Part 65: Chapter Forty Eight: Ocean Tower
Music: 04 – Dungeon000.png)
: Ugh…back to reality…
: It sure was a trip and a half.001.png)
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: Please tell us about the state of Gate’s forests, Elder Tree.004.png)
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: There are other people like us? That’s comforting, I guess. I dunno much about this demon business, but I do know it ain’t something we can ignore. It’d be good to meet up with these people, find out what they know. Right, buddy?: Sounds good, Bosch. We’ll have a better chance at striking back if we pool our resources.Asking about any of the others results in the Elder Tree repeating what the three old men inside him said last update. It seems our next step is to head southwards.
Music: 27 – Breath of Fire
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The party emerges from the forests to find a bridge connecting the mainland to another continent.
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: This fog is pretty thick. Uh…are you sure we should head through this way?011.png)
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You didn’t think Breath of Fire II was just going to let us walk to the next plot point without incident, did you?
: You all have three guesses as to where we’re going next, and the first two don’t count.
: Heaven Tower. I know of it. Supposedly it is a tower sunken into the sea that controls the world’s weather.Music: 11 – It’s a Whale
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Heaven Tower is located in the middle of the ocean due south of Capitan.
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It’s pretty small and easy to miss. Naturally it can only be accessed via the whale.
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I’ve switched the party around again so that it includes Tapeta and Rand. Rand will be a mandatory party member for the next part of the game and I want to get his level up to scratch.
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: It’s also a treasure trove of all kinds of old relics and fancy junk. 018.png)
Translation – there is a dungeon ahead and it will be full of treasure.
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: Hey. What’s with all the fog lately? Is there something wrong here?: I’ve been asking myself the same question…020.png)
: By the way…who exactly are you?021.png)
: Yep, that’s us. A-Grade repairmen reporting in.022.png)
: Oh, the salt water will be murder on my skin…but I suppose there is no alternative…: Sorry, but it looks like it’s the only way.023.png)
: (Damn…how deep does this thing go? I doubt the Gills will hold out for long at these depths…)024.png)
This underwater dungeon isn’t particularly long or difficult, but there is the small matter of a time limit. After three minutes the party will be booted back to the upper level. The timer pauses whenever you stop to speak to someone or open the Main Menu. There are pockets of air down here that can reset the timer, and in the end it’s really not that hard to grab every treasure and complete the dungeon in a single run. The only thing to really watch out for are the currents – in certain areas the party will be in danger of being swept away.
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First we head left.
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There are two options here – a door to the north and another to the south.
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The southern door leads to a chest with money inside.
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The northern door leads to a flight of stairs, beyond which lies a pocket of air.
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As can be seen, the timer has vanished. It will reappear, fully reset, as soon as we leave this room.
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More Stat-up items are always welcome.
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Another air pocket resets the timer again.
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Now this is where you have to be careful. The currents in this room will push the party around quite a bit. Even if you’re not standing on the current itself you will find yourself moving more slowly if you try to go against the current. To get to the stairs it is necessary to push upwards from beneath them until you reach them, then quickly push right before the current snatches you away.
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This room has three chests containing an Ice Shield, a set of Ice Armour and a Norse Dagger. This would be good equipment for Sten, but sadly he’s not in the party right now.
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: Hey, it’s another Shaman.040.png)
: That’s what people generally use to enter places. Look, we’re here to stop the fog that’s covering the southern continent. Do you know anything about it?041.png)
: Pardon? What about moi, mademoiselle? Hmm, perhaps I am not asserting my presence enough…if this goes on, I may have to start singing more often…: Uh…actually, we said ‘fog’. Not ‘frog’.042.png)
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:…This one’s special, alright.: Ahem! Anyway, do you know anything about this fog or not?044.png)
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And with that, the Wind Shaman teleports back to Township. Technically we’re done here, but there’s more treasure to be found in other parts of the dungeon.
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The first step is to go right at the beginning instead of left.
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We immediately run into a current that will push the party back unless the player holds down the directional button.
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The northern door leads to this Manillo merchant.
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He sells some pretty kickass wares. I buy the Ice Barrel for Bosch, the Thunderchild for Tapeta and three Circlets for both of them and for Ryu as well. The Ice Barrel and Thunderchild are particularly lethal, increasing Bosch and Tapeta’s attack power by 40 and 30 respectively and dealing elemental damage to enemies.
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The southern door leads to another empty room.
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Gotta love these time-wasting empty corridors.
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As the Manillo says, there can be no messing around after this point.
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The kelp covering the floors means you can’t see where your characters are. It isn’t a huge problem but it’s an added annoyance considering we’re on a tight time limit now.
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The right hand door leads to a current corridor.
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We’re close to the end now, so I’ll just skip ahead to the treasure chests.
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The Demon Sword is stronger than Ryu’s Alloy Sword. As of now, Ryu has 215 attack and 200 defence, which is pretty awesome.
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The Spirit Robe is one of the few sets of armour that Rand can equip. It also gives his Vigour a much needed boost.
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Even after all that I still have enough time to get back to the surface. Now that we’ve found the Wind Shaman, we have half of all the Shamans hanging out in Township. Next update will be a short bonus update where I will briefly go over the Shaman system. Although we don’t yet have enough Shamans to do anything really fun with them, they’ve been hanging around for so long I figure I should at least explain what they do and show off what they’re capable of.