Part 88: DS Goin' to the Moon!

DS Update 31: Goin' to the Moon!

Welcome back, gentle viewers! Where were we headed, again?


Ah, yes. Mysidia. Thanks for the reminder, Cecil. I think I've done enough faffing around for now, so let's get right to it!


As soon as we enter Mysida, a scene occurs, and it's a long one. Might be a good idea to grab a snack, if you haven't already.




"Moon is swathed in ever-light
Ne'er again to know eclipse
Earth, with hallow'd bounty reconciled"

Remember this? It's the same as it was before, with one small addition:


Polsy version

William Frederick Knight provides the voice of the Mysidian Elder. He's a prolific character actor in anime and video games, and has lent his voice to many wise old men.


And we end with this shot. Ah, so that's what was going on in that first image!


"Go to the moon," it said. "He awaits you there."

To the moon? But how?

The Lunar Whale is a ship from the moon.


The Crystal controls travel between here and the moon. Speak to it, and it will transport you between the two faster than you can even blink.

Cecil nods. Sounds simple enough to me, too!




And with that, we're kicked back to the world map. There's our new toy, right there to the left. I'm just itching to check it out, but there's a couple things to do first.

First, we'll need our party's thoughts on the situation:


I dunno. Moon men? At this point, I wouldn't be at all surprised.


Yes. I told you it was a metaphor.


I know! I'm not sure which is more bizarre: going to the moon, or going there in a giant metal cetacean.


Your guess is as good as mine!


You can kinda see here, the peninsula that Mysidia is on does indeed somewhat resemble a dragon.


But that's neither here, nor there. Let's pop into Mysidia real quick, and then we can go to the fukkin' moon!


There's a little something for us in the Hall of Prayer.


See? It's our buddy -ingway!


As long as -ingway keeps being adorable, I'll keep making gifs of him.

I owe it all to you, Cecil. Thanks for everything!
I suppose now that I'm getting married, being Lovingway won't be quite enough.


Aww, that's great, little buddy. I'm happy for you.

I hope things continue to go well for you and Rosa, too! Let me give you this as a good luck charm!


Ooh, that looks interesting!

(See why I gave him Rosa's name before? None of this would make any goddamn sense otherwise. I stand by my decision!)




I do worry about his wanderlust, but I'll stay with him, no matter where he goes- even if he goes to the moon itself!

Awww.


So, we've gotten a couple new Augments. I forgot to mention this last time, but that thing we stole from Odin is an Augment that teaches the Darkness ability that Dark Knight Cecil had. I'm going to save it for later. Cecil doesn't particularly need it.


However, he is getting this one.


If you think anyone else should get an Augment called Rosa's Love, you're crazy!


In fact, I'm going to equip it!


Now, Rosa's love works a bit differently than other Augments. I'll try to show it off a bit.

Also, dang it's hard to choose commands. Cecil has so many good ones now! I'll probably end up swapping between Kick and Rosa's Love, depending on my mood. (Unless you guys have a strong opinion on the matter, I guess?)


Let's see...




Uh... Well, that won't do at all! It hit the damage cap already. I was hoping to- bah, never mind. Clearly these scrubs won't cut it. We'll just have to move on for now.


Let's check out our new toy! I'm sure you've just been dying to see it!




Welcome to the Lunar Whale!


I'll give you a quick tour.


These stairs on either side lead back outside. We don't want to do that yet.


There are these weird-looking pods to the south.


They provide free healing! No more going back to Cecil's bed to heal up! As long as you have the Lunar Whale nearby, you don't even need Cottages anymore!

(Operative phrase being, "as long as you have it nearby," of course.)


There are four of them down here, one for each member of our party! How thoughtful.


Then there's this monstrosity to the southeast.


It's a robotic Fat Chocobo!


He(?) offers all the usual Fat Chocobo services, all without the need for Gysahl Greens!


