Part 25: SoM Theater: Glitches Ahoy!

Welcome back for another round of glitches, bugs, and general weirdness. This time we're going to be starting with something a few of you have mentioned before.



You might remember that there are two triggers for the goblin cutscene: talking to Luka, and talking to Dyluck's soldiers. If you go in and talk to Luka without talking to Dyluck's group they'll be gone when you come out.



Heading down to Pandora the meeting goes off as usual...



But the really interesting things come about when you visit Kid and her father's home. Evidently they took their fight elsewhere.



Kid is standing at the head of the stairs when you get there. As soon as she delivers her line she flat out vanishes, resulting in what you see here.



Elman flat out loses his shit here, rambling off like a crazy man. What the hell is happening here? The explanation goes back to null characters and naming. Evidently Secret of Mana was originally going to have the option for 12 character names, but they were cut down to 6. Counting the "go"s will get you 11, plus a set of ellipses. Elman is trying to call out his daughter's name, but since she hasn't been given one he's referencing a null string and looking banana.



Kid's waiting downstairs to give us a piece of her mind about Dyluck and then pulling another vanishing act. From here the game continues as normal.



Next up, it's time to head back to the idyllic Potos village. We were banished, never to return...

Potos Village Glitch



Until we have some friends. This glitch exploits the game engine itself, utilizing the way the game handles character switches. By holding up on the d-pad and pressing select repeatedly you'll gradually inch through him.



Problem? This NPC doesn't know what to do when you're on the wrong side of him and you can't do the trick in reverse. Unless you've got another method of transport you're stuck.



I'm trying lady, but I can't!




The final game-breaking bug is in the castle at Pandora and requires the Magic Rope from Gaia's Navel. Somehow or other this area actually counts as a dungeon.

Magic Rope Glitch



Using the rope will return you to the entrance to the room but it's kind of like the Hotel California around here. You can walk out any time you like, but you can never leave. The game pretty well pitches a fit and will transport you to the entrance when you to try to leave.



Last but not least, there's no technical cheating involved in this absurd damage from my characters. The actual technique is easier to show than to explain, so take a quick look.

Chain Magic Trick

Basically, the game has some issues when it comes to processing multiple inputs. You can take advantage of this by interrupting a spell animation with another cast of the same spell, effectively freezing the target in place and stacking the spells on top of each other to deliver a ton of damage in a short time. The timing is key, but you'll generally get good results by waiting until the name of the spell disappears. This is an extremely cheap technique, however, so I won't be using it.



Just to show off some attention to detail before continuing to play, these totem statues are all over the place. In particular you can find them in the forest south of the Moogle village.



Hitting them with your sword results in them sticking their tongue out at you. It's a tiny little detail, but somebody had fun programming it in. At any rate, more to come as we go along.