The Final Fantasy You Never Played (But Wish You Had) [4 Heroes of Light]

So, now we have our first crowns that aren’t just beginning-of-the-game-jack-of-all-trades. This means that we’ll need to figure out our party layout!
We’re going to be switching between different chunks of the party for awhile. As such, I’ve decided to ask the thread what crowns we should be using after every party switch. (I’ll need to figure something else out when we’ve reached the point where we have a full party but we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.)
For now, we’re playing as George solo, and since crowns are apparently kept in the same time-and-space defying bag they used in the branched scenario segment of FFVI, she currently has access to the Black Mage and White Mage crowns. As such, I ask you this:
For her solo segment, should George be a Black Mage or a White Mage?
(Poll closing in… I dunno, a few days.)

  • White Mage
  • Black Mage

0 voters

How to instantly turn anyone off from your Let’s Play thread: Be a whiny shit about things you don’t like in the thread title.

No one gives a crap about your psychotic obsession with an entirely different game, and seeing that in the thread title makes me think you think it’s clever to jump on the “other people like this thing, but I’m going to be a delusional loser because I don’t!” bandwagon.

It’s not amusing, it’s not clever, and based on what you claim the creators of another game think (which isn’t true in the slightest), it just tells me this thread is just as likely to be filled with ignorant pompous crap just like the title and opening post.

It’s amazing that both Black and White Mage remain useful for the whole game just because of that AP cost decrease they both have.


And here I was thinking that White Mage actually stood a chance here. Ah well, Black Mage it is!

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I mean, the options are between “top hat” and “not top hat,” so…

Update #4: Money Can Buy Her Love

Click for update 4!


:radio:YouTube Link: Liberte
We begin our adventure with George in Liberte.

The thread voted on George becoming a black mage, so here we are.

This will not matter as much as I had thought it did.


John doesn’t really have anything new to say.

That being said, it was awful nice of them to let us use the fanciest house.

Takin’ a look around the town, starting from the top.



Art-stealing pirates, you say? Sounds like a lead to me!

It kind of looks like they don’t go anywhere but these stairs do in fact lead to another floor.


:crown:: I want you to think of Liberte as your own country. Feel free to come and go as you please.
I almost want to see the look on this guy’s face when he learns that he said this to another country’s royalty and realizes what that implies.
(I don’t remember if he ever actually learns that or not. :V)




That shop actually has two vendors in it; the most interesting things are the new armors sold by the equipment seller.

The black robe is, obviously, the “official” companion to the Black Mage crown. Fittingly, it is dapper as hell.

A locked lighthouse, you say? Well, I’m sure said lighthouse won’t contain any sort of incredibly tedious optional dungeon or anything like that.


: Why, that’s terrible!
:baby:: Please, can you help me?
From art thieves to kidnappers. That escalated in a hurry!

Downstairs there’s a chest that blocked by a wall unless you’re on the stairs.
The ring is neat but not really useful at present as we have no physical attackers.
(This doesn’t stop me from equipping it on George in a fit of absentmindedness, though. :V)

Well, while we’re here we should probably greet our neighbors.

…neighbors who consist solely of a strange door, apparently. Oh well, nothing important, I’m sure.




:3: Kitty has a house all to himself! :3:


That’s all for the north half of town, now for the south!

That’s… alarming. This is just treated as a normal thing?


:anchor:: We love the ocean, and we love freedom. That’s what piratin’ be all about!

:anchor:: You want to know the secret password? Arr, that I canna tell you!
So Liberte has a fancy magic cop organization but these guys are allowed to just hang around in broad daylight, even though everyone apparently knows they’re thieves and kidnappers?

:guardsman:: Drake would be the first to admit he loves plundering treasure, but I never took him to be the type to kidnap innocents.
I’m pretty sure it’s still you guys’ job to deal with that, though!

Pretty considerate whirlpool to not do any permanent damage.



This is the same inventory as one of the guys in the northern shop; notably, they both sell these fancy, expensive boots.



So… about those whirlpools at night…

Northern half of the town is blocked after dark, eh?


:radio:YouTube Link: Liberte (night)
Well, not if I can help it!

Homeowner Cat has been replaced by a rather large pig.
A pig that is apparently fond of breaking the fourth wall.

In actuality, getting up here when it’s supposed to be blocked off turns the place into a sort of low-key version of the developers’ room from FFIV. It’s not much more than an Easter Egg, but it’s neat, and it’s not available for very long so now’s the best time to get a look at it.

There’s also this kinda spoiler-y hint. We’ll be seeing what she’s talking about later.

The soundtrack is quite nice, at least in my opinion!



Oh man it’s Akihiko Yoshida! I loved your work on Final Fantasy Tactics!
Dude appreciates the simple things in life. (I forget to actually look at the gull, for the record. :V)

What odd place to be tutorializing. Helpful to know, I suppose.

:computer:: Thanks for exploring so far into the game!
I actually didn’t know this place existed until a few days ago, so good job hiding it, I suppose.


:computer:: Let’s create a game together!
And that’s all there is to see up here. Not much, but it’s an interesting little extra.
(We end in the inn here because you need to rest to get past the whirlpool and I forgot we could rest at our house.)

Speaking of the inn, this guy gives us an interesting lead, but we should probably deal with the hostage situation before worrying about treasure.

I guess we should tell John about the situation too, I guess.

Nah, I was just kidding.

Honestly, John may be a prick but I’d probably be annoyed by someone doing this to me.
Anyway, let’s tell the truth:

: …Forget it. We’re foreigners here. It’s none of our business.
: You’re a subject of Horne, aren’t you?
: Er, yeah. So?
: Then you should know I am the second princess of the realm. That means you have to do what I say!
: All right, all right. Just stop shrieking at me, okay?
The lesson here: temper tantrums work.
Granted, she’s not wrong, per se, but it’s not like there’s anyone to enforce Horne’s royal decrees anyway.

We also learn that I grossly misremembered this part of the game. Hahahaha whoops. I’m not even really sure why I thought this was a solo section.
I think it’s because Aire gets cursed at the end of this section while Jusqua doesn’t so I jumped to the conclusion that she’s by herself for all of it.
And I’d already held a poll for what crown George would be using and everything. Just my luck.



Then again, since I’d rather have only one of each crown in our active party at any given time, the only real difference in the poll if I’d actually remembered things correctly would be “should George be a Black Mage while John is White, or the other way around?” and George was voted Black Mage anyway, so John is now our White Mage.


Setting aside my own fumbles, John just so happened to supply us with our destination.



I’m… I’m just gonna pretend you never said that.

Love! Wait, no, courage!

:anchor:: No spies allowed, by order of Cap’n Drake himself!
He says the same thing for either response.
If you remember, one of the pirates back in town (the one that didn’t say anything about not telling you the password) wouldn’t shut up about freedom and how it was the pirate band’s mottow.

That gives us access to our next dungeon.


We are immediately presented with a branch, wherein we head left.

But we knew the password, doesn’t that make us part of the crew?


That’s helpful of you, considering the last guy’s attitude.


At the end of this branch, we find a reasonably okay sum of gil.
…Wait a minute, the captain wasn’t farther along inside at all! Well played, not-actually-helpful pirate. Well played.

Backtracking to the branch and heading right:

At least you have no problem just telling us you’re useless.



…I guess that’s… better than what the guard at the entrance said? I guess?

We’re in the home stretch, but first…

…there’s treasure to be had!


The guard isn’t especially difficult.

He was guarding his own weakness, apparently. We don’t really have a use for this at present, unfortunately.

Just another lizardman.


This, on the other hand, is an improvement for George.


Now that’s a pirate captain if I’ve ever seen one!

:dragon_face:: …For I not be the Captain Drake ye think I am!

Welp.

:radio:YouTube Link: Strong Enemy

This guy isn’t extremely difficult but he has some tricks up his sleeve.
Also, contrary to what the loot on the last floor implies, he is not weak to earth (or any other element, for that matter).

