Final Fantasy X Remaster, 3: Blitz Ball Tournament in Luca

Tonight I take you back to Spira, where Tidus is settling in to his new found position as a guardian for summoner Yuna. Having prayed at Kilika temple, the group now sets sail for Luca, a large city which holds the stadium that draws people from all over Spira for it's spectacle of blitz ball.

 Arriving at Luca's port, the guardians found the city to be exploding with activity, thanks to the upcoming tournament. Each team was announced in turn as they arrived. Tidus's new team, the Besaid Aurochs, were quickly passed over, as they had never won a match in all their years of existence.

 

The Luca docks.

 The defending champion, the Luca Goers, received much of the attention and admiration of the fans and announcers. Not being able to stand all of the hype being heaped on the Goers, Tidus grabbed a megaphone from a nearby announcer. Climbing on to the top of some cargo boxes he made a bit of a scene, yelling "Not so fast Goers! This year the Aurochs are going to take the cup!" This got laughs and jeers from bystanders. The scene did make it on the "sphere", where the public could watch, and made certain that at the least, the Aurochs would be talked about going into the match.

 The tournament to follow was one for the ages. The Auroch's, even without the help of Tidus, were able to win their first contest ever, moving on to the finals.

 

During their time in Luca, the guardians also had to defeat this Al-Bhed machina.

 During the ship ride from Kilika, Tidus had done some practicing. Remembering his childhood, he felt bitterness over the ridicule of his father. It had been holding him back, preventing him from reaching his full potential. Tidus trained hard, focusing to put the negativity of his father Jecht behind him, and was able to perform a powerful shot that was his father's signature move. The "Magnificently Sublime Jecht Shot Mark III," he had called it. However, the key, according to Jecht, was that there was no Mark I and II, however, people would still come back night after night, hoping to see Mark I and II.

 Thanks mainly to the Jecht Shot, which could knock away two defenders with a power hit to the face, Tidus led the Aurochs to a 3-0 victory over the Goers in the finals.

 

Tidus in the square at Luca.

 As Wakka and Tidus relaxed and took in the moment, drifting about the stadium's sphere pool, chaos erupted. Fiends had broken into the stadium. Fiends that were numerous, large, and powerful. Auron, who had taken Tidus to Sin in Zanarkand, appeared somewhat mysteriously to help fight.

 The day would be saved by another somewhat mysterious fellow, one Maester Seymour. The Maesters are the leaders of the Yevon clergy, and thus possibly the most powerful folks in Spira. Seymour was a summoner, like Yuna, and summoned his massive, chain bearing aeon to destroy the fiends.

 No doubt the events of the day had taken it's toll on Tidus. Just as he and Wakka led the Aurochs to their first match and tournament victories, and mass of fiends attacked. However, their was no respite, as Auron revealed a truth to Tidus alone, that Sin was in fact, Jecht.

 Will things ever slow down for Tidus and his companions? Despite how unlikely it may seem, could Sin really be Tidus's father? Come back again soon, for This Bard's Tales!

Final Fantasy X Remaster, 2: Kilika, Aeon, and Ifrit

 We return to Zanarkand, or rather the world that holds the city. However, when we last left Tidus he had heard rumours of it's destruction, and he now appears to be in a very different place than the home he is familiar with.

 Tidus and the companions he has found himself with board a ship headed for Kilika Port. En route, they see a massive grey fin protuding from the waters. It is Sin. The crew of the boat fears for the lives of their families in Kilika, and they confront the dread beast. Despite the best efforts of the crew and Tidus's companions, Sin carries on to Kilika, destroying the town with a tidal wave.

Spira

 The crew arrives to a very somber scene as the Kilikan's tend to their dead and begin the process of rebuilding their town. This is the cycle of death and rebirth on Spira. Sin destroys, and the people rebuild, again and again.

 Tidus's team captain, Wakka, assures him that now is the perfect time to pray at the temple for a blitz ball victory. To Wakka, times like this are when blitz is most important to the people of Spira, to help them forget the inevitable pain and suffering wrought by Sin.

A summoner must perform a ritual to lead the dead on to the afterlife, otherwise they will remain in Spira and become monsters.

 The companions climb the great steps to Kilika's temple, encountering a massive creature called a sinspawn, left by Sin. They enter the cloister of trials, and emerge with Yuna now able to summon the fire Aeon, Ifrit.

Sinspawn: they must defeated, or else Sin will return to claim them.

 While in the Kilika temple, the group has an encounter with a rival summoner Dona, and her companion Barthello.

Dona and Barthello.

