Part 34: The Ice Melted!! But Who Beat Them To The Dragon Ball?!

Howdy, folks, and welcome back! Last time, on Attack of the Saiyans, we entered the Yunzabit Heights, and quickly found a large mass of ice that not even our Ki could break, so we decided to go visit Annin. Today, we'll be visiting Annin and getting past that ice, so let's head out.



We'll be starting off in Mount Five Element, but we won't be spending long there.



Also, running around as Piccolo, because why the hell not?



Plus, I like how his cape swishes when he runs. And, really, who can turn down a good cape swish?



A filthy, Commie pinko bastard, that's who. And I trust you, Constant Reader, to be better than that.





The enemies here aren't upgraded at all from what we saw before, and there's nothing new to pick up, so it's just a straight run to Annin.



Well, Annin, you see--



Usually, it upsets me when someone interrupts, but Goku pretty well sums it up.



Well, in a sense, since you were given a 24-hour pass to hang out on Earth, even though you're dead...



Oh, uh, Annin's head isn't on fire. Just the flames from the furnace getting a little uppity.



I, for one, would listen to that complaint, if I ran the Magical Furnace and a guy came back from the dead, with a posse, to complain about the furnace.



: Can you help us finish the game?



Can someone explain this to me, please? The thing where, in video games, one person will say something and the other parrots part of it. Metal Gear (!?) is the go-to example for this kind of thing, but it's showing up a lot in this game, too. I don't understand it, since I'm pretty sure your audience is sharp enough to remember what someone just said.





Why did Annin have to repeat the name of the area? That could have been omitted and this would be just fine.



It's completely minor and I'm sure it's a cultural thing in Japan, but it kind of bugs me a little bit.



Or maybe it's just seeming particularly egregious to me since I've been taking screenshots of the dialog and transcribing a good chunk of it.



I didn't see any of you try. I think you're lying, Goku.



Well, yeah. Seems like a solid enough plan, y'know? Maybe you could--





Now, as far as I know, she didn't give us anything to store the flame in. We've just kind of got it now. Personally, I like to think they're carrying it around in a wok, but maybe that's only because I had Chinese for dinner.



Seriously, this dialog is that short, and we don't have to do anything to get this.



It takes just as long, possibly longer, depending on the encounter rate, to get here as it does to go through the chatter.



Well, we've got a world to save, ma'am. I'm sure you'd like that.





And then we get to walk all the way back. But, hey, enemies are killed in one hit, so it's kind of satisfying to see how our characters have grown. Even though it was only Goku who went through here earlier.





Normally, I think I would have just skipped to the ice blocking our path (where's Rydia when you need her?), but there's a couple of interesting things to show off on this trip.





For starters, I encountered an enemy that wasn't a fucking Ice Dinosaur.



Still on the same kind of beefcake level, but nowhere near as much of an asshole.





He's got a stomp that will hit the entire party, and for the kind of damage that can't really be ignored.



As well as headbutting someone, which hurts like a motherfucker, but also can inflict Stun. He has an attack that does a bunch of damage, and can also Blind people, but he never used it while I was running this area.



I let Krillin hammer the hog for the victory, and discovered a face that amuses me nearly as much as the Cave Ape's, when they're struck.



Not a bad bit of EXP, either, and since I find these guys easier than Ice Dinosaurs, I'd rather encounter them while grinding.



The second thing of interest is Piccolo's reaction to the spaceship.



Yeah, I'm just stoked that I went ahead and showed that off. Piccolo seems like he could give less of a shit.



Alright, let's use this flame and get on outta here. I'm sure some of our guys are cold.







Honestly, they probably could have cut the trip back to Annin, and maybe had something here where everyone Ki Blasts it at once to melt it.



But not Piccolo. He probably wouldn't want to participate in something like that.





Alright, Krillin, chill out. No reason to snap at Yamcha; he's not even in the active party!



Oh, yeah, that Power Fruit went to Yamcha. I figure since I'm building him so that he's able to punch holes in God Himself, I may as well help that process along a little bit.



And now we're in the second, short, part of this dungeon.



No new enemies around here, but there is some treasure, so let's scoot on to it.





And Piccolo comes off the staircase a little too quickly, hitting an ice slide.





But he manages to pull out of disaster and come to a stop, like a giant ice slide ain't shit. And the subtitle showing the name doesn't faze him, either.



Since the path to the right is blocked by that bigass icicle, we'll go exploring a little bit. Maybe we'll find a Yeti who loves snow cones!





Heading into that doorway leads us right to a save point.





And for our first bit of treasure...



...Eh, it inflicts major Ice damage to all enemies. I'll just toss it in the pile of stuff I'll probably never use.



I like that there are elements in this game, and elemental attacks, but as far as I know, none of the skills our characters learn have an element attached to them (beyond Physical and Ki, of course), and to get the others, we either need the specific Knuckle or use an attack item.



