Nights Into Dreams...

A classic game that very people (or at least me) have ever heard of! This was another game that SEGA gave away for free during their 40th birthday celebration. I first heard of this when I saw it on the OverClocked Remix games list. It's one of the most remixed games over there, has the most of any non RPG. It's made by the same team that made Sonic, so it should be good! Is it?

Eh, not really. The story is about two kids, Elliot and Clare, who go to the dream world. While there, evil gremlins attack them and steal their gems or something. Fortunately, there's an androgynous titular character named Nights, who aids them in whatever the goal of the game is. Maybe I should read the manual? I think it has something to do with fears during the day in the life of these two teenagers. Each kid gets three levels to their own, and you'll need to unlock them as you play.

The story probably isn't that important, so how's the gameplay? Nights travels around this 3D world on rails. The kids can explore as they see fit but need to avoid the floating alarm clock, or else they'll wake up. Nights travels their track to collect various things, which they use to attack a floating pod guy. The pod has the kid's gems stuff. Nights'll need to travel their track a few times to properly destroy the pod, but you'll need to do it fast because we're on a time limit. If that only kinda made sense to you, then trust me, it only kinda made sense to me, too. I don't think I fully understood the gameplay. Damage done to the pod seemed random, and there were long periods of time where I didn't find anything and got lost on the tracks/circuit. I've called it a Sonic game is Sonic could fly, and I will believe that statement to be true until I can figure out what's going on. 

But each level has four tracks that you complete in order, and there's no skipping. After you've finished all four, you get to the boss. The two bosses I did battle against consisted of grabbing onto them in order to throw them. That was it. No clue if higher levels are different, but those two were boring. 

So the music... I can't call it bad because it's not. It's annoyingly upbeat. By that, I don't mean it's annoying, but I just prefer my sad or mellow tunes, ya know? I like sad guitars and pianos. What I heard was fast paced, springy, synth pop, and the exact opposite of songs you'd expect to find in a dream world. Ain't no one sleeping with this soundtrack on.

I don't know if this is a good game, but I can see the fun in it. I'd have pulled the camera back a little bit to get a good grasp on the circuit. Let's keep the downtimes where we're not collecting anything to a minimum. But then again, this was first developed for the Genesis, so there's only so much they could do. For that hardware, anything even remotely 3D is pushing the envelope. You can play the original on the Steam version, but I spent my time in the remake. It was fast, exciting, and mildly confusing, but I still had fun. It's not something I'll go back to very often, but it's worth a play if you're into Sonic the Hedgehog games but are sick of the pesky walls slowing you down. Nights is all speed all forward all the time!

Wow! I did it! I didn't expect to get to this game when I said I was going to knock out my backlog, but I guess replanning a few of the RPGMaker games opened up some things. Actually, no. I didn't play to play Outland for a week, and I forgot all about Jotun! I removed about eight gigabytes from my drive, so hopefully, I saved it for now. I doubt it for a number of reasons, but whatever. Regardless, October is going to have a theme this year. Because of how I feel about Halloween, I'll be playing SEGA Genesis games all month! Halloween sucks... Phantasy Star IV on Friday!

Jotun

From a fact paced platformer to the exact opposite, it's the simply named Jotun. I got this game for free, but I'll be damned if I remember how or when. Sometime in 2017, if I had to guess by the first achievement I got. I didn't give it a proper playthrough until 2019, but I only got so far for reasons I don't remember. It was fun, I know that, but why did I stop? Regardless, Jotun is a game about Norse mythology as we swing our axe around the realms of Yggdrasil and the gods. Although, there is an, thus far, oddly small amount of actual fighting.

The story starts off with a woman out at sea. Her boat gets caught up in a storm, and they both go down. She's prepared to meet death in Ran's Net (my keyboard only has English characters, and I don't know Unicode), but she wakes up in a lush forest somewhere. The only thing she has with her is her trusty axe. This scene is wonderful for an assortment of reasons. It sets the story, it gets us into the game quickly, and the narrator isn't speaking English. I don't know if it's Icelandic or Old Norse, but it's a language that very few games have ever localized. I, so far, haven't heard any true English words.
 
From here, she walks up to a cliff that overlooks the forest. We can see several areas we're about to traverse, a few landmarks we're going to, and a giant stone wall in the center. Most importantly, in the distance is the very base of a tree that is impossibly large. We walk across a nearby bridge, and the narrator tells us this is Yggdrasil, the world tree from which all realms have their roots in. And here's the first real taste of the marvelous artwork. It's hand drawn and beautiful. It's so detailed, vibrant, and I found myself just hanging out for a minute to take it all in. It changes based on world, a cave isn't going to be bright and fancy, but it's all still worth getting a glimpse of. The artist's hard work paid off, and I'm loving it.

This is the first level and the de facto tutorial. Our, til now, unnamed narrator has two attacks. A fast combo and a staling power move. The strong attack doesn't seem that good, but it clears the roots blocking our path forward. She also has a dodge roll. In time, she'll learn a few powers that she can use, as well. The first power is that of healing. Our main mission here is to trek through the forest to find three ghostly apparitions of someone, but we also gain the power of healing from a statue of Frigg. Hug the blue plants to avoid the poison and hit the worms before they hit you. Collect the three things, and the barrow below the giant stone wall of Patreon/Kickstarter donors will open up. Defeat the creature that spawns, which gets easier as it grows, and we can enter the first boss fight.

Inside we see our first healing pot, Mimir, which has something to do with a male narrator's voice. Based on the information, I assume the voice belongs to Odin as he guides us through much of the world. The incredibly creepy face of Mimir heals us, restores our limited God Powers, and acts as the checkpoint/bonfire system. Beyond this is Jera. Despite being the goddess of the harvest, there's nothing ripe about her. She's a bit of a monstrosity. She appears gluttonous and diseased, so I guess that's reason enough to fight her. Avoid her arm smashes, which always come in a pattern, and cut down the worms she summons. I Frigged my way through the poison and defeated her in two rounds. It just seemed easier. After she falls, we're teleported to the primordial soup that the Vikings call Ginnungagap.

This is the central piece of Jotun from which all other areas are accessed. The game, or at least as far as I got, functions much like the prior world. We enter, walk/fight/collect our way through, defeat a boss, and collect their Rune. Each level contains a power up based on a certain Norse god. I got Loki and Heimdallr thus far. There are Iduna's Apples as well, which allow you to gain more HP. Both bosses I've fought use attacks similar to their levels. If you're killing a million dwarves and avoiding falling rocks, guess what you'll be doing against the boss?

Each time you return to Ginnungagap, we'll learn something about our main character. Her name is Thora, and she's named after Thor. She took the legends that inspired her and tried her best to become the greatest warrior in the land. Because of this, her father, the village leader, overlooked her older brother and named her leader when he died. This brought about scorn from the older sibling... So, while we get backstory on her, I have to wonder about the reasons why we're here. Why are we killing the gods? Did we survive falling into the sea? Why is Odin guiding us? Some of the questions are fine to ask early on, but seriously, why are we killing these guys? I doubt a harvest deity is evil?

The music is wonderfully appropriate. The forest was a calming stroll that undermined the danger, but it sounded not unlike Skald or Hellung. There is an orchestral vibe to it, which kinda threw me off, but when we fought that mini-boss, I could hear the drums sounding more like someone hitting deer antlers or a shield. And then the actual boss music sounds more similar to what you'd expect Viking music to be. There are a lot of horns and drums in the soundtrack, and, after playing the whole game, I'm not sure how the Germanic influenced it all. I'm not saying there's none, but I'm feeling like this belongs as set pieces in a blockbuster movie. It's still great, don't get me wrong. It's most likely atmospheric and sets the mood of freezing my face off in 966 perfectly. But what do I know about music, ancient or otherwise? It's enjoyable, and that's all that matters. I added a good chunk of it to my Spotify playlist.

The only thing I don't like about the game is how slow Thora walks. I'm getting 60 FPS, which is rare for me, but she still moves...actually, she moves like a normal human. It's other games that have ruined movement for me, but I guess it's Jotun's sin now. Regardless, the worlds are massive affairs, and there's an oddly small amount of actual combat, so the game feels slow and tedious from time to time.

Jotun is an educational game about Norse legends. It doesn't go into much detail usually, but it covers a wide array of topics. Did you know Vikings had their own constellations? The most in depth it gets is on the creation legend featuring Ymir, Odin, and his two brothers. Odin has brothers? But during this journey, we'll get a basic understanding of the gods and their roles, learn more about ancient customs, and see into the life of our MC. I'm curious who she is, why we're here, and what'll come after. There's only dive worlds, so it's a pretty short game but worth the time if you've got a day free this weekend.

Forever Home

I had Forever Home on my wishlist a few years ago because the artwork blew me away. Based solely on it being a turn based RPG and that, I wanted it. Yes, I'm easy to please. A friend bought it for me a while later because he thought it would make us closer. It didn't because sexual harassment is a big red flag. So it turns out I'm not that easy to please. I wanted to return it, but I lost internet for a few weeks, so I assume I couldn't. I downloaded it but never played it. And thus it's sat since then. Wanting to clear out my computer, I finally loaded it up. So how is it?

Firstly, the artwork isn't just amazing in that one picture. I can go either way on the sprite work for characters, but the backgrounds are exceptional! The town in the background and the stars in the sky that night are worth a $2 NFT. They're not because NFTs are stupid but pretend they are.

The music is another thing that piqued my interest. It's filled with soothing melodies across a variety of instruments. And there's so much of it, too. That might be slightly early to declare that statement, as I've only been to about six places, but there's a variety you wouldn't expect from an RPGMaker game. I dig that funky bass line we heard the first time we were at The Spot, but where'd it go? It was replaced by another quality tune the next time we were there. Is it something theme? According to the opening credit roll, both the artwork and music aren't standard RPGMaker affair, which just makes sense. The quality isn't something shovelware can make.

I will say, though, the font doesn't work well with my eyes. My eyesight is terrible, and I fear for my future, but it was hard, but not impossible, to read a lot o fit. Changing the background color to black helped a lot, but it didn't make it go away.

But the story? Is the story at the same height the rest of the presentation is? Let's talk about what happened!

A bird takes off from somewhere, and it flies over the world. We see visions of people going about their lives: soldiers off to war and merchants doing their thing. I was a bit taken aback by this because it just loaded up like this, and I wasn't ready for it. But, again, that's a me problem. While it's airborne, the screen starts to flash. The life of a man with dark red hair flashes between whitenesses until he's standing before a massive window in space. I was not expecting this to be a sci-fi romp.

A man named Slash tells our hero, Xero, that we need to get to someone before the battle is over. We're teleporting down into an active warzone. When we land, a girl with green hair joins our party. But I've forgotten her name. I open the menu because I'm slightly confused and see our levels are in the 40's. It appears we start the game in the middle of the game. Anyway, we walk across a barren battlefield that's littered with holes, ruined barricades, and dead bodies. We're looking for someone named Garis or something; I'm terrible with names. Along the way, we're accosted by various enemy soldiers. This is how the tutorial works, with us thrown right into the thick of it. We have several spells and skills to use, and all three of our characters can do both. Besides HP, we have MP for magic and TP for techniques. Each character seems to have an elemental affinity and access to both of those gauges. It's surprisingly hard, but we make it through three ambushes and reach a comrade. No, seriously, I'm really bad with names! The guy is overlooking the chaos and remarks that it's all over. Slash, who uses a hammer, by the way, tries to remind him of our duty, but the guy attacks him. He says that nations don't mean anything and that all humans can fight for now is survival. The guy attacks again, and this is our first boss fight. Treat it like the others, and it won't be a bother. The screen begins to flash white again, and Xero wonders what it all means as we see what once was of Xero.
 
When the screen stops flashing, Xero is seen on a mountain writing in his diary. Did any of that actually happen? He tells his book about the backstory on the world. We're in the middle of an independence war. His country, Auria, the western continent, no longer wishes to be ruled by the Tran on the eastern continent. This war was raged for years, but it's been pretty peaceful for the last long while. He tells us about himself, his parents, his village, and a girl named Enda. Just as he's about to go into detail about Enda, a girl with brunette hair leaps from out from the sky. She attacks the unsuspecting lad, and Xero falls into the water below. He gets up, upset. Enda, our attacker, just ruined two paragraphs' worth of journal entries. She's unphased and cares not for words, so she tells him to dry off and get up here. Xero does so, and the two of them talk about more stuff. Xero is quite the mage, it seems. Enda asks for an exhibition on lightning magic, so Xero conjures up a spectacular show as the opening credits roll. During this, we see the lives of everyday people: soldiers, merchants, and travelers going about the world.

We return to Xero and Enda at dinner. Xero is a terrible cook, so their mom made it tonight even though it's supposed to be his turn. Enda is treated as a guest despite being a part of the family. I dunno. Something was up. Regardless, Xero monologues that Enda joined the family ten years ago when mom found her alone at the Spot. His dad made a separate wing of the house for her to live in during the rare time he was home. He's a soldier, and an important one at that, so he's always off on his missions. After dinner, mom tells Xero to get groceries. Enda demands he pick up not-celery as well, much to his chagrin. It's a food of some sort that tastes terrible, but Enda can't stop eating it. From here, we can explore the largest first town in video game history. All the people tell us about their small squabbles, but a few have some alright world building. One tells us where monsters come from, and another person is waiting for his army escort somewhere with his sentry bots. So there's more sci-fi for ya. Also, everyone thinks Xero and Enda are dating. We also learn about crafting, but we can't do anything yet. Xero picks up the food, but there's no not-celery here. The grocer tells us to get some slime bottles from the southern forest and craft them into it. So it's off to do some battling.

Any wooded area will suffice for this, so defeat a slime and go to the house in the northwest of town. I did some more exploring, though. There wasn't much, but I know there are mines to the north and south, a lonely old man to the west, and a man who looks a lot like Slash is sleeping in the mines to the north... Do what you want to, and some cartoon violence will take place when we get home between poor Xero and Enda.

That night, the screen flashes white, and Xero has nightmares about war. It wakes him up just in time to hear Enda throwing rocks at his window. She wants him to join her at The Spot, which we reluctantly do. While there, they gaze at the stars and say how peaceful this place makes them feel. However, far off in the distance, they can see soldiers amassing... Xero told us earlier about the war machines of both armies, and we get a sight of them here. They're magic infused howitzers that reign fire from the heavens. A man with long, silver hair and his underling almost seem giddy about what they're about to do. Shortly after, the cannons fire...right on to our hometown of Ellea. Xero immediately runs home to find his mother, but all he sees is wreckage. Embers fill the air as blood and corpse litter the ground. Just a few moments ago, this was a peaceful village. But now it's gone. En route to his home, we get attacked by Tran soldiers, but they're nothing to worry about. In time, he gets home. The only thing there is his fallen mother. Burning wood from the rafters begins to fall as a man with black hair drags Xero out of the house. The boy is furious because he left his mother inside, but the man says he had no choice. Enraged, Xero attacks. It doesn't go well for us, and we blackout. Xero experiences more nightmares until he wakes us the only man's house with Enda beside him.

The man offers us his stuff and tells us the guy who saved us is outside. This IS Slash, and he tells us that Xero and Enda were the only people he could have saved. Maybe if Xero didn't fight back, he could have found more, but alas... He then tells us that we're making out for the army HQ, so get ready. Enda sees no other option but to join him, so we do.

We make our way north through the mines and learn about field skills, which allow characters to use Wild Arms II tools in dungeons. We need to use Slash and Enda's abilities to get through, but I couldn't figure out how to properly use Xero's. Anyway, we get through and come to the world map, which is where I called it!

I'm digging what I see, and I want to play more. But that'll come later. There are still some more things I want to do this week, so I'll put a full playthrough on hold for now. I don't know how I feel about the "future" part of the game, but who knows how that'll turn out? Enda wasn't there, so what happened to her? This is a high fantasy setting, so why were we in space? And I want more of the music and art. Day one plot dumps for a game I won't be really playing until November, eh? Anyway, let's talk about Vikings!

Outland

Not to be confused with Outlast or Outrun, Outland is another side-scrolling platformer but with action. Unlike a lot of the genre, Outland is fast. It's sometimes too fast, but I supposed it's easier to slow a game down than speed one up. Probably more fun, too... We have to go through several worlds, with a boatload of sub locations, collecting secrets, gold, and abilities as we do.
 
What makes Outland different than 8-Bt Boy is there is combat here. At the end of the first level, our main character gets a sword that's fast, long, and deadly. But there's more to the combat than that. Outland has a combat system more akin to a fighting game. You can perform a basic attack, but holding up and attack delivers an uppercut move that sends enemies into the air. Holding down does a low stab, but I only found it helpful against tiny creatures. You can combo these together to juggle, stun, and move your opponents around as your pleasure. It's not a detailed as Street Fighter, but it's a lot more involved than you'd expect a game like this to be. By the end of tonight's playthrough, I even gained two more attack types, so I suspect more fun in the future. We use these skills to beat up various flora, fauna, and even a few bosses. I've gotten to one, but he was a tad bland. Golem had a pattern that was easy to figure out and only took me two tries to defeat. I'm bad, so imagine how bad this guy must be. I'm hoping future bosses offer a challenge, but I kinda don't, actually. I like baby games for babies!
 
