I'm playing through all of Final Fantasy, and everyone is invited (Playing Lightning Returns now)

[Peklo]

Disc 2's done. All the screens I've shared so far aren't actually from this playthrough (which is on a Vita) but one I quit on about four years ago, and it ended in the middle of this disc. Just a disclaimer that if I include any visual material from here on it won't be my own captures.

• some kind of comedown is apt and necessary after the high drama and adrenaline of the prior disc's climax, and VIII is eager to provide with the adorable Winhill segment establishing the increasingly focal relationship and circumstances around Laguna, Ellone and Raine. That preamble's passing has the game enter into a relative slump, with a succession of industrial complexes to navigate and character development taking a backseat to just moving the players where they need to be for plot to happen--at its best VIII can interweave these things together compellingly but in the prison, missile base and to a lesser extent the return to Balamb Garden the balance between monotonous environmental traversal and actually compelling interactions and intermissions during said exploration wears thin and highlights the game's weaknesses more than it's comfortable bearing. It strikes me as another byproduct of the game's shifted design priorities: the game remains captivating so long as the focus is on interpersonal interactions, and in a vacuum the environments are often beautiful to behold, but "dungeon design" as it's been traditionally understood by the genre and prior series is already in the process of breaking down here. If there are enough adventure game-adjacent oddities and curious interactions within those spaces, or if they're mixed with talking to people as you go along, then the game has a chance to make the most of its strong suits, but you cannot make VIII into something it's not and treating it by the previous standards of straightforward dungeon-crawling only dilutes its unique strengths, as the layouts's simplicity and total abolishment of traditional treasure point to a game that expects a completely different means of interacting with it with the tools it provides.

• it's good then that the rest of the disc makes up for the beginning hours with it, and how. Beyond the factual event log of what happens and where, the star of the show continues to be Squall and his evolving psychology and our window into his thoughts. Everything that occurs is worthy of analyzing, second-guessing, doubting, and mulling over to him and the story that's told is as much about the short of it as it's about the interiority that governs Squall's actions throughout. Unlike a Cloud, whose psychology was artifice and withheld as subterfuge to base those later revelations on, Squall is a character who's intensely aware of his own shortcomings, complexes and anxieties, and is out of his depth at every turn in living with them with acceptance. The trauma he has to navigate isn't an externally imposed blockage as far as his arc is concerned but something he has to work at for a long time, many small steps at a time, with his support system watching over him as he does. The gradual process is reflected in his attitude toward his teammates and friends where he starts making a visible effort to relate to them openly so he can be understood instead of presumed and pigeonholed as a social caricature. They're actions that leave him vulnerable in a way he doesn't like but still he goes on with it, all the while we as the audience are privy to his private panic attacks and borderline breakdowns that inform his need for change, as he can't go living like he has been. It's a wonderfully complex character that can inhabit something this emotionally true whilst also satisfying all the requirements of the genre as protagonist, and it's in that friction that Squall's worth is most keenly felt as despite appearances there really aren't very many leading figures like him around.

• the concert held by Squall's friends is on its own a funny and sweet palate-cleanser after a long stretch of crisis management and separation. Its unexpected greatest contribution to the game comes in the form of Irvine's misadventures in the middle of the rehearsal, where the seeming premise is just walking up to the character playing the instrument and giving them the go-ahead when finding the right tune for the occasion; little more than an integrated and contextualized menu selection process. The reality of the situation is that in that blink between the pages or mere paragraphs and sentences, the player as Irvine can just leave the stage, and explore the entirety of Fishermans Horizon and Balamb Garden from his perspective, for the one and only time in the game this is possible. Nothing points to the possibility of it, but the work's been put in, with unique interactions, dialogue and exclusive scenes of already-hidden sidequests available at this juncture only; some of these interactions have follow-up later on if undertaken in this moment. It's completely ludicrous and so special for how much the game is willing to do in service of something that only a fraction of players will ever discover and then not even hint that the material exists, with this not being the only scenario that approach applies to. It's the most direct waypoint to the heart of what makes a game like VIII tick as an experiential process, with it being absolutely lousy with these kinds of obscurities pretty much all of the time, but always requiring the player's own curiosity to take the lead in encountering any of them. It's a sensibility that will leave people accusing the game of being guidebait from the outset, but it also has an effect of having these interactions read as more naturalistic than others in the medium, as nothing is tracked, delineated or logged into journals or to-do lists as explicit "quests"--you simply explore the world and discover what it may hold, the vagueness of the possibilities in it simultaneously befuddling and exhilarating the mind. The context of what VIII considers a worthwhile diversion to include also rarely involve significant material rewards, and instead emphasize narrative and dialogue as the ends rather than the means, further honing the game's practice at communicating its own priorities.

• as a more or less lifelong (if regularly lapsed) X-Men reader, my filter on a lot of media involves almost instinctual comparative perspectives with it just because of where personal preferences and reference pools fall. In that milieu, my affinity for that material interacts and intermingles with what I think of VIII, the lens for both sharing much in closer scrutiny. These parallels are in ways generalized and specific at the same time, but they have informed my understanding and valuing of both works in what they share between one another and what they're particularly good at thematically, so let's go over some relevant key points:

• both feature a paramilitary boarding school which is in the business of taking in and taking advantage of vulnerable children and teenagers and indoctrinating them into a violent and conflict-driven lifestyle in pursuit of a vague goal or ideal as defined by a secretive and dishonest patriarchal figure at its head whose nominal idealism shields them from any real accountability in sacrificing their charges to fulfilling those goals at the cost of their physical and mental wellbeing.
• both star an orphanage-raised, emotionally repressed and withdrawn protagonist at the center of a peer group who look up to them for guidance and leadership and depict the pressure and codependence that forms in that dynamic of having no handle on one's personal life and being organizationally needed and valued. Said lead forms a romantic connection in a meet-cute with another character and the development of the pair's romance is habitually described by the audience as less interesting, nuanced and fraught than it actually is in the telling.
• both involve time travel and mental possession as central narrative concepts, in ways that have people shake their heads in disbelief at the seeming convolution of it all, and for those invested in the machinations these aspects are not only welcome but integral to the emotional core of much of the storytelling explored throughout.
• both increasingly focally turn toward an exploration of women wielding power, the social and systemic demonization of said power, and the abuse of said power by others--including other women perpetuating the same offenses they're subject to.
• both are themed around found family and finding your peer group among the freaks and outcasts that get you on a level those not cannot.

And so on. It's ultimately just a way for me to say that both media works contain thematic material that's of interest to me and do well by it in their different but compatible treatments of it, and that this overlap may help to explicate what kind of preferences would draw one to either one of them and make appreciate each even more for the wavelength they share.​

​

• something VII only got halfway across was its interest in shifting the perspective away from Cloud, as that's about the ratio of how many party members were controllable during the course of the game. VIII is highly invested and devoted to Squall's point of view, but narratively it's also flexible and dedicated to broadening that scope via his five compatriots with all of them having the spotlight at one time or another, often recurringly as needed. It's part of the game's design language as the directed setpieces shift between locales and participants, and so encourage full use of the junction swap feature to maintain momentum, leaving it an accessible and frequent occurrence of involving the full roster in the game's doings. The compactness of just six characters in the main cast allows for all to be developed to satisfaction in the time afforded to them, whilst also emphasizing their mutual bonds and intimacy as a group--ragtag groups of willful individuals are the genre norm or stereotype, but the six in VIII are friends and family first, with or without their mostly mutual backgrounds. It's the dynamic of their interactions with one another, the friction that arises when one of them sees herself as an outsider to that paradigm, and the unity that congeals and reaffirms when she's invited in and included regardless. I like a lot of Final Fantasy casts, but the shared circumstances and commiserating camaraderie that VIII's cast embody as a unit push them as among the very best examples of what that expression can mean.

 

[FelixSH]

Thanks for the write-up, Peklo. If you don't mind sharing, how many hours are on your save file now? I know, this number doesn't mean anything, I'm just curiouss.

• it's good then that the rest of the disc makes up for the beginning hours with it, and how. Beyond the factual event log of what happens and where, the star of the show continues to be Squall and his evolving psychology and our window into his thoughts. Everything that occurs is worthy of analyzing, second-guessing, doubting, and mulling over to him and the story that's told is as much about the short of it as it's about the interiority that governs Squall's actions throughout. Unlike a Cloud, whose psychology was artifice and withheld as subterfuge to base those later revelations on, Squall is a character who's intensely aware of his own shortcomings, complexes and anxieties, and is out of his depth at every turn in living with them with acceptance. The trauma he has to navigate isn't an externally imposed blockage as far as his arc is concerned but something he has to work at for a long time, many small steps at a time, with his support system watching over him as he does. The gradual process is reflected in his attitude toward his teammates and friends where he starts making a visible effort to relate to them openly so he can be understood instead of presumed and pigeonholed as a social caricature. They're actions that leave him vulnerable in a way he doesn't like but still he goes on with it, all the while we as the audience are privy to his private panic attacks and borderline breakdowns that inform his need for change, as he can't go living like he has been. It's a wonderfully complex character that can inhabit something this emotionally true whilst also satisfying all the requirements of the genre as protagonist, and it's in that friction that Squall's worth is most keenly felt as despite appearances there really aren't very many leading figures like him around.

Squall is really a very well done character, absolutely agreed. His personal journey, and the small steps he takes, are beautiful and detailed, it's a joy to spend time in his head.

The comparison with Cloud is interesting (and unavoidable, considering how many people argued over the years, that they are both just sadsacks, or whatever, which isn't true of either, but in different ways). While they are different enough, both deal with depression, but the way Cloud does it seems like a bit of a dry run for the bigger competence shown with the handling of Squall. Clouds psychological problems have basically been insterted from outside. It's like the literally gave him depression, instead of it being developed inside his head. With Squall, everthing rings very true, and every bit of his way is earned.

• the concert held by Squall's friends is on its own a funny and sweet palate-cleanser after a long stretch of crisis management and separation. Its unexpected greatest contribution to the game comes in the form of Irvine's misadventures in the middle of the rehearsal, where the seeming premise is just walking up to the character playing the instrument and giving them the go-ahead when finding the right tune for the occasion; little more than an integrated and contextualized menu selection process. The reality of the situation is that in that blink between the pages or mere paragraphs and sentences, the player as Irvine can just leave the stage, and explore the entirety of Fishermans Horizon and Balamb Garden from his perspective, for the one and only time in the game this is possible. Nothing points to the possibility of it, but the work's been put in, with unique interactions, dialogue and exclusive scenes of already-hidden sidequests available at this juncture only; some of these interactions have follow-up later on if undertaken in this moment. It's completely ludicrous and so special for how much the game is willing to do in service of something that only a fraction of players will ever discover and then not even hint that the material exists, with this not being the only scenario that approach applies to. It's the most direct waypoint to the heart of what makes a game like VIII tick as an experiential process, with it being absolutely lousy with these kinds of obscurities pretty much all of the time, but always requiring the player's own curiosity to take the lead in encountering any of them. It's a sensibility that will leave people accusing the game of being guidebait from the outset, but it also has an effect of having these interactions read as more naturalistic than others in the medium, as nothing is tracked, delineated or logged into journals or to-do lists as explicit "quests"--you simply explore the world and discover what it may hold, the vagueness of the possibilities in it simultaneously befuddling and exhilarating the mind. The context of what VIII considers a worthwhile diversion to include also rarely involve significant material rewards, and instead emphasize narrative and dialogue as the ends rather than the means, further honing the game's practice at communicating its own priorities.

I always want to explore, and take in these worlds, and then I miss all kinds of stuff. Which is very easy, with the absurd amount of extra details the world and characters have to offer. I don't think I would have ever found out about the ability to move around with Irvine at this part.

The concert ist absolutely great, but more on that in my own post.

I like a lot of Final Fantasy casts, but the shared circumstances and commiserating camaraderie that VIII's cast embody as a unit push them as among the very best examples of what that expression can mean.

I feel like we haven't gotten something like this since V, which is the closest to VIII in more than one regard. To me, this is just a group of teenaged friends, school friends, who enjoy to spend their time together, and love and enjoy each others company, no questions asked. IV and VII had people as colleagues, I think, more than friends. Sure, they got closer, but I don't think they ever had that strong, emotional bond, that would give them the chance to make fun of each other in a way that friends do. Well, I'm thinking of VII here. Criticizing IV feels unfair, too early, I find, and they did other stuff.

With VI, you have more of a big family, where everyone is part of it, but you might not know everyone equally well, and might not even really get on with some people. But you stayed together, and have a bond, everyone is an important part of the group.

The camraderie of VIII, the way Quistis clearly loves everyone, but also never quite stops making fun, or even harshly criticizes her friends, or how everyone support Squall, no matter what, it's all really lovely. It's a great collection of characters, I like it a lot.

 

[Peklo]

If you don't mind sharing, how many hours are on your save file now? I know, this number doesn't mean anything, I'm just curiouss.

It's around 66 hours now. I've taken every opportunity to explore, backtrack, sidequest, play cards and generally dawdle, so it adds up. I don't claim to be an expert on the game but I know some sections of it pretty well, and I'm still finding that I'm discovering new things about it. A lot of comments and interactions need a specific character to be present for them to happen at all, and in that solo Irvine segment which I was previously familiar with, I didn't remember going into Squall's dorm room and finding him curled up in his bed. It feels very out-of-body to try and talk to Squall as another character going by the precedent set by the rest of the game, so it leaves an impression. Wonderful stuff everywhere you turn.

 

[FelixSH]

Well, time for my own write-up. Has been a bit of time, and I have gotten a long way since then. So, where did I stop...oh, at the moment, where Cid announces that we would attack the sorceress, and that Squall will be the leader, no matter what he may think about it. Thanks, Cid, you're quite a treasure.

As you would expect, Squall is overwhelmed by this news, and the responsibility he now has. He wonders, how Cid can even give such an order, to let people kill his wife.

The others are starting to set up a concert, partly just to congratulate Squall to his new title. You know, I really love how everyone is behind Squall, and can see that, behind his matter-of-fact wall, there is a strong, young man you can trust. Who will do whatever it takes, and who has your back. Who tries his best. We will see this later, at the big fight against Galbadia Garden, where EVERYONE, the whole school, is behind Squall, and tells him so.

Trying out the different instruments, and looking at the characters, how they played them, was a lot of fun. I still remember, that I made Quistis do Tap, during one of my first two playthroughs, and I do so again. I mean, it seems during the concert that this was NOT the "right" choice, she was the only one who played something different, but I still love her do it. Seems fitting. Also, I'm really bad at music and have awful hearing.

So, I made Zell play the flute, which I find awfully adorable on him, Selphie got the Guitar and Irvine did the Violin, which looks cool on everyone. And, because we did something awesome, the victory fanfare plays. I remember not liking this part, the other two times, where I mainly wanted to carry on with the story. But this time, I enjoyed my time with this group of friends, having fun (I hope) with doing some music.

The setup for Squall to join them is pretty goofy, with Quistis and Zell just standing outside his room, at night, when he gets out, and them running away. Smooth, guys. Rinoa even dressed up (I'm sure she sees this as a sort-of date, at least), and promises Squall to bug him, until he accepts to come.

Irvine does follow up the nonsense from before, and wants to make his move on Selphie. Except that Squall doesn't give him the time, hehe.

While I wondered, why the mayor gave us free use of his little island in the middle of the giant dish, I did really enjoy this setting. It felt so much like a party during a summer night, the music was fun, and you can even change the view to a different direction. I love the mood we get here.

Rinoa and Squall go a bit to the side, and talk. Well, she talks, about how will try to carry all his weight alone, again. And, similar to Quistis, Rinoa makes fun of Squalls ways of locking others out, in this case by imitating him, how he puts his hand on his forehead. Which creates a funny, angry reaction from Squall. It's nice, to get a genuine reaction out of him. And then, she pushes him onto the glass-dish thing.

Rinoa starts again, telling him to trust his friends, to let them help him. But he goes into his own head, again, at least understanding how scared he is. Which is big. At the beginning, he would have never seen this. Now, he is at least honest with himself, a big step forward. Still, he is REALLY scared, of being left alone, once more.

Dunno, I want to write something deep here, but all I can say is, that we all know this. Losing people, their presence in our lives, can be really hard.

I do love her other angle to the whole situatione. This might be the only time, where they are together like this. So they might as well enjoy it, and each other, while it lasts.

At this point, it hit me, that specifically this scene is just a bunch of teenagers having fun, doing some music, talking, enjoying each others company, and just feeling their live. It's a beautiful scene, maybe my favourite in this game, up to now. It just feels so slice-of-life, so detached from big plots about waring countries and sorceresses. We just have a bunch of kids, who like this one introverted dork, and want nothing more than to have fun with him.

Rinoa is right. Nights, situations like this are very rare. And Squall should take advantage of them, even if it might be the last.

They talk about their dreams, mirroring the talk that HER MOTHER AND HIS FATHER had in that hotel room, decades ago, only that Squall and Rinoa don't know yet.

Stuff is repeating in this game. This isn't the only thing. As we go on, it becomes clear how this is just another hunt for Ellone, similar to the one in Lagunas time. Again, we have a country that is an aggressive invader, starting a horrible war.

What is the theme? That everything happens in cycles, not completely unlike Xenogears? And that you can break out of them? Just some stray thoughts.

Next, I think we get the first scene of Squall as the small, lonely boy, who waited for his sis. Was it? Don't remember anymore, probably not, considering Ellone is already gone.

I looked at the Intranet again, and Selphie made a page for the "hunk" Laguna. Hehe, cute. In her diary (Selphie would have been all over Facebook, wouldn't she?), she writes about how she and the other two survived the exploding missile base, by hiding in the robot they defeated before. And she argues, that, when they met Squall, they just wanted out, so she pressed random buttons. Which made the robot attack Squall, and create the boss fight.

My favourite part? Knowing Selphie, I'm not even sure I trust her here. She probably enjoyed attacking Squall with that thing.

Oh, and here, we already have messages on the Garden Square, of students rooting for Squall. Really love this.

On the bridge, we meet Quistis, Xu and Nida. Remember Nida? He became SeeD, together with Squall, Selphie and Zell. Really cool, that he became an important side character, who will now maneuver the Garden. Thankfully, Quistis and Xu are competent, and already started with the administrative stuff, Squall just has to give his orders. Man, I wished Xu had a mini-arc or something, I really enjoy thes side characters, who use their head and are just competent.

We don't have a clear goal, but Xu suggests to see how Balamb is doing. Nida pronounces that we are starting, and says that Squall will now give a speech as the leader. We see Rinoa in the library, laughing, when Squall tells him clearly, for EVERYONE to hear, that he will not give a speech. I'm sure the whole Garden had a very hearty laugh at this. This game has a delightful sense of humor.

We can take everyone into the team, except Selphie, who is still exhausted from her role as team leader. No wonder. Nice of the game, to remember this, and give her a break.

So, we basically have a better ship now, and can, instead of going back to Balamb, do some sidequests. As mentioned before, the world is pretty empty, but we can do a bunch of stuff.

First, I use this chance to do the Card Club Sidequest. Yeah, I used a guide to find everyone. I always loved, how Quistis is the King, and visits you randomly at night, full dressed up in her uniform. It's just such a delightful side of her. I mean, that she and Xu are the best card players of the school is no surprise, but I love how serious she takes it, while having so much overdramatic fun, by coming at the weirdest time in her most serious outfit. Showing us another side of Quistis. Very nice.

I first tried to visit Trabia, but without Selphie, that's not possible. So, next stop, Shumi Village. Where Squall seems to be recognized as Laguna son, and therefore being welcomed.

I like Shumi Village, and that NORG got some sort of backstory through this place. That he is also a weirdo for his own people, and went the wrong way. The village itself is beautiful, and I really enjoyed the sidequest, about finding different stones, about the gift for doing it is seeing the Elders hand, how Squall knew, that this wasn't really the present and how the Elder knew that Squall knew.

Just, I really like how the Elder simply welcomes us here, and wants us to have a good time. Again, the game talks very much to the player itself. Don't just do the main quest. Explore this world. Take a breath, and do something different, instead of killing stuff. Enjoy the time in this peaceful village, and do some art. It's lovely.

Oh, and the statue is one of Laguna. He was found by a Moomba, and brought inside, to heal, after falling off a cliff, again. The Elder thinks, Laguna had something special about his, the power to attract people. They don't understand it, so they did what they do to understand something better: Make art about it.

I probably don't need to tell anyone here, that art is amazing, and doing art lets you learn new things, and see stuff in new way. That whole village is great.

Also, we learn that Moombas are one of the final forms of the Shumis. Sculptor can't believe it, when Zell calls them beasts.

You know, do the Shumi know about the outside world? Not much, I'd guess. They probably don't know, that Moombas tend to be enslaved by the leading, imperialist nation, and treated like sub-humans. I mean, Moombas don't have a good time, outside of here.

BTW, I love how Squall is always like "Why me?", like with the sidequests for the stones. And then, he still does it. He puts up this silly front of "I'm too cool for this", and then does it anyway, because he finds it fun. Just can't TELL anyone, that he finds it fun, is all.

And, while Squall and friends are outside the Elders hut, his assistant doesn't get the present, and that the idea of the Elder, to give us a moment of peace, is a poor excuse. Which makes it obvious to the Elder, that his assistant still has a lot to learn. He makes him hellp sculptor with the statue, with no sleep or break, until it is finished. That is a crazy, brutal punishment.

Before going, I check out the Chocobo Forest nearby, which is the beginner area. And, uh, I'm really bad at this game, but think that the game is to blame, for being so awfully strict. It's like a bad proto-version of Hot and Cold from the next game, which is way, way more fun. Also, you only get to ride the bird around a piece of rock with nothing on it, so, yeah, mainly useless. I mean, I love Chocobos, but I'm not going to do the other forests.

While having Enc-None on in the desert, I get into a "fight". A UFO is floating away with a very small pyramid. No attack, just very strange. Feels fitting, for this game.

And then, I find this weird structure, where Odin resides. I generally don't use Enc-None, except for a handful of cases, but this is certainly one. Need no random encounters, with a time limit. Which makes the whole dungeon, and the boss, really easy. I think I had ten minutes for Odin?

After that, I tortured myself with getting the Tonberry GF. First, and hopefully only time, where I abused Limit Breaks. Wasn't motivated to waste all my Ultima charges on these jerks.

I also visit Dollet, and play cards against some guy, who claims to have only lost once. Well, he lost against me too,and gives me some lame cards. I also took the time to look up the lunacy that is the Queen of Cards Quest. Yeah, maybe on Disc 4, or something, it's nonsense. Maybe I get lucky, and she will abolish the stupid Random rule, somewhere.

Didn't find much of interest in Timber or Winhill, though.

----------------------------------------------

Next, I actually advance the plot, and go back to Balamb. But that's a writeup for another day. I swear, I want to summarize more, but I'm just really bad at not talking way too much.

 

[MetManMas]

the concert held by Squall's friends is on its own a funny and sweet palate-cleanser after a long stretch of crisis management and separation. Its unexpected greatest contribution to the game comes in the form of Irvine's misadventures in the middle of the rehearsal, where the seeming premise is just walking up to the character playing the instrument and giving them the go-ahead when finding the right tune for the occasion; little more than an integrated and contextualized menu selection process. The reality of the situation is that in that blink between the pages or mere paragraphs and sentences, the player as Irvine can just leave the stage, and explore the entirety of Fishermans Horizon and Balamb Garden from his perspective, for the one and only time in the game this is possible. Nothing points to the possibility of it, but the work's been put in, with unique interactions, dialogue and exclusive scenes of already-hidden sidequests available at this juncture only; some of these interactions have follow-up later on if undertaken in this moment. It's completely ludicrous and so special for how much the game is willing to do in service of something that only a fraction of players will ever discover and then not even hint that the material exists, with this not being the only scenario that approach applies to. It's the most direct waypoint to the heart of what makes a game like VIII tick as an experiential process, with it being absolutely lousy with these kinds of obscurities pretty much all of the time, but always requiring the player's own curiosity to take the lead in encountering any of them. It's a sensibility that will leave people accusing the game of being guidebait from the outset, but it also has an effect of having these interactions read as more naturalistic than others in the medium, as nothing is tracked, delineated or logged into journals or to-do lists as explicit "quests"--you simply explore the world and discover what it may hold, the vagueness of the possibilities in it simultaneously befuddling and exhilarating the mind. The context of what VIII considers a worthwhile diversion to include also rarely involve significant material rewards, and instead emphasize narrative and dialogue as the ends rather than the means, further honing the game's practice at communicating its own priorities.

In one of my plays of the game I eventually tried wandering off the rails in this bit with Irvine, and was amazed when the game not only allowed me to go explore the horizon and garden with a solo Irvine but even had new dialogue and content accounting for this solo venture. A lesser game would've either thrown up a broken bridge of some sort very early or had a "You can't GO PLACE" type dialogue pop up if Irvine tried to leave the band area but the game actually has stuff to see if Irvine did this.

Similarly, I was impressed when I tried going back the other way on the line in Final Fantasy X and found that Besaid was pretty regularly updated with new dialogue. Like, there's no reason to go all the way back on the line, but you can for a while and people even have new dialogue after certain events.

 

[gorha]

The reality of the situation is that in that blink between the pages or mere paragraphs and sentences, the player as Irvine can just leave the stage, and explore the entirety of Fishermans Horizon and Balamb Garden from his perspective, for the one and only time in the game this is possible. Nothing points to the possibility of it, but the work's been put in, with unique interactions, dialogue and exclusive scenes of already-hidden sidequests available at this juncture only; some of these interactions have follow-up later on if undertaken in this moment.

I had no idea you could go exploring as Irvine. That's amazing. What a game.

 

[Peklo]

Trying out the different instruments, and looking at the characters, how they played them, was a lot of fun. I still remember, that I made Quistis do Tap, during one of my first two playthroughs, and I do so again. I mean, it seems during the concert that this was NOT the "right" choice, she was the only one who played something different, but I still love her do it. Seems fitting. Also, I'm really bad at music and have awful hearing.

Like they go over just before, Selphie has two complete music sheets all mixed up together, so half of the eight scores comprise a composition each--your options are either a slow dance (an "Eyes on Me" arrangement) or an Irish jig, where the tap-dancing fits, though you can mix and match for discordant cacophony as needed, too. It wouldn't be a Squaresoft game from the '90s if it didn't have a touch of Irish folk music in it.

I looked at the Intranet again, and Selphie made a page for the "hunk" Laguna. Hehe, cute.

Selphie's Laguna fan page is amazing for both it existing, its content, and how it's contextualized in the game. The old Timber Maniacs issues you find throughout the game and the world add a new post to the section, each corresponding to the locale you find them in--they contain articles that Laguna wrote as his travelogues to fund his journeys, so many of them are found in travel hotspots like hotel rooms (a service that otherwise in a game like VIII has little RPG mechanics-related use). She's finding mirrors into her visions of him by poring through these back issues and blogging about them in turn, decades later. It rules.

First, I use this chance to do the Card Club Sidequest. Yeah, I used a guide to find everyone. I always loved, how Quistis is the King, and visits you randomly at night, full dressed up in her uniform. It's just such a delightful side of her. I mean, that she and Xu are the best card players of the school is no surprise, but I love how serious she takes it, while having so much overdramatic fun, by coming at the weirdest time in her most serious outfit. Showing us another side of Quistis. Very nice.

I love the hokey tone of the entire thing, with a secret underground battle league centered around a trivial past-time everyone involved in it takes extremely seriously being treated with maximum gravitas throughout the process. Quistis being card master is not only funny on its own and an appreciated nod to these characters having private lives and interests outside of the player's immediate context, but you get another notch to her described personal chronology where she became CC Group King at age 14, before making SeeD at 15 and then instructor at 17. Maybe her aptitude at cards played a part in her academic success, who knows.

Before going, I check out the Chocobo Forest nearby, which is the beginner area. And, uh, I'm really bad at this game, but think that the game is to blame, for being so awfully strict. It's like a bad proto-version of Hot and Cold from the next game, which is way, way more fun. Also, you only get to ride the bird around a piece of rock with nothing on it, so, yeah, mainly useless. I mean, I love Chocobos, but I'm not going to do the other forests.

There's a rare card in it, which can further be used to spawn another one through the Queen of Cards, but yeah. Even if you had a PocketStation available to you, Chocobos in VIII don't play a major role in terms of narrative, iconography or mechanical function--I'd say they're this de-emphasized only in VI. It plays a part in impressing on the player that for better or for worse, VIII's world is a modern one, and not all traditions will survive it.

I also visit Dollet, and play cards against some guy, who claims to have only lost once. Well, he lost against me too,and gives me some lame cards. I also took the time to look up the lunacy that is the Queen of Cards Quest. Yeah, maybe on Disc 4, or something, it's nonsense. Maybe I get lucky, and she will abolish the stupid Random rule, somewhere.

Part of the reason why my playtime is so inflated is that, fool that I am, I have engaged in Triple Triad rule manipulation throughout the game. The processes undertaken for specific abolishments and spreads are arcane to the extreme and would never become legible in regular play, so interacting with them in a behind-the-curtain sense is just being awestruck at the density of how it all interacts and how it can be gamed to the player's advantage through tenacity, experimentation, and ample outside documentation. It's far more daunting than any combat encounter the game could ever offer up.

Didn't find much of interest in Timber or Winhill, though.

Winhill has a lowkey haunting mystery to solve, through which Squall has a few opportunities to catch a glimpse of what appears to be Raine's ghost. Aerith's apparition showed up in the later stages of VII, also optionally, but Cloud knew well who she was--Squall knows Raine from his visions, but that's all he knows at this point. It's a nice moment, especially for a location in the game that exists but will never be involved in anything major or minor in its general happenings.

 

[FelixSH]

I love the hokey tone of the entire thing, with a secret underground battle league centered around a trivial past-time everyone involved in it takes extremely seriously being treated with maximum gravitas throughout the process. Quistis being card master is not only funny on its own and an appreciated nod to these characters having private lives and interests outside of the player's immediate context, but you get another notch to her described personal chronology where she became CC Group King at age 14, before making SeeD at 15 and then instructor at 17. Maybe her aptitude at cards played a part in her academic success, who knows.

Considering how much respect I lost for Cid over this playthrough, I wouldn't put it past him, as a decent Triple Triad player. "Hmm, she is really good at my favourite game. Someone with such skills is competent in other areas, too, for sure." Dunno, Cid might be a decent person in some ways, but he is also not a good leader. There is probably a reason, why he pushed Squall into that position, as things got messy.

There's a rare card in it, which can further be used to spawn another one through the Queen of Cards, but yeah. Even if you had a PocketStation available to you, Chocobos in VIII don't play a major role in terms of narrative, iconography or mechanical function--I'd say they're this de-emphasized only in VI. It plays a part in impressing on the player that for better or for worse, VIII's world is a modern one, and not all traditions will survive it.

The world is a way darker one, than it appears at first. It might as well be as grim, as the world of VI or VII, but isn't, and I think it's really due to a certain amount of realism in VIII. People carry on. Yes, there was a horrible war, with another one starting, but people carry on with their lives and find joy in small ways, to ignore the bad things that happened.

But if you pay a bit of attention, you find out all kinds of horrible stuff. There are a ton of orphans, because the recent war was so horrible and bloody. Children get kidnapped, and powerful beings create fashist regimes. From time to time, the world is swarmed by horrifying monsters from the moon. Creatures that once lived fine lives change to Moombas and maybe leave their sanctuary, just to be enslaved. You could easily build a world out of that, where everyone is constantly scared, that is focused on showing us graveyards and ruins of former cities. Interesting, how much you can play with the tone of a world.

To get to my point, I feel like having this idea in the background, of these birds who might soon go extinct, because they have nearly no space to live anymore, feels fitting. And no one seems to know about that either, or doesn't care. The world is pretty barren, there aren't too many cities on there. Maybe Esthar swallowed all other cities up, and cleaned up the ruins. Maybe Timber housed a lot of Chocobos, back when there were the dense forests. This is more headcanon than anything, I guess, but it also really seems to be an interpretation, that works.

In any case, I'm very much looking forward to IX, and playing with my Chocobo. At least, we get a nod to V, with the Chocobo being called Boko.

Part of the reason why my playtime is so inflated is that, fool that I am, I have engaged in Triple Triad rule manipulation throughout the game. The processes undertaken for specific abolishments and spreads are arcane to the extreme and would never become legible in regular play, so interacting with them in a behind-the-curtain sense is just being awestruck at the density of how it all interacts and how it can be gamed to the player's advantage through tenacity, experimentation, and ample outside documentation. It's far more daunting than any combat encounter the game could ever offer up.

I plan to do this later on, maybe when I can actually fly around, instead of the slow float. My second playthrough was one, where I tried to get everything, and part of that was abolishing horrible rules, especially Random. While getting through the game, and then never doing all the side-quest stuff, I did at some point, when I could fly, do that, to prepare for later. It's pretty mind-numbing, having to load and reload all the time, but I do like that it is possible to game the system, and make the game better for me, uh, everyone.

 

[FelixSH]

When getting near Balamb, you find ANOTHER floating Garden there, the one from Galbadia. It makes sense, I guess, that both are built on whatever it is that gives them the ability to fly, considering that they were both built by NORG. At least I think, considering it's his other Garden.

That said, what IS down there? Did NORG have the knowledge of building the ability to fly into the Garden? No, Cid mentioned something about this being something else, at another point. So, were the Gardens built on the ruins of another advanced city? One that got destroyed in an earlier war? It's strange, I think you never get anymore info on that.

As we find out, Balamb City is occupied by Edeas forces, trying to find Ellone there. So, might be soon that it will be burned to the ground. To get in, and then get to the boss of the troops here, we have to do some light adventure game puzzling (or something like that), and find out where the captain is taking a nap, so we can get through him to the commander inside the hotel. Not too hard, I puzzled this one out on my own.

This game really does a lot of non-standard RPG stuff. It's similar to how VII had all these minigames, only here, they are way better implemented into the narrative. Trying to get to President Deling included a mini-game, but it made a lot of sense inside this world. Granted, finding Fujin is clearly busiwork, but it doesn't feel strange to the game that VIII is.

We can also do a small sidequest, and help a couple who lives here get inside the city, which is blocked off for everyone outside. Despite the sad daughter being trapped inside. It's a neat bit. And we can finally visit Zells room, as we need a place to sleep and save. I think I had Rinoa with me? Elsewise, it was Quistis. Anyway, we learn about Zells grandfather, and how much Zell admires him. Which is answered by Squall with "So the opposite of you." Adorable. Squall starts to have fun.

Anyway, we soon learn that the lazy captain, who is taking his regular nap, is Fujin, and he gets then literally thrown out of the hotel by the angry Raijin, for being lazy. He and Zell are happy to see each other again, because both are a bit slow, and don't get that they are enemies here. Or, maybe, because Fujin doesn't really care, and just fights us, because Seifer told him to. As does he and Raijin, right afterwards.

While it is kind of mean, I like how the game does little tricks to not realize that you should draw a GF from bosses. With NORG, you had to remember to draw from him, not the machine, which was only possible after some time. Here, you might not think about drawing from Raijin, because she is part of the second part of the fight.

Still, mean. GFs are important.

After the fight, we have a talk, and we learn that the their loyalty is clearly not with the sorceress. They are just really good friends of Seifer, and, it seems, would follow him to hell and back. Squall clearly draws the line here - he respects their decision, but also makes clear, that they are now officially enemies, and there will be no more holding back. I like that, that he still thought of them as comrades from both their Gardens.

And it is neat, that Seifer found a group of friends who are always there for him, no matter what. It mirrors our own party, people who are with Squall, despite him not being the easiest person to deal with, and never giving up. As always, they are clearly not that dissimilar. I guess, Seifers big difference is that he built his whole personality on the wish to be like a guy from a fairy tale movie, and found fulfillment there, which Squall never did.

Uh, it is interesting, how Seifer actually has a dream, has something he works for, and is basically a bit of a deconstruction of the classical hero, and gets down the wrong route for that. Which just seems to mean, that the deconstruction goes deeper than I thought. And the guy who just lived his live the best way he could, but drifted along, became the hero the world needs. It's NOT due to his friends - Seifer has his own. And both are clearly the leaders of their group.

Also, it's really funny, how Seifer built his everything onto a badly made movie with no budget, and especially wants to imitate the character that is played, by random chance, but still, by Squalls father.

Uh, I just realized that I don't know who Squalls mother is. Will this be revealed, when we meet Laguna? It's not Rinoas mum, so it is probably Raine? Wait, is Raine his mother? She did die a long time ago, after all.

To get back to the story, Rinoa feels sad to see them now as foes. As does Squall, except that, on the outside, he acts like it doesn't matter.

Next, Selphie is finally better, and wants to visit Trabia. Which, sure, why not. We have time. That there is often no time pressure in this game, just from a story standpoint, is really refreshing and nice. Also a nice, low-key moment for Squall here, as he realizes how badly Selphie wants to go there.

It's one of the grimmer sights in the game, with everything looking really destroyed. There is a graveyard, which brought me right back to VII, and, as mentioned before, is something the game could have more often, if it had been the intention. The graves even have details - on some, we see SeeD jackets, and there is a sharpshooter gun on another. It's a very sad sight, and the main reminder, that we ARE at war, and that people are dying here. Fittingly, we can draw the Zombie spell from one of the graves, which makes me just believe more into my idea, that these points have something to do with strong energy that is focused there, or something. Maybe not from the planet, but in general.

Everyone meets up at the basketball court (depressingly destroyed, with enough still standing to be recognisable). Squall soon goes back into his head, thinking over things, when Rinoa tells him that he has to tell them. Else, they won't know what he thinks. Which is a sign of growth for Rinoa. That she now has empathy enough, not to criticize Squall, but to simply explain to him, what the others need from him.

He wonders, why she doesn't want to fight now (which made him start to think too much, in the first place), while she did at the start, when she was still active as a resistance member.

Her answer is pretty interesting, as it isn't the usual "we just need to help the enemy, then everything will be good" that I would expect. She has very personal reasons, namely that she doesn't want anyone here not coming back. That she feels as part of the group, in general, but she also feels out of sync, when we start to fight. Not only does she not want anyone to die, but she simply, egoistically (which is fine), not lose her group.

Irvine seems to think that this is the time, where he should finally reveal the truth about Edea, and them. There is a pretty cool scene, where we basically move through their memories, as they are unlocked again. And everyone is surprised, to see Seifer there. We get everyones backstories, how they got into their Gardens. And that everyone, except Irvine, used GFs, and lost their memory.

I'm not too sure how I like the whole scene. I mean, as a scene, it is great, emotionally it works wonderfully. But it IS a big coincidence, that it's exactly this group, who was friends in the orphanage, who is now back together. And I do get how for most people, it works out fine (if I remember correctly, Irvine explicitely wanted to join us, and the others were already here, Cid could easily do some manipulation work here). Did Cid ask for Selphie, to be transfered to Balamb? I guess you can make it work.

Aside from that, the game DOES have a bit of theme of destiny, that stuff repeats itself, and about how things work out on stories - or, more precisely, that they should not (else, you get Seifer). And that you can change destiny (like we actually will do a bit, when finally in Space. Squall IS literally the chosen hero, raised by the guy who made him into the war machine he is. So, even if it is a bit hard to take, from a storytelling standpoint, thematically, it works pretty well.

My main gripe are the GFs, and the fact that they make people forget stuff. And I know, the game forshadows this a lot. But here, Squall ends this by arguing, that they can't stop using them. They need GFs. Which is true. But I think nothing will ever come of it. There will be no more memory loss, or any other problem, due to them continuing the way they did before.

It just seems pretty clear, that the whole memory loss thing was just there, so they could do this twist. I mean, it was necessary, so that they at least forgot who Edea actually was. But then, maybe it would have worked fine, if everyone knew from the get-go who they were fighting against? You could get a lot of emotional payoff out of this.

I really like the idea of these powerful beings, who make you into war gods, to have a problem attached to them. That their power is very costly. I just wished, the game would remember that. Just a bit in the sequence at the end of the game, maybe showing the members of the group years later, how they forgot about their adventures, and how they fought together. Or maybe it is there, I don't remember. But something would have been nice. The way it is, it seems like the writers wanted there to be this twist, and they couldn't come up with anything else.

Well, Irivne thought, conidering we would soon face her for real, we should know what we are actually getting into. Because Cid, who might be considered the one with the responsibility to tell us, didn't.

Irvine does give us a bit of character, here. He talks about, that he doesn't believe that life has choices all the time, as people say it does. He often only saw one choice. But even then, you can actively choose to embrase the choice, or to go there, kicking and screaming. Even that is a choice, and it's an important decision.

The world might only give you one choice. But you can decide on your own, how you respond to it.

And with that, we tell Rinoa that she is still welcome. And we make our way to the orphanage.

 

[Bongo]

I believe there is lore about the original construction of the Gardens. Please look forward to it.

 

[RT-55J]

From my understanding the buildings that would become the gardens were originally constructed as shelters, and (this is just my headcanon now) the purpose of their mobility was to avoid the recurring calamities this world experiences.

 

[gorha]

The memory loss plot twist serves to explain why SeeD is the only military organization using GFs, except it assumes a level of concern for the well-being of soldiers that Galbadia, at least, definitely didn't have under Deling, and probably still doesn't now that Edea and Seifer are in charge. I guess you could speculate that the concern is simply that they might start forgetting their training or even their current orders, but since that never seems to be an issue for SeeD, it still doesn't quite add up. But I dunno, maybe NORG's agents spread the idea outside of Balamb and made it sound worse than it is - the SeeDs in the group all remember the orphanage once Irvine reminds them of it, so it certainly could be worse - while downplaying it to the Garden students who actually have to suffer the consequences, or something like that.

The twist also allows the main characters to have a connection with Edea and each other without spending a long time establishing that connection at the beginning of the game, allowing that time to be spent on worldbuilding, which I think is for the best. Of course, it's also delivered in a really powerful scene and contributes tremendously to the game's theme of lost childhood innocence. I don't think the story would work nearly as well without it.

While I certainly didn't have the kind of childhood trauma that FFVIII's characters do, I did change schools a lot, and by the time I was in high school I had vague memories at best of anything before, like, 5th grade. So if anything, the part I have the most trouble with is Irvine still remembering the other kids from the orphanage.

 

[conchobhar]

Of course, it's also delivered in a really powerful scene and contributes tremendously to the game's theme of lost childhood innocence. I don't think the story would work nearly as well without it.

Agreed— the memory loss twist is a bit clumsy in terms of plot implications, but it works extremely well as an emotional and thematic beat. Like, if growing up in a military academy left the cast emotionally stunted, now we learn that it also literally took their childhoods from them.

But the the "we all grew up together" scene really stands out in my memory less for than twist than it does for Irvine himself. When I played the game, I initially didn't think much of Irvine, because he seemed like a very self-consciously "cool" character and somewhat out of step with the rest of the cast. So when he says something to the effect of "everyone seemed to have forgotten about me" it changed my entire perception of him. Suddenly it made sense why he didn't quite fit into the party dynamic, or why it sometimes felt like he was trying too hard or acting to familiar with others— all things I chalked up to "clumsy writing" (or just my own pet peeves) felt very intentional. I can just imagine him being riddled with anxiety and self-doubt throughout the game, as he struggles how to interact with people he thinks of as old friends but who aren't acting like it.

 

[Peklo]

I talk about FFVIII as a "modern" game, but what does that really mean, over twenty years since its release? The most immediate point of connection to the definition are just the clearly observable functions of the setting: this is a world that reflects ours in ways fantasy worlds often don't intersect with, with a technological and societal context that's usually dialed much further back in our collective history. There's analogous public and private transportation, systems of governance, schooling, industry and culture that leaves one feeling less like they're observing an alien state of being than the very familiar, just offset slightly. The treatment the game has for itself as archetypal fantasy filtered through a contemporary lens is so all-encompassing that it's odd that it never stuck as a definitive facet of its reputation, and maybe that's connected to the second point that makes VIII feel modern in its time and place. For all that the series had settled into the comfortable status quo of the ATB-driven battle mechanics and surrounding world exploration and presentation, I think that dynamic is at this point already close to unraveling. VII had opened Pandora's box, if you will, through its new presentational angle but did not commit to the transition, the liminal game it was; IX won't do it either, in its state of deliberate reflection on the past. VIII reads both as an anomaly next to the games it's sandwiched between, and a harbinger of a more uncertain future than a period of creative stability had pointed to, with it upending so much through its irreverence that many assumed truths about RPG design would have to be re-examined in its wake.

What really leaves me feeling like VIII is the dawn of a new era is its treatment of language, and this is mostly a factor of my and many others's experience with it as a localized work. It wasn't flipping a switch with a clear delineation between old, crummy material and the newly acceptable or commendable work, but Square's localization department had been undergoing a gradual shift around this time--mainly, that said department was established at all, with Richard Honeywood driving the company's rethinking of how it approached worldwide adaptations of its work. Sure, you had prior standouts in the catalogue, with Ted Woolsey's work being especially famous, but he was no longer there, and the one-person hell workload "structure" that had mostly been in place up until this point directly reflected in how the games read--often inconsistently and awkwardly, despite the clear talent of the people involved. Honeywood and his team's efforts changed the way all of the games they touched came off as adapted scripts, no longer getting by with clumsy charm but scanning as enjoyable text in the moment with consistent character voices and dialects, to speak nothing of fundamentals like grammar. VIII is noteworthy for the people involved in its making, with Brian Bell and Richard Amtower being names of the era attached to this new school of video game localization that had its working processes standardized to the extent that the organizational struggle was alleviated enough for a consistent mark of quality to manifest, which defined the reputation of Square's later PS1 works and beyond as much as the source material itself.

Linguistically, VIII is also modern in the sense that it's the point at which the series's characteristic style guide as far as terminology first broke into its English presentation--out with Cure 3 and Bolt 2, in with Curaga and Thundara. It too is a gradual process, as you won't find any stocks of Arise in the game whereas Full-life still lingers. The most interesting aspect of this greater grasp on script oversight is how it interacts with VIII's specifics in that expression of its modernity via its setting. When fiction shunts us off into worlds unfamiliar we have to apply layers of interpretation, allegory and subtext in applying its storytelling to our personal contexts, often diluting the messaging if one is not attuned to that wavelength of media-reading. VIII is more contemporary to its real-world creative context than almost any game in the series, even its very topical predecessor, which had rich and relevant thematic material to delve through but which was discussed often in vague and non-specific language as it dropped its narrative anvils. With VIII, the terminology used is plainly contemporary English that has no need to be interpreted as to what it might be attempting to say--it can incorporate words like fascism, feminism, xenophobia (all present in the script as is) into its communicative style and never have to stop to establish these concepts because they're understood in the same way in this fantasy world as in ours for how closely both resemble one another. The same material might be represented in other ways in case of lacking these real-world mirrors, but it would invariably invite a degree of disassociation from the relevant readings of the subject matter. The sheer plainness contrasted with the fantastical is what makes the magical realist mundanity of the world tick, which is the closest inspirational parallel a game like VIII has to a much later one like XV--often the strongest reactions to both in terms of setting come from this treatment of their worlds as askew filters of very familiar trappings and sensations where there aren't many interpretive hoops to jump through to land on something experientially tactile.

 

[FelixSH]

So, last time I left off, we decided to bring the battle to Edea. I thankfully already explored the world and remembered where the orphanage is. Elsewise, I guess you need to look for it near the ocean, with not much else to go on? When we get there, we also find Galbadia Garden, and I don't even know why it is even there? Anyway, the big battle will soon start.

When talking to Nida, he wants Squall to give some orders, and I realized that I'm really bad at this. I do order my closest allies to the bridge, and tell SeeDs to take care of the younger ones. Also, I talk about Seifer, and how Squall feels about him, which is probably a really dumb decision. Well, Squall was forced into this position, no surprise that he would make mistakes.

The biggest one might be, that I prioritized defense over offense. But then, I don't know if it actually changes anything, anyway, except for a bit of dialogue later on. Still, very nice that the game let's us do the organization here.

Oh, I still decided to use everyone, so I take Irvine and Selphie with me. Zell is still sleeping, because of some project. Cid, also, isn't found anywhere. I guess he gave up on the whole thing, after pushing it all onto Squalls shoulders. Jerk.

On floor 1, we find the collected SeeDs, who tell us that they are ready, and that Squall is a great leader. I love, how the game makes clear that people are looking up at him, and not only accept, but even like him as their leader. No matter how much he tries to be a loner, he is a respected person.

Well, stuff happens, and Rinoa nearly falls off the Garden, just holding on. And we get a really weird bit, where everyone tells Squall to drop everything, and save Rinoa. Which is really absurd. Others, I think Zell and Irvine, where with her, and were incapable of doing anything to save her, so they just ask the leader of the whole Garden to do it himself. He really has other stuff to do, and can't drop everything, not even for one of his friends. So, he orders Zell to do something (he won't).

While I'm not saying much about the fight, there are really cool things to see, like Galbadians jumping onto our gardens with motorcycles, some crashing into a window (changing fluidly from FMV to in-game graphics) and a mass fight scene in the background. Unfortunately, I couldn't look at it, because I had to do this awful minigame, where I had to punch a Galbadian to let go of the rope of his mini mobile suit thing.

Luckily, this think just so happens to fly by Rinoa, and we can save her that way. That whole thing is really bad. She is damseled for no good reason, her falling off is pointless, and it's just a big coincidence, that Squall can actually save her. It's just there for pointless drama, and sacrifices Rinoas competence, just so Squall can be a hero for her.

But with that out of the way, we are soon on the ground, and can enter Galbadia Garden. The game clearly wants me to have Rinoa in the party (though I think I don't have to, which is nice, and shows development for her - she now has a way better grasp on the dangerous situation we all are in). I take her and Selphie.

We meet Raijin and Fujin, who are worried for Seifer, and tell us that they want the old one back. It's nice, that they start to realize that something bad is happening with him, but that they still are at his side.

I also find the team of hockey players, who are also monsters. No idea how strong they are (and I hoped for something interesting, but they look like really buff dudes in hockey clothes), as Odin killed them.

I take time to fight Cerberus, who was a decently strong boss.

And then, we meet Seifer and Edea. Seifer already learned, who Edea is - I guess they just knew, that we would come here, so they simply waited for us. He tries to sweet-talk his way out of the fight, I guess, though I don't understand why. Is he planning to surprise attack us, after we let our guard down? When he is compared to other monsters, he gets angry, as he still sees himself as the sorceress knight. Still blind. And an easy fight. Edea even critizises him, calling him worthless child. That must have stung.

Edea moved down through the floor, because Ultimecia loves drama, I guess. We fight her down there, after defeating Seifer once more. Both fights aren't particularly difficult.

Stuff happens, and Edea is finally free. I wonder, when you fight her, are you also fighting Ultimecia in some way? Like, did we weaken her, by weakening her host? She does remember about Ellone, and asks if she managed to protect her. This all must be really confusing, if you don't know about her being controlled.

But one last thing, before the disc changes: Rinoa is unconscious.

We come back to Squall, lying in bed, worrying about Rinoa, and feeling generally responsible for what happened. But he is soon summoned to the orphanage, as Edea wants to talk to everyone.

Also, with Pandemona and a Spd-J scroll, I have now two characters (Squall and Selphie) who got their speed junctioned, which made them double as fast as before, or something like that. It felt insane, at the moment.

------------------------------------------------

I wanted to write a bit more, after not doing so for so long, but still don't feel quite up to actually getting something interesting out of it. I'll continue on another day.

 

[Lokii]

Keep on rockin' in Galbadia!!

 

[Peklo]

Luckily, this think just so happens to fly by Rinoa, and we can save her that way. That whole thing is really bad. She is damseled for no good reason, her falling off is pointless, and it's just a big coincidence, that Squall can actually save her. It's just there for pointless drama, and sacrifices Rinoas competence, just so Squall can be a hero for her.

I did not have this takeaway at all from the sequence mostly because the interactions that anchor it are so compelling, so I wasn't focused on the circumstances of how the scenes occur. Rinoa's still trying to find her place in the team and interpersonal dynamics that the orphanage scene focused on defining further, where she voices those doubts directly. The burgeoning romance between her and Squall is one way she can relate to the others more deeply in ways the others already have through their familial bonds, so that's been playing out as it has and in these scenes she's pushing it further along in finagling to borrow his ring via proxy to make her own replica as a keepsake. It says a lot about her and why Squall is in the process of falling for her because for all that Squall's friends are good ones that support him, they never particularly reach out to him or challenge his status quo directly. Rinoa constantly does, and shows clear interest in him and his interiority which is so desperate to have an outlet to be expressed outward somehow--why else would this guy have custom jewelry with his very strong and powerful OC engraved on it that he's also named GRIEVER (Squall is amazing). It's a sweet moment of connection between them, and another instance of Squall displaying how unlike his game-external surly jackass reputation he is, when he once again displays solid self-awareness of what's happening when he internally grouses that it's obvious even to him that everyone is contriving to get him and Rinoa to hook up, all the while remaining in denial that those feelings are already in him. It's great lead-up for where the story's going next.

 

[FelixSH]

Keep on rockin' in Galbadia!!

I have to say, I was still disappointed. When I heard about the team, made out of monsters, I had expected there to be a Malboro in hockey dress, or something like that.

I did not have this takeaway at all from the sequence mostly because the interactions that anchor it are so compelling, so I wasn't focused on the circumstances of how the scenes occur. Rinoa's still trying to find her place in the team and interpersonal dynamics that the orphanage scene focused on defining further, where she voices those doubts directly. The burgeoning romance between her and Squall is one way she can relate to the others more deeply in ways the others already have through their familial bonds, so that's been playing out as it has and in these scenes she's pushing it further along in finagling to borrow his ring via proxy to make her own replica as a keepsake. It says a lot about her and why Squall is in the process of falling for her because for all that Squall's friends are good ones that support him, they never particularly reach out to him or challenge his status quo directly. Rinoa constantly does, and shows clear interest in him and his interiority which is so desperate to have an outlet to be expressed outward somehow--why else would this guy have custom jewelry with his very strong and powerful OC engraved on it that he's also named GRIEVER (Squall is amazing). It's a sweet moment of connection between them, and another instance of Squall displaying how unlike his game-external surly jackass reputation he is, when he once again displays solid self-awareness of what's happening when he internally grouses that it's obvious even to him that everyone is contriving to get him and Rinoa to hook up, all the while remaining in denial that those feelings are already in him. It's great lead-up for where the story's going next.

Thanks for this post. Yeah, I was caught up in the spectacle, and still think that they could have put more work into their scenario. Dunno, maybe let the group with Rinoa fight a slightly stronger soldier, and let Squall control the mecha-suit thing, so that it doesn't feel completely arbitrary how it happens.

Elsewise, you are on point, of course. I was really not fully there, when I wrote the post, so I'm glad you offered me a bit more insight into the scene. Gives me a chance to write some actual thoughts about it down.

It does fit in with Rinoas fears - as you mentioned, she talked about being left behind, because she can't hold up, and then lose the connection to the rest of the group. So, letting her fight alongside the others, than having her in a situation where she needs help, and is just a burden on the team, is just what she was afraid of. But she isn't left behind, she is rescued, and Squall tries it's hardest to do exactly that.

Also, I completely forgot to write about Griever. This is such a dorky thing, and fits Squall (and teens, who try to show how badass they are) perfectly. I love this thing, and how he just tells her why he has it, like it is the most obvious thing in the world. Delightful scene.

I actually did a small experiment, and gave it the name Grieva. There is this fan theorie, that Ultimecia is Rinoa from the future, who got driven insane by losing Squall, and her summoning a GF that is named like his ring is supposed to be evidence of it. I vaguely remember liking this idea, but haven't read up on it - I do know, by now, that it is wrong, and that Ultimecia just pulled the thing out of Squall that he thought of as the most powerful. Someone on the internet argued that, if he thought a Chocobo was the most powerful thing in Squalls mind, you would have to fight a powerful Chocobo, and I now would absolutely love to see this. Fighting a monster version of these birds, that is called Griever. Would be great, but probably not very fitting for the mood of the final boss fight.

Years ago, I learned that rings were also used by kings in medieval times. They were given to a new knight, and put onto their sword, as a symbol for the knight being bound to the king. And, generally, giving someone a ring binds that person to you, symbolically. So, I love how the game plays with this. Rinoa intentionally binds herself to Squall, by making herself a ring that is sort-of, indirectly given to her by him, trying to show that she wants to be a fixed part of Squalls life.

 

[FelixSH]

In the ruins of the orphanage, we meet up with Cid. He understands, that we are angry at him for running away. But he couldn't face the reality - either he would die, or Edea, and he couldn't deal with either of those outcomes.

I get it. This has to be hard for Cid, as it probably had been for a long time now. He knew what was coming, and couldn't deal with the idea of having to face Edea dying. It is understandable and human of him, to fear this situation. I still think he behaved poorly, though. He raised kids as war machines, and deluded himself, that by telling them that they should stay human, this would make anything better. Sending Squall out into Fishermans Horizon, to talk to the people there, will not undo the way he was raised. Fighting is the main thing they know, when it comes to dealing with complicated issues, plus a handful of layers of diplomacy.

I don't think he knows, at this point, that Squall and the others know that Edea raised them. Which does make it a bit more understandable, as he believed that we would just kill the evil imperator. He didn't know, that it would be as hard for us, as it was for him.

Dunno, I think it's fair not to judge Cid too harshly, but it is also clear that he didn't deal with the situation in a good or competent way. It has been clear for a long time now, that he wasn't really capable to deal with the whole situation. So, better that he stepped down, in the end.

Edea, finally free of will, is here too, and she complements us. She also tells us, that it's not over, as Ultimecia might control her again. Oh, and we hear of Ultimecia for the first time. From a powerful sorceress from the future, full of hatred and anger.

I always wondered how the future that Ultimecia lived in was like. Is this just a wasteland, with a handful of SeeDs resisting her, and the rest of humanity being crushed under her horrible power? Is she throwing thunderbolts from her castle in the sky, similar to Kefka? Is she mind-controlling everyone? I mainly wonder now, is she in charge of the whole world, or is she fighting a war against everyone?

In any case, it is probably a bleak future.

Edea also says, that she could only save Ellone, by offering herself. So, a sorceress can only pass on her powers to another sorceress? I forgot if it is here, that she tells us that she took on the powers of a dying sorceress, who just appeared at the orphanage.

Oh, right, she mentions that later, when she talks about Adel. Galbadia thought, she had inherited Adels power, which isn't true. Edea thinks, that Adel is still alive, somewhere, and that Ultimecia wants to control her.

Squall doesn't really listen, as he is still full of regret for what happened to Rinoa. As a child, he was left alone, and knowing how painful that was, it is important to him that he will never be the one, to leave someone else behind. And the guilt is eating him up. That he is in love with her, and misses her, adds to that too.

We also learn about Time Compression. Edea explains, that this is what Ultimecia wants. To make past, presence and future into one thing.

It's a weird concept, and I never could wrap my head around what this meant, or what the point was. I'll get to that back later on, but I think I get it now. The plot of this game is a bit confusing (as time travel stories tend to be), but I found it pretty understandable, this time.

Oh, and the whole "I'm so cold and emotionless" facade is really starting to fall apart. Squall lashes out, because he can't control his emotions anymore. Not surprising, really.

Back on the bridge of the Garden, Squall thinks that Ellone is probably on the white SeeD ship. He also says, that Edea isn't their enemy, anymore. Xu does point out, that other people here might not think that way. Which is understandable, they don't have the connection to Edea that the main characters have, and they don't have the whole story. There is nothing more coming from this, but it's a good detail from Xu.

I wrote down, that Cid lectured Squall on being a good leader, in a harsh tone. Which seems not ok, Cid is really the last person who should judge anyone for being a bad leader. Seriously.

But first, Squall visits Rinoa. Sure, we have important stuff to do, but the game always makes clear that the little things are just as important, as the big ones, if not more. Without Rinoa, Squalls life would continue to be empty and pointless, with him just continuing as a killing machine. She drew him out of it. Without her, he might save the world, but he wouldn't be able to save himself.

When visiting her, Squall feels bad, emotionally. And then, soon, looses conscience, once more.

It is another flashback to Laguna, except this time, we are allowed to decide who is junctioned to whom. Or, more relevant in story terms, who is guest in whose body. I guess this means, that Ellone gets more comfortable with her power?

Unfortunately, the junctions, aside from Squalls to Laguna, are still gone, and I started to get annoyed at this. I guess I should have written down who got which GF, but I never did, and had to rethink it every time. Especially important was, to me, to give everyone ability x 3 and speed-j, if possible, or at least so that nothing overlapped. I think it was around this time, that I gave each one a role. Or, at least, I gave one as much strength as possible, plus Mug. Not Squall, I think I made him into a fight-mage allrounder? The other person got the magic power.

We find Laguna and Kiros on a mountain, and it's a fun scene, of them playing in a low-budget movie. Probably about some old fairy tale, where a princess is eaten by a dragon. Funnily enough, the actress who plays the princess is dressed like the Queen of Cards. So, I guess I know how she was influenced.

The whole thing is about Laguna and Kiros looking for Ellone, who was kidnapped by Adel, and them running low on cash. So they have to do this silly thing here.

But instead of the actor who played the dragon, a real dragon appeared (and killed the actor, I guess?), and we have a goofy action sequence, where we have to hit the dragon at the right time with Lagunas fake gunblade.

Oh, the way he wields the weapon is very similar to how Seifer does it. I guess this is the clue to understand that Seifer just wants to be like the hero in some bad movie, and this is his whole inspiration, that moved him through life. He wants to be a hero, a movie hero. Also, his big inspiration is Squalls father, which is just funny, especially considering what a dork Laguna, and how tryhard Seifer is.

After scaring the dragon away for a moment, Laguna meets up with Kiros, and we fight the dragon. Only in the battle did I realize, that Kiros had no junctions, neither GF nor magic, so he died immediately. And because Laguna wasn't that strong either, I used the charges of Aura, that I found outside of Galbadia Garden, at the end of disc 2.

I don't need to mention, that Lagunas Limit Break is the best, right? It was also strong enough - took some time, but I had enough HP and Curagas not to be in any danger.

The screen gets black, and Squall talks to Ellone, who is unable to disconnect. She assumes, that she is just sleeping, though, which explains to her why she can't stop ist.

We switch to another scene, where Laguna talks to Edea, not controlled, at the orphanage. Oh, only here do we learn that Ellone was kidnapped, when Edea asks. Laguna is just here, to ask if Ellone might be at this place.

Squall, though, doesn't care. He just wants to see and hear Rinoa. But Ellone has bad news: She can't change the past, as she just found out. That's why we never could even talk to Laguna, he just heard a faint echo, or something.

And we learn, that Ellone wanted to change the past, so that Laguna could see Raines new born baby, that he stayed in Winhill, but she couldn't. It was never possible. She can't send anyone back to this moment, and also only send someone inside someone she had met before.

With that, she apologizes, and disconnects.

We are talking about destiny here, a big theme of this game, and how it can't be changed, even with some time travel powers. Things happen, the way they are supposed to. We will come back to this later.

So, as I understand it, Ellone is just using Squall and his friends to make that happen, letting Laguna stay in Winhill, and be happy with his little family. Which is another example of how people just use Squall, seemingly not caring if he wants to do this. I mean, she lets him and two friends get unconscious in the middle of a dangerous forest. What if they had died? And this isn't even talking about the consent of sending ones mind back in time. It just seems really, really wrong. No wonder, that Squall feels like a plaything for others. Cid and Ellone both use him for their own goals.

When Squall wakes up, he screams for Ellone to send him back, to help him save Rinoa. He wants to find her, and remembers that the SeeDs who took her away called themselves Edeas SeeDs. Now this makes a lot more sense, and it was intentional that they didn't mention Edeas title as a sorceress.

According to Edea, the White SeeDs are always on the run, hiding, but that they like the Centra landscape. And with only these few infos, we are just looking for a ship, hidden somewhere. I used a guide, because that just felt like busiwork.

 

[Peklo]

Oh, the way he wields the weapon is very similar to how Seifer does it. I guess this is the clue to understand that Seifer just wants to be like the hero in some bad movie, and this is his whole inspiration, that moved him through life. He wants to be a hero, a movie hero. Also, his big inspiration is Squalls father, which is just funny, especially considering what a dork Laguna, and how tryhard Seifer is.

Whenever I come back to VIII or start thinking about it again for an extended period, this is one of the things that soonest rises to the forefront of indicating just what kind of game it is and what it's good at. The deliberate contrasts between Squall and Seifer are of course well known, but just as important to the game's narrative is Squall and Laguna as each other's mirrors, with Seifer caught up in that storm of contrasts in his own right and how he's connected to both, whether he likes it or not or is even aware of it. The utter mundanity of his driving ideology and aspirations being rooted in impressing upon a flick he saw in childhood is exactly right for this setting and this character, and the way it's conveyed is never made a big production about--all you have are echoes of body language and mannerisms that he's internalized from what we see of Laguna in the filming process, as well as the entire grandly romantic premise that he's driven to will into reality no matter the cost, regardless of how hokey it appears to us in the moment of its making; it's still real to Seifer, and that's all that matters. It's great character work accomplished through non-traditional means and is always something I think of as a series highlight in passing but informed nuance.

After scaring the dragon away for a moment, Laguna meets up with Kiros, and we fight the dragon. Only in the battle did I realize, that Kiros had no junctions, neither GF nor magic, so he died immediately. And because Laguna wasn't that strong either, I used the charges of Aura, that I found outside of Galbadia Garden, at the end of disc 2.

Ruby Dragon's one of the more direct sources of Flare and Meteor at higher levels, and this fixed encounter is practically engineered for stocking up on the spells if needed--provided you get to it with a full party. Ward can be present in the flashback, but only if you didn't go exploring and did not pick up Timber Maniacs #9 at the Shumi Village during the previous disc--it features an article of the movie's filming that showcases Kiros being there, but no Ward, leading Selphie to wonder where the latter was in her blog. The inferred causality here then is that because that idea or perception of the past becomes familiar to the party at large, it affects how it's portrayed to them in flashback. The events to come--and which have passed, years ago--show that Ward did accompany Laguna and Kiros on their journey to Esthar, but in this obscure interaction and glimpse into that time period, the record of it can still be altered in the telling or how it's interpreted. Time travel stories rule.

 

[FelixSH]

Ruby Dragon's one of the more direct sources of Flare and Meteor at higher levels, and this fixed encounter is practically engineered for stocking up on the spells if needed--provided you get to it with a full party. Ward can be present in the flashback, but only if you didn't go exploring and did not pick up Timber Maniacs #9 at the Shumi Village during the previous disc--it features an article of the movie's filming that showcases Kiros being there, but no Ward, leading Selphie to wonder where the latter was in her blog. The inferred causality here then is that because that idea or perception of the past becomes familiar to the party at large, it affects how it's portrayed to them in flashback. The events to come--and which have passed, years ago--show that Ward did accompany Laguna and Kiros on their journey to Esthar, but in this obscure interaction and glimpse into that time period, the record of it can still be altered in the telling or how it's interpreted. Time travel stories rule.

This is really interesting. So, this isn't changing the past, I presume - doesn't that mean, we aren't really in the past, but only in a reconstructed version? Are we splitting off timelines?

I mean, changing the past is clear possible, elsewise Ultimecia couldn't control Edea. I guess this means, that Ellones powers just aren't that strong, comparetively? There is certainly more to the powers than one might expect, at first glance, and clearly more than even Ellone realizes - emphasized by the fact, that she later on CAN give you the choice, who you want to stay with, in the past.

----------------------------------------------------

As mentioned, I just looked up where the White SeeDs where hiding. Looking for them would fit, and give us the same frustration that Squall probably felt, while looking around, but I don't need to feel EVERYTHING the game offers me.

When we get onto their ship, we tell them that Edea is no longer possessed, but the captain doesn't believe us, and asks us to leave. Interestingly, he doesn't force the issue, and just lets us stay, he simply goes back to his room. For some reason, Squall isn't thinking of giving him Edeas letter right now.

At the front of the ship, little kids get educated in the history of the world. Well, it's mythological beginnings, which seems to be part of the accepted History? It feels like we would just accept, that Rome was built by Romulus and Remus - we don't know better, so we just accept this obvious mythological story as fact. Interesting.

It's a more extensive version of the story of Hyne, and how he first invented humans, then went to sleep, found the world overrun with them and decided to kill the children. But due to the amount of people, Hyne was beginning to lose, so he offered half his body. As it turned out, that part was worthless, and only his shed skin. The Zebalgans, who won the war, got angry and looked for Hyne, from that point on. And the search continues to this day.

As mentioned before, the sorceresses are, imho, clearly inspired by the witchhunts of earlier times. Except that these women here have actual superpowers, this being a fantasy game, and all. But still, this world basically argues that these powerful women only got their power through the devil, or something like that. This world doesn't seem to have a benevolent god, it just offers a trickster, at best. Interestingly, as the powers of SeeDs are based on the ones from the sorceresses, this means junctioning is the power of the Devil, too.

Point is, women who are naturally more powerful then the rest (and, let's face it, "the rest" are probably men - I think the only leaders here are men, in this world, except for Adel and Edea, who are the antagonists) are evil, and have to be hunted, killed. Except if the power is used by governmental or military bodies. At least here, the Gardens don't seem to differentiate between men and women. Still, when these powers are used by governmental/military bodies, controlled by men, it is acceptable to use them.

Well, we also meet Zone and Watts on this ship. They fled there from Galbadia, by swimming a lot, which is fun. But Zone gets really angry, when Squall tells him about Rinoa. Later on, we can talk to him again, when he has calmed down. He is learning how to steer a ship. Good for him.

When we show the leader Edeas letter, he starts to believe us, and tells us that Ellone isn't here, anymore. When they got Ellone, they were pursuid by a Galbadian ship, and had to flee. A ship from Esthar appeared, with the White SeeD ship being caught in the middle of the fight. Ellone jumped over to the Esthar ship, smiling.

With that, we have our next goal: Esthar. But Nida tells us, that the Garden is not suited for getting there. Also, Esthars are supposed to be xenophobic.

There is only one way to Esthar, over the big bridge which has FH in the middle. So, Squall takes Rinoa, in the middle of the night, and carries her there.

Having this simple goal, just walking a lot, until you reach your goal, gives you time to think. And Squall finally realizes, how much he has changed. That he actually does take the opinions of others way too much to heart, which is probably the reason why he tries to shut them off, in the first place. He WANTED others to see him as this unfriendly, introverted guy, that no one would want to talk to.

We have known this for quite some time, at this point. But Squall realizing it is pretty big. And, even though Rinoa is unconscious, that he tells her that means he is moving on. He can at least say it, now. It's actually pretty adorable, how he tells her that it's a secret.

After Squall makes it over the bridge, we meet the others, who escort Edea. She wants to meet Professor Odine, who might help her get rid of her sorceress powers. I guess she could use her powers, to fly with the others? It probably wasn't that hard to be faster than Squall, but he would still have seen the others, when they passed him by. Oh, well.

The others are just an escort for Edea. Makes sense, her powers were probably enhanced by Ultimecia, so she might not be that strong, on her own? Sure, she can junction, but Rinoa can do that too. I guess a sorceress needs to work on her powers, to make them stronger, and Edea probably never did.

It is fun, to have her in the party, though. I always loved, when I got to play former bosses, especially major ones like Edea (or, in Crono Triggers case, Magus). My other party member is Quistis.

Ultimecia does remind us that, should she be taken over by Ultimecia again, we are supposed to kill her. After how it went last time, this doesn't seem necessary, though, we might just need to knock her unconscious.

The Great Salt Lake, that we have to cross, looks amazingly beautiful, and the music is great. Just these giant skulls are so great. There are also a few useful spells to draw, like Meteor (my favourite attack spell, as I would soon learn).

I fought this weird monster, that consists of a face in the ground and two hands, with the body being underground, I guess? And the hands can draw, too. The boss here is undead, and carries Curaga around, for some reason. Well, I do like that the game often does give us a chance to simply draw stuff to fight with, if we need it. As mentioned, I find the draw system a great replacement of MP, just because it makes it so simple to cast spells, and not be afraid of running out of them.

Soon, we reach the end, but thankfully Esthars hologram isn't working perfectly, and we see some errors. Seeing that makes it possible to find the entrance. And soon, we see a beautiful sci-fi city in front of us. And get unconscious, once more.

This time, we find Kiros, Ward and Laguna as slaves, working for Esthar, under Adels rule. The conditions are pretty bad, Laguna hasn't eaten in three days. But, like everywhere, the Moomba is treated even worse, which makes Laguna stand up to the guards, and fights to get out.

I'm not surprised, that the Shumi like Laguna. Most people seem to look at the Moombas as subhuman, and he treats them well. Do the Shumi actually know, how they are treated outside, when they turn into Moombas?

Up the elevators, we see Odine for the first time, and he is just this slightly crazy scientist, who doesn't care for people, and only for his research. I am a bit reminded of FF VIs Cid, who didn't really care how much he tortured Espers, and just was in there for the science, no matter the cost (or not thinking about the cost at all).

I think we hear about the Lunatic Pandora here for the first time. He worked on that, but does care more for Ellone, now. With Odine and his assistants help, we find and free Ellone soon enough. And with that, the flashback ends.

Back with Squall, a car arrives and Edea explains the situation. We get in, and move to the presidential palace.

Esthar is amazing looking. It feels so much like one of these big cities of early sci-fi, all light, white or light-blue, giant, clean buildings, people in robes with a lot of nice-looking technology and walkways high above ground. I love this city, it looks gorgeous.

After the ride, Squall is allowed to see Ellone, under the condition that Odine can observe Rinoa.

As always, the game offers us a chance to explore, by explicitely telling us to, if we are interested. Honestly, it is a bit of a mess, even with the fast-moving tube things, but it's not too big.

Soon enough, we are at the Lunar Gate, and I guess I missed beforehand, that we were moving into space. I left Zell to escort Edea, and took Quistis along with Squall. Another FMV, which looks pretty amazing - it's like they fire a giant gun, to send us up.

But we stay with the party on the planet for some time. I only recently realized that we are doing something similar to FF VI, with us splitting up the party into multiple groups, and see the experiences of both. It's a nice concept, I like it.

We stay here, because a giant monolith appears above Esthar. And this is a bit of a shock, when we learn that there is now danger here, too. When getting to this city, we find it so much more developed than any other part in this world. It seems like we are absolutely save here, and that Galbadia could never reach us. So, learning that we are wrong is a big shock.

Apparently, the Galbadians found the Lunatic Pandora, which was drowned in the ocean years ago. The horrible weapon, that Odine worked on, in Lagunas time. It's like a scream from the past, thematically maybe interpretable as an attack of Adel? Esthar likely suffered under her control, too, and as should be clear, even the city that is the basis of fascism contains a lot of victims of said fascism. And here, even so longer afterwards, Esthar is again victimized by their former Tyrant.

But the city isn't the goal, it's Tears Point. We learn, that there are monsters on the moon, and sometimes, the fall from there, onto the planet, which is a completely bonkers and amazing idea. The Lunatic Pandora maximizes this effect, and will likely let the planet be swarmed by horrible creatures.

It's just a really fascinating idea. Imagine that, knowing at some point that the moon isn't without life, but that there are horrible monstrosities on its surface.

I think someone pointed this out months ago, but this is likely a callback to FF IV, where the moon was an important part of the story, held horribly strong monsters and the danger, in general, came from outer space.

The party with Edea has to enter the Lunatic Pandora, as it flies over the city. It's another action-y sequence, where we get three points, and we have to be at one of those at a certain point in time. It's not hard, and I get inside at the first point.

And we find that cave, that Laguna, Kiros and Ward visited, way back in the second flashback. But after that, we get to a technological place, where a guarding robot simply sends us away. I think it's Tears Point? And looks like there are a ton of tombstones? Anyway, we basically failed, and Zell decides that we should fall back, for now.

And with that, we swith to Squall. Next time.

 

[Peklo]

As mentioned before, the sorceresses are, imho, clearly inspired by the witchhunts of earlier times. Except that these women here have actual superpowers, this being a fantasy game, and all. But still, this world basically argues that these powerful women only got their power through the devil, or something like that. This world doesn't seem to have a benevolent god, it just offers a trickster, at best. Interestingly, as the powers of SeeDs are based on the ones from the sorceresses, this means junctioning is the power of the Devil, too.

Point is, women who are naturally more powerful then the rest (and, let's face it, "the rest" are probably men - I think the only leaders here are men, in this world, except for Adel and Edea, who are the antagonists) are evil, and have to be hunted, killed. Except if the power is used by governmental or military bodies. At least here, the Gardens don't seem to differentiate between men and women. Still, when these powers are used by governmental/military bodies, controlled by men, it is acceptable to use them.

It's an undeniable thematic component of the game, underlined explicitly by the word used for "sorceress" in the Japanese script: "majo", literally "witch." The song title "Succession of Witches" carries the terminology, and in subsequent material the connection's been strengthened too; Dissidia at large forgoes sorceress in favour of witch in most cases, in reference to Ultimecia and so on. It's a big decision the game's localization made, because while the themes are prevalent and parallel enough to real life contexts that most can point them out, literalism may have behooved in getting the point across for a story that's commonly perceived as convoluted and difficult to grasp by many.

I think I'll save my thoughts on how all of this relates to the game's treatment of gender for a little later, if I feel like it.

Well, we also meet Zone and Watts on this ship. They fled there from Galbadia, by swimming a lot, which is fun. But Zone gets really angry, when Squall tells him about Rinoa. Later on, we can talk to him again, when he has calmed down. He is learning how to steer a ship. Good for him.

You can also hand him the porn magazine you may have had in your inventory since the visit to the Timber Maniacs offices way back when, most notably trading it for Shiva's card. Sometimes the game takes care in contextualizing who may have which one-of-a-kind Triple Triad card, and sometimes it does not, but given this entire bit with Zone I'm given to understand he also masturbates to the card too. This is the shitty undercurrent running through so much of this series, this company and their genre at large at this time, where it becomes less about characterizing any particular character in the games as being into erotica, and more about fulfilling the fixations of the developers in getting this shit in so consistently to an identical effect. Men love porn, and we're all men here... right? Tires me the fuck out.

Having this simple goal, just walking a lot, until you reach your goal, gives you time to think. And Squall finally realizes, how much he has changed. That he actually does take the opinions of others way too much to heart, which is probably the reason why he tries to shut them off, in the first place. He WANTED others to see him as this unfriendly, introverted guy, that no one would want to talk to.

We have known this for quite some time, at this point. But Squall realizing it is pretty big. And, even though Rinoa is unconscious, that he tells her that means he is moving on. He can at least say it, now. It's actually pretty adorable, how he tells her that it's a secret.

Definite game highlight scene for the reasons described and just the sheer adolescent propulsion of it. I think this has been a perennial favourite in calling out Squall's development as for his feelings toward Rinoa, with the criticism usually framing it as all too sudden of a shift. Playing the game, I don't think that reading could be further from how their interplay comes off, with each and every moment of it building up the mutual attraction, frustration, infatuation and ultimately devotion. Squall taking extreme and reckless action for someone he cares about only follows now that he's coming apart at the seams, gripped by the terror that his greatest fear may be coming to pass again.

