|
 Legend of Legaia was a PSX RPG from the turn of the millennia. Whatever anyone’s thoughts on the game, it was considered a solid game at the time it was made. Some might even describe it as a classic, even if it’s not as well-known as something like the Final Fantasy games. This is not a Let’s Play of Legend of Legaia. Legaia 2: Duel Saga is what one would call a “sequel in name only”. It was released 3 odd years after Legend of Legaia in 2001 (in Japan). Due to some creative differences, the makers cut loose the writer from the first game and the result was something that not only barely resembled its predecessor but was also painfully mediocre. Some might even call it atrocious. I am firmly in the camp that calls Legaia 2 a bad game, but not an irredeemable game. There are moments of interesting content and genuine thought put into this game that mean it isn’t a total wash. Besides that, however, the gameplay is pedestrian, the plot is boring and bad, and there’s some content in this game that makes me want to puke. But hey, maybe we’ll have some fun doing a goofy Let’s Play of the game, eh? Why this game? Well, aside from the fact that I can find certain kinds of bad content entertaining.... I have a small history with this game and Legaia 1. Way back when I was a wee lad, I would frequently rent games from the local stores. I rented both of the Legaia games, but because I was a rock stupid kid, I was never able to complete them. I would keep renting them out in hopes of completing them, but never did. Legaia 1 I was only ever able to find in this one store when I lived out in this semi-rural community. When we moved into the nearby city, I wasn’t able to find it in any store. It wasn’t until high school that I would borrow the game from a friend and finally complete it. The game is hardly that special, but the journey of trying to complete it made it memorable. Legaia 2 I rented after moving to the city. I didn’t fully understand some of the things that were silly about the game and had a higher tolerance for tedious gameplay than I do now. I got a fair way through Legaia 2, but wouldn’t complete it until I was an adult. By then I’d realised it was a pretty dumb game, but it was still memorable as like Legaia 1 I’d gone through such an ordeal trying to complete it. As at least one other person has already LP’d Legaia 1, I figured I’d take up the mantle of LPing Legaia 2. It also has far more silly content to make light of than its predecessor. What about Legend of Legaia? As the games are barely connected to one another, you don’t need to know anything about Legaia 1 to understand Legaia 2, so don’t worry about that. I will be actively pointing out any links between the two games, but they’ll be minimal. What to expect of me This is the first Let’s Play I’ve ever done on this forum, so I’m hardly going to turn out a masterpiece on my first try. I may be awkward, I may be inept, but bear with me, and maybe we’ll at least have fun. I promise to improve as best I can. I am also a poor boy from a poor family, so I don’t have the money for fancy recording equipment and other tools. This is all gonna be whatever I can cobble together for free, so forgive any substandard presentation on my part. Finally, I am not a completionist even when I’m not detailing a game for other’s entertainment. If there is content in this game that is too arcane and complicated to reach, I will not seek it out. I will not make every item, nor fight every enemy. I will detail as much as possible, but mainly focus on putting out a piece of entertainment, not one of perfection. It’s not the actual gameplay that will be interesting anyway. No, I think people will come here to laugh at the game in spite of its best efforts. Also, no spoilers, naturally. I want people to be surprised by how dumb this game can be. Table of Contents Chapter 0 - Generically Humble Beginnings Chapter 1 - The Crabby Woods Chapter 2 - Lang meets his Dream Boy Chapter 3 - Grind Canyon Chapter 4 - The Fascist-Theocratic-Feudal Kingdom of Darakin Chapter 5 - Slowly Onwards to Mt. Gabel Chapter 6 - In the Hall of the Mountain Morg Chapter 7 - Two Sewers for the Price of One Chapter 8 - Storming the Castle Chapter 9 - The Day of Black Sun Chapter 10 - Lang's DESTINY Chapter 11 - My Sharon-a Chapter 12 - Chapter 8 Redux Chapter 13 - Meandering Aimlessly Chapter 14 - Pirates of Darek's Haunt Chapter 15 - Dull and Grey Chapter 16 - Questing on the side Chapter 17 - The Drokonia Fake Out Chapter 18 - Only a Sibling Elegy Chapter 19 - The Death of a Moustached Bean Bag Chapter 20 - Meander the World and the Seven Seas Chapter 21 - The Tournament Arc Chapter 22 - Raussicaä of the Tower of the Wind Chapter 23 - Sekuhara Ojii-san Chapter 24 - So near, yet so far Chapter 25 - Interdimensional Showdown Chapter 26 - Welcome to the Arena Chapter 27 - Arts, Cooking and Secrets, oh my! Chapter 28 - Hope Conquers All Chapter 29 - The End of Legaia LJN92 fucked around with this message at 23:11 on Jun 8, 2021 |
#
¿
Apr 6, 2021 01:00
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ Apr 26, 2024 00:41 |
|
|
Chapter 0 – Generically Humble Beginnings Music Playing – Wasteland of Far Away Places The moment we hit “New Game”, we are treated to a scene of a glowing, blue jewel that feeds water into a small lake, and the name of our hometown is displayed…  The Japanese reads as “Kouya no Machi Nooru”, which is exactly what it is translated as, although I guess they figured “Nohl” really needed that H. The camera zooms in on the large house at the back, and we see a redheaded girl walk through the house and enter someone’s room.  Who could she be yelling at, you wonder?  Why, none other than our protagonist, of course!  She resorts to drastic measures to wake him up.  Here, we are presented with the first of many dialogue/action choices littered throughout the game. They’re mostly harmless and result in little meaningful changes to what is going on, but what is interesting is that the choices you make earlier will affect the choices you get later, and how the main character talks in certain scenes. For demonstration purposes, I choose “Leap out of bed in a panic”.  It’s not nearly as entertaining as you might think it would be.  “Have you forgotten that today is your first day on the job?!? You’re impossible!”She turns to leave. “Everyone’s waiting for you!” We are now free to move around inside the house. We can find a few trifling items, but one is rather important…  The “Point Card”. This item will gather points with every purchase we make at stores in the game. The card can then be used as an item in battle to deal damage according to the points on the card. Yes, this allows us to cheap shot any enemy, including bosses.  We talk to Hawke, whose Point Card we just stole. He knows us, clearly.  Nancy urges us outside, and so outside we go.  Outside, a bunch of blokes are swinging swords in front of another bloke. Who could they possibly be? The protagonist stands around watching, until….  He ends up standing next to…  The “Galvan” that Hawke mentioned.  “Good, stoooooop! That’s enough for today!”The swordsmen stop their wild swinging. “We have a new member starting today…” Yet another dialogue choice. We choose to introduce ourselves normally.  “I’ll be joining you from today…”We are then given the chance to name our character. The default name is “Lang”. This will be his name for the purposes of Chapter 0. “My name is Lang. I look forward to working with all of you.” Galvan smacks Lang upside the head. His casual abuse will be frequent in interactions with him. “While you were in dreamland, you missed all of today’s practice session!” “Moving along.”  Important places and things are often highlighted in blue in this game’s dialogue. Dein lets out a “Tsk!” in response to Galvan’s orders. Someone has an attitude problem, methinks. “Back to your quarters, and get ready!” “And you, Lang! You come to see me when you’re ready. Got that?” “That’s it! Now go!!”The cutscene ends, and we are given free rein to wander Nohl and talk to people.  Dein: “How lucky you are…I wish I could just eat and sleep, and not do anything else…” We get another choice. I’ll not screenshot all of them from now on. We choose to “confront Dein”. “I just overslept today. I’ll do better than you when it really counts.”Dein: “Hmph! If you’re gonna talk the talk, you’d best walk the walk. Show us what you’ve got.” Dein: “I’m not your typical Corps trainee! Keep that in mind!”  We get the first of this game’s “nicknames”. They’re little titles you get for doing stuff like sidequests or seeing certain cutscenes. They have absolutely no function, although getting all of Lang’s does earn you an item later. “Swordholder”, as described in game, is “A non-title for a swordsman who’s never seen battle”. Great. We get this one no matter what we say to Dein, so you know. Dein: “Hmph! Listen, KID! I’m older than you! Show some respect to your elders!” We move on from talking to Dein. Marcus:: “Late from Day One!! Lang!! Be on time tomorrow!” This game sure does love its multiple exclamation marks. Understand that in most cases, I’m transcribing these directly, excessive exclamations and all.  Boerto is here, chatting up Edouard. He offers us another dialogue choice. I choose “no big deal”. “The monsters around here? They’re nothing. Corps work is nothing special.”Boerto: “Don’t talk like that. The safety of the town is in your hands. What could be more important?” Boerto: “Judging from his looks, you might not think so, but the Captain is very skilled. One day you might take his place.” drat, wonder if Galvan knows Boerto thinks he looks like a moron? Edouard: “Lang, you overslept on your first day!? Get it together man!” Edouard: “I have faith in you, brother. Good luck!” We talk to Nancy, seen tending the wee garden above. “Why hello there, sleepyhead. I thought Father called for you. Maybe you should, um, go and see him?” “Or you could always make yourself useful and help me with some chores around here.”Another choice is offered. I offer to help Nancy. “Sure, I’ll help you.” “If you tried to help me, it would create even more work for me!”We just can’t win. “Did you go to see Father? He’s hopping mad.”Despite Nancy’s urging, we decide to goof off and visit the town.  Shaun here is an elderly man sitting inside a house/barn. Shaun: “Aha…You’re starting today in the Vigilance Corps.” Shaun: “Your job is very important to Nohl. Bless you, child. And good luck!” Shaun: “Hmm…it’s a beautiful day. A perfect day to go out and work.” Some of these dialogues are from the second time you talk to them, hence this relative non-sequitur from Shaun.  This ladder in the barn can be climbed, but goes nowhere. Could this be some kind of mystery? A late game secret you return for after beating the final boss? Nope.  Outside, we find Joanne, who stands around raking her little field. Joanne: “Hmph! Does that mean you won’t be helping out at my shop anymore, hmmm??” Joanne does not actually own a shop, unless she happens to be the proprietor of the ones we’ll see later. She probably means her farm. Joanne: “Sheep look quiet and peaceful, but they’re actually quite quick.” Speaking of sheep, we can “talk” to the one behind her, unlike all her other animals. “It looks so soft…Maybe if I got on it…”We are then presented with the choice to hop on or not.  Our protagonist, everyone. Sometimes this game is incredibly banal, othertimes zany and batshit insane. Joanne offers no commentary on our molestation of her sheep.  To the west of Joanne are these kids. Koko admits to her wrongdoing instantly. Elukk: “This is my area! Get out!!” The other kid just tells us to sod off. We oblige, if only because we are presented with no dialogue option to backhand this sassy child.  In the western most house, we find Monde. Monde: “Humans need to work. You have to work if you want to eat. Isn’t that right?” Monde: “Working hard, dripping sweat every day. This is what life is all about!!” Clearly, Monde must be a very hard worker himself, no?  Further into the village, we find these two housewives chatting away. Eva: “Make sure you don’t turn into a person like my Monde, Lang! He’s not half the man he says he is!” Good heavens, to think Monde lied to us about being an industrious man! What a terrible twist of fate! Eva: “I wish I could just lie around like Maxell…What does he do all day be the lake?” Now we talk to Jill… Jill: “The hunting trip yesterday was a big success. Boerto told me all about it, the silly man. Why hello there, Lang!” Jill: “You’re starting today? Vigilance Corps is tough work! You take care, you hear?” Jill: “Maybe I’ll whip up your favourite, a nice roast lamb!” For shame. This game gives you myriad dialogue options to tailor your character’s personality, but can’t even be bothered to let you pick your favourite food.  Here we meet the Maxell that Eva mentioned. Maxell: “I catch the fish from the lake…They’re very fresh.” Either Maxell is lying, or Eva doesn’t realise fishing involves a lot of sitting around waiting for fish.  Hildyn: “Has it already been a decade? 10 whole years since Galvan found you at the lake…” Hildyn has just clarified that we are the adopted child of Galvan, who found us mysteriously next to the lake. Can you see where the game might be going with this? Note that this also makes Nancy our adoptive sister. Can you see where the game might go with that? Hildyn: “What a fine young man you have become…” Hildyn: “Lang…Galvan must think of you as a son…”  Inside a nearby house is Hanna. Hanna: “You used to be a naughty little boy…Now look how you’ve grown…sob…” Yes, “sob” is part of the dialogue. Maybe she actually said “sob” as a word? Hanna: “Let’s hope nothing happens today.” What are the chances of something significant happening to the protagonist’s hometown?  Mallory runs the item store. Mallory: “Ah! Starting with the Vigilance Corps today? I’m so proud of you!” The game obviously expected you to talk to her from the front first. Mallory: “This is the best item shop in town! Medicines, foods…you want it, we got it! Take a look around, my child!” It’s the only item shop in town, Mallory. The only other “shop” is for weapons and armour. Mallory has nothing special, just healing items, an instant retreat scroll, and one that lets you identify enemies. She gives us a pedometer as we leave. Naturally, it records all your in-game steps. You can get a nickname out of this pedometer, but I’m not sure what else.  Inside the weapon’s shop, we first find this little girl….swatting at the shelves with a….brush? It’s hard to make out even when you don’t take garbage quality screenshots like me. Anyway, we talk to the man at the counter. Haddam: “Ah, Lang! First day on the job, eh? Choose your weapons carefully!” Haddam sells only one weapon. It seems all the store keepers here have limited cognitive abilities. Joanne doesn’t even realise she doesn’t own an actual shop.  With Aston blocking the gate, the only thing left to do is to finally talk to Galvan.   More casual abuse. “…tsk! You pull something like that tomorrow, and there will be no supper for you!” “…Never thought I’d see the day that I’d be working with you.” “That little snot-nosed kid is now a little musketeer wannabe…you’re all grown up.”Small spoiler: we will never see anything akin to a musket in this game. “Nancy, on the other hand, has grown up rude and brusque…probably from living with all these fellas.” “She should act a little more ladylike…really…”You think Galvan became a big sexist from living with all these fellas? Hawke: “Lang, come here.”  Hawke: “Once you have a job, it means that you must be a responsible member of society.” I guess Monde never got a job.  Hawke: “The lake is always pure and fresh…Because that stone keeps it so.” Hawke: “The Aqualith…That miraculous rock sustains the life of this town.” Hmm, a magic rock/crystal associated with a specific element, that sounds awfully Hawke: “We must never forget our gratitude! Not just for the lake, but for Hunter’s Wood, the sky, everything!” “That’s right, Dad.” “So work hard, and don’t forget to be grateful!! That’s the point!” “Never forget that, Lang!” “Today we’re patrolling Hunter’s Wood! You’re coming with us, so get all your stuff ready!” “Once you’re ready, come to the town gates. Dein and Marcus: are already there, so look for them. What are you waiting for?” “Yes, I understand.”We are now free to leave. There’s little else to do in town, aside from see how the villagers have shuffled about.  With Maxell out of the way, we can now stare at the Aqualith.  Nancy is here to see us off at the gates, in an oddly cheerful fashion. “Gosh, hurry up!” “It’s your first day. Did you get everything you need?”You can say no, but that just means letting you go back into town. “Yeah, I’m ready to go.” “Are you sure? I bet you don’t have medicines and stuff on you!”She says this whether you have medicines or not, and gives you some. This prompts another dialogue choice: either be grateful, or get annoyed. We act grateful. “Hey, thanks for everything.” “Huh…What’s gotten into you?” “I’m just…making sure you don’t cause problems for everyone else!” There’s a word for this kind of behaviour in anime-related media. I think you all know the one. Galvan shows up after this.  Everyone turns to leave. “Oh, Lang? “Don’t overexert yourself! If you get hurt, come back and rest a bit, okay?....Now get going!” She shoves Lang out the gate. “Good luck, Lang!”We are automatically transported to “Hunter’s Wood”. Now Playing – Wind, Trees and Water (This track was lifted from Legaia 1)  The Japanese can be transcribed as “Kariba no Mori”. Technically referring to it as a place for hunting more than for people that hunt, but that’s just me being a pedant. “You’ve never been here before, have you, Lang?” “This is Hunter’s Wood.” “The people of Nohl depend on this forest and its living creatures for sustenance.” “But you’ve got to be careful…It may look peaceful, but there are monsters in this forest!” “And that’s where we come in.” “But relax. The monsters around here aren’t much of a threat. No need to get too worked up about it.” Dein: “A rookie like him might get eaten right away.”  An interesting trend begins here. Up till now, dialogue choices were all offered normally, but here, we get choices based on what we’ve said so far. Because I’ve been picking cocky answers, we get to say this to Dein; “Shut it, Dein! I can take care of myself!” “You just worry about you. And make sure you don’t hold the rest of us back.”Now, if you were a big wuss before coming to the woods…  You get a different option that amounts to pissing yourself with fear, and the confident answer isn’t even there (“modestly” is only slightly less pitiful than “I don’t want to die!”). Although this game is pretty bland overall, and the choices don’t matter too much in the long run, this is an interesting idea that must have taken a bit of effort to put in. The game will continue to offer little differences like this. Anyway, back to our confrontational response… Dein: “What?! Would you listen to this crap? Somebody hold me back before I beat him down!” “Leave him alone, Dein. Remember your first time? You were shaking in your boots.”Dein: “Me?! No way! Captain, come on! I wasn’t scared!” “Yeah, well…If you say so.”Dein: “drat right!” Dein: “Look, Captain. We’re going on up ahead.” Dein: “Come on, Marcus:. Let’s make this a quick trip – in and out!”  Marcus shrugs before leaving with Dein. “*sigh* What a guy.” “Well, follow me, Lang.” “I’ll give you a few pointers on what we do out here.” We are now free to explore the woods. However, this is where I will end this Chapter 0, as it’s long enough as is and we haven’t even made a few key choices. I want you guys to vote on two things; 1. What should the main character’s name be? “Lang” is the default name, but we can call him whatever we want. 2. What shall our personality be? This game has a whole slew of variations depending on the little dialogue choices you make. It would take a lifetime to play the game while getting you guys to vote on every possible choice, so you get a single vote now for a binding personality through the whole game. Option 1, a Nice Guy. No, not that Nice Guy. This will entail us being as polite, humble and kind as we possibly can in game. We will not do anything like threatening to hurt people who reject our advances. Option 2, a Cocky Hero. We take all the aggressive options in response to people we don’t like (Dein) and act like a nice guy to our allies. We might get a lot of opportunities to insult people real bad. Option 3, a Jerk. Basically like above but we’re mean to everyone. We might refrain from some of the creepier things we can do, though. Option 4, a Creepy Wimp. Meaning we’ll go through the game picking all the worst options. We’re cowardly in the face of danger, and creepy to everyone we can. We will have a cliché anime bathhouse scene in this game, and this option will have us peek. (No, there’s no actual nudity in this game that I’m aware of. There’s only one thing that comes close, and you’ll be hearing a lot from me about it when it comes up.) Choose wisely, for it will colour the tone of this whole Let’s Play. LJN92 fucked around with this message at 00:26 on May 8, 2021 |
|
#
¿
Apr 6, 2021 01:00
|
|
|
Thank you everyone for your interest, I'll endeavour to keep you guys entertained.Magic Fanatic posted:This picture right here? I've played the game, and even I had myself going "Are those letters s or x?". Yeah, I was a little worried with how those screenshots turned out. Now, as I said, I'm a bit limited in how much I can do to boost quality here, but I tried something...  You think this will do? One thing I've noticed is the emulator tends to make the graphics shift depending on where I am in the game, so that could be a big problem for me going forward.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 6, 2021 21:21
|
|
|
Chapter 1 – The Crabby Woods The majority has decided that our main character shall retain his default name, Lang. He will be a Cocky Hero, not afraid to brag and call his enemies names, but also not a complete rear end in a top hat to everyone he meets. This changes little about the choices I made in Chapter 0, so there’s no need to go over all that again. Where we left off last time, Galvan was just about to show us the ropes in Hunter’s Wood.  Galvan won’t even let us leave the woods until we’re done with the tutorial. So, on we go, but we don’t go far before…  Now Playing – Fragments of Soul We run into our first enemies. They’re called “Klaw Ants” but they should really be crabs. You’ll figure out why in due time.   And thus Galvan starts our tutorial. However, rather than simply detailing his tutorial, I am instead going to take the opportunity to detail the gameplay for you in my own way. Combat As this is an RPG in the style of Final Fantasy and others like it, most of the actual gameplay takes place in random battles. Like other RPGs, these battles play out in turns, where you pick what your characters do for said turn, and the enemies also pick their actions. Like most other RPGs (man I’m going to be saying this a lot), whether your characters act before the enemy is a matter of whether their statistics are higher than theirs. Sometimes this can mean the difference between killing and being killed. What’s not like other RPGs is how you preform attacks in Legaia 2.  Your primary means of attack is this system. You pick directional attacks (up, down, left, right), and the character will swing in that direction for their attacks. It’s difficult to adequately describe in text. You are probably wondering what the point of the different directions is. First and foremost, some enemies can only be hit with certain directional attacks. Encounter a flying enemy? Downwards strikes don’t connect. Encounter a particularly short enemy? Upwards swings go over their head. Some enemies are so short left and right swings won’t even hit. In Hunter’s Wood, this doesn’t matter because no enemies you encounter can’t be hit with all the attacks, so you won’t even realise this until you get later into the game. Galvan doesn’t explain the possibility either. You might think you can just constantly use whatever attacks hit the enemy in question, but you’d be wrong… Arts In the image above, you can see “Art Blocks” mentioned. That’s because the real purpose of these blocks is to let you perform “Arts”. They are essentially special attacks that do more damage than regular attacks. In the first tutorial, nobody even uses any Arts, and Lang doesn’t have enough Blocks to do them. However…  Lang gains a third Art Block upon levelling up. You can see the pattern here; you gain Art Blocks by levelling, and thus can perform more attacks in one turn. We are quickly given the chance to use our new abilities.  We run into some “Bloody Wolves”. This is our second tutorial fight, where Galvan introduces us to the concept of Arts.  Our first Art is “Blue Moon Buster”. See, if we were attacking certain enemies, the attacks in that combination might not hit, but we’d still need to perform them to use the Art. I can’t remember if certain Arts can miss too, but we’ll find out. Blue Moon Buster Demonstration That video should give you a good idea of how attacks work in general, as well as how Arts work as a concept. Every time you learn a new one, you get the “New Art” cut-in.  Moving on, we are introduced to “Super Arts”. As expected, Super Arts do more damage, but also consume AP. No AP? No Super Arts. So the basic formula becomes performing regular Arts to build up AP, then executing Super Arts to deal more damage. Sandstorm Demonstration All this is really quite unique as far as RPG battles go. Of course, the whole system is lifted from Legaia 1 with a handful of touch-ups. At first, one might think it’s an interesting and innovative way to do battle, and you’re not wrong…at least at first. The problem lies in the fact that the novelty of the system wears off. Eventually, the flashy moves become repetitive and you just want to get through the battles faster. As you get stronger, you unlock more Art Blocks and perform more Arts as well as longer Arts. Right now, the enemies are easily dispatched, but as the game goes on the enemies will require more effort to beat. Not tactical effort, but sitting through long Art chains until they die. It’s even worse if you don’t know the right tricks to boost your damage output. All in all, the Legaia combat system has its moments, but in the scheme of things, it will start to bore you. Here’s a general video on what to expect from encounters. Now I want to take a minute to talk about something else… Voice Acting If you checked out those demonstration clips, you’ll have heard both of our current party’s voices. Everything in a battle instance is fully voiced in Legaia 2. The Arts, the grunts, you name it, it’s voiced. As you might have noticed, the characters also say things for certain actions, like; -At the start of a battle. -Defeating an enemy. -Delivering the final blow in a battle. -Getting knocked down. It’s impressive that they put this much voice work into the game, especially considering this is definitely a low budget title. As for the voice quality, however… -Lang’s is fine. The actor sometimes wavers between a more youthful sound and a deeper voice, but it’s certainly not bad. It just so happens it’s Cam Clarke that does his voice, and I can barely tell. -Galvan just sounds so goofy. I can’t even tell what the voice actor was going for with him. It’s hard to take the character seriously, imagining any of his lines with that voice attached. As in all things with Legaia 2, the quality will wildly vacillate from here on. Anyway, back to the game, maybe? The tutorial battles are easily won, but before going any further, we can actually leave the forest now.  In Legaia 1, you had a traditional world map to move over, with random battles as you went from one place to another. Legaia 2’s is much simpler, where you just automatically move between locations on the map. No encounters happen, you just move to the icon on the map and click to go in. For now, all we can do is go back to Nohl, where we can buy more items, maybe some new weapons and armour. Either way, one must eventually carry on with the game.  Galvan introduces us to our main mission: culling the local population of Klaw Ants.  We spot one down the trail. It runs away…  Leading us into a terrible ambush! I’m just kidding. These things don’t do anything unless you touch them. Each Ant represents a battle with 3 Klaw Ants, so we kill 9 total. When all the Klaw Ants are beaten, we are expected to go find another batch of them elsewhere. We decide to goof off a bit instead.  Along the way, we encounter the only enemy not to show up in a tutorial: the “Flytrap”. These things take more than one round to kill, and can poison you, so they present a mild stumbling block compared to Klaw Ants.  We find Dein standing around here. ”Well I don’t see YOU doing any work, Dein!”Dein: ”That’s because you’re too green to notice I’m keeping watch for Marcus. Hmph!”  ”drat, imagine Dein turning out to be full of it. What a surprise.”We leave Dein and Marcus be, and go find the rest of those Klaw Ants.  This time, we find 5 groups, meaning a total of 15. But no matter how many are present, we easily beat them all.  Galvan brings our adventure to an end for the day. As we all know, this is the point in any adventure where we calmly go home and nothing significant happens, right?  What a twist!  Marcus: “That thing…! Never seen…anything like it!” “Shh. Don’t talk now. He’s in bad shape.” “Lang! I’m going to bring Marcus back to town.” “We’ve got to get him some help right away. Or else…he isn’t going to make it.” “Dein’s still somewhere in the forest. You look for him. When you find him, bring him back to town.” ”Now hold on a minute. I know I’m pretty awesome, but this thing just took on two of our number and left them for dead. Isn’t it better if you, the supposedly most powerful here, go make sure Dein’s okay? I can take Marcus back.” ”That would make more sense, wouldn’t it?”  “Eh, whatever. I can probably take this thing. It’s not like beating DEIN is impressive.”We are left alone to go find Dein. At this point, we can still encounter enemies.  We must fight alone now, but it’s not too hard. The game tends to hand out healing items generously in Hunter’s Wood too.  Dein isn’t far away from where Marcus was found.  “Marcus is hurt really bad. Galvan took him back to town.”Dein: “So that’s it, huh? Went off and left me, did they? It figures…*cough*” “Dein!! Here, lean on me. Come on! I’ll help you back to town.”Dein: “Leave me alone! I don’t need your help! *groan* *cough*” ”What was that? I couldn’t hear you over the sound of your near death experience.”Dein: ”Shaddup! You’re so green, you can’t even tell I’m just faking it!” All of a sudden, something is watching Lang from the tree line. A cacophony of sounds erupt: shaking trees, birds chirping wildly.  ”Dein, that’s not true. You’d be holding me back even if you weren’t hurt.”Dein: ”HMPH!” Dein: “Save yourself, Lang. Get away while you still can!” Lang simply turns to face the noises. Dein: “Hey…! What are you…? What do you think you’re doing? Cut it out!”  At first, all we see is feet. Then it slowly advances on Lang.    Now Playing – Inevitable Fate We must now do battle with the mother of all crabs.  In this phase, it primarily attacks with its claws. Until…  Lang slices off its right claw with cutscene power. It is reduced to slapping us with one claw, but it’s far from toothless.  Venom can cause the poison status, of course. It’s pretty trivial here, and I don’t even cure it in my demonstration video.  Lang hacks off another claw. This is actually bad for us, because now the Gather Crab will only use Venom, hitting harder than its two claw combo. It will also start doing this…   When I called it the “mother of all crabs”, I wasn’t being metaphorical. See why the ants should be crabs now? They’re literally born from a crab! Not that I know what kind of crab this thing is meant to be. Eventually, Lang Sandstorms the Gather Crab into submission.  Click the image below to watch the Gather Crab Boss Fight Note that the above is an example of me playing very inefficiently. I needed to get fresh footage for the boss fight and neglected to prepare for it, resulting in a very long and difficult fight. It is possible to make it much easier, but this video proves you can win even if you rush into it. Moving on…  The game sees fit to remind us that the Gather Crab is dead.  ”drat, if I didn’t know any better, I’d think you needed my help, Dein.” Lang starts carrying Dein away. Dein: “But let’s get this straight, Lang…You listening? *cough*” Dein: “*groan*…Don’t go thinking I owe your or nothing!” Dein: “I could have taken that monster if I wanted to. Easy! *cough*” ”Sure, buddy. Now let’s get you back to Grandpa Hawke so he can fix all the new holes you made today….” We find ourselves at home with Dein and Galvan. “…First Marcus, and then even Dein…” “Hey Lang, that big monster you were talking about…did you really take it down yourself?”We can either answer “honestly” or brag. Of course, we really did take it down alone, so is it really bragging? We are cocky, so we choose to “brag”. “Leave it to me! I can handle a monster that size!” ”I didn’t even buy any of Haddam’s gear to do it! Am I awesome or-“ Galvan slaps Lang down for his arrogance. “Don’t let your ego get the better of you, you little punk!” “You were lucky this time, but one small mistake and you could be dead meat!” “But I’m glad you escaped with only minor injuries.” “Good work, Lang. Keep it up…now go to bed early. You have to do it again tomorrow.” ”drat right I’ll do it again….”We are now free to roam Galvan’s house. We can actually go outside, but nobody’s around at this time of night. All doors are locked.  Marcus” “Before I knew what was happening…How’s Dein?” ”He’ll live. But I won’t let him live this down.” Aston presents us with another opportunity to brag. “Yeah! That thing was huge!...No match for me, though.”Aston: “…Well, then…You should still be careful.” ”You all doubt me, but it’s a true story!” “Is it true you took down some huge monster?”We get to brag. Again. “Heh! Amazing, huh? I did it all by myself! Alone! Just me!” ”What!? No! He wasn’t even there! That bastard, trying to steal my thunder….” “Don’t get cocky, Lang. You’ll get hurt that way.” “…Now go to bed. If you oversleep again, I’m not going to help you!” ”Okay, whatever, I’ve had enough of you doubters. Lying bastard Galvan….”We finally go to bed. But we do not sleep soundly…  Could it be the effect of the Gather Crab’s toxin? Now Playing (Sorta) – Repressed Past (I swear the above track isn't quite the same as the one that plays in game)   Has Lang been transported somewhere?  A mob is gathered around someone. Someone they just killed. Mob: “Kill the Mystics! They’re monsters!!” Mob: “You Mystic!! You cursed creature! Foul monster!” Mob: “Everybody! There must be some still left somewhere!! Find them!!”   Lang sees a boy next to him. A boy with a mark on his hand. Mob: “Hey! Look at the mark on his chest!! He’s one of them! He’s a Mystic, too!!” They noticed the bo-wait, no, the boy’s mark is on his hand…  They’ve seen Lang. Mob: “Aaaah!! Get him! Kill him!!” ”Pfft, bring it! I killed almost 30 Klaw Ants, 5 Bloody Wolves, a Flytrap and a huge crab today! I can take you guys!” ”You guys can teleport? That might be a problem…”  And then everything goes black. “Lang!!” It was all just a dream. “What happened? You were thrashing around.” I think the game gave Lang a “jerk” response here because it interprets taking all the bragging answers as being an rear end in a top hat. This is despite picking all the options to be nice to Nancy. The dialogue choices are pretty arcane to work through, and you can’t be sure which response gives what outcomes. “Someone’s in a good mood!! You were probably remembering what happened today and cowering!” ”You mean today, where I killed a giant enemy crab all alone?” “Go to bed! If you oversleep tomorrow, you don’t get fed!”After Nancy leaves, Lang ruminates on what just happened to him.  He sees someone that we didn’t see in his dream….or did we? Lang tries to make sense of what he just experienced before passing out. And that is where I shall leave this update. Join me next time, where Lang’s dreams come to life. LJN92 fucked around with this message at 07:22 on Jun 3, 2021 |
|
#
¿
Apr 7, 2021 04:58
|
|
|
Seraphic Neoman posted:First boss gives you one character, has a move that takes off 1/3 of your HP, makes adds and also poisons you? Kinda loving mean all told. On one hand, I didn't prep for that fight properly, so it's not as bad as it seems. On the other, you do have to put in a bit of effort to make it more manageable. I remember getting destroyed by this boss as a dumb kid. But prepare yourselves, because it only gets meaner from here.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 7, 2021 11:41
|
|
|
Chapter 2 – Lang meets his Dream Boy Where we last left off, Lang had just had a strange nightmare. Lang wakes up the next day, seemingly no worse for wear.  Nancy is the only person we can talk to before things really kick into gear at Casa Galvan.  ”So yeah, Galvan, we need to talk about you're a big fat LIA-” Monde interrupts everyone before anything can happen. Now Playing – Decadence and Corruption (Considering both the name and where this track is used later on, this is a weird one to play for this scene)  We are immediately taken outside, where the whole village has gathered around an injured Boerto. Jill: “My husband…will my husband be all right?” “….This is…very severe. I’ll need to get Dad on this.” “…..What happened….? Monde…” Monde: “No…that was no….it was not a man, it was…a demon…” This section really highlights how much the game loves ellipsis. “Nancy!!” Nancy comes running with Aston in tow. “Nancy, Aston, you take care of the rest.” “Edouard!! Here we go!!”Edouard: “Go….where?” “Where do you think, eh?! Hunter’s Wood!!” As usual, this is a non-choice which only serves to flavour your response. We choose to assume we’re going. “Galvan!! I’m going too!” ”I mean why wouldn’t you take the guy that took down a huge beast single-handedly on a dangerous mission?” “I won’t be able to look after you today.” ”…yeaaaaah, not really a problem considering-“ “Be quiet, and do as I tell you. Stand by in town with Aston, got it?” ”Alright, whatever. It’s not like someone could die or something…”Edouard and Galvan then rush off out the gate.  “Come on, hold that!”Lang is conscripted into hauling Boerto back to Galvan’s house. Not that we see him do anything, as the scene ends here.  The next scene opens with Jill presumably awaiting her husband’s treatment. “Don’t worry about Mr. Boerto…He may not look it, but Grandpa Hawke was an excellent doctor once!” ”Yeah!! I did kill all those monsters in Hunter’s Wood yesterday.” “If you got all of them, how would this happen to Mr. Boerto?” “If you really did your job well, there should be no monsters in Hunter’s Wood.” ”Okay first of all, that place is a goddamn NEST. I could kill 100 Klaw Ants and they’d still be infesting the place. Second, Monde said it was a MAN. A demonic man, but a MAN. I don’t think even Monde is dumb enough to mistake a Klaw Ant for a dude…” Boerto: “As Vigilance Corps officers, we’re doing what we can…” ”Also Monde said it was a man. Maybe don’t forget it’s not my job to scour Hunter’s Wood for strange men?” “…I’m sorry. That was uncalled for. But…” “But this is too horrible….How could…” Hawke returns from treating Boerto. Jill: “Mr. Hawke!! My husband…Is my husband…” Hawke: “He’ll be fine, he’ll live….He should stay in bed for a while, but he should be okay.” Jill: “Sob….Mr. Hawke, thank you so much!” Yes, once again, “sob” is written like a word. It’s not even between asterisks like *COUGH*. Jill runs off to be by her husband’s side.  Hawke: “I see Galvan has gone out there…I hope that he is safe.” We are presented with a choice to either go after Galvan or wait. But as usual, this is a non-choice, because picking to wait just has Aston tell you to go. But cocky Lang does not wait for orders.  “Lang!! Weren’t you told to wait in town?” “Of course…I’m worried about Father and everyone else, but I won’t let you act selfishly!” ”Oh right, cause I’m being sooooo selfish by volunteering to risk my neck for Galvan and Edouard.”Aston: “…Fine. Lang, I’ll take care of things on this end. You go and help out the leader and the rest of them.” “Aston!!” Lang ends the conversation with naught but a pump of his fist. We are now free to move and talk to people. “Lang…Take care of yourself….”Aston: “…Don’t worry about the town…Just go and do what it is you must do….” Hawke: “Lang, you must be careful out there.” We can even talk to Dein, who is at least conscious now. Dein: “….Oh. It’s you….What’s up?” Dein: “….They got Boerto at Hunter’s Wood?.....this is a bad sign….” Dein: “I’m injured! What’s it got to do with me? I’m going to sleep!” ”Smooth, Dein. Watch out, or people might think you actually care about Boerto.”Marcus is also up. Marcus: “What in the world is going on…? What’s all the commotion about….” Marcus: “What?! At Hunter’s Wood again? What is going on?” Marcus: “I would go to Hunter’s Wood too, if I could stand.”  Jill and Boerto are in Hawke’s room. For obvious reasons, Boerto hasn’t got anything to say. Before you can leave the house, Nancy interrupts you.  “About Father….We’re counting on you.”Now nothing can stop us leaving. The townsfolk have all kinds of things to say now, but I’ll focus on a few key quotes.   As you might have guessed, it’s raining now in game. And as everyone is saying, it doesn’t rain much, if at all, in Nohl. That means there’s no way to replenish their water supply except via the Aqualith.  Despite rain being peculiar in Nohl, Maxell has apparently experienced enough of it to know how it makes him feel. Eventually, we must continue on to Hunter’s Wood Before we face the plot, however, let us discuss Arts once again. New Arts Obviously Blue Moon Buster and Sandstorm were not going to be the only Arts in the game. Other Arts can be performed with different combinations. How to learn what combinations do what, you ask? Trial and error. That is the only way other than using a walkthrough that you will learn new Arts, outside of a few NPCs that teach them. There are plenty of combinations that do nothing, so be prepared to waste a lot of time trying to learn them all naturally. With only 3 Art Blocks, Lang can currently learn only 3 new Arts: Hawk Stroke, Blade Dance, and Mountain Crusher. Click here for an Art Exhibition. Now, as I explained earlier, the general purpose of different directional attacks is to hit enemies in different positions, like flying ones or short ones. The kicker is you can get through this game without paying much thought to your attacks. After a certain point in the game, it was no longer necessary for me to worry if certain combos hit better than others, because you would usually do enough damage regardless. There are a lot of Arts in this game, and yet you will likely only use a handful of them. As for which are the best out of the ones we have? I’m really not sure. Damage output seems semi-random, so all the Arts appear to do the same damage. There’s little difference between using Hawk Stroke as opposed to Blue Moon Buster. So it comes down to which you prefer, or which fit better into long combos. But we don’t need to worry about long combos for a long time.  We find Edouard in basically the same place as Marcus. ”Wow, who would have thought that Galvan dragging someone else into this would get them as beat up as Dein and Marcus? Nobody could have seen this coming.” ”Hey Edouard, you at least conscious enough to lean on my shoulder…?” Unlike Marcus, Dein and Boerto, Edouard just straight up dies. Poor Edouard, we hardly knew ye. Right where we fought the Gather Crab, we find Galvan… Now Playing – The God of the Evil Ones   …suspended in the air, before an oddly familiar man.    Galvan gets chocked and slammed with telekinetic force.  Despite Galvan’s plea, Lang rushes in to save him.    The mysterious demon man blocks his path.  ”Alright, rear end in a top hat, let’s go! I’ll bury you right where we buried that crab!” I think you can all see where this is going.  Yes, this is an infamous unwinnable battle, common among JRPGs. After 3 rounds, we get a cutscene.        ^ Click the above image to see the Pure Embodiment of Power ^ I would like to take this moment to note that Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders, had been a manga for some time before this game was released, and the OVA series began release just a year and a half before. Make of that information what you will.   “You and I are of the same breed. You should know what that mark on your chest means!” “The same race?! You and me?”  If you hadn’t already figured it out, the game makes it very very clear for you. ”That mark! You’re the man of my dreams!” ”I think it’s a bit inappropriate to flirt with me, here and now.” ”No, rear end in a top hat, I saw you in my dreams last night!” ”Hmm? Oh, yes, I’ve been told I have that effect on other Mystics. Anyway….” “Have you seen a stone that looks like this?” “That stone…”Lang then thinks of the Aqualith.  “The lake…in town….is it? That’s quite near.” “To the town in your thoughts. There’s a sacred stone there that I’ve been looking for.” “When I get the final sacred stone, the old race will perish! And it will be the dawn of the new era at last!” “There’s no way I’m letting a guy like you…get anywhere near that town!” “You would protect the town…? But why?” “What possible meaning could that town and those people have to you? They’re utterly worthless. Surely, you agree?” “Agree?! With you? I’m not anything like the monster you are!!” “A monster? You call me…a monster?”  (My people! Killed mercilessly…Just because we have power…!)    “Exactly the same!”   Despite his outburst, it seems “Gold Eyes” didn’t mean to kill Lang.  “Galea…?”Igohl: “If you let him live, he’ll only get in your way.” “You think this man could get in my way?” “Nothing could be a threat to my power. Impossible.”“Gold Eyes” turns to leave. Lang struggles to get up.  But yet again, it all goes dark for Lang.  A strange, glowing thing urges Lang to awaken.   We get a vision of our dream man doing….something. “…Soon, it shall begin…!” Lang finally awakens, back home in bed.  Nancy enters, surprised to see Lang up.  “!! I have to get Father!”Nancy rushes out of the room, leaving Lang to ruminate on his fate once more. (…What happened? I thought…That monster!...My chest!...) (Not a scratch on me…Was it…Was I dreaming?....) “*sniff*…If you had died…I don’t know what we would have done…*sniff* I’m so glad!” “….Galvan..I…..”I just want to note that there are often more ellipsis in these scenes than I transcribe. “Aston got to Hunter’s Wood just in time. But too late for Edouard, unfortunately….” “I can’t believe you’ve been asleep for 5 days!” “We couldn’t find any wounds, but you wouldn’t wake up at all….You don’t know how worried we were!” “You must be starving, right? Of course you are, sleeping all this time! I’ll go make you something right now!”Nancy leaves again, and Lang tries to get up.  “You don’t look injured, but that doesn’t mean there’s nothing wrong with you. Take it easy and rest up.”Despite Galvan’s suggestion, Lang gets up and starts talking to everyone.  “I can’t believe it…Marcus, Dein, and now Edouard…” ”I know. I always thought Dein would be the first to go…” “The Corps is in shambles…*sigh*…” ”Nice to see you too, Dein.”Dein: “I was sure you were a goner!” “….The same goes for you, too.”Dein: “That’s too bad! If you died, I’d take some pretty flowers to your grave! *heh*” Dein: (From the looks of it, he probably just came to.) Dein: (That means he probably doesn’t know about the lake yet. Too bad, so sad…) Golly, what could he mean about the lake? “Wh, what’re you wandering around for!? You obviously have to take it easy! You were sleeping all this time!” “Are you hungry? I’ll whip up something nutritious for you.” “Hey, Lang….The lake…No, forget it.” ”How can you say something like that and expect me to ignore it!?” Marcus is outside, by a gravestone. Yes, Edouard’s gravestone. Marcus: “Edouard, dead…drat! I can’t believe it!! I’ll never forgive the bastard!!”  Either Shaun hasn’t been filled in, or he has mental issues. Maybe they just shove everyone with dementia in the barn…  Unlike all the other characters who danced around the issue, Monde comes right out and states the painfully obvious. Now Playing – Mist Capital   ”Monde kinda came right out and said it. Including who took it.” ”…I’m going to have to have a word with him.” Remember how everyone was talking about how it never rains in Nohl? Yeah. “The Corps is in shambles, the Aqualith’s gone…What’re we supposed to do now?” “The future isn’t looking too bright…”Lang returns to his room to ponder the situation.  Here, the game offers you a rare, genuine choice. If you choose “I don’t know…”, a non-standard game over plays, where Nohl slowly perishes of dehydration. Nah, who am I kidding? I made it very clear from the start that these choices don’t matter. If you choose to dither, Lang makes up his mind to go anyway. (But if I could only get the stone…!! I might be able to save the town!...But…Do I have any chance of winning? Against a man with such powers? Against that monster!?...) (Just…Just sitting here isn’t going to accomplish anything!....I’m going!!!!) And so our quest begins: retrieve our village’s sacred rock from a dastardly villain.  Everyone’s in their rooms, but we can’t go in. Every door is locked, including doors to houses outside. We have nothing to do but leave the village.  We are intercepted before we can leave. Cocky Lang comes right out and says it honestly. “I’m gonna get it back!...I’m going to track down that man and bring back the Aqualith!” “Finally, you wake up, and now…You really are a piece of work, boy!” “Father! Wait!!? I thought you were going to stop him!!” “And YOU!! He wasn’t…human! He was a monster!! How can you possibly hope to win!?” “Nancy…It’s not a matter of win or lose.” “There are times when a man just can’t back down. You must try and understand that.” “B-But…!” “Lang, take this sword with you.” “It’s old, but the blade still packs a punch! It’s not much of a parting gift for such an undertaking but I hope it proves useful.” “…You should also take this Wind Talisman with you.” “I heard from Aston that the man went towards Gale Canyon. You’ll need this to pass through there.”We get exactly what Galvan promised: the Wind Talisman, with a wee jingle to indicate it’s an important item. “Now don’t you worry about the town, you hear?...” “I might be in trouble, but leave it to me to hold down the fort while you’re gone!” “Father!!...*SIGH*….Men…” “Go do what you have to do! But…You’d better promise you’ll be back!” “If you…don’t come back…I’ll…I’ll NEVER forgive you…” “….I’ll be waiting for you, boy!! Godspeed!...” Finally, Lang leaves Nohl behind. That is where this chapter will end. Join me next time, where I explain why I said parts of this game make me want to puke! LJN92 fucked around with this message at 04:35 on May 8, 2021 |
