Chapter 7: Disk 2.1 - Treno

Recap of Disk 1: The story starts out okay, along with the love story… "somewhat", but it all goes to shit at the end of Lindblum and now we've got a stupid "return to back to the Alexandria that we just escaped from" plot with the dumb Garnet, and a unsympathetic and God-Modding Beatrix.

[Screen shows the South Gate entrance, and the Short and Tall Guard we saw in Disc 1]

Tall Guard "There's been a lot of trouble lately."

Short Guard "Oh, you mean about Burmecia?" "I heard they were attacked by an army of soldiers wearing pointy hats." "I wanna go fight on the frontline. Instead, I'm rotting away in this stinkin' place."

Tall Guard "Really? I don't like wars. Why would someone start a war ...?" "That guy who passed through here with the huge bag... Did he look suspicious to you?"

Do these guys really not know it was Brahne? Even random civilian NPCs know something is up with Brahne, remember the one in Lindblum that talked with Steiner?

Short Guard "No... I don't think so."

Tall Guard "But weren't you the one who thought he was suspicious?"

Short Guard "You know me! I'm always like that." "I'm telling you, people who eat pickles are nice people." "I envy him. Gysahl pickles are the only pickles I can't eat."

Tall Guard "...You're really confusing, you know that?"

Short Guard "I know... Why do you think I ended up here?"

What was the point of this scene? Did we really need another scene with these two randoms that are repeating stuff we already know? It also repeatedly shows that Cid is incompetent when giving out info that could have made these two guards better recognize and stop Steiner from going through and screwing everyone over.

[Screen changes to show Dagger sitting in the cable car from Disc 1, eyes closed. Steiner walks up to her]

Steiner "The conductor said we'll be arriving at the Summit Station soon." "Prin..." 'Ahem... Miss Dagger?" "She's sleeping..." (The princess believes what she heard about Queen Brahne.) (Queen Brahne would never start a war... It's all a misunderstanding. She will see that when she talks to the queen.) (...I need not concern myself with such matters. My only mission is to protect the princess.)

Yeah suuuuuuure, if Garnet really did believe what she heard about her mother, she wouldn't be running home like a moron and "trying to to talk to her", which again, is something a daughter would do first, before running away from home.

Conductor "Summit Station! Summit Station!"

[The cable car stops. Dagger and Steiner exit it]

Dagger "Thank you very much."

Conductor "Take care." "You'll have to wait a while until the car to Alexandria arrives."

Dagger "How long will it be?"

Conductor "It arrives when this car returns to Bohden Station, so..." "...about as long as you just spent in the car." "Why don't you go wait in the rest area up ahead?"

Dagger "Okay." "What's wrong, Steiner?"

Steiner "P-Princess..."

Dagger "Hey, what did I say about-"

Steiner "It's Alexandria! We're finally home!"

Dagger "Really...?"

"YAY! We're back in the danger we just tried to escape from, rendering all of Zidane's efforts to get you out of there and into Lindblum and the deaths of all those Black Mages on the cargo ship when confronting Black Waltz 3 completely pointless, all because my inconsistent ass pulled a 180 mood switch!"

[Dagger and Steiner run to the end of the screen, where they can see as far as the horizon, which is all Alexandrian territory]

Dagger "We're home...!" "But I still can't see the castle."

Steiner "Princess, Alexandria may only mean the castle to you, but..."

Dagger "Hey, are you making fun of me for being naive?"

Well you should be made fun of for your ridiculous and implausible naivety.

Steiner "N-No, I'm not..."

Dagger "It's okay. Let's go."

[Dagger and Steiner enter the Rest Stop building]

Skipping ahead to meeting the rest of Tantalus.

Steiner "Scoundrels!"

Dagger "?"

Steiner "Are you here to kidnap the princess again!?"

Well that would prevent the first "kidnapping" from being entirely pointless.

Skipping a few lines.

[Dagger approaches Marcus]

Dagger "You're Marcus, right? What are you doing here?"

Marcus "Princess!? What are YOU doing here?"

Cinna "Hey, check it out! It's the princess."

Marcus "When we escaped from Evil Forest..."

Steiner "Princess! You shouldn't waste your breath on criminals!"

[Dagger approaches Steiner]

Steiner "Princess...!"

Dagger "Steiner! That's enough!"

Steiner "Wh-Wha...!?"

Dagger "Can't I even talk to my friends?"

I'd hardly consider you friends with them considering you drugged and abandoned their brother, making all of their efforts to get you out of Alexandria useless, and leaving said brother to a dangerous war zone with no healer, despite everything he did for you, over your crazy mommy issues and even having the gals to say you don't care about him.

Steiner "Friends!? But they're..."

Dagger "Adelbert Steiner!"

Steiner "Yes, Prin - ma'am!"

Cinna "He's bein' scolded."

Marcus "How embarrassing."

The one who should be scolded way more is Garnet, but that will never happen. Skipping ahead.

[Dagger and Steiner join Cinna and Marcus at the cable car]

Cinna "Good luck!"

Marcus "Yeah. I'll save our bro!"

Dagger "...Bro?"

[Dagger and Steiner enter the cable car]

Conductor "Now departing."

Dagger "Why are you going to Treno, Marcus?"

Marcus "To save our brother."

Dagger "Who?"

Marcus "There's only one man I call 'Bro.' That's Blank." "We've been gathering info to cure his petrification." "We finally learned about an item called Supersoft that cures all forms of petrification."

How did you find this out exactly? And why does it have to be "super" soft? Why can't it be regular soft?

