Part 8: Episode VIII: Squid of Sighs

Episode VIII: Squid of Sighs

Had barely taken two steps in this update before this happened.



Oh, hey, guess we're starting this early.


HEALER
Type: Slime
Learns: Heal HealUs Upper
Healing magic is one of the most essential things you're going to need in this game, so Medic is going to be sticking around with our team for a while. Jones will be going back to the farm for him.

Healer actually kind of sucks in most of his statistics - his ATK and DEF are only about half of Ctulu's despite being level 12 as well - but his healing magic is so awesome that we're going to keep him around anyway.

Now, onto that cave that we learned about last time.




The cave is easiest accessed by surfing across the water next to the town and going slightly Northwest to the cave. You can go around the mountains north of town to get there as well, but the first option is quicker and you can avoid more monster battles.



Obviously we'll start by looting the treasure out of this cave. It's full of new monsters as well, but we're not going to worry about them for a short while.



Up in the very highest northwest part of the cave we'll find a Rib, the 3rd "tier" of meat.



And there's a lovewater one screen to the right.



On an island a screen to the right of the entrance to the cave.



Highest Northeast screen of the cave. You can get a lovewater, exitbell and a new accessory called a MermScale here that raises DEF by 10. Medic needs all the stat boosting she can get so we're giving it to her.

All right, the cave has been looted dry so all that's left to do is meet this very small cave's boss monster, HoodSquid.



You can find him at the very bottom right of the cave.



BOSS BATTLE: HOODSQUID
This might be the first legitimately challenging boss fight in the game. Even then he's not all that hard as long as you have a Healer set on "Defense". If you don't have a Healer, keep a big stock of herbs and lovewaters. HoodSquid knows how to use BiAttack, which gives him two attacks per turn and can sting a bit, and can also use LureDance, a skill that makes your monsters all start dancing and is basically just a different method of putting them to sleep. Sharper eyes will notice that I'm an idiot and forgot to heal before starting the battle. Just chip away at him while Healer heals and you should be fine.



Hoodsquid wants to come with us!

HOODSQUID
Type: Water
Learns: CallHelp BiAttack LureDance
Another skill we're going to love eventually in our bred monsters right here in BiAttack. BiAttack eventually "evolves" into QuadHits, a skill which allows 4 hits per turn which can be lethal on a high ATK monster. His name is automatically Squiz. We kind of need him on the party for the next event, so we'll send Ctulu back to the farm.



Now might be a time to mention "WILDNESS", a statistic that you'll find on monsters you catch. A monster with high Wildness won't obey your orders unless they're general, like setting them to Mixed or Charge. Most of the time, monsters you catch in the Wild will have wildness. Healer wouldn't listen to my order to heal specific monsters all battle or use Increase, which can become a pain. It slowly decreases over time, but the quickest way to decrease it is to feed meat to your own monster. Medic started with 131 wildness, I whittled it down to 106 with a beefjerky and two porkchops.

We're done with this cave... or are we?



Nope, time to get some more new monsters!


PuTREFISH
Type: Water
Learns: PanicAll Watershot Ramming
This cave is loaded with Water types. Putrefish is one of the better ones, but still not good enough for our party. Alcha will have to stay at the farm until his breeding services are required.


MORAY
Type: Water
Learns: Sleep PsycheUp PoisonGas
I used to love Morays back in my youth, I'd almost always end up leaving the cave with a team of HoodSquid, Eggplaton and Moray. Sadly, I'm keeping Healer around for this LP at the moment so Hyedo is farmbound.


GAMANIAN
Type: Water
Learns: Firebal NapAttack LushLicks
This fucker always creeped me out. I'ma name him Ugly just for the fuck of it. And then send him to the farm.



Oh what? That's right, the farm can only hold up to 20 monsters. Ugly here represents #21 for us. The farm steadily gets larger over the course of the game but since we can't breed any new monsters as of right now - the easiest way to cut down the monster count - I'm going to release Water and try to hold off on adding new monsters until we can.



Healed up and with our new HoodSquid in tow, lets go to the next town, Port Ritz.




Going to the northernmost part of the main island and sailing up is the quickest way to get to Port Ritz. Let's go in and loot them blind as usual.



Move along.



The shopkeep here sells Ribs, so you can now buy some pretty good meat without having to stumble onto it.

Whatever, lets go get shitfaced at the bar up there.



Oh god, not this douchebag Prince Kameha again.

Sailor: ...grogged to make any sense... Captain, sir, what'll we do?

Captain: Tch, made me waste my time... We'll come back later for him.



Good deduction, Kameha.

Prince Kameha: Don't tell me you're looking for something to plug the navel?

OK, I won't tell you. Now let me go.



Warubou's a whore. He'll ask anyone to plug his navel!

Prince Kameha: But those monsters you're with... Don't they look frail and wimpy? Look, I've already got two sidekicks! I'll find the plug before you! Come on team, let's go!



He pushes you out of the way and leaves you alone at the bar entrance. Jackass. Nobody insults my crack squad of monster heroes!



Now this looks like a nice place. Yo barkeep! Got any CaptDead Morgan? (Too soon in the LP for that joke?)



The bartender won't serve us. This may be because we're 10 years old. He just keeps talking about the old drunk dude over to the side.



This guy only wakes up if you have a water type on your team, we're using Squiz for that purpose because he's the best available.

Drunk Old Man: What! Why are you with monsters? You're an odd little child. Did you want to hear my tales?

Sure, I love walls of text!



Drunk Old Man: The ship I was on was captured by Pirates who kept us as slaves. We toiled for months that way. But one day, I overheard them talking about the MoonRock. If it were taken from the top of the lighthouse, the sea would ebb. And that would make it impossible to approach the volcanic island where they hid their loot. Unfortunately, they saw me. They would never allow someone to live knowing their secret. So I ran and leapt into the sea. I was rescued by a passing ship.



Drunk Old Man: ...still on the volcanic island. But, there is no way of getting close to the island. It should be possible to go to the island if the MoonRock were to be returned to the lighthouse. But the MoonRock sank with the pirates and their ship. Maybe if the mermaids could help... Can mermaids still be seen in Polona?

Well, looks like we're going to need to get that MoonRock in order to reach the volcanic island. We're still not sure WHY we want to go to a volcanic island, but again, this is an Enix game so if somebody mentions an item like that you best know it's important.



Next time, we'll see about getting this MoonRock and hopefully see some of those Mermaids and Pirates we were promised.