SURPRISE I DID END UP FINDING TIME TO FINISH THE UPDATE AFTER ALL JUST NOT TRIM THE IMAGE COUNT SO YOU GET A THREE-PARTER
Welcome back, class, to Final Fantasy VIII 101. Today's lesson:
Omicron Conquers The Demons Of His Childhood
But first off, let's kill some monsters.
Oh no, Squall is down!
There wasn't any clear 'thing to do while on leave', so I decided to try and get into some random encounters in the otherworld. I'll admit, part of my purpose in this was getting tired of Squall being 6+ levels above everyone and fucking up the encounter leveling, so I hit him until he passed out (everyone found that very cathartic) and had Quistis and Selphie fight some monsters. In the process, we unlocked Quezacotl's Mid Refinement, an ability which allows us to convert 5 tier 1 spells into one tier 2 spell, such as 5 Thunders into a Thundara. Neat! This is probably one of the least broken abilities, on its face (we can't 'ladder up' by turning tier 2 spells into tier 3 spells), and it's probably a good way to stock up on tier 2 spells now that tier 1s are starting to seriously struggle with raw damage.
We also get a few cards thanks to Birdy's Card Mode, along with some crafting items - enough to finally get Squall the Shear Trigger, his second weapon sporting a very modest damage improvement. It doesn't really matter much but it was rankling me.
It's also a chance for us to check out something we haven't really had a chance to properly see so far: Quistis and Selphie's Limit Breaks. Now, we know Selphie has Slots, which typically casts one to three of the normal elemental spells. But she has unique options, including Full-Cure which heals everyone to full HP, and even more strikingly, her ultimate LB, The End, which…
…appears to send all the enemies to the Opening Movie dimension where they frolic in that same field of flowers Rinoa did in the intro cinematic and then all die.
That is definitely a memorable move. What about Quistis?
Oh, my god, she literally does the laser eyes meme and obliterates her opponent. Incredible stuff.
Laser Eyes isn't strictly speaking Quistis's Limit Break; it's one of her LBs. Her LB's proper name is… Blue Magic. That's right, Quistis is our Blue Mage. You'd be forgiven not to notice, given that the game doesn't call attention to its mechanics, but Quistis can learn monster abilities… although not, it seems, by being subjected to them; rather, some monsters drop items which teach their special technique. For instance, those Gester enemies in Centra dropped a Black Hole, which when used on Quistis, allows her to learn an LB move that automatically removes an enemy from battle. Neat! It's the only such item I've found so far, so I don't know what degree of shenanigans our former instructor can get up to, but it's intriguing.
Oh, incidentally, that Kaioken powerup aura that gave her a golden glow wasn't part of the Limit Break; one of Selphie's Slots option is "Aura x3," which casts a buff called Aura on every party member. Without a menu to check out the spell in I can't be sure what it does, but judging from its effect I think it enables all characters to use their LB every turn, which is pretty crazy.
With a couple levels, a bunch of AP, and a few more spells (I found items to refine into Bio, Aero and Water), we are ready to move on with the plot.
Back at the Caraway Estate, the General explains that, somewhat to my surprise, the teams won't be left up to the player: instead, the Sniper Team will be made up of the Sniper (duh) and the Leader of the overall operation, that being Squall. I… can see the logic, I must admit; this is the most important part of the mission, and you want the guy who is, or at least whom you would expect to be, the most level headed, best at supporting morale, calling shots and adjusting to circumstances. Squall can fit some parts of that picture… but not all. This may spell trouble.
…Caraway has a different justification for it, though, and that's the part that baffles me: his logic is that the leader will join the sniper team because if the sniper fails, then the leader must personally conduct the assault that will pit the Sorceress down.
As a reminder: Squall and Irvine will be on top of the Presidential Residence, with a boulevard, a massive crowd, and the closed gates of the arch between them and Edea.
Meanwhile, the Gateway Team will be inside that arch, within jumping distance of the Sorceress.
But no. It's Squall's job to sprint over to the trapped parade cart and engage the Sorceress in 1 v 1. This is, explicitly, a job he's expected to do alone. Meanwhile the Gateway Team will comprise Quistis, Zell and Selphie. Caraway asks who will lead the Gateway Team and Sell, sensing his time in the spotlight, starts doing air punches… and Squall mentally apologizes to him before naming Quistis (Having to catch himself using her old title: "Instructor Trepe… Quistis Trepe, you're in charge.")
I love Zell's disappointed slump.
