Grandia Part #151 - Warp Space

Part 151: Warp Space

Welcome back!

Before we hit up the dungeon, we have some business to take care of.

Yeah, that's quite a few stat boosters to chow down on.

: Y'know, Juss, if you planted all those seeds, they'd probably grow into fruits. Just sayin'.

Justin's stats before the big chowdown...

... And after.

... Yeah, the only stat that changed was +1 strength. Still, 11 more HP, 6 more SP, and 4 more MP for each level.

Feena really would have appreciated that last bit.

Speaking of....

+5 to Strength, Wit, and Agility, and a whopping +9 to vitality.

This brings her up to... exactly equal with Rapp. A little weaker on offense, but quicker to get her turns.

Due to being ever-so-slightly overpowered for this stage of the game, everyone'll be sporting their new, shiny, Zero weapons.

Since Rapp's vote ended in a tie, he'll be switching between shurikens and swords. And since Justin and Rapp can't both have the Zero Sword at the same time, Justin takes his Spirit Sword out of storage.

You may also notice the fancy new coats that Feena and Rapp are sporting.

The Mink Coat gives a whopping +5 against water and wind. Combined with the Moonlight Shield from Zil Padon, the wearer is completely immune to those two elements, and has their accessory slot free for whatever shenanigans you see fit. Tossing a Fire Charm in there is a popular choice, reducing fire and lightning attacks to less than half damage.

But since I didn't find as many as I would've liked back on the Volcano, and don't feel like running back to the Tower of Temptation to buy more, Feena re-equips the Demon Eye Stone to speed her spellcasting, and Rapp takes the Etheral Miracle to try and unlock some of his more useful spells quickly.

The town's weapon shop would be a bit more impressive if we hadn't just gotten some of the best gear in the game. The Warhammer, Buster Axe, and Morning Star all reduce move in exchange for their power. We've already picked up a Silence Sword, and the Ice Pick is a dagger that deals blizzard-element damage.

The Bone Splitter axe is, like the Shadow Sword, Assassin's Dagger, and Hertz Spike before it, a weapon that can deal instant death.

While that was a very useful property when fighting things that took around eight hits to put down, it's not quite as handy when a normal attack does enough damage to one-shot the monster anyway.

Still, the option's always there.

The item store sells stat buffing items, along with some potent HP restorers. The Block Charm and Move Unblocker prevent Magic and Move blocks respectively. The Launch Fireworks do a big ol' pile of fire damage.

Justin considers swapping out his ring for a pair of snazzy earrings, but Feena and Rapp's mink coats already cut my funds dangerously low.

Anyway, enough perparation. It's time to tackle the main event.

: Sure was, Justin boy. As big as the one we live in now. Come to think of it, it was a lot prettier too.

: This is worse. This is worse than the petrified forest.

: Darlin says here space in warped and twisted. Monsters live here, too.

: Let's do it, Milda! We HAVE to do it!

: .... You're right, Justin boy. But be careful now, y'hear!? There's wormy-like critters around and Dorlin's house was the farthest from the gate, so we got a long way to go!

So, welcome to the old village of Laine. In case you can't tell by the Perfect Dark X-Ray filter over the terrain here, things... are gonna get weird.

So let's discuss the enemies for a bit. Sea Stars are probably the most common monsters around. They resist everything but fire, to which they are weak. They're also resistant to paralysis and sleep. Their special attack can debuff move. And, uh... that's about all there is to say about them. Their attacks are either really weak, or else water-elemental, so the only one they can even scratch is Justin.

These guys aren't particularly exciting.

Rapp was about 5 sword XP away from learning this when we started. We'll be seeing this in action later.

Already we've got palette-swaps of the Cactus Men. Vanatos are weak to fire and, like most other monsters here, resist paralysis and sleep.

Given their weakness, Rapp can really clean up here with Fireball.

Fire Hounds are just behind Sea Stars, in terms of rarity. They are immune to a whole host of status ailments, including sleep, poison, plague, and paralysis, and also resist sleep.

Element-wise, they take very little damage from fire, but are weak to water. They've also got the lowest physical defense of all the enemies here, so that's... something?

Demon Ball is Rapp's penultimate technique. It's a 400-power non-elemental attack on a single enemy.

Yes, despite all the fire and explosion animation, it's non-elemental. It's at the same base power as Ice Slash, but slightly behind Thor Cut or Zap! Whip. It can be used regardless of Rapp's weapon, making it a decent upgrade for both Missile and Doppelganger.

Feindish cube mazes!

And when I joked earlier about the walls using the X-Ray effect from Perfect Dark? Well, they are translucent.

Justin can skate by with mediocre level ups by virtue of how crazy his stats are.

Anyway, there are three sections to the first area. This house here is the warp to the second one.

Fiendish Cube Maze 2: Maze Harder.

... And yes, it is necessary to knock down every panel you can in there. Otherwise the maze looks incomplete and it bugs you every time you see it.

Sphynxes are the final enemy type in this dungeon. They resist all elements, sleep and paralysis. Though technically they resist paralysis less than most monsters in this dungeon do, at +1 instead of +3. So... we've got that?

Their special can debuff Wit, and they can cast Fiora, a.k.a. "That spell what causes Move Block".

Finally, Rapp hits water 6 and finishes off his level 1 spell list.

Stram would have been great to have earlier; it debuffs the enemy's attack.

On the other side of the maze, we find this little number.

And this is what Rapp spends most of his time doing from here on out. Need to level up both earth and water, after all.

Speaking of leveling Earth....

Justin hits Earth 19 and learns Quake, a level 3 spell which deals damage to all enemies. Animation-wise, it's mostly the same as Milda's Splitter.

He'll be hitting Earth 20 and learning BA-BOOM! before this is over.

Anyway, there's another house in the second section that leads to the third section, which has this floating door.

Warp Space 2 swaps out the x-ray walls for bottomless pits and translucent floors.

Also, petrified Lainians floating in rotating prisms.

Yeah, I'm with Rapp on this place.

Most of the treasures in this dungeon are either gold or the meat-based healing items you can buy in Laine.

Although some of it is equipment you can buy in Laine.

If you've been staying on the path the game recommends and picking up all the Mana Eggs, this would be the final one you'd need. If you've been exploring, like we have, it'll be your second spare.

Anyway, the gimmick here....

involves getting folded up into paper cubes that teleport you around the area.

Like before, the path forward is through a floating doorway. Unlike before, though, only one of them will open.

It's the one your compass points to. This doesn't even pretend to try to be a puzzle.

Anyway, going through that door brings us to the third area....

That, um....

That's the gimmick of the third area. The tentacles are traps, so try to avoid them.

Or not, they barely deal any damage worth noting.

These boots would be better than Rapp's Winged Boots in every way, except for a minor typo, either in the code or the item description.

See, the Winged Boots' description says that they boost move by 35. They actually boost it by 50.

They're not the only boot to get their bonus wrong, either.

And Feena pulls ahead of Rapp in vitality. Still dead last in strength, though.

Oh boy. More gear that we could've bought in town.

Anyway, at the far end of this area, we find a green door.

Shit, I think we were supposed to find the Super Missiles in Cafu, guys!

Oh. I guess this is the source of the problems around here.

Why do I feel like something's gonna hap-

: Okay, I really think I preferred the "grow out of the pulsating brain" method of generating these things. Eww.

: Ew! Ew! That's even worse than last time!

Y'know, if it weren't for the optional dungeons, this would only have been the second boss we've fought with Milda.

Instead, it's the seventh.

This one has slightly higher stats than the one back in the Tower of Doom, and one other trick up its sleeve...

It's swapped out Ray Spread for Grand Heal.

Meanwhile I've swapped out "coming into a fight low on resources and needing to heal" with "multiple ways of wrecking shit".

It doesn't go well for the poor guy. Even with the Zero weapons, he still goes down in half the time it took me to kill his predecessor.

Fun fact: This is one of the bosses that really stonewalled me as a kid. Not as much as the next one, but enough that I have vivid memories of watching that pre-battle cutscene over and over again.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdXIXEBpk00 (Polsy link)