Chapter 15: Disk 2.10 - Return to the Iifa Tree

[The group returns to the Mistless Iifa Tree, waiting for Kuja's arrival]

Zidane "There's still a little Mist, but at least there's no more coming out. That must mean Kuja isn't here yet."

If that was the case with the Mist, the Mist on the Mist Continent shouldn't have vanished so quickly, as I've said before.

Amarant "What happened to the Mist?"

Eiko "We beat the beast that breathes it. So much for the Mist Continent!"

Actually yeah, what is the Mist Continent going to be called, now that the Mist is gone?

Amarant "No more Mist...?" (They must possess incredible powers to accomplish such a feat.)

All they did was throw a Phoenix Down at the Soul Cage to one-shot it. Yeah… reeeeeeeally "incredible power"…

[They hear a dragon's roar]

Dagger "Zidane, there's a silver dragon!"

Zidane "It's him! He flew from the ruins of Burmecia riding a silver dragon!" "It's Kuja alright! And he's riding that dragon!"

[Scene changes to show the silver dragon flying through the air, while Kuja is standing on its back]

Kuja "Oh, how I've longed for this day." "...the day I might finally cast away this mask to reveal my true self."

Why do you think this is the day? What makes you think that Brahne is going to suddenly attack you who has been helping this whole time? (She does attack him, but it's stupid, which I will be pointing out soon this chapter) Isn't that counterproductive to your plan? (I will be explaining that fully when Kuja tries to get Alexander on Disk 3)

Also stop trying to pretend that you are a master planning genius, the only reason everything has been going your way so far has been due to plot contrivances like Dagger being an idiot and running back to Alexandria to basically give you and Brahne the Eidolons (that required no effort and manipulation from you) or Tot and Cid not suspecting Kuja was involved way sooner.

Kuja "Now it no longer matters if the Iifa Tree is liberated! It means nothing to me!" "Mwahaha... The tree is so beautiful! Its beauty becomes the great mother tree that lives among the stars!" "Silver Dragon, let us watch the drama unfold from the trunk of Iifa. No one shall interrupt us there."

There goes Kuja's embarrassing attempts at poetry again. Also what do you mean by "liberated"? Are you referring to the barrier put on the Iifa Tree by Carbuncle? So you did know about that? This just goes back to my question a few chapters ago about how did Kuja meet the Soul Cage before and how the Soul Cage knew about Kuja making Black Mages if there was a barrier around the tree preventing access?

[Screen changes back to Zidane]

Zidane "Who do I wanna take with me to fight Kuja...?"

[Choose between "Change party members", "Go to menu", or "Keep current members". You have to choose "Keep current members" eventually]

Again with this superficial party member switching when you only have one extra character (because Quina isn't here, despite it being better to have more numbers, and Quina having Blue Magic, really smart move guys) and the only enemies you will be fighting are mooks and no bosses.

[Zidane and company run on the vine paths to the Iifa Tree, and near it]

Zidane "We'll pass the trunk if we go any farther."

[Screen pans upward to show the massive height of the tree]

Zidane "Kuja went down that trunk."

Don't you mean UP the trunk?

Eiko "Say, Zidane... How are we gonna get up there?"

Zidane "Can't we climb there?"

Eiko "Not me!"

Vivi "M-Me neither."

Dagger "I don't think I can, either."

Can't Eiko just summon Phoenix and fly them up to the top?

Zidane "We came all this way... Now what?"

Amarant "What's the problem?" "You should just go by yourself!"

Zidane "We gotta go face Kuja together."

Amarant "How did this wimp end up beating me?"

We get it, Amarant is a loner asshole who believes in his own hype too much.

[Amarant starts walking towards Zidane]

Vivi "Whoa!"

Eiko "Hey!"

Zidane "Hey, Amarant! Watch where you're walking!"

Amarant "'He who hesitates is lost.' You'd best remember that."

Eiko "You almost knocked me down!"

Zidane "Well, I prefer 'My way or the highway.'"

Great now they are spouting cheap and cliché "philosophical" nonsense at each other.

Amarant "Whatever. Like you actually have a plan."

Eiko "Oh yeah, smarty-pants!? Don't forget you're the one that lost to Zidane."

Amarant "Shut up, brat."

Zidane "A plan...huh?" "That's right, Amarant! You owe me one, remember? It's payback time!"

Amarant "Shoot."

Zidane "There's some gargant grass around here, so a gargant can't be far. I want you to catch one for me." "Then we can all get on and ride it to the top."

We never saw any Gargants the first time we were here, this feels like an asspull.

Amarant "Why should I do all that when I could just take the kids up myself?"

Zidane "Huh...?"

Amarant (How'd I ever let this dimwit beat me?)

Stop wanking yourself, Amarant, a better question would be: How did Zidane let himself get beaten by Beatrix three freaking times?! Especially when he is supposed to be stronger than Kuja.

[Amarant walks towards them]

Eiko "H-Hey!"

Vivi "Whoa!"

[Amarant jumps down]

Zidane "He sure has spirit." "Alright, Dagger... I'll just carry you piggyback."

Dagger "Huh? Hey! Zidane! Wait just a-"

[Screen changes to Kuja standing on a part of the tree, the silver dragon behind him]

Oh, so you are just going to cut out that intimate scene with Zidane and Garnet? It's like I said last chapter, this game likes to hype up Zidane and Garnet and their love story but won't even properly focus on it.

Kuja "The weak lose their freedom to the strong." "Such is the way of the strong. And it is the providence of nature that only the strong survive." "That is why I needed strength. I learned of powers that would daunt even him... over ten years ago." "Such a long time... Now my forces are ready to strike! Ahh... The suspense is terrible!"

Here we go with more of Kuja poetry bullshit, this time with edgelord anime villain thrown in. He is also now monologuing exposition to himself. Also, what "forces"? The Black Mages are following Brahne and she has the Eidolons right now as well.

Also "daunt even Garland"? I don't think you comprehend how powerful the Invincible actually is. (Will be getting to that when the time comes)

[The silver dragon growls] "So they've come this far, have they?" "Perfect. I'll warm up on them until the elephant-lady shows up."

"Warm up on them"? All Kuja will do is monologue to them and sick a bunch of Mistodon mooks on them, that's not warming up.

Also what makes you think Brahne will show up on this part of the Outer Continent first and not say, the part with Madain Sari, or the part with Mognet Central?

[Screen changes to the group of five, walking up a part of the tree]

Zidane "Thanks, Amarant!"

Amarant "Now we're even. Show me what you guys can do."

Dagger "There's Kuja!"

[Screen shows Kuja standing on a ledge ahead of them]

Zidane "Yeah. Get ready, guys!"

[Choose between "Organize party", "Menu", or "Finished". Have to choose "Finished" sometime]

Here we go again but what make this party switching option here especially superficial is that, you will just have ONE battle, with some Mistodon mooks, before Garnet runs off, leaving you back to only four default party members for the rest of the battles for this segment.

Actually, party switching is also more tedious in this game, unlike in other FF games like VII, VIII, X and etc. where you could switch party members right from the menu, here in IX once you get to disk 3 and finally have the full assemble of PCs, you can only switch party members from being on the airship and speaking to someone (until the final dungeon anyway, which had special save points that allowed you to switch party members)

Vivi "Kuja... Maker of black mages..."

Eiko "Any enemy of Zidane is an enemy of mine!"

Zidane "Okay, let's go!"

[Everyone runs to Kuja. They reach the ledge across from him]

Dagger "You are Kuja, correct?" "My name is..." "...Princess Garnet Til Alexandros. I wish to ask you something." "Was it really you who persuaded my mother to start the war-"

Why are you trying to be formal with Kuja? He is the asshole who caused so much trouble.

Kuja "The war that threw the entire Mist Continent into chaos?"

Vivi "And you made everyone...the black mages into instruments of war!?"

