Part 7: Great Granas we're DOOMED

Last time, Millenia wrecked up the place. This update will be mostly optional content, game mechanics and padding dungeon, so it might not is that flyin' jim phoenix



What's the matter, gramps?! Scared of Geohounds? Let me be the first to tell you... ALL the rumors about us are true...

Flyin' Jim Phoenix: I'm not scared of Geohounds or anything ELSE, whipper-snapper! I just... you have to be careful with that witch still about!

Flyin' Jim Phoenix: I just... I wasn't scared at all... You just have to be READY, that's all... The witch is still lurking about...

He shakes quite a bit for someone who is not scared of anything...

Flyin' Jim Phoenix: Fool bird can't tell the difference between fear and when a man's got his dander up! I'm Flyin' Jim Phoenix, you chickadee!!

Flyin' Jim Phoenix: Come on over HERE you mutated excuse for a female! See if you can last a round with Flyin' Jim Phoenix, you medusa-faced harpy!

I guess we ARE fortunate to have someone like Flyin' Jim Phoenix on our side... HEY!? WHAT THE BLAZES IS THAT?!



Ryudo! Honestly! Have you no respect for your elders...?

hee hee heeeeee

Anyway, we now have the option (occasionally obligation) to spend the night at an inn. This triggers a little scene where our party members discuss recent events over a meal, set to the bestest BGM, courtesy of Grandia I:


(bonus: Grandia I version)



In these scenes, you can select various party members and they will speak their mind. It's a nice bit of interactivity to add to a dialogue-only scene. Generally, selecting Ryudo is the 'end scene' option.

Um... When will we get to Granas Cathedral!? Tomorrow!? The day after tomorrow!?

Ha! Even if we both rode on Skye, we'd never make it THAT quick! Besides, Skye's only good at DROPPING people in mid-flight.

YOU WERE HANGING FROM MY FEET! You try carrying someone 6 times your size and 50 times your weight... See how YOU do.

Anyway, it is difficult to estimate when we will arrive.

You do not know when we will get there...? So the time we are spending eating here might be a waste?

No. It's no waste of time. When you get the chance to eat right, you take the chance to eat right. Pipe down and eat, will you?

Huh? ... You mean you do not always eat a regular meal?



So... this could be my last chance to eat regular meals like this...?

Hey now! Don't go jinxing the rest of our meals! You're going to eat just fine during this trip...

We'll surely visit some other towns along the way, but we can't be sure as to WHEN we'll sit at a table and have a meal.

Traveling is quite the hardship, I see. I hope I can make it to Granas Cathedral...

Uh, that's what we're hired for, remember? Your precious Granas knows you can't do it on your own... Come on... Eat up.

... Fine then.

Lord Granas... Please watch over me...

Further selecting Elena results in her repeating that last line, so we're done here.





Villager: Is this what Grandmother spoke of when she talked about the Day of Darkness? If it is... What shall we do...?

Pressing the action button at the broken statue prompts this conversation:

Lord Granas... Please protect your servant on her journey...

Look, Sister, there's no statue here anymore... see? Praying here looks even MORE pathetic than usual.

Lord Granas watches over us WHEREVER we are. I'll pray where I like, thank you very much.



Why thank-- Hmm... what is this? It is... fluffy? What a strange nut... Where did you find this?

Lenny: I found it when Leo and I were playing outside the village. It's my special treasure, but you can keep it as a charm.

Why Lenny, you are such a SWEETIE! Thank you for thinking about me. I will take really good care of it.

"Poff Nut" acquired.

This is the most profoundly useless thing in the game. You'll see in a few updates' time.

Lenny: Gee Elena... I guess witches really DO exist. She was SCARY... REALLY scary...

Now don't you worry, Lenny. You just leave the witches to ME. I can take care of them, okay?

She's obviously more frightened than the boy, yet see how she carries herself. Less a pampered little girl than a-

Knock it off, Skye. Still, she's harder to figure out than most... women.



Yes... But I feel awful for leaving everyone in the village at a time like this...

Villager: Not to worry, Elena dear, Father Carius is with us. But please be VERY careful of mushrooms as you cross the Inor mountains.

Mushrooms?

Villager: Some mushrooms of the Inor mountains are used as nests by monsters. It's best to avoid them if you can.

Nests, eh...? Monsters keep treasures in their nests, though... Easy money if you ask me.

True. But is it worth the risk?

Risk? What risk? We grab the treasure, and if a monster comes at us, we hammer it. Where's the risk in that?

Actual gameplay tips from NPCs! Not the most useful ones, but at least they're not rambling about graveyard ducks.

Since we now have a decent chunk of gold on our hands and two party members, let's check out their equipment.





It does mostly what you'd expect - boosts to ATK for weapons, DEF for most other things, MOV for shoes. Our current accessories do much the same. More importantly, Elena comes with the Holy Egg in her Mana Egg slot.

Mana eggs are the game's source of magic, and the interesting thing about them is that they level up completely independently of the character using them, using Magic Coins that drop from battles. This means that every spell is accessible to every character, similarly to the Materia system in FF7. Equipped mana eggs can even be switched out on the fly in battle.



Each mana egg comes with 18 spells, spread out over 3 pages. Every time a new spell is unlocked or upgraded (from 1 to 5 stars), the egg gains a level, which allows new spells to be learned. For example:





Here, I unlock Snooze and increase its level to 4 stars. Leveling up spells not only increases their effect, it also significantly shortens the time they take to get from COM to ACT. The mana egg is now level 9.



This allows us to later unlock the WOW! and Runner spells shown here, which were initially unavailable. I rather like the system, myself.

As of right now, the egg has Heal and Healer (single target healing), Snooze (sleep all enemies), Shhh! (silence in an area) and Cure (cures poison and paralysis). A good spread of support magic.



Unlocking and upgrading special moves works similarly, though there are generally no prerequisites other than having enough SC. Elena's moves are actually very useful and we'll be seeing quite a bit of them later on. Back on the subject of equipment, a trip to the general store is in order.



The Golden Statue is worthless as a recovery item, but making it one cleverly has it show up the second you go to the Sell page. 500G is a fair chunk of cash, so we can finally buy a Shamshir for Ryudo to up his ATK. They also sell some crappy armor and a crappy anti-knockback accessory, as well as some attack items which the hard hack has made crappy. We're done here - let's get this show on the road.




(the version that plays here has slightly different instrumentation, but it's not on the soundtrack; this version plays in the next town)



The Inor mountains are another padding dungeon like the Black Forest, but much more involved. The place is full of mushrooms, just like the guy in Carbo said - they sometimes contain treasure, like this Muscle Mushroom (+2 ATK to allies in an area). They also contain monsters.



Mostly these guys.

Crag Snake
Difficulty:

HP: 600 (from 280)
Attack: ~100
Special: on hit
Concept Art: Here.

Their attack animation, pictured above, looks cool as hell, but they're pretty weak. They have a very small chance of inflicting Paralysis, which takes someone out of the fight for about 15 seconds worth of IP. Doesn't make them too threatening, though, especially since we can now do this:



Elena is, as you might expect, a dedicated spellcaster. She's otherwise slow, frail and terrible.

Sleep is like Paralysis, in that it knocks someone to the back of the IP bar for a while, but sleep is removed by damage.

Other enemies in the area include spiders and dodos, spread out over a large, lightly forested and mushroomed area. Almost all of it is optional, but it's a good place to get used to giving orders to multiple characters if it's your first time playing.



Having found the platonic ideal of Ｇｏｌｄ, we're ready to destroy the concepts of economics and scarcity. Bug Count: 10





Actual progress through the area is easily made by following the dirt road that leads up to this mountain path. The path itself forks a few times into some dead ends with herbs and gold, but that's about it for Inor Mountains 1.



After the transition to the next area, Ryudo will suggest that they stop for the day and make camp, but including that scene felt like extending the update too far, so you can look forward to Character Development next time.

Official Art: Early Designs - Ryudo & Elena (she apparently used to be a magical girl)