The others are just an escort for Edea. Makes sense, her powers were probably enhanced by Ultimecia, so she might not be that strong, on her own? Sure, she can junction, but Rinoa can do that too. I guess a sorceress needs to work on her powers, to make them stronger, and Edea probably never did.

I don't think the party's there as a factor of Edea's competence and ability, but simply looking out for their collective mom. Bring your kids to work day.

Up the elevators, we see Odine for the first time, and he is just this slightly crazy scientist, who doesn't care for people, and only for his research. I am a bit reminded of FF VIs Cid, who didn't really care how much he tortured Espers, and just was in there for the science, no matter the cost (or not thinking about the cost at all).

Most FF scientists have some aspect of their personal lives that humanizes them beyond their research, positively or negatively, but Odine never gets anything of the sort. He exists as a function of pure scenery-chewing exposition, and I think is easier to put out of mind because he doesn't have that interpersonal angle for anything he says or does.

Esthar is amazing looking. It feels so much like one of these big cities of early sci-fi, all light, white or light-blue, giant, clean buildings, people in robes with a lot of nice-looking technology and walkways high above ground. I love this city, it looks gorgeous.

It feels like a direct and deliberate contrast to the role Midgar played, with grimy dystopia set against sleek utopia. Consider their placements in the game as well as its world: Midgar occupied the opening hours of the game before expanding into the wide expanses of the Planet beyond; Esthar looms as the unseen inevitable destination of the game's dramatic arc politically, geographically and structurally. Midgar was enormous experientially when drawing the perspective up close to its internal workings; Esthar is spatially huge on the world map itself, but most of it is shiny exterior not to be interacted too intimately with--it's cold and detached whereas Midgar was human for all its suffocating qualities. Midgar and by extension Shinra's influence defines VII's world in what they have or aim to contaminate; Esthar is notably isolationist after the internal reforms and policies that have taken place in its last 17 years. It's not my favourite FF city purely to inhabit, but thematically it's very compelling.

And we find that cave, that Laguna, Kiros and Ward visited, way back in the second flashback. But after that, we get to a technological place, where a guarding robot simply sends us away. I think it's Tears Point? And looks like there are a ton of tombstones? Anyway, we basically failed, and Zell decides that we should fall back, for now.

Laguna and friends's escapades at the Lunatic Pandora excavation site years (or two discs) ago see payoff or ripples here, as the actions one took in the past affect which compartments are available to be scoured for their goodies in the present thanks to Laguna's meddling with the various hatches and explosives during his infiltration. I think it's really funny the game holds off for so long on the ramifications, but it must drive completionists up the wall like so many other little things in the game probably do.

 

[conchobhar]

Esthar is amazing looking. It feels so much like one of these big cities of early sci-fi, all light, white or light-blue, giant, clean buildings, people in robes with a lot of nice-looking technology and walkways high above ground. I love this city, it looks gorgeous.

What really sold Esthar as being this impossibly futuristic city, to me, was the FMVs. Not even the scene-setting flyover upon entering the city, but the little interstitial ones that play when using the railcar lifts. It's not the first time the game seamlessly integrates FMVs into the gameplay sections like that, but doing it for something so minor really sends a message.

 

[FelixSH]

I left at the point, where we switch from the people on the planet to Squall, going to Space. We get caught with some net-thing, something cool, sci-fi looking. Soon, we are inside the station, where Squall tells everyone not to hurt Rinoa in any way.

Let me just point out, that the cutscenes and the art direction in this game are all kinds of awesome. No surprise here, but this game just looks amazing. Must have been absolutely mind-blowing, back in the day, considering how great the cutscenes in particular still are.

We learn, that the crews here alternate every six months, to watch over the imprisoned Adel. Through Odines technology, her powers are sealed, which also means that she can't junction any magic. Nice how this was alluded to at the start, when Rinoa wanted to put the Odine Bangle on Edea. But the material also jams all the radio waves, which means we finally know the reason WHY, after so many hours. Great world building.

When finding Ellone, she acknowledges that she used Squall and his friends as her eyes and ears, to revisit the past, to see how much she was loved. And she is happy that, despite not being able to change anthing, she at least saw how much she was loved. As she sees it, you can't change the past, but it can change you.

I think I already talked a few times about how it is not ok, to just use other people for this, without their consent. Not much new to say. Especially with her not realizing, that the others have forgotten her, she might have just asked them.

The idea of using the memories of another person is, aside from that, problematic simply for privacy reasons. I know, I'm reading this from a very judgmental position, but I wouldn't want another person, even my best friend, to just follow me around. The game doesn't go into this problem, and shows Ellones actions as something loving. But then, she didn't want to do this, but actually wanted to make Laguna happy, by letting him stay with his loved one. So, I shouldn't be so cynical here - Ellone had the best of intentions, that much is clear. But these powers are interesting, and carry a lot of weight with them.

Also, I got the Laguna card from her, and had to deal with the worst ruleset ever. I think it didn't even have open? Gross.

Anyway, Squall doesn't want to give up his plans, and asks Ellone to get to know Rinoa. Just so he at least gets a chance at saving her.

We can get a view of the moon, through the in-game camera system, which seems like well-done imitation of such footage. And we see what a horrible place, full of monsters, it is. A bit more of the History of this world - there was a Lunar Cry a hundered years ago, which is responsible for a crater in he Centra Continent.

Fitting to the theme of this game, the controller mentions that History is repeating itself. Soon, another Lunar Cry will be happening. When enough monsters are clustered, which will be the case, soon, another tear will form.

The game never goes into detail here, and it doesn't have to. The idea of monsters on the moon, just being there and waiting to get to the planet, because REASONS, coming together and, somehow, forming a giant stream that crushes onto the planet, is amazingly weird and great. It's such a strange concept, I love it.

But as we watch the footage, the red alert starts, and Rinoa is moving, puppet like, similar to how she moved under the control of Edea/Ultimecia, at the end of Disc 1. As Squall, we can try to touch her, but are just thrown back. We can only wathc helplessly, as Rinoa starts to undo the first part of Adels seal. Which, immediately, makes more monsters appear on the moon.

Seeing Rinoa move here is one of the images that stuck in my head. Like much else of the game, it feels very horror-inspired, like out of a Resident Evil game, in some way. This comes from someone, who hasn't played many of these games, but it does come immediately to mind.

I know, I just said it doesn't matter how the monsters work, but this makes me think about it, of course. Are they connected to the power of the sorceresses? Are they drawn to magic? Are they a bit controlled by Ultimecia?

Also, at this point I'm a bit confused about Ultimecias plan. So, Edea was defeated, and...did she, at this point, already give her power to Rinoa? No, can't be it, than she wouldn't have to get to Odine in the first place. So, I guess Ultimecia couldn't find her that fast, and decided to go for Adels power and influence instead, so she would have an army to look for Ellone. Who she couldn't find, because Ellone was in Space.

No, still don't get it. It seems, like Rinoa inherited the power at the end of Disc 2. While playing, I was confused by Edeas plan anyway, and didn't get why she wanted to reach Esthar. I guess I'll go with "she already had the plan in mind, that we use at the end to defeat Ultimecia, and wanted to reach Esthar to talk about it with Odine, and maybe Laguna". Yeah, I think that works.

To get back to the game, possessed Rinoa now starts to move outside, as the second seal on Adel is directly on her prison.

But here, the tear is already forming and bursting, due to the presence of the Lunatic Pandora. Is there ever explained, why it draws the monsters from the moon?

Squall, though, is too late, and Rinoa is already at Adels Tomb, freeing her. Before the stream of monsters takes the sorceress with it, to the planet. Rinoa is in danger, either being swallowed by the monster stream, or dying in Space, but we have to evacuate.

We evacuate in time, before the station is destroyed, and Ellone promises to try to bring Squall back to Rinoa. At this point, we get flashbacks to the parts that we didn't witness. About how Irvine tried to get Rinoa away from the Desert Prison. I do like, that he actually thinks they will be fine - a fair assessment, in the end, the are trained specialists, after all. So, even if I still think he should have gotten the others, I kind-of see his point, trusting them and getting Rinoa, a non-combatant, to safety. And we see her talking to Zell about getting a copy of Squalls ring, which is really sweet. It's nice to see, that she also has to fight with shyness to some degree, even if she is the one driving the relationship.

We get back to the present, Squall tells Ellone that this was too far back. Next, we get to the end of Disc 2, after the second battle against Edea. We see Ultimecia for the first time (great design), and how she instructs Seifer to get the Lunatic Pandora. "Only then shall the sorceress provide you with dreams again."

I feel bad for Seifer. Maybe I shouldn't because he does really awful things, but it is clear how he is so lost, tries hard and fails, being really desperate for something to cling on to. What a fascinating character.

And then, Ultimecias spirit realizes that we are there, and tells us to leave. Something about this feels really amazing to me.

So, Ellone tries once more, and this time, she succeeds. She gets to Rinoas nearest past, the part where she flies helplessly through Space, and where the life support of her suit stops.

It is a very powerful scene. This game is a lot about loneliness, but most of it is psychological. Here, we have the infinite black, with this one person just floating through it, no one there to help her. Rinoa never was psychologically alone, like Squall was, or at least, she was always able to fight for a place inside a group. And as she always tried to push through to Squall, getting him to make him see that he is not alone, now she needs the same help from Squall, just in a physical sense. He is a fighter, that's something he can do.

And slowly, she falls unconscious. But she still has the two rings on the chain around her neck. This here, the physical manifestation of the connection between the two, makes it possible for Squall to communicate with Rinoa, and telling her to turn on a second life support. Something like that, I remember there being a bit more time for her, after that. Or maybe she just realized, that he would save her, so she kept fighting.

And so, despite the absurd risk, he goes into Space, to get to Rinoa. Again, very atmospheric. I love Space as a background, despite it being completely inhospitable, I find it very calming, the darkness with only a few points of light. Perfect calm.

I did fail the first time, and I think that was true the other two times I played the game, too. It's not quite clear, what you have to do, but I did get it the second time. I don't know what I could say about the scene, except that I find it very powerful.

But, of course, we are still out of oxygen and fuel. Thankfully, we find a spaceship nearby, which the two can get to, with a dragons face in front, because Laguna is a big dork (I assume he designed this thing). Air and gravity still work, so we aren't going to die.

There is this adorable scene, where Rinoa stands there, arms outstretched, waiting for Squall to hug her. He still doesn't get it, but he is right here - they are still stranded in Space. And Rinoa gets it. He doesn't want to become a memory.

I find it pretty great, how far Rinoa has come. She was overjoyed, not just not to have died out there, but also being saved by Squall. And she wants to celebrate that. But, as soon as Squall explains why he is still in work mode, she understands and stops. She really did a lot of growing up, over the course of the game.

Next, a sort of puzzle waits for us. For some reason, the people in here had these horrible monsters, which would revive each other, if one of the same color as them would die, and the other wouldn't. So, after finding that out, we have to kill them in colored pairs. Not too hard, the things look bizarr, and the whole things has, again, a horror vibe to it (with the whole "abandoned spaceship" setting), but the battles are easy.

After that, we get the the bridge, and are called by the Esthar Airstation, and learn that this ship is called Ragnarok. It means that radio signals work again, which makes sense, considering that it was the Adels Tomb that disturbed them. Or Adel herself, considering how she could send her thoughts down. We learn, that this ship has been in Space for 17 years, but we are guided down.

We get one more sweet scene, between Squall and Rinoa, where she still wants physical connection with him. First, Squall explains that he is afraid of losing people close to him, which means he is finally able to communicate this to others, who also listen. Who might react to it. Like Rinoa, he grew a lot, and it seems like this space adventure was to him, what Clouds dive into the Lifestream was to him. I think it's this point, where Squall knows who he is, and where he isn't afraid of accepting his weaknesses.

And we understand another reason, for why Rinoa needs a hug so badly. She understands, that she is a sorceress now, and is scared of everyone being angry at her, hating her. The guys from Esthar, at this point, also tell us that she will be arrested, now. How do they even know that? Did Edea talk about her plans?

When landing, people are waiting for us. Squall wants to defend Rinoa, but she accepts, and goes with them. But not, before telling Squall that she learned that Ultimecia is trying to compress time. To create a world, where only she exists. And, similar to Edea, Rinoa is scared of being used by Ultimecia again, and so she lets herself being captured.

And with that, Squall is in the middle of nowhere. There is only the Ragnarok, which he goes back into, meeting Quistis. She got unconscious, when getting back from Space, but remembers a struggle, and knows that Ellone was gone, when she woke up. Quistis was brought here by the Esthar rescue crew.

At this point, Zell appears, too, and tells us that Edea didn't achieve what she planned to. So, no idea what her plan actually was. She did give away her powers, without realizing it, and so probably doesn't know that Rinoa got them.

Also, Galbadia is controlling the Lunatic Pandora, and it was specifically designed to call monsters from the moon. Oh, that's why, I thought it might have a different thing going on, like lasers, or something. I guess being able to float over a city that defies you, and threatening to let it be crushed by infinite monsters, is pretty scary, as a weapon. Odine assumed, that the true reason for getting that thing, though, was to get to Ellone.

There is a neat scene, where Squall tells them what happened with regards to Rinoa, and how he didn't interfere, when she was taken away. Quistis gets really angry, and calls him a fool, to which Zell agrees. So, they decide to free her.

As on cue, we hear a loud noise, and start to fly. Selphie just pressed random buttons, which made the Ragnarok take off. Sounds like Selphie.

-------------------------------------------------

So, we are nearing the end. If anyone can clear up Edeas plan, I'd be happy to hear it, because I'm still not quite sure what it was.

 

[FelixSH]

To get Rinoa back, we move to teh Esthar Sorceress Memorial. This is another scene that I still remember, when we threaten the scientists in here to let Rinoa out. I'm not sure, why the image of Quistis especially, pulling out her whip to threaten regular people, made such an impression on me. I think, it's due to her always seeming to be so level-headed, and the scientists not seeming to be evil (as wrong as it is, what they are doing here).

Rinoa is inside a machine, which, I assume, is a similar prison to the one Adel was in? Certainly something, that restricts magic power. Squall frees her, and she finally does get the hug, that tells her that everything will be ok.

When going outside, Selphie and Zell are fighting the security, until an official-looking guy appears. He doesn't talk, but also doesn't stop us.

While the game didn't say so, you can pretty much piece together at this point, that Laguna probably had a lot to do with getting rid of Adel, and that he is, therefore, likely around Esthar (also, despite being covered, his behaviour on the Space Station is pretty clearly Laguna). So, a big guy who doesn't talk much, is likely to be Ward. I definitely didn't put that together, the other times I played, but I think it's pretty clear, if you pay attention. Interestingly, Ward doesn't seem to be inclined to stop us, at all. Rather, him appearing seems to make the guards stop fighting. I guess, the plan to stop Adel, that we will soon be executing, is already in motion.

In the Ragnarok (which might be my favourite airship in the series? It just looks so cool, and is so much fun to fly around in), we talk about what we should do now. Squall tells the others, that the Lunatic Pandora is controlled by Seifer, who is controlled(?) by Ultimecia. But Rinoa wants to visit the orphanage, first.

Before doing that, I went for the island with the cactuars. The game does a pretty good job here - if you come close to it, with the Garden, you can see the big one stick out, with no way to get there yet. So, this is a clear, immediate goal. I love the look of the giant one, with his goofy mustache. It's also the first time, that I encounter a creature that shows a HP value of ?????, when scanned. So, I guess he is the first to have more than 100.000 HP. 10.000 Needles is also a really fun ability to see, I thought, watching an insane number of 10s pop out. Despite that, it wasn't much of a challenging fight. Squall had the Revive ability, Selphie had Phoenix Downs (or, rather, was the one with the item command) and Quistis could cast resurrect by magic. This was also the team I would use from this point on. Selphie, with all the increase in strength I could give her, plus Mug. Quistis as my mage, with Meteor as the hardest hitting spell, due to multiple hits (it was constantly stronger than Ultima, due to this), and Squall as mainly a fighter who could also cast stuff. Also used the fight to draw all the Tornados and Demis I could.

