The Let's Play Archive

Azure Dreams

by Krysmphoenix

Part 18: Forsaken.

Post-LP Notes: A bit of build up for this thread.

PantsTheReaper posted:

Also, it's about damn time the RNG kept an egg from you!

Tyskil posted:

Man, I thought all the talk about how you are apparently the RNG's favored son was just making mountains out of molehills for the sake of entertainment, but this LP actually made me try the game out and GODDAMN, your luck is unreal.

Turos Kensei posted:

You know, I have a slight theory about that. Like.. maybe somehow the RNG KNOWS you are showcasing the game it is apart of and the game wants to put on a show too? I'm kinda a romantic for games that way.

punakone posted:

I think we all know your romanticism for games. Especially this one.

Sum Mors posted:

Your romanticism is all wrong. The RNG is the devil, and Krysmphoenix is his anti-christ.

It's luring you all into its clutches like lambs to the slaughter.

Turos Kensei posted:

THE POWER OF RNG COMPELS YOU!

Have a friend pelt you with d20s. That should take care of it.




Last update I talked quite a bit about possibly fusing Calvin to get a wind-spell. I decided to wait an update to see if I got any good wind-monsters. I'll fuse Calvin with something next time. But first it's time to go check on the lovely ladies. I stopped by Nico's place, but nothing changed, so it's on to Selfi.


: I know so much about you. I heard you wear frilly pink panties.
: No, that's not true! || Yes, that's right.
...WHAT? I...this...I can't tell if this is Ghosh or Selfi's doing anymore...
: Mamoru is such a mystery.
Well, I really hope this changes soon...these are just getting more and more messed up and horribly wrong. Anyway, enough of her, to the Library!


: As I told you before, I enjoy reading novels by Yuki Katsu. I feel something very human in his writing. It reminds me of being hugged by my mother when I was a child.
Cue lots of mumbling...I am not writing that out again.
: Oh, I'm sorry. I just get so carried away. I'm going on again with topics that don't make sense.
: It's actually pretty amusing. || You're boring.
Again, more amusing than Selfi.
: Wow, it's the first time. The first time anyone has actually listened to what I have to say. Well, I've got to go.
And once again she leaves on us.


I stop by the carpenter's place, and ask to get the hut expanded. We can currently hold 16 monsters, and this upgrade will give us 36 slots. Considering we have fifteen monsters right now, I know I'm going to need this because we all know my luck with eggs.


Next is the fourth to last dish: Red Sushi ($500). All four of the final dishes cost $500, and are each a different color of sushi.
: When vinegar is added to the rice of Monsbaiya, the rice will change to any of seven colors, depending on the proportion of vinegar used. This restaurant prepares four different batches of vinegared rice, each used for a different selection of sushi ingredients. The vinegared rice here is slightly red. It's the highest grade, so the rice has more taste to it. With this sushi, you can order the sushi to enjoy the taste of the rice rather than what comes on top. This really has the best tasting vinegared rice. It gives you the feeling that, yes, you are eating sushi!
: Wha.... you couldn't possibly know the quality of it's taste. Darn!
Ghosh then gets up and leaves. I have to be honest, I'm a bit skeptical of sushi because like I've declared probably a dozen times already, I cannot stand seafood. The fact that they use vinegar, another substance I cannot stand (being a picky eater sucks), to make the sushi so delicious also makes me wary of tonight's food porn.
That said, my mouth is drooling. The translator must be a chef on the side. Anyway, now that we've had our fill of food, let's go get wasted again!



Business is booming, every day! I'm sure my man is smiling up in heaven about now. Wouldn't you agree?
: I think so too. || I wonder.
... right? I remember him better than ever... and I don't feel sad anymore. I can't explain it, but just as you're standing here, Mamoru, memories of him are so real. Well, I can't expect you to comprehend what I'm saying. I've been working non-stop today... I'm... getting... tired... zzzzzz.......
I think she's asleep. I"ll do the rest. Let her get some sleep.
Now with the bartender re-taking over the bar (and leaving the bar owner asleep on the table next to a customer), let's talk to the dancer.


: I think they'd make a great couple.

Azure Dreams Instruction Manual posted:

VIVIAN DETAILS
This is our last bachelorette, Vivian. Probably because of the task you have to do to find her in the first place, she's actually the one I know the least about. But you need the Theatre built to make her fall in love with you, and I'm pretty sure you need the Casino as well. For now, she'll just keep dancing. But there is one last task to do.


