I explore this dark cave, laying waste to every Repo Man (...I love you, old Square) in my way. We fight an easy slug boss - the first of the game - before uncovering the Esper. To my surprise, it seems like a living creature encased in ice. Before the trio can remove it, it reacts to Terra's presence. Catastrophically, Vicks and Wedge are fried.
One of these games, they'll make it to the end. Farewell ye valiant fools. Terra is knocked unconscious by the violent reaction and awakens in a small snowy village. She is being tended to by an old man. He is part of the Returners, an underground resistance against the Empire (man, lots of Star Wars references here!). Soon after Terra regains consciousness and realizes she has no memory, Empire soldiers knock at the door demanding her return. The old man distracts them long enough for Terra to make a break for it through some caves. Unfortunately, she can't outrun the soldiers for long. She is cornered, falls through some cracks in the cave floor, and is unconscious and helpless yet again. Terra, maybe Terra's Theme is not for youuuuu
The old man sends Locke, a young treasure hunter/thief, to assist Terra. He discovers her, still KO'd, and with the aid of some very helpful and ass kicking Moogles (including Mog, though he didn't join the party yet), protects her from more soldiers. Terra recovers and the two make a break for it, opting to seek refuge in Castle Figaro.
Here's my glimpse of the overworld. It seems to use a very primitive 3D visual look, not too dissimilar from FFVII. It's not bad for the SNES, but I prefer Chrono Trigger's style. We trek through the desert carefully, as enemies are tougher here. Castle Figaro is in the middle of the desert; we enter and find Edgar, the youthful, dashing, womanizing king. He unsuccessfully hits on Terra and catches up with Locke. Apparently, though Edgar pledges allegiance to the Empire, he is secretly allied with The Returners and knows Locke well.
I take Terra and explore the castle, discovering that Edgar had a twin brother, Sabin, who left the castle in order to run awesome user contests. Actually, it had to do with the death of the twins' father or something. No one knows Sabin's current whereabouts, but I get the feeling I'll see him later. Probably against icon in the finals.
As Terra is devising a plan to vote rally against ****ing Alanna (okay no more I swear), Edgar is visited by Kefka in all his smarmy, b****y glory. Kefka, who serves the Empirical King Gestahl, demands Terra's return. He is none too happy when Edgar lies to him, as he and his henchmen proceed to light the whole castle on fire. Fortunately for La Resistance, Castle Figaro is always prepared! In an awesome cutscene, the three principal players (for the slow among us, that would be Terra, Locke, and Edgar) make a break for it on Chocobos while the entire freakin castle does a Power Rangers morph and sinks under the sand for safety. Kefka is flabbergasted and sends his mech-riding (self-important swine!) henchman after our Chocobo riding heroes.
They catch up to us and it's time for a boss fight. During the actual fight itself, something I would never have expected happened - I was treated to what must have be one of the best cutscenes in the game.
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Yoblazer: http://8board.webs.com/ariel.jpg
Watch and you'll see... someday I'll be... part of your world!