Part 33: Ruins of Dreams

Last time, we picked up a couple more Mediums. Today, we go visit Doc's dead Professor.


Update 33: Sudden Death

We got a Map Shred at the end of Update 32.



The Exact location on the map has faded with years, but for Doc, the place remains a painful memory.



Checking the map, we can see that shred is showing the collection of small islands near Laxisland.



There we are.



MUSIC: Night of the Legends

So, this is where Doc first came in contact with the device...
...
Doc...?



Oh, forgive me... I was lost in my thoughts for a moment, but I am all right now.
Are you sure?
Thank you--I am fine. This ruin has long been abandoned, but the security mechanism may still be active. We must take precautions.

MUSIC: Fate Breaker

The Ruins of Dreams is kinda fun, though it's really easy to miss lots of items here. Mainly because there's lots of cutscenes and the camera points you away from the treasure rooms when they're over. I ended up needing to do this dungeon twice - once for completion, and again for missed items.



Clambering up onto this netting lets us access a pair of treasure rooms. Between them they contain a Lucky Card, a Duplicator, 12,000 Gella, a Revive Fruit and two Gella Cards.



There's a lot of really high-tech machinery here, like... doors operated with manual valves.



As the drifters work their way down into the facility, Doc stops to exposit.

This planet will transform... I have deciphered the words of Siegfried. It is... planetary re-creation... I believe the planet is not evolving, but transubstantiating its very existence...

I've been saying that for weeks!

You mean Filgaia's changing into something else!? Is that possible?
Starting with the Yggdrasil System, the endless environmental rejuvenation this planet has undergone is actually - in a broad sense - planetary re-creation. And this place here, was one of those environmental facilities designed to rejuvenate Filgaia.
Just like Yggdrasil?
Much smaller in terms of scale or level. This place is where the impossible dream of rejuvenating Filgaia still sleeps. Let's press on further.



In the next room, lasers block off one hallway. Heading through that doorway eventually gets us up to the upper level...



Where the control panels can be bombed to shut them off.



Swinging up onto this net is enough to reach the treasure chest (Potion Berry) but you can't hit the switch from there - Billy's too high up.



Most characters can't reach this net, but if Billy uses the Radical Sneakers underneath it he can jump up and grab on, and hit the switch with a boomerang.



This facility incubated a machine designed to control the planetary environment.
You mean that big thing?
You are half correct. It is a molecule-sized machine, created from this big plant. It's called the [nanomachine].
The nanomachine...? Could that be...!
Yes... It is believed to have the same properties as the nanomachine that was injected into your body. As a matter of fact, I did not know about the existence of the nanomachine until I met your father. To this day, I still do not have a full understanding of it...
But this nanomachine is meant to control the environment of Filgaia, right? What does this one have to do with the one that affected my body...?

Footsteps are heard in the distance.


If this planet is likened to a single life-form...



...then there are parts that make up the living organism, though the scale may be small.
Daddy...!
Is my theory a little out of the ordinary?

Werner shakes his head.

I think you have an open-minded way of thinking... But it doesn't necessarily mean it's a pleasant theory.
In other words, nanomachines embedded within the body are programmed to rewrite the structure of living organisms. Everything would be okay if this is promoting the rejuvenation of the environment, but an unseen enemy is misusing the lost technology. It is believed that this enemy is using the nanomachine to devour and destroy the environment and to change it into something completely different. It is like a cancer of the planet, where the cancer cell is actually the cell of demons.
So the life force is being wiped out by demon cells... which means...!



Janus Cascade...

He's dead. You're not keeping up to speed, are you Pearl?

...and the three prophets. Yes, we are witnessing the destruction of a life force by the hands of demons.
This planet will transform... Perhaps this means that the planet is being demonized--a birth of a colossal demon on a planetary level...

Demon planet? AWESOME.

A demonized planet... Filgaia... We can't let that happen... We have to stop this Blue Menace that the guardians warned us about, or else we'll lose everything! Even Shane dreamt about this, too!
My professor lies buried just up ahead. Would you mind coming along? I would like to go pay my respects.

Everyone agrees and we move on. An easy to miss side door leads to a Name Tag, an Imitator guarding an Amulet, (Status Guard PS, yay...) and a Mini Carrot.



There's a Gimel Coin in the next room, and this little setup. For some reason just jumping on that button with the Sneakers isn't enough, you need to grab hold of the net, hang from it and drop down onto the button.



This is fun. As you step onto the middle part of the walkway, the two ends pull into the wall and the middle section starts to slowly retract.



If you quickly look around you can find a switch that will restore the platforms.



The <<Nanomachine Technology>> is also wisdom from Hyades.
<<Nanomachine Technology>>
By possessing the micro machine colony, the bodily structure of the organism can be rewritten on a cellular level. Considering the infinite cell count of humans, this would be an ideal system. But this is precisely why there is some <<doubt>>...
<<Doubt>>
There is no trace of the demons using nanomachines on any organisms of this planet. Then why did the demons fabricate nanomachines into something so highly advanced and sophisticated? I think I've gone off on a tangent. Hyades is a fountain of lost technology. The Council of Seven did their best to try and solve its mystery. This plant here is one of the lab facilities that the previous council left behind generations ago.



This was considered to be one of the lab facilities, even with its size?
The re-creation of the planetary environment requires massive amounts of energy. The standards of this facility most likely could not supply the required amount. The fact is, the Yggdrasil System and most of its functions are devoted to producing and amplifying energy.
What if, for example, we operate this generator beyond its maximum capacity?
It would cause the system to go haywire - just like Yggdrasil.
So the Yggdrasil accident was caused by the generator malfunctioning?
Hmm... Accident - not really... The Yggdrasil System's malfunction was the direct result of Duran, the control administrator, who pushed the system well beyond its limits...
... He just inputted the wrong digits... NO! That's not what happened!
It was inside Yggdrasil's archived data... The Yggdrasil System was secretly pre-programmed to go haywire! None of the council members knew about it... The program was <<hidden>>!
<<Hidden>>
It wasn't a mistake... Duran was laughing at the time... But why...!? For what reason!?

So the Yggdrasil incident wasn't an accident... it was sabotage?

So you were searching for the truth, Daddy...
I could easily carry on as if it were an accident... But I am one of the very people responsible for the Yggdrasil tragedy. I must atone for my sins...

Dude, lighten up. You just blamed it all on that Duran guy and everyone believed it... relax.



Suddenly, Pearl is startled by an unexpected sound - a girlish giggle. And it's not Billy.



Something approaches from the upper level. Somehow, I do not think this is the mystery giggler.

BOSS BATTLE: HUMBABA



MUSIC: Blood, Tears, and the Dried-Up Wasteland

... yikes. This is one ugly...

VIDEO: Humbaba Battle



Most of the time it'll attack with this physical attack. It's not much of a problem.



But occasionally he'll do this at the start of a round, and then...



... he'll do this, instantly killing the entire party.



I imagine this is many players' first introduction to the fact that they really should be keeping Fallen Ward on their characters all the time. Unfortunately by this point they've only been forced to get one Fallen Ward (on Cosmic Cog) and he'll use this semi-frequently, so one poor character may end up soloing this boss.
On the other hand, I have Fallen Ward for all my characters, so once properly equipped again I can easily stomp him. He's weak to all elements and doesn't put out a lot of damage beyond his neutralized instant death attack.

EDIT: Hey, turns out there's an aspect to the gimmick I completely missed!

GreatRedSpirit posted:

The boss gimmick is to use status guard on the turn he does his Mega Death. He even gives you a warning to tell everybody to defend!

So that's why the game has been giving me so many Amulets...

The reward for killing him includes a Holy Grail - the Fallen Ward PS. Great, thanks for that...



Must've been a monster who made the abandoned laboratory its home.
(I think I just heard someone laughing...)

Before proceeding, check out the door behind you which leads to the upper level of the room with the retracting walkway. There's a Grab Bag to be found there.

In the next room, Doc pulls open a heavy door.



MUSIC: You Look Defeated when Sad

This is the last place I visited with my professor when I was a fledgling archaeologist. And also the place where my professor gave me an important assignment I must complete.



(It was just as you advocated, professor... The cause of Filgaia's decay lies not in the ancient path, but in recent years. But it may still be quite difficult to create a future for this planet, so please give me a little more time.)

He turns back to face the rest.

Thank you. Let us return. Who knows when this place may collapse.

Doc turns to leave, but pauses for a moment.



(Thank you, Berlitz...)



Elsewhere, some escapees from the circus are plotting something.


There is not enough power in the generator for the nanomachines to erode Filgaia and to bring about terraforming.

