The rocky sand cliffs of plot!
The mobs down here are nothing special. Star can learn a move from the mind flayer looking fellas. Make sure the dogs don't heal and don't worry about the harpies. The second battle can be really annoying because there are four rounds of reinforcements. They're all mind flayers, which are pretty weak and disappointingly don't function like the name I gave them. At the bottom is where a big dump of lore happens.
Selphia is at an altar, trying to save Olga Town. Leon is annoyed that she'd do something for humans, but Selphe's rad. A voice then rings out. Dariem shows up for the first time since chapter one. He informs "Eternal Empress" (probably not her title) that he'll make her wish come true. Rather than explain, we prepare for battle. Leonard shoots Gulliver across the gap to protect Selphie, and we enter an easy fight. It's five-on-one, and Darien lacks power. He has a massive attack that hits anyone in three blocks around him, but the damage isn't high. His physical attacks can be rough, so don't let him counter. Approach the bug, and make sure Leonard can Elby Zone as many as possible. We can survive three or so rounds of this, so no pressure. Poison Drop him and wail away.
After this is when we learn about the gods. Darien is a Satakula, four monsters whom the gods didn't create. They're so strong, in fact, that the gods fear them. And Selphia is one of those creation gods, or at least had a strong connection to them. Her and the guy who gave Parasite his power, Oriales. Ori has control over the cycle of rebirth, and this world has been reborn several times. Selphie opposes another cycle and wants humans to be in control of their destiny, hence why she's on our side. Leon hates humans and is confused by this, but I think he's a simp for Selphie. Anyway, Selphie wanted to purify the air of Olga Town and has done so. But the trek down here exhausted her, so let's get back to town.
We let her rest in a room at the inn and head out to find whatever it is we're going next. An earthquake strikes the island, and Gulliver goes to see where it came from. Myra gets a headache, but this might be a good thing. Is her memory coming back? Dorothy and Leon bond over a shared prophecy that Doro's parents once told her. The epicenter was under Pioneer Town, so we're heading there. It's totally fine! Upgrade your gear while here, and talk to a few BPCs. They'll tell us a girl and her dog went into the secret area under the town. It's gotta be Emilina and Barkly.
In the room where the goomen were is Emily, kicking at a dragon statue. She and Dorothy are glad to see each other, but where is Charles? Emy tells us the dragon statue ate him, and she can't get in. We all try, but Myra's the one who opens it via magic. Welcome to the Golden Halls. After some arguments, Emily joins us for this dungeon. She's playable but has no moves. Fortunately, her survival is not mandatory. We should, probably, protect her anyway because she's a little girl looking for her dog. We've all been there. She's afraid Barkly doesn't like her anymore, so her life is bad enough.
Inside are mobs we've already seen but they feel weaker than before. Make sure Star kills a mummy to learn Poison Drop. He's only missing one move now, but I don't know if I can get it anymore. He'll learn his Energy Break move later on. This is a long dungeon, but the battles aren't too often. Sadly, treasures seemed scarce.
Eventually, though, we'll reach a room with a strange mutual in the back. From it comes Barkly. He can teleport now, and Gulliver warns us he's going to attack. Barkly fights similarly to Dariem. So much that I think he's a Satakula. After the battle, Dariem shows up to confirm it. The spirit of Kandel resides in Barkly. Apparently, even by other Satakulas, Kandel is OP. Emily takes this surprisingly well. Dariem suggests that the true form of Kandel is near. If we find it, then Barkly might return to normal. It's not in this room, so I'll look for it...
.. tomorrow!
Some of my questions are getting answered. And a few more are getting obvious. I'm out of stuff to learn, so I hope the game doesn't start to drag.
Thursday, September 29, 2022
Wednesday, September 28, 2022
Saving Olga Town
Which, by the way, isn't where the clinic is. The nurses still work there, though, and we can find more information about Limly's daughter.
As the title spoiled, Olga Town is under attack. There's only one mandatory battle here, outside the inn, but there are three in total. All of them have similar mobs and are quite hard. Dorothy has a point on my team, and that's to spam Poison Drop on the tanky guys. There are two to four of them in each area, so hope she can stay alive longer than one round. The train seemed the easiest, and the one outside the inn is tough because of the round limit. The shop fight sucks, but Star might be able to learn Poison Drop, but he kept dying in round one.
When you win, we can speak to Irene. She'll give us a note from Selphie, telling us she's gone somewhere to save the world. But Irene won't tell us where. She's in a state of shock from the attack and was already worried about her friend. Myra left without her, and our barmaid wants her bestie nearby. What if something happens to Myra? But we've always come back, Irene. No matter how far we've gone away, we've always returned. The team manages to ease Irene's mind, but we have to tell her "we're home" next time we return. Selphie's gone to the woods, so there's a new dungeon there.
Inside the corpse of Darien is the Strata of Ages. Myra's Sapphire of Light will jump out from her body and guide us down here. Everyone's shocked such a place exists, but Leo's pretty sure an ancient civilization was once on this island. They had a time machine, so I think they're from the future. But what do I know about the Lufia lore? The mobs down here are pretty easy, but Doro's gonna need to use Poison Drop a lot. Especially on the new mobs. The dog things can heal, so focus them before the harpies. Eventually, we'll make it down to a familiar sight.
Leon is waiting for us. He grabs the Sapphire and combines it with his Sapphire of Darkness. All four crystals are now combined, but weren't we supposed to avoid that? Myra asks if Leon had anything to do with Olga, but he doesn't respond. She really hopes he's innocent. Leon, concerningly, challenges us to a fight. It's four-on-one, so we'll be fine. ...
If we end this in round one. An entire horde of mobs appears around our team. They get their go first and might murder you. Rather than confront Leon, have Myra retreat to the team and form a defensive line. Use the same tactics you've been using. Leon will hang back and buff, so don't worry. Even when he's the last enemy on the field, he still won't attack. After Myra Shot him, Leo even mentions that Leon didn't want to kill us. Leon states that he had nothing to do with Olga. He gives more clues that he knows who Myra really is. And then he joins the team. His goals will take him to the same place as Myra's. He also informed us Selphie fam down here and has continued on to the Brightsand Wasteland. Leon can learn all his moves, but you'll need to reset his. So he'll mass learn his spells...
... tomorrow!
Myra and Leonard have learned everything they can through leveling. This probably means I'm getting close to the end, which feels right. I hope we learn about Myra pretty soon.
As the title spoiled, Olga Town is under attack. There's only one mandatory battle here, outside the inn, but there are three in total. All of them have similar mobs and are quite hard. Dorothy has a point on my team, and that's to spam Poison Drop on the tanky guys. There are two to four of them in each area, so hope she can stay alive longer than one round. The train seemed the easiest, and the one outside the inn is tough because of the round limit. The shop fight sucks, but Star might be able to learn Poison Drop, but he kept dying in round one.
When you win, we can speak to Irene. She'll give us a note from Selphie, telling us she's gone somewhere to save the world. But Irene won't tell us where. She's in a state of shock from the attack and was already worried about her friend. Myra left without her, and our barmaid wants her bestie nearby. What if something happens to Myra? But we've always come back, Irene. No matter how far we've gone away, we've always returned. The team manages to ease Irene's mind, but we have to tell her "we're home" next time we return. Selphie's gone to the woods, so there's a new dungeon there.
Inside the corpse of Darien is the Strata of Ages. Myra's Sapphire of Light will jump out from her body and guide us down here. Everyone's shocked such a place exists, but Leo's pretty sure an ancient civilization was once on this island. They had a time machine, so I think they're from the future. But what do I know about the Lufia lore? The mobs down here are pretty easy, but Doro's gonna need to use Poison Drop a lot. Especially on the new mobs. The dog things can heal, so focus them before the harpies. Eventually, we'll make it down to a familiar sight.
Leon is waiting for us. He grabs the Sapphire and combines it with his Sapphire of Darkness. All four crystals are now combined, but weren't we supposed to avoid that? Myra asks if Leon had anything to do with Olga, but he doesn't respond. She really hopes he's innocent. Leon, concerningly, challenges us to a fight. It's four-on-one, so we'll be fine. ...
If we end this in round one. An entire horde of mobs appears around our team. They get their go first and might murder you. Rather than confront Leon, have Myra retreat to the team and form a defensive line. Use the same tactics you've been using. Leon will hang back and buff, so don't worry. Even when he's the last enemy on the field, he still won't attack. After Myra Shot him, Leo even mentions that Leon didn't want to kill us. Leon states that he had nothing to do with Olga. He gives more clues that he knows who Myra really is. And then he joins the team. His goals will take him to the same place as Myra's. He also informed us Selphie fam down here and has continued on to the Brightsand Wasteland. Leon can learn all his moves, but you'll need to reset his. So he'll mass learn his spells...
... tomorrow!
Myra and Leonard have learned everything they can through leveling. This probably means I'm getting close to the end, which feels right. I hope we learn about Myra pretty soon.
Tuesday, September 27, 2022
A reason for Dorothy?
But, before that, let's retread!
The basement under Limitz' house is much the same as before. The robots are stronger, or at least tankier... There is a new thing to do that doesn't have a point. in the future, we saw a random blue crystal. It did nothing then, but now it controls a robot. It shakes and moves. And then it disappears, and Dorothy complains of a tummy ache. Leo says that the control crystal made the robot teleport into Dorothy. We now have to take one teammate into Doro to kill the bots. I took Star, and the battle was easy. Dorothy is saved, and I'm left wondering what the point of it was?
We reach the SS defense system again, and the same scene as before happens. And then the same battle, but there are two additional cores. And then the same scene happens where we're kicked to the desert. As before, the skyscraper rises again, and we climb it again. But there's a new elevator to the top this time. Sadly, that tough battle is here again. AGAIN!
Fortunately, the strange machine Limitz stood on with Marion is empty. One of us realizes there's a door on it. Is this a time machine? Yes. The answer is yes. We get in and try to return home. But it stops.
Dorothy chooses to leave the safety of the time machine and jumps into a black void. We all wonder why the machine stopped until we're joined by a new character. A woman with purple hair fills us in about the crystals we've been dealing with. They were split up to prevent the end of the world, which I forgot we're supposed to be stopping. The four dark generals oppose us. So is Unalpeh the evil water avatar? Without telling us more information, she leaves. I thought she looked like Myra, so I have questions. We get back in the time machine and wind up elsewhere. Is this home?
Our available locations are vastly lowered, so I hope not. Start by heading to Limaly's House because she's related to the fire crystal. The first thing we see is that she's dead. Her gravestone is outside the house, so look around the inside. It's empty, but a man named Paris informs us what happened. Limaly was murdered. He runs off to the volcano, which isn't accessible from the construction site. We're somewhere between Marion and Myra. At the volcano, we see him open a secret switch, which we use to enter.
It's the same as before, so make your way to, and pass, the area we fought Parasite. En route, we see Paris and some demon looking fella, Orioles, talking about the weird statue I skipped before. I think this is the fire equivalent of Darien from day one. Ar the end of the road is where we see the birth of Parasite. The demon gives Paris the Topaz of Darkness, and he turns into General Parasite. Run away and survive the four round time limit. We're done with this time period, so return to the tiny machine and try again.
It works! The first place I head to is Limaly's house. The gravestone is there, but why doesn't Dorothy want to enter the house? We can talk to the old woman inside who tells us she's Limaly's mother (?). Limaly also had a daughter, but she ran off a while ago. Leave and go back in. Dorothy asks us to give the woman a letter that tells the reader, "she's okay." During both scenes, Doro is spying on us. It's pretty clear what's going on. I still don't know like Dorothy, but I'm open to the idea.
Head to Leo's house. If you skipped picking up the stuff in the desk in the past, the gear will be upgraded now. It's worth the trip. Leo's OP. After this, upgrade your stuff in Pioneer. Trust me.
Olga Town is empty, but we're glad to be back. Doro brings up Emilina, and we get confused between the two. Suddenly, Gulliver tells us the town is under attack. A woman enters the square and confirms the story before dying. It's more gas... But I'll take of this...
... tomorrow!
So how did Limitz get his crystal? Did Parasite go back in time to give it to him? What about Star's alien ghost? Time travel in video games rarely works, and this might be negative two points for Energy Breaker.
The basement under Limitz' house is much the same as before. The robots are stronger, or at least tankier... There is a new thing to do that doesn't have a point. in the future, we saw a random blue crystal. It did nothing then, but now it controls a robot. It shakes and moves. And then it disappears, and Dorothy complains of a tummy ache. Leo says that the control crystal made the robot teleport into Dorothy. We now have to take one teammate into Doro to kill the bots. I took Star, and the battle was easy. Dorothy is saved, and I'm left wondering what the point of it was?
We reach the SS defense system again, and the same scene as before happens. And then the same battle, but there are two additional cores. And then the same scene happens where we're kicked to the desert. As before, the skyscraper rises again, and we climb it again. But there's a new elevator to the top this time. Sadly, that tough battle is here again. AGAIN!
Fortunately, the strange machine Limitz stood on with Marion is empty. One of us realizes there's a door on it. Is this a time machine? Yes. The answer is yes. We get in and try to return home. But it stops.
Dorothy chooses to leave the safety of the time machine and jumps into a black void. We all wonder why the machine stopped until we're joined by a new character. A woman with purple hair fills us in about the crystals we've been dealing with. They were split up to prevent the end of the world, which I forgot we're supposed to be stopping. The four dark generals oppose us. So is Unalpeh the evil water avatar? Without telling us more information, she leaves. I thought she looked like Myra, so I have questions. We get back in the time machine and wind up elsewhere. Is this home?
Our available locations are vastly lowered, so I hope not. Start by heading to Limaly's House because she's related to the fire crystal. The first thing we see is that she's dead. Her gravestone is outside the house, so look around the inside. It's empty, but a man named Paris informs us what happened. Limaly was murdered. He runs off to the volcano, which isn't accessible from the construction site. We're somewhere between Marion and Myra. At the volcano, we see him open a secret switch, which we use to enter.
It's the same as before, so make your way to, and pass, the area we fought Parasite. En route, we see Paris and some demon looking fella, Orioles, talking about the weird statue I skipped before. I think this is the fire equivalent of Darien from day one. Ar the end of the road is where we see the birth of Parasite. The demon gives Paris the Topaz of Darkness, and he turns into General Parasite. Run away and survive the four round time limit. We're done with this time period, so return to the tiny machine and try again.
It works! The first place I head to is Limaly's house. The gravestone is there, but why doesn't Dorothy want to enter the house? We can talk to the old woman inside who tells us she's Limaly's mother (?). Limaly also had a daughter, but she ran off a while ago. Leave and go back in. Dorothy asks us to give the woman a letter that tells the reader, "she's okay." During both scenes, Doro is spying on us. It's pretty clear what's going on. I still don't know like Dorothy, but I'm open to the idea.
Head to Leo's house. If you skipped picking up the stuff in the desk in the past, the gear will be upgraded now. It's worth the trip. Leo's OP. After this, upgrade your stuff in Pioneer. Trust me.
Olga Town is empty, but we're glad to be back. Doro brings up Emilina, and we get confused between the two. Suddenly, Gulliver tells us the town is under attack. A woman enters the square and confirms the story before dying. It's more gas... But I'll take of this...
... tomorrow!
So how did Limitz get his crystal? Did Parasite go back in time to give it to him? What about Star's alien ghost? Time travel in video games rarely works, and this might be negative two points for Energy Breaker.
Monday, September 26, 2022
Jumping around the past.
We're gonna do a lot of hopping from place to place tonight. It's a lot of little scenes across several areas, so maybe I'll just do this.
Tonight we witness how Limitz turned evil. We also get a side mission about a little girl, who everyone thinks is a monster. There's an old man in front of the pub. He really hates this little girl and gives us the location of Limily's house. A boy is spying on her to see if the rumors are true. The first time we visit, nothing happens. The second, though, the boy demands to see her summon fire. This scares Limily, and three fire lizards show up. They're pretty weak, but Uselass still dies. Afterwards, the boy apologizes, and the two kids seem to form a friendship. He keeps spying on her, though. The old man gets more and more enraged as time passes, and he ends up disappearing...
At the clinic, where Oden Town eventually forms, young Leonard is sleeping off his broken leg. Elena is next to him, asking us not to disturb him.
At Limitz' house, we see young Star waiting for Marion. We'll find her where the train station eventually is built once Leo gets off his butt. Star wanted to give Marion the music box we heard earlier. She begins to sing as we enter Limitz' house. He crawls out of his basement and gets mad because we're breaking and entering. Fair. He's also annoyed that kids keep coming to his house to make out. Everyone thinks this house is abandoned, but it's not. Limitz wants to show off his new invention, Gulliver, and rushes to the clinic after scolding Star and Marion.
Everyone there thinks Gulliver is cool, especially Elena. Her affection makes Limitz uncomfortable, so he rushes back home. We see him pulling out another new invention, which we'll later learn is a camera. It's here we see the photo that we saw on old Leo's desk.
Sadly, it's the last thing Elena ever does. The excitement causes her to collapse. By the time a nurse gets here, Elena is dead. Limitz becomes enraged, and Leo starts to mourn. Head back to Pioneer Town, and Emilina will let us stay for free. We'll wake up shortly after because of an explosion from Limitz' house.
