Also I apologise in advance, but this episode will not feature any of my "features" as I'm writting them off my girlfriend's lappy and she doesn't have the image editing software which allows me to make them...sorry again guys. The plus is I'll fill the others with them even more.
Finally, as always, check out Dankempster and his sick-ass-inspirational blog about Final Fantasy VII. He's just about to bomb through one of my least favourite scenes in the game, the train graveyard, so good luck with that. Anyway, let's not turn the prelude into a run of its own and get on with it:
Previously On Enduring Final Fantasy IX
If you remember the last episode of the run, you'll remember that everything was going more than perfectly, until an accident with the pyrotechnics (read: Vivi) revealed that the Princess Garnet was trying to escape the castle. Furious about this, the Queen decided the best thing to do would be to blow the ship up (with the Princess still aboard!) leaving us descending into the forest bellow. How dangerous can some trees be?Castaways
Zidane wakes up on the forest floor, thankfully unharmed but it looks like all that's about to change as we learn that "No one's ever made it out of this forest alive," (gulp.) Returning to the ship, Zidane learns that Garnet is missing and the game introduces us to one of its best mechinics, the ATE. When I can I'll write a feature up describing 
Venus Man Traps
Setting off to find them, I grind a bit in the first possible area. It's a lovely spot to get up a few levels as Zidanes the only member in the party (therefore getting the full share of exp,) he can one hit every enemy with the weapon I stole off Baku and potion drops are common, so it's hard to die and I can stockpile a few up. After the brief session we move onto the next screen where we find Vivi and Steiner who is confronting a plant moster that's trapped garnet in its head cage! Battling the plant, Zidane goes into the limit break like Trance mode, which makes him stronger and gives him new abilites to unleash. With Zidances trance, the team make light work of the plant monster, but unfourtunatly it escapes with the Princess... Just as Steiner is giving up hope, Zidane uses his logic to detirmine that the plant will have taken the Princess to its master, so it's a good chance she's still alive. Just as they are about to set off to retrive her, another plant monster dives down and swallows up Vivi. Battling the plant , with Zidane and Steiner's blades and Vivi's black magic (from within the plant) the team defeat it, but in death, the plant releases spores which knowck out both Vivi and Steiner, leaving Zidane stood alone.
Breaking Free
Vivi wakes up in the theater ship, where he learns that Zidane has brought him and Steiner back. Blank gives him some medicne to prevent the plants spores from hatching within his body and eating him alive...nice. We then see Steiner trying to get out and save the Princess, but is in no state to go do so. After being locked in the instrument storage room, he takes his medicine and formulates a plan to break out.
Zidane also wants to go save Garnet, and after trying to cheer up Vivi, he goes to see his leader, Baku, to gain permission to go save her. Baku understands Zidane's
Through The Forest And The Flames
Leaving the ship, Zidane bumps into Blank, who gives Zidane some medicine to help the Princess. The two have a little chat and for the first time, it becomes clear that these two are best buds. Considering I know what's about to happen, I'd have prefered it if it was established a little earlier on, but at least we know now. We get to see an awesome little ATE leaving aswell, with a throwback to FFVII:
Fighting our way through the forest, we deliver our letter to Monty and see an ATE where Baku reveales he has a plan to escape the forest and Blank leaves to fulfil his own mission.
The screen starts shaking and plants start pouring out of every whole, hellbent on killing our team. Making a break for it, the team find themselves running for their life. One last brief chat betweeen Zidane and Blank reveals Zidane's fear of the siutation, and after an awesome FMV, the game suffers it's first casulaty....
It's a scene that's upset me everytime I've watched it, which is weird because the game never does a great job of getting the player to empathise with Blank, but everyone seems to like him anyway. It also shows that the quality of the FMV's aren't gona drop, and they'll remain to be action packed and beautiful all the way through the game.
Camping Trip!!!
Camping just outside the forest, the team laments on what's just happened. Blank's been petrified they have no idea where they are or where to go and they have no idea what's happened to Tantalus. Steiner's still convinced he's going to take the Princess back to the castle, but after a breif argument between him and Zidane, the Princess reveals that she was running away from the castle, so Steiner swears he will protect, even if he isn't happy about it. Zidane says how both North and South gates are closed, so the only real chance they have of getting out the poisonus-monster spawning mist that plauges the Mist Continent is through a cavern to the south.
It looks like we weren't the only to survive the forest though, as the Moogle we met earlier flys out and praises our survivability. He gives the team a flute, which will be able to summon Moogles on the world map, who can save the game and pitch out tent for us (why the team can't pitch out tents without their help is beyond me.)
So with that we're onto the world map and at the end ouf our episode. I'm really sorry if it seemed like a wall of text this time around, I promise there will be more features in future episodes, as soon as I can make them again.
Please please please leave me as much feedback as you can, what did you think of this section of the game, what did you think of my writting.
Stay tuned over the next few days for episode 3, where we will see if there's a way to get out of this dreaded mist.
Until then....Peace.
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