Mission Statement

For those new to the site, this blog is, in short, a nostalgic journey for myself to complete every core Final Fantasy game over the 101 days before the launch of XIII in an effort to become a true FF fanatic.

Sunday, February 14, 2010

FFIX - Oh... Shit....

As Cysra prepares for her coronation, Dr. Tot explains to her that he was the one who found her in the boat washed ashore with her dead mother when she was six years old. At the time, the King and Queen had just lost their six year old daughter Garnet to illness. Dr. Tot presented them with the little Cysra and they took her in, naming her after their dead daughter. A little sick if you ask me.

We cut to Rhek in town all bummed out over not seeing Cysra anymore. He's too stupid to go see her, she's too proud to go see him, etc. Anyway, with the little drama aside, Akelray and Dr. Tot have some nice chats about her home village.

Dr. Tot wants to take Akelray to his home in Treno to chat some more with her. Pedophile! Rhek and the rest of the gang minus Cysra and Slayn decide to get out of this town and go with them by way of underground Gargan. On the way they notice that down here under the earth, the Mist is still around... Interesting.

Upon arriving in Treno, everyone goes their separate ways and we have control of Rhek as we roam the city. What follows is like 15 different ATE sequences. We learn a little about Ichorid's past and why he wants to learn more about Rhek, we see Vivi visit his home where his grandfather (who looked exactly like Qu) lived, and we get a little more info from conversations between Akelray and Dr. Tot. Before Akelray left Alexandria, she had a little heart to heart sister type of talk with Cysra and said goodbye. During the chat they exchanged crystals. Cysra gave Akelray her two and Akelray gave Cysra her two. Dr. Tot mentions something about 'the crystal' breaking 500 years ago in some event into four pieces. What was this event that drove all summoners from the lands and into exile?

After all these little events, we finally get Rhek into a Tetra Card game tournament. By some miracle I won, beating the reining champ, Cid. I don't even know how to play. Anyway, as I won and received some items, Akelray came running up to tell us her Mog has some very bad news. Something terrible is happening in Alexandria. Cid suggests they all jump on his new airship and head over.

We cut to Alexandria and watch as Kuja summons Bahamut into the city.


Bahamut attacks, destroying homes left and right, people are getting massacred and monsters begin to invade as well.


Slayn and Beatrix head out into the city and hold back wave after wave of monsters as the developers just throw exp at me, trying to catch Slayn up 10 levels in like 5 minutes. Not gonna argue with that, haven't played with the guy in over ten hours. We cut back to Cysra in the castle alone. She hears a strange music and goes up the castle to find the source. As she climbs to the castle roof, the castle itself morphs, building staircases and towers higher and higher. She continues to climb. When she reaches the top, there's a soft glow radiating from everywhere and the song is strong.

Cut to the rickety airship and the rest of the party flying to help Cysra and Alexandria. As we approach, Akelray's crystals start to glow around her neck. She mutters something about the 'Light of Destiny', and then jumps off the side of the airship! Luckily she jumps just as we're overhead of Cysra and as her body comes streaking down toward the castle floor, she slows and stops, hovering against the light of Cysra's crystals.


The two come together and pray. With their combined power the four part crystal becomes one stone and they summon the eidolon Alexander. Of course the summon is the castle itself. The transforming, moving, living, breathing castle. Badass...


After Alexander awakens, Bahamut attacks, throwing fireballs at the castle towers, only to have them shed off of Alexander's wings like pesky nats being swatted away. Alexander proceeds to annihilate Bahamut...


Down below Kuja watches the battle and muses that this is what he's been waiting for, the legendary Alexander. He calls upon the ship, the 'Invincible'. The great eye in the sky opens once more and the purple rays begin to fall upon the land. He's going to take control of Alexander. Enter a new character.

Up on the ship 'Invincible', we're introduced to someone new. Someone dressed in all black with red trim. This mystery man comments on the carnage below, saying that Kuja has gone too far. That's he's let him run off his leash too long. It's time to put a stop to him. He also mentions Rhek. On a side note, I believe that I forgot to mention an ATE from my last play time, where Rhek admits to Cysra that he himself does not know where he's from. He just woke up one day when he was a young boy, lost. He never knew his parents, and all remembers from before is a bright blue light. That's it. Is it possible that this new mystery character has something to do with Rhek's origins as well as Kuja's?

Down below, we see an irate and confused Kuja, he can't understand why he doesn't have control of Alexander already. He ponders then says aloud, "It must be Garland.." WAH???? OHHH SHIT! Talk about your FF name drop! Man when I saw that I just kept saying ohshitohshitohshitohshit. LOL.

After I regained myself self composure I continued on with the story. We were back with Rhek and his gang landing the airship on the castle and heading up to Cysra and Akelray. But as the crew begins to head up, Rhek tells them he needs to continue on alone. After some discussion, they agree and take off. Rhek continues up the living castle by himself, but before long it begins to shake.


Garland in the Invincible has decided to destroy Alexander instead and the purple light from the Invincible begins to radiate around Alexander, turning his white feathers to burnt ash. Then Garland strikes with a focused beam into his heart.


As the place begins to break apart, Cysra almost falls to her death but is saved by Rhek at the last moment.


The airship and everyone aboard pulls away from the city as Alexander is destroyed and with his death, the shock wave send the entire city into a ball of flame. Goodbye nation of Alexandria...


Before the scene is over, we see Garland say that he wishes Kuja hadn't chosen this to be his end on Gaia (I guess Kuja is dead?). He also says that Kuja played his part. That the souls of the dead will never be allowed to return to Gaia. He must be killing all these nations to get enough souls for something. He also says that one day he will have to face Kuja's counterpart. Rhek....? What's going on here??

Rhek wakes up in Lindblum and Cysra, losing her entire nation, is mute now. Well that's gonna suck since she's my WHM. Anyway, after a bunch of ATEs, some shopping and some drama, we find out that someone saw Kuja escape before the explosion on the Hilda Garde I. That was the original airship Cid's wife stole. Not only that, but he was surrounded by black mages. Real ones, not dolls. The party decides to go check for answers in Black Mage Village. Cid gives us access to his ship and we race off, getting full access to the entire world map for the first time. Nice.

I have my entire party of eight and a badass little boat. Onward!

So far so good, this game is quickly entering my top three FF all time. Hopefully it can keep up this pace and end with a bang. Really, really enjoying it so far.

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