Board 8 > SaveEstelle/LeonhartFour in Different Houses: Remastered Edition [SELF]

(+) Yeah! (+)

I'm just glad they fixed it so you can still listen to tunes on a chocobo.
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man I'm glad I have no fantasy stakes in tonight's game because now I don't have to watch Redskins/Bears
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Now it's time for the best part of Final Fantasy VIII! As an aside before we start, it's interesting that Galbadia Garden happens to be here near the orphanage, too. It's almost like Edea brought Seifer here to remind him of his past and strengthen his loyalty to her. When you fight him, he clearly recalls his past at the orphanage, so it makes sense to me that this would be the case.

Squall realizes the battle is inevitable, and he hopes this will be the final one. At this point, he has to give orders to everyone, and you can choose what to prioritize here (including telling them to hide the hot dogs so the Galbadians can't have any!). Theoretically, you're not supposed to say too much or too little (I think it gives a boost to your SeeD rank if you do it just right), but it doesn't actually impact how things play out.

After Squall finishes giving orders, the others (sans Zell and Rinoa) meet him at the bridge. When he asks where Zell is, they tell a blatantly obvious lie (even Squall isn't fooled by it) that he's taking a nap. I mean, we're about to have a climactic battle! Someone should probably wake him up! Squall decides to go check out the quad and sends the one party member he doesn't take along to find Zell and prepare things at the front gate.

When we get to the quad, Zell is already there, wide awake and giving orders. Being the teenagers that they are, Zell takes a few minutes to take care of some personal business before the battle begins. He asks Squall if he can borrow his ring for a while. When asked why he needs it, he can't share that info. Reluctantly, Squall hands it over. Even a little gesture like this shows that he's come to trust Zell over time since he's willing to let him have it even without knowing why. I guess Squall must wear the ring over his glove since he doesn't remove his glove to give it to Zell (and I guess nobody would ever see if if it were under his glove, but it's still kinda weird!). In his excitement over accomplishing his goal, Zell can't help letting it slip that this was for Rinoa.

Speaking of Rinoa, she shows up at the quad as well, saying that she wants to fight, too. She doesn't just want to hide, and Squall acquiesces. Then Nida calls him back to the bridge. We get an FMV of Seifer looking out at Balamb Garden from Galbadia Garden. Then he gives the order for the motorcycle soldiers to launch over to Garden, and it's officially on. The two Gardens also collide, allowing the foot soldiers to board as well.

We switch over to Zell in the quad, who hands over the ring to Rinoa. He said he can make her one just like it, but he tells her to hold onto it for now. Unfortunately, right afterwards, Galbadia Garden slams into Balamb Garden again, and a piece of the quad breaks off with Rinoa still standing on it. She slides down the side and manages to get an iron grip on the edge (Seriously, she hangs on to that ledge for a long time!). Zell racks his brain trying to figure out a way to save her, and they run into Squall by the front gate.

Squall's got a lot on his plate in addition to worrying about Rinoa, so he delegates the task to Zell as he heads for the second floor classroom, telling him to do whatever it takes to save her. After chasing the enemy off, Nida calls for him to return to the bridge because Dr. Kadowaki is there waiting for him.
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As Squall heads back to the bridge, he sees wounded SeeDs along the way, indicating that the battle isn't going well so far. He tells Dr. Kadowaki that they've been able to hold off the first two waves, but he doesn't think they can handle another one. Quistis says that Galbadia Garden has more experienced fighters since most of Balamb's troops are students still in training. Squall wonders if he should've focused more on offense than defense in the beginning.

Dr. Kadowaki calls back to what Squall told her at the very beginning that he can't just run away from this fight with Seifer. He decides it's time to take the fight to them instead. If Galbadia Garden can crash into them, then Nida can return the favor and make a way for them to board. Zell shows up and says there's no way to get to Rinoa because the quad is blocked off. Irvine sees Squall's reaction and says he saw him just give up on her, and he tells him to go help Rinoa. Even if it's too late, he doesn't want him to give up until he's 100% certain there's nothing more he can do. Squall says he has to lead the attack, but Irvine doesn't care about his duty or obligations right now. The rest of them can take charge until he gets back. Irvine says he knows the place like the back of his hand, so he can handle it.

After that's settled, Dr. Kadowaki says that Squall is forgetting something important. He needs to talk to his troops and encourage them. It's his duty as their leader. Nida says that he probably doesn't realize this, but everyone in Balamb Garden looks up to him. He nods and "The Oath" begins to play as he starts his epic speech as all his teammates show their pride in how far he's come and all the SeeDs and students perk up upon hearing his words.

With that said, Nida slams into Galbadia Garden and lets the others get on board. As Squall heads down the elevator, one of the SeeDs tells him one of the junior classmen is missing, so he has no choice but to find him. He gets ambushed by one of the flying units, and we get a tough mini-game where we have to knock the other soldier off so we can use the flying machine to save Rinoa. We get a really cool FMV as he flies around the Garden and then swoops in to save Rinoa. Then they dash across Galbadia Garden, and we get one of the most awesome background FMV events ever as one of the SeeDs uses his sword to slash a Galbadian soldier off of his motorcycle.

Rinoa thanks Squall for saving her, but he tries to deflect it by saying that it was his job and he's still under contract. Plus, it was everyone else's idea, too. She says that she couldn't afford to fall off of that cliff and die because she has something important that belongs to him. Rinoa shows him the ring he lent to Zell, and in his mind he says he's gonna kill him for this. She asks what the "monster" is on it, before Squall corrects her and says it's a lion, thank you very much. Lions are known for their great strength and pride, so he admires them for those traits. Rinoa coyly says that it sounds like him, too, and she asks if the lion has a name. I don't know who names symbols on their rings, but Squall does! The default name is Griever, which is a pretty cool name, so I'll let it slide.