|
#
¿
Apr 8, 2021 21:53
|
|
|
Chapter 3 –Grind Canyon Where we last left off, Lang had set out from Nohl in the direction of Gale Canyon. Now Playing – Advancing to Far Away Places (Technically could have been heard a few times by now but I chose to plonk it here)  We could go there right now. Or we could just go back to Nohl.  Aston doesn’t mind that we left without saying a word.  Dein is naturally less than pleased to see us again.  Maxell introduces us to the first of a number of minigames in Legaia 2: Side Jumping.  He gives us a tutorial. It is….strange. To sidejump, you must first move the opposite analog stick from the direction you want to jump in the direction you want to jump. Then you move the other analog stick in the same direction. Then you have to release the opposite analog stick, and finally the same direction analog stick. Sounds like fun? Rather than following the game’s directions, however, I just decide to mash the keys.  I destroy Boerto at sidejumping. For winning, we get the “Sidejumper” nickname. What’s a bet you forgot those were a thing by now? We also get “Boost Oil”, an item that boosts all statistics by 10% for one battle. This is actually useful for boss fights and stuff.  Turns out Shaun really does have dementia. I must have been right about the barn.  Talking to Nancy initiates a small scene. “I was so worried about you! Are you all right? You’re not hurt, are you?” “And….The Aqualith…Did you find it?”We can either answer honestly or “pretend to have a lead”. Pretending is just pathetic, so Cocky Lang chooses honesty. “Uh…Actually I haven’t found much of anything…” ”I know I’m great and all, but even I’m not going to catch up to that demon guy on foot. Probably no harm in letting him go back to his base and THEN finding him.” “I see….Father sent you off with such confidence…” “But are you really going to get the Aqualith back from that terrible man? You might be killed, Lang…” “That’s true…But I can’t just sit here and do nothing about it!” ”Also he said he didn’t want to kill me before I passed out, so I might be safer than you think.” “…You’re right! You’ll never achieve anything if you’ve already given up in the first place! Uh-huh!” Galvan’s here too, but he doesn’t warrant a scene. “Did you find the bastard? And the Aqualith? Did you get it back?” “I’m sorry…I, I haven’t got it back yet…” “Oh!...N, no, it’s all right. I should be the one apologizing. I’m just a little edgy right now.” “There’s no need to feel bad about it, boy! I know you’re doing the best you can. What matters most that is you’re safe.” Basically, every time you get through a major plot event or dungeon or what have you, you can go back to Nohl (and other towns) and see optional scenes like this. As we get more party members there will be more scenes involving them too. This kind of stuff is my jam. Games that take the time to let you get to know the characters you’re playing as always earn points in my book. But we shall see exactly how well Legaia 2 handles this in the future. Anyway, it’s time to finally go to Gale Canyon.  The moment we step inside, we find a chest with a charm item. Equipment in Legaia 2 is pretty standard stuff for the most part. You have armour to equip for different parts of your body: the chest, the arms, and the legs. You also get slots for extra items, such as this Pickpocket Charm.  As you can see here, equipping certain stuff increases your “Weight”. If equipping something would take you over your weight limit, then the game won’t let you. It adds a small measure of strategy to what equipment you use, but it doesn’t matter much in the long run. As I will show you when we reach a certain point in the game, it’s not so hard to trivialise your equipment worries. As you might expect, the Pickpocket Charm lets us steal from enemies. But it doesn’t do so merely by equipping it.  Skills must be equipped. You have Offense Skills, that activate upon attacking, and Defense Skills, which are passive. You can only equip one of each. There are other kinds of skills that don’t need to be equipped, and instead enhance the character wearing the accessory, but we don’t have any of these yet. Now enough about items and skills: let’s get into the canyon.  Lang stands in the middle of the big tunnel of wind we saw coming in.   (It did make that sparkly effect, and Galvan told me I’d need it…..but then again, correlation does not equal causation, right?)Now we are free to traverse Gale Canyon.  Or not. Our attention is called to a scene elsewhere in the canyon. Now Playing – Eri and Mari   “Yes. That’s the only place we haven’t searched yet. What’s the matter, Bubba?” “Don’t tell me you’re scared? For a big, brawly guy, you sure are a wuss sometimes. Hee hee hee!” “It’s not his fault, Marienne. After all, he’s not a Mystic like us.” “Hee hee hee hee! You’re right of course, my brother.” “He may be big, but he’s just a regular human!” This is it. This is what makes me want to puke. If it wasn’t obvious, if I had not slapped my avatar there, you would be able to see Marienne’s underpants. “Panty shots” are rather ubiquitous in certain types of anime-related media. They’re often used as a cheap form of soft-core pornography under the assumption their viewers will enjoy such things. For anyone that doesn’t, they can be especially uncomfortable, not just because they’re examples of gratuitous sexual content, but because those getting their panties shown aren’t necessarily adults. Take Rosario Vampire: it’s all about high-schoolers that start at age 15, and it doesn’t once shy away from showing you their underpants. Marienne’s age is not explicitly stated, but she sure doesn’t look 15 (not that it would make this better). Lang is canonically 17, and Marienne will barely come up to his waist. One could make some argument about how she could just be exceptionally short and totally of a reasonable age, but that’s opening a whole new can of worms I don’t want to get into. I will fully admit that I don’t think the developer’s intention here was to fetishize a little girl (but I won’t rule it out entirely). My best guess is this is meant to be a joke. Like “Haha, she’s fat and ugly, her underpants are showing, and you have to look!” In the Simpsons movie, there is a scene where you see Bart’s penis. I didn’t find it very funny personally, but I can at least see the comedic elements: it occurs in the midst of a long scene where they go to lengths not to show you, only to casually reveal it as a shock. But we had no reason to expect to see a little girl’s underpants today. There’s no timing or exceptional circumstances here. The game just presents fat little Marienne’s underpants like it’s no big deal. And Marienne’s underpants will be shown far more than in just this one scene. The best I can say about this is it’s a really tasteless and stupid joke. The worst I can say, well… I think I’ve ranted about a little girl’s underpants long enough now. Let us move on to less creepy things. “And that nasty, little pet of yours! What do you call it? Elfa…Elfin?” (Pet!? Elfin’s not just a pet! Oh, now you crossed the line!) (You’re gonna get it, you little pig! I’ll make you pay someday!) “Hmm? You’ve got something you want to say, Bubba? I didn’t think so. Well, go on! Start searching!” “My sister and I are tired. If you find a Mystic, come back here and get us, OK?” “Didn’t you hear my brother?! I certainly hope you haven’t forgotten who saved you from a life in the dungeons, hmm?”  Bubba and Elfin head into the canyon.  And so does Lang. The translation is accurate as far as I can tell. Now Playing: Inaccessible Road  The most common enemies here are these “Baki”. They’re quick little things that can steal from you. But you can just get your item back by killing the Baki that took it. Interestingly, Baki come with different weapons. Some have clubs and swords, like the ones pictures above.  Others come with axes, like this one. Let me briefly explain a small game mechanic: blocking. While many games have blocking in some form, in Legaia 2 every attack in a chain can potentially be blocked. This includes Art attacks, so even if you hit every other attack, the Art can be blocked and you’ll do significantly less damage. Baki have a high chance to block attacks, but have such low health it’s not terribly annoying. They also hit like wimps.  Vultures hit a lot harder than Baki and can poison you.  Rock Golems are the meanest of the bunch. They take a lot of damage and hit hard. If there’s a generic enemy in this canyon that could give you a game over, it’s these assholes.  Curious. But we have no way of interacting with this right now.  This thing runs away from us as we approach.  But when we cross the gap, it suddenly wants to fight.   Or not. Lyps is a monster from Legaia 1, originally called a “Lippian”. Even if you’ve played Legaia 1, the Lippian was so insignificant it’s unlikely you’d remember it. Lyps will occasionally show up in Legaia 2 as random encounters. If you kill them, you get a valuable item, but as demonstrated they run away ASAP, so you have to be fast enough. It is nigh impossible to kill one here without grinding, so beats me why they made whole scene for one. Maybe they just felt it was that important you understood what a Lyps was all about? Eventually, we move on to the end of the canyon.   Now Playing – Elfin Elfin, Bubba’s “pet”, blocks the way. If you look up anything about this game, you will discover Elfin is notorious. She is the whole reason this chapter is named “Grind Canyon”. In a nutshell, Elfin will destroy you unless you grind to a certain level or get really drat lucky. Even if you buy all the armour you can at this point in the game, Elfin will still commonly deal 100-150 damage with every regular attack. Note I said regular attack.  You best guard every time Elfin uses this, or you’ll probably be destroyed in one hit. Even while guarding, Elfin can deal close to 300 points of damage with Maiden Passion.  This one takes away your AP, meaning you can’t use Super Arts until you get more.  Try as I might, I cannot defeat Elfin without grinding, and so grinding I go.  This area right here is burned into my memory. I spent so long as a kid, running between these two trees, trying to reach the level I needed.  That’s the sweet spot. With 4 Art Blocks, we can now preform a whole new slew of Arts. The best thing about these Arts is they give you two hits, meaning you actually hit the enemy 5 times total. This includes a bunch of new Super Arts, some of which can cause status effects, but I don’t recall ever getting them to work. Click here for the 4 Block Art Exhibition. With our new abilities, we manage to take down Elfin. Click below to see Elfin’s defeat.    “It just attacked me. It’s not my fault.” “…Elfin….” “Why you…I’m gonna…I’m gonna…”   “Ohoooo…? I never expected to find a Mystic way out here…” “How fortunate we are, Marienne!” “So true, my brother, so very true! What’s the matter Bubba? What happened to your little beasty?” “Ha ha ha! Don’t tell me it’s dead? That’s why you’re crying?! Ha ha ha ha! Bubba, you’re such a wuss!” “AARRGGGH! I can’t take it anymore! You little pig! I ought to…!” “I don’t think you understand your position. You don’t ever, ever, talk to me like that…” Marienne laughs and the siblings turn to Lang.  “But enough of him…That mark on your chest…You’re a Mystic, aren’t you, young man?” “You’re just like Marienne and I! Surely you can see that we’re nothing like that lowly human cowering over there, can’t you?” ”Yeah, you guys are definitely nothing like him…” “We’re looking for…people like us.” “People worthy of living in the paradise we’re going to turn this dirty world into.” “What do you say? You’re welcome to join us if you want. You’re very lucky we found you.” “That’s right! We treat our slav…I mean, subordinates very well!” I vaguely remember once getting the option to accept here, but I tried recreating it once before making the LP and failed. But as in all choices in Legaia 2, even if you accept, they just say something about how Lang looks weak and they need to test him in a fight. Anyway, we know which option Cocky Lang is picking.  ”First off, you, Purple Pants Boy? If you were to come out as gay, this game would have been cancelled for perpetuating homophobic stereotypes.” ”And you, fatty? I’d tell you to put on some pants, but I’m afraid they’d rip and I’d see MORE of your nasty underpants.” “Oh my! Hmm…Someone needs to learn some manners…” “Indubitably, Marienne. Don’t try to apologize now, young man, it’s too late!”  “You better be ready too, little man…”  As this battle is laden with opportunities to look up Marienne’s skirt, I am going to be showing as little of this battle as possible. There will be no full video of it to be sure. I will, however, show you this one cut scene that plays on the first turn. No panties there. Click below to cower and the power.        This battle is technically unwinnable. While Elliott and Marienne don’t hit that hard in general, they have special attacks that can easily destroy Lang if you’re not lucky. They also block a lot, so you’ll be doing very little damage to them.  Elliott and Marienne also introduce us to the fact that “Hyper Arts” are a thing.  Funnily enough, they’ll give you the impression these Arts aren’t very special. When we get some, however, they’ll hit for a lot more than this.      This is our introduction to Origin attacks. There’s no warning that they’re coming, unlike Elfin’s Maiden Passion, and they easily hit for 350-400 damage. This is over half Lang’s current health here. It’s very easy to get wiped out by these attacks. This here is Elliott’s Origin attack.      However, I decided to use All you have to do is take down either Elliott or Marienne. I pick Elliott because, as you might expect, taking down Marienne shows you more of her goddamn underpants.   “He’s just playing with us.” “He’s not even using the Origin.” “…You’re asking for it!”  “Don’t look at me. I can’t stop her.”   The last cut scene plays regardless of how you end the battle. Defeat Elliott, defeat Marienne, or just lose, and you get to see this.         I choose to just lose to them ASAP, as you gain nothing from any technical “win” you manage, and will waste a lot of healing items.  “He was certainly no match for us.” “Huh…?” “I think…I think he’s still alive!”  “He’s…mine! Let me finish him off! Let me avenge Elfin’s death!” “Oh, shut up. There’s nothing left for you to do, Bubba. Just be quiet and behave.” “Why don’t you bury your ugly little pet? I can’t stand the sight of it! Ha ha ha ha ha!”  “Hah! A lot of good it did him! He probably had it tattooed on!”Marienne starts stomping on Lang’s chest. Once again, we see far too much of her underpants.   “We’re going to break his spirit and turn him into a loyal subordinate!” “Absolutely! We’ll turn him into our loyal slav…subordinate!”   And there the scene ends. We had a hell of a time. First we had to grind to beat Elfin, then we got cut scene’d to death by the siblings, and the whole time we had to be exposed to Marienne’s undercarriage. Join me next time, where we finally get a new party member. LJN92 fucked around with this message at 04:41 on May 8, 2021 |
|
#
¿
Apr 10, 2021 01:25
|
|
|
Chapter 4 – The Fascist-Theocratic-Feudal Kingdom of Darakin Where we last left off, Lang had been captured by the dastardly Elliott and Marienne.  We awake here.  There’s nothing to do in this cell except save the game or interact with the door.  “Now, now, Marienne. She is a Mystic too after all…”We see Elliott and Marienne pass by the door’s window.  And someone else. Is this the “ugly little witch”? Unlikely, since they’re trailing behind the siblings. “Grr! You’re too soft-hearted, Elliott! Ugly!...little!....witch…!” Lang suddenly leaps back after something smacks against the door. “What? What’s going on…?” “What the…!! It’s you!!”  “I got permission, you know…Permission to get revenge…” “Revenge on you for killing my poor Elfin! You’ll taste my wrath!”   You wouldn’t know it, but this is actually a plot point.  We transition to Bubba beating up a Lang, who is doing his best Jesus impression.  “That’s just about enough, Bubba. He’s unconscious already.” “We’re going to make him our slave…um, I mean, servant, so we don’t want you to kill him.” “Are you really so upset over losing a pet?” “If you want, I could buy you a new one.” “El-Elfin wasn’t…just a pet…” “Elfin and I…were tied by the bonds of true live…! Elfin…! My poor Elfiiiiinnn!!” “*Sob!* *Blubber!!* You could never understand! How we felt about each other…!”This is the first time the game remembers to treat “sob” like a onomatopoeia. Bubba continues to beat on Lang, until…      “I understand how you feel, but that man is a Mystic. And you know I’ve told you time and again…” “…that Mystics are the messengers of the gods…” “Beings sent by the gods to bring eternal paradise to this world.” “A Mystic’s life is far more important than yours, let alone an animal’s life. Learn your place!!” “*Grr!*”Bubba backs off.  “You poor thing! What have they done to you?” “Well, are you awake now? Here, I’ll have your chains undone.” “You’re in the town I rule, Darakin. This is my castle, Doplin Castle.”This guy is called “Bishop Doplin” and his castle is “Doplin Castle”. It’s unclear if Doplin is his first or last name. If the former, he’s gone and named a castle after himself, which is very fitting considering what we’ll learn. If the latter, it implies Darakin is some kind of hereditary theocracy. What a place. “I’ll have to keep you prisoner for a while.” “Huh? Prisoner…?”     “We’re now going to train you to be our faithful slave…um, I mean, servant!”We get to respond. If we were a big wimp, we could cower and beg them not to hurt us. But Cocky Lang is no wimp.  “Is that any kind of way to talk to me?! You’re nothing but a monkey! Chee chee chee!” “It certainly is a fine mark he’s got there! I bet he holds quite an amazing Origin!” “That’s the thing, Bishop Doplin…He won’t show us his Origin.” “Maybe we should have gone a little easier on him…? Ha ha ha!” “Elliott, you’re too soft-hearted for your own good!!” “He’s just trying to make fools of us!!” “If I really got serious, I could make him do anything I wanted! You! Take that!!”Marienne starts poking Lang. With her underpants showing, as this game delights in ensuring.  “If he gets damaged before we show him to Avalon, he’ll be mad at me! Can’t have that!” “Avalon…?” “Yes, the greatest Mystic of all, chosen by the Supreme Origin.” “He is our leader! He’ll turn this chaotic, impure world into a true utopia!” “You’ll understand when you meet him. You’ll see his absolute power for yourself!” “Undo his chains and let him rest in the prison. He’ll be one of us in the future. Treat him well, do you hear?”Sure, Doplin, just leave it to the people who’ve been torturing Lang in front of you this whole time to treat him well.   “Oh, Velna! Ho h oho! Yes, I imagine Avalon will be pleased!” “Yes, I’m sure. I’ve made preparations for a celebration in the central building.” “Oh! A celebration, you say? How delightful! And you lot, come along!” The game ominously focuses on Velna’s face as Doplin and the siblings walk away.  Guard 1: “Great job, Mr. Bubba! And to think you were once a prisoner under a life sentence!” Bubba suddenly stops. Guard 1: “I-I’m sorry! That was rude of me! Please forgive me!”  Bubba dumps Lang on the ground.   “drat you!! You son of…!! I’ll kill you! Kill you!!”Guard 2: “Stop, please, Mr. Bubba! If you kill him, we’ll be blamed…!” “drat! I can’t stand this!! Can’t take it anymore! You guys take care of him!” This is also a critical plot point. Guard 1: “Whew! Mr. Bubba sure is in a bad mood today!”  Guard 2: “Are Mystics really worth all this fuss?” Guard 1: “Yeah, I wonder. Mr. Bubba broke the door to this room, so we can’t use it.” Guard 2: “Well, what’re you gonna do? Let’s put him in the room over there.” Lang is then dumped inside a nearby cell. But he is not alone…  Everything fades to black.     The girl makes some odd movements, as if troubled by something. Then she starts moving her finger on the ground…. Now Playing - Maya  This is our opportunity to name our new party member. Every party member in this game can be named, just like the protagonist. As everyone firmly decided on the default name for Lang, I’m going to go ahead and stick with the default name for Maya.   “My name’s Lang.” “You…? Can’t you talk?” *Nods* “Hey! That power…That power you just showed me! What exactly was that…?”   “Do not be frightened.” “You, too, are a….Mystic, are you not?”We’re given a choice of dialogue. We can deny it, ask what a Mystic is, or sort of confirm it. We choose to ask, because who wouldn’t want to know more? “Please tell me! Just what in the world is a Mystic anyway?!” “It is a being that holds an Origin, and embodiment of power, and the mark that binds that Origin to him.”Strangely gendered language, considering Rivas’ Mystic is Maya. “Embodiment of power? What are you talking about? Can’t you explain it any simpler?” “It is difficult, I agree. But even if you do not understand with your mind, I am sure your body knows…” “That mark on your chest…It is a symbol of your Origin.” “This mark is just a plain old birthmark! It’s not what you say it is! I’m no Mystic!!” “Stop saying that!! I’m NOT a Mystic, I tell you!!” “I do understand what you are feeling now. But all the same, you ARE a Mystic…” “Nobody can change that simple truth. Please accept…” “Shut up!! Go away!! Just disappear, why don’t you?!”  Rivas fades away at Maya’s behest, and they leave Lang to sulk about how he doesn’t want to be like THEM.  Maya goes to sleep, and sometime later, Lang decides he’s had enough.   He notices the wall. Specifically, where Bubba punched it.  (Hey! Maybe I can break it…!)Lang rears up to charge into the door…  (I think I’ll give it another try…)This whole segment makes you repeatedly click on the door. First just to find out it’s wobbly, again to charge at it, and you do that twice more just to break the door open. You’d think they could just make it one big scene?   (Not even Maya noticed and she’s-) (Oh, there she goes.) (Now, what should I do…about her…?) (It’s not my problem!! She’s a Mystic just like they are, anyway!) (I’ve got to get out of here…fast!!) (I bet they treat her pretty badly…Just like they treated me…) Maya seems to hesitate. “Come on. I’m not gonna leave you here.” Two gruelling boss battles into the game and we finally have our second character. We are now free to explore Dolpin Castle. Now Playing – Decadence and Corruption (This track first played when Boerto was injured. Odd overlap, don’t you think?)  Or at least whatever isn’t blocked off for now. Our only option right now is to go into this area’s basement.  ”So I figure you wanna hear how I got into this mess.” ”?” ”It’s a pretty epic story, so brace yourself. Anyway, it all starts when I slept in on my first day…” If we hang around near this cage, this thing jumpscares Lang.  ”I sure have been dealing with a lot of weird beasts and pets lately, Maya, let me tell you. First there was this giant crab, but it didn’t look like a crab…” We get our items back here. The game is kind enough to not force us to re-equip anything.  We find these weird vats in this lab. I’m reasonably sure the one in the centre is a Legaia 1 reference, specifically the first Seru beast you encounter.  You can drink all these coloured vials. The blue one restores MP but damages HP. The yellow one damages HP sevrely. The green one heals everything. The vials respawn upon re-entry, so they exist to let you heal in this dungeon. We head back upstairs.  ”…and Nancy tells me GALVAN claimed to have beaten it up first! Isn’t that the biggest load of bull you ever heard!?” ”…” ”Good talk.”  Welcome to every encounter in Doplin Castle save the boss fight. If you were thinking these fights would be far easier now that we have a second character, you’d be dead wrong.  Maya cannot attack. ”Quick, Maya! Use your wacky magic to blast the guards!” ”I am a Life Origin. I only give life.” ”Pure embodiment of power my rear end….”Fortunately, the enemies here are no threat whatsoever, so Maya can just guard all day while Lang does the work. Speaking of these enemies, they’re the first human enemies we’ve faced outside of boss fights. This means they have something more than grunting to do when they die. Commonly, you’ll hear them scream “LORD DOPLIN!” as Lang kills them. The only logical conclusion is that Doplin has enforced a Fascistic cult of personality around himself and inspired his mean to fanaticism. Makes sense, seeing how up his own rear end he is. Click here to have the words “LORD DOPLIN” burned into your memory. After defeating those guards, we move on and find these two chilling out in a side room.  Guard 2: “That Mystic we found in The Forest Maze? Yeah, she sure has some willpower!” Guard 1: “Capturing her was one thing, but would she ever really join our side? And how about that guy Elliott and Marienne brought in?” They then notice Lang is there.  Guard 1: “Hey, you!! How long have you been there?!” A fight ensues. They are easily beaten, like any other encounter here.  Here we find the first of this game’s readable items. You can access it through the menu, like so…  Darakin Rag: Established to weed out those so-called messengers of God, the unit has succeeded in identifying 2 Mystics this year! You know, Doplin himself said “the gods”, whereas this Rag says “God” singular. Darakin Rag: Bravo to Lord Elliott! Lady Marienne is also pleased with her bother. Oh, what a rosy future for our great kingdom!” Darakin, the kingdom without a king.  We begin a short, crude stealth segment.  The obvious idea here is to dash between hedges until you get to the other side. Getting caught just starts a fight with two guards. You are then forced back to the start of the maze. At first it seems like fighting accomplishes nothing…  But then, you will see less guards about. Eventually, there will be no guards at all. I have no idea if this is intended to be a crutch for people who can’t figure out how to stealth, or just recognition of you butchering your way through the castle. Eventually, we make it through to the central building. There’s a few rooms to explore there, but not much to do other than try to leave.   This lever lowers the drawbridge and enables our escape.  Ladies and gentlemen, it is time for the best part of this game so far. Now Playing - Knight's Kingdom   The man…  The myth….    The legend…     The MIGHTY Balken!  “If you consider yourself a real man…” This is the first and possibly the last time we’ll get to have a genuine duel with anybody in this saga. Title! Also, this is the first time your choice will have a meaningful impact on the gameplay. If you accept, you’ll actually fight the MIGHTY Balken alone. If you ignore him, Maya joins you as usual. Here’s what he says when you ignore him: “Alternate MIGHTY Balken” posted:
But Cocky Lang won’t wimp out on this challenge.   “If we had met under different circumstances, maybe we could have been friends, shared a drink or two…” “However! As you know…there can be no mercy when it comes to battles…Here I come!!” Maya is there only as a piece of the background. Unfortunately, as entertaining as the MIGHTY Balken is, this boss fight is piss easy compared to anything before it. It’s even easier if you have Maya to heal you. Every round, a cut scene plays, with the drawbridge closing, and the MIGHTY Balken chewing the scenery.  “However! Time keeps slipping away…” “Hmm?? Hurry! Hurry, I said!”It takes five rounds for me to defeat him with Lang alone. This lets us enjoy all of the MIGHTY Balken’s scenes.     The MIGHTY Balken is a MIGHTY ham and it is delightful to listen to.   The MIGHTY Balken hits us with this on the third round. Fortunately for us, the MIGHTY Balken is too slow to capitalise on this kind of damage.  “Ever since I was born to the Mesai clan as one of 3 boys…” If the MIGHTY Balken were a party member in this game, it would have been vastly improved, as far as I’m concerned.  “Have not the young nobles understood? You draw closer to your fated end…” “I shall speak of this battle, this encounter with the young nobles, for years to come.” “And now! As the crest of Saint Joprian is my witness…chivalry thrives within this body!”I could have ended the fight here, but there’s one more scene to see.  “Once the drawbridge is closed, there is nowhere to go!” “Embark on your journey to death!” Unfortunately, the MIGHTY Balken will have to tell the dead of himself personally…      As a parting gift to the young nobles, the MIGHTY Balken flattens the drawbridge with his MIGHTY body. A recognition of their feat of bravery and might. If we were to defeat Balken before the drawbridge closes, however, we get an alternative scene… ”Alternate MIGHTY Balken” posted:
Click the below image to see the young noble duel the MIGHTY Balken.  Guard: “Don’t let them get away! Raise the drawbridge!!”    Lang and Maya escape by jumping onto the top of the gate from the rising drawbridge. They can now escape across the rooftops.  “What is it? What an awful lot of noise! Do you have any idea what time it is?”Guard: “Yes, Highness! Apologies, Your Majesty! But the Mystics locked up in the annex escaped…I thought you’d want to know…” “Wh…what did you say?! You fools!!” “*Sputter!* What happened to Balken?! The Mighty Balken?!” “Looks like somebody escaped, Marienne. Maybe it’s that young man we captured today.” “*snort* A feeble boy like that? Escape? Ha! The guards or the Knights would just catch him and put him right back in prison!” “Ha ha ha! Yes, I’m sure you’re right, Marienne…”We cut back to Lang escaping. Eventually, he finds he has nowhere else to go…  Lang and Maya don’t get far inside before…      Sabrina: “Hey, you two…” Sabrina: ”Stay right here!” Sabrina and Nils go downstairs. We have no choice but to follow them.  Guard: “And I say they’re here! We’re searching the place!” Sabrina: “Hey! Stop! You’re going to scare off all my customers!” Sabrina: “You’re interfering with my business! Now get out of here, now!” Guard: “Dammit…! Oh, all right! But you haven’t heard the end of this!” The totalitarian police state guards give up in the face of potentially damaging commerce. Sabrina: “Nothing but a bunch of cowards! But they think they can lord it over people, anyway! Hmph!” Lang and Maya are now free to come out of hiding. Now Playing – Trust Tomorrow to the Wind  Lang and Maya seem uncertain. Sabrina: “Honey! Make us some of your specialty, would you?” The man at the stove signals affirmation.  Lang and Maya still seem uncertain. Sabrina: “Come on, now! Eat up! There isn’t any poison in it!” Maya starts eating. Lang follows suit shortly after. “Wow! This is great!!”Sabrina: “Ha ha ha! No need to wolf it down! There’s plenty more where that came from. Eat as much as you want!” The screen fades to black and transitions to a new scene.  “My name is Lang. And she’s Maya.” “We, um, well, you see…”Sabrina: “That’s okay. I know. You escaped from the castle, right?” Sabrina: “The only time those men come around like that is when that Doplin has given them some stupid order or other!” Sabrina: “What in the world are they doing in that castle, I wonder? Those idiots…!” Sabrina: “Not too long ago, a whole bunch of young people were conscripted up to the castle! Grr!! It makes me so mad!!” ???: “Yeah, you said it!”  Norton: “That guy took away my job, my house..! He even took my Sandy away from me!! *Sob!* My sweet Sandy…!!” (Wait, if a bunch of people got conscripted, and this Sandy was one of them, and I killed my way….uh oh…)Sabrina: “Everybody here hates the jerks up at the castle!” Sabrina: “I don’t know if they’re royalty or nobles or what, but they think they can do whatever they please! There’s no excuse for it!!” Not even this game’s NPCs are sure of the nature of Darakin’s government. Sabrina: “I knew as soon as I saw you two you weren’t like those people up at the castle!” Sabrina: “Now then! I’m sure they were rough on you up there…Why don’t you stay here tonight? It’s not much, but you can feel at home!” Sabrina: “Can’t use the room in the back. The door is broken. You’ll have to share a room. But you two look like you could get along okay!”  Basically, get embarrassed at sharing a room with a girl, or just get on with it. Cocky Lang gets on with it. “Thank you, Sabrina! We would like to stay!”Sabrina: “That’s the spirit! You’re young! Why hesitate? Seize the opportunity! And have a good rest!” Sabrina: “Your room is the first one up the stairs. Make yourselves at home!” Before we go to bed, there’s one last important conversation to be had.  Lang seems concerned. Eye-Patch Man: “Now, now! Don’t look so scared! I’m not going to give you away to those men outside!” Joe: “My name is Joe. I’m a kind of information source in this town. If you ever need to know anything, just ask me.” “Please tell me! Just what exactly is a Mystic?!”Joe: “Well, I’d usually get paid for this kind of service. But tell you what. I’ll let you try me out for free this once…” Joe: “A Mystic is a person that can use the power of an Origin.” ”I already knew that much. Do you know anything meaningful about them? Like why they exist?”Joe: ”Sorry kid, not many know about them at all. Only the people at the castle would know more.” The conversation is actually a lot different from this, but it retreads information everyone already told Lang (who acts like he didn’t hear it from a ruddy Origin himself), and this update is long enough as it is. And on the note of this being too long, I’m going to call it here. I generally aim to get between story beats, but the rest will have to wait. Join me next time, where we will probably do a lot of side stuff, since the game opens up here. LJN92 fucked around with this message at 06:45 on Apr 17, 2021 |
|
#
¿
Apr 13, 2021 00:46
|
|
|
Seraphic Neoman posted:Not a strong start so far tbh. Especially with the 2nd party member being effectively an extra load. Yeah, the start of this game is by far the weakest part of it in my opinion. It will get a bit better from here, however.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 13, 2021 01:42
|
|
|
Polsy posted:Curious what the headline on this newspaper is supposed to be because it's clearly (something) Kingdom except the something isn't Darakin or any other word we've heard. Maybe they renamed something in development but it was after someone already drew up the graphic (which is the same in the Japanese version). You know, I never noticed that. Tried having a look for info, but it's hard enough to find basic information about this game, let alone design trivia.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 13, 2021 22:22
|
|
|
Twelve by Pies posted:There's also a weird connection between Wild Arms and Legend of Legaia since the battle music from Wild Arms is in Legend of Legaia's sound test! That's easily explained: Contrail developed (partly?) Wild Arms 1 (and 2), so they probably just used songs from Wild Arms to test the sound before Legaia 1's soundtrack was actually created. Contrail wasn't involved in the creation of Legaia 2, as I mentioned in the OP.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 15, 2021 01:16
|
|
|
Chapter 5 – Slowly Onwards to Mt. Gabel Where we last left off, Sabrina had offered Lang and Maya a room at her inn, sheltering them from the evil Doplin soldiers we had just escaped. We awake the next day, and head downstairs.  ”I might have a bit of a sleeping problem.”Sabrina: “Things have finally calmed down quite a bit outside.” Sabrina: “So…What do you plan on doing now?” “I don’t…I don’t really know…” “I have to find that guy, the one that stole the Aqualith from my town…But I haven’t gotten any leads!”Sabrina: “What kind of man was he? This guy you’re looking for?” “He’s no human ‘man,’ that’s for sure! He had gold eyes…”Someone reacts upon hearing that.     Joe: “It’s no place for people to get anywhere near…” Sabrina: “So maybe…Maybe Maya is trying to tell us that a mountain has something to do with the fellow you’re looking for…?” Joe: “Hey, wait just a minute! Don’t tell me you’re planning on going there!!” You get a dialogue choice, but as usual, it amounts to “dither like a moron” or “just loving do it”. “I don’t know if there’s any connection, but I’ll find out when I get there. I’m going!” Joe: “Hmph! It’s not like going on a picnic, you know! It’s dangerous, I tell you!” The scene ends there. We are now free to go. But first, let’s chat with the inn people, I guess?  Sabrina gives us a Heal Leaf and a Venom Cure. We get a dialogue choice where we can be pointlessly suspicious of the woman who helped us a great deal up till now, and is even helping us more for free. That’s stupid, so we just thank her plainly. “Thank you, Sabrina.”Sabrina: “Think nothing of it. Just make sure you look out for that sweet girl, lover boy!” I just want to take this moment to point out that Maya is canonically 14 here. With Lang at 17, hanky-panky would only be legal in very specific countries (or US states with Romeo and Juliet laws). That won’t stop the game from shipping them, however. Whether they can actually be a couple, well, you’ll find out…  Cocky Lang has no interest in being a “bad guy”. “No, no. I’m a good guy.” ”The best of guys, you might say.”Nils: “I think people are usually more…What’s that word? Hum…humble.” ”Only because they didn’t take down the MIGHTIEST knight in the kingdom!”The others don’t have anything particularly interesting to say, so we decide to head out. The castle will still be looking for us, so we’re bound to need to be stealthy. Perhaps we should acquire some hooded robes, or maybe scale the walls…  Now Playing – Difference of Social Status Or we could just walk outside unmolested. The Japanese comes out to “Jousai toshi Darakin”, or “Fortified City Darakin”. Citadel is perfectly fitting here.  This dude isn’t even trying to capture us. Also he missed the memo that two Mystics escaped the castle.  This guy serves as a tutorial for the game’s combat functions. Probably would have been more useful if he was in Nohl. He can also teach you an Art, but you can easily learn said Art long before you meet him, so it’s only useful if you’ve been playing without looking up all the Art combinations. If you already know it, he is impressed, but you get nothing else.  Darakin’s shops introduce us to a new function: combining items. You can “combine” just about any type of item in the game. Weapons, armour, accessories, even healing items. For weapons and armour, you use materials you get from random encounters to strengthen them. We’ve been getting item drops marked with a jewel symbol occasionally, and these are what you use to improve your gear. Eventually, combining will let you get the best weapons and armour in the game. Accessories are unique insofar as combining them will create a new accessory with some of the skills of the accessories used to make them, as well as some new ones, potentially. This will let us break the game later on. Items are far simpler. You can just make stronger ones by combining lesser healing items, like using 2 Heal Powders to make a Heal Leaf.  Miura: “It’s called the Forest Maze, and no one who entered has ever made it out.” We heard earlier that Maya was found near said Forest Maze. Miura: “But someday, I’m going to try it! Because I’m the world’s greatest adventurer!” Miura: “Oh, and before I forget, here’s my book! Don’t worry, it’s already signed!” We get another readable item, like the Darakin Rag.  On the road again: I have made many attempts, yet have failed each time. Here, I will record the paths I have traversed so far. On the road again: To overcome all obstacles, that is the essence of an explorer!! Give up? Never! Not I!! (I do like this guy’s moxy.) You wouldn’t know it, but this woman tucked away in the back of the town is critical to the plot. Seeing as she mentioned nobility, why don’t we go have a look at the rich district?  As you might expect, it’s full of obnoxious jackasses. There isn’t a single person here that doesn’t look down on you. And yes, that’s a statue of our favourite Fascist-Theocratic monarch Doplin in the fountain.  Not even the rich rear end in a top hat guards actually realise we’re the ones they’re looking for.  Not even the ones who bring up that they’re looking for us.  Will we ever learn what the Holy Order of Banderas is actually about?  ”You poor, poor boy.” Barton: “Maybe I should bring a little ray of sunshine into your drab existence. It’s just a cheap card, but it’s yours!” Barton gives us the VIP Card. This is an extremely useful item that makes a whole bunch of stores in the game give us access to better gear. Barton might be a rich jackass, but at least he’s good for something.  Cocky Lang doesn’t take this poo poo. “Are you really a clerk?! Ever hear of customer service?!”Shank: “Shaddup! Anyone without money is no customer of mine! In this store, I’m God! You got that?” ”Well ‘God’, me and my thousands of gold made from killing Golems in Gale Canyon are walking out the door.”We’ve had enough of the rich assholes for a day.  Interestingly, Veska has moved out of her house to come here and look wistfully at where she used to live. It’s a point in this games favour that it puts an uncommon amount of effort into random NPCs (even if some are relevant later on). We decide to leave Darakin.  The Forest Maze we’ve heard so much about can now be visited. Why not?  This is the first translation that’s a bit off, or at least deliberately changed. It comes out to “Mayoi no mori Warudo”, or “Lost Forest Wald”. Forest Maze isn’t a bad translation, but it’s clear “Wald” seems placed here like a name. It’s also the German word for forest, so it’s either a name or a tautology.  (Something’s holding her back…Is she scared of this forest?)The game is clearly making it sound like a bad idea to go further. But what’s the worst that can happen?   Ah. That’s what. Obviously we are very definitely not supposed to try going through the Forest Maze. We decide to head somewhere nicer. Maybe Nohl?  Or maybe Gale Canyon. Here, we see Bubba really did bury Elfin. We are also given the opportunity to place the Friendship Ring we got as loot on Elfin’s grave. It’s a sellable item, but we choose to place it here. Because we’re a nice guy?  We return to Nohl, and a short cut scene greets us as the gates. “Uhhh…One thing led to another…and we ended up travelling together.” ”Also she gave me a lead on the Aqualith, so that’s good, right?” Dein’s still here, and still a massive douche. We give him sass. “Oh, and what have YOU been doing? Must be tough work getting a tan all day then getting your beauty sleep at night.”Dein: “…Shut up! I’ve been working on something that will…drat it! You’re still a loser!”  We find Maya in town, communing with barnyard animals. By the way, remember how we rode a sheep in Chapter 0?  We can do it in front of Maya.  And she judges us.  Friendly reminder that Nancy is our adoptive sister. If you try to claim you’re intimate, Nancy straight up laughs at Lang. It’s the most pathetic thing. Fortunately, we didn’t vote to make Lang a creep, and choose to say we’re just friends. “Wha…? We became friends, and it just worked out that way. It’s nothing.” “…Oh really?” “Are you sure?” “I swear!” “…Something seems fishy…Whatever! I’ll believe you this time! But if you’re hiding something from me, you’re gonna get it later!” ”Hey wait a minute, why the hell is it any of your business what my relationship is with her anyway!?” ”Because of very important reasons that you wouldn’t understand.”If we talk to Nancy again, she says: “So what if I’m a bossy loudmouth! *hmph!!* What?! What’re YOU looking at?!!!!”Lang never called her that, so who did?  We have apprehended the culprit. “If only Nancy were a little more feminine…Then men wouldn’t be able to get enough of her, right?”We get to choose to agree, say “It’s no use”, or say Nancy’s fine as is. Can you guess what we’re choosing? “Really? I think Nancy’s fine just the way she is. At least, that’s my opinion.” “Huh? What’s the matter with you, boy? Did she knock a screw loose, jolting you awake every morning?” ”No, you misunderstand me. I don’t mean that I like and enjoy how rough she is with me or anything. But that’s who Nancy is. I’m not going to say she should change to suit my preferences. I wouldn’t want anyone to tell me I’m NOT awesome.” ”Also, maybe remember you’re her dad, and refrain from commenting on her attractiveness to men? Also also, maybe don’t idolise women for being INCAPABLE OF SPEECH.” ”….maybe I should be more like Maya for a bit…”We decide to leave Nohl and its crazy residents behind. Now you might think we have nowhere to go but Mt. Gabel, but we’re gonna go back to Darakin very quickly.  What’s this?  Goodness gracious, one of Doplin’s guards is actually doing his job! Guard: “This girl looks like the Mystic that escaped from the castle. I’m trying to question her, but she won’t say a word!” We then get a choice: lie to the guard, or lie to the guard. I’m only kidding as much as the other option than lying is “bluffing” where we just tell him a different lie. “Haven’t you heard…? The one that escaped from the castle was a big, strong soldier!”Guard: “What?! What are you talking about?” “If you think I’m lying, ask at the castle yourself! I’ll watch this girl until you get back.”Guard: “Hmph! Of all the darnedest…Okay, I’ll go ask!” ”Good thing the guards around here a rock stupid, eh Maya?”   Lang sequesters Maya in the inn for the duration of their visit to Darakin, but we’ll never have to deal with guards doing their jobs again. Now we’re going to Mt. Gabel!  Apparently a “Gabel” can be either an archaic form of English taxation or a fork in Middle High German. No, I have no idea what the devs were going for here.  It’s only been one dungeon since Baki were a thing, and they’re already re-using them. For shame, game.  Mt. Gabel’s answer to Golems. They hit like trucks, but they’re great for EXP.  Now Playing – Everyday Tranquility We arrive at this shack, and Maya goes running up to find out if anyone’s there.  She decides to check around back when no one answers the door, and finds this guy.    “Kid?! I’m not a kid!” “Hmm, is that a fact…? So…What’s your name?” “Lang. And you?” “Me? My name is…” Yes, this is our third main character, but he won’t be officially joining us for a wee bit yet. “Kazan. I’m just an old man living alone in these remote mountains.”Now Playing – Beast of Darkness  “It’s only a matter of time before this place starts dying too.” Another Origin. Lang steps back at the sight of it.  “I’ve been trying to use my Origin to breath some life into the earth, but…”   “Rivas…It’s good to see you again.” “Anyone can see that something’s wrong. All it takes is one look at the mountains…” “Well then…Are you also aware that this change is the work of just one Mystic?” “What?! That’s impossible…No one has an Origin that strong!” “This Mystic does. He holds the Supreme Origin…As the name implies, his Origin has seemingly unlimited power…”We heard Doplin mention someone having a Supreme Origin last time. It stands to reason Rivas means the same person.  Dun dun duuuuuuun! “You know about that gold-eyed man?! Where is he?!” “What’s your connection to this man, kid?” “He…He stole the Aqualith from my village!” “In order to get the Aqualith back…” “You’ve got to find him. That’s why you’re after him.” I choose “I don’t know” because we really don’t beyond “Mystics have Origins and marks”. “I don’t know…Everyone keeps calling me a Mystic, but I don’t know what that means…” “I guess it’s safe to say that your Origin hasn’t awoken yet.” “Hmm…Okay, listen up, kid. I’ll explain it to you.”  “Origins are sentient manifestations of the forces of nature.” “Origins have a soul that lives inside with the soul of the human host. Those of us with two souls are called…Mystics.” “The man you’re chasing, Gold Eyes, is a Mystic for sure.” “And one that appears to have infinite power. Or at least strong enough to affect the entire world.” “He’s not just another human. He’s something else entirely. Do you see that now?” “I knew that! That may all be true, but I’m still going to get the Aqualith back from him!” “Tell me where he is! Please!” “Jeez, you don’t get it yet, do you? Don’t go charging off right now. You’ll get killed for sure.” ”But when I charged off from Nohl, I ended up killing the MIGHTIEST knight in Darakin!” “It’s okay. I just washed the sheets and my cooking has really improved. Ha ha ha!” “Hey, wait! I still need information!” “Slow down, kid. You’re staying here tonight too.” “There’s still a lot you don’t understand.”Everyone heads inside, the scene ends, and a new one begins on the dawn of the next day.  We find Kazan practising his punches, overlooking the mountains. “So you’re up. Morning, kid.” “You know, there’s a reason I train like this every morning.” “I have to be ready to fulfil my mission in life when the time comes.” “Your mission in life…?” “Perhaps destiny would be a better word.” “About what it means to have this power…And why I was entrusted with it.” “I finally decided that Origins…And Mystics were put here to protect the world. At least that’s what I’ve come to believe.” “Maybe that’s hard for you to understand since your Origin hasn’t awoken yet.” “A destiny for me to fulfill…?”Suddenly, there’s a loud roar.       While Kazan takes mummy, we fight bubby.  For the first time, we actually cause a status effect with Red Whirlwind. Bubby Galduke doesn’t even get a single attack in. Click below to see Kazan’s Origin in action.    Deva blasts Mummy Galduke off the mountain.  “What were they doing here…?” Rivas tries and fails to restore the now trampled plants. “Look, they smashed everything. There’s nothing left…” “I may be able to rip open the earth, but I can’t make a single flower bloom…I can only help the healing process.” “This power we share with Origins…It’s tied to the will of the host.” “It can be used to destroy, or it can be used to help the wounded and those in pain. It all depends on the host.” “Well, kid…As far as I can tell, you’ve got a good heart. And you’re also a Mystic.” “If you’re planning to go up against Gold Eyes and his Supreme Origin to get that Aqualith back…Your only chance is that other spirit inside of you. You’ve got to wake it up.” “The other spirit…?” “That power is lying dormant inside you. Free your mind and call to it. It will awaken. I’m sure of it.” “Power..? Inside of me?” “In your present condition, you won’t get that rock back and you’ll end up dead.” “Then what should I do?! How can I tap the power inside of me?!” “There is only one way…You must stare into the very face of death. You must push yourself to the brink.” ”Pretty sure I’ve done that a lot. First Gold Eyes’ demon fingered my chest, then the nauseating siblings beat my rear end, and there was a few times against those Golems in Gale Canyon…” ”Eh, well, you know, you need a certain power level, purity of heart, yada yada…” Cocky Lang is no wuss. “If that’s the only way to awaken the power inside of me then…I’ll do it! I’m ready to try. I have to!” “Okay! Follow me.” “You’ll find a cave at the summit. There’s a spirit called the Mountain Morg that lives there.” “He’s usually very gentle, but he’ll try to kill anything that attacks him.” “I know it’s sounds a bit barbaric, but you’re going to attack him.” “You will find yourself fighting for your life. I’m sure of it. I’ll wait here with Maya.”We are now free to go on. Alone once again. We shall leave things here for now. Join me next time, where we finally get our Stand, our third party member, and finally leave Mt. Gabel.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 16, 2021 00:03
|
|
|
Seraphic Neoman posted:If you could take on the forest encounters is it worthwhile for the EXP or nah? The Forest Maze encounters are definitely worth the EXP, but taking them on before completing Mt. Gabel is virtually impossible. You'd have to grind for hours, even days to match them, and by that point, the EXP from the ecounters wouldn't be half as useful.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 16, 2021 03:09
|
|
|
Magic Fanatic posted:And also just to think, the moment you have access to the shops in Darakin, you can (slowly) gain infinite money. Hmm, why not? You have my blessing to detail this infinite money trick. The only ones I know of take place far later in the game.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 16, 2021 05:37
|
|
|
Chapter 6 – In the Hall of the Mountain Morg Last time, we met Kazan, who tasked us with reaching the summit of Mt. Gabel and dying against the Mountain Morg. No, really.  Once we exit the gate, we’re put on the narrow path to facing our death at the hands of the Morg. But what if we just turn around and go back?  Kazan offers to use his shack as a place to rest and heal. As we can’t actually leave Mt. Gabel until we’re done, this is the only place to do so.  Maya’s inside the shack, doing nothing significant. There’s nothing else to do but rest, so we go back outside… Now Playing – Already Rented   “If you’re ever in need, just let me know! I just know I’ll be able to help you out!” “All for a modest fee of course! Ha ha ha ha!” “So, Kazan, when do you think you’ll be ready to…?” “Don’t you ever give up? I’ve already said no.” “Rejection is all part of sales, my friend.” “I’m not leaving here today until you sell me that pot you like so much, Kazan!” “Hmph! Stay there all week if you want. I don’t care.”If it wasn’t obvious from the way he talks, Kenjiro is a travelling merchant. His function here is to let you buy items and combine stuff while you can’t leave the mountain. He will also be a significant character going forward, for more reasons than just showing up to sell things. Anyway, now that we’ve established our base camp, I think it’s time we actually climb Mt. Gabel.  Spike Lizards are the first enemies in a trend of foes that cause you to miss certain strikes due to their stature. Remember I mentioned that way back in Chapter 1? These things also introduce the “Venom” status effect. It’s like poison, but apparently you can’t recover HP while it affects a character. I say apparently because these things are too weak to actually warrant healing during their fights and the effect wears off after battle, so I never really knew it was a thing.  It’s incredibly easy to miss, but if you stand on a wee bit of land in this lake, you get to stare up at the summit of Mt. Gabel. If you squint, you can make out our quarry, waving at us (no, it’s not actually waving).  This is a palette swap of the Flytrap enemies from Hunter’s Wood. At least it’s a little longer ago than the Baki.  This is the entrance to the Mountain Morg’s Cave.  And this is the inside of the Mountain Morg’s Cave. The Japanese comes out as “Yama no Shu no Dokutsu”, or “Mountain Lord’s Cave”. I guess Mountain Lord is a bit nondescript, but what the heck is a Morg anyway?  We get a sense of how big it is from here. There’s no way it fit in that tiny cave. Did it drop in from above?  They say you are what you eat, and the Morg is an example of this.  If you hadn’t been playing a Cocky Lang so far, you’d get a different piece of dialogue here. No “Morgie” and more “GULP THIS SURE IS INTIMIDATING BUT I GOTTA DIE!”   Maybe we can take this thing. The game let us win a technical victory against Elliott and Marienne, remember?  Or it’s a repeat of Gold Eyes and you literally can’t hurt it.  Lang, Kazan made this very clear. You’re here to get beaten nearly to death.  The Morg has a handful of generic attacks that do a bit of damage, but nothing life threatening.  It’s when he does this that the end is nigh.   Not even guarding can save you from this wiping Lang out.       “Another power..lies within…me…”       Our Origin has awoken. We now have access to the “Origin” slot in our action menu.     It’s entirely possible to lose here. Morg won’t go down in a single Origin attack. When I was a kid, I think I severely underleveled for this segment, and couldn’t kill Morg with the amount of Origin attacks you can make here (2). But in this playthrough, 2 is enough to win. Click below to watch Lang awaken his Stand and defeat the Morg.  Now Playing – Going to My Hometown “Are you…Are you the Origin inside me?” “Yes. Galea’s the name. I am the Origin of Fire.” “If you had waited any longer to awaken me, you’d have been dead for sure!” Note Kazan has a sword on his belt. “Is that your Origin?” (Such power…! Who would have thought the kid had this kind of power inside of him…) “You’ve finally awoken the giant within, Lang..” “Is that why you brought me here, Maya?” “Yes…I hoped that you would realize your potential as a Mystic.” “Your Origin may be awake, but you’re still a novice. You’ve got a lot to learn about fighting and Origins. Come with me.” Kazan finally joins our party. The two others walk out of the cave ahead of Lang.  “Hey, get a move on, will you? The master’s already leaving.” “Master?” “It’s better than calling him ‘pops’, don’t you think?” “If it weren’t for him, I never would have woken up and you’d probably be dead!”He means Kazan, of course.  Kazan joins at level 25 and is far stronger than Lang. He will make battles a lot easier from here on out. And speaking of battles….  We’re immediately ambushed outside the cave. Despite coming with a sword, Kazan fights with fist and foot. This means he never actually needs a weapon, so we don’t have to spend money and resources to improve his combat ability (outside of accessories and other items). Kazan comes with his own slew of Arts to perform. You know what that means! Click here to watch Kazan’s Art exhibition. Of course we now also have the ability to use Origin attacks with every party member. We could have used Maya’s this whole time, but I figured I’d save it until we had the whole gang. Click here for an exhibition of our first Origin attacks. (The reason why some of it is from different areas is because I needed to re-record for it. It also gives you a sneak peek of how the Forest Maze will go) In any case, the battle against these Stone Beasts is easily won, especially with Kazan in the group. Click below for to hear Kazan explain why he doesn’t use his sword.  “I’ve always preferred to use my fists.” “I can feel the battle with more clarity.” ”Only learned how to use a sword cause I needed two jobs, anyway. Doplin’s taxes were and are a bitch.” “A student?” “Yes. And in it thrives the spirit of my former student, Rauss…Which is why I must never ever lose it. For to lose it is to forget him.”Golly, I wonder if Rauss is ever going to be important to the game? The scene ends, and we begin our descent down Mt. Gabel. But halfway back to Kazan’s shack, he stops us.   “This is the Cave of Trials. I trained here in my younger days.” “At the very back of the cave, there is a scroll that reveals a secret sword technique. I want you to get that scroll.” “You want me to get a scroll?” “It may sound easy, but trust me, it’s not. This cave is filled with monsters.” “You won’t be able to get the scroll by yourself. You’re going to need the cooperation of your Origin.” “Stand over there.” Deva boosts us up to the entrance. “Origins can do things like this. I’m certain that your Origin has the power you’ll need to accomplish the task.” “Whether you make it through the caves alive or not depends on how you use your Origin.” “I’ll wait here with Maya. Good luck.”Once again alone, on our way into a new cave. Now Playing – Training Cave We don’t get far into the cave before we’re stopped.  “I wonder if Galea can do something about it?”The game now tells us we can use our Origin with a touch of the square button.  Galea breaks the boulder with one punch.  From outside “Hey La-ng!” “I don’t think you’re strong enough to make it through the cave by yourself yet.” ”Okay first, bullshit, second, you think Maya’s the solution?” ”Don’t answer back boy! Maya can heal you with Rivas!” ”Didn’t need her to take down a giant crab, a sexually suggestive gorilla, and the MIGHTIEST knight in Darakin, but okay, sure…”With Maya in the party, we can now cycle between characters to use different on-field Origin abilities. We can also run around in dungeon areas as other characters if we feel like it.  The Japanese means “Training Cave”, like the name of the song playing. I guess they felt it was a bit on the nose for English? The Cave of Trials is basically a big tutorial on how puzzles work in Legaia 2. Oh yes, we’re getting puzzles from here on out. They all involve using the various Origin powers at your disposal to get past obstacles and find optional treasures. We know Galea is used to break boulders and stuff, but Rivas has uses here too…  Rivas makes plants grow, for one. This lets us make a vine ladder to reach that chest up there. You can also see an odd patch of dirt. That one requires Deva, Kazan’s Origin. Yes, that means if we want to see where that leads, we need to come back here with him. There’s a lot of things in dungeons you need later characters to get to.  These are the enemies we fought in the last update, back at Kazan’s shack. They’re no more fearsome here than there. They can cause “Blindness”, a status effect that causes some attacks to “miss”. They don’t miss the way some directional attacks do and instead just cause no damage.  Dino Gol’s are the worst enemy here. They don’t do too much damage, but they can cause the “Beserk” status. In Legaia 2, that means your characters will attack randomly. Not only does this mean they probably won’t execute Arts, or will attack only once, they can also target allies, and here Lang can easily kill Maya. As for the puzzles, here’s a few of them…  Here all you have to do is break the rocks to step on a switch.  Here you just have to light a torch, then step on a switch.  Here, the tablet in the corner says “There is only one truth”. So I light one torch and the doors open. The Cave of Trials is a pretty banal dungeon overall. The puzzles aren’t even complex. All you have to do is use your Origin on a painfully obvious prompt and you will get through. I don’t think even children would struggle with these.  Once you get through all the puzzles, you get the scroll Kazan mentioned. This scroll teaches you a Hyper Art, which we first saw during Elliott and Marienne’s battle. Lang also got 5 Art Blocks as I traversed this cave. Time for another exhibition! Click here for Lang’s 5 Block Art Exhibition and his new Hyper Art. Hyper Arts are unlike other Arts because rather than performing a succession of strikes building up to one Art attack, they perform a predetermined attack in one go. Raging Fang takes up 3 Art Blocks, but does not perform two regular attacks and then another, but instead performs its own attack sequence. Fortunately, this is far more powerful than regular Art use, so the attacks aren’t wasted. As you can see in that video, Hyper Arts don’t have to be used alone. You can chain them with other Arts. All Arts can be chained together with the right sequence. Here, the sequence for Raging Fang is [up, down, up]. The sequence for Thunderflash is [down, up, up, up]. The first two parts of Thunderflash are contained in the last two parts of Raging Fang. Thus, by entering just two more [up]s, we perform both Raging Fang and Thunderflash. Hyper Arts take more AP than Super Arts to pull off, so chaining them with a regular Art helps offset the cost. Anyway, we’re quite done with the Cave of Trials.   “I told you to get the scroll. I didn’t say anything about reading it. Someone needs to learn some patience.”Kazan says this because we actually checked the scroll before leaving the cave. Although he acts like he’s admonishing us, nothing bad comes of this. “It’s a style of sword fighting that I mastered. It allows you to infuse your sword with your inner fighting force.” “Since you’ve already looked at the scroll, you know that it contains the secrets to a technique called ‘Raging Fang.’” “Like the smithy tempers steel, so too must you temper your mind. Devote yourself to mastering this technique.” “It looks like you’ve learned ‘Raging Fang’ quite well. In that case…You shouldn’t have any trouble learning more advanced techniques in the future.” “Okay, then. Let’s all head back to the house!”And so we head back to the house.  “Let’s see…It floats in the air…It’s very shiny and water comes out of it. Oh, and it’s a rock!” “A shiny rock that floats in mid-air and water comes out of it? You wouldn’t try to fool an old man now, would you?” ”Master, we have magical spirits living inside our bodies. Why does this sound so fantastic to you?” ”Ehhh….” “You know of it?” “Yes. When I was held captive in Doplin Castle, I remember the Bishop bragging about it.”Funny that Rivas says “I” when it was more Maya that was captured. I guess Rivas was stuck too, but does it count when you can just vanish into some spiritual void? “Doplin Castle…That’s where they locked me up! You’re sure that’s where it is?!” “Hmm…But why did Gold Eyes steal it from your village? What does he plan to do with it?” “If we find that stone, we might find Gold Eyes too…” “Master?” “Let me tell you something, Lang…” “But I can’t enjoy the sunset anymore. The eerie mist covering the mountain has made it impossible.” “In order to get back the mountain I love…I plan to fight this gold-eyed devil that’s disrupting the balance of things.” “You fight to protect your village…Maya and I to protect nature…” “We fight for different reasons, but our target’s the same. How about it, Lang?” “Master! Let’s go to Doplin Castle!” “We’ll leave right away.” “Yes. And I don’t think that I’ll be coming back.” “Thanks for all you’ve done for me over the years, Kenjiro.” “You wanted that pot, right? Take it. Take everything in the house. It’s all yours.” “Really?! You’re going to give me the pot?! Even the hanging scrolls?” “I won’t have any use for them where I’m going. Anything you think is valuable, you can buy…”But Kenjiro runs off before Kazan can finish. “Hmm…I was hoping to get some traveling money, but never mind. All right then, shall we go?” ”You know, we could just go tell him he’s not getting it all for free?” ”Too much effort.” This is plot relevant. But with Kenjiro pillaging Kazan’s shack, we are free to leave Mt. Gabel.  Oh whoops, we’re not actually done with the tutorials. Silly me.  “Oh well. We’ll rest here for tonight.” Now Playing – Paying the Worthless War (This is by far the goofiest name for a song that mostly plays around a campfire) Introducing the Camping/Cooking system. As it says, you can make camp at certain points, both in dungeons and on the world map. On the camping screen, you can access various functions, such as saving, combining items, and of course cooking. Cooking is as you would expect: you make dishes that are available to the party using the ingredients you need and have on hand. These dishes boost stats in different ways. You will learn a variety of different dishes through the game, and they all do different things. I must admit, however, that you’ll only find so many of them genuinely useful. Our only option in the tutorial is to make Kazan’s signature curry.  “….Kazan!....I’m crying, ‘cause my mouth is on fire!!!!” “Fool! It’s not curry if it hasn’t got a little spice!!”  “What’s the matter, Maya…?” “I guess it’s so hot, she doesn’t want to eat it, Kazan…” “That’s strange…I thought it was pretty good…” This is what Kazan Curry does to a person. Despite Lang and Maya hating it, this dish is very useful, and we’ll get a lot of mileage out of it. The final function of the campsites is to let you have the characters talk to each other. You typically get a few good conversations out of every new site you find. Here’s a selection of the ones we hear here: Kazan’s Past “Hey, tell me a little about your past!” “Hm…Let’s see…I…I was fighting all the time.” “I just wanted to test how strong I was…That’s all I wanted to know…” “I see.” “You’ve got to get out and try things while you’re young. Sitting around doing nothing is the worst!” “The worst thing is to regret not having done something.” “So, is there anything you regret not having done, then?” “Let’s see…I should have gone after even more ladies when I was young and handsome!” “I know I had what it took to attract the laies! But I…! I…!” (Looks like this is a major regret…)Kazan reminds me of someone. Can you guess who before I spell it out for you? Practice “Lang! You’ve been practicing the technique I taught you the other day, right?”This chat offers a choice of response. We can either say we don’t know what he means, tell him we use it in battle, or that we want to learn something new. We choose battle. “Sure, I use it during battles.” “I see. Using the skill in battle is better than simply practicing it.” “The day is coming when new skills will awaken within you. Keep at it, Lang.”Spicy Cooking “Why is Master’s cooking so spicy?” “Spicy? I held back on the spice for you…” “You held back on the spice?! How spicy is your REAL cooking?!” “That dish is nothing compared to the foods in my home town of Tanza.”Can you guess between Kazan’s voice acting and his spicy cooking what Tanza is based on? The Importance of Hygiene “Hm? What’s wrong, Maya? Why are you frowning?” “Have you ever washed your clothes before, Master?” “Of course! Near as I remember, I washed them a month ago…” “A month ago?!” “That’s right. Anything wrong?” “You might want to wash them more often. Look, Maya doesn’t like the fact that you smell!” “I see. I have lived alone for a long time. I completely forgot about it!”Origin Talk  “It depends…Some become aware when they are born. Some don’t realize it ‘till they die.” “As for me…I’m just like you. I felt mine during battle. WE fought together ever since.” “Kazan and I share a mutual existence. The death of Kazan’s soul means the same for my own…” “He’s more stubborn than I am. Simply put: if I die, so does Deva.” “So they’re between life and death…” “Correct. But even if we share destinies, our souls are separate. So communicate well with the Origin within yourself.”Mystic Hunting “A stone that gushes water, huh? And you absolutely HAVE to have it, you say?” “Yes, I’ve GOTTA have it! That’s the whole reason I left home!” “I see. Well, according to Rivas, it was taken into Doplin Castle.” “That castle again, huh…?” “What do you mean?” “Well, actually…that castle is where I met Maya in the first place.” “They were gathering up Mystics, and I got caught.” “I see. That must be how Maya got caught, too. Mystic hunting, huh? Pretty scary. It reminds me of a time long ago.” “What happened?” “This was before you were born. People used to believe that Mystics were the cause of misfortune.” “There was a huge uproar and an entire town got destroyed!”We know what he’s talking about. End of Chapter 1, remember? “Ever since then, nobody dared say the word ‘Mystic.’…But I guess history repeats itself.” “But the ones making a fuss about Mystics this time are some big shots. They call the Mystics ‘the messengers of the gods.’” “’The messengers of the gods?’ That’s a little exaggerated, isn’t it?” “Well, if we got to the castle, I guess we can see these guys for ourselves. These big shots.” “Yeah, probably.” “Hmm..There must be something big behind this whole thing. I hope not, though…”Lang and Maya’s Relationship “By the way…What’s your relationship with Maya?”We get a choice. Unlike with Nancy, we can’t straight up claim to have an intimate relationship, only “mess with his head”. But we have no interest in playing weird games with our “relationship” with Maya. “After we escaped the castle, we’ve just been traveling together. We don’t have any special…’relationship.’” “Hmm…That’s what you SAY, but it seems to me Maya’s really opened up to you. And she’s such a shy girl, too!” ”Still not going there, dude.”Lecturing “Listen, boy. Martial arts are all about Discipline. Discipline is the only way you’re gonna master your skills. And…” “Huh? Hey! Are you even listening?!”We get another choice. Be sleepy, actually listen, or say we’d rather train. We choose to have listened. “Of course I was listening! ‘It takes discipline to master one’s skills,’ right?” “You WERE listening! OK. The 7 martial arts principles are courage, morality, humanity, wisdom, courtesy, integrity and honor….” (*yawn* How long is the guy gonna talk?)And with that, we’re finally done with the side conversations. I do enjoy a bit of character building, but it’s a lot of text to dump on players the first time it’s available. But we’re not completely done. Exiting the menu gives us a cut scene…  “Hmph…Sound asleep…” “Poor girl. If she weren’t a Mystic cursed with the blood of her ancestors…She’d probably be living a normal life…surrounded by family…” “The blood of her ancestors…?” “A long time ago, there was a race called the Kabel.” “They might have had human bodies, but they had the power to control everything in the universe. The Kabel called it magic…” “Maya is from the same blood line. She used to have the same powers…” “If it weren’t for those powers…Maya would never have…” “Would never have what? What happened?” “Her powers went out of control. If I had only realized sooner, I might have been able to help. She never would have…”Kazan says no more, so Lang decides to sleep.  We awake the next day with the ingredients to make multiple Kazan Currys. This will be very helpful in the next segment. But that will have to wait for next chapter. Join me next time, where we experience the dreaded SEWER LEVEL.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 17, 2021 11:32
|
|
|
Rigged Death Trap posted:How long do the stat boosts last for? You know when I saw this question, I realised I had never properly tested it myself, and no walkthroughs seemed to have the answer. So I decided to do a quick experiment. It seems like they last for 8-9 battles. I say this because I tried two dishes, Kazan Curry and Tomato Risotto. Kazan Curry came out at 9, the Risotto at 8. I may have miscounted, and it's possible every dish has a different duration, but I'll have to do more testing at a later date. If it's genuinely different for every dish, I'm not sure I have the stamina to test every last one. Polsy posted:Area name trivia - the English text was always there and has been re-translated in most cases Huh. Funnily enough, not even the "original" English translations aren't quite in line with the Japanese. It's like they just decided to leave out all the descriptive phrases. And what the heck's with calling the Morg a "guardian"? I'm not sure that's even a possible translation of that Kanji.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 17, 2021 23:05
|
|
|
Twelve by Pies posted:If Origins share a body with their host, and they die when the host dies, why wouldn't they appear soon into the host's life to protect themselves? Only doing it right when they're close to death seems risky. Yeah, Origin stuff is all based on plot convenience. You do see what is presumably Galea inside Lang urging him to awake (if you go back and look at Chapter 2, you'll see a screenshot of a little fireball thing. Pretty sure that's Galea). Of course why he didn't up and manifest at that point is beyond me. It makes me think of Super Saiyan from Dragon Ball Z: at first, it had all these requirements about purity of heart, a certain base power, and a triggering event. Then Goten and Trunks get it like it's nothing. Legaia 2 works on the same principle; they make it seem like Origins need a specific moment to awaken, but it's really when the writer wanted it to happen for dramatic purposes.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 19, 2021 03:54
|
|
|
Chapter 7 - Two Sewers for the Price of One Where we last left off, we had finally departed from Mt. Gabel, with Lang having awakened his Origin. Our goal now is to go to Darakin, find out where the Aqualith/Sacred Azure Stone is, and return it to Nohl. But first! (How many times will I type this in this LP?)   We head back to the Forest Maze. Kazan will bitch at us the entire time we’re here about how we’re supposed to be going to Darakin, but nothing comes of it.  The most common encounters here are with Voorsts and Bean Guns. Voorsts are pretty standard enemies. They can attack, they can attack the entire group, and they can use a howl that stuns. Bean Guns act by, you guessed it, shooting beans. But not in the way you’re thinking…  The beans they fire are completely new enemies. They attack regularly, but they cannot be harmed by anything short of Origin attacks at this point. Fortunately, we got exactly that before coming here.  Hilgigas’ represent a trend in enemies who will get stronger after you damage them.  They waste a turn to do this, however, so it only helps if they can act faster than you. Now, on our own entirely, even with Kazan on board, we would have a little trouble with these enemies, if only because they act rather quickly. With the power of Kazan Curry, however, we not only act faster due to raised agility, but also hit harder. Also, Kazan’s Origin attack at this point can annihilate groups of enemies easily. When we encounter Bean Guns and Voorsts, one attack from Deva puts them down. Galea can K.O. the Beans due to a type advantage (yes, this game has those too), but struggles with the Voorsts. Two rounds from a Curry boosted Kazan and Lang is enough to defeat Hilgigasi. The thing is, you’re not meant to be here, as per Kazan’s constant nagging, so all these enemies are tougher than what we would find if we preceded normally. Thus, we can level up a lot faster and trivialise the next few dungeons. We take Lang from level 15 to level 21 just grinding in the Forest Maze. But eventually, one must get on with the game. We haven’t taken Kazan to Nohl yet, have we? Let’s take him to Nohl.  “Oh, that’s Kazan. He’s helping me look for the Aqualith.” “Oh really!? *cough cough!* I am his instructor! He is learning the way of the sword from me.” “He was searching for the Aqualith, and I decided to help him.” ”I was getting there, man, no need to get all huffy.” ”From now on you will announce my masterhood FIRST AND FOREMOST.” It’s funny that Kazan is still such a non-believer when not only does he have a super powerful spirit inside him, but he’s standing in a whole village full of people who would tell him the Aqualith was legit. “Even if you don’t believe that this lake was made by a magic stone…I still have to bring it back.” “You seem to be telling the truth. I’m sorry. I am with you, especially if it concerns the Infinite Origin!” (Scary old man? Could she be talking about Kazan?)Kazan earns the “Boogey Man” title because he’s so ugly he scares small children.  Galvan has surprisingly little to say this time. It’s for the best, of course, considering he’d just say something stupid and/or sexist.  Talking to Maya gives us yet another stark reminder that this town is dying while we piss about on side quests and grinding.  “Lang! When did you get back?” “Can’t you see I’m busy now?! I have to make everyone’s lunches!!”We get to offer to help. It would be stupid to refuse, as Nancy’s about to give us a new cooking recipe. “I’ll help you then. You could use a hand, right?” “What?! Really? That would be great! It’s rice balls for lunch today, so it should be pretty easy!” The scene fades to black while they make the balls. Probably because they didn’t want to animate the cooking prep, but I wouldn’t put it past an anime game to make this some kind of sexual euphemism. “Thanks, Lang! It helped a lot!” “It’s not like you to thank me without a little sarcasm, Nancy!” ”Last time I even offered to help, you told me I’d just add to your work.” “How dare you?! At least you can make a decent rice ball now!” “Well, since you helped out, I guess you should take one with you for the road!”We learn the Rice Ball recipe and get a “Working Lunch”. There’s nothing else worth seeing in Nohl now, so we get on with the plot.  Our task is to find out how to reach the Aqualith. Obviously it’s in the castle, but…  “Can’t get in through the main entrance, looks like…”Guard: “Did you come to see the castle? Apparently, they’re on emergency alert. I’m sorry, but you can’t go in.” Guard: “Ever since the Bishop found the Sacred Azure Stone, the castle’s been this way. I wonder what they’re doing in there?” (The Aqualith is here in this castle…! I’ve got to find a way to get inside!)So yeah, we need to get into the castle some other way. There’s a trail of clues left by NPCs, in particular Joe, the information guy, but I know exactly where I’m going and how to get there. First, remember how I mentioned that Veska lady was plot critical?  Her decision to throw away her old noble crest is the only reason the party get to proceed. Hurray for conveniences! Having this emblem now means that everyone in the rear end in a top hat district thinks we’re nobility and is all like “OOOH you’re worth BROWNOSING!”  Most importantly, it gives us access to this hotel, which this lady describes as smelling of a sewer… But before we proceed, there’s a few things we can grab.  This chef gives us a magazine that teaches cooking recipes. It teaches one to every character we have. This includes characters we get later on, if we re-use it when we have them.  If we go back to Sabrina’s inn, her husband is now selling food. If we eat these dishes, Lang uses his latent abilities as a cooking prodigy to instantly learn how to recreate them.  Oh, but it was, Leon. Now, let us proceed with the plot.  This guy gives way to our literal status symbol.  We find the sewer entrance in one of the hotel’s lower class rooms. We don’t even need to rent the room to find it, and good thing too, because this hotel charges 10000 gold for the most basic rooms.  Now Playing – Setting of Glory (That must be sarcasm in the song name, right?) “Gesuidou”, exactly as translated. It’s just a plain old sewer with no special features. And that is the big problem with this section. Like so many banal sewer levels before it, Legaia 2’s sewer level is plain, drab, tedious, ho-hum, and every other mediocre descriptive word I can use. The gist of this dungeon involves finding keys like this.  We use Galea to destroy the crates and knock it down to our level. Once we have the key, we unlock the corresponding sluice gate room.  We pull the lever, it drains part of the sewers, then we can proceed. There’s three sluice gates, this read one, a blue one, and a yellow one. Each one needs a key. The rub is you have to find these keys while poking around this bland, featureless maze of a dungeon, all the while dealing with random encounters which can throw off your sense of direction. This can be annoying enough as an adult, but as a kid? I heavily relied upon a walkthrough to get out when I first played this.  You get this Old Map to help you out. As far as I can tell, the circles on the map are where the keys are, and of course the coloured marks are the sluice gates. If you’re an impatient child like I was, you probably didn’t take the time to figure it out. Now let’s talk encounters.  On the right, we have a generic skeleton. On the left, some kind of sewer abomination.  Bone Warriors can use an attack that basically makes you play a short minigame. You have to press the buttons that light up, and if you do it well, you can minimize the damage the attack does. Play badly, and it will do a lot more. They can also use an attack that causes “spellbind”, a status that prevents the use of Arts. The Netherkinds can cause the berserk status, but I kill them far too quickly to have them actually try it.  Here we encounter Jelly Melts and an Evil Fly. Evil Flys can poison you or cause paralysis. Other than that, they’re the weakest enemies here. Jelly Melts are the most annoying. They’re the worst example of Legaia 2’s directional attacks, as only downward strikes hit them. If you’ve got a combo that you’re comfortable with, prepare to have to redo it, because most of it will probably miss. To top it all off, they have a passive skill that halves normal attacks, meaning you typically need to hit them a bit to kill them. Oh and they can split in two, so that’s fun. The kicker here is that none of these encounters are difficult. Even if I hadn’t grinded for levels in the Forest Maze, I could still effortlessly kill most enemies using Kazan Curry and Origin attacks. All the encounters are just distractions as you wander around looking for the keys you need to proceed.  For some reason, there’s these glowing moss patches that Rivas can interact with. I don’t know what their function is. I even tried looking it up. We find a camping site, which lets us sit down for a chat.  You loving said it, Lang! “Why don’t we just break down the castle gate and hit ‘em straight on?”Please! Please let me! “There are guards swarming all over inside the castle gate. What are you gonna do about them?” “What do you think? I’ll shred them!”Sometimes I don’t even need to invent dialogue for Cocky Lang. “You’re not afraid of anything, are you? Even when you should be!” “Listen, kid. The worst thing you can do in battle is be too confident.” “If you’re overconfident or confused, it gives the enemy an opening. And they’ll definitely take advantage of it!” “If you wanna stay alive long enough to bring the Aqualith home, you better really listen to what I’m telling you.” ”Look, I hear you, but I was captured there once, and just kind of walked out. Beat their best knight too.” ”Tsk tsk, overconfidence…” This item we pick up teaches Kazan his own Hyper Art, Fists of Rage. I won’t make a video for it, as you’ll be seeing plenty of it in videos to come. Anyway, we eventually arrive at the end of the dungeon.  Alright, Doplin, here we come!  Wait a minute… So yeah, the end of the sewers is not coming out in Doplin’s castle.  We have to have Galea knock down this wall to proceed. This leads us to…  Another loving underground tunnel dungeon! Now Playing – Forgotten Inheritance The Kanji come out to something like “Underground Ruins”. “Kabel” is not mentioned, but frankly it’s more descriptive and relevant to the nature of these ruins. We’ve heard “Kabel” mentioned somewhere, haven’t we? In relation to someone? Funnily enough, the Kabel Ruins are almost less colourful than the sewers. The floors are gray and the walls are beige. But at least there’s some actual puzzles to solve.  In this room, there are 4 mossy pedestals, 3 glowing, 1 unlit. The plaque calls on us to either light the last one or snuff out the rest. The former is simpler, of course.  Here we have a palette swap from Gale Canyon. These ones can be rather dangerous, since their most frequent attack can stun.  Alongside enemies from the sewers we just cleared, we encounter an even more recent palette swap. Zurvlai don’t even have any attacks that Galdukes didn’t.  We will find “Adventurer’s Logs” through the ruins that tell us how to solve puzzles. This one explains that we have to spell out “FISH” on the pedestals in this room.  Each pedestal corresponds with a letter, and we have to light them up in order to spell “Fish”, so F->I->S->H.  This one calls on us to light the nearest two pedestals and snuff out the furthest two.  We reach another campsite, strategically placed outside a door. Any RPG veteran knows what this means. We can also do chatting here.  They’re discussing the Adventurer’s Logs. “This diary is like a guide on how to get through this place.” “I’d like to thank the person who wrote this…if he’s still alive, that is.”Once we’re done preparing, we head into the next room.   “Hmm…An ancient ruin…There appears to be an inscription of some sort…Could be!? A spell!!” Maya collapses to her knees, hugging herself. “Maya!? Are you all right?” “…That day….Memories of the day her powers got out of hand…” “If only…If only I had seen the signs! Had I been aware of Maya’s powers sooner, I would have been able to stop it!!” “The tragedy…It could have been prevented…” “Tell me…What happened?” “Maya….Maya’s family…” Someone is heard entering the chamber at this point. Now Playing – Evil Desires  Ah, if it isn’t our favourite Fuhrer-Bishop-King! “Hm?! Your faces are familiar to me…You! You are those fugitive Mystics!!” “If I had known to find you here, it would have spared me the trouble of sending Elliott! Arrrgh!!!....”This also means we won’t be encountering Marienne. Thank all that’s holy.  “Why! Am I not the Lord of Darakin and the Bishop of the Holy Order of Banderas? I never lie!”  “Hmph! You are only a petty villain, who somehow came into power.”   “And what would a villain be plotting in such a room? Planning to call on some demons, were you?” “Demons…Perhaps you are correct…” We saw that creature by her side when we were held in the castle. “Magic that manipulates heaven and earth…Such powers could very well beget demons.” “You are wrong, Velna! I do not aspire to create demons!! I require soldiers of God!” “The entity that governs all life…That is God! I seek the power that manipulates life at will!!” “And this room, it gives me that power….The wisdom of the Kabel will reveal, to me, the way to God!!” “You disgust me…All you speak are words of selfish desire!” “What blasphemy to even consider manipulating nature and life to suit your own will! God?! Don’t make me laugh!” “Fwah ha ha ha! It is impossible for lowly folk like you to comprehend my will! I alone hear the voice of God!”  “Apparently, you are not aware that blasphemy against the heavens has dire consequences…”Doplin looks to Velna, who nods.       “With the strength of Kabel and the Mystics at my command, I will establish the ideal world I have always envisioned!!” “…Join me. What do you say? I grant you the opportunity to join God in creating a utopia!”It occurs to me now that, assuming Doplin wasn’t too careful in acquiring their co-operation, the heroes could totally just lie and say they’d work for him, get into the castle, and then turn on him there, presumably with Slogar gone. But we basically just get to pick our flavour of refusal here.  “Fwoh ho ho…Fool! Nothing is impossible with the secrets of Kabel at my command!” ”I said I wasn’t INTERESTED, Bishop Dipshit! Not that I doubted the possibility!” “…As they say, the true path is apparent only in hindsight…I am truly disappointed…” “Had you decided to follow me, you could have been honoured citizens of a beautiful utopia!” “Bishop…Surely, you are not going to…???!” “It cannot be helped. God’s servant they may be, but they are of no use if they refuse to do my bidding. He will surely understand…” “Alas! This too must be a test that God has placed before me!! It pains me, it truly pains me…” “Now, it is time for Slogar to test his new powers on you…” “Eve you are helpless against the powers of Kabel! Revel in its strength before you depart for the other world….”  Maya is present on the field for this fight, but she will not participate. She sits in the same position as before we began.   We can totally take it on our own though, right?  Of course not. The only genuine boss fights so far have been Gather Crab, Elfin, and the MIGHTY Balken. Gold Eyes, Elliott and Marienne (technically) and the Morg were all basically glorified cut scenes. With the addition of Slogar, the majority of bosses thus far have had some kind of unbeatable segment.  Origins have no affect too. “Pure embodiment of power”, everyone.   Interestingly, Galea’s line is not voiced. This is the case in Japanese too. Either they just didn’t care to, or this is confirmation Origins speak explicitly via psychic communication.    The rest of the fight just involves waiting. Slogar’s attacks hit hard, but not so hard you can’t comfortably heal with items.           Now the actual boss fight begins. However, as before, Slogar doesn’t really hit hard enough to make you worry. You just gotta hit him till he’s dead, and it’s not that hard to manage. Click the image below to watch Slogar get his rear end beat. (The video got a bit choppy at points due to the limits of my computer. It may not be very noticeable, but I apologise in advance)  “I remember…This terrible light…This very same light…Again…” “….Aaah…..Uhhhh….” Now Playing – Your Voice “Maya…You can speak!! Has your voice returned!?”Maya gets up without responding.  “Did I….Did I use that power again??!” “Why do I have this power?!...How I wish I didn’t!! Then Father…and Mother!!...*sob*…” “We couldn’t have defeated him ourselves…We needed your power to do it…” “The power itself isn’t inherently good or evil! That’s up to the person who wields it!” “Maya, we wouldn’t have made it without you! I believe in you, Maya!” “…Thank you, Lang.” “But…I don’t…I don’t know how to use magic…”Translation: Maya might have gotten her voice back, but she won’t be useful in a fight for a while! “Really?...” “But at the moment, we must concentrate on finding our way out of this labyrinth and into that castle.” “You’re right…The Aqualith is waiting for us.” “Let’s go!!”We are now free to proceed. But I’ll just throw in this one camp conversation we can have immediately after the boss…  “Oh, don’t worry about me, Kazan. You know…I’ve been really torn…” “I avoided using this power…this magic, but I was worried that meant suppressing and hiding a part of me…” “I was worried I’d have to live my whole life that way! That’s what I’ve been torn about.” “But then you said something that helped, Lang. ‘Power itself is not bad! It all depends on the person who uses it.’” “So I decided that, if I could help you with this power, I wouldn’t be afraid anymore! Thank you…Lang…!” “No, don’t be thanking me! We’re the ones that got saved by your power! Right, Master?” “Yeah! That’s right! That’s exactly right. But…you know…” “I don’t think you could really call that last battle ‘controlled magic.’ It was more like ‘magic power gone wild…’” “I can do better! I just know it! I know I can learn to use this power properly!” “Thatta girl, Maya!”And there I shall leave it. Join me next time, where we finish the Kabel Ruins, storm Doplin Castle at dawn, and finally find the Aqualith.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 19, 2021 21:55
|
|
|
Chapter 8 – Storming the Castle Last we left off, we defeated the evil Kabel beast Slogar, Maya got her voice back, and we were about to proceed towards the castle. BUT FIRST!  This is the hotel where we found the sewer entrance. I mentioned then that the basic rooms alone were pretty pricey, but the worst offender is the Deluxe room which costs 80000. It’s actually worth it though…  This teaches us the Atomic Heat dish. The Atomic Heat dish is possibly the best cooking recipe in the entire game, and gives you incredible stat boosts for every stat. Kazan Curry gives major attack and agility boosts, but comes at the cost of defence (and takes some MP, but you can just rest to recover that). The catch is we can’t make it now, even after having learned it. It requires the “Monster Meat” ingredient that cannot be acquired until later in the game. Once we get it though, then we’ll be trivialising boss encounters. I detail it here because this is where I had the funds to get the recipe. Now let’s get back to the plot, shall we?  If you thought beating Slogar was the end of the dungeon, you were wrong. There’s still a bit of the Ruins to get through.  This room contains a few items as well as these bookcases which detail ancient Kabel texts. Remember the name “Val Kenus”, because it’ll come up again.  One of the enemies we didn’t encounter last time is the “Skulraptor”. It’s most distinctive attack is “Deathgame”, where is shows you a bunch of cards, and then shuffles them, expecting you to pick one. These cards will either cause harm or instant death to either one of your characters or the Skulraptor that used it. We don’t see this attack in action because I’m destroying enemies too quickly.  These statues come to life as you pass them, and start a combat encounter with an unavoidable ambush.  But instead of just letting them ambush us, we can just have Galea smash them.  Here the plaque says “There is an order to everything”. So you have to light the pedestals in a certain order. Every time you do it wrong, the pedestals glow red and reset. Completing the puzzle gives us access to Adventurer’s Log 2. The log tells us an ancient Kabel riddle….   This relates to this room, with a bunch of coloured pedestals. We have to follow the order of the colours in the riddle: Yellow->Indigo->Red->Green.  This room tells us to make 3 o’clock, which involves making the light shine on this statue so the shadows form the clock hands of 3 o’clock. This gets us to the exit of the dungeon, but there’s another puzzle we need to complete to get the key to open the exit.  This one calls on you to light the pedestals in a specific order.  If you’re anything like me, you might have thought this asked you to light things in specific directions from the currently lit pedestal. This is only true for the first one, which is “7 to the right”. Then, you’re expected to go “4 to the left” from the one you just made, and so on.  With all that done, we proceed.  We come out in Doplin Castle, in the prison portion we were in the first time we ended up here. The potions are still here, including the one that heals.  Doplin’s got better guards this time around. But they’re no match for us, even without using Origins. ”So yeah, whatever happened to not shredding all the guards, Master?” ”…I guess I overestimated the possibility of sneaking our way through…” “Doplin Reserves” can apparently attack you with scroll-based magic attacks. I say apparently because they only do it every two turns and no fight lasts that long at this point.  The old Doplin soldiers can still be found. They’re just as weak as they were when we first came, so maybe it was an oversight. Anyway, all of these enemies scream “LORD DOPLIN!” when they die too, including the new ones. So guess what? Click here for another riveting “LORD DOPLIN!” compilation. Once we reach the central section of the castle, we can lower the drawbridge and walk out.  Guard: “Last I heard, the castle was closed. Isn’t it closed anymore?”  The guards step aside, allowing us to leave, rest, restock items, cook new food, the whole shebang. Carrying on into the castle, we can access one area we couldn’t last time.  This is Elliott and Marienne’s room. Now we know how she got so fat. We also find Marienne’s diary, titled “Boundless Love”. It’s a readable item.  Alas, my incredible genius has inadvertently attracted a Mystic! Guilty as charged, I must say. (The mere word “attracted” in relation to Marienne makes me want to vomit, even in a non-creepy context) But are you really a Mystic? You’d better call on those Origins, I’ll feed you to the rats! Oh, to spend another day with my dear brother  (Why the gently caress did she write her diary like it was talking to me? That gives me the creeps…) Here’s an extremely anime styled picture of Elliott, including his full name. Funnily enough, despite loving her brother to bits, Marienne drew his fringe on the wrong side of his face. You’d think she might remember his face and hair after staring at it all day?  On a bookshelf in their room, we find a book titled “Uppercrust Dessert”. This teaches characters new cooking recipes, all snobby deserts, naturally.  This is Doplin’s room. I have no idea what the joke/reference is with these book titles. Also note he has a big portrait of himself over his bed.  Our quarry lies beyond these doors, and only a pair of low level guards block our way. Or so it would seem…  …is that…?  It is! Now Playing – Knight’s Kingdom   “What impertinent behaviour to display here in Doplin Castle!!” “Insolence! Impertinence!” “Up ahead, in St. Joprian’s Church, Doplin, Bishop of the Holy Order of Banderas is…”Guard 1: “Raynof, sir! You mustn’t say…” “Oh, yes! Doplin bringing in the Sacred Azure Stone is top secret, isn’t it!” Guard 2: “He’s the one that defeated Balken, Raynof, sir.”   That’s right, readers. If you don’t refer to the MIGHTY Balken properly, there will be consequences! “So. This is the lot that killed my brother, huh…?”Born to the Mesai Clan as one of 3 boys, remember? “I’ll show you a thing or two before you die!”   This guy wobbles due to Raynof smacking him for his impertinence. Remember his example.  “What’s the matter? Speechless at the sight of me, are you? Well?!” “There’s no escape for you! I WILL avenge my brother’s death! I’ll kill you slowly, inch by inch!!” Raynof isn’t quite the delightful ham his brother was, but we’ll get our entertainment out of him yet. The very first time we use our Origins on him, we get this scene…  “I cannot stop trembling…its power is incredible…!” “Heh….I am filled with fear…but I will not run away!”   Raynof’s flunkies speak in what I’m reasonably sure is a “gay lisp”. I don’t know for sure if it’s intentional, but knowing Japan/Anime’s track record on bad gay jokes (see Persona 5 for one of the worst) there is a strong possibility the joke is that they’re gay. Now, for every time you wipe out both of Raynof’s flunkies (far too easy to do with Origin attacks), you will see this cut scene…    This brings two more flunkies into the battle. You can wipe those guys out twice in one round, provided you’re having both Lang and Kazan use their Origins. Thus you will see this cut scene twice per round until Raynof dies (or you stop killing his flunkies in unison). It’s both kind of funny and really annoying at the same time. Watch the boss fight video, and you’ll have “AT MY HANDS!” burned into your brain. On a personal note, my brother, who only loosely watched me play this game a good 15 years ago, remembered this scene in particular. Raynof is basically a meme inside my family alone. Of course, there’s more than this cut scene to see during the battle. This one plays after the first round…  “I can also smell you burning in hell, huh?”This one plays after doing enough damage…  “However! I am far from finished! The people do not call me ‘Raynof the Brave’ for no reason!” “Now! On behalf of countless lives and their unfulfilled wishes…” “Come! I will crush you!”Flunkies: “Sir Raynof! All hail Raynof the Brave, pride of the Red Knights!” Here is Raynof’s special attack…    …replete with Raynof striking a pose at the end! But so much like his brother, Raynof hits hard, but not nearly fast enough to actually pose a threat. We can easily heal from the damage he does and dish out too much too quickly for him.   “Balken…forgive me. I could not do it…brother…now our redemption is in your hands…”  Click the image below to witness Sir Raynof’s Bravery.  Guard: “Run! Escape!” They both flee like the cowards they are.  ”Hey now, he might have been no match for m-er, us, but he was brave enough to keep fighting in the face of our Origins.” ”I suppose…” “Doplin, up ahead…Sacred…Azure…?” “The Sacred Azure Stone…It is probably the Aqualith, Lang.” Of course, while Lang urges everyone on, we instead do the smart thing and go back to rest and re-supply before going in.  Now Playing – Holy Banderas Requiem “Hijiri Jopurian Raihaidou”. The translation is accurate.  Lang then notices the huge stone slab. “What’s that? There’s something engraved on it…” “Oh, my!! That monolith! There’s one just like it in my village!” “That monolith? There’s one like that in your village, too, Maya?” “Yes. But there’s something a little different about this one. There’s something black engraved on it…” “YOU?!” “Just what exactly…are you up to? What’s that monolith you’re worshipping? Some kind of religious mumbo jumbo?” “’Mumbo jumbo!’ Bite your tongue!! This represents all of my ambitions…uh, I mean…Avalon’s ideal world!!” “When the Black Sun engraved on this monolith rises…then our utopia, our kingdom of the gods, will be born!!” “Hmm?! Don’t tell me you lot came here looking for this Sacred Azure Stone…?!” “You can’t have it! It’s mine!!” “What are you talking about? Avalon gave me this stone!” “Besides, I need it! It’s going to make me into a god! I’ll never give it to you!”     Now Playing – God of the Evil Ones “Avalon!”Yes, that’s right, our old buddy Gold Eyes is Avalon, the secret evil puppet master of Darakin. WHAT A TWIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIST!!!!!! “Huh? So it’s…’Ava….lon,’ is it…?” “Avalon…” “Just as I was told….Here are Earth, Life….and Flame…” Igohl: “How could he survive?”  “So this is the Supreme Origin…It radiates pure power…”Avalon takes a step forward and looks intently at Lang. “I think this is the man…!” “Igohl, let me answer your question for you.”  “Wait…! Avalon!! What are you going to do?”  “Yikes!!”Igohl: “What is this light?!” “Yes, there’s no question about it…” “Huh…?” “If you want the stone, go ahead and take it…” “…Soon the Eclipse will completely cover the earth, and a new world will be born…” “And then the old race will perish, and only Mystics will survive!” “I was born with one purpose alone: to change this world!” “I will become the ruler of the new world!” No, there’s no chance to become evil here or make any meaningful choice. You guys should know how this works by now. You just get to choose your flavour of rejection.  “Yeah, maybe we DO have some kind of power that other people don’t have.” “But that doesn’t mean we can do whatever we drat well please! That’s just plain arrogance!” “Build a new world? With YOU?! HA!! You expect me to forget that you almost killed me?” ”And you sure as hell killed Edouard too! Like I’d forget to bring HIM up!” “You still seek revenge do you? Do you not understand that the past must be sacrificed for a better future?” “You sacrifice compassion for power? I would rather die than be part of your new world!” “So…you refuse to cooperate, do you? You insist on defying me?” “Yeah, that’s right!” “…I see…”     | “Hold it!! We’re not through talking!”  “That beast you fought in the Kabel Ruins…That was just a mere imitation of the real thing.” “The one I’m summoning now from the depths of hell is the TRUE beast.” “Although its appearance is similar, you will know the difference as you pass from this world…”   Velna teleports away, leaving us with…   This game has been pallet swapping a lot, even in its earliest dungeons. Zoan Stoara is perhaps the most egregious example of this. It is not merely of a similar look to Slogar, but the entire fight is just Slogar 2: Electric Boogaloo. That includes the story beats from the Slogar fight. Yes, we are going to experience Maya having a magical epiphany again. The first segment of the fight is just like with Slogar. We can’t hurt it, not with Arts and not with Origins. The only difference is Maya is here to stand still like she usually does rather than being plotted out. First turn, we get a cut scene.  That’s Velna talking, by the way. It’s not entirely clear if she’s psychically speaking to everyone or we’re just hearing her thoughts for some reason. By “family” she means “race/species”, as in Mystics. It’s not some weird Final Fantasy 8 revelation where everyone’s secretly related. (Why do they choose to be destroyed…) (We are a race very much in touch with nature…and if we are to disobey our hearts…) (There is a price to be paid for such action…)  “Leave this to us, and hide in a safe place!”  “Not even this thing!”But try as we might, we can’t hurt it.   “What should I do? I have to do something…or else…”The game makes us dither for another turn or two.         “I will keep my promise, and return with the Aqualith!” “No matter what…I will never give up!”   Maya’s Memory: “Earth and Wind…Water and Fire…You must hold the whole world inside your body.” “Earth and Wind…Water…Fire…” Suddenly, Maya has an attack command. We have to enter the exact sequence from the memory: Earth, Wind, Water, Fire. If we don’t do that, Maya will dither and tell you how you did it wrong by cut scene. This wastes a whole turn of combat.         Just like with Slogar, the fight’s not over yet. And just like with Slogar, the rest of the fight is easily manageable. Zoan Stoara will just alternate between single hit and full party attacks, but will never do nearly enough damage to make us worry. The only difference is now we can use Arts with Maya. Unfortunately, the most common strategy up to this point with Maya is to equip her with the Barricade Ring accessory. This gives her a skill called “Turtle” which gives her increased defence in exchange for sacrificing attack. As Maya couldn’t attack until now, this was the perfect strategy to make her a nearly invincible healing machine. Now that she can attack, the Turtle skill cuts her damage down to the hundred range. Lang and Kazan are doing closer to 4000 per round each for comparison. But this changes little, as Zoan Stoara still goes down like a bitch. Click the image below to watch the Slogar boss fight. I mean, the Zoan Stoara boss fight. (In almost poetic fashion, this video has similar and somewhat worse slowdowns than Slogar. Apologies again)  “That guy said…Lang is ‘a star shaper…’” “Hmm…That man also carries the Supreme Origin…” “What was he saying? Something called ‘the Eclipse’ would ‘completely cover the earth…’ He’s a mysterious one…” “Lang, you can save your village now that you’ve got that stone back, right?” “Yeah, that’s right! The whole village will be safe with this!” “In that case, let’s get a move on, back to your village!” (But I still wonder why…Why did he give me back the Aqualith…?)Before we can go anywhere, we’re spirited away to another cut scene…    “The sacred stones? But…” “…Yes of course. Rauss and I will defend the altars to the death!”Rauss is presumably the armoured hulk standing next to Velna. Haven’t we heard that name before?   “I want to give that boy a little test. I have to see if he really holds the same power I do.” “If he really IS a Star Shaper, he’ll eventually find his way to me…and he’ll be carrying all three stones!” “I look forward to that moment…” You can see where the plot is going from here already. On that note, we shall end this chapter. Join me next time, where we return the Aqualith and the world changes forever.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 22, 2021 12:36
|
|
|
Shitenshi posted:This game really is anime as gently caress. This game will only get more anime from here. You guys had better brace yourselves for the levels of anime we're going to hit.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 23, 2021 02:22
|
|
|
Chapter 9 – The Day of Black Sun Where last we left off, we recovered the Aqualith and defeated yet another evil beast of Kabel. We are now free to return to Nohl, with no loose ends left whatsoever.   Everybody in town is talking about how we “got rid of” the Bishop. If you recall, Doplin just kind of walked out, following Avalon into his wacky portal. Of course these guys don’t know that. You’d think the sudden disappearance of Darakin’s central figure would result in some kind of social upheaval, but no, Darakin’s gonna be just fine as it is. The game expects us to go straight back to Nohl, but there’s more content if we leave and go back into Darakin.  Maya is standing in the streets, looking for Nils. We decide to play along. “Sounds good! I’ll help you look.” “Okay! I’m going to look over there.”Maya heads off in an indistinct direction. Where she actually went is near the city’s well.  We don’t find Nils here, that’s for sure. He’s actually hiding between the city exit and a shop.  Nils gives us a “Dream Shake”. It’s a restorative item that gives you MP. We won’t be able to get these regularly until we hit a certain new location.  Ah yes, The Simpsons.  Now that we’ve found Nils, we can rat him out. Unfortunately for Nils, I’m not sure anything in the game changes if we build relation points with him, so… “I saw Nils around the entrance to town.” “Thanks.” Nils ask if we ratted him out. Funnily enough, it’s not a binding choice, and you can talk again to give a different answer. Nothing comes of it either way.  Hathaway: “What!? I told you, this sword is new! It’s worth 15000, easy!” “15000 for a piece of junk? Your customers aren’t that stupid! 5000! Final offer.”Hathaway: “You’re outta line, sir! That’s less than half price!” “There isn’t a man alive who’d pay 15000 for this! 5000! That’s it!”Hathaway: “Sir…This is really….Okay, how about 10000?” “Nope. 5000! There’s no way I’m paying more.”Hathaway: “Fine! 8000! That’s lower than a liquidation sale!” “5000!”Hathaway: “Grrr…7000! I’m sorry, sir, but that’s the best I can do!” “You just don’t get it. I told you, I’m not paying more than 5000.”Hathaway: “You’re an unbelievably stubborn customer! Fine! 5000 it is!” We actually acquire a “Venom Blade” weapon out of this. Kazan also gets the “Haggler” nickname.  As my general policy as Cocky Lang is to be nice to allies, we praise Kazan.  Legaia 2 Localiser: Kids love it when words are misspelled in a cool way, right? “Ha, ha, ha! You’re still young, Lang. You need time to get this good.” Hathaway will keep doing a crying animation until we leave. And leave we shall, as there’s no more content to be had in Darakin. There are, however, new camp conversations. Maya’s Voice  “But then I finally realized that if this power is mine….then I had to accept it as a part of me…” “So, I decided not to run anymore. I’m sorry I made you worry! I’m…I’m all right now!” “Maya…we’re sorry. We’re sorry we had to drag you into all this.” “Are you really all right now, Maya?” “Yes! I’m completely fine now! Besides, no matter what kind of monsters we run into now, I can just blast them with my magic!” “Um, is that a little too overconfident?” “Nah. Good for you, Maya!” ”Well actually-” ”Oh give it a rest, Master.”Origins United  I presume this conversation came from me using all of them in the Zoan Stoara fight. “I guess the Origins couldn’t meet before, either…” “Yes. We don’t usually show ourselves in public.” “We work behind-the-scenes. Nothing to do with the common world.” “What a loner! I like being outside!” “We are of a different nature than the common world. Know that their worldly passions bring nothing but trouble.” “Fine. Stay in the background, then! And rot there!” “Please, stop it. Giving sermons isn’t like you, Deva…” “This is a rare occasion, isn’t it? I suspect that’s his way of being happy.” “…Nonsense!” “Don’t get the wrong idea that we’re friends. I’m going to do as I please!” “H-Hey!” “What a hot-headed Origin you possess, Lang. Does he take after you? Or is this your true spirit? Heh heh…” “What a lively journey this has become! I look forward to where it will go!”And now we finally head back to Nohl.   Go figure Lang being happy to save his village from death, Kazan.  Marcus: “What’s the matter? You seem different somehow…” “Marcus…I got it. I finally brought the Aqualith back!!”Marcus: “R-Really!?....You!? You really, really have it!!?” “…..Yes! I brought it back!!”Marcus: “W-Wait here! I’ll go get everyone right away!!”  “But all of this was not your doing alone…Only with the help of Maya and I, were you able to succeed!” “Hmm? …Do you hear me, Lang?” ”Yeah, I can hear you pissing on my parade. Look, I get you guys helped, and I’m grateful, but why the gently caress would you pick this moment in particular to demand I express my eternal gratitude? This is supposed to be about returning the Aqualith to my dying village, not who contributed what!” ”…when you put it that way, maybe this was a bad time…”The scene fades to black here, picking up here…    Hawke: “But…You have…You have saved us!” Hawke: “On behalf of everyone in this town, let me express our gratitude! Thank you!” Hawke: “Now….The hand that returned the Aqualith must restore it to its rightful place!!”    Now Playing – Going to My Hometown   Dein does a “Tsk!” before walking away. Little bitch can’t even be happy when his village is saved from dying.  “Lang!!”Hawke: “…..Ahh….Tonight we must celebrate your success!”  I just want to take a moment to share with you the goofiness of Galvan’s running animation.  “Hey, wait!!”Nancy gives chase, but stops to turn back to Lang.  We’re now free to explore Nohl and interact with the grateful villagers.  Except for Dein, who’s still being an rear end in a top hat.  ”You mean not even imminent death by dehydration was enough to motivate that moron? Colour me surprised.” “I’m cooking up something extra special for tonight! But the ingredients are top secret!!” “Kazan and Maya, they’re eating too, right?” “Thank you so much…I hope it won’t be an inconvenience.” “Oh, no no no! It’s nothing special, but please stay and make yourselves at home!” “Yeah, trust me. It’s really nothing special.” “What did you say!?” ”You’re right, that was incredibly stupid of me to say. Out of character, even…” “Well, I guess I have to let you off easy today. After all, you’re the hero that brought back the Aqualith!” “But it’s not like you got it back all by yourself, right? Just you, Lang? That would be impossible!” ”I mean I took down the Gather Crab, a sexually suggestive gorilla, and the MIGHTIEST knight in Darakin all alone. And let me tell you, the gorilla hit like a truck…” “Qu-quick!!! Nancy!! Something’s burning!!” “*sigh*….A waste of a perfectly good meal…” “Ho-ho! You leave us for a day or two, and what do you know! You come back looking more like a man!...Right, Lang?” ”I’m pretty sure I was gone for much longer than a day or two…” “Kazan…You’ve certainly worked wonders on this boy!” “I suppose it’s up to me to thank you, seeing that I’m the closest thing to a father he’s got.” “How about joining me in my room for a drink? You look like you can knock’em back…”    “Please!...I’m used to doing this sort of thing…” “…W-well, okay…If you insist. Thanks. Well…gotta start cooking all over again!”We are then free to walk about Galvan’s house.  “*hiccup*…*belch*…Holy macaroni! Dish guy’s really shomethin’…He’s a bottomlesh pit!”Kazan gets the “Bottomless” nickname. “A very impressive selection! Let’s try this one…*gulp, gulp, gulp*…” “Goes down easy, and has a refreshing aftertaste!...That’s what I needed!” “Hmm, we still have plenty left…*glug, glug, glug*…” “Ahhhhh!! How ‘bout it, Lang?! …Nah, you probably wouldn’t like it.” ”It’s also very illegal anywhere in Darakin territory.”The only thing left to do once you’ve finished talking to people is to use Lang’s bed and sleep. Now Playing – Wasteland of Far Away Places  “Hyahh!! Hyaaaah!!” “Guide your weight through your fist!” “Hraaah!” “Combine your moves, both large and small! Focus and finish off your opponent!” You can see Nancy on the balcony in this scene. “Ho, Lang!! You’re finally awake.” “Since you said that he was your master, I thought I’d test him a little…but look! He’s teaching ME now!” “His style may be unrefined, but he has a lot of potential.” “R-really? You think so? Gwa ha ha ha ha!” “Ho! Let’s be off then!” “And I’ll be going along to make sure that they don’t get attacked by monsters.”  Galvan and Boerto leave.  No matter what we pick, we’re going to Hunter’s Wood after Galvan. But we choose to ask for a lesson. “Master! Please! Give me a lesson too!” “Ahh…That’s what I like to hear. But here…?” “We need some more speace. And I don’t want you busting up somebody’s house. Let’s find a forest or a mountain…” “N-no, I was simply…” “Okay! Let’s go to Hunter’s Wood!”And so we go once more to Hunter’s Wood.  We don’t get far before we run into our first enemy, a pallet swap of our dear old friend the Bloody Wolf.  This is a scripted encounter for our lesson. “I will teach you the Sky Fang Art known as ‘Divine Bolt’!!”He proceeds to explain the attacks involved, and we pull off the Art. Click here to see the Divine Bolt in action. “Ho! Nice job, kid! Now don’t forget it!”Now that we’ve finally got Maya’s ability to attack (and taken the Barricade Ring off her), let’s go over how she works: Maya’s Arts are focused on using elemental damage. Every Art she has does a different type of elemental damage. Her basic attacks are all based on the fundamental elements, Earth, Wind, Fire and Water, but the Arts can also be Shadow and Light, for instance. Maya is unique in that she cannot chain Arts. Each Art is a set attack that cannot be linked to another. It sounds less useful, but she’s not completely worthless in a fight, and she can K.O. enemies just fine. Maya says what I assume is magical sounding gibberish when using normal attacks. If they’re not gibberish, I wouldn’t have a clue what they’re supposed to be. Click here to see Maya’s Art Exhibition. Hunter’s Wood has a camp site like every other dungeon now, with a few new chats. Nancy  Our policy is nicety unless we can be cocky, so… “Yep, Nancy sure is full of energy. Too much so for me to keep up with, sometimes!” “I envy you… I wish I had a sister like her.” “Whoa! Nancy and I aren’t related. She’s Galvan’s daughter.” “Really? That means…I’m sorry. I didn’t know…” ”Why would you apologise for that?” (I guess we DO look like brother and sister to outsiders, though.)Lang’s Parents  “…I…I don’t know, really…” “Sorry! I’m sorry. I asked something I shouldn’t have.” ”What’s with all the apologising? I’m not that sensitive, guys.” “Don’t worry. I don’t care about my real parents, anyway.” “I’m fine with Galvan as my dad. Even if he is a little uncool.” ”And even if he slapped me upside the head for every little thing I did wrong since he adopted me. And even if he keeps making sexist comments about Nancy.” “If he heard what you just said, he’d be touched and cry.” “No way! I bet he’d say ‘I’m UNCOOL?!’ and hit me!” “Hmm…Guess you’re right. Ha ha ha!”With those out of the way, we continue on our search for Galvan and Boerto. Every encounter here is the same: either 3 Saberwulfs, or 2 Saberwulfs and a Mad Hound.  Yeah, that’s right, there’s two pallet swaps of the same enemy in this dungeon. Mad Hounds don’t even have any attacks Saberwulfs don’t, just more HP. We find Galvan and Boerto at the Gather Crab/Avalon boss fight area. Because everything has to be regularly recycled in this game.  “Ho ho…That certainly is quite the catch.” “Aw, that was nothing! I am the Captain of the Vigilance Corps, after all!” ”Yeah, just like how you beat the Gather Crab, eh?” ”Yeah, just li-wait a minute…”Suddenly, there’s a flurry of noise. “Huh?” “The sky…What’s happening to it?” “It got so cloudy all of a sudden.” “Storm maybe? But something’s not right…”Now Playing – Black Sun      “This is creepy. The sun’s BLACK!”     Boerto: “M-Monsters!!” “Argh! What are these things…?!” “You two! Go back to town!” “Wait! What are you going to do?” “Don’t worry about us! Just let us take care of this!” Cocky Lang is so badass he doesn’t care that supernatural events are happening, he’s going to boast anyway. “Well…all right! But I want you to be careful!”Galvan books it out of there, presumably with Boerto.  Welcome to the third pallet swap of this dungeon. No, they don’t have new attacks, they’re just slightly stronger than Mad Hounds. We’re still in no real danger, and our Origins can obliterate them.  “I wonder. There was a flash of…’black’!?...then those things were suddenly alive again.” “Oh, yeah. The one that was hanging in St. Joprian’s Church.” ”One, just said that, two, it wasn’t hanging, it was a huge stone slab!” ”Semantics, boy…” “…Soon the Eclipse will completely cover the earth, and a new world will be born…” “So is this the eclipse Avalon was talking about?” “If what Avalon said was true, it’s got to be more than just this.” “I mean, if we believe he’s trying to destroy this world and create a new one…then this is only the beginning, an omen. If something terrible is going to happen, it’ll come later…That’s what I think.” ”Speaking of everyone, maybe it was a bad idea to have Galvan and Boerto run off into a forest likely full of resurrected hell beasts?” ”Oh crap, maybe…”We now have to walk out of Hunter’s Wood, fighting all the new encounters along the way. But first, let’s sit down and have a campside chat while a supernatural event takes place!  “Yeah. The bright sun has changed to a creepy black color. I hope nothing else bad happens!” “I wonder if other places are all right? In any case, we’d better get back to Nohl.” Oh look, pallet swaps of all the other enemies from our first time here! At least this is the first time we’ve seen a Klaw Ant pallet swap.  Now Playing – Beast of Darkness Exiting onto the world map, we see the world now basks in a healthy purple glow. Beast of Darkness has now permanently replaced Advancing to Far Away Places as the map theme. We first heard this track back at Kazan’s shack, looking at Avalon’s evil mist.  ”Aston, look at the sky!”Aston: ”Oh. Yeah, I guess that explains the panic.” ”Also all the monsters resurrected themselves.”Aston: ”…information I would have liked to have known as the gate guard…”  Boerto made it out okay, despite having nobody but Galvan to rely on.  ”You mean Galvan didn’t explain anything?” ”No! He just blitzed past me and ran into his room! I think I heard whimpering…” “Don’t worry about me! I’ve never seen anything like that before, but it was no match for me!” *grumble grumble* Overconfidence… *grumble grumble*” “Is the town all right?” ”Didn’t you just come through town?” ”Uh, yeah, I just figured I’d…make sure…nothing was wrong?” “Yeah…I don’t think ANYONE’s seen that before; especially not in Hunter’s Wood.” “But you never know when we’ll run into something like that again. Better be careful…”Hawke: “Monsters now mutating into ever greater monstrosities?...” “You think that black sun had something to do with it?”Hawke: “I do not know…But it is ominous…That black sun…” Hawke: “Galvan. I advise you to stay far from Hunter’s Wood for a while…” Hawke: “Fair guests, my apologies for the disturbance. Lang, it is time for you to rest.” We are once again free to move around.  Dein is determined to be a little bitch. Despite Hawke urging us to rest, sleeping is not the way to move on. We gotta go outside.  “Are we…Are we going to become like those monsters in Hunter’s Wood? I don’t…I don’t want that…” “…We just brought back the Aqualith…” “Are we going to sit here and watch the world crumble right before our eyes!?” “There must be something…There must be something that I…No!!! That WE can do!!” “Lang…You have spoken well!...” “I feel very much the same. But…that black sun…There are too many things not known to us…” “Reym…?” “He is a spirit…A spirit that has lived as one with the earth from days of old.” “It’s possible…If anyone can tell us about the black sun or the ‘rot’, it would be Reym.” “So…this Reym, Where is he?” “In my home town…Past The Forest Maze in a town called Yuno.” “All right! Let’s get going to Yuno!” “Lang, Yuno is quite far. I am certain there are many who will be sad to see you go so soon after you’ve returned.” “Prepare well for your journey. We will be waiting at the entrance of the town. Come when you feel that you are ready to depart.”We are left alone to say our goodbyes. However, despite what Kazan said, only two people meaningfully react to our intent to depart.  Dein, of all people.  And Nancy. “What’s going to happen? I don’t know what’s going on anymore, Lang….!!”We get a dialogue choice. Either dither or be confident. The answer is a given here. “Leave it to me!! I got the Aqualith back, didn’t I? This?...This is nothing!” “…You’ve grown up, Lang...I can hardly believe it’s you…” “Huh? Uhhh, well…” ”...our immediate plan is to go talk to an ancient spirit?” “…It’s all right. Don’t worry. I know you’re trying to make me feel better. I appreciate it though.” ”But we’re really going to-“  “Yeah…I hear it’s gonna be far this time…” “And I’m going to try my best to do my part, just like you, Lang!” “You make sure you come back! I’ll be waiting for you with a big feast all cooked up!”  Now we leave.  “Yes!” “Which way is Yuno?” “It’s west of Darakin. But along the way, we’ll have to pass through The Forest Maze…” “What’s wrong with the forest?” “There is a strange mist in the forest…It confuses the senses and makes one lose one’s way.” “Then what should we do?” Hmm, didn’t Mizel Red Sand come up once before? “It’s out of the way, but we should go back to Mt. Gabel to get it.”So it’s in Kazan’s shack? Hmm. Hmmmmmmmm.     ”Just saying one more goodbye…”And that is where we will leave things for now. Join me next time, where we realise that Kazan’s getting dementia. Also we probably reach Yuno.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 24, 2021 23:50
|
|
|
Chapter 10 – Lang’s DESTINY Where we last left off, Avalon’s promised Eclipse occurred, and the world is now showered in the Black Sun’s evil light. We’re now headed to Maya’s home town of Yuno, where an ancient spirit called “Reym” might be able to help us figure out what’s going on, and how we can stop Avalon. Buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut first! We’re going back into Nohl.  I don’t know if I mentioned this already, but whenever you go into a town, your party members will go stand in different areas and have things to say. This is distinct from actual scenes as they say these lines every time you go in, and will stand in the same position (although it changes as the story progresses). This is a great way to check if a character has content at any given time, because you’ll figure out they’re not in their usual spot.  In Darakin, Maya’s still standing around on the street, talking about how fun playing hide and seek is.  Kazan stands around in the upper class district talking about the Kabel ruins. Why no one has arrested him for vagrancy I don’t know. Speaking of Darakin, there’s a new bit of content to be experienced.   We could come into this restaurant much earlier, and we did to get the recipe book from the chef. But we can’t actually use the restaurant properly until after the Eclipse. “Huh? Okay. Yes, please do.”Guinness: “Certainly, sir. This way, please.”  As you might expect, all of these options teach us new cooking recipes. But it’s not as simple as other restaurants: here, the staff and clientele of Chez Snobbe will judge us based on what we buy. We start with the cheap option.  Lang takes a bite. “The flavour is so….rich…!”    Lang neither notices nor cares that they’re judging him, this is the best food he’s had. This course teaches us to make “Balsamic Veggies”. But he hasn’t seen nothing yet.  “*crunch crunch* Oops! I shouldn’t make so much noise in a place like this!”Maid: (Looks like he has money…But he certainly doesn’t have much class…!) Female Noble: (Well, he doesn’t look like he wandered in here by mistake…But he does look rather out of place…!) Guinness: (Well! That’s quite an expensive order he gave!) (This sure is elegant dining! And each bite fills my mouth with fantastic flavour!)Lang learns “Lobster in Wine” here.  On a random note, the maid’s name is “Neil”. I have no idea if this was intentional or a bad translation.  “*Munch munch* Wonder if I’ll be able to finish all of this myself?”Guinness: (Well! I guess you can’t judge a book by its cover!) Female Noble: (Could he be royalty, I wonder…? Maybe I’d better make his acquaintance…?) Manager Broam: (How can he afford that?! I wonder what noble family he’s from…? I’d better watch myself. Can’t make any social faux pas!) (This is incredible! It’s so delicious, I’m trembling from head to toe!)We learn “Heavenly Beef” from this. Heavenly Beef is a fantastic recipe that buffs a lot of stats well and has no drawbacks like Kazan Curry. This will be my staple dish for most of the playthrough. You might be wondering how Darakin is faring with this freaky supernatural event. Well, they’re doing absolutely fine. Yes, everyone’s commenting on it and being a little freaked out, but aside from that, you’d think nothing had happened. This is going to be a running theme in this game. With meaningful content in Darakin done, we head to Mt. Gabel.   The terrifying power of the Black Sun: bringing us slightly more powerful pallet swaps of all the enemies we’ve seen before.   Gee, I wonder what could have happened? What dastardly knave could have swept in and taken everything Kazan owns? We’ll have to follow a trail of clues to figure out who took our precious Mizel Red Sand….  No, really!? I get that some poo poo has happened in the character’s lives since Kenjiro was allowed to take everything, but from the player’s perspective, this is really tedious. We know Kenjiro was told he could take everything, and if you talk to him, he specifically mentions taking the Mizel Red Sand. The game has marched us up to Kazan’s shack, exposed us to boring pallet swap enemies, all so we could find out what we already knew and proceed with the plot accordingly. “Ha ha ha! That explains everything!” “So what are we going to do? We can’t make it through the woods without Mizel Red Sand, right?” “Hmm…” “I think the only thing we can do is start looking for Kenjiro.” “Let’s just hope he hasn’t sold it already…” “You’re right, Maya. Now where would he go…Somewhere with a lot of people.”Gee, I wonder where they could be talking about?  Man, who would have thought he was in Darakin? I was so sure he’d be in Nohl…. “Hey, Kenjiro….About that stuff I gave you the other day…Remember that thing called Mizel Red Sand?” “That was a surprise, Kazan! The town alchemist was just beggin’ me to sell it to him!” “What!? D-Did you sell it?” “I wouldn’t let it go that easily! It’s worth a fortune! Why, look, I have it right here!” “That’s a relief! Kenjiro, would you give it back to me…?” “No siree! You gave it to me, so it’s mine now!” ”Alright, let’s beat him up and take it.” ”You’ll have to tango with all the guards, kid!” ”Easy, we slaughtered our way through Castle Doplin TWICE!” ”We can’t, Lang! Stealing is wrong!” ”But the fate of the world is at stake! And he took it from Kazan first!” ”Sorry Lang, we have to do this legit.” ”Alright, alright… We really need it. We’ll pay you as much as we can.” “No! I won’t give this here up, no matter how much y’all pay!”  “Listen up! I’ll give you the Mizel Red Sand!” “But! I want Lyps’ Tear in return!” “Lyps….teardrops…?” “The Lyps are as hard to find as they are famous.” “They only shed tears from those lovely eyes once a year! It’s incredibly rare!”First, Lyps don’t appear to have eyes, second, every time you beat one, you get a Lyps’ Tear. If we didn’t have one already, we’d have to buy a special item from Kenjiro called “Blowfish Weed” that would let us attract Lyps encounters. They’re usually very rare, and you need enough agility to hit them before they run. However, I already killed a Lyps while grinding in the Forest Maze, so we skip that whole diversion.  “Oooo! Aha!! How’d you come upon that there!?” “It don’t matter. We’re tradin’!”You get a choice on whether to trade or not, but why wouldn’t you? You can’t proceed any other way. “Darn! I was looking forward to sellin’ this baby, but…” ”I just want to take this moment to mention most merchants wouldn’t offer us all that much for a single Lyps’ Tear and we have WAAAAAY more money than it’s worth that you could have extorted us for. So you just lost out big time on this transaction, bitch.” ”Wait, no! Guards, I’ve been robbed!” We can still use Kenjiro as a merchant. He sells a little bit of everything. Now, if we leave Darakin and go right back in…  Leon: “You have to do this step quickly. Or else the pasta gets soggy.” “Maya, what are you doing?” “Leon is teaching me how to cook.” “He’s showing me how to make Pasta Carbonara. I’ll make it for you next time, Okay, Lang?”Naturally, Maya learns the Pasta Carbonara recipe.  Kazan fumes at Kenjiro from the backend of town. Now, finally, we head to the Forest Maze. Now Playing – Lost Forest   “…But we should still proceed cautiously. That black sun may have affected this forest also…”We only get so far into the Forest Maze before we’re faced with a tutorial fight.  Not even bosses are immune to pallet swapping. The Gather Crab is now reduced to a generic enemy in blue.  “Kazan…” “Maya you just watch. Lang, this will be a good test for the new Art.” “We will synchronize our moves for a massive attack. Are you ready?”And so begins our tutorial on Variable Arts. Variable Arts are by far the most damaging attacks we have available to us except for one set of Arts that I won’t mention for some time (even though we could use them right now). Variable Arts work by inputting in specific sequences with two characters, who will then perform a joint attack. It has to be the exact sequence, and you cannot use any other Arts with them, but they more than make up for that in sheer power. Each character comes with an A and B type Variable Art. The purpose of this is that one character must perform their A type Art and the other their B type Art. If you use both of the same type, then no Variable Art eventuates and you just perform a few regular attacks. You must also have 80 AP on each character to pull it off. Click here to see our first Variable Art show. This attack does 28000 damage to the Loghart Crab. This is far beyond what any character can do individually, and beyond what they can all do attacking in a single round. And of course, Variable Arts only require two characters, so the third can keep attacking or do something else.  “This…I never knew!” “That’s what you get when you combine our strength! I expect that you can do it with others as well!”Variable Arts can be performed by every character, and they all have A and B type Arts. I’d show off the others we could do here, but I’ve decided to leave that until we have every character.  So here we have pallet swaps of the Dino Gols and…  Holy poo poo, that’s a new, unique enemy! How long has it been since we’ve seen one of those? Probably Doplin Castle and Kabel Ruins… Hanged Snails (how the hell is it a snail?) largely just hit you either regularly or with fire attacks. They can also cause Venom.  Here we are ambushed by Bean Cannons, pallet swaps of Bean Guns. They can shoot out “Mrs. Beans” to attack us, who are pallet swaps of the old Bean enemies. We don’t see this happen despite them getting the jump on us, as they mysteriously decline to act and then get wrecked next round.  Kocus Karacas’ are immune to Origin attacks, and have a suicide attack that denies you any reward for their deaths. But we kill them easily enough with Arts for that to matter.  Pallet swaps from the sewers. Boring. Anyway, you’re probably wondering about the dungeon itself. The Forest Maze has no real puzzles like any other dungeon, but its mazelike quality might keep you wandering around if you don’t know where to go. Fortunately, I’ve been through enough times to know exactly where to go.  First we get on this log.  Then have Galea smash this log.  And then it’s an effectively straight path to the exit. The Forest Maze has plenty of treasure to find. Most of it is unremarkable, but you can get a "Scroll of Water" that teaches Maya a new Hyper Art. We move on to Yuno. Now Playing – Everyday Tranquillity     “This is…snow…?” “It’s colder here than in Lang’s town, but it’s warmer inside! Let’s go in the house now.” ”Lang’s town? I'm right here, you know...”Maya runs towards her house premptively.   “I don’t…I don’t deserve to enter this village…I bet the other villagers would agree.” “If only…I had noticed your power a little sooner…” “Then you… wouldn’t have lost your family and your friends…” “I think…the village will forgive you, Kazan.” “Let’s go inside.” “Wasure Sato Yuno”. Exactly as translated.    “I’m sorry for making you worry! I’m sorry!” ”Shouldn’t I be the one apologising…?”Ruth: “Maya…You…What happened to you?! I thought you lost your voice…” Mick: “This is great!! Talk to me, Maya!” Rona: “Congratulations, Maya!”  Simba: “Didn’t you know how lonely little Maya was without you?” “I…I don’t deserve to live in this village…” “I couldn’t save Maya’s family…or the villagers.”Simba: “Hey Kazan, nobody could have stopped it. It wasn’t your fault…” Hilda: “That’s right! Kazan! And you saved Maya!” Hilda’s the woman near Simba. Hilda: “Nobody blames you! So why should you leave the village?” Hilda: “You and Maya…And everybody in the village! I feel like you’re all family!” Hilda: “So what’s the point of being family if we are all separate, huh? Am I right, honey?” Simba: “That’s right! Isn’t that why you came back, Kazan?”   “No. Um…He’s my…student, I guess. His name is Lang.” ”You guess? Have you NOT been teaching me this whole time?”Hilda: “Oh! I was shocked. I thought you’d had a kid!” Hilda: “You’ve had a hard time, haven’t you? We’ve had nothing but trouble since the black sun appeared!” Hilda: “It’s not an exciting village, but make yourself at home.” Simba: “Let’s have a drink for old time’s sake! Promise me, Kazan!” Hilda: “*sigh* Just like a fish!”   “You’re right. I was…being silly.”I think Legaia 2 wanted to win awards for fastest resolutions of plotlines. “Let’s…let’s go back home now.”The screen fades to black as they all go to Maya’s house.  “The house was a pigsty when Kazan lived here!” “Kazan used to live in this house. I’m renting it now, though.” ”Renting? What, did someone buy your parents’ house and make you pay rent!?” ”Yuno law is…complex…” “Hey, Maya? What’s wrong?” “Nothing!” “The room Kazan used to live in is spare, but…There’s nothing there except a bed.” “Okay. Lang, go ahead and use the room.” “What are you going to do, Master?” “Anyway…Can we see Reym tomorrow? I’ve been invited to Simba’s home.” “And Maya just came back, too! She needs to catch up…” “Eh…But…Um…” “All right, then! The decision’s made!”Kazan gets up and leaves.  “I guess Kazan is happy to be here, too, though he doesn’t show it…” “Um…Lang…” “Hm?” “I’m going out, too. I want to visit my parents’ grave and tell them I’m back.” “Oh okay. Don’t worry about me.” “Okay. See you later!” We are now left alone to wander Yuno at our leisure. In Maya’s house, we learn about a new minigame.  We can grow plants and flowers to gain items when they’re ready to harvest. As far as I can tell, all you need to do is use certain methods to grow the plants and then just hit the “check” option. There’s no need to wait or fight battles, you just do it. Some plants respond better to different acts, like watering more (or less) and using fertilizer. It’s all pretty standard. While there’s probably some nice stuff we can get out of this, I’m not going to do much with it unless I find out there’s some infinity weapon locked behind it. It’s tedious as all hell. Anyway, now that we can access the Yuno shops, I’m going to detail a really broken accessory you can make at this point. It’s not my original idea, mind you (it comes from Shotgunnova’s walkthrough), but I’ll tell you guys all about it anyway. Follow these steps to make it: -First, buy a bunch of Passion Necklaces, Tough Necklaces, and Babble Necklaces. -Combine the Passion and Tough Necklaces to make Assault Bangles. -Combine the Assault Bangles with Babble Necklaces to make Hero Bangles. -Combine Hero Bangles with Babble Necklaces to make Bonus Bangles. -Combine Hero Bangles with Bonus Bangles to make Beggar’s Bangles. -Combine Beggar’s Bangles with Babble Necklaces to make Power Necklaces. Power Necklaces give you many useful skills, but chief among them is “Art Attack Up”, which confers a 50% power boost on every Art hit. That means if you use an Art like Wind Blade for Lang, which hits three times, he will have a 50% power increase on all three hits. This applies to every Art based hit you make, so you can wildly increase the damage you do every round, and it will only go higher as you get more Art Blocks. This skill will trivialise much of the game, more so than it already has. You’ll find out just how much over the next few dungeons.  The woman running the food shop gives you a new recipe book. Like the others, this teaches new recipes to every character we can get.   ”Hasn’t she been unable to speak for some time?”Faldo: ”Yeah, that’s how we hooked up! I said “Say nothing if you want to be my girlfriend”, and she didn’t!” ”Genius.” If we go to Simba’s house before we’re meant to, we get a brief scene of Kazan knocking them back with Simba. Simba: “I know. I know! No need to hold back! You’re our guest!”  We learn that Simba was Kazan’s pupil too. For a man who “always preferred to use his fists”, Kazan sure had a lot of swordsmen for pupils. Anyway, what we’re meant to do is go eavesdrop on Maya. Now Playing – Maya  “Father…I won’t…run away anymore. I won’t curse myself anymore!” “This power of mine…It will come in handy some day. I’m sure of it now.” “So don’t worry about me, mother and father…” Maya rejoins us. Now we have to go pick Kazan up from Simbacare.    Now Playing – Barracks Simba: “Ha, ha, ha! Oh, man! I’ll take care of him tonight! I’ll send him home by morning.” “Can’t be helped, I guess…” “Wander, wander…O’er the valley yonderrrrr! Ho, ho!” “Down on the border ‘tween….The north and south…Heeey! Hooo! Heeey! Hooo!”Kazan keeps drunkenly repeating his little song. There is naught to do but go back to Maya’s place and sleep.” As we sleep, however…  “If only I had noticed Maya’s power a little earlier…You wouldn’t have lost your lives.” “All I can do now…is apologize…” “All I can do…is to watch over that child in your stead…” We awaken the next day.  Oh but we will have the luxury of time. We will indeed… “Look who’s talking, Kazan! You were out all night!”Kazan flinches. “Hmph…That was then. This is now. Whatever. Let’s go and see Reym.”We head out the back entrance of Maya’s house and enter the cave.    Now Playing – Title (Quick note, this theme plays on the title screen of this game and Legend of Legaia)    “No…It looks human, but it’s a spririt.” “A spirit?” “Remember the Mountain Morg at Mt. Gabel? It’s like the Morg, a spirit. It can speak though.” ”…you think he’s mad I killed his fellow spirit…?” “You are…Lang, aren’t you?” “How do you know my name?” “Don’t be too surprised. I know almost everything about this world.” “The roots of this tree spread all over the world. And I can learn what’s going on from those roots.” “Reym…About the black sun…What’s the ‘Eclipse’ Avalon was talking about?” “The Eclipse is turning all living things into evil…darkness…chaos…” “Did that man, Avalon, make it happen?” “Yes and no…The answer is carved into this monolith. Behold…’The Source Forge.’” “The…Source Forge?” “The very creator of this entire world.” “The creator…The origin of our entire world…Can this really be?” “I understand how difficult it may be for you to believe.” “To prove it, I’ll show you a memory. My memory…of this world of yours.”  Now Playing – Beast of Darkness “It’s the core of the Source Forge. It’s the place where all life is created.” “The Source Forge wasn’t always here.” “At first, this world contained nothing. And then, three sources of power were born. They were…”    You know these colours/elements line up perfectly with Legend of Zelda’s goddess trifecta. “Their power melded together and the Source Forge was born. The stones then created life and the Source Forge sent it into the world.” “This life that was sent forth continued to evolve and propagate, right up till the present.” “But the delicate balance of the Source Forge, that source of all life…was RUINED by HIM…!” “And that man has upset that precious arrangement!”   “So THAT’S what I saw in my dream that time!” “When the arrangement of the sacred stones was changed, the Source Forge began to run amok.” “It began trying to create a world full of evil and chaos, covering everything with the power of the Eclipse, born of the black sun.”   “Kazan…It is impossible for you. You cannot restore the Source Forge.” “Lang…Only you can restore the Source Forge…” “Me?!”  “The man at the chapel called Lang that, too…Star Shaper? What’s that mean?” “Power to manipulate the Source Forge. Power to shape the future of this planet…Only you and Avalon possess the power…” “Where did this power come from? Tell me! What am I?!” And there it is, dear readers. The ugly truth. Lang is a Chosen One™. “Born…from the Source Forge? “The Source Forge was created with the desire to promote life on earth…” “Or…perhaps it was the will of the sacred stones, the creators of the Source Forge.” “The life that sprang from it spread across the world, creating more life over the ages.” “From a realm devoid of time, the Source Forge has stood watch over the cycle of life.” “But unforeseen seeds formed during the cycle of death and rebirth. I speak of…the Mystics.” “Beings who were a mixture of the forces of nature and humanity…Were these Mystics born to create a world full of hope, full of dreams? Or…Were they born to destroy the very world the Source Forge had created?” “The Source Forge became interested in the Mystics. It even hoped…that the Mystics might guide its world to a better place…” “You and Avalon have the power to use the Source Forge. The future of this world is in your hands.” “But…Avalon…He has come to hate this world. I think his sad experience of being a Mystic has changed him…” “This world is being consumed by ruin…And the only one who can stop it is you!” “You are…the only hope! Lang!” “I still can’t…It’s hard to believe I was created by the Source Forge…” “I don’t feel like I’ve got any special power, either.” ”Except for my incredible sword talents and athletic abilities.” “But…I’m sure about one thing…” “Lang! “Lang..!” “How can I…restore the Source Forge to the way it was?” “If the Pyrolith, Aqualith, and Aerolith are properly arranged within the core of the Source Forge…You can reset the Source Forge…And remove the black sun as well, Lang…!” “But to do so…First you must collect these three sacred stones.” “Avalon may try to stop you. You must resist his limitless power, and win…” “Reym. Why are we here, then? To fight against him at Lang’s side!” “Lang…You won’t be alone. We’ll all fight together to save the world we live in!” “Master…Maya…” “I knew it…Our meeting was no accident. We were fated! Fated to fight together against Avalon! To save the world!” “We won’t let this world be destroyed! And I’ll change the Source Forge back to the way it was!”  “The power of the Eclipse…Is stealing life-force from my tree…” “Reym! Hold on!” “Forgive me….I cannot remain…In this world for long…I will leave my memories in this monolith.” “Only Mystics…can locate the sacred stones…by touching this monolith.” “The Source Forge resides inside…a tower leading to the center of this world. The Demiurge Tower…” “The sacred stones…Will guide you there…”  “Perhaps we’ll see him again…After we restore the world, Kazan.” “Master, Maya…Let’s go!” “Right! We’d better find out where those sacred stones are located. Try touching the monolith, Lang.”      “About the Aqualith, Lang, you…” “Kazan…" “Let’s go back to Nohl. We need that Aqualith to save the world!”And finally, we are done. We can leave. Holy moly, was that an exposition dump! We learned so much…and god how it all sucks. One of the biggest problems with this game is it’s absurdly cliché plot, and this is the most cliché reveal of all. Lang is the Chosen One, the only person in the world who can stand up to the EVIL Avalon and restore the world to normal. Said world was created by a sentient rock formation that also created Lang AND Avalon because of destiny and balance and whatever. Also Kazan and Maya are here because of DESTINY. DESTINY DESTINY DESTINY DESTINY DESTINY! …I want to share with you part of an interview with the script writer for Legend of Legaia, Hidenori Shibao. Shibao: “When I started writing the scenario for Legaia I had several goals. One was the elimination of "legends". Now, there may be people who think, "What?!" Because the game is called "Legend of Legaia", but this title was not my idea…. Personally I think there's a phenomenon called "Nausicaa syndrome", as in Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind. In other words…a legend or prophecy is introduced suddenly at the opening of the story. Because it's an absolute story transmitted into the world, it can't be denied. At the game's end, after various twists and turns, the hero who was at the mercy of fate ends up as a form of legend themselves. It's a common theme, right? Using a fixed form of story, such as fulfillment of a legend, I know it's convenient but...don't you get bored with it? So I wanted to avoid it.” Think on this, and think of what this game has just told us. Join me next time, where we do something incredibly stupid, and recruit our 4th party member. LJN92 fucked around with this message at 03:11 on Apr 27, 2021 |
|
#
¿
Apr 27, 2021 01:04
|
|
|
Magic Fanatic posted:What a suspiciously specific statement. There's Absolutely Zero chance that you might be remembering something else? Actually yeah, I just made a mistake. I mistook the name of one of Maya's Hyper Art scrolls for a generic spell scroll. Mea culpa. I'll update that accordingly.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 27, 2021 03:10
|
|
|
Chapter 11 - My Sharon-a Where we last left off, we just got an almighty exposition dump from Reym, learned the origin of the world, and how Lang was born from a sentient rock formation and the only one with the power to defeat Avalon, also sired by said sentient rock formation. No, really. We have now been tasked with gathering the sacred stones and using them to restore the Source Forge (the sentient rock formation) to normal, having been corrupted by Avalon. But FIRST! We’re going to piss around on side content. Yuno’s up first.  Remember Miura? He was the bloke that gave told us about the Forest Maze before we even went to Mt. Gabel. Apparently, despite selling us THE Mizel Red Sand, Kenjiro actually had more of it to shell out to suckers like Miura. Miura: “But…Now that I’ve used all the Mizel Red Sand how will I get back…?” Miura says this, but you never need to use more of it to get in or out of the Forest Maze.  Cocky Lang is nice to his allies, so we say “It’s just like home”. “Yeah. I’ve got my own room here, so it feels like home.” “Really? Well, then. Let’s live here together! What do you say?” ”Maya the loving apocalypse is nigh, what the hell are you on about?” “But…You just said it felt like home!” ”I mean it’s cozy and all, but still, this seems like a BAD time.” “Ha! Did you think I was serious? I was kidding! It was a joke!” ”Dammit, Maya.”In case you’re wondering, where I’ve injected new dialogue, canon Lang just stammers like a moron. Not terribly interesting. Let’s hear some campside chats. Faldo and Maya  “What?” “What’s wrong? You always played with him when you were little!” “He even told me he would marry you, Maya.” “So, what’s up with you two? Anything new? You saw him in Yuno, right?” “Stop it, Kazan! You don’t have to talk about him right now!”We get a dialogue choice. You either don’t care, sort of gossip about it, or act like this means Maya’s closed off to a relationship with you. Really, Lang’s all like “I got too excited…Man, do I feel dumb.” But our choice is to be nonchalant.   “So what’s going on, Maya? Anything new?” “I hate you, Kazan! Just leave me alone! “What? Why’d she get so mad all of a sudden?”Interior Design  “Sure you can. The room’s been looking pretty empty ever since we got rid of Kazan’s furniture.” “I’m so sad…I finally return to Yuno, and I find someone threw out my favourite mask!” “Well, it was so dirty, Kazan!” “Also, I didn’t know when you were coming back. I had no choice.” “I can’t believe it…Lang, you’d better watch out, too.”You can actually do this without even seeing this chat, but basically you can get certain items to decorate the room Maya gave you with. It’s mostly functionless, except if you gather all the furniture, you get a special end game item out of it. But that’s way too tedious for my tastes, and we really won’t need the item she’s going to give us. Lang’s Cold “Aah….Atchoo! *snort!* Looks like I caught a cold.” “Because you’re so lightly dressed. It’s snowing. Don’t underestimate nature.” “I know, but…Atchoo! Aargh…I have a pounding headache…” “Hold on…I have some cold medicine. Here you go.” “Ahhh…Thanks, Maya.” “Don’t push yourself. Keep warm, sleep well, and you’ll feel better in the morning!” “…I hope so.”Reym’s Fate “Poor Reym…I never thought he’d go before I did…” “But I bet Reym will come back after that black sun is gone and the world is back to normal…Don’t you think…?” “We’ll be able to see him again, Kazan…Right?” “Yeah…I bet you’re right. I don’t know if we can do it or not…but we’ve gotta try to fix things. For his sake, and for our own sakes, too.”Lang’s Feelings (I understand how he feels. After everybody was so happy about getting the Aqualith back! Now we’ve gotta take it away again.) (Poor Lang…!)We now head back to Nohl.  ”gently caress you, Dein! You’re making this harder than it already is!”Dein: ”Wait, poo poo, did you really bring back another disaster…?”  ”loving Dein.”Hawke is the man we need to talk to about taking the Aqualith.  “Well, Hawke…Actually…”The screen fades to black as Lang explains.  Hakwe: “…And in order to save the world, you need the Aqualith…Am I right?” Hawke: “So the goings-on at Hunter’s Wood are happening elsewhere…All that destruction…” ”Actually there’s not much destruction at all. People just keep whining about aggressive monsters.”Hawke: “…Lang. As I have said this to you before, the thing that keeps all of us here alive…is that lake. And the Aqualith.” Hawke: “You know that. That is why you brought the Aqualith back to Nohl. Isn’t that right?”   There’s actually quite a few residents of Nohl missing from this picture.  Hawke: “It concerns Lang taking the Aqualith with him.”   Koko: “Is all the water going bye-bye?” Monde: “And what is your opinion on all this, Hawke…?” Jill: “We’ll have to go through a drought all over again?” Elukk: “No, Lang! Don’t take our Aqualith!!”  “But…our sun…I need the Aqualith. The world won’t return to normal without it.” Dein: “Don’t you see?!?! This guy here, loooooves to make people really happy, and then screws them in the end.” Dein: “Only thinking about himself…He doesn’t care about you or me, as long as he’s happy. That’s who he is!”  Hawke: “Dein…Were you not rescued from Hunter’s Wood by Lang?” Hawke: “What did you do after that man seized the Aqualith? What were ANY of us doing then?” Hawke: “Nothing! We had all given up. We always let it be, saying that it was meant to be.” Hawke: “But Lang…You were different. The morning after you heard that the Aqualith had been stolen, you left Nohl to get it back…all alone.” Hawke: “You didn’t know how it would end. But you didn’t fear the unknown. You kept your faith. I admire that.”  Hawke: “That black sun…To get rid of it, you need the Aqualith….that is what you said, right?” Hawke: “Of course, it is hard for us to lose the Aqualith…But perhaps it is time to stop fearing change, and stand up to it, boldly.”   Turns out Galvan and Nancy were just waiting for the right moment to make a dramatic entrance. “That’s right! Anyone got a problem with that, you’ll settle it with me!” Dein noticeably jumps at Galvan palming his fist. “Lang, there are certain things that only you can do, right? Well then, go do them!” No, as is typical in this game, you can’t actually refuse. The other option just has Lang dither. This is the stupid decision I mentioned last update. Everyone’s acting like it’s not that big of a deal, but this just seems ridiculous in the face of how bad it got when the Aqualith was first taken. The game went to every length to illustrate how Nohl needed the Aqualith, even making it clear that it just doesn’t rain much in Nohl. We heard about how the crops were dying, and everyone had to ration water. How can we be expected to turn around and act like it’s no big deal? This is all exacerbated by the Eclipse. Hunter’s Wood is now full of super charged monsters, the same kind that are allegedly threatening Darakin’s walls and causing much grief for Yuno’s hunters. It will only be harder for Nohl’s Vigilance Corps to get to other sources of water. In theory, they should be lucky just to defend their wimpy palisade, let alone do everything while the town dehydrates to death. Now of course we do need the Aqualith eventually, but do we need it now? There’s two other stones we need to get, and they’re all in different parts of the world. We are going to have to go on an epic journey to search for them, and all that time, the Aqualith is just going to sit in our hyperspace pockets with all the Heal Leaves I’ll never use again. It’s not like travelling back and forth is presented as difficult; all we need to do to go from Nohl to Yuno, which is technically the span of the continent, is click on the map. Why couldn’t we just come back for the Aqualith later? The best reason to do this I can think of is to keep the Aqualith safe. Avalon gave it away, but we don’t know if he’ll change his mind. Velna’s also keen to kill us, and she can teleport. Doplin is also still interested in getting the stones to become a god. But this isn’t even brought up. The game just acts like you must have the Aqualith on your person to proceed. The villager’s lives are at stake here, and no real thought it put into the dilemma. They just decide they’ll gung ho their way through the crisis.    “But in order to stop the black sun, and return the world to normal, I…I need the Aqualith!!” Jill: “This is hard on us…but it’s even harder on you, Lang.” Yes, it’s very hard for him to jeopardize the entire village so he can put the Aqualith in a sack for a year. Joanne: “Not having the Aqualith is a problem, but if the world disappeared there would be no point in having it anyway…” Koko: “Lang, take care of the Aqualith, okay?” Monde: “We can’t fear change…You know what, that’s true. We can’t just sit around and mope!” Elukk: “Lang! You’ll come back, won’t you?”   Galvan makes an extremely subtle head gesture that’s hard to adequately convey via screenshots.  Hawke: “That’s a reflection of your consideration for this town, and for all who live in it…” Hawke: “Come back whenever you want to. This is your home…” And now we’re free to leave.  We find Galvan making Dein do some work.  “I’m not worried at all. That’s because I know you’ll fix the problem, Lang.” WWCLS: What Would Cocky Lang Say? “Of course not. I will do something about it. Just relax and leave it to me.” “Wow, you’re pretty confident, Are you 100% sure, Lang? It’s not like you!” ”…have you had you had your head up your rear end this whole time?” “*giggle* I’m only kidding!...We’re counting on you, Lang.”Leaving triggers a scene with Maya and Kazan.  “I don’t know about the Aerolith…but the Pyrolith is a volcanic rock, right? It’s probably on Drakonia…” “Hmm…I’ve heard that to the southwest lies the volcanic island, Drakonia…Let’s go and take a look.” “First, we’ll need a boat. South of here, there is a port city called Tanza. We’ll pick one up there.”Kazan doesn’t bother mentioning that’s where he’s from, despite doing so earlier. “For that we’ll have to pass south of Darakin, through Kravia.”We can have another camp chat after leaving.  “Don’t worry so much, Lang. People are stronger than you think. I’m sure they’ll find a way to survive on their own.” “And if we don’t do something about that black sun, everybody will die sooner or later, anyway.” “Yeah…I know that…But still…” “Poor Lang…”Let’s go back to Nohl for a quick bit.  “Yes, but this way it soaks up the flavour, and tastes better.” “Hm. But too much flavour isn’t always a good thing either.” “It won’t be too much, it’ll just be richer. Unless you understand that difference, you won’t make a good cook!” “…I still think my way is better.” “Well! You’re quite stubborn, aren’t you, Maya?” “Wha…ME?!?” “Right. It’s best to ask a third person at times like this.”The screen turns black like it’s a blind taste test. (gobble, gobble…Did Maya make this one? The taste is subtle, but you can tell a lot of work went into it.) *gobble* *gobble* (…and this one must be Nancy’s. It tastes stronger, but it’s pleasant somehow…Maybe because I’m used to it…) Unfortunately for Nancy, Maya is a party member. “Hm…let’s see…I guess it would be Maya’s dish?” “What!! What’s wrong with mine? I’m the one who feeds you every day!” “B, b, Because! Maya’s tasted as if a lot of effort went into it. Like she takes cooking seriously…” “Lang…thanks…” “Hmph! If I actually put effort into it, I could make something really amazing! …You’ll see!” “I could too! You’ll see!”Whatever is chosen, Maya gets the “Dogged” nickname, described as being for someone “who is focused on winning”. Now the plain interpretation of that is that she wants to win the cooking contest, but given how much both girls want to jump Lang’s bone, well… We now decide to move on with the plot.   “Jiyuu Toshi Karabia”. The translation is accurate. Worth noting that despite being a “Free City”, Kravia is very obviously controlled by Darakin.  Guard: “By proclamation of the new bishop!! From now on, we can’t let you through this checkpoint without a Kravian Pass from the new bishop!” Gunther: “You’ve gotta be kidding!! To hell with this new bishop! Why can’t we just use our permits like we used to?!” Guard: “These are the new bishop’s orders!! We can’t let anybody…NOT A SINGLE PERSON…through this gate without a Kravian Pass!” Jon: “Hey, come on! You know me! I work at the inn. You can let me through!...Can’t you?” Guard: “No one goes through without a Kravian Pass!! Kravian Passes are issued at Doplin Castle, in Darakin! If you want to go through, you’ve got to get a Kravian Pass!!”  ”Alright, let’s bust through…” ”Lang, no! We’ve been over this!” ”Do NOT tell me you’re bringing up the overconfidence thing again!” ”We must do this legit. We must go and get a pass.” ”I swear, if we end up carving a bloody path through the castle AGAIN…”Our only choice is to leave for Darakin.  Male Voice: “I never said any such thing! Give up on it!” We hear this exchange as we pass the Green Lynx Inn. For now, we decide to ignore it.  Guard: “You want a Kravian Pass, too? But even if you apply for one now, it’ll take 2 or 3 years…Maybe even longer…!” Guard: “Hey, you! Don’t fool around chatting! Just do you duty!” ”….should I even bother suggesting?” ”We MUST play it safe! The ruins are the ONLY way!” ”Fine, whatever, I guess I’ll look forward to killing another big knight guy….”As you might have guessed, our only choice is to go visit the inn.  Male Voice: “drat it, woman! Stay there if you want. But get it through your head that I just can’t get one for you!” I presume they wanted to make sure the player couldn’t forget the inn was the place to go.       “What’s going on?”Joe: “Aw, she wants a Kravian Pass…I don’t mind her coming to me for help, but in this case, I can’t do anything for her…”  We know he can’t give us one, so maybe a little information could be useful. “What’s a Kravian Pass, anyway?”Joe: “It’s a pass you need to get through the checkpoint at Kravia. You used to have to have a permit, and they were really hard-nosed about it. But now you need a Kravian Pass!” “Where can we get one of these Kravian Passes?”Joe: “At Doplin Castle. That new bishop supposedly issues them personally.” “What do you mean, ‘supposedly’?”Joe: “As far as I can tell, not one single Kravian Pass has ever been issued…Looks like the new bishop…is trying to isolate Darakin!” “I see…Well, that certainly explains why not even you can get your hands one one!”Joe: “Exactly. I can’t do anything about this one…” “That’s awful! Why would he want to seal off the checkpoint?”Joe: “Who knows? All that trouble to seal the place off…Maybe they don’t want to let something out…? Anyway, there just aren’t any passes out there! It’s no use.”  Joe: “Nah, never mind! No need to answer that. It’s just that…If somebody could get into the castle, they could steal a Kravian Pass! If they exist, that is…If the passes don’t exist, they could see the bishop directly, make him issue one! Now, who could do that, I wonder…? It’s just an idea…” Suddenly, there’s a thumping noise.     “Who are you?”  Yes that’s right, Sharon here is our 4th party member. In my opinion, she’s the best drat party member in the game, both narratively and mechanically. I’ll go into more depth in the next update. Now Playing – Pirate’s Pride (The title’s a technical spoiler, and yet only Sharon thinks her piracy is a secret)  “I’m Sharon.” “I can’t get through the Kravian checkpoint, either. I’m stuck here.” “I asked Mr. Information there to get one for me, but he’s useless…”Joe: “Yeah, you might’ve asked me, but I never said I could do it…! You never give me any respect, but then when you need something, you come running to me!” “Are you still mad about that one incident? That was such a long time ago! You sure can hold a grudge!” “Um…”Joe: “Look, I’d really like to help you, for old times’ sake. Really! But I can’t get you something that doesn’t exist!!” “Excuse me, but…” “Um…, excuse me!!” “If you don’t have a Kravian Pass either, why don’t we try to do something about it together?” “Maya…?” “But she needs help! We have to do something for her.” ”Why ‘but’? I didn’t object…” “Yeah, but…We don’t have a Kravian Pass, either. We’ve got to go the castle and try and see the bishop or something. We’ve got to get one of those Kravian Passes!” “Let me come with you!” “What?! “That mark on your chest…Don’t tell me you’re a Mystic, too…!” “You…! You’re a Mystic, too?” There’s an awkward pause as Sharon realises what she said.   “…And I really wanted to see it, too….” “Anyway…You want to come to the castle with us, but it’s a pretty dangerous trip…And you can’t promise you won’t hold us back…” “If you don’t believe me, why don’t you take me along and see? If I do hold you back, just tell me to scram. I won’t mind.” Now it’s not our canonical choice, but let me just show you what happens if we say “Better not…” ”Creepy Lang” posted:
We choose to welcome her gladly.     “How are we getting into the castle?” “Where was that secret passage…? The first floor of that fancy hotel, wasn’t it…?” “That’s right! It said, ‘The Three Star Hotel.’” “Well, if you know where it is, then let’s go! Come on! Let’s move, people!”Joe: “Hold on. If you’re going to the castle, you ought to be careful. I’ve been hearing a strange rumor. The guards say the new bishop is strong, strong enough to rip up steel with his bare hands. Don’t know if you can believe what the guards say, but I still think you should watch it.” “You’re giving me free advice? That’s not like you!”Joe: “Well, you did come to me for help. I want to be of some use. Be careful, Sharon…”  ”…oh Holy Banderas, I LOVE you!” ”I get that a lot!”  I am going to leave this update here, as it’s pretty drat long as is. Join me next time, where we learn more about Sharon and meet the new bishop. By the way, care to guess who the new bishop is? It’s someone we know.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 29, 2021 11:24
|
|
|
Chapter 12 – Chapter 8 Redux Where we last left off, we learned we needed to get a Kravian Pass to pass through Kravia, and only the new bishop of Darakin had them. Lang’s Gang resolved to storm the castle once more, and now Sharon, the pi-I mean, honest young lady has joined our party. Our current objective is to reach the castle via the secret tunnel like we did last time. …..but first. Naturally, Sharon joining us means there’s going to be new side content. However, at this very point, there’s actually remarkably little to see.  Before we leave, Joe has some comments on our new friend. This gives her the “Miss Fickle” nickname.  Taking Sharon back to Nohl doesn’t invoke a special scene like it did for Maya and Kazan, but she’s still here and commenting on things.  Although a bit out of character, I decide to smash the snowman. There’s content here, you see. Whenever Lang attacks something outside battle, he performs this goofy animation.  First there’s a kick…   Then he elbow drops onto whatever he’s attacking. A bit excessive for a ruddy snowman to say the least.  “This is…t-too…cold…I’m going to f-freeze out here! Br-r-r! Hey! You okay?”We get a choice of dialogue. I choose to have reality ensue.  “Is…Is that so? I feel better…” “Ah, atchoo! So-so c-cold…”This is all the side content we have today. Like I said, not much. Now we’re going to actually head to the castle. Now, Maya and Kazan brought up the Three Star Hotel, but thankfully we don’t have to go back through the sewer entrance again.  We still have the exit that places us right next to the Kabel Ruins. Of course, this means we still have to traverse the Kabel Ruins. But that shouldn’t be too hard since we did it once already, right?      “Impressive…” “Voila! Now, aren’t you glad you brought me along? Heh heh heh heh!”As should be plain for all to see, the purpose of this retread of the Kabel Ruins is basically a big tutorial for Sharon. And in light of that, let’s talk all about Sharon, shall we? Sharon is our first new party member to actually use a weapon. Sharon has a special set of curved swords, like cutlasses and scimitars. These can be bought at shops, combined, and found like weapons for Lang. Sharon is an obscenely fast character. From now until the end of the game, she will routinely be the first to act, both among your party members and usually even out of all actors on the field. This makes her perfect for getting rid of troublesome enemies before they can use a nasty status attack or something. At this point in the game, she’s also our hardest hitter and has the most Art Blocks of anyone present, even Kazan. With the addition of cooking and a Power Necklace, Sharon will annihilate enemies of all kinds and commonly do 10k+ damage every round. Now I think it’s time you got a glimpse of her in action, eh? Click here to see Sharon’s Art Exhibition and her Origin in action. (Note I decided to record her Art exhibition elsewhere because my machine was feeling most unco-operative when I recorded the Kabel Ruins redux) If it wasn’t already clear from the way battles have been set up thus far, you can only have 3 characters on the field at any given time. That means we have to bench someone to use Sharon. At this point, Maya’s the one lagging behind in damage output, and seeing as Arrode has all-hitting attacks that can destroy enemy formations, it’s obvious who’s getting subbed out for Sharon. In case you’re wondering, no, it’s not possible to bench Lang. Anyway, enough about Sharon. Let’s talk Kabel Ruins 2.  Shadow Skulls are just pallet swaps, but Vurans are new. It can cause poison, and it likes to block a lot.  Kelv Sol Ma’s are a bit like the Baki in that there are variations on them. Kelv Sol Ma come with different coloured robes which indicate different elemental types; red for fire, blue for water, and purple for thunder.   Kelv Sol Ma’s have a range of all-hitting attacks, some of which cause nasty status effects. One causes “Confusion”, which prevents you from knowing what attacks you’re making (all the directional attacks are marked “?” and the input is randomized). Another induces “Seal”, which prevents the use of MP moves like Origins.  Alza Dorgue can put you to sleep, but otherwise they’re nothing special. Seeing as we already cleared Kabel Ruins before, this should be a simple waltz to the exit, right?  Wrong. All the puzzles that barred your path last time have reset and require new methods to solve them. New Explorer’s Notes have also spawned in certain places to help. In this room, where we needed to spell “SNAKE” on the pedestals, we now have to light every pedestal that doesn’t comprise “SNAKE”.  The puzzle to acquire the Explorer’s Note requires us to step on the pressure plates in the order denoted by the boxes.  We could have used this elevator the first time around, but without Sharon’s Arrode, we couldn’t proceed. Now it’s the only way, as an arbitrary wall blocks the route we used last time.  This puzzle called on us to light the closest pedestals last time. This is just that in reverse. We stop at the camp site outside where we fought Slogar last time.  “Hmm, I wonder. But no matter what he’s like, we’ve gotta be prepared.” “That’s right! We’ve GOT to get a Kravian Pass!” This is one of those puzzles where you change one thing, and the two next to it change status. I’m not sure if there’s a word for it, but it’s a common one in games with puzzles. All we have to do is mess around with it until all the pedestals are lit up.  The colour puzzle just calls on us to do ROY G BIV this time around.  If we light these candles with Galea…  These guys pop out. A lack of a visible health bar is usually reserved for bosses and such, but these enemies aren’t too hard to beat.  The trick here is to have only the special looking boxes touch the floor.   They all explode, revealing a chest with another Explorer’s Notes.  This puzzle calls on us not to simply light a set bunch of pedestals, but to light and extinguish them in a set pattern. Maybe I’m too stupid or something, but I couldn’t figure out how to glean the solution from the Note on this puzzle.  This area initially appears to be a dead end, but using Galea on the wall reveals an Arrode switch needed to get to the exit. There’s a few important items that I didn’t actually grab while I was first here. These include the “Book of Fear” for Sharon, teaching her the Hyper Art “Fearful Arc”. You can also grab the “Spell of Earth” to teach Maya “Dust to Dust”. There’s also a “Prison Key” that opens a room in Doplin Castle. This is the subject of a small side quest, and I’ll detail it later. We exit the Kabel Ruins and once again enter Doplin Castle.  Every encounter here involves a set of the various knight flunkies we’ve seen thus far. These ones we actually haven’t seen before, but the others are what you’d expect.  These are Raynof’s flunkies. Interestingly, they’re called “Crimson Warriors” despite explicitly calling themselves “The Red Knights” in Raynof’s cut scenes.  And these are the MIGHTY Balken’s subordinates, who stood around while he fought us. Note the image here is taken from someone else’s game, because I found it ridiculously hard to trigger an encounter with these guys. I didn’t see them the first time I went through, and I tried for way too long to get an encounter later. If you’re confused about their “Bronze” nature, I believe the idea is their armour has developed a patina. The fact that they’re “bronze” warriors makes the Doplin Knight scheme weird. You’re got bronze and gold knights, but no silver ones. The middle ones are “crimson”.  We can leave the castle just like before. This lets us rest, cook and prepare.  To find the new bishop, we have to head through this door, which was locked all the other times we were here.  Out here, we can already hear the sound of the next theme playing, albeit softly. Now Playing – Boss’ Pipe Organ      “What? What kind of way to speak to a bishop is that…?!”Now Playing – Holy Banderas Requiem He turns around.   I can’t tell if the game is making a jab at itself, given how easy it would be to forget who he is by this point. It’s Bubba, of course. Giving the wrong answer just makes him mad in different ways.     “When Doplin told me to look after the castle while he was gone, I was mad at him at first. But now I’d glad he did!” (*Snicker!* That Doplin said if we kept the checkpoint closed, these guys would show up here…And by golly, he was right!) “Doplin…?” “I don’t believe it…Don’t tell us you sealed off the checkpoint just so you could catch us…?!” ”…cause that actually makes perfect sense, seeing as I’m the ONLY threat to your master’s plans right now.” “No, no! Not ‘catch you’, exactly. More like ‘give you a good beating!’ I’m gonna avenge Elfin’s death!!”  “Elfin…? Oh, yeah! That monster I defeated in the canyon.” “Elfin wasn’t a monster!! You killed…You killed my true love…! Aw, drat you to hell!!”Cue boss fight.  Bubba is meant to be a pretty tough boss. While he can only attack one character at a time, his attacks are all capable of destroying you in one go. One of his attacks will even cause the “Bewitch” status, that causes the character afflicted to attack allies. …we destroy him in two rounds. He doesn’t even get a proper attack off. Variable Arts do a pretty large amount of damage regularly, but couple that with the Power Necklaces as well as a good cooking recipe (either Kazan Curry or Heavenly Beef), and you become a wrecking ball that can easily overcome bosses for some time to come. On the first round, after our Variable Art, we get this cut scene.  This is a “half way complete” kind of cut scene. On the first round.  He has to charge AP to use his attacks. This justifies how hard they hit, but as we’re destroying him this quickly, we never see him actually attack. Click below to watch the trivial nothing that is the Bubba Boss Fight.    “Elfin…!! *Sob!!* drat it…! drat it all…!!” Bubba punches the ground repeatedly.  It’s a bit hard to see, but Maya puts on her concerned face.  “He’s gone…Gone to that place beyond the twinkling stars in the sky…Gone to be with Elfin…” That’s Bubba shedding a single tear in Elfin’s memory, if it wasn’t clear.  “Dreaming of an unknown tomorrow…Traversing a wilderness of blood and pain…”   “I guess Doplin headed south, looking for something called a ‘sacred stone’.” “Bubba….What made you decide to tell us…?” “I, I dunno….It was just a whim, I guess…Instead of Doplin…I’d rather YOU guys…Nah….Never mind…” “….And here’s a little present from me. If you want to get through the checkpoint, take this.”   We get the Kravian Pass. Now we can leave and pass through Kravia. ”Wait a minute, guys, guys!” ”What is it?” ”We didn’t even fight a big bulky knight!” ”….did we need to?” ”It happened every time I came to this castle!” ”Lang, let’s just go…” ”I have such a bad case of blue balls right now…”In case you’re wondering, we’ll be seeing the third son of the Mesai Clan eventually. Just not in Doplin Castle. I will be leaving things on this note. Join me next time, where we pass through Kravia and the game opens up a lot more.
|
|
#
¿
May 1, 2021 03:02
|
|
|
Chapter 13 – Meandering Aimlessly Where we last left off, we had just defeated Bubba, who had been left in Darakin to ambush us. After defeating him, he decided he’d rather see us win than Doplin, and gave us the Kravia Pass we needed to move on with the plot. Now we can finally enter Kravia properly and move on to Tanza. But you know the drill by now.  “Okay, so turn down the heat…Put in the soy sauce. Got it!”Leon: “Just a little bit. Too much and it’ll be too overpowering. It’s important not to get carried away with seasonings.” “What are you doing, Master?” “Hey there, Lang. I wanted to try my hand at cooking, too. I’m having Leon teach me a dish.”Leon: “Nothing fancy. Just follow the steps, and anyone could do it.” “No, you’ve shown me some really great tips. Maybe I oughta think about being a chef someday…?”Kazan learns to make “Fried Vegetables” here. And that’s a wrap on side content before actually entering Kravia. I know, not much. Now Playing – Karavaia  Guard: “No one goes through without a Kravian Pass.”  Guard: “What…? Could that actually be…a Kravian Pass?! Yes, sir! We’ll open the gate right away, sir!!” Guard: “OPEN THE GATE!”[/b]     “To Tanza for a ship, huh…? And then what? Where are you planning on going by ship?”We get choices here. Either be honest, make something up, or “Not sure what to tell her”. Lying to her just has her see right through you, and Cocky Lang doesn’t plan on hiding info from Sharon.  “Never mind, Lang. Don’t tell her our plans. She wouldn’t understand.” “Hey, pardon me!! I’m not blind, ya know!! I know you guys are grappling with something…really big! I can tell that much without being told! Hmph!” For some reason, Kazan makes a weird gesture, like he’s pouting at Sharon’s reaction. “It’s like you guys have….oh, I dunno…some kind of huge mission you’ve gotta accomplish…” “What? R-Really…? Well…I guess I don’t mind…What do you think, Master?” Again with Kazan pouting like a child at Sharon’s presence. “…By the way, Master…Exactly how far is Tanza from here, anyway?” “Once we get through this town, it’s just south of here. But there are lots of shops here. We’d better take a good look around.”And there the scene ends. Kazan is correct: Kravia is home to a great many shops with a lot of different inventories. Some aren’t as useful as others, however.  This sign is completely irrelevant to anything, but I just want to mention it because having illegal immigrants suggests there’s another government besides Darakin’s but you’ll never see anything resembling a different authority in game. In the building next to the sign, we find a jail.  Guard: “That guy? He was a newcomer, but he thought he could get uppity with us!! So I threw him into solitary confinement! Had to teach him a lesson. Serves him right!” Kafil: “Rosemary…Karen…Forgive me…!” Kafil is the subject of a side quest that is initiated after getting a note from Castle Doplin. If I had remembered to grab it, we could have been doing it right now, but it’s actually a little better to do it later. In any case, I’ll detail this in a later update. Kafil will just have to sit tight for now. Across from the jail, we find a guild…  Jordan: “We get jobs in here from all over, from as far north as Darakin, to Tanza in the south. If you’re looking for work, you should ask at the counter here.”  Jordan: “You should try it. You won’t be able to get enough!” Dream Burger is basically like a fast food joint. We encountered them earlier when Nils gave us a Dream Shake.  Unlike other in game restaurants, the items they sell are actual, usable items and not opportunities for Lang to use his hyper gustatory memory to learn new recipes.  Whenever you buy something, Anne tries to push a meal deal onto you. It’s exactly what you’d expect: a slightly higher price to get more items with your meal.  This thing is basically one of those “Gachapon” machines that are common in Japan. Stick some money in, get a random doohickey. You can get some rare and useful stuff, but most of it is common garbage. You’ll go mad trying to get anything useful or interesting. I did this for nearly half an hour and 500000 gold (end game save) to get the one item I saw mentioned in a walkthrough that sounded interesting to get. It is called “Noa’s Adventure”. If you haven’t played Legaia 1, Noa was the default name for the female member of your party in that game. That would make this item a reference, so I figured it was worth a look at. Turns out it’s a furniture item so it’s meant to be placed in Maya’s room in Yuno, where we can take a look at it…  It’s…not the best of likenesses. This is what Noa looked like in Legaia 1…  (Image taken from Overrated Sage’s LP) Her hair was clearly a much darker shade of red/pink. Legaia 2’s image also makes her look like some kind of wizard girl whereas everyone in Legaia 1 was a martial artist. Just another reminder of what a shallow sequel this game is, I guess. Anyway, on with the game. Let’s find out about the actual meat and potatoes of this guild, shall we?  We can ask for an explanation, but this is all very basic and obvious. We just ask her for jobs and we pick one we like.  We can only pick one at a time. While a quest is taken, it actually disables the presence of your party members in towns and any scenes you might get at that point in time. I don’t actually remember this until after taking our first guild quest, “Tanza Tea Cakes”. Sonnet: “This is a quest from Yaksha. He runs a junk shop in Darakin. You just buy six of the Tanza Tea Cakes they sell in Tanza and deliver them to him. The reward money is 10,000 G.” You get an option to turn down a quest after asking about it, but how many people would decide only now to back out? “I’ll accept the quest.”Sonnet: “It’s a simple job. Just make sure you buy the right number.” You can come back and talk to Sonnet if you ever want a refresher on what you’re doing.  We decide to hear her secret. “A secret? A good one, huh…? All right.”Myulla: “ Hee hee hee! Wait till you hear this! It’s a REALLY good secret! Come out here so nobody else will hear…”  “WHAT? You’re joking…! NO WAY! I can’t believe it…! You’ve gotta be kidding me!”Myulla: “And that’s the whole secret! What do you think? Pretty amazing, huh?” Lang gets the “Alley Cat” nickname, denoting someone who has been in the alleys of Kravia. No, we will never actually know what Myulla told Lang.  You might not know it yet, but this crater is technically relevant to the plot.  Tokie: “I eat it all the time. That’s why I’ve lived to be a hundred years old! Hyuck hyuck hyuck! How about it? Just 200 G a bowl.” We will never see anything akin to a Sand Mole in this entire game. But anyway, we eat the stew.  The stew recovers your HP, but when you have the option of an inn or going to either Yuno or Nohl for free healing, why bother with this? You don’t even learn a recipe from it.  The game goes on about Kravia’s famous kabobs, but when you first come here, this dude blocks your way the whole time. When you get the opportunity to buy some, they’re just consumable healing items with no particularly special effects. We have better healing items by the time we get some.  Next to the jail is the Tavern Belisia. This lady offers us a menu akin to the Green Lynx Inn and Chez Snobbe. There’s recipes to learn here, but not from all or even most of the options. Only the Hamburger Steak and Yakitori Skewers are learned by Lang. If we try everything once, Lang gets the “Gourmet Kid” nickname.  On the other end of the tavern, this guy sells drinks. Lang being a minor, ordering any of the genuinely alcoholic drinks will just have Keiji remind Lang of his minority. As we try the different items, Keiji will tell us things like an old school Tavernkeep NPC.  Him telling us about Phorchoon makes it appear on the map. We can’t go there yet, but since Keiji told us, we’ll be able to go there before we’re supposed to later on.  You’ll notice Fujima here looks like Kenjiro. Kenjiro has a lot of brothers wearing the same style outfit that will come up later. However, despite purporting to act as a peddler, Fujima doesn’t sell you anything ever. He will come up again, however.  As you wander Kravia, some NPCs will shout things out unprompted. This can happen in other towns too. It’s a neat touch. Before we leave, there’s one random thing I want to show you.  For some reason, the devs programmed in a short animation for Lang pushing through a small gap between two people. There’s only a few places you’ll ever see him do this. It’s kind of neat, but also pointless, given how easy it is never to see it. Now let’s leave Kravia.     Yeah, so if you didn’t figure it out already, Kravia is the site of Lang’s dream, which was Avalon’s memory. Kravia is where an anti-Mystic pogrom occurred and Avalon blew a huge crater in the middle of town.   You’re probably wondering, was there a point to that scene? No. If we go back into Kravia after leaving, we can find someone new in the Guild.  Stekin: “Huh? Oh, these wanted posters? They show creatures you can get rewards for catching. You know, wanted monsters. Heh heh! Just looking at them gets me all excited! Gets me too scared to even go outside!” Despite mentioning these, we cannot actually pursue wanted monsters outside of the quests from Sonnet.  Stekin: “His name is ‘Silver Wolf, Stiel!’”  Stekin: “*sigh* He’s too cool! I want to be Stiel’s manager someday! That’s my goal. I’ll be famous!” Stekin then leaves.  Stiel has a number of things to say, including this… Stiel: “This town has changed. When I first got here, it was colder, more inhuman. It reeked with the smell of blood…” Given that the last great bloody event was Avalon’s little incident, that would suggest Stiel was here around or before that time. But Kazan suggested it was a long time ago…. Now let’s finally go to Tanza. Now Playing Tanza  “Minatochou Tanza”. Exactly as translated.   Macaque: “The ground shook, and a wave hit the town with a huge roar…Look, my house was destroyed, too…”  There were actually multiple NPCs in Kravia that told us about Tanza being flooded, so this only comes as a surprise to the characters, or a player who didn’t care to chat. “Perhaps….Could this have something to do with the Eclipse that created the black sun?” ”I dunno, man, sometimes these things just happen. Like my Wind Talisman did a sparkly thing and the gales disappeared from Gale Canyon, but I wasn’t sure if the two were connected, you know?” ”Indeed. Correlation does not always equal causation.” Terao: “Bro!!”   “Do you have any suggestions?”Vash: “I don’t know if it will help, but…There is a ship…But…” “What is it?! Spit it out!” ”God, I hate when people add a billion unnecessary ellipsis to their dialogue!” ”Lang…” Vash: “Rumor says, the pirates’ hideout is called Darek’s Haunt. But I doubt they’ll let you on board…” “Darek’s…Haunt?” “It’s a cave to the south of Tanza. Be careful…They’re pirates, you know.” “What are pirates?”  Vash: “They saved us so many times when we were in trouble. They’re like saviors for us sailors.” “Well, anyway…Why don’t we check out the pirates’ hideout, Lang?” “Yeah, let’s go.” ”If they don’t wanna lend us their ship, we can always just take it by storm.” ”HOW DARE-I mean, yeah, I guess we might have to, if they don’t…”Anyway, now we’re free to go where we please. There’s some stuff to check out in Tanza, obviously.  Buying stuff from this guy gets us this recipe book, teaching everyone Japanese themed dishes. This game references an “Edo” in a few places, like this book and the “Edo Steel” material. Edo is an old name for Tokyo, primarily from before the Meiji restoration. There is no Edo in game, of course, but to make things doubly confusing, “Edo Steel” is said to come from Kravia, while this book is about dishes popular with “South Edo natives”. But I guess that’s just me putting too much thought into this game again.  Meat Gyoza is a consumable item that is even less useful than almost everything we’ve picked up to date, healing a mere 1000 HP. PaiPai will turn up during a minigame later on, but I probably won’t show you her appearance because I cannot stand said minigame. But if you buy the Gyoza…   It’s odd how much effort goes into relatively pointless things in Legaia 2. On the note of minigames…   “Okayyyyy! We pose! My muscles sing! My muscles dances! LET’S MUSCLES!”  “Oooo? You did good! But me Sidejump Hero. I side-smash you! C’mon! Let’s side-muscle! No pain, no muscle!!!”Do you remember the side-jumping minigame from way back when we first left Nohl? Balzac here is the second tier of that game. Naturally, that makes him a bit harder than ol’ Maxell…  But he’s no match for the power of button mashing. We get the “Sidejump Hero” nickname and a “Rainbow Capsule” item. This is a usable item that gives a “random effect” each time it’s used. Other capsule/pill items like it do things like half/prevent damage or status ailments or boost attack, so it’s presumably one of those. We will never need this, since we have things we can rely on instead. Moving on from Phanta and Balzac, we enter a house on a hill.  Hugo here will buy any special monster items you’ve found at a higher price than regular merchants, so it’s worth holding onto them all until we reach him. You might have noticed I got items marked with a little white icon in some boss battles? Those are all items Hugo buys.  Satomi: “You! You want to volunteer for my experiment, right? Now I can finally conduct my experiment about death and spirits!“ “What’s a volunteer?”Satomi: “A foolish…I mean, important person who participates in this experiment to get close to god. Enter the machine, please! A 5000 degree flame will turn you into a spirit in no time!” “No way! I won’t do it!”Satomi: “Oh, I know! You came here to try your hand at my pop-quiz, right?” “Quiz?”Satomi: I’ll give you a total of ten questions! If you answer them all correctly, you win!” Obviously Satomi proceeds to give you a little test based on random trivia from the game. They’re completely randomized, so you can be sure to get the same questions every time. There’s more than 10 possible questions, but you’ll only get 10 to answer. These ones are fairly easy if you’ve been paying attention, and they’re all multiple choice.  Satomi: “You must be an adventurer, too! You might find this item handy!” She says “item” singular but gives us 7 total: 5 camping kits, 1 Flag of Retreat (for escaping battle instantly), and 1 Hell’s Path (which increases monster encounter rates temporarily). We also get the “Adventurer?” title, as if the game isn’t entirely sure you’ve earned it yet. We leave Hugo and Satomi and go to a large building on the other side of Tanza.  This restaurant doesn’t teach any recipes, but eating all the options earns Lang the “Exotica” title. Our final destination in Tanza is actually the first building on the left from the entrance.  This kid sells the tea cakes we were asked to buy for the guild quest. We can buy more whenever we want, but they’re just HP restoring consumables, and they’re the worst by far. The first healing items you get, Heal Powders, heal 200 damage, whereas Tanza Tea Cakes heal 120. What is it with this game and worthless consumables?  If you give this thing 1000 gold, apparently it can occasionally give you a “Restore Potion”. It never happened for me, and while Restore Potions are useful (full healing for one character), we don’t need them now.  Ah, the staple of any anime media: the hot spring. Using the hot spring in this game doesn’t give any material benefit, but it’ll eventually be home to a scene…you know what kind I mean.  Entering the hot springs right now is pretty boring. The dude just tells Lang to stop moving around, the sign just narrates the hot spring’s history, and the plate doesn’t do anything at all.  No peeking allowed….yet. Now of course there are actual entrances to the springs we could try to enter rather than talking to Goichi. What happens then?  Try the ladies’ door twice and Lang gets the “Peeper” nickname. Trying the mens’ door just has Goichi tell you he won’t let you in for free. We’re finally done with Tanza, so let’s move on. A short trip back to Kravia’s guild reveals…  “Ung…Stiel…He strong! But Balzac have more muscle!” “What good is that? You big, muscle-bound idiot!” Remember, kids, it’s always funny when a woman abuses a man. “If you’ve got time to be pumping up those useless muscles, why aren’t you FIGHTING?” “Wha-? My muscles is hard like steel! They make me invisible!...Um, no, I mean, invincible!”They notice Lang behind them.  “Not the kind of quests good enough for OUR skills, that’s for sure! Come on, Balzac! Let’s go!”And then they leave. Phanta and Balzac are recurring characters in the guild quests. They’ll often show up to either pose some challenge and/or act completely inept. We’ll be seeing more of them for sure. We head back to Nohl briefly.  Were you wondering who the third and final tier of the side jumping minigame was? No? Well it’s Dein. Bitchass Dein blew off Vigilance Corps work to learn how to side jump real good. Dein will not only side jump way more than Balzac, but when it seems like you’ll beat him…  He suddenly speeds up and does much better.  Button mashing alone doesn’t cut it for me this time. I can get close, but I can’t beat him. Anyone online insists it’s easy, but either I suck, or playing with a keyboard is making this impossible. Either way, I’m not going to bother beating this minigame. He gives you an endgame item, but I don’t care. ”Congratulations, Dein. You won.”Dein: ”Yeah! In your face, BITCH!” ”I’m glad you’re so content to be the victor of this pointless minigame. Now I’m going to take my millions of gold and godlike powers and go save the world, mmkay?”Dein: ”You….you’re just jealous of my crab leg swagger!” I will leave things here for now. I’ve already stuffed a lot of content into this update, and there’s still more to be seen. At this point, side content will probably take up more updates than the plot, which is pretty lean, as some of you already know. Join me next time, where we do more side stuff and maybe, just maybe, we go to Darek’s Haunt where the pirates are.
|
|
#
¿
May 4, 2021 09:05
|
|
|
Commander Keene posted:I actually like the fact that Noa is depicted "wrong" here. If we assume this game is set in the same world as the first, but with enough time passed for the geopolitical landscape to change almost completely, it makes sense that the stories of the heroes of the past have changed significantly in the retelling. There's an easy through line from "Ra-Seru have magical powers" to "this group of people with magical powers must be wizards". Hey, not a bad theory, and I'm all for overthinking things myself. But, in my personal opinion, I sincerely doubt the devs put that much thought into it. Prokion, who made this game, weren't even that heavily involved in Legaia 1. Here's some more Hidenori Shibao for context: "Interviewer: It must feel strange to see a sequel by someone else. Shibao: Well, Legaia 2 isn't really much of a sequel. The developers never understood the world of Legaia to begin with - they didn't even use the most important part.... It doesn't have anything to do with my Legaia at all, so it's hard for me to see it as a sequel and not just a knock-off that uses the same branding."
|
|
#
¿
May 5, 2021 09:28
|
|
|
Chapter 14 – Pirates of Darek’s Haunt As suggested by Seraphic Neoman, I decided to give the Dein side jump another go with the slowdown function. I didn’t do this before because 1: I’m not very smart, and 2: I plum forgot this was something I could do. I wasn’t sure it would work at first, but…  It made all the difference. I guess it just allowed me to overload the game with input? You could call it cheating, but I was working with a handicap to begin with. Obviously none of this reflects the reality of playing on console but as everyone says, it’s easy to cheese that too. I honestly can’t remember how I did with it years ago on PS2. Anyway, since we actually beat him, I’ll tell you about these juicy end game items I’ve been hinting at the existence of this whole time. “Heaven’s Secrets” are like these little tokens the game gives out for completing certain events, or else having enough money or finding them in certain locations. What they do is they allow to combine for end game weapons and armour. Once you combine a certain weapon or armour enough, you’ll get to the point where you need just one Heaven’s Secret to turn it into the best thing it can be. However, these are useless to us right now because you can’t get to the point where Heaven’s Secrets can be used until you get through all the other combining recipes, which I’m pretty sure all require rare, end game materials that we won’t see until, of course, we’re at the end of the game. Now, moving on, we have more side junk to see before we move on with the plot. Isn’t it fun?  We hand in those tea cakes to the guy that asked for them. This allows us to pick up our reward from the guild.  Whatever quests we complete, we must return to Sonnet in the guild to get our reward. This will sometimes involve a bonus. Anyway, now that the quest is officially completed, all our characters go back to their positions and scenes are re-enabled. We start with Darakin.  Leon: “Nice and browned on top like this is the best.” “Sharon, what are you doing?” “It smelled so good, I just had to learn how to make it! Mm! My, that smells great! I can’t believe I’ll be able to make something this good!”This teaches Sharon the “Shrimp Au Gratin” recipe.  In the upper crust district, we see someone crying in the corner. It’s Nils, the son of the innkeeper, Sabrina. It’s hard to make out, but there’s actually a gap between the hedge line and the wall you can move through to reach him.  Nils: “Waah!!” “What’s wrong, Nils?”Nils: “Waah! *Sniff!* I followed…a strange man…*Blubber!*…and ended up here! Waaah!! Mama!!” We get to choose to either take him home, tell him how to get home, or just leave him there. Cocky Lang may be up his own rear end, but he’s not an rear end in a top hat. “Don’t worry! I’ll take you home!”Nils: “*Sniffle* Really…?” “Sure! Come on. It’s this way, Nils!”Nils: “Okay! Thanks!”  Nils: “Okay, I promise. Thanks! Here, you can have this. Some guy gave it to me.” We acquire a “Doplin Lunch”, a consumable that is in a lunchbox shaped like the Bishop himself. How disturbing. (Maybe I should warn Sabrina about strange men giving gifts to her son…?)We leave Darakin in search of more side content. It’s at this point I remember camp conversations are a thing too. Did I mention some only occur when stopping in specific areas? For instance, we get this camping in Yuno…  “You’re cold because you’re dressed like that! Put on some more layers!” “But, bundling up just doesn’t look sexy! Didn’t you know that? Aah…Atchoo!” “Really? Is that really true?” “No, Maya, it isn’t. Not at all. And even if it were, you wouldn’t want to catch cold, would you?” “Who…Who’s caught…Ah! ATCHOO! Caught a cold? Oooh…” “I guess YOU did, Sharon…” “Sharon…I have some medicine…” “Ooog…Do you? Really Maya? Thanks! You’re my savior! Thanks….HATCHOO!”We head back to Nohl.  (What’s this about…? Better drop some eaves…) “I know exactly what you mean. Waiting is tough…but…There’s also a certain joy in it, too.” “There’s joy in waiting?” “While you’re waiting, that person lives in you. It means that whoever you care about is with you all the time.” “Hmm…I don’t know if I get it.” “Well, perhaps you don’t feel that strongly about the person yet! Not that I would feel strongly…about HIM.” “Sharon, Do you…have one?. A person like that?” “Hah! Of course I do, as many as the stars! I’m a professional in the field of love.” (A professional in the field of love?!?)Solid Lang really feels the need to repeat things he hears, doesn’t he? The scene ends here. Given how Nancy’s acted so far, and how there’s only one person she knows that isn’t sitting around Nohl with her, I think you can figure out who she’s talking about. In fact, if we leave and re-enter Nohl, the game will spell it out for us.  “Do I…Do I have to sit here and just wait for you to come back, Lang? I don’t want to! Staying here alone, just worrying all the time…I’m going with you, Lang!”Nancy is in fact an optional party member. You can only unlock her by having a high affection rating and checking in on Nohl like this regularly. She starts at level 1, but she can become the strongest character in the game if you train her up. We get a choice on whether to let her come with us, and we choose to have her come along.   “Will Kazan and Maya let me go??” “That’s a good question…” “I guess it would be hard…And if I saw a monster, I could only try to run away…On second thought, I think it’s best for me to stay here.”You guys knew I was bullshitting, right? I’ve said it once, I’ll say it again, there are no meaningful choices in this game. Besides, half of you have already played this game.  For some reason, they plum forgot to put any punctuation or anything else here other than “Nancy”. “It’s okay, Lang. Like Sharon said, I’ll find the joy in waiting!...so don’t make me wait too long. I’ll be here ‘til you come back.” “Yeah, of course I’ll be back, Nancy!” ”Nancy, that’s stupid. Dein would spread rumours about me if I had only lived here for a single day.”Now let us leave Nohl and its legal incest vibes behind. Kravia is our next stop.  Gipelli: “Come on now. Don’t talk like that! My wares are number one in the world! Take another look!” “Take another look? Are you trying to tell me there’s something wrong with my eyes? Why…you…!!”Gipelli: Yikes! Um…Now…calm down, there…”  Gipelli: “Do something about him for me, will you? He’s trying to ruin my business!” Gipelli actually is something of a lovely, con artist merchant. All his stuff is next to worthless on its own. I think his gimmick is that you can combine his stuff into better stuff, but I can’t remember for sure. Either way, he’s basically a crook, and we’re gonna agree with Kazan.  “He’s absolutely right!” “That’s my boy! My star pupil!” “Anytime!”Gipelli: “No! Please! Forgive me! I’ll sell better wares from now on! I’ll even sell them cheap!” “Really? I doubt it…Well, Lang, I’m not so sure he’s really mended his ways, but why don’t we give him another chance?” “It’s up to you, Master.”The scene ends here. It’s funny to think that Kazan was keen to beat down this crook but when the fate of the world was at stake, nobody ever suggested just taking the Mizel Red Sand back from Kenjiro.   This game won’t let minors drink, so we know how accepting would go. We decide to buy her something to curry favour. “Nah, nothing for me, thanks. But I’ll buy you a drink, Sharon. Order whatever you want.” “Really? OK, let’s see…I’ll have a Colondas and….a Dear Mother….And I’ll have some steak. And…” “Hey! Wait a minute! I said ‘A DRINK!’” “Come on! Don’t be such a tightwad! Let’s make this into a little party!” ”Why are you so glum? This is a drop in the ocean compared to the cash we have!” ”…you know, you’re right.”Indeed, this only costs us 10000 gold, and we have far more than that at this point, and can easily replace it with a few battles.   We dropped 10000 for Sharon, why not 30000 for Maya? “You want it, Maya? Why don’t I buy it for you?” “No, it’s okay. Really!”We get a “Diamond Ring” out of it. This is a decorative item for Maya’s house. “Try it on, Maya.” “OK.” “Hey, it looks good on you! It’s real cute, Maya.” “Thank you…Lang.”Upon re-entering Kravia…  “Grr! What a pain you are! If you don’t leave me alone, I’ll slash you!”Jon: “You’ve got the greatest voice! You’ve slashed through to my heart! Come on, hang out with me for a while!”  Naturally, we’re getting in the middle of this. “Come on, you’re bothering her. Leave her alone! You’re making a fool of yourself.”Jon: “Who the hell are you? Don’t try to weasel your way in between us!” “You’re the one that’s the weasel! Lang and I have a really SPECIAL relationship! No room for you here! Nothing can come between the two of us!”  “So…What were you saying? Something about a really SPECIAL relationship…?” “What-Lang? You WANT a ‘really special relationship’ with me?” We leave Sharon be and go check out the guild.   Well you know what Cocky Lang is saying, don’t you? “I don’t want to brag, but I’m pretty good.” ”…nah, that’s bullshit, I WANT to brag! I have been kicking rear end from Mt. Gabel to Tanza, dude!” “Hmph. So you’ve got confidence in yourself, huh? Watch it, confidence is a killer.” ”Yeah, my Master keeps saying that, and I keep proving him wrong.”Speaking of Tanza, let’s go there, shall we?  “What do you think, Lang? Don’t I look different after taking a bath?”We get to choose our response. I’m going to show you one I didn’t pick before I show you my canon choice. ”Dense Lang” posted:
I choose to have Lang say she’s sexier, if only for what happens next. “Now that you mention it…Your skin’s all pink, and kinda….Sexy!” “Yay! ♪ So you can tell, Lang..! A soak in a hot spring can make a woman feel 100000 times sexier! From now on, men will…”    The game does objectify Sharon a bit, but she’s usually entertaining during these moments.  Maya’s usual hang out in Tanza is right in front of the hot springs. Remember how she judged us for riding the sheep in Nohl? Well…  If we try to enter the ladies’ bath in front of her, she suddenly runs away. We can find her elsewhere in Tanza.  I decide to joke about it. “Heh heh! You caught me!” “What in the world were you thinking?” “Aaah, I didn’t mean it…I didn’t know it was the wrong side! Ha ha…ha!” “You’re so silly, Lang.”No matter what option you pick, Maya will not genuinely realise Lang might have been trying to perv. She is an honest and innocent creature. Once we leave, Maya will go back to the bathhouse, and will never react to attempts to perv again.  We find Kazan in the hot spring. We will occasionally find party members in here. Although we won’t see the girls in here for a long time. Yes, like that. Now we’re finally done with the side content here. Let us move on with the plot. Darek’s Haunt was our destination, where the pirates hang out.   “Dareku no Kubi(?)” I’m not so sure about this one because that is clearly the Kanji for “neck” and other related meanings and I’m reasonably sure that can’t be interpreted as “haunt” in the sense of a place where people hang out or live or what have you. Maybe the intent was it related to the peninsula looking like a thin, neck like place rather than being where someone is, but I wouldn’t know. Perhaps someone else can give some Japanese context?      Guntz: “This ain’t no place for kids! Be off now! If you want to keep your head on your shoulders that is…”   Now Playing – Pirate’s Pride   “If my father were still here, he’d have cut off one of your arms I bet! Isn’t that right, Guntz?”Guntz: “Not that! Please, boss, I didn’t know! I’m sorry!”   Guntz: “You got it, bo-I mean, Captain!” The two run off. “*SIGH*” “Why do they call you boss, Sharon?” “Heh heh heh heh…Ha ha ha ha…Ahem…” “And Captain of the strongest pirate ship in the world…The Blood Hawk!”  Let me just show you what happens if we choose to burst her bubble… ”Blunt Lang” posted:
Cocky Lang chooses to humour Sharon and let her believe she’s a master actor. “It’s…It’s not that we’re not surprised…We’re still in shock….It hasn’t sunk in yet.” “Whew…It was worth it! You don’t know how hard I tried to hide it! Maybe I should become an actress…♪ Well, don’t just stand there! Come on! Let me show you the hideout!”Despite being ushered towards the hideout, we can now move freely.  This guy on the Blood Hawk would have taught us the Thunderflash Art, but we learned that back in Gale Canyon. We now head inside the hideout.  We can infer we just exposition dumped Sharon. “I’ve got to tell you though…This Avalon guy…And the Source Forge…”  ”Could have left a few parts out though. Did I really have to hear about the sexy gorilla?” ”Every last one of my exploits deserves recognition.” “He was…my father.” The game hovers over Kazan. What could it mean?  “But something happened…His first mate left, and then one by one, others started to leave too…Now the few of us that are left spend our days hiding away in this hole like rats…” “No matter what it takes…We’re going to have a fleet again and rule the open seas! In order to do that, I’ve got to do something really big! Something that’ll shock the entire world! Something…Something that will make Sharon Blade so famous that people come here begging to join us!” “Hmm…There’s no guarantee that people will thank you for helping us. All our efforts may come to naught.” “That’s true. But I’m sick and tired of hiding out here like a stinking rat! It’s times like this, I know I’m my father’s daughter. Just talking about doing something like this has my blood pumping!”  Well there’s no way I can’t show you what happens if you’re an rear end in a top hat here, can I? ”Jerk lang” posted:
Obviously, we choose to be nice and accept her help. “Thanks, Sharon. We’re going to win this fight and we’re going to do it together!” “Well, let’s not quibble! We’re going to make a big splash!” “Hmm? Did you know my father?” Well that’s believable. “That’s right! See, he knows what to say! My father was a man of the sea! And I’m a woman of the sea! All right you scoundrels! Get ready to weigh anchor! Come on now! Put some spring in your step!” Guntz: “You got it, boss!”   The scene ends and we’re free to move. We’re supposed to go outside, but we go upstairs real quick.  We can’t get inside, but surprisingly the most entertaining option is to give up. “OK. Can you at least tell me why I can’t go inside?” Jane: “Because…Um…Because it’s my sister’s room, that’s why!” (Gee, that’s a great answer…but a good question is why the heck I think I’m entitled to enter?)Anyway, we head outside.  “Just where are we off to, Lang?” “I’m pretty sure that the Pyrolith is on the Volcanic Isle.” “The Volcanic Isle? The only Volcanic Isle in these parts is…Dupon!” Dupon: “But just what are we supposed to be looking for there?”  “Um…Actually, we’re looking for the Pyrolith.” “Pyrolith…? Is that some kind of humongous ruby? I bet it’s big enough to make us all rich!”Dupon: “Captain…I hate to spoil this little party, but the ship won’t budge.” “What?! What’s wrong with it, Dupon?”Dupon: “The ThunderWind Stone is dead. Without a replacement, we’re dead in the water.” “The ThunderWind Stone?” “It’s a rock that moves the ship. Don’t ask me how it works, but it lets us conjure up the wind whenever we need it. The Blood Hawk isn’t like other ships. We use that stone to create wind for our sails. It’s been used since my father’s heyday…I guess it finally wore out.” “So what do we do now? Can we get another one?”Dupon: “The ThunderWind Stone isn’t something you just find on the beach. It’s rarer than gold and silver…Maybe even more than diamonds. I think they used to mine them in the northeast canyon on Tanza…A place called The Thunder mine, if I’m not mistaken.” “We might just find one if we look there!” “*SIGH* That’s quite a detour. We might go all that way and find nothing.” “But the ship won’t work without that rock, right?” “Hmm…” “We’re not going to get anywhere with that attitude, Kazan! I thought this was urgent!?” “We should just go to the Thunder Mine!”And there’s our next objective. This is the second arbitrary search for a plot coupon in a row. Heck, they weren’t even plot relevant, we’re just getting what we need to get to the plot. This is where we shall leave things for now. Join me next time, where we brave the treacherous horrors of the blandest, most irrelevant dungeon ever.
|
|
#
¿
May 6, 2021 08:51
|
|
|
Chapter 15 – Dull and Grey Where last we left off, we had finally visited Darek’s Haunt, only to discover the SHOCKING secret that Sharon was leader of the pirates there! She offered to help us using her ship, the Blood Hawk, to take us to our island destination. But there’s a problem. The boat needs a special stone only found in a special place to function. Hence our destination is the Thunder Mine. But of course, first we must do side content. Darek’s Haunt itself is now a place to visit, see scenes, and do minigames.    As you can see, this is a knife throwing minigame in which we’re aiming to press the X button when the yellow bits on those two gauges are more or less in the middle. Every middle hit gives us 100 points, and two in a row gives you an extra knife (you can see we have 5 to start with) and more points. If we keep hitting the middle, we keep getting knives, and we get more and more points for every successive hit.  Hitting off centre gives you 20 points, wastes a knife and breaks any chain you’d built up thus far. You won’t get any good rewards hitting nothing but 20s. You can also get a 0 if you completely miss the wheel.  Every centre hit gives you this dramatic animation and zoom in.  Every successive centre hit will make Asteya comment. These lines are voiced. I swear the actor is doing DBZ’s Oolong. Click here to see the minigame and the voiced lines. This minigame is really quite tedious because you will find yourself sitting there, waiting for the gauges to line up perfectly, and it can take some time for an opportunity to arise. Unless you’re cheating or have good reflexes, it can be easy to miss opportunities and flub the ones you think are good. Even worse, if you want to get a reward out of this minigame that isn’t forgettable, you need a score of 50000. This is only achievable with a very long chain of good hits. Scoring more for every successive hit only gets you so far on the road to 50000. But we get there  We are rewarded with a Heaven’s Secret and the “Knife Master” nickname.  You can see the knives you threw sticking to the wheel and wall until you leave.  Bacadee here runs a restaurant like the others we’ve encountered. He will of course refuse to serve Lang a glass of grog. The only recipe Lang can’t learn here is Roast Beef. There’s not a lot of new side content to cover since we haven’t crossed our next plot hurdle, but there’s some things for me to show off.  Terao, who was in the first cut scene from when we arrived in Tanza, now has a minigame to offer us. Rice Planting. No, really.  It basically boils down to inputting the above sequence over and over, as fast as you can, in order to beat whatever NPC you have to face.  The game has a little display to help you remember what buttons to press, but it’s not all that helpful if you want to really win. You need to learn this input off by heart to do it quickly enough.  If you make a mistake, Lang falls on his rear end and you lose time. It’s basically a guaranteed way to lose. Whereas the knife game is tedious, this one is aggravating. When you first do it, you’ll be watching your rival do it faster than you, probably panic, make a bunch of mistakes, and then lose. I wasn’t even going to bother trying it, but eventually I tried my best and got the sequence down.  You get the “Rice Master” nickname for getting under a certain time, not just for beating Terao. Of course, beating Terao is not where this minigame ends. No, there is a new challenger.   PaiPai is an absolute beast at this minigame and far harder than Terao. I tried, I could not beat her. Unlike sidejumping, people generally say this one is actually hard, so less fault on my part, I guess? If you did beat her in under 15 seconds, you would get the “God of Rice” nickname and a Heaven’s Secret.  We find Kazan in the upstairs part of the hot spring inn, sitting with an NPC.     Gyne: “Huh? Why are you staring at me?”   “I have not. But there is something special about this one…I believe he may be able to actually do what Rauss only dreams of.”Gyne: “Mastering the Tenga-Ryu techniques…? If he make you feel that way, he must be quite extraordinary.” “But compared to myself at the same age…He is but a fledgling.” ”Never complain to me about overconfidence again.” Gyne: “Nazak and I survived many a battle together! I used my fists. Nazak used a sword!” Remember what Kazan said all the way back on Mt. Gabel? I always preferred to use my fists?  Gyne: “What? You don’t even know the name of your own Master?” “Relax, Gyne. I left that name behind me. Now I am called Kazan.”You probably figured it out by now, but yes, Kazan’s birth name is just his current name spelled backwards. “And…I have laid down my sword. I fight with my fists now, as you do.”Gyne: “I see…But I presume you haven’t lost your strength yet! So you use your fists now? Then let me give you some pointers! I think you can handle it.” “Gyne…”Gyne: “Even if you have left your name and past behind, our bond will never change. Here! Learn my style!” “Thanks, Gyne. You have my deepest gratitude.”We acquire the “Way of Quake” scroll which teaches Kazan the “Earthshaker” Hyper Art. In the local bar/restaurant, we find Sharon.   We’re going to “accompany her”. “Sure, sounds good!” “Okay, then! Hey! Something for Lang!...Wait. You don’t like this stuff!” ”Uh, I’ve never actually been given the stuff…” “*sigh* That’s sad. If only you liked this stuff…Lang, when you acquire the taste for it, come find me! I’ll be waiting!”We’re done with Tanza and side content for now. But before we move on with the plot, we’ve got some new campfire chats to see. Genuine Surprise “I never would’ve thought you were a pirate captain, Sharon! I was so surprised!” “Ha ha ha! I DID surprise you, didn’t I? I’m glad I hid it now!” “Hmph! What good are pirates if they can’t even get a ship to move? Hmph! Ridiculous!” “What did you say?! I dare you to say that again!” “Shar-Sharon, calm down now…!” “That’s right! We’ve just gotta get a ThunderWind Stone, and the ship’ll move, right? Let’s get to the Thunder Mine, then!”ThunderWind Stones “Just what does a ThunderWind Stone look like, anyway?” “It kind of looks like a glass ball. But deep inside, you can see sparks like electricity running through it. They used to get them in The Thunder Mine, but that was a long time ago. I don’t know about now…” “If we can’t get one there, I guess we’ll have to SWIM to Drokonia! *Sigh!*” “What are you trying to say? Are you saying this is MY fault? OK, fine! It’s MY fault, then! Hmph!” ”But Sharon, he never suggested it was your fau-“ ”EVERYTHING IS THE FAULT OF NO GOOD DIRTY STINKING PIRATES HMPH!” ”…oh…”Reflecting on Dreams (That crater in Kravia…In my dream – Was that Avalon’s…? So that was real…?) “What’s wrong, Lang?” “Um…Remember the large crater in the middle of Kravia? That hole…” “That crater was made by a Mystic. Long ago, there was something called the Mystic Hunt in Kravia…They hunted down Mystics…I mean, people with the birthmark, and they murdered them…I heard the fury of a Mystic who lost his friends is what destroyed the town. Looking at Kravia today, it’s hard to believe it really happened.” “That’s terrible…” “I can understand the townspeople mistaking them for monsters, but still…Anyway, I’m glad we don’t live in that period! I mean it!” “I knew it…It wasn’t a dream…” ”I better not mention it to the others, though, or it might make Avalon sympathetic…even memorable….”Choice of Women “Hey, Lang…Do you like older women or younger women?”  We get to choose. Given that younger women than Lang would be, you know, illegal teenagers…. “Well, let’s see…I guess I like older women better.” “Ah, a man of taste! Great answer! It’s just like they say: ‘Like fruit, women are best when they’re ripe!’” “And what exactly happens when a woman is ripe?” “Hee hee hee! That’s a secret!” “They say that fruit is sweetest just before it starts to rot…” “You just stay out of this! You’re not adding anything to the conversation!”Now, let us finally head to the Thunder Mine.  “Kaminari no Haikou”. The Kanji actually denote it as an abandoned mine specifically, but eh.    So, have you noticed something? Does something stand out about all these screenshots you’re seeing? No? Well that’s the point. The Thunder Mine is largely a bland, featureless nothing of dull, grey, linear paths. Now that’s not entirely fair. There are a few trees, some little puzzle things that will come up, that kind of stuff. But for a lot of your experience here, you will be staring at ugly grey walls. It’s almost impressive how they managed to come up with such a dreadful concept for a dungeon. Click here to see a completely realistic depiction of the Thunder Mine experience. Let’s take our mind of it by looking at some enemies, shall we?  Now, Cloud Eater’s may look like enemies we haven’t seen before, but we actually just missed their first incarnation. “Necroskels” could have been found in the sewers back in Darakin after the Eclipse, but we skipped that segment. They use attacks that either cause Paralysis or “Plague”, which does HP and MP damage over time. Hanged Shapes are just recycled Hanged Snails.  Helgigasi are Hilgigasi but in blue. Also note the names are a single letter apart.  Oh look, they pallet swapped the Lyps. Unfortunately for them, cooking and Sharon long since robbed them of the chance to escape us.  And more flower pallet swaps.  Could it be? An original enemy? Fiend Bulbs are Legaia 2’s answer to Final Fantasy’s Bombs. They will explode if you let them do it. Of course, by this point, we kill them far too quickly, as even when they do get to act, they take a turn to set up their suicide attack. Apparently they can also absorb AP when they hit you. Now let’s talk about the dungeon proper. Like I said, it’s largely a bland, grey place, but it does have some treasure and puzzles.  This here teaches Sharon the “Lord of Eden” Hyper Art.  To clear this dungeon, we need to collect these “Lightning Tear” items and use them to solve the central puzzle. We’re collecting items to collect an item to move on with the plot. Isn’t it fun?  The central puzzle is found here, where we have to insert the Lightning Tears into pedestals to get into the pit in the centre.  If we try to go on without inserting a Lightning Tear into a nearby pedestal, these doohickeys will block our path with lightning. It doesn’t do any damage, though. All pedestals will only unlock the two closest doohickeys, so you have to go searching in the areas you can reach for more tears. We need all pedestals adorned with Tears to proceed.  This dungeon has a single “puzzle” beyond the usual growing vines, punching boulders and moving pillars of earth. These monsters block your path to certain areas and you have to use Arrode to zap them.  You’ll encounter a small problem proceeding normally: the final limb of the dungeon that hides the last Lightning Tears you need is hidden behind the last pedestal. However, if you’ve used your Tears on two pedestals already, and that is necessary to get this far, you won’t have a Tear to put here. The solution is simple if you aren’t a stupid child (like me playing this on PS2!). We go back to the first pedestal and take the tear out of that one. Since we had to have placed a Tear in either of the nearby pedestals to get here, one of the doohickeys will still be de-electrified and we can reach the final one with a usable Tear. Then we put it in, go into the final limb, and get the two other Tears we need.  If you squint at the wall, you might make out the enemy that will ambush you when you grab the chest. You can use Arrode to kill these things before they try, but I forgot these things existed.  Until now, the game has been pallet swapping almost every enemy it has. But here, the game has decided to do something revolutionary and just re-use the exact same Jelly Melt enemy from the sewers. No upgraded stats or HP, it dies as quickly as it would have back then, and faster now that we’re magnitudes stronger. Funnily enough, there is an actual stronger pallet swap enemy called “Evil Jelly” you could find in the sewers, but I guess they felt the original Jelly Melts camouflaged with the dull grey better? Once we nab all the Tears we need, and place them in the pedestals…   Lightning strikes the doohickeys barring our path into the pit, and we can now proceed.      When I was remembering this game as I played it, I honestly struggled to remember what the boss for the Thunder Mine was. I could remember every boss fight in this game except for this rear end in a top hat. Storm Idol is the most forgettable and uninteresting boss in this game, which I suppose is fitting for the most dull, grey and uninteresting dungeon in the game. It is also fitting that we destroy Storm Idol in a single round. Unlike Bubba, Storm Idol doesn’t even get to act. Storm Idol’s attacks are pretty dull, too. They’re mostly physical attacks with gibberish names like “Branterios”, “Xeriahalt” and “Temperius”. I have no idea if these are even meant to mean anything or the devs just liked silly fantasy names. He also has an all hit lightning attack called “Ozmarakia” and a healing spell called “Gardihon”. Since Storm Idol isn’t very interesting, let me talk about a different feature of the game to entertain you.   If you watch the video I make of this, as pathetic and short as it will be, you might notice Lang and Kazan have two Hyper Arts I haven’t mentioned before. This is because certain Hyper Arts “level up” as you use them. For Lang, using Raging Fang eventually has him learn Roaring Fang, which can level up again from there. For Kazan, Fists of Rage becomes Fists of Glory, and you’ll see him use it against Storm Idol. Every character bar Maya has Hyper Arts that develop from other Hyper Arts, but we’ll get to all of those much much later. Click the image below to see the Storm Idol’s last gasp of air.   “With a rock like this, my ship will be unstoppable! There’s not a storm I can’t handle now!” “Well then, let’s go back to Darek’s Haunt and attach it to the pirate ship.” “Sounds good to me!”And that’s it. Dungeon over, we can walk out and deliver our coupon. Honestly, wouldn’t it have been simpler if they somehow merged the last two segments? Like, maybe we meet Sharon in Tanza, or we meet her when we go to Darek’s Haunt and she demands we help get a ThunderWind Stone to proceed, we get one, and Bubba could ambush us in the Thunder Mine? All the important bits from the last two dungeon segments with less of the fuss and bother. It would have made the game shorter, sure, but artificial padding just detracts from the experience. Of course the best decision would be to come up with a more interesting idea than either of the last two segments, but the former could be achieved with little overall change to the game. I will end things on this note. Join me next time, where we blow off the main quest to go complete all those guild quests I’ve been neglecting.
|
|
#
¿
May 8, 2021 22:20
|
|
|
Chapter 16 – Questing on the side Where last we left off, we had just braved the dull terror of the Thunder Mine, slain the Storm Idol and claimed the ThunderWind Stone we needed to reach the isle of Drokonia, where the Pyrolith lies. Heading back to Darek’s Haunt and setting sail on the Blood Hawk would be a normal person’s objective. But we’re going sidequesting instead!  There are a few new quests since we last checked. This will be the trend from now on: we pass plot milestones and unlock new quests. New ones will also unlock from completing certain side quests. We take up the one about finding the Lypster.  I pointed out Fujima before. Kenjiro knockoff. Fujima: “I’m Fujima, the one that sent the quest in to the Guild. Glad to meet you! What I want is a Lypster. Got that? NOT a Lyps! A L-y-p-s-t-e-r! It’s not a living creature. It’s an item. In this business, you need something to soothe your spirit and make your calm. I hear all the Lyps get together and have a party…Oh, yeah! I just remembered! My peddler buddy gave me a good piece of information! He said the Lyps gather in the forest just beyond Gale Canyon. You might find one there!” There’s only one forest beyond Gale Canyon. He means Hunter’s Wood.   In the Woods, we find Lyps running around the same way we do. Touching them leads to an encounter. These are easy to win, because we’re even slaying the upgraded Lyps faster than these things can act. None of these normal Lyps have what we want. Where can we find the Lypster we’re after? Where do you think?  That’s right, exactly where everything happens in Hunter’s Wood! Where we fought the Gather Crab, Avalon, and saw the Eclipse start!  Now Playing – Elfin You can’t tell at a glance, but one of the Lyps running around in the Gather Crab grove is the special one we’re looking for. Touching it starts an encounter with a special Red Lyps and one regular. The Red Lyps can take a beating. I have to have all of my characters attack to bring it down in one round. But nonetheless, it goes down in one round. This does give its buddy the chance to run away, but that doesn’t matter.  Obtaining the Lypster causes all the other Lyps to despawn, meaning we just have regular random encounters to deal with on the way out. Unlike many guild quests, there’s a camp chat associated with getting the Lypster.  “Don’t sell it! We’ve got to take it with us, or we can’t complete our quest!” “Why not?! We might get more money selling it than from the Guild’s reward.” “No way! Look, this is a Quest! We’ve got to turn it over!”Now let’s do as Maya says and turn in the Lypster.  Despite claiming the Lypster isn’t a creature, it’s actually moving here. What is it, a mechanical doll? Fujima: “Than you for everything! Please take this as a small token of my appreciation. But you get your real reward money at the Guild.” He gives us a Vaccine Syringe. This is a usable item that prevents status ailments on one character for a battle. This will be very useful at certain stages of the game. Fujima: “What a great thing the Guild is! I’m happy! You’re happy! What could be better?” We return to the guild and collect our 60000. The next quest on our list is “My Daughter is Lost!” Sonnet informs us that Count Lonatello, the quest giver, is staying at the Three-Star Hotel in Darakin. Does that name sound familiar?  Yes, that’s right, this is the same room with the sewer entrance. I think you know what this means.  All the people in the hotel have something to say about Cammie’s disappearance, but it’s just stuff that makes it clear she’s gone through the sewer grate. So down we go! As far as I know, there’s no hints as to where in the sewers this Cammie has run off to, so you get the delightful task of wandering aimlessly until you find her. Yay!  Here are the Necroskels I mentioned getting pallet swapped in the Thunder Mine.  And in the corner here is an Evil Jelly, the pallet swap of the Jelly Melts we fought here before and in the Thunder Mine. Better in every way, but they decided not to use them in Thunder Mine. Around where we found Kazan’s Hyper Art scroll, we find Cammie.    I assume she’s doing her own dramatic narration here. Cammy: “This is like a bad play! Stick around for act two!...Assuming I make it out of here. Since I’m already in character, let’s try a cute, girlish scream…”  Cammy: “Goodness! I can do better than that!”     Unlike everything I’ve faced to date, these Warmongers are actually a threat. To start with, their ambushing us gives them a free shot at us. Furthermore, due to sucking at remembering which of my keys aligns with which PS2 button, their Hate Force attacks often do upwards of 2000 damage, which is most of our character’s health right now.  This attack causes the Spellbound status, preventing us from using Arts. Arts have long since replaced Origins as our greatest damage dealer, so this is a huge hindrance. Of course, struggle as I might, I come out on top. This ends up being more endurance match than actual problem.    Yes, this is basically the same fight, but with no ambush, despite them attacking from behind. We dispatch them somewhat easier this time.  Cammy: “Hmm…Not quite what I wanted on my headstone, but…” “Cammy…? Did you try to smoke the glowing moss?”Cammy: “Huh? How did you know my name?” “That’s easy to explain…we were…"There’s a cut where Lang presumably explains being hired by the guild. Cammy: “I get it. You were hired by the Guild. You’re a sight for sore eyes. I could just kiss you!”  Cammy: “I can’t wait to get home and take a bath! I must reek of the sewers! You don’t mind if I leave before you, right? Thanks!” ”I mean you could easily get killed by-“ “…and she’s gone…”We go back to Cammy’s father.   Cammy’s just fine, so we head back to the guild.  We get a “Lion Heart” in addition to the 80K cash reward.  It’s armour for Sharon. Since, you know, her outfit is just a bra and pantaloons? The weird part here is Lonatello had this and, what, figured Sharon needed a new bra? Hopefully this wasn’t his daughters… The next quest to take up is “The Golden Giant”. This directs us to go kill the eponymous Golden Giant in Gale Canyon.    Unlike the Warmongers, Gorgoneon here isn’t very tough. He has a lot of HP, but his attacks are all bland and don’t hit us hard enough to make us worry.  I told you these two would show up in guild quests, remember?   “Stop that, Balzac. Can’t you see he’s scared?” ”Scared!? ME!? Those are fighting words! Draw, bitch!” “But me want scare boy. Boy kill my monster.” “Enough already!”   “Stow it, Balzac. Come on, Balzac, let’s get going. Ta-ta, Lang.” ”But did you hear that guys? My reputation precedes me!” ”OVERCONFI-“ ”Stow it, Master.” ”Why doesn’t my reputation precede me!? I’m the great, undefeated Sharon!” ”Can we please just go?”We make our way back to the guild.  We get the “Gaia Blade” on top of our money. As mentioned, this is an earth based weapon. This will vacillate in usefulness based on when an enemy is weak or immune to earth. The last quest we have to do at this juncture is “Mysterious Contagion”. This has us go to Yuno to inquire about a disease that has cropped up there.  That guy dying on the bed is Simba, Kazan’s old student who he got drunk with when we first came here. Suda: “It’s the Apolu Fever that hit us several years ago. The old nightmare has returned to our village…We need Gunang Weed to make a medicine for the disease. When this plague last attacked our village, a doctor by the name of Hugo had the herb…” Hugo is the bloke in Tanza that buys rare monster parts from us. He is also a medical doctor. So we gotta go talk to him to find out about the Gunang Weed. By the way, you think Maya and/or Kazan have anything to say about Simba dying and Yuno being in peril?  Nope! Camp chatting just gets us generic dialogue to remind us about going to Drokonia. Now let’s go to Tanza.  “Are you Hugo? Listen…”Hugp: “I see…What?! Apolu Fever? That’s terrible! I want to make the medicine right away, but…” “What is it?”Hugo: “Gunang Weed is such a rare herb. I don’t have any with me. It might be in bloom now. You can find Gunang Weed in The Forest Maze…It only grows near water.” Now our destination is the Forest Maze.  Oh look, it’s these two lunkheads again. “It’s no time for making excuses! And it’s your own fault for dropping the Mizel Red Sand that we bought from the peddler!” “You rush me! Baaaaa! Balzac need food! Badly! No more walk!”We could just walk past them and carry on, but…  I’m gonna show you the jerk option. ”Jerk Lang” posted:But we decide not to be a jerk canonically.    “Stop hogging it! Gimme some of that!...Oh!!!! I’m not really hungry. I was just joking!!” ”Your acting is about as convincing as Sharon’s.” ”But she isn’t convincing at all!”That’s it for the lunkheads. Now we find the Gunang Weed.  There it is, the wee plant next to the water/rocks. We pick it up and head on out. You can interact with the wee waterfall here to recover HP and MP too. Not all of it, though. But as long as you have camping supplies, you can just rest at the camping spot for full recover instead.  Funnily enough, it’s not Hugo that needs to prepare the weed. Suda can do that instead.  The lunkheads have managed to get through to Yuno too. If you went to Tanza, you’d actually see them standing in their usual spot, and then would find them here, as if they got into and out of the Forest Maze at record speed.   Suda: “Simba! Drink this! It’s medicine, brought by Lang!” Simba: “Unnngh…I need to drink this? G-g-gulp.” Suda: “It may not take effect immediately, but the fever will break by tomorrow.” Simba: “I-Is that so…? Thanks, Lang…Forgive me, but let me sleep now…” Yes, this whole sequence played out with no visuals. I guess they needed to save the animation budget for Balzac’s meat craze?  We are now free to leave.  Simba’s son gives us this if we talk to him. It’s a decorative item for the house.  And with that, we have completed all available quests at this point in time. More will unlock after certain events, like clearing Drokonia.  At first I thought he was reacting to us being a creepy peeper, but no, he’s just using the latest nickname to be acquired. Naturally, Cocky Lang is owning his reputation. “That’s me. What’s the matter? Hard to believe?”Stekin: *gasp!* Wow! You must be stronger than you look! You gave me quite a start!”  Stekin will keep using your latest nickname when you talk to him here. Now, let’s go see some non-guild side quests, shall we? As I mentioned before, that Kafil bloke sitting in jail here in Kravia is the subject of a side quest. To start it, you need to grab a note from a table in Doplin Castle’s dungeon.  Rosemary and Karen are a pair of NPCs living in the Darakin slums. Now that we’ve read the letter, we can go talk to them about it.  When they mention Kafil in their conversation, Lang will bring him up.  The pair are overjoyed at the news. In any other case, you might think this was the end of it, but we know where Kafil is, don’t we?  Now that we know who he is, we can help get him out.  The guard offers to let Kafil out for a bribe. 100000 is pretty steep, more than most of the current guild quest awards. This is why it’s better to do later when you’re flush with cash.  The guard releases Kafil in inky blackness. Legaia 2 once again displays its lack of budget.  Finding Kafil in Darakin nets us the “Last Dragon” sword as a reward. However, it’s not as good as the Gaia Blade we got from the guild. But hey, at least we’re done, right? Here’s another random thing we can experience right now.  After having passed through Kravia, checking this grave will trigger a small event. As you can see, Kazan walks to this grave as part of his little Yuno routine, so if you follow him around, you’ll find it. It’s tucked to the right of Yuno’s entrance, so it’s very easy to miss. After having checked it out, a new camp chat will occur, but only when camped outside Yuno specifically. “Hey Lang. Know what? The grave at the entrance to Yuno…isn’t normal.” “Why?” “Somebody died there long ago. And everybody saw a spirit wandering around there…So the mayor built a grave there. The ghost hasn’t been seen since.” “I see…” “But…I head this from Rona. There was a man with dirty clothes wandering around there the other night. Do you remember the grave being a bit tilted?” “Hey! Stop it! Or I won’t be able to sleep tonight!” “The other night? Do you mean the night we came to Yuno? I wasn’t going to say anything, but I visited Maya’s family grave in the middle of the night.” “Whew! That’s it! It must have been you, Kazan! Yep! That’s gotta be it!” (So…Why is the grave tilted, then?)Now, if we go to Kravia and camp chat… “Hey Lang. Have you heard? ….The rumor that the second floor of the bar in Kravia is haunted?” “What? By a ghost?” “They said someone went upstairs to check on a noise. But…nobody was there! Just a cup filled with warm coffee, and some food on a plate…” “Didn’t somebody just run off without paying?” “No way! It has to be a ghost! Nobody saw anyone go in! What’s more, the bartender swears nobody was there! Lang, let’s check it out!”We get to choose. Yes, no, or ask Sharon along. We’ll ask Sharon. “Sounds interesting. Can I ask Sharon to join us, too?” “I’ll pass. I just can’t stand ghosts, spirits, or…well, anything that sounds scary!” “So there’s things out there that scare even Sharon…All right…I’ll go.” “Great! Thanks! I’ll wait for you in front of the bar. It’s decided, then!” Entering Kravia gives us this little scene. We have to manually go find Maya in town.  Talking to her here initiates the scene.  Other Mysterious Voice: “All that fighting we did…All gone to waste…!”  “And I don’t think anybody went downstairs…” “Yikes! You scared me!”Belisia: “Years ago, they hunted down all of the Mystics in this town. My husband is just a regular human, but he fought alongside the Mystics. But then he never came home. I can still hear my husband’s voice here, though…his voice from that time long ago…I believe my husband’s going to come home someday. I know it in my heart…” Belisia: “I’m sorry. You don’t want to hear about all of this! Never mind what I just said. Now then! Let’s go downstairs.” We are then teleported downstairs.   There’s nothing more to do or say here. But if we exit and do a camp chat… “What’s wrong with you two? Why are you so quiet? Ah, I know! You went to the bar in Kravia to find a ghost, right? There’s no such thing as ghosts! You’re disappointed because you didn’t find one, aren’t you?” ”How the gently caress do you think ghosts can’t be real when we’re all Mystics? Anyway…” “Actually…There was one…The raging fury….of a murdered Mystic…” “Stop! Stop it! Don’t scare me, okay? I can’t take it!” “But it’s true…The workers there still see it to this day.” “Eeeek! C’mon, give me a break! Please? I’m begging you!” “The fury of Kravia, eh? Long ago, many Mystics were…” “Hey! Why do you keep torturing me? Why?! Maya! I didn’t know you liked ghost stories!” “No…I don’t really…I’m just curious.”This gives Maya the “Occult Lover” nickname. And that’s the only reward. But as I mentioned, nicknames don’t actually do anything, so we basically got nothing. I will leave things here for now. Join me next time, where we finally go to Drokonia….or do we?
|
|
#
¿
May 11, 2021 22:16
|
|
|
Chapter 17 – The Drokonia Fake Out Where we last left off, we had just completed a whole bunch of sidequests. Our objective since the chapter before last has been to deliver the ThunderWind Stone to Darek’s Haunt and get on our way to Drokonia. For once in this LP, let’s go straight to the objective.  Dupon: “Whoa! It’s huge! I’ve never seen a ThunderWind Stone this big!”  Yahn runs off to do as much. Dupon: “I’ve got to say. I didn’t think they’d actually go find one for us. I’m impressed.” ”I’m standing right in front of you, buddy.”   The Crew: “Aye aye, Captain!” The Blood Hawk begins to sail.    In a master class of intelligent thought, Kenjiro here has not only snuck into a pirate’s den, but also decided that he can somehow make a lot of money off of their venture, and is now going to jump onto their ship and somehow climb in and hide.  A short animation of the Blood Hawk sailing plays. Drokonia is of course the big island with the map marker.  Now Playing – Quiet Ruin “Kazanjima Dorukonia”. No, not like our Kazan. The translation is on point.    “I’ve never been here before. What makes you think I would know?” ”…good point.” “That’s right…Didn’t Doplin say that they were heading south to look for the Sacred Stones? These footprints could be theirs.” ”Actually that was Mr. Bumble who told us.” ”Bubba.” ”Right, right…” “Look at this! See? There’s a treasure here after all. “    “It looks a lot like the letters we use in my village, but….I can’t read all of it…” “What does it mean? What are we supposed to do now?!” Now Playing – Already Rented   “I knew I’d make some money on this trip…I overheard you at the pirate hideout, so I snuck on board.” “You snuck on board….my ship? Well, well….We can’t have that now, can we?” “There’s only one way to deal with stowaways….And it’s not pretty…” “Sharon!” “The letters…Those letters in the magic circle…I know them! If you kill me, you’ll have no idea what it says!” “Is that so….You’d better be telling the truth…for your sake!”     This is why Sharon’s the best character: where everyone else balks at the idea of just smacking Kenjiro when he’s being an annoying and obstructive poo poo, Sharon just boots the bastard in the face. Imagine how quickly we’d have gotten the Mizel Red Sand with her around?  “When I said that I knew the letters, I meant that I know the island they come from!” “An island…?”    “I’ve done business with people there! These letters are exactly the same as the ones they use!” “What do you want to do, Lang?” “If there’s something on that island that’ll help us make progress here, we should go check it out. Kenjiro, you said that Jinga is southeast of Tanza, right?”   “Well, I don’t believe you, but Lang seems to. You’re the only one that knows the way! Back to the ship with you!” It’s hard to tell by screenshot, but Sharon here is kicking Kenjiro towards the ship.  “*GULP* I don’t have a problem, ma’am.”Kenjiro then runs off to the ship of his own volition. “Jinga, the island of ruins…He could be lying, but should we try to find it anyway, Lang?” ”Well it’s either that or stand around. Might as well go…”So yeah, once again, we’re being diverted from actually completing the plot. Woo. We are now free to leave and head to Jinga. But, we’re also free to head to any other place we feel like too.  I’ll take this moment to mention that when moving around on the map, you usually see Lang’s sprite run to the different locations. For anywhere we need a boat to get to, we see the Blood Hawk sailing. If we try to move to, say, Drokonia from Nohl, Lang will run to Darek’s Haunt and then get on the Blood Hawk. Speaking of Darek’s Haunt, let’s go there again. Now that the plot is over in regards to it, we can find our party members there.  As if we needed any more obvious hints that Kazan had something to do with these pirates.  Kenjiro is now permanently stationed on the Blood Hawk, and you can find him any time you’re in Darek’s Haunt. He sells everything, but the really useful stuff he “sells” won’t come up until later.  Trying to convince Maya that the pirates are evil just gets her mad at you. But either way, Sharon’s gang are clearly not evil, the people in Tanza said as much. There’s no reason not to agree. “Yeah, you’re right. We can’t really offer them anything, but they’re still willing to help us…” “That’s because they understand. They must know why we’re fighting…That’s why they’re helping! That’s got to be it!”Let’s see some camp chats while we’re at it. On the Sea “Lang, wasn’t the sea huge?” “Yeah. It just went on and on…like you could see right to the ends of the earth!” “The sea is unending. It goes on forever. That’s why it fills you with unending dreams. Hey, listen to me, will ya? Ha ha ha! But it really IS unending, you know. That’s because it’s all connected in a big loop!”Riding the Blood Hawk  Of course Cocky Lang enjoyed his adventure. “No doubt! Cutting through the sea breeze! Being out on the sea is great!” “Thatta boy! I knew you’d like it! I’ve got an idea. How about we start our own little pirate legend together, just you and me?” “Um…” “We could get us a bunch of henchmen. And about five pirate ships! Yeah! We could form a whole fleet!” “Ahem…” “You could be the captain, Lang! And I could be the captain’s girl. What d’ya say?” “Excuse me!!” “WHAT? What do you want?!” “We’re trying to get the Source Forge back to the way it was, remember?” “OK, already! I get it! But can’t a girl dream for a while? What do you look so mad for?!” “*Grumble, grumble….*” ”Psst, Sharon, I’m totally down for it when this is all over…” ”Thatta boy!”Silly love rivalry aside, Sharon surrendering her captaincy to some dude just ain’t right. Kenjiro  Him being an acquaintance is the most correct option. “Yeah, he’s an acquaintance of ours.” “Really? Well, listen to me, then! You better not have anything to do with a guy like that! Trust me on this one! The guy gives off the DISTINCT odor of a con man!” “What an awful thing to say! True, Kenjiro might not take a bath as often as he should…But that’s no reason…!” “Well, it’s not good to judge a book by it’s cover, but in Kenjiro’s case! If you don’t watch that guy, he’ll scam you!”Now, we could go on to Jinga from here. Or…..  Remember how the bartender in Kravia told us about this place? Once we get free reign with the Blood Hawk, we can come here before the plot compels us to.  Now Playing – Dream of Paradise “Gokurakujima Foochuun”. Exactly as translated.  Before we can enter freely, the man in charge stops us with his bunny girl cadres. Demetrius: “This is Paradise Found!!! This! Is! Phorchoon!! Pardon me, Gentlemen. Do you have any form of I.D.? This is the most exclusive of exclusive membership resorts! Yes, you are in…Phoooooorchooooooon!!!”  Oh look, it’s our Darakin-based plot coupon. Assuming that only nobility are meant to be allowed here, this will make the presence of some we meet here very strange. Demetrius: “Yes, of course. Please enjoy your time here.” We can now explore Phorchoon.  Phorchoon has a casino. It has typical games like Roulette and Slot Machines. Like any casino, you have to buy chips to play the games. We’re not going to bother playing, because there are easier ways to make all the chips you need in this game.  Here we have the in game measure by which you can see your affection values with different characters. You need 10 coins to use it, but 10 coins aren’t all that expensive, as for 100 gold per coin you only have to pay 1000, a trivial sum at this point. Which character is tells you about is randomized like this…    We haven’t been doing nearly enough to push our relationship with Maya, so of course we’re not full blown lovers here. And all the better for it, since she’s still 14. Obviously there are other characters to come up here, and they include: -Sharon -Kazan -Our 5th and final party member (who we will meet this chapter) -Nancy -Phanta -Balzac -Joe (the information guy from Darakin who wears an eyepatch) Why the game bothered to track Joe’s opinion of us is beyond me, but you’ll see him crop up if you waste a lot of coins on this psychic. To give you an idea of how we’re doing, here’s the relationships we get so far: -Sharon: Is “madly in love” with Lang. -Nancy: Is also madly in love. ”Yuck!”-Kazan: Thinks of us as a near and dear friend. -Phanta: Is developing a crush on Lang, because of course. -Balzac: Hates us, probably because we’re stealing his girl. -Joe: Also hates us, for reasons unknown to me. What does any of this matter? I think you know the answer. Now let’s get on with the side scenes.  “Oh yeah! Back at the auction house, they were having a food competition. They had a really good dish there. It’s called Wild Gratin. There’s some weird mystery meat in there. Wild beast meat. Try it once, or regret it for a lifetime! One of these days, I’ll make it for y’alls….I just know you’ll love it!”Sharon then leans the aforementioned Wild Gratin. “And? Why are you here?” “Just doing some background research on the Roulette wheel. There’s got to be some kind of contrivance, a secret to win!” “Sharon…You’ll get yourself in trouble doing that.” We move on to the Auction area. I’ll tell you about auctions in a bit, but first we have a scene and a recipe to learn.  We allay her worries. “That’s ridiculous! No need to feel that way! We probably have more money on us than these twits by now!” “…Really? You think so? Thanks, Lang…” Eating this club sandwich teaches us how to make said sandwich. Now let’s go actually auction in the auction room, shall we?    Except for one instance later on, every time you do an auction, Sharon will join to act as your bidder. She describes herself as “competing” with you at one point, but she’s more acting as your agent. Anything that’s purchased is the party’s stuff.  As you can see, Maya has technically joined us by virtue of happening to be in the same room. She does not do anything, unlike Sharon.  How auctions work in Legaia 2 is that Demetrius will present 3 items to you every session. The “Inscribed Sword” is not a weapon, but a decorative item for Maya’s house.  Before you even get to act, the NPCs will typically start throwing around a few bids. You might recognise the name Lonatello as the dad of the girl we rescued from the sewers. But when you talk to him outside an auction, he’s called “Donatello”, so I have no idea if they’re genuinely the same person or not.  Your choices are to make a bid, watch the NPCs bid some more, or just check out because you don’t want the item. We check out on the sword, but there’s a stat raising item we can get here.  It says it’s sold to Sharon, but like I said, it just goes in your inventory.  The third and final main limb of Phorchoon is the Arena. As expected, it lets you fight battles in exchange for casino chips you can turn in for prizes. It’s far simpler to just fight for chips than to rely on luck. I’d describe the arena battles, but we’re not doing them today. No, we’ll be leaving that for near the end, actually.  Yes indeed, this is the third son of the Mesai Clan, brother to the MIGHTY Balken and Raynoff the Brave. We’ll be seeing him when we finally face the challenges of the arena.  Oh look who’s here. Apparently, Bubba won’t appear at Phorchoon unless you place the Friendship Ring on Elfin’s grave. Good thing we did.  Why would we bother to say no? “I fell in love with her the moment I saw her! That’s when I gave her that bracelet, as a token of my undying love…She looked pretty happy when she got it, if you ask me. She’s probably still wearing that thing, wherever she is now…Thanks.”So I never quite commented on Bubba’s weird relationship with Elfin. The game skirts the line of Bubba having love love for Elfin or just being very affectionate to his not-a-pet. But I think this cements the former: clearly the “Friendship Ring” was called the “Love Bracelet” in Japan, and they changed it to avoid the bestiality reference. I assume they forgot to change it here. Yeesh.  Yeah, we can face Bubba in the arena. He’ll be a lot stronger than his boss fight counterpart.  This guy would teach us a Super Art, but we learnt all of those a long time ago. Also, you might notice those two monsters in the arena. Every time to come out to the stands, you’ll see some monsters fighting. Every time there’s a different pair. If we go out and in again, we can see new scenes.   We choose to be nice and offer her a coin. “You’re in luck. How much?”  This a whole lot of coins. Naturally, I don’t have that much on me. You get to choose again, but we don’t have enough to offer even if we wanted to. “OK…Ohhh…I don’t have that much. I’m sorry, I can’t do it.” “Haw, haw!! I’m kidding! I can’t believe you took me seriously! Which aristocrat should I hit up?”  And so Maya learns the “Fruity Pie” recipe. Now, with all that out of the way, let’s finally go to Jinga.   Now Playing – Roar of the Sea and Sky “Kyojin no oka Jinga”. Exactly as. There’s an entrance area prior to this place that serves no purpose. It just makes getting into Jinga slower and harder. And let me tell you, as this is a city of giants, it is very annoying to get around quickly.     We get this cut scene where this…dragon? flies overhead and roosts on a far off building. At the entrance to said building, you see someone we’re about to become very familiar with.     Trying to talk to the locals nets us either silence or strange and threatening words. Our only recourse is to go where that flying whatever went.   Elderly Giant: “Those people are different. They are…’Nature Speakers’…”  “’Nature Seakers’…?” Chief West Wind: “I believe they call you Mystics now.” “What do you mean predicted…?”Chief West Wind: “The Spirit, Reym, told me that you would come to these lands. Come with me, ‘Nature Speakers’…”  “Does not our law forbid contact with those from the outside?”Chief West Wind: “Do not let that concern you now, ‘Silent Eagle’…Come, there is much to tell and little time.”    ”Awwwkwaaaaaard…..”Now Playing – Wind, Tree and Water   Chief West Wind: “Something…That only I would be able to answer. Correct?” “Yes! We’re trying to get further into Volcanic Isle, but we’re stuck! There’s this place with letters carved into the ground and some kind of jewel in the center.”Chief West Wind: “You speak of the Earth Crest. You must sit on it.” I think he meant he wanted us to sit down, given…  “How do you know about the Kabel?”Chief West Wind: “I have watched the world for many, many years now. Their legends have not passed yet from this island. The Kabel were a people that sought to control the world…Through magic.” “Control the world through magic?”   I think Legaia 2 realised that it would have to have Maya make something of her Kabel heritage here, and realised that would be too interesting and left it out.  Chief West Wind: “And what they craved…Was power. With each new power they acquired, they lost a bit of their humanity…By the time they controlled nature…even life and death itself…They believed themselves all-powerful…But the Kabel were destroyed…” “How?”Chief West Wind: “The Kabel were destroyed by humans. Their arrogance proved to be their downfall. The Kabel were overconfident in their powers. They started to believe that they were not human, but gods. At least, that was their claim. The rest of humanity feared their control. They wanted to save the world and it compelled them to action. The ability to survive, enjoyed by all humanity, had been weakened in the Kabel due to their dependence on magic. So when the wars began, the Kabel were indeed powerful, but were lacking something. Humanity prevailed in the end.  Chief West Wind: “Our one tribal law is as old as that legend.” “We can have nothing to do with the outside world. That is our law. From our perspective, the outside world is full of heathens. Getting involved would make us impure as well.” ”What about Kenjiro? He’s the most impure prick out there!”Chief West Wind: “Well yes, but one has to have an avenue of trade.”  Chief West Wind: “But I am the only one left that is able to communicate now.” Chief West Wind: “’Nature Speakers’…The Spirit told me that you would come here and why. If the legends of my ancestors are true, you are searching for the Altar of Fire on the Volcanic Isle. However…You will never reach it…Unless you can go through the Earth Crest.”  “What’s this?”Chief West Wind: “This…Is the Blue Sky Shard. With this…The Earth Crest should lead you to the Altar of Fire.”    Chief West Wind: “The ‘End’ is quickly approaching. We can no longer sit by idly and watch. The time to act has come. Our tribe lives on this world too. We are part of this world, ‘Silent Eagle’. You, the most noble and strongest of our warriors, are the only one fit to complete this task.”  As expected, nothing you say matters. Silent Eagle is joining whether you like it or not. May as well be polite. “We’d be happy to have him! Are you willing to fight with us?” “I cannot. I will follow the orders of ‘Chief West Wind’, but I will not follow you.”Chief West Wind: “You must help each other. ‘Silent Eagle’, you are hereby exempt from the law until your task is complete.” “But…”Chief West Wind: “Listen to me, ‘Silent Eagle’. The law applies only to the living. If the world is destroyed, there will be no living and the law will be useless.”     So Lang canonically pulls this name out of his rear end and applies it to this stranger. Huh. “Fine.”Chief West Wind: “’Nature Speakers’…We have many valuable items that can only be found here. Some…may prove useful in your journey. However, we have no use for money from the outside. If you have something of equal value, you may be able to trade.” As the Chief says, Jinga runs on a barter economy, and you can get great items here, but only in exchange for equally rare stuff. I’d go into more detail, but I think it’s best I leave things here for now. Join me next time, where we learn more about Sile-I mean, Ayne, and finally, FINALLY experience Drokonia for real.
|
|
#
¿
May 14, 2021 09:57
|
|
|
Chapter 18 – Only A Sibling Elegy Where we last left off, we were sent on yet another diversion to get a plot coupon from Jinga that would let us actually go to Drokonia properly. We also picked up Sile-I mean, Ayne, our 5th party member, one of the giants of Jinga. We are now finally set to go to Drokonia and get our hands on the sacred stone we’ve been seeking 7 chapters ago. ….but you know what we must do first. First, let’s talk about Jinga.   As mentioned by Chief West Wind last update, Jinga runs on a barter economy and you have to trade items to get items. It’s all very much worth it, of course, because the stuff you get in Jinga is some of the best in the game. From Summer Sunlight here, you can get “Monster Meat”, which is the rarest ingredient needed to make the Atomic Heat dish. As I’ve mentioned, Atomic Heat is the absolute best cooking recipe in the game that can let you trivialise even the worst parts of the game. The kicker is we need items that won’t be found until the final dungeon to trade for it. Jinga is also home to this game’s most simple and profitable money cheat. We’ve discussed some of those in thread already, but Jinga’s one is easy to pull off and makes a lot of money at a time money starts being more useful. However, we can’t do that either yet because the necessary item is held in a secret shop we won’t see until later. Jinga itself is not actually home to a lot of content, and thankfully so because it’s stupid large and hard to navigate. But we will return later for this and that. For now, we shall leave Jinga and seek content elsewhere. I’ll show off some camp chats first. Good Fortune (This takes place if you camp on Phorchoon, naturally) “What a great place! Gorgeous! Full of life! The perfect place for a girl like me!” “We’re not here to have a good time, you know. You DO know that, don’t you?” “Come on, don’t be so stuffy! You’re having a pretty good time at the arena, yourself!” “What, that? That’s just…you know! To gain fighting knowledge and experience!” Cocky Lang loves having fun. “Of course! The auction! The arena! The casino! I can’t get enough!” “That’s just how I feel! Let’s stay here and have fun to our hearts content!”  Absolute Unit “Ho! Ayne…You are HUGE…!”  “That’s for sure! One of your hands is about as big as…Maya’s head!” “Um…Make sure you don’t crush it, OK…?” “Don’t worry. I’m always very careful when I sit.”…wait what? Ayne’s Mark “Anyway, Ayne. Is that mark on your shoulder the birthmark?”I think he means his Mystic mark. “It’s a tribal emblem proving I’m a warrior. It’s not the birthmark.” “Hee hee! Now I get it! You…You’re too embarrassed to talk about your Origin! Aha! Your Origin must be a squid or something!” “A ‘Squid’ Origin…? What’s that?” “A weird, wriggling creature with ten tentacles!” “There’s no such thing!”I think he’s denying that he has a squid Origin more than he’s saying there’s no such thing as a squid. “Don’t you worry! We’re all friends! You don’t have to hide your true self!” “I said there’s no such thing.” Just so it’s clear, Ayne is actually not a Mystic, and his tattoo is just that. He doesn’t have an Origin, and instead has a different ability you will see this chapter. Now that we’re done chatting, let’s take Ayne into Phorchoon, shall we?  This dialogue plays every time we talk to Ayne here, but for some reason the game will treat it like a scene every time, giving us this unique shot of the arena. But Ayne’s not the only one watching the arena.  “By the way, Lang, I tried the Seafood Pizza a while ago. Crispy baked squid and shrimp….delectable seafood goodness! I’ll cook one up for you one of these days.”And of course Kazan learns the Seafood Pizza recipe. We’re done with Phorchoon, so let’s go to, I dunno, Nohl?   Elukk: “I wanna go next. Me! Please?!” “Kids are so…innocent.”Ayne gets the “Mr. Giant” nickname. Guess he left his xenophobic douchebag attitude behind on Jinga.  Also new in Nohl is this guy, Monjiro. As you can guess, he’s related to Kenjiro, and serves as a peddler. As you can tell from his dialogue, his services are not yet available. Why they bothered having him show up before he can do anything is beyond me, but here he is. He will also give us the location of something special when he does open up. To the best of my knowledge, this is where content ends for Nohl. I never got Nancy or Galvan to say anything unique again, they just comment on Monjiro showing up until the end of the game. Let’s go somewhere with more content. Darakin, this time.  In case you’re wondering how standing pans out… ”Jerk Lang” posted:
The niceness caveat of Cocky Lang still applies to Ayne, even if he was a bit of a dick on Jinga. “Ah. You sit on it….But maybe it’d be tough for you, Ayne.” “I guess so….I’ll stay like this for now.”If we go to Darakin’s snobby clothes store…        Lang nods. “Hmm, something for Lang…Let’s see…How about this? This would look good!” “No, no. This one would look best on Lang! No question about it!” “That one’s too gaudy for Lang! He’d look awful in it!” “What do you know? That boring thing you’ve got wouldn’t bring out Lang’s charm!” “That’s not true! This one is the best one, I tell you!” “No way! I’m telling you, this one is perfect!”  We don’t even see what they’ve supposedly picked out for Lang, so it’s just a choice of favouring one character over the other or dithering to avoid offence. We’re going with Sharon, since she’s the better character in every way, and that scene is the most interesting of the three. “Huh? Me…?! Um…I like the one Sharon picked out.” “How…could you…?” Just look at Lang, being intimidated by how much Sharon revels in this victory. There’s more scenes to experience after going out and in again.   Nils: “Let’s go that way now! I want to see the castle!” “Ahh children, such fun…” Joe: “Nothing wrong with my life! I’ve always been this way, I don’t need anything, and nothing ties me down. I can’t change the way I am now…It’s too late for that.” “Ya can’t jush spend your whole like like….some kind of stray dog! There mush be some kinda better work for ya than thish!”Joe: “What kind of work is there for me? In a world like this…?” “I know! We could be pirates! Hic! Man, that’d be fun…You and me an’ our henchmen…having lots of fun every day…!” Joe: “I wonder just how serious she was about that…” ”Well she made me the same offer while sober…”Joe: “Oh, hi, Lang….Hey, this wasn’t what you think…She’s out of it, and wanted to pick a fight. There isn’t any special meaning to it…Hey, Sharon, wake up!” “*groan* Hey, where’s tha’ thing I ordered….? *snore*”We’re done with Darakin. Let’s hit up Kravia.  “What is it, Ayne?” “I need some money.” “What’s up, all of a sudden?” “In Jinga, we don’t need money. I wanted to see what it was like to actually use it.”We get a choice. Not giving him money ends things here and isn’t very interesting, so we fork up 10000 for Ayne. “OK, sure. Let’s see….Is 10000 G enough?” “I don’t really know how much that is…But thank you.”We give Ayne the money and he vanishes, presumably to go shop around. We don’t see him again until….   “I want to give this back to you.”Ayne returns our 10000. “Didn’t you go shopping?” “Yes. I looked at the stuff, and took out the money. But they said I didn’t have to pay.” You can see why Ayne would scare people, but Cocky Lang has killed bigger things than him single handedly.  “Really? That’s good!”The scene ends and we exit Kravia. Let’s head to Tanza.  We advise Ayne to just give it a try. “Haven’t you tried it, Ayne? Why don’t you try it. You’ll see why.” “Um…But…There’s people in there. I don’t feel comfortable getting naked in front of them.” “You’re worried about that? I didn’t expect that from you, Ayne. Don’t worry, I’ll be with you.” “Thanks…” “Something nice?” “A cool looking accessory! I thought it would suit you. Go on, try it on!”The screen fades to black, but nothing visibly changes about Lang. “Okay, how do I look?” “I knew it! A perfect match! By the way, the previous owner was some guy lying in the dirt. I was thinking to sell it, but then I thought it’d be perfect for you, so…”We get a choice. Rebuke her for stealing, take it with gratitude, or politely refuse. We choose to take it. “Really? Are you sure, Sharon? It looks pretty valuable.” “What?! Y-y-you really think so? Um…Hey, Lang? Can I have it back? I’ll give you something else, okay? Please?” “Huh…?”We get nothing out of this, implying Sharon took it back. Tanza is done, so we go to Darek’s Haunt.  The ship’s here to hide, so… “Because it’s a pirate ship. If it were out in the open, it would draw too much attention and that would be bad.” “Really…”Ayne gives the same one word response no matter what you say. Very uninteresting. We are finally done with all the side content, so let’s finally, finally, FINALLY go to Drokonia. Before we go in, we of course cook. Checking the camp chat at this point yields…  No point being a dick about it. “Ayne, you can cook? Sure! It sounds great! What do you cook?” (Dummy! What are you saying? Don’t tell him that!) (What’s the matter, Sharon?) (Well, just LOOK at him! Who knows what kinds of things he eats!) (Get real! You make Ayne sound like some kind of monster! He’s our friend, isn’t he?) (I’m only thinking of you! Would I give you bad advice? Now I’m telling you, you’ve gotta nip this in the bud!) “What is it, Sharon? Can’t wait to try my cooking, huh?” “*gasp* I wasn’t saying anything, Ayne!” “Don’t worry. I’ll make plenty, so you can have second helpings.” (Lang! This is all YOUR fault! You’ve gotta take responsibility and eat it all now!) (Oh calm the gently caress down, Sharon.)Now to actually genuinely really go into Drokonia.    We’re in.  “You’re joking, right?! How are we ever gonna move that?”    “Whoa…” “Hey, you’re pretty useful to have around!” “We should hurry.”As you can gather, Ayne’s shtick is he’s very very strong, and if there’s a puzzle that requires shoving things or picking up heavy poo poo, Ayne’s your man. But now that we’re in a dungeon, we should actually learn about how Ayne works as a battle character. The first time I cleared this game, I forewent Ayne in favour of keeping Kazan, both because I was comfortable with him and because Kazan has an Origin, giving him at least two distinct advantages over Ayne. Both for the sake of showing him off for this LP and because he can hit some ridiculous levels of damage output, I bench Kazan for him. Click here for an Art Exhibition. Haven’t had one of those for a while, have we? (And yes, the Spirit part is taken from an end game save because I forgot to use Spirit on Drokonia) Ayne fights with big weapons: big axes, big hammers. His main advantage is that he hits stupid hard, being able to do more damage than any other character with little extra effort. When we give him some new skills and stuff, he’ll be hitting even harder. The catch is he’s stupid slow, fitting in with his big lumbering giant shtick. Ayne will, at the very least, always act last out of any characters you have fighting, if not last out of all combatants. As I mentioned earlier, Ayne does not have an Origin, but this does not mean he doesn’t have special abilities. Ayne has “Spirit” instead, which involves calling on spirits of various types to give buffs. I’ve never been much of a buffing guy, always preferring to just keep attacking, but Ayne’s buffs are only used on him too so they’re not very useful outside of special situations. It also means he has no multi-hit attacks like Kazan gets via Deva. He’ll be serviceable, at any rate. This game will never be so difficult that one of the other characters is necessary to overcome the challenges. Now let’s talk about Drokonia.  Pallet swaps.  More pallet swaps.     And even more pallet swaps. I think there’s a single enemy that’s unique on Drokonia and we won’t see it until after a boss encounter. As for puzzles, as you might expect, it’s all about introducing Ayne and his strength, so…  You push blocks to make a path forward.  And you push these crystals to activate teleporters to move forward.  This one is optional, but it takes a bit more thought than any of the others. You just have to move those big grey blocks around so you can push the crystals onto the red squares. The game tricks you into thinking each crystal corresponds with a specific square, but the solution involves moving one of the side ones onto the middle red square first.  From there you use that crystal to manoeuvre the leftover crystal into the final slot and bam, you’re done. The treasures we get from this one are an accessory I never use and a “Life Syringe” that gives you the ability to avoid being KO’d for a turn (recovering full health if something does kill you). However, it also prevents you from acting for a turn, so it’s not as useful as it sounds. Not really worth the effort put into that puzzle, honestly.  This campsite (awkwardly camouflaged against the tan patch of ground) indicates a boss is up ahead. Who could it be?   Now Playing – Eri and Mari Oh brother. We all know what this means, don’t we? It has been a long time since these two were so much as mentioned, and longer still since they were on screen. It would be easy to forget they were even part of this game.   “We’ve heard rumours about you in every town we passed through. You’ve been busy. First you steal the Sacred Azure Stone from Bishop Doplin, now you’re after the Sacred Burning Stone! Your greed will be the death of you! I don’t think I can forgive you now!” “I really hoped that we could become friends, you and I…It’s such a shame.” “Give it up, big brother….People of our status shouldn’t befriend scum like him! He might have been a subordinate…No, a slave…No! More like a pet! Or a toy for our amusement!”    ”OH BANDERAS I CAN SEE HER WHOLE UNDERCARRIAGE!” ”In all my years, I’ve never seen something so obscene…” ”That just ain’t right!” ”To think outsiders could be this profane…” “Ooh…My head hurts…That bold lady just said something…Something awful about us.” “Oh-ho, you’re gonna swim with the sharks for that remark!” “What? I didn’t say old lady…” “Not another word, pretty boy, not another word!” “Marienne! She’s scaring me!”   “What did you think you’d be able to do with it anyway? You’ve seen the black sun. The black sun is going to erase the filthy past and anything else we don’t like…Won’t it be wonderful?! It’ll only be a short time before our perfect world is born…” “Why don’t you just hand over the Sacred Azure Stone? Tell you what. We’ll even let you live. For the short amount of time you’ll have left on this miserable world! Ha ha ha ha ha!”We get a choice, but it’s a “pick your flavour of refusal” choice. Either don’t do it or “fight if they try to stop you”. Cocky Lang’s a fighter.    “I know, Marienne. You have them one last chance. They were just too stupid to take it.” “I grow tired of this chatter, my brother. Let’s just kill them!”    This is basically the same fight as last time, only they have a few new attacks, and we aren’t being railroaded into losing. In fact, this fight is a complete cake walk and they do basically nothing to us in terms of damage. With a single Variable Art, we shave off half the health of our target of choice. We start with Marienne.   “Marienne…” “I will not go back to living in the shadows, cowering because I am a Mystic!” “Even our own parents abandoned us!”  “…He was the first one to treat us with kindness…And for his sake as well…”  “Enough of this! No more games!” Despite Marienne’s bravado, she dies after Lang combos her.    ”Haha, oh wow, is this your mighty vengeance being wreaked upon me!?” ”S-shut up! I’ll kill you!”Annoyingly, Marienne’s corpse persists upon the battlefield, which makes it difficult to take screenshots that don’t require censorship. The fight goes on for another round, mostly to build up AP to unleash another Variable Art on Elliott.  But once we unleash, the fight is over, and the siblings go down without even having unleashed a single Hyper Art. Last time we fought the siblings, I didn’t give you a video due to too much little girl underwear. This time, you’re getting one! Heavily censored, mind you, but you’ll be able to see and appreciate the cut scenes with minimal loss. I’ve also included the ones for when you target Elliott first. Click the image below to see Elliott and Marienne literally die.    “Marienne!”  “Marienne! Don’t you die on me! It’s almost here…Our perfect little world is almost…” “My….dearest…brother…I don’t want to leave your side…” “Marienne! Marinenne! *SNIFF* Don’t…Don’t leave me alone!”     Did you perhaps think I meant “knocked out” or some other such non-consequence? No, Elliott and Marienne very much die here. And they’re never seen again….or are they?  So, uh, Lang’s Gang just kind of stood there watching the sibling’s dying moments. “I didn’t think they’d fight to the death.” “We could have reached an agreement…We could have all lived together…”Maya didn’t seem to consider she could have tried healing them as they lay there having a heartfelt moment.  “Their own family…A place to live….It might have been pride…I don’t know what, but they had something. And they fought for it with their lives! The same as you! You’re fighting for something that you’re willing to die for…It’s not your fault they’re dead. Two sides, both willing to die for their cause…Somebody had to win.” “No…I was just surprised to hear such a philosophical interpretation…” “I wasn’t trying to be philosophical…That’s just how I see it….Nothing more.” “We’re fighting to protect something…important…” “That’s right. We’re protecting something that’s even more important than our own lives, right?” “Absolutely…We can’t stop here. We can’t quit. If we do, it’ll bring sadness to a lot more people than this.” ”Should we do something about their bodies?” ”Eh, kick ‘em in the lava.” ”Kicking ‘em in the lava!” ”Wait, no!”By the way, did you notice something about the whole last segment? Something missing, maybe? No? Well I don’t blame you, because as forgettable as Ayne is, who would notice he didn’t have a single line of dialogue here? And this will be a running theme going on. But we won’t be going on just yet, as the chapter shall end here. Join me next time, where we finish the last segment of Drokonia, face down Bishop Doplin and find the Sacred Burning Stone. LJN92 fucked around with this message at 09:46 on May 18, 2021 |
|
#
¿
May 17, 2021 10:29
|
|
|
Commander Keene posted:There's a Lang portrait where a Sharon portrait should be in the Ayne cooking skit. And you can't tease me like that game! At least let me know how it turned out! Good catch. Should be fixed now. But don't worry, I'm quite sure that cooking chat gets a follow up.
|
|
#
¿
May 18, 2021 09:47
|
|
|
Chapter 19 – The Death of a Moustached Bean Bag Where we last left off, we had just murdered Elliott and Marienne like they were nothing to us. Now we must continue on into the bowels of Drokonia and find the Sacred Burning Stone. For quite possibly the first time in this LP, we won’t be wasting time on side content first. We’re just gonna keep walking.  Just beyond where Elliott and Marienne died, we find Drokonia’s sole unique enemy, the Blaze Wheel. It’s a gimmick enemy that mostly serves to inflict status ailments. It can cause Petrification, which is fairly obvious in what it does, and has a “roulette” attack that causes random effects like halving MP or HP and decreasing stats. We don’t see it do any of these things, because of course, we’re killing them too quickly.  You might think these weird little lava thingies on the ground are barriers of some kind, but no. What happens is occasionally when you walk across them, there’s a chance a corona of lava will rise up and hit you, causing a bit of damage. I don’t even come close to having that happen here. Beyond these lava paths, we find another campsite. Yet another boss lurks beyond, so we cook, rest, and chat… Right and Wrong  “Hey, what’s the matter with you? You’ve been moping around and sighing for a while now! We put our lives on the line. So did they. One of us had to die in the end. Don’t tell me you think WE were in the wrong?”We get a choice. “Maybe we were”, “Nah, we were right”, and “It’s not a question of right or wrong”. Cocky Lang didn’t give a single poo poo about killing the dumbass siblings and kicking their corpses into the lava. “We weren’t in the wrong! We’re out here trying to get the world back to normal!” “Why do you look so unhappy, then?” “It’s not about who was right and who was wrong. It’s repenting for the act of taking life…But we must go on. If we can’t go on, can’t get over it, then the meaning of the victory is lost. Don’t you see that?” ”You know you weren’t this “repentive” when we killed Raynoff the Brave. In fact, you just made fun of him. What, did he rate as less of a human being than those two creeps?” ”Um, well, you see…”Kazan’s  “If she knew…If Sharon ever found out I was ‘Thunder God, Nazak,’ what would she do? I wonder if she’d hate me, thinking I left you? Listen, Alphis…Someday….I just might have to tell her…”As we’ve all figured out, Kazan used to be part of Alphis’ pirate crew. Frankly, this revelation just makes the way he acts more confusing. He was clearly good friends with Alphis, and yet acts like the pirates are some gang of evil criminals and acts like a petulant child towards Sharon on multiple occasions. What gives? Shouldn’t he know Alphis’ former crew aren’t bad guys? And why be so harsh to your old friend’s daughter? What’s Ahead “Those two were willing to go just THAT far to protect this place. We’ve gotta be careful!” “??” “That mustached bean bag…Doplin….He’s definitely up to something!” “’Mustached bean bag…?’ I have to see this guy!” “Trust me, you don’t want to see him!” ”Holy Banderas, guys, he might be ugly, but he wasn’t that interesting!”Now, let us cease conversing, and actually behold the mustached bean bag for ourselves. Now Playing – Evil Desires   That’s what Slogar was before he got the Kabel makeover. Doplin also calls this thing Slogar, so I assume it’s a type of monster.  “Elliott and Marienne…What happened to them?!” “We defeated them!”  To absolutely nobody’s surprise, Doplin is a 2 dimensional evil villain. “Oh well. They were just strays anyway…At least they slowed you down for a little while.” “You…You bastard! How can you say that?!” “How awful…They thought of you as their real father…They died fighting for you!” “Ho ho ho ho ho! They thought we were a family?! Oh, that is rich! Ho ho ho ho ho! I found those two after their own parents had dumped them in the woods. Since when are strays part of the family? Ho ho ho ho ho! I can’t stop laughing! What does that make stray dogs and cats?! Ho ho ho ho ho!”   “Every person has the capacity to be dishonest and mean…But I’ve never met anyone as rotten to the core…This is not a man, he’s garbage.” “But that’s about to change! I’m going to be more than a man! The gods have chosen me above all others! I will prove it! See for yourself! The power of the gods!”          “There are no limits to the secret Kabel techniques! Witness the ultimate living creature! It transcends all others! And the one that controls it’s every move is….Ho ho ho ho!”  “What?! You’re not going to stay and watch? You’re missing a great show! See the power of the ultimate being, Slogar!” “Eh, do what you want. But I’m staying to watch! I’ve wanted this bunch dead for a long time! Ho ho ho ho ho!” Show them, Slogar! Show them your awesome power!”  And she’s gone.  And now we fight “Slogar”. Way back in Chapter 8, I pointed out a book in the Kabel Ruins called “Val Kenus, the Primeval Fire”. Yeah, they foreshadowed this that early. For once, we don’t annihilate the boss before they can use some attacks, although in Val Kenus’ case, it’s strategically intentional on my part…   Val Kenus hits pretty hard. 2200 is over half of Ayne’s HP, and he’s got the most of all characters we have. But he only uses it twice before we kill the bastard. He’s meant to have an all hitting attack with a charging period, but he doesn’t use it. But the fight’s not over yet…      Doplin’s voice actor sounds more annoyed than worried here.   “Stop it, Slogar! Le…let go of me!” “What is the matter, your excellency?” “Isn’t that the follower of god that you’ve always wanted…?” “Tha, that’s not funny! Hurry! Help me NOW!”  “You…!!! Traitor! You have turned against Avalon and I….Uggg!” “Heh heh heh…You still don’t understand, do you?”  “Avalonnnn!! I am the High Priest! The Lord has chosen me….Arggggh!” “You are just another human. You are simply unfit for this world.” “…Ve, Velna! Dddd….Don’t do this to me…..!”  The commentary you get here is dependent on who you brought with you. ”Maya” posted:
”Kazan” posted:
That I’m aware of, Ayne doesn’t have one of these. Obviously I got Sharon with him and her, Maya spoke when I had her and Kazan, and Kazan spoke with him and Ayne. Maybe it’s an affection thing, but I had no way of prompting Ayne to comment. No matter what happens, Lang says this…   It’s a whole new battle now. Val Kenus has become “Var Zelph”.  Also here is “Var Kurtz”. I think it’s meant to be the hand Var Zelph used to melt Doplin, but why it popped off and became a boss monster, I wouldn’t know. I refrained from using Variable Arts against Val Kenus because I knew this was coming.  We immediately flatten Var Kurtz with one, preventing it from acting. It didn’t have any exciting attacks anyway, it just added to the damage you might take every round.   That’s quite a bit of damage. Fortunately, we can heal almost all of that with a single “Silver Barome”, a healing item that gives 1500 HP to every party member. Sharon’s great agility lets her put out healing items faster than most bosses can act.  Volcano Storm is just Lava Storm but it hits a bit harder.  This is the prelude to a nasty multi hit attack, giving us a clear indicator to put up our guard.   Honestly we may have done just fine tanking the hit without guarding. After this, Lang finishes off Var Zelph, ending the fight. Click the image below to see Val Kenus, Var Zelph and Var Kurtz in action.    Oh look, the Origins are out. They haven’t had screen time outside battles for a while.   And that’s Ayne’s first line of dialogue since we got here. “We still need the Aerolith…I don’t even know where to start looking…I seem to remember seeing it on the tablet. It was on a pedestal in some ruins in the clouds.” “In the clouds? Wouldn’t that mean somewhere in mid-air? How’s that possible?! There’s no way there could be ruins up there, right?!” “Not necessarily…Perhaps it is a reference to the Wind Tower?” “Wind Tower? Where’s that?” “I believe it is an island to the north of Jinga. I have head the ‘Chief of the West Winds’ talk of it.” “But even if that island is the right place, how would we get to the clouds…? Lang, I think we’d better go to Jinga again and have another talk with the Elder.” “Then it’s settled! We’re going back to Jinga!”That whole scene passed with the Origins out but they said absolutely nothing. What gives? Anyway, we’re done here, so I guess we’ll have to make our way out of Drokonia. Sure was a long, winding path leading here….  Hooray for convenient dungeon exits! Once I exit Drokonia, I decide to stop for a camp chat. Power Corrupts  “What do you mean?” “I mean, having all that power….too much power to handle, really, and ending up filled with greed and desire. I think that’s what happened to Doplin once he got a hold of the secrets of Kabel. If we’d ever used our powers like that, summoning our Origins for our own greedy desires, we might’ve ended up like him, too.” “Desires can ruin a person. But without desires, man can’t live. I guess the key to everything is moderation.” “Yeah, you’re absolutely right.”But funnily enough, Doplin had no power of his own. The secrets of Kabel came from Velna, and he only had the power to command people due to holding an office. The Awful Sound of Music “Hmm, the moon is beautiful tonight. Why don’t I sing you a song?Oooooooooo…In the eastern kingdoooooom, in a land of freeeedooooom…!” (Holy….! What an awful voice! It sounds more like shrieking than singing!) “….Lived the greatest thieeeeef….Gifted beyond belieeeeeef. No treasure he couldn’t steal!” “He stooooole the sacred scroooooll from the eastern hold, ♪ from the western mine, all the gooooold. ♪” “Sharon?!” “You…You know this song?” “My father always used to sing it when I was a kid. I just learned it naturally…But no sad stories tonight! Come on, Kazan, pour me a drink!” “What? A drink? Sure…!” “Sharon, you’ve got a lovely singing voice.” “Me? Thanks! There was a time when I thought I wanted to be a singer…Or did I wanna be a dancer…? Or maybe I wanted to be a waitress? Oh, well. It was a long time ago. I forget.”Funny that Kazan is surprised to learn Alphis’ daughter sings a song Alphis knew. I’m actually going to end the chapter here, but I want to take a moment to mention something I thought of after re-experiencing Drokonia: Elliott, Marienne, and Doplin are all completely worthless to the plot of this game. What did Elliott and Marienne do? They capture Lang in Gale Canyon, sure, but that could have easily been accomplished by any other character (Bubba was right there). They spend most of the game off screen just to die a cheap death on Drokonia. They accomplish nothing and leave no lasting impression besides how obnoxious and disgusting they are. One might say Avalon needed Doplin’s resources as Bishop, but did he? He found the Aqualith all on his own, and Doplin didn’t seem to know where the Pyrolith was (they repeatedly mention Doplin searching for sacred stones, even after Avalon had Velna put the Pyrolith back personally). I can’t think of a single thing Doplin did that advanced the plot in any way. He was just there to twirl his moustache and claim importance while other people did the work for him. You could have cut all three characters from the game and the plot would still make sense. It would be much shorter, but it would still make sense. Avalon still gets the stones on his own, the Eclipse happens, people want to stop him. Bam, you have the plot of this game. Well, that’s enough ranting for now, I think. Join me next time, where we do a little side content, complete some more guild quests, and maybe find out our next objective at the end.
|
|
#
¿
May 19, 2021 10:39
|
|
|
Chapter 20 – Meander the World and the Seven Seas Where last we left off, Bishop Doplin was melted into nothing, we fought Slogar for the 3rd (and 4th?) time, and finally acquired our second sacred stone: the Pyrolith. Our task now is to go talk to Chief West Wind in Jinga to find out how to reach the “Wind Tower” Ayne mentioned. Buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut first! We’re going to experience the lovely lovely side content that has cropped up due to clearing Drokonia. We start in Darek’s Haunt.  We hear voices coming from Sharon’s room in the hideout. “Huh? You’re giving that to me?” “You can have all of my old stuff if you want it. I can’t wear most of it anymore.” “Really? Are you sure?” I’d say Lang shouldn’t eavesdrop, but that wouldn’t be very interesting, would it? (I’d hate to waste this chance to see what’s going on in there…) “Wow! There’s so much to choose from…All right! How about this? I really like the color…Um…” “Is this supposed to have holes here? Wouldn’t everyone be able to see your…” “Ahem! You don’t know anything, do you? That’s the point!” “But why would you want people to see your…” “Well, maybe I’ll explain some other time! You don’t want that! Here! Why don’t you try on, whoops! You don’t want this one!” “You’ve got a lot of interesting clothes, Sharon.” “I know! I see something interesting and I can’t help but buy it! That’s how I ended up with so many.”Lang accidentally makes a noise here.  Cocky Lang has balls of steel and will own up to what he was doing.  “Eavesdropping on us girls, Lang? Just what were you expecting to hear? Hmm? It’s not proper to eavesdrop on ladies. We’ve got our little secrets to keep, you know…”And the scene just kind of ends there. No consequences. Guess Sharon and Maya know better than to try and punish the mighty Cocky Lang.   We are now freely allowed in Sharon’s room, where her sister blocked us before.  She has a parrot, because she’s a pirate. You wouldn’t know it, but this parrot will be important to us later on.  ”Okay first, why do you have a problem with another ‘girl’ specifically? And second, she’s in the room right now, dumbass.”Now if we exit the Haunt and come back in…  Bacadee: “Just take any left over ingredients or whatever you’ve got lying around, spice it up with some curry, and voila! You’re done! Make sure you don’t let the curry get too runny! You don’t want to drown the pasta with it, just give it some extra flavour.” “What are you doing, Maya?” “I’m learning how to make Curry Spaghetti! It’s really easy to make!”Bacadee: “Don’t tell the rest of the crew, but I make this whenever I don’t feel much like cooking. Ha ha ha ha ha…” And of course Maya learns how to make Curry Spaghetti. I think she’s the only one that learns a dish from Bacadee here. I also remember this recipe in particular being easy to miss if you barrel on with the story. We move on to Tanza.   “What are you doing, Sharon?” “The manager’s sick, so I’m helping out! Want to try my cooking?” Zigolo: “That’s the truth! How about staying on as the full-time bar lady?” “Ha ha ha! Don’t tempt me!”Sharon gets the “Bar Lady” nickname here.  We can eat here just as usual, but now all the dishes are “Sharon Style”.   As you can see, “Sharon Style” is just supersizing the dishes.  This one is so big I’m pretty sure Lang’s standing on a stool.   Our reward for stuffing our face on Sharon’s jumbo meals is the “Glutton King” nickname. Not much of a reward since they do nothing, but Sharon’s entertaining enough to make this segment worth it.  Ayne decided to take Lang up on his offer to get in the spa together. Going in and out, we go back to the restaurant…   Here’s what happens if you “whack him”. ”Jerk Lang” posted:
Now, if we ignore him… ”Less Jerky Lang” posted:
But Cocky Lang must be nice to his party members. “Master, wake up! You’re bothering the other patrons. Come on, wake up!” “Uhmmm….What? Lang…Ordering ME? Who’s the Master…Mumble…” “I is…I can…Okay! NOW I’m READY!!!”Despite being the “look after” option, it’s almost like a negative outcome. No matter what option you pick, the scene ends like this…  Yorumi: “Man, what an annoying customer. Especially when I’m so busy around here!” So I mentioned destroying the snowman in Yuno. It will get rebuilt every time you destroy it. On the third destruction, however…  Mick here starts shadowboxing Lang.   The snowman will be rebuilt again, but from now on Lang will refuse to bust it up. Moving on to Darakin, we find Sharon in the fashion store again.  Marlee: “Oh, really?! Do you mean it? Oh, darling! My dearest sweetheart! *Kiss! Kiss!*”  “Blech! She’s sickening! There’s no reason to carry on like that, just because he’s got money!! Isn’t it disgusting, Lang?”We get a choice. We agree, because Cocky Lang hates a shcleimer too. “You said it! You can’t judge a man by the size of his wallet! That kind of thing really makes me mad!!” “Can’t judge a guy by the size of his wallet…Good one! I like that! But you’re still going to treat me to something nice every once in a while, aren’t you?” ”I got millions of gold with your name on it, Sharon.”Now let us dispense with the silly scenes and do some guild quests.  First on our list is “Winged Mountain Beasts”. Sonnet: “This is a quest from The Central Continental Union. They say that vicious, wanted monsters have escaped to Mt. Gabel. The prize for these monsters is 160000 G. The reward money is high because they’re REALLY dangerous.” The game is clearly warning us this one will be tough. We’re gonna do it anyway. Sonnet: “They’re really ferocious! But you’re still willing to accept this challenge? You must be a thrill-seeker! Or maybe it’s the money?”   Cocky Lang isn’t taking this poo poo. “Why don’t you mind your own business? I can do whatever I want. I’ve fought beasts allegedly dredged up from hell, I can take an extraordinary monster!” “Tsk, tsk. Rubbed you the wrong way, did I? And I was only trying to be nice…Well, you can do as you please. Maybe I’ll head over there and rescue you later. Don’t kick the bucket before I get there.”So as was mentioned, our destination is Mt. Gabel. Despite his promises to head over “later”…  Somehow he got here before us and took down one of the beasts. “Hah…I didn’t want anyone to see me like this. I wanted to kill them all before you showed up, but….I don’t think I’ll be doing much more fighting now…”We get a choice: help, laugh, or ignore. Cocky Lang is cocky, but not a jerk.  “Hah…Forget it. That’s not going to help at all. Just keep going…There’s still one more out there. It ran off towards the summit. I managed to wound it pretty badly, so…even you should be able to beat it…Go get it.” ”Bitch I could have taken both of them alone.” ”OVERCO-“ ”You said exactly what I said after killing Raynoff, you hypocrite.”We can camp out right next to Stiel and just talk about him like he’s not there.  “He seems fine. He just asked us to leave him alone.” “He’s odd…I’ve met a lot of swordsmen in my day, but he’s the most menacing I’ve seen.” “Really? I thought he was just showing off.”Anyway, we’re bound for Mt. Gabel’s summit.  Just like with the Morg, we can see the Zahatule in the distance. It’s a bit hard to make out, though.   While they’re just pallet swaps of the big bird enemies we’ve fought thus far, it’s interesting they went to the trouble of making the Zahatules different colours from each other.  All we need to bring it down is some Hyper Arts from Sharon and a Variable Art. One round take down. So much for the mighty Zahatules. Speaking of the Morg, why don’t we pop in on his old cavern?  He has risen again. I’m not sure how quickly this happens after the fight, but presumably it’s earlier than the Zahatule fight.  We can’t fight him again or anything. I guess they just respawned him so kids would feel less bad about “killing” an innocent spirit? Making our way back down the mountain, we find Stiel…  Although it’s true Cocky Lang doesn’t need Stiel’s help, we’re gonna be nice to him.  “Hah…Don’t worry about me. The last thing I need is some rookie worrying about me. I’ve still got my pride.” We shall split the money like gentlemen. “Hm…the fair thing to do would be to split it.” “Hah…I figured you’d say that…Okay, we’ll split it. I’ll go to the Guild and pick it up.”We head back to the guild.  “….130000? Didn’t you talk to Stiel? I’m supposed to get 80000 G…”Sonnet: “The Central Continental Union wanted to reward you in addition to the 80000. They know how dangerous those monsters were! You’re certainly a true Hunter now! Do you have any kind of special nickname you go by?” ”They call me lots of things. Including, uh, Peeper….” This one is a follow up to the last Yuno quest.  “Gauraze?”Suda: “A demon from hell. Gauraze. A curse upon our world. His body is filled with venom. So long as he lives, the plague of the Apolu fever will spread…But that is just the beginning. For more horrifying things lie ahead! We must rid ourselves of him before it’s too late! You must be extra careful. His venom triggers illness! And the illness can bring death…Gauraze must be somewhere in The Forest Maze. I’m counting on you.” For all this talk, it amounts to finding a pallet swap enemy in the woods and killing it.   Gauraze isn’t all that different from any other fight with one of these two headed wolf things, but its regular attacks can cause the Plague effect, like Suda warned us. It’s also fast enough to act before Sharon, at least at this level. Gauraze has enough HP to make the fight last three rounds, even after unleashing a Variable Art on it. But it never really comes close to being a threat. Once Gauraze is dead, you don’t have to return to Suda. You just go back to the guild to collect your pay. However, Suda does reward you with the “Tempura Noodles” recipe. I don’t actually pick that up here, but I will get to it later.  We get a “Maiden’s Robe” tacked onto our cash reward. It’s armour for Maya. Would be neat if we were using her, but we aren’t. The last quest we have to do is “Find Mari”. It’s being offered by Cammy.  Yes, that Cammy. Her father had the sense to move them out of the sewer room, at least. Cammy: “Waaah! Mari is lost! We went down below together, but then I lost her…! Lost my dearest friend I still pursue beauty’s way Life is very hard This haiku expresses my present feelings for my dear friend in terrible danger!” “Okay! All right, already! I’ll look for her. What does your friend look like?”Cammy: “Mari is very fair-complexioned. But she might have gotten dirty in the sewer water. Please find her!” Yes, that’s right, we’re going back into the sewers.  Turns out Mari is a cat. What a twist.  Trying to grab Mari results in her dashing into that hole in the wall. As you can tell, we have to block it with that crate using Ayne.  Then you walk around to where Mari is now trapped and grab the cat.  Cammy: “So! Still kicking, huh? That doesn’t sound right…Ahem! ‘Oh, Mari, thank heavens you’re still alive! Oh thank you!’ That sounds better…Meow, meow! Mari!” “…Well…I guess that takes care of the quest.”Indeed, quest over. We get our reward and forget we wasted our time. Let’s finally go to Jinga, like we’re supposed to.  This guy behind Chief West Wind can give you nicknames for hitting certain milestones. I could have spoken to him earlier, but he had nothing to offer us back then.  He gives Lang this nickname for learning a specific Origin move. You’ve probably noticed I’m learning Origin moves and not showing them off much. Don’t worry, I’ll show them all off in good time.  He dishes out names for other characters too, as you can see Sharon getting a nickname here. You can also see the option to “Change nickname”, which lets you change the one that’s currently applying to a given character. This has no real function other than changing what is displayed in a handful of situations. Let’s finally talk to Chief West Wind.  Chief West Wind: “I see….You seek the altar enveloped in wind. The Aerolith….That which you seek is there. It is just as ‘Silent Eagle’ said, the Wind Tower can only mean one place…Ellsworth.” “Ellsworth…?”Chief West Wind: “Yes…Created by the Kabel as a testament to their power, it is a tower suspended in mid-air by magic.” “Suspended in mid-air? How are we supposed to get there then?”Chief West Wind: “The Kabel had a magical means of transporting themselves there, but that knowledge has been lost. There is only one method of reaching the tower now. You must use something that flies. There is no other way.” “A way to fly, huh? I guess we’ll have to ask around.”In the end, Chief West Wind couldn’t actually give us any helpful info at all. Knowing that we need to fly to a tower in the sky is hardly a revelation. Obviously now our goal is to leave and find something to fly on, but if we re-enter Jinga…  “I do not know. I only follow the orders of our chief.”  Yeesh, Ayne, tone it down with the war face. Also want to point out how awkward sex must be between a dude as huge as Ayne and this woman who, despite being a giant herself, still only barely reaches his chest. Spring Sapling: “It is true. You must promise me that you will return to me safely. Will you promise me?” “Of course! I will not die! I will come back to you and the child! You have my promise! Take good care of yourself, ‘Spring Sapling’….”Spring Sapling: “I will, dearest heart…”  She’s hugging him, if you can’t quite tell. Or maybe sort of leaning against his chest?  ”Also please stop eavesdropping on everyone you meet.” ”No deal.”Now we shall leave Jinga and head to….Yuno.  Remember Faldo? He’s the guy who considers himself Maya’s boyfriend.    Faldo: “What kind of relationship do you and Maya have, anyway? Go on, tell me!!” Choice time. We can declare Maya our girlfriend, but she’ll just deny it, despite blatantly crushing on Lang in every other scene. We go with the correct and platonic answer. “Maya is my very special….friend!” “That, That’s right! We’re fighting To save the world!”Faldo: “Uh…Well….After you save the world, you’re coming back to Yuno, right?” “This village is my home. I’ll be back. That’s a promise, Faldo!”Faldo: “I see…So you’re called Lang? Please take care of Maya…for me.” Now, as for actually finding something that flies, we could go back to Darakin and pay Joe to tell us where to find something like that. Or….  “Hmm…You’re looking for a way to fly, huh? Well, I’ve travelled all over the world, and that’s no easy task. Now if you could just get a hold of a Flying Dragon…” “A Flying Dragon…?” “That’s right. I saw one the last time I was over at that island…what’s it called….Oh, yeah, Jinga! Flying Dragons are noble creatures and bigger than any bird you’ve ever seen. They’re like the king of the skies!” “Where can I get one of those?! You’ve got to tell me!” “Well, rumor has it there’s a competition over in Phorchoon. First prize is a Flying Dragon! Oh, sweet, rich Phorchoon! Playground for the rich and famous! I’d love to get in there!”This is where you’d learn about Phorchoon, had we not already heard of it from the bartender in Kravia. “Oh, that island.” “What?! Don’t tell me that you’ve already been to Phorchoon, Lang! How did you manage that?! You’ll have to teach me how to get in there sometime, Lang. You’re just full of surprises!” ”I just picked an Emblem of Nobility out of the trash in Darakin and they let me in when I showed it off.” ”Well I’m no stranger to dumpster diving!”We finally have our next objective made clear to us: go to Phorchoon, fight in the arena, and get ourselves a Flying Dragon. But I will end this chapter here. Join me next time, where we experience the Phorchoon arena and find out about our next terrible evil villain.
