Let's Play: Final Fantasy VIII - Part Six

Part Five

Masterpost

 Day Three: A Blog Within A Blog

 So after Zog has slept in his new bed, he's woken up with an announcement to get his arse down to the front gate so that he can go on his very first mission.

 So exciting.

Too badass for pyjamas, or a duvet apparently

 Now, pay attention to that text box, because I sure as hell didn't.

 I totally forgot where it told me to go, so I spent something like an hour wandering around the Garden trying to find where I was supposed to go.

 On the plus side, though, I did take the time to go to the totally pointless library and use the actually useful classroom console.

 The library itself was pretty well populated by students. Which now makes me wonder if Squall was lying.

Also, this guy was there

 However, I couldn't find anything particularly useful in the library, except the only dark skinned female character I've ever laid eyes on in any Final Fantasy game. She's a member of the library committee and has a huge crush on this kind of haughty SeeD who demanded a book and then said it was fine and he was in no hurry. So... I think he might like her too?

 I'm going to take pains to keep an eye on this blossoming romance.

 Also, while I was in here, I think I figured out why the students would still use the library even though it's not that useful.

 See, 'after hours' the students are only allowed in two places, the dorms and the training centre, so if they want to study after the school day is over their only choice is books.

 It's not just me, that's a screwed up system, right?

 Why not have consoles in their rooms too, then they could have all the information they need a their fingertips at all times.

 Speaking of consoles, I did actually use one.

 Did it contain an explanation of why Zog wears such a hideous outfit and why Seifer and his friends don't wear the uniform either?

 Why yes it does!

Goddamn you SeeD, you could have saved my eyes

 Of course, this does beg the question 'if there's no actual dress code, why do you have a uniform?'.

 Well, I know the reason they have a uniform, it's to save the character designers and modellers time, but in universe this makes about as much sense as the bloody library.

 I did some more looking around and managed to unearth the answer to a question that has been plaguing me since he showed up: Is Cid the headmaster's given name or surname?

NORG? I hope that's some kind of initialism...

 Given name, but that also makes little sense.

 The students call Quistis 'Instructor Trepe', so why are they so informal with the headmaster? The headmaster at our school would have had more than a few cutting remarks to make if any of us had called him Brian.

 The school's mission statement, or at least the goals it sets for its students, are also weird and confusing.

What the hell? Is this a thing to tell teenagers, really?

 They're contradictory too, you can be expelled for being too promiscuous.

 But you told them to play hard! You can't punish them for interpreting your incredibly vague instructions in a way that speaks to their burgeoning sexualities and hyped up hormones.

 They're also warned to be careful when entering into relationships.

 This place is so weird, sometimes it behaves more like an actual school than it actually has any right to, and sometimes it behaves more like an actual paramilitary organisation.

 I've got to wonder what the hell Cid Kramer's ideals were when he set this place up.

 The final thing that threw me for a loop was this:

The flower is a cursor, that's adorable

 It's Selphie's blog.

 It's a shame this came out in 1999, otherwise this would have been a choice time for a terrible pun. As it is, there's not pictures on this thing, just text.

 According to her latest post, Selphie has no friends at Balamb garden. Something I imagine changing quickly as Zell seems like a nice and personable guy, they should get along just fine.

 I'm going to do all I can to make Zog be her friend, although maybe that's more of a curse than a blessing.

 One of the older posts lets us know that the reason she transferred to Balamb Garden is that she couldn't take the final exam at her own Garden.

 What? Why would anyone set up an education system up so that people are forced to change schools in order to graduate the programme?

 Anyway, I finally did get Zog to the front gate and he was issued with the mission.

 Zog, Selphie and Zell are commended to go to Timber to aid the resistance after Zell gets his hoverboard confiscated.

Even though he's graduated, he's still a student. Sense, that does not make.

 By the way, in order to make ourselves known to the resistance we have a 'I hear springtime is lovely in Amsterdam' style code. Which always makes me giggle.

 After they were sent on their way, I spent a fair while in the fire cavern drawing as much Fire magic as I could for Selphie and Zell. I'd junctioned it to their Magic and Strength stats respectively, so it was only common sense to go and max them out.

 Of course, this means that right now, Zell is far stronger than Zog. Which adds to the inherent badassery of his character as he just goes and punches his enemies instead of hitting them with a bladed weapon.

 That's hardcore.

 I got to actually heading to Timber during the next play session, Part Seven - Day Four: Two Times Three