Rinoa says that Zell is going to make her one just like it, and she says that everyone might get the wrong idea about them if they have the same ring. Squall rightly deduces that she sounds pretty excited about that prospect, and he knows that everyone is trying to get them together because it's pretty obvious at this point. We reunite with the others and now it's time for the long trek through Galbadia Garden (and a GF battle against Cerberus while we're at it!).
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Seifer tries to play some mind games with the party, asking if they intended to fight Matron after all that she's done for them. Squall simply tells him to shut up. The fun thing here is that Seifer has unique dialogue for each party member and they have their own response to him. He tries to remind Rinoa of what happened between them a year ago, but she won't let him speak of it. Once again, we're deprived of some important info! He calls Zell "Chicken-wuss" for old time's sake and says a lot's happened between them, and he replies that he's ready to get even.

Squall tells Seifer that he can't mess with their minds anymore. As he draws his gunblade, he tells him that to them, he's just another enemy, like one of those monsters. This really sets him off. As I've said before, any implication that Seifer isn't the righteous hero of this story is reprehensible to him because he completely lacks self-awareness. He proudly proclaims that he is the sorceress's knight, and they are the monsters, talking about how they're attacking Galbadia Garden like a swarm. Again, we see his lack of self-awareness because he led the charge in making the first move against Balamb Garden and basically had them try to swarm all the SeeDs and students.

After Seifer collapses to the ground in defeat, Edea descends through the floor, and Squall remembers that the auditorium is right below. Impressive considering this is only your second time here!

Now I'm just gonna say it straight: This next boss fight is one of my favorite boss fights in any JRPG. Not because it's difficult (because it's not if you're junctioned properly, even though Maelstrom is no joke), but because the atmosphere for this fight is off the charts. They hype this up to be a climactic battle, even though it's only the end of Disc 2 and you know there are two more left. Edea crashing through the ceiling from above gets this fight started off on the right foot. The fact that you have to start off fighting Seifer, who can't even stand up straight because he's so weak (and the game won't even let you target Edea until you defeat him), is fantastic. I like when you defeat him, all he says as he drops t the floor is, "...I'm disgraced."

Anyway, I'm getting a bit ahead of myself here! Even if Rinoa isn't in your party, she'll run into the room right before the fight starts for no apparent reason (other than plot convenience because she has to be there to take Edea's sorceress powers! Should have just made her mandatory!). Edea asks if they're the legendary SeeD destined to face her, which makes no sense to Squall, but it shows she understands her own "fate" to a degree, even though she clearly doesn't know all the details of it. I can imagine they kept that info under wraps for good reason because she would obviously avoid falling into the same trap again if she knew what caused her to be defeated.

Before the battle begins, Squall in his mind concludes that this woman can't be their Matron, and to an extent, he's not wrong! It won't stop me from taking Alexander from her though!
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After the battle, this weird pink cloud emanates from Edea (probably signifying the transfer of her sorceress powers). Then Squall, almost in a haze, sees Rinoa lean over Seifer's unconscious body, after which he rises up and leaves. Once she collapses to the ground with a thud, Squall is brought back to reality. Then Edea begins to speak to the SeeDs with a sense of familiarity. She commends them for how strong they've all become. She says that she's waited for this day, while also fearing it. Then she asks if she's managed to protect Ellone. Naturally, Squall is utterly confused by all this, but before he can consider it further, Quistis tells him there's something wrong with Rinoa. And thus ends Disc 2! Dun dun dunnnnnnnnn!

As Disc 3 begins, Squall is lying on his bed, wondering if it's all over. Well, this is the beginning of Disc 3, so I'd say not! All he can think about is Rinoa, so he goes to her side in the infirmary until Quistis tells him to go to Edea's house immediately. At this point, Galbadia Garden disappears from the map completely. Does that mean we destroyed it, it sank into the ocean, or what? Who knows!
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LeonhartFour posted...

He nods and "The Oath" begins to play as he starts his epic speech

oh ya go my the oath

That indeed probably is the best part of FFVIII.
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Started up the Switch version of Links Awakening

Immediate thought: text and movement speeds seem kinda annoyingly slow
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Movement speed definitely feels slow at the start. I've gotten used to it now that I'm halfway through, but Link is definitely sluggish at the start.

You can fast-forward the text with B, though.
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Oh my god this crane game

This is not where I wanted realism in my remake...!
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Crane game doesn't care about your feelings or about physics.
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After meeting Iris in Lestallum, the game points me to a dungeon near a waterfall. But wait, still need another 15 hours to do a loop around Cleigne. Unless there's significantly less to do than in Duscae. I'm already level 42, and main quest recommended level is like 16. Oh well.
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Yeah, if you take the time to do everything before moving on, you'll always be way ahead of the game's recommended levels.
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When we arrive at the orphanage, Edea and Cid are waiting for us. Cid says he wouldn't blame them if they were angry at him because all he does is talk big, but he runs away in times of trouble. He was in a no-win situation because their defeat would mean the end of them and their victory would mean losing his wife, or so he thought. All he asks is that they forgive Edea.

