A marriage, a sequence break, and a long dungeon.

Today is the day Abel chooses his wife!

After a long and sleepless night, Abel walks to Ludman's house to decide his bride! Will it be his childhood friend, Bianca, who loves him? Or will it be Flora, this random chick he just met? Obviously, I pick the self-proclaimed tom-boy, Bianca. She's overjoyed, Flora is happy, and Ludman agrees to swap the girls. That sounds weird but roll with it. Bianca goes to get dressed while Ludman tells us to go pick-up the Silk Wedding Veil he had commissioned for the event. The only clue to this guy's location is he's in a small, nameless mountain village. The only place matching that description is where we found Bianca. Taking the ship back there and heading into the cave to the left, the item seller gives us the veil. We can also tell Duncan we're marrying his daughter, and he's super happy.

Return to Salabona and give your fiance the veil. The two of you, one of whom is underdressed for the event, walk to the church and the ceremony takes place. All of our friend is here! Flora is, too, as are a few nuns. No Duncan, though. No one thought to throw him on a boat? Anyway, we walk our bride down the aisle, say our I dos, and Bianca holds our arm as we leave. We spend the night in Ludman's guest house. I don't know what happened, but since it's an I Love Lucy/double bed room, I assume nothing fun happened. In the morning, Ludman tells us that he likes Abel so much that he gives us the Zenithian Shield and, to aid us in our quest to find our mom, his ship docked in Port Selmi.

Return there, and the guy guarding the ship will let us pass. He suggested we head to the tavern first to find the latest gossip, though. Doing so gives us an idea of our next pitstop. Everyone says there's a grave of a Legendary Hero across the desert to the south. That's where we're supposed to go, but not there I went. I have a ship and access to so much more of the world map. Sadly, I only went to where I'm supposed to go after the desert, so I'll skip the time travel and get on with the main plot.

On the southern continent are two places. The first is the Small Medal King, to whom we can trade in our medals for prizes. I picked up a great sword. Far to the west is Castle Telepador. Despite being in a desert, the basement of the castle is a lush field. A soldier says it's because of the queen. Isis is her name, and she senses something magical about us. She shows us the Legendary Helm, which Abel can't equip. So, like, am I not the chosen one? Isis asks us to follow her back to her desk, where we tell her our story. She then suggests something odd but probably obvious. She suspects that our father, Papas, is the missing king of Granvania. The story checks out, so we travel to the east continent.

Ned's Inn is the final place of providence before the mountain range that divides Granvania from the rest of the world. The path is long but not overly treacherous. Due to its length, though, I did opt to Outside out and rest. The mobs are abundant but can be felled in a round or two. Along the way, there are many, many treasures to find. Not only that, but there's a woman who's worth mentioning. From the first screen, go down the stairs to see her and accept her offer to stay the night. She has a really creepy laugh. During the night, Bianca wakes us up because she hears the sound of metal sharpening. The woman then comes down, and it's revealed that...

...she's a former blacksmith, I guess, and she made Abel five strength points stronger. Always talk to creepy women who live in caves, kids. About halfway through the range is a town. Bianca passes out just when we get there, so we spend the night letting her rest up. She's well rested in the morning and is excited about Abel returning home, so we carry on. Don't worry about upgrading your armor here. Weapons, maybe, but not armor. As we exit the village, we see some great SNES cinematography as a massive castle looms in the background. YS V is the only game I can think that did this, and I'm sad I haven't seen it more often.

The path down is just as long and winding as before. I didn't Outside out, so I don't know where it would take us. Along the way, we meet a scholar who informs us a man names Sancho passed by recently. I remember a Sancho...

Once outside, we see the massive castle looming in the distance. I walk in, upgrade my armor, save, and call it a night.

Artwork depicts Flora being more attractive than Bianca. Let this remind everyone that positive shared experiences are what love is. It's not all about looks. *tips hat* I'm, like, real sensitive that way.
 

Party's All Here

Last night, we were told to return to Castle Reinhardt as Henry had already found a wife. Everyone in town is stoked to see the royal couple. When we reach the king's room, Henry "introduces" us to Maria. Who knew the slave girl we rescued could become so famous? Guess she doesn't want to be a nun after all. And that's all they wanted us for. The ceremony has passed, and there's nothing else to do. Bit of a douche move, Henroid!

