Part 62: Extra: The Grand Entrance

So after finishing the main game, we were left at the ominously Piu-Piu laden start screen for the Extra section... Let's be brave.



Hm, interesting, whatever it is, looks like we'll be starting from Level 1 again.







And then we get an intro that looks similar to the original one...



















Er, what...?





The familiar main hall in Ark Arena is empty...





...but then people start teleporting in.











Well, here we are... no idea as yet what this is all about, but we are free to move around and talk to others at least. Let's start with Dante and Rachel.

















I think so, Brain, but this time, you put the trousers on the chimp.

Yes, and I don't like it.
It's gotta be comin' from whoever runs the place. Been ages since I've felt the hair on the back o' my neck stand on edge like this.
And the feelin' just keeps gettin' stronger. Can't wait to see who or what it is.
If the hairs on the back of my neck had hairs, they'd be standin' on edge too. I gotta bad feelin' about this...



Whatever you say, Rachel.

Now, let's move over to the two of our friends on the right...





















Heh heh, no matter. Names ain't got much meaning anyhow.
But the situation at hand? Now that's got my attention. Can we at least agree on that?
Anyway, whatever they've got in store, I'm gonna dive in headfirst!
I've got my eyes on you.

Finally, let's talk to the wife.















As always, a strange voice interrupts us. But this time it sounds a little different. Almost as if someone is really straining to sound tough...









Oh. This is different.











Piu-Piu can get no respect...







































Lemme spell it out for ya! My precous Piu-Piu collection is in the world beyond that door. I want ya to go get every last piece.
Ya got that? Or are ya dumber than I thought?
And why exactly would we do that?
Who else is there? No way I'M goin' in there. Piu-Piu has better things to do!
What, and we don't?
The thing is, ya ain't gettin' outta here till ya bring back every last piece of the collection. So, ya really ain't got much of a choice.















Yep. This is happening.



Once you see that he's on level 100, it's obvious that this is not a real fight.



We can't even damage him.





On the other hand... he can damage us and the fight ends before it even began.





















What's this...?

Ya guys can have these four Piu-Piu Cards. The holes in 'em can be opened once ya get the corresponding Piu-Piu Collection item! Ya got that? Or do I gotta spell it out for ya?
Inside, of course, ya'll find a silly picture. Pay close attention to the mysteries that are slowly unveiled!
Well? Not a bad deal, eh?
Kinda makes the mouth water, don't it!?













Don't worry about all of this for now, I'll explain it at the end.































Well, anyway, let's leave those two to do their own thing. We have our family to deal with.











Well, he asked for us to smack him, so here we are, again, fighting him. Unlike the last, this one is a real fight and it's possible to win. It's beneficial if you do as we'll see in a moment.







And winning it nets us a whole two levels! It's a nice boost to start with and worth doing.









Could you cut me some slack. That's one punishing attack you have there.
Like I said, I'm sorry. Lemme make it up to ya by helpin' with that collection game or whatever that little freak was talkin' about.
What, you weren't planning on helping in the first place?
No, it's just I thought ya'd do the collectin' on, yer own on account o' ye're such a do-it-yerself kinda guy.

OH MY GOD, DO PEOPLE ACTUALLY TALK LIKE THIS SOMEWHERE?

I swear, it's people like you who---
Look, I'm here and ready to let ya practice on me, so let's get to it!
Just say the word! We'll go on a rampage, just like old times!



Not just yet, hold on.





As should be somewhat obvious from this, we actually have a choice of who we want to venture into the dungeon with. Olgar (Vieg) has to go, but we can pick the other person from either Dante or Vahti.

Alright, enough with the macho posturing, let's talk to the ladies.



















We can't make Olgar go in there by himself. I'm going too.
Oh, but what will I do with Ohm?
Hmm... Well, I'd normally offer to babysit, but I don't have everything I'd need.
As much as I dislike the idea, shall we go see if that Piu-Piu creature can help?
It seems we've got no other choice.
Olgar, be a doll and go find Piu-Piu, will you?

Well, looks like there is no choice...





















And here they come... sigh.













That crib again...





























Right.











Not just yet, sorry.







So we can do this... It costs nothing, and it doesn't accomplish much except:





This is all pretty silly. But then again, we've been warned, so can't really complain.

Now we need to listen again to Piu-Piu's explanation about how his "collection" got scattered about...







Don't ya forget it either... Anyway, it's like this: it all went down the day before yesterday--that is as far as you guys measure time.
I was enjoyin' a kickback super-stylish afternoon of organizin' and enjoyin' my precious, treasured collection.
That's when that no-good Agent suddenly popped in and said "Such things are not worthy of this sacred place." Then he goes and takes every last piece!
Normally, a punk like that wouldn't have got the jump on me, but I guess I was still a bit dazzled by my awesome collection.
He used that moment of weakness to stick it to me where it hurts.
But that ain't the worst of it!
He had the nerve to take my super rare collection too!
If it was my regular stuff, I might've turned a blind eye to the whole thing, but my super rare stuff's a completely different story!
I mean, it's totally wicked! I had stuff like a miniskirted nun figure and a petite princess figure!
But there were much more than just figures. I had photos and DVDs too!
Every last one was a valuable collector's item. It was my life's work. He might as well've ripped my heart out.
But that still ain't the worst of it!
He went and scattered everythin' through the world out there like it was some kinda worthless junk!
So, ya see, I had to summon ya guys. It was a tough decision, but what else was I gonna do?
Suffice to say, I'm a victim too!
And that's the important thing here, so I'll say it again, so nobody forgets!
I'm a victim, too!

















Wow. That was... I don't even know.

But, anyway, if we check out Piu-Piu's shop:



Apart from the usual, there is now a new section where we can buy items for Ohm. Let's take a look...

















Again, wow. Solid gold crib, really? Only a million OZ!

Well, we are just about ready to venture into the dungeon... oh, hey, you know what, we forgot to check the bedroom. Let's do that quickly before leaving...





Hm.

Anyway, moving on to the dungeon...





Looks pretty familiar actually, it's the same dungeon from the original game it seems. Let's just quickly check out the ma...



...aaaaAAAAAAAAAAA! That's much bigger than a typical dungeon!





But at least it also shows us where the boss fights and items are, which is nice.

Obviously, there will be more dungeons than just this one, so we better get started on it!


* * *


Ok, now, what is going on here really?

Well, believe it or not, they threw in A WHOLE SECOND GAME that you can play after you finish the main story!

As you might have gathered by now, in order to win, you need to collect all items in dungeons that are not nailed down. That includes all Piu-Piu collection stuff, everything that he sells (including Ohm stuff, weapons, etc.) and so on. So yes, you do have to buy that solid gold crib, unfortunately. Not to mention, you also have to steal stuff from the bosses and all that.

The main antagonists in this whole process are, of course, going to be our old friends Alto and Garrick! Poor guys can't seem to catch a break, no matter what game.

As far as character status, in a bit of a show of mercy from developers, we do get to carry over the gene abilities, but not anything else (so characters start again at level 1, with only the default weapons/clothes and no money, but with all their abilities present).

As you can imagine, this is all grindy as hell and a bit tedious to cover in exact detail, so I've come up with the following plan: in the next update, we'll move on to the sequel, Chaos Rings 2, and I will be posting a collectathon highlights update every once in a while. I really don't think anybody wants to now have XX updates of this before we move on to 2 and I'm fairly certain we are all more than tired of the Ark Arena by this point; luckily Chaos Rings 2 is in a completely different setting, as already mentioned.

And so, just for fun, here is a non-spoiler preview screenshot from Chaos Rings 2, just to give you some appetite: