Final Fantasy X Part #16 - Episode XIII: Solve My Puzzles

Part 16: Episode XIII: Solve My Puzzles

"Not the whole breaking tenets of some major world religion or anything. Forget that. I mean more..."

"...the whole walking into a frikkin' puzzle dungeon part..."

So, welcome to the first Cloister of Trials. This is Final Fantasy X talk for mandatory puzzle dungeon and item Fed-Ex task center. No random battles. Just Tidus, somewhat grating music, and no escape until all puzzles are finished. Joy of joys.

Straight ahead from where we begin is a glowing glyph of which Tidus feels compelled to randomly rub.

This, in turn, transforms floating script on another wall into a similar looking glyph.

Rubbing that one's tummy will produce a new passage further into the temple. So there's our first lesson for these dungeons: rub anything that is shiny. There might be a genie inside! You never know unless you try!

Down this new path we find a little glowing kiosk that will provide a short tutorial worth listening to. But to sum it up:

There are types of Spheres in the Cloister of Trials (for now at least.)

Glyph Spheres - Unlock the path toward the Chamber of the Fayth (read: exit.)
Destruction Spheres - Unlock the path to hidden treasure chests with a special item. These need to be correctly used before finishing up the dungeon or you're basically fucked out of it until end game. Also a requirement for unlocking an end game summon.
House Sphere - Special spheres unique to that temple's Cloister of Trials. Future ones will have special properties (read: gimmicks) that will be needed to progress. Besaid is a boring tutorial trial, so the Besaid Sphere just unlocks doors.

Following the primer on spheres, Tidus is able to pick up the Glyph Sphere. It's of note that Tidus can only carry ONE sphere at a time. So he needs to place one somewhere before picking up another. And no swapping one sphere for another in the same slot. That would break the one on your person at a time rule.

Anyway, a quick jog down the rest of the stairs leads to a door where that Glyph Sphere can comfortably be slotted in order to progress to the remainder of the dungeon.

So past the newly unlocked door we've got one long hallway forming a square with a dead end before the loop is completed. Clicking on the floating glyphs at the end of the hall will do nothing and we've got no spheres to go in either of those two pedestals we've passed.

Instead, we can have Tidus get his greasy gloves all over the glowing text a bit further back to provide access to a rather trippy looking central chamber.

This area holds the Besaid Sphere. And where does that go...?

Why the pedestal directly outside the door, of course.

Correctly using the Besaid Sphere will dissolve the wall away and reveal a large back chamber behind it.

Tidus feels compelled to shove the pedestal forward for some reason...

Now we are faced with a block pushing puzzle. Come on, Square. I thought those were outlawed back at the end of the N64/PS1 era.

Okay, so actually we just need to push the thing forward to the end of the chamber to finish the dungeon. But let's not do that just yet. Remember that other sphere slot we passed on the way down the hall? No? Well pay more attention to the screenshots. I'm not making them all for my health!

Anyway, despite using the Glyph Sphere to unlock the door into the area, we can go back and grab it again for another use without closing the previous path.

And then use it on the previously neglected slot earlier in the hall to open the path toward...

The Besaid Temple Destruction Sphere. Nice. Welp, there is only one open slot left in the whole temple so...

...back to the room that formerly looked like something out of Tron it goes...

Placing the Destruction Sphere in that slot causes the dead end wall at the end of the corridor to explode and reveal the hidden treasure box of this Cloister of Trails.

You know, it must be a bloody TON of work for those monks to reset all these puzzles, restock treasure chests, rebuild walls and everything for each and every summoner that passes through this place. No wonder that head priest didn't want Tidus heading in here fucking everything up. They probably spent all day and several thousand Gil to reset the thing already for the next real summoner, not some impulsive time traveling teenage dick.

Oh yeah, and spoilers: We're getting someone who uses a Rod as a weapon. 92.6% chance it's a female character that is into using healing magic. Just a hunch.

In any case, going back to that pedestal from earlier and shoving it to the end of the hall will conclude this session in the Cloister of Trials.

"What's gotten into you?"

"..."

"Hey, it's okay."

"I mean, unbelievably sacrilegious. But, you got those Sin toxins on you still so I guess we can let it slide."
"Yeah... Umm... Does something happen to people who aren't supposed to go back here?"
"Trial for heresy and usually a swift execution."
"...So... Yeah. I think I had some for of that Sin toxin gunk stuck in one of my nostrils and like the dusty air in the temple dislodged it so that's what happened. Super sorry..."

"It's a tradition. Very important."

"So what about you?"

"Me? I'm a guardian."

"A guardian?"

”I thought you were a blitzball player...”
“Had a career change. Why did you think I was retiring?”
“Ten years of defeat and failure in your first choice of professions...?”
“...”
“...So about the guardians...”

The pedestal triggers an elevator to begin descending further into the temple...

New Music: Song of Prayer ~ Valefor

“Guardians protect them. The guardians in there now... One of them's got a short fuse, and who knows what the other is thinking.”

*slouches* “Well, now that we've come this far...might as well go all the way!"

Tidus and Wakka enter the next room. Wakka immediately facepalms upon seeing his fellow guardians...

"No, it's uh...it's just..."

Wakka elbows Tidus...

<Dude, is... is she not wearing shirt or am I se—>

<Man, what the HELL is that thing!? That is some freaky sh-- Oh crap... Did I say that aloud? No... Oh crap, it looked at me! What if it can read my mind...? This is heavy. Oh hey, speaking of heavy...>

The woman in black walks over to the pair...

*looks at Tidus* "Who... are you?"

”Uhh... yo. Name’s Tidus. Star player of the Zanarkand Abes! You might have heard of m--oh crud. I mean Sin’s toxin and...”
*glares*
“...I’m gonna shut up now.”

The awkward moment of the pissy looking witch lady wondering why Wakka dragged along one of his blitzball drinking buddies is interrupted by the door to the inner chamber opening and a dramatic shift to FMV World.