Part 1: A hero is born!

Update 0: A hero is born!

With that all said and done, let's start a new game already.


And we are greeted by this guy. This Cherub kinda annoys me, as you'll soon see why.

: You are about to be reborn. All you can decide on is your name. What star you will be born under can only be determined by God. Please hurry up and decide. I want to finish my job and take a nap. Have you decided on a name?
I thought angels were supposed to be nice? This guy is just an lazy ass.


The game's default name for our protagonist is Koh, but we can select anything we want, up to six characters. So after this update I'll accept voting for Koh's new name.

: All right, Koh! Your new life is about to begin! Your own life. Your own story. Make sure you're positive, make every effort, and live life happily and joyfully to the fullest.


Wait, what? What will happen if I don't live life to the fullest. TELL ME!


Ffffffffffffffffffff--

--uuuuuuuuuck!


Oh, that wasn't so bad.



Introducing these two, our Dad and Mom respectively. Honestly, I'm kinda surprised Wreath survived childbirth, since giving birth in videogame worlds tend to be unusually dangerous.
: Let's see... How does Koh sound?
: That's good! His name is Koh. It's as if God had already picked that name for him a long time ago!
Closer to five seconds ago, and it really wasn't God's doing, just some lazy-ass angel asking the spirit of an unborn child backed up by the influence of the internet.


And we skip forward a few years to this? This girl is Nico, Koh's childhood friend. You know, the kind that appears everywhere in JRPGs. They are a love interest, but until recently nothing has actually happened between them. However, because of the dating sim element to the game, she's available later on.

: Yeah, what's the matter Nico?
: Sob! Koh is teasing me.
Guy walks over to young Koh to give him a beating of his lifetime!


or...gives some actually decent advice.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was a dark and stormy night. In video games this can mean only one thing.
SOMEONE!
WILL!
DIE!


A strange light appears at the top of the Tower in Monsbaiya.


: What? Oh... yes.
: Guy's the only one that could possibly make it to the top.
: Guy... Huh!?
: What's the matter?


Yeah, I'm not going to bother being subtle about who is going to die. It's already been spoiled in the freaking title of the LP, the first introduction video gives it away too and just by this conversation you can tell what is going to happen.


Suddenly, giant purple lasers come out of the tower for no real reason and strike the desert all around the city. The people outside look up some more, fearing for their lives, although no lasers have hit inside the city walls so far.


A magic circle forms over the tower. It spins and slowly shrinks in size. Lightning cracks from the circle and slowly creeps down the tower.


All that remains is this glowing green orb, which too fades from view after a short period of time, returning the quiet darkness of night and giving this desert city the blessing of rain.


: Wreath is one tough woman. She must be worried sick about these strange occurrences the day before yesterday, at that ancient tower Guy went to.
Seriously? This town's economy and life comes entirely from the Monster Tower. You named the city after the monsters in the Tower because that's what brought all these treasure hunters and merchants here in the first place.
And you call it "that ancient tower?" You don't even have a fancy name for it and don't even bother giving it a freaking capital letter because the Tower is clearly important enough to be given a proper noun status?
: Don't be silly, Grandpa. Wreath is a woman, after all! Can't you see that she is worried out of her mind about her husband, that it's just enough to keep those tears back!?
Also, I love how blatant it is that they just ignore she's there in the first place.


Suddenly there is a knock at the door...and this thing walks in.
: -- you're...
:It's Guy's Familiar! He's got Guy's [Monster Tamer's Collar] on him! Why is a familiar with Guy's collar here with no sign of Guy!
: Aaaa, ... Guy!
You know, I had to play through this scene several times just to get these screenshots and I have to say, this scene is really depressing and honestly kinda creepy when that monster appears.
Although I always find myself asking this one question. Guy is obviously well known for being the strongest Monster Tamer, and yet he lives in this crappy tiny house compared to the rest of the town. Also, all of Guy's monsters just inexplicably disappear after this scene, including the one that had the collar. We're just left to assume that Wreath was forced to sell/eat them in order to raise Koh, or at least that's the best excuse I can think of so far.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



: Today is your fifteenth birthday. It's the day you've become an adult!
And introducing Nico once more, all grown up and greeting us each morning with a lovely boot to the head.


Oh, and Weedy. This marks the first appearance of Weedy this entire game, despite her being Koh's younger sister. The game passes it off as not being born yet when Guy disappeared. For the most part, she just runs around and says "Yup!" all the time.

: Good morning, Nico. || Can't you be bit more gentle?
Few things: One, we are given a selection a few times in the game. The bolded text (or a blue bar when there's a screenshot) will note which one I select.
Second: If you haven't noticed it yet, this game has some translation issues. If any of you guys translate a video game in the future, at least try to check for grammar errors.
: I can't help my tomboy attitude, so there! The priest is already here! Get up and greet him, hurry!
Nico and Weedy run off. We are given control of Koh for the first time, but I'll explore the house later. For now, we just follow the two ladies.

: Thanks again for waking him up every morning...
: Don't mention it. He will never get up until I get a good kick into him.


: Cause you never come to the temple at all, do you? I hear from Wreath that you want to go to the monster tower. Ho, ho, ho, ho. You're fifteen today. You're old enough now to go to the tower. Here, just a moment. I've got a prayer for you.
This is the local priest, Jorda. He has really creepy eyebrows. Like seriously, that one guy in FLCL has nothing on this guy's eyebrows.

: Mumble, mumble... Mumble, mumble... There.


: Hey, that hurts! || I've gotta be patient.
: There you go, We're done. What's that you say...you look as if you want to go to the tower right this moment. But... the tower is dangerous. Do you want me to give you information on the specifics of the tower?
: Yes || I don't need you to tell me.
If you say yes, he goes into a brief tutorial that's rather useful if you havn't played the game before, but I'll be explaining it anyway as part of this LP.
: Well, okay. There is no training that could top actual experience. But are you alright with your lack of knowledge?
: Yes || I'm going no matter what.
: Hmm... Even your stubbornness is just like Guy.
: This is a magic collar, that used to belong to your father. Any tamed monster with this around its neck will come to help you wherever you are in the tower. When you find an egg, and it hatches, put this on the monster.
: Ho, ho, ho, ho. With a memento of his father, the great monster tamer, in hand, the son rises to the challenge to be the next great monster tamer. I'm sure up in heaven, Guy would be proud to see his son develop into a great monster tamer. Ho, ho, ho ho.
Finally that man and his creepy creepy creepy eyebrows leaves.

: That's great news. That means that now you're able to eneter that tower you always wanted to go to.
Once again, they use the tower rather informally despite it being the major point of the game and the entire reason these characters are here in the first place.
: Are you heading out for the tower already?
: I'm going || Of course
: Then take this with you. (A Pita Fruit is received)
This time your answer is railroaded for you, but you can talk to your mom each morning to get a free Pita Fruit. Any other time you can say "No" and avoid getting it, but I like to store them away since they are kinda rare and actually useful for an exploit I'll show in a future update.

: Go do your best!
: Yup!
: Don't stumble!
: Yup!


So of course we stumble right away.


Anyway, now we are out of the house and free to go wherever we want. Let's go to the Tower!


That sign is all that kept children out of the tower. That one sign. Nice job guys...nice job.
Anyway, clearly nothing is in the way between us and the tower so...


Or not. This guy stops us.
: What do you want? || Very suspicious.
: Is it because I speak the human language? I'm just smart enough to learn the human language. Umm...... Are you going in alone?
: Yes. || No.
: Liar.
Yeah, I'm kind of being an asshole to everyone, so far doing so gives you a little extra dialogue. No much, but just a little.
: Monster tamers use monsters to fight, but you don't even have a single familiar on your side. They're very important for fighting. You can't take this by yourself right now. You have a magic collar, don't you? I can smell it. Believe or not, I once used to be a familiar for a great monster tamer. But my master passed away. And now I'm a lonely familiar. And people want to have nothing to do with me, since I know the human language. But I can't lower myself to become a monster now, they just live by instinct. You can put your collar on me if you like.
: Alright. You can join me. || No, you look mean.
: I'm saying I can be a familiar for you. Hurry up and put the magic collar on me now.
: Ok. I'll let you join me. || No. It's not red.
What? Where was the color red mentioned at all?
: Oh please. Please let me join you. C'mon, put the magic collar on me.
: Ok. I'll let you join me. || No. It's not red.
If you keep saying no, he'll keep insisting.


Also, we get to name this guy. So I'll end the update here and start the voting for Koh's new name and a name for our annoying talkative Kewne here. Kewne's default name is...KEWNE. We can change his name later on if we want, but Koh's new name will be set in stone as mentioned before.

NEXT UPDATE: (After voting for Koh and Kewne's new names.)
We enter the tower! A massive tutorial awaits us!