u/Azurd

After 5 years your answer continues to solve headaches, kudos

Hahaha loved this one about the crossbow. I didn't put the GPT output here to avoid thinking or to render it as the truth, it has a lot of mistakes indeed, I did initially for the fun, to find out that in the concept of Zalbaag being easier to possess had a good point.

There is no reason to not acknowledge the AI has a good point on something, even if it discarded quickly and it doesn't mean it has to hinder our ability to think and being critical. It is the same as arguing with another person: you can take everything he/she says without questioning or actually think if what he/she tells makes any sense.

There are several imprecisions in the text, but the overall concept is really well landed.

Just for the sake of fun, I just asked the question to ChatGPT, he did a very interesting explanation. I am pasting it here:

———
Here’s the short, lore-consistent explanation — and why Adrammelech can instantly corrupt Zalbaag but not Ramza in Final Fantasy Tactics:
⸻

🟥 Why Adrammelech Could Corrupt Zalbaag Instantly… but Failed With Ramza

In FFT, demons from the Lucavi cannot simply “mind-control” anyone. They need a crack — some mixture of:

• emotional vulnerability,
• moral compromise,
• despair or guilt,
• ambition,
• or simply a weakened will.

Zalbaag, right before meeting Adrammelech, is in the most fragile psychological state of his life.

✔️ 1. Zalbaag’s Will Was Completely Broken

He had just discovered that:

• He murdered Duke Larg, believing false evidence.
• He had been manipulated by his own brother, Dycedarg.
• House Beoulve’s honor — everything he lived for — was a lie.
• His actions had thrown Ivalice into civil war.

Zalbaag’s identity is entirely built on loyalty, order, and duty. Learning that he was a pawn shatters him.

At that moment, he becomes:

• emotionally destroyed,
• guilt-ridden,
• directionless.

This makes him incredibly susceptible to possession.

The Lucavi don’t need to fight someone whose will is collapsing — they just slip in.

⸻

✔️ 2. Adrammelech Used Dycedarg as a Conduit

Zalbaag confronts Dycedarg in a moment where the demon is already present. Adrammelech doesn’t “attack” Zalbaag; he hijacks the moment of psychological collapse and corrupts him through the proximity of Dycedarg’s transformation.

The process is more like:

“Your mind is broken. Your soul is exposed. Enter.”

Not a spell, not combat.

⸻

🟦 Why Ramza Could Not Be Corrupted

Ramza, throughout the game, embodies the opposite of what fuels Lucavi possession.

✔️ 1. Ramza Has an Exceptionally Strong Will

He is one of the few characters who:

• rejects power,
• holds to his principles even when they cost him everything,
• refuses despair even when the entire world collapses around him.

The game outright shows multiple scenes where Ramza is tempted — by power, revenge, recognition, family name — and always refuses.

That makes him almost uniquely resistant to Lucavi corruption.

⸻

✔️ 2. Ramza is Not Emotionally Shattered in that Scene

While Zalbaag is guilt-broken and horrified during the encounter…

Ramza is:

• focused,
• angered but not lost,
• morally centered.

You cannot corrupt someone whose soul is “closed.”

⸻

✔️ 3. The Lucavi Cannot Possess People With No Desire for Power

FFT’s demons always “offer” something:

• Dycedarg wanted control → becomes Adrammelech’s host.
• Vormav wanted his son restored → Hashmal • Wiegraf wanted justice/revenge → Belias
• Draclau wanted order → Cúchulainn.

But Ramza?

He rejects all these temptations.

He wants:

• truth,
• justice,
• to help the weak,
• and nothing for himself.

A Lucavi has nothing to latch onto.

This is a major gameplay theme: virtue is power against corruption.

⸻

🟨 So What Happened Exactly?

Zalbaag was turned into an undead demon not because Adrammelech was stronger… but because Zalbaag’s soul was shattered and exposed. Ramza, in contrast, was the kind of person a Lucavi cannot possess.

This is why:

• Zalbaag is instantly corrupted → instant undead.
• Ramza must be killed through combat → they can’t corrupt him.
• Adrammelech miscalculated and lost because Ramza is incorruptible.

From a storytelling angle, this moment underlines FFT’s main theme:

The real battlefield is the soul, not the sword.

I have not completed IC, but I completed the original game and WotL quite a number of times.

But Zalbaag dies without a even fight, Adrammelech just takes him out by some kind of teleportation. Is he not able to do the same to Ramza due to the stones?

This flashback was shown for a second very early in the Kirito vs Fanatio fight, way before the War of the Underworld. Such a nice detail from the anime production, this kind of details is what fanservice should be.

About Shasta reasons for not killing her, probably it was not because she was a woman, but because he could see Bercouli and her as the reflection of Lipia and himself.

Thank you everyone for all the answers, they have provided me a great deal of clarification and even learned several concepts.

Shinon and Leafa disconnected because they are on the Ropongi office of Rath in the mainland, connected to the Underworld via satellite. When the FLA rate goes high enough, the connection is not fast enough to cope with it and then Leafa and Shinon get disconnected.

This is not the same for Kirito and Asuna, that are in Turtle Island and connected directly, or Alice that is on the light cube cluster.

"Disconnecting" is not a feature of the Underworld. If you are inside, the only way out is from a system console. Kiuoka shutdown the console at Central Catedral during the assault IRL, so the only operative consoles are at Obsidian Palace (bad idea to send a Human Empire resident to the core of the Dark Territory) and World's End Altar that is Kiuoka order. If you are outside, you can disconnect anyone whenever you want to, BUT, Higa and Kikoka locked down for the lightcube cluster to prevent Gabriel Assault Team to retrieve Alice easily without diving.

