Part 11: The Easy Ring Is Off

Update Eleven: The Easy Ring Is Off

Welcome back! Last time, on Mother, Champ joined our party and we got him the most respectable gear we can. Today, I've taken the Easy Ring off and I'll be going through Duncan's Factory, as fast as I possibly can, because fuck this place. So, let's rock.





So, here we are. Duncan's Factory. Some of you have been waiting for this.



As you can see, I have unequipped the Easy Ring. The encounter rate is back to normal and I am no longer gaining four times exp.



There it is in my inventory. I bet Leo's finger is cold without it.



Back at the entrance, we use that bread we've been carrying around for a while.



It now becomes "bread crumbs" in our inventory; when we use this, Leo will follow the trail out, making it sort of like the Exit Mouse in Earthbound, but these probably taste better with butter.



And here we have our first, of many, fights.



These are two of the three most common enemies I faced in here; the good doctor has 80 HP to his name, hits fairly hard, and can lose his temper to increase his offense by a good bit.

The Old Robot has 81 HP and the ability to use PK Beam Alpha, making him a far larger asshole.





Yeah, PK Beam Alpha sucks. On average, it's dealing 30 HP of damage. There's no way to resist that damage, either, so you just have to suck it up and take it. All in all, this fight isn't too bad, as long as you keep your HP above 50.



Be glad you're not seeing every instance of when I used a healing item or PSI Lifeup Alpha, since that'd take up, like, 200 shots on its own.



Look, if you thought the last factory was boring, this one might be even worse. At least this one is going to have a shitload of encounters for you to look forward to.



Anywho, we take the west path to start with. I did not use a map in this factory; before this recording, I had never set foot in this factory, so I didn't know where I was going. All I knew about this place was that it was big and full of encounters.



Get used to the mosaic effect; it's going to be rearing its blurry head a lot around here.



After another fight, I pop up this ladder.



So far, I don't think this place is too bad. Sure, it's big, but if I can get my bearings, it'll be okay, right?



And I'll have more encounters than usual. That's not so bad, right?



There are even new enemies! This guy is also fairly common and can appear with Dr. Distorto; he also only has 72 HP, and the only special thing about him is that he can enter a "defensive stance", which increases his defense by insane amounts. It's a good enough boost that Leo and Champ working together can't drop him in a single round.



Oh, yeah, he has PK Beam Alpha, too. Thankfully, any turn he uses this is a turn he's not guarding, so it's easier to drop him. But, on the flip side, when he uses this, it's dangerous for Leo and Champ.



And they sometimes drop Laser Beams.



Laser Beams are not food, as I found out. I'm sure Leo is disappointed that he can't chow down on the laser and gain all of its lasery, beamy courage.



Seeing as how Champ is our Susan for this game, Laser Beams are for him, but he can't equip them. Rather, they're battle items, which makes me sad.



This description terrifies me, though. Is anyone else thinking of that movie "Falling Down"?



Another fight. I'm showing you guys pretty much every fight I got into, too, just so you're clear on what removing that ring does.



The Laser Beam...Was not impressive. The damage Champ took there was from another PK Beam Alpha. That attack scares me.



Laser Beams aren't strictly one-use items, either. They'll randomly break after usage, so I just got unlucky here.



But, let's continue on. There's a ladder there and what appears to be more to explore to the left.



It's just a tease, though. We've gotta hit that ladder.





Shortly after stepping off of it, we get into fight.



You all remember that Bottle Rocket we found to convince Champ to join us, right? Well, let's see how badass this thing is...







Let us never speak of those again. Earthbound's Bottle Rockets have spoiled me on teenage usage of explosives.



So far, the encounter rate isn't too bad.



Though, I will say, I do miss the crazy amounts of exp I was getting when I had the Easy Ring on.



A good bit of levels were gained, though, so I don't mind too much. I just loves me some exp, is all.



It looks like I can either go west or down that ladder from here. Since I had no idea where I was going...



I went east, instead.



Like, no bullshit here. I am lost. Even now, I'm lost. I don't know where I'm going or how I got here.



What I do know, though, is that the Fireball is a pussy. It has 77 HP, and it's easily murdered. But, be sure to murder it fast, otherwise it'll hit you with PK Fire, which is going to hurt, unless you have the right pendant equipped.



Continuing east...



...There's this door. There's an assload of treasure in this place, but I missed most of it. I'm also starting to dislike this place now. It's boring to look at. The encounter rate is starting to get on my nerves and I don't know where the hell I am.



But, whatever, treasure. Maybe this will make me feel better.



Okay, this does a pretty good job of that. Bombs are another thing for Champ, and they're pretty badass.



Heading back out of that room, let's try going east again.





Another fight, another dollar.



Ooh, a Bomber. They have 77 HP, with the ability to use Bombs. Bombs, as could have been guessed, hurt like all hell.



