Part 12: Summer/Autumn 1991 (cont.)

Inside we run into Hume! (BTW, yes, Ken can still steal the duck meat from the kitchen, no problem.)

Linda's occupied right now, so maybe just wait a bit... Actually, you know what, she's upstairs, just go see her!



Upstairs, Linda is in her room, together with her mum. She also seems to be a bit dressed up? In any case, it's cutscene time!



There were a couple of small differences here in the PC Engine version. First of all, the cutscene was very slightly different:



But more interestingly, in the original, there was actually a dialogue choice here (yes/no). It didn't impact anything, but it was a bit funny, as if you said "no", then Linda would yell something like "Mum, Ken says that we should alter the dress so that it emphasises my boobs more!". But this was removed in the remake.

Anyway, moving on.



Before we leave, we can talk to Linda's mother...

Don't you think it's a bit of an unusual dress, this? It's a traditional Beastian wedding dress--I also wore it for my wedding. Linda suddenly wanted to try it on for some reason... How do you like it?
[ I almost didn't recognise her. ] / I guess it's not bad... / Anybody can look good in nice clothes... / It's kind of silly...

It would have been nice to have some custom responses for each of these options, but... sadly no. It literally doesn't matter what you choose here.

You think, Kenny? I'm sure my daughter is going to be even more beautiful than me in a few years!



So, yeah, we're just going out for a walk with Linda going like that in a wedding dress. In any case, we're intercepted by Hume, who has a somewhat creepy comment, although I'm sure he's just trying to be funny.

Linda! You look so pretty! If you weren't my daughter, even I would have proposed!

I think we should just move on, really.



Outside, the loitering lady has another comment...

It's quite fashionable to be walking around with your boyfriend in your wedding dress! You look amazing! You two are great!

Is she... like a fan club president or something? Anyway, we'll walk over to the church...



Actually I just wanted to come here to show you the church. C'mon, let's go inside!

Inside.



Hey Ken! Let's pretend for a bit, ok? Please?

And so, they do the "wedding walk" thing...



And then...



Like this: ”Ken, will you love Linda forever?”
[ Yes. ] / No.
Thanks. 🎔 I would say "Yes" too.
But, we won't be able to get married in this church any time soon. There's been three suicides from the bell tower in the last two weeks. And it's rumoured that the ghost of the first girl who jumped is ringing the church bell every once in a while.
Listen, you can hear it, right?

There is indeed the sound of church bells heard.

......
Ahahahaha I'm just messing with you! It's just the priest up there now.
But people really are saying this about the ghost and even that they've seen it! For real!
Oh, boy. / [ Oh, sure. ] / Oh, whatever.

By the way, Ken, you know that the gate of this town closes after the evening bell, right?

There is no actual day/night cycle in the game, therefore this is the only time this will actually happen.

So you can stay overnight and I'll treat you to some of my own home cooking! Please eat a lot!
This is just simply so that in the future you would know which one of us should be doing the cooking.

This game is genuinely funny a significant percentage of the time!

Anyway, some time later, in Linda's house, after the dinner is finished...



Ahahahahaha... hic... What was I saying? Ken, don't make trouble, ok? Hic. Make sure you treat Linda well and keep her happy, hic.

Uh, someone's had a bit too much to drink, huh?



And he falls of the chair and is promptly asleep!



Hic, I'm fine! Ken, you stay in Linda's room on second floor and she'll sleep downstairs with us. Hic. You can have Linda back in the morning!

He falls asleep again, but...

C'mon daddy, get up...



She pushes him towards the bedroom!

Hic, so just enjoy youself during the night by looking at Linda's wedding dress! Ahahaha, you poor bastard ! Hic!

Meanwhile Ann tries to put a stop to this madness!



And she does just that!



And so...



..ken is left alone in Linda's room. What to do, what to do. Oh, I know! Let's rummage around! First of all, Linda's diary is there on her desk, so let's start with that!

Diary Entry 1: I can't wait until Ken applies to be the crew member! 🎔

Diary Entry 2: Why has that idiot still not applied?

Then over by the mirror, there is a photograph on the wall.

It's the same picture we have at our home, of all of us together in front of the swing.

The teddy bear:

I had a stuffed animal that looked like this when I was a kid. It looks very similar... Wait! Isn't this...

And then, finally the dress hanging on the wall.

Is that the same dress she was wearing eariler today?

Oh, Ken... But while he's doing that...



...Linda shows up and knocks on the door!

Ken, are you still awake?

He is, and she comes inside!



You can actually hear loud snoring noises in the game right now!

But mum is fast asleep, somehow! I guess when you're married you get used to it...
But, Ken. Thank you for volunteering for the ark! Really! And now I...

