Part 20: Please Don't Stand On Our Huge Game Table

Update 20: Please Don't Stand On Our Huge Game Table







I got another character gallery unlock from Lector (Palm Fish + Palm Snowbug, which is called “Lita's Gift” but doesn't unlcok things for Lita. Curious). Arlin has exactly four portraits, two of which are nearly indistinguishable (“serious” and “irritated”). That seems kind of low for a player character, but I guess it works for the stoic one.





Music: Cute Witch


We'll be off to Ka Luda's soon enough, but let's run a few errands first.


What's a Mana Furnace?

I'm pretty sure there's one near Iris' Resting Place.

You can use a Mana Furnace to synthesize mana stones. You should check it out, sometime.





I zipped on over to Arcose to head to Iris' Resting Place via Poto's Forest (in retrospect it would have been faster to go via Lector's Caravan but I have a stop in the forest to make anyway)...





Zeldalia, I'm home, meow.

Ah, just in time...ow!

What's wrong, meow? Are you in pain?

I need a massage...or I'll never feel better.

Who's going to give you a massage?





Uh...I forgot that we actually get a choice here. Let's start with Klein.


Looks like you're the lucky one, Klein.

Me?

No complaining, just get over here. You need to take care of your elders.












You call that a massage? Push harder, Klein.

I've never done this before! I don't know the first thing about massages!


*crack*


What was that sound!?

Don't worry, it's fine. That was just my lower back cracking.

...Sometimes I forget that you're actually an old woman.

What was that? You're lucky I'm too relaxed to comment.









Your back's okay, but my arms are sore. That was hard work...

Why are you complaining? You're young, you'll be fine by tomorrow!


Hmm, that was an odd little scene. As I suggested earlier, it's important to check up on Zeldalia every now and then to give her massages. I'll try to do this with every character if I get enough opportunities.







Music: Lost Technology


We heard you had a Mana Furnace.

Oh yeah, just fixed it up...But we can't start it yet.

Huh? But you just said it was fixed.

Oh yeah, it's good to go. We just don't have any fuel, y'see.

What kind of fuel does it use?

Bombs. I'd say we need about 5 bombs to start 'er up.

Bombs are fuel...how, exactly?

The Furnace needs a burst of energy to ignite. Since this is the first time it's starting...we need as big a blast as possible.

I have some bombs...

You do? Well what are you waiting for? Toss 'em in the Furnace!





Leave the rest up to me! You...might want to step back a little. Okay, in 3...2...1...FIIIIIRE!





Meow...too loud...

So, is it working?

All set and 100% perfect! Thanks a bunch, guys. I'll be refining Mana Stones. Stop by again sometime, I'll save some good ones for you.


And that's a sidequest. Sadly, he doesn't have any as an immediate reward, but I'll try and check in every now and again.

There's also a strange scene we can witness if we return to the Cleft of Nelvia that I stumbled on by accident...







Music: Crack in the Earth


Pamela!? What are you doing here?

Klein? What are you doing here?

We asked first. Don't you usually stay around Kavoc?

Did you forget already? I'm looking for my body. How am I supposed to find it if I never leave town?

That makes sense...Did you really have to come to such a dangerous place?

It isn't dangerous for me – I'm already a ghost. That's the great thing about being dead – I can go anywhere I want! Hee!

Meow...being a ghost sounds fun!

Tee hee...it really is! Care to join me, Norn?

No thanks, meow...

That's too bad. I'm sure you'd be fun to have around. Okay, I better get going. I'll see you later!


I love how nonchalant Pamela is about her status as a dead person. I wonder what sort of hijinks I would get up to if I were a ghost? I suspect it would involve trying to find a way to eat again.







Music: Huge Game Table


Hey, it looks like the chess pieces have rearranged themselves in this little closed off section. Hmm...


We should examine the statue.

“Ka Luda, clutching the Flame Sphere”...Is this a clue?

Something probably happens when we move the statue.

Then what are we waiting for?





Ugh...Nevermind, it doesn't...move...

Flame sphere...Maybe it means Uru.

Did somebody say it was my turn!?

I get it...We just have to move them to the right place.

Which place is the right place?

The colors on the floor probably have something to do with it.

See? This is the same color as the imperial throne.

Don't worry your sweet little head, Lita. I've got it covered.





This puzzle is...actually pretty fun as RPG puzzles go, at least in my opinion. Basically, when you hit a white chess piece with Uru's Destruction Blast, it moves two squares in the direction you hit it (they can move along either axis or diagonally). So, in the above picture, hitting the piece from where I am will move it to the glowing panel. We want to get all four white pieces on the glowing panels.





Getting a white piece on a glowing panel raises one of the four super huge statues up thataway...





