Part 16: Taking to the Skies.

Update 14: Taking to the Skies.



Almost certainly as a result of having the trailer posted at last, it seems most of the thread wanted Rocket’s three friends to come along for the final area. So without further ado…





Let’s board the villain’s airship the old-fashioned way!



Looks like the Don parked somewhere with a nice view, at least. The ocean’s very pretty today.





Seems they couldn’t be bothered bringing this slime chest inside… Good thing that the clawtress isn’t moving, or who knows where this one might have ended up.



Time:-check. You-must-observe…



Maximum-capacity:-four-objects. That-is-the-same-as-other-carts. Destination:-Slimenia. Safety-for-slime-travel:-confirmed. I-will-verify. Requisition-one-cart-and-load-me-on-it.

Since it obviously wouldn’t make any sense to have the Trans-Slimenian running through the fortress, we have some alternate carts for this area. As for why they still have slime logos… Perhaps the Plob stole them off the railway?



Comply-with-the-prime-directive. Destroy-the-Plob.



How very handy these are! I’m sure we’ll be sending plenty of stuff back to town today.



Extra-information: Roboglop-is-happy-not-to-live-entire-life-in-a-box.



Hey, very nice! I’ll take as many of these as I can get my hands on.



The Flying Clawtress handily provides a few shortcuts to unlock, which is especially nice given that it is almost entirely linear. There’s only one room that’s not part of the main path, and that’s just for a tank battle.



So let’s head on inside and explore the place.



Some Jinksters form a welcoming party for us; their drops have changed quite a bit from those at Flucifer’s Necropolis, so it’s worth beating a few up. They actually have a better-than-average drop rate, giving lucky bags 31.25% of the time. (So that’s 5/16 instead of 3/16.)

As for the contents, there’s still fire water and chilli peppers in there… but they also have golden arrows and special medicine, the latter of which would be very nice to have for the Schleiman.



I wonder what would happen if you destroyed them. You should give it a try.



As Curator has quite rightly surmised, breaking nearby consoles will remove any doors that might be blocking our progress. Perhaps somebody should have been guarding those.



Oooooh… Now this looks interesting. Seems like damaged goods though, judging by the way it’s smoking. I think we might leave it alone.



Or y’know, blow it up.



Alright, time to send Curator home before busting down another door.



Do come and visit me when you’re next back. I’ll be in amongst all my books somewhere.



Another bit of kindling for the collection, I suppose.



Maybe this will have something better inside. It’s fire water.



Hmm, looks like perhaps another little bit of platforming is required here.



...Or that could happen.



So say hello to the Golem, the Plob’s version of a battle mech. They have 7 HP, the highest of any non-boss enemy in the game. Despite coughing up just 15 Gold and dropping lucky bags only 6.25% (1/16) of the time, farming these big guys is quite valuable… because when a bag does drop, it is guaranteed to contain a gold bar!





Oh, and the Platypunk piloting it will bail out and let you steal the thing once the Golem drops below half health. Amusingly enough, the way this first encounter with one is scripted made him hop out directly onto spikes. And before you ask, coming in here with that other Golem will not change the dialogue at all.

Platypunks have the regular drop rate, with golden arrows/Goddess statues/mirror shields on offer… if you can get past the 62.50% chance that their bags contain rockbombs.



A Button: Get outta the golem. B Button: Punch.



Actually piloting a Golem is nice and easy, with any spikes just being kicked away and having eight-directional punches at your disposal. The main threat is that other Golems bang their fists together before punching, and that animation still hurts. So try not to attack enemy Golems from the front, and you should be just fine.



Golems are pretty great, is what I’m saying.



The next room is mostly just a chance to go on a rampage and punch Jinksters in the face, which I can appreciate. There are a pair of other Golems in here, along with some chimaera wings; you’ll need them to send these heavy beasties back to town.



And once you’re done punching stuff, the first teleport becomes available! This door is too narrow for a Golem to get through, so we’ll have to continue on without one.



In a two-for-one deal, we get another slime chest and our first glimpse of another new enemy.



Big shield blocks all attacks. Unga? How fight them? If me, I wait for chance. Then attack from behind or side with claws! You no claws. Must use body instead. Unga!

Indeed, despite having only 3 HP, their impervious shield makes the Restless Armour quite a capable combatant! One knock however, and they’ll lose it like a Hammerhood’s hammer. These knightly foes have 20 Gold and the heightened 31.25% chance to drop lucky bags, which contain either iron shields, steel broadswords, bastard or metal king swords.



Up at the north end of the room, our final seed of life awaits us inside a chest.



Maximum power!



As you can see here, the steel broadswords in a Restless Armour’s lucky bag are slightly redundant… given that if they don’t drop a lucky bag, they’ll drop one of these instead!



Me train hard now. Next time, me be hero! Unga! Clawrence pay back good.

The proud fangslime gives us a devil’s tail for our alchemy pot.



Arriving in the next room makes one thing clear: we’re not going any further without a tank battle!



