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xyzzysqrlOkay, I'm gonna front with some spoilers: The Antlion is a big poopy jerk.
The poopy jerkness of the Antlion comes from a number of key factors, enumerated here:
1. He comes with a huge number of insect friends. These friends are not as strong as he is, but they make an effective wall.
2. When he is in danger of dying, he turns to one side and eats one of his friends, healing himself to full health and boosting up in level.
3. That's REALLY IRRITATING.
4. He can "Disable" various characters, making them unable to do anything effective.
5. He can also, when below half health remaining, suddenly boost himself up to attack rapid-fire, with no charge time. Oh, and he does double damage. And ignores shields.
6. That sucks too.
The Antlion takes me six tries to beat, and each time I swear I'm going to walk away. Then I stop and think. "What if I tried exploiting his elemental weakness with magic?" I ask, and that takes me through to a half-health wipe. "What if I pour a Quickening on him after that?" I try, and that gets him down to the point where he starts eating the other bugs to regenerate. "What if I cleared those out first? ... Wait, what if I used this mote that teleports enemies to another dimension but gives you no experience?" And that leaves him without anyone to eat.
"All right, what if I equip Ashe with a wind-elemental weapon, pour wind-element magic on him, use these wind spell motes that're piling up, buff the party sky-high, and when he starts to use his rage mode and go berserk, drop an 11-hit Quickening chain on him?"
THAT did it. Antlion DEFEATED. Children RESCUED.
One of the kids clumsily exposits, "We had a key to go further into the mines, but I dropped it in the ocean!"
"There, there." his sister comforts. "I'm sure it washed up somewhere. Perhaps on a shore, far far away."
In other words if I want to go in deeper, I'm gonna have to go beachcombing somewhere. GOT IT. That was subtle, game. That was real subtle.
What's the reward for this hunt? A Bubble Belt. You put it on, and you have double hit points. FOREVER. (Okay, not forever. But DOUBLE HIT POINTS.) This is the best thing. This is the GREATEST thing. I am happy I did this hunt. Not only that, but since I went up a clan rank from this, I can now buy and use the Bubble spell myself, instead of relying on Larsa to cast it for me. Both Basch and Penelo can Bubble the party up, and that's gonna be extra-handy.
There's just one more hunt I want to do before getting back to the plot, and that's...
Orthros
For this one, we're going back into the sewers of Rabanastre. (Good god, what did the developers SEE in this place?) A thief stole a bunch of stuff, then lost it to Orthros, who is another jiggly-icky tentacled slime thing. The gimmick for this fight is, this blob is a pervert and doesn't want to show up unless the party is entirely populated by girls.
So... Fran, Ashe, Penelo, Larsa.
I think we're good here. Orthros agrees that Larsa is a girl by showing up. I'm led to believe this is actually a bug in the game, or more likely a courtesy since you can't control what Guest character you have... but I like to think the poor Flan JUST CAN'T TELL. Anyway, Orthros falls quickly to my now-standard "Flan-Killing Strategy", which is this:
1. Cast "Reflect Magic" on the entire group.
2. Have everyone with a fire spell target the party leader with fire.
3. The spell bounces off all three/four party members (depending on if I have a guest) and immolates the poor enemy nearby instead.
4: Repeat until win.
It's cheap, but it works. I just have to remember to turn it off the moment "Reflect" wears off or my Flan-Killing Strategy will become a Fran-Killing Strategy. Uwee hee hee hee!
(Sorry, there had to be at least one pun when discussingUlt Orthros. There are rules.)
For this I get a bunch of loot, which is sold off promptly, and a "Blackened Fragment" of some kind of Medallion. I think that's part of some kind of ridiculous insane game-spanning quest for TEH BEST WEEPON EVUR and I'm not sure I'm down with those, but I'll keep it around just in case.
Anyway, after all that I checked back here and made count with the votes, as well as those fed to me by alternate sources. The score was almost unanimous in favor of dropping Basch his first Esper, which I did, and then gave him the healing magics yay. Also, Ashe will be swapping between Ninja Sword and Sword+Shield as needed. When an enemy (like that Antlion) goes into "ignore shields" mode, there's nothing wrong with hurling hers aside and busting out the big damage.
NOW we can get ...
