Part 2: Seagull, I've a Feeling We're Not In Zanarkand Anymore

Last time, we were introduced to our accidental hero: Waffles, a spiky-haired flailer in bezippered overalls who immediately got sucked up into a plot vortex by a giant space whale during a hometown underwater volleyball match, because Final Fantasy.

Tidus immediately ostracizes his only remaining companion. There are a lot of seagulls in this game, usually just around in the background. They are probably just meant to evoke a feeling of loneliness. Or maybe that was Auron in disguise who just flew off.

You can see the statues of High Summoners Gandof and Yocun (or half of her, anyway) in this area (and the Zaon half of the Yunalesca-Zaon arch that appears in the temples), indicating that it was the main chamber of the temple. Which means that Baaj island and the temple were destroyed since Lady Yocun, the last High Summoner, defeated Sin, and probably by the following Sin, the one that contained the fayth of her guardian.

Having a bad day.

Apart from the usual temple statues there is also this thing, which I don’t think we see anywhere else. I had to do some research but I think it might be a Shisa statue. These are statues of mythical creatures from Okinawan mythology intended to ward off evil spirits, similar to the Chinese guardian lion statues at temples.

So how cold is it there? What is the climate like in Baaj? Let’s look at a map. (By zeta-kai on deviantART.)

The ruins actually appear to be between the Mi’ihen Highroad and Mushroom Rock Road in latitude, so either southern Spira is not as tropical as it looks, or Tidus is a HUGE WIMP. Maybe it’s just a cool spring/summer day in a temperate climate, and he did just climb out of the ocean, but he’s a swimmer! Shouldn’t he be used to (and theoretically, dressed for) this?

Baaj Temple is where Seymour and his mom were exiled while Seymour was growing up. Numbers has a lot more to say about Seymour’s history since he is her favorite, so I won’t go into it in depth. (Here is her playthrough.) According to the wiki, Baaj was once a thriving city that sank into the sea after Sin weakened the foundation of the island it was built upon, leaving only the temple behind, but the temple itself wasn’t ruined until another later attack by Sin, after Seymour had installed his mother’s fayth statue there. So they lived there for awhile between the time it was abandoned and the time it was completely destroyed, which is lonely but not as completely bleak as I was picturing when I thought they had to live in the ruins. (I don’t know where this information came from, mind you, since it’s uncredited in the wiki. Presumably Ultimania, although it could be hidden dialogue in the game somewhere.) It’s unknown which fayth this temple used to house before Anima.

At any rate they graffiti’d the heck out of everything. For translations you can check out AuronLu’s Spiran Inscriptions page and this part of Numbers’ playthrough. It’s in places all over the rest of the temple, too. I was able to make out “Fire” on the upstairs balcony floor, suggesting a black magic lesson.

I changed my mind; THIS is the most depressing camping trip.

“A fiend! In human disguise!”

Yes he seems to be worried that Tidus is an unsent. Most unsent can blend in among humans, and don’t cause many problems (well, running a corrupt government in some cases, but apart from that) but there are some that, while they still appear human, are implied to be on the monstery end of the scale and resentful towards the living. (As we will see later when we take a detour through a certain cave. :()

The natural progression of souls who did not reach the Farplane is into fiendhood. The unsent are those who have, for whatever reason, remained on Spira after dying but resisted becoming fiends. But it seems they would be at risk for deteriorating into fiends in the end if they are never sent, especially those propelled by negative emotions such as the ones who died bitterly, or stayed around for revenge. On the other hand, there is also the benign Maechen, who is 1,000 years dead and seems to be hanging around out of sheer forgetfulness.

“I forbid it! We bring it with us!”

Everybody is all for killing the overalls-clad maybe-fiend, but Rikku puts her foot down. She’s clearly the leader of the scouting party, despite being the smallest and youngest. Possibly because she’s Cid’s daughter, but hopefully just because she is the most skilled.

Brother is such a weirdo and I like him. His wacky personality doesn’t really come out until X-2 but you can start to see it here as he pantomimes swimming for Tidus. Who still ends up needing a translator. He never takes those goggles, either.

