Part 107: Part One Hundred and Seven: The Ultimate Plan

Part One Hundred and Seven: The Ultimate Plan


Now that we've heard what Laguna has to say about all these other options, it's time to hear his plan for this next mission.


He says this no matter how many of the other things you ask about and no matter how many times you try to just leave.


Of course we're not gonna get through this without Odine showing up.



Doc Odine: I will talk however I vant!



Doc Odine: Sorceress Ultimecia comes from ze future to possess ze sorceress of present day. Meaning she leaves her body in ze future and sends only her consciousness here. Does zat sound familiar to you?


There's no prize for figuring out that Ultimecia possessing Edea would be somehow related to Ellone's powers. Now, let's find out exactly what that connection is, eh?

On another note, this does raise the question of whether or not Ultimecia can change the past. The answer is almost certainly that she can, and the reasoning is probably just that she can do that because she's a sorceress. Ellone, who's a normal woman generally, can't change the past. Ultimecia, a powerful witch who doesn't have to obey things like thermodynamics, can do whatever she wants.




Doc Odine: But no! Zat is not ze answer. So how does ze sorceress come back to this time...?


Of course I want more text, please. Tell me the lore, doc.

You can skip this next bit, by the way:




But that's nothing special.



If you do choose to hear the explanation, Odine, uh, he's very excited.


Oh, good, great. We'll just kill you right now then and problem solved.


To clarify: Ultimecia can't travel back in time because of Odine himself, but because of his research.

Doc Odine: I made out a pattern from ze electric current running through Ellone's brain. Once ze pattern was determined, it was easy to mechanize.

I mentioned it before, but the Ultimania makes it clear that Ellone's power is similar to junctioning. It's not the same technology exactly, but I take this to mean that the two are related.



Doc Odine: Which means there iz a machine which imitates Ellone's power. It iz I who made ze first model of zat machine. I named ze machine "Junction Machine Ellone"!



: Junction Machine Ellone.

Putting aside the question of how much blame Odine should take for the Ultimecia situation, the use of Junction Machine Ellone is an interesting idea and a continuation of a motif in the game. In Final Fantasy VIII, there are a lot of techniques and tools that are used by both sides: Squall and Seifer both use gunblades; Galbadia and Balamb Gardens; magic and para-magic; the good sorceress vs. the evil; and now, Junction Machine Ellone and original recipe. In a way, you could also extend this to junctioning - it destroys the SeeDs' memories but they need the power boost to fight. The technology itself isn't the problem, it's how it's used.

: That's about it.

Laguna says this here, but we are far from done.


This is a quaint line, since we have no actual knowledge about how Ultimecia found out about anything at any point. I like to think she's just using history books or something.

: And Elle became Ultimecia's target. You can't blame Odine. It's useless.

As I was alluding to earlier, I don't blame Odine for anything Ultimecia's doing, that's a user issue. On the other hand, there are some definite methodological issues with his research (i.e., kidnapping and confinement) that I do blame him for.


Odine, by the way, is still here.

Doc Odine: Ok, we continue ze story! Let's see...


And there we go. This is the mission.

Doc Odine: There iz nothing we can do unless we go to ze future.

Read: even if we bust up Lunatic Pandora and kill Adel, another sorceress will just show up and Ultimecia will come back.

Doc Odine: There is no way to jump to ze future under normal circumstances. But there iz still a way!

We're going to wait for her?


Time compression was my next guess.


The good it does for Ultimecia is that it makes everyone else dead.

Doc Odine: There may be many reasons, but it doesn't matter. Let's just figure out vat Ultimecia iz up to.



This is as good a guess as any, but it's just a guess. We'll never get an actual answer about why exactly Ultimecia needs/wants to go further back.


On the other hand, exactly why doesn't matter. The problem has to be solved even if we don't understand it fully.

Doc Odine: We must take advantage of Ellone's power. There are 2 sorceresses in our time. Sorceress Rinoa and Sorceress Adel.

