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Part Sixty-Two: Up North Here's our party for today's trip.  Just as soon as I bounce the junctions around so that Selphie has the HP instead of Zell.  The next story destination is Trabia Garden, way up north here.   But of course, we're not headed there directly. First we have a stopover to make on Winter Island.  While I'm here, I decided to make some changes to junctions, too. Enc-Half is out, Mug is in.  I also remembered that we have a new GF.  Which reminded me to do the rename.  Now, let's look at Mega Maid. Spd-J is the first thing to see in that ability list. It's not a common one, and it's pretty handy in the long run. Learning this also unlocks Spd+20% and, eventually, Spd+40%, so it's a good place to start.  Absorb is a command ability that lets you attack while absorbing HP. You can get a similar effect by junctioning Drain to status attack, but uh, Absorb also exists.  Initiative is also on here. Just like with Nigel, it's useful for certain things.  Now, let's explore this weird insect dome.  Weird-lookin' place, and whatever it is, it's playing the dungeon music.  Well, at least the door's open.  Also, I think this screen is neat, with the shadows from the dome.   These guys are just here to be in the way.  Greeter: If you wish to go to the village, take the front elevator to the bottom level. Despite the foreboding music at the entrance, this place isn't a dungeon, just another optional town.  Gotta pay, huh? Man, I dunno.  Okay, yeah, I think I can afford a go. (Also, note that the area is called "Desert Village." I suppose it's a cold desert, okay.)  I checked everyone's Magic, and it looks like Squall's gonna be the one doing the drawing today.  Because, yes, I absolutely do want to use the draw point.  I like the choices on this one. I wanted to see if the guy would say anything interesting.  Nope!   Anyway.  This is probably the easiest place in the game to get Ultima, since the draw point refills and isn't in a dangerous place. The only obstacle is that it would cost a fortune to draw 300 spells off this thing.  Also that Quistis is full up on magic, since she's got the dump set.     If you were wondering, yes, they will let you pay to use the draw point even when it's empty.  Now, let's check out Shumi Village proper, see what's goin' on.  Posh elevator.  In the window at the back, you can see the earth go by.  On the way down, a hologram pops up. Hologram: You have been specially permitted here. We hope you enjoy your stay. The elevator will reach the village entrance shortly.  Well, here we are.  For being basically in a mine shaft, the Shumi Village is pretty lush.  Hey, what's up?  Here's something neat: Shumi tend to use their titles in place of the pronoun I. Specialist: This is our negotiation table. This is where we exchange minerals with outside traders.  : You mine for minerals?Specialist: Of course. You think we built a village 323 meters underground just for fun? Hey, it's important to have hobbies.  There ya go.  Over here is the inn.  Note: I did not hear the music, but according to the wiki, it's the same song that Julia plays in the first Laguna sequence.   Over here, Squall starts hallucinating.  Just kidding. The inkeeper here just likes to hide for some reason.  I have no idea what difficulty he's trying to overcome. He's just a weirdo.   I think the inn here might be free, but I'm not sure.  It does, though, contain the only save point in Shumi Village.  And this Moomba doll.   Which starts rotating if you interact with it.  We can't get into the next building.   Shumi Village looks pretty nice, I think. Verdant &c.  We also can't get into the big building here, since there's a Moomba in the way.   Over here, we can get into a place.  Artisan: Most of us here don't have a good impression of the outside world. The Shumi are pretty isolationist. Artisan: But Artisan knows there are some good things about it.  We've actually heard of Artisan here before, from the Grease Monkey in FH.  Artisan: That alone, the fact that there are people like them in the outside world, makes your world worthy. Given who's around the place, it's probably a good thing for Artisan that he ended up in FH. Artisan: Since then, the artisans have had a major influence on my work.   Hey, nice truck. Speaking of, this truck reminds me of Laguna's truck that was dummied out of the final game:   I wonder if it's supposed to be the same truck.  Talking to him again, he drops a model of the Garden car.  Interacting with the car doesn't do anything, but there's an issue of Timber Maniacs there that I picked up.   And one of a Deling City bus.  For some reason, Artisan thinks Squall is an artisan. I don't know why.  This is his last line for now.  