Part 57: DS Mist and Kaipo

DS Update 2: Mist and Kaipo

Hello again! Time for another DS update. Today we'll be heading off to the Village of Mist, where nothing bad will happen whatsoever. Nope.




That's the Town of Baron just to our southeast (as opposed to Baron Castle). We'll check that out in just a sec.

First, a small bit of admin.


This is the settings menu. There's a lot of mostly self-explanatory stuff that I won't change.


But this "Movement" option? Yeah, I'm changing that.

Why hold down a button to run, when you can just run all the time?


With that sorted, into Baron we go.


Baron's a pretty chill place.



It's a nice place to come relax and kit up before a long journey.


So, with that said, let's loot the place blind!

There are several hidden goodies scattered throughout town. They're completely invisible, so unless you run around mashing "A" everywhere you go, you'll only find 'em if you know they're there.

I actually don't have very much money, so I'm going to be scouring the place. I'll need every last bit of help I can get, trust me.


Hitting up the Inn...

Oh, and I guess I'll also chat up the citizenry.


Damn, kids in this town are cold.


This sign amuses me. Although I was a bit disappointed that the text didn't scroll on the screen one letter at a time...


What the hell, Cecil? What have you been doing to these poor people?!


Money? Surely you jest. Your mere presence here is payment enough!

Oh, well it's nice to see that not everyone in town is afraid of Cecil.


So, I'm sure he won't mind if I relieve him of a few worldly possessions!


Gnomish Bread is a consumable item that casts "Sight." Sight displays a mini-map of the area. I've... never used one, or cast Sight for that matter. The DS version already has a map, right there on the lower screen. Still, I guess if you're playing some other version, it might come in handy.


Tents are expensive, so free ones are always appreciated.


As are these. Oh god are they ever. Trust me.


In fact, let's hit up the item shop while we're at it!


Here we are! Hey... wait a second. Why do I have exactly 494 Gil to my name and 2 potions?!

Kain! I thought you said you were going to take care of supplies!

I tried, but somebody raided the treasure vault before I could.

Kaaaaaaaain!


Fine! Want something done, do it yourself. I get it.


What? I need these. Trust me on this!


Can't hurt to have more of these, either.

I end up with a little more than 100 Gil left. I waver between buying a Tent or a Phoenix Down. I opt for the Phoenix Down.

At the northwest corner of town...


Locked? What do you mean it's locked? No door should be locked to Cecil of the Red Wings!

...Oh right. I forgot.


Well, whatever. Let's check out this house, at the extreme north end of town.


Cid's house?! Surely a single house could never hope to contain that much manly awesomeness!


You'll tell him for me, won't you Cecil? Tell him he needs to settle down.
The townspeople have been saying horrible things about His Majesty and the others at the castle. It's all Father's been able to do to still their tongues. We know there are still plenty of good men there, like you.

Awwww. I hope that made Cecil feel a little better.


Cecil, why would you even do that?


Ah! And here's the man himself.

Zzz... She's finished... Zzz... New engine, too... Zzz

Cid's bookshelves contain titles such as "Birds of the World," "A History of Shipbuilding," and "Principles of Buoyancy." I guess airships are literally ships that fly.


Continuing our looting I mean, exploration...


Let's have a look in here.


Oh, this is bound to be interesting!


Rosa's mum: Even you and your men have been doing some terrible things as I hear it, orders though they may be.
All I ask is that you keep Rosa out of harm's way. Don't involve her in these dangerous games you must play.

Lady, I'm sure Cecil is perfectly willing to keep Rosa out of things. Rosa on the other hand...

Back outside...


Aww. That's kind of cute. At least Cecil doesn't frighten all the children.


Ooh! A weapon/armor shop! Let's see what they-


Oh you gotta be kidding me!

It's just as well, I suppose. We're broke anyway!


On the east side of town, more of these very useful things.


And to the northwest, we find this lady.


Cecil, you leave that poor woman alone! She's just trying to make a living.


Polsy version


... Let's just move on.


We're going to go snooping around the waterway next.


Down the waterfall... good thing the water only comes up to Cecil's waist!


Making our way south, we end up outside the city walls.


This little pool has a couple neat goodies! The Bronze Hourglass casts Stop on a single enemy for a short time.


Every one of these I find is one I don't have to buy, so I'm happy with this.


We're almost done here. Just a last bit of snooping.


Outside the north wall, there are a few more goodies. These things come in mighty handy and they're also expensive. They're also our only source of revival since Rosa isn't coming with us.

Oh, and unlike in Super Mario RPG, in Final Fantasy games, characters are not revived with full health when you use a revival item on them. This took some getting used to, coming right from SMRPG to FFVII like I did... In general, it's much better to keep your characters healthy than it is to wait for them to get knocked out and revive them. Still, Phoenix Downs are a handy thing to have for emergencies!