Edea tells them that this isn't over yet. She informs them that she's been possessed this whole time by Sorceress Ultimecia. She is a sorceress from the future, many generations ahead of our time. The game never specifies exactly how far into the future she comes from beyond this indication that it's well beyond their own lifetimes. Edea says that Ultimecia's objective is to find Ellone and use her mysterious power. She describes Ultimecia as a very fearful sorceress, filled with anger and hate. It's interesting that Edea uses the word "fearful" rather than "fearsome," indicating that she's motivated by fear as opposed to instilling fear into the hearts of others. It gives you a slight hint as to her motive.

Edea says there was no way she could let Ultimecia get a hold of Ellone. The only option she had was to let Ultimecia possess her and lose control of her mind. That makes it sound like Edea surrendered willingly, as if she could have resisted and fought off Ultimecia's attempts to possess her. The game doesn't seem to give any indication that it's possible because Rinoa certainly couldn't fight her off, and Laguna, Kiros, and Ward never did either (although they didn't understand what was going on, and it wasn't like Squall and company "possessed" them in the same sense). It could just be a result of both of them being sorceresses. Who knows.

Edea states that Ultimecia has yet to achieve her goal, and she fears that she may use her body again to carry out her plans. All indications are that Edea gave up her sorceress powers without realizing she did so, and she's still yet to realize she's lost them. I'm not sure how you would tell one way or the other, besides having the ability to freely use magic, I guess! On a similar note, one of the things people cite to support R=U (the fan theory that Rinoa becomes Ultimecia, for those who are unaware) is that sorceresses can't die in peace without passing on their powers, as if that makes them immortal. On the contrary, if they're in mortal danger, they'll pass on their powers whether they want to or not. It happened with Edea at the end of Disc 2, and it happens to Ultimecia in the ending. The Ultimania confirms that sorceresses have normal lifespans as well, and as Edea just stated, Ultimecia exists many generations into the future, so yeah, that fan theory isn't possible by the laws of FFVIII's world.

Edea does say she plans to make a stand against Ultimecia this time, so I guess it is theoretically possible to resist. However, in the event that she does not succeed, she accepts the possibility that she may have to fight them again. She asks for their support throughout all of this.

Then Edea asks if we know who Sorceress Adel is. If this is your first time playing, the name may not sound familiar because she's only been mentioned in passing a few times up to this point. They've also spoken of the Sorceress War and they've talked about Esthar here and there, but now all of it comes to the forefront here. Zell answers that Adel was the ruler of Esthar during the aforementioned Sorceress War, but no one knows of her whereabouts now. Edea says that the Galbadians must have thought that she received Adel's powers, but that is not the case because she received her powers at the age of 5.
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Edea says she believes Adel is still alive somewhere, and Ultimecia released control over her in order to use her body instead. Sorceress Adel is the type who won't hesitate to use her powers to fulfill her own selfish desires, so she's a vessel more to Ultimecia's liking. Their combined power would be unimaginable.

After a while, Squall decides he's heard enough and asks Edea what's wrong with Rinoa. She doesn't really know either, so she doesn't think she can be of any help. Cid reminds Squall that he's in a position of leadership, so the other students have a right to know what's happened and what's to come.

Then there's an interesting framing device for the rest of this scene. Everything is black, so you can't see any of the characters. Squall's thoughts about Rinoa are front and center on the screen, while the conversation around him bounces around the edges, and it doesn't even indicate who's speaking each line. This represents the fact that Squall can only think about Rinoa right now and is barely paying attention to what everyone else is saying. As I said before, Final Fantasy VIII puts Squall's inner turmoil on an equal (if not greater) footing than the outward conflict, and this scene demonstrates that perhaps greater than anything else in the game.

As Squall reminisces about Rinoa, the words "time compression" occur for the first time. It's described as time magic where past, present, and future all get compressed. Unfortunately, they don't really elaborate on time compression as much as they should, or why Ultimecia needs to go further back into the past than she already has. My personal theory is that she needed three different "points" in time, one to act as the past, one to act as the present, and one to act as the future, in order for the magic to work, but again, the game never really explains how it works. If you read the info corner, it says that it's a "complete mystery," which is helpful! It says that various states of "present" blend together, and sorceresses from many generations could cross over to give one sorceress great power (which we see happen in Disc 4), but no one knows what effect it will have on regular human beings.

After a while, the other party members realize Squall hasn't been listening to a word that's been said. He says that basically all they have to do is prevent Ultimecia from finding Ellone, so they're going to head back to Garden to let everyone know. They all realize he's worried about Rinoa, but they remind him that he's not the only one. Honestly, I've gotta say that when 13-year-old me heard all this stuff about a sorceress from the future possessing Edea and making her do all this evil stuff, I didn't believe it! I thought Edea was lying about all of that so she could lay low and recover her power or carry out her next scheme or something! Even a 13-year-old me realized how far out of left field all of this came and how hard to swallow it all was! You get little hints here and there (the main one being the question as to how Edea changed so drastically from the past to the present), but you'd never reach that conclusion on your own.

When Squall returns to Garden, he informs them that they'll be searching for the White SeeD Ship since that's the most likely place for Ellone to be. At the end, he adds that Edea is probably not their enemy anymore, so he asks everyone to just leave her alone. If you talk to Xu, she comments that she hates to say it, but she's not sure some people will be so forgiving of Edea. Well, what's not forgiving are the Centra card rules as I try to win Edea's card from the woman herself...!

(This is your regular reminder that Plus is a garbage rule)
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*looks at the poll of the day*

y'know i had a dream a few days back that skies of arcadia got a remaster (again) and i was able to finally play it
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ya go my Skies of Arcadia

best world map and sense of exploration in any JRPG I've played
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A remaster with faster battles would be pretty great
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xp1337 posted...

