Part 49: Mt. Roneal Sephiroth

Last time, Tear took off to Ortion Cavern, and naturally we're going after her.

Skit: Tear's Whereabouts

: “What is Tear thinking?”

: “It looks like Asch went along, too.”

: “Come to think of it, she's had something on her mind ever since the Meggiora Highlands.”

: “Yes! She has seemed a bit absent-minded since we encountered Legretta.”

: “But Tear going with Asch...”

: “What could there even be in Ortion Cavern?”

: “She only acts this impulsively when it involves a certain someone...”

: “Master Van!”

: “It looks like we should hurry.”

We should.

Unexpected Invitation





: “Locrian Colonel Asch... no, it's the replica!”

: “Stop! Commandant Grants said to let them through. Ignore them and return to your work.”

: “...What's that mean?”



: “I'll let you pass. Go on in.”

: “This is certainly a surprise.”

: “I'm merely respecting Commandant Grants' wishes. You're headed for Mt. Roneal next anyway. We'll settle things between us there.”

: “I'm worried about Tear and Asch. Let's hurry.”



: “This is where...”



: “What's wrong, Natalia?”

: “No, it's nothing...”



Translates poorly into screenshots. Natalia tripped and Luke caught her.

: “Are you okay?”

: *Gasp*

: “You're actually kind of a klutz, aren't you?”

: …

: “Huh? What's wrong?”

: “N-nothing. Thank you, Luke.”

: “Don't worry about it.”

: “...Let's move on.”

For who knows what reason, they make you slog through this cave again. Nothing new, not even another token filler boss to waste space: they just make you walk to the next cutscene. I'll spare you the tedium.

We walk in and:

Van's Decision





: “Van, stop!”

: “Asch?!”

: “...I see your friends have come for you. Go. You too, Asch.”

: “Van, if you keep this up, the miasma will destroy your body, too!”



: “Master Van, what were you doing here...?”

: “They're planning to abandon Belkend and move to a new fomicry research facility.”

: “Master! Why are you so obsessed with making a replica world?!”

: “Fomicry consumes large volumes of Seventh Fonons. Even with all the Seventh Fonons in the world, you still couldn't replicate the entire planet.”

: “He intends to use the enormous mass of Seventh Fonons in the core – Lorelei.”

: “The stronger the core's vibration, the stronger the Planet Storm, and the more Seventh Fonons available. But you all put a stop to that.”

: “So that's why you didn't want the core stopped...”

: “The slightest mistake in fomicry creates replicas that perish right away.”

: “That phenomenon is caused by Seventh Fonons separating from the replica. If the separation is stopped, the replica survives.”

: “Impossible. To begin with, fonons of the same type attract one another. The Seventh Fonons will separate from matter and return to the Planet Storm.”

: “He plans to destroy the aggregate of Seventh Fonons – Lorelei. Then the surplus Seventh Fonons will disappear.”

: “And without any Seventh Fonons to attract them, they won't separate...”

: “Without the Seventh Fonon, the Score cannot be read.”



: “Van intends to use Luke to accomplish this.”

: “It can't be done using the reject. It has to be Asch.”

: …



: “I need you. I'll wait for you at the Absorption Gate.”

: “Van, wait!”



: “Damn it! I won't let you get away!”

: “You're in no shape to do that!”



Huh?



: “I have no time.”



: “Yes. We're near Sheridan.”

: “Can we please take that cheagle with us?”

: “Oh, yeah. No one's going to be coming here anymore...”

: “Okay, let's take him.”

Well... that was heated.

Sheridan it is!



: “Good timing. We'd like to borrow the meeting room to discuss what we're going to do next.”

: “Feel free. I'm sure Iemon would be happy you've come.”

A Sister's Plea



: “...I'm sorry. I thought the miasma might be accumulating in my brother, too, since he also used the passage rings.”

: “And you were worried about him?”

: “Worried... yes, perhaps that's what it was. I saw Major Legretta drop the Ortion Cavern ore. I felt like he was calling me. So I thought I'd try to persuade him one last time, alone.”

: “That's a sister for you.”



: “This whole time, I kept hoping that Van might stop this insanity. But... Van and I have chosen our separate paths.”

: “Are you sure you're okay with having to fight him?”

: “...Did you forget? That's why I came to the Outer Lands. I won't hesitate any longer.”

: “It sounds like she's made up her mind. Shall we head for the next passage ring?”

: “Next is Mt. Roneal... which is supposedly crawling with lots of nasty monsters.”

: “...Legretta and the other God Generals will be waiting for us as well.”

