Let's Play: Final Fantasy VIII - Part Twenty One

Part Twenty

Masterpost

Day Nine: Why Isn't Rinoa The Main Character?

 I think it bears mentioning that there are soldiers hanging around in the town square. They're there in case of an attack by soldiers from Esthar, something that both seems unlikely and is a distinct possibility as the place is ruled by a sorceress.

 But if there are soldiers there, why is a patrol necessary?

 Because the soldiers are literally too lazy to do anything but stand around and their inaction has caused the entire town to become infested with monsters.

 Your tax gil at work, citizens of Galbadia.

 So the job is left to two former soldiers who hear voices to run from one end of town to the other in order to try and thin out the hoardes.

 Well, that's the excuse in game, for all it's a flimsy one. the actual reason is so that they can have boy talk about whether Laguna likes Raine or not and whether his interest in her is the real reason he hasn't gone back to Deling City.

 The short answer is yes, the long answer is 'are there any romances in this entire game that don't involve physical or mental trauma as a catalyst?'. Basically, Raine stuck Laguna back together after he slipped off that cliff and that's why he likes her.

 They also chat about Laguna's dream to be a journalist, and Kiros did some legwork for him with the Timber Maniacs so he can start working with them. Clearly, Kiros is the best friend in the whole world.

 That's pretty much the gist of the entire trip, although I did see something that definitely weirded me out.

I found it in a hotel and restaurant in the town.

 Why is there a map of the real world here? Because the world map of VIII looks nothing like this.

 Square keeps doing this kind of thing. Remember the South Korean ribs in VII?

 It's disconcerting.

 Once they get back we end up with a scene where Raine lists all the reasons she wouldn't marry Laguna to Ellone. To be fair to Raine, Ellone did ask, she didn't just rant at a four year old out of the blue.

A solid basis for a relationship if I ever saw one.

 Yes, that is Laguna and Kiros eavesdropping in the corner. Kiros was the instigator, so don't be too hard on Laguna, eh?

 Once they're done acting like nosy twelve year olds, Laguna and Kiros go up and report their results before heading off to Laguna's for a rest.

 Before going to sleep, Laguna confesses to Kiros that he's genuinely scared that he might wake up somewhere else than this town. Which I guess is understandable, he's got friends and family here, and has imprinted on Raine.

 (I also feel compelled to point out that there's one bed in that room, so I'm assuming he's sleeping with Kiros. Heheheh.)

 In a nice transition, focus turns to Zell, who wakes up in a cell with his three lady comrades with his gentleman comrades nowhere to be seen.

 During the Laguna flashback, it turns out that he was having a vision of Ward. However, since neither Quistis or Selphie appear to have been having a vision, we've got to assume that Irvine was having the vision of Kiros. Something further supported by the fact that Kiros had Irvine's level (although not his junctions, boo hiss).

Zell's vision was less interesting than Irvine and Zog's, as he was just seeing Ward do his job at a prison, something that interests Nina as she's rapidly proving to be the smartest person in the group.

 She works out where they are and that it's where Ward worked during Zell's vision. Which will turn out to be incredibly important shortly.

 But, for the moment, it's time to return to Zog.

 Now, remember how I said that the whole 'Zog gets stabbed with an ice spear and falls six feet off a float' wasn't as dramatic as framed and would actually get less dramatic as events unfolded?

 Well, this is the exact reason why:

Acting... getting.... Shatner.

 Great, there is no physical evidence that the most dramatic thing to occur since the mediocre train robbery even happened. No cool scars for Zog.

 And I said cool, that thing on his face doesn't qualify as it doesn't have a good reason to be there and contradicts a shockingly large amount of character development.

 Although speaking of cool, it turns out that Zog's cell is part of a modular system of cells that can be moved around by mechanical means.

 The whole place looks like it was designed by Aperture Science, which honestly isn't a bad thing.

They do what they must, because they can.

 It's a well designed evil prison. Points to Square.

 While this is going on, some guards go and get Nina and beat up Zell. One of them is called, and I'm not kidding here, Mean Guy. Which is amazing but not necessarily in a good way.

 Then we switch back to Zog.

 Once he's been moved to the place the prison wants him, Zog sees an old familiar face. Who picks him up and throws him onto a bed.

Nope, still don't ship it.

 Then he has him dragged off to a torture device in order to extract the secrets of SeeD from him.

 Which Zog does not have.

 Because contrary to what Seifer believes, they don't actually tell new graduates anything abut what SeeD is actually for.

 By the way, wouldn't interrogating Quistis be far more likely to yield results? She's been a SeeD for longer and was even a teacher, if anyone in this group knows the secret nature of SeeD, it's her.

 Although, I guess it makes sense for him to be pissy at Zog. I mean, he beat him in a fight earlier, and he did slice his face open. Which is something that Seifer only just seems to have remembered. If the writers managed to remember it happened, that is.

 -sigh-

 During their conversation we learn that Seifer's 'romantic dream' is apparently something that he's had since childhood. Let's not beat around the bush here, he's gone wrong somewhere down the line.

 Zog calls him a torturer, which is accurate and Seifer has him given a strong electric shock.

 Now, you're probably wondering why I'm not showing you that. Well, because this is more interesting.

 Have a good look at his hands.

 There is nothing there, he's pulling an invisible lever. That thing that looks like it's a lever is just a cable on the floor. See how it lines up with one on the other side of his legs?

 This happens several times. It's hilarious.

 From this we go back to Zell and Co. and here I'm going to introduce these weird cat things that keep wandering around the prison.

 Selphie tries to heal Zell's wounds, and as she fails it becomes clear that there's an anti-magic field in the prison. Which does sound silly, but it's entirely possible that this prison was intended to contain Sorceresses.

 Anyway, after her failure, this weird cat thing comes in.

There isn't even anything on that tray.

 These things showed up in the scene where Seifer threw Zog around in his cell. I think they're weird slave-staff members, but as of the time I'm writing this, I have not been provided with an explanation by the game.

 This one falls over and it's back to Zog.

 Here is transpires that missiles are going to be fired upon Balamb Garden.

 I warned you, I bloody warned you that this exact thing was going to happen! I warned you multiple times.

-ahem-

 After this, Seifer leaves and Zog tells the invisible lever puller the most amazing lie I think I've ever seen in my life.

 He said SeeD's purpose was to spread flowers all over the world to sap people's will to fight, and then strike to take over the world.

 Then it's back to the other three.

 They decide that they need to get their weapons to escape, but without weapons, how will they manage that?

 Apparently it just occurred to Zell that he's a fist fighter, and thanks to his vision of Ward, he knows his way around and has a good idea of where their weapons might be. (See told you that Nina's realisations would be important.)

 In order to get him out of the cell, they pull the oldest trick in the book, or rather a ridiculous variant on the oldest trick of the book. He tells the Mean Guy that a snake bit Quistis and Sephie, and that's all it takes to get him into a position where he can be over powered so that Zell can leave.

 I, of course, forgot to give him his junctions back, so he got his ass kicked in the first encounter.

 Now I have to go through all the stuff in the prison all over again. Joy.