*looks at the poll of the day*

If only they'd made a spinoff series or two of Xenogears. We could be playing Xeno-games to this day...
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it will always baffle me how much people think they like legend of dragoon
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Mac Arrowny posted...

xp1337 posted...

*looks at the poll of the day*

If only they'd made a spinoff series or two of Xenogears. We could be playing Xeno-games to this day...

my favorite part of the poll is Allen completely ignoring the fact that Xenosaga exists
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After finishing up official business, Squall returns to Rinoa's side in the infirmary as "Love Grows" begins to play. He wonders if she'll be this way forever and is frustrated that there's seemingly nothing he can do. He can't bear the contrast between how full of life she was before and how cold and still she is now. He says that he just wants to hear her voice. In his mind, Squall says this is like talking to a wall. Whether the irony of this statement is lost on him or not, I can't say!

As he asks Rinoa to call his name, Squall collapses and we're taken to the dream world. For the first time, the game gives us the option to choose who will be Kiros and Ward, and you can exchange your junctions accordingly. Annoyingly, it completely undoes the junctions of the non-Squall party members so you have to do those all over again.

We cut to Laguna, Kiros, and Ward on a snowy mountain. Fun Fact: If you collect a certain Timber Maniacs before this dream sequence (I believe it's the one in Shumi Village), Ward won't appear. That Timber Maniacs article talks about Laguna shooting this movie and Ward isn't in the picture, so for some reason, that means he was never here, I guess...! They're stuck in this predicament because they have no money. After all, Laguna stayed at that hotel (The Balamb Hotel, according to a Timber Maniacs) too often and spent all their money.

Laguna protests that he's not cut out to be an actor, but Kiros knows he's actually quite excited about starring in a movie. Laguna dresses up as a medieval knight and wields a gunblade for the movie. The actress here looks a lot like the Queen of Cards, but I don't know if the resemblance is intended to mean anything or not...! Kiros and Ward are recruited to play the part of the dragon for the movie as well.

The old-timey movie music that would not be out of place in a silent film that plays during this part is excellent, by the way. Laguna's acting is predictably terrible, so the director makes plans to dub over it in post-production. Here's another fun fact: The pose Laguna makes with the gunblade and the stance he takes when fighting with it are exactly the same as Seifer. As we all know, Seifer's dream is to be a sorceress's knight, but where did that dream come from? It came from watching these cheesy old movie! That's right! Seifer is a Sir Laguna fanboy!

Anyway, as the dragon walks down, nobody realizes it's an actual Ruby Dragon until it starts attacking Laguna. Everyone runs away, leaving him to hold the thing off with his gunblade until he can escape. This mini-game is like the one where Squall has to fight the paratrooper to get the flying device in that it can be tricky if you're overly aggressive. It forces you to play defensively because the dragon can do way more damage to you than you can do to it. You have to look for openings. After defeating the Ruby Dragon and escaping safely, they see Lunatic Pandora in the distance over Esthar.
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Once the sequence ends, Ellone tells Squall that she can't disconnect. Squall asks her what it means to "Connect," and she says that's just what she calls it when she uses her power. She says she must be asleep, which is why she can't control it. Does that mean she accidentally used it while she was sleeping or she fell asleep after she connected? Either way, that seems potentially dangerous...! As such, Ellone apologizes and says she'll have to use his spirit a little longer, but Squall just wants to be able to go back to Rinoa.

We cut to Laguna and Edea at the orphanage. He really did basically end up going all over the world looking for a way to get into Esthar in order to save Ellone! Edea asks if Esthar was searching for a successor to Adel, which further confirms that sorceresses can't live forever. Edea asks if Ellone is his daughter, and he says no, but she's just so cute and he wishes he could hear her voice right now. Squall echoes the sentiment, wishing he could hear Rinoa's voice, which gets Laguna's attention.

At this point, Squall says he doesn't even care if it's in the past. He wants to be able to see and hear Rinoa. In that case, he might be able to find a way to save her. Ellone tells him that after all this time, she's finally come to the realization that you can't change the past. She says that when she was kidnapped, Laguna went on a journey to save her, but because he did, he wasn't able to be by Raine's side when she died. She wanted to be able to show him their newborn baby, which I guess basically confirms that she did indeed die of childbirth complications. Ellone wanted to find a way to make Laguna stay in the village, no matter what, but it didn't work and she can no longer connect to that moment in time.

Ellone adds that there's a stipulation to using her power: She can only send someone she knows inside another person she also knows. There must be some sense of familiarity there, even if it's just barely. I guess the machine based on her power that Ultimecia uses must not have that limitation or she can get around it because she's a sorceress (which seems to be the free pass into everything unexplained mystery in the game...!).

When Squall wakes up, he realizes that he could see Rinoa if he went back in time and maybe even change things. Clearly, he didn't listen to a word Ellone said...! Either that, or he's so desperate that he's willing to cling to even the tiniest fragment of hope. He tries to call out to Ellone, but naturally she doesn't answer. The connection thing doesn't go both ways, after all. Squall knows she's on the White SeeD, and since they claimed to be Edea's SeeD before, maybe she would know where they're located.

