Part 57: Update Fifty Six: Come On Baby, Light My Fire

Welcome back! Last time, on Earthbound, we entered the Lost Underworld and discovered the location of the Eighth (and final!) Sanctuary spot. Today, we're going to finish our quest to collect all eight of the Sanctuaries, so let's get started.



Before we go too far, though, there's a cave I purposely left out last time.



We head north from where we were. There's a few encounters along the way.



Susan's is the only level gained on the way there.

For this level, he gains +2 HP.



It's this cave here.





Well, hello, what do we have here?



What in the hell is that thing?



That looks like a destroyed Sky Runner. Did someone else make this trip before us? Are we just the latest in a long line of saviors? This place brings up a lot of questions, but for now, let's skedaddle.



We'll snag a full-heal before we hit the Eighth Sanctuary.



And in we go. Are you ready?





The dungeon here is short. Like, ridiculously short.



However, despite that, there is an assload of encounters along the way.



The cohort is a Psychic Psycho, if you were wondering. Yep, they introduce one new enemy and it's upgrade in the same place. And it's not uncommon to encounter both of them at the same time. I don't know why they bothered with two types.



No weaknesses on this enemy, nor on his big brother in the front row. The regular Psychic Psycho has 591 HP to burn through, with respectable enough offense and defense.



Their only attacks are either Fire Alpha or Fire Beta. Since they're the weaker of these two, I recommend dropping their asses like its hot.



Neither of them have any PSI weaknesses, so that's why I didn't bother using any. That, and since this is one of those reflective PSI shields, that could lead to some terrible danger for the team.



Now it's time to focus on the Major Psychic Psycho.



They only have 618 HP, with slightly higher offense and barely higher defense. No weaknesses on these guys, either. They can use Paralysis Alpha, PSI Shield Omega, and Fires Beta and Gamma.





Poo took 165 damage from this, while it barely broke double digits on Kim or Susan.



But, just wail on them for a while and they'll go down easily enough. Just don't waste your PP on them, as a spell reflected back at you is a terrible thing, especially if it's a Freeze Omega or Gamma.



That's a hell of a lot of exp., too. Expect a few levels while we're in here. While we're here, these guys have a 1/128 drop, too. It's called the Star Pendant, which resists Flash, Fire, Freeze and Paralysis, while also raising defense a nice chunk. It's the best Body equipment in the game, I believe, and it's very nice to have. By no means is it mandatory, but still quite the good item to have.



Kim snags herself a level here.

For this level, she gained +1 guts and +3 HP.



This speed capsule immediately goes to Susan as he is the slowest member of the team.



While checking to see what his speed was, I noticed Nass was Homesick. Susan's speed was 34, by the by. He's still faster than Nass, but since Nass has the Rabbit's Foot, Susan is still the slowest.



So, a quick call back to Mom, and Nass is all better. By the by, every time I've called home to cure Homesickness, Mom's been ironing. What the fuck, lady?



Anywho, back on track, here's another new enemy.



This is about all you need to know about these guys. Soul Consuming Flames have atrocious defense (it's an entire 6!), and 602 HP to work with. Their offense sucks, too, but, they have Fire Gamma and Fire Omega to sling around, along with a regular fireball attack.



If you encounter multiple enemies in the same encounter, I'd say take these guys out first. Those fire attacks will hit everybody, and if they don't have adequate defenses against that element, it's going to fuck someone's day up. Well, that, and they're easy as shit to crush.



Not a bad bit of exp., either, considering how easy it is to get.



Poo snags himself a level from it.

For this level, oh, baby! Offense +4, oh, baby! Defense +4, speed +2, guts +1, vitality +1, IQ +1, luck +1, HP +9 and PP +5.



There's also a few present boxes to snag around here.



Some of 'em take a bit of maneuvering to get to, though.



But first, Nass gains a level!

For this level, he gained +1 IQ, +3 HP and +4 PP.



Touching the lava won't hurt you or anything. It's purely there for flavor.



The encounter rate here approaches "fucking irritating" levels very quickly.



It's not even that the enemies are particularly difficult or anything. The worst encounter, I'd reckon, is the first one we saw here. With those two, it'll be hard to take both out before they act, so you'll be taking some damage in that fight, no matter what.



This goes on Kim, as she's still the lowest HP member around.



A ten point boost to defense is nice. Even this late, it's nothing to sneeze at.



