09C: Time to Split

09C: Time to Split

Thermadon Battle

Now move ahead for a CS in which you see Sazh and Van being treated to an opportunity to escape - how excellent!  I did not know that Van knew how to use heavy weapons!  Well, anyway they have themselves a good escape, and Sazh reassures Van that she is not the pile of poo that she thinks she is - clearly Sazh is a deeper pool of philosophy than I first suspected!

Right so we are back in control of Sazh and Van after a very long absence!  First thing we should do is take a look at our Crystarium - capping off their jobs will not be a problem as they both have a significant amount of CP banked, so go ahead and do that now, and then save.

Around the corner is a Flanitor and a Flanborg - the later being new to us, so be sure to ID it!  Use the controls to open the hatch and fight another Flanborg - and you reach a place where the path T's.  The left branch is the logical one for the path, so let us head along the right branch first!

Turn right and use the controls to open the hatch here and kill the trio inside and then grab the Royal Armlet from the Treasure Sphere inside this compartment.  Head back out and follow the corridor to loop around and clear the left branch before backtracking to the hatch with the 12 Murky Oozes in the Treasure Sphere.  Now open the hatch to engage the CS trigger - and hear the declaration of Code Purple!

Van decides that running and hiding is not the way, which is something of a change for her if you think about it - and then we get the same Code declaration from the rest of the team's POV and we are back in control of Lightning!

Run ahead and the hatch will lower, allowing you to pass into the next area, where there is a convenient save point - so go ahead and save your game.  As you can see the area T's here - and since we are in the business of killing things we should go ahead and clear the area immediately around us of mobs - so go ahead and do that now!

To the left is a trio of Vikings that makes for a very nice fight, and then to the right is a pair of Vespid Soldiers - which are a new mob for us so be sure to ID them!  Following the path along the right side (the Vespid side) and staying on the outside ring you will encounter a pair of PSICOM Raiders and a Thermadon - the later being new to us so be sure that you ID it.

There is a Treasure Sphere with a White Cape on the ramp to the right so grab that, and then containing along the outer ring counter-clockwise you will encounter another trio of Viking - which you kill for a very easy 960 CP!

Continue around ignoring the exit and take on the two Vespid Soldiers and the Thermadon just past it.  Now take out the Infiltrator and the Vespid Soldiers beyond it, and then enter the ramp to the right and empty the Treasure Sphere there of the Pain Dampeners, and then backtrack to the ramp leading to the first inner ring where you will fight another trio of Vikings, and then follow the ring counter-clockwise to fight a pair of Huntresses. 

Another Thermadon waits at the next juncture, and after you defeat that and continue on to the next juncture and move in to the inner ring, where you will face a Viking and a Huntress.  Follow the inner ring counter-clockwise to a golden Treasure Sphere from which you will loot a Perfect Conductor - and then run forward for a preemptive strike on a pair of Vespid Soldiers!

After this very brief fight continue along to the next golden Treasure Sphere, from which you will loot a piece of Rhodochrisite - and you have pretty much cleared the area.  Some of the groups will have re-spawned by now, so you can take them out again if you like - and you may actually want to do that if you chose not to grind CP earlier when I did it.  The reason that we cleared this area was to pick up a decent amount of CP and of course loot from the spoils, but this is a good place to grind if you need to!    If you decide to grind here a smart way to do that would be to head directly to the save point that is on the ramp where we entered the zone on the outer ring, save, and then reload so that everything re-spawns!

Ready to leave now?  Good!  Head for the exit marked on the radar map by the yellow arrow - this triggers a CS in which you see Colonel Librarian that wicked nasty bad girl...  Err...  Yeah, and the Lord High Mucky-muck, who declares "Code White" after Colonel Librarian (okay her name is not really Colonel Librarian - it is actually Jihl Nabaat, and if you check her bio you will see that she is a PSICOM Officer who, despite her dirty-girl looks is actually pretty smart and ruthless.   She really is not a nice person if you have not figured that out yet, and I suspect that duty is not really what motivates her to make the bloody decisions that she makes - and by all appearances likes to make.  Also the guy on the throne is not really called Lord High Mucky-muck - his real name is Galenth Dysley, and he is the Sanctum Primarch.).

The CS cuts to Sazh and Van - with Sazh in charge - in an area that is clearly not friendly!  Thankfully there is a very convenient save point three steps in front of you - so use that now! 

Heading counter-clockwise around the outer ring we fight a pair of Flanitor, then a pair of Flanborg and a Flanitor.  At the exit there is a Thermadon - kill it and then instead of taking the exit continue along the ring - fight your way to the Treasure Sphere with 6 Segmented Carapaces, and then head into the inner core once you reach the place where we entered the zone near the save point.

The inner core holds a Thermadon and some Vespid Soldiers for you to kill.  After you clear the core grab the Phoenix Down from the Treasure Sphere, and then hit the exit ramp to trigger a CS in which you try to escape and are confronted by a mixed group - but you know what to do here!