Part 28: Thunder Tower

Did you ever find that embarrassing item of yours that you accidentally threw away?



The last area of this chapter is the Thunder Tower that's been hyped up. It's actually not that long of a section, with the main thing slowing you down being all the Pigmasks to talk to.



I'll separate the Pigmask dialogue for your convenience. The first room lets you restore your health, access your items (don't ask why the Item Guy's lounging around here), buy stuff from the vending machine (which I forgot to do), and a map.



We start in the lower-right corner. There are two paths to get to the center room, which we need to do to go up. As for why we're going up, well, it's a tower. It would be a violation of everything in the world of media to not climb it.

I'll circle around to show off both paths because why not. And once we get to the middle room, the path becomes pretty linear because, well, it's a tower.



This is a good area to use Saltwater Guns. I grab the two I have.



There's a few new enemies for this part.







So, Whatever...



It's pretty ineffective, actually. It apparently does a bunch of weird stuff, but nothing that's remotely threatening. He's also very vulnerable to Sleep and Feeling Strange.

As for its partner?





The Minor Robot is easily the biggest threat of this floor, and even then it's more of a nuisance, especially with free healing back at the first room. It's weak to lightning, as you'd expect.





It'll do physical attacks, but its scariest attack is throwing a Bomb for good damage at the entire party.





It'll also inflict sleep on a party member sometimes.



Its batteries can also die and leave it vulnerable.



After backtracking to heal up, Lucas picks up Healing Beta, which will restore all status effects on a character besides KO. I haven't yet seen an instance where a character has more than one status effect, especially since my characters are usually good at dodging them (besides Kumatora, who seems to be the only one who gets hit with them).



On the way back, I get a 3% drop from the Minor Robot, which is a Bomb, the next attack item tier up from the Pencil Rocket. I really need to start using these older-model bombs. Hopefully future bosses won't have a high Bomb Defense (yes, there's Bomb defense in addition to elements, status effects, and DCMC fanboyism).

Anyway, let's go up and move around the area counter-clockwise.



Past another room with the same enemies and a couple Pigmask NPCs, we meet a new enemy in the northeastern room.





Battery Man is the last new enemy on the first floor, and it's a pushover, especially considering it's weak to Sleep and Ice.





It can cast a weak thunder attack on three different party members and do a similarly weak physical attack. It can also sacrifice itself to recharge the Minor Robot's batteries. Not too threatening.



It's kinda worth going both paths to get the loot here.



This room will lead us to the center. There's a lot of Pigmasks here, but I'll save their dialogue for in a little bit. Let's complete our circle first.



I accidentally let Boney get KOed. When an ally is KOed, you can't run on the map or change their equipment. Not a big deal since again free healing in this area.



They also look exhausted on the map screen.



In case you threw out your old one.



...Moving on.



Once we loop back around, we reach this room.





So the things powering the lightning blasts? Electric catfish.



New helmet for Lucas and Boney. Lucas is wearing something better right now, so it'll go on Boney once he recovers.



All that walking around and fighting stuff means I learn a lot of new PSI this update. Kumatora picks up Brainshock Alpha, which inflicts Strangeness (aka confusion).





Here's the middle room. Before we finish this area, let's do Pigmask dialogue.





You're here to destroy Thunder Tower, aren't you?! ...That's what I'd say if any suspicious people snuck inside. So, as you can see, security here is airtight.

Power levels have been low lately, so some of the machinery in the tower is a tad unstable. I wish the guys in the generator room would get their act together.



Oh, are you here to check the latest stats on our lightning damage? It's zap-kaboom perfect!





So a special type of trap's been installed in the generator! I suppose in RPG terms, it would be your so-called "mid-boss"!

No problem here. ...is what I'd like to say, but the generator defense system partway up the tower is really buggy. We'd be in such huge trouble if any bad guys snuck in! Yeah, that generator defense system further up the tower... Things could get real ugly quick.

Tomorrow's lightning schedule has arrived, so I'm trying my best to program it all in. It's tough work, especially when dry-eye starts to set in.

The tower part of Thunder Tower is full of areas that are always short-circuiting. It's really dangerous, so please don't go up there.

Today's weather forecast... Tazmily region: Sunny, with occasional lightning in places. Mt. Oriander region, Cerulean Beach region: Lightning, once preparations are complete.

Yeah, I went and visited that Tazmily place for the first time the other day. And then, well... I'm not quite sure how to put it, but...charred? People who disobeyed all had their houses charred. We're doing terrible things here, aren't we?

Commander. Have you changed your party members? And that dog-like fellow in the very back... He certainly is dog-like. Like the way he walks, for instance. That's so cute.





And if that happens, our mean, scary boss will get mad. And if that happens, I'll get lumps on my head.

Oh, yes. Mr. Fassad is here at Thunder Tower. He seems the same as ever.

I hear rice with egg on top is all the rage lately. Is that like "going back to basics" or something? I don't really get... Ahh! C-Commander! The "rice with egg on top" I just mentioned...It's actually a technical term meaning that the generator's danger...is in danger!

I wish they would make some new, angry catfish at the Chimera Lab. Huh?! You don't know about the Chimera Lab?! Surely you're joking again!





BOO!! GWAAARGH!! BLAAAH!! ...They seem to have grown used to our scare tactics lately. They never get surprised anymore. BOO!! GWAAARGH!! BLAAAH!!

You can do it, catfish!

Present power output... Just a little over 10 kilozaps... Yeah. Power output's really fallen.



