Part 6: Day 6-7 - Deja Blah

Days 6-7 – Deja Blah

Where last we left off, Mouse tried to kill Xelpherpolis at his wedding, failed, and Xel pulled off his fancy time magic.

We then awoke the next day, on the dock where we started.



Kyte’s pointless interjection plays out again, but after it…


Now Playing – Tension



(Don’t you think the scenery looks familiar?)

(Yeah buddy. I know what’s going on.)

(Phew! Good thing your memory is intact. For a minute there, I was afraid I was experiencing déjà vu. We had just lost a battle. Then when we came to, and now we’re here (sic). The situation is undeniably the same as the first day we arrived on the island! If I recall, right after this that girl comes and…)



Rummy shows up, and the scene proceeds mostly the same as it did the first day, with a handful of exceptions. It’s important to know that the Triangle button can speed up cutscenes, else you’d have to sit through every repeat at the same pace.



Pattimo comments differently from before.



For some reason, Mouse still asks the same questions, despite knowing the answers. He also doesn’t predict smacking into Rummy from behind.



He does anticipate Pattimo’s breast comment, shutting him up before he can finish. But why would Pattimo bother doing that again anyway?

(It’s totally unbelievable, but I finally am beginning to understand the situation. This island is “The Island of Closed Time”.)

(…you mean there’s an island known to be “of closed time”, and it’s actually Pandule???)

(No, I just came up with a dramatic name for effect.)

The scene continues as normal until we hit the inn conversation.



“Thanks to Xelpherpolis’s magic, time on this island has been warped. That’s the meaning of “Time’s Closed”. As far as I can tell, the islanders unknowingly repeat the same few days. And once the wedding is over, time reverses and once again it’s 5 days before the wedding. In other words, time is looping. Each time a few days worth of memories and experiences are taken. They repeat the same day again as if nothing has happened.”



“But luckily, for some reason, our memories and experiences have remained intact. In other words, we already know everything that will happen. Most likely, Xelpherpolis has not noticed that we still possess our memories. For the time being, we need to keep this a secret between us. It never hurts to be too careful. I know. Knowing you, you’re going to get back at Xelpherpolis, aren’t you?”

”Yes indeed.”

“Of course, retreating now would be a cowardly thing to do. Though the experience of battle will remain, it’s impossible to do alone. We need to prevent accidents before they occur and save as many islanders as possible. Like us, others who have awakened from his spell might appear. We need to find those people and join forces with them.”



Mouse and Pattimo bounce.



We leave Rinna’s dad much like her on Day 2.

Now, with the in game explanation out of the way, I’m going to put in my own words on what we’ve learned.

It was pretty obvious what was going to happen before we got here. This is a time travel game: the reason the events of the specific days were laid out in such detail and with a specific timetable is because we’re expected to change things for the better. You might think “What’s the point? The characters will just forget with the loop!”, but why this doesn’t happen will become clear later. Suffice to say that solving character’s problems will be the catalyst for breaking them out of the loop. That’s the bulk of what we’ll be doing from now on.

Just like before, we have relative freedom for now. There’s not much we can do to get started on solving the time loop problems right now, so I’ll focus on showing you a few tidbits before we begin.

First off, I’ll just mention there’s no special scene for going back into the inn now and talking to the dude we just ditched. He’ll just say he’s happy you’re using his inn.



This hut in the middle of nowhere belongs to Plosi, the artist we met randomly in the first week. This is his apprentice, known only as “Young One”.

If we try to go in….



Young One: “This is the studio of Plosi, Pandule Island’s greatest artist. I cannot allow you to disturb him. He is busy creating art.”

”What art?”

Young One: “You want to know what he’s creating? It’s a portrait of Princess Loreille! It was commissioned as a gift to celebrate the wedding!! When the painting is complete, it has been decided that the painting will be hung in the main hall at the palace. It’s such an honor! So wonderful!”

”Well, uh….pretty please can I go in?”

Young One: “Ahhh! Well, maybe if it’s just one person…but you can only observe the master for a little while!”

We are finally allowed inside.


Now Playing – Plosi’s Theme



Young One: “There, take a look. Master Plosi is really suffering now. While the master’s a great artist, he’s overwhelmed by this great responsibility. Geniuses have troubles that average folk like us can’t even imagine.”



”That’s me.”

