Part 5: Two Fetch Quests for the Price of One.

After that little nothing of a fetch quest, we're finally off to Saith. If you talked to the woodsman's wife, she mentions that Saith is on the cape way to the south. There's a mountain range right across the bridge; if you swing around the bottom of the range and go north there's a house there, but nothing to do there yet. So to Saith we go.



There are two new enemy types across the bridge, and these unfortunate lizards that I caught mid-animation are the first type. They're pretty dangerous with a decent enough speed, lots of HP, and a pretty high attack.



The wasps are the other type. Basically they're a meatier version of the flies in that they swarm you but are pretty easy to kill. They do a far bit more damage, though. They can poison you, although for some reason during this run they never did.



Right on the very southern edge of the island is Saith. If you look at the top of the screenshot you can see a part of a white building; we'll be visiting it a bit later.



Saith is a little bit larger than Burg, but obviously isn't going to compare to some of the later cities we'll see.

Now normally I would save the townspeople's dialogue for side updates, I found there really wasn't enough to justify one, so let's meet the people of Saith.


"Gosh, if you become like Dyne I'll want to marry you! Dragonmasters are so hot!"
: ...hm... oh yes Alex, she’s make a charming brainless bride!

And immediately get hit on.

Of course, if Alex considers her proposal, the problem isn't that she's brainless the problem is she's clearly, like, eight.



Although this lady looks like she's over 30, which is creepy for an entirely different reason. You actually get a choice; you can say "um, I don't think so..." or "hey, sure thing babe!" If you tell her sure thing:

: Alex! I'm surprised at you! Is this how you intend to behave on this adventure??! Don’t even talk to me! And you better not even think of bringing her along!

She reacts like you'd expect. So let's tell the lady no:

: So Alex, you had to think about your answer? What was going through your mind? I thought so! Just... don't even look at me right now!

Can't win for losing.


"He claims to be a VIP of the magic guild... I dunno... sounds fishy to me."

That... certainly is unusual. We'll be learning more about Vane later, but let's just say I can't imagine unusually aggressive flies are that interesting to an outsider.

Apropo of nothing, who's ready for an minor exposition bomb that didn't warrant it's own update?!


"Then, I'll give you a brief rundown of the Four Heroes: They are made up of: Dragonmaster Dyne of Burg,... he's dead now. Mel de Alkirk of Meribia, a herculean also known as Master Mel. Lemia Ausa, the leader of the Vane magic guild. She's not young, but she's pretty! And the great sage Ghaleon, premier of the city of Vane. He was Dyne's best friend... Okay, there you go... feel any more enlightened now?"

Well, do you? _punk


"This is the first time I've seen adventurers in some time! You remind me of the young Dyne... He became one of the four heroes after setting out on an adventure. On his way to Meribia long ago, Dyne met up with Master Mel, who was then one of the most feared pirates on the high seas. After fighting for seven days, the two were so worn out, they declared a draw. After that, Master Mel settled down to a quiet life in Meribia, while Dyne... oh, I'm getting old, and so is this story... you know it!"

I do like all the interesting tidbits and stories NPCs will tell about the Four Heroes. None of it is really necessary in order to understand the plot, but all those little details really flesh out the world.

For sifting through all that dialogue, let's reward ourselves by looking at sharp objects.



Weirdly Saith only has a weapon shop. It sells three new things: poison darts, which are an upgrade to the slingshot that we didn't buy last time anyway, the axe, which is a slight upgrade to the short sword at a ridiculous 1500 silver, and the cane, which is slightly better than the dagger but not enough to justify buying it.

Enough fucking around, I think we have a boat to catch.


"The sea is so rough right now that me needs a sea chart to navigate it!"

...fuck, again? Are we seriously going to do this again?


"Harrgh!... Tha' rascal... Next time he won't... so lucky... a rematch harrgh!"

Already I hate this guy, if for the sheer fact that I have to transcribe that dialogue.

