Part 45: Part Forty-Five: New Horizons

Part Forty-Five: New Horizons


We're picking up our story in Squall's room, where someone has yet again ignored his door.


Hi, thanks for breakin' in. What can I get ya?

: I wasn't asleep.

He's always so defensive.



And Rinoa knows exactly how to play off that.

: Hey, let's go for a walk.
: Again?

The last time we went for a walk, somebody died, Rinoa.




Rinoa says it better there than I ever could.

: It's not that I want a guard with me. You know... You're always too deep in thought. Why don't you lighten up a little? It's not good to think too much.





I don't have anything to say here, I just like how she phrases it.


By the way, there's a dialogue option here. Let's be Asshole Squall first.



He literally just stands up to tell her her idea is bad then sits back down. Wonderful. Grade-A Asshole.




He's being a shithead today, but she's undaunted. I like Rinoa.



I also like that he just gets right up after she leaves.


Anyway, though, that's bad manners and it's not canon.

: Fine.
: Thank you, your highness! Alright, let's get goin'!


There's a lot less scene if you go along with it.

"But," you say, "what if you don't bring Rinoa with you?" Well, I'll tell you. First, there's a bunch of shit where you play as Selphie and drive back to Deling City to talk to people, and then you get back here and you get a different scene. One has Zell, and it's a boring-ass scene where he says "let's go to the training centre" and I don't give a fuck but for some reason it has priority over this:


If you bring Quistis and Irvine to Garden with you, Quistis shows up instead of Rinoa.

: You're looking pensive.
: (A teacher knows, huh?)

A teacher knows how to pick a lock, apparently.


Naturally, we have the option to tell her to go piss up a rope.


But let's hear her out, first.

: It's not like that.
: Really? Okay.

This has a different tone than the scene with Rinoa. Quistis is a lot less playful.

: Hey, do you remember? Going to the 'secret place' together, the night you became a SeeD?

"Do you remember that time you were a dick to me? It was right after I got fired."

: You gave me the cold shoulder. But maybe now you understand how I felt.

I'll give Quistis some credit here: she's a lot less bitter than she could be. She does have a hard time sticking to decisions, but I think she's got good teacherly qualities about her.

: Sometimes people need someone to talk to.
: (I think I understand. But...)

That's the first time someone tells Squall that it's cool to talk to people and he doesn't get shitty about it, if you're keeping score.




: I do feel like talking...
: Good! Let's go, then. Want to talk over some tea?


And that's that.


Of course, if you're feeling moody, you can be Asshole Squall here, too.

: Yeah, just leave me alone.
: You can't get rid of me that easily.

But, like I said earlier, Quistis isn't being as playful as Rinoa was.


There's the bit about the secret area and everything again.


This time you can really tell her to pound sand.

: Just leave me alone for now.
: Oh well... I knew you'd say that...
: Sorry...
: That's ok. Maybe some other time.

And she also leaves you alone. These are nice little scenes, showing a little development between Squall and one of the other characters (even the one with Zell, which I didn't show, has some of that). He's not refusing to talk to people quite as much as he did earlier, even in the versions where you turn the others away. It's not a complete 180, but he's getting better.


Anyway, that's that for that. The one we're going with, by the way, is the one where Squall decided to go for a walk with Rinoa. As far as it goes, that's the one I would pick as the "canon" option.


We don't get far.

Headmaster Cid: The lines have been fixed, and I'm glad to be back on the air. Hurrah!


Cid's speech doesn't get far, either.


This is probably bad.


Upstairs, Cid is running around like mad.



Master Fisherman: Come on. Give me a big one.


What? What's this?



...I think I might know what this is.



You remember how the Garden was drifting? Well, we've run ashore.


At this point, the Master Fisherman gets that bite he was looking for.



He tries to reel it in for a second.



But he changes his mind pretty quick.




You don't actually have to run all the way to Cid's office, it just teleports you there.


Where's Rinoa?

Headmaster Cid: We will try to get things back in order A.S.A.P. Thank you for your cooperation.


Well, I was gonna go for a swim, but I actually did manage to miss the boat on that one.



Headmaster Cid: We've landed on Fishermans Horizon. Please go ashore with Quistis and Rinoa. Find the local mayor and and apologize for the incident. Tell them that we come in peace. Take a look around the city while you're there, too.
: ...Yes, sir.


