Part 24: Episode XXIV: Towers, Squids and Magma
EPISODE XXIV: Towers, Squids and MagmaWelcome back, we're going to get a couple of things done today in places we've already been before going off to the SKy World.
We'll start by going to the Ice World again and checking out the one area we haven't yet explored.
This tower is located in the middle of the ocean in the Ice world, we hadn't gotten there before.
Well, this certainly is an Ice Tower.
Our newfound ability to float allows us to cross chasms. Inside that chest there is a Dracobelt, an accessory that raises one monster's HP by 80. That's right, EIGHTY. Also on the little ledge is a BoltStaff. Those striped patterns on the floor there will hurt you if you walk on them.
There are some pretty powerful monsters inside the tower so with our still young new team of monsters I decided to use a LogTwig to move the door shrine onto the Ice Tower island. This is probably the only Logtwig I'm ever going to use.
I hate you so much, Enix. These puzzles ALWAYS give me trouble. With the floating - unlike swimming on the clam - you cannot control which direction you go, just flying straight forward until you hit land again.
Fortunately this one is pretty easy once you figure out that you can smash those ice chunks with the HarMirror.
It all leads to this. If you don't have the Stepguard ability, you're going to take some Damage here. The room below has three staircases going up to this room seperated with the striped floors as well. The staircase going up farther is on the top path.
There's also a Mage Ring up here, an item that makes your monster gain more MP upon level gain.
Here's the top of the tower, you get the Divine Ring - restoring 1 MP with every step - and a Meteorb. Hey look, didn't have to waste any medals on one!
Wandering around the towers other catacombs you can find a SmartBook and a BraveCape.
And remember how I said there's some awesome monsters in there?
GOLEM
Type: Material
Learns: ChargeUp PsycheUp Meditate
Mud here was a boss back in the original Dragon Warrior Monsters.
AGDEVIL
Type: Devil
Learns: Firebal Sacrifice SleepAir
As we were told earlier in the thread, AgDevil's name means Silvr.
PUPPETOR
Type: Material
Learns: OddDance LureDance Pheromone
Yep, two of the boss monsters from this world can be found in the Ice Tower. Just as a callback to my horrible MS Paint renditions of this guy, I named him MSpnt.
Through a lot of grinding through the Ice Tower, I was quickly able to get our team up to level 30+. That is the first area in the game that you can consistantly get 1000+ exp for every monster battle which means it's a top notch place to get leveling done.
And we'll need it. Back to the Pirate World!
Sail up three screens from the door shrine and you'll find this guy. He's a hidden boss and he's a handful to beat for sure... but having this monster team will certainly make it a tiny bit easier!
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OPTIONAL BOSS BATTLE: KINGSQUID
I'm pretty sure the idea of this guy is you're supposed to find him while you're still in the Pirate World and try your hardest to beat him then, losing 40 times while the creators of the game laugh at you. Unfortunately even with this gang of monsters I have, he's REALLY tough. He has over 2500 HP and loves to use TidalWave, which does over 100 damage to all of your monsters every turn he does. He can be put to sleep, but it rarely if ever actually works when you try. My ace in the hole for this one was using TwinHits and then Quadhits on him, which was dealing almost 500 damage per turn from Ereku alone. It takes a while, but he can be defeated.
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Finally, our winner of the magic key question was PlainMagma, so we're going to check that place out.
Nice. Welcome to a world of volcanic awesome.
A quick wander of the map gives us this. Pretty small, right? Well, this is one of the worlds that have multiple islands that I talked about earlier. We have to find a warp portal with this islands boss to get to the final boss of the world.
Island bosses appear in these little shrines here, while you can tell it's the final boss if they are in a castle.
ProtoMech: ...sacrifice before you give up?
After he's defeated, walk into the little spiral portal there and it will take us to the next continent of the world.
This continent, unlike the other one, is covered in mountains. Again, nice little touches in the random key worlds that make them pretty cool to wander around in and explore.
It is also far more spacious and doesn't have any towns or castles on it. This being a volcanic world, I guess it makes sense that there is only one Castle and no towns in the world. Anyway, the Boss of the world is in the castle nestled in the mountains of this continent.
A SlimeNite? That's even worse than the PearlGel ruling the world in BlackSea.
The world is saved (?) and now it's time to raid some towers and caves.
Makes sense that there'd be good enough soil in the caves to provide some grass growth. There is a mermscale at the bottom of that particular cave, so let's try the tower on the bigger continent.
Boooooring.
Crystals! Slightly less boring.
Not even a good item. Just a ring that makes your ATK grow slightly more than normal on level gai-
All right, maybe this wasn't a complete waste of time.
PlainMagma was sadly a disappointment. Not only were there no worthwhile items but the world - as predicted - was full of low end monsters we'd already seen like Spotslimes, Snailys and Goopis. There was only a single monster we haven't gotten yet here... but that's one more than we used to have!
MUDDOLL
Type: Material
Learns: OddDance Hustle SideStep
It's a Doll. Made of mud. How exciting.
Next time we'll finally get to the damn Sky World! See you then.