Limitz' house is gone, he's in his orange armor, and he's talking to Star. Marion isn't here. Suddenly, Parasite shows up and wonders how we're here. He assumes time travel. Para and Doro have a moment before we're attacked. The goal is to survive four rounds and keep young Star alive. We also need to make sure good Limitz doesn't die until the end. He can die in round four but not before. Regardless of when it happens, Parasite manages to take old Limitz somewhere else, which is probably how Limitz became evil.
After, our Star teaches young Star that he's a monster who can shapeshift.
Head to Leo's, and we'll see Gulliver is looking for him. Leo isn't here, though. We'll find him at the bar. Young Star shows up to become friends with Emilina and start a gold rush in the desert. Return to Leo's to see where he and Gulliver become besties. The topic of revival comes up, and we're off to the Waterfall of Wishes again. The drill works, and we make our way into the water fairy, Unaleph. Young Leo begs for the wish maker to revive Elena, but it'll cost a life. Leo can't accept that, so our Leo offers his Sapphire of Light. Unaleph takes it and combines it with her Sapphire of Darkness. She levels up twice. It sorta works. Una can't revive the girl, but she'll watch over her corpse for all eternity. She then tells young Leo about the Resurrection Flower. Leo runs off to find it after giving us his desk key.
Return to his house and open the desk. Only take Limitz' Key. Head to the remains of Limitz' house, open the door, and wait until I go down there...
... tomorrow!
How did Star get his powers? I also skipped so, so much. As I said, there's a lot of jumping around tonight, and a lot got lost in the monotony. The important bits are there. Also, also, how are the Emilinas related?
Tonight we witness how Limitz turned evil. We also get a side mission about a little girl, who everyone thinks is a monster. There's an old man in front of the pub. He really hates this little girl and gives us the location of Limily's house. A boy is spying on her to see if the rumors are true. The first time we visit, nothing happens. The second, though, the boy demands to see her summon fire. This scares Limily, and three fire lizards show up. They're pretty weak, but Uselass still dies. Afterwards, the boy apologizes, and the two kids seem to form a friendship. He keeps spying on her, though. The old man gets more and more enraged as time passes, and he ends up disappearing...
At the clinic, where Oden Town eventually forms, young Leonard is sleeping off his broken leg. Elena is next to him, asking us not to disturb him.
At Limitz' house, we see young Star waiting for Marion. We'll find her where the train station eventually is built once Leo gets off his butt. Star wanted to give Marion the music box we heard earlier. She begins to sing as we enter Limitz' house. He crawls out of his basement and gets mad because we're breaking and entering. Fair. He's also annoyed that kids keep coming to his house to make out. Everyone thinks this house is abandoned, but it's not. Limitz wants to show off his new invention, Gulliver, and rushes to the clinic after scolding Star and Marion.
Everyone there thinks Gulliver is cool, especially Elena. Her affection makes Limitz uncomfortable, so he rushes back home. We see him pulling out another new invention, which we'll later learn is a camera. It's here we see the photo that we saw on old Leo's desk.
Sadly, it's the last thing Elena ever does. The excitement causes her to collapse. By the time a nurse gets here, Elena is dead. Limitz becomes enraged, and Leo starts to mourn. Head back to Pioneer Town, and Emilina will let us stay for free. We'll wake up shortly after because of an explosion from Limitz' house.
Limitz' house is gone, he's in his orange armor, and he's talking to Star. Marion isn't here. Suddenly, Parasite shows up and wonders how we're here. He assumes time travel. Para and Doro have a moment before we're attacked. The goal is to survive four rounds and keep young Star alive. We also need to make sure good Limitz doesn't die until the end. He can die in round four but not before. Regardless of when it happens, Parasite manages to take old Limitz somewhere else, which is probably how Limitz became evil.
After, our Star teaches young Star that he's a monster who can shapeshift.
Head to Leo's, and we'll see Gulliver is looking for him. Leo isn't here, though. We'll find him at the bar. Young Star shows up to become friends with Emilina and start a gold rush in the desert. Return to Leo's to see where he and Gulliver become besties. The topic of revival comes up, and we're off to the Waterfall of Wishes again. The drill works, and we make our way into the water fairy, Unaleph. Young Leo begs for the wish maker to revive Elena, but it'll cost a life. Leo can't accept that, so our Leo offers his Sapphire of Light. Unaleph takes it and combines it with her Sapphire of Darkness. She levels up twice. It sorta works. Una can't revive the girl, but she'll watch over her corpse for all eternity. She then tells young Leo about the Resurrection Flower. Leo runs off to find it after giving us his desk key.
Return to his house and open the desk. Only take Limitz' Key. Head to the remains of Limitz' house, open the door, and wait until I go down there...
... tomorrow!
How did Star get his powers? I also skipped so, so much. As I said, there's a lot of jumping around tonight, and a lot got lost in the monotony. The important bits are there. Also, also, how are the Emilinas related?
Sunday, September 25, 2022
The factory.
I hate Dorothy.
The factory is a massive, futuristic structure. No matter how you reach the second room, we'll see a congregation of Gullivers. They're all different colors, but the strangest thing is Star. He starts having an argument with himself after he calls everyone dumb. It seems more than just an inner monologue that's audible; almost like he's talking to someone. When confronted, he just says it's a bad habit, and we carry on. We'll never know if Limitz made these Gullivers.
The rest of the dungeon is a straightforward path where we have to beat up a lot of robots. They, too, hate Dorothy, so she'll be thrust into the role of tank. Good luck getting her exp, even if she attacks. Ultimately, they're not too hard. Try to use AoE if you can, but Shot works well enough. Myra's does, at least. At the end of the road is a security node. It asks for a pin code, but we don't know any. Doro suggests a bobby pin, but that takes too much time. The security alert goes off, and we're in a pickle.
All we have to do is kill the SS System. It's flanked by two CPU cores that attack in a line in front of them. The problem is they have incredibly high defense. Star and Uselass are lucky to do two damage, and Leo and Myra barely reach ten. What's worse is reinforcements arrive every turn. There's also no avoiding the SS's only attack. It hits the entire arena. Ignore the side ads unless you're using Myra's Scatterlight. Focus on the target and ignore everything else. Leonard survived with a handful of HP at the end and down to his last AP. The security system warns it's malfunctioning, and everyone should escape ASAP. We don't do that, so we get sent somewhere.
Our friends wake up Myra, and we see we're in the desert. There's a strange building nearby and some ruins. Head south first to collect the treasures, then head north. A massive skyscraper will rise from the sands before us, and Leo gets more confused. Either way, that's our destination. But you can return to town if you want to.
The Tower is pretty lax on story, but there're plenty of treasures in these advanced halls. All we get for the plot is in the form of the music. Stat tells us he can hear Merion singing her song. Myra marvels at all the wires and strange energy as we make our way up via talking elevators that are bad at math. Along the way, we'll fight mobs that are similar to the ones beneath Limitz' house. Be wary of the blue guys. They're super tanky, and Doro still sucks. It was the fourth battle that nearly ruined me when two of them showed up as reinforcements. On the room behind that, though...
Limitz is waiting for us. He's regained his senses from the train incident, but he's still evil. We don't get any reason why because there's a woman next to him. Stat SHOULD know who this is because it's his love, Marion! Limitz has cursed her in the same way he did to Star. Limitz even brainwashed her to be his slave. Stat tries to show off his gem, which is instantly stolen by his girlfriend. As Parasite did last night, Limitz combines it with his Gem of Darkness. He, too, levels up three times. As thanks, he attacks us. Myra "one shotted" this battle. And then we learn the plan! Limitz highjacked the train because he wanted to do some time traveling. The train was too slow, but falling from this building should be fast enough. He and Meryl disappear as the skyscraper shakes.
We wake up in the Golden Desert still. After a while, Star starts yelling at himself again. This time, he explains, and it turns out he's possessed by an alien ghost. Okay... A shadow flies overhead, making a loud buzzing. An airplane? From behind us comes some dude who looks familiar. He asks if we saw anything, and Myra gets an attitude for some reason. We hear a loud bang, and the nan run after it. Leo tells us this is a young Limitz. Did his time travel work? We follow him to see a young Leo crawling out of a downed plane he flew. His leg is broken, and Limitz tries to get him to a doctor. Myra still has an attitude... We can explore the desert again, but there's not much here. As we leave, we have the option to help someone. He'll tell us monsters tool his tools, and a battle begins. It's pretty easy, and it'll open up the item shop in Pioneer Town. I head there, save, and call it a night. We'll learn more about the past...
... tomorrow!
Somewhat ironic, I guess. As soon as I get back to easier dungeons, I need to level up Dorothy. She's so pathetic she can barely move after the first round.
The factory is a massive, futuristic structure. No matter how you reach the second room, we'll see a congregation of Gullivers. They're all different colors, but the strangest thing is Star. He starts having an argument with himself after he calls everyone dumb. It seems more than just an inner monologue that's audible; almost like he's talking to someone. When confronted, he just says it's a bad habit, and we carry on. We'll never know if Limitz made these Gullivers.
The rest of the dungeon is a straightforward path where we have to beat up a lot of robots. They, too, hate Dorothy, so she'll be thrust into the role of tank. Good luck getting her exp, even if she attacks. Ultimately, they're not too hard. Try to use AoE if you can, but Shot works well enough. Myra's does, at least. At the end of the road is a security node. It asks for a pin code, but we don't know any. Doro suggests a bobby pin, but that takes too much time. The security alert goes off, and we're in a pickle.
All we have to do is kill the SS System. It's flanked by two CPU cores that attack in a line in front of them. The problem is they have incredibly high defense. Star and Uselass are lucky to do two damage, and Leo and Myra barely reach ten. What's worse is reinforcements arrive every turn. There's also no avoiding the SS's only attack. It hits the entire arena. Ignore the side ads unless you're using Myra's Scatterlight. Focus on the target and ignore everything else. Leonard survived with a handful of HP at the end and down to his last AP. The security system warns it's malfunctioning, and everyone should escape ASAP. We don't do that, so we get sent somewhere.
Our friends wake up Myra, and we see we're in the desert. There's a strange building nearby and some ruins. Head south first to collect the treasures, then head north. A massive skyscraper will rise from the sands before us, and Leo gets more confused. Either way, that's our destination. But you can return to town if you want to.
The Tower is pretty lax on story, but there're plenty of treasures in these advanced halls. All we get for the plot is in the form of the music. Stat tells us he can hear Merion singing her song. Myra marvels at all the wires and strange energy as we make our way up via talking elevators that are bad at math. Along the way, we'll fight mobs that are similar to the ones beneath Limitz' house. Be wary of the blue guys. They're super tanky, and Doro still sucks. It was the fourth battle that nearly ruined me when two of them showed up as reinforcements. On the room behind that, though...
Limitz is waiting for us. He's regained his senses from the train incident, but he's still evil. We don't get any reason why because there's a woman next to him. Stat SHOULD know who this is because it's his love, Marion! Limitz has cursed her in the same way he did to Star. Limitz even brainwashed her to be his slave. Stat tries to show off his gem, which is instantly stolen by his girlfriend. As Parasite did last night, Limitz combines it with his Gem of Darkness. He, too, levels up three times. As thanks, he attacks us. Myra "one shotted" this battle. And then we learn the plan! Limitz highjacked the train because he wanted to do some time traveling. The train was too slow, but falling from this building should be fast enough. He and Meryl disappear as the skyscraper shakes.
We wake up in the Golden Desert still. After a while, Star starts yelling at himself again. This time, he explains, and it turns out he's possessed by an alien ghost. Okay... A shadow flies overhead, making a loud buzzing. An airplane? From behind us comes some dude who looks familiar. He asks if we saw anything, and Myra gets an attitude for some reason. We hear a loud bang, and the nan run after it. Leo tells us this is a young Limitz. Did his time travel work? We follow him to see a young Leo crawling out of a downed plane he flew. His leg is broken, and Limitz tries to get him to a doctor. Myra still has an attitude... We can explore the desert again, but there's not much here. As we leave, we have the option to help someone. He'll tell us monsters tool his tools, and a battle begins. It's pretty easy, and it'll open up the item shop in Pioneer Town. I head there, save, and call it a night. We'll learn more about the past...
... tomorrow!
Somewhat ironic, I guess. As soon as I get back to easier dungeons, I need to level up Dorothy. She's so pathetic she can barely move after the first round.
Saturday, September 24, 2022
Party's all here?
I think I understand the elements now. I'm gonna spend a lot of time in the menu.
So it's off to a volcano! It's blocked by rubble, so it's back to Olga Town! With nothing to do at the moment, we all go to bed. En route, Star hits on Irene (not Eline), and then there are some awkward scenes about two men sharing a bed with one girl. You can hit on Leonard if you want, but I made a scene, and Irene kicked the old man out. Myra went to bed but got woken up by Leo in the morning. He hands us a note from Star that says he's gone to find something about Meryl. He has our stuff, so I'm gonna find him.
There are a few NPCs around town who speak of an accident at the nearby construction site. Apparently, it's haunted by a woman. It's a JRPG, so that ghost woman is probably related to a party member. Like Star! Head there, and we'll get to hear the best song so far. It's really saying something because the OST is really good. In the second room is Star, staring at a music box. He says it's the same one that Meryl had. After some words between friends, he apologizes for being an edgy loner and joins the team. For real this time, probably. As we entered the site, some of the workers spoke of a girl who went inside. The path is straightforward, and there's only one battle. Shot seems overpowered in this game, so make sure Star beats a fire snake to learn it. A little further down the path is our old friend, Parasite.
Parasite's a guy, by the way. He's arguing with a little girl about her dragon. Each of them wants it, and the dragon seems more interested in the girl. We instinctively know her as Dorothy. A humerus scene where we learn Myra is twenty one happens, but all four of us bond over our gems. Myra shows Dorothy what should be hers, but Parasite steals it. He whips out his Fire Crystal and melds the two together. Parry gains several levels from it, and he plans to thank us for the newfound strength by killing us. He summons a bunch of friends, and I learn I'm OP.
I took out most of the ads in round one with my space based AoE magic. This is good because Parasite killed Myra in one hit the next turn. Leo barely survived, so make sure Dorothy stays away from this battle. We lose if she falls. Honestly, I think you have to use AoE, or else you'll probably die. Focus the mobs because Para is immune to damage. I think he heals. Once the rabble is down, we'll mock the Flame General for having bad friends, and he gets mad. He attacks us with a massive fire attack but misses. It does cause the volcano we're apparently in to become active, and the bridge between us falls. The dragon returns to the scene, and Dorothy and Parasitic argue over who owns it. Dorothy wins out by naming it Pygma, and Parasite gets upset again. He tries to kill Dorothy, but Gulliver protects her, costing him his life. Para leaves because he's impatient.
Myra and Star mourn our useless friend, but Leo is unmoved. Everyone's mad at him, but Dorothy realizes he can just rebuild him. We all head back to Leo's house. While he works on Gully, we learn about Dorothy. Do this first rather than level her up. Gulliver is key to using Leonard's magic. Without him, Leo's much weaker.
Doro's family is dead, but I don't remember why. She's had a run in with Leon, and I think he saved her from what made her an orphan. She's good friends with Emily and asks how she is. I told her she was feeling down. Leo enters with bad news. He can't fix Gulliver because he didn't make him. Limitz did, so he has the blueprints. Fortunately, he's a neighbor.
Or he was before his house got flattened. Star wonders if he was the cause of the house being destroyed. Just like Leo, Limitz was a "creep in a basement." We'll split up to find the blueprints, which are easy to find. Leo repairs his mobile turret but notices something strange. The set of stairs down is a new addition. Headings down takes us to a futuristic factory that's far beyond what this planet can construct, especially in secret. It's piqued Leo's interest, so we'll explore the future...
... tomorrow!
Once you get passed the barrier of entry, Energy Breaker is a lot of fun. I wish I wasn't writing about it, though. Lots of story in a short timeframe.
So it's off to a volcano! It's blocked by rubble, so it's back to Olga Town! With nothing to do at the moment, we all go to bed. En route, Star hits on Irene (not Eline), and then there are some awkward scenes about two men sharing a bed with one girl. You can hit on Leonard if you want, but I made a scene, and Irene kicked the old man out. Myra went to bed but got woken up by Leo in the morning. He hands us a note from Star that says he's gone to find something about Meryl. He has our stuff, so I'm gonna find him.
There are a few NPCs around town who speak of an accident at the nearby construction site. Apparently, it's haunted by a woman. It's a JRPG, so that ghost woman is probably related to a party member. Like Star! Head there, and we'll get to hear the best song so far. It's really saying something because the OST is really good. In the second room is Star, staring at a music box. He says it's the same one that Meryl had. After some words between friends, he apologizes for being an edgy loner and joins the team. For real this time, probably. As we entered the site, some of the workers spoke of a girl who went inside. The path is straightforward, and there's only one battle. Shot seems overpowered in this game, so make sure Star beats a fire snake to learn it. A little further down the path is our old friend, Parasite.
Parasite's a guy, by the way. He's arguing with a little girl about her dragon. Each of them wants it, and the dragon seems more interested in the girl. We instinctively know her as Dorothy. A humerus scene where we learn Myra is twenty one happens, but all four of us bond over our gems. Myra shows Dorothy what should be hers, but Parasite steals it. He whips out his Fire Crystal and melds the two together. Parry gains several levels from it, and he plans to thank us for the newfound strength by killing us. He summons a bunch of friends, and I learn I'm OP.
I took out most of the ads in round one with my space based AoE magic. This is good because Parasite killed Myra in one hit the next turn. Leo barely survived, so make sure Dorothy stays away from this battle. We lose if she falls. Honestly, I think you have to use AoE, or else you'll probably die. Focus the mobs because Para is immune to damage. I think he heals. Once the rabble is down, we'll mock the Flame General for having bad friends, and he gets mad. He attacks us with a massive fire attack but misses. It does cause the volcano we're apparently in to become active, and the bridge between us falls. The dragon returns to the scene, and Dorothy and Parasitic argue over who owns it. Dorothy wins out by naming it Pygma, and Parasite gets upset again. He tries to kill Dorothy, but Gulliver protects her, costing him his life. Para leaves because he's impatient.
Myra and Star mourn our useless friend, but Leo is unmoved. Everyone's mad at him, but Dorothy realizes he can just rebuild him. We all head back to Leo's house. While he works on Gully, we learn about Dorothy. Do this first rather than level her up. Gulliver is key to using Leonard's magic. Without him, Leo's much weaker.
Doro's family is dead, but I don't remember why. She's had a run in with Leon, and I think he saved her from what made her an orphan. She's good friends with Emily and asks how she is. I told her she was feeling down. Leo enters with bad news. He can't fix Gulliver because he didn't make him. Limitz did, so he has the blueprints. Fortunately, he's a neighbor.
Or he was before his house got flattened. Star wonders if he was the cause of the house being destroyed. Just like Leo, Limitz was a "creep in a basement." We'll split up to find the blueprints, which are easy to find. Leo repairs his mobile turret but notices something strange. The set of stairs down is a new addition. Headings down takes us to a futuristic factory that's far beyond what this planet can construct, especially in secret. It's piqued Leo's interest, so we'll explore the future...
... tomorrow!
Once you get passed the barrier of entry, Energy Breaker is a lot of fun. I wish I wasn't writing about it, though. Lots of story in a short timeframe.
Friday, September 23, 2022
I almost quit...
...I still might.
We all head into Leonard's bunker, and something odd happens. Leo interacts with a computer, and it seems to be more than just common, modern AI. He calls it Ellon (I think, but I'm terrible with names) and starts to feel remorseful. He asks Myra and Star to hang out in his bedroom, so we can meet our new party member. Star is looking for a woman, as well, named Marion. He appears to be a young man, but he's actually as old as Leo. It's "thanks" to the nano tech that he appears young. The two talk about how Marion has probably outaged Star if she's still alive. A strange painting draws our attention as Leo enters. They ask the doctor what this is, and he says it's not a painting. It's a full colored photograph. It's a young, blue haired Leonard and Ellon. There's also the man who attacked us, Limitz. Leo continues by saying Limitz is who cursed Star. Somehow, an old letter is brought up. Star has one, but it's been missing a part of it. Leo just so happens to have the second portion of it. There's a third piece somewhere that Leo tore off long ago. It's a message to Limitz from Ellon, and it tells us how to reach her. Remember the second part. It's a magic spell! So we're heading to the Waterfall of Wishes. I lost my Resurrection Flower somehow, so head back to the creepy larvae.
There's a strange machine just outside because Leo tried to force his way in. It failed. Myra is tasked with speaking the magic spell, and you have to choose from three sentences four times. If you mess up, you have to restart. If you get it right, the waterfall stops, and a new path is made inside. As we get in, we're attacked by starfish! This is Star's first battle, and he kinda sucks. While getting a new flower, I upgraded everyone's gear, but Star does barely any damage with his attacks. But he doesn't know any spells...
Look around the area and head downwards first. In a few rooms, Star will leave the party. He wants to look for something on his own, so it's just the two of us for a moment. Save before venturing on. In the next room is the battle that nearly made me quit. We're attacked by four mobs, all variations of frogs, with different attack patterns. They'll start far away from you, but the big frogs attack with magic from afar. By the time Myra gets there, she'll barely have any LP to attack, and the other two frogs will attack her. It's four on one, and she'll lose. Only do this fight with range! But I don't understand how to learn magic!
You need to put negative points into your element grid. To do this, press Y when you level up. This lets you obtain "dark" energy. Leveling up a few times and using a few Dark Stones, I managed to teach Myra Shot. Her's is different from Leo's, which is super rad! Spamming Shot from both characters will make quick work of our frog problem. Getting there is awful, but it's simple once you're here. As we try to leave, a pink demon attacks us. It pushes us back, but Star backstabs him with his weird tentacle hands. He warned us that he's strange before the first part, but it gets stranger. Another demon shows up, and Star transforms into it. Not only is he immortal, but he can transform into mobs. This is how he learns new spells, so have him kill a lot of riffraff. He still needs the elementary distribution, but at least we can see them.
Keep exploring, and head down before going up. Up takes us to the River Temple, but our goal is outside it. Frozen in stone is Ellon. While Leo sets things up, Myra enters the temple. There's a woman with a strange name from the spell in here. She knows both Leo and Star but speaks on prophecies to us. We hear a scream from outside and get there in time to see Leon. He's our adversary and wants to kill what remains of Ellon. He still feels remorse for what he did in Pioneer Town and blames the magic lady, too. Was she the third person in that cutscene? There are too many blue haired people on the game! We manage to convince him to back down, but I couldn't figure out anything he meant. Then I got lost. Myra seems into him, though. The magic lady wants to test us for Ellon's sake, so she summons three guys. Make sure Star kills to snake lady to learn heal and spam Shot. We'll win, but she warns us that something bad might happen to Ellon. Leo thinks she's in a worse position now between life and death. Return to Leo's house so he can speak to his computer. Ellon is a bit more sentient than before, but she's tired. Leo instructs her to sleep ( and I don't feel right.
Heading back to town, Selphe is waiting for us. We introduce her to Star, who's a womanizer. Importantly, he may have the Earth Crystal, but it's not his. He's holding it for another girl. But we have the Topaz of Light without a proper owner. Selphie wonders where Dorothy is, so she does some scrying. Doro's in a volcano, so we'll head there...
... tomorrow!
The magic mechanic kinda sucks, but I'm too curious about all these characters to quit now. I'm glad I figured it out, even if I'm still confused. By level fifty, though, I'm sure it won't matter.
We all head into Leonard's bunker, and something odd happens. Leo interacts with a computer, and it seems to be more than just common, modern AI. He calls it Ellon (I think, but I'm terrible with names) and starts to feel remorseful. He asks Myra and Star to hang out in his bedroom, so we can meet our new party member. Star is looking for a woman, as well, named Marion. He appears to be a young man, but he's actually as old as Leo. It's "thanks" to the nano tech that he appears young. The two talk about how Marion has probably outaged Star if she's still alive. A strange painting draws our attention as Leo enters. They ask the doctor what this is, and he says it's not a painting. It's a full colored photograph. It's a young, blue haired Leonard and Ellon. There's also the man who attacked us, Limitz. Leo continues by saying Limitz is who cursed Star. Somehow, an old letter is brought up. Star has one, but it's been missing a part of it. Leo just so happens to have the second portion of it. There's a third piece somewhere that Leo tore off long ago. It's a message to Limitz from Ellon, and it tells us how to reach her. Remember the second part. It's a magic spell! So we're heading to the Waterfall of Wishes. I lost my Resurrection Flower somehow, so head back to the creepy larvae.
There's a strange machine just outside because Leo tried to force his way in. It failed. Myra is tasked with speaking the magic spell, and you have to choose from three sentences four times. If you mess up, you have to restart. If you get it right, the waterfall stops, and a new path is made inside. As we get in, we're attacked by starfish! This is Star's first battle, and he kinda sucks. While getting a new flower, I upgraded everyone's gear, but Star does barely any damage with his attacks. But he doesn't know any spells...
Look around the area and head downwards first. In a few rooms, Star will leave the party. He wants to look for something on his own, so it's just the two of us for a moment. Save before venturing on. In the next room is the battle that nearly made me quit. We're attacked by four mobs, all variations of frogs, with different attack patterns. They'll start far away from you, but the big frogs attack with magic from afar. By the time Myra gets there, she'll barely have any LP to attack, and the other two frogs will attack her. It's four on one, and she'll lose. Only do this fight with range! But I don't understand how to learn magic!
You need to put negative points into your element grid. To do this, press Y when you level up. This lets you obtain "dark" energy. Leveling up a few times and using a few Dark Stones, I managed to teach Myra Shot. Her's is different from Leo's, which is super rad! Spamming Shot from both characters will make quick work of our frog problem. Getting there is awful, but it's simple once you're here. As we try to leave, a pink demon attacks us. It pushes us back, but Star backstabs him with his weird tentacle hands. He warned us that he's strange before the first part, but it gets stranger. Another demon shows up, and Star transforms into it. Not only is he immortal, but he can transform into mobs. This is how he learns new spells, so have him kill a lot of riffraff. He still needs the elementary distribution, but at least we can see them.
Keep exploring, and head down before going up. Up takes us to the River Temple, but our goal is outside it. Frozen in stone is Ellon. While Leo sets things up, Myra enters the temple. There's a woman with a strange name from the spell in here. She knows both Leo and Star but speaks on prophecies to us. We hear a scream from outside and get there in time to see Leon. He's our adversary and wants to kill what remains of Ellon. He still feels remorse for what he did in Pioneer Town and blames the magic lady, too. Was she the third person in that cutscene? There are too many blue haired people on the game! We manage to convince him to back down, but I couldn't figure out anything he meant. Then I got lost. Myra seems into him, though. The magic lady wants to test us for Ellon's sake, so she summons three guys. Make sure Star kills to snake lady to learn heal and spam Shot. We'll win, but she warns us that something bad might happen to Ellon. Leo thinks she's in a worse position now between life and death. Return to Leo's house so he can speak to his computer. Ellon is a bit more sentient than before, but she's tired. Leo instructs her to sleep ( and I don't feel right.
Heading back to town, Selphe is waiting for us. We introduce her to Star, who's a womanizer. Importantly, he may have the Earth Crystal, but it's not his. He's holding it for another girl. But we have the Topaz of Light without a proper owner. Selphie wonders where Dorothy is, so she does some scrying. Doro's in a volcano, so we'll head there...
... tomorrow!
The magic mechanic kinda sucks, but I'm too curious about all these characters to quit now. I'm glad I figured it out, even if I'm still confused. By level fifty, though, I'm sure it won't matter.
Thursday, September 22, 2022
Not who we thought...
But first, a choo-choo!
Eline is sad we're leaving her, but we'll be back. This upcoming train ride takes us to Pioneer Town, but we don't need it to return. And she collects rocks, so we'll meet again.
As we get near the train, Leonard panics. He says he forgot something and leaves. The train's about to leave, though, so something's amiss here. Doing what she's told, Myra boards the train. It starts to go, so I guess we're alone again. Go ahead a talk to everyone on board. I'm sure it's fun, but I didn't. I immediately walk backwards to see Leo and Gulliver standing there. When did they get on? Myra tries to grill Leo, but he feigns dementia. Suddenly, the train stops. Speaking to Leo again will cause it to restart, but it's going too fast. We're either going to explode or run off the tracks. We take it upon ourselves to save the day. The other passengers tell us a girl started walking to the engine...
Along the way, we're attacked. The goal of both of these fights is to reach the otherside, which may be wise. The mobs are pretty tanky, and the term limits ate restrictive. If you've got a lot of magic and power, it might be doable. Regardless of how you end, you'll get to explore the compartment, but a pink demon tries to stop us. Leo tells Gulliver to stop him, and he does a good job. Eventually, we'll reach the engine. The girl is acting strange. Gulliver was pushed back, but the demon didn't follow. After he beeps, the girl does too. She's a robot?! From out of nowhere comes a voice that Leo recognizes. A man in gold armor teleports in and says he's going to do something evil. This doesn't go anywhere because Leo calls out for "Liimitz." Gulliver calls him "master." Limitz has no clue who either of these people are, but it causes him to flee, leaving us alone with the girlbot.
Myra's gonna get punched a lot. I has her healing the whole fight while Leo used Shot, a fire element spell. Why is Gulliver here? I did manage to get a few attacks with our MC but play this defensively, and you'll be fine. We wonder who that guy was, but we need to stop the train first. The conducted will exit the engine room and let us in. There's a convenient note on how to stop the train and use the newly constructed crazy train machine. Pull the outside levers and push the button. The train slows down, and we'll save the day!
...or...
Three people teleport into a wild western town. One of them causes gas to spread while someone peaks out from the bar. Two of them leave, but the other one looks like Leon. The camera cuts around town as we see the bodies of the townsfolk fall. The train arrives, and we begin to explore. I thought everyone got sick, but I'd be wrong. We pass by the dead bodies of the inhabitants. There is one survivor who asks us to give her granddaughter a Pretty Brooch. Carry on into the tavern. Leon is here, and we ask what happened. He takes the blame for doing this. He's vague and cagey again, but the topic is dropped when the bodies in the bar turn into zombies. Myra convinces Leon to join the battle by asking if he has any remorse.
The zombies are a bit tough but nothing too bad with three people. Leon can learn two moves if you use him, but I tried not to. I remembered how last night went, so I took off his items and had him sit in a corner. After the battle, a bookcase opens downstairs. We leave the genocidal Leon here and investigate the bowls. We see a little girl and her dog, Barkly, are all alone. She tries to get her dog to attack us, thinking we're with the people who killed her parents. Fortunately, Barkly knows we're cool. That comes crashing down when Leon joins us. She panics, he leaves, and we talk to him.
So Leon's evil. Also, our dream last night wasn't a dream. He poofs away as an earthquake shakes the town, and we hear the girl, Emilina, scream. The quake caused a sub basement to appear, so head down. While there, we're attacked by two blobmen. They really hate Myra, and she's weak here. I still don't have any attack magic for her, so keep her on heal duty. Leo's Shot wasn't much better, though. The only way to damage these guys is with Barkly's attacks. Keep him alive, be his tank, and you'll win. Myra died here, and Leo barely survived. What's the point of Gulliver? We'll escort Emilina out of town, but she won't join us. She hands over her Ruby of Light. Myra knows this makes her a chosen hero, but Emy doesn't want it. She says Ruby wants to go back to her friend, Dorothy. She then leaves to find her family, and we head to Leonard's house.
As we get near, Gulliver warns us a thermal reading is coming from inside. The house is set ablaze, explodes, and a woman and dead man are all that remain. She introduces herself as Parasite and says she's come to kill Leo. She sicks her fire worms on us.
Leon shows up to force Parasite to retreat in round two. He say something about a pope, and both leave, but it hardly changes the battle. It's still just as hard. The worms attack from range with a fire spell, so positioning doesn't mean anything. Leo died early on, and Myra survived with two HP. What makes this hard is how spread out our team is. Don't line up on the single path up the hill like I did. Why is Gulliver here?
We'll then turn our sights on the dead guy. He's still alive, so Leo wants us to help him. There are some responses that kinda kill the mood, so try to use any healing pots or berries. As we do, the man gets up. He has nano healing technology and has died before, so this is not a big deal to him. This is Star. He has the Topaz of Light, and he's come to visit the doctor. Without referencing his exploded house, he opens a vault door on the floor, and the men enter. I save, so we'll learn about Star...
... tomorrow!
I really don't undertake the elemental system. How do I go negative?
Eline is sad we're leaving her, but we'll be back. This upcoming train ride takes us to Pioneer Town, but we don't need it to return. And she collects rocks, so we'll meet again.
As we get near the train, Leonard panics. He says he forgot something and leaves. The train's about to leave, though, so something's amiss here. Doing what she's told, Myra boards the train. It starts to go, so I guess we're alone again. Go ahead a talk to everyone on board. I'm sure it's fun, but I didn't. I immediately walk backwards to see Leo and Gulliver standing there. When did they get on? Myra tries to grill Leo, but he feigns dementia. Suddenly, the train stops. Speaking to Leo again will cause it to restart, but it's going too fast. We're either going to explode or run off the tracks. We take it upon ourselves to save the day. The other passengers tell us a girl started walking to the engine...
Along the way, we're attacked. The goal of both of these fights is to reach the otherside, which may be wise. The mobs are pretty tanky, and the term limits ate restrictive. If you've got a lot of magic and power, it might be doable. Regardless of how you end, you'll get to explore the compartment, but a pink demon tries to stop us. Leo tells Gulliver to stop him, and he does a good job. Eventually, we'll reach the engine. The girl is acting strange. Gulliver was pushed back, but the demon didn't follow. After he beeps, the girl does too. She's a robot?! From out of nowhere comes a voice that Leo recognizes. A man in gold armor teleports in and says he's going to do something evil. This doesn't go anywhere because Leo calls out for "Liimitz." Gulliver calls him "master." Limitz has no clue who either of these people are, but it causes him to flee, leaving us alone with the girlbot.
Myra's gonna get punched a lot. I has her healing the whole fight while Leo used Shot, a fire element spell. Why is Gulliver here? I did manage to get a few attacks with our MC but play this defensively, and you'll be fine. We wonder who that guy was, but we need to stop the train first. The conducted will exit the engine room and let us in. There's a convenient note on how to stop the train and use the newly constructed crazy train machine. Pull the outside levers and push the button. The train slows down, and we'll save the day!
...or...
Three people teleport into a wild western town. One of them causes gas to spread while someone peaks out from the bar. Two of them leave, but the other one looks like Leon. The camera cuts around town as we see the bodies of the townsfolk fall. The train arrives, and we begin to explore. I thought everyone got sick, but I'd be wrong. We pass by the dead bodies of the inhabitants. There is one survivor who asks us to give her granddaughter a Pretty Brooch. Carry on into the tavern. Leon is here, and we ask what happened. He takes the blame for doing this. He's vague and cagey again, but the topic is dropped when the bodies in the bar turn into zombies. Myra convinces Leon to join the battle by asking if he has any remorse.
The zombies are a bit tough but nothing too bad with three people. Leon can learn two moves if you use him, but I tried not to. I remembered how last night went, so I took off his items and had him sit in a corner. After the battle, a bookcase opens downstairs. We leave the genocidal Leon here and investigate the bowls. We see a little girl and her dog, Barkly, are all alone. She tries to get her dog to attack us, thinking we're with the people who killed her parents. Fortunately, Barkly knows we're cool. That comes crashing down when Leon joins us. She panics, he leaves, and we talk to him.
So Leon's evil. Also, our dream last night wasn't a dream. He poofs away as an earthquake shakes the town, and we hear the girl, Emilina, scream. The quake caused a sub basement to appear, so head down. While there, we're attacked by two blobmen. They really hate Myra, and she's weak here. I still don't have any attack magic for her, so keep her on heal duty. Leo's Shot wasn't much better, though. The only way to damage these guys is with Barkly's attacks. Keep him alive, be his tank, and you'll win. Myra died here, and Leo barely survived. What's the point of Gulliver? We'll escort Emilina out of town, but she won't join us. She hands over her Ruby of Light. Myra knows this makes her a chosen hero, but Emy doesn't want it. She says Ruby wants to go back to her friend, Dorothy. She then leaves to find her family, and we head to Leonard's house.
As we get near, Gulliver warns us a thermal reading is coming from inside. The house is set ablaze, explodes, and a woman and dead man are all that remain. She introduces herself as Parasite and says she's come to kill Leo. She sicks her fire worms on us.
Leon shows up to force Parasite to retreat in round two. He say something about a pope, and both leave, but it hardly changes the battle. It's still just as hard. The worms attack from range with a fire spell, so positioning doesn't mean anything. Leo died early on, and Myra survived with two HP. What makes this hard is how spread out our team is. Don't line up on the single path up the hill like I did. Why is Gulliver here?
We'll then turn our sights on the dead guy. He's still alive, so Leo wants us to help him. There are some responses that kinda kill the mood, so try to use any healing pots or berries. As we do, the man gets up. He has nano healing technology and has died before, so this is not a big deal to him. This is Star. He has the Topaz of Light, and he's come to visit the doctor. Without referencing his exploded house, he opens a vault door on the floor, and the men enter. I save, so we'll learn about Star...
... tomorrow!
I really don't undertake the elemental system. How do I go negative?
Wednesday, September 21, 2022
A tactical adventure RPG?
Welcome to the world of Lufia, but not the Lufia everyone (but me) knows. I tried to play Lufia 2 a few years ago but dropped it. I didn't like my healer leaving the team because women belong with the family. But this game is only loosely related to the world of Lufia!
Energy Breaker was never released in America until Disnesquick (and team) did it in 2012. Ten years later, I found SNES Drunk saying how cool it is, and now I want to play it. You explore the world like a normal RPG, but battles take place in tactical RPG fashion, live on the dungeon floor. Spells are made via things I don't really understand, so I'll get into this later. But, for now, let's see if Neverland should remaster this!
A beautiful woman calls out to us in our sleep. She asks for our name, and I respond with, "Myra." We're an amnesiac and have no idea who this dream girl is, but she knows us. Sadly, she won't tell us anything. All we get is that a great calamity is heading for us, and only we can stop it. We'll meet again.
Myra wakes up and sees her friend, Irene, looking out the window. We don't seem to know who she is, but I get the feeling we're good friends. Either way, it's breakfast time. We get out of bed, and I can already see the charm of the game. There's a lot to explore, and it's all fun. Curing items, gear, and even talking points can be found early on. We also get our first introduction to the emotion system. We can speak to people in one of three ways. I'd go into more details, but this is useless. People haven't changed how they interact with me depending on if I'm friendly, neutral, or stern. From what I've read, it won't get better.
We exit our room and inn's hallway to see an old man eating our breakfast. Irene scolds him, and he claims that he acted on instinct. He saw food; he ate it. He's too busy to apologize and has business in the forest, so off he goes. Irene tells us that was the strange inventor, Leonard. He's looking for help in the Wind Forest, but no one will help him because everyone who goes there dies. Sadly, Irene won't remake our breakfast because there's a fortune teller in town. She was wounded, but she's better now. She's also 100% accurate!
Heading across town, and my item list is already full. We only get eight items in our backpack, so I kinda already hate this game. I'll carry on, though, but I foresee myself getting annoyed a lot. At least until I get more characters. The girls reach the fortune teller's house, but it's packed. We make our way in, look around, and then we're recognized. The fortune teller asks everyone to leave because Myra is a special person. Selphia and Myra have a one-on-one because Irene has work to do. She knows who we are without us introducing ourselves, so she tries to tell our future. But can't come up with anything! We do a strange thing by jumping on boxes while Selphie warps (?) around. In the end, she hands us an Emerald of Light. The Emerald has something to do with the wind element, and it's supposed to guide us on our quest. At some point, a man with blue hair is brought up. Selphie scryers and learns Leon has gone to the Wind Forest, Eltois.
It's less a forest and more a cave. We explore around until we see an old man and a robot. It's Leonard and his wonderful mechanical man, Gulliver. They're looking for a rare flower and pay us no mind. Being the hero we are, Myra decides to help them anyway. In the next room, we see the two of them looking around. Leonard gets confused and thinks we're after him, so a battle begins. Gulliver's solely here to get in our way. Physically. He doesn't attack, so he is literally just a roadblock. Casually make your way to Leo, and he'll begin to attack you. If you didn't get the tutorial before, we'll realize that you shouldn't attack people from the front. Doing so will issue a counterattack against you. Side or back attacks don't trigger it. We'll use those counters against Leo as he wastes his AP. It'll knock sense into him, and the battle ends. Ask Leo about his flyer twice, for some annoying reason, and they'll join the team. Leo is fully playable, but Gulliver is just there to waste time. He's not even a storage unit. Inspect the corner behind Leo for the best whip Myra can have right now. I think she's supposed to be a mage, but she's got great attack power now. Plus, I have no spells because I don't understand them.
I aimlessly walked around the dungeon for thirty minutes because I was lost. I didn't realize you needed to bring up the flyer twice, so I got a good lay of the land. Make sure to find the hidden staircase to that chest in the distance. It contains an item box that ups our inventory by seven more items. With all three of us on it, a bridge in a nearby room will collapse. At the bottom is Leon. Somehow... Myra, remembering Leon is a key to her fate, pleads with him to tell her anything he knows. Sadly, Leon doesn't know anything. Learning her name surprises him, but he remains cagy and leaves. He seems to teleport because we'll see him in the next room, showing us a secret exit.
That exit takes us outside to a terrifying creature. It's a rotting caterpillar named Datiem. Here's upset that we woke him up before the end of the world, so he attacks us. I had to approach him but don't stand directly in front of him. Leo learned Shot, a magic spell, so use that from off to the side. Dariem's first attack will make it rain rocks. It does negligible damage, but it also summons Leon. Leon can kill the target in one round, and that's how I won. I missed out on exp and gold, so the choice is yours. Leon came here to kill this insect, and he's good at his job.
The carcass will split open, and a flying mantis looking guy will emerge. We'll all be warped to a blue screen where Dariem tells us his fancy wind related name and flies off. We'll meet again. From the rotting insect blooms the flower Leonard wanted, a Reincarnation Flower. Leo lost someone dear to him long ago and has been seeking it ever since.
We'll return to Olga Town to make our next plan. Leo will return home on the train tomorrow, and Myra offers to join him. They return to the inn, and Selphie is waiting for us. Leo and her know each other. Leo healed her after Leon brought her here. More good news: It turns out that Leonard is also a hero. Selphie gives him the Sapphire of Light and tells us the prophecy. Four people will save the day, so we'd better find the other two. Myra crawls into bed but is instantly woken up. Selphie asks why we're still around. Leo poofs in to defend us, and we all go to the hallway. Selphie restates the prophecy, and Leo gives us a glimpse of our next party members. Leon was also there. As you'd expect, this was a dream. Myra wakes up, hears Irene mention Selphe, and prepares to save the world. But I'll work on that...
... tomorrow!
I still haven't eaten anything. I also really don't understand how magic works. I should have learned a healing spell, Elba, but I didn't. But I have enough water elements. ...whatever. I think you can reset your allocation whenever, so I couldn't have screwed up too much.
Energy Breaker was never released in America until Disnesquick (and team) did it in 2012. Ten years later, I found SNES Drunk saying how cool it is, and now I want to play it. You explore the world like a normal RPG, but battles take place in tactical RPG fashion, live on the dungeon floor. Spells are made via things I don't really understand, so I'll get into this later. But, for now, let's see if Neverland should remaster this!
A beautiful woman calls out to us in our sleep. She asks for our name, and I respond with, "Myra." We're an amnesiac and have no idea who this dream girl is, but she knows us. Sadly, she won't tell us anything. All we get is that a great calamity is heading for us, and only we can stop it. We'll meet again.
Myra wakes up and sees her friend, Irene, looking out the window. We don't seem to know who she is, but I get the feeling we're good friends. Either way, it's breakfast time. We get out of bed, and I can already see the charm of the game. There's a lot to explore, and it's all fun. Curing items, gear, and even talking points can be found early on. We also get our first introduction to the emotion system. We can speak to people in one of three ways. I'd go into more details, but this is useless. People haven't changed how they interact with me depending on if I'm friendly, neutral, or stern. From what I've read, it won't get better.
We exit our room and inn's hallway to see an old man eating our breakfast. Irene scolds him, and he claims that he acted on instinct. He saw food; he ate it. He's too busy to apologize and has business in the forest, so off he goes. Irene tells us that was the strange inventor, Leonard. He's looking for help in the Wind Forest, but no one will help him because everyone who goes there dies. Sadly, Irene won't remake our breakfast because there's a fortune teller in town. She was wounded, but she's better now. She's also 100% accurate!
Heading across town, and my item list is already full. We only get eight items in our backpack, so I kinda already hate this game. I'll carry on, though, but I foresee myself getting annoyed a lot. At least until I get more characters. The girls reach the fortune teller's house, but it's packed. We make our way in, look around, and then we're recognized. The fortune teller asks everyone to leave because Myra is a special person. Selphia and Myra have a one-on-one because Irene has work to do. She knows who we are without us introducing ourselves, so she tries to tell our future. But can't come up with anything! We do a strange thing by jumping on boxes while Selphie warps (?) around. In the end, she hands us an Emerald of Light. The Emerald has something to do with the wind element, and it's supposed to guide us on our quest. At some point, a man with blue hair is brought up. Selphie scryers and learns Leon has gone to the Wind Forest, Eltois.
It's less a forest and more a cave. We explore around until we see an old man and a robot. It's Leonard and his wonderful mechanical man, Gulliver. They're looking for a rare flower and pay us no mind. Being the hero we are, Myra decides to help them anyway. In the next room, we see the two of them looking around. Leonard gets confused and thinks we're after him, so a battle begins. Gulliver's solely here to get in our way. Physically. He doesn't attack, so he is literally just a roadblock. Casually make your way to Leo, and he'll begin to attack you. If you didn't get the tutorial before, we'll realize that you shouldn't attack people from the front. Doing so will issue a counterattack against you. Side or back attacks don't trigger it. We'll use those counters against Leo as he wastes his AP. It'll knock sense into him, and the battle ends. Ask Leo about his flyer twice, for some annoying reason, and they'll join the team. Leo is fully playable, but Gulliver is just there to waste time. He's not even a storage unit. Inspect the corner behind Leo for the best whip Myra can have right now. I think she's supposed to be a mage, but she's got great attack power now. Plus, I have no spells because I don't understand them.
I aimlessly walked around the dungeon for thirty minutes because I was lost. I didn't realize you needed to bring up the flyer twice, so I got a good lay of the land. Make sure to find the hidden staircase to that chest in the distance. It contains an item box that ups our inventory by seven more items. With all three of us on it, a bridge in a nearby room will collapse. At the bottom is Leon. Somehow... Myra, remembering Leon is a key to her fate, pleads with him to tell her anything he knows. Sadly, Leon doesn't know anything. Learning her name surprises him, but he remains cagy and leaves. He seems to teleport because we'll see him in the next room, showing us a secret exit.
That exit takes us outside to a terrifying creature. It's a rotting caterpillar named Datiem. Here's upset that we woke him up before the end of the world, so he attacks us. I had to approach him but don't stand directly in front of him. Leo learned Shot, a magic spell, so use that from off to the side. Dariem's first attack will make it rain rocks. It does negligible damage, but it also summons Leon. Leon can kill the target in one round, and that's how I won. I missed out on exp and gold, so the choice is yours. Leon came here to kill this insect, and he's good at his job.
The carcass will split open, and a flying mantis looking guy will emerge. We'll all be warped to a blue screen where Dariem tells us his fancy wind related name and flies off. We'll meet again. From the rotting insect blooms the flower Leonard wanted, a Reincarnation Flower. Leo lost someone dear to him long ago and has been seeking it ever since.
We'll return to Olga Town to make our next plan. Leo will return home on the train tomorrow, and Myra offers to join him. They return to the inn, and Selphie is waiting for us. Leo and her know each other. Leo healed her after Leon brought her here. More good news: It turns out that Leonard is also a hero. Selphie gives him the Sapphire of Light and tells us the prophecy. Four people will save the day, so we'd better find the other two. Myra crawls into bed but is instantly woken up. Selphie asks why we're still around. Leo poofs in to defend us, and we all go to the hallway. Selphie restates the prophecy, and Leo gives us a glimpse of our next party members. Leon was also there. As you'd expect, this was a dream. Myra wakes up, hears Irene mention Selphe, and prepares to save the world. But I'll work on that...
... tomorrow!
I still haven't eaten anything. I also really don't understand how magic works. I should have learned a healing spell, Elba, but I didn't. But I have enough water elements. ...whatever. I think you can reset your allocation whenever, so I couldn't have screwed up too much.
Sunday, September 18, 2022
A disappointing birthday.
Final Fantasy Tactics Advance was a long awaited sequel to a much beloved game. I was hyped to hfil to play it, and it was the entire reason I wanted a Game Boy SP. It's the only game I own on that system and the only game I've ever wanted with it. I was horribly disappointed. Sorry grandma, but this wasn't you're fault,
Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions is a game with incredible depth. Its story, job system, and characters are all filled with twists and turns that feel alive. Politics, religion, and caste are all discussed in Ivalice. Final Fantasy Tactics Advanced has none of those, and it's such a bummer! As an adult, I think the story is better than it gets credit for, but I'll get to that later. For now, what else sucks about FFTA?
The job system is so shallow. Many jobs are locked to certain races, and it feels really restrictive. It's rad that it makes the races feel different, but they only have eight jobs each. It really limits the amount of customization. Dragoons can only be used by bangaas, and time mages are stuck to moogles or nu mou. So my favorite combination isn't doable. I love FFT monks, but only one race gets them. And the moogle jobs are unique, but they also kinda suck. Montblanc comes as a mage, so I'll probably keep him a mage, even if he's stuck with only two jobs. And so many classes are gone! Where are the oracles and mystics? Geomancer, samurai, bards, or any nonstandard jobs? You'd think a young boy with a magic book could create a bunch of fun stuff with his imagination. I know I did all the time! All of this feels so shallow.
I also hated the removal of JP. To learn a move, you have to equip an item until you've mastered it. It forced me to wear bad weaponry for far too long just to make sure I was prepared for every battle. I didn't need to do this, though, since elemental damage is kinda hit-and-miss in its effectiveness. I should have kept my illusionist with the Stardust rod the whole game. I never got to see the last game spells... And it's possible to miss out on many spells as well. I never got a rod to teach Montblanc Firega or Blizzaga because the rewards for missions are random, and I kept failing them.
To further complicate my relationship with this, learning skills is how you gain access to new jobs. Because I was trying to master the roles I wanted, I couldn't just switch for a few battles to gain some levels to access something new. I needed to keep my party around to learn everything. So I felt like I couldn't afford to waste time learning new jobs. I never got a summoner on my team, nor a red mage. I would have loved a red mage secondary job, but they're stuck on viera behind several walls. And if you level up in a job that isn't suitable for what you're wanting, your stats might suffer. That's probably a small thing, and FFT had that, too, so maybe ignore that part.
I also hated the side missions because I failed them too much. I wanted to make sure my main six were prepared for every battle, so I only leveled them up. Doing that, though, leaves everyone else on your clan way behind on levels. I was close to level 30, but most of my team was at level four. They failed all the side missions, so I stopped doing them. It's why I didn't get those rods with the spells I needed, and there's no way to fix that once you've gone past the tipping point.