But before she can finish the sentence, there is a loud crashing noise heard from downstairs!

Huh? What was that noise?



They both quickly run towards the stairs, but in the meantime we'll watch a cutscene to find out what happened!



I have no idea what just happened.

Oh and before you ask, there's actually no PC Engine version of this scene. In the original version, this scene was presented entirely through normal in-game graphics, complete with the usual tiny character sprites from that version. So it was a pretty obvious decision to add it in the remake.

Anyway, a couple of moments later, the attackers manage to intercept Ken and Linda.



Ken and Linda run back into her room, but...





Three, two, one. Attack.





Three, two, one. Attack.



They fire at Ken.



Ok! Well done! We don't care about him, it's the woman we came here for.
Three.
Two.
One.
Attack.

A shot is fired.

Linda screams.






    *    *    *


Some days later, Ken wakes up in the hospital. The hospital director Chen is next to him.



Have you recovered your consciousness? Ken, you're on the second ward in Hospico. I'm Chen, the hospital director, nice to meet you.
That was quite a terrible thing... Only you and Linda have survived. They haven't caught the killers yet.
By the way, about Linda's condition... I've been informed by Dr. Emory that Linda's surgery went well. But I think it's better if you get the details from Dr. Emory himself, he is currently taking care of Linda in his lab.
Now then, as soon as you're able to get up, you can be discharged. You can find Dr. Emory's lab on the east side of town, it's the house with a beautiful flowerbed maintained by his daughter Sachiko. So you should be able to find it easily.

Ok, lots to unpack here! First, Linda is alive and her surgery... was a success? We're definitely going to need to find out more about that. But also, Dr. Emory? You might recall that Dr. Emory is one of the three geniuses of Hospico, alongside Dr. Panheim, and Dr. Flora. However, in Scenario A he was killed in the satellite crash so we never met him (and oh boy I'm waiting for the reactions when we DO meet him later today!). Then we have the ever confusing Sachiko. In Scenario A she was the only survivor of the satellite crash, but apparently without her memory. So let's see what all this looks like now that both Dr. Emory and Sachiko are alive and (hopefully) in good condition.

So let's get out of bed and have a look around!



First of all, there is a ranger standing outside of Ken's room, so let's talk to her.

Unconsious for three days, despite no serious injuries... You gave us all a bit of a scare, Ken!
Let me give you a quick update... Except you and Linda, all the residents of Minago, and even all the tourists there, are dead! The murders were brutal... just ask the unlucky crew who are cleaning all that up now!

Wait, again? But what about Dr. Oid, the ethnologist? Or the animal encyclopedia guy? Are we really never going to find out what their stories are?

Sachiko is not in the room for newborns this time (does she even work as a nurse in this version of events?) so we'll just continue on.



This guy here...

The flower bed in front of Emory's house is nice... soothing, and somehow cleansing. I think it's because people who make flower beds like that must have beautiful hearts.

We can also talk to the nurse whom you can see standing at the nurses' station there.

Emory's lab is to the east of this building. The flower beds made by his daughter are beautiful all year round!

So, people like Sachiko's flower beds, it seems.



Next are the two nurses here...

I know it's not fair to say it like this, but I wonder why is it that you two are the only ones left alive. Maybe the killer is simply like a child who leaves the tastiest part of lunch for last?

Oh, you're just precious, aren't you.

The other nurse:

With babies, after they are weaned, their poo starts smelling bad. Every time I smell it, I think, "oh, he's no longer a little angel, he's turned irrevocably now into a human".



Next we have this person here in the computer room.

Back in the day, dead bodies kept getting stolen, so there were strict checks on mortuary access in the basement. But nowadays is not like that any more... maybe because everything worth stealing has already been stolen?

And if we do go down to the morgue...



When the bereaved family came to collect the deceased, he was gone. There seems to be more and more "strange" dead bodies in this hospital. Certainly here there seems to be a lot of "walkers". I mean, walking is good for you, but I think it might just be a bit too late for them.



Over here are, of course, these two chests, somehow in an unlocked room! They yield a 100HP healing tablet and an antidote. The contents of chests don't generally change between different scenarios.



Then, back outside, we have this ranger lady...

He corrected his bad habits and even managed to get back together with his wife... He was doing so well, I don't think Hume deserved to die after all that...



And before you ask, this entrance to the underground cells is still here, and there are still rumours about the former mayor of Koshikata being imprisoned here. We never got a proper answer to that one either...

Next, we'll head back inside and...



...talk to the lady at the reception here.

You are probably worried, but Dr. Emory is a top surgeon. He can be a bit self-righteous sometimes, but... I have complete trust in his judgment! The only problem is that even he can't fix wounds in one's heart...

We can also talk to that kid nearby...

When I'm being naughty, my mum always says to me: "The Mayor will come and get you!".

Mayor of Koshikata, perhaps?



Over here, we can also talk to several people. First, the guy in blue.

Have you met Sachiko, Dr. Emory's daughter? They say she's as honest and pure as a white cloth... but I'm sure some man will eventually dye it into his own colour.

And also the guy at the bank counter.

I've heard that the ruins of Annabis, discovered at W-17, have been named Marblepolis. They say the ruins are well preserved. Since the site is open to the public, if you make a "lucky find", it may set you for life!

Well, we've already been there, and indeed discovered some mysterious artifacts! We'll definitely go again!



The guy at the equipment shop has a thing to tell us...

Dr. Flora's shapely lips are the source of incomprehensible botanical tales and magical scented kisses. Both are as mysterious and unforgettable as her tanned skin!

Dr. Flora, if you recall, is one of Hospico's genius scientists, who always seems to want to kiss whoever comes to visit her lab.

But, anyway, now is the time finally to go see Dr. Emory.



Therefore, we find ourselves again in front of these three houses which contain the laboratories of the three geniuses of Hospico: Flora, Panheim and Emory.

First, we'll talk to that pregnant lady standing in between them.

The four pods in Dr. Emory's lab are artificial wombs, developed by him. It costs 300 million G for one of them, but they work! In the womb, the natural healing power is increased by 820%! You can heal in 3 days instead of 1 month!

Well, that's great to hear, hopefully then everything will go well with Linda, too!

So let's first check out other two houses, before we go to Emory.



First, Dr. Panheim's lab, with the obligatory Christmas tree!

This is the laboratory of the late scientific genius, Dr. Panheim. Look at all the animals in their containers... With the help of Dr. Emory, Dr. Panheim was working on extracting a substance from the animals which would prevent aging! If only that accident hadn't happened... what a pity.

Yeah, so looks like Panheim was killed in that pathogen incident and will be "sitting out" this scenario, so to speak.

Well, ok. Let's visit Dr. Flora next.



Ah, yes, all the crazy flowers.

Oh hi! I'm Flora! If you ever go to Rose Garden, buy a "MC Alice" potted plant! A quiet boy like you would be a perfect match for Alice! She will brighten your dull days!

Rose Garden is actually a place we can visit in the South Area. Among other things, we can fight roses there. They are pretty tough.

As before, Flora has the talking plant over in her room.



Ah, so these "MC Alice" plants are not actually unique, and we can buy one for ourselves too. We'll definitely do that. I'm actually not joking.

All right, finally...



...Dr. Emory's house. As mentioned, it has a nice flower bed in front of it. Let's go inside.



As we come inside, Dr. Emory approaches us...



You must have come to visit Linda! Her condition is not serious and her recovery is going well, so you don't need to worry!
I will take you to her right away, but before I do that, I need to tell you something.
The truth is, when she was brought in here...
......
Linda's limbs were all completely severed. Of course I rushed to reattach them, and the surgery went perfectly!
It's just that...

Oh, just say it already. Clearly the surgery didn't go as "perfectly" as he says!

......
Well, why don't you come over here and visit her first and then I'll tell you the rest of the story.



I guess those four pods are the "artficial wombs" then, huh? And Linda is currently in one of them.





Instead, I found the left arm of another corpse which had a high genetic compatibility. I didn't know what to do... But then my doctor's conscience prevailed and told me to go ahead with the transplant. I believe this was the right thing to do, given the practicalities of Linda's life after she leaves hospital.
Ken! If you were a doctor, what would you have done?
[ I would have done the surgery. ] / I would have left her as she was.

Let's just humor him for now.

As a doctor and a human being, I have always tried to do the best I can under the circumstances. However, it's not always easy for the patients to understand that. I expect Linda will also have some difficulties to come to terms with it.
After all, her left arm is now that of a very large and muscular man. So it's going to take some time for her to get used to it. Especially since it's the left arm of her own father, you know?
......
Ken! I want to ask you to take care of her afterwards! Will you do it?
[ Leave it to me. ] / I don't have confidence in myself to do that...
I will contact you when she's ready to be discharged! In the meantime the best thing you can do for her, is to collect as many animals as you can! That's what she would want you to do!



And that's all he has to say for now. Well, gee, thanks a lot Dr. Emory. Now that she's lost her left arm, how the heck is she going to be able to activate the ark anyway? (Just in case you were wondering how we would be stopped from leaving early this time!)

Well, that was sure a lot of stuff happening today, so let's stop here for now. And to those who expected that the game was going to dial down the crazy in the beginning of the next scenario, well... maybe not!




Today in this section, we have a few drawings of Linda trying on the dress!


"Isn't it a wonderful dress?"