Part 71: Monster Time Part 2 - Peaceful Rest Valley

Level Paula up naturally. As long as you take it slowly  Lilliput Step  should be more than enough to get her up to speed.



Peaceful Rest Valley

I consider this the single most dangerous place in the game.

Nass is still alone. He's got maybe six or seven slots for food and/or medicine, and his supply of PP is sharply limited. So right away there's a bright upper limit on how much damage he can take. He gets only one action per turn, so if he heals in battle, he's going to take extra damage. Of course healing out of battle takes some judgment - can Nass survive the next fight on this or should eat that burger now? Magic butterflies help, but you can't count on them spawning.

And Peaceful Rest Valley is a big place. Even if you know where to go, there's a lot of walking. Lots of opportunities for enemies to spawn in his path. Enemies that steal Nass's PP, reducing his stock of Lifeups. Enemies that give Nass a cold, forcing him to use PSI or items to stop the damage. Enemies that explode, dealing unavoidable damage that will have to be healed.

We can't even count on PSI Bacon to get us out of a tough spot any more. Most of the enemies have the HP to survive it, and I doubt you have the new version yet.

Now, enemy spawns being what they are, this area isn't always as bad as I'm making it out. Sometimes you can just breeze right on through. But even if you've been levelling up at a reasonable pace, and you came prepared for a struggle, sometimes Peaceful Rest Valley just beats the shit out of you and there's nothing you can do.



The Slingshot

There's an item in the Department Store you might have noticed: the Slingshot. It's a "universal" weapon (anyone can equip it). There was another one like it (the Yo-yo) in Onett, but nobody buys it because the Tee-ball bat is stronger. The Slingshot, on the other hand, is the strongest weapon available as of Twoson. If you're like me, you went "Oh, an upgrade" and bought it without thinking twice. Apparently Leavemywife didn't, though.

Well, congratulations on not falling for the trap!

Remember when I talked about miss rates? Baseball bats usually have a 1/16 miss rate. For yo-yos and slingshots, however, that changes to 3/16. Yeah. Ouch. The game doesn't tell you about that, though, so Joe Average Player goes into Peaceful Rest Valley and wonders why he's whiffing so much. It's hard enough to keep up with Mobile Sprouts without tripling your miss rate.

But wait! There's more! When you equip a yo-yo or slingshot, your attack command changes from Bash to Shoot. That's not just a cosmetic change - there's a difference. When you shoot, you will never get a SMAAAAASH! attack. Ever! It's a small thing compared to the miss rate, but it's kind of depressing.

All that for +4 Offense.



Monsters of Twoson: Part 2 (R.I.P. edition)


Mobile Sprout
A contender for "Worst Enemy in the Game," Mobile Sprouts are custom-made to cause you problems. They can leech your PP (about 2-8 at a go), they can replicate themselves a la Black Antoids, and they're just at the threshold of Bacon damage, so you've got about an even chance of killing them with it. You can paralyze them but that doesn't stop the PSI Magnet. Normally I don't evade fights; if enemies are in my way, I fight 'em. Mobile Sprouts are one of the few guys I actively try to avoid.

HP 79, PP 9, Offense 17, Defense 12, Speed 6, Courage 10.
Worth 133 XP and $13. 1/32 chance to drop a Croissant.
Mobile Sprouts are vulnerable to Paralysis and immune to Hypnosis.



Li'l UFO
Zippy little things - their Speed gives them about a 20% chance of dodging your attacks, which can make them a frustrating enemy to fight. (Not as bad as the Crows, though.) They can give you a cold, a status effect which drains 4 HP per turn and persists out of battle. Healing Alpha fixes it, but that's another 5 PP out of your coffers. Still, Li'l UFOs are one of the easier enemies in the region.

HP 82, Offense 18, Defense 17, Speed 53, Courage 12.
Worth 223 XP and $14. 1/32 chance to drop a Skip sandwich.
Li'l UFOs are immune to Hypnosis.



Spinning Robo
The first in a long line of enemies represented by metallic diamonds in the field. Spinning Robo can be thought of as a stronger, slower, slightly more cold-beam-happy version of the Li'l UFO. He's has the ability to put up a shield of light; since Nass doesn't have an efficient PSI attack, this can leave you banging away at the Robo for a few turns. Weirdly, the Slingshot can actually be useful here - Shoot attacks ignore shields. I'm almost positive that's a bug, but there you go.

HP 113, PP 17, Offense 21, Defense 22, Speed 7, Courage 14.
Worth 297 XP and $21. 1/64 chance to drop a Meteornium.



Territorial Oak
The biggest enemy in the region, but also the only one that doesn't throw around bullshit like PSI Magnet or colds. They have a largely pointless vacuum attack, and an utterly useless Brainshock (see below). When killed, they burst into flames, dealing damage equivalent to a Super bomb. It's the game's way of familiarizing you with the rolling HP meter and the defensive Guts ability. (It also means you have to kill this guy last. Fortunately there's never more than one in a pack.)

HP 145, PP 41, Offense 26, Defense 30, Speed 5, Courage 15.
Worth 356 XP and $29. 1/128 chance to drop a PSI caramel.


I... don't think that's how it works. Maybe in Mother 3, though, I haven't played that one.

Magic Fanatic beat me to it, but I'll go into more detail as that is my wont.

Status-condition resistance appears to works on a ranking system:

• Rank 0 (vulnerable): affected 99% of the time
  
• Rank 1 (normal): affected 50% of the time
  
• Rank 2 (resistant): affected 10% of the time
  
• Rank 3 (immune): affected 0% of the time.
  

Nass and friends start out at 0 in all categories, and can get bonuses from their equipment.

Now here's the weird thing. Brainshock doesn't have its own resistance track. Instead, your Brainshock resistance is always the inverse of your Hypnosis resistance. Their ranks always add up to 3. So, since if Nass is vulnerable to Hypnosis, he's immune to Brainshock.

That's why the Territorial Oak's PSI will never work - there's no way for Nass to raise his Hypnosis resistance at this point in the game.