Despite what it looks like, I have played a lot of this game. 30 hours maybe? I'm at over 60, which is kinda crazy. I'm not even sure how this works, but when I kill a single mob, an hour has gone by, or more. Stuff takes forever, and I don't even recognize it.
Anyway, back to the story. Last time, I just reached Bur-Omisace, one of the nicest churchs in JRPG History. They are just plain nice people. I feel a bit reminded of that one church in FF IX, that is so far from the rest of the world, but that is still visited by people. I don't think that game went into details about that church, but here, it seems more like an institution that is based in values, not a single figure that you should believe in. It also doesn't seem to be focused on the gods of this world, the ones that gave away the magical stones, or the ones that punished the Espers. I think?
There is, of course, a leader of this church, Anastasias. And I do find him fascinating. He is a Dream Sage, someone who can see beyond...something. I'm not sure, but he seems to live in the world of dreams, which do show him what happens, and will happen, in some capacity. I wonder, is he simply very old, and the whole church is built around reverence to him?
He also immediately reminded me of Une, from FF III. You know, the one of the three pupils of that grand magician, who got the power over the dream world, or something like that. It is a fascinating concept. He also talks about his dream fades into day. It is probably the first time since Raithwall, that the world of Ivalice has been shaken to its core. And the things that will happen, will make him wake up. Talking about a calm part of History, a stable one, as a dream, as nothing big happens, is interesting.
There is some stuff about how the senat was made powerless by Vayne, about the female judge who wanted to protect Larsa getting killed, stuff like that. After all this time with the game, I do enjoy the story, but I do fill ill-equipped to talk about it in much detail. I guess commenting on political stories isn't quite my strength, at least if it doesn't lay out everything. Point is, Vaynes power grows, and with his father and the senat out of the way, he killed two birds with one stone.
Fun though: There is a judge, whose name is Bergan. I laughed out loud, when I saw that one. And, as always, he is the worst.
I really like, how much this game takes from FF II. I know, I keep talking about that, but it's true. It's really nice to catch it this time, too. In general, I do find this series to be doing a really good job with callbacks. Even IX, a game that is full of them, works perfectly well, if you have never played another game of the series. But they do offer more layers for longtime fans, and I appreciate that.
There is also Al-Cid, a member of the ruling house of Rozaria, the enemy nation of Vaynes Empire. I vaguely remember hearing that name, when people talk about FF Tactics? Yes? No? Is he the Cid of that game? He isn't of this one, but that name makes it seem that way. If he is a reference to Tactics, please tell me.
He has a relevant point to make, though: If Ashe says who she is, publicly, Vayne will just act like she is an imposter. Which, aside from this story, is something I always wondered about: How did kings in the middle ages and beyond proof to others, maybe even other kings, who they are? It's complicated enough today. Did they have to use insignia, documents, rings? I should look into that.
Anyway, the point is clear, and we are, again, at a point where Ashe sees how powerless she is. She has no way of proving who she is, she has no strength to defeat Vayne. While I don't get really warm with this cast, I do find her to be a compelling character with a nice arc, no matter how slow she develops. But she comes slowly to the conclusion, that there is more than she needs, or even wants, than the power to get back her throne.
I critiziced Ashe before, for not seeming to care for her people, and just being focused on getting back the throne. I guess that wasn't fair to the game, as she seems to understand her true purpose: To protect her people. That this is, what being a ruler, a queen, is all about. And learning about this is her arc. It's also why especially this game has a good case to make, for why she travels her realm. She needs to see the places she rules, and meets the people she is supposed to protect. She has to understand the world she lives in, including the regular people, not just royalty. I keep thinking of FF IXs Dagger, who learns to become a stronger person, and therefore better leader, through her travels, and the same is true here (even if their stories and arcs are very different, in most points).
So, I understand why people considere her to be the main character. I still think it's important, that we have at least one regular person, Vaan and/or Penelo, along. The others, Fran, Balthier and Basch, aren't regular people. Vaan and Penelo are, orphaned, with no money, simple, decent people. Ashe needs to see them, to learn that they exist.