|
|
#
¿
May 22, 2021 10:06
|
|
|
Commander Keene posted:If I may make a suggestion, you should probably JPEG your images, there's a lot of them and they make the thread load slowly as PNGs. Making them jpegs with like 85-90 quality should do a lot to make the images lighter on browsers without losing too much noticeable image quality. Screenshots from 3D games look much better as jpegs than those from 2D games because the images are more complex. It's a bit late for me to change the chapter I'm about to post, but I'll try to do this in future. Bare with me, I'm new at this, and I'd never paid much attention to the distinction between jpg and png before. I'm open to advice if anyone's got any. I hear Irfanview is the way to go? Anyway, next chapter should hopefully be on a new page. LJN92 fucked around with this message at 08:48 on Jun 3, 2021 |
|
#
¿
May 24, 2021 09:09
|
|
|
Chapter 21 – The Tournament Arc Where last we left off, we found out that a “Flying Dragon” was being offered as a prize in the Phorchoon arena, and we need said dragon to reach the Wind Tower, Ellsworth, where the Aerolith lays in wait. Now there’s no great reel of side content for me to show off before we get there, but there is one thing, and it’s technically something of a secret. Wouldn’t you know it, we learn it from Kenjiro, who we learned all about the Flying Dragon from.  “We peddles have a little shanty between Mt. Gabel and Darakin…They’ve got just about every type of item you can imagine there! That’s where I get a lot of my prime merchandise! You should go and check it out sometime. You won’t regret it!”The game tells us we’ve gained access to the “Secret Market”. It’s a location we can find on the map.  Kenjiro said it was between Mt. Gabel and Darakin, but I’d say this is more between Mt. Gabel and Gale Canyon.  Now Playing – Barracks “Gyoushounin no kakure barakku”. I believe it means “Peddler’s Hidden Barracks”. “Secret Market” is a bit of a departure from that, but then again, why the heck would they call this place a “Barracks”?  As you can see, it’s a bunch of Kenjiro lookalikes sitting in tents. Ain’t no barracks about it. Anyway, as you might expect, the Secret Market sells all kinds of useful things. It doesn’t sell all the useful things in the game, but it sure does sell a lot.  A bloke called Torajiro, not actually pictured above, sells combination components. All handy, but chief among them is the “Earth Dragon Wing”. It’s not that useful on its own, but you can trade Earth Dragon Wings in Jinga for “Sun Faulds”. Sun Faulds can then be sold for more money than you paid for the Wings, roughly 20000 more. You will quickly make millions of gold, and that’s more than you’ll ever need to play through the rest of the game. This is Legaia’s 2s ultimate money trick, coming both when you need it and being very simple to pull off.  Momojiro, the pink Kenjiro above, sells accessories. Many of them are extremely useful, but the most useful of all is the “Tireless Ribbon”. To make it, you need to: -Buy Winged Ribbons and Healing Ribbons. -Combine Winged Ribbons and Healing Ribbons to make Muscle Ribbons. -Combine Winged Ribbons and Muscle Ribbons to make Sagely Ribbons. -Combine Winged Ribbons and Sagely Ribbons to make Tireless Ribbons. Tireless Ribbons have many useful abilities, but the best one is “Max AP”. As it says, it sets your AP to maximum forever. Thus, you can use as many Hyper Arts as you want as well as pull off Variable Arts every round. No longer will you have to worry about building AP: just smash the enemy with your greatest attacks! Of course, it takes a fair bit of investment to actually unlock the Max AP ability, so you won’t see it in action for a while yet. But when we finally get, boy will we be hitting the sweet spot. Now that we’ve nothing better to do, let’s actually get on with the main quest. Phorchoon is our destination.  We have no real choice but to participate.  Despite seeming like a choice, you’ll be forced to go with Lang. This is despite being able to use all characters in the arena at any other time, but you’ll understand when you see what happens in the ring. To give an example of the railroading, we will ask the objectively best character, Sharon, to compete in our stead: ”Asking Sharon” posted:
But Cocky Lang would volunteer himself for this anyway. “I’ll do it!” “Good job, kid! Just as my student should be!” “Cool! That’s what a man should do! Show your stuff! “Braujet: “Understood. Please stand by in the waiting room.” We are then immediately thrust into the arena battles.  Now Playing – Elegy of Battle As you can see, it has a neat little display where it gives Lang’s current nickname. “Pro Cook” naturally comes from making a lot of dishes using Lang. Dark Jackal is a totally banal pallet swap that goes down in one round. Moving on.   Every arena battle awards you a certain amount of “recovery” for every victory. Here it’s 80% because we finished Dark Jackal in one go, but it dwindles with every round you take to win. It can go as low as 10%. The coins awarded are of course the casino prize coins. Some events give them per individual win, others pay out at the end.  Another pallet swap. “Dangerous Zone” is fast enough to attack first, but not strong enough to last more than a round.  Wasteland Outlaw lasts two rounds due to Baki-type enemies tending to block hits, but he goes down nonetheless.   As you can see, the Gaia Blade bites us in the rear end here. For the first time in a long time, we actually use Origin powers to get past a tough enemy.  Hellhound lasts two rounds, attacks first, and does enough damage to chew off 1000 HP. There’s the faintest whiff of a challenge here.  Beefcake here takes three rounds to go down, befitting his name.  I bust out the Hyper Arts for Dark Executioner, misremembering him as the final encounter before a story beat. Not that it matters much in the end, it just means I have to build up AP in the next fight.   For some reason, these lines are voiced. Click here if you’re curious.    The crowd goes wild for Demetrius and his gleaming teeth.   Demetrius: “Ladies and Gentlemen! A new champion will be crowned tonight before you! Are we ready? Ladiiiiiiiiiieeeees aaaaaaaand Gentlemeeeeeeeeeeeen!!!! I bring you the Tournameeeeent Championshiiiiiiips!”     Demetrius: “In the blue corner! The newcomer who has crrrrrrrrushed the competition!! Surely you already know who I am about to introduce….Pro Cook, Lang!”   Cocky Lang is loving this.     Demetrius: “And on the other side is the Tournament’s Best, or its Absolute Worst! The fierce savage of the underworld, Gorvaaaaaaaaaaa!!”  ….it’s just the loving Loghart Crab from The Forest Maze.   The most important takeaway from these images is you can see Sharon fell over the railing and is now clambering back into the stands.  So yeah, Gorva. They have no special attacks that the Loghart Crab didn’t, just more HP, which makes killing Gorva tedious, but not difficult.   Demetrius: “I know him! You know him!!! Pro Cook, Lang!!”  You see Kazan give a nod of approval, so the only one being a sourpuss here is Ayne. Demetrius: “Thank you, thank you. You are a most gracious audience! And now, for the awards…”     If you’ve been paying attention, you know exactly who this guy is. I wouldn’t blame you for forgetting, of course, because the relevant information was seen a while ago and many chapters back. I’ll not name him till the time comes. Also I just want to say his dinky loincloth is really ruining the medieval Darth Vader vibe he’s going for.     I’ve played enough RPGs…   …to know where this was going.   Demetrius runs for it, leaving Lang with this evil swordsman.  “…So this is the gathering place of the strong and gifted….I was wondering who would win…” You guys know there’s no saying no here, right? Cocky Lang wants to take a stab at this guy anyway.  “….I like your attitude. This may be more enjoyable than I’d expected!” You know, you could describe this encounter as a “duel”. Given duelling the MIGHTY Balken was optional, this might be the only duel you have to fight in this saga. This “Black Swordsman” can actually be rather tough. He can hit pretty hard, and since you’re on your own, you have to have Lang take time to heal when necessary.   Black Swordsman is scripted to eventually hit you with one of these.   This guy’s voice acting is really dinky. From the look of him, you’d expect some James Earl Jones material, but what you get is more like Grima Wormtongue. Definitely not what I would have given to him.  From here on out, he’ll start using other Hyper Arts, like Thunder Fang here. They don’t do anything special, they just hit for varying amounts of damage. Once you beat this guy down hard enough…     Ah, so his identity is finally revealed! …actually no, we have never seen this bloke’s face before, so the armour was more of a giveaway. Click the image below to see the terrible Black Swordsman in action.  Casual reminder that our friends just stood around while this completely illegal fight took place. Even Demetrius’ guards tried to stop this.     “What? So senile you’ve forgotten the student you killed with your own hands? “Oh….it’s you….Rauss!! But….how….?”Yeah, this is Rauss, first mentioned by Kazan way back on Mt. Gabel, and identified by name as the Black Swordsman standing by Velna after the Zoan Stoara fight. “How am I alive?....It’s true. You did defeat me that time, many years ago….But the spirit of my armor has brought me back to life! I will not rest until I have fulfilled my fate…To live out my destiny as a great swordsman!”  Now Playing – Evil Desires    “That woman….!” “Have you forgotten that you live now only because I gave you that unholy armor?”     And they’re gone.  Gone to the Wind Tower, as it were.  “He will come here. He must. Only here can he secure the last of the sacred stones…”  “That’s right, Rauss….Feel the madness. Let it infect every fiber of your being…And when it does, you will be reborn as the greatest swordsman that ever lived…More than a man and almost as powerful as a god!” “Yes…Turn your anger and hatred to madness….And then use it to kill that boy, the Star Shaper, for my liege, Lord Avalon….”Speaking of Lang, we cut back to him.  Demetrius: “I have served as host for many, many years, but never have I seen such an excited audience! I have a proposal. How about working at Phorchoon regularly? You see, between you and me, the contract fee is quite decent!”  Demetrius: “Hm?? To what do you refer, my fair lady?” “To what do I refer? Pah! I WON! Hello?! Don’t I get something? Huh?” ”You didn’t win, I won!” ”What’s mine is mine and what’s yours is mine.”Demetrius: “Oh! Ohhhh!! Yes, yes! You speak of the prize! I will fetch it immediately!!” Demetrius walks off.  Notice that between images, the woman in the background left and the man is crying. Sometimes I’m struck by the amount of background detail this game has.  “He left the arena lone just a little while ago….I wonder where he went….?”We are now left to wander, with the obvious goal of finding Kazan.  He’s out on the Blood Hawk.   “I know…The intruder at the arena….Rauss….That’s it, isn’t it?” ”…huh? Master, I never met him before, what the gently caress would I know?” “Tenga-ryu comes from the heart. Therefore its strength comes from the person’s heart also. Do you remember I told you this? The fighter’s inner strength is fused with the sword. That is why daily training, experience and trails are so important….That is the way of the swordsman. This is what I have tried to teach you all along.” “He used the Ultimate Fang, a move forbidden by the Sky Fang Masters! Ultimate Fang is dangerous….it does not draw power from one’s fighting spirit-it is fuelled by insanity. Use it too often, and it eats away at your very core…And that is why, as his Master, I had no choice but to slay him…” ”Hey, gently caress you, I had beaten the MIGHTIEST knight in Darakin by the time I met you!” “I see room for improvement, but you are a respectable Tenga-ryu swordsman! As tribute to victory, I shall show you Tenga-ryu’s Ultimate Master Stroke! Watch closely!”    So yeah, we’re shooting laser beams out of our swords now. The anime levels just rose by a lot. If you’re wondering what “Waga Itto Nomi” means, I think it’s “Bunny Fang Blade”. No, really. When I first tried to get a translation for it, it came out to “Drink my rabbit”, which was obviously wrong, but “Itto” can translate to rabbit/bunny. Couple that with the fact that Lang will occasionally shout “Bunny Fang Blade” when using this Hyper Art, I think that might just be it. Could use some Japanese context if anyone can provide, of course. EDIT: The user Polsy has provided Japanese context. Turns out this translation is pretty drat wrong. Polsy posted:So, it's actually ittou rather than itto. The full name of the school is Tenga Ittou Ryuu in fact but I guess they cut that for brevity (actually checking back Kazan translates this as 'Sky Fang' rather than leaving it as 'Tenga', in earlier dialogue. weird)   “Sleeping….Dragon….?” “Correct. Gather your entire soul and being, and release it through the sword. Nobody can withstand such a blow. ‘Sleeping Dragon’ is not within your reach right now…But I have complete faith that someday, you too will master ‘Sleeping Dragon’!”What Kazan means here is that while he has shown you the Art, you don’t get to use it until a story event. “Master…” “If ever….We meet and must fight again….I may lose my life….” “You can’t have that attitude before you try! I’ll…We’re all going to fight together! We won’t let you die!” “That’s true. I guess….I am not alone….Lang……Do not forget the ‘Sleeping Dragon’ that I showed you. You must become the sword….It is not an easy feat to accomplish. But you….you will, someday….”  The game then cuts to the next day.   “Whoa! That’s crazy! Only the best for the best!” “I…hope it doesn’t drop its riders…” “You…You ride this? I don’t know about that…” “It’s fine. It may look scary, but I hear it is a gentle beast.”Demetrius: “With this, you can rule the skies! We hope you enjoy riding this fine beast! After all, they are very rare, you know!” And with that, we have our Flying Dragon, and the path to Ellsworth, and confrontation with Rauss, lies clear ahead. But we shall save that for another day. Join me next time, where we storm Ellsworth, face Rauss and behold the Aerolith. LJN92 fucked around with this message at 22:58 on May 24, 2021 |
|
#
¿
May 24, 2021 09:12
|
|
|
Polsy posted:So, it's actually ittou rather than itto. The full name of the school is Tenga Ittou Ryuu in fact but I guess they cut that for brevity (actually checking back Kazan translates this as 'Sky Fang' rather than leaving it as 'Tenga', in earlier dialogue. weird) drat. That's some goofy translating. Do you mind if I put your response in my post so people can see it there in future?
|
|
#
¿
May 24, 2021 22:32
|
|
|
Chapter 22 – Raussicaä of the Tower of the Wind Where we last left off, we competed in the Phorchoon arena and won the Flying Dragon we needed to reach Ellsworth. Rauss, Kazan’s former student he believed dead at his own hands, showed up to confront Lang in the ring, only to be called away by Velna. He now awaits us on Ellsworth, guarding the Aerolith. But first, before we go to Ellsworth, there’s side content. Don’t you just love it? First of all, let me show off how having the Flying Dragon changes things.   Whereas before we would have to watch a somewhat longer animation of Lang walking (and the Blood Hawk sailing) if we wanted to, say, go from Phorchoon to Nohl, the Flying Dragon will just go to anything we select on the map directly. It’s not terribly important, but it’s neat to see. Also notice we can see Ellsworth in the first image. It’s a bit blurry, but the windy thing on the floating island is our next destination. We’ll be taking the side content scenic route first, of course. Now let’s check out Phorchoon again, which we are done with story-wise.  With our infinite money trick in hand, we can simply buy enough coins to get any reward we like from Phorchoon. At the casino counter, there’s three things worth getting: “Way of Thunder”, “Book of Rose”, and “The Royal Gourmet”. Way of Thunder and Book of Rose teach Kazan and Sharon new Hyper Arts respectively, the best they can get. Sharon’s in particular will level with use into a better one. The Royal Gourmet is of course a cookbook that teaches new recipes. However, despite coming so late in the game, none of them top Atomic Heat. Also in the casino right now is…   Uh oh, Maya’s developing a gambling problem! Cocky Lang will be nice and offer her 1000. “Hey, you can have some of mine. Er….will 1000 of them be enough?” “A thou…THOUSAND? That’s too much! Um, how about 10….no. If I could have 100, it’d be perfect!” “That’s all you need? Sure. Here.” “Thanks, Lang! All right! Here goes! I’ll pay you back double!”Elsewhere, at the arena counter, we find…  It’s him!  “It is my duty to completely obliterate the coward who killed my brothers! You are….La….La….Rrrrrrghhhgghh!! I will find out your name later, and exact my revenge! Vixon the Great will avenge his brothers!”Unfortunately, we won’t be duelling Vixon until later on. With nothing else to do at Phorchoon, we may as well leave.   “*pant pant* Sorry I’m late. I wanted to give those coins back to you, and…I’m sorry.”We get…5 coins back. We gave her 100. “I…I promise I’ll pay you back! I’m really sorry!” “Don’t worry about it. We’ve made bank from exploiting the Jinga economy, remember?” “Thanks…”Now, while content in Nohl is done as far as the locals go, there is someone with a scene waiting for us in Nohl right now…  “Now let’s see….Suspicious areas…How about under the bed….and in the drawers…” “I wonder what I’m going to find…Hm?” Lang would be a massive hypocrite to make something out of people snooping. We innocently ask what she’s looking for. “What could I possibly hide in here anyway?” “Well…What do YOU think? Lang, you’re a teenage boy. I know what you boys do!” “Huh? What are you ranting about? If you don’t have a reason to be here, just get out!”No matter what option you pick, Lang denies having any adult material, and tells Sharon to leave. It’s a bit of a disappointment to be honest.  Something I could have mentioned a few times before now is that you can occasionally find Sharon perched over the Aqualith lake. You can’t interact with her when she’s there, but it’s interesting to note. We move on to Kravia.  I guess we’ll just agree with her. “I guess so…Yeah, maybe. All different kinds of people, sitting around drinking and talking about grownup things…” “Yeah! That’s just what I mean! Why don’t you have a drink with me, Lang?” “Huh? Hey, Maya! What are you drinking?” “100% pure orange juice. It’s really good!”Naturally they’re still not letting the kiddies drink booze. Tanza’s up next.  Satomi is giving out a second quiz.  As we’ve mentioned, Ayne’s 8’8, but I honestly don’t know where that information comes up in game.  The answer here is “Marrons Glaces”, which are “Candied Chestnuts”. Marrons Glaces is not even a recipe in the game, and the only insight we got into what food Marienne eats is the Princess Cake in her room, and that’s neither an option nor the correct one. How the heck is anyone supposed to figure this out without a guide?  Elliott and Marienne’s unit was mentioned way back in Chapter 4 by the Darakin Rag Autumn. However, it was just called the “Special Unit” and had no other name. If the name is in the game, I don’t know where it would be. The correct answer is “Gereha”, FYI. Completing the quiz earns us the “Spy?” nickname and a Quick Escape Charm, a Curse Remedy, and a Fruit of Stamina. Only the Fruit of Stamina is worth it, being a stat raising item. Now let’s head to Darek’s Haunt.   That’s Adventurer Miura, the guy who told us about The Forest Maze way back in Chapter 5. Haven’t seen him for some time. Guntz: “A mistake?! More lies! One more lie out of you and I’m gonna snap your neck!” Asteya: “Mistake or not, now they know about our little hideout here…There’s only one thing to do.” Miura: “*GASP* I don’t know anything! I didn’t see anything!”  Let’s not be a dick to Miura, he’s a good bloke. “Come on, Guntz, let him go. Can’t you see he’s scared?”Guntz: “….Yeah…all right. You’re lucky he stopped me…He just saved your life. But listen up good. You mention one word about our hideout to anyone and I’ll hunt you down. Got it?!”  And then Miura books it. But we’re not done here yet.  “Dupon, Yahn…It’s been a long time…I didn’t think I’d ever see either of you again…”Yahn: “First Officer Nazak! It’s so good to see you again!” Dupon: “He doesn’t deserve that title anymore, Yah. He…He walked out on the Captain and on the rest of this crew!” Yahn: “That’s not fair, Dupon! If it hadn’t been for Rauss…” “Don’t bother, Yahn…Dupon is right. I left the ship….I’m no longer the man they once called Thunder Nazak…”Dupon: “After you left…Do you have any idea?! Any idea what the Captain, I and the rest of the crew went through?! I joined the crew because I wanted to be like you! But…You…You abandoned us!” “I’m sorry…But…I couldn’t stay on this ship after taking the life of my apprentice…”Yahn: “First Officer Nazak! We can make a fresh start! It’d make the boss so happy!” “I walked out on her father Alphis and the rest of the crew. She would never forgive me. Besides, your hopes and dreams are too much for me to shoulder now…”Dupon: “Nazak…” (Master….)And we’re done here. But before we move on, we’ve camp chats to see. Peeper Lang  This one is happening now because I didn’t actually trigger the peeping scene until later. “Yeah…” “Ha ha ha! I’ve heard lots of guys try to LOOK in…! But to just stride right in like that…?! I understand you being curious, Lang…But did you really expect to pull that off?”Choice time. Cocky Lang owns what he did. “I just…I just HAD to see! I couldn’t help myself!” “I see…Had you THAT riled up, huh? I know, I know. It’s all because of how sinfully beautiful I am…! All right, Lang…If that’s the way you feel…Sharon here will let you look to your heart’s content! Here I am! Stare away!” “Sharon!!” “Now, now! Calm down! I didn’t say I was gonna strip! I AM a LADY, after all!” “Grr!! You need some straightening out, boy! This is no time to be infatuated with girls! You’ve got your training to do!!”Remember what Kazan said here. It will echo ironically later on. Flying in the sky “Whew! What a relief to be on the ground again! I tell you, that Flying Dragon thing is not my thing!” “How come?” “All I can do is imagine being thrown off and falling headfirst to the ground! Just thinking about it gives me chills!” “Hmm. I didn’t think you were afraid of anything!” “What?! Don’t tell me I’m the only one!! What about you, Ayne?” “It doesn’t scare me.” “Argh! Well, what about you, Sharon?” “No way! If you’re afraid of THAT, shouldn’t you better call it quits? You know, leave it to the younger generation?” “Why….you….!! Treating me like an old man! That’s it, then! You can forget about ever getting help from me when you’re in trouble!”Now that’s done with, let’s stoke Kazan’s fears and ride the dragon all the way to Ellsworth!  The moment we enter Ellsworth, we get a cut scene.   “He apparently already had the Sacred Azure Stone and the Sacred Burning Stone. Just to be safe, I’ve sent Rauss to Ellsworth.” “There was no need. He can no longer threaten my plans…even if he IS a ‘Star Shaper’…” Ominous. But of no consequence for now. We have a dungeon to fare.  Now Playing – Heaven and Earth’s Valley “Kaze no Toukou Eruzuwaasu”. Exactly as translated. Ellsworth is a pretty straight forward dungeon. There’s not as many side paths to traverse for optional treasure as others. This is the first dungeon since Hyper Arts became a thing to not have one hidden somewhere. But there’s still a puzzle or two to solve.  Most of the floors of Ellsworth are fairly linear paths that lead you to a teleporter to reach the next floor.  Here we use Arrode to move this thing, allowing us to proceed. Nothing too complicated. You do have to actually press a button to move it after hitting the switch, which you might not immediately realise.  I don’t end up encountering enemies until a wee bit in because I was still using an encounter negating item (you can see the little glowing effect from when we entered), but they’re mostly the same boring pallet swaps we’ve seen thus far.  Here, you have to hit the leftmost reflector to hit the switch. It’s not exactly a difficult task.  Here is gets slightly trickier. You have step on some buttons (you can see one in the corner) to move the reflectors to enable you to hit the switch. If you step on both buttons once and then on the top-most one again, you’re golden.  Ah, our first and only unique enemy! Arus Auge’s can bewitch your characters, but, as in all things thus far, we kill them too quickly to let them demonstrate their abilities. And now, for the main event: Rauss.    “Rauss…You…” “You’re fighting to save the world….That’s it, isn’t it? You still have hope. But not me. For me, there is no hope and no tomorrow! There’s only one thing left for me…! The heat of battle! The blood coursing in my veins during a battle is the only thing that makes me feel alive! I want to feel alive! And I need your help!” “Rauss…” “I don’t want your pity…I just…I just want a death match. Right here, right now. I’ve devoted my life to fighting…It’s about time I found out whether it was worth it! What’s the matter? Isn’t that why you’re here? To help me find the answer? You have to fight me…You will never get the Sacred Teal Stone unless you kill me…”   Rauss can actually be quite the challenging boss.  Blocking is one of his pitfalls. He blocks a lot, like a Baki. There’s a technique I could have learned to bypass his blocking called “Absolute Hit”, but obviously I didn’t put in that much effort before the match. Still, we all know I manage just fine.  The next problem is that his Hyper Arts now inflict status effects. Taking a character out of the action even for just a round and change the dynamic of Legaia 2 quite a bit. Rauss using Ultimate Fang again triggers a cut scene.  Lang starts to think back to Kazan’s lecture.  “He used the Ultimate Fang, a move forbidden by the Sky Fang Masters! Ultimate Fang is dangerous….it does not draw power from one’s fighting spirit – it is fuelled by insanity. Use it too often, and it eats away at your very core…”  (He’s lost his spirit! He’s completely gone!)   As you might guess, this is where you get to use Sleeping Dragon on Rauss. You need to use it, because Rauss has now become invincible and starts hitting like a truck. He can easily KO any character, even Ayne, in one round at this moment. As you might have noticed, in that fight I screenshotted above, Lang was stunned on the turn after the scene, and thus I couldn’t use it immediately. I ended up reloading, because him using Ultimate Fang on Lang was a matter of bad luck, rather than pre-destination. Anyway, we use the Final Art…      That’s right, shooting Rauss with a sword-based laser beam cured his bloodlust!   “I regret nothing…nothing! This is the path I chose for myself!” If you thought being cured of “bloodthirst” would mean the fight was over, you were wrong. Rauss still wants to fight to the death, and so death he shall get. If we happened to have brought Kazan into this battle, he would have a few moments in the scene. Nothing too special: he remarks on how Lang is using Sleeping Dragon, and would say “Rauss!” when Rauss is getting up. The fight continues from here. Rauss will start using an all-hitting Hyper Art called “Destruction” now. This Art has, by far, the goofiest dialogue I’ve heard out of this guy to date. It has to be heard to be believed. But here’s a transcript for you readers…  “I give my entire life….to this BLADE!” “Blade of Destruction, do your bidding!” “Take this! DESTRUCTION!” The narration is goofy enough as is, but Rauss’ slimy rogue voice makes it sound all the less intimidating. It’s impossible for me to take seriously. And Rauss will keep using Destruction intermittently until the fight is over, so you’ll be hearing how much he dedicated his life to this BLADE a great deal. He still uses other moves, though…  This is a new one. It doesn’t do anything special, although it is hitting pretty hard. But Rauss inevitably goes down, and receives the death he so desperately wanted. Click the image below to watch Rauss dedicate his ENTIRE life to his BLADE! “I…I craved strength so much that I lost my head in search of power…” “By the time I noticed the madness…I had already lost my mind…I think…I think I just got it back now.” “Rauss…” “The one to whom….you will pass on your knowledge….?” “Don’t say that! We can try again! Together we can…” “This body was nothing more than an instrument. Now that it’s over, it’s only natural that it wanes… I should thank you for making me feel more alive than I have in many years…” “…Lang….I will not forget….this battle with you…Farewell….Master…Next time….will be diff…” Yes, that’s right, Rauss was beamed up to the Enterprise to have adventures in space.  “When I die….If we ever meet again…I wonder if we can become teacher and student once more…?” “Kazan…” “I lost my father and I’ve lost shipmates before too…I know what you’re going through…But…We’ve got things we need to do, right? I won’t say anything more. If you tell us that you need to stay here, none of us will stop you.” “*SIGH* You’re right…Staying here won’t change anything. Not to mention that there are others counting on us.”Kazan gets up.  For no particular reason, we’re given free movement. It’s pointless, because all we do is move forward and touch the Aerolith…     “It’s calling…” Now Playing – Shriek of the Earth Suddenly, everything starts shaking. “Wha…what’s that sound…?” “What’s that?!”  “The ‘Source Forge’ is…over there! It’s calling me!” “So…That’s where the ‘Source Forge’ is…” “Demiurge Tower….” “We have all the stones. It makes sense that the path should be revealed. That must be the Demiurge Tower that Reym spoke of.” ”Like I just said, Master…”  I think this might be Arrode’s first line of dialogue. “I know that! I was just kidding! Jeez! So are we going there or not?!”The shaking gradually stops.    “No matter what stands in our way…It’s up to us to save the world…” “Let’s move out, people! To Demiurge Tower! It’s time to put the ‘Source Forge’ back the way it was!” And the circle of convenience is here to help us exit. Let’s talk about Rauss. He’s built up a lot as far as this game goes. He’s mentioned way back on Mt. Gabel, and we discover he’s working for the villains after getting the Aqualith. He’s significant to Kazan’s backstory and even tangentially related to Sharon, as a crewmate of her father’s (not that they really address that). And yet, he’s got nothing to do with the supposed point of this game. From start to finish, it’s Mystics this, Mystics that. Then here’s Rauss, who besides his connection to other characters, is just a guy who went EVIL and INSANE after using the FORBIDDEN Art. He briefly turns this game into a goofy martial arts flick about a student surpassing his master’s EVIL former pupil. Like the others, he could have been cut from the game, and nothing would have been lost. He could have even just been a background detail of Kazan’s past, and we would have lost nothing significant. Still, he’s not offensive like Elliott and Marienne. He just demonstrates another piece of padding to this game. Anyway, this is where we shall end. Join me next time, where we put off the final dungeon to mess around on side content. Yaaaaaaaay!
|
|
#
¿
May 26, 2021 09:46
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ Apr 26, 2024 00:41 |
|
|
Chapter 23 – Sekuhara Ojii-san Where we last left off, we slew Rauss atop the Wind Tower, Ellsworth, by shooting a laser beam through our sword. With the Aerolith in hand, we now have all three sacred stones, and our last task is to take them to the Demiurge Tower and restore the Source Forge. But bloody well first, we’re slacking off! We start this chapter the same way the last one began: finding Maya in the Phorchoon casino.   Cutie: “Ommmmm! Ahem!!....I have seen it. The person you have in mind does not seem to pay much attention to you…If you want to make things work, you must take initiative. Be active, and lead. That is the only way.” “So I have to be more aggressive….”No prizes for guessing who she was thinking of. Our next destination is Darek’s Haunt.  “Whale…? What is that?”Guntz: “You’re joking, right?! I’m talking about you! You’re huge! You know how to fight, right?” “I am a warrior.”Guntz: “I knew it! Say, how’d you like to join the crew? Do a little piratin’?”  Let’s see what happens if we offer to join ourselves. ”Enthusiastic Lang” posted:
The nicest option is technically to insist we need Ayne. “Are you crazy?! Ayne’s our friend and part of our team! We need him!” (Friend…? Why do I feel all….warm and fuzzy inside…) “Right, Ayne? We’re friends, aren’t we?” “Friends….Yes, that’s right. I’m sorry, but I cannot become a pirate.”Now we go to Tanza. We have a….very special scene to witness here. We go inside the hot spring bath.    If we say no, the scene ends here. It wouldn’t be very interesting not to find out what’s going on here, would it? “Sure. What is it?” “Here. One glance is worth a thousand words.” (!! That’s…Maya?) I just want to take this moment to point out that with Sharon only just arriving, Kazan would have been peeping at Maya, who is not only still 14 but also in a pseudo-familial relationship with Kazan. Nasty. “Hey, Maya! Wonderful! It’s great to see you here!” (Now Sharon’s in there, too…) “What do you mean, Sharon? Are you telling me I’m fat?” “No, not at all! You look sexy! If Lang sees you, he’ll get excited and get a bloody nose right away!”*COUGH* 14 *COUGH* “Really? But Sharon, you’re so beautiful….I envy you.” “What is?” “Stop, Stop it! Sharon! H-hey! Ah! Waah!” (It’s getting out of control…) Look at that face he’s making. We’re gonna let Kazan go back to peeping. You’ll see why very shortly. “Darn! Just when it was getting good! But you’re my Master, so I have no choice. Here you go.” “Your heart is true, kid.”     Oh look, Ayne’s here. With nothing to say, as usual.  “There’s a hole here! Everybody can see inside! Let’s cover it.” And that’s that. If we hadn’t given up our place to Kazan, it would have played out mostly the same, only with Lang getting caught by Sharon. You would also earn the “Pervert” nickname for Lang. Way back on Mt. Gabel, I said Kazan reminded me of someone. Can you guess who, after this scene? It should be pretty obvious if you know who I mean. It’s Master loving Roshi. There is barely a character trait that Kazan doesn’t share with what might be the most famous martial arts master in anime. Think about it: -They’re old. -They’re wise. -They’re hermits at the time they feature in their respective stories. -They are martial artists who take students. -They’re huge perverts. -Kazan even has a Hyper Art that looks astonishingly like an energy wave straight out of DBZ (you’ll see it eventually, don’t you worry). -Kazan, on more than a few occasions, counsels Lang not to get too full of himself and be overconfident. Master Roshi participated in Goku’s first Tenkaichi as Jackie Chun just to remind him there will always be a stronger opponent, i.e. to not be overconfident in his ability. It’s one thing for characters to share similar features, but this….I think this is indicative of a larger problem with Legaia 2 that I’ll lay bare by the end of this. Anyway, we’re done putting thought into this silly pervert scene. Let us stop and camp chat. Rauss  “It had to be done. It was my responsibility, really. This business of life is one hardship after another, I guess…But there are moments of happiness now and then, too. As long as we’re alive, we’ve gotta know there’ll be happy times again someday. We’ve gotta believe in that. Like, if I had died, too, when I killed Rauss, I wouldn’t be here with you now on this journey. You see?” ”Huh? Oh, no, I wasn’t feeling bad about what happened to Rauss. That guy tried to kill me even AFTER I supposedly cured his bloodthirst or whatever.” ”Oh.” ”And I don’t even know why you’re rambling about how you MIGHT have died. What has that even got to do with us beating Rauss?”Decisions, decisions  Hmm. If I didn’t know better, I’d say this was a choice that ought to affect the ending. Keep this one in mind, since I’ll definitely refer to it again. Cocky Lang wants adventure, not pissing about with the incompetent Vigilance Corps. “There are still all kinds of worlds I haven’t seen yet. I think I’ll go out on another adventure!” “Yeah, that’s the spirit! I know just how you feel! The thrill, the excitement! Nobody can resist the call of adventure for long! And when it comes to adventure, nothing better than a ship! Like MY pirate ship! How’d you like to travel the world together? Like and death battles against unknown monsters along the way! Going to unexplored regions and meeting the people there! Yes! Just think of the thrill! Adventure is the life! Ah, adventure!” “Hmph! You’re just trying to make it sound good, because what you REALLY want is to rope Lang into being a pirate!”And we all know being in a pirate crew would be the worst thing in the world, don’t we Nazak? Especially Alphis’ pirates. “No, that’s not it at all! I’m just saying it’d be fun to follow the call of adventure together, that’s all!” “Sorry, Sharon. I guess I can’t give you an answer yet. I’ve still got things I’ve gotta do first.” “drat! And I almost had him right where I wanted him! Oh, well. I’m still not gonna give up!”Perverts “Tch! I never would’ve thought it was YOU guys that were the peepers! If you were REAL men, you wouldn’t be so sneaky about it. If you wanted to see, you’d just SAY so!” “…Really? And…you’d let us…?” “Sharon!!” “Hey, come on! I didn’t say it’d be FREE! Let’s see…I couldn’t POSSIBLY let you gaze upon this perfect, gem-like skin till you gave me at least…..10,000,000 G…” “What? That’s way too expensive!!” “’Too expensive,’ he says. That’s not too expensive at all, IS it, Maya?” “That’s right!” ”It really isn’t, a few round trips from the Secret Market to Jinga would get us that much pretty quickly.”What was seen  “Hey, Lang…You remember what happened at the hot springs, right…?” “Oh, that? Yeah…” “So….what did you see, anyway? I couldn’t see much, what with the steam and all…”We get a choice. I’m going to go ahead and select telling Kazan we could see “plenty”. “I could see everything! The images are BURNED into my brain!” “You…? WHAT?! You mean…? I can’t believe it! drat! How come I couldn’t….?” “Nah, I’m just kidding. The steam was so thick, I couldn’t see a thing. I…Hey, what’s the matter…?” ”Yeah? I think it was hilarious! And your freaking out is even funnier!”Kazan will also freak out if you act like you don’t want to tell him. Creepo wants to perv vicariously via Lang or some poo poo. Demiurge Tower  ”Didn’t you keep saying it was calling to you earlier?” ”Uh, yeah, I just…wanted to make sure?” “Yeah. And we can probably count on that guy with the Supreme Origin…Avalon, being there too!” “So it’s the final battle, huh?” “Don’t get nervous now! It’ll be all over after this last dance. We’ve gotta jump in with both feet!” “You’re absolutely right. Yes. The final battle!! We’ve gotta be ready!”Notice that during this big psyche-up for the final dungeon, Ayne didn’t say jack poo poo. Now that we’re done chatting, let us go….do some guild quests.  Our first quest comes from Joe, the information guy in Darakin.  Joe:“I’m asking ya to get me some Golden Groneh from a guy named Rindo in Tanza.” The hell’s a “Groneh”?  Rindo: “Heh, heh. So you came here on behalf of Joe, huh? Sorry. I haven’t made the Golden Groneh yet. I’m short of some ingredients for it.” For some reason, they bother making us ask either when it will be ready or what he means by “short of ingredients”. “What ingredients do you need?”Rindo: “Golden Apple + Magic Potion. Golden Apples grow on a tree in The Forest Maze, but they’re not in season. Magic Potion is illegal, so nobody else will make it for you. It can also be made from Magic Powder. Hey, maybe you can find those for me! I’ll pay you!” We get another choice, but who would refuse now? “All right, then. I’ll find them. A Golden Apple and Magic Potion, right?”Rindo: “Really? That’s great, I’m counting on you. And hurry, if you can! Golden Apples grow in The Forest Maze, and Magic Powder can be made from Magic Potion.” Magic Potion isn’t nearly as rare or “illegal” as Rindo suggests. There’s actually legit stores that sell them, and it’s very easy to have one on hand when you meet Rindo. You can also combine for it easily enough.  The Golden Apple is easy enough to find in The Forest Maze, especially since the encounters are non-threats. Just looking at it, you’d think it was ready to take, given it’s a “golden apple”, but you have to ripen it with Rivas first.  Now it looks more like a regular apple. You then have to have Ayne smack the tree to get it down. With both ingredients in hand, we can return to Rindo.  If we get too greedy and ask for the most, Rindo will balk at the suggestion and give us 1000. Asking for 10000 gets us what we ask for. You then take the Groneh to Joe, and go back to the guild to get paid. The next quest we’re doing is called “Reik Flowers”. It’s calling on us to help some guy bid on a painting at the Phorchoon auction house.  David: “What I really want is the painting known as ‘Reik Flowers’. It will be mine! That guy over there! That one! He will not snatch it from me! Do you understand, hmmmm? Here, you take this 50,000 G. If you can bid successfully for cheaper, I shall pay you handsomely….Ah. The auction is about to begin. Let us go and take our places.”  The gist is this is a normal auction, but you have this douchebag with you rather than Sharon.  The game makes it seem like you can bid on the other items, but even if you try, David stops you. Your only choice is to wait for Reik Flowers to come up.  Once it does, it becomes any other bidding match. I’m pretty sure it’s somewhat scripted, as I ended up forced to the 50000 limit no matter what I did. When you do hit the limit, David simply ponies up another 25000 so you can keep going. We end up getting it for 73300.  David gives us a “Resurrect Bottle”. I don’t know if that’s for getting it for less than 75000 or not, because one walkthrough I looked at reported it going up to as high as 100000. Either way, we’re finally free of this tedious side quest. Our next quest is “Writhing Monster in the Dark”. Apparently, growling noises can be heard coming up from Doplin Castle. Gee, I wonder where that could be? Somewhere under the castle…  Oh, great, it’s the lunkheads. “That quest you just accepted…It looks pretty interesting.” “Huh? You, small guy-you take quest? Oooooooo! Dangerous monsters there! You go, you no come back!” “Only really experienced Hunters like us would be able to handle it. Right, Balzac?” “Right! My golden muscles SMASH! SMASH THE UNSMASHABLE! *gunt!*” “*sigh* Are you even LISTENING? Anyway…Ahem! We’re declaring war on you, right here, right now! We’re going to complete that quest before you, thank you very much! Ah ha ha!” “Right! Beefy-B use muscles! Muscle always win! MUSCLE!!” Hmm, wonder who gave them information? Joe? Anyway, thankfully this doesn’t take place in the sewers, but in the Kabel Ruins. In the chamber we fought Slogar, no less.  Aaaaand that is a pallet swapped Zoan Stoara.  By logical deduction, Kenjiro must have been their secret source. Birds of a feather… “What’re you talking about?! Pull yourself together! We can’t turn back now!” “That’s right! I shelled out a lotta money to get the lowdown for ya! Let’s see, with the guide fee…That’ll be 1,000,000 G total! C’mon! Time for ya to pay up!!”Kenjiro displays his business genius by demanding payment from the only people that could stand between him and a vicious monster right now. “A, a million G!? We won’t make that kind of money even if we manage to take the monster down!”    Like I said, it’s just Zoan Stoara again, He lasts 3 rounds before we wipe him out.   This one is an extra-non-choice, because no matter what you say, it works out the same. We’ll be honest for Cocky Lang’s sake. “Yeah, I took him down!” “That’s impossible! You must be lying!! I’m sure it’s just unconscious or something! I bet it’s still alive!” “Whoooaaa! Danger! Danger! Phanta, Balzac run!”And they run. “Hey!!! Wait up!! Ya still owe me!”And Kenjiro chases after. The stupid end.  We get a “Raging Axe” as a bonus. A decent weapon for Ayne. Now that we’re done wi-  Oh, we’re not done. Well, at least it probably won’t invol-  gently caress! “Oh, you again? Don’t try to steal our work! Muscles make the REAL man! Hmph! We’ll be waiting for you at the north entrance to Gale Canyon! Make sure you show up!”And so we go.  “The team that kills the most monsters on the wanted list in the canyon gets the money! Well, time’s awasting!” “Me kill more. Me smash more! Me do push-ups! Make muscles! Man must be strong. Must smash! Need muscles to smash! Lang! Do push-ups with Balzac! Make more muscles for smashing!” “Just ignore him. He’ll go on like that for hours if you let him. Don’t take this the wrong way, but that Guild money’s mine! See you at the Guild!”Anyway, the challenge calls on us to kill monsters running around on the field.   Pretty sure these are just Corroded Tusks from when the Eclipse started in Hunter’s Wood. Also believe they mean “Larva Beast”.  When you kill one, they leave a corpse confirming the kill. You’ll find some corpses that are presumably courtesy of Balzac and Phanta. Anyway, just clear the canyon…  Rather than finding the lunkheads, you just go back to the guild.  And we are finally done for today. Join me next time, where we brave Demiurge Tower.
|
|
#
¿
May 28, 2021 08:29
|
|