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After the fight in Burmecia, I actually had to change discs. Disc two started with Dagger and Steiner again. The tram ride to the top was over and we now had to wait for the next tram to arrive. We decided to wait that the local rest station, where we soon met Markus and Cinna of Tantalus.

They’re on a mission to help Blank, who was still petrified in the Evil Forest. They heard a rumor of an item called “Supersoft” being in possession of a noble in Treno. Since she felt she owed blank, Dagger decided to help them out with the item.

Final Fantasy IX, Black Waltz #3

Black Waltz #3 was the must stubborn one of the bunch. He just refused to die.

We all got on the same tram, but the ride was soon interrupted by an old friend, Black Waltz #3. He was badly damaged and near death, but he could still pack quite a punch, especially considering Dagger and Steiner were still level 6. Eventually, I got through the battle and we moved on to Treno.

I remembered I got the coffee from the South Gate, so I tried going to Dali first, but I couldn’t give it to the old man yet, which actually makes sense, since Zidane’s group was the one that found the item.

I entered Treno and the group split up again, leaving me with Steiner. A bunch of ATE’s later, we all regrouped and decided to break into the noble’s mansion to get the Supersoft. At the mansion, we met professor Tot, who knew Dagger and decided to help her.

I met up with the professor at his house later, where he gave me the Supersoft and opened up a secret passage to Alexandria for us – The Gargan Roo.

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After some walking about, waiting for Shani to finally get to the hospital, I finally managed to get through the autopsy. The conclusion was that the victim died due to an alchemical poison, while the stab wounds were made post mortem, in an attempt to hide the true cause.

I was convinced it was Kalkstein, so I went and accused him. He got mad, so now I think I kind off killed all the quests I was doing for him. On the other hand, the Sephiroth quest is still available, so maybe there’s a chance to make amends, in case he actually isn’t to blame.

Since Shani helped a lot, I offered to return the favor, which got me on a bit of a weird quest. Apparently, she wants to throw a party in someone’s honor, so she needs liquor. I guess a mood change was in order, but the quest is still a bit out of the blue, in my opinion.

In any case, I got back to the swamp and went straight to the loggers. I gave the gnome his share of the money I got from the ferryman and continued to the north, to talk to the druids. I stumbled into Siegfried’s party on the way there, though. They were in the swamp to dispose of a group of Scoia’tael but he got injured, so he asked me to lead his men.

The Witcher, Siegfried in the Swamp

Siegfried is part of a choice between two sides, it seems.

I finally got to the druid camp and, as expected, they are able to create a storm for me. The problem was, they are also quite a greedy bunch. They wanted 500 oren for the favor! I tried to figure it out by myself by messing around with a group of pylons around the golem, but I just managed to hit myself with a bolt of lightning instead.I was a bit rash in accepting and this caused my fetch quest for the elf from the druid camp to fail. I guess he was part of the Scoia’tael. Instead, I solved this quest, which means I’ll now be able to buy stuff from the order’s armorers and merchants, since I’m a friend of Siegfried now.

I agreed to give away half of my current money and went back to the golem, with the storm now in full force.  I stuck a lightning rod into it and it came to life. The fight wasn’t really hard, but it was a golem, which meant it took me an extremely long time to kill it. It might be I could’ve used the pylons to hit him with lightning a few more times, but I couldn’t figure it out, so instead I just did it manually. I ran around, hitting him with my steel sword, which did slightly more damage than the silver one, for around ten minutes before it finally went down. I got his heart, which I can use to make an intellect potion, as well as one of the Sephirots. I only need one more.

The Witcher, Golem

The golem was hardy, but not hard.

For now, there was nothing else I could do at the swamp, so I decided to go back to town

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Burmecia was basically more of the same I got in the Grotto. A couple more enemies got introduced, but none of them had any new blue magic, so they weren’t that important. The extra levels I got from training before the Grotto were still helping here, so I didn’t have a hard time getting through the area.

Final Fantasy IX, Burmecia, Realm of Eternal Rain

It really is constantly raining. I wouldn’t want to live in Burmecia.

The first part of the town involved another bell I needed to find to open the door blocking the way forward. Sadly, it also involved a missable item. A section of the walkway on the right side of the top floor colapsed when I tried to run over it. I probably should have walked to get to the chest beyond, so now I’ll never know what was inside.

The second area was more straightforward. One of the buildings contained a new spear for Freya, while another housed Stilzkin as well as another moogle. I used a tent there and saved my game before I entered the castle.

