WAS PLAYING LATE AT NIGHT SO THESE ARE MOSTLY TRANSCRIBED PHONE NOTES

-Belinsk Ruins beyond this point takes the same gearwork the Gabomba Statue had. no real reason why and don't expect an explanation
-also we're totally activating the Alchemy Dynamo here. there's nobody saying it yet but its implied
-there's four elemental puzzles in this orrery. the fire one involves Crush solely to prevent Tyrell from burning everything down
-this item equip screen is very misleading. it says Matthew both gets a bonus and a penalty for equipping the Hagbone Mace
-of course the real answer is to give it to Rief because thats as good as he gets, pretty much
-anyway we got the stars to align in the magical death orrery. good. this is what we wanted to do, and agreed upon, as a team

ONE STEP FROM APOCALYPSE

-can't help but note the Weyard map in the floor
-a Ward in the gate demands all four Adept types before we can access Luna Tower. HEY LOOK THE VILLAIN'S GOAL WITH ALL THE FANFARE IT DESERVES (about zero)
-Karis, Sveta, and Amiti remark that we're probably tampering with stuff best left untouched, because they are the best three party members
-(Karis holds a fairly distant third though for constantly failing to adequately be Matthew's interpreter)
-Rief mentions Eoleo and Hou Ju and all discussion ceases as to whether we shouldn't do this. see this is why you're a benchwarmer now Rief
-so we open the gate in a manner not unlike the four lighthouses in miniature
-this covers the Weyard map in the floor in shadow, because extremely unsubtle foreshadowing is about as good as it gets for the foreshadowing of Camelot, considering their standard is usually "none"
-this lets us into the Alchemy Dynamo, where the only thing stopping us from doomsday is Ryu Kou's patience
-remember, we're just trying to get into the Belinsk prison, the Dynamo isn't required to enter obviously, otherwise Volechek wouldn't be able to imprison people there
-so instead of going "this is an obvious trap" and looking for another way, we're turning it on
-and by "we" I mean Ryu Kou, who's hellbent on saving his sister by any means necessary. can't blame him, but our party needed to try harder to find an alternate method
-and by "harder" I mean "at all" since our plan hinged upon Sveta's needlessly complex skulduggery and Briggs' inability to do things besides sail shitty boats
-also: our plan is to break all of two (2) people out of prison, one of which is a dread pirate's son. risk is fast outpacing reward here

HEY ALEX HOW'S IT BEEN

-only at this time has he threatened us, although it's made plain that he and the Tuaparang have been tailing us. true to form, Alex's winning strategy is betting on protagonist stupidity while doing nothing himself. you're lucky you're in a Camelot game you Hawkwind wannabe
-Blados and Chalis attack us here, presumably since we've unsealed the Dynamo and have outlived our usefulness (we are, naturally, left to our own devices 100% to figure that out). whatever I'll still win
-to wit, Blados and Chalis both use no Psynergy in the fight, relying on their own unique types of consumable items, since neither is an Adept
-unfortunately, this buys Ryu Kou enough time to listen to Alex smugly laughing and go start the dynamo
-EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY
-Ryu Kou weakly threatens for Alex to keep his promise. you were doing so well, and now you're gonna listen to Alex of all people? for shame
-Hou Zan goes for a swing at Alex, which is commendable but futile. Alex namedrops his cool mysterious new name of Reaper. I mean Arcanus
-still gonna call him Alex
-anyway, Alex explains that Luna Tower holds a dangerous force within, and unlike the lighthouses, it was meant to stay sealed
-he then gets offended at Tyrell's accusations of trickery, which... eh, fair

