"i'd say you're in more of a supporting role"
At last, the final instalment of the FFXII liveblog!
I'm just going to get right into it and see what happens! (Also beware of endgame spoilers)
I walked back to Balfonheim from Giruvegan and fought a few Wyrms on the Cerobi Steppe.
Then there is another expository cutscene! Fran says that breaking the Sun Cryst will destroy the Dusk Shard (nethicite is also vampiric in nature? WHO KNEW).
My favourite quote in the entire game is in this scene, and it's when Reddas says: "Would you like to know the best use of nethicite? Will or nil, I'll tell you. You pick it up and throw it away."
Reddas also says but doesn't exactly say that Nabudis was his fault. Which if we've been paying attention, means Reddas is Judge Zecht! (But just in case we're really not paying attention, it's made a lot clearer later on).
And then we're off to the Pharos! (Which reminds me, Jagd resistant sky stones are SUCH A PLOT DEVICE. But I kind of don't mind? It doesn't grate on me as much as some things).
The start of the Pharos was okay except for the Deathclaws casting Disable all over the place, and me having no protection against it. I also got a Pallicant rare spawn, but I don't actually think it's that rare of a spawn for that area.
I beat Hyrdo on the first try, which was a surprise. I was doing more damage just straight up hitting it than using a Quickening chain, which was also a surprise. I think this was partly down to Reddas' five hit combos. It is immune to Phoenix Downs, even though it is an undead type enemy.
The first Ascent of the Pharos went okay. Hacked Pandaemonium to death, and that was okay also (and I killed it on the first go). I didn't expect the rest of the Pharos to go so easily.
AND THEN I STOPPED WRITING NOTES ZOMG.
Welp, apart from noting that I'd always assumed the Bahamut was old tech Vayne found somewhere, but it isn't, is it? It's new tech, and it just needed the mist to get it going.
Okay, so the next however much is going to be a scramble from what I remember.
I don't remember anything about the Second Ascent, so I'm assuming it went okay. The Third Ascent annoyed me so much I had to resort to the internet for the solution with the orbs (that said, I did manage to clear the room with the map of undeads/other enemies, so that was a first).
I somehow managed to rare spawn a Tower at some point, although I think I then died shortly after without saving, so I don't think it's in my bestiary (grr).
The fight at the top versus Gabranth/Cid/Famfrit went pretty much as expected. Again, I think I was doing more damage just straight up hitting things than anything else.
In the cutscenes accompanying these fights, we learn that Reddas is definitely Zecht (Gabranth calls him by name, so those two definitely know each other). Cid is possibly redeemed? I don't know. I get the feeling that Balthier might be sad his dad's gone, but perhaps doesn't forgive him for the last exty years (which, I get that more than I'd like to). And we also learn that HOO BOY Gabranth certainly has a chip on his shoulder where his brother is concerned.
And then, I have to admit that I put the game aside because the Pharos is a fucking slog, man. I mentioned this to![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
lassarina, and she said it's because it feels like the final dungeon (it isn't), and the fight(s) at the top should be the last ones (they aren't).
(from my notes from 2014: The Pharos is a fucking peenor. Hard agree, 33 year old me, hard agree).
When I came back to it, I did have a go at getting to the final boss, but in the end, I just gave up. I have beaten FFXII before, back in 2014 when I started this liveblog, so I've only beaten it once, even though I've actually been through the game a ludicrous number of times (it's my favourite FF/video game, as I am sure you are aware by this point. If you're not, HI YOU MUST BE NEW AROUND HERE. MY NAME IS JAE AND I LOVE FFXII!!)
So, I know what happens. You slog through the Bahamut, which is the final dungeon, and you can tell this, because it has no save points and swarms upon swarms of Imperials. I'm fairly certain you can stand in one spot and they will come to you, repeatedly. Although this happens in other places like, say, Draklor, so I'm not entirely surprised it also happens here.
You fight Gabranth again, for reasons I'm not entirely sure about. I would say this (and the preceding fight versus him) is a leftover from when Basch was meant to be the main character, but I obviously can't speak on that with any authority.
And then you fight Vayne. Not once, but three times. Twice as himself (so to speak), and then as The Undying, once he's merged with Venat.