He can hit both party members; it isn’t much on its own, however…

…he can boost his attack with berserk, which can be a problem if it catches you off guard…

…which it promptly does to me.

Dude catching me off guard causes my first real game over (that wasn’t me dying deliberately to show what happens when you die).

Luckily, I’m better prepared the second time.



I just needed to make better use of my resources is all.


This time he goes down without too much trouble.

All that’s left is the staircase ahead of us.

…and a random encounter giving us a surprisingly cool drop, it seems.
This makes it so physical attacks have a chance of inflicting sleep.

Anyway, the next room is bursting at the seams with treasure.




The description here isn’t very clear; what it means is that using the hunting horn automatically starts an encounter, making it handy for grinding.


Not all of it is immediately helpful but it’s a nice haul.

: We came here to save you!
: Well, SHE did. I’m just along for the ride.
:paintbrush:: Thank you! They were forcing me to make more works of art, but I was sick with worry about Apollo.
:paintbrush:: * sigh * I just can’t survive without my boy and a view of the Sea of Liberte.

: He’s fine. He’s looking forward to seeing you back home again.
:woman:: * sigh * That’s a weight off my mind.

:dragon:: …I’m mighty sorry, maties. I caused ye much trouble.
Now that we’ve taken care of the rest of the room, it’s about time we checked out the big, glittering statue in the middle of the room.

: What are you blubbering about?
: B-but look at it!

: Eh? But can’t you see the little flying creature?

:question:: I am in your debt, and the Arbor folk never forget a debt.
Remember that Paul was headed for Arbor at the end of last update.

: Er, I’m George.
:beetle:: It’s a pleasure, George.
: You really need to stop talking to yourself like that. People might get the wrong idea…

“Joins” is kind of a strong term here. Lilibelle isn’t actually a party member who does anything in battle or anything, she just shows up in cutscenes.


:dragon:: Of course I am, ye lily-livered fool! Now take this artist back to his home in Liberte, and be quick about it.
:paintbrush:: I will bid you farewell for now. I don’t know if I can ever repay you, but please visit us when you return to Liberte.
To recap: we’ve learned that the pirates were only kidnapping people because their captain had been replaced with a demon. Nothing to be concerned about, I’m sure.

Time to make our way back to Liberte!

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Update #6: Step Inside Liberte
Advance warning: this update’s dungeon is one of them navigating-the-guts-of-a-giant-critter types. No blood or gore, it’s no more extreme than Lord Jabu Jabu from Ocarina of Time; however, discretion is still advised if you’re disturbed by that sort of thing.

Click for update 6!


It’s about time we made out triumphant return to Liberte!
(After waiting until daytime to have access to the whole town, of course.)

:radio:YouTube Link: Liberte
A few of the townspeople have new things to say.

:guardsman:: I hope you’ll stay in Liberte and help us make the oceans safe for everyone!
Most of it is, in fact, recognition of our heroism.


It’s about damn time we did something with that whirlpool, really.



:dragon:: Fire be yer friend if ye find yerself fighting water-element beasties.
Also note that both party members have water shields equipped, this will be important in a bit.

Huh, guess the cat did have an owner, how about that.


Oh, I’m sure this curse won’t mean anything.




This is +1 to defense and magic defense. It goes on John for keeping-our-healer-alive purposes.

:paintbrush:: You’re going to be the inspiration for my next work of art.





Oh, I’m sure it’s just a coincidence that all sorts of bad stuff is suddenly going down everywhere at once; you’re just being paranoid, guy.


I know most of this is pointless but it still feels kind of nice for the townsfolk in a JRPG to actually be grateful for your heroism for once.



Anyway, it’s been a long adventure, this seems like a good time to head back to the house and rest up.

: Yes, but look at what we found. Isn’t the room so much more beautiful now?
: Don’t tell me you want to go hunting for more treasure!
: Why not? We’ve got a lot to do before this place looks as grand as my room back in Horne!
: Ah, whatever. I need to sleep.
This automatically triggers a rest.



:beetle:: Are you all right? You were tossing and turning all night.
: I just can’t relax in this dingy little room. I’m a princess, you know. I’m used to luxury.
: I don’t suppose you know where I can find some nicer things for the room?
:beetle:: Well, er…
:beetle:: I heard there’s great treasure hidden in the bottom of the whirlpool.
:beetle:: Legend says it was reserved for the eyes of artisans who crafted the finest Liberte glasswork…

:beetle:: Yes, but I wouldn’t try finding it if I were you.
: Why not? Let’s go!

: Oh, come on, lazy bones, get out of bed. We’re going treasure hunting!
In other news, the princess is still spoiled and John is still a prick.



Night falls…

.…and it’s time to finally enter the whirlpool!

:radio:YouTube Link: Cave of Wraiths
…and we’re inside something’s guttyworks. Excellent. Just excellent. At least it’s surprisingly well-lit.

(oh god and we don’t even know what orifice we went in from either)

In this first room there are these pools; stepping in them causes negligible damage to your lead character. They’re not really worth worrying about.

In the upper-right corner of the room we have… uh… this thing.


… …
That is not a fucking lever.

We pull down the thing and it apparently alters the giant critter’s anatomy in some way.
Great. Good.

Rare drop from a fish in a random encounter. These add water elemental damage to their wearer’s physical attacks. Given that every monster here is water-based, I pop outside the dungeon to drop these off in storage.

Making our way north after hitting the… uh… “switch.”


After a short walk through the kinda-winding corridor to the north we come to this passage with a pair of… let’s call them flaps at the end. These are the “door” the “switch” from before opened.
I would like to take this moment to point out that, for the entire time we’re here, it is never actually acknowledged that we’re clearly inside something’s guts.

The passage takes us to an encounter.

The encounter is over in a single hit.

We get something that is decidedly quite useful.
This goes on George since John already has the charm from earlier.

Anyway, back to the intersection to take the other route.

That is one inorganic-looking set of stairs for a place like this.



We come across another of these uvula “switches” as we next passageway. This one does not appear to have changed anything.

We pass the “door” on the way and it appears to still be closed.

As an aside, these things can inflict silence; this is why (well, one of the reasons why) one of the NPCs outside tells you to bring Echo Herbs.

From here we can see something resembling progress in the distance…

But on the way there, we run into this!
This is a Metal Flan. As can be ascertained from its name, it is basically a wholesale reference to the Metal Slimes of Dragon Quest fame.

That being said, it goes down with much less trouble than its namesake.


Still, it gives a healthy chunk of EXP and drops a rare gem normally only found on bosses at this point.


Now that that little bit of sidetracking is over, we make our way to the other switch. This time it seems to have actually done something.

Sure enough, the “door” we passed before is now open.

…only to immediately lead to another closed one.

We take the left branch on this intersection first…


…which leads us to another intersection.

Taking the bottom branch first leads us to a spare Echo Herb.

Taking the left branch…


…brings us to a pair of “switches”.

Anyway, back to the intersection at the “door.”

There’s another intersection almost right away, we’ll hit the passage north on our way back.

The next intersection lets us go north, south, and southeast.

The north branch gets us an item that will be helpful elsewhere…

…while the southeast branch takes us to another conspicuously inorganic staircase.


This mimic is also dispatched in a single turn.

This weapon is also going to be useful elsewhere rather than here.

Taking the south branch of the previous intersection…

…leads only to another uvula.

The last “switch” is down the path I said we’d get on the way back.


Luckily, that’s the last door of the dungeon.

A treasure chest sitting in the middle of a pool? Not suspicious in the slightest!

:beetle:: Yes, George, he’s right. We should leave.
: No way, not when we’ve come so far. That treasure is so close I can almost taste it!



:radio:YouTube Link: Strong Enemy
Someone who’s willing to apparently just chill in a place as gross as this is probably someone we want dead anyway, all things considered.

Luckily, it’s weak to fire.


Not-so-luckily, it’s got a fondness for negative status effects.
That said, the only one that’s really a problem is silence and we have Echo Herbs for that.

