Alicornutopia

What else would they call the Moonflow, the Lifestream or something? /jokes

Chapter 11 Rambles away! Where the only thing to talk about is Rikku. Hello, Rikku.

Rikku joins your party. Her base stats are jacked up to deal with the fact you've had time to use everyone else. Though she's the 'thief' character, she is quite damn tanky and powerful. She is the fastest character, and has the steal command.

TACTIC 1: Run-stealing. Where you can use the inbuilt chance-run of 1 character to leave Rikku in a battle by herself. Tidus has had the full-party 100% escape skill since Besaid, so you've probably forgotten about it. I mentioned slightly this before, but Kimahri using Self-Destruct (from Mi'hen Highroad, not Kilika, my bad) has him also 'escape' from the battle. Basically, it has you have less than 3 characters out at a time, and if your party dies, you don't Game Over. So, have someone run away, Rikku steals, Rikku gets hit by enemy and dies (from 1hp you get after combat being dead), you still have the item. BAM. Steal from everything for nothing.

TACTIC 2: HER ACTUAL MECHANICS. Rikku's Overdrive, Mix, puts together 2 or 3 items you pick, and you get a variable result. Of course, nothing stops you from mixing together 2 rare items and the result blowing the hell out of your enemy in one-shot. Common stuff can do around 4k damage to all enemies, or full-heal... BOOM.

TACTIC 3: TRIPLE/QUADRA. Rikku's best mix, Trio/Quadra of 9999. The next 3/4 attacks each individual member of your party does will do 9999 damage. Dear shit, good, right? It is based not on the number of hits, but the queued up 'attack' commands. Tidus has by now his Overdrive that can hit 5 times, and one that hits 8 times soon. There is an item, Fire Gem/Flare Gem (I forget which 'fire'), that hits 5 times, which is the usual use of everybody. So, she can in one Overdrive do (45+)x9999 damage. 450k damage. ZING.

ULTIMATE TACTIC: PUTTING THEM ALL TOGETHER. Soon, very soon, is a place where you can steal a rare item. Cactuar Needles. You can also get a decent amount of Chocobo Feathers. Mix those two, you have Trio of 9999. Steal them. Use them. The game is beaten. Every boss falls to your slightly-farmed Thief-Alchemist! MWHAHAHAHA! (Did I mention she goes insanely quick in combat, and then you can have Tidus speed her up faster, so you can fling 5x9999 damage BEFORE ANYTHING GETS A TURN?! Where the bosses don't break 80k-hp until much later. :D)

Also, go listen to Maechen say 'schnoz' and the hypello say 'shoopuff'. It is very very amusing! Otherwise, this is just me yelling at mechanics over like, 1 minute of running, and 5 minute of boss between 20 minute of talking.

Historical note/anecdote time!

Final Fantasy X is how I learnt English. As in, I did not know how to speak English when I played FFX for the first time. I was like eight. And there are two very amusing things that happened because of this lack.

The first is: remember that one time just before Sin attacked Kilika where the party fought it on the boat? I did not get that you were supposed to attack Sin using remote attacks/magic. I just kept killing the lil' fiends it'd send my way, and it kept sending more of them. I thought my game was broken/bugged. I exchanged it for another copy. Same deal. I did it again - and then the salesperson kindly informed me of what I was supposed to do in the game. Oops.

Second is: the way to level up in this game is somewhat counterintuitive! As you kill things, you get Sphere Levels. Then, you have a "sphere grid" which is a map of attributes and abilities and you must spend sphere levels in order to "move" your character around that map so they can use spheres to activate attribute/ability nodes and actually, yanno, get stronger. But I could not speak English and the tutorial for that sailed right over my head. The end result was teeny lil' me never ever moving in the sphere grid because I was losing levels omg no I'd lose all my progress. So. I reached this point in the game (fight against Rikku) without having ever ever leveled up a single one of my characters. I spent ages getting more Sphere Levels on the South Bank and couldn't kill that godforsaken machina.

When I figured it out I killed it in like three hits. It was very satisfying, in a bittersweet way.

Chapter 12: Guadosalam
The party reaches Guadosalam, a pretty tree city. There, they are greeted by Tromell Guado, who tells Yuna they've been expecting her. He tries to lead her somewhere, but Wakka stops him, which reminds him to introduce and explain he's Maester Seymour's direct servant. He says Seymour has important business with Yuna, and says that she and her friends can come into the manor. Once there, he asks them to wait, and walks into a pair of double doors. After a bit, he asks them to follow him and leads them through to a hall containing a banquet. He tells them to wait while he summons Maester Seymour and leaves the room.

