Final Fantasy X / X-2

[DisturbedSwan]

Nah @OCH I like it just the way it is ta ?

[OCH]

Another Blakey Hot TakeTM it is, then ?
Now that has got me thinking if Squeenix could do a six party member grid ala Suikoden. With a plot based party, this would have been the ideal game to test that on.

[Rikzilla]

I don't think you understand what hot take means.

[OCH]

Quote

A Hot Take Is a Controversial Opinion

A hot take is an opinion that's unpopular to the point of controversy.

 

I think I got, ta. When it comes to Blakey's views on games - Metal Gear Survive - It's very onbrand.

[Rikzilla]

Do you ever not talk bollocks? How is Blakey liking the FFX battle system as it is a hot take? And what does that have to do with him liking Metal Gear Survive?

[Hendo]

Alright lads, give it a rest. This ain’t the politics thread.

[Rikzilla]

1 minute ago, Hendo said:

Alright lads, give it a rest. This ain’t the politics thread.

 

I thought Nag was gonna win tonight, but then you swoop in with this gem ?

[Hendo]

My tongue couldn’t be more in my cheek unless it popped out through the skin.

But mages and shit.

[DisturbedSwan]

Put another 6 hours into this since my last post. Now 52 hours total.

 

Finally made it to Zanarkand! What a magical moment it was descending down into the ruins from Mount Gagazet and then having the opening cutscene play out.  Just such a great moment to know you’ve come full circle and now know the full circumstances and context behind that opening cutscene.

 

Zanarkand was definitely more interesting than Mount Gagazet, it looked beautiful with all the spectral bits of light floating through the air amongst the ruins of a once great city. Seeing little bits and pieces I recognised from the opening was really cool as well. This whole area was filled with pretty tough monsters that took awhile to put down but I didn’t have too many issues or had to bail out of any fights. 
 

I made my way through the ruins and what looked like an old Blitzball Arena or something and then arrived at the Temple containing the last Cloister of Trials. Initially it took me a little while to get my head around what the game wanted me to do to solve the puzzles, but once I realised that I was essentially replicating the picture shown on the screen with the lit tiles on the floor it was relatively easy to solve. They did get progressively harder but once I got the knack of it I managed to crack them in no time. Really enjoyed this little interlude, I think I’ve loved all the puzzles in the game so far thinking about it, they never outstay their welcome and are infrequent enough to be a nice distraction from the norm when they do occur.

 

I had considerably more trouble with the boss that succeeded this Cloister of Trials though. It was another puzzle fight, this one having you move characters around a spectral game board to avoid his frontal attacks. Time after time I tried and every time he managed to completely wipe out my party without me doing much damage on him, it didn’t help he could inflict Berserk on you at the drop of a hat which meant you’d be stuck in 1 position on the board and incredibly vulnerable to his attacks. Over time I learnt to value my position on the board over attacking him, leaving 1 party member in front of him while the others attack from behind and eventually managed it but this was definitely one of the toughest bosses so far for me.

 

Lots of story revelations next with

Spoiler

Yuna rejecting her destiny to sacrifice her life to summon the final Aeon to try to defeat Sin once and for all, rather than him coming back to life time and time again. This doesn’t go down well with Yunalesca though

so another boss fight ensues.

 

This one was much more straightforward than the last, I did a little bit of grinding beforehand just to get my Aeons into Overdrive just in case but I managed it on my first try. The only thing I wasn’t expecting was her 3rd phase really, after the 2nd phase (which had 40,000 health) I thought I had finished her off only to have another 60,000 health phase to go. It took awhile whittling her down, avoiding her insta-death attack and reviving allies when I couldn’t avoid it but I managed it after awhile.

 

More story relevelations continues where you find out Auron

Spoiler

is also an unsent.

Almost immediately after the airship picked me up. I knew this would enable me to then travel around the map, so I set about going back to previous areas to pick up the Jecht Spheres and Al Bhed Primers I’d missed out on. I immediately stumbled into a roadblock on Besaid in Dark Valefor though ?, had a quick look online and attempted to perform Zanmato with Yojimbo (despite him never previously doing that move for me) and would you believe it, he did it first time! Dark Valefor and his 800,000 health poor were defeated, I honestly couldn’t believe it. Went exploring a few other spots on the map picking up a few more primers and spheres and left it there for the day. 
 

