Part 8: Chapter VII: Where Rabbi Raccoon Destroys His Diet

Two updates in two days! Aren't you lucky? I originally had this planned to be 2 updates, but I'm still sick and can't really do anything so you get a double.

Chapter VII: Where Rabbi Raccoon Destroys His Diet

Physical Attacks Only



Here's our newest party member, Nina. She's an offensive mage. Even on a normal playthrough, make sure you remove that Soul Gem. It revives the character equipped with it immediately when they get KO'd and fully restores HP. It's far too valuable to waste in a few filler dungeons.

Typically, Nina ends up too fragile for most people to use, but we're gonna fix that in this playthrough. To do that effectively, we're gonna have to keep her knocked out.



Anyway, here's our first filler dungeon of the day, the Wyndia Catacombs. Thankfully, it's pretty short but it's got a couple good treasures we don't wanna miss, especially because the bulk of this place can't be accessed once we leave.



This is the gimmick of the dungeon. There are 9 tombstones altogether. 1 leads to the big treasure, 7 activate that tombstone, and the last is the way out. What you wanna do is examine the 7 stones. 2 words will be raised, one red and one green. Hit the green.



Also, here's Nina jumping off a ledge. Pressing her dress down like the proper little lady she is.



In the southwest, we find this in a treasure chest. Panaceas heal each and every status ailment in the game, and they're fairly cheap to buy too. Fortunately, the game actually realizes this and the only other status healing items are Antidotes and Eye Drops. No redundancy here.



Once you hit all 7 green words, go back to the entrance and go down this side path.



And examine this. Hit the button, a trap door will open and...



Take you to this. There are 3 of these in the entire game, and they up your status resistance by 3. Very very handy. Ken takes it.



Man I bet Wyndia Castle is so warm right now. My landlord won't let me turn the heat up and it's 30 degrees outside. Fortunately, we've got a fireplace. But if I use it, that means I can't go to bed.



This treasure chest has a Glass Domino, a decent piece of headgear. Normally, I'd put it on Nina, but it'd just make it harder to knock her out. And isn't a domino a facemask thing? Does no one else see how that would be a bad idea?



Here's the exit tombstone. Examine it, and it'll give you 3 words to choose from. Hit the right one, and you go to the next list. You have to choose correctly 7 times. If you're playing along, the correct order is 1 1 1 3 2 2 2.



We fall here. Take a few more steps and we fall again.



: Well, we made it. Now all we have to do is get far away before they find us. You're looking for someone? In Wyndia? Rei and Teepo? I'm sorry--I've never heard of them... But I'll help you look for them! No, it's all right... As a member of the royal family, it's my job to help people in trouble... Let's go, Ken.



And one last treasure, a Wisdom Fruit. Wisdom Fruits restore 100 AP to a character and aren't exactly common.



Welcome to Wyndia

Wyndia is far and away the biggest city in the game. It's got some pretty interesting stuff in it.



Wyndia is divided into two parts. Up the stairs takes us to the castle area.



There's a few bakeries in front of the castle. Am I the only one who absolutely loves the way a bakery smells? It's like heaven. I could stay in one all day.




...Dammit I'll be back. When it comes to bread, I'm a weak, weak man.

45 minutes later, I'm back from the bakery with some fucking bitchin' croissants and remember I'm doing an update.



Moxa increases your Willpower by 1. Willpower affects your chance to revive yourself with 1 HP after being KO'd. That's a mechanic I haven't discussed because it hasn't happened yet. I'll get to it eventually.



This is the other bakery.



FUCK YOU GAME I'M ON A DIET *munches on a croissant*



This guy tells us that the reason Wyndians aren't afraid of heights is because they used to be able to fly, which is a plot point in the previous two games.



The guard in front of the castle thinks this is Nina, but quickly assumes it can't be, because she's inside. Great job guy.



The other part of Wyndia is the outdoor cafe/shopping area.



"I'm patrolling this here sandwich, see?"

Carry on, bro. You're ok by me. No matter how fancy food gets, nothing is quite like a good sandwich.



This house was broken into by some kid from the country. Teepo?



Here's the shopping area, right next to the entrance of town.



That Claymore is Ken's best weapon until about halfway through the game. I buy it, and 2 Maces for Nina for reasons that will become clear in the next update.



Chrysm is a pretty major thing in the game. Remember the very beginning with Gary and Mogu? That purple stuff the Whelp was in before they woke him up? That's chrysm, and it basically makes everything work.




This is the Inoculation shop. By paying (characters level x 10) Zenny, you can up your resistance against various things by 2 until your next rest. You can only have one active at a time. Handy a few times, but typically not worth it.



