Part 37: Pale Wing

Update 37: Pale Wing



All right, guys, I think it's high time we finally made ourselves a Ruby Prism.





Music: Spirit's Hometown


But, there is still much to be done. I can sense Amalgam's spirit. His revival is close at hand.

If you're able to create the Ruby Prism, please free Amalgam's soul.

Wait, Amalgam is your enemy!...isn't he?

Amalgam was once a Mana, like us...until humans twisted him into a monster.

We wish for Amalgam to assume his original form.

The Mana absorbed by Amalgam wish to return to their original forms, as well.

You don't want to defeat him...you want to save him!

Young humans, I shall reveal the path to Silencia, sealed land of our origin.





That conversation ended kind of abruptly. I'm kind of intruiged by this notion that Amalgam is sort of a tragic mishmash of other creatures rather than a generically age-old evil creature. I mean, I've seen other games that explored this concept more/better, but I still feel like giving the game some credit for it.

Anyway, Silencia is not too far away from the Mana Village. I wonder what kind of dungeon we're in for?





Music: Undeveloped Region


One neat thing about Silencia is that there are these Mana Element Pieces all over the place that Klein can extract for a ton of elements of various kinds, including some relatively rare ones like Evil (but not Time, at least not that I could find). Those unicorn statues can also be extracted for 1 Stone and one Holy, and there are demon statues that give 1 Stone and 1 Evil. Too bad the element pieces don't respawn, but I guess that would be a bit much.





Sadly, this dungeon is a teleporter maze. It's still not really all that bad, and is more linear than it first appears, but I still feel obligated to gripe about it just a little.





This is also possibly the first time the arrow floors are actually relevant. I can get Klein to jump over and extract those element orbs, but I can't transform into a bunny mid-air, and Bunny Klein can't jump, so I'm basically stuck on the wrong end of a one-way path. Oh well.





The monsters in here can get rather nasty, and fights tend to drag since they're getting much more durable. Fortunately, Klein's enhanced durability seems to be working it's magic, as he managed to keep himself alive throughout the whole thing, and subsequently could keep everyone else going.





See? He got hit three times in a row and he's totally handling it. I'm so happy.





Hey, that's kind of a cute little critter.


Wha...What's going on?







We fight three Legions. No problem at this stage.





The creature floats over to Klein and starts rubbing up against him or something.


How strange, meow.

Hey, stop that!

Enjoying yourself, Klein?

No...That's not...!





Ha ha ha! That just looks wrong.


Hey, you know what we haven't done in a while?

































Music: Popo's Pleasant Money Lecture


Since Klein doesn't have anything better to do with his time, he's going to teach you about Flight.

Was that really necessary?

It's practically fan service at this point. Anyway, we need to start the class.

By using this item, you can fly anywhere!...Even places you couldn't reach before!





If you want to come back down, just press the square button once more.

If you press the square button AGAIN while descending, you'll hover in place. You can use this to walk up raised ramps, for instance.

I have something to say...If you master flight, I'm sure a lot of good things await you.

… …

Is that the best you can do, Klein!?

...shut up. Leave me alone...

Come on. Here, watch me...See?

… …

That's our lesson for today. See you later.


I have no idea what they were talking about at the end there. Maybe Popo's trying to teach Klein how to fake a smile or something.











































Music: Undeveloped Region


Flying is...a little weird, and I never did get a great handle on it in my previous playthroughs. You can't really move upwards at will, you basically have to find a high point and then float along at the same altitude until you're above where you want to land. You can still use this to cross gaps, and sometimes if you're almost but not quite high enough to get somewhere the creature will move upwards a little to accommodate that. It's quite useful, and I definitely want to go back to old areas to see what all I can find with the power of flight, but for now we have a Ruby Prism to make.





For example, I was able to climb some nearby stairs, which allowed me to start at a high enough altitude to float back over here and get a Glowing Mana. Not bad at all!







By the way, Norn's Illusion Skill has leveled up a few times, and it's gotten pretty useful. It's not at full power yet, but it still does a good 150+ damage depending on the enemy, and it has a large area of effect, so she's suddenly pretty good at helping out with randoms. It also seems to have a particularly high chance of scoring critical hits – or perhaps that's Magic Comp working? I'm not sure.





I always sucked at this sort of puzzle. Sadly, Flight doesn't allow me to bypass the arrow panel's effects, but Klein can jump around enough that it's not too hard to get to the other side (if he gets caught in a teleporter then it sends him back to the start of this room).