I rag on Squall a lot for his interpersonal issues but if he has one consistent quality it's that he's competent. He's a poor leader in terms of morale and team cohesion, but he knows who is good at what, he understands people's relationships and motivations (like recognizing that putting Irvine and Sell on the same team would spell trouble, or here that Zell expected to be next-in-line for leader ot the Timber Group if Squall was occupied and that he'll be disappointed), hs knows how to construct and enact a plan. He just chafes at authority, but ultimately he wants to get the job done: part of why he tore into Rinoa in a way he didn't Caraway is that Rinoa's scruples were keeping him from doing his job, whereas Caraway's contempt for the younger SeeDs and display of petty authorities irritate Squall but not to the point that he isn't on the ball with his objective.
Caraway's plan may be bad (and on a second assessment I do agree with the thread that it is mostly bad in a 'this is the best we could do under the circumstances' way rather than Caraway being a bad planner), but it is a plan. The directives are clear and Squall will perform to the best of his ability.
In a way… this is probably going to be Squall's real test, isn't it? This is the point where his strengths and weaknesses as a SeeD will come to a head and we'll find out if he truly has the making of a leader.
Notably, Caraway says that their duty is to make it sure that the Sorceress goes down, "even if it means compromising their identity," which… seems to suggest that this might actually be a principled stand on his part rather than part of an internal power play? He doesn't care if he's executed for treasons, ending the moral compromission of Galbadia's involvement with Edea is more important to him. Either that, or he intends to make a power play that same night and the chips will fall one way or another so there's no point trying for secrecy.
Caraway, Squall and Irvine leave the room, and we take control of Quistis. Just as we are about to head out as well… Rinoa comes in, having only just managed to free herself from wherever her father's staff had locked her up.
Notably, and following up on to the vibe of a strained father/daughter relationship we already got, she doesn't refer to Caraway as her "father" or even by his name or title, but as "that man." Cold. She's been rummaging through his room and found…
…A magical bangle?
Specifically, a kind of fantasy power-suppressing item. This Odine Bangle was designed to suppress a Sorceress's powers. However, it probably wasn't tested on a real, live sorceress, and so it's unknown if it will actually work, so Caraway (probably wisely) elected not to use it for this mission. Rinoa has a different idea however - for her, this is her big break, this bold new technology is her chance to make the Sorceress hit her own, prove to the SeeDs that she's resourceful and so on.
Zell comments that the "Odine brand" should be pretty effective regardless, as they are "N°1 when it comes to magical goods." We've heard the name Odine before, although I forgot to mention it at the time; the tutorial desks said that Dr Odine was responsible for the discovery and development of para-magic. Looks like he built a successful business out of his discoveries.
Quistis is… less than impressed.
I mean, her questions make perfect sense. On its face, if we assume that the Bangle works, then a garment that would neutralize the Sorceress's power would be invaluable… but that requires getting it on her. This is an item that has two real uses - as shackles for a captured opponent, or as something you'd sneak on them with an elaborate plan to trick them into putting on. The first angle would require achieving their objective of neutralizing Edea to begin with, and the second angle would require significantly more prep work than they have available.
She is pretty aggressive about it, though. Once again, that same accusation of treating this whole thing like a game, a proxy for her father-daughter dispute. Quistis shuts Rinoa down, and leaves; once alone, Rinoa slumps down, muttering that this isn't a game to her, clearly depressed. Those series of rejections have done a number on her morale.
Outside, Caraway is leading both teams to their hiding spots, and Irvine and Squall have a running conversation.
Irvine: "So like… if you knew that your enemies were pure evil, you'd get more fired up to fight them, right?"
Squall, mentally: "(Right and wrong are not what separates us and our enemies. It's our different standpoints, our perspectives that separate us.)"
Squall, mentally: "(Both sides blame one another. There's no good or bad side. Just 2 sides holding different views.)"
…
I'm conflicted. On the one hand, seriously tackling conflict as being about people opposed by their perspective and individually understandable goals would… actually be fairly novel and nuanced for the Final Fantasy series. Not to say the games haven't had good character psychology and writing before! And I would be expecting an evil god monster by the end anyway, but so far no game has really featured an opposition of 'people doing good from their own perspective' aside from very early in V when we're running around blowing up Crystal Amplifiers to the incomprehension of the local kingdoms. Even Shinra are sociopathic mass murderers from the word Go.
On the other hand, I look back at when my teenage self thought, "what if both sides… are just doing their best from their own perspective… and no one is evil…" was a groundbreaking new kind of storytelling and kind of cringing. Like, it's not that sophisticated.
