Part 12: Unbelievable! Am I the hero?

When last we left our hero he was flat on his back after yet another fall.



Just as he's waking up to realize how badly he hurts, something catches his attention.



There's hardly a more welcome sight I could imagine in the game.



Our faithful Choco picks us up and hauls our ass over to a new town, although not without cost...



.. a birdie is falling too!

.. Oh .. dear .. ..

I think we've officially landed in land.



When we come to, there's a familiar face waiting for us..

I was thrown from the ship.. But Sarah picked me up and saved me.

You mean that you were shaken off or something when it turned?

No, they literally picked me up and threw me over the side. Julius is a bastard about that.

You're telling me? This is the third time!

I'm glad to see you again, Rock.



Rock is suffering a bit of a meltdown here...

I'm not the right one to be the Gemma Knight.

Come on! You must stand..

NO! What's that Gemma? ... Why me? Why does that have to be me?

Rock, you..



... Shut up! GET OUT!



He can't move for a while for his broken back.

Seriously, broken? I don't think a while begins to cover it. Holy...

He was distressed to hear of places being attacked. But he kept saying that there is a boy...



I didn't really believe him, but when I saw you... even a Chocobo knew you're the last hope.

Dammit..

Bogard and the bird made me believe in you... we all believe that you'll save our world now.



We'll look in on him in a minute, but first...



Upgrades! The flame armor and shield are very welcome, and the flame chain is a huge upgrade to our attack.


Dr. Bowow may be able to make something. He lives in a house over there.

If he could actually point, this would be more helpful.


The evil Vandole used to prosper around this area, but Gemma Knight with some sword defeated the evil.

Some sword? What the hell does that mean?



You can bet we'll be seeing those at some point.



Approaching this house we're forced to pause for a second...and listen to a loud clattering.



Oh God, what is he doing to Choco?



I mechanized his wounded legs. He's fine now! He can even go on water!



Freaking awesome, that's how.

Oh... you...

We all rely on you, Kid! Go talk to Bogard before you leave this town.



Smug old bastard.

Now listen, it'll be perilous from now on. Julius has got the power of Mana already. Only match is the Knight with the Legendary Sword.



And it is how we defeated the evil power of Vandole.

.. You .. where is that sword now?



Wait a minute. You were the last Gemma Knight. That means you had it. How the hell did you misplace Excalibur?

Don't judge me until after you've saved the world. Got to Wendel and ask Cibba. He knows better. Ask Dr. Bowow how to get there. He'll help you.

Back we go..


and go north to Wendel. ... South is to the Ammonites.

That's one vague mention of a place we're almost certainly going to and another place with a capital name.



No. No it is not.


They built the Dime Tower. But it sank...

Whelp, that's two places starting with capitals.







The desert of Ish is full of interesting specimens, many of which are vulnerable to different weapons. Only one of these enemies is vulnerable to our flame chain, but the morning star makes a bit more headway.



Best. Chocobo. Ever. Well...okay, maybe a tie with Boco from FF5.



Fire-breathing sea horses. I... have no words.



Way back when we first got to Wendel we could have found this spot and wondered about its meaning...now we know!


Lorim is south of the Snowfield over the southern sea.

Dammit, can nothing be reasonably simple?



Going back lets us see a few interesting monsters and stores that will have to be investigated at some point.



There's actually two monsters in this picture: a flying stingray and some kind of alien claw.



..I think that's the Snowfield. It's actually a bit east of Ish.



The pier we're looking for is in a nice, sheltered little inlet... with no space to get off our Chocobo. That's okay.



We're actually very close to Topple as well. This makes things a bit clearer with Bogard...he just settled down somewhere conveniently close to where he fought Vandole.



Well, Lorim certainly is intimidating enough..



We can see that something is very obviously wrong...it's like the snowfields have come south or something.


One called Kary in the Snowfield has frozen us. Cibba came, but he's stuck in the other room. It is dangerous to keep them all frozen for long...

No problem. I've got this.



I'm not even wasting a key to go see a Cibba-shaped ice cube.

Next time: Probably the longest, most complex dungeon in the game thus far.