Since he's not going to give us any details, let's ask one of the crew about what happened.


“Worse yet, the captain put up our sea chart as booty in his card game. Brett just cleaned the poor fool out, and now we can’t set sail!”

Great.

Now, you would think we'd have to go hunt down this Brett and get the sea chart back. And indeed in the remake you do. But in the original he's not in town anymore. So we'll have to ask around for some other way to obtain a sea chart.



Hey, children, here's a fun game! Can you spot which one of these folks is not like the other?

I'm not actually talking about the man behind the desk, but let's talk to him anyway.


"I am not letting a bunch of kids board this boat! Go home! Your parents are probably worried!"

Huh, I guess they do care if a bunch of unsupervised minors board a boat. Thank goodness Alex's dad had enough foresight to write a letter, huh?


: At least give it a look mister!

"You're the son of Noah!!! Boy, that name brings back a few memories! Your father, master Dyne and I all went on an adventure together long, long ago... Your father took good care of me long, long ago. So now, the least I can do is to honor his wish to take you to Meribia. Unfortunately, we can’t sail... The captain screwed up... If we don’t get this boat sailing again soon, my business will be ruined!"

But if you're not the son of someone I know? Get the fuck out. Hurray for nepotism!

Not like it matters, because the boat's still not moving.


“She’s supposed to have a sea chart for each of the oceans of this world... but she’s as stubborn as she is ugly. You won’t get the chart for nothing. She’s a shrewd negotiator, be sure you go up there with something decent to trade!”

If you're wondering why some old recluse has a sea chart, this same guy does mention that he thinks she got it from Brett. Why would a gambler give an old lady a sea chart? That's a good question. I wonder what the answer to it is.

I think you can guess where we're going next. In the remake when you hunt down Brett, he'll offer to give it to you if you win a game of chance. Of course he's a cheating piece of shit and Ramus calls him out on it. He'll tell you that he lost the chart to the hag. So, yeah, we're heading to the same place, we just took a different route there. In order to convince you not to hurt him, he gives you a Fortune Staff to exchange with her. But in the original there is no fortune staff, so what will we trade?

By the way, if you guess the unique one was the brown haired dude against the wall, you were right! I know, I was thinking it was the horned helmet dude too.



...

No one with "big boy" hair should ever say "cower before me" or "peasants," much less together in the same sentence. And he gets his own intro. This doesn't bode well.


: I’m also apprentice to the awesomely powerful sage Ghaleon! I have become the greatest magician in my age group! No one can use magic as well as me!
: He’s certainly mastered the art of blowing hot air...

That's a bit of an understatement, Nall. But I think we might have found the "young stranger" that guy was talking about.

If you talk to him before talking to any one else, the only thing he'll say as a follow up is:

: I’ve come here on a very important mission from Master Ghaleon himself. Man, this hicktown is boring!

Sadly, he won't expound on what this mission is. If you eyes didn't glaze over during the bit of exposition earlier, you'll remember that Ghaleon is in fact one of those highfalutin four heroes. This "important mission" seems more suspicious the more we talk to this guy. Unless, of course, Ghaleon was just telling him it was an important mission so he could get Nash out his hair. Which is starting to seem pretty likely.

Anywho, once you do talk to someone else, Nash has a little more to say.

: Oh, you're all going to Meribia too? That's very interesting... say, I have a staff of water that’s no use here. Maybe someone will give us an ocean chart in exchange it…![sic] So guys, what do you say? Sound like a plan?"

You know, I praised this translation for its relative lack of errors compared other games of its time and the more I look at the script the stupider I feel for saying that.

Oh, right, he gives us a choice. Well, we clearly know what we should choose but let's be an asshole to him anyway.

: What do you mean, you brainless slobs? I'm going out of my way to help you!

Momentarily satisfying. Anyway, let's choose the right choice.

: I knew you'd change your minds and come begging me to help you get the sea chart sooner or later! Do you want to try and trade my staff for a map?

