Part 14: The Game Does Something Right?!

Chapter 14: The Game Does Something Right?!



Yay backtracking.



Once we pass through the valley, the rainforest just pops up. After healing up in town, time to go there.



Other than the raining (which doesn't really effect anything) it's just another forest.


Parasol...?
Huh? What's wrong, Jian? The look on your face could depress a clown!
Flora...!
What?! Hey, what did I say?

Ugh.

Anyway, another fucking dungeon yay. I look forward to clearing more room and having to fight tons more boring, samey-



Oh, that's it? There's nothing else to this room? Hallel-



Just kidding, there is a blue chest, but it's hidden! I didn't even realize it was here until much, much later. Yay!





Really good weapon upgrade for Gab, though. And that double damage does work, and it sometimes even works in conjunction with Gale Cut. (No, it won't double the damage for all the enemies hit by Gale Cut, only some of them.) While it still doesn't make her anywhere near as useful as Jian, it helps. So it was worth it to come back later.



The next screen doesn't have a blue chest, though. It does have a fork in the road; left takes us out of the forest, right leads to another screen.



This screen is much bigger than the other two, and indeed it does have a blue chest.



Fun thing about this is that there's a lot of trees and shrubberies for the enemies to disappear into. It's not quite as bad as enemies fleeing into tiles you can't walk on, but when they sink into the trees good luck finding them again in a timely manner.



The treasure really wasn't worth it.



And from that area, we exit onto the world map again. I've not even heard of this tower, and there's no reason to be there, so let's just go back and exit through the left side.







So Rebric is exciting.



Allegedly, but... we've never seen Iggy or his ilk attack a town. What has Iggy even done, other than give Jian a wedgie and order other people to do evil. Gideon's the one who kidnapped Lucia and killed Rufus.



So the continent with Port Searis and all that? That's actually Caldor, and I didn't even realize it. People do mention it, but I guess I missed it. Caldor is where the protagonist of Lunar 1 grew up; the first goal of the game is to get off Caldor because it's so goddamn boring. Also it's supposed to be an island and not a continent but geography in the Lunar series has always been wonky, so I can't really call foul on that.





I... guess?



Uh, yeah, I've played a Lunar game before.



Aw Let's humor him.

Well then... Allow me to enlighten you. The Blue Dragon is worshipped here in the village as the master of all water, vital to life. Then, there are the Blue Dragon's treasures... They may just look like rocks, but they conceal incredible power. The treasures prevent the lake from erupting and conceal the presence of the Dragon. That makes it very hard to meet with him.

Guess what our next gimmick is?


They say he gathers junk from across the world and uses it to build crazy stuff. He'll be happy to take any rare but useless stuff you have off your hands.
Rare... but useless...? Like what?
Well... You'd be best off to ask him yourself.

Oh, and hey a mention of the tower I saw. I'm just gonna guess that this Kirlis guy is going to be nothing like Myght.

Enough info gathering. Time to go shopping.



Guess what? Everything is stupid expensive.



Everything.

So, you're thinking, time for Gad's jobs, right?



Problem is, Gad's jobs pay for shit by this point. The mission pictured is the highest payout I saw. Most pay around 800 silver. This doesn't even begin to pay for a new piece of equipment. The thing is, each mission from Gad's is ranked from one to four stars. You start with one star missions, and in order to get two star missions, you have to do four one star missions, and to get three star missions you have to do so many two star missions... however, this only counts at the Gad's that you turned those missions in at. Basically, if you unlock two star missions at one Gad's, it's not unlocked at any other Gad's. Then again, there really wasn't much of a way I could fill the two-star missions anyway, since they require so many damn materials, so unlocking any higher level missions just wasn't going to happen.



Oh! And here's something fun. Note the name.



And here's who gets the package. It may look right, but note the name of the belltower.



ARGH

Yeah, fuck Gad's.



Fuck it, I'm just gonna sell off the most expensive sundries for whatever little money I can get. I ended up with enough to get Jian the Paladin Suit. I also decided that I was just gonna look up what I could get via the blue chests. A fair amount, it seems. Fine, we'll rely on that.



Anyway, the left side of the village leads to the second half of the rainforest. Of course there's another half of the forest. If it's worth doing once...


The same thing as on mine, most likely. Once the Blue Dragon Trial is over, you will become a Dragonmaster, won't you Jian?
I haven't decided that yet... All I want is the strength...
To save Lucia! ...right?
...That's right.

I just realized that Jian never set out to be a Dragonmaster, he's just doing this because he feels he has to. Compare this to Lunar 1, where the main character already wanted to be a Dragonmaster. When he later has to be one, it's a happy coincidence. Jian's reluctance could be very interesting, if the game went anywhere with it or if he had had any concrete goal or motivation prior to Lucia's kidnapping.



Oh, speaking of something that could be interesting, here's something that's not: blue chests. Yay more fighting.



It protects against silence. Again, as far as I can tell, it's only partial protection. Someone had asked if status protection items stack, and I don't know. I usually don't use status protecting accessories other than the Health Ring. I guess I could, but Jian either has the MP regen accessory, or his magic rings. (All these rings are pretty much the same.) If he's not using the MP regen, someone else is using it.

At this point, I decided that I was just going to look up if each blue chest is worth it. I'm not guessing any more, my patience is wearing thin.



The second area does have something I want, and it's a lot more complicated. More foliage for enemies to disappear into!



But the blue chest is an upgrade for Jian's weapon, and that's not something I'd wanna skip.



The third and final screen, however, has a fresh ring. Protects against poison and sleep. It's not worth fighting more boring shitty battles.




Finally, we're almost there! Hang on, Lucia!



The first screen with enemies is pretty small, but there is a blue chest we want. By the way, people did want to know how the HP drain for running scales up. It does not, so yes it is much more tenable to run in the late game. Small mercies.



Holy shit a secret passage.



The treasure hidden in the passage actually is something we want. This baby reduces MP cost to a third. Unfortunately, because of the stupid way Jian's magic works, we can't use this for him. You know, the character we'd want to use this for. But Gabryel and Flora can certainly make use of this. For the most part, this will go on Gab, so she can sling out Gale Cuts willy-nilly while Jian recovers MP. Yeah, Gale Cut doesn't do much, but it's better than her regular attack.



And the blue chest has headgear for Flora. Protects against paralysis. Not bad.



The second screen moves into the Blue Dragon Cave proper. We've got a bunch of narrow paths over a lake.



And in three corners of the screen, there's a hole leading to a small room.



Each of the side rooms has a blue chest. Looking it up, these blue chests have a Refresh Ring, which protects against poison, a Prayer Water, which cures all status ailments, and Mental Drop. Not worth fighting for any of these.


Flowers?! You're seeing things again, Flora. How could flowers survive in a cave like this, let alone at the bottom of a lake?
But... Look! I can see them!
Hey you guys! Cut it out! Let's keep moving!

Oh and there's this thing here too. I dunno.

All right, so what are these "three treasures?" This confused me at first, but the dude did say they looked like rocks.


Yes... one of the Blue Dragon treasures.
...Hold on, though. It's just a rock! Some treasure! And this is meant to control the eruptions of the lake?
That's what he said... All we can do is collect them all and see what happens!

I'm with you Flora. How are these "treasures" and how are we collecting them?

Whatever, just go to each of the three side rooms and touch the funny rocks.



And now we can finally go to the Blue Dragon and end this dungeon.

Except it's not obvious where the Blue Dragon popped up. I thought it was that flower pond. Nope!



Instead it's just sort of north east from the entrance of the room. Took me an embarrassing amount of time to find it.




I can almost feel nature breathing... What scale! It's just... massive!
Quiet a moment... I can hear something... What is that? A... waterfall?
...Quick! Both of you, back!





At least this isn't a bad design, but I kind of miss the old Blue Dragon. He was pretty.

Waiting, for us? Wow! We're getting pretty famous, I guess!
Flora! Cut that out!
Those are the rings of my brethren, are they not?
They are. I have passed each of their Trials.
Indeed... We Dragons are the embodiment of the magical power of the Goddess Althena. This magical power has started to weaken, and now it is all I can do to maintain my consciousness. Before even that finally vanishes, I had hoped to pass my abilities to one worthy of the title of Dragonmaster. Now, thanks to you, it looks like I will get that chance.
You will let me take the Trial, then?
Of course. You've learnt, through battle, how to properly handle power and the respect such strength deserves. You have displayed the ability to see the truth in everything in this world, and you have stared down and triumphed in the face of true evil.

I'd argue that he just beat up some dragons.

And now, finally, I shall grant you wisdom.
...Wisdom?


Yes. The final requirement of a Dragonmaster.
...
He who takes on the powers of a Dragonmaster has the command of Black Magic. As I am sure you have been warned, Black Magic can be highly dangerous. Thus, a Dragonmaster requires wisdom in order to use it correctly. Justice lies within wisdom! This is the final Trial!
Justice... within wisdom...
As you are the one who wishes to become the Dragonmaster, you must take this Trial alone. Are you ready? Then let us begin!



Solo fight! Well, all the other Dragons have been piss-easy, so it's like solo Jian's really gonna have an-



Oh crap he can call friends. And guess what Jian doesn't have equipped?



When the bubbles attack, they disappear. They don't do much damage, but if enough of them hit you a round, you're up shit creek quickly. Fortunately, one or two of the bubbles will skip their turn. Also, since you can't choose targets, they become dummy targets. Fun.

However, none of this matters, since-


What should I do...? Think!
You two, there? Help him, if you like.
What...?
Yes!
Young one... I recognize within you the ability to judge all matters correctly. That is true wisdom! But as such wisdom progresses, you may lose your simple, pure heart and thus become capable of making a grave mistake. In other words... like Ignatius, you may pass this Trial and receive great wisdom, but forget your purity and succumb to vanity or desire, and you will end up turning that wisdom to evil! So, what should you do? Think carefully! Very carefully! Well then, again!
It's no good... I don't know! What should I do?!
Jian, don't think too hard! Just simply take in what the Blue Dragon is saying!
Simply... take it in...?
You've got ears, right? Like he said! Never forget your simple, pure heart!
What does this even me-
LET US HELP YOU FUCKHEAD.
I see... That's it! That's the answer!





This becomes a lot more manageable with three people, as you'd imagine. More people to sling cards, get hit, and all that.



Also Gabryel can Gale Cut the stupid bubbles away.



And the punchline is that you can stagger this Dragon too.




I have... To be open to what others have to say... A pure heart, always valuing the opinions of companions.

But guys, something magical just happened. One of these Dragon trials was actually thematically relevant! The game called out Jian on his earlier jerk-ass behavior and made it part of the story. Good job, game! You get a gold star!

...wow, this game is eroding my standards.

Yes! That is it! A Dragonmaster must undertake the vital role of being responsible for both Goddess Althena's magical power and the protection of the world. This places a great deal of power at their command. Thus, should a Dragonmaster stop caring for others and turn these powers to simply fulfilling their own desires, you can imagine what might happen! You only have to look at what Ignatius has become to begin to understand.
Yes...
Three heads are better than one. The presence of your trusted companions is what led you to this conclusion! No matter how great the power you obtain is, you must never forget to listen to others! Do you understand?
Hey, we really helped out! But it's not as if we'd ever let you forget about us!
I'm glad it worked out, too... But the final challenge still lies ahead.


What do you mean?
In order to become a true Dragonmaster, it is necessary to defeat the current one... In other words, to defeat Ignatius.

Being a Dragonmaster isn't like winning the prize in Highlander! Besides, there is actually a case of two Dragonmasters existing at the same time; apparently, there was once twin sister Dragonmasters. (Their names have changed wildly based on the translation, mind you.)

I know... But if that is what it's gonna take to save Lucia, there's no stopping me!
Now then, go! Once I, last of the Dragons, lose my physical form, the barrier we have maintained around Cathedral of Althena shall quickly begin to lose strength! Ignatius has probably been waiting for this chance to reawaken Goddess Althena!

Wait, has beating the Dragons has been weakening this barrier? So becoming a Dragonmaster necessitates putting Althena in danger? If this is because of there being two Dragonmasters the game hasn't said so. Wait, and Althena wasn't awakened? Then who was that in- oh God I can't even care anymore.

Reawaken the Goddess...? You mean...
Lucia will turn back into Goddess Althena?
What? She can do that?!
While the Dragons and the Dragonmaster vow eternal loyalty to the Goddess Althena, measures are in place to prevent that which Ignatius is now attempting.

Except it's not really working now is it?

Therefore, even he cannot enter the Chamber of Rebirth, located in Cathedral of Althena. However, that barrier is now weakening... Ignatius may have a chance to reawaken Goddess Althena by gaining access to the Chamber. If he does so, then all will have been for naught! I can feel it... see it... As I fade, the barrier fades with me... And there, waiting impatiently, willing me into nothingness... Igna...tius...!


We have to hurry! Before it's too late! I could lose Lucia forever at this rate! Quick! Back to Vile Castle to stop Ignatius!
But... We'll never make it back to the Frontier in time! Not if the barrier is already gone!
Jian...
I'm not giving up yet! And neither are you! There has to be a way! There has to be... I know it!

Oh and apparently now the clock is ticking. Well, you know, the "the game says that time is running out but you can stand around for 18 hours picking your nose if you wanted to" sort of thing.



Oh and Jian's new spell, "Loud Call" also looks kind dumb. As you'd expect.

EDIT: According to Prism and TurnipFritter this spell's Japanese name is ラウドコールネス, which can be translated as "Loud Coldness," although in previous Lunar games it's a spell Ghaleon had and was translated as "Nitro Dagger."

Anyway, all we can do is go back to town. Next time... well, fuck, I dunno.