And again, how did you even know about Blank's petrification to begin with? I refer the readers to what I said back in the Lindblum chapter when the ATE showed Tantalus talking about this.

Dagger "What about Cinna?"

Marcus "Cinna's going to the Tantalus hideout in Lindblum to tell the others."

What others? We see Baku later and he is in South Gate as well, and we don't see any other Tantalus members when we go back to Lindblum on Disk 2.

Also how did Tantalus and Zidane not meet up back in Lindblum at that point back then when they got Garnet there?

Dagger "I see..."

Marcus "It's my turn for questions."

Dagger "Yes?"

Marcus "Where's Zidane?"

Dagger "We seperated in Lindblum."

Marcus "Got rid of him as soon as he got you to Lindblum, huh?"

This is the most we are going to get on Dagger being chewed out for any of this.

Dagger "How could you say that!? It's only because Zidane kept treating me like a child!"

You were acting like a child. But of course even when everything goes bad and your Eidolons get stolen to be used as WMD, you will be just treated as a victim in all this and Zidane nor anyone else will chew you out for any of what you did, even though Zidane should very rightfully be pissed at you and hurt by what you did, because apparently the writers are treating you and Beatrix as author's pets.

Dagger "...I don't care about him."

Ah yes, you don't care about the guy who risked a lot to save you, get you to Lindblum and loved you, and is now stuck in a ruined Burmecia looking for you and worried, and is now broken and beaten by your very own Beatrix (And only wasn't executed be Beatrix because of contrivance).

You've lost a bunch of sympathy points.

Marcus "Fine. Then I don't know anything." [Turns his back to Dagger]

Marcus should be just a bit more concerned about what happened to Zidane and his whereabouts and frustrated with Garnet, especially since at this point Marcus has heard about Burmecia.

Dagger "..." "Say, Marcus... Um, is there any way I can help?"

Marcus "Help with what?"

Dagger "Well... I was partly responsible for what happened, so..."

And yet you pretty much made all of Blank's efforts go to waste the moment you blew off Zidane and ran back home starting this whole pointless subplot.

I swear, if the only reason the writers had Blank get petrified in the first place was to serve as some cheap excuse of a "justification" for Garnet running back to Alexandria like an idiot, someone is getting smacked. Especially since Garnet contributes nothing to this subplot anyways and actually puts Marcus in a bad situation, but that's for later.

Skipping a few lines.

Conductor "It might be engine trouble! Please remain in your seats while I check." [He walks outside] "Ahhhhhh!" [He runs back in] "It's a demon! A demon with a pointy hat!"

Dagger "A pointy hat!?"

[Dagger and Steiner nod to each other, and run outside]

Marcus "What's wrong!?"

[Marcus runs outside as well]

Marcus "What's going on!?" "!"

Black Waltz No. 3 "Mission...retrieve...princess...alive..."

Dagger "Isn't that the one we saw on the cargo ship?"

Steiner "Monster! I'll finish you off this time!"

Dagger "Wait, Steiner!" "Tell me something! Why do you want to capture me?"

Are you serious? It because your MOTHER SENT THEM, did you forget Waltz no. 2 clearly stating that to you back in Dali?

Steiner "Princess, it's too dangerous! Please stand back!"

Black Waltz No. 3 "Mission...retrieve...princess...alive..."

Marcus "It's no use! It doesn't understand!"

Dagger "But-"

Black Waltz No. 3 "Eliminate...all!"

[Boss Battle: Steiner, Dagger, and Marcus vs. Black Waltz No. 3. And the end of the battle, you finally kill it off for good]

Dagger "Why...? Why...?" "What did he want with me?"

How oblivious are you? Seriously, this whole dumb subplot is based purely on Garnet forgetting everything she saw and heard.

Steiner "Princess..."

Marcus "Burmecia was attacked by an army of black mage soldiers..."

Dagger "...I know."

Marcus "Those mages wiped out the people of Burmecia..."

I think you should also be worried for your bro Zidane, you aren't going to ask Garnet if Zidane is in Burmecia, Marcus?

Dagger "..."

Steiner "Who would do such a thing?"

Marcus "Are you serious!? How ignorant can you be!?"

You should be saying that to Garnet more than Steiner. Also Marcus would be great at "Everything wrong with FFIX".

Steiner "What do you mean!?"

Dagger "Stop it, Steiner... I know who did it."

Oh so you DO know. Seriously, what was the point of bringing back Black Waltz no. 3? All this scene did was repeat info we already knew, it just repeatedly shows how much of moron Garnet is.

Steiner "Princess?"

Dagger "We're almost in Alexandria..." "I must go to the castle and see my mother..." "She'll listen to me."

Oh shut up, if you are so convinced of that, why didn't you do this when you had the chance BEFORE you wanted to be kidnapped and escape from Alexandria in the first place? All you've done is render all of Zidane's (and the player's) efforts pointless and ungratefully poisoned him and blew him off, ruining the romance. You also clearly said in Lindblum that Cid was the only one your mother would listen to, here is the quote:

"At this point, I think you're the only person Mother will listen to..."

And you've contradicted this line since the end of Disk 1 Lindblum. It amazes me how far some people that I've argued with in the past will go to defend this completely lousy writing.

[The scene changes, resuming inside the moving cable car. Dagger walks and sits across from Marcus]

Dagger "I think we're almost there."

Marcus "So, you already heard about the attack on Burmecia."

Dagger "Of course. I'm not like Steiner."

Except that you ARE like Steiner, especially when it comes to the ridiculous denial about your mother.

Marcus "You've changed."

Dagger "Me? You mean the way I talk?"

Marcus "Not just that."

