Deal with it! Hot off the trails of the Heavenly Bride, I'm heading to the Realms of Revelation. To hell with whatever I had planned, I won't let the fires die yet!
The game starts with a man and woman sitting around the fire. The man wakes up, and the woman asks him if he slept well. Another man comes down from the rocks and tells the others that they've made it to Mudo's Castle, and it's time to move. We're never informed who those two people are, but the man we're playing as I have named Rek. The wiki said that's what his name was, and I can make terrible puns when I REK bosses. I put out the fire and follow the others up to a ledge overlooking a castle. The woman plays her flute/ocarina, which summons a dragon to fly them into the depths of the castle itself. Were ocarinas a big thing in Japan in the mid 90s? While we're down here, we continue to the top of the screen and eventually arrive in a foggy room. In that room is Ozzie from Chrono Trigger. Only he's the size of the Namekian Elder from DBZ. Rather than do battle, he causes the party to levitate, bounce around for a minute, and then explode.
We hear thumping sounds and stuff falling as the camera opens up in a well lit room with Rek on the floor. His sister, Tania, is standing over him, trying to get him awake. She then tells Rek that the Village Elder came by looking for him, and we should go to his house at the top of the town. As I leave my house, the first thing I notice is how amazing the graphics look. The forest in the background is one of the most beautiful things on the SNES. There's one qualm I had with DQV that I won't be having with VI. Rather than head straight north, I walk around the town. I find a leather hat and several stat seeds I immediately feed to Rek. I hope he's the chosen one this time. I also gain some information about the world at large. Mudo still exists, and he's trying to take over the world. We're in a small mountain village protected by the Mountain Spirit with the village ceremony to please the spirit is upcoming. In that ceremony, Tania is supposed to have an important role involving a crown that the village gets from the town to its south, Shiena. Heading to the Elder's House confirms all of this, but the guy who usually gets the crown has become too old, so the Elder asks Rek to do it. He gives us a bag of our village's best mercantile items, silk and woodcrafts, and sends us on our way.
The world map is freakin' gorgeous! I also like the theme, but I hurry on to the mountain path. There are a few ways to get down, but another villager lying in the grass gets my attention first. We meet Rand, who has a crush on our sister but may already be in a relationship with the Elder's grand/daughter, Julie. I think that was her name. He's napping, so we carry on. The best way down is to fall off the ledge to the right. You skip a few floors and find the club: a weapon that nearly doubled Rek's attack power. Be careful in the equipment menu, as the game locked up a few times. ROMHacking can be a rough experience, I guess. You really should walk everywhere here to open chests, get EXP, and find gold. Gold was at a premium in V, so I suspect it will be again in the sequel.
At the bottom and to the southwest is the town of Shiena. It's bazaar season, so there are a number of unusual shopkeepers. There are three we can sell our stuff to, but find the girl in the back. She pays 350 gold, a higher number than 300 or 320 the guys on either side will offer. With the sack emptied, we now need to find the crown maker. He lives with his family to the northeast, but he's not home. His daughter will say he went to the forest across the bridge to the west since all the good wood is missing. Looks like we'll be heading that way.
Let me tell you how much I hate onions, both in real life and in this game. My first encounter with sentient, evil bulbs was an ambush where I died. My second was a four-on-one assault where I died. After some trial and error, I made it to the forest and then passed it. On the world map is a hole. Walk towards it, and you'll appear in a subscreen. There, we see an old man yelling for dear life as he hangs above the open chasm. I wonder to myself if we're on a floating continent as I look at the ground below. We help the old man up, but our footing slips, and we fall into the hole.
We wake up on the otherside just fine, but we're oddly see-through...
There's another world map, where a slight variation on the overworld theme plays, and we see a town in the distance. Entering and trying to talk to the NPCs reveals they can't see us. They sense us as random sounds or a gust of wind. But we can hear them. We learn of a well to the north, creepy bandits nearby, and a random assortment of village gossip. The only clue I got was the well, so I headed north. Inside a strangely build hut was, indeed, a well. Rek jumped in and found himself north of the hole where we saved the old man. More importantly, we're perfectly tangible. We headed back to Shiena, where we found the old map. He was the crown maker, and he gives us the crown for free as thanks for saving him. Which means I get a free 350 gold to upgrade my armor. Defense seems like the way to go thus far, so I'm going to prioritize that.
We return to ??? and give the Elder the crown. The sun is setting, and I'd like to reiterate how much the graphics have improved over the other Dragon Quest game I played. After a long day, Rek takes a nap and wakes up in time for the festival. Rand gets us as Tania leads the procession from the Elder's House to the church. We all follow her in. There, the ceremony takes place. Tania hands the priest the crown, who puts it on the spirit statue in the back of the room. As Tania goes to leaves, she stands before Rek, and things get weird. An image of, probably, the spirit is displayed as Tania tells Rek that he has a destiny he needs to fulfill. He will go on a long, arduous journey but will be vital to the whole world. Tania comes to afterwards and tries to shrug off the possession. Everyone leaves, and the parting begins. Most people are dancing and already drunk, but two people are in the north of town. Rand is trying to get Tania to marry him, but she's not ready for such a commitment. Rand is heartbroken but not done trying, and he's totally blowing off Julia, waiting for Rand in the weaving room. The whole day has been a thing, so Rek goes to bed.
In the morning, Rek talks to the Elder. He tells the young man that he should follow the advice of the Mountain Spirit. Rek should head to Castle Reidlock, south of Shiena, and talk to the King. The Elder hands Rek a pass and sends him on his way. In Reidlock, the whole town is trying to fight against the forces of Mudo and is looking for royal guards. To become s soldier, one must travel to the Tower of Trials and climb to the top. But only one person can become a soldier at a time, which sounds like a terrible way to amass an army. Following five others down, one of whom looks familiar, we come to the first dungeon in the game, Tower of Trials.
Floor one is about finding the correct staircase up while avoiding the spike floors.
Floor two is navigating the easy maze.
Floor three has us fighting the first boss in the game. Tower Guard is no joke, dude. He can do 6-10 HP a blow and wind up for an attack that does 20. He'll indicate when this attack is about to happen, so try to parry it. Hopefully, you have enough MP to cast Heal a bunch and a few Medical Herbs. It takes a while but is pretty simple.
Floor four has us dealing with the Pokemon/Sylph CO. moving floor pannels.
Floor five has us spotting the liars. There are three doors, but only one leads us to the correct place. The path to take is the leftmost one. The middle is a floor trap, and the left one takes us to a deceptive golden ring. If you fail, you can try again with no punishment.
The final floor has us taking on the boss of this place, Nelson. Sadly, I was low on everything, so I had to turn back and re-heal. By the time I got back to the castle, the familiar guy had already beaten Nelson and made his way into the final room. I don't know what the item was, but I returned to Riedlock a failure. I kinda dug this, to be honest. Actions should have consequences, especially in a competition with six people. It sucks to suck, but I'm glad the win wasn't given to me.
Back at the castle, we see Hassan, the familiar guy, become a soldier while we walk around the castle. We discover the King's personal carriage is missing a horse, so I guess I might as well try to find one. As we leave, Hassan catches up to us as he has the same idea. Far to the west is a forest clearing where a wild horse lives. If we came here alone, the horse would just run away from Rek. With another person, though, we can trap it. Rek and Hassan tame the horse, take it back to the castle, and the knight commander informs us of what a patty can do together. For breaking the horse, he makes Rek a soldier and takes us to the King. The King gives us an order about the Mirror of Ra, which was an item in DQV. It has the same myth as here. The King thinks it can help us find Mudo when he teleports and sends us to obtain it. And we'll do that...
...tomorrow!
Day one plot dumps, man. I'm digging DQVI a lot more than I am DQV so far. I know it's still early, but the difficulty is a lot more manageable, aside from onions, and has a brisker pace. I kinda hope it slows down, though. I can't imagine how long this would have taken to type wi a phone!
Monday, March 22, 2021
Wednesday, March 17, 2021
A new passion kindled!
Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride/Tenkuu no Hanayome (DeJap) is the first Dragon Quest game I've ever played. I've heard nothing but good things about them, but I was a Final Fantasy Fanboi and spent all my allowance there. Even the few DQ games that reached American shores never even got a look from me for reasons I'm not sure about. I know they existed. Did I just never think to go find one? Did I ever find one to begin with? Regardless of my eyesight, intelligence, or finances, I can already tell skipping the series was a massive misnomer in my life.
What didn't I like about Dragon Quest V? The first person battle system. I like seeing my characters attack. I want to see that sword or hammer move across my screen. Here, though, it's a flicker of light on the enemy. It's a lot boring. Other games at the time had numbers pop up over the heads of the hit target. I'm not one to bemoan reading, but seeing "Abel hit for 50 damage" for 25 hours gets boring and tedious. It's cool to let things automatically go. There's too much B Button pressing.
