Part 44: The α That Is Ω

Sorry. Never mind.
We're not allowed to stop or look back, not until we finish what we set out to do.
If one hundred children are to die, do you not want to save one for the future, even if it means sacrificing the other ninety-nine?
This is the path we have chosen.
Yeah, I know.
But the end might come sooner than you think.
Really? Did you notice something different this time?
No, no. It is simply a hunch. A woman's intuition, if you will.
A hunch, eh?
And what is wrong with that, pray tell?
Nah, nothing. Your "hunches" are pretty reliable, actually. And if you're right...
...then this might be it.





















What is it, Theia?





Oh, it's another female voice. But whose?




Meanwhile, at another location...







...weather is pretty nice.





A strange contraption making its way through the sea. Reminds me a bit of vehicles from the "Lost Odyssey" game actually...



And here we meet first of our characters. What's that, you can't see where he is?



Right here!



As you can see, his name is Vieg.



And finally we get a location title. And with it, the first problematic translation, awesome! This is actually not a battleship named "Napur", but in fact a battleship belonging to a country of Napur (yes, the countries finally have names now!). I am not sure why the error even happened here, since the next two lines of dialogue make this clear anyway. But in any case, the full name here (ナーパル帝国要塞戦艦) really means roughly something like "Armoured battleship of the Empire of Napur", but I can forgive that since it's too long to fit on the screen anyway.



But that's enough chit-chat, Vieg here has a job to do, and that involves climbing up to the turret.











And here it is obvious that Napur is the name of a country.



A bit further up, and...



...here we are.





And we'll attack it with... a sword? Heh, why not.













Welcome to the first boss fight! We need to defeat this massive and dangerous looking turret with only a sword! This also reminds me of "Lost Odyssey" which featured more or less exactly the same kind of beginning where the main character defeats an armuored tank with just a sword!



We deal reasonable damage to it.





On the other hand, the turret barely hits us, and in fact, usually misses. Considering our position, this is not unreasonable--it is not meant to hit something standing right in front of it!



We are done here quickly.

Since some of the boss fights in this game have funky looking attacks, I will be occasionally including the videos... such as in this case!

VIDEO: Sword vs. Turret: Who will win? (make sure to switch it to 720px HD for much better quality!)



Are you kidding me! Defeating this boss gives us 2 EXP? Seriously?







This reminds me of something...













Looks like it's the Qualia...





Ah, yes, we know how this works... I think you know where he was taken!



























You can watch this brief opening sequence in a video below if you prefer. I highly, HIGHLY recommend that you do so, as it's pretty awesome looking!

VIDEO: It is happening again! (or... uh, for the first time?) (make sure to switch it to 720px HD for much better quality!)






The good old snowy dungeon...



And two figures running through it...



One of them is Olgar...



Suddenly a new challenger appears!



And the other is Vieg. Looks like Vahti is around too. Nice.







So it's a boss fight! It's only been a couple of minutes since the last one!



This is still not too difficult...



...even though this enemy hits harder; but we have the pair attack now.





So, we won. And with it another measly 2 EXP. This is starting to be annoying.



We also got the Goat genes!

Whew. Nothin' like a little exercise after a nap.
What in the world are these things, anyway? I've never seen anything like them.
Blast if I know. Anyway, I say we're done scoutin' around. Let's head back.
Right. Let's see how the ladies are doing.



There is a conveniently placed teleporter here.



Even though the rest of the dungeon exists, we are not allowed to go and explore it. The only option is the teleporter.



Yes, this place I know very well. There's Ayuta, but I am not sure who are all the others.



Here are Olgar and Vieg returning from the dungeon...



Ayuta with somebody and two other unfamiliar people.



And I guess these two are Vahti and Rachel.







We came out on a silvery white field. We're definitely not in our kingdom any more.
Hmm. I've heard of lands like that in the North. I wonder if that's where we are.
The thing I am worried about are those strange beasts we saw roaming around out there.
And they were pretty ornery too.
From what we saw, looks like they'd attack ya whether they were hungry or not!
We might have to fight through them to escape this place.
Vahti, how are you and the baby doing?
We're doing fine.
Just try to be careful. I couldn't stand it if anything happened to either one of you.
For the sake of both mother and child, we have to get out of here as quickly as possible. Vahti could go into labor at any time now. I don't want us to be here when that happens.









