The Misty Forest may be the longest dungeon in the game so far. It's got its twists, turns, roundabouts, multiple passages, and abundance of treasure. It spans three loading screens. The mobs are forest folk we fought around Luc and Dom. The only thing new about them is the new Ents aren't immune to physical damage and do not, under any circumstances, let the Gas Clouds gang up on you. They like their Howl magic spam, which will kill you. Justin lost out 108 EXP as I suffered my first character death. The music is ominously atmospheric. It fits, but I don't know if I like it. It sure can drone. The music in Grandia really isn't doing it for me.
The party stops to camp twice down here. Feena seems unsure about continuing on account of Sue. Justin's unabashed pep, though, keeps the party excited and energetic. She brings up Leen and the shock she felt seeing her in that position in the army. Justin assures her the two are nothing alike. In time, they come to a lake that prevents their passing. What's odd about it is there is a river clearly running through it. Sue surmises it's an illusion, and we continue onward. Why was it here to begin with? In time, the party will come to s small hill. They climb it and see the big, beautiful wall that is the End of the World. Everyone is glad to see it with their eyes so close. We may be the first to do so. They marvel for a short time, wondering how they'll climb it, but they carry on. The camera cuts the party already on the wall. If we go back, we can see there was a vine near the hill we were on.
The End of the World is the uncrowned champion of dungeon length. It's many loading screens long and took several in game days to climb! It's also filled with the same monsters we killed in the forest, minus the sentient trees. What's more deadly are the abundant traps. All of which I fell for! Navigation is on a 2.5D platform upwards, so it's finally something different.
Section one is calm. Do not fall off the ledge by the treasure or you will have to leave and reenter the dungeon to reset the falling floors.
Section two is where, I think, most of the traps are. They trick you into thinking you're safe or about to open a chest, but then, boom, ya smashed! If you're missing any HP, use Cure to get your water magic up.
Section three is the first campsite. The team talks about how excited they are to be doing something no one ever thought possible. It's even more impressive since Sue is eight. If Nintendo didn't create Pokemon, what would I have done in 1998? Despite their enthusiasm, they wonder if it's possible to reach the top of something so tall. Justin brings up Java during this, and Feena tells us that she admires the old man. I love me some callbacks and continuity. It's an easy way to make forgettable characters seem more important. The rest of this floor are traps.
Section four greets us with something new: Giant Stone Golems. One blocks our path but will end up getting smashed by a falling block. But you can just walk past if you want to take a little damage. The second randomly falls apart but throws its hand as you as we pass. Further on up the wall is a Clay Bird, similar to the first boss in the game. It leaves but returns to fight us when we stop on the switch it was guarding.
From here on out, the rest of the floors are mostly the same. There's a lot of falling blocks and switches to be pressed. Stairs can change directions, and the monsters are all the same. The only thing new are the strong Emerald Birds. The EXP isn't that great, nor is the gold rewards. I quite a few weapon levels, though. I was too afraid to run low on MP, so I didn't use many spells. As far as I can remember, if you see a hole in the floor, fall down it. I don't consider myself a greedy person, but if there's treasure nearby, then I want it.
Floor six has the second campsite. Sue and Feena are getting bored with looking at the same orange wall for the past two days. Justin is as well, but his adventurous spirit keeps him going. He also recalls what Java told him about overcoming trials. It causes Feena to, once again, rethink giving up. The trap of note on this level is, do not touch the clouds, or you'll get smashed.
Floor seven is all switches.
For eight involves a laser beam and robot arms that crush you. I think you need to get the last arm into the hole behind it to advance. I'm not totally sure what you do here. Maybe just get past and press X?
Skipping a few floors because it takes forever and a day later to reach this campsite. Yadda yadda yadda. The party rests up. Sue thinks about going back, and even Justin is starting to have doubts. Fortunately, Feena has the passion this time and convinces the two to keep on keeping on. The will to travel to new places with friends is a marvelous experience. She's forgotten how much fun it can be to do so.
When they wake up, they see sun rays fall from the sky. On the way up, they had only seen shadows..This can only mean one thing... The party runs up the stairs and sees the top of the wall! Down below them are an expanse of mountains with a river flowing through them. It's more fog at first, but when the sun rises, we can see clearer. It's actually quite well done. The graphics in Grandia aren't mind blowing, even by 1997 standards, but scenes like this would have been super rad, and I think they hold up.
But how do we get down? It's a question we don't get an answer to. A drone zooms down and picks up Sue, quickly dropping her from the wall. Feena and Justin begin to panic, but two more drones do the same for them. At the bottom, Feena wakes up Justin and throws herself into his arms. A giant leaf broke their fall. She was worried about what she'd do if Justin died on her. It takes a surprisingly long time before Justin remembers Sue. Sadly, Feena couldn't find her.
Welcome to the Valley of Dragons, my least favorite dungeon. It's three screens longs, filled with boring mobs, and is the most confusing place to navigate. Every other dungeon has been labyrinthine, but at least they looked different. You'd think the alien plants would be good nav points, but I got turned around often. All the mobs are new but annoyingly weak. They can poison you, so I hope someone other than Sue knows Heal. It took me almost an hour to get through this place. Eventually, we see Puffy flying around. Justin and Feena ask her to lead us to Sue. Puffy takes us to a small campsite and begins to hysterically fly around a pot filled with stew. Justin and Feena think the worst. Soon after we arrive, a man comes into the scene. Justin tries to call him out for eating Sue and takes his revenge. Gadwin, Knight of Dight, accepts our duel!
Just give up. Justin can't win, so you only run the risk of making the fight longer when you knock him out of his turn. He can't do any damage with anything, so accept death. Gadwin uses his special move, doing 9999 damage!
Sue wakes up Justin, and we learn Gadwin found the girl alone. He brought Sue here to be nursed by Alma from nearby Dight Village. Gadwin formally introduces himself. He tells us he lives here to fight off all the dragons that can cause problems with the local populace. I didn't see any dragons, though... Justin thinks he's cool and apologizes for his rash behavior. The two of them make a promise. You can be shy about it, but I went all in! The team makes plans to head to Dight, and the guy who knocked out Justin joins us. We finally have a full team, so let's see what happens in Dight...
...tomorrow!
I'll be honest, I kinda regret making up for last night. So much happened!
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