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The Head of the Guild: Link to video Now that we're on Day 2, it's time to report to the guild again. Gaston: Yo! Did you sleep well? Hurry up and follow me. Karen: What's up? Gaston: Yeah! There's sort of an interview. We usually don't do this, but... Karen: What? Wasn't what I did yesterday enough? Gaston: That's what you get for upsetting me! Actually, someone gave orders to immediately grant you entry into the guild should you show up. Karen: Just what exactly is going on here? Gaston: I don't know the details myself. The point is, our chairman wants to see you, so follow me! Karen: Very well. Please lead the way!  Karen: Mr. T. T.!? T. T.: Yo! We meet again. Karen: What are you doing here, Mr. T. T.? T. T.: Take a guess! (Beat) Karen (pointing dramatically): I know! Mr. T. T. is looking for a job as well, right? (T. T. and Gaston sweatdrop) Gaston: Hey, you brat! What's with calling the chairman "mister"? He absolutely hates that! And yet you keep on calling him "mister" anyway... T. T. (angry): Ahem! Gaston: Oh! I, uh, misspoke. Karen: I can't believe it...Mr. T. T., you're the guild's chairman? T. T.: As it's said, always maintains a low profile. Be sure to keep this a secret, all right? Karen: But why? Weren't you mistakenly accused of trying to pull a dine and dash yesterday? T. T.: The greatness of a hero is that he doesn't easily reveal himself except in emergencies. That's the standard [I live by]. Karen: Oh, I see... T. T.: Enough about me...you seem to have settled into your new job quite well! Karen: Hee hee! T. T.: Looks like you've found a good partner as well! I hereby officially accept you as [guild] members. Karen: Thanks, Mr. T. T.! T. T.: Heh heh heh...Gaston will give you all of the details. (Back downstairs.) Karen: I still can't believe it--Mr. T. T., the chairman of this guild! Gaston: He really is an amazong person, and the glory of Outrack. This once was a dark place without rule of law, but eight years ago he appeared and defeated the criminals just like that! Karen: Wow! Al: Karen, I didn't know you knew someone so extraordinary. Karen: Yeah...who knew that he'd turn out to be so awesome? Gaston: Hey! I'm about to start explaining [some things], so pay attention! First, the guild's tasks are are handled by adventurers. Compensation will be determined by the difficulty of the job and paid upon mission completion, but part of the fee must be given [back] to the guild. Karen: So you're just sitting there reaping in the benefits, huh! If so, it's a better deal if I took those jobs directly! Gaston: Hahaha! You're too naďve and don't know the ways of the world. Do you really think anyone would hire you with large amounts of money? Karen: Huh? Gaston: The only reason people come to the guild with their requests is that we accept full responsibility. This business values credibility above all. Do you have any? Karen: Oh...... Gaston: And that's not all of the benefits. You can be assured that we will give jobs according to abilities and if you face [unexpected] danger on a mission, we'll send rescue teams to support you. (I call bull on that last statement. No reinforcements ever show up, not even in plot when it really could have helped.) Karen: I see, that makes sense. Gaston: And that's how itis. Oh, and there something you must always do: if someone receives information and wishes to go on expedition, they must first report [to the guilt]. For example, if you hear some rumor about a treasure, while you don't need to pay a fee to the guild, you must pass on that information. Got that? Karen: Got it. Gaston: Are you familiar with the large mansion on the northwest side of the sity? That's the residence of the merchant Markdogarl. He also was involved with shady dealings during the lawless age that occurred 8 years ago, but now he's since turned over a new leaf and gone into legitamite business. Word says his daughter has run away from home, so he's asked us to find his daughter and protect him secretly. Well? Would you like to accept? (Again, the "Yes" choice is being selected first.) Karen: OK. I'll take it. Gaston: Great. What about the little guy over there? Al: Since Karen's agreed, then I'll also [accept]... Gaston: Hey, kid! You're a guy, aren't you? Show some manliness! State your own opinion! Al: I'm s-sorry! Gaston: Ask Mr. Markdogarl for details. (Here's the flavor text for the "no" option...) Video link Karen: We aren't only suited to finding little kids, ya know! Gaston: Stop throwing tantrum! There's certain reasons for specifically asking you. Karen: What reason? Gaston: Ask Mr. Markdogarl yourself for the details. (And the cutscene continues as if you had said "yes".) (Back in hub world.) Karen: Mr. Markdogarl's mansion...must be the one one in the northwest! Day 2: A Worried Father (There's one more extra cutscene at the guild in case you quit the game at this point, came back, and forgot what you were doing.) Video link Gaston: Hey, what's the matter? Karen (sheepishly): Where's Mr. Markdogarl's house [again]? Gaston (angrily): The big house to the northwest with the red roof! Please, have you been paying attention? (Karen runs back out.) (Enough dallying, time to continue the plot.) A Worried Father: Video link  Karen (walking up to the door): What a grand-looking building! Al (following her): Yeah!  Markdogarl: Thanks for coming all this way. I am Markdogarl. You must be the people responsible for finding my daughter! Karen: Yes. We've already heard all of the details. Markdogarl: Great! Take a look at my daughter's portrait. (He walk torwards the heroes.) Markdogarl: This is my daughter Alice. She was wearing this outfit when she ran away from home. Karen: Would you like us to find Alice and then bring her back? Markdogarl: Yeah...but there'll be difficulty. Karen: What do you mean? Markdogarl: It all started with a little argument between us. She was as stubborn as her deceased mother, so I don't think she'll fold easily. Karen: So what's the reason? (In flashback.) Alice: Why? Why can't I go outside? Markdogarl: It isn't peaceful out there. It's too dangerous for a little child like you. Alice: I'm not a child any more. I'm sick of always only looking at the world from the house. Markdogarl: [Then] don't talk like a child. Don't I always accompany you when you want to go outside? Alice: I want to be free, not a caged bird! Markdogarl: Alice...please understand your father's feelings. I have to protect you on behalf of your departed mother! (Awkward silence) Alice: If you're going to keep on insisting, daddy, I have my own plans as well. Markdogarl: Wh-what are you going to do? Alice: I'll run away from home. (And then we get the same scene seen in the opening animation.) Markdogarl (voice over): At the time I thought she was just spouting off, so I didn't take her seriously...I never imagined that she really left... (Back in the present) Karen: I see...I understand the overall situation. In other words, even if we could find her, she wouldn't necessarily come back with us! Markdogarl: Yes. So, should you find my daughter, [please] let me know first, and secretly protect her. Karen: But...don't you have bodyguards? Markdogarl: If she sees those men in black suits, she'll surely run away again. You're closer in age--maybe it'll be easier for her to trust you. Karen: I see, that's why you asked for us... Markdogarl: You must quickly find my daughter! If anything happens to her, I...I... Karen: Don't worry. You can leave this to us. Markdogarl: Thank you. You're the only ones I can trust [with this]. (We're automatically returned to the hub menu after this.) Karen: Easier said than done...what should we do? Alice, Where Are You? (Control has returned to the player, so I start clicking into all of the locations roughly from left to right, starting from the café.) Karen: Excuse me, have you seen this girl? Waitress: She was just here! I remember that she bought the newest flavor of flan. Karen: We were too late! Waitress: Then, what would you like to order? (Karen and Al walk away while the waitress is talking, causing her to pop a vein.)  Dot's Footnote About Moon Runes What the Japanese call "pudding" is what we Americans call "flan". The reason this happened is because the first people to introduce the dessert to the Japanese people were the Portugese, and in that language it's called "pudim". Because of this multi-lingual transliteration error that also got imported to Taiwan (who, due to having been Japanese controlled for over 40 years, has a strong Japanese influence), I was very confused for years over why American pudding was this shapeless, squishy sadness when the "pudding" I ate growing up was freaking amazing. (Revisiting the cafe yields the following dialogue:) Karen: After I left, has she come back? Waitress: I haven’t noticed [one way or another]. Karen: I guess we’ll have to go looking somewhere else… (Karen and Al leave.) Waitress: Wouldn’t you like to order something…? (Down at the port.) Karen: Excuse me, have you seen this girl? Sailor: Oh, yes! Because her clothes looked really out of place for the area, I remember her especially clearly. She kept staring out at the ocean! (And again.) Karen: Did she ever come here again? Sailor: [If she did,] I didn’t see [anyone]. (At the general store.) Shop lady: Welcome! Karen: Excuse me, have you seen this girl? Shop lady: Oh, yes! She just came to buy herbs. Are you friends? Karen: Huh? Oh! Sort of, I guess...? Shop lady: Would you like to buy anything? I'll give you a discount. (Not buying anything, just continuing the plot.) Shop lady: Thanks for coming! (General store revisit dialogue:) Shop lady: Welcome! Karen: Excuse me, did that girl ever come back here? Shop lady: Not after the first time. (The shop menu pops up here.) Shop lady: Thanks for coming! (At the weapons store.) Burly Store Owner: Welcome! We have all of the weapons you could possibly want! Karen: Hey, mister! Have you seen this girl? Burly Store Owner: Yeah, she just came by and looked curiously at the weapons. Once another customer came into the store, she hurried out. Karen: Is that so... Burly Store Owner: Nevermind that! How would you like to buy some weapons to enhance your feminine charm? (Soon, Burly Store Owner, soon.) Burly Store Owner: Oh! We invite you to come back again [soon]! (Weapons store revisit dialogue:) Burly Store Owner: Welcome! We have all of the weapons you could possibly want! Karen: Hey, mister, did that girl ever come back again? Burly Store Owner: Not after the last time. (One cancellation out of the shop menu later…) Burly Store Owner: Oh! We invite you to come back again [soon]! (Every location has something to say about the mission, including the guild, so we drop by.) Gaston: Hm? Haven't found her yet? I doubt she's left town, so keep looking. (The guild doesn’t have repeat dialogue, so we go to the bar.) Karen: Boss-man, have you seen this girl? Barkeep: Oh, yes, she was just here. [When] I told her I was still preparing [to open], she walked out with a disappointed expression on her face. (Bar revisit dialogue:) Karen: Hey, Boss-man, any news? Barkeep: Keep up the good work; she hasn’t shown up again since. (At the church.) Radish: What? Alice has run away from home!? Karen: Have you seen her? Radish: Not only did I see her, I was chatting with her until just now! Karen: Huh!? Then, where did she go? Radish: She didn't say...I had no idea she was running away from home. Karen: Did you notice anything different about her? Radish: Now that you mention it...she was carrying a huge bundle with her. (Karen and Al sweatdrop.) Karen (thinking): A bit slow, isn't she? Radish: Oh! I'll go look for Alice as well! Karen: Is it alright to leave this place empty, though? Radish: Oh no...all right. My name is Radish. I'm working as a temporary nun at this church. Karen: I'm Karen, and he's Al. Al: Oh, hello. Radish: Hello! (Church revisit dialogue:) Radish: Have you found Alice yet? Karen: Not yet. Radish: (gets teary-eyed) (Back in hub world, this dialogue plays once we've checked all of the locations except for the cemetary.) Karen: Seriously! Where did that girl go!? Al: If she's been wandering about town, wouldn't she be tired [by now]? (If you check the cemetery any time before this, you get the following:) Karen: Nobody here...she probably wouldn’t come to a place like this... (That's it for flavor text, so it's time to advance the plot.)  (Al walks forward, but Karen turns around.) Karen: Leave this to me. Al, go ahead and report [this] to the guild. Al: Got it. (Karen watches Al leave, then turns back around, walks to Alice, and sits down next to her.) Karen: This town is so beautiful. Alice: ...yeah. Karen: I just got here yesterday...I had no idea this place was so enchanting.  Alice: Did my father ask you to come here? You won't take me back, will you? Karen: He didn't give me any such orders, except to stay by your side after I found you. Alice: Did he...? Karen: Your father's very worried about you! Alice: He's always like that. Karen: He is, huh? But I'm a bit jealous that you have someone who cares about you that much. Alice: Don't you have anyone? (There's a slight pause before Karen starts talking.) Karen: Do you know about the war that happened in Endorichy 8 years ago? I lived there at the time...and that was when my papa and mama... (A longer silence ensues as Alice processes this information.) Alice: I'm sorry... Karen: It's all right. I'm already used to [being alone]. (Another pause.) Alice: Excuse me, but...is it fun, being an adventurer? Karen: Huh? Alice: I've been wanting to freely travel the world and learn new things. Karen: Well...it's not all that free. If you don't have money, you can't even make a living, much less do things freely. Alice: But I don't know anything about the world outside of this town, and I have so few opportunities to [even] leave the house. Karen: So that's why you're here admiring the view... (Another pause, longer this time.) Alice: Do you mind telling my father that I'll go home in a little while. Karen: No problem, but I have to protect you. Alice: Please. I want to have some time by myself. Karen: Very well. (Karen walks off screen. Pretty much as soon as she's gone, Alice is approached by a stranger.) ???: Are you Markdogarl’s daughter? (Back at the guild.) Karen: What's taking so long? Radish (running in): Oh no! It's terrible! Al: What's wrong? Radish: Alice has been kidnapped! (Upon hearing this news, Markdogarl's eyes widen.) Karen: What? Tell me everything that happened! Radish: After I finished my tasks at the church, I went looking for Alice in the air, but... (Back at the cemetary, the stranger has Alice in a sack, and though she struggles, she's trapped as she's taken offscreen.) Radish: ...and that was that. Markdogarl (fainting): Ooh... Radish: Oh, but I already know where the criminal is hiding. Karen: Great! So where are they? Radish: Tee hee...in the big warehouse down at the docks. Karen: Let's go, Al! Al: Got it. Karen: Gaston, I leave Mr. Markdogarl to your care. Gaston: Very well. Be careful! (Karen, Al, and Radish run out.) Alice, Kidnapped!? Video link (We're kicked out to the hub menu, with a blue filter added to indicate that it's nighttime. Clicking the other option--"warehouse"--advances the plot.)  Radish: W-what do we do [now]? Karen: There's not that many of them...everyone, come closer. (The camera pans upwards to the kidnappers.) Robber A: How dull... Robber B: Ugh! I wish I didn't have to babysit this brat! Karen: Give up, you crooks! Robber A: What did you say!? Robber B: Who! Who's there!? (Camera pans down to Karen as she walks into view of the kidnappers.) Karen (pointing dramatically): How dare you kidnap an underage girl, you shameless scumbags! I swear in the name of all that is good to take you down! Robber A: What...another brat!? Karen: How dare you call a lady a 'brat'? What do you mean by that? Robber A: Who's she? One of Markdogarl's minions? Robber B: A brat like her? Don't make me laugh. Robbers A and B: Bwahahahaha! Robber A: So, what should we do with her? Robber B: What do you think? Karen: W-what do you want? Robber A (walking forward): Be quiet! If you are indeed a lady, then we'll treat you like one.  Karen: Hey, you two! Don't come any closer, or I'll go crazy! Robber B (also walking forward): Only going crazy, huh? (Meanwhile, behind Dumb and Dumber, Radish has flown in behind Alice.) Karen: D-don't come any closer! Robbers A and B: Heheheheh! Karen: Al, it's all right to come out now! (Al runs out from a space between the crates on Karen's right and interposes himself between her and the robbers.) Robber B: Why, you--! Karen: Heheheh! Didn't plan for this, did ya! Robber B: So it was a honey trap! Karen: No it wasn't! (Beat; Al looks back and forth between Karen and the robbers.) Al: Um...what's a honey trap? (Everybody except Al sweatdrops.) Robber B: A honey trap is when a woman seduces a man and then has her associates rob him. That's one of our commonly used tricks as well. Al: I see. Thanks for your detailed explanation. Robber B: Don't worry about it. It's a good scam! Karen (pointing dramatically): Hey! Stop being so friendly with criminals! Al: I-I won't! Karen: Anyway, hand over Alice right now! Robber B: You think it's that simple, huh? (Turns around to see that Alice isn't there) W-what!? (Meanwhile, Radish has used her flying abilities to transport Alice out fo reach of the robbers.) Robber B: D-dammit! When did you... Karen: Hmph! Give up already! Robber B: Shut up! Robber A: Deal with them all! (One screen transition later, everyone is put into their starting positions, along with some extra robbers.) Alice: Radish, hurry and tell daddy! Radish: Very well, I'll go right away. (Radish flies off screen, and we get the mission objective: defeat all robbers!) Link to full battle With all of the end-of-mission bonus XP having been fed to Al, he does all of the heavy lifting while Karen ends up face down on the ground for most of the battle. Alice, for her part, is stuck walking back and forth on the three tiles that share the same height as her starting position, but the enemy can't reach her and she has a fairly extended heal range. Casting a curative spell on anybody in the party for the first time also gets us some mid-battle dialoge (that Karen joins in on despite being dead): Al: Healing magic!? Alice: Be careful! Stay close to me! Karen: Alice? Exellent! You sure can pull your weight! After that, Al slowly whittles away at the enemy, picking up any drops left behind. Karen: Finally got it taken care of! Alice: Would someone please hurry up and get me down from here? A Quiet Town/Little Lady Joins the Battle: Video link (Back at the guild.) Alice: Daddy! Markdogarl: Alice! Radish (sobbing): What a touching scene! Karen: Wonderful. (That's it for Day 2, so we'll go back to the inn and rest to full health. While the game still considers Karen dead when we go shopping the next day, she'll be fine once we enter a new battle. As soon as the scene transitions into the next day, we'll go into the guild again to get our reward.) Gaston: Good morning. This is your reward for yesterday's work. (We get 600 gold and bonus exp, which again all goes to Al. This, in retrospect, proves to be overkill, but I would get a game over if I lose the upcoming solo battle and I'd have to restart the game from the battle where we just rescued Alice in order to redistribute exp.) Karen: That's it? Isn't Mr. Markdogarl the richest man in town? Gaston: The guild's prices don't change regardless of who makes the request. Besides, if you think about it the responsibility of the kidnapping falls us due to our carelessness, so there's no additional compensation [for the rescue]. Karen: How stingy! (A frantic Markdogarl runs in.) Karen: Oh, no, I didn't mean you... Markdogarl: O-oh, no! Alice has run away from home again! Karen: What now? Markdogarl: Alice said something quite shocking. (Flashback time!) Alice: I want to be an adventurer! (Markdogarl stares at Alice in shock.) Karen: Th-that really is... Markdogarl: To be honest, [I came] today [because] I have a request for you. Karen: What kind of request? Markdogarl: Well, it's like this. Could I ask you to take care of Alice for me? Karen and Al: WHAAAT!? Markdogarl: I can't possibly trust her to a bunch of burly men. (Cue imagine spot:)  Karen: You're right. Markdogarl: I'd feel so much better if I asked you [instead]. Karen: B-but... Markdogarl: Alice's mother was a healer. Though she passed away when Alice was little, she learned some simple healing magic. I believe that will help. Karen: Th-that's true... Markdogarl: What's more, she has very few friends her own age, perhaps due to my over-protectiveness. I feel bad about that. Karen: Mr. Markdogarl... (While Karen mulls things over, Alice runs in.) Alice: Excuse me, is Karen there...oh! Daddy!? Markdogarl (as Alice is about to run back out): Alice! Please wait! I've already just asked Alice to take care of you. Markdogarl: Yup! Now, isn’t there something you should be saying? Karen: Hey! Hold on! I haven't agreed yet! Alice (eyes glittering): Thank you, daddy! Markdogarl: Though I allow it reluctantly, it is about time you left the nest. Alice: Daddy...forgive me! [And thanks!] (Karen looks back and forth between father and daughter.) Karen: Hey! Are you paying attention? Gaston: What's so bad about agreeing? Having a healer will add to your party's strength. Karen: Oh! You're right...Mr. Markdogarl, don't you have a lot of things to prepare? We'll wait at the hotel. Gaston: Very well. I leave my daughter to you. Karen (to Alice): See you around. Alice: All right! Thanks for your help. (I go on a shopping spree at this point, which proves to be premature, because going to the bar gets me an additional 1000 gold. Whoops!) Al: Does Mr. Markdogarl have anxiety, giving you all that money? Alice: Yeah, I can't use that much, so you take it! Al: Huh? That's too much... Karen: Really? I'm not about to look a gift horse in the mouth! Al: ... Alice: Daddy even wanted to pay for all of my room and board! But if he did that, then there'd be no point in running away from home, so I refused. Al: Did you? How brave of you. Karen: Y-yeah. (thinking:) What a shame. Alice: By the way, what's today's job? Karen: I'll go check with the guild. (Before that, now that there's more money, I'm going to grab armor upgrades for Al and Karen.) Gaston: I have an emergency mission [for you]. Karen: Go on. Gaston: A child has been lost in the mountains not far from here. Though there aren't any monsters that are difficult to deal with, but given that a life is at stake, I wanted you to hurry over and help. Well? Do you accept? (Of course.) Karen: Sure! Gaston: By the way, I heard that there's a strange person who occasionally shows up to challenge men traveling alone to duels, then robbing them blind. Karen: What? Gaston: You and your pals ought to be more careful. If the three of you go together, there shouldn't be a problem. (Saying no is, as usual, a non-choice, but let's see the flavor text anyway.) Video link Karen: Another kid? We're not babysitters. Gaston: If we go, we would certainly scare the child away. We have to rely on you. Karen: Fine, fine! (And the conversation continues. Back on the hub menu, our party has a little chat.) Karen: Looks like we'll be going on a field trip. Alice: My first mission! How exciting! Al: Do your best! (And here's the mission reminder for Day 3.) Video link Gaston (as Alice runs into the guild): Huh? What's wrong? Alice: The lost child...where are they? Gaston: In the mountains not far from here. Alice: Where [specifically]? Do you have any idea? (Gaston sweatdrops.) Gaston (popping a vein): Yo! Don't you get that being 'lost' means we don't know where that child is? Alice: That makes sense, I guess. Gaston: Why else do you think we asked you to go look for them? Capisce? Alice: I understand. I'll go right away. (Alice leaves.) Gaston: ...will she really be all right? (We'll be just fine.) Link to full battle Karen: There she is!  More slimes. We don't have to worry about keeping the kid safe--the slimes won't ever target her, so we can take our time eliminating them one by one.  Befitting her backstory as having been extremely sheltered, Alice can't be used as a physical attacker at all. Her attack animation also reflects her ineptitude at combat:  Meanwhile, Al is doing his part as the major damage dealer on the team, and Karen gets in a few good hits as well. It's not long before we finish off the battle and proceed into an extremely  portion of the game.Video link  Karen: What a mess! Alice: And it stinks[, too]... Al: This child is covered in mud. Karen: And with the town so far away...that's it! Wasn't there a spring on the way? Let's go clean up there! Al: Good idea! I feel uncomfortable all over as well... Karen: You have to stand guard. Al: What? That's not fair! Karen: Of course it is! The three of us happen to be ladies! Al: Oh...my bad. Karen: And one more thing. Al: Yes? Karen: Peek, and I'll tear your eyes out. Al: Okay... (Al sits down and look into the sky.) Al: (zoning out) Karen (off screen): Eeek! It's cold! Alice (off screen): No, Karen, don't splash water on me! Al (smiling): They sound very happy... (And here, of all places, is the first meaningful choice of the game: "Want to go take a look?" This affects the upcoming battle, so it's time to play Schrodinger's Pervert. First, the no option...) ???: Hey! You! (Al stands up and turns around.) Al: ? (He walks forward and looks all around him.) ???: Where aer you looking? Over here, over here! (One fade-out-fade-in later, Sarah has appeared behind Al.) Sarah: You a swordsman? Al: Well...I guess? Sarah: Then, let's duel to see which one of use will win? Al: Huh!? Sarah (with a poo poo-eating grin): You win, and you can do whatever you like [with me]. But if I win, then you have to leave all of your money with me. Al: H-how can this be... Sarah: Talking is useless! Take this! (And we get the objective: "Defeat Sarah!") Link to full battle (and end of battle cutscene) ETA: It turns out you really can’t be too cavalier about distributing experience; Al needs to be at least level 7~8, have the best sword (if not the best armor) and some healing items to win the damage race. At least I got a chance to capture the Game Over screen...  Sarah: How can...this be...!? (Since the battle was so short, I went ahead and kept on recording.) Sarah: I surrender. You're pretty good. Al: O-oh? Karen (walking in from the top of the screen with Alice and the little girl we rescued two battles previous): Ah...that felt nice! Alice: Huh? I think someone is over there? Sarah (with a seductive look that appears more like Blink Animation went wrong): Hey! Al: Yes? Sarah (back to the poo poo-eating grin): Would you marry me? Everyone: WHAAAAAAT!? (And now, the other choice, complete with ~fanservice~ )Video link  ???: Hey! You! Al (turning around and walking towards the voice): ? (He's spotted as he does so.) Sarah: You a swordsman? Al: Well...I guess? Sarah: Then, let's duel to see which one of use will win? Al: Huh!? Sarah (with a poo poo-eating grin): You win, and you can do whatever you like [with me]. But if I win, then you have to leave all of your money with me. Al: H-how can this be... Sarah: Talk is useless! Take this! Karen (from off-screen): HOLD IT!  (Karen and Alice run in from offscreen.) Karen: A-l-! Al: K-karen!? Karen: You peeked, didn't you!? Al: N-no, I didn't. Karen: I'm gonna teach you a lesson [you'll never forget]! (Then the objective pops up: "Deal with the trouble!") Link to full battle THIS is the battle I was worried about. Al is facing a solo battle against Karen, Alice, AND Sarah, who have their levels bumped higher than they actually are in game. Without that bucketload of exp I poured into Al, he could have easily died to a single casting of Karen's magic.  (Sarah's description: An extremely troublesome girl who calls out male adventurers in order to duel them. Countless men have fallen to her fists.)  (Karen's description: After having been angered by Al, she's now on a mission to destroy perverts, calling herself "the beautiful young lady of justice". At the moment, no-one can stop her.)  (Alice's description: A clueless young lady. If you carelessly approach her, you'll be sorry.) Fortunately, Karen moves into attack range in order to blast Al with her magic, and I had been exclusively feeding Al all of the bonus exp (on top of him getting a lion's share of it in battle by nature of him being the melee tank), so a single running slice takes her out. Karen: How...how could I lose to this pervert... Alice: I...I surrender! Alice also runs away, leaving me to take care of Sarah, which I do easily. Sarah: How can...this be...!? (The post-battle cutscene is a little bit different as well.) Sarah: I surrender. You're pretty good. Al: O-oh? (Pan over to Karen, who's facing away from the group.) Karen (super depressed): I've lost...to Al...lost...Al... Alice: Karen! Are you all right? Sarah (seductively): Hey! Al: Yes? Sarah (grinning): Can you marry me? Everyone: WHAAAAAAT!? (The two timelines converge at the guild, where Sarah is attempting to cozy up to Al on the couch.) Gaston: Oh! So her name is Sarah? Karen: She's the legendary weirdo that's been making appearances? Gaston: Looks like it. Karen: So what do we do now? Gaston: I don't know myself. I heard that all of the people she attacked were perverts [anyway]. Karen: What era is it, that someone would promise themselves to anyone stronger than them! How old-fashioned! Gaston: A 'rare breed', indeed! (Beat.) Al (turning to look at Karen): Karen...help me! Sarah (thoroughly enjoying herself): Hehehehe! (Karen sweatdrops.) Gaston: Anyway, leaving her here is just asking for trouble. After you've gotten your reward, take her with you! Karen: Fine! The bonus experience all goes to Karen. She reaches level 5 and (re?) learns an ability that heals frozen allies, which I will probably never use because Alice already has a skill that heals all status ailments. The Fiery Maiden Joins the Battle: Video link (That night, at the bar.) Sarah: You're adventurers, right? I'd like to join you guys. Al: K-Karen... Kaern (thinking): Well, this person did fight Al to a draw... (Well, she would have, if I hadn't overleveled him to the point of ridiculousness.) Al: Karen? Karen: My name is Karen. Welcome! Al: K-K-K-K-karen!? Karen: Why not? We're short a fighter anyway. As is, you'd be spread too thin! Al: Why...(groans) Sarah: What? Do you hate me that much? Al: N-no, that's not it... Sarah: By the way, that kid [you rescued]...is she all right? Karen: After an adventure like that, she must be tired. Let's also rest up! Dot's Footnote About Moon Runes I'm not sure if I translated Sarah's question about "that kid". With Sarah's implied line of sight and how Karen answered, it's possible that she was asking about Alice. (Up in Al's room.) Al: ...I'm exhausted. (Sarah comes in behind Al, causing him to turn around.) Al: Aaaaah!? What...what do you want? Sarah (seductively): What are you talking about? Aren't couples supposed to sleep in the same room? Al: Eeeeeh!? Karen (running in): Your room is over there! (Karen drags Sarah out, while she waves at Al.) Al: What...should I do? (The next morning, Al and Sarah--leaning inappropriately close to Al--are sitting across the table from Karen and Alice.) Al: Uh...uh... Sarah: Hehehehehehe! Karen (thinking): I can't take it any more. Sarah: Al, would you like me to feed you? Al: N-no thanks. I can do it myself. Sarah: Heheheheh! Karen: Stop it! You're embarrassing Al! Sarah: .... (slyly) I get it, you're jealous! Karen (riled up): W-who's jealous! Sarah: Hahahahaha! I'm just joking around! Oh, yeah! What are we doing now? Karen: I'm about at my limit...actually I just came back from the guild. I don't think there are any requests today. Sarah: Hm...okay, then can you show me around? I'm new to the area. Karen: I'm not all that familiar myself. Al: Alice should have a better idea, right? Alice: I don't go outside often, so not really. Sarah: Okay! Then let's go hit the streets! Karen: Sure! I also want to resupply. Next time: I swear this isn't some kind dating sim. Characters introduced in this update:  Markdogarl: The richest man in town, his former shady dealings make him a constant target of unsavory people. Ever since his wife's passing, he has all but smothered his daughter with his desire to keep her safe. Alice: Markdogarl's daughter, who ran away from home believing that Mark was being overprotective and is almost immediately kidnapped as a result. Joins the party in order to see more of the world. Sarah: A wandering martial artist who challenges random people and robs those she defeats. Offers to marry Al upon losing to him, and flirts with him incessantly.
dotchan fucked around with this message at 01:36 on May 7, 2021 |
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May 4, 2019 00:09
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| # ? Apr 28, 2024 21:41 |
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Yikes. Hopefully that was a one time thing and Sarah chills out soon...
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May 4, 2019 01:21
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 I forgot about the 50,000 character limit and made this update a tad too large. Visit the link here to read it. dotchan fucked around with this message at 23:43 on May 12, 2021 |
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May 16, 2019 04:27
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dotchan posted:Sarah: By the way, that kid [you rescued]...is she all right? Late but since Karen says 'first adventure' I presume she does indeed mean Alice
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May 29, 2019 01:59
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also I guess they just assume you have revive for that earth dragon fight because it seems like it hits way too hard
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Jun 2, 2019 12:02
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The Day of the Event Video link Before we run off and start the next set of events, I do the usual tour of shops to check for flavor text and see if I can/need to buy anything. (Weapon store dialogue:) Burly Store Owner: Whoa! Ya wanna buy? Wanna buy? Karen: W-what's up? Burly Store Owner: If you're gonna buy, please be quick about it! (It turns out I can afford some upgrades, so I do that.) Burly Store Owner: Ooh! We welcome you to come again! (General store dialogue:) Shop lady (sweating profusely): Welcome! Oh, dear, if I don't hurry up and change into a swimsuit, I will be considered to have automatically forfeited [the contest]! (There's just enough money to buy exactly 1 stock of emergency healing.) Shop lady: Thanks for your patronage! (Guild dialogue:) Karen: Nobody here. (startles) Dude, this isn't the place to be lazy! (Karen runs back out.) (Bar dialogue:) Barkeep: Hey! I'll go over shortly as well. (Now we're ready to set out.) Karen: Here I go!  M. C.: Yeah! This year's summer has finally arrived! Is everyone ready? (The audience cheers wildly.) M. C.: Okay! Then, as we have done previously, we'll begin this year's Outrack seaside beauty contest! (Another cheer.) Dot's Footnote About Moon Runes Like the chef, the M. C. also peppers his dialogue with gratuitous English, probably to come off as "hip" or whatever. I had no idea how to "localize" this particular quirk, so I just ignored it. Day 9: Who Will Win the Crown? M. C.: Who will win the crown? You'll find out! Let's go! (More cheering while the M.C. walks to stage right.) M. C.: Contestant number one, Miss Julia, known as the most beautiful of all the waitresses!  (Cheers as the curtains open, revealing the cafe's waitress in a white swimsuit with red trim.) M. C. (walking over to Julia): Let us ask her why she has attended this beauty contest! Julia: The store owner told me that if I became Miss Outrack, I'd get a raise. M. C.: I see. Please give me a few words! Julia (striking a pose): Please patronize Cafe 'Love and Peace' as often as possible! M. C. (turning around while the crowd roars their approval): Thank you! (He walks back to the front of the stage.) All right! The judges are young lads who were chosen to represent Outrack's hot...uh, I mean, enthusiasm. Let us quickly hear their thoughts. Hey! T. T.: [You] look nice in a waitress outfit, and the swimsuit is beautiful as well. Markdogarl: *generic noise of agreement* Al: *blushing furiously, too shy to say anything* M. C.: Thank you! Then, let us continue! (The curtains close, and the M. C. walks closer to it.) Number two is that little copper-tone sorceress from a kingdom to the south, Miss Sarah!  (Cheers as the curtains open, revealing Sarah in her usual outfit, except she's switched her pants for what I hope is a bikini bottom, and already striking a pose.) M. C. (walking over to Sarah): Please give me a few words! Sarah: Please vote for me, everyone! M. C. (turning around while the crowd roars their approval): Thank you for your direct words! (Walking back to the front of the stage.) Judges, your thoughts? T. T.: A spirited girl, not bad! Markdogarl: *generic noise of agreement* Al: *blushing furiously, too shy to say anything* M. C.: Thank you! Next! (The curtains close, and the M. C. walks closer to it.) Number three is the beauty of the general store...uh... (He turns around and walks back to the still-closed curtain.) Uh, it is all right to call you that? ???: It's fine! M. C. (walking towards stage right): Number three is that beauty of the general store, the shop lady! Dot's Footnote About Moon Runes The M. C. refers to the store clerk as the general store's "Madonna", but I didn't translate that as is because we moderns are more prone to thinking about a particularly famous singer than any generic beautiful woman whose attributes are comparable to the Virgin Mary.  (Cheers as the curtains open, revealing the shop lady in white swimsuit.) M. C. (walking over to shop lady): Um...what's your name? Shop lady: Why ask so much? Just being pretty is enough! M. C.: True, true! Please share with us your thoughts! Shop lady: If you don't vote for me, I'll raise the price of herbs! M. C. (turning around while the crowd roars their approval): Woah! If we don't vote for her, this town's tourist income will suffer great losses! (Walking to the front of the stage.) OK! Would the judges please share their views! T. T.: Herbs might be nice, but I'd rather have you. Markdogarl: *generic noise of agreement* Al: *blushing furiously, too shy to say anything* M. C.: Thank you! Let's continue, next! (The curtains close, and the M. C. walks closer to it.) Number four, that flower in a greenhouse, Miss Alice!  (Cheers as the curtains open, revealing Alice in a blue and white swimsuit. Markdogarl starts to freak out.) M. C. (walking over to Alice): You look nervous, why not say something? Alice (blushing): ...... M. C. (turning around while the crowd roars their approval): Hm! Such innocence, very nice! Phew! I'm too old to be getting this worked up. (Walking back to the front of the stage.) Well? Would the judges please give their opinions? T. T.: I am reminded of my [own] youth. Markdogarl: *generic noise of a father freaking out as he realizes his daughter is not a little girl any more* Al: *blushing furiously, too shy to say anything* M. C.: Looks like they're too moved to say anything! Okay! Next! (The curtains close, and the M. C. walks closer to it.) Next up is the queen of the roofs, Miss Curry!  (The curtains open, revealing Curry. The audience boos, causing Curry to fluff up and hiss back.) M. C. (turning towards stage right): Would someone please come up here and get her off the stage! (After one fade out/fade in, the curtains are closed again and the M. C. is facing stage left. Then he turns towards the audience.) Okay! Let us continue with the beauty contest! Please pay attention to our next [contestant]! She is so beautiful, you'd think she was an angel! The winged humanoid, Radish! Dot's Footnote About Moon Runes Interestingly, while the Japanese dialogue calls says Radish is like an angel, the Chinese version localized it to 仙女.  (Cheers as the curtains open, revealing Radish, seated on the ground as Curry attempts to pull her swimsuit off.) Radish (sobbing): I'm not a bird! Please don't eat me! M. C. (turning towards stage right): Would someone please come up here and throw that thing into the ocean! (The curtains close, causing the crowd to groan in disappointment. One fade out/fade in later, the M. C. is once again facing the audience.) Finally, the highlight of this event, that fiery maiden of Endorichy Island, Miss Karen!  (The curtains open, revealing Karen striking a pose, and fire flares up in a semicircle in front of her. The crowd cheers in approval.) M. C. (walking towards Karen): What a grand entrance! What was that about? Karen: Oh, I'm [just] an energetic gal[, that's all]! Hahahahaha! M. C.: Quite the handful, but still good! (Walking toward the front of the stage.) Next, let the judges offer their opinions! T. T.: That fire perhaps might be seeking to set the hearts of all men aflame! Markdogarl: *generic noise of agreement* Al: *is a tomato* M. C.: Thank you! She looks ready to burn everyone else up by herself! (The curtains close, and the M. C. walks back to the center of the stage.) OK! Next, we enter the evaluation stage. Does everyone have paper on hand? Please write down who left the deepest impression on you. Let's see you again before we announce the results! (The crowd cheers as the M. C. walks off stage. One fade out/fade in later, all of the contestants except for Curry are standing on the stage, with the M. C. in the middle.) M. C.: The results are in, and we're ready to announce it! This years Miss Outrack is... (The M. C. is interrupted by a loud noise.) W-what is that?  Al: W-what's going on here? T. T.: How can this be? It shouldn't be egg-laying season yet! (Beat, implying that T. T. took that moment to collect himself. He turns towards Al.) Al, there's an emergency I'd like you [to handle]; while I evacuate everyone [else], please stop these [crabs] from making landfall. Al: G-got it! (One fade out/fade in later, the entire party is standing in formation for the upcoming battle.) Karen: What's going on? How did things end up this way? Sarah: [Shall we] turn them all into a crab hotpot? (Objective: Defeat the crab Battle 13: Attack of the Crab Army Link to full battle  Now we get to see Sophia and Lulu in action. Sophia uses knives like Lee-Ann did, but casts Water/Ice magic like Ophelia.  Lulu, on the other hand, fills the "adorable child" slot Karen did in the first game, but casts Earth magic like T. T.  In addition to T. T.'s line of spells, Lulu can cast "Levitation". As demonstrated in the cutscene where she used it on Alice, it causes the target to hover, and allows them to move around the battlefield like Radish/Marcia. It's very useful, but the effect only lasts for one turn. This battle, being a lighthearted beach romp, doesn't have any on-field treasure to pick up, though some of the crabs do have drops once defeated. At the end of the battle, a skit plays out: Karen: There! That takes care of the mission! Sarah (spitting): Blech, these things taste terrible! Video link (That night, at the guild.) Karen: [You mean] those crabs are laying eggs? T. T.: Yes. It's a common sight in Outrack. When summer is almost over, the crabs will amass and lay eggs on land. Because they all come at once, they will become very violent. Karen: But isn't summer just starting? T. T.: Indeed...the explosion we just [heard] might have been related. Sarah: If so, then what about the result of the beauty contest? T. T.: Alas, the crabs have chewed them to bits. Radish: Aww...what a shame! Alice: T. T., Al, who did you vote for? T. T.: That is a secret. Sarah: Of course Al voted for me, right? Al: Huh? Uh... (Beat.) Karen: ? Al: Aheheheh...I forgot [who I voted for]. Sarah: What!? Al: S-sorry! (The mission bonus is 3000 gold and enough bonus exp to level Karen, Alice, Sarah, Radish, Sophia, Lulu to 17. Once we click into the inn to spend the night, the scene shifts to a bedroom..) After the Party  Blacksmith shop owner: Sorry...for notifying you on such short notice. T. T.: Honestly...why didn't you tell me earlier? Blacksmith shop owner: Heh heh...I was about to tell you that I wouldn't die so easily...but now I really might not make it! T. T.: Boss... Blacksmith shop owner: Because we're old friends, I'd like to ask a favor of you... T. T.: What sort of favor? If its something within my power, I can help. Blacksmith shop owner: Thanks...the only favor I ask is [for] my grandson John! That boy is as naive as his mother...but he wouldn't [last long] in this society...the only thing I can leave [to him] is this blacksmith shop, so I hope he can inherit this business and become a man. Please...please teach this child on my behalf. I can only rely on you...please... T. T. (thinking): We go back a long way. It'd be difficult to refuse [him]. (A new morning means a new mission at the guild.) Gaston: Yo! You're early. There's work! Karen: Really! Gaston: It's like this, hurry on up stairs! The client is waiting! Karen: OK! (On the second floor, there's a young man standing next to T. T.) T. T.: Yo! You're here! Karen: I heard from Gaston about a job...is this the client? T. T.: No, that client is none other than myself! Karen: [You,] Mr. T. T.? T. T.: Let me put it this way. This morning, one of my old friends, the blacksmith shop owner, passed away. His request is in this will... (One implied expository fade out/fade in later...) Karen: I see. But how [exactly] am I supposed to start training him? T. T.: Good point. I believe the best way is to take him adventuring [with you]. Karen: Adventuring, huh... T. T.: Yup! Beating up monsters will build [his] self-confidence. [I know] because that's what I went through. (Turns to the young man.) Then it's decided. Good luck! Karen: Your name's John, huh? Nice to meet you. John: H... Karen: What? John (sobbing and running towards Karen): HOW SCARY! Help me, miss!  (Cut to the outside to the building. A plume of fire explodes from the window. Back inside, John has fallen backwards on his butt with eyes wide in terror, and the room is covered with soot, while Karen is heaving with the effort of having cast such an apocalyptically huge spell that paradoxically didn't destroy anything.) T. T.: John, [let me tell you something]...[that young lady over there] is scarier than monsters! John: Y-yeah... (Back to the hub menu.) Karen: So that's what's up. John will be the focus of this [mission]. John: Oh...nice to meet you. Sarah (grinning): Nice to meet you. Alice (glittery eyed): A new companion? Radish (smiling): Nice to meet you. Al (smiling): Nice to meet you. (Thinking) Poor guy... Sophia: Heheheh, do your best! Lulu: Do your best! Day 10: Be a Man! (Before we Burly Store Owner: Welcome! We have all of the weapons you could possibly want! (While John is now added to the menu, there isn't anything we can buy for him, so I just buy upgrades for the rest of the party.) Burly Store Owner: Ooh! Come again soon! (I check my inventory to make sure I don't need to buy anything else before heading out to fight.)  Karen: [Okay,] everyone. Basically, we're here to support John. Al: I know! Karen: John. Are you ready? John: I, I...I'm still scared...I want to go home... Karen (pissed off): I can't hear you! John (nervously): Y-yes! I'll do my best! (The objective: John must defeat all enemies) Link to the full battle You are, of course, free to completely ignore the objective and defeat all of the enemies yourself (a trivial matter since the enemies are all slimes that go down with a single hit or offensive spell), but then you don't get nearly as nice of a reward, so this recording shows me in full babysitter mode for John while I grind up experience on the casters by having them spam support spells.  Letting John do all of the actual work takes a really long time because he can't oneshot slimes until he's gained a few levels. How this battle works is that once all of the slimes have been defeated, the game checks whether or not John has eliminated none of the enemies, between 1-4 enemies, or more than 5 enemies. So that you don't have to keep track, it'll play a bit of dialogue after each of John's kills to show his growing confidence (however, the dialogue--and possibly the count--restarts if John ever dies, so position him carefully)... (After the first kill:) John: I did it! I did it, Miss Karen! Karen: Wonderful! You can do it, John! John: Thank you! This is because I had everyone's help. (Post kill #2:) John: I did it again, Miss Karen! Karen: Great! [That's] great! (Kill #3:) John: I'm pretty good...I wonder if I'm a genius? Karen: Well... (Kill #4:) John: Okay, everybody! Stay behind me! I'll protect everyone! Karen (sweatdropping): Hey[, wait just a minute]! (Kill #5:) John: Dang, I'm good! I'm so good it scares even me! Karen (sweatdropping): Since you're that good, then I'll just sit back and watch. ...after that, John will still speak after each kill, but no new dialogue will be generated.  While I was doing all of that, Lulu hit level 18 and learned a spell to buff a single ally's physical defense. Because there are three different possible endings to this battle, I recorded all three: Outcome 1 Karen: [You] still ended up needing everyone's help... John: Sorry...I'm useless[, aren't I]... Karen: I can't complete the mission like this... John: Don't worry. I'll take care of all request[-related] fees. Karen: Huh? But...I.... (Beat; the music changes to a more wistful tune.) John: I'm very thankful. Watching all of you fight was, how do you put it...all of a sudden I want to do my best [as well]... Karen: John... John: I'll...give it a shot. I'll , just you watch! (And we're kicked out to the hub menu after this.) Outcome 2 (The background music changes to a more wistful tune.) John: *panting* Karen: Are you okay? John: I--I'm fine... Karen: Well? Have some confidence now? John: Uh huh. Now I understand what "where there's a will, there's a way" means, so I'd like to give inheriting grampa's blacksmith store a shot. Karen: Great! Then let's go home! John: Oh...I want to give you a present, Miss Karen. Karen: Don't worry about it. I'll be receiving payment from the guild. John: But you've done so much for me. I want to make up for that. Please take this... (We get a staff for Karen, but since I wasn't going forward with the plot in this ending I never bothered to check whether it's better than what Karen currently had equipped.) Karen: Is it all right [to accept] such a valuable gift? John: Grampa gave this to me when I was little. I don't think it's all that useful for me to hold onto it. Karen: Then I'll be happy to take it! (And here's the ending I actually chose for purposes of plot progression:) Outcome 3 John: Miss Karen! After this, I have confidence in myself! Karen: Wonderful! Karen: Great! Then let's go home! John: Even though it's not a valuable trinket, it represents my thanks to you. Please take it! (We get a ring that boosts movement and speed for whoever equips it. I put that on Karen in the next battle.) Karen: Is it all right [to accept] such a valuable gift? John: Grampa gave this to me when I was little. I don't think it's all that useful for me to hold onto it. Karen: Then I'll be happy to take it! John’s Triumphant Return (Back at the guild, we get 2000 gold and enough exp to raise Alice, Sarah, and Sophia, to level 18, and Sophia also learned "Freeze". Again, I didn't check the other results to see if the gold reward would be identical, but the plot certainly would proceed the same.) Karen: ...and that's that. Gaston: I--I see! Good job! John: I'll do it! I'll take up grampa's blacksmith shop, and make it the most famous place in all of Outrack, just you watch! T. T.: Well, good luck with that! Karen: What are you talking about? I didn't hear you clearly. Just what do you want? (Gaston and T. T. sweatdrop.) T. T.: Let me tell you something, we just got news that the disaster from the monsters invading the mines is worse than we thought. Karen: So? Gaston: No mining can take place for at least half a year. Which means that the blacksmith store can't operate during this time. (The Piano Chord of Doom sounds as Karen turns toward John and the scene fades to black.)  (One fade out/fade in later, T. T. is standing next to John at the blacksmith's workshop.) T. T.: Sorry...I can't help you. John: It's all right. Everyone worked so hard for me...it might be a little bit sad...there's nothing I can do. T. T.: But... John: This blacksmith shop has ended in my generation. If only we could use it for something else... (Sophia walks in from the door.) Sophia: I see, so that's how it is. (Turning towards John.) May I make a suggestion?  (Another fade out/fade in later, the entire party plus T. T. is seated in the room with towels around their bodies, while John, still fully clothes, is holding a wooden dipper in his hand.) Karen (happily working up a sweat): It's so hot... Alice: So this is what they call a sauna? Sophia: Yeah! I tried it out when I was in the Western countries. Nice that we could successfully [replicate] the effect with that bit of inspiration. (John splashes water on the coals behind him before turning back around.) John: Thank you, Miss Sophia! I will turn this sauna into Outrack's most famous tourist attraction, just you watch! T. T.: It certainly can become a hot tourist attraction. Al: Is this proper? Sarah: What's so inappropriate about it? Let’s Go To the Sauna! (We're kicked out to the hub menu; clicking on the inn progresses the plot to the next morning.) Sarah: What a nice morning. It feels great. Sophia: Yesterday's sauna was quite effective indeed. Alice (glittery eyed): Are we going again right now? Radish: A morning soak, huh? How nice! Sarah: I'm already addicted! Sophia: I'll pass. I've already gotten sick of it from having gone so many times in the past. Sarah: Al, are you going as well? Al: Huh? Well...Karen, are you going? Karen: I'm going to pass by the guild [first]. Have to check if there's work. Al: Oh! Then I'll also... Sarah: Go with me, Al! Al: O-okay! Video link (New morning means another round through the usual locations. Starting with the guild, Karen walks in to see T. T. at the counter.) Karen: Morning! Huh? Mister T. T.? [What are you doing here?] T. T.: Yo! Morning! Karen: Where's Gaston? T. T.: He went out on an errand. I'm in charge of this place in the meantime. Karen: So is there work today? T. T.: The paperwork is still in process. Could you come back after a little bit? Karen: What a pain! T. T.: Sorry! This still counts as a "public post", after all. Karen: Then I'll come back after a bath! T. T.: Heheh, [going to] that sauna, huh? Then take your time! (Karen turns and walks out. T. T. turns to the north wall.) T. T.: Hmm... (The music turns silly as Lulu walks in.) T. T. (turning towards Lulu): Huh? You [must be] Sophia's... Lulu: Everyone's gone to the sauna, and Mommy's out shopping... T. T.: I see...Okay, then Big Bro will play with you! (Suspecting new flavor text to be in all of the usual locations, I visit the bar.) Sophia: Huh? Have you seen Lulu? Barkeep: Lulu? Just went outside to play! Lulu: Oh, that child... (Next is the general store.) Shop lady: Welcome! Sophia: Oh! There's wine sold here! (I buy a couple of restoratives.) Shop lady: Thanks for your patronage! (And then the weapons store.) Burly Store Owner: Welcome! Want to buy weapons, beautiful missus? Sophia: How sweet of you, but I'm not a "missus". What should I do? (Buy whatever upgrades I can support, of course.) Burly Store Owner: Ooh! Come again soon! (Back at the guild, T. T. and Lulu are seated next to each other on the couch.) T. T.: Lulu, have you ever wanted a father? Lulu: Uh-huh! It's enough to have Mommy! T. T.: Is...is that so? (Beat; he turns away.) If...Big Bro were to be your father, would you be happy? Lulu: [You,] mister? T. T.: "Mister", huh... (Sophia walks in and turns to look at the two of them.) Lulu: Mommy! Sophia: Lulu, what are you doing here? I've been looking for you all this time! Lulu: Mommy, mommy! This mister says he wants to be my daddy! (Awkward silence ensues.) T. T.: Oh, it's not like that, I, I--! Sophia: Thank you for taking care of Lulu for me, but please don't give her any weird ideas, all right? (More awkward silence.) T. T.: Sophia, please...tell me. Why are you so angry? When you told me to wait for you, what did that mean? Sophia: And what nonsense are you spouting again? Didn't I tell you, I don't remember ever saying such a thing? T. T.: But, you really did... Sophia (angrily): Shut up! And besides, I'm not angry at you, I hate you! (She takes a moment to collect herself.) Stop embarrassing yourself, there's a child present. Lulu! We're leaving! Lulu: [But] I want to keep talking with this mister over here... Sophia (angrily): There's no need! Get over here at once! (Sophia walks out, and Lulu follows behind her.) Dot's Footnote About Moon Runes Because Chinese and Japanese sentences can still be grammatical without explicit subjects, Sophia's statement about not being an embarrassment is ambiguous, and the original version doesn't clarify anything at all. I interpreted her as talking about T. T., but it's just as likely that she's talking about herself. (At some point, the graveyard has popped up as a location we can visit, so time to click in. There, Sorel is visiting the tombstone again with a bouquet of flowers when Al walks up behind him.) Al (when Sorel turns around and takes a spellcasting stance): Woah! You scared me! Sorel: Young man...? Al: S-sorry...I didn't mean to sneak up on you. You saved me, but I didn't have the chance to save thank you...uh... Sorel: ...... Al (sweatdropping): Um...sorry for bothering you. (He starts to walk away.) Goodbye! Sorel: Wait a moment! Al (turning around): W-what? Sorel (walking up to Al): Do you get a strange feeling when you look at me. Al: Well, you look pretty handsome... (Sorel sweatdrops.) Al (sweatdropping again): Did I...say something weird? Sorel: No, nothing. Sorry for stopping you. Al: No, no, it's all right. Sorel: Is the girl that's [always] with you doing okay? Al: Yeah, she's doing fine! Sarah (from offscreen): Al~~~! (Running up to Al as he turns around.) Honestly, running off as soon as I pulled away your towel! And you call yourself a man! Al: I can't believe you're talking about this [in public]... (Beat.) Sorel: Did you change partners? Al (turning around): N-no! Sarah: Woo! Not bad, this guy! Al (turning around again): What? Sarah: What "what"? There's work to do. W-o-r-k. Al: Oh, sorry! (Once again turning around to address Sorel.) You'll have to excuse me. And oh, let me truly thank you [once more] for your amazing help. (Sarah and Al walk offscreen.) Sarah (offscreen, slyly): That's a good man for you. Even his friends are good men. Al (offscreen, sweatdropping): What are you talking about! Sorel (talking to himself): Was it a lie? Was I too paranoid? But I certainly had the impression that... (Back once again to the guild.) Karen: What's wrong? The atmosphere doesn't feel right! Gaston: Oh, you're here! There's work for you to do...I don't know why all sorts of petty issues keep springing up? It's annoying! Karen: Tell me. Gaston: A child has gone missing in the ruins on the outskirts of town. Holding out hope [that the child is still alive], the father has been searching near the women for several days continually. One day, he saw what looked like the child nearby, so he ditched his friends and chased the figure down, but he didn't return either. This is really bad, so the guild has launched an official inquiry. Karen: I don't quite understand all of that just hearing you talk about it. Gaston: I think so as well. In any case, it's a very tricky matter. You must prepare properly before you head out! Karen: Got it. Oh, by the way, where's Mister T. T.? Gaston: Yeah. He just spaced out a while ago, and is still absent-minded when I try talking to him. Karen: Just what is going on here? Gaston: You're asking me! (I probably should have double checked for extra flavor text, but oh well. Onward to plot.)  Alice: It doesn't feel right... Sarah: There must be something wrong with this house! Karen: First, let's split up and investigate this house from inside to out. (No, Karen! Never split the party! You should know this by now! Sarah, following along with this stupid idea, climbs the stairs of the house.) Sarah: Oh? (Seeing someone, she walks forward.) Hey, this place is dangerous? What are you doing here?   (As Sarah freaks out, more blobs fall from the ceiling behind her. A moment later, Alice walks up the stairs in a contribution to the Too Dumb to Live Movement.) Alice: Sarah, where are you? (She stops in the middle of the room.) Sarah? (The camera pans up, showing a knocked-out Sarah being surrounded by 10 Sarah clones.) Sarah...!?  (Back outside, Karen and Al were searching around in the grass when...) Alice (off screen): EEEEEEEEEEK! Al (turning to Karen): What was that sound? Karen: Oh, no! That sound! (Back inside again, the rest of the party has come across an army of clone Alices and Sarahs, while the real deal are dead on the ground.) Karen: W-what is this!? Sophia: Watch out, those are mimics! They're magical monsters capable of copying the bodies and abilities [of others]! Battle 15: Who are You? Link to full battle Here is a fairly unique gimmick battle for the game. The enemy will take on the form of whichever hits them or targets them with any kind of spell until they die. Unfortunately for them, "any kind of spell" also means Lulu can toot her horn and turn them all into zero-threat punching bags. While she's doing that (and dropping heals when needed), the rest of the party slowly whittles them down and Radish goes treasure collecting. Alice and Sarah are left on the floor because I'm cheap and don't want to use my stuff if I can get away with it. Given the large amount of on-field treasures on this map, I got lazy and didn't feel like capping every instance of me picking them up. The stuff is a combined 3900 gold, 2 Long-Life Medicines, Poison Sword (for Sophia, eventually), and a Magic Power Restoration Solution. That takes a little bit longer than defeating the mimics, but it's not that long before the battle ends and a cutscene plays out... Sophia: Everyone, this is a [well-known] mimic trick...this is how they get their prey! Sarah: Woah...I almost got eaten by those things! Alice: But why would a being from the magic realm appear so close to town? Karen: At any rate, let's report back to the guild! Link to video (Back at the guild...) Gaston: Magical creatures, huh...so he must be responsible. Sarah: "He" who? Gaston: Deima the pirate king. This time he directly sent monsters [to attack us]! Radish: The guy who attacked Alice? Alice: So are we out of options? Gaston: We are also thinking of solutions, and working very hard [besides]. (We are rewarded with 2000 gold and enough experience to level Alice, Sarah, Radish, and Sophia to 19, and then we're kicked out onto the hub menu.) (Clicking back on the inn advances the plot to the next morning.) Karen: Huh? Is Radish still sleeping? Alice: I think she was called at the last minute to work the graveyard shift at the church. I think she spent the night there. Karen: Really? They must be working her pretty hard! Alice: Looking at the time, she should be back by now... (Radish walks in from off screen.) Alice (smiling): Good morning, Radish! Radish (sobbing): I-i-i-it... Karen: What happened? Why are you panicking? Radish (sobbing): It appeared~! (One implied exposition fade out/fade in later...) Karen: So, summing it all up...when you were patrolling the church, you saw a poltergeist? Radish: Yup! Sarah: That seems pretty interesting. Let's go take a look! Alice: Do poltergeists also appear in the day? Al: I don't think so! Radish: Please, please! Let's go investigate a little! Karen: Don't worry about it. No poltergeist appears during the day. Radish: But it was so terrifying! I was really scared! Karen: Okay, okay! I get it! Alice: Should I go with you? Sarah: I'll go as well. With something so interesting, how could I let it pass me by? Al: Then, I'll go as well. Sophia: Then, me and Lulu will wait here. Radish: With you here, I can be at ease. Sarah: Let's go! Day 14: The Promise That Was Made (I visit the guild to check for flavor text.) Karen: Morning! Gaston: Oh, good morning! Karen: Is there work? Gaston: Not really, not today. Karen: Is that so? I have something to do today, so I'll see myself out. Bye! (Karen walks out.) (I plan on doing my shopping off screen, so time to advance the plot at the church, where the party mill about in the pews and Sarah stands behind the pulpit.) Al (turning towards the Radish): There isn't anything [here]! Did it really appear? Radish (tearfully turning towards Al): It really did! I'm not lying! (Beat; Alice turns towards Sarah.) Alice: Sarah, what are you doing? Sarah: Nothing, just standing here and feeling like a big shot. (The camera pans over to Karen, who is looking out the window.) Karen: Oh... Al (turning towards Karen): Is there something wrong? Karen (turning around): Sorry, I'll be right back. (Karen runs out of the church; one scene change to the graveyard later, she's running up to Sorel, who is once again paying homage at the gravestone with a boquet.) Sorel (not turning around): What do you want? Karen: Um... (thinking) Whoops, I just ran over here as soon as I saw him without thinking about it... Sorel: May I ask you a question? Karen: Uh...sure, what's up? Sorel (turning around): Where is that young man traveling with you from? Karen: Oh, so you've met Al? Well, he says he has amnesia, and he doesn't remember anything about his past. (Beat; Sorel turns around again.) Sorel: Amnesia, huh... Karen: Um...am I bothering you? (Beat; sad music starts to play.) Sorel: Once upon a time, there was a girl who worshiped me like a big brother. Like you, [she] was very lively and liked to talk herself up. Karen: Is she...the one buried in that tomb? Sorel: Every time I spoke with you, I'd be reminded of that girl... (Awkward silence.) Karen: Sorry... (Karen runs off.) Sorel: Do I really want to forget the past? [Then] why am I still waiting here like some [love-struck] school girl? (Fade to flashback.)  Piper: I, Piper, shall protect you! So, take me with you to the place you're seeking! Dot's Footnote About Moon Runes In trying to figure out how to transliterate Piper's name, I ran into a memetically infamous issue of Japanese kana--the difficulty in distinguishing syllables such as バ ("ba") and パ ("pa"). Final Fantasy recurring guest character Gilgamesh always has a joke weapon called the "Excalipoor/Excalipur" because of this very difficulty. In the playthrough of Farland Saga 2 hosted on niconico, the source image is blurry enough that I can't tell the difference, so Piper's name could actually be "Biper", "Piber", or "Biber" (the Chinese localization went with this last option, but that could have been an editorial decision). (Fade to black again; a huge explosion sounds before the scene fades back in.)  Sorel: She fulfilled that promise with her life...but I couldn't hold up [my end of] the promise... (Back at the church.) Al: Oh, you're back! (He watches Karen walk into the scene.) What's the matter? You look down. Karen: N-no, it's nothing. What do we do now? Alice: We talked a bit, and in the end we decided to come back in the evening. Karen: Oh, then it's better if I reported this to the guild. Sarah (putting on airs): Indeed. So shall it be. (Everyone else present sweatdrops.) Karen (sweatdropping): Who the heck do you think you are? Al (sweatdropping): She really does look like a big shot [up there]! Alice: Watch out for bad karma! Next time: G-g-ghosts! Characters introduced in this update:  John: The grandson of the blacksmith shop owner. Is a bit of a wimp until the party takes him adventuring.
