Part 9: Update Nine: And One Giant Step

And I didn't have to do this either! But, hey, enjoy an update.

Last time on Earthbound, we began exploring the cave that will lead us to the Giant Step and found out that mice are assholes. Today, we'll be finishing off the cave and finding our first sanctuary! Let's get started.



We last left off in that room to the left, which held naught but an enemy.



We take this rope up to the second floor.



We're greeted by a Rowdy Mouse and a Black Antoid.





Black Antoids can call other Black Antoids into battle. Seeing as how this could be an issue, I did the most responsible thing I could.



And exploded them with the power of Bacon.



For someone who's not expecting the massive jump in exp. here, coming fresh from the Sharks outside can be a bit of a surprise.



Hamburgers are still useful. Restoring around 50 HP is pretty nice, methinks.



MOUSE BLOOD FOR THE MOUSE BLOOD GOD



Honestly, for a second, I thought I had my shots out of order, as I first thought I had somehow wound up back on the first floor.



As it turns out, Primeval, while not that great, does have some more interesting bits that I pay attention to.



Ooh, another present!



A Cold remedy? Nothing in this cave can even give Nass a Cold!



There's a few enemies awaiting me at the top of this rope.



Guess how many there are and win a prize of jack shit!



Aww, only four of 'em?





If you look down at the left corner of the screen, you can see one of this guy's buddies trying to come and join him.



They're climbing the fucking rope to get at me! I didn't know they could do that!



Impressed with their resolve, Nass decides to give them the battle they wanted.





Poor Attack Slugs. They never stood a chance.



That is six black dots up there.



From what I know, six enemies is just about the max you can have on screen at any one time; however, for enemies that call, they can summon past six, as long as there are less than six enemies on screen. These Attack Slugs are labeled A-F, so if they could call, and another one was brought in, it would be Attack Slug G.



I think there's like, a future Super-Bat or something on Primeval right now, and it's kind of squealing like a pig. I only told you that because that's exactly how I imagine these Attack Slugs responded when hit with Bacon Alpha.











Really, Nass is kind of an interesting character; he gets great healing PSI, wonderful attack PSI, and even has some mighty nice support PSI, all while being a physical bruiser with good defense. He's an all-rounder, yes, but he seems to be better than your average jack of all trades.



There was also a convenient Magic Butterfly right there. Did I ever mention they restore 20 PP? Because they restore 20 PP.



That Cold remedy I found is now outdated, already! But, Healing Alpha is going to be useful as shit in the future.



Jesus Christ, there are so many Goddamned bugs here.



Maybe it's just because I haven't played in a while, but I don't remember this many insect enemies being around here.





In case you were tired of the brown already, here's a nice shot of the greeny outside.



With that Magic Butterfly right there, I decide I should heal up that 5 HP I'm missing.



And all of our PP is back. From what I've seen, there's always a Magic Butterfly around this area, as a sort of refresher point before the boss. And if you need further PP recovery, just head back inside and come right back out, the Magic Butterfly will return.



A quick shot of our total stats before the boss.





Granted, we have two or three rooms to go through before we fight the boss, but it's actually pretty easy to dodge the encounters if you'd like.



I could have sworn this was a Skip Sandwich DX. Oh, well, another Hamburger is always nice to have.





I think that was a Black Antoid.



Oh, hey, it was. Black Antoids can drop cookies, which just means that they hate me as much as crows do.





This next room just has some of these ropes to climb to reach the top.



There it is. The boss of this area.





: But it's mine now. Take it from me, if you dare...





For some reason, as a kid, I always thought of the Titanic Ant as a girl. So, because of that, I'll be referring to it as "her" and "she" throughout this fight.



Oh, and she does indeed have cohorts, as in two; the other Black Antoid is just hidden behind her massive girth.



Make no mistake; this bitch is tough. Bite is her only damaging attack, but she has a few others to occasionally give you a reprieve from being bitten in half by a giant ant.





These Antoids can function normally, but they seem to love to make sure that the Titanic Ant has max HP. So, take them out first.





She has 235 HP at max, so doing 1/3rd of her HP in one shot is very satisfying. If you don't have PSI Special Alpha by this point, go and get it. It makes this fight ten times easier.



Since Bacon Alpha costs a third of our PP to use, I'm a little hesitant on using it to lead the assault. For some reason, I thought she had about twice the HP she actually does, so I was going to hold onto some of my PSI for healing purposes, in case I ran out of Hamburgers.





Yeah, take it, you fat bitch!



This is one of two of her PSI powers.



This reduces physical damage by about half, which is no good for us.



But Hamburgers are good for us.



It's nice that one Hamburger equals about two of her bites; it gives us time to do at least one thing in between heals, unless she uses PSI Shield Alpha again.



That shield of hers is pretty tough.





But how tough is it?



Not tough enough.



Neither are we. Or least, not tough enough to not need to heal up once in a while.



Now, it says her shield became stronger, but I don't think it really did.



I'd love to have that Shield Alpha power right about now.



So, it says the shield became stronger, yet I did a skosh more damage than I had before. Therefore, Nass is no longer giving shits about shields and wishes this bitch dead.



Her final PSI power is to try and lower your defense by a few points. That might not sound too catastrophic, but a few points of defense is pretty important 'round these parts.



But, hey, whatever, we don't have to worry about it!





That fight can be much tougher. It usually is for me, for whatever reason, but this time, it was pretty easy. And I'm not really over the recommended level, either. It's kind of like Dark Elf in FF4, I guess; he always fucking creams me, but nobody else seems to have problems with him.













And four more PP finishes off this level quite nicely.



And since I can't seem to do an update without .gif'ing at least one thing, here's the boss fading out of existence.



Gaining four levels without even trying is pretty nice, I think. I certainly could have done more, had I wished to.



And I don't want to ruin this next bit with words, so here it is in video form.









Alright, gang, let's get out of here.



Aww, crap, the cops! Nass, cheese it!

: No, I couldn't read the sign, because of all the metal music I listen to and the TV poisoning my mind!



Well, Nass did tell Mayor Pirkle he'd be absolved of all responsibility, so I guess that is certainly one way to go about it.



That cop is trusting as hell, though.



For now, let's head home.





While we sleep, someone contacts us...





Oh, it's like one of those internet friendships.









Probably not the first time Nass has dreamed about a girl, but I'm willing to bet that it was pretty different from the norm.



...I'm really hoping that burger factory theory is wrong.



We'll be homeowners in no time!





It's half-past noon, Dad. Do you work on the other side of the world or some shit?





And an end-of-update shot of our stats. Taken from the cave, as I had forgotten to do it until right now.

Next time, we'll go to the police station! Stay tuned!

Bonus Video

See the Titanic Ant's ass-whipping here.