LogFAQs > #949221381

Into the Opera House, Locke devises a plan to get Setzer's airship which involves Celes mimicking Maria. (Where is Maria btw, odd we don't see her). Ultros is also here but nobody pays him any attention. Before I know it we're off to the races and the opera begins.

Locke watches the intro and then pops in to check on Celes. We get to look at Celes's lines and, not wanting to cheat and write them down, I try to remember the ends of each lines to get the rhyming order. Sadly that is the exact opposite of what I should've done >_> Thankfully I don't mess it up anyway, and the opera goes on. This scene is... really good. I love that they put together an actual opera-sounding plot here, unlike the comic stylings of say FF7's play or FF8's action movie. I mean I know very little about the medium but it really seems to get the style right.

The most impressive thing though is the music- I don't know how they worked this out, but the lyrics fit with the music pretty much perfectly (this could be a GBA alteration) and they're honestly pretty affecting, as is the tune. I imagine the themes of the opera will continue to resonate for the characters throughout the game too, or at least for Locke and Celes. There's the perfect amount of player interaction here so it doesn't feel like we're just watching a bunch of cutscenes. After Maria/Celes's lines she has to 'dance' with some memory of her Draco, which was not in the instructions and completely threw me, I was looking for the balcony to throw the flowers! It works out though, until the rest of the gang has to go stop Ultros, who helpfully informs us of his plan so we can put an end to it.

Again the opera's music underscores the mission here, it's not a unique idea for games (maybe it was at the time) but this whole sequence is just really fun. The time limit is forgiving but not ridiculously so, so the sense of urgency is kept, and we all eventually crash down and almost spoil the opera with Locke's dreadful acting (lol). The Impresario rolls with it though and we have our boss fight.

Ultros isn't so tough, thankfully we have him surrounded so he can't hit us all at once. It takes a while and he does hit pretty hard, and I definitely feel the lack of Celes here. Thankfully we've trained our Espers a bit to get a little magic, and Cyan and Edgar are pretty tough physical attackers. He eventually goes down (along with much of our Hi-Potion supply), and Setzer takes Celes, ending the opera for now. I hope there really is an Act 2!

Setzer uh... plans to give Celes 'attention' later (this guy is gonna join our party?), and after some chatting we lay our cards on the table. Celes gets a trick coin from Edgar, which is a very nice way to presumably reveal that he fixed the coin toss with Sabin way back. I wonder if Sabin would react if he was in the party now, or what Celes would do if Edgar wasn't here. Anyway she successfully tricks him and he admires that so agrees to help us. We sadly don't get to wander the world with the airship, but we do get a nice cinematic scene introducing the southern continent, reminiscent of the game's opening. They learned how to do this perspective pretty damn well between V and VI I see! Into Empire Land we go.

A couple notes:

• Celes learns how to sing incredibly quickly.
• The sound of the characters' voices during the opera reminded me of Wandersong
• OK Aeris's theme intentionally riffs on that bit of the opera right? Cos Celes's part starts off almost identically.

---

Slowly becoming a Final Fantasy aficionado. Currently playing: FFVI
Congrats to azuarc, Guru Champion 2020!