Not that it matters much anyway; all of its attacks are water-based and both members have water-negating gear equipped.

George even has two, negating this altogether.

It goes down without a hitch.
It can also use a water attack that hits the whole party and has a chance of afflicting status effects; it never actually had a chance to do it here, though.


: Argh, I’ve had enough of this!
: Enough of what?
: You! This partnership is over, princess… From now on, all my adventures are going to be strictly solo!
: I may be a citizen of Horne, but I’m not your personal servant.
: Hmph. Suit yourself. Come on, Lilibelle. It’s just you and me now!
:beetle:: But I… I’m scared…


John has himself a nice healthy facepalm…
: I’m outta here…

…and then splits, leaving us with a solo George party.

Lilibelle seems to be unhappy about the whole situation but I’m sure everything will be fine.

For example, more treasure for us.

…or perhaps not.


George is spouted into the air outside of Liberte…


…and lands in the northern part of town.

In the form of a cat.

Welp, nobody can say George wasn’t warned about this, but goddamn is it a strange form for a curse to take.
: (A tail?)

George is rather understandably freaked out about this.
: (I don’t understand! What’s going on? Someone? Anyone?)
And now we’re wandering around Liberte as a cat, searching for help.

The townspeople are, not surprisingly, unhelpful about the whole thing; they all just say some variation on “You’re a kitty!”

The local wildlife, on the other hand, are now quite chatty. How a cat and seagull are able to speak to each other is not explained.

That said, all the shops and such are happy to provide their services to the cat that’s miraculously able to pay them money.


This also means we can actually talk to the save point’s little buddy here.
:dog2:: I’m the Adventurer’s faithful fox companion. Side by side we travel the world.
:dog2:: I can’t save your game, but I might be able to tell you the latest news and rumors I’ve heard.

Meanwhile, the save point has the same attitude towards cats the shopkeeps do.




The seagulls appear to be a fair bit smarter than the rest of the local wildlife…

…seeing as they know where our house is and all.

Apollo appears to have been pestering John this whole time.
:baby:: Say, mister. Where did your nice lady friend to?
: Who cares? All she ever thinks about is herself anyway.
: I decided to split up from her and go solo. She goes her way, I go mine…
:baby:: …

Unsurprisingly, neither Apollo nor John appear able to recognize us in our altered state.

That said, Lilibelle may have abilities that those two do not.

: You can understand me?
:beetle:: Of course. We Arbor faeries can talk to animals. But it looks like someone has put a hex on you.
: Will I ever be human again?
:beetle:: I don’t know. But maybe if you talked to the queen of Arbor…
: Really? She can help? Lilibelle, you HAVE to take me there, right now!
:beetle:: Okay. But what about John?

(Somehow this line has not one but two typos in it. Nothing major, really, but it amused me nonetheless.)
: He made it quite clear I wasn’t welcome. So I said fine and now I’m going solo.

:beetle:: It will show you how to get to Arbor. First you have to pass through the western mountains into the desert.
A cat? With a map? Crossing a desert? Surely nothing to do with anything we’ve seen before.


For someone as uninterested in stray cats as John he sure is a-okay with her sleeping in the same room.

Anyway, Lilibelle pointed us in a westerly direction.


Worth pointing out is that being a cat has not changed George’s ability in battle in the slightest. She even gets a new catlike victory pose! :3:

With that, we have our destination for next time.

I feel like being Cat makes you hit less hard physically so I was really thankful that I was mageing it up at the time.

I’ll need to look into cat form having actual mechanical effects when I have free time; I’ve always been under the impression that it didn’t really change anything in battle but I guess it would make sense for a literal cat claw to do less damage than a sword.

EDIT: Apparently strength, intellect, and spirit are reduced to 70% when in cat form. The more you know, I guess.

Update #7: I’ve Been Working Like a Cat

Click for update 7!


Time to pass through the desert on our way to Arbor!

:radio:YouTube Link: Cave of Wraiths
But first, a short dungeon.

There are some encounters but they’re nothing to write home about.

Well, almost nothing.




So, this boss.
This boss’s thing is that-


…nevermind.

…I mean, she got hit with damage in the high four figures, Lilibelle…
: Unngh…

Luckily, Lilibelle apparently has anti-bear capabilities.


There’s a flash of light, and…

…suddenly it’s Lilibelle dying and George feeling a-okay.
: Lilibelle? LILIBELLE!?

: But why…? Why did you do this for me?
:beetle:: The Arbor folk… never forget a debt.
:beetle:: Remember, you saved me once… and now I have saved you.
: Lilibelle!



…oh dear.


Oh, hey, it’s been awhile.
:mount_fuji:: Beauty beyond reckoning fills this wondrous world.
:mount_fuji:: Yet that same beauty warps souls and incites war.
:mount_fuji:: Remember now, there is no beauty greater than life itself.


One of our friends gave her life for us mere minutes ago, but hey, new toys!

We’ll get to the new crowns in a bit.

First and foremost, however, the end of the dungeon is a short walk down the rest of the hallway.

:radio:YouTube Link: Walking the Ground
:radio:YouTube Link: Walking the Ground (night)
We see a familiar sight.

A very familiar sight.

An incredibly familiar sight.


:radio:YouTube Link: Guera
:radio:YouTube Link: Guera (night)
Well look at what we have here.

: Cool! So Guera is here… and Arbor is here… Wait! Didn’t Krinjh say something about Arbor?
: I know! I should go to Arbor. They’ll be able to help lift the curse from Horne. I’m going there right now!
: Sorry to ditch you, Ringo, but it’s time I struck out on my own… Huh? Are you coming, too, little one?


And so we see what the map-carrying cat was all about.

Paul will be wearing the bandit crown for a bit for demonstration purposes.
(BTW, there’s no poll for the makeup of this particular party for reasons that will be obvious soon enough.)



The townsfolk don’t exactly have much to talk about.

The critters, however, have tutorializing to do.

Also, cat-form George can fit into places a human cannot.

How did you get in here, lady?

How did Paul, for that matter?

When she said there are shops that open at night, she meant shop, singular.
We’ll get to that, but first…


…we still have places to go.

This will go on Paul but not for long.


Way ahead of you, roof cat!

(This passage is just a red herring, by the way.)

Now for some late night shopping!

After another tutorial pig, of course.


Our first bit of magic higher than tier 1. It’s definitely steep, but we still pick up Cura and Fira after parting with some gems.

With that out of the way, now’s a good time to be looking at our new crowns!
:radio:YouTube Link: Battle With Demons

First off, Bandit.

Not surprisingly, Bandit is your typical Final Fantasy thief.


Loads of stealing either nothing useful or nothing at all, as is tradition. Its upgrades make it better at stealing, it can be useful for getting certain pieces of equipment from bosses.

Also, we’ve gotten our hands on Bard:


Bard, too, is largely what you’d expect it to be; ditty here increases damage output for three turns and it unlocks more buffs later.


Anyway, now’s about time to set out for Arbor. (Paul is a Bandit here but won’t stay that way for long.)

Worth pointing out: now that we have the fairy map, pressing the Y button pulls up the entire world map (rather than just the desert around Guera as before).


:radio:YouTube Link: Cave of Wraiths
The fairy path has even less to it than the animal burrow.


There’s a few branches that lead to treasure but that’s about it.
(Getting this prompts a change from Bandit to White Mage for Paul, giving us basically the same party setup we’ve had with John.)



Worth pointing out is that there’s a slight-but-noticeable step up in difficulty here.

In particular, batter flies here use some obnoxious status effects.


Not much to mention outside the encounters, though.

It’s a very brief dungeon.



Arbor is, as it turns out, an enormous tree! Who knew?
(It’s also quite possibly the prettiest place in the game, holy hell look at that.)


We don’t make it very far in, however, before Paul is accosted by some vines…


…and transformed into what can only be called a statue made of plant matter.

George, understandably, is quite upset with this turn of events.