But I wonder if that's what's happening with Squall. If his mercenary cynicism isn't actually supposed to be a mechanism to distance himself from the conflict he'd be facing if he had to acknowledge right from wrong.
On Irvine's part I think it's different though. When he's asking that… I think he may be expressing doubt about his life path. Uncertainty about the notion of selling his murder skills to the highest bidder. Hmm. We'll see.
Although, again, while Squall in this conversation does have a cogent response, a nuanced take on the question Irvine just asked, HE DOESN'T VOICE IT AT ALL. HE JUST LEAVES IRVINE ON READ, AND SAYS NOTHING AT ALL.
It's starting to be genuinely incredible how Squall just stonewalls everyone while holding private conversations in his head. Like, Irvine is clearly expressing some kind of doubt and Squall has a decent answer and he just… Doesn't say anything.
The 'communication issues' theme is operating on two layers here, both in Squall failing at basic communication of his own thoughts and answers, and in the broader question of whether conflict is about good and evil or about people with different perspectives being unable to communicate them and reconcile their beliefs.
Caraway responds that she wants to establish her place in Galbadia Garden and the parade is to 'establish her place' in the region, and Squall muses that's why GGU wants her out; this isn't new information to us but it's a useful point to fill in a player who skipped the optional dialogue in Galbadia Garden.
Quistis, Zell and Selphie split off at the Arc de Triomphe (you'd think there'd be security, especially on a day like this, but it's completely unguarded) and Squall and Irvine take their appointed place in the crowd near the Presidential Residence.
I'm actually kind of impressed with the crowd the game has put together (we'll see more of them later). I don't think we've ever had that many characters in such a small place in an FF game just trying to sell the scope of a city-wide celebration in a major capital. The trick, I think, is that most of the crowd is made up of non-moving NPC textures without collision, with only a few actual NPC models doing animations to make the crowd as a whole feel alive, so as to spare the PSX's hardware. Still, it's really impressive for its time.
Then we get our first baffling decision of the evening.
Quistis - to her credit - thinks back to her conversation with Rinoa, and thinks she might have been too harsh on her. So her reaction is to…
Go back and apologize.
…
Her argument for this is that they still have time before 20:00 but that feels like… I mean, they're operating at such close margins that this feels like a wholly unnecessary risk. But… well, Quistis's problem is that she hasn't found anyone who likes or respects her, and now she's acting like Squall and biting people's head off for minor stupid ideas that could have been explained plainly? I can see how it would make sense for her to decide she has enough time to go back and try to patch things up, but it feels so weird.
Quistis tells the other two to stay there, but they don't feel they can let their leader wander off on her own, and so it's the whole group that heads back to the Caraway Estate.
Back at the estate, Caraway tried to have a moment with his daughter, but she's having none of it.
The animators for this game have put so much effort into every character's body language, it's really taking full advantage of their 3D models - whether that's Irvine with his feet on the table, Selphie's bubbly energy, Zell's restlessness but I think Rinoa may be the one with the most amount of effort put into giving her unique poses and gestures. Here, her totally wordless rebuff of her dad comes across with her raising her arm and doing a "shoo" or "talk to the hand" gesture that's both a total rejection of even acknowledging he's talking to her and also really petulant in a kind of childish way. Caraway gives up and leaves the room… then Rinoa hears a beeping sound. The door is about to close.
…Okay so Caraway didn't, like, close the door on her and lock it behind him; he left it open but triggered a timed lock that has an audible warning sound. Was he expecting… anything other than the obvious to happen? Because yeah, Rinoa just… gets up and leaves. Although she does have to take a moment to psyche herself up.
But of course, this is set up for the next piece of this cluster fuck:
The Quistis team enters the room so she can make her apologies to Rinoa and the door closes behind them, locking them in.
This is silly. Ah, well.
However, Quistis's first concern isn't for herself - it's for Rinoa, because she has correctly guessed that the reason Rinoa isn't here is that she ran off to try and pull off her plan to use the Done Bangle all on her own. Which is incredibly reckless but, well, she's spent the last few hours completely helpless and just following along as people decided her fate and now she's trying to prove that she can be one of the players as well.
And now we take control of Rinoa, sneaking at the back of the Presidential Residence.
Now, this is not obvious in the moment, because we weren't shown how she snuck in, but the whole point of the Sniper Team's plan is to sneak in when the gates are open and Rinoa just… does it now? So I guess we could have just infiltrated the Residence whenever we liked? Whatever.
We get some laborious animations of Rinoa climbing over crates and roof ledges, very well detailed and very slow, while she affirms her resolve to herself and says this isn't some kind of game to her. Then, once she gets to the rooftop, we move to…
…The Sorceress's chambers.