Inventory management sucks. Just, in general. I understand in games like Fallout, but the limited slots in RPGs at this time will get painfully annoying when you want to move several items around at once. And selling items one at a time gives me nightmares. It's just more button mashing!
I don't care about monster hunting. This was before Pokemon, so I won't compare the two, but I have no interest in lugging largely irrelevant creates with me. I want to know more about the people. What's Bianca's favorite food? How do Alus and Tabitha feel about each other? What type of surrogate parent was Sancho and/or Objeron? Instead of that, we get a significant amount of code for monsters. Monsters who we can't even see in battle! And this goes into my next topic, as well.
The few human characters are pretty bland. Again, I know it's 1992, but Final Fantasy IV, 7th Saga, Illusion of Gaia, and Ys are contemporaries that did this very well. One dimensional characters are a thing of the NES! What type of kids are these royal orphans with heroic blood flowing through them? They made a manga about it, so I wish they'd have added some scenes to the game. Typing this really makes me regret the DS version would have ran on my computer. I know there's an option to talk to party members there, which would have made this a moot point. Ultimately, I won't let this tiny detail ruin my enjoyment because that's all I found "bad" about the game.
So let's talk about all the great things it does!
Unlike most games, Dragon Quest V has you play a character from his youth into this teenage life and ends in (what should his been) his middle ages. There are a few modern games that do this, but here's the first instance that I know of. Wikipedia says it's the earliest pregnancy in video games, so there's that. You don't play everything, but I'd imagine a slavery mini-game would be 1.) tacky and 2.) boring. As would standing still as a statue for eight years. This is a slightly elongated way to say that Enix really pushed the envelope in a few places. Even if trying new things fails, which this did not, you always have to give a perk to companies and people who try to advance whatever they're doing.
As much as I didn't care for monster hunting, you have to admit it's a big task to program so many monsters with levels, spells to learn, AI, and catching traits. Pokemon came out four years later with 200 percent more monsters but a lot less of the features. Pokemon get four moves, whereas DQV's get a lot more. Field moves, battle moves, inventory, and sex. Pokemon, at the time, had a lot more flash but less soul. And the monsters had color pallets.
I mentioned before my qualms with the graphics, but that was before I saw the magic animations. Zap and Bang blow anything the first few FFs had. They're prettier than a lot of golden era effects, too.
I really enjoyed the music. I'm beginning to learn I have a thing for sea travels since, once again, I love me some ship music.
The plot and characters are great! They're not THAT one dimensional and do have plenty of growth. It feels rushed at times, but King Henry has more to him than the entire cast of FFXII, Marievel, and Chu-Chu put together. You see characters grow from event to event. A few second guess themselves, change, and have reasons for doing so. Bianca and Flora are both smart and question this marriage before helping out of the kindness of their hearts. Henry isn't the snot-nosed brat he was before. I'm not saying slavery is the key to troubled teens, but I'm glad he wasn't the obnoxious kid from when we first met him. It makes sense for him to have changed, and it's okay to show and not tell us that. Sancho explains why he never told Abel the truth when he was little. And so many secondary and tertiary characters change as the whole world changes! Oracleberry is a place I didn't go to while a kid, but I've read it's a dump if you do. Ten years later, it's a boomtown. We see other characters go from sexy barmaids to mother sprites. A "lazy" husband turns into a dutiful shopkeeper. Bianca has a whole world of twists and turns in the years after she met Able. The guy who taught Abel the Return spell goes from an energetic old man to a man about to die. It's sad that it happens, but that's life, and the game isn't going to shy away from it. The real world won't. Maybe this could have been expanded with new buildings in more locations, but it's hardly a deal breaker.
I absolutely loved this game, but I seem to be having some writer's block. All I can think up are things I've said again and again. I'll try to finish fast, then. I didn't want to stop playing Dragon Quest V at the end of the night. The three hours flew by, and all I wanted to do was boot it back up. I wanted to know more about the story, meet old friends, and see how it ends. Would Able get to know his mom? When does Bianca rejoin the party? What new twists are there on this planet? My next game schedule has been slightly messed-up, so I don't know what I'll play next. It was supposed to be FFVI, but I already played that, and I kinda want to play another Dragon Quest game. I'm probably gonna play another Dragon Quest game. I've said in the past that a game should make you want to play more games like it, and DGV has done this better than anything else I've played in n long time. A few years ago, I played most of the Ys games in a few months, and I'm really wanting to try that again with this series. I love finding new loves!
What didn't I like about Dragon Quest V? The first person battle system. I like seeing my characters attack. I want to see that sword or hammer move across my screen. Here, though, it's a flicker of light on the enemy. It's a lot boring. Other games at the time had numbers pop up over the heads of the hit target. I'm not one to bemoan reading, but seeing "Abel hit for 50 damage" for 25 hours gets boring and tedious. It's cool to let things automatically go. There's too much B Button pressing.
Inventory management sucks. Just, in general. I understand in games like Fallout, but the limited slots in RPGs at this time will get painfully annoying when you want to move several items around at once. And selling items one at a time gives me nightmares. It's just more button mashing!
I don't care about monster hunting. This was before Pokemon, so I won't compare the two, but I have no interest in lugging largely irrelevant creates with me. I want to know more about the people. What's Bianca's favorite food? How do Alus and Tabitha feel about each other? What type of surrogate parent was Sancho and/or Objeron? Instead of that, we get a significant amount of code for monsters. Monsters who we can't even see in battle! And this goes into my next topic, as well.
The few human characters are pretty bland. Again, I know it's 1992, but Final Fantasy IV, 7th Saga, Illusion of Gaia, and Ys are contemporaries that did this very well. One dimensional characters are a thing of the NES! What type of kids are these royal orphans with heroic blood flowing through them? They made a manga about it, so I wish they'd have added some scenes to the game. Typing this really makes me regret the DS version would have ran on my computer. I know there's an option to talk to party members there, which would have made this a moot point. Ultimately, I won't let this tiny detail ruin my enjoyment because that's all I found "bad" about the game.
So let's talk about all the great things it does!
Unlike most games, Dragon Quest V has you play a character from his youth into this teenage life and ends in (what should his been) his middle ages. There are a few modern games that do this, but here's the first instance that I know of. Wikipedia says it's the earliest pregnancy in video games, so there's that. You don't play everything, but I'd imagine a slavery mini-game would be 1.) tacky and 2.) boring. As would standing still as a statue for eight years. This is a slightly elongated way to say that Enix really pushed the envelope in a few places. Even if trying new things fails, which this did not, you always have to give a perk to companies and people who try to advance whatever they're doing.
As much as I didn't care for monster hunting, you have to admit it's a big task to program so many monsters with levels, spells to learn, AI, and catching traits. Pokemon came out four years later with 200 percent more monsters but a lot less of the features. Pokemon get four moves, whereas DQV's get a lot more. Field moves, battle moves, inventory, and sex. Pokemon, at the time, had a lot more flash but less soul. And the monsters had color pallets.
I mentioned before my qualms with the graphics, but that was before I saw the magic animations. Zap and Bang blow anything the first few FFs had. They're prettier than a lot of golden era effects, too.
I really enjoyed the music. I'm beginning to learn I have a thing for sea travels since, once again, I love me some ship music.
The plot and characters are great! They're not THAT one dimensional and do have plenty of growth. It feels rushed at times, but King Henry has more to him than the entire cast of FFXII, Marievel, and Chu-Chu put together. You see characters grow from event to event. A few second guess themselves, change, and have reasons for doing so. Bianca and Flora are both smart and question this marriage before helping out of the kindness of their hearts. Henry isn't the snot-nosed brat he was before. I'm not saying slavery is the key to troubled teens, but I'm glad he wasn't the obnoxious kid from when we first met him. It makes sense for him to have changed, and it's okay to show and not tell us that. Sancho explains why he never told Abel the truth when he was little. And so many secondary and tertiary characters change as the whole world changes! Oracleberry is a place I didn't go to while a kid, but I've read it's a dump if you do. Ten years later, it's a boomtown. We see other characters go from sexy barmaids to mother sprites. A "lazy" husband turns into a dutiful shopkeeper. Bianca has a whole world of twists and turns in the years after she met Able. The guy who taught Abel the Return spell goes from an energetic old man to a man about to die. It's sad that it happens, but that's life, and the game isn't going to shy away from it. The real world won't. Maybe this could have been expanded with new buildings in more locations, but it's hardly a deal breaker.
I absolutely loved this game, but I seem to be having some writer's block. All I can think up are things I've said again and again. I'll try to finish fast, then. I didn't want to stop playing Dragon Quest V at the end of the night. The three hours flew by, and all I wanted to do was boot it back up. I wanted to know more about the story, meet old friends, and see how it ends. Would Able get to know his mom? When does Bianca rejoin the party? What new twists are there on this planet? My next game schedule has been slightly messed-up, so I don't know what I'll play next. It was supposed to be FFVI, but I already played that, and I kinda want to play another Dragon Quest game. I'm probably gonna play another Dragon Quest game. I've said in the past that a game should make you want to play more games like it, and DGV has done this better than anything else I've played in n long time. A few years ago, I played most of the Ys games in a few months, and I'm really wanting to try that again with this series. I love finding new loves!
Tuesday, March 16, 2021
At last, there is peace.
I did all the stuff I wanted to do last night, and it meant nothing. Closure, I guess? And a waste of money!
Return to El Havan and take the ship north. The giant gates can now be opened and reveal three Goddess Statues. Place the Rings of Fire, Water, and Life on them, in any order, and a black portal opens up in the back of the room. Enter it, and more SNES CGI will tear your screen as the party is warped to the Demon World. Martha talks to us once more and resigns herself that we're here. She then wishes us luck and sends us a Sage's Stone. The Stone can be used in battle to heal the whole party a decent amount of health. I didn't figure out how to use it until the final battle, where it performed admirably.
We land west of a desert maze on the world map. The bottom path takes us to the city of Jahanna, the last refuge in the game. The citizens talk about being saved by Martha: transformed to humans and protected by the waters she's summoned around the town. More importantly, here's the final weapons and armor shop of the game. It's all incredibly pricey, made worse by the fact that mobs drop almost no gold in this world. 400 a battle is lame! I focused on armor because the world map battles were beating me up every few steps.
Seriously, the world map is the hardest dungeon in the game! Dragons, Ogres, and Machines, oh my! Fortunately, Enix cares about its fanbase and allows us to Return to Evil Mountain once we've stepped foot in the place. The monsters in here are easier than they are outside. Some we've seen before, and others are new. Maybe it's because of all the leveling up we get down here, but I had a slight breeze getting through here.
The first floor has us avoiding spiky floors. RPGClassics suggests casting Stepguard and walking over them, which would be a lot faster than how I did it.
Floor two is a maze. Some of the offshoots lead to treasures, others to mimics, and some to nothing.
Floor three has us on a cliff. It's straightforward enough. There's another small maze between here and what appears to be the top of the mountain.
And at the top, we finally meet our mother. She's absolutely thrilled to see him and hold him for the first time in thirty years. She then tries to ruin Alus' legend by sealing Mildrath, turning on her "boss," I guess. The game isn't clear what she does for the guy, but she seems to have some role. Demons were guarding her as we approached. Her powers, as great as they may be, are not enough to stop Mildrath's evil. Martha is struck by lightning and dies. Abel has now seen both of his parents killed before him... But he then sees his parents get back together. The spirit of Papas comes down and tells his wife that it's time to let the kids do their work. They both have total faith in their descendants.
Martha joins the party as a disembodied voice and guides us through the next portion. Just below her is a cave filled with treasure. It also houses the Key Item we need, the Holy Chamberpot. To reach it, you need to figure out the Pokemon/Sylph Co. floors. It's easy enough. You also gain Abel's best headgear, the Sun Crown, alongside the Pot.
Exit that cave and go south into another. Martha tells us to pour the Chamberpot onto the lava, and the way forward appears. Down it is another maze. Don't fall into any of the pitfalls, but make your way to the northwest. This leads to one of those '90s sliding puzzles, where you can move one piece at a time. You only have to move four (on the left side), and I didn't get into any fights. Don't fall into the holes that exist for some reason. Once you get to the door, follow the ledge, enter the neat chamber room, and try to open the chest. The chest will alert two mobs on the otherside of the door, who aren't hard. The Hellbattlers are a joke compared to everything on the Demon World Map. Behind them, though, is the final room in the game that contains only the final boss, Mildrath.
Mildrath is the typical 90's, RPG boss. He thinks he's a god. He hates us. Blah Blah Blah
Round one exists to weaken us. You can buff up, but I probably shouldn't have. It just spent much needed MP. After he beat him, he congratulates us and says he now has to use his full power!
Round two is more a puzzle. Mildrath's actions are scripted and will use the same attacks in a row in a six turn order. His actions, and your actions, should be as such.
Round one: He will breathe fire. Everyone should parry.
Round two: He will crit a character. No one died for me, but it's worth being wary of. I had Able use the Sage's Stone, which heals most, if not all, the damage the breath attack did. Alus should attack, and Tabitha should use Bikill on him.
Round three: He will cast Blazemore, hitting one character for decent damage. If your characters have enough HP, ignore it. Abel can either heal or attack. Alus should attack, and Tabitha should either cast Bikill on Abel or switch out to whoever has the highest attack power.
Round four: He does nothing but will prepare an attack. If you have enough HP, everyone should attack.
Round five: He casts Explodia. Everyone should parry.
Round six: He removes all buffs. Sage's Stone/attack/Bikill Alus
Repeat for an hour. There's probably a faster way, but I never had any problems with this strategy. It took a while, especially since I stopped Bikilling for awhile and just let Able, Alus, and Boro attack. A part of me wishes I would have gotten the Falcon Sword for Pippin and let the random dude kill Mildrath, but, as it was, our good kitty, Boro,k got the last kill with a 50 damage bite. To sum up: Able should use the Sage's Stone or Healall a lot/ Alus should attack, and Tabitha should buff/switch. Defend when obvious.
Mildrath then fades away, with us as the victors. The next scene has us in Zenithia talking to Dragon Master. He becomes emotional, blaming it on being a human for so long, and tells us we should see our friends before we celebrate!
He flies us to El Havan, where the Elders tell us more about Martha.
Reinhardt, where we buddy up with Henry, and Maria tells us how she feels about Bianca. Dale wishes we should stay here, but we have a kingdom to rule, as well.
Santa Rosa is restored. We talk to the priest, see our old house in inhabitant, and speak to the old acquaintances.
Salabona is where we talked to Ludman, who really wishes Abel married Flora. Flora and Andy are so happy for us.
We see Bianca's dad before leaving him to rot in this nameless village.
At last, we return to Granvania to dance and enjoy our family life, as well as the peace we all fought for.
Castle Zenithia floats around the world map as the credits roll, and, eventually, we see some wonderful words that everyone loves to see.
"The End"
Return to El Havan and take the ship north. The giant gates can now be opened and reveal three Goddess Statues. Place the Rings of Fire, Water, and Life on them, in any order, and a black portal opens up in the back of the room. Enter it, and more SNES CGI will tear your screen as the party is warped to the Demon World. Martha talks to us once more and resigns herself that we're here. She then wishes us luck and sends us a Sage's Stone. The Stone can be used in battle to heal the whole party a decent amount of health. I didn't figure out how to use it until the final battle, where it performed admirably.
We land west of a desert maze on the world map. The bottom path takes us to the city of Jahanna, the last refuge in the game. The citizens talk about being saved by Martha: transformed to humans and protected by the waters she's summoned around the town. More importantly, here's the final weapons and armor shop of the game. It's all incredibly pricey, made worse by the fact that mobs drop almost no gold in this world. 400 a battle is lame! I focused on armor because the world map battles were beating me up every few steps.
Seriously, the world map is the hardest dungeon in the game! Dragons, Ogres, and Machines, oh my! Fortunately, Enix cares about its fanbase and allows us to Return to Evil Mountain once we've stepped foot in the place. The monsters in here are easier than they are outside. Some we've seen before, and others are new. Maybe it's because of all the leveling up we get down here, but I had a slight breeze getting through here.
The first floor has us avoiding spiky floors. RPGClassics suggests casting Stepguard and walking over them, which would be a lot faster than how I did it.
Floor two is a maze. Some of the offshoots lead to treasures, others to mimics, and some to nothing.
Floor three has us on a cliff. It's straightforward enough. There's another small maze between here and what appears to be the top of the mountain.
And at the top, we finally meet our mother. She's absolutely thrilled to see him and hold him for the first time in thirty years. She then tries to ruin Alus' legend by sealing Mildrath, turning on her "boss," I guess. The game isn't clear what she does for the guy, but she seems to have some role. Demons were guarding her as we approached. Her powers, as great as they may be, are not enough to stop Mildrath's evil. Martha is struck by lightning and dies. Abel has now seen both of his parents killed before him... But he then sees his parents get back together. The spirit of Papas comes down and tells his wife that it's time to let the kids do their work. They both have total faith in their descendants.
Martha joins the party as a disembodied voice and guides us through the next portion. Just below her is a cave filled with treasure. It also houses the Key Item we need, the Holy Chamberpot. To reach it, you need to figure out the Pokemon/Sylph Co. floors. It's easy enough. You also gain Abel's best headgear, the Sun Crown, alongside the Pot.
Exit that cave and go south into another. Martha tells us to pour the Chamberpot onto the lava, and the way forward appears. Down it is another maze. Don't fall into any of the pitfalls, but make your way to the northwest. This leads to one of those '90s sliding puzzles, where you can move one piece at a time. You only have to move four (on the left side), and I didn't get into any fights. Don't fall into the holes that exist for some reason. Once you get to the door, follow the ledge, enter the neat chamber room, and try to open the chest. The chest will alert two mobs on the otherside of the door, who aren't hard. The Hellbattlers are a joke compared to everything on the Demon World Map. Behind them, though, is the final room in the game that contains only the final boss, Mildrath.