If only we had a generator like Yggdrasil, we wouldn't be held up by such trifling matters. Who could have removed the core generator from the Yggdrasil System?

Yggdrasil's generator output possesses great power, enough to regulate the entire planet. In order to control the tremendous output, one needs to be endowed with the wisdom of Hyades, like us. Could it be Werner's doing? Or was there another survivor besides Werner and us from that tragic accident?




Dealing with uncertain factors go hand in hand with executing a plan. If the current situation is displeasing, you must overcome the problem. I have given you the power to do just that.
I understand, Sire...

The scene fades out, but as it does so the same girlish giggle is heard again.



MUSIC: Leave Then Return Again

I, too, am in search of finding the cause of Filgaia's decay... Not the actual source of the decay, but clues leading up to the accident... Or rather, the incident... I linger here full of regret, investigating every phenomenon, leaving no stone unturned...
Yes, now I know, Daddy... You left Mom and I... so that you can fight for the sake of Filgaia...



I did it because I...
Because you didn't want us to worry? Don't be so selfish! Sometimes, Mom's favorite flowers were placed in front of her grave. That was you, wasn't it, Daddy...!? Those flowers gave me hope that maybe some day, you might return! I would have been much better off if I had given up on you!

... well, at least they're talking.

Werner turns away and adjusts the brim of his hat.

I'm sorry, Pearl.
Are you leaving by yourself again...?



We're all striving for the same goal! We all want a brighter future for this planet, right...? So...
I just want to atone for my sins...That's all...



Daddy...!
If the hypothesis about Leehalt using nanomachines to demonize Filgaia is true... He would most likely go after the great generator and try to gather massive amounts of energy. [Fila del Fia]... There, you may find what they're after...
Fila...del...Fia...?
I do not deserve to see the future with all of you... It is you who must blaze a trail to Filgaia's future...

With that, he leaves. Again.



MUSIC: Parting--Bonds--Setting Out

(Daddy...Why won't you let me be with you...?)
I wonder what Fila del Fia actually means?
That name does ring a bell. I remember it from documentary records. The Aerial City of Fila del Fia was a floating city of the neosapiens.

In fact, there's a book about it in Ballack Rise. I'll attach it to the end of this update.

A floating city!? Where?
You can't see it. Actually, I didn't mean to get your hopes up, but according to the records, Fila del Fia fell from the sky long ago. It is difficult to fathom how a city so big could float in the sky... And for what purpose?
Oh, well...At least we know where to head next! Okay, everyone! Let's gear up for Fila del Fia!
Please don't feel obligated. I'm sure you would rather go find your father.
Don't worry about me... I want to do this...
Very well...



Can I ask you something? Why is it so difficult to express your feelings in words? Your heart may mean one thing, but it comes out the opposite when you say it...

Could be because you left home to look for your father, but didn't think about how you would feel about him if you found him.
Sure, you love him, but you're also carrying around a lot of emotional baggage about your abandonment, and I don't think you actually expected to need to deal with it.

Words do not express feeling. Feeling is expressed from the heart. And I strongly believe that feelings can be shared without words.

Apparently satisfied, Pearl starts to run from their campsite.

Come on, everybody! Let's run! I don't know where Fila del Fia fell, but... it had to have left a mark somewhere... I mean, it being a big city and all! Let's go find it. Come on, let's run...! Let's track them down, and also...

It fades to black without her actually finishing her sentence.


With the dungeon finished, I get another five Ariochs

Ariochs defeated: 15/100

and upgrade the arms - both Doc and Billy are at 14/15 ARM upgrades, so their weapons will be finished soon. I think I may take the point of HIT that I put on Billy's ARM away - he's now getting AIM bonuses from Lucky Hand and Brave Seal, and critting frequently, and all bullets automatically hit when he crits. That point could be put to use as another point of SHT or CRT.


Next Time: Chameleon Man hates Drifter Man




A Day A Day

Today is March 13, Socks Day. In a recent poll, young women were asked what they would do if their boyfriend sniffed his own socks? 75% answered they would break up. It pains me to think that I belong to a category that young women would want to break up with ...

Today is March 14, Ogre Day. Long ago, there was a red ogre and a blue ogre who were very close friends. Even after the red ogre died, the blue ogre waited for the red ogre to arrive at the train station every day. This day was named to praise that ogre's loyalty and friendship.