This is the second time we see Edea on screen. Her first appearance had a lot of presence and spooky vibes, but it was brief; this is the real deal. It's time to see if the game can cash in these checks.
We don't really see the witch right now. She's just sitting in that chair of hers, facing the double doors ahead, framed by these ethereal white curtains. Rinoa approaches and, hesitating and stammering, tries to sell the line she cooked up on the way here: That she is the daughter of General Caraway, an important personage, and that she has come to pay her respects and offer a small gift to the great Sorceress.
It's a poor lie, but in the same way that the whole operation is a poor plan - Rinoa has one asset, little backup or prep time, and she has to improvise or lose her chance to use it. This is her best available lie because it's rooted in truth, and if she struggle to sell it it's because she didn't exactly get spy training or acting lessons. It's brave, at the very least. And it could even work - if the Sorceress was particularly prideful, arrogant in the "assume that everyone is always in awe of how important I am and it's natural to grovel before me," this could easily play into her ego enough to put on the shiny bauble.
Unfortunately that turns out to be a major misread.
The Sorceress doesn't even bother turning her head to look at Rinoa. As the girl approaches, there's a flash of light, and she is knocked back clear across the entire room. Rinoa starts pulling herself up, when suddenly her right arm twitches - and starts rising in the air as if someone were holding it and pulling her up by the wrist.
There are many ways to depict telekinesis, and especially manhandling someone with it. Darth Vader's Force Choke is probably one of the best and most striking, but perhaps as a result, telekinetically lifting people by the neck specifically might be somewhat overplayed. The telekinetic wrist grab, while rarer, has a certain… visceral effect to it, the way Rinoa is trying to struggle while her own body is turned against her and the unnatural angle she's at, it's genuinely kind of disturbing. Rinoa tries raising her hand, and it's not clear what happens next, other than another blow - her head snaps back, and she falls limp to the ground, her body in the disturbingly unnatural pose of a puppet whose strings have been cut.
Then we get to see the witch.
…Ma'am?
This is a very strange cutscene. In case it's not clear what's happening - at the start, Edea has long, flowing dark hair, which rapidly starts receding into the bird-like mask she's wearing, even glowing red before the last strands pull in: then the beak has that same glow and parts, while Edea tilts her head back with a strange expression; when the mask is gone, she opens her eyes, which were closed, and stands up, her expression reminiscent of someone who just woke up or just gathered their senses to where they were. She then unfolds a piece at the back of her dress which becomes a sun-like back piece with two white trails, all the while moving with very sensuous motions, before heading through the double doors - as in, she doesn't even bother opening them, she literally just passes through as if they were water, and heads towards President Deling, the stage arranged for her, and the crow of thousands who cheer her arrival. Meanwhile, Rinoa is slowly standing up behind her, but she pays her no mind.
To me, this all suggests that Edea was in a sort of… trance, before Rinoa arrived. The helm and artificial hair are some kind of, perhaps amplifying device? Or VR helmet of some kind? This is a wild guess, but perhaps she was in communication with someone, with the hair acting as some kind of receiver?
It's even possible that she didn't consciously knock out Rinoa, that these were just her automated spell defenses, or sleeping reflexes. Equally possible, perhaps even more likely, is that Edea did hear Rinoa, but she didn't really see through her lie as such; rather, she literally doesn't care what some girl from the Galbadian elite has to say to her, and she swatted her away as one might a fly without even paying attention to her speech or the Bangle.
Either way, presence: sold.
Edea takes her place at the lectern, and Rinoa follows after her, smiling dreamily and wobbling in place.
Welp. Score 2 for Edea's mind control. Rinoa is clearly completely under her power.
In the crowd below, Irvine calls out to Squall, pointing at "That girl" behind the Sorceress, and Squall says, "Rinoa…?" But before they can assess the situation, it's time.
For the Sorceress's big speech.
Edea: "...Lowlifes."
Edea: "...Shameless filthy wretches."
Edea: "How you celebrate my ascension with such joy."
Edea: "Hailing the very one whom you have condemned for generations."
Edea: "Have you no shame? What happened to the evil, ruthless sorceress from your fantasies?"
Edea: "The cold-blooded tyrant that slaughtered countless men and destroyed many nations?"
Edea: "Where is she now?"
Edea: "She stands before your very eyes to become your new ruler. HAHAHAHAHA."
Edea: "A new era has just begun."