Here's the last stop on the Shumi Village tour, the workshop.  This guy is always busy. I don't think he has any other lines in the game, he's just busy forever. Keep on keepin' on, guy.  Hey, that statue looks kinda familiar.  : ...Looks like Laguna. The sculptor is very surprised to hear Squall say this.  Yeah, you know, we go back in time and...actually, don't worry about that. : Well...sort of.Sculptor: This is Laguna Loire. Long ago, a Moomba found this man lying near our village, covered with blood, and carried him to our village. It appeared that he had fallen off a cliff. We took care of him until his wounds were healed. Laguna does not have a good track record with cliffs.  We should probably do that, yeah. Shed some light on things.  But I mean, we're pretty busy, you know?  Wow.  Okay, let's talk to the Elder.  This really turns the guy around on foreigners. Sculptor: Sculptor will tell the Moomba guarding the entrance to let you pass. That explains the building with the Moomba earlier. : You raise Moombas in this village?Time for some Moomba lore.  We heard something about this back in FH, from the boatman. : Final form? In a reincarnation-type situation, Shumis are reborn in a new form.  Sculptor: It's common knowledge. Sculptor is surprised you didn't know.  : Ooh, are you worried about becomin' a beast? Selphie's really put her foot in it this time.   Sculptor has extreme feelings re: Moombas.  Yeah, Selphie!    Love to learn with friends.  Now he just wants us to gently caress off.  There's a chance to talk to the party members here.  Some are more tactful than others.   There's also a Firaga draw point.  Over at the big house, the Moomba has moved.  He doesn't do much if you talk to him.   Spells are always sort of useful, and if you're gonna get elemental magic, it might as well be high-tier.  Now, let's visit the Elder.  Yeah, no problem.  We're vaguely aware. Elder: Thank you for coming. Allow me to talk about Master Laguna for a moment. It was about 17 years ago when we found him injured.  So, that explains why Laguna ended up leaving Winhill.  And that explains the talking Moombas back at the prison. Well, the talking, at least. : Why?Squall doesn't understand why you would try to teach an animal to speak.  This makes some sense. Laguna was a writer, after all.  Elder: Perhaps, we don't need words, either. Even Master Laguna was not very good with words. His communication skills were horrible. Yeah, sounds like Laguna.  Elder: His eyes, more than his words, told us this. That's all I have to say. : Why are you building a statue of him?Elder: You find it strange, yes? I doubt you will understand. It seems like everyone in the world likes Laguna except for Squall.  Elder: We still don't know what it is, so we decided to build a statue of him. We felt that we may come to understand why Master Laguna is so special by doing this.  Just in case you were wondering if Squall's thoughts on Laguna had changed recently.  That's the end of the conversation about Laguna. The other party members also left.   Still a couple filler lines to get, though. Also, Attendant is the last character to meet here, so you can see that none of the Shumis have names, only titles. Seems NORG was an outlier on that one (the all caps thing was also weird, apparently).  What's up?  Sure, cool. Elder: But in Shumi, one must work to earn anything. This is our way. Well, nothing's ever easy. Elder: I have an idea. Please assist my attendants in the workshop so that I can present you with a gift. : Where is it?Squall's brain damage is apparently acting up, as we were just at the workshop a few minutes ago. Elder: It is where you saw Master Laguna's statue. We want to finish that statue as soon as possible.  Well, it's not like we were doing anything else.  Right, of course.  So, let's hit the workshop.   Yeah, great. Love a great honour. Sculptor: Okay, shall we get to work? As you can see, Sculptor has the very big responsibility of making this statue. Man, Squall is not an artist. I don't know how we can help you on this one.  Dude, go get your own stones. Sculptor: Sculptor understands... That's too bad.  This is not a sidequest you can lock yourself out of by being an rear end in a top hat.  So, now we need to gather the five stones. : We don't know anything about stones.Nothing! I don't even know what a stone is, my man.  Yeah, sure. Sculptor: Also, there's a specialist in the village who can help you.  Alright, let's get this show on the road.   The blue stone is not hard to find. : Hey, don't tell me this is the blue stone.Squall's annoyed about the stone. Sculptor: What?  Sculptor: Oh! Oh! Sculptor completely forgot! Sculptor already had it. Well, that's 1 down and 4 more to go. Ok, next please go find some wind stones. Well, I guess we're on to wind stones now.  