Part 5: Chapter IV: In Which Our Heroes Backslide

Chapter IV: In Which Our Heroes Backslide

Challenge: Fish used in place of healing and attack magic

I forgot to switch the pics to PNG before working on this update, but it's been changed for the next one. I'd replay, but managing a pizza place around major holidays is one of the more exhausting things I've done in my life (in addition to bartending a party later tonight, which I'm not looking forward to), and I really didn't wanna redo it.



This is a Puffer. Throwing one at shit causes it to explode and cause fire damage. It'll be Ken's main offense for this update.



Thanks to the Silver Knives, I really won't need much support in the next dungeon, so I'm comfortable with this.

Also, I apprentice Ken under Mygas and start grinding Teepo and Ken to get to level 8. Here's some highlights:






Purify heals the poison status affect, Protect ups the defense of one target, Frost is the counterpart to Flare, and Simoon does fire and wind damage to a target. Any other playthrough, and this would be Teepo's primary means of offense in the coming dungeon.

And after gaining Ken a few levels, we go back and have Mygas teach us some magic.




I missed getting a pic of one skill, Meditation. Using Meditation ups the power of the next spell cast. You can use Meditation twice in a row to up the power even more, but not beyond that. Very handy once we get our next character.

Magic Ball is a cheap skill useful throughout the entire game. non elemental damage that does more damage to lower Intelligence enemies. Combined with Meditation, it can be quite powerful later on.



Ken is always crappy in the beginning of the game, there's no real way to avoid that. Teepo always has slightly higher stats, and Rei is still the "Easy" button. Don't worry, this will change.



Influence is a skill that's more handy than it first appears, and is a bitch and a half to get. It has a low learning rate. Fortunately, Boss Goblins use it every turn as long as they are not alone. Using it will make enemies with Intelligence of 0 or 1 attack whoever you cast it on. It also works on Confused party members (confusion is a status effect that causes a character to physically attack allies and enemies at random), and one incredibly useful application further down the road.



And now, without further ado, let's begin the next plot point.

: Heh heh... You guys are something I'm really impressed... No, I mean
it...I am. Me? My name is Loki I guess you guys are heroes, eh? Saved the village, yeah? Yep, you three are certainly heroes... yep, yes indeed. Yep, you're really something...I mean, you killed that Nue, something no one else was able to do... ......That's why, seeing as you're so strong... I wanted to ask for your help... Oh! You'll help me? I just knew you would! Down the road, there's a farm with a little hut on the roadside... I'll meet you there later...OK? Then we have a deal.

I'm sure this guy is on the up and up.



This is the hut he's talking about. ONCE YOU STEP INTO THIS HUT YOU ARE LOCKED INTO THE NEXT DUNGEON AND HAVE NO ACCESS TO THE WORLD MAP. THIS MEANS NO SHOPPING, FISHING, OR VISITNG MYGAS



: So, what do you want?

: Well, I'm sure you've heard the stories too. You know, the ones about Mr. McNeil?

: That he's cheap and greedy?

: There's lots of people like that...

: Yes, but... well, don't you think... that McNeil is a little, well, too greedy? Hmmm?

: So you're saying... You want us heroes to steal everything back, is that it?

Um...well... If you stole the tax money and gave it back to the villagers...

: It'll make us even more popular, right?

: So you'll do it, then? Oh, thank you so much! There's no time to waste! You should go tonight!

That night...



Teepo is getting ready by...drawing his sword over and over again. He moonlights as Dias in Star Ocean 2.

Loki enters.

: It's night, everybody! Let's go, let's go! They just finished repairing the wall, so it might be hard to find a way in, but... I'm sure people as resourceful as you can find a way, right?

: All right, let's go! Ryu! Rei!

The scene switches to the field next to the manor. For some reason, every time I tried to get a pic, the emulator crashed. No idea why, so imagine a green field.

: OK, there's the manor up ahead... Let's split up and look for a way in. Be careful...

And the party splits up to find a way in.



...We're here to give back to everyone all the money you stole!"

You're an idiot.



...But I wonder if Ken would be able to handle it?"

A little further down, we come across this section of the wall.



: Hey... isn't that the wall they were working on before...?




And the earth-shaking thud alerts absolutely no one.

: ...Rei! Are you OK?

: Don't this just beat all... So much for the perfect repair job. This isn't exactly how I planned it. But I'll take any break I can get. OK, let's go

And we're in!



Just inside the wall is this guy who looks like Loki (hood dude), but isn't. He does give you 50 Zenny to not tell the guards you saw him, though.

Oh right. Music: Take it and Run



This guy recognizes Rei. He realizes he has no chance if the party chose to fight him, so he settles for a (convenient) bribe of 50 Zenny.



This is the gimmick of this place. The guards with the gray tunics don't care that you're there, and the guards in green will throw you out. Every time you get kicked out, you need to pay the original guy 50 Zenny again. Fortunately, you're not screwed if you get kicked out because there are random battles outside the wall now.

This guy won't move until we find his wallet.



It's about 20 feet away. Grab it, but you know what? Fuck him. Let's follow the advice of the music.



If you step into a light, you immediately get caught. This guard right here serves as a roadblock, forcing you to give the wallet to the previous guard to go around. But we're not gonna do that.