If a piece hits an obstacle (be it another piece or a raised black platform) it will stop early. Naturally, you can use this to your advantage to manipulate where your pieces end up.





The only real problem spot is over here, where all these purple pieces are clustered. We can also move these (they move three spaces instead of two like their white brethren), so it's just a matter of getting them out of the way to get a white piece through to the glowing spot.





And of course, they can also be used as walls to manipulate where your other pieces go.

Not too bad, all told. The actual enemy encounters are still the difficult part of this place, and since I'm just running around in one small area I don't have to get into too many of those.





Is this your father's treasure?

Only one way to find out...





And now we have the Flame Sphere. It...doesn't seem like it does anything. Just another key it-hey, wait a minute.





This was my prize for beating the Puni God. I bet they're connected somehow! I wonder if these extraneous, arbitrary rewards for tangent quests will end up being relevant later (hint: yes).





That's all we have to do here, but you know...I bet those purple pieces are important for more than acting as glorified walls. There's a non-glowing but still suspicious panel in the center of the area, and there are five purple pieces, enough for that plus the other four. Sure enough, getting a purple piece on a glowing tile adjusts the huge statues' height...





Switching everything out isn't too hard, either. Getting the purple pieces all unclustered from each other is probably the most obnoxious part.





When the four glowing tiles are covered with purple pieces...





...We get a battle. I really hate these Sentry enemies, they just have too much damage output.





By the way, you need to be careful with how you aim. Make sure that Klein is facing the right direction, or else you might accidentally shoot a piece the wrong way, or shoot the wrong piece entirely. Again, it's not hard, but I screwed up at exactly the wrong time and knocked a purple piece off of it's glowing spot.





So I had to redo the forced battle when I got the piece positioned right again.

After that, we get the fifth purple piece on the center tile, and...







I got it, meow!

What did you get?

I learned a new magic spell, meow! I can make phantoms.

Phantoms? How'd you learn that?

I read about it, meow.

What, like in a book? I don't see any books around here.

I...I just read it...It was right here, meow!

Are you sure you didn't just dream it?

No, meow! I think it...disappeared!

Let me get this straight...A phantom book taught you to make phantoms?

I'm telling the truth, meow!





Illusion? That sounds like it could do all sorts of things. Let's try it out!





C'mon, c'mon, c'moooon...





Wait, it missed? That's lame. Let me try again.





...What a shitty spell. I can't believe I solved a puzzle for this.

(it's actually a pretty fantastic damage dealer once we pour some points into the skill, but it's not worth bothering with right now).





Speaking of skills, I forgot to mention that Arlin learned a buff. It's kind of like a more controllable but less effective version of Lita's Murder Mode. I'll probably get some mileage out of this against one of the next bosses.





Music: Eternal Ground


So, is this the right thing?

Ah, you have the Sphere. That means you've passed the test.

I couldn't have done it without my friends, here.

You were supposed to take the test alone...but I suppose it's good to have comrades. Congratulations, Delsus. You've passed the Test of Parodius.


I just want to chime in that this test would have been literally impossible for Delsus to do without Klein (or another alchemist who bonded with Uru). It's completely unreasonable to expect Delsus to do that all by himself.


Congrats, meow!

Excellent. You will be our next village chief. Tonight we celebrate!

WHAT!? You tricked me, old man!





That night...





Music: Small Workshop


I have an entirely different life now!



Meow...I can't eat another bite. *urp*




I'm glad Delsus made up with his father.

I don't know much about families, but...I'm happy for Delsus, too. Growing up, it was just me and Grandma.

Yeah, same here...





Uh...no reason.

You expect me to buy that?

I don't need a reason...I just wanted to help.

Uh huh...

Well, what about you? Why're you helping me?

I can't resist helping weak people in need.

Yeah, same here.

Wait...Are you talking about me?

…Jerk.





I kind of want to like Lita, but then scenes like this happen. At least she's good about taking out her anger and self-worth issues on monsters and bad guys.





You can reach the Land of Mana through a forest...But no one has ever returned from that mysterious wood. Do you still want to go?

Yeah, we don't have a choice.

Well, I'm sure your friends have what it takes. They did help you with that test. There is one other legend...It is said that four Mana unify the Land of Mana with their power...These four are Uru, Mana of fire: Deimia, Mana of Stone: Nymph, Mana of Water: and Silwest, Mana of Air. Only a fool would enter the Land of Mana without first possessing these powers.


I guess this is just the game's way of making sure that we got both Nymph and Silwest, since we could conceivably have missed one or both at this point. I can't remember if the game makes an obvious check that we have them or not...I guess we'll find out!







Join me next time as we journey to the Land of Mana and/or I get distracted on the way there.