Part 3: A Forest

Chapter 3: A Forest

WHO'S UP FOR MORE THIEVES' WOODS!



Drink it in.

A new area, one more blue chest, and one more level, then we're finally done with the Thieves' Woods- no, I can't fool you. We'll be coming back.



And now Lucia knows all the spells she'll ever get. No, really.



And the blue chest is another weapon for Lucia that still doesn't make her physical attacks worth a damn. Well, at least I didn't have to spend any of my money on it.



We've now made it to Healriz. Yay for us. We achieved... what, exactly?


OK, I guess I should tell you... You know there's going to be a grand tournament held there soon, right?
Yes, but... Hold on, Jian! You're not planning on taking part?!

This was a party chat conversation, by the way, and it's not available until now. The game does not give you a reason to be here until you're already here. That's... just marvelous.





But whatever, let's get back to the hot and sexy fantasy racism.



Oh hey, something that might be plot relevant.



You know, I'm not sure if I trust a town that has Juliet, Titus, and Othello living in it.



Yeah, I've heard you really don't want to go to his dinner parties.




Boy... friend...?

I like how it sounds more like Lucia doesn't understand the concept.



And this makes me laugh although I'm not sure why.



...example of internalized racism, translation error, or extremely lazy script? You decide.


Are you here to see the Tournament?
Oh? There's a Tournament?
Which reminds me... I don't have time to stand here yapping! We humans need the permission of Leoncavallo in order to get into the Coliseum. Which means I need to find a bribe!
A... bribe?
OK, well, let's call it a present. But man, you guys are really in the dark! Leoncavallo has a famous sweet tooth! And to get his permission, you need to soften him up a bit first.
Ah, so a present. But what?
His girlfriend, Marcella, should know. I was about to go ask her.

Wait... does Lucia not know what a bribe is? How? Whatever, that's what we have what we need to do next. First, more awkward dialogue.







I think Lucia might be an alien in human guise. Even original flavor Lucia was more human.

Wait a second, this is the side of town that I can enjoy shopping in!



Can, but won't. Nothing affordable here.



My current strategy of "just buy the best weapons you can for Jian to make this shit go as fast as I can" may end up biting me in the ass, but damn it I'm doing it.



I haven't discussed items yet, mainly because I hadn't bought any, but the game shows some mercy and they're generally cheap. We have the Healing Gum and Drop, the latter of which restores a bit more HP and costs a bit more. Next column over we've got an Antidote and Paraclean, which cures poison and paralysis. The only expensive thing here is the Angel's Tears for 300 silver, which makes sense as it revives. The Angel's Tears is the only item here that has the same name as it does in the old games, although that may be just the translation's fault. Anyway, I got some Healing Gums just in case.

All right, time to get on with the game.


Are you picking a fight with me?!

Game, stop trying to be funny.

No... I didn't mean a person... Like, food or something like that? I heard he has a sweet tooth, right?


Just one honey, honey. He loves the honey of the Insector that lives in Roland Forest. What else do you want to know about him, then?

I'd jokingly say "his measurements" but I have a feeling she'd give them to us.





ha ha ha



Anyway, to get to this forest, we gotta leave through the western exit. The east exit will only lead back to the Thieves' Woods.



We might as well have gone back to the Thieves' Woods, though. Looks preeeetty similar.



Oh and all of the encounters here have over four monsters in them. Did I mention that this game actually gives you a fast-forward button (both R/L) and pressing them and the emulator's fast-forward this battle was almost a minute. A minute entirely on auto-battle.



Actually, there's a bit more going on. The game finally introduces poison, which does what it does it every other JRPG.



As you can see, Jian ended the battle pretty worse for the wear. Unlike every other Lunar game, poison is not cured by the end of battle. This game cures every other status ailment, but not poison. I don't really get i-

Wait, why is Lucia's MP less than max? She didn't use any magic.

It... can't be...



The new umbrella I got? Yeeeaaah. Of course, I had to go back through my footage to get this screenshot, since you can't examine current equipment because a) there is no standard equip screen, b) the status screen will tell you what the character has equipped but won't let you look at the equipments' description, and c) you can't unequip stuff, just change equipment. By the way, I already sold the old umbrella.

Okay, this was my own stupid fault for not paying attention, but why the fuck would you include such a weapon in a game where this "spellcaster" already has next to no MP?

After curing Jian's HP, Lucia is pretty much tapped out for magic. She can cast Escape and that's it. Admittedly, I should have done that (and then escaped the LP) but I didn't. I also could have used a card, but I didn't do that either. I do have limited uses of them and no guarantee I'll get another once they are used up. So I gotta save them for emergencies. One might argue this is an emergency, though.



I make bad choices in life.

In any case, I just wanted to get the damn honey. How do I get this honey?



It's a random drop. Yup, forced grinding for drops. Well, this actually dropped pretty quickly, so it was less painful than the forced item grinding in the original Lunar. A game that's over a decade older than this one, I will remind you.

You may also notice that I'm in a pretty bad state. I really need to get Lucia with some MP and cast escape. I, uh... you know, just assume I did that. Don't assume that I walked out and had to run from every battle and nearly got a game over. That would be silly.

Yes.



For whatever reason once you give him the honey, you gotta talk to him again.


Well... I guess it's only natural. Everyone wants to watch the Tournament, right? OK, I give in. Here, some tickets...
Sorry, but... I don't intend to sit in the stands. I want to fight... Fight in the Tournament!
Jian? You never told me this! Just what are you thinking! You won't stand a chance!
Hey, don't count me out so easily, Lucia. I think I've got a shot at it. I want to take part in the Tournament... No, I must take part!

Okay, you wanna share why?

Look, kid... You might think you're solid as stone, but the hard cases entering the Tournament have come from across the world to be here. Some human kid like you will get eaten alive.
So, you think a human can't beat a beastman, do you? Is that your point?! What's so different about me and you?!
......

Oh, it's a fantasy racism... thing.

You know, I'm not going to go into it now, but there are so, so many reasons why this falls flat on its face.

So... I'm thinking I'll give you a chance. Back up your tough talk with some muscle, if you can.
Oh, I will! Just what I wanted to hear!



Anyway, all we need to really know is that we have to go back to Roland Forest (the game is forcing me to go back to dungeon I've already been to? No, really?) and beat a boss. All right, can do.





Jian is kind of a dick.



In any case, I'm not going to go back to Roland Forest right away. Considering how badly it beat me up, I'm thinking we need some better gear. Time to do some jobs. Jian's got the best weapon he can get, and that's not really what I need anyway, so instead I'm shooting for new armor.

You know what this means?



More Thieves' Woods, yes! I'd like to note that with her fancy MP draining weapon, Lucia can actually one-shot some enemies here. So she's up to one-shotting beginning enemies. Good job Lucia!



Oh hey lady in Perit I never talked to earlier. Althena's gone on walkabout, you say? I doubt it'll be important.



Oh, and for those of you who don't know anything about Lunar, remember this name. It'll be important later.



After a few jobs and some more fun-filled trips through the Thieves' Woods, I ended up having enough money to get Jian a new piece of armor. It's a 20+ point improvement, not bad at all. Once I sell some stuff off Lucia got a new piece of armor too. I also buy a few antidotes, and then I'm ready to go.



By the way, the enemy that drops the honey also has a fantastic card. Despite what the text would lead to believe, it's an attack boost rather than a defense debuff for the monsters.



There isn't much to the Roland forest. There's the entrance to the cave here, and something on the bottom.



Jian is pretending that the inscription is written in some ancient language, but we all know he just doesn't know how to read.



The cave section does have a blue chest, so I switch modes.



The tree dudes can do a... magic attack? Anyway it hurts. They also have a lot of HP.



And while I was trying to get all the enemies and get the chest, I just sort of... ran across the boss. Well, whatever, let's get rid of the boss while I'm here.



If you're in Virtue Mode when you enter a boss fight, the game will always switch you over to Combat for the fight.





Poison the boss, buff our attack, and we're good to go.



The boar, though, has a nasty attack.



And confuses you.



Lucia popped a Hellbird card, which restores all MP, and I decided to give her HP regen spell, Divine Rain, a shot.



Probably shouldn't have bothered.



In any case, once Jian shakes off confuse this goes pretty fast.



The Armored Boar card, again, does nothing and is just there to look pretty. Counter Type 1, however, is an upgrade to Jian's Counter Prototype. It triggers the counter more often (at least, I think it does. The game doesn't say it increases counter frequency, and it doesn't improve stats.)



And the blue chest is a defense boosting accessory, which Lucia gets. And now we're done here. Thankfully, when you clear out a room on Virtue Mode you get a 30% HP/MP restore, so Lucia can warp us out.



Fun fact: Althena's Statues don't cure poison. We have to use the statue, have Lucia cure the poison, then use the statue again. Yup.


That's right. Me, a mere human... as you might say.
You've surprised me, certainly. But... I still don't understand... Why'd you want to get into the Tournament so badly? Blood-crazed opponents hammering each other until one crumples to the dirt... you won't see violence like that anywhere else!
......
It could be the end of you, kid.
Still, I must enter. If I can display the bravery and strength of a human in front of so many beastmen... You may rethink your ideas about humans. We may even come to understand each other! I think... I know it can work!

Okay, so... at least it's kind of unusual for humans to be the disadvantaged race in Fantasy Racism (c) stories (even if it makes little sense in Lunar canon, but that's really the least of the plot's problems here.) But... you know, this might work better if we had seen more than just "beastmen are just really rude and dickish to humans" and Jian's little dream here had maybe been established beforehand. Or some fucking backstory for these two characters, now that I think about it.

You're staking your life on it, kid... I don't really understand it. But I have to say, I've grown to like you. If you are willing to go that far, well. So be it! I'll help you out. Here's what you've been after.
Could it be...?
Yep, a Tournament entry pass.
But... surely it belong to someone?
You're sharp, kid... To tell the truth, that's one's mine. So just you watch it... You'd better not lose, OK?!


I couldn't beat you right now anyway! Look at you, all fired up and all.
Leoncavallo... Thank you! I'll not waste this chance, you'll see! Time for the beasts to see what a human can do!



Next time, tournament time. It'll be... fun. You'll see.

EDIT:

Breaking News

The game does allude to the Tournament before you reach Healriz.




There's a bulletin in the Port Searis restaurant. Honestly, I haven't really been examining a lot of the background objects, because the game is really arbitrary about what gives you text and what doesn't. But yes, the tournament is mentioned.

...Once. I did a quick find search of the text (Thanks again Twilkitri) and there's no other mention beforehand. This is it.