This also counts as our inventory check before going into the tower. I hand the healing herb over to the doctor.
Oh, Mamoru. As long as we've got this, Cherrl will be cured. We'll keep her in the hospital for a little while for full recovery. You're actually a pretty tough guy, aren't you? I'm sure Cherrl will be more than thankful. You put yourself in danger to get the Healing Herb and bring them here. Any girl would fall for you if you showed such courage to save her. I'll make sure to tell Cherrl to thank you.
: Don't tell her anything. || Yes. Go ahead!
Why?... well, all right. That's her personality. It might concern her to know someone went through such risk to help her. Furthermore, if she feels her illness was healed with the help of others rather than from within, she may continue to feel like a patient. Okay, leave it to me. I'll admit her to the hospital right away.
And by right away, he means go scurry over to the tower and she'll be in when you come back.

Floor 1

Once again, I sit on the first floor grinding the entire time. Not worth showing.

Floor 2


...you know, I still don't think I've gotten a good explanation why she keeps calling Mamoru that.
: My brother talks about Mamoru all the time at home. I know so much about you. I heard you can tell where the monsters are with your nose.
: That's not true. || That's right.
: Mamoru is such a mystery.
Alright...I really have no idea if I'm doing the right thing or not, because none of this is making any sense to me. I'm going to keep telling her the truth, and see if that does anything.

Floor 3 & 4


I find it ironic that my next Bomb trap destroys a Oleem, considering it stole a fucking egg from me last time.
Nothing of interest happens on floor 4. Once again, I'm dashing to the top after scouring each floor for loot. The EXP is just too low and not worth the grind. I can get it back when I get double EXP from monsters on higher floors because of our level difference.


Floor 5


Been a while since I found a red sand. Glad I found it. More ATK is always welcome.

Floor 6


Nope, never getting old.

Floor 7


Told you I was finding an egg this trip.

Floor 8


These tend to hurt more when you are already underleveled. In other news, I found a Pillar orb and IDed it, it has four charges, but I also find a fucking lot of White Sand on this trip, so all of it goes to the Pillar orb. It's powerful and also sells for the highest amount of money.
In other news, I also found a Hazak seed for Blue October.


Floor 9

I keep getting deleveled by Clowns, and it's starting to annoy me.

Floor 10


Even more powerful. I love sands. Good equipment can take you really far in the tower, before you need to use monsters. An amazing shield like this will keep you alive even on the higher floors.

Floor 11


I finally kill my hundreth Volcano. On these floors I've actually be waiting and grinding a little bit, since the EXP really picks up once you hit Bow Trolls. Speaking of Bow Trolls, I also kill 100 of them, but when I realized it, I was already on a floor where there were no more Bow Trolls.

Floor 12

Pretty average. Griffons can still pierce and do more than 1 damage through my shield, and Rise does about 10. But I still take them down fast enough that it doesn't matter.

Floor 13


You can barely tell, but I attacked this Kraken with a bare hand, and still took recoil damage. This sucks because they have relatively high HP for the floor, and and cause some serious damage even to monsters, who do 40+ damage with every hit.


So I bring out Blue October.

Floor 14 & 15

Once again, not much. I pretty much rush out of these floors because I'm tired of Krakens dealing so much damage.

Floor 16


Sweeet. This is on a floor with a Barong on it. I really hope it's a Barong. I'll ID this egg first if I get a spare pair of Truth glasses and I don't have any unidentified eggs.
As far as Barongs go, I found another Dark sword (I think one of you mentioned running into items more often if you see them the first time. I'll believe this.), a red sand, and two white sands which went on the Pillar orb.


Floor 17


I see this every once in a while. Does this mean the Picket tried to steal one of my already equipped items? Or possibly does the game not let it steal eggs from me?

Floor 18

More Pickets try to steal my stuff. I smite them to death first.

Floor 19


This is supposed to be a really rare item, yet I've found three this entire LP. Blue October is out, so it goes on it.

Floor 20


Yup, never getting old. Never. By the way, I switched out Kefka for Blue October for a small bit of this floor, only because I thought there were more wind monsters than I thought. Problem is, the Vipers are just tearing me up. I could really use a good Wind monster.

Floor 21, 22 & 23

Found yet another White sand, two Red Sands (Trained wand+8) and two Truth glasses, and IDed the eggs. The first egg was a Manoeva egg, and the second egg (on the Barong floor) was a Nyuel egg. Damn.
Also Blue October lost all MP, but it was back up and running upon being fed a Pita fruit I found several floors ago but held onto.
On floor 23 I switched fully over to Kefka because of Blocks. Problem was, I ran into so many Vipers this run that my attack power was greatly reduced, and I was only able to one-shot the Blocks about 20% of the time. The rest did about 15-17 damage to me. Even with my max HP in the high double digits, that really hurts Ouch.


Floor 24


I'm sorry, Stealth, but when you try to hide in a narrow 1x1 hallway when you are directly infront of me, you don't trick me.
In other news, Kefka just hit lv. 25. Sled is lv. 50. .


Floor 25


There you are!


Now we can see our wonderful bachelorettes in swimsuits! It's...less exciting than it sounds, really. But hey, that's one quest down.

Floor 26


Now I've got both out again. Mandaras really get on my nerves sometimes, because they can reliably hit 20+ damage on me. And it only gets harder from here on up.

Floor 27


The egg is a Yellow egg, I don't have truth glasses to ID it. By this point, I'm starting to really micromanage each move, since you can command your monsters. Probably not as much as I could, but sometimes I'll do it to avoid getting unnecessary hits on me or a familiar.


...what? Blue October just healed me? I didn't order it to do that. Sometimes when you or one of your familiars (including itself) is low on HP, they'll automatically use DeHeal or DeForth to heal you. A nice touch. The AI is pretty decent at times.

Floor 28


Monster Book posted:


No. 18 NAPLASS Habitat: Wetland
This monster loves to nap, and spends most of each day dozing. It is, however, very sensitive to the slightest noise, and will attack angrily if it hears a loud noise. A NAPLASS deprived of sleep is the most powerful weapon. It butts with its head which is harder than steel.
Huh, I ran into this Naplass while it was awake, that's unusual. Naplasses have a HP Gain Trait, so they have a lot of health. They also like to sleep (and apparently sleeping restores HP faster) and you'll usually find them asleep. They tend to wake up after the first hit though.


I didn't know Mandaras could do this! Now I hate them even more! Luckily, while confused I take a step to the right, allowing Blue October and Kefka to kill this guy for me. I just stand still and I'm good after a few turns.

Floor 29


Fuck, this was not good. I'm shooting this at a Naplass, and there is a Manoeva right below it. Because fo the way things are worked out in the hallway, Kefka could get by my side, but Kefka is not a melee monster.


And I pay a terrible price for this foolish mistake.

Sum Mors posted:

The RNG is the devil, and Krysmphoenix is his anti-christ.
It's luring you all into its clutches like lambs to the slaughter.
Father! Why have you forsaken me!
: Screw you, kid. I'm not your father.
: Hey? What about me? Mamoru's my son, I gotta help him out somehow!
: I don't care. Do what you want. In the end, his soul will belong to me.
: Whatever. Look, the reason you failed is because you weren't keeping good enough track of your HP. All the monsters here could hit you for 20+ HP, and you tried to one-shot them with a Pillar orb? No, no, no. You shouldn't rely on orbs to always one-shot your enemies, especially Naplasses, since they have so much HP already. That Manoeva below it might have been a better choice, despite the type disadvantage, but you probably would have died anyway. Of course, the smart thing to do would have been use a Wind Crystal ages ago, once you found the W. Medal. These upper floors are risky, you can't make foolish mistakes.
: Be warned, this is what happens when you grow too comfortable. Remember, child, you may decide the moves, but I decide how they turn out.

Post-LP Note: I did this little conversation completely on a whim, but now I'm glad I did this. If/when I ever LP another game, I'm so going to include an RNG d20 somewhere.

END OF DAY! KILL COUNT FOR THE DAY!

: 20 Pulunpas, 4 Noises, 14 Trolls (Hammer), 3 Flames, 7 Cyclones, 6 Baloons, 5 Manoevas, 6 Manoeva Clones, 11 Blumes, 7 U-Boats, 8 Clowns, 28 Dreamins, 15 Trolls (Bow), 22 Volcanoes, 12 Griffons, 2 Krakens, 2 Trolls (Sword), 2 Garudas, 2 Pickets, 3 Arachnes, 3 Weadogs, 1 Pulunpa (Emo). 183 KILLS TOTAL
1 Traps Discovered.
Slain by a Naplass.

