Part 24: Update -XX- Castlevania

Update 20 Highlights - World of Final Fantasy


Back on track after a small intervention break. We're off to check out the Eclipsed Region this time, where we can supposedly find the Key of Darkness.



But first, one of my favourite scenes in this game.

So uh, are we really sure there's a key around here?

Well, I am getting some seriously intense naught-but-night vibes from the place.

I say we go the-check out that town in the distance-- the one with the light on!

Hey, is that... uh, the, uh... train?



Sure looks like it. Seems to be decked out in thematically appropriate decorations as well. Nice touch. Also, how did it get here? I thought the track ended back in the forest.



It looks like a one-way ticket to... Oh, you know.

Y-you know I hate that kind of--





It's just the conductor.

Oh! Then this must be the same train as the-always.

Huh? The conductor?

Yes! In all my succulentious glory.

Wh-why did you scare me?!

But miss, you were practically begging for a good heart-stopper. Ask and you shall receive, I say.

What kind of stupid messed-up logic is that?!







Rrrgh! Would you cut that out?!







Graaaaaah!



I love you so much.

Rraaah!

Come and get me!



Ha ha ha ha!

Um... Sis?

*One fruitless chase later*

Huff... Huff... Huff...

Um, Reynn, are you o--



Yeah, well you don't have to give it to me!

Yeah, way to go Reynn. You sucker punched your brother when he tried to check on you.

Not sure why you're getting all cocky, considering...



Grrr! One of these days, I'm gonna get you for this!



Okay... We're kinda getting off track.

That's for the-sure.

True. As entertaining as it is to watch Reynn get frustrated and Cactuar Conductor be awesome, we have shit to do. Let's jump on the train and get a move on.



After the train ride, we wind up just outside this spooky looking building.

The Federation must the-control this place.

Let's be careful.

There's nothing out here on this path at the moment, so just head on inside.

Update 20 Highlights - Tometown




Uhhh... Hey, camera guy? Can we maybe hang on this shot for a second and figure out what the hell is up with those two?



No? Okay, then.

Tometown of the Ancients is a reference to the Library of the Ancients from FFV. That bull looking statue from the first screenshot looks similar to Byblos, who is a boss from the Library of the Ancients.

This area is mostly a name reference. We'll see a proper visual reference to the Library in a little bit.

Hwooow! Just the-look at all these books!

Oh duuuude! ...I have absolutely zero use for this.

Well, you never were too keen on the printed word.

I doubt anyone's gonna be burning through any paperbacks in this light.

Hm... The town is awfully dark. I mean, I know it's the land of naught but night, but it's still too early for the town to be sleeping, right?

Yeah. There should be more people around if you ask the-me.





Oh, it's just a crying woman. Or maybe a catgirl?

Hey, are you okay?

*Reynn stops to look at something*



Hey, it's those two weird dudes from the opening shot.

Huh?!

What's the matter--

Lann!

Wha--?



Oh shit! Vampires!

Eee!



Ah!




[Man]: Guh!




.....?!









It's Cloud the Vampire Slayer!

Cloud is voiced by Steve Burton in English and Takahiro Sakurai in Japanese.



Cloud comes from Final Fantasy VII and oh shit I just realised that completes the base cast of VII which means the Pandora's Box of Extended Universes will finally open... Well, it was going to happen sooner or later. Let's deal with this update first.

Cloud grew up in the same town as Tifa and had a crush on her, although he was kind of a loner when he was young. He told Tifa he was going to go off and join SOLDIER and be an awesome hero like Sephiroth. When the player first sees him in the opening of VII, he appears like, and claims to be a, former SOLDIER 1st-Class.

The truth is a bit more muddled. Late in the game, we find out that Cloud actually worked for Shinra as a grunt soldier, never actually making it into SOLDIER. Due to a combination of the Nibelheim Incident (where his hometown got burned down and mother killed), getting impaled through the gut by Sephiroth, experimented on by Professor Hojo of Shinra, bathed in Mako (and suffering from Mako Poisoning), and then watching his friend Zack get gunned down protecting him, Cloud's mind rebuilds itself around the belief that Zack's life had been his.

