Everything Wrong with Final Fantasy IX

by NC1234567

Final Fantasy IX: "The best Final Fantasy ever!" or an overrated and overhyped game with a poorly done love story? This play by commentary will show. Complete.

9. Chapter 9: Disk 2 Alexandria

Chapter 9: Disk 2.3 - Alexandria

The story so far: Brahne "conquers the world" to gain the Alexander jewel pieces, the eidolon bearer, Garnet, escapes from her and the castle, only to arbitrarily come back like a complete idiot and hand the eidolons over to her on a silver platter. Ten hours of gameplay in two lines!

[On an airship high above Cleyra...]

Brahne "It's time..." "Without her summoning powers, Garnet is helpless." "With this Dark Matter, I now hold the power to summon an eidolon." "Now, I'll find out if Kuja's claims are true." "Odin, come to me!"

What's weird is that the Dark Matter shows up later at the Auction House in Treno that you can buy, with no explanation as to how it ended up there.

[FMV. Brahne holds, and marvels at, the Dark Matter, a swirling ball of black energy, in her hands. It shines brightly, and creates a dark portal in the air, high above Cleyra. Out comes Odin, on his horse, Sleipner, as it gallops along through the air. He sees Cleyra, and he throwns his spear down. The tree village is completely demolished in a tremendous explosion. Odin then dissapears, and Brahne has a shocked, then delighted, look on her face]

And Cleyra gets nuked, all because of Garnet's stupid actions. It's funny how the fanboys whine and accuse VII and VIII of being excessively "dark and emo" when IX gives us this bullshit, and it's being done by the most over the top, moustache twirling, cartoon villain, Brahne, whose motives amount to the juvenile and unrealistic "she's just greedy", and if that wasn't ridiculous enough, the game will then try and make a cheap, last minute attempt for you to to try and feel sorry for her. This is one of IX's problems, you'll go from a cutscene of an entire city being obliterated to Steiner being goofy. Honestly, they overdid it with the destruction aspect. Thousands of innocent civilians are obliterated left and right, but you're supposed to ignore that and care about characters melodramatic "existential crises" in a world where a crazy queen can kill many in seconds. IX has constant mood whiplash and it's ironic how some people claim that IX "isn't taking itself too seriously" when really, it's the opposite.

VII at least only gave us the Sector 7 plate falling, and the Remake fixed and improved a lot of things surrounding that, such as having the slums evacuated, with a Shinra officer helping! (unlike the original where they didn't warn people and evacuate for no reason) Having the Turks (Reno and Rude) actually show hesitation and reservations and, afterwards, remorse towards their actions in causing the plate to collapse. Giving President Shinra and the other executives more of a motive to do this, to blame it on Wutai and conquer them. (Whereas in the original they did it just to get rid of a small group of rebels, Avalanche, which, even as corrupt, greedy corporate executives, would be pretty dumb and silly as it would cause way more costs for them)

Also regarding the Eidolons themselves, according to the IX lore, they are supposed to be the guardians of the world (much like the WEAPONS from FFVII) yet they are doing the exact opposite. How exactly this crazy, overweight, out of shape Queen is able to forcibly override and command the protecters of the world to turn against it and devastate it is never properly explained.

[The three balls of energy appear on the deck of Brahne's airship, each one going into a barrel. Out jump Zidane, Vivi, and Freya]

Well that's a huge design flaw, a bunch of Burmecian knights could have jumped into those balls and ambushed the Red Rose airship thanks to those telepods and mages.

Zidane "Geez... Did you see that!?"

Vivi "Cleyra...Puck...Quina...They're all gone..."

Actually no, Quina and Puck are fine as they show up later (or in Puck's case, not until the freaking ending) completely unharmed with NO explanation as to how, but that's for another chapter.

Zidane "Dammit!" "Oh yeah! What happened to Beatrix!?" "I'll bet she's on this ship!"

[Zidane runs up a set of stairs at the end of the screen, and waves to Vivi and Freya]

Vivi "Freya... I think Zidane's calling for us."

Freya "Please... Leave me alone..."

[Zidane returns]

Zidane "We have to get behind the stairs! Someone's coming!"

They really don't have guards watching the telepods?

[They all run behind the stairs. Beatrix opens a door and walks foward a bit, saluting an Alexandrian soldier]

Alexandrian Soldier "Welcome back, General."

Beatrix "How is Her Majesty?"

Alexandrian Soldier "She has eagerly awaited your return." "I am certain she will shower you with praise for our victory." "Your supremacy is without question now. Steiner and his Knights of Pluto are nothing compared to you!"

This soldier embodies just how dumb Sakaguchi's scenarios are. What, someone had questioned the "superiority" of Beatrix? And isn't Steiner and his pack of Pluto Knights just a bunch of punks, what is the comparison? What kind of army is this, where the rank and file say such crap in the face of the general without asking?

Beatrix "That is enough!"

Alexandrian Soldier "Forgive me, General."

Beatrix "Tell Her Majesty that I will report to her shortly."

[The Alexandrian Soldier salutes and walks off the screen]

Beatrix "That was ridiculous..."

And here we go with what I've referring to regarding Beatrix these past few chapters.

You can not do this Sakaguchi, you cannot have a character, who prior to this point, has been portrayed as nothing but a cold heartless warmonger responsible for the deaths of many innocents with no hesitation in her actions and absolutely ZERO implications saying otherwise (she even LAUGHED a few times, as I have pointed out), just suddenly be conflicted and remorseful right out of nowhere.

This whole scene is a complete asspull, and even then, she seems less anguished over the atrocities themselves, and more that she is annoyed that it wasn't her herself doing them, as we will see in the next line.

Beatrix "My troops alone would've been more than enough to take Cleyra." "Why does the queen insist on using black mages and eidolons?" "I didn't train all these years so I could take a backseat to anyone..."

See? She seems more "concerned" over her soldiers and herself not doing the killings rather than the whole thing even happening to begin with, if this is the writers attempts at making her "sympathetic", they failed hard. She isn't feeling remorse, she's mad she couldn't be the one to take Cleyra herself.

Also she didn't even raise any objections to the Black Mages back then in Burmecia when she was in the palace with Kuja and Brahne when she could have said so, at any point.

Alexandrian Soldier "This way! Hurry up!" "You three, get on the telepod and go to Alexandria immediately."

[Three black mages walk down the stairs, enter the barrel-like telepods, and turn into the balls of light, flying away]

Beatrix "...There's no difference between them and me. We're all just blindly following orders. My heart and my will mean nothing..."

