Grandia Part #181 - Attack on Zil Padon 2

Part 181: Attack on Zil Padon 2

Glazius posted:

I guess Rapp never learned what a coup was? I mean, cows are notoriously not politically astute, so I don't blame him.

Most cows aren't, but if a Lainian man starts thinking about political science, all bets are off.

bathroomrage posted:

I like Rapp and I like this game. In any other jRPG they'd belabor the point for something like eight more text boxes as Rapp goes on and on about how much he hates Leen.

Yeah. It's easy to think of him as just the hot-blooded angry one, but Rapp is perfectly capable of swallowing his anger and going along with his friends when they have a good reason. His growth is more sudden and subtle than Justin's, but no less important.

... Also, today's an update day, isn't it?

----

Welcome back!

Good thing, that. Otherwise we might have to use healing magic on her.

: The doctor said that Leen had just fainted and she would be herself again shortly.

: Everyone... thank you for taking care of my sister. Rapp... thank you.

: Huh? Oh, right, it was nothin'.

: Now we have to figure out what to do about Gaia. Looks like even if we beat it, it still comes back.

: I think it is just as Leen said. Only the power of the Icarians can destroy Gaia.

: But... I don't think I have as much power as my sister.

Justin, there's a button you need to hit. Left edge of the keyboard, between shift and tab.

: We can only wait for it to die!

: Once it attacks, it's all over and you know it. We'll all be squashed like bugs.

: WHY?! Why do we have to die like this?

: It's all over. Look at this place. We might as well be dead.

: Hey...! Hey, wait a minute everybody!

: You're not giving UP, are you? I can't BELIEVE anyone would give up without even TRYING!

: We'll protect this town! Count on it! We'll help you. So come on!

As far as motivational speeches go, this one is pretty short and to the point.

: Oh, Justin....

: Is everyone OK?!

: Thank goodness. It looks like it's still safe here.

And we're given control here to go speak to the NPCs.

... What, you thought that the city getting wrecked and people getting turned to stone would stop us from being able to chat with them? Pfft.

Anyway, talking to Gina lets us actually advance the plot.

Get used to this, it'll be the default sad music pretty much until the end of the game.

: Such a big surprise! How come YOU here, Mr. red-hair adventurer boy? You get stuck in attack too?

: We didn't get stuck. We had heard that Zil Padon was being attacked by Gaia so we hurried over.

: Whadda-you say!? You come HERE when all this terrible thing happening?!

: Well... YEAH.

: But it looks like we weren't in time. Sorry Gina.

: You no gotta say sorry for NOTHING. My problem is the old man, he leave on business before the attack, so I don't know WHAT to do! You all show up now, so I feel MUCH better!

: OK then, I hope Guido's OK.

: It's NOT OK! Everywhere it's monsters making trouble! Maybe they come HERE!

: Don't lose HOPE Gina! We won't LET them come here! We'll protect you! Don't worry!

: But... Justin, if the powers of the icarians are used, Gaia is sure to return.

: The powers of the Icarians...? From the wings that Leen spoke of? Is it our purpose to fight?

: Justin... I... maybe it's my purpose to fight. Can we fail to use the powers that Leen and I have?

: Feena...!?

: Protect you, Justin. And protect my sister. Everyone! I want to protect everyone!

You can tell this text box is important because the camera zooms in on Feena beforehand.

: Feena. Wings... wings of light.

: Feena... there is a strength that is beginning to well up inside you.

Now, I'm sure that Liete wasn't implying that the ancient Icarians didn't give a fuck, and just sorta accidentally stopped the world from dying as a side effect of stopping Gaia, but that interpretation certainly makes the circumstances surrounding the fall of Angelou much more interestingly ambiguous. Did the humans steal the Spirit Stone and doom the world because they were greedy jerks, or because they were trying to give the power to those who could care about others?

: You are trying to find the key that will release this power from within you.

: The power... of caring...?

Unfortunately, before she can finish her thought, the Gaia Lightning pops up again.

And the background music goes back to this.

: LOOK OUT!

: Stay away from it! Whoever touches that light will turn to stone!

: The only thing we can think of now is destroying Gaia! Come on! Let's go!

Before we get to that, though...

I love old-school freakout animations.

Anyway, our next target is hanging out at the entrance to the Mogay section.

: Here it comes! I hope you're ready Juss!

: Justin! Let's go!

: I'm ready! It won't get one step past us!

Oh boy, I hope you're ready....

... For yet another Gaia Battler. The hands have a 1/3 chance of inflicting either sleep or poison with their melee attacks, and the Right Hand has swapped out Grand Heal for Ray Spread. The main body can use Rust Gas, which is just Poison Gas only with a defense debuff instead of poison.

Lightning is only very slightly more powerful than it used to be, and the group has far more HP, healing ability, and resistance to lightning.

There's really only so much that can be said about these guys at this point. So have some numbers instead.

Right Hand is still weak to all elements, so Thor Cut can really tear into it.

As can a +5 skill power Zap! Whip.

Also, no, the boss didn't Plague me, that was from the first group of Gaia Horns.

An unboosted Redshock can still do decent damage to the Left Hand, though not quite up there with Demon Ball or what Midair Cut would have done if I had remembered to give Justin a non-elemental weapon.

Rapp growing a third arm to dual-wield swords while Justin spins through the air still doesn't make the fight exciting enough to keep Liete awake.

Y'know what? Let's try something else. Take two!

This time, we're all healed going in. We're also going to bring all the parts down to low health and finish them all off at once.

It's a strange feeling to be using Zap! because I know that it's not powerful enough to kill anything.

Because the stat debuff spells have an elemental affinity, they can be reduced or enhanced by the enemy's resistances. Not sure if I've mentioned that before, but here's a screenshot that sums the whole thing up nicely.

But with no ability to heal itself, the Gaia Battler and both its arms get brought down to low HP without much incident.