PART 1 - **NEW** PART 1.1 - PART 1.2 - PART 1.3 - PART 2 - PART 3 - PART 4 - PART 5 - PART 6 - PART 7 - PART 8 - PART 9 - PART 10 - PART 11 - PART 12 - PART 13 - PART 14 - PART 15 - PART 16 - PART 17 - PART 18 - PART 19 FINALE

Globe trotting fetch quest complete, the party admits to itself that while yes, antagonizing Shinra has been a hoot, it's done little to solve our actual problems. Some upsetting groans from the Planet prompt the crew to swing by Cosmo Canyon, navigating the labyrinthian layout to consult with our eerily floating friend Bugendagenugenhagen. Bugs is itching to show us his fancy light show again, it was clearly expensive, so chat has a fair amount of story to digest before the action returns.

Lore dump momentarily complete, chat diligently grabs the Bahamut Zero summon from the fourth huge materia, our ultimate minigame prize. There's a slight menu boss here, as you must interact with one of the huge materia and select the third option to leave, but after a few minutes chat is free of the impressively elaborate den now decorated with our big fancy rocks and can swiftly proceed. Turns out our seer doesn't really have a plan either, we really could have used one of those, but we at least have a better idea of where to start looking. Chat takes grandpa on a day trip and boldly strikes out in search of more plot.

City of the Ancients Revisit

Grabbing the key of Ancients early is wise, since you can only proceed so far in this sequence before it's required. This prudent action saves many minutes of tedious stutter step movement. I haven't talked about movement in a while, mostly because it's well established, but it's hard to understate how much of this run was simply marching slowly and steadily between objectives, wiggling near loading zones and interaction points. Even the driest of lore sections became a welcome change of pace, if only to rest one's brain and fingers. Endurance and patience were always under relentless assault.

Chat navigates to the back of the City, grabbing some of the loot overlooked in our previous visit, and is presented with yet another deposit of lore. The Planet informs us that the white materia Holy is probably our best crack at stopping Meteor, maybe. Utilizing the earlier acquired key item to hit play on the next FMV, the party realizes the supposedly useless orb Aeris tied her hair back with is the required magical relic, lost in the depths beneath the City. Our loremaster tells us not to despair, the job is already done and Holy is ready to roll, but some other force stands in the way. Someone obviously doesn't want their grand immaculate plans spoiled. The objective resets to a familiar one. Stop Sephiroth.

Before proceeding, chat decides to make a long overdue cosmetic adjustment. After four and a half days of staring at the same menus, some necessary flavor is finally injected into the color scheme. Pleased with their work, chat turns to leave when the party is facetimed by resident triple crosser catJAM. Those Shinra knuckleheads have somehow strapped that gargantuan peashooter to the side of their capital city, planning to I don't know, shoot Sephiroth with it or something. We've seen their precise ability to aim already, but to Shinra's credit they at least have something more resembling a plan than we do. Chat exits the City heavy with knowledge only to be thrust violently into the next story event.

Diamond Weapon

Another of those pesky weapons has arrived, Diamond Weapon emerging from the ocean depths to assault Midgar. He's apparently not a fan of their makeover, and while all can agree that place kind of sucks anyway, the party nevertheless moves to intercept this angry force of nature. Despite the implications of this sequence you don't have to fight the Weapon before he reaches the city, he will pause outside and patiently wait for you to come beat him up. Fortunate, given our navigation speed even with the airship would make catching him exceedingly difficult.

There's not much setup required before this boss, although Cid is still in the party from being forced earlier and is booted immediately to restore the standard crew. Chat attempts to swing by Mideel first and grab more HP plus materia, but as morning bleeds into day, delicate menus become impossible as known offenders arrive. Not wanting to shop in democracy, chat reverses course and engages the fight as is. Diamond Weapon is not trivial, but the party should be able to handle it even with malicious inputs. As the mantra goes, we're saved anyway. The first attempt wipes but a clutch regen cast gives Cloud and Vince the sustain necessary to carry the second round. This fight is a good example of why setup was typically so deliberate and planned. Chat had to defeat the enemy, but that wasn't always just the one on screen.

Chat's reward for pestering the superboss is a gauntlet of sequential FMVs. Diamond Weapon thinks our attempts at resistance are just adorable, ignoring the party and turning to resume his assault on Midgar. Crucially our failed defense has given Shinra the time to get their act together and contribute something of value for once, as the cannon is finally charged and fired. Diamond launches a volley in response but gets skewered by the potent energy blast before it continues northward, disabling the shield protecting Sephiroth at North Crater. Unfortunately Weapon's counter attack has no available answer and Midgar takes a mighty beating, decimating Shinra Tower and marking the supposed end of their higher level management. For all Shinra's lumps, they at least got their shot off when it mattered.

Disc 2 really lays it on thick with the cutscenes, which is part of why we've already reached the end of it, only one story objective remaining before the final disc swap. Hojo has completely snapped and is dangerously overloading the reactors to fire another mako infused shell at his bio engineered son. To prevent the city from becoming a smoking hot crater, the party must parachute into Midgar and clean up the mess. Chat is in no particular hurry, though. There's a lot of options available now that our newest traversal method, the submarine, is unlocked. And it's been far too long since we did some gambling anyway.

On a quick personal note, this segment involved some bits that were honestly difficult to sit through a second time and the update is a bit shorter as a result. At some point I'll have to address some of these things here as they pertain to the overall run but, I need to be delicate and considerate. A genie was uncorked today and the run will forever be changed because of it. I'm still torn on if that was ultimately a good or bad thing, but I will make every attempt to handle the subject matter respectfully. Thanks as always for reading!

PART 1 - **NEW** PART 1.1 - PART 1.2 - PART 1.3 - PART 2 - PART 3 - PART 4 - PART 5 - PART 6 - PART 7 - PART 8 - PART 9 - PART 10 - PART 11 - PART 12 - PART 13 - PART 14 - PART 15 - PART 16 - PART 17 - PART 18 - PART 19 FINALE