Exit Fate Part #15 - A Tight Squeeze

Part 15: A Tight Squeeze

Music: Mines - Final Fantasy VII, "Anxious Heart"

Welcome back. Last time on Exit Fate, we made our way to Highland to visit Governor Banhk, only to be captured by Rock and the Highland rebels. Fortunately, the rebels had a double agent in their midst, who was able to hand us a key to our cell. So now it's time to break out of here.

Forced stealth section? Exit Fate is not having any of that bullshit. We're busting out of here and killing anyone who gets in our way.

How did we get our weapons and armor back? Who cares! It's murder time.

Anyway, the mines here are another dungeon, and it isn't long before battles start popping up. The bribe amounts have made a sizeable jump here.

Most of the battles in this area are against large groups of Highland rebels.

The rebels aren't much of a threat individually, but they're very fast and it's rare to see them in groups of less than five. They can easily whittle you down if you're not paying attention.

Fortunately, two helpings of Shadowcast followed up by a physical attack is enough to take one out. They don't last too long.

We're also apparently a bit underleveled, because they give a buttload of experience. Our lower-leveled characters are getting 500+ exp for their efforts.

To the northwest of our cell we find a Noise spell (which cures Silence) and a very helpful Mend-All.

Mend-All does what it says on the tin, healing all allies for a decent amount. At 30 MP (and 36 for everyone except Daniel) it's still a bit difficult to keep it at the ready, but I am not complaining about getting one for free.

For the hell of it, I also decide to bring Royston out for a single battle.

He jumps from level 1 to level 14 from that battle alone. If you needed any more proof that raising low-leveled characters is a piece of cake.

Anyway, we walk through the mines a bit and eventually run into this door.

Should I break it down, sir?

By the looks of it, this is a heavy emergency door. It would take way too long to break. Let's try looking for another way first.

To the right of the door, we find a few mundane items...

... and then we come across this dungeon's gimmick.

As we all know, video game law dictates that if there is a ventilation shaft in a location, not only must the player be able to enter it, no matter how unfeasible it may be, but entering it must also be required for the player to progress. Just once I'd love to see a game where the player can attempt to enter a ventilation shaft, only to be told something along the lines of, "What are you, crazy? You can't fit in there!"

In any case, entering the ventilation shaft spits us out in another area of the mines. Interestingly, there doesn't seem to be a vent on the other end to head back through. I'm not even going to try to understand how that works.

But it wouldn't be a dungeon gimmick if that was the only vent in the place. The area that the first vent brought us to has two more vents in it, and we're only going to be seeing more of them, so essentially the mines are a poor man's teleporter maze. Thankfully it doesn't last very long.

Before we can make a choice, however, some more rebels show up with archers in tow.

Archers can be dangerous since they can attack anyone on the field, including Midian or Yan Angwa, but they have so little HP that Midian's first Shadowcast sometimes kills them outright.

Once we're done with them, we head through the right vent...

... which leads us to an area with another vent...

... which spits us out in an area we've already been.

Isn't this just enthralling?

But then things get spiced up when a couple of rebels show up with a fucking tiger.

It's not even a miniboss or anything. The rebels apparently just have a bunch of fucking tigers roaming around the mines. As guards. Who the fuck thought that having a bunch of fucking tigers wandering around a cramped mine could possibly be a good idea?

The tigers can only attack physically, but when they do, it hurts. They actually have two attacks, though neither gets a name popup. They can bite, as shown above...

... and they can also claw a character, which hurts even more.

They have a lot of HP, but they're not invincible.

The experience for this dungeon starts slowing down once our characters hit level 20, which means that's likely the recommended level for this area.

After that harrowing battle, we head back to the two-vent room and head through the left vent, which brings us to this area.

There are a bunch of NPCs in this area who will all basically tell us the same thing, that they don't want to fight us.

There's also this fellow in the corner who runs a basic item shop, in case we're hurting for supplies. We don't really need anything from him though.

We head through a vent in the back of the room, which leads us to...

... a room with five vents.

Four of the vents lead to areas that loop right back to the five-vent room. There's a bit of loot in two of them.

