Part 70: Part Seventy: Confrontation

Part Seventy: Confrontation


Here we are, in the Master Room of Galbadia Garden.

When you get here, the music changes to this:



As soon as you transition screens, Seifer starts delivering his speech. You can see Edea in the background, just sitting around and relaxing, the height of confidence.


Squall does not like the speech.


As always, Seifer has great body language.


And, as always, he likes to point with his gunblade.

: Rinoa, what are you doing here? You're gonna fight me, too? Come on, remember a year ago we...

The first time I played this, I read this line as implying the game had taken place over the span of a year. It hasn't, it's been maybe a month.

: Stop it!

Rinoa just isn't that into Seifer anymore.

: Selphie, right? I wish we had time to get to know each other.

Selphie does not introduce herself to Seifer on camera.

: Nahh. You're not my type.

Seifer's charms don't win her over, either.


This scene also contains lines for the other party members. This one doesn't even seem like he's trying to appeal to Zell.

: Yeah! I'm dyin' to get even!


Is Irvine still a Galbadian Student? I assumed he'd been expelled or something.

: I'm fine right here, thank you.

In a small way, Seifer and Irvine have followed opposite arcs. They're the two party members who are closest to Edea, but they each handle it differently. They also both betray their Garden. It's a neat little thing.


And of course, Seifer has to try to appeal to Quistis.

: Not anymore.

She's pretty blunt about it.


Whoever you bring, Squall isn't interested in hearing what Seifer's got prepared for him.

: You can't mess with our minds.


The gunblade comes out. It's business time.

: To us, you're just another enemy, like one of those monsters.

I also consider your gunblade to be like a monster, though I understand that is an engine limitation.


Seifer takes umbrage to being called a monster. He still considers himself the hero of the piece, the noble sorceress's knight standing up to the amoral mercenary.


He has a hearty laugh at Squall's insult.


And he stands tall and proud while saying this.




And with that, the battle begins.


There's Seifer, rarin' to go.



Seifer this time is much tougher than in Deling City. He's actually like a proper boss, here.


He also carries Haste.


I want you to guess how many I drew before I remembered I had Triple on Spd and not Haste.



: I'll show you who's the better man!

He taunts Squall before attacking him.


But, unfortunately, it falls kind of flat - he didn't even hit the trigger!


I also accidentally cast Haste on Rinoa. Haste makes the ATB bar fill at 1.5x the normal speed, and Rinoa and Squall are already the fastest things in the game - seriously, I think they get three turns each to one of Selphie's at this point.


Eventually, I manage to do what I was trying to do, and Mug him. He usually has better stuff than Mega Phoenixes, but not in this fight. Oh well.


Once you beat him up enough, he has another line.

: Kneel before me!


And then he busts out his new Limit Break, Demon Slice.


As usual, he starts with a fire spell.



And then he starts spinning until it makes a tornado. That's a lot of spins!


He does a cool flip, and sends the tornado out as his attack.


It did 738 damage to Squall, which is a pretty solid hit.


A little more damage, and he comes up with another taunt.

: I can't be beaten.


Now he casts Firaga instead of his earlier Fira.



But, eventually...


Seeing her knight defeated, Edea finally deigns to get up.




...And then just bugs out straight through the floor. Shit.


Nothing is ever easy.


Not looking very knightly on the floor, buddy.


Let's go see the boss.


...She's not here.


It's the right place, so where's the sorceress?


When you walk forward a little more, Squall has the same concern.

: (What's going on?)

I suppose there's no reason she has to be here. She could have teleported anywhere in the world, for all we know.





...Or maybe she's just being dramatic about things.


Huh?


Squall's confused by the big talk. She's probably just being dramatic.

Sorceress Edea: I must say that I am impressed. ...An impressive nuisance. Your life ends here, SeeD.

Yeah, yeah.


Seifer, who apparently hasn't had enough, decides to show up at this point.


Nobody is particularly impressed. The way Edea just treats him with open contempt highlights his being brainwashed, though.

: (You're not our 'Matron'.)

Seeing Edea being shitty to people also reinforces Squall's determination.



And we're thrown into the battle.



In order to get to Edea herself, we have to go through Seifer again. He's not looking so hot.


Also, it was right about here that I remembered I had Triple set.


Seifer, as you might expect, isn't in very good shape for this one. All of his stats are lower, except for his Vit (much higher than the last fight) and his Eva (1 point higher).


He's really in a tight spot - not only is this a point of personal pride for him, that brainwashing is probably having an effect.


While he's around, I have Rinoa mug him again. Hero is a useful item that makes one character temporarily invincible. His rare steal, Holy War, makes the whole party invincible, but I'm not save scumming for it.


Shortly thereafter...



Things have not gone well for Seifer today.


Since it was already in the queue, Squall starts in on Edea immediately after Seifer hits the ground.



Now it's time for shit to get real.


Edea opens the fight with Maelstrom.



Maelstrom cuts your HP by half, so it's not fatal, but the real danger is that it also inflicts the Curse status, which will prevent you from using Limit Breaks.


Thankfully, as you can see from the spell list, Edea has Esuna, so you can cast that to clear Curse off.


She's also got Alexander, a brand new GF - that's two in Galbadia Garden!


The Royal Crown will teach a GF Mag+60%.


In this battle, Edea will protect herself from magic by using Reflect.


You know what you should do if you have a witch problem?





Have your dog suplex that witch.


I SAID


HAVE YOUR DOG


SUPLEX THE WITCH.


There we go.



After getting her ass kicked by a dog, Edea shits out a big purple cloud. Probably a bad thing.



Whatever it is, it knocked Seifer off the podium and gave Squall body problems.


Seems like Rinoa's fine, though.


She goes over to look at Seifer. Probably bummed out 'cuz he's dead or something.

: (Rinoa...)


And then she just fuckin' plants one on him.


Squall is understandably surprised by this.



Seifer seems to be feeling a lot better.


It doesn't work out quite as well for Rinoa.


At this point, Quistis runs in from off screen.

: Rinoa? Are you all right?


While we're worrying about that, Edea starts talking again.


Yeah, that's all of 'em.

Sorceress Edea: You've all grown so much...and become so strong... I have waited for this day to come. And also feared this day would come. Is today a joyous day? Or an odious day?


Edea is just all over the place right now. Must be all those blows to the head.


Squall has no idea what she's on about right now.

: Squall!

Then Quistis calls his attention back to her.



Oh, goddammit.