No she hasn't Marcus, or actually, yes she has, in the sense that she went from: being highly educated and brilliantly working out an escape from home plan and improvising a way out on a dime in the play, to: devolving into a really clichéd naive princess stereotype.

Seriously, is Sakaguchi trying imply that this is "development"? This is not good development.

This is just more Garnet wank.

Dagger "Well... A lot has happened." "Oh, speaking of which...!"

Marcus "Yeah?"

Dagger "I've been through tons of battles. I'm a seasoned pro, now!"

Marcus "What are you talking about?"

Yeah, what is she talking about? Aside from non-storyline random battles, the only battles she has been in are against Black Waltz no. 2 and, just now, with the damaged and weakened no. 3. Stop exaggerating, Dagger.

Dagger "We need to find Supersoft and save Blank, right?"

Marcus "You're gonna come along, even if I refuse, right?"

Dagger "Of course I am! This is so exciting!" "I've always wanted to see the marvelous architecture of Treno. I can hardly wait!"

Yeah keep acting all excited while the man who loves you, Zidane, and the friends you abandoned, are having a rough time in Burmecia, really sympathetic.

Marcus (On second thought, she hasn't changed that much.)

Oh so Marcus was just faking out, at least he acknowledged it.

Skipping ahead.

[Dagger and company head onto the World Map, and eventually make their way to Treno. As they enter the town, the gates open, as the words "Dark City Treno" appear on the screen]

Steiner "Princess, this is Treno, the City of Nobles."

Where do they get hundreds of nobles from? What do they all rule?

Dagger "We need to find out which noble has the Supersoft."

Marcus "There aren't many nobles living here. The nights are long. It's a great place for thieves."

Steiner "People like you turned this city into a slum!"

It is absurd - "the city of the nobles." Despite the fact that there are slums on every corner in bulk. Again, no common sense, no coherence in the world order - Sakaguchi just wanted to make a city with nobles for the sake of it.

Marcus "...Let's steal the Supersoft and get this over with."

Steiner "Steal!? How dare you!" "Do you think I'd let you commit a crime before my very eyes!?"

Marcus "How else would we get the Supersoft?"

Steiner "Quiet! I will not allow such disgraceful behavior!"

Oh you mean like how you stole that cargo ship in Dali, Steiner?

Marcus "I never asked you to come along. Quit complaining."

[Dagger runs off the left side of the screen]

Really? Garnet is just going to wader off like a moron instead of sticking to Marcus to get the supersoft? So much for "priorities".

Steiner "Don't you talk back to me! First of all-"

Marcus "...Uh-oh."

Steiner "Do not interrupt me while I'm talking!"

Marcus "Look behind you."

Steiner "What!?" "Princess, I urge you not to...!" "P-Princess!?" [Marcus walks off the right side of the screen] "No... Not again..." "Never have I dealt with such hardship during my 18 years of service." "This is all because of you and your scoundrel friends...!" [Turns around to see that Marcus isn't there] "Gone..." "An Alexandrian knight must not let such a frivolous matter get to him! I must find the princess!"

Really? Marcus is just going to split off too? What happened to STICKING TOGETHER? I'm pretty sure Marcus would want to keep close proximity with Dagger considering, his brother, Zidane, left Tantalus for her and he should be more concerned about Zidane's unknown status and whereabouts, this is stupid.

- Treno Tradition

[Dagger is strolling along. One person runs up a set of stairs, chasing another one]

"Come back here!"

Dagger "Was that a pickpocket? I should be careful."

Uh yeah, it's a bit late to "be careful", and not just because you wandered off like a dummy, but also for considering this whole "going back home" to be not a really bad idea.

- Ambition

[A guy and a girl are standing outside of the Inn]

Natalie "Listen carefully, Mario. This city used to be called 'the City of Nobles.' It's a lie!"

Mario "The nobles pushed us around, right, Sis!?"

Natalie "That's right. They hogged all the waterfront property and forced us up into the hills."

Again, what do the Nobles rule?

[Marcus walks onto the screen]

Mario "They exploited us to make their money, right, Sis!?"

Natalie "Right. But we can't just sit here and complain, or we'll end up spending the rest of our lives in this miserable place."

Mario "Power to the people! Right, Sis!?"

Natalie "That's right! Power to the people!" "We'll never go hungry once we become nobles!" "Follow me, Mario!"

[They walk off the screen]

Marcus "..." "What's this world coming to...?" [He walks into the inn]

Another pointless ATE, much like the stuff in Dali, this never comes up again, or serves any purpose, even at least as a side quest, it's just shows my point about the ATE's being hollow.

- Confusion

[Dagger is walking in a part of the city]

Dagger "This is not a very nice city..." "Better find Supersoft fast and get back to Alexandria."

Then why didn't you stick with Marcus so that you could do just that instead of wandering off like an IDIOT?!

[She walks up a set of stairs, seeing a drunken man at the top of them]

Burp... Hiccup!

Dagger "..." "Ah... Um... Maybe not this way." "Yeah, I won't find the Supersoft over there." "Oh..." [She sees an old gentleman and runs up to him] "Excuse me, have you heard of a thing called Supersoft...?"

Again, I refer you to what I said above, Marcus already knows where to go, stop this bullshit.

Old Man "Huh? My wife? She died 3 years ago."

Dagger "No, I'm looking for an item that cures all petrification..."

Old Man "Oh, really? I'm doing fine, but thanks for asking." "I may be old, but I'm still healthy."

Dagger "..." "Um, thank you...very much." [Dagger begins to walk away, towards the exit of the screen]

Old Man "You're still young! Don't give up! Good luck!"

