Sphere Hunting

Sphere hunting grew into a craze after Sin was vanquished for good. With no need to fear of Sin anymore the residents on Spira could enjoy life in the Eternal Calm. As well as fractions like the Youth League emerging and the various races populating Spira being able to live freely, Sphere hunting brought out exploration and keenness to uncover Spira’s past. The Gullwings is at heart a group of Al Bhed Sphere Hunters created by Rikku and Brother which eventually grew including members such as Shinra, Paine and Yuna.

A year on, Sphere hunting has quietened with both the Youth League and New Yevon working together most of the time searching for Spheres leaving Sphere Hunters frustrated to discover Treasure Spheres themselves. Though Sphere Hunters like the LeBlanc Syndicate and Gullwings remain active, it becomes increasingly difficult to hunt for Treasure Spheres with the Youth League and New Yevon beating Sphere Hunters to it. But Sphere Hunters would not rise up and rebel because they sought not to repeat mistakes made previously.

Sphere hunting may have lost some of its competitiveness and eagerness among the Sphere Hunters, the Gullwings in particular with most of its members disbanding to do alternative activities but the interest in Sphere hunting still remains. Even with the Youth League and New Yevon wheeling in most of the rewards, there are still much about Spira’s history to discover. There are still wondrous Treasure Spheres waiting to be uncovered.

In Final Fantasy X-3, Sphere hunting is an optional activity which can be undertaken in much of the game even underwater. Early on, Treasure Spheres can be uncovered in treasure chests but are many that remain unknown to the eyes of the party. This can be resolved however by activating the Search Sphere by pressing Square whilst on the Field Screen. This is the very same Search Sphere obtained in X-2 (which is optional), (yes Yuna has kept it all this time!)

Later on where the party acquire the use of the Kelvin airship, Treasure Sphere waves will be detected which the player can then decide to follow up on or pass. Like in X-2, the party can choose where to go next via a menu listing all the destinations on Spira (minus the Farplane and Dream Zanarkand) once they have obtained the Kelvin airship. Unlike in X-2 however; when a destination is listed as a “Hotspot” in X-3, a “Hotspot” is a destination where a Treasure Sphere has been detected, not the destination to progress on with the game (The objective destination will be highlighted with “Objective” and with a gold highlight instead of red (for Hotspot”)).

When searching for Treasure Spheres via the Field Screen, using the Search Sphere (press Square to activate) will search for any Treasure Sphere waves nearby. If the controller starts to vibrate it means the Search Sphere has found a Treasure Spira; the stronger the vibration, the closer the Treasure Sphere is to the character(s) on the Field Screen. Opposingly the lesser vibration will mean the character(s) on the Field Screen are distancing from the located Treasure Sphere. When a music sequence plays, it means the character(s) are in reach of the Treasure Sphere. Press X and the character(s) will obtain the Treasure Sphere. If the controller does not vibrate, it means there are no Treasure Sphere waves in reach.

Sometimes however, the Search Sphere may pick up waves belonging to Broken Treasure Spheres which are no good unless the remaining half can be found. If two (2) halves of a Broken Treasure Sphere are obtained, the halves will fit together and complete the Treasure Sphere making the Treasure Sphere usable.

Some Treasure Spheres will be more useful then others i.e. a new Dressphere for Rikku to use as opposed to a Video Sphere considered “Junk!” There are Video Spheres however that will lead to additional missions and have bearing to characters in the party like Paine for example.

There are times in X-3 where there is no option to Sphere hunt even in Field Screen. Obviously one can’t Sphere hunt while the gameplay shifts to a video but there are particular events where hunting Spheres is disabled. These are:

Ø “Situation Critical!” events
Ø Whilst controlling Yuna after first (1st) spring scene (chapter three (3))
Ø Via Purifico Sewers
Ø Mission: No More Hurt Time!
Ø Yadonoki Tower

No rest in the afterlife?!

When beings, plants and other forms of life die, their soul becomes pyreflies. If there is an emotion strong enough such as anger then the host won't simply lay to rest. Instead the pyreflies continue the life the host once had; sometimes as Unsent who live among the living of which no one could tell if they were an Unsent (unless a Guado happens to notice) or as fiends who prey and envy the living. To eliminate the risk, Summoners are to perform a "Sending" in order to guide the fallen to the Farplane and find rest. But of course all the "Sending" really does is move the potential problem onto some place else i.e. the Farplane.

But there is more to pyreflies then that. Pyreflies are assumed to cause a number of phenomenons throughout Spira. There are many unknowns about pyreflies and afterlife in Spira. Unsents live among the living that cannot find rest and therefore stay on Spira. Needless to say, the afterlife in Spira can be anything but restful.

