Part 21: Fear My (Magitek) Elite Skills

Let me teach you how to fly...

Gambit is only too happy to take a break from flying because this thing has no windshield and his eyes are full of bugs.

He also has a tutorial for us but I already know how to pilot a flyboat.



First things first, however. We have Aeris back, and it just so happens that we have a useless person in our party to kick out in favour of the green-haired little engine of magical destruction!



I know we said we wanted to go to Narshe, but we'll take a quick stop at Jidoor before that, because the auction house is finally open!



What they sell each time you enter is random, but some treasures...



...show up only once.

(Well, or rather, they stop showing up once you buy them. Presumably everyone else just re-sells them at the same price. That's a way to kill time, too, I suppose.)


Sold, to this lucky bidder! Take it away, please!

Unlike an actual auction, your second opportunity to bid always succeeds at the set price. Sure, there will be a "bidding war" before that, but it's all scripted, so eh.

Unfortunately...



...I am out of money.



But those guards dropped a bunch of tents, so it's okay.


...a gorgeous pair of Angel Wings!

Angel Wings are a relic that casts "Float" on the wearer. They cost 10000 Gil. We're not interested.


Child: Daddy, I want that! Please!!!
Father: No, you don't! Now pipe down!
Child: I want it! I want it! Buy it, Daddy! Please! Pretty please!
...
Father: 500,000 gil!


Sold, to this lucky bidder! Take it away, please!
Child: Yay!!! Thanks, Dad! Yahoo!!!
Father: Well, we have our little treat for the day! Let's go home.
Child: Yahoo! Yippee!

Just you wait until I'm rich. I will buy all the talkobos.

ALL OF THEM.



Here's what we're looking for, and it's a steal at 10k gil.

There's also one more item the auction house will sell now - the Angel Ring, which casts Regen on the wearer, for 20k. It's not worth it.

Speaking of espers, now that we've amassed a bunch, let's check ours out. You've already seen Ramuh, but the others...



Maduin is pretty much the best of the lot. Second-level elemental spells hit hard at this point, and the magic boost is awesome since damn near everybody wants more of that - it's something you want to keep equipped even after people learn all its skills.

He goes on Aeris first because come on.



Chaos Wave deals non-elemental magic damage.



Krin teaches Cura at a shitty x1 rate, but it's a good early source of Cure. Regen and Poisona have their uses... rarely. Libra checks the enemy's stats; I'll show it off shortly.



Holy Aura casts Regen on the entire party. May be worth it in longer fights... but there aren't many of those.



Confuse has a few specific uses, as do Imp and Float. Cait Sith is still a great esper for that +1 magic on level up.



Cat Rain is worthless when Tim has a tool that does the same thing for free, forever. (Remember: espers can be summoned only once per battle.)



Cura at x4 isn't bad, but could be better. Esuna is situational, and the others have such a low rate you may as well forget them.



Heal Horn heals all status ailments on the entire party. A worthless summon from a bad-ish esper.



As already discussed, Rasp and Osmose are great spells but we already have a better source of those. Blizzara is good, but that's really all she has going with no level up bonus and a rather shitty rate for Cure.



We've already seen her in battle, but here's Diamond Dust.



Utility spells at good rates. Slow works on a lot of stuff and Silence is good against some.



Lunatic voice is situational, but usually worthless.



Drain is rarely useful, but second level spells are always nice. Strength +1 is good for MrThou.



Ifrit... fire damage to all enemies.



Haste is pretty good, but I usually don't care enough to cast it. Carbunkle is kind of meh.



So is its summon, though when it is useful, it's really useful.



x20 for the basic elementals for anyone who hasn't picked them up at this point but finds the holes in the spell list ugly. Raise can save some money on phoenix downs but costs 30 MP so isn't really worth it. +2 strength is damn good for anyone who cares, which is... not a lot of people.



The summon is a fair bit stronger than the three elemental siblings, but his attack also costs more MP.



Bio hurts a lot and at an x8 rate, you can't go wrong. The other two are "instant death" and "instant death in all but name".



The summon applies it to all enemies. Excellent, when it works.