At the castle, the real villain, or at least one of them, was finally introduced. Brahne was there with general Beatrix. They were discussing their plans when a man walked in. His name was Kuja and he’s revealed to be the one supplying Brahne with her black mage army. The funny thing is, back when I was a kid, I thought Kuja was a woman, which is ridiculous, since he’s referred to as “mystery man” at the start.

Final Fantasy IX, First Encounter With Kuja

He’s still the mistery man here, but I know his name. As a kid, though, I didn’t even know he was a man.

He was revealing some of his plans when a Burmecian soldier charged all three of them. To save his life, Freya and the rest jumped in and the fight against Beatrix started. Beatrix was tough and had an attack which could kill one of my party members with a single hit. This fight, as far as I know, is not winnable. Eventually, Beatrix uses an attack which gets everyone down to 1HP and the fight is over. I kept using Phoenix Downs with Quina, doing damage with Freya and Vivi while continuing to steal with Zidane until it finally happened.

The villains revealed they were going for Cleyra next and left the group for dead.

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I’ve played some more of this game and, while it does get a bit better, it’s only a marginal improvement. The game is pretty, the boss battles are fun and the attempt to go for action controls instead of tab switching is commendable.

Outside of that, it’s a typical MMORPG consisting of fetch/kill/grind quests, a relatively weak story and maybe a slightly higher budget than the average. Someone new to MMORPGs might like it, but for someone who played these games extensively, it will just be more of the same. In any case, I’ll keep it on my hard drive for a while yet, but I’m not sure how long. It most definitely is not the next MMO for me.

Now, for some concrete info. I’ve played for another hour or two, continuing on the same line of quests I’ve started previously. The archaeologist I’ve been doing work for turned out to be a fraud. He abducted the real archaeologist and used me to get into possession of some powerful artifact. I defeated the boss he summoned before he escaped, which was another fun battle, and then returned to the home base, where I was sent to gather some items needed to finally defeat the enemy.

RaiderZ Boss Battle

The boss fight was relatively easy, but also quite fun.

The crab dropped special items I used to craft stronger gear, which I did immediately, and then it was time to get to the next zone. I was around level 8 when all of this ended.One of the quests made me change into some powerful creature, which was also sort of fun, but nothing I haven’t seen before in other games. Eventually, I got back to the base and went on the final push against the enemy band of pirates. It all ended up with a boss battle against a giant crab, and that was it.

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While I was getting to Burmecia, the game took me to a different route to show me what Dagger and Steiner have been doing. Apparently, thanks to an idea Dagger had, Steiner managed to smuggle her through the South Gate in a bag of smelly cucumbers.

Final Fantasy IX, South Gate

The Active Time Events make even short areas like the South Gate interesting and viable.

I got inside the gate area and then had to tell on some lazy engineer to his supervisor in order to get him out of the way. I also managed to give relationship advice to a girl to send her away to. Once both were gone, Dagger could get out of her bag and change into clothes that didn’t smell as bad.

We got through the next gate and entered the tram that took us to the next checkpoint. That’s it, nothing else happened today.

Final Fantasy IX, Chocobo's Dream World

The first upgrade is mine!

I forgot one really important thing yesterday, though. Remember that chest on the beach? It contained the first upgrade for my chocobo! Now, Choco can walk over rivers and shallow seas. Of course, since the Mist Continent is surrounded by mountains, the upgrade didn’t really open up new places for me yet, but it does mean I’ll be able to get to the lagoon, which is the next area for finding Chocographs, as soon as possible.

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U returned to town and reported in on most of the tasks I was assigned by various people. The rewards alone got me back up to a nice sum of money, which I used to buy some upgrades and stock up on more potions.

Further investigation in town, combined with some information I gathered at the swamps brought me back to Raymond, the private detective, who was now also back in town. We concluded I should probably do an autopsy on the criminal who passed away at the hospital while I was away.

The Witcher, Crypt

It’s cool that computer-controlled characters have a routine, but it’s annoying when you can’t find them on a quest.

First, I went to the local shops to stock up on books about human anatomy as well as pathology. Then I went to talk to the guard captain, hoping he would have some useful knowledge to share, but he was his usual ignorant self, so there was no luck there. Finally, I went to the gravedigger, to get the body. I had to bribe him with some dwarven liquor, but he agreed eventually. The autopsy will be performed at the hospital, at first nightfall.Since Shani was trained in medicine, I decided to ask for her help. She was hesitant, but after some persuasion, she agreed to do it. In order to prepare everything, though, I still had some work to do.