Back to the Plot
Holy Mount Blahblah (Batman), we're at the mountain finally. Refugees from the war-destroyed lands huddle in tent cities around the base of the mountain, while up higher nu mou elders teach religious pilgrims the ways of the world. In the temple at the mountaintop, we find the "Dreamsage", an EXTREMELY old man who is, uhm. Dead silent. For about a minute.
"Is he sleeping?" wonders Vaan, after a bit.
"NO, CHILD." booms the Dreamsage, without visibly moving. Vaan jumps like he's been punched. Ahaha.
Anyway, the Dreamsage pretty much lives in dreams, because dreams are the mirror of reality and truth is reflected there, and so on. Ashe has a dream too, of restoring her kingdom to glory. Might she have the blessing of--
"HOLD IT. Might you reconsider?"
In walks a man who looks like he should be running a cocaine plantation on the Moon. This is Al-Cid Margrace, he is Spanish as hell in a world with no Spain, he invented sunglasses in a fantasy setting and has a personal maid who carries them when he's not using them, and he cheerfully pats Larsa on the head like a housepet as he passes.
"This is who I called you here to meet." Larsa explains. Larsa, honey, don't encourage him next time. As he gets down on his knees to kiss Ashe's hand, Ashe looks nonplussed, Balthier rolls his eyes and looks elsewhere, and Penelo cups her hands over her mouth and wobbles back and forth like she's experiencing that strange sensation previous generations called "Beatlemania".
With Ashe, Larsa, and now Al-Cid present, the Dreamsage explains, leaders from Dalmasca, Archadia, and Rozarria are all present. Do you realize what that means? Al-Cid is -royalty of some kind-. Anyway, there is RAPID political banter back and forth across the floor. Ashe wants to reveal herself and the fact that she's still alive, but doing so wouldn't stop the resistance. No, it would spur them on to war. Well, what if Ashe contacted the Emperor to sue for peace? She and Larsa think this is a great idea, but Al-Cid shakes his head.
The Emperor is dead, you see.
We're shown a flashback to the Senate chambers of the Empire. One of the Judges, Drace, is just arriving, as the Senators are led out in chains. Vayne explains to her that many of the Senators were PLOTTING, and one took his own life after confessing to a network of plans so INTRICATELY interwoven into the government's structure that he just HAD to take the reins of power himself, so he can sort them all out. Oh and his father was poisoned. Somehow.
Judge Drace doesn't believe this for a goddamn minute. She whips out her sword and DEMANDS that Vayne allow himself to be placed under arrest. So, Vayne has her stabbed, then stabbed AGAIN when she survives the first one. (This kinda... this scene is -not- shot flatteringly and it's kind of really uncomfortable, so I'm not dwelling on it.)
Anyway. Yeah. Al-Cid agrees that the Emperor would've listened. But Vayne won't. Vayne WANTS war, for some reason. It's no good going to him, he's already rolling out ALL the troops and preparing Nethicite. Hearing this, Ashe whips around. Nevermind her kingdom. She can't protect her kingdom sitting on a throne. Ashe wants POWER. She wants something greater, more deadly than nethicite. Something to DESTROY nethicite.
While she's talking, the Dreamsage has opened his eyes and is visibly glaring at her. Asking to fight power with power is -so- like a human. Very well. She can use the OTHER power the Dynast-King left behind. It's in the Stilshrine of Miriam. Ashe gets all wide-eyed at the idea of getting her hand on another one of the Dynast-King's artifacts. "The Sword of Kings"... it can SLICE THROUGH Nethicite.
"Take up your sword, Ashelia. Or your dream will remain but a dream."
The party walks out, leaving Larsa... looking decidedly depressed, and who can blame the kid? His country is going to war, led by his big brother, who killed his father. Larsa has to know or at least suspect how this went down. He stays behind at the shrine as Ashe's lust for Power Overwhelming leads her on across the snowy wastes to the Sword of Kings.
(At this point I do a hunt for a "Feral Retriever", which would break the narrative flow to recount. It was nothing special. I do NOT do the hunt for "Trickster", the Invisible White Chocobo, because this enemy is forged out of large chunks of Bullshit Ore mined in raw clumps from Bullshit Mountain. Those of you who have played this are nodding along. I will recount why when I -do- actually go after him, much later on.)
NEXT TIME: The Stilshrine awaits.
The poopy jerkness of the Antlion comes from a number of key factors, enumerated here:
1. He comes with a huge number of insect friends. These friends are not as strong as he is, but they make an effective wall.
