Been a while since I posted the last one of these. Let’s truck on with Opera Omnia, at least until SINoALICE releases here, in which case, I will definitely be sidetracked even more by that.

So, I finally figured out my problem: why, oh why did characters appear suddenly in my playthrough?

So above, you can see what I saw when I finished the first level. I see a glowing portal, I assumed, “hey, I guess there was just one chapter for the first act!”

No, as it turns out, there was another chapter, just slightly above in that desert. Even after scrolling up, it’s still partially covered by the event draw thing, which is some good UI design. It’s just for whatever reason, the portal for Act 2 is also open. I don’t know if I accidentally triggered something or whatever, but it became clear that I’ve been playing things out of order. Which is a shame because I had already played through most of the first chapter of Act 2.

And so, the reason why this next installment has taken so long was because I needed to double back to do the chapters I missed. Until I properly get to Act 2, disregard that stuff with the airship in the last installment, because that might not be happening for a while. Until then, join me for the second chapter of the first act!

In between the inevitable airship crash and the first Torsion closing, Sazh lands safely in the next region, where more Torsions are causing trouble.

The group finds Zidane talking to good ol’ Kuja, who turns out to have the ability to create Torsions to teleport around and unleash monsters. Vivi and Zidane chat things up, Zidane hits on the girls currently in the party, and joins the crew. Zidane’s first power is Stellar Circle, which also allows him to decrease somebody else’s speed while buffing his own.

So actually, let me get into that. I only mentioned the BRV system in past parts but didn’t talk much about the rest of it. Opera Omnia‘s battle system is near identical to the conditional turn-battle system used in Final Fantasy X, where everything is turn-based and everyone’s turns are ordered but you can manipulate that order. One of the advantages of doing a brave break is that it will also knock that enemy’s turns back and Zidane here presents more ways to manipulate turns. I’m still not sure how I feel about the BRV layer of gameplay, but I’ve come around to liking the battle system overall. I actually had an intense boss fight that really relied on strategy, but that was in Act 2, so we’ll get there soon.

The gang was overpowered from doing cycle quests and accidentally doing some of Act 2, so I cleared through a bunch of levels real easily. We ended up meeting Cecil, who is still in his “conflicted dark knight” phase. The gang, Warrior of Light especially, assures him that he still has light in his heart despite everything and convince him to join their team. Cecil’s special ability is Darkness, which lets him do a group hitting dark elemental attack at the cost of HP.

A little further ahead, the gang finds Yda, who’s trying to investigate things on her own. Y’shtola, her fellow Scion, is like, “hey no this whole place is weird, stick with us,” and she’s like “sure thing, I promise bud.” Anyway, she’s in the crew and has Snap Punch, which is an attack that also buffs her speed and attack. Hey, maybe I should hop back into FF XIV, that’d be fun.

In their wanderings, Zidane and Hope feel that the ruins they’re in are familiar, despite both being from completely different places. Everyone’s like, “huh that’s weird, we should ask Mog about that.” It’s then that a whole bunch on Opera Omnia‘s setting is revealed. The main world of Opera Omnia is actually an artificial world that was crafted based on ideal experiences from other worlds, which is also why there is no OCs running around in this world. However, if this world is corrupted by the Torsions, its corruption will spread into other worlds, like a Plato/Space Funeral City of Forms scenario.

Speaking of which, the gang approaches a Torsion and beats up an Iron Giant boss, which was pretty easy because of the grinding I did. Afterward, Zidane approaches the Torsion and decides it’s probably a good idea to jump on in. Sazh and Mog think that’s dumb but everyone else followed Zidane in, so they decide to stop being squares and enter the world of darkness.

Kuja is there doing… things. He doesn’t like the heroes hanging around and so he sicks manikins on the crew! If there’s one thing I love in games, it’s mirror battles against doppelgangers or people that stand on the same level as you. Manikins take the form of heroes that you can conceivably have at this point and can use their abilities. This also might include ones that you may not have yet, because I saw the Tifa manikin use a Battle Cry to heal and buff herself? Anyway, I recommend taking out Warrior of Light mankins first whenever possible because their shield ability will prolong any fight, even if you’re busted.

The gang goes through the Torsion realm for a while, fighting a combination of the monster jobbers and manikins until Hope finds a portal. He thinks it will lead them back but also speculates that it could be a trap set by Kuja. Zidane once again just rushes ahead and everyone shrugs and follows him. Vivi’s kinda worrying about what Kuja had planned and Hope tells him things will be okay. Vivi also calls Hope mister and he gets flustered about it, which is cute.

On the other side, they find Vaan instead of Kuja. Whatever. Funny thing, aside from the quest chain to unlock him, Vaan does absolutely nothing for the rest of the chapter. Truly a hero.

For no real reason Rem starts talking about fate to Hope and Vivi and they all shoot the shit. Rem talking about the nature of death in her world is actually the first time I’ve learned anything about Type-0 and it sounds kinda wild? Anyway, they speculate that the reality altering powers of the Torsion could give the power to change fate and think that’s what Kuja’s gunning for.

Zidane tells Vivi that they can take Kuja on in whatever he’s planning. Then he goes on to hit on all the girls canonically in the party. He immediately gives up on seeing Y’shtola because I’m guessing he can feel her lesbian catgirl energy. I like you Zidane but please stop being a horny anime boy.

The gang soon catches back up with Kuja, who is eagerly trying to rip apart the fabric of the world. He gets mad that they’ve shown up to ruin his good time again so he summons a big dragon to fight them. The dragon has this flare attack that it will use unless you break its BRV while its charging up. I imagine that this would be harder for people that didn’t somehow play ahead. Still don’t know how I got access to act 2 early.

Kuja decides to step in after you beat his dragon, so I made sure to bring my own Kuja to the fight. I forget what boss!Kuja was capable of doing because he only got off one attack, as I kept breaking his BRV over and over. Anyway, I beat him easily and he just kinda ollie outies.

Chapter 3 of Act 1 is now open to me, which continues to make me wonder, why the hell was Act 2 open early??

Anyway, during all this, I took two pulls on the Kefka, Bartz and Tifa banner, because if Tifa’s going to roll with me I need to have an actual good fist weapon. Unfortunately, I didn’t get it. I managed to get Bartz’ advertised sword and a decent 4-star weapon that synergizes with Zidane. I also got a headpiece for Kefka, which is bizarrely his weapon type? Do they enhance his magical powers? I don’t know. There’s a lost chapter that will unlock Kefka for me, but I’d want to meet up with him in the story first.

I’m honestly getting more into Opera Omnia. I do like the small side scenes of characters meeting up and comparing their experiences to each other and I’d like to see more slice-of-lifey events thrown into the mix.