So we return to our travels. South of Auraphria is another small abbey. South of that is the Cave to Salabona. It's a quick excursion, and we come right near, as the name would suggest, the town of Salabona. Speaking of weddings! There's another big ruckus in the square. The richest man in town, Ludman, is looking to marry off his daughter, Flora. We heard about Flora's kind and loving heart from the people in the abbey, and the citizens of Salabona reflect that thinking.

Because Henry infected us with the wedding bug, Abel starts thinking it's time to get married as well. The famous shield Ludman owns may aid that train of thought, too. Heading to his house, we join the queue for the marriage. Flora's father informs the group that he will reward whoever finds the Rings of Fire and Water with Flora's hand, as well as a large sum of money. Everyone wants the money, apart from Andy, a childhood friend of Flora. Flora doesn't want to be treated like a prize, nor does she want these four men venturing into terrifying locations to fight monsters, so she protests. Alas, this is a medieval time period, and women have no autonomy, so everyone ignores her pleas.

The Fire Ring is located at the bottom of a volcano, south of Salabona. The monsters aren't too dangerous, but I did have to flee out once to heal. There are a few mandatory lava tiles we will need to traverse. There's no way to avoid the damage, but a few treasure chests can be bypassed if you're afraid. I ended up accidentally requiting a new monster, Box of Jewels, down here. Its actions are rather erratic, but its stats are great. Tanky is as tanky does. There's an HP/MP refill spot in a lava tile offshoot just before the ring, so make use of it and heal the damage on the way out. Reaching the Fire Ring triggers a boss fight.

These guys were the opposite of the Imposter from last night. For one, there are three of them. They enjoy using a team wide Fire Breath attack. It does one damage to Boxy, but Able and Boro don't handle it well. Boxy managed to confuse one of them, who ended up disappearing, so try spamming Confuse. Had that not happened, I might have lost. Maybe I'm bad, but I think this was a luck based fight.

When you win, Outside out and return to Salabona. Give Ludman the Fire Ring, and he'll lend you his ship. He thinks the Water Ring is surrounded by water, which can't be any place around here. Travel north on the ship, and you'll come to a floodgate. The gate can be opened but not by Abel. There is an Unnamed Mountain Village to the east, so we'll head there to see if anyone can open it. It's a hot spring village, and no one's talking about the gate. In the northernmost house is a man who you might remember. Duncan, the former inn proprietor in alpaca and Bianca's dad, is lying in bed. He recognizes us just in time for Bianca, herself, to enter. The three of them catch up that night, and Bianca offers her aid in our quest. She's seemed reluctant since we told her we were trying to get married, but I'm sure she's fine. Before we leave, Duncan tells us that he's not her real father and asks us to take care of Bianca. He's a sickly man and doesn't know how much time he has left.

Bianca drops the gate for us, and we keep on heading north until we reach the Waterfall Cave near Auraphria. Before venturing in, however, I did some backtracking. I finally explored the Santa Rosa cave and found Papas' Letter. The letter tells us that our mother had been kidnapped by a demon for her unknown magical powers, and only a legendary hero can save her. Papas has traveled the world thrice to find that hero but only managed to find the sword, The Zenithian Sword. That sword is laying opposite the letter, and we pick it up. We also gained a few levels down here, which Bianca needed. I managed to kill a few Metal Slimes for 1300 EXP and even gained a few more monster members I won't use. Return to Salabona and take the ship back north. The Waterfall Cave lacks anything worth nothing, and there is no boss. Bianca talks a lot about how this reminds her of when we beat those ghosts and how pretty things are. At the bottom is the ring, so grab it and return to Salabona.

When we talk to Ludman, Flora is nearby. They ask us who Bianca is, and Flora knows right away that she's in love with Abel. Flora further protests about marrying Abel, since there's already someone who loves him, and Ludman actually agrees. He thinks we're great and wants to marry his daughter to us but lets us sleep on it. So it looks like I'll be getting married...

...tomorrow!

Gee, I wonder who I'll choose? Bianca makes sense, but Flora has the better healing powers!

A double return

It's a pun, and you're gonna love them when we get there.

