Rainbow Chara X
Impossible to gauge!
- 129
- Posts
- 8
- Years
- Shiny Hunting in Sinnoh
- Seen Apr 25, 2024
Yikes. Looks like I had a good break, but it's time to get back to work.
A lot of things happened in the span of the last months or so, and I've decided that I'm going to do two let's plays back to back (this and Dark Rising 2) because of how they're formatted. See, there's a thing I don't want to spoil that me and my friend are doing for DR2 that involves their help, so to help wait for that I'm doing some more FFTA in the down time.
Plus, I want to give this series the proper finishing off it deserves.
[FONT=verdana, geneva, lucida, lucida grande, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]Chapter 8 (Normal) - Ultima, the High Seraph[/FONT][FONT=verdana, geneva, lucida, lucida grande, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]
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We start off this chapter with some holy water. I'm tempted to make some lame religious puns considering the overall theme of today's chapter, but I don't feel like it. Instead, have this:
Ether is rare but not that good, as it restores your MP. It would be incredibly valuable in the second game where you start off with zero MP for every fight, but here? Nah, fam.
You can find Adamantite in treasure hunt areas, but I prefer just spamming Metal Hunt over and over.
Yo listen - I hate math too, but getting a professional mercenary to help you figure out an equation is probably a bit overkill.
Sending anybody from Clan Crimson guarantees your safety. By the way, the Elda's Cup is an interesting quest item in that it unlocks a semi-unique character after you complete a mission. Their name is Eldena and they're a Red Mage that comes with Doublecast (a spell that requires 999 AP to learn) and Barrier pre-learned. That's hella rad, but I'd rather stick to what I have.
Eldena isn't the only character that fits this description either, as there's multiple hidden characters that you unlock via special items.
Hoo boy, what did you get yourself into. I'm sending the best to make sure you don't get gutted in your sleep.
53 / 70 / 110 / 220 / 64 / 80 / 82
Blade Biters are the gnarlier cousin of the Toughskin that are not only... well, tougher, but come with some incredibly nasty abilities. The first is Limit Glove, which allows them to hit for over 900(!!) damage when they have low HP.
However, that's peanuts compared to their signature ability: Munch.
Munch allows them to permanently destroy weapons on top of dealing damage... Like jesus christ, they earned their name. You better hope you're going with magic users otherwise kiss all of your valuable, one-of-a-kind weapons goodbye.
Blade Biters are also notable for being the only monster in the entire game aside from bosses that you can't get Blue Magic from. I guess Limit Glove doesn't count or something. Sure, it'd trivialize encounters if you play it right but then again you can do that better with the Assassin class.
Toughskins are also notable for being one of the few monsters that you can't ever catch. Ever.
I guess it's because they don't play nice or something? I don't know.
I don't remember why I had to remove Aim, but I will tell you that this was a random encounter that spawned from Roda Volcano... which consists of Dragons. Oh lord help the poor saps that aren't Clan Crimson.
15 / 60 / 85 / 320 / 89 / 46 / 86
Jellies are the fire member of the Flan family and are pretty self-explanatory barring a fun new ability called Sacrifice. Basically, they turn themselves into a soft-serve that completely cures the lucky target's HP and status effects... at the cost of their own lives. Nice.
You're probably shaking your heads wondering what the hell happened in this screenshot.
You see, I had gotten a Fire Wyrm down to critical health and they tried to heal up this Jelly using a fire attack... which triggered their Counter and forced them to murder their ally. Best betrayal ever.
Nobel was like a hawk. Didn't sleep for the entire time he was on the mission because he was that damn determined.
Galor had to bonk the client on the head once he realized the equation that was holding them back was... elementary school fractions.
But yeaaaaaa boi, we got another Black Thread! Good stuff.
Boy.
But in other news, we discovered more Borzoi scum. Time to root 'em out.
We'll give you three guesses. The first two don't count.
Yeeeaaaa-
... So much for starting off strong. Goddamn it, Rodrigo. Don't make me demote you to towel boy.
Remember Hejaat for later because we'll be snatching her fancy double-edged rapier for ourselves. Madu teaches Doublecast... Plus it'd be the second one we'd own in the Super-Optimized path due to all of our Negotiation grinding.
Yeah, they all go down like flies... I find great joy in Hejaat screaming "mommy" despite being a hardened crime lord.
Rodrigo, don't act like you did anything important. But yeah, we get some Diamond armor... and most important of all, a card that makes Charm illegal.
Ooooh. The Arch Sword is a powerful knightsword that teaches Saint Cross, a light-elemental version of Whirlwind. You can't buy it in stores, so cherish it with all of your heart.
This is the one instance where I would actually recommend you save a card that makes a law illegal due to it simplifying a boss fight coming up.
The guys ravage some poor archer during a skirmish. Even if this doesn't kill him, he'll never walk straight for the rest of his life.
Oh yes, there was a mission around here that involved going into Roda Volcano to get bomb claws for a soup. I wasn't even aware Bombs had claws due to them being living balls of fire, so you got me.
We catch a monster on the way to build upour cockfighting ring our monster farm.
So did we just go around and kill a bunch of monsters to get their body parts for a soup? I... something about this doesn't feel right.
Nobel became a Gladiator and - OH SWEET JESUS LOOK TO THE LEFT
35 / 48 / 50 / 115 / 40 / 112 / 148
Behold the lovechild between a gremlin and Jason Voorhees - Tonberries.
Tonberries may not have incredible offensive stats, but they make up for it by being so fast that even Assassins can't keep up. A Tonberry's knife isn't an ordinary tool as it's filled with enough enmity and hatred to rip the planet in half. I wish I were kidding.
Their signature skill is... well, Knife. If Knife hits, you lose everything but a tenth of your health. Theeeen there's Karma, an unholy attack that does more damage the more enemies you've killed. Given our current streaks, it's guaranteed to hit for more than we can stomach.
The only thing that stops them from being party wipers is their horrendous two-space movement and how the turn order system works, but damn you really don't want to get caught by one of these guys in a dark alley.
They're also notable for not having any Blue Magic skills and can't be captured.
I caught yet another monster, but I don't remember what it is.
Zombies can attack with miasma, a cloud of poisonous gas. That has to be rank.
See what I mean??
We get revenge for that knife strike via a ninja beatdown.
Alright Rodrigo, you better be the best damn Juggler this side of the Normal run because you've really got me testy.
Alright then, let's not waste any more time.
I love how this is on the same message board as the mission above. I love the contrast between "hey let's fight a criminal organization" vs "sports".
This is your chance to not be a horrendous screw-up.
"I mean, there was a mission that told us where you were, so..."
The fight was pretty standard, but this guy had a very interesting item. We need that Angel Ring in the Super-Optimized Run, because in case I haven't talked about it before, Angel Rings give re-raise and protect you from an ass-ton of status effects.
Unfortunately, in the process of trying to snuff out Angel Ring Guy's life, Nobel gets chucked into prison. God, I hate the law system.
Blah blah, you guys got your asses whupped.
The Spring Staff teaches Curaga of all spells. It's pretty badass.
Ardin returns from his desert ninja quest with a knife.
Also yay, Rodrigo didn't manage to screw up the mission.
If I'm not mistaken, this is the first time we get arrested in the Normal timeline? It's been pretty hazy since the last time I played this game.
(Oh yes, when you get arrested, they take away all of your equipment so you'd have to re-equip them when they come back. It's, uh, inconvenient.)
When the hell did I get Petalchaser in the Normal timeline?! That's something you'd expect me to do in the timeline where I break everything, but it's in here too!
... You know what we must do.
Sonia covers the mission that Rodrigo failed at earlier and comes back with a golden sword and some... perfume? I dunno.
Ooooh boy, Ezel wants something of us.
: "Sure, what is it?"
: "One of my friends is starting a resistance movement. Fighting against the laws, and all that. I want you to help. I'll put a request up at the pub.