But he's a hardcore DCMC fan, so giving him DCMC merchandise will put him in a good mood just like that.





The DCMC logo is boldly printed on it. (Three more are being kept in storage.)



(Another set is being kept in storage.)



(Another one is being kept in storage.)

Take a wild guess on our next boss (seeing the guy in the pics blocking the path up doesn't count).



So you came all the way here to visit me, kiddos? You got the best of me last time only 'cause I was in my ordinary clothes... But now that I'm in my combat suit, it's "Handle With Care" time!









The Fierce Pork Trooper is very similar to the last time you fought him, except beefed up. That includes his weakness to DCMC products, which I ignore here because beating stuff legit is a fun challenge.





This is the only new attack I saw, hitting two people for good damage. Good thing I debuffed him a bit first.





After awhile, he gets angry.



I assume he's charging for a super move here.



I say "assume" because I beat him before he does anything else.



Also, the bosses here give a ton of EXP.



At any rate, the Fierce Pork Trooper's gone for good now.



You may think you're a good impersonator, but you can't fool my eyes!





Unfortunately, looks like Fassad's caught up with us.





The pain and woe I went through after that Drago sent me flying... I realy must repay that favor in full. Nwehehehehe!!









Do you honestly think you can escape?! Nwehehehehe...!





That's better. Much easier to move around now.



Nowhere to go now but up.



Got another one of these things I'll probably never use. Or maybe I will just to see the trivia on them.







While climbing up, you'll run into Screwlooses (Screwleese? What's the plural for Screwloose anyway?).



They're pushovers, weak to Strangeness and Lightning. Occasionally they may call for help, but I never saw it happen.



Otherwise, it's an uneventful trek up to here. At this point...





Uh, OK. I wasn't expecting that.

Sorry, I was lying. I was expecting that because I'm using a walkthrough to make sure I don't miss anything. But you probably weren't expecting this, though. Unless you've played this before, then you may or may not have been expecting this depending on whether you remember this part.

I'm sure there's someone reading this who didn't expect this, though, so I'll say this was unexpected on your behalf.



More free healing at least.



So there's quite a bit to this room. As the song title may have hinted, this place belongs to someone very important.





Magic Butterfly out of nowhere!



You know, something like this appeared in Earthbound.



You could ride bicycles in Earthbound, but not this game sadly.



It almost seems like it could take your place for you...

Which is funny because it could in Earthbound, acting as a damage sponge (yes I'm explaining the joke).



You can also turn on this jukebox.



Which plays two different songs. Guess which previous game in the series that I've already mentioned three times that these songs are from?









Those Rubber Capes will come in handy later. Which is why I don't bother buying them.



So we've got the first letter of the name of the leader of the Pigmasks.



Oh yeah and Lucas learns Counter, which reflects half the physical damage an enemy deals to the protected target back to the enemy. Pretty expensive PP-wise, though.



This will be handy for sure.







SURPRISE!



You're not doing the whole "surprise" thing correctly, Surprise Box.





It's vulnerable to numbness so why not show off the animation for Paralysis Alpha. It's got a bit of HP, but you're also in a room with free healing so no reason not to unload powerful PSI on it. Which is a good idea because apparently it can cast Fire Beta.

One more optional thing we can do in this room.



MAD! MAD! VERY MAD MAD MAD MAD!!!!!!









No choice in not taking the Yo-yo, now we must fight Li'l Miss Marshmallow.





She really does not like Lucas. It's not huge damage, at least.



She'll also scan people for some reason.







And this is about the point where the fight gets challenging.







She's a robot, so I use a Saltwater Gun on her. It helps.



At any rate, same strategy of buffs/debuffs and healing/wailing.



THE NUMBER YOU HAVE DIALED IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PORK CHOPS



OH SO SOW SEW BROKEN *whir* *clank* *clunk*





Anyway, we did all that to steal a yo-yo.



Lucas, Duster, and Kumatora can all use it. Lucas is the obvious choice since Kumatora has attack PSI and Duster's shoes are still stronger. I'm pretty sure the yo-yo doesn't have the same low accuracy that they do in Earthbound (yes I mentioned Earthbound again ahaha). In fact, I don't think accuracy exists other than crying reducing it and maybe a couple enemies being hard to hit possibly?

Whatever, let's finish this place.



We're getting near the top.



And there's one last enemy to fight.





This guy can be pretty dangerous.





Here, he used Thunder Beta, which casts Thunder on two targets, hitting Duster and Lucas for over a hundred damage each. It can also apparently use PK Flash.





H-hey, Lucas! Are you alright?!







Speaking of PK Flash, hitting this spot results in Lucas getting hit by lightning, learning PK Flash in the process.



One of the walkthroughs I'm using says the ratio of what effects PK Flash will inflict are 60% crying, 15% paralysis, 10% strangeness, 10% instant death, 5% nothing. I don't know if it's different for each enemy or chooses one effect for the entire field. At any rate, not that useful for boss fights since it's so unpredictable, but probably useful for the tougher regular encounters (though it's a shame it's so expensive).





Meanwhile, in learning new PSI from ways that don't involve being struck by lightning, Kumatora learns PSI Magnet Alpha, which drains 2-8 PP from a target. Definitely very useful for Kumatora in dungeons, letting her spam offensive PSI more often. Meanwhile, Lucas learns PSI Shield Alpha, which is similar to Shield except for PSI attacks. Pretty sure it doesn't work for thunder attacks, sadly.



At any rate, we're finally near