Lastly, this cube steers the Lunar Whale. Push A in front of it to tool around the world map. However, that won't get us to the moon, so...


We'll need to interact with this Crystal in the middle instead.


The screen flashes green,


and the Lunar Whale rises into the sky.


Hell yeah, we are going to the moon, baby!


The Lunar Whale sets us down on the motherfuckin' moon! Let's have a quick look around.


This crystal tower looking thing is our next destination, but getting there will be no simple matter.


The Lunar Whale can only land on very specific terrain, which means we'll be hoofing it. A lot.


Hey, that rock looks like a face! A reference to the "face" on Mars, or just an accident?


This cave here is significant. We'll be going there soon. Next update, in fact!


These tunnels over here to the east are where we have to go to get to that crystal tower. But first,


there's one last area to check out.


When you land the Whale, you're kicked back to the interior.


Then you just pop down either set of stairs and,


you're free to walk around on the moon!


Since we're on yet another world map, we get yet another world map theme!


Now we can go in this-

hang on. Cecil, why aren't you wearing a goddamn space suit?! Do you think there's breathable air on the moon, or something?!


This does not address the fact that you're walking around on the moon without so much as a space helmet!


Is this your doing, Rydia?




You two are no help either!

Bah. Silliness aside, let's check out this cave.


Hummingway? Why does that sound so familiar?


Living here, presumably.


Better question!


We just got here, you big baby! chill out.


All right, let's check it out!


Most of the Hummingway say this, accompanied by a little musical jingle. Observe:


Polsy version


I recall he had a knack for naming things.

Some of them have more interesting things to say! Doesn't that sound familiar?




This fellow down here is even more interesting!


He's a shopkeeper, and he sells some really good stuff! Seriously, this is your one-stop shop on the moon.

Dry Ethers? Elixirs? Sirens?! All really useful, and also really expensive! I'm holding off on most of it for now. I'm mostly good for supplies, though I will be coming back for some Sirens. I'll need a few to show off... some things.

By the way, Dry Ethers are twice as potent as Ethers, and exactly twice as expensive. Quite frankly, you're better off spending your money on Elixirs. Elixirs will restore all of your MP at a little more than twice the price of a Dry Ether. A much better investment, in my opinion.


Enough of that. For now, I just buy a few Cottages.


Let's continue poking around. Hello, sparkling spot! What are you?


Hmm. Useful... I guess?


Level Lust doubles the EXP gained by your entire party.

Given that...


It is best used on Cecil, since he's always in the party.


There. That makes... how many Augments with -ingway's mug on them?


Yes, what do I mean, indeed.


Why don't we ask this guy?


What are you doing up here?


Of course, now that the wedding is over, I suppose I can remain Weddingway no longer.


And so ends the Namingway arc (but not the sidequest). I hope you've enjoyed it.


I hope you can find as much happiness as we have!


I knew I picked the right man!


Now then, hop back onto our flying sea mammal, talk to this green cube and-


we're away!


Time to start making our way to that mysterious crystal structure.


To do that, we have to set her down way over here.


And we'll be hoofing it from here on out. Let's go!


This music plays in the Lunar Tunnels. You might recognize it from the cutscene on Mount Ordeals.


And, of course, there are moon monsters here. Why wouldn't there be moon monsters?

Aside from the Purple Baravois, which we've already fought, we have the Black Flan (2,301 HP, no elemental weaknesses) and the White Mousse (1,012 HP, weak to ice).


And I think these will serve as a sufficient test subject for our new Augment.


Rosa's Love does single-target physical damage. Right now, it's only slightly more powerful than Cecil's regular attack.


I say, "right now," because Rosa's Love is a bit different in how it calculates damage.


The damage it deals is based on how many link battles you've fought with What. It maxes out at 99.

Naturally, that requires you to 1) Have a friend with a DS and this game, 2) Be willing to sit through 99 pointless boring wireless battles with you.