Imagine if Marche wasn't on board for this and thought Ezel was a kook that's way over his head. I can't see it going well.
So... Ezel just puts this up where everyone can see? Alright, whatever. He should be glad we were the ones that got to it instead of like a royal guard or something.
You could very easily go with the "prick" option and fight them for an antilaw, but even I'm not that low.
Nice. The R4 Antilaw blocks everything below "Katanas" but everything above "Color Magic" is unaffected. Of course, the most annoying ones like Damage to Animal are Rank 6 and shit.
40 / 20 / 90 / 110 / 80 / 80 / 78 (Normal)
46 / 28 / 100 / 110 / 80 / 80 / 82 (Big)
Behold the Malboros, hideous plant monsters known for their legendary Bad Breath. Their breath is so putrid that it can inflict every status ailment in the game barring zombification and petrification, so you can be a blind, poisoned frog that's also confused and asleep. It's insane.
Their bigger counterpart also knows a move called Soundwave that basically acts as their counterpart to Dispel. All in all, they're very annoying creatures.
... But not to the point where I won't get one myself.
Oh shit are we actually getting him now? I thought we would have to wait a bit before then.
[Current OST: The Road We Both Aim For]
... Interesting choice of music. I guess they want to hammer it in that this is an important fight, seeing as Borzoi has terrified this place for god knows how long before Crimson came along.
Although you'd hope Marche was here to see the carnage happen.
Gukko (snrk) is a scary son of a bitch. He has all of the strength of a Fighter combined with the incredibly lethal Double Sword ability, allowing him to use two weapons at the same time. It's nuts.
Fortunately, due to a careful balance of spam and ranged attacks, he goes down in a flash.
Yeah, I'd say this was a fitting end for you.
Badass.
We get the Shijin Shield for our troubles. It's just as useless as all the other ones in the game, but it has a neat backstory. You see, the four Shijin gods, or the four Heavenly Kings, are mythical creatures in Chinese mythology that represent the four cardinal directions.
The Black Tortoise of the North, the White Tiger of the West, the Phoenix of the South and the Dragon of the East - I'd go into more detail but let me just say it is really cool.
In the meantime, Randorf picks up a Ragnarok from a random scuffle. You'd think a sword named after an event as big as the war that claimed multiple Norse gods and the world being submerged in water would be a bit more important, but nope.
Look at all of these souls.
... They literally call themselves "strange warrior". Nope, this isn't a trap at all, no sir.
Oooh boy, morphing in action!
... So the monster in question hovers into Galor and he strikes a weird... wow, that pose makes him look high.
Silliness aside, this will allow him to gain all of that particular monster's stats and abilities. Really cool in concept, horribly difficult to use efficiently as it requires feeding the monster you're copying the powers of to make them remotely useful.
It's sort of the same reason why I wish the Monster Transformation mechanic in Dark Cloud 2 was more fleshed out.
Sonia completes the mission for the Strange Warrior and gains Doubleshot. Let's just hope this doesn't snowball into something terrible.
Oh god damn it, Sonia!
It's as if the mission we took on to beat Gukko up didn't really count, because yowza that didn't take long.
Redwings? Oh, this is gonna be good.
The rabbit hole gets deeper and deeper, I swear. Still though, wow, Gukko had to hire foreign crimelords to get back at Clan Crimson and reclaim all of the territory they lost. I find that impressive, to be honest.
Oh hey, the plot-relevant mission! I've been wondering when you would show up.
... Marche? Dude? You were just here a few missions ago hunting Bombs to make someone's dinner. A bit too late to complain about the heat.
[The screen shakes violently]
: "Earthquake! This thing's not going to erupt, is it?!"
: "It's warping... There must be a crystal here!"
How convenient.
[The warping envelops the screen and teleports Marche to another area]
Ooooh, you know I'm all about that a e s t h e t i c.
... But in all seriousness, huh.
: "This place isn't like the last one at all... Maybe this crystal will be different from the last one?"
[Marche glances at the one in the center]
: "I have to destroy it. That's my only way home!"