I am Arm Arnie of the Plob Enforcers. You must defeat me if you wish to face the master. If, of course, you are able.

Oh, I’m sure we’ll muddle through.





Each of the Plob Enforcers have a new model of an old monster tank, with the Argonaut bringing back T-Rax’s swinging axe to knock down our ammo. Let’s show them what Rocket and his friends are capable of!



Invasions are a dicey proposition with those statues staffing the Argonaut, but with those missiles bearing down on us, I’ll welcome any distractions Hooly is able to offer. The third-tier missiles deal a full one hundred damage each, so you’ve got to be careful with this one!



Swotsy is awfully slow when he’s carrying ammo, and Bo’s not too much quicker. But at least they’re helping out.



...Most of the time. Bo tends to get a bit tired if she’s away from her brother for too long, staying asleep until Rocket gets close to her again.



This fight actually goes very smoothly though, with the Schleiman staying at full health until the enemy’s engine is already exposed.



From there, it’s just a matter of splodging on through and taking the southern path in the engine room.



And that’s a wrap!



What am......I talking......about? Jumping......over......the tank......of course!

Uh-huh, that’s nice… Now let me have my one and only Destructiball for the game.





And with that, our way is clear!



I came first in a......jumping competition the other......day. Yippee! Pretty......cool, don’t you think? Here. You can have......the prize......I won.



Since you’re going to need fifteen Goddess statues and nine medicinal herbs if you want to make these through alchemy, I’d suggest trying your luck with the local Jinksters instead. It’s almost an 8% chance of getting one for each kill, but that’s gonna take less time than gathering the statues.



Continuing onward to an outside portion, you’re going to have to be ready for a bit of a Jinkster hoard.



There’s also a few suits of armour rattling around, so this bridge is a bit of an dangerous area.



If what the Plob folk said is anything to go by, you’re about halfway to the boss’s place. You’ll be careful now, won’t you, boyo? I’ll be crossin’ my fingers for you.

Flan here is about right in terms of distance, but we have a fair bit more to do before we reach the Plobfather’s door.



It’s nice to see you turn over a new leaf. Don’t you go back to your old ways, eh?

This strange old gem gives us our third vulcan gun, which I think might be the last one we can get. The timing on this is actually pretty fortunate if you happen to like them, as we’ll soon see.



Alright, time for a little cutscene.







Killin’ machines! One o’ youse had better get him good! Don’t let that blue blub get away.







Chatty fellow, ain’t he?





Sooo, here’s our final new enemy of the game, the mighty Killing Machine! These guys get speedier after the first hit, have 6 HP and actually boast two different attacks.



They can slash at Rocket with their sword, or use a sweeping laser that causes small explosions a moment after the initial pass. And yes, you do have to finish this one off to get out of the room.



Killing Machines offer 25 Gold and the heightened drop rate, with a very nice selection of items in their lucky bags. 62.50% of them have Vulcan Bullets (the second-tier ones), 25% BS-2 Blue Streak missiles, 6.25% Vulcan Shells (third-tier) and 6.25% of… an item we haven’t seen! More on that shortly.



I serve as the Plobfather’s master guardsman. I demand a duel if you desire an audience.

I’m sure there’s some FFIX reference I could make here, but…





Hey, I remember the Dragon Quest Swords LP. Don’t think it got finished though… Pity, because it was an interesting idea. Anyway, hope you’re ready for a long one.



The video for this fight is almost nine minutes long, simply because this is the point where the game starts pulling out all the stops. Those are metal king shields, capable of taking five hits instead of the iron shield’s three. Given that my cannon-loading capabilities are somewhat limited, this one simply drags on.



The enemy isn’t interested in invading (this one fell into the cannons), so it’s a simple shootout. All of their ammo is high end stuff, so you’re going to have to be on your toes.



They even have at least one healing item, because fuck you, that’s why.



But by simply sticking to our guns and using some well-timed mirror shields, we manage to wear them down with barely more than a quarter of our health lost.



Man, this tank has some serious hardware. And nice flooring, too.



It’s what you do, Rocket, when you put all your energy into your tank battles!

In a game full of very punny names, Viscount Viscous is one of my favourites.





It’s a brave hero who fights for a cause. So I suppose we could call you that now. I’m most grateful to you for rescuing me. I’d like you to have this as a token of my thanks.



Ah, there it is! I mentioned that gold bars were important, and this is why. Our stock of orichalcum is very limited without this recipe; the only other source would be Goodybags from the necropolis. Speaking of which, this area does not have any Goodybags at all, so don’t go searching for them.



Our next room contains a door with a whole lot of consoles connected up to it, guarded by a bunch of Killing Machines and a few Jinksters.



It goes pretty much how you’d expect.



And here’s our second teleporter for the area! We’re mostly done with the Clawtress now… but showing the whole thing up until the boss door would be a little bit long, so I’m splitting it into two shorter updates. See you soon with the second part!