“There’s something I’d like to ask your opinion about. I just don’t understand it and I’m having some trouble. As a result, I can’t move ahead….”



As demonstrated, Plosi is an enormous creep. The textbook “Dirty Old Man”. Even Kazan from Legaia 2 isn’t as bad as this guy.

“Just because she’s an innocent girl, it doesn’t necessarily mean that she wears white underwear, so that’s why it’s so difficult. Maybe blue tones….possibly pink or…Uuuh. I just don’t know!!”

”Right, I am officially out of here.”

Mouse tries to leave.



“I beg you! Give me any information!! And…if you happen to know any young girls who’d be willing to come to my studio, pleeeease introduce them to me. I won’t do anything indecent! It’s just that I’m having a hard time recalling the texture of a young girl’s skin! Pleeease! I beg you! If you help me, I’ll give you any reward you wish!”

Young One: “What a master. To go to such an extreme to recreate a small detail! How amazing! Marvelous! Now please exit over here or else you’ll disturb the master’s work.”

”Gladly.”



“He’s just an old pervert. Is he really a great painter?”

Obviously, Plosi is a recruitable character, and we have to feed a “young girl” to his perverted grasp in order to proceed with him. Lovely.

You might wonder if we could see this cutscene the first time we came to the island. The answer is yes, we can. It would be very unlikely for you to manage it naturally, however. Plosi’s hut is hidden behind the Bird Statue park that Rinna took us to on her tour. You’re unlikely to notice it, and if you do, it might be well after the days you can talk to him, as he goes to the castle on the third day.

We also cannot fulfil his request on the first week. That would require us to bring him a girl, and none will follow us for now. Rinna followed us briefly, but the window to bring Plosi a victim had passed by then. We cannot complete this until we recruit a female party member.

Moving on…



There are some new enemies around. “Sniper Grasses” lob nuts at you, as pictured. The enemy in the distance is called a “Radion”, and it can absorb HP from you like the flowers from the first day. They hit hard, but they’re not really threats.



This guy is who you need to find to make use of Death Hiyoko party members. His hut is tucked away behind some buildings and it’s very hard to find naturally.

Anyway, if you bring him eggs, they’ll eventually hatch, and you can use the Death Hiyokos as party members. There’s 100 total DH eggs to get, and they vary in power. Obviously the ones we can get now are pretty pathetic.



This one, called “Piloli”, is far weaker than Mouse right now. It can use a magic attack that deals a large amount of damage, but it only gets one use with its limited MP pool. You can’t even control what they do.

Something I didn’t realise until later: Death Hiyokos can permanently die. If you get one killed in a fight, which is very easy, that Death Hiyoko is gone for good and cannot be revived. You can’t even heal them normally, so it’s really easy to lose one without even knowing they don’t come back.

Death Hiyokos are pretty useless overall, but you can bring one on top of the two regular characters you can bring, so they can act as extra muscle, or at least a meat shield.

There’s a reward for getting all 100 Hiyokos. Fortunately, it doesn’t matter if you get any killed.



Rummy comes for us at 5PM to drag us before Xelpherpolis.

The cutscene with Xel is the same as before, right down to being allowed to say yes or no to accepting the job. However, Mouse does not drop Pattimo when Loreille shows up.




Now Playing – Breaking the Loop

This small clip played the first time we held hands with Loreille, but the title alone gave away a lot.

It hasn’t been spelled out in game, but this would appear to be the catalyst for us breaking out of the loop. It raises a contradiction with what we experienced so far: if you die after this event, Mouse still won’t remember anything, despite the game starting us at the beginning with some of our stuff. Even dying after learning Xel is evil won't change this. Obviously they didn’t want to reveal the time loop plot before the wedding, but why have the soft reset at all then? It’s a silly decision that gives away more than they appear to have intended.



You still have to play a song here, but it can be whatever one you want. Of course, unless you enjoy the challenge, why play anything other than Impression? Your performance will still determine the reward you get from Xel, so it’s worth getting a good result.

The rest plays out as before, and we are finally left with total freedom.

Unlike the first week, we will not be teleported to any events. If we want to see the Holy Gem Ceremony, we have to walk to it, and that requires remembering when it happened and where.

Other optional events can still be seen. For instance, if we go into the throne room at night, Pattimo will still tell us to “look over there”. However, we can’t talk to Loreille again for some reason.

