Part 3: Lang meets his Dream Boy

Chapter 2 – Lang meets his Dream Boy

Where we last left off, Lang had just had a strange nightmare.

Lang wakes up the next day, seemingly no worse for wear.



Nancy is the only person we can talk to before things really kick into gear at Casa Galvan.



”So yeah, Galvan, we need to talk about you're a big fat LIA-”



Monde interrupts everyone before anything can happen.

Now Playing – Decadence and Corruption

(Considering both the name and where this track is used later on, this is a weird one to play for this scene)



We are immediately taken outside, where the whole village has gathered around an injured Boerto.

Jill: “My husband…will my husband be all right?”

“….This is…very severe. I’ll need to get Dad on this.”

“…..What happened….? Monde…”



Monde: “No…that was no….it was not a man, it was…a demon…”

This section really highlights how much the game loves ellipsis.

“Nancy!!”



Nancy comes running with Aston in tow.

“Nancy, Aston, you take care of the rest.”

“Edouard!! Here we go!!”

Edouard: “Go….where?”

“Where do you think, eh?! Hunter’s Wood!!”



As usual, this is a non-choice which only serves to flavour your response.

We choose to assume we’re going.

“Galvan!! I’m going too!”

”I mean why wouldn’t you take the guy that took down a huge beast single-handedly on a dangerous mission?”

“I won’t be able to look after you today.”

”…yeaaaaah, not really a problem considering-“

“Be quiet, and do as I tell you. Stand by in town with Aston, got it?”

”Alright, whatever. It’s not like someone could die or something…”

Edouard and Galvan then rush off out the gate.



“Come on, hold that!”

Lang is conscripted into hauling Boerto back to Galvan’s house. Not that we see him do anything, as the scene ends here.



The next scene opens with Jill presumably awaiting her husband’s treatment.

“Don’t worry about Mr. Boerto…He may not look it, but Grandpa Hawke was an excellent doctor once!”



”Yeah!! I did kill all those monsters in Hunter’s Wood yesterday.”

“If you got all of them, how would this happen to Mr. Boerto?”

“If you really did your job well, there should be no monsters in Hunter’s Wood.”

”Okay first of all, that place is a goddamn NEST. I could kill 100 Klaw Ants and they’d still be infesting the place. Second, Monde said it was a MAN. A demonic man, but a MAN. I don’t think even Monde is dumb enough to mistake a Klaw Ant for a dude…”



Boerto: “As Vigilance Corps officers, we’re doing what we can…”

”Also Monde said it was a man. Maybe don’t forget it’s not my job to scour Hunter’s Wood for strange men?”

“…I’m sorry. That was uncalled for. But…”

“But this is too horrible….How could…”



Hawke returns from treating Boerto.

Jill: “Mr. Hawke!! My husband…Is my husband…”

Hawke: “He’ll be fine, he’ll live….He should stay in bed for a while, but he should be okay.”

Jill: “Sob….Mr. Hawke, thank you so much!”

Yes, once again, “sob” is written like a word. It’s not even between asterisks like *COUGH*.

Jill runs off to be by her husband’s side.



Hawke: “I see Galvan has gone out there…I hope that he is safe.”

We are presented with a choice to either go after Galvan or wait. But as usual, this is a non-choice, because picking to wait just has Aston tell you to go.

But cocky Lang does not wait for orders.



“Lang!! Weren’t you told to wait in town?”

“Of course…I’m worried about Father and everyone else, but I won’t let you act selfishly!”

”Oh right, cause I’m being sooooo selfish by volunteering to risk my neck for Galvan and Edouard.”

Aston: “…Fine. Lang, I’ll take care of things on this end. You go and help out the leader and the rest of them.”

“Aston!!”



Lang ends the conversation with naught but a pump of his fist.

We are now free to move and talk to people.

“Lang…Take care of yourself….”

Aston: “…Don’t worry about the town…Just go and do what it is you must do….”

Hawke: “Lang, you must be careful out there.”

We can even talk to Dein, who is at least conscious now.

Dein: “….Oh. It’s you….What’s up?”

Dein: “….They got Boerto at Hunter’s Wood?.....this is a bad sign….”

Dein: “I’m injured! What’s it got to do with me? I’m going to sleep!”

”Smooth, Dein. Watch out, or people might think you actually care about Boerto.”

Marcus is also up.

Marcus: “What in the world is going on…? What’s all the commotion about….”

Marcus: “What?! At Hunter’s Wood again? What is going on?”

Marcus: “I would go to Hunter’s Wood too, if I could stand.”



Jill and Boerto are in Hawke’s room. For obvious reasons, Boerto hasn’t got anything to say.

Before you can leave the house, Nancy interrupts you.



“About Father….We’re counting on you.”

Now nothing can stop us leaving.

The townsfolk have all kinds of things to say now, but I’ll focus on a few key quotes.




As you might have guessed, it’s raining now in game.

And as everyone is saying, it doesn’t rain much, if at all, in Nohl.

That means there’s no way to replenish their water supply except via the Aqualith.



Despite rain being peculiar in Nohl, Maxell has apparently experienced enough of it to know how it makes him feel.

Eventually, we must continue on to Hunter’s Wood

Before we face the plot, however, let us discuss Arts once again.

New Arts

Obviously Blue Moon Buster and Sandstorm were not going to be the only Arts in the game. Other Arts can be performed with different combinations. How to learn what combinations do what, you ask? Trial and error. That is the only way other than using a walkthrough that you will learn new Arts, outside of a few NPCs that teach them. There are plenty of combinations that do nothing, so be prepared to waste a lot of time trying to learn them all naturally.

With only 3 Art Blocks, Lang can currently learn only 3 new Arts: Hawk Stroke, Blade Dance, and Mountain Crusher.

Click here for an Art Exhibition.

Now, as I explained earlier, the general purpose of different directional attacks is to hit enemies in different positions, like flying ones or short ones.

The kicker is you can get through this game without paying much thought to your attacks. After a certain point in the game, it was no longer necessary for me to worry if certain combos hit better than others, because you would usually do enough damage regardless.

There are a lot of Arts in this game, and yet you will likely only use a handful of them.

As for which are the best out of the ones we have? I’m really not sure. Damage output seems semi-random, so all the Arts appear to do the same damage. There’s little difference between using Hawk Stroke as opposed to Blue Moon Buster. So it comes down to which you prefer, or which fit better into long combos.

But we don’t need to worry about long combos for a long time.



We find Edouard in basically the same place as Marcus.

”Wow, who would have thought that Galvan dragging someone else into this would get them as beat up as Dein and Marcus? Nobody could have seen this coming.”

”Hey Edouard, you at least conscious enough to lean on my shoulder…?”



Unlike Marcus, Dein and Boerto, Edouard just straight up dies. Poor Edouard, we hardly knew ye.

Right where we fought the Gather Crab, we find Galvan…

Now Playing – The God of the Evil Ones




…suspended in the air, before an oddly familiar man.





Galvan gets chocked and slammed with telekinetic force.



Despite Galvan’s plea, Lang rushes in to save him.





The mysterious demon man blocks his path.



”Alright, asshole, let’s go! I’ll bury you right where we buried that crab!”



I think you can all see where this is going.



Yes, this is an infamous unwinnable battle, common among JRPGs.

After 3 rounds, we get a cutscene.









^ Click the above image to see the Pure Embodiment of Power ^

I would like to take this moment to note that Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders, had been a manga for some time before this game was released, and the OVA series began release just a year and a half before.

Make of that information what you will.



“You and I are of the same breed. You should know what that mark on your chest means!”

“The same race?! You and me?”




If you hadn’t already figured it out, the game makes it very very clear for you.

”That mark! You’re the man of my dreams!”

”I think it’s a bit inappropriate to flirt with me, here and now.”

”No, asshole, I saw you in my dreams last night!”

”Hmm? Oh, yes, I’ve been told I have that effect on other Mystics. Anyway….”

“Have you seen a stone that looks like this?”



“That stone…”

Lang then thinks of the Aqualith.



“The lake…in town….is it? That’s quite near.”



“To the town in your thoughts. There’s a sacred stone there that I’ve been looking for.”

“When I get the final sacred stone, the old race will perish! And it will be the dawn of the new era at last!”

“There’s no way I’m letting a guy like you…get anywhere near that town!”

“You would protect the town…? But why?”

“What possible meaning could that town and those people have to you? They’re utterly worthless. Surely, you agree?”

“Agree?! With you? I’m not anything like the monster you are!!”

“A monster? You call me…a monster?”




(My people! Killed mercilessly…Just because we have power…!)






“Exactly the same!”





Despite his outburst, it seems “Gold Eyes” didn’t mean to kill Lang.



“Galea…?”

Igohl: “If you let him live, he’ll only get in your way.”

“You think this man could get in my way?”

“Nothing could be a threat to my power. Impossible.”

“Gold Eyes” turns to leave. Lang struggles to get up.



But yet again, it all goes dark for Lang.



A strange, glowing thing urges Lang to awaken.




We get a vision of our dream man doing….something.

“…Soon, it shall begin…!”



Lang finally awakens, back home in bed.



Nancy enters, surprised to see Lang up.



“!! I have to get Father!”

Nancy rushes out of the room, leaving Lang to ruminate on his fate once more.

(…What happened? I thought…That monster!...My chest!...)

(Not a scratch on me…Was it…Was I dreaming?....)



“*sniff*…If you had died…I don’t know what we would have done…*sniff* I’m so glad!”

“….Galvan..I…..”

I just want to note that there are often more ellipsis in these scenes than I transcribe.

“Aston got to Hunter’s Wood just in time. But too late for Edouard, unfortunately….”

“I can’t believe you’ve been asleep for 5 days!”

“We couldn’t find any wounds, but you wouldn’t wake up at all….You don’t know how worried we were!”

“You must be starving, right? Of course you are, sleeping all this time! I’ll go make you something right now!”

Nancy leaves again, and Lang tries to get up.



“You don’t look injured, but that doesn’t mean there’s nothing wrong with you. Take it easy and rest up.”

Despite Galvan’s suggestion, Lang gets up and starts talking to everyone.



“I can’t believe it…Marcus, Dein, and now Edouard…”

”I know. I always thought Dein would be the first to go…”

“The Corps is in shambles…*sigh*…”



”Nice to see you too, Dein.”

Dein: “I was sure you were a goner!”

“….The same goes for you, too.”

Dein: “That’s too bad! If you died, I’d take some pretty flowers to your grave! *heh*”

Dein: (From the looks of it, he probably just came to.)

Dein: (That means he probably doesn’t know about the lake yet. Too bad, so sad…)

Golly, what could he mean about the lake?

“Wh, what’re you wandering around for!? You obviously have to take it easy! You were sleeping all this time!”

“Are you hungry? I’ll whip up something nutritious for you.”

“Hey, Lang….The lake…No, forget it.”

”How can you say something like that and expect me to ignore it!?”



Marcus is outside, by a gravestone. Yes, Edouard’s gravestone.

Marcus: “Edouard, dead…Damn! I can’t believe it!! I’ll never forgive the bastard!!”



Either Shaun hasn’t been filled in, or he has mental issues. Maybe they just shove everyone with dementia in the barn…



Unlike all the other characters who danced around the issue, Monde comes right out and states the painfully obvious.

Now Playing – Mist Capital




”Monde kinda came right out and said it. Including who took it.”

”…I’m going to have to have a word with him.”



Remember how everyone was talking about how it never rains in Nohl? Yeah.

“The Corps is in shambles, the Aqualith’s gone…What’re we supposed to do now?”

“The future isn’t looking too bright…”

Lang returns to his room to ponder the situation.



Here, the game offers you a rare, genuine choice. If you choose “I don’t know…”, a non-standard game over plays, where Nohl slowly perishes of dehydration.

Nah, who am I kidding? I made it very clear from the start that these choices don’t matter. If you choose to dither, Lang makes up his mind to go anyway.

(But if I could only get the stone…!! I might be able to save the town!...But…Do I have any chance of winning? Against a man with such powers? Against that monster!?...)

(Just…Just sitting here isn’t going to accomplish anything!....I’m going!!!!)



And so our quest begins: retrieve our village’s sacred rock from a dastardly villain.



Everyone’s in their rooms, but we can’t go in. Every door is locked, including doors to houses outside.

We have nothing to do but leave the village.



We are intercepted before we can leave.

Cocky Lang comes right out and says it honestly.

“I’m gonna get it back!...I’m going to track down that man and bring back the Aqualith!”

“Finally, you wake up, and now…You really are a piece of work, boy!”



“Father! Wait!!? I thought you were going to stop him!!”

“And YOU!! He wasn’t…human! He was a monster!! How can you possibly hope to win!?”

“Nancy…It’s not a matter of win or lose.”

“There are times when a man just can’t back down. You must try and understand that.”

“B-But…!”

“Lang, take this sword with you.”



“It’s old, but the blade still packs a punch! It’s not much of a parting gift for such an undertaking but I hope it proves useful.”

“…You should also take this Wind Talisman with you.”

“I heard from Aston that the man went towards Gale Canyon. You’ll need this to pass through there.”

We get exactly what Galvan promised: the Wind Talisman, with a wee jingle to indicate it’s an important item.

“Now don’t you worry about the town, you hear?...”

“I might be in trouble, but leave it to me to hold down the fort while you’re gone!”

“Father!!...*SIGH*….Men…”

“Go do what you have to do! But…You’d better promise you’ll be back!”

“If you…don’t come back…I’ll…I’ll NEVER forgive you…”

“….I’ll be waiting for you, boy!! Godspeed!...”



Finally, Lang leaves Nohl behind.

That is where this chapter will end. Join me next time, where I explain why I said parts of this game make me want to puke!