The story so far is simple, to say the least. A guy, who I think was a prince or some high ranking person, begins to see visions before him. This causes him to seek help for his ailment, which is always good. Sadly, no doctor could aid him. He set out to find a shaman that may know something. He stumbled into the shamen's hut, collapsing as he did, but he reached his destination. The shaman, without skipping a beat, informs us about the creation of the world. Two sisters created the world with the power of light and darkness. And then they watched over the realm for a time until they started to destroy it. But one man was able to stop them... There's a little more to it, but that's the gist of what I got. I get the feeling the story isn't all that important, and the game is heavily focused on combat. And there' nothing wrong with that. It's not my cup of tea, but if the gameplay is this good, I have no problem with it. I suspect most of the story will be based on inferences and shown in flashback sequences. From time to time, you'll run across shrines. Usually, these are where you get new powers. But on level three, it'll show you what the hero from the past did. 30000 years ago, a man who looks like you and plays like you fought against The Twins. The flashback ended just as we got to the battle, but it showed off the big draw of the game: Light and Dark powers. Besides the combat stuff mentioned above, you can also change your attack energy on the fly. Light works against dark enemies and offers sanctuary from light energy world hazards. Dark is the same but vice versa. I haven't gotten the dark yet, but the light alone makes the game an interesting play.

Besides the combat, Outland is a Metroidvania as well. As you progress, you gain more abilities that you can use to navigate the worlds. Sometimes you need to go back to previous areas to find new secrets and powerups. You may even need them to reach all new areas, which you will after the first boss. I've gotten five skills, but that's only a third of what's shown in the menu. I know a super jump is also possible, as well as the Dark Power you got a taste of in the flashback.
 
The art style is Limbo, but imagine if Limbo had colors. At least, that's just the main character and gameplay areas. Backgrounds take that aesthetic and turn it all the way around. While you and pathways are dark, what you can see in the background are some of the most beautiful scenery I've ever seen. The screenshots on Steam show an even more stunning array of technicolor masterpieces that blows me away. So far, I've only seen a lot of earthen stuff, but it's wonderful and oddly relaxing. I'm no artist, and I can't even pretend to be one, but the contrast it draws from the playable area is amazing. Most importantly, I haven't lost my character in it yet.

The music has been calm and relaxing, so I'm sensing a theme. At least when it's not trying to unsettle you. The boss theme got me up more than the slamming mace in my face. I had some podcasts I needed to finish playing in the background, but I'll pay more attention next time I boot up the game.

In short, you run around a series of worlds, collecting new abilities and secrets to defeat spiders and bosses. You occasionally return to previous areas to accumulate more stuff because I want all the things! You do so with the power of two goddesses with the end goal of killing those goddesses. In shorter, it's a lot of fun! Outland is a smorgasbord of a lot of things that combine into a wonderfully fun sandwich. I think that's what a smorgasbord is? It's a game of two sides: Light and dark are played out in the story, but calm and action are in the art and gameplay. It tells both of these sides in a way that makes me want to keep playing. I was hoping this would be a one day thing, but that's not happening. I'm playing this for at least one more day! It's so much fun, and I'm loving it. 

So I kept playing it, and I started to realize two things.

!.) Outland is also a bullet hell. There are a lot more of those environmental hazards than I thought, and all of them fit into the two energies stuff. Some shoot one type, some shoot both, and others tag team with another sort of creature tho form a hellscape of pain. Despite all that, I carried on and now come to point two.

2.) Hot damn, this is hard. The amount of enemies you face is surprisingly high, and they all have their own gimmick about them. From combat, to environmental hazards, and even the platforming and power ups create something truly memorable but also frustrating.

Some of the mid bosses feel more tedious than hard, though, and the platforming is almost perfect. I found myself getting confused near edges a lot, which is the only terrible thing I can begrudge against most of the game. Even the bosses, as much as I hate them because they're Dark Souls wannabes, have predictable patterns that feel rewarding when you take them out. I hated fighting them, but I could always see what I was supposed to do. Although, maybe cut back on the bombs on one of them...

Sadly, though, I suck. I can't beat the final boss, and I'm calling it quits. I can get them halfway down, but there's a lot wrong here. Outland is a fast paced game for its entire playthrough, but it all slows to a crawl here. Leaping from slow moving platform to slow moving platform takes it out of me. I got other stuff I want to do at this point, so I'm moving on. This was supposed to be a one day write up, but I've turned it into a week.

If you're looking for something to scratch that Metroidvania/Golden Axe/Dark Souls/Limbo/Braid itch, that Outland is for you. I wonder if Dead Cells is a good game?

Golden Axed

Golden Axed is, as the full title alludes to, a canceled prototype of Golden Axe III. GAIII is a modern looking sequel to a franchise that hasn't been heard of since the Sega Genesis. It was another free SEGA birthday gift that was small enough to make me want to download it. When you boot up the game, it warns that this is a proof of concept, and, oh boy, was it a concept, alright.

For starters, for a proof of concept, there's a lot of graphical settings. I went with fastest because my computer is a million years old, but you can go with the best settings or one of three others. Even on fastest, the graphics are impressive. Worlds above the Genesis era and in line with something on the PSP. I get Castvania X vibes, personally. You can also change controls, but I kept everything default.

You start the game and get no story; it's right into the fire. We're on a castle rampart, and there's a war going on. Things are flying in the background, but we have to deal with various soldiers right now. It plays a lot like other games in the series. We have to travel westward on a 3Desq map. Unlike older games, we get two attacks. Our male sword user (only character) has a fast attack with X and a strong attack with B. You can hold the strong attack and unleash a OHKO if you keep it pressed for long enough. It's pretty neat and adds a fun new dynamic. You can also jump and attack midair, which is always fun! We fight a horde of enemies and avoid a hole to enter a room. Inside, we see someone sitting on a throne before a golden circle that looks to be made of glass. I keep expecting it to break, falling us into part two of the would-be game. But before that, we need to exit this fight pit. We end up getting surrounded by half of this invading army. When our body count rises to its maximum level,... the game ends.

As it said, this is a proof of concept. It's merely a way to show off what could have been. There's no magic or sprint attacks, but the basis of this iconic side scroller is here. I enjoyed the ten minutes that we got. It actually inspired me to boot up Golden Axe I and II on Steam. All three games are very similar and in all the same ways. The only difference is the Axed doesn't have the stuff I mentioned earlier, and I really wish the older games had that strong attack. Also, why are the controls different? I kept accidentally using magic when I wanted to jump. All three games have multiplayer, but I didn't partake. A few friends would make this series a whole lot of fun.

There was some controversy when Golden Axed was released. I didn't read into it, but a lot of old developers suffered through various levels of abuse, and this released some bad memories. I won't go into detail, and I don't know how much that would sway me from buying the actual third game. I'm not really a beat 'em up guy to start with, but in these days of Blizzard and Ubisoft, I think this is worth bringing up. Either way, I hope everything good happens. I don't really know what that means, but I don't have a say in anything anyway.

Skyborn

I played an extra day of 8-Bit Boy, and then I booted an old RPGMaker game I got for free six years ago. Skyborn was so good that I wrote a Steam Review for it, which you can find here. It's an incredibly fun game, and I won't go into my standard review since I already did that there. So let's do this like my early one-offs. 

You start the game in a workshop. You're a mechanic named Claret, and she's working on a tank looking thing. Her brother and boss, Jake, enters and asks how the repairs are going. This airship belongs to "a very important client," and he wants to knows what's up. She then goes off on the owner because the thing is so busted up. Whoever owns this is a terrible pilot. Wanting to end this, Jake asks his sister to finish by tomorrow and leaves. Claret can't find her rivet gun, so she heads off to get it. While finding it, we see two winged creatures in the office. These are skyborn, a race of winged humanoids that declared war on humans long ago. Ever since they've treated the defeated as cattle and burdens. They're here hunting half breeds, offspring of humans and skyborn. They believe that another employee of the 'Spencer Dry Dock and Repair,' Corwin, is one such creature. Claret argues with her brash overlords and chases them away with her rivet gun. 

Corwin and her settle down, and they try to return to business as usual. Claret needs a part from another shop in town, so here's our first taste of exploration. Head into town, and you'll get a glimpse of what's to come. The place we're looking for isn't very far, and we have the money to buy the part. Do so and return to the ship. Claret will install the part and complete her job. As she leaves the airship, Jake is seen talking to a man in a fancy red suit. This is Sullivan, the owner of the airship and the richest human in town. Claret begins to insult her client, and Jake ushers him out. Later on, the two siblings have a conversation. Jake drops the bomb that he's sold the shop to Sullivan. Jake was looking to get out, and this is his way to do so. To keep Claret happy and employed, Jake's also sold his sister to him to be his wife. As you should expect, Claret becomes enraged at this. Not only is Sully a bad pilot, but she's had no say in her marriage. The two argue until Claret storms off. She heads to bed, and we wake up later that night. 

She has a plan. If she can abscond with the airship, she'll be rich and have the means to travel. Claret "sneaks" into the airship, but she's not alone. Unbeknownst to her, Sullivan is doing some itinerary in the storeroom. When his fiance turns on the ship, things shake. He comes onto the cockpit and asks what's going on. She yells at him, and he admits she has a good point. He agrees to annul the marriage and sell her the airship. All it costs her is the money he paid for her dowry. It's nice to see a man who will marry a woman, sight unseen, ends up being pretty reasonable. All she has to do is head to Uptown and do the paperwork. And there they head. 

Uptown is where all the rich humans live. The skyborn are even higher in the multi layered town, but that's for later. We walk around town until we're stopped by an odd scene. A known bandit named Red Specter hits the square. This is a famous thief whose public opinion is dependent on how you feel about the skyborn occupation. Sullivan seems pretty into him... RS deftly evades the skyborn pursuers, and we continue on. We finish the paperwork at the DMV, and they return to the airship. But while there, Sullivan called the skyborn guards and claimed the Claret was a thief and kidnapped him. Technically, he was correct because she stole his airship with him on it, but it's still underhanded. 

Claret is in jail alone. But not for long... Soon after arriving, we see Jake getting thrown into a cell as well. The skyborn raided the Dry Dock to steal Corwin, and both got arrested. Jake is taken elsewhere, and another high ranking skyborn talks to Claret. Dhacian tells her that he's willing to let both of them go if she plays along with his scheme. They have intelligence that a prison raid is going to happen. If she plays along and tells him who's in charge, both can go free. Claret agrees, and she's moved to the more "vulnerable" area of the prison. We're now surrounded by several half breeds, one of whom is Corwin. But they aren't here long... Soon, an explosion rocks the prison, and a hole is blown open. From the dust is the Red Specter, beckoning everyone to follow him. Everyone does, and he leads us through the prison and through the town. Before we get to town, though, we come to a secret hideout beneath the prison. It is here that we learn more about this Red Specter and its organization. He's an anti-skyborn rebel dedicated to protecting half breeds and screwing with the skyborn. The people in charge are humans, and the bossman, the Red Specter, reveals himself to be Sullivan Chesterford IV. Yes, it's the same guy who got us arrested. The one we saw earlier is his sister, Jillian. Sully tells us that he was preparing for this raid when Claret stole the airship. Had they returned to the airship, it would have messed up the whole operation. He had to call the skyborn as a distraction. Jake is also involved in some way. Sullivan asks if Claret wants in, and she agrees with the potential to turn on him later. Corwin also joins and lets us know his backstory. He has the magic powers of healing, a feat rare even among the skyborn. Sadly, this doesn't play into anything later in the story. We now head into the prison system to free everyone. And this is the first dungeon of the game. 

It's pretty straightforward but introduces us to the combat system. Sullivan is a tank, and Corwin is a healer. Claret is something harder to nab down, but she's definitely the teams' DPS. She learns a few magic type spells and debuffs, but she can also dual wield guns. Later on, she can use one gun to hit the whole party. It's an FFX style turned based game, and I found it lovely. There's a lot of ways to mix your characters eventually, several classes for everyone, and a bunch of strategies to attack your enemies. Claret and Corwin use MP, and Sully uses an Energy gauge that grows as he attacks/takes damage. But, for now, we make our way through the prison, the town, and into the city slums. 

We find the official hideout of the freedom fighters. There we learn why Sullivan is fighting this fight. Jillian is his half breed sister that he's fighting for, along with the rest of the beleaguered race. More importantly, we meet a man who knew our parents. Jake told us that our parents ran off one day, but an old man named Wax tells us that he used to work with them back when they were also in the group. Yes, our parents were a part of the first round of resistance groups, and they built a weapon to rival the magical strength of the oppressors. Wax has the blueprints but has nothing else. Claret can understand them and tells everyone about a memory. Her parents had a workshop long ago in the desert. Could it still house this weapon? She doesn't know if she's joining or turning on these people, but she wants to see the workshop, so they head out. To get to the desert, we need to get through several other dungeons. First up is the mines. 

It's a long, winding cave, but we eventually reach the end. Along the way, we see that we've been stalked by a shadow person. This shadow steals our money at one point, so we chase after it. We catch up and see a deformed girl. An eyepatch seems sown into her face, and Corwin mentioned her black, lumpy arm. This is Chaska, and she doesn't know anything about her. She lives in the mines because her arm has made her an outcast from humans. She's oddly upbeat about the whole thing and is willing to join us just because Claret doesn't see anything wrong with her. She just wants to hang out somewhere, so we now have a thief like character. In combat, Chaska actions like a debuffer who can do some massive damage late game. Right now, she can cause poison but learns how to stun pretty soon. 

On the otherside of Chaska is a forest. It's a thing, and I don't think anything of note was here. It is simply to let you level up before the coming event and get you to the desert. 

Past the forest is the small town of New Ark. It's home to various free humans and half breeds who have escaped skyborn rule. Upgrade gear and whatnot and speak to the man blocking a path north. As thanks for helpings them get free, he offers us a potion. This is the first class change in the game. Each character can pick from two different roles, each with its strengths and weaknesses. Who's going to focus on debuffs or DOS? Tanking or attack power? The choice is yours, and it's another thing that Slyborn does great! 

Beyond the guy is the Lava Cave. Nothing's really here, but I think there was a salamander boss, anyway.

We've now come to the desert. To get across, follow the shifting sands to reach the workshop. It has a staunch defender, though. Inside is the workshop, just as Claret remembers. There's also a mechanical suit, akin to the one in "Aliens" inside. It's supposed to have an anti-magic field to prevent skyborn magic attacks. Claret repairs it, but we're still missing the fuel source: Ether Fuel. So we all return to town. 

We get back to New Ark to see it's been attacked. The skyborn have laid siege to it all, and we confront Dhacian and his underling, Shynn. Dhacian thanks us for doing our part in his trap, even though Claret never fully committed, and he releases Jake. However, he sicks Shynn on us and flies away to do away with the rest of the resistance. We fight Shynn, and she dies easily. She doesn't die, but we never see her again.

 

Back at the Dry Dock, we see Jake has been sent free. Claret grills him on why he never told her what their parents really did. Jake says that she was too young to have understood. Claret and Sully talk about her deal with Dhacian. It's a moot point because she's decided to go all in with the resistance. Fortunately, Jake has a lead on Ether Fuel. Their parents were planning to head to the forest in the south. Maybe this is where the fuel is? The team plots a way to get to the teleporters to reach the island, and they do so successfully. 

The Southern Jungle had a name, but I've forgotten it. Something "walden." But don't head there right away. Now is the time for several side quests in Uptown. You can get a few goodies around town if you help people, and I did so gladly. I think you get your first piece of Obsidian, or at least Platina, for the crafting stuff I haven't touched on. Regardless, head back and navigate through the confusing maze of switches that is in a wildland. In time, we'll meet a skyborn without battle armor. She wonders why we're here, and Sullivan wants to do away with her. There's a lot of hostility between the races, both ways. The skyborn also insults Chaska's arm. This is Alda, and she's left behind her warrior past to learn the secrets of her heritage. It seems that all skyborne never speak of a time before the human war. She wants to know why. That night, she reveals to Claret that she was forced to slay her friend and lover, Ryler, during training. Shortly before this, her teacher chastising her for researching her ancient race. Combine these two events, and her mind started to run. And she's been searching for clues ever since. In the morning, she offers to navigate us to a ruin in the distance. 

The ruins are a long dungeon with several gimmicks. But I'm gonna skip most of it. At the end is a dragon guarding an ancient golem. When Chaska approaches it, it starts to move. It calls out to the earthfey, and we learn what Chaska really is. Long ago, fey creatures ruled the land. One day, though, the ever changing humans appeared. While the fey were a stagnant group, it eas humans who kept advancing. They eventually grew powerful and started to rule over the fey. In response, the fey created the skyborn by combining magic and humans. In time, though, the skyborn grew too strong and eliminated the fey. Even the fey God, Que'lon, couldn't quell them. Despite Chaska learning she's the last of her kind, she's just thrilled to know she "has a kind." Alda is shocked that about the truth of her race and joins with the rest of the group. They all begin to warm up to each other from here on out. Claret salvages the golem and finds the Ether Fuel inside him.

We now have our fifth party member, and she's a bit of an all rounder. She has very high HP, attack, and magic. It's a mix of her being several levels higher than us and partly because she can do everything. Her second weapon can be used as a weapon or a shield. She also has access to several magical attacks and some fun debuffS.

We return to the city, but an old foe greets us. It's Dhacian, but Alda knows him from elsewhere. This is her Ryler, the man she was ordered to kill and did so with no second guessing. That betrayal began to turn the cogs in his mind and turned him into the ruthless warrior he is now. He fights us, and Alda joins him. She can't raise her blade to the man she loves. It's a quick fight, and he flees after a time. I don't know if anything changes if you attack Adla, but I never did. She apologizes, Sully is upset, but Claret calms everyone down because we still have a shared enemy. 

