One Life

Blue Creek, a town in Tren territory, has a girl who everyone believes is cursed. Is she? Let's find out!

To the northwest is our destination, and we'll find a single small house. A man is drawing water from the well outside and comes to greet us. This is the house of Baila. She's in bed, and her parents are watching over her. They tell us priests and magicians have come from all around to help their daughter, but none can find the problem. We take a look at her, and Asera knows what's up. She takes notice of her shiny pendent and says that it's made out of Neurolite... or something. She asks where the lowest geographical point nearby is, and we're told the Valley of Cannon. Asera thinks this pendent may be the problem, so we take it there.

The Valley is to the north, and it's a long winding path down. All the monsters are faster than us, which is really annoying. They like to inflict status ailments on us, which usually results in us falling asleep or having our attack locked. There's also a unique mob under the waterfall that I failed to kill since it ran away. Tonight was really frustrating! But we make our past the rock monsters, the bats, and the undead and come to the deepest point. Asera tells us that the mineral in the pendent calls out to a particular monster that absorbs the area's nutrients as well as draining the life out of the person closest to it. She has a sudden realization that she didn't think this through...

This is the hardest fight in the game! Drudgor has three tentacles that hit hard, fast, and have different weaknesses. The one up top heals, so take out that one with ice first. The one upfront is weak to darkness, and the bottom one hates fire. Drudgor, itself, isn't fond of darkness. As each tentacle dies, Drudgor's defense goes down, but I think its attack raises, too. This is the only boss I've fought that is easier with more adds than less. Once it's three-on-one, his attacks become simple but effective. Two hit the entire team for MASSIVE damage, and Healing Wind won't undo it all. A third absorbs your HP, hitting for over 400 each time. And he's so fast! Make sure Xero has dark attacks with Asera, as he might be the only one doing damage here. The girls will be spending their time healing. I used my entire supply of Apples, Oranges, and revives, so it's looking bad for my future! But somehow, and I don't know how, I won. Asera tells us we should have known about Drudgor from school, but we don't. Apparently, Xero was having a fun time, so I'm glad one of us was. With this monster slain, we return to Baila.

But first, the camera cuts to a prison somewhere. Slash is trying to burn through fireproof bars, and another soldier is with him. Barcllyss enters the room and tries to talk Slash into joining whatever global domination plan he has. The two men know each other from tears ago, and Slash calls him a psychopath. He tries to set him on fire, but Barclyss shoos it off and knocks out Slash. The soldier leaves the cell and locks it behind him, but Barclyss phases through the bars and drags him away. We later see him being thrown into a put with other Blaze soldiers, and an assortment of weapons are dropped in after. Something ominous happens as the doors open up to reveal Barclyss...

Back at Baila's house, she's not doing well. She's in and out of consciousness, and Enda spams heal on her. Asera says she's stable, so she should be fine. When the connection between Baila and the monster broke, it caused her a lot of spiritual trouble. She tells her parents to spoil Baila for a while, and they remember that Baila has always wanted a flower garden. While we wait outside, Baila's mother thanks us and gives us a Denizen Pass for the trip north.

Denizen Cave is the worst dungeon I've ever experienced. It's filled with more monsters faster than you, so expect to put to sleep a lot, which is so much fun! I love not playing the game! And then there's a puzzle, and it's the dumbest thing. You have to navigate a long and winding path through a room, and if you go somewhere you're not supposed to, you reset. You see, you need to make the Denizen path glow with the pentagram on the floor. But if you step off this invisible path, you dim the light AND take damage. The worst thing about this is there is no clear indication of where you're supposed to go. Head to the wiki and view the image showing the path. It's Final Fantasy Playonline levels of awful, and I want out of this. But I make it past the spear floors, both chests, the fire breathing statues, and the mobs to activate a giant headstone to let us advance. At the end of the dungeon, Farrell gives us one last order. He says we should go through the mountains and keep heading north. He then leaves the party, and Xero thinks he's ungrateful. The girls, though, wish he'd stay.

North is the city of Barre. We can enter, but we can't get through. Buy new gear, shards, and stock, which is all you can do here. East of Barre is Flash Mountain, our path northward, but I'll have to do that...

...tomorrow.

I almost quit in Denizen Cavern. I wanted to quit, but I wanted to actually finish a game for the first time in two months. Every game has a terrible dungeon: FFX has Macalania Trials, IX has Oelivert, and Chrono Trigger has Reptite Lair. Hopefully, this is just a blip on the radar, and it's past. It happens, even in AAA games.