…but that’ll be a story for another time.
(This is why I didn’t ask the thread about party setup, incidentally; we’re reunited with Paul for all of a handful of seconds.)



The first thing we see, upon reuniting with John, is another cat wandering into the house.


: You must have been hit with the curse that protects the treasure. Oh well. Serves you right.
…so he comes to the correct conclusion with regards to what happened to George, down to the animal she was cursed to turn into… but not until he’s met the wrong cat.
Bonus points for having met the correct cat before and not caught on at all. Class act, John.
Talking to the cat again:



For whatever reason this cat feels the need to follow us around despite having no real connection to John.



Talking to it a few more times adds it (technically) to our party.

Not much help to be had from most of the townspeople, sadly.

Except for the king, of course.
That said, as we know, we haven’t actually found George at all:

:crown:: It’s very likely she was struck by the curse. Have you checked all the animals in town?
That said, now’s probably a reasonable time to humor John about the cat we’ve currently got:

:crown:: I see. Unfortunately, there is nothing we can do for her in Liberte.
:crown:: There is a town in the north called Urbeth. People gather there from all over the world.
:crown:: Perhaps someone there can help you? It might be worth the trip.


So, Urbeth to the north, then.


Time to get on the road to Urbeth!

New Crowns

Click for new crowns!

Bandit

Stat Modifiers:
HP: 1.3
Strength: 1.3
Intellect: 1.2
Spirit: 1.1
Typical Final Fantasy thief. It’s useful early on but is outclassed soon enough; that said, it can be a useful way to get new equipment.

Bard

Stat Modifiers:
HP: 1.1
Strength: 1.0
Intellect: 1.3
Spirit: 1.3
Bard is a buff class and is actually fairly impressive at it. Doesn’t quite stay useful right up until the end, but it starts with a full-party attack buff and unlocks more from there.

Note: Crown distribution poll in next post!

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Crown Distribution
As of this update, we currently possess four crowns and have once again swapped parties. Currently we’re playing as John solo, but before long we’ll be picking up an old friend, giving us two party members to distribute crowns to. As such, I would like the thread to assign two crowns each to each party member:

John

  • Black Mage
  • White Mage
  • Bandit
  • Bard

0 voters

:question: Upcoming Friend

  • Black Mage
  • White Mage
  • Bandit
  • Bard

0 voters

Polls will close in a few days; if there’s any sort of tie breaking needed I’ll figure something out then. :V

And we have our votes!
John will be playing with Black Mage and Bandit while the friend we’ll be picking up will get Bard and White Mage.

Update #8: I Was Wrong Before, NOW I’ve Been Working Like a Cat Dog

Click for update 8!



A few preparations and it’s time to set out for Urbeth!

:radio:YouTube Link: Cave of Wraiths

The first thing of note is this intersection.
That is, the first thing of note is how it’s actually a loop and there’s nothing to see to the left.

Most of the Hunting Cave is, in fact, optional. If we wanted we could just head north and leave and we’d be back on the world map.

Really, where’s the fun in that?

Instead, heading downstairs takes us to a little maze of sorts.


A maze that, of course, leads to treasure.




This axe is the only thing here that’s genuinely noteworthy…




…but the free stuff is still always nice.

With the optional stuff out of the way, there’s really not much to see.


:radio:YouTube Link: Walking the Ground
:radio:YouTube Link: Walking the Ground (night)

Urbeth is to the north, the tower on the end of the peninsula as seen on the map.



:radio:YouTube Link: Urbeth
:radio:YouTube Link: Urbeth (night)
And here we are!

We arrive in the first town we see without a king.
The merchant lords in question mean the town is divvied into quarters, based on what the shops sell.

This guy is the first I’d ever heard the phrase “hanging out my shingle,” but apparently it’s a real way to say you’re setting up shop. Educational!
That said, I’m sure we’ll never have a chance to open up shop ourselves and even if we did it certainly wouldn’t be a way to shatter the game’s balance into a trillion tiny pieces.

As an aside, we can walk in the canals. It doesn’t really help very much but it’s funny to see.

:man:: It’s hard to believe now, but Urbeth was once a city of faith, where men treasured their souls more than their gold.
What sort of gods this world has/worships is never really explained. The closest thing we’ve seen to divinity is the crystal that gives us crowns, which is pretty vague itself. Maybe they used to worship the crystal?
Anyway, that shop with the hammer sign is actually new!


They upgrade weapons and armor with gems, not unlike upgrading crowns. What exactly this changes can be seen on the top screen.
It’s not really too useful right now, however. There’s a cap on how many upgrades can be done to one piece of equipment so it’s best to use on gear you expect to be using for a long time.

I got lucky and didn’t see any but Hellhounds can be encountered on the way here and have a pretty good chance of kicking your ass if you’re not expecting it.

So… they sell all the best stuff here, you say?

Bombs aren’t actually anywhere in this game so I guess you gotta get pieces of 'em somehow.

Mylion is in charge of the southeast corner of town. The shop here sells gear for White and Black Mages, as in Liberte, but also Bandit and Bard.

Strangely for the quarter of town controlled by the armor seller, we also have the local magic shop here.

However they don’t open until nighttime.

Anyway, let’s have a look at the southwest quarter.

This quarter is dedicated to potions and such; we can buy hi-potions now, as well as more status healers, although at current it’s a bit much for our wallet.

There’s also the conspicuously locked up shop. Must not have anything worthwhile if they’re always closed!


The shop next to bomb fragment tutorial guy plays host to Bylion here.
Yes, Bylion, after the last guy was Mylion. The first thing you’ll notice about the merchant lords is that their names are all horrible puns.
Like, really, really horrible puns. You’ll see what I mean in a bit.

Oddly enough, the other shop had a better selection.
Anyway, next up is the northeast corner:

I… didn’t say anything about evil spirits, guy, but I guess we can keep this in mind.
Let’s save the sorcerer for later, sounds unsavory to me.

We visit the house on the right here, first.

We’re not actually doing so hot right now, gil-wise, but nobody needs to know that. :V
Also, notice the creepy-ass dummy thing in the lower right corner of this screen; we’ve seen it in other buildings too but this is its most prominent appearance yet. If I were a betting man I’d say that’s the doll the guy outside was talking about.
Ah well, probably nothing to worry about.

Again, we’re not exactly affluent at the moment but these people don’t need to know that.


Why? If you ask me, they’re incredibly creepy.


:older_woman:: The leading merchants of each district more or less rule the city, so we call them the Merchant Lords.
:older_woman:: Which reminds me, have you been to Trylion’s accessory shop? Oh, I can’t wait for her newest collection…
Mylion, Bylion, and Trylion. Fuck me.

…Y’know, he ain’t wrong, but he’s also the only person we’ve ever met with an actual problem with this so I’m not inclined to be concerned.

He’s one of the only places in the world that does, in fact!

Luckily for Trylion, the rich seem a-okay with creepy dolls, otherwise that monstrosity in the upper right would be killing the shit out of her business.


She’s not lying, this is all pretty useful stuff.
It’s also very expensive, but them’s the breaks.
Anyway, there’s one last quarter of the city to check out:

We wouldn’t get to help her even if we were better off, sadly.

And this familiar face here we have why we saved this quarter for last.

: I suppose you don’t want me around, do you? I’ll just slow you down, won’t I?
There’s nothing we can do for Ringo right now, either. :frowning:

…holy damn is Urbeth not a pleasant place.

I think this may be the first bar we’ve seen in this game, too.

Of course, there’s not much to see in the middle of the day.

The weapon shop here is the biggest building in the town that isn’t the tower.



Apparently to this guy we look like we answer to the name Richie Rich. Must be the Bandit’s face-obscuring mask.
On the plus side, while it’s still a pun, “Thauzand” at least looks like a real name.

The most notable thing here is that apparently encyclopedias count as weapons; surprisingly tough ones at that. Your local library? More lethal than a gun store. Educational!

