Part 30: I wish gambling was this easy.

And here are our two new monsters for the update. Johnny is going to stay behind while I have plans for Samus here. (I was secretly hoping you guys would pick this when I noticed the default name was Aran.)


Tada! We have a Megachurchcasino now! Placed right next to the Church, although you really can't tell because of the camera. Let's go inside.


Mr. Owner? For once, people actually recognize that I constructed something? And of all places, the casino is mine, and all of it's profits! Or not...we don't get the profits from the Casino. Why? Because with me here, there won't be any profits.
Yes, this Casino is extremely popular amongst our customers. (Well duh!) Won't you play a little now you're here?
: I'll play || Do I have to pay? || Not today.
Of course. It wouldn't be any fun otherwise, would it?
She then goes to explaining how the Slot Machine minigame works. But I can do it better than her.


You start off going for the center row, betting $100. For $200 total, you can get all three rows, and at $300 you can also get the diagonals. Obviously betting $300 is the best choice, and it's what you can see right now. The dots indicate which areas I can win at. (Note: Most of the Casino screenshots are out of order. I went in really quick, went around town, and then went back in to actually win some money.)


Of course, you have to get three in a row. All the slots move at the same rate and stop right when you press X. So unlike the slot machines in other video games, these are actually pretty easy to exploit. Just take your time and hit the 7s. Of course, it's still moving fast, so it's common to miss. Three Picket faces will return $300 to you, returning your intial bet.


3 Sevens, on the other hand, will reward you with $60000. Because the initial bet is so tiny and the jackpot is so huge, it's easy to quickly exploit lots of money from these guys.


In the other room is a Roulette...thing. There are three blocks, and you select one. Once you select a block, you can bet anywhere from $100 to $10000. The gold coin there signifies I'm betting $10000. The Red block has a 50% chance of winning, and rewards you with x2 your bet. The Yellow block has a 33% chance of winning and rewards you with I think x3 your bet. (I never use it, so I can't remember.) The Blue block only has a 16% chance of winning, but gives you x6 your bet. Naturally, I go for the blue.


Then you end up here, ready to jump down onto the roulette table. Like the slot machine, I'm sure you can time it just right, but I never figured out how because...


When you land, you start sliding down the center. You always slide at the same speed, but the delay between the jump and finally landing on one of the circles makes it hard enough to time properly.


When you finally land on a circle, you start rotating with the roulette while standing on your circle. Luckily for me, I'm on blue.


But you have to be quick and run around to pick up your money, it doesn't last as long as you think. I'm pretty sure I actually missed that last Gold coin and Silver coin, so that's $11000 I didn't collect. Another reason why I don't use the Roulette table. Either way, compared to real casinos, the Roulette table is reasonably fair (the rewards are balanced with the odds) and the slot machine is just flat out broken in your favor. I'm putting a limit on how many times I'll actually do this per update, probably around five since that's how many times I spent doing this. Yes, in five games here, I amassed a little over $100,000. I can buy me a new Megachurchcasino. Or you know, some other upgrades, but more on that later. First we're paying Nico another visit.


: I do already. || I love 'em both.
: Ha, ha, ha. Boy, I guess it won't be for a while. Good luck.
So...she's our girlfriend, but Mamoru isn't supposed to know that she loves him?


: rescue someone like Mamoru? Isn't this the biggest mystery of the century? Why is that, I wonder.
This conversation again...I didn't realize it at first, so I went and looked it up since I was just steering it nowhere on my own. You have to select the "You love me" option more than once in order to get through.
: You love me, Don't you? || I have no idea.
: I fell in love with Mamoru? I love Mamoru?! I love Mamoru!
I still can't tell if this is a good or bad thing.


: It's natural to be surprised. I'm a cute woman who is noble, smart and beautiful.
She'll start calling us Mr. Mamoru from now on, which I'm assuming is supposed to be Mamoru-san/kun in the original japanese. And nope, she doesn't get any smarter after this.
: And this woman is attracted to you. No, you don't have to say anything, Mr. Mamoru. Mr. Mamoru rescued me. Does it mean Mr. Mamour loves me too!?
: That's not true. || That's right.
If it'll get you to shut up.
: No, no, you don't have to say anything. I understand everything. And... which means... oh my. Mr. Mamoru... I'm so embarrassed.
Selfi then runs away and leaves us by ourselves. Next is to go check on Mia...


: Recently, I never come to the library to read books... Do you know why I'm coming here?
On second thought, she's fine. I forgot to go see Vivian last time, so I need to go this time for certain.