Before I forget, I also talked to a few people about reviving one of the golems at the tower, in order to get one of the Sephiroths. I was told I needed electricity, so I had the blacksmith make me a lightning rod. All I need now is a storm, and I get the feeling that the druids might have a way of dealing with that part.

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The Grotto was to the north of the marsh, so I didn’t have trouble getting to it. The place was already under attack by the mages, led by Zorn and Thorn. This meant I was involved in a couple of unavoidable fights, but thanks to my previous training, I didn’t have any trouble here, whatsoever.

Final Fantasy IX, Gizamaluke's Grotto

The Grotto was dark and moody.

Once again, I’ve spent some time learning new spells with Quina, before I started to actually move forward through the area. I think blue magic is way more fun to collect in this game than in Final Fantasy VII, for the simple reason that I get to chose when and if I want to learn it. Additionally, most of the enemies I’ve encountered since I got Quina had a spell to teach me, so there’s no guessing or randomness involved. You find a new enemy and you try to eat it. You either learn something, or it tastes bad. In both cases, you aren’t interested in that enemy any more.

The area was mostly a large key puzzle. I had to gather bells, each of which I could use to open a single door. Sadly, there are some areas I skipped because of this, partly because I wasn’t able to figure out which route is correct and which is optional, but partly also because I was to lazy to go back at one point.

Before I could leave the area, I had to fight against Gizamaluke, of course. I used Quina’s Mighty Guard to make the first half of the fight extremely easy and, as usual, kept stealing with Zidane, while Freya and Vivi did the damage. Stealing is getting a lot more difficult now, with most of my attempts failing. I’m not even sure if I got all the items I could before the fight was over, but Zidane definitely didn’t get a chance to attack at all. I think I’m gonna have to start using the Detect skill, which tells me which items the boss has.

Final Fantasy IX, Gizamaluke Fight

This one gave me a lot of trouble when I was a kid.

In any case, I was out and I could get to Burmecia, finally. My memory served me well, though, so before I went there, I remembered there’s another treasure I could get with my chocobo now. I’ve found the bird tracks nearby, so I used Chocobo to get to the only beach in the area and dig out the treasure.

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I had a lengthy session today, so I managed to explore most of the swamp and clear a bunch of quests along the way.

I started at the shrine, which was devoted to the same goddess as the one in Vizima, but I didn’t have anything of “nature’s harvest” this time. I decided to go back to the dock and start exploring the area from there. On the way back, I stopped by an abandoned brick making site infested with drowners. I cleared the area and found the bodies of a couple of Salamandra, as well as the witcher I’ve been tracking since I entered the Outskirts. I guess that quest is over.

I got to the docks and spoke to the guard there, who offered me money if I bring him ten wolf pelts. Nearby was a brick maker’s village. An old woman who was their leader wanted someone to get rid of the drowners I already killed, so I got my reward right away. She also asked me to find a missing boy and pointed me in the direction of the druid camp to the north.

The Witcher, Gramps the Cannibal

Apparently, Gramps is a cannibal.

Then I went to Gramp’s house, where I got a surprise. It turns out Gramps practices cannibalism. I had the option to either kill him here, or let him live. Since he promised me some scrolls if I spare him, I agreed, hoping I’ll be able to deal with him later. However, once I agreed to spare him, the game wouldn’t let me chose the option of killing him anymore. I’m probably gonna pay for that later, but at least I got a new potion recipe.

I kept getting attacked by drowners further north, so I went back south, all the way to the shrine. I bought some dried fruits from the village elder, so I offered them at the statue and got some minor item I can’t remember anymore. Further from the shrine, there was a wolf cave, so I got my pelts there. In one of the rooms, there was also a crypt, as well as a wraith defending it. Once the wraith was dead, which was tough because I had to fight a bunch of wolves alongside it, I checked the crypt and found another Sephiroth, meaning I was only missing three now, possibly even two, I can’t remember. In the same room, I found another circle of elements, which taught me Quen. This is a rune I actually intend to train in, since it casts a damage absorbing shield.

The Witcher, Gnome

I guess this is a gnome, but I’m not sure.

I got out and continued in the same direction, finding a lumberjack camp soon. Their leader, who I think is a gnome, but I’m not sure, offered me gold if I gather some swamp plants and deliver them to the ferryman at the docks. I agreed, of course, and continued in the northern direction, since I went as far southwest as I could.

Further to the north, I finally got to the druid camp. The only dried there told me there’s no way they would abduct the missing kid, as the village elder was claiming, since they would have no use for him. Apparently, only girls can become dryads. From one of the druids, I bought some books, describing some local plants. It cost me a fortune, but I would have probably had to buy them eventually.