Riveting, but I think we all know that.
Tempt fate and ye shall get...
A shiny red crystal.
[More crystals spawn around the room]
Pretty cool. But yes, let me introduce...
[Current OST: The Road We Both Aim For]
Ultima, the High Seraph!
Ultima is a Final Fantasy main-stay - the name ranges from spells (Ultima is the strongest Black Magic spell), weapons (Ultima Weapon), or hell even a monster of the same name. This Ultima in particular seems to be inspired by the final boss of the original PS1 Tactics, the Lucavi demon that was supposedly the leader of all the others.
That said, goddamn she looks amazing. If there's anything I can say about the art direction for this game, it's that all the Totema look rad as fuck.
23 / 44 / 120 / 150 / 96 / 80 / 92
It's a shame that we don't get to fight her ourselves, but then again, given what she actually looks like in this game... I don't think her sprite would exactly fit on screen.
In her stead are the Ultima Crystals, these annoying ass rocks that have only one real attack aside from a pitiful melee attack:
Logos. It works exactly as it sounds - it lowers your stats and induces Charm on whoever it hits, turning what is otherwise a race to break the targets into a shitshow.
That's why we're going to put in the Charm law and completely nullify this sucker.
Since Logos inflict Charm and that's their only way of doing any harm to us, the Crystals can't do anything to fight back. I love it, but at the same time, this is the only occasion where actually making a law illegal would work in your favor. Trust me.
They make for good training dummies and dart boards.
We murdered her from the inside - good job!
"I wonder if this crystal is allied to one of the races? And if it is, which one?"
Why would it not be allied to one of the races seeing as that's what the Totema are all about?
: "Those things around the crystal formed a magic circle... Magic... hmmm... the Nu Mou Totema?"
... Marche, you blithering idiot, every race can use magic. Then again, Nu Mou have the most magic potential out of any class so I can't really fault him? Then again, I'm surprised out of all the ones he picked, he didn't choose humes or Viera... or you know, a species that doesn't even exist in the region but are locked off in a different game. (coughgriacoughseeqcough)
If I'm not mistaken, this is our second one. Mission accomplished, let's leave this --
"I said, stop it!"
: "That voice... Mewt?!"
: "Mama's not dead - Mama's alive! She was just here! Who's trying to wreck my world? Get out! Get out of my world!"
[Screen fades back to white with Marche coming back to the volcano]
Well then, don't we feel like quite the shitheel.
"This world must be a reflection of Mewt's desires! His mom's still alive, everyone does what he says... I'm living inside of Mewt's dream!"
... Intriguing. Then again, if it's his dream, then why are there bandits and all of this bad shit inside of it that's clearly out of the scope of his imagination? I dunno how this stupid book works.
: "So if I change the world back to the way it was... I'm destroying his dream world! No wonder he doesn't want me here."
It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure that one out, mate.
But hey, we get to use Ultima for ourselves! Nice.
How do we explain what happened to our client? ... Actually, what even was the point of the original mission? Were we literally supposed to investigate an active volcano? What, were we supposed to stop it from erupting like we're Superman?
The Thief Armlets improve steal rate, so that's nice.
We also get some jewelry that boosts our resistance but not much else.
We also unlock a new forest! Koringwood is a forest full of magic trees and all that cool stuff. Let's see what we've unlocked from this map combination.
How the fuck is this possible? The Materia Blade is one of the most valuable items in the entire game - it's one of the weapons that teach the vaunted Ultima abilities, and we get it in the same run where I just play the game casually.
... Well, you know what this means.
Rodrigo? Get on that, mi boi.
Sonia gets to show off Rockseal and dooms this poor Fencer into becoming a garden gnome. For now, behold.
... As impressive as that animation was, Ultima only deals MP damage. Boo.
We end off the chapter with a Mythril Blade to compliment our Materia one, so of course I'm going to be satisfied.
Next time on Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, we take on some... interesting missions. See you then.
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Missions completed: 60 out of 300 (+12)
Freed Areas: 6 (+1)
Team setup:
(Marche, level 13,
,
) - "I'm... surprisingly conflicted on breaking crystals now."
(Montblanc, level 13,
,
) - "After what you saw, I can't blame you, kupo. I'm more worried about the Redwings invasion, though..."
(Ardin, level 14,
,
) - "So does anybody find it weird how we beat Gukko up but he just sneaked out anyway? Like come on."
(Nobel, level 14,
,
) - "... It issss sssstrange, yesss."
(Galor, level 13,
,
) - "Haha, I could get used to playing with all of these monster souls."
(Randorf, level 14,
,
) - "Just make sure they don't get broken, or God knows what will happen."
(Sonia, level 12,
,
) - "It is really scary being an assassin again... Also, the Ultima totema was pretty."
(Rodrigo, level 13,
,
) - "My enemies better make their prayers because I won't let them live long enough otherwise." [He chuckles as he clutches the Materia Blade]
A lot of things happened in the span of the last months or so, and I've decided that I'm going to do two let's plays back to back (this and Dark Rising 2) because of how they're formatted. See, there's a thing I don't want to spoil that me and my friend are doing for DR2 that involves their help, so to help wait for that I'm doing some more FFTA in the down time.
Plus, I want to give this series the proper finishing off it deserves.
[FONT=verdana, geneva, lucida, lucida grande, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]Chapter 8 (Normal) - Ultima, the High Seraph[/FONT][FONT=verdana, geneva, lucida, lucida grande, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]
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Spoiler:
We start off this chapter with some holy water. I'm tempted to make some lame religious puns considering the overall theme of today's chapter, but I don't feel like it. Instead, have this:
Ether is rare but not that good, as it restores your MP. It would be incredibly valuable in the second game where you start off with zero MP for every fight, but here? Nah, fam.
You can find Adamantite in treasure hunt areas, but I prefer just spamming Metal Hunt over and over.
Yo listen - I hate math too, but getting a professional mercenary to help you figure out an equation is probably a bit overkill.
Sending anybody from Clan Crimson guarantees your safety. By the way, the Elda's Cup is an interesting quest item in that it unlocks a semi-unique character after you complete a mission. Their name is Eldena and they're a Red Mage that comes with Doublecast (a spell that requires 999 AP to learn) and Barrier pre-learned. That's hella rad, but I'd rather stick to what I have.
Eldena isn't the only character that fits this description either, as there's multiple hidden characters that you unlock via special items.
Hoo boy, what did you get yourself into. I'm sending the best to make sure you don't get gutted in your sleep.
53 / 70 / 110 / 220 / 64 / 80 / 82
Blade Biters are the gnarlier cousin of the Toughskin that are not only... well, tougher, but come with some incredibly nasty abilities. The first is Limit Glove, which allows them to hit for over 900(!!) damage when they have low HP.
However, that's peanuts compared to their signature ability: Munch.
Munch allows them to permanently destroy weapons on top of dealing damage... Like jesus christ, they earned their name. You better hope you're going with magic users otherwise kiss all of your valuable, one-of-a-kind weapons goodbye.
Blade Biters are also notable for being the only monster in the entire game aside from bosses that you can't get Blue Magic from. I guess Limit Glove doesn't count or something. Sure, it'd trivialize encounters if you play it right but then again you can do that better with the Assassin class.
Toughskins are also notable for being one of the few monsters that you can't ever catch. Ever.
I guess it's because they don't play nice or something? I don't know.
I don't remember why I had to remove Aim, but I will tell you that this was a random encounter that spawned from Roda Volcano... which consists of Dragons. Oh lord help the poor saps that aren't Clan Crimson.
15 / 60 / 85 / 320 / 89 / 46 / 86
Jellies are the fire member of the Flan family and are pretty self-explanatory barring a fun new ability called Sacrifice. Basically, they turn themselves into a soft-serve that completely cures the lucky target's HP and status effects... at the cost of their own lives. Nice.
