Part 23: Lil' Adventures IV

Anamika has finally decided to cough up some new intervention quests, so it's time for another Lil' Update. We'll take a look at Bartz Champion summon as well, so I don't fall behind on them like I did a little while ago.

First up is checking in with Vivi and Edgar.

Lil' Update 4 Highlights - Intervention 1


However, there are many in Figaro who view an army of black mages-- and one that served Bahamut-- with considerable suspicion. Can you offer us your allegiance all the same?

Edgar, sir. I know it's just words, but... I've heard enough about what the Federation's done to understand that it's not right. Maybe I can help you somehow, or maybe I can't.



Eloquently stated. Yes, they'll warm to you soon.

*Later*



Yes. With them out in the field, your men can stay here and get some much-needed rest. Think happy thoughts.


[Captain of the Guard]: You're refusing to see the problem at all! I tell you, sire, you are far too trusting of them. Those things started out as Mirages. And for all we know, they're still spying on us! I'll just have to keep an eye on them for the both of us!




Really now... Spying on us. Well, Vivi should be able to weather it.

I mean, his concerns are completely valid. We know Vivi is a good boy, but that's only because we are privy to outsider information.

All Edgar knows of them is that Lann and Reynn beat them, Vivi randomly gained sentience, and they decided to cooperate.

*Later*




[Captain of the Guard]: Huh? You're that-- Listen here! I have a few words for you an--


Oh yeah! Outside I found this beautiful flower! You can have it if you like.


[Captain of the Guard]: Hmm? Uh, oh...


It's so strange. I thought Figaro was nothing but desert. But that isn't true at all, now is it? And we wouldn't have such pretty flowers if the kingdom's finest weren't out there bravely defending the castle! Ah! Oops, I'm gonna be late for training! Pardon the intrusion, sir!


[Captain of the Guard]: ..... It is... a lovely flower.


*Later again*




[Soldier]: Thanks to the Black Mages, Figaro's defenses are stronger than ever. We're lucky to have 'em around.


[Captain of the Guard]: .....


*Later once more*


[Captain of the Guard]: I'm not unreasonable... And I never told anyone the Black Mages aren't capable. I just... I just want everyone to play things on the safe side.





[Captain of the Guard]: What? O-oh, is that so? Fine work, I'm sure. You just run along now. Go on. Get some rest.


Okay!


[Captain of the Guard]: .....


*Later still*


Hello there, Captain, sir! Oh no! Your uniform got torn. Want me to stitch it up for you later?


[Captain of the Guard]: What? Oh, uh... Thank you.


*Later even more still*





Hey, Captain.













*Insert a few more split-second shots of Vivi randomly trotting around*


[Captain of the Guard]: Ugh... You know what. I'll suck it up and just say it. We need him. He's become an indispensable member of our kingdom! King Edgar could see it. He was completely right about the boy. What a resilient lad. Heh. I salute you, Vivi! Mine is a hard mind to change.




Y-yes. Considering the operation at hand, I felt that their ranged magic would be the best fit. I understand your reservations, but you need to learn to trust Vivi and the other Black Mag--


[Captain of the Guard]: You're refusing to see the problem at all! You're putting them in too much danger, sire! How can you foist all the hardest missions on them?


Huh?


[Captain of the Guard]: If anything were to happen to the Black Mages, it would be a devastating loss for the kingdom of Figaro! My men will join them, sire! Just watch! We will keep them safe. Now, if you'll excuse me, I must get ready!




Edgar, the Black Mages are ready to leave at any time!

Hmmm. You are a sly one, Vivi.

Huh?

Oh, never mind. Listen up. Today the castle guard will be deploying with you. Don't let them down!

Aye-aye!



...Still. How did Vivi win the captain over?



And that's it. We actually don't have to intervene in that intervention quest.

Moral of the story: If someone doesn't like you, just pester them incessantly, compliment them at every opportunity, and eventually they'll go insane and learn to like you.



Next up is something to do with Bartz and Rikku, which is kind of a weird pairing, but okay.

Lil' Update 4 Highlights - Intervention 2


Kweh!

Hold it riight there! The treasure in this cave belongs to me!

Says who?



I've got it! You can have the treasure, but let's team up! It'll be way more fun with the two of us.

I can keep it all? Wooo-hooo! You're the best! Oookay, let's get this show on the road! My name's Rikku. And you're...

Oh, I'm Bartz. This is Boko! The pleasure's ours!