But from here, we return home. Claret can now fully build the armor. But how do they reach the palace? If we recall, Sullivan is the son of the richest human in town. His family trading company has ties to and the ability to reach the upper levels. So let's raid his house! Also, Wax gives us our second class change. 

After a small dungeon, we reach the Trade Pass. Sullivan's dad confronts him, and the two learn that each is actually in favor of human independence. We then use the pass to reach the Empress' Palace. After a convoluted plan, we get our airship to the port there. And we have reached the point of no return! 

From here, take the airship back to Uptown. We can do the arena for some primo gear and better experience. We can also reach the Venom Depths, home to a few super bosses if you have all thirteen Spade Cards. The weapons, armor, and exp are worth it. It makes the final dungeon a joke, though. Good luck on the last encounter, by the way. It's a real doozy. For doing this, you gain some of the best weapons, armor, and access to every skill. It unlocks every class you didn't choose for full control during battle. 

But let's destroy the aristocracy! With another convoluted plot, we break into another prison with Claret and her super armor. It allows her to take on an entire army of skyborn with ease and lets us casually walk up to the Empress. But where's Sully? We see Dhacian, the Empress, and several other ranking individuals holding a portal open. They sacrifice a half breed into it before turning their sights on us. While distracted, the Red Specter sneaks behind the Empress and kills her in one shot. Dhacian then turns to stabilize the portal, but Sully doesn't let him. This causes all of us to be sucked into the portal. 

Inside are some of the strongest monsters in the game, but we can also see a few half breeds going mad. Make your way through this maze, and we'll meet up with Dhacian again. We'll fight, and he'll die. He'll say something to Alda before fading into the void. In his place is a large, winged serpent. This is Que'lon, the fey God. After you beat him, he reveals that he has been keeping the portal functioning. Without him, all magic would fade from this world. Without wanting to, he's been sucking the life force from all who are sacrificed to the portal. But it's time to die, which is why he attacked us. As thanks, Que'lon grants Chaska his power, and she uses it to open the portal to let us escape. 

On the otherside, though, we get a bad (but only) ending. Chaska needs to stay in the feyrealm to make sure magic doesn't fade away. Claret wonders if magic disappearing isn't a good thing, but Chaska worries for magical beings like the skyborn. She asks Alda to tell her people about what happened here. She asks a similar thing to the humans. She implies feelings for Corwin and returns through the portal. But she thinks she'll be able to visit once in a while...

Ending scenes play out with Alda becoming the new skyborn Empress, and tensions ease between all races. 

Corwin is practicing his sword fighting with Sully's sword, a gift he left him Jullie, Sullivan's sister, offers to join him. 

Claret is repairing something in her airship, or what she's now calling a mobile repair base. Things go haywire as Sullivan says it's not his fault he hit a mountain. Did they get married after all? 

Credits roll, and we see it was made by a combination of five people. 

One guy made all the music, and I have to say, it's really good. The music is exactly what I'm into. 

I don't know anything about generic RPGMaker artwork. but the credits make me think most of what we see is original stuff. And, again, it's very well done. It's professional looking and was pleasing to gaze upon. 

The combat was fun and rewarding. Anytime you get to put a handful of debuffs on bosses is always a plus. It's fast paced but lets you think. It can be challenging, and the devs even made a few super bosses to keep things worth advancing. You're gonna need to think up some new techniques in late boss battles, and hammering the attack button won't save you. Skills are a must! But you can still build characters at will. Claret has two types of guns and an assortment of magic attacks. It's a lot of fun and might have some replayability. 

I wish there more sidequests, though. I only found, maybe, four of them, and it makes me wonder if it was even worth programming them to start with if you're going to have so few. 

I haven't played many RPGMaker games, but here's an early outlier for best of its sub genre. I did all but one fight, used most of the skills, and had a lot of fun! Good job, Dancing Dragon. One day I'll get to your follow-up game/s!

8-Bit Boy

I got this game for free, but I don't remember when, why, or how.

Anyway, the story starts off with a beleaguered 32-year-old man who just graduated from college. Despite such a triumphant achievement, he's feeling down. He's unemployed, lonely, and has no clue where he's going in life. His thoughts turn to the halcyon days of his youth, playing video games for hours at a time. Did I make this game? In time, he goes down to the basement to see if his old console works. He finds his game pile as weathered as you'd expect but plugs everything in. But, oddly, there's a cartridge he doesn't remember having. Not only that, but it's blank. There's no title, and it looks brand new. Something calls out to him to plug it in. Despite knowing this is a bad idea, he does it. His Sega Genesis/Mega Drive begins to glow, and a pillar of light forms from in.

And we see him being pixelated and put into the game.

From here on out, it's all gameplay. And it is 100 percent a Super Mario clone. You can run, break blocks, get power-ups, and stomp on the heads of your enemies. And don't forget to collect coins. You even enter a castle to leave a level! It plays just like it too. Floors feel slippery when dry, and pinpoint jumps are sketchy. Pitfalls are a-plenty, and water will murder you! If you've played a side-scrolling platformer, Ala Mario, then you know what 8-Bit Boy is about.

The thing it has that's different is mob variety. I played for an hour and stomped on several types of creates trying to kill me. Various birds, some with flight, worms, fish you can't kill, frogs, snakes, and even a boss bird. That's just in world one! I didn't get too much into world two, but there were a few new mobs in level one that made me want to keep playing. And each enemy, for the most part, has its own AI. Some are complacent, and others may actually try to attack you. Frogs pose no threat, but you can kill them anyway. Beware the bats! Two types of beasts will need to be struck twice to be defeated, and I found it oddly engaging.

I only got to one boss, but it was no boring Bowser battle. You actually have to engage and avoid something. You can't just grab an axe to drop a bridge. It's more Donkey Kong than Mario here. Sadly, the boss after is was much the same. The only difference was it called in ads to provide distraction.

Power-ups were a bit boring, though. There are only three, and they all do the same thing: shoot stuff. Do you want red, green, or black fireballs? The black ones shoot two balls, so probably that. All the variety went into mobs, I guess?

I really dug exploring the, what you'd expect to be, straightforward, 80's era worlds. There's a surprisingly large amount of ways to go. But I guess it needs to be. Every level has two secrets on it. One is a collectible coin, and the other is a bonus world to gather as many coins as you can. Get them all, or you fail. I failed both times I found one. There's a lot of secret walls around and platforms just off to the side you might miss if you're only looking for the exit.

The graphics were nice. Are they as charming as the SNES? No, but they get the job done in a world where good sprites have long since gone extinct.

The music was fun. The tracks were a bit ominous, but I just how I like my video game songs. I would have wanted to hear more of them, but I only got through one world. I conquered the forest, and the desert one was different, so I'm sure I'll get to more down the road. There's even a slight, but wonderful, change when time starts to run low. The tracks I heard had no business being that good.
 
It's really hard, though! Fortunately, you can just respawn back at the world you died on, but I ran into a weird issue where I kept being revived with one life left. This meant I kept coming back with the same power-ups and having to click the respawn icon after every death. It's a bit tedious, and I don't know if it's a bug. Maybe it's the only punishment for being bad? There is a hard difficulty if you want to be even tougher.

8-Bit boy was a game build by one dude whose life resembles mine. I hope he's happier than I am since he made a fun game. It looks like an old school platformer. It plays like an old school platformer. It's as difficult as an old school platformer. If you're an old man who wants something new but similar, here it is. I'm lead to believe that there are even more power-ups down the line, but I've only gotten through World One. Who knows what lies beyond in the desert?

I had wanted to remove all the games I play during these new few weeks from my computer, but I might keep this one around for a while.

Streets of Kamurocho

Welcome to a period that I'm calling "Seemingly Random Second Half of September." It's a ~three week period where I'm going to play games that have no rhyme or reason to be played and written about. I say "seemingly" because there is a reason. They've been sitting in my Steam library, unplayed, for a long time. I need/want to clear up some disk space before it crashes, so let's start doing so!

First up is Streets of Kamurocho. It's a game that SEGA gave away during its fortieth birthday celebration a year or so ago. I got it, wanted to play it, but never did. Now's the best time to do so!

The story is simple.

"The death of the Tojo Clan's Third Chairman has plunged the organization into chaos. The violence spreads to the streets, and only Kazuma Kiryu and Goro Majima can put an end to the bloodshed!."

I opted to play as Kiryu because I dug his white suit. From here out, it's an old school, side scroller, beat 'em up.

We hit the ground running as we're immediately attacked by various thugs, mafioso, and Chinese wangs. Don't Google that last one at school. The combat is pretty lackluster, needing to press only one button to attack. There are no combo moves, but rapidly using the X on a controller lets you perform more varying attacks. B is a special move that drains the user's HP, so I never used it. I think, and hope, it did more damage than the basic blows. You can also jump with A, and Y does nothing. There is no block, sprint, or crawl. But there is an enemy that can slide dash... You can also throw, but I have no idea how I did that, and I think there may be some sorta genuine combo system that eluded me, as well. Weapons are rare, but they have only a single swing. I preferred the button mashing.

