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 Lufia 2 is a game close to my heart, since it was one of the first RPG's that I ever played, right after Final Fantasy VI and Chrono Trigger. Released on the SNES by Taito to universally positive reviews and localized in the US by Natsume, the game stands as one of the best JRPG's of its generation, featuring a mix of puzzling and RPG gameplay with a unique way to handle equipment, a surprisingly more in-depth story than its peers, and a rockin' soundtrack. Plus it has gambling minigames and an optional roguelike dungeon crawler. Cool stuff. The game is actually a prequel, set 90-odd years before the events of Lufia 1. Matter of fact, the end dungeon of this game is the very first dungeon of Lufia 1, so if you've played that game before, then you already know exactly how this game is going to end. Well, almost. There are still a few elements that this game introduces. This LP will be a completionist playthrough, going for all the optional content and showing off the optional game modes. I will be summarizing NPC chatter a lot, mind you, but that'll be the extent of it.  Spoiler Policy Nothing really heavy. Just tag anything we haven't seen yet, even if Lufia 1 gives it away. I'm guessing a lot of people didn't play the first game, so that's not really common knowledge. Table of Contents: Chapter 1: Let's All Get Acquainted (right below) Chapter 2: Destiny is that Game About Dancing, Right? Chapter 3: I.P. Freely Chapter 4: Our Deadliest Foe Yet Chapter 5: Do These Dungeon Items Remind you of Anything? Chapter 6: Make My Monster Grow! Chapter 7: Enter the Amazing Guy! Chapter 8: Friggin' Spiders Chapter 9: Maxim the Errand Boy Chapter 10: Come Aboard the Love Shrine Chapter 11: Gades, Sinistral of Cheating Chapter 12: Romance and Carpentry Chapter 13: Hi Dekar Chapter 14: Why Aren't You in Our Party Yet? Chapter 15: The Bash Brothers Chapter 16: The End? Chapter 17: This Dungeon Gave Me Cancer Chapter 18: Some Joke With Boats and Lions Chapter 19: Thy Dungeonmen Chapter 20: I Think We Broke It Chapter 21: Just Die Already! Chapter 22: A Budding Entrepreneur Chapter 23: The Raddest Radish Chapter 24: A Political Thriller, This Ain't Chapter 25: I Hate You, Taito Chapter 26: Everyone's a Winner! Chapter 27: It's Been a While Chapter 28: The Mountain of Occasional Return Chapter 29: How Do I Shoot Hook Chapter 30: Revengeance Chapter 31: Mirror Mirror, Who Is the Father? Chapter 32: The World's Most Difficult Trick Chapter 33: Suddenly, The Endgame Chapter 34: The Saga of Magical Selan Chapter 35: Gotta Hatch 'Em All Chapter 36: Ascension of the Protagonist Chapter 37: Heroes Don't Need Plans Chapter 38: Maxim Dies at the End Chapter 39: I Don't Hate This Game BONUS CONTENT: Let's Play Lufia 2 for the DS, by SC Bracer Chapter 1 Chapter 2: Smalltown Romance and Fish Chapter 3: Fuckin' Box Puzzles Chapter 4: To Parcelyte! Chapter 5: What's Yours is Mine (Part 1, Part 2) Chapter 6: Hideous Statues and a Guy With a Hammer Fanart by Shaezerus 
Blastinus fucked around with this message at 04:59 on Jun 23, 2015 |
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Dec 28, 2014 01:51
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Reserved for whatever.
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Dec 28, 2014 01:51
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Chapter 1: Let's All Get Acquainted Yes, this game was made by the guys behind Space Invaders.   Lufia 2 features a lengthy intro, about ten minutes long. You can skip it at any time, but you can't speed it up. Lovely. Truth be told, outside of this LP, I've never actually seen it all the way. I usually just mash right through to the main menu.  After this extended shot of a blue ball of light flying to the castle, we see a green and gold ball do the same.  Each of these fly-bys has a few seconds of pause in between, just enough to make you wonder why the screen hasn't faded out yet.  And after the first three have gone for a while, another one flies in. There's a reason why this intro is ten minutes long.  Nice dragon-statues-in-an-empty-void aesthetic.  Meet Arek. Don't get too used to him, since we won't be seeing him past this intro.   : Yes, sir. : Who should rule, we Sinistrals, or humans? Ah, the over-the-top emoting, one of the joys of SNES RPG's. : ...: But why do you ask that, sir? : Are you saying the Dual Blade is resonating!?: Would you...go?: Yes, sir.One not-so-joyful aspect of SNES RPG's is the clumsy dialogue. It's got its charms though.    I hope you don't mind me sparing you the fly-over of all the areas we'll be seeing over the course of the game. Eventually, we come to a particular island chain where, well...  Something tells me that these islands will be important somehow. Okay, so that intro seemed a little confusing, but we've got enough of a plot hook to proceed.  But before we do so, it's time to establish all of our protagonists. And I mean all of them.   : Yeah. : Are you going away again?: Well, that's my job. : I'll be alright.: You always say that. But I always worry.: I'll get them but you have to buy them, Tia.: I will.: Well, see ya.You can probably tell from his resemblance to Box Art Man, but this red-haired individual is our main character.   : Hilda! What's up? : Jessy was looking for you.: Really!?: She was upset. Did you do something?: Nope!: Yeah? : Typical! No wonder Jessy's angry!: Women don't get it! It's a man thing!: I get it alright. You prefer MONSTERS!Ouch.    : Crybaby! No, she is not a future party member.  She is. : Oh no!! It's Selan!: Run!!  : Listen carefully, Lemmy. They're wrong, but try to be strong. : Why? My father said it's ok for girls to cry.: Listen. A woman's tears should...I'm sure we'll hear the other half of that saying later, but first...   : Monsters are all over the North Labyrinth!  Well, it was nice knowing that guy.    : Excellent! Josef, follow me! : Yes, Your Highness! Poor guy. He's probably gone through this a lot.  Our next party member is...a nerd staring at boats.  : I get it! So that's how it works!   : His inventions never work the way they should. : Yeah. He sank a ship with his last one.: ......: What was that invention anyway?: A machine to move ships without wind.: Oh, that's right. Hey, your memory's pretty good! Wah wah.  This next segment isn't going to make a lick of sense until we get to the character in question.  : Artea... : Milka, where have you been these days? : The worst thing you can do is lie to yourself.: But Artea, the people in the city... : Mother. : Artea is aware of everything. : Artea, it must be really hard on you, too.Honestly, while this seems more natural than exposition speak, it's not very easy on the reader.  : Which of us is really transient on earth? Dual Blade, do you have the real answer? And that's the end of the intro. We stare at the macguffin of the game and then it repeats itself.   If you decided to skip all that nonsense or you just hit the A button by accident, here's the actual main menu. You've got the saves on the bottom and the option to start a new game using three different game modes. START: A new game. Duh. Beating the game on START unlocks... RETRY: A new game, but gold and experience gained is multiplied by four. Beating that unlocks... GIFT: Something new and magical. I'll do a brief explanation of that when we get there.  I'll be playing through the game on RETRY, mostly to cut down on the grinding. There are a few encounters as well where you'll be happy to be overleveled.  No debate on this, I'm sticking with Maxim as our main character's name. Don't worry, there'll be plenty of opportunities for dumb names when we get to a certain feature of the game.   We open the game proper on our hero returning from that hunting trip he mentioned during the intro.   : Alright. I got six jellies.: Let's see...that'll be 120 gold pieces, right?: Wait a minute Tia. I said six jellies. That comes to 180 gold pieces!: Look, monsters are cheap these days. The city's suffering so I can't pay the top price.: Yeah, it's true. More monsters every day.: It's spooky, you know.: Well, I should appreciate it though. I'm a monster hunter. I'd lose my job without them.Maxim draws heavily from the JRPG Protagonist Operating Manual. Just be grateful that he isn't an amnesiac with a dark past.  : What is an ordinary job anyway?: Let's see... : Me? Shop owner? Ha! That'll be the day! : Did you say something, Tia?: Forget it!! Here's your money! Smooth.  But with that brief introduction to Maxim and Tia's characters out of the way, we have control of our protagonist.  Naturally, the first thing we do is we open the menus and see what we've got. Notice the 120 gold at the bottom right. The game's good at merging mechanics with story, and vice versa.  Despite being the main character, Maxim is actually the middle-of-the-road party member of the game. He's one of the faster characters, but he isn't as good a spellcaster as some or as heavy a hitter. He can use swords and daggers and wear the lighter armor items, but certain options won't be available to him. Just a brief primer on stats: strength affects both attack power (ATP) and defensive power (DFP), agility only determines turn order, intelligence affects spell power, GUT is for something we'll see later, and magic resistance is self-explanatory.  Anyway, seeing as the person paying us for work is also the only supplier of gear in town, let's see what Tia's got for us.  Generally, but not always, items, weapons, and armor will be sold in the same store. It's convenient that way. Notice that item called Warp, by the way?  Yup. Fast travel, right from the start of the game. Be even nicer when we can actually afford it. Speaking of which...  Yeah. The stuff that's better than what we've got on right now is a little steep for us at the moment. We'll come back later. Note that Maxim's down on one knee. That means that he can't equip this weapon, because a monster hunter sallying forth with a frying pan would just look silly.  So now that we're paid, it's time to...you know, I don't think we have a plot hook yet. Let's try talking to people.  That doesn't sound like a quest.   Good context, but still nothing. Maybe we should try leaving?   : I'll wait for you at the dungeon south of here.Well, a forced tutorial is kind of like questing.   Welcome to the world map. Not much to it at the moment. The game's got a system in place to prevent people from stepping off the rails before they're ready, but we'll see that in a moment.  Meantime, let's go to that southern cave.    For this segment, I'll be just explaining things myself. No need to have everything explained twice, after all.  First order of business is movement. Monsters appear as random encounters on the world map, but in dungeons, they're visible and move whenever you move. Different monster types have different patterns. For instance, the jelly type will wander in a random direction every few steps that you take.   Next is combat, naturally. If you come into contact with an enemy, you'll get into a fight. If you approach an enemy from the side or behind, you can get a First Strike on it, and if an enemy does the same to you, the same applies. Love that battle theme, by the way. One of my favorites.  First menu, you either have the option to fight (middle), run (bottom), or switch around the position of party members (top). Let's fight this time, because red jellies are pathetic.  This brings up the next menu, where you can choose to do a regular attack (middle), cast a spell (top), use an item (left), defend (right), or...  Something involving weapons and armor that will be explained later.  Even if we did have magic, we really don't need it right now. One hit will deal with these guys.   Slim pickings though. Bear in mind that we're rolling with 4x experience and gold.  Moving right along, the next room teaches us about the Skill Ring. We only have one thus far, so let's take a look at it.  Yes, Arrow is considered a skill, though producing infinite arrows is quite the trick.  Not much to it really. Arrow paralyzes a shot enemy, freezing him in place for several steps and preventing him from triggering a fight when you come in contact.  I still fight it, because, you know, red jellies. There were two of them in that encounter, which only meant that the fight took two turns instead of one.   Arrow can also trigger levers from a distance if you strike them from the correct side. Handy.  Next challenge: pushing pillars. That floor button will open the door, but won't stay down if you step off, so it has to be weighed down with something else.   The old man also gives us the Reset spell at this point, because while you can shove pillars, you can't pull them, so if you get it stuck against a wall, you're pretty well stuck.  That's where Reset comes in.  Good as new. Monsters in a room will also reappear when you Reset it, so grinding in a dungeon is super easy, if you're into that sort of thing.  Next room, we meet ledges. You can leap off any ledge that has arrows pointing off of it. Simple enough.  This solution doesn't come up as often as you'd think, but it's there every now and then.   Lizard-type enemies tend to run away from you, and they're not that interesting. Although they do have a unique drop that I'll try to show off, because it's pretty handy early on in the game.   Swinging your sword also counts as a move, so if you want enemies to come to you, you can always stand in place, swatting at thin air.  No points for guessing where the button was. This darker-colored button will stay down when you step on it, so no puzzling involved with it.  If you can't find a pillar to shove, odds are that there's an object you can pick up and drop instead.  This room also teaches you how to swivel in place using the R button. This will be VERY useful, since turning your character around does not constitute a move on your part.  Anyway, placing a pot here opens a section of wall for us to advance.   And placing this second pot on the other slab opens the door to the end.  That's all you need to know about Lufia 2 dungeoneering. There'll be lots of other gimmicks, of course, but we'll hit those when we encounter them.  Also, we've already gotten to the point where the starting enemies can't even faze us. While most RPG's would give them a token single point of damage, Lufia 2 just no-sells their attack entirely. I think I like that more.  It's a good idea to talk to NPC's periodically in this game. They'll generally steer you in the right direction.  : Love to.: I made something special, Maxim! Wait a minute, ok!?   The things you can pull off with a limited set of sprites. While this song is called Ending Motif, it's really just the emotional theme of the game. It pops up during a lot of sentimental moments like this. : Ta-daaaa! It's fish pot pie made of 'navaroa', the phantom fish!: Hmm, so this is navaroa, huh!? I've heard of it before but never seen it.: I know! I've never seen it either. What's it taste like, I wonder? Let's dig in.: Well, let's see. : We...well...aaah...what shall I say? Hmm...I mean...um...Tia, why don't you try some?: I will. Here goes.: And?: This...is pretty bad, that's what this is!: You think so too? It's not your cooking, it's the fish, don't you think?: Why is this called the phantom fish, then?: Because it tastes so bad that nobody eats it. Something like that.I don't think we ever learn the real reason why it's called the Phantom Fish. : Oh, I'm so disappointed. I wanted to cook something really tasty for you. : Well, I guess you could eat it that way.: See? It's already tasting better.: Yeah, you're right. How odd. Maybe that's why it's called the phantom fish.Yeah, this is probably something lost in translation. : Well, it at least brought us a cheerful evening. Ha, ha, ha!: I guess so. Well, I'm stuffed. Let me get some tea.  : Thanks.: Say, Maxim?: Yeah?: Why...are you always in battle?: Why do you ask such a thing all of a sudden?: You're the only one fighting monsters. Not many people fight to live. Why you?: I've been fighting ever since I can remember. I've never asked myself why.Matter of fact, one of the NPC's in town will mention that Maxim seems to just naturally be good at fighting. : I've never met anyone quite like you before...: ...Well, thanks for dinner. I'll make it up to you sometime.: Don't worry about it. It's no fun to eat alone anyway. Join me again sometime, ok?: I'd love to! Eating is something I do very well, you see. Well, bye! Well, that was a fun little scene. Of course, now that grody fish shenanigans have been resolved, we're a little light on places to go.  Fortunately, a semblance of a plot rears its head the instant we try to leave.  : A horde of monsters appeared in the cave on the way to Sundletan! : Are you sure about that?: That's horrible. : Daisy, will monsters come to this city, too?: Well, I don't think they will, but...: Unfortunately, that's not the only problem we've got on our hands.: What do you mean? : That's not good...: So, does anyone have any ideas about what we should do?: Well...No, I don't...  Well, to be exact, they have one idea.  When you're the only monster hunter for miles around, you tend to be the go-to guy for these kinds of situations.  But you know what, we just beat up some slimes and ate a weird fish, so I think we need a break.   See you guys tomorrow. Next Time: Our first real dungeon and we learn the overarching plotline. Good times.
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Dec 28, 2014 01:52
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Aerdan posted:Just a quick question: you're using the European ROM, right? I ask, because somehow the US localization team screwed up and lost some data; it's not going to be obvious until later (a very important location we'll see in due time is missing some of its map data). I believe so. I've done a runthrough of the game before and don't recall seeing any problems. Still, my memory could be faulty, and if so, we are in for a bit of a laugh.
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Dec 28, 2014 03:30
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SC Bracer posted:Haha, about that... I was talking to Blast about said remake, and I'll be covering it in the thread as well. It's pretty drat different so the amount of detail I'll be going into will vary based on how much it changes, but looking at how it's going, I'm in for the long haul. Gonna wait for Blast to get a few updates in probably so that I don't spoil anything accidentally. I'm really looking forward to that, since I haven't played a second of Lufia DS. It'll be interesting to see how the game's changed. A note on my update schedule, by the way: some people have mentioned in the past that the speed at which I do updates is really hard to keep up with, so I'm dialing it back to once every two or three days. Next update should be on Monday. I hope that's fine for everyone.
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Dec 28, 2014 21:26
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Chapter 2: Destiny is that Game About Dancing, Right? Before we clear out the passageway to Sundletan, let's check out Elcid's magic shop and shrine.  Magic is handled pretty interestingly in this game.  You buy spells individually for each character, but only certain characters can learn certain spells. Some characters can't learn spells at all, actually. Maxim can't learn Spark, a fire spell, but he can learn Strong and Poison, a minor healing spell and a poison cure, respectively. He can't afford either of them, but the thought is there.  Pretty much every town has a shrine, and they all look about the same. The Washington Monument-esque icon behind the cleric used to be a cross but, Nintendo of America being what it was in the 90's, that had to be changed for its localization.  At the shrine, you can save your game, cure status ailments/revive dead party members, or lift curses. We'll cover that last feature once we come across a cursed item, which won't be for a while.  But enough of that, we've a key to recover.   Sundletan Cave - sorry, "Cave to Sundletan" - is just a short hike north from Elcid. I didn't even get into an encounter on the way. Don't worry about the repeat dungeon music. We'll be seeing other dungeons besides caves in a couple chapters.  : But she seemed different from other women I know. I felt like I shouldn't stop her, you know.You had one job.  Notice that we can still see part of the guard's head? Creatures and objects still exist in adjoining areas, even when we transition over. I find that rather interesting.   There's that lizard-specific item I was talking about. It's not great, but MP-restoring items are always handy.  You can go straight from here to Sundletan, but there's a locked door right past this one, which is why we're after a key.  Instead we go right, where there's a door leading upwards and an obvious hidden button that opens a door leading downwards. Let's go up first.  Now this is a neat-looking room with two new enemy types, one of which I avoid for now.  Moths have the distinction of being the first enemy that doesn't go down in two hits. They are otherwise unremarkable.  This puzzle is pretty neat, since it forces us to remember the turning-in-place mechanic that we just learned in the tutorial dungeon. Spikes can't hurt you, but they do block your path. The first button lowers them, but then you can't get past in order to drop a pot on the other button, so...  You drop a pot here, pick up the other pot...  Swivel around, drop the pot, lower the spikes...  And there you go.   This jingle is for regular treasures. There's one for more important treasures that we'll hear in a bit.  Life Potion does exactly what it sounds like, giving more life. I usually just go the typical RPG route and feed all the stat-ups to the main character. After all, he's the only one guaranteed to stay in the party 100% of the time.  The northeast end of the upper room leads here, with a lot of grass and another mushroom.  I don't think I need to explain what this does.  Moving back down, there's a lizard blocking our way past.  No worries, Lufia 2's escape function seems to work basically 100% of the time. At the very least, I can't remember a time when I couldn't get out of a fight. One downside to trying to escape, which we'll see when we come to faster enemies, is that the escape attempt only comes up when one of your characters gets a turn, and we will encounter enemies that move faster than us. In that situation, the party can take quite a beating.  Next room, there's an obvious chest that we seemingly can't get to.   But if we clear some grass away, we can go left through a hidden wall and claim our prize.  Let's finally talk about these mushrooms. They have an interesting movement pattern, going sideways to wherever we're going, kind of like an L. Usually that means that they get stuck against a wall and end up running in place, which makes them easy to avoid.   But sometimes, if you're a careless rear end, you can have them running up your side instead.  I should mention that mushrooms also take two hits to kill at this point, so you're looking at a bit of a beating before you can end the fight.  Sheesh. Good thing we start with ten potions. Also, spot the continuity error in this picture.  I decided to GIF this mostly because I find the bouncing text amusing. Potions will drop out of usefulness really early once we get healing spells and have a lot more health, so no point in not using them whenever I need to.  Moving on from that embarrassing incident, we come to a room with two pots on slabs.  The theme of this dungeon seems to be buttons hidden under grass.  First door, we find this room full of pushable blocks. In order to get to the staircase in the center, we have to fight at least two of these guys.  Might as well go for the easy target.  Next, bats. They're most remarkable for...  Yeah. Bats are jerks.  Power Potions increase your strength. Needless to say, I chugged that right away.   These jeweled statues are switches that only activate when you hit them with your sword. This one extended the bridge down there, which we wouldn't have been able to cross if we'd taken the door to the right first.  Did you notice those arrows indicating a jumpable ledge? I sure didn't.  I can be a bit of an idiot sometimes.  But hey, at least that means that we get to see this room with moths.  The door to the upper left brings us back down to the bridge, but going through here shows us...  Something we'll have to come back for.  Now then, we could go down the stairs...  But we could also find this secret passage which leads us to...   A slightly better suit of armor and a vastly superior MP restorative. I actually missed these in my first run through the dungeon, which made the upcoming boss fight harder than it should have been.  Ah, the healing pads. That usually means that we're close to a boss.  The red-bordered one restores HP, the blue one restores MP, and the star-shaped one saves your game. All very useful after a long trudge through a dungeon.  And there's the (lizard)man in question. Let's see if we can resolve this situation diplomatically   Hah! Nope.   The strategy for fighting the lizard man is as follows:  What? It's the first boss of the game.  Not to say that you can sleepwalk through this fight. The lizard man hits a LOT harder than the enemies you've been fighting to this point and has 80 HP when you're only just inching past 10 damage.  I'm overleveled for this point and I still have to pull out a potion every three turns. If you were something like Level 2 or 3, you'd probably only get two hits in at most before you have to heal.  After a bit of back and forth, the boss goes down, and...wow. I am going to be appreciating this 4x gold.   Key item get!  : (Besides, why should the lizard men steal the key? They gain nothing by disrupting human life. I just don't get it. This has never happened before!)   : Wh...who are you? How did you know my name?! : I can see the future. I know your name and why you come here.: Who are you?: Never mind. Don't you want to know why monsters are smarter and attacking humans?: Do you know why? : Yes.: Everything that's happened has been because of that light.: What!? I can't believe that a ball of light has that kind of power.: I understand your doubt. It is incredible, but true. But time has begun to change. Now a mere wave, later a gigantic swell of an attack on humanity.: That's ridiculous! Why are you telling me this?: Because...you have the power, the power to confront that swell.  I don't know why I find that line so funny. : Wait a minute. It's true that fighting is my job, I know. But I don't have such great power.: ......: What is this ball of light anyway? Is it monster or human?: ......: I need to know! What can I do against this humongous enemy of all humanity?: It's not just you. There are others in this world who can confront this evil power. You're destined to go on a journey to meet those people and fight against evil.: A journey...to fight?: That's right. When that ball of light appeared, your destiny was sealed. : This is all I can tell you. Whether or not you believe me and go on your journey is totally up to you.  And there she goes, slow-walking on to other enigmatic things.  Me, I'm taking the fast way.  Swoosh.  Naturally, everyone in town is ready to congratulate us for solving the monster problem, but certain people know that something's up.  : About what?: Well.., I..I had this feeling that you were going away somewhere...: ......: Silly me, It's nothing, forget it. So what was it you wanted today? Good old paranoid Tia, thinking that we'd go off on a giant quest around a world because a slow-walking lady in a cave told us to.  We're just outfitting ourselves with the best stuff available to...fight monsters better.  And you never know when you might need some of these things. It's just practical.  Yup, nothing amiss in the slightest. Next Time: More weird fish shenanigans and my favorite game mechanic. And of course, more puzzles.
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Dec 29, 2014 23:13
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As I mentioned earlier in the thread, I've never actually seen Lufia DS before SC showed this first update to me ahead of time. I don't know what to think of it so far. The character designs are a little more varied and the dialogue is a bit snappier and flows better, but so far, I'm not really impressed with the story. The character portrayal that jumps out at me as being the oddest would easily have to be Iris. Compare her art from the original with this new version:  Maybe it's a product of the decades in which the two games were made, but the difference is almost night and day.
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Dec 30, 2014 02:47
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Chapter 3: I.P. Freely Onward to Sundletan!  Man, if I went back and talked to every NPC who changes their dialogue over the course of the story, we'd be sifting through text forever.   We'll be coming across doors like these in pretty much every dungeon from now on. No, we won't ever be giving the keys back. Don't be silly.    And here we are, nice, sunny,  earthquaky Sundletan.  I really wanted to capture a GIF of Maxim running around like a crazy person, but the constant screen shaking and the aforementioned running around everywhere made it unfeasible.  The people of Sundletan are taking it all in stride, but we all know that earthquakes just aren't natural. I wonder if there's some logical explanation for all this.  ...Well, that's an explanation, at any rate.  Before we go chasing after giant fish, let's see what Sundletan has for gear.   Only the best kind of stuff! Gear with IP icons tend to provide lower stats than the stuff without, but make up for it with the extra effects that they give. More on that in a second.  The cave that the townsfolk are talking about is just north of town. Let's dive right in. I promise that we will eventually stop going through caves.  You should probably know the answer to this puzzle at this point.   The lever raises the water level and the planks make an easy bridge. Of course, once you drop something into the water, you can't move it anymore, so...don't mess up, I guess.  Mosquitoes are pretty interesting since they have an MP-draining skill called Vampire. Doesn't do much and they only do it rarely, but we're finally running into enemies with skills of their own.  But they also give us a chance to show off our new ability.  IP stands for Ikari (anger) Points. We've been steadily increasing the orange bar at the bottom of the character screen as we get hit, and we can unleash that power in the form of IP attacks.  As the tooltip said, Thunder Blast does 1.5 times the damage of a regular attack and adds the Lightning element to the attack. It also takes about a third of our bar or so, so we can't do it that often.  Blue Jellies! They're like Red Jellies, but slightly stronger. We'll just ignore them and go up.  This is an interesting room with three new enemy types. Let's take care of them in a specific order for no reason.  Scratch that, four new enemies. Spiders have a chance of inflicting a really non-threatening poison on attack and beetles just take a bit of damage.  Spiders also drop antidotes a lot of the time, so no worries about that.  Frogs move around the side of a wall and generally just ignore you.  Oh wait, I'm sorry, BABY frogs. These things don't even fight half the time. They just stand there and croak innocently at you. Jeez.   All you need to know about eagles is that they're jerks and must be destroyed.  They take two hits to kill, deal 12-15 damage in return, and often come in groups. I don't play around with these things.  Once you've destroyed all the enemies in the room, this little display opens up.  The plaque there would tell you that you have to shoot arrows in order of the enemies you killed, which for us was beetle, frog, eagle.   Woo, baby!  Not only is the Insect Crush a straight upgrade from the Battle Knife, but it's also effective against all insect-type enemies, hence the name. You are guaranteed to overkill any insect in this dungeon and most of the other enemies too.   Speaking of straight upgrades, check this action out compared to potions. And that's coming from the weakest spellcaster in the game.   Immediately disproving what I said last dungeon, the healing pads are actually at the bottom of this room. I guess the game designers figured that people would be stuck on this part.  Backtracking to the blue jelly room and heading left, we come across this peculiar bit of instruction.  Well, nothing ventured and all that.  You absolutely need to pick that particular tile when you drop down, because you fall right onto this slab and open the door to the right there. That will lead to the boss, but we have to find the key first.  Heading to the far right of the room, we come across this interesting puzzle.  There are three buttons in an "r" shape, and you have two doors and two pillars. To open the doors, you need to move the pillars so that they're "pointing" towards the door you want to open.  The door on the right leads us to this long vertical corridor.  Sounds dangerous  Before we see what's behind the door, let's sneak back around to the other side.  And we've found the Elixir for this game. Miracles are better than elixirs though, because not only do they heal all stats to full, they also bring people back to life. Until we find the actual revival item, it's not a bad item to pop a Miracle if you lose someone halfway through a dungeon. Beats running all the way back to the church.  Now let's take this gauntlet from the right side.  You really want the Insect Crush for this section. Not only is there a lot of insects, but it comes with Bomb Attack, which hits all enemies on the screen for about the same cost as a Lightning Blast attack. When you only have one party member, that is a time-saver.  And our prize at the end is our first ring of the game.  Magic has really weird names in this game.  The room at the bottom of the pillar room has a square carpet and four blocks. Obviously, the solution is to...  Push one of the blocks and find a staircase underneath. Okay.  Okay, now here's an actual puzzle.   The solution might not be obvious at first, but when you consider what blocks you can actually push, it becomes pretty clear.  Another key, another locked door.  The room to the left just has a save point in it, so it's not important.  Here's a variant on the puzzle we encountered at the start.  Once we build a bridge like normal, we discover that there's a small crossing to fill in below, but we can't carry the wood down a ladder or drop it over an edge onto dry land.  Fortunately, the game's kind enough to mark where we should put the last wood piece down. Once we lower the water level, it'll drift down with it.  Like so.   Well, here's a boss room if I've ever seen one.    : No use fighting. Go home before you hurt yourself!: The earthquake. Is it you who's responsible?: I was bored. I created the earthquake hoping someone would come to me.: Your earthquake is troubling everyone..Give it up.: Well, I'll think about it, only if you beat me! Of course, that won't happen! You know, I bet you'd taste pretty good with lemon.  Despite what you'd think, the Giant Catfish is not weak to lightning. Makes me feel a little dumb for switching back to the Battle Knife.   In addition to smacking us around as per usual, the catfish can drop Mega Quakes on us for a good chunk of damage.  Easily curable.  Basic strategy: just hit him with IP attacks and throw boomerangs when your IP bar runs low. You'll have to heal multiple times over the course of the fight, but he will go down before you run out of MP. .png) I suppose I should admit right now that this is not the first time I fought this boss, because it is not guaranteed that you'll get a Catfish Jewel from him, and this is your only chance to get it, as far as I know. Missable random drops on one-of-a-kind enemies...not my favorite idea.  : Perhaps I'll sink under the lake and sleep for a while. Yes, that's what I'll do... Well, that's that. Time to get back into town.  : I did.: Then you must have missed each other.: Missed who?: A young woman came here looking for you. I told her you went to the Lake Cave.: A young woman? What was her name?: She took off as soon as I told her, so I didn't catch her name. But she was quite a beauty.Okay, scratch that, I guess we're going back to the cave.  Who took this bridge apart after we left the cave?   Wouldn't you know it.   Yup.  New enemies! Exciting! The skeleton's weak to fire, but we'll get to that when we have someone who can cast it.   : Tia! What on earth are you doing here!?: I...I felt like you were going away. And I just...just couldn't help myself...: ......: Silly me. You're not going anywhere. Right, Maxim?: ......: Oh, no. You are...aren't you?: Yes...: But why?: You remember the ball of red light that flew north?: Uh-huh.: That light has an evil power that could lead to world destruction. That's what I was told.Technically, she just mentioned a great tide of evil, but sure, let's go with world destruction. : World destruction? I can't believe that.: But it's true that monsters are increasing and have begun attacking people.: Even if that's true, why do YOU have to go!?: The same person told me that I have the power to shatter that ball of evil light.: It's...it's true that you're stronger than most, but still...: I just want to know, Tia.: Know...what? : Why do I have this ability? What am I supposed to use it for? I have to know.: So...you're not going to change your mind...are you, Maxim?: No...I won't be able to see you for a while.: That's not true.: What? : What!? No way. I can't take you with me, Tia!: Hey, did I beg you to take me? I run a weapons shop. I know how to fight! : I know that! : Tia!One more fight later... : Are you crazy!? : Alright Tia. Let's go together. But don't be so rash!: Ok.  And so Tia is introduced to the party...by getting herself in trouble twice in short succession. Next Time: We wonder how anyone can solve anything without us there.
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Jan 1, 2015 01:10
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Rabbi Raccoon posted:You can actually rescue Tia before leaving the cave, as long as the Catfish is beaten. Yeah, but in that case, you'd have to know to go back that way. There will be certain times in the game where you can't actually find characters or enemies until you talk to someone who mentions them or you see a specific scene, so I'm going to be largely following clues given by NPC's. e: As for Tia, I don't mind her mechanically, but plot-wise, her entire schtick is that she's trying to get the world's densest man to notice her, and that's kind of grating after a bit. Blastinus fucked around with this message at 04:26 on Jan 1, 2015 |
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Jan 1, 2015 03:46
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Robodog posted:I always used big boomers for the catfish, kills him in something like three turns. You sure? Big Boomers won't be sold until Tanbel. Boomerang spam isn't a bad strategy though.
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Jan 1, 2015 06:50
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Bluemage142 posted:...well, that was different. I usually get an Eagle Rock off those birds in there. Dive is generally my best friend for many, many dungeons to come. Yeah, jewels are one of the hardest dropped items to come across. The Eagle Rock in particular only has a 2% chance of dropping from the first Eagle-type enemy we come across, compared to the 20% chance we'll get later from a different Eagle (Yes, this game uses palette swaps unashamedly, as you can already tell from the blue jellies). If I don't get them, I won't sweat it, unless they're ones from bosses. Those ones tend to be VERY useful. e: For the record, the Catfish Jewel has a 25% drop rate. It's not that bad, especially not compared to the 6% drop rate on the equally-missable Spido Jewel. Blastinus fucked around with this message at 19:32 on Jan 1, 2015 |
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Jan 1, 2015 19:29
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All things considered, I actually like the DS's version of the Navaroa scene a lot better. It flows better, there's less awkwardness in the dialogue, and we get a better idea for Maxim's motivations. It also occurs to me that I haven't been linking to these updates in the OP. I'll go back and fix that right now.
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Jan 1, 2015 20:30
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placid saviour posted:I'm right with ya, buddy. Ahem.
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Jan 1, 2015 21:00
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We didn't get Lufia 1 in Europe. Actually, this one was just called "Lufia".
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Kheldarn posted:Yeah, DS Lexis is the best. I will admit that he's starting to grow on me. Next update should be tomorrow morning. I'm speeding through the opening part because the game gets more interesting when you have more options available.
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Jan 1, 2015 22:37
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PFlats posted:edit: Actually, I didn't even want him to spoiler that part. The problem is the word "they". Blastinus fucked around with this message at 07:31 on Jan 2, 2015 |
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Jan 2, 2015 07:25
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Chapter 4: Our Deadliest Foe Yet So last time, we acquired a new party member. Let's have a look.  Tia is...not one of the best characters. She's the weakest physical fighter in the game and can only wield whips, staves, and knives. She can also only wear dresses and she has a really low HP pool. On the plus side, she has a lot more intelligence than Maxim and goes a bit faster too. In addition, she can learn spells that Maxim can't, making her a good choice as a healer and a combat mage.  Even so, look at that! That's just...we need to get her a better weapon.  In order to give her a little extra "oomph," I'm equipping Tia with the Catfish Jewel. I'm a little unsure on what GUT does. Some guides suggest that it increases IP gain, but others say that it does nothing at all. I haven't tested it enough to be sure.  Heading back to Sundletan, I stop in to the magic shop and find the first water spell. Maxim can actually use that, even if he's a terrible mage, so I buy it for him too.  : I haven't decided yet.: Then you should go to Alunze Kingdom. They're having the coronation ceremony soon. I want to go, but it's much farther than the small shrine in the northwest. Too far for me. You know, something tells me that the game wants us to go to Alunze.  So I do.   I love the look of this place. Look at all the work that went into something you're going to be charging through in two seconds.   Alunze is to the northwest, but there's something that we want to check out to the south first.   A guy in Sundletan mentions that this place exists if you ask. If you didn't talk to him or make a habit out of checking every nook and cranny, you could bypass this entirely, and you really don't want to do that.   Fortunately, there's no way to screw yourself out of this. If you say no, then you can just talk to her again like nothing happened.  That sure is a name for a sacred creature.  Ah, but wait until you see the great Foomy itself. It's a...  Mound of cottage cheese?   Well, no matter. He's OUR mound of cottage cheese now.  So this is Jelze, the Foomy. He'll be the first but not least of the Capsule Monsters we encounter. Capsule Monsters are AI-controlled partner characters that participate in battle alongside the party. They are generally weak to start with, but there is a way to make them considerably stronger.  And that is by feeding them our old equipment. I'll go over the mechanics of improving and growing our Capsule Monsters in a future update, but the short version is that equipment you feed them will raise this bar here, and when it's full, the Capsule Monster will change into its next form.   As our starting Capsule Monster, Jelze is more powerful than Tia, but less powerful than Maxim. At the very least, he'll provide a little extra damage.  That is, if he's in the mood. Capsule Monster AI can be unpredictable.  Hey, check it! A town AND a castle.  Alunze town may seem uninteresting at first, but there's something special.  Not this. Although it is amazing how quickly our old gear gets obsolete.  No, the true prize is hidden in the second floor of the inn!   That's right, a casino! Well, a single slot machine, but let's not split hairs.   Gambling is performed with coins, which are nonrefundable and can only be spent on casino prizes.  Let's fire this baby up!  You can play up to five coins before you pull. The first three get you the three rows and the other two get you the diagonals. If you have a winning combo in multiple directions, you earn all the possible winnings. Most importantly, if you hold down the up button, the game lets you just keep feeding in coins. Combine that with an emulator's speed-up key and, well...  Tape those keys down, leave for half an hour, and you're either swimming in coins or ruined.  I let it sit for about a minute before I decided to move on. Besides, nothing in this casino's worth getting. We'll come across one later with significantly superior prizes.   Our first castle! Exciting! At least until you realize that pretty much every castle looks effectively the same.  You know, when I think of it, do we even have time for a coronation?  We should probably move on.  Oops! Too bad! This old man really wants us to see the coronation, and we're too polite to edge our way past.  Right, let's see this friggin' event.    : What is it!?: I just learned that this crown is an imitation! : The way it shines...it must be real.: The guards on the crown were the best!: It's impossible for anyone to switch crowns!: Wha...what's going on? : Very well. Do it immediately!: Yes, Your Majesty!  : ......: What is it? Cat got your tongue?: Dribbles, drubbles, I see you noticed, eh?    : And I, as welly well. 'Tis bart, Berty's first apprentice! Greetings.Is that...cockney? : What!? Who are you guys!: Ah, ah! Don't move! : I assume all of you can see this boomin' bomb well now, eh? : What are you waitin' for, Bart? Lets party arty, eh!: Righto, Berty! : Oh no!: Put it out!: Bu..but!?: Ha! Ha! Ha! Watch out folks, the big one's coming!: Here it comes...3, 2, 1, BOOM!!! : ......: ......?: What's goin' on, Bart?: Huh? It should....I haven't got a clue, Berty.: What're you playin' at, Bart? Well, that was messy, but at least we can get on with the-  ...Oooookay, but hey, at least they should be easy to arrest, right?  Guys?  : Welly well done! You hurt Berty and me something terrible! But no more. Gone! Poof! ...Well, at least the crown's safe.  OH COME ON!  I'd like to pin this one on the palace guards, but we were also right there. This was just stupidity on everyone's part.  : What do you mean? Do you know them?: Oh, no. Never heard of them. I mean, the way they fooled me, I thought they had to be famous.Sound reasoning.  A little bit of investigation points us to the room to the right of the balcony.  Looks like we're headed the right way. : Are you alright? : Threw a bomb at you? : Fragments struck my head and I passed out. But, how could they survive the explosion anyway...?That's a clear sign that our foes are powered by the dark art of comic hijinx.  We must be cautious. Next time: Another dungeon item, more bizarre puzzles. Oh, and one more thing:  You may have noticed in the Capsule menu that we can rename our monsters at any time. Nobody ever references the monsters by name and they're entirely tangential to the plot so...I am open to suggestions, so long as they're five letters long. Try to keep it tasteful.
