Part 24: Part Twenty-Four: The Mission

Part Twenty-Four: The Mission


Welcome back to Final Fantasy VIII. Today, we're waiting for someone to tell us what to do.

While we're waiting, we're treated to a track called "Unrest":



Selphie, I don't think there's ever been any anime school that hasn't had some kind of festival.


I had never seen this line before, but I suppose it would explain why she knows G-Garden and its headmaster.


Zell just complains.


Quistis shows up before long, though.

: How'd it go?
: They understood our situation.


In the game, by the way, Quistis looks patronising as fuck when she says this to Zell.

: The attack on the president in Timber was classified as an independent action.

Read: Seifer was sold down the river.

: There was an official notice from the Galbadian government saying that Balamb Garden is not being held responsible.


Zell is pretty relieved that he didn't get everyone killed.

: So, Seifer's taking all the blame?

I don't think Seifer gets a say.


That is a fast trial. Something tells me it probably didn't involve "juries" and "due process" very heavily.


Everyone is pretty surprised to hear this news.



: ...Of course he was. He attacked the president. He sacrificed himself for the 'Forest Owls'...
: It was your group that got Seifer involved in all this.

Seifer may have been tied to the Forest Owls, but I don't think he actually did any sacrificing for them. When he went to Timber, he went for Seifer.


They could have done better on dialogue placement here.

: I'm sure Seifer was prepared, too. So don't think of it as Seifer sacrificing himself for you.

Quistis is being nice here, but I don't think she believes that Seifer went to Timber to help the Owls, either.


Well, now that you mention it.


Everyone in this room is at least somewhat responsible for Seifer's death. The least complicit is Selphie, who was mainly just also there.



: Yeah, but... He was from Garden... He was one of us. If I can, I wanna get revenge.

Nobody is happy about what's happened, even Zell, who hated Seifer.

: Kinda sad...
: That...bastard...

And they're all processing in different ways.



: I've seen some troubled children, but he was beyond troubled. Well, he wasn't really a bad guy.



Rinoa is the only person with nothing but good things to say about Seifer.

: He was always full of confidence, smart... Just by talking to him, I felt like I could take on the world.
: Your boyfriend?

Selphie asks a question that's been hanging in the air since Timber.

: I don't really know. I... I think I was in love.


Rinoa's lines here have (surprising nobody) the tone of someone that had a fling with a soldier and fell in love.

: Do you still like him?



: It was last summer...


Rinoa's body language in this scene is great, by the way.


Of course, there's one person in the room who hasn't said a word on the topic yet.

: (Seifer... You've become just a memory. Will they... Will they talk about me this way if I die, too?)

Squall, who makes his way through life by running from his problems, can't really do that here. Seifer's death won't go away if he ignores it long enough.

: (Squall was this and that. Using past tense, saying whatever they want? So this is what death is all about...)


Squall is very upset.

: (I won't have it!!!)


Quistis knows Squall well enough to know that something is bothering him.


He does not express the problem well.

: W-What?
: Are you MAD!?

Of course, since other people can't hear your thoughts, nobody knows what he's on about.




The point of the scene, in case you missed it, is that Squall is very immature and doesn't understand people well. The point of the scene is not that Squall is misunderstood, but very cool and good, it's that Squall is a scared child trying to act cool, and it's just not working out for him. It also plays nicely with the internal monologue text boxes, using them to make the subtext of Squall's behaviour more explicit.


Now that he's pushed everyone away and run out of the room, he's alone, by the way.


If you go back into the reception room, everyone's already left.


Zell is the only party member you can find out and about.


Getting into trouble for inappropriate transit is classic Zell.


You get a sick pump?




...You fuckin' creep.


Student B really has nothing going on.


Student A, though, is probably the highlight of this game. He really counts those pushups. It's great.



You can even bother him until he loses count! It's amazing!



I know, when I see this guy and his pushups, that this is what slowbeef had in mind when he invented video games.


Over here, Zell is, uh.



Moving on.


Oh, hey, Raijin.


Hello to you, too, Fujin.

You can (sort of) see from this angle that Raijin has the kanji for thunder (雷) on his shoulderpad there. Fujin has a similar shoulderpad, except hers has the kanji for wind (風). They're named after the Japanese gods of those things, so there you go.

Raijin: What am I doin'? I'm a messenger, ya know?


Fujin and Raijin are very happy that he's remembered this.

Raijin: Brought you a new order from Headmaster Cid, ya know?
: What kind of order?
Raijin: I dunno. Gave it to the head honcho here. Just did what Headmaster Cid wanted, ya know?


