Revier's Chronicles of Ivalice - Final Fantasy Tactics, Part 10

 

Act 3 opens with a somber discussion in Goltana's court - the war hasn't gone well. Both sides have suffered huge casualties, people everywhere are dying from a drought and a flood, and there are many destitute refugees flooding the capital itself in search of shelter. Orlandu, one of Goltana's nobles, and the only noble sympathizing with the populace's woes, pleads for him to end the war, but the latter is in no mood to listen. It would seem he's hell bent on seeing Dycedarg's faction defeated, even if it'd cost the fortunes of the kingdom.

Revier himself sets out for the imperial capital, hoping to meet his brother Zalbag and get him to stop the war somehow. However, he runs into a haggle of brigands hassling a young man on the way! This leads to a really bizarre fight, where the man, allegedly of the astrologer class, single handedly debilitates all the brigands into uselessness with a global aoe! Ummm....alright....Needless to say, the battle was a swift breeze.

Once he was rescued, the astrologer thanked Revier and then went his own way. Okay then. His surname seemed oddly familiar, however. Hmm...

That encounter aside, he reaches Zalbag's home in the capital without incident. There, he tries to inform him about the entire conspiracy with the church seeking the stones, but with no proof on his side, and his accusations implicating Dycedarg, Zalbag gets incensed, and admonishes him for daring to smear his own family. The discussion breaks down, with Zalbag going so far as to accuse Revier of being a bastard son unworthy of the family name! Thankfully, before things get too awkward, he is called for battle, and the scene ends.



The capital finally sells spears, so Revier dons the lancer class. It's...quite the powerful class, going by stats alone. High HP from heavy armor, decent base evasion, the ability to equip shields, high power spears with a two tile range and some noticeable evade on them...damn!

The shop didn't just sell spears either, there were all sorts of nifty gear upgrades! Some of them are visible right here, and yes, they were indeed selling the elemental shields right here! Clearly, the designers were starting to introduce the fancy stuff to spice things up. This was very much to my liking, of course. The only problem was that I didn't have the money to purchase all the stuff I wanted! Ah well, nothing to do but grab the stuff I could reasonably afford without bankrupting the party's treasury.

Dejected, Revier tries to slip out of Zalbag's house, but is caught by his sister, Alma. Revier delivers the bombshell that Delita is alive, and that there's a conspiracy afoot involving him, Dycedarg and the princess. Of course, he doesn't know much about the entire conspiracy, just that they have something insidious planned, and are after the stones. She decides to go along with him to try and figure everything out. He protests, but...

They are cut short by the arrival of an inquisitor, who wishes to capture and interrogate Revier, as he's a prime suspect of the cardinal's murder! Welp, looks like it didn't take very long for the "police" to catch onto his act. Revier of course defies his order, which leads to the second fight of this act. It was yet another bizarre fight, with the map providing an extremely defensible position in the back, no ranged units on the enemy's side, and an enemy leader who did nothing but walk around, poke people with sticks, and sometimes cast Life 2. As such, this was a very trivial fight, with little to write about. Though, with the latest equipment featuring elemental shields, the knights had them too, which made my wizard switch to Bolt 2 to avoid hitting any absorbs or resistances.

After the fight, they ponder a bit about the church's motives, and Alma reveals that she does know of the location of another holy stone, but forces Revier to take her in, claiming that she may be an outlaw herself now that she actively assisted him against an inquisitor. It turns out, the stone of the Virgo warrior was at Orbonne monastery all along - the very same monastery she and Ovelia had studied in! Some back and forth later, Revier reluctantly lets her join, as she knows its head priest better and would get him in more conveniently.

The shops immediately upgraded their stocks again, adding what was probably the first good knife I'd ever seen! I switched my thief over to it, and with a shield equipped he got a prodigious amount of evasion indeed! Now, his offense did drop, but the latest "light" helmet and armor upgrades offset that with heavy physical attack bonuses, so it seemed like the right call. There was lots of other amazing stuff on offer, including Aegis shields (!), which had insane evasion against magical attacks. Sadly, once again I was short on money, and had to settle for a few important purchases.

The two arrived too late at the monastery, it had already been ransacked by the church's secret cabal. Its head priest had somehow survived the attack, and revealed their entire plan - the civil war was intentionally stirred by the church to weaken both Dycedarg and Goltana's faction, and they were hoping to use the power and memory of the stones to then win the trust of the people. Revier points out a simple flaw in the plan, however - the stones held demonic, not holy power, and, far from winning any trust, they would likely just plunge the land into further chaos. He then decides to pursue the cabal, leaving the two stones in his possession in Alma's keeping.

The next battle was against the cabal's vanguard, and they proved to be quite the tough fight! The lancers were not only very powerful with their stabs and jumps, they were also incredibly evasive and swift. Combined with the Hastes from their time mages, they went crazy and put the entire party in a world of hurt! It was only with lots of careful positioning and desperate focusing of damage, alongside some handy equipment breaks from the knight, that they squeaked out a victory on this fight! Thank God, I was hoping that the first two fights wouldn't be a trend of this chapter, as they were too goofy for my liking!

That's where this session ends. The new equipment and new classes makes things potentially intriguing, even if I have my reservations about how the latter are unlocked. The plot seems to be leaning more into the shadowy mystery side of things this time around, but that may well be the consequence of it introducing new stakes. We shall see where the whole shadowy church cabal arc leads us. See y'all next time!