Grandia Part #170

Part 170: Alent 3

Glazius posted:

I can understand there probably wasn't time, at the time, but Spirit Stones needed to be stored like long-term nuclear waste.

Though we probably have been walking past the "this place is not a place of honor, no highly esteemed deed is commemorated here" signs, haven't we?

That would explain all the horrifying statues and spikes and stuff. Huh. Never thought of it that way.

Testekill posted:

Man, I really like the animation right here.

Normally I do full-screen gifs at half-resolution to cut down on filesize, but I figured that particular bit deserved to be full-size.

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Welcome back!

Alent continues to be a bleak and depressing place.

: When the Spirit Stone broke apart the bond between people and the world was also severed. Perhaps people will never be at one with the world again.

: The Spirit Stone is the bond between people and the world?

: The Spirit Stone's light is a mirror of the human heart. Justin. That is the way YOUR Spirit Stone was. It showed me your heart. Look there.... The tablets of remembrance reflect the hearts of the Lietes across the ages like the Spirit Stone reflects the human heart.

Alent has basically been a non-stop downer train since we got here. And apparently for several thousand years beforehand, as well.

: They are almost all blue.

: Having destroyed the ancient world, Gaia was stopped in exchange for the lives of the Icarian twins.

Liete is easily the

-est character in this game.

: Liete. What color is your tablet?

: My tablet has not been colored yet. It... will probably be blue.

: A sad tablet? But, why?

: Because there is one who is using the power of the Spirit Stone to resurrect Gaia and destroy the world.

: I see. That's Baal, isn't it? Grabbing up the Spirit Stones.

Even amidst all of this, Justin remains optimistic.

: I'm afraid the Spirit Stone would never burn. As a matter of fact, it seems the pieces of the Spirit Stone are now closer than ever to uniting once again.

Although it is amusing how quickly he goes from "everything is wonderful" to "murderdeathkill" as soon as Baal comes up.

: Gaia will rise again when the pieces of the Spirit Stone unite. The tragic myth of Angelou is once again about to come true.

The camera swings out a bit, revealing a few more tablets that were off-screen.

They're all blue, of course.

Like most rooms in the game, this one has a proper name. "Shrine of Alent (Knowledge Room)". Like quite a few others, though, it'll never be shown in-game.

Anyway, we're warped back to the Papal Hall.

: That if Gaia is revived, only my sister and I can stop it?

: That is correct, Feena.

: Wait a minute, Liete! The myth says that both Leen and Feena will have to DIE!

: We CAN'T do it that way! Isn't there another way? Alent is supposed to have all the answers!

There's a long pause.

: But there is not even a single piece of the future.

: The future... doesn't exist...?

: Then what can we do? We came to Alent to get the answers we needed!

: Ask for the aid of the Spirits. Only the Embodied One who embodies truth is said to be able to open that door in the Spirit Sanctuary.

: "Embodies truth"? More like "too stupid to know how to lie", right Juss?

: You bet! ....

: Hey! Rapp!

: The Spirit Sanctuary? And where is that, Liete?

: It is everywhere, and it is nowhere in the world. So it is said....

: But you might be able to reach it. You who were able to reach Alent.

Another pause. Don't worry, the game will get back to the silly slapstick and Saturday-morning hammy evil soon enough.

: Let me ask you something, Liete. You just said that the future does not exist here, right?

: Well what about YOUR future? I suppose your future is not here either, then.

: I do not choose the color of my tablet. That is determined by the age I live in.

: NO! You're looking at it wrong!

Justin has had quite enough of this.

: Your future comes from the way you live your life! Live it fully and make your OWN future!

: Make the future...?

: Yeah! And you can't do that here. So....

: Come with US, Liete! Make your OWN future, like US!

: I am Liete, ruler of History. Perhaps the way I can make my future is to watch the future that you make.

: So that the future that you make can color my tablet red.

Not only are we done with this cutscene finally, but we're getting Liete into happier surroundings!

Oh, and also, she's our final party member.

Jeez, we haven't even left her room yet and already she's looking way happier than she was before. As you might have been able to guess, Liete is pretty much a dedicated mage.

All of her stats are below par, but at least her wit isn't so bad. Weapon-wise, she's locked to maces, so her HP and vit will catch up pretty quickly. Especially if she holds onto the Astral Miracle for a while.

Magic-wise, like Feena, she's got a unique spell for each level. Magical Art is her level 1 spell. It's a 400-power single-target fire attack.

Yep, 400. Tied with BA-BOOM, and beating out even the level 3 Fireburner. A little weaker than Meteor Strike, but runs off a different MP pool, and so isn't in direct competition with it. Speaking of MP, it only costs 11, so it's easily spammable, and can be hilariously broken if abused.

She's also just three water levels away from her unique level 2 spell, which also can be hilariously broken if abused. I'll go into more detail once we unlock it.

Her level three list is pretty sparse at the moment, but that can change quick enough. She's already got all the earth levels she'll need, and water and wind aren't too far behind. She'll be needing quite a few fire levels to get up to her unique third-level spell, which is hilariously broken if abused at all, really.

Skill-wise, Redshock is your bog-standard "hit an enemy" skill. It is technically a ranged attack, so she'll launch it as soon as its done charging.

Oh, it also has a base power of 400, like Ice Slash or Demon Ball. If you give Liete a decent mace, and a few Earth levels, she can easily become an unstoppable wrecking ball.

Speaking of Liete's equipment....

The Sparkling Rod here really can be kept on her all game, if you want to play her as a support caster. If not, the Magic Rod we got from the Tower of Temptation is her best option, as she can only use staff and rod-type maces, not mace or hammer-types. The +2 magic power is essential in some of her more broken setups.

Funnily enough, she can equip the Wooden Pole that Justin starts with.

The Magic Gloves have no special properties, but the Angel's Hat restores ~20% of her max HP every so often in combat.

The Holy Ring is really nifty: it gives +10 defense and +2 against all elements. One of the more solid defensive accessories.

The Rainbow High Heels give a small defense boost, but have a chance to warp her away from attacks, and the Enchantress' Robe completes her loadout with some more defense and another +1 against all magic.

Right out of the gate, Liete takes half damage from magic, has a 25% chance to avoid physical attacks, has auto-regen, and casts all her spells at double-speed.

Sadly, the only effect on her equipment that stacks with itself is the magic resist, so she can't wear our spare Demon Eye Stone to cut all spellcasting times by 100%.

And let's not forget about the XP manuals sitting in the Stashing Place. Like with Milda's, I'll be divvying up Guido's evenly, so Rapp, Justin, and Feena each get a boost.

Anyway, time to get back.

: Wait, where ARE we? Are we supposed to be here?

And yeah, Liete gets way more emotive and expressive once she joins the party.

: I can't tell if we're high up or down low!

: Don't worry, the gondola is quite safe.

And off we go, zooming away upwards, towards another FMV! Once again, it'll be ending the update.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtgAx8rJihc (Polsy link)