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Jan 3, 2015 05:06
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Glazius posted:How much can you actually feed Foomy in this early game? Well, if we've got the finances for it, the most economical item is Battle Knives back in Sundletan for 200 gold a pop. That'll only raise it a single tick at a time, but unlike the higher-end items, that won't make it suddenly start craving the more expensive stuff. For 6,400 gold, assuming you don't have any items that it's demanding, we could have a Level 2 Foomy, at which point it'll start demanding stuff that's a little out of our league. Still, an upgraded Capsule Monster at this stage of the game is killer. Like I said, I'll go for a more comprehensive look at feeding our little guy in a later update once we're out of this dungeon. It's not that complicated though.
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Jan 3, 2015 08:17
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Voting is over Not by popular vote, but because I thought it was amusing and appropriate, our new pile of soap bubbles is named Foomy. I'm sure this will be very amusing when we get to his final form. Update tomorrow.  Stop volunteering names! Naming is over!
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Jan 4, 2015 05:46
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Chapter 5: Do These Dungeon Items Remind You of Anything? Foomy is Foomy. So the thread has decreed.   Alunze Castle's basement marks the first time we've entered a dungeon that isn't a cave. I, for one, welcome the change in tune.  : I see. But did you see two guys pass through here?: What!? Ah, well, I...uh...fell asleep. Come to think of it, I might have heard some sounds...I'm beginning to see why we're the only ones who can save the world.   As stated, the basement is full of monsters, but this gives us a chance to try out our new magic.  Unlike most RPG's, where targeting is one or all, Lufia 2 lets us freely select which enemies we wish to target with our spells. The downside to that is that magic is divided evenly among the targets selected, so while most RPG's just cut damage in half for targeting all enemies, if we hit this entire enemy squad, we'd be looking at 1/4 damage to each.   Spark doesn't do a lot of damge in general, so dividing its damage makes it even worse.  You can also multi-target status spells, which divides its effectiveness among the targeted enemies.  With predictable results.  Horse-type enemies are super aggressive, charging right at you and sometimes going two steps at once.  Mad Horses have the Frenzy ability, which we could use if they drop a Horse Rock. That's unlikely from these guys though, since they've only got a 1% chance to drop it. Much like the eagles, we'll encounter an enemy later that gives us better odds.  Next room, we have to push a block onto that pressure plate below to open the door, but there's no room to maneuver.  So we push a block onto THIS pressure plate, which expands the wall and lets us proceed to...  Ah yeah! If you couldn't tell from the theme, our next secret skill is dropping an infinite number of bombs.  When you drop a bomb, you have eight moves to do whatever before it explodes. Bombs will destroy certain dungeon items, burn grass, and break cracked walls like this one. And yes, as has been demonstrated time and time again, these bombs are completely harmless. We can even stand in the blast radius, no problem.  Here are some key facts about the Catfish Jewel. Fact number one: it is probably the cheapest IP item to use in the game. Tia's bar has barely moved a smidgen, and she's got even charge for it.  Fact number two:  It can one-shot almost any enemy in this dungeon. Since it is an earthquake spell, per standard RPG rules, it does nothing to flying creatures, but otherwise, sky's the limit.  We've seen this situation before. Find pot, place pot on button, extend bridge.  Much like the cave north of Sundletan, we'll want to remember this spot for later.  Oh, and after you weigh down the button, be sure to come back around, because this part also gets filled in.  Too bad I already bought one of these for Tia when I was in town.  Here is the animation for Droplet. Sentopez have really good Magic Resistance, so it doesn't do much either.  More bats, but this time...  Yeah, these guys won't run. Instead, they'll hit you for double digit damage.   Fortunately, they're super weak to fire damage, so with Foomy and Maxim providing assistance, only one of them actually got a turn.  My usual method for Maxim is to put him on healing duty, since he'll be generally hitting things in combat. Tia's got to conserve her MP for nuking things.  Or we could just find this room and recharge everything. That works too.  Once again, the actual way to proceed is to blow up a wall.  I'm not sure you can even call this a puzzle. The direction of the button corresponds to the door it opens.  Handy.  Now this...this is a puzzle.  If you've ever played Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine, you probably know how this works. You line up three or more blocks of the same color...  They vanish. Our objective is to clear the deck, but as you might have noticed, there are only five blues and reds, so we have to deal with them in one fell swoop.  Let's get these reds out of the way first, so we can get rid of the rest of the yellows.  The way to solve the puzzle is to line up two on each end and then push the fifth one into the middle.  Do the same for the reds, and we're done.   Percentage-based healing is generally pretty expensive, IP-wise. If you're using one of these, it'd better be an emergency.  Bull-type enemies also make a beeline straight for the character. It's difficult to shake them off.  Strangely, they don't do a lot of damage, especially compared to Big Bats.  Nothing to this one. Just have to push the one on the left forward, or else you're stuck and have to reset.  And now, the most interesting gimmick of this dungeon: the teleporter. Each button changes the destination, and we'll want to visit each one in turn, going clockwise from the upper left.  But first, push this block onto the pressure plate. It'll be important very soon.  Whoosh!  Here's a neat one. The box is on top of a switch that extends the land out to let us at that treasure box once removed. However, it also raises the spikes, preventing us from leaving.  What you have to do is set a bomb and run out of the spiked enclosure.  And we get...this thing!  Just like in Lufia DS, collecting the eight Dragon Eggs is an optional objective. Unlike Lufia DS, they're just sitting in optional areas in dungeons, not even held by powerful enemies. Also, the Egg Dragon isn't just in a well in the starting town. We'll have to do a bit of looking before we can find it.  And coming out the south door from that room lets us finish this puzzle. If we hadn't pushed the other block before, we'd have had to come back around and do it anyway.  Next!  Yes, a maze of spikes.  It's not a very long maze, and in short order, you can go around and get to the chest.  What does it do? It's a secret... Actually, it's a transformational catalyst for Foomy to turn into its Master Form when it reaches Level 4. Each Capsule Monster has a specific fruit for turning into Master Form, and we'll find them as we go along.  Alternatively, stepping down after going through the teleporter lets you walk around the maze and over to a bombable wall.  Can never have too many of these.  And again!  This puzzle involves a contrarian horse that will always go the opposite way around this wall.  You can play Ring Around the Rosie all you like, but you'll never catch him that way.  Fortunately, there's this little alcove here that lets you move in place without moving at all.  And then you just keep running downwards to put it on your level.  Nothing to it!  Sweet! This is going straight on Tia! The Light Knife also has the typical 1.5x attack on its IP skill, but it's Light-elemental, obviously. Good against the undead.   Last but not least, a room full of kobolds.  Sorry, Cobalts. They're tough suckers, able to take a beating from all three of our party members and dish out 15 damage or so in return.  Fortunately, they patrol in a set pattern around the room, so we can easily get them from the side by standing still and slashing repeatedly.  Once they're all dead, we can proceed to the room we saw earlier.  Hello, new lizard type. And...  Goodbye.  : You! Don't move! I'd say it's time for a showdown, but the soundtrack has other plans.   : Ha, ha! Surprised? Weren't expectin' such terrible tricks underground, were you?: What are we going to do, Maxim!?: You ready to swim? The wily water's on its merry way! : Righto, boss!   There's an understatement.  Incidentally, there's a button to lower the barrier just below, so this whole situation was pretty much a non-issue. One screen later...   : Whatever happened to them?: I have no idea. How far were they carried anyway?: I wonder if they're ok?: I wouldn't worry. They're the type that always comes back to bug you over and over.: Yeah, you're right. Fortunately, Maxim's wrong about that. We won't see those two idiots for a loooooong time, and that's fine with me. After a spot of backtracking...  All in a day's work.  : I would like to reward you. What would you like? Hmm...  I think the answer is pretty obvious. : Wh...what!? You want me as your reward!? : Well, why not settle for 1000 gold pieces?  Note, every one of these options is just a different amount of gold. Asking for nothing is the "right" option, and the king will reward your modesty with 3000 gold. That's not nearly as funny though. By the way, that coronation? Not happening. This was a good use of our time. Next Time: We bring our bubbly pal to the next level, and we make our way to Tanbel. Or at least we try.
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Jan 5, 2015 01:23
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Zereth posted:Couldn't you just pick up the SW purple tile and move it to the spot two tiles NW of that? Then you have two overlapping rows of 3. Hmm...  You mean something like this?  If so, the answer is yes. Shoving the lower left blue out of position, putting the lower right blue where it was, and finishing the two lines is a perfectly viable strategy. Good call!
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Jan 5, 2015 05:50
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Chapter 6: Make My Monster Grow! (Also: Maxim Is a Jerk to Kids)  Time before last, we came to Alunze to watch a coronation that never ended up happening. I guess it's time to move on.  But first!  Warp lets you teleport to any town that you've visited before. It's very handy, especially once we get it in spell form.  We're returning to Sundletan because there's a certain weapon that we want to buy in bulk.  That's because we're bringing Foomy to Class 2! Pay attention to these stats, by the way.   The long and short of feeding your capsule monsters is that its cravings correspond to the relative value of the items you feed it. You can tell what sort of items will actually earn you points by what Foomy's demanding at any given time.  The reason why we're using Battle Knives is that they're the absolute cheapest item you can feed a Class 1 capsule monster without it rejecting it entirely. Meeting demands earns you three points, while cheapo items like the Battle Knife will only net you one. Note: it might be tempting to feed it something more valuable for up to eight ticks at a time (such as Jewels), but then it will start demanding items like that all the time and you're basically stuck until you can get more items of that value.  Slow and steady is the cheapest and quickest way to go. Once we hit 32 points...   We have a Class 2 monster!  Of course, problem is that Class 2 monsters have their own bottom line when it comes to cravings, so we'll have to wait a bit until we can raise him up again.  Still, look at those stats! If I'd taken the time to grind out the cash for it, I could have had a second tier Capsule Monster before setting foot into Alunze. That is pretty neat. By the way, you can use the Change function in the Capsule menu to turn Foomy into any of his unlocked forms at any time. That's really not recommended for this guy, but later monsters will have unique abilities at each tier.  Anyway, you may have remembered that there were a couple of kids playing with the old man blocking the way to Tanbel.  Going there in turn tells us that Abel went to this cave here to play around with the key to the shrine. This can only bode well. Yup.  : What's wrong? What's your name?: I'm Abel. I..I...the key...: What's wrong with the key?: Eh...ah... No, he isn't? : Ye...yeah...but...uh...: What?: Hey, Maxim.  : {.....}: Please.: I took out the key to the small shrine to look for stuff in a treasure hunt. A huge monster suddenly appeared and I was so freaked I threw the key at it. And that monster took the key and went inside the dungeon.: Ok. I understand. Don't worry. We will find the key for you.: Really!?: Yes. So promise me you're not going to do this again, ok?: I promise.: That a boy. Now, this place is dangerous, so go back now.: I will. Please be careful.So that's the explanation for why this dungeon exists, because a kid threw a key at a monster.  : I'm just prepared, that's all.: Of course. : What's on your mind, Tia?: Oh, nothing. Let's go, Maxim. Starting us off easy here with a simple obstacle involving incomplete bridges and planks.  There's a lever behind the spikes to the left, but I'm not sure what it does, considering this lever lowers all the spikes in the room.  This upgraded version of the potion cures about 80 HP. I say about 80 because potions fluctuate for some reason, so it could cure 79 or thereabouts.  In this room, there's actually a third pot hidden behind one of these pillars, but it lets me demonstrate an important trick that will come into play later.  Monsters can activate buttons if they stand on them. Very useful to know.  Never miss a chance to step on a cracked floor.  This could possibly be called a puzzle if you push the first block onto the button by mistake.  Use this one instead.   Heck yeah! Now we don't have to grind one.   Nothing too interesting about this particular type of moth. Much like the blue jelly, it just hits harder and takes more punishment.  This area here has an odd puzzle that could be very confusing if you didn't start from this side of the room.  If it wasn't for the pot in the room to hold down the invisible button that makes these stairs exist, you wouldn't know that there was anything special to this room at all.  Moving right along, there's a blink-and-you'll-miss-it hole in the wall that you can see right before exiting.   I actually did miss it my first time through and had to go back for it as I was leaving. Light Armor is a pretty good upgrade for Maxim that gives him an IP move that cures silence. Trouble is, I don't think there's an enemy that inflicts silence for a bit of a while.  This room isn't as hard to navigate as you'd think. Moths and lizards don't move often or especially quickly.  Kind of an odd place for recovery pads, almost as if they wanted you to stop for a moment and look around...  Aha!  Brave is a GUT booster, which makes it mostly useless, and the other chest holds a Miracle.  Let's see what these phantom stairs are all about.  This area is way too big.  In the upper right corner, we find one of my least-favorite oddities: regrowing grass. In three moves after being cut, this grass will spring up anew, which is a problem when there's a hidden button that we have to push this block on top of.  That's why bombs exist. With the power of delayed explosives, we can be shoving the block and clearing the grass simultaneously.  In order to get back into position when the block's nearing the top, we have to do the dreaded Double Bomb to clear the grass around the block away. This technique is not for the faint of heart.  All that for a ladder. It's a pretty nifty prize at the end of the ladder though.  In order to get there, we also have to flip this lever to open up a section of wall. If we're standing there when it moves, we will be dropped down, which could be considered a shortcut, depending on your point of view.  The other way of getting there is this flight of stairs which I walked past before.  Well, this doesn't look like a setup in the slightest.  Yup. The other two chests held a Hi-Potion and a Hi-Magic (upgraded Magic Jar).  Not a bad payoff, but in order to get out, we'll have to kill all the enemies.  Let's get to it.  You may have seen the crabs. They have amazing defensive power but their magic resistance isn't as awesome. The way to go with them is to use the Catfish Jewel, no question.  I suppose it goes without saying that if you shove a pillar into the water, you're not getting it back out. Try not to mess up.  Note: there's a hidden wall that you can only access by shoving the two remaining pillars into the water against this wall.   Ooh yeah! The Witch Ring is wonderful for Tia! I had to also go back for this one.  After going through that open section of wall and up the ladder we extended...   We find this beauty, filling out Maxim's equipment screen.  This floor, we'll want to do the lower right door and the stairs to the lower left first.   For reasons we'll see soon enough, we want to drain the water out of two areas.  The mirrored version of the last room actually has a surprise hidden underneath the bridge.  A secret passageway leading to another one of these things. When we actually have to start using Miracles, it'll be nice to stock up.  This will all make sense right about...  Now. If we hadn't drained the water down into those two pools, the two sections of the bridge wouldn't be connected, and we couldn't cross.  Let's just top off very quickly, and then we can encounter the boss.  : Didn't you pick up the key a little kid threw at you? We'd like it back, if you don't mind. : It's mine now. I'll never let it go!Can't say that we didn't ask.  The Regal Goblin can be a nasty little sucker, calling in goblin minions and attacking in the same turn. With 500 HP, it'd take a little while to contend with him and his cohorts at the same time.  That's why we're not going to let him have a turn.  Status effects don't show up on monsters, per se, but there are ways you can tell if they're afflicted. For instance, this guy would normally be bobbing side to side, but when he's asleep, he just goes up and down like this.  By the way, sleeping only has a chance of going away when someone hits you. It's not guaranteed. So...  Easy peasy. One quick Escape later, and we can move on.  : What's the matter?: I'm from the town of Tanbel north of here. I came to Sundletan to do some shopping. I finished shopping and wanted to go home, but I couldn't find the key to the small shrine's door. I won't be able to return to Tanbel unless I find the key. My brother is probably worried.: Oh, that key. I just found it.By the way, you get a slightly different conversation if you got here before learning about Abel in the cave. I love this game's attention to detail. : Thank goodness. You found the key. Now I can go back to Tanbel. Oh! If you are ever in Tanbel, please stop by. We run an inn there. : Well then, I must be on my way.  : Go ahead.: Thanks for all your trouble. Goodbye.Well, that should set up the hook for the last update. By the way, how's Abel doing?  And the cycle continues. Next Time: We finally make it to Tanbel, where we meet one of my favorite party members! Blastinus fucked around with this message at 00:06 on Jan 8, 2015 |
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Jan 8, 2015 00:04
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Your libel is breaking my tables.
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Jan 8, 2015 00:16
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EponymousMrYar posted:I never knew the Regal Goblin was open to sleep Not just open to sleep, quite possibly weak to it. I cast Drowsy three times during that fight and it didn't fail to hit once. MagusofStars posted:This is true, but easy to get around. If you feed them a valuable item, they'll start demanding equal quality items, but you can just feed them a few poo poo items (Potions, Charred Newts, Boomerangs...we're really talking the bottom of the barrel crap here) to reset their cravings. This also works for cycling through their specific requested items too - If they ask for a Battle Knife, and you give it to him, he'll start asking for something else. Toss him a few Potions and suddenly he'll start asking for a Battle Knife again, which you can feed him for the boost...Rinse and repeat. Krumbsthumbs posted:You can actually have a Tier 3 monster before walking into the catacombs of the castle. The Bar in Sundletan sells Apple Cider for 1k a pop. Those give a point a cider going from Tier 2 to Tier 3. Good points. I'll be doing the Apple Cider thing when I have enough of a cash basis for it. Getting a new Capsule Monster is a lot more tolerable when you have a supply of both Battle Knives and Apple Cider on hand to speed through their early development.
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Jan 8, 2015 06:21
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Pardon the wait on the update. I would like to say that there were family issues or something similar, but I was just watching Awesome Games Done Quick. Update should be later on today.
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Jan 10, 2015 19:58
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Well, technically it's still today. Chapter 7: Enter the Amazing Guy!  Oh hey, the next town's right here! That's convenient.  : I'm Maxim. And this is Tia.: Hello!: Thank you so much for what you did at the small shrine. : Hilda, who are these people?: They found the key when I was in trouble at the small shrine. This is Maxim and Tia.: Glad to meet you.: This is my brother, Guy.: I hear you helped my sister at the small shrine. Thank you.Uh, yeah, she just said that. : Maxim, please stay here today. I'll cook something special for you.: That's a great idea. I don't know about her other abilities, but her cooking is pretty good.: And just what do you mean by that!? : What are you saying? I manage the inn, cook, clean and even do laundry. You can't do anything!: I do my own laundry!: Yeah right! If tearing apart the clothes is called doing laundry, you do that really well, huh!?: ......: Ha, ha, ha! : Yeah, I know what you mean.: What?: Never you mind. Ha, ha, ha!: In any case, please stay today. Hilda, why don't you go and fix up something?: Coming right up. : Sure. I'd love to.: See you then.: They're so close. They appear to be nice people, too.: Yeah.Get used to these kinds of conversations about men versus women. They're not going away any time soon.  There are a few folks at the inn, including this girl. The fact that she has a unique sprite isn't anything to be concerned about.  We definitely want to hit up the Magic Shop when we're in town, since it has Gale and Flash, the starting spells for the ice and electric lines. We're in the part of the game where hitting elements is going to be important, so we'll want to cover all our bases.  We also want to pick up a Kukri for Maxim and our new mystery party member, since this weapon has an electric-based IP attack. Why yes, we ARE about to fight a boss with an electricity weakness. Why do you ask?  I'm a bit high of a level for that, but sure. : Well, let's get to it then! : You'd better or you might end up getting hurt.: You're that confident, huh!? Ok. Comin' at you!  : Guy! Monsters! Monsters are in town!: What!?  : Wha...what the...!? : Who are you? : I'll introduce myself after, if you get all my henchmen!: Guy, let's have our match after we take care of these punks, ok!?: Good thinking! Let's clean up this scum! This encounter uses the boss theme, but it really doesn't merit it. It does let us mess around with the battle formation though. Lufia 2's formation is very straightforward. The two characters in the top row are in the front and take/deal more damage, while the characters in the back deal and take less. In order to maximize Guy's potential, we'll want him in the front.  And that's because our new fella is entirely spell-free. Guy cannot and never will use magic. His focus is entirely on hitting things.  To his credit, Guy does that job very well. Once we slap some rings and jewels onto him, he'll be outstripping Maxim for power.  : What the..? My men! Blast it!: Hey, you're next!: Rats in your eyes! I'll be back for you! : Some interruption, huh. Well, are you ready? : What!? Hilda? The scumbag!: He ran to the Southeast Tower!: Thanks!: I'll go with you, Guy!: The tower's full of monsters. It's too dangerous, but not for you, I guess. Let's go!   Stat-wise, Guy is slanted entirely towards attack power. His speed is easily the worst of the team thus far and his magic resistance is...eh. Also, his intelligence is terrible, but since he can't learn magic, that's irrelevant. That said, he'll be able to use heavier weapons and armor that Maxim can't wield and his HP will be always excellent. This is a game where both physical and magical characters can thrive, so he will be indispensable.  Now then, we have a date with a tower. We could actually go here before we met Camu, and there is a good reason to do that. But let's not get ahead of ourselves.    Taking the front way in the tower doesn't get us anywhere. We'll have to wait until we're done with the guy up top.  Right after we deal with these Newts and Scorpions. The Scorpions can use a Scissor attack to hit twice, so they're top priority in any fight.   Fortunately, they've a crippling weakness to water.  Going in a side room, we find this brain teaser. Stepping on the sigil makes buttons appear on all four sides, and we have to weigh them all down to proceed.  The other ones can be weighed down with blocks, but we have to grab a pot from the bottom of the room for the top one.  Next room, there's a goblin standing guard over a switch while another goblin patrols the edge of the carpet.  Imps sound pretty dangerous, since they have moves called Bestial Presence and Cold Shoulder. I've never actually let them live to use them though, so I can only assume that they're deadly.  Huh. There's light coming from that doorway.  Yup. The consistent theme of Tower-shaped dungeons is these balcony areas connecting parts of the floors. They're pretty neat.  This one may seem complicated but it's very simple. There are two sections of wall ahead, one with a light sigil in front of it and the other with a dark sigil.  Covering the dark sigil with a pillar opens both of them. Told you it was simple.  Don't mind the skeleton guys. They shamble along so slowly, you have to be trying to get hit by them.  Another funny carpet. If you don't enter through the area the crab's guarding...  Yeah. Going back to the entrance of the room makes the wall disappear again, but the only way you're getting to that button is if you fight the crabs.  Hint: when the crab's walking sideways, that counts as its "front." Crabs always walk sideways.  Going south of the crab room and across this balcony, we find the switch here. If we didn't flip it, the walkway above would still be up and we'd have to backtrack a long ways.  Next puzzle room features a slab that we have to push a pillar onto.  Then we transfer the pots to their respective spots around the pillar. Man, the commute must have been terrible when this tower was still in use.  We're going to be ignoring this staircase for now and going downwards instead.  It may look like nothing's here, but the dust coming off of this skull tells me otherwise.  Basically, if anything looks weird, blow it up.  Here's a really big room with next to nothing in it. Seriously, there's a whole bunch of right side with absolutely zero content except for a plaque with this puzzle's solution on it.  Each of these musical note blocks makes a specific noise that hints to what you have to do with it. From a sword swipe...  To the zip of an arrow, followed by a ding as it hits something metal...  To the boom of an exploding bomb.  Yet another case where we'd have had to do some serious backtracking if we hadn't gotten this first.  By the way, the big crabs are not only very lucrative, but they have a 10% chance of dropping a Power Potion every fight. Maxim is chugging those right down every chance he gets.  Ah, our old friends! We must be getting close!  Hmm...but first we'll need to extend that ladder.   Really gave this one away, did they?  Here's the clock in question. At 6:15, that makes the pillar the minute hand and the block the hour hand, so we want to put the pillar at the top and the block on the left. However...  What the game doesn't tell you is that turning the clock to midnight (or maybe noon) unlocks a hidden room. Believe me, I asked around in Tanbel, and nobody hinted at this secret solution at all.  The prize is definitely worth it.  The Jute Helmet actually protects against instant death spells. They don't show up now, and we'll have better headgear when they do appear, but it's an interesting feature.  This little text box is a little more annoying than it seems, because it scrolls automatically. If you press A to advance it, you'll just accidentally pull the lever again and retract the ladder.  Annoyances aside, it's time to get us a boss.   Nice setup!  : Hilda!!: I applaud your efforts to have come this far.: You! Why did you take Hilda? What did she ever do to you, huh!?: Orders. You see, I had to check out the abilities of certain men. I considered your case a while...and came up with an idea - kidnapping your sister! You'd do anything to save her.: That idea will cost you dearly, friend! Pick up your sword!: Noisy, aren't we? Now it's time to see your real strength! Just curious, what WAS his plan after getting a bunch of strong folks angry at him?   Camu is weak to electricity, which is handy, because he has 1500 HP! Considering what we were facing last time, this is a considerable step up.   In addition to this full-party attack, he can also use Sleep Stinger to put a single party member to sleep, summon more of his minions from before, or hit you directly to REALLY mess up your day.  If you don't have Tia on constant healing duty, this battle can get messy fast. Note that you can't heal your capsule monster with regular healing magic. Foomy is probably going to die this battle.  Or he'll flee when his health gets low enough. Capsule Monsters heal to full after every battle, but if they die or run before it's over, they don't get experience from the fight.  The near-constant barrage of attacks from Camu does wonders for raising Maxim and Guy's IP bars. They're both using Kukris, so dropping Thunder Blasts can speed up this battle.  Camu does have his own named jewel, but it had a 6% chance to drop and I got tired after my dozenth attempt at getting it. You really don't need it.  : But, don't...overestimate yourself...th...the time...will...come...: What are you talking about!?: This world...will be ruled by...Sinistrals. Soon, just wait...: Rules by Sinistrals? What do you mean!?: Ha, ha, ha! You people will...never leave here...No need to...know!  : The door just closed!: Ha, ha, ha! You cannot escape!!!I should mention that the screen is shaking regularly now for...reasons?  : Let's try to open the door! Guy, go get Hilda!: Ok! : Oh...I knew you would come...: Of course. We're going to get out of here together. : This doesn't look good! We haven't got all day!We don't? Near as I can tell, the room's just shaking.   : You...you are the one I saw at the cave! But why?: There is no time for conversation! I am warping us to Tanbel! But Warp only works outdoors...aw, forget it.  : She once told me that I was destined to travel and fight.: What a weird woman. Well, she saved us alright. I should thank her...Where is she?: She's gone.: What...is...she..?: In any case, let's go back home. Hilda's a little hurt, too.: Right.  : How's Hilda doing?: She'll live. Wasn't hurt as badly as we thought. But she'll be out of it for a while.The following scene is what really made me first like Guy as a character. : Hey, Maxim. Who was that woman at the tower? Seemed like you knew her.: That woman. You know, the one who told me I was destined to fight.: Just what kind of woman is she, I wonder.: Who knows. But she's good for us. She knows how to get rid of the magic cast on that door.: Yeah. Anyone who can get to the top of that monster-ridden tower must be pretty strong.: That's the way I figure it. : To keep going. I got wind of something that...bothers me.: You talking about the super beings out to rule the world?: You got it. If they really exist, I'm going to have to meet them.: And what do you do after you...meet?: If this world is their target...I'll have to destroy them, won't I?: We're talking super beings here, you know. You can't just walk on them like bugs.See, unlike your typical fighter character, Guy actually thinks about things a lot. : Sword to sword, I can win. And you, Sir Guy? Don't you feel the same?: Ha! Of course! I won't be ordered about by anyone. Be ruled? No way, Maxim. Not me.: So I thought. Listen, we've got to be moving on soon.: Huh? Already? Well, I could...Nah. I should take it easy a while longer.  A lot of people pointed out in the thread that Maxim's character is largely centered in a desire for adventure and that all he really wanted was to be away from the mundane nature of life in Elcid. : Jessy...: What a beautiful woman she is. Who is she, Guy?: Jessy. She's...uh...my...you know... : Can't you say it straight out!?Guy, meanwhile, has a reason to stay behind. Not only his sister, but... : Hi. I'm Jessy. Guys girlfriend.: Why, that's wonderful! Nice to meet you.: Same here.: Sir Guy's girl, huh?: What do you mean? Can't I have a girlfriend?: Oh, sure. I didn't mean anything by it.: So, Jessy. What did you mean when you asked if I wanted to go...?: You want to go, too, right? It was written all over your face.: Well...but, I..: If it's Hilda holding you back, don't worry. I'll take care of her.: I would feel better if you were at her side. But, you and I...: Oh, I'll miss you for sure. But you have to do what you have to do. You see...  I dunno, maybe I'm just an overly sentimental kind of person, but this sort of stuff makes me like Guy more as a character. : Go, then. It's ok, Guy. I'm happy for you.: Oh, Jessy.: They're so close they can trust in each other and wait it out. Now that's true love. Maxim, meanwhile, has only a hazy idea of what love is. : Maxim! What on earth are you thinking?: Oh! Uh...nothing, nothing at all.: Well, I should tell you I'm not a waiting around type of woman.Said comment will go right over Maxim's head. : Maxim! I can go! I want to meet that super being. You'll let me in, right?: You sure about this? I mean, it's a very dangerous journey.: Dangerous journey? Is that all you can tempt me with?: Sir Guy...: You have to drop this Sir stuff. I mean, I'm part of the team now. We're equals, ok?: I understand.: No, no. You don't have to be so prim and proper. I mean, you can say, like, "Got it.": Got it. Ok, then, let's get going, Guy!: Let's do it, Maxim! Outta here, Tia!I can only hope, but I don't think that's what they were going for with that line.  Uh...I'm pretty sure that he never left. But thanks for cementing it, I guess? Anyway, before we head on to the next plotline, you remember those treasure chests at the top of the tower?  I really don't know what all that shaking was about, because everything's fine up here.   Funny thing: we could have gone up here before we'd even met Guy. Would have been a bit harder, but it was doable. Just wasn't any point to it, because whether we had it done it before or after Camu wouldn't have mattered.  Divine Cure is very expensive, but also very good. A full-party cure from IP skills is the only way to heal Capsule Monsters in battle.  This will drain a huge chunk of the IP bar as well, but there's an upcoming boss that will absolutely hate us for it.  And as for the Pearl Brace, combined with the Witch Ring, we're making Tia into a devastating force. Next Time: Watch out, Foomy! A new challenger is approaching!
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Jan 11, 2015 05:46
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EponymousMrYar posted:Didn't know you could hop in the tower before going to Tanbel but then again there really isn't anything stopping you from going into the tower itself. I know I've done some pre-plot mandated dungeon visits both in the Catfish Cave: "Where's the Catfish, he's supposed to be- did I forget to step into town!?" and in later dungeons. It just never occurred to me to do so here since I wanted Guy in my party ASAP. Yeah, this game can be pretty bad about its scripting. If you don't talk to someone, trigger a cutscene, or the like, you can reach the end of a dungeon and nothing will be there. Rule of thumb is you always talk to anyone who might be important in a new town before you leave, just to be safe.
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Jan 11, 2015 08:18
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ultrafilter posted:Do the capsule monsters ever show up out of combat once you get them, or are they purely for fighting? Just fighting. Matter of fact, after that grandiose introduction to Foomy, the rest of them will just be scattered in the far corners of the various dungeons we'll be running through. I didn't bother with any of them besides Foomy the first time that I played the game because I didn't know a) How to find them, and b) How to raise them out of their awkward Class 1 form efficiently. It might be a lot of fun to see their various strengths and specialties firsthand for this LP.
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Jan 11, 2015 08:56
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Robodog posted:I think the thing is Guy is actually a knight or something like that? I just got the impression that Maxim respects anybody who's good at fighting. As far as I know, Guy is just a town guard at best. As for whether he looks like a knight or not:  I dunno, I'd be convinced.
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Jan 11, 2015 18:23
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Chapter 8: Friggin' Spiders Now that Camu's gone, the barrier preventing us from moving on is lowered.  Clemento's a tiny little town along the way, but we'll have to stop in anyway, for reasons we'll soon see.  I have absolutely no idea.  : Yes, it's really lovely. Is this made of glass?: Uh-huh. You can buy them in that shop.Clemento's main claim to fame is also one of the few unique shops in the game.  : No. My husband makes all the crafts.: Really? Is he here today?: No, he's off on a journey. He seeks beautiful things and turns them into glass. But he hasn't come back for a long time. He's never been away this long before. We can buy their products while we're here, but they only go on Tia and they're vastly inferior to the Witch Ring, so I don't.  I do stop in to the magic shop, because they've got some neat stuff, like this status buff here.  Say hello to never having to buy Escapes ever again. Also...  Buy Release! Get it for both Maxim and Tia! While you're at it, buy some Mystery Pins! You'll thank me later.  Here's the plot reason for why we can't skip this town. Rochy won't let us pass until we do something for him.  Yo.  : I understand you are warriors. Have you ever gone to the North Cave?: No, but why do you ask?: Rumor has it there's an apple-shaped ruby there, but I can't get to it because of the monsters. I just have to have the Ruby Apple. If you happen to find it, would you sell it to me? Of course, I will pay whatever you ask. I'm not stingy, I just know how to use money.How does Rochy make all that money, you ask?  : What, again!? I told them one more delay and they're out. : What shall we do?: Hmm, let's see...Oops. Sweetheart, don't bring up such things in front of our guests.: Why not? I don't see anything wrong with speaking the truth.: H-ha, ha! Now isn't there something you should be doing out back, sweetness?: Alright, alright. Yeah. Unfortunately, we have to go along with it for now.  Another cave. I think you know what that means.   Right from the start, we notice something very unusual. That is none other than our next Capsule Monster.  But first, bees. They're a little obnoxious since they'll spontaneously zoom two or three spaces in a random direction. Makes it hard to approach them without getting hit from the side.  Also, look at these suckers! They are so tired of this nonsense. We can actually get a Bee Rock from them if we're lucky, and those are useful for a number of reasons. I don't, unfortunately.  We'll want to start by bombing this wall if we want to get the CM first.  Sure, Lufia 2 swaps palettes, but at least they use cool color schemes for them.  I have Guy using the Fire Dagger, and it just so happens that a lot of enemies are weak to fire in this dungeon. Kinda weird for a cave full of lava, but I'm not complaining.  Complex, huh?  By that, they mean that it's one of those dungeons where everything around the switch flips with it.  Solution? Flip every switch once.  When we do so, we can hear the lava recede from somewhere.  Specifically, here, accessible via a teleporter in the next room.  Welcome to the team, doggy.  Named Blaze by default, the Armor Dog can be accessed via the Change menu. His alignment is fire, which means that his special attacks will be fire-elemental. Handy for this dungeon. Foomy belongs to the neutral element, so his attacks are typeless.  Blaze's biggest downside is that abysmal GUT of his. On a Capsule Monster, GUT determines how likely it is to run away when threatened. As you saw last battle, Foomy took a considerable beating before he decided to run on the 4th or 5th turn. Blaze here can and will run away on the 1st! On the other hand, when he isn't running away, he's a lot more likely to outright attack, as opposed to Foomy's tendency to defend a lot.  Back at the entrance, we could go through a door on the right, OR we could cut this grass and go through a door on the left. They both lead to the same area.  Rinse and repeat to make a staircase appear.  Here is where the two paths connect. There's nothing of note down either path, but this one has more puzzling, so to speak.  We'll want to take the right staircase here, because the left one goes to a dead end right away.  A quick arrow will fix that!  Like I said, Blaze is pretty handy here.  No choice but to fight this spooky skeleton. He's in our way.  Easy enough. They're also weak to fire.  Mandatory key acquired.  Here's a little headache for the convection lovers among you.  Throwing blocks of ice into the lava creates a path for us to cross.  The game doesn't say this outright, but there's treasure hidden down a ways that can only be accessed by strategic use of ice blocks.  More accurately, we have to throw them down constantly from the lower right corner of the last one we threw.  This will connect two platforms with two more ice blocks, which we use to get down to the treasure chests.   Sweet!  Debuffs! Always handy. This is the kind of game where dropping enemy stats and raising your own will actually be worth doing.  Not too helpful for right now, but it will be very good in the next dungeon we encounter.  Believe it or not, but there's actually another treasure chest over here.  Not, in fact, a transformational catalyst for Blaze. We'll see the Capsule Monster this corresponds to in due time.  Finally, throwing a block down here lets us move on.  We're already on the way to the boss, actually. The lava block room was the last puzzle.  See? The healing pads are here too.  The Ruby Key's only a room or two back, if we missed it. This is a short dungeon.   You didn't think it was that easy, did you?  Meet the worst boss of the game.   If you don't have the Fire Dagger going into this battle, expect to be fighting for a while. The Tarantula has 2000 HP, and as we'll soon see, it has a number of ways to make the fight last longer.   Like many spells, buffs can be multi-cast, and you should boost defense at the start of the fight. The Tarantula's attacks are pretty nasty. Best part about buffs, by the way, is that they're percentage-based, so multi-casting won't decrease their power. They do drop off very fast with subsequent casts though, so I'd only recommend using them once per battle.   I'd rate Menace as too expensive to be really worth only decreasing attack power by 1/8, but every little bit helps.  Now, it's time for the battle proper.  Poison Shower has a chance to inflict poison and REALLY hurts. This is after buffing.  Along with the aforementioned Fire Dagger, you can also equip the Insect Crush to make this battle go faster, since the Tarantula is weak to both Insect and Fire damage.  Blaze also would have been good for this fight. "Would" being the operative term.  It begins... The Tarantula has a 90% chance with its normal attack to inflict paralysis. In my case, it happened every time.  As with many games that aren't Pokemon, being paralyzed at the start of a turn puts you out of action entirely. Maxim will not be contributing for this turn.   Or, in fact, for more than half of this battle. You see the problem with this fight, right? If you weren't prepared to deal with paralysis, your entire team can get locked down in short order and just beat on mercilessly.  Fortunately, characters have a small chance of breaking out of paralysis at the end of a turn. You shouldn't count on that though.  The Tarantula can also call spider cohorts that have a high chance of inflicting poison with their attacks. One last attack that it fortunately didn't use was Spiderweb, which absolutely tanks the speed of whoever gets hit by it.   Oh, and it has sky-high magic resistance, so Tia's main use for this fight is healing and status removal.   At least we have a spell for removing Poison too.     Well, at least there's that.  Oh wait, I forgot about this part.  Once its health gets low enough, the Tarantula starts healing itself. Because, you know, this battle wasn't tedious enough.  All the tools are there to negate the damage that the Tarantula levels at you and you have weapons to hit its weakness, but it's still obnoxious. Easily my least favorite fight in the entire game.  There's a 6% chance that you'll get the Spido Jewel which gives you the Spiderweb ability, but I'd just as soon be done with this fight.  : Was it broken in that battle?: Wait a minute, Maxim. I thought ruby was a pretty strong gem. It can't be so easily broken!: What's going on?: I have no idea.The answer to this mystery is actually just one room over.  : Why did you come to such a dangerous place? You don't appear to be an explorer or anything. : I'm a glass craftsman. You see, I can't make a living just by making glass crafts. I really needed money during my trip and heard there was an enormous treasure in this cave. So I came here. But as you can see, I got caught. I guess I'm not cut out for treasure hunting. I'd love to give you something for saving me, but I have only this. Will you accept it? : I found this lovely red glass during my trip. So I made this out of it just for fun. I made two and sold one in the city. You seem to know about this.: You're kidding. Wait a second.  Uh...wouldn't you have seen it on your way by? I mean, if the Tarantula's MO was to jump people going for the apple...ah, forget it. : This is the treasure you were talking about. The Ruby Apple!: What!? Wait a minute. This is just glass, it's not ruby.: When was it you sold that glass apple?: At the start of my journey, a long time ago.: I don't know how this apple got here, but it became THE treasure talk of the town.: How's that possible? Jaffy, who did you sell this glass apple to?Wait, how'd you learn his name? Nobody's mentioned it to this point. : To a rich guy in Narcysus. He treated me great when I told him I ran the glass shop in Clamento. I've known other rich people, but this guy was nice, not like Rochy.: In any case, we got the Ruby Apple. Let's go back and get the money from Rochy.: But this isn't a ruby, it's just glass.: Look at the apple closely. Can you tell the difference? : Maxim! I never thought you would say such a thing.: It's ok. If Rochy thinks it's a real ruby, then there's no problem, right? If he believes it's a real ruby, it means it's worth that much.: Yeah! I can't wait to hear what he says when he takes a look at this!: Yeah. Alright, let's go back to Clamento.: I'll go back, too. Thanks for everything.: Can you go back by yourself alright?: Yes. And please take this apple. I just hope that he never accidentally drops it. : I'll go back to the village. Thanks. And so will we, thanks to this handy new spell.  : Thank you so much. This is to show my appreciation. Please, take it.: Oh my! Are you sure? This is a lot of money.: Never mind, never mind. I don't hold back when it comes to quality! Ha! Ha! Ha!: But that is...: Tia.Pay no attention to our entirely not-suspicious outburst. : Well, we've got to go now. : It just tells us how good Jaffy's work is, that's all.: But...: Don't worry about it. Let's go.And by that, they mean go to the glass shop.  : Yes. I wanted to give you this.: What? Money!?: That's how much Rochy paid for your glass apple.: Bu...but I gave you that apple. I can't except this.: That's alright. This money belongs to you.: Bu...but...: If it makes you feel better, why not sell me this? The money will cover it, right?: Maxim...thank you so much.: Don't mention it. Well, we've got to go now. : Well, yeah. By the way, here Tia. Take it.: You're giving it to me?: Well, I can't wear it!: Thank you, Maxim. What a lovely thing to do! By the way, the game does actually put one of the glass shop's wares into our inventory, because as I've mentioned before, the game loves to merge story with gameplay. (I'm going to be feeding it to one of my CM's the next time they ask for it  ) : Yeah. But I don't know if coming with me will make her happy.: Well...that's something she'll decide, isn't it?: I guess. Hey, Tia. We're leaving soon. Anyways, that's it for Clemento. Just one last thing to take care of.  Battle Knives, make my dog less cowardly.  Form of...  A winged...lion. Sure. Didn't do much for his GUT, but he's a lot stronger now. So... Next Time: We make it to the land of Parcelyte, where our 4th party member waits. Also:  You know the deal. Five letters. Name my
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Jan 12, 2015 21:59
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N.N. Ashe posted:Man missing these jewels is tugging at me pretty hard. Would you be able to do RNG manipulation for jewels mid battle? I know if you save state before a battle, you'll get different loot outcomes for bosses, but I don't think I ever tried save stating before the last hit to see if that could get some 'lucky' jewels early. Well, someone in the thread suggested that it was possible to influence loot drops up to the last turn, but I spent about 15 minutes doing as many different permutations of the last turn as possible with Camu and still got nothing, so I really don't know. That said, the Spido Jewel might be worth trying for, since the Agility debuff from Spiderweb is very handy for some of the faster bosses we'll be encountering later.
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Jan 12, 2015 22:20
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EponymousMrYar posted:Items don't multi-target/multi-target well. (I forget which it is, items are more valuable as out of battle healing than in-battle 90% of the time.) First one, actually. Items are single target only, but you CAN multi-target status recovery spells. Problem with that is, much like anything that isn't a buff, dividing the effect over multiple characters decreases its effectiveness. When you're targeting more than one character, status recovery spells can and probably will miss.
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Jan 13, 2015 04:28
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When it comes to whether or not to bench our cowardly lion (wow, that fits better than I thought), I think I'll wait until after the next dungeon. We just got him, so I don't want to get rid of him just yet. At the very least, I'm going to get him to Class 3 and see if that makes him less prone to running.
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Jan 13, 2015 05:30
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So far as mandatory stuff goes, I think the Tarantula is the peak of annoyance when it comes to bosses. Not to say that you can sleepwalk through the rest of the game, but I don't remember any future bosses aggravating me nearly as much. Anyways, in the interests of putting together the update, I think I'll call the vote with YBURN in all caps as the winner. Not just because it had the majority of the votes but also because it's a good use of the character limits.
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Jan 13, 2015 17:10
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Maybe I should have gone with the wailing sirens again.
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Jan 14, 2015 05:33
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Pardon the wait on the update. Lots of work and school-related things cropped up around the same time, so I haven't had the time. It should be up either today or tomorrow. Jeez, this is getting to be a bad habit.
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Jan 16, 2015 00:03
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Chapter 9: Maxim the Errand Boy The thread has spoken. But why in the world would a Winged Lion get such a name?  The answer lies in this unassuming cider shop, also in Sundletan.  The various Ciders on display either boost your attack in battle or restore a fair amount of HP out of it. But the high end guy, here on the bottom?  It just so happens to be the lowest-value option for transitioning from Class 2 to Class 3. And what do we get from it?  Pfft, call it a Wing Lizard if you like, but that's a drake by any other name. Class 3 CM's get two abilities to start with, and more besides, in a bit. Also, check out that attack power! YBURN is easily one of the stronger CM's, if not the strongest. His guts have barely budged though.  We'll see how CM's get more powers later. For now, we go to Parcelyte.  Conveniently located right out here.  This will seem familiar if you remember the intro.  : Ha, ha, ha! Look again! It's just a rope!: You're such a crybaby, Lemmy! Hee, hee, hee! Well, aren't these kids the classiest acts. Fortunately, before we have to intervene personally...  : Oh no!! It's Selan!: Run!!By the way, these two kids are apparently named Tim and Kim, judging from the intro. Just a random trivia factoid.   : Stop crying, Lemmy.: But...but...: Listen, Lemmy. It's not right for them to bully you, but girls shouldn't cry so easily either.: Why...? My daddy said boys shouldn't cry, but girls can.: Hey, listen. A woman's tears..mean a lot more than a guy's.: ...a lot more?I don't know if the game is implying that Selan's portion of the intro happens after everyone else's, but it seems like it'd be redundant for her to do this spiel twice. : That's right. You shouldn't cry easily. Save your tears. Do you understand?: ...Well...no.: You will, when you grow older. I have to go back to the castle. Don't cry, ok!?: ...Alright. Anyways, that's Selan. We'll be seeing a lot more of her shortly.  For her part, Lemmy has nothing interesting to say. Kind of a pity.  We'll have to come back later for the new equipment in Parcelyte, since we loaded up on Apple Cider.  Here is something interesting, albeit a little weird. : Were I stronger, I could protect Madam Selan. Right now, it's like she's protecting me.The other similarly dressed man is also a raging Selan fanboy. : Madam Selan is our heroine. She's strong and sweet. She's just so great. Hey, you guys. Don't even think about going after Madam Selan, alright!?Creepy...  So yeah, much like Tanbel and Guy, the only thing anyone talks about in Parcelyte is Selan.  Except for this one. We can't actually buy a house at this point in the game, but it's nice to know the option is there.  Let's move on to where the real action is.   : Forgive me, Commander!: Well, you're improving. You'll just have to keep practicing, that's all.: You really think so, Commander? Thank you, I will!: Right, I think that's all of you. I'll be in my room. Call me if you need me.: Yes, Commander! : What? Well yeah...I guess.: Her skill is one thing, but the way she looks--whew! You don't see such a pretty woman so often.: I guess not. : Wait a minute, Tia. Don't be so cruel. You know I think you're much prettier, so please!: Too late, kiddo. I'm not going to buy that!: Come on, Tia! That's enough.: What do you mean? You were the same. Your tongue was about to hit the ground.: That's not true!: Well, alright. I guess I thought she was pretty, too.: I don't think I've ever seen such a strong woman. Uh oh...  Nothing new from Selan if we visit her directly, so let's just see what the king looks like in this castle.  ...Yeah, there aren't a lot of unique NPC's. : Yes, I am Maxim. But how did you know my name, Your Majesty?: I heard from the king of Alunze that you had recaptured the stolen crown. I heard that you'd gone on a journey. I hoped you'd visit my country, too. Welcome. Did he also mention how he totally wimped out on being our friend for life? : Knowing your skills, I have a favor to ask. Will you accept?Do we want to advance the game? : You will? Excellent! It's rumored that the Treasure Sword is hidden in a fortress up north. The problem is that monsters live there, so no one can get in. With your abilities, I believe you could defeat the monsters and find the sword. Of course, I will reward you for your efforts, should you succeed. Do you accept? Yup! It's a double whammy of fake choices. I think they're just toying with us at this point. I mean really, what IS the Treasure Sword? Why does it matter to us? We're basically just being sent to get some ornamental doodad because the game won't let us move on otherwise. : Excellent! Wait for a moment. Oh...Zepel! : Bring Selan here.: Yes, Your Majesty. : Selan. I'd like you to go with Maxim to the North Fortress.  : Yes.: If I may. My troops and I can find the sword. I don't believe we need the help of a traveler.: Listen, Selan. I know you are a strong warrior. But because of this, you tend to act on your own. Remember, people must help each other. Two heads are always better. Understand this on your journey. I'll only say it one more time. I order you to search for the sword with Maxim. : Do you dare disobey me?: No, Your Majesty! I will go with Maxim and pursue my mission!: As you see, Maxim, Selan will go with you. Any problems with that? You may lead the party.: I don't have any problems with that, Your Majesty.: Very well! Selan, this is a great chance to experience being under another’s command. Well then, I wish you all the luck in the world! I love how the game designers communicated, wordlessly, how much Selan is seething right now.  : Yes.: How about the others?: This is Guy. We met in Tanbel and have been traveling together ever since. And this is Tia.: Hi. Nice to meet you!: Maxim. Let me just say one thing. I haven't accepted you yet. The King ordered me to follow your lead, so I will. But that's all you can count on.: You're pretty straightforward, aren't you?: I intend no offense but, yes, I tend to speak my mind.: Well, that's alright. I know you don't like this situation. But what can I do to gain your trust?: Strength is not the answer, I can tell you that.: Hmm, tough, huh!?: ...... : Of course. That's my mission.: Mission, huh? That sounds awfully serious. But anyway, good to have you on board.   I figured that the best way to handle this analysis of Selan would be to put her alongside her main competitor. Yes, for all the talk of Selan's swordfighting skills, she's actually another character with a magic emphasis. Right off the bat, we can see that Selan is superior in fighting power, better than Tia despite being several levels behind. Similarly, Selan will beat Tia in intelligence at an equivalent level. Even though she's depicted with a staff, Selan CAN use swords just like Maxim, though she doesn't fight as well with them. And now for the big glaring downside: that agility. Selan is faster than Guy, but not by much. Fortunately, a lot of gear that she can wear does boost her agility, but it's really an uphill climb. Also, unlike Guy, Selan's an eggshell, with a really low HP pool and not a lot of defense or magic resistance to make up for it.  Selan's magic selection is pretty good right off the bat. Say goodbye to ever having to buy Warp items.  Also, she has the unique Light spell, which will allow us to see in any dark dungeons we encounter. This has limited use, because not many dungeons use darkness as their gimmick, but it'll be good to keep in the back of our mind for later.  Anyway, the upcoming dungeon will be long enough without this pre-dungeon stuff, so I will put it in its own separate update very shortly. Next Time: Reversi and Clowns.
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Jan 17, 2015 07:03
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Bluemage142 posted:One little thing that hasn't really been mentioned yet is that Tia tends to get fire magic, while Maxim gets water/ice spells. I don't remember what Selan gets, but the game actually does give certain characters elemental affinities of a sort. As a result, there are times when having Maxim casting spells might be the right answer, even if he's not really 'good at magic'. Well, no, it's nowhere near that complicated. Tia and Selan can both purchase spells for all four elements, and Maxim is locked out of fire spells for some reason, but he can get the other three. I can think of some enemies that have so much defense that Maxim's magic is better by comparison, but his lower intelligence really holds him back. As for the elemental affinities, I'm not sure that's actually a thing, but I haven't done enough close examination to really say for sure. e: Also, next update is going up in about an hour. I said it'd be very shortly. Blastinus fucked around with this message at 20:24 on Jan 17, 2015 |
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Jan 17, 2015 20:22
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Bluemage142 posted:Last I checked, Tia couldn't get Droplet, while Maxim couldn't get Spark (or Flash, I think). That's what I meant by 'elemental affinities'; in the early game, characters tend to get locked into one or two elements. They branch out later, but not so much at this point. I think you might be remembering wrong. .png) .png) .png) Maxim can't get Spark, but that's the limit of it.
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Jan 17, 2015 20:45
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Rangpur posted:Selan's ability to equip swords is sort of window dressing at the moment (and the fact she uses them does actually come up in dialogue more than once). Later on though, especially in the endgame, there are some fantastically powerful swords which elevate her damage output something considerable compared to certain other party members. Oh, I agree. There's a sword coming up in this very dungeon that will already make Selan a more viable fighter. Still not putting her in the front row though, because that's not a great idea. Anyways, update coming up right about now. Just had to wait until we had enough discussion to move us to another page.
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Jan 17, 2015 21:20
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Chapter 10: Come Aboard the Love Shrine So last time, we acquired Selan and embarked on a random mission to acquire a fancy sword.  We haven't seen shrines before, so they come with their own unique theme.   Front door's sealed with the typical unique key shenanigans, so we should head left first.  What can you say about  And yes, the game is already recycling bosses as regular enemies. We'll be seeing Lizardmen down the line too.  I suppose you could call this a puzzle if you forgot how you solved the last five dungeons.  Rule of thumb is that if it looks cracked, it's probably bombable.  And dropping down this obvious hole brings us to:   Kinda weird to have an armor item with no IP attack in a treasure box.  With that disappointment out of the way, let's mosey on down to the right side of the main foyer.  S'up, new enemy type?  Two new enemies in one, actually.   The Wood Gorem is, believe it or not, weak to fire, but the Nuborg is a new enemy type known as Hard, typically characterized by a good amount of defense. What I didn't know going into this dungeon is that the Rod that Selan starts with has a secret Hard typing to it, so she would have been able to do a good amount of damage to them. Instead, I just hit them with a fish.  And here we go with what I mentioned in the last update. Capsule Monsters at Class 2 and above have hidden abilities that they only learn from fighting for a while.   Flame Breath is actually a sneak peek at the next tier of fire magic, creatively titled Fireball.  It's very good. Imagine if these guys were weak to fire.  Actually, you don't have to imagine it. Here's a skeleton getting its day ruined by Fang Attack.  Overkill aside, here's a fun room to mess around in.  Stepping on these rectangular platforms will move them and, by extension, you in a horizontal or vertical direction, depending on the shape of the platform.  Naturally, we have to ride them over the gap in order to get at the sweet, sweet loot.  What I failed to mention about rings up to now is that they also can add an element to your attack. The misleadingly-named Undead Ring, for instance, makes all of your attacks Light-elemental. This is naturally good against undead, but there is another, more important enemy type that is also weak to light. I'll give you a hint: there are four of them, and their team name starts with an "S".  By the way, I haven't had the chance to show off Selan's attack animation yet. Of all the characters, she is the only one who has the gumption to slash up and to the left. Will we encounter someone who dares to conquer the down and to the right direction? Who knows.  There's a lot embarking and disembarking to get the platforms to where they need to go, but it's not something that would really be interesting in screenshot format  More speed never goes amiss when it comes to Selan.  Anyways, our end goal is to get this platform here so we can block another platform going to the right.  This bracelet makes you so angry that you just wave your arm around. I didn't make it up, it's in the fluff.  Not bad, not bad.  Perhaps for paletting reasons, the blue chest containing our key of the day is green. No matter, works the same.  Key in hand, we can go back to the foyer and proceed through the front.  Proceeding down this hallway, we get jumped by super fast enemies hiding behind pillars. It's really hard to avoid them and they'll just catch up to you if you run, so it's better to just fight them.  I love this puzzle here.  The bottom lever on each side controls the horizontal movement of this tiny platform and the top lever controls vertical movement. Flipping the bottom switch to the left moves it go left, and so on.  The first objective is to move the platform to just below us.  You know, it occurs to me that I haven't had a lot of luck this run. I would have already found an Eagle Rock and a Bee Rock at this point.  Y'know, as useful as this would be for Guy stat-wise, the IP attack is absolutely worthless.  Onto Selan it goes then.  I should note that a valid move is flipping a lever when the platform is unable to move up/down or left/right in order to put it in the right orientation. You can't get through this puzzle otherwise.  There's a puzzle hidden in this room. Can you see it?  No, not this room. This is a drop-off for a puzzle above.  It's this tiny little gap here, barely perceptible if you didn't know to look for it.  Stepping through here presses a button that reveals a hidden side to the room, including a very inviting chest.  Yet another treasure I had to go back for, because who would find that without going through every room minutely?  Kind of a shame, because Selan would have appreciated the boost and the power with what comes ahead.  So here's that puzzle that drops you out in that dead end room if you mess up.  The boxes are holding down buttons that change the walkway when they're removed. In order to cross, you need to remove the boxes while crossing the walkway.  The big trick is that you need to bomb the left box first and just keep running forward. This one took me a few tries and a small hike back up the stairs, but it's not too much of a penalty.  This room looks more complicated than it actually is. There's actually no puzzle here, just fancy tiling.  And speaking of fancy tiles...  Yes, it's red and yellow Reversi, or Othello, depending on which company you bought it from.  The blocks are the grabbable kind, so the only challenge is placing them in the right spots. Bear in mind that the game counts every time that you pick something up and put it down, so don't just go playing around with the puzzle pieces, or it'll reset everything.  The first one's a gimmie, just to familiarize the player with how the puzzle works.  Now it gets trickier.  Bear in mind that the actual order in which you grab the blocks doesn't matter, so long as you only move a single red block and a single yellow block.  And yes, diagonals count in this game, just like Reversi. Or Othello.  The last one stumped me for a while, but there's more than one solution to it. I encourage you to come up with one of your own.  What I do is I put one yellow here...  Drop a red here to set it up...  And finish with a yellow here.  Nothing left to this shrine but to heal up and take on the inevitable boss at the end.   And it is...  Clowns.  Meet Pierre and Daniele, color-coded for your amusement.  I suppose we'll have to deal with them piecemeal.  The theme for these two battles is going to be elemental attacks.  More specifically, Pierre is resistant to flame and lightning and weak to water and ice, while Daniele is vice versa.  In return, they will cast the spells that they are strong against.  Fortunately, spread out over five characters, it's not a big issue.  Otherwise, they will sometimes waste time laughing or they'll attack directly for a decent amount of damage.  Kind of a paltry sum for defeating a boss.  But wait! Something's different this time!   : Ha, ha, ha! Your power is not enough to defeat me. Get out of my face!And we're unceremoniously booted out of the room.  Well, you know what the definition of insanity is.  Blizzard does an odd thing with the party's sprites. I wonder if it's a layering issue.  Both of these clowns have 1200 HP, and needless to say, YBURN makes the fight with Daniele a lot faster than the fight with Pierre.   : Ha, ha, ha! Your power is not enough to defeat me. Get out of my face!Is there an echo?  : Did you notice something? : I mean it's strange that they look exactly the same and say exactly the same thing. It may be...: May be what?: They may be one monster split into two. If that's the case, there's no use fighting with only one.: You mean get two at once?: Yes.: Then, we'll have to split up into two teams. : I don’t think so.: My people should handle this investigation. I feel so bad asking for your help.: Selan. We've been investigating together. Do you think we're total strangers?: Well, ah...: I admit you're strong, but I cannot let you fight by yourself.: ......Yeah, Selan soloing one of these guys would not be a happy time.  : Alright. I'll fight with her.: Is that ok, Selan?: Alright, you win. : I'm counting on you, Guy.: You're doing the right thing! Okay then. From the top, with feeling!  Two problems with splitting the party: the clowns' spells are now divided over two/three targets, not four/five, and the squishies are now forced into the front row.  Time to bust out the buffs.  Battle Lust is a very significant boost to power. Maxim is breaking 100 damage with his normal attacks alone.  Why am I bringing YBURN in for the Pierre battle? Because you don't get a chance to rearrange the party between fights, and as mentioned, he makes short work of Daniele.  I did notice an odd occurrence during this battle. Maxim is using the Kukri, which has the Thunder Blast IP attack.  Yeah. I haven't been able to confirm this with any of the guides I'm referencing, but it may be that IP attacks get automatically triggered on a crit.   P & D go faster than the party, so you'll want Tia and Selan to be constantly on the healing in their respective teams.  As you can see, health can disappear pretty quickly in this fight. If anyone dies, this whole thing is going south in a hurry.  Ah yeah! That's a significantly better payoff!  On Guy and Selan's side, we learn the real reason why Selan starts with those specific attack spells.  Not a good idea to actually use them, because if Selan's not constantly healing, she can get two-shot very easily.  Fortunately Daniele opted to go for the water spell instead. That was a close one.  Oh well, even with Selan on healing duty, Guy and YBURN should...  Son of a...  Okay, fine. Guy will just use the Fire Dagger. How's that?   After far too many close calls, they are down for the count.  : I heard a rumor about a monster that could split itself in two. That monster can be revived as long as the other half is alive. Some say the only way to defeat that monster is to get both halves at the same time.Can you really call it "some say" when you saw it happen? : Is that right? I've never heard that before.: I've been exposed to battles as long as I can remember. I know many such stories.One important detail to note is that the party members who fight alongside you are all, almost to a man, born prodigies. Destiny is a weird thing. : Well, let's go. The Treasure Sword should be through this door.  : I'm ok. I'm not going to give up yet. Let's go! After hesitating for a moment, Guy follows the rest in.  Mission accomplished. Time to Escape.  : I couldn't have done it without Selan. We made it only because she knew the monsters' weaknesses.: That's not true. What I knew wasn't important. We owe our success to Maxim.: Fine, fine. In any case, an excellent job. I shall reward you with the treasures in the basement. I will tell the gatekeeper you're coming so you can get in anytime. : What is it!?: I just learned that someone demolished our neighboring city of Gordovan!: Can this be true!?Well, if the soundtrack's kicking in, we'd better hope so. : I can't confirm details yet, but it seems a man appeared and destroyed the entire city!: What!? A single man? How can that be? : Hmm...but the man might come to my land. I'd rather you stay and keep an eye on our guards.: I'll take only three soldiers. That way, there will be enough guards to protect our land.: What!? Only four of you? That's too dangerous. I can't allow it!A group of four is just crazy talk. : Your Majesty. With your permission, we could go with Selan...: That would be excellent! But...well, no. I can't burden you with so much.: We were leaving for the next city anyway. I'm also curious about this villain with such power.: Hmm...well, if you insist. That would make me feel Selan is safe.: Your Majesty! Allow me, but we cannot keep asking Maxim for help.: Lady Selan. Would we be in your way?: No, it's not that. It's just... : What do you mean?: You know that this will be a very dangerous trip. I mean, you might not make it back.: ......: Sorry to say, but your soldiers aren't ready for this yet. So you have to go alone. Am I wrong?: ......: Selan. It seems Maxim knows everything. I trust it will be ok with you now.: Yes, Your Majesty.: Very good. Maxim, please look after Selan.: Yes, Your Majesty.I was a little mistaken earlier in this LP when I called Maxim dense. The events in Clemento and here demonstrate that he's actually quite perceptive, but is merely choosing to ignore Tia's obvious hints.  Note the way that they leave the throne room this time, by the way. It's subtle, but I don't think it was unintentional.  : The truth? I want to know about the destroyer. My destiny is to...fight. Fight someone...: Your destiny?: A woman in a cave told me this. I don't know if I believe what she said, but something disturbs me...: I see. I've been in the midst of battles since I was a child. I understand what you mean.Like I said, prodigies. It's probably because of that fact that everyone is so accepting of Maxim's "destiny cave lady" story. : Anyway, who's going to lead the party? Considering the situation, you should lead.: I don't think so. I want you to be the leader.: Are you sure?: I was astonished when you spoke of my soldiers. I couldn't think of another's troops like you. I want to be under your command and watch what you do.: Can I take that to mean that you're starting to trust me?: I guess you could say that. But only a little.: Tough, huh!?: That's right.Also, the dramatic echoes. The game's not outright saying this, but there's something going on beyond mutual respect. : I guess we're ready. To Gordovan, shall we?: Gordovan's west of Parcelyte. We have to go through the small shrine.: First, let's get the reward. The king said it's in the basement of the castle, right? Way to keep your priorities straight, Guy.  As it turns out, the basement only has this jobbie here, but what a jobbie it is!  Read that description carefully. What it's saying is that, no matter what, Selan will be able to heal the entire party for approximately 88 health. It's got a hefty IP cost on it, but considering how much damage Selan takes relative to her max HP, her IP bar is constantly topped off anyway. This little trinket has catapulted Selan from a passable mage to easily the best healer on the team. Next Time: We come face-to-face with one of the game's major antagonists, and he'll probably kick our teeth in. Also:  YBURN, you have failed me for the last time! From now on, I'm sticking to Foomy. (I'll still upgrade him to Class 4 the first chance I get, just for completion's sake)
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Jan 17, 2015 21:26
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