Part 19: A Collection of Ice and Fire

Last time, we got the Legend Sword only to not use it, saw Meia's entire backstory and missed a Gilded Falcon that I had but forgot to upload the video for. It's pretty much the only thing you can do with the Power Glove when you get it (there's a little more in general but not much) so just pretend this came after the Legend Sword but before Meia;



That makes 33 Falcons. Only 17 left... and most of them are available within about 10 minutes or so of finishing Meia's dream. Really.



: Didn't think so. He lives alone in a hut on the coast to the southwest of here. Not exactly a people person. Lutas says he wants to see you...

Looks like we finally have a reason to go see Nava. There's nothing else to do, but first lets bug some people around the town.



I've been given no reason to doubt the information of the twins thus far, and I'm not going to start now. Despite having the Mermaid Boots, though, this is actually useless information for the time being. Accessing the pond is possible but not the part this is hinting at.



: You have to acknowledge this fact, and...you have to leave. It is as simple as that.

You can tell he means well by it, since his dickishness has toned down a little since saving his arse but that's still not enough to make him be a worthwhile character.



: And, why take such drastic measures to silence her? It makes no sense...

Septimus is pretty observant, and not stupid which is a nice change. Shame he probably says more than every other character combined, on average, in any scene he's in but gotta take the good with the bad.



Fein: I'm not even sure what Nirude's pwers are supposed to be...he's THAT obscure.

She might not know, but I get the feeling that Nava will. Why else would he want to talk after the path to Nirude gets opened again?



Oh, he's not in. Guess this ended up being a waste of time after a-



: You should not worry. The man seems to have chosen you... I am not going to give up my efforts, however!

She just wanders off at this point, to go do NPC things. You'd presume that it's to lurk outside Sanctuary for whatever reason, but it's to lurk outside the next dungeon instead since she can't get in because Nava didn't give her the thing needed to advance beyond the first few seconds... or she can't swim, or both. Not entirely sure which.



Your answer doesn't matter all that much unfortunately, but you can say whichever you like. It changes all of nothing.



: Now that it has been removed, you can find your way to Nirude, the Giant Guardian. Nirude is the sole surviving member of the Giant Tribe, or rather the Gazeck, as they were known. Nirude's powers were claimed by Melzas, and used in the service of evil, rather than good. I believe that for that reason, Nirude will be eager to aid you in your quest. His lair is to the northeast. Go there, young adventurer!



Yeah, he just randomly gives you this bean/seed thing. Nirude's Lair is, as you may recall, a giant ass statue just north of the Despair Desert. The whole reason you need the Spring Bean to get in, is because you can't get in without going through the waterway. You can't get past the entrance of the waterway without the Spring Bean.

With it, we can test it out in his house by throwing it on that yellow dish thing.



That allows access to...



There's a bunch of other things we can do with this first, including gather a few more Gilded Falcons but there's something far more important available right now. We've seen the Fire Manor a few times before now, and mostly been able to access it since the acquisition of the Power Glove, but there's one part right before the manor itself that requires the Spring Bean. Even if you don't go there now, you have to later anyway. I just prefer doing it now, because it lets you get damn near everything that isn't plot mandated.



With that done, there's quite a lot that can be acquired at this point. So much in fact, that by the time it's all acquired you'll have one hell of a haul...

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With some things acquirable at this point, you're pretty much never going to die again. 9 MP (with Magic Elixirs and Wonder Essence factored), and a spell that fully restores your HP every time it's used a mere 1 MP? Kicker is, we won't even need either considering that with all the Falcons acquired, we've got over 40 now which is enough to get Merrick's penultimate Life Vessel and his last accessory.



Just in case you've forgotten, there's only 8 left in the entire game. We're a little past the halfway point. Every Falcon from here on in, is in a dungeon; the entire world map has been completely cleaned out insofar as they're concerned. There's actually more dungeons left than there are Falcons...



This is actually one HP short from the maximum possible at this point but it'll suffice for now.

For 40 Falcons you get this little beauty...



The Recovery Ring restores 1 HP for every 3 seconds you're idle. So long as you have a bit of time to kill, you're officially invincible with this thing... even if you're out of MP. The kicker is? This wasn't even what you were going to get for 40 Falcons at first. No, there's an item still left in the game called the Refresher Ring that restores 1 HP every second you're idle. That was going to be the 40 Falcon item instead. There's no legitimate way to get the Refresher Ring any more, but you can cheat it in, in place of the Recovery Ring apparently.

Likewise, there's apparently another item still left over called the Oak's Ring which was a planned upgrade of Olga's Ring. Not sure what the exact attack increase for it is but it's still just sitting in the game's coding. Presumably, both of these were scrapped for being "overpowered." Somewhat ironic considering how early you can get the Legend Sword which is the most powerful weapon in the entire game, bar none, and combine that with Olga's Ring...

There's still two more things that can be done with the Fire Wand though, one of which is needed later and the other you're not told about until before the very last dungeon. We'll be getting the latter first since it's closest; next to Sanctuary, is Cephas' home. In the basement there, is this little arrangement of candelabra;



By lighting these in a very specific order, you acquire an item. There's no way to know what that order is at this point other than trial and error, prior knowledge or using a guide. If you wait until the very end of the game, and talk to Cephas then he will tell you the order. By then, though, there's no need to use it.

The order you're supposed to light them is top-left, bottom-right, bottom-left, bottom-middle, top-middle, top-right. Upon doing so, a chest drops from the sky/ceiling/ether. It contains the last accessory of the entire game.



This is an interesting little item; it claims to raise defence, but it doesn't. It also claims to make you immune to some elements; it only makes you immune to fire (which by pure coincidence is the only element enemies use anyway). This makes a couple of dungeons a lot easier.

With this, if you get at least one of every other item there'll be one gap left in the item section of the equipment menu. That's something you get later in the game, and can't be missed.

The last thing we can acquire with the Fire Wand in hand, is all the way at Torla Mountain. It contains more ice pillar fun too! Even if you don't get it now, you'll have to later, just like the Fire Wand, but it's useful to get now. It doesn't open up anywhere near as much as the Fire Wand, but it still lets you get one thing.

In case you couldn't tell from ice pillars and Torla Mountain, we're off to the Ice Manor. From that, I'm sure you can deduce what we're going this for.



With this now in hand, there's only one thing that can be done with it at the moment, but it's the only thing that need be done with it right now anyway.



Remember this cave? It used to contain the Sluice Key? The only use for the Ice Wand is at the back of here.



It freezes the fire pillars; by either freezing them all and then moving them out of the way, or freezing at least two of them and breaking them with the Flail you can get the last item for now.



Just a Life Vessel but this leaves just 12 remaining. With the exception of the one left in Merrick's possesion, much like the Falcons, they're only in dungeons from this point onwards.



I can't help but notice that she somehow becomes a lot nicer after her dream sequence. For no reason at all. Seems kinda contrived in a way, since she has no reason to be immediately nice but whatever. It's effectively the reciprocal to what happened with Giles.


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Next time: Nirude.