Shops are pointless. All the good rewards are through the missions. Halfway through the game, they become a waste of time, but why am I still getting so much money? I don't need a million gil at the end since there's nothing to buy.
The worst part of the game is the main draw of it: the laws. I absolutely hated them! They further restrict what your team can do in battle, and I found myself forgetting all the time. You have a plan set, but you suddenly find yourself unable to wield a sword or a bow. Too bad! You can buy antilaws, but your stock of them is so low, and you may have to go out of your way to get there that I forgot it existed. And Ezel showed up slightly too late to leave an impact on me. They're frustrating and, as I said, just another limitation on your enjoyment. And enemies aren't even affected by them. They obey the laws, but they never break them. Too bad you can't see what you're up against before going to the battle. And if they do break them, there's no penalty except the judge gets in your way.
I wasn't fond of the music quality. It's a universal thing with the Gameboy, but the sounds are so bit crunched that they get annoying. There is an orchestrated album of the OST, and it's really good. So if you listen to that, there's no problem with the soundtrack. It's top notched, but what we hear in game isn't. This isn't a knock against FFTA, as it affects every game on the system.
Well, that's a lot of stuff. Anything good?
It's not deep, but I liked the plot. We're the bad guys trying to tear down our new friend's dream. Along the way, we ruin our brother's life and slightly inconvenience a vein girl. Ritz' reason for wanting to stay here is dumb, but Mewt and Doned are understandable. There's no political science to see, nor do I need an in depth knowledge of religion, but there can be a fun philosophical discussion to be had. Is Marche correct? Is escapism a bad thing? Why shouldn't I be allowed to use magic?! The ending leaves it really shallow, though...
The battle system worked. A lot of time in tactical RPGs, the field is way too large or painfully flat. FFTA takes the mold that FFT made and doesn't try to break it. Height, rivers, and range are at play, and there are plenty of tactical aspects to work with. It's still more fun than the War of the Visions game Square put out a while back and more accessible than Tactics Ogre.
The world is fun. There are plenty of interesting sidequests about clan wars, the villainous Borzai, thieves, and researchers. Every location has its own lore. It's all shallow, but I can't hate it as much as I should. Square could have ignored anything and put in 275 truly empty missions instead, but this makes Ivalice feel alive.
And that's kinda it... When it comes to my rankings:
Plot: 9/10. The playable cast is two people, and one of them isn't much. The villains, though, are varied and interesting. And I dug being the evil one.
Gameplay: 8/10. It's still fun enough and new, even if unrewarding.
Art: 8/10 There are not a lot of sprites...
Sound: 6/10 It's hard to put aside the bit crunch of the handheld system, but the remastered OST is great, albeit without any earworms.
Charm: 6/10. This isn't my Ivalice, but it's good enough. There's some fun behind the main story stuff, and it doesn't overstay its welcome.
Sadly, the law mechanic sucks. There's also no fitting room, so it's hard to know what gear to buy when you're still doing that. And it took me so long to see there's a screen to check the abilities your characters are learning. Mechanically, FFTA needs some work.
At the end of the day, Final Fantasy Tactics Advanced gets a very fitting 35/50. It's a solid C- as it doesn't do anything horrendous. But it doesn't do anything memorable, either. It was a way to fulfill a contract Square had with Nintendo, and it worked for both sides.
Saturday, September 17, 2022
Going home.
Day: the final
Cid escorts Marche onto a beautiful, ornate entrance way outside a palace. Merche states how it looks, and Cid informs us it was built by an ancient king as a place for prayer. So it's more of a church, the first in the game. The Ivalice Alliance plays with the topic of religion a lot, but is the first reference in FFTA. As we approach, we see a dead Babus. Well, not dead but unconscious. Llednar joins us to prevent us from going further. Cid pulls out a card that removes any protection on Llednar, who then summons nerds.
Babus is on the field, but he can't be revived, so we're down a character. And we can only bring in five, to begin with, so this is kinda lame. We know what the ads do, and Llednar isn't too strong. He absorbs holy, so use Air Render if you want to keep the Excalibur on. The goal is to beat the boss, and he's pretty fragile. I'd suggest focusing him to get done with this. And just like that, all of Mewt's anger turns to stone and dies. We revive Babus, who's still hurt. Cid tells him to wait here, and the bunny man does. He urges us forward, and we do so.
In another well decorated area is Queen Remidi. She's upset her son has lost another friend, but Marche doesn't think he's lost anything. Remidi, knowing Marche still kinda wants to stay here, tries to appeal to our desire to remain with all the things that have been brought up before. He blows it off by stating there is no real or fake him. He is who he is. Remidi calls for her son's orders, and he appears on the statute behind Remidi. But he's unconscious. Mewt utters that he wants her to stay. In response, she throws off her royal gown, pulls out wolverine claws, and summons totema to fight us.
Target her for the "quick" win. She's got 550 HP, and her only attack is with the basic attack command.
Mewt really doesn't want to leave. He's picked on at school, his dad's a drunk, and his mom's dead. Marche wants to help him, and Mewt understands. He almost agrees, but he's entrenched here. His desire empowers Remidi, who turns into a crystal looking thing. Cid says she's the embodiment of wishes. What a vague concept! Remidi summons two more totemas, and we can bring in our party. Apparently, there are seven of us?
Once again, only focus Li-grim. She's immune to status effects and absorbs holy. She has 600 HP, high defense, and cheats. Her entire attack progression consists of summoning more totemas to do their summon attack. This attack doesn't miss, can't be absorbed, and t hits all of us. Go all out on turn one. Totema summons, range, etc. Don't bother buffing or preparing for a long drawn war because it won't last. Hope she uses the MP summon for a chance at round two!
Mewt wakes up and calls out to his mama. She floats into the air, glows, and disappears. Suddenly, Mewt poofs away.
We cut to Ritz and Shera in the desert, but it's snowing. Ritz knows what's going on and prepares her farewells. She's unsure if she still wants to, but Shera gives her a word of advice. Her white hair probably isn't that bad. All viera ls have white hair, and they're pretty rad. Shera convinces her that white hair is a gift from the viera spirit. And it's gonna go white when Ritz is old anyway. Just embrace it. It works, I guess, and they walk off one last time.
Babus is still outside, wonderingly where Mewt is. Marche had no answer. But the world exists, so Mewt must still be here. A voice calls out to Babus and us, telling us he's coming. It's Mewt! And he's fine! He wanted to say goodbye to his mom first, but we're going home now. Marche assures him that Remidi will always be in her son's heart. Mewt pulls out the book that brought us here, and Marche asks if there's time to say goodbye.
The answer is no, but Montblanc offers to do it for us. Will he even exist in a moment? These native Ivalicians sure are calm in the face of existential annihilation. Regardless, Marche tells the moogle he's a great friend!
Babus promises to always be a loyal friend of Mewt, even if Mewt forgets about him. Akin to nothing: I love you, Lucy. Someone, Mewt, finally asks if this world will exist in a moment. A stunned silence befalls is. Cid suggests their will to live might be enough to keep them here. Marche says his goodbyes to the aether, and we cut to Doned. He says goodbye to his moogle pal and walks by Ezil, who disappears, along with everyone else. Several more scenes across Ivalice are seen as this world is ripped apart.
We're in St. Ivalice, just outside the "cafe." Marche compliments Ritz on her white hair, but she thinks about dying it green.
They walk away as Cid crosses the road. A man named Biggs catches up to him. The two used to work together, and Biggs started his own company. They're short handed at the moment, and he offers Cid a job.
Doned is in his wheelchair, and another kid is talking to him. Doned just beat "Final Fantasy," and the other kid is having trouble on a boss, Adremalech. Doned helps him beat him.
Mewt is still getting picked on by the three. But they don't take it lightly. Marche says something kinda dumb, and he and Mewt throw a snowball at them. This totally stops them, and our heroes walk away.
The credits role, and we can save for some post game content. I won't be doing them, but you can unlock all the other characters we've met. I have things to say, but I'll save them for later. Final Fantasy Tactics Advanced was a game. Good? Bad? Meh...
Cid escorts Marche onto a beautiful, ornate entrance way outside a palace. Merche states how it looks, and Cid informs us it was built by an ancient king as a place for prayer. So it's more of a church, the first in the game. The Ivalice Alliance plays with the topic of religion a lot, but is the first reference in FFTA. As we approach, we see a dead Babus. Well, not dead but unconscious. Llednar joins us to prevent us from going further. Cid pulls out a card that removes any protection on Llednar, who then summons nerds.
Babus is on the field, but he can't be revived, so we're down a character. And we can only bring in five, to begin with, so this is kinda lame. We know what the ads do, and Llednar isn't too strong. He absorbs holy, so use Air Render if you want to keep the Excalibur on. The goal is to beat the boss, and he's pretty fragile. I'd suggest focusing him to get done with this. And just like that, all of Mewt's anger turns to stone and dies. We revive Babus, who's still hurt. Cid tells him to wait here, and the bunny man does. He urges us forward, and we do so.
In another well decorated area is Queen Remidi. She's upset her son has lost another friend, but Marche doesn't think he's lost anything. Remidi, knowing Marche still kinda wants to stay here, tries to appeal to our desire to remain with all the things that have been brought up before. He blows it off by stating there is no real or fake him. He is who he is. Remidi calls for her son's orders, and he appears on the statute behind Remidi. But he's unconscious. Mewt utters that he wants her to stay. In response, she throws off her royal gown, pulls out wolverine claws, and summons totema to fight us.
Target her for the "quick" win. She's got 550 HP, and her only attack is with the basic attack command.
Mewt really doesn't want to leave. He's picked on at school, his dad's a drunk, and his mom's dead. Marche wants to help him, and Mewt understands. He almost agrees, but he's entrenched here. His desire empowers Remidi, who turns into a crystal looking thing. Cid says she's the embodiment of wishes. What a vague concept! Remidi summons two more totemas, and we can bring in our party. Apparently, there are seven of us?
Once again, only focus Li-grim. She's immune to status effects and absorbs holy. She has 600 HP, high defense, and cheats. Her entire attack progression consists of summoning more totemas to do their summon attack. This attack doesn't miss, can't be absorbed, and t hits all of us. Go all out on turn one. Totema summons, range, etc. Don't bother buffing or preparing for a long drawn war because it won't last. Hope she uses the MP summon for a chance at round two!
Mewt wakes up and calls out to his mama. She floats into the air, glows, and disappears. Suddenly, Mewt poofs away.
We cut to Ritz and Shera in the desert, but it's snowing. Ritz knows what's going on and prepares her farewells. She's unsure if she still wants to, but Shera gives her a word of advice. Her white hair probably isn't that bad. All viera ls have white hair, and they're pretty rad. Shera convinces her that white hair is a gift from the viera spirit. And it's gonna go white when Ritz is old anyway. Just embrace it. It works, I guess, and they walk off one last time.
Babus is still outside, wonderingly where Mewt is. Marche had no answer. But the world exists, so Mewt must still be here. A voice calls out to Babus and us, telling us he's coming. It's Mewt! And he's fine! He wanted to say goodbye to his mom first, but we're going home now. Marche assures him that Remidi will always be in her son's heart. Mewt pulls out the book that brought us here, and Marche asks if there's time to say goodbye.
The answer is no, but Montblanc offers to do it for us. Will he even exist in a moment? These native Ivalicians sure are calm in the face of existential annihilation. Regardless, Marche tells the moogle he's a great friend!
Babus promises to always be a loyal friend of Mewt, even if Mewt forgets about him. Akin to nothing: I love you, Lucy. Someone, Mewt, finally asks if this world will exist in a moment. A stunned silence befalls is. Cid suggests their will to live might be enough to keep them here. Marche says his goodbyes to the aether, and we cut to Doned. He says goodbye to his moogle pal and walks by Ezil, who disappears, along with everyone else. Several more scenes across Ivalice are seen as this world is ripped apart.
We're in St. Ivalice, just outside the "cafe." Marche compliments Ritz on her white hair, but she thinks about dying it green.
They walk away as Cid crosses the road. A man named Biggs catches up to him. The two used to work together, and Biggs started his own company. They're short handed at the moment, and he offers Cid a job.
Doned is in his wheelchair, and another kid is talking to him. Doned just beat "Final Fantasy," and the other kid is having trouble on a boss, Adremalech. Doned helps him beat him.
Mewt is still getting picked on by the three. But they don't take it lightly. Marche says something kinda dumb, and he and Mewt throw a snowball at them. This totally stops them, and our heroes walk away.
The credits role, and we can save for some post game content. I won't be doing them, but you can unlock all the other characters we've met. I have things to say, but I'll save them for later. Final Fantasy Tactics Advanced was a game. Good? Bad? Meh...
Thursday, September 15, 2022
To Leavealice.
I hate naming things...
Day...10?
We're on the Bervana Palace grounds, and everything's going well. We even make it to the waiting room. Why are we alone? It turns out Mewt is smarter than we think, and he's prepared this ambush against us! It's the usual rabble, and we win pretty easily. Reinforcements arrive because Mewt really is wise. Babus, however, shows up. Rather than fight us, he stops the guards and teleports us away. He's curious about the other world, so we both go to see Mewt.
The prince is upset that his beloved stuffed animal betrayed him, and I understand. How would I act if Lulu left me? Babus believes that Mewt needs to face reality, and Queen Remidi shows up to always be with him. Mewt really misses his mom, and I feel bad. The royals leave, and Llednar shows up to fight us. Babus tries to follow Remidi, informing us that he's called for Cid. We now have to survive against the Biskmatar one-on-one. I've read this is hard, but I had the Excalibur equipped, which absorbs holy damage. I'm guessing this is why I didn't experience his strongest move. Because of that, this was really easy. Neither of us did any damage to each other, and Cid showed up four rounds later. Llednar leaves when he shows up.
Cid doesn't know where they went, but he's officially on our side. We're gonna team up to figure out how to go home. Cid leaves to find Mewt, and we go prepare. We need to convince a few people to return to St. Ivalice. This includes ourselves.
We overhear that the royals went to their summer home of Ambervale, so we have a goal. But we need to find Doned and Ritz.
To find Doned, Marche prepares a fake mythril excavation. It works, and we dispose of his clan. As expected, Doned wants to run around in Ivalice, something he can't do in the real world. He's jealous of the ambulatory prowess of Marche, who admits he's jealous of Doned. Doned has always gotten his mother's attention, and Marche could never ask for anything because Doned needed it. Marche promises to help Doned walk, and this convinces Doned to go home. We have a talk in the clan center when an underling of Cid talks to us. Cid is waiting on the Deti Planes. En route, we have to kill a bunch of monsters. This was really annoying because Marche chooses to start behind his friends, and the entire battle takes place in a narrow ravine on the otherside of a river. Awful. Afterwards, Ritz and Shera plan to stop Marche.
Cid has spoken to Ezel, who needs some amber for his plan, which is all we get. Amber can be found at the last location we (obligingly) have to place on the map, Sienna Gorge. I kept getting screwed by the law, so I'll go into details...
... tomorrow!
I probably should have finished that fight. It would have been better to let the final battle get its own update. Oh well...
Alternatively, I can just get past it tonight, unlock the last jagd for the sake of it, and finish the game tomorrow. The battle against Clan Ritz is against a bunch of viera. The goal is to take out Ritz, who has mixed feelings about this fight. Shera tries to get her to back down, letting the clan do it, but Ritz is fine with this outcome. She always figured it would come to this and accepts it as inevitable. She's been treating Ivalice as a game, and all games need to end one day. She lets us go, accepting her fate to return to St. Ivalice. Ambervale pops on our map in a brand new location we couldn't place anywhere else before, so we'll be heading there tomorrow. Assuming my computer survives. I also need to find a new emulator. The game forces you to save before starting the confrontation, which I can't do for some reason...
Day...10?
We're on the Bervana Palace grounds, and everything's going well. We even make it to the waiting room. Why are we alone? It turns out Mewt is smarter than we think, and he's prepared this ambush against us! It's the usual rabble, and we win pretty easily. Reinforcements arrive because Mewt really is wise. Babus, however, shows up. Rather than fight us, he stops the guards and teleports us away. He's curious about the other world, so we both go to see Mewt.
The prince is upset that his beloved stuffed animal betrayed him, and I understand. How would I act if Lulu left me? Babus believes that Mewt needs to face reality, and Queen Remidi shows up to always be with him. Mewt really misses his mom, and I feel bad. The royals leave, and Llednar shows up to fight us. Babus tries to follow Remidi, informing us that he's called for Cid. We now have to survive against the Biskmatar one-on-one. I've read this is hard, but I had the Excalibur equipped, which absorbs holy damage. I'm guessing this is why I didn't experience his strongest move. Because of that, this was really easy. Neither of us did any damage to each other, and Cid showed up four rounds later. Llednar leaves when he shows up.
Cid doesn't know where they went, but he's officially on our side. We're gonna team up to figure out how to go home. Cid leaves to find Mewt, and we go prepare. We need to convince a few people to return to St. Ivalice. This includes ourselves.
We overhear that the royals went to their summer home of Ambervale, so we have a goal. But we need to find Doned and Ritz.
