Part 5 - The Ruin Festival
Previously, we helped an engineer-archaeologist find a giant robot to be put on display at the Filgaia World’s Fair. Today, let’s actually go see the fair.
First, though, the higlights of the town NPC dialogue:
The ground is so brittle we don’t know what will happen in the end.
Emma has different dialogue for each party member if they talk to her before the end of Rudy’s scenario. Remember, Rudy is the only one who gets access to the world map during his scenario.
The place is full of traps. It took my workers many hours and we’ve achieved so little.
Lolithia’s Tomb had more rocks and switches than traps. Now the Temple of Memory, that had traps.
Especially when a site is on soft ground, like the site we’re working at now.
And this book on her bookshelf, telling us a bit about ARMs:
To operate an ARM, the user must synchronize with the machine completely. That is why the military models are fussy about who they synchronize with.
So it’s not just about pulling the trigger; ARMs are at least semi-sentient and need to work with you, and weapons especially tend to be choosy about who gets to use them. Either that or it’s the book having to explain the concept of fingerprint locks to a society of technophobes who are just re-discovering the diesel engine.
There was a side story in Alter Code: F about how terrible of a doctor this guy is; that old man in bed next to him is sick or injured for the entire game due to his incompetence. The hospital was instead empty because everyone was afraid to put themselves under his care. Having played that, I now see this line in a different light, although I’m pretty sure that’s not the intended interpretation in this game.
We find out about a new Guardian from this man, and can see a statue dedicated to it in the northwest corner of the city. Even if you go examine it with Cecilia, though, no Guardian will speak to her. Maybe this one’s dead?
will of the Guardians. Is the power of the Guardians fading away?
And there’s this woman, who knows a bit about the royal family. I’m not sure if she’s saying “But since the Princess hasn’t been able to do that yet, I think we might be in trouble” or if she’s just questioning the Guardians’ strength in general.
Sssshhh! I’m back father… No one recognizes me. It’s fun to be anonymous. You don’t mind, do you?
Why are you back so early? The festival isn’t open yet.
I have my reasons… And I don’t particularly want everyone making a big deal.
You’ve never liked crowds. I remember that. It’s been 10 years… Look how you’ve grown! You look just like your mother.
Let me remain anonymous until the start of the festival.
And if Cecilia talks to the King before Lolithia’s Tomb, they also have special dialogue.
He has a sense of humor, but you must never forget to show proper respect.
Whereas Minister Johann apparently doesn’t recognize the princess after her ten-year absence, because this is the same dialogue he has for everyone else.
I wonder what she’s like. I’m new here, so I don’t know much about her.
A few of the guards will remark that “the princess is coming back for the festival” and will say that to Cecilia’s face, as well.
We had to bend over backwards just to feed her.
As well as these castle chefs. Maybe you’re just not as good as the guy over in the Abbey, ever think of that?
A few years back, the Kingdom of Arctica was destroyed overnight.
Things seem to be getting worse in Filgaia. I wonder what could destroy an entire kingdom so quickly, though?
We have another Calamity Jane fanboy, this one among the castle guards.
As for items in the town, this is in the northeast corner of town.
A couple of stat-boosters (Power and Hardy Apples) in crates in a random building (warehouse?).
And a Magic Carrot and a Heal Berry in these crates.
If anyone was wondering why I had a spare Crest Graph back in Cecilia’s scenario, I got it here, just outside Adlehyde Castle.
I also pick up this near the kitchens. The Moon Stone is a left-hand item that anyone can equip, and it will make that character immune to the Poison status effect. We haven’t seen anything that can actually inflict Poison, so I haven’t used it.
While this door in the castle is locked. The Tear Drop doesn’t work, so we can’t get this door open right now.
And that’s it for the particularly interesting stuff.
but I have to get going now… I have no idea why I was summoned to the north ruin. But, I’m glad to know I was of some help. After I go, I might not be able to travel with you… But I will never forget our adventure. I hope you guys will treat me the same way I’ve treated you.
We actually do need to stay at the inn in order to progress, and unlike many other games, there’s nobody to cover the cost. But when you do, Cecilia says this, and then departs.
She heads off to the castle, where she “officially” meets her father. There’s no dialogue in this scene.
And, the next morning…
Music - Ancient Civilization Exhibition
I first make the rounds before heading off to the fair. The highlights:
I’m not sure if he’s referring to actual magic, or just sufficiently advanced technology, because I’m pretty sure they had both 1,000 years ago. The devs certainly went whole-hog on the “lost civilization” trope in this game.
Sure you would, man.
I’m pretty sure Rudy’s underage. Jack’s probably okay, though.
I know that pain, man. Unless I specifically put in for vacation, I will end up working almost every holiday each year.
If we go into the castle, we can see that Cecilia’s in there, but she’s not in any part of the castle we can reach (yet).
And she’s also not selectable at the Memory Bird.
His quest for the ancient knowledge is based on his belief that it will help in stopping the deterioration.
The game is not shy about letting you know that Filgaia is a planet on the decline. I suppose you could consider Wild Arms post-apocalyptic as well as a Western, which makes it one of the only examples of that former genre that I have experienced.
I also stopped to upgrade Rudy’s Hand Cannon a bit with some of the money from Lolithia’s Tomb. I forgot to grab a screenshot of the end result, but I upgraded ATP once (5 points), Accuracy three times (2 points each, for a total of 6 points), and bullets twice (for 2 extra bullets). Final stats: ATP 15, Accuracy 91%, and 10 Bullets.
Over to the festival…
You’re acting like this is a once-in-a-lifetime event. Like some sort of millennial fair or something. But we’ve done a job, and should go get our pay.
Here is the payment.
There’s a lot to see here… I’m sure you’ll see something that interests you.