This is probably the easiest game to fight Cactuars in. Didn't have Selphies ultimate weapon yet, but Squall always hits, anyway.

Next, we fly to the island in the corner of the map. I love this little tradition, that all the PSX FFs have an island hidden near that point, that doesn't show up on the map. In this case, it's some abandoned lab, something to collect data. And also looking for a huge draw point, but abandoned for years.

Inside, we fight a few Ruby Dragons, each stronger than the one before, before fighting Bahamut. Yes, I chose the wrong answers, and got tricked by the last question, with the hidden choice.

Interestingly, Bahamut is known to Squall as a legendary GF. Bahamut replies, that it is us humans, who use him as a weapon, he fears.

I still wonder about the GFs, and what they are. They don't seem to be monsters from the moon, simply because they are more intelligent. Considering that Ultimecia would later create her own GF, maybe they were all created by sorceresses, in the past? Which would also explain, why they are scared of humans, who can use them - they are made that way, and can only defend against it to a certain degree. But, in the end, a human who is strong enough, can enslave a GF.

The battle is easy, he doesn't even get to Megaflare. Another floor opens, and I wanted to save this part for later, but never got back to it. I did look up what was hidden down there, though.

With that done, we move to the orphanage. Angelo leads us to the left, where we find a beautiful meadow, I assume the one from the intro. I had completely missed it before. So, Rinoa and Squall talk. About her, being unsure about what it means, that she is a sorceress. That she might go bad. But Squall tells her, that there have also been good ones, like Edea. Which is true, Edea seems to be a good person. But I would really, really like to know more about sorceresses from the past. Part of that is, that I simply enjoy lore. But also, a bit of context, and how the world treated the sorceresses, would be nice. That said, the game pretty clearly implies the problematic nature of the relationship between them and other people.

And here, to mirror Seifer, Squall promises Rinoa to always be her knight, no matter what. And this is, how it should work. With him not being a knight, because he wants to be one, and just taking the first chance he gets, but to defend the person he loves, which simply makes him into her knight. It also is similar to the relation of Fujin and Raijin, that they have with Seifer. They stick with him, they are HIS knights, and stay at his side, no matter how far he is gone.

Rinoa is scared, that SeeDs will kill her, as that is their job. And that it will be ok, if it is Squall. Who simply tells her, that she should stop this. He will defend her, by defeating Ultimecia.

She also talks about a dream, where she couldn't find him. So, they make this promise to meet up here, whenever they get lost, separated from each other. Which will be very important later on. It's a nice piece of humanity, simply giving people an anchor that connects them. Similar to the ring, that was important for Squall to save Rinoa, when she was in Space.

They create a home. A place that will save and welcome them. Which fits, as this is also Squalls first home. He basically welcomes her to this important bit of his history.

At this point, Zell appears, and tells us that he got a radio signal from Esthar. Kiros wants to hire us as SeeDs, to defeat Ultimecia. It's pretty nice, that we will finally be able to actually talk to Laguna, Ward and Kiros. Made me happy, to learn that this guy talked to us.

Before leaving, Edea talks to us. About how she encountered a sorceress here, 13 years ago. She doesn't tell us everything, but we do learn, that she took the power of her own, free will. I will get back to this later, at the end.

Near Esthar, I decided to do some grinding, getting Star Fragments to build Irvines and Selphies ultimate weapons (I had already gotten Zells earlier), plus some Regen Rings for 100 Full-Lifes for everyone. These would be the only ultimate weapons I get, and I think Squalls weapon missed even two other levels. No Lionheart for me.

Before continuing on with the story, I visited Shumi Village a last time. We can see, that the assistants help isn't enough to build the statue, and he is still angry for having to do it. With the help of a Moomba, we can finally motivate him, to do some work here.

We talk to the Elder, why he forces the attendant to help. And we learn, that the attendant admires Laguna more than anyone else here, but wanted to fight alongside him. But the attendant is destined to become an Elder one day, which he could not, if he left the village - an Elder isn't allowed to leave. And it is not the Shumis way to defy their destiny.

So, the Shumi have a pretty nice place here, probably secure from most outside forces, and even monsters don't get in here. It's a nice place. But they pay for the security and calmness with a big part of their freedom. Their lifes are chosen for them, it seems. Even Squall finds that sad.

The attendant is pretty good, but thinks that Artisan could help them a lot. Who doesn't have time, as he has a lot to do, before becoming a Moomba.

I had to look up, how to continue from here, before visiting FH. Where I find Martine, the former leader of Galbadia Garden, who came here after losing his job. He wandered around aimlessly, at that point, and the people here welcomed him. But still, he does feel ashamed.

I'm not sure, what to think of this guy. Is there even more to know, aside from him trying to get rid of Edea, as he saw her (rightfully) as a threat? He is also friends with Rinoas father, and another employee of NORG, but elsewise, nothing comes to mind. So, I guess I feel bad for him.

In FH, we find a guy called "Grease Monkey", who is pretty good at building stuff, like a moving Moomba doll. It reacts to us, due to us having been at Shumi Village. He gives us the doll, which is supposed to solve our problem. At Artisans house, we learn that he made that thing. Grease Monkey added a message, that the Shumis should just get on with it, and get the statue finished. After leaving for a second, Artisan comes outside, working on the statue. He has been invited to FH, and decided to become a human.

So, you CAN change your destiny? Or, maybe, there is the right track of life for you, that you are supposed to follow, when you found it. I'll go with that. Elder thinks, they will be done soon, and gives us a Status Guard as a thank you.

With this, I left this place for good. I really enjoy this place, and that the game offers such a non-essential side quest, with rewards that aren't even close to essential. All we get is world building, and the clear message to smell the flowers, from time to time. I feel like, it really speaks to what the game is about. Not just to follow your journey, or your fate, and take in the world around you. To have fun, and learn about other cultures.

There is one final bit, that I do before continuing the plot. I think Peklo mentioned the ghost in Winhill, so I decided to get back there, and get all the pieces of the vase. On the fields there, a cute chicobo is running around, and gives us one piece, when we catch it. Another piece is with the flower lady, who blames the outsider for Raynes death. In her old house, there is a cat that can talk. I don't even have an explanation for this, except that it has something to do with Raynes ghost. Another piece.

The last one is in the mansion itself. We need Quistis, though, who has some fun acting like the armor in there is posessed. Love this side of her. These characters have a bad reputation of not having much of a personality, which I can't disagree more. I guess this comes from their short arcs, and people not actually exploring a lot. If you do, you get a lot of small moments, where we see the personality of these characters shine through.

Anyway, when going, the armor actually moves, and falls apart, a chicobo running outside, leaving behind the last piece. As a thanks, we get a Holy Stone.

I really enjoyed this little side quest. Aside from getting a bit more from Rayne, it inlcudes chicobos, who are super cute.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Next time: Lunatic Pandora, and maybe even the best final dungeon in the series.

 

[conchobhar]

Also, at this point I'm a bit confused about Ultimecias plan. So, Edea was defeated, and...did she, at this point, already give her power to Rinoa? No, can't be it, than she wouldn't have to get to Odine in the first place. So, I guess Ultimecia couldn't find her that fast, and decided to go for Adels power and influence instead, so she would have an army to look for Ellone. Who she couldn't find, because Ellone was in Space.

No, still don't get it. It seems, like Rinoa inherited the power at the end of Disc 2. While playing, I was confused by Edeas plan anyway, and didn't get why she wanted to reach Esthar. I guess I'll go with "she already had the plan in mind, that we use at the end to defeat Ultimecia, and wanted to reach Esthar to talk about it with Odine, and maybe Laguna". Yeah, I think that works.

…

If anyone can clear up Edeas plan, I'd be happy to hear it, because I'm still not quite sure what it was.

The thing about Edea is that she's operating without all the knowledge. You're right that Edea passed her sorceress powers to Rinoa at the end of disc 2; but that transfer was inadvertent and involuntary, so Edea thinks she's still a sorceress. Her plan to go to Esthar and see Dr. Odine (who she hopes can take her powers away) makes sense in that light. She doesn't know she's already free.

Meanwhile, Ultimecia doesn't really have a plan at this point; Edea's power transfer was involuntary and really threw a wrench in Ultimecia's plans, since it leaves Ultimecia without any vector in the era (Adel is in space, Ellone's location is still unknown, and Rinoa is in a coma). Ultimecia is basically just waiting for Rinoa to wake up (or maybe waiting for her to get close enough to free Adel… I'm not sure).

 

[FelixSH]

A bit late on my part, but: Thanks, that makes a lot of sense.

--------------------------------------------

When I stopped writing, I did my last bit of side-questing and was ready to meet Laguna, Ward and Kiros. So, we move back to Esthar, which is under attack by monsters and Galbadia soldiers.

I think I mentioned this already, but that this mighty, advanced city is attacked at all always felt crazy to me. They just seem so far removed from everything and everyone else, at least looking like they are technologically way apart from the rest of the world. But then, the thing that makes an attack possible is their own weapon, so that makes it plausible.

Every time I get here, I feel secure, and away from the threats of the world. And then, this very city contains random encounters. It feels a bit brutal, especially when you see the corpses(?) of soldiers, and the scared citizens. It seems crazy.

Kiros and Ward look so different, when you meet them here, in their aid uniforms. And we finally meet Laguna. If you have Selphie with you, there is a cute bit where she is starstruck by seeing him. It's really sweet.

Laguna also explains, that they always felt more powerful, when the fairies were with them, or something like that. Which is another indicator that, despite Ellones power being restricted, it is possible to change the past. Just through junctioning, we could have helped them win a battle they would have lost, otherwise. Considering they fought against a dragon, I actually wonder if they would have even made it. So, is this a smaller, closed-off time-loop, where Laguna only survives through Squall from the future, but only can give birth to him after being aided in battle, by him?

We have a bit of a talk (might be a bad time, considering that the city is going the hell, but Laguna still seems pretty chill about everything). We learn the last bit of the puzzle that is Lagunas past - how he became president, after finding Ellone. At that point, Odine had already made progress with technology that could seal magic. I wonder, did he work on that during his free time? I can't imagine Adel knowing about this. Laguna, feeling indepted to the resistance, decided to help. Under instructions from Odine, they started by dropping the Lunatic Pandora into the ocean, but where found out in the process.

A hologram of Ellone was in the building with the magic sealing machine, and was enough to trick Adel. I assume arrogance, unable to think that she could be in danger, made her not take care. Which gave Laguna an opening, and he pushed her into the machine. And so, she was captured and sent into space. I only wonder, why didn't the people here throw her into the sun?

BTW, I do love Adels design, and how she is such a buff counterpoint to the slim build of Ultimecia. She looks badass, nearly androgenous, and her face is delightfully detailed, giving her a really dangerous appearance.

Laguna became president, while he wasn't looking, and Ellone was sent back to Rayne. Who then died, and Ellone got sent to the orphanage. I assume, it was not possible to actually find out where Laguna was? Due to her special powers, she had to move to the White SeeD ship, away from the orphanage. I do wonder, why was she then in Balamb Garden, at the beginning of the game? And now, at this moment, she is inside the Lunatic Pandora.

Laguna is such a fascinating character. He seems to be very lucky, but with the implication that he earned this luck, by being a super-cool guy, very nice and helpful, to the ones important to him. Big heart, even for downtrodden people.

When we ask for a plan to defeat Adel, Odine appears. He already learned, how Ellones powers work, and built a simple machine with it. In Ultimecias time, in the far future, that technology would be improved, so that Ultimecia could use it to put her mind back in time.

As is the case with excentric scientists, Odine is just happy that his invention will make such an impact. Honestly, he seems way more like a Cid that the actual Cid of the game is, with him being a genius scientist and building technology that will be abused.

The point is, Ultimecia is in the future, where we have to go, to actually defeat her. But her plan is to compress time, which gives us a way to meet her. Adel is still awakening, and Ultimecia will try to control her. But if Adel wins the mind struggle, which I find plausible, as she is very powerful herself, she might destroy this world. So, it has to be Rinoa who takes on that power. To make sure that Rinoa is the only possible host, we have to kill Adel in the Lunatic Pandora.

Ellone, then, has to send them back into earlier times, so Ultimecia can compress time, and we get a chance to kill her.

As Laguna is a big dork, he wants to hold a last meeting inside the Ragnarok, because he finds the spaceship so cool. I totally understand, and agree. Love this thing.

And, of course, Adel has to pass on her powers, which Rinoa will accept. I guess it is a thing, that a sorceress really can only die, if her powers are given to someone else. Or, in other words, one with the gift can not die, and seems cursed to live forever. Which, as other FFs clearly point out, is a bad thing.

Laguna also gives us important information. We should not forget our friends, and believe in each other. It's the only way to survive in the compressed world, through the Power of Friendship. Mirroring what Squall mentioned earlier to Rinoa, we should think of a place to meet up, that reminds us of our friends, when time compression begins. Basically an anchor, so we aren't completely lost in the the ALL of time.

The speech is very Anime, but also really fits Laguna well, who simply is all about his friends, and the people who are important to him. There probably is something to be said, about someone like him, who valued people above all else, to be an awful dead for Squall, presenting him with a part of his deep trauma. But I'm not even sure, if he knew about his son, so maybe that's unfair. It's certainly a nice play on the orphaned child (who literally starts out in an orphanage), and the deadpan parent.

And with that, we start the endgame. We simply shoot at the Lunatic Pandora, and force our way through its forcefield, after which we shoot a hole into the wall.

Inside, we meet Raijin and Fujin once more, and we have a last fight, as they demand Rinoa. After that, we even meet Biggs and Wedge here, who complain about having to take orders from a kid. And they decide to, finally, quit their bad job. Good on them. I really like these two here, the comic relief the offer and that they get a bit of an arc throughout the game.

Soon, we meet the guarding robot, that sent us away the first time we got there, with Zell. I wonder, why he doesn't simply send us away, again? Maybe because we have Rinoa with us, and Seifer (maybe also Adel) wants her here?

The fight doesn't last long. It could have been hard, but I'm OP, with multiple thousands of damage per hit.

Soon after, we get to Seifer, where we also find Fujin and Raijin, holding Ellone. But here, they finally decide to stop helping Seifer. Not that they give up on him - they will always fulfill his dream, but he is completely on the wrong track, being manipulated. And this is their most powerful move, to leave him, the only two people who always stood by his side.

But Seifer is still blind, and we are left to knock some sense into him. He tells us, that the knight has retired, and that he sees himself as a young revolutionary now. He always wanted to do something big, and can't be stopped now.

To be honest, I'm not sure what to make of this. I'm not even sure, if he is actively brainwashed, like Kain was in IV, or if he is just strongly manipulated by false promises. But that he gave up on his dream, of being a knight, might be the biggest indicator of him being completely off track. That was his big motivator, through all of his life, and now it isn't there anymore.

Basically, he stopped trying to be the guard and hero, helping others (however twisted), and sees himself now as the bringer of the new world. Maybe he sees himself as a leader, now?

As I have Odin, the bizarre scene happens where this old, mighty being is killed by this dork, who got a bit too strong with his junctions. I always found this bizarre, but than, we also defeated a bunch of GFs. So, it's probably more in my head, with the idea that summons are untouchable.

The scene that follows, where Gilgamesh catches Odins sword, is pretty cool, though, and a nice callback to FF V. It is a pretty pathetic way for Seifer to be, finally, defeated, to just be blown away. Maybe it's a reference to how Necrophobia gets defeated, in FF V?

Despite Rinoa not being in my party, she is here (I guess everyone is), and is kidnapped by Seifer. We follow them, finally reaching Adel. She junctions Rinoa, which probably means that she gets the power of both.

At this point, I really wonder what "junctioning" actually is. It certainly is more, than what Odine made possible, as a sorceress who is powerful enough seems able to junction every living being onto herself (or even herself ONTO another being). From a gameplay standpoint, it is simple a trick to make the battle harder, as Rinoa can't die (of course, then only Adel would be there to take on Ultimecias powers, but also because she is our friend). If one used GFs for the whole game, and never bothered with junctions, this would be a really hard fight.

