Back to normal gameplay mode again. It’s not as much fun as when I had a name for it, like in FF7. But it’s not crappy, so I can’t call it CBPS. I guess “normal gameplay style” will have to do. ::sigh::
“I knew it’d be either you or Seifer!” Quistis tells Squally. Squally sits up, ignoring her. Quistis goes on to say that today’s the field exam, which means absolutely nothing at all to us yet.
The two of them walk through a corridor with big windows on either side. There are trees and stuff, and it looks much nicer than any school I’ve ever been in. That’s because it’s not real. Hope I didn’t burst your bubble there.
As Squally and Quistis walk through the corridor, she asks him if there’s something on his mind. Well, of course there is. Seifer. Duh. Silence for a moment, then “…Not really,” they both say. Quistis starts giggling. See, it’s supposed to be cute because she’s finishing his sentences. Ha ha.
Such a masculine stance.
“What’s so funny?” Squall asks. Quistis says it’s not funny, she’s just happy because she’s beginning to understand her student better. I’m a little puzzled at how being able to finish someone’s sentence means you know him, particularly when the sentence in question was all about hiding what was on his mind. “I’m more complex than you think,” Squally says in that way oh-so-typical of teenagers. He also puts his hand on his hip in a very gay fashion, as if the short leather coat with a fur collar, numerous accessories, eyeliner, and his attraction to Seifer don’t already make that obvious. Did I mention that Squally is gay? Yeah, I thought so. I’ll try not to beat you over the head with it, but I won’t make any promises. It is my website after all, damn it.
“Tell me more about yourself,” Quistis says in an attempt to jumpstart some exposition. She’s trying really hard, but what we’ve already learned from this scene is that Squally is the quiet loner type. Plus, he’s a butthole.
Squally turns away from Quistis and says “It’s none of your”
“…business!” she finishes. Squally puts his hand on his hip again, looking disgusted and gay, and Quistis walks ahead, giggling. Oh, poor Quistis. She’s bound for a broken heart if she keeps trying to flirt with her angsty little student.
This is what Balamb Garden looks like, despite my crappy description.
The camera pans over to show us an FMV of a bunch of students walking around the lush grounds of the school. Then we see the school itself, a big lumpy building with a wheely-looking thing floating over the top of it. It’s all very sci-fi.
The game pauses for a while to load, and then Squally and Quistis enter a classroom. The desks are computers, and there are two computers per desk. Squally sits all alone at his, as does Seifer. I know they secretly want to sit next to each other, but their rivalry is getting in the way of their true feelings at the moment. Squall hunches over, looking depressed. Quistis announces that rumors have been flying and yes, the field exam for SeeD candidates will take place that afternoon. It seems like kind of a stupid thing to have rumors about. I mean, wouldn’t they know? Isn’t it something that’s scheduled or something? I’m confused.
Then Quistis announces that anyone taking the SeeD exam and who didn’t fail last week’s written test have free time until the exam. I have no idea what SeeD is yet. “Just be sure you’re in top condition,” Quistis tells them. In other words, don’t go out and get wasted, as so many teens are wont to do when given free time. At least in fanfiction land, where it’s a way to get unlikely couples together. But I digress.
“Meet in hall at 1600 hours. I’ll announce the team assignments there,” Quistis says. “Oh, and Seifer! Do NOT injure your partner while training.” Seifer looks over at Squally and then bangs his hand on the desk in anger. I don’t blame him. Squally injured him too, and Quistis didn’t say boo about it. Plus, her blantantly obvious favoritism of Squally just shows that she’s after him, which makes Seifer jealous.
The students file out, except for Squally, who remains hunched over at his console. Quistis says she needs to talk to him. Could she be any more obvious? She might as well say “Lie down on the bench while I climb on top of you,” for cripes sakes. Seifer doesn’t seem to care. He just walks out with the rest of the students.
Universal constant: There are assholes on every message board.
I make Squally sit down and look through a bunch of the stuff at the console. There’s a tutorial where he picks up the GFs that are registered to him, Shiva and Quezacotl. Ah, these are summons. I get it. I decide to be a lazy piece of crap and don’t look through many of the other options. I look around enough to find out that the school is named “Balamb Garden”, a rather fruity name for a military school, if I do say so myself. However, I do look at the Garden message board (hehe!) and notice that, much like my message board of the same name, there are certain people who just act like asses. It’s nice to know that some things are the same between video games and real life. Actually, it’s not nice, it’s very depressing.
There’s all sorts of information at my disposal, but I don’t look through it. I know I’m not doing my job as a recapper, giving you the full scoop on everything, but then again, maybe you don’t care about this boring crap either. Moving on.
When Squally gets to the front of the room, Quistis says “You haven’t been to the [Fire Cavern] yet, have you?” I’m not kidding – there’s even the blue font and brackets. I don’t know how you would specify font color and such in spoken dialogue, but okay. Apparently the [Fire Cavern] is the prerequisite to the SeeD exam. Squall thinks to himself (you can tell it’s thinking because it’s in parenthesis) “…I was gonna go this morning, but Seifer…” I imagine that the ending to the sentence is “…approached me in the shower with an offer I couldn’t refuse.” Regardless, Squally waited till the last second to finish the prerequisite, and now he’s paying the piper. He’s a procrastinator, much like I was in school. I can’t blame him. If Seifer approached me in the shower, I’d say fuck the [Fire Cavern], too. That was not an innuendo…or was it?
Squall clams up when Quistis asks what his excuse is. Good call. She tells him that they should get going. I guess she’s coming along. She also reminds Squally (read: us) that he can review his studies at the [study panel] which he can access from [[his] seat], but if he’s ready, he should meet her at the [front gate] and they’ll head over to the [Fire Cavern]. Ah, I [get it]. The brackets are to let us know where the hell we’re supposed to go. It’s a nice touch when you’re the type of gamer who doesn’t always pay attention and sometimes misses the destination, but I think it’s a little overdone in [this case]. Next thing you know, they’ll have blinking text, a big neon sign, fireworks, blaring horns, dancers in sequined leotards dancing around, and a big flashing arrow that says “GO HERE” to let you know the next destination. Jeez.