I remember the fight versus The Undying being somewhat of a hackfest. Possibly it wouldn't have been this time, I don't know. I can't say for sure if I was any better levelled or not this time around. But definitely during the parts where Vayne can't be hit with magic or weapons, and because you don't see his HP bar, so until he starts flashing red, you have NO IDEA how close he is or isn't to being finished off.
Anyway, eventually we are treated to the closing cutscene (which I had to watch again on yt, despite how many times I've actually seen it, because I couldn't remember what happened where or why!). Balthier decides to do something terribly heroic (because he is the leading man, after all). Also there is a heck of a lot of lying going here! (I understand why it is, though).
(Actually, you know, now I've figured out the Bahamut is new tech, I wonder if Balthier isn't already familiar with it? I suppose that depends on when it was built versus when he decided he didn't want to be a judge any more).
And then we have the time-skip-epilogue! I like that it's Penelo narrating it. Not just because she's one of my faves. (But it's not Basch that Ashe misses, Penelo! Were you even there during that last cutscene????) There's the tease for a sequel, in that hey! Balthier and Fran found some treasure, what a surprise. Shame they never made that, though, huh? ;)
And then it's the credits, and that's the end of the game! We did it, y'all, we got here! (finally).
I am sad, in a way, and relieved also. I like games and I like talking about games, but I'm not sure I could have done a thing like this with many other games? I sometimes feel like I'm liveblogging when I talk about games anyway, but not in this much detail (and even this isn't as detailed as I could go and, honestly, I'm fine with that). But I'm sad because this is my favourite game and, while I probably think about it a lot, I probably won't touch the game itself again for another good couple of years (by which time it might be the Zodiac Age!!, and then I can be horribly out of date playing games AS USUAL).
I hope you found this interesting? I...am not good at analysis, and you might notice I stayed away from commenting on the politics of the situations present in the game because I'm not good at that sort of thing, and I'm one of the few people (probably) who doesn't like this game for all the machinations and whatnot that go on. I just like the world and the characters and the enemies and the environments.
Maybe I'll do something like this in the future with another game, maybe not. If I do, hopefully it won't take me five years and two playthroughs to complete, but I am making absolutely no promises.
I'm just going to get right into it and see what happens! (Also beware of endgame spoilers)
I walked back to Balfonheim from Giruvegan and fought a few Wyrms on the Cerobi Steppe.
Then there is another expository cutscene! Fran says that breaking the Sun Cryst will destroy the Dusk Shard (nethicite is also vampiric in nature? WHO KNEW).
My favourite quote in the entire game is in this scene, and it's when Reddas says: "Would you like to know the best use of nethicite? Will or nil, I'll tell you. You pick it up and throw it away."
Reddas also says but doesn't exactly say that Nabudis was his fault. Which if we've been paying attention, means Reddas is Judge Zecht! (But just in case we're really not paying attention, it's made a lot clearer later on).
And then we're off to the Pharos! (Which reminds me, Jagd resistant sky stones are SUCH A PLOT DEVICE. But I kind of don't mind? It doesn't grate on me as much as some things).
The start of the Pharos was okay except for the Deathclaws casting Disable all over the place, and me having no protection against it. I also got a Pallicant rare spawn, but I don't actually think it's that rare of a spawn for that area.
I beat Hyrdo on the first try, which was a surprise. I was doing more damage just straight up hitting it than using a Quickening chain, which was also a surprise. I think this was partly down to Reddas' five hit combos. It is immune to Phoenix Downs, even though it is an undead type enemy.
The first Ascent of the Pharos went okay. Hacked Pandaemonium to death, and that was okay also (and I killed it on the first go). I didn't expect the rest of the Pharos to go so easily.
AND THEN I STOPPED WRITING NOTES ZOMG.
Welp, apart from noting that I'd always assumed the Bahamut was old tech Vayne found somewhere, but it isn't, is it? It's new tech, and it just needed the mist to get it going.
Okay, so the next however much is going to be a scramble from what I remember.
I don't remember anything about the Second Ascent, so I'm assuming it went okay. The Third Ascent annoyed me so much I had to resort to the internet for the solution with the orbs (that said, I did manage to clear the room with the map of undeads/other enemies, so that was a first).
I somehow managed to rare spawn a Tower at some point, although I think I then died shortly after without saving, so I don't think it's in my bestiary (grr).
The fight at the top versus Gabranth/Cid/Famfrit went pretty much as expected. Again, I think I was doing more damage just straight up hitting things than anything else.