It's so weird to me that Squall has finally learned who "Sis" is and who Ellone is to him, and he's only concerned with meeting her just so he can maybe save Rinoa. It comes across as very self-serving, but it just goes to show how desperate he is and how broken he can get when he's afraid he might lose an attachment he's made. He'll do anything to prevent it. This is why he was afraid to make attachments in the first place. He's barely himself at this point. That's how much this entire situation is affecting him.
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When we go to talk to Edea, Cid will also inform us that they came up with the White SeeD ship as a way to protect Ellone from Esthar. Edea was the captain of the ship, but as they traveled, they encountered many orphaned children and it became an orphanage of sorts of its own. As a result, they eventually became known as SeeDs as well. When we ask Edea where the ship might be, she says that they are very cautious and wouldn't stay in one place for long, but they do enjoy Centra's landscape, so they could be stationed somewhere nearby. As someone who's played this game many times and still struggles to find this stupid ship, I can see why they might feel safe hiding out around here! Everything looks the same and it's difficult to navigate all these islands! Thankfully, it didn't take me too long to locate it this time, but sometimes it does take me a little while!

Also, there's a really tedious infinite Gil trick you can exploit here, especially if you have Tonberry's Call Shop skill handy. Edea will give you a letter of introduction to give to the White SeeDs when you find them, and you can sell it for a whopping 125 Gil. She'll kindly give you another letter to replace it every time you sell it as often as you want, but money in FFVIII isn't as important in this game as it is in other games, so I can't imagine feeling the need to do this! I've got nearly 600,000 Gil, and I haven't made any extra effort to make money!

When Squall boards the ship and asks to see Ellone, the White SeeDs are taken aback by his request. He assures them that they pose no threat and Edea told them they would be here. He says that she's no longer under Ultimecia's control, so there's no reason to hide Ellone's whereabouts any longer. The White SeeDs say they have no reason to believe him, and I can't say I blame them. All of that sounds sketchy as heck with no proof, so it's a good thing we have that letter...!

Aboard the ship, we also find Zone and Watts. When Squall explains the situation with Rinoa, Zone understandably gets pretty angry about it, but Watts manages to calm him down. You can talk to Watts to get some information about various things. When Squall asks about Ellone, he says that she left in an Esthar ship that came upon the White SeeD ship not long ago. Squall is understandably confused about this unexpected predicament, but Watts assures them she went willingly and she was smiling as she left. Also, thankfully, we can make peace with Zone since we still have the Girl Next Door magazine we found all the way back on Disc 1! You can give it to him for free or sell it to him for 25,000 Gil. He'll give you the Shiva card if you give it to him for free, so it's worth the trade off.

When we meet with the leader again, Squall hands him the letter, and he recognizes it as Matron's handwriting. He comments that they call her Matron as well, and when he salutes them, he notes that their salute is the same, too. The leader tells him that Edea said it hasn't changed since SeeD was established, which makes sense because she saw time traveling Squall salute her in the ending...!

The White SeeD leader elaborates on what happened with Ellone. The Galbadian fleet managed to track them down. They were able to narrowly escape, but their ship broke down and they were stranded. Eventually, the Galbadians caught up to them again, but then an Esthar ship appeared. The two sides battled, but at some point, Esthar soldiers boarded the White SeeD ship and ordered them to evacuate to their ship. Naturally, the White SeeDs refused, but as they were about to leave, Ellone yelled something at them (presumably something about Laguna) and then left with them.
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When Squall gets back to the Garden, he tells Nida that their new destination is Esthar, but he says that area's terrain isn't really suited for flying the Garden. In reality, there's nothing different about the terrain. There's just no way to reach the continent with the Garden. Trust me, I tried a lot as a 13-year-old teenager because I didn't realize that you were supposed to dock at FH to progress the story! I guess I should have talked to Quistis because she flat out says she doesn't think the Garden can reach the continent and mentions that there's a railroad line leading from FH to Esthar since the two used to have relations.

If you go back to the White SeeD Ship, you can learn about the legend of Hyne, who is considered to be the original sorceress and the source from which all present day sorceresses get their power. The legend goes that Hyne ruled the world, but he got lazy and created people as a tool to make his life easier. Apparently, Hyne went into hibernation because it says he woke up and was surprised to see that there were a lot of people. As such, he wanted to do some population control and used magic to kill a lot of children. So, what, he's basically Anakin?

Anyway, the people rebelled against Hyne, and even though they couldn't use magic, they used their numbers and intelligence to gain an advantage against him. He made a peace proposal by offering them half of his body and the powers that come with it. However, this led to another war as people fought over the power that they gained from Hyne's body, which lasted for decades. After this one tribe emerged victorious, they demanded power from the half body, but it ignored them. Then this dude named Vascaroon appeared and revealed that this body-half was corrupt and had no real power because it was Hyne's skin that he had cast off. Naturally, they tried to hunt Hyne down but nobody ever found him. What a weird story! Watts will also give you some additional information that the Galbadians recently salvaged a gigantic monolith from the sea, referring to Lunatic Pandora.
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So The Last of Us 2 is supposed to be this ridiculously massive game

and I'm still not sure if I want to play it
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What was your opinion on TLoU1?
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Starts really slow, picks up toward the end of summer, gets really fun for a while, and totally drops the ball with the ending. The ending kind of soured me on the whole experience because I thought it undermined a lot of what the game was trying to accomplish, but people keep telling me "that's the point," so whatever.
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I bought TLOU and still haven't played it.

Explored all of Cleigne, all hunts up to his point cleared, got the trophy for 80 sidequests which is the highest one, reached level 49. Now is time to progress the story in Chapter 3.
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Whew, went to Shumi Village and picked up the last Timber Maniacs, and then I finished off Zell's Love Quest. We'll be heading to Esthar tomorrow, most likely.
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When the Garden arrives at FH, Squall gives Rinoa a piggyback ride and they begin the long journey to Esthar to meet Ellone. In his mind, he apologizes to everyone for doing this, but he can't go on like this anymore. As he walks, Squall starts to realize how crazy and unnatural it is for him to be doing this. He recognizes that there's no guarantee that everything will get fixed by talking to Ellone. Even he has to admit that he's changed quite a bit.

At one point, Squall stops to take a break, and he wonders what everyone else is doing now. They might be laughing at him, or they might be angry at him. In reality, they completely predicted he would do this, and they're scouting out the way ahead of him! They're good friends. In a rare moment of public disclosure, Squall admits that he worries too much about what others think of him, and he hates that side of himself. That's why he didn't want anyone to get to know him. He intentionally came across as unfriendly and introverted to keep people at a distance, and that made it easier for him. As the game has gone by, Squall has become more self-aware and has been more willing to be honest with his own feelings. Even though Rinoa technically can't hear what he's saying, the fact that he was still willing to "tell" her is a big step for him.

When Squall reaches the Esthar side of the Horizon Bridge, he's surprised to see Quistis and Zell waiting for him. They say that they're Edea's escort, and at that mention of her name, she appears on screen. Squall asks her what business she has in Esthar, and she says that she needs to see Doctor Odine, presumably because now she suspects she's lost her sorceress powers and needs confirmation. Edea also says that since Ultimecia could take control of her body at any time, she wants to be able to protect herself from that in some way, so Odine might know of something since he's the number one authority on sorceresses.

Selphie and Irvine return from scouting ahead, and after some teasing, they tell us that even though Esthar is supposed to be huge, they can't find it anywhere. They've searched north and south, so they want to try going east next. You can temporarily add Edea to your party for fun during this next stretch, and her Limit Break is the ice spear that she impaled Squall with at the end of Disc 1.

I like the music that plays here, called "The Salt Flats." Naturally, it only plays during this part of the game. They realize they're in for a long trip, and Edea tells them they need to stay on their guard in case Ultimecia possesses her again. Selphie doesn't like the suddenly heavy atmosphere and tries to cheer everyone up. Squall says that he once heard that if you mention bad things, they'll come true (which is a callback to the second Laguna dream sequence when he says it to Kiros!). He knows it's just a silly superstition, but right now, he wants to believe it, so they all agree to table the discussion for now.

The boss here is undead and has Curaga to draw, so it makes him pretty easy to deal with! At a certain point, the group catches a chink in the armor of Esthar's camouflage, and so they're able to sneak in. Inside, you can find a series of transparent panels and mess with them. Zell comes to the conclusion that Esthar has been using these panels to camouflage themselves from the outside world, and that's why they weren't able to find it before. They get on an elevator and we get a cool FMV welcoming us to Esthar. Unfortunately, we don't get to explore it quite yet because we're sent into our final Laguna dream sequence. It's really poor timing considering they've probably got a bunch of Esthar people headed their way!

Also, if you've got Edea in your party, you'll want to switch her junctions off of her to someone else before this part begins because you can't use Edea for this sequence and you can't exchange her junctions once the sequence initiates. Thankfully, this is the last time the game annoyingly undoes your junctions!
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We begin this dream sequence with Laguna, Kiros, and Ward doing forced labor in Esthar. Laguna repeatedly shows compassion for the moomba working with them, which catches the attention of another laborer in the room. He thinks Laguna might be a good candidate to be the leader of the Adel resistance movement. Eventually, they're able to make a jail break, and Laguna brings back his weird run from the second dream sequence for some reason!

You can eavesdrop on what Odine is talking about, and they're discussing how to use Lunatic Pandora as a weapon. Naturally, Laguna accidentally talks at one point while listening, so they have to book it outta there. Then Odine's assistant walks out, and the other guy tells us that he's a member of the Adel resistance as well. He tells them that Odine has taken a liking to researching Ellone over even Lunatic Pandora. If you talk to the NPC again before heading back in to confront Odine, you can hear a great story about something Laguna refers to as the "J Disaster," in which Ellone got mad at him and filled his shoes with jam.

This is also your only chance to get the first issue of Weapons Monthly, which tells you how to make some of the best weapons in the game. For the record, you don't actually have to find these magazines to make the weapons in them. As long as you have all the necessary ingredients, they'll automatically show up when you go to a weapons shop. Eventually, Laguna finds Ellone and thus our adventures as Laguna, Kiros, and Ward come to a close.

Fortunately, we wake up right as Esthar officials show up! They invite us to come with them, and we get our first taste of Esthar's quirky and enjoyable theme, "Silence and Motion." Edea explains why she's here, and Odine says it's a simple matter. Squall demands to see Ellone, and Odine gives his permission for us to do so under one condition: We grant him permission to observe Rinoa. If you talk to Odine, he will say that this is very mysterious and that "this is what happens," but he doesn't clarify what he means. Presumably, he's already deduced that Rinoa has become a sorceress.

For the time being, we're free to explore the city, but that's all for now.
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TLOU came as a pack in with my PS3. I haven't played it either.
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I played the PS4 Remastered version. It's definitely worth playing for the experience because there are so few games out there like it. That'll probably get me to bite on the sequel eventually, but not at full price.

I hear it's one of the free PS+ games for PS4 next month, too.
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the last of us more like the last game I have any interest in playing LOL!
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LOLOLOLO good one

also man these TLOU2 trailers are all going all in on the fact that Ellie kisses another girl at one point

I guess they're pandering to their male demographic
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the last of us more like the least of us lolol!