Kuja "Oh, dear... The princess has such a bloodthirsty little puppet." "I don't have the power to do such a thing. I just gave them a little recipe." "Begin with broth of Mist, add fermented souls, and boil..." "Then, pour genuine black magic into a mixing bowl and heat to-"

Either someone here screwed up the translation, or the recipe boils down to "mist, mist through mist", because the Mist IS souls. Also how can you put magic into a bowl and heat it up?! Unless Kuja is just being a dick and talking out his ass.

Vivi "Stop it!"

Kuja "I'm not done telling how to make soulless toys out of the dregs of souls!"

"Dregs"?

Dictionary definition: "the most worthless part or parts of something."

That is not what the Mist is, they are THE SOULS THEMSELVES. Either this was another poor translation or the screenwriters didn't give a crap and made this convoluted.

Also how can souls make soulless toys? I just thought the souls were dormant in the Black Mage bodies until fully awakening.

Zidane "Dregs of souls? You mean Mist!?"

Maybe you should have asked the Soul Cage about that before, Zidane.

Kuja "First, you don't want to listen, now you start asking questions?" "Oh, brother... But you're not ready yet!"

Foreshadowing, but what do you mean by "you're not ready yet"?

Dagger "Why, you - don't you feel anything!? Taking the lives of so many..."

Kuja "Spare me the lecture. Lives come and go all the time. What's the big deal?"

Writers: "Hey, how do we make Kuja look like more of a douchebag? Make him monologue and spout some nonsense "recipe" babble and trivialize life of course!"

Also what makes Kuja think he isn't mortal? (This does become significant later but the question is, why did Kuja think this in the first place?)

Seriously, is no one going to call him out and shut his arrogant, moustache twirling ass up? (This is one of the things I hate most in certain stories, especially when they start spouting pseudo-philosophical BS) Actually why hasn't anyone, such as Amarant, tried to attack Kuja while he is in the middle of his monologuing?

Kuja "Speaking of warmongers, why... what about that mother of yours, Princess?" "She said she won't feel alive until she has everything! It breaks my heart to see such greed!" "The war was my fault? No, no! Your mother wanted it! All I did was give her a little push!"

And just what was this push? The game never explains it.

Dagger "Liar! My mother was sweet and kind. You changed her!"

Yeah well, we never saw the parts where she was "sweet and kind" before, so it's really hard to sympathize, especially currently where she has been completely demonized into an over the top, edgy cartoon villain that even a Disney antagonist would say was too much.

[The dragon growls]

Kuja "Mwahaha... So the curtain rises! Perfect, my canary. Let me show you the truth about your mother!" "First Act: The End of the Ugly Desire. It's showtime!"

We get it, you are an attention whore who treats this like a play. This is also the last time that Kuja calls Garnet "my canary", which makes me bring up again that Kuja's obsession with Garnet is suddenly dropped for no reason.

[FMV. A fleet of boats are heading towards the Iifa Tree]

[Screen shows Queen Brahne, fanning herself in one of the boats]

Brahne "Bwahahaha! Kuja! So you finally decided to show your girly face here!" "You're all that stands between me and total domination!"

Only Kuja isn't standing anywhere even next to you, you brainless idiot. Mega thick in every possible sense. How is Kuja in your way? He has been helping you this whole time. Sure, he actually had ulterior motives, but Brahne wasn't aware of that. You are basically killing your own weapons supplier and sabotaging yourself, which was the whole reason the party came here to the Outer Continent in the first place, to take down Kuja. This really shows that Sakaguchi and the other writers were just making it up as they went along.

Brahne "Gehehe! But I haven't forgotten all you've done for me! In return, I will show you the ultimate power!"

Oh, so you do acknowledge that he has been helping you this whole time? Why do you suddenly want to kill him then?

Brahne "Attention, all hands! Order the black mages to focus all their magical energies into a single spell!" "Lay suppressing fire upon Kuja until the casting is finished! Fire! Fire at will!"

Fire where? Kuja is still at the top of the gigantic Iifa Tree, there is no way that your cannons should be able to reach up there.

Also Brahne doesn't seem to have noticed that Garnet, Zidane and the others are there, since they are standing close to Kuja.