And our adorable magical nuker will never be put to sleep now. Yay!



Susan snags her old Pixie's Bracelet, with the same logic; he's second squishiest, so he needs the defense, too.



Like I said, the encounter rate is kind of stupid.



I'd hate to see this place with triple encounters going. It'd be such a pain in the ass to make any progress.



Hey, at least we're gaining levels, though.

For this level, Susan gained +1 offense, +2 guts, and +3 HP.



Sweet Jesus, that is a lot of flames. Good thing we're not over there, huh?



We're heading into the left cave here.



Y'know, it only recovers 20 PP, but that's still not a bad amount. It's enough for a full round of Life Up Alpha, two Life Up Betas, or one Life Up Gamma; since both Nass and Poo have those healing abilities, one Magic Butterfly is enough to fully heal the entire team, basically.



So, up the rope we go.



Godfuckingdammit. Look, we all know that I loves me some exp., but Jesus Christ, I don't enjoy having to fight every four steps. Actually, let me rephrase that; I don't enjoy having to fight these asshats every four steps. Now, were they Fobbies, I'd be in heaven.



At least there's a new enemy here.



With 564 HP, and crap stats, these guys should be taken out first. They can bash, disrupt senses or possess you with one of those fucking ghosts. Those things are still pains in the ass, even now, and being possessed is a huge kick in the dick.



They're easy to take down, and are weak to Fire and Flash PSI. They also drop 8,934 exp. for each person, as I somehow didn't get a shot of the exp. drop from this battle.





Enemies can travel up and down ropes to engage you in combat when you engage one. I only ended up fighting these two, though.



Poo also gained a level here.

For Kim, she gained +1 offense, +3 HP and +2 PP.

Poo gained +1 defense, +3 HP and +1 PP.



Jesus, game, it's like you want me to level up.



Point in case, here. This level is a special one, too.

For this level, Nass gained +2 offense, +1 luck, +3 HP and +1 PP.



This is what makes this level so special.



We finally have a way to heal everyone at once, outside of a Large Pizza. There might be other items that heal the whole party, but Large Pizzas are the first to come to mind. Either way, 400 HP is enough to heal just about any wounds anyone could get, and at 24 PP, it's a hell of a bargain.



Ah, another present box. I think I missed one here, but on my way out, I'll be sure to get it.



I'd say it'd be safe to expect at least two encounters a room.



And a bunch of levels. all the same, though, as levels are rarely a bad thing.

For this level, Susan gained +1 offense, +2 defense, +2 speed, +1 vitality, oh, baby! +3 IQ, +1 luck and +7 HP.



If you go straight for the boss, I bet you could get to him in under five minutes.



But, if you take your time to gather the treasure and all that, it's more like seven minutes.



Ooh, a new weapon for Susan!



I'd like to mention I have a Broken Antenna in my inventory, which Susan can repair into his ultimate weapon. He just needs one more IQ point to do so.



The Moon Beam Gun and the Cherub's Band are the best treasures in here. Checking up on it, there were two treasures I missed a Bag of Dragonite and a Horn of Life; both nice items, yes, but I'd rather take a boost to defense and offense, as Kim has fire attacks down (even though the Dragonite is a super-powerful fire attack, it's also limited), and both Poo and Nass can revive. I'm not too worried about either of them dying, since they both have good HP and defenses.



For fuck's sake! What if I just wanted a nice walk through the lava-filled dungeon?



Alright, here we go.



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



Let's rock.



Carbon Dog is my favorite Sanctuary boss. Maybe it's because he's just a badass, fuck-off flaming dog.



He has no weaknesses, either, so it's time for some good ol' fashioned .



He has good offense and defense, so a power shield that halves damage and reflects some of it back at him isn't a bad idea.



30 PP a casting though. That's a good bit out of Poo's PP pool. I won't lie. I had to resist the urge to giggle when I wrote that sentence.



Nass starts our offensive off on a high note.



This is a regular shot from Susan. I thought it'd be good for you guys to see how well Susan's regular offense is growing. There's been so much Heavy Bazooka'ing lately.





Remember, that damage is half of what it normally would be. Carbon Dog hits like a mad bastard. He also has a stronger charge attack, along with a flaming fireball (hey, that's what it is called in the game) and can shoot out a spray of fire, which is just Fire Omega.



