Part 21: Update -XVIII- Mako Mages

Okay, time to slap a bow on this chapter and put the spectre of DoC behind us.

Update 18 Highlights - World of Final Fantasy


That sure is a large collection of garden gnomes. Was Figaro storing them all down here?



You don't... think they're all the-gonna...





Yes, Tama. Yes they are.

Heh heh... Looks like a MAGE-er problem... Get it? "Mage"?



I thought it was pretty good.

Do you think they're Mirages?

I can definitely the-sense a similarity!

Then we know exactly what to do with them.



So we're up against 5 Black Mages and 1 weirdly coloured Black Mage. If you have attacks that hit all enemies (or items that do so) then now is a good time to bust them out. The Mages can quickly chip away at your HP by ganging up on one target. The weirdly coloured Mage will cast Focus and then try to hit you with boosted magic.

Strangely, a capture chance will trigger when the weird coloured Mage's HP drops to about 40%. Might as well try imprisming it, I guess. No sense to let an opportunity slip by.





That's never happened before.

Aaah?!

Whoa, what?



Who made all this smoke?

Final Fantasy IX Music - Vivi's Theme (Vivi's theme isn't in WoFF for some reason, so here is the original)
Final Fantasy IX Music - Festival of the Hunt (This is actually the only music from IX in WoFF. It plays during rare mirage encounters)


Vivi is voiced by Kath Soucie in English and Ikue Otani in Japanese.



Vivi is from FFIX. He's an artificially created Black Mage that falls out during shipping and winds up in a nearby forest. A terrifying monstrosity guy named Quan finds him and starts to raise him, although at first Quan is doing so in the hopes of fattening Vivi up to eat someday.

Vivi starts to develop identity issues throughout FFIX, mostly because of a similar situation to what we see here. Vivi seems to be the only one with sentience, while the others are basically just artificial soldiers. He later finds out that other Black Mages gained sentience as well and formed a little village. Unfortunately, finding said village results in Vivi learning that the Black Mages only tend to live for about a year. That's kind of a bummer.

At the end of the game, the party is shown getting together again to watch a play, but Vivi isn't around. Instead, Vivi's sons attend. It's revealed that the person speaking over the ending is Vivi, who has apparently died by the time the ending takes place and this is something like a goodbye letter from him.



So that's fun.

I the-heard it speak too!

Whoa! A Mirage that can talk?!

Hm? So she can. That is odd.

Heh heh... You just noticed?



Mm-hm.

So your friends there-- are all of them able to talk just like you do?

Friends? Where?



The implication here is that Vivi got sentience when we tried to Imprism him... somehow.

Wha-- Hey!

Don't you the-realize they're dangerous?

They are? Hey! You guys know better than to act mean!



*Vivi then explains the situation to them, or scolds them, or something*

See, I knew they'd be reasonable. They even said they'll help us!

Whoooa.

Color me impressed.

Yes, bravo.

Okay, so what can me and my friends do for you?

Wait... what the hell did we come down here for again?

Oh. Actually...

*One brief explanation later*









Whoa! Something's happening!

Does this mean the reactor's working?

Figaro Castle can break the-free now!

Oooooh, right. That.

Oh, hey! We don't wanna miss this! Come on!

Yeah. Let's head outside!

Update 18 Highlights - Full Power Figaro




It's time. Now, full speed ahead!

Final Fantasy VI Music - Edgar
















Peace out, bitches!

Woo-hoo!

We did it!



So that's a thing that just happened.



Yeah, no kidding.

By the way, couldn't this be that "cradle of mako's light" that has the Key of Earth?

Shit, we didn't grab that. Time to go back in, guys.

You mean this key here?



Oh, never mind.

Dude! It's the second key! Ask and you shall receive.

It appears that Vivi had it all along.

Lucky the-us!

(Again, it all seems just a little too lucky... But there's no point in dwelling on it right now.)

So Vivi, where will you go now?

Hmm...

How's this: stay in Figaro!

Hey! It's you!

Ah, my favorite Jiants. Your help has been most invalua...ble?



Yes.