All this pointless ATE did was show how repeatedly stupid Garnet was, and yet a bunch of the fanbase will complain about Rinoa instead.

- Meeting Place

Skipping the first half of this.

[Marcus walks down the stairs, to Baku, who exclaims "ACHOO!"]

Baku "Yer late."

Marcus "A lot happened. I'm kinda tired."

Baku "No excuses. You're ready to go."

Marcus "You found it? You found the Supersoft?"

Baku "Yeah, in a noble's mansion. You'll go by boat and break in tonight."

See? If Dagger had simply stuck to Marcus, they would have know where the Supersoft is.

Marcus "Leave it to me! I'm the one who'll save our bro!"

Baku "Yeah, it's just that you've got two liabilities comin' along."

Even Baku knows how stupid Garnet and Steiner are, and how they played no role in getting the supersoft and de-petrifying Blank.

- Unexpected Visitor

[Dagger enters the auction house, where various people are shouting out bids]

Dagger "Oh... This must be an auction house." "Maybe I can find the Supersoft here..." "Hmm?" [She looks up and sees Kuja at the top balcony, looking over the auction]

Yeah, yeah, keep persisting with this dumb subplot Dagger, Sakaguchi seems to love pushing Garnet's implausible naïvety.

[Steiner enters the auction house and approaches Dagger]

Steiner "Princess! That goodness I found you. I was worried."

Dagger "How can I find the Supersoft when I keep having to listen to your complaints?"

Oh screw you, you were the one who arbitrarily wondered off, Garnet.

Steiner "Such harsh words..."

If this where any character other than Steiner, Garnet would have gotten chewed out for this, but it wasn't and Dagger never gets held responsible for any of her actions.

Dagger "I don't think it's here anyway." "Where's Marcus?"

Steiner "I do not know..."

Dagger "Maybe Marcus found it already." "Are you coming? I'm going, with or without you."

Steiner "I-I shall follow you, Princess."

[Steiner runs out. Dagger looks up at Kuja again]

Dagger "...I've seen him before..."

And you aren't going to think more about this? As I've said before in Lindblum, the real reason Garnet should have ran away from home was to find out who Kuja was and stop him, instead of focusing on her mother and this "try to talk to her" bullshit, because she should have knew he was behind her mother's crazy behaviour (which was really obvious), and her true love Zidane would have helped her with all of this instead of abandoning him.

[Steiner and Dagger head over to the inn, where Baku and Marcus were before]

Marcus "We're ready to retrieve the Supersoft."

Dagger "Good! At last, we can save Blank! When do we leave?"

Well we could have done this quicker if not for you wondering off and being a selfish brat.

Marcus "We can leave right away. So you're coming along, huh?" "Are you ready?" [Choose between "Ready" or "Not Yet". Gotta choose "Ready" sooner or later]

Dagger "Let's go."

Steiner "Princess!" "Princess! Please wait!"

Marcus "Boss's waiting at the dock."

Dagger "Boss? You mean..."

Marcus "Yep, there's only one man we call 'Boss.'"

Oh you mean the guy who was going leave Garnet behind in the Evil Forest to be plant food?

[Dagger walks off screen. Steiner follows her on the next one]

Steiner "Princess, please wait!" "It may be a trap! You cannot trust criminals!" "Think of the consequences! You are a princess!" "If the queen hears about this..."

Garnet hasn't been thinking of the consequences since Lindblum.

[Dagger reaches Baku, with Steiner close behind]

Steiner "Princess!"

Baku "Princess, do you know that breakin' and enterin' is a crime?"

Dagger "I need to make sure you don't steal anything else."

Marcus "Let's go."

Steiner "Dammit! I am coming along." "It is my duty to protect the princess from bad influence!"

Marcus "Do whatever you want..."

Baku "Always talkin' about yer duty. Ain't you got thoughts of yer own?"

Steiner "Don't you talk back to me! I am escorting the princess-"

Baku "I thought you might've changed after travelin' with Zidane, but..." "...you ain't changed.

Neither has Dagger, but everyone seems to be ignoring her stupidity because she is a creator's pet.

Baku Do you even know why you're here?"

Steiner "Wh-What do you mean!?"

Dagger "Let's just go, okay?"

Is no one going to bring up Baku's whole "leave Dagger behind in the Evil Forest" bit? That would have definitely landed him in hot water with Cid, and Garnet knows now that Cid planned for Baku to kidnap her, but none of this will be brought up and Baku will face no repercussions.

[The seen changes to the auction house; the auctioneer is talking to Kuja]

Auctioneer "How was Burmecia?"

Kuja "Not bad... Better if I didn't have to see those vermin and the ugly elephant-lady." "They offend my senses."

Funny, that last bit can be said about this whole game and it's writing. Also Kuja is a racist against rat people.

Auctioneer "You must be tired."

Kuja "It's not over yet. The rest of the vermin must be done away with."

Seriously, what is Kuja's beef with the rat people? Was Sakaguchi just like "hey let's just make Kuja look like more of a cartoon asshole"?

Speaking of which, this is the problem with Kuja, he spends most of the game being a moustache twirling cartoon villain, doing stereotypical cartoon evil behaviour and generic JRPG stuff, but then at the last minute, the game forcefully tries to make him out to be "complex, tragic and sympathetic". Instead of drawing inspiration from a Shakespeare antagonist, Square apparently decided to base Kuja on the attention-whoring snots who get rejected at their auditons to play Shakespeare antagonists.

