Keep On Rockin' In Galbadia!!
So I've now played through the end of Disk 1 on FF8. I actually did have a pretty clear recollection of how the disk ended, possibly because it was the most cinematic sequences I'd seen in a video game at the time and it kind of blew my teenage mind. And it helped that I didn't know yet how little payoff there would be for any of it.
When you see the Lunatic Pandora on the dig site, I swear it has a gun turret on top of it. Anyway, it's interesting that the Galbadians have some military presence in Centra (unless Laguna brought a really wrong map) but the Esthar troops don't challenge them until they're literally walking into the dig site. I guess they were trying to keep the operation secret, but how you build an enclosure the size of a city in the middle of nowhere secretly is a mystery. (Alternate theory: The Galbadians had intelligence about some weird dig in Centra, and Laguna was part of a special covert task force that got sent down to investigate. And, being Laguna, he stumbles upon his actual mission objective completely by accident.)
Man, I'd forgotten about the hockey team made up of monsters that apparently participates in normal league play. And the Life draw point in Galbadia Garden's locker room. This world is kind of messed up.
One of the students at Galbadia Garden tells you that their master's relationship with Cid is "one of those under-the-table, sketchy deals." I wonder if setting up G-Garden was NORG's idea, considering how tight they are with the Galbadian military, with Cid trying to keep the focus on Garden's original secret mission and Martine caught in the middle.
Quisits is really bad at being reassuring. I don't think she was trying to be mean to Rinoa, but right after they're told that Seifer's been executed, she's all "You got him involved in this, right?" …And I wonder how far back her memories go? I mean, she was a SeeD at fifteen, so she must have started training pretty early. It's plausible that all her memories of Seifer come from the period when she gets recognized as Garden's golden girl and he keeps getting held back. So it would make sense that she wouldn't have any fond memories of him.
Squall, meanwhile, thinks he was "one of us." Which is kind of weird phrasing, since Squall doesn't really consider himself part of any "us" at this point. I mean, he was a fellow Garden kid, or Squall could still unconsciously consider Seifer part of the orphanage gang even though he doesn't remember it. But I get the impression that Squall and Seifer had a stronger sense of camaraderie than anyone else guessed, or than Squall himself wanted to admit.
So Raijin actually says the orders he brought were specifically for Squall's team. They were even supposed to supposed to go to Timber, but got rerouted to Galbadia Garden because the trains were stopped. I think Cid actually did want Squall's team to fight Edea (because he's the gunblade specialist!), and NORG was even more crazy than I thought.
It's funny that the game goes to so much trouble showing you how tightly run Galbadia Garden is, but Irvine is probably the most laid-back member of your party.
I'm not sure what to make of the Unknown King (who apparently was Dollet's last emperor?). The idea that the GFs were trapping his spirit there doesn't come up anywhere else in the game (and could feed into my idea for North Wind, if I ever work on that again), but for the level of importance the GF have in the story we never get much attention paid to how they work. Squall is not a details man.
So when he's deciding who will lead the Gateway Team, Squall explicitly rules out Zell before choosing Quistis, who's the obvious candidate on paper. Selphie gets no respect.
The Odine Bangle is a lot smaller than I remember it, for some reason. And Rinoa is totally juggling it while she explains her idea; she's really excited about this. Meanwhile, I'm pretty sure Quistis has got a serious case of nerves - which makes sense, as this presumably her first SeeD mission of any kind in a year and arguably the most important SeeD mission ever as far as she knows. Which excuses her initial outburst and maybe leaving her post later on, although the latter was still pretty stupid.
Selphie raises a good point, though: There really is no need for three SeeDs on the Gateway Team - whose job, after all, is to pull a lever - while the Sniper Team, who'll have to make a head-on assault on the Sorceress if the sniper fails, gets two people, one of whom isn't a SeeD. (Also: Why doesn't the Gateway Team assault the Sorceress if the sniper fails? After all, they're the ones who are RIGHT THERE.)