By the end of VII, Tifa has helped him get his original self back together, the party defeats Sephiroth, and Holy manages to fend off Meteor from fucking up the entire planet. What happens beyond that is, or at least was, open to interpretation since the last scene of VII is a shot of Midgar 500 years in the future. It was one of those endings where everyone had their own thoughts on what it meant, and which one was right was basically up to the individual fans to decide for themselves.

Of course, things can never be left at just that. Whenever ambiguity exists in media, there will eventually come a time when the creators decide to come back and "answer" everything.



Which is where our look into the dark saga of Final Fantasy extended universes will begin. Check out "Final Fantasy Extended Universes Part 1: Introduction and Final Fantasy VII" from the table of contents whenever you feel like weeping. God help everyone in this LP.

C'mon!

Meanwhile, back above the depths of hell, we've still got more update to get to. Something about vampires I think.



Uh, yes!

Yeah!

Yes the-sir!

That's right team. Run. Run as fast as your little Lilikin legs can manage.



Following Cloud down the alley a little bit will trigger another scene. I guess we found out where the vampires are coming from. Starting to rethink having Frostbite in the lineup.



Oh, Mirages we can handle.

Yeah, no sweat!



All the-right! Let's the-savage it!

You want him to think we're even more incompete-- Oh, whatever. Savage away!

We're tossed in to a fight with two Vampires and two Werebats. If you haven't caught one yet (or transfigged them), then the Werebats need to be inflicted with blindness and the Vampires need to be hit with Dark attacks to create capture chances.

Watch out for the Vampires during the fight. They have a skill called Evade & Counter. It boosts their chances of dodging while also triggering a counter every time you miss. It's a nuisance when enemies have it, but super good when the player can get it.

Light attacks work best, so if you have Holy or Banish then you're golden. The Werebats are the easier targets, so focus on them first (they also use Leech to drain you and heal themselves, so that's another reason to get them off the board first).



Tada...

That's us! Point us at Mirages and watch the magic.

Heh. If that's the case, then come with me.

Update 20 Highlights - Library of the Ancients




Now this is more like a Library of the Ancients.

So, who are they?



Celes is voiced by Christina Rose in English, Houko Kuwashima in Japanese.



Celes is from FFVI. She starts out as a General in the Empire's army, but she eventually gets kind of iffy on the clearly evil army she's part of and ends up getting thrown in jail when she dares sass Kefka.

After that, she joins up with the main party and helps them in their fight against the Empire. During a plan to sneak aboard an airship, Celes disguises herself as a famous opera singer that she just happens to resemble. This leads to one of FFVI's iconic scenes, where Celes performs at the Opera House.



She tricks Setzer out of his airship (except not really because he knew what she was pulling. He just likes her so he goes with it), then helps the party infiltrate a Research Facility and bust the espers loose. Just before the world goes to shit, she manages to stab Kefka, although that kind of makes matters a little worse in the long-run. Of course, she's there for the final battle with Kefka and to help save the world.

Co-director Yoshinori Kitase said that he had taken a liking to her during development and bumped her importance a bit as a result. He said that looking back on it, he got so involved with personalities that he messed up the balance while scripting scenarios a bit. I only mention this because Celes is what it looks like when someone really likes a character, but has a modicum of restraint regarding them. Toriyama is what happens when restraint goes in the trash.

Celes also has a somewhat father-daughter relationship with Cid. Cid will get an introduction of his own later on, so I won't get into that here (Cid appears in every game, so this isn't a spoiler).

Celes. These kids... are the Jiants from the Hills.

You don't mean, from the prophecy?

Um, you think you could fill us in on what's been going on here?

Sure. Where to begin...

*Exposition break!*



Yeah. The League of S sent me here. I was supposed to just be investigating the anchor.