If you come back to Sculptor during this quest, he'll just tell you how far along you are.  Specialist, over by the elevator, has hints about the stones, like Sculptor suggested.  As an added hint, Squall has a prompt when you get close to a stone.  : There's a breeze coming from it. I guess this is the 'wind stone'.Well, that was easy.  If you come visit Specialist after you find a stone, he just says this. Now, back to the workshop.  Sculptor: Yes, that's the wind stone. Ok, 3 more to go. Next, sculptor needs some life stones. Life stones, eh?   Life stones are actually super easy to find, since you pass this screen on the way to talk to Specialist.   Like I said, easy.  Sculptor: Yes, that's the life stone. Only two more to go. Next, Sculptor needs some shadow stones. Alright, shadow stones.  This one's a little harder, but if you've been reading closely you should have already worked it out.   All we have to do is pop back topside.  I hit the draw point, too. It's not a bad idea.  The shadow stone is just over here. : More stones... Looks like the shadow stone.Like I said.  Sculptor: Yes, that's the shadow stone. Wonderful. Lastly, Sculptor needs some water stones.  This is another great line if FFVIII side content.  I read this like he's disappointed cuz Specialist called him stupid.  Water stone, in the water, yeah, checks out.  Sculptor: ...No. This is a stone we put by the pond. Lastly, Sculptor needs some water stones. But, the water stone is actually a trick. This is the hardest one to find, unless you've worked out the pattern already.  Also, Specialist is playing dumb.  The actual water stone is in Artisan's place. : Could this be it? Do you mind if I take this stone?Artisan: Go ahead. Artisan only uses it for washing. : Thanks.And that's it, the real water stone!  Sculptor: Yes, this is the water stone. Congratulations! Your job is complete! Another job well done! Sculptor: You may go see the Elder now.  Before we do, though, let's have one more little chat with Sculptor. Sculptor: ...Actually...no.  : You're kidding?Turns out, we've just been given the runaround. Sculptor: We don't need any of these stones to finish the statue. : You're kidding!? Why!?: Perhaps they wanted us to get acquainted with the village. This is the pattern I was talking about. Looking for the stones does in fact take you all around Shumi Village.  You have to hit every screen except the inn. If you aren't the type to look around everywhere, this would force you into Artisan's house. Sculptor: Yes. : You pretty much gave it away in the beginning with that blue stone. There's no way anyone can miss that. Look at how big it is... Seems like this might be a semi-common Shumi prank.   This is a pretty Shumi thing to do. Sculptor: It was definitely fun watching you go around our village. : Good for you.I think Squall is a bit chafed at being fooled, even though it didn't hurt anyone. : This was like that game we used to play at Matron's house. It was fun.Ah, the old classic, hide-the-stone. : I guess we had some fun for a change.We all enjoyed ourselves and had a little chance to relax. Sculptor: Sculptor is very pleased to hear that. You know, we don't do this all the time. Please understand that we went through all this trouble because we wanted you to like our village.  We're finished with Sculptor now, we've worked out all his tricks.  Let's go get that reward. Elder: For your services, it gives me great pleasure to present you this.  Elder's Attendant: Umm... Elder, Attendant is having a hard time seeing it.     This is seeming more and more like a metaphorical gift. Elder's Attendant: ...Ahh, isn't it amazing!? When he holds something in his palm, you cannot even see it. Such is the power of the person who has attained eldership. : So, what's the gift?Basically a perfect answer.   gently caress! I knew this was a metaphor!   I hate metaphors!  Quistis and Selphie, having been thoroughly wowed, leave. : Hey... Well, I think we've all learned something today.  Well, alright.  My dude, you are sendin' mixed messages.  Elder's Attendant: Here you are.  Naturally, this is the real reward for doing the thing with the stones.  Outside, Selphie is very excited about souvenirs.  And Quistis is just pissed.  Nothing happens if you just let it go, so let's have Squall explain it to everyone.  To do this, he has to take a few steps forward. Classic speech making. : ...I think it's true. He's kept his hands concealed since we met him. Judging from the place, they're pretty advanced, so they can't be stupid. They probably knew that the silly hand thing wasn't going to impress us.Nobody was taken in by the hand thing.  Here's Squall's theory.  This is, by the way, the first warm welcome we've really gotten. Of course, this is mainly due to the fact that we travel primarily to commit crimes.   