Before Tidus asks anything, Lulu explains to him that since Guadosalam lacks a temple most summoners just pass through. He laughs, and when she questions this, says that she's explaining things even though he hadn't asked, so perhaps she now believes that he's new to Spira and originally from Zanarkand. She confesses ignorance on the subject, but warns him against telling other people about it. Auron, leaning against a wall, tells Tidus to stay on his guard, saying that those with power use it, and that Maesters have power. Tidus asks him if he's sure he doesn't have anything against Yevon, and he chuckles and says he's lived a long time in Zanarkand.

Tromell returns, and remarks that it's good to have guests again, saying that they've been somewhat rare since Lord Jyscal passed away. Yuna says that his death was a great loss, and at Tidus' prodding Wakka explains that he was the one who brought Yevon's teachings to the guado. Tromell agrees that Jyscal was a great man, but says that now they follow Lord Seymour who, as a half-human half-guado, will be the tie that binds the two races together, and will furthermore surely become the star that lights the way for all the peoples of Spira. Seymour emerges from a door across the hall, complaining about the praise, then welcomes the party, telling them to make themselves at home. Auron tells him to keep it short, for Yuna is in a hurry, and Seymour apologises, citing the long time since he last entertained.

He asks Yuna to join him, and after she takes a few steps forward, the whole hall transforms, making it look like they're standing in space. A beautiful city appears, and Seymour explains that this sphere is a reconstruction from the thoughts of the dead in the Farplane. Tidus exclaims that it's Zanarkand, and Seymour confirms this, saying it's being shown as it was one thousand years ago, and that this is where "she" lived. Yuna asks who he means, and the next scene is a bedroom where Lady Yunalesca is sitting on her bed. Seymour says she was the first to defeat Sin, and that Yuna inherited her name. He says that Lord Braska was entrusting her with the great task of facing Sin as Lady Yunalesca did. However, she did not do this alone - it took an unbreakable bond of love to defeat Sin. At this point, Yunalesca's husband, Lord Zaon, walks into the bedroom and embraces her. The couple disappears, and Seymour leans towards Yuna and whispers something into her ear. She raises a hand to her mouth and takes a step back, and the vision disappears.

Yuna walks towards the now-visible food tables and drinks some water, then walks back to her guardians. Rikku remarks that she's beet red and Tidus asks if she's okay, and she explains Seymour asked her to marry him. Tidus reacts with some surprise, and Auron tells Seymour that he knows what Yuna must do. Seymour replies that she - and all summoners - are charged with bringing peace to Spira, but that this does not mean just defeating Sin. He says she must ease the people's suffering and be a leader for the people, and that he proposed to her as a Maester of Yevon. Auron counters that Spira is no playhouse, that a moment's diversion may amuse the audience but changes nothing, and Seymour replies that even so, the actors must play their parts. He turns to Yuna and tells her she needn't answer it right away and can take some time to think it over. The party starts making their way out, but before they do, Seymour asks Auron why he's still here. He doesn't respond for a few seconds, and Seymour apologises, saying the guado are keen to the scent of the Farplane. Tidus walks up to Auron to sniff him, but Auron pushes him away and continues on his way.

Outside, the party discusses what just happened. Yuna decides that she won't answer until she knows what's right. Rikku suggests she could quit her pilgrimage and just get married, but Yuna says that she will go on, and she's sure Lord Seymour will understand. Yuna decides to go to the Farplane to talk to her father, and Lulu says they'll be right behind her. They go through a door into a room with stairs that lead up to a circular portal. As the party walks up the stairs, Auron and Rikku stays behind. The former tells Tidus he (Auron) does not belong there, and Tidus says he's scared, but Auron replies that all that is there is searching the past to find the future, and he does not need that. Rikku walks up to them and says that they're not really going to see the dead - merely memories of them. She says people think of their relatives and the pyreflies react to them, becoming an illusion of the dead and nothing more. She says she prefers to keep her memories inside, saying that "memories are nice, but that's all they are."

