The Let's Play Archive

Linda Cube [Linda³]

by ivantod

Part 27: Summer/Autumn 1994

    




            Always take a banana to a party.
                    -- Steven Moffat


Last time, Ken and Linda solved a couple of sidequests, among them rescuing a stolen "tiger's claw", the symbol of Koshikata. Although we have a couple of outstanding quests, it seems we're not able to do anything with them at the moment. However, we have a message to listen to that's still outstanding.



In addition to that, as we're standing around...



...we receive another new mesage notification! So let's go and listen to the first outstanding message immediately.



Hello! This is Natasha! Although I'm just starting out, I'm already a first-class lawyer. However, I'm in a bit of trouble, so I need your help with something. I'll pay you though. I think you'd be perfect for the job. If you're interested, just come down to Dogy Figh. I'm going to be down in the boss's residence, not where the dog fighting arena is. It should be a nice part time job for you, so make sure you come! Oh and the kids here... well I guess they're adults now, anyway they're not very nice so be careful of them.

Well, we have met Natasha in the previous scenario as the lawyer who was handling the inheritance for Mr. Orman, after he was assassinated by Emory or one of his Sachiko clones. Let's go and see what she's up to in this version.



Here we are in Dogy Figh. I will definitely never get tired of that name.



We head straight to the Orman family residence area.



As we're walking to where Natasha is, this guy in blue shirt interrupts us.

I have a great idea that will benefit both of us! Just come and see me later.

Ok, sure.



Anyway, Natasha is here, as always.

Hello! I'm Natasha who called you on the phone. Let me get to the business immediately. It turns out, the other day, Mr. Orman, the chairman of this whole enterprise, has passed away. And of course it's all turned into an ugly inheritance dispute, as things tend to do. To make the matters even more complicated, Mr. Orman's note where he specified the names of his successors has gone missing.
He was a bit of an eccentric, so he actually wrote the name of his successor on the collar of the dog he loved before his death. The dog's name is Taro and now he's wandered off somewhere... still wearing the collar of course.
So I'm asking you to help me find him.
[ Of course! ] / What's the reward? / You must be kidding me.
Thank you! The reward will be the whole 20,000 G! The job has to be done by summer two years from now, otherwise the money will automatically go to the Refugee Fund. I mean, I have no problem with that, but it does mean that neither of us will get any of it! Wouldn't that be quite troublesome, right?

If you refuse to do the job, it's possible to haggle with her for a bigger reward up to 50,000 G, as a matter of fact. There is actually another part to the reward which the game tells you nothing about, thus enticing you to potentially choose a sub-optimal (for the player) outcome of this subquest. More on that as we go through the quest.

Either way, we have a new quest, so let's check it out.



So our new quest is to "settle the inheritance dispute". The task is to locate Taro's collar and to bring it to Dogy Figh, either to Natasha or to one of the three Orman children. So let's head out.



First we can stop by the nurse...

Mr. Orman really liked to hunt... He used to take his hound Taro south of the Dark River. He would hunt snails, koalas, sea urchins and also hydras.



As we try to leave, we're interrupted by Orman's daugther Pomerania.

Oh, you're leaving already, Ken?
Hey, so, about Taro's collar, I was wondering if you could bring it to me? I don't know how much that lawyer is paying you, but whatever it is, I will double it! If you bring it to me, you can expect more than a monetary reward, if you see what I mean! ❤



Before we leave, we should also check in with the guy in blue who asked to talk to us!

Let me introduce myself! I'm Shepherd, the second son of the Orman family. I heard you're trying to save the animals of this planet! What an admirable task! By the way, I've heard from source that someone was looking for the "tiger's claw". Well, if you haven't found it yet... how about I give you one in exchange for Taro's collar? It's not so bad, right? Please think about it!

So this is what I was mentioning last time. It's possible to also get a tiger's claw as a reward from this quest, as long as you bring the collar to this guy. However, as we already know, tiger's claw can be obtained in better ways, so this would be a waste to begin with, but you'll see later today actually how much of a waste.



As we continue to make our way out, we're also interrupted by Beagley, the first son.

