Part 38: Chapter Twenty Nine: Shadow Hearts
Tomorrow I'll be heading up to the north of England to visit family, and it happens to be in a place with no internet. I'll be there until next Tuesday, so don't think I've met with a terrible fate if I don't post an update for the next few days. To tide you guys over until then here's the next update.000.png)
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:…:…Okay, now!Music: 07 - Cross Counter
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Ryu KO’s the guard in one blow.
: That guy was always kind of an asshole, so that was pretty satisfying.003.png)
: Sure thing, buddy.Music: Find the Truth
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: Let’s just have a general look around first. Who knows what we might find.005.png)
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:…Heh.: What?: Oh, I was just thinkin’ that this is just like old times! Just you and me, breaking and entering, just barely scraping by on what we could steal…: The whole ‘us against the world’ thing is more exciting in hindsight, Bosch.: True enough, I guess…007.png)
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: Well, here’s the basement.: Doesn’t look like there’s anything suspicious here to me…009.png)
: Uh-oh…we’ve got company!: You sure?: No time to talk, just get over here!010.png)
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: A hidden passage behind the mirror?: Hmm…now doesn’t that look suspicious. Let’s check it out!013.png)
: So, there’s a hidden basement we didn’t get to see. It looks like Kilgore was right on the mark.014.png)
The prisoners down here don’t have anything interesting to say – they’ve all been locked up by Trout after he stole all their goods.
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: Hey! It’s that thief!.gif)
: Hey! The name is Patty, not ‘that Thief’!016.png)
: That’s a bit rich coming from you, isn’t it? Neither of you are exactly innocent.: Hey, I have standards!017.png)
:…Look, we can talk about this later, okay? Now we gotta get this girl outta here before Trout shows up.018.png)
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: Crap, we’re too late! Someone’s coming!021.png)
: Well, well…who do we have here? If it isn’t the portly pillager himself! Pray tell, what might you be doing in my humble abode at this hour?: Someone as corpulent as yourself has no business calling anyone else’s weight into question.: Silence, you odious lout! I’m speaking to your companion, not you.022.png)
: I hear the pickings are slim for ex-convicts…maybe you’d like to put your pilfering skills to use in my employ?: Shut up! I know the truth about your little empire!023.png)
: Plus trying to convince a guy to be your thief-for-hire inside a room full of people you’ve imprisoned after being your thieves-for-hire probably wasn’t the best idea.: Is that so? Well, perhaps the young lady will prove more receptive!024.png)
: Won’t you join me in my quest to capture all the world’s treasures, Patricia? : It’s ‘Patty’, dammit! : Your insolence amuses me…but only so far.025.png)
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: If you won’t co-operate, then I have no use for any of you! And when I have no use for something…I dispose of it!027.png)
: W-w-w-w-w-w-what the hell?!: It’s just like Quadra…and Joker…and even Argus!: Aaaaah! Don’t let it near me!--
Music: 10 – I’ll Do It!
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Trout isn’t really anything to write home about. He only has around 600 HP and goes down nigh-instantly if you use your dragon powers. If you chose to only bring Bosch along then he’s actually fairly tough, however. Trout can cast Protect to raise his own Defense and every time he attacks he steals zenny from you equal to the amount of damage dealt.
I choose not to use my dragon forms for this battle, but honestly it’s not exactly hard even so.
--
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: All the world’s treasure, its wealth and glory…It was all going to belong to me! Urk…030.png)
: What the hell was that? He…he turned into a monster?: This isn’t the first time I’ve seen something like this. I’ll tell you more about it when we have time.031.png)
: You guys would never make ‘Phantom Thief’ in a thousand years, but you sure beat up monsters real good!: Gee, thanks.032.png)
: I was gonna give it back to the guy it was stolen from in the first place…but I think he’d appreciate it if you gave it to him yourself.033.png)
: Thanks for something!: Yeah, yeah. Just don’t get into anymore trouble.: Who are you, my brother? Whatever. Later!034.png)
:…I don’t know if we just got thanked or insulted…but damn, she was cute.: And as with all such women, totally out of your league. C’mon – let’s get back to Kilgore.: Sure. Still, that Trout…035.png)
Music: 02 – My Home Sweet Home
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: That was the kind of grudge match you only see in those cheesy stage show fights! Only this was for real!: Disregarding Bosch’s grossly exaggerated role in the story, that’s pretty much it. Trout transformed into some sort of demon or monster and attacked us, but we ended up coming out on top.
: A demon, you say? I have read of such things before…037.png)
: His fate is a warning we should all bear in mind.: Hey, before I forget…038.png)
: Quite the troublesome relic, isn’t it?: Hmph, I’ll say…039.png)
: I’ve heard of terrible crimes committed in the name of money, but men turning into demons…it’s the stuff of fairytales. 040.png)
: Things sure have taken a turn for the crazy lately, I’ll give you that.041.png)
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: No, you’re right. Nearly everywhere we went we ended up running into people like that. The manager of Colissea, the head of the Joker Gang, an impostor prince in Fort Nageur…and now Trout. There are too many of them for this to be a coincidence.: You feel it too, huh?043.png)
Music: A Voice From the Dark
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All of the previous demons the party have encountered begin to scroll across the screen, slowly transforming from human to monster as they move towards the left hand side.
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It’s impossible to convey in screenshots, but Gate is suffering from a massive earthquake.
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Thunder and lightning rend the sky…
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And there we are.
We’re roughly a third of the way through the game at this point. Thus far the driving force behind the plot was the goal of saving Bosch from prison and clearing his name of wrongdoing. There are a lot of complaints that this section of the game is extremely drawn out and badly paced – the thief evades you again and again and the party winds up being dragged through some rather tiresome filler before finally catching her. Whilst part of me agrees with these complaints, I also feel that the section is rather effective at slowly introducing the wider plot of the demonic threat behind the scenes. It becomes clear as you play through that something is very wrong with the world and that dark forces are at work in the shadows.
The first stage of the game is now finished. A twisted path lies ahead – Township Part II. Highfort. The Wise Tree. The road to the True Ending. Let’s see if we can go the distance.