...but thou must.

:Smart move guys! Let's go!


Yay.

: With all my magic power you'll have no trouble, so show some appreciation!

Yay.


"Well, I' don' madder. Nash, slash, trash... whadever the -hic- name, he's a coward!"
: Like you have the authority to make those judgments, you pathetic drunk!

Ha ha. No one else can stand the little prick either.

Actually, let's take a look at our new recruit and see if he lives up his own hype.



He's pretty damn good, actually. He's a fair bit higher in level, and his HP even exceeds Alex's at the moment. Also, he has two attacks...



Currently all he has are these two spells. Thunder Attack hits one enemy, and Thunder Wave hits all of them. Some of you familiar with the remakes may wonder where are the spells that hit a group or circle of enemies. They don't exist in the original. It's target all or target one.

Interestingly enough, the water cane that Nash mentioned is in fact equip-able, and it far better than the basic cane he comes with. But obviously we shouldn't be getting too attached to it.



I mentioned the AI command in the main menu, but I haven't showed it off yet. There's a reason for that; there is a glitch associated with this command, but I haven't been able to show it off yet. Now what this looks like is a way to enable the AI to use magic or items when I select the command. But that doesn't happen. Something else happens...

First, let's get into a battle and test out one of Nash's spells.



Nice! That's his Thunder Attack, and that's a one-hit kill for anything at this point in the game. And it's only 2 MP. But his bloodlust is not sated, because immediately after casting the spell-



Nash smacks another one with his cane. In the same turn. What happened? For some odd reason, toggling magic and tool use on doesn't allow the AI to use magic or tools, but instead causes the game to trigger the AI command after using magic or tools. It's sadly only one attack, as the magic or item use counts as the first attack, so this glitch will only work with characters with more than one attack. That is why Luna can't use it at all. You'll want to turn it off in an upcoming section, and it's not terrifically game-breaking either way, but it can be useful.

However, it's not like Nash needs it, because his other spell, Thunder Wave:



Looks wimpy, but it will two-hit kill these guys and it's only 4 MP. So with Nash in tow, an already easy part of the game is even easier. It's a pretty uneventful trip to the hag's house.



In the remake, the hag's house is surrounded by a forest which acts as a mini-dungeon. This is actually where you meet Nash in that version. He's... caught in a trap meant to capture wild animals. Guess he really wanted that banana. He joins your party after you save him, but not without copious amount of now entirely unwarranted egotism.

But in the original game there's no dungeon; we just walk right into house.


"Will you trade me the staff of flowing water for the ocean map?"

That's... one hell of a way to greet someone. I usually at least say "hi" because asking to eat someone's (not)cat. I'm somewhat leery about what she'll do with said staff, but there is no other way to continue the game.

Now if you remember, in the remake you were given a fortune staff instead of a water staff to give to her. That's a complete red herring; Nash still has a water staff in the remake and that's the one she wants. You can keep talking to her and she'll take the Fortune staff too. Bitch. I could have sold that.

But here in the original, there's nothing else for her to take, so we can continue talking to her.


“With this staff, at least I can feel safe when I go walking.”

Oh, I guess she needs it for personal security. That's not so bad.


“My stew pot’s just not the same without some tender meat in it...”
: Alex! You and I are best friends, right? Then let’s go before she decided to cook you, too!

...yeah, I think we should be going.

Before we return to the captain, the guy who told us about Nash in the first place has a reasonable observation.


: He, he, he... I know what his secret mission is. Don't concern yourself, peasant!

I thought he was stuttering there, but considering how laughter is written sometimes I'm legitimately not sure anymore.

In any case, let's get going.


“Now we ca’ sail to Meribia!”

All right, that was pointless but at least it was also painless. So finally we can-



...


“from the lighthouse! It went out mysteriously! Ever since, the lighthouse ha' been overrun with beasts of an unkind persuasion... If ya get my drift, matey. If ya can get to the top to light it, we can sail! I’ll be countin’ on ya! Here, take this flint ta light tha beacon...”

Now, correct my ignorance, but isn't light from lighthouse mostly for the benefit of the boats that are coming into the harbor? (Not to mention that, you know, it's daytime.)

If case you're wondering, the lighthouse is completely absent from the remake. There's a boss (and a rather annoying one) right before you board the boat, but that's it. But we're not done with the the pointless bullshit yet, so let's just do this.



If you remember that portion of a white building in the screenshot of Saith I pointed out, here it is in it's entirety. That's the lighthouse. It is about a 10 second walk from Saith.


"That's great! Ever since the monster made a home up there, the light's been out! Good luck!"

Thankfully, he does heal you. So that's nice.

Oh, and the "beasts of an unkind persuasion" the captain mentioned?



More snails and flies. That's it. They're just in a larger number now. They couldn't even give us a new monster type.



On the second floor, we get a very nice upgrade to our armor.



And that's the rest of the dungeon. That's the whole thing. You can see the remakes didn't miss much by cutting it.

(The chest has a Slingshot, by the way.)



Along the way, Luna hit level 8 and learned Tranquility. It's a straight upgrade to her earlier Healing song (at a far heftier price tag). However, in the remake everyone has a far smaller list of spells, and while they do gain spells as they level up, they do so infrequently and each new spell is generally different enough not to count as a replacement. Spells are meant to grow in power as the caster grows in power, but newer spells have higher base damage so you do have weird moments where the spell that targets more enemies is more powerful than the one that targets less.

Anyway, that is sole interesting thing that happened on the climb up, so let's just light the fire and get going.



And get event experience for it. ...okay, sure. Whatever.


: Since we grew up together, I didn’t realize it until just now.. But you’re becoming quite the courageous man, Alex. I’m so proud of you...

That's... kind of weird. Not sure what prompted that.

(Fun fact: you can keep triggering that line from her if you keep stepping on that part of the floor. Oops.)

So now we can finally get on the road. But before he talk to the captain, let's tell everyone else that we're ready to go.


"Here..... as a token of my appreciation, please accept this gift..."

He gives you 100 silver for your efforts. To be honest, I had no idea that he would give you money until I started playing this game for the LP. I just had no real reason to talk to him more than once. Why would you? Seems weird that they'd have this unnoteworthy NPC give you a gift at such a specific time, but I won't scoff at 100 silver.


"Great! ... now I have to go back to being seasick! Thanks a lot, Alex! The ads were way cooler than the reality... Say, have you got any dramamine? I just can't bear to think of going to sea again..."

But not everyone is appreciative. Always got to have at least one ungrateful prick.


"Now we can sail to Meribia! I won't forget yer help! If ye want to come along meet me at the end of the pier..."

But it doesn't matter! We're finally ready to going-


: I've made up my mind to stay here on the island and return to Burg...
: No Luna! You don’t really mean that! You’ve got to come...
: I’m sorry Nall, but I saw the pain in Alex’s father and mother’s eyes when we left. I’ll go back and keep them happy until you return! Besides, I can’t continue on like this... it’s your adventure, not mine. This is where your true adventure will begin, and I don’t want to hold you back... Ramus, you take good care of yourself... I hope you get all you have dreamed of! Nall, behave yourself! And Alex... please be careful, I want you back in one piece!

And with that, they begin their somber goodbyes.



: I never dreamed we'd say goodbye like this. The world beyond these shores is such a dangerous place. Oh Alex! You have to come back to me. I'll pray constantly for your safe return. Goodbye... my love...


But then, Alex decides to take action! He convinces Luna that this is her adventure too, and that it wouldn't be the same without her! At the last moment, she jumps on board and-

Oh wait, our protagonist is a mute. That just happened in the remake. In the original...



He just watches her as he sails away. She's gone. That's the last she'll ever be in our party.



Next time: Meribia.