Talk to the kid in front of the fountain. He challenges you to a game of hide-and-seek in exchange for information on the kid who robbed that house.



Easy



Peasy



Lemon



Squeezy.

You can also see one of the graphical tricks the artists did. That's not a fully drawn tree. The leaves are shaped like an asterisk (*). It's hard to tell the difference from the angle the game normally shows. They do the same thing with the fire in camp, only it's a + shape.

Anyway, after finding all the kids, the leader tells us the robber escaped to the road. So...that was helpful? I guess...



And now we head back to the world map. There's a couple points of interest before we continue the plot, though.




There's a Ginseng along that lower path. It ups a characters attack stat in battle. Could be useful.




This is Durandal, our next Master. Durandal is special in that he offers no stat changes at all. Unfortunately, his final Skill is needed to apprentice to a Master later on. Fortunately, it's only 3 levels. We put Ken under him for now. Ken's a little overlevelled right now, so I don't think he'll break 3 levels until we get back here.



This is also in his basement. We won't figure out it's purpose for a long long time. It's got some pretty chill music though



FLOWERS!



But this is our next destination. So let's get this plot moving, shall we?



: This is the entrance to the road. There's a small hut over there... Let's go and see what the owner has to say...

A neat little detail is that when Nina turns away to point out the house, Ken shakes his head like he thinks it's a bad idea. But when she turns back, he quickly starts nodding. It's so very



Nina screams upon entering.



OH FOR FUCK'S SAKE YOU GUYS

: Ken!!

Balio: Don't try anything, my little lizard friend... Good move--you see, there's no use resisting, punk... We don't really care about you anyway... But things would get messy if you ratted on us, see? We can't chance that. But it'd be even messier if we try to kill you here and you turned into a dragon again... Don't worry... We've got it all figured out, see? Enough talk! Say good night!

And Balio kicks Ken in the face




That guy at the bar is Fahl, he's a cameo for Rand from Breath of Fire II. That guy on the right is Garr and he's clearly someone you don't wanna mess with.

Balio: OK, Fahl, they're all yours...

Fahl: I just gotta keep an eye on 'em, right?

Balio: Yeah, just keep your eyes on them... and your hands off the bottle, OK? We've got better things to do than worry about a couple of kids...



Balio: Thanks a lot, Fahl. OK, brats... You'll get yours once the Contest is over... For now just stay here and behave yourselves, OK?

Balio leaves

Sunder: You'd better take it easy too, Garr... The Contest's coming up, you know.

Sunder leaves too.

: Ken... Are you all right? .........If only we could get out of these ropes... Chew through them? I don't think so... They're too thick Wow! How did you do that!! You bit all the way through them! That's amazing, Ken! Now maybe we can get out of here!

She peeks around the corner

: Looks like they're gone... That guy named Fahl's here, but it looks like he's had too much to drink...If we're quiet, he might not notice us. We'll be OK as long as we're careful... Let's go!

So the dynamic duo slowly make their way towards the door



: Uhhh.... Nowhere! We're not going anywhere!

Fahl: Nowhere... hic!

: That's right... ... We'll be seeing you.

Say what you will about Nina, the girl's got quite a head on her shoulders.



Easiest escape ever. Go team

This is Genmel, the Arena town. The NPCs all talk about the Contest of Champions coming up, placing bets and whatnot. Sheez game. This is an RPG, not a fighting game. We don't do fighting tournaments.




The Flier is an awesome item. Once you leave here, you can never get it again. Unfortunately, once you leave Genmel, it's gone for good. It also only works here, but it lasts the whole game.



You'll get this message from the merchants if you have it.



Shoot for the Magician Rod for Nina, and the Rippers if you have the dough to spare.




Genmel is chock full of cameos. Here we have Bow and Sten from the previous game, and Ox from the original. One of those paintings in the top right of the first pic has Katt from the previous game as well.



And here we have the oldest story in the world.

And while we're on the subject, a year or so ago, this acquaintance I knew dropped out of high school at 17, left her parents house and turned to the oldest profession in the world. She sent me a text one day (no idea how she got my number) which said "biznes is slo help me out". No. Just...no. For so many reasons.

Fortunately, last I heard she landed on her feet. She works at Animal Control now.



The map doesn't name this place Genmel for some reason.



Fortunately, Wyndia is just over that bridge.



Unfortunately, despite some pretty nice music we're stuck.

Well, let's explore our surroundings a bit.




I forgot to get a picture, but there's a drawer inside that tent that has another Wisdom Fruit.