There is some stuff about getting a magical sword from another temple. Not much to say about that, I think. But when we get back, the fleet of the Empire, lead by Bergan, attacked Bur-Omisace.
It seems a bit like a "kick the puppy" moment, to make clear how horrible the acts of the Empire, of Vayne, are. Which isn't helped, that Bergan is probably his most despicable underling. But it's clear, the game wants us to see how horrible the Empire is, even striking down the completely innocent people of the order, who do nothing but help the wounded.
Bergan, as mentioned, and as demanded by his name, is the worst. He killed Anastasias, and is super powerful. He is strengthened by manufactured Nethizite, which seems to have driven him kinda insane. Which isn't that far off from how Kefka worked, I guess, except that Kefka was too flashy to simply die away in one battle. But the concept is the same, and it's one that the series used again and again: Don't abuse technology, don't abuse magic. It leads to ruin, for others, but also for you.
Al-Cid wants Ashe to come with him to Rosaria, so she can help him convince the people there, that war is the wrong way. And we are heading that way. Ondore is still collecting troops for a resistance, and Rosaria will use the fight of the resistance against Vayne as a reason to attack. And then, Vayne will destroy them all.
But Ashe has other plans. With this sword, she wants to destroy the Dusk Shard, which Balthier suggests to be found in the Draklor Laboratories, in Arcadia, the main city of the Empire.
On the way there, I kill a mob called Athomos, who, to my disappointment, didn't look like Athomos at all. In general, the mobs in this game are sometimes callbacks to older games. I wonder if FF XI did something like that at this point, letting you fight against, say, Kefka, or the Four Fiends. IX did it, in any case, so it's not completely new to reuse and reinterpret old FF bosses. More in line with his first appearance is Ultros, another mob. The game acted like there is a trick to make him appear, which I was supposed to find out. But, having played VI, it's not hard to find out - your active party has to consist of only female members.
Later on, there will also be Gilgamesh. Looking forward to that one.
In the Salika-Woods, I fight against the Bomb King, a jerk that can heal him whenever he wants, I guess. He still goes down, after a long, hard fight. I'm quite happy with how I beat these bosses, that I could also skip, because they are relatively challenging. At this point, I always have undone hunts, because they are simply too hard.
Which brings me to a problem I have, in that I find it very hard to judge when I'm ready for a hunt. At some point, you get hunts that you simply are not ready for. Or at least I wasn't, but they are so powerful, I can't imagine beating them without breaking the game in some way. But then, I come for them, and they go down pretty easily. Like with Ultros. It's a shame. Sometimes, I wished JRPGs didn't have levels, so these side-quests could be fitted perfectly. But I guess this is the wrong genre for that.
Not much interesting on the way to Archadis, except for the fight against five Alraune monsters. I'm sure you remember these five jerks, if you beat the game. They aren't hard, if you focus on one at a time. But if you aren't prepared, they will use the chaos to destroy you.
By the way, when I played this game the first time, I simply used the super-move all the time. I haven't done so a single time this playthrough. It just feels way too much like a cruch, something you can abuse to simply skip parts of a boss. I'm not that good with the battle system, always thinking there is more than I use it for, but it feels more correct, this way.
Also, for a long time, my main team has been Vaan (as a Thief with Time Magic), Fran (as my Black Mage, with elemental stuffs, which boost the hell out of the elemental spells) and Penelo (who simply is a way better White Mage than Balthier). Penelo also got Green Magic at some point, because why not. I was pretty surprised to find out, that, while everyone can do everything, some characters simply fit better into roles than others. And not in a simple way, like in FF VII. Here, Balthier is just a straight-up worse mage than Penelo. Disappointing, to be honest.
When reaching Archadis (at some point, we learn that Balthier is from there and Cids son - Cid seems to have gone crazy, when learning about Nethizite), we first see that it consists of two parts. When entering, we find old Archadis, which has basically become the slums of the city. Only the ones who have nothing are here. There is even a gross Seek, who seems to have enslaved a bunch of Moogles, which is really creepy. And further up (of course), we get to the "real" Archadis.
