The party is walking through a desert, not of snow, but of sand. How did they get here? No idea.
We’ve entered the Death Frontier, an area of desert on the western front of Endiness that has its own mechanics. Firstly, there are no random encounters. It functions like the Phantom Ship where, to enter combat, touch an enemy. Its second unique trait is it acts like a maze. Every screen is somewhat similar, but there is an exact path to get to the other side. The biggest block in our path is the abundant sand whirlpools that littler the land. If you fall into one, you’re sucked into a cave underneath the sand. There are some decent to good treasures under there, so it’s worth falling into a few times. I got lost but, fortunately, there are a few maps out there to help me. It’s also a very good place to grind, at least for money. There are a few oases about if you need to heal up and save. Occasionally, the party splits up and talks about things. Mostly the end of the world and Rose’s guilt about the last 11000 years, but stuff nonetheless. After what feels like forever, we reach our destination, The Spring Breath Town of Ulara.
We see a teleport pad on the ground, but no place it could go to. Rose then walks in and talks about her choker again. It is the key to not only her immortality but the key to the city, as well. She activates it, and we see a green city in the desert appear. We walk onto the pad and get ported in. This city is filled with people who all know Rose from 11000 years ago. This was the neutral Winglies during the war who have opted to suffer for the sins of their brethren. At least, that’s how I’m interrupting that. Along the Roman Aqueduct looking paths, we learn Miranda hates roses, the flower, and Melbu Frahma had a sister named Charlie. Chuck is in charge around here and tells us about the past and the Moon Objects. Her brother sealed away the Virage Embryo and, rather than do away with the locks on the seal, used them as an immense power to control other races. The Moon Objects Lloyd collected are the key to destroying the seals that have sealed the Moon. If Zieg wishes to go to the Moon, he'll have to destroy the seals, so we'll need to protect them. That’s the plan, and in the morning, we set out to do that.
That night, Dart walks around town and talks to his companions. First is Rose, and we see a flashback with them dueling in the desert after meeting Zieg. Dart wins and goes to kill Rose before he forgives her. The Black Monster is dead, so there’s no need to kill Rose. I really dig this. A lot of games would have some moral coming together about Dart coming to terms with hunting his friend. Instead, Dart recognizes Rose’s guilt and knows what she did was for the best. Yeah, it sucks your mom died, but it’s kinda her fault, to be honest. She could have stayed in the cave with you but didn’t. Rose also questions how Zieg learned of everything...
Albert and Kongol are looking at weapons.
Haschel and Miranda are discussing why she hates Roses. Her abusive mother liked roses more than her. My mom loved the TV more than me, so I wish I felt a better connection with our White Dragoon. We both like the cold, have sketchy parents, and suck in combat.
Meru is sharing Wingly life outside this time distortion bubble. We also learn that Rose has saved the world 107 times, this being the 108, so there’s some nice connection. In case you’re wondering, that means she’s been doing this for ~11500 years.
After we meet Meru, we go over our plan of attack. The gatekeeper will teleport us as far as her weak magic will allow, and we’re to search the globe for the three cities: Aglis, Mayfill, and Zenebatos, where the seals are housed. We’re to start in Rouge. After this, we go to bed and prepare for the journey in the morning.
We wake up and see all the Winglies floating about. They’re giving us a proper sendoff as we’re teleported out of the city. We’re going to Rouge, via Fletz and the Queen’s Fury. But first, we need to walk there. Backtracking in this game sucks. We’re ported behind the Gigantos Home, so we need to walk through there, Gravity Valley, The Barrens, and the world map. I’m suddenly thinking about ignoring the side content. I’ve read there’s a fast travel system before the point of no return, so I'll keep track of it.
We enter the Twin Castle, and we’re given another sendoff. The Wingly gatekeeper sent an envoy to Zior, and he’s ready to send us to Rouge. There, Haschel reconnects with his old friends. It’s been twenty years since he was here, as the town in on an archipelago far away from everything. Nothing has changed, and the townsfolk take pride in their lack of need to change. Sleeping and fishing are all they need. We ask the mayor if he knows of anything that couldn’t have been made by humans. The mayor mentions a “stick” and says you can see it from cliffs. Before heading there, I stumble upon Martel, the Stardust lady. She’s been collecting the dust to save her sick child. I’ve given her 44, so she uses what she has and makes her wish. It works! Her daughter, Lil, wakes up and gets out of bed. Martel was helping people after Deningrad was attacked, so I’m glad something good happened to her. Now, if only Drake had a happy ending...
The stick is an entire tree growing out of the ocean! Rose says it’s the Magic City of Aglis, where Winglies studied magic all those years ago. She then fills us in on the other cities. Zenebatos, the law city, is where they executed other races. Mayfil is where they went to die, and the former Deningrad was where they decided what children were born. Once again, Meru feels guilty about her race. Unable to reach the “stick”, the party walks back down to the only house in town.
The scene shifts to Aglis, where several entities are watching us. Rose knows this, somehow, and the earth begins to shake. Out of a biblical prophecy, the water between the village and Aglis opens up, allowing us to walk the ocean floor to reach it.
And we’ll do that tomorrow!
I’m thinking three more updates, four if you include the memorandum. I want to try to knock out all three cities tomorrow. I doubt it, but I’ll try. As a note, I walked back to Seles to talk to Shana’s parents. They offer nothing of value in answering any of my questions.
No comments:
Post a Comment