GRRRRRR...

Well... listen... I-I am sorry. The Federation was watching me like a hawk, so I...

Ugh... What about Lightning? Is she okay?

Like you even have to ask that.

Oh. Yes! I made certain she escaped. After all, she wouldn't have been out there protecting you had I not asked.

Huh? Seriously?

She was part of this? Oh. Then, technically you did help us... before you unhelped us.

Yeah, I guess... we're even now?

Guess so.

*The castle shakes*







That's probably not good.

Uh, what was that?

Where did it come from?

Has it always been there, lurking beneath Figaro?

Incredible. That Mirage the-possessed power beyond the-belief.

Hmm...

And with that, we get the Key of Earth and a chance to save. The chapter isn't done yet, though.



After all that I've put you through, this hardly suffices, but I have some information.

Huh?

One of the keys is in the "land of naught but night," correct? Well, I may know where.

Really?

Where is it?

To the west of here, you'll find Big Bridge: a colossal crossing that will take you to another continent. That particular continent gets no sunlight due to the thick, dark skies overhead.



After this scene, we get a notification that Shelke's Champion stuff has been unlocked. Also, there are new items at Chocolatte's.



Then we can move around Figaro Castle a little. There are two Miniventures to pick up here.



One is the Knight directly behind us who is a lazy asshole and wants us to do his job by defeating 10 sand worms.



Also, FFIV reference.

The Antlion is a creature that lives in the desert and can produce Sand Pearls, which are able to cure desert fever. Cecil and company beat an Antlion and get its Sand Pearl in order to cure Rosa.

Edward also does it in The After Years, but I prefer not to talk about that game any more than I have to (and I will have to).



The other poster on the wall up the stairs also suggests this is Kaipo Desert from IV. So this is another instance of mashup locations, as Figaro Castle is from VI.

As a matter of fact, this entire area is a hodgepodge of random Final Fantasy locales. We've got D-District Prison from VIII, Mako Reactor 0 from DoC: VII, Figaro Castle from VI, and Kaipo Desert from IV.



At the top of the stairs, we go through a door and appear on the castle rooftop where a lady is waiting with another quest. She wants us to defeat 5 Red Captains, which have been stealing her orders of luxury tea apparently. Didn't know goblins were tea enthusiasts.

That's all for Figaro. Taking the door to the right of the lazy knight will lead outside.



Where a cat is waiting for us?

This cat has something on its head, so we take it and get Old Personal Posting 2.



Been a while since we found one of these. Still three more to find, though.

Leaving the area will start Chapter 16, so this is where the story part of the update stops. However, before the update itself ends, Champion Medals have been quickly accumulating in the background and there is a new scene waiting at the Coliseum. Let's show those off and clear out the backlog.

Update 18 Highlights - Snow Champion Summon
Final Fantasy XIII Music - Snow ~S~


First up is Snow's summon.



















Sovereign Fist is Snow's Limit Break in XIII. It is far less impressive in that game compared to what you see here. He basically just jumps up and punches.

Update 18 Highlights - Lightning Champion Summon
Final Fantasy XIII Music - Blinded by Light


Next is Lightning. The faint sound you might hear during the sequence is just Toriyama creaming his pants in Japan, don't worry about it.

















Gestalt Drive is Lightning's EX Burst from Dissidia 012. It combines elements of her XIII series Limit Break "Army of One/Legion of One" and her "Gestalt Mode" (where she rides on Odin).

Unlike other Champions so far (except for DLC Balthier), Lightning's summon takes 2 gauge stars.

Update 18 Highlights - Squall Champion Summon
Final Fantasy VIII Music - Don't Be Afraid


Next is Squall.



















Lion Heart is the name of Squall's Ultimate Weapon from VIII as well as the finishing blow of his Renzokuken Limit Break. Squall needs to have the Lion Heart weapon equipped in order to get the chance for the Lion Heart Limit Break to trigger. It's actually more subdued in this appearance. Lion Heart involves multiple slashes on top of the multiple slashes from Renzokuken, but in WoFF he only hits 5 times. It's strange they would scale this one back when other Champion Summons are scaled up.