This smells a lot like Midgar, even with the old part that was taken over by the new one. Just way less intense, as is the case with all the things this game references.
In Archadis proper, there is a sort-of minigame, where we have to trade information. Basically, we talk to someone who needs something and has something to offer, and then find the person who is looking for someone like that. It feels a bit silly, but I had fun doing it. You get a lot of very small stories. It also feels like a reference, as you get keywords, that you can use at other people. Keywords, like in FF II. Still not the perfect use (doing them all can be somewhat tiresome), but I enjoyed it. I feel like, you could do a sidequest with this that spans a whole game.
The point this makes is, that information is everything in this city. But I don't think it does much with that? I mean, distributing information, or not being able to, is a core part of this game. Ashe can't distribute the information she has about herself, which is part of what robs her of her power. We already spent some time, with Vaan distributing wrong information about himself. And Vayne uses and abuses information to consolidate power.
So, this is a theme in this game. So maybe it is fitting, that this is especially woven into the fabric of the city of the enemy.
I already complained about the difficulty spike in the Draklor Laboratory. Partly, it was just really obnoxious, how there would be new enemies appearing, again and again. Not much to say elsewise. It's annoying with the levers, but thankfully short, and at the end, we fight Cid. Who uses four small, flying machines, who aid him in battle, and which need to be defeated first, essentially. I assume that's a callback to Necrophobia (or however that last boss in FF V was called, before you fought Neo-Exdeath).
We nearly kill him, but some ghost-thing, Venat, protects him. At least there is a reason for why we let him live: We don't, he just is protected. He also dares us to follow him to a place called Giruvegan, where Ashe could find a new magical stone, new power for her. And then, he is gone.
There is also another guy here, Reddas, a sky pirate. Or maybe former, don't know. Now, he always has to take care of leading Balfonheim, a port city. It was once a pretty rough place, but now, the (former?) pirates have calmed down, thanks to Reddas guiding hand.
Here we actually learn about Ondore being ready for a big battle, that he will fight alongside Rosaria, and so on. The thought at this point was, that Ondore leads the rebellion that we were part in, in FF VI. But here, things work differently. A direct hit won't work.
So our next goal is Giruvegan, to get a new, magical stone. And Ashe is still conflicted, if she even wants more power. But we are going.
The magic shop here has the level 3 elemental spells, which make Fran by far the most powerful of my team. She can hit the damage cap, if the enemy is weak to the element she casts, and if she has the fitting, elemental staff equipped. The way she is skilled, she doesn't even lose much MP, way less than she should. It's kinda crazy, how strong she is. I mean, my physical attackers, mainly Basch and Ashe, can hit hard, but they only do 1000 - 2000 damage, which is nothing, against the AOE spells, that hit a bunch of monsters for > 4k, or even more.
I think I read often, that magic is useless, compared to weapons, in this game. No idea if I made that up, but if not, it's simply completely wrong.
I find out, that I got a thing that lets me talk to cockatrices. And now, the ones from the settlement near Rabanastre, are gone. I can go to different places, solve small quests for them, and make them go back that way. It's adorable, I love these fat birds.
Before continuing, I also visit the Nabreus Swamps, which are super brutal. Just doable, but I die really easily. Funnily enough, I fight Goblins here for the first time. They were gone for a long time, and reappeared as, instead of beginner monsters, some of the toughest creatures in the whole world.
They are also weak to Ice, which makes them really easy targets for Fran.
On my way, I fight Rafflesia, a plant that summons smaller plants and does status effect nonsense. Similarly annoying as that boss from FF V.
Soon, after a bad puzzle and the need to summon Belias, we are in Giruvegan. A pretty cool city, built atop of water. Unfortunately, that's just the outer part. Inside, the dungeon becomes really boring, but also dangerous, which is annoying. The monsters in there are pretty strong, but often also weak against an element.