Overlooking the man-thong, the effeminate hair tosses, the mincing, the temper tantrums, and the embarrassing attempts at poetry, there just isn't much going on with this guy. He's like that one insufferable drama brat you knew back in high school: he always has to be the center of attention, he never shuts the hell up even when he has nothing worth saying, and even while doing something immorally, he acts like he's standing in front of a full-body mirror and practicing for his role as Scar in the spring semester production of The Lion King. His only real interesting moments occur when he's ripping off Blade Runner and is revealed as Zidane's brother, but as said above that happens so late and forcefully that you wonder why they even bothered (it's like the revelation that Lynx was Serge's father in Chrono Cross). But I will address that all when we get to it.

Even his theme music which plays right here is over the top and sounds like generic "look at me, I'm EEEEVVVVVVIIIIIILLLLLLL, *insert stereotypical evil laughter here*" music.

Auctioneer "Will you be heading to Cleyra, then?"

Kuja "Yes; I trust you will deliver them."

Auctioneer "Certainly. I shall prepare now..."

The dialogue here suggests that the Auction house, maybe even the nobles of Treno in general, are in on this whole Black Mage production and war, but after this scene, the whole thing is never brought up again and is completely wasted, even Kuja's connections to Treno are dropped, other than a brief pointless conversation by Freya in a later visit to Treno that doesn't really explain anything.

Kuja "By the way, did you see a pretty lady in the crowd today?"

Auctioneer "A pretty lady? Shall I arrange a meeting?"

Kuja "There's no need. The canary I've been after... She flew into my cage of her own free will."

If you've been after Dagger this whole time, why didn't you try sneaking into Lindblum to capture her back in disk 1 when she was there, instead of dicking around and just happening to catch sight of her by pure coincidence?

Auctioneer "?"

Kuja "Never would I have imagined running into you in a place like this. It must be fate." "But you cannot rest your wings yet..." "Fly home to your mother, my little canary."

Kuja is being pretty presumptuous here, assuming that Garnet is being stupid enough to just run back home after wanting to escape from her mother. I mean, okay, technically he is correct, but what would make Kuja think Dagger would do just that, other than contrived writing?

What was your plan Kuja, if Sakaguchi didn't cheaply write Garnet as so implausibly naïve and have her abandon Zidane and run back like an idiot, and other characters like Cid didn't withhold important information for no reason (such as knowing that Brahne was after the Eidolons this whole time)?

[The screen turns black, with the following lines in white]

"I, too, will welcome you home with open arms."

Also there are these lines, several of Kuja's early dialogue suggests that he is in love with Garnet, but after the eidolons extraction scene, this is dropped and never referenced again, this would have made Kuja more interesting and giving him more of a comparison with his brother Zidane, but nah, screw him have an intense infatuation with a certain character, we writers should just stick with Kuja being generic and being a stereotypical cartoon villain.

[Screen changes to the thieves in the boat. Steiner is sitting on one end, Dagger on the other]

Steiner (What in the world am I doing...?) (I'm assisting thieves in committing a crime...) (No... I must be patient.) (Protect the princess. Escort her back to the castle. Focus on your duties...) (Trust the queen. She would never commit an atrocity.) (There must be a good reason.) (No thoughts of my own?) (Nonsense.) (How can I, a lowly knight, understand the queen's thinking?) (I need not worry about the ramblings of a criminal.) (Just think about escorting the princess home.) (I'll probably never see him again...) (He was the culprit. He pulled the princess and me straight into his intrigues...)

Again, we get it, Steiner is ignorant and compensating, stop hammering it in Sakaguchi.

Steiner's arc is not well done, funny how his character poster is "Dilemma" which in the original Japanese is phrased as this:

"Loyalty astray. When you devote your life to someone, is it really for your own sake? Tell me, what do people live for?"

This, along with the rest of the character motivational posters is presented as if they are concerned about such deep questions, when in fact this is something completely kindergarten-tier. The theme of loyalty is not so bad in itself, but a character so flawed like Steiner is trying to reveal it that it looks like one big mockery.

Steiner's development would have been much better done if he went to Burmecia with Freya and saw what happened. Seriously, how much more interesting would it be to for Steiner to see what Beatrix was doing and to see the drama and conflict between them? But no, instead we get clichéd bullshit like this where Steiner takes part in Garnet's stupid "run back home" subplot that just makes things worse and only hears about Alexandria's atrocities after the fact.

Dagger (It was your fault, Zidane. If you hadn't treated me like a child...) (...I wouldn't be here hunting after Supersoft to save one of your friends.)

Okay, again, YOU WERE ACTING LIKE A CHILD!

Lines like these make me lose all sympathy for Dagger, she is now placing the blame on Zidane, all because he didn't think "running back and just talking to mommy" was a good idea (which it is NOT. Again, if she was so convinced of this, why didn't she just do this before wanting be kidnapped and escape from home? Not to mention contradicting herself when she earlier said in Lindblum that Cid was the only one that could talk to Brahne), and I already addressed Zidane acting inconsistently and the forced drama surrounding that scene in Lindblum. Yet some people seem to think this is the "greatest FF love story".

Dagger (Why am I doing this...?) (Because Blank saved me? Yes, he saved me.) (He saved my life... The least I can do is return the favour...) (But I never thought about things like this before...)

Funny because you technically also rendered all of Blank's efforts in the first place completely pointless, he did that so that Zidane could save you and be by your side, and you threw all that away the moment you drugged and abandoned Zidane, you aren't really "returning the favour", especially since you aren't even pivotal to getting the Supersoft, Tantalus would have gotten it with or without her presence, all Dagger did was make the outcome simpler, which we will see now.

[Marcus, Dagger, and Steiner walk into the basement of the Noble's house]

Steiner "How are we to find Supersoft in this mountain of boxes?"

Marcus "Just find it."

[They all look around]

Dagger "?" "(Someone's coming!)"

[Someone walks down the steps: he has big, thick spectacles and a long, pointy nose]

Scholarly Man "Oh, I can't believe I ran out of ink on a night like this." "I must find more ink and go back to the observatory..."

Marcus "(Should I take care of him?)"

Dagger "(...! Wait!)"

[Dagger runs up to the Scholarly Man]

Steiner "(Princess! No!)"

Scholarly Man "Hmm?"

Dagger "..."

Scholarly Man "Y-You're...!"

Dagger "I've missed you, Doctor Tot."

Tot "P-Princess! Princess Garnet!"

Steiner "Doctor Tot?"

Marcus "You know him?"

Steiner "Doctor Tot is the highly respected scholar who tutored the princess!"

Well Tot did a pretty lousy job at it, considering that Dagger doesn't know what crops and knives are and pushed "naïve princess" to insane levels. I just want to throttle Tot and ask him "what the heck did you teach this girl?!"

Tot "Ah, Master Steiner. You must be quiet, or you'll wake the shopkeeper." "But, Princess, what on earth are you doing here?"

Did Tot never hear the news of the (now pointless) kidnapping in Alexandria?

Skipping ahead.

[Dagger and company travel throughout Treno, finally arriving at Tot's house]

Dagger "Oh..." [She looks up the staircase] "Doctor Tot..."

[She makes her way up the stairs, finally meeting up with him]

Tot "Princess! Thank you for coming. Welcome to my humble abode."

Dagger "This is your home?"

Tot "I traveled quite far in search of a sponsor for my research after I departed Alexandria." "I finally found one here in Treno." "You have grown into a fine young woman. I am pleased to see you again."

Funny because a later bit of dialogue from Dagger suggests that Tot knew something was up with the Queen which is why you left, I will be getting to that next chapter.

Steiner "Doctor Tot! You look quite well."

Tot "Ah, Master Steiner! You are escorting the princess?"

Steiner "Yes, sir! I deeply regret my earlier actions."

Tot "Still a straight arrow, aren't you? I'm sure you had your reasons, but I won't ask why." "The Supersoft is in the box right there. Please take it."

You really aren't going to question what they are doing here and about the whole incident in Alexandria with the kidnapping?

Marcus "Don't mind if I do!"

[Received Supersoft!]

See? All Garnet being there did was just make it so that Tot would just give away the Supersoft, instead of Tantalus simply stealing it like they were going to anyway if Garnet wasn't there, she had no requirement in this. In fact, she actually makes things more problematic (and I don't just mean the Eidolons) for Marcus by putting him in a bad situation which we will see at the end of this chapter.

Steiner "Have you no manners? Thank the good doctor!"

Tot "It's quite alright, Master Steiner..."

Dagger [Looking up at a massive globe] "Master Tot, is this Gaia?"

Tot "Yes, it's a globe of our planet, Gaia."

Everyone remember the globe bit because it also factors into my statements about the lousy world building and why there aren't any colonies outside of the Mist Continent.

Dagger "I remember your lessons."

Tot "You remember the ramblings of an old fool..."

[Flashback time: Tot and a very-young Garnet are in a library of some sort]

Tot "Two phrases are commonly found in documents more than 500 years old..." "One is 'jewel'. The other is 'summoner tribe.'" "But 500 years ago, the phrases mysteriously vanished from history..." "The archeologist Frederick Ash theorized that 'jewel' refers to the pendant passed down to the ruler of Alexandria." "But the pendant... It is much too small to be referring to the same 'jewel.'" "Other research suggests a relationship between 'eidolons' and magical 'stones'..."

This is all foreshadowing for Alexander later (which will also have a disappointing payoff, but I will address that when we get there), but what I want readers to note here is that Tot is quite knowledgeable about the Eidolons, this is going to factor into what I'm going to be saying about Tot (and also Cid) in the next and later chapters.

Garnet "Doctor Tot!"

Tot "Ah, Princess!"

Garnet "Were you reading big book again?"

Tot "Ha ha ha... I've already read every book in this library." "But I think better when I'm surrounded by old books."

Garnet "Really? I don't like books."

Tot "You are a person of dignity. It is imperative that you study hard."

Garnet "I know, I know... Oh, but I was quite taken by that book you gave me." "What is it called? It was..."

Tot "Was it 'I Want to Be Your Canary,' by Lord Avon?"

Garnet "Oh yes, that's the one! So there is a book I like after all."

See here? Once again, emphasis is being put on "I want to be Canary" like that story is really significant, it isn't, I refer you back to my rant in the first chapter about how that story should have been huge foreshadowing for IX's story and it wasn't, the only thing it loosely connects to is Zidane and Garnet, which is ironic and even more so considering that it is being brought up during the point where Garnet has abandoned Zidane, going back to my point in chapter 1 about how "I want to be your Canary" has a better love story than the actual love story, because I'm pretty sure one of the the plays main leads didn't poison and blow off her devoted lover.

Tot "My, my."

Garnet "What's this, Doctor Tot?"

Tot 'That is a globe of Gaia. It's a model of our planet."

Garnet "A Gaia globe? I never knew our castle was shaped like a sphere."

Tot "Ha ha ha... We live on the surface, Princess."

Garnet "?"

Okay I know that Garnet is supposed to be just a child in this flashback, but Garnet is actually from a whole other continent, from Madain Sari, which she left when she was six (and keep in mind that Eiko is that same age) yet she thinks that the castle is "the whole world?".

