Strange how this thread has turned out…I thought it would all be like Chapters 1 and 2, really casual and lighthearted. But as I played I got sucked in more and more. Now my descriptions are longer and more cohesive. I’ve even gone back and edited the previous chapters to add better pictures and plot details that I missed, because I care that much.
I knew Final Fantasy IX was a fun game; I remembered that from my first attempt. But as I started to replay it last month, I didn’t expect to fall in love with it. It started to happen somewhere in Disc 2. Before I knew it I was reciting the dialogue as if I were on a stage, mimicking Freya’s dance moves in the Cleyran ceremony (she did a much better job), trying to teach the characters every ability they could learn and referring to the party as “us” instead of “them.” A buddy of mine who played it long before me once said, “I don't know where I started to notice it, or at what point I truly became aware of it, but I realized what this game has. What separates it from (and, at least in this one aspect, places it actually ABOVE) the other games in the series. This game has more heart and spirit than probably any other game I've ever played. Final Fantasy or not.”
Not only do I understand what he meant now, but I’m able to enjoy everything in the game, even the parts he didn’t like. It's been everything I hoped it would be and much more. Now, time to review the showdown on Terra…
CHAPTER EIGHT: “I, GARLAND, WILL KNOCK YOU ALL DOWN!!! ...WITH MY MIND”
Here we are in Pandemonium. With the help of his pals, especially Dagger, Zidane has sidestepped a complete breakdown and we’re ready to take our revenge on Garland. Zidane’s promise (“I AM the new angel of death! Yours!!!”) has yet to be fulfilled.
(Who says IX’s character design doesn’t allow for a scary-looking villain?)
Figuring out a way through the security systems is not too difficult for an awesome group like us, and soon we’re confronting him face-to-face at the top of Pandemonium. He doesn’t promise to knock us all down, but the difference between our philosophies is spelled out pretty well before the fight.
Garland: You told me you'd become my angel of death. But think for a moment... isn't life death itself? It must kill other life-forms to survive…sometimes it even kills those with whom it shares blood. To live is to give life meaning, yet one must take others' lives to survive... A mature civilization becomes aware of this paradox. Terra's souls will sleep until they forget such nonsense. They will begin a new life in a new dimension. It's a world in which life and death become one... That is the dimension in which we are meant to live, as beings that transcend life and death! Zidane... I'll ask you one more time. Who are you!?
Zidane: You're a sad man, Garland. We know more than you... We're not perfect, but we have friends who help us. That is reason enough for us to live!
Steiner: I may not know who I really am, but that is my question alone to answer!
Freya: We live not to forget our past, but to learn from it!
Dagger: We may be weak, but that's what makes us work together and help one another!
Garland: ...Then show me! Lecture me again when you are on the verge of death!
However, the old mecha-sorcerer overestimates himself. He can pull some neat tricks with magic and psychokinesis, but he can’t stand up to us in a good old-fashioned fight, and that’s exactly what we turn it into. Soon enough he backs down, greatly weakened. But while we were distracted, Kuja has seized the opportunity to steal the show. I wondered where he was during all this time. Turns out he swiped the Invincible and plans to destroy both his father and brother. He comes down and taunts Garland, then challenges us. Delighted with the chance to finally get a piece of this guy, Zidane & Co. bash him from pillar to post. The tables turn when Kuja actually goes into Trance and casts Ultima, nearly killing us. Drunk on power and visions of being Terra’s new master, he kicks Garland off the platform, where he falls to his death.
However, Garland’s life doesn’t end with the loss of his physical form. A guy like him would know how to leave something behind—in this case, his disembodied voice. Kuja’s been a bad boy lately, so he gets a good scolding…
Garland: Do you think a defect like you could last forever? ...I built you to last only until the worthy Genome, Zidane, grew. It was too dangerous to let you last any longer than that.
Kuja: What are you saying?
Of course, he’s saying not only that Kuja is mortal, but that he's going to expire any day now. Needless to say, he doesn’t take it very well.
Kuja: I don’t believe you! Why would I believe such a silly story? You’re telling me that I’ll die soon, now that I’m more powerful than anyone? I’m gonna…die? Lose my soul? Ha…HAHAHAHAHAHA! What comedy! Zidane, isn’t it hilarious?! I’ll die just like the black mages I so despise! I single-handedly brought chaos unto Gaia, but in the end, I’m nothing but a worthless doll!
KUJA THROWS A TANTRUM: VIDEO - "Kuja Destroys Terra"
I doubt if Kuja was ever playing with a full deck, but this revelation sends him completely over the edge. He refuses to let the world exist without his services, and begins tearing apart Pandemonium and the remains of his homeland with Ultima spells. We’ll be damned if we’re going to die in this god-forsaken place, and showing our usual initiative, we excuse ourselves and steal the Invincible. Zidane insists on evacuating his fellow Genomes from Bran Bal before it’s destroyed. He saves them all—including his “sister” Mikoto (who was the third special Genome Garland made, after Kuja and Zidane). The most powerful airship in existence warps out of Terra and back onto Gaia. It’s good to be home.
NOT THIS $#!+ AGAIN: "The Evil Mist's Rebirth"
Or it would be…if most of the planet's surface wasn’t cloaked in fog. The Iifa Tree is back to its old tricks, and worse than ever. It’s producing a crapload of mist everywhere and its roots have spread all over Gaia, even blocking access to some towns and cities. A reddish-purple sphere of dark energy—Memoria—appears above the Tree. From what I can gather, Kuja has reactivated it to serve as a portal from Terra to Gaia. (Putting aside the whole business about halting the cycle of souls, that’s the Tree’s most basic function.) Having finished off his own world in fairly short order, Kuja is going after Zidane’s world next. What’s our next move? I’ll tell you in the final chapter, the ninth. ^^
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