Kweh!



Yeah! I bet the treasures in here are gonna blow our minds.



Stop singing that, Rikku.

Grrraaah!

What's that?!



You know, for a place that Princess Sarah said was super dangerous, the Nether Nebula sure does seem to get a lot of visitors just wandering by.

Whooooa, intense! What a slick-looking Mirage!

Yeah, he looks really strong! He's all like "burrrn" and stuff!

.....? (That's strange... Shouldn't they be cowering in fear?)



Bartz, Bartz! Don't you realize what this means? A guardian! Now we know the cave is packed with loads of awesome treasure!

I was about to say! You sure know your rules of adventure! Strong foes always position themselves in front of the important loot!

These pipsqueaks... Are they enjoying themselves? Yooou fools! Turn back now. I will not warn you again--







Ifrit... Oh my gosh... Did you just...?

I don't believe it... You saved our lives?

Huh? No, I--

Whoa whoa whoa. Can we address the fucking jacked Behemoth standing in the background? I feel like that's something important we should be keeping an eye on.

Ifrit just saved us from that Mirage! C'mon, Bartz. We can't let him do all the work!

Yeah! It's our turn to save him!





Okay, I guess we're just handling this ourselves then.

I guess that none of them the-get it.

Don't lump Rikku and Bartz in with Lann. He's on a different level.

You make a good the-point.

Huh? What are you guys talking about?



Behemonster is another XL Mirage. Its HP isn't nearly as bad as Iron Giant, but you'll still have an easier time catching it than beating it. You will need a Babyhemoth Prism though, so make sure you get one from a Behemoth family Mirage board if you don't already have one.



It's pretty powerful regardless of whether you want to beat it or catch it. It has Heavy Counter, which packs quite a bit of punch. Its capture chance is triggered by physical attacks and it can use Heavy Counter after a failed Imprism attempt, so you will probably take a good beating unless you get real lucky with capture.



It also has an attack called Heave which deals out heavy damage and high topple chance.

However, as with any 2 on 1 fight, you just need to make sure to heal up in between hits. Behemonster isn't fast enough to take advantage of its high attack power.



You may also notice that Lann and Reynn's stacks have changed. Biggs moved up to Death Machine and gets to be the base of Reynn's Stack. Meanwhile, Undead Princess takes up the base of Lann's stack because holy shit does she have some good stack abilities with Lann and Moogiepie.



Undead Princess herself also has the Revivify Ability, which is basically auto-Regen that never goes away. She'll just constantly restore HP over time. This is on top of Hypnosis, Dark (which has a Blindness chance), and Dread Gaze (Confusion and Death).

Undead Princess rules. She's also going to be relatively thematically appropriate for the coming area.

Other than that, OMG! JC! transfigs into a Bombino in order to take the top spot of Reynn's stack.



Anyway, Behemonster is ours now. Yet another XL Mirage that may one day take Clifford's place. Behemonster looks very similar to the Behemoths from FFX, although those didn't have gauntlet things.



Thanks, Ifrit! You're the best kind of friend we could ask for!

Look. You really have the wrong idea--

I can't go stealing from such a stand-up guy! I promise to leave your treasure alone. Okay? You keep it.

I agree. Not after he rescued us! 'Cause that would just be bad form.

Err... It is true! Your, uh... your burning passion has moved me! I could not allow your fires to be snuffed out. And just so you both know, there was never any treasure here to begin with.

*Ifrit disappears*



Oh, right. Did I forget to mention that? Yeah, we emptied this place of valuables ages ago.

Hey, chin up, Rikku. Next time, huh? There are other caves.

You're right. Hopefully, they've got some fierce Mirages protecting some awesome treasures. 'cause nothing else will cut it!

I hate to disappoint you Rikku (that's a lie, I love to disappoint you because you bug me), but unless you can get ahead of us then you are not going to be tracking down any loot. We steal everything.

Bingo. It's too bad Ifrit wasn't a vicious guardian. Those always show up before the loot! You know how this stuff works.



Kweh!

But I'm in this for the long haul. Somewhere out there, awesome treasure is waiting just for me!

You said it, Rikku! That's the spirit!

Kweh!



And then they all dance off while Rikku sings that fucking song again.



One more quest left for now.



Black Chocobo? Didn't we already catch that one waaaay back in the Watchplains?