These come in handy too! Petrification is a nasty thing to have happen.


Nice! I should be set in the revival department for a good long while. Hopefully.

All right. Enough of that. We're outta here! Kain and Cecil make their way northeast of Baron and...




It's battle time!


Oh, look! It's our buddies from the airship. Floating Eyes have 40 HP and a weakness to fire and wind.

Sadly, I don't have any more Red Fangs, so we'll just have to do this the old-fashioned way.


But first, I'll show off our boys' unique commands. Cecil's Darkness ability works a bit differently here than it does in the GBA version.


Cecil glows with a creepy purple aura,


and his sword is imbued with a sinister power!


It doubles the damage he deals, but...


it hurts him a bit as well! If you're going to use Darkness, keep a close eye on Cecil's HP and have a healthy supply of Potions at the ready!


Now, Kain's unique ability is Jump, just like in Leave's version.


What goes up,


Must come down!


Holy shit, that's a lot of damage! Kain's Jump can deal even more damage than Cecil's blood-fueled sword. Kain should do little else besides Jump.




Having defeated the enemies, our boys strike a little pose, and we get our EXP.


More enemies! Goblins are nothing special. They have no elemental weaknesses, but with only 30 HP, you shouldn't have any difficulty dropping them.


They can also drop Bronze Hourglasses, handy!


A little further on, we get our first level up!


Cecil does a little pose, and you can see his numbers go up. I like numbers going up. As you can see, our boy Cecil here is strong and quite beefy, but he ain't the brightest crayon in the box.


Now... these assholes. Boy am I glad I got a Preemptive Strike against them! (That means I get a free turn.)


Helldivers are nasty sons of bitches! This is our first clue of what will quickly become apparent:


This game hates you.


It hates you and wants you to die.


That's right, Petrification. We've only just started the game and already we have enemies throwing Petrifying attacks at us! Granted, it's the slow-acting kind, not instant, but still!

One small mercy, Helldivers only have 28 HP, and they're weak to wind. Act fast, and you can drop them before Petrify becomes an issue.


Like so.


That's all the enemies you'll find around here. let's continue.




Hey, isn't that...?


After we last spoke, I set about mapping out a new course for my life- one that would allow me to help people. But having undertaken the task of mapping, the name of Namingway seems rather inappropriate.



Oh, right! Let me give you this.


This is a new feature in the DS version. This map will appear on the bottom screen and fill itself in as you explore the dungeon. When you completely fill in a floor, you'll get a prize!


Like so. Like the overworld maps, it shows entrances and exits, and treasure chests.


This is the only encounter you'll find in the Mist Cave, and it's an absolute bitch.

Doesn't look so bad? Oh, how little you know!


First of all, Larvae. Larvae have 25 HP and they're weak to Ice. Larvae loooove to cast Slow. They cast Slow like it's their job. They'll cast slow on a character who's already slow, just because they love it so much!

So, that automatically makes fighting these things annoying, because now it'll take twice as long!

But that's not the worst part.


This is the worst part. Eyewing Moths have 39 HP and a Wind weakness.


Unload everything you have on these fuckers, or they'll do this.


Which will fucking blind you! Blind is a right kick in the balls. It drops your accuracy down to practical non-existence. If you're blinded, you ain't hittin' shit.


Thank you, Kain, for finishing off that other one!


Sadly, he gets Slowed for his trouble.


Whatever. At least now I'm free to cure Cecil's blindness.


When you use an item, a little yellow bar pops up. When it fills up red, you'll use the item.

Now, this is why I made sure to buy so many Eye Drops. As I said, that's the only encounter in the Cave. Depending on how much the RNG and the encounter rate hate you, you'll get Blinded. A lot.

Did I mention that status ailments don't go away between battles? Because they don't. Yep. Remember to pack your Eye Drops, kids!


Oh, and Kain got a level up.


Kain drives the butt of his spear into the ground in a kind of "Yeah, I know I'm awesome," pose.

Comparing his stats to Cecil's, he's a bit less beefy and doesn't have as much stamina, but is slightly stronger and faster.


This wouldn't be a proper dungeon without treasure, now would it?


But when they approach the chest, a disembodied voice tells them to gtfo.


Undeterred, the boys ready their weapons.

But there's nothing to fight.


Oh well, treasure!


Oh good, a replacement Eye Drop!


I think the Mist Cave looks pretty cool. It has these greenish pools scattered throughout. Drops of water fall into them periodically, making nifty ripples. I dunno. I thought it was neat.


More free stuff, and we're almost done here.


There's that mysterious voice again.


I like how Cecil doesn't react at all here.


Last treasure in this dungeon! Time to face the boss.



You know who we are?

Voice: Leave at once, and no harm will befall you. I will abide no further trespass.

Show yourself!