First off, again, in your previous dialogue you seemed to be more irritated that you weren't doing the sacking of Cleyra all yourself, and secondly, you had expressed zero issues about following orders back in Burmecia when Brahne was right there to question.

The fact that she doesn't at least wonder why her queen, who was perfectly peaceful and rational up until a short time after the death of her husband, suddenly starts acting like a warmongering lunatic and ordering genocides left and right, until too little, too late, doesn't speak well to Beatrix as an individual, especially since Garnet tried to talk to her about it but Beatrix wouldn't listen. She is just suddenly morally conflicted.

Beatrix "Maybe Steiner was right..."

Uh, did we miss a scene? What does Beatrix mean by "Maybe Steiner is right"? Steiner never said anything to Beatrix in the prologue that indicates what she means, heck, they barely even interacted, nor did Steiner have any other scene with Beatrix afterward. (as he has been away from the castle this whole time) Either the screen writers screwed up again, or this was a big mistranslation and she was supposed to say "Maybe Garnet was right" which would make more sense, since Garnet was the one who suspected and tried to warn everyone in the castle of the Queen's insanity. (Which Beatrix didn't believe for some dumb reason)

[She walks off screen, to where the Queen is]

Zidane "Did you hear that?" "Looks like Brahne's onboard this ship."

[Zidane and company head up to where Beatrix headed. They run up to a door, and Zidane tries peeking in]

Freya "Can you see anything?"

Zidane "..." "It's too dark. I can't see anything."

How can it be dark? It's the main bridge of the airship and it's a frigging outdoor balcony in the daytime!

"Beatrix!"

Freya, Vivi and Zidane "That's her!"

[Screen changes to Brahne and Beatrix]

Brahne "Did you get the item!?"

Beatrix "Is this it, Your Majesty?"

Brahne "Yes! This is it!" "Hahaha! With this, I can finally..." "...No. I need one more!" "I must get the last jewel!"

Uh, what about the forth piece of the Alexander jewel that is on the Outer Continent in Madain Sari? Did you forget about that? You (currently) only have two pieces, Garnet's pendant and Cleyra's jewel, the third piece is in Lindblum.

Beatrix "Not even a word of gratitude..."

*Gasp* She didn't show GRATITUDE? I mean, being a crazy bitch that started a war and just did an attempted genocide and destroyed a whole tree full of people is one thing, but not saying "thank you"?! NOW SHE IS WORSE THAN HITLER.

Sarcasm aside, Beatrix, again, is just complaining that she isn't getting praised for the war crimes she committed, rather than then the whole thing even happening in the first place. She is only expressing discontent with Brahne's actions because she didn't say "thank you". What a childish, poorly written bitch.

Brahne "Beatrix! Go find the last jewel!"

Uh Brahne, you know where the other jewel is, it's in Lindblum, which you are already going after, and it's not even the last jewel, the final piece is on the Outer Continent, which you should know. Seriously, did the writers even read their script?

Beatrix "...Yes, Your Majesty." "By the way, how is the princess doing?"

Oh now you are showing concern for Dagger? You didn't show that back in Burmecia when you clearly should have recognized Zidane, the one who "kidnapped" the princess (you seemed to be more interested with attacking Burmecia), nor back in the beginning of the game when Garnet was "kidnapped" and you weren't questioning why Brahne was sending a bunch of dangerous golems (the Black Waltzes) after the princess that could cause tons of damage, instead of sending you, yourself, to get the princess back.

Heck, you didn't even see Garnet when she (stupidly) came home and was captured and held in her room (or Steiner when he was being held in a hanging cage for that matter) when you had plenty of time to do so. Where were you during that point when the Eidolon extraction was being prepared?

Brahne "Garnet..." "We have drawn all the eidolons from her. She is no longer of any use to me."

Beatrix "What do you mean, Your Majesty?"

Brahne "Garnet has committed a crime. I shall have her executed for stealing the jewel."

You mean the same royal pendant that you didn't even remove from Garnet yet like a moron? Which will actually come into play later.

Beatrix "What?"

Brahne "Don't make me repeat myself!" "When we get back to Alexandria, I'll have Garnet beheaded!" "Now, go! Find the last jewel!"

Again, I refer everyone to my above comments about the Falcon Claw jewel in Lindblum, and the forth piece in Madain Sari.

Beatrix "Your Majesty..."

Brahne "Hahahahaha!"

And here is the cliché evil laughter, jeez why don't you just give Brahne a moustache to twirl already?

[Screen changes back to Zidane and company]

Zidane "Dagger!"

Freya "Calm down! Fighting them now would be senseless. They still have Garnet in custody."

What's also "great" about this scene is that Freya, who just saw Cleyra get blown up, especially her lover Fratley (well, as far as she knows anyway. Also, it was still stupid that Fratley didn't join the party) spends a "convincing" ten seconds in sadness, after which, randomly full of confidence, she rushes to save the girl, Dagger, she saw once in her life, and this was when Freya saw the "truly devoted" Zidane promising to put freaking Vivi up with his Garnet if Vivi won the Festival of the Hunt competition.

To restate what I said in chapter 4, Freya and Garnet should have had actual interaction and bonding.

There are also the issues of Dagger drugging Freya and slowing her down in getting back to Burmecia, what Freya said last chapter where it's implied she has resentment towards Dagger because of her crazy mother and Dagger's ridiculous denial of it, and of course, Cleyra getting blown up being pretty much Dagger's fault by arbitrarily running home like an idiot and pretty much hand delivering her powerful Eidolons to Brahne and Kuja on a silver platter, yes Freya doesn't know about that last part, but if she did, she would be WAY more furious towards Dagger.

Zidane "So what are you saying!? We should just stand here!?" "We've gotta get to Alexandria before Brahne! That's the only way!" "The only question is how..."

Vivi "Zidane, follow me!"

Freya "Vivi! Where are you going!?"

[Zidane and Freya follow Vivi down to the telepods]

Vivi "Remember how that soldier was talking about using these pods to go to Alexandria?"

Zidane "Oh yeah..." [Choose between "Alright, let's try using the pods" or "Let me think it over". You need to pick the first choice, sooner or later] "Alright, let's try it."

[They each jump in, one at a time]

Zidane "Well, here goes nothing!" "Dagger! I'm coming!"

