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[R^2]

Back at the pub...

Doned:  You don't have any idea where Mewt went?
R2:  None.  Judgemaster Cid said he'd never leave the palace... So where could he have gone?
Doned:  Maybe Ritz knows?  Or maybe someone in her clan?
R2:  Everybody's too busy with the clan wars to care.
Doned:  *sigh* I guess we just have to sit and wait.
(enter a Templar)
Templar:  Ah, R2?  I have a message from Lord Cid for you.
R2:  Judgemaster Cid?  He's found Mewt!
Templar:  The queen and prince are both to be found in the Ambervale.  He asks you to come find him on the Deti Plains.
R2:  The Deti Plains?  Judgemaster Cid is there?
Templar:  Yes.
R2:  I see.  I'll leave right away!
(The Templar exits.)
Doned:  The Ambervale... I think that's the Royal Valley!
R2:  You've heard of it, Doned?
Doned:  It's supposed to be the most beautiful place in Ivalice.  The king used to have a summer palace there.

If Mewt's dad is the Judgemaster, who was the king?

R2:  The Royal Valley, huh?
Doned:  If you're going at all, go quickly!  The judgemaster's waiting for you.
Doned:  Be careful.

[R^2]

There's a fight against monsters on the Deti Plains. Afterward:

Cid:  You sure got here fast.
R2:  Well, it's not like I've got anything better to do.  Have you met them already?
Cid:  No, not yet.  There's something I need first.  That's why I've come here. R2, can I ask you to do something for me?
R2:  Certainly.  What?
Cid:  I want you to go to the Siena Gorge and find some amber.
R2:  Amber?
Cid:  It's a request from your friend Ezel, the genius.  He needs it to make a powerful antilaw.
R2:  An antilaw!?  You aren't going to use it, are you?
Cid:  We may need it in the Ambervale.
R2:  Are you sure it's OK?  You being the judgemaster and all?
Cid:  I'm prepared to face the consequences.
R2:  All right then.  I'll go look for some.
Cid:  I'll meet up with you there a little later.
(R2 nods, and the two walk offscreen. The camera pans across the battlefield, where Shara and Ritz have been listening in.)
Shara:  Seems like he's heading toward the Siena Gorge.  What do you want to do, Ritz?  Should we follow him?
Ritz:  ....

All right! [To Ambervale] cleared!

[R^2]

We go to Siena Gorge. Clan Ritz is waiting for us at the top of one cliff.

Ritz:  Heh.  Hah hah!
Shara:  What's so funny?
Ritz:  Just, R2 always got picked on over there...  When I imagined us engaging him head-on... It just seemed kind of funny.
Shara:  They don't pick on R2 anymore, though.  Not here.
Ritz:  True.
(Enter Clan Liness!)
R2:  Ritz...
Ritz:  I hoped we'd never have to meet like this.
R2:  Ritz, I...
Ritz:  I have no desire to discuss this with you, R2.  I can't let you go any farther.  And even if it means fighting you, I won't back down.
R2:  My feelings exactly, Ritz.  I have to see Mewt.  And that means I'm going through this valley.

We engage. On Ritz's first turn:

Ritz:  Let's go, Shara!
Shara:  Ritz, you don't have to do this, you know.  We can stop him without you.

Hysterical laughing man rolls on floor

Ritz:  No.  I know what I'm doing.  I'll see this through.
Shara:  OK, as long as you're cool.  Sorry I asked, Ritz.

And on my first turn:

R2:  You said from the beginning you didn't want our world back.  But you knew it would have to come back, didn't you?
Ritz:  Maybe I did.  I guess... games always have an ending, after all.  That's part of the fun, really.  Getting to the end.  Of course, sometimes you don't want them to end just yet...
R2:  I know Ritz, I understand.
Ritz:  That's why I decided I'd at least do everything I could.  Even if the world is going to turn back no matter what.  I don't have to take it lying down!

So we climb the hill to where they are, I put most of them to sleep, I steal the Ribbons off of those I didn't, I put them to sleep, and steal all the other good stuff they have. Ritz has the Femme Fatale, the strongest rapier up to this point, maybe in the game. Shara has Seventh Heaven, a greatbow that teaches hunters Ultima Shot. We also pick up another Nirvana Staff; a Max's Oathbow (highest attack power greatbow to this point, teaches Doom Archer to Snipers); and a Galmia Set, a Brint Set, and a Silver Coat, all high-grade clothes; from the rest of Clan Ritz.

Then we knock out Ritz, since this was a "Beat the Boss" fight.