To find Doned, Marche prepares a fake mythril excavation. It works, and we dispose of his clan. As expected, Doned wants to run around in Ivalice, something he can't do in the real world. He's jealous of the ambulatory prowess of Marche, who admits he's jealous of Doned. Doned has always gotten his mother's attention, and Marche could never ask for anything because Doned needed it. Marche promises to help Doned walk, and this convinces Doned to go home. We have a talk in the clan center when an underling of Cid talks to us. Cid is waiting on the Deti Planes. En route, we have to kill a bunch of monsters. This was really annoying because Marche chooses to start behind his friends, and the entire battle takes place in a narrow ravine on the otherside of a river. Awful. Afterwards, Ritz and Shera plan to stop Marche.
Cid has spoken to Ezel, who needs some amber for his plan, which is all we get. Amber can be found at the last location we (obligingly) have to place on the map, Sienna Gorge. I kept getting screwed by the law, so I'll go into details...
... tomorrow!
I probably should have finished that fight. It would have been better to let the final battle get its own update. Oh well...
Alternatively, I can just get past it tonight, unlock the last jagd for the sake of it, and finish the game tomorrow. The battle against Clan Ritz is against a bunch of viera. The goal is to take out Ritz, who has mixed feelings about this fight. Shera tries to get her to back down, letting the clan do it, but Ritz is fine with this outcome. She always figured it would come to this and accepts it as inevitable. She's been treating Ivalice as a game, and all games need to end one day. She lets us go, accepting her fate to return to St. Ivalice. Ambervale pops on our map in a brand new location we couldn't place anywhere else before, so we'll be heading there tomorrow. Assuming my computer survives. I also need to find a new emulator. The game forces you to save before starting the confrontation, which I can't do for some reason...
Wednesday, September 14, 2022
Family is for never.
We're defo the bad guys.
I don't remember why we came to the woods, but it doesn't matter. It's a trap, regardless. Fortunately, the fight is forgettable.
I also don't remember why we came to the desert, but we're here. As we enter the combat area, we see our little brother, Doned. As we approach, he runs away. Yes, runs. He isn't stuck in his wheelchair in Ivalice. Marche chases after him, but it's a setup. A bunch of bangaas fight us.
This is kinda annoying. How dare they bring two healers with them?! It didn't help that I kept my healer in the back. I had recently made my nu mou an illusionist, a job that attacks all enemies on the map with magic. Keeping them out of damager also kept my healer from the party. Fortunately, I managed to tank the relentless AoE, and my other human fighter won. Marche interrogates a white monk, but they didn't have any information.
There's another desert with howling winds, but I'll check it out...
... tomorrow!
I was wondering when we'd bump into our brother. Like Mewt, I understand why he'd want to stay in Ivalice. Ritz' reasoning is pretty stupid and shallow, but I'm on the side of "stay." What are the chances FFTA has two endings?
Day, I think nine:
The Delia Dunes have stopped making sounds, apparently. As Marche looks around for whatever we're here for, a strange boy enters the scene. This is Mewt's new BFF, Lladnar. I think he looks like Marche, but I'm not sure if that's just my face blindness. Before anything happens, a seam in the universe appears, and we're sucked in.
The boy is across from us, and Cid teleports in. Lladnar is about to do something called "Omega...," but Cid stops him. Using his power can break the remaining crystal behind him. Lladnar summons a bunch of nerds instead, and the battle begins. Just survive for a moment. We can't damage him, even IF we hit, so what's it matter? After two rounds, Lladnar tries to use his special move anyway. This breaks the law Cid applied to the area, and our enemy is off to jail. Cid offers to return us to Ivalice, but we're cracking this rock!
As we approach, Mateus jumps from the crystal. She warns of what could happen, but Marche doesn't care. She turns into Ritz, who pleads for us to not break it. Ditto. Doned and Mewt try their hand, but Marche is undaunted. He thinks for a moment, pondering all the valid reasons for his friends to stay here. But Marche is too much of a realist. Mateus turns back into herself, summons a bunch of vampires, and we fight.
Ignore the undead mobs. They'll respawn in three turns and have a lot of HP. Mateus has over 400 HP, so focus her before you're poisoned to death.
The crystal breaks, but we remain. A voice tells us it's because this world is still wanted. Remidi joins us to say until Ritz, Doned, and Mewt say otherwise, this world will still stand. Dejected but determined, we all return to Ivalice.
The next city we visit has us talking to Montblanc about an upcoming holiday. Gift Day is when everyone gives Mewt a present and gets an audience. If we can make a good present, we might get to see the prince. This brings us to Materiawood to collect a bunch of pretty stones. We get a huge haul, but Doned shows up to take some. He admits that he's our enemy and doesn't want to go home. He's having fun fighting, maging, and walking. Walking is pretty rad! Marche remains a douche, and his brother runs off to his hit squad. I get he wants to walk, but killing your brother seems a bit much.
This fight is annoying. Their white mage knows full revive and likes to use it. There are also a few archers and a summoner to protect her. Their tanks ate effective at their job, especially when they're revived twice... Their DPS seemed pretty low, though, so it's not terribly hard.
We'll still have enough pretty stones to create our present, so the castle appears, without my consent, on the map. So we'll be heading to the palace...
... tomorrow!
By the way, I got the Genji gear I was worried about. The game seems to be coming to ahead, so this'll be over soon! I'm kinda ready.
I don't remember why we came to the woods, but it doesn't matter. It's a trap, regardless. Fortunately, the fight is forgettable.
I also don't remember why we came to the desert, but we're here. As we enter the combat area, we see our little brother, Doned. As we approach, he runs away. Yes, runs. He isn't stuck in his wheelchair in Ivalice. Marche chases after him, but it's a setup. A bunch of bangaas fight us.
This is kinda annoying. How dare they bring two healers with them?! It didn't help that I kept my healer in the back. I had recently made my nu mou an illusionist, a job that attacks all enemies on the map with magic. Keeping them out of damager also kept my healer from the party. Fortunately, I managed to tank the relentless AoE, and my other human fighter won. Marche interrogates a white monk, but they didn't have any information.
There's another desert with howling winds, but I'll check it out...
... tomorrow!
I was wondering when we'd bump into our brother. Like Mewt, I understand why he'd want to stay in Ivalice. Ritz' reasoning is pretty stupid and shallow, but I'm on the side of "stay." What are the chances FFTA has two endings?
Day, I think nine:
The Delia Dunes have stopped making sounds, apparently. As Marche looks around for whatever we're here for, a strange boy enters the scene. This is Mewt's new BFF, Lladnar. I think he looks like Marche, but I'm not sure if that's just my face blindness. Before anything happens, a seam in the universe appears, and we're sucked in.
The boy is across from us, and Cid teleports in. Lladnar is about to do something called "Omega...," but Cid stops him. Using his power can break the remaining crystal behind him. Lladnar summons a bunch of nerds instead, and the battle begins. Just survive for a moment. We can't damage him, even IF we hit, so what's it matter? After two rounds, Lladnar tries to use his special move anyway. This breaks the law Cid applied to the area, and our enemy is off to jail. Cid offers to return us to Ivalice, but we're cracking this rock!
As we approach, Mateus jumps from the crystal. She warns of what could happen, but Marche doesn't care. She turns into Ritz, who pleads for us to not break it. Ditto. Doned and Mewt try their hand, but Marche is undaunted. He thinks for a moment, pondering all the valid reasons for his friends to stay here. But Marche is too much of a realist. Mateus turns back into herself, summons a bunch of vampires, and we fight.
Ignore the undead mobs. They'll respawn in three turns and have a lot of HP. Mateus has over 400 HP, so focus her before you're poisoned to death.
The crystal breaks, but we remain. A voice tells us it's because this world is still wanted. Remidi joins us to say until Ritz, Doned, and Mewt say otherwise, this world will still stand. Dejected but determined, we all return to Ivalice.
The next city we visit has us talking to Montblanc about an upcoming holiday. Gift Day is when everyone gives Mewt a present and gets an audience. If we can make a good present, we might get to see the prince. This brings us to Materiawood to collect a bunch of pretty stones. We get a huge haul, but Doned shows up to take some. He admits that he's our enemy and doesn't want to go home. He's having fun fighting, maging, and walking. Walking is pretty rad! Marche remains a douche, and his brother runs off to his hit squad. I get he wants to walk, but killing your brother seems a bit much.
This fight is annoying. Their white mage knows full revive and likes to use it. There are also a few archers and a summoner to protect her. Their tanks ate effective at their job, especially when they're revived twice... Their DPS seemed pretty low, though, so it's not terribly hard.
We'll still have enough pretty stones to create our present, so the castle appears, without my consent, on the map. So we'll be heading to the palace...
... tomorrow!
By the way, I got the Genji gear I was worried about. The game seems to be coming to ahead, so this'll be over soon! I'm kinda ready.
Monday, September 12, 2022
Exploring the job system.
Why's it so boring!?!?
Day six:
Our first fight is in the jagd. We're surrounded on all sides, and I felt a lot of pressure to keep my starting six alive. Rather than deal with it, I summoned Adremalech and did away with the threat. A few died, and a couple more were severely weakened. I came back later for another Nono mission, and I might have been wrong about the death timer. A few of my guys went down, but there was no countdown timer. Do they die if you don't rez them?
The second mission is where Marche learns the castle pit a bounty on his head. Mewt wants us dead, but does he have an excuse? I proceeded to do more side quests to make my characters more well rounded. I'm aiming for making my humes ninjas, Montblanc a time mage, and my viera is already an archer. So I'm trying to figure out what to do with my bangaa. White monk is already pretty cool. I really hate how small the jobs pool is, but I'll figure it out...
... tomorrow!
I got an Excalibur today from the treasure hunt mini game. Am I already getting to end game gear?
Day seven:
We're chasing counterfeit watchmakers, but we're not alone. Ritz and Shera are on the case too. The enemies think about turning us in to gain leverage for themselves and start. There's no challenge. Neither Ritz nor Shera are interested in our bounty, but Ritz does question our resolve. Why do we want to go home when we have so much sway here? We'd never rise to this level of infamy in the real world. But Marche remains resolute. He wants to see his family or, at least, not exist in a dream world. Ritz wants to stay here, though, and warns us she might join Mewt to make sure of it. We may be enemies soon. As Marche leaves, Ritz tells Shera her reason for staying here: her hair color. It's naturally pure white, and she dyes it every day. It's caused her grief from bullies, and she remembers all the times her mother cried about it long ago. Why'd she choose bright pink!?
We meet up with Ezel and discuss the bounty on us. Ezel hates the castle, so our friendship is closer. The judgemaster is going town to town, clan to clan, harassing everyone who might be us. We'll see this in the new city.
An innocent moogle is being attested because he might be Montblanc. Marche, ever the noble, comes forth to save him. He demands to see Cid, but the current judge summons useless backups we easily kill. Doing so will make the judge call Cid. We tell him what's going on, but they don't care. For some reason, we're hauled off to jail.
Cid is speaking to us when Babus confirms who we are. We keep trying to tell them this is a fake world, but they're not listening. They don't even let our friends go. Suddenly, a seam in space opens up. They think we summoned it, but we're sucked though.
I don't know which totem this is, but Babus is determined to defend it. It's weak, and we'll need to take out all the fruits. While doing so, Babus attacks us. He's a flimsy mage, so hit him a bunch. Once he's down, we'll get full access to killing the fruits. We're warped back to prison, and we see the scene with Cid at the "cafe." Despite being pathetic in it, Cid realizes this is a fake world. One that he helped to make? Changing his goals in life, Cid leaves the castle, taking the judges with him. They will now act independently of the crown. He also lets us go, confusing the bunny man. Babus, being the protective stuffed animal he is, remains loyal to Mewt.
We (the player) witness the scene with Cid leaving the castle. Mewt is a brat, and Remidi promises to always stay with him. Babus calls in Cid's replacement, a boy named Llednar Twem. Which is "Mewt Randall" backwards.
Then I screwed up the map placement mini game because the writer made a strange choice in numbering the cells. How dumb! But I'll figure out if I miss out on the Genji gear...
... tomorrow!
There's no way I'm gonna 100 percent this; not even close. I'm enjoying dealing with the possibility that I'm the bad guy. It's a bit of a gut punch, though. I sorta live in a fantasy world that keeps me alive. I have little desire to remain on this dying planet and civilization. I'd much rather live in Ivalice, myself. Would I fight Marche, who's probably correct with his thinking?
Day six:
Our first fight is in the jagd. We're surrounded on all sides, and I felt a lot of pressure to keep my starting six alive. Rather than deal with it, I summoned Adremalech and did away with the threat. A few died, and a couple more were severely weakened. I came back later for another Nono mission, and I might have been wrong about the death timer. A few of my guys went down, but there was no countdown timer. Do they die if you don't rez them?
The second mission is where Marche learns the castle pit a bounty on his head. Mewt wants us dead, but does he have an excuse? I proceeded to do more side quests to make my characters more well rounded. I'm aiming for making my humes ninjas, Montblanc a time mage, and my viera is already an archer. So I'm trying to figure out what to do with my bangaa. White monk is already pretty cool. I really hate how small the jobs pool is, but I'll figure it out...
... tomorrow!
I got an Excalibur today from the treasure hunt mini game. Am I already getting to end game gear?
Day seven:
We're chasing counterfeit watchmakers, but we're not alone. Ritz and Shera are on the case too. The enemies think about turning us in to gain leverage for themselves and start. There's no challenge. Neither Ritz nor Shera are interested in our bounty, but Ritz does question our resolve. Why do we want to go home when we have so much sway here? We'd never rise to this level of infamy in the real world. But Marche remains resolute. He wants to see his family or, at least, not exist in a dream world. Ritz wants to stay here, though, and warns us she might join Mewt to make sure of it. We may be enemies soon. As Marche leaves, Ritz tells Shera her reason for staying here: her hair color. It's naturally pure white, and she dyes it every day. It's caused her grief from bullies, and she remembers all the times her mother cried about it long ago. Why'd she choose bright pink!?
We meet up with Ezel and discuss the bounty on us. Ezel hates the castle, so our friendship is closer. The judgemaster is going town to town, clan to clan, harassing everyone who might be us. We'll see this in the new city.
An innocent moogle is being attested because he might be Montblanc. Marche, ever the noble, comes forth to save him. He demands to see Cid, but the current judge summons useless backups we easily kill. Doing so will make the judge call Cid. We tell him what's going on, but they don't care. For some reason, we're hauled off to jail.
Cid is speaking to us when Babus confirms who we are. We keep trying to tell them this is a fake world, but they're not listening. They don't even let our friends go. Suddenly, a seam in space opens up. They think we summoned it, but we're sucked though.
I don't know which totem this is, but Babus is determined to defend it. It's weak, and we'll need to take out all the fruits. While doing so, Babus attacks us. He's a flimsy mage, so hit him a bunch. Once he's down, we'll get full access to killing the fruits. We're warped back to prison, and we see the scene with Cid at the "cafe." Despite being pathetic in it, Cid realizes this is a fake world. One that he helped to make? Changing his goals in life, Cid leaves the castle, taking the judges with him. They will now act independently of the crown. He also lets us go, confusing the bunny man. Babus, being the protective stuffed animal he is, remains loyal to Mewt.
We (the player) witness the scene with Cid leaving the castle. Mewt is a brat, and Remidi promises to always stay with him. Babus calls in Cid's replacement, a boy named Llednar Twem. Which is "Mewt Randall" backwards.
Then I screwed up the map placement mini game because the writer made a strange choice in numbering the cells. How dumb! But I'll figure out if I miss out on the Genji gear...
... tomorrow!
There's no way I'm gonna 100 percent this; not even close. I'm enjoying dealing with the possibility that I'm the bad guy. It's a bit of a gut punch, though. I sorta live in a fantasy world that keeps me alive. I have little desire to remain on this dying planet and civilization. I'd much rather live in Ivalice, myself. Would I fight Marche, who's probably correct with his thinking?
Saturday, September 10, 2022
Are we the baddies?
Day four:
Nothing happened. Merche followed a rumor about diamond rain, but it was just normal rain.
Day five:
The Roda Volcano is showing signs of an imminent eruption. Rather than send actual researchers to investigate, the castle asks randos like us to do it. Everything looks fine until a seam in time and space opens up. Marche is taken to another immaculate room, but there's no totem this time. Several smaller crystals appear, and we have to break them. This is a dumb fight. The crystals don't move, but they like to inflict charm from afar. So we'll have to deal with our own characters killing each other. There's no other way to cure charm except by violence. There's still no totem afterwards, but Marche figures out these guys represent each race in Ivalice, and this one represents the nu nou.
There's a side mission here to save Ritz and Shera, but it doesn't seem to lead to anything. Besides this, Kolingswood has an illegal lumbering operation. We have to stop that because the wood is magic. Speaking of magic, our opponents have a lot of it. The summoner is the scariest, so take care of her first. I had Montblanc use the moggle totem because I had issues.
The Salika Keep is next. The castle recently ended their investigation, so it's open to the public. Despite that, they're still here. Babus, the court mage, asks us why we're here, and Marche dumbly gets too specific with his vague reasoning about going home. Babus warns us that someone is harming the prince with their crystal hunting, and he assumes we're it. The goal is to kill a fragile black mage who runs into danger, so it's pretty easy. Babus teleports home.