You're probably shaking your heads wondering what the hell happened in this screenshot.
You see, I had gotten a Fire Wyrm down to critical health and they tried to heal up this Jelly using a fire attack... which triggered their Counter and forced them to murder their ally. Best betrayal ever.
Nobel was like a hawk. Didn't sleep for the entire time he was on the mission because he was that damn determined.
Galor had to bonk the client on the head once he realized the equation that was holding them back was... elementary school fractions.
But yeaaaaaa boi, we got another Black Thread! Good stuff.
Boy.
But in other news, we discovered more Borzoi scum. Time to root 'em out.
We'll give you three guesses. The first two don't count.
Yeeeaaaa-
... So much for starting off strong. Goddamn it, Rodrigo. Don't make me demote you to towel boy.
Remember Hejaat for later because we'll be snatching her fancy double-edged rapier for ourselves. Madu teaches Doublecast... Plus it'd be the second one we'd own in the Super-Optimized path due to all of our Negotiation grinding.
Yeah, they all go down like flies... I find great joy in Hejaat screaming "mommy" despite being a hardened crime lord.
Rodrigo, don't act like you did anything important. But yeah, we get some Diamond armor... and most important of all, a card that makes Charm illegal.
Ooooh. The Arch Sword is a powerful knightsword that teaches Saint Cross, a light-elemental version of Whirlwind. You can't buy it in stores, so cherish it with all of your heart.
This is the one instance where I would actually recommend you save a card that makes a law illegal due to it simplifying a boss fight coming up.
The guys ravage some poor archer during a skirmish. Even if this doesn't kill him, he'll never walk straight for the rest of his life.
Oh yes, there was a mission around here that involved going into Roda Volcano to get bomb claws for a soup. I wasn't even aware Bombs had claws due to them being living balls of fire, so you got me.
We catch a monster on the way to build up
So did we just go around and kill a bunch of monsters to get their body parts for a soup? I... something about this doesn't feel right.
Nobel became a Gladiator and - OH SWEET JESUS LOOK TO THE LEFT
35 / 48 / 50 / 115 / 40 / 112 / 148
Behold the lovechild between a gremlin and Jason Voorhees - Tonberries.
Tonberries may not have incredible offensive stats, but they make up for it by being so fast that even Assassins can't keep up. A Tonberry's knife isn't an ordinary tool as it's filled with enough enmity and hatred to rip the planet in half. I wish I were kidding.
Their signature skill is... well, Knife. If Knife hits, you lose everything but a tenth of your health. Theeeen there's Karma, an unholy attack that does more damage the more enemies you've killed. Given our current streaks, it's guaranteed to hit for more than we can stomach.
The only thing that stops them from being party wipers is their horrendous two-space movement and how the turn order system works, but damn you really don't want to get caught by one of these guys in a dark alley.
They're also notable for not having any Blue Magic skills and can't be captured.
I caught yet another monster, but I don't remember what it is.
Zombies can attack with miasma, a cloud of poisonous gas. That has to be rank.
See what I mean??
We get revenge for that knife strike via a ninja beatdown.
Alright Rodrigo, you better be the best damn Juggler this side of the Normal run because you've really got me testy.
Alright then, let's not waste any more time.
I love how this is on the same message board as the mission above. I love the contrast between "hey let's fight a criminal organization" vs "sports".
This is your chance to not be a horrendous screw-up.
"I mean, there was a mission that told us where you were, so..."
The fight was pretty standard, but this guy had a very interesting item. We need that Angel Ring in the Super-Optimized Run, because in case I haven't talked about it before, Angel Rings give re-raise and protect you from an ass-ton of status effects.
Unfortunately, in the process of trying to snuff out Angel Ring Guy's life, Nobel gets chucked into prison. God, I hate the law system.
Blah blah, you guys got your asses whupped.
The Spring Staff teaches Curaga of all spells. It's pretty badass.
Ardin returns from his desert ninja quest with a knife.
Also yay, Rodrigo didn't manage to screw up the mission.