Yes, she has amnesia (the dumb inconvenience kind), but her subconscious should be triggered by discussions like this, she has repeated dreams of when she left Madain Sari when it was being devastated like we see in the game's opening, she even subconsciously knows the "Melodies of Life" song that she sings repeatedly like we saw in Lindblum and Dali. Yet nothing about this discussion of the globe and places outside the castle is triggering anything in Garnet's mind?

Tot "Ah, yes, the stars! They inspired the theories relating stones and eidolons." "That is why..." "Oh! I'm sorry, I was lost in thought again."

Also this, Tot is talking clearly about Eidolons. These words about summons isn't triggering anything for Garnet?

Skipping ahead.

[Flashback ends. Tot and Dagger are standing beside the current globe]

Dagger "How long has it been? Eight years?"

Tot "Time passes quickly." "But I haven't changed. I continue to collect and research these items."

Dagger "Where did you find this globe?"

Tot "It's an antique. It's broken, as you can see, but I use it as an observation deck." "Ironic, isn't it? Looking up at the sky from inside a globe."

This globe actually could have been great foreshowing for Gaia and Terra, Terra is inside of Gaia, what if the globe wasn't broken but rather the original owner was doing research on a hidden world within Gaia? But we never get anything actually interesting of the sort.

Dagger "It sure is..."

Tot "Princess, I don't mean to meddle in your affairs, but..." "I am on your side, now and forever." "Please tell me if there's anything I can do."

Uh, I think you should be meddling considering you yourself left Alexandria, implying you knew something was up, also did you not hear about what happened in Burmecia? Even Tantalus and random NPC's know about that, heck even the random NPC's know something is wrong with the Alexandrian Queen, yet you, an EDUCATED SCIENTIST, seem to be completely oblivious to that.

Dagger "Doctor Tot..."

[Screen returns to Tot, Dagger, Steiner and Marcus]

Tot "I see... So the queen's forces have already grown quite powerful..." "Okay, then. It may be dangerous, but I shall see to it that you reach Alexandria."

Are you freaking serious?! You are actually agreeing to Dagger's dumb idea?! Do you not know anything? Was he not told the kidnapping part and Cid being in on it?

Tot should have know a lot more and I'm going to be talking about it next chapter.

Dagger "How?"

Tot "I had an old transportation device remodeled in the case of such an emergency." "This way, please."

Steiner "Ah! We can finally return to Alexandria!"

Yay… we are about to screw everyone over and make things worse.

Marcus "I'm coming with you."

Steiner "What!? Why!?"

Marcus "I can reach Blank more easily from Alexandria."

How, by jumping off of Alexandria's high cliff into the Evil Forest?

Also do you really think it's a good idea to go back to the place where you are no doubt a wanted criminal because you kidnapped the princess? Why are you even agreeing to this? Earlier on back at South Gate you were on about how crazy the Queen was and how Steiner was being really dense about it (yet ignoring the same from Dagger), yet now you are perfectly okay with heading into the castle of the same insane warmongering queen.

Dagger "Yes, come with us, Marcus." "Okay, Steiner?"

Steiner "Grrr..."

Dagger "Let's go save Blank! And restore my mother to her former self!"

Good lord, if you wanted to restore your mother to her former self, you should have focused on "the suspicious man", KUJA, from the start, instead of this "going home to talk to mommy" nonsense that you didn't even do before running away in the first place.

[You climb down a ladder, entering an underground cave. The Words "Gargan Roo" appear on the screen]

Tot "This is Gargan Roo, an ancient travel route between Treno and Alexandria."

Marcus "Why was this thing built under a tower?"

Tot "Actually, Gargan Roo was in use long before even the invention of airships!" "The tower was built on top of the disguised tunnel."

But aren't the tunnels full of Mist, making them dangerous? Why would something like this be in use?

Skipping ahead, mostly just lever pulling filler and padding.

[Dagger and Marcus step into the gargant seats]

Tot "Please look after the princess, Master Steiner."

Steiner "Of course!"

Tot "The princess is bright, but she is still young and naive. I am concerned about her safety." "Please make your own decision on the matter at hand and protect her."

A bit late for that Tot since you are willingly sending her back to the castle like an idiot, the same castle that you yourself left.

Steiner "I am but a humble knight. I cannot exceed my authority..."

Tot "Is that an honest answer?" "You may endanger the princess if you keep telling yourself that."

OH. MY. GOD. LOOK IN A FREAKING MIRROR, TOT! You, yourself, are already endangering Dagger by agreeing to this whole stupid plan.

Steiner "...I shall take note of your counsel."

[Steiner joins Marcus and Dagger]

Tot "Fare you well, Princess!"

Dagger "Take care, Doctor Tot!"

[The gargant leaves]

Tot "I must hurry!"

[Tot returns to the previous screen]

Tot "I just pull the lever..." [He pulls it] "Be safe, Princess..."

Yeahhh… she won't.

[Meanwhile, in the seats which the gargant is carrying]

Marcus "Finally!"

Dagger "We can reach Alexandria now..."

Marcus "You can't even see Treno anymore."

Dagger "I wonder how long it's going to take?" "I never dreamed of going home in a vehicle like this."

It's amazing how much the game tries to to pretend that this whole subplot isn't a really dumb move.

Steiner "Doctor Tot remains a unique charact-"

Dagger and Steiner "!"

[The gargant suddenly stops moving]

Steiner "Wh-What's wrong?"

Dagger "It's hesitating." "!"

[Dagger jumps out of the seat, landing on the floor of Gargan Roo, which is covered with Mist, and runs forward. Steiner and Marcus follow]

Steiner "Princess!"