We'll see him again at Nargai Cave. It's inhabited by ghosts who'll lead us to a familiar room if you've played Final Fantasy Tactics. This looks like the room we squared off against Marquis Elmdoor. And just like that battle, we're against the totem Adremalech. This is a very tough battle. Adrem usually uses a move that strikes in a line forward, doing massive fire damage. It was affected by the law, but three yellow cards didn't slow him down. The three distractions are massive tanks with AoE damage, so this isn't fun. My mages got one shot, so there's not much healing or reviving. I only had a single human fighter alive at the end. We'll return to the cave with another totem and a deeper understanding of the universe thread. Meeting us there is Babus, still upset. He asks for more details about our universe, but he doesn't believe us. Suddenly, an aftershock seam appears, which changes him slightly. Another warp thing happens where we see Mewt crying. His memories from the real world are returning, and he's remembered his mom is dead. Babus quickly goes home to keep the kid company. Marche begins to realize that going home will mean destroying his friend's dreams.
Away in Baguba Port is Montblanc's brother, Nono. Marche connects with him because he reminds him of Doned. Nono's problem is someone stole his airship. Marche offers to retrieve it, but there's a problem. The thief took it to the jagds, an area without laws. Marche is thrilled to be out of that nonsense, but our moogle friend tells us this is dangerous. You see, several of my party members have fallen in battle, but none have died. This is because of the judges and laws. Our party members can actually die in the jagds and be removed from our party. But I'll worry about that
... tomorrow!
I've stopped doing so many missions. It's because there are fewer of them now, but I keep failing the dispatch missions... Also, the way enemy levels ate calculated is awful. They're based on tour entire clan's average level, but I'm only using six. So the other twenty nerds are at level four, making my opponents weaker. I think, at least. This was a problem I remember from twenty years ago, too.
Nothing happened. Merche followed a rumor about diamond rain, but it was just normal rain.
Day five:
The Roda Volcano is showing signs of an imminent eruption. Rather than send actual researchers to investigate, the castle asks randos like us to do it. Everything looks fine until a seam in time and space opens up. Marche is taken to another immaculate room, but there's no totem this time. Several smaller crystals appear, and we have to break them. This is a dumb fight. The crystals don't move, but they like to inflict charm from afar. So we'll have to deal with our own characters killing each other. There's no other way to cure charm except by violence. There's still no totem afterwards, but Marche figures out these guys represent each race in Ivalice, and this one represents the nu nou.
There's a side mission here to save Ritz and Shera, but it doesn't seem to lead to anything. Besides this, Kolingswood has an illegal lumbering operation. We have to stop that because the wood is magic. Speaking of magic, our opponents have a lot of it. The summoner is the scariest, so take care of her first. I had Montblanc use the moggle totem because I had issues.
The Salika Keep is next. The castle recently ended their investigation, so it's open to the public. Despite that, they're still here. Babus, the court mage, asks us why we're here, and Marche dumbly gets too specific with his vague reasoning about going home. Babus warns us that someone is harming the prince with their crystal hunting, and he assumes we're it. The goal is to kill a fragile black mage who runs into danger, so it's pretty easy. Babus teleports home.
We'll see him again at Nargai Cave. It's inhabited by ghosts who'll lead us to a familiar room if you've played Final Fantasy Tactics. This looks like the room we squared off against Marquis Elmdoor. And just like that battle, we're against the totem Adremalech. This is a very tough battle. Adrem usually uses a move that strikes in a line forward, doing massive fire damage. It was affected by the law, but three yellow cards didn't slow him down. The three distractions are massive tanks with AoE damage, so this isn't fun. My mages got one shot, so there's not much healing or reviving. I only had a single human fighter alive at the end. We'll return to the cave with another totem and a deeper understanding of the universe thread. Meeting us there is Babus, still upset. He asks for more details about our universe, but he doesn't believe us. Suddenly, an aftershock seam appears, which changes him slightly. Another warp thing happens where we see Mewt crying. His memories from the real world are returning, and he's remembered his mom is dead. Babus quickly goes home to keep the kid company. Marche begins to realize that going home will mean destroying his friend's dreams.
Away in Baguba Port is Montblanc's brother, Nono. Marche connects with him because he reminds him of Doned. Nono's problem is someone stole his airship. Marche offers to retrieve it, but there's a problem. The thief took it to the jagds, an area without laws. Marche is thrilled to be out of that nonsense, but our moogle friend tells us this is dangerous. You see, several of my party members have fallen in battle, but none have died. This is because of the judges and laws. Our party members can actually die in the jagds and be removed from our party. But I'll worry about that
... tomorrow!
I've stopped doing so many missions. It's because there are fewer of them now, but I keep failing the dispatch missions... Also, the way enemy levels ate calculated is awful. They're based on tour entire clan's average level, but I'm only using six. So the other twenty nerds are at level four, making my opponents weaker. I think, at least. This was a problem I remember from twenty years ago, too.
Thursday, September 8, 2022
We are not alone!
Day 2:
After arresting a thief and liberating two of the three cities from an evil clan's rule, I went to find another thief in Nubswood. But there was a surprise waiting for us.
Ritz! No, she wasn't the thief, but she was chasing after him too. The two clans team up to easily defeat the enemy, and then we're introduced to each other. We met Shera, Ritz' viera archer partner, and Montblanc was, probably, there. At first, Marche was excited to meet someone he knew. Now they can find a way to go home together. But Ritz doesn't want to leave. She wants to stay in the fantasy/historical world of Ivalice, using magic and fighting monsters. So, rather than team up, Ritz and Shera go about their way, making Marche feel even more alone. Before leaving, Ritz mentioned he's more outgoing than before.
After this, I got a desert tile, which opened up more missions. I did the smaller ones, so I'll figure out what major plot point is there...
... tomorrow!
Yep, that's it. Not much to talk about, which I kinda expected. I think I'm going to combine two or three days of playtime into one. There are 300 missions, and only twenty five of them are plot relevant. So that's an eight-to-one ratio if Lord Google's math is correct. Defo a lot of nothing going on if you want to enjoy the battle system.
Day three:
The monsters at the Eluut Desert are acting up. No one is sure why, but clans occasionally are asked to prevent monster attacks with extermination. It's a bunch of antlions and beasts, so it's not hard. After the battle, Montblanc informs Marche of why he thinks monsters get rowdy. Crystals. No one's really sure what these supposed crystals are, but they're rumored to affect the world.
The next main mission is about a warp in the bend of the Ulei River. Marche investigates, but finds nothing odd. That is, until the space/time continuum breaks. He's sucked into a wormhole and brought to a pristine temple. Before us is a large crystal. From out of nowhere, Marche hears a voice asking for the name of [ominous title]. Marche is a bit obstinate, and a giant emerges from the crystal. Famfrit considers us an intruder and attacks.
He's accompanied by four ahriman type mobs. They can fly over your characters, so there's no good way to position yourselves. Apparently, two of them can randomly kill any character with Roulette. Famfrit, meanwhile, can use Demi and a breath move that deals a ton of damage to a cross section. Fortunately, he's kinda slow. I killed his friends with him only acting twice. He can counter direct attacks, so try to stay at range.
After the battle, Famfrit says that he was made by "the white ones," and his crystal holds the saems of this universe together. If all of the crystals are destroyed, then maybe Marche can go home? Famfrit is now a special summon for moogle characters.
Then the camera cuts to a royal bedroom. Mewt? He appeared before Marche as he beat Famfrit, so here's his role in this world. He controls it. His dad is the judge master, but it's his mom with the interesting title. She's the Queen and public ruler of Ivalice. Mewtsuddenly remembers getting struck with the rock in the snowball fight from the tutorial and begins to cry. His parents rush in to console him, and Mewt hides in his mother's skirt. Queen Remidi informs her son that a crystal has been destroyed, and Mewt needs to prevent it from happening again. From here on out, there will be a second law when we engage. Mewt is very affectionate with Queen Remidi, which reminds me that his mom is dead in the real world, right?
We get to the new city of Cadoan and learn about the new law announcement. A strange nu mou informs us of something called an anti law card that negates the magic of the judges. Someone named Ezel Berber is in charge of them. The new main mission is about Ravens. We'll stumble up the strange nu nou being chased by a group of mercenaries. Shockingly, this is Ezel, and there's a huge bounty on his head. Marche, not having a connection to this world and no respect for its laws, believes Ezel can help him, so we'll defend the creature! This feels like the Orran battle in FFT. Ezel can put the entire enemy party to sleep with a spell he spams, which leaves them open to our attacks.
Afterwards, judge master Cid enters the town and asks that Ezel joins him. Cid casts a spell to make sure the nu mou can't run away. Rather than comply, Ezel pulls out a red card, negating Cid's law magic. We're teleported to the bar, and Ezel opens a shop where we can buy anti law cards. All of our side missions now drop those cards, so it may be wise to rush this mission. But I'll explore this...
... tomorrow!
Montblanc got thrown in prison today. I accidentally used fire magic instead of lightning. Down with the Queen! I didn't vote for her!
After arresting a thief and liberating two of the three cities from an evil clan's rule, I went to find another thief in Nubswood. But there was a surprise waiting for us.
Ritz! No, she wasn't the thief, but she was chasing after him too. The two clans team up to easily defeat the enemy, and then we're introduced to each other. We met Shera, Ritz' viera archer partner, and Montblanc was, probably, there. At first, Marche was excited to meet someone he knew. Now they can find a way to go home together. But Ritz doesn't want to leave. She wants to stay in the fantasy/historical world of Ivalice, using magic and fighting monsters. So, rather than team up, Ritz and Shera go about their way, making Marche feel even more alone. Before leaving, Ritz mentioned he's more outgoing than before.
After this, I got a desert tile, which opened up more missions. I did the smaller ones, so I'll figure out what major plot point is there...
... tomorrow!
Yep, that's it. Not much to talk about, which I kinda expected. I think I'm going to combine two or three days of playtime into one. There are 300 missions, and only twenty five of them are plot relevant. So that's an eight-to-one ratio if Lord Google's math is correct. Defo a lot of nothing going on if you want to enjoy the battle system.
Day three:
The monsters at the Eluut Desert are acting up. No one is sure why, but clans occasionally are asked to prevent monster attacks with extermination. It's a bunch of antlions and beasts, so it's not hard. After the battle, Montblanc informs Marche of why he thinks monsters get rowdy. Crystals. No one's really sure what these supposed crystals are, but they're rumored to affect the world.
The next main mission is about a warp in the bend of the Ulei River. Marche investigates, but finds nothing odd. That is, until the space/time continuum breaks. He's sucked into a wormhole and brought to a pristine temple. Before us is a large crystal. From out of nowhere, Marche hears a voice asking for the name of [ominous title]. Marche is a bit obstinate, and a giant emerges from the crystal. Famfrit considers us an intruder and attacks.
He's accompanied by four ahriman type mobs. They can fly over your characters, so there's no good way to position yourselves. Apparently, two of them can randomly kill any character with Roulette. Famfrit, meanwhile, can use Demi and a breath move that deals a ton of damage to a cross section. Fortunately, he's kinda slow. I killed his friends with him only acting twice. He can counter direct attacks, so try to stay at range.
After the battle, Famfrit says that he was made by "the white ones," and his crystal holds the saems of this universe together. If all of the crystals are destroyed, then maybe Marche can go home? Famfrit is now a special summon for moogle characters.
Then the camera cuts to a royal bedroom. Mewt? He appeared before Marche as he beat Famfrit, so here's his role in this world. He controls it. His dad is the judge master, but it's his mom with the interesting title. She's the Queen and public ruler of Ivalice. Mewtsuddenly remembers getting struck with the rock in the snowball fight from the tutorial and begins to cry. His parents rush in to console him, and Mewt hides in his mother's skirt. Queen Remidi informs her son that a crystal has been destroyed, and Mewt needs to prevent it from happening again. From here on out, there will be a second law when we engage. Mewt is very affectionate with Queen Remidi, which reminds me that his mom is dead in the real world, right?
We get to the new city of Cadoan and learn about the new law announcement. A strange nu mou informs us of something called an anti law card that negates the magic of the judges. Someone named Ezel Berber is in charge of them. The new main mission is about Ravens. We'll stumble up the strange nu nou being chased by a group of mercenaries. Shockingly, this is Ezel, and there's a huge bounty on his head. Marche, not having a connection to this world and no respect for its laws, believes Ezel can help him, so we'll defend the creature! This feels like the Orran battle in FFT. Ezel can put the entire enemy party to sleep with a spell he spams, which leaves them open to our attacks.
Afterwards, judge master Cid enters the town and asks that Ezel joins him. Cid casts a spell to make sure the nu mou can't run away. Rather than comply, Ezel pulls out a red card, negating Cid's law magic. We're teleported to the bar, and Ezel opens a shop where we can buy anti law cards. All of our side missions now drop those cards, so it may be wise to rush this mission. But I'll explore this...
... tomorrow!
Montblanc got thrown in prison today. I accidentally used fire magic instead of lightning. Down with the Queen! I didn't vote for her!
Tuesday, September 6, 2022
The reason I own a Gameboy SP.
Even if I have no clue where it currently is!
It was for a sequel to one of my favorite games. It's a game beloved by many who play it. It's the return of Square/Enix to a Nintendo console. Final Fantasy Tactics Advance! My grandma got me a Gameboy SP and FFTA for, I think, my birthday. I loved FFT, and I knew I wanted its "sequel." I played it quite a bit when I first got it, but I've barely thought about it since. I was not a fan of it, as it felt like such a dumbed down version of FFT with a blander story. A few years later, I stumbled upon a fan theory that blows the game wide open. Will this change my viewpoint of the game? Let's find out!
The game begins in a small, snowy village. We'll soon learn this is the town of St. Ivalice. A handful of kids are out at recess for a snowball fight, but one kid isn't happy with his team. One of his teammates is a timid boy who's attached to a stuffed rabbit named Mewt. A girl on the other team gets insulted at the bully's sexism and scolds him before offering to swap teams. At some point, we get introduced to ourselves, the new kid, Marche. He and Ritz become quick friends defending Mewt before the snowball fight starts. Our teacher, Me. Leslie, enters to referee the battle, and we get a tutorial of the game. It's standard TRPG stuff, so I'll skip the details. After a round, the game jumps to a cutscene. Our Irish opponents are hyper fixating on poor Mewt. One of them even hides a rock in a snowball. The teacher ends this and asks the bullies to see him in his office.
At the end of the day, Marche, Ritz, and Mewt are planning to hang out. Mewt wants to buy a new book, and his friends want to see it. It's an unknown book about magic! Marche has to see his sickly brother, Doned, so he can't make it. Instead, Ritz and Mewt will buy the book and meet at Marche's house after. As we leave, we see an altercation with a strange man begging for his life. That's Mewt's dad. Marche leaves after, and Ritz mentions Marche has no father.
Doned isn't ill, but he has a condition that keeps him in a wheelchair. The two brothers have a moment before our friends show up. We get a glimpse of the book, and it's filled with glyphs, incomprehensible words, and pictures of strange entities. No one's sure what it's about. The four kids discuss how cool magic would be, and then they bring up what their favorite worlds are. Mewt says, "Final Fantasy"... It's dinner time, and the tea kettle has been ringing for an hour, so everyone leaves.
We see more of St. Ivalice, and it looks really nice. Great graphics for the system! The scene lingers on Newt's book before the landscape changes. The snowy village turns into a desert, and the people are replaced by the strange entities from the book. Doned flashes before disappearing. Marche begins to float before poofing away himself.
He wakes up in a strange location, wearing stranger clothes. He wanders around the town before bumping into a "lizard." The "lizard" takes offense to this word, and Marche tries to inform him he has no idea what's going on. Other citizens flee the square. Before a fight breaks out, a small animal tries to save Marche. He soothes the bangaa, but they still want to engage. A judge teleports in, and we get a deeper tutorial from before. Laws, special moves, and other things are discussed. Our "stuffed animal" friend, Montblanc, saves us with magic and even invites us to his club. He teaches us that Ivalice is his country and a few other things. The gist is we're not in Kansas anymore. We join the moogles clan, which I (re)name to Clan Centurio. From here, we learn more about the world. I go on a few missions, which are the game's battles and how the plot is advanced. I went flower picking, beat up anti science thieves, saved a professor from zombies (who share a name with our St. Ivalice bullies), and stopped an evil ice mage from killing everyone. This kicked off Clan Wars, which I'll get into...
... tomorrow!
The game's a lot slower than I remember. I'm super not happy with the lack of a fitting room. How am I supposed to know what items are better!? FFTA has a job system, but jobs are linked to races, which is kinda limiting. There are also not many of them. There are 300 missions in FFTA, but only twenty five of them are story ones. Don't expect a deep update every day, but I'm still looking forward to this. It's a game from a franchise, substory, and genre I enjoy. It can't be THAT bad?
It was for a sequel to one of my favorite games. It's a game beloved by many who play it. It's the return of Square/Enix to a Nintendo console. Final Fantasy Tactics Advance! My grandma got me a Gameboy SP and FFTA for, I think, my birthday. I loved FFT, and I knew I wanted its "sequel." I played it quite a bit when I first got it, but I've barely thought about it since. I was not a fan of it, as it felt like such a dumbed down version of FFT with a blander story. A few years later, I stumbled upon a fan theory that blows the game wide open. Will this change my viewpoint of the game? Let's find out!