Squall's explanation has turned the ladies around on the whole situation. : Funny, the Elder humbly concealed his hands. NORG on the other hand showed them off.Since we're in the Shumi Village, Squall brings up the main Shumi we knew, NORG. NORG was an rear end in a top hat.  And, following Squall's explanation, we get a cutaway to the Elder and Attendant. Elder: Of course.  The Elder knows drat well that the SeeDs weren't fooled for a second.  Attendant doesn't quite understand what happened.  Squall was basically right about what went on. This little bit highlights, again, the difference between the Shumis and the outside world. Overall, this was a nice little sidequest and a good chance to take a load off.   Attendant still has some things to learn in life. Elder's Attendant: Yes?  For the record, the yellow text is flashing in-game.  Attendant isn't too happy to hear this. Elder's Attendant: Wait a minute. Y-You misunderstood me, Elder. Please! Mercy!  He's not gonna be able to talk his way out of this one, and he realises pretty quick.  : What was that? Well, wouldn't hurt to check it out.  The Elder doesn't actually tell Squall what's up.  But Attendant is not happy about this.  Sculptor's a bit more into it. Sculptor: Attendant is a candidate to become the next Elder, so it's very encouraging to receive his help. We should finish in no time. Well, I hope that works out for y'all.  Before we go, there's one last chat to have with Specialist.  Specialist: Sad thing is, there's nothing out there, either. They haven't found anything. Instead, they've lost touch with themselves, with who they are. This isn't just what happened to NORG, I think it's a more general statement about life. Sometimes, you go looking for something and you don't find it.  Instead of staying in Shumi Village and living peacefully, NORG turned into a greedy rear end in a top hat and got killed for it.  Specialist is more zen about the whole thing.  You don't find yourself by looking outwards, but by looking inwards. That's what I think he means here. This is also, of course, relevant to Squall, who spends a lot of time looking for external guidance and approval rather than taking things into his own hands.  And, since the draw point is currently empty...  We are out!
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Apr 4, 2016 05:32
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god, the amount of content I missed in this game continues to rack up with all those extra conversations
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Apr 4, 2016 06:54
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Shumi village is such a peaceful little area.
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Apr 4, 2016 07:02
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Due to a bit of dialogue here, which I've never seen cause I never take either of those characters, I get the feeling this place isn't supposed to be visited right now. I mean, it's cool you CAN visit it now, but they apparently scripted it just a bit for later in the actual plot.
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Apr 4, 2016 07:15
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Now that we're at the Shumi Village, I can talk about how much the island itself looking like a face on the World Map used to creep me out as a kid.
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Apr 4, 2016 15:35
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Burger Flipper posted:Due to a bit of dialogue here, which I've never seen cause I never take either of those characters, I get the feeling this place isn't supposed to be visited right now. I mean, it's cool you CAN visit it now, but they apparently scripted it just a bit for later in the actual plot. Yeah, it's a little obvious to those who've actually played the game. You can also find the Master Fisherman in Shumi Village. I was actually hoping you wouldn't pick up the Timber Manicas because Disc 3 Reasons but ah well.
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Apr 4, 2016 15:49
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Jesus this place always pissed me off just because I'm unsettled by NORG's stupid death cocoon festering under the garden and it never gets explained. What is it for?!
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Apr 4, 2016 15:59
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MR. J posted:Jesus this place always pissed me off just because I'm unsettled by NORG's stupid death cocoon festering under the garden and it never gets explained. What is it for?! I think someone said something about NORG not being dead but going into stasis. So, he'll be back in the future, I suppose?