The vent on the far right, however, leads us to a new area.

If we head north and west, we find that we've made it past the emergency door we saw earlier.

Nearby is a save point, which can only mean one thing.

Music: None

RIP, key-giving dude.

What!? They broke through the safety doors!? Damn it! It's all going to hell! Damn it, Rock!

Get out of the way. Your plans have already failed. I sympathize with you, Joshua, and I hope the situation in Highland will change for the better some day, but I will not be forced to be part of it. I have my own battle to fight.

Ever since Grunthall, all of Rock's plans have gone straight to hell! We're fighting so hard, but it just isn't enough! I don't want the rebel army to fall apart! I'll never let that happen! You're our hostage! You're the only trump card we have right now! I won't let you get away!

As long as you're alive, there's still hope for a better future. Don't throw it it all away for nothing!

You can't win a war without taking risks!

BOSS FIGHT: Joshua

Music: Boss Battle - Wild Arms 2, "Battle vs. Solid"

Despite Daniel's insistence that he couldn't possibly stop us on his own, Joshua puts up one hell of a fight. His first move of the battle is to use Knockdown, which deals some major damage and inflicts Stun. Stun is one of the nastiest status effects in the game, because there's no way to cure it. Anyone with Stun is missing their next turn, no questions asked.

I get lucky with my first move and manage to steal a Waterfall spell from Joshua. Waterfall is the next tier of water attack spell, and hits a row of targets, much like Splash.

Unfortunately it won't show up in the spell list until the battle is over.

But that's okay, because Joshua is kind enough to demonstrate it for us. Luckily, he uses it on the back row, where Midian and Yan Angwa's immense MDF reduces the damage to manageable amounts.

As far as actual battle strategy goes, Joshua is very fast and dodges a lot of our physical attacks, so magic is the way to go. Much like with the Mist Monster from way back when, I decided to load up our mages with attack items so we can throw out attack spells without interruption. Joshua is water-aligned, so I made sure to include the two Batteries that we have.

I also have our mages use our actual Lightning spells when they can. Midian and Yan Angwa both reached an MP+ of 12 during the dungeon, and the math of that means that occasionally they'll have the 25 MP for non-Shadowcast spells at the ready. As you can see from the damage, Lightning is a good choice when that happens.

Joshua's other main move is Strangle, which I think is supposed to sometimes silence the target. But he never managed to successfully silence anyone, so I can't be sure.

It takes several Mends (and the Mend-All) from my stock, but after the usual pummeling, Joshua goes down.

Music: Boss Battle Won - Chrono Cross, "Victory (A Cry In Summer)"

Our reward for the battle is a cool thousand Arn and a Green Bandana, an accessory that grants +2 SKL.

Music: None

Music: Tears - Xenogears, "Tears of the Stars, Hearts of the People"

Rock comes running in from the north and kneels by Joshua.

Don't waste your breath! Hang in there, kid!

Hey Rock... I did the right thing, didn't I? I wanted to help you so badly... I know you can do it, Rock. You're the only one who can save Highland... That's why I...

Joshua!!

There's still hope as long as you're alive, huh?

Why didn't I see it sooner? We were so close to victory in my head that I pushed everyone too far. I thought I was ready to make any sacrifice, but... Not this. Not this. This young boy didn't deserve to die here. It was his future, of kids like him, that we were fighting for. Why did you have to do this, Joshua!?

Sir...

I didn't mean... to...

After a quick fade to black, we find ourselves at the top of the elevator shaft that we saw in the Grunthall mine last update.

We still have the invitation, right?

You still want to go see the governor, sir?

It's the least I can do, after all this... There's some things I would like to ask him. I want to see what's really going on by myself.

Do you really think it's a good idea to get involved in this?

If what Rock said is true, then something has to be done about it.

So... we're going back to Bergstadt then?

Yes, and this time we'll go find the governor's residence ourselves.

Music: Grunthall - Xenogears, "The Sky, The Clouds, And You"

And with that, our stint in the mines is over, and we're back in Grunthall. The transition here is, in my opinion, the worst music change in the game. The sad "Tears" theme continues playing from the end of the battle with Joshua up until we leave the mines, but as soon as we do, the airy Grunthall theme abruptly starts playing and completely kills the mood.

Anyway, we now have a Waterfall spell in our stock, but it's going to be a long time before casting it is viable. At 60 MP for all of our current characters, it will take even Midian and Yan Angwa five turns of waiting to be able to use it. But the second-tier attack spells are expensive as shit, so I'll take it.

Now then, it's time to head over to Bergstadt again.

Music: Bergstadt - Final Fantasy VII, "Mining Town"

This time around, nobody stops us, so we have the run of the place. Let's see what this town has to offer.

Well hello there! 2000 Arn is a pretty penny at this point in the game, but we've left the mines much richer than we were before, so I go ahead and pick up two more Mend-Alls.

The blacksmith in town is level 6, a decent step up. Like previous blacksmiths, however, there's no way in hell we'll have enough money to max out everyone's weapons when we first meet him. I use the Arn I have to upgrade Ayara and Outsider's weapons. This leaves me with a little extra, so I also touch up Joe's dirk to give him a small boost for when he's not stealing.

The blacksmith also has a pretty great selection of armor, but frankly the weapon upgrades are more worth the money. Enemies don't hit hard enough for 2-3 extra points of PDF to make a huge difference.

Elsewhere in town, we run into a somewhat familiar face.

In case you forgot, Paris was fighting alongside Rock during the Grunthall war battle.

Oh, now I remember you. You're the Kirgard officer who was fighting on the State Army's side at Grunthall, weren't you? Yeah, I was fighting alongside Rock back there. Keep it between me and you, okay? I'm already out of the rebel army anyway. I just don't see them winning this battle. Maybe I should go back to my home country. I haven't decided yet.

Hey, I know I just tried to kill you a few days ago, but wanna come with us?

Asshole.

Some of you may recall me mentioning that getting an A rank on the Grunthall war battle would have allowed us to recruit a certain character early. Well, here's the man himself. If we had managed an A rank, he'd tell us that we're the real deal instead, and would join up without hesitation. As it is, we're going to have to wait until later to find a way to entice him into our ranks.

What makes you think I couldn't protect you, anyway? I got the 100% efficiency rating for that battle!

Elsewhere in the city, we can also find a household that appears to be taking care of an amnesiac man.

We can't do anything with him at the moment, though.

Well. How rude! <

We find the governor's mansion on the east side of town.

Yes, I was notified of your coming. Come inside. I'll see if he's available.

Music: Suspicion 2 - Suikoden V, "Standing Firm"

Yes, I am. And that makes you Daniel Vinyard. I'm glad you responded to my invitation. I thought we should get to know each other a little better.

I was thinking the same thing, Governor. The situation in Highland is unique within the State Union, after all. You've got more on your mind than just Kirgard.

You can say that, hah! The whole Kirgard business is making those rebels even more confident. They think it's their big chance. But it's nothing to worry about. They're not organized enough to make a real impact.

Real issues? People will fight for any reason, especially the hot-blooded folk you'll find here in Highland. It's nothing you won't find everywhere else. Highland is being ran fine.

He intercepted your invitation and tried to capture me. I managed to escape, but not before having a word with him in person.

Where did you meet him? Where is he hiding!?

The old mine in Grunthall... but I wouldn't bother looking there. He'll be long gone by now. Governor, you know very well why they're fighting. Or do you want to deny that the corruption here in Highland is rampant?

Listen, I don't know what he told you exactly, but you're really naive if you take the words of a criminal for granted. You can't go around baselessly accusing a governor like myself. Someone of your rank should know better.

Are you saying that Rock is lying about the widespread corruption in Highland?

Of course there's corruption. You can't help it. But those are isolated incidents, and we regularly arrest people for breaking the laws. The rebel army demonizes us because we can't make life perfect for them. You think it'd be better if they were in power? Don't make me laugh. If their rebellion succeeds, it's the end of Highland. They'll run it into the ground within the first year, mark my words.