The game begins in a small, snowy village. We'll soon learn this is the town of St. Ivalice. A handful of kids are out at recess for a snowball fight, but one kid isn't happy with his team. One of his teammates is a timid boy who's attached to a stuffed rabbit named Mewt. A girl on the other team gets insulted at the bully's sexism and scolds him before offering to swap teams. At some point, we get introduced to ourselves, the new kid, Marche. He and Ritz become quick friends defending Mewt before the snowball fight starts. Our teacher, Me. Leslie, enters to referee the battle, and we get a tutorial of the game. It's standard TRPG stuff, so I'll skip the details. After a round, the game jumps to a cutscene. Our Irish opponents are hyper fixating on poor Mewt. One of them even hides a rock in a snowball. The teacher ends this and asks the bullies to see him in his office.
At the end of the day, Marche, Ritz, and Mewt are planning to hang out. Mewt wants to buy a new book, and his friends want to see it. It's an unknown book about magic! Marche has to see his sickly brother, Doned, so he can't make it. Instead, Ritz and Mewt will buy the book and meet at Marche's house after. As we leave, we see an altercation with a strange man begging for his life. That's Mewt's dad. Marche leaves after, and Ritz mentions Marche has no father.
Doned isn't ill, but he has a condition that keeps him in a wheelchair. The two brothers have a moment before our friends show up. We get a glimpse of the book, and it's filled with glyphs, incomprehensible words, and pictures of strange entities. No one's sure what it's about. The four kids discuss how cool magic would be, and then they bring up what their favorite worlds are. Mewt says, "Final Fantasy"... It's dinner time, and the tea kettle has been ringing for an hour, so everyone leaves.
We see more of St. Ivalice, and it looks really nice. Great graphics for the system! The scene lingers on Newt's book before the landscape changes. The snowy village turns into a desert, and the people are replaced by the strange entities from the book. Doned flashes before disappearing. Marche begins to float before poofing away himself.
He wakes up in a strange location, wearing stranger clothes. He wanders around the town before bumping into a "lizard." The "lizard" takes offense to this word, and Marche tries to inform him he has no idea what's going on. Other citizens flee the square. Before a fight breaks out, a small animal tries to save Marche. He soothes the bangaa, but they still want to engage. A judge teleports in, and we get a deeper tutorial from before. Laws, special moves, and other things are discussed. Our "stuffed animal" friend, Montblanc, saves us with magic and even invites us to his club. He teaches us that Ivalice is his country and a few other things. The gist is we're not in Kansas anymore. We join the moogles clan, which I (re)name to Clan Centurio. From here, we learn more about the world. I go on a few missions, which are the game's battles and how the plot is advanced. I went flower picking, beat up anti science thieves, saved a professor from zombies (who share a name with our St. Ivalice bullies), and stopped an evil ice mage from killing everyone. This kicked off Clan Wars, which I'll get into...
... tomorrow!
The game's a lot slower than I remember. I'm super not happy with the lack of a fitting room. How am I supposed to know what items are better!? FFTA has a job system, but jobs are linked to races, which is kinda limiting. There are also not many of them. There are 300 missions in FFTA, but only twenty five of them are story ones. Don't expect a deep update every day, but I'm still looking forward to this. It's a game from a franchise, substory, and genre I enjoy. It can't be THAT bad?
Friday, September 2, 2022
Where was this golden sun?
I've delayed as long as I could, so let's scale the final dungeon!
We enter Babi Lighthouse and walk past the upset workers. They think this is corporate overreach. In the next screen are wounded soldiers who were attacked by Saturos and Menardi. The lighthouse proper is pretty straightforward. We have to get up to get down, but there are no major gimmicks here. There are only a few floors, and you'll need to fall down the top "jump down" thingy. You'll fall into the room behind the closed door, which'll mysteriously open after Issac breaks his legs.
Down here is Iodem's liaison, Faran. Faran is glad to see Iodem, but he's more concerned with finding Sheba. When told we're the ones who'll find her, he gets upset. Like so many others, "hOw CaN kIdS sAvE uS." Ioden tries to explain Psyenergy, but it's easier to show. They can't get passed a door, but using Reveal will let us open it. Garet says there's no time to explain, so Ioden starts to walk through the door. It closes. Only adepts may pass, so we're on our own. A few screens later, we'll come to the Tunnel Ruins.
I don't remember how this place went... I think it's because I'm confusing it with the next dungeon. I believe this area changes based on how you interacted with that giant goddess statue in the Venus Lighthouse. I remember getting lost here, though... I took the center path and found a great armor I gave to Garet. Anyway, here's the Venus Lighthouse!
As the Mercury Lighthouse did to Mia, Issac gets his MP reoccurred every round. Also, as in the previous Lighthouse, we'll need to climb through sand falls and make our way up. This is one of the more innovative dungeons in the game, and it's a lot of fun. You'll end up vastly changing the layout of the area because of all the switches and new sand falls you trigger. It's a lengthy dungeon, but it's still probably the third longest. The random battles ate against tanky dudes, but they lack real pop. There's nothing new in their tactics, so I held down the speed boost. There's a fair bit of treasure, so make sure to get the Gaia Blade. You'll be at the top when you find the Psy Stone. Heal before grabbing it because the end is near!
There's dissension in the ranks. Felix isn't happy that Sheba is here. She's totally innocent in this and not needed. He believes she should be with Jenna and Kraden on their boat somewhere. Saturos and Menardi don't care. We'll learn Sheba was kidnapped because they need a wind adept to open the Jupiter Lighthouse when they get there. This argument gets to where each side prepares to battle each other. Garet suggests using this as a sneak attack. We join in on the conversation, though... Felix is vague and secretive, but Saturos and Menardi eventually attack us!
Both of our opponents are fire adepts, so bring water magic. Menards spends most of the battle buffing the two of them. Apparently, she can one shot a character if she attacks. Saturos only uses fire magic or physical attacks. Summons chunk the two of them, and I've read you can end this in one round if you understand how summons work. I finished this at max health with plenty of MP left, so I had no problems here.
Felix is shocked that we won and realizes he never stood a chance against us. It seems there's some childhood rivalry going on between them, which drives our villain. Before anything of value is said, our two dead adepts begin to move. They vow vengeance against us and tell Felix to take Sheba away from here. We don't think highly of them, but they suddenly throw the Venus Star into the beacon. I forgot about these rocks... The two hype themselves up because of some mumbo jumbo about a relationship between fire and earth. I don't get it, but they fuse into one being, the final boss, Chaos Dragon!
Now, this guy is hard. He goes twice a round and likes to hit the whole party both times. He can inflict haunted status on the team, as well as poison. It's got 5000 HP and seems weak to water. Summons do nearly 1000 damage, but be careful. You'll need to be using Wish Well every turn. I had to use it twice several times, in fact. I nearly got wiped multiple times in this fight, so I don't trust my strategy. Issac's Gaia Blade did 200 damage, and Garet's Ashura Strike wasn't too shabby either. Ivan sucked. Sorry. Good luck because Chaos Dragon is worthy of a final boss.
The tower we're on suddenly splits in two. Felix and Sheba are still around, but it's not going well. Sheba is about to fall to her death, but Felix is trying to save her. He fails, and she falls, and he jumps down after her. We wake up and make our next plan. Saturos and Menardi are gone, but Jenna and Kraden are still missing. After a weirdly happy celebration, where the tower fixes itself, we return to town. Some days have passed, and no one we're looking for has been found. Ioden wants us to look for Lemuria, which we, apparently, saw while on the lighthouse. He gives us Babi's submarine boat, and we all head out to sea. Meanwhile, the camera cuts to Jenna and Kraden on a moving island, complaining about hunger. Alex, who I forgot about, takes them to Felix and Sheba, who just washed ashore.
The credits role as we see the cool battle backgrounds. We're asked to save and the words "to be continued" appear on the screen.
Golden Sun is a two part game. In order to get the full story, you need to play the sequel. As of right now, I have no plans to play that. There was nothing that made me want to continue the plot, and Felix being shady didn't help. I'm not saying never, but I'm glad to be done. I've heard good things about the franchise, but I'm not wowed. The characters were boring, the villains were forgettable, and the plot was shallow. I can go either way on the djinn system. My final classes didn't seem to fit with characters' innate backstory skills, so I felt a big disconnect. I won't write a full review or even a small one. Golden Sun 1 (alone) gets a 32/50. 6.4 out of 10.
We enter Babi Lighthouse and walk past the upset workers. They think this is corporate overreach. In the next screen are wounded soldiers who were attacked by Saturos and Menardi. The lighthouse proper is pretty straightforward. We have to get up to get down, but there are no major gimmicks here. There are only a few floors, and you'll need to fall down the top "jump down" thingy. You'll fall into the room behind the closed door, which'll mysteriously open after Issac breaks his legs.
Down here is Iodem's liaison, Faran. Faran is glad to see Iodem, but he's more concerned with finding Sheba. When told we're the ones who'll find her, he gets upset. Like so many others, "hOw CaN kIdS sAvE uS." Ioden tries to explain Psyenergy, but it's easier to show. They can't get passed a door, but using Reveal will let us open it. Garet says there's no time to explain, so Ioden starts to walk through the door. It closes. Only adepts may pass, so we're on our own. A few screens later, we'll come to the Tunnel Ruins.
I don't remember how this place went... I think it's because I'm confusing it with the next dungeon. I believe this area changes based on how you interacted with that giant goddess statue in the Venus Lighthouse. I remember getting lost here, though... I took the center path and found a great armor I gave to Garet. Anyway, here's the Venus Lighthouse!
As the Mercury Lighthouse did to Mia, Issac gets his MP reoccurred every round. Also, as in the previous Lighthouse, we'll need to climb through sand falls and make our way up. This is one of the more innovative dungeons in the game, and it's a lot of fun. You'll end up vastly changing the layout of the area because of all the switches and new sand falls you trigger. It's a lengthy dungeon, but it's still probably the third longest. The random battles ate against tanky dudes, but they lack real pop. There's nothing new in their tactics, so I held down the speed boost. There's a fair bit of treasure, so make sure to get the Gaia Blade. You'll be at the top when you find the Psy Stone. Heal before grabbing it because the end is near!
There's dissension in the ranks. Felix isn't happy that Sheba is here. She's totally innocent in this and not needed. He believes she should be with Jenna and Kraden on their boat somewhere. Saturos and Menardi don't care. We'll learn Sheba was kidnapped because they need a wind adept to open the Jupiter Lighthouse when they get there. This argument gets to where each side prepares to battle each other. Garet suggests using this as a sneak attack. We join in on the conversation, though... Felix is vague and secretive, but Saturos and Menardi eventually attack us!
Both of our opponents are fire adepts, so bring water magic. Menards spends most of the battle buffing the two of them. Apparently, she can one shot a character if she attacks. Saturos only uses fire magic or physical attacks. Summons chunk the two of them, and I've read you can end this in one round if you understand how summons work. I finished this at max health with plenty of MP left, so I had no problems here.
Felix is shocked that we won and realizes he never stood a chance against us. It seems there's some childhood rivalry going on between them, which drives our villain. Before anything of value is said, our two dead adepts begin to move. They vow vengeance against us and tell Felix to take Sheba away from here. We don't think highly of them, but they suddenly throw the Venus Star into the beacon. I forgot about these rocks... The two hype themselves up because of some mumbo jumbo about a relationship between fire and earth. I don't get it, but they fuse into one being, the final boss, Chaos Dragon!
Now, this guy is hard. He goes twice a round and likes to hit the whole party both times. He can inflict haunted status on the team, as well as poison. It's got 5000 HP and seems weak to water. Summons do nearly 1000 damage, but be careful. You'll need to be using Wish Well every turn. I had to use it twice several times, in fact. I nearly got wiped multiple times in this fight, so I don't trust my strategy. Issac's Gaia Blade did 200 damage, and Garet's Ashura Strike wasn't too shabby either. Ivan sucked. Sorry. Good luck because Chaos Dragon is worthy of a final boss.
The tower we're on suddenly splits in two. Felix and Sheba are still around, but it's not going well. Sheba is about to fall to her death, but Felix is trying to save her. He fails, and she falls, and he jumps down after her. We wake up and make our next plan. Saturos and Menardi are gone, but Jenna and Kraden are still missing. After a weirdly happy celebration, where the tower fixes itself, we return to town. Some days have passed, and no one we're looking for has been found. Ioden wants us to look for Lemuria, which we, apparently, saw while on the lighthouse. He gives us Babi's submarine boat, and we all head out to sea. Meanwhile, the camera cuts to Jenna and Kraden on a moving island, complaining about hunger. Alex, who I forgot about, takes them to Felix and Sheba, who just washed ashore.
The credits role as we see the cool battle backgrounds. We're asked to save and the words "to be continued" appear on the screen.
Golden Sun is a two part game. In order to get the full story, you need to play the sequel. As of right now, I have no plans to play that. There was nothing that made me want to continue the plot, and Felix being shady didn't help. I'm not saying never, but I'm glad to be done. I've heard good things about the franchise, but I'm not wowed. The characters were boring, the villains were forgettable, and the plot was shallow. I can go either way on the djinn system. My final classes didn't seem to fit with characters' innate backstory skills, so I felt a big disconnect. I won't write a full review or even a small one. Golden Sun 1 (alone) gets a 32/50. 6.4 out of 10.
Thursday, September 1, 2022
Final setup
I got all the djinns!
Venus Lighthouse feels optional. The grounds are littered with dying soldiers, and there are a few researchers inside. They let us know our enemies have been here, and Kraden didn't think this was the entrance. He's correct. We can only go so far before running into a dead end. It's a statue that changes the lights on the floor. Apparently, this changes the layout of an upcoming dungeon. There are two things worth getting here, though. The Carry Psyenergy is early on, and there's a pretty good hat deeper in. Leave, take the right exit, and head to the town of Lalivero.
Two more soldiers are lying on the ground, attacked by Saturos and Menardi. Unlike some of the previous ones, they'll be fine. For some reason, the citizens in the town are okay with them and aren't remotely concerned about the dead on their doorstep. Anyone gonna help them? Pick up new weapons and armor, then climb onto the golden walls around town. The building we need is in the lower right corner. Follow the wall until you reach a djinn. After this, return to the Sulhalla Desert. Climb into the pink tornado and let it take you to Crossbone Island.
There are no random encounters here, but every door is guarded by a boss of varying strength and numbers. From here, we need to solve some of the more fun puzzles in the game. They can be pretty hard, but none of them are frustrating. You'll need to use nearly all of your Psyenergy spells and have a solid understanding of game mechanics to reach the rare equipment. The biggest reason to be here is to find the djinn on the sixth floor. You'll need to use Halt on it after chasing it down. You can keep going if you want to, but the gear is cursed and sucks. There's a superboss at the very bottom that I had no interest in, so I left.
We'll wind up outside of Sulhalla, the village, so trek back to Lalivero. Past that is Babi Lighthouse. The workers are fine, but the soldiers aren't. Ignore them. There are two ladders down, and one is hidden by a pillar. Go down both and Move the pillars down there. Take the new path up, use Growth on the plant, and fall down the hole. This is the last djinn in the game! So it looks like I'll be finishing Golden Sun...
... tomorrow!
I heard great things about Golden Sun. I'm a bit disappointed, though. I know there's a direct sequel, but I didn't think it was a disk two type of thing. But we'll come to that later.
Venus Lighthouse feels optional. The grounds are littered with dying soldiers, and there are a few researchers inside. They let us know our enemies have been here, and Kraden didn't think this was the entrance. He's correct. We can only go so far before running into a dead end. It's a statue that changes the lights on the floor. Apparently, this changes the layout of an upcoming dungeon. There are two things worth getting here, though. The Carry Psyenergy is early on, and there's a pretty good hat deeper in. Leave, take the right exit, and head to the town of Lalivero.
Two more soldiers are lying on the ground, attacked by Saturos and Menardi. Unlike some of the previous ones, they'll be fine. For some reason, the citizens in the town are okay with them and aren't remotely concerned about the dead on their doorstep. Anyone gonna help them? Pick up new weapons and armor, then climb onto the golden walls around town. The building we need is in the lower right corner. Follow the wall until you reach a djinn. After this, return to the Sulhalla Desert. Climb into the pink tornado and let it take you to Crossbone Island.
There are no random encounters here, but every door is guarded by a boss of varying strength and numbers. From here, we need to solve some of the more fun puzzles in the game. They can be pretty hard, but none of them are frustrating. You'll need to use nearly all of your Psyenergy spells and have a solid understanding of game mechanics to reach the rare equipment. The biggest reason to be here is to find the djinn on the sixth floor. You'll need to use Halt on it after chasing it down. You can keep going if you want to, but the gear is cursed and sucks. There's a superboss at the very bottom that I had no interest in, so I left.
We'll wind up outside of Sulhalla, the village, so trek back to Lalivero. Past that is Babi Lighthouse. The workers are fine, but the soldiers aren't. Ignore them. There are two ladders down, and one is hidden by a pillar. Go down both and Move the pillars down there. Take the new path up, use Growth on the plant, and fall down the hole. This is the last djinn in the game! So it looks like I'll be finishing Golden Sun...
... tomorrow!
I heard great things about Golden Sun. I'm a bit disappointed, though. I know there's a direct sequel, but I didn't think it was a disk two type of thing. But we'll come to that later.
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