I'd forgotten just how much convincing Squall needs before he goes to save Rinoa. I had NOT forgotten that you can totally run up to the podium, and the crowd is still gathered around waving at you even though the parade has left by now. Because everyone loves Squall.
When Squall tells Rinoa to just stay close to him, you can totally see him sighing. Like he's just trying to get her to let go of his arm. True love forever!
When Squall says he might have to kill Seifer, Rinoa literally says, "Of course, I'd rather it not happen…." It's like the clock tower has sucked all the emotion out of both of them and is feeding it into Irvine.
I like how when she gets into the sewers, Quistis is all, "Ride on this water wheel? Why not?" but won't try just jumping to the other side. And Selphie's even with them!
Irvine says, "I always choke like this." Which, if true, seems like something his instructors at Galbadia Garden would be aware of. And begs the question of why Martine would entrust him with Garden's most important mission ever. The place is practically a prep school for the Galbadian army; did they really not have any other snipers?
Oh, apparently Ultimecia's speech was almost totally different in the Japanese version, which I never knew.
Ultimecia: "......It reeks. Filthy fools. Since time immemorial, we witches have lived within illusion. The foolish fantasy you produced. Adorning their bodies in dreadful costumes, the witches who curse virtuous humans by means of cruel rituals. The terrible witch who burns your green fields and freezes your warm homes with ruthless magic. ......Worthless. Now that the witch from the illusion is come to be seen as a friend of Galbadia, you sigh in relief? Who is dreaming fantasy after fantasy?"
President Deling: "E...Edea... Just what...? Ede......!"
Ultimecia stabs Deling with her creepy pointy fingers.
Ultimecia: "Reality is not at all gentle. That being the case, you fools! There is nothing for you but this!"
Ultimecia throws out Deling's body like yesterday's trash.
Ultimecia: "Escape into your own fantasies! I shall continue to dance for your world of illusions! I shall dance for eternity as the witch who brings you dread! You and I. Together, we shall create the final fantasy. Within are life and death and sweet dreams. The witch travels toward the eternal illusion! The witch and Galbadia on to eternity!"
She doesn't say "HAHAHAHAHA" once!
When you see the Lunatic Pandora on the dig site, I swear it has a gun turret on top of it. Anyway, it's interesting that the Galbadians have some military presence in Centra (unless Laguna brought a really wrong map) but the Esthar troops don't challenge them until they're literally walking into the dig site. I guess they were trying to keep the operation secret, but how you build an enclosure the size of a city in the middle of nowhere secretly is a mystery. (Alternate theory: The Galbadians had intelligence about some weird dig in Centra, and Laguna was part of a special covert task force that got sent down to investigate. And, being Laguna, he stumbles upon his actual mission objective completely by accident.)
Man, I'd forgotten about the hockey team made up of monsters that apparently participates in normal league play. And the Life draw point in Galbadia Garden's locker room. This world is kind of messed up.
One of the students at Galbadia Garden tells you that their master's relationship with Cid is "one of those under-the-table, sketchy deals." I wonder if setting up G-Garden was NORG's idea, considering how tight they are with the Galbadian military, with Cid trying to keep the focus on Garden's original secret mission and Martine caught in the middle.
Quisits is really bad at being reassuring. I don't think she was trying to be mean to Rinoa, but right after they're told that Seifer's been executed, she's all "You got him involved in this, right?" …And I wonder how far back her memories go? I mean, she was a SeeD at fifteen, so she must have started training pretty early. It's plausible that all her memories of Seifer come from the period when she gets recognized as Garden's golden girl and he keeps getting held back. So it would make sense that she wouldn't have any fond memories of him.
Squall, meanwhile, thinks he was "one of us." Which is kind of weird phrasing, since Squall doesn't really consider himself part of any "us" at this point. I mean, he was a fellow Garden kid, or Squall could still unconsciously consider Seifer part of the orphanage gang even though he doesn't remember it. But I get the impression that Squall and Seifer had a stronger sense of camaraderie than anyone else guessed, or than Squall himself wanted to admit.