Mildrath is the typical 90's, RPG boss. He thinks he's a god. He hates us. Blah Blah Blah
Round one exists to weaken us. You can buff up, but I probably shouldn't have. It just spent much needed MP. After he beat him, he congratulates us and says he now has to use his full power!
Round two is more a puzzle. Mildrath's actions are scripted and will use the same attacks in a row in a six turn order. His actions, and your actions, should be as such.
Round one: He will breathe fire. Everyone should parry.
Round two: He will crit a character. No one died for me, but it's worth being wary of. I had Able use the Sage's Stone, which heals most, if not all, the damage the breath attack did. Alus should attack, and Tabitha should use Bikill on him.
Round three: He will cast Blazemore, hitting one character for decent damage. If your characters have enough HP, ignore it. Abel can either heal or attack. Alus should attack, and Tabitha should either cast Bikill on Abel or switch out to whoever has the highest attack power.
Round four: He does nothing but will prepare an attack. If you have enough HP, everyone should attack.
Round five: He casts Explodia. Everyone should parry.
Round six: He removes all buffs. Sage's Stone/attack/Bikill Alus
Repeat for an hour. There's probably a faster way, but I never had any problems with this strategy. It took a while, especially since I stopped Bikilling for awhile and just let Able, Alus, and Boro attack. A part of me wishes I would have gotten the Falcon Sword for Pippin and let the random dude kill Mildrath, but, as it was, our good kitty, Boro,k got the last kill with a 50 damage bite. To sum up: Able should use the Sage's Stone or Healall a lot/ Alus should attack, and Tabitha should buff/switch. Defend when obvious.
Mildrath then fades away, with us as the victors. The next scene has us in Zenithia talking to Dragon Master. He becomes emotional, blaming it on being a human for so long, and tells us we should see our friends before we celebrate!
He flies us to El Havan, where the Elders tell us more about Martha.
Reinhardt, where we buddy up with Henry, and Maria tells us how she feels about Bianca. Dale wishes we should stay here, but we have a kingdom to rule, as well.
Santa Rosa is restored. We talk to the priest, see our old house in inhabitant, and speak to the old acquaintances.
Salabona is where we talked to Ludman, who really wishes Abel married Flora. Flora and Andy are so happy for us.
We see Bianca's dad before leaving him to rot in this nameless village.
At last, we return to Granvania to dance and enjoy our family life, as well as the peace we all fought for.
Castle Zenithia floats around the world map as the credits roll, and, eventually, we see some wonderful words that everyone loves to see.
"The End"
Monday, March 15, 2021
Family Gathering
Where's my wife?!
Head to Aurphia and talk to the picnicking woman in the upper right corner. Buy her book and take your Dragon Master airship to the only location I haven't been to, The Great Temple. I think that book you got is the key to getting in. Abel and Henry helped build this eight years ago, so it's nice closure to see us ruin it. Walk on in but not through the front. To the right of the main gate is a side house. Inside is one guard, a Snakehands, and behind him is a glorious suit of armor. Looking this up indicates you need the Final Key to access this, so good job, me. It is the final Zenithian Armor. Alus is now fully equipped, so we know we're getting close to the end of the game. But we ain't there yet. Return to the concourse and go through the main gate. Two guards will tell us about a sermon by someone. The slaves in the crowd are clamoring for the priest and someone named Martha...
Turn around and talk to the guards, who think there's something odd about Abel. How dare he have hope in his eyes? Two Dragon Warriors attack us, but unlike this dragon warrior, they suck. Walk around the railings and come to the front of the Temple. A woman claiming to be our mother asks us to join the Order of the Light, a religious organization we've heard a bit about through the game. They're an apocalypse cult, and that's all we need to know. After a rather convoluted conversation, "Martha" reveals herself to be Ramada. He's sad and pathetic and dies easy. Behind him is the statue of Bianca, but the staff Tabitha used on Abel doesn't work.
Beating up the unholy woman loosed the grasp on the crowd, and they begin to talk to us like normal people. One of them says Ivol, the high priest of the cult, put a deeper curse on Bianca to make sure the Legendary Hero would never be born. Another spectator is Gigo, who we might remember. He says he wants to get home, so I need to remind myself to talk to them on their isolated island to the southeast. The last one of importance says there's a hidden stairway behind the table. There is no table, but there is a grey block on the floor. Investigate that, and we'll find the old stairway down that Abel once climbed during his enslavement. And there's a new dungeon down here, too.
It's a strange maze with random walls and paths that lead nowhere. We need to navigate it as best we can. There are more Black Dragons down here, but they're not the worst things anymore. The Evil Spirits can forcibly change your tactics, causing your other characters to do seemingly random things. I've been on manual mode the whole game, and I don't like when characters perform acts I don't want them to...like waste my Megaelixer! Don't worry too much about the treasures. One of them sucks, and it'll be easier to get in a second. At one point, we can take a path off the way we're supposed to. Down that path are two skeletons. One of them is, probably, Joshua, Maria's brother and the man who saved Abel and Henry years ago. His last thoughts seemed to be of his sister, and he wished her well. The poor man deserved better than this.
When you reach the bottom of the Temple, we meet the man in charge. Ivol, which I'm just now seeing is a misspelling of evil, is quite upset. Not only has the Legendary Warrior been born, but we've killed his friend, Ramada. It's nice to see evil care about friends. He's also fair in his actions, so maybe he wasn't that evol. He brings everyone in our wagon down here for the battle about to unfold.
And, boy, did we need them. This dude is rough. He's immune to debuffs and wipes away buffs. I still tried to cast Increase and Bikill, though, allowing Abel and Alus to do around 200 damage. The trick here is to swamp out Tabi for someone else. I had a revolving door of Sancho, Boro, and that random soldier, Pippin. Ivol has high defense, so Tabi was only going to be doing 1 damage. Sadly, the replacements didn't too much more, but Boro's 20 was high enough to keep him around. Make sure Abel and Alus have at least one Elvan Medicine. MP is at a premium with all the team wide attacks we're about to be struck with. There's going to be a lot of healing. Don't cast magic on our enemy, as his anti-buff magic doesn't affect his Bounce spell. You can cast Bounce on your team, but it only reflects one of his attacks, so it might be hard to heal. A shame you can't switch targets and bounce a heal spell off of him back to you. It would have made this battle a lot easier. 210 a turn...
But, if you're good, eventually, the hardest fight in the game will swing in your favor, and you'll be victorious. Ivol is, again upset but plans to let us do what we want to do to save the real Martha. But first, he lets us in on the story. Martha works for the Demon King, Mildrath, and if we try to save her, we'll all die. He then tries to open the gate to the Demon World, but something stops him, and he dies. Truly, Ivol wasn't very ivil. In his place is the Ring of Life. We pick it up and walk our way out of the dungeon. All of the mobs are gone, so it's peaceful. As we come to the exit, we hear a voice from the ring. After twenty six years, Abel hears the voice of his mother. Martha tells us not to venture into the Demon World because Mildrath is too strong. Not even the Legendary Warrior may be able to save us. She wants us to enjoy our new family where we're safe. When we see the sun again, a light emanates from the Bianca statue, and we see her return to her true self. Apparently, we've been traveling for two years as someone mentions that it's been ten years since Bianca got to hold her children.
We all return to the Granvania, where the kids cry and snuggle with their mom while Abel prepares to ignore his own. Objeron doesn't want us to go, but Sancho and Pippin are down. After family time, Bianca, Alus, and Tabitha want to go too. Alus, especially, wants to fulfill his destiny. If you leave him behind, he gets mad. I, of course, choose to all go together. Boro and Curie are my monsters, and we head to El Haven. The elders tell us the gate to the Demon World is in the Water Shrine, so we'll need our boat. We need the three rings of Water, Fire, and Life to reach it. I have all three, so I'll venture into the end...
...tomorrow!
Everything has a purpose, and I love it. I think tomorrow might be the end of the game, and I don't know how to feel. I want more, but this feels great for a game made in 1992. I ventured into the Emblem Cave tonight to get Abel's best armor and level us Bianca a little. There's some shopping I need to do for Boro (Fairy Village!), but I'm pretty much fully prepared. I am excited!
Head to Aurphia and talk to the picnicking woman in the upper right corner. Buy her book and take your Dragon Master airship to the only location I haven't been to, The Great Temple. I think that book you got is the key to getting in. Abel and Henry helped build this eight years ago, so it's nice closure to see us ruin it. Walk on in but not through the front. To the right of the main gate is a side house. Inside is one guard, a Snakehands, and behind him is a glorious suit of armor. Looking this up indicates you need the Final Key to access this, so good job, me. It is the final Zenithian Armor. Alus is now fully equipped, so we know we're getting close to the end of the game. But we ain't there yet. Return to the concourse and go through the main gate. Two guards will tell us about a sermon by someone. The slaves in the crowd are clamoring for the priest and someone named Martha...
