Truth Revealed

The Tower of Mysteria isn't that long. Everything has a purpose, and there are no wasted rooms. Well, there are, but world building is a perfectly acceptable "waste."

We enter the aforementioned tower. Head straight north, and we'll meet an old friend. The man who saved Arres at the start of his life is waiting here, Ibez. I still have his sword, but it doesn't seem to matter. Ibez is the guardian of the four elements, which, I think, makes him an actual god, along with Ely. Could be wrong, though. The reunion isn't as chummy as you'd think as Ibez tells us our next mission is to kill the Four Elemental Gods. All of us are shocked, but it's the only way to bring about peace. TFEG plans to use the Pendent of Labyronia to erase the monsters. However, the monsters are a spawn of their creation brought on by imperfect beings using a tool that should only be used by an actual god. If they use the pendent, it'll plunge the world into chaos. He then wonders why Arres is still alive. He was created by TFEG to obtain the Orbs; he should have died the moment he returned all of them. But that's something they'll have to think about later. We have a mission.

There are, essentially, two puzzles in this tower, and neither of them are a maze. Each follows the same basic Order of Elements: Fire --> Earth --> Water --> Air. The first puzzle is to step on the golden plates in the offshoots around Ibez. This'll unlock a door in the entry hall. Inside that room is a staff that allows the user to reveal secrets. It's usually treasure, but the doorways are the important part. Investigate the golden square below the room, and we'll discuss the second puzzle.

The second gimmick of the tower is what to destroy. There are four golems scattered through the east section we're in. We have to find the golems and kill them in the proper order. They're all named after the elements, so I'm sure you can figure out the order. All the lesser enemies are weak to lightning except for the one single wind follower I found. The mobs also drop gear as I got an amazing wand for Ann after one. There are a number of diary entries in this area that help to grow the world, but there's one in particular about Arres. He's the son of Windir. He was held in status as a child to develop into the Counter Spell, allowing him to fulfill his mission of gathering the Crystals. There was very little objection to this from the gods, and even our dad saw us as a simple experiment. Besides plot, there are the last two cues in the North Section of the Mage's Quarters. Once you get them, it's time for one final side mission.
 
Return to Windir's room in the university. Inspecting his cue machine will cause it to malfunction and attack us. Keep your HP up, and you'll be fine. If you're in your mid 30's, Release IV doesn't do enough damage to kill anyone. It was weak to lightning, and it dropped a Replica Air Crystal, which is this game's ribbon.

After that and the golem smash, return to the tower and head to the left secret path. Walkthrough the door in the middle of the four statues, and our party will discuss their plan. No one wants to kill anyone, so they hope they can talk through everything. This is a video game, so guess how it goes. Most of TFEG seem peaceful, but the one in charge has let power go to his head. Cordin, the water god, has the most followers and, therefore, ego. He admits that their plan is likely to kill a large portion of the population, and even Windir says it's necessary for peace. They plan to rebuild on the backs in a nicer, monster free realm. And then Cordin asks why we're still alive. Things get tense for a moment until the old man, who I think was the guy in charge of fire, reveals that he can sense light, Ely's power, from Ann. He believes that her love is keeping Arres alive. In response, Cordin summons lightning to blow a hole in the floor, killing our healer. This enrages Garric and Arres, and the final boss fight breaks out.

The wind and fire gods occasionally don't attack, so go after them last. In theory, at least. I ended up killing them in the middle because of all the multi targeting moves I used. I did focus Cordin first, though. He died, and then I went after the earth fella. He had the Pendent, and he used it every few turns. It's pretty much the only way to get harmed in this battle as the other gods simply use basic spells. I used gear that focused on stats instead of resistances for some reason, but I found this battle to be a pushover. I had to heal with some of the items you can buy from the gardner in the tower, though, and I'm sorry I stepped on the plants. Don't step on the plants. Once the earth god gets to a certain threshold, he'll unleash more power from the pendent. It leaves Garric at one HP, making a slight breeze kill him. But it doesn't affect Arres, who can mop up at this point.

When the dust settles, Garric confirms the deaths of the water and earth gods. The other two got away. Arres asks his friend to leave. Gently at first, but he gets loud when Garric wants to hang around. Arres shall take the pendent and become a god, something that might harm the surrounding area. He also says he wants to mourn over Ann. Arres takes the pendent, promises to rule with a just heart, and the screen goes black...

The earth god infers that Ann is still alive, protected by a magical barter he cast. The fall left her in a terrible state, but she should survive. He suspects Ann's love will be the only thing that'll keep Arres sane going forward, but we'll see how that works...

...in the sequel!

Yes, dear reader, Labornia RPG is the start of six games. I have RPG 2 and Mages of Mysteria, but I have no plans to play them anytime soon. And if I do, it'll be on my own time. I might share the review for it here, though. I enjoyed the game. It's straightforward enough, despite the point of the mazes, but it rewards exploration, which is always great.

The credit roll offers us a look at how many people helped make the game, and it's more than I thought. One guy defiantly led it, but he brought in a good number of artists and musicians, as well. No one even remotely well known, but who am I, anyway? And who am I to complain. We also learn the game has roots going back to 1997, so I can understand how there are currently six games about it.

See ya'll in a few days.