AND THEN ESCAPE TIME

-Luna Tower looms over Belinsk and its very foreboding but it hasn't actually done anything yet (it totally will)
-meanwhile the gate guards... just let us into the palace because Alex said so?
-ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME
-THIS IS NOT HOW YOU PLAN A PRISON BREAK SEQUENCE IN WRITING, CAMELOT. THE ENTIRE PREMISE OF A PRISON BREAK WORKING AT ALL (AND IT DOES END UP WORKING) IS THE FACT THAT YOUR CAPTORS DON'T HAVE ANY IDEA YOU'RE DOING A THING AND YOU NEED TO SNEAK IN TO AVOID NOTICE
-I CAN SEE WHAT YOU'RE GOING FOR WITH ALEX AND HIS TUAPARANG PALS MANIPULATING US INTO DOING THEIR ENDS, USING THE CAPTIVES AS BAIT, BUT IT WOULD HELP TO THEN GIVE US A REASON WHY THEY HAVE TO GO TO SUCH RIDICULOUSLY NEEDLESS ENDS JUST TO GET THE ASSISTANCE OF SIX TEENAGE DUMBASSES
-(remember, the real reason they needed our help is because entry into Luna Tower needs one of each Adept, and they only have Mercury through Alex. in retrospect, this is probably why they captured Rief and dropped him off at the Ei-Jei exit to separate us from Kraden, just to ensure we had all four Adept types)
-IN TURN, THE NEED TO BREAK INTO THE CASTLE IS COMPLETELY OBSOLETED BY THE FACT THAT OUR ENEMIES KNOW EVERY DETAIL OF WHO WE ARE AND WHAT WE'RE DOING. INSTEAD OF GOING THROUGH WITH THE PRISON BREAK, WE SHOULD'VE JUST HAD THEM PROMISE THE SAFETY OF HOU JU (AND EOLEO I GUESS) IN RETURN FOR ACTIVATING THE ALCHEMY DYNAMO
-LET'S NOT FORGET THAT OF THE SIX PEOPLE IN OUR PARTY, PRECISELY ZERO OF THEM HAVE ANY REASON TO CARE ABOUT EITHER CAPTIVE, SAVE FOR THAT THEY KNOW PEOPLE RELATED TO THEM, AND OF THEM, ONE IS AN AGING INCOMPETENT PIRATE (THAT WE ONLY KNOW THROUGH KRADEN WHO'S VANISHED INTO THE FUCKING ETHER, SO MUCH FOR HELPING US ON OUR QUEST) AND THE OTHER IS A HOTHEADED PRINCE-IN-EXILE WHO'S HOSTILE TO US AS OFTEN AS NOT SOLELY BECAUSE TYRELL CAN'T MAKE FRIENDS
-I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT SVETA'S PLAN IS AT THIS POINT EITHER. I HAVE ZERO IDEA WHY WE HAVE TO WORK WITH HER OR WHAT SHE IS ACTUALLY TRYING TO ACCOMPLISH (MAYBE DISENGAGING TUAPARANG FROM HER BROTHER? DON'T SEE HOW SNEAKING IN WITH A BUNCH OF PRISON-BREAKERS HELPS WITH THAT)
-OR WHY WE HAVE TO WORK WITH ANYONE HERE WHEN OUR MAIN GOAL OF "IGNORE PSYNERGY VORTEXES, GET A FEATHER" IS ALREADY COMPLETE PENDING DELIVERY OF GOODS
-I RARELY USE THE TERM RAILROADING BUT HOLY SHIT THIS IS LIKE TEXTBOOK DEFINITION OF RAILROADING. AT NO POINT IN ANY OF THESE EVENTS DO WE AS THE PLAYER, THROUGH MATTHEW, HAVE ANY KIND OF AGENCY IN WHAT HAPPENS. THE PLAYER, AS MATTHEW, WOULD VERY LIKELY WANT TO TELL TYRELL HE'S ON HIS OWN GOOD LUCK WE'RE GOING TO FIND ANOTHER WAY TO LOOK INTO THE VORTEXES. HE WOULD TRY TO GET CLOSE ENOUGH TO THE MACHINE AT THE KONPA RUINS TO FIGURE OUT WHAT IT DID (THAT NEVER HAPPENED). HE WOULD TRY TO FIND A WAY TO NOT ACTIVATE THE ALCHEMY DYNAMO IN ORDER TO SAVE HOU JU OR EOLEO, ASSUMING HE DEIGNED TO EVEN BOTHER WITH EITHER OF THEM ONCE HE GOT THE ROC FEATHER
-(I can give the events within the Ei-Jei region a pass since the Tuaparang manipulations to force us down there are effective for their plans, expose us to the world at large which doesn't have Adepts, and grant us a new party member. I mean I still have no friggin' idea what Chalis was doing but details)
-WE HAVE GONE THIS ENTIRE GAME WITHOUT ANY KIND OF AGENCY OVER A SINGLE THING THAT HAS HAPPENED TO US, AND ANY GOALS WE WANT TO PURSUE ARE LOCKED BEHIND CHILDPROOF LOCKS WHILE WE ARE POINTED IN INFINITELY DUMBER DIRECTIONS. THAT, SIR, IS RAILROADING
-okay new journal entry time, this one's too rant