Part 75: EX 02: Marowak Dojo

EX 02: Marowak Dojo

There's another thing that unlocks at the beginning of Chapter 5.





By the way, you two! Do you know Marowak Dojo?

Marowak Dojo?

Marowak Dojo is a place where exploration teams go to hone their skills. Actually, when everything was peaceful, there wasn't much need for its services... The sensei couldn't pay for its upkeep... and it eventually collapsed.



What?!



It's been resurrected from the rubble! Back and better than ever under new management! ...And, uh, I'm going around advertising the dojo's reopening for my sponsor, Marowak.





Sure, why the hell not!



Before we do, though, let's store all our items and money.



Now we're ready.





F-finally... M-my... first visitors!





The dojo went to rack and ruin, then to a pile of rubble, but... it has now risen from the dust to its former glory! But... I haven't had any visitors... There hasn't been even one. It saddened me to my very marrow... But then! Along came you two! You are my first customers! From my very marrow, I'm feeling overjoyed! I don't even want money! Keep it! Just train here, that's all I ask!



I have to tell you one thing... Training mazes aren't like ordinary dungeons... There's this icky part, you see. When you go in, you hand over everything that's in your Treasure Bag.



There's more! If you get KO'd, you don't lose the new money and items that you found in the maze. You get to keep them! There's no risk to you, so you can go all out while you train. So, yes, make me happy. Train your team here. How about it?

We've already got our items taken care of, so let's go in.



Normal/Flying sounds like a safe bet. Especially with Babar's Ancient Power move.



Before entering, the game prompts you to make sure you've stored your items. Unless you don't care, of course.





Babar usually has an item equipped, so this is the first time we've seen his Pickup ability in action.



He found an Escape Orb. They can be used to bail out of training mazes, same as normal dungeons.



On B1 of the mazes, the enemies are total pushovers, and they all die in one hit.



On B2, they get a little tougher. Still not enough to be a threat.



As we advance through the maze, enemy levels steadily increase, as does their experience output. Each floor in the training mazes has a low step count, though, so it's best to focus on finding the stairs, instead of sitting and grinding. If you surpass the step limit on any given dungeon floor, you'll get blown out of the dungeon by a gust of wind, and it counts as dying.



Team America runs through it pretty quick, but it's a good idea to be careful on the lower floors. The enemies are already starting to do decent damage.



By B4, with our present levels, killing enemies instead of avoiding them is pretty rewarding.



B5 is the deepest each training maze goes. At this point, none of our moves kill the enemy in one hit.



The enemies are smarter down here, and will buff themselves as well. Uproar prevents the user and all allies in the room from being put to sleep.



On B1, Michael could one-shot Staravia.



Now it one-shots her.



Looks like we won't be finishing any mazes just yet.



But one must try and try again in the face of failure... That's how everyone grows up! I'll try harder! I expect you to do the same. We'll all try harder!

Like Marowak said before, there is no penalty for losing in the training mazes. You keep all the items, money, and experience gained in the mazes, and no one will yell at you for failing.

Furthermore, no matter if you finish, faint in, or escape from a maze, it won't pass to the next day. It does refresh the shops and both assignment boards, though, which can be handy if you're looking for something in particular.



Plus, look at all the extra Escape Orbs we get to keep!