We were probably supposed to talk to this guy first in this building. Oh well! :V

Welp, that’s a disappointing lack of leads on fixing the princess who isn’t actually with us. I suppose it’s creepy doll sorcerer time. Aw, man…


Oh god it’s even creepier than I thought. Yeah, let’s not.

Yeah, sure, whatever you say, buddy.
Then again, this is the only lead we have at the moment…

Sorcerer: Let me have a look at her…

(Selecting no here is the same as the choice above.)

That is not a small number! That is a big number! Cat un-cursing over, expensive equals very yes!
:ghost:: Hehehe. I’ll see you again- when you have the money.
Hey, Ringo’s a knight with experiences with douchey magic types, let’s ask her!


Oh, right, John is still very much an enormous prick.
Hey, the weapon shop’s right there, maybe the big guy will make good on what he said about us having problems in town.

Um… if I say yes, will you help me?

In that case, no, we’re here for something else.


: Well, er… why don’t you lend me counter space? Then I can sell some of my stuff.
:dagger:: You want to open your own shop?
:dagger:: Hahaha! I like your style. You’ve got chutzpah, that’s for sure.

Oh, fuck to the yes.

Fuck. To. The. Yes.

This may well be one of the most broken things in the entire game.

yeah yeah whatever let me do the thing



There’s not much for me to say right away that the tutorial doesn’t, but things will get more interesting soon enough


We have an over-abundance of phoenix downs at the moment so let’s just put 'em up at their normal price; we still haven’t gotten to the important part anyway.

:radio:YouTube Link: Business is Fun
It’s ridiculously broken and has absurdly catchy music.

Still not much to talk about, people just walk in and sometimes buy things. They do this until the timer in the top left has gone all the way from a sun to a moon.


:radio:YouTube Link: Victory
We sell everything but that’s to be expected without taking any real risks.

Okay, this line. Pay attention to this line.
This line here? This is where shit gets interesting.

Yes, we’re buying axes a mere handful of feet from where we set up shop.


yeah yeah same rigamarole as before LET ME DO THE THING


Quite the markup, isn’t it? Especially considering we bought them like a foot away.
Still, we’re doing this.

This. This right here. This is what makes this incredibly broken.
While there’s limits, as long as you’re selling based on the trend and only moderately ridiculous instead of obscenely ridiculous in your markup, this minigame is a surefire way to make a whole lotta bank in not a lotta time, absurd economic logic of the whole setup be damned.




what no that’s a terrible idea just let me do the thing
This is actually a viable strategy for getting a certain non-monetary reward from this but that will have to wait.

The pink text on the 5000g group signifies the “hot deal” tag; it means that it’s more likely to sell faster.

…of course, it’s still not a sure thing, since it didn’t help now while I was trying to show it off :V.


By contrast, this time it was the only thing that sold.


When it says that adventuring supplies are in it’s best to just put up one thing and hope for better next time, really.


It’s also possible to just get screwed over by RNG sometimes, but it doesn’t really matter if you’re persistent enough.
Really, that’s enough for you to get the idea. Buy low, sell high, laugh in the face of simple economics, get obscenely rich. Again, it’s kind of fiddly and the RNG doesn’t always necessarily cooperate, but it pretty much annihilates any gil problems you might have with just a degree of persistence.
There’s also a secondary reward to be had should you make 20k in a single game, but that more or less requires selling at a loss and I’d rather have a more comfortable sum of gil to sit on before I start into that.

Worth noting is that, while the timer for the minigame is apparently a day’s worth of sales, the actual day-night cycle doesn’t budge an inch, as per usual in towns. As such, since sometimes magic spells are what people will buy, it’s actually a good idea to wait outside until nighttime so that the magic store is open.

And it is quite the nice magic store, let me tell you. The game (probably) doesn’t really expect you to be able to get Firaga and Waterga at this point, but the minigame can change that handily.

Speaking of nighttime, this is when the bar gains actual patrons.

:man:: But now everyone is so obsessed with money, money, money, that they have no interest in the world above.
The island in question shows up floating in the sky at random; it’s actually snuck into a few of my screenshots already.
Combining this with what the earlier guy said about the tower, there’s a real possibility that the island is home to some gods, which… well, makes sense, all things considered.

Follow your dreams, piano lady. Follow your dreams.

This is tentative, but having more cash for bigger, badder spells makes John quite the killboy.
While I’ve made more than enough on the shop minigame to pay the sorcerer for his nonsense, we should maybe see if the other lords are as willing to help as Thauzand.

I mean, not really.

Then again, the lady drives a hard bargain.



The rings take up inventory space and are useless. This is as simple as talking to all the randos in town until someone willing to buy actually does.


We can technically say no, but…

…honestly the rings are useless otherwise…


…so it’s better just to part with 'em and be done with it.



I don’t know if you can even find this guy during the daytime so here he is in the bar.



And this last rich asshole is on the top floor of the inn.


:princess:: Then I must pay you, musn’t I? Here you are…
Not gonna lie, the fact that you even question that fact is kind of a red flag, lady.

This is chump change compared to mini game money but it’s next to no effort at all so I don’t mind too much.

I mean, that’s honestly a terrible idea, but I can humor you for half a second I suppose.

…fair enough, I guess.
Should we refuse outright:

…rich people are such pricks.

There are still two more lords, of course. The correct answer here is, again, to say no.
:older_man:: Ah, I get it. If you’re not here to spend, you must be here to earn! Am I right?
:older_man:: …Come to think of it, I just might have a job for you. You see, there’s a Chimera lurking around in the Hunting Caves.
:older_man:: It’s playing havoc with our supply chain. Do you fancy going to the Hunting Caves and getting rid of it?
:older_man:: Great. The sooner you finish the job, the better!

And the last of the lords.
:guardsman:: Then you’re looking for a job, perhaps?
:guardsman:: Hm. I do need people to collect materials for me.
:guardsman:: At the moment, we’re very short of Bomb Fragments, the kind that certain local monsters carry.
:guardsman:: I’ll give you a very good price for any you can bring me.
So. A Chimera and bomb fragments, you say?

I wonder what Ringo thinks about odd jobs.


: No you won’t. Come on, you want to help save George, don’t you?
: Th-the princess? Where is she?

Lower-key prickishness is progress, at least.
: …Never mind. If you’re going to help the princess, then I’m coming, too!

To the surprise of no one, hopefully.
This is honestly kind of a dick move of the game. She’ll join up if you talk to her after completing one of the side quests -not the minigame- given by the merchant lords. It’s entirely possible for you to make enough cash with the minigame, use that money to make progress, then get your ass kicked in the next segment because you went forward with a solo Jusqua/John, none the wiser as to how you actually get Yunita/Ringo in your team.

Anyway, more tentative gearing up. I do want to get my Bandit and Bard on, hence the tentativeness of my current setup, but the excellent selection at the magic shop here makes the mage crowns that much more tempting.

: I’ve been cheated and conned by so many people in Urbeth I can’t stand to think about it any more!(sic)
And they do it all so they can buy those weird, creepy dolls.
Pricks.

That we do, John, that we do.

1 Like

Update #9: If You Play It Backwards You Can Hear Satanic Messages

Click for update 9!


:radio:YouTube Link: Urbeth (night)
:radio:YouTube Link: Urbeth
So, the highest possible sum of gil that can be made in the shopkeeping minigame is 20,000.

The best way to reach this sum is to sell magic at its market price. (Well, the easiest would be to do so at a loss, but I’d rather not if I can avoid it.)

This will almost certainly involve save scumming.

:radio:YouTube Link: Business is Fun
3 Firagas or Watergas at 5000, three Shells or Protects at 1000, and four Fire or Water at 500. This comes up to 20,000 gil with no loss on our part.
(If you’re willing to sell at a loss, Raise, Fira, or Watera cost 1500 each and as such are more likely to sell at 1000 and 500. If you’re really desperate for that high score, all Firaga or Waterga can be used but that’s probably not worth it even if you’re willing to sell at a loss.)