So, wreck 'em as fast as you can. They have a chance to drop a Bomb, as well, which is always welcome.



The encounter rate is starting to annoy me.



It was one of the encounters we've already seen; assume there is now a broken robot and a bloodied doctor lying at the top of the ladder.





I go to the left a lot in this factory, and I don't know why. I heard somewhere the people prefer going the direction of their dominant hand (or something like that), and by going left, I'm doing just the opposite.



I still think the mosaic effect makes things look cool.



This is the most extraordinary thing to happen in that fight; Bombs are awesome, as I said.



There's also a fuckload of ladders in the factory; this place is massive, as I mentioned, but I don't know if I can explain just how massive.



So, here's a thumbnailed picture of it. It's not the best looking map, but I'd like you to look at the actual size of that picture; Duncan's Factory is gargantuan and I don't like it.



Not to mention, there's more of these fucking HAL looking spots around.



To the east, there's another dead end, so we're going up.



Straight into a fight at the top of the ladder.



Though, afterward, there's a room to enter.



With another present box.



I'll always take more bombs. They're a pretty good thing for Champ to do if something needs to die quickly and Leo is otherwise busy.



So, we're back out of that room and heading west now.







Hell, throw in a ladder climbing and those last three pictures pretty well sum up this entire update.



I don't know if I should say that, though. Should an LP'er invalidate an entire update with just one sentence?



I'm going to guess it's okay, though.





So, I'm in physical therapy now, right?



I've been doing it for around a month, maybe six weeks by now.



I should be finished by the end of this month, my therapist estimates.



So, I'm pretty happy about that.



But I'm not happy about this.



Either way, I still can't dance, though.



Though, I am dancing on these guys' graves, though.



What!? FUCK, GAME, LET ME TAKE A STEP!



Normally, a high encounter rate doesn't bother me all that much.



Since, y'know, that's how the game is. I knew what I was getting into when I started playing it, right?



But two encounters on the same fucking step?



No, fuck that. That's bullshit. At least let me move four or five feet before I have to grievously wound something else.





Before we hit that ladder, let's take a look-see at what's to the right.



People who have played this game before, I don't feel like I'm getting the dumbass encounter rate you all wanted me to. Are you disappointed with the amount of encounters?



Dammit, game!



And it was entirely useless to walk over there.



Back to the ladder, but first...



I'm lost as hell. I'm looking at that map from earlier and I'm not sure where the fuck I am.



I went right from that ladder, heading down this path.



I went a good little distance without an encounter though.







Okay, let's try the left path now.







This is where I really began to hate this place. I can handle a dead end or two, but this place has so many.



Champ gains his second level here, which makes me hate a little less.





For some reason, I started whistling as I walked through here. I'm not very good at whistling or music, so it was a very poor imitation of the Final Fantasy fanfare.







This ladder is long as shit, too. I'm not quite sure how a fight works on the ladder, but hey, it's still exp for me.





Done with that ladder, thankfully. I'm not a fan of ladders in this game, for some (stupid, I'm sure) reason.



Can't the enemies here just hear the screams of everything else that has been wrecked here? I mean, robots might not scream, but surely, they must understand a human being's cry of abject terror and immense pain.



'course, with those HAL things there...Maybe it does hear them, and it's now just waiting...



Haly shit, there's a lot of them around.







I feel uncomfortable climbing between these things.



Very uncomfortable.



Okay, seriously, what the hell are those? Are they like, warning lights or something? Like, if the factory has a big problem and they need to evacuate or whatever?



Over to the east is another blank wall, so fuck it.



Climb this ladder and head to the right to find more ladders.



There's one...



...And two. There's another ladder I didn't show here. I think. I was lost going through my footage of this place, too.



And a fight.



We're heading up the nearest ladder right now.



In this shot, it looks like Leo is giving Champ a piggy-back ride up the ladder.



Aaah! Doctors and robots hate the humans working together!



The room beyond that door is completely empty. It was a waste of time coming up here.



So, bam! Now we're at the top of the other ladder.



This room is loooong.



Well, compared to the other rooms we've been in, this one is long.



Hey, this isn't too bad of a find. Lifeup Alpha only heals around 30 HP, as do Magic Herbs, so having an item that heals a ton more is welcome.



The other ladder around here. I think. I'm sure someone will correct me and I'll look dumb, so the status will remain quo.



Either way, we have another of these doors to enter.



Were this Earthbound, I'd be all or maybe , but here...Eh, it's a Bottle Rocket.



We're dashing east, now, after this fight.



Far enough east, there's another ladder.



It leads to another door. I'm still quite lost.



Hey, this ain't too bad of a treasure. Since I have two people now, even if I only lock down an enemy for a turn, I can still hit 'em at least once, if they break out early. Rope is going to be useful all game, I think.



So, back down and east again.



To another ladder. We're almost done here, folks, I promise, so this boring torture will end soon enough.

_{And I imagine my LP career will end with it, too.}





Oh, hey, another side-room.



I do like treasure, though. I'm just tired of this place.



Ooh! Not bad, not really. Remember, Exit Mouse effect, and I can still eat it, for a quick HP boost.





Oh, Goddammit. I don't like this place.



Leo gained a level here!? Champ, I can understand, since he needs a ton less exp than Leo, but Jesus Christ!



Look at that chill motherfucker. It's like he doesn't even give a shit he's leveled up.



We fight another encounter and go east. And no, there's no mosaic in that picture, because fuck it, I'm tired of posting them.





I'm starting to feel hate for this place just writing this update. This update was hard as hell to write, just because of this fucking place; it's boring. What the hell do I have to say about that?

Sure, I've shown off nearly every fight I got in to in here, but there's only so much you guys want to read "Hey, I fought more stuff, hurr" before you get bored. I'm sure I crossed that line a while back in the update. This place is still a fucking gray factory, with Goddamned NES graphics, so I can't be like, "And if you look at this wall, you can see there are actually spiders on the wall!"

In short, I'm thinking it and you'll all thinking it, so let's say it once, together now.

FUCK DUNCAN'S FACTORY AND WHATEVER ASSHOLE THOUGHT IT WAS A GOOD IDEA



Let's continue on. I think that's the most I've written for an LP, barring the final thoughts paragraph on the final post.



Though, we are close to being done.





Up the ladder and let's head west.



Toward another ladder. I'm now wondering what it was like for the employees here.



"Yeah, Jim, I'll grab you a cup of coffee. Just make sure nobody shakes the ladder when I'm climbing back to the office."



Or: "Larry, I've got the trots and I don't think I can last the entire trip down the ladder to the can."



Then there's the issue of safety. How many falls a month do you think they have around here? Or do you think they have like, safety things set up at the bottom of ladders, so that if you do fall, it's a bit safer?





There's a .gif coming up. If you've read this far and are considering quitting now, hold on, since there's one of them thar movin' pitchers coming.



I fell off a ladder once.



Well, not so much fell, as in it started to tip and then, somehow, I managed to start running down the side of it.



Had I leaped off the side and karate kicked a bad guy then, that woulda been some Jackie Chan shit.



Though, I don't think I'll ever be able to do it now.



Like, I tried to see if I could kung-fu kick the other day.



I thought I had re-broken my hip and wondered if I could just get the hospital to put me down this time.



Oooh, treasure!



Awesome, a Force Capsule. This will raise someone's Force by 5 and Force is used for PP calculations.



So, I accidentally fed it to Champ.



We're heading back the way we came now.



There's also an actual purpose to showing this fight.



Firstly, Champ SMAAAAAAAAAAASHing while the Scrapper guards, just to show off how beastly its defense is when it is holding a defensive stance.



And another Laser Beam. Explosionface said he hated me when I found this one.





Another mosaic effect with a purpose.



Leo learns another new PSI power!



He learned Defense Down Beta, which will lower the entire enemy party's defense. That could prove very handy in the future.



Still going west, we manage to get a bit of variety with some diagonal paths.



This shot is just before a fight.



This is the final level of the update, too; that makes three levels for Champ and one level for Leo.





Nearly done with the fighting, too.



Oh, Goddammit.



Y'know, I'm actually getting a headache right now. I hate this place so much, just looking at pictures gives me a headache.



That's, like, palpable hate.



I'm quite certain that Yoda's Force Ghost can feel the hatred coming from me right now. I hope he swings by and teaches me some Force stuff, then I'll become the Neckbeard Jedi, and learn how to Force LP.



But what color would the Neckbeard Jedi's lightsaber be? Chartreuse?



Down and around that path, we come to another door.



...I wanna go home.



Now, if you look over here, it looks like one of those walls that just turns out to be nothing but a wall, with no doors, right?



It's not exactly hidden, but after the slog of this place, I could see how someone could miss this and go back, without realizing that this door was there.



Look at those bricks! They're all fucking bricky!



That rocket...It's exactly what we came here for.



Somehow, Champ knows how this rocket works. I'm not going to ask why, but I'll just make a mental note to not fuck with him.



... Look at it go. How exciting.



Let's skedaddle.



Yup, one last fight for the road.



If you're playing along, I pity you if you didn't use your bread at the beginning.



With the bread crumbs, though, here we are, back at the beginning. Remember to use your bread at the beginning here; if you don't, you have to backtrack all the way back.



FREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEDOM

Next time, on Mother, we're going to hit a couple of new locations and maybe find someone new. Stay tuned!



Also, for those of you who had done the factory before, I've been told that I got lucky here. I believe I did. But, I still want you guys to know that I only spent twenty five minutes in there, with no guide or map.

_{But, I did have the fast-forward button held down the entire time...}