You also should have easily deduced where Dagger was going to in the first place, but whatever, let's go back to the place that we got Dagger out of originally, only for her to make that all pointless, and make us go in one big circle. (I am serious about the circle thing, I will be pointing that out in detail later)

How do these telepods even work? Is it the Black Mages that make them work and Vivi is using his magic to activate them, or are the telepods manual and if so, why would they work on non-mages like Freya and Zidane?

[They turn into balls of light. Scene changes to Steiner and Marcus, still trapped in the birdcage]

Steiner "The time has come to escape!"

Marcus "How?"

Steiner "...I don't know! But we must do something!"

Marcus "Wait, I have an idea."

[Steiner and Marcus shift the cage back and forth, eventually crashing it against a wall, so, they're back on solid ground]

Oh now is when they do this? What was stopping them from thinking of this before? Also is Steiner clairvoyant? Why does he decide when the time to escape is?

Steiner "Princess! I'm coming!"

[Steiner and Marcus make their way to a ladder, climbing up it, and running to another room]

Steiner "Princess!"

Take a drink every time Steiner says princess.

Marcus "I'm outta here. I'm goin' to Evil Forest to save my bro."

Oh you aren't going to show any concern for the girl that your other bro, Zidane, loved, and is most likely in danger, Marcus?

Also how exactly are you going to get to the Evil Forest from here, in a castle filled with soldiers that will apprehend you, through the town where you no doubt have wanted posters plastered everywhere due to the kidnapping of the princess, and finally down the high, steep cliff to the Evil Forest where I'm pretty sure there isn't a ladder or a lift, Marcus?

[Marcus runs off]

Steiner "You heartless cur!" "Huh? What is that!?"

[The three balls of light descend and land beside Steiner; they change into Zidane, Vivi, and Freya]

Well that is awfully convenient, the party just happened to teleport exactly where Steiner is, why here specifically? Again, how do those telepods work?

Steiner "You! Wh-What are you doing here!?"

Zidane "Steiner! Is this Alexandria!?"

You don't recognize the castle interior, Zidane? You were here before when you did the play.

Steiner "What!? I have no time for your silly questions!" "I must escape this wretched dungeon of Alexandria and rescue the princess!"

Zidane "Enough said! Let's go!"

[They run offscreen]

Steiner "Why is everyone leaving me behind!?"

Seriously, Zidane couldn't just take a few seconds to simply explain to Steiner about what is going on and Vivi has to do it in a few lines?

[They return]

Zidane "Hurry up, Rusty! Dagger's life is in danger!"

Well you didn't even bother to explain to Steiner about what is going on so of course he isn't going to hurry up, Zidane you idiot.

Steiner "What are you talking about!? Enough with your nonsense!"

"Nonsense"? Just a few lines ago you said you needed to "rescue the princess", Steiner, implying that you suspected she was in danger, now you are brushing off what Zidane is trying to say about that?

Vivi "It's true." "We were just on the Red Rose, and we overheard Brahne talking." "She said that once she returns to Alexandria, she is going to have Dagger executed."

See Zidane? You couldn't have taken a few seconds to quickly explain this? You have wasted more time being vague and running away from Steiner and then having to run back because he wouldn't follow.

Steiner "...Is this really true?"

Zidane "Yeah! We've got 30 minutes before Brahne arrives! Let's go!"

Okay how do you know the exact time it will take for Brahne to get here? Are you also psychic?

[They run to the next screen]

Zidane "Marcus!?"

Marcus "Watch out. I'm closin' this gate."

[Marcus closes the gate, leaving two Alexandrian soldier who were chasing them stuck behind]

Zidane "What are you doing here?"

Marcus "It's a long story. I'm gonna go to Evil Forest now and help Blank."

Zidane "Good luck! We're gonna go find Dagger!"

Why was Marcus randomly waiting here to close the gate? He couldn't have known Zidane was here, he ditched Steiner and left the room before the party all appeared next to Steiner and couldn't have heard that whole conversation, he should have tried to leave the castle by now. What is with these characters and their apparent clairvoyance?

[Marcus walks off the screen. The group of four has to beat the clock and find Dagger in 30 minutes. The eventually make their way through the castle, and find her in the room where the eidolons were extracted from her, Zorn and Thorn are present]

Zidane "!?"

[Zorn and Thorn run to Zidane]

Zorn "What are you doing here!?"

Thorn "So meddlesome, you are! Mercy no more!"

[Boss Battle vs. Zorn and Thorn, while the countdown continues]

Just going to point out again that the battle with Zorn and Thorn shows that they can cast meteor and flare, yet they never did this during Disk 1 to try and take back the princess when they sent the Black Waltzes after them, they could have sent all three Black Waltzes at once with Zorn and Thorn helping by casting meteor and flare to take out Zidane and the others and recapture Dagger back then, but they didn't for some contrived reason.

Zorn "Damn you! We will get you for this!"

Thorn "Matters not to us. Finished with Garnet, we are."

Zorn & Thorn "You are too late!"

Why don't Zidane and the others just KO these guys and take back the extracted Eidolons contained in the gems that Zorn and Thorn are still carrying? They just let these two run off like idiots. Yes, they don't know about the eidolons at this point, but letting Zorn and Thorn get away so they can warn the entire castle of where the party is is a dumb move, and it would make sense to pickpocket the unconscious Zorn and Thorn of any valuables, especially since pickpocketing is Zidane's thing.

[They run out. Dagger is lying down on the stone table where they performed the extraction. Zidane runs to her; the countdown stops]

Zidane "Dagger, it's me!" "Dagger!" "..."

Vivi "Oh, no..."

Steiner "P-PRINCESS!" "NOOOOO!" "Princess, please forgive me!" "I don't deserve to be a knight!" "I don't even deserve to live!"

Here we go with more of Steiner's unfunny drama.

Really this is more of Dagger's fault than yours, Steiner.

Freya "Her heart's still beating."

Zidane "Yeah, I know..." "Let's get out of here." "Dagger, you're gonna be alright."

- Friendship

[Evil Forest: Marcus is running through it, thinking]

(Phew... I'm bushed from all that running..) (I can't stop. Hold on, Bro. I'm coming.) [He falls down] (!) (Come on. Get up.)

I refer everyone to what I said earlier about Marcus getting out of Alexandria, how did he get all the way down here to the Evil Forest, and so quickly too?

[Zidane, with Dagger in his arms, makes his way back to Brahne's room]

Seriously? They are going all the way back up to the Queen's room where she is going to be there no doubt to stop them and execute Dagger? How about you escape through the much safer Gargan Roo tunnel that is DIRECTLY ACROSS FROM THE EXTRACTION CHAMBER, which Steiner should know about?