Now, the most obvious person we can think of recruiting is Rummy, but there’s two people we can work on recruiting before that, not that you’d ever realise naturally.

The first is Kyte, the seaman we meet at the start of the game. If we go to his hut, which is right next to the dock where we started, we’ll get a scene. Unlike other scenes, this one cannot be gotten on the first week, and I tried, believe me.



“Good timing. Me and some of my mates are having a drink…We’re celebrating the Princess’s wedding with a drink.”




“Oh, shut up, will ya?! I can’t even remember how many days it’s been! Besides, haven’t I been telling you to stop?”

Wexler: “Yes, Captain!”

Lordan’s Son: “Oh, just leave the drunks alone!”



“I gotta tell ya, I don’t trust anyone who doesn’t drink! It’s my theory that a man’s character can only be truly measured with alcohol.”






Click here to hear a dreadful Call from the Sea.

Yes indeed, this is musical segment. We have to play a whole new song called “Call of the Sea” (technically “Call from Sea” in game, but I assume that’s a bad translation) for Kyte’s blokes. I fail miserably playing normally, like with the others.


Now Playing – Call of the Sea

If we do poorly…



Seaman: “We’re rooting for ya, so good luck with the wedding song! Hope the performance is spectacular!”

Different Seaman: “I’m looking forward to seeing how good you’ll be at the wedding!”

If we do well….

“That’s great…you understand the heart of the sea. I’m sure it’ll be a great wedding song if you’re composing it.”

Wexler: “Lookin’ forward to it…to the wedding day.”



“Hey, hold on a minute!”



“Here, have one for the road. It’s my special brew.”

Wexler: “Hey, you better skip this one. It’s called “Shark Killer”. It’s nasty. First, if you drink it, you’ll be loaded all night. That’s the one drink no one but the Captain drinks.”



“NO”

“Oh, what a shame. I thought I knew you better.”

Kyte sits back down and that’s it.

“YES”



Wexler: “Whoaaa….he drank it.”



“I’m so happy! Happy there’s at least one guy on the planet that can still drink this stuff and hold up!”

He says that, but Mouse clearly didn’t take it too well.




”I think my liver has partially dissolved, but I’ll live.”

“My name’s Kyte. If you ever get into any trouble, I’ll lend you a hand. I’ll either be at the docks or in the seaman’s shed, so call me. I’d go anywhere with you.”



“I’ve got a prior engagement, so…Well, tomorrow then, Mouse!”

Kyte’s recruitment can be dealt with fairly easily after this, but I won’t get around to it till the last day for reasons that will become apparent.

We now have another person to visit, and this one calls on us to drink too.



Entering this random bar, we get a scene that focuses our gaze on this lady. This is Claire, the “Watchmaker” mentioned in the intro. While she is mentioned by NPCs on the island, for the life of me I could not discover any clue as to her being in this exact bar at this time. Not even the NPCs in the bar allude to her being here ever. If it’s ever brought up in game, it’s nowhere you’d think to look.

EDIT: The one person to mention Claire hangs out at this bar is the bloke standing next to Mouse's blacksmith. Of all the places to be told about someone in the bar....

However, like Plosi, it’s entirely possible to discover her during your first week, and the conversation you have here will be the same either way.



“This here is a bar, you know. It’s a playground for adults, so when you come to the adult world, you have to play by adult rules, right?”

”I’m older than I look, lady. I get you…”

What Claire here is subtly suggesting is that you have to buy her a drink. Perhaps easy enough to understand for an adult, but I presume this game was aimed at the “Shonen” demographic. Would they get it so easily?

Anyway, you just have to talk to the lady at the counter, buy a drink for 200G, and go back to Claire…



You can see Claire’s got her shirt open in a pointlessly sexualised fashion.

“I’m going to graciously accept your generous offer. Thanks for the drink.”




She says this even if you’ve never triggered this scene before.

“Oh, that’s embarrassing. I wasn’t trying to pick you up or anything. For some reason, I’ve this feeling that this isn’t the first time we’ve met.”



“In my profession, once I’ve seen a watch, I never forget it, even if I might forget the customer’s face.”

Mouse hands her his watch.



“Not in terms of price, but in it’s appearance. And how unusual for this place. It’s accurate.”

She hands Mouse his watch.



Considering we can see this on the very first day, it’s yet another obvious hint at time fuckery.