dotchan fucked around with this message at 04:56 on May 19, 2021 |
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Jun 3, 2019 03:31
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Video link (The plot doesn't advance until we visit the guild, so let's do that.) Gaston: Hm...I see! I hope that was just a prank. Karen: Oh, you! What's with the long face? Gaston: Why wouldn't I be worried? This might have something to do with Deima. Karen: Even if it does, it doesn't matter. Gaston: Since it's you guys, you might not have anything to worry about[, but]...anyway, it's better to be careful. Karen: Thanks, I'll keep an eye out. (One automatic transition to the nighttime hub menu later...) Al: It's already dark... Sarah: Let's go see what the poltergeist looks like! (Clicking into the church, this time the entire party is gathered there, and Sarah is once again standing behind the pulpit.) Radish (crying): Th-this is where it appeared. Sophia: It is indeed quite unusual. This is the kind of place where it wouldn't be strange if something weird did show up. Alice (sweatdropping): Sarah's up there again... Sarah (grinning): Heheh, don't mind [me]! Should the poltergeist dare appear, I'll knock all its teeth out. Al (terrified): THERE! Karen (turning around, angrily): Al! Don't suddenly yell so loud! You startled me! Al (still scared): There it is... (The camera pans down to where Radish is. A bedsheet ghost has appeared next to her. She turns took at it; it turns to look at her.) Radish (turning to look at the rest of the party): That's not it at all! The ghost I saw was cute, like Alice, not this ugly old thing! (The bedsheet ghost sweatdrops.) Karen: That's not the issue... Alice: It's showtime, Sarah! Sarah (running down next to Alice): All right! Leave it to me! Alice (looking back and forth between Sarah and the puplit): Huh??? Huh? Huh? Huh? Sarah: What now? Alice: So who's that at the pulpit now? (Everyone else turns toward the pulpit as well, and a skeleton in royal regalia appears, along with the objective: defeat all enemies!) Battle 16: The Poltergeist Army Deploys Link to full battle In addition to eventually losing all of the sound, the game now also chugs itself into a softlock whenever it tries to play spell effects. To save you guys from seeing me reload the game a billion times I've cut out all of the softlocks; in future battles, I will still be recording animated gifs for new spells but you won't be seeing them on the Youtube uploads any more.  Pretty sneaky, Since everything except for the crowned skeleton is only vulnerable to magic, Al is completely useless, and Sarah is also left standing around twiddling her thumbs once she takes the skeleton down. All of the other ghosts are slowly whittled down one by one. Once the last one goes down, the sound of an explosion would have played, but I'm just happy that this game hasn't ground itself into a completely unwinnable state. Karen: What was that noise? Radish: It's from the cemetary! Video link  Deima: Hey, hey! Never expected to see one of our own in a place like this. Sorel: Don't lump me in with you lot. Deima: *squawks* In heaven, I may not have fought alongside you, but now I can do everything I can to help you. Y-you're still looking for "the key", right? Sorel: I don’t know, but considering you were one of my comrades, I spare your lives; disappear from this place at once! Deima: W-what are you protecting? Y-you should still be looking for the chance to return to heaven...c-could it be that the “key” is hiding there? Sorel: This place has nothing that you lot would want to find. Should you persist in polluting this place, then I... Deima: *squawks again* This guy c-can't move. H-hurry up and beat [his face in]... Karen (from off screen): HOLD IT! Deima: Y-you brats again...I-I’ll take y-you all out r-right here, right now... Battle 17: Fallen Angel Vs. Fallen Angel Link to full battle  (Description: A former mid-level angel who became this demon[ic creature] after falling into the demon realm. In addition to having powerful magic, and can command all demons.) As the objective states, all we need to focus on is defeating Deima.  Sorel (whose "class" is "Stranger") can more than take care of himself. Though he can't attack or move from his starting spot, he can cast powerful magic; in addition to Radish's cross-shaped lighting spell, he has a powerful AOE lighting spell centered on him.  You don't even have to keep his health topped off, as if he dies, this is what happens. Video link  Radish: Oh! That's her! [That's] the spirit that I saw! ...and Sorel is back on his feet again at full health.  During the battle, Radish hits level 20 and learns "Encourage", a spell that allows anyone other than herself to take an additional turn. With that additional tool in our hands, it's not long before we wipe out all of Deima's minions (being careful to feed the kills to the party), collect their swag, and beat Deima's face in. Deima: It's n-no use no matter h-how hard you fight... Sorel: ... Deima: *squawks* B-but I have already f-found the "key"... Karen: What "key"? Deima: I-it's time to retreat... (One fade out/fade in later...) Karen: Sorel, are you all right? (The camera pans over to Sorel, who is looking at the tombstone again.) Sorel (not looking at her): Didn't I tell you to leave me alone? Sarah: Hey! We saved you, and you still give [us] that attitude! Sorel: I don't remember asking for anyone to save me. Sarah: What an unlikable person. (Another fade out/fade in later, Sorel is standing alone. He turns around and, seeing that he's alone, starts walking away, until Piper's ghost appears at her tombstone.) Sorel (turning around): I'm like this, and you still keep on protecting me? Are you trying to tell me that I still haven't changed? (Sorel walks back towards the tombstone, but Piper's ghost fades from view.) Sorel: Piper... The Night Before the Storm Video link (We're kicked out to the night version of the hub menu; clicking into the inn advances us to the next morning and the next cutscene, Al is sitting next to Sarah, with Karen, Sophia, and Lulu sitting across from them at one table, and Alice and Radish sitting across from each other at another table.) Sophia: Huh? You don't remembe anything about the past? Al: That's right... Sarah: What a coincidence! Me too! Al: Huh? Sarah (putting on her "seductive" face): We must be childhood sweethearts, but because our parents opposed [our relationship], our memories were wiped using magic! Al: I-is that true!? Sarah (mischievously): Hey, hey! Don't take me so seriously! Al: Phew... Sarah: What do you mean, "phew"? Does that mean you despise me? Al: No, that's not what I meant... Sophia: If everyone in the world had amnesia, how terrible that would be! Karen: Seriously... Sarah: I really did lost my memory, if only a little. Karen: Really? Sarah: I've mentioned before that I'm from a family of hex sorcerers, right? Al: Yeah. Sarah: My father--well, he was more of an archeologist than a sorcerer--suffered from some sort of [accident as a result of a] failed experiment when I was little. My memory of that event is completely blank. Sophia: I see. So that's it. Sarah: Yeah...the house where I lived was completely wrecked, and my father passed away as well. Al: That's awful... (Sarah looks back and forth between the party members.) Sarh: Ah, sorry, sorry! It's too bright and early in the morning to be talking about sad stuff. C'mon, let's get to work! Dot's Footnote About Moon Runes I took a little bit of creative license translating "そうな" as "That's awful", since it translates literally as "seems like", but it can be used as a general expression of dismay/sympathy/etc. Day 13: The Final Vacation Time (Let's ignore that ominous-sounding title text and do the usual rounds, starting from the guild. Gaston and T. T. are both there as Karen walks in.) Karen: Morning. Talking business again, huh? (She sweatdrops as they both look at her.) Oh, dear. I have a bad feeling about this. T. T.: Don't be so nervous! You're here just in time. Karen: What is it? T. T.: Well, to be honest, there's going to be a large scale battle coming up ahead. At that time, I hope you can attend. Karen: [How] large [a] scale [are you talking about]? Gaston: It's like this. We are planning to launch an offensive on Deima, the head of the pirates, and we're hoping your group [and your] highly skilled castors will assist us. Karen: I see...sure! We'd like to have Deima get a taste of our medicine as well. Do you have any concrete plans. Gaston: Tomorrow morning, Mr. Markdogarl's cargo ships will reach Outrack. That lot will surely try to loot them, but that's just the bait! Karen: Are we ambushing there? T. T.: Though it is just bait, the cargo on those ships are real. The enemy aren't the type to be easily fooled by false information. Without Mr. Markdogarl's assistance, we would never be able to fight this battle. Karen: Then, how should we coordinate [with your effort]? T. T.: We've decided [to implement] the plan [first thing] tomorrow morning. Save up your strength before you set out! I plan on lending you the beach as thanks for [your previous help] during the last incident there! Karen: REALLY!? Gaston: Go ahead and enjoy yourselves! (Back on the hub menu...) Alice (glittery eyed): Wow, really? Karen: Let's hurry over to the beach!  Sarah: Phew~~that was fun! Karen: Huh? Radish: What's wrong? Karen: Hm...never mind!  (Once we click into the guild, the scene fades to T. T. upstairs in his office looking out the window.) T. T.: The decisive battle will be tomorrow. Don't die, Sophia! (He paces to the center of the room.) T. T.: Huh...what's the matter? I have a bad feeling about this. (He startles and runs back to the window.) That...that can't be! (Back downstairs, Karen watches T. T. run out the door before turning back to Gaston.) Karen: What happened? Gaston: Huh? Nothing too serious. You guys have to get up early tomorrow. Hurry up and rest. Karen: Are you sure? We haven't discussed any [strategy]. Gaston: Basically, we have to move in complete secret. Once we sneak onto the boats, we'll make a more concrete battle plan. Don't oversleep! Karen: Got it! (On the hub menu, the party have a bit of a chat.) Karen: *grumbles* Al: Karen, you've been like this for a while now...is something wrong? Karen: I don't know why, but I've been feeling like something's off. Alice: Now that you mention it, me too. Everyone: Oh no, the lighthouse flame is out! (Game, this is cheating. The lighthouse has never been lit in any of the hub menu's night scenes!) Sarah: If the lighthouse isn't lit, won't the boats not be able to come back? Karen: Let's go take a look. (Only one place left to go; the lighthouse it is.)  Karen: Huh!? Why are there magical beasts in this place? Battle 18: Lighthouse Tower Floor 1 Link to full battle This is the first battle in another gauntlet, but it doesn't have any nasty surprises. As usual, my priority is to pick up items and keeping my allies alive; finishing the battle is a distant third in terms of priority.  Lulu hits level 22 and learns Poison Mist, a spell that does damage and has a chance of poisoning the enemy. Given how borderline useless Poison still is as a status ailment, I stick to using her AOE earth magic spell. The on-field treasures are as follows: a Mushroom (increases max HP upon consumption), 1500 gold, Energy Nuts (an accessory that increases strength), and a Ring of Resistance (an accessory that increases magic resistance). As soon as I'm done picking those off, I finish off the stragglers. Karen: [Seriously,] why would this group of magical creatures be at the lighthouse? Al: Maybe Deima did it? Karen: Oh...maybe Mr. T. T. ran over here as well? Sophia: Let's take a look upstairs! Battle 19: Lighthouse Tower Floor 2 Link to Full Battle  (Upstairs, Karen finds T. T. face down on the floor.) Karen (worried): Mr. T. T.? Sophia (worried): T. T.! (Sophia runs over to T. T.) T. T.: *groans* Karen: Sophia, let us deal with this area. You take T. T. and Lulu somewhere safe. Sophia: Got it. I'll be right back. Don't push yourselves too hard! With that, the cutscene ends, and the battle loads in the party minus Sophia and Lulu. This isn't that much of an issue, since the map is so narrow that I can easily block off enemy advancement using Al and Sarah while Karin rains fire on the enemy. Because I was stupid and didn't play the battle ahead of recording, I wasted a bunch of turns trying to get to the treasure on the other side of the map before I realized that though you can stand on the decorative whale at the center of the map, you can't actually use it to move to the other side unless you fly from higher up on the stairwell. Even more stupidly, I wasn't paying attention to how many enemies were left and prematurely ended the battle. Fortunately, the game autosaves on each turn so I was able to reload the last turn and have Radish go pick up the treasures: 2 Energy Nuts, a Demon Magic Ring (increases attack and the Dark elemental), 2000 gold, a Fried Dough Twist (a consumable that restores 100 MP), and a Dragon Claw (a weapon upgrade for Sarah). Now we're ready to move on with the plot.  Gaston: Got the jump on us[, did they]? The plan must be to extinguish the lighthouse flame, then ambush the cargo ships once they lost their way...  Karen: Is Mr. T. T. all right? Sophia: His life isn't in danger. [Besides,] someone like him won't croak that easily. Karen: You're right, that's Mr. T. T. for you. All right! Let's take them all out! Battle 20: Lighthouse Battle Floor 3 Link to full video Because I know where the plot is going and I anticipate everybody needing some extra experience, Karen and Lulu spend most of their turns forcing the enemy on top of the staircase to sandbag, while Radish does her usual treasure retrieval, Al and Sarah tackle the enemies which approach, and Sophia alternates between targeting the distant enemies and the closer ones. The on-field treasures are as follows: a Secret Book of Magic (a consumable that increases max MP), 2000 gold, Long-Life Medicine (a consumable that fully restores HP and MP), and a Mushroom. With those collected, it's finally time to advance the plot. Video link   (The lighthouse fire is once again lit, making it safe for ships to travel at night.) Gaston: [That's] the signal for retreat. We can say that the first crisis has passed, but... The Lighthouse Once Again at Rest (The lighthouse is finally lit. I don't spend too much time admiring that before heading to the guild, where the entire party has gathered, along with T. T. and Gaston.) Karen: You can already get up, Mr. T. T.? T. T.: Yup! Thanks for rescuing me in time. You saved my life! Karen: It wasn't me! If you want to thank someone, thank Sophia! She was the one who took you [to safety]! T. T.: Sophia? So[, it was you]... Sophia: Don't get the wrong idea. I had Lulu cast a spell [on you] and then booted you here with a single kick. Don't even think about me carrying you! T. T.: Did you now? At any rate, I would still like to express my gratitude. Thank you! (For our troubles, we're given 3000 and enough bonus exp to level Alice, Sarah, Radish, and Sophia to level 24; Radish also learns "Quiet", which mutes everyone on the entire battlefield.) Gaston: Pardon me. I'm sure you're very tired, but the time to set sail is drawing near. you must quickly prepare for battle. We've requested that the weapon store and general store be open [for you]. After you've prepared, come back here. (Going to visit the weapons shop first.) Burly Weapons Owner: Hi! Welcome! (Not a lot of stuff worth buying.) Burly Weapons Owner: Ooh! Come back again soon! (Oh, well. How about the general store?) Shop lady: Welcome! (Topping off on some curatives, just in case.) Shop lady: Thanks for your patronage. (Back to the guild.) Gaston: Are preparations complete? Karin (turning from looking at Gaston to looking at the rest of the party): Is everyone ready? (Oh, hey, choice menu! It's been a while! Since pressing "yes" to the question of "Sure [you] wish to set sail?" advances us through a lot plot and I don't want to have to come back and record what amounts to a couple seconds' worth of flavor text, I'm going to choose "no" first.) Karin (sweatdropping): Excuse me, please hold on for a bit longer. Gaston (irritated): Make it speedy. (That kicks us out to the hub menu to do more shopping if needed. We don't, so once more unto the breach.) Karen (turning to face Gaston): [We] can [head out] any time! Gaston: All right, then hurry on over to the boat and prepare to set sail! Day 14: The Decisive Sea Battle  Al: It's so quiet! Karen (eyes closed): Yeah. Crewmember's voice (from offscreen): They're here! The pirates [are here]! (Sarah, Al, and Sophia stand up.) Sarah (turning to Al): It's time to set out! Karen (confident): Let's go!  (The party runs outside to see that another boat has attached onto theirs, and they are about to be boarded by a number of pirates and monsters. The camera pans over to the other boat, showing Deima at the "helm".) Deima: *squawks* Here comes the "key"...everything's going as planned...I'm a genius. Link to full video This is such a cool map, though I am a little bit annoyed that Alice can't cross over to the other boat unless Lulu casts Levitation on her. Fortunately, Lulu having gained so many levels means that Levitation lasts for a whopping three turns instead of one. ETA: It turns out Alice can walk onto the plank farthest from the party’s starting location.  Sophia hits level 25 and learns "Power Shock", a spell that, one turn after it is cast, unleashes massive damage onto any enemy she targets with a melee attack. Given that her ice spells have more utility and this spell burns a huge amount of MP, I don't expect to be using it all that often in the future. She also learns "Freezing Blizzard", an AOE freezing spell centered on her.  Sarah hits level 25 and learns "Star Rain Attack", a spell that has a chance of inflicting a variety of status ailments on all enemies within an area centered on her, and "Destruction God Chaos Dance", which is the same "spend one turn charging up, then unleash massive damage onto the enemy" spell that Ralph had in the previous game.  Karen hits level 25 and learns "Explosive Firey Igniting Strike", a massive AOE fire attack centered on her. (I forgot to cast it in this battle, so the animated *.gif is from a separate recording I made using the most convenient save point.) The on-field treasures are as follows: a Brandy (a consumable item that heals HP, a bit of MP, and restores frozen allies when used), an Amphetamine (a consumable that brings dead units back to life when used), a Long-Life Medicine (a consumable item that restores all HP and MP when used), and a Stiletto (armor upgrade for Sophia).  (The description is still the same as the last time we faced him.) Deima is tough, and if anyone other than Al gives him the last hit, he says: “D-don’t you get it yet? I-idiots.” When he does die… Deima: *squawk* W-where did my plan go wrong? Draw out the “key” at sea so he can’t escape…(beat) oh[, yeah,] I can’t run away, either… (Deima fades away from view.) Karen: Is he dead? Sarah: Wonderful, Al! Video link (The screen darkens.) Deima: *squawks* Too late! I've already combined my essence with yours... Al (in pain): N-no... Karen (alarmed): Al? What's going on? (The screen flashes.) Deima: You c-can't escape so long as you're h-here. Come...o-open the "gate"... Al: No...if I do that, everyone will... Deima: Let's g-go back...back to where...we should go... Al: Stop... (Another flash.) Al: STOP! (The screen fades to white, then to black.) T. T. (voice only): Huh? What happened?  Gaston: It seems that Deima's been defeated, but... T. T.: That's amazing! [So] where are they! Gaston: Suddenly, there was a flash of light... T. T. (angrily): Just what happened? Spit it out! (Pan over to the battle map, which is now completely empty...) Gaston: Everyone just totally vanished...  (Fade into a familiar looking lake next to a field of grass and flowers, where Karen is passed out face down and Al is holding onto the tassels of her outfit.) Karen (holding her head and getting up): ...I'm still alive! (looking around) This is... (beat) Am I...dreaming? Haven't I been here, before...? (Beat) That's right. Afterward, Sophia [showed up and]... (Something to her right catching her attention, Karen turns to look and boggles as some unsavory-looking rapscallions walk onto the screen and intense music starts playing.) Robber: Heheheh, there's [one] over here, too! Karen (freaked out): Al! Wake up! Wake up right now! Al: *moans* (He blinks his eyes open.) Oh...good morning. Karen (angrily): This isn't the time to say "morning"! (There's a fleshy thump sound as the screen flashes to white, and once the flash fades Al is kneeling, propping himself up with his sword.) Al: Karen, why'd you kick me for no reason? Karen (angrily): Take a [good] look around you! Robber: A babyface kid like you isn't all that useful. Little miss, be a good girl and come with me! Karen (angrily): What do you want? Robber: Isn't it obvious? We'll sell [you] for a good price at the guild[, of course]! Heheheh, what a haul we've had today! Karen: [You don't mean] Outrack's guild!? Robber: This is the only town that [even] has a guild! Al: [Don't tell me] Mr. T. T.'s involved in human trafficking? Karen: Of course not! At any rate, let's take care of this riffraff before we do anything else! Battle 22: The Guild, Kidnappers!? Link to the full battle Though we're down to just Karen and Al again for this battle, these robbers aren't that much tougher than the ones we faced down at the beginning of the game; sure, their levels are higher, but our party is so much tougher that I take care of them in the space of one and a half minutes. Link to video Al: Shouldn't we...[still] be on the ocean? Karen: The "haul" that guy was talking about...he wasn't talking about Sophia, was he? Al: W-what should we do? Karen: Let's hurry back to Outrack.  (When I played this game blind, I don't remember at what point I grokked the plot twist, but this is the first big clue; however, since the narrative persists in playing dumb I'm not going to comment until characters finally figure things out.) Al: K-Karen!? Karen: Just what happened here? Day 15: The Dark City (That title is clue #2. Clue #3 lays in the guild, where...)  (This looks more like a bar than a guild.) Al: W-what happened? Karen: [What] indeed... Al: Was it ambushed when we were gone? Karen: But it doesn't look like it was robbed... Al: Let's go look if anyone's here. Maybe Gaston's nearby? Karen: No, let's not jump the gun, but collect more intelligence outside. (Back in the hub menu, we've got our usual selection of locations. Clicking on the inn gets a bit of dialogue...) Karen: There's no sign [on outside]...[and] it's an empty [inside]! Al: H-how could that be? We were still living here yesterday! (What about the general store?)  Al: There's nobody here! Karen: Huh? There's a memo. Hm, let's see..."because war has broken out in Endorichy, I've gone there to do business. If you wish to buy anything, just leave payment for the goods on the counter. By the way, I have a security system set up!" Al: Endorichy...isn't that Karen's homeland? Karen: B-but...there can't be a war now! (Clue #4. Given what's revealed later, does this mean Farland 1 Saga's shop lady and this games shop lady are indeed the same, er, "person"?  )(Okay, the weapon's shop, then...)  Al: The mister who owns the weapon store is here! Wonderful! Karen: But...something doesn’t look right! Burly Store Owner (with a head of messy blond hair and sporting a stereotypical Asian alcohol facial flush): *groans* (Karen and Al stare at the owner as he burps.) Al (sweatdropping): You're drunk...and what's with the wig? Did you just come back from a party? Karen (sweatdropping): That can't possibly be it...hey, mister, wake up! I want to ask you something! (The Burly Store Owner takes a while to react to the question.) Burly Store Owner: *groans, then chuckles* Hey there, pretty lady. Karen (angrily): Hey, you? Did you forget who I am? What's an adult like you doing, drinking so early in the day? Burly Store Owner: What are you talking about? I've never seen you before...hmph! And besides, I'm just 25... (The Burly Store Owner burps again, as we are left to contemplate clue #5. The game may as well be flashing "Have you been paying attention, player? Well, have you?" in giant neon letters.) Al: It's hopeless. He's dead drunk. Karen: Get a hold of yourself, mister! What happened to this town! Where were our friends taken? Burly Store Owner: "Taken", huh...were your friends captured by the guild? Karen: So what those robbers said was true!? Burly Store Owner: That lot...would capture little girls and sell them to distant lands as slaves...ever since that bastard arrived, this town...drat it... Al (worried, turning to Karen): Karen... Karen: I don't understand why, but they must be locked in the guild's tower! Al: Let's go save everyone! Karen: Of course! Burly Store Owner: Just the two of you want to fight the guild? That's ridiculous. It's tantamount to suicide... Karen: Mister, if all we do is run away, then the bad circumstance will never improve. Burly Store Owner: Hmph. Got quite the tongue on you, eh, little girl? All right! If you want any weapons, take them...though there isn't any good wares. (Are you kidding? This store offering is the best gear I've seen in a long while, and I have this big pile of gold to burn.) Burly Store Owner: Anything else...that you need? (Trying the café yields anther bit of dialogue.) Al: Karen...there isn't anything here? Karen: How's that possible? Next time: Our heroes finally figure out what's going on. Characters introduced this update:  Burly Store Owner: A middle-aged man with a luxurious head of hair, he has since driven to alcoholism in despair and helplessness due to Outrack's sorry state of affairs.
dotchan fucked around with this message at 23:54 on May 20, 2021 |
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Jun 7, 2019 22:39
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dotchan posted:Gaston: Oh, you're here! There's work for you to do...I don't know why all sorts of petty issues keep springing up? It's annoying! and conveniently increasing in difficulty in line with the party. I like the multiple, changing clones of party members, though, normally people just do fixed single clones.