It gets worse further inside, when we are inside the great crystal. The dungeons, while looking pretty cool, are really bad designed in this game. Everything looks the same, and here, they even took away the minimap, which makes everything even samier. A shame, because the place looks kinda cool (no comparison to the beautiful stuff in IX, though), but god, I had to use a guide to make my way through this. That it's a bit of a teleporter maze didn't help either.
After a third boss (there were two here, before this one) Ashe gets to talk to the Occuria. Only she, as they have chosen her. Essentially, the Occuria are creatures who seem to think of themselves as gods, I guess? I mean, they think they have the right to steer History. They did so, when they gave Raithwall the stones, and they plan to forge a new pact with Ashe. The problem is, that one of them, Venat (that ghost thing, that saved Cid), went rouge, and tought Cid how to replicate Nethizite, giving humans powers that only the Occuria should have.
The Occuria chose Ashe, to hold judgement over the humans. Huh.
She gets a new sword, to forge a new pact. With this sword, she can cut a piece from the Sun Crest (It sounded sorta like "Crest", but not quite? Don't know), to use as a new magical stone. After the Occuria let her go, Balthier suggests that the sword could also be used to destroy the Sun Crest, so that no magic stones will be used again, ever.
Unlike what it had seemed, Cid will not appear. Balthier realizes. He assumes, Cid is just a crazy scientist, who wants to see what will happen, if two Nethizites meet each other. I got a bit flashbacks to Hojo, or that crazy scientist from FF IV. Similar vibe. Maybe even from Cid of FF VI, who also dabbled with things he shouldn't have, even though his conscience caught up with him, eventually.
Anyway, next up is Pharos, and then the last battle. Yay. So, after talking about the Occuria and History a bit more, I'm done for now again.
So, as I understand it, since the time of Raithwall, History in Ivalice has been kinda stagnant. I might be wrong, but I have the impression that he left a stable realm. Yeah, you had your wars and stuff, but on the whole I assume it was a stable time. Maybe because of subtle interventions of the Occuria? I'm not sure, if they ever do anything, aside from chosing a champion for their cause.
Essentially, they control the course of History of Ivalice to a degree. They put i in a kind of stasis, and I just now realize, that this is a reinterpretation of what happened in X.
I wonder, how was Raithwall really? He was THE powerful king of the past, so what was remembered about him is making him look well. He brought peace to the realm. He stabilized it. He was chosen by the gods.
Well, we know now that these gods aren't gods. They are very powerful, but in the end, they are just other, advanced creatures. And they basically gave Raithwall nothing but a super powerful weapon. What did he do with it? Was he brutal, when he put the countries under his thumb? Or was he kind, working with diplomacy? Considering how the Occuria want Ashe to be a judge, and how the power they give seems to be mainly used in destructive ways, I assume he, too, was a judge, slaying his enemies. And, yes, left a peace. But if everyone is dead, that's also peace. I assume that Raithwall is not the great king the game has him portrayed as, for such a long time. Can't help but think of Augustus, first Emperor of Rome. Creating a new time of stability, but only after a giant civil war, that cost many, many people their lives.
I wonder how Ivalice looked before. Did it consist of a bunch of small states? Is that the reason, why there are ruins EVERYWHERE? In that case, maybe this is a reference to Nobunaga? Who made Japan into one realm (or at least started the process). My knowledge about Japanese History is spotty at best, and I'm making assumptions here, so don't take me too seriously.
Point is, that the Occuria aren't the good guys. But they seem to be the ones that Cid and Vayne are fighting against, with the other victims of theirs just being a side-effect. Cids clear goal is, to free Humes (and I guess the other races, maybe?) to choose their own destiny. Which is generally a goal I can get behind. I can only think of Babylon 5, where we have a similar theme. In such a case, I think I will always fall on the side of "People have a right to forge their own path".
I find that interesting, how this game, when it comes to story and theme, has a strong connection to FF X.
Anyway, that's it for now. I already did all the mobs that seemed doable, so I will climb the Pharos next time. Wish me luck.