If I'm not mistaken, this is the first time we get arrested in the Normal timeline? It's been pretty hazy since the last time I played this game.
(Oh yes, when you get arrested, they take away all of your equipment so you'd have to re-equip them when they come back. It's, uh, inconvenient.)
When the hell did I get Petalchaser in the Normal timeline?! That's something you'd expect me to do in the timeline where I break everything, but it's in here too!
... You know what we must do.
Sonia covers the mission that Rodrigo failed at earlier and comes back with a golden sword and some... perfume? I dunno.
Ooooh boy, Ezel wants something of us.
Imagine if Marche wasn't on board for this and thought Ezel was a kook that's way over his head. I can't see it going well.
So... Ezel just puts this up where everyone can see? Alright, whatever. He should be glad we were the ones that got to it instead of like a royal guard or something.
You could very easily go with the "prick" option and fight them for an antilaw, but even I'm not that low.
Nice. The R4 Antilaw blocks everything below "Katanas" but everything above "Color Magic" is unaffected. Of course, the most annoying ones like Damage to Animal are Rank 6 and shit.
40 / 20 / 90 / 110 / 80 / 80 / 78 (Normal)
46 / 28 / 100 / 110 / 80 / 80 / 82 (Big)
Behold the Malboros, hideous plant monsters known for their legendary Bad Breath. Their breath is so putrid that it can inflict every status ailment in the game barring zombification and petrification, so you can be a blind, poisoned frog that's also confused and asleep. It's insane.
Their bigger counterpart also knows a move called Soundwave that basically acts as their counterpart to Dispel. All in all, they're very annoying creatures.
... But not to the point where I won't get one myself.
Oh shit are we actually getting him now? I thought we would have to wait a bit before then.
[Current OST: The Road We Both Aim For]
... Interesting choice of music. I guess they want to hammer it in that this is an important fight, seeing as Borzoi has terrified this place for god knows how long before Crimson came along.
Although you'd hope Marche was here to see the carnage happen.
Gukko (snrk) is a scary son of a bitch. He has all of the strength of a Fighter combined with the incredibly lethal Double Sword ability, allowing him to use two weapons at the same time. It's nuts.
Fortunately, due to a careful balance of spam and ranged attacks, he goes down in a flash.
Yeah, I'd say this was a fitting end for you.
Badass.
We get the Shijin Shield for our troubles. It's just as useless as all the other ones in the game, but it has a neat backstory. You see, the four Shijin gods, or the four Heavenly Kings, are mythical creatures in Chinese mythology that represent the four cardinal directions.
The Black Tortoise of the North, the White Tiger of the West, the Phoenix of the South and the Dragon of the East - I'd go into more detail but let me just say it is really cool.
In the meantime, Randorf picks up a Ragnarok from a random scuffle. You'd think a sword named after an event as big as the war that claimed multiple Norse gods and the world being submerged in water would be a bit more important, but nope.
Look at all of these souls.
... They literally call themselves "strange warrior". Nope, this isn't a trap at all, no sir.
Oooh boy, morphing in action!
... So the monster in question hovers into Galor and he strikes a weird... wow, that pose makes him look high.
Silliness aside, this will allow him to gain all of that particular monster's stats and abilities. Really cool in concept, horribly difficult to use efficiently as it requires feeding the monster you're copying the powers of to make them remotely useful.
It's sort of the same reason why I wish the Monster Transformation mechanic in Dark Cloud 2 was more fleshed out.
Sonia completes the mission for the Strange Warrior and gains Doubleshot. Let's just hope this doesn't snowball into something terrible.
Oh god damn it, Sonia!
It's as if the mission we took on to beat Gukko up didn't really count, because yowza that didn't take long.
Redwings? Oh, this is gonna be good.
The rabbit hole gets deeper and deeper, I swear. Still though, wow, Gukko had to hire foreign crimelords to get back at Clan Crimson and reclaim all of the territory they lost. I find that impressive, to be honest.
Oh hey, the plot-relevant mission! I've been wondering when you would show up.