[Screen changes to an Alexandrian soldier in another boat]

Senior Officer "Orders from Her Majesty! Black mages, focus all your magical energy into a single spell!"

[On the deck, five black mages move both their hands, charging up their energy]

[Screen changes back to Kuja and the characters]

Dagger "I...I can't believe it!"

Kuja "Your mother isn't satisfied with just one continent!"

But the rest of the world outside of the Mist Continent is mostly barren and uninhabited (not counting the small Dwarf and Esto Gasa settlements and the very recently added Black Mage Village, and I've already talked about the shoddy world building) why does she even care? It would have made more sense that Brahne is just going after the last piece of the Alexander Jewel in Madain Sari and Kuja is just bullshitting again, but Brahne makes no implications of this. She is such a caricature, same with Kuja.

Kuja "Her ugliness and stupidity are truly impressive." "Ahh... everything is proceeding as I have foreseen."

Okay, I refer to what I said earlier when Kuja was monologuing to himself while flying on the Silver Dragon to the Iifa Tree: stop pretending that you are a master planner. Everything has only been going your way so far due to contrivances, and what made you predict that Brahne would suddenly want to kill you?

When Kuja starts his attack on Alexandria with Bahamut to get Alexander, I am going to be pointing out how nonsensical and convoluted his whole plan was.

Zidane "What are you talking about!?"

Kuja "You're just the opening number. Time for the real show."

Zidane "We won't let you get away!"

Kuja "The Mist may be created no more, but it still lurks in caves and forests, right?"

How does that work? The Mist clearly isn't natural, as it's actually souls rather than water vapour, but why would it vanish instantly over the Mist Continent but still lurk in caves and forests, going back to what I said before when the Soul Cage was defeated?

Zidane "Huh!?"

Kuja "I can make monsters with magic! Come forth, spawn of the Mist!"

[Battle vs. two Mistodons. After defeating them, the screen returns to the five characters. Kuja and the Silver Dragon are gone]

Maybe you guys shouldn't have let Kuja monologue so much. Also neither Garnet nor Eiko could have summoned an Eidolon to intercept Kuja and stop him from escaping?

Amarant "So, two of your enemies are dukin' it out? Why not just leave 'em, and finish off the winner." "My money's on Kuja."

Why automatically Kuja, Amarant? You don't know much about his power yet. (And even then, it was less his powers and more of the Invincible's powers)

[Scene changes to Kuja, standing on top of the Silver Dragon, which is flying in the air]

Kuja "Hahaha! Foolish Brahne! Your prized cannons are useless against the spawn of the Mist!"

Where did you get so much Mist to make a bunch of Mistodons? The amount of Mist should be low after the Soul Cage was defeated. Also how did you get them onto the ships?

Kuja "Mwahaha... But even a fool like you knows that there is only one path you can take, right?" "Stupid elephant-lady! Why do you hesitate?" "Very well... I'll make the first move." "I'll give you a clean target. You can't miss!" "Silver Dragon, descend!"

Why is the Silver Dragon taking Kuja's orders? From what we see later in the game, that dragon actually belongs to Garland.

[The dragon descends, and the screen fades to black. The screen changes to the 5 characters]

Zidane "Amarant's right. Let's split before we get dragged in."

Dagger "No... I can't... I can't let anything happen to my mother."

Zidane "Dagger?"

Dagger "Zidane, I... I have to save her!"

Zidane "Uhh, Dagger? She extracted eidolons from you and started a war!"

Which Dagger had a hand in by running back to her crazy mother like an idiot, but no one is ever going to point that out.

Dagger "I still don't want her to die!"

Zidane "But she didn't care one bit whether you lived or died!" "You don't have to call her mother anymore!"

Dagger "She's my only mother!" "I don't care if you don't understand!"

Here we go again with this drama and wedge between Zidane and Garnet, look, I get that her feelings toward her mother are complicated, but it doesn't justify the dumb things that Dagger did before and abandoning Zidane.

Also said mother had your summoner's horn removed (which was pretty risky) and lied to you for a decade about your biological mother and past.

Dagger "Eiko, you said that there was an eidolon imprisoned near here, right?"