I say, nuts to that!


Rydia disposes of the Flans with a Blizzaga, and levels up.

Learned Flare

And she also learned a sexy new spell!


Flare is the most powerful single-target Black Magic spell in the game. It deals heavy non-elemental damage for 55 MP. Very useful for those pesky monsters that resist/absorb one, or several, elements.


Now, I'll get into another battle so I can show off a couple things. First, that green thing is a new enemy, the Prokaryote- packing 4,420 HP and no elemental weaknesses.


The other thing is the damage on Rosa's Love.


There! Before, it was dealing ~450 damage to those things. We've just about doubled that. How did I do it?

Well, I can tell you what I did not do, and that's fight 99 What. battles with someone!

Nope. I cheated. I got an AR code that maxes out the power on the Love Augment. Very handy! Now it's by far Cecil's most powerful single-target attack. Still not sure whether I prefer it or Kick, quite frankly.

Anyway, now that we're done with that, let's see some thought bubbles:


Familiar, hmm? How mysterious!


Yep, how about that?


Now now, Edge, I'm sure they're perfectly attractive to other hideous moon monsters!


You know... aside from all the monsters.


There's a chest to the east, and it's booby trapped, of course.


It contains another new enemy, the counterpart to the Prokaryote: the Eukaryote. They have less HP than the Prokaryote (2,890), oddly enough, and still no elemental weaknesses.

You'd think having a nucleus would confer more HP, but I digress.


It's time to see some real damage numbers!


Ah hah! That's the kind of damage output you can get from Rosa's Love on enemies that don't eat physical attacks for breakfast!


However, you really want to stay on your toes up here. The enemies on the moon do not fuck around!


I mean, sure Cecil can drop them in one hit.


But these things hit hard too!


And with my meat shield out of commission, the Eukaryote is free to tear into my squishies. Their normal attacks can cause paralysis, to boot.


Ow! Son of a bitch, and Edge was about to use a Remedy, too!


Hang on, I've got this! I got it!


Get your ass up, Cecil. We need you!


That's better! Once again, Dualcast saved my ass. Dualcast.




That takes care of that.


Now to continue our exploration.


Fitting, I suppose.


Ooh, that's much nicer! Stardusts, in case you forgot, cast the spell Comet- a powerful multitarget, non-elemental spell.


And with that, the western tunnel is complete!

Obtained 3 Sirens

Ooh, nice! Yep, I can definitely use more of those. Maybe I won't have to buy any after all!


We emerge out the northern tunnel entrance.


While I was making my way eastward, I got jumped by some new enemies.


The Lunar Virus sports a puny 1,660 HP and no elemental weaknesses.




Pretty sure anyone in the party could one-shot them.


Annoyingly, they're very quick.


So they both suicided on Cecil before I could scan one. Grrr!


Anyway, now I'm free to head into these eastern caves.


Predictably, the Lunar Tunnel- East.


And right away, we get jumped by a new enemy.




Ambushing doesn't work out so well for them when they just suicide themselves on Cecil. And yikes, look at that damage! That's how much Leviathan tends to do when it's not hitting an elemental weakness!


Anyway, while the other idiot kills itself, I'll introduce our new enemy. Dark Grenades are the most advanced member of the Bomb family. They have 6,519 HP and no easily exploitable weaknesses.

Dark Grenades can also drop the Bomb Summon, same as Balloons, by the way.


Both the Dark Grenades whiffed their attacks on Cecil. That means, not only was I able to scan them, I can also show off something else!


Have a look at our newest Summon!


Polsy version


Odin casts Death on all enemies. Sounds nifty, you say? Well, not so much! Remember I mentioned the problems the Death spell has? Odin suffers from the same problems. He doesn't do any direct damage, so if the target is immune to Death (like pretty much all bosses), he's useless. Looks pretty cool, though!


Huh, that was fast. We completed the map already!

Obtained 3 Sirens

Hmm, I just might have enough of those now to show off what I wanted to show off. We'll see!


We emerge out of the southern tunnel.


From here, it's a short walk to that crystal tower! What are we waiting for? Let's check it out!




And we have arrived! Let's see...


Yes, you keep going on about that, Cecil. It's kind of freaky.


A good question! I have a feeling we'll find the answer very shortly. This Palace didn't just pop up on its own, after all!


Never change, Edge.


He seems unsettled to me, but you know him best!


Now, the appropriately-named Crystal Palace has a couple of nice things in it.


Namely, these tiles on either side.


The left one restores you HP and gets rid of any status ailments.




And the one on the right refills your MP!

Very handy!


Now then. Our goal is the altar in the middle.

Get ready for some more !







I am Fusoya, and I am charged with watching over the slumber of the Lunarians.



Lunarians?

Yes... we, the people of the moon.


The last survivors of that devastation boarded a ship and escaped to the Blue Planet.

Blue Planet?

The one that you call home.


And so those travelers created a second moon for the planet, and there they settled into a long and quiet slumber.

And they're the ones you called the Lunarians.


He thought it fit that we should simply raze all existing life on the Blue Planet, and claim it as our own.

That's horrible.


But as he slept, his will grew stronger and took on a consciousness all its own.


And through them, he began to gather the Crystals.

So he was manipulating Golbez!

Does this guy have a name?


The Crystals function as a source of energy, you see. I fear he has gathered them in order to activate the interdimensional elevator within the Tower of Babil. With it, he will be able to transport the Giant of Babil to your planet and use it to extinguish all life there.

Oh, no...


The rest of us have been waiting quietly for your planet's people to progress to such a point that we might treat with one another as equals. We but wait and sleep, dreaming of that day.

And the Lunar Whale, where did it come from?

Ah, the ship... My younger brother Kluya built that vessel long ago, and flew it to the Blue Planet. He took with him several secrets, such as the one employed in your Devil's Road and in airships- a gift to your people.


And while he was there, he fell in love with a woman of your planet. She later bore him two children.






Me? Then, that voice I heard on Mount Ordeals-

-was the spirit of your father. Indeed... you are the very image of Kluya in his youth.

So it was my father!


Zemus must be stopped! For your planet's sake, and for that of my people as well.






We must not let the Giant of Babil be unleashed upon your world!


Hmm? Oh, new party member? Yay.


Yep, ain't it a crazy world we live in?


Presumably!






Yep, and he has you, Rosa. I'm sure he'll be fine.

Well, let's have a look at our new friend, shall we?


Fusoya defaults to the front row.


He's a squishy mage, not to mention like... a million years old. Edge can pretend to be a frontliner for awhile, instead.


Fusoya has literally every spell in the game at his disposal, White and Black.


Including this one, which Rosa hasn't learned yet. It's the only offensive White Magic spell.


He also has this puppy, and enough MP to actually use it! (Once. He has a mere 190 MP.)


He also comes with a unique command, Bless. Bless restores MP over time, sort of like a Regen for MP. It doesn't restore very much, mind you, so it's best used at the very beginning of a long fight.


Fusoya comes fully loaded with some nice equipment and ready to kick ass! (As long as his MP holds out, that is!)


So, why not give him a couple Augments?


First, he can have this one.


Cid can be with us in spirit.


And this one.


We got this one from -ingway ages ago. It inflicts Blind on all foes. Not too great, honestly, but that's why I'm giving it to Fusoya!


And with that, we are done with this update. Phew!

Join me next time, where I specifically push my luck and potentially get my ass kicked. See you then!

By the way. I'm unemployed for the next three months, so I'm going to try to pick up the update schedule a bit. Let's see if we can get this thing finished!

Oh and don't forget to weigh in on whether you want to have Cecil Kicking all his foes to death, or killing them with the power of Love. Or if you just want me to pick. Whatever works!