Spoiler

 

[one-armed dwarf]

This scene is sick, Zanarkand spoilers

Spoiler

 

Like the only time in the game Auron speaks at an elevated level

 

[DisturbedSwan]

Haha yeah @one-armed dwarf that scene was amazing. Loved seeing Auron get fired up!

[DisturbedSwan]

Played another 6 hours since my last post, 58 total.

 

 I’ve just been going around doing side activities really and haven’t made any more progress on the main quest line.

 

Firstly, I wanted to collect the remaining Jecht Spheres and Al Bhed Primers so I fired up the Airship and set about following a couple of guides that told me where they are located. Had no trouble picking either of them up at all until I had to pick my last Al Bhed Primer up, which was located at the Omega Ruins, which is a super daunting post-game area (I’d imagine) judging by the types of enemies there. I didn’t have any anti-encounter armour or accessories on me so had to try to just Flee every time I encountered something. This wasn’t going too well for awhile but I just about managed to get to the Primer location and back to the save point by the skin of my teeth.

 

Now those were all picked up I could focus on getting some of the Celestial Weapons. At this point I’d already got the Caladbolg but needed the rest. First off I travelled to Mushroom Rock and put my - previously collected - Rusty Sword into the statue here to get the Masamune which was relatively simple to do. After this I travelled back to the Calm Lands to open the chest containing the Nirvana as I’d previously captured all the fiends in that area to open the Monster Arena.

 

Next was the Godhand. Getting the weapon itself was a very simple journey back to a secret Mushroom Rock area via an Airship Password but getting the Mercury Sigil was a whole lot more difficult! You’re tasked with finding 10 Cactuars scattered across the humongous Sanubia Desert, one at a time. When you find them you have to sneak up on them without being noticed, which isn’t too difficult. The whole task is just very time consuming though, traipsing around the different areas of the desert, finding the Cactuar, then taking the Cactuar orb back to the locator stone over and over again just wasn’t much fun. But, I got there eventually and boy was a glad it was over! 
 

Next up was the Spirit Lance, so I headed to the Thunder Plains. Using a guide once again it wasn’t too difficult to figure out what to do although I did have a bit of trouble understanding that you could only pray at the lit up Cactuar stones here. After a bit of head scratching I managed to successfully locate and pray at the three stones which activated a ghost which showed me to a broken lightning conductor, which then gifted me the Spirit Lance! As I was relatively close by I decided to go for the Saturn Sigil in Macalania Woods. 
 

This turned out to not be a good decision. You’re tasked with catching 7 butterflies in 2 different areas to get the Sigil, I had done a little bit of these butterfly races when I was in the area last time around but never managed to successfully collect all the butterflies. I just found it so damn difficult and annoying as hell this time around, time and time again I tried and every time I’d either bump into too many red butterflies or fail to pick one up along the way. After consulting a guide I found the one butterfly I was missing and after 90 minutes of trying finally managed to do it. Only to realise I’d have to do it all over again at the second course! Luckily this one was much easier than the first and I managed to do it relatively quickly, the Saturn Sigil was finally mine! 
 

Switched gears afterwards to focus on doing some of the legwork required to get the Magus Sisters. So I used the Airship to go to Mount Gagazet (via the Calm Lands as I needed some more capture weapons) and set about capturing all the fiends needed to get the Blossom Crown I needed. Didn’t take me too long at all and before I knew it I was travelling back to the Monster Arena at the Calm Lands and picking up my prize (I’d previously battled Belgemine and picked up the Flower Scepter).

 

I left it there for the day. I now only need Onion Knight and World Champion for the Celestial Weapons which should be doable, but I’m undecided whether to go for the Sigils or not, I definitely don’t think I’ll have the wherewithal to play the Blitzball required to get the Jupiter Sigil, likewise for the Venus and Mars Sigils. I think my next step is to carry on the story a little bit so I can get the last Destruction Sphere to get Anima and the Onion Knight (I understand I can’t go back to the Zanarkand Temple until I defeat the next boss(es)), then play a little bit of Blitzball to try and get the World Champion.

[OCH]

One of the things I've always liked in RPG's is the grind. That started through Suikoden and (mostly)Disgaea. Oddly enough, it was the part I liked most about FF X. They certainly make you work for the end game items though. The primers are weird though, as essentially they are a NG+ item. Getting them all means you can read the subtitles from the very first encounter with the Al-Bhed. In the end I think I looked up the unlocked dialogue online. NG+ isn't really I do immediately, if at all.

