Flying, whee!

Unless I'm misreading things, the JP version incorrectly states that B (cancel) is used to board as well as to disembark. However, it's actually the A (action) button that boards the airship, as the NA version indicates.

And the player now has control of the airship. It's a fine time to go on a little world tour, yes? But first, note that going below deck on the airship is now more useful than ever, since in addition to the NPCs who were already present, the party members on standby are now there, and with new lines:

Even Shadow, who will never appear here unless you hack him into the party, has a line.

It's once again possible to switch party members, and while Celes is unavailable for obvious reasons, Tina is finally back.

Having understood and accepted her power, Tina can now use Transform, which boosts her offense and magic defense, though with a limited duration. Her level has also been recalculated based on the party average, so she's probably learned some new spells as well.

In any case, having an airship opens access to a number of new places and makes it far easier to return to many of the old ones.

One new feature is the auction house in Jidoor. It's been there the whole time, but is only now actually open for business. Aside from several unwinnable filler items, the auction house sells off some uncommon accessories and, most importantly, the Golem (for 20k) and Zone Seeker (for 10k) magicites. Despite supposedly being an auction, the final price for any given is always the same. Don't worry about not getting either magicite the first time it appears, since each will always eventually appear again until purchased by the party.

There's another magicite available elsewhere, too. Look for a man hidden in the woods on the edge of Tzen.

Spend the money to get Seraphim. There's a price drop to a mere 10 gil later on, but it's more useful to get now, and 3000 gil isn't that much.

Gau would surely appreciate a side trip to the Beast Plain for new Rage abilities, and it's still a great place to stockpile items, gil, and LP without gaining any experience (useful both for low-level challenges and for anyone who wants to maximize the benefit of Genjuu level-up bonuses).

And speaking of Rages, there are a few new monsters to encounter now to flesh out the cast appearing on the Beast Plain. One lives in the forest just west of it. The elusive Grenade honestly isn't that good, but it's an entry for Gau's list that you can't get any other way.

Another interesting monster appears on the triangular island in the northeast corner of the world. The Slumbering Lion, an invisible hulking beast, is normally passive, but will counter with Meteor (the more powerful but less accurate enemy spell version, not the learnable attack magic) if attacked, and that's an instant game over unless it misses someone or you have unusually high amounts of HP. On top of that, the creature absorbs all elements, negates nearly all status effects, and has 'levitate', 'haste', 'protect', and 'shell' status in addition to the aforementioned 'transparent'. So how are you supposed to beat one? Well, it's not meant to be easy, but thanks to the glitch commonly known as Vanish/Doom, it is. The Slumbering Lion has immunity to instant death attacks, but 'transparent' status ensures that magic-based attacks always hit, and this check comes before instant death immunity, so any magic-based instant death attack will kill it, period. Of course, it also counters dying with Meteor, but (normally) only against the character that killed it, so it's survivable. But a better idea is to use Gau's Mu (Rhodox) Rage. It has an instant death attack that also delays (usually meaning "cancels") dying counters (but save often anyway just in case, and avoid 'regenerate' and similar status effects since they can confuse the delay), so what should have been an imposing opponent becomes a pushover. You also get a whopping 10 LP for your trouble. Mog (see below for recruitment information) also has a good chance of using the same skill by dancing Darkness Requiem, but he risks annoying it with something else instead, while Gau will just miss and have no effect if he throws a punch. If you'd prefer to fight fair, note that it has 32,000 HP and 16,000 MP, dies if its MP runs out, is susceptible to 'slow' and 'stop' status, and runs away if its HP drops to 1,280 or lower. Abuse the 'stop' vulnerability if you're going to try it, but playing dirty is by far the more sensible option.

The island east of the Beast Plain also has three new monsters. The Briareos yields a moderately decent Rage, and Lock can (and should) steal the highly useful Earth Garb from a few of them, though it's a rare steal and may require patience. The Chimera in the forest makes a good replacement for Di Olveda, having the same Aqua Breath ability with none of the weaknesses, plus many status immunites. The monster itself may drop Gold Armor, useful for those who can't equip Earth Garb, and also has a Hyper Wrist as a rare steal. The other monster, Devourer, is frankly boring, but you might as well collect it too. Gotta catch 'em all!