: 3 Manoeva Clones, 1 Troll (Bow), 4 Volcanoes, 5 Griffons, 6 Krakens, 6 Nyuels, 14 Trolls (Sword), 8 Garudas, 11 Manoevas (v2), 2 Barongs, 4 Pickets, 2 Arachnes, 4 Weadogs, 4 Unicorn, 8 Vipers, 1 Zus, 4 Snowmen, 2 Mandaras, 4 Manoevas (v3), 1 Naplass. 94 KILLS TOTAL
Snow Shoot assists: 1 Pickets. 1 KILL-ASSIST TOTAL.
Blizzard Sword assists: 1 Weadog,1 Unicorn . 2 KILL-ASSISTS TOTAL.

: No direct kills.
Heat Wave assists: No kill-assists.
Flame Sword Assists: 1 Manoeva Clone, 3 Vipers, 1 Pulunpa (Emo), 16 Blocks, 8 Zus, 8 Stealthes, 2 Snowmen, 6 Mandaras, 3 Manoeva (v3), 2 Naplasses. 49 KILL-ASSISTS TOTAL
~~~~~~~~~~~~


I...what? What the hell was that dream? Guy? A floating d20? What the hell?
When I looked at the inventory, everything was gone, except for the money that stays in the town. The Trained wand, the Diamond shield, the three eggs I found, even the fucking W. Medal (which I'm not sure I can find again), all gone.




I stop by Fur's place anyway...I have nothing to sell, but since we started getting along again, maybe she can cheer me up.
: Is that so? Three Cream, That will be $2000.
I believe last time she charged him $1000. She must really hate him.
: Only...only $2000. Ha, ha, ha. That's play money to me. I will pay billions of $s to see your beautiful smile.
: I'm in receipt of $2000. Thank you very much. Anything else?
: Ah, no... Have I done something to make you upset?
: No, you've done nothing at all. It's just that... my view of what a man should be has been polished.
: ....... and who is this "man" you're talking about.
: The person I'm looking at right now.
He turns around and notices Mamoru standing there.
: Mamoru!!! That's gotta be a lie! What is this world coming to!
And he runs away. Serves him right.
: Welcome, Mamoru.
: Take it easy Fur. || Yes, I'm a "man".
: You'd gross me out if you were a woman.
Fair enough. At least it's good to know she's not a lesbian.
: Mamoru, how do you feel about me?
: You're beautiful. || You're cute.
Anyone who can backtalk to Ghosh like that is beautiful in my eyes.
: !!!!! Wow, that was a direct answer, in your case.
And that's it, since I'm not buying or selling anything. We're still at $50323.

Alright, sorry for this update, but this proves I am going to stand by something I said at the very beginning. If this LP decides to kick me in the balls, I will gracefully accept it and climb right back into the tower with my back-up set of equipment. At the moment, I've been holding onto that second Trained wand and a Mirror shield. The Mirror shield will really help with pesky spells coming my way, mostly the Rise from Griffons.

And I'm thinking maybe it's time to breed a second generation of familiars. Blue October and Kefka are nice and powerful, but I'm thinking of something else.
Volcanoes are pretty decent, and make nice melee monsters. They aren't as powerful as some of the other ones, but Volcanoes have never let me down. They can also create magma rocks which can steal a little Aggro aimed at me or a Familiar. If I fuse Kefka over to Joe, the Double-Spell Level Trait will move as well, and Sled will still be at lv. 54, and will only increase even faster. This could be a nice Melee monster that can supply magic-backup when needed. I'll probably Direct-cast Sled more often from now on. (I would fuse Kefka over to Peter, but Peter would end up with LaDown and Rise because that's the main Clown/Death spell, not Sled.)
We have a lot of Nyuels, and I think my survivability will dramatically increase if I fuse Blue October to Seuss. No call on whether or not Half MP Consumption will move too, but it might. But that's only half as relavent as the Nyuel's natural love for herbs, which I am finding lots of. This will be a 100% pure support monster.
And I decided to fuse F-117 to Calvin. If I fused Honky, I'd be stuck with a monster that also has the Magic-Proof Trait (which are native to Noises) and that's not a good thing. Probably more of a melee monster than Joe will be, but that Paralyzing Mixture magic is too sweet to ignore.

At the moment, I have one Leva Fruit in the safe, because I've been selling the ones I found. So which do you want to see first? Suess absorbing Blue October. Joe absorbing Kefka. Calvin absorbing F-117 absorbing Orphan.
Alternatively, you can suggest your own ideas if you have any. Be sure to justify them though, because I'm taking this seriously. I just lost a lot of good loot, and I'm willing to start from scratch to go even further. The RNG really pounded me into the dirt. But am I going to give up?
Fuck no. I still need to get revenge for Guy, dammit!