Because this is your fuckin' fault and you get to fix it. Shouldn't have tried to get the place blown up with missiles if you didn't wanna be an ambassador.


"Well, I wanted to make a report."


"But on second thought, the last time I tried that, somebody died."



Cid has alluded to this a couple of times. He doesn't actually really appreciate that Squall does whatever he's told, I don't think.


We're gonna talk to Cid one more time before we leave.



It means make a good impression so that they don't launch missiles at the Garden, too.



Just like I said.


At the bottom of the lift, Quistis is very excited to find out we have something to do.


And Rinoa just wants to let Squall know he's not gone scizophrenic.

: We'll land at Fishermans Horizon.

Well, I mean, we sort of already landed.

: We'll make an official apology, then observe the town.

I hope it goes better than the last few times we've gone to towns.

: You can go out the 2nd floor deck to get to Fishermans. You can use it as an exit now.

"Now"? Technically, we could have used it as an exit at any time.


Before we go, let's rename this GF as a tribute to NORG.


Let's also have him learn something a bit more useful than a damage boost. Having some support magic is useful for a few things. One of them is Aura, which is great for Limit spamming. Aura and Reflect are also pretty handy Junctions that you can make with this one.


Recover is a somewhat useful ability that Fishy can teach us. It fully restores someone's HP, as you can tell from the extremely useful in-game description.


Auto-Potion could be useful, depending on what kind of item stocks you keep. I've never really used it.


Also, at this point, SquarEnix have the ability to learn HP+80% - this is the best one.


Now, let's piss around Garden.

What, you didn't think I'd do something straight away, did you?








Here's a round-up of the usual suspects' opinions on our driving. They're easy to miss, but I like the Garden regulars.


Speaking of Garden regulars.


That's right, it's a CC guy.


And he even reminds us how to play cards! I'd forgotten!



Actually, I won.


Spoiler: the CC Group, by merit of hanging out in Balamb, aren't that hard - they just don't have the advantage of stupid rules.


Now it's back to the directory pals.



Loves Maps: Are you surprised?
Really Thought Pin Was Better: That's right, we are...



I suppose that explains how they told our fortunes earlier.

Diamond: We respect your card playing ability. We challenge you.


Why did they put this in here? If you even unlocked the CC Group, you know how to play cards.


Nobody's that excited about it.


I got a new card.



They have been physically laid low by my card skills.


Cid? I kicked Cid's ass at cards, like, a disc ago.



Intriguing.


Now, for no reason whatsoever, let's go talk to Training Centre Maurice.


Ah, I tricked you!



He's actually a member of the CC Group!

The Space Cowboy: I'm Card Magician 'Joker'. As my name says, I'm the black sheep of the group.


Joker is the only one who gives you a reward for just beating him.



Spoiler: I beat him.

The Gangster of Love: ......All done. Now you can view GF information with it.




Wow, what a useless piece of shit!


Anyway, the real reward for beating Joker is this. The GF cards don't change their names based on the actual GFs, which is kind of disappointing.


I guess we can head to 2F now.


These girls are still studying. Nerds.


Here's a fun fact: the girl gets the question wrong, but when the guy is studying, he gets it right.


This is the other thing to see on the second floor.


You might remember that this guy gave us our first cards, and said he didn't play. What a lying piece of shit.

The Ultimate Son of a Bitch: It's been a while since someone made it this far... Shall we start? As you already know, press Square to challenge me.


This is the appropriate level of excitement.


And hey, another new card!

The Ultimate Son of a Bitch: Wow, you are good... I accept defeat. I can tell you've collected and played cards all over the world. And you remind me of her... Her talent, especially. Oh, now I've said too much. Well, there is one more suit for you to defeat. But Heart is no ordinary player.

You know, I would have expected Heart to be the one that was two women.

The Ultimate Son of a Bitch: She became the top player of CC Group in only 3 months. She is a true genius.

Dude, Triple Triad is not a hard game. Don't oversell it.

The Ultimate Son of a Bitch: You two seem to have a similar learning ability. Well, now that I have bored you with too much detail... I shall leave. So long.



Yeah, don't let the door hit ya.


Like I said, the guy gets the study question right.


Probably for the best.


...It won't open.

I guess there's nothing left to do.