But by the time he arrived, the vampires were already running amok. I'm told it was utter chaos.

Um... You didn't see it?

I'm a hired sword. And my job in Tometown is to guard this place, the Library of the Ancients.

Oh, right. The library. Library of the Ancients is a location from FFV. The party goes on a minor quest to find Cid's grandson somewhere in the depths of it. Ifrit is also found and battled here, becoming a summon once defeated.

So, rarely do I find myself stepping outside. And, it's always quiet here. Nothing seemed amiss-- at least not until the town had already been overtaken.

Hey, Celes. Where's...



Cid! Are you here?

*Silence*

Ciiid! If you don't answer me, I am going to burn all of these books.

Wait, wait!



Oh dear god he's a little fridge robot.

Cid is voiced by William Salyers in English, Showtaro Morikubo in Japanese. At least in this appearance, anyway.



Cid comes from Final Fantasy Everything. Main games, side games, spin-offs, whatever. If it's Final Fantasy, Cid is in it, in some form or another.

Bad guy (XII, Type-0), good guy (almost every other appearance), player character (VII), possibly god (Dissidia), Robin Williams impersonator (VIII), you name it and Cid does it.

The Cid we see here isn't based on any particular Cid. He does have a friendly relationship with Celes though, which mirrors his sort of father-like role to her in VI.

Those ghastly threats are so unbecoming.

Huh?!

Gah! A talking weird thing!

The-what if it's a Mirage?

Guys, we've seen robots before. We just got out of a prison infested with them.

I often wonder the same thing.

How incredibly rude. I am just as human as you. Just because I sometimes have a habit of--



Then he goes rocketing off around the library.





BLERP!



What? "Calm him down"? If anything, he looks more broken down than--



Aaah!

Yes, well, it's far harder to break than you'd think. Trust me.

I'll thank you not to refer to me as an--

Yes milord. May we continue with our conversation now?

Hm? Oh yes, where were we?



Oh no no, please, you have it very wrong. I prefer the term "bibliophile," thank you very much.

That's the part that's wrong?

As I understand it, someone just happened to leave that body he's in lying around, and somehow his soul got embedded in it.

His soul's in bed?!

*And Lann proceeds to fucking lose his mind laughing*

Hwooow! I guess in a way, you are human deep the-down!

I told you I'm human in every conceivable way.

No, you really, really aren't. Aha ha ha!

And what about you then? You say you're the Jiants from the Hills? Now that right there is the real stretch. I mean, what a hoot.

A... what-a-what? Oh! Ha ha! Tama's not an owl.

Oh christ. This again.

I mean, it is an easy mistake. But wouldn't you assume she's a skunk or something first?

You... You... You... How dare you call me the-stinky again! That is the last the-straw! I am the-fragrant. Roses line up just to get the-one whiff of me! What really the-stinks is your whole stupid existence!

You don't have to be ashamed of people thinking you're skunky. Skunks are cool, okay?

Time out. Wildlife coolness aside, could you not derail every conversation just because you don't know how to vocabulary?!

But Reynn, vocabulary's not a verb!

It is if I say so! I'll vocab any way I want to! So can it before I vocab you in the lary!

Uh...

WHY WON'T ANYONE STOP THEM?!

Ah, I see now. You're comedians. Bravo.



Thank you, Cloud! Everyone please get back to the whole vampire infestation problem.

Okay, let's get right down to it. Those people back there with the fangs? What is the deal with them?

They're fucking vampires, Reynn. Is Lann's stupidity contagious? You've been getting worse as the game has gone on.

Wow! Right down to business.

Whew... Vampires. They used to be people like us, until a vampire bite turned them.

Huh?

Now wait. Don't tell me that people can turn into Mirages?

And... and they can't the-go back to the way they were?

Oh, well while we're going back, when I was younger and even handsomer I--



Thank you. Let's stay focused.