We left off just before the Southern Tower and the unnamed abbey. Maria is the key, but she doesn't join in on the battles. Sure could use some heals, holy woman! Regardless, climbing the tower is, somewhat, easy. There's no boss at the top, so don't hold back on your way up. There are several paths, with most of them leading to treasure. There are dead ends, though, and you can fall from each floor, sending you back to the start. When you get to the top, you find the Mirror of Ra. I don't know what Ra has to do with truth and illusions, but it's mystical, so it works. Climbing up the tower, Abel gained enough EXP to level up and learn a spell called Outside. Outside is Dragon Quest's version of Exit. Using it will warp up out of the dungeon, and I plan to use this often going forward. With the mirror in hand, we, including Maria, warp back to Reinhardt.

Young Dale is missing from the throne room, but the Chancellor informs us Dale freed the captive empress, and both are now above us. Other NPC's tell us the two of them fought, but they're sitting still for us now. Using the mirror on one reveals an old woman, and the other is a monster. The monster, seeing the jig is up, attacks.

Despite not being fully prepared, I won. Imposter summons help from time to time, but that help only goes so far. Her damage output isn't very high, and her ads are random mobs we've already killed. Of all the boss fights, she's been the easiest.

When the dust settles, the true queen is remorseful for her actions. Dale, and everyone else, talks Henry into becomes a king again. He only joins on in an advisor type role, though, which is sufficient for everyone around. Peace has been restored in Reinhardt, and people celebrate in the streets. Maybe, more importantly, we learn that ship travel has resumed in Vista.

Heading there to explore new lands, I learn we can only advance with the monster wagon. I don't have any monsters, so I just have this annoying horse and cart on my screen now. Seems unnecessary and a little bit ugly, if I'm honest. Regardless, it's a safe trip to the town of Port Belmi. Upgrade your equipment and head to the tavern up north to participate in a bar fight. We see a man being accosted for his 3000 gold, and we jump in to save him. The mobs are your everyday affair, so whatever. The man then tells us about his village. It's being attacked by a ferocious monster, and the citizens have raised a 3000 gold bounty to anyone who can slay the beast. He gives us 1500 upfront if we say we'll take the job. Heading south to Kabocki reveals a rural village where everyone has an accent. As a linguist, I love accents in games. Speak to the elder, and he'll say the monster invades from the west. Far in that direction is the cave in question. It's a very short dungeon, and I even managed to skip over a fellow hunter. At the bottom of the place is a very welcome sight. It's Boronogo! I didn't have the heart to try to attack him, so I used Bianca's Ribbon. Boro smelled the ribbon and immediately recognized who I was. I had come to miss Henry, so I needed a trusted companion, and Boro had been the best one. Not only does he join the group, but he moves away from a sword in the ground. Our friend cat had been protecting Papas' Sword for all these years. I exited the cave and went to get the rest of my reward. Everyone thinks I set this whole thing up to swindle the gold, but they pay me anyway.

Next up was to travel even more to the west to the town of Auraphin. Everyone is talking about the crazy scientist in the smoking house, so we make our way to him through the labyrinthine walls. He tells us he's researching ancient spells and knows of a way to teach them. He sends us off on a quest to find a herb from the northwest peninsula. The herb can only be found at night, so walk around on the world map until the day/night cycle changes. It'll light up to indicate the locations. Pick it, and return to town. Wake the old man up, and he'll throw it into the pot. I take back everything I said about the graphical quality of DQV. These explosions were fascinating. When everyone comes to, the old man will ask us if we know any new spells. Opening the spell menu reveals that Abel knows the spell Return, which allows us to go back to any city we've visited. Except for Santa Rosa and Alpaca, for some reason. Further investigation of nearby towns reveals Henry got married and wants us there. So I'll be returning to Reinhard...

...tomorrow!

I have mixed feelings on how the Reinhardt stuff ended. We know the queen kidnapped Henry, but she's just allowed to hang around? But I did love how the NPCs in the town, 1.) grow in number, and 2.) are quite jubilant. I feel like my actions have consequences which is what video games should be about. And this game was made in 1992!

Time moves on

Far to the east of Castle Reinhardt is the bandit's cave. Inside, we see Papa Papas fighting mobs, but we can't reach him yet. Abel and Boro have to traverse the maze of a place to get to him. Along the way, we stumble upon a makeshift breakroom. Inside, we find three men talking about what the plan was. The Queen of Reinhardt paid off these bandits to kidnap Henry, the son of the first queen, so that her son, Dale, could become the heir. The rest of the cave is a string of fights that, while not hard, are constant. I'm starting to think Dragon Quest V isn't a hard game, but rather it's a game of attrition. Games made in '92 were no joke, man. I can see why Square made FFIV easy (despite me not finding it easy).

