Mother 3 Part #8 - Torn Apart (3)

Part 8: Torn Apart (3)

Last time, Flint rushed from his wife's grave to team up with his father-in-law to find his missing son. On the way, he beat up some stone lizards, got healed by a walking bush, was guided by arrow lizards, and ended up in a mysterious house where he encountered the powerful Magypsies. So what kind of wonderous creatures are they?

You simply MUST have some of this cake!

Despite their colorful appearances, they aren't human and apparently are genderless, at least according to Alec, who has befriended the Magypsies.

My, my, who are these two? Don't be rude! Ionia, introduce us.

Of course. Where are my manners? This is my good friend, Alec. And who's this with you?

Now, let's get you all properly introduced to us, the Magypsies. You're in luck, we're having a party today. Nearly all of us are here. First we have Aeolia, then there's Doria, Phyrgia, Lydia, and that one over there is Mixolydia. The only one not here is Locria. You can call me Ionia. ...Hmm? You can't remember all that? Of course not. That's why I just introduced you, darling.

We'll get to know the Magypsies more later on in our journies. If you're curious though, here's the Magypsy sprites matches with names.

Aeolia

Doria

Ionia

Lydia

Mixolydia

Phyrgia

Do you know where he might've went?

Oh, you mean that rambunctious little squirt from a little while ago? Then I suppose this Flint fellow is his father. Hmmm...

So, what about Claus? Where is he?

Oh, he took off. He was in a great hurry, mentioning something about avenging his mother. I was feeling generous at the time,

I doubt he'll be able to use it very easily, though.

Though some of the animals we've encountered have used PSI, this is the first instance in-game of PSI being usable by humans. For those new to the series, PSI is the Mother series' version of magic, using powerful psychic abilities to attack or debuff enemies, or to heal/buff allise. Many of these abilities are learned by leveling up, though some are learned from plot stuff, and this game's no exception.

What if something happens to him?!

Oh, get over yourselves.

You poor things barely live a hundred years, if that! That's a blink of an eye to us Magypsies. Why would anyone bother to care about such short lives?

Humans worry about such short lives. Isn't that right, Alecy-poo? I understand how you feel. I really do.

The boy headed for the Drago Plateau. Quite rambunctious, I might add. Barely seemed concerned about his own short little life. If you go now, you just might catch him in time.

No time to join the tea party. We've got to move!

The quickest way to get to the Drago Plateau is through the cave behind this house. Claus probably went through the cave, too.

But you're not gonna get very far being as tense as you are. What you need to do is smile.

Uh, sure.

Considering how Flint handled the death of his wife, this is probably as good as you're going to get, Alec.

There's also an old man in the hot spring now, though I don't think he actually does anything.

Our next destination is this cave.

It's a cave with limited vision (though if you look closely, you can see an outline for the dungeon), but don't worry, because Alec is here to guide us.

I've been through here many a time. Just leave it to me.

You gotta relax!

I'll skip a lot of the generic instructions Alec gives you, but generally he's a good, if verbose, guide.

And already my milk has spoiled. Though forums user Dr. Fetus says waiting even longer would turn the Rotten Milk into Yogurt, which heals just as much as Fresh Milk. I wasn't aware of this while playing though and threw it out.

There are enemies and items in this cave, but nothing we haven't seen before.

There should be a hole around here. Find it, and then jump right down it!

Done, and done.

That was my Magypsy impression. Did you like it? Relax, relax.

Yep, Mother 3 still has fart jokes.

I've been so forgetful lately. Which way was it again...? Was it north?

...Uh, north it is.

...Did you not notice it? I said we have to "vined the vine". You know, instead of "find"?

Now I see why Flint stayed home when his family went up to Alec's.

Looks like we should've gone west at that last fork in the path.

Welp.

Anyway, we find the vine and continue.

Now we just need to head upward and climb up some vines.

The Mother 3 Handbook summarizes it best: "While there may be enemies waiting to ambush you here, Alec's humor will undoubtedly be your biggest threat."

It's a short dungeon though, and eventually we make it up on the mountain. Though next is another cave.

A saving frog, and...

More pigmasks!

Again, they run away.

This machine is also ripped straight from Earthbound.

And of course they get away yet again.

This screen's pretty big with lots of new enemies.

This thing has high defense, so you either want to boost Offense first or just gamble on a Power Smash.

I do the latter because it's more fun.

The only notable thing about these guys is their 70% drop rate for Beef Jerky, which recovers a hefty 60HP. If you're somehow low on healing items, these guys are a good way to grind back up for them.

I end up skipping a lot of treasure here because I was so full, but I ended up skipping another weapon upgrade for Flint, the Fresh Lumber. It's a nice 16 point Offense boost and is easily the second-highest offense this chapter, but I end up not needing it.

The next screen has another notable item.

This belongs to Claus! And that was a baby Drago just now. Claus MUST be around here somewhere!

Well, it's progress.

Trees are the most annoying regular enemies out here.

First, they'll summon help to join them.

They'll also reduce your offense.

Finally, when they die, they'll explode and do mortal damage much like Earthbound's tree enemies. Though once again the rolling HP system saves us here, as ending the battle before our HP depletes will leave us with the amount we were at when combat ended.

Alec has three of these herbs he'll use if Flint's at low HP. Otherwise, he may as well not be around for battle.

Not worth the effort.

This one appears to be broken, however.

I just run from these guys because they aren't worth it.

(Up ahead is Drago territory. Please be careful if you're heading further in. Now, to end this with a sparrow-like... chirp chirp-chirp!)

This is game speak for HEY THE BIG BOSS BATTLE OF THIS CHAPTER IS COMING UP BE PREPARED YOU FOOL.

Claus! We're here to rescue you! Where are you?!

I have a bad feeling about this...!

So the normally peaceful Dragos? Yeah, I think the whole "being turned into a cyborg dragon creature" thing may have overrided this one's peacefulness.

Mecha-Drago is the final boss of this chapter. It's not too bad as long as you paid attention to the dialogue before-hand, and if you didn't, why are you playing these games anyway?

First priority is to boost defenses, since this is the final boss and all.

This creature can reduce offense, meaning you have to use the Offense Up ability just to recover. Think of it at stat up/downs from Pokemon, where you can reduce/boost stats by three "levels", though I think for Flint's offense-booster it only goes up to +1 level.

This fight will be impossible unless you take all the text beaten into you earlier into account. Nothing can pierce a Drago's hide besides one of its own fangs...

So by stabbing it with its fang, we reduce its defenses and can actually start wailing on it!

Not that it's gonna be that easy, with the Mecha-Drago's good offense and its incredibly beefy 724HP. It also has nearly as much defense as a lizard made of rock (though not nearly as much as a ball of soot).

My plan for this one? Rely on Power Smash, of course!

Even with skipping a good weapon upgrade, Flint does a third of this creature's HP with his Power Smash. I just need to be patient and not unlucky.

Mecha-Drago also has a powerful fire breath attack.

Those ten slabs of Beef Jerky help quite a bit in this battle, of course.

When Mecha-Drago dies, it'll use one last attack that's "guaranteed" to kill you. In reality, it's a semi-dick move that makes sure you've actually been keeping your HP high, since as long as you have 40ish HP left you'll still live.