And we also go fishing again...



And catch us Bass. For reasons I can't remember I catch two.



Looks like this is our only option, Mount Boumore. It's another road dungeon, split into two parts. No bosses, and a couple treasures.



And it's here we meet the last of the Nut Family, the Nut Archer. They have a ridiculously high critical hit rate (although when it happens to an enemy it's called a Lucky Strike). Other than that, they're not worth mentioning. And it's also here that I realized I forgot to rest up.



So I do.

And I made an executive decision to cut out the dungeon. Nothing exciting happens besides finding some money and a shield. So let's time jump to the end.



This guy invites us inside.



: ... ... ...So, we're trying to get away from the bad men chasing us...

Mason: Hmmm... Who exactly is it that's chasing you now, little girl?

: Ummm... ... ... Someone named...Balio and...Sunder, yeah, that's it.

The guys fidget.

: Do you know them?

Mason: I wouldn't worry about them... Whoever they are, they won't come this far, now will they? Tomorrow... We'll use the lift and take you where you'll be safe... You should get some sleep now... You can use the room over there.

: Thank you very much, Mr. Mason...



And so we sleep.



Upon waking, we find that the door is locked.



And we've been betrayed.



: I think we can get it to work...... Ken. Get in the lift! Hurry!! Don't worry! It'll be alright... ...I think...



: So if I hit this with my magic...when the lift starts to move, I'll jump in!



Sunder comes out then, but Ken shows some initiative and slashes the shit outta him.



And Nina hits the control with her wand, and this happens.



Nina can't quite make it, but she gathers her strength and...



Barely makes it.



: Haa...haa...haa. Looks like we got away, huh, Ken... Whew... See? I told you it would work... right? Were you worried about me? I, I'm sorry... But... I know that even if something went wrong... You'd do something to protect me, Ken!

The lift reaches the other side of the mountain

: I don't know exactly where we are... But we should be OK once we get off the mountain...




This is the east half of the mountain. Gongers show up on the other half, but I didn't meet any there. They cast Venom Breath to poison the party, then defend for a few rounds. They give piss poor experience too, so they're more of a nuisance than anything.



This isn't good.



These are Orcs. They'll wreck you shit if you let them. They use a learnable Skill called Last Resort, which lowers your Defense to 0 but adds it to your power. Combined with their high reprisal rate, they'll fuck you up.



Life Shards raise max HP by 1. These will all go to Nina of you're an idiot.



...Well damn.

Sunder: Bingo!



Sunder: Give it up! There's nowhere left to run! Forget it, boy... I've got my men blocking all the trails down... There's no way out! You can try and run but we always get our way in the end... Face it, kids, that's life--get used to it!

: Oh, yeah? That's what you think! Come on, Ken... Let's jump



Seriously, you may not like her in battle, but she's damn awesome as a character.

And then we jump!




Ken transforms again, and the duo fall unconscious. Sunder gets pissed, but is unwilling to jump because he's more of a wuss than a little girl in a pink dress whose been repeatedly beaten into unconsciousness by both unicorns and a blue haired dragon-kid.



She wakes up, sees the dragon and gets worried about Ken. Music: A Tribute to the Dragon

: Ken! ...Ken? What should I do...? If it meant being caught again, I would rather jump... But now look what's happened to Ken...



Ken transforms back.

: Ken...? Ken... Are you all right!? Thank goodness... I thought... I thought you'd... Me...? I'm OK, thanks... Because you turned into a dragon and broke my fall... Thank you, Ken. I don't know how, but someday I'll repay you... Let's go! We don't want them to catch us again now that we've gotten this far... right?



Back to the world map, we find another hidden little area.



With this at the end.



Only Ken can pick these up. They're Dragon Genes and I promise I'll get into them soon. They're just not worth using yet. This one is the Reverse Gene.



And now, let's go fishing for the second-to-last time! GO ME!





We want 8 (yes 8, but they're stupid common and easy to catch) Flying Fish, 3 Blowfish, and 2 Black Porgy. It's worth it to catch more Black Porgy, though. They restore 20 AP each. But these ones we're trading. Also see that score in the last picture? That means I have to fish only ONE MORE TIME IN THE ENTIRE GAME!



The Crepe Cape is the big find here. It's the best armor for Nina and a character we haven't met yet until about halfway through the game. The Chain Cap is only notable because it's stronger than what we have and this is the ONLY place in the game to get it for some reason. It goes to Ken. Nina is staying KO'd, so she doesn't get the cape yet.



Anyway, the Tower is our next destination. The game won't let us go any further.



