains that he's
there to help get her to someplace safe, and the pair heads for
Figaro.
Although it's not related to the plot,
there's a training room in Narshe, meant to explain things to new
players. I'm not new, but it's worth going in all the same because
there's some decent items to be had, and they'll come in handy.
With that, I think I'll call this a
good place to stop and pick up next issue with the trip to Figaro
next time, in Issue #002: King Pepe Le Pew. I know this was a little
long, so I'll try to keep the next one shorter.
Until then, folks, stay safe, have fun,
keep gaming, and DFTBA!
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