 

You're making really good progress though @DisturbedSwan, I didn't attempt most of this until a bit later on. Have you done anything with the Monster Arena yet?

[DisturbedSwan]

I haven’t fought any monsters there @OCH but opened it up by collecting all fiends in the Calm Lands. 

[one-armed dwarf]

I'll warn you that you don't usually see the Jupiter Sigil until maybe the 4th or 5th league of Blitzball, a league is ten matches.

 

I really like Blitzball tho and it's the second best FF minigame after Triple Triad. There's definitely some good guides out there about who to recruit. Honestly a great sidequest

[OCH]

Out of all the FF mini games, I just didn't take to Blitzball. However, my cousin did. He actually lent the game off me just to play it, for a week or two. When I got it back, he hadn't touched the main game but I did get the Jupiter Sigil out of it.

[bellow]

I couldn't understand it, myself. Then again I had a completely different experience with the game than Blakey is having. I never came across half the stuff he's talking about. Like, who the hell are the Magus sisters, when they're at home?

[OCH]

My cousin did wish they made a separate game out of Blitzball. For a period in the early 00’s, he literally revolved his free time around this and - his favourite game - Football Manager.

The Magus Sisters are a reference to FF 4 @bellow

The more obscure Summons typically are [such references].

[DisturbedSwan]

You didn’t do any of the side stuff at all then @bellow?

 

Just the 4 hours I’ve put into this over the weekend, 62 total.

Carried on with the story at first, going to Highbridge to speak to Mika briefly and then ended up facing the first two phases of the

Spoiler

Sin

 boss battle on the Airship. 

Spoiler

What the hell were those cutscenes though where the Oceans literally get reshaped in front of you?! Properly surprised me seeing that, was like something out of One Punch Man where he punches someone through a building.

I have to say I think I was a bit overconfident in this fight, I assumed I’d beat these bosses quite easily so didn’t use Aeons or anything and didn’t prepare the best I could, meaning I got my arse thoroughly handed to me in the second phase on my first try. I went off, did some grinding to level up my overdrives, came back and managed it very easily on my next try using my Aeons.

After this I ditched the story again to get the last two Aeons I needed - Magus Sisters and Anima - along with the World Champion for Wakka and Onion Knight for Lulu. My first stop was back to Macalania Woods though as I realised I hadn’t fully powered up the Caladbolg, Spirit Lance and Godhand in my last session  quickly corrected this and then set a course for Zanarkand Temple.

Here I did the short puzzle needed to get my last Destruction Sphere. Was tempted to look it up but I managed to solve the puzzle very quickly using the same trial and error methods I’d used in the previous ones. Once I’d picked up the last Destruction Sphere item here I immediately went to Baaj Temple.

I have to say before I arrived I didn’t realise this was the same locale Tidus ends up in when he first arrived in Spira, was very cool going back and seeing this same location again from the beginning of the game after all this time. Fought a boss here but it was more of a mini-boss really, I had stone wards equipped but he still packed quite a punch at times, but ultimately was pretty easy to put down. Once he was defeated I just had to find the Onion Knight chest on the Lake bed and then go power up the temple to get Anima, then it was straight back to the Calm Lands for the Magus Sisters.

I’d previously defeated all Belgemine’s Aeons up to Yojimbo so it was merely a case of making my way to Remiem Temple again, defeating Yojimbo, Anima and then getting the Magus Sisters using the Spectre and Blossom Crown on the sealed door. I stuck around after this to fight the Magus Sisters - who were no trouble at all with Anima’s deadly overdrive - to get the Moon Sigil.

Another brief stop to Macalania Woods to power up Yuna’s Nirvana and then I flung myself right into the world of Blitzball. Firstly I recruited Brother from the Airship and then a couple more players that I read were good online and contracted them to my team. I then watched a few videos for formation and general Blitzball tips, then set about playing a few games. During the story match I got beat 3-0 so wasn’t too confident but ended up playing 3 games and won every won! I read the World Champion takes 5 wins to get so I should only need another couple wins tomorrow to achieve my goal.

[one-armed dwarf]

Yeah BB is introduced terribly in this, they make you do the hardest match you will ever do first before you even know how anything works. But then you try it for real and learn that Goers and the Al Bhed ones are the only guys you have to worry about

 

IIRC then later on it's the Guados who become the scary team to face. All coming back to me, blitz is great.