Lil' Update 4 Highlights - Intervention 2


Right, this hasn't come up yet. So, here's the thing. The suggestion with Chocolatte is that the little Chocochick on her head is the one actually in control/actual Chocolatte. Her profile in the Who's Who section has one entry that states:

"A choco-gal with the habit of appearing in the most choco of places at the most choco of times. Has a whole bevy of different greetings for those who stop by her shop, only some of which make sense. It's all about the attitude, and not the content!

She's also an extremely special case who has managed to retain her identity as she moves from world to world. The real mystery, of course, is deciding who the real Chocolatte is: the woman, or the chocochick on her head. ...What do you mean, it never crossed your mind?"

FFXIII is weird.

This "SOS from the chocobos" sounds pretty far-fetched if you ask me... Yes, I know that's what you told me. But we've scoured the area and I don't... Huh?



Kweh.



Kweh!

Psst, hey, Master! Did you hear that? That young man is going to save the chocobos! Come on!



Hey, beaky! What do you want with all these chocobos?

Kweh, kweh!


[Hyperion]: Kweh? Kweeehhh!




Serafie once told me that there was a chocobo of that name and color that the-made a name for himself at a place called the Gold Saucer.

Wow. I love amusement parks!

Wait, how did you know it's an amusement park?

I... Good question.

The Gold Saucer is the giant amusement park located in the middle of the Corel Desert in FFVII. There is a cable car that runs from the ground all the way to the top of the tree-looking building.

One of the attractions of the Gold Saucer is the Chocobo Square. Similar to horse racing, people can bet on Jockey/Chocobo teams that race on a track.

Hyperion, as well as Tama's description of him, is a reference to Joe and Teioh from VII. Joe is the top jockey in the chocobo races and Teioh is his Black Chocobo partner. They randomly appear in races you enter as a rival (Teioh is the only Black Chocobo that can appear in the races besides yours, and Joe is the only NPC jockey with a unique model).



They are also cheating motherfuckers that can break the stat limits of the mini-game. Cloud/Tifa/Cid can show up with the legendary Gold Chocobo that has player max stamina/speed and Joe/Teioh will just show up with stats that exceed that.

"Hyperion" is what Teioh was supposed to be named, but it was too many characters. He also shows up as a boss in Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions.



WoFF Hyperion isn't as unfair as VII Hyperion. 10k HP isn't much and he has a crippling weakness to Light element attacks. He does start with Auto-Haste, though. Combined with a good attack stat (he dealt about 600 damage a hit), he may actually pose a challenge.



He also has Chocobo Kick, which could potential hit multiple times for 350+ each. You need to be a little cautious with Hyperion even though it's 2 on 1, mainly because of his speed. We also can't imprism him, so this fight will have to end in a KO.



This seems like an appropriate opportunity to show off Bartz.























The enemy got hit by Enkidu's Frog spell and you can see it go flying past Gilgamesh at this point after Bartz knocked it away.













Poor Greg.

Bartz's Champion summon will boost accuracy and evasion for all allies as well, so it's actually pretty useful here. Hyperion went on to miss all of its remaining attacks after taking a whopping 5000 damage from Bartz.



Kweeeh.

Okay guys, you're free to go. Oh. Who're you?



I have to say, you are really something! It takes one tough hombre to handle Hyperion!

Eh, I guess. You really just have to block him and save your stamina for the last leg of the race when the asshole tries to shoot past you.

And I suppose Hyperion... must be that black chocobo from before? I tell ya, that thing was more behemoth than chocobo. And it's not often that Boko gets openly hostile toward anything. Oh! And by Boko, I mean this fella. I'm Bartz! And you are?

My name is Chocolatte. I can see Boko is very smart. That, and he seems to have the same keen senses as my master.

Master?

Hmmm... Say, Bartz. If you're planning a long journey, why don't you visit my shop before you go?

Don't do it, Bartz! She's a goddamn thief!



Wow, you should have said that you run your own shop! Sure, we'll take you up on the offer. Right, Boko?

Kweh!

You poor, naive bastard.

Oh, perfect. Right this way. Choco-boco-ching! So I meant to ask: why are you able to understand what Boko says?

Ha ha! Me and Boko just have a special connection!

Kweh kweh!



Uhhhh...

Oh well, I guess that's not important. We get a hyperion memento for turning in the quest, so now our Black Chocochick can turn into one.

And that's it for this mini-update. Next time, we're off to Chapter 17 and we'll witness one of my favourite scenes it involves one of my favourite characters.