There's also a village here, but there's no point in visiting. Even the usual miscellaneous items hidden in barrels aren't available yet. The villagers are, well...

The merchants even refuse to do business, except the innkeeper, who seems to think of strangers as a great opportunity to do a little price-gouging:

Don't try going back to Vector, either. They've beefed up security by placing the invincible (for now) Guardian at the entrance to town. It at least doesn't attack unless hit first, which is nice considering that it has the highest attack power of any opponent in the game.

So anyway, it's time to return to Narshe. A guard meets the party near the entrance.

The guard takes them to the elder's house.

Bannan nods repeatedly, indicating that a conversation is occuring without boring us with the details.

The NA version makes it sound like the new arrivals just presented the plan and he is now analyzing it. Actually, he's the one presenting the plan to them, and noting the main concern the planners have with it. The omitted conversation was only to report on what happened in Vector.

That line makes so much more sense when it actually means something.

Floating text follows, perhaps meant to be an internal monologue.

Ha, take that, everyone who said they can't coexist! Tina mocks you merely by being.

Fade out. The party remains in the elder's house after the fade in, so just because we're here...

Check the stores to find some new equipment for sale. Also, the supportive treasure-collecting citizen has a new concern.

He may sound paranoid, but if you check on the treasure storehouse...

A wolflike humanoid hops away from that locked chest.

Lone Wolf hops out a window, and sure enough, leaves the chest unlocked and empty. He hasn't gotten far, though, and a quick chase later finds him fleeing through the mines.

Trail him all the way to the top of the cliff to find him holding a moogle hostage. That's not very nice.

Trying to approach just repeats the line, but wait a few seconds and the moogle gets up, shakes his head a few times...

...and starts fighting back. The thief should have picked a more helpless hostage.

Whatever happens, it flings the two of them to precarious positions on opposite sides of the cliff. Lone Wolf continues to rant.

Go save the moogle. The music changes to 2-17 "Mog" upon pulling him to safety.

モグ (Mog), apparent leader of the moogles, previously appeared as a temporary character and on the scenario selection screen. Though he already had a name, the option appears to change it now. As a reminder, his special ability, to Dance, does more good than it sounds like it should.

He jumps off, taking the accessory with him. The others walk over to look, then turn to each other as if baffled by his odd behavior.

Mog runs off to the airship, even if the active party has room for him.

You can grab the accessory from Lone Wolf instead, but that makes Mog plummet into the depths, and then Lone Wolf jumps off anyway because he's an idiot. If you're playing a low-level game, go for it—Mog's high starting level drives up your party average, and the lack of available MP at low levels makes the halved MP cost from the accessory more attractive—but in a normal playthrough, recruiting Mog benefits you more.

Mog could use a little help to flesh out his skill and spell lists. Bismarck, Zone Seeker, and Seraphim are all good starting points for learning some magic, but adding more Dances will take some traveling. Most don't take much effort—just kill some things in a cave for Darkness Requiem (if he doesn't already have it from appearing as a guest character), on grasslands for Wind Rhapsody, in the woods for Forest Nocturne, and in a desert for Desert Lullaby. Fight outdoors on Colts Mountain to add Earth Blues, and win a battle in Zozo for a quick and reliable way to learn Love Serenade.

Water Harmony will take more effort. One method involves going to the Returner Headquarters, through Bannan's room, and onto the raft to ride down the Lethe River again. Winning a battle here will secure the Dance, and the river will now always drop everyone off on the eastern side, where Mash landed. Head west along the southern shoreline (previously blocked) to reach Nikaea, then take a ship to South Figaro and cross Colts Mountain to return to the airship.

My preferred method invovles heading to Crescent Moon Mountain Cave and jumping in the ocean. Winning a battle underwater nets Mog the Dance, and you'll wash up in Nikaea as usual. Hire a chocobo in town to get all the way to Baren Falls without incident, then jump off to get back to the Beast Plain and the airship. Even without a chocobo, this won't take nearly as long as it did the first time, since the Imperial encampment, train ride, and aggressive fish no longer appear.

You can't get Snowman Rondo yet, so don't worry about that. However, make sure to get Water Harmony as soon as possible, not only because it should prove useful soon, but also because you can't reach any areas that teach it after the Major Plot Spoiler.

Also, here's Mog's airship line: