Part 26: Episode XX: Lord My Wood

Music: The Sight of Spira



Well, Kilika sure bounced back to vaguely pleasant in a hurry. Or the eco-friendly inn just happens to be one of the few buildings left standing. One of the two. Tidus, like any good JRPG protagonist, has decided to sleep in past noon. So, I suppose we ought to go track down the rest of the gang. But first...



Truly, children are the future.

Tidus heads outside...



"Gotcha. Now where is h—"
*runs off*
"...'kay. That doesn't exactly help..."



We're not given directions to Wakka (spoiler: he's in the other direction) but he can wait. Heading west a bit along the docks leads to...



"Uhh... Kid. You might not wanna cry there..."



"Look... I know this mighta been your house or something and this is all really sad. But umm... MIGHT wanna cry out here... Like real soon!"





"WHY DOES NOBODY LISTEN TO ME?!"





"...Well that could have sucked! Err...sorry about your house..."



"Oh yeah, right on! You a fan? Tell you what? If I score a goal, I'll do umm... th—"
"..."
"...Wait that's the... prayer thing err... nevermind..."

The kid runs off...



Welp. That's enough optional heroics for one day. Thanks for the assist sitting around doing fuck all, Aurochs.



Heading to the southeast of where we begin leads back to the dock the where the S.S. Liki set anchor yesterday. The ferry has since set sail back to Besaid. But a few new points of interest have replaced it.





An equipment items shop has opened in one of the ruined huts. Most of its wears are redundant (items with the Scope ability) or crap we already have.



Though the Seeker Shield for a 5% boost to Tidus' HP for 150 gil sounds like good buy considering he's still in his worthless starting equipment.



Speaking of equipment, that last Sinspawn boss did drop a few new bits. Kimahri is now a formal member of the party and can be equipped with Spears/Lances for weapons and Armlets for armor. The Sinspawn dropped an armlet that resists lightning damage. So that's nice.



The most recently defeated boss also dropped a new sword for Tidus, Liquid Steel with the Waterstrike ability. This adds a water elemental effect to Tidus' physical attacks. I... really do not care for elementally augmented weapons early on for casual fiend slaying. The effects are negligible on enemies with no particular weakness toward the element. The rare ones that do can probably be just as easily one-shot by Lulu's magic. And then there are the ones of the same element, which will suddenly be getting healed by Tidus' strikes, making him effectively useless for the battle. I usually just toss elementally aligned weapons in the broom closet for a rainy day where they might have a specialized use. Brotherhood's strike strength upping augment is good enough for now.



The bar at the north end of the same docks is now open, but they're obviously not serving any drinks at the moment. Though, there is something of note on the table.



Our fourth Al Bhed Primer. Today we learn the hidden truth [T = D]! Nifty.



Tidus' Al Bhed proficiency level also increased. He can now speak Al Bhed at a developmentally challenged toddler's level. This affects absolutely nothing!



Also, saving that youngen from before (the kid is bouncing around behind the treasure box) nets Tidus a free Ether. Ethers in Final Fantasy X are not sold is stores. They can dropped be from enemies, found in chests, or stolen from monsters. But no merchant carries 'em. As such, they're a valuable commodity early on. Ya know, assuming there is no instant HP/MP refreshing save point nearby.

Tidus heads back outside and heads a bit east to find Wakka...



"Besaid Aurochs! Huddle!"



"Ho!"

The Aurochs run off...



"High Summoner Ohalland used to live in the Kilika temple here. Yep, Lord Ohalland was once a great blitzer, you know?"
”Nope.”
"Wakka..."
"Hm?"
"Praying for victory's all good... urgh... but is this right?"
"Something wrong with enjoying blitzball?"
*walks over to Wakka* "Is this really the time?"
”I mean I love blitzball and all but... this feels skeezy. Like bailing on a funeral ‘cause a game went into overtime skeezy...”
"This is the only time! The players fight with all their strength; the fans cheer for their favorite team. They forget pain, suffering... Only the game matters! That's why blitz has been around for so long. Least that's what I think."
"Whatever you say."
”Still feels skeezy.”



“Right?!”
"Right!"





Welp. You heard the man. EVERYONE in Spira is a sports fan so praying to the gods and assorted sainted figures to score in Sunday’s game is not only appropriate, but church sanctioned! Anyway, the route into the forest is just past where Tidus saved that child earlier. No use waiting around in this dump of a town.

A short jog inland later...



*looks at Tidus* "Yuna's saying she wants you with us."
“Huh?”
*looks around* “I wasn’t going anywhere...”



