Part 44: Heart Breaking Rainfall

Music: Ancient Homeland


Hey, remember these kids? We can have another Sheratan Rangers game with them (it's identical to the one we played back towards the beginning of the game), but they have a new reward to offer.







Hey, nifty! But it gets better.





Three battles latter...





I'm not precisely sure what this does, but it seems to have increased my character's resistances across the board while keeping the previous items' attack and defense boosts. Worth having around, if you ask me.







And now...





GREYTHORNE TIME!








I think it's cooler than Wacho's dumb idea, “Pelican Bob”!








This is a fascinating and sort of disturbing concept. I'm having trouble wrapping my head around it.

(also I'm not entirely sure if Wacho is addressing Tik or Jackson the Greythorne)









Huh?







Aww, I'd love to have a stuffed animal Greythorne.





All right, enough adorableness for now. Let's see if we can start up some time traveling shenanigans.









No problem at all!

The Matar Highlands are near Cujam on the world map. We are technically allowed to visit this area as soon as the world map opens in the Age of the Gods, but a man at the entrance won't let us explore, so there's no point in coming by until now.





Music: Rolling Rivers, Rolling Clouds


The dungeon isn't terribly large, and I kind of like the colors going on here. Let's take a quick look at the local wildlife.









The turtles are as boring as ever, but the flowers can dish out a nasty bit of damage (600 or so on a good attack) and drop a Sedna magnus. How did Sedna magnus even end up a thousand years in the past, anyway?





Then there are bird and cat enemies that only seem to exist on teams together. The birds are unremarkable, but the cats have the tremendously annoying ability to summon more cats. So you basically have to kill them all at once. They aren't especially durable or powerful, they just can make fights drag on for ages if they feel like it.





Matar's gimmick is that it rains. And it's not just normal rain – it's “heartfall rain” which has the power to “crush a man's heart” according to the guardian at the entrance. This equates to getting knocked out and sent to the beginning. The rain occurs every minute or so, and we need to find a safe place to stand to avoid it.





From the entrance, we need to go left a screen and follow the path to these lotus plants. Here we can draw the essence of some Lotus Leaves. I believe you only NEED one, but it doesn't hurt to take a couple extras.





This is the starting screen, where the path splits. Using Lotus Leaves on these brown spots...





...plants one to hide from the rain under.





I found this while I was exploring the right path. It's a nice attack increase from Sagi's current weapon, but it's also kind of pointless as it will be outclassed by the end of this update.







Pushing this rock is mandatory to progress. Now let's try the central path.





...after waiting for the rain under this leaf. I wonder how much time I spent standing around here?





This is where the one definitely mandatory lotus leaf needs to be planted. Now we stand under it and wait.





Rain fills the lake (it would normally just drain off to the right, but since we pushed that boulder in the way it all stays put).







Then we have to wait for another cycle to fill it all the way. Feel free to count to sixty before scrolling down further to simulate the effect.











This boss is unique in that it is not preceded by a cutscene – you trigger the fight by touching it. As such, you can use the heartwing dash to get an MP charge going into the fight by flying around for a bit until your gauge is almost full. It's not really that important for beating the fight or anything, but it's kind of a neat feature.





Music: Evidential Material


This guy is just a palette swap of the Sandfeeder (in fact, I believe all three character personal quest bosses are palette swaps). Fortunately, it does not retain its fellow worm's resistance to Guillo's attacks.









Besides having a name that I don't really want to think too much about, Ovulate is just a mediocre attack that inflicts sleep.

Hold on, why is there a number by Sagi now? It looks like it's counting down.











oh that's gross





Barring that awful little attack there isn't much to say about this thing. I had a fantastic Relay Combo set up, but he hit Sagi hard enough to knock him over and ruined it. Fortunately, Sagi still got to keep his attack and used it when he got up.





Yep.







H-Hey! How are we supposed to handle this many?!

Sagi, you and the wench pick some heartenbrace and run. I'll take care of things here.

But Guillo!

Gena won't ever be herself again without you and Meemai! Now go!





Suddenly, a dragon!


That's...the White Dragon! I always thought it was just a legend, but there it is!







Whoa...did you see how it toasted them all?

It's so beautiful. Just like they described it at the School of Magic!





Well, that was arbitrary. Anyway, we get a new finisher for Sagi that I'm basically never going to use because it's not part of The Apotheosis.

That said, it was part of my choice EX Combo the first time I played. I think I just liked the idea of hitting an enemy so hard that it had a tooth blast.





We also get this fantastic thing. This is Sagi's ultimate weapon (at least so far as I'm aware). For reference, the other sword I got in this very dungeon only had like 80 attack and 40 crush. It's unusual durability also ensures that it will last through an entire attack, no matter how many hits that attack has (whereas other weapons have an annoying habit of breaking in the middle of a combo unless you actively plan around it).





All right, time to get back to the present.





Video: Mom

Music: Tears of Compassion










Are you crying again? What am I going to do with you...

Show me your wings! Please, Mom? Show me!

Oh, all right. But this is the last time if you don't stop crying!

I...I'm not crying! ...See? I'm not.

Mm hm hm...All right, mister.








Guillo...

Were you crying again?

…...

If you want to see Gena's wings, just tell her.

That's...That's not it!

Oh, really?

Yeah...I'm not a little kid anymore...








Yeah. Chances like this don't come along that often. The money's good, and they don't care where I'm from. They're looking for grunts – but if I get picked for the Dark Service, I'll make even more. It's the least I can do for Mom.

For Mom...

Mom...









Good morning, Sagi.

Mom!





Sagi, Guillo, Milliarde, Meemai...Thank you all so much.

Hey, what about us?

Yeah, us!

You, too, Tik and Wacho. Thank you.

Doc: The worst may be behind her, but Gena still needs to recuperate. Sagi, I hope you'll settle down and look after your mother for a while.

Mom, about that...

It's OK, Sagi. I can see it in your eyes. You found what it is you want to do.

Aw, Mom...

Don't worry. Me and Tik will take care of Gena!

Yuh-huh, Gena.

OK...thanks! I'm gonna go, then, Mom.

All right. Promise me you'll do this for yourself, Sagi.

I promise. But I'm still gonna come back home when it's done.

I know. And I'll be here waiting.


Yes! We've managed to save Gena!

Let me just check one last thing...







That reminds me. I had a dream where you came to me as a greythorne. And quite an affectionate one! You dove into bed with me and wanted to cuddle up. Hm hm, maybe it wasn't just a silly dream after all.





Okay, that's one major character subquest down. What should we do next?


-


Decision Time!


Let's go under the Taintclouds


Let's explore a previously unknown island!