Of course, the RNG is still the RNG.

Save scumming away!


Hrm.


In the end it takes me about five tries.

:radio:YouTube Link: Victory
If it had taken too many tries I was willing to start losing money for it, but it luckily never came to that.

Ain’t that the truth.

Suddenly, a familiar light.

…what an odd thing to take interest in.
:mount_fuji:: How mighty you have grown.
:mount_fuji:: Long, so long have we waited for this blessed day to come.
…I guess it’s impressed with our ability to completely defy basic economics? I mean, all we did was resell some books at full price…

I’m not gonna complain about this, however.

Or maybe I am, given the circumstances.


A bizarre crown for a bizarre turn of events, I suppose ; seamstress is an odd one.

Basically, it uses equipment as consumables.



The defense of the armor used in the ability is added to that of what you have equipped.
Both your equipped armor and armor used with the ability need to have not been upgraded with gems, which limits its use.

And the other black robe is gone.
I suppose it’s possible to get some use out of seamstress with proper preparation but all in all it’s honestly kind of a letdown for being an optional Crown that takes the work it does to get.

Anyway, last time we got ourselves a task to obtain a Bomb Fragment.

Doing so, of course, will require some banditry.


Bomb fragments can only be obtained by stealing them from hellhounds outside town.

The RNG is as helpful as always, of course.

It’s best to equip fire-reduction gear for this as hellhounds are a bitch to fight otherwise.


It takes some doing but we get our prize in the end.


Honestly, after making us deal with stealing RNG I’m inclined to withhold it from him out of spite.

That is, if his “yeah sure whatever” attitude didn’t take the fun out of it.


:guardsman:: Here’s your money. Don’t spend it all at once!

Chump change, again.
Honestly, I’d recommend just skipping Mylion’s quest since only one of the lords’ quests is needed to get your full party and it isn’t necessarily worth it to deal with the RNG.


Of course, there’s still one last quest to do before dealing with the sorcerer, so now’s a good time to get kitted out for that.

(and since we’re in the neighborhood we can get our greed on)

Black Mage and Bard make for a sort of high-risk-high-reward setup.

Our target is only a short walk into the cave.

:radio:YouTube Link: Battle With Demons
This guy doesn’t even get the boss music.


Its attacks cause status effects…

…and it actually gets two actions per turn…

…but Magic Mojo and the Bard’s Ditty stack, with results that speak for themselves.

Kind of a joke, really.

On another note, we get these gems on the way back to town…


…allowing us to enhance the Black Mage crown…


…giving us access to the Spell Focus ability.
It’s basically just Magic Mojo 2.0, but there’s something important about it we’ll get to later.

Not that you know of.

okay okay jeez

:older_man:: Here’s your reward then. Make sure you buy something nice with it!


Before we deal with the sorcerer, let’s take a moment to attempt to satiate our insatiable greed. (By which I mean make a comfortable sum of gil for use on the more expensive gear in later towns.)

Also, the records screen appears to be bugging out here; it’s impossible both to make an amount that’s not a multiple of 50 and to make more than 20,000.
Not important, just strange.

In any case, we’re more than good to go now.

Oh buddy you have no idea.


: Hang in there. Not much longer now…


Well, if you say so. Not suspicious at all.


Plot-mandated inn rest time!

:radio:YouTube Link: Crisis by a Hair
…and it goes the only way it possibly could have.

Welp.

Helpful!


I mean I’m not sure what anyone expected from them, they were already creepy as all hell.

All the shops have monsters blocking them.

Luckily most of the monsters are just random encounter grade.

Although this does give an opportunity to show off our new toy.


It’s Magic Mojo 2.0; this is helped by the two effects stacking.


Notice that the save point is gone. There’s a reason for this which we’ll get to soon enough.

Oops, looks like somebody is saying some dialog too early.
Note that the Lords’ side quests are now unavailable, meaning that if you got enough money and paid the sorcerer without doing any of them then re-recruiting Ringo/Yunita is now impossible, hence the save point being gone.


This fight here is actually a cut above random encounter territory.


Especially if you’re caught off guard like I was.

Luckily things worked out better the second time.

…did any of you people actually look at the dummies you shelled out cash for?

Also I fucked up getting a screenshot and had to reload as a result; this dropped from re-fighting the golem, which is good as we’ll be needing it later.


…Quelle surprise.

Again, did none of you people actually look at the things? They were already both ugly and monstrous!

The chimera has the same gimmicks it did before and the succubus can confuse but this is still random encounter material.

Man, not you too.



:radio:YouTube Link: Strong Enemy
:radio:YouTube Link: A Desperate Situation
The monster in blocking off the weapon shop is decidedly not random encounter material.

I’m actually really poorly equipped for this fight.

It’s weak to light; we have access to light-elemental weapons but not spells.
If I’d been smart I’d have made John a Bandit and equipped him with one of the light-elemental weapons they sell here. Too bad I hadn’t been smart.

If I’d been smart, I’d have equipped everyone with dark-reducing shields they sell here. Too bad I hadn’t been smart.

Its attacks cause curse, which blocks off crown abilities.

Embarrassingly I never actually figure out what opening and closing its eyes do.


In spite of my own horrible preparation the boss goes down soon enough.



We see a familiar light after defeating the demon.
: Eek!


:mount_fuji:: The darkness encroaches even into the souls of men.
:mount_fuji:: Those who succumb to desire lose all faith.
:mount_fuji:: Shine the light on their hearts and drive the darkness away!


Three in one update, nice!

There’s a few things to see around town post-crisis, albeit not much:




I mean, the boss was blocking off Thauzand’s place…

Never change, guy.

:knife:: You worked so hard to make that money, and this is the reward you get.
:knife:: But you musn’t let that Sorcerer get away with his ill-gotten gains!
:knife:: Listen. If you want to follow the Sorcerer, I can help. Go to the inn and sleep.
:knife:: Tomorrow I will have a ship ready for you, so you can sail after the scoundrel.
Another plot-mandated rest!? It’s like the Urbeth people want their town to be prone to calamities.


Luckily, this one is important for the other reason.
: (I’m so sorry, Ringo…)

That is, allowing us to reinforce the tenacity of John’s prickishness.
: (I’m going to have to find that Sorcerer and bring back George myself!)


:knife:: I’m sure the other Merchant Lords will want to thank you, too. Good luck, my friend!
Really? Boy howdy, more rewards!



…some thanks, Thauzand. Also, fuck off, Tryllion.
Before we shove off, however, we have new crowns to get a look at:

Merchant is all about the gems.


Great for getting yourself more gems… and very little else.
Which still makes it useful, mind you, only not for actual combat.

Salve-maker, on the other hand, is all about item usage.
It has its uses but White Mage is just more versatile all-around.


Anyway, now’s a fine time to shove off!

This was probably a bad decision on John’s part.




:radio:YouTube Link: Arbor
: He looks just like a tree or bush or something…
: What should I do?
: Maybe the people of Arbor will know how to fix him.

Quite the pickle Paul’s in, eh?

New Crowns
Not the best of hauls, regrettably.

Click for new crowns!

Seamstress

A very strange crown centered around using equipment as consumable items to improve defense or attack power. The first optional crown, it is unfortunately not very good as its use will be rendered obsolete.

Merchant

The most useful crown we’ve received this update, but not for its combat prowess. Its primary use is for farming gems.

Salve-Maker

A crown that’s all about enhancing and changing the use of healing items. It has its uses, particularly when it gets the ability to reverse item effects and use them on enemies, but White Mage is still more versatile.

Notice: See next post for crown poll!

1 Like

So, now we’re with George in Arbor, and soon enough we’ll be picking up another frie- okay I’m not even going to try to do the whole mystery friend bit this time. Very obviously, we will also soon be rescuing Paul and getting him as a party member again. As such, we’re going to need to distribute our crowns. Luckily, while crown distribution will go beyond the scope of a mere couple of polls soon enough, we have not yet reached that point:

(Note: Merchant has been left out of polls because it’ll really only see use during gem farming in which case it’s likely the entire party will be using it. Also I don’t want to have to distribute an odd number of crowns between two characters so there’s that.)