Eventually, we make it to Papas, and the game has an auto-battle for his victory. He then tells us how proud he is that we've grown so strong and joins the party as we continue deeper in. Shortly after, we find Prince Henry in the cells in the back. He's scared and wants to leave, so that's what we do. Unfortunately, we can't just walk out. We're jumped by three blobs, and Papas stays back to fight them and buy time for our escape. The three children find a boat and use that to circumvent a part of the dungeon. As we reach the exit, a man named Gema is waiting. We try to fight off Gema, who laughs at us every other turn, but Abel and Boro can't do anything. We quickly fall. But this is one of those necessary deaths...

Papas catches up to us and tries his hand. First at the weak secondaries of Gema, who are dispatched with ease, and then at Gema himself. Or, at least, that was the hope. Gema brings his scythe to Abel's neck and tells Gema to not fight back or else he'll kill us. The next too-long-of-a-timeframe has an auto-battle where the adds slowly whittle away Papas' HP. As he lies there dying, he informs his son that his mother is still alive somewhere. Gema and friends pick up Abel and Henry and carry them off while Boro is allowed to go free.

Ten years pass as the two boys become teens, stuck in slavery building a temple for their captors. Abel grows strong while Henry mellows out and stops being a brat. Someone teaches Able how to read, which was nice of them. After spending a day "working," a new female slave is brought into camp. We meet her when she's being beaten by two guards. Being the only people who still have hope in their eyes, Abel and Henry rush in. Well, Abel does. We have no items, so I just cast Gust a few times. It did more damage than punching them and hit both at the same time. We manage to succeed, but more guards storm in. The two of us are thrown into deeper jail to await further punishment. But that punishment never comes. One of the guards, Joshua, is the brother of the beaten slave girl, Maria. He frees us, but not the other guy chained up, and opens up a path for us, and Maria, to escape from. He gives us our ten-year-old equipment, as well. The canal leads to the ocean, where we float for a while until coming to land.

Abel is passed out but comes-to in an abbey. The Nun nursing Abel equipped the gear he had when he was six, and we set off to find Henry and Maria. Maria, a priestess before she became a slave, stays at the abbey, while Henry joins Abel on his quest to find his mom. The convent sees us off, and we head north. Our first stop is a town called Olivegarden. We learn about recruitable monsters and find a casino in the middle of town. I hate gambling, so I'm staying away. We also get some rumors of what's to come. North of Oliveharden is the path to Castle Reinhardt. The way is blocked by a guard, so we have to leave. But we know where we are, so I head home.

Santa Rosa is destroyed. A few of the remaining villagers say this was an act by Reinhardt. The official reports have it as retaliation for Papas kidnapping Henry. We can access more areas of the cave, but I lost more money than I gained when I went in there, so I'll come back once Henry doesn't suck. I also go to Alcapa to see how Bianca is. Her family left seven years ago, so there's nothing for us now. Sleep at the inn, though, to advance the plot. Henry is curious about what's going on in his homeland and wants to check it out. Return to the guard blocking our path, and Henry will know who he is. It's a man named Tom, who Henry tormented while they were kids. Knowing Henry lives brings an odd peace to Tom, who lets us through. He informs us that, while Dale is the king, it is the Empress who has all the power. The Empress, of course, being the woman who staged the kidnapping of Henry ten years ago...

Returning to the castle is a dead end. The real entrance is to take the boat beside the castle and enter the secret passage beneath the drawbridge. We then enter the catacombs, which eventually run into the jails. One of the cells is filled with a woman claiming to be the Empress, so what's going on? Entering the castle and heading to the throne room, we see Dale sitting next to the Chancellor. Henry talks to his little half-brother in a way only those two would understand and gets a personnel audience with the king. Dale is still a good kid and offers his help in fixing things. He tells us of a book in the storage room and a mirror that does something and gives us the key. The key also unlocks a door to three must have treasures on the first floor. Just [ower through the painful floor before venturing into storage. Read the book and take the stairwell down. Down there is a teleporter that takes us somewhere. Nearby is a tower that holds the mirror we seek. I forget how I learned this, but the abbey that saved us has the key, and it's just north of where we are. Return there, and Maria will become the key for us. Something about pure maiden souls, I think. With Maria apart of the team, I called it a night.