Turn around and talk to the guards, who think there's something odd about Abel. How dare he have hope in his eyes? Two Dragon Warriors attack us, but unlike this dragon warrior, they suck. Walk around the railings and come to the front of the Temple. A woman claiming to be our mother asks us to join the Order of the Light, a religious organization we've heard a bit about through the game. They're an apocalypse cult, and that's all we need to know. After a rather convoluted conversation, "Martha" reveals herself to be Ramada. He's sad and pathetic and dies easy. Behind him is the statue of Bianca, but the staff Tabitha used on Abel doesn't work.
Beating up the unholy woman loosed the grasp on the crowd, and they begin to talk to us like normal people. One of them says Ivol, the high priest of the cult, put a deeper curse on Bianca to make sure the Legendary Hero would never be born. Another spectator is Gigo, who we might remember. He says he wants to get home, so I need to remind myself to talk to them on their isolated island to the southeast. The last one of importance says there's a hidden stairway behind the table. There is no table, but there is a grey block on the floor. Investigate that, and we'll find the old stairway down that Abel once climbed during his enslavement. And there's a new dungeon down here, too.
It's a strange maze with random walls and paths that lead nowhere. We need to navigate it as best we can. There are more Black Dragons down here, but they're not the worst things anymore. The Evil Spirits can forcibly change your tactics, causing your other characters to do seemingly random things. I've been on manual mode the whole game, and I don't like when characters perform acts I don't want them to...like waste my Megaelixer! Don't worry too much about the treasures. One of them sucks, and it'll be easier to get in a second. At one point, we can take a path off the way we're supposed to. Down that path are two skeletons. One of them is, probably, Joshua, Maria's brother and the man who saved Abel and Henry years ago. His last thoughts seemed to be of his sister, and he wished her well. The poor man deserved better than this.
When you reach the bottom of the Temple, we meet the man in charge. Ivol, which I'm just now seeing is a misspelling of evil, is quite upset. Not only has the Legendary Warrior been born, but we've killed his friend, Ramada. It's nice to see evil care about friends. He's also fair in his actions, so maybe he wasn't that evol. He brings everyone in our wagon down here for the battle about to unfold.
And, boy, did we need them. This dude is rough. He's immune to debuffs and wipes away buffs. I still tried to cast Increase and Bikill, though, allowing Abel and Alus to do around 200 damage. The trick here is to swamp out Tabi for someone else. I had a revolving door of Sancho, Boro, and that random soldier, Pippin. Ivol has high defense, so Tabi was only going to be doing 1 damage. Sadly, the replacements didn't too much more, but Boro's 20 was high enough to keep him around. Make sure Abel and Alus have at least one Elvan Medicine. MP is at a premium with all the team wide attacks we're about to be struck with. There's going to be a lot of healing. Don't cast magic on our enemy, as his anti-buff magic doesn't affect his Bounce spell. You can cast Bounce on your team, but it only reflects one of his attacks, so it might be hard to heal. A shame you can't switch targets and bounce a heal spell off of him back to you. It would have made this battle a lot easier. 210 a turn...
But, if you're good, eventually, the hardest fight in the game will swing in your favor, and you'll be victorious. Ivol is, again upset but plans to let us do what we want to do to save the real Martha. But first, he lets us in on the story. Martha works for the Demon King, Mildrath, and if we try to save her, we'll all die. He then tries to open the gate to the Demon World, but something stops him, and he dies. Truly, Ivol wasn't very ivil. In his place is the Ring of Life. We pick it up and walk our way out of the dungeon. All of the mobs are gone, so it's peaceful. As we come to the exit, we hear a voice from the ring. After twenty six years, Abel hears the voice of his mother. Martha tells us not to venture into the Demon World because Mildrath is too strong. Not even the Legendary Warrior may be able to save us. She wants us to enjoy our new family where we're safe. When we see the sun again, a light emanates from the Bianca statue, and we see her return to her true self. Apparently, we've been traveling for two years as someone mentions that it's been ten years since Bianca got to hold her children.
We all return to the Granvania, where the kids cry and snuggle with their mom while Abel prepares to ignore his own. Objeron doesn't want us to go, but Sancho and Pippin are down. After family time, Bianca, Alus, and Tabitha want to go too. Alus, especially, wants to fulfill his destiny. If you leave him behind, he gets mad. I, of course, choose to all go together. Boro and Curie are my monsters, and we head to El Haven. The elders tell us the gate to the Demon World is in the Water Shrine, so we'll need our boat. We need the three rings of Water, Fire, and Life to reach it. I have all three, so I'll venture into the end...
...tomorrow!
Everything has a purpose, and I love it. I think tomorrow might be the end of the game, and I don't know how to feel. I want more, but this feels great for a game made in 1992. I ventured into the Emblem Cave tonight to get Abel's best armor and level us Bianca a little. There's some shopping I need to do for Boro (Fairy Village!), but I'm pretty much fully prepared. I am excited!
Sunday, March 14, 2021
Less than meets the eye.
After failing to find the path to Fairyland last night, I continued to fail to find the path to Fairyland tonight. I found a large tower in the southwest of the map, which saved me time later, though.
After giving up on my search, I went to the internet. East of Saladona, in the valley of the mountains at the base of a river, is an inconspicuous forest clearing. In that location is a forest maze. I got lucky and only wandered around for a few minutes, but I get the feeling others may have tapped out here. After meeting two random people, Alus and Tabitha tell Abel they can see a creature near the burning firepit. After a short conversation, the kids go after the creature Abel can't see. Abel follows suit. They end up in a place we haven't been to in eighteen years: Fairy Village. Everyone, mostly, remembers Abel, and the armor shop has new gear. It's overpriced but quite good. Return to Bella and Powan, who will direct us to another fairy below her. That person will give us clues to the Fairy Queen, who may be able to grant us what we need. She gives us a Fairy Horn and instructs us to blow into it at a select location. And that location is the lake I thought Zenithia Castle was in last night!
Following the instructions will take us to the Fairy Queen. She will give us a Golden Orb, but it lacks the powers needed to make the castle float once more. She does say that we'll have to change the flow of time to restore its magic. In a room above her, a man tells us to stand in front of a painting. The world begins to warp and change in some top-of-the-line SNES CGI, and it returns to normal but in a strange spot. We're back in Santa Rosa! Talking to our old friends reveals it's just after Abel first went to Fairyland. The person we need to talk to is just outside the church. It's our old self! We trick Baby Abel into swamping the Orbs, with him getting the useless shiny one and us getting the magical one. When we first played here, there a handsome man hanging outside. Who'd of thought we'd be that handsome man? Before we leave, we can talk to Papas and warn him not to go to Reinhardt, but he doesn't believe in fortune tellers. So we exit out the front gate and return to Zenithia Castle. Talk to the man we saved in the mines, Pusam, and he will place the Orb. The camera cuts to the world map, and we watch Zenithia rise from the lake bed and into the sky!
Somehow, the castle becomes filled with people who tell us about The Dragon God. One mentions the Tower of Bobel, which I assume is my next destination. Zenithia Castle acts as a traditional airship, able to fly over the tallest of mountains. Slowly. Like, very slowly.
Remember that tower I talked about earlier? That's our destination. Before we go in, talk to an old man in the castle about a Grappling Hook. The tower is locked, but we can enter through the top. Rappel down and travel carefully. It's not often you enter a tower dungeon from above and treat it like a basement. There are some tough monsters down here, but I don't know if they're worth it. The Black Dragons are hard, maybe too hard, and there's another guy, Tiger Looking Fellas, who barely give any EXP on defeat. In one of the rooms, we see a dying priest who warns of two ferocious monsters who have the Eyes of the Dragon. Keep going down, and you'll see a giant dragon's head, which looks important. Fall from the unrailed portions of this area, and you'll come to the actual entrance of the tower. Trigger the switch, and you can now enter and exit like normal if you need to do so. Keep going even more down, and we come to a maze-like basement. In the right wing is a boss named Gonz. For some reason, I opted to fully buff my characters. Poor Gonz never stood a chance, doing zero damage to everyone but Tabi. Alus' Increase and Tabi's Bikill and Decrease are no joke. Remember this strategy from henceforth because I plan to make liberal use of it. Behind him is an Eye of the Dragon. In the north wing is a familiar sight. It's Gema.
He remembers us, and we remember him. His only regret is not killing us, which is about to a wise concern. Gema has a lot of attack power and HP, so make use of the above strategy. Abel will spend most of the fight healing since it's such a long battle. I had Tabi using the Magma Staff as an item since Gema can cast reflect. Alus should be doing over 200 damage a pop. The only time you should change this is if someone becomes Numb/Paralyzed. The accuracy of Gema's paralyzer isn't high, but Tabi seems to have a weakness for it. Use Alus' Numboff if this happens. With only minor save state scumming, I managed to kill Gema with Abel, wielding Papas' Sword, just for the deepest of revenge.