Tidus walks into the Farplane. It is very pretty. Yuna, Lulu, and Wakka are each looking at transparent images of the dead, who do not respond to their words, and Tidus is worried that Yuna seeing her parents happily together would make her consider Seymour's proposal. Wakka talks at Chappu, his dead brother, telling him about giving up on being Captain and about Tidus, who supposedly looks like him (he doesn't). Wakka mentions he thought that might mean he was still alive, but since he's in the Farplane that can't be the case. Lulu watches Wakka and Chappu from afar, and muses that she should focus more on what she has to do in the present, then laughs at herself. Tidus suggests she should move on, and she agrees that's a possibility, so Tidus suggests Wakka. She explains that getting along with him isn't nearly enough, and that knowing a bit about women might help Tidus someday.

He walks up to Yuna, who says she's decided. She says that when her father defeated Sin, when she was seven, everyone was happy, and that she must do what the people want, not just what she wants. She suggests that, before they go tell Seymour, he should try to call for Sir Jecht; he doesn't come, of course. Tidus says he'd rather not see Jecht again, and starts saying it's his fault something happened between Tidus and his mother, and then she appears there. He's confused, because he's pretty sure no one's Sent her, and Yuna explains that she must've accepted death in life. Tidus says this has made him realise why he hates his father so, and he explains that whenever Jecht was around she never paid attention to him, and that when he left, she just lost her energy, which made him hate Jecht even more. However, he concedes that Jecht often got her to pay attention to Tidus.

As they leave the Farplane, Lord Jyscal's shade attempts to leave, too. Auron tells Yuna to Send him. She does, and falls to her knees, at the same time as Auron struggles with the pyreflies. As Jyscal disappears, he drops a sphere, and Yuna collects it to watch it later. As they walk away, Lulu explains that Jyscal was probably sent, but a powerful emotion could've kept him on Spira, and Auron says it means he died an unclean death.

The party returns to the manor, and before Yuna walks in Auron tells her Jyscal is the guado's problem, not hers. While the party waits, Tidus queries Lulu on Yuna getting married, and she says that as long as the pilgrimage continues, either way's fine. Tidus asks about the possibility that Yuna doesn't even like the guy, and Lulu says sometimes marriage does not require love. She says that, to Yuna, what matters is bringing joy to Spira, and the pilgrimage and marriage are two ways down the same road, and Tidus says he doesn't get it. Lulu concedes that she'd rather Yuna marry for love, but that if she said she wanted to marry the one she loves, Lulu would have to object.

Shelinda appears, and wonders why Tidus is not with Yuna, and he says she's at Seymour's palace. She says Seymour left for the Macalania temple, where he's high priest, a while ago. They call Yuna, and wonder why Seymour left without telling anyone. Yuna seems upset, and Auron calls her on it. She says it's nothing, and on they go.

(At some point during this, in the travel agency, they run into Maechen again. He explains that pyreflies are the lights seen when fiends die, and are responsible for quite a few fantastic phenomena - visions of the past, spheres, fiends, as examples. In fact, he says, pyreflies are related to aeons, too: the dreams of the fayth reach through the spirit of the summoner and the pyreflies give them form. He goes on to explain that the Farplane is the place where the pyreflies born from a sending gather, and appear in the shape of people who have died and gone there. He says the Al Bhed have a theory about the pyreflies: that they merely react to visitors' thoughts and dreams; however, only the dead appear in the Farplane, and no image of the living has ever been seen. He theorises that perhaps the dead leave a piece of themselves in the hearts of the living and that little bit is what gives Farplane pyreflies shape.)

holy shit the farplane is gorgeous

Paragraph 6:
...into a room with [url]stairs that lead up to a circular portal[/url]. As the party ...

Cutscenes. All over the place. Pedro you are a great for this all.

I think I remember some sort of hidden-affection-change on the steps up/down to the Farplane, but I can't remember. Nothing of note in this cutscene block.

oops fixt thanks

Chapter 13: The Thunder Plains
The party finally reaches the Thunder Plains. It's a large expanse of plains and eternal storm - the rain and thunder and wind and fog has not stopped in hundreds of years, and there has been no situation in recorded or oral history where this has not been the case. When they get there, Rikku looks and sounds obviously terrified, and Tidus wonders how they're going to cross it. Lulu and Wakka explain they should stay close, but not too close, to the huge lightning towers. It's actually possible to dodge lightning strikes, or be hit by them and look none the worse for wear, which only makes sense if you say magic did it so it probably did.

They run into Maechen again, who explains that the Plains used to be nigh impossible to cross ("Plains of lightning, plains of thunder, those who cross are torn asunder.") until an Al Bhed named Bilghen appeared and built the lightning towers using machina, permitting travellers to pass (relatively) safely. Maechen says Bilghen was killed by lightning when building the last tower, and that the history books never mention him (because he's an Al Bhed). A bit farther on, they run into Shelinda, who's excited about Yuna and Seymour getting married - the guado seem to have told her about it on their way to Macalania. Tidus corrects her, saying Yuna will turn Seymour down, and she's visibly disappointed.

