Thursday, December 1, 2016

TEXT PLAY: Final Fantasy IX (PlayStation, 2000, Square-Enix): Issue #010: Hawksness

Or Zozo.

At any rate, my first trip to Burmecia wasn't my first trip to Burmecia, even the first time I'd played this game.

Picking up where I'd left off last time, I was sure we were going to spend a little more time with Dagger and Steiner when the game switched over to them after the boss fight with Gizamaluke, but I guess that was mostly a cutscene to show us that they were on their way back to Alexandria, and getting them on the tram was all for now. About the only thing I really did take away from it this time is that Garnet or Dagger or whichever we'll be calling her here isn't really so hard on the eyes after all, far as more-or-less human characters go. Certainly not after Rinoa, the love interest from the previous game in the series. I'm still not much for the whole princess thing, though. In this case, I've got a slight preference for Freya. That could just be the bit of Norse blood I've got in me, though.

Once Steiner and Dagger are indeed on the tram and headed back to Alexandria, the scene switches back to the Grotto, where the Burmecian soldier the party talked to before the fight with Gizamaluke tells them they need to head to Burmecia as soon as they can to protect the king from whomever's kicking the crap out of the place. It's really not too terribly far from the Grotto to the town portion of Burmecia, though there are a couple other points of interest along the way. We'll be dealing with those later, though.

Burmecia itself has been trashed by the invaders when we get there. Freya's homecoming is not what she had hoped for as a result, especially considering she'd been away for five years at that point. On the way into town, she sounds like somebody JFK might have liked, wondering just what she could do for her country.

After a few random battles along the way, we come to a building where Zorn and Thorn pop out and throw another pair of Black Mages at the party. This made me think of something I really hadn't before. There may be some question as to where the Mages may be coming from, but does nobody recognize that Zorn and Thorn are supposed to be Queen Brhane's jesters? Considering how powerful Alexandria is supposed to be even without the Mages, one would think so, but perhaps not.

Speaking of the fights here, there's the Ironite that gives Quina the Blue Magic spell Angel's Snack, which takes off negative status effects from the whole party. I think the one I forgot to mention before was the Lv3-Defless spell, which is supposed to take down enemy defenses against opponents whose levels are multiples of three. The rest of the monsters either have ones I already got or don't have anything. I'd have thought the Basilisks would give Slow Petrify, but I guess not.

Along the way, we also meet some survivors, all close to the palace, which is locked behind another door sealed with a bell. The first bunch is lead by a guy called Soldier Dan, who's abandoning town with his family. They show up after the party talks Freya into forging ahead with their mission, if only because they've come too far to turn back without finding anything out.

Further in, we meet Wei and Kal, another married couple, this time with at least one child on the way. Wei says she won't leave without her husband, even though he was gravely wounded in the attack and can't move. Luckily for them, the party saves the man from being crushed by a statue that's about to collapse just as another soldier comes to get them out.

Beyond that point, there's the palace itself. There's a save point behind a door to the right, which seems to be a good place to stop for now. This particular save point has a shop that sells some upgrades to weapons and armor as well as general items that will come in handy. I'm pretty sure there's another boss fight coming up here, but I could be wrong about that. I was, after all, wrong about what we'd be getting with Steiner and Dagger at the start of this as well.


Either way, though, we'll pick this up next time. Until then, stay safe, keep gaming, have fun, and DFTBA!

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