Mobs have a surprisingly high rate of difference. Some will die in on combo, and others take a few more. Thugs are quick to dispatch and pose little threat, but guys in suits can hold their hold. But it's the fella in the slick argyle sweaters you need to watch out for! There are also a few bosses that have their own weapons to shake things up a bit.

Gameplay is a tad clunky. You have to be pretty close and next to them to hit. Just above or below on the mode-six style screen means nothing, usually. Jump kicks might connect, but that's all. Range is also annoyingly low, but this only comes into play during boss fights.

So how's the story? The first area is the streets of, unassumingly, Kamurocho. It's a place that needs to be cleaned up because of all the papers flying around. We fight our way past the basic thugs and argyle guys to make our way to a bar. Before we enter, we need to take on two sword users and their boss, who throws knives at us. This is the first boss of the game, and I don't remember his name. He's pretty slow, though.

Inside the bar are even more dudes in suits. Watch out for the purple argyle guys. They can do the slide kick that ends your button mashing and leave you vulnerable to other attacks. Since there's no block, you need to avoid or focus them down. Don't forget to destroy the tables and stools for food and money. At the end of the bar is another dude with a gaunt sword. He's got the range factor, and I learned that the jump button can be used to dodge. I think, at least. I probably just got lucky, and he missed. Don't land on him in case he's swinging his blade.

In the alleyway behind the bar are four people waiting for us. Three of them are basic dudes, but one's the biggest baddest boss in the game. Try to take them on one by one and keep in mind there's some health in the garbage cans. I nearly beat him without dying but fell half a life short. Fortunately, I had four lives left. It doesn't matter, though, because we immediately restart the level if you win.

Wait, what?

So I did some research and found out that SoK is a tie-in game with the Yakuza franchise. The two characters we can choose from are the main characters from Like a Dragon. As is the secret character you get when you beat the third boss. It's just Street Fighter but with Yakuza character sprites instead. It's not a full game, and I feel a little dumb, but whatever. It was free, and I had a fun twenty minutes, so no one got hurt.
 
I knew I wasn't going to get a full series out of this, so I figured the smallest game in my Steam library would be the perfect way to start this stupid idea of mine. I'll go back to normal updates on October first, so bear with me for the next two weeks. About half of these things are RPGs, so they fit, but I don't know their length or even if they're worth an honest dive. I've got a thing planned for the first that won't explain why I'm doing this, but I have no readers anyway, so who cares? Let's add to my one-offs folder!

La Pucelle Tactics sucks

Who designed this crap?

Last night I got stopped by a horde of soldiers. If I killed them, I'd get the bad ending. To properly advance, you need to get a character to the other side. I brought in two bats from the Dark Shrine to put soldiers asleep. It worked great for the first two screens.

But the third fight is utter garbage. We're trapped around the spawn and can't get out unless we kill at least one of the soldiers. And even if you do get past that first blockage, there's a second one just behind it. And you cannot get past them! They don't let you by and constantly try their damndest to make sure we're stuck there. Just when you think you've got a path, one of the guys in the back will come up. He won't attack you, but he'll try to paralyze you. Even if you're already paralyzed! Even if you treat that, he's still on your way.

I could, and should, just kill one, but I don't want to play this crap anymore.

The characters are boring and entirely based on bland tropes. Prier is a tomboy teenaged girl who abuses people for the fun of it. But it's totally playful, guys, so lighten up! Colette is an easily bullied mage. Croix is a knockoff Wolfwood from Trigun, and Homard and Salade are creepy pedophiles. That last point is reason enough to stop playing this.

The battle system is as basic as you can get. I had hoped it would be similar to Disgaea, but it's really not. It has attacks, special moves, and team combos, but that's the only similarities. You can't throw, which would have made chapter ten manageable. The characters end up being far too similar because there are no classes, and monsters are either hit or miss.
And the item system doesn't help it. Weapons don't mean anything at all. Croix can use a fist, the predominant weapon in the game, and he still uses his gun in combat. You can even equip four weapons in all the slots. Items incr3ease a stat when you kill something, but I'm not really sure what those stats mean. You sometimes unlock new passive skills that randomly appear to give you more attack power, defense, and auto-hit, but what do they really mean? And the fact they're RNG based is terrible.
And the most frustrating part of the game is when your enemies get their passive skills. Far too often does "Guard Skill" appear on screen. This means that you're either tickling them or missing altogether. And this happens all the time. There's no way to know when it's going to happen, and I wasted too many teamwide attacks just for six people to miss everything. And it even happens with special attacks. Cool!
What staff teaches what spell?
How does monster training work? Does increasing that bar make them better? But why even both if you're going to just get a stronger version when you meet one?
But La Pucelle has its own unique mechanic called the Purify/Miracle attack. The problem with that is you need to go out of your way to actuate them. Most of the portals are out of the way, and it might actually weaken your character if you split them up to cleanse them. It's hard to properly connect all the portals, even if they're not on the edge of the map, and attacking your enemies is more efficient anyway. And you don't get EXP for deaths by Miracle.
 
WTF even is the Dark World? I don't know what to say about that since I don't understand it well. Is it just me, or did the game just describe it poorly? I know you're supposed to get more powerful items out of fit, but the stronger items still suck. And grinding levels for the items is tedious.

The music is repetitive. I'm pretty sure there are only about eight songs in the whole game. Most of them are decent, but when you hear them as often as you do, they start to grate.


It's a bit of a shame it all sucks. I liked the artwork that we saw. It was rare, but I enjoyed looking over the cities in the background. It made me want to wander around and see more. I thought the faces in the text box were, usually, well done. Croix seemed amateurish, but Prier and Alouette shined. I didn't like the sprite work at first, but it grew on me.

I found nothing terrible with the voice work, but I've said that Prier's VA did an excellent job several times. I think this is the first time I've brought up voice work in these memorandums, so good job, Jennifer Hale.

I'm not gonna poo-poo on the story since I didn't finish it, but I wasn't thrilled with it. I went through 78% of the game, and I felt like nothing really changed. All of the characters are exactly where they are in chapter one. The only difference is Prier is in love with a much older man. But is he creepy back towards her? I hope not. Has Collette or Alouette moved any? It's been ten chapters, man, do something! And for the story as a whole, the good guys know who Noir is, but they don't know his story? From what I've experienced, does it even matter? It's got a hole in it...

I can't muddle through this anymore, and I'm not going to. I want to move on, so I will. Even before I quit, I had an odd sense of dread linger over me before I booted up my PS2. It carried over to the updates, and I hated editing these just because I didn't want to relive them. It took me five days to edit this final one, for example. I just want to be done. The game isn't as bad as I'm making it out to be,m but there's just something about it that I hate. I'm sorry if you're interested in La Pucelle Tactics, but I'm totally over it. Unlike Grandia, I'm not gonna give a short write up of the rest. I just don't think it's worth it.

I don't know what's next or when I'll get to it.

Chapter Ten: The Dark Prince

Everyone wakes up in the village, but everyone is in denial of what happened last night. Colette is the only person we know is thinking about it because he's actually the main character. He's pretty sure they're all on edge. That being said, he has his reasons to think good thoughts. Croix has been with them for a while and never shown any signs of being "that."

Alouette brings up that Croix makes her think she's about to remember something from her own past but isn't sure what. She then tells us she's been having a bad dream lately. It's a dream that foretells her death. Colette, ever the brave puppy, promises to protect his crush. Alouette doesn't really think he can do it, but she greatly appreciates the thought and calls the boy like a litter brother. The poor kid... Appreciative regardless, she gives him a kiss on the cheek. This action removes Colette from the world of awareness.

Everyone arrives at the town square, and they quickly sweep everything that happened under the rug. Everyone quickly heads out after Prier yells at her brother to catch up.

Our destination is the ghost town. When we arrive, it's snowing. Despite being in the desert, we're surrounded by a winter wonderland. Alouette tells us dark energies have corrupted this place and are affecting the weather. Prier points towards the townsfolk, but Colette says they're ghosts. One comes over to us and confirms the suspicion. They tell us this place isn't for the living and that we should leave. He says they've been like this since the Dark Prince was born and directs us towards a hill.

At the hill, Croix recognizes that he's been here. As his body shakes again, Alouette has a mild health scare because of it. More importantly, we're greeted by the first demon lord we fought on the Escargot. He does the usual stuff, and a fight breaks out.

I had my first team wipe here. Those damn mages, man... The zombies are nothing to forget, either, so focus on the boss. I took out the point zombie and a mage on round one. The other mage on round two and went all out on the boss after. I lost most of my team but won out in the end.

Just as Prier is about to lay the final blow, the lord tells us his secret plan. His existence is keeping all the ghosts here. If we kill him, they go too. Despite that, Alouette commands Prier to kill him. Colette gets mad at her for saying such things, but she remains absolute. After a tense sequence, four villagers teleport in and drag the lord to the afterlife with them. A remaining boy asks us to follow him to the hill. At some point, Homard alluded to his past, but I don't care.

On top of the hill is a tree, and the sun shining on it. But we're still in a snowfield. This place looks familiar, and even Croix states it. The ghost tells us this is where the Dark Prince was born and fades away. Colette goes to apologize for the altercation but gets the cold shoulder. He remains stunned for the rest of the scene. Eclair finds two names on the tree. "Croix and Angelique" Is this our Croix? Who's the girl? Croix says that name sounds familiar, and one of the flowers in front of the tree glows brightly. When it stops, we're out of the snowfield. The group thinks the Goddess sent us back in time.

We return to the village, and it's not filled with ghosts. The first person we see calls out to Croix, and she's the same woman we've seen flash before his eyes. She wonders why Croix is here and not shopping like he said he was, so we come up with an alibi that makes her think we're different people. But her Croix and our Croix look so much alike. Angelique then drops the bomb that she and her Croix are engaged. Prier is stunned and acts like her brother earlier. Eclair thinks she and Prier look a lot alike. Eventually, Angelique invites is over for dinner.

We can explore the town first to learn the empire is hunting Poitenne followers and labeling them witches. Angelique is an incredible healer that the whole village loves and is willing to protect from the evil empire. There are no shops, so head to Angelique's house.

She's a great cook, person, and woman. Prier wants to hate her but can't. She is, however, quite jealous. But Angelique's Croix is still gone. This worries Angelique because the night brings out Croix's dark side. Everyone has a light and dark side, but his darkness can be terrifyingly powerful. It's been tough on their relationship; she's a healer, and he's a vagrant. Thankfully, Angelique believes Poitenne has helped them both. We then bond over the shared worship of our boob deity, despite her reverence being illegal. Angelique then asks if Prier and her Croix are dating, and he leaves the room. Shortly afterwards, a man from the village rushes in. There was an accident at the hill, and the people need her help. Angelique goes to the hill, and we wait here. Before she does, and with Croix out of the room, Alouette asks if Angelique is pregnant. She is.

Two hours later, she's still gone. Alouette tells us she's not coming back. Alouette knows that Angelique is supposed to die tonight, and Prier gets mad at her. Why wouldn't we try to save her? We then have an argument about time travel and whether or not the Goddess sent is here to save the world or just watch it start to die. Prier refuses to do that, and Colette agrees. The whole group heads to the hill. Alouette wonders if this is the Goddess' plan.

At the hill, we see the man who told us there had been an accident. We hear him talking to himself about how this isn't his fault; it's Angelique's. We confront him, and he says he loved Angelique, but she went with Croix. Because of his stupid jealousy, he's contacted the authorities to kill her. They show up, and we need to fight through them.

But we shouldn't. Something about killing innocents sits badly with the group, despite these guys not being innocent. Aren't they supposed to die tonight anyway? To get through these battles, we need to avoid combat. This sucks because the mobs hit hard, block our narrow path, and it's at least three fights long. No killing, no healing, only dying. I couldn't do it, so I'll figure out how to do so tomorrow.

This is taking longer to play than I had hoped. One way or another, I'll be starting a new game on Monday. Hopefully.

Chapter Nine: Memories of Fatima

The scene opens up on the silhouettes of a small village pared against two other people in a similar fashion. The ones armed with weapons yell at the child shaped shadow person and claim he killed another kid. The mother shadow says he did it in self defense, but the villagers don't care to listen. The mother calls her son "Noir" and tells him that demons can be good just as people can be bad. His father was one such demon. The villagers encroach on the two and kill her. They're grotesquely jubilant and plan to do the same to Noir. The screen erupts in blue flame as Noir changes, and all the people are Thanatosed away. We return to the current Noir, who wishes he could have followed through on his mother's wish. Sadly, he's an outcast to both humans and demons, so it'll never be. This is why he wants to make his own utopia... ...with just demons?

We return to the party, and Colette recalls what's happened. We wind up in Couscous Village. Croux goes in first and sees a flower beginning to bloom. It reminds him of that girl, and he thinks he's been here before. The rest of the group catches up to him. A villager shows up, and we learn about this town's claim to fame. The flower Croix saw is famous. Its seeds are said to predict the love life of lovers, so those who are engaged often come here for luck. He also assumes that Croix and Prier are dating and envies them. Croix goes out of his way to deny it, which upsets his not-girlfriend, but she's unsure why, especially since she joined in too. Colette thinks they've finally started to notice each other.

At this point, we're kicked to the World Map, but our blinking indicator tells us to return to Couscous. Enter and talk to the villagers. It's a bit of world building, but it's also some foreshadowing. We remark that their accents sound like ancient Paprikan, so Eclair assumes her kingdom can trace its roots back here. A few others think the land is cursed, perhaps, by demons. They also eat lizards, much to Alouette's chagrin. One such villager even invites us to stay the night at his place and enjoy the local cuisine. Eclair asks if she can have a bath first, and Homard requests that they share the same tub. His fairy girlfriend attacks him, and I no longer want him on my party. I don't know how old he is, but I don't at this point.

That night, just as Prier is about to fall asleep, she senses a disturbance around her. She kicks at something, and we hear a window break. We're back in the village square, and the townsfolk have been turned into zombies. Behind them is a second Demon Lord, and he informs us that he's brainwashed everyone in the village. We can kill his monsters, but they're still just the simple townsfolk. We'd practically be committing murder. The demon turns into his true self, and Homard wonders if this is the demon as before. It isn't. Regardless of who it is, a fight breaks out.

The goal is to defeat the boss, and he's surrounded by about six manticores. They get in the way a lot, so you may have to deal with them. Be careful, though, for reasons I'll get into later. Or for the obvious thing mentioned above. The manticores don't have any special moves, but the boss can raise a group's defense or unleash a devastating attack on a group of us. He can only use it once before he's out MP, though. He's got 1200 HP, 300 defense, and a lot of attack, so it'll take a while to widdle him down. I primarily used special attacks because I'm getting really annoyed by how much "Guard Skill" shows up on my screen.

After the fight, somehow, Prier got captured... She's being crucified behind the zombie villagers, but no one seems upset. This includes her. Everyone is yelling at her for getting caught, and she's defending herself. Isn't this supposed to be a tense moment, so why is it played up like a joke? Even the demon is annoyed because he yells at everyone to stop being stupid. During this, Croix's memories begin to flash in and out. The girl Prier reminds him of keeps appearing before him. Eventually, a villager with a spear enters and is about to put Prier to death. This toggles a memory of when the girl was executed, and then Croix...changes. His hair stands up straight, and his jacket flies upward. It's like in DBZ when the characters start to power up and create all that wind. This gives Alouette a headache... The enraged Croix enters a one-on-seven fight.

He's at level 100, so the numbers game doesn't really matter. Croix has three special attacks, all of which are maxed out and do nearly 1000 damage. The poor demon lord doesn't stand a chance.

When the dust settles, Croix is stomping the demon lord, who's alive for all of this. His green blood begins to pool out of him as Homard and Collette get Prier down. The demon begs for mercy, so the captain tries to calm Croix down, but he's sent flying away by one backhand punch. Prier tries her hand at it and gets backhanded as well. But it worked well enough. Croix comes to, standing over a dead demon lord and all his friends terrified. The voice work for Prier continues to shine during the scene. He wonders who he is as the camera pans upwards to see a gargoyle over us. He says he finally found him and returns to Noir to inform the news.

I get the bad ending... Oh yeah, we were supposed to save all the villagers, and I killed every single one. Good job, me! Well, it's a short chapter, so I redid it all. I used my box as a decoy to get four of the manticores away from the main boss and focused on the target as best I could. I got really lucky that ol' boxy didn't counter kill anyone. Doing all of this allowed the boss to boost his defense six times, so Colette used two turns to lower it. I worked well enough, and I killed him in a few rounds with no casualties. The Croix fight was worrying because I used the wrong move. I used Banish, which isn't as good as Retribution but does look a lot cooler. It took three turns, and he almost counter killed a villager. Use two Retributions instead of three Banishes. I got a bunch of money, a new weapon, and the feeling that I saved the day.

It was a short chapter tonight, but I think a lot was set up going forward. Will it hold up or be worth it? I dunno. I do know the creepy pedophile makes me want to shut the game down, but there are only three more chapters to go...I think.

To An Undiscovered Land pt. 2

Go Aggies!

Cave of Ruins is stage one tonight. There are four pumpkins and a mermaid from the Lapras battle here. I got the naked lady to join my team. She doesn't seem strong, but I'm sure her ability to put people to sleep is better than the hippo.

Stage Two is Breath of Death. I hope you know how fights in this game work by now.

