Part 42: Commentary: Updates 31 - 35

The Guardian of Winds



So, Norn Peaks. I'm pretty sure this land is only used for this one quest, which is a shame, as the music is great, and the various sections look marvelous, from the Windcallers' town (Birdhouses!) all the way through the mountain itself to the highest peaks.

And we also meet the Windcallers, who only show up here. Kind of a shame we don't meet more of them.



So the gimmick of this place is to kill the three green Windcallers to unlock the route to the dragon. They're rather easy and simple enough to not warrant videos, though it is a bit creepy to literally see their souls rise from their bodies.



This fucking scene. Let's process this for a minute. These guys are obviously no match for us, as they're much weaker than the three elites we just slew. Yet they're willing to sacrifice their lives if only to even slow us down.

Except they don't even succeed in doing that, as Larc is just that fucking badass. He is merciless in his goals, and even if he may have second thoughts, he knows better than to show that. He has a mission on behalf of his master, and he will not hesitate to do it no matter the cost. That, and he's definitely one of the most powerful characters we've seen so far. He's even kinda-sorta useful in combat!

So yeah, we kill a lot of innocent birds, and L'il Cactus takes a bit too much glee in us snapping their legs.



As for Akravator himself, he's a step above the usual bosses, though still not too difficult. Larc got KOed after awhile, so I had to slay him alone. He has lots of random-area magic spells, plus a powerful fire breath. He also manages to move around enough to make sticking ST's difficult, but in the end he was still no match against a pointy stick.

In Search of Faeries



This is the first we see of Irwin, and he definitely looks demonic. He's also kind of an asshole, and though Matilda and Daena seem to think it's because he was persecuted as a demon, I think he's just kind of an asshole in general. He stole Matilda's elemental powers simply to strengthen his own powers in order to destroy the world. Matilda's completely fine with this because she's in love with him. Escad wants to stop him, but moreso because he's kind of a racist prick.

I love Daena in this scene. She's sick of his shit, and it's clear she's only putting up with him and trying reason because it's obvious Matilda still cares for him, and she cares enough about Matilda to follow her wishes. She doesn't hide how pissed she is, though. Of course, it ends poorly, and she jumps into a fairy rave to teleport to another dimension, and then we fight a rainbow dog. So overall, another ordinary day.



Oh, and then this clusterfuck happens. Selva lists off all the important NPCs of the three main quests and then inducts Matilda as the seventh Wisdom for...ending an era? For falling in love with a demon? I don't know, Selva's a nutcase. The relevant thing in all of this isn't Matilda becoming a Wisdom, as that is never relevant, but rather Matilda admitting she was in love with Irwin the entire time. The problem is she becomes a doormat, pretty much doing absolutely nothing about this mess she created, not realizing that Irwin was more using her for his own personal gain.

So yeah, I fucking hate everyone in this quest who isn't Daena.

The Seven Wisdoms



This quest unlocks immediately after you first get Bud, though it takes a long time to get all six Wisdoms. It's pretty much an excuse to bring Bud everywhere you go until you finish the damn quest and can finally bench him so that he won't keep interrupting your ST's with his magic.

So, about the six wisdoms.



Gaeus is the easiest to find, considering he's always in the same place, and he appears in one of the earliest dungeons in the game. All Gaeus does is mention another mage without giving Bud any actual advice. Go figure. That said, I kinda like Gaeus, though for obvious reasons he's not as big a deal as the other Wisdoms and never really shows up outside the first few quests. That said, each NPC has unique dialogue with him, which I'll show off (much) later as a bonus update along with a bunch of other stuff.



Pokiehl can be difficult to find, as he only appears in a few places depending on where you're at in the game. There's this quest, Lumina after unlocking the Underworld, the Underworld during "Diddle Had It!", one mandatory quest, and then he finally settles at the start of the final dungeon. His advice is pretty much to appreciate what the Mana Goddess has done for them, which, okay. Pokiehl's my favorite Wisdom, because he has a wonderful sense of humor and seems to be the most competent at this Wisdom thing, plus he pops up at the most random of places.



Tote is always at Lake Kilma, and his advice is to listen to nature rather than the Wisdoms. His advice is the best, because the other Wisdoms give shitty advice. Tote's probably my second favorite Wisdom, as he's also quite wise while having a sense of humor about things. A shame he's only a major part of two quests.



Rosiotti is always in this room in the jungle. His advice is to feel the flow of Mana or whatever. Rosiotti's boring as shit, so let's move on.



Olbohn never leaves this room, so he's also reliable. His advice is generic "You can be whoever you want to be" stuff, but at least it's practical advice. I like Olbohn well enough, but he doesn't really get developed enough to matter, much like Rosiotti.



Selva is usually the biggest pain to find, though I think he only shows up once you get the other Wisdoms. His advice is to utilize his childhood experience in his magic career, which is unique at least. I hate Selva, as he doesn't seem to give a shit about the stuff he's fucking around with. Plus he's involved in the Faerie Quests, and we all know everyone in that line is a dick.

The Field Trip



This is a short and simple quest. You go to the right screen, talk to three different people to get ingredients, then see what works. The student will tell you how many you have right, and you go from there. The hardest part is determining which NPC has which ingredient, as you may not remember off-hand and a lot of the NPCs look similar. Other than that, nothing really to it, other than you have to do this one to actually access the Bone Fortress. It seems the ingredients are always the same as well.

The Ghost of Nemesis



The Bone Fortress certainly lives up to its name. It's probably the most disturbing area in the game, managing to make a rather creepy and elaborate area that actually looks like a palace in the upper floors. Funny thing is that there's a lot of friendly spirits here.

We start out alone in the basement, and the entire thing is set up as a giant loop. By talking to the skull in the northern room, you can unlock the room to reach your pet, which you need to unlock the elevator. Next you fight Sierra on the third floor, pick up the key, go to the second floor guardian and get Larc back.



Deathbringer's kind of a big deal in World History, being this very fearsome general and all, so it's interesting to see Deathbringer serve as a dragoon here of all places. He's a simple fight, but there's something else that's rather unique about him that I'll get to later.



Jajara's similar to Akravator in challenge. Larc dies much more quickly to Jajara's lightning attacks, but again, nothing my spear can't handle. What is more interesting is his out-of-nowhere weird-as-hell second form, reborn with two busts for some crazy reason. Not that it makes him that much more difficult, but not many bosses have a second form, so it's kind of a surprise.

And that's it for that bunch.