Let's Play Final Fantasy Tactics (Update 10)

Oh, for some reason I read that as defend.

Will keep the rest of what you said in mind.

Didn't know ramza got knight swords as a squire. That's pretty awesome, given that all the best equips are clothes types that knights can't wear. Though I'm guessing Scream is either taken out or toned down in this version.

Also, Abandon is a bit more expensive than weapon guard, but it's easy to get by the time feather mantles are available, and will make you unfairly difficult to hit from all 4 sides, even without a shield.

Update 6 - All this for a fucking crystal

Last time we chased after Ovelia, found her, and fought Gafgarion in order to rescue her. Apparently the Hokuten want Ovelia dead. Seeking shelter, we're now headed to Lionel Castle.

This is a feature that I forgot to mention or use in the last update. There's a new feature available at the bar. We can use the proposition feature to send party members off on side-quests while we work on the main quest.





We'll check back with the group in a few weeks.

Meanwhile...


I wonder if Cardinal Draclau will really help us?
I hear the Cardinal is very loyal to the royal family. And right now, he's neutral in the dispute between Prince Larg and Prince Goltana. I'm sure he wouldn't defeat justice by turning you over to either one of them.
I hope so.......

I'm sure you'll be perfectly safe with Draclau, Ovelia. What could possibly go wrong?

Besides, he is a man of popularity at Glabados Church. They'll accept you if the Cardinal asks them.
I wish I weren't a princess.

But then you wouldn't have the awesome Princess job.

Princess Ovelia......
I was always surrounded by the convent walls...and have only seen the sky through them.



Prosper sneaks up on the two.

Even after hearing about the adoption by the deceased king, I stayed there for a long time. No, I'm not complaining about that. Just........People are dying becayse I'm the princess. It's so painful......
Please don't blame yourself. It's not your fault. Those who are trying to take advantage of you are the ones to blame.
I met a girl at Orbonne. She said she had also been living in the monestary since birth. We used to laugh at how similar our lives have been. Isn't it funny?
She was the daughter of the Beoulves, Miss Alma, wasn't she?

Oh hey, small world.

She is my only friend.....I wonder if Cardinal Draclau would use me?

OK, Ovelia. Did you read the script or something? Stop knowing things that haven't come up yet.

............



God dammit Mustadio, things were just getting interesting.



How was it?
Fine. It doesn't seem like Hokuten has been here yet.



This goes back to that reed-playing not-gay scene from late in chapter 1.

This is how you do it.
Like this?

Maybe I just have a dirty mind, but this could easily be the dialog to a porn.

There! I did it.



I mean, look at the gestures they're making FFS.

Battle 18




Oh, not these clowns again.

Knight: We don't want to fight! Hand Mustadio over and there won't be any trouble. OK?
Why don't you leave quietly! Tell Rudvich we'll fight anyone who tries to use war to sway the people!
Knight: Then I guess we must take him by force! Here goes!!



This is another fight where Steal Heart is good.




OK, what the fuck is this?




Spamming Steal Heart made this fight pretty easy.




Sorry...But I can't tell you now.

Elsewhere...




The same goes for Agrias and the others. Kill them!
What about Prosper?



We've already been given clues that Dycedarg is evil, but this conversation makes it obvious.

I left him along because I thought he'd learn how harsh the real world is. I never thought he was that dense.
Did his strong sense of justice come from his father?
My father spoiled him. If he obeys orders, fine. If he resists, we have no choice...
It's hard to believe his own brother said that. Sickening. But what if the Cardinal gets in our way? With the church supporting him, even the Prince couldn't do anything easily.
I've already prepared for that. There's no need to worry.

Uh oh. Looks like Lionel Castle might not be so safe after all.

So that's that? The more I know, the worse you appear.
If that's how you feel, then you'd best watch your tongue. Don't forget your head can be easily cut off.
Hey, stop that. I'm your loyal servant. Remember I'm not stubborn like your little brother.

Instead he's greedy.

Then, don't make any more mistakes.
Speaking of that, who did you order to kidnap Ovelia? When I was chasing her in Dorter, someone attacked me. What was that about?

Looks like Dycedarg wasn't responsible for the ambush in Dorter, or at least it wasn't part of the plan.



Someone learned of our plan and is trying to stop us...Anyhow, as long as Ovelia is with Agrias, there'll be many chances to get her...
I hope so.

Let's check back with Prosper and co.


I'm Agrias Oaks of the Lesalia St. Konoe Knights. I came from Orbonne to save the sone of God, St. Ajora. Open the gate!

Uh. I'm not sure what Agrias has been smoking, but we came here to seek asylum from the political machinations of Golgana and Larg.

Knight: Saving St. Ajora is the will of the high priest. The gate will open for he who would save the high priest. Open the gate!



I'm sure the gate and that lever will never be referenced again.



Moreover, I'll send a man to the High Priest in Murond.

I assume the high priest is like the pope of this religion.

We'll do something to expose Larg's scheme, and keep the Princess from danger.
Will High Priest Funeral help us?

Oh, shit, the high priest's name is Funeral? If that isn't foreshadowing I don't know what is.

Don't worry, Agrias. I'm with you. You must be strong to make the Princess feel at ease. Make yourselves comfortable in this old castle until word comes from the holy land.
Thank you for your kindness.
St. Ajora is with us. There's no need to worry. Young mechanic. I heard your wish too. I'll send troops to Goug, to destroy Bart Company.

Isn't it a bit much to send troops to a foreign city to wipe out a corporation based solely on the word of a single man?



I...can't...

Especially before he explains why they're trying to kill him.

That's all right...Is this it?



Have you ever heard of the 'Zodiac Brave Story'?

Sure, it's the subtitle of this game. Maybe Draclau read the script?

You mean that fairy tale, we used to hear in church?
Here now! Are you saying the church lied?
N-no, I didn't mean that...

A religious institution? Lie?

Long ago, when the land was much different, 12 brave warriors fought against the Evil Lucavi who ruled the land. After a desperate battle, they sent Lucavi to Hades, and the land was peaceful. They each had crystals with zodiac signs on them, they were called "Zodiac Braves". Ever since then, whenever humans are attacked, the Braves come to save us.
You're quite learned, Princess. Just as I expected.
Mr. Simon taught me at the Orbonne monastery. He also said St. Ajora and the Braves saved Ivalice from chaos.
We call the crystals, 'Holy Stones'.

Ah, that makes sense. The dudes chasing Mustadio when we found him asked him to hand over a 'holy stone'.

This very stone, is the legendary secret stone, the "Zodiac Stone".
I didn't think it really existed.
They say its 'Divine Power' surpasses Lucavi's. I feel a strange power, but it looks just like an ordinary crystal to me.
What's wrong, Mustadio? You look pale.



Many broken machine parts are buried there. But if the stone gets near the machines, they start to howl.
Bart Company's after the stone, right?
I don't know what power the stone has...But Rudvich wants to use its power to make weapons. My father told me never to give the stones to him. So they abducted him.
Don't worry, Mustadio. The church will see to his safety. While our men fight, we'll get the stone back.
Y, yes, sir.



We made it this far thanks to you, Prosper.
I wish I could've been more help. Please be careful.
That's very thoughtful. Don't worry. We'll be fine.

It'll be great! We'll go off to Goug and leave you here alone and defenseless. But we'll be fine.
Well, looks like we're headed for Goug.



Before that, though, let's check on the people we sent on a proposition earlier.



I worked on the recovery of the trade vessel, Hindenburg.
This job's a gift from God.
The region is prone to high winds. But we tried our best...As a result, we were able to recover it! Various cargo was found in the recovered vessel, but...There was one big treasure chest that stood out. Ripley opened it with courage, inside was...

Uh...


There were big bags of gil in there! This job was a big success!!

Or that.

This is the way!



Looks like things went well. Time to send the crew out on another mission.




That was a lot of dialog. Let's get back to the combat.

Battle 19




This is the first storyline battle in a while where we can use 5 party members. A positive side effect of Agrias leaving, I guess.

Lousy footing. On top of that it's raining. Be careful!

Mustadio mentions that the footing on this terrain is lousy, and he's mostly right - if a unit ends their turn in a swamp water square, that unit is poisoned. All our enemies in this fight are immune to that, though.



Like in other Final Fantasy games, cure and raise spells have the opposite effect on undead. And lucky for us, 5 out of the 8 opponents in this fight are undead.



I love it when the enemies bunch up and make things easier for me.



This may look easy, but so far this battle has been pretty difficult. The skeletons can cast demi, and that heals undead. Plus the marlboros have shitloads of health.



Uh...



Well, I didn't think that would work.



This fight was fucking annoying. Ghosts and skeletons have a chance to come back to life after they die, meaning we basically had to fight them multiple times. Charming the marlboros helped out quite a bit, though.



Yeah, I'm OK.

For the record, Mustadio went down near the beginning of combat and never got back up.

Past this swamp's the ocean. We're almost to Goug.



It doesn't even look like there was a fight...Something's strange...I'll check it out. See you later.
Where?
The slums over there...they shouldn't attract attention.



The next fight doesn't trigger until you try to leave Goug. So we might as well do that.

Battle 20




Think Mustadio was caught?

Who are you asking, Prosper?



Who are you!?
Bring him.



That's far enough. Don't move any closer!
So, you're Rudvich!! Let Mustadio go!!
Give me the "Holy Stone". Then you can have him back.

Fuck Mustadio. Let's just leave him and go back to Lionel.

C'mon! Where'd you hide it? Talk!
...
Won't talk, huh? Even after seeing this?



Ready to confess now?
Inside the chimney...at Prosper's feet...

Well this was a huge goddamn waste of time. I mean, Mustadio knew Rudvich had his father, so what was his plan? Go to Goug just to fold and give Rudvich the stone?

Well then, you pick it up! If you want to save his life!



Let them go!!
First give me the stone!
Let them go, first!!
Throw the stone! Then, we'll let them go!

Give me the whip.
Throw me the idol. No time to argue! Throw me idol, I'll throw you the whip!




Oh god dammit Prosper, you deserve this.

Finally we've got it! The Cardinal'll be very pleased! Good job. I'm done now. You take care of the rest. Get rid of them!



The guy who Prosper decided to trust turned out to be untrustworthy? What a shocking turn of events.



This is actually a stupidly easy fight, probably the easiest of chapter 2. There are only 6 opponents and we get 5 allies.




The only annoying part is Fairy, which is basically a summon that revives multiple allies.



Still, we mop up without too much difficulty.



Rudvich'll try to revive the machines beneath Goug with its power. He may even try to use the divine power in the stones. Besides, the Cardinal is working with Bard Company. Not much we can do now...
Heh, heh...Good for them.
What do you mean?



Oh great, Mustadio isn't a complete moron after all.

You mean, they got a fake?
That's right. They must be going crazy now.
Princess Ovelia and Agrias are in danger....!

Reality just caught up with Prosper.

What do you mean?
The Cardinal joined Bart to get the stone. He may take the Princess hostage.
Ridiculous! Making an enemy of the royal family!

It's not that ridiculous. Everyone else seems to want Ovelia dead.

Why do you think the Cardinal wanted the stone? People are sick of long wars and political infighting. Draclau wants to use the 'Zodiac Brave Story'. Creating 'Zodiac Braves' by collecting holy stones, he can control the world.

You're close, Prosper. But that's not quite accurate...

He is right. We can't give the stone to the Cardinal.
Let's save the Princess and Agrias!
Right. But the way to Lionel is probably sealed. We'll use a ship to sneak in the back of the castle.

Mustadio is no longer considered a guest character, he's how a permanent member.
I know this wasn't technically a kidnapping but I'm still counting it.
Kidnapping count: 4

Let's head back to Lionel.





Delita! Why are you here!?
Don't take our information network too lightly.
'Our'?
Go back to Igros, for your own sake. It's healtheir to keep your nose out of certain things. Like Princesses and stones.

It's obvious Delita has some powerful friends, but he certainly isn't telling us who.

Delita, what do you mean?
Rescuing the Princess only solves one problem. But I can save her from all of them.
What do you mean? I don't understand.
The best ways don't always lead to the best results. You can't save her no matter what. Remember that.



What are you trying to do?
Larg, Goltanan, your brothers, everyone...Haven't noticed they're all swept up in the same flow. I'm just going against it. That's all.......
I'll see you again, if we live that long.

That's all for now. Next time we'll go rescue Agrias and the Princess, and I'll fight the hardest battles in the game so far.

Good job, Xor.

I didn't remember FFT being THAT wordy... :/

Next update is about half done but I don't want to post more than two updates per page. Also the fight I'm on is probably going to drive me insane.

Onward to page five!

Nice update, I must say.

I'm on the last fight of chapter 2 now. It's not that hard but I probably won't have time to finish chapter 2 tonight even if I beat the fight on my next attempt.

Some more notes on the insane difficulty patch. Calculator is completely gone, replaced with Sage. I probably won't use the class other than to get Damage Split which is still awesome. Also, Draw Out is nerfed a bit so my plans for a wizard boss assassin probably won't fly. And apparently knight swords can't be used with two swords, which ruins my plans for Prosper.

I mentioned in an early update that mediator's brave reduction was draining 25 brave per use, but after looking at the patch notes, they're not supposed to be able to affect brave at all. I'm guessing that case was a bug. That was a random encounter, after all.

Holy shit you are low level. Is this difficult patch doing anything?

Yeah, it's quite a bit harder. And with the patch all battles scale up to your level if you try to over level them, so I've been trying to avoid that; shit is hard enough.

Update 7 - The Good, the Bad, and the Prosper

Last time we arrived at Lionel Castle and dropped off Agrias and the Princess with cardinal Draclau. Then we headed to Goug and battled Rudvich's men. It turned out that Draclau hired Rudvich to steal the holy stone from Mustadio. With that knowledge in hand, we're now headed back to Lionel Castle to kick his ass.



That's not something a holyman would do.
Bastard! Things would've been fine if you hadn't let them escape!

You let them escape too, Rudvich.

There were some mistakes, but it wasn't my fault!
Enough, Rudvich. I'll return Ovelia to Dycedarg as promised. It was our intention, too. But don't you need to get rid of those who know about the kidnapping? The thief who stole the stone is with them.

Yeah, it turns out trusting Draclau may have been a mistake.

You can catch them all by using the Princess as bait. 2 birds with one stone.
Exactly. But what if...?
You are being weak.
'Careful' is more like it. You've got to be careful to survive on a battlefield.

It also helps if you have a completely unfair special ability. Seriously, night sword is amazing at this point in the game.

All right. I'll make sure you're protected. Also, we'll prepare bait just in case.
Good. The woman will make perfect bait. I'll get rid of them. I'm more reliable than him!
How dare you!

The bickering between these two is hilarious.

Fine. I'll leave it to you.
Are you serious?
Don't let me down, Gafgarion.
No problem. I'll even get the stone back!



You failed enough. Now you must take responsibility...
W, What...?




Capturing that scene is a bit difficult with still images, but let's just say that was the last we'll see of Rudvich.

Battle 21




Looks like Agrias is being useless again.




Knight: What!?



I'm still not sure what Prosper is on, but I want some.



I was going to attack the castle flank to save you. But, why are you here?
The Cardinal secretly plotted with Larg from the start! We tried to escape but only the Princess got caught!! I couldn't save her. They're about to execute her. We must hurry!!

God dammit, something else to deal with.

First, we have to get rid of them somehow...

With our swords.



This isn't really a difficult fight, either.



The AI likes to cast Holy, but fortunately at this point they don't have that much MP and we can use Magic Ruin to keep it from going off.



The fuck, Agrias. How do you get killed by a fucking priest with Jump.

One attempt later...


Yes, I'm alright, but we must hurry! She's going to be executed at the Golgorand Execution Site. Let's hurry!!
Yes, let's go!

Much like Mustadio, Agrias is now an official party member and will no longer be computer-controlled.



Battle 22




Looks like they were serious about executing Ovelia.

No? I see.
Monk: Huh? The enemy!!



!?

Turns out this is what Gafgarion was talking about earlier. And speaking of Gafgarion...




At Lionel Castle. Where's the stone?
Stone?
Stop playing dumb. The stone you stole from the Cardinal. You're with the one who stole it! Just hand it over!
If you want it, you'll have to take it!
Seems you've matured a bit...Then, I will!



This fight...is fucking hard. It's probably the hardest fight in the first 2 chapters without the insane difficulty mod, and I can only imagine how it will be with. The main problem here is that we're seriously outnumbered. In addition to Gafgarion, there are 3 monks, 2 archers, and 2 time mages running around. We're outnumbered almost 2 to 1.



Your brother, Dycedarg said he'd forgive you! Come on, wake up!!
No, I won't be involved in any more wrong doing!
'Wrong doing'? What do you mean by that? You are a Beoulve! You have a mission to accomplish. 'Wrong doing', indeed! It's your mission, don't be such a fool!
My brothers are making war for personal reasons! What else can you call it other than 'evil'?

I know I made fun of Prosper for being disconnected from reality in chapter 1, but here he's almost lucid.

You must make 'sacrifices' to accomplish anything! Without 'sacrifice' there's no progress, no history! Look at Ivalice! Corrupt! Someone must change it!! Your brothers are trying to do that! Even if it means 'wrong doing'!



That didn't go well.



After doing some class changing and equipment swapping, we're ready to try again. This time we're bringing Agrias instead of the usual crew.



Yeah, yeah, we saw all this already.



Oh good, Prosper actually got a turn this time so he could reply to Gafgarion.

Forget about Ft. Zeakden! It couldn't be helped! You're a Beoulve. You have a given duty! It is your fate!
It's fate that let Teta die?

No, it was Algus being a douchbag.

No, that's wrong! We killed her out of convenience...Yes, us! I've run from the truth long enough...I killed her...



Oh fuck yes. Gafgarion doesn't have maintainence this time. That means we can...





Without a weapon, Gafgarion can't use Night Sword and is basically useless.




Agrias actually has dialog in this fight since we brought her along. I'm pretty sure Mustadio does too for some of the remaining battles in chapter 2, but fuck Mustadio.

Didn't you know, Agrias? His name is Prosper Beoulve. One of the Beoulve family.
It's true I'm a Beoulve! But I'm not like my brothers!

They're good planners and don't get manipulated nearly as much.

I never knew about kidnapping the Princess! I swear it!
No doubt in my mind! I believe you!!




Agrias is actually the same class Wiegraf was in chapter 1. Crush Punch isn't a great ability but it does have a chance to instantly kill an enemy.



Evade and disables are going to win us this fight. We've already effectively taken out 3 people. It'll be easy street from here on.





One girl has died, so what? We must first think about 'justice'!

Oh, he's talking about that.

There's no 'justice' in using and deceiving people! I can't ignore people dying for 'justice'! I'll save princess Ovelia!
Stubborn kid!



I know I made this look easy, but it took several tries before the RNG was nice to us and let us get all the disables we needed off.



But watching Gafgarion run around punching people is hilarious.



My contract's to take her back to Gallione. I have no idea what Larg will do after that.
You're using her as a tool for battle! Same as you! Larg and Dycedarg are using you, too! Aren't you ashamed of yourself? Don't you have any pride?
What's the use? I gave mine up long ago!



Just for fun, Gafgarion doesn't get equipment.




We must go to Lionel Castle right away!

Speaking of Lionel, let's see how the princess is doing.


Not well, apparently.

...
No one will mourn your death. In fact, it should make most people happy. You won't die. Just eat the food.
I knew you were in with the Cardinal.

She did read the script.



So, you're using me, too. But you can't make me do whatever you want.
You have no other choice if you want to live.
What's that mean?
It means...



This is the guy who hired assassins to kill us at the beginning of chapter 2.

Cardinal How are you, Princess? If you'd behaved, you wouldn't be here now.
Hmm, she's almost too good a substitute for a Princess.



What are you talking about?
Listen carefully. You're not Ovelia.
What......?
The real princess died long ago. You're a substitute.
No, that's a lie!!

Well, you didn't want to be a princess, Ovelia. Be careful what you wish for.

It's not a lie. You are not Ovelia. Old Senators who didn't care for Princess Luveria, made you....So someday you'd succeed the throne, ousting the Princess. They killed 2 older Princes making it look like illness, and adopted you as Princess. They all thought Omdolia was too weak to make another son so you took the throne. However, Orinas was born. Even now, no one's sure if the Prince is really his son.

I have no idea who all these people Vormav is talking about are, except that they're apparently part of the royal family.

Larg may have had "seeds" planted to make his sister the King's mother...



Think what you will. Whether you're a Princess or not doesn't matter to us. What matters is that we have an ace up our sleeve called a 'Princess'...
What are you going to do to me? What do you want?
Nothing. Just be a 'Princess' as you are now.

Then why tell her all that crap?

My ancestors were Atkaschas! No one can control me!
Then what? If Larg catches you, he'll kill you...right? We just want to help you take the throne...
Who are you?

I'm batman.

We're neither allies of Larg nor supporters of Goltana. Just 'collaborators'.
Vormav, let her calm down. Once she comes to her senses she won't refuse our help.
Yes.....you're right.



Before we go to our deaths at Lionel Castle, let's check up on the chumps heroic individuals we sent to on that proposition earlier.