Oh now you remember about that? Why didn't they try and look for that Eidolon the first time they were at the Iifa Tree?

Eiko "Um, yeah."

Dagger "Please! Tell me where!"

[Eiko points forward]

Eiko "It's a long way down. You see the place with lots of roots? That's it."

Dagger "There. I see it." [Dagger runs off screen]

This is what I was referring to before about the party switching here being pretty pointless, after just one mandatory battle, Garnet runs off, leaving you back to four default party members for the rest of this segment's battles (of which there would be only two left). What was the point? They could have just had Amarant (and Quina) go ahead of the others to the Iifa Tree instead, like what Quina did at the Mountain Path when Eiko joined, and simply be part of the cutscenes.

Eiko "Dagger, don't go alone!"

That's something that should have been told to her in Disk 1 Lindblum. (and no, Steiner doesn't count)

[Battle vs. Mistodon]

Amarant "Hehe... This is turning into quite a show."

Is no one going to tell Amarant to shut up for being an unlikable ass?

Eiko "Anyone can get emotional at a time like this! Give her a break!"

…I don't think that was what Amarant was implying.

Eiko "Zidane, let's go. Dagger's in danger all by herself."

Zidane "Yeah... Let's go after her."

[The group runs down a root to arrive where Dagger is. Dagger is standing in front of a statue of a serpent]

Dagger "I sense the eidolon's power! Now... Now I can save my mother!" (Please help me...)

[Energy begins to swirl around the statue. A pair of luminous wings suddenly appear on the serpent's sides]

[Received Aquamarine!]

Dagger "...No!" "I can't save my mother with this eidolon!"

Well that was a completely pointless subplot, it's only purpose was just to get Leviathan, who never factors into the plot.

[Dagger falls to her knees. The group arrives]

Eiko "Dagger! What's wrong? Can't you free it?"

Dagger "No, I have it. I sense it's a great eidolon. But...but..."

Eiko "I don't believe it! This is the legendary sea serpent Leviathan!"

Vivi "Leviathan!?"

Eiko "An eidolon who wipes out its enemies with a huge tidal wave! I'm sorry, Dagger!"

Dagger "No, it's not your fault. But my mother's still in danger!"

Here is an idea, why don't you and Eiko use your OTHER Eidolons, that aren't water based, to help? Garnet still has Ramuh and Eiko has Titan/Fenrir, Phoenix and Carbuncle to summon and help, heck, Mog/Madeen can also help by assuming his true form, and even regarding Leviathan, I don't see why Garnet can't just instruct the sea serpent to only attack Kuja and leave the fleet alone.

This is what I mean by IX having some of the worst gameplay/story segregation and cutscene incompetence in the FF series and RPGs in general. (And we haven't even gotten to Trance suddenly becoming a plot point yet. Heck why doesn't Zidane go trance and try to help when he is supposed to be superior to Kuja?)

[The screen changes to onboard an Alexandrian ship. One part of the ship is burnt, with 2 blacks mages down, dead. The others are still moving their hands, charging their energy. The screen shifts up to an Alexandrian soldier; another soldier walks onto the screen]

Cannoneer "Isn't Her Majesty ready yet!?" "All remaining ammunition was spent on that last wave of monsters! The next wave will chew us up unless we pull out now!"

Okay there is no way that Kuja summoned that many Mistodons, especially with how there isn't very much Mist right now. Plus they are on the sea, why would they waste shots on these mooks and how did the Mistodons even get on the ships?

Senior Officer "That is not our decision! Get back to your post, soldier!"

[Screen changes to Brahne's ship. A black mage is glowing with a yellow-goldish hue]

Alexandrian Soldier "Your Majesty, the black mages have completed their preparations."

Brahne "That insolent whelp! Now I can finish him off!" "Come!" "Draconic Seedling!" "Bahamut, King of Dragons!"

"Draconic Seedling"? Later on, the item that is containing Bahamut isn't what was just said, but, ironically, a literal garnet gem. Why the sudden change, was this a mistranslation or a writing screw-up?

[FMV. A huge circle of fire is created in the ocean, as Bahamut flies out. He soars along the ocean towards the Iifa Tree and, particularly, towards Kuja and the Silver Dragon. Kuja looks on and smiles. Bahamut charges for a blast, and fires several blasts of energy upon Kuja, as the ground explodes in massive explosions. The Silver Dragon, along with Kuja on its back, fly away. Kuja realizes he's bleeding, and smiles a demonic smile]

Okay, Kuja is stupidly overpowered, Bahamut is supposed to be stronger than Odin (who we saw completely explode the huge true of Cleyra) and Atomos (who easily devastated the advanced city of Lindblum) and yet all Bahamut's attacks did to Kuja was make him bleed a little from his forehead, and Kuja is supposed to be the one that can't naturally use Trance and Zidane is supposed to be superior to. Okay, you can make the argument that Kuja didn't take a direct hit from the Mega Flare attacks and explosions and was more dodging them and he also used a powerful Protect/Shell spell, but what is the Silver Dragon's excuse for being completely unharmed? Also neither the FMV nor the dialogue gave any indications that Kuja used defensive magic.

[The screen changes back to the group of characters]

Amarant "I've heard the stories, but I never thought summoning could be so powerful." (If Zidane is after their power, I'd better watch out...)

Oh so even Amarant has heard about the Eidolons? This just goes back to what I said before about Cid not warning everyone about the Eidolons in Disk 1 Lindblum so that Dagger didn't anything stupid.

Also, Amarant is making dumb assumptions about Zidane again. He's really mastered that one-dimension hasn't he?

Dagger "Wow... Now we can win! And Mother won't have to die!"

"We"? Your psychotic mother is doing all the work!

[Eiko looks left and right, repeatedly and frantically]

Dagger "Eiko, don't you think... What's wrong?"

Eiko "Mog... She's terrified!"

How did Mog/Madeen sense what Kuja was about to do? That is never explained and makes no sense.

Dagger "How come?" "Don't you know? That's the last eidolon. Bahamut, the Dragon King! He'll win for sure!"

"Last Eidolon"? What about Odin, Atomos, Ifrit and Shiva?

[Screen changes back to Kuja and the Silver Dragon]

Kuja "Blood..." "Hahahaha..." "Excellent, Bahamut!" "Power, mobility... You are truly the best!

What about Alexander, the actual strongest Gaia Eidolon, whom you know about and set this whole plan up to acquire?

Kuja "You even hurt me...a little." "And you, Brahne... Your tragic role in this drama now comes to an end!"

Or how about you don't kill Brahne and let her get all the Alexander jewel pieces for you, like she has been doing for a lot of the game, and when she gets all four and summons Alexander, THAT is when you choose to backstab her. (Kuja doesn't even take Alexander jewel pieces that Brahne had, or Eiko and Garnet had, when all four were right here for the taking) This is part of what I'm going to addressing about Kuja's dumb plan when we get to Alexander.

Kuja "I'm sure you'll enjoy the second act from your soul's hellish prison, since the stage will be your former home!"

Pay attention to the "Soul's hellish prison" part since it's going to tie in to the Invincible later in the game and what I have to say about that and the plot hole of how Brahne's soul even wound up in it.

Kuja "The final act will take us away from Gaia, and I will kill my nemesis...with my own hand!" "Hahaha! Everything is going according to plan."

First off, sure, just shout that you are going to kill Garland out loud, it's not like he could be watching you to see if you try to pull anything.

Secondly, again with this "Keikaku" bullshit, Kuja is approaching Villain Sue territory.

[FMV. Kuja raises his hands, as the sky goes black. The eyeball which destroyed Madain Sari appears in the sky.]

Here is a big question, how does Kuja have control over the Invincible? After what Kuja did with stealing away Zidane and dumping him on Gaia, Garland wouldn't let Kuja have control of or even anywhere near the Invincible, as Kuja clearly showed that he wasn't trustworthy.

