Reporting for Duty

This. Guys, this.

Wings of the Goddess.

This shit is what I wanted. This is what I sacrificed Tarus for. Like, a lot. A lot of Tarus went into making this expansion.

I got the PS2 version from a Gamestop in Miami, and I read the back of the case over and over. I read the manual over and over. This was something completely different. I, great warrior that I was, would be time-traveling and fighting enemies hundreds of years in the past.

Finally, I could take on the beastmen horde and save the future of Bastok!

And let me tell you. The beastmen looked fucking awesome in their past gear.

Holy shit.

Honestly, if the tribes still had that armor, I would have joined up with them to conquer the world.

Also, could fight alongside the greatest heroes of the past. Like Maat and everyone else who isn't Maat.

This expansion also gave us two new jobs; Scholar and Dancer, which both should not be on any kind of battlefield whatsoever. It also introduced us to Lilisette, a famous dancer I guess with a dozen facial expressions and an amount of hentai searches to rival even Prishe.

But the new jobs and fap material were not what I was after. Those were extras. Sexy, sexy extras

I wanted to see what Bastok was like before it was graced with my presence. Before my character was born by the grace of the Goddess and every mother was forced to discard their child in shame because, yea, they were not me.

There were other areas too, but fuck everything else.

When I got there after trekking through past-versions of zones I know and love (re: fucking hate), I arrived in Bastok and it was... The same, really. Except cannons everywhere. Not sure what I had expected. Maybe spots around the market area that weren't built yet? Maybe? But that didn't happen. It all looked the same except with more flags and guns. Which was cool, I guess. It was wartime after all.

I quickly enlisted because fuck yes, and then I started murdering stuff in campaign battles, which consisted of a large group of mighty warriors defending a strategic outpost from wave after wave of beastmen horde. Until a boss showed up, then everyone either died or ran away until the battle was over.

Seriously, guys. You're supposed to be the pride a nation. A giant Quadav farting poison should not force you to scatter like roaches. And this happened. Every. Time.

Campaign battles popped up everywhere, so I had to collect outpost points to quickly get from areas around Bastok to areas not around Bastok that I only protected because I am the hero this world needs.

I collected allied notes and rose through the ranks. I did ops where I searched the city and disposed of suspicious items, which was probably a way for them to trick me into being a janitor. I killed beautiful fairies and didn't kill ugly, ugly Elvaan. Famous people like Maat and Beastmaster Moui were recruited and sacrificed upon the altar of Bastok. I murdered a lot of shit and messed with the past so much, I'm surprised when I got back to the present, Karst wasn't replaced with a tonberry wearing a fancy mustache.

It was really awesome feeling like you were fighting for the future of the world, even if you already know the world is gonna be fine. Also because a cat told me to, and I never say no to a magical feline. It was cool watching the Shadow Lord rise to power, only to murder him again and again. It was beautiful. Wings of the Goddess delivered everything I hoped for except one thing.

Everyone know's what I'm talking about. We expected it the moment we looked at the game manual.

Chocobo jousting.

...What? Just me?

Well, maybe it was only me who wanted jousting. But I know a lot of people who were disappointed there wasn't any sort of Chocobo combat. That shit would have made this expansion about 7% better. Also, thank you for making a job with AF more frilly than Corsair. My dignity thanks you.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go... um... Research Lilisette.