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Apr 4, 2016 16:09
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Burger Flipper posted:The Centra Ruins one, as Selphie says, isn't from TimMani. It's just a bonus she herself decided to add. So no, not all of the pictures are from the magazines. I think there may be one or two more like that, but I might be remembering wrong. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised. As well as I thought I knew this game, I'm actually learning things. Though I always learn new things about this game. There's even a scene coming up where there's an alternate version of something that happens, and I don't completely know what affects it. Well, actually two events I guess. For the second one, it depends on Irvine's enemy kill count at that point. I'm not sure on the first one - I've also seen the variations but haven't looked into it enough to know properly. It's probably some various combos of Selphie in or out of party, as well as whether it's your plot visit to Trabia Garden or a revisit. Cool Ghost posted:
Fun fact for mechanics: Magic stat only affects drawing in combat. Draw points give zero shits about any of your stats. All they care about is whether or not they've refilled (partially or completely), and whether they'll allow someone to Draw (the person must have the Draw command set, and room in their magic stock to get the spell). Beyond that it's pure RNG.
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Apr 4, 2016 16:35
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Burger Flipper posted:Due to a bit of dialogue here, which I've never seen cause I never take either of those characters, I get the feeling this place isn't supposed to be visited right now. I mean, it's cool you CAN visit it now, but they apparently scripted it just a bit for later in the actual plot. Yeah, I know EXACTLY what line you're talking about. I did a double take, thinking...uh, why?
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Apr 4, 2016 16:52
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MR. J posted:Jesus this place always pissed me off just because I'm unsettled by NORG's stupid death cocoon festering under the garden and it never gets explained. What is it for?! He's evolved into his final form: Useless Blob.
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Apr 4, 2016 17:33
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rear end in a top hat Blob > Jupiter > Useless Blob Gotcha.
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Apr 4, 2016 18:06
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Shumi Village is great. I always remember the Elder saying that thing in flashing letters. And wonder how it would sound. I imagine his eyes flash on and off at least
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Apr 4, 2016 20:11
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Cool Ghost posted:
Burger Flipper posted:Due to a bit of dialogue here, which I've never seen cause I never take either of those characters, I get the feeling this place isn't supposed to be visited right now. I mean, it's cool you CAN visit it now, but they apparently scripted it just a bit for later in the actual plot. No you're probably right, more ffviii.txt 
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Apr 4, 2016 23:30
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Weavered posted:Whoa is that a bit of foreshadowing I see there... probably actually they didn't think you'd wander over here in that tiny window between when Selphie becomes available again and the right plot trigger. And/or use Selphie at this point? in other words, ffviii.txt
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Apr 4, 2016 23:45
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ApplesandOranges posted:I was actually hoping you wouldn't pick up the Timber Manicas because Disc 3 Reasons but ah well. Same.
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Apr 5, 2016 00:29
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I'm surprised if you're not "meant" to go there at this point because I could definitely see confusing that place for a Garden.
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Apr 5, 2016 12:54
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Holy crap. I've never seen this area before, and I played this game multiple times. 
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Apr 5, 2016 18:28
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This sidequest is bullshit. You have to sit through the entire elevator ride - TWICE - to get that stone.
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Apr 5, 2016 19:10
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MysticalMachineGun posted:I'm surprised if you're not "meant" to go there at this point because I could definitely see confusing that place for a Garden. It's already labelled on your world map as soon as the Garden is mobile, so if you've been checking your map you won't mistake it for Trabia. People might go though because 'oh hey, named location!'.
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Apr 5, 2016 19:20
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MR. J posted:Jesus this place always pissed me off just because I'm unsettled by NORG's stupid death cocoon festering under the garden and it never gets explained. What is it for?! Nobody ever says what NORG evolves into, but Sculptor says that Shumis become what's in their hearts. That makes me think that NORG, a greedy and terrified piece of poo poo, just died. He transformed into dead.
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Apr 5, 2016 19:25
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Check back in on NORG later on. Not sure when the cutoff is, presumably either disc 3 at all, or late disc 3.
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Apr 5, 2016 19:49
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A working gunblade, that the Norwegians armed their postmen with. I'm not sure if it's been posted before or not, but it's pretty neat!
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Apr 6, 2016 16:40
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Cavelcade posted:A working gunblade, that the Norwegians armed their postmen with. I'm not sure if it's been posted before or not, but it's pretty neat! That's really nice. Great find.