I didn't think it was that great. The gameplay was bad, and the story was just okay. Winter was actually real good, though somehow the DLC that expanded on that part was bad anyway.
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yeah the DLC wasn't very good except for the part that made fun of Jak X Combat Racing

and the part where they read cheesy jokes out of a joke book
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Unfortunately, this is really the only time you get to casually enjoy Esthar. Whenever you visit in the future, you're either chasing down Lunatic Pandora or you're dealing with the aftermath of the Lunar Cry, so you have friggin' random encounters in a city, which is the worst. Plus, the lifts that quickly take you from place to place break down, so you can't use those anymore after this either. The worst thing is that "Silence and Motion" gets replaced by the boring "SeeD" theme. It's kinda disappointing, really. Disc 3 is disjointed in a lot of ways, honestly. Oh well, I got the Ward card from Odine, and I was able to forge Lionheart, so it's all good...!
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When we arrive at Lunar Base, Angelo rushes in with obvious concern for Rinoa. Squall assures her (speaking of which, this is the one time you can learn that Angelo is a girl, not a boy, because a member of your party will refer to her as such) that he'll take care of her. When we reach the launch area, the staff explain that, while it may be far in terms of distance, they'll be there by the time they wake up.

For once, Squall isn't very fast on the uptake. Despite this place being called Lunar Base, he asks where they're going. Instead of giving a direct answer for some reason, the staff proceed to give an explanation of the launch process. Regardless, at this point, Squall has caught on that they're headed into space. Edea says that in the meantime, something has to be done to suppress her powers, but the others realize they can't just leave her alone, so Zell volunteers to be her escort.

You can either choose to trust Zell or not, but either way, this marks a pretty big progression for him since the end of Disc 1 when he thought he was ready to be a leader but got denied. If you choose to trust him, it shows that Squall's estimation of Zell has improved considerably since then. If you choose to doubt him, we get a pretty funny scene where all the other party members stand up for him and eventually force Squall to relent and leave it up to him, so it shows that he's improved in the estimation of everyone else as well.

At this point, you have to choose one other person to go with you into space. I've done all three options before, and I think my preference in terms of who provides the best unique dialogue throughout the sequence is Quistis > Irvine > Selphie, but it's been a while since I've chosen Selphie, so I decide to take her along to see if maybe my opinion has changed. Plus, she seems like the one who would most enjoy going into space and would jump at the opportunity to go!

As an aside, I often see complaints about Disc 3 when people talk about how we randomly ended up going into space for no reason. I mean, there's a pretty clear reason: That's where Ellone is, and in his mind, Squall needs to see her so he can have a chance to save Rinoa. He's not going to just patiently wait for her to come back from space, because who knows how long that would even be. Of course, this is ultimately playing right into Ultimecia's gambit to release Adel from her confinement, too. Also, space is awesome, so I don't know why you need a "reason" to go in the first place...!

But first, we take over as Zell. Angelo freaks out, and for good reason. There's a loud sound and a lot of shaking, and they run outside to see Lunatic Pandora passing over the city of Esthar (on its way to Tears' Point, but we'll get to that a bit later. Also, if you visit Tears' Point on your own, you can find the Solomon Ring, which you'll need to get Doomtrain), so now we've got to head back to the city.

Naturally, if you run around the city, everyone's in a panic over Lunatic Pandora. The older people remember it, of course, but the younger ones have no clue what it is, even though it has Esthar's symbol on it. Unsurprisingly, Odine is rather excited about this turn of events.
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One of the staff members want to sound the alert, but Odine assures them that the city is not the target. When Zell asks him about Lunatic Pandora, he starts going into a long explanation about its history, but he interrupts him because he doesn't care about that. All he wants to know is what they need to do now that it's here. Odine explains that it'll take approximately 20 minutes for Lunatic Pandora to pass over the city, and based on its expected course, there are three different boarding points. You've only got a limited window of time within those 20 minutes to reach each point to get on. Normally, Esthar can be really confusing and trying to figure out a spot just based on a description and a screenshot can be tough, but I've played this so much that I still have the location of the first boarding point memorized, so that's no problem for me...!

Now if you look at the info corner, it gives you some information about Lunatic Pandora. It's an enclosure for the crystal pillar that Esthar made. It's 3 miles tall and 1.5 miles wide, which would certainly explain how you could see it from so far away! It floats by causing a reaction with the crystal pillar. There's also a moon stone sealed inside. The purpose of Lunatic Pandora is to cause a Lunar Cry through artificial means. In the world of Final Fantasy VIII, the moon is infested with monsters. All the monsters you see on the world's surface originally came from the moon via a Lunar Cry.

Lunar Cries occur naturally every so often, basically whenever the moon gets overpopulated with monsters that they have nowhere else to go (the exact length of time isn't ever really stated. It's probably not a consistent interval since it's dependent on how quickly the monsters multiply. Regardless, it seems to be a once per century event without the help of the Lunatic Pandora because the game states at one point that Centra was destroyed by one 75 years ago, and there's no indication that there's been one since, although even that one may have been artificially induced because that's where Esthar finds the crystal pillar to begin with, as we see in Laguna's second dream sequence. So yeah, the ability to call down a torrent of monsters upon another nation is basically FFVIII's equivalent of a weapon of mass destruction, although that isn't Galbadia's goal here. They're just trying to release Adel. Doing a lot of damage to Esthar is just an added bonus.

Unfortunately, we don't get to explore Lunatic Pandora too much before Mobile Type 8 forces us out. We'll have to wait until the end of Disc 3 to get our revenge...!

