owlmoose | Gameblogging: X-2 replay

So probably the most interesting bit in here, for me, was running around Mushroom Rock Road and talking to the Youth League folks. You don't meet Nooj yet but folks talk about him a lot, generally in terms of glowing admiration. I had forgotten that Elma leads his fan club -- I mean, "personal guard". She talks about that, and gushes over him a bit. Hmm, perhaps someone has a little crush on the meyvn? ;) I also found the NPC who mentiones that Lucil bascially runs the show, and that Nooj doesn't deal much with the people aspect of things; she calls him a "lone wolf", and says that he isn't much for running a large organization. And then of course there's Maechen's long speech in which he mentions that Nooj used to hunt spheres for Trema, and only split off from his "Seekers" when they started hording spheres and became New Yevon. That took me by surprise. I really need to get to that Trema battle someday.

Operation Mi'ihen comes up a lot, too. I've often wondered if bitterness over that isn't part of the reason the Youth League came together in opposition to the remains of Yevon.

On a different subject, it rather defies belief that Gippal would take so long to notice and recognize Paine. Rikku makes more sense; he could have been deliberately ignoring her. But when he does register Paine, he's clearly so shocked and surprised that he can't hold back a reaction. The whole thing feels a little strange.

I think I may still need to toughen up a little bit -- I almost died several times in Macalania. This was at least in part because I was distracted by trying to plan dinner at the same time, but also I think I need a couple more levels before I take on Zanarkand. Shouldn't be a problem, considering that I haven't hit the desert yet. Digging is next.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I imagine it's bitterness in general.

A sort of "you made us feel really bad for pre-marital sex and blamed us for Sin but ha ha ha guess what you were the guilty party all along" kind of thing, and this "yeah we sorta fucked up/let's not really take responsibility for our actions" attitude New Yevon oozes probably doesn't help things.

A thousand years of pain and misery and being suddenly vindicated only to have Yevon tag on the word New at the beginning and thinking things will be Totally Fine is a little audacious.

Oh, definitely. (Although I don't know that the sex thing ever comes up. But the rest of it, for sure.) Baralai sort of acknowledges that he understands why Yuna might not trust New Yevon, but no one else in that group seems to make that connection.

But what's striking me is that the bitterness toward New Yevon comes not so much from the Al Bhed -- the only Al Bhed NPC I heard talk about it made a point of saying that Gippal isn't choosing sides, that he works equally with both -- but from the former Crusaders who seem to make up most of the Youth League. I guess no one gets as disillusioned as hard as a former believer.

You hadn't heard the part about the Seekers? Pretty much that's the only way my brain, like, accepts Baralai and Nooj's relationship. I mean, Trema was the one who did things, but Baralai aligns himself with New Yevon. Even if Nooj had wanted to mend fences (and somehow I doubt it? since I prescribe to the school of him not knowing Shuyin is there, really) he finds his friend knee-deep in New Yevon, the very thing he fled from before it formed. Not to mention Baralai leading it after the operation, on top of that.

It could foster some bad feelings and keep them apart—never resolving what happened between them. I go the same route with Paine and Baralai. Gippal is harder, though, because he clearly is trying to play fair between the two—his reaction to Paine boggles me. The whole thing hurts my head. I sort of wonder if maybe the others thought she had died. Remember I mentioned how I sort of wondered if maybe she had run away after being shot? Baralai and Gippal would've been in no shape to help, and if she ran, they'd have no way of knowing what happened to her. Blah, blah, X-2 CANON WHY DO YOU DO THIS TO ME.

I have no doubts that the Youth League's basis was borne from a combination of the failed operation and Yevon's involvement, as well as some of the other things Maechen mentions. Yevon basically says, "go on, hate us!" It makes sense why Baralai would join—to make it better, but the others (barring Gippal, perhaps?) might not see it an anything but turning his back on the past and what happened to them. I mean, Paine and Nooj, stubborn 100% Y/N

Macalania is a bitch, anyway, I die there when I'm really buffed up. I blame the blobby things.

(Ho, ho, digging! I think I'm the only coward that refuses to dig more than I have to before Chapter Five, because of the damn Experiment. laskjfha;ksjfa I hate that thing when it's super leveled.)

"What did Gippal and Baralai think happened to Paine, and why did they never contact her?" is one of the most annoying unanswered questions about the CS4.

I must have heard the part about the Seekers before, but it's been a long time since I've payed enough attention to it. I need to rethink the Beclem story, although I think this information will make it better, actually.

Yes, I agree that Paine and Nooj are both stubborn, and not quick to forgive. And they both have reason to think badly of Yevon (especially if you think Paine was also in the Crusaders, which I think is at least possible). Of course if Nooj is carrying aroudn Shuyin, that gives him a double-plus size grudge.

The sad thing is that I haven't even *gotten* to the blobby things yet. It's all elementals and those flying guys who only live underwater in FFX.

Gameblogging: X-2 replay

-i'm breaking the cone of silence, sorry-

No apology necessary.

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