It is between Discs 1 and 2 when Final Fantasy IX really gets a hold of me, and I start to take the whole experience more seriously.
You can cruise through the first disc without too much trouble, but after that the game starts to test your commitment and your grasp of the battle system. It’s also when extracting abilities from items gets very important and keeping up with the Mognet mail delivery gets interesting. Fortunately, I’m all over those things. Garnet is determined to go back to Alexandria and talk her crazy mother out of destroying the rest of the Mist Continent. Knowing the princess must remain incognito until she’s within her kingdom’s borders, Steiner smuggles her through South Gate in a bindle bag full of gysahl pickles. (The smell is so strong that the guards can’t bear to check his luggage.)
I love that part for reasons I can’t explain. This, along with the intense battle in Burmecia, really makes me feel something for the characters. Even the villains are gaining some depth, which will become especially true of Beatrix as we play on.
CHAPTER THREE: Save the Trees! (Whoops, too late…)
Steiner and Dagger run into Cinna and Marcus of the Tantalus Group at a train station. Marcus travels with them to Treno, a large city where it’s always night...and “I Love the Nightlife” is always playing. *shudder* Just kidding, it's actually this very smart piano theme.
SO HOW DO PLANTS GROW HERE, ANYWAY?: "Sleepless City Treno"
You can bid on rare items in an auction house, play in the Tetra Master tournament and trade stellazio to a strangely hot duck-woman for cash. Great place to have fun, although I wouldn’t want to live there. Compromising their royal honor, the princess and her knight help Marcus break into a shop to find the Supersoft, which can cure Blank--who is still very much on the stiff side, as it were. In the process they meet one of my favorite side characters. This funny-looking birdman (no, not the rapper) named Dr. Tot reveals an underground route that will take them straight to the basement of Alexandria Castle.
Meanwhile, Brahne’s path of senseless destruction is leading from Burmecia to Cleyra, a village built on a large tree in the desert where other rodent people still live. A giant sandstorm has protected the place for a thousand years (someone must have forgotten to turn it off), but Zidane and Co. manage to sneak into the beautiful settlement and reunite with some interesting Burmecians. Remember Puck, that rat-boy who Vivi watched the play with at the start of the game? He’s actually the runaway prince of Burmecia, and a monster has a hold of him near Cleyra’s trunk. Do we have to do ALL the work around here?!
The vicious Antlion is without a doubt the toughest boss fight for me so far. Even more so than Beatrix, because you actually have to beat the thing. Towards the end of the battle it goes crazy and unleashes deadly sandstorm attacks that nearly kill everyone in the party. For a little while I’m throwing Phoenix Downs and Hi-Potions around just to stay afloat, and ordering Freya to jump just to keep her out of the boss’ range—when finally a Counter Horn attack knocks out Zidane, Vivi and Quina and I put down the controller, knowing that’s the end of the line. That's when Freya comes down out of nowhere with her final spear attack, finishing off the Antlion in the nick of time. You couldn’t ask for a more dramatic finish to a boss fight. Did I mention I’m in love with Freya? Yes, I know I’ve only been playing a few days, but it’s already serious. And I don’t have to justify our love to you! I know she has claws and looks like a rodent, but I can depend on her, dammit.
So just when everything seems fine…wouldn’t you know it, the sandstorm stops (I’m guessing Kuja is the culprit) and the Alexandrian forces invade. As Zidane, I managed to herd a bunch of NPCs to safety without any of them getting killed…only to start another fight with the badass general. We survive, but she swipes the magic crystal that used to power the sandstorm. The black mages are teleporting out on magic orbs that fly them back to Brahne's airship, the Red Rose. We hitch a ride on these things just before Cleyra is completely destroyed by Odin, an eidolon summoned by Brahne. (Forgot to mention, Dagger has the hidden power to summon eidolons. Upon her return to the castle, her psycho mother captured her and used Zorn and Thorn's magic to steal that power.)
SOME REALLY SEVERE WEATHER: VIDEO - "Odin Destroys Cleyra"
I’m going to miss Cleyra, even though its music was annoying. Perhaps the most memorable development before we left was the reappearance of Sir Fratley, Freya's lost love who hasn't been seen in five years. But what should be a joyous reunion is an awkward and almost tragic scene, because Fratley is suffering from amnesia and can't remember a thing about his former life, not even Freya. It says a lot about her that even when everything she held dear is now gone, she's able to continue on and fight another day.
The Red Rose is headed back to Alexandria Castle, but we have to get there first or else Queen Brahne will have Garnet executed. Using some orbs again, we beat her there by half an hour. The imprisoned Steiner and Marcus finally escape and run into us on their way out of the dungeon, so all that’s left to do is wake up the sleeping princess. Zorn and Thorn try to stop us, but we completely destroy them. With the help of Cinna and Blank, who’s finally been cured, we make it to Dagger...only to run into General Beatrix yet again.
By this time I know she doesn’t want to kill us and will pull her punches on purpose, so I just throw Phoenix Downs on anyone who gets KOed and leave them at low health while other characters keep hitting her. Then comes the inevitable Stock Break that takes everyone down to 1HP and ends the fight. Zidane reasons with her, and when she realizes the enormity of Brahne’s crimes, she stays behind with Steiner and Freya to cover our backs. It's great to have her on our side (as a PC in combat, no less), but getting Dagger out of this royal nuthouse is even better. We make a break for Lindblum, and it’s there that our journey will truly begin…
…So I’ll just leave you hanging for now.
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