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Jun 9, 2019 19:36
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Video link Karen: Al, are you ready? Al: Of course! Karen: Then, here we go! (The two run in, with Karen taking the lead.) Sophia (voice on a dark screen): Hold it! That hurts! Can't you be gentler?  (Sophia, Sarah, and Radish have been locked in a dungeon.) Sophia (looking at the dungeon door): What brutes. Radish: Is that [you,] Sophia? (Sophia turns around and walks towards Radish and Sarah as they walk towards her.) Radish (sobbing): Are you all right, Sophia? Lulu was captured, too! Sophia: Who are you? And who's Lulu? (Radish and Sarah sweatdrop.) Radish and Sarah: Huh? (That was clue #6.)  (In another room, Alice is surrounded on three sides by various unsavory-looking characters.) Alice (scared): P-please, don't come any closer! Minion A: How cute! You don't need to be so scared! Alice (angrily): Stop! If you don't stop, you'll never get the end of it from my father! Minion A: Who's your father[, and why should I care]? Heheh, why not let me be your daddy? Alice (angrily): I am Alice Markdogarl! (The minions sweatdrop and then look at each other.) Minion A: M-markdogarl? [Does she mean] that Markdogarl? Minion B: Boss has told us that we can't afford to piss that guy off! Robber: You idiot! [While Markdogarl] does indeed have a daughter named Alice, she's only 8 years old! This gal look only 8 to you? (Clue #7 hits with all of the subtlety of a sledgehammer to the face. If you still haven't gotten the plot twist, don't worry, the game is about to spell it out two more battles from now. Meanwhile, the minions turn to face Alice again.) Minion A: [Why,] you little--! Trying to fool me with bullshit, huh? Minion B: You won't get away with this! Prepare for [your] punishment! Alice (worried): Oh, now! How can this be? (One fade out/fade in later, Karen and Al have entered the room, and everyone has turned to look at them.) Alice (glittery eyed): K-Karen! Robber: Ack! Who are you?! Karen (angrily): We're here to rescue our friends! Let go of her! Let go of Alice r-right now! Robber: Hmph! How brave that the two of you dared to bust in here by yourselves. Very well then! We'll sell you after we've taken good care of you! Dot's Footnote About Moon Runes Well...gently caress. Turns out Alice's father isn't "Mark Dogarl", it's "[First name unknown] Markdogarl". I kept ignoring the game when it referred to him as such, simply thinking that it was calling him by his full name. Time to go search and replace for every instance of his name.  Battle 23: Alice’s Close Call Link to full battle I focus my attention on Alice's side of the field, but there's actually two more minions hidden in a cubby hole on the other side of the map that will eventually become an issue--though, of course since these are wimpy minions they're not all that much trouble. The on-field treasures are as follows: a Long-Life Medicine, a Fried Dough Twist, and Silk Gloves (the same weapon for Alice I just bought...oh, well, at least I get a partial refund). While that gets grabbed, the minions are whittled away and I finish the battle with no issues. Battle 24: To the Underground Dungeons Link to full battle  (Karen, Al, and Alice stand at the top of the stairs.) Karen: Where are the others? Alice: Sarah and Radish were taken to the dungeons. As for Sophia and Lulu, I don't know. Karen: Okay! Let's go save those two first! (Meanwhile, at the weapon/armor shop.) Burly Store Owner: Bastards...bastards...I...  Meanwhile again, the party has transitioned into the next battle. It takes a while to hack away at the stone golems since they keep getting healed, but eventually I kill enough of them to get to the healer. That guy taken care of, it's not long before I take care of everything else. Video link (Al stands in front of the dungeon door while Karen stands next to him and Alice is behind him.) Alice: Well? Can you open it? Al: Phew...Nope, I can't open it! Karen: Why doesn't anyone here have keys!? (The Burly Store Owner runs down from the stairs; Al and Karen turn around to look at him.) Karen: The dude from the weapons store!? Burly Store Owner (now sober): Sorry, [and] thanks for waking me up. I'll take care of things from here! (Al and Karen move out of the way, and the Burly Store Owner moves up to the door.) (Inside, Radish, Sarah, and Sophia hear the door being pounded on.) Radish (turning to look at Sarah): W-what should we do? (Sarah and Sophia turn to look at Radish.) Sarah: As soon as the door opens I'll attack them. Take the chance to run away at that time. (Turning around and grinning at Sophia.) Heheh! I'll show you! (Radish and Sophia up to the door and flank it. Sarah looks around for a moment before winding up an attack. Meanwhile, on the outside, the Burly Store Owner is still working the door.) Burly Store Owner: Phew! Almost there...got it! Get ready, the door is opening [now]! (Fade to black. The door can be heard creaking open.) Sarah (voice only): Now! (The sound of glass shattering can be heard.) ??? (voice only): Argh! Sarah (voice only): Got him! (When the scene fades back in, the Burly Store Owner is unconscious on the ground; Sarah, Sophia, and Radish are standing around him along with the rest of the party.) Sarah: Who this this guy!? Karen: It's the weapons store guy! He came to help you, and look what you did! (The Burly Store Owner's hair dissolves away, causing the entire party to sweatdrop.) Karen: Sarah...what the heck did you throw on him? Sarah (nervously): Just some hair tonic I threw together...looks like it didn't work the way I thought it would...heh heh... (Sophia turns to face Sarah, and everyone else except Radish turns to look at her.) Sophia: Please excuse me, I'm in a hurry...thanks for saving me. Karen (as Sophia runs off): Hey, wait a minute...Sophia!? Radish: Karen! Though she looks like Sophia, that isn't [the one we know]! Karen: What are you talking about? Sarah: Surprised you, right? That Sophia has told us quite about about this town. Furthermore...  (Meanwhile, another Sophia--this one dressed the way we recognize--is at the docks.) Sophia: Lulu...where did you go? (She turns and looks around for a bit.) Strange, what's wrong with Outrack? It looks like it did all those years ago... (she turns again and notices something off screen) Oh? (Sophia hides behind some barrels as T. T. tears through the scene like a man on fire. Then she walks out and stares after him.) Sophia: Is that...that can't be, T. T. as he was back then? That means, this place must be... (The scene fades to black.) Karen (voice only): Outrack, but eight years ago? (Freaking finally! All of that foreshadowing about "eight years ago" and all of those clues are finally adding up together for our characters.) Radish: Yes. This is about three months after Endorichy's Human-Monster war, so [Outrack] is still a sinister place run by the old guild! Karen: B-but...how can this be? I can't believe it! Al: Forget it, let's not think about this too much and go save the real Sophia and Lulu [first]. (Beat.) Karen: You're right. We can worry about the problem [of being in the past] later. All right! Where should we go? Sarah: All that's left is the back of the first floor and upstairs. Why not take them all out? Karen: Okay! Let's do it! Al: What about the weapons store owner? Karen: It's a bit cruel, but we can only leave him here. Sarah (guilty): Sorry about this, mister!  (One scene change later, the party is in a kitchen.) Robber: Y-you!? How'd you escape from the dungeons? Sarah: You didn't expect us to stay in such a dirty place, did you? Robber: Hmph! Die! Battle 25: Kitchen Fight Link to full battle The casters on the stairs are the most dangerous enemy, but with Alice around to heal and raise the dead it's not long before Radish (and eventually Al) whittle them down to size. Karen: Looks like we've taken care of this floor. Sarah (grinning): All that's left is upstairs! Battle 26: Ambushing the Second Floor Link to full battle (Meanwhile, present day Sophia has made it to the guild entrance.) Sophia: That's right...I remember having been captured to this place by the guild, and T. T. came to rescue me. (Startles.) Oh! Maybe Lulu was also captured as well? (She runs farther in.)  (At the same time, the rest of the party makes it to the next floor.) Karen: What an ugly room. Al: Mr. T. T. must have remodeled it. Robber: Hey! You barge into someone's room without permission and you dare mouth off like that? I split the party into two halves, with Sarah, Radish and Karen going to grab the treasure, and Al working on the enemies to the right with Alice healing whoever needs it. The on-field treasures are as follows: 2000 gold, a pair of Royal Gloves (weapon for Alice that only increases her attack power; I sell it because I never use her to attack anything), a Multi-Colored Rod (upgrade for Lulu), a Dream Blade (upgrade for Sophia; can randomly put enemies to sleep if they don't die in one hit), and a Long Life Medicine.  No idea if that's a glitch or just me unable to parse isometric view properly, but it looks like the robber was standing on the bag of gold but I was able to grab it anyway. At any rate, having gotten all of the treasure, I finish off the last enemy. Battle 27: Not Morning People Link to full battle Karen: Should we go left or right? Al: Hm...go left!  Karen: Listen up[, everyone]! We're going right! Al (as everyone else goes into the door on the right.): Huh...huh!? Wait a minute! (He chases after them.)  (Elsewhere, Sophia is making her way through a different hallway.) Sophia: It's pretty spacious in here! (Noticing something to her right, she ducks back into the room she was earlier; then, past!Sophia runs by.) Sophia: That was close...I can't run into my past self no matter what! (Sophia is about to continue on her way when T. T. enters the room and spots her.) T. T.: Sophia!? Sophia: T. T.?  (Meanwhile, it turns out the hallway on the right lead to the sleeping area.) Karen (sweatdropping): What a special place we ended up at... Al: Sure did! If only we went the way I wanted... Sleepy Robbers: How dare you disturb our rest. We'll kill you! Until Radish picks up her new spear, the casters on top of the bunk beds can only be targeted by magic, so they're a pain in the butt for quite a while. The on-field treasures are as follows: an Earth Gauntlet (weapon upgrade for Sarah), a Crimson Staff (weapon upgrade for Karen), a Poseidon's Spear (weapon upgrade for Radish), a Silk Robe (armor upgrade for Sophia), and a Genie Vestment (armor upgrade for Sarah). It takes a while to clean up, but I finally do and move on with the plot. Karen: Let's go take a look in the other rooms. Al: That's what I-- Karen: You're a man, aren't you? So stop mumbling! Al: Ack! Yes! My bad! Video link (While we were beating up a bunch of sleepy-eyed minions, T. T. and Sophia were having ~drama~.) T. T.: Sophia...is that you, Sophia? Sophia: Yes... T. T.: I'm so relieved that you're safe! Sophia: N-no, I'm... (T. T. runs up to Sophia and embraces her.) T. T.: Wonderful...truly wonderful... Sophia: T. T.? T. T.: As soon as I heard that the guild captured you. All I could think about was coming to your rescue... Sophia: And so, you didn't consider how dangerous it would be [for yourself] and rushed in all on your lonesome? T. T.: I know I'm being reckless, but I can't calm down. Every time I think about how I could lose you, I... (Beat.) Sophia: T. T.... (Sophia notices something to her right.) Oh [no]! (The camera pans to the right, showing past!Sophia eavesdropping on the conversation.)  T. T.: I wanted to tell you, while I still had the courage...I--I love you. Let's get out of here and travel the seas together! (Oh, no, indeed. This is exactly the incident "eight years ago" that Sophia is so pissed off about, and to prevent an even worse paradox she's about to piss off her past self and--oh, dear, I've gone crosseyed.) Sophia: B-but... T. T.: In the past, perhaps I have wronged you, but from now on, I will never love another woman the way I love you. (The camera switches to past!Sophia's perspective.) T. T.: Would you marry me? (Past!Sophia, heartbroken by T. T.'s apparent infidelity, runs off tearfully, while present!Sophia watches helplessly.) Sophia: I see, so that's how it is... T. T.: Sophia? (Meanwhile, poor clueless T. T. has no idea that the Sophia in his arms is a time traveler eight years into the future, realizing that she herself was the woman she was so irrationally jealous over.) Sophia (tearing up): I was mistaken...I thought you betrayed me... (Lady, your relationship's got deeper problems than a Third Act Misunderstanding Via Time Travel Shenanigans, but that's  for you.)T. T. (freaking out): Sophia, what's wrong? (Sophia removes herself from T. T.'s grasp and steps back.) Sophia (still crying): Forgive me. I...I can't be with you... T. T. (sad): Am I...am I not qualified? Sophia (still crying): N-not at all. I love you, too! I always have... T. T.: Then--why? What reason do you have [for saying you can't be with me]? (Beat.) Sophia (still crying): Don't ask me the reason. But...if you really love me...please wait 8 years. T. T.: [Why] 8 years? Sophia (still crying): 8 years from now, I'll come back to this town. So...until then, please turn this town back to how it was when we grew up. T. T.: B-but, I couldn't possibly... (Beat.) Sophia (still crying): No problem. You can do it. (With that last bit of encouragement, Sophia runs off.) T. T.: Sophia!  (Back to the rest of the party.) Guildmaster: Heheheh! You're pretty cute! What do you say, want to be my little pretty? (Lulu frantically shakes her head.) Ohoho! I'll take that as a yes!  (The guildmaster and his two pets turn to their right as Karen's voice interrupts the proceedings.) Karen (voice only): Stop right there, you pervert! (The camera pans down, revealing the rest of the party minus Sophia.) Karen (angrily): Give Lulu back, you creep! Guildmaster: Oho~! And who is she to you, hmm? Karen: Ah, well, I-- Sophia (running into the scene, causing everyone to look at her): I'm her mother! Karen: Sophia! You're all right? Guildmaster: Hm~! It's been quite noisy down the for some time now. It must have been you lot making mischief. Well, I won't let you get away with it! I'll feed you to my babies! (Defeat the guildmaster!) Battle 28: The Great Battle of the Guild Link to full battle  (The guildmaster who once controlled all of Outrack eight years ago. Can control beasts [as well].) Radish goes up to collect treasure (a total of 5000 gold) while the rest of the party slowly goes the long way around. In addition to hitting hard, the cockatrice can, as per mythology, turn allies into stone. The minions are no slouch, either--I lose everyone in the party except for Alice, and my frontliners eat dirt more than once as well. Still, the enemy can't overcome me, especially not once I start taking them out. There's even unique dialogue from the guildmaster when I kill the cockatrice ("Oh! My Coco!") and the hydra ("Oh! My Fifi!"). Then the guildmaster himself falls. Guildmaster: Urk! Unbelievable...! Video link Radish: We're finally together again! Sophia: Now we should discuss how to return to the world 8 years from now... Karen: So you noticed too, huh? Sophia: Though I could barely believe it [myself], this definitely is the Outrack of 8 years ago. I grew up here, so I know I'm not mistaken. Alice: But how are we supposed to restore the [proper] flow of time? Sarah: Restoring the [proper] flow of time, huh...  (Sarah has a flashback to an unpleasant memory and drops to one knee.) Karen (alarmed): Sarah, what's wrong? (The screen fades to black.) Sarah's father (voice only): Sarah...I'm looking for a way to go back in time. With that, there might be a way to save your mother! Sarah (voice only): That’s right...did I ever tell you guys, my mother passed away due to an accident when I was little? My sorcerer/archeologist father was researching magic that could take him back in time. Sarah's father (voice only): I found the way to go back in time, Sarah! All that's left is to find the "key".  (Tiny adorable flashback Sarah looks out a window...)  (And a familiar yet foreboding hooded figure walks past her on the street below.)  (The screen flashes white, and then tiny adorable flashback Sarah cries over the body of her father.) Sarah: That wasn't an accident... (The flashback ends.) Karen: Sarah! Pull yourself back together! Sarah: Maybe...we can go back. Radish: Huh!? How?! Sarah: Deep in the mountains to the north, there are ancient, abandoned ruins. (The screen fades to black again.) Sarah (voice only): Father called it "The Temple of Time". Day 16: The Truth  Sarah: My father once studied the way to go back in time at this Temple of Time. Karen: [So] why is it called "The Temple of Time"? Sarah: I'm not sure. All I know is that it already existed well before humans ever did. Alice: This place is called a temple, but there isn't anything here other than this weird-looking altar. Sarah: According to my father's research. This is only the gate that leads to the true temple, and those who aren't qualified to cross [the barriers of] space-time can't enter the temple. Sophia: Are we qualified? And yet, we definitely went back in time to get here. Al: I don't know why, but...I have a bad feeling about it...and yet...it also feels so familiar... Sophia (as the magic circle drawn on the ground flares to life): T-this is!? Karen: Just what is going on here!? Sarah: Could it be, that the gate is already opened? (Before anyone else can react, Al walks into the glowing magic circle and disappears.) Karen (worried): Al? Sarah (alarmed): Al~! (Sarah and Karen runs after Al.) Radish (turning toward Sophia): W-what should we do? Sophia (as the other characters turn towards her): We have no choice but to follow, I guess! (The rest of the party, with Sophia at the lead, file toward the magic circle.)  (The party finds themselves in a place that shares the same architecture as the entrance, but seemingly suspended in mid-air.) Karen (walking closer to Al): Al? Al: This is the gap between space and time...it connects all of space-time. Sarah: .... Sophia: Why do you know such things? Who are you, really...? Al: I don't know...I can't remember. I also don't know why I know these things... Sarah: Al...are you the Al I saw before? Were you the one who [killed] my father...? Al (turning around): Huh? What are you talking about? (Beat.) Radish: Then you know how to go back to our own time? Al (turning towards Sarah): Yeah...so long as you wish to go back, you can. If you do so now, you should be able to make it. Alice: [What do you mean,] "now"? Karen: .... (Karen walks to her left and looks away, and Alice turns to look at her.) Al: Karen? Karen: Al...can we go even farther back in time from here? Al: Huh? Yeah...I don't think it's a problem. Karen: Sorry...can you guys go ahead [without me]? Al (walking towards Sarah, freaked out): K-Karen! What are you talking about? Karen: I've....been thinking about it ever since I realized that we came back to the past. If I went back one more year....no, just three more months, then I have the opportunity to save my parents... Al: Karen! You're not thinking about changing the past, are you? You shouldn't! If you do... Karen: I've already decided. If I could go back to Endorichy before the war broke out and warn my parents to leave immediately, then they wouldn't be killed... Al: Karen! You mustn't think about changing the past! If anyone wants to change history... Sarah: Al! You don't mean... Sophia: What are you talking about? What are you afraid? (Beat.) Al: Stop, Karen! If you don't, that guy will... Karen (shouting, as lighting flashes ominously): I want to save my parents! Al (dropping to one knee): Urgh...ack... Sarah: Al!? (A number of angels are transported onto the field via bolts of lightning. With one final flash, a gigantic winged creature appears in the top corner of the map.) All-Vice: I am All-Vice, the guardian of time. I watch over all of time and space... Sarah: It's him! The guy who killed my dad! All-Vice: Those who dare trespass here...die for your sins! Al: You've got it all wrong! We were sent here from the future... All-Vice: That isn't possible. A normal person doesn't have that sort of power. (Defeat All-Vice!) Battle 29: He Who Presides at the Final Judgment Link to the full battle The angels aren't too much of an issue--according to an online guide I found, All-Vice is supposed to summon in more of them on turns 6, 7, and 11, but I'm guessing that since summoning them is tied to to animations, turning off the animations has caused them to not spawn (or it's just another thing about the game that broke due to playing it in emulation).  (Description: [Holds] the highest title among the angelic hierarchy who also comes to the mortal realm on missions.) All-Vice can't move from his spot, but he's got a massively painful AOE magic attack and can heal himself to full health, so it takes a few turns of buffs and extra actions granted by Radish to take him down.  There's also an additional quirk to this battle that I don't show off in the recording uploaded to Youtube: you have to last hit All-Vice with Al in order for the game engine to count him as dead. Anyone else trying to kill him will leave him at 1 HP, and he'll taunt us with "It's no use. Human strength isn't sufficient to defeat me." Anyway, time to end this battle and move on with the plot. All-Vice: How can this be! It's impossible! You-- Next time: The final gauntlet. Characters introduced this update:  Sophia (8 years ago): T. T.'s then girlfriend, she was kidnapped by the guild. When T. T. hurried to the rescue, he mistook Sophia-eight-years-into-the-future for her and proposed on the spot, causing  All-Vice: An angel tasked with guarding the time-space continuum, he killed Sarah's father when the latter attempted to go back in time to save his wife, and appears before the party when Karen expresses a desire to go back in time. Upon defeat, he is reborn as Al.
dotchan fucked around with this message at 18:05 on May 27, 2021 |
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Jun 11, 2019 19:50
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Video link (The party stands around in a circle at the center of the map.) Karen: Did we defeat him? Sophia: Looks like it! Sarah: I've avenged my father! All-Vice (voice only, as the party looks around): Who in the world are you? How could mere humans defeat me, the ruler of time... (Sophia runs in front of Lulu to shield her.) But, I won't let you get away with this...the day I recover is the day you die...before then, I need rest...go! Go back to where you belong... Karen (as the screen begins to shake violently): W-what now!? Al: A-another anomaly? (One by one, the characters shoot up into the sky.)  (The party finds themselves floating in a zooming field of stars. The camera closes up on Karen's eye as she sees something...)  (There's a flash of light, and it forms into a young-looking Al, who raises his head and sees Karen. The scene fades to black as Karen stares back.) Karen (voice only): We were discovered on the plains near Outrack. When I asked Mr. T. T. "What year is this?", he laughed and told me "Two days after you disappeared from sea." We had come back to the present...but not everything was back the way it was. Because of Deima's attacks, Mr. Markdogarl has lost almost all of his fortune. Sarah, devastated upon realizing that Al--All-Vice--is her father's murderer, has locked herself in her room. And Al...hasn't come back.  (Morning dawns, and Karen is back to being all by her lonesome at the bar.) Barkeep: Can you already get up and move about? Karen: Yeah. I'm fine. (She turns around and looks wistful.) Nobody's come back [to this place] yet! Barkeep: Alice went home because her father has taken heavy losses. Karen: I see... Barkeep: That reminds me, go convince Sarah to eat something. If she doesn't, she'll get sick! Karen: .... Barkeep: Don't worry, Al will be fine. Karen: Yeah... (At the guild, Lulu is waiting downstairs on the couch, while Sophia and T. T. have a heart to heart in his office.) T. T.: I didn't expect you to visit me...have you recovered? Sophia: Yeah...I heard from Gaston, that since we disappeared, you kept looking for us, and would have kept looking even if you had to search the entire ocean? T. T. (smiling): I don't know why, but I completely panicked. How embarrassing. Sophia: You are just like you were eight years ago...you haven't changed all. (She bursts into tears.) *sob* T. T. (worried, walking closer): What's wrong? Did you get hurt somewhere? Sophia: Forgive me, forgive me... T. T.: What's going on here? Why are you apologizing? Sophia (still crying): I'm such a fool...you kept your promise for eight years, but I.... T. T.: Sophia...(pulling Sophia into a hug) do you remember what you said to me eight years ago? Sophia (still crying): I do...this time I remember everything. T. T.: I...I believe I would make a good father... Sophia (still crying): What are you talking about, silly? You are her father....  (That night, Radish is perched on the roof of the church looking at the Moon.) Radish: Are we...done [as an adventuring party]? (Sorel's moping at the cemetery again.) Sorel: Piper...it's almost time to fulfill my promise with you. Though I'm useless, please protect me until the very end. (Sorel walks away, not noticing that Piper's ghost has appeared at the tombstone.) (The scene fades to a black screen.) Karen (voice only): That night, I dreamed of Al...he was crying all alone in a dark place... Day 17 (Judgment Day): Time Watcher (The last day starts like the first, with Karen downstairs talking to the barkeep.) Barkeep: Hey! Did you sleep well? Karen: Yeah, a little. Where's Sarah? Barkeep: She just went out. I was about to talk to her [when she left]. Karen: Oh! Barkeep: That reminds me, you should rest some more. There's no chores [for you to do] here. Karen: I'm fine. I've thought about it, and I decided that it's better to go look for Al. Barkeep: I see...true enough. Karen: I might not be able to come back for a while. Barkeep: That's not a problem, it's just...what about the others? Karen: If they are against it, I'll go by myself if I have to. But I'll let them know. Barkeep: Take care! Karen: Then I'm going! The Morning When Al Wasn't There (We're kicked out to the hub menu for one last tour of the town and the NPCs we've come to know and love. I start at the church.) Radish: Maybe I'll come back here to be a nun...but before I do that... (Radish runs off.) (Meanwhile, at the Markdogarl mansion, the elder Markdogarl is looking at the window and Alice is looking at him...) Markdogarl: Have you recovered [from your injuries]? Alice: Daddy...sorry for being so stubborn. If I knew how much Daddy has given up for the sake of the guild... Markdogarl: It's my responsibility things turned out this way. My only regret is that I have to sell this house full of your mother's memories...forgive me. Alice: Please don't say that...you must be even sadder than I am about selling this house, daddy. (Beat.) Alice: Daddy...I came back because I wanted to help daddy by working party time. So, let's start all over! Markdogarl (turning around): Alice... Alice: I only ask that you allow me to be stubborn one last time. I want to save my friend. He's the second person in this town to befriend me outside of Radish... Markdogarl (looking out the window again): Be careful. I and your mother will pray for your safety... Alice (happily): Thank you, Daddy. (Next, the weapon's shop.) Burly Store Owner: Welcome! Huh? Why so down? Sarah: Well... Burly Store Owner: How can the hero of Outrack have such a [sullen] expression? I heard about Al not coming back. It's natural to worry, but it won't do to keep fretting. Sarah: That's not the whole reason...Al might be the man who murdered my father. If that's true, what should I do? Burly Store Owner: I don't know what happened, but that fellow's a good kid. I'm a little worried about his childlike nature; he's easily hurt. Sarah: [You think he's] easily hurt, huh… Bruly Store Owner: That’s my opinion. Though he’s been through quite a bit and knows a lot, but everyone has their child-like side! (Beat.) Sarah: I...had a strange dream yesterday...that Al was crying, all alone... Burly Store Owner: Maybe he's looking for help? Sarah (startled): Help? [What do you mean?] Burly Store Owner: Have you thought of something? Sarah (thoughtful): ... (she walks to a display, then turns around) I'm going out for a bit. When I come back...would you let me work here part time? Burly Store Owner: That'd be great...but what brought that on? Sarah (grinning): Oh, nothing. I've already gotten over it. Thanks! Burly Store Owner (flexing): Great! Do your best! (And finally, the guild; the order of visitation doesn't matter, as there's two cutscenes to watch in here. First, T. T., Sophia, and Lulu are gathered in T. T.'s office.) T. T.: Are you still planning to go? Sophia: Yes. If not for that young man, we might not be together now... T. T.: Is it all right if I don't go? Sophia: It's all right. If you go as well, what'll this town do [without you]? T. T. (worried): But...Lulu's still just a child? Lulu: I'm not a child! Sophia: Uh oh, you got her mad. T. T.: All right, I'll do as you asked...but promise me that you won't make senseless sacrifices! Sophia: I know. Hey, Lulu, you haven't said goodbye yet! Lulu: Bye bye, Papa! (T. T. turns around. Lulu walks up to him.) Lulu (turning to Sophia): Papa's crying! Sophia: Men don't like to show others their fragile side. Don't bother him. (Now, having seen all of the other cutscenes, we watch Karen enter the guild, only to find everyone else already waiting for her.) Karen: Huh?? Radish (as Karen turns to look at her): You finally made it. Alice: You're so slow! How can we set out without our leader? Sophia (as Karen turns to look at her): Oh, well. We're all here, aren't we? Sarah (as Karen turns to look at her): Let's hurry on out! Lulu (as Karen turns to look at her): LET'S GO! Karen: Everyone... (determined) Gaston! We're going to bring Al back. That's my report! Gaston: Ok, got it! But first, here's the reward for fending off the pirates. (We are rewarded with 4000 gold and enough exp to level Alice, Radish, Sophia, and Lulu to level 32.) Karen: Let's head out to the Temple of Time! This is our last job as a team. Together With Friends (It's a good thing we're not shooting a war movie, because we've been dropping Famous Last Words left and right. As for me, I'm going to check for upgrades in the weapon/armor shop.) Burly Store Owner: Welcome! (There are a couple of things I can buy, and more to pick up once we get to the final gauntlet.) Burly Store Owner: Do your best! (And now, the general store.) Shop lady: Welcome! (I could have blown my load here, but I always like to pretend that the adventure continues after the game ends, so if I don't need to buy something I hold onto the money.) Shop lady: Please be careful. I'll pray for your safety. Thanks for you patronage! (Out at the temple of time, the magic circle is already glowing.) Karen: The gate is open. Al's here, all right! Alice: Doesn't it usually close as soon as someone goes in? Sarah: You're still thinking about stuff like that at a time like this? Al should be in there! Everybody hurry up! Karen: Yeah...it's pointless to think too much about stuff. Sophia: It might be a trap? Karen: We'll cross that bridge when we get there! (On the battlefield where we faced All-Vice, Al is seated at the center with his arms drawn around his knees.) Al: I'm...not human... Text on a darkened screen: Yes...not human... Al: I finally get it...there's another me...inside of my body... Text on a darkened screen: I am Thou...and Thou art I... (As far as I know, the game isn't actually making a Persona reference; I just couldn't resist the shout-out.) Al: If I stay with Karen and the others, I might endanger them... Text on a darkened screen: Punish them... Al (screwing his eyes shut): Don't come here, Karen! Text on a darkened screen: Bring it! Bring it... Al (eyes still shut): Stop it... Text on a darkened screen: Hahaha...the gate is open...the day they get there is the day they die... Al (eyes still shut, shouting over a flash of dramatic lightning): Stop it! I don't want to hurt anyone! (Beat; Al stands up.) Al: That's right...if I jump from here and end my life... ???: You can't do that, young man who has the soul of an angel! Al (turning around, startled): Who's there? (Show of hands, anybody surprised that it's Sorel who teleports into the scene?) Al: Sorel!? Sorel: Let me tell you everything you know! Al: Do you have any idea who I am? Sorel: Of course I do. You are "The Watcher of Time", and the incarnation of All-Vice, the guardian angel of the same. (Clap of dramatic lightning.) Al: Why must I kill Karen and the others? And how do you explain my amnesia? Sorel: All-Vice's is tasked to eliminate those who dare to interfere in [the] time[line]. You normally take human form, continually seeking those who need to be punished. But All-Vice was accidentally defeated by humans...a high-level angel like him couldn't possibly be defeated by [mere] humans, but that indeed happened...unable to retain human form, his soul fell into a deep sleep so he could be revived [at a later time], but his body, unable to live on without a soul, perished. That's how you were born. Al: Me!? Sorel: Yes. [Physically,] you're just an eight year old child. (More dramatic lightning.) Al: But, if I die, wouldn't Karen and the others be... Sorel: I already told you. We heavenly host are not allowed to commit suicide. Al (shocked): "We"? You mean, you're also... Sorel: I was once part of the highest rank of the celestial host, but was framed for rebellion. After losing the [ensuing] battle, I was exiled to the mortal realm. (Pauses.) Deima, who you defeated earlier, might have been one of my underlings who was exiled along with me. (Thunder rumbles as he pauses; then, he continues, determined.) One day, I will return to the celestial realm, so I need to borrow your power. Al (Shocked): [Why] my power? (Dramatic lightning flashes again, and in that flash, Sorel has grown a pair of pitch black wings.) Al: Y-you mustn't! Sorel: Hurry up and awaken, All-Vice! (He makes some sort of sweeping gesture with his right arm and the scene flashes to white.)  Karen (pissed off): Why didn't we jump directly to the highest floor!? Sarah (pissed off): Bastards! What did you do to Al? Battle 30: Racing Towards the Sky Link to full battle All of the non-fliers except Alice can fly over the gap if Lulu casts Levitate on them (and the weapon I bought for Lulu in the shop automatically confers Fly on her), but I mostly choose to go the long way around to deal with the enemies that are in the way. The on-field treasures are as follows: two Secret Magic Scrolls (consumable that increase max MP), a Long Life Medicine, a Hellfire Staff (weapon upgrade for Karen), and a pair of Golden Silk Gloves (weapon upgrade for Alice). Battle 31: The Consequence of Hesitation Link to full battle  (The team finds themselves at the bottom of a set of stairs, and the camera pans up to reveal Sorel, still with his wings visible.) Sarah (shocked): No way...wings? Sorel: My apologies, but I cannot allow you to continue upward. Karen: W-why, Soren? [Why] you? Sorel: All-Vice has just awakened. Though he is an angel, he may fall short again. I must eliminate all risks! Karen: What...you didn't...Sorel, what did you do to Al? Sarah: Dammit! What did you do to Al! Sorel: If you wish to know, you'll have to defeat me first! (Sorel makes the same sweeping gesture with his arm as before, and summons a whole bunch of demonic creatures onto the field.)  (Once had great power in the celestial realm, but was exiled to the mortal realm due to being too powerful. [Has] extremely strong attack power.) This is a map where placing your units has to be done very carefully. The batwomen can charm and Sorel is immediately within range to lay down some serious hurt, making it all too easy to wipe. The on-field treasure is a Jade Rod, a weapon upgrade for Lulu that makes her no longer able to fly, but it boosts her spells so I have her switch to that. Battle 32: Angel of Vengeance Link to full battle (The scene fades in with Sorel collapsed on the ground.) Karen: Why, Sorel? Sorel (leaking blood from his mouth): I...I wanted to go back to the celestial realm... (Beat.) Sorel (leaking blood from his mouth): Go...now you have enough strength to...bring...him back... Karen: We can save Al? Sarah: Seriously? Sorel (leaking blood from his mouth): Hurry...th-there isn't much time left... (One fade out/fade in later, the party minus Al is back where they fought All-Vice.) Alice: There isn't anyone here... ???: Over here! (After a bright flash, All-Vice appears in the same place as the last time the party fought him, along with a handful of angels.) All-Vice: We meet again, you sinners! I never expected that I, the guardian of time, would upset the flow of time [myself]... Sophia: The angel All-Vice...! Karen (angrily): Where's Al! All-Vice: Heheheh! Where else but right in front of you, foolish humans! Sarah (angrily): Don't lie! I won't be fooled by you! Because Al, he--he-- All-Vice: Ha! Just as you think, I am Al, but I can be said to not be Al as well. But there isn't anything to be sad about. I will mercifully send him to where your father is. Sarah (angrily): ...you’re not Al! Give him back, I say! Karen (angrily): Al! You can hear [me], right? If you lose to this jerk, I'll never forgive you! All-Vice: It's no use. With such a weak human will, he completely disappeared long ago. Hm...it's time to finish this. Let me repay you for everything you've done to me eight years ago. This is another battle where, according to the guide, more enemies are supposed to warp in, but they don't. The on-field treasures are as follows: a Ring of Mercy (an accessory that increases intelligence and light magic), a Divine Armor (armor upgrade for Al), and a Blizzard Ring (accessory that increases Ice magic).  Not only is All-Vice tougher than before, he's got a new gimmick: the first time you defeat him, he'll have a bit of dialogue... All-Vice: *panting* No matter what you do to me, I'll never be defeated by the likes of you...gack!? Argh...ack...you--you persist in fighting against me? Karen: Could it be...? Al! All-Vice: When I've taken care of these pests, I'll erase your consciousness properly... ...and then self-heal back to full loving health, meaning you have to whittle him all the way down again. At least Sarah gains a buttload of levels from this. All-Vice: No! Dammit! How could I be defeated by humans again? (All-Vice fades away, and Al appears where he once was.) Video link Sarah (about to cry): Al...pull yourself together...if anything happens to you, then I--I-- Karen: Al...wake up... Al: *groans* Sarah: Al!? Al (standing up): Oh...good morning, everyone... Sarah (about to cry): Al...you little... Al (smiling): Oh! Sarah...and everyone! You're here? Karen (smiling): Welcome back...Al. Al (turning towards Karen): I heard everyone's voices [calling to me] in the darkness...that gave me the courage to face [down] All-Vice. Karen (smiling): You must be tired! Radish (crying): H-how touching! Alice (smiling): How wonderful! Sophia (smiling): At any rate, congratulations! Lulu (smiling): Congratulations! Text on a darkened screen: It's not over yet... (The party looks around. Meanwhile, at where Soren's body lays...) Text on a darkened screen: Old friend! [It's time to] make your wish come true...give me strength! (Soren's body levitates and disappears.)  (The party finds themselves in the celestial realm against a team of angels, at the head of which is an angel with a magnificent head of hair. Then the objective pops up: Defeat Sorel-Vice!) Battle 33: Time and the Cracks Between Link to full battle It's a shame that the game is so bugged; the music, played by a full orchestra plus a church organ, is suitably awesome for a final battle, and Sorel-Vice is supposed to summon additional reinforcements onto the field.  (Description: A fusion of powerful angels, but cannot use their [full] strength if the angels do not cooperate.) Like All-Vice, Sorel-Vice has powerful AOE magic and can heal himself back to full health. Unfortunately for him, with all of the levels Sarah gained off him and his minions, it doesn't take long to beat his face in. Video link (The party finds themselves back in the temple of time.) Karen: Is it over? Al (turning towards Karen): It's all over. Sarah: Did we really defeat an angel? Alice (glittery eyed, as Al turns towards her): [We're] amazing! Al (turning back towards Karen): It must have been...because of "him". (Karen turns around as a ghostly Sorel with white wings appears over the party.) Sorel: I've given you quite a bit of trouble... Al: Don't say that...did you help us? We couldn't have possibly defeated an angel by our own power... Sorel: And neither did I have any reason to continue helping him. Al: So what'll you do now, Sorel? Sorel: I'll head back towards the celestial realm. Perhaps being defeated by you was another path back! Al (surprised): I-is that so? Sorel: It'll take a while to revive, and I have a lot of debts to repay, but I'm sure I can do it. Text on a darkened background, as a ghostly Piper appears next to Sorel: Because I'm not alone any more... (Piper and Sorel disappear from view.) Text on a darkened background: Farewell, my friends. We will never meet again...because now you are a human being named Al. (The camea pans back down to the party.) Lulu (turning towards Sophia): The angel won't show up agin? Sophia: That's right. Everyone went home. Lulu: I wanna go home too, to where Papa is... Sophia (smiling): Let's go home, back to where we belong. Sarah (as Lulu and Sophia turn to look at her): But...how are we supposed to go back? Sophia: Yeah, and can we leave this place unattended? Al: Though angels are immortal, it takes hundreds of years to reawaken. No one else can open this gate. It should be fine to leave this place as it is. (He looks around to the various party members.) I no longer have any power [here]...but it should be possible to travel to any time, any where, exactly once. Karen (smiling, as Al turns to face her): Once we leave, there's no coming back! Al: Then...would everyone please think about the time and place where they wish to go...the place where we will return. (The screen fades to black.) Text: Where do you want to go? Text: The time where we lived. The land where we [walked]. Text: To the Outrack of the present day...  As the credits start to roll, the game shows us the fates of everyone in the party: Alice has started to work at the cafe as a waitress under Markdogarl's constant (and not very stealthy) supervision.  Sarah, meanwhile, assists the weapon/armor store. I wonder if she ever told the Burly Store Owner that she was the one who accidentally caused him to go bald and offered to go looking for an antidote?  Radish has become a full-time nun at the church (presumably Outrack's church and not the one in her hometown) and now leads the choir.  T. T. and Sophia got busy and gave Lulu a ton of little brothers and sisters, and at least one of them has taken up to dressing like Karen.  Al and Karen are back to adventuring, but still somehow have trouble against hydras. C'mon! You're, like, level 40! Either one of you should be able to oneshot these things already!  Having gotten to safely, the two of them take refuge under a tree.  After resting up, they continue on their way, an angry Karen giving an embarrassed Al an earful as they walk. The more things change, the more things stay the same...  ...and that's it for Farland Saga 2! Thanks for following this LP, for catching my typos, and for correcting any translation errors! dotchan fucked around with this message at 18:15 on May 27, 2021 |
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Jun 13, 2019 03:54
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Mini-update: Farland Saga 2 voice cast (As before, information taken from a Chinese fan site) Al - Soichiro Hoshi Karen - Hikari Tachibana Sarah - Yuu Asakawa Alice - Shiho Kikuchi Radish - Yuri Amano Sophia - Yayoi Jinguji Lulu - Akiko Koumoto T. T. - Toshiyuki Morikawa Sorel - Isshin Chiba ----------------------------------------------------------- Mini-update: Farland Franchise discussion (Once again, all of this information has been translated from a Chinese fan site and whatever other information I could find on the internet as I have only played FS1, FS2, and I think at least one of the Farland Odyssey games. As none of these games have official English titles, I translated all of them to the best of my ability. If you guys have any interest in seeing LPs of these games, let me know--but given that these are very old games and I might not be able to buy or find copies to install, and if I do need to shell out money I'm going to have to ask for donations because I'm pretty much broke.) Like I mentioned in the first post, Farland has a long history, and though most of them don't stray very far from the general formula of "Ragtag Bunch of Heroes Meet, Fight Threats, Save the World" they still have their charm. Farland Story: Stories from a Distant Country First published: 1993 Platforms: PC98, PC-FX, Super Famicom Genre: Turn-based strategy (top-down view, alternating allied/enemy turns, engaging units shows a close-up animation a la Fire Emblem/Advance Wars/etc.) Plot synopsis: Overcome by ambition, the Queen killed the King and captured a summoner named Ferio in an attempt to call the demon king into the world. It's up to the young prince Ark and his merry band of misfits to shatter the Queen's ambitions and save Farsaria. Additional comments: As you can see from the screencaps, the Almighty Protagonist Headband gained its origins all the way back in this game. Farland Story 2: King Ark's Crusade First published: 1994 Platforms: PC98, FX, SFC Genre: Turn-based strategy Plot synopsis: Shortly after becoming king, Ark's Sword of Plot Importance gets stolen by the enemy, so Ark goes on the warpath to get it back and save the world. Farland Story: the Four Seals First published: 1996 Platforms: Windows, Playstation (1) Genre: Turn-based strategy Plot synopsis: A remake/rerelease of Farland Story 1 and 2 in one package, with slightly updated graphics and voice acting. Farland Story: Tears of an Angel First published: 1994 Platform: PC98 Genre: Turn-based strategy Plot synopsis: Not sure, as this game was not localized into Chinese, but it still takes place in the Farsaria kingdom and stars Ark and company. Additional comments: Kazue Yamamoto, who was also the character designer for Dance of Destruction, Silver Wings, The Bonds of the Earth, The Inheritance of the Gods, as well as Farland Saga 1 and Farland Saga 2, made her debut here. Farland Story: Dance of Destruction First published: 1995 Platforms: SFC, Sega Staturn Plot synopsis: Still the Farsaria kingdom, but this time the threat is from the Vardeath empire, and the protagonist is Riard, son of emperor Reid, who is running away from home with his childhood best friend Sarina so she (skilled in the Dance of Destruction) won't be used as a weapon of war. Farland Story: Silver Wings First published: 1994 Platform: PC98 Genre: Turn-based strategy Plot synopsis: This time, the Almighty Protagonist Headband goes to completely ordinary everyman Phil, on the run from an evil empire along with talking duck Weil and pixie girl Glass. This is also a game I haven't played so that's about as much information I can find in Chinese. (There's a Let's Play of the Japanese version here, if you care to take a look.) Farland Story: The Bonds of the Earth First published: 1995 Platform: PC98 Genre: Turn-based strategy Plot synopsis: Rebellious Princess Kashina has decided that she'd rather run away from home than be forced into a political marriage to seal a peace treaty. Given that this is a JRPG, this ends up saving the world anyway. (This game has also been Let's Played in Japanese.) Farland Story: The Inheritance of the Gods First published: 1995 Platform: PC98 Genre: Turn-based strategy Plot synopsis: The Great Thief Gray quickly finds himself in over his head when he tries to steal a MacGuffin and ends up embroiled in a plot that spans the fate of the world. Additional comments: According to the blogger, Sorel from Farland Saga 2 originates from this game. Farland Story: The Beast King's Testimony First published: 1995 Platform: PC98 Genre: Turn-based strategy Plot synopsis: Fantasy racism causes man and beast to be at war with one another in a never-ending cycle of violence. They have a fight; everybody loses. Additional comments: According to the blogger, this game is where "the Kansai dialect is a holy dialect" gag originated. Farland Story: The Capital of the Mad God First published: 1996 Platform: Windows Genre: Turn-based strategy Plot synopsis: Humanity hits peak Additional comments: Features cameos from The Inheritance of the Gods and The Beast King's Testimony, suggesting that these three games take place in the same world. Farland Saga First published: 1996 Platform: Windows Genre: Isometric turn-based strategy Plot synopsis: The blog gives away a few screenshots that don't make that much sense out of context and names playable characters (as well as a handful of villains), but otherwise doesn't spoil; still, please read this LP for details! Farland Saga 2: The Signposts of Time First published: 1997 Platforms: Windows, SS, PS (1) Genre: Isometric turn-based strategy Plot synopsis: Second verse, same as the first. Farland Odyssey: Those Who Continue the Legend First published: 1999 Platform: Windows Genre: Rogue-lite (I think; I never bothered to test what happens if your entire party wipes in a dungeon, and it doesn't hide information from the player, but otherwise it's very much a top-down turn-based dungeon crawler) Plot synopsis: A young man named Ark decides to start a life of being a bounty hunter, being attracted to the prospect of wealth and prestige, but, just like his ancient namesake, soon gets swept up in a battle for the fate of the world. Additional comments: Many staff members had left TGL by this point, including character designer Kazue Yamamoto. Farland Odyssey 2: [My] Serenade to You First published: 2000 Platform: Windows Genre: Classic turn-based rpg (dungeons, encounters that start up a separate battle screens, etc.) Plot synopsis: The trials and tribulations of Uni, a lady mercenary, in a war-torn land. Farland Symphony First published: 2002 Platform: Windows Genre: Isometric turn-based strategy rpg (each unit moves at its own speed) Plot synopsis: When his teacher goes missing after an attack, Adi sets out from the village where he grew up into the greater world. dotchan fucked around with this message at 20:14 on Jun 16, 2019 |
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Jun 13, 2019 03:59
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dotchan posted:(Next, the weapon's shop.) Something like - Burly Store Owner: That'd be great...but what brought that on? Sarah (grinning): Oh, nothing. There's something I was able to get over. Thanks! Thanks for the LP, I wasn't familiar with the game series at all.