... Marche? Dude? You were just here a few missions ago hunting Bombs to make someone's dinner. A bit too late to complain about the heat.
[The screen shakes violently]
How convenient.
[The warping envelops the screen and teleports Marche to another area]
Ooooh, you know I'm all about that a e s t h e t i c.
... But in all seriousness, huh.
[Marche glances at the one in the center]
Riveting, but I think we all know that.
Tempt fate and ye shall get...
A shiny red crystal.
[More crystals spawn around the room]
Pretty cool. But yes, let me introduce...
[Current OST: The Road We Both Aim For]
Ultima, the High Seraph!
Ultima is a Final Fantasy main-stay - the name ranges from spells (Ultima is the strongest Black Magic spell), weapons (Ultima Weapon), or hell even a monster of the same name. This Ultima in particular seems to be inspired by the final boss of the original PS1 Tactics, the Lucavi demon that was supposedly the leader of all the others.
That said, goddamn she looks amazing. If there's anything I can say about the art direction for this game, it's that all the Totema look rad as fuck.
23 / 44 / 120 / 150 / 96 / 80 / 92
It's a shame that we don't get to fight her ourselves, but then again, given what she actually looks like in this game... I don't think her sprite would exactly fit on screen.
In her stead are the Ultima Crystals, these annoying ass rocks that have only one real attack aside from a pitiful melee attack:
Logos. It works exactly as it sounds - it lowers your stats and induces Charm on whoever it hits, turning what is otherwise a race to break the targets into a shitshow.
That's why we're going to put in the Charm law and completely nullify this sucker.
Since Logos inflict Charm and that's their only way of doing any harm to us, the Crystals can't do anything to fight back. I love it, but at the same time, this is the only occasion where actually making a law illegal would work in your favor. Trust me.
They make for good training dummies and dart boards.
We murdered her from the inside - good job!
"I wonder if this crystal is allied to one of the races? And if it is, which one?"
Why would it not be allied to one of the races seeing as that's what the Totema are all about?
... Marche, you blithering idiot, every race can use magic. Then again, Nu Mou have the most magic potential out of any class so I can't really fault him? Then again, I'm surprised out of all the ones he picked, he didn't choose humes or Viera... or you know, a species that doesn't even exist in the region but are locked off in a different game. (coughgriacoughseeqcough)
If I'm not mistaken, this is our second one. Mission accomplished, let's leave this --
"I said, stop it!"
[Screen fades back to white with Marche coming back to the volcano]
Well then, don't we feel like quite the shitheel.
"This world must be a reflection of Mewt's desires! His mom's still alive, everyone does what he says... I'm living inside of Mewt's dream!"
... Intriguing. Then again, if it's his dream, then why are there bandits and all of this bad shit inside of it that's clearly out of the scope of his imagination? I dunno how this stupid book works.
It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure that one out, mate.
But hey, we get to use Ultima for ourselves! Nice.
How do we explain what happened to our client? ... Actually, what even was the point of the original mission? Were we literally supposed to investigate an active volcano? What, were we supposed to stop it from erupting like we're Superman?
The Thief Armlets improve steal rate, so that's nice.
We also get some jewelry that boosts our resistance but not much else.
We also unlock a new forest! Koringwood is a forest full of magic trees and all that cool stuff. Let's see what we've unlocked from this map combination.
How the fuck is this possible? The Materia Blade is one of the most valuable items in the entire game - it's one of the weapons that teach the vaunted Ultima abilities, and we get it in the same run where I just play the game casually.
... Well, you know what this means.
Rodrigo? Get on that, mi boi.
Sonia gets to show off Rockseal and dooms this poor Fencer into becoming a garden gnome. For now, behold.
... As impressive as that animation was, Ultima only deals MP damage. Boo.
We end off the chapter with a Mythril Blade to compliment our Materia one, so of course I'm going to be satisfied.
Next time on Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, we take on some... interesting missions. See you then.
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Missions completed: 60 out of 300 (+12)
Freed Areas: 6 (+1)
Team setup: