Part 16: Melodies Ahoy!

Update Sixteen: Melodies Ahoy!

Welcome back! Last time, on Mother, we collected the fourth melody from the Rosemary's mansion and then got the fuck out of there, because seriously, fuck that place and I hate it. Today, we're going to become dragon slayers and cactus whisperers, so let's rock.



We left off in Magicant and that's where we start today.





We're not staying here very long, though. Just long enough to fight the dragon.



Isn't it exciting? Just a little while ago, Leo was an average kid, and now he's going to slay a dragon with a boomerang.





Up until this point, I had been encounter-free. Now, let's count how many fights I get into before I reach the dragon!



One...



Two...



Three...



Four...



And yeah, there was a fight here, too. I got into five Goddamned fights going from over there, to the right, to this fucking dragon. It's, like, what, twenty steps?

I'm even wearing an item that reduces the encounter rate! What the fuck is wrong with this game's encounter rate? Seriously, it's just fucking retarded.



Now, as someone in the thread pointed out, you have to "CHECK" the dragon to initiate the fight. I didn't think of doing that, as I've been using the "L" button to start my dialogs and stuff, since it worked as a "CHECK" button in Earthbound, and presumably, it was the same thing here. Apparently, it's just a talk button, so my bad, I thought it was something different.



But, are you guys ready for this fight against this fearsome beast?



Hold on a second, though. I've gotta stop laughing at this goofy looking fucker.



Alright, after laughing, there's a good reason you have to be at least level 25 to fight this guy.



Well, Leo has to be at least level 25; I recommend a few levels higher, as well as having Merry and Champ around that level, too.





Defense Up Beta provides a significant boost in defense to every party member, and I'd reckon it's a necessity for this fight. At the very least, it's a really good idea.



I'm not quite sure how the boost works, but it seems to at least double someone's defense.



The Dragon has a move to lower someone's defense with, and that's a pretty awful thing to happen, as you'll see when this asshole lands a hit.



His defenses are really good, too. Granted, Champ is a bit of a weakling, but still, the Dragon has 650 HP to tear through.



This is a pretty good move to make, too. He's got some strong PSI powers and blocking them off completely leaves him only to single target physicals, which still hurt like hell, but at least he can't hit the entire team at once.



Offense Up is a sexy skill. Leo is going to be my main man for damage dealing this fight, so he gets the offensive boost.



Remember, Champ's defense was boosted tremendously before this hit.



The Dragon, from what I saw, didn't have any PSI vulnerabilities, but PK Beam Beta seemed to be the most effective. The Rope also ties him up, which provides a few turns of us able to beat his ass.



Yet, somehow, he manages to dodge...This guy is good.



I probably should have had Merry keep attacking, but I still don't want to risk Champ being murdered.



I could have used Offense Up on Champ, yeah, but I didn't want Leo to not be attacking for a turn.



Now, if I had just had him attacking during this, I could have ended this fight a skosh sooner.



Freeze Beta wasn't as effective as I would have liked. 'course, I'm used to Freeze Beta from Earthbound, which kicked ass and was awesome...



Leo, you magnificent bastard!



Sweet Jesus, Dragon! You do not like being SMAAAAAAAAAASHed!





I really like Leo. He's a good striker.



That's why I think it's a good idea to block his PSI. I'm not sure what Fire Beta would have done to my team, but I'd rather not find out.



He's also a pretty dodgy motherfucker.



He and Leo are duking it out pretty well. Were this a war of attrition, the Dragon would win hands down.







But, we keep at it, and Merry eventually laser beams him to death. Right at the turn where I was going to have Champ check it and we could have seen some fancy text.



But, hey, he drops a good bit of exp and Merry gains a level!



One of these days, I should really list out all of her PSI powers. She has an assload of them.



Was it sleeping on the sheet music? Does it have dragon pockets somewhere? And how is the song playing? Does the Dragon have a fucking Dragon clarinet or something he busted out, in case he got his ass kicked for his sheet music?



Either way, we learn the sixth melody before the fifth!



If we check it again, we find out we beat it into a deep unconsciousness and we just hear the tune again. Either way, we have another melody.

Though, I think I fucked up OFS throwing out lyrics to the melodies...Sorry, mate.



But, we're not done with this update yet.



Why, we have a whole new location to visit and three videos to see!





Now, these tracks lead to the east, so let's see where they lead to.



Son of a bitch!



So now, we head north. We're going around here.





This is kind of tricky to figure out on your own, but it's just kind of exploring around to find stuff.



It's a touch confusing finding your way around here, though.





Uh, fuck.



As long as you're heading east, you're doing pretty well. It's the right way to go.



A touch north, too, but east is the big direction.



There aren't any real side paths to go down, either, so it's actually really hard to get lost.





It's a long-ass journey, though, don't get me wrong about that. There are fights along the way, too, but they're nothing new.





Once you reach this point, though, you're pretty much in the next area. It's not super exciting, but it's plot critical.





Welcome to the Yucca Desert.



It's boring as shit, but there are a few very important things in here.



If you were curious where we are on the map, here you go. That first black dot is our destination for today.



If I repeated this screenshot four times in a row, would any of you notice?



I mean, I barely would and I just played through this section.



Hey, didn't a guy in Snowman tell us to talk to some bones in the desert? I wonder if these are the bones he meant.



Yeah, well, you know Leo. He's pretty fucking



I honestly have no idea if that's the right bones to talk to or not. Even if not, those bones have a fucking story, and I'd love to play a game about that.



You can't walk through these grassy patches, as they count as an obstacle. So, we've gotta go around them.



It's not a huge challenge. Also, I have not encountered a single enemy in the desert so far.



There's a lot of cacti around, though. I mean, it's a desert, so it makes sense, but cacti are important.



You'll see why soon enough.



And now, we've found an oasis in the desert! Go us!



We also found this fucking guy. I kind of hate this guy.



Jesus Christ, man! You should have just gone overseas to the war!



I'm not sure if you can encounter that final mine or not, but we'll find out soon, won't we?



That's a tank to the right, by the way. Yes, we get to play with it. No, not this update.



As this dickhead makes us collect ticket stubs to do so! Ten of them to be exact, so you have to take four flights to get all of them, so it's at least $60 to do it.

However, as I am an expert (or something) LP'er, you get to see all three of the flights! They go in order, so we start with A, then B, then C.















Now, in one of those videos, you might have noticed that there was an interesting cactus he circled around. Let's go check that out, shall we?



It's to the northwest of the pilot, too. It's unmarked on the map.



I actually only got a little bit lost on my way there; it's that easy to find.





Oh, God, what the hell are those things?



They're pretty tough, with 137 HP.



They also do combo attacks and hit really Goddamned hard.



Beyond that, though, they're boring and I couldn't really care less about them.



Ah, here we go. See that cactus there?



It's got a little face, too, so you know it's important.



Into Leo's mind, you say, text box?



Using Telepathy, we find out it's singing another melody for us! That makes two in one update, and in the last two updates, we've what, doubled our amount of melodies? This game has some odd pacing issues.



But, let's head back to the pilot's camp for now. We're done with this update. Next time, on Mother, let's dick around with a tank! Stay tuned!

End Of Update Status Shots