Part 66: A Distant Sorrow

Last time, just as we were about to check up on Marie, we got summoned by Bachs.





Let's see what this is all about.



Marie is of course still absent, recuperating in her room.































And here it is again...





It's trying to attack Bachs...













...but his little pet takes care of it by putting up some sort of force-field.







Not so fast!
Time's stopped--that much we know.
But those monsters are still wandering around. What's going to happen to the ones who stay behind?
Worry not. They are frozen, protected by the Creator's power. They may look strange, but they cannot harm you.
If we can survive until time stops, we should be all right.
But if the seal were to be broken...
...
...
Yet another reason we must obtain a full understanding of the situation. Please go forth and do so now.
So... we have no choice.





Although I did want to talk to you about something, and this seems like the perfect time.
...I'm sorry. I just...
I don't know how what you did ties in to everything that's going on now, but let's start out by following the old guy's orders--for now, anyway.





Before we go, let's see what others think of all this. First, Araki.







Well, it's a JRPG so it's gotta be some kind of end-of-the-world scenario, right?

How the hell should I know?
But even if it is, so what?
...!
You just never change, do you?
You two... know each other?
I guess you could say that.
Go and get it over with. Let's end this stupid game.

Then we go and have a chat with Conor...







Sorry. I didn't mean anything by that.
It's fine...
Conor, what happened before you were brought here?
...There was nothing special.
I woke up and got ready for school. Then came that earthquake, and then... all I could hear were screams of fear and anger...
My mother and father were trying desperately to guide everyone out of the manse, and then I... I...
I alone was engulfed in a bright light, and... the next thing I know, I was here.
I see... Your father was a great man.
...
H-hurry back soon. I d-don't want to be alone in a place like this...
I will. I'll wrap this up in no time, so you be a good boy.
I-I'll be waiting here.

Before we go, we should introduce Li Hua to Piu-Piu.













So wait a minute...
Darwin, you nitwit! You don't understand the first thing about it!
An ample chest equals justice! Why, that's how the human race is sustained, is it not?
Yeah, I don't think so.











Say, what's with the weird get-up? What's that on your head?
This? This is a bikini.
Because... I ordered one, I guess? My memory's a little foggy at the moment, but somehow this really gets me going!
...You are one interesting fellow, you know that?
See you around, Piu-Piu.
Be careful out there, Li Hua!
But don't worry if you're defeated. I'll give ya my Tantalising Treatement! In fact... go out there and lose!
Oh, and uh, Darwin? I'll help you too. More or less.
More or less...?
Sheesh.



Alright, well, anyway. We don't have a lot of money, but I can buy a slightly better weapon for Li Hua at least. As you can see, she's your monk-type character and as such, she uses her fists to punch stuff as weapons. Think Yang or Ursula from Final Fantasy IV.



Let's just get some final instructions from Lessica and then we can go ahead.





















...Bachs said something about this time being different. So this has happened before?
It has indeed. Many chosen humans have given their lives to seal away destruction.
This world only exists today thanks to their sacrifices.
How many times has... all this happened?
This is the one thousand six hundred eighty-fifth rite.
But that's...
It's fair to say that you are only here now, able to give up your own lives, thanks to the sacrifices of the Pillars before you.
...
You people...
May I continue?
You should next head for a place of freezing ice.
And as for why the Sopia Core was lost... That is what we would like you to investigate.
What's this Sopia Core thing?
Sopia are crystallised souls that open the divine passages. Offer your lives in the holy rite to be guided to the Pedestal of Sealing.
You should head for a place of freezing ice. I do not know what awaits you there, so take great care.

Lots of things are being said by Bachs and Lessica that really don't make much sense at this point...

So here is our next choice on the list of locations to go to...



But before we go, Darwin again has a headache...



























And here we are. Japanese title is something like "Distant sorrow of snow and ice", but considering that we are actually on ice floes, English version is not too bad in the limited space they had.



As before, our destination is the exclamation mark, so we don't have far to go.



Soon we reach our first "blocked" chest. This time, it's Li Hua's turn to solve the problem. She can simply punch the barrier to break it, like so:





Again, the item is not bad at all.



It increases some stats...



...but more importantly, it reduces the chance of success of insta-death attacks. Again, it's too early in the game for this to actually be necessary, but still.



In a subsequent random battle, we meet a familiar enemy. Yes, pandas are back and they still give huge amounts of money, EXP or SP depending on specific kind. This one gives lots of EXP:





Levelling up in this game is much slower than in the first, so getting a whole level or two from one battle is totally unthinkable normally.



A nice wave frozen in time.







She actually punches him!

















You and Orlando and his half-sister Marie, you're family, but not by blood--right?
H-how did you...
Oh, I've heard about you. From Orlando.
You know him too, huh?
That's right.
Where from?
From the battlefield. That would be, oh, about four years ago now.
But let's focus on the situation at hand. It's so sudden with so much still unknown.
One thing's for sure, at least: something outrageous is happening.
Yeah. "Outrageous" is right.



This looks like a dead end...



...but don't forget we can jump now!



And it leads us to this nice scene... two monsters fighting it out. In case it's not clear, the one on the left is a boss-monster while the one on the right is a random-encounter-monster.







The outcome is not surprising, but what's that in his hand?









Well of course.



Let's have a fight against Legion Caliga.





After enough attacking and damage taking, we get a new option in Darwin's menu.



This is basically like a Limit Break from Final Fantasy. What it does depends on the character type. Darwin is mostly a physical attacker, so his limit break is simply an attack that does more damage (in this case about twice as much as normal attacks). Spell oriented characters will also get something appropriate in this section.



This boss does not require much of a strategy, just keep attacking, use "Awake" when possible and heal as necessary--that's all.





Here too, the progress is now blocked.