"Yuna! What? This is no time for jokes, ya? He may be a blitzball whiz kid, but up against fiends, he's a newbie."
”Didn’t you just say yesterday that I could make a good guardian someday?”
“Yeah well not THIS day.”
“Thanks for the vote of confidence, guy.”
"Not a guardian, then... I just want him nearby."



Buuuuwhaaaaaaaaaa?!



”Like how close ‘nearby’ are we talking? Should we be discussing bases here...?”
“...Bases?”
“Is baseball not a thing in Spira?”
“Only balls around here are blitz.”
“Oh uhh... Nevermind, then. Forget I said anything.”
"It's just that, well..."





"There's nothing to be sorry about. I'm just not really sure what's going on."
*bows* "My apologies."
<I mean other than the ladies not being able to resist the T-Bone. Man, this might be a pain in the ass score with three goalies on the field...>



Kimahri marches onto the scene and mugs for the camera. This serves no purpose. But he WILL remind the player that he still exists. The dude saw what happened to Rico Banderas back in Xenogears when you’re a big dude idling in the background for too long...



Well then. Welcome to Kilika Island’s dungeon, Kilika Woods. It’s not a very long trek. But there is a bit going on in this region.


Music: Normal Battle



But before we can attend to anything, we’re tossed into a scripted tutorial battle. The last one for a while, I do believe.



This grumpy looking plant fella is a Ragora. Ragoras HATE cats.



As such, the thing immediately spits a melon sized seed at Kimahri’s big fat feline face. That isn’t very friendly.



*grunts*
<Why doesn’t Lulu let Kimahri do what Kimahri damn well pleases...?!>
"What's a 'Lancet'?
*clears throat to explain*
"Normally, it's a skill that weakens enemies and heals the user. But when a Ronso uses it, that Ronso can sometimes learn fiends' abilities."
"Hey, sounds cool!"
*grumbles* <Sure. Steal Kimahri’s lines. Kimahri not mind. Kimahri strong silent type, right? Howabout Kimahri use Lancet on Lulu? Then what?! Tch... Kimahri probably grow big ridiculous fake breasts with Kimahri’s luck ...>





So as Lulu said, and I mentioned in an earlier battle, Lancet can be used to gain special skills from enemies. Usually, the enemy has to have a unique animation for an attack to qualify as a special skill. And they have to be a certain type of that enemy. And the moon must be aligned with the planets just so. And... Look, if you're playing the game yourself, just read a FAQ if you give a shit about Kimahri’s Ronso Rage attacks because Lancet is a wasted turn 99% of the time...





And even when Kimahri does learn them... they’re limited to his Overdrives. How effective is having a burly furry spit a seed at an enemy? Who knows! Waste an Overdrive and see! That said, other than Blue Magic Ronso Rages, Kimahri also comes with a Jump attack Overdrive, not unlike Dragoons from earlier games in the series. Except that too is only accessible one in every several dozen battles. Poor Kimahri is like the community college of job potential in this game.



And that concludes Kimahri’s relevance for the area. I hope you enjoyed it.


New Music: Silence Before the Storm



So Kilika Woods. Nice place. First real area with random battles for level grinding above water. Sure, you could backtrack in Besaid after the parade of scripted tutorials. But what weirdo does that?



This is a good place to stock up on Spheres for the Sphere Grid. Speed and Mana Spheres are especially abundant ‘round these parts. This is a good point in the game to level Tidus along his Sphere Grid until he learns the Haste ability. Haste, as the name quite obviously suggests, speeds up a character. Given the way the battle system in this game operates, Haste is pretty much super duper useful and should be a priority to learn ASAP.

Before we begin prancing about the woods, let's take a moment to see what dangers lay ahead (i.e. random battle trash mobs!)



The Ragora monsters we already saw back during Kimahri's little Ronso Rage tutorial. Their only ability is that Seed Cannon we witnessed it spit at Kimahri's head. But when not having an angry furry spitting seeds back at 'em, Ragoras have an elemental weakness to Fire (being plants and all) so Lulu can roast them in a couple turns. It's also worth noting that they are immune to Water elemental attacks, which is why I didn't equip that new sword Tidus picked up earlier. That all said, they're worth 20 AP per kill and drop Mana Spheres like there's no tomorrow. So not a bad target.



These nasty looking giant bugs are Killer Bees. If Wakka is in the starting party, he can almost always 1-shot 'em (usually resulting in an Overkill.) They're also weak to Ice, so Lulu can pitch in as well. Being flying enemies, their high evasion makes Tidus and Kimahri pretty crap at dealing damage to 'em. Other than that, if they aren't immediately splattered by a Wakka/Lulu tag team, Killer Bees can sting party members inflicting the Poison status effect (reduces 'round 25% of the character's max HP per turn.) Best not to let them do that.



