Part 14: Days ?-30 - Time Loopception
Days ?-30 – Time LoopceptionWhere we last left off, Gallhint decided to oppose Xelpherpolis alongside Mouse and Rummy. It did not go well. Xelpherpolis then blue flame’d Gallhint and Rummy, and offered for Mouse to follow Rummy. We chose to do so.
And now…
Now Playing – Rummy’s Dream
”What!?”
“It’s been over a year already since you’ve come to the island. You’re no longer just passing through you know, so why don’t you shape up and take a bit more responsibility!”
”I said I’d…..?”
”BWHAAAT!?”The scene ends on that note. Despite his confusion, Mouse seems to just go along with things after now.
We’re in control for now. Checking our watch, the day is “?” and the time is perpetually 3PM. We still have all our stuff. Rummy is in our party.
”I dunno….I’m not thinking straight…” ”Okay, sleepyhead, let’s just go outside and see where we go then, hmm?”Heading outside triggers a cutscene.
”Is that to say we never leave the house or we just don’t leave together?”Neighbor Old Man: ”I think you would know better than me, ha ha!”
”Nope, honestly drawing a blank.”
Neighbor Old Man: “Besides, you two already act like a married couple, so make it official and just get married. Otherwise it’s not fair to Rummy. Set the date soon, all right.”
”Okay, Mr. Old Man.”Neighbor Old Man: ”Ah come now, we’re friends! Just call me Neighbor!”
As Mouse and Rummy move on, I discover that the game has in fact programmed jiggle physics for Rummy’s breasts. We can’t get competent writing, but we sure can get bouncing boobies. Oy.
“Hmmm…! He’s nosey as usual. But he is right! When are you ever going to marry me?”
Always the sign of an interesting female character, am I right?
“Last year, we attended the wedding between Sir Xelpherpolis and the Princess….It was so beautiful. I know it’d be impossible to have such a big wedding, but it’d make me so happy to have all the islanders celebrate with us. The Princess is so lucky!”Mouse suddenly stops, and a few notes from a modified version of Loreille's Theme play.
Now Playing – Theme of Love
”I feel like something is….being forced….” ”Oooookay, well let’s keep walking to clear your head, silly billy!”We are now set completely free, and can go where we want. With no clear objective, we just have to wander till we find something.
Xelpherpolis’ statue is completely unveiled, as it is every night on the 5th day.
”Rummy, why is the palace blocked off?” ”Lord Xelpherpolis and the Princess are having a day of privacy.” ”But aren’t you the Guard Captain? Shouldn’t you be let in?” ”Don’t ask silly questions, silly!”
This is a prompt for a sidequest only available now. Multiple people will mention some swimming guy challenging them.
Peace-Keeping Forces: “I haven’t heard anything about people getting robbed. Has the bandits disbanded already? (sic)”
”That….sounds wrong to me, for some reason….”
Rummy won’t allow us to leave town, no matter which direction we pick.
The Death Hiyoko shack is locked.
Sanjo: “Follow….the path….you believe!! Beeeelieeeeeeve!”
Sanjo is cryptic as ever, but technically his suggestion will be relevant.
Harrald: “Is it because the watchmaker’s daughter is such a beauty?”
This dialogue implies that Claire is someone’s daughter. Or that she has a daughter. But I don’t think either ever comes up.
Kyte is where he normally is, but he has no meaningful comments on the situation.
This is the much mentioned swimmer challenging everyone to a race.
Now Playing – Swimming Race
Notice that the watch suddenly shows 12PM.
Anyway, the swimming minigame is simple in execution: you just mash the X button to build speed (represented by the gauge in the top left), and then manoeuvre through a series of flagged gates to reach the end.
The “OK” message displays when you get through the flagged gates. If you fail to pass through one, you’ll start hearing a harsh “DOINK!” sound instead. I’m pretty sure you have to pass through all the gates to win, so no shortcuts.
In practise, the swimming minigame is quite hard. Many people report being unable to defeat this asshole by natural means.
There is, however, a way to do better. You would never figure it out bar randomly thinking it’s relevant by virtue of its title, but playing “Call of the Sea” will increase your ability to build speed faster. However, either it doesn’t work all that well, or you need to play the song well (like getting an A) each time you use it. Either way, I could not win by using the song, and resorted to the slowdown feature.
What do we get? A Death Hiyoko egg. Wow.
Getting this one now is imperative if you care to collect the Death Hiyoko eggs, as this minigame is inaccessible outside this sequence. It would suck to learn it was only available here given how easy it is to stumble upon the way out of this.
There’s one last unique thing to see before ending this sequence.
Hecson, who gave us the Monster Chart, is now holding a tournament.
The first match is against a generic Pandule guard called a “Swordsman”. He is easily dispatched.
The next is another generic guard called a “Spear Thrower”.
This one is a Royal Guard titled “Sorceress Squad”. I wonder how Rummy feels about us beating up her colleague?
This bloke is a “Paladin”. He goes down in one hit like the rest.
All of a sudden, we’re fighting a bloke with a raygun. He’s a “Magic Armor Soldier”. But as interesting as he looks, he dies in one hit too.
There is no genuine reward for beating the tournament, but it does usher you into a cutscene…
“I bet Sir Xelpherpolis and the Princess are watching the fireworks just like this too.”
Rummy rests her head on Mouse’s shoulder for a time. Doesn’t it just give you diabetes?
Mouse is disturbed to hear another few notes from Loreille’s Theme.
”Uh….nothing. I am definitely not thinking of another woman.”
“I just don’t want this moment to end. I want it to be like this forever.”
Smooth moves, Mouse.