Oh, by the way, there are dragon enemies here. I believe at least one of them has a small chance of dropping the ever elusive Dragon Horn item, so this is one of the only places you can really find any (and even then they're crazy rare). I didn't bother trying to grind for them, but I'm saying you conceivably could if you really really really wanted some before postgame.





Eventually we reach this room, with many paths that lead to many good things, such as...





...our first Jade Mana, one of the highest quality Mana Stones...





...this neat bow for Delsus that curiously doesn't boost his attack power any but gives great boosts to other things...





...and the Uroborus (is that how it's supposed to be spelled? That looks wrong to me, but it's how the game wants to spell it) Mana Item, which recovers all negative status effects. It has a kinda sorta hefty cost of 16 Wood Elements as well as 2 Light and 1 Holy, but honestly Wood Element cost is pretty much a non issue given how common those are.







Music: Voiceless Poem


It's huge!

What's it say, meow?

“Here stand with the cane. Mana will gather to sing as a new hope takes wing...your wish of budding green will soon take shape, pristine.”







“...as a new hope takes wing...”


Klein sticks the salamander egg in the bird's mouth (?), and a pedestal lowers at the back of the room...





Music: What Was Left Behind























...Huh? I did it?...This is it! I really did it!

Hey, way to go. I believed in you the whole time.

Klein! Meow meow! I knew you could do it!

Klein...

Take it, Lita...









You are the last. The others...are gone. You should never have to suffer through such pain again. This...is my final wish...Sleep now, and forget the terrible events of your past. This is the first and last gift I shall ever give you...Upon your awakening, you will live the life of a human being.




So...That's what you wanted...Thank you, mother. Thank you so much!








...But now I'm full of energy. I can't believe it!

I'm happy for you.





Heh, it's kind of hard to tell they're hugging when Klein's sprite is almost completely covering Lita's. Oh well, it still works.


You did well, Klein. Thank you...but it's not over yet. We still have to stop Mull. My life won't mean much if the world is destroyed.

I won't let that happen. We'll defeat Mull...together.


Well, guys, I'm afraid I have some bad news. Remember how Lita's Murder Mode is a nifty case of plot and gameplay integration? Well, Lita's all better now, and so that means -





huh?








YES! We now have control over Murder Mode! Oh man if this means Lita can have crazy good stats without nuking her max MP forever that would be so great. Sadly her current MP stays at wherever it was (but her Max did go back up all by itself to like 160) and I didn't end up testing it out here, but I'll be sure to try it out soon.







I did a bit more exploratoin on my way out and found this cool sword for Marietta. I'm still not sure it's quite as good as her super powered Whip Sword (although if I can transfer the mana crystal over to this then that would be pretty fantastic) but I'm definitely liking the huge magic and resistance boosts this offers.

I went back to the Mana Village just to check and see if they had any new scenes or anything for me, and it turns out they didn't have main plot stuff but I stumbled across a sidequest instead.





I'm not sure...I don't remember seeing anything like that.

It's the Imperial Throne of Mana. It's one of the things Iris made.

Iris made it? What's it for?

There's something in the seat...Some kind of tool to unlock a Mana's power.

That sounds like Aroma Material.

I think it's a test she designed for you, much like the tests given to us.

Tests? You guys just relax all day.

*sigh* Anyway, Iris hid the key to the throne somewhere in this world...In a world of water. Water is the origin of all life. The key lies where water itself springs to life.

Like a lake or something?

You may search for it, if you so desire.


Yeah, that sounds like a worthwhile investment of our time. There are a few places with water, though. The way she talks about it makes me want to think it's probably at the Spring of Nelvia, but my memory is telling me it's actually at Lake Forwel. We'll get to that next update while I'm flying around all over the place.

On our way back...





Music: Looming Danger


The screen starts shaking like crazy...


What the – an earthquake!?

Hang on, it's a big one!







Oh no! Kavoc's on fire!

What's happening?

Let's go!












What was that?

It has nothing to do with us...Worry about the task at hand.

Relax, Arlin. You're killing yourself.

...I'm no longer an alchemist. Why are you still here?

… …

Let's keep trying. There's not much time left. I'm getting better...I think I can beat him.

…If you can stay alive that long.

Of course I will! I can't die until I've destroyed him.










Rest in peace, Kavoc's town square. We had some good times, and seeing you destroyed by monsters fills me with sorrow which will be redirected to rage at the creatures who hurt you. You will always be my favorite town center and I will never love another one the same way that I loved you.

(I'd express concern for Norman and Veola's safety but they can take care of themselves and frankly Veola probably hasn't even noticed what's going on)