In Final Fantasy X-3 "The Final Chapters", a titanic tragedy will send shockwaves throughout and alter the stories of many on Spira. But it is a tragedy with complications which are eventually understood and imply the magic words "We have no choice". And in the meantime while at first not knowing and then gradually knowing, the party and the inflicted have to restore the Eternal Calm and the road so then many stories can unfold upon which has been torn asunder by terror and the sorrow of what will be a loss to Spira like none other. Clearly death is not the ultimate and final liberatation where it frees the fallen from life's hardship which it is expected to be! And if the ending does not go the way as so dearly wished upon then there will be rest whatsoever for anyone or anything until its destruction where Shadows will remain alone searching for the one thing they want but cannot have.

The life of a Shadow fated to an eternity of wondering, pain, angrish, torment, harrowing and unanswered yearning sucks don't it? Not quite the peace hoped for after the journey of life is it?

The sinking feeling

One of the key elements introduced by Final Fantasy X is water. BlitzBall is an underwater sport which in reality in possibly impossible to try and replicate in real life. As is the ability of some characters to swim and stay underwater unaided and indefinatley. Water is an element of Magic. Much of Spira is water and its become a custom for Yuna to fall/jump into the Moonflow. Needless to say, Spira is full of water. Its the kind of world that will make those who suffer from Thalassophobia, Potamophobia, Hygrophobia, Ablutophobia, Cymophobia or those with bladder weaknesses look away.

But aside from BlitzBall, Final Fantasy X-2 doesn't embrace the use of water like its predecessor did. Well all that changes in my concept of Final Fantasy X-3 so water haters beware!

Expect recreations of events featured in FFX to reappear in FFX-3 and then some. One of these new events will be a critical situation event where if failed will lead to game over. Yuna falls into the Via Purifico Sewers with chains entrapping her body and the added weight causes Yuna to sink to the bottom more quickly. What's worse is there is a chain around Yuna's mouth making breathing extremely difficault. "That's cruel!" You might be thinking and you'd be right. Blame the antagonist Raphas for that one.

In both "The Final Chapters" and "Lenne's and Shuyin's Story" the same airship crashes into the sea beside Yadonoki Tower though over a 1000 years apart.

There's more of course but I don't want to spill the beans. But here's an insight to think about: If my concept of Final Fantasy X-3 was made reality, imagine the way water, rivers, and sea will look and reflect against the golden glow of an evening sunset or the moon and starlit night sky brought to life by current generation visual graphics made possible by HD/Blu-ray gaming.

"Lenne's and Shuyin's Story" - March 2010 update

The 2010 edition of March is over. Which means the development on "Lenne's and Shuyin's Story" takes a break for a month and I focus on "The Last Chapters". Now i've done a little bit of irrelevant reasearch but is good to know since I have a habit of wanting to know everything relating to the project. I should've guessed that a sequel to a sequel is defined as a theequel. That is essentialy what Final Fantasy X-3 and "The Final Chapters" in particular is. "Lenne's and Shuyin's Story" is a mix really; the plot takes place after "The Final Chapters" and yet its mostly based as a distant prequel to Final Fantasy X (based at the time of the Machina War). And yet it is also a sidequel where it allows the potential player to go down different stories whilst relating to the universe of the Compilation of Final Fantasy X. Think of it this way; the potential player can explore side stories and see what characters like Rikku and Paine are doing or check upon New Yevon or visit an infamous part of Spira. Of course its up to the potential player if he or she wants to take a diversion.

Interestingly, a compilation of Final Fantasy X can allow parallel stories of which an already told story, Final Fantasy X-2 for example is told from a different perspective i.e. another character. Think of Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost And Damned which is a Parallel of Grand Theft Auto IV and hopefully you'll get the idea. In a sense "Lenne's and Shuyin's Story" works along the same concept since events such as the destruction Zanarkand and the Machina War are already defined in Final Fantasy X and X-2 but told from the perspective of Lenne and Shuyin.

Aside from pointing out the obvious (sorry), there havve been development in "Lenne's and Shuyin's Story". Now I portray Lenne's upbringing that brings about Lenne's somewhat negative attitude which later brings about a positive and starts to influance a more positive perspective for Lenne. I define events much clearer and added additional content to make better sense of content already existing. Sidequel events have been created which optionally are available via Unsent Privilege. At the end of March, "Lenne's and Shuyin's Story" has the contents of 112,102 words. Going well! More on "Lenne's and Shuyin's Story" in May.