Henry sucks as a character. He dies a lot, and I don't have the funds to equip either character properly. I had some real struggles tonight. I took Boro for granted! Also, I like Pokemon, but I don't want to play Pokemon in Dragon Quest, so I may be ignoring the wagon for a while.

Fae Worlds

...or singular at least. Fae World!

Last we left on, Papa Papas did some paperwork while Able explored the town of Santa Rosa. The inhabitants reveal that many strange things are happening. Items are being misplaced, and the temperature is unseasonably cold. We can't leave the village, so I take the cue to walk everywhere. On the second floor of the inn is a tavern. In the lower left corner is a barely noticeable, incorporeal girl sitting on the counter. She's shocked that we can see her and says we should talk elsewhere. That elsewhere happens to be our basement.

Down there, she tells us she's an elf, and trouble is brewing that has detrimental consequences to both our worlds. Bella says the Spring Flute has been taken, and the fairies are unable to change the season. In our world, legends have it that fairies change the seasons, so I dig it. She then opens up a long staircase to her world, which Able and Borogo walk up. We eventually come to a town surrounded by freshwater. We talk to the leader, Powan, who lets us in on more of the details. Powan instructs Bella to join us, and she's a decent enough character. She doesn't gain levels and has the same spells as Bianca did. Talk to other NPCs in the village to learn where to go. One even lets us in on the possibility that our pet kitten is a fairy legend of nightmares. You can head north to the Ice Mansion, but we can't enter yet as the door is locked. Return to the village and travel west until you come to the Dwarf Cave. Deep in the belly is where you find the "Secret of the Key." You also learn the name of the flute thief, Zaile. His father and pet slime tell you to knock some sense into the kid.

Back at the Ice Mansion, enjoy the sliding puzzle. Fortunately, you're only sliding yourself and not rocks and only to the stairwells. I didn't run into any fights down here, so enjoy the peace. Open the chests, climb the stairs, and talk to the kid standing before the double chest. This is Zaile, and he mentions the Winter Queen before attacking us. I went all out in this fight, but I didn't need to. Just attack him. By now, I had Abel and Boro fully equipped and slightly overleveled, so Zaile's attacks weren't anything to worry about. He will steal your MP, though. After he falls, though, things change. The Winter Queen appears behind him and states that she shouldn't have let a child do her dirty work. I'm annoyed that's the twist reason, but okay. This fight is a lot harder. Bella should use Decrease a few times while the others attack. I would have had Abel use Upper, but he had no MP from the last fight. Boro can only attack, so let him. By now, I was running out of inventory space, so I happily used a few Medical Herbs when I needed to. Bella's healing wasn't enough to tide me over from the Winter Queen's teamwide Ice attack, so free up some limited item slots. You're gonna need to anyway. She's not as hard as Boss Ghost, but she could be.

Once she's lost, Zaile will regret his decisions and return home. If we head back to the Dwarf Caves, his father and slime will thank us. Return to the Fae Village, and give Powan the flute. She and everyone else will thank us, and Powan will offer her aid should we return to these lands when we're older. Abel and Boro are teleported back home, where Sancho says our dad is looking for us. While looking for him, everyone says that the stuff is back and the weather is warmer, so we saved the world!

He's in the church, and he's leaving on a journey. The King of Reinhardt Castle has summoned him, so we head there. We meet the king, and Abel walks around while Papa and the King talk. Eventually, we learn Papas is the babysitter for the bratty heir, Henry. When Papas asks Able to play with the prince, he hides on us while bossing us around. The practical jokes quickly subside when two armed bandits raid the castle and kidnap Henry. Running back and talking to our dad, the two of us sneak away from the castle to not make a scene. Papas leaves before us, and I have no idea where he went, so I'll have to find dad and a prince...

...tomorrow!

I'm six and already saved the world. I wonder if I'm a chosen one?

Dragon Quest V...for the SNES!

Why the SNES? Because my computer is literal trash and can't run the DS version in a way that won't give me a headache.

Despite my elitist claims of being a true JRPG gamer, I have never played a Dragon Quest game. Not when they were Enix, not even when they were (are) Square Enix. I never had a console they were on, so I'll use that as my excuse. Please ignore VIII... I'm also not a big fan of the first person battle view. I played DQI during my dark ages but only played for a few hours before getting bored. Let's see how my first foray into this well regarded franchise is and wonder if I should have picked a Breath of Fire game to play instead!