Hell yeah, we do. What of it?

We must deliver this ring to the village of Mist beyond!

Voice: So be it.

The mist is gathering!


Oh, look at that. So it is!




Boss time! This thing is a bitch. This is not the ho-hum Mist Dragon that Leave fought. No, sir!

For one thing, it has 566 HP. For another...


It hits like a goddamn truck!


Regardless, you'll want to use Cecil's Darkness ability, as the Mist Dragon is weak to Dark.


Kain, of course, should Jump, but you don't want to go too crazy with it.


Between the Darkness-fueled sword, and the Mist Dragon's onslaught, Cecil will be losing a lot of health in this fight. Make sure to keep his HP up!


Kain, on the other hand, doesn't have much to fear in this fight since he'll be spending most of his time in the air. His Jump attack does pretty decent damage against the boss, too!


However, for once Cecil will be out-damaging him, thanks to the dragon's aforementioned Dark weakness!


And this is why you don't want to be too trigger-happy with Kain's Jumping.


Take the opportunity to heal up your guys.

Oh, and like in the GBA version, do not attack the Mist Dragon in this state, because...


not only will you miss,


it still has this counter-attack.


Looks pretty, doesn't it? Well...


Sweet mother of fuck that hurt!

So yeah, don't do that. Even the game calls you a dumbass if you try that:


Have a Jump attack queued up and ready to do, because,


When you see this, it's time to unleash hell!


Oh yeah. Guess who didn't realize that Darkness wears off after awhile? Surely not me, no sir!

A good rule of thumb, you should be able to get in one Jump and two normal attacks before the Dragon goes into mist mode. Any more than that is pushing it, and you run the risk of getting your shit wrecked.


A few rounds of getting our shit kicked in, Kain Jumping on him a few times, using a Potion, and the dragon fading into mist again...




And that's all she wrote!


Kain lands shortly afterward, just in time to do his victory pose.

We get 556 EXP out of that, but no level ups. Now, let's see what our boys have to say.





Right. Time to complete the dungeon!


For completing the Mist Cave, we get 5 Potions.

Handy, because I used up all my Potions against the Mist Dragon! Like I said, that thing does not fuck around.



Oh well. Once outside we encounter a new enemy!


Sword Rats have 31 HP and no crippling weaknesses.


However, that's enough to push Cecil over the edge. Level up!


Here we are, the village of Mist!


I have a hunch Kain is going to be leaving us soon, so...


He'll just have to make his way back to Baron in his underwear.

Annoyingly, when characters leave your party, they take their stuff with them. If you want to keep their equipment, you have to remove it before they leave. But this requires knowing they're going to leave beforehand...

Anyway, in the Village of Mist, it's cutscene time!


Cutscene 3

Music from the cutscene

Well. That was quite something. Oh, Rydia's voice is provided by Daniella Macey.


After that cutscene, we find out heroes passed out outside town.

Unh...


The hell is that thing?!


Oh. Well, it's gone now. That's a relief.

Ugh.


After one last groan, Cecil finally pushes himself to his feet.

After looking around, he goes to check on the girl who tried to kill him.


Oh, well, that's a relief! Wait a second...

?
Kain?


Noooo! We lost our bro!

Hmm... well I cannot stay here.


Damn responsibilities!

Forgive me, Kain!


Poor Cecil. This hasn't been a very good week for him.


Still, we've got things to do. Onward and upward!


Mercifully, I didn't get into any random encounters on the way to Kaipo. I'm not sure how well Cecil would have fared all by his lonesome, considering this game hates you.


Anyway, Kaipo.

I need to find a place to let this child rest.


Cecil makes a b-line for the Inn without further prompting.


Innkeeper: Oh my! I've not seen a child so pale! Please get her to bed. You needn't worry about payment.

My pardons.


Cecil puts Rydia to bed and stays up, watching over her from the next bed.


She sits up and rubs her eyes here. It's adorable.



: ...


She rolls over and curls up into a little ball, facing away from Cecil.

You still haven't told me your name.

: ...

I won't ask you to forgive me. It's my fault you lost your mother.

(Not to mention the rest of her family, and probably all her friends, too...)

But please... allow me to take you someplace safe.

Once again, the girl doesn't answer.

Later that night...


Trouble comes knocking.



!

Please, you must listen! His Majesty-

Our orders come directly from His Majesety's own mouth. Surrender the girl, and he will pardon all you've done. The inhabitants of Mist represent a threat to us all. They must not be allowed to live!

What?

Stand aside!

I think I'd rather not.


Uh oh, Cecil. I think you made 'em mad...


This fight proceeds in much the same way it does in the GBA version.


The Soldiers' offense is laughable, as is their measly 45 HP.

They will only attack when directed by the General.


So, just Darkness it up...


and drop all but one of the Soldiers.


The General is a bit tougher, but not by much. He has 100 HP. Neither he nor the Soldiers have any elemental weaknesses or resistances.


A Darkness-fueled attack will take off almost all of his HP in a single shot. Child's play.


With the General gone, the remaining grunt becomes confused.


He falls easily.


636 EXP is nothing to sneeze at! That's more than the Mist Dragon gave us.


Ah! She speaks!




Aww, they both have their heads bowed. They're bonding.

...

: My name's Rydia.





Rydia...


Hell yeah! That's what I'm talking about.


Pay no attention to that thing!

This is my Eidolon. His name is...


Whyt is stupid and useless, and I don't like him. I suppose I can let you guys rename him, if you're so inclined.

Please bold your suggestions. I'll pick whichever one amuses me the most. Anything goes. I'm not going to use him much, anyway, so I don't care what he's called.


Yeah, I'll be sure to do that.

I'll explain Whyt in a bit. We've some exploring to do first.


That's the spirit, Cecil!


Rydia has this to say about things. She's surprisingly perceptive, isn't she?


Conveniently, she starts in the back row, no shuffling required!


The Inn is also home to an Item Shop. I buy a couple more Potions to replenish my supply.


There's also these. Emergency Exits instantly teleport you to the start of a dungeon. I decide against buying any, a decision I'm sure I'll come to regret.


Anyway, here's the town of Kaipo. Nice place.


Hey, the Weapon Shop in this town is actually open!


There's nothing terribly interesting here. This Staff might be an "upgrade" for Rydia, but the Rod she's already holding is more useful.


Here's why. Go to the Abilities menu.


Select her attack, and select her Rod instead.


Now she can do decent damage, and save her MP for healing!


Man: A young lady from Baron was found collapsed on the outskirts of town. Fair as the desert moon, they say! The ones who found her carried her inside to recover.

Uh oh! Cecil, have you anything to say about this?


I thought so! The little thought bubbles change temporarily when you talk to this man. It's pretty cool!


Even Rydia reacts!


Rosa's in this house. Let's have a look!


What am I doing here, you ask? Well, as luck would have it, I accidentally dropped all of my maps and pens into that huge fissure that opened up near the Valley of Mist.

Uh, yeah, about that...

Having lost the ability to map, the name Mappingway seems rather inappropriate.
...But I don't really know what to do next. I'm taking some time to re-evaluate my life now.


I've just been spending my time looking over the pages of the Bestiary, with no particular trade to call my own.



The Bestiary shows all monsters we've fought so far. It doesn't have all the relevant information yet, like max HP and elemental weakness. I think this information is filled in if you Scan the enemy. Once it's filled out more I'll show it to you. For now, I'll be discussing important stuff about enemies as we go along.


This book shelf tells us a bit about Rosa's affliction.

Let's check on the lady already!



Oh Rosa...

...
Uhhn...
Cecil... Please, Cecil... be alive!

Aww. Don't worry, Rosa! We'll have you better in a jiffy.


Eh? What's this?


Great googly-moogly! I don't remember that from Leave's update!




Never mind that, you two! We just stumbled upon something magical!

Augments are the other major addition to this version of the game. In a nutshell, they're items that can be used to teach characters different abilities, even abilities exclusive to other characters. They're pretty nifty, but there are some rather obtuse tricks you have to do to maximize the number of Augments you get. It's the sort of thing you have to consult a guide on, because the game gives you no clues whatsoever about it.

In any case, I'll be hanging on to this Augment for now, but rest assured, we'll be getting plenty more before long!


Moving on, we hit up the Armorer real quick.


Rydia comes with most of the armor she needs for now, except a helmet, for some reason. We remedy this.


I equip it right away. She's a squishy mage, not to mention like... 5 years old. She needs every bit of defense she can get!

For comparison, here are Cecil's stats:


Cecil's definitely going to have to do the heavy lifting around here for awhile. That will change, but for now, Rydia will need his protection!


Our last order of business is talking to this portly fellow.




This is Fat Chocobo. He performs various functions, some of which are new to the DS version.


Most notably, he can train Whyt for you.


Here's what Whyt's menu looks like.


Right now, this is the only option we have available, but each character we recruit will add an option to this list. Each will train Whyt in a specific stat. The method for this is everyone's favorite thing: bullshit mini-games!

Rydia's is a math-based one. Ugh. I hate math. I suck at it, so bad!

This means, I'll largely be ignoring Whyt, sorry. It's a lot of investment for very little reward. Rydia has plenty of other ass-kicking possibilities without needing to resort to that kind of bullshit.


One last thing, honest!


Another dancer! I know you guys love these.


Polsy version


And that will do for today! Next time, we'll go see a man about a Sand Pearl.

Don't forget to suggest names for Whyt! Bold your suggestions, please! I'll see you next time.