Part 16: In Which Will Takes a Leap of Faith

Once we start down the next path our first obstacle is a pair of very familiar looking statues. Evidently the Moon Tribe shops at the same place that Will’s gang does.



Before we can do anything about it, we have to flip over to the other side and do some exploring…



Complete with another Red Jewel. We really need to track down Jeweler Gem.



This hasn’t come up before, but this is what happens if you press the start button. We’ve picked up all of the items in this area, but there are still a number of enemies running around. Three are on this side, and four on the other side.




There’s a new obstacle with these switches, but they can be triggered remotely using Dark Friar. The pay off is a chance to return to the front side of the garden and clean up.



The more time you spend going through the area, the clearer it becomes that the sides really are mirrored. On this side you mostly make progress through violence, and I’m completely okay with that.



In this section we meet the light side compliment to the red hazards on the dark side. The last enemy has also fallen at this point, giving us a defense upgrade.




Moving on, there’s a common theme of an unreachable chest and an unreachable Dark Space.



The key to the second is flipping over to the dark side and flipping a switch to affect something on the light side.




Once we swap back to Will and move the statues, we can continue… although on reflection, that might not have been necessary. We can move the statues to clear the way forward, now that most of the obstacles have been cleared. The ramp off to the left side of the screen in the second image is right next to the chest we saw earlier.



Continuing on, we get the fun of having three Red Cybers catching Will in a cross fire. It’s about as fun as it sounds, but the end result is a STR increase so that’s worth it.



It’s not immediately obvious, but this is the kind of switch you have to hold down in order to pass. The solution is fighting another sword/statue combo and dragging it over to hold down the button.




Once that barrier is clear we can return to the light side and dash up to the chest to retrieve the third crystal ball and proceed. At this point the game is pretty clearly mocking us, since you can walk to the edge of the platforms and practically touch the final platform.



Moving on to the fourth section, we’ve got a gauntlet of Blue Cyber to deal with. It’s actually not that bad, since we can use the twists in the route to approach them.




The main issue we’re dealing with is a series of ramp that loop back into where we started this level. You have to stop on the middle platform in order to progress forward. Switching over to the other side just lands you in a dead end platform with no way to move forward.



Choosing the right direction gets us a Blue Cyber and a statue, along with two chests that we can’t reach right away.



Nearby we can move over to the dark side of the palace and change back to Freedan. This isn’t immediately necessary, but it’ll be handy in the future.




The important lesson here is that Freedan can use the same telekinesis power as Will. Some people in the thread have said that when you can not be Will that’s always the better choice, and this kind of backs them up. Clearing them out gets us a defense increase and lets us proceed to the next segment…



Where we’ve got a statue, a Blue Cyber, and a Dynapede all hanging out together. Clearing them out gets us an HP increase.




Next up after that we’ve got a ramp and two possible exit points. The southern point gets us to the Crystal Ball, while the northern point gets us an Herb. Whether it’s worth it to go back to repeat the jump is of course entirely up to the player.




Once we have the final Crystal Ball we can place it and then cross a crumbling bridge way to reach the boss of the segment. I’m not sure what happens if you slow down, and I didn’t want to find out.



Our second real boss is Viper, a kind of weird winged… statue… face thing. I don’t even know at this point. As a bird enemy he’s got a very mobile attack pattern, and that can be a bit of a problem after the last boss.

Viper Boss Fight




Most of what you’ll see is falling rocks or flying feathers, which come straight south from Viper and then angle to reach you. You can still dodge, but they’re a bit more of a nuisance.



He’s got a third attack, but I didn’t even see it. if you’re deliberate and keep up in his face, you’ll probably never see it and finish the fight in less than a minute. Of course, that’s not the end of our problems…




“Will! You’re falling to the ground!!!!”

“I’m… how the hell does that work? Was that bird pulling up the entire freakin’ palace?”



“Oh… oh no.”




“GODDAMMITNEILIHATEYOU!”

“You what!!! Idiot! Will is doomed for sure now!”

“I don’t need to hear that!”

“Neil! It’s still a little ways to the ground. Try again!”

“Okay! I’ll get him this time!!”



“I can’t believe that worked.”

“That was a close one!”

“Sob… sob…”

“Sniff… sniff…”

Will’s Rescue



“Neil, you were great. This invention saved Will’s life!”

“Ha ha. Don’t flatter me. We should try and locate the next ruins.”

“As long as that gets us on the ground faster. I’ve had enough to do with floating continents.”

Next update: Mu! I’m amazed the flying machine kept going this long.