Hey there! You! Don't you know who I am! I'm Beagley, the eldest of the Orman children! Bring Taro's collar to me! I guess it will be like pearls before swine, but still I'll give you Jiro, the ultimate fighting dog of Dogy Figh!

We've talked about Taro and Jiro before, and so this guy will give you Jiro if you bring him the collar. This is also a waste, as there are other ways to improve your dogs so that they can win the championship. We already have this in our to-do list to tackle at some point.

So these are the four options you have in this quest--depending on who you give the collar to, you will get a different reward. The rewards are all exactly as specified, except of course for the secret extra reward you get if you give it to Natasha.

Before we leave, we'll talk to a few other people to get some hints where we might want to go looking for Taro. Luckily, it's summer, so there are more people around at the moment.



When he was in good health, Mr. Orman used to go hunting with his hounds on weekends. It seem that his favourite route was to go through the Dark River.



Or this guy here.

The river runs south from the east lake to a cave called Dark River. It's almost entirely water, you'll be at a great disadvantage if you go there.

So it seems that most people point to Dark River as the location we should look at. However, if you pay attention, you will see that also they are very specific that he would walk all the way through to the south exit. Nurse also mentions Orman hunting for hydras and sea urchins. So the true location is really Samakia, a few steps away from the south exit of Dark River, where, incidentally, also those two species may be found. We'll head there ultimately, but there are a few things to take care of while we're here.



Like over here at the bank. If we're going to be hunting for pelicans, we should not have any money on us, as García told us.



Thefore, I deposit all our money into the bank. Luckily pelicans only care about what you have on your person, so you can safely leave the money in the bank while looking for them!

You might notice also a "well dressed" lady sitting on the sofa there. Let's first talk to the guy at the reception.

This guest of ours has quite some ring on herself... I think it's a very expensive ring, called "Ziade's Ring". But if you show it to anyone in this town, this is like begging for it to be stolen.

Needless to say, this is one for our collection of biblically named rings, and in fact this is the same one that was temptingly offered for sale at the Ozport wedding shop. However, they were selling it for "market value", so we could never afford it. Let's talk to her, maybe she'll be willing to give it to us?



Hm? Oh, I guess you also heard that I have Ziade's Ring? Hehehe, you probably want me to give it to you, right? Well, why not. Don't get me wrong, I don't intend to sell it, but just for giggles, tell me how much would you be prepared to pay for it?

Well, right now our money is in the bank, so I guess 0 G?

Hahaha, what a sense of humour! You must be some kind of a genius!

I'm sure nobody expected it to be quite that easy, right? Anyway, like everything else, let's put this on our list.

Anyway, before we head out...



...let's listen to that other new message! This one is from Nek.

It's me! M-E! I bought a wedding dress for Sachiko! It's soooo cute! And every time I buy a dress for her, she says "Does it look good on me, Nek?", "Thank you, Nek!", "I love you, Nek!".
"Nek, Nek, Nek, Nek, Nek!" Oh, I am the happiest man in the world!

I love how many of the creepy/weird situations from previous scenarios are turned around in this one as a jokey reference! There will be an even better one later today!

We should really now head out to Samakia and get this sorted. Samakia is located in the southeast in that part of the continent which is blocked out by the mountains. In order to get there, you can walk through Dark River, or you can do as we do...



...and use the teleporter in Holy Hole which we opened some time ago.



As we make our way out of Holy Hole, there is another message notification!



As we make our way to Samakia, there are a couple of species we can catch here.



For example, the cockroaches, which we are already familiar with!



A bit further along, we find a bird species which, however, is unfamiliar to us so far!



Needless to say, these are, in fact, pelicans! Well, that was easy, we didn't even have to go into a cave to look for them!



Pelicans are also a new addition in the remake! Definitely not very dangerous at this point in time, though.



After this, we make our way to Samakia.



Inside, we find out that these guys who sometimes camp out here are back again!



Let's talk to this guy first...

Hmmm? Taro? Would it be a dog with while fur, like a rich man would have?
[ Yes, that's it! ] / Probably.
That dog has been here... I remember him well.
......
Was really tasty. Sorry about what we did. I know it was a terrible thing, don't take it personally, please.
I hope that dog was not yours, was it? Well, I'll tell you what. Please don't tell anybody about this, and in return I'll give you something.

Ken received Taro's collar!

It's just a dog's collar, but this one is encrusted with jewells. If you sell it, you'll get a lot of money for it!

Well then, that was easy. I mean, poor Taro, but still it was easy. Well, "easy" when you know where to go, slightly more difficult if you need to figure it out. Considering that the time in this game is constantly ticking when you're not in town, I have a feeling that a good way to have played this game back in the day on a physical console would have been to keep multiple parallel save files, so you would have one main one where you do everything the most efficiently when you know how, and a bunch of others used simply for experiments and searching. Luckily, in yet another show of mercy, the game allows you to have plenty of save slots, so that's not a problem.

We can now head out, but before we do so, we'll overnight in Samakia and let ourselves get ambushed by hydras!



They still hit pretty hard, but we can manage.

After catching hydras, before we continue with our quest(s)...



...let's quickly head into the ark to hand in the newly caught species.



This brings us nicely up to 62 out of 120, just over half.

While we're here, I make a short stop in Hardia to take our money back out of the bank. We've caught a pair of pelicans, so we no longer have to worry about not carrying any money.

Oh and by the way, in case anybody was curious...



...here's where our characters are currently at, level-wise.

Anyway, now that we have the collar, we need to decide who we want to give it to. As explained before, if you look at it at face value, giving it to Natasha seems like the worst deal. However, let's do it anyway and see what happens.



However, before that, since we're in the area, I realise there are lot of eagles here. I want to upgrade our weapons a bit while still reatining the ability to hit all enemies at once. Therefore at least for now, we'll switch to using the eagle saber. For that we need to catch 20 male eagles so we can make two weapons for Ken and Linda. I take a few minutes around this lake to do that.



As I was going about that, it also becomes Autumn 1994. But no matter, let's go talk to Natasha.



Huh? That was quicker than I expected it to take! Give me the collar!

Ken hands over Taro's collar to Natasha.

Let's see... I promised you 20,000 G.
[ That's right! ] / You've got to be kidding me.

You can haggle with her again, and get it up to a maximum of 50,000 if you want.

And I'll also give you this ring as a special bonus!

Ken received 20,000 G!

Ken received Adamade's Ring!

And there it is. If you take one of the other "better" rewards (i.e. give the collar to someone else), then you lose out completely on one of this ring. There is no other way to get it except as reward to this quest when you decide to give the collar to Natasha! To be honest, I don't see this as especially unfair, since it's easy enough to save your game just before and see what happens in each of the four options you have.

Well, I'm not fully accurate here, really. There's a fifth option. You can simply not give the collar to anybody and instead sell it. In that case you get 80,000 G for it.

We can hear a bit more from Natasha...

The ring I gave you, actually it was a gift from the late Orman. Exactly, it was a wedding ring! I am legally his second wife because I definitely made sure to properly register the marriage in case he didn't have too long to live. Convincing him was easy, although the three kids were a bit of a nuisance. But now that I have this collar, I am in control! Finally it's all over! I really appreciate you doing this for me, Ken! ❤

Seems like all of these people pretty much suck, so at least we got something out of the whole thing.

Anyway, we're done here for now. Before we proceed with checking out our next message, there is one of those little events going on in the world that you can miss if you're not in the right place at the right time. The right time is, of course, now, and the right place is Ozport, or more precisely, the downstairs bar. So let's head quickly there!



Turns out, there's a new duo performing here! Let's talk to the guy at the table first, to find out more about this.

Soeur and Peeco are geniuses at voice impersonation. They can mimic perfectly a new voice they've only just heard!

Ah, so that kind of act. Also regarding the names, I'm not exactly sure if Soeur stands for anything (other than meaning "sister" in French), but Peeco is most likely a reference to a Japanese talent personality of the same name who often appars as part of a double act with his identical twin brother Osugi since the mid-1970s.

Anyway, let's talk to Soeur first.

Hello! I'm Soeur! I can impersonate any female voice!
[ Do it! Do it! ] / Maybe another time!
Ok, I'm going to sing a song in Linda's voice. Which one would you like to hear?
"Lullaby" / "Linda's Song"

After making a selection, you will simply hear again one of the two songs from the closing credits from the first two scenarios. They are the exact same versions as heard over the credits.

Anyway, talking to Peeco:

I'm Peeco! I can confidently imitate any man's vocal chords! Would you like me to do it?
[ Do it! Do it! ] / Maybe another time!
(puts on Ken voice) Linda! I love you the most in the world!

Of course, this was the "keyword" which brought linda back out of her "trance" in Scenario A!

And that's all. It's really just a silly little bit as part of "things happening in the world", but which doesn't really have any further significance than that.

However, there's one other thing we can do while we're here.



First let's check out that notice by the door.

❤❤ A CHEERFUL WORKPLACE FOR YOUNG LADIES ❤❤

Floor ladies wanted!

Experience preferred! Ozport Hotel bar "Limelight".

Amusingly, this advert is written almost entirely in kanji, even going so far to write "limelight" as 来夢来人. Like last time, here too, characters are used simply for their phonetic value with no regard to the meaning.

Leaving that aside, we've been told that the key to this door has been lost. However, the key to the safe we obtained last time in García's lair can be used to open it!



Inside are, of course, two chests. Let's open the first one.

Ken obtained the storeroom key.

And the second one...

Ken obtained the key to the memories.

So this locked room has two chests in it and both chests simply contain... more keys! Yes, despite the odd name, the second item is really simply a key that opens a door. In fact, we'll just go and use it right now!



We're going to Linda's house in Minago!



On the first floor was this locked room here which looks like it's just being used for storage. It can be opened with the "key to the memories". If we look around...



It's an item that goes into our inventory. We can examine it:

The book about Earth

The book contains pictures of Earth which Linda showed Ken many times when they were children.

So it's just the book that Linda was reading in the prologue video. It's just a small easter egg and has no other purpose in the game. Hume and Ann have nothing new to say, so we don't need to talk to them.



On our way out we can check the news bulletin.

N.K. NEWS BULLETIN

The late Liberty Orman's estate was inherited by his wife Natasha (22). The total cash value of the inheritance is said by sources to be over 60 billion.

While we're here, we also have a new message to listen to! It's from Ben!

It's me, the commander! I don't know where you will be when you receive this call, but you need to get to Hospico ASAP! Sachiko... Sachiko is... Well, anyway, just get to the Hospico right now and talk to Nek who is in the ward, do you understand? And, no matter what happens... stay strong! That's all!

Haha, this is almost identical to the message he sent us in Scenario A, when Linda lost her memories! The only thing is that the name is changed to Sachiko!

Allrighty then, let's head over to Hospico.



Before we see Nek, we can get still a couple more tidbits from NPCs here.



Like this pregnant lady here.

The official name of this town is "Hospital Corporation". The largest shareholder is, of course, the Federation. But I heard that all inhabitants of Neo-Kenya are supposed to automatically be shareholders.

Not quite sure how that is supposed to work, but let's just move on...



...to the roof, where this elderly gentlemant seems to be stealing the underwear that supposed to be drying here! I mean, he's clearly holding someone's bra in his hand!

You might think you have the whole world in your hands when you've just started to steal underwear. And while there are many different paths to the ultimate, we all end up the same way in the end: stealing maternity bands! That's all there is to it.

Remind me again why we came here to talk to this guy?

Well, let's just go and see Nek.



He's in the same hospital room that everyone else always ends up in!



The kidnappers demand the disk containing all the latest research data from Dr. Emory and also 100,000 G in ransom!
They want me to deliver it... but how can I, when I've ended up here!
......
I fell down the stairs! I stepped on a banana peel!
So I need you to do me a favour, bro. You will become me! Go and save Sachiko instead of me! I beg you with my life!
[ Leave it to me! ] / I refuse!
I'm indebted to you, bro! Then let's switch clothes!



They swap clothes, so that Ken is now wearing the Santa suit.



We will indeed, but first...



...let's equip our new eagle sabre on Ken for a nice increase in attack power.



And the same for Linda, of course.



Laguna Lodge it is then.



Inside, we find Emory in his lab.



You have courage! It can't be any other way when you're the man chosen by Sachiko! I've changed my opinion of you over time!
But before that, I have something to talk to you about.
[ Let's hear it! ] / I don't have time right now.

And, Emory launches into a big story...

Actually, I know who did it.
It's a scientist named Beatray, who used to be a rival of mine. He stole my research some years ago and started creating clones for use in military purposes. And he even hid by using my name!
Thanks to him, Sachiko and I almost ended up with bounties on our heads! Among bounty hunters, Beatray is know as "The Puppet Master", the top wanted criminal!
Most likely he remembered me when his money ran out... He hated me because he believed I was the reason his research was not recognised. But it's enough. Resentment is the lowest form of hatred. Resentment is the lowest you can be as a human.
What do you think, am I right, or am I right?
[ What are you talking about! ] / Yeah, you're right.
Well, maybe you're right. It's true that people often hurt each other without realising.
But... Beatray is now like a wounded animal. There's no telling what he'll do. Please don't do anything that might provoke him. All that matters is Sachiko's safe return. I'm counting on you, Nek!



The exchange is supposed to take at the G-Factory entrance by the payphone. Remember that.
The rest is up to you! As soon as Sachiko is recovered safely, we'll have the wedding!

Obviously, as far as the game is concerned, this is a new quest.



Our task is to "rescue Sachiko", and as mentioned, we're supposed to bring the data disk and the 100,000 G and wait in front of the payphone at the G-Factory entrance. Surprisingly we have basically until the end of the scenario in 1999 to accomplish this. For the reasons which should become obvious later in today's episode, you almost definitely want to get on this immediately, rather than wait that long.



G-Factory it is.

As we wait here, soon the phone rings. Obviously, we'll pick up.

Merry Christmas! Today you look even better than usual in that Santa costume, hehehehe! Nek, your girlfriend is still alive! Aren't you glad?
You want to help her, right? Well, then, comde to Para... Para... something. Para...? Is it Paraside? Well, anyway, come to Parasomething. I'll call you back hehehehehe.



Next stop is Paraside. Like in G-Factory, the phone soon rings.

Merry Christmas! It's good that you're an obedient Kid!
Listen carefully! There's an abandoned place called Garex at location C-21. I'll be waiting for you there.
By the way, your girlfriend is beautiful hehehehe. I'm not sure for how much longer I'll be able to control myself hehehehehe.

As before, in order to get to Garex, the simplest way is to travel to Dogy Figh and the use the "shoot" service directly to C-21.



Right here. You can even see it on the map.



Anyway, let's go inside.



Before we go and find Sachiko, let's explore for a moment. If we go under the roof of that half-ruined building in front of us...



...there's a staircase that we can descend on here.



It leads to two chests. The first chest contains an armadillo drill, a weapon (it's actually weaker than what we have). But the second...



We certainly seem to be amassing quite a collection of these! If only we had an idea what they might be used for!



Anyway, having done that, we can head over to our true destination, which is here in the corner.



This is the same place we've visited in the last scenario, so we'll simply take the lift down, as usual.



And then one more floor down...



...and I guess we've found Sachiko!

You're late, Nek! I was starting to think you'd never come! But I'm happy that you're a good boyfriend after all! Almost makes me cry, hehehehehehe.
Anyway, just put the money and the disk on that table there!
Certainly. / [ No way! ]
As I said, put the money and the disk on the table!
Certainly. / [ No way! ]
You! Do you even care what happens to this woman! Hey!
I will do as you say / [ Do whatever you like! ]

You can go a bit back and forth with him like this, but then...

Having no choice left, Ken puts the disk and the money on the table.



The kidnapper takes the things.

Hahahahaha you're so naive. Did you really think I'd return my precious hostage so easily?



He starts running and takes Sachiko with him!



But is then pushed back by Nek suddenly appearing.



You almost messed it all up!
Well, watch this! The magic show is about to begin!



Ready? One! Two! Three!
Look at the ground! Vrrrrrr... Isn't it starting to spin under you feet? Vrrrrrrrrrr...



Both Ken and Beatray are hypnotised and start spinning in place!

Brother...? Why are you too... spinning? Ugh, you're so high-maintenance. All right, here you go.

Ken stops spinning, meanwhile Nek turns to Sachiko.

Sachiko, everything is fine again! Are you hurt?



H-huh? Y-you got this wrong... I'm Nek.
Hehe.
Uhhh... what are you saying?
Hehehe. Hahaha. I'm just messing with ya. I just wanted to see your troubled face!
Hey Nek. Shall we kiss?



In the tradition of turning the events from previous scenarios into a joke, we now also have the situation where hypnotised Linda thought Nek was Ken turned into a silly little sketch like this!

Well, all's well that ends well, and with Sachiko saved from the kindapper, it really is finally time to have the wedding ceremony. For this we'll proceed on to the church in Minago!



While Nek is waiting there, the priest addresses the guests.

We will now conduct the wedding ceremony between Nek Green, the groom, and Sachiko Emory, the bride. The bride may enter.

Sachiko and Emory enter.







My daughter Sachiko is now able to participate in this ceremony, safe and sound, thanks to him! That's right, it's all thanks to Ken, the brother of Nek, the groom, who risked his life to save Sachiko!
I will now present a gift to Ken, as token of my gratitude! Thank you very much, Ken!



Emory comes over to Ken and Linda and gives them something...

Ken received the black beastman statue!

Oh, hey, another coloured statue! Unlike the white one, this one belogs together with the others. Spoiler alert: we will actually finally use it in just a couple of minutes!



No matter how carefully you bring up your daughter... No matter how carefully, one day, they start talking about wanting to get married. And they never come back.
If I had known, I would have had two more daughters!
*sob*
Mwahahahaha!

Then Hume gets up.



Two people who love each other should always stay together! That's the most important thing in the world!



Finally, the priest decides to attempt to continue the ceremony!

With that, let's proceed with the wedding ceremony.
Bride and groom, please make your vows to the holy water of this well. Nek, will you love Sachiko in times of health and in times of suffering, forever and ever?



Then, Sachiko, wilt thou...

But before she can answer...



...our friend, Dr. Oid jumps out of the well!



Well, excuuuuse me! Hahaha.
Oh! I see that Ken and Linda are here!



Ken and Linda approach.

I found it! Looks like there's an underground entrance at the bottom of the well. Sorry, but would you mind going and having a look?



I see. So it's Sachiko...
Look, Sachiko! All kinds of things can happen, but if you came to get married, then you have to get married.
All right, just for me, can you say "yes" quickly, please?



Dr. Oid continues, unfazed.

Quite a matchmaker, huh? Just call me "Dr. Oid, the Cupid of love" from now on! Anyway, you promised you will help me, so please take care of it. I'll be waiting for you here.



And he just kicks them into the well.



Luckily, there's a ladder!

As we're going down, Linda has a silly comment, though.

Hey, Ken. It seems nobody in your family ends up having a normal wedding, huh?
Well, I guess this one is better than the one you don't remember.



At the bottom is what looks like just a normal cave. If we explore a bit, we find a staircase leading further down.



Going down...



...we reach a room with an inactive teleporter. But this time there's no statue to put the necklace on! We can still examine the pedestal though.

There is a black pedestal here.

Do you want to position the black beastman statue on the black pedestal?

Yes / No

I mean, it would be stupid to say no, right?

Ken places the black beastman statue on the pedestal.



Somewhat unsurpisingly, this activates the teleporter. But where does it lead? This seems a bit more serious that the teleporters we encountered so far?



Here we are at the destination. Let's go out I suppose. How bad can it really be?





Huh, well, that's interesting. The red thing is where we just came out of...

Let's check our navigation device.



That... definitely doesn't look like any part of the planet we've visited so far.

Allrighty then.

By the way, I wanted to say to definitely check out the music link above. It's probably the best theme in this game and certainly my favourite. It's pretty awesome actually.

Well then, take care and see you next time!




We ticked off a couple of bits today, but there are also new ones, so...




Today, Ken and Linda wearing matching outfits. Obviously, this one is from the PC Engine era.