The Garamsythe Waterway and the Royal City of Rabanastre
(9) Your story really begins hereYou find yourself two years after the events of the previous minutes of the game. While you begun as a young soldier in the middle of some really dramatic story, here Vaan, the first member of your party, is pitted right away against....dire rats. 3 of them, to be precise. (9) Yeah, I know, it's not the most glamorous of occupations, but the positive side is that they pose no threat and the way to victory is pretty straightforward: keep attacking. You can also try stealing a few items from them ("steal" is an ability that you can access from your battle menu under "magicks - technicks" > "technicks" > "steal"; you can't go wrong, it's the only ability you have at this point) - some may be potions or the like, but more often than not, it will be "loots" that you can sell. You need to buy pretty much everything in FF XII, and enemies don't drop gils the way they used to! But you can sell a lot of the items you'll steal from them, or that they'll leave behind. But back to our dire rats....defeat them all. It will trigger a new scene and you'll exit the Garamsythe Waterway soon enough to enter the light of the Royal City of Rabnastre
(10) Meet with PeneloAs you're back to the surface, the cutscene continues to introduce Vaan's friend and future member of your party, Penelo (10). She informs you that the Bangaa Migelo is expecting you for some reason before leaving you for the time being. You need to meet this Migelo before his shop. Only a) you don't know what he looks like or where his shop is and b) one look around will tell you that this city is really big (and you have seen nothing yet....). A map would certainly come in handy, wouldn't it? Well, then just bring up the city map! Press [select] and lo, the city map appears, and a big red cross shows where you are headed! Of course, nothing keeps you from exploring a little before meeting with Migelo, but there isn't much to do yet as shops don't open until after you've actually met him. At the end of the street you start in, there's a young boy on the right: you can give him one gil and he'll tell you a little about what happened to the city, and tells you he'll have more should you come back later. Also, another thing worth noticing is that your party menu got two new entries: "Equip" and "world map". Go to Migel's for a new cutscene. Now you're headed to another place in town, the Sandsea Bar. No worries, you'll soon have something more intresting than running errands from one end of the city to another. Bring up the map again, and you'll see that the bar is all the way north from where you stand
(11) The bar is where you get some
of the HuntsEnter the bar and you'll find yourself in front of the Bulletin Board, where you can find some of the adds for Hunts (JAP: "Mob Hunts") (more about that in the Hunts section - coming soon!). A guy about Vaan's age explains about the add you've just seen (11), and soon enough, you've landed your first Hunt contract. It's the only one that's compulsory, but you can't really explore the game fully, nor get all of the best equipments if you don't pick more....but back to our current task: you must find a rogue tomato guy (no, I am not kidding), just east outside the city in a region called the Dalmasca Estersand. After explaining a little about hunting, he gives you a Orrachea Amulet (effect: HP +25), but you can't equip it just yet - you need to acquire the license for it first. Go through the license tutorial as well (or go check the license system basics page if you need additional help) - at the end of which you get the license needed for the Armlet - Accessory 1. After receiving a last item from the boy - key item "Wrist of Transit" - go in the menu to equip the Armlet; you'll observe that you also have two new entries, "clan report" and "licence". You don't have enough points left for new licenses at this stage, but you will win more everytime you fight an enemy. Bring up the city map once again - you're due all the way east. You can stop by the shops as most are open now, but you won't go very far with the little money you have. But then, you don't really need much for your first foray into the surrounding of Rabanastre, except maybe a potion or two, if you wish (personally, I never bought any at this point). A better idea would be to visit the Clan Centrio headquarters, in northern Rabanastre, to join, as this is a good way to win money and interesting items (more about that in the Hunts section - coming soon!). When you're ready, approach the Eastern Door for a cutscene - you're off in the wild at last!
There's a kind of small errant that you can run at this point of the game. When you reach the Southern Plaza, you'll spot a Bangaa by the fountain. Talk to him and he'll ask you to bring a small package for you to his fellow Bangaa merchant stuck on the other side of the East Gate. Take it and deliver it to the Hapless merchant once you've passed through. However, I haven't been able to figure out yet if doing that has any impact on the game later on - it doesn't seem so, but I'm not sure (please email me if you know more about it)The Dalmasca Estersand
(12) Welcome to Dalmasca EstersandNow that you've gone through the East Door, know that you can come back only if you talk with an imperial soldier and queue, and that until you win against stray tomato guy. Luckily, it's not too tough. Save your game using the save crystal and run all the way north until you enter the Dalmasca Estersand. For now, exploration is limited to this area and a small camp all the way NE. You can go there, if you want, but there isn't much to do apart from getting a few items in treasure "chests" (more like "jars" if you ask me). There's an exit there further north, but archadian soldiers block the way. Use the main area open to you to level up somewhat and gain LPs. There are a few different types of enemies. The first you'll encounter are the tiny Cactite (JAP: sabotenders) (12); see the green bar above their head? It means that they are "friendly" - unless you attack them first, they'll let you be. Now you can attack them, but I like to leave them alone. Another fellow that's also "friendly" and that you'll want to keep that way is the Wild Saurian. You can approach it as much as you like, as long as you don't try to attack it - you stand absolutely no chance at this point, so don't try anything stupid. Best targets to level up are the wolves and the Cockatrices. If you empty the area, exit and go back to see new monsters again roaming the place
(13) This first Hunt is quite easyBut let's not forget why we are here in the first place! Rogue tomato guy is really easy to find - just keep walking NE from the entrance to the area and you'll see a red dot brighter than the others appear on the small map in the top right corner of your screen. Rogue Tomato is going idle somewhere on the cliff where you can see a tree blooming (13) This fight is pretty straightforward. If you've leveled up a little, you shouldn't even have to use a potion. Just keep attacking until it loses 50% of its HP. Then it will try to escape by jumping down the cliff. Just run to the bottom to finish it. You'll automatically get the key item "Galbana Lilies", then head back to Rabnastre. Save your game and try to head for the door - you see a lot of people gathered and you can't get through. You'll spot Kytes from earlier among the people - talk to him to trigger a cutscene which will get you back within the walls of the city
Next stop: Rabnastre Downtown and Giza Plains
