Part 4 was too long, so I decided to cut it in half. Just thought I'd let you know. :D
Here starts one of many splits in the party[]
Well, now we leave Snow behind. I must say, his determination is admirable. When he's not spouting his hero talk and being extremely serious that's when I find him tolerable. Hope still can't bring himself to talk to Snow. It'll happen eventually.
Now that our party has switched, so have our Paradigms. Sazh only has his Ravager role. That pretty much gives us just these Paradigms.
| Paradigm | Lightning | Vanille | Sazh |
|---|---|---|---|
| ♦Relentless Assault | Commando | Ravager | Ravager |
| Tri-Disaster | Ravager | Ravager | Ravager |
| Diversity | Commando | Medic | Ravager |
| Thaumaturgy | Ravager | Medic | Ravager |
"I wonder what'll happen if I shake the slippery tube. ¬_¬"
Up ahead are some more Breshan Bass. Take a right and get 6 vials of Strange Fluid, then ambush the group of Pantherons below. I think it's harder to get a preemptive strike that way but you can try. The left slippery tube leads to 2 treasures. A pair of Deneb Duellers for Sazh and 240 Gil. Proceed down the other slippery tube and don't listen to Vanille. When you get to the other side, a bunch of Bloodfang Bass will fall from the sky. A Blitz will wipe most of them out. To the right and down another tube is a group of Bass and 6 vials of Enigmatic Fluid. Up ahead by Hope are some Pantherons just hanging out. The Item Sphere near them contains 7 Wicked Fangs. Examine that airship to open up a path. A big group of Bass are blocking out way but they're easy enough to preempt and take out. Save at the Save Point up ahead. You'll come across Sazh and an Alpha Behemoth. This battle is also a Battle Technique Tutorial. Take a look and then Tri-Disaster him to stagger and Relentless Assault to cut him down. Heal when needed.
To the right is an item that contains a Librascope. Go down the main path and view a cutscene. Vanille finally has enough of Hope's negativity but "We're still alive. That's something." Yay optimism! :D
As we go down the path, we come across a new enemy. A PSICOM Tracker. They're not a challenge. The Watchdrones however can be a pain, but you'll get around them. To the right of those Watchdrones are 2 Digital Circuits. Go across the bridge and engage in another battle. Or skip it. I skipped a ton of battles >.> But anyway, you get to a wonderful crystallized waterfall type structure. Go to the right of the fork and get 2 Paraffin Oils and go forward and get 50 Gil. When you get to the top, take a right and get some Insulated Cabing. There's a Watchdrone and a Ciconia Velocycle just before you save, so take care of those.
We come across a cutscene and Vanille asks Lightning about Serah's Focus. Of course, any mention of Serah around Lightning puts her into a slump. Aww, Lightning sadness :( Go forth and get 30 Gil and 5 Begrimed Claws on your way. We now enter the Gates of Antiquity.
Crystallized fire? Yes.
Save on you're way up the stairs. To your right is 600 Gil. You should be able to preempt that Alpha Behemoth. Now take the slim path on the right and get 2 Digital Circuits. Proceed across the area and take out those Watchdrones and Tracker. Go up that ramp and take 2 rights to find 7 Begrimed Claws. Go down the stairs and fight those PSICOM soldiers and their Crusader. On the otherside of that fountain looking structure is another group of PSICOM and Crusader. The item behind them is a Spark Ring. Up ahead is an enemy free item that contains 3 Potions.
Another save point ahead. Listen to Vanille if you want to hurry along with the game. Take the long way if you want to get some CP, item drops and a nugget of Millerite. If you take the long way you will face a PSICOM Executioner and two Rangers. The Rangers will be killed easily. Once you stagger the Executioner he'll be easy to take out. The rest of them are the same as always.
Follow Sazh up the stairs and take out those PSICOM troops, then get yourself a Ferroelectric Film. Jump down and skip those enemies below if you wish. You don't have to fight everything you see. Up the stairs is a Save Point. To the right is a tuft of Phoenix Down. To the left are 2 Librascopes.
Vanille seems to be having a fun time with all her laughing. Then that Garuda Interceptor swoops down and ruins Vanille's happiness. It's quite a funny sight, seeing Vanille running all over the place with that thing coming right at her. Haha, anyway...
| Boss: Garuda Interceptor |
Stagger it with Tri-Disaster and bring the HP down with Relentless Assault. Next. You'll want to use Libra on it to know that it's weak against Aero. It will put up a Barrier which will make it resistant to physical attack and Ruin. It will also use Hellstorm Bolt which can do heavy damage. When it uses that, switch to Thaumaturgy. Use Tri-Disaster to stagger it. Once it's staggered, its Barrier effect will stop. Switch to Relentless Assault to do heavy damage. Once it's dead, you get a Silver Bangle and another Retail Network: Up in Arms. Sazh and Vanille now have access to their Synergist and Saboteur roles, respectively. |
Doesn't take much for Vanille to get cheery again. Hey mysterious looking transformer owl. Come to spy on these happy people?
Ha! And Sazh, knowing your luck, you'll crash the thing. I swear, every airship Sazh flies, they crash. You'll see. I'll keep track.
Oh noes. We're alone with this guy. D8[]
Yep. I have nothing to say here other than let's hurry up :| A bunch of PSICOM soldiers show up and we fight alone. More than half of those soldiers will go down with 2 punches. Not really hard. Then we get our first Eidolon Battle :O
| Eidolon:Shiva Sisters |
View that Eidolon Battle Tutorial. Now that you've done that, switch to Snow's Ravager and attack Styria. Your HP should be covered by Nix, so don't worry about that. Once you see ATB Charge above Styria's head, you should attack her once, and then quickly change to Sentinel and stack Steelguard. Once she attacks you with your Steelguard on, the Gestalt Gauge will fill up like crazy. Switch back to Ravager when she's done and switch to Sentinel when she begins her ATB Charge again. Your timing is everything when using Steelguard. If you're Steelguard is too late, you'll take a lot of damage and lose time. If it's too early, you're Steelguard won't fill the gauge much and she might attack you anyway. When the gauge is full, hit that Snow got another ATB Segment! |
Fang.
Ah, and who do we have here? Fang!! :D Fang is awesome. She's such a badass. Although right now, when we first meet her, I don't like her. I think it's the way she talks...it's so arrogant sounding :| She annoys me until we get to Palumpolum when she separates from Snow. >.> There must be some connection. Anyway, shocker, she's also a l'Cie. Well now that we have all the important people introduced (Fang isn't fully introduced in the game yet, but whatever) I strongly encourage you to read -Episode Zero- sometime in your life. You'll learn more about everyone's backstory, and after reading it, I think you'll agree that everyone needs a hug. Except Snow >.>
High quality FMV time! :D It's so shiny *_* We return to the average rendered cutscenes, but only for a moment. There's the jackass Sanctum Primarch that spouts lies and other crap. Don't you just want to stab him in the face? And back to more high speed airship chase and shinyness *_*
XIII Logic: Your eyes don't melt and you don't spontaneously combust when you go toward a fal'Cie that is the equivalent of our Sun. But it's a fal'Cie. I guess it could kinda make sense. Or not. I don't know. :|
And with that, airship #1 goes down. Get ready for the Vile Peaks.