In the cutscenes accompanying these fights, we learn that Reddas is definitely Zecht (Gabranth calls him by name, so those two definitely know each other). Cid is possibly redeemed? I don't know. I get the feeling that Balthier might be sad his dad's gone, but perhaps doesn't forgive him for the last exty years (which, I get that more than I'd like to). And we also learn that HOO BOY Gabranth certainly has a chip on his shoulder where his brother is concerned.
And then, I have to admit that I put the game aside because the Pharos is a fucking slog, man. I mentioned this to
lassarina, and she said it's because it feels like the final dungeon (it isn't), and the fight(s) at the top should be the last ones (they aren't).(from my notes from 2014: The Pharos is a fucking peenor. Hard agree, 33 year old me, hard agree).
When I came back to it, I did have a go at getting to the final boss, but in the end, I just gave up. I have beaten FFXII before, back in 2014 when I started this liveblog, so I've only beaten it once, even though I've actually been through the game a ludicrous number of times (it's my favourite FF/video game, as I am sure you are aware by this point. If you're not, HI YOU MUST BE NEW AROUND HERE. MY NAME IS JAE AND I LOVE FFXII!!)
So, I know what happens. You slog through the Bahamut, which is the final dungeon, and you can tell this, because it has no save points and swarms upon swarms of Imperials. I'm fairly certain you can stand in one spot and they will come to you, repeatedly. Although this happens in other places like, say, Draklor, so I'm not entirely surprised it also happens here.
You fight Gabranth again, for reasons I'm not entirely sure about. I would say this (and the preceding fight versus him) is a leftover from when Basch was meant to be the main character, but I obviously can't speak on that with any authority.
And then you fight Vayne. Not once, but three times. Twice as himself (so to speak), and then as The Undying, once he's merged with Venat.
I remember the fight versus The Undying being somewhat of a hackfest. Possibly it wouldn't have been this time, I don't know. I can't say for sure if I was any better levelled or not this time around. But definitely during the parts where Vayne can't be hit with magic or weapons, and because you don't see his HP bar, so until he starts flashing red, you have NO IDEA how close he is or isn't to being finished off.
Anyway, eventually we are treated to the closing cutscene (which I had to watch again on yt, despite how many times I've actually seen it, because I couldn't remember what happened where or why!). Balthier decides to do something terribly heroic (because he is the leading man, after all). Also there is a heck of a lot of lying going here! (I understand why it is, though).
(Actually, you know, now I've figured out the Bahamut is new tech, I wonder if Balthier isn't already familiar with it? I suppose that depends on when it was built versus when he decided he didn't want to be a judge any more).
And then we have the time-skip-epilogue! I like that it's Penelo narrating it. Not just because she's one of my faves. (But it's not Basch that Ashe misses, Penelo! Were you even there during that last cutscene????) There's the tease for a sequel, in that hey! Balthier and Fran found some treasure, what a surprise. Shame they never made that, though, huh? ;)
And then it's the credits, and that's the end of the game! We did it, y'all, we got here! (finally).
I am sad, in a way, and relieved also. I like games and I like talking about games, but I'm not sure I could have done a thing like this with many other games? I sometimes feel like I'm liveblogging when I talk about games anyway, but not in this much detail (and even this isn't as detailed as I could go and, honestly, I'm fine with that). But I'm sad because this is my favourite game and, while I probably think about it a lot, I probably won't touch the game itself again for another good couple of years (by which time it might be the Zodiac Age!!, and then I can be horribly out of date playing games AS USUAL).
I hope you found this interesting? I...am not good at analysis, and you might notice I stayed away from commenting on the politics of the situations present in the game because I'm not good at that sort of thing, and I'm one of the few people (probably) who doesn't like this game for all the machinations and whatnot that go on. I just like the world and the characters and the enemies and the environments.
Maybe I'll do something like this in the future with another game, maybe not. If I do, hopefully it won't take me five years and two playthroughs to complete, but I am making absolutely no promises.
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This is making me want to replay 12 myself. Fortunately I just bought the Switch version of the Zodiac Age....
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(I need to watch an LP of War of the Lions/the original. I may have mentioned this before).
Ugh, I know, right? I am extremely jealous of you having The Zodiac Age.
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...and I was going to say there's no point my having it if I don't have the console but I own four Wii games and no console, sooooo...yeah...
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