Behind him is the other Dragon's Eye. Return to the Dragon Statue, don't fall off, and place the Eyes in their sockets. This will open the dragon's mouth and allow us to venture into a safe place to pick up the Dragon Staff and the Dragon Orb. Returning to Zenithia has us interrupting two people questioning who Pusam is. He wasn't in Zenithia when it fell...or ever, it seems. Pusam asks us for the Dragon Orb, which, because we trust him, we allow him to hold. Suddenly, Pusam turns into the Dragon God! The two people who didn't know who he was shape-up and Master Dragon gives us the Zenithia Bells. The bells allow us to summon MD on the world map, the true airship of the game.
With the world at our disposal, I call it a night.
I did do a sidequest, though. In Solabona, Flora's dad is in a panic over a glowing urn. We check it out and see it glowing red. He says that's bad news and goes to prepare for an ancient demon attack. And then that ancient demon attacks. Using the buff strat, we won and got a Final Key as our reward. Who knows what this opens, but I feel like I was involved in a familial blood tie duel. I'm iffy on time travel stories. There's always some paradox that ruins the storytelling. I can always wipe this under the theory of multiple universes, I guess. Makes more sense than most of Chrono Trigger's paradoxes.
After giving up on my search, I went to the internet. East of Saladona, in the valley of the mountains at the base of a river, is an inconspicuous forest clearing. In that location is a forest maze. I got lucky and only wandered around for a few minutes, but I get the feeling others may have tapped out here. After meeting two random people, Alus and Tabitha tell Abel they can see a creature near the burning firepit. After a short conversation, the kids go after the creature Abel can't see. Abel follows suit. They end up in a place we haven't been to in eighteen years: Fairy Village. Everyone, mostly, remembers Abel, and the armor shop has new gear. It's overpriced but quite good. Return to Bella and Powan, who will direct us to another fairy below her. That person will give us clues to the Fairy Queen, who may be able to grant us what we need. She gives us a Fairy Horn and instructs us to blow into it at a select location. And that location is the lake I thought Zenithia Castle was in last night!
Following the instructions will take us to the Fairy Queen. She will give us a Golden Orb, but it lacks the powers needed to make the castle float once more. She does say that we'll have to change the flow of time to restore its magic. In a room above her, a man tells us to stand in front of a painting. The world begins to warp and change in some top-of-the-line SNES CGI, and it returns to normal but in a strange spot. We're back in Santa Rosa! Talking to our old friends reveals it's just after Abel first went to Fairyland. The person we need to talk to is just outside the church. It's our old self! We trick Baby Abel into swamping the Orbs, with him getting the useless shiny one and us getting the magical one. When we first played here, there a handsome man hanging outside. Who'd of thought we'd be that handsome man? Before we leave, we can talk to Papas and warn him not to go to Reinhardt, but he doesn't believe in fortune tellers. So we exit out the front gate and return to Zenithia Castle. Talk to the man we saved in the mines, Pusam, and he will place the Orb. The camera cuts to the world map, and we watch Zenithia rise from the lake bed and into the sky!
Somehow, the castle becomes filled with people who tell us about The Dragon God. One mentions the Tower of Bobel, which I assume is my next destination. Zenithia Castle acts as a traditional airship, able to fly over the tallest of mountains. Slowly. Like, very slowly.
Remember that tower I talked about earlier? That's our destination. Before we go in, talk to an old man in the castle about a Grappling Hook. The tower is locked, but we can enter through the top. Rappel down and travel carefully. It's not often you enter a tower dungeon from above and treat it like a basement. There are some tough monsters down here, but I don't know if they're worth it. The Black Dragons are hard, maybe too hard, and there's another guy, Tiger Looking Fellas, who barely give any EXP on defeat. In one of the rooms, we see a dying priest who warns of two ferocious monsters who have the Eyes of the Dragon. Keep going down, and you'll see a giant dragon's head, which looks important. Fall from the unrailed portions of this area, and you'll come to the actual entrance of the tower. Trigger the switch, and you can now enter and exit like normal if you need to do so. Keep going even more down, and we come to a maze-like basement. In the right wing is a boss named Gonz. For some reason, I opted to fully buff my characters. Poor Gonz never stood a chance, doing zero damage to everyone but Tabi. Alus' Increase and Tabi's Bikill and Decrease are no joke. Remember this strategy from henceforth because I plan to make liberal use of it. Behind him is an Eye of the Dragon. In the north wing is a familiar sight. It's Gema.
He remembers us, and we remember him. His only regret is not killing us, which is about to a wise concern. Gema has a lot of attack power and HP, so make use of the above strategy. Abel will spend most of the fight healing since it's such a long battle. I had Tabi using the Magma Staff as an item since Gema can cast reflect. Alus should be doing over 200 damage a pop. The only time you should change this is if someone becomes Numb/Paralyzed. The accuracy of Gema's paralyzer isn't high, but Tabi seems to have a weakness for it. Use Alus' Numboff if this happens. With only minor save state scumming, I managed to kill Gema with Abel, wielding Papas' Sword, just for the deepest of revenge.
Behind him is the other Dragon's Eye. Return to the Dragon Statue, don't fall off, and place the Eyes in their sockets. This will open the dragon's mouth and allow us to venture into a safe place to pick up the Dragon Staff and the Dragon Orb. Returning to Zenithia has us interrupting two people questioning who Pusam is. He wasn't in Zenithia when it fell...or ever, it seems. Pusam asks us for the Dragon Orb, which, because we trust him, we allow him to hold. Suddenly, Pusam turns into the Dragon God! The two people who didn't know who he was shape-up and Master Dragon gives us the Zenithia Bells. The bells allow us to summon MD on the world map, the true airship of the game.
With the world at our disposal, I call it a night.
I did do a sidequest, though. In Solabona, Flora's dad is in a panic over a glowing urn. We check it out and see it glowing red. He says that's bad news and goes to prepare for an ancient demon attack. And then that ancient demon attacks. Using the buff strat, we won and got a Final Key as our reward. Who knows what this opens, but I feel like I was involved in a familial blood tie duel. I'm iffy on time travel stories. There's always some paradox that ruins the storytelling. I can always wipe this under the theory of multiple universes, I guess. Makes more sense than most of Chrono Trigger's paradoxes.
Saturday, March 13, 2021
Batman, Superman, and Abel walk into a bar...
Objiron informed us of our mother's, Martha, birthplace. It's far to the north on another continent and, to get there, we have to take a watery maze.
On the eastern side of the landmass is a cave. Take the ship we were given in Granvania into it and navigate through. Beware of the Blizag monsters. When they spawn in threes, they're worse than any boss. They love to spam Snowstorm, which my team seems weak against, somehow. Everything else is fine. There is a large door on the northwestern front, but it's locked, and we can't open it. South of that leads us back to the world map. In the middle of a mountain valley is the tower city of El Hevan.
You, technically, don't have to talk to anyone here, but you should do so for the plot. At the top of the tower are four elders. They inform us about themselves, our mother, and legends. Once upon a time, God created three spheres: Heaven; home to himself, Earth; our home, and Demon World; home to demons. Some people can maintain and open barriers between the world, and all of those people are from this city. Over the millennia, though, their ability to do so has dwindled. Our mother, however, was a powerhouse in that department. The elders suspect that's the reason she was kidnapped. When Papas came to marry her, everyone hated him for it for that reason. But, as I said, all of this information is optional. The real goal here is to find two items: The Magic Key and the Floating Carpet. The key opens various doors around the world, and the carpet allows us the fly. Only over land and sea, though, not hills, mountains, and forests, though.
At some point in all of this, we learned of a tower that leads to heaven...or something. I forgot what it was, so I looked up the way to go. Because I didn't know where to go, I traveled around the world. Back in Reinhardt, we see Henry dealing with the tiny version of himself we dealt with eighteen years ago. Heirs of Reinhardt, man. We also returned to Telepordor, home of the Legendary Helm. We talk to isis, who senses great power in our son, and we head down to the helmet again. This time, Alus tries his luck, and the metal helm actually shrinks to fit his head. We now have three of the four Legendary Items, with only the armor left to find.
After finding the tower nestled in a long mountain range, we fly the carpet across the ocean, river, and land to land nearby. It's a fairly quick trip up but filled with a few treasures. At the "top" is a man telling us that this tower once led to Castle Zenithia. Now, though, it only leads to air as the castle fell long ago. Besides the man is a chest containing the Magma Rod, which is used to open the path to the castle's new location.
Once more, I have no idea where this castle is. The guy said it fell into a lake, but the only nearby lake has nothing but a lilypad in it. Somehow, the sky castle fell south of El Hevan. Use the Rod on the mountain range that completely surrounds a random cave and enter. Inside are some fun puzzles! We have to make our way to the bottom using minecarts. There are a few offshoots but, for the most part, turn all the levers to proceed. On the second main stretch, we see a man sitting in a cart stuck in a loop. Free him, and he'll say he's from Zenithia and has been stuck in that cart for twenty years. What's he been eating to live that long? We then escort him out, doing the same puzzles as before. As we take one last minecart out, we begin to fall into a deep blue sea.
When we come to, we're in a ruined, flooded castle. Many of the ways through are blocked by water, so go where you can. After finding the hidden passage behind the throne, we learn why the castle fell. One of the magical artifacts that allowed Zenithia to float fell off its pedestal. The man we've been escorting can find the whereabouts of it by examining what little remains. Remember that Gold Orb we got when we saved Lenoire Castle? That wasn't a reward. That was the Zenithia Floating Orb. It was just happenstance that we found it there after we beat Boss Ghost. Without Able and Bianca knowing it, Zenithia fell right at that moment, eighteen years ago. Which isn't that long for being a long lost ancient civilization. However, we know that the Orb is destroyed. Gema smashed it after he killed Papas and enslaved Able and Henry. Fortunately, the man we've been escorting says he knows how the make Zenithia raise once more! The fairies were the ones that created the orbs long ago, so maybe they can do it again? According to legend, there's a tower to the west that leads to Fairy World, which we shall climb...
...tomorrow!
I really like how everything we did in the past comes around to the future: The Orb, the fairies, marriage. There's so much fun, low-key foreshadowing!
On the eastern side of the landmass is a cave. Take the ship we were given in Granvania into it and navigate through. Beware of the Blizag monsters. When they spawn in threes, they're worse than any boss. They love to spam Snowstorm, which my team seems weak against, somehow. Everything else is fine. There is a large door on the northwestern front, but it's locked, and we can't open it. South of that leads us back to the world map. In the middle of a mountain valley is the tower city of El Hevan.
You, technically, don't have to talk to anyone here, but you should do so for the plot. At the top of the tower are four elders. They inform us about themselves, our mother, and legends. Once upon a time, God created three spheres: Heaven; home to himself, Earth; our home, and Demon World; home to demons. Some people can maintain and open barriers between the world, and all of those people are from this city. Over the millennia, though, their ability to do so has dwindled. Our mother, however, was a powerhouse in that department. The elders suspect that's the reason she was kidnapped. When Papas came to marry her, everyone hated him for it for that reason. But, as I said, all of this information is optional. The real goal here is to find two items: The Magic Key and the Floating Carpet. The key opens various doors around the world, and the carpet allows us the fly. Only over land and sea, though, not hills, mountains, and forests, though.
At some point in all of this, we learned of a tower that leads to heaven...or something. I forgot what it was, so I looked up the way to go. Because I didn't know where to go, I traveled around the world. Back in Reinhardt, we see Henry dealing with the tiny version of himself we dealt with eighteen years ago. Heirs of Reinhardt, man. We also returned to Telepordor, home of the Legendary Helm. We talk to isis, who senses great power in our son, and we head down to the helmet again. This time, Alus tries his luck, and the metal helm actually shrinks to fit his head. We now have three of the four Legendary Items, with only the armor left to find.
After finding the tower nestled in a long mountain range, we fly the carpet across the ocean, river, and land to land nearby. It's a fairly quick trip up but filled with a few treasures. At the "top" is a man telling us that this tower once led to Castle Zenithia. Now, though, it only leads to air as the castle fell long ago. Besides the man is a chest containing the Magma Rod, which is used to open the path to the castle's new location.
Once more, I have no idea where this castle is. The guy said it fell into a lake, but the only nearby lake has nothing but a lilypad in it. Somehow, the sky castle fell south of El Hevan. Use the Rod on the mountain range that completely surrounds a random cave and enter. Inside are some fun puzzles! We have to make our way to the bottom using minecarts. There are a few offshoots but, for the most part, turn all the levers to proceed. On the second main stretch, we see a man sitting in a cart stuck in a loop. Free him, and he'll say he's from Zenithia and has been stuck in that cart for twenty years. What's he been eating to live that long? We then escort him out, doing the same puzzles as before. As we take one last minecart out, we begin to fall into a deep blue sea.
When we come to, we're in a ruined, flooded castle. Many of the ways through are blocked by water, so go where you can. After finding the hidden passage behind the throne, we learn why the castle fell. One of the magical artifacts that allowed Zenithia to float fell off its pedestal. The man we've been escorting can find the whereabouts of it by examining what little remains. Remember that Gold Orb we got when we saved Lenoire Castle? That wasn't a reward. That was the Zenithia Floating Orb. It was just happenstance that we found it there after we beat Boss Ghost. Without Able and Bianca knowing it, Zenithia fell right at that moment, eighteen years ago. Which isn't that long for being a long lost ancient civilization. However, we know that the Orb is destroyed. Gema smashed it after he killed Papas and enslaved Able and Henry. Fortunately, the man we've been escorting says he knows how the make Zenithia raise once more! The fairies were the ones that created the orbs long ago, so maybe they can do it again? According to legend, there's a tower to the west that leads to Fairy World, which we shall climb...
...tomorrow!
I really like how everything we did in the past comes around to the future: The Orb, the fairies, marriage. There's so much fun, low-key foreshadowing!
Friday, March 12, 2021
History Repeats
We last left off in Granvania Castle, the potential site of Abel's birth. Many of the citizens echo what Isis said last night. Since King Papas left all those years ago, his younger brother, Ojiron, has been ruling in his stead. People have mixed emotions about him but also say something about the Chancellor. It's a JRPG, so always be suspect of a chancellor.
Investigating the castle doesn't lead to much, so find the smaller house on the right. Inside, we see a sister talking to a man who has a familiar name. It's Sancho! He says we look familiar and is ecstatic after we've introduced ourselves. He's even happier to see Bianca, and we have gotten married. Sancho takes the couple to see Ojiron, who's overjoyed himself. He knows his role and gladly cedes the throne to the rightful ruler. And then Bianca passes out again.
Once more, she's fine, but the nurse tending to her reveals that Bianca is expecting! Despite only getting married, what feels like, just a few days ago, Bianca is pregnant. Somehow, she managed to hide this from Abel. What's even crazier is she's about to pop! Plans are made to crown Abel, but the Chancellor has his qualms. He brings up an old tradition of heirs venturing into the Cave of Trials to the northeast. After convincing Ojiron that it's the right thing to do, Abel ventures into the cave.
The monsters inside are your standard affair, but the puzzles had me reeling. The first room had me confused to all hell. The answer, however, is simply to follow the square the skeleton is on. Choose the rightmost door, then the one to its left. The third from the right is the last. Go to "leave" the dungeon, and a new stairwell down will be there. To solve the dam puzzle, move the rock near the entrance to the lock. Place the rock behind you, open the door, and wait. The final puzzle has you finding the broken pillar. Beyond the bridge is the Symbol of Royalty. I try to Outside out, but magical energy prevents it from happening, so I guess we have to hoof it. As we cross the bridge, we're attacked by three men who said some people don't want us to be King. It's interesting because there are only five people who know who Abel is.
This fight is easy. Jewels didn't want to play, but its tankyness was welcome regardless. Note to self: Bring its intelligence up a few points. And NPC told me dumb monsters won't listen to you. I think it's four? The sword I got from the Medal King absorbs HP when it hits, so Abel is nearly immortal. Even after they've died, we still can't Outside out. Walk back to the first puzzle and try again. This time, it will work, and I think it's the only way to leave.
Return to the castle and speak to Ojiron. The Chancellor accepts you as King but seems to leave the town. Not only that, but Bianca is in labor. In a scene reminiscent of the game's start, Abel hangs out in the throne room until someone tells him his children are born. Yes, plural. Bianca has twins: one boy and one girl. She asks us to name them. I name our son, Alus, as that's his name in the movie. Abel's daughter gets the name of Tabitha, as that's my favorite option in the wiki. The next day, Abel's coronation ceremony happens, and he officially becomes the King of Granvania. And then another scene reminiscent of the start takes place...
A large celebration spanned the whole night, and all the inhabitants of the castle are out cold. Some are out due to drink and others due to sleep. Abel wakes up in the church, where even the holy men are out, and stumbles around the bodies laying about. He makes his way to his, or at least Bianca's, bed. Where is she? The balcony is empty, so I search the bed. Suddenly, the midwife, with our children, appears and says Bianca was kidnapped. The whole place sobers up, and an emergency meeting takes place. Everyone is off to search for the missing Queen, and the Chancellor is nowhere to be found. Venture over to his chambers and search through his dressers. In one, you find a Flying Shoes. Use them as an item, and you'll be teleported across the sea in front of a church. People inside will give us clues that Bianca's been taken to the North Tower.
The Demon's Tower is a pure maze of traps and pitfalls but weak enemies. It's an attrition dungeon, and you only need to worry about the traps. The left door takes you some random dude waiting for his brother, the middle takes you to a few treasures, and the left takes us upwards. There are a few triggered battles along the route, but they're no big deal. There's a spikey wall puzzle, but the walls won't hurt you, so just run into them until you don't trigger one to spawn. That'll be the way through. The next puzzle has you avoiding fire traps by placating a rock between you and the source. The first one is manageable, but the second one was less so. I ended up just powering my way through. Getting hit twice wipes your party, so heal between blasts. Don't bother with ice floors. Turn both levers and proceed to the three thrones.
The first boss is an Ogre Level 20. He's easy.
The next is a Wyvern Level 35. Another cinch.
The third guy, Jahml, starts off being INVINCIBLE until Bianca steps in. In round one, Abel does 1 damage. Bianca tries to protect her husband, and a light emanates from her, fully healing Abel's party (unless someone is dead) and removing the barrier of Jahml. It becomes another long, albeit easy fight.
When the dust settles, Jahml prophesies that Bianca has the blood of the legendary hero and thinks her kids will be the ones to ruin whatever is he has planned. To stop this from happening, he bursts into smoke, turning Abel and Bianca into stone statues. The man in the basement earlier enters with his brother and says how lifelike these statues are. They then make sexual comments about Bianca. They drag us out of there, and a scene is shown where they sell the royal couple. Only Abel is auctioned because they have other plans with Bianca. I don't know what those plans are, but I kinda already can't wait to kill them.
A man buys Abel for 2000 gold and uses him as a birthday present/good luck statue for his newborn son, Gigo. We then see a rather touching, though forlorn for Abel, scene where Gigo grows up. We see him take his first steps and run around the yard. But all this happiness ends when demons from the sky swoop down and kidnap him, saying something about "the right one" and slavery. A month passes, and the man who bought Abel is inconsolable that his son is gone and takes his anger out on Abel, knocking him to the ground. Years pass as he lies there until a group of people show up one day and ask to borrow the statue. The man readily gives it away, and the young girl swings her staff. When she does, Abel becomes himself again.
The man with the kids is Sancho! And he's brought Alus and Tabitha with him! It has been eight long years since that dark day has happened. They all return to the Granvania, fill Abel in on the evil surrounding the world, and prepare to find Abel's mom and his wife! Which shall be done...
...tomorrow!
Our son can equip the Zenithenan equipment! Has there ever been a game where we're not the chosen one but the father thereof? I can dig this twist. It seems odd, so I hope Alus is good! I will say, though, the whole pregnancy thing is a bit rushed. I know it's the SNES, and there's limited time, but the game has a day/night cycle. Nine months didn't pass in the time we climbed the mountain. And there's no way she's not showing after nine months with twins. Lufia II did something like this, and it ruined the whole game for me. Or maybe it was the making of a badass woman into a housewife, I forget. So what's the deal with SNES and childbirth being...oddly done? Why not do another time skip and let Abel rule for a while?
Investigating the castle doesn't lead to much, so find the smaller house on the right. Inside, we see a sister talking to a man who has a familiar name. It's Sancho! He says we look familiar and is ecstatic after we've introduced ourselves. He's even happier to see Bianca, and we have gotten married. Sancho takes the couple to see Ojiron, who's overjoyed himself. He knows his role and gladly cedes the throne to the rightful ruler. And then Bianca passes out again.
Once more, she's fine, but the nurse tending to her reveals that Bianca is expecting! Despite only getting married, what feels like, just a few days ago, Bianca is pregnant. Somehow, she managed to hide this from Abel. What's even crazier is she's about to pop! Plans are made to crown Abel, but the Chancellor has his qualms. He brings up an old tradition of heirs venturing into the Cave of Trials to the northeast. After convincing Ojiron that it's the right thing to do, Abel ventures into the cave.
The monsters inside are your standard affair, but the puzzles had me reeling. The first room had me confused to all hell. The answer, however, is simply to follow the square the skeleton is on. Choose the rightmost door, then the one to its left. The third from the right is the last. Go to "leave" the dungeon, and a new stairwell down will be there. To solve the dam puzzle, move the rock near the entrance to the lock. Place the rock behind you, open the door, and wait. The final puzzle has you finding the broken pillar. Beyond the bridge is the Symbol of Royalty. I try to Outside out, but magical energy prevents it from happening, so I guess we have to hoof it. As we cross the bridge, we're attacked by three men who said some people don't want us to be King. It's interesting because there are only five people who know who Abel is.
This fight is easy. Jewels didn't want to play, but its tankyness was welcome regardless. Note to self: Bring its intelligence up a few points. And NPC told me dumb monsters won't listen to you. I think it's four? The sword I got from the Medal King absorbs HP when it hits, so Abel is nearly immortal. Even after they've died, we still can't Outside out. Walk back to the first puzzle and try again. This time, it will work, and I think it's the only way to leave.
Return to the castle and speak to Ojiron. The Chancellor accepts you as King but seems to leave the town. Not only that, but Bianca is in labor. In a scene reminiscent of the game's start, Abel hangs out in the throne room until someone tells him his children are born. Yes, plural. Bianca has twins: one boy and one girl. She asks us to name them. I name our son, Alus, as that's his name in the movie. Abel's daughter gets the name of Tabitha, as that's my favorite option in the wiki. The next day, Abel's coronation ceremony happens, and he officially becomes the King of Granvania. And then another scene reminiscent of the start takes place...
A large celebration spanned the whole night, and all the inhabitants of the castle are out cold. Some are out due to drink and others due to sleep. Abel wakes up in the church, where even the holy men are out, and stumbles around the bodies laying about. He makes his way to his, or at least Bianca's, bed. Where is she? The balcony is empty, so I search the bed. Suddenly, the midwife, with our children, appears and says Bianca was kidnapped. The whole place sobers up, and an emergency meeting takes place. Everyone is off to search for the missing Queen, and the Chancellor is nowhere to be found. Venture over to his chambers and search through his dressers. In one, you find a Flying Shoes. Use them as an item, and you'll be teleported across the sea in front of a church. People inside will give us clues that Bianca's been taken to the North Tower.
The Demon's Tower is a pure maze of traps and pitfalls but weak enemies. It's an attrition dungeon, and you only need to worry about the traps. The left door takes you some random dude waiting for his brother, the middle takes you to a few treasures, and the left takes us upwards. There are a few triggered battles along the route, but they're no big deal. There's a spikey wall puzzle, but the walls won't hurt you, so just run into them until you don't trigger one to spawn. That'll be the way through. The next puzzle has you avoiding fire traps by placating a rock between you and the source. The first one is manageable, but the second one was less so. I ended up just powering my way through. Getting hit twice wipes your party, so heal between blasts. Don't bother with ice floors. Turn both levers and proceed to the three thrones.
The first boss is an Ogre Level 20. He's easy.
The next is a Wyvern Level 35. Another cinch.
The third guy, Jahml, starts off being INVINCIBLE until Bianca steps in. In round one, Abel does 1 damage. Bianca tries to protect her husband, and a light emanates from her, fully healing Abel's party (unless someone is dead) and removing the barrier of Jahml. It becomes another long, albeit easy fight.
When the dust settles, Jahml prophesies that Bianca has the blood of the legendary hero and thinks her kids will be the ones to ruin whatever is he has planned. To stop this from happening, he bursts into smoke, turning Abel and Bianca into stone statues. The man in the basement earlier enters with his brother and says how lifelike these statues are. They then make sexual comments about Bianca. They drag us out of there, and a scene is shown where they sell the royal couple. Only Abel is auctioned because they have other plans with Bianca. I don't know what those plans are, but I kinda already can't wait to kill them.
A man buys Abel for 2000 gold and uses him as a birthday present/good luck statue for his newborn son, Gigo. We then see a rather touching, though forlorn for Abel, scene where Gigo grows up. We see him take his first steps and run around the yard. But all this happiness ends when demons from the sky swoop down and kidnap him, saying something about "the right one" and slavery. A month passes, and the man who bought Abel is inconsolable that his son is gone and takes his anger out on Abel, knocking him to the ground. Years pass as he lies there until a group of people show up one day and ask to borrow the statue. The man readily gives it away, and the young girl swings her staff. When she does, Abel becomes himself again.
The man with the kids is Sancho! And he's brought Alus and Tabitha with him! It has been eight long years since that dark day has happened. They all return to the Granvania, fill Abel in on the evil surrounding the world, and prepare to find Abel's mom and his wife! Which shall be done...
...tomorrow!
Our son can equip the Zenithenan equipment! Has there ever been a game where we're not the chosen one but the father thereof? I can dig this twist. It seems odd, so I hope Alus is good! I will say, though, the whole pregnancy thing is a bit rushed. I know it's the SNES, and there's limited time, but the game has a day/night cycle. Nine months didn't pass in the time we climbed the mountain. And there's no way she's not showing after nine months with twins. Lufia II did something like this, and it ruined the whole game for me. Or maybe it was the making of a badass woman into a housewife, I forget. So what's the deal with SNES and childbirth being...oddly done? Why not do another time skip and let Abel rule for a while?
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