The feathers you see are not part of the original attack. They are meant to be a reference to Rinoa, who has an angel wing motif. She also sends out a feather to help find Squall when he's lost in time at the end of the game (because of that whole time compression thing I mentioned).

Update 18 Highlights - Shelke Champion Summon
Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII Music - A Girl Named Shelke


Lastly is Shelke.









Shelke's Countertek only shows up in this game and some side games, since she doesn't do much fighting in DoC. It's something of an upgrade to Refia's summon as it heals HP, removes negative statuses from allies, and also removes positive statuses from enemies.

Despite my dislike of Shelke, this ability is very handy. Any ability that heals us and clears all statuses from the field is great.

Now, this next part happened a while back, but I never had the chance to go over it until now. When trying to take on challenges in the Coliseum, this scene can randomly trigger (assuming you've already gone through the previous Shiva/Ifrit scene first).

Update 18 Highlights - Special Coliseum Scene #2




I thought we did this already...

Hey guys, why isn't Ramuh here with you?

Whoa, hey! Don't go saying Ramuh's name out loud like that!

Seriously! The old man is all eyes and ears! What kind of hot water are you twerps trying to get us in?







Ramuh is the grandpa that has to keep the kids in line.

Oh, uh, well, you know... We were, uh, sort of bored out of our wits...

No, look! We were giving Lann and Reynn some help with their training!

Oh! Nice. That is right. We're only thinking of them.

You numbskulls. There's a reason we must stay in the Nebula, and you know what it is.

Ugh, we're not dumb. The tri-elemence barrier, right? We have to maintain it.

Come on. It's just one excursion.



What?! Don't tell me someone got out?

Do you know who it is that escaped?

An ifrit and a shiva. In both cases, you might say they were your unfairer sex.

Ugh, great. It just had to be her.

He's on the loose?! Ugh. This is going to be such a pain in the duff.

So it turns out that Shiva, Ifrit, and Ramuh have a reason for hanging out in the Nether Nebula near those big crystals. They are responsible for maintaining some kind of barrier that keeps Mirages at bay. In this case, it's apparently gender-swapped versions of themselves.

Hey, you said "casualties." You don't mean people?

Yeah, they'd have to be. When no one summons us, we have to enter this world the old-fashioned way.

It's simple, really. In lieu of an elaborate summoning ritual, we can just use the magic in a human body as our gate.





What?!

The Nether Nebula-- boundaries there are thin. Therefore, the old queen came to us and asked we place a barrier there, along the world's fringe.

And because these two decided to goof off...

Now, people have been hurt.

Uh, um...

Uh... Look, we made a big mistake.

A colossal mistake, you clods!

Ugh... So to sum it up, another ifrit and shiva are on the loose and wreaking havoc here in Grymoire, right?

Mmm. They may have been waiting for just this chance-- if they know our Ifrit and Shiva and how responsible they always are.

Well, they're just two Mirages. Me and Reynn can handle 'em. We'll find 'em and teach 'em a good lesson!

That's right. You three return to the Neblua. Take care of that barrier.



Unless you object?

Uh... no! You took the words right out of my maw.

Mmkay. Lann, Reynn, see you!

Great goblins. They certainly are a handful.

And with that, all of the Mirages have taken off in order to get back to their job.

A female ifrit and a male shiva, right?

And just when we thought we'd run out of Mirages to collect.

Lann, have you taken a look at the Mirage Manual lately? There's still a ton of the bastards out there to collect.

After watching this scene, there will be Level 55 Challenges in the Coliseum for Shiva, Ifrit, and Ramuh. The important part here is that Ramuh can finally be captured. We already have story Shiva and Ifrit, but now we can transfig Bablizz and Fritt into generic ones. We also have story Ramuh in ours hands and Zapt now has the option of transfigging into him. I'll get a screencap of Ramuh's description next update.


Anyway, that's all for this update. Now that things have been cleared out a little, we can start Chapter 16 mostly fresh (there's still a secret area back in the prison we need to check out at some point).