Part 63: Part Sixty-Three: Grief

Part Sixty-Three: Grief


At this point, our journey has brought us to the Trabia Continent to check out Selphie's former home, Trabia Garden.


There it is, there.


As soon as Trabia Garden comes into view, you can see it's not doing so hot, what with the big hole taken out. You can also see that Trabia had one of those floating rings that seems to give the Gardens lift. With a bit more prep time/knowledge, they probably could have taken off like Balamb.

Before we go in, here's the music for Trabia Garden:



When you enter, Selphie runs up to the wall.


The rest of the party follows at a regular pace. If you don't have Selphie in your party, she just runs in behind you, instead.


She takes a second to survey the damage.


The prognosis is not good.

: ...This is terrible.

Thanks, Quistis.



Selphie steps back, and we get a better look at the structure. I like the background here, with the dark clouds and the bombed-out Garden.

: ...I'm going in.

Not really a surprise at this point.


Even though this is only tangentially related to killing the sorceress, Squall offers her his approval. It's a nice show of camaraderie.


And then she climbs up over that unsafe-looking netting.


And we're left alone (you can't leave - if you do, whoever is in the party says "are you just going to leave her?").


Let's find out how sturdy this netting is.


Over the wall, you can see Selphie running off, and the off-kilter Garden in the back.


Nothing to do but follow her.



For this next bit, the rest of the party shows up.


Also, Selphie is on-screen right now. These guys have the worst eyesight.

: Selphie... I let her go on ahead.

Like, fifty feet ahead. You can see her.


That seems incorrect, actually.

: Come on, let's go after her.


Of course we're going to go after her. Everyone's got something to say before we do, though.

: Selphie's in shock. I'm sure of it. She's not herself. Haven't you noticed, Squall?

Selphie has been down since she showed up in FH, it's true.

: I should say something to comfort her...

I do not think this would make her feel better.



: I think I understand how Selphie feels...

Zell is both the one in the situation closest to Selphie's here and sort of responsible for the attack. Whoops!


And now everyone's fuckin' dead! Thanks, Zell!


A lot has happened to keep this visit on the back burner.

: I'm sure Selphie wanted to come by sooner... I hope she's all right.

Rinoa is just worried about her friend.


Quisits also has a line here, I just had to shuffle her out of the party.

: Thank goodness we were able to avoid the missiles.

Well, that was better good luck than good management.

: I only wish we could have stopped the missiles against Trabia Garden...

Everyone's carrying a measure of guilt over the fact that Trabia got hit. The B Team were, after all, the only people in any position to do anything about this.

Anyway, let's go after Selphie.



She's in the courtyard right now, next to this draw point.


We can't talk directly to her. We have to talk to her friend instead.

: Not really.

I mean, Selphie's mostly been looking after herself since we got arrested and then sent her on that suicide mission at the Missile Base.


Selphie plays this off like nothing.



They're havin' fun with Squall today. Even though Squall is her boss, Selphie's close enough to him to poke a little fun.


He's not mad per se, but Squall's still not great at this.


Now, let's see what happens if we play along.

: ...Selphie's been a great help.

A compliment!



Selphie's doing a little swooning thing here.

: That's not like Squall at all!

Again, she's having fun.


And again, Squall just plays it off. The body language is a little different, this time. In the first one, he doesn't know what to do (and crosses his arms) but here, he waves it off. He doesn't say anything, but he's not mad.



Selphie's Friend: I feel a lot more cheerful after talking to her!

It's a small thing, but at least something good came of the trip.



: I want to go catch up with some of my friends.

We could go straight to the court to advance the plot, but let's have a gander around the place first.



Trabian Faculty: Have you done a good deed for your academy, Trabia Garden?

Over here, some guy mistakes us for students.

Trabian Faculty: Good deed, you ask? It's to help rebuild this place. Let's see. For example, have you donated to the Trabia fund? I'll give you an A.

He wants money.


Unfortunately, we can't dip into the Garden coffers to help out.


There's a cemetery over here. Nothing's happening at the moment, but I do think it's a nice shot.


On the other side of the courtyard are a couple of people takin' a break.



Resting Guy: I'm just sick. I'm exhausted from tending to everyone.

Must be tough.



Guy who thinks he's me six updates ago: Take this! GF summoning! blahZzz.....

If you summon a GF, you're a chump, buddy.



People around the place are doin' their best.

Logistics Dept.: The calculator's broken, too, so we have to be extra careful.


In case you were wondering if this game could be educational, here's your answer.

Logistics Dept.: Just kidding!

Everyone in Trabia Garden is pretty upbeat, considering.




Oh, most likely.

Library, I guess: ...Hey? This is someone's diary.

A diary is like a treasure map to juicy gossip. Let's get reading!


In this case, it's also a treasure map to a literal treasure.

Library, I guess: No way... Are you serious???


We'll get the treasure in a bit. For now, let's check out this computer.


It looks a bit better up close.



Uniform Guy: We're Trabia Garden's tech squad. We all divided up into different squads to utilize each of our specialties.



Overalls Guy: We're the tech squad.

You have to admire the dedication around this place.


Now, let's game.


Fuckin'...Lank?


Port and Lank.



Once the computer boots up, Lank puts his password in.


And Selphie's file flashes up onscreen for a second.


...And then it crashes.


As we go around the place, so does Selphie.


These kids got up to some hijinks, I guess.



Boy: That teddy bear you gave me... I couldn't save it!
Girl: I can hear him crying... He's lonely!





: As long as you're all safe, Mr. Bear's very happy. Heeey! I can hear him! Mr. Bear's watching over you secretly. So don't be naughty or sad all the time! Just remember, Mr. Bear is watching you!

Selphie isn't the type of person to let some kids be sad at a time like this.


She won't talk to us yet, though.



Girl: Tell Mr. Bear I won't be sad or cry all the time, ok?



Talking to the kids, they run off towards the tech department.


And, if you follow them, they have new lines.

Boy: They always lead somewhere amazing. We're always surprised by them!

Selphie does have something of a penchant for using unusual paths.



Girl: I really, really, really like Selphie a whole lot!


Selphie's alright.


Everybody likes Selphie.


As near as I can tell, when Selphie is at the rest area, you can get a new scene with the computer.


When her records come up, Selphie comes running in to shut the computer down. There must be something she doesn't want people to see.


Then she runs away.



The other party members are just kind of confused.


Once Selphie has passed (I think) this girl shows up to yell at the dreaming guy.

Trabian Female Student: You're on patrol duty today! You volunteered, didn't you!?


Drawing in a battle? This guy doesn't know anything...



This doesn't seem very effective.


I'm sure he'll protect the place when he wakes up.


After the rest area, Selphie heads over to the cemetery.

Selphie's Friend: I didn't want her to feel sad, but...


There she is.



: I know the stage got destroyed, but I performed... My dream band... I was able to carry out my dream... You remember how we promised...that we'd do something memorable for ourselves. ......Right? Remember? My performance... Our performance we were supposed to do... You all saw me, right? You heard me...? ............I... I'll keep playing for however long it takes for you to hear!


Poor Selphie.


Normally, you can walk over to that grave, but when Selphie is in the cemetery an invisible wall goes up.



Selphie's Friend: If it's Selphie you're looking for, she said she'll be at the basketball court.

That scene with Selphie at the cemetery is the last one before the story moves on.


Before that, though, let's grab Trabia Garden's hidden treasure.


For whatever reason, you get the August issue of Weapons Monthly before the July one.


Aside from his ultimate weapon, all of Squall's weapons follow the pattern of using one blade with a revolver grip, then one with a semi-auto, then a new blade with a revolver and so on.


August is the second last Weapons Monthly as far as weapon designs go, so ultimate weapons start showing up here. Ehrgeiz (German for ambition) is Zell's ultimate.

Square also used Ehrgeiz as the name of a fighting game that came out in 1998. It had characters from FFVII in it.


The Cardinal, Rinoa's second-best weapon, has a neat design. I like the red-and-black scheme.


Save the Queen is Quistis's ultimate weapon.

This was the first appearance of Save the Queen in the main series. It's now a recurring weapon, usually a sword (though it was a staff in the Japanese version of FFX, and a drawing on a coat in FFXIII).


To get to the basketball court, first we have to pass the stage/missile.


This guy is passing through (that's why he suddenly appeared).


Are you...looking at that child?



Basketball Kid: That's the last ball. Oh no...

This is not the biggest issue facing the Trabia Garden Intramural Basketball League.


You can also find the two basketball fans having a chat.



Boy: Your pronunciation's all wrong! It's chocobos, not chacobos!
Basketball Freak: Although this season the 'Moomba Samba' team has a great line-up...



Boy: It's all because of these stupid missiles.

Being bombed has really ruined March Madness for the students of Trabia Garden.



Boy: But before that, I have to practice so I can be a starter on the 'ChocoKids'.

IMPORTANT TRABIA GARDEN INTRAMURAL BASKETBALL LEAGUE LORE RIGHT HERE!



Student V.P.: What do they expect the student body committee to do under these conditions!? There's nothing in the student manual that explains how to handle a crisis like this...



Student Body President: There's no more threat of an explosion, but if it falls over, it could crush someone.

I'm sure that the student council will be able to figure something out.


This is a useful draw point. Aura is fairly rare, and it's one of the most useful spells to actually cast.


I bounced the spells from Squall to Selphie.


That's pretty much all for Trabia Garden, so let's meet up with Selphie.



Well, you heard the man. It's time to stand!