2. When he is in danger of dying, he turns to one side and eats one of his friends, healing himself to full health and boosting up in level.
3. That's REALLY IRRITATING.
4. He can "Disable" various characters, making them unable to do anything effective.
5. He can also, when below half health remaining, suddenly boost himself up to attack rapid-fire, with no charge time. Oh, and he does double damage. And ignores shields.
6. That sucks too.
The Antlion takes me six tries to beat, and each time I swear I'm going to walk away. Then I stop and think. "What if I tried exploiting his elemental weakness with magic?" I ask, and that takes me through to a half-health wipe. "What if I pour a Quickening on him after that?" I try, and that gets him down to the point where he starts eating the other bugs to regenerate. "What if I cleared those out first? ... Wait, what if I used this mote that teleports enemies to another dimension but gives you no experience?" And that leaves him without anyone to eat.
"All right, what if I equip Ashe with a wind-elemental weapon, pour wind-element magic on him, use these wind spell motes that're piling up, buff the party sky-high, and when he starts to use his rage mode and go berserk, drop an 11-hit Quickening chain on him?"
THAT did it. Antlion DEFEATED. Children RESCUED.
One of the kids clumsily exposits, "We had a key to go further into the mines, but I dropped it in the ocean!"
"There, there." his sister comforts. "I'm sure it washed up somewhere. Perhaps on a shore, far far away."
In other words if I want to go in deeper, I'm gonna have to go beachcombing somewhere. GOT IT. That was subtle, game. That was real subtle.
What's the reward for this hunt? A Bubble Belt. You put it on, and you have double hit points. FOREVER. (Okay, not forever. But DOUBLE HIT POINTS.) This is the best thing. This is the GREATEST thing. I am happy I did this hunt. Not only that, but since I went up a clan rank from this, I can now buy and use the Bubble spell myself, instead of relying on Larsa to cast it for me. Both Basch and Penelo can Bubble the party up, and that's gonna be extra-handy.
There's just one more hunt I want to do before getting back to the plot, and that's...
Orthros
For this one, we're going back into the sewers of Rabanastre. (Good god, what did the developers SEE in this place?) A thief stole a bunch of stuff, then lost it to Orthros, who is another jiggly-icky tentacled slime thing. The gimmick for this fight is, this blob is a pervert and doesn't want to show up unless the party is entirely populated by girls.
So... Fran, Ashe, Penelo, Larsa.
I think we're good here. Orthros agrees that Larsa is a girl by showing up. I'm led to believe this is actually a bug in the game, or more likely a courtesy since you can't control what Guest character you have... but I like to think the poor Flan JUST CAN'T TELL. Anyway, Orthros falls quickly to my now-standard "Flan-Killing Strategy", which is this:
1. Cast "Reflect Magic" on the entire group.
2. Have everyone with a fire spell target the party leader with fire.
3. The spell bounces off all three/four party members (depending on if I have a guest) and immolates the poor enemy nearby instead.
4: Repeat until win.
It's cheap, but it works. I just have to remember to turn it off the moment "Reflect" wears off or my Flan-Killing Strategy will become a Fran-Killing Strategy. Uwee hee hee hee!
(Sorry, there had to be at least one pun when discussing
For this I get a bunch of loot, which is sold off promptly, and a "Blackened Fragment" of some kind of Medallion. I think that's part of some kind of ridiculous insane game-spanning quest for TEH BEST WEEPON EVUR and I'm not sure I'm down with those, but I'll keep it around just in case.
Anyway, after all that I checked back here and made count with the votes, as well as those fed to me by alternate sources. The score was almost unanimous in favor of dropping Basch his first Esper, which I did, and then gave him the healing magics yay. Also, Ashe will be swapping between Ninja Sword and Sword+Shield as needed. When an enemy (like that Antlion) goes into "ignore shields" mode, there's nothing wrong with hurling hers aside and busting out the big damage.
NOW we can get ...
Back to the Plot
Holy Mount Blahblah (Batman), we're at the mountain finally. Refugees from the war-destroyed lands huddle in tent cities around the base of the mountain, while up higher nu mou elders teach religious pilgrims the ways of the world. In the temple at the mountaintop, we find the "Dreamsage", an EXTREMELY old man who is, uhm. Dead silent. For about a minute.
