Part 132: Gaia

Welcome back!

These two videos cover the whole update, this time. There's a lot to be said about this part.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjTOIZ23UoQ (Polsy link)

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





Welcome to the Tower of Doom's lab. It is, as you might expect, a very creepy place.



Oh, and there's some sort of pulsating brain-like thing in the middle of the room.

: Is it alive...?





Charming.

: Hush! Someone's coming!



Oh dear. It's been a while since we've seen these three.

: OK. So we put aside Leen for now. But we still have the report to make to General Baal, right? What are we going to SAY? Gaia's growth has just plain STOPPED!

Ooooooh, this game is a prequel to Final Fantasy 9. Now I understand.

: Hmm, we ARE in trouble! Gaia's growth IS the most important thing in the operation. If the General finds out that it's not progressing, he WILL be angry.

: Well Nana, it is YOUR day to give the report. You're good at lying. Make him think it's all OK!

: Gaia... growing...?

: What the...? What's going on? What does Garlyle have to do with this?

: I don't know. It makes my skin crawl, you know? I can't even LOOK at it... ew!

This is probably the single most pointless piece of minutia in this LP, but, for once, I didn't have to change the way that last word was spelled. All throughout disc 1, the game's been spelling it "euw" or just "eu".

Just, uh... just FYI, I guess.

: Well neither can I! I don't see how anything like this can create an ideal world!

: Now, now, you two. You wouldn't want General Baal to hear words like that, would you?

Mio bucks the trend by finally having a text box without ONE word in all caps.

Oh, and there's also some beeping sound that interrupts their conversation here.



Ahh, the steam-powered intercontinental hologram phone.

: How is Gaia? His growth is progressing, I trust?

: Yes sir! Please see for yourself, General! Everything is proceeding accordingly! And soon....



: NOTHING is happening! You are USELESS, all of you!

It's right around this time that the script writers remembered that Baal was supposed to be a villain. Sure, Mullen is a cockbag, but Baal, up until here, has just been trying to get the Spirit Stones for the benefit of humanity. And funding museums and shit.

: General... please forgive us! We assure you, next time you'll see some progress.

: That nearby village was completely turned to stone. Is that ALL it can do?

: WHAT!? Does that mean that Gaia thing is what turned my old man and old lady to STONE!?

: SHUSH boy! Even if it DID, there ain't nothing you can do HERE!



On the one hand, they're trying to put a giant neon sign saying that Baal is most definitely a bad guy.

On the other hand, though, has Feena ever seen him before? From the way she talked about Leen leaving to go join the army, and their conversation back in Luc, it's not like he was coming over for dinner every weekend or anything.

: But General Baal. What do those humanoids turning to stone have to do with Gaia's growth?

: You don't need to know that. Just follow your orders and keep your mouths shut. If you do, even YOU idiots will begin to hear his voice, as he awakes from his sleep.



Being a villain in a Game Arts game, Baal is contractually obligated to begin hamming it up.

: YES SIR! We will make all possible efforts to do our duty, SIR!

: Well then, that's better.

: Continue tending Gaia until you receive further orders.

: YES SIR!

: I oughta...! C'mon Juss! Let's get moving!

: Right! We'll TRASH that Gaia thing, TOTALLY!

Seriously, between the "ew", the sudden use of caps lock for emphasis, and Justin picking up 90's-style speech patterns, I'm starting to think that the Tower of Doom was translated and/or edited by someone different from the entire rest of the game.



That's quite convenient of the sergeants to be having a conversation while keeping their backs turned to the thing they're supposed to be tending to.



Seriously, it's, like, five feet. You don't need to crawl!



Especially if you just smack the control panel with your sword!

... Y'know, I think it'd be neat if a game would use the same sprites/models for battles and cutscenes, just so that their current equipment would be reflected for stuff like this.

: HALT! Who goes there!?

: YOU AGAIN! We'll get you THIS time!

: This time you're TRAPPED! Trapped like rats!

: Or maybe I'd better say APES!

: APES is it?! You're gonna be SORRY you said THAT!





Uh-oh.



: Wha!? What in tarnation is going on!?



Oh yeah. That ain't good.

: Is... is this Gaia...?!

: As IF! This is SO totally WEIRD!

: We SO had no IDEA that we were raising this... THING!

: Well, according to my calculations...



: Um... Ah... Mio! Where are you GOING!?



Looks like the sergeants bolted just in time.

Too bad about the soldiers, though.



Good thing Milda and Rapp were standing so close to Justin here.



: Juss! LOOK!



: Looks like we ain't getting off so easy, young'uns.

: Then we'll just have to FIGHT! C'mon everyone!


If you only ever click on one music link for this whole LP, this is the one.



The Gaia Battler is not a boss to be taken lightly. It hits hard, it hits fast, and it's got three parts, so it can hit you several times per round. Let's begin by going over the arsenal of pain it'll be dishing out.



The Left Hand can smack you around for a crapass-ton of physical damage. A well-armored character can expect to eat somewhere around 90 damage from it; our Justin here takes about 150.



The Right Hand can initiate Ray Spread, which hits an area around the target. It's also physical damage, but only does 20 or so to a well-armored character at the point of impact, with the damage falling off as it goes.

Both hands can also do a normal physical attack, which is basically a wasted turn.



The main body can use Poison Gas, another AoE. It can, as you might have guessed, inflict poison. Also physical, it only does about 10 damage to the target.



Finally, Lightning. A lightning-elemental magical attack on all allies, which does about 50 damage. If you've saved some of the anti-fire vests from Gumbo, you can equip those and a wind charm to give two people +2 lightning resist, but that requires a bit of forethought or just not selling anything ever.

This, however, comes with the drawback that you're going to have a lower defense, taking more damage from every attack that isn't Lightning, so plan accordingly.

The main body has 2500 HP, the left hand 1900, and the right hand 1700. While you can blitz down the main body, you'd be eating the various nastiness from all three parts along the way. Combination is great at putting someone in the danger zone, and Ray Spread and Lightning are good at keeping the pressure on.

The safe way to play this fight, which is what I do here, is to focus down the arms ASAP. The Left Hand is immune to most elements, and so needs to be beaten down with physical attacks, and the Right Hand is just the reverse.

Thankfully, our various techniques are sufficient for the job.



Ice Slash can hit the right hand for nearly 700 damage.



Had we equipped Milda with a Black Belt, I wouldn't be surprised to see Milda Hit break 1000 against the left hand. Sure, it costs her entire reserve of SP, but it's worth it.

Rapp's Missile can hit the left hand for around 300 damage, so he and Milda have that part covered.



Zap! Whip isn't quite as strong as Ice Slash, but it's still a sizable chunk of damage. For when Feena doesn't have to heal, or buff, or something.

Once the arms are dead, a lot of the pressure is off in this fight. Lightning still stings, and Poison Gas is very annoying, but you'll never lose someone except through carelessness.



That said, the radius on Poison Gas is larger than it appears. Poison is less annoying because of the damage, and more due to the fact that being damaged delays your turn.



Still, if you've fought the enemies around here, you should have more than enough supplies to make it through the fight.



And even end it with style.



I'd say the reward is worth it, too.

See you next time!