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Part 14: A Dizzying Encounter  Last time, Tamama saved Mermaid Cove from a gross tentacle monster and became fast friends with Momoel.  In return, she gave us her support move, Heal Lyric, which heals the party in battle a small amount.  The mermaid shrine has plenty of sparkles to plunder, and this one gets us a new item, the Sage's Stone. Using one heals the entire party by 50%. They're rare, so it's best to save them for emergencies. It's also lifted straight from the Dragon Quest series.  This mermaid gives us the recipe for Sticky Soup, which raises the party's speed by 40 for a few battles. Why is it sticky? So you can eat it underwater.   The peace-loving mermaids even have a weapon shop.  And everything's got a water attribute. They all give an attack boost over the party's current equipment, but I only upgrade Kururu to a Freezer ROM. The upgrades for the rest of the party would decrease their CC in exchange.  If you'll recall, the mermaid shrine is all underwater.  So why didn't they use this layer seen here when you emerge into the cove?  Oh well. It's a small oversight, but still.  Here's Mermaid Cove on the overworld. RPG Maker nostalgia at its finest.   Also, we can't go anywhere without a ship, so I head back in and loot the perfectly normal RPG town with houses before continuing the plot. Mermaid Cove Keparrow: Better Herb Caterpillar Fungus Magnifying Glass  Back into the Sea Cave! VIDEO: Follow That Pirate!    I bet there's a secret path somewhere in this cave that leads to the pirate hideout! Well then, if we spot a pirate, we'll follow quietly behind. Guess I'll head to the next screen and hope this doesn't take too...  Oh.  Gero! A pirate! Let's follow him.Up one more screen, and...    Ah... Sarge! Look over there! One of the pirates flips a hidden switch, the screen shakes a little...  And a passageway pops open.  They file inside, oblivious of stalker frogs.   So there be the hidden passage... It's no wonder they can enter the cove, even with Momoel singing. Let's infiltrate their hideout! Through the secret tunnel is the last part of the Sea Cave.  Here's Momoel's Heal Lyric in action.  It takes a few seconds to go off, so you don't want to summon her when the party's inches from death. But enemies can't hit her, so her assist can't be canceled, at least.  The cave's second exit goes outside...  ...To a suspicious wrecked ship. VIDEO: The Pirate Hideout    This ship looks remodeled inside... like a pirate's secret base. The pirate leader, that woman with the bracelet, should be lurking in here somewhere. Let's start searching! This dungeon's got a couple unique gimmicks.  First... that 5 Gold belongs to ME now.   And it happens to be sitting right behind a suspiciously dark patch of floor, that when stepped on...  Drops us to the floor below.  Which has stairs leading back up, after we've collected a Revival Orb from the chest.  I could've skipped the hole and used the stairs to get the treasure below in the first place, as well.  Joining the ghosts, pirates, and other sea-related enemies are Lizard Sailors and Lizard Marines. The spear-wielding ones are a bit of a pain because of their longer weapon range.  Keroro learns his second Character Skill, Pride, which slowly fills his BR gauge when he's not attacking. If this already sounds like a bit much, this is only the start of Keroro's path to utter brokenness.  The Pirate Hideout's second gimmick is oil-slick floors.  They're slow to walk on at first, until you go careening into a wall after holding a direction for a few seconds.  There's also holes and pit traps to look out for.  Who thought it'd be a good idea to soak half the ship in oil, anyway? Giroro could just fire one of his millions of guns at these barrels, and everything would explode into a glorious fireball in the middle of the ocean. It wouldn't really solve their problems, but it would look cool.  Puddles that apparently dripped down from the oil-slick floors above still have slippery physics.   wheeeee I find another Miracle Orb to replace my last one, though not for long.  Dororo doesn't take long to upgrade from Wind Shot to Brave Storm, a wind spell exclusive to him. It's pretty good damage- and range-wise.  From the name alone, it might not be apparent who can equip the Pirate Hook...  But it's a weapon for Tamama with some special attributes. First, it jacks up his attack a bunch, but lowers his luck one stage. I decided the attack boost was worth it for the upcoming boss.  Tamama's luck might be in the gutter, but that won't stop him from learning a cool new move: Heartbreaker.  First, he winds up,  charges forward with a single punch,  and knocks enemies the gently caress out. It can be chained seamlessly into another move, like Hell's Beat, to help cover him if the stun chance doesn't take.  Here's the final oil-slick room. It's the biggest one, riddled with pits and narrow paths.  It also does things like this. Someone eager for treasure might slide past it right into a pit.  But even if you're about to fall in, holding the other direction stops your sliding pretty quick. With good timing, you can skate through the oil rooms with little difficulty.  The dungeon's sole save circle signals a boss room ahead. Pirate Hideout Keparrow: Better Herb Speed Berry I found all of it when I got to the first oil slick room, actually. The rest needs keys, as always.   After cooking some defense-boosting food and making sure no one's wearing the Ball, it's up the stairs.  VIDEO: Vertigo Whiplash As Tamama enters, the music fades to silence, replaced by...  Ohhh ho ho ho! Ohhh ho ho ho!That laugh does not bode well.  And neither does that outfit.  Who goes there!? You had to ask.  Dammit, Yoshizaki.   So you're the ones who took such good care of my pet! And you're the pirate who attacked Port Cordelia! I knew it was ye, Ilinx! I hear ye been pillagin' left and right lately. Give back the legendary gun you stole from Momocchi and her friends! The legendary gun? If you want it back, you'll have to take it by force! Hup!        *cough* *hack* Help... someone hel... *cough* Gero... don't tell me... even though she's a pirate, she can't swim? A pirate who can't swim? What a loser!"Ha ha, you're drowning!"     *cough cough* *pant pant* Si... SILENCE! I can't let you go now that you know my secret! Prepare yourselves! Great, she's been scorned right before the boss fight.  Ilinx, like Alea, has a Man, Play, and Games theme going on. While aleatory games are based on luck, ilinx games involve inducing altered perception. That game you might've played as a kid where you spin around until you fall over, for example. Dropping acid also counts as a form of ilinx recreation.  While ilinx games can be fun, Ilinx herself is not.  Because she has a loving whip, and she uses it a lot.  It can send the entire party flying, even from across the battlefield, foiling attempts from melee attackers to get close enough to hit her.  So every time I do get close enough, I make sure to hit her earth weakness with Tamama's Earth Shake.  At times the party's too busy getting whipped to death to land a hit, but that doesn't stop supports.  Captain Frog fills a lull from our side with some damage of his own.  Despite Keroro's best efforts to keep everyone alive with Light Heal, Ilinx decides it's time for him to stay on the floor.  Besides her long-range whip strike that usually hits three times, Ilinx has a nasty whip-spike that, like all her attacks, sends frogs flying and screaming.  Thanks to Tamama's Jealousy skill and heaps of abuse, he snaps.  Blazing Rise means it's time to start spamming Earth Shake.  Over and over.  I do it so many times in a row that it weakens to chip damage. This is why you want to mix it up with different moves.  Despite the constant whip interrupts, Keroro manages to get off a fair amount of Light Heals, usually in the nick of time.  Hard mode Ilinx has 27,300 HP to chew through, and I need all the help I can get.  Giroro finishes the fight with Instant Threat before Keroro's body hits the ground.  Then he implies they should grind more.  In any case, we survived, and...  Got one of the 3 Legendary Armaments, Ragnarok, from Ilinx!  Ohhh ho ho! Well if you insist, I suppose I'll let you go for the time being. You're the one who lost. What're you getting all uppity about? Si... silence! I won't forget this!  Come on, let's go!  *cough* *hack* He--hey! I can't swi... *cough* *pant pant* Are you trying to kill me?! ...Jeez, what were you thinking?! Yeah, what are you thinking? What's your point? Si... silence! Come on, let's get out of here! The monster's back sprite glides over the surface of the water.  Gero... she got away before I could get over that little scene. Look at it this way: she'll know better than to show her face around here for a while. Plus, we got the legendary gun back. So let's return it to Momocchi!  I see... so you got rid of those pirates for us. You have my deepest gratitude! I have little else to offer as a reward, so please take the legendary gun with you. Really? But isn't this supposed to be a super important mermaid heirloom? Yes. But please take the legendary gun with you. Really? I don't know... Just SHUT UP and take the gun, dammit! As long as it's here, we'll just keep gettin' attacked!I think in game terms, this is "But Thou loving Must."  So... Momoel not only has Momoka's looks, but her quirks, as well... Meet Momoka Nishizawa's other personality, Other Momoka. Her badass side emerged when she first encountered Tamama. Soon after landing on Earth, Tamama was about to get killed by a horrible space monster. Other Momoka said she'd save him if he became her pet, he accepted, and now Tamama lives in a huge swank mansion, rolling around in mountains of candy every day. As for Momoka's split personality... she gets it from her mother. By the way, my fellow mermaids have found the Captain's ship. Gero! What a relief! Isn't that wonderful, my good Captain? I have allowed it so only you and your companions may enter here. Your crew are all alive and well. You'll find them waiting by the beach. Let's go look for the next Legendary Armament right away! Kukukuu... but there's no way in hell the ship's makin' it up that huge waterfall. Up the waterfall...? If you want to get to the upper world, I know of a way. Do you really, Miss Momoel? If you go east from here, there's an Undersea Volcano. Climb through the volcano's tunnels as far as you can, and you'll reach the upper world. You just keep helping us with everything ever, Momocchi! Sarge, let's go out to the cove first!  Well, blow me down... there not be a single scratch on her! I oughta share a few drinks with those mermaids sometime! All's well that ends well, my good Captain. Now let's set sail! We're heading east to the Undersea Volcano! Keroro Platoon, move out!Artes/Skills learned this update: Keroro Pride: Keroro's second Character Skill. When not attacking, his BR gauge slowly fills by itself. Tamama Jealousy: Tamama's second Character Skill. When taking hits repeatedly, his BR gauge fills, Limit Break-style. Heartbreaker: Tamama winds up and charges forward for a single knockout punch. Has a chance to stun the enemy. Dororo Brave Storm: A wind-elemental spell, and the next step up from Wind Shot. A tornado takes off from where Dororo stands, hitting everything across the screen in front of him. Kururu doesn't learn this, but later on... Next time: lava, and lots of it!  Swings, my favorite ilinx game. Lean back and ride a roller coaster; jump out and become Superman! How Ingratiating! fucked around with this message at 10:28 on Aug 19, 2013 |
| ← # ? Jul 20, 2013 07:04 |
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