George:

  • White Mage
  • Black Mage
  • Bandit
  • Bard
  • Salve-Maker
  • Seamstress

0 voters

Paul:

  • White Mage
  • Black Mage
  • Bandit
  • Bard
  • Salve-Maker
  • Seamstress

0 voters

I’ve played this game twice and I don’t think I’ve ever used any of the optional crowns. They’re just so awkward.

Yeah, I can believe that. With the optional crowns you have either a) not very useful or b) useful but locked behind a needlessly tedious task (not to mention a handful of things locked behind the now-defunct multiplayer mode).

Speaking of crowns, we now have our votes in!
George will be using Bandit and Black Mage while Paul will be using Bard and Salve-Maker due to winning the vote.
White Mage and Seamstress are tied for votes on both characters. Using my own judgment, George will get White Mage due to Salve-Maker, our other healing crown, being with Paul, giving Paul Seamstress by default.

Update #10: Tangerine Trees and Marmalade Skies
:tw: Light sexist stereotyping :tw:

Click here for update 10!


:radio:YouTube Link: Arbor
When we last left our heroes, George and Paul had just arrived in Arbor. Arbor’s magical security system had just transformed Paul into a plant statue, while George was still under her cat curse from Liberte’s horrible gut dungeon.
Luckily, we had just gotten free reign to explore Arbor for clues.

Arbor is inhabited by a combination of faeries, wood elves, and critters. The text box is blocking it but we’re actually talking to some sort of ferret here.



You know, I’ve been finding that, more and more, I relate to the whole “your entire species is genetically pre-disposed to be shit” attitude that aliens and elves tend to have in sci-fi/fantasy settings. Not entirely, of course, but my typical response is still less “what a bunch of xenophobic pricks” and more “oh, like you’re any better.”
That being said, what a bunch of xenophobic pricks!

The majority of Arbor is – shockingly, I know – inside of the big tree.
Can’t say I blame them, it’s a good-lookin’ tree.

Arbor folks are mighty helpful about that whole “circumventing their security system” thing.

”Old magic,” you say? We’ll have to check that out after getting a look at the rest of the town.

The gear shop reinforces my decision to binge a little on the shopping minigame back in Urbeth. (Plus it makes me grateful for the time-and-space-defying inventory, but that’s a given.)
I don’t show it but I pick up that dagger and make George a Bandit.

The item shop is nothing special but it does offer Raise tomes.

Not especially, it’s a very fancy tree and that name is a pretty big hint.

And yet you sell fire-based bows and arrows in the shops.
Fortunately, we also have some fire-based magic leftover from Urbeth in both our storage and our inventory.

This first screen of the tree is a big loop; going behind the item shop like this will bring us back to the entrance.


Well, I’m sure it’s just a phase Arbaroc is doing just dandy.

Dude’s long gone, no doubt.

Really? Well, we can’t be having that; magic is borderline overpowered in this game.

Maybe the royalty or whoever is in charge will be able to clue us in on our little predicament.


No need to tell me twice, friend. A treetop dungeon sounds awful.
It is quite awful.

Xenophobic. Pricks.

Well, that was the entire town and we still have no leads. Better check out that “old magic” they said was at the tree’s roots.

:radio:YouTube Link: Cave of Wraiths
The tree’s roots are another quick little dungeon.
No doubt to make up for the next dungeon being annoying and bad.
Incidentally, bring antidotes, the things here absolutely love poison.

The first thing we see is… a mouse wearing a cape?


…I’m sorry folks, I thought the game wouldn’t do this sort of thing again after the awkwardness at the beginning of Liberte. Looks like I stand corrected.
: …Hm? I must say, it’s a rare cat that is afraid of a mouse.
: My name is Torte, madam. Mouse maestro of magic, at your service.
I suppose the cape should have been a tip-off.

I mean, not exactly; we’re mostly just wandering about hoping that a lead to solving our little problem just happens to show up.

Oh come on, George, that’s not what I meant.
: Typical cat. No matters at all!
Anyway, now that I think about it, I guess you could call what we’re doing quest-like.

: I see, I see. Hence, you find yourself in these dark and deadly burrows…
: Well, you are in the right place. The Animal Staff that lies beyond is a sure cure for the vegetative curse.
: With it, you can turn your friend into an animal and presto, your problem is solved! I shall help you seek it out…

And with that we’ve met our second-ever guest character.

Much like Krinjh before him, Torte comes wearing a crown that we have yet to receive ourselves, in this case the Sage crown. Let’s take a look!



(After resting at the inn and seeing party dialog, of course.)


Spell Again, in this case, allows Torte to cast as many spells in a single turn as his AP allows.


While I used his Blizzards for this demonstration its best use is in healing magic.

Anyway, back to the dungeon itself, we quickly come up on an intersection.


The left path takes us to a Bard weapon…


…while the right takes us to progress…

…and another intersection.


Once again, treasure to the left and progress to the right.



There are a few offshoots of the path along the way but they don’t lead to anything.

Well, will you look at that.

Here goes nothin’.


There’s a flash of light…

…and Paul… barks?

And Paul is now a pupper.


Now the question is: are George and Paul hypoallergenic?
: Ahem. The name, sir, is Torte. Magic user extraordinaire and resident of fair Arbor.
: At least he can move again.
: But we can’t stay like this forever. We’re humans, not animals.

Well, she wasn’t exactly the pinnacle of helpfulness before, but if you say so.



Chasing cars, barking loudly for no real reason, digging holes wherever strikes your fancy… Yeah, I can imagine Paul enjoying dog things.


: I inspected the roots of the Great Tree, and the tree is indeed growing weak.
:crown:: That is grave news. Thank you for bringing it to my attention, Torte.
Ah, so he was working for her. I guess it stands to reason she’d be more receptive of him than of us.

I mean, I don’t think she’s the kind of person we want knowing that…

: …Stop lying, you fool. You cannot pull the wool over the eyes of Queen Arbor!
I guess you have a point. Let’s be more honest:

(Both continue the same way from here.)
: Ahem. Apparently, they wish to return to human form.
: Although I can’t imagine why anyone would WANT to be human, they are most insistent.
C’mon Torte, the answer to xenophobic prickishness is not more xenophobic prickishness!
: Will Your Majesty be able to help them?


(Not when you’re all gonna be such jerks!)

There’s no doubt Paul’s wanted an excuse to let his tongue just hang out of his mouth for years.

: I dunno…
: Just tell us what you want us to do.
If we say yes:

(Again, both options continue the same way from here. But thou must and all that.)

:crown:: An evil demon has somehow taken possession of Arbaroc and is making him run amok.
:crown:: If this continues much longer, the Great Tree will be damaged. Please find Arbaroc and bring him back to his senses!
Man, demons again. We could make a career out of demon extermination at this rate!
Anyway, if you’ll recall:


Don’t go saying that sort of thing around any of them, Paul, especially not Torte; that seems like something that’s really none of our business.


A legitimate question!
One which we can look into next time.

Update #11: All That I Can See is Just Another Lemon Tree

Click here for update 11!

Last time, we were tasked by the queen of Arbor to navigate the Great Tree so that we may investigate suspicious goings-on regarding the tree’s guardian, Arbaroc.
Naturally, we begin this task by heading in the exact incorrect direction:

:radio:YouTube Link: Arbor

It’s just some NPC chatter we missed last time.




We’ll head up this way soon enough.

Anyway, off to Arbaroc’s place.





Surely we are in for a nice breezy stroll through the treetops.

:radio:YouTube Link: Cave of Wraiths
Hoo doggie, it’s time for this dungeon.

I don’t know if I’d say this is the worst dungeon in the game but it sure is close.
It isn’t really particularly complex or maze-like, but the place has one big problem in the form of everyplace looking exactly the same.
I will freely admit to using a map to navigate this place because I would almost certainly end up hopelessly lost otherwise.


