Part 47: Chapter XLVI: Therapeutic Errands

In order to wash the taste of last update out of our brains, this update will mostly be relaxed and focus more on the last bits of stuff we can see and do before heading to the finale.



Of course, we got some residual to deal with.



: "My sister...when we didn't find her at first, people told us to give up, but I still hoped...then, to be told she's dead..."

: "When Ershin...when Deis left me...I do not know how to express it...I felt empty. But..."

: "You are trying to make me feel better, aren't you, Ershin? I think I know what you mean...I may feel alone, but I'm not - I've got all of you...all my friends."



Outside, Ursula stands up and walks toward Cray.

: "I...if it had been me in her place...I would have asked you to do the same thing. What you did...for what it's worth...I think you did the right thing."

: "I t-t...think so too."

Both Cray and Ursula look rather shocked that Scias speaks.

Now for the choice bits of camp dialogue:

: "Deis says that she has lost her faith in humans...ha ha ha ha ha. I believe there is no other appropriate response."

Welp.

: "Sacrifices...hexes............they're wrong."

This is actually kind of creepy when you talk to him as the ...s get typed out rather slowly.



That's the capital over there on the far left. The X is where Fou-Lu got hexed, and it's inaccessible. He got pretty close before he went nuts.

Wait, what's that to our right?



Aww God damnit this is going to suck.



This woman gives us her treasure, while telling us she lost track of her daughter while fleeing the capital. She begs us to forgive her.

Let's explore the rest of the village.



: "......no, yer not 'im. We don' like strangers around here...ye be just passin' through, right?"

Yeah. Yeah we are.

When you talk to the landlord with someone other than Ryu it gets even more

: "It...it ain't me fault...it's yer fault, Mami...ye shouldn'ta done tha'..."

He'll be found here in front of Mami's house for the rest of the game, simply staring into space.



Mt. Yogy had some rocks blocking a few paths, and we can use Ershin to smash them to get some sweet, sweet loot. This armor increases the wearer's resistance to earth and fire while making them take more damage from wind and water.



The faeries are almost at the peak of their development, now. All the random encounters in Yuna's funhouse caused a population boom. Also note that the art building is at maximum, so it has all the art it will get now. Here's some of the choice pieces.



I just find it interesting to see a full royal crest of Wyndia in the art.



The artbook has a colossal two-page spread of this that's amazing but actually too big to upload to most image hosts and keep the quality.



Even stuff like the throwaway Sparrow fight with Nina has concept art. Who'd have thought? It's kinda cute, I'd totally keep one as a pet.



Sketches of random townspeople, chosen because damn that lady's ears are huge. That's very much a part of the style in the artbook, a lot of women - especially Nina - have giant ears for some reason.



Scias being amazing as hell.



Judging by the anchor-like tail, the boat, the crocodilian appearance, and the sail-fin, this may have been another design for the Sea Dragon, or at least a boss on the ocean. Check out how teeny Ryu and Nina are compared to it.



Some of the under-represented Earth-Eating Clan along with design notes for hex-resistant armor. Also, Nina's expression is pretty funny. A lot of art in the artbook has the main characters in moderately goofy situations.



Apparently the Wind Dragon's original design was even weirder. It has a whale for an ass. Seriously, check out the very top: whale + praying mantis.



Rhem looking incredibly nonplussed. I'm a bit sad they didn't keep her snake staff in, considering her role as the temporary host for Deis.



More sketches of Rhem, included because the top left is adorable.

Now that that's out of the way, there's something else to address in the land of the fae. Our weapon shop has lots of items in it now, including something that can easily be called the best accessory in the game.



Hello. You are going on Ryu and never leaving, ever. Unlike 3, Shaman's Rings DO work on a dragon form's consumption of AP.

And now it's time for the Master Runabout!



Kahn gives us Tiger Fist, easily his best move.



It attacks all targets, hits multiple times, and can be awe-inspiringly deadly if you boost the user's power and agility. However, if you DON'T boost them, it's actually pretty crappy. Our next and final move from Kahn will come after we clear 600 total random encounters.



Marlok looks at our shiny new treasure we got off a war refugee, and gives us Monopolize.



It does exactly what it says. This move is one of the keys to abusing the Bot EXP grinding trick. Marlok's next and final move will be ours when we show him the Platinum Bell.



: ".........I guess you wouldn't, would you? All right, then - I'll teach it to you!"

Holy shit, Momo's giving us a move finally! Her moves are given out based on your in-game clock, the first one awarded after a whopping twenty-five hours.



Surprise, it's pretty useless! Except if it's on Ershin, but still. Next move's at thirty hours of gameplay.



