Part 16: Chapter XVI: In Retrospect, This Plan Was Pretty Terrible

Our heroes emerge on the other side of the gate.





As they exit, the gate sparks and seals shut. I think we broke it.



: "Well, I guess that means there won't be anyone coming after us for a while, at least...still, I don't think the Empire will give up that easily! We'd better keep our guard up, just in case. All right, let's get going. Elina's here somewhere, and I intend to find her!"

Yep. We just have to search a whole continental landmass, if she's even still in the Empire. Totally doable.



Here's an elevator at the top of this tower. We can take the long way down to find items, though!



Ooor not. The elevator is gone.



So here we are at the bottom and what the hell is that nautilus looking thing.



This raises more questions than answers.



Hey, that's Fou-Lu's tomb over there! Nifty, but no way to get there. Let's pop into this little town.



Oh my. That's...inviting.



: "Since the Carronade is one of the Empire's main weapons, Astana is also an important military base with a large number of soldiers living here."

THIS IS LITERALLY THE WORST PLACE TO BE

Actually, in the game, you can just putz around and buy stuff from shops and poke around buildings.



: "......hmm, guess not - I mean, what would a bunch of kids like you be doing in a military installation like this, right?"

In the manga, Rasso warned the base about Ryu et. al. and they have to run for their lives, heading for an aqueduct that cools the Carronade after it fires. In the game...well, the aqueduct is just the only place the path lets you go and you screw around until you find the way.



Like so.



Here's the sole new enemy in the aqueducts, GooCount. No, not like .



More like Count Von Count. If you do a combo with enough hits in the first round, it gets stronger and gives more EXP.



The aqueduct itself is a small maze of ladders and paths along the aqueduct itself, with some treasure, interrupted by random encounters. Yawn.



Oh yeah, and this guy thinks you're gondola repairmen and moves it for you so you can progress.



Hmm.



Ryu cuts the rope, making a shortcut.



Here's another dichotomy. In-game, we have no reason whatsoever to do this. In the adaptation, Ryu gets one of his Dragon's Eye visions that tells them this will lead them to safety.



Hey, this looks familiar.



: "This is the place they're holding Elina!"

: "Yes, it's just like Ryu's dream showed us, right?"

: "Don't get your hopes up too much - we still need to find her. Let's go!"

Now wait, hold on a minute. We've gotten here yet the only evidence we have of Elina being here is the dream that has them saying the dream told them Elina was here...because in the dream, they said the dream itself showed them Elina was here and gargh fuck my brain



So, back to the curtain, beating up flies and armor, etc.





: "It continues to...grow, Lord Yuna."

: "Excellent. I am greatly pleased."

: "Blast! They'll see us...if we walk behind the curtain slowly enough, we should be able to get to the other side without being seen..."



Well, here's where the dream ended.



Uh oh. Yuna sees Cray darting past the curtain.



He teleports in a rather creepy, sinuous manner.



: "Whew! Looks like they didn't see us..."

: "Ah, but we did."





: "This building belongs to the Fou Empire, and you are Easterners, are you not?"

: "We're...looking for someone."

: "Yes - we're looking for my sister. Her name is Elina. We were told that she had come here..."

: [steps forward] "What do you know about her!?"

: "Now now now...don't get too close, hmm? You mean Princess Elina, yes? Yes, she was here. She was a very kind person - she said she was here on a good-will visit to see people injured during the war. However..."





: "I'm afraid it's the truth. Now then! I think it's about time you were on your way, my Eastern friends."

Lesson: don't base your entire rescue plan on the fever dreams of somebody who is only questionably a human.

















The columns of light spiral around each other while wavering in and out.





: "Kind of depressing weather, isn't it? I wonder if they're still questioning Cray...?"

: "Why don't we go to the castle? If we're lucky, they might let us see Cray."



Ershin, if questioned about this whole ordeal, simply says that she is bored.



: "He's been assigned to watch over us so we don't run off. Not like we'd leave anyway...I would never leave Cray behind."

Let's just ignore Tiny here and walk on through.







Behold, our fifth party member, Scias.


Scias

Scias is awesome. In the translated versions, he is a quiet, shy, stuttering mercenary who is amazingly adept with a sword and generally speaks only when spoken to. In the original version? That's not a stutter, that's a drunken slur. Scias is completely and utterly hammered, tanked, sloshed, wasted, and blasted through the entire game. His purpose is to be a Swiss army knife made entirely of lethal weapons. He is fast, strong, durable, is the party's second sword-wielder, starts off with a great balance of magic, and becomes a combination healer/ice mage/thing-stabber by the endgame just from his natural magic progression. With Masters, you can make him even more amazing at the role you use him for most. View all of his dialogue and actions with the knowledge that he does it all while totally plastered, and he goes from bland but sometimes amusing to one of the best characters in the game.



Oh yeah, and he starts with a face-meltingly awesome sword, to boot.