Part 16: uuuugh.

Chapter 14: uuuugh.

Welcome back. Last time Leo was dick and could have easily killed us. Major dick.



By the way, thanks again to Lunar-net and Jenner for getting the music from this game!


: I feel kinda... sick!
: Ooouuugh... I know what you mean...
: That has gotta be the most bone-jarring detour I've ever taken... Man, am I glad that's over! Where the hell are we?
: I don't know, but I think I'm gonna hurl again...

Wait, if Lemina hurled inside that thing, while it is was in the air, that means it got on everyone- oh god I don't want to think about it!

: Leo must have damaged the magic arrow right before we took off...
: But that means we could've landed almost anywhere!

If you payed attention to the last few updates, you probably know exactly where they landed.

: Doesn't anyone care that I'm going to flood this place with vomit any minute?
: Is 'vomit' the same as the liquid you deposited in the magic arrow? Why do you do that? It has a terrible stench and is quite unattractive. Is it some kind of custom from Vane?
: Uh, Lucia, we'll save that lesson for later. Right now, we'd better find a way out of here... wherever here is!



Doesn't look like there's much up here.


: Really? I thought my magic skills were excellent, but I don't sense anything...
: This is a very old magic. I doubt that humans could detect it. Wait... I will try to remove it.





: I... I... I've never heard the magic you used uttered by humans! That sounded like magic that only Althena should know! ...who are you?
: I have told you... My name is Lucia. I come from the Blue Star.

Well, you didn't really mention the "space alien" part and...

: Quickly, we must go while the magic holds.






: This is some sort of magic historical record. It seems to be hundreds of years old. Let me try to activate it...



Okay, game, you're just pulling this shit out of your ass, aren't you?







Wait, this is awfully familiar... when did I last see this without sepia tone?









This is the destruction of Vane! It's the exact same scene, actually, just with different audio and sepia tone. (Obviously, the remake plays the L:SSSC's version of Vane's fall.)


: Whoo! That was one serious assault on the senses! What the hell was it?
: I think it was showing the time when... Vane was destroyed.
: Uh, Hiro? I'm getting the creeps... how 'bout we get outta here?
: ...
: ...his former self... Althena... what does this record mean?

Suddenly, we hear the sound of footsteps and an oddly familiar voice...


: Hm hm hm... That... was a record of my best work.
: Who's there?!




: Fortunately I now have the chance to surpass it. The world will once again be mine on a delicious half-shell. And you can't stop me, Lucia.

Wait, how in the hell do you know-


: How do you know who I am?!

Exactly!

: Oh where are my manners? Let me introduce myself! I am Ghaleon.
: Ghaleon!
: Uh oh...

Oh my gosh, the big bad from Lunar 1 came back! What a tweeest- wait, Alex and co. kicked your ass into next Saturday! And then you transformed into a demon man and then they kicked your ass into Saturday after next! That never stops being stupid. In any case, how the hell is very dead Ghaleon still pimping around?

: Yes, I am the same Ghaleon who was buried and left a cursed memory. And yet I now live again! Truly if there is a god of destiny, he is fond of plot twists. Ha ha ha! And so am I!

We're, uh, not ready to face the final boss of the first game yet. A mecha-clown nearly beat the tar out of us. Could we call a raincheck on this epic rematch?

: The time is not yet right for our... decisive encounter. We will meet again, Lucia... it's our destiny... Ah ha ha ha!



Cool. Thanks man.


: In the distant past, there was a person named 'Magic Emperor Ghaleon.' He seized Althena's power and tried to destroy the world. If this is the same person, we're all in big trouble.
: Oh Lemina! That was centuries ago!
: And besides, wasn't the Magic Emperor destroyed by Dragonmaster Alex? That's what Grandpa Gwyn's history book said...
: ...
: That dude creeped the crud in my toe jams! Whoa!

Toe jams again?! Jesus, Working Designs, what is your obsession with toe jams?!

: I mean... he seethed evil, you know? There's no way that he's human. His magic's simply too strange, too strong!
: His... appearance makes me uneasy, but there's something in his eyes...



Despite that... unusual occurrence, we're thrust into another dungeon. This is the Mystic Ruins. I loathe it. Okay, it's not that bad, really, but this dungeon... it's seared into my childhood. This dungeon is what forced me and my sister to beg my mother to get the guidebook for this game.



It starts innocuously enough. The first floor is really straightforward, with some herbs and not much else.



And they very kindly put a statue here, too! Gives me a good excuse to talk about the new enemies!



These are like the Mummies and Bandage Boys from the very first dungeon in the game, in that if you kill the master, all the others will die. The Mummy Lord is a hell of a lot sturdier, but if you concentrate your fire on it, you'll take 'em out without too much issue.