So Raijin actually says the orders he brought were specifically for Squall's team. They were even supposed to supposed to go to Timber, but got rerouted to Galbadia Garden because the trains were stopped. I think Cid actually did want Squall's team to fight Edea (because he's the gunblade specialist!), and NORG was even more crazy than I thought.
It's funny that the game goes to so much trouble showing you how tightly run Galbadia Garden is, but Irvine is probably the most laid-back member of your party.
I'm not sure what to make of the Unknown King (who apparently was Dollet's last emperor?). The idea that the GFs were trapping his spirit there doesn't come up anywhere else in the game (and could feed into my idea for North Wind, if I ever work on that again), but for the level of importance the GF have in the story we never get much attention paid to how they work. Squall is not a details man.
So when he's deciding who will lead the Gateway Team, Squall explicitly rules out Zell before choosing Quistis, who's the obvious candidate on paper. Selphie gets no respect.
The Odine Bangle is a lot smaller than I remember it, for some reason. And Rinoa is totally juggling it while she explains her idea; she's really excited about this. Meanwhile, I'm pretty sure Quistis has got a serious case of nerves - which makes sense, as this presumably her first SeeD mission of any kind in a year and arguably the most important SeeD mission ever as far as she knows. Which excuses her initial outburst and maybe leaving her post later on, although the latter was still pretty stupid.
Selphie raises a good point, though: There really is no need for three SeeDs on the Gateway Team - whose job, after all, is to pull a lever - while the Sniper Team, who'll have to make a head-on assault on the Sorceress if the sniper fails, gets two people, one of whom isn't a SeeD. (Also: Why doesn't the Gateway Team assault the Sorceress if the sniper fails? After all, they're the ones who are RIGHT THERE.)
I'd forgotten just how much convincing Squall needs before he goes to save Rinoa. I had NOT forgotten that you can totally run up to the podium, and the crowd is still gathered around waving at you even though the parade has left by now. Because everyone loves Squall.
When Squall tells Rinoa to just stay close to him, you can totally see him sighing. Like he's just trying to get her to let go of his arm. True love forever!
When Squall says he might have to kill Seifer, Rinoa literally says, "Of course, I'd rather it not happen…." It's like the clock tower has sucked all the emotion out of both of them and is feeding it into Irvine.
I like how when she gets into the sewers, Quistis is all, "Ride on this water wheel? Why not?" but won't try just jumping to the other side. And Selphie's even with them!
Irvine says, "I always choke like this." Which, if true, seems like something his instructors at Galbadia Garden would be aware of. And begs the question of why Martine would entrust him with Garden's most important mission ever. The place is practically a prep school for the Galbadian army; did they really not have any other snipers?
Oh, apparently Ultimecia's speech was almost totally different in the Japanese version, which I never knew.
Ultimecia: "......It reeks. Filthy fools. Since time immemorial, we witches have lived within illusion. The foolish fantasy you produced. Adorning their bodies in dreadful costumes, the witches who curse virtuous humans by means of cruel rituals. The terrible witch who burns your green fields and freezes your warm homes with ruthless magic. ......Worthless. Now that the witch from the illusion is come to be seen as a friend of Galbadia, you sigh in relief? Who is dreaming fantasy after fantasy?"
President Deling: "E...Edea... Just what...? Ede......!"
Ultimecia stabs Deling with her creepy pointy fingers.
Ultimecia: "Reality is not at all gentle. That being the case, you fools! There is nothing for you but this!"
Ultimecia throws out Deling's body like yesterday's trash.
Ultimecia: "Escape into your own fantasies! I shall continue to dance for your world of illusions! I shall dance for eternity as the witch who brings you dread! You and I. Together, we shall create the final fantasy. Within are life and death and sweet dreams. The witch travels toward the eternal illusion! The witch and Galbadia on to eternity!"
She doesn't say "HAHAHAHAHA" once!