I wonder what Brother’s name was before Rikku was born, considering he’s the older brother. In X-2 everyone calls him Brother, even other Al Bhed who were probably not introduced to him by Rikku like Yuna and Paine. The Al Bhed must be a close-knit community, though, for them all to address him by what is essentially a term of endearment. I also wonder what his tattoo says but I can't quite read the letters.

You probably shouldn’t be sassing your captors there Waffles. Rikku translates from Brother, “He says you can stay if you make yourself useful,” which seems to imply that they were going to throw him overboard if he didn’t. I mean yes, he is tired, and cold, and hungry, and used to living the life of a celebrity and now he’s getting pushed around by a bunch of begoggled strangers speaking gibberish and pointing knives at him, but does Brother look like someone you want to antagonize?

No! I like Waffles just the way he is!

It’s kind of interesting that ???? Diving Gear Rikku gets her own portrait and access to her sphere grid, considering you aren’t able to level her up at this point in the game.

I had not seen this little cutscene since I guess the first time I played the game because it triggers when you go near that Al Bhed primer and I never needed to do that again when I was playing on my PS2. The only reason I can think that they would call attention to it is because it is the same crane they use while trying to rescue Yuna in Luca, meaning that this is the same ship.

Here’s the name of the salvage ship, which I puzzled over until I realized that the logo was backwards. I turned it around and now we can read it. It says “Salvage Dream” in Al Bhed, and then, in Spiran, “Cid”! So we’ll see if it’s the same one later. It could be that there’s a fleet of Salvage Dreams, and Cid’s name indicates the owner. Or maybe since he's the leader of the Al Bhed, he owns all the ships. We’ll see.

(I love puzzles so I get way too excited over translating the language ciphers in this game haha.)

We seem to be exploring one of the later-mentioned machina cities *fights with autocorrect to accept the word “machina”* that made up ancient Spiran culture, since it’s too technologically advanced for postwar Spiran culture. (Spiran history can be roughly divided into Before Sin and After Sin, or rather before or after the great Machina War between Bevelle and Zanarkand that resulted in the destruction of Zanarkand and the creation of Sin 1,000 years ago.) So although the salvage ship is near Baaj, this is not the island city that sank into the sea, but another one nearby. Or maybe new Baaj was built on old Baaj like the many archaeological layers of Troy.

Waffles are you even a licensed electrician? *bash bash bash* I don’t know why Rikku is letting him lead this operation. She seems to be doubting the wisdom of this decision as well.

 

More Spiran! This one appears to say “GATE coil n” which does not make much sense. Whatever it is, it’s this way.

Who pickpockets a piranha? How do you pick the pockets of a fish? Why was it packing grenades?

The great mysteries of Final Fantasy. (I also love the outraged “!” that monsters get over their head when you steal from them.)

 First glimpse of the airship, all rusty and barnacled like the Titanic.

*shake shake shake* Doggy Waffles is the best Waffles.

Nooo Rikku don’t feed him. He’ll just keep coming back if you do.

Apparently I took a bunch of screencaps of Tidus acting like a dog. (Also that one is supposed to say “you really do understand!” Expert screencapping there Minty.) He is so happy to realize that he can communicate with someone that he starts bounding around in joy.

Yeah you’re all laughing but can YOU do that?

 (Teehee.) I mean no! Of course not.

We’ll see how long he keeps that in mind. It’s interesting that an Al Bhed, an outcast from Yevon, is the one concerned about Yevon religious beliefs. Or rather, other people’s reactions to an infraction of Yevon religious beliefs. Either she is worried about him blundering around and offending some Yevonite’s delicate sensibilities, or, more likely, she’s worried that the offended person might take it out on him. Between this and her promise to get him safely to Luca, we can see that Rikku is already getting attached to Tidus and probably also feels responsible for him, since she was the one who rescued him.

(I imagine that in between scenes she went and found Brother below deck and said “Come see what I found in the ruins! Can I keep him??”)

Also that would be weird, accidentally time traveling 1,000 years into the future and discovering that Las Vegas or Disney World or something has become a holy place.

Poor Waffles. It’s super embarrassing when you’re hanging out, talking to a cute girl, and your dad has to come pick you up.

"Plot's this way, son!"


Next stop: Besaid!