On the way, they find some strange stones with an image of some green creature on them. If they perform the Yevonite greeting at it, it glows, and thenceforth these weird cactus creatures start appearing on the Plains.

When they're about halfway through the Plains, near one of Rin's Travel Agencies, and a lightning bolt barely misses them, Rikku falls to her knees and crawls towards Tidus and hugs his legs, crying that she hates lightning and thunder and begging them to stop at the Agency. Auron says the storm never stops and it's better to cross quickly, and Rikku whines enough that he relents and the party stops to rest. In there, Yuna says she's tired and would like to stop to rest, and after she gets a room, Wakka and Lulu express murmured surprise at this - Yuna typically does not complain about tiredness or anything, really.

Tidus asks Rikku why she's so terrified of lightning, and she explains that a fiend attacked her while she was swimming at the beach when he was little and the thunder spell her brother tried to use to drive it back hit her instead. Lulu says thunder spells are in fact pretty effective against marine fiends, and suggests Rikku learn them at some point, but when she shudders Lulu concedes that maybe now's not the best time. Rin shows up, and greets the party, then squints at Rikku, who looks at Wakka and tells him to shhh. When Tidus talks to Rin, he gives him another Al Bhed Primer, and then looks at Auron and asks if he would be, in fact, Sir Auron. Tidus confirms his identity, and Rin asks Auron if he remembers him from the beginning of Braska's Calm, and Auron replies that he does and thanks Rin. Rin wonders aloud how Auron managed to survive his wounds, saying an ordinary man wouldn't have, but Auron asks him to drop the subject.

Tidus gets a room, too, but on the way to it he hears a man's voice in Yuna's room, and tries to listen in. He accidentally leans too strongly against the door and opens it, catching a glimpse of Yuna watching a sphere of a guado. He stammers an apology, and then realises the guado in the sphere was Lord Jyscal. Yuna explains it's his will, telling her to take care of his son Seymour. She flees the room, and Tidus gravitates towards the sphere to get a peek, but before he can do that Wakka walks in and grabs Tidus in a headlock, giving him a noogie and asking what he thinks he's up to. He tries to explain that Yuna was acting funny, and Wakka cuts him off and tells him she'll tell them what's up when she's ready.

Back to the main area of the Agency, Tidus finds a book about the history of summoners on the Thunder Plains, and it has a section about Qactuars, fiends that roamed the Djose continent (that being the name of the continent they're on) and ravaged fields and tormented travellers, until one day Lord Gandof (since then become High Summoner Gandof) showed up. He scoured the continent for these fiends and drove them to the Plains, where he sealed them into the stones found on the Plains. He explained he believed fighting Sin was only one part of the great job that was being a summoner.

After they rest, they continue walking along the Plains, but when they're almost through and the Macalania Woods are just visible in the distance Yuna says she has to tell everyone something, and insists she has to do it now rather than wait until they leave the Plains. Auron suggests a large tower with a stone ledge nearby, and once the party is there under its protection, Yuna explains she's decided to accept Seymour's marriage offer. She explains she'll do this for Spira's future and Yevon's unity, and that it's the best she can do. Lulu wonders if it's because of Lord Jyscal, and Tidus mentions the sphere, which Auron demands to see. Yuna says she needs to speak to Seymour first, and that it's a personal matter. She assures Auron she'll continue her pilgrimage, but Tidus is still baffled, to which Auron counters that as long as they pilgrimage, whatever else summoners do with their time is no one else's business. Wakka wonders if she really has to marry him, rather than just talking to him, and she says she doesn't know. Rikku expresses concern, but Yuna says she'll be fine, and the party moves on.

Hahaha what the fuck are the weird cactus creatures that's terrifying

Cactuars (and variants like Qactuars) are actually a staple of the Final Fantasy series, like Chocobos and Moogles. They are typically cat-sized but there are some that are very huge, and in Final Fantasy X lore become actual cacti when they grow up.

Begin reply.

I usually fall asleep during speedruns between getting Rikku and Guadosalam, the lightning that freaks Rikku out is very loud and signals that the cutscene block is finally over. Haven't watched one in a long time, but hey.

Steal stuff. Rikku is broken, FFX is fairly easy compared to every FF game, end reply.