We start the game, and we see a man walking back and forth. Another man, with a French accent, comes down and informs him that a son is born. We quickly learn that the nervous man is King Papas, excited to greet his heir. He and his wife didn't bother to decide on a name during the last nine months, so they each offer up a possibility now. Ultimately, they decide on Papa Papas' suggestion of Abel. I read that's his name, so that's what I went with. As they conclude, the queen, Maria, coughs, and the screen zooms in her while darkening. Something terrible has happened.

But we can only surmise right now, as the screen un-zooms out to reveal a boy in a lot of purple laying on a bed with his father nearby. We are that boy, and his father's name is Papas. Hmm... We're also on a ship about to dock at a nearby tiny village called Vista. We then gain control of Abel and explore the ship. It mostly introduces us to the controls. Press the X button to do everything, A brings up the menu, B cancels, and Y does nothing. Walk around the ship and talk to everyone while finding a few Medical Herbs in the barrels. The captain and Papas go back a long way, and that relationship is why we're here. For some reason, five years ago, Papas brought us along on a journey that we're finally ending today. Once we're done with everything, the ship docks, we become landlubbers again, and we enter the world map.

Our first fight is with some slimes that I probably could have defeated alone, but Papa Pappas saves us anyway. He casts heal after the battle and leads us to our hometown of Santa Rosa. Everyone treats Papas like royalty, saying how cool and strong he is before we return home. We meet our house sitter, Sancho, and a few of his friends, including a young girl named Bianca. Bianca and Abel go up to his room, where she tries to read him a book. Bianca is two years older than Able, but she's still only eight, so reading is hard. Soon after trying, her mother comes to pick her up to head to the inn. The two of them are in town to find herbs for their ailing father/husband. We can then walk around town, and Papas does his own thing.

Around town, we discover that the herb dude has gone missing in the caves north of town. Being the son of a great hero, we go to find him. Everything down here is pretty easy, but I got "lost" and had to use a few herbs. I see a boat in the distance but can't reach it yet. At the bottom is our man, stuck under a boulder. We help move it off of him, and he heads on his way. Following after him...I freakin' died! I think you get a free death down here, as I woke up next to an old man saying he helped me. That's good, but I'm a little embarrassed. Dying in the tutorial dungeon... Talking to Bianca reveals the man hasn't spoken to them yet, but I didn't want to see if I missed a scene, so I went home and went to bed. In the morning, the women come in, along with Papas, and tell us they're heading back home to Alcapa. Papas feels uneasy letting two defenseless women walk around unattended, so he escorts them, and he invites us along.

Once again, he escorts the party, but nothing happens. In Alcapa, we see Bianca's sick father while I go for a walk. Bianca joins us because grown-ups, am I right? We explore the town and come to two bullies beating up a cat. We tell them to stop, but they'll only do so if we clear the ghosts in Castle Lenoire. We can't leave the village yet, so we go to bed. That night, Bianca wakes up Abel, and we sneak out of town to head north to the castle. I got lost and died because I'm an idiot who thought forests were hard barriers. I don't know why I thought that, seeing as they haven't been before, but okay. Restarting at Alcapa, I head north and into the target location.

I really wish the item merchant were awake at this hour. The weapons and armor people are, so why isn't the important one?! This is a very long and very hard dungeon for the first test in the game. Random encounters seemed common, and one guy can continuously call in reinforcements. I save stated my way through the place and still ended up dying.

As the main entrance is closed, head up the ladder to the right. Follow the path until you see a thing on a bed at the top of the screen. That thing is Queen Sophia, a former inhabitant of the castle. A man in the inn's garden, in Alpaca, tells us the backstory on her. She asks us to save her and her husband, who just want to sleep. A few rooms later and we're ambushed by six skeletons who take Bianca away from us. We find her shortly after in a grave with her name on it. Continue until you reach a dark hall. This room sucks! Listen for the sound of you hitting the wall and go right, and then all the way down. Enter the stairs, and another spirit guides us through the castle. Catching up to him, he'll tell us his name is Erik, the King. He says evil spirits have invaded the castle and won't let them rest in peace. We offer to save him, and he continues to guide our way. He also says there's a torch in the kitchen. The torch is used to navigate the darkroom we encountered enroute to here. Keep on keeping on until you reach the bottom floor, marked by the blue carpet by the door. There's an inn nearby, but don't use it. Go through the magically opening doors until you reach the throne room. Its current inhabitant will make a food pun at your expense, and then they feed you to his skeleton army. Destroy the candles and go back up. If you need to leave, do so now! Back at the top of the castle, the bad guy walks onto the balcony. He says he'll kill us now, and the first boss fight of the game breaks out.