I worked on the recovery of a trading vessel.
I got a good feeling!
This job required quite a lot of strength. But we tried our best...As a result, we were able to recover it! Various cargo was found in the recovered vessel, but...There was one big treasure chest that stood out. Cmdr Shepard opened it with faith xtreme, inside was...

Uhh...




Or that.

This job was a big success!!
This is the way!

Bar owner: Wow, what a rare find! You're now a 'treasure-hunter'.



I honestly have no idea what that means. I read somewhere that it influences the success of propositions, but who knows. The combat mechanics of this game have been recorded in intricate detail but nobody seems to know how propositions actually work.




We need to level up a few of our lower-level members, so we'll send off our higher-level members on a proposition while we do that.

Battle 23-24


I'll spare you the details of our training battles.



Oh, so that's what they meant by "signficantly altered math skill".
One more training battle later...



We joined the party to defeat the bandits!
Volourn: This job's a gift from God. R00fles!
The enemy outnumbered us. Well, we sure worked hard for it...As a result, we defeated him! We were cleaning up after the battle...We found a big treasure box. Cleve opened it and inside was...

A djinn?

A bag stuffed with gil!

Oh, I'll get it right eventually.
We'll do a few more propositions before the next fight..



I wanted to squeeze the rest of chapter 2 into one update, but this is already getting pretty long and there's a bunch more dialog to go through. Next time we'll invade Lionel Castle and probably get the shit kicked out of us.

2 updates in one day?

Update 8 - Storming the castle


Battle 25




I fucking hate this fight.

Not so fast!



Prosper! It's me you must fight with! En garde!!



I seriously fucking hate this fight. Prosper has to fight Gafgarion alone while the rest of our crew deals with 3 geomancers, 2 archers, and a summoner. Not the worst odds, but still. Also, Gafgarion still has night sword which is fucking cheap, and he has maintainence now so we can't weapon break him.



Shepard has Draw Out, the samurai skillset, now. Draw Out is completely MA-based, so changing him to a black mage lets him maximize the damage it does. Unfortunately Draw Out is nerfed a bit in the insane difficulty patch so we don't do much damage...yet. Eventually we'll be using Shepard to collar-grab bosses to death.



Oh, it's on now.







Prosper has to fight Gafgarion one-on-one for the moment. So we've made him a lancer.



All he can do while we're jumping is watch the main battle on the other side of the wall



This is the first turn Gafgarion has taken when Prosper is on the ground since the first round of combat.



Well, since the main fight is over, it's time for everyone to come murder Gafgarion.




Now that Prosper has opened the gate, Gafgarion can join the main battle. Although his AI does nothing but try to kill Prosper.



Oh god dammit, his reaction ability is HP Restore, which is rapidly becoming my least favorite enemy skill. Basically it has a chance to fully heal him whenever he's attacked in critical.




This could take a while.



I'm not even sure how this happened.



Finally Gafgarion goes down.



Goodbye, Gafgarion......

Goodbye indeed. That was the end of Gafgarion.



We're not done with Lionel yet, though. This is a two-part battle and we don't get to do much more than save and swap jobs.

Battle 26




Or was it bad luck? Anyhow, you're good. You have Beoulve blood in your veins. Even if you are a bastard.

Well fuck you too.



Leave the stone here. If you resist, I'll show no mercy...

Oh, what. What's a fat, bald priest going to do to us?

Where is Princess Ovelia?
Why must you save her?

Because the plot would come to a standstill if we didn't try.

You deserted the Beoulves. What can you change by yourself? Don't waste energy. Without power, nothing can be achieved...You're powerless.
Where's the Princess!!
She's not here. She left for Zeltennia. She chose our help over yours.

That ungrateful bitch.

That's a lie!!
She has begun to think for herself. She felt unsure of you and chose us for obvious reasons to take the throne. Why don't you join us? You want to get the best of your brothers sails, right? We care about the world, too. How about it?

After you tried to kill us multiple times? Well, it wouldn't surprise me if Prosper said yes.

I don't want to change the world! I just can't allow people to suffer and die because of some elitist's ideas. Change the world? You think anyone really can? I'm not that reckless!!
Ha, ha, ha...You're the one holding the stone. You can change not only the world, but the truth of everything with its power. Since you don't seem to understand, let me show you.



Uhh...this could be bad.






God dammit. Nothing is ever easy.

Now, let me have my fun. Let me hear your screams, and suffering death cries!

This is the first zodiac beast fight. And it's also by far the most annoying.



The name of the game here is status ailments. Queklain has death, death sentance, poison, sleep, and more.



Also, this is the first creature that we can't see the status of. There are several bosses with this property. In addition to being unable to see their status, their HP and MP are multiplied by 10. Queklain probably has close to 1500HP.



Isn't the stone for destroying evil power? But, if that's true...then, the Cardinal's 'evil' itself?
This is the power of Lucavi who once ruled the world!
Lucavi!? Who are you!? Where's the real Draclau? Where!?



That expression is hilarious.

No, or should I say I was. I surpassed fragile humans by using the stone power....I became 'God'!! Those who interfere...must die!!



So far this hasn't actually been very difficult. Although, we have dealt Queklain something like 550 damage at this point and he's still up.



Oh jesus christ. Well.



Yeah, we're going to need to try again.



Eat holy, asshole!



The main problem with this fight is that positioning is a bitch. We have to start close together, and that's a problem because...



Queklain's Dark Bio has a huge target area.



We've thrown everything including the kitchen sink at this asshole and he still won't fucking die.



I don't remember if this was the case in the original game but Queklain appears to be completely immune to debuffs.



This is seriously a fucking annoying fight. No tricks will work here; we just need to do enough damage to bring him down before he kills everyone.



Actually, there is one trick we can try. Queklain started applying the Undead status to our units when we rolled out with the Magic Defense Up ability, and we can exploit that. Undead units can't be revived normally, instead they have a chance to revive when their death count reaches 0. If we get lucky they'll get back up and we don't have to spend mana reviving them.



And then I discovered that magic ruin drains 999 MP from this guy. He probably has 5000P given the growth rates zodiac beasts get, but we can still exploit that if the zombie plan doesn't work.
Actually I did the math (the stat formulas for this game are well-known) and with the patch stat values he should have something like 2200HP and 2000MP. In addition to 20 PA (physical attack) and 23 MA (magic attack). For comparison Prosper has 12 PA after equipment, and our casters have 14 MA again after equipment.



I'm pretty sure Queklain's finally out of mana. He's running around smacking people now. He hits fucking hard for around 170 damage, but Andhaira has abandon as is therefore almost impossible to hit physically, and Prosper is a fucking tank.

Actually, one thing about bosses with the "???" flag is that you can see if their HP and MP are low by looking at the respective bar - while they don't drain as normal, the bars will appear empty when the monster is low on HP or MP.



Oh fuck, Queklain's Critical Quick triggered. That means 2 things. He gets another turn, but he's almost dead.
Actually his critical range is probably like 600 HP, so I have a feeling Critical Quick will be triggering often.



NOOOOOOOO! Blackheart! He had so much to live for!



Queklain is almost dead. Alright, you son of a bitch. This one's for Blackheart.




I can't...die...until he resurrects...





It's finally over...
That was a fucking annoying fight. And we lost Blackheart. I'm not replaying the fight again to try and bring him through. We may lose more companions before the end of the game. After seeing how difficult shit will probably get, I'm considering relying more on special characters, because we'll be getting some pretty fucking broken ones in chapter 3 and 4.

Anyway, that fight was intense, but we still have shit to do. Let's check up on Delita and the princess.




We don't know for sure at this point, but there's a fair chance Delita is lying about this.

I was sent by order of Baron Grims to save the princess. I've returned- Mission completed.



The Baron died in battle last month with the Ryomoku. The Black Sheep were entirely wiped out.
That's why I returned.




I try to capture new characters with a screenshot for their first line; the problem is this scene introduces like 5 new characters and they all speak up one after another. Ah well.

Yes, sir. Bring him!



...taking the regency.
Who gave you the order? Prince Larg?
One of Goltana's aids who wants to join Larg.



Silence this lout!
No need. Listen.
Who is that?
......
Talk! Now!
Will you save my life?
All right, I promise. Who is it!!?
Him...Minister Gelwan.

Alright, so that was a pretty obvious reveal. We don't know who Gelwan is, though, so we have no idea if this is true or not. In fact, didn't Delita say it was Dycedarg who set up the kidnapping? Something isn't right here.

How dare you! It's a lie! I don't even know you!



Treason's a serious crime, Minister!
I told you I don't know anything!



Delita was pretty quick to execute this guy.



We must go to the capital with the Nanten now! Or they may hold you responsible for this plot. First, let's remove Orinas and the Queen, then get the Princess on the throne!



"But Larg insisted Orinas was the legitimate successor and had him accede to the throne. Then Larg became the regent as a guardian. Immediately after, Larg sent the Hokuten led by Orinas to Bethla to rescue the Queen. Meanwhile, Goltana sent the Nanten led by Ovelia...This is the beginning of the upheaval which would later be called the 'Lion War'...."

I'll try to clarify what's going on at this point. We have Larg and Goltana vying for power in Ivalice by putting puppet rulers on the throne. Then we have Delita, who's pretty much a wild card - he doesn't appear to be working with any one side at this point, just using whoever he can. Lastly we have Draclau's allies, because he suggested he had them. We don't know what they're trying to do at this point except that they're evil.

Prosper won't be doing anything for a while, so let's fast forward a bit and check on how the war is going.




Well over 200,000 injured just in our troops alone.
Casualties aren't the only problem. Food stock is short as we expected. The real problem's the drought.



I hear crops were ruined before the harvest, due to rain.
More serious are those made destitute by the war. According to Olan, more than 100,000 refugees have come to Lesalia.

Well, it's good to see someone gives a shit about the people in this world.

Ha, ha...Good! Larg'll have problems getting food.

Unfortunately such people are rare.

This is no laughing matter! The same could happen here. Many refugees may come here! Should we start peace talks?
I understand your concerns. But, we cannot stop this war. We'll increase tax by 30%. Make sure no one trades grain at high prices. Also keep an eye on all refugees entering Limberry.
Larg is in difficulty, too. It's not too late for a peace settlement.
Enough, Orlandu! A peace settlement won't occur.
Our nation exists because of the people! We exist because of them. Farmers suffered the most in the War! Raising taxes would hurt them even more.

Orlandu is talking about the 50 Years War, which ended a few years before the events of chapter 1.

The soldiers are also suffering from lack of food. It's impossible to continue physically and mentally.
Mentally? Are you becoming a coward?
In the last War, we served by keeping Ordalia out of our land!
Are you saying there's no 'right' in this battle? Since when did you start talking about 'hypocrisy'? You can't go easy on them. It's for the people! We can't allow a corrupt royal family to oppress the people any longer. We fight!

Uh...I'm pretty sure they say the exact same thing about you.

He's right. Just a little longer before it's over! I never expected to hear that from the one they used to call 'T.G. Cid'.

Oh, Orlandu is the Cid of this game. Every Final Fantasy game needs one. I guess that explains why he's the only sane one in this group.

A little longer? Where'd you get that idea? How can you be optimistic? Are you blind?



Enough! I'm disappointed in you, Orlandu. Any more harsh words may mean your life!
I won't say this again...If any more of you disagree with my plans, go now! Understand? Orlandu!!




If this age of war is the "big tide" like a fate we can't avoid, can I go against it? Now I head for Lesalia to tell my brother Zalbag there's someone manipulating this war...



That's it for now. Next time we'll visit Lesalia, and see some old friends again. I remember the first few battles in chapter 3 being pretty easy, so hopefully they won't take me as long as the Queklain fight did.

Poor Blackheart. May many bloated priest demons die in his name.

Aww, dammit.

Sorry, I can't resist the Overused Meme:

That was a fucking annoying fight. And we lost Blackheart.

Click to expand...

I'm not replaying the fight again to try and bring him through.

Click to expand...

Blackheart


Oh hi there, Orlandu. Just let me know when you're ready to break the game.


Damn, pretty eXtreme! Delita = The True Shepard?


I love these discussions of Massive Battles happening elsewhere, while all of the super-important battles the party is involved in contain maybe 20-25 people at most. I mean, I understand why, it's just an amusing juxtaposition.

Now I head for Lesalia to tell my brother Zalbag there's someone manipulating this war...

Click to expand...

And I'm sure that can only end well.

Keep up the awesome LP, sir.

Don't you remember Zalbag told Prosper where to go hunting for the thieves in the beginning instead of guarding the castle? Clearly he's a true BRO, he'll believe Prosper and help him out.



Oh yeah, maybe not.

I have to admit I'm worried about how strong the other zodiac beasts will be. Queklain isn't very hard in the original game; I don't think he has more than 1000HP and he's pretty easy to burn down. And considering that you fight many of the remaining zodiac beasts with allies, I'm not looking forward to trying those fights.

Remember to try gravity based spells on the bosses. They might have made a bunch of them immune to it, but originally they were all vulnerable, and 25% of thousands of hp is a fucking ton. Drain life (Oracle spell) works off current hp levels too, and it didn't carry the gravity element iirc. Any abilities that can lower a primary stat like PA, MA or Speed will turn a boss into a joke in the long run as well.

All the zodiac beasts are immune to demi/demi 2 in the insane difficulty patch. The only oracle spell I can see that drains HP is diminish, and the zodiacs are all immune to that as well. They gave those abilities the dark element in the patch and the zodiacs cancel dark.

So when the fuck are you updating this fucking thing?

Oh, I was a bit burnt out after Queklain (that fight took most of Thursday) and a few disappointing tries on the first battle of chapter 3. I had about half an update done as of Sunday but then I started playing Left 4 Dead. So yeah, I'll update tomorrow.

Also I was sort of hoping to push this to the next page, but fuck it, I'll update regardless tomorrow.

You needs posts?

Delivered as promised.

Update 9 - The Ivalice Inquisition

Last time we fought our way through Lionel Castle to rescue Ovelia. Gafgarion tried to stop us, but after a long battle we took him out, and then we confronted Draclau. He claimed Ovelia had decided to side with them and had left already. Then he turned into a zodiac beast and tried to kill us. After a very annoying battle, we managed to kill him. In the scenes that followed, Delita encouraged prince Goltana to attack prince Larg, starting a war. Now we're headed to the capital of Ivalice to tell Zalbag about all this zodiac stone business.

Battle 27




"Up there! On the roof!!"




Thief: Hya, ha! Damn blabbermouth. Now, give yourself up.



How is it that Prosper always manages to stumble into these situations?

Thief: We have many visitors today. Let's get them all together!



Olan is an astrologist, a unique class with a pretty awesome special ability, Galaxy Stop:

So apparently Olan is a Sidereal from Exalted.

He also comes with Damage Split and a speed of 13 (which is ridiculous).



Unfortunately this fight is still a complete pain in the ass because Olan likes to hide in a corner and get anally raped.
Also, what's with all these people and their fathers?



The worst part of this fight is when Galaxy Stop does absolutely nothing except waste time.



It would be awesome if Volourn got to do something.



And through the power of sheer luck (and Galaxy Stop working for once), this battle suddenly becomes much easier.




My name is Olan Durai. What's yours?
Prosper Beoulve.
!!
Is something wrong?
Oh, nothing. Never mind.

That's a yes.

Where are you going anyway?
To Lesalia. If you're going that way we could go along.
Too man, I'm going the other way. Thanks for the offer.
Well, be careful.
You too.



This won't be the last we see of Olan and his wildly inconsistant Galaxy Stop.

Later, at Lesalia...


The last time we saw Zalbag was at the conclusion of chapter 1.

I was surprised to know you're in Lesalia. Alma's here, too. See her before you go.
Brother...
What?
Can you stop the war?
Don't be ridiculous!



Beoulves have fought to protect the people, not royalty. But now, they're fighting for self-interest...

Prosper continues to be incredibly naive.

You don't know anything!
You don't understand, brother! This battle's someone's plot! Someone's using Larg and Goltana!!

Yeah, the makers of this game.

Using...? What are you talking about?

Well, there was this crystal, and this priest, and then there was a fat demon, and...you know what, fuck it.

I don't know much either.....

Yes you do.

Dycedarg tried to kidnap the Princess to keep Goltana from the throne. But someone took the Princess to Goltana. If she was killed then, Goltana would have been killed as a traitor.
Dycedarg planned the kidnap? Prosper! You're saying your own brother came up with such a plot!?

Well you killed Teta. Ass.



Don't you trust your flesh? Get out! Go back to Igros!!
Don't you believe me?!
How am I supposed to believe an irreverent kid like you! I've cared about you being my half-brother but, after all, bad blood is bad blood. Not suitable for a Beoulve!

Everyone in Prosper's life is an asshole.

...Zalbag...



Knight: I was told 'T.G. Cid' broke through Doguola Pass!
What!? I thought they were at Bethla! We'll have an assembly! Tell everyone to join!! I'll be there, too!!

Well, Zalbag asked us to go check up on Alma, so let's do that.

Battle 28


I can just tell this conversation isn't going to go well.



Alma...



You won't be back, will you?
Delita is alive.
What?
Delita helped kidnap the Princess.
What does all this mean?

That Delita's an asshole.

I thought he joined Goltana to get back at us...But he seems to be involved more with someone else. Someone other than Delita saved the Princess from being killed for some scheme.
Is it true Dycedarg was involved in the kidnapping?
Yes.

You know, we saw Dycedarg plan to recover the princess with Gafgarion in an exposition scene, but Prosper only has Delita and Gafgarion's word that he did.

I'm sure he had his reasons, but I don't know them.
So Teta....Is Teta...?
Yes...



I don't know who's behind Delita. But he's dangerous. Taking advantage of the war to achieve something vicious.
Is Delita party to the plot?
I don't know. He seemed to have his own ideas about things though...
You're fighting against them?
...
I'll go with you.
Are you out of your mind? Of course not!!

That...wasn't a question, Prosper.

I want to prove what you're saying is true!
No, no.
I don't want to see another Teta!!
Alma......

Suddenly...


Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!



I order you to appear at a heresy hearing on suspicion of murder and heresy! You will follow us! Any resistance will force us to execute you immediately!
Heresy examiner!?

I wonder if this has anything to do with that cardinal we stabbed to death.

Run! Brother!!
I won't let you! Get him! Kill the 'heretic'!



Alma is on our side for this battle. One of the interesting things about her AI is that she always opens the battle by casting MBarrier on Prosper. MBarrier gives Shell, Protect, Haste, Regen, and Reraise to the target.



OK, she didn't last long.



And our entire group didn't last long. Zalmo has a ton of MP and his holy hits pretty hard, and one of the white mages has summon as a secondary.



This time I'm not putting up with any of their crap.







Holy fuck this is pissing me off. 3 monks with Chakra and two of them have item as a secondary, 2 white mages to continually raise people, and Zalmo, who is a fucking cheater.



And then one of the white mages gets Leviathan off. Fuck.



how the fuck does Zalmo's holy hit so hard. He has an MA of 9.



We have Cmdr Shepard use a Draw Out skill to hit 2 monks and Alma...



And her Counter Magic triggers, finishing the monks off. Shepard is xtreme enough to take 2 hits from Draw Out.



God dammit. Zalmo has a ton of MP and the half of MP support ability, so he can pretty much do this all day.



Fuck you, Zalmo.




How'd the examiner find out about the Holy Stone? Maybe it was someone behind Delita or Glabados Church? But why would the church...?
Holy stone? You mean the legendary Holy Stone?

No, the Holy Stone cereal. What else would Prosper be talking about.

It really exists? Then, maybe I've seen it...
What!? Where?
Promise to take me with you?



NO! I won't take you!



The fate of the world may depend on this you selfish bitch. But by all means, don't tell Prosper. It's probably for the best.

Come on, don't play games. You might get killed!
It may be too late already. Because you disobeyed him.

You were the one who told him to run away. Idiot.

By now I'm probably a heretic, a fugitive like you. Dycedarg may desert me to protect Beoulve...
He's capable of that. No, it's too dangerous. Explain it to Zalbag and get permission from the church!
I saw it at Orbonne Monastery. Yes...a crystal with a carved Virgo crest.
Virgo........Before it passes into their hands........Thanks for telling me. Now, go back to Zalbag!
How do you get to Orbonne?

It's not that far away. I mean, sure, we might have a random encounter on the way, but still.

You're a 'heretic'. You can't go into a monastery of Glabados. There's no way!

Oh, bullshit. We'll just kill anyone that tries to stop us. That's worked so far.

Uh.......
See? You DO need me, don't you?



Promise me!



OK, so, let's go to Orbonne Monastery to find the Virgo zodiac stone. I'm sure nothing bad will happen there.
That was sarcasm, by the way.

I'm going to go ahead and call it here. I realize this update isn't quite as long as the others, but Orbonne is actually a series of three battles and I'd rather tackle that in one update. Next time we'll visit Orbonne and see what surprises lurk in store there.

Great job man.
Your pain and suffering convinced me to skip the 'Hard' patch and go with the 'Easy' one during my next playthrough.

Bring me back goddammit. I was so interesting.