Park yourself right here. with the facing the way shown in the picture. The guard periodically changes directions, and when he does, he has a pattern. Light off, turn, light on. When the light turns off, immediately run past him and you'll narrowly get by.



Like so. And you'll keep the wallet.



None of the other guards move their light around, so it's really easy to not get caught from here on out.



On the edge of the screen, you can see the work bell. Ken or Teepo can hit it, and doing so signals to this guard that it's time to go.



And lounging a little further down is this guy, whose smoking a cigarette. That sounds sooooooooooooooo good right now (seriously, you don't wanna work at a pizza place around holidays or Super Bowl Sunday. Customers are complete dicks and it's really stressful)

: I don't know... I mean, if I let you through here... it'll look like I
wasn't doing my job, right? I hate to ask you this, but... Do you think you could go over to the gate and get rid of the dog that's there? See, that way... It'll look like the dog's fault, not mine, right? Please?

: Don't that just beat all? They're all a bunch of goof-offs!

Fuck this guy. I literally grew up around dogs (at one point we had 43 in the backyard), and if raised right, they are the sweetest things in the entire world. Even dogs trained to be guard dogs can be sweet as hell if they know you. I like dogs more than I like most people. What kind of sick fuck would have a dog killed just to avoid a reprimand?

So yeah, we have to do this. Another reason I don't like this section of the game.

So let's walk towards the main door.



Rei is on point again. There's something poetic about a cat leading an assault against a dog. And walking up triggers a scene.

: Ha ha ha It doesn't seem right, picking on a little dog like this, Rei.

: Would you say the same thing if he'd bitten your butt while you were climbing over the wall, Teepo? Rather this than another Nue... Let's do it!



This is Pooch. Pooch is a mini-boss, but with the Silver Knives, it's a cakewalk. He has a moderately strong attack, and a learnable Skill called Snap which...



Looks like this. It does weak physical damage and has a good chance to lower the target's defense. Handy at times, but with the limited healing right now, I don't bother learning it now.



Here's Ken throwing a Puffer at Pooch.

Honestly, this fight shouldn't last more than 5 or 6 rounds no matter what your set-up is. On a normal playthrough, you might fire off a Simoon or two, which wrecks everything's shit right now.

Rest in Peace, buddy. I'm sorry. You were a good dog



Once that syphilitic monkey fucker lets us pass, we come across another guard. For some reason, our party REALLY wants in the chicken coop. But this guy won't let us pass. Maybe this Mina person can help?



She's over here crying and fending off the advances of another man. Talk to her and tell the coop guard, and he'll go to her (although it turns out he just wants to make his move on her, and she's literally cornered by two horny men. You can find out the rest on tonight's 20/20).

So hey, let's enter the coop!



A surprisingly spacious chicken coop. I think it's bigger than my old apartment.

: A chicken coop...

: Since we can't get in the house 'cause of all the guards, why don't we just steal some eggs and go home!

: Um...I don't think so... Aren't you setting your sights a little low there, Teepo?

: Whoa! Rei!



A giant fuck-off chicken appears!

: M -maybe I should put them back, huh, Rei?

: I don't think that'll make him happy...

And the fight against Rocky (yes, Rocky) begins. He's nothing special, but he has an easy learnable Skill, plus an annoying (and thankfully incredibly rare) status affect.



Ovum turns one target into an egg.



Like so (that message is on top because I was hoping Rocky would use Jump so I could learn it. He didn't).

Everyone has a unique egg sprite. Ken's is just a plain white egg, and Teepo's is purple. They're more interesting later though.

As an egg, you can't do anything and your defense is lowered to 0. And I have nothing to cure it with. It wears off on it's own after 5 rounds though, if you survive.



Jump is incredibly easy to learn, I've never not learned it the first time it's used. It deals anywhere from 1 damage to double your normal physical output.

So now let's kick his ass before he kills Rei. Since Rei has a 50% chance to be attacked thanks to the Attack Formation (which is actually a bad formation for this fight for that very reason), we wanna kill this guy fast. Fortunately, he's weak to fire, so those Puffer are put to good use while Teepo uses his knife.





All hell breaks loose (another good, rarely used song)

The guards are all frantic trying to reign in the chickens, leaving the path to the front door wide open.



And hey, fun fact for ya. If you survive being an egg (whether by winning the battle of surviving 5 turns), your HP and AP gets fully restored.



And in the balcony above the coop, we find this. It casts the most powerful fire-elemental spell in the game one time. We'll hold onto this for a rainy day.

Wait. Why would you hold onto something firey for a rainy day?



Once we approach the door, the camera pans right, showing the guards.



Rei checks it out.

: They're all guarding the door...

: Should we give up?

: ...No... Let's force our way in...

: Force... You mean... fight the guards?

: No... I'll act as a decoy... And while they're after me, you two sneak in... I'll climb up to the roof and meet you there, OK?

Rei proceeds to run in front of the guards and draw them away.

: Don't worry... It'll be OK... Rei's really good at running... Let's go, Ken!




As for Ken and Teepo...



The fun is just getting started. With god-awful, yet thematically appropriate, music

Fish Count: 4 Puffer used on Pooch, 1 Trout used on Rei during the Rocky fight, and 1 Piranha used on Teepo