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Apr 7, 2016 16:12
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Cavelcade posted:A working gunblade, that the Norwegians armed their postmen with. I'm not sure if it's been posted before or not, but it's pretty neat! "Just one, minor drawback - If a fairly major force were to occur, say a knife fight, that could cause the gun to discharge prematurely." ...seems like a bit of an oversight.
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Apr 9, 2016 03:01
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Part Sixty-Three: Grief At this point, our journey has brought us to the Trabia Continent to check out Selphie's former home, Trabia Garden.  There it is, there.  As soon as Trabia Garden comes into view, you can see it's not doing so hot, what with the big hole taken out. You can also see that Trabia had one of those floating rings that seems to give the Gardens lift. With a bit more prep time/knowledge, they probably could have taken off like Balamb. Before we go in, here's the music for Trabia Garden:   When you enter, Selphie runs up to the wall.  The rest of the party follows at a regular pace. If you don't have Selphie in your party, she just runs in behind you, instead.  She takes a second to survey the damage.  The prognosis is not good. : ...This is terrible.Thanks, Quistis.   Selphie steps back, and we get a better look at the structure. I like the background here, with the dark clouds and the bombed-out Garden. : ...I'm going in.Not really a surprise at this point.  Even though this is only tangentially related to killing the sorceress, Squall offers her his approval. It's a nice show of camaraderie.  And then she climbs up over that unsafe-looking netting.  And we're left alone (you can't leave - if you do, whoever is in the party says "are you just going to leave her?").  Let's find out how sturdy this netting is.  Over the wall, you can see Selphie running off, and the off-kilter Garden in the back.  Nothing to do but follow her.   For this next bit, the rest of the party shows up.  Also, Selphie is on-screen right now. These guys have the worst eyesight. : Selphie... I let her go on ahead.Like, fifty feet ahead. You can see her.  That seems incorrect, actually.  : Come on, let's go after her. Of course we're going to go after her. Everyone's got something to say before we do, though. : Selphie's in shock. I'm sure of it. She's not herself. Haven't you noticed, Squall?Selphie has been down since she showed up in FH, it's true. : I should say something to comfort her...I do not think this would make her feel better.   : I think I understand how Selphie feels...Zell is both the one in the situation closest to Selphie's here and sort of responsible for the attack. Whoops!  And now everyone's fuckin' dead! Thanks, Zell!  A lot has happened to keep this visit on the back burner.  : I'm sure Selphie wanted to come by sooner... I hope she's all right.Rinoa is just worried about her friend.  Quisits also has a line here, I just had to shuffle her out of the party. : Thank goodness we were able to avoid the missiles.Well, that was better good luck than good management. : I only wish we could have stopped the missiles against Trabia Garden...Everyone's carrying a measure of guilt over the fact that Trabia got hit. The B Team were, after all, the only people in any position to do anything about this. Anyway, let's go after Selphie.   She's in the courtyard right now, next to this draw point.  We can't talk directly to her. We have to talk to her friend instead. : Not really.I mean, Selphie's mostly been looking after herself since we got arrested and then sent her on that suicide mission at the Missile Base.  Selphie plays this off like nothing.   They're havin' fun with Squall today. Even though Squall is her boss, Selphie's close enough to him to poke a little fun.  He's not mad per se, but Squall's still not great at this.  Now, let's see what happens if we play along. : ...Selphie's been a great help.A compliment!   Selphie's doing a little swooning thing here. : That's not like Squall at all!Again, she's having fun.  And again, Squall just plays it off. The body language is a little different, this time. In the first one, he doesn't know what to do (and crosses his arms) but here, he waves it off. He doesn't say anything, but he's not mad.  Selphie's Friend: I feel a lot more cheerful after talking to her! It's a small thing, but at least something good came of the trip.  : I want to go catch up with some of my friends.We could go straight to the court to advance the plot, but let's have a gander around the place first.  Trabian Faculty: Have you done a good deed for your academy, Trabia Garden? Over here, some guy mistakes us for students. Trabian Faculty: Good deed, you ask? It's to help rebuild this place. Let's see. For example, have you donated to the Trabia fund? I'll give you an A. He wants money.  Unfortunately, we can't dip into the Garden coffers to help out.  There's a cemetery over here. Nothing's happening at the moment, but I do think it's a nice shot.  