Friday, December 24, 2021

TEXT PLAY: Final Fantasy IX (PlayStation, 2000, Square-Enix): Issue #069: A Different World

It's about time to get back to this, and it really seems to fit that we're in a different world from the one we started in, both in the game and in real life.


The Shimmering Island is pretty much one big teleporter to a different world called Terra, which is in a parallel dimension to the one the game thus far has been in, called Gaia. When we first get there, a biggish dude in a cape beams in and tells Zidane that he's the one who bends time or something and is finally back home. When Zidane says he doesn't know anything about that, the caped guy tells him to follow the path ahead if he wants to understand and then disappears again. A moment later, Dagger shows up to see if Zidane is alright and to tell him everyone else is OK, too. There was really no discussion I can recall of going forward, but it's really the only option. There was a chance to change party members, but for the time being, I stuck with the party I'd been using for awhile at that point: Zidane, of course, along with Freya, Eiko and Dagger.


Once we get past the screen that tells us that we are indeed in Terra, there's a mysterious girl character that the party has to follow for awhile. She doesn't respond to Zidane's attemts to get information at first, just leading the party forward. Eventually, she does say that if Zidane wants to know who he really is and what his true purpose is supposed to be, he just needs to cross the bridge they've come to and go on from there.


There are also random battles and a few treasure chests along the way. The fights were against monsters called Ring Leaders and Hecteyes. I'm pretty sure we've seen those before, but these ones seem a little harder. At least they give good experience and ability points, which should help move along the process of learning whatever abilities I still have left to learn. The treasure chests contain things I think we got before we could come to Terra.


Before long, we come to a place called Bran Bal. At first, Zidane and Dagger comment on how this place looks artificial whereas everything else thus far has looked more natural. Granted, everything is blue and shiny rather than what we're more used to. Still, looks nice, though. As the pair talks, the airship with the big red eye on it we've seen a few times in the game so far comes along. When Dagger realizes what that means, she has flashbacks to seeing it when Lindblum and Alexandria got blown up, and at least one of the few other times it's shown up and then passes out. Steiner comes along and tells Zidane that he'll watch Dagger while Zidane goes to check things out. There are quite a lot of other people there who look like Zidane and say various things about how they're just waiting to get souls so they can be real people. They also explain that somehow Terra and Gaia are going to be merged somehow.


While Zidane looks around, Eiko looks for medicine or herbs to use on Dagger. She wakes up a moment later in what passes for Bran Bal's inn and tells the rest of the party about how she made the connecton.


Before long, I came to a save point. The moogle there had a shop and was a Mognet, both of which I took advantage of. I'm asuming there's another moogle around to give the letter to, but that'll be for another time. I also bought up some new weapons and armor because I'm sure I'll need it.


Since that was a convenient place to stop, I took advantage, because I don't want to go too overboard with this, since I haven't done as much as I might have liked this year. Hopefully, I'll get to this before another three months go by. And maybe even get a little Final Fantasy 2 as well. At any rate, I'll see you soon, I hope.


Until next time, stay safe, have fun, keep gaming, and DFTBA.

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