Freya "I don't think anyone followed us."

Do you mean when you came up from the extraction chamber? Because of course they wouldn't, that was actually a way out, but you stupidly came back up to the Queen's room instead, not to mention that Zorn and Thorn already came up this way and have no doubt warned the Queen by now that you are here, plus I'm pretty sure the guards saw you coming into this room to go down to the chamber before and would obviously follow you. (But the guards didn't for some dumb reason. Seriously why didn't the guards chase them down into the chamber when the party was fighting Zorn and Thorn?)

Steiner "My queen..." "Why have you done this...!?" "I have devoted my whole life to serving you and the princess...!" "Why did you harm the princess!? Why!?"

Zidane "Steiner..."

The game wants me to care about Steiner's plight here, but honestly, after Dagger's whole stupid "run back to Alexandria" subplot which Steiner took a part in (the results of which we just saw happen to Cleyra), his ridiculous obliviousness and denial of the Queen's insanity (which to be fair, isn't completely his fault, it's the fault of Cid and Garnet for not giving him any important information, and Garnet's own dumb denial), and everything that happened in Burmecia and Cleyra that he didn't witness, I really don't care.

It would have been much better if he went to Burmecia and actually saw what was happening, how much more interesting would it have been to see his reactions towards Beatrix and how he would speak to her about all that?

Vivi "Zidane." "Do you think she'll ever wake up?"

Zidane "Of course. She's asleep because she's tired. That's all."

Uh no, it's because Kuja put a spell on her, Zidane. Yes he doesn't know that part, but considering that he just heard Zorn and Thorn say that they were "finished with Dagger" and that she was in some sort of ritual chamber, Zidane should have easily deduced that her sleeping isn't natural.

Zidane "I wanna let Dagger rest a little. Do you guys mind?" "Thanks." [He lays Dagger down on a couch]

... you carried her out of the secret passage into the main room of the castle just to put her to rest on the freaking couch?! When time is of the essence and the Queen is coming?! Why are you making a completely unforced stop in the most dangerous place? Duuurrrrr…

Zidane "If only I had gotten here sooner..." "I'm sorry..."

Why are you apologizing Zidane? It's Dagger's fault you are all in this mess in the first place, with her drugging and abandoning you after all you did for her and running back home like an idiot, and causing Cleyra to be BLOWN UP that you were lucky to get teleported out of when you did, if anything she should be the one massively apologizing, but she will never get called out on this and held responsible.

Steiner "What happened to you?" "You are not your usual self." "Go on... Blame my incompetence! Tell me it is my fault!"

Well for once, Steiner, it isn't your fault, it's the fault of who I was just talking about above.

Zidane "No!" "I can't..." "I...I don't know what I feel right now..." "I can't even shed a tear..."

Steiner "..."

Okay is now really the time to be having this dumb melodrama, while you're in the castle you were breaking out of, the breakout that we were so frantically hurried about doing before?

[Zorn and Thorn walk into the room]

Zorn & Thorn "There they are!" "There is no escape!"

Oh look, we got caught obviously, all because you decided to just lay Dagger down in this room for no good reason.

[Beatrix walks into the room]

Beatrix "Welcome back, Steiner." "Where have you been all this time?" "Don't tell me you have been enjoying the company of these scoundrels."

…and Beatrix has gone right back to being a bitch, completely forgetting everything she said on the Red Rose airship and that whole "Queen wants to execute her daughter" bit. It's bad enough that her moral conflict comes right out of nowhere, but now she is flip-flopping back and forth between it like schizophrenia.

Zidane "What the hell!? The only scoundrels around here are you and your fat queen!"

Beatrix "Fools like you will never learn."

"They never learn?" Says the women who, as Freya put it last chapter: "Didn't finish what she started". Yeah, they are the "fools" in that equation.

[Boss Battle vs. Beatrix. Like the previous two before, she ends it, using Climhazzard, reducing their HP to 1.]

Welp, this is the third and final bullshit fight with Beatrix, and you are never allowed to defeat her. But you want to know what makes this fight worse than the previous ones? It's because, instead of the "Blade of Doubt" theme that usually plays during the first two fights, the regular boss theme plays here, implying that she is just another boss now and will actually LOSE, but the game is like: "LOLNOPE, PSYCHE, YOU LOSE AGAIN", because the staff seems to have a hard-on for Beatrix and giving her special treatment and refusing to have her lose a fight. Plus there is also the fact that this whole fight was completely pointless as we will see in just a few lines.

The game won't even give us the catharsis to beat Beatrix and push her arrogant shit in, especially by Zidane who is supposed to be superior to Kuja yet he can't beat this normal human knight, what should have happened was that some of Zidane's true powers started to awaken in this fight, and he partially transforms into a special Trance "Angel of Death" form (think kind of like Hollow Ichigo from Bleach) and curb stomps Beatrix.

Beatrix "I'll kill all enemies of Alexandria!" "Never step into this land again." "Your pathetic powers are useless against me."

Not exactly getting any sympathy from me regarding Beatrix, the writers aren't even trying.

Also, elite knight who says she is going to "kill the entire party" chooses not to, but first brings us to close to a KO.

Beatrix is the most nonsensical unwinnable boss fight I've ever seen in a JRPG. She completely defies any logic that unwinnable bossfights are supposed to serve. I'm supposed to feel shame for losing to her that inspires me to grow stronger and beat her in a later encounter. Not for her to wreck my shit in rapid succession three times in a row then say "I'm a good guy now". It doesn't work that way. That just leaves the player with blue balls and a pointless chip on their shoulder.

Zidane "...Hey, wait a minute..." "You're the general of this kingdom." "As the general of Alexandria, what is your sworn duty!?" "Isn't it to protect Dagger - your Princess Garnet?" "I'm sure you know who's sitting over there."

Oh so now is when Zidane decides to bring up Garnet, we could have avoided this whole pointless fight had Zidane just done this from start as soon as Beatrix came into the room, and I don't just mean this one scene either, I mean there were plenty of times before when he could have brought up Garnet to Beatrix all the way back in Burmecia and avoided all these fights, to make Beatrix stop her bullshit by telling her how Garnet would feel about the actions Beatrix was committing, and how Garnet was right about the Queen going crazy. (Which Beatrix didn't believe her for some reason, even when that became blatantly clear when Burmecia was attacked)

Beatrix "It can't be..." "Princess..." "...So, it was true." "The queen really did mean to kill her..."