Njomo is incredibly impressed with the rate of progress we've made with the faerie village and gives us two moves: FaerieBreath and War Shout.



FaerieBreath heals the entire party and restores their status, with how much it heals depending on how many troops there are, how skilled they are, and how much they like you.



War Shout uses the same formula to boost the front row's power. With a full village that loves you, you can easily get +60% or more per person. The final faerie move will come when we have a full village of twenty faeries.



Oh yes, something I forgot to mention: one of the faerie item shops stocks spoons after a point. This may sound useless, but as you can see, they are the ultimate sinking lure. Any and all fish will go for it. While this is great for catching rare fish, this means EVERY fish in the area will be competing with them, so it's not always your best shot.



Also fishing with a big spoon tied to the reel never stops being funny to me.

Now get ready folks, because it's time for The Fishamania 2010 World Tour!



Starting at Lake Spot 3, we fish up a Martian Squid. They look nothing like martians nor squid. When used in combat, Martian Squid act like Sanctuary. All around, they're pretty weird.



Angelfish are amazing and are always welcome in your inventory. They revive an ally at half HP with no chance of failure.



Black Bass restore 1200 HP to one target, and infest Lake Spots 2 and 3.

To Ocean Spot 3!



The Angler is the only unique fish in this spot, found at the very edge of the casting range at the extreme bottom. In addition to being kinda terrifying, they can be used to cast Thunderstorm in combat.



Flatfish are found on the bottom of this spot, too, and can be used to cure all status ailments. Check out the new title, by the way. Gyosil's got something fancy for us! Well, he has since a thousand points ago but still.



: "Wow! Looks like you've been fishing quite a lot since I last saw you! Great! Just like I promised, I'll give you a gift. Here - you can have this Ring of Ice!"

The Ring of Ice converts all water damage the wearer takes to healing, like the other rings of its type. I now have three of the four of them, all but earth. The Ring of Clay is actually hidden in the forest near Sonne but I forgot it was there until New Game +. Gyosil's next prize is at 6000 points.

FISHAMANIA CONTINUES



Ahh, Sturgeons. They can actually be caught with a Bamboo Rod if you're incredibly skilled and lucky, as they're in a river. They're picky about bait, but with a spoon that's not an issue. The problem is that they're very rare and fight incredibly hard. They, however, are used in some of the best manillo shop transactions, and as an item they're pretty amazing as well: using one of them counts as using ammonia on every single party member.



Bullcats, I shit you not, are fluffed to be used as part of TNT in this world, and cast Eruption in combat. Fish-based explosives. So, do they just randomly explode into showers of fishy gore when startled? If there were fish that did that I'd actually fucking learn to fish in real life. It wouldn't be NEARLY as boring if it was interrupted by random explosions.

6000 points means it's Gyosil time!



His next prize is at 9500 points, which means crowning almost every fish in the game. That's definitely not happening until New Game +.



The Spanner is pretty good, and definitely a step up from the rod we've got.



It's got a longer range, but not by much.



However, it's longer by enough to start catching Dorado in Lake Spots 2 and 3, which are some awesome fish. They restore 800 HP to all party members, meaning they're handy for emergency healing.



Their real use, though, is to get this rod from the blue manillo in Lyp.



This is the best fishing rod most sane people are going to get. It casts normally, has incredibly long range, and reels in almost any fish you could ask for with no trouble.



Feel the power.



Screwing around in Ocean Spot 2 looking for whales, I get a ton of Spearfish instead. Even with the Angling Rod they fight like crazy, but they're worth the effort. They restore 1500 HP to the entire party, which is nothing to sneeze at. In fact, it's essentially a full heal for almost everybody.



Back at the Saldine spot (which requires walking through two screens of enemies to reach, naturally ) the Angling Rod can catch Black Porgies. Quite possibly the most useful fish in the game to farm, each one restores 100 AP to a party member. Given that they're rather easy to fish up when you know how, going out of the way to nab some for boss fights is well worth your effort even if you hate fishing.



Lake Spot 3 is completed with a Barandy, the ultimate lake fish. It fully heals and restores the party member it's used on.

Now it's time for a rant. Fuck whales. Fuck the smarmy bastards. Fuck them for hiding when I'm looking for them, fuck all the fish that take the bait instead of them, and fuck this game for making me spend two hours of my life looking for a single fucking whale.



Look at this smug bastard. He even looks like . He's like "You want to get an item that fully heals and restores your entire party? I guess you're going to have to go crazy instead."

Well FUCK YOU whales, cause I got your number. And your number is 1-800-JAPANESE-WHALERS.