“The island was already laid back, but it’s even more so now that no one pays any attention to time. Because of this, the watches in my shop don’t sell. I only do repairs. I make better money as a magic consultant.”



“Even if you don’t come in, you can call in on me from the entry. I’ve got a spell on the place so that people I don’t like can’t come into the shop.”

I made note of her mysteriously blocked off shop on Day 3.



And she’s gone.



(Don’t give me that 25th expiry date shit, Pattimo. A beautiful woman’s a beautiful woman.)

If it wasn’t clear, Claire is our designated “older woman”. Many characters will comment on her seeming age.

Now that these two are done, we’re going to take the next step to recruit Rummy. Remember how we saw her on the beach on the original Day 2? Let’s surprise her by being there before she arrives.

We head down to the beach to await her arrival. While I wait, I get some grinding in.



“Armor Crabs” could have been encountered long ago, but they didn’t end up turning up on my recorded run. “Shelters” are like turtles with spiked shells. Neither enemy is very interesting, just attacking us normally.

Eventually, at 6AM…



Despite coming here before her, Rummy finds time to change and have a swim. Or was she swimming here since midnight?



“The old Innkeeper has quite a quick temper.”

Does she mean Rinna’s dad? Dude never got mad at us like that…

”No, it’s not about that.”

“What? That’s not it?”

”I knew you’d be here, Rummy. Uh, not in a creepy way, mind you…



“You came here just to see me? Oh, Mouse! Is that your idea of a pick up line?”

”No, dammit. Now listen very carefully…”



”You see, we’re all trapped in a time loop, and time is circling endlessly. That’s how I knew you’d be here. And why is this happening? Because of Xelpherpolis! He’s fucking evil!”



“I don’t believe it! And to think that Xelpherpolis would cause such a disaster for the islanders. That’s impossible!! I know you’re Sir Xelpherpolis’s honoured guest, but you’ve gone too far, even for a joke!”



“I’m going to go change. Wait just a moment, please.”




Rummy then comes out changed and we proceed as before. The only change to the following scenes is that we don’t get a brief window to fight enemies before being marched to the ceremony.



Bagoth requests our attendance as usual. The request is the same, but the scene ahead might just change.



Before meeting Bagoth, we get into more fights. “Wild Stallions” are generic horse enemies that just kick you a lot.



“Smock Lizards” can cause status effects, I believe, but the chances are so low I barely ever get them. “Colored Death Hiyokos” are just like the one I got from the Geezer. The one that died. Yeah.

Fortunately, we’re still autopiloted to Bagoth’s meeting, as otherwise it could be missed.

We tell him he’s not crazy, and something new happens.





”…in summary, Xelpherpolis is an enormous douchebag and you shouldn’t trust him.”

“Wha…wha…what! What did you say?!”



“And you say the ringleader is…Sir Xelpherpolis?”

”Yep.”

“Sir Mouse. I don’t mean to be rude but…I do not believe it. It’s true, what you are telling me does coincide with some of my premonitions. I myself have been plagued with the feeling that I have been living the same days over and over for years. But, I’ve heard that it’s common for people who are extremely tired to feel this way. However…that Sir Xelpherpolis is the root of the variety of evils….no, no, I don’t believe it! Sir Mouse…at first I wanted you to identify and stop whatever was causing these sensations of fear. But, there’s no need to do that now, so let’s stop. Please forget everything I’ve said as well.”

He tries to leave, but Mouse tries to interrupt him.



“No matter how highly esteemed you are, I won’t suspect my master. That’s final.”

And then he walks away.



(Wouldn’t it have helped if you had offered some kind of proof? You could watch a loop and then foretell something you know.)

But Mouse has already watched a loop and could predict a great many things.

(For example, how about telling him that he will “die in the reactor explosion accident on the 4th day”. Oh. If he gets it after he’s dead, it’s too late. What do you plan to do?)

The plan is left in the player’s hands. As far as predicting things, you’d think we could just do as Loreille did and tell Bagoth the exact chain of events of Gallhint’s bandit raid. But the game wants you to solve extremely specific problems for each character, so no logic is permitted.

There’s one final addition to this scene…



The guard shakes his head.

“Darn!! How dare he! He always blows off my tours! I wonder if he enjoys insulting me like this?!”

A rather pointless addition, frankly.

Anyway, this is where we shall stop for today.

Join me next time, where we start to break some people out of the loop.