So, heads up, I’m gonna be editing this tomorrow since I already regret not just rushing through this port. The first three entries are from Monday, and the last three are from the following Tuesday.
Tonight was part one in tracking down and killing the ancient beasts, Benevodons. Each creature has a corresponding crystal it was housed in. The ones I fought tonight were all near the Mana Crystal they broke, so I imagine all of them will be going forward.
First up was the Wind 'Don, Dangaard. We were in Palos, for some reason, so it was nearby. I, for the umpteenth time, climbed the Heavensway, entered Gusthall, and walked to where Sylph was attacked. Riesz sees the Benevodon in the air and summons Flammie, whose head we stood on the whole battle. Dangaard flies around in a circle while we beat-up on him. He uses strong wind based magical attacks when he decides to stand still. Occasionally, the perspective will change from the usual top-down to side profile. Nothing changes when this happens, so I don’t know why. It will reset buffs and special gauge progress. This isn’t a hard fight, but good god is it long. It took more than ten minutes, and I used up all of my items. I don’t know if I’m underleveled again or what, but tedium isn’t a good game mechanic.
Next up was the Ice Benevodon, Fiegmund. Unlike Dangaard, he does have a dungeon tied to him. The Labyrinth of Ice turns out to actually be a labyrinth! Outside the place is a welcome sight. Two cat people are selling weapons and armor that are drastically better than what I have. Did I miss them before fighting Dangaard? Regardless, I spend an enormously large amount of money to buy everything and increased my power by 25%-ish. Inside are enemies weak to fire, but it’s still a pretty long walk to him. When you do get to Fiegmund, he tends to just stand around. After a time, he flips strategy. He ends up standing around under the ice where he can’t be attacked physically. Angela can still use her Fire spell, so spam then as best you can. Durran should heal, and Riesz might as well buff her more useful allies. Fiegmund's most common attack is a large ice spell that can turn a character into a snowman but doesn’t do too much damage. Maybe it was the new gear, but I found this guy to be easy.
Lastly, I went back to the Fiery Gorge. Behind the areas where flames blocked our path before lies Xan Bie. The dungeon to reach him is pretty rough and might be harder than the boss. When you do reach him...I didn’t really understand what was going on. There are two things to hit, one stationary body and a head surrounded by flames. I don’t know if the flames do anything. This whole fight is visually busy, and I got lost. I stood before the body and just hit him while Angela spammed her ice spell, and Durran did his thing. Occasionally, I had him heal since the damage we took wasn’t enough for me to waste sugar on. I’m still confused...
In each of these dungeons are mobs that drop a rare seed, ??? Seed. If you get one, you can use it class change into your final form. It’s incredibly rare and sucks to get, I hear, but I tried to grind for some tonight. I didn’t get any! With my self imposed time limit past, I called it a night on part one. I’ll finish the last three tomorrow and think about doing the last one, too. I hear it had some plot around it, so who knows?
I had some annoyances tonight, but I plowed through and to my target destination. And then I set myself up to glide to the end...mostly.
The first Benevodon I felled tonight was Dolon. Travel back to Chartmoon Tower, where we fought Goremon and met Kevin. When we were first here, all the doors were locked. Now, though, they’re wide open. Only one leads to our destination, with the others are empty or trap rooms. This pattern repeats a few times upward. It’s filled with various undead type mobs, but the werewolves are the only ones you need to worry about. They have the same moves as Goremon, meaning they occasionally cut your HP in half. And two can spawn at the same time, and you will die. At the top is a balcony where our target reveals himself. It turns out Dolan is a giant werewolf who climbed his way up to us. We can only see his hands and face. His physical attacks aren’t bad, but he can howl, which is a large attack on everyone. He also has several moon based magical attacks and can turn your characters tiny. He can, for the duration of the fight, reduce your maximum HP and lower your level. There’s gonna be a lot of healing in this fight, so prepare. I didn’t but succeeded regardless. :D After I won, I had the urge to go back in and grind. The very first room I entered was a room where I died. And I forgot to save... And then I died trying to kill Rolan again. Always save!
Next up was Mispolm in the Woods of Wandera. I went looking for the Earth one, but couldn’t find it and moved on. The cat people peddlers are selling new gear that is amazingly expensive! Mispolm’s dungeon is filled with pallet swamps of various forest creatures we’ve killed before, so bring poison cures if you want. His actual fight is another confusing one. He just stands there, and we attack him. He can throw a character around and likes to put people to sleep but is an easy fight. Bring Stardust Herbs along if you want.
I still couldn’t find the earth dungeon, so I went to the Shimmering Ruins. There’s finally a puzzle in this game! After walking through every room in the place, you come to two switch looking things, but there’s no way to interact with them. In the room above is a note on the wall that will tell us how. Use Lumina on the left switch, and a door behind us opens up to the start. Use Shade on the right, and the water level in a room goes down. I couldn’t find the room, got frustrated, died, lost two levels, and stopped having fun. Annoyed, I looked online for where the earth dungeon is to get the taste of this failure out of my mouth. I ended up randomly landing in the Molehill Plains, south of. Valsena, until I got somewhere new.
Gemstone Valley, Daria sucks. It’s filled with mobs that take no physical damage and take a bit to kill with magic. About three-fourths of the way through I, not learning my lesson, began trying to skip and speedhack my way through. I didn’t die, though, so it worked. And Land Umber continued my suffering. His physical attacks are weak, his magic isn’t much better, but he’s so slow. It takes forever for magic to be cast, his attacks have a long animation, and he’s got a lot of HP. This is the first fight where I really felt that the action in this action game slowed down. There is a turn order in this game, but there is no way to know that turn order, so you often just stand around trying to press the button you want. Tedium is not a good game mechanic.
I returned to the Shimmering Ruins, found the proper path, and went up against the last boss tonight, Lighthazer. It’s another lengthy fight. So long, in fact, Angela ran out of MP. She spammed Dark Force so much, doing 600 damage per tick, so often I had to use a Fairy Walnut. His attacks are more weak stuff. I only used three Honey Pots, so I'm trying to save my characters from diabetes. Light does like to turn our characters into Moogles, so bring some Stardust Herb.
After the fight, Fairy tells us about the lost city of Peddas that disappeared ten years ago in the Dragon War. She says the best equipment is located there. With that in mind...
I didn’t call it a night!
I was on a roll and wanted to keep playing, at least to get a ??? Seed or two. I found one before Lightgazer but wanted more. Unfortunately, all the mobs in the Benevodon dungeons are gone. Fortunately, Peddas is the best place to grind for them. I went to the Forest of Illusions and triggered the missing village to appear by walking into the ruined building. Upon exiting, the whole village is there. It's a village stuck in time from ten years ago. The inhabitants give us backstories on the three villainous factions, as well as a clue to where the Darkness Mana Crystal is. In the forest around the place are all mobs that drop the seeds. Riesz and Durran got the seeds I wanted in quick succession, but Angela took a lot longer. Just as I reached level 38, I got the Book of Omens. Along with the Brisingamen and Prince Tag, I went to the only place I knew to class change: The Sanctuary of Mana.
This place isn’t doing so well anymore. What once was green and luscious is now brown and dead. Halfway through the place is the Goddess Statue we need. In the same fashion as we did before, all three characters now go beyond Super Saiyan. Riesz is now a Vanadis, Durran is a Liege, and Angela is a Magus. And I am content to call it a night.
I am now set up rush through the end. For the most part, at least. Those weapons in Peddas are nearly 400000 Gold. Riesz has her’s, but I’ve got some work to do for the others. Armor is a good price, so maybe I’ll buy them tomorrow and get the weapons later unless I get something better before. There's one more Benevodon tomorrow. I think we’re in the home stretch!
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