Part 14: Zone 3 - Treatment Area

Welcome back. We were just about to take the monorail to Area 2 in Vesper.

Music - Yesterday Was Better







I love the little animated zone map, it's a nice touch to this area.





Having this pointed out made me realize he's totally right. The Batter doesn't make a sound when he walks.



Music - Burned Bodies

: At the same time, it was scripted. You had no chance of success anyway... So, here's a little something to help you forget the pains and sorrows of such an unappealing defeat.



: I'll leave you now to search the area. If you find something suspicious, don't hesitate to let me know as soon as possible.



Zacharie went into the building on the right. Let's go check in with him real quick before we go exploring.





: Nothing.

: Alright. Come back when you have fresh news, then.

Well, that's reasonable, I guess.



What's in this house on the left then?



It happens too fast to grab a shot of, but when you enter the building, Zacharie walks in from the hallway to the right. There's no visible connection between these buildings, but, it's Zacharie so.





Time to buy some upgrades. Things are starting to get a little expensive! From Zacharie we buy 3 Hidden Symbols for our Add-ons, and 2 Colour of Hatreds which we equip to the Batter and Alpha. I can't afford more at the moment because they fucking cost 870 credits a piece!

We do have a lot of extra equipment at this point. I haven't sold any because I was waiting for our party to fill out first. I'm not going to cover the INCREDIBLE THRILLRIDE of equipment management, but on the sell menu there's something a little interesting.



Zacharie will buy the photos we got in zone 2. He only offers 10 credits for the photo of us, and fuck selling that! It's a treasured memory!



For the photo of himself, however, Zacharie offers a whopping 500 credits. I won't sell this either, because I hate parting with cool unique items. Anyway! You can see from the credit counter on the right there we've sold enough things to buy the last two Colour of Hatreds for our party.



There's only one doorway left in this area, this must be the Treatment Center.



Music - Yesterday Was Better

This doesn't look particularly like any sort of treatment center. It's more like warehouses full of crates with some office workers around.





This is another "turn OFF all the switches" puzzle. We turn off every switch in this line.



Doing this opens up the first switch we saw when we entered.





You can see that the door to the right still isn't open, though. Let's try talking to the Elsen in here.



: But if it escapes, I would never get any of it again...

But what's in the pipes?



: All the better! One should work his job wholeheartedly!

Another mention of "it" and the director. When we step away from him, we hit the first random encounter of the area.



OH JESUS CHRIST WHAT ARE THOSE FUCKING THINGS



Oh my god their faces I hate these things oh fuck.





Killing them earns us a new level and skill for Alpha. Requisite Embrace has a chance of causing blindness. You might also spot that Alpha is "Palsied", it's the status effect the Von Gacy's can inflict on us.

Now that we've gotten rid of those horrible faced things, the trick to the door is the third switch we turned off, with the large C over it.



Turning it back on rewards us with a chime.





Let's see what horrors await us then.



...Oh. It's just like the last room. I don't know what they're treating here.



: My portion today wasn't as big as usual...

We've heard the phrase "the dessert" before, back on the signs in the dorms.



The puzzle in this room is similar to the last one. There are a number of switches you have to turn off to unlock other switches that need to be turned off.





: ...... hhh...

I... um... Should you be working? You don't sound so good.



This switch unlocks a chest back near the last guy we spoke to.





The Fast Symbol offers a nice attack boost for Alpha.



Just in case you thought I was good at this game, I actually don't really know how the switch puzzle in here works.



I just went back around and tried turning back on each switch I'd previously turned off.





There's probably a logic to it, but it's a simple enough puzzle that kind of randomly flipping the switches is good enough to solve it.



Aha! We did it!



Oh no! Uh, we totally work here. Didn't you see our hat? It's like the other guys' hats.







I will probably never forget the name of these horrible god damn things.





I guess most people don't use Wide Angle very often, and this is a reminder that all of the enemies have names and descriptions.

Music - Burned Bodies (Sweet Tooth Mix)



: The ... The sugar... Do- ... Don't touch the sugar...

: Sho... Shove... Shove off, spectres! Get out !! Get out !!







Oh my god, what's happening to these Elsen?



Sugar. The Elsen in this zone are horribly addicted to sugar. When they're deprived of it, they go nuts.





I'm sorry guys. It's not your fault.





: It seems to be sugar. I think it is sugar.

: Seems so.

: Ah ah ah. Well, this is quite surprising, I didn't expect to find such an ingredient at this po... in this place.

: Maybe we'll find the answers to that in Area 3... Logic obliges us to go on with the third after the second one after all. Remember, we're in a videogame. We've got to do things the constructive way. Well, go on, I'll meet you again when you're there. Hurry up.





: They even appear to be in a bloody bad temper.

: OK.

: See you later.



A bad temper, huh? That doesn't sound promising.



There's a chest hidden behind some of the sugar piles to the right.





Once we head out of the room, it's a bad scene.



All of the Elsen in the room begin chasing us in a fast and jerky manner.



This one to the right is about to cut us off at the pass, there's not much I can do to avoid him now.





We have to purify any Elsen that reach us. Reflecting on this now as I'm writing the update, there's probably a reward for clearing out the treatment area, but I honestly don't have the heart to kill them all.





His last words before he disappears into nothingness are so terribly sad. They're so brainwashed they don't even know what's happening anymore.



With the other two stuck behind those crates, let's get out of here and leave them be.





We manage to slip through the entrance room without a fight.



Music - Yesterday Was Better

They don't follow us outside. This place is pretty horrible, we probably should focus on finding out more about the director everyone mentions. I wonder if Zacharie has anything to say before we go.



Oh, he's already left. Let's go catch up then.





I hope he's not too far ahead. This world is terribly lonely without our friend the Judge around to help us out.


Next time we'll be heading to area 3, I hope you'll join me.