Grandia Part #76 - Typhoon Tower

Part 76: Typhoon Tower

Welcome back! Last time, we used up just about all of our healing items and most of our MP just getting to the Typhoon Tower. Today, we get to deal with the creatures inside.

There are two save points here. Neither of them have a hint.

So... come 'round here often?

For those keeping track at home, this is the second of three Mana Eggs we need to max out everyone.

That's a lot of dudes up on that crate. How do we get them down so that we can kill them?

Why, mess with the barrels in the room. Obviously.

Yep, our first random encounter of the dungeon and it's a palette-swap of the guys outside. And there's some more dudes on the upper floor that are palette-swaps of these dudes.

What I'm saying is, if you like those sprites, but think they'd look better in different colors, you're in luck.

None of these guys are particularly interesting. They both have a single-target tech attack, but at least the Mad Riders also have an AoE defense debuff.

Yeah, it does nothing. On the other hand, now I have more inventory space!

Odd name.

Despite seeming like this should be an enemy variant of Puffy Fire, it's the defense debuff.

Yes, that was Justin wearing the (mostly) shitty armor with -2 defense levels. Granted, 40 damage is pretty respectable for this point in the game, but it's still far less than I was expecting.

The rest of the fight goes by without issue, although Justin does eat another Slash Mace, and, shortly thereafter, the last Health Weed I had picked up on the mountain.

Fighting that guy removed the crystal around this button, which opens up a staircase to/from another area. I could leave those other guys alone, and not have to deal with fighting them, but where's the fun in that?

Although, remembering Justin's close calls coming up the mountain, I swap out his accessory for one that'll make him quite a bit harder to kill. Sue gets his old Tree God Amulet, because if Rah-Rah is cheaper, I can use it more often.

Even Yawn, only one SP cheaper, crosses the boundary where she can regain the cost in two turns, instead of three. Puffy Fire drops below 30 SP in cost, which is what Gadwin's Squid Guts restores.

... Not that I use any of Gadwin's items. Mainly because I forgot about them. Whoops!

That purply-red square with the bits sticking off the side is a staircase to the next floor. It is, in fact, two staircases to the next floor. Inside that room, there's also a treasure chest.

I'll have to keep this in mind for any enemies that can confuse.

This dungeon has lots of floor buttons that do various things. Blue and green ones open up paths, and the red ones are alarms that cause nearby enemies to beeline after you.

Sometimes from the ceiling, even.

The Klepps can drop vaccines, which can come in handy for the return trip down the mountain. They can also drop Fire Charms (+4 fire resist), and Metal Frogs (+3 Move/Magic block resist).

Not that, y'know, I actually got either of those last two.

Feena gets roughed up a bit, and uses one of her three Heal charges.

It may seem counterintuitive that I'm making absolutely sure to kill everything when I'm limited in my ability to stop myself from dying, but, with the way this game works, it actually makes sense.

If I get ambushed, I'm screwed. I don't have enough Wit to lap the enemies here and kill them before they get a turn, so I have to be actively seeking them out so that I can get my turns as soon as possible.

Secondly, each weapon or spell level directly boosts the character's stats. In particular, Justin's axe levels give him +2 strength, making him better at killing things faster, and +1 HP, which keeps him alive longer.

Thirdly, I put these restrictions in place for a goddamn challenge, and the game is finally starting to deliver. I can't wimp out now that it's giving me what I asked for.

Back on topic, some of the hallways have this goopy green shit. It's slippery, and forms a one-way passage downhill.

The delay on defending gets Justin here again. Each of those guys gets multiple hits with their basic attack, and Justin winds up with just nine HP left.

At least until he gets whacked again.

As you can see by Feena's HP here, I barely made it out of that one intact. I mean, aside from Sue. Motherfucker's practically invincible.

I've been getting good luck with the Magic Lamp not breaking on me. Feena makes good use of the two extra heal charges.

Klepps can also drop this, though I got mine from a treasure chest. Justin upgrades for the extra two attack, since Klepps aren't plants.

During the process of clearing out the lower floors, Sue has to use one of her two Alheals to keep the group alive. Things are starting to get hairy, and I haven't even touched the upper floors yet, let alone the boss.

Speaking of the second floor, the main gimmick here is that the catwalks can usually only be accessed from one or two spots on the lower floor, so you have to run around down there to find the different staircases and whatnot.

For instance, this gap here? Only way to cross it is to pop back down to the first floor, then go back up the other set of stairs. Given the PS1-era load times (Or, even worse, the Saturn-length ones in that version), it's quite a bit more annoying than it would seem.

And there's the palette-swaps promised earlier. The Klepp Knights are the ones who get a new toy this time; they can cast "WOW!", buffing their attack level by 1. Y'know, like a single-target "Fight!" Cheer.

Despite only +1 in strength and vitality, the +2 wit and HP is very appreciated. Justin is only a single point of strength behind Gadwin, now.

The attack power of this bow is less than the one we bought back in Dight, but it does ice-elemental damage and can cast Crackle when used as an item.

Having lucked out with my gambling on the Magic Lamp, I decide to also gamble on the Klepps having an ice weakness.