[The come face to face which a big purple snake]

Dagger "Could this be the reason?"

See, why would something like the Gargan Roo be in use when it's in a tunnel filled with Mist thus leading to big scary monsters that can block your path? Unless you are a decent fighter or know magic, you can't really do much against it, don't see how Tot could use it.

Fossil Roo at least has no Mist in it because it leads outside the Mist Continent so that makes sense, but Gargan Roo doesn't.

[Boss Battle: Steiner, Dagger and Marcus. vs Ralvurahva. The battle ends with Ralvurahva escaping. The three of them return to the Gargant, and arrive at Alexandria]

Marcus "We're finally here."

Dagger "I think the gargant is tired, too."

[The gargant leaves]

Steiner "I never knew such a place existed in Alexandria..."

Really? You were never informed of this part of the castle when even Tot know about it and has told Garnet about it as we will hear in just a few lines? Shouldn't being informed of this passageway be standard procedure for the knights and guards?

Marcus "Where are we?"

Dagger "Let's keep moving!"

[The enter another screen]

Marcus "Is this really Alexandria?"

Steiner "Well, it must be!"

Marcus "How do we get out?"

Steiner "Hmm... Well..." "This way!" "Princess, let us make haste."

Dagger "Wait, Steiner!" "I know this place!" "Doctor Tot told me about this place." "My ancestors built this place to keep enemies from invading." "Doctor Tot also said..."

How does that make sense? It's a tunnel connecting from Treno leading directly to the basement of Alexandria Castle? Sure, there is that retractable gate, but that would require random guards always just standing down here, which is highly impractical, it would make more sense for them to just make this tunnel collapse, completely blocking it off.

Steiner "Princess! We can hear your stories later!" "The stale air cannot be good for us!"

Marcus "And we gotta save Blank!"

Dagger "Right. We need to hurry."

[Dagger and Marcus walk up to Steiner]

Dagger "Let's go, Steiner!"

[A huge gate pops up in front of them, blocking their way foward]

Steiner "You! What kind of trick is this!?"

Marcus "I didn't do anything! Don't blame me."

Steiner "You really didn't do anything!?"

Marcus "You don't believe me!?"

Okay Steiner's distrust of Marcus is getting ridiculous, and that's saying a lot.

[Another gate pops up. They're now trapped]

Marcus "Look, we missed our chance to escape."

Steiner "Graaagh!"

[Zorn runs up to them on one side, while Thorn runs up on the other]

Zorn "They fell for it!"

Thorn "Fell for it, they did!"

Steiner "Zorn! Thorn!" "I am Steiner, Captain of the Knights of Pluto! I have returned!" "Let us out at once!"

Thorn "Too bad, it is."

Zorn "You're all under arrest."

Dagger "Zorn!" "Thorn!" "I've returned to Alexandria to speak with my mother." "Take me to my mother!"

Did you not hear the part where they clearly said you were under arrest? How oblivious are you?

Zorn "Yes, we will take you to see Queen Brahne, whether you like it or not."

Thorn "'Capture Princess Garnet,' Queen Brahne said. Ordered us, she did."

Dagger "What!?"

Wow, shocker… except that it isn't and you REALLY should have seen this coming, Dagger.

Steiner "Lies!"

Marcus "What's going on!?"

This is what I meant with what I said earlier above about how Dagger actually made the situation worse for Marcus. He gets captured along with them, sure he only gets thrown in a cage along with Steiner, but he was just lucky not to have been immediately executed on the Queen's orders. (which also makes no sense)

[Screen fades to black, and changes to the team of four in Burmecia, as the rain continues to pour down]

Zidane "Can you stand, Freya?"

Freya "It is nothing."

Zidane "Take it easy, okay?" "How 'bout you, Vivi?"

Vivi "Y-Yeah, I'm alright..."

Zidane "So what now, people? They said they were going to Cleyra."

And they didn't execute you for some reason or even recognize you as the one who kidnapped Garnet.

Freya "We have no choice! We must go to Cleyra, too!"

Zidane "I knew you'd say that!" "You coming, Vivi?"

Vivi "Um... Do you think we'll learn more about those black mages if we go to Cleyra?"

Zidane "Yeah, I'd say we'll learn a lot about them as long as we follow Brahne and that Kuja guy."

Vivi "Then I'm with you!"

Quina "Cleyra...? Sound yummy. I go with you!"

Vivi "O-Oh, and what about the princess?"

Zidane "Dagger?" "I'd never forget about her!"

Funny because you had to be reminded of her by Vivi, and you didn't even try to reason with Beatrix by bring Garnet up to her.

Zidane "She might not be here in Burmecia, but I know we'll find her soon." "Well, let's move out!"

How about you use your common sense and deduce that she has gone back to Alexandria, you were the one who heard her spouting about her stupid idea to "just talk to momma".

Seriously, this is the problem with Zidane, he can be summed up as: "do different garbage without thinking about anything, and everything will be fine for you."

Freya "Some say it lies in the desert west of Burmecia, but I know not whether we can enter the town itself."

"Some say"? I think the giant sand twister there should be proof enough of that.

Zidane "Brighten up a little! We'll figure it out when we get there!"

Truly this guy is a great "planner"…

[Everyone runs off screen, which fades to black]

"Oh, Dagger! Where could you be!?"

Again, I refer you to what said above about using your common sense, Zidane you moron.

[Back on the World Map. The group heads to Cleyra, which is easily found, since it's a spinning tornado of sand in the desert]

End of Chapter 7

I apologize if my commentary was a bit repetitive, this is one of the most painful parts of the game and it's triggered a lot of rage in me.