Part 8: Norune Village and Divine Beast Cave Part 6

When we last left off... Well, not much really happened, besides the usual dungeon crawling and pokeball collecting. But this time things will start coming together, I promise.



Some places have two or more inhabitants, as you've seen. Most of the time, only one of them will have a request for rebuilding. In Auntie Laura's case, she doesn't want to be too close to the Mayor's noisy and shitty house, while Xena/Gina doesn't care about anything except her tricycle and marrying Toan. Oh Toan, you get all the bitches.

Anyway, back to the dungeon. With only two floors to go, we'll finally be able to make lots of progress with the village. Most of the Atla placement is randomized, and we got dealt a really bad hand this time around.



As an aside, Curse is a pretty lame status affliction. It prevents you from changing weapons, but there's a very good chance you wouldn't have an urgent need to ever do so.



And this is what was inside. The Bandit Slingshot is notable as it has the "Steal" ability attached to it, where hitting enemies will have a chance to yeild items. Unlike Durable (and Fragile) it has no opposing ability.




Aaaaand that's the last of the Atla for this area! Let's meet the remaining townspeople and whip this village into shape.



Finishing up Laura's house gets you a Dran's Feather, which lets you move faster for a limited time. You find these all the time in the dungeon and I sell them off because they suck. This reward sucks.



This is Hag. The game hates her so much she doesn't even get a name. In fact, neither does Gaffer, really. This game hates the elderly. Anyway, she wants her house to face Dran's windmill, but she also wants you to make sure Dran is safe. You actually can't finish the village until you visit the last floor of the caves.

Fixing up her house allows you to store items with her, which has been much-needed for a while now.



This is Paige, whom you may remember. Her father is Pike the Dike, who loves fishing. Anyway, fixing up their house results in Paige sewing you a new pouch, which holds more items. Again, something that would have been nice a few floors ago. Game is a jerk.




Alnet and Carl are siblings. Alnet doesn't want to live near the Macho brothers (and who can blame her), and finishing their house nets you a fishing pole. Which means now's the perfect time to go over fishing mechanics!

Long story short, the types of fish you can catch depends on the bait you use, the location you're fishing at, and the time of day. Catching fish nets you Fishing Points, the amount of which is determined by the type and size of the fish. You can exchange FP for prizes, mostly consisting of weapon attachments and gems.



I used a Prickly and got a Nonky. Boy, I don't know if I'm talking about fishing or talking about sex in Australia!

...Yes, well then. With all the Atla collected, I finally go ahead completing each structure and placing them throughout the village those both fulfills the requests of the townspeople and looks nice.




Here's what I came up with. In Dark Cloud 2, there's a bit more freedom involved in the Georama, but you can still come up with a fair bit of variety for this game as well despite the more rigid requests.



Finishing Dran's Windmill releases some magic that (presumably) creates a chest, containing Dran's Horn. This is needed to enter the final floor of the cave, so let's head back there, talk to Dran, and then win the game! Yay!



There's Dran! Hey Dran!




Aww fuck you. In typical fashion, he's being possessed by dark powers or some shit, so we have to beat the dick out of him. Now, it was considered that I'd do video for boss fights, but this one provides a good argument to not bother at all. Dran spends most of the time almost offscreen, and fighting him devolves into a pretty dull pattern; With Xiao, shoot him once to get him to land, then run in with Toan and hit him once so he flies off. Repeat.

Dran's attacks are almost nonexistant, except for the rare fireball or flying charge if you let him. There are enemies in the caves that pose a significantly bigger threat than this, so I'm surprised they felt they had to pull punches here.





Dran comes to his senses, and gets clued in on what's been going on, then shares with us a brief story about the past. He believes the Moon People reside nearby in Matataki Village, and suggests we go there using a magic map he coughs up.



And now that we've fulfilled all the requests of the people, we're given a reward - The Windmill Slash. Toan can charge his weapon up twice for a flashier jumping attack. We also learn the Fairy King's name is Simba, so let's all have a snicker over that while I fart around some more before heading to the next area.

Next Time - We get to do this all over again in a new area! Hooray!