It's the kind of thing that could have been removed and wouldn't have been missed.



This makes some Ki attacks cost zero Ki, but from what I can tell, there's not a specific assortment and it's more random than anything. If anyone has more insight into this thing, I'd like to know more.





Going down leads us to the big icicle blocking our path.



And I never realized how awkwardly spelled the word "icicle" is. It's even weirder typing it; it feels like I'm typing a gibberish word, even though I know it's not.





And now we can go fight the boss! Which...Oh, God, fuck this boss.



There's no boss fight video this update, simply because it took me over eleven minutes to defeat it.



The lack of Goku and/or Yamcha in this party makes it hard to deplete a lot of HP in a short amount of time, even though Piccolo has caught up fairly well in levels; Gohan just doesn't have the strength (yet) to really dish much out. While Krillin can, the boss deals enough damage that he's busier chucking items to keep people alive than anything else.



Anywho, we've now got a path back and forth in here!



The other treasure is a pretty fucking awesome one. Popo's Turban, when equipped, makes a character earn twenty percent more experience points from a battle! However, I didn't realize that I missed this until I was just writing this update, so nobody is wearing it.





Alright, let's go finish this place off.



Oh, God, I am so underleveled for this place. The guide I reference recommends your average level for this guy be 34, and my highest level guys are Goku and Krillin, both at 27. Gohan is level 20. Piccolo, 24.



I didn't lose this fight, but it was really fucking close.



Goku, we're aware the Red Ribbon Army is kicking around. Hell, we just visited an old HQ of theirs and beat the ass of a general.



You heard that from Suno! At Muscle Tower! Where we fought Red Ribbon guys!



I know we're given free reign where to go, but the dialog here doesn't really match up to what we've done.



Yamcha, I like your spirit.



Tien, I dislike your doubts.



HEAVEN OR HELL!?



LET'S ROCK!!





Despite there being three guys there, we only fight the suit of power armor. I guess the soldiers jumped off the cliff after panicking at a long-haired hippy running at them.



I don't know why I show these for bosses. It's not like it's useful.



This guy has 11,800 HP, which is a crazy amount. 'course, thinking about it now, 34 might be a little too much. I'd say around 30 would be just fine.



However, this guy hits like a fucking truck packed with bowling balls, rolling down a hill after being hit by a bigger truck, with bigger bowling balls.



After shooting you a bunch, he throws a drill punch at the poor sumbitch he's targeting.



Piccolo has 960 HP at max, folks. This shit is not fun.





In this attack (Piccolo was laid out by another shoot and bash combo), he fires off a couple of rockets.



And it hits the entire party! Even fucking better!



Only one person can hit the Guard, remember, so whatever shnook has the lowest HP probably should.



And, to make matters worse, it puts someone to fucking sleep!



The Power Robot, as per his name, is all about Power and smashing your face in.





For instance. 600 damage to someone with less than 1,000 HP? Not to mention, Krillin has less than 900.



In this attack, he rockets off one of his fists, and this is a cool looking attack. And a painful one.





Oh, yeah, both fists get rocketed at some poor schmo.





Looks like it's done, right?



Yeah, no. The fists combine to rocket at someone again, just because the damage before wasn't a large enough middle finger. I've seen this attack do over 900 damage to someone.



But, let's finish this fucker off.



With style.





I used the EXP Boost for this fight. It's too bad that this guy didn't give that much EXP naturally, because I could have gotten levels of EXP.







Yamcha, you weren't even in that fight! I don't want to hear your shit!



Piccolo knows what it was like! He was laid out by that fucker a bunch of times!



'course, him shit-talking like that after getting laid out so much is a little cringe-worthy.



I do love that Piccolo is still firmly in asshole territory, but is strong enough that nobody can really call him on it. At least, in the show; if these two were to duke it out, I'd put my money on Yamcha, since he's way faster than Piccolo and hits a hell of a lot harder. Plus, Wolf Fang Fist sounds a lot cooler than Destructive Wave.



'course, in either case, Goku could kick all of their asses. But, I suppose that's a perk of being the main character in a series like this.





And, uh, yeah, that's the post-fight dialog. It's very weird to me to not have to transcribe a bunch of chatter.



With that, we commence with the getting out of there, as pictured.

So, we know the drill by now, so let's get to the

VOTE OR DIE


The Devil's Toilet is just south of Baba's Palace and holds a Dragon Ball.



Next is this mysterious cave in the ocean; what wonders could it hold?



There's also this barren desert, marked by the gigantic skull of some long-dead beast.

These are the places available to us to continue our search, so BOLD a vote for where we go to begin our search for the Dragon Balls. And while you're at it, you can even BOLD a vote for who I take in my party; anyone is available to take, and you have until Thursday, 8:00 PM, EST, to get your votes in. Whichever place has the most votes is where I'll go next, and the three characters with the most votes are who I'll be taking along.