Part 33: Chapter Thirty Three: Nightmare Creatures

What lies within this cave? Let’s find out.







: This one looks different to all the others. Is this Mogu’s Courage?

: Courage, you say…



: What you see is only form…not substance.

: Hey man, don’t be that way! The other parts of you need your help!

: My help? I cannot help them. I cannot even help myself.

: Careful, everyone – I hear something sneaking up behind us.



: Thank you for finding Courage.



: Courage, snap out of it! You’re still powerful.

:…No, I’m-



: You would never have fought with Mote if you didn’t have Courage. You’re stronger than this!





: Don’t upset him, Courage. It’s bad for his heart.



:…Perhaps they’re right. If I sit here and do nothing, then nothing will change.



Reason combines with Mogu’s Courage. After this, every other facet of his personality does so too.

: (Humor) Since you’re with us, we have nothing to worry about! Ha! Ha! Ha!

: (Sorrow) It’s in my nature to be distressed, but not yours.

: (Fear) If you become yourself again, I’ll be fine too.

: (Anger) Let’s beat up that monster!

:…Alright. I feel complete once more.



: Of course we will!

: That is what we are here for, after all!



And with that, we finally gain our last party member! Now, how does he stack up against everyone else?



Well…honestly…he’s not that great. His HP is abysmally low, not even breaking triple digits. He comes equipped with a subpar weapon and outdated armor and lacks either a shield or a piece of headgear. His one saving grace is his ability to dig. This can be used as a spell-like ability to flawlessly escape from random battles, and Mogu can also dig for items as a field ability on the world map. We’ll be getting into that later, though.

Overall, I don’t like Mogu very much. He joins far too late in the game to be of any real use and his fragility makes it difficult to use him effectively. He gets some pretty good HP growths during level-ups to make up for his initial low health but it’s too little too late. He’s not even a fusion component, so he’s not even useful on the sidelines.



I’ll spare everyone the trek back through the Wilderness and just skip straight to the tower.



: I’m back, Mothro! And this time I won’t be running away!





: Ha! Who’s the coward now, monster?

: I’ll make you eat those words, fish! But first you’ll have to reach the top!





The upper levels of the tower have the same gimmick as the ground floor.







: Grr…these invisible walls are very disorienting…We can see the exit, but…

:…We will get there eventually, friend Bo, if we move patiently.







: Here it is – the last floor.



The last floor isn’t even a puzzle – just one pathway with multiple nubs with the monster at the end.



: You made it this far, but don’t get the wrong idea.





Once again we do battle with Mothro, but this time we can actually damage him. His evasion rate is still through the roof, however, so it’s best to attack with magic rather than physical attacks. Mothro retains his magical arsenal from the first time we fought him, as well as the Shock spell that can instantly kill party members. This battle is interesting because Mothro has no health bar – in other words, he begins the fight with his second wind already active. Nevertheless, he has over 3000 HP and takes a while to kill, although our efforts are assisted by Bleu’s newly learned BoltX spell, which does 400 damage per casting.

(Video – Mothro)



: Not so – we have the Bolster. Come, everyone! Let us leave this land of dreams.







: We’re back. The monster is slain, and Mogu is freed from his nightmares.



: Mogu! I was so worried about you!

: I had a dream…and you were in it!



: It was not a dream, but reality.

: My mind, my courage…it was real! Could I join your party again?

: Of course! Help is always appreciated.

: Thank you all.



And with that, Mogu officially joins the party. I’ve explained his abilities already, and I’ll be suspending the narrative for the rest of the update whilst I demonstrate his field ability and backtrack for items and skills.

Firstly, remember that odd-looking patch of soil we found just north of Nanai so very long ago?



Now that we have Mogu we can finally do something with it. With Mogu in the lead, press ‘A’ whilst standing on the soil patch.





Mogu will dig down and make a pit, causing the party to fall down to a secret area.



We wind up in a secret area where a Fusion Priest lives.



Karn learns a new Fusion spell, allowing him to combine with Ox and Bo to form Doof.



Doof is an absolute mountain of a character. He attacks by bodyslamming his opponents to death and has incredible physical abilities without Ox’s low speed weighing him down. He can only be used on land, but that’s not really an issue since there’s nothing left to do underwater at this point anyway. Doof can also push heavy weights that even Ox can’t handle.



Like this one in Bleak. Pushing it across results in the party falling down a hole…



…a hole leading to the last Fusion Priest.



Karn learns the last Fusion spell, wherein he fuses with Gobi, Ox and Bo to form Puka.



Puka is ridiculously, obscenely, game-breakingly overpowered. He has two attacks – one where he roars at the enemy, which currently deals over 400 damage, and a rolling attack where he curls into a ball and rushes the enemy Sonic-style. This does double the damage of his regular attack. Both of these basic attacks can hit critically, and Puka’s critical hit rate also happens to be extremely high. His HP is also through the roof – he’ll be hitting the cap very soon once his constituent characters gain a few more levels. Aside from being a combat monstrosity Puka also has other uses. Remember those dragon plaques we’ve been seeing from time to time?



Well, Puka can open them.



Inside is a single chest containing a DarkBR, an accessory that increases Active, Fate and Magic Defense. It’s a unique accessory that only Karn can equip, so I stick it on him pronto to make his Fusions even more gamebreaking.



The plaque near Gust conceals the LoveBR, an accessory that can only be equipped by Nina or Bleu. It recovers 1 HP for every step taken.



North of Tantar, near where the Stone Robot once stood, another patch of soil can be dug into. The room beneath contains three stat-up potions and a Clog, an accessory that improves Active and Magic Defense. Unlike the others we’ve found, it can be equipped by anyone.

That’s all the shopping we can do for the moment. Tune in next time to witness some weather shenanigans and further Mote dickery.