But...she isn't on stage. Without five dancers forming a V, it's greatly lacking the same symmetry that was there before. When the dancers come off, Blue and Green talk to themselves again.
Everything went so smoothly today, didn't it?
It surely did!
I wonder why? Why do you think, Vivian?
But without waiting for a response, Blue yells at us and the two go into the dressing room. Vivian's standing alone by the door to the stage, so we go over to talk to her.


Fon walks up too and interrupts.
Look at Vivian. She's been like that for some time now. She doesn't go out, and she's hardly eating. I've never been good at coping with such a gloomy atmosphere. Hey, Mamoru. You'd be the perfect person to cheer her up by responding to her feelings, the way you responded to my lines.
That's a horrid excuse to go help Vivian!
: Mamoru...
: Why don't you dance? || Are you ill?
: No. They're doing better without me... and I"m sure the audience would rather have it that way... …...
: Let's go for a walk! || How about dating with me?
: Sure. I've got nothing else to do. Let's go.


The two of them walk for a little bit. This option comes up when they stop by the Restaurant. Natrually I don't select it because it would not be good for Patty to see Mamoru with another girl, and we still owe her. (Not that the choice changes anything.)
: I'd rather take a walk outside and take in all that fresh air. Phew...
She stops by the windmill, and watches some birds fly by. My timing is atrocious, and I miss the screenshot.
: Wow... I had forgotten how blue AZURE the sky is.
And to ruin the mood, in comes Ghosh.
: Hello, Miss Vivian. I bless this day, for being able to meet you. By the way... What is your relationship with that scum beside you?
: Are you talking about Mamoru? He's an important friend of mine.
: It mustn't be. You are being deceived. Here, come to the bar with me. Please let me see your wonderful dancing.
Despite being a complete asshole, I have to give Ghosh credit for trying to cheer Vivian up.
: The bar... It was a lot of fun there. To dance in that atmosphere. I had no doubts when ti came to dancing. You know, I no longer go to the bar. I go to the Theater...
: Is that so. No wonder I never see you at the bar? I imagine you'd be very beautiful dancing on that large stage?
: Let's go to the Bar! || Dance again at the Theater!
It pains me to say this, but Ghosh is right. If Vivian danced at the bar, she would probably cheer up.
: To the bar!? Dancea t the Bar!? I'd love to dance. But will Madam allow me to dance there? She was so kind to give me a job... then as soon as I was called on by the Theater, I immediately quit the Bar job.
: Of course she would. || Hey Ghosh, join us.
: Hey, guys, Wait for me!
And then all three enter the bar.


(Bar-lady) All of you together? What's the occasion? Did you want to use the stage? Of course it's okay. If it's enjoyable, it's fine by me.
Vivian then goes up and dances. While she's dancing...
: This is great...
: I agree. || You're kidding.
: Tsk. That's the first time we've ever agreed on anything.
: That's true, and not bad. || It's a nightmare.
: I guess you're right.
Then, Vivian stops.


: I'm so stupid. I love dancing so much, yet I can't get myself into it... If I'm not into it, how are the customers expected to enjoy it? I... I froze, when my dream appeared before my eyes. But I'm all right now. Even on that enormous stage! Thank you Madam!
She runs out like an excited little girl, and Ghosh leaves shortly after.
What is it?
: She says this is a good bar. || I've got no idea.
????
(Bartender) I'm not too sure... But it appears that he's accomplished another feat.
I stop by the Theater, Bar and Casino (she also goes there eventually) but don't see Vivian anywhere. So much for trying to start two events to make up for skipping her last update. Anyway, it's time to go check on Cherrl.


She's happy as can be at her job. Anyway, since we now have Patty as our girlfriend (and I'm pretty sure Selfi too by now) it's time to go see if we can see her there.


But first we see Mia again.
: Let's... come again... together... okay? Ow, I said it. I'm so embarassed.
She runs off once she sees us. Still got that shyness issue to work on.


#Patty-Swim: Oh, it feels good just being here along the pool side.
She's clearly enjoying herself, probably able to take some time off from the Restaurant for once, and forget about that money I owe her.


I stop by the Carpenter's place to get some upgrades. With the money I have, I get the Expand 2 and the Alley. In hindsight, I probably should have stopped by the old man with the Nyuel's and built the Race Track, but I'm sure I'll have enough money to do that and more next update. The Alley is near the top left corner of the city, just right next to where the Race Track would be.


Now it's finally time for the tower. I'm bringing in Samus, and I need a Leva fruit so that she can survive the fusion with Joe.

Floor 1



Strength Increased mean that the current ATK stat is doubled and it will double in growth from now on. Of course, since Samus had it from the beginning, it can't really increase further. For now, she's stuck in the Water Genus, which is alright because I think it'll be nice to increase DeMirror's level before switching her back to a Fire Genus so I have the elemental triangle taken care of. Samus goes back into the bag, until I reach a higher floor to power level her.
But beyond this, the only interesting find was a Blinder Orb with seven charges, courtesy of a Truth Glasses right next to it.

Floor 2




Floor 3


Sweet. Now I can take a few risks with Samus.

Floor 4




Floor 5


Once again, this looks bad, but it's really not with my awesome shield. Sadly, I don't one-shot these guys.

Floor 6


And then I run into like six of these guys in a row; this picture is only the first three. There's a fourth just off camera, and the next two monsters I find shortly after are all Baloons. This is the problem with random number generation, you can never really be sure how random it is.
: You question my power?
Well...yeah, a little. I mean, why go through all this trouble to make Baloons? Blumes would have done more damage because they would survive longer against my sword.

Floor 7


Sweet, an egg.

Floor 8


This is like the third Flame orb I've found this run so far, and it is awesome.

Floor 9

Not much. Demoted another Clown a level. If I had Calvin with me, I would have tested with that, but sadly Calvin is back at the Hut.

Floor 10


This is a good time to pull out Samus. Aqua Blade does two hits, the first hit seems to be linked to the weapon in terms of damage, but the second hit is mostly independent. You can make out a 1 overlapping Mamoru overlapping the Dreamin. The 12 was the first hit, 1 was the second.


I also test Snow Wave from both a distance and close range. At melee range it hits twice, the first hit for exactly the same as Aqua Blade, but the second one hits for less, likely because it isn't able to level up because it's linked to LoDown.


Because of the weird way the Trait works, the current ATK level will increase like normal, but the Max ATK level will increase by double the normal amount. So while this means your monster will be stronger in the long run, they'll still be average with each individual level up. A simple Hazak Herb fixes this and brings out the full power right away (although I should have waited with this one, Samus leveled up a lot).


And I get put asleep by a Dreamin. Then Samus goes on her own AI and attacks the Dreamin, dealing a lot of damage (only a little bit less than me) despite the type disadvantage. I think she was only level 8 at this screenshot.

Floor 11


And I finally find my first Wind Crystal.


And Samus loses her MP. I'm actually doing great on this run through (been grinding the entire way, like I should) so I put Samus back in the bag and hope to run into some Pita Fruits later.

Floor 12


Alright, another boost, let's see if this one lasts.
I also found a Blue Sand (Mirror Shield +14).


This initially scared me because Griffons can deal good amounts of damage and if it spammed Rise, I could easily die here if none of them reflected. Fortunately I'm free after a few hits and get away with half my HP still intact.

Floor 13

No screen shots for this rather boring floor, need to cut back somewhere. As for the Krakens on these floors, I found a Gulf Wand and used that to beat down the Krakens. It took five hits to do so, but that doesn't matter when you aren't getting hit by their shock retaliation. That Gulf Wand probably saved my life.

Floor 14


So now we have a red egg and a wine red egg. At least they put some interesting colors in here.


On a side note, I absolutely love Trap Loupes.

Floor 15

Once again, not much. Picked up a Life Wand, that's pretty neat. Helps taking down Krakens a bit easier, but this is the last floor they appear. Good riddance.

Floor 16


I had two Medicinal Herbs at this time, so I fed them all to Samus to help give her some more HP since she's going to be our offensive powerhouse. Also thanks to luck and Barongs, she also gets a Hazak Seed (which didn't boost her max ATK, oddly enough. I suspect this is because her current ATK wasn't at max) and a Shomoru seed to boost Def. I also find two Blue Sands (Mirror Shield + 16) and a Red Sand (Holy Sword +3).

Floor 17


Remember when I said there were five AI settings? The fifth one, Attack Aggressively, lets your monsters cast spells whenever they feel like it (except the healing spells, they are VERY smart in that regard). For some reason Samus decided to use her LeDown spell, which reduces DEF instead of the monster's Level. Sadly, the useless spell was rendered further useless by missing. And dammit, Samus, Pita Fruits don't grow on trees! I don't have the MP for you to do this! (I promptly switched her back to AI setting 4, Attack Directly).

Floor 18


Look! Samus is evolving!
Sorry, couldn't resist this one.

Samus is now a Lv. 20 Chozo-infused Bounty Hunter Ashra, which I'm assuming is a mistranslation of Ashura.


Looks...kinda interesting. I have to say, I think I prefer the old Arachne better...a general feeling I'm getting toward most evolve monsters. You just kinda get attached to the small and cute ones and lose that feeling when they grow up to be big and powerful.


I've been kinda getting into a habit of not showing my monster's stats, even though I probably should considering they'll constantly increase, but here is Samus's stats right now. She's been getting a lot of EXP very fast, and you can see how her ATK stat behaves weirdly. That low DEF concerns me a little bit. I would like to fuse her with a Block in the future, if that monster gets Confused or Brainwashed, it's a death sentence for the player.


Samus promptly ran out of MP again, so I had to put her in the bag. Meanwhile, a Picket stole my Wine Red Egg, but I got it back literally just in time.

Floor 19


The egg I find right as I step on the next floor is a White egg. This sounds promising.


Oh fuck no---



Post-LP Note:
I think most people read LPs of difficult games just to see the player either do awesome or struggle.

Floor 20


This is the initial room. You know what...


I think I've done enough work for today.

END OF DAY! KILL COUNT FOR THE DAY!

: 18 Pulunpas, 7 Noises, 27 Trolls (Hammer), 17 Flames, 17 Cyclones, 26 Baloons, 23 Manoevas, 10 Manoeva Clones, 39 Blumes, 22 U-Boats, 13 Clowns, 11 Dreamins, 9 Trolls (Bow), 11 Volcanoes, 23 Griffon, 17 Krakens, 25 Nyuels, 19 Trolls (Sword), 30 Garudas, 15 Manoevas (v2), 1 Barong, 16 Pickets, 12 Arachnes, 6 Weadogs. 414 KILLS TOTAL
6 Traps found.

EDIT: It's just been brought to my attention that Mamoru has also just achieved 100 kills against Griffons now, I totally did not notice this until now.

: 1 Dreamin, 1 Troll (Sword), 2 Garudas, 8 Manoevas (v2), 8 Pickets, 3 Arachnes. 23 KILLS TOTAL
Aqua Blade: 5 Clowns, 4 Dreamins, 23 Trolls (Bow), 6 Volcanoes, 2 Griffons, 6 Trolls (Sword), 2 Manoevas (v2). 48 KILL-ASSISTS TOTAL.
Snow Wave: 1 Clown, 1 Dreamin. 2 KILL-ASSISTS TOTAL

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


When we return home, Wreath greets us like she normally does (I just don't show it) and tells us the House got upgraded like it should have. We can now hold sixty (!) items in the safe. I don't think I'm every going to need that much.

: Good morning, Mr. Mamoru. Do you still feel sleepy?
This time, Selfi wakes us up, once again as proof that we are done with her. Also, I accidently deleted the screenshot of her waking us up.
: I'm sleepy. || No, I'm not sleepy.
: You must still be quite exhausted. Let me do something about it. (She then casts a spell, but I couldn't screenshot it well.) Sweet dreams...
: ...this must be sleep type magic. ...I'm getting sleepy...
Wonderful job, Captain Obvious.
: No problem, Lieutenant Sarcasm.


Anyway, the screen turn's black and then Mamoru wakes up on his own, presumably a short time later. Selfi is actually the nicest of all the girlfriends in terms of letting Mamoru sleep in.



Two repeat monsters. Oh well, give them a name. I really don't like Samus's spells, so I might actually fuse her to a Baloon to give her Breath or something (I'll check with savestates to make sure I don't screw things up) and a Dreamin/Naplass combination is actually quite good, since the Naplass apparently randomly falls asleep.


The House is also a lot bigger and gets a random room here.


I find it awesome that the switch to open up the safe is a Picket (you still have to talk to Wreath to get items in and out, but you can still "open" the safe).


The bath really got an upgrade.


But the main reason to get the last house upgrade is this. Most of your girlfriends will show up here. (Patty and Cherrl don't, presumably because they have jobs and are really quite busy. Even when they wake Mamoru up, they run away right afterwords.)
: Come on, Mamoru. All these girlfriends. I've got to keep a closer eye on you.
Another classic case of being incorporeally possessed by a being from another world destroying family relationships. And when we leave...
: Ah. Mr. Mamoru. Are you leaving? I'm going to root for you all the way! Kiss, kiss.
: What do you think you're doing! Meee tooo!
: What are you doing! Wo, me too!
: You realize you're being rude! Get away from Mr. Mamoru! Can't you hear me? Get away from him!
: I'm leaving. || Maybe I should stay longer.


It's kinda amusing, in a sad pathetic way that would be an absolute train wreck if it happened in real life.


Oh, the house has a Pool now. It's kinda boring.


Probalby because I was throwing so much high selling loot at the Barong to get useful loot out, I don't have much to sell. This puts me at $24683...but that doesn't matter. I can theoretically get infinate from the Casino now, depending on how patient I am and how willing I am to abuse savestates because really, money in this game doesn't change a thing in the long run.

Anyway, vote on names for our two new monsters. I've decided next update I'm going to finish up with upgrade the House and Town in general, including the Race Track. Once that's done, then we can start decorating the house with whatever you goons feel like.


...Fuck, she IS stalking me!