Stage Three, Unknown Fear, is life altering if you want it to be. The team walks into a cave with a well made stone path. Homard stops the group to say something feels strange. He brings up the idea of the monster that Eclair's book mentioned (that I skipped). While this is happening, a tentacle raises from the lake behind Colette. It taps his shoulder, and he turns around. Nothing. He returns to looking at the group just...hanging around...until it happens again. Colette is a smart boy, so he, I guess, makes a plan if it happens again. It does, his plan worked, and he alerts the rest. More tentacles appear, and the battle begins.

The Giant Thing is at level 100. You can get a special ending if you defeat it here, but I couldn't. He's surrounded by four mermaids, but a team of level twenties would not have won anyway. Instead, make your way to the side exit.

I don't remember the name of this room, but there's an inspection point on it. It's guarded by a stronger gargoyle and a few fish. Stepping on the blinking red square will cause a voice from nowhere to talk to us. It'll speak of the Thing and offer to weaken it for us. However, it warns us it'll make our reward terrible. I just want to make progress ...

If we return to the Unknown Fear, the Giant Thing will only be at level twenty five. I exited through the first square to head to the world map. I'm not interested in three straight fights and wanted to get my HP back up. I went back in, made sure new mobs wouldn't spawn behind me, and killed the boss. At this level, it couldn't harm my box. Before, though, it could one shot even him.

Life and Death contains a horde of pumpkins in a v shape.

The final fight is Foreign Land. It's got all the mobs we've fought, including the gargoyle. This might be a good grind spot if he respawns.

We exit out of the cave and look out onto a vast plane with a snow (crystal?) covered valley in the middle. Homard talks himself up and brags to Eclair about his intuition. This makes our Princess sad because she thinks books failed her. Homard reminds her that it was her books that warned us about the Thing. All he was doing was trying to teach Eclair about the effectiveness of experience. Eclair is happier and looks forward to hand on learning. Prier talks to everyone else and thinks they're a cute couple, and Colette thinks to himself how dumb his sister is. How can she see other's emotions but not her own?

The camera pans out to show more of the world, birds overhead, and the rewards screen. I got the Good Ending!

Why is Colette so aware of everyone's emotions? And what's the age gap between Homard and Eclair. She's fourteen, but what our air pirate?

Chapter Eight: To An Undiscovered Land

And so we crashed. The Goddess tells Alouette that now is not her time. The screen goes black, and we hear the party members rumbling about. Everyone seems fine, but they can't find Alouette. Croix spots her unconscious as the screen opens up to reveal we're in a vast jungle. Alouette wakes up, and Croix, "not wanting to be ungratefu,l" scolds her for performing another miracle. I guess Homard isn't as good of a captain as he thinks. The whole team might have died if Alouette wasn't so pious. Everyone else, though, thanks her. But we're lost in a forest with a task to save the world at hand. We still need to find that path to Fatima, so we quickly get our things in order and head out. Homard joins us, but I forgot to use him. He keeps most of his cats back to repair the ship. We can return here to shop, send monsters, and talk to a few remaining who aren't the generic Chocolates who are with us for some reason.

But now we're exploring the Jungle.
Wilderness is Stage One. There are new mushrooms and a plant monster here.
Next up is the Wilderness. It has the same mobs.
The Second Stage, Unexplored Jungle, has the same mobs, plus a bear. It's called White Devil, which is a bit offensive. I purified it to join m team, and I'm now sad I'll be sending away my best friend at some point.
The Third and final Stage (yes, final) takes place after a nice picnic. Colette gives everyone lunch, but Homard and Eclair have an aside. They start by talking about the weather, as one would. Homard is concerned that Eclair can't handle this, seeing as she was a well-to-do Princess a few days ago. She assures him that all of her studying means she can deal with it. But Homard has no interest in bookwork. He thinks one can't really learn unless they get their hands dirty. Since this is Eclair's first time out of the castle, he's worried she'll break. She tries to remind him of his place in the world of royalty, and the butterfly girlfriend, Papillion, enters the chat. She tries to tell the young girl something, but Homard stops her, so she joins the rest during the picnic. He apologizes, and the two of them have their "don't be formal" introduction. The chat ends cordially as Papillion comes back. Homard calls the child pretty, and his butterfly girlfriend hits him. With the picnic over, we can enter the battle that is Explorer's Bones.

It has the same mobs, plus a new dragonshroom. It's a bigshroom and acts like its continental cousin.

After this, we transition to the Cave of Ruins. It's less of a cave and more of a ruined passage, so it's half right. Homard and Alouette each give their suggestion as to why it was built, but Eclair wonders why her book didn't say anything about this. Homard scolds her for trusting too much in written words. She's not happy about that since that's kinda all she knows. Homard convinces the naive Princess to trust in his experience and intuition, and she does so with only minor reluctance. Prier and Croix tell each other that that was odd. He says a Princess is now taking orders from a sky pirate while Colette thinks to himself that they just don't get it.

And with that, I finished tonight. I got a late start, but a new area is as good as any to update. I looked ahead, and there are five battles tomorrow. Definitely a good idea to break here.

Alternatively, I'll watch the Utah State Aggies make a comeback against the Washington State Cougars. Gotta love football!

Chapter Seven: A Dance in the Sky

We start tonight with Croix having a nightmare. An ominous voice tells him to "awaken and release me," but I don't think it means to get out of bed. Croix asks who it is, and it says that it is Croix. The real Croix says that's a lie...

We're in the cockpit of the Escargot. The fairy thinks we're late, but Homard doesn't care. Prier slept well, but no one else did. Croix, especially. He tells the group of his reoccurring nightmare. Prier shows some concern, but Croix thinks it's unbecoming of her, and we have a not-lovers spat. Colette gets jealous, and Alouette picks up on it. The boy walks over the viewing deck and, eventually, notices a dark cloud over a large landmass. This is both good and bad. It means we've reached Fatima, but there's a poison cloud over it that will eat the ship if we get near it. Eclair tells us that her mother made her memorize a passage in an adventuring book before she left that offers a clue about how to avoid the doom dust. It indicates there's a cave somewhere that can take us under it. But how do we find it?
 
At this point, we can walk around the bridge. The cats tell us the story of Homard. He used to have a dumber name, but I'm not gonna bother to remember it, and he was a rich kid. The cats were always a pirate crew under the current guy at the helm. The captain cat and Homard dueled, and Homard won. But he thought it would be a waste to let such a great competitor die, so he offered the entire crew a new life under him. It's working well, I guess.

Once we speak to the captain, things start to blow up. It eventually leads to us walking to the engine room to figure out what's causing the engine to malfunction. You only need to do three battles in this chapter, but I cleared everyone. We can return to the bridge to heal up, send monsters, and the cat next to the hooded man is the shop.

First Passage is appropriately named. It contains new small bats, new big bats, and a new box mob! The box is ultra tanky, so good luck killing it, and watch out for its Battlecry move. Everything else is pretty inconsequential. I managed to get the new gremlin on my team, so farewell Box Father.
Next up was the Mess Hall. It's a dead end and filled with the same guys as earlier.
Across from that is the Food Storage. Ditto.
Second Passage is the second obligated fight. Ditto again.
The off-shot is the Armory. Now, this is where the difficulty ramps up. There are four new boxes, four useless tiny bats, and one omega box. I finished this map with a few chained Miracle attacks as the five boxes have too much defense to take out normally. I came back, wanting to get the omega box in my party, but I wasn't strong enough. These guys have some terrifying attack stats, made even more fearsome by their Battlecry move that buffs it. Get a few of those stacked, and we're done for.
The final stage is the Engine Room. When the team enters, we see a hooded man (different from the other one on the bridge) messing with the jack we didn't give to Hermes. He introduces himself as one of the three Demon Lords under Noir. He has backstory about destroying something.

Anyway, we fight the demon lord. We have to kill him, but he's behind four small bats, a box, a wind spirit, and two big bats. The small bats die with ease, and Croix suddenly forgets how to aim his gun at the spirit. Take him out as fast as you can before he hits four people with a Mega Wind spell. The box is only single target, so can be dealt with. The big bats are kinda just there. But the boss is pretty fearsome. He can hit a group with Demon Fist, but he can only do that once before he's out of MP. From there, you'll have to deal with his massive basic attacks. Hope the box doesn't buff him. I surrounded him, lowed his defense with a new rod I gave to Colette, and, thankfully, Croix remember how to aim. The new box had enough defense that he probably could have soloed the boss, but only four of my characters survived the fight. We're halfway through the game, so I guess the gloves are coming off now.

As the demon lord dies, he wonders if we're really human. How could mere mortals kill him? Like the last demon we killed, he tries to blow up. Unlike the last demon we killed, he succeeds. The engine room is in flames, and Prier asks for water. Croix knows just want to do and tries peeing on it... Prier punches him, and blah blah blah, we crash.

I got the good ending, a bunch of gold, a new armor, and a disdain for the game. What was the point of that joke! It wasn't funny, and it didn't fit any narrative! Why?! I think I hate this game now...