R2:  I don't suppose you'd come with me if I asked?
Ritz:  We'll let you pass... But I'll have you know my mind is still made up.
R2:  OK.  I understand.  See you later.  Judgemaster Cid is waiting for me.
(R2 walks a short distance away, then turns.)
R2:  Hey, Ritz!  Will you hate me if I bring the real world back?
Ritz:  No, I won't.  I don't think what you're doing is wrong, either.  I just want to stay here, that's all.
(Exit R2)
Ritz:  He's really going to do it.
Shara:  You think so?
Ritz:  The old R2 wouldn't have a chance... But he's different now.  He's changed.  I wonder why I haven't.
Shara:  Let's go, Ritz.  The world hasn't turned back yet!

All right! [Over the Hill] cleared!

Ambervale appears on the map. I don't get to place it, it's set in a new spot automatically. With Jagd Helje, Ozmonfield, Siena Gorge, Deti Plains, and Ambervale all in place, the map is all full. That's all the territory there is.

[R^2]

We now resume our endgame rush to complete a bunch of side missions, already in progress.

Checking the new rumors...





















All of the Clan League fights are the same. You take the job, and the clan in question wanders the world map. You have a choice of whether to engage or not when you meet them. You trade a few "We'll win!" "No, we'll win!" quotes at the beginning, utterly curbstomp the engagement, and are taken to the victory screen.


For brevity's sake I'll skip the useless chatter. The Blue Geniuses were even worse off than usual for clans I fight -- one law for the day forbade Color Magic.








One of them was wearing a Black Hat, which I stole.




No laws in effect just makes this a no-holds-barred beatdown.


We are indeed. After the fight...


Just like "Missing Prof", there's a chance of a secret character joining you after "Clan League". It's the sniper, LittleVili!


She doesn't start with any amazing skills, but gaining 30 levels in sniper makes her a formidable fighter anyway.






I don't have the shot setting up this mission, but it's worth pointing out that I finished it. The Insignia can be taken on missions as an optional item to double the AP output of that mission. I don't know if it stacks with the Feather Badge, since "A Worthy Eye" consumes the Feather Badge to give you the Insignia.












Lini doesn't know any spells. He was equipped with the Heretic Rod, which doesn't teach any spells. How did he win a magic-user tournament?

If you take the Magic Trophy with you on a mission as an optional item, you're more likely to get a magician to offer to join your clan afterward. The Fight Trophy, which I picked up after Sprohm Meet much earlier, does the same thing for fighters, but I forgot to mention it at the time. I never use them anyway.




























Ally Finder 2 can be taken as an optional item to recruit clanners from advanced jobs. Combined with the Fight Trophy you're more likely to get Fighters or Defenders or whatever, with the Magic Trophy you're more likely to get Time Mages or Illusionists, with the Love Potion you're more likely to get Snipers or Summoners, and so on.




We have all the sigils again, so we craft them into Ceffyls and then another Spiritstone. The Spiritstone gives a small boost to all your units' attack and defense stats if it's taken on a battle mission.

Ruins Survey gives you the medal you need to do Swap Meet, which gives you the bills you need to do Seven Nights, which gives you the mushroom needed for...



It's annoyingly linear in that Adventure-game-logic sort of way.

Meanwhile



There are two jobs calling for Choco Bread, so you have to do this one, wander around for a year until it comes up again, and complete it the second time for your second hunk of bread.


The Witness calls for a Defender, a Bangaa-only job. Since I only just now got Pallanza, just recently switched him out of his default Gladiator, and just now got him the qualifications to switch into Defender, this guy's been waiting for me to do this job since very early in the game.






This would have been nice when Ramses first screwed the mission up. Now the Black Hat I get as a reward is my fourth, since I've stolen so many.


Choco Bread 1 consumed.
































Choco Bread #2 consumed.




This one calls for Moonwood, which we just got, and Danbukwood, which I got for a mission I don't have screencaps for.




For some reason, you can't do this one until you finish "Bread Woes". Again, nonsensically linear.



And the Malboro Wine lets you do...





Conveniently, we have gone well out of our way to procure both Grownup Bread and Kiddy Bread!




This one demands you finish "Good Bread" first.



And the Cat's Tears...




And the Clock Post...



Fixing the town clock tower is apparently pretty difficult (must be all the medusa heads inside). I'd say Undine is my most capable clanner overall, and it's doubtful she could do it. A bunch of others are the same way.



Whew.

[R^2]

And a couple more, mixed in with the rest:

























And a bit later...








































































































Ezel takes forever to move, but when he does, he still likes using his unique skill Azoth to put the enemy party to sleep.

