Part 8: Episode VII (Part 1): Puns Are Present
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Right, then. Where were we...? Ah yes... Our hero Serge found himself in a parallel dimension where he drowned as a child (also his mom is dead too for an extra kick in the nuts.) Kind of a downer.
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So, apparently Leena tweeted some weirdo claiming to be a dead kid was messing with her while she was babysitting. Unfortunately for Serge, she has a number of followers including a few minor villains.
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Poshul attempts to intervene...
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...and promptly gets booted off the edge of the cliff. This new portly fellow is now my favorite character.
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"He"? What, are they going to avoid saying his name because it is a nameable character? It better not turn out to be that prick, Tidus.
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Welp, seems like it's time for another boss battle. Three against one is a bit unfair though. What do you say we pull a new ally out of nowhere, shall we?
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But they'll die if you take them out of the water!
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You know, if you're wearing a skirt that is so short it requires a large dagger across your crotch to avoid giving everyone a panty shot...there is a good possibility you may actually be indeed wearing a belt mistaken to be a skirt.
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Hey, now. It's the blonde Aussie that Serge rests peacefully at night with thoughts of disemboweling. Fancy meeting her here.
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A JRPG character getting annoyed with villain monologuing and saying they're just going to kick the shit out the jerks? I think I like her.
Music: The Brink of Death
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As per
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The dragoon Karsh is the only real threat in this battle, and even then he's really not very tough at all. The only thing he's got going for him is that he hits harder than anything we've encountered thus far (around 8-13 HP per attack.) But, he's only got 115 HP total so he goes down easily enough.
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Backing him up are the Shaker Brothers: Solt and Peppor. Japans love for naming characters after a bad pun continues. The two of them are both mostly harmless with weak attacks doing mid-single digit damage and no elemental attacks. But, they're mostly here for exposition for a tutorial...
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Nincompoop is a fun word. People ought to use it more often.
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Down to business. The new girl is fighting on our side for this battle. She doesn't hit quite as hard as Serge, but seems to have slightly better accuracy. If you cannot guess by her outfit, she is a Red Innate character.
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As far as fighting the three goes, it's best to go after Solt first as he's slightly weaker than his brother (52 HP vs. 60 HP with slightly weaker defense and attack) so he can be knocked out of the battle in just a couple rounds of Serge and his pal plowing into him.
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Kid also comes equipped with a stock of Red Element magic. While none of the opposition are blue innate, the MagmaBomb spell is worth busting out at some point in the battle.
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As the description implies, it bombs the entire enemy party with fire magic for a good 20 HP worth of damage. She also has a Fireball spell in her Lv3 Element slot (Fireball +2) for a nice preemptive strike to get a little field effect buff to the MagmaBomb (bumping the damage up to ~30 HP per enemy.)
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Peppor ought to be dealt with right after his brother, since he's just another annoyance barely pecks away health.
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Karsh himself does wield one fairly strong attack in his arsenal that can be trouble if you're dicking around too long. It's worth noting that boss characters don't play by any Element rules, so they can spam techniques and magic repeatedly.
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As the name implies, Dragon Rider causes Karsh to summon a dragon...
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And ride over to hit someone in the face with his axe. It hits for a good 20-30 HP which can be a problem if Solt and Peppor are still around pecking away health when he starts using it.
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But, overall it's a very simple battle. Indeed, you can expect a less than difficult encounter most times Solt and Peppor show up for a fight (yes, they're reoccurring comic relief villains/walking tutorials. Get used to them and their condiments based puns.)
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Defeating the Shaker Brothers and Karsh nets the second Star Level of the game. You can pretty much expect to have an encounter earning one about one in every area of the game.
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After shaking his fist in anger for a moment, Karsh proceeds follow suit and run away like a pussy as well.
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Chrono Cross is a bit weird about letting you rename characters that already have pre-established names beforehand. Sure, we'd only met Kid in a dream before this. But, there are other characters we'll be meeting repeatedly and not recruit until half way through the game when suddenly they start going by Captain Dongs or the like.
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Once more, Serge apparently gives an explanation we cannot hear. I guess the idea is that you're supposed to fill in the blanks yourself...which I guess is a bit less creepy and awkward than most silent protagonists who just stare off into space.
Anyhow, the canon response is:
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Welp, this is the first point in the game with a branching decision path. There are a number during the course of the game. Since I don't want to hear people bitch and moan because I missed out on XXX by doing YYY I am going to just offload the onus of decisions on you jerks.
So, what is it going to be...
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Edit: Please use spoiler tags in regards to the immediate effects of the decision.
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or
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Keep in mind regardless of the decision Poshul can be kicked to the curb in the next proper update. Don't let that influence your decision.
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Poshul Kicking and Kid's Intro FMV
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Karsh Official Art - Parachute pants are always in-style somewhere.
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Kid Official Art - Subscribing to the Kingdom Hearts store of ridiculously oversized gloves and footwear.
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- Solt and Peppor's Japanese names are Salton and Shugarl (salt and sugar har har har). They are continuing the dopey condiment mid-boss themed badguys of Vinegar, Soy Sauce, and Mayonnaise (Ozzie, Slash, and Flea) from Chrono Trigger.