 Upon seeing Dona and Barthello when I first played FFX a little over ten years ago, I was immediately under the impression that they are based on "Bennifer". Bennifer being the dating team of Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez. The resemblance is uncanny, right?

 In the temple at Kilika, Yuna receives her second summon, or "Aeon". The word aeon is apparently synonymous with "eon", and originally meant "life" or being". This makes sense with it's use here.

Ifrit's fayth.

 Ifrit has been a staple of the summoned monsters since they first appeared back in FFIII. The creature is probably based directly on, or has the same root material, as the Dungeons & Dragons fire genies known as "efreet". In Islamic folklore, the Ifrit is a winged creature of fire. It is one of many types of beings known as jinn. Jinn is, not too surprisingly, analygous to the word "genie" in English. Jinn is also the name of the same summon in the SNES release FFII (FF IV really, there are some numbering issues due to Japan vs US release dates.), probably changed to avoid potential copyright issues.

More info: http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Ifrit#Final_Fantasy_X

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ifrit

 Thanks for joining me friends, come back again, for This Bard's Tales!

Final Fantasy X Remaster, 1: His Story, and Valefor

 Tonight my friends, I take you to a very different place. Our tale begins in a city of exceptional technology, one where buildings reach for the sky as far as one can see. A massive stadium is there, which can be filled with water to host a sport that has been a tradition for years. This city, is Zanarkand.

Not related to the above text I know. I was searching for the game's title screen, and instead found this!

 Central to this tale is a young man named Tidus, a star in the sport played at the a fore mentioned stadium, blitz ball. It is a starry night in Zanarkand as Tidus prepares for his next match, dodging hordes of adoring fans in order to make it to the stadium on time. The game goes quite well, Tidus showing his prowess. However, this night holds something quite different from the usual.

The crowd pours into Zanarkand's stadium.

 Tidus is squared up to the ball, flipping over to lay a solid kick to send it shooting towards the goal. However, he sees something in the distance, a mysterious, massive, floating globe of shimmering water. Soon it erupts with beams of energy. These beams cause destruction and chaos as they strike throughout the city. Tidus soon meets a man he recognizes, a man named Auron. Auron gives him a blade, and instructs him on how to cut through the scaly beasts that now run rampant in the streets of Zanarkand. However, Auron holds a bit of a surprise, he looks towards the floating globe, and says "We called it 'Sin'". Instead of running from Sin, Auron leads Tidus inexplicably toward it.

 

Auron above Zanarkand.

  I had received the Final Fantasy X/X-2 remaster for Christmas, however due to moving recently I didn't have my TV or PS3. My family was kind enough to make the trip out to visit me, and I was thus able to procure these nigh essential items. My new found access to this game was just too tempting to pass up. However, I planned for my blog to jump around a bit anyway to keep things fresh, and allow me to talk about whatever games I happen to be playing at any time.

 I think a full re-telling of the game's story is probably unnecessary and would be taxing on both myself and the reader. Also, I don't want to spoil everything, as it's a story, and game, of great depth that I do recommend playing. I'm thinking instead I'll combine some amount of story exposition with something that has always intrigued me about the Final Fantasy series, the origin of names, and their history within the series.

 For example, starting with Final Fantasy III, the player can summon beasts into combat to help. These summons have had quite a history in the series, often taking a very central part to the plot, as is the case in FFX. The first summon gained here is called "Valefor", who is less of a "traditional" summon than some of the others. By this I mean that, for example, "Ifrit", the second summon gained in FFX, has been the summon tied to the fire element in almost all FF games. Valefor, for the most part, appears only in FFX and FFX-2.

Art for Valefor's "fayth", where the summoner can pray to receive it's help in the future.

 A quick Bing search (maybe I should use Google since this is blogger? =D) makes it appear that the name of a demon is the most likely source for Valefor. This seems likely, as so many of FF's names are taken from mythology. Given demon's close ties with currently practiced religion, some may not consider this mythology, but hopefully for the sake of this blog you will bear with me! In this case, the creature in the game just seems to have borrowed the name, not so much the other characteristics of the demon. "Valefar" may be a more common spelling of the demon's name, and also more closely resembles the Japanese version's spelling.

Yuna, after summoning Valefor on the isle of Besaid.

 A few quick notes, especially for this post, I've relied on pics I grabbed from image searches. While I would love to list the source pages for each one, this can be a pit of a pain in the ass to find, as well as possibly getting me assaulted by a gang of ads. So, for now I'm not worrying about it, hopefully we can all be cool about that. The same goes for any research I do. While I will present my conclusions as research, it's going to be a combination of online searches and my own knowledge and experience, so that comes with appropriate caveats as well.