And with that, we transition to space with one of my favorite songs with a great title, "Dance with the Balamb Fish." We see a man in a space suit throughout this sequence. This guy is actually Laguna, although there's no way to know it at this time. He spends a lot of time in space monitoring Adel's Tomb to make sure she stays sealed. You can play cards with Lunar Base's absurd rule set (which is basically chaos because it includes every rule there is, pretty much) because you can get the Alexander card from Piet and the Laguna card from Ellone.
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After placing Rinoa into a pod in the medical room, we head to mission control. If you talk to NPCs around the Lunar Base, people will explain how Adel's Tomb works, with sealing technology so powerful that it affects radio waves down on the planet's surface, which explains something way back at the very beginning of the game as to why people can't communicate with radio waves anymore.

If you go and find Ellone, she'll apologize for getting Squall involved in so much hardship, and he says he understands what she was trying to do. He asks if they helped at all, and she says that they were her eyes. Because of them, she was able to see how much she was loved. She may not have been able to change the past, but just seeing it was more than enough. You can find out things about the past that you never knew, and so you may see things differently in the present. In the end, you're the one who changes, not the past. Also, if you ever date Ellone, you better not cheat on her. You can't hide anything from her!

Squall says he needs to find out for himself if that's really the case. He says he needs to see the past through Rinoa so he can find out what happened to her and maybe even warn her. Unfortunately, everything rapidly starts falling apart as monsters begin gathering for the Lunar Cry and Ultimecia awakens Rinoa from her coma. If you try to touch Rinoa, Squall will almost quite literally bounce off of her, which is actually kind of fun to do over and over again, because the place you get bounced to changes as she progresses down the hall! Ultimecia uses Rinoa to deactivate the first seal on Adel's Tomb in the control room, but the second seal is on the tomb itself (An effective safety measure, gotta say).

Unfortunately, the Lunar Cry starts falling toward the surface and Adel's Tomb is right in their path. Laguna (who is referred to as "Panicky Gentleman" right now) says it seems like someone planned this whole thing, and Squall realizes that they've all been played by Ultimecia. The aides drag the president away to the escape pod, and he'll tell Squall to take care of Ellone, which is probably your biggest hint that this is supposed to be Laguna. Of course, neither of them knows who the other person is at this point. When Ultimecia releases the last seal, we see Adel flash a sinister smile as the Lunar Cry engulfs the tomb and blows Rinoa away.

Squall begs Ellone to take him into Rinoa's past as he shouts in all caps with six exclamation points. She says that it may not work, but she'll try. First, we cut to Irvine taking Rinoa away from the D-District Prison. She insists that they go back to help everyone, but Irvine says they'll be fine. Rinoa is afraid that Squall will be so rigid that he won't leave because no one ordered him to escape, so she won't take no for an answer.

Then we move to a conversation between Zell and Rinoa about Squall's ring. He offers to make one for her because he's pretty good at that kinda stuff (Zell is apparently multi-talented in ways we never really get to see...!). He needs to see the real thing first, but Rinoa says it'd be too embarrassing to ask him for it. Zell is confused at first, but he catches on eventually. Rinoa insists that it's not what he thinks, but it's exactly what he thinks!
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Squall tells Ellone that was too far back, so she tries again and this time we get it right. We see flashes of Ultimecia hovering over Rinoa as she kneels over Seifer. She tells him to find Lunatic Pandora, and only then would the sorceress provide him with dreams again. Seifer actually calls her Ultimecia as he answers her call, which is interesting. When did he find out the truth? It's hard to say. Then Ultimecia realizes that someone else is there and forces Squall out.

Squall says he couldn't do anything to help her and asks what he should do now, and Ellone talks about the eyes that he used to look at her with when he was little. This game is big on eyes! Squall says that's all in the past, and Ellone says that she's finally realized that what's important is the present. He has to find a way to help Rinoa now. Ellone says she'll take him to the most recent past, the closest one to the present, so he can talk to her. His voice may not be able to reach her, but his heart will.

We cut to Rinoa drifting in space (as the appropriately titled "Drifting" plays in the background) as her life support drains to 0 and she comes to the realization that she's about to die. Squall starts calling out to her not to give up, and it actually gets through. With that, Squall resolves to head out into space and find her. The game gives you a minute and a half to line up the catch, and you can screw it up. Thankfully, the game just lets you retry instead of giving you an unconventional game over since a lot has happened since the last time you were able to save!

Rinoa tells Squall that she heard his voice. Fortunately, the Ragnarok is floating nearby, and they're able to use what fuel they've got left to get to it. Now I've heard some people complain about how the odds of Squall actually being able to find Rinoa and the Ragnarok in the vastness of space would realistically be near zero. But that's why it's called Final Fantasy. You can do things in a work of fiction that you could never do in real life, so I don't have an issue with it.
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and just like that Spider-Man is back in the MCU
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Is Ardyn being a villain supposed to be a twist? Because it was clear in Kingsglaive.
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BK_Sheikah00 posted...

Is Ardyn being a villain supposed to be a twist? Because it was clear in Kingsglaive.

No, I think it's pretty obvious to the player that he's a bad guy, much like Seymour in FFX.
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Best part of this football Saturday is that the Vols can't lose
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Man, just cleared Chapter 7. What would I have given for a party with Iris, Aranea and Luna.
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Noctis and the harem?

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Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that I finished up the 5th Baccano light novel the other day. It was pretty different from the first four in a lot of ways. It was set during the modern day for one thing, but it was still pretty good. Looks like the 6th one is set during the Prohibition Era again, so they're jumping all over the place.

Also, one thing I never thought they'd be able to do is make me like Czes and they're starting to pull it off.
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