Part 67: The Game is Afoot

Update 67: The Game is Afoot

In This Update:
- The greatest hunt in ivalice!
- Monsters continue to bomb downtown Goug!
- We shut down some fake archaeologists!

---


This quest is issued by the Bronkrise Gamer's Guild, and I have absolutely no recollection of it.


You start in Shadeholme, the hidden area outside Graszton.


I'll let the Ninja explain what's going on.

: The rules are simple: remove the tag from your designated quarry to score. It's finding the quarry that will prove to be difficult. They could be anywhere in Jylland. They'll show up every month, though, so be sure to find them, and grab those tags!



: Find the quarry, and seize the tag attached to it. When you have it, bring it back here, hmmm? Bring the tag, or you won't be scored. Understood? Hee hee hee...


And then he teleports away.


Alright, so that wasn't completely clear. Let me clarify.

We're hunting a target in Jylland, the continent we're already on. It will be in a random area each month, moving to a new area at the beginning of the month, and we have one year to hunt it down. Once we find it, we will battle it to obtain its tag.


Once we have the tag, we have to take it to Kthili Sands to complete the mission. Not back to Shadeholme, despite what the Ninja said.


Got it? Good. Let's go!


...Oh. We found it already. In the area right next to Graszton.


The second part of the hunting quest is just a straightforward battle. You win, you get the tag, you can go complete the quest.


I should mention this quest can be taken multiple times, with different quarry each time. The law remains the same each time.


The golem doesn't have anything interesting, but it at least scales up with us.


The voice box is roughly in the middle of one's neck, how is it making noises? And can I please stop thinking about it now?




So, it's a six-on-one.


And sure, it's not the weakest enemy in the game.


But it's still only one enemy.


None of these hunts are going to last very long.

: Got the tag!




Now that we have the tag, we can head over to Kthili Sands. Here's what the tag says:


Like the quest itself, the tag is signed "Bronkrise Gamer's Guild." An annoying number of descriptions in this game are just one line longer than the text box.


The Sea of Boiling Flame is another secret area, just beyond the Wizard D'Tidle.


Which means we have to sit through this dialog chain each and every time we walk through this square. In both directions, because D'Tidle reappears immediately after you stop talking to her.


Apparently the entire southern half of this continent is volcanoes. Which actually makes a bit of geological sense.


Anyway, let's turn this tag in.



: Can you show me proof of your hunt? Don't worry, I won't ask how you did it.


We only had one option, why are you making it sound weird?

: Yes, this is the tag of an experimental golem, all right.


Hooray! We won!

: Feel free to participate again should circumstances permit. Now it's time for me to return your piteous quarry to its rightful owner. Hee hee...


Well that was interesting. Shame we didn't actually get to hunt the monster.

---


As I mentioned earlier, Hunting Season is repeatable. The quest becomes available one year after the last time you took it.


So yes, Samuel is spending an extra 4 years in Ivalice just to hunt random monsters.

New quest, so new quarry:


I'm not exactly sure which house this is referring to, though I believe it's one of the fashion houses.

Nothing else has changed, so let's get hunting.


Let's wander out into the wild blue yonder--


Oh. Well, once again, the monster is right next door. For some reason, the hunt always starts in the Bisga Greenlands. The only way around this is to accept the quest on the 20th of the month so that the monster moves immediately. Interesting idea, terrible execution.


The four Hoppy Bunnies aren't anything special. They all have the same abilities.


They die easily enough.


Nothing else changes.


The next year, we get to fight a Malboro!


I think this is actually Carrot, the Malboro we rescue many updates ago.


The fourth year, we're catching a, pfft, "honest-to-evilness" dragon, because it needs the exercise.


In fact, it looks somewhat familiar.


I believe it's the dragon we helped Syrenead Sie Hyskaris capture in the "A Lady's Persistence" quest chain. Penelo seems to agree.


Doesn't stop us from killing it though.


Over in Kthili Sands, we hand in the tag again, but things are slightly different.

: Your hunt was successful. The game is done. However... I have ill tidings.


Oh no we hunted all the interesting monsters to extinction!

: It was fine entertainment while it lasted, true. Yet our sponsors complained that the hunts were taking overlong. As you know, the sponsor is always right. And so, the games are over.


I guess that's worth it? 4-time Champions of the Hunt! But really, "the hunts were taking too long"? And who exactly are the sponsors? Do they mean the people selling their monsters for the hunt?

: Congratulations again! Now it's time for me to return your piteous quarry to its rightful owner...


Thanks, mysterious creepy ninja dude. You too.

---

Hey, remember Goug? That city with all the moogles? That almost got firebombed that one time by all the explosive monsters streaming out of the local volcanoes? We haven't been there in a while.


Well looks like everything is the same as usual: airships, mining, improbable acts of engineering, etc.




Pretty typical stuff, protect the NPC and defeat the enemies. The law is annoying but I don't think we actually violate it.


I think this is the first time we've seen a Lamashtu, a rare variant of the Lamia that absorbs Dark damage.


Here's our friend, Thamas, who we need to protect.

: Thing is, I can't extract any of it because of all the monsters.

: So you'd like us to clear out the mine of monsters so you can get to work.

: Precisely, kupo. I'll do whatever I can to get my hands on that ore. I've never fought a monster in my life, but if that's what it takes, I'll do my best, kupo!

: Just stay out of trouble. Don't go rushing off to the front line and you'll do us both a favor.


It's really rich to hear that from Samuel, of all people.


Anyway, we're here to kill things, they're here to kill us instead, the usual.


Or maybe they're here to kill each other, too?


I guess I'm not going to complain about this development. I mean, it saves me the MP.


The only person affected on our team was Henri, and it's easy enough to wake him up.


I'm happy enough to take advantage of the situation.


Thamas will attack enemies, though he thankfully does listen to Samuel's orders and hang back. On the other hand, note that he attacked a sleeping enemy.


The battle does otherwise proceed smoothly.


I decided to see what happens when a Seer uses Magick Frenzy to Cura themselves.


It was pretty funny.


That's really the only high point here. Nothing can stand before our might.


And it all ends with a bang.



: Let's get it and get going.

: Oh no, kupo. The work is only just begun! I should expect the search to take at least half a day, kupo. It's a very precious for a reason, you know.

: Half a day? And I suppose you expect us to help you look? I thought we were just about done.

: Oh no, kupo! The quest clearly said accompany -and- protect! Well, I still need your company, and who's to say we won't run into more monsters on the way out, kupo? No, I'm afraid you'll just have to help me look for the ore, kupo. Shall we get started?


We are actually done here, we don't have to sit around and help Thamas. Hunting for ore could have been a fun minigame or something, but honestly, it would have just been another item hunt battle!

---


Wait, hold on, everything is not ok. The bombs still reached town, despite our efforts.

You know, it really did some kind of weird that we just walked away.


I guess we had better help pick up the pieces. Literally.


Hey want to guess which of the enemies are weaker than us?


That's right, all of them. By a lot.


So here's how we're doing this. There are three "branches" to Goug, so we only need three units. Zoe will clear the left branch then fly to the middle, Cid will head to the middle and Frimelda will take the right branch.


Zoe is wearing Dragon Mail, which cuts Fire damage in half. Most of the enemies here deal exclusively Fire damage.


Cid and Frimelda are wearing gear that absorbs Fire damage. They're immune to most of what the enemies can throw at them. The goal is to just walk through the enemies, using our defenses to just wait for the monsters to move out of our way.

Basically I'm exploiting the AI's compulsion to always move to complete this quest without breaking the law.


Requisite pre-battle banter, you know how it is.

: Is it me, or do they all look the same?


The monsters have been quite vocal today.

: Oh lovely, there's monsters, too. Something tells me this isn't one of those easy quests. Guess we'll start with the most obvious pieces.




It's nice that the first piece is right here. Zoe flies down to the left fork, near the next piece.


Cid and Frimelda spend their turns moving in. Cid's positioning is deliberate: the enemies will block the bridge to the central island, but he's giving them plenty of space to move off the bridge.


Like so. On its next turn, the Bomb can move in 2 directions that stop it from blocking the bridge.


The enemies really can't hurt us. The plan is working!


Except for this guy, who has Dark damage.


Zoe moves in for the next piece. This is the last piece on this side of the map, so she can head towards the center island now.


The Bomb does exactly what I hope. By move left, Cid can now walk into the intersection. The blue Bomb can teleport, so I don't have to worry about blocking it.


Despite her luck, Frimelda is in a less advantageous position. We're still fine though.


The plan hits a second snag: Despite the short gap, Zoe can't cross over to the second island. She should have enough movement! I'm not sure why she can't cross.


At least Cid's part of the plan is working.


None of the enemies can reach him, so his turns are pretty uneventful. There's no real point in trying to get him off the island, so his job is done here.


Meanwhile, Zoe is moving over to help Frimelda, who is still blocked by the Bomb.


Eventually, the bomb moves, Frimelda can reach the last part, and Zoe flies in to grab the last one.

: That all the parts? Better get him to check these. I'm not sure that was all there was to get.



Back at the pub, an alarming letter awaits us.


I'm glad the little guy is carrying forward his life's work and I cannot wait to see how it all goes horribly wrong.

---


Well, since Goug won't be on fire for at least five minutes, let's take a short break in the desert. Interestingly, we can only take a team of 4, which suggests we'll have some friends waiting for us in the sands.


Not just any friends, but House Bowen! Assuming they're on our side this time.


Yeah, ok, nothing special.


Now, which group are we actually allied with? (Hint: It's not the purple ones).



: Do so quickly, and we'll spare your lives.


I guess House Bowen isn't as famous on this side of the pond.



: So who are the robbers?

: The Kthili Surveyors are the robbers here! They merely claim to be researchers...but they're not in it for the science! When watchful eyes sleep they excavate without rights, and sell what they find. Unfortunately for them, word trickled up to high places... and we were called in.

: Feh! So the game is up, eh? ...For you! Get 'em all, men!

: I think we know what we need to do. Let's help House Bowen deal with these "surveyors."


We can definitely trust Bowen to not blindly assume someone is guilty! Though, ok, he's correct in this case.


Anyway, my first piece of advice is to watch out for traps.


House Bowen are as competent as ever, so you can trust them to take care of a couple of the thieves.


But we also outnumber them 2 to 1, so it's not like you'll be struggling here.


So, you know, have fun, I guess.


Feels good to strike a blow for archaeology and stopping the exploitation of some kicking rad ruins.



: They were tougher than they looked. I suppose they'd have to be to excavate in a monster-infested desert.

: Good thing we stopped them before they grew any stronger.

: And stop them we did! Thanks for the help. We couldn't have done it without you.


I am continually bothered by characters talking about how hard the fight was when in reality we steamrolled them.


Back at the pub, there's a note waiting for us.


---


Alright, one more quest: someone saw a person flying around a volcano!


It's almost like a cryptid sighting, except, you know, the cryptids actually exist in Ivalice.



: So the flying person was a sprite. Rather a disappointment.


I just love this whole sequence of events.


These actually show up as soon as you walk in, but why spoil it for you, dear reader, when I can just reorder the pictures?




Weak enemies, annoying terrain, bring lots of ranged attacks.


There's a brown chocobo here, making a nuisance of itself.


I learned my lesson from that quest with the painter last update and sent plenty of people up top. I figure at the very least Jalia will be able to rain arrows on the Sprites down below.


Also, the Round mechanic is the same as before. It's not an issue this time, we will complete this before Round 2 ends.


Smile + Illusions remain my favorite combo, especially with Hurdy to provide some extra MP.


Especially when Imino is able to give him two turns in a row for free.


There were another couple turns in here, but they weren't as interesting.

: Whew. We prevailed.


That's it. Just, "A thing! It's fighting us! And we won."

---


Well, here we are at the end of the update! 272 quests completed -- inching closer to that finish line.

If my calculations are correct, we have 12 "filler" quests left. We'll complete those in the next couple updates.
After that, we have a handful more updates for the longer quest lines. At some point during that, we need to do Brightmoon Tor: Third Watch, too.

As always, thank you for reading and see you next time!