[Beams of energy radiate from the eyeball, as Bahamut becomes entrapped in it. The energy beam rocks the ship, as black mages fall to the floor. The queen, also in pain/agony, falls down. Kuja, looking on all this, smiles a malicious smile.]

Just give Kuja a moustache to twirl already.

[The queen looks up, and see a Kuja-controlled Bahamut right in front of her! As it powers up for its attack, she's terrified. Bahamut unleashes a devastating blast on her ship, as well as all the other ships of the Alexandrian fleet. It flies away, dissipating into energy and dissapearing. The Silver Dragon, with Kuja sitting upon it, flies off into the distance]

Again, not going to take the Alexander Jewel pieces when all four are here right now? Also wouldn't what you just did to Brahne have caused the Alexander pieces she had to have been lost at sea and screwing over your own plans to get Alexander. (The only reason they weren't is due to some bullshit we are about to see in a moment)

[Screen is black: white writing appears on the black screen]

"I don't know why Bahamut attacked the one who summoned him." "But we found Queen Brahne on the beach, next to her escape pod." "She could hardly move. And I thought she'd come to a stop any second."

I'm sorry, what? In the FMV, Brahne took a point blank hit from Bahamut's Mega Flare and her ship was completely obliterated, there would be no time to get into an escape pod or even still have one, and said "escape pod" isn't even a pod but a pretty big boat. Where the heck did that come from? Brahne herself should have been vaporized by the attack. It feels like they did the FMV first then threw this non-FMV scene in as an afterthought. (Brahne's 3D sprite rendering doesn't even looked burnt or harmed)

[Screen fades in. Vivi is standing alone, with Zidane and Eiko in the distance. They're on the beach; a boat is washed ashore, which Amarant is on]

"I hate Kuja a lot. But I hate Brahne a lot, too... so much that I wanted this to happen to her." "I should be happy, but..." "Once I saw Dagger start to cry, I didn't know how I should feel." "I kind of wanted to cry, too..."

Okay why is Vivi the one narrating? Zidane should be the one narrating because he loves Garnet and should be closest to her instead of sitting off in the distance. They aren't even trying to make the love story convincing and focused.

[Screen shifts left to Brahne, collapsed on her back, with Dagger by her side]

Brahne "...I...can hear...my daughter's voice."

Dagger "Yes, Mother! I'm here!" "Right here..."

Brahne "I...I am empty now... Free..." "Free...of that...terrible...greed..."

Well, I just exploded. No, no, NO. It's simply impossible to do this, Brahne left a moral event horizon behind already when she blew up Cleyra and ordered to have Garnet's head cut off. This is not greed, this is excessive and unmotivated cruelty, for which there is no justification and is cheap, over the top, edgy try-hard juvenile nonsense - and this pathetic attempt to knock out a drop of sympathy compassion for this dolt-elephant looks really wretched. She was just another Emperor Gestahl/President Shinra/Vinzer Deling clone (with a dash of Disney cartoon villain thrown in) whose only purpose was to serve as a fake main antagonist until getting back stabbed and killed off.

Dagger "Mother..."

Brahne "I haven't...felt this way...since I saw that play... with you...and your father." "I led...Alexandria...down... the path...of ruin..." "The people...will be...happier... with you...on the throne..."

Brahne had a good upbringing with tragedies like loosing her biological daughter and husband being recent things, but she still had a nice adoptive daughter, this shouldn't have made her go off the deep end and pulled a one-eighty flip into a moustache twirling cartoon villain that wants to kill everyone, Kuja himself says that Brahne wanted this, granted he is an unreliable narrator. But the game never explains what Kuja's "push" was.

Before I wrote this review, I've argued this with others online, and they've made the claim that Kuja used the Mist to make Brahne unstable (as Steiner said before in chapter 2 about the Mist causing abnormalities in the mind and what the Soul Cage says) but what we see with the Mist isn't consistent, Burmecia, Gizamaluke's Grotto and Qu's Marsh are within the Mist yet none of the people there seem to be influenced by it and are mentally unstable and none of the players characters seem to be affected from wondering through the Mist earlier in the game. How did Kuja even use the Mist on Brahne anyways? Did he have a syringe of Mist and injected it into Brahne to make her go crazy? How did he do this without anyone noticing? How is Kuja able to maintain the Mist's effects on Brahne without it wearing off and Brahne regains her senses? If Kuja could just control someone through the Mist, why didn't he do the same to Garnet so that she wouldn't run away like at the beginning of the game?