Unfortunately the enemy party saw this coming, and several of them are wearing sleep-resistant equipment.

So we beat them up the old-fashioned way.






























































Oops. "thing".












Ezel joins as his own unique job, the Hermetic. He has the best magic power in the entire game! Unfortunately, it's a waste. Ezel has his own skill set, Hermetics, consisting of:
Azoth: Casts Sleep on all enemies.
Astra: Protects an ally from the next status attack.
Block Arrows: Arrow attacks can't hit Ezel.
Weapon Attack+: Increases weapon power.
So with all that Magic Power, all Ezel gets is a couple of status-based, pass-or-fail, it-doesn't-matter-what-your-Magic-Power-is abilities. LAME! Throw in that his Speed stat is absolutely terrible and that he can't change jobs to anything else, and you've got a character doomed to sit on the sidelines from here to eternity. If you insist on bringing Ezel along, take a Time Mage or Juggler with him so he can get a move in before the battle's over. Otherwise, he might very well not.
Ezel can go on Dispatch Missions, but why waste the AP gained from a mission on someone who can never, ever learn any new abilities?

[Roger]

Mewt and Queen Remedi buggered off somewhere and no one has seen them since Present Day.

 

[R^2]

So in case I missed something important in losing all of those screenshots:

R2 is a blue mage. He knows Goblin Punch, Magic Hammer, Acid, Mighty Guard, Guard-Off, Dragon Force, Night, Twister, Lv3 Def-less, Matra Magic, Poison Claw, Hastebreak, Bad Breath, White Wind, Angel Whisper, Damage -> MP, Learning, and Blue Combo.
He knows most of the abilities from archer, thief, fighter, and ninja, too.

Montblanc sucks.

Gallahan has mastered white mage, black mage, beastmaster, and alchemist. He is an okay sage. He is currently a Morpher, a job I haven't described yet.

Undine is an assassin, currently learning the combo skill for assassin to master it. She's mastered red mage, too.

Ramses has mastered soldier and archer. He's a good thief, fighter, and ninja too. He is currently a ninja, waiting for Undine to finish with the Mythril Epee so he can learn the ninja combo skill and master that, too.

Both Johanes and Lini have mastered animist, and are close to mastering thief, juggler, and mog knight. Currently Johanes is a thief and Lini is a mog knight.

Eldena has mastered white mage, red mage, and summoner. I need one more rapier to learn a skill for elementalists before she can master that, too.

Pallanza is currently a dragoon. He's an okay gladiator and has remedial training as a warrior and defender.

Cheney is currently a ninja. He knows most hunter abilities, as well as a few soldier, thief, and fighter skills he's stolen.

Quin is currently a black mage. He's learned almost all the sage abilities there are to learn, and has some training as a white mage.

Littlevili is an assassin. After learning all there was to know about being a sniper, she dove up the job tree for elementalist to get to assassin. After learning a few of these skills she still needs to go back to archer to learn Concentrate.

Ezel is a Hermetic, which sucks for reasons I've been over already.


The mythril weapons I own are sword, saber, brand (knightsword), rapier, epee (katana), staff, rod, mace, bow, spear, bell, and gun. Yeah, I got into a lot of random encounters doing all those side missions.
The mythril weapons I'm notably missing are blade and knife. Greatbow would be nice, but isn't that important. I don't care about souls or claws.

[Ted Belmont]

Kind of disturbing in a game that prominently features bunnygirls.

[R^2]

Stush accurately observed that Lini won a magic tournament without actually knowing any spells. Meanwhile, Ramses failed a mission that required him to wear a hat.

[Brentai]

Ramses couldn't wear the hat because Lini was wearing it.

Also, the pants.

[R^2]

You don't keep anything you steal in this battle, so that law doesn't matter. No one in my party is an archer, hunter, sniper, or gunner, so I don't use missile weapons. And no one is a beastmaster or animist either, so I don't care that instruments are forbidden. Let's roll.














Llednar oddly doesn't use his super-powerful skills, since he's not constrained by Plot Reasons anymore. He just sticks with Abyss, which does some damage and causes poison -- if it hits. If.

[R^2]

Remedi whips off her royal garb to reveal a stripperiffic battle bikini and a giant fuckoff scythe.




She then summons phantoms of Adrammelech and Famfrit, both of whom are more powerful than their original Totema forms.
















Remedi has no skills, abilities, or powers. Just a big damn claw weapon, high attack power and HP, and boss immunities.