Nina suggests asking whoever lives here for help.



This guy sells nothing we haven't seen, but it's the only normal shop we have access to, so stock up on healing items if you need to.



This is part of an optional puzzle that is VERY worth your time to do.



But first here's what the inside of the Tower looks like, and here's our first new enemy here. Lizards auto target whatever character has the lowest Defense. They ignore the formation. Naturally, they target Nina.

And it's here that I remember that I forgot to show something off. Ken used to attack like this:



Like a novice fighter, just swinging his sword wildly and averting his eyes.



But starting at the second Balio and Sunder fight, it's a straight-up slash. Much more deliberate, and he doesn't look away. It's a neat touch.

So, uh, here's the thing. Since this puzzle is timed, and there's little to no room for error to get the best stuff from it, I forgot to get a picture, but here's the gist of it.

See that big crystal? When you activate it with Nina's wand, a beam starts blocking the exit, and a counter starts. You have to go upstairs, take the exit, and light all four crystals around the fountain. Depending on how much time you have left when you hit all 4, you get a different prize from the chest in the fountain. The water drains which lets you get to it.

6+ seconds: Ring of Ice (GET IT!)
5-6 seconds: Wisdom Fruit (Get it if you feel like it, it's not life-or-death)
Less than 5 seconds: Multivitamin (fully restores HP, don't worry about it)



Dude, you don't even KNOW.



Also, you can find another Silver Knife. I forgot to mention, these sell for 700 Zenny. Once you get the Claymore, you don't need them anymore so sell the two from way back when. But keep this one for a while.



Anyway, this is the Tower. It can be one of the more frustrating dungeons if you're not prepared for it. It tends to throw new players for a loop. And here's the accompanying music.

It's pretty straightforward for the most part, but the second half is much more interesting.




That door leads to a lab. You can rest and save here, and read the books. They scratch the surface on the machine sub-plot of the game. Basically, no one knows how they work, they just fiddle with them until they work.



These are Armor Bots. They have very high defense, but an electric spell will lower it AND confuse them. I don't do this.

By the way, I'm only showing new monsters because I don't think you wanna see a million pictures of Ken just slashing. I am keeping up the challenge. No items, nothing.

A few steps later something...strange happens.




Followed by an explosion.



And the music changes

: Hmmm... I guess the key lies in somehow stabilizing the pure chrysm... That's it! If the gassification pressure is kept down...

The little...thing starts tugging at her

: Huh?



: You!? You're friends of Honey? Nice to meet you! I'm Momo!

I truly love this chick. She's my favorite character.



: Ah, um... yes, it's nice to meet you too... Um, but you see...



: I was trying to say...that we're not really friends, we're trying to find the road to Wyndia...

: What? I'm sorry. My ears are ringing after that explosion...

: Hello! Can you please show us the road to Wyndia?



The camera pans back dramatically. Uh-oh, will she turn us in too?

: What?



: I'm sorry... My ears are better now. So, you want to go to Wyndia? No problem! I'll take you to Wyndia myself!

: Thank you. I'll be sure to make it up to you when we get to the castle...



: .........Castle? Wait a minute! When you say Nina... Do you mean... Princess Nina!? Y-y-y-your highness! Please forgive me! I had no idea...

: I...it's all right... You're helping us, after all... Please call me Nina.

: Oh, really? OK, Nina, shall we get going? I have to get some things ready, so why don't you rest here while I get them?



: C'mon Honey. We're going now.

So Ken and Nina rest while Momo goes prepare her stuff.



: Thanks for waiting... Say... You two aren't being followed by some scruffy-looking guys, are you? That's funny... When I went outside to buy something from the merchant... I saw these real rough-looking characters there...



SON OF A COCKSUCKING BITCH

Scruffy man: Hey, you there... We're in a hurry... Did you see a couple of kids 'round here?

Merchant: Hmmmm... Y'see, I be a humble merchant, yes? So if ye be wantin' to knows about the kids... It'll be costing ye, see?




: Hey... there's no need to be afraid... I mean, inside this tower... I've been doing experiments... on chrysm... So there's lots of monsters here... Not to mention chrysm machine soldiers... Traps to protect me from them... And all sorts of other things! Don't worry--they won't get up here so easily!



: .........But... Momo... We were able to get this far...



: Oh! I guess you're right! How did you get up here, anyway?

: Let's not worry about that now! We have to get out of here!

: R... right............Since we can't get out by going down... Let's go up! Don't worry! There's a way out! C'mon let's go!

And with that, we have a bazooka wielding scientist on our side!

...

*munches on a croissant*