Look how satisfied they are that he has completed this task.

Fujin: EXPLAIN.
Raijin: We were suppose'ta go to Timber. But the trains have stopped, so we had no other choice but to come here. Kinda relieved to see you guys here.


I guess they haven't heard.

Raijin: Oh yeah! Wasn't Seifer with you?
: I believe Seifer may be dead... I heard he was tried in Galbadia and then executed...


Fujin's not as quick to believe the stories of Seifer's death as our party was.


Raijin's not on board, either.

Raijin: There's no way he'd put up with a trial, ya know!? Or an execution for that matter! It's just so not Seifer, ya know!?
Fujin: FIND!
Raijin: O'what...! We're gonna meet up with Seifer? Well, see ya, Squall. We're gonna head off to Galbadia to look for Seifer.

Everyone deals with loss in their own way, I guess.


I guess all we can do is go get those new orders.


Quistis is obviously who we need to talk to, but more importantly, there are three other people here.


Yeah, I'm aware.


I hope it's fun.


Oh really? I, uh, wouldn't know. I was busy that day. It was laundry day. I was busy doing my laundry.


Hm. Well, let's see what Quistis has to say.


Sure.


On our way out, we can see the rest of the party heading to the front.


And over here, some guy makes fun of Squall.


Well, she's the ambassador.



There's still some stuff left to hear in Galbadia Garden, like this.




And this. The sorceress may have a title, but people still don't like or trust her.


We can also get chewed out one last time.


And see Zell running around like a goofball. Good times.


Out front, everyone's waiting for orders.


Zell doesn't like waiting.


Uh, we just got told to come here like a minute ago.


At least Quistis has some patience.


By the way, you can leave Galbadia Garden freely at this point.


The more appropriate thing to do, though, is talk to Rinoa.

: Just pretend I'm a SeeD, too. It'll be less complicated that way.

No way it could go wrong, I'm in.



Hey, they use the same car as in Balamb.


...Wait, did he drive through the hallways to get here?



Rinoa, not knowing the protocol, looks over at everyone else and then salutes. It's a nice touch. She does the same thing when they stop saluting, too.


Hey.

Martine: I have official orders from Headmaster Cid addressed to you.

How convenient that we showed up when we did, then.

Martine: Following regulations, I have gone over these orders. After careful consideration of our options, we have decided to fully assist and cooperate with Headmaster Cid. Actually, we too, have been planning this for some time now. In order to stress the importance of this mission, I must first brief you on the current situation.

Whatever this mission is, it sounds important. Kind of odd that they'd be giving it to rookies who almost caused an international incident earlier.


I'm sure I'm just overthinking.



Martine: However, this ambassador thing is just a cover up. There will be no peace talks, only threats. The sorceress creates fear among people. Therefore, peace talks are impossible. Galbadia is planning to use this fear to negotiate favorable conditions for itself.

Well, that's no good.


I don't like that, either.

Martine: Garden is no exception, either. It is a fact that the sorceress is planning to use this Garden as her base. ...We have very few options available to us. We entrust world peace, and the future to you.

What does that mean?



Rinoa is still a little slow to salute.



Thanks. I'll look these over in -


Wow dude, give me a minute.


Good thing Squall is a speed reader.

: We have no one with that skill.
Martine: Don't worry about it.

Yeah, Squall, snipers are everywhere. Shit, there's three snipers outside my window right now, beggin' for jobs.

Marine: Let me introduce an elite sharpshooter from Galbadia Garden.


I hope he's standing just out of the field of view.






Oh, I guess he was.


Sure, good, I completely trust this guy.



Irvine gives our party the once-over.



And we're the best people you could find for this job? Buddy, you're about to learn a lot about what is and isn't an option.


What a cool guy.


As Martine leaves, everyone is very interested in our new orders.


Like so.

: Our next mission... This is no ordinary mission.


Hey, look at people when you're talking to them.


Thank you.


Didn't Seifer just get disavowed for something like that?

: We're to shoot her from afar. Kinneas will be our sharpshooter. We're to support Kinneas to our fullest. Should the sniper fail, we are to attack head on.
: Thanks for the support, but I never miss my target.
: Eliminate the sorceress. That's our order. We're going to head to the capital of Galbadia, Deling City. There, we'll meet up with General Caraway to go over the details for the plan. Let's get going.

So, as soon as we got to Galbadia Garden, it turned out that there was an order from both Galbadia and Balamb to kill the sorceress, and they were to be given to the B-Team.

This stinks.



: We'll need to choose a party for the trip to Deling City.




Next time: Find out what I tell Irvine!