This is a Dinonix. These oversized lizards don't have a ton of HP, but they do have fairly high evasion making Tidus or Wakka best for physical attacks. Kilika's garden variety lizards are weak to Ice but Fire only does half damage. I've seen dinosaurs frozen but never effectively downed with a flamethrower. So that makes sense. In terms of offensive capabilities, they only have middling physical attacks. However, there is a chance for the dinonix to cause Silence (no magic use until removed) or Petrify (character is turned to stone and cannot move until unstoned. Any additional physical attacks will shatter them, leaving them unable to be revived or swapped out with another character until the battle concludes) which are both quite annoying.



Last, but not least, we have the Yellow Element. It's a big bunch of angry floating electric stones that cast Lightning and die instantly from anyone spraying water in their general direction. ...That's about it.

Welp. That's it for random battle business in Kilika Woods. Let's get through this joint properly, shall we?

The party jogs north a bit...





"We've had trouble with this one before. Remember, discretion is the better part of valor."



If we speak with Luzzu again he mentions that a hundred Crusaders could try to take on Lord Ochu and they would all get their shit pushed in. And we could actually take an alternate route to completely skip tangoing with this tentacled botanical monstrosity.



To that, I give a hardy "PFFFFFFT!" Let's rock, mid-boss!


Music: Normal Battle



Meet Lord Ochu, the mini-boss of Kilika Woods. Ochus have been a reoccurring Final Fantasy enemy since the very first game (though they took a hiatus in the monster mash roster from FF1 up until FF7.) But this is the first time one has been a distinguished Lord of the Wood.



Lord Ochu has the highest HP of any enemy we've yet faced (barring that brief unwinnable battle against Geosgaeno) at 4,649 HP. However, Fire spells absolutely WRECK the good lord doing 500+ HP a turn. If Tidus has Haste (which mine did at this point), buffing Lulu's speed and letting her do all the heavy lifting makes this fight a breeze.



In terms of offensive capabilities, Lord Ochu can whack our team with its tentacles for triple digit damage and an instant Poison status effect. So having Yuna tag in with some curative magic or Esuna spells (instantly restores most statuses) is a good idea.



Lord Ochu, can also toss around some Water spells that can do some decent damage. But again, Yuna is pretty good for band-aiding anyone as soon as they're hit.



After taking significant damage, Lord Ochu will suddenly pass out sound asleep. This is bad news, as it also begins regenerating its health EVERY turn (for it or our party) for 200-300 HP.



Any physical attack will wake up Lord Ochu (though strangely it can sleep soundly through being set ablaze.) But there is one catch to awaking it prematurely.



Ochu is not a morning person and will respond from the rude awakening with a Quake attack against the entire party for 300+ HP of damage. I wish I could summon earthquakes when dickheads woke me up early. Do you REALLY have to start mowing the lawn at the crack of dawn, neighbor?! There's a goddamn tropical depression coming through tomorrow. Are you landscaping for that?!







Thankfully, unless the player is really dicking around the whole sleep cycle to Quake cycle should only come to pass once before Ochu is converted into mulch. Pfft... Needing over 100 Crusaders to take this thing? What, was the kindergarten division on the case last time?


New Music: Silence Before the Storm



"Sir, we should fight, too!"
"Yeah. You SHOULD. Way to run off back there. No wonder it's been 800 years of losing against Sin..."
"We'll get our chance soon enough."

Gatta and Luzzu march off...



"We'll beat Sin into the ground~!"



Speaking with the otherwise useless Luzzu after besting Lord Ochu will result in a free Elixir (Full HP/MP restore for one character.) Of which you'll never use because you NEVER KNOW when you might need it one day in the future!



There are other nameless Crusaders milling about in the woods that will also hand out free prizes for talking to them like Hi-Potions and Ethers.



Beyond that, the only noteworthy loot is down a path at the northwestern most part of the map. Here we find a Luck Sphere in a chest. A Luck Sphere can turn any empty node on the Sphere Grid into a +4 Luck upgrade. Luck being a stat which affects the chances of landing critical attacks, evading enemy attacks, and general accuracy of strikes. Of course, we cannot activate that +4 Luck upgrade without a Fortune Sphere... of which the game has yet to yield. So into the broom closet this goes for a rainy day.







And that about wraps it up for Kilika Woods. It'd be a nice place... if not for the mutant killer poisonous bees, man eating plants, and four foot tall lizards...






Video: Episode 20 Highlight Reel





Kilika Port Concept Art



Lord Ochu Concept Art