Glow Up

This came earlier than expected...

We walked into Angel Tower, and the guards instructed us that only those with permission from the pope may enter. He gave Garr the go ahead and not us, so our giant dude needs to be here for this. Climb the stairs and then fall down the pyramid blocks to collect the treasures. They're not the best, but I want them! On the south part of the pyramid is a fork. The stairs down takes us to a naked girl encased in a cube of light. And no one's gonna wonder who or why this is? Up the stairs will take us into the dungeon proper.

Angel Tower is the worst named dungeon ever. It contains no angels, nor is it a tower. It's a series of basements, and we need to move four blocks across two puzzles to make the bridge necessary to let us advance. All the while, mobs that steal our MP and cast death on us attack. The first puzzle takes us to the furthest down path from the start. Have Garr push the block into the first space to seal the gap. A few floors down is the second puzzle, which is a lot more complicated. Start with the north part and take the stairs down there. Push the first block into the comer, then wrap around east to get the other two. It's straightforward from there. Starting is the hardest part, but it's easy once you realize what you need to do.

Inside that door and down another set of stairs, leading us to a long hallway. Before we go down much, Garr will ask our third, Nina, to leave us for a moment. What's to come is something only Ryu and Garr will understand. Down the hall is another pyramid with four blue markers around it. On the west marker is
"Garr
299"
Garr will inform us that his place is a testament to the guardians of the planet. The black mist around us will clear, revealing that we're standing over a pile of bones. Dragon bones, at that. The number underneath each name is how many dragons each guardian killed in The Dragon War 400 years ago. A dragon spirit will form from the bones and try to attack Garr, but nothing happens with it. Garr will continue by telling us that his people were under dragon rule, so they prayed to their god for the ability to overcome it. Their god granted them the guardians, and that's how we've got here. And Ryu is now the last dragon...

Gar draws his spear, and a fight starts. Unlike the one at the arena, this one is really easy. Garr only hits for about thirty damage, so I decided to use Focus a few times to get my attack up. It triggered on a counter... Double Slash away, use items when need be, and don't regret using a rare wisdom fruit like I did. He'll go down quickly.

With Garr on the ropes, he'll wonder what's to come of these two. Both fighters will hear a voice telling them that "He is not your enemy." Ryu will begin to shake and transform into a new type of dragon, a Kaiser Dragon. He'll then raise to the ceiling and disappear as rocks start to fall around the wounded Garr.

We'll cut to Ryu, alone in the dark. The voice tells him more stuff about not being a warmonger as Ryu runs away from lights. He seems a random dude, and he'll transform into the baby dragon we started the game with. We're suddenly brought to the mines we were at before we met Rei and Teepo, with Garr giving chase. Garr will somehow get around us, stick his spear in our face, and Ryu will transform. But he's a child anymore; He's a full grown man. Ryu's also naked... Garr will ask Ryu if he forgives him for trying to kill him, and I responded, "...." Garr understands and gives us our gear. This look is way better than the sprite we were a few minutes ago. I get a sense of regal and class now.

Ryu vanished from Angel Tower years ago, and Garr finally tracked us down. He then tells us that he's been questioning his religion ever since? Ryu isn't bad, so why did his god want him to kill all the dragons. Something doesn't add up, and Garr intends to find that out. He joins the group, and it's the two of us walking through the mines. Head to where we got knocked out by the crane long ago, and head down. We'll come to an elevator, and we'll need to go to the second floor. The first floor takes us outside to a small merchant, but the cliff is too large to jump down, so we can't just cheese it. Return to the second floor and get through to the mine cart portion. None of the mobs are hard, nor are they worth it. To get through, we need to move the cart rigged with explosives to the other side. Don't forget to use it as a makeshift bridge to get a new wind sword for Ryu. As we blow up the rock in our path, something mysterious appears.

Earlier, a shadow dragon showed up to say Ryu should kill Garr, but only the player could see it. It makes a full appearance now, saying the same thing. Ryu is unphased, but we all learn Garr wants to take Ryu to his god so that they both may learn the truth of The Dragon War. Zombie Dragon gets annoyed, and a boss fight breaks out.

I spent last night getting Kyrie from the pope's second-in-command, and that's why I didn't have an update. I accidentally had it spoiled for me, so I wanted this cheese strat in my back pocket. I tried a few times to defeat it normally, but I got bored pretty quick and used the move. Kyrie will one shot undead mobs, and this includes bosses. My cholesterol has questions, but it was an easy fight. Thank you, Momo, for sacrificing your stats for this. Afterwards, ZD will yell more things and turn into a crystal. It'll bounce towards Ryu, who'll learn a new dragon form. As he does, a woman will appear behind him, point, and scream "True Dragon" at him. She'll turn into an orb, and Ryu will learn another dragon form. Garr will wonder what the hell that was, and we can exit. Don't bother climbing the ladder up. Just head right, trigger the floor thing three times, and leave.

When we're outside, the foreman of the mine will congratulate Garr for getting rid of the dragon problem they had. Apparently, Ryu killed a lot of people, which causes him to not have fun. Garr will settle the boy down, and we can get our payment from the foreman. We don't, but it's worth doing everything for story. At the very least, we'll learn that Ogre Path has a tiger problem, and we can learn more about it at Sin City.

We're back on the world map, and it's got a new theme. Is it better? I'll be honest, I haven't been liking the music in the game so far. The Cedar Woods theme is a rip off of Secret of the Forest from Chrono Trigger, and it's really nice, but everything else has been "meh." Do I hate funk and jazz? Anyway, far to the west is Sin City. Go to the campsite, and Garr will inform us that Baio and Sunder's boss lives here, but we don't be dealing with him now. Get new gear, and we can pay a bum twenty zenni to tell us more about the tiger. It's actually a weretiger...

Ogre Forest is pretty straightforward, and nothing is too scary. This includes the aforementioned weretiger. It doesn't hit hard, but we sure do. Sadly, it runs away, so I suspect we'll see its yellow fur and red mohawk again later. Garr wants to head east through Wyndia and return to the Angel Tower. Wyndia is to the east and across the mountain range that stands in our way. There's nothing here, but watch out for the gootitans. Their flame spell is no joke. Once we get past, we can see the town we started our journey on long ago in the distance. But I'll return there...

...tomorrow!

Emitai, the mage who tried to swindle us in the tournament, lives near the mines. I didn't talk to him, but I'll head back once I get Nina again. Assuming she rejoins us and is alive, of course. Also, I wonder if they repaired the boat in Junk Town? That's why I wasn't expected the grow up to happen so soon. A game leaving a problem unsolved? Unheard of.
Also, the faeries need our help to not die. The one in charge is mad at us, so help the village flourish if you want. It seems like a passive thing, so it's up to you. But, you know, Power of Friendship, and all that...