Behold! That level up bonus! It is glorious! And Rasp at x20 and Osmose at x15 means it's easy to get them on all who care. Best 10k gil we've ever spent, guaranteed!



The summon casts Shell on all allies, which reduces magic damage. It's probably the worst thing about this esper, but would be good when facing magic-using bosses.



Good rate for Cura, Protect and Stop, all of which can be useful, and Cura especially so.




The summon prevents damage equal to the caster's HP. Combined with a beefwall like Matt, it's pretty sweet.



I've never really had much use for Gravity, but Vanish is an excellent ability that breaks a surprising number of encounters.



Like Catoblepas, the summon is an AoE version of one of its regular spells. Complete immunity to physical attacks for the entire party is ridiculously good.



With the airship, we can now travel the world and explore. There's a town on the far eastern side of the map...



The citizens of Thamasa are kind of xenophobic.



They won't even sell me stuff!



There is something strange about this guy, however...



North of Thamasa, there's a curious triangle-shaped island...



Invisible party, meet invisible enemy!



A quick Aura Cannon dispels his invisibility... and... heals him? Well, shit.

Let's cast Libra on him.



That doesn't seem so...




...bad...?



But yeah, this is something we're not going to win against in a fair fight. That HP is ridiculous and he'll counter attacks that actually manage to damage him with Meteor, which does upwards 900 points of damage... to the entire party.

Needless to say, we're fucked if we try, though Meteor may miss occasionally.



Instead, we're casting Confuse...



...on Tim.



Right before Tim uses a smoke bomb.



When using items while confused, a character tends to use them on the side they weren't originally intended. Had I used a potion, Tim would have tossed it at the Intangir and healed it. But he used a smoke bomb, which causes the user to flee...



...and since he used it on the Intangir, that effect is applied to it.

Forcing the enemy to flee is... a victory. Of sorts. And holy shit, check that AP gain!

Intangir still counters with Meteor when smoke bombed, but it seems to only hit the person who tossed the bomb, which is why Tim is flat on his face here.



I have more smoke bombs.





Also -



- the item store on the flyboat sells more.

At 300 gil/10 AP, it's a pretty good deal.










...yeah, I think we're ready for what lies ahead.

So let's check out Narshe!



A much friendlier greeting this time. No punches! Aeris likes no punches.


How did things go in Vector?

We're spared the recap. Banon nods.

I see... We'd been trying to work out a plan to make use of Narshe's resources and Figaro's machinery, but...
...We just don't have enough troops to storm the Empire.

Do I smell another tactical espionage section coming up...?

We have to open the Sealed Gate...



We'll never beat the Empire without their help.

The Sealed Gate lies to the empire's east.
When we open it, the espers can attack from there while we launch an invasion from the north.



"What is this 'tactics' of which you speak?"

"We are completely lost!"

"Is there more to war than to throw guys at the enemy until one of you runs out?"

We must reestablish the bond of trust that once existed between humans and espers.
The espers must be made to understand. And there is only one among us who can make them...

...



I'll do it. I'm the only one who can!

Hell yes, emo Aeris is a thing of the past!


Aeris... I know you can do it...

How about some money to help us out on the way?

No?



About time and yes it fucking well was and you were the only one who didn't see it raaargh.


Please, find a way to slip through and open the gate!

Can't we just have Aeris Thundara the lot of them and pick through the corpses for valuables? Because we totally could.

...oh well, let's see if that treasure chest we couldn't get to is feeling more...



...cooperative?



wait



Oh no, you didn't!



GET HIM




Yes. We are.

(Also, note the white legs on the top. Will become more relevant later.)



Now that we're not stuck in bulky Magitek armour, we can easily slip into this side passage!



The caves lead to a familiar snowfield...



...GASP!




But the moogle has had enough of your shit.



He struggles so hard, he knocks both of them off the cliff! I'm getting used to seeing people hanging over the sides here...

But anyway: decision time!



Do we steal the gold hairpin, a relic that halves MP cost for spells and that I will never use...



...or do we rescue the fuzzy creature and put him to work saving the world?

(And if so: what do we call him? Six characters, as usual.)

I leave his fate in your hands.