: “Major...”

: “It's a dangerous place, but there's definitely a passage ring there.”

: “...Are you ready, Tear?”

: “...Yes, of course.”

: “Okay, then let's head for Mt. Roneal.”

: “If you don't mind, I'd like to stop in Keterburg. Let's ask Nephry about the current conditions on Mt. Roneal.”

: “Okay.”



: “Oh, yeah. Hmm... we can't take him back to the forest, it's in the Qliphoth now...”

: “What's up?”

: “Ah, we picked up this cheagle, but we can't take him with us...”

: “Oh. Well, heck, I'll take care of him at my place for a while.”

: “Great, thank you!”

Well I guess that's all taken care of. Keterberg it is!

Updates from Nephry



You may notice a quality dip from here till the end of the update. Can't be helped I'm afraid, these are the things I have to do to fix the audio. Sorry!

: “What is it?”

: “Saphir collapsed in the town square and hasn't woken up since.”

: “Saphir?”

: “Dist's real name.”

: “Huh?! What's Dist don't collapsed out here?!”

: “Apparently my brother promised to meet Saphir here. He keeps mumbling 'is Jade here yet?'”

: “...Didn't we get a letter from him when we were looking for the flightstone?”

: “My, he waited so dutifully for Jade.”





: “Still, this is convenient. We'll beat him awake and ask him about Mt. Roneal. Where is he?”

: “I rented a room at the inn and put him to bed there.”

: “Then call the military police and send them to the inn.”

: “You're going to arrest him... fine. But don't let them do anything violent to him.”

: “I wouldn't dream of it. Now then, Luke, let's go to the inn.”

: “...Right.”

Yeah let's... actually before that, wasn't there something else we had to talk to Nephry about?



: “I can look in the records... what was this person's name?”

: “Um...”

: “...? Gelda Nebilim.”



: “Professor Nebilim?!”

: “My, do you know her?”

: “Professor Nebilim opened a private school here after leaving the Order. I studied under her... as did my brother.”

: “Colonel! You did know her, didn't you!”

: “And you knew too, Luke. That's why you were acting so strangely.”

: “I-I don't know her!”

: “Don't blame Luke. I told him to keep it a secret. Emperor Peony aside, sharing a classroom with Dist is one of my life's less laudable moments.”



: “Dist aside, Emperor Peony studied under her as well?!”

: “The Emperor was confined to his mansion, but he would sneak out and just sit in on class.”

: “Some Emperor he is...”

: “So, did this Professor Nebilim leave anything behind?”

: “I've heard that the Malkuth army's intelligence division collected all of her documents some time ago.”

: “The Malkuth army? Why?”

: “What's the problem? Jade just has to run in there and ask.”

: “I doubt it will be that easy. Intelligence divisions are usually independent from the rest of the army.”



Okay, enough dicking around. Dist time.

Oh, and as always when Dist is involved, shame on you for not watching the video and listening to this amazing voice work.

Jade's Interrogation



: “Jade... wait for me... zzz....”



: “Well, now... I'll just ask him a little about Mt. Roneal. Please wait outside, everyone.”



: “...Aaaaaaaaaah!!”



: “S-stop! Stop! You're killing me!”







: “Also, an extremely powerful monster has taken up residence in the deeper parts. The monsters in the area have likely grown aggressive due to that influence.”

: “O-okay... Um... about that scream just now...”

: “Oh, that was nothing. Now, let's be going.”

: “Right...”

Poor, poor Dist...

Skit: Jade and Dist

: “Jade is really nasty to Dist, isn't he?”

: “I don't know, I think they like each other.”

: “They've known each other since they were kids, right?”

: “Yeah, it looks like it. Nephy was nice to Dist, too. Every one here seems to think well of him. He must've been a cute kid.”

: “Maybe Jade has that attitude toward Dist in order to hide his real feelings.”

: “Hah hah hah! Maybe so... kind of like getting angry at someone you've fallen in love with.”

Considering Jade actually has a title along the lines of “Tsundere Old Man?” Yeah...

: “Heh heh heh. Jade sure is cute, himself.”

: “Hmm, a fascinating conversation. Cute, is it?”

: “Whoa!”



Mt. Roneal is up next.



Of course, good luck finding it. When you hit the town gate Jade gives the oh so helpful “it's to the west.” Thanks Jade.

Skit: The Coming Confrontation

: “I wonder if Arietta will show up on Mt. Roneal, too...”

: “Given their concern with our attempt to lower the Outer Lands, it wouldn't surprise me to see them throw all their strength at us.”

: “...Including Largo?”

: “The possibility does exist.”

: “Mieuuu.... I'm scared of that big man.”

: “Don't worry Mieu, we'll protect you.”

: “Besides, Mieu has a very important role to fill...”

: “Mieu?”

: “...Emergency rations, you know?”



: “M-m-mieu?!”

: “D-don't worry, Mieu!”

: “Colonel, that's not funny!”

: “Hah hah... I was serious.”

: “You're the worst...”

The best.



There you are.

Natural Hazards



: “Yeah, you can't outrun an avalanche.”

: “Don't make any more noise than you have to, all right?”





Music: Mt. Roneal

I really like Mt. Roneal's music. It strikes that great balance of being peaceful yet unsettling at the same time. Conbined with the wind sound effects in the game, it really does make you feel alone and isolated on an abandoned mountain.

Skit: Beware of Avalanches

: “Aaah! Ow... this area is rather slippery...”

: “Natalia, are you okay? You have to be more careful on-- aaah!”

: “Oh, look at you two! If you made sure to keep your feet planted on the ground like I do – aaah! No way!”

: “If you three scream like that, you could bring an avalanche down on us. Please be caref- whoa!”

: “Whoa! Jade, don't grab onto my clothes like that! Ow ow ow...”

: “...My, my, Luke. I can't approve of you yelling and falling down like that.”

: : : …

Jade sure does have 'Troll' dialed up to 11 today, doesn't he?



Mt. Roneal holds a lot of secrets, but we can't access them right now. For the moment, we must be content with heading straight up to the top.

Cries of the Past



: “It sounds like a woman crying...”

: “It's scary...”



: “What is it, Jade? Don't tell me you're scared too.”



: “The past?”

: “Heh heh. It's a story about the ghost of a woman who died in these mountains. Would you like to hear it?”

: “Oh, I love those kinds of stories!”



: “Huh? Don't tell me...”

: “I'm not scared at all! So let's get going!”



Poor Tear.





In the cave we have something a lot like the hidden room in Tataroo Valley where we were kinda in the passage ring but not really. I like these little touches: the passage rings were essentially built into the ground thousands of years ago, so it would make sense that over time parts of them would become exposed or unearthed.



Also here's more of what I'm talking about with those secrets. This slope leads from somewhere, but since we can't traverse up it we'll have to wait till later to find out.

Skit: Only One Entrance

: “Hey, Ion... only you can open the doors to the structures protecting the Sephiroth, right?”

: “Yes, the Daathic seals can only be opened by a Fon Master.”

: “But we just passed through a place that looked pretty similar to those. Isn't that part of the same structure?”

: “Yes, Tectonic shifts may have opened areas of the structure to the outside.”

I don't even want to think about how plate tectonics still work when the crust is floating in the air. For that matter, how was the volcano working? I'm sure it's handwaved by fonons somewhere.

: “So can't we just get to the Sephiroth from there, so you don't have to open the whatever-it-is seal?”

: “I thank you for your concern about my health, but those areas with the passage rings are very solid. There's no way to enter except through that door... otherwise Van wouldn't have had any reason to bring me here.”

: …



The Coming Confrontation



: “Arietta... bring down an avalance... no matter... they already expect us to be waiting here for them...”

There's no dialogue boxes and you can barely make it out, but that's what I could pick up of Legretta's mumblings.



: “That's strange... that was...”

: “Yes, human voices. Let's be careful. We're not alone here.”

: “Is it the God-Generals?”

: “...I don't think there's any doubt.”

: “All right, stay on your toes.”





: “There they are!”





: “Fon Master... don't get in the way.”

: “Arietta... I'm...”

: “Ion! There's no need to tell stupid Arietta!”

: “Anise...”

: “Some things are better left unknown.”



: “Tear, stop sacrificing yourself. Is this world really worth that much?”

: “Major, I cannot follow my brother's extreme view. It frustrates me that I can't stop him, but I look down on you more for not even trying!”









: “How about you go back to your castle and behave yourself, Princess?”

: “Do not insult me. I have a duty to see everything through on behalf of my father.”

: “...Your 'father' huh. No matter. If we cant convince you, then we'll stop you by force!”



Boss Battle: The God-Generals



: "Looks like not killing you on the Tartarus has come back to haunt us."

: "I'm not the same as I was then!"

: "We all make mistakes. Mine was not killing you earlier."

: "You totally ignore Fon Master Ion!"

: "The Fon Master has rejected a world of replicas!"