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Jun 16, 2019 18:30
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I went poking around on the internet and it turns out Farland Story 1-6 has been fan-translated into English, so I definitely want to play through them and show them off. Farland Story is, as mentioned above, a turn-based RPG that takes the job class system of Fire Emblem and combines it with the battle system of Super Robot Warriors. It is by no means a very difficult game--so far as I can tell I have yet to worry about weapon durability, items can be spammed as many times as I want so long as there are items in my inventory to use, and if anybody other than the main character dies all they suffer are random minor stat penalties--so veterans of FE will definitely find it insultingly easy, but since I haven’t played very much of FE I’ve enjoyed myself so far.  Starting a new game drops us straight into Stage 1’s battle map, where a town is already under siege (and we know this because of the ominous music being played), and soon after a lone female flees for her life.  Hurry up, Mel! (running out of the town as well) Wait up, Miss Ferio! Come on, we have to hurry and meet up with Arc and the others! ….!! Miss Ferio! Look behind you! Dotchan’s Notes About Moon RunesThe translators went with “Arc” for the protagonist’s name, which is technically correct, but given his status as a hero who collects party members like a trainer collects Pokemon, I still think “Ark” is the better localization. Still, I’ll stick to this translation’s choices for consistency.    Looks like we got you. Surrender and come with us. I am only a priestess! What do you want from me!? You don’t need to know for now. If you just come quietly, we will guarantee the safety of your companion. Miss Ferio... Let’s do as they say… A wise choice….I leave the rest up to you. Do what you like. Yessir! Arc…(One fade out/fade in later…)   We should be upon the village soon. You’re right. By the way, this place must raise some memories...you had a splendid match against Diva in the tournament half a year ago. I’m still inexperienced...at that time, it was a miracle that I won. Anyway, ever since then we haven’t heard much of Diva. I wonder if losing to someone younger hurt his pride? I imagine he’s looking for a way to get back at you now. I guess. Well, let’s hurry back. Do you want to see Ferio that much? !...What are you talking about! I don’t have anything with that girl! Hahaha, everybody knows, Arc. Oh, well...Hmm? Someone’s coming.(A young woman hurries up the road where Arc and Randia are.) Hey, it’s Alicia! What’s the matter? you're[sic] all worked up. Huff...hurr...It, it’s terrible! The village...black army… What!? What about Ferio!? I don’t know...I got away by chance...If you hurry back...you may still be able to catch the black army. Please make haste! Everyone is…! What the hell is...Arc! Let’s go! Yeah! Dotchan’s Notes About Moon RunesThe “black army” are, as far as I can tell, the regular troops of the kingdom ruling the land (and given the size of the forces we meet down the road it’s way too big to be some sort of elite strike force or a unit whose specialty is doing the ruler’s dirty work), but perhaps they’re called such because the locals have grown to despise their liege. Personally I probably would have rendered this “the Black Knights” or “the Dark Knights”. Stage 1: A trip As the map pans up from the mission objective to the party’s current location, the music changes to a much more heroic-sounding tune and control is given to the player. However, before I actually get down to business, I will go in depth on the game’s menus and mechanics.  Right clicking brings up the main menu, which has the following commands: End Turn - hands control over to the enemy Zoom in - the map has three zoom levels, the regular view, a wider view, and the minimap. Pressing “zoom in” on the wider view brings up a rectangle and then zooms in to the regular view based on where you click the rectangle into place Zoom out - pressing zoom out on the regular view zooms out to the wide view Mini Map - shows the entire play area, with bright dots signifying where everyone is; clicking the rectangle zooms into the regular view at that location Unit List - lists the current party in join order as well as their class, level, current/max HP, and whether they’ve taken their action yet Item List - lists all items in the shared inventory and who can use them; extraneous items are sold from this menu System - see below The System menu has the following commands: Load Game - load a save Save Game - save the current state of the game Options - see below Help - see below End game - quit to the title screen The Options menu has the following commands: Sound - in theory, this changes the sound chip being used (I’m not sure what any of these settings mean except that FM might be short for Famicom) ; in practice, however, I think using an emulator has caused this to not work and what sound chip is being used can only be set when starting a brand new game Scroll - the speed at which the map scrolls Battle - whether or not to play the battle animations for non-boss encounters Animation - how fast said walking and battle animations play out Enemy, ally - whether there’s a marker designation whether a unit is F(riendly) or an E(nemy ETA: Shows what I know about early computer gaming! Thanks, Polsy! Polsy posted:FM is (or, was) a common form of sound synthesis back in the times where people had separate sound cards. Something you used to see a lot on sound selection options for DOS games. The Help menu has the following topics that give advice on playing the game on another screen when clicked: For hard-disk users posted:“Farland Story” needs 520 KB of memory to run. That is 532840 bytes. It is the minimum required. Dotchan’s Notes About Moon RunesI believe “frames of animation” would have been the better translation here. About direct and indirect attacks posted:From an adjacent hex, you will initiate a direct attack. From two hexes away, you will initiate an indirect attack. Usually, a direct attack is more powerful. But if you indirectly attack a unit that can’t indirectly attack you don’t have to worry about a counterattack. (The opposite is also true; some weapons only have ranged--i.e. indirect--attacks and therefore can’t counter at melee--i.e. direct--range.) About a unit’s strength posted:Usually, the H.P. (Health) and ATT (Attack power) stats will rise together. The bonus receiced[sic] on ATT from weapons is displayed separately. To the left is the bonus for a direct attack. To the right is the bonus for an indirect attack. An X indicates there is no bonus for that attack type. About a unit’s strength posted:Bowmen are very effective against flying units. Dark Elf units are safe from Siren attacks. Clerics and other priest units are extremely effective against undead units like skeletons and ghosts. The undead can’t counterattack them. (I have no idea if there’s any sort of weapon/magic triangle beyond what’s mentioned here, but if I notice anything I will report it when it becomes relevant.) What’s the marker in the corner? posted:The marker indicates whether a unit is friend or foe. It will also tell you which [friendly] units have been knocked out/ Other Stuff? posted:How do I sell items I don’t need? (Since I’m emulating the game, I have to remember to save early, save often.) The game also has a terrain system, but unfortunately there’s no help text for this, so my information may not be entirely accurate. On this map there are the following terrain types: Road - Gives the best movement bonuses. Grass - Not as good movement. Thick grass - Even worse movement. Forest - Worse still unless you are a flyer or elf but gives bonuses to defense. Rock - Also gives bonuses to defense. Flowers - May contain a treasure chest or have some other effect depending on the map. Mountain range - Not traversable at all by any of the units currently available.  Next is the class system. Each class has a unique movement range, equippable weapons, and growths, but I don’t have the patience to science out exact numbers so I’ll just give a general gist: Arc is a Randia is a Knight, has the highest movement range so far, prefers lances, and has growths favoring HP, ATT, and DEF. Alicia is a Cleric and thus can heal units instead of attacking with her favored weapon of maces; however, she gains no EXP from this so she will constantly lag behind in terms of levels. She has the worst movement range so far and has growths favoring ATT, WIS, and MAG DEF.  Stage 1 is a very straightforward introduction to most of the things you’ll be doing in any particular map: heading from the starting location (circled blue in post) to the objective (black exclamation mark) while liberating towns (circled in red) and collecting treasure (circled in yellow) along the way, being careful not to block the path forward because party members cannot move through one another. While it’s not necessary to defeat any enemies except for the boss, it’s generally worth it to do so to collect their drops (either their equipped weapon or some money) and feed EXP to your units.  The above is what a typical battle between units looks like with animations turned on and playing at normal speed: your unit does an attack depending on their distance from the enemy and gains EXP depending on the level difference and whether the enemy unit died, and the enemy does a counterattack if they’re still alive. On the enemy turn, since the enemy attacks first, your character gains EXP only if they are still alive to do a counterattack. To save on time, I turn off all non-boss animations and have all animations play at max speed.  On the enemy turn, the music changes and any units that aren’t parked in towns or villages will advance and attack any units that are in range; in this case, they all targeted Arc, giving him a level up. I have no idea how the RNG works, but I was able to confirm via accidentally getting Arc killed and having to restart several maps that growths are indeed random. To save on screenshots I will not capture every characters’ growths as they level.  The hidden treasures in Stage 1 are 200 G, 100 G (which I missed but oh well), and an Herb (an item that heals 20 HP and can only be used by a unit on themselves; the equivalent item that can be used on others is called “Whiskey” in this game). Each town’s shop plays cheerful music and offers unique items for sale as well as some advice pertaining to the map; staying in a town replenishes either a flat amount (5 HP) or 10% of max health per turn; I haven’t bothered to check.   Don’t overdo it! You can recover even if you get beaten, but you’ll lose some of your strength. Better to cure! Upon reaching the boss (probably always equipped with a weapon that can do both melee and ranged damage so you can’t cheese them one way or another), the boss will give some kind of taunt occasionally tailored to who reached them first--in this case there was no special dialogue--and start up some jamming music that persists until the boss dies. How dare you defeat my men! I will single-handedly kill you all! Have at you!!! I feed the kill to Alicia so she can catch up on EXP. Uoooo! But, you’re too late to save your precious priestess! Lord Balzar has already taken her far from here! What!? Are you talking about Ferio!? ….. He’s dead… Anyway, let’s hurry to the village!Instead of having the end of the stage play out in-cutscene, you still have to move somebody into the village to trigger additional dialogue. drat, we were too late! Ferio? Where is Ferio!? Look! I found this in miss[sic] Ferio’s room! That’s Ferio’s handwriting. “A man in black armor is looking for me. I don’t know why, but I will try to escape together with Mel.” ...There’s no mistaking it. They’re after Ferio. drat it! What are they planning to do with Ferio?! Whatever it is, we have to go after them!Since this first update has a bunch of  about game mechanics, I will end it here, but how would you guys like future updates to happen? As much as I have played so far (which will take longer because I have to review more footage and make more screencaps, but will cover more content at once) or one stage per update (faster updates with less content, but I will be able to build up a nice backlog of already recorded gameplay).Characters introduced in this update: Ferio: A priestess kidnapped by the black army for reasons yet to be known. Mel: Ferio’s companion/apprentice/servant; was kidnapped along with Ferio. Balzar: The commander of the black army. Arc: A “totally ordinary” swordsman who effectively instigates a rebellion when he chases after the kidnapped Ferio; has a crush on her that he’s not willing to admit; wields swords. Randia: Arc’s best friend and former royal knight; wields lances. Alicia: Another cleric who serves in the same village as Ferio and Mel; wields maces. ?: The unnamed commander of the enemy forces that the party has to overcome in order to move forward; wields a lance.
dotchan fucked around with this message at 17:25 on Feb 6, 2021 |
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Jul 28, 2020 02:10
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dotchan posted:Sound - in theory, this changes the sound chip being used (I’m not sure what any of these settings mean except that FM might be short for Famicom) FM is (or, was) a common form of sound synthesis back in the times where people had separate sound cards. Something you used to see a lot on sound selection options for DOS games. Also there's a broken music link just under the stage 1 heading. One stage per update sounds good to me, at least, as long as some story happens and it's not just a battle.
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Jul 28, 2020 22:12
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I’m impatient so I’m pushing ahead with single-stage updates, but the vote for how updates should be handled will continue to be tallied if anybody cares very strongly about it one way or another. Stage 2: The dwarves  They came through here a while ago… Looks like there are a lot of black soldiers around here as well. What shall we do now? An old friend of mine lives in his region. Let’s ask him to help us. We can’t go up against the black army with only a few people like this. This map features the first instance of recruitable characters: our objective, at the bottom right corner of the map, and another recruit in the village nestled between the mountains (marked with a teal exclamation mark). Randia goes to collect the treasure on the upper right corner of the screen while Arc and Alicia head south. The reason we can’t make a beeline for the objective even if we wanted to is that this map has the first instance of shallow water and deep water. Shallow water can be traversed (albeit rather slowly), but none of our characters can traverse deep water. Trying to walk into shallow water for the first time with Alicia yields the following dialogue: Kyaa!! I can’t swim!!! Eh? I can reach the bottom here... While clearing out the first set of enemies closest to Arc and Alicia I also take the time to visit the first town, which contains weapons upgrades for the two of them. This is the area of the mighty dwarves. We’ll be fine even if the black army attacks. I have not seen many dwarves around lately, though. I’m a bit worried. The town to the south has a better axe for our future recruit and a hint that I really should get to liberating the last town I have available to me at the moment. Near the mountain to the northwest is a village of dwarves. Because of them there aren’t that many soldiers here.  Oh, thanks for driving off the black army. I am the chief of this village. They were upon us before we could react. I see...By the way, is Docatti here? You’re a friend of his? He left for the southeastern fortress a while ago, but we haven’t heard from him since... Then the bridge must have been torn down. Sounds like an organized attack. These guys know how to fight... !!...We must hurry and come to his aid! Is it okay if I go with you? The villagers will repair the bridge.Godaar’s class is “Dwarf”. He uses axes and his growths favor HP, ATT, and DEF, but he is very vulnerable to magic.  The bridge spawns at the end of the enemy’s turn so that they can’t rush in and take the party unaware. Meanwhile, Godaar’s home town doesn’t have any new offerings, so I only transcribed the shop dialogue. Please take care of our chief! Long ago, the people who fought with the demon race hid their weapons and supplies in treasure chests all over the land, in case they be needed again. They marked the places where the chests were buried with beds of flowers.Given that I went into this game totally blind, “flower beds = potential treasure spots” would have been nice to know in Stage 1…   You get different dialogue depending who kills the Knight guarding Docatti. If it’s Alicia:  Ohh, you saved my butt, miss. Thanks a bunch! You’re welcome. You seem to be unhurt.If it’s Arc: Ohh, thank the gods! You saved my rear end. I can’t express my...hmm? ...Arc…? How do you know my name?If it’s Godaar: Ohh, you saved my butt. You were safe all along.And the following dialogue plays no matter what: Hey Docatti. Long time no see. What happened to the mighty dwarves? Do I hear some sarcasm there, Randia? Whatever, you and your friends sure saved my hide today. So, this is Arc? He’s gotten so big...well, what did you want from me? Our village was attacked by the black army. They kidnapped Ferio. ...I see… I have heard about you. I beg you, please lend us your strength. Very well. But before that, I want to see how strong you are. Come at me with all you got! Just do it, Arc. Good luck! Okay, here I come!(Cue rear end-kicking music) Docatti is a Berserker; like Godaar, he can equip axes, is weak against magic, and his growths are about the same. I have no idea if Berserkers are supposed to be the Dwarf’s promotion unit, but I guess we’ll find that out later. Additionally, when Docatti says he wants to fight Arc, he means nobody but Arc himself; if you try to target Docatti with anyone else, he complains (“Hey, keep out of this!”) and the action is not effective. However, since there are technically no more enemies left on screen Arc (and anyone else) can take whatever actions they wish; plus, you can still heal Arc with Alicia, and the first time you do so the following exchange plays: Miss, won’t you cast a healing spell on me, too? Ah, ummm… … Hahahah, just kidding! Hurry up and heal him, already.With Alicia backing Arc up, it doesn’t take long to end the battle. S, splendid! You’ve become such a big strong man… Do you know me? Yeah. I’ve known you since you were this high. He’s a living legend. He was originally the leader of the royal knights. He’s a good friend. Living legend, my foot! Well, are we going or not?Characters introduced in this update: The dwarven chief of a village between the mountains who joins the party to help them drive the black army out of the land; wields axes. A dwarven former royal knight who joins the party after he is rescued and defeated by Arc in a duel; wields axes.
dotchan fucked around with this message at 17:27 on Feb 6, 2021 |
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Jul 29, 2020 02:07
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Stage 3: Rebel round-up From here on we will be in the black army’s territory. Don’t do anything rash. Proceed with caution. Understood. This stage features reinforcements (as marked by the purple arrow); I will discuss that in more detail when that happens. Meanwhile, the party starts their southward march.  Are you a rebel army? You’ll be running into suppression forces, soon. Be careful out there... It looks like they’re calling in reinforcements to suppress you guys. drat. The enemy reinforcements are here. Go! Kill everyone in the rebel army!The first wave of reinforcements--a wizard and two skeletons--spawn in on Turn 5 (though I think I’ve also had this happen on Turn 4 when I tried to be cheeky and plant units very close to where the enemy would spawn), and will keep spawning in every 5 turns three additional times. You can choose to park units there to guard the area, or you can wait for these reinforcements to catch up to your party (though the latter isn’t recommended if you’re busy fighting something else at the same time).   Thank you for bringing down the black army. So, you are the rebel army that we’ve been hearing about. !!! Deino, is that you? Long time no see! Arc?! Don’t tell me YOU are the leader of the rebel army… I’m not something that much. In fact... ...I see. Ferio was...I remember her. What a terrible thing to happen to anybody. By the way, have you heard anything from Diva lately? I don’t get it, myself. Ever since he lost to you in the tournament, he’s been obsessed with gaining power. Deino, won’t you join us? Maybe we might find Diva on the way. Sure, I’ll come. The enemy base is to the south of here, but the bridge came down in a recent storm. There is a ferry one the island to the southeast, though. The general in this district is Megades. He is a harsh man. Megades…? Friend of yours? When I was in the royal knighthood...no, it must be a coincidence.Deino is a Wizard who uses Rods that can deal Direct damage, Indirect damage, or both. His growths favor WIZ, AGL, and MAG. DEF.  The town where Deino is recruited sells PowerP, which boosts 5 ATK, and Shield, which boosts 5 DEF, but those are not things I want to spend my money on just yet. I want to be in the royal knighthood when the black army is overthrown. The town on the southwest coast sells Evil Charm, which boosts 5 MAG. DEF. I buy a handful to feed to Randia, Godaar, Docatti, and Arc. There’s also another Evil Charm on the island further to the west, but I didn’t bother getting it. Usually, you can cross the shallows to the island to the south. It’s ebb now, so it’s easy to get there. The town on the island has nothing new to offer. You saved us from the black army. With more party members, this means more custom dialogue. Megades (I wonder if the original name was supposed to be “Megadeth”  ) always talks first and says the same thing: Here they are. The rebel army.Then, Alicia, Arc, or Godaar get the following response: Hey, this isn’t a kid’s playground. If you don’t leave, you’ll die. In fact, you’ll die anyways. Be silent! I will put a stop to you!/ Shut up! I’ll destroy your black army! Empty words. Come and attack!If it’s Dieno: How dare you defile our village! Today I will put an end to you! Big words for a small kid! Come, I will snuff out your life myself.If it’s Docatti: So, you’re the commander of the black army here. Looks like you forgot about your pride as a knight. Hmph, even in a world like this you will fight agaist[sic] war… How pitiful. At least I will be able to kill you myself. Heh, interesting. Come on!If it’s Randia: You...are Megades? Randia, isn’t it? I see you have a bunch of kids with you. Haha, are you playing war with them? You bastard, what happened to your pride as a knight?! Why do you fight for the black army?! Ha ha ha, naive as ever, I see. For power, of course! What is the meaning of pride? I’ll show you by smashing you to pieces!Megades hits fairly hard even on units at his level, but given there’s more of us than there are him, we eventually prevail. I can’t believe I lost to people like you. You aren’t a patch on Lord Balzar. Did you say Balzar? What is he?! He cast aside his humanity...and became a demon. Kid...Arc or whatever, Lord Balzar is waiting for you… What are you talking about? What connection is there between Balzar and me? You’ll understand when you meet him...If you’re still alive, that is...Ugh! Balzar…? What was he talking about?Characters introduced this update: A wizard who is one of Arc's old friends and/or rivals. Wields rods. The commander of the black army occupying stage 3 and a former royal knight fallen from grace.