Uh yes Beatrix, did you miss the part where the Queen SAID THIS STRAIGHT TO YOUR FACE AND LAUGHED MANIACALLY ABOUT IT?! Did you completely forget about that? "You mean when the Queen said she was going to kill her daughter, she was going to kill her daughter?!"

Also Beatrix is only just now noticing that Garnet was in the freaking room, unconscious on the couch, she didn't notice Garnet as soon as she came into the room, and she didn't see Garnet throughout that whole fight, Zidane had to literally point her out for Beatrix to notice, how unobservant is she?

Plus, to reply to Zidane's comment on Beatrix's duty to protect Garnet, she has done a horrible job of that.

As I've said before at the beginning of this chapter earlier above, we didn't see Beatrix's reaction when Garnet was kidnapped at the beginning of the game nor questioned why the queen wasn't immediately sending her after Garnet instead of the dangerous Blacks Waltzes, seemed to have more interest with attacking Burmecia and not thinking about how Garnet would feel about it and not even recognizing Zidane as the one who "kidnapped" her and asking where she was when he showed up, not even noticing the unconscious Garnet in the Queen's room until Zidane had to literally point her out (and this was just a while after the Queen said to Beatrix's face that she was going to execute the princess, she should have been more preoccupied with that), and most of all, not believing Garnet's warnings about the Queen going crazy.

Steiner "WHAT!?" "No! The queen would never do such a thing!"

…Okay, Steiner has officially jumped the shark with his ridiculous dumb denial of the Queen (and that's saying a lot), just a few moments ago he was ranting about the Queen harming the princess and now he has flipped right back to denial.

This is the kind of writing we are dealing with folks.

Beatrix "Steiner, it is time for you to accept the truth." "...My heart is set." "All this time, I have been mistaken..."

…and the fact that the Queen being a genocidal, backstabbing warmonger didn't make you realize this sooner was because…?

Seriously, Beatrix is in no position to lecture Steiner about this, considering all the shit she has done, and not realizing the incredibly obvious until seeing the unconscious Garnet, when there were plenty of moments before when she should have.

Zidane "I hate to say this, but the lady's right, Rusty. You'd better learn to accept it."

Oh screw you Zidane, first off, don't suddenly give Beatrix a free pass, again she had this realization far later than she should have, and at least Steiner didn't commit any warcrimes. Secondly, a lot of Steiner's denial could have been subsided if Dagger and Cid had simply told Steiner what was going on, Dagger telling him why she wanted to be kidnapped in the first place, and Cid explaining to Steiner why he wanted the princess to be kidnapped and what was happening to the queen, sure he still would have initially had doubts, but it would have at least put the idea in his head which would continue to grow the more evidence he saw.

Beatrix "...Citizens of Burmecia, please forgive me."

Freya "It's too late to seek forgiveness."

Yeah as Freya says, too little too late.

Beatrix is just doing a cheap imitation of Cecil Harvey's story from FFIV, but what made Cecil's original plot work in IV was that with Cecil you clearly saw the hesitation he showed in his actions when he attacked Mysidia, his fellow Red Wing knights were repeatedly questioning the whole thing and Cecil clearly showed remorse for it and then immediately questioned the "King" (who was actually an imposter) himself to his face about the whole thing, Beatrix on the other hand, showed no hesitation in her actions throughout Bermecia and Cleyra (she even LAUGHS just before she invades the top of the Cleyra tree) and just acts like a condescending warmongering bitch, and had zero remorse until the airship scene after Cleyra's destruction where is just comes out of nowhere, it was an asspull.

This isn't going to be the only time FFIX repeats a plot-line from a previous main FF game, but with crappier writing, this goes back to what I said all the way back in the opening introduction of chapter 1: "IX is a hodge-podge of references to previous FF games, and seems to want to hang it's hat on that like every other FF sequel hasn't made references to previous entries. It's frustrating to see tons of plot elements and characters recycled, sometimes almost completely unchanged with no attempt to improve or mix and match with them, from older entries and is perfectly content to just ride the nostalgia wave."

Freya "...But you can still save Dagger."

Zidane "Freya..."

Freya "I tell you this because I acknowledge your powers." "Help your princess."

Beatrix's "powers" are just being an unbeatable mary sue because of plot contrivances, even now Beatrix is still getting shilled, by Freya of all people.

Also Freya barely knows Dagger (I refer everyone to what I have said before, above, about that), why is she suddenly bringing Dagger up as if it has any huge impact on Freya herself?

Beatrix "I don't know if I can..." "...but I will give it a try." "I hope this will work."

[She casts a spell on Dagger, it does nothing]

Thorn "Irrevocable is the spell we have cast!"

Technically, Kuja was the one who cast the spell on Dagger, not you and Zorn, and what makes you think it is "irrevocable"?

[She casts the spell again, does nothing once more]

Zorn "It is useless!"

[She casts the spell a third time. Dagger awakens]

This raises more questions, like if the spell put on Dagger by Kuja could be removed by another person, why couldn't the spell put on Cid that turned him into an Ooglop also be removed the same way? This will be especially irritating on Disk 3 with that whole pointless "finding potions for Cid" quest, but that's for later when we get there.

Dagger "...Oh..."

Beatrix "Princess, are you alright?"

Dagger "...Ohh, my head... What happened...?"

Zidane "Dagger!"

Vivi "Yay!"

Steiner "Princess!"

Dagger "You're all here."

Yeah because of you.

"What is all this ruckus!?"

[Brahne walks into the room; Zorn and Thorn run to her side]

Oh now is when Brahne shows up? What took her so long to get in here during that whole fight with Beatrix and the talking afterwards?

Zorn "The princess has awakened, Your Majesty!"

Thorn "Kidnapping the princess, they are, Your Majesty!"

Why is Thorn phrasing it as "kidnapping" when they should know what is really going on?

Brahne "..." "Have you extracted all the eidolons from her?"

Zorn & Thorn "We have, Your Majesty!"

Only because the party let Zorn and Thorn get away back in the extraction chamber instead of KO-ing them and taking back the Eidolons right then and there for no good reason.

Brahne "Then, what are you waiting for? Take Garnet and throw her in prison!"

This fat bastard just said before on the airship that once she returned to the castle, she would order Garnet's head to be cut off, why did she change her mind to "throw her in prison"?

Zorn & Thorn "Yes, Your Majesty!"

Beatrix "I won't allow that."

Brahne "Oh? Are you defying me as well?"

Beatrix "Your Majesty, it is my duty to protect the princess." "I beg you, reconsider. Please do not harm the princess anymore." "All of you, leave here at once!"

How about you also tell her to stop with all the devastation and destruction as well, not going to even bring that up?

Freya "I'm staying! Zidane, go. Now!"

Why? You don't exactly like Beatrix with what she did (especially with the "loosing to her three times" bullshit), why do you suddenly want to help her? If it's to take down Brahne, she is just standing right there, why don't you and Beatrix just jump her and subdue her right here and now and make her surrender before she has a chance to call in reinforcements?

Brahne "You two are joining forces? How amusing..." "Get rid of them."

Why doesn't it bother Brahne that she is sending two CLOWNS to confront the elite Beatrix, who appeartly "took down a hundred knights at once"?

Dagger "Mother!"

[Brahne ignores her and walks out of the room]

They are seriously just letting Brahne walk right out of the room? They had her right where they wanted, with Beatrix perfectly able to hold a sword to the queen's throat and make her give up and stop all this, but no, they just let her get away because of plot contrivances.

Zidane "Freya! Be careful!"

Freya "Don't worry."

Zidane "Come on. Let's go!"

Steiner "Wait!"

[Zidane, Vivi, Dagger and Steiner run down the way they came from. Zorn and Thorn step aside, as a big dog-like beast jumps in]

Zorn & Thorn "Bandersnatch, bite their heads off!"

Where did these monster dogs come from? They were just there literally waiting to come into the Queen's room from the main hall, instead of the regular Alexandria knights, how did they get here? It would make sense if they came out of secret doors or passage ways where they were held in captivity, but they don't.

[Battle vs. Bandersnatch, who gets killed. Zidane and company run down the set of stairs, and eventually, a door opens and black mages walk out]

Zidane "Black mages!" "Dammit!"

Why didn't the Black Mages come out when Zidane was carrying Dagger up the secret passage to the Queen's room after fighting Zorn and Thorn?

[They all shout "KILL!". Battle of your team vs. The 3 Black Mages. Afterwards, they make their way down a bit farther, before Zidane stops]

Zidane "Where's Steiner?" [Steiner walks onto the screen] "Hey! Hurry up!"

Steiner "What am I doing here...?"

Zidane "What's the matter?"

Steiner "Beatrix served the queen all these years, and now she is turning against her..." "Freya lost her comrades, yet she insists on protecting the princess..." "The queen will never forgive them. She will kill them both..." "Zidane, I have a request."

Well duh, Beatrix turned against the Queen because she was acting like a psycho warmonger who just blew up an entire tree full of people and was about to execute her own daughter, none of which you, annoyingly, ever witnessed (I refer back to what I said before about how Steiner should have gone to Burmecia), as for Freya, I've already explained earlier above several times about how Freya just randomly gets motivated over Dagger, a girl she barely knew.

Zidane "What? Why are you goin' formal all of a sudden?"

Steiner "I want you to escort the princess out of Alexandria and take her to Doctor Tot." "I'm sure Doctor Tot can come up with a plan to help us and our kingdom."

First off, Cid already had a plan as well, until you and Dagger screwed it up by running back home like idiots, secondly, Tot should have already come up with a plan long before all this, as I talked about before in Chapter 7, his and Cid's plans should have been connected.

Zidane "Piece of cake. I'm an escape artist."

Vivi "Don't worry, Steiner. We'll get her there."

Steiner "Zidane, Master Vivi, I'm counting on you." "Princess, I bid you farewell!"

[Steiner runs off-screen]

Dagger "Steiner..." "Everybody is fighting for me..."

Zidane "That's right." "They're all fighting for you... and for Alexandria..." "They're moving forward, giving everything they've got!" "So we have to move on, just like they are." "We can't stop now!" "Come on!"

Okay first off, Zidane, this is all Dagger's own fault for coming back to Alexandria like a moron. Secondly, enough with the cheesy speech, why aren't you being more angry with Dagger for DRUGGING AND ABANDONING YOU, and getting you all into this situation in the first place?! (Yes they are in a rush to escape but Zidane should not be being this positive with Dagger right now considering what she did) Lastly, I really doubt that Freya is "doing this for Alexandria" considering everything that happened with Burmecia and Cleyra, or for Dagger, who again Freya only met once.

Dagger "But..."

[A bandersnatch jumps down]

Zidane "Damn! We've got company!"

Where did that Bandersnatch come from, didn't they close the entranceway to the secret passage after going through?

[Battle vs. Bandersnatch]

Zidane "Alright, let's go."

[Screen changes to Freya and Beatrix, who are avoiding two bandersnatches]

Beatrix "!"

Freya "What do you think!?"

Beatrix "It's not going to be easy..."

[Battle vs. the two of them]

Freya "They're tougher than I expected..."

Oh NOW is when Beatrix is struggling!? This elite knight who apparently "slayed a hundred knights single handedly" and beat the party three freaking bullshit times with no effort, is suddenly having trouble against a few bandersnatches (that really aren't that tough) the moment she turns heel?

[Steiner comes running up to them, shouting "Beatrix!" and "Freya!"]

Beatrix "We're not out of danger yet." "Steiner! What are you doing here!?"

Steiner "I am Captain Adelbert Steiner of Alexandria." "Grant me the honor of assisting you brave knights!"

Freya "Enough with your babble! Fight!"

[Battle: the 3 of them vs. two bandersnatches]

…and this is the last we will see of Freya, Steiner and Beatrix for quite a while, they completely drop out of the game until the end of Disk 2 (or in Freya's case, the beginning of Disk 3), with no cuts to them in between, we don't even get a flashback of what happened, just a brief, thrown in explanation from Tantalus.

[Screen changes back to Zidane, who heads down to the screen where Garnet, Steiner, and Marcus were first captured between the two gates. A gate pops up]

Zidane "What the hell!?"

[He tries to go back, but the other gate pops up, trapping him]

Zorn "They fell for it again!"

Thorn "Really stupid, they are!"

Zidane "You bastards!"

Thorn "Bastards, we may be, but clever are we."

Zorn "Hee-hee-heee."

Did Dagger seriously not warn Zidane about the trap gates?

[Marcus enters the screen on Thorn's side, punching him]

Marcus "Hey, what's up!?"

