Part 3: Chapter III: More Like Nueb

Chapter III: More Like Nueb

Challenge: The party is still naked



Welcome back. Last time, we started to break into a guy's house. So let's see how that works out.



: Just as I thought-- Nobody's home...

: Keep your eyes open, Ken... Someone might hear us if we make too much noise.

: OK, let's split up and check the place out...quietly! There's gotta be some food around here...



My timing is bad, but you can barely see Ken do an anime sweatdrop here. This game loves that kind of stuff.



Trying to be a part of the gang, Ken starts to look for stuff. Unfortunately, he's clumsy as shit. He knocks over a plate, which gets put in the inventory.

: Ken! Shhhhhhhhh!!

: Just relax! Calm down, Ken!

No, don't worry guys. He's ok.



You can baaaaaarely see it, but by using R1 + the control pad we see...



Bunyan has a basement! You can rotate the camera anytime you're not in battle, a cutscene, or talking to someone. It's not super useful, but it does come in handy on occasion, especially in a sidequest later on. A few treasures can be found this way too.



I think Bunyan was just running to the local Triangle Stop to build his beef jerky supply back up.



Rei, like any good cat, comes running the moment he even THINKS you're opening up some food.

: Hey! There's food here! All right!! C'mon! Let's get outta here!

We hear a door creak open.




: Uh-oh... Old man Bunyan's come home... gulp! ... ...We might be in trouble... I'll go check it out. If something happens, I'll distract him, and you guys get away...OK?

So where the hell did Bunyan go exactly? The party hasn't even been in his house 2 minutes. He couldn't have gone far down the road. Maybe he really was just grabbing some jerky.



You can't really see it, but the screen shakes in the ensuing tustle.

: ...Hey, everything's OK... There's no way Rei would get...

Rei screams.



: ... ...Um, I guess I'd better go and see what's happening. Don't worry... We can get out of here, right?



The screen shakes again, and another yelp.

...shit.

So I guess we'd better check it out? We don't really have many options.




BAM. Right in the head.

The screen goes black for a second while Ken is unconscious.



Bunyan: I knew you were up to no good... But I didn't think you had sunk this low!



Bunyan is cracking his knuckles. Seriously, the level of detail in this game is one of the reasons I love it.

Bunyan: At a time like this, when everyone's suffering... Don't you know that if you don't work, you can't eat?



Teepo displays a remarkable ability to use his ass to jump several feet in the air.

: Shut up! We were working!

Bunyan: You just don't get it, do you? Robbing people isn't honest work! I've half the mind to run you out of the woods. But...If you say you'll mend your ways... I could forgive and forget...

Rei catches on, though.

: What do you want us to do?



Bunyan: Rei, you're a strong lad, aren't you? I've got a job for you... You've heard of Mt. Glaus, haven't you? The big mountain north of the forest...? You'll know it when you see it. I want you to go there... Understand?



Dude, they're both still level 1. They're dead weight right now.

Bunyan: Don't worry... I've got something else in mind for them...

: You're keeping them as hostages so I'll do what you want, right? All right. I'll do it I don't know what you're up to, but I'll go to Mt. Glaus... Teepo, you keep an eye on Ken...

Rei wanders off.

: Hey! Old man! What're we supposed to do!?



Bunyan: Work, Teepo. If you want to eat, you have to work... Understand?

Fade out, fade in.



And we fade in on our very first minigame. This is simple. Every character has some kind of field action. Teepo can kick, Rei can pick locks, and Ken can swing his sword. We're gonna use his sword to chop some logs.



I'll spare you the details, but basically, you wanna his the Triangle button to swing Ken's sword just as the log starts falling. It's really simple.



Easy peasy.

After 30 seconds:



Bunyan: Hmmm... 21 logs... Not bad...

: There! We worked, didn't we? Now you won't complain if we steal, right?

Bunyan: If you keep that up, one of these days you'll be sorry. Don't you see that?

: Ha! Who cares? One day, real soon, we're gettin' out of here... I ain't afraid of nothing!

Famous last words.

: C'mon, Ken... Let's go after Rei



And so we follow Rei. Back on the world map, I realize that Ken and Teepo both have 1 HP and I should fix that. See how START is highlighted at the top of the screen? That means we can camp.



This is the main camp screen. It serves as a base for the party. Here you can talk to your party, rest, and do a few other things.



Inside the tent, you can access your options by examining the book on the table.

Resting and Saving are self explanatory, but resting in camp is different than resting in a bed. I'll get into that in a little bit. Skill Notes and Masters I'll get into when they become relevant. What you need to know is that this is where a solid chunk of your party preparation happens.



She how Ken and and Teepo's max HP is yellow? Whenever a character ends a battle KO'd, they're max HP temporarily gets lowered. It keeps happening until it reaches half of their real max HP. Resting in the tent DOES recover your HP and AP to the maximum, but the HP restoration only goes to your current maximum (IE, the yellow number). To get the max HP back to where it should be, you need to sleep in a bed. Any bed will do.



Now, let's go after Rei. Since we don't have to clear that filler dungeon again, we can head right there on the world map.



Here's Mount Glaus. It's a fairly small place, but it's got a couple good treasures. Most of the dead ends are empty.



Hey, remember these guys? They were trying to eat Ken eariler. We're still running from enemies through this next dungeon, so we're not gonna kill it. Soon, though.



From here, you can head in any direction. Most are dead ends, one has a treasure, and the northwest leads to where we need to go.



One of 3 treasures before we get to our first major fight.



I've lived in the mountains for 6 years, and I've never seen a mountain slope that smooth.



So let's go around.



We can slide down from the top to grab a couple treasures. A fishing lure? Nooooooo!




Here's Ken and Teepo jumping off a ledge. The other stachel has a Cloth Shield, which I ignore because it's useless to me now, and by the time it IS useful to me, money won't really be an issue.




By the time we make it around the slope, the sun starts to set.



Fortunately, there's a cabin we can rest in.



: Rei!

: ...Teepo!? What are you doing here?

: Heh! We took care of what old man Bunyan told us to do in no time and came after you! I was worried about you being out here all alone...

: ...You know what, Teepo... I think the reason Bunyan sent me here alone is...Well, because he was worried about you...

: Wh... what do you mean 'worried about us'!? I mean, he said he was keeping us as hostages, right?

: You've heard the rumors, haven't you? That the monster that's been attacking the village is here, in the mountains... Bunyan meant for me to kill it.

: Why does he want YOU to kill the monster? I mean, it's real big and strong, right?

: It is... But I'm stronger... If I were alone... But now that you're here... I won't be able to use...Oh, never mind... Boy, doesn't this just beat all... Well, no use worrying about that now... Let's get some rest-- It'd be dangerous to go out at night...

Hmmm...What secret could he be hiding? You won't guess it

And so the party rests.



A monstrous scream wakes the party up.

Rei: It's him... He's close by... Oh, boy, here we go I guess we have no choice. Let's go out there and get him.



Yeah, that rest counted as a bed.




BY THE HAIRY BALLS OF ZEUS! WHAT THE HELL IS THAT THING?



It wastes no time in jumping and attacking the party.



Rei (now equipped with a Bent Sword), is still leading the Attack Formation. Before we do anything, we have him Pilfer a Power Food from the Nue, which increases someone's power by 1 permanently. Yeah. Stat boosters are less than great in this game.



Teepo, as mentioned, learns attack magic. Lucky us, the Nue is weak to fire.



Here's a shot of Rei getting ready to attack, Teepo charging Flare, and Ken defending because he won't be doing shit. Again.



Here's the Flare spell in action. It does about 15-20 damage. Not bad for level 1.



And here's the Nue's signature attack, Nue Stomp. The Nue repeatedly bounces on a character for decent damage.



After a few rounds, it escapes. And since I have to leave for work in half an hour, you'll get the rest of this update later tonight.