Part 15: Homecoming

: What? You did too?! This is just toooo bizarre… Don’t even tell me about your dream… I’m already way freaked out!

Well, this a hell of way to start the day.

Odd premonitions aside, we could just go and meet up with Ghaleon at the harbor, but let's first say our goodbyes to our favorite actress.



: You know, Mia and I have been friends since we were kids! That poor girl... But Alex! You're quite the stud these days, aren't you? Hee, hee, hee... I like it

Favorite actress and... bipolar sufferer, apparently.

: Oh... bother! I’ve got to go meet my father... say, Alex, why don’t you come along? Come on! ...pleeaase?

Uh, not so sure why she's so keen on Alex joining her. Maybe so he can marvel at her marvelous subterfuge?



: Has Master Ghaleon already departed?
: Hello young man! Ghaleon has already left for the dock.

Yeah, I figured. Doesn't seem like the type that would stick around for small talk.

: Hey Jessica my darlin… what do ya think about bein’ married to someone like Alex here? I’m sure we wouldn’t turn ya down… wah, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha…

What is with this guy's obsession with marrying his daughter off to Alex? Yeah, I know Alex is heroic, bland and nonthreatening and Mel doesn't know about Jessica's current romantic entanglement, but still you think he'd grab a clue



...

: Father!!! I can’t believe you said that! You’re going to embarrass Alex! …anyway, you’d better get down to the wharf…

Good plan.


: Let’s board the ship. I want to see my dear white dragon as soon as possible!

Y'know, coming from you, I doubt the sincerity of that statement a bit.

: My dear Alex, I'm growing perturbed at your lack of decisiveness! Are we going to the island or not? …then get… on… the… ship!

All right, all right! Let's get this show on the road!




With little fanfare, we're back on Caldor Isle. The trip doesn't seem quite as momentous on the way back.


"It gave me the shakes! What's happening....?"

Although it's little comfort that these are the lines from the very first person we talk to.


"Master Ghaleon! Oh man, I can't believe my luck! Say, Master Ghaleon, can I have your autograph?"

But for the most part, everyone you meet is simply starstruck from Ghaleon undoubtedly dour presence.


: Hmmm, interesting that this isolated island has already heard the rumor...

With exceptions. Huh. This rumor really grew legs, didn't it?


"How 'bout you date me instead?"

Ooooh... 90's references. How many of you even remember who Shannen Doherty is? Hell, this came out before Charmed, which is the only thing I remembered her for before I checked her Wiki page. Hell, I bet some of you weren't even born when 90210 was on the air. Damn kids.


"Get any better and I won't be able to restrain myself!"

Ehhh... wow that's unnerving. I think we can move on.

Actually, since we'll be heading onto the world map, we haven't actually checked out our new party member!




Yeap, he's stupidly awesome. Not sure what else you'd expect.



And of course his equipment is... exactly what Mia came with. Huh. By the way, the game does not stop you from messing with his equipment. Which means free Magic Robe for me!

...what? He ain't gonna need it.



Mostly because his spells are going to make sure that anything stupid enough to cross my path will be dead before they can blink. Each of these spells all have a different element, but for one exception they all do the same thing.




They kill shit dead. (And that was his weakest spell.)

The exception is the spell Anesthesia.



Which makes the enemies emulate Poochie. You don't get any experience or money, and it costs more than his other spells (not like it matters, though) so I have no idea why you'd ever use it out of sheer curiosity (and comedy factor, I suppose).

Since there's no danger of dying even if we didn't have Ghaleon along, let's go a bit out of our way and visit with that old crazy lady who tried to eat our cat.


“Why have you come to me? I’ve done nothing wrong! Get away from me, dark wizard! You come late, and offer me nothing!”

Geez, lady, way to welcome your house guests!

Actually, this is a reference to the game Dark Wizard, which Working Designs decided to insult for some reason. Apparently it was slated to be the first RPG for the Sega-CD, but it was delayed. Oddly enough, in the interview in the back of the guidebook Victor Ireland seems like he never played the game, so I dunno why he or anyone else at Working Designs felt the need to slam it. I've never played it either, so I have no idea if it's any good.

In any case, let's just go and head on back to Burg. If you recall, in the remakes they moved the Weird Woods to the west of Burg, and you had to walk through it to get to and from Burg. So, yes, in the remakes you have to walk through it again. Thankfully, in the original all you have to do is traverse the world map a bit.




Ah, I missed the Burg theme. I usually dislike the sickly sweet, idyllic home town theme in RPGs, but the Burg theme is just so pleasant and well put together. Almost makes you forget about all the foreboding shit that everyone's been portending.


“She dreams that she is causing the sky to turn black, and the birds to fall from the sky!”

Almost.


"Since you've been gone, many of the younger ones in our village have left... I'm pretty certain they were following your example by going to Meribia."

Honestly, that is a bit disheartening to hear. Of course young adults will always have desires to go and make a better life for themselves, a life that the countryside can't provide. And, hell, it's often they have no choice, unless they want to live in unemployed poverty. But on the other hand, it denies their community of young, active minds. Not to mention the strain that rural to urban migration puts on families.


"burger can really take your mind off your problems. Anyway, just a tip..."

No, no, wait, guess we're talking about food now. Not sure where we made that turn, but okay.


“…um… sir, you have a booger hanging out of your nose… let me get it, so you don’t mess up your gloves.”

Now I have the mental image of some unwashed peasant knuckle deep in Ghaleon's sinus cavity. Not a mental image I wanted.

Speaking of uncomfortable, though, maybe we should tell Ramus's dad that Ramus just left and we really don't know where he is.


"He left quite unexpectedly with a person called Fulari. He was mumbling about a mission...!"

Uh... I have no idea what that's supposed to mean.


"...what?! You lost track of him when you separated in Meribia?? That dumb kid... He's always in some sort of trouble! When is he ever going to straighten up?!"

To be honest, we don't really know if he's even in trouble. I mean, you can't be in trouble if you're dead, right?

Oh, and for old time's sake.



We're never going to get to open that cabinet

Now that we've checked up on Ramus's family we can go and check up on Alex's.


“Oh… I see… you’re just back for a short time! Oh, I feel much better… I've been bragging about your quest so much around town, I’d be disgraced if you returned so soon! Rest up, save your strength for the rest of your trip."

I'd make some catty comment, but... over-zealous parent exaggerating your slightest achievement to everyone they see... yeah, I've been there.


"What?!? You have to leave again? So soon? Oh well, I’m just happy to see you again! Luna is over at the spring picked flowers. Hurry over to see her... She’s been pretending to be happy so we won’t worry, but, I know she misses you so very much, Alex! She just has a faraway look in her eyes… go surprise her!

That's a good idea. If nothing else, maybe she'll have less unsettling dreams.

By the way, do you remember the Goddess Festival that Luna and Alex were practicing for at the beginning of the game?


"It wasn't the same without your beautiful harp music accompanying Luna."

In case you were wondering, yeah, the Goddess festival happened off screen. Although at least Luna was there; in the remakes Luna left with you, so neither one of them got to participate.

But before we go and see her, we have one last thing to go. Ghaleon may want to pay respects to his fallen friend.


: Slightly underwhelming.

...well, what the fuck did you expect? A golden statue that shoots fire?

: ...listen Alex, Dyne was the strongest of the 4 heroes, and he died trying to save the world he loved! I will never forgive a world that caused me such a loss! My bitterness will remain until my dying day...

Oh find a therapist, dude. Sheesh. Enough of this, let's just go pay our lady-friend a visit.



Hey guys. You may want to brace yourselves for this. Something very special happens right now.



Alex can, in fact, speak.

This is one of the four or so lines he gets in the entire game.

: …you… came back… I… I believed in you… Oh Alex…
: Luna, I’m so glad you’re back with us again! I actually missed you, too!
: Well Nall, I missed you as well! You look as fine as ever! And Alex! You’re a sight for sore eyes. You look more like a warrior these days! Who is this you’ve brought back with you, Alex?



Whoa, slow down there chatty cathy! Let someone else speak for a change!

: Oh my! Master Ghaleon! How do you do? I’m Luna.
: You’re quite the charming young lady. You look like… ahem, ah, never mind.

Then he immediately tries to mack on a teenage girl. Classy.

: I have so many frightening dreams these days, I don’t want to sleep. But now that Alex and Nall have returned I feel much better. Alex, I’m going to cook a huge meal today, so please hurry home! I’m making this especially for you, so don’t be late!

Considering that we'll be running through an area meant to be tackled at level one, yeah, we won't be long.

Speaking of which, let's get on that, shall we? I won't bother showing you anything from the cave, as it's all ground we've covered before. Nothing really happens until you reach Quark's lair. As soon as you enter, Ghaleon begins to speak.


: You know, the Dragon tribe and the goddess Althena are central to our world. So, if they are so powerful, why did my friend Dyne have to sacrifice himself to protect them? Shouldn’t they have been able to save themselves? That is, without calling on a man… a Dragonmaster, to do their dirty work? I think so, and that’s why I’ll never forgive them.



This may have been a mistake.



: So Alex, you’ve returned. And this time you’ve brought another friend with you. Wait, Ghaleon, is that you? I haven’t seen you since we lost Dyne.


: Yes dear Quark, and if not for you, he would still be alive. A part of me died that black day, and now dear friend, things are changing again. I’ll soon rule the world, but first you have to die.


: Ghaleon what are you going?! No!
: Now that’s taken care of, only the Goddess Althena stands in my way. Soon the whole world will be mine.


: Listen carefully, young Alex. You must become a Dragonmaster now. You see, once I am gone, the goddess will be vulnerable to attack from Ghaleon. And only a Dragonmaster can save her. Alex, you must become that hero.


: You can start in the next room. In it are the White Dragon Wings. They’ll give you the ability to move from town to town as effortlessly as a dragon. But, you can’t use them yet, young dragonboy. You must first gain wisdom in life, and seek out your true feelings. Only then will the dragon equipment serve your true need. Remember that, Alex.

If you recall, there was a strange room to the left of the lair. We couldn't do anything there at first because Quark did not feel we were ready to start on the path of the Dragonmaster. Now... well, now it's a necessity that we do.




: Quark told us these couldn’t be used yet, and that appears to be true… they lack power.

Even though we can't use the Wings yet, we gain an entirely different power.



As well as some event experience.



Interestingly, as soon as you gain the Wings, the Dragon Ring disappears from your inventory.

In any case, we need to head back to town.



Where did the river go? That's not a good sign...





Oh shit.



: I’m going to kidnap her. If she is a goddess she could be a threat to us! Master Ghaleon wants Luna in his care! But, I don’t have time to chat with you brats! You look young and strong… I’ll sentence you to death by overwork in Talon mine!

With that, she immediately sics her goons on us.



Remember those two little green demons we fought with Nash and Mia? Now they brought a few friends with them. And we're alone.

Thankfully, we just picked up a new spell. Let's test it out.





It's a remarkable spell.

It's also a draining spell at 40 MP. Normally, you can cast the spell four times before you run out of MP, at which point he little guys are dead and the big ones are near death. Since I was slightly underleveled, after three casts I was left with 39 MP and every enemy was still alive. The small ones fell to a flamer, but the big guys took two turns a piece to take down. At that point I was afraid I was going to run out of MP casting Little Litany.

_{(I completely forgot that I did actually bring a Silverlight into battle. Oops.)}



But I pulled through.



And gained a ton of experience. Alex gained about four levels from that fight and finally learned Fire Bomb.


: You killed my henchmen!
: Ahhh!!! Allleex! Help me!

She runs towards us, but Xenobia blocks her path.


: You’re going to have to visit Master Ghaleon… He’ll be waiting for you…! Hm, hm, hm, hm... Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha... Ahhhh, ha, ha, ha, haah!
: Ahhrrrhhh! Alex! Help me!




: Oh my! Master Ghaleon is the Magic Emperor! Alex, what are we going to do? Who knows what Emperor Ghaleon will do to Luna! We’ve got to rescue her Alex! …hey! The White Dragon’s Wings are shining! That must mean we can use them now! Try it!

We could use them right now, but we still haven't checked up on the village.




However, there's no one here. Except for, oddly enough, Alex's parents.


"That's it... a walk! It's that new fitness thing."

At least, there's something here in the shape of Alex's parents.


"Ahhh, ha, ha, ha, ha! The villagers were taken away while you were gone! The kidnappers from Talon Mine needed more slaves, so they raided this village! You’ll never see them again!”



At this point, are you surprised?



Thankfully it's a much smaller battle than the previous one. You can actually go and heal before this battle at a shrine or wherever, but I didn't because I'm crazy. Still, it's only two of them and you can just take them down with your sword.

This is technically optional, and after a certain point the impostors are gone, but otherwise we won't know what exactly happened here until much, much later in the game.

Although Ghaleon was not merely content with just enslaving Alex's hometown.







Many of you have wondered why I haven't discussed the differences between the two versions. It mostly because I didn't want break the scene up, but also because the entire sequence of events are very different between the original and the Saturn/PSX remake.

First of all, in the remake Ghaleon does not kill Quark, but imprisons him instead. This detail doesn't seem important now, but it'll be a very important difference later. Also, since Luna is still in your party at this point, Ghaleon captures her himself right after dealing with Quark. He then blasts Alex and leaves him for dead, but Alex is saved by Laike (who just... happened to be around) and brought back to the... village.

Yes, in the remakes the people of Burg were not kidnapped en masse. This has implications far later in the game; for those of you familiar with the remakes, you can guess this changes a later plot point considerably.

For now... well, for now we won't be beating this madman alone. Next time, we'll start gathering our army.