Hey, we saw the Cave Rats back in Larpa! There's not the exact same enemy this time around, despite the fact they haven't been palette swapped. The first game would use enemies in multiple dungeons, and it re-used boss sprites twice, but it never palette swapped. Quite unusual for a game of that period. Sadly, Lunar 2 does palette swap a bit, as you've already seen, although it does it sparingly.

While the rats are bit tougher than they were in Larpa, they're not the ones we're concerned about. The Neutronitor (one hell of name!) is a real bastard. It has tons of HP and stupidly high defense for a random encounter.





And it can do that.



Now I'm not sure if this is just my imagination, but once Lucia has her costume change, her behavior changes slightly. She's far more likely to actually cast and not run away or defend. She will still do that, but it's far rarer; I'm pretty sure I only saw her run away or defend once.



But she doesn't seem to do as much damage as she used to. Once she starts casting like you've wanted her to do this whole time, her spells start to suck. Ain't that life? Eh, you still can't spit at free spells.



These guys are fuckers too. They won't summon a disco ninja frog or anything like that, but they have the same stupid HP and defense as the Neutronitor (seriously, love that name!) and are also faster than Jean! Joy!

Actually, I was pretty sure they had a nasty special attack, but I never saw it. To be honest, I'm probably confusing them with the other mask enemies from the other Lunar games.





Also, a new spell! And it's not like Lucia used it before and I forgot to show it off. No, not at all. (It didn't kill it, either.)

At the end of the day, though, it's not the enemies that I remember so fondly.



There's nothing of note of the first floor, however as we go to the second floor-



We see a glimpse of what pissed me off.

For now, just walk into the mirror and it transports you to the other side of the floor. There's two chests with a nice amount of money in them, but not much else. Well, I did run across something interesting.



We got a lot of rats this time. What is that one rat doing?



Oh god, what the hell!

It does as much as a normal crit hit, which sounds like it sucks, but that's all the rats will do for this turn, so in truth it's probably better they swarm you. That's what my logical brain says. My illogical brain is screaming. If you kill the rat twitching its ears, they won't swarm you.



But we're at the end of the second floor, so-



Or not. What the fuck was the point of that? Anyway, the actual exit to the floor is like two steps forward.



And we come to the part that scarred my childhood so well. It's a mirror maze! Yay.

At first glance it seems straightforward. Any red mirror is impassible, so there's actually only one way to go here.



Now what is annoying is that not all the mirrors are simply two-way doors. Well, these are. Oh, and the treasure is a really paltry amount of money. Eh.

So just head to the mirror to right.



This is what I meant when I said I shouldn't have bought the Great Sword, as the game just gave me a free upgrade.

Again, we came in on the left mirror, and if we were to go back into it we'd just backtrack. So to the right again.



The chest is a Chain Helm, which I had already bought. And no one else can equip it either. Should have just saved my money, I guess.

Now, if you were me in 1995 (you won't want to be), you'd think just to go into the other mirror. Pretty easy, right? Nope, go back through the same mirror you came in on. It leads you somewhere new.

This is the point that confused me as a child. I just didn't think to go back through the same mirror. And since not all the mirrors work this way, it forces you to use trial and error to get through this if you're not using a guide.

Although honestly I was a little pissed when the remake removed the mirrors all together. You gosh-darned kids! You don't know how good you have it!



This makes the choice easy.



And another piece of equipment for Hiro! They really wanted you to have some good equipment for him, didn't they?



Now, you don't have to go back into this mirror, but it saves a bit of time.



But don't go back into this mirror! It just dumps you back where the Chain Helm was. Go into the mirror on the left.



Go right here.



And you're actually out of the damned mirror floor! Don't go into the mirror here, by the way. As far as mirror/teleporter mazes go, it's not the worst. But it's still a pain, and yes, I used the guide for this section. Fuck you, I feel no shame for that.



And now we have the moving platform floor! Joy! This one's not as bad, as it's far more feasible to figure out on your own, but by this point you're probably a bit pissed off, especially if you figured out the previous floor on your own. Basically, the gimmick is that if you use one platform, all the others move. But there's only two positions they can be in, so it's not a major brain teaser.



Start here. As you can see, there's another platform on the bottom there. Since you moved this one, the one below moves too. There's a treasure chest to the left, grab it then go back and take that bottom platform.





Now this leads back to the entrance, but the platform you want to take will be in position.



It leads to treasure! Two chests, actually. One of them is a Starlight, and the other...



Is something we already have. I could give it to Lemina, but she's best off with her staff, so another piece on the "to be sold" pile.

You see that platform above? Step on it, and you're done! All right, no more Mystic Ruins! There's actually a lot more to this floor, including another goddamned mirror (no mirror maze or anything), but I got all the treasure so fuck it. I'm outta here!





Oh. Uh, hi.. faeries. Wait. Faeries. I remember faeries.


: He made this place into a beautiful, lush garden. We think he's great.

Ghaleon kept a garden full of faeries in the first game! Although the faeries in that game weren't so keen on Ghaleon.



Uh, he tried to destroy the world. I'm pretty much against that. So I can't say I'm a fan.

: That's only because you don't know him well enough. He's really just a poor, lost little boy in big, evil guy's clothing.

...whatever you say.


: Oh, how adorable. She's sleeping while flying! Why don't we put her hand in warm water and see what else she can do?

That's just mean, Ruby.


: They say that dear Ghaleon was revived from the dead! Can it be true?

How the hell else can you explain him being here? Unless it's some other super-powerful weirdo who just adopted the name. And sounds the same. And looks the same. Yeah, not likely.

: You mean to say that he's some kind of undead zombie?

A little too articulate for a zombie, I'd say, but you never know! Probably a good idea not to let Ghaleon bite anyone, anyway.


: That's why he made this secret garden and let us stay here. He said we'd be safe here forever. But, how is that possible?
: If Ghaleon is supposed to be so evil, why'd he care about these faires?
: Evil? Ghaleon is not evil! He is our protector! Doesn't he protect you, too?

Hell no, he... actually, he hasn't done anything to Hiro and co. I mean, yet. Doesn't mean squat, though.


: His heart is kinder than you may know... Ghaleon is racked by guilt of his former self. He says he will make things right again before he dies.

Really? Well, can he put Vane back in the sky? That'd be nice of him to do.


: She's not a human, is she?
: ...
: You're not human, but you're not like Ghaleon, either. Where are you from, strange girl?

Huh. Interesting how quickly how these fairies picked up on that.


: Just a moment...

Uh, Lucia, the door is over there... (I'm pretty sure I can't even get to the door from here!)



: Ghaleon seems to be a little extreme in his security. The only people that could break that spell is Althena, Ghaleon, and myself. Curious that he would use such strong measures for this ancient ruin...

Wow, he must be serious about protecting these fairies! Although we did just burst in and open the way in... so, uh, oops.


: He wanted to make it hard for people to penetrate his sanctuary. In fact, you should see the incredible spell that guards his ABBA memorabilia...

Believe or not, the ABBA reference is continuity. At least in the Working Designs versions (I'm pretty sure Japanese Ghaleon didn't obsess over ABBA).

: Hmm... I wonder if...

Sadly, Ghaleon's ABBA memorabilia is far too well-guarded for us to raid, so we'll have to skedaddle.



Surprisingly, we weren't knocked that far away from town. And thank goodness for that, I'm kind of sick of the detour. So without too much ado I make it back to town



COME ON.



DUDE.








: Face it! You simpletons are no match for my superior intellect.

Big words from a man that got locked in a cell in his own battleship.

: You can't escape the power of the dragon ship Destiny! Surrender now!
: Hiro, he's right! We have no chance of surviving a blast from his ship! What are we going to do?
: I cannot surrender. I must accomplish my mission, so I must fight.
: If luck goes our way, we just might stand a chance. I'm willing to try!
: I knew that following you guys was a mistake. But not fighting now would be a bigger one. I'm in.
: This situation looks bad all around, and I don't see how I'll profit from fighting. Why don't we just surrender?

Now I would sigh and shake my head at Lemina being such a coward, but frankly if I was in that situation I'd be like, "uh, no, what the fuck am I doing here see you later bitches."

: Stop your little secret conference and surrender to me immediately! My given task is to execute Lucia before she destroys us all. Know that I have the will and the resources to carry out that task...

And know that we have the will and resources to... uh... well, die horribly in a one-sided battle, mostly. Hrm. Maybe you all should listen to Lemina.



Suddenly, purple lightening!


: Ahhhh! The evil Lucia is raining fire down upon us. Help!
: You morons! There is no danger! Althena will protect us! You can't be hurt!

They couldn't hit an elephant at this







: This magic is strong... could it be that...?








: This doesn't make any sense. Why would he go out of his way to help us?

That's a very, very good question. Hell, he didn't even stay to gloat. Quite unusual...

: Lord Leo has been badly injured! Quick, we must get him to safety! Retreat at once!





: This whole trip just keeps getting weirder and weirder...
: Agreed! I don't know what the heck's goin' on anymore! Anyway, it's bought us some time. Let's take advantage of it.

EDIT: Fuck you Crowetron.