[Blank enters the screen on Zorn's side, punching him as well]

Blank "Zidane, are you alright!?"

Zidane "Blank!"

[Screen changes to show Evil Forest. Marcus and Blank are running through it]

Marcus "Bro, over here!"

Blank "Hold up. My body still feels kinda stiff."

Marcus "We've gotta hurry! Zidane and Dagger are in trouble!"

Blank "Who's Dagger? Zidane's new girl?"

Marcus "What? You don't know?"

Of course he doesn't, Marcus, he was petrified before Garnet started to be called Dagger, did you completely forget that? You yourself didn't even know that until you met her again, and even then, you didn't even call her Dagger that much.

Blank "Know what? What are you talking about?"

Marcus "Just keep running!"

Blank "Sheez..."

Was it really too much for Marcus to just say that Dagger was Garnet?

[Screen returns to the present-time]

Blank "We came here straight from Evil Forest."

To add on to the question I said before about how Marcus was able to get out of Alexandria and to the Evil Forest so fast: How the heck did they get back to Alexandria and into this exact secret passage so fast? And what made them think that Zidane would go out this exact way?

Zidane "Man, I love you guys!"

[Marcus lowers the gate]

Marcus "Zidane, you can ride the gargant downstairs."

Dagger "Blank..." "Marcus..."

Blank "Get out of here! We'll take care of this!" "There's more bad guys coming!"

Zidane "I owe you guys big-time!" "Let's get outta here!"

[Zidane, Dagger, and Vivi run out to the Gargant stop]

Zidane "So, this is Gargan Roo..." "Dagger? Are you alright?"

Dagger "..."

Zidane "Forget I asked. I'm sure you have a lot on your mind."

So should you Zidane, specifically being very upset with Dagger for what she pulled before in Lindblum, seriously why are you being so content with her right now?

Vivi "There's something coming!"

[The same Gargant, with seats like before, approaches and stops]

Zidane "Is this a gargant!? It's huge!"

Vivi "...We're riding this thing?"

Zidane "Yeah. Let's get going. We have no time to waste." [Vivi walks in] "Dagger!"

Dagger "I...I don't know what to do anymore..."

Zidane "Oh, come on! Why do you think everyone stayed behind!?" "Yeah, they're fighting for you, but also, they know, deep down inside, that they have to fight!" "Beatrix, Freya, Marcus, Blank, even Steiner..." "Sometimes, you can't think everything out. You have to listen to your heart." [Dagger nods and walks in] "Alright..." [The gargant moves, and Zidane jumps in]

And that's the typical moral of any typical JRPG.
Actually, Zidane you dummy, there is not the slightest weight in these "fights", , you do not gain anything in your fictitious fights. The fact that you spend a lot of time killing random monsters, you remember only on big holidays when you need to prove something to someone with pomp. This is empty illusory shit.

This is what one of the problems with Zidane is, he doesn't act like a real teenage boy, all he does most of the time is say really corny and clichéd lines and speeches, nor does he get rightfully mad with Dagger for what she did. Plus, to respond to Zidane's "Why do you think everyone stayed behind" line, it was because Dagger had got them all into that situation in the first place because of her stupidity, which Zidane is glossing over.

Also it's really ironic that Zidane is claiming that "you can't think everything out" considering that "not thinking things out" is exactly what Dagger has been doing since abandoning Zidane in Lindblum up to this point, with really bad results. Zidane is just spouting bullshit.

Vivi "Where are we going?"

Zidane "We're going to Treno. We'll stay there for the time being and try to figure out our next move."

Dagger "..."

[The gargant stops]

Vivi "Y-Yikes!"

Dagger "That's-"

[Dagger jumps out. Zidane and Vivi follow. The three of them come face-to-face with a big gree snake]

Zidane "Is this what the gargant is scared of?"

Dagger "I think this one's different from the one I ran into! Be careful!"

Again, this calls into question why Tot would want to make a Gargant ride travel route in this tunnel, considering it's full of snake monsters that the Gargant is afraid of and forcing passengers to battle.

[Boss Battle: Zidane, Dagger, and Vivi vs. Ralvuimago. After defeating it, everyone climbs back on]

Vivi "Umph!"

Zidane "It's moving again... But why is it going so slowly?" "Hey, hurry up!"

Dagger "Don't yell at it. The poor thing must be scared to death."

Vivi "But it's..."

[The gargant speeds up]

Zidane "See? It can go faster. Good job!"

Dagger "!" "No, Zidane! Look!

[Ralvuimago is behind the gargant, chasing after it. The gargant goes faster and faster]

Zidane "Dammit, it's chasing us!"

Dagger "We'll pass Treno if we don't stop soon!"

Why doesn't Vivi try blasting spells at the Ralvuimago to make it stop chasing them?

[They pass Treno]

Vivi "I think we just passed Treno..."

Zidane "Dammit! We can't jump off at this speed."

Dagger "! Zidane, look!"

Zidane "Huh? What the..." "Shoot!"

[FMV showing what's happening out of the eyes of the gargant: moving through the tunnel at an incredible speed, coming toward a bright light, while lines of dialogue appear on the screen]

"The tunnel!" "Ahhh!" "We're gonna fall!" "Hang on tight!" "An exit!?"

[A big crashing noise is heard, as the screen goes white]

"M-Mother..."

Jeez, you can also do a drinking game for how many times Dagger says "Mother", as if the game expects me to care about Dagger's mommy issues after everything that has happened and what Dagger has caused.

[Screen changes to Queen Brahne's throne]

Zorn "Your Majesty!"

[Zorn and Thorn try to get to her, but a soldier gets in the way]

Thorn "In my way, you are. Step back, underling!"

Zorn "Let us through!"

Alexandrian Soldier "I have strict orders from the queen not to let either of you through." "I shall make any inquiries on your behalf."

[They look at each other, then try to get to the throne by the other way, but are blocked again by a different soldier]

Alexandrian Soldier "State you business."

Zorn "The queen's guests have arrived."

Thorn "Let them come in, shall we?"

Alexandrian Soldier "I shall inquire. Stay here."

[The Alexandrian Soldier walks up and speaks to the queen]

Alexandrian Soldier "Your Majesty..." "...Yes, Your Majesty." [The soldier returns to Zorn and Thorn] "Let the guests through. You two are dismissed."

Zorn "What does that mean?"

Alexandrian Soldier "Queen Brahne is quite upset with you two for letting the princess escape with the pendant." "You should go now."