…
I think maybe we haven't considered this situation from all appropriate angles. Squall did draw our attention earlier to the fact that conflict is never really between good and evil but between people with different perspectives and, when you think about it, isn't it natural for Galbadia to be worried about Balamb Garden's obvious imperialism and to seek security guarantees within its rightful sphere of influence? After all SeeDs have been ruthlessly cutting down poor Galbadian soldiers so it's only natural for Galbadia to seek the support of the great Sorceress -
NO STOP BONKING ME I WON'T BE SILENCED
Ahem.
President Deling, clearly concerned with the contents of Edea's speech, yet interestingly not so concerned that he'd call guards or worry about his safety, instead approaches her and asks "E-Edea… Are you alright..?"
Edea's response is to stab him through the chest with her claws, effortlessly lifting him up into the air as purple flames engulf his body.
Edea: "This is reality. No one can help you now. Sit back and enjoy the show."
One might expect confusion from the crowd, even a wave of panic, if not at Edea's speech, at least at the apparent public murder of their leader. But no. The camera pans up over the crowd, just as vast, just as enthusiastic, still cheering.
Edea tosses Deling's body aside, and a weird kind of smoke starts emanating from it, but he's not moving anymore. Without any further attention for what was once the most powerful man in the world, Edea turns back to the crowd.
Edea: "Rest assured, you fools. Your time will come. This is only the beginning."
Edea: "Let us start a new reign of terror. I will let you live a fantasy beyond your imagination."
(She turns around and leaves.)
…
Okay.
This is quite the sudden upset. It was always in the cards, even likely that the Sorceress was playing Deling somehow; he is a bland technocrat in a suit, she is a fantasy witch with a horned headdress who is heir to a millennia-old tradition of magic.
But I wasn't expecting her to just murder him in front of the nation on her first public address.
And even more baffling, the population of Deling City just… Did not react in any way except with more cheers and flag-waving.
Are they all mind-controlled? They didn't seem that way when we talked to the Deling City population earlier. But it's entirely possible she's been using a more… Wide-ranging, low-key kind of mind influence that's nudging them towards obeying her, even as she promises them a reign of terror. If so, then her threat level is clearly incredible; the ability to influence thousands of people to go along with her desires obviously presents an incredible threat to the world.
It's also possible that no mind-control is necessary. The Forest Owls claimed that Deling was massively unpopular even within his own country, maintaining power through military force. It seemed like at least partially cope, but if it was true, then… It's possible that the people of Deling City are accepting this coup because Deling unwittingly already presented the Sorcerer as a potential better leader while hyping her up to his people, setting the stage for her to usurp him. But if so, you'd expect something like at least a reaction of shock from the crowd before they went along with it. And it's… Possible that I misread the crowd cheering during the camera pan and they were instead screaming in shock, but if so, they immediately went back to cheering.
So, provisional theory: widespread but subtle mind control.
…
Edea's speech is so interesting, though.
Like, she is casting herself as the Wicked Witch of legend. She is all but cosplaying Maleficent. She is literally telling everyone that she is the boogeyman of all their fairy tales, the villain of their history books, and that she will now rule them and usher in a new reign of terror. And at the same time… There is a palpable bitterness and spite that is oozing through her every word. This is a woman who feels she's been wronged; who despises ordinary mortals for generations of villainizing her and her kind, of attributing her whatever evils she may or may not have committed.
It's entirely possible we're looking at a genuine Wicked Witch who has been evil this whole time and is now relishing a chance to visit that evil upon the world. It's also possible we're looking at a victim of lifelong persecution, driven into hiding and made a monster of in the world's tales, who has now decided that if the world will cast her as a villain, she will play the role to its fullest.
Which means she may very well have a sympathetic backstory… But her next move makes it clear that either way, right now, a villain's part is what she will play.
Edea heads back into the building, pauses to say she'll "end this ceremony with a sacrifice,' and joins her hands.
Hundreds of yards away, the statues of monsters framing the Arc de Triomphe come to life, and jump down into the street. It's a pretty impressive bit of animation, turning a statue to color and life and having it bound about with agility as people try to get out of the way; on the stage, Rinoa is finally shaken out of her trance just in time to see the chimeric beasts pounce upon her.
From below, Squall and Irvine don't see what follows - only the beasts leaping up onto the stage, and Rinoa disappearing as their tails thrash through the air.
Irvine shakes Squall's shoulder, telling him Rinoa's in big trouble and they gotta help her, but Squall brushes him off - the gate's not open, they can't head in.
…
Again, Rinoa managed to sneak into the residence perfectly well on her own. I don't know what this is about.
Ah, well. Cut for image count.