04F: Eden or Bust

04F: Eden or Bust

A new path is chosen

Following the path past the save point triggers a CS in which Lightning points out our next destination: Eden.   Sazh's is horrified - the very idea of taking the fight that far into the enemy stronghold sounds like pure insanity to him!  Unfortunately Lightning has decided that this is the only way to make progress, and that taking this fight right to the door of the enemy is the only choice that she has. 

On the bright side there is every chance that, in the process, they might be able to uncover the truth about the purge that started all of this.  Ultimately it is the fal'Cie that Lightning wants to target - and while Sazh thinks this is madness, and Van is freaked at the idea of not following their Focus, Lightning is hell bent on taking on the bad guys and she considers Snow to be one of them now.

As Van serves as narrator, we see the party breaking up once again, and Hope... Well, Hope wants Snow dead anyway, so he votes to help Lightning with her choice.  Saxh and Van, not so much.  Lightning marches away, determined to begin the journey to what she considers her destiny, and Hope follows after her.  Van and Sazh hang back - clearly they do not want to do it, and who could blame them?

Just as Hope catches up to Lightning they are attacked by a unit of PSICOM, who blow the wreckage over the passage that they came in by, trapping them on the plateau.  There is no choice but to fight...  But in the process of the fight Lightning changes her mind about Hope - deciding that he may just be a worthy ally after all!

Their path will take them through Hope's home town on their way to Eden, but before any of that move forward and hit the save point ahead.  If you did not upgrade Hope's Kit now would be the time to do that!

We need to cap off our jobs which means that we need to grind - but to do that efficiently we need some enemy spawns that are conveniently close to a save point and that have value to them.  Unfortunately that is not here...

Follow the path taking out the mobs you encounter - grab the 3 strands of fiber optic from the sphere and continue on to the next sphere to get a Librascope and then use the next save point.

As you progress past the save point you get a CS of some PSICOM units, and then Hope disobeys you and plays with the Pulse Mech Unit that the PSICOM were guarding.  Using the mech he knocks over the wreckage to create a bridge that will allow you to pass through the area!  This triggers a mini-tutorial on the Pulse Mech - which it seems we now get to play with!

This is what you call a mixed blessing - yes it lets us take out large numbers of enemy troops, but we do not earn CP from doing so - or loot.  After a short ride in the mech we end up wrecking it anyway, and we are back on foot.  Empty the two spheres here - one with a Spark Ring, the other with 100 Gil.  Hey, money is always welcome and that ring is one of the rarer items we are seeking!

Ahead in a tunnel is a sphere with 2 Electrolytic Capacitors, and just beyond that is our next save point!

Hope remarks that the road splits ahead - it doesn't really - and if you take the upper route there is a sphere with another Spark Ring in it!  Grab that and then head back down to the main path and take out the group of enemy ahead - continue on the path  to the right and grab the Phoenix Down from the sphere there before you hop down on to the main path and take out the mobs there.

Now hit the next save point - which is very close - and then you can decide if you want to grind this stretch.  There are enough mobs between these two save points to make it worth the grind - it is your call.  Grinding really cannot be avoided in this game if you plan on leveling your jobs - and one way to look at it as a necessary chore is to break it up like this, grinding in small sections and amounts as you need to rather than waiting until there is a huge gap and spending hours of teeth gritting repetition...  I decided that this was worth the delay of half an hour of grinding to avoid hours later in the level, just so you know.

The quickest way to do this is to reload at the save point to cause the mobs to re-spawn, fight your way back to the previous save point, save and reload, rinse and repeat.  You should not be using potions while you grind as that sort of defeats the purpose of making progress here with loot and Gil - ideally when you need to heal you will simply change your deck to dual healers - which will quickly restore your health in seconds without burning up resources - and then quickly switch back to your offensive deck.  Get into the habit of doing this - it will save you time and money and become second nature so that later, when it matters, you do it without even thinking about it.

Grinding it this way it will take less than 30 minutes to get the CP you need to cap off all of the jobs, and you end up with Lightning at Level 2 Commando, Level 2 Ravager, and Medic to Level 1 with an additional Accessory Slot unlocked as well.  For Hope you end up with Ravager, Synergist, and Medic at Level 2 also with an extra Accessory Slot unlocked, but for Hope that slot unlocks from Synergist not Medic.  Having the extra Accessory Slots is a big deal both for combat and for stats.