: "You're the ones putting the Fon Master in danger."

: "Everything's that happened is your fault, Gloomietta!"

: "You shamelessly ignore the Master you should serve!"

: "What Arietta says is true."

: "The path of the Fon Master is the path to destruction."

: "Oh, I can't let that one go. What do you think you're doing?"

: "Major, you all are the ones trying to destroy the world!"

: "You know too little of this world."

: "Even if they did know, they'd just keep showing off their petty sense of justice."

: "The Commandant will change the world."

: "We will not let you get in his way."


I've brought an atypical party layout, but I figured it was appropriate to bring along all the major foils. Jade and Guy have nothing going for them in this battle, so why not?



This is a legitimately difficult fight, mostly for the fact that you can't keep your eye on all of them at once. Arietta needs to go down first, since she's the caster and can, if I'm remembering correctly, heal and buff her teammates. Naturally the first thing she'll do in the fight is pop a barrier on herself to make physical damage do way less to her.



For example, right now I've got Arietta locked up and Anise is dealing with Legretta. Where's Largo? Laying into my healers. Largo hits like a truck and Legretta can hit anyone from anywhere with those pistols, so they're a good combo. Really the trick here is to get Arietta down as fast as possible.



I'll admit it straight up: I dropped the fight down to normal. Had I been rolling with the usual suspects and had Jade and Guy with me, I could have taken these bitches down on Hard no sweat. Unfortunately Natalia is too fragile and Anise is just too slow, so they got eaten alive on my hard attempt. So if you're watching the video and wondering why I'm plowing through the fight, you know why.



Tear gets sick of this and ends it.



Arietta also has a doll here you can steal for Anise, but I couldn't get it for the life of me. Sorry.


Farewell



The ground begins to shake.



: “I'll sing a fonic hymn!”

: “There's no time!”

And it all goes white.







: “Then those three God-Generals are...”

: “They fell into the ravine...”

: “...It's all right. We would have killed Major Legretta regardless. She was an enemy.”



Convenient.

: “You're right! Of all the places...”

: “In a way, we were fortunate to have been caught in the avalanche.”

: “I'll unlock the seal.”

: “Ion, you're still weak from the avalanche...”

: “It's okay. Leave it to me. This is the last one.”

: “...Thanks, Ion.”





: “...It's all right. We're almost done.”

: “...Okay, let's go.”



: “...If you mean in regard to the Major, I'm fine.”

: “That's not all. The miasma...”

: “...Have you forgotten? We have to do what we can.”

The Final Passage Ring



Once again, no seals to unlock or puzzles to solve.

: “Now, Luke. We just need to connect all the Sephiroth to the Absorption and Radiation Gates.”

: “Got it... okay, done.”

: “Now, once we activate the two Gates, all the Sephiroth will connect.”

The ground starts to shake violently.



: “What's happening?!”

: “Did I screw something up?!”

: “...Well played.”

: “What is it? What's happening?”

: “Memory particles are flowing in reverse from the Absorption Gate. It's stimulating the core by using the power of all the connected Sephiroth!”

: “Only someone who can control the passage rings could do that...”

: “Van! But why...?! He's at the Absoption Gate! If he reverses the flow of memory particles, then the Sephiroth Tree where he is will be reversed, and the entire Tuft Archipelago will fall along with the gate!”

: “No, we have made the power of all the world's Sephiroth to flow into the Abosrption Gate. He's probably using the excess power from that to reverse the Sephiroth.”



: “We're sure as hell not letting that happen!”

: “Hey, the Tartarus is neutralizing the vibration in the core, right? If this stimulates the core...”

: “The Tartarus will break apart!”

: “Damn it! We have to stop Master Van!”



Good point. Not like the world is ending or any- OH WAIT.

: “I'm sorry...”

: “Don't apologize. You've been risking your life to save us. Even Luke understand we need to let you rest, right?”

: “Yeah, sorry, Ion. Hang on just a little longer.”

: “Right. Thank you.”

Well... shit. I think Van just masterstroked us.

On the way back out:

Opposing Views



: “I'm sure they each have their reasons. I think I understand.”

: “Guy... but why...?”

: “For years, I'd promised to work together with Van to get revenge on the Duke. If I'd taken a slightly different path somewhere, I might have been on their side.”

: “Guy... even knowing the world Master Van is trying to create?”

: “If that means that Hod... that my friends and family would come back, even as replicas, that's fine with me...”

: “Guy!”

: “...That's how I might have thought. Honestly, even now, I'm not sure what's right.”

: “Yeah... you lost your home.”

You watching this, Team Destiny? This is how you pull off the “I might have turned out just like the villain” plot device. Take notes.

: “Presumably, each God-General has something they care about so strongly that they would destroy the world. And those feelings coincide with Van's ideals.”

: “We're both trying to preserve mankind, so why is Master Van so far apart from us?”



We'll end it here, for now.

Next Time: Time to gear up and wrap up our business before we move on to the totally not a fake out final boss.

Synopsis:

We found Legretta in Ortion Cavern. It looks like Master Van really was
using those facilities we found at the far end of the cavern, but apparently
they're not going to use this place any longer. Legretta had been told by
Master Van to let us through. She said she'll settle things at Mt. Roneal,
and left.
Okay, let's go find Tear and Asch.

Tear and Asch were arguing with Master Van in that room with all the
fomicry equipment. There, we heard that Master Van was planning to use the
Seventh Fonon--Lorelei--to create a replica of the entire world. As the
vibration of the core grows, so does the strength of the Planet Storm, and
the total volume of Seventh Fonons in the world increases. He's going to use
those Seventh Fonons for his fomicry. And once he finishes, he'll use Asch's
hyperresonance to destroy Lorelei, getting rid of the Seventh Fonon and
preventing the Score from being read. That's the new world Master Van's
trying to build. Why does he have to go to that extreme? With my existence,
the world has already diverged from the Score...

Tear tried to convince Master Van to stop, but he wouldn't listen. He
disappeared, and Asch left as well. We decided to head for Sheridan and hear
what Tear had to say.
We reached Sheridan, and were looking for a good place to talk when Aston
suggested the meeting hall to us. Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. Let's
borrow it.

Tear said that the reason she ran off alone like that was because she
thought miasma might be accumulating inside Master Van's body just like it
was with her.
And she wanted to try just once more to convince him to stop his plan.
But Master Van didn't listen.
Tear seems to have resolved to fight Master Van...that that's the only way
left to stop him. It must be hard on her...

But it's Tear's decision--none of us can interfere. We set out for
Keterburg Bay to head for Mt. Roneal.

When we stopped in Keterburg to pick up information about Mt. Roneal,
Nephry came and told us that Dist had collapsed in the town square. I guess
he really had come and been waiting dutifully for Jade. What an idiot.

Dist might know something about how Mt. Roneal has been recently. We
headed to the hotel, where Dist had been carried.

Thanks to Jade's "expertise," we were able to get information about Mt.
Roneal from Dist. The military police carried him off, so that's one more of
the God-Generals taken care of. (Okay, that may not be the nicest way to
write about them...)

Now we just have to operate the passage ring in Mt. Roneal. Let's hurry.

We reached Mt. Roneal, and found it covered in snow. It won't be easy
climbing this. We'll have to watch out for avalanches in particular.

As Legretta had said, she was waiting on Mt. Roneal, along with Largo and
Arietta--the remainder of the God-Generals, aside from Asch. They refused to
listen to us. How can they go along with Master Van's plan? They're original
human beings, too...

We ended up having to fight them.
But right after the battle, maybe because of all the noise and activity,
an avalanche occurred, and swallowed up both us and the God-Generals.

When I came to, the God-Generals were gone. They must have been thrown
into the ravine by the avalanche. We were lucky enough to have landed on a
ledge, maybe because of where we were standing. And it just happened that the
Daathic seal was nearby, so we headed for the passage ring.

We operated the passage ring as usual, but we had a nasty surprise in
store for us.

The work we did here connected all the Sephiroth except the Radiation Gate
to the Absorption Gate. But as soon as we did that, memory particles, which
make up the Sephiroth Trees, started flowing in reverse from the Absorption
Gate.

Apparently Master Van had been waiting for us to connect all the
Sephiroth, and he's taking advantage of that power to stimulate the core.
That way he can destroy the Tartarus, start the core vibrating again, and
strengthen the Planet Storm.
And as a result of what he's done, all of the Outer Lands except for the
Absorption Gate are in danger of collapsing.
Dammit...if we don't stop Master Van, all our efforts will go for nothing!
Right now, let's get back to Keterburg.

As we were leaving Mt. Roneal, Tear wondered out loud why the God-Generals
could believe in Master Van's ideal. I was thinking the same thing. Is there
something they believe in so strongly that they're willing to give their
lives for it? Is that why they're cooperating with Master Van? We're working
toward the same goal--the preservation of humanity--and yet the difference
between a world that keeps the originals and one that kills them has set us
at odds with each other...