03B: A Vision Shared

03B: A Vision Shared

Serah found and Paradigm tut

In the middle of this argument a squad of soldiers show up - and their leader makes the mistake of getting a little too close to Lightning.  Ninja skills kick in and it turns into an all-out melee that happens to be when we get the tutorials for Command Execution and ATB.  If you have not already figured this out you should probably do the tutorial...

This is actually a pretty short battle but it shows you how to mix up your stack, and eventually as you get to know how the different attacks work, should help you stack sympathetic commands.  The CS that follows is - I think - one of the more amusing in the game, especially Van's reaction.  

In the shallow alcove on the right is a treasure sphere with some Gil - so grab that now - and then continue along the path to the next clearing where you fight a mixed group of ground and air mobs.  You might notice that the CP for these encounters is getting a little better - that is because the mobs are getting a little stronger.

There is another treasure sphere in the alcove that branches here - empty that and continue along the path until you come to a section of frozen lake and a group of mobs we have never encountered before - these are Breshan Bass (listed under Enemy Intel/Feral Creatures/Terraquatics in your journal).    Breshan Bass are Level 12 mobs that are a sort of mix between frogs, fish, and ugly - but they give halfway decent XP so why not take advantage of that and kill them?  Yeah!

There is a small cul-de-sac area on the left side of the path with a second group worth an easy 32CP if you want the extra CP - I did - and the bonus is a treasure sphere with a Silver Bangle in it!  Once you loot that you can go into the Equip menu and give it to someone - I decided that Snow was the obvious person for it, and while we are on that subject, I gave Van the Iron Bangle that Snow was previously wearing - you did have Van equip the Pearlwing Staff, right?    Assuming that you capped off the Level 1 jobs Hope is now as skilled a Medic as Van, which means you can have him equip the Doctor's Code so that it doesn't go to waste.

Now that we have updated our kit it is time to move on!  Ahead on the path on the right is a save point - we really should use that now.

On the other side of the bridge ahead Snow initiates a sharing of infos - you know, introductions?  This triggers a CS in which Snow and Sazh have a conversation about the kids and the reality of their situation; Sazh really is a pessimist when you come right down to it, whereas Snow plays the optimist to balance out the relationship.  I am not really sure where Lightning comes into this - maybe she is the mad-crazy-gone-postal chick?

Up a steep slope from here is a pack of our old friends the puppies!  Killing them is almost as fun as playing with them, and the payoff is come CP and a treasure sphere with a Phoenix Down in it - yay!  Say, have you noticed that there do not seem to be any towns in this game outside of the ones we see in the CS's?  That is rather odd for an RPG...

After the second doggy fight there is a sphere with 8 vials of Strange Fluid in the alcove on the left, and if you run towards the one on the right you will jump up to the ledge where there is some wreckage and Snow asks if it is from the Vestige (construct)?  I believe it is safe to assume that it is - in fact logically that would explain the sphere's being out here in the middle of nowhere as well as a lot of the mobs, who are, like us, survivors of its destruction.

Ahead on the left is a sphere with a pair of Magician's Marks in it, and along the path to the right up the bits of wreckage is another save point - which we should use.

As you go down the other side of the wreckage you get a brief CS in which Lightning finds Serah's Crystalline form.  Snow grabs a bit of wreckage and starts to free her from the ice - and the others jump in to help - when Lightning gets a vision from her sister.  Serah tells her that this is goodbye - and then Lightning starts to leave - and Snow freaks out.

Lightning tunes up on Snow for a bit, trying to beat some sense into him, and then Sazh wanders off and gets spot-lighted by the enemy.  It is time to fight again - but first it is time for another tutorial!  Bet you were not expecting that!

-- Paradigm Tutorial II --

You are about to face a boss mob - and to do that without dying requires you to use the Paradigm deck to strategically alter your party play in order to take advantage of the different ability strengths of the members.  The idea here is to put the enemy into Staggered condition so that your attacks do higher damage to it.  To do that you need to switch to an offensive Paradigm - in this case the Relentless Assault one.

If you start taking bad damage you should shift to a defensive Paradigm like Solidarity, so that your medic can heal everyone.

Once the enemy's chain gauge is depleted shift back into Relentless Assault if you have not done so already and finish him off!  You should only need to change to a defensive deck once - the battle should end pretty quick after you switch back to offensive and the chain gauge is depleted.

-- End Tutorial --

The reward (in spoils) for this kill is a Digital Circuit - which is new loot for us.  After the battle ends you return to the CS about Serah - Snow is still insisting that they help her, but Sazh convinces him that  logic dictates that they return later with the proper gear.  Lightning points out the fallacy in Snow's argument in a more direct way, and Snow finally comes around.  Snow is parting ways with the group, determined to help Serah, and Hope tries to have the conversation with Snow that he has been putting off all along, and fails again.