Part 31: Bartz vs. A New World

So now we're up to three, though sadly we're still lacking Reina's awesome physical prowess. Krile and Faris may not have dual-wielding capabilities, but they can still hit hard enough, while Bartz will ensure that nobody dies.



To the southwest of the Antolyon is this cave. Since we have nowhere else we can go, might as well go in here and start a rather lengthy plot dump.





Inside we find Gill. Wait, what.



So how did Gill also pop up into Bartz's world?







I can't do a thing when that happens! Ho, ho, ho!
...two worlds...melding?
Yes. It seems the legend was true after all... Though I still can't quite believe it...



Just...one?
Quite correct!
But how did they split?
To seal the force of The Void.
..."The Void"...?
Right again!

As you may have noticed, the Japanese love having a person simply repeat what someone just said, and the GBA version runs with it by having Gill repeatedly mock Bartz for doing so. It's one of the reasons Gill became much more memorable in that version than he is in the other two, where he's just a generic wise man figure.





and finally the people defeated Enuo with the 12 legendary weapons... but The Void could not be destroyed. As a last resort they split the crystals, which in turn split the two worlds. They then sealed The Void in the N-zone between the two worlds.

The Void and Enuo remain consistent in the translations, but the N-zone has other names. In the RPGe translation, this is the cooler-sounding Cleft of Dimension, while in GBA Gill refers to it as the Interdimensional Rift. I have no fucking clue where the hell they got "N-zone" from.



He really WAS trying to restore the world to its original state! But the crystals are broken... The wind's power will never return... ...and neither will that of the earth, water or fire...

In the RPGe version, Krile and Faris take some of Bartz's lines, while the GBA version has Gill take some of them. There's nothing really to analyze, it's just a weird thing I noticed that has no bearing on anything.











That...that's just...

...What?

My real goal is to obtain the power of The Void for myself!
What!
Why do you think I melded the worlds together? Mwa, haaaaah, ha ha!









Releasin' th' power o' The Void!
Precisely what I've been waiting for! Now the matchless power of The Void will be mine!











Tycoon Castle...
Reina!









...Welp.



now, it will be mine!!

















The GBA version just has X-Death scream, "Turtle!" There's something to be said for the charm of simplicity.









I didn't live 700 years for nothing!
Ha, ha! Well, enjoy it while you can!

And here's the very GBA-esque exchange in that version:






And so X-Death just flings everyone out of the cave.





-----



Ouch..ch!
Gill! You okay?!



We must stop X-Death before he gains full control over the power of The Void. Umph!



The Library of Ancients.
THE fabled Library of Ancients? So, it was in this world all the time...





We automatically walk to the library.





Sage Gill!
Scholars from Surgate Castle.
We have the two halves of the Sealed Book.
I see!







Now that the two worlds have melded together, The Void is trying to return here from the N-zone.
Then let's hurry to the N-zone!

GBA response:


Wait!! Countless monsters were sealed there 1000 years ago. They are far too powerful for you to stand against.
Then what should we do?



The 12 weapons?

And, of course, I can't let that go without posting one of the best lines from the whole GBA translation:




way...providing the ancient legends were true...









..."When the power of Nothing again shall peak, To the warriors of light, this book will speak"... And the book said...

We sealed the weapons we fought Enuo with in Kuza castle. The key to the seals... are four hidden lithographs. With the spirit of the past, one is protected by the earth. In an island temple, one is protected by the wind. In a place deeper than the ocean floor, one is protected by flame. Behind the place where the water falls, one is protected by the water. We have also sealed up our servants. Once the lithographs are moved, our servants will revive... Black and White... powerful magic... Time Magic, Meteo, Leviathan, and the Bahamut... Throw this book into the gate, and the way to the seal will be shown to you...



To sum this up: We need four tablets (lithographs in this version, because why not) to unlock the twelve legendary weapons. This will also help us get the ultimate magic of the three main magic classes, as well as high-end summons, not to mention the buttload of other loot and stuff we'll run across.





We're all counting on you!



protected by the earth..." The Pyramids in the desert! Bartz! Faris, Krile!!



So before we do that, let's chat up the scholars.









If you talk to this easy-to-miss scholar, you get another song! This one gradually boosts your magic power, useful for Bartz and Krile (even though Krile's the one that has to sing it anyway.



used to sell fantastic magic and weapons there. Now that the N-zone is reappearing, that town must be somewhere, too!

It's pretty hard to find this town unless you talk to the right NPCs or know where it is ahead of time. I'll be going there as soon as possible.



Oh, right, the Ids are still around. Bleh.



More on them next update, but each dungeon is guarded by a semi-annoying miniboss.



So there's justification as to why X-Death decided to be a thorn. Yeah.

Alright, enough talking to these guys. Let's get going.

First off, we have new overworld music, and I highly recommend listening:







So we need to move west to get to the desert.



The trees are Cowpokes. At this point, yeah, whatever.



L6 White Magic, though.



I switch Bartz to a Dancer so I get some more physical capabilities with Reina gone.



Anyway, the overworld music. It's haunting and shows how high the stakes are, where everything feels hopeless and the world is slowly dying. The music keeps playing for these next cutscenes as well.



Elder's Tree...
Moore Forest is beginning to revive...







As you may expect, Bartz says "many lives" in the other translations, since "several lives" doesn't suggest this to be very high-stakes.



We must stop X-Death... Not only for the people in this world, but for all life on the planet. The power of The Void will swallow everything up.







With both Earth Crystals gone now the earth has come to a total halt.
The earth's weakening...

It's a really nice touch having the overworld playing while having these mini-scenes to reinforce that the world's in a shit place right now. It just makes these scenes even more depressing and adds some emotional punch to a game that's generally breezy up to this point. This is the game's "shit just got real" moment.



So next time, we'll tackle the pyramids (or at least as much of it as my recording caught) and run into an old friend.