Boy it would be a curveball if some random woman in, like, Dollet were a sorceress and Ultimecia just possessed her instead.

Doc Odine: Of ze two, Adel has not awakened yet. Once regeneration is complete, neither Laguna nor I will be safe.

By the way, our mission isn't strictly for the safety of the world. There's a personal element, too.

Doc Odine: Sorceress Adel is probably in ze process of awakening inside Lunatic Pandora. Ultimecia will want to possess Adel, if Adel wakes up. Zat will be a horrible event. Adel iz a horrible sorceress.



Doc Odine: So we must use Sorceress Rinoa to inherit Ultimecia's powers.

That is, we have to get rid of Adel permanently. This is why we're going to kill her instead of sealing her powers again.


He says this, but...




Doc Odine: Now, we're left with Rinoa as ze only sorceress of this era. Then wait for Ultimecia to possess Rinoa. When Ultimecia arrives, it's Ellone's turn. Ellone will send Rinoa back to ze past with Ultimecia.



Doc Odine: Edea or Adel... Zat's up to Ellone.


"Some influence" he says. Just keep that in mind when we get there.



Doc Odine: Rinoa will come back to this world. Ultimecia also goes back to her own world. Vat would be left is ze time compressed world.



The plan is a bit complicated, but what it comes down to is letting Ultimecia compress time so that we can get into time compression and kill her.


We can't normally get to Ultimecia, but her plan will conveniently remove the main obstacle there, so we'll let her do it. It's a big risk but we don't have any other options.

Doc Odine: It's all up to you after zat.


There's player control here for some reason. Rinoa's line hasn't changed, but it's a funny juxtaposition to me.



: You wanna try it on?

Kiros does have a new line.


Ward, uh, says the same thing as always.


I understand the plan just fine. We're going to kill Adel, and then we're going to kill Ultimecia. In the middle, we're going to let Ultimecia kill time. Simplicity itself.


Asking questions just takes you back to Laguna's other menu.


So let's sign on.

: Alright!!!


This causes Laguna to invite himself to Squall's spaceship. I'm not giving it back, dude.

: Let's do the final briefing in there!

If you thought we were done with briefings.

: I always wanted to ride that thing. Plus the name sounds so cool!

If you wanted to ride it, why did you throw the other two away? Surely you could have kept one...


Anyway, we're on the Ragnarok now.

: Everyone! From here, we go straight to our final target, Ultimecia!

First of all, there's a pretty big intermediate stop in Lunatic Pandora.
Second of all, nope.

: Let's go over the plan again.



Oh, is that all?

: Now, here comes the tricky part!



: Yes!
: Good!


It's a good thing that passing on sorceress powers seems to be influenced strongly by physical proximity because, again, we'd be boned if there were a third sorceress somewhere in the world.

: This'll be hard on you, Rinoa, but will you do it?
: ...Yes.

Small thing, but Rinoa's clearly less excited about this part of the plan. This plan rides on Rinoa doing several dangerous things.

: That's the spirit!




It occurs that we still don't have any idea on how to do that.

: Utlimecia lives in the far future where none of us can technically exist. There's only one way to make yourself exist in a world like that!


This is the point of the story where we have no choice but to believe in other people and the power of friendship.


It's not really a surprise that it would come, of course. The game has been building the theme of "you have to trust others sometimes" for its entire duration. But if nothing else, it's a surprisingly literal interpretation.



Special thanks to President Laguna Loire for showing up to just lay out a major theme.

: Right, guys? What place reminds you of your friends? Imagine being in that place with all your friends.


Good plan, awesome. Small question: what if we get mashed apart when Ultimecia blows up time?


Just gonna ignore that, huh? Okay.

: You need love and friendship for this mission! And the courage to believe it.

I want to be the first to congratulate Ultimecia on her impending victory over time and all people who exist within it.


Okay, dude, we get it.




At this point, everyone except Squall files out.


For the record, the plan is more about mutual recognition than love and friendship per se. The party is going to fight a magic that causes them to not exist by existing really hard at it.



Sometimes that's all you can do.