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Aug 1, 2020 00:00
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Stage 4: Spirits Whimsical music begins to play; as if the party can hear this, even they react with confusion.  W, what’s this…? What an eerie forest...like there are ghosts haunting it... Wait a minute, isn’t this elf forest? This!? I have heard about an elf forest, but isn’t it a lovely place…? If we don’t go through here, catching up with Balzar is going to be difficult. Anyway, what the hell happened here? The gimmick of this map is that some of the flower beds (labeled with numbers) are warp tiles: 1 warps to 2, 2 to 3 and so on. If someone is standing on one of these tiles, then the warp tile warps a unit to the next available open spot. There are also reinforcements that appear in the general area marked by purple arrows.  There’s only one variant for rescuing Leisa and it’s only in one line.  Ahhh, it’s been 15 years since I’ve seen the world outside. Thank you so much for freeing me.Everybody except Alicia: What the hell happened to this forest? (Alicia says: “What on earth…” instead.) Fifteen years ago, the forest was invaded by the dark elves. We fought back as best we could, but since they had magic we could not stop them.Rescuer: Then those ghosts… Yes. The magic of the dark elves corrupted the forest spirits . They drove us out of our homes with our own weapons. Please, somehow help this forest. If you can defeat some of the spirits, the others will return to their old selves.Rescuer: What, you mean kill them? Don’t worry. If you kill them in this world, it only means they will return to theirs. If the evil spirits are destroyed, the other spirits should come back to us. I will do the best I can to aid you, please accept me in your group.Liesa’s class is “elf”. She uses bows and therefore can only attack from indirect range, so you have to position her carefully, and her growths have seemed fairly average so far. In the Chinese version she says, “it’s been 15 years since I’ve seen people from the world outside” (emphasis mine) which personally makes more sense but  The town where Liesa was rescued has an upgrade for Randia; meanwhile, everyone else heads North to kill everything because I need the experience and you need to defeat every sprite except the two that are next to the boss anyway. This used to be such a beautiful forest. But now it’s desolate and dead. Whoever is attacked when the reinforcements spawn will be the one to react; if that’s not Docatti, then he will be the one to provide exposition, otherwise Randia will do it. Attacked Unit: W-what?! Exposition Unit: It looks like there are some loose brigands running amok in the first. On guard! They are attacking!  Every other treasure on this map can be skipped, but grab this one: it’s a promotion item for Mel once she is at least level 10 (but I will probably hold up on using it until she hits max level at 20).  The town on the far east end of the map sells L. Shoes, a consumable item that increases AGL. by 5 points. You can come up here, but if you go any farther you will be attacked by the spirits... The town between the mountains (north of warp point 2) sells Fairy Pills, which heal 30 HP and though I can get them as drops in this stage I also buy a stack just in case. Usually the spirits are so docile, so why are they in a frenzy now? Besides the main objective, you have to defeat specific spirits. Every time you do so, the unit that does the last hit says: “That’s one of them. How many more are there!?” You’ll know you’re done when Liesa says: “The root of evil has been destroyed...Everyone, it looks like the spirits are reverting. Now, only the boss dark elf is left...Maybe we elves can once again seize dominance over this forest.”  The dark elf only has custom dialogue if you haven’t defeated all of the free-roaming spirits (otherwise she doesn’t say anything):  It’s no use. The spirts of this forest protect me from harm. You can’t injure me.She isn’t just taunting, either; she takes no damage in this state. But once the spirits are down, she’s easy to defeat since she can only do ranged attacks.  Aarghh...This cannot...But, don’t revel in your victory too much. The day the devil is resurrected and lays waste on the world is close at… Miss Lucieda? You were safe!? Liesa? Did you defeat the dark elves? No...It’s all because these people lent me their strength. You are Lucieda, aren’t you. I’m glad you are safe. You are...perhaps a royal knight? That’s right. It has been 20-odd years, but you haven’t changed a bit. By the way, I wonder what happened to the patriarch… The patriarch...no, my father is no longer alive. He lost his life 15 years ago when the dark elves attacked. Now I am the head of the clan. I see...Do you know what is going on in the world outside? Roughly, yes. The dark elves stole a sealing ring and took it somewhere. A sealing ring? That’s right. We elves have been guardians to it for generations. It is one of four sealing keys. You know this, Arc. Hundreds of years ago, the devil that laid waste to the world was sealed into the demon world with those keys. The four keys from legend…? Is there a connection between them and the black army? Yes. That ring has the power to open and close the door to the demon world. Maybe they also have stolen the mirror. I believe it was kept in the royal castle. Even if they did, they can’t revive the devil. The other keys were lost long ago. Arc, maybe this has some connection with Ferio. With Ferio!? But why…? Let’s not quarrrel[sic]. Please take me with you. As the head of the elves, I must recover the ring. Of course. But, where shall we go now…? We know where the other sealing key is. So, let’s head for the sea. From there we can cross over to the capital. The black army will do the same, maybe we can catch up with them. Okay! To the sea it is!Characters introduced in this update: An elf rescued by the party when they passed through former elven-controlled territory and liberated the town where she was held prisoner; wields bows. The current leader of the elves, who joins the party to reclaim a lost artifact her people was responsible for guarding; wields rapiers.
dotchan fucked around with this message at 17:56 on Jun 12, 2021 |
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Aug 2, 2020 11:52
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Stage 5: Siege on Karak If we cross this mountain, we should reach the sea. If I remember correctly, there is a castle in this vicinity. It could be under the dark army’s control. Whatever the case, let’s press on. Let’s keep our eyes open. The gimmick of this map is that the straightforward route to the objective is blocked by enemies who take no damage, so you have to go around and trigger an event (circled in purple) with the new recruit. We also get to use Lucieda for the first time; she is a high-elf who wields rapiers, and her growths favor WIS and MAG DEF.  The starting town has a bow upgrade for Liesa (and the currently best available mace weapon). There are various spirits, each with their own characteristics. Fire gives protection, lightning wisdom, earth strength and wind magic power. The dialogue that happens once Iwan (I probably would have rendered this name as “Ivan” but oh well) is rescued has minor variations depending on the gender of his rescuer.  Ohh! You are heroes! You are the heroes who drove away the black army!Female rescuer: This kid seems really nice. (Male rescuer: What’s with this happy kid…?) Thank you so much! You came here to liberate Karak Castle, didn’t you?Female rescuer: Yes. But we are searching for a way to go on from here. We have something important to do… (Male rescuer: Yeah. But we are searching for a way to go on from here. We have something important to do…) Oh, I see! But you know, there is a back door into the castle where you can get back on the road. It was built before they reconstructed the castle.Female rescuer: Really? Thank you for telling us! (Male rescuer: Really? That’s certainly useful to know!) Just go west from here and you’ll find it. I’m coming with you, too. When my people see me, they’ll treat me like a hero from the old days!Female rescuer: (Really…?) (Male rescuer: (I wonder…)) Iwan is a Fighter who uses swords; as far as I can tell, his growths favor HP, ATK, and AGL.  The shop of the town where you rescue Iwan has a sword upgrade for him (and the currently best available Lance and Axe weapons in case anybody missed getting them earlier). In the mountains to the north is Karak Castle. You can usually get there through the valley, but the black army has barricaded it so nobody can go up tehre. To the west of the southwest town is a promotion item for Godaar.  The shop in said town sells items that boost DEF, WIS and MAG DEF. Somewhere in the mountains up north is a tree that can grant you power. That’s what local legends say. Here is the tree in question; it boosts all stats (except HP) of the unit who interacts with it by 1. When a male unit first reaches it they say: “What a wird[sic] tree, standing here all by itself...”, the message “[Unit] touched the tree” displays, the screen flashes white for a moment, and then they say “??? What the hell happened? The tree vanished...was it an illusion?” (Female characters say" What a strange tree..." and "??? What on earth just happened..."). In the run where I grabbed this screenshot, I had to start over due to carelessness and so I ultimately gave the upgrade to Arc since he’d hit max level sometime in the previous stage without me paying careful attention to when that occurred.  Only Iwan can open the way forward; anyone else says: “A dead end...is there some hole we can crawl through?” Hey, over here! There’s a tunnel to the other side here! Hey, if I pull this chain over here...(The screen shakes and a loud rumble sounds as the three mountains to the west of Iwan disappear.) If we go through here, we will be near the castle. What a great noise. You’re the first ones to see this place. I use it to sneak to and from the castle. Good, isn’t it? Um...Don’t the black army soldiers hear your[sic] when you use it? ……………….Ohhh!! Don’t ‘Ohhh!!’ us! Hurry before they find us!After this, the enemies on the other side of the mountains start making a beeline for the party and can easily swarm and overwhelm a group that’s too small.  There’s no custom dialogue for the boss of this stage.  Hohum, I thought I heard something earlier. So it was you. I congratulate you on making it this far, but you can’t get away now! My name is Demitos. I’m the highest ranking soldier in these parts. Your friend there is a servant of mine. Dotchan’s Notes About Moon RunesI thought “your friend” meant Iwan and that he was some sort of double agent, so I was very confused when Iwan got no custom dialogue and nothing came of this reveal. Demitos can be targeted at both indirect and direct damage range, so it didn’t take long for me to surround and defeat him.  Well done...But the road ahead of you is full of danger...Take care of...yourselves… Another area freed from the black army...But where could Ferio be?Characters introduced this update: An enthusiastic young man who dreams of being one of the heroes of legend; wields a sword. A commander of the black army tasked with guarding Karak castle.
dotchan fucked around with this message at 17:33 on Feb 6, 2021 |
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Aug 4, 2020 21:47
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Stage 6: Island The music changes as the party finds themselves facing a chain of islands. Waa, what a beautiful ocean… Does the black army control this area too? Perhaps...Huh? There’s somebody over there... While there are shallows that can be traversed (very slowly) by foot, this map is designed to showcase the three new recruits we’re about to pick up; once they are in the party, send one of them to the north-east side of the map to trigger an event that lowers the tide and makes more land available for our landbound units.   So you’ve come, black army! I’ll give you the punishment you deserve!Don’t bother trying to attack Arina; her defenses are boosted to absurdity so you don’t accidentally kill her before she can be recruited. Any unit can talk to her if placed immediately next to her, but she only has custom dialogue depending on the gender of the unit. What the-you guys are persistent! Give me a break!Male unit: I told you, we aren’t the black army... Female unit: Like I said, we aren’t the black army...  Miria only has some very slight custom dialogue for her rescue scene:  Fuuu, you go hunting for strange objects for a bit, and in marches the black army. What a drag. Hmmm? Did you save the town just now?Rescuer:Are you okay? You don’t look hurt… Yes, I’m fine. Thanks a bunch. How about a bit of music in gratitude? Excuse us, can we ask a favour of you? (If he was the one who did the last hit, he says instead: “Don’t take the trouble. Can we ask a favour of you?”)Oh, that’s too bad. What favour would this be? You are the leader of the Sirens. We would like you to talk to one of your people for us.That’s an easy one. You probably mean the one that is guarding our territory. Well, let’s get on with it.Miria is a Bard, and like Bards in The Binding Blade, they can give extra turns to allied units. She equips harps (whose range depends on what type of harp that gets equipped) and her growths favor WIS, AGL, and MAG. DEF..  The shop where you rescue Miria has sword upgrades for our fighters and some stat boosting items. Do you see the ruins on the island over there? Long ago there was a siren town there, but it’s now abandoned. Arina can only be recruited with Miria, and she blocks the way forward, so you can’t skip recruiting her. Sis! What are you doing, these people are with the black army!You really are thoughtless. Listen to what these people have to say!...Hummmm...So, in short, you are trying to prevent the sealing keys from being stolen, right? Unfortunately the door to the demon world is already half open. The problem is that we need all four keys to close it again.Humm...I know of a key like that, but it’s in a very safe place... Where is it?In the ruins to the west. Best there’s a guardian there, and there’s harpies flying around the islands, so you can’t get near. You’ll need some help if you want to go there. Is it okay if you get another member in your party? Certainly. By the way, how are we going to get from one island to another?There are shallows you can wade through. Pamila, help them out, will you? Yes, leader.Arina is a Valkyrie who uses Javelins/Spears (and the one she has does damage at both ranges) and her growths generally favor ATT., WIS., and MAG. DEF.; Pamilia is a Siren who uses the same weapon type (but the only ones available to her are limited to direct damage), and her growths are about the same.  The town where Arina was recruited doesn’t have any new items for sale. Somewhere in this ocean is said to be a magical shell that can temporarily cause the tide to go extremely low. I don’t know if it is true... Though I could finish the map with just the fliers, I still wanted to feed experience to some of the other units so I triggered this event. Could this be that shell we heard about?If that’s it, the black army guys must still be wandering around here, too.Hey, Arina. Please give me that.Miria!!Awww, don’t glare at me like that.Well, let’s try it out.(The screen shakes and fades to black before fading back in.) Let’s look around to see what happened.. Thank you very much for helping us.There is more land now. Try to keep up with us. Okay. This is a weapon upgrade for Miria.  There is a very slight bit of custom dialogue when fighting the boss. If anyone else does it, this happens: Attacking unit: Is she a watch post? Watch out! Golems are immune to magical forms of attack!If Arina is the one who attacks, this happens: Is this the guardian? It’s totally impervious to magic attacks.The Golem also has pretty tough magic defenses compared to every other enemy and it’s also sitting on a town, but given there’s so many of us and only one of it--and it only does damage at melee range--taking it down is just a matter of time.  Unit who does the last hit on the boss: Is this a sealing key…? Looks like a bowl... Even so, if you put this together with the other keys it can open or close the door to the demon world. That’s pretty good for a bowl, isn’t it? The devil… Well, looks like we’re ready to cross the sea. Are you ready, Arc? Ferio...Wait for me.Characters introduced in this update: A Siren valkyrie who is suspicious of strangers; uses spears.The leader of the Sirens, a bard who uses harps.A Siren who joins the party upon Miria’s orders; uses javelins.
dotchan fucked around with this message at 18:11 on Jun 12, 2021 |
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Aug 7, 2020 23:19
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I tried to find some Japanese videos of this for comparison but there's only people playing the SNES version and the dialogue's sufficiently different that you can't really draw any conclusions. The translation seems decent for the most part, anyway.
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Aug 8, 2020 14:17
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Stage 7:Dreams Arina: At the end of this road lies a port city. If you can get a boat there, you can cross the ocean. I bet it isn’t that simple...Arina: You’re right. You don’t have any cover here, so stay on guard.  This stage also has reinforcements that work similarly from before: they appear starting from Turn 5 or so and keep spawning every 5 turns until Turn 18 or so.  The first town to the east of where our units started has healing items and stat boosters for sale. I’ve been having many strange dreams lately. There was this really pretty girl. Heheheh. The town to the north-east has the best available weapons for Liesa and Lucieda. There are no ships coming in, lately. We don’t have anything to do... At the northernmost island is a promotion item for Iwan.  This blockade of NPCs cannot be killed, and only the fliers can get around them. Engaging them results in the following dialogue: Attacking unit: What!? These guys aren’t black army! (The attacking unit and the NPC exchange ineffective hits.) Male unit: They’re citizens of the town! What’s going on!? Female unit: They are the town’s citizens! What is happening…? (Any time an ally attempts to target them or they target an ally, the following dialogue plays:) Male unit: poo poo! There’s no end to it! Female unit: Oh, no! This is endless!   What, another uprising? How annoing[sic]. Well, dream with me, then…Attacking unit: A succubus!? Those things are nightmares from the demon world! Oh, we’re already acquainted, I see. That’s right, I and my comrades have come from the demon world. My name is Mumehr. Well, fall asleep like everyone else.(Mumehr proceeds to go down in a single hit.) Fufu, you’re doing well. You didn’t fall to my spell. Argh...Now the people of this town will wake from the dream…Attacking unit: Where is the real you!? In the next town...But, you won’t be able to beat the real me. You’ll only amuse me...Hohoho…(Mumehr disappears, along with the NPCs.) Attacking unit: Horrible woman! Dotchan’s Notes About Moon RunesCross-checking with some screenshots of the official Chinese localization, I believe “Mumehr” is supposed to be “Succubus”. The shop in the town that Mumehr was occupying sells sword upgrades for Arc and Iwan. I had this strange dream...But why are my joints so stiff now? This boss has no custom dialogue. What, are you here again? Very well, this time I will show you a really good dream for sure.Attacking unit: I don’t think so. Mumehr’s attacks are magic-based, so unless you’ve got a big stack of healing items to feed to your units, I suggest only targeting her with Dieno, Liesa, and Miria.  I, I lost… Oh? There’s a prisoner here. Are you allright[sic]? Oh...W, who’s there…? We are people who oppose the black army.I see...You’re the rumored rebel army. Say, will you please take me with you? Who are you?Oops, I forgot. Sorry. I am called Vir. I was doing research at the royal castle. Do you know about the sealed demon world? Right now we’re on a quest to put back the seal. But really, what happened in the capital?...It was the queen. The queen turned to black sorcery. She used the mirror and the ring to open the door to the demon world. The door is still not completely open, but if they get the remaining two keys to the capital, the king of the demons will be let loose upon the world. One of them, the bowl, is right here.Oh! Then the situation is a bit better than I thought. But, it still means the monsters from the demon world can cross over into our world… We don’t have much time...Let’s hurry and cross the sea.Let’s find ourselves a ship. There should be one here... Dotchan’s Notes About Moon RunesThis is another case where the Chinese localization is different and Vir is reluctant rather than enthused to join the party, but still comes along anyway. Characters introduced in this update: A succubus who attempted to use brainwash civilians to do her bidding.A magician rescued after defeating Mumehr; wields Rods.
dotchan fucked around with this message at 18:18 on Jun 12, 2021 |
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Aug 9, 2020 01:04
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dotchan posted:
Basically yes - strictly it's muma [夢魔] so this is probably the equivalent of calling her Succubaria or whatever. Though, interestingly Japanese wikipedia files their succubus page under the transliteration from English, probably because muma also covers incubus.
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Aug 9, 2020 12:24
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Stage 8: Eyes We’re here at last...I wonder how long it has been since I last set foot on this ground? Where shall we go from here on? First we cross hese[sic] mountains. On the other side is a fortress. If the black army is here, that’s where they must be. The situation is getting more and more tense, isn’t it… Restrain your anticipation. You need a cool head in such matters. The units circled in purple are an ambush that don’t appear until your allies pass through that area, which you have to in order to get a weapon for Randia (or Iwan, if you managed to promote him into a Knight) that allows him to damage the boss.  The first town sells Elf Tears and the best Lance, Mace, and Axe weapons if you haven’t gotten those yet. All who oppose the black army are taken to the fortress on the mountain...There, a terrible monster lives. Nobody can rescue them… This is a weapon upgrade for Luceida; while it only attacks at indirect range, it has better stats than what her current weapon does and reduces enemy ATT if it doesn’t land a kill..  The east-most town sells the best axe for Docatti (but can only do damage at direct range), and the Flail can only be used by Bishops and Priests but I grab one anyway in case I run into one later or Arina gains enough levels to make promotion worth it. It is said there was a monster like this once before. At the time, someone used a special weapon to kill the monster. This is a weapon upgrade for Liesa.  The southeast town sells healing items and the item that boosts unit MAG DEF. Those who went up to the mountain always got caught in the monster’s ray of light. I don’t think anyone can get close enough to kill it... The ninjas spawn once they are within one move action of attacking any ally. You won’t get past this point!Ambushed unit (male): drat! It’s an ambush! Ambushed unit (female): Oh, no, an ambush!   Ohh, you people drove off the black army. You have our gratitude.Rescuing unit: We are on our way to the capital. I see...So you’re the rumoured rebel army. However, to get to the capital you need to pass the fortress. You can see it to the east of here. Lately the resistance to the black army has been increasing. But may who oppose the army has been either killed or arrested. My grandson Kai, too...There is no way they could have escaped the horrible monster that lives in the fortress. Just looking at it makes me shiver at how many people have been killed by it…Rescuing unit: What kind of monster is it? Well, everyone who went to the fortress came rolling down, turned into stone. There is no way you can go there and not die...Now you have been warned. But you still want to go up there, don’t you? This has been waiting here for you. It may prove useful to you.Rescuing unit: This spear…? Long ago, a similar monster appeared. My forefather used this weapon to defeat it. I don’t know if it will be effective on this one, though.(Get Medusa Killer!) Don’t use it excessively.The Medusa Killer is a weapon for Randia (and Iwan, if he’s managed to promote). This is a must get for the map, because the boss will insta-kill anybody else who attacks it. But we don’t have to worry about weapon durability, so it can be a permanent upgrade for whoever gets it.  The southern town sells the best rod for Dieno (and Vir, once he promotes) if you got unlucky with drops in the previous stage and a weapon upgrade for our Lord and Fighters (and I think at least for Arc it lets him attack twice a turn). From this village, too, a lot of young men were taken to the fortress… This is a side-grade for our elves, an indirect damage earth elemental weapon that also decreases the enemy attack. I have no idea if there’s any sort of elemental weakness rock-paper-scissors going on so I just chuck it into my inventory for how.  This is a promotion item for Pamila that runs her into a Bard, but if I am going to double bard and make a beeline for the objective she and Miria are going to need a lot more levels.  There is no custom dialogue for Medusa.  Oh, more people who want to be turned into stone have arrived.Attacking unit: Huh, a snake!? Well, then, turn into nice statues, you lot! I didn’t want to risk any deaths so I didn’t test to see if there’s any custom dialogue behind defeating Medusa. I somehow defeated it...What a terrible enemy it was. Ah, who’re you? We’re the guys they call the rebel army. Really! Thank you for saving us! We are opposers[sic] to the black army too, or at least we are supposed to be. Please, will you take me into your group? It’s fine with me, but your grandfather is worried about you. I’ll send him a message. I just can’t let it end like this. I understand. By the way, did a priestess and another person come through here? Yep. I saw them head to the black army castle beyond here yesterday. ...Ferio and Mel! We have almost caught up!Characters introduced this update: Kai’s unnamed grandfather, who gives us a weapon that can be used against the otherwise practically undefeatable Medusa. The mythical creature whose gaze turns all into stone. A young man who was captured by the black army, he joins us after being rescued; wields swords.
dotchan fucked around with this message at 18:23 on Jun 12, 2021 |
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Aug 12, 2020 00:20
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It turns out there’s more custom dialogue with Arina on Stage 6 but . Stage 9: Balzar  We’ve finally reached the castle. I wonder if Ferio and Mel are here...Arina, can you see anything from above? There are soldiers around the castle, but there are lots more soldiers inside. Look like it’s do or die time… This stage’s main gimmick is that there are two buttons (marked by purple exclamation marks) that have to be interacted with in order to open paths to treasures and shortcuts, and you have to send two units around the outside of the castle (one through a sidepath) if you want to grab the treasure there.  The town nestled between the mountains sells a full heal that takes a unit turn to use and various sat-boosting goodies. Thank you for liberating our town. The central town doesn’t have any new weapons we need to buy (we can pick up a lute for Pamila in this map) but I found myself combing back here to buy healing items. Thank you for liberating our town. This is a promotion item for Liesa. I don’t believe the western town offers anything new for sale. Thank you for liberating our town. This is a side-grade for Arinia that reduces enemy WIS if it doesn’t kill them.  This is a promotion item for Vir.  The same dialogue plays no matter who rescues Mel. Mel, are you okay? We’ve come to save you. Hurry! Miss Ferio is further inside! The interior. Got it. I’m coming, too!Mel is a Bishop, which like Priests can heal but can also do it at indirect range. As far as I can tell she has the same growths as Alicia.  This is another promotion item for our Fighters; now they can both eventually be Knights.  Here is the Lute for Pamila if/when she promotes to Bard.  This is a side-grade for Liesa, a wind-elemental indirect damage weapon that also lowers enemy MAG DEF if it doesn’t kill them. (The middle chest is 2000 gold so I didn’t screencap it.)  (I forgot to check if there’s custom dialogue here and it’s far enough into the stage that I kind of don’t want to replay it, sorry!) Male rescuer: Are you okay? We came for you!  Yes, thanks a lot. We’ll talk later, first we have to get out of here. Right!(The treasure chest in the girl’s prison cell was an Herb, so I skipped screenshotting that.)  (Same here; you interact with the last locked door to trigger this dialogue.) Male unit: How can I open this door...? There aren’t any guards… The key is in a niche in the wall over there.Male unit: How did you…? I’ve seen the guard open the other doors before…Male unit: I see. Here goes…! All right, it’s open! Ferio! ...Arc? Ferio, are you okay!? ...What’s wrong? ...Arc...The seal has been broken. How could it be? They told me...I could undo the seal...That’s why they kidnapped me. Ferio can…? I’ll explain. Arc, Ferio is from a line of priests who protect the seal for the royal family. To do that, it is necessary that she has the power to undo and redo the seal. No way…? Kyaaa! What’s wrong!? That girl took the bowl…! Now we have 3 keys. Only one is left... You...Hey! Give that back! Sorry, I can’t do that. Also, I can’t give you back your priestess. My name is Elenoa! I’ll be taking this key. Arc…! Oh, don’t struggle. If you do, I’ll have to hurt you. Let go of Ferio! I won’t show you any mercy, even if you are a woman! I’d like to have avoided fighting you...I’m sorry about this. (appearing into the scene) That’s right...How would you like to join miss Elfina’s group? Who is it!? Black armor…You’re the bastard that kidnapped Ferio! ……. Well, I’ll leave the rest to you. (as Balzar and Ferio vanish) Ferio! Well, looks like it’s my show now. Come at me in whatever way you wish. You rear end in a top hat!! Dotchan’s Notes About Moon RunesI would have localized “Elenoa” as “Eleanor” but Every 4 turns, Balzar will summon in 2 Medusas (who fortunately no longer have their bullshit gimmick) and 2 Golems while saying “Too boring for you? Here’s something to keep you busy!”. SInce I want to grab the last chest (a bow for Liesa that allows her to attack twice a turn, including switch units between hits), I let him keep doing that. He hits twice when he attacks, so keep out of his range until then.  Ha, ha, ha! You idiots! You’ve been fighting an illusion. Didn’t you notice? What!? Arc, I am in the capital. If you want your girl back, come and get her. So you know me after all!? Who the hell are you!? Just somebody. Well, I’ll be waiting… Dammit! Give back Ferio! Calm down, Arc. Since they now have our key, Ferio is not in danger of being haremed[sic]. That’s right, Arc. There is no doubt that she is safe. Ferio...I’ll definitely save you.Characters introduced this update: True name Elenoa, she is a minion of the black army who pretended to be a prisoner to win the party’s trust, stealing one of the MacGuffins in the process.
dotchan fucked around with this message at 19:10 on Jan 18, 2021 |
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Aug 13, 2020 21:16
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You have a stray [img][/img] near the start of the update
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Aug 15, 2020 23:56
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Polsy posted:You have a stray [timg][/timg] near the start of the update Whoops! Thanks for the catch.
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Aug 16, 2020 06:12
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(Whoops, I forgot to note: the treasure chest in the room just below where Mel was being kept prisoner had a promotion item for clerics.) Stage 10: Haizen  Man, we came out in a terrible spot. Sorry, I picked the wrong road. You must be getting senile from old age. Whatever. We can’t let those guys get away with this! (Treasures: Promotion item for Godaar, promotion item for Fighters, promotion item for Liesa, money, great sword.) The enemy reinforcements that show up are a bit tougher than usual so keep a healer in the back along with whoever else you’re planning to feed experience to.  The first shop to the north of the party’s starting position sells a full heal and various stat boosters. Lately we have been seeing a lot of ghosts and skeletons. Maybe it’s because of the monster in the castle. The northernmost town sells a variety of weapons. Lately, many young women have gone missing. Maybe the monster in the castle has something to do with it. How terrible. Ditto the westernmost town. The monster in the castle, the one that calls itself Haizen, seems to be hiding some kind of treasure… The dialogue that is triggered against Haizen depends on the gender of the attacking unit. First, if the attacking unit is male:  So you’re the rebel army...My name is Haizen. I’m in charge of this area. It’s a pity, but you can’t go farther than this…Male unit: A vampire! Hmph, I’m not interested in blood from men. If you want to die that badly, I’ll oblige you later.Male unit: Stop joking… If the attacking unit is female: Here here, the rebel army sure has a lot of men, doesn’t it. Don’t tell me you are part of them too, beautiful.Female unit: Vampire!? Correct. Now, give me your blood and we’ll live together, forever…Female unit: I must humbly decline your offer. Thanks to a lucky crit I was able to take Haizen down in two hits.  Male unit: Well, looks like he’s dog food. Well, the capital is up ahead! If we want to go there, we must go past the fortress to the east. We can handle it right now, but it’s a strong one. It’s becoming more and more necessary... What is? The dwarves hold the last sealing keys. Let’s go get it before entering the capital. Okay, let’s hurry!Characters introduced this update: The vampire commander of the area.
dotchan fucked around with this message at 17:39 on Feb 6, 2021 |
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Aug 16, 2020 19:02
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Stage 11: Holy I’ll tell you something about the castle. The dwarves made it a long time ago, and it’s very hard to break into. There are several switches on the floor. They need to be pressed simultaneously. If you do that for both entrances, we should not have much trouble. Well, looks like we have to split up. Oh, and another thing. There’s a trap in front of the entrances. Whatever you do, don’t tread on it. Gotcha. Later on, we’ll need something from the island in the lake to the north if you want to obtain the sealing key. Shall we go? You can’t get there on foot, if I remember correctly. One of the flyers will have to do it. Leave it to us! (Treasures: Silver sword, MAG DEF up, promotion item for Vir, AGL up, promotion item for Fighters, promotion item for Pamila, money.) Like Docatti mentioned, you have to grab the MacGuffin (purple exclamation mark) in order to complete the stage successfully. You also have to have two units stand on the switches (marked A and B respectively) in order to open the path forward. There’s also a bunch of very distant items that I grabbed via double Bard speed-tech. The starting town doesn’t have anything new for sale. Thanks for liberating us from the black army. The westmost town has a rod whose description makes me not want to use it, plus it’s an indirect attack only weapon. It looks like there’s an old dwarven castle near here.The southeast town sells various stat boosting items. To the west is an old dwarven castle. But because of all the traps and devices, nobody can get inside. When a unit steps on an entrance switch, they’ll say: “I’m going to step on this switch” (if male) or “I’ll step on this switch…) if female. Then, whoever steps on the other switch triggers this cutscene. East switch unit: Oh, looks like it went well. West switch unit: Alright, let’s go...Muh!?' Thank you for opening the door. As a token of my gratitude, I’ll kill you all.West switch unit: Everyone, on guard… That’s right. Well then, please be my guest…West switch unit (as the guard goes south to the jail doors): That’s…! (The guard is teleported away into the center of a ring of golems.) West switch unit: He vanished…? What is this place...Wah!?(The guard gets one-shot by the golems.) Gah…!(The doors blocking the golems that were walled away from where the party is standing proceed to open.) West switch unit: Really, we’re in deep trouble now. The same message as above is displayed for stepping on the two castle switches that open the way forward. Then Docatti says: “Allright, only the center switch is left!”  (I forgot to check if there’s custom dialogue for the center switch.) Switch unit: This is the last one! The golems disappeared, too...Is that the sealing key!? You bastard...Don’t touch that…Switch unit: You’re still alive!? I am dying...But at least I...got a final card to play…(The officer moves on top of the chest to the north.) Hahahah, at last I can show you the power the queen gave me.Switch unit: What are you going to do!? Ohhh, great one...with my own life, I call you into this world…! poo poo! What is he trying to summon from the demon world!?(In a flash, the officer disappears, replaced by a demon, two vampires, two medusas, and two harpies.) Switch unit: What!? An army of monsters! It’s a demon! If he summoned a thing close in rank to the devil, it is very dangerous. Whatever, I won’t give the key to them!I definitely recommend clearing out the minions before attempting to chip down the boss--and he hits like a truck even on my max level units, so once again it isn’t smart to overcommit.  Last hit unit: Man, another one bites the dust. (You are required to have a unit walk to the chest, then you get the message: “Inside was nothing!”. Since Arc was the one who was standing on the unit, he’s the one who gets all the dialogue, but I don’t know if there are variants depending on who else opens the chest.) Chest unit: It’s empty...What’s going on? Look again. There should be a small keyhole at the bottom of the chest.Chest unit: All right! All we need to do is use that key, right? Right. Well, let’s hurry up and use it.Chest unit: Yes...Okay, here goes! Ah, the bottom opened…(Docatti’s key, if it is in our inventory, gets used, and this grants not only a plot MacGuffin, but a sword upgrade for Arc.) This is the last key...the holy sword! I feel great power inside it… Yes. It is finally in its rightful owner’s hands...Lord Arc. W, what do you mean? Don’t call me things like ‘lord Arc’... It’s been a secret up until now, but you are the descendant of the late king of Fersaria. Your true name is Arc von Fersaria. You’re the heir to this country’s throne. Fifteen years ago the queen, that is, the current queen, killed all who stood in the way of opening the door to the demon world. We of the royal knighthood fled the capital together with the 3-year old you and newborn Ferio. We narrowly escaped the turmoil. I left you in the care of my one time subordinate Randia...your highness. Me, a prince?...No, as long as this is about rescuing Ferio, I am nothing more than just soldier Arc. As long as the seal is still undone, that is all that we need right now. I understand...Arc. Well, it’s about time we stormed the capital!
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Aug 18, 2020 19:53
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Great work translating these, dotchan! I stumbled upon Farland Saga 1 a few years ago and understood a decent amount of it from the Japanese vocals, but the full translation helps out a lot. It's a very charming game, I think my favorite detail was the Omnipresent Item Shop and the conversations you had there for each character. I'm glad to see it get some more attention.