 All that being that said, the blog is in it's infancy, and I'd greatly appreciate any comments about the format or what you would like to see. Especially if I've managed to send any new players over to Forgotten World!

 Narrowly saving young Tidus from falling to his almost certain death, Auron holds his arm as they are both pulled into contact with the entity, Sin. Tidus is immediately disoriented, then finds himself in a dream like state where he sees visions of his father, indicating to him there may be a connection between the two, Sin and Jecht. Jecht, being his father, whom Tidus assumed dead for ten years now.

Tidus and his team captain on Besaid.

 Tidus awakens in a land that is strange to him, yet also inexplicably tied to his home of Zanarkand. He finds his way to the shore of Besaid Isle, where he meets up with a blitz ball team, and a summoner, Yuna. Yuna prays at the island's temple and is then able to summon a spirit beast, called an aeon, named Valefor. It seems that Tidus's fate is tied to Yuna's, and they travel together, along with Tidus's new blitz team, towards the port of Kilika. However, Sin is ever on the horizon.

The Besaid temple.

 Join me again soon friends, for This Bard's Tales!     

FRUA: Neverwinter Nights, 2

Following the advice of their new companion Milkbottom the halfling rogue, our intrepid adventurers made their way to the wharves upon the coming of the morning.

Passing through the east gate from Neverwinter Square, they were greeted by a slight breeze and river birds circling overhead. "Well, where to?" Kylie asked, looking at Milkbottom. He hesitated for a moment, than said confidently, "This way!" marching off to the south. Passing a few nondescript warehouses, the group came to a somewhat fancy looking building with a brass sign proclaiming it the "Neverwinter Health Society."

The building was strangely dark and silent. The group nodded at each other, drew their weapons, and Kylie slowly pushed open the door. The main lobby area appeared to be relatively intact, but dark and empty. This was conspicuous for certain. Searching about, our heroes heard noises coming from doors in the back of the lobby. A crash and then a snort like that of a pig... they went to investigate. They found, not surprisingly that the small rooms where overrun with evil humanoids! The party's weapons tasted first blood as they brought these foes down with ease.

Oh no! An orc...

This kobold has little chance of victory.

Their confidence growing, the group continued to explore the wharves, finding that while guards were still posted here, the district was crawling with kobolds, orcs, and other nasties. A ruined temple to the god Helm was the den of giant frogs.

Croak...

In addition, Milkbottom personally wet himself as two massive beasts crawled from the river and assaulted our dear adventurers.

When crocodiles attack!

Across the river in the northeast section of the wharves was the fish-packing district. The buildings here were of stone and mortar, heavily weathered from exposure to the river mists. This area proved no more inhabited than the first, even less so perhaps, as the occupants were often of the formerly-living types. Entering the first building as they crossed the river, the group was immediately assaulted by the stench of improperly preserved fish. "It smells awful in here." observed Kylie.

Hastily making their way through the room, all were forced to cover their noses, and a few choked entering the next room. "It smells UNBELIEVABLY awful in here," quipped Milkbottom.

The unbelievably awful room linked to an ice closet, occupied by a formerly living entity. The party surrounded it and took it down. Milkbottom was somewhat surprised that he was able to use the tricks of his trade to effectively strike at the vital organs of this animated body, finding it effective even though he was fighting a walking corpse.

It's worth noting here that the first time I fought zombies I was completely man handled. Looking in the editor, I saw they had been set to do something like 12-18 damage per hit. I assume this was a mistake, and set it to a more reasonable 1-8. As is not so rare in these modules, there have been a few things which I have assumed are mistakes and gone in and corrected them. Some minor annoyances, but nothing bad enough to make me want to quit all together. For example, a door or two were missing on the wharves map. I also set the encounters to not happen only once, as I think in a game like this it's necessary to be able to grind a bit, just like in the original. Otherwise heading to new areas will leave the party low on experience and coin.

 Purists may balk, but I've never had a problem with making edits to FRUA modules if I think it will increase my enjoyment of it. I think it's reasonable to assume there will be some mistakes made, since you're getting a game designed mostly by a single individual, then go in and correct them. That being said, FRUA is still an AWESOME resource. It's an endless supply of Gold Box games. A thought so cool, when a couple upperclassmen in my 7th grade gym class told me about it, I did not believe them. I thought to myself, "A Gold Box construction set? Things that cool do not happen." Oh, but it did, and the world has been ever better since it's release.

This particular module is by GoldBoxFan, and is version 1.16.

I downloaded the module at the UA File Archive at http://frua.rosedragon.org/, which is the go to place for all your FRUA needs. There is a link to modules at the top.

There ends tonight's ramblings my friends, join me again next time, for This Bard's Tales!