This goes back to what I said earlier in this chapter about the pendant coming into play. Brahne didn't get the super important pendant from the princess while she was passed out? Brahne, or heck, KUJA didn't immediately remove the pendant from Dagger when he put her to sleep? (Especially considering Kuja is the one who started all this to get Alexander and wants it so badly) Dagger was passed out for a while, long enough to have all the Eidolons extracted from her, and neither Zorn and Thorn ever took off the pendant during that time, or Brahne and Kuja doing the same beforehand when they clearly had the chance to do so? This is such dumb writing.

The Queen is in no position to be angry at Zorn and Thorn when she was dumb enough to not take the pendant from Dagger right from the start.

Thorn "Whatever to do are we!?"

Zorn "We cannot live without the queen's backing!"

How did these two even get into the Queen's court and started working for her anyway? With what's revealed later about what they really are and how they aren't even "twins", this raises a bunch of questions that are never answered.

Zorn "We must first tell the guests to come in!"

[Zorn and Thorn run out]

Queen Brahne "Phew..."

"What a view."

[Two people: one, a woman dressed in a skirt/robe outfit with a large axe tied to her back; the other, a tall man with red hair and large fists, enter the room. The woman is stopped from approaching the queen by a soldier]

Well, here is Amarant (or Salamander in the Japanese version) the guy with the red hair, and his plot line is the most generic and clichéd one of the cast, but we'll get there when we get there.

Boisterous Woman "Who are you?" "Out of my way! The queen summoned me."

Alexandrian Soldier "Restrain yourself before the queen."

Boisterous Woman "Do you understand who you're talking to?" "I'm Lani, the best and the most beautiful bounty hunter in the world!"

[Lani is allowed to pass. The red-haired man had passed on the other side already]

Lani "It's a pleasure to meet you, Your Majesty." "I hear things aren't going too well."

Queen Brahne "Have you no manners? This is what I get for hiring a lowlife."

Lani "I'm sure you didn't hire me for my manners, Your Majesty."

Queen Brahne "Hmph." "You have two objectives." "The first is to retrieve the pendant, a national treasure, from Princess Garnet."

If this is triggering any Deja Vu for you readers, it's because this is literally a repeat of back in the beginning of the game when Brahne sent the Black Waltzes after the party to capture and bring back Garnet as we saw at the end of chapter 1. In fact this whole Alexandria segment this chapter was a carbon copy of the Alexandria segment on Disk 1 at the very beginning of the game with the kidnapping.

This is what I meant earlier when I said that we went in a big circle because of Dagger, Zidane helps her escape from Alexandria on Disk 1, gets to Lindblum, runs back to Alexandria like an idiot, Zidane helps her escape from Alexandria again, goes to Lindblum again, we just go in one big circle for the first Disk and a half, and if you still don't see it, I'll list the similarities bit by bit:

- You infiltrate the castle to find Dagger and get her out both times, obviously

- You fight a knight trying to stop you both times (Steiner and Beatrix) and both knights happen to be fought three times (except Steiner wasn't an unbeatable Mary Sue, unlike Beatrix)

- The Queen finds out and tries to stop you by sicking monsters on you both times (a monster Bomb and Bandersnatches)

- You get on an escape ride but something goes wrong and you crash both times (Prima Vista and the Gargant)

- The Queen sends a bunch of assassins after you both times (The Black Waltzes and, as we are seeing right now, Lani and Amarant)

- You wind up in a different location from your intended location in the crash, that you have to get out of both times (Evil Forest and, as we will see next chapter, Pinnacle Rocks, and both locations even happen to have the exact same theme music, "Awakened Forest")

- You go to Lindblum both times

Sure every other single little detail isn't exactly the same (like no play being involved again), but it sums up how completely worthless the whole beginning of the game and the kidnapping was, as Dagger completely defeated the purpose of all that by going back home like an idiot and making us get her out all over again, except there is more devastation and destruction as a result now, because Brahne got her hands on Dagger's Eidolons.

It's bad enough that IX cheaply rehashes plot threads from previous FF games, but IX also rehashes it's own as well.

Queen Brahne "The other is to assassinate the black mage travelling with them."

Red-headed Man "...What is that?"

Queen Brahne "A soulless golem. A defect is running free."

Why is Brahne so concerned about Vivi? He does not interfere with her in any way, and yet she puts his murder on the same level as the retrieval of Garnet's pendant? It looked like this was building up to something but it never comes into play again, the two bounty hunters don't even bring it up later and didn't even seem into carrying the assassination order out.

I see that Sakaguchi just decided to emphasize that Vivi is a prototype golem, and he did it with the usual grace of a circus clown caught in a Hurricane.

Lani "I don't know what happened between you and the princess, but what should I do if I meet with resistance?"

Queen Brahne "Hmph." "Just get the pendant back from that wretched girl!"

Brahne isn't going to simply say to Lani that she can kill Garnet? At the beginning of this chapter on the airship Brahne had no problem bluntly stating that she was going to execute her own daughter, so I don't see why she is being vague now, heck, why isn't the order to both get back the pendant and assassinate Garnet?

Lani "Wonderful. My axe is pleased to hear that. It won't take long." "Good day, Your Majesty."

How are they even going to find Zidane, Garnet and Vivi? They do find them later but it is never explained how they were tracked.

[Lani exits by the doorway]

Red-headed Man "Is it true that a boy with a tail is traveling with the princess?"

Queen Brahne "Yes, that accursed monkey! I shall give you an extra reward if you take care of him."

Now Brahne brings up Zidane? Why didn't she mention him as the beginning of this conversation with Lani and Amarant and give the order to assassinate him along with Garnet and Vivi? It's also ironic too considering that Zidane is secretly the biggest threat, considering what he really is.

Red-headed Man "...I was right." "I'll take care of your request after I finish him." [The red-headed man jumps down. An Alexandrian Soldier runs up to the Queen]

Alexandrian Soldier "Reporting! The Alexandrian fleet has returned to home waters! Please prepare to depart on the Red Rose."

Why was the ocean fleet even gone in the first place? Their battles to this point were waged on dry land and using airships in Burmecia and Cleyra, they never used the water.

Queen Brahne "Ah, finally! We leave immediately!" "Bwahahahaha!"

Here we go with the cliché evil laughter again. Again, just give her that moustache already.

End of Chapter 9

---

Well, that's chapter 9 and another painful section of the game done with. So sorry for the long update, been preoccupied with things at home, but I'm going to try and be speedy again.