I died. Boss Ghost has 200 HP, but I have no way to heal, and he has high defense. Abel can only do three HP. Bianca can use Blaze, but that does 10, and she doesn't have the MP to use it twenty times. Dying returned us to Alpaca with full HP and MP. I walked back up and tried again. Use Bianca's Decrease Spell twice to lower Boss Ghost's defense by 50, and both characters should attack. Abel can heal when necessary, and it will be necessary. Down to a combined single digit HP, Bianca got the killing blow, and we each got 300 EXP. Bianca learned Fireball, which would have been fun a second ago. Erik and Sophia take us to the graves that said our name on them earlier and thank us immensely. They say goodbye and reward us with a Gold Orb. All the mobs in the castle are now gone, so we have free reign of the place. I don't know if I missed anything, but we have to walk back to Alpaca.

In the morning, we get the kitten from the two bullies, and Bianca and Able think up names. I didn't like any of them, so I went with her first suggestion of Borongo. Our parents are waiting for us in front of the inn, where we learn Bianca's dad just had a cold... Abel keeps the Boro while the three of them leave the village. They head back to Santa Rosa and hit the hey. In the morning, dad has stuff to do, so we walk around looking for adventure, which I'll find...

...tomorrow!

First impressions: I'm enjoying it. The graphics are terrible, though, even for the time. Compare DQV with FFIV, which came out a year and a half earlier, and it's like night and day. DQV is borderline NES quality. The battle system isn't as bad as I thought. The lack of animations might sway me to keep playing. I like flashy spells, but sometimes, man, I just want to attack and move on. I don't need a two minute Eden summon every turn. I'm digging the humor, as well. I don't know how much is DeJap's translation or the actual, though. I get a kick out of the message, "The sign says Danger...but Abel can't read.." I know a few of the gimmicks coming up, and I'm curious when and how it'll happen. I don't want to play as a toddler, but I do want to see this character grow-up and become s man. You don't see that often, if ever, in video games. Bianca is an early contender for waifu, but there's another one coming up, eventually.

Is Wild Arms 2 a good game?

Probably, yeah. But only barely. I don't know what to say about Wild Arms 2: Second Ignition. It does some interesting things, but it does a lot of bad things.

The character backstories, for example. The game doesn't go into much detail about them. We know Brad was a war hero during the Sleyheim Liberation War, but how did he get that title? What glorious thing did he do? I don't think we even know what that war was about. We know it was to overthrow the king, but does anyone know what said king did? We know that he ended it all when he turned his homeland into salt. Show, or at least tell, us how it started. Vinsfeld shouldn't have made up a cause for war that ended so poorly.
What happened to Illia's sister? It seems like she died but how, when, and why? It's a pivotal moment in our mage's history so explain.
I think Kanon got the most backstory, but I want to know more. How long has she been exorcising demons? Go into more detail about her Valerian cadet blood. We see the impetus of her character now give us some action scenes!
Marievl is an immortal vampire! When did she become the last of her kind? And for that matter, how does she know so much about Ashley?
Tim is a twelve-year-old, so I'll give him a pass. But I'd love to see more on the relationship between Ashley and Marina. Their love story was vital to everything, but I never felt connected to it.

The plot advancement had its misfires. There were far, far too many overdone events and "And then" storylines. Every time we fought Odessa, someone was telling us that they bought enough time. We beat them handily often, but it never mattered in the end. If nothing advances in a game, then what's the point of playing it? But I have more to say about them in a moment.
Plot McGuffins came from nowhere. A few twists were shadowed with books, like the Valerias being descendants of the Sword Magess, but others were just poofed into existence. Brad clones?! The Gygas bomb, the nuke dragon, The Pillar and sacrifice, vampires, cybernetics, most of the lost technology, and Valera being Odessa's backers. All of these appear from nowhere and fade away just as fast. The Heimdal Gazzo is relevant for an hour, and the Life Reflectors for even less. The weapon that turned Sleyheim to salt is a series of lost technologies that I'm interested in. Who made all of this stuff, and where'd they go? Even the immortal vampire doesn't know. And the Chateau turning into a plane is nonsense.