"Is he sleeping?" wonders Vaan, after a bit.
"NO, CHILD." booms the Dreamsage, without visibly moving. Vaan jumps like he's been punched. Ahaha.
Anyway, the Dreamsage pretty much lives in dreams, because dreams are the mirror of reality and truth is reflected there, and so on. Ashe has a dream too, of restoring her kingdom to glory. Might she have the blessing of--
"HOLD IT. Might you reconsider?"
In walks a man who looks like he should be running a cocaine plantation on the Moon. This is Al-Cid Margrace, he is Spanish as hell in a world with no Spain, he invented sunglasses in a fantasy setting and has a personal maid who carries them when he's not using them, and he cheerfully pats Larsa on the head like a housepet as he passes.
"This is who I called you here to meet." Larsa explains. Larsa, honey, don't encourage him next time. As he gets down on his knees to kiss Ashe's hand, Ashe looks nonplussed, Balthier rolls his eyes and looks elsewhere, and Penelo cups her hands over her mouth and wobbles back and forth like she's experiencing that strange sensation previous generations called "Beatlemania".
With Ashe, Larsa, and now Al-Cid present, the Dreamsage explains, leaders from Dalmasca, Archadia, and Rozarria are all present. Do you realize what that means? Al-Cid is -royalty of some kind-. Anyway, there is RAPID political banter back and forth across the floor. Ashe wants to reveal herself and the fact that she's still alive, but doing so wouldn't stop the resistance. No, it would spur them on to war. Well, what if Ashe contacted the Emperor to sue for peace? She and Larsa think this is a great idea, but Al-Cid shakes his head.
The Emperor is dead, you see.
We're shown a flashback to the Senate chambers of the Empire. One of the Judges, Drace, is just arriving, as the Senators are led out in chains. Vayne explains to her that many of the Senators were PLOTTING, and one took his own life after confessing to a network of plans so INTRICATELY interwoven into the government's structure that he just HAD to take the reins of power himself, so he can sort them all out. Oh and his father was poisoned. Somehow.
Judge Drace doesn't believe this for a goddamn minute. She whips out her sword and DEMANDS that Vayne allow himself to be placed under arrest. So, Vayne has her stabbed, then stabbed AGAIN when she survives the first one. (This kinda... this scene is -not- shot flatteringly and it's kind of really uncomfortable, so I'm not dwelling on it.)
Anyway. Yeah. Al-Cid agrees that the Emperor would've listened. But Vayne won't. Vayne WANTS war, for some reason. It's no good going to him, he's already rolling out ALL the troops and preparing Nethicite. Hearing this, Ashe whips around. Nevermind her kingdom. She can't protect her kingdom sitting on a throne. Ashe wants POWER. She wants something greater, more deadly than nethicite. Something to DESTROY nethicite.
While she's talking, the Dreamsage has opened his eyes and is visibly glaring at her. Asking to fight power with power is -so- like a human. Very well. She can use the OTHER power the Dynast-King left behind. It's in the Stilshrine of Miriam. Ashe gets all wide-eyed at the idea of getting her hand on another one of the Dynast-King's artifacts. "The Sword of Kings"... it can SLICE THROUGH Nethicite.
"Take up your sword, Ashelia. Or your dream will remain but a dream."
The party walks out, leaving Larsa... looking decidedly depressed, and who can blame the kid? His country is going to war, led by his big brother, who killed his father. Larsa has to know or at least suspect how this went down. He stays behind at the shrine as Ashe's lust for Power Overwhelming leads her on across the snowy wastes to the Sword of Kings.
(At this point I do a hunt for a "Feral Retriever", which would break the narrative flow to recount. It was nothing special. I do NOT do the hunt for "Trickster", the Invisible White Chocobo, because this enemy is forged out of large chunks of Bullshit Ore mined in raw clumps from Bullshit Mountain. Those of you who have played this are nodding along. I will recount why when I -do- actually go after him, much later on.)
NEXT TIME: The Stilshrine awaits.
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Date: 2012-12-12 05:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-12-13 04:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-12-13 04:31 pm (UTC)That said, after decades of The Stereotypical JRPG Waif Girl, who exists only to sit in the back row and play healer? I am 100% down with Ashe's desire to make things explode and/or be cut into two pieces and then explode.
She may be worryingly psycho, but I find her highly refreshing.