”I know, right? I’m meant to be a huge womaniser and everything…”
Then everything fades to white, and….
That’s right: Xelpherpolis put a time loop in our time loop so we could loop time while time loops.
The cutscene plays out the same as before, but once we leave the house, there’s no old man to greet us.
The only way to end all this is to break out of the loop somehow. But how can we do that? Sanjo mentioned “The way to go is known only to time”. What time themed places do we know of that we can reach?
That’s right, Claire’s shop. While Claire herself has nothing meaningful to say, she does have some magic time artefacts in her basement, remember?
All our stuff is still in the vault, but something’s new: the “Princess’s Watch”. Taking it ushers in a cutscene…
Exposition: [The engraved name of the owner is faintly visible.]
Now Playing – Loreille’s Theme
”That’s right! That’s the name of my designated love interest!”I just want to take a moment to mention Loreille’s watch was meant to be a Pandule royal heirloom, so the implication is Loreille chiselled her own name onto it and desecrated it forever.
Exposition: [He remembers about the real world.]
We enter the vortex again, but this time Rummy’s with us.
Now Playing – Rummy’s Theme
We’re on Rummy’s favourite beach.
”Yeah, didn’t really feel like spending eternity in dreamland while Xelpherpolis tortures people for kicks.”
“But you returned to the world where the Princess is, even though it meant entering another dimension. The person who you care most about is…!” ”Hey now, let’s not force motivations upon me.” “I’m not being manipulated by anyone this time! It’s my own feelings that…Why did this have to happen the first time I fall in love with someone?! Why does the same thing keep happening?!”
First, we “gently comfort”.
”It’s okay, this happens: all the ladies fall for Mr. Mouse. I’m just too much of a stud.”
“When you love someone, it’s only natural to feel jealous. It’s as natural as the rain falling and the wind blowing. What’s the problem with things being just as they have always been?” “Thank you, Pattimo.”
“Somehow when I’m with you all, I start to feel like my old self again. Maybe that’s why you’re able to help awaken so many people.”
“When he’s with the Princess, this guy gets reckless and starts trying to do the impossible.”
“I’m going to try to be a little more forward!”
I believe you actually have to hit a button to have this scene proceed, as you’ll just hang here for a while if you don’t do anything.
“Ahem! Excuse me for being a bit blunt, but don’t you think it’d be best if we got out of here? Why don’t we continue this back at the inn…”
And the scene ends with Mouse and Rummy walking off.
Now, if we select “Don’t get mixed up” instead…
”Don’t get mixed up” posted:
They both get up and leave.
And the scene ends much the same. Incidentally, the highest rated guide on Gamefaqs (the one by the Rummy ass man I mentioned way back at the start, FYI) suggests that choosing “Don’t get mixed up” will set Rummy’s Reliability to zero, but it didn’t seem to happen for me.
EDIT: Polsy informs me Rummy will lose Reliability every time you lose the swimming race. I never would have guessed.
There’s one last variation on this scene we need to see. Remember how we could tell Xelpherpolis “NO” when choosing whether to go after Rummy? Well it’s not a fake choice…
”Saying No” posted:
“Rummy not only loved you, she disappeared from this world for you…what a waste. She deserved better.”
“It’s all right like this.”
Now Playing – Xelpherpolis Battle
This is another hopeless boss fight starring Xelpherpolis.
Now Playing – Defeated
All the flunkies teleport in.
“Sir Xelpherpolis!”
Like the wedding fight, you can’t actually damage Xel here, but you can get a hit in. Although it doesn’t matter if you actually hit him, cause that blood will spray comically anyway.
We then cut to the next day.
Looks like Xel just dumped us in Jailson’s garden. You can see the tip of him and the Large Magic Flower. Guess no one bothered to help Mouse while he was out cold?
Either way…
Mouse gets up, picks up Pattimo, and we’re free to move.
We already know where Rummy is, but this hint is in her house for those who need it.
We find Rummy just like last time, but with minor variations to her dialogue.
And the rest proceeds much the same as before.
If you’re wondering, it is possible to just leave Rummy on the beach like this. However, there’s a point in the story where you need her to proceed, so you can’t leave her out forever, unlike Kyte.
Now with Rummy’s diversion all wrapped up, there’s just one last thing to show off for this loop. If you happen to go back to the inn…
We cut to our room….
Now Playing – Beak’s Theme
“Hey, that’s a bit harsh, Beak!”
“It’s been a while, Mouse. You crazy thief!”As Beak has no official artwork of any kind, his portrait was sourced from the game.
Now Playing – Castle Town
“In those days we were called “The Golden Three”.” “Can you trust this person?” “It’s a long story. But either way, he’s someone you can count on. At least, you can count on his skills.”
“You’re still as annoying as ever. So, Pattimo, He (sic) hasn’t gone and gotten himself into trouble over a woman, has he?”
”…in short, Xelpherpolis is an evil jerk and we have to spring the Princess from captivity.”
“Why does this guy always manage to get himself mixed up in trouble over a woman? I mean really, why would they go for a dim-wit like him? Otherwise, he’s a nice guy, but…” ”Fuck you too, Beak.”
“Appreciate it, Beak!” “As always. Don’t worry about it.”Mouse and Rummy then step outside.
”How could I NOT with this face?”
“Be sure you introduce me next time!”
She then runs off.
“Little girls are so straight-forward, you know.”If you removed Rummy from your party before seeing this scene and/or didn’t recruit Rinna, their contributions to this scene will not be seen.
The scene ends there. Beak is now an accessible party member. I’d describe him in more detail, but this update is long enough as is.
Join me next time, where Xelpherpolis finally gets off his ass and does something to hinder us.