According to several books I have read, those who have become vampires can be cured provided... the vampire that sucked their blood is vanquished before it's too late.

So then, all we have to do is move fast and take out the vampires that did the biting?

That's the basic idea. But of course, those vampires used to be just as human as their victims. So if we're not careful about it, wouldn't we end up sacrificing as many lives as we manage to save in the end? Although, we could always pick off the illiterate vampires first. You're not really living anyway if you've never known the comfort of a good book.

Daaaamn Robo-Cid. That's hardcore.

Uh, no, I don't think that makes you eligible for a slaying. But... point taken. We can't save everyone.

Then... dude. What are we supposed to do?

What if we defeated the first vampire? The one who started the whole thing?

The first?

That's it! If you trace the epidemic back, there has to be a first.

Yes. Let's call that one the "Prime." If we defeat the Prime, then the rest...

Calling it right now, Frostbite will be renamed "Optimus" as soon as we get our hands on that Vampire Prime Mirage.

Hey, yeah! It should cause a ripple effect and fix everyone. We would be vanquishing the bitees' biters' biter.

What do you think? Will it work, Cid?

Well, it hasn't been particularly long since the commotion started, so... Yes, I believe that it could.

Don't really care if it works or not, we're getting that Vampire Prime. Optimus must be born.

Excellent! What a plan! ...Did you follow that, Tama?

Wha?! Uh, of course I the-did!

Uh, y-yeah, me too! I was just checking.

All right. So where can we find the Prime?



Hmm... I never gave it much thought, but now that you mention it, they always seem to retreat to the north.

Ah! Well, that points to one place.

That's right... The graveyard with all the abandoned Mirage trains. That's their lair.

Then let's not waste any more time. We should go.

Wait, Cloud. Who's going to help the townspeople? I have to stay here.

You wouldn't want me to go BZEEEK and make a big old mess.

Which is exactly the reason why I have to stay here.

So, he's a big pain in the royal the-butt and certifiably useless!



Okay, putting aside how completely not funny that is... We can go to the graveyard for you. Right?

Huh? Uh, yeah! Vampire shmampire. You just go ahead and point us at any old Mirage...

And we'll the-do the rest!

Hmm. All right then. I guess.

Let's see what the fabled Jiants can do.

That's a good place to stop for now. We'll take a break to cover the first train wreck of Square's extended universe endeavours, then wrap up this chapter in the next proper update.

Nothing much happened in this update in terms of Mirages, so let's cap things off by catching a new one.



If you remember from our time in the prison, there was a flutter point that we couldn't take just before we had to fight Death Machine. Let's go back and see what's over there. Starting at Mako Reactor 0 is probably the shortest route.

Just before the door, there is a chest with 2 turbo ethers in it.



Inside the chamber, we've got a Mist Dragon Mirage, like the one Rydia had with her. There's also two chests in the back. We'll grab those first.



One chest contains the fifth Girl's Diary Entry. First, I still think it's weird that kids would be teasing others about having sick arm tattoos. Second, that gets a tiny bit concerning at the end with that "one day we'll be powerful and then they'll see".







The other chest has Occult Fan, Issue 4. This one just details the secret area in Phantom Sands where we found the Sphinx. It's helpful if you didn't stumble on it previously though.



Approaching the Mist Dragon will trigger a fight with two of them. The capture condition is to restore a lot of HP at once.



As with Phoenix, Curaga is not strong enough to trigger this, so I have to chuck an X-Potion at it.

In terms of offence, Mist Dragon has Banishra (Light based attack), Counter, Evade & Counter, and 11k HP. It's weak to Wind magic. They shouldn't be too threatening at this stage of the game, but they can wear you down over time if you fail too many Imprism attempts.



Mist Dragon is the baby form of Holy Dragon, which was bugging me for a while because I couldn't figure out what it was (both Red Dragon and Sky Dragon's baby form is the Spark Dragon).

And that's all for that area. Another Mirage ticked off the list and shoved into the Prism Case.