Chapter Eight: That Damn Fairy Flute
I'll admit that I'm a
tiny bit late with this. I don't want to be a quitter
And besides, I still have challenges to complete!
Zidane, Vivi, Quina and Dagger. Not in that order.
See chapter title. I actually seem to get this on every playthrough but it can be phenomenally hard to get it from Hilgigars - did you?
My "challenge" for this chapter was simply to steal the Fairy Flute. It took me about twenty minutes of solid stealing, but I was expecting it to take longer, so I was happy with that. It took me almost as long to steal everything from Soulcage, in fact. I grabbed both of Amarant's items in just two attempts.
What do you think about Madain Sari and the Iifa Tree? I love the story in Madain Sari.
Yeah, it's pretty great, although I feel like I'm having to play as a babysitter quite a lot at this part of the game while Eiko and Vivi do some growing up
I think the story Zidane tells about Ipsen and Colin is a bit underwhelming, too. To paraphrase:
"Why did you come with me?", asked Ipsen. "Because I wanted to come with you", replied Colin. And nobody knows what happened to them after that.
We meet our final party member in this chapter. What do you think of him?
Meh. I agree with everything Avec wrote
here, basically. I feel less attached to Amarant than any other playable character in the game. I think Zidane was pretty stupid to ask him to tag along - there should have been some extra dialogue between the party and Amarant before they accepted him in, I think. I can't deny his usefulness in battle, especially once he can give everyone auto-life status, but the game wouldn't really have been any worse if he had been merely a boss/NPC. I guess the developers would have had to re-think the Hill of Despair scene with an odd number of characters though.
What do you think about the story events that transpire in this chapter? Specifically jtowards the end?
I think I've written some thoughts on Brahne elsewhere on this forum before, but basically I've never liked her and thought she deserved to die. I could even say that she
needed to die in order to move the plot on and drive Dagger's character development. I understand if that sounds a little cold, but honestly, despite her death-"bed" repentance, she was past the point of no return for me.
How are you finding the combat? Do you feel prepared enough level, equipment and ability-wise for the battles?
I'm still underlevelled (currently 16-18), as I have been for the whole game, yet nothing is really causing me any difficulties - unless I impose some extra restrictions on myself. Speaking of which, any ideas for chapters 9 and 10?