Okay. Now we are finally back in control. First let's have a chat with Olgar and Rachel...













The air is thick with it. Haven't felt anything like it in years. One thing is sure, though. It's comin' from whoever calls the shots around here.
*shudder* Gah, it creeps me out. Good thing I've still got my youthful bravado to shake it off. This is no place for an old man.
But, dear, you are not exactly the fledgling you used to be.
Huh? What are ya talkin' about!? I'm only forty-one. I'm in the prime of life. I feel like I could soar to the skies!

Well, by JRPG standards, he's positively ancient!

Excuse me, but you're forty-three. Do try to remember, won't you, dear?
And, "prime of life" or not, you're about to become a grandfather, don't forget.
Hey, come on, you two. Don't you know what kind of serious situation we are in here?
Do YOU? How can any of us know?
Okay, fair enough. But that's all the more reason to---
Look, I say we go by what we know, not what we think we know.
The menacin' vibe is gettin' stronger. Whatever's behind it is comin' this way. I say we meet it head on and make it cough up some answers.
Tsk. Vieg, don't let this doddering old fool talk you into doing anything rash.
Your caution and circumspection are why we entrusted our daughter to you in the first place.
I know. And don't worry. I could never be like Olgar, even if I wanted to be.
In any case, Vahti is in no condition to be gallivanting about. The slightest injury right now could seriously harm the baby.
It's up to the three of us to protect them.
Hmm... This could get ugly.
Before I lost consciousness, I saw the sky covered by darkness. It was so sudden. I wonder if it had anything to do with what happened to us.

So let's see now how is Vahti actually doing.











Do you think they could be the ones who brought us here?
No, I don't think so. Somebody else brought us here, somebody we haven't met yet. As for the reason, who knows.
Vieg, I'm scared. I have a really, really bad feeling about all of this.
I feel like we are caught in a nightmare, a nightmare we'll never escape...
Don't worry. I'll protect you and the baby, no matter what happens.
Besides, Olgar's here. You know better than anybody what kind of wild beast your father is when he gets riled up.
And your mother is here too. You don't have to worry about a thing.
Thank you, Vieg... and you are right about my mother and father too...
Whoever did this, I'm gonna make them pay for messing with my people.
At least we're all together.



Finally, we should go to the other side of the hall where the rest of the people are. First, let's talk to the unknown couple.



Wait. A. Second. CYLLIS? Cyllis Mackenzie, perhaps? Now I'm definitely interested!















She seems nice enough, but her companion is a bit strange.

No, I disagree. We need to find out as much as possible about what happened to us.
But there's not guarantee they mean us no harm.
And they look very powerful.
Yorath, stop being so rude.
...
I am terribly sorry. He's always so protective of me, you see.
Let us talk again later.
I hope we can return home soon.

And now, let's see what Ayuta is up to this time...































Ha, I think we know whose voice that is!



* * *

In any case, welcome to...



As I have already mentioned a few times, despite its name, this game is actually a prequel to the original and gives more details about the events that lead to those we have seen in the first game. You may or may not like the explanations, and some of them maybe don't even make much sense, but nevertheless it's a fun game to play.

It is partially based on recycled assets from the previous game, but there is also quite a bit of new content and generally all new stuff tends to look a bit better (new graphics are noticeably better for sure). In particular new boss fights are a lot more interesting to watch as most bosses have some unique looking attacks. So I will try to provide videos for those whenever possible.

The main story has only one chapter and the length of it is a bit more than one chapter from the original. There is (of course) some extra content, but it is organised very differently in this game. This, we'll talk about when we come to it.

Another slightly unwelcome change is the rebalancing of difficulty/EXP. As you already saw, the amount of EXP we get for defeating enemies has been reduced by a factor of like 5-10, so it's much more difficult to gain levels. At the same time the boss fights have been made noticeably harder and in a few of them you suffer additional handicaps (e.g. not allowed to heal when morale gauge is not on your side). The game is short enough that this is not a big deal, but the feeling of being completely overpowered will definitely not be present. I am honestly not sure I would have been able to finish the first game on this level of difficulty without getting seriously frustrated! Again, we'll talk about this as it comes up during gameplay.

So, here is what the title screen looks like for this one...