It's not a ton of damage, but hey, it's progress. He's got 1,672 HP to go through.



Hell, Kim has a pretty nice offense, too.



This fight isn't very difficult, as long as you keep your offensive up and make sure your HP doesn't fall too low.



That's kind of a "No shit, Sherlock" advice, though, isn't it? Literally, it's the same thing as saying "Kill him faster than he kills you and you'll win! "





For whatever reason, he has a turn wasting move. It confuses me.



Susan's back to manning the Heavy Bazooka.



At times, it slightly frightens me that Nass, wielding a baseball bat, is hitting harder than someone who's firing a fucking bazooka.



Poo should be dealing the most damage I think, as he has a sword and can cut them and shit. Then again, plain jane blunt force trauma is also a viable form of ass kicking.



Kim gets a pass, as she's a girl and this is a JRPG. She's meant to be fast and use magic and shit. As Silver Falcon pointed out to me, it's a good thing she's not relegated to being the heal-bot.



I'm having trouble determining which is more badass; a teenage wailing on a fucking hellhound with a ball bat or a teenage blasting said hellhound with a bazooka repaired in the middle of the night.



Eh? The fuck is this?







Thank God I didn't fire off the Multi-Bottle Rocket.



Meet Diamond Dog. The Eighth Sanctuary boss has two forms; this one comes with a massive amount of HP, with 3,344. His defense is fucking stupid high, at 230, and his offense is 167, eight points below Susan's. He also comes with a auto-shield Beta, which is why Susan received some damage when he defeated Carbon Dog.





Nass heals Susan back up, as it wouldn't be any trouble for Diamond Dog to wreck his shit even further.



He resists all PSI, but since his defense is so high, Kim's better off blasting him with Freeze Omega.



Not a bad bit of damage, if you ask me.



This will remove our shields, too, yes, but it's more important to drop Diamond Dog's. He can put it back up, but so can we. And he has a randomized A.I. to deal with, too.





Diamond Dog has quite a bit of power behind those bites of his. He also has a very hard biting attack, which hits even harder than this, but also inflicts Diamondization.



At the very least here, we can get some defenses back up.



This is a good testament to Diamond Dog's high defense.



But, the Heavy Bazooka gives no fucks about high defense.



Neither does Freeze Omega.



This is just icing on the cake. Sure, it'll only last until he makes an action, but that's still one action that he's locked down for.



Well, that lasted an entire...Sixty frames. Whoo-hoo.



Poo's physicals here are just lacking.



Freeze Omega costs 28 PP a pop, so it's pretty expensive, even with Kim's massive PP pool.



But I'll be damned if I'm never not pleased with the results. 28 PP well spent, methinks.



Thank God the Heavy Bazooka has unlimited shots. Oh, yeah, I still do have a Multi-Bottle Rocket in my inventory, but I'm just kind of showing off. At least, as much as I can here.



Damn. This is better than the other PSI he can use, though; it's a "glorious light" which is just Flash Gamma with a prettier name.



Poo is going to attempt to dispel that new shield. Thunder Omega strikes four times, so chances are pretty good it'll hit, right?





Fuck! Dammit, Poo, this is why nobody respects you.



Alright, with that cleared up--



Oh, you fucking son of a bitch!





Now, here, everyone gains around 10 offense.



Kim isn't using it, though. It was mostly for Nass and Poo, as it is best for them to just bash.



Jesus, that's almost half of Poo's HP.



Well, that was super-effective.





But, Poo steps in to pick up the slack.



Hey, that's the same amount of HP that Kim has!



That Heavy Bazooka is so paying off.



Diamond Dog doesn't appreciate it like I do, though.



Ay dios mio, that could be better.



I can't wait until my defenses are as high as his are.



If they ever get that high.



For now, though, it doesn't matter.



As this dog shoulda stayed under the porch.



Sweet Jesus, that's a lot of exp!



Everyone gained a level here, too!

For Nass' level, he gains +1 offense, +1 defense, +1 guts, +1 IQ, +1 luck, +1 HP and +4 PP.

For Kim, she gained +1 offense, +1 luck and +3 HP.

Susan gained a mighty +2 HP.

Poo rounds us out with oh, baby! +3 offense, +1 defense, +1 HP and +2 PP.



And here it is, guys. The Final Sanctuary spot.







Oh, what in the fuck is this?

Next time, let's find out what the fuck it is! Stay tuned!