Is Odessa the worst set of villains in JRPGs? They accomplish nothing other than hijacking a radio tower, having an airship, and stealing a nuke no one knew existed. Who do they kill? They kidnapped and destroyed a church, but no one died. And they had potential, even if it was just on a relatable basis. I'm curious how a great evil organization would exist in a world where finances are relevant. There's one scene where they discuss funding, but it's thrown away until a terrible twist at the very end. Their personalities don't even make sense. Judecca seems like a scientific genius until you learn he's just a boring sadist. Ptolomea is a commander for the ground troops, but we don't discover that until he dies. Antenora has a fun twist on loyalties, but it only serves to make Vinsfeld look evil for the sake of evil. Was there a reason he killed her family? Caina having a homosexual interest in Vinsfeld is interesting, so I'll give them that one. It gets bastardized in the American release, but I'll pick and choose what twists I use in games. These guys are a dull threat. "Threat" being a word I use loosely, of course.

The battle system was fun but easy. As I said earlier, I don't like difficult games, but this was too much, even for me. There's no real challenge, and what is there is just status effect spam. It's entirely superficial.

The setting was kinda hit and miss for me. It's supposed to an American western theme, which the game hits occasionally. Except for a lot of sand and a few cowboy hats, is there anything that makes these towns western? No water shortages, small town/anti-government vibe, horses, religion, or shootout/train robbing mid-bosses? Hell, there's only one train!

The music was the same. It often fit the scene, aiding to the setting, but many pieces left no impact on me. I dug some of them, the main town theme, for example, but there's no hook, and parts of the songs kinda sucked. The tracks toward the end were all great, but you got to hear them once. I will say, though, the hovercraft song beats any of the Final fantasy ship themes by a full eight measures. I liked what I heard, but I just don't think I'll remember most of them.

And now for the good news! I did like the battle system. There's a lot of stuff here: from magic spells to multiple special attacks that don't even take into account those spells. The guardians giving characters flexibility and more actions to take was amazing. It's a materia-lite mechanic. Kanon was boring and straightforward, and Ashley felt limited since there's little need to transform, but Illia and Brad are great! I even liked Tim's method of getting spells, even if I found him too weak to use. Blue Mage Marivel is a cool idea, but I never went into it, which is my fault. I won't let her one time to shine, where she won, by the way, impact my feeling toward her class. Many games give one or two mechanics to work with, but Wild Arms gives you four. And you can swamp characters, gear, and tactics on the fly. I'd love to see a game that incorporates these things in a better presentation.

I liked all of the characters. Yes, even Tim. I have some qualms about them, but I like them as people and playable cast. They have fascinating backstories (that need to be expanded) and a definite place on the team. DPS, tank, healer, speedster, magic damage, a bit of everything: I like my cast to have defined roles. They all have their relatable ideals: Why do I fight? What of my past? Is it okay to throw your life away for others? These are questions that people ask themselves every day. It isn't something crazy like, "Am I a clone?" or "I don't even have a backstory.". A game doesn't need to get too deep, and a simple "I fight to be snuggled by childhood love" is more than enough and relatable.

Dungeon exploration is where the game shines. Finding Tools and figuring how to use them to solve the puzzles in the depths of the earth was fun. Many of them managed to even tickle my brain. Sure, a few were terrible, but they can't all be zingers. Many RPGs either do away with puzzles or make them optional. Some make them tedious and make me not want to play the game or hide them in the boss battles. The difficulty in Wild Arms 2 was perfect in this sense.

With a 4-2-3 ratio, I think is my least enjoyable game that I've finished since starting the blog. And I understand that. Ultimately, I did enjoy my playthrough of the game. It didn't overstay its welcome, I didn't get mad or consider rage quitting until the final boss, and a part of me wants to play more of the franchise. I thought about playing Wild Arms 1 instead of this dark aged game, but I kept my plan instead. Kid me would have loved the game. Thirty-something-year-old me finds it middling. It's a decent game and deserved better than my totally forgetting about it in the depths of depression. But it's incredibly flawed and needed some storyboard editing.

But I'm gonna indulge in some nonsense for a moment.
Four of Odessa is named after rivers in Hades. Vinsfeld's last name, Rhadamanthus, is a judge of the dead in Greek myth. The final dungeon is a spiral downward into a blue/frozen landscape. The final boss is a dragon, creatures sometimes associated with Satan. is this game a terrible allusion to Dante's Inferno?