On the other side of the courtyard are a couple of people takin' a break.  Resting Guy: I'm just sick. I'm exhausted from tending to everyone. Must be tough.  Guy who thinks he's me six updates ago: Take this! GF summoning! blahZzz..... If you summon a GF, you're a chump, buddy.   People around the place are doin' their best. Logistics Dept.: The calculator's broken, too, so we have to be extra careful.  In case you were wondering if this game could be educational, here's your answer. Logistics Dept.: Just kidding! Everyone in Trabia Garden is pretty upbeat, considering.   Oh, most likely. Library, I guess: ...Hey? This is someone's diary. A diary is like a treasure map to juicy gossip. Let's get reading!  In this case, it's also a treasure map to a literal treasure. Library, I guess: No way... Are you serious???  We'll get the treasure in a bit. For now, let's check out this computer.  It looks a bit better up close.  Uniform Guy: We're Trabia Garden's tech squad. We all divided up into different squads to utilize each of our specialties.  Overalls Guy: We're the tech squad. You have to admire the dedication around this place.  Now, let's game.  Fuckin'...Lank?  Port and Lank.   Once the computer boots up, Lank puts his password in.  And Selphie's file flashes up onscreen for a second.  ...And then it crashes.  As we go around the place, so does Selphie.  These kids got up to some hijinks, I guess.  Boy: That teddy bear you gave me... I couldn't save it! Girl: I can hear him crying... He's lonely!   : As long as you're all safe, Mr. Bear's very happy. Heeey! I can hear him! Mr. Bear's watching over you secretly. So don't be naughty or sad all the time! Just remember, Mr. Bear is watching you!Selphie isn't the type of person to let some kids be sad at a time like this.  She won't talk to us yet, though.  Girl: Tell Mr. Bear I won't be sad or cry all the time, ok?   Talking to the kids, they run off towards the tech department.  And, if you follow them, they have new lines. Boy: They always lead somewhere amazing. We're always surprised by them! Selphie does have something of a penchant for using unusual paths.  Girl: I really, really, really like Selphie a whole lot!  Selphie's alright.  Everybody likes Selphie.  As near as I can tell, when Selphie is at the rest area, you can get a new scene with the computer.  When her records come up, Selphie comes running in to shut the computer down. There must be something she doesn't want people to see.  Then she runs away.   The other party members are just kind of confused.  Once Selphie has passed (I think) this girl shows up to yell at the dreaming guy. Trabian Female Student: You're on patrol duty today! You volunteered, didn't you!?  Drawing in a battle? This guy doesn't know anything...   This doesn't seem very effective.  I'm sure he'll protect the place when he wakes up.  After the rest area, Selphie heads over to the cemetery. Selphie's Friend: I didn't want her to feel sad, but...  There she is.  : I know the stage got destroyed, but I performed... My dream band... I was able to carry out my dream... You remember how we promised...that we'd do something memorable for ourselves. ......Right? Remember? My performance... Our performance we were supposed to do... You all saw me, right? You heard me...? ............I... I'll keep playing for however long it takes for you to hear! Poor Selphie.  Normally, you can walk over to that grave, but when Selphie is in the cemetery an invisible wall goes up.  Selphie's Friend: If it's Selphie you're looking for, she said she'll be at the basketball court. That scene with Selphie at the cemetery is the last one before the story moves on.  Before that, though, let's grab Trabia Garden's hidden treasure.  For whatever reason, you get the August issue of Weapons Monthly before the July one.  Aside from his ultimate weapon, all of Squall's weapons follow the pattern of using one blade with a revolver grip, then one with a semi-auto, then a new blade with a revolver and so on.  August is the second last Weapons Monthly as far as weapon designs go, so ultimate weapons start showing up here. Ehrgeiz (German for ambition) is Zell's ultimate.  Square also used Ehrgeiz as the name of a fighting game that came out in 1998. It had characters from FFVII in it. The Cardinal, Rinoa's second-best weapon, has a neat design. I like the red-and-black scheme.  Save the Queen is Quistis's ultimate weapon. This was the first appearance of Save the Queen in the main series. It's now a recurring weapon, usually a sword (though it was a staff in the Japanese version of FFX, and a drawing on a coat in FFXIII). To get to the basketball court, first we have to pass the stage/missile.  This guy is passing through (that's why he suddenly appeared).  Are you...looking at that child?  Basketball Kid: That's the last ball. Oh no... This is not the biggest issue facing the Trabia Garden Intramural Basketball League.  You can also find the two basketball fans having a chat.  Boy: Your pronunciation's all wrong! It's chocobos, not chacobos! Basketball Freak: Although this season the 'Moomba Samba' team has a great line-up...  