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Aug 21, 2020 08:39
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Correction: Only the top two golems are completely immune to any kind of damage; the remainder are regular golems. Also, the dialogue for opening the chest is always just Arc, Randia and Docatti. Stage 12: Old friends  We’re here at last! The capital! It’s been 10 years since I saw it last. So much has changed… At that time we left the royal castle, but even that has been taken by evil now. That’s where Ferio is…? (Treasures: Max HP boost item, indirect attack only lance, best current rod, best current spear, sidegrade for elfmaster, direct/indirect attack weapon for Docatti.) This is another map that lends itself well to splitting the party, though I probably should have had a healer on each path.  I’m not sure if the first store offers anything new, which is a shame because I’ve hit the money cap and have nothing to spend all this cash on. The black army has stationed their elite forces in the capital. Please be careful out there. The western town shop has an axe upgrade for Docatti that I turned out to not need to buy on account of one of the treasures being that same axe. Balzar is wearing demonic armor that cuts magic damage in half. The northernmost town sells a variety of endgame-tier elemental weaponry. I’m the only place in the world that sells weaponry that is enchanted by spirits. The town closest to the castle sells all sorts of stat-boosting items. From here on it is extremely dangerous. You better stock up on medicine.The boss dialogue is the same no matter who triggers it. You have finally come this far… Just as you wished, Balzar! Now, how do you know me!? Hahaha...Did you forget? The man who is called Diva? Did you say Diva!? Are you saying you’re Diva!? That’s right, Dieno...Did you forget your brother’s voice?(Whoops, I spelled Dieno’s name wrong in his introduction! ) Why!? Why did you join something like the black army… After I lost to you, I was miserable. To become strong, I joined the black army and sold my soul to the devil….And, by giving up my body, I was reborn as one of the demon tribe! You threw away your humanity, just for power? Have you no self-respect!? What do you expect? I’ll do anything for power! Even if it means having to fight my younger brother! That’s what I think is right. Brother!! Arc! If you’re the righteous one, come and defeat me! Let’s see if you humans can win to[sic] someone who is a member of the demon race! Diva!!As mentioned in-game, Balzar takes half magic damage and he is no slouch in the physical defense department, either. Even against my promoted, max level units he was hitting like a truck. Fortunately, between two healers (and two bards) I was able to keep everyone topped off until I dropped him.   Why...did I lose again? Even though I am a demon... ...Diva...You’ve overlooked something very important. Power is not all there is to being strong...In battle, what is important is a strong will.(Please. We all know that the real secret to power is having Plot Armor. :P) So...I already lost by the time I begged the...demons for power? But Arc...Remember this. I didn’t lose to...you. I was defeated by...my own weak heart... Brother! Hang on! Arc...That girl is...inside the castle. I’ll leave...the rest to you. !...Diva, you…? In the end he regained his senses...Dieno, for Diva’s sake, let’s throw down the queen and put a halt to the revival of the devil!Next update will be later than usual because real life has gotten in the way. Characters introduced this update: Balzar’s true identity and Dieno’s elder brother, a formal rival of Arc’s that sold his soul for power on account of being a sore loser.Bendigeidfran posted:Great work translating these, dotchan! I stumbled upon Farland Saga 1 a few years ago and understood a decent amount of it from the Japanese vocals, but the full translation helps out a lot. Thanks! I'm glad you also enjoyed this series and even if it's no longer available legally I hope this inspires people to go find some way to play it anyway. dotchan fucked around with this message at 14:40 on Jan 3, 2021 |
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Aug 21, 2020 15:43
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One thing from very early in the thread I think I can clarify is Ralph's compliment to Karen, if only since I'm somewhat familiar with the Kansai dialect. He says "めちゃべっぴんやて", "meccha beppin ya de", where meccha means "very" and beppin is a way of saying "pretty woman/girl" (though literally meaning "a product of high quality"). ya de is just the Kansai dialect version of da yo, affirming the first part. meccha and beppin are among the Kansai-isms that have become popular outside the region, in the way that say, "y'all" or terms from African-American Vernacular English are picked up by Standard American English speakers now and again.
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Aug 24, 2020 23:07
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Bendigeidfran posted:One thing from very early in the thread I think I can clarify is Ralph's compliment to Karen, if only since I'm somewhat familiar with the Kansai dialect. Neat, so if I were to "localize" this, Ralph said something to the effect of "Yeah, yer mad sweet-lookin'!"
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Aug 27, 2020 07:28
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Stage 13: Fersaria What the…! The main gate is gone! A lot has changed in 10 years, it seems. How will we get inside…? Oh my, the rebel army turns up everywhere… Who’s there!? You are...minister Mohad? ?...Oh, if it isn’t master Docatti. And Randia too, I see… What are you doing here? You wanted to get inside, right? Follow me.(The camera pans to the right and up until it reaches the castle’s “back door”.) You can enter the castle from here. Thank you. So, you survived the upheaval in the castle too, didn’t you. Many people have died. The queen is harsh. I’m about the only one who is left…Little prince Arc is also dead...no, he was killed by the queen. I can’t forgive myself... Minister Mohad, the prince is alive and well. What! Is what you say true!? Hey Arc! What’s up, Docatti? This is…? Ohh, then there is a living descendant of the late king! The royal family is revived! Minister, let’s talk about that later. We have a demon king to stop from being summoned. Oh. Oh yes. Well, the queen is in the inner part of the castle. The castle is completely different from what you remember. Even I don’t know everything about it. Be very careful.(As if to drive this point home, ominous music starts to play)  Not only is this map huge, it’s full of enemies that can summon minions. However, none of the treasure is necessary--it’s either money or promotion items. The one weapon--a direct damage only lance--isn’t worth getting either since you basically have to leave a unit trapped in the jail in order to grab it and I’d rather have the ability to counterattack.  This shop sells healing items and max HP boosters. I buy a pack of the latter to feed to my party so my frontliners are all near or above 100. I pray for your good fortune. This is a major bottleneck of the stage - only one unit can pass through the warp at a time (or two if you put a Bard waiting at the other end) and the doorways are not wide enough for someone to stand on a switch holding the door open and for someone else to pass through. However, once someone stands on the final button, the walls will disappear, so position the rest of the team to be able to move in as soon as that happens.  This is another button that has to be pushed to open a wall; the dragon is tough and hits like a truck; personally, I found it not worth engaging.  This hidden town sells stat boosting items; buy a handful of PowerPs to feed to your melee units so you can finish off the queen within one turn. Please, somehow bring back the times of peace in Fersaria to us. There’s no custom dialogue for engaging Elenoa. Back already? That was fast! Tell me where Ferio is. She is inside...but you are too late. The ceremony to summon the demon king has already begun… We can’t allow the devil to be summoned. Let’s keep going! This conversation is useless. I wonder if this is fate? I really didn’t want to fight you... …? Well then, if you want to help that girl, defeat me! I’ll fight you with all the demonic power I have!Elenoa is slightly dangerous in that she attacks twice per turn but otherwise the dragon was tougher than her.  There’s no custom dialogue for defeating Elenoa. So strong...my brother... Your what?! Isn’t it obvious…? I’m the queen’s daughter...You’re different from our mother, but you resemble our father like a true heir to Fersaria… This is terrible... Don’t worry about it...I was seriously trying to kill you...Now hurry, your girl is waiting… …... Arc, we must hurry.(Yo, Arc just found out the lady trying to murder him was a half-sister he knew nothing about, give him a minute to process this emotionally!) ...I know… There’s also no custom dialogue for engaging the Queen.  Finally you came...Arc. Give me back Ferio. Very well...Her role in this is now at an end. Ferio! We’re here to save you! …… It’s useless. She can’t break free of my hypnosis, since she used up all her strength summoning the demons. You bitch!!Not only does the Queen have ridiculous stats that will one-shot anybody with weak magic defense, she can also teleport units as an attack (which she does twice on her turn) or counterattack, and she’s capable of massive health regeneration. There’s also an invisible wall that teleports your units back should they move too far forward; unfortunately, I clicked through it too fast to catch the dialogue, even in post. I ended up feeding a bunch of PowerPs to everybody (but especially Arc) in order to take down the Queen.  The post-battle cutscene plays out the same regardless of who makes the final blow. What do you people know...You call me evil, came here to scorn me! But, I’m not like that at all. The black magic has only been a support to me. …... Characters introduced this update: A rare non-evil minister who helps the party sneak into the castle occupied by the enemy forces. Arc’s stepmother and Elenoa’s birth mother, she murdered the king when Arc was an infant and used dark powers to rule the nation with an iron first.
dotchan fucked around with this message at 14:45 on Jan 3, 2021 |
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Aug 29, 2020 12:51
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Stage 14: Demons (After loading in Disk C, the scene opens to dead silence.) Where is this…? Something pitch-black swallowed us and brought us here...I don’t recognize this place. Could this be...the demon world!? Yes...this is where the demon king was once sealed away. Ferio! You’re safe! Arc...I knew you would come… So, how do we get out of here?Devil: You don’t have a future left...Stop your futile struggling. Who’s there!?(The camera pans up to show the stage’s goal--a large demon--and pulse-pounding music begins to play as the stage fills with summoned minions.)  From this final map we can see that the Farland series tradition of setting final battles in crystal staircases surrounded by starfields goes all the way back to the very first game. It has no gimmicks whatsoever, only multiple paths that converge on the center boss (who, fittingly for a final boss, takes up several tiles to emphasize how powerful it is and makes it convenient to surround it), and a bevy of enemies to deal with or ignore at your discretion. I want to finish the game so I don’t bother feeding kills to anybody. (Oh, and you also get Ferio, who is another healer, but between two other healers backed by two Bards and the truckload of items I have in my inventory she doesn’t see much action until near the very end.)  There’s no custom dialogue for engaging the boss, who is a beast of an opponent that attacks twice on his turn and is capable of one- or two-shotting your weaker units. I probably could have dueled him with Arc alone but I didn’t feel like taking the chance so I had everyone else whittle him down and then let Arc have the last hit.  Devil: Ohhh...drat you...To be defeated here, after all these years of imprisonment...But, there will again come a time when people wish for my power. Until then, run far away...Yes, run, because I will return, no matter how many resurrections it takes...  Narration: The plans of the demon king have been foiled!! The black army is destroyed, and peace has once more come to Fersaria. Arc and the group, after returning from the demon world, immediately resealed the door, and decided that the sealing keys be again given in custody of the four ancient races. The agreement was joined by Docatti of the dwarves, Lurida of the elves, Arina of the sirens and Arc of the humans. It became known as the conference of the four races. After that, some left the capital, some stayed. Each of the 16 heroes started on their own path to glory!!  (Regardless of if your units survived the final battle, it always shows what happened to them afterward, along with a summation of their final class, ending level, and number of kills while cheerful music plays..) Ahh, we’re back at last! You can say that again. I’m so glad to be back in my own cozy forest after returning from that terrible place. Really...Nothing beats the elven woods after all, does it? Yes...but, don’t you miss the others a little bit? It’s not like we won’t see them again. Anyway we also have to make sure that the ring is safe this time around. We’ll meet them again, won’t we? We can always see them again, as long as there is peace in the world...Narration (on Lucieda): She became the custodian of one of the sealing keys, the ring, in accordance with the conference of the four races. As the elf patriarch, she has quite a reputation to uphold. Narration (on Liesa): She attended the conference of the four races with Lucieda. Afterwards she returned to her village, where peace had returned after fifteen years of oppression. Her hobby is sprite hunting.  (Kai returns to his hometown.) Granpa[sic], I’m home!! Kai? Kai, is that you!? You’re alive! Well,duh. You can’t expect me to die that easily. I feared the black army had killed you when you didn’t come back, but I waited here for you just in case. Ohhh, god, thank you so much! We did all sorts of neat stuff, like get into black army castles, fight demon kings, that sort of thing. Actually, that devil dude was a bit of a drag to kill. You idiot! Granpa…? I was worried sick about you! If you even thought for a minute about how others feel, you wouldn’t have done something that dangerous! ...I’m sorry. I did something bad...But there is no danger anymore now. ...Fuu...You are just like your father was. Anyway. I’m happy you returned alive and well. Granpa…Narration (on Kai): After saying goodbye to Arc and the others in the capital, he returned to his village to live with his grandfather. But, before long he got bored and left his relative again to have an adventure of his own.  (In Siren territory, Arina files up to Pamila.) Welcome back, leader! I’m home. Boy, life here is a whole lot more tranquil than it is at the castle. Did anyting[sic] happen here in my absence? Yes, the harpies seem to have disappeared. Huh? What happened to Miria? Still at the castle. She wanted to stay for a little while longer. You know how much sis likes strange things. That’s just like Miria. So, how was it at the castle? Well, they gave every race their sealing keys back. This time, we should put something stronger than the golem on guard. What would be a good guard…? Hmmm, no idea. I can’t think of anything unusual like Miria always does. Yeah…Narration (on Arina): After the conference of the four races, the leader of the siren troops returned to her island. She took up the duty to guard a sealing key, the bowl. Her personality is as carefree as ever. Narration (on Pamila): She returned before the conference of the four races and filled in as leader of the sirens in Arina’s place. After Arina’s return, she took a post as minister. Of course, she always gets into trouble. (The camera pans westward.) I wonder what Miria is doing now…? Probably looking around for unusual objects like always. Anyway, she’ll be back soon enough. She hates staying in one place. You’re right...Let’s patiently wait a while longer…(Miria flies out of a town.) Oh man, you just can’t get any good stuff in shops these days...Where shall I go next?Narration (on Miria): With her favorite harp in one hand, she embarked on a life of a treasure-hunting minstrel. When will she return to the islands…?  (Dieno sees Vir off at his hometown.) Why are you leaving, Dieno? Don’t you want to keep using your magic in service of the royal family? ...I can’t send my brother back to our hometown all by himself. ...You’re right… We lost our parents as kids. I want my brother to rest by their side. I understand...Well, I’m going back to the castle after this. Please come by whenever you want. You’re always welcome there. Thanks, Vir. Well then, take care of yourself…(Dieno walks off.) Narration (on Vir): After the conference of the four races, he briefly travelled to his home town. Soon he came back, and once more devoted himself to studying black magic. Narration (on Dieno): After he conducted a funeral for his brother, he was not heard from again. Rumour has it that he went to the east on a journey.  (Iwan goes to a town somewhere.) Hey everyone, listen! The brave hero who defeated the demon king and restored peace is here!!Man: Lies. The ones who killed the devil were his Highness Arc and his group. If you want fame, then you shouldn’t just say things like that. Tsk, tsk, you aren’t paying attention. I was part of that group!Man: Oh, rubbish. Sorry, but we don’t buy your stories. Go back to your village, you scam. Hey, wait! Hey! HEY!(Iwan walks away.) Narration (on Iwan): After being welcomed as a hero at the castle, he travelled to various places to recount his story….But nobody believed him.  (Godaar is seen wandering near his hometown.) I’m worried about him. He’s a great fighter, but he can’t find his own butt without a map. What a troublesome man…(Docatti is seen wandering about the north side of the mountains.) Ummmm…?Narration (on Godaar): He returned to his village, and sent many letters to his comrades in arms. After a while, he gave up his position, and left for the royal castle. Narration (on Docatti): After the conference of the four races, he was asked to once again be the captain of the royal knights. But he declined. After vanishing for a month, he returned safely to his village. Or not?  (Alicia is returning to her hometown.) Alicia! Wait up!(She stops and turns around to wait for Mel to catch up.) Why are you moving so slowly, Mel? We’re almost there now! Huff, huff, you must really want to see the village again, moving at that speed. Yes, I really want to see the people of the village again. Don’t you just want to tell them about everything? Well, I really want to tell them about lord Arc and miss Ferio… Mel...Maybe those people haven’t even returned yet. From now on, we will have to protect this village! Yes...we must do our best. That’s right! So, let’s hurry!(Alicia hurries ahead while Mel lingers behind.) Eh, but those things don’t have anything to do with each other...Wait!(Mel hurries after Alicia.) Narration (on Alicia): She took over Ferio’s shrine duties. Later, she was awarded her own official title of bishop. (At least Alicia got her promotion in plot.) Narration (on Mel): Worked hard with Alicia to rebuild the village. She wrote lots of letters to her friends in the castle. (Docatti wanders past the town.) Ummmm…? (Back to the castle.) It was a long battle...It almost seems like a dream. You revived the royal family. And I am back in the royal knighthood… Oh, my, I am so happy...the royal lineage is restored! Lord Arc, we must organize a coronation ceremony at once! All the world will be there! …..(Ferio starts to leave.) ?? Ferio, where are you going? The battle is over...you’re almost king. The man who rules the world...I’m going back to my shrine...my lord. ! My...lord...huh. Wait a minute, Alicia can handle the shrine no problem. And aren’t there more serious matters? you’ll[sic] just have to put up some backbone. But...I… ...Ferio, I might become king, but I’m human, also. I don’t know anything about being king...and I’d much rather be just Arc. Won’t you stay here? Arc…Narration (on Randia): He became the leader of the royal knighthood. He collected the knights who had scattered after the fall of the capital, and works for the kingdom day and night. Narration (on Ferio): She took the duties of the local priest in the capital, and soon became the official bishop. She crowned Arc, and can always be found around him. Narration (on Arc): He was pronounced legal heir to the throne, and was crowned soon afterwards. Sometime after, a rumour about a new queen began spreading around... (The music changes again as the staff credits roll.)   Final remarks: The writing is fairly generic for a JRPG but I do like how the custom dialogue gives it a bit of replay value. Gameplay wise, it’s at a difficulty level I find to be excellent for an introduction to this sort of turn-based strategy game, as being too careless still caused a lot of scrambling on my back foot and there’s less and less room for error as the game progresses (until I had so much money that I could spend it all on turning my party into one-men armies), but having an entire inventory’s worth of items at my disposal means I’m very rarely in a situation where I might as well restart the stage from the very beginning. However, I wish there were a faster way to level healers since having a promoted one is very useful to the party. Speaking of usefulness, if it weren’t my inner completionist wanting to give every unit a chance I wouldn’t have bothered feeding kills to the two fighters and I wish they got gear that made them more competitive with my other units. Despite these flaws, I definitely recommend any fans of this sort of game to try it out for themselves. (Apparently, the English patch changed things up a bit so it’s a bit more of a challenge, too.)
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Sep 3, 2020 12:50
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Poor Iwan, even at the end he can't get his due. I am pretty interested in seeing what happens to Arc's little crew here in their later games, this seems like a series that could have some neat continuity and character development nuggets. Stuff like the progression from Haizen the two-bit speed-bump vampire to the charismatic, conflicted vamps of Saga 1 is already funny to think about. Like I'm curious as to whether this is a series that goes "wide" in the sense that we're exploring different parts of one world within a relatively narrow time-span, or if it goes "long" and has like generations or centuries pass between entries. Or even both, potentially, there's a lot of these games.
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Sep 5, 2020 07:45
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 Link to full OST playlist Farland Story 2 starts where the last game ends, pretty much, except the first three stages are basically flashbacks/tutorials that fill in the blanks on a few things in the first game.  (The facial portraits change to show a character’s emotional state, so to save on screenshots I’m going to be using SA emoticons instead but here’s a taste of what the portraits look like now:  )Narration: It is a few days before Arc’s coronation. In a room in the palace Arc and Ferio meet with Docatti who came all the way over to attend the ceremony. Arc: Long time no see, Docatti! You haven’t changed a bit.  Docatti: You too, your highness. I guess I shouldn’t call you ‘your Majesty’ just yet.  Ferio: Thank you so much for coming. Docatti: I’d come from the other side of the world to see the faces of his Highness and the cutie. Ferio: …..  Arc: Stop it, Docatti, you’re embarrassing her. Anyway, I’m surprised you got here so quickly. Docatti: Ha ha ha, you’ve been talking to Godaar, I see. He always complains about my bad sense of direction.  Arc: His exact words, I believe, were “can’t find his own arse without asking for directions”. Ferio: Eh, really? Docatti: Hahah, well, that may be true, but I can whop[sic] HIS arse without any help! Arc: That’s the Docatti I know! Ferio wasn’t there back when we were righting the black army, else she’d know all about it.Docatti: Yes, I remember back when we went to get the holy sword... Stage 1: Lost!  Dieno: ...Where the hell are we? Arc: We’re chasing after the black army, aren’t we…? Dieno: ...Don’t tell me we took a wrong turn again…  Arina: I think some people got lost...I can’t see them anymore. Dieno: Grr…! Docatti! You managed to get us lost yet AGAIN!  Docatti: ……..Sorry.  Arc: Dieno, calm down… Dieno: Let go of me, Arc! I’m going to kill him!  Arc: Cool your anger on those black army soldiers over there. Looks like we can’t get out of here without fighting them...  Since this is a flashback stage, nothing carries over, so just march your party (initially split into three groups) north and clear out the enemy. Farland Saga 2 makes this both easier in some respects and harder in others: on the upside, allies no longer block each others’ paths, dying no longer incurs a level penalty (though I haven’t bothered to check whether you incur any stat penalties), items can be bought (and sold straight from the use menu) in stacks of 5 or 10, and healers earn experience for healing; on the downside, weapons are now tied to individual characters rather than in the general inventory (necessitating items to be passed around if one unit picks up something that can only be equipped by another item, but at least the game tells you if an equippable weapon is better or worse than the unit’s currently equipped gear), class promotions do not exist in this game and dying no longer means being able to come back right away unless you burn a resurrection item (a healer puts you on a 2-turn wait (not counting this turn) to come back at full health, though you can make the countdown go faster with continued applications of healing). Something that also changed between games is that gathering your army happens as soon as your lead character commands it, but overall I’ve found that to be a neutral change.  Only about half of the towns on this map have shops and there’s no point in buying anything except a handful of items just in case. Shop 1: Nowadays healing units can no longer revive another unit immediately. You better buy lots of medicine, because it can get pretty dangerous out there. Shop 2: Nowadays, you can see enemy movement ability by clicking on them again after you clicked them once. Does this make no sense to you? Well, don’t worry about it. Shop 3: Long ago, the people who fought the demon king hid their weapons and equipment across the land. They marked those places with landmarks.  This time around, the game’s help files have also given information about the defense boost granted by various terrain: Plains - 10% Roads - 0% Forest - 40% Rubble - 39% Settlement - 50% Shoal - 10% Ocean - 0% Battlement - 10% Interior - 40%  There’s also no dialogue for engaging the boss, and fighting a boss always forces the animation to be played out in order to show off a new feature - your characters make various effort noises when attacking and being attacked. Since this is a tutorial boss it doesn’t take long for me to finish it off.  Arc: Well, this area is clean of the black army! Docatti: Okay, let’s start looking for the way back, then! Dieno: (Somebody gag him!) Lucieda: Brother. We’re pretty lost.  (One fade out/fade in later, we’re back to the present.) Arc: ...In the end it took us three days to find the castle. Ferio: Ha ha. Docatti: Hey hey, you don’t have to laugh at us that much. Arc: But seriously, this is the first time we ever talked like this, isn’t it? Docatti: Yeah, it was a real crammed up bustle with the conference of the four races. Boy, was that a drag. Arc: Where did you take your sealing key? I hope you hid it somewhere safe. Docatti: Oh, it’s guarded quite well. It will take more than your average black army to steal it. Ferio: Really? Where did you take it? Docatti: Godaar’s mom. No better defense on earth, guaranteed. Ferio: Mr. Docatti, tell us about when we were little. I’d like to know. Arc: Yes, Docatti, you saved us back when there was a coup at the castle, didn’t you? Please tell us about it. Docatti: ...It was terrible. We had noticed strange things going on, but little did we suspect the queen planned on unleashing the demon world. By the time we found out, the castle was swarming with monsters… Stage 2: Treason  Knight: It’s no use! This side is barred too! Priest: The monsters inside are growing in number fast! Randia: That queen is a scheming minx...Captain, it looks like they have surrounded the castle. Docatti: We have to get these children to a safe place at once...Where the hell is Megades’ squad? Randia: They were holding up the defenses to the rear, but we lost contact with them. Docatti: Very well...We’ll just have to do it by ourselves. Everyone, once these children are safe, escape from here on your own! Randia: Leave the monsters to us. Captain, you handle the prince and Ferio. (The game doesn’t explain how Docatti did it, so I imagine he simply strapped the kids to his chest the way Zhao Yun was rumored to have done so to save the future lord of Shu.) Docatti: Hmm. Those without weapons, look for them first! Let’s go!  You’re handed Docatti, Randia and a handful of generic Knights, Sorcerers, and Priests (one of whom is dead and has to be revived if you want her to see any use--Docatti will also point this out once a unit is close enough in range to use a reviving item by saying “Please treat the wounded as soon as you can.”). The treasure chests hold either healing items or weapon upgrades (though in the case of lances, all of them except one are direct damage only so I suggest switching back into the original lance once you’re done attacking with a unit so they’re not sitting ducks on the enemy turn).  There’s no custom dialogue for engaging the Queen. Queen: Give the children to me. If you do, I will spare your life. Docatti: I refuse.  Queen: You will break from your loyalty? Docatti: You are plunging this country, no, the entire world into a crisis. I cannot lend my hand to someone like that! Queen: Very well. Then die! Docatti: I won’t let you have these children!  The Queen has the same gimmick as she did last time: instead of counterattacking or attacking regularly, she can teleport a unit far away and she heals a truckload of damage each turn, which makes the battle annoying but actually winnable, since I’m not stuck sandbagging every turn and my units eventually gain enough experience to level and do enough damage to push her below 54 hp, which ends the fight.  Queen: Ugh...I’ll overlook this for now, but I won’t give up. You had better run far away, and pray I don’t find you. (Back in the present:) Docatti: ...And so we escaped the castle. After that, I left you in the care of my first-in-command, Randia. (Depending on how old Arc and Ferio were when the coup happened, this makes Randia anywhere from 10-20 years older!) Arc: Why did the queen back down like she did, I wonder?  Docatti: Maybe she didn’t want to risk too much. Anyway, she was carrying Elenoa at that time... Arc: Ah, I see…  Ferio: … Arc: Excuse me. I’m going to leave you for a while.  (Arc walks off-screen.) Docatti: ...How has she been, afterwards? Ferio: Her injuries have healed...But she hasn’t opened her heart to us yet. Docatti: It’s not so strange. After all, she fought on the other side. Ferio: But...with her brother at her side, her dark past is over now.  (You have the option to start the game from this point, and everything plays out the same except the narration adds: “After the defeat of the Demon King, the land was again at peace. Because Docatti and Godaar were delayed in coming, Arc’s coronation has been postponed a few days. We find Arc in a room inside Fersaria Castle.” before the cutscene and there’s no flashback battle.) Arc: Do your wounds still hurt you? Elenoa: ...No. Arc: I see...I’m glad. Elenoa: I asked this many times, but you didn’t answer...Why did you save my life? I was your enemy, after all. Arc: The war is over...There is no reason to fight anymore. And in the end, you are still my little sister. (Meanwhile, Dieno is still out of a big brother. I guess Plot Armor only extends so far. )Elenoa: Your subjects may question your decision.  Arc: I know that. But so many people close to me have died...Father...the queen...mom...And, my friend. Elenoa: …!  You mean Diva, don’t you? Arc; The one that turned him into Balzar, was it the Demon King? Elenoa: One year ago, he unexpectedly showed up at this castle...  Queen: You say your name is Diva. I have heard you are a very proud man. Is there something you want from us? Diva: I wish for you to grant me the power that you posess[sic].  Queen: Ho...Power. Why does a man with a reputation like yours come to ask for power? Diva: I have my reasons. Queen: Gaining this power is not a light road. You must be willing to sacrifice a lot for it. Diva: I will do whatever it takes to gain it. Name your price. Queen: To get it, you must give up your life as a human. Is that price not too high for you? Diva: I will gladly pay it. Queen: Very well. I will send you to the Demon World. With you will go my daughter Elenoa, and her personal guard. You will take a test. Pass, and the power you seek shall be yours. Fail, and you will die. Is this acceptable? Diva: Of course. Bring it on. Queen: Well spoken. Then, show me your desire for power! Stage 3: Armor  Elenoa: From here you must head north. But, the journey will not be easy. I will heal your strength regularly. Consider it a favour from me. Diva: I’ll remember that.  This stage gives you Diva (equipped with a direct damage only sword that attacks twice per turn) and a handful of units that attack at both ranges: Elenoa (who also heals Diva a bit each turn), two Ninjas, two Knights, and two Sorcerers. You also have a stack of Elf Tears (that heal 30 HP each) to keep your units out of the red. It’s not necessary to level Diva (or anyone else) to defeat the objective, so command your units as you wish.  There’s no custom dialogue for engaging the boss. Diva: Another one of these idiots...Is he the last one? Balzar: Well well. Did you come here to slay me and gain my power, you rookie? Diva: Oho...There’s someone lurking in that piece of armor. Balzar: The old tradition seems hard to die. Listen, kid. This armor is worn by whoever earned it. That person becomes Balzar, the Black Knight of the Demon World. I am the same as you. I too came to this world and defeated Balzar to gain his power… Diva: But this time, you will be the one to die. Balzar: You brat! You can’t even begin to imagine my power. Hurry up and get out of here if you don’t want to die.  Diva: Leave? I’m here to beat you, not to be told of[sic]! Let’s go!  And this is a one-on-one battle between Diva and Balzar; trying to target it with any other unit will get a warning (“You! Stay out of my fight!” ) and the move is not effective. But Diva doesn’t need the help as he can chop through Balzar’s health with only the occasional potion quaff. Diva: After I beat him, the armor was empty. Looks like he was fated to fade away. ???: You are now entitled to wear the armor. When you do, you can claim the power of the demon world. Diva: But I will no longer be human? ???: A human body cannot hold so much power. But come, is that not what you wished for? Diva: Yes...If it is to become strong, I do not need this body. (Back in the present.) Elenoa: You know the rest of the story… Arc: Elenoa, did you too get your power from…?  Elenoa: I got mine from mother...I saw the Demon King once. He was a terrible sight to behold. He had a great scythe, and he was all red. I was shivering when I came back… (I know a blatant retcon when I see one.) Arc: A scythe?...Red…? Elenoa: Well, yes. Didn’t you say you beat him in the Demon World? Arc: But, the shape of the Demon King we killed was... (A loud rumble sounds and the screen shakes; Arc turns around.) Elenoa: W, Wha.. Arc: That...That came from the shrine where the holy sword is kept!! And Arc runs offscreen; a moment later, Elenoa chases after him. In the game, the cutscene continues, but I’m leaving this update on a cliffhanger. dotchan fucked around with this message at 20:02 on Jun 12, 2021 |
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Sep 5, 2020 21:01
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The tutorial being a playable recap of the first game's ending with a sub-mission played as the previous villain is cool, honestly. I suspect the no-sense-of-direction jokes may be a reference to a certain SRW protagonist with the same problem; this was published by Banpresto after all! Also wow Dieno, aggro much? If he can find it, Docatti could probably shatter your skull with his pinky nail.