We ignore the Totemalikes and go straight for the goal.


The fight is about as brief as you'd expect against someone who has no abilities equipped, considering everyone present has either Strikeback or Reflex equipped as a reaction. Remedi literally cannot hurt us.


















































Reme-- well, whatever that thing is, it summons two shades of Mateus this time. Again, they're stronger than the original Totema.






She can change the law at will and neutralize the whole party's status -- which given our stock of Angel Rings, means she can wipe out our partywide Reraise at a whim -- as her primary skills. Her secondary powers are a bunch of partywide damaging spells.


You don't say.


Go, Undine!










And Ramses!










WOULD YOU SHUT UP I AM TRYING TO FIGHT A FINAL BATTLE HERE














Gallahan, you're up!










These Totema aren't actually doing much damage, overall. They're flagged to do less damage to their own race (Mateus doesn't hurt humans as much as others, Exodus doesn't drain from Viera as much, etc.), so maybe the Li-Grim and her servants are flagged as members of every race to keep this sort of thing from working.

Oh, by the way.





Li-Grim can summon Totema, too. Ow, my MP.

Well, hitting her with a slew of Totema isn't working.


Everyone gather 'round.


R2 strikes with a backhand blow, knocking the Li-Grim into the air.


Undine flies out of the background, striking with her katana.


Cheney does the same, springing from the shadows for a lethal strike, like any ninja should.


Meanwhile, Pallanza hops backward to ready himself, leaps skyward...


...and lands spear-first, in true dragoon style.


R2 rains one blow after another...






...before smashing the Li-Grim back down to the ground.


COMBO'D. That's motha-fuckin' teamwork.




That asskicking was so brutal we woke Mewt up from his coma.

[R^2]

Combos take the attack power of the person initiating the combo. In this case, that's R2 equipped with a Tulwar, one of the strongest weapons I have.

Then, each other character nearby checks the combo skill they have equipped. Each one has a given range -- Combat combo, as Ramses had, requires him to also be adjacent to the target. Killer combo allows Undine to be one space away, and Dragon combo lets Pallanza be up to four panels away. If Lini were able to join the melee and Gallahan hadn't been KOed, Animal combo and Beast combo also require the user to be adjacent.

If a teammate is in range, their combo also allows them a chance to join in and hit the target. I intentionally took combos that were reliable, but some are very inaccurate. Red combo only hits 70% of the time, Summon combo 60%, and the Gadget combo only 30%.

If the combo hits, the teammate doesn't do their own damage -- instead they add to the base attack power of the initial hit. Combat, Dragon, and Killer combo all add 10%, for a total bonus of 30% to R2's already-substantial attack power. (Beast and Animal combo both add 12%, had their users participated.)

The end result is a single massive hit that, upon retrospect, could have oneshotted the Li-Grim as soon as we all got into position in the first place.

[R^2]

[R^2]

Oops. "going home"






























































Doned and Ezel share a brief glance...




...before Ezel disappears from sight.


As does the pubmaster.

[R^2]

[R^2]

Looks kinda purple to me.






































The douchebag trio starts hucking snowballs again.


































Roll credits! We're done!


Yep, completely done! Nothing more to see here!

[R^2]

Oh, um.


Oh yeah, we haven't claimed every corner of Ivalice as our own clan turf yet. And there's still more missions to complete, too. Looks like we're in for some postgame content!

[R^2]

Well, that's a creepy thing to say.






























Even though R2 and Mewt stood up to them in the real world, they're still terrorizing the people of imaginary Ivalice. They're not zombies anymore, either.


Ritz as a guest and the three rather weak enemies mean I only get to bring a couple of units of my own. "Status" is banned here, so while they can't do their nasty attacks to me, I can't petrify them or anything either. Hell, they probably have boss immunities anyway.


With sabers and status effects both outlawed, R2 is hard-pressed to find something to contribute. White Wind heals undead, though.


Angel Whisper does not.















If they were hurting people, they must have had rocks inside. OH WAIT NOW I GET IT






































It was kind of inevitable, really. Ritz joins Clan Liness, apparently leaving the rest of Clan Ritz to wonder why they're named that anymore. She's got a bunch of Fencer levels under her belt -- again, being a girl she takes Viera jobs

-- giving her good HP and attack. But she joins so late in the game, do I really want to bother training another Viera? I already have Undine, Eldena, and LittleVili...

[Brentai]

tbf having seen the ending I think there's an implication that Ritz has Viera jobs because she's "blessed by the spirits" or whatever, not because she's blessed with a cooter.