Part 59: Iceburn

Chapter 59 -




Last time we found ourselves at the end of the Great Glacier, but we're not ready to proceed yet.



Going immediately back we find ourselves in this ample, vast snowy area.



So yes, this is another unique place in the game. This is somewhat like a world map, except for one detail...



Every once in a while a snowstorm occurs and the camera rotates randomly. Since this place looks all the same, this will disorient you to whatever direction you're going, hence putting the poles to have a reference.



We exit at the far west, ending up at the gigantic face-sculpted-at-the-wall place. I wonder who the hell had time to sculpt it in this icy wasteland.



There we are. We need to explore the red area now. Let's get back.



Back to the icy field, if you somehow manage to get past the snowstorm and find the center, you'll find this cave.



With another [All] Materia. Hooray!



We manage to get to the east. It's deceivingly easy to get lost at the ice field because of the rotating camera, even with the red marks you can place.



The thing about going east is because of this screen...



Basically, this screen can only be found through the ice field - there's no other way to get here.



Inside the cave all there is is a sitting woman.



No items, nothing else. That and the fact you can pester her a lot.








Well, she is being polite.



Either way, in case you don't remember - we've been somewhat told about a lady back in Chapter 56:



You know what to do.



Anyway, you can either go back to the ice field or exit through the south. Going south will result in another series of boring transition screens designed to make you hate life and/or random battles.



Eventually you'll leave at this screen. Now, this screen is important. Why? Remember that I told you that the upper cave is only accessible through the ice field?



This place is designed so that it's extremely easy to miss either that cave or this reward. Basically, if you go north of this screen you'll not end up at the path leading to the cave screen.



Instead, you'll end up in this unique path containing the rare [Added Cut] Support Materia. As its name implies, this materia adds a simple Attack command to the linked materia (so if you cast Fire with Added Cut, you'll cast both fire and basic attack at the same turn).



We could keep going north, but we go back and west, so you can see the lone tree, another landmark from the map.



Either path ends up at this screen. If you've never played the game by now you must be starting to realize how confusing this section is, even with a map.



Either way, we end up at the fabled Hot Spring.



The main characteristic of this spot is that it resets your step count before passing out of cold. But also, remember that we just bathed ourselves in a hot spring and the lady there supposedly hates hot springs? Time to pay her a visit!



Oh, yea, before we get to her we fight some random enemies called Snow. They're female humanoids who like to charm you (by sending kisses in the air) to cause confusion. Anyway, they have an interesting item we can steal - [Circlet].



[Circlets] are the Spell-casting version of the [Champion Belt], increasing Magic by 30. Since Cait is our spell-caster of choice, we put it on him whether he wants it OR NOT.



I want to know more about these people. Who are they? Why are they so isolated?



Why do they hate hot springs? It's a mystery!



Either way the fight against the Snow lady is... well, a fight against a Snow opponent. This battle is freaky because it plays the Boss fight music, even though she's not technically a boss. She's exactly the same opponent as the other Snows we've been fighting, with 4k Health (not too low but not really a boss either).



And a whole 160 MP which is quickly solvable with Magic Hammer. Oh, by the way - she doesn't have any attack that doesn't cost MP, so once you cast Magic Hammer twice she's as good as dead.



Honestly, I don't know either. We're just being pricks here.



Nevertheless, completing this otherwise pointless sidequest yields us the [Alexander] Summon materia, our most powerful summon to date (still useless).



It deals massive Holy Damage which no one is really weak to, and will serve us well in an upcoming boss battle. Possibly.



And just like that, we're done with the Great Glacier and get back to Holzoff's house. We save, for good measure.



Outside the hut, we can check our member's reactions before finally moving on to the Gaia's Cliffs.





Actually, technically you can't. You'll only find your party like this the first time you end up here (in my case, passing out). After that nothing happens and you can go on like business.



But for the sake of continuity, I decided to hold it until now.



No shit, Cid. Unfortunately, that's not the case!

Next time:

Cliffs! Hugging yourself! More blue! Puzzles! Holy shit this place is big.



Chapter 59 Bugs & Bytes

Now that we're done with the Great Glacier, it's time for us to look at one of the spookiest events in the game:



This is at the beginning of the Great Glacier, once you fall from the snowboard. It can only happens if you Gameshark/Debug mode Aeris into your party. This is her first line after her death that is not a generic line shared by other characters.

What does this mean? No you big baby, it doesn't imply that she was ever meant to be resurrected. MAYBE it could imply that the Great Glacier was at some point meant to happen before her death (it's known that some places in this game were originally planned in a different order) but, most likely (given how she won't speak again for a while after this) it simply means the field writer was just doing his job and wasn't aware that she had died prior to this.

Either way this single line of text was enough to drive some people mad in ways that not even H.P. Lovecraft could imagine.