The camp also contained another circle of elements – Yrden. This one creates a trap that slows enemies passing through it, which probably isn’t to useful for me, but time will tell. Finally, I talked to an elf there, who asked me to deliver a message to Vivaldi in Vizima. I agreed, since I was soon going there anyway.

The Witcher, Druid

Regular fantasy druids here!

The druids told me the herb I was looking for grew to the northeast, so I decided to complete the circle and continue in that direction. I found the plants, but I’ve also found plenty of enemies, so I nearly died a couple of times. I ran out of Swallow potions during the initial escort quest, so I had trouble during the entire exploration, but it was really getting risky by now.

Because of this, I went back to the druid camp and spent some money buying alcohol so I could brew more potions. With a stack of five Swallows, several White Gulls and a bunch of others, I went back northeast and cleared most of the area. I passed the first ruined tower of the alchemist, but I didn’t go to the one that was still standing yet. Instead, I went as far east as I could and found a Squirel camp, but there was nothing I could do there, so I went back.

This time, I finally went to the middle of the whole area, where the tower was. There wasn’t much I could do there, but I did manage to nearly kill myself by messing around with some pillars surrounding a frozen golem, causing lightning to strike me.

I got back to the docks, delivered the pelts to the guard, as well as the herbs to the ferryman and then paid him to take me back to Vizima.

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The Qu’s Marsh was a place I probably should have visited as soon as I left Lindblum, but for some reason, I decided to skip it. It’s the home of a peculiar race called the Qu, but it’s also the home of the two moogles who have been providing tutorials since the start of the game.

I got in, went to the right and got all the way to the hut in the back, where one of the Qu’s was. He didn’t have much to say, so I returned, but using a different route this time. The route took me to a pound full of frogs and another Qu trying to catch them. Apparently, Qu’s consider frogs extremely delicious.

Final Fantasy IX, Quina

Yummier everything, actually!

Quina is a blue mage, meaning she learns magic from enemies. In this game, the magic is learned by eating the enemy, and for that, the enemy needs to be weakened enough. Now, on my first play through, back when I was a kid, I didn’t really like Quina. Her regular damage varied a lot, making her unpredictable, and I considered learning all the blue magic a huge drag, so I never really did it.I caught a frog and offered it to the Qu, called Quina. When he or she (not sure) took it, the Qu from the hut arrived, telling Quina about all the food from all over the world that she’s missing, urging her to go out and discover all of it. He asked me to take Quina with me, so I agreed. I needed a fourth character anyway.

Using Quistis in Final Fantasy VIII made me rethink this. I decided to spend some time eating the various enemies in the Marsh and on the overworld map and I think it was more than worth it. Among others, I’ve learned Mighty Guard, Aqua Breath, Angel’s Snack, Pumpkin head and some others, but Mighty Guard alone was worth the trouble.

With all of this, I was done in the area, so it was finally time to get to Gizamaluke’s Grotto.

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It was morning, so I made my way to the docks, but the guard wouldn’t let me through the gate. I apparently needed permission from Vincent, the guard captain. The thing is, he tried to use me during a quest I did but didn’t write about, so I told him what I thought of him. There’s no way he’s giving me permission.

My two choices were to either wait for the merchant to come to the temple district, which he does rarely, or pay off the guard. I gave him 100 oren and he let me through. The merchant, Declan Leuvaarden, was easy to find. It took some convincing, but he eventually admitted he’s part of a secret society which is trying to destroy the Salamandra. Since our goals match, he agreed to provide help from time to time.

The Witcher, Deckan

Declan looks far too much like Odo.

The swamps were a huge area with a large number of new quests and new areas, so I didn’t manage to explore it all today. What I did do is take care of the annoying escort quest which was the last thing I did on my last attempt to play through this game. There’s this old guy called Gramps, who needed an escort to the local shrine. The problem is, the escort route leads me through the area where a really tough enemy that’s part of another quest is located.He also asked me to get rid of some drowners attacking the docks at night, to which I agreed. Now that I think about it, I’m not sure if he meant the docks on this side, in Vizima, or on the other side, in the swamp. In any case, I went to the swamp next, which cost me 5 oren for the ferry.

The Witcher, The Swamp

New area, new quests.

This time, I remembered what was going to happen, so I drank a few potions and sharpened my silver sword before I went there. This meant I only nearly died this time. I got to the shrine, Gramps thanked me and invited me to his hut later, saying he has books and knowledge he would be willing to share.

For now, that was it for me.