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Sep 6, 2020 05:20
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I finally decided it’d be good to know what I lose when a unit dies, so I sacrificed one for science, and it turns out they lose nothing except turns. Very nice! Narration: When he arrives, Arc finds to his dismay that the knights who were guarding the shrine have been slain, and the sword has been taken by a demon. Arc: A Demon!?...You bastards, let go of that sword! (The demon teleports away.) Arc: What the hell…!  (Ferio rushes into the scene.) Ferio: Arc!...The holy sword is…! Arc: I know! Please take care of these men, Ferio! Ferio: Y, Yes! Arc: ...was this an act of the survivors of the black army? Randia: Highness! We’ve got trouble! Arc: What is it now!? Randia: I have gotten reports saying that monsters have appeared and started attacking the neighboring villages….Oh!! The holy sword!? Docatti: Highness, let me and Randia go out to chase the thief. You lead a counterattack agaist[sic] the monsters. Arc: ...No, if the enemy was after the holy sword, the attacks are only a diversion. I will come with you! Docatti: ...Understood. Arc: Randia, let’s set up a defense for the castle. I’m not too sure if the monsters won’t come back after all. Randia: Very well! Arc: Eh...Elenoa? Elenoa: Can’t I come with you? I may be able to help… Arc: But… Elenoa: Please. I don’t want to stay behind by myself. I want to do something, too. Arc: ...Okay, but don’t overdo it. You are still weak. Elenoa: I won’t. Stage 4: Run!  Arc: Ferio! What are you doing here? Didn’t you treat the knights? Ferio: I’m finished! And I’m not happy with you leaving me behind like that! I’m part of this, too! Arc: It could be dangerous! I don’t know what could happen! Ferio: It’s going to be MORE dangerous for you if you treat me like this again! Arc: (whoa!) Ferio: Besides, you will need a priest, if it’s going to be dangerous. Arc: But, but...you...I...I mean… Docatti: In short, Ferio, your boyfriend is worried about you. Isn’t that sweet? Arc: W, what are you saying, Docatti! Ferio: …(fidget fidget) Arc: Okay, I give. But promise me you will avoid danger. Ferio: Okay!! Docatti: Brother, we sure have our hands full looking after these kids. Vir: Hey, I heard there’s some fun to be had. Fret not! Here I am! Arc: Vir...We’re not playing games here, you know. (*sweats nervously from behind the Fourth Wall*) Godaar: Hoho. But, if we’re going to fight, we might as well do it cheerfully! Arc: You guys are hopeless. Oh, well, let’s go!  This is a fairly straightforward map; however, your objective will keep fleeing from you and everything else on the map will keep getting in your way.  The two towns sell the same set of healing items. Arc apparently having blown his 5-digit net worth on coronation preparations, we only have 1000 gp to our name, but killing enemies yields either more money directly or weapons that can be converted into cash; there’s also 1000 gp in the tree to the south of the town closest to the castle. Shop 1: I saw a huge winged creature fly towards the north. Come to think of it, it was holding something in its mouth. I wonder what it could have been? Shop 2: Black soldiers and monsters have various attacks. Some use long-ranged attacks while others jump into the battle. You should carefully check how far you and your enemies can move. There’s no custom dialogue for engaging the objective. Arc: Finally, I caught you! Give me back that holy sword! It takes a while for my average level 3 party to chop through the level 5 creature, but I still triumph without problems.  Ferio: Arc, the holy sword isn’t here! Arc: Dammit! Where did they take it? Docatti: I heard there’s a remnant of the black army north of here. We should go there, I think. Arc: We always end up chasing them, it seems… Docatti: Cheer up! At least it beats sitting in your castle all day. Well, off we go again! Another great adventure awaits us! Arc: Er, Docatti?  Docatti: Yea? Arc: You’re going west. Docatti: Err...I am? Arc: Yes, you are. North is THAT way. Docatti: Oh, well, let’s go this way then! Ferio: (Ohboy…) Stage 5: A new Threat  (Alicia and Dieno join the group.) Alicia: Ah, we finally caught up. Arc: Alicia! I didn’t expect to see you! And Dieno, too! Dieno: Hey, we came hurrying over to attend the coronation. Arc: Where have you been in all these months? I heard you went off by yourself. Dieno: Yeah, I was off on a trip to get my mind off things. But I guessed I’d better attend your coronation. Seems like there is quite a stir in the capital, though. Alicia: When we came to the castle, the place was in chaos! They told us you had gone off on a chase. Ferio: I’m very glad you came. How are the people in the village, Alicia? Alicia: They’re doing good. After all, they have me! Docatti: Fascinating. Look, we don’t really have time to chat. The enemy is coming closer.  The hidden treasures are as follows: to the far east is a consumable that adds +5 ATK to any unit, to the north is 2000 gold, and to the far west is a consumable that adds +5 DEF. Iwan is recruitable either as part of clearing the map or after it’s been successfully cleared; given that none of monsters target him and he spends the entire time running away until he reaches the northern village (which doesn’t even have a shop) the game definitely encourages you to ignore him completely.  The town close to the party’s starting point has a shop that sells healing items, a weapon upgrade for Iwan, and a weapon upgrade for our casters (if we haven’t managed to loot one from enemy casters); the other town shop is close to the castle and sells something similar. Shop 1: Last night, some of our women were abducted again. They must have been taken to the castle to the north. Whatever shall we do? Shop 2: Why are monsters appearing again? I thought the Demon King was destroyed...  (I don’t think even the writers consider Iwan part of the main cast, because so far I haven’t seen any alternate portraits of him; he’s always wearing that goofy grin.) If you approach Iwan in stage, you always get the following dialogue: Iwan: Ahhh!! Please don’t kill me!!...Eh? Your highness? Arc: Iwan!? What the-Iwan!?  Iwan: Your highness! You came to save me! I’m so moved...Eh? You didn’t? Arc: What are you doing here? Iwan: If I had to tell you all the tales of peril and hazard, we would still be here next week! Basically, I battled monsters a lot. How about you? Arc: Well… (One implied exposition dump later.) Arc: ...And that’s when we met you. Iwan: I see...Well, I will help you guys out. That will decrease your chances of getting killed. Just like in the old days! Arc: Uh...yeah. Thanks…  There’s no custom dialogue for engaging the boss. Count Kaizen: Ahhh, the little insects have come.  Arc: A vampire! Count Kaizen: Indeed. My name is Count Kaizen. I believe you killed my little brother Haizen a while ago. I will pay you back in kind! Ferio: You vampires are the reason of[sic] all of this fighting! Begone!  Count Kaizen: Ahh, but you don’t have to fight, little lady who works for god. Just give me the warm blood that runs in your veins! A tasty-looking dame like you would make a very fine bride! Arc: You bastard! Stay away from Ferio! She doesn’t taste good at all! Count Kaizen: ……………… Arc: (I didn’t mean it THAT way!) Ferio: Anyway, why do all these vampires tell me the same thing? (Because priests and hermits are supernaturally delicious and nutritious, of course.) Count Kaizen does the stereotypical vampire laugh every time he attacks or counterattacks, and he’s very tanky, so it takes several dozen “AH-ha-ha-ha”s before I can end the fight.  Count Kaizen: Ugh...Hahaha *koff*...you lot, don’t stand a chance against the great Demon King...If that is all you have to offer…*hack* Arc: What are you talking about!? Count Kaizen: If you want to know...Go north. The thing you seek is there to...But you will also *koff* find death there...Argh… Docatti: I wonder what awaits us in the north…? Arc: Well, for now, we can only head north, and see what happens. If you ignored Iwan, you then get this dialogue: Iwan: Highness! Highness, it is you! Arc: Iwan!? What the-Iwan!? What are you doing here? Iwan: Well, I’m just trying to figure out how to get out of here. I got kind of lost after a bunch of monsters chased me he--Uh, I mean, after I valiantly drove an army of monsters into this castle. Anyway, what are you guys here for? Arc: Well… (One implied exposition dump later.) Arc: ...And that’s when we met you. Iwan: I see...Well, I will help you guys out. That will decrease your chances of getting killed. Just like in the old days! Arc: Uh...yeah. Thanks… Stage 6: Old Ghosts  Arc: Looks like there is a remnant of the black army still here. Docatti: Not a trace of the Holy Sword…  There’s no skipping the recruits this time around, but I don’t mind since we get Arina and Pamila. On the west path after that is a weapon upgrade for Dieno that’s guarded by a ninja ambush and the east path is guarded by magic-immune golems so that naturally lends itself to splitting the party into two groups as I march my way to the objective.  There’s no custom dialogue for rescuing Arina and Pamila. Arina: Hey, Arcie!...Oh, wait, I guess I should call you ‘highness’ now. Long time no see! Pamila: Greetings, your highness. Arc: Arina? And Pamila? What are you two doing in this cage? Arina: Being held prisoner! What does it look like? Arc: Yes, but WHY? Arina: We were on our way to the coronation ceremony, when we were ambushed by these black army assholes. Arc: Eh? But, your islands are to the south, aren’t they…? Arina: Hehe, it’s Miria’s influence, really. We thought while we were abroad anyway, we might as well look around.  Arc: Anyway, I’m glad you’re okay. Arina: While you’re here, shall we accompany you on your journey? Arc: ...Thanks. Please lend us your strength again.  There’s also no custom dialogue for engaging the boss. Arc: That’s the black army remnant’s leader! Let’s take him down! Docatti: He’s a master of close-range fighting, so stay away from him! Docatti’s warning is no exaggeration, either: the boss double hits on both attacks and counterattacks in melee, and his ranged attack hits pretty hard as well. Fortunately, most of my units are packing dual ranged weaponry so I move them into place to chip him down bit by bit. Arc: It looks like they didn’t have the holy sword… Docatti: But now there is peace in this area. We didn’t come here in vain. Arc: ...I wanna go home. Docatti: Arc, I have heard many great and memorable battle-cries. Arc: … Docatti: Some were better than others. Some were rather bad. “CHAAAAARGE!” is suitable, but a bit worn-out by now. “Never give up, never surrender” is downright lame. But…”I wanna go home”? What the hell kind of hero are you? Arc: All right, all RIGHT! Let’s get on with it!
dotchan fucked around with this message at 20:11 on Jun 12, 2021 |
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Sep 7, 2020 15:00
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Stage 7: A Sad Lake Arc: We’ve come a long way north...But where are we, really? Arina: There’s a big-o-lake here, Arcie! Docatti: Let’s scout the area to find clues about the holy sword. Arina: Man, I’ve been flying for hours! I need a break! Arcie, make him shut up! Docatti: This could be Lake Runoria. If it is, there should be a large town nearby. Arc: Okay, let’s get some rest there. Ferio: ……. Arc: Something the matter? Ferio: No...it’s just that this area is giving me the creeps. Arina: Don’t worry, Ferio! I’m sure Arc will give you a great massage once we get to the city!  Ferio: ……. Arina: (Wow, she didn’t even blink. I guess she’s really worried…) Docatti: Anyway, we better be careful not to let ourselves be surprised. Ferio: Ah, I’m sure we’ll be okay...Don’t mind me. Arc: Ferio, you may be more sensitive to danger because you are a priest. Let’s take care.  We will finally recruit a unit that we didn’t meet in FS1 on this map, and triggering that event at the town marked A is what makes the objective (also marked A) appear and the treasures in the northeast corner collectible (before that happens, any units who try to get close will be blown back by a strong wind and the move is rendered ineffective). This map also features several ambushes (purple exclamation marks); the northeast ambush doesn’t spawn until about Turn 12 or so.  There is no custom dialogue for recruiting the new unit. Arc: There’s nobody here… Ferio: What on earth happened here? Docatti: Hey guys, I found someone! Raia: Oh...Who are you…? Arc: Hello. My name is… (Raia’s sprite appears on the map.) Raia: I see. You are King Arc. Forgive my rudeness earlier. Arc: Just call me Arc. No need for all the formalities out here in the middle of nowhere. Tell me, what happened to this town? Raia: Thirteen days ago, a man came rushing into my town. He looked and acted like he had seen a ghost. He would only shiver in fear and say: “The Angel of Death is coming”. Arc: Angel of Death? Raia: He died repeating that. I had never seen anybody die in front of my eyes before… Arc: So I guess that [man] was one of this city’s inhabitants… How about you?Raia: I am looking for my close friend...for the man I was going to marry...he lived here, and was supposed to meet me. He...He didn’t come… Ferio: ...I’m sure you will find him. Raia: Thank you. Arc: Do you know where he could be now? Raia: No...I came here to look for clues, but I couldn’t find any… Arc: I see (the screen starts to shake)...Huh? An earthquake...A big one! Raia: Look at that! (Back on the map, the objective--a castle in the middle of an island guarded by the objective--has popped into existence.) Arc: An island has surfaced…? And, there is a castle on top! Docatti: Strange...Is this the work of a monster!? Arc: Let’s go and find out! As far as I can tell, “Mage” is the same class as Vir started in the last game (where it was called “Magician”) but Raia can already use Lightning Rods (whereas Vir needed to promote first); either way, Raia is another caster and has the growths thereof. There is a shop option in the town where you recruit Raia, but all you get is more dialogue: Docatti: There isn’t anybody there...What could have happened here? Ferio The sense of fear and sorrow is very stronghere[sic]...  The shop near the castle sells the best current available caster weapon and the best current available instrument for Pamila. Shop: T, there’s appeared an island in the middle of the lake! What the hell is that castle!?  There’s no custom dialogue for engaging the boss. Arc: Here comes the guard! Ferio: Be careful! It does not show any mercy to anyone. Somebody is controlling it from elsewhere. Docatti: Since it’s already dead, it can’t be the source of the evil atmosphere. What a drag. The Bone Officer is dangerous to fight in melee, as it also doublehits on attacks and counterattacks in close range. It takes a couple of turns to chip it down, but eventually I triumph. Bone Officer: Urgggh…  Arc: Watch out! It’s still moving! Ferio: I will exorcise it. It is my duty as a priestess. Raia: …! Arc: What’s wrong!? Raia: The...The pendant that monster is wearing around its neck...It’s the one I gave to Walter… Arc: !...Then, maybe this is your missing fiance? Raia: Yes...But...No, I can’t believe it! Walter!.... Bone Officer: Who...calleth mine name… Raia: Walter!? Bone Officer: Who...Who am I?...Who...Mine name...I… Raia: Walter! Watler, is that you!? Bone Officer: Mine name...My name...Yes...I am...that voice...Raia!? Raia: You’re really Walter...Why, why are you like this… Walter: Raia...Forgive me...you must run. He is coming… Raia: Who is?...Why is this happening? Walter: The Angel of Death...He killed the townspeople and made me like this… Ferio: He is inside this castle, isn’t he? Walter: That’s right...Run away. He is immortal...He will kill you all and enslave the lands beyond… Raia: Can’t we return you to the way you were?! If we could kill the monster… Walter: It’s impossible. I am already dead. Please end my pain...your priestess can do that can’t she..? Raia: Walter… Walter: Please...It is so painful… Raia: Miss Ferio...Please… Ferio: ...Oh almighty god...send this tormented soul to rest. Use your light to guide him to his rest… Walter: Ahhh...Now I can rest...You have my thanks… Raia: Walter…… Walter: Raia...Don’t be sad...Goodbye. I love you… (The screen flashes white, and Walter’s icon disappears from the map.) Raia: ...Walter….. Ferio: Miss Raia… Raia: ………. Arc: Miss Raia, we’re going to destroy the monster. Please rest in one of the towns in the area. Raia: That won’t be necessary. Please add my strength to your group. Ferio: But, from here on it will probably become very dangerous. Mr. Walter wouldn’t want you to risk your life. Raia: I know...But I want to kill that bastard with my own hands...Please let me join you. Ferio: Arc...What shall we do? Arc: I don’t think we can stop her. Very well, let’s go together. Raia: Thank you… Stage 8: Mirage  Elenoa: What an eerie castle...But there seem to be few enemies. Ferio: Be careful...I have a very bad feeling about this. Elenoa: I can feel the presence of many awful creatures…  This stage has a gimmick that it will introduce once you run into it as well as regular ninja ambushes at the north end of the map; meanwhile, the castle is rich with stat-boosting items and a lance upgrade that is direct damage only (which I don’t bother to get because I’m lazy).  Arc: W,what the hell!? Raia: A doppleganger! It’s a monster that takes the shape and strength of one of our own! The dopplegangers pose as harmless-looking statues until a unit comes within three tiles of it, then it takes the form (and stats) of that unit, so if you’ve been feeding levels and/or stat boosters to somebody, it’s best to let them hang back and have your weaker units take point.  There’s no custom dialogue for engaging the boss. Lich: Well! Did you like my castle? I designed it myself. Raia: Are you the one who killed my Walter and his fellow citizens!? Lich: No, I’m collecting for Greenpeace. Would you like to make a donation? Raia: You...you swine… Lich: Such a touching compassion you have for a weakling like that. It would break my heart. If I had a heart. But consider this! Rather than killing him outright, I granted him eternal life. Those who serve me will never expire. Is that not a bargain? Docatti: You filthy…! Lich: Heh, you rabbile will make good servants. I wonder how it will look to have you march to war against the kingdom, armed with the holy sword? Arc: So it was you who stole it! Lich: Bah, I have no interest in it. Indeed it was I who took it, and an easy job it was, too, but there is someone who desires it more than me. Arc: And who would that be!? Lich: You don’t need to know that. It is time I ripped your souls out of your bodies and make[sic] them mine! Raia: You are a cruel man. I will destroy you, and take my revenge for Walter! Lich: Don’t be sad, my sweet girl. Very soon you and your beloved will be together again. Let’s get it on! Lich doesn’t hit that much harder in melee than in ranged, so I surround him with everybody and proceed to go to town. Since Raia expressed a desire for revenge and she needs the exp, I let her have the last hit. Lich: Muh...Not bad. Not bad at all! Raia: Why won’t you die? Elenoa: He is a powerful vampire’s servant, so we can’t beat him without blessed weapons! Lich: You are well-informed, my pretty red-head. But for now, I will part with you. I have an errand to run… Arc: Wait! Give me back my holy sword! Lich: Hah! If you want it, then follow! It is kept in the lands north of here. Fare well, until we meet again! (The Lich vanishes.) Raia: poo poo...! Ferio: Miss Raia… Raia: drat it! What will it take to finish him off…? Ferio: An undead like him could be defeated by a strong holy power. But mine was not strong enough… Arc: Let’s go after him, We’re bound to figure out to beat him somehow or other! Stage 9: Snow Elves  Arina: Oooh, it’s cold… Arc: Strange...It isn’t the season when snow falls, yet.  Arina: You mean “winter”, Arcie. Arc: I knew that! Arina: Anyway, let’s get some shelter in a town somewhere!  Arc: Yes. There seems to be a village over there. Hey...Don’t we know those people over there? Luceida: Your highness...what brings you here? Arc: Lucieda! I thought it was you! Lucieda: Highness, it’s been a while. We had heard the news of what happened, but we didn’t think you’d come here. Arc: We have a clue that points this way. Anyway, why are you here, yourself? Lucieda: What do you think about this snowfall here? Arc: Well...It’s a bit early, isn’t it? Lucieda: Yes. We think it’s the work of an evil spirit. We have come here to investigate. Arc: I see...you have a tough job. Lucieda: Well, while you’re here, you won’t mind hanging out with us, would you? Arc: Of course not! Lucieda: This abnormal weather only occurs in this region. Let’s look around, shall we? Arc: Maybe this has to do with our mission, too…  This map lends itself naturally to splitting the party in half, one team going east to liberate the eastmost town, grab treasure, and eradicate ambushes, the other heading west to nab the treasure there and clear out the enemies en route to the objective.  The starting town sells sword upgrades for Arc and Elenoa and mace upgrades for our healers. Shop: It’s far to[sic] early for snow, yet. If this keeps up, the crops will fail. How will we sustain ourselves if they do? This is really terrible…  The eastern town sells a bow upgrade for Liesa that’s better than the hidden treasure, but the Estoc isn’t better than another hidden treasure so I leave that on the counter. Shop: The kids have a lot of fun in the snow...Did you see the snowman and snowbunny outside? (This is a hint with regards to where the hidden treasures are located on this map.)  There’s no custom dialogue for engaging the boss. Arc: A girl!? Lucieda: It’s a Snow Woman! She must be the reason behind this strange cold. It looks like she’s dormant now. Arc: What shall we do!?  Lucieda: Let’s defeat her. We can’t kill her, because she’s a spirit, but if we slay her, she should return to her normal self. (Is there some sort of qualitative difference between killing and slaying…? )Arc: You mean this isn’t her real form!? Lucieda: She is supposed to be asleep now. I think something made her wake before time. Arc: Let’s get it over with! The snow woman hits three times in melee range and is standing on a town tile sandwiched between two mountains, making defeating her a bit of a slog. But at least her attack animations are cute:    There’s no custom dialogue for defeating the boss. Arc: Will she return to normal now? Snow: Gha… Arina: Eek! She came back to life! Arcieeeeeee! Snow: Uh...Where am I…? Lucieda: It’s okay. We won’t hurt you. Arina: (We just kicked your butt, though…) Snow: Are you an elf…? Lucieda: I am Lucieda of the elves. Can you tell me what has happened to this place? Snow: I’m not sure. I woke up from my summer sleep, so I started making snow, as is my duty… Lucieda: You should still be asleep around now. What was it that woke you from your slumber? Snow: Uh...I remember a terrible voice. Yes, now I remember...I saw a man who looked like a skeleton, and he was garbed in black. Arc: It’s him! Im[sic] sure of it! Lucieda: “Him”? You know who she means!? Arc: He’s the guy we’re after. It was him who stole the holy sword… Lucieda: I see...It looks like we’d better tag along for the rest of the ride. Arc: Lucieda? Lucieda: The spirits brought us together. I can not abandon you, now that you have helped Liesa and me…We are companions. It stands to reason to help each other, right? Arc: ...Thank you. Snow: Excuse me...If it is all right, I would like to come with you too. Arc: You? Snow: Yes. I caused you all much trouble. I can’t go beyond the mountain’s snow line, but the least I can do is guide you to the bottom. Arc: Thank you. We won’t forget this favour. Lucieda: Great! Let’s go! Characters introduced this update:  A sorcerer who travelled to her missing fiancee’s hometown in order to investigate rumors of an “angel of death” and to look for him; joins the party to avenge him instead. The guardian of the enemy castle and Raia’s missing fiance who was killed and compelled to serve the dark forces in un-death. The mastermind behind the theft of the holy sword and various other atrocities. A snow maiden who was tricked into starting winter early.
dotchan fucked around with this message at 15:22 on Jan 3, 2021 |
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Sep 11, 2020 21:14
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Stage 10: The Dragonroad I really should have done this earlier, because I was holding out hope for the game to have custom dialogue, but from now on I will only note if there is.  Snow: There are two ways from here. You can go down the east bank, or detour around the north bank. Arc: Hmmm...Which way should we take? Arina: Say, did this girl even tell us her name? Lucieda: She didn’t, because Snow women don’t have names. Arina: Well, I’ll give her one, then! Let’s see...How does Snow-chan sound? Arc: ….. Docatti: ….. Ferio: ….. Snow: It’s a wonderful name. Thank you very much. Arina: You’re welcome! Lucieda: Haaa…. Arc: Well, now that’s settled, we should not dawdle here! Docatti: Harken to our mighty leader, people! Come on, everybody together: “I wanna go home!” Arc: (I get the feeling I’m not being taken seriously…)  The northern path is, in my opinion, a red herring: the town doesn’t really sell anything particularly worth buying (and there’s another town if you need items) and the northern hidden treasure is a ranged attack only weapon (but you can still get it from the other path anyway if you really want it) whereas the treasure just south of the boss is a weapon upgrade for Elenoa. Snow attacks from either range using her snowman magic; as mentioned at the end of the previous stage, she is a temporary unit who can’t even be used to collect weapons from shops or hidden treasures, so she’s best used as a setup to feed kills for your other party members.  The northern town sells a direct damage only lance and the current best mace for Ferio and Alicia. Shop: In the olden days, this was the land of a dragon. Back then the monsters were a lot better than now. There is still some weaponry with the dragon’s soul around here...But it’s not for sale.  The other town isn’t selling anything I don’t already have. Shop: Hoho, surprised to find such a nice and warm place in the middle of the mountains? Well, drop by again when you get cold!  Arc: So this is the boss in these parts. Docatti: Let’s mop him up quick. This monster double hits while in melee, and is otherwise fairly tough, so it takes a few turns to take him down. Arc: Sheesh, somehow we got over the mountain. Snow: Well...This is where we part company. I cannot be separated from my mountain. Arc: I see. Thank you for everything. Snow: I would like to give you this as a token of my friendship. Ferio: This is...A cane, isn’t it? Snow: Yes. It was hidden in these mountains, and I was taking care of it. Ferio: This is wonderful. I feel a great power in it. Are you sure we can have it? Snow: Yes. It is of no value to us Snow Women, but you might find a use for it. Ferio: I understand. Thank you very much. Snow: No, I should be thanking you. Lucieda: Take care. Snow: Goodbye... And Ferio’s equipped item gets replaced with a Light Scepter from this point forward, just in time to fight the next stage. Stage 11: The King  Arina: What’s this? Dieno: A river...But something is wrong. It isn’t frozen, yet the water doesn’t flow. Docatti: Looks like another attempt to stop our progress. Dieno: Undoubtably[sic]. Look, there are lots of enemies waiting for us.  Even with the new movement rules, it takes a while to march the party up to the objective--despite the cutscene’s claims that the water doesn’t move, it’s no less of an obstacle for anyone except the fliers--but at least the entire western side of the stage can be completely ignored if you’re not interested in the treasure as none of the enemies over there (except for a very small southern contingent) come your way. (This is also the stage where I find out that the level cap is no longer 20, much to my relief.)  The center town sells a weapon upgrade for Iwan and for Godaar (that Docatti can also use, but it’s direct damage only). Shop: There are weapons with great power sealed inside. But unfortunately it takes a strong fighter to wield them in the first place.  Lich: Finally you got here. You kept me waiting… Arc: Don’t kid around, you rear end in a top hat! Lich: Oh, I’m DEAD serious. But oh well. Today you are in luck. Your holy sword is on the summit of this mountain. You’ll find the man who borrowed it off me there. Arc: What is the meaning of this!? Lich: Mistress Elenoa, isn’t it about time you fought on our side again? Elenoa: What I did in the past I did for my mother. She is dead and I will not have anything to do with you people anymore. Lich: You would not honour her dying wish? You’re not a very good daughter. Elenoa: Shut up! You used her, and you will not use me the same way! Lich: Bah, have it your way, then! But I must admit that it’s vexy to not have your cooperation. Arc: drat you! Why do you want Elenoa so badly! Lich: I’ll explain slowly, so even you will understand. We need her to use the holy sword. Arc: What!? Lich: Isn’t it obvious? The holy sword can only be used by the members of the royal family...That is, by you, or by mistress Elenoa. And since mistress Elenoa was spawned from the queen, who was of Devil blood, there is no better candidate than to open the demon world than her. Elenoa: The insolence! There is NO way I’ll cooperate with you! Lich: I guess I can’t persuade you. Well then, if you’ll excuse me… Elenoa: W, what!? (Elenoa’s sprite disappears from the world map.) Arc: Elenoa!? Lich: Ladies and gentlemen! I thank you for coming. But I’m afraid your presence is no longer needed here. Lich is about the same difficulty level as the last time I fought him, but unless Ferio does the last hit, he doesn’t die and taunts the party with “Did you lose your memory? You can not possibly kill me with the weapons you are using now!” instead (Arc responds with “poo poo, what are we to do!?”) and doesn’t take any more damage (or give out any more experience) after that unless Ferio attacks him. Fortunately, I’ve been anticipating this and having Pamila give Ferio extra turns so it’s not that long before she catches up and finishes him off with a flying leap. Lich: Ghah...It looks like I severely underestimated you. You are mighty indeed. Arc: Where did you take Elenoa!? Lich: I...took her to where she belongs. Though I die, the General will deal with you… Arc: And this general is your boss!? Lich: ….. Arc: ...Dammit! Ferio: I sense a great evil inside this castle. Maybe Elenoa is inside? Arc: I guess. Well, let’s get it over with. Raia: Walter...your killer lies dead. Rest in peace… Arina: Look! The snow…  Arc: His curse was lifted… Dieno: But it will take some time to fully undo the effects. Arina: I wonder if Snow-chan is relieved, too? Lucieda: Definitely! Stage 12: Family  Arc: So this castle is where the general is hiding. Ferio: Careful! Our enemies are here!  Another castle stage ripe with treasures and doppleganger ambushes. This time I go around collecting everything, eating a couple of deaths along the way due to carelessness, but eventually I convene almost everybody at the boss.  The boss encounter cutscene starts up as soon as you have any unit approach the empty throne, upon which Elenoa--Elenoa herself, not a doppelganger--appears marked with the dreaded red “E” mark. Arc: Elenoa!? Elenoa: ….. Ferio: Arc! Something isn’t right! Arc: Elenoa! Are you okay…!? Hey, isn’t that the holy sword…? Docatti: Arc! That isn’t Elenoa as she is normally! She must be under a spell of some sort! Arc: B, but... (Targeting Elenoa starts up the next dialogue.) Arc: Stop it, Elenoa! Don’t you recognize us!? Elenoa: Kill... Despite Elenoa being given extra levels and the holy sword, she still can’t hit Arc very hard unless she crits (though Godaar ate quite a bit of damage when I finally got him into position), and pretty much everybody else can stand at long range where she has no counterattack. The fight still took long enough that almost everybody got caught up enough to get a hit or two in and grab some experience off her. After beating the brainwashing out of her, she disappears from the field and reappears with the reassuring blue “F” mark. Elenoa: Huh…? Arc: Elenoa! You’re okay!...Thank god. Elenoa: Brother…? Oh, I see, I became a threat to you again…  Arc: It’s not your fault. Don’t worry. ???: Hmph. You got the holy sword back. Seems like there is only one true owner after all… Arc: Who’s there!? Elenoa: I remember you...you were my mother’s right hand man in her attempt to revive the demon king...But I thought you were destroyed… ???: I’m happy you were worried about me. But, unlike the Demon King, I am not so easily gotten rid of. For I am the Phantom General, Zavel! You will know me but briefly, I am afraid…You have shaken off my compulsion to come with me. But it is not too late. Join me, and we will unleash the demon world once again. Like Diva before you, you will wield enormous power! (I smell another retcon. Last game, the Queen’s right hand man was Balzar/Diva.) Dieno: You bastard! My brother was nothing like that! Zavel: Oh...you’re the brother?...Well, I wouldn’t have guessed for you to show up in person. But no matter, you will be defeated at the last… Dieno: You!...I will stop you! Zavel: Oh, but can you? You’re but a human while I am a powerful demon. But we will see. Arc: Just wait...I will fight you for Diva’s sake, and defeat you! Zavel: Hahahaha. I look forward to it... dotchan fucked around with this message at 11:53 on Jun 13, 2021 |
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Sep 15, 2020 10:45
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