T w e n t y S i d e d

The captured party is brought aboard the Dreadnought Leviathan, flagship of Archadia’s 8th Fleet, and presented before the commander: it’s Judge Ghis! I missed him; now that he doesn’t wear the helmet anymore, we can admire that great Archadian hair. Grand Moff Ghis greets Ashe glibly, and demands that they hand over the nethicite. Penelo is reluctant, clutching Larsa’s gift in her hand… but Ghis protests, and clarifies that he wants the deifacted nethicite. He asks his lackey, Captain Vossler Azelas, to clarify for him.

Yep, Vossler’s gone all Lando on us. At some point it struck him that there isn’t a snowball’s chance in hell of driving the Empire out of Dalmasca through force of arms, and the best plan now is to regain whatever primacy they can for Ashe by cooperating with the Empire, after the model of Ondore in Bhujerba. To this end, they will restore the sovereignty of the Dalmascan line if they but hand over the Dawn Shard, which they reveal is a shard of unthinkably powerful nethicite. Ashe hesitates, struggling to come to terms with the sudden developments, so Ghis makes it simple for her: consent and become their pet queen, or vacillate and he starts lopping off party members’ heads. With a sword at Balthier’s throat, she hands the Dawn Shard over.

Continue reading ⟩⟩ “A Travelog of Ivalice, Part 7: Two Suns in the Sunset”

The Rocketeer —PLEASE—STAND—BY—

After fleeing Marquis Ondore’s swank crib, the game wastes no time in dropping you right off at the start of the next area. Balthier, for the third time at least, caresses his ego by showing off features of his ship, this time a cloaking device he borrowed from a StarCraft Wraith. It’s sadly not inaccurate to say that the first and only cool thing Balthier ever stole was his ship and he has just been riding that good feeling ever since as a “sky pirate.” Vaan and Penelo’s bickering prompt Balthier to baldly lampshade the couple’s status as the comic relief, because sometimes the game is as unkind to me as I am to it.

The task now is to cross the Sandsea. They aren’t just being poetic with the name, either; the sand here is special, and flows like water in a vast, sprawling mass stretching beyond the horizon. Basch describes it as larger still than all of Dalmasca and booooy he ain’t even kidding. This is the first time the game drops you off at the beginning of an immense stretch of wasteland or ruins and says, “have at it, we’ll start up the plot again on the other side.” From here on out, this is more or less how the game functions, and I’ll be perfectly honest: I think the game gains something from this. There’s just something about peering out over the trackless wastes, with nothing on the other side but some magic-charged ruin lost to the mists of history, and fighting my way to the very bottom of it in search of some relic or other that just whips me into the adventuring mindset.

Continue reading ⟩⟩ “A Travelog of Ivalice, Part 6: Sandseas, Sigil Stones, and Staircases of Dicks”

The Rocketeer —PLEASE—STAND—BY—