For me, though, it is another easy one. Her spells are strong, but don't do much to me.

As a short aside, the way how Odine creates machines to give people the powers of the sorceresses, reminds me of FF VI. Except less brutal. No sorceress has to die, for "regular" people to use her powers.

After the fight, Ellone sends Rinoa and Ultimecia as one back, but brings Rinoa back to us. And the compression starts. Stuff happens, and we decide to meet at the orphanage.

But before we get there, we find ourselfs at the room in Deling City, where Rinoa and Edea first met. The savepoint works, but weirdly multiplies. Then, fake Edea gets out of the chair, multiplies, and we fight multiple sorceresses, most of them pretty weak.

So, what happens here? I assume, that Ultimecia knows where we are going, and tries to stop us, by sending us here. I guess, Deling City is a good place, because there her rise to power happened, and she really started to get aggressive. Maybe she has positive memories of this place, and it gives her power.

The sorceresses? I guess, that now, with time compression, she actually has control over the weaker ones throughout time, and can use them as her guard. Maybe the places where we fight them are the places, where they were most powerful. The last and strongest one is fought in a bare, unhospitable land. I assume this is from our future, but Ultimecias past. Another really horrible dictator, who fought a fierce battle against SeeDs, and nothing much is left of the world, at this point. And then, Ultimecia is there, trying to finish the job.

More on this later, but a bit for now: I assume the war between SeeD and the sorceresses, will get worse over time, and make the world into a horrible place. SeeD exists to kill them, and they will fight back, and it will likely go more and more horrible, from here on out. And Ultimecia will try to finally end this.

Specifically with this game, which has a brighter, funnier setting, this feels brutal. But I always felt like the future would be a horrible one, where Ultimecia rained nearly supreme, over a small group of SeeDs, fighting a hopeless war, the world nearly destroyed by pointless wars.

The battle itself always confused me, when playing the other two times. I never knew if I killed the sorceresses, when they vanished, or if I had done something wrong, and they basically restarted the fight in a different location. With them, it became clear that I progressed, probably when the type of sorceress changed. Without that confusion, it is a pretty cool fight.

After the battle, we are at the orphanage. Outside, the beach soon transforms, with dead SeeDs lying on the ground. So, we aren't the only ones who are still fighting inside the compression. But we are the only ones strong enough, because we know about the power of friendship. Our group isn't just a fighting force - they are friends, and we have a sorceress on our side.

The imagery is pretty amazing, with the floating castle, held only by gigantic chains, which we run up to get there. On the side, there are doors that lead us into the real world, or something like that, but the cities are closed off. I didn't explore anymore, though.

At the castle entrance, we meet up one more time. And, in a callback to FF VI, we split up into two parties. When we enter, eight abilites are sealed away: Item, Magic, GGF, Draw, Command Ability, Limit Break, Resurrection and Save.

So, I'm probably not the only one who thinks that this is the best final dungeon in the whole series, if not one of the best in all of JRPG history? The design alone is amazing, and reminds me, once more, of more horror oriented games, like Resident Evil, or even Castlevania (due to its belltower). Sealing our abilities, and giving us a bit of a boss rush, where we have to find the bosses by exploring the castle, is just fun design. And I don't know, if you can reach Ultimecia without unlocking anything, but it's nice that you basically can decide how much you want to explore and unlock. Well, not unlocking anything probably wouldn't work, she is simply too strong for that, even if junctioning itself isn't gone.

I wasn't motivated to split my spells and GFs onto two parties, so I did everything I could with Squall, Quistis and Selphie, and only used the others the one time I needed to. A bit of a shame, because I like that you are supposed to use your whole party, implying that the team consists of all six, not just three, of us.

The first boss, I guess unskippable, is Sphinx, who is extremely weak. I unlock Draw here. Only problem, at the moment, is my lack of healing options. Next, I find a dragon that counters everything with a powerful thunder spell. But Squall is healed by that, and Quistis is skilled in a way, that makes the move very weak. Selphie, though, simply dies.

Next, I meet Tiamat, who I draw Eden from. Not useful anymore, as I don't want to develop him, and I'm not sure if I needed his junction options. I do like, that the game gives you a second chance to get GFs that you might have missed. But at this point, it seems too late, and only there as something for completionists. When defeating Tiamat, I unlock Resurrection.

The dragon was a GF, but became a monster under Ultimecias power. Once more, I wonder what GFs actually are, and how they are different from monsters. Maybe monsters can fight on their own, and they only become GFs under a "master", for as long as the connection holds? Or maybe her powers are just so strong, that she can undo the power that binds GFs to the one who defeats them?

Next, I meet a Visage (the monster that consists out of two hands and a face, sticking in the ground), who becomes Gargantua after being defeated. Nice surprise, that there is actually a giant monster under the ground. He would have been hard, had he survived longer. I unlock the Command Abilities.

Next one is the Red Giant, who is immune to everything, or at least takes very little damage, except for Gravity spells, which can be drawn from him. I unlock Limit Breaks.

After that, I fight Krysta, a jewel that Ultimecia gave life. Physical attacks don't do much, and are contered hard, but triple-casting Meteor simply destroys it. I unlock Item. And with that, I decide to fight Ultimecia, as I don't need Save or GF, which are the only ones left. And I wasn't motivated to work out the picture puzzle.

Ultimecia, similar to Edea under her control, really knows how to make an impression. She, too, has great art design behind her, and looks great and threatening, sitting high up on her throne. Fittingly, she curses all SeeDs, and threatens us not with death, but with torture for eternity. Her black wings are a neat detail, and contrast nicely Rinoas white wings (or did my mind make them up?).

First, we simply fight her in this form. In another callback to FF VI, the party is randomly decided, and I start with Quistis, Irvine and Rinoa. Irvine immediately dies, and Selphie takes his place. As mentioned before, I didn't split my spells and GFs up, so everyone but Squall, Quistis and Selphie is basically useless.

Interestingly, unlike in the fight against Kefka, we can't choose the starting party. It's Ultimecia, who decides whom she fight against first. Just one more trick that she uses, showing us how much control she really has. Still, her first form is easily deferated.

After that, she summons the strongest thing in Squalls mind. It's Grieva, as I experimented by changing it's name, at the end of disc 2. I know the fan theory, that Ultimecia is Rinoa from the future, and that this is the reason why this is her GF. But scanning the thing reveals, that it simply is the strongest being that Squall can imagine.

Which is a pretty awesome idea for a boss in itself. It means that Ultimecia can read our minds, and uses the one thing that impresses us the most, to scare us. I assume, that the thing we think of as the strongest also is the one we would fear in a fight the most. So, until the end, Ultimecia plays psychological games with us.

Thankfully, Quistis Triple Meteor is still super powerful, doing around 21000 damage per cast. Which is good, as Grieva can do something that smells like cheating: Simply blow away a random set of spells. I mean, if you have a good selection, plus a lot of useless ones, it is pretty unlikely that you will lose something important. But if, say, Selphie lost her set of attack-junctioned spells, she would be useless immediately.

I guess at some point, Rinoa dies, as I remember having my main team at this point. Squall and Selphie, though, aren't that impressive here, for the first time in forever. They only do around 3000 damage per hit, which is nothing, compared to Quistis.

Still, the fight isn't too hard, until the very end. Grieva, before dying, casts the absurdly powerful Shockwave Pulsar, which I understand to be Quistis ultimate Blue Spell. It also one-shots her and Selphie, so I guess you need a really good junction for Spirit? I thought it was decent.

Squall survived, but was only able to revive Selphie. And Quistis is absorbed into time, leaving me with only two characters (I guess I forgot to write down, at which point Zell appeared and died).

Which is bad, as there are still two parts left. Ultimecia junctiones herself onto Grieva, which I don't even understand. I guess this is stronger, than the other way around?

As the game is going all out, I decide to do the same, and finally using all my Heros, and get Squall into Aura, as much as possible. Which is still way weaker than it could be, because his weapon is two or three levels below Lionheart. So, while his Limit Break did fine damage, it could have been way more.

Oh, just realized now that after that, the final part starts. It gets silent, and I actually thought I might have made it, because it was so peaceful. But no, her final form appeared out of the void. Another form that can blow away spells. It also can reduce HP to 1, and only after a long time did I get the feeling that it was a reaction to Limit Breaks, because she did it ALL THE TIME. I wasn't even fast enough, to apply enough Heros, and died a few times, before deciding to use savestates. Sorry, after briezing through so much, it was just an absurd difficulty spike, and I didn't want to do much more.

It was a really brutal fight, and took forever. I have no idea how much HP she had, but it felt like this battle was never ending. By far the hardest final boss up to now, and it isn't even close. All the other bosses were challenging, but were defeated at the first try - they never gave me much trouble.

Ultimecia, though, was horribly brutal, took forever, had tricks that are just mean and is simply a really, really difficult boss. I don't remember that. The other times, I only fought bosses, so my levels were probably below ten, and even without the Lionheart, these final battles were easy. I at least don't remember them to be hard. This time, though? Absolutely brutal. Which is interesting, as there are many people on the internet who find her pretty easy.

It is fitting. I love, that she is so insanely powerful, and even plays around with stuff like deciding who fights against her at first, simply taking away party members and even spells, giving her a random chance of weakening us horribly. I don't like such difficult battles, so I'm glad about the possibility to use savestates, but I like it thematically. Ultimecia should be really, really powerful.

And with that, time stops being compressed (I think, the world is back, after all), and what was a small space before, becomes now a gigantic void, where everyone is looking around to find the others, and the way home. Rinoa remembers to meet up in the garden of the orphanage.

Squall is the only one in a black void. He hears Rinoa, but doesn't know where she is. He probably travels with Ultimecia, as both of them end up in the orphanage, at the time where Ellone left, and young Squall is looking for her. Edea seems to be a sorceress already, as she knows that Squall shouldn't be here. And, when a nearly dead Ultimecia appears and stumbles around, Edea knows what to do. She takes on her power, so Ultimecia can die and find peace. Edea already knows, that she wasn't dangerous anymore, she just wanted to die.

So, up to the end, the game shows sympathy for its villains. Even after all she did, everyone she hurt, the game shows that Ultimecia, after all, is just another human. While the game made clear, that it was important to defeat her, it doesn't want her to be in torment. Edea shows her compassion, and lets her die in peace.

But than, I have argued a few times already that the game is very aware, that the sorceresses are not the sole bad guys here. They are a product of a society that hates and fears them, and part of what they do is to defend themselves against aggressors. This isn't supposed to argue, that they are in the right, to take over the world and start wars. Just that there is a societal problem here, that should be tackled. But it isn't, which will lead to Ultimecia, in the future.

Also, this seems very much like a reference to FF I. We have another closed-off time-loop, that starts here. Partly, because Squall tells Edea about SeeDs and the Gardens, that they were her ideas, which plants the idea into her mind, in the first place.

A small bit: She asks, if Squall will be alright. He says, that he will, as he is not alone. At this point, we know that he knows. But it's nice that, by now, he has so much trust into his friends, and especially Rinoa, that he knows that he will find them, and that they will find him.

An FMV starts, and we see him stumble through a wasteland, while Rinoa is waiting in the meadow from the very beginning of the game, the starting FMV. He seems to walk forever, until he sees a white feather. With that, he finally finds the meadow. And then a super weird scene plays, where his memories seem to get distorted - he remembers all the places, where he met Rinoa, but it all is off and creepy, and you really need to see this yourself, I can't describe it.

Until she finally appears in the wasteland (so I guess he was unconscious, and his memories were mixed with his dreams), she starts crying, the clouds break up. Petals fly around, but Squall doesn't wake up.

And I still want to write Cloud, instead of Squall. I have no idea why.

We switch to seifer, who is fishing with Fujin and Raijin. It's just a scene from them having fun, but that is more than enough. After all that he experienced, he seems healed, and he can finally, for real, laugh and have fun with his friends. It's a very sweet scene.

Next, we see Laguna, who looks over the fields of Winhill, remembering his time with Rayne. He gives her a ring like his, similar to how Rinoa and Squall have the same ring. And so, we see him and Ellone visit Raynes grave.

The credits start to roll, but there are still videos done by Selphie, with her handcamera. They are in the Garden, flying and having a fancy party, everyone having fun together. Zell finally gets his hotdogs, and nearly suffocates on them. Everyone gets a bit of screentime, but we end with Rinoa on the balcony, alone. But it's only a fakeout, after that, we see, from a different angle, that Squall is also there. They are watching the stars.

And we end with a shot of the Garden, in front of a screen-filling moon.

-----------------------------------------------------

And that's FF VIII. As always, I will write one more final post, summarizing my thoughts on the themes and characters. For now, I want to say that this is an excellent game, and probably my biggest surprise. I didn't expect this game to be so good, and am especially surprised by the characters. But everything works here, the story is great, the characters are fun and the systems are enjoyable and seem just complex enough. Not my favourite FF (I generally miss the 2D games already, and think III and V will stay my favourites), but one that I hold in much higher regard now, than before.

 

[RT-55J]

An FMV starts, and we see him stumble through a wasteland, while Rinoa is waiting in the meadow from the very beginning of the game, the starting FMV. He seems to walk forever, until he sees a white feather. With that, he finally finds the meadow. And then a super weird scene plays, where his memories seem to get distorted - he remembers all the places, where he met Rinoa, but it all is off and creepy, and you really need to see this yourself, I can't describe it.

Until she finally appears in the wasteland (so I guess he was unconscious, and his memories were mixed with his dreams), she starts crying, the clouds break up. Petals fly around, but Squall doesn't wake up.

My interpretation of this scene is that it is Squall experiencing the brunt of the effects of time compression, even as it is unravelling. In my mind, the scene matches the description Ultimecia gives at the end of her last phase:

I am Ultimecia. Time shall compress... ...All existence denied.
Reflect on your... Childhood...
Your sensation... Your words... Your emotions...
Time... It will not wait...
No matter... ...how hard you hold on. It escapes you...
And...

(It feels as if the translator was lacking context when translating this (battle text was probably separate from the main script), though the general mood is well conveyed.)

Squall is left alone to himself in a desolate, shrinking universe, with his leather boots nothing more than clown shoes against the gaping void. With nothing to hold on to, even his memories are stripped away from him before he finally breaks.

Time compression, the nonsensical science-fantasy plot device that none of the main cast could convincingly comprehend, turned out to be an exactingly precise literalization of Squall's deepest fears --- of having friends and comradery, only for it to all be taken away as he is abandoned and consigned to oblivion. Time compression is Squall's depression.

And yet, as the intro states, Rinoa was waiting for him and indeed found him.

(idk if this is coming across correctly but thinking about this gets me worked up like few other things do. it's a beautiful ending and i think about it very often.)

 

[Torzelbaum]

Enjoying this as always but I want to step back a few posts to comment on something.

While I'm not saying much about the fight, there are really cool things to see, like Galbadians jumping onto our gardens with motorcycles, some crashing into a window (changing fluidly from FMV to in-game graphics) and a mass fight scene in the background.

One of my favorite little parts of this scene is watching some random SeeD use his gunblade to clothesline a soldier off of a motorcycle. I just thought it was really cool.

 

[gorha]

So, I'm probably not the only one who thinks that this is the best final dungeon in the whole series, if not one of the best in all of JRPG history? The design alone is amazing, and reminds me, once more, of more horror oriented games, like Resident Evil, or even Castlevania (due to its belltower). Sealing our abilities, and giving us a bit of a boss rush, where we have to find the bosses by exploring the castle, is just fun design. And I don't know, if you can reach Ultimecia without unlocking anything, but it's nice that you basically can decide how much you want to explore and unlock. Well, not unlocking anything probably wouldn't work, she is simply too strong for that, even if junctioning itself isn't gone.

I also love Ultimecia's castle. Great atmosphere, some neat puzzles, lots of bosses, chances to use all the characters. That's what I want from a final dungeon. The sealed abilities also contribute to the horror vibe, making you feel as helpless as possible when you're just a few screens away from the final boss and surrounded by some of the strongest enemies in the game. It rules.