[Her arms fall to her sides, and she lays still. The screen fades to black]

"We went back to Alexandria on Queen Brahne's escape pod." "We also brought..." "Dagger's mother with us..."

[Screen changes to an area in Alexandria, most likely Brahne's resting place. Doctor Tot walks forward, and turns around]

Well that is quite the jump-cut. Before we got back to the Iifa Tree, it looked like it was building up to some huge climax, but (in regards to the PCs) nothing happens, they just stand and watch like idiots, even though Eiko and Garnet could have summoned more Eidolons, and Zidane's true powers could have awakened a bit and fought Kuja, this is one of the problems with Zidane, as one commenter has said: "The game's supposed protagonist runs around observing events but really doing nothing to change them." Zidane barely has much of an impact, especially in regards to Garnet.

Tot "This way, Princess."

[Tot walks forward. Dagger, followed by Steiner and Beatrix, walk onto the screen]

Dagger "Steiner, Beatrix..." [She turns to face them] "How horrible that her life had to end this way." "I still can't believe all that has happened..."

Beatrix "Princess, it was my..."

Steiner "No! It was my fault!"

I'm pretty sure more blame falls on Beatrix for not believing Garnet when she warned about Brahne going crazy and her blindly following Brahne's obviously bad orders and acting like a condescending warmongering bitch while doing it.

Dagger "Thank you, both of you..." "I must now carry the burden of ruling Alexandria alone." "Will both of you please help me during this, my time of need?"

Uh, what about Zidane? Have you already completely forgotten about him? (And trust me, that will be a big thing next chapter and all the forced drama surrounding it)

Steiner "Yes, Princess!"

Beatrix "Certainly!"

Dagger "Thank you."

[Dagger walks to Doctor Tot, who's holding a wreath of flowers, in front of the memorial monument]

Tot "Princess, this is a wreath of roses, your mother's favourite." [Dagger takes the wreath from him] "The townspeople sent it as an offering for the queen's grave." "True, Queen Brahne had been acting quite erratic before her death..." "...but the people are still very fond of her, as you can see."

…Really?

-The people living in Alexandria still loved the Queen despite the many deaths, genocidal murder and destruction of more than half the continent after brutally torturing and outright ripping the Eidolons out of the beloved princess.

-"You hear that? Look, they brought flowers to her funeral!"

-They loved her, even though cities were demolished, what happened to the rat people, the whole continent is furious, all for absolutely zero positive result for anyone anywhere for any reason.

-Sad to see the queen go! ;;;(

This is such poorly written dialogue.

[Dagger walks forward, and places the wreath on the monument. Steiner and Beatrix salute]

Dagger "Mother..." "I shall become a great queen!"

What about Zidane?

[Dagger walks off screen]

[FMV. Dagger walks down a set of stairs, hands behind her. She continues walking, deep in thought, arriving at the waterfront before the castle. We see the castle, in all its majestic glory. Dagger then turns around sharply, staring at the camera, hands by her side]

Did this really have to be a FMV, especially for Garnet who has been pretty bland and boring? Zidane also isn't anywhere in this FMV and involved with Garnet so that's a downer. Also Beatrix should have been the Queen and Garnet's mother instead, but I will be talking about that fully the next chapter.

End of chapter 15

End of Disk 2

Finally done with Disk 2, the first half of it was some of the worst and most painful parts of the game (and there is still more to come in Disk 3), while the second half when you get to the Outer Continent was admittedly more decent, like the beginning parts of IX in Disk 1 until you get to Lindblum, if one of the big reasons was there was no Steiner and his forced slapstick, and introducing Eiko who has more personality than Garnet. But now we are moving on into Disk 3 and the start of a lot of feigned and forced drama, wangst and the story getting really convoluted.