The LN explains that if they logout with that FLA rate, they will have to spend several decades in sensory deprivation because the Underworld hardware need some minutes for performing the logout. A single decade -10 years- of sensory deprivation is more than enough to bring insane anyone, probably resulting in fluctlight collapse.

As another way to logout of the Underworld is just to die, better for Asuna and Kirito to stay alive in the system. That won't be a problem for Asuna with her super-account, though :)

Yes, they could logout -or Kirito could die-, but with that FLA rate is actually way worse fate than living your normal life at Underworld.

Sensible procedure is to decrease the FLA to reasonable level and log them out. Decreasing the FLA from the current point will take at minimum the same 15 minutes it took for the raise...

ere but what's the logic behind Kirito and Asuna not being able to log out after max time accel starts? I get that 200 years will pass inside the game if they log him out from the outside but what's stopping him from logging out from the system console?

The LN gives a bit more explanation for this. The Underworld logout procedure implies some hardware and mechanical actions that takes some minutes, I do not remember how many of them, but let's think that it takes 2 minutes.

As the FLA is now 1 minute:10 years, if they were to initiate the logout procedure, regardless of being from the internal system console or from outside, it would leave them for about 20 years of sensorial deprivation, probably making their fluctlights collapse and die.

So basically it is suicidal for them to log out of the system.

An important thing to note is that real persons forcibly logout of Underworld when their durability reach 0 and they "die" in the system. For Asuna that's not a problem, as the Stacia super-account has almost infinite durability, but Kirito, even with his god-like Incarnation and overflow System Control Authority and Object Control Authority levels after defeating Chudelkin, Quinella and Gabriel; he will have standard Max Durability parameter for a young male that is about 3500.

Many of you may be wondering, that if Bercouli was that powerful with the Time Piercing Sword slashing the past, why he didn't use it against Eugeo where he only slashed the future.

LN is a bit more specific about it: Bercouli considered slashing the past a "trick" that allowed him to easily win any fight, as long as he could stand his enemy for about ten minutes; not being an honorable or fair way to win. As he was not able to perceive any evilness on Eugeo, and the information given by prime minister about the 'rebels' was clearly false, he decided to have a fair fight with him and not use the release recollection.

Alice is absolutely lawful. I get the point that she switches loyalty from Axiom to her own belifief of serving the people of the Human Empire, but she still have absolutely lawful behavior.

Eji should be the Chaotic Neutral.

She is showing respect to Kirito last words to her and accepting her gender. It's quite symbolical since the lipstick red color has -of course- no actual use in battle.

Nice notice about the blue bird, it was kinda weird how it disappear pixelated like it was a bug or something. Now it makes way more sense.

Really intense cour finale! Some opinions:

• Eugeo is the best Kirito sidekick by far. I am really a fan of SAO, but I always felt there were way too many female characters always revolving around him in harem way. Eugeo gave a fresh renew to the plot and I am going to miss him... Stay cool Eugeo... Doesn't the Light Cube Cluster have a backup? :)
• I never missed the other SAO characters in these first two cours, plot was just so good.
• The Sword Academy part of the first cour had potential to be a nice "slice of life" anime at school/anime I think we are all used to :)
• Kirito is the personal nightmare of VRMMORPG game masters: he first take over Heathcliff, then Oberon and now Quinella :)
• Quinella was really strong, he barely defeated her after all the injuries and battle efforts she already took.
• Kikuoka finally show off! (or hear of) I wonder what is the "World End's Altar". It was at the south exiting from the east gate of Centronia... so it must be a location with special meaning in the system, but wait, that should really deep into the dark territory! And... the Alice he is referring to have her memory chopped-off, but I think in her current status she fulfills the requirements of the A.L.I.C.E. they are looking for even better than her old self.

And some questions I have on my head:

• Is the original Alice "death"? I mean, it looks like the sword Eugeo turned into was a combination of him with the original Alice memories and when it cracked both of them were lost. Should I understand that the Integrity Knight Alice won't be able to recover her memory?
• Quinella's logging out of the system was really freaking me out. The last scene with her "loving" her world makes me think she was a native Underworld resident from the Light Cube Cluster, but then... where was she going to be uploaded? I hope they address this in the future.
• I wonder what Kirito was trying to do at the terminal before he noticed there was an incoming call from outside, maybe trying to logout? (btw: nice to warn that fluctlight acceleration will be changed 1.0 if the call is accepted)
• Kirito fluctlight was... fried? I am sure his plot armor is able to resist that, but maybe it is time Asuna enter into the Underworld (as it was hinted at the end); however I don't see that happening with Turtle Island being seized by these "unknown" forces (at least we know who is one of them).
• Why in the hell don't they give Kirito administrative privileges in the Underworld? Hopping him to reach that World End's Altar with regular authority level is quite a long shot.

I am not waiting for the second cour, I already ordered vol 15 and 16 of the light novels :)

She didn't know Kirito from Aincrad since the Underworld Cardinal is a new instance of the program. Imagine you install Windows 10 in two different computers, being both different instances of the same operating system makes them share memory or storage resources? Of course not :)

Good point, that's way harder and not achieved.

At this point, is not the Kikuoka experiment a success already? Quinella is capable of killing other people, and also, it looks like the fluctlights at the Dark Territory have also no problem killing other people.

I think the objective is something else because what Kikuoka told Asuna has been already achieved.