Boy: It's all because of these stupid missiles. Being bombed has really ruined March Madness for the students of Trabia Garden.  Boy: But before that, I have to practice so I can be a starter on the 'ChocoKids'.  IMPORTANT TRABIA GARDEN INTRAMURAL BASKETBALL LEAGUE LORE RIGHT HERE! Student V.P.: What do they expect the student body committee to do under these conditions!? There's nothing in the student manual that explains how to handle a crisis like this...  Student Body President: There's no more threat of an explosion, but if it falls over, it could crush someone. I'm sure that the student council will be able to figure something out.  This is a useful draw point. Aura is fairly rare, and it's one of the most useful spells to actually cast.  I bounced the spells from Squall to Selphie.  That's pretty much all for Trabia Garden, so let's meet up with Selphie.   Well, you heard the man. It's time to stand! Cool Ghost fucked around with this message at 04:20 on May 7, 2016 |
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Apr 17, 2016 23:49
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Oh boy, you're actually breaking before the big spoiler. I'm glad you did. 
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Apr 18, 2016 00:03
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Here we go. Onward, to one of the more controversial FFVIII topics!
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Apr 18, 2016 01:13
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Kajeesus posted:Oh boy, you're actually breaking before the big spoiler. I'm glad you did. Ah yes, the answer to the most critical plot question - Can anybody on the FF8 team play hoops? 
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Apr 18, 2016 01:22
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ApplesandOranges posted:Yeah, it's a little obvious to those who've actually played the game. What is the spoiler in reference to?
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Apr 18, 2016 01:57
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AdmiralViscen posted:What is the spoiler in reference to? Not getting too deep into it, It makes a future fight harder... though Cool Ghost will just stomp it all the same
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Apr 18, 2016 02:04
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Whenever I played this game I think I never ever revisited Trabia Garden, which seems weird on my part because it's an interesting place and pretty detailed.
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Apr 18, 2016 11:42
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AdmiralViscen posted:What is the spoiler in reference to? If you pick up the Timber Manicas in Shumi Village, Ward won't appear in one of the Laguna sequences, so you're just in a Laguna/Kiros duo. Also it shouldn't be a big surprise, but Selphie's friend has the Selphie card. Trabia has Random/Plus as the default rules though, so it's a bit of a mess to get if you don't at least spread Open to the region.
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Apr 18, 2016 11:49
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What is challenge Its certainly not a 2 man party in this game.
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Apr 18, 2016 12:35
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Apr 18, 2016 13:40
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Is that... Squall's jacket there?
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Apr 18, 2016 13:42
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I guess it'd make sense for the extended scene with Selphie's student info to show up when she's nearby. Even then though, I don't think it's guaranteed even when she's there.MysticalMachineGun posted:Is that... Squall's jacket there? That jacket seems to be of a similar style, but a bit more brown and fluffy. There's also a SeeD Cadet jacket there too. As well as what appears to just be a regular leather jacket a bit further back.
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Apr 18, 2016 14:28
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MysticalMachineGun posted:Is that... Squall's jacket there? ... Meanwhile, I keep thinking "this must have been when I quit playing", only to discover I played a bit further, encountered further stupidity and completely erased it from my mind until reminded by the LP.
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Apr 18, 2016 16:51
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I forgot about most of these scenes. I don't even remember how this segways into what comes next, though I do remember that part at least.
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Apr 18, 2016 17:41
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Hobgoblin2099 posted:I forgot about most of these scenes. Segues? I guess you could call it that in the same way that going from third gear to reverse is shifting gears.
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Apr 18, 2016 20:46
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