Sure, the place is fairly standard at first, short offshoots that lead to treasure and so on.




But then we reach this place.


It’s a route that briefly takes us inside the tree.



It lands us a free phoenix down!



But then it loops back around to the staircase to 2F and the door to inside the tree.
On its own, this wouldn’t really be a problem. However, as I mentioned before, everything in here looks the same, resulting in it being entirely too easy to get turned around.

Real progress is actually to the south here.



Fortunately this floor isn’t too difficult to get lost in; unfortunately it’s still plenty possible.




Our good friend Free Stuff still comes through here, so there’s that.


There’s another entrance to inside the tree…

…but aside from an especially awful random encounter (one that’s entirely too fond of using this group sleep move)…

…there’s nothing to see up here.





The other path takes us inside the tree one last time.





This is in fact the only one of these rooms that’s actually required to make progress in here.


This floor looks kinda mazey but really there’s only two things to see here.


The first is a fairly nice item in this passage to the southwest.


The second is the passage to the boss in the northwest.




Arbaroc is both quite large and quite loud.

Apparently he does not…

:radio:YouTube Link: Strong Enemy
…because now we’re in for a boss fight.

Fittingly for this dungeon, Arbaroc is easily the most difficult boss fight up to this point.
(Not so fittingly, he’s actually legitimately challenging and not annoying and bad like the rest of the dungeon.)
First and foremost, he has no weak points to speak of.

Leafra does non-elemental damage to a single target.

Of course Arbaroc gets to take two actions in a single turn.

Meanwhile, the whole lack-of-weaknesses thing is decidedly less than ideal.

After awhile, Arbaroc takes wing.

This is what makes this boss as tough as it is.
Thundaga can cause paralysis, sometimes to the entire party at once, making it far and away the biggest danger Arbaroc has to offer.

Which is not helped by the whole two-actions-in-one-turn thing.

Airstorm is less of a problem than thundaga but not by much. As long as he’s in the air everything Arbaroc does hits the entire party.

I decide to change my approach.
This does me no good in the end but it was worth a shot.


It’s like Healthgiver but better!
I end up not using it at all in this fight!

Strategy re-jiggering complete!
It isn’t nearly good enough!

Arbaroc try, the second!






Making better use of our resources.


The best approach while he’s in the air is to go on the defense.


…not that it does us much good.


Welp.

My biggest mistake in the other attempts was only utilizing a fraction of our healing capabilities.

Things appear to be going better…



…but not by that much.

Damn.


After he takes enough damage he starts using leafaga, which hits the entire party for non-elemental damage.
It means we’re making progress, at least.

Unfortunately, it’s not progress enough.

I try about four more times before doing some party re-adjusting.



It’s more damage output and better healing, but I still lose a few more attempts before deciding to head back to town and resupply.


An increase to defense should do something, at least, if not the trick.

Try, try again!


Better gear made this much less of a hassle, at the very least.

Not that the fight is suddenly a cakewalk.

:radio:YouTube Link: A Desperate Situation


Luckily, Paul as a salve-maker gets some pretty great mileage out of them hi-potions.

It takes some doing, but this is finally enough to bring Arbaroc down.

What a way to lose a friend.
Suddenly, there’s a flash:

:mound_fuji:: Now hate and fear grip the world.
:mound_fuji:: Hate breeds fear, and fear, hate. Thus the darkness steals within…
:mound_fuji:: But those who believe in the Light will never knwo terror’s blight.


Sweet deal!



Man, poor Torte.

But enough about that, we have new toys to play with!

Elementalist has a… decidedly awkward design.

Questionable cultural sensitivity aside, however, Elementalist is incredibly useful.



Augment is alright and is helped by stacking with Magic Mojo and the like. The best Elementalist has to offer, however, won’t be available for a little while yet.

Ranger here is nothing to sneeze at either.



Target here is a regular attack that always hits; increased accuracy and the like, as well as hitting distant targets, is basically Ranger’s thing and it’s pretty damn good at it.

Anyway, better tell the queen that we did the thing.

: He didn’t even recognize me! He took one look at us and attacked. So we…
:crown:: You did what you had to do. Now, travelers, we are in your debt. The animal curse will be lifted.
: Go on, then. And be careful not to step on me when you return to human form!
: Oh, Torte…

And with that we’re finally back to normal!

The ability to change back and forth at will is neat, I suppose.
:crown:: Today, you are our guests. Please, stay at the inn.

It’s been fun, Torte.
Anyway, we’re automatically deposited back at the inn at this point.

Wow, what a mean thing to assume.
: I didn’t dump her! …But it’s true she gets in the way sometimes.
Um, no it isn’t, Paul. She’s just as good at whatever crown she’s wearing as the rest of the party. You were the one feeling insecure after dealing with Guera’s demon problem.
: I figured I’d just check out Arbor on my own and go back for her later.
: Ah-ha! So you DID dump her.
: That’s very selfish of you. She’s completely hopeless without anyone to look after her. You know that!
: Do you think Ringo is still waiting in Guera?
: Beats me. Maybe she tried to come to Arbor on her own.
: We met this guy called Krinjh who said Arbor might hold the key to saving Horne.
Yeah, and he made you feel insecure, Paul, not Ringo.
: Speaking of lost traveling companions, weren’t you with John?
: Oh, him… He said he was sick of me and that I should go and do what I like.
: Haha! That sounds like John, all right! Still, I wouldn’t worry about it. He’s like that to everyone.
John’s history of being a prick is long and varied, it seems.
: Anyway, let’s follow Krinjh’s advice and try to figure out a way to lift the curse on Horne.
: Okay! Maybe Queen Arbor can help us one more time?
This triggers an automatic rest.
The next morning:


Sounds like a plan to me!

…figures.
:crown:: However, I know someone who does… Rolan, the great hero of Spelvia, might be able to help.
:crown:: If you climb to the very top of the Great Tree, you just might be able to leap across to the floating city.
On the plus side, we now have both a name and an understanding of the inhabitant of the floating island.



The trip to the top is uneventful, it’s just a long, winding corridor.





The island slowly drifts toward the tree.

: WE can’t - but I bet an animal can!
And right when we just got an item to help facilitate that. Handy!
That said, not all animals have equal jumping skill, Paul.



The staff can be used on any members in the party; I can’t think of any point where it’s useful to have some members transformed but not others but it’s doable if you really want to.

: One… two…

George makes the jump…

…but Paul is not so lucky.
: :!?
: D-darn it… I’m s-slipping…

And Paul drops like a rock.

Aw, beans!

New Crowns

Click here for new crowns!

Elementalist

Yes, that’s really the design they went with. For better or for worse, in spite of questionable cultural sensitivity, the Elementalist crown is, well, really really useful. Boosting elemental damage is always a plus, but the most important thing about this crown is that, after a few upgrades, it gains an ability that greatly reduces elemental damage that the party takes, which can sometimes mean the difference between life and death.
Stats:
HP: 1.0
Strength: 1.1
Intellect: 1.4
Spirit: 1.1

Ranger

While not as useful as Elementalist, the Ranger is no slouch either. It specializes in bows, making it useful against enemies that fly, and has abilities that enhance accuracy.
Stats:
HP: 1.3
Strength: 1.4
Intellect: 1.0
Spirit: 1.2

New party, new poll! See next post!

1 Like

So Paul, in his clumsiness, has gotten himself separated from George. Luckily for him, in his effort to make his way back up to Spelvia, he will soon be reunited with another friend. As such, we have crowns to assign!

Paul:

  • White Mage
  • Black Mage
  • Bandit
  • Bard
  • Salve-Maker
  • Seamstress
  • Elementalist
  • Ranger

0 voters

Friend:

  • White Mage
  • Black Mage
  • Bandit
  • Bard
  • Salve-Maker
  • Seamstress
  • Elementalist
  • Ranger

0 voters