Part 32: Chapter Twenty Five: Battle Bugs
Music: 04 – Dungeon000.png)
Last time we found our way into the depths. Now it’s time to actually find the ingredients for Tapeta’s cooking.
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: They’re all the blue kind! They’re not good for anything but stomping!002.png)
This information will come in handy as soon as we enter the next area.
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: Ergh! There are bugs all over the place!
: There are too many of them for us to just go around. We’ll have to cut our way through.That’s right – the enemies in here are visible and move around Chrono Trigger style.
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Music: 07 – Cross Counter
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Running into one will trigger a battle. Blue Cockroaches aren’t too tough. Their attacks do middling damage and they have around 200 HP. One round of physical attacks is normally enough to do them in.
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Three or four dead roaches later and we’re at the door, but it doesn’t end here.
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: Damn, how many of these things are there?
: Too many.008.png)
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: Hey, this one’s bigger and redder than the others!: Tapeta said he needed roach meat, didn’t he? This looks like it’ll fit the bill!010.png)
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Music: 10 – I’ll Do It!
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Remember the giant cockroach we fought way back at the start of the game? Well this guy is like his brawny older relative. The Giant Roach’s HP is through the goddamn roof – he can easily eat a hit from the second tier of dragon transformations and keep on trucking for five or six turns afterwards, even with the rest of the party beating on him with everything they have. Luckily unlike Goncharo he doesn’t have any horrible ‘Fuck You’ abilities and can only use basic physical attacks against the party.
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: Great! One ingredient down, two more to go.With the meat in tow we can now return to the start of the depths and take the left hand path.
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: I hope I never run into one of those things…those tasty treats might make a meal outta me instead!017.png)
: Hey, there’s the Greenbottle!018.png)
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: Rrrrrggghhh!! I’ll bust your face in, punk!: Don’t bother, Lin. He’ll just fly away again.The Greenbottle flies off to the left. This section of the depths plays host to a new enemy, so let’s get him categorized before anything else.
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Meet the Poltergeist, this area’s resident undead enemy. Poltergeists are similar to the Will’O’Wisps in Joker’s hideout, sharing the latter’s high defense against physical attacks. They also have a special Drain attack that steals your AP, which can be very irritating if they target Ryu. Luckily Sten still has the Silver Knife, and between him and Nina using Slice these encounters aren’t too difficult.
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: Hey guys…is it just me, or is there something moving in the water down there?: Something’s makin’ ripples, that’s for sure.: I can’t see anything, but if you two say so.023.png)
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: Did the other side of the bridge just shake?026.png)
: Look out, there’s something under the wood!027.png)
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: It’s that thing we saw earlier!: Alright, let’s kick its ass.: Sounds good to me!--
Music: 10 – I’ll Do It!
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First the Giant Cockroach, now a Giant Worm. Although he has less HP than the Giant Cockroach, the Giant Worm is actually more difficult for two simple reasons – he will counterattack nearly every physical attack made against him, and he has Dream Breath. Like the Cockroach he is also capable of eating a hit from Ryu’s new dragon attacks, although it’ll still hurt him a fair amount. Other than that it’s a good old fashioned damage race and simply a matter of pounding his face in before he pounds in yours.
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: Ha! Nothin’ to it.: We now have two ingredients. All that’s left is…031.png)
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: Laugh while you can. You’re next on the menu, you damn fly.The Greenbottle flies off once again. Unfortunately the bridge is broken so we’ll have to take the long way back around. I’m running low on healing supplies, so I briefly go back to Fort Nageur’s shop to stock up before returning to the castle depths.
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The natural thing to do at this point is to wonder where the Greenbottle took off to. The answer lies in the areas we’ve already visited.
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: He went in here.: There’s nowhere left for him to go. We’ve got him trapped.038.png)
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: Thinkin’s overrated.040.png)
: Careful, guys. This fly’s got nothing left to lose now.041.png)
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Music: 10 – I’ll Do It!
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Without his bullshit plot protection shield in place the Greenbottle is a total chump. He still has his Combo Attack and counterattacks every physical attack made against him, but his defences are super weak and he has no special attacks. One second tier transformation coupled with everyone else using their most damaging attacks will put him in the ground in a single turn.
After the battle Ryu levels up and learns Smoke, a skill that lets the party instantly escape from random encounters.
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: I’d say it’s you who sucks, dumbass!045.png)
: Okay, that makes all three ingredients. Now let’s get them back to Tapeta so we can end this sad farce once and for all.