500 Gella is a bit of a rip-off, but since we also got plenty of money off the actual monsters, I guess it’s fine. IIRC, even after taking her as a party member and the attendant pay dock in Alter Code: F, she still pays something like twice what she does in this version. Now that we have some pocket change jingling around, let’s check out the fair. Starting with the exhibits first:
- They have been found in many places.
I’m guessing that the implication here is supposed to be that these are not ordinary human skeletons, and that they’re made of some non-standard material, like metal. Because I’m pretty sure they know what the normal kind are for.
- Not everyone is able to use this because it requires psychic syncronization.
Pseudo-sentient it is then. Don’t expect me to be transcribing dialogue for Rudy’s Hand Cannon, though.
“Black box” is a term for a data recorder, not a control mechanism, though?
- Metals found in many of the artifacts can be traced back to this asteroid.
I suppose an asteroid crashing into Filgaia would provide plenty of raw material for building shit. Those things are huge. Epoch-ending big.
to duplicate it.
And now for the main attraction: the three Golems.
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Hard armor reminds one of some indestructible fortress.
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Excavation: Ocean of Sand
Height: 62 feet (w/o weapon)
Weight: 210 tons
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A flame thrower for close combat.
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Tough, but agile armor. Good hand to hand abilities. Nicknamed the [Crimson Wind].
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Excavation: Arctica
Height: 53 feet
Weight: 160 tons
If Diablo here was excavated in Arctica, it was presumably before the kingdom was wiped off the map one day. Also, if you ask me, Diablo looks more like the fortress and Barbados looks more agile, but you do you Wild Arms.
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In ancient legends, it froze the enemy demons to death.
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Excavation: Near Adlehyde
Height: 53 feet
Weight: 120 tons
Interesting how Lolithia uses different than Diablo for her nickname. I wonder if it means anything, or if it’s just a localization gaffe.
Some people fear these artifacts as much as they fear the demons.
Yeah, and there were people from Surf who wanted to come to this festival. They’d have been shitting themselves with fear and rage. It would be like fundamentalist Christians getting in line at a Satanist convention.
Like this woman, although she seems more “mildly concerned” than “afraid”.
Now, they’re broken.
Although this kid apparently isn’t one of them.
This flower girl sells her wares for 2 Gella. That’s chump change; we could buy 250 of them with our “pay” from Emma alone, and as far as I could tell, she doesn’t have a limit.
Unlike a certain other flower girl, though, the flowers she sells are actually useable items. What do they do?
They increase your Luck stat. Rudy’s still laboring under his terrible luck, so he could probably use one, but since Luck is prone to randomly fluctuating and doesn’t really have that significant of an effect on combat I don’t bother.
Now let’s play some of the games! This is basically just a footrace; the goal is to go around the track as fast as possible, and then your time is compared against arbitrary developer-set benchmarks other competitors who exist in the narrative!
From the start, head up,
Then left,
Then follow the track as it loops downward,
Then back up again,
Then back around to the starting line. On my first try, I did not do very well. This is true for most of the games, honestly.
But after a couple more tries, I manage to get second place. It’s interesting that the game pulls up a naming screen here; I assume it doesn’t overwrite the character’s name, but I suppose if you wanted to have your high score(s) be named ASS and/or DONGS you could do so. This game is free and there are no prizes, so I don’t bother to try any harder than that. But do take note of the name in the number 1 spot there.
This game is entirely random. You pick up and throw a ball, and then the game decides where it lands on the target and what prize you get. Your positioning is irrelevant, and you have no way to influence what way the ball goes once it’s thrown or how far it goes. It’s honestly the worst kind of minigame, in my opinion; a game of chance disguised as a game of skill. It costs 30 Gella to play.
I try a few times and never get anywhere near the center. The second and fourth shots may look like failures from the dialogue, but I won a Heal Berry both times; not worth the 30 Gella fee. The third time I won a Revive Fruit, which was at least a profit (and something I don’t have a bunch of already). There’s a really good item you can win off this game if you get the ball dead center, but since I seem to need a Small Flower or two myself, I figured I’d probably run out of money (or hard drive space for the recording) before then.
Ultimate Chicken is pretty easy once you get the hang of it. You start running automatically, and you need to press and hold the Dash button to stop before you hit the wall at the end of the course. The quality of your prize depends upon how close to the wall you manage to stop. It costs 100 Gella to play.
The guy trash-talks you if you lose.
But after a few tries, I manage to stop Rudy a hair’s width from the wall, and get the best prize possible for this game. Not bad, but still not worth 100 Gella. It’s actually impossible to make a profit off of this game.
In Lucky Mole Catching you run around and pick up moles as they pop out of the ground. The objective is to catch as many as you can in 30 seconds. It’s sort of like Whack-A-Mole, but the moles can pop up anywhere in the fenced-in area below the hawker. I’m not very good at this game, although it’s technically better than the Strike Ball game. It costs 100 Gella to play.
I spend most of the latter half of the game floundering around not catching moles, and only manage 7. I win an Antidote, which isn’t even close to the price of admission. The good prizes start at 12+ moles, and include Revive Fruits and stat boosters. At this point I decide to look up the prizes, see that the only item we haven’t seen yet is a prize in Strike Ball, and then decide that’s enough.
Please… Can you help look for him? He may be in trouble. I’m going to stay here so I don’t miss him on this road… If you see him, please bring him back to me. He has a red balloon. Please!
We need to talk to this woman to progress the plot. Let’s go find her lost son.
He should be easy to spot. But where? That’s the question.
This man right next to her weighs in on the issue if you speak to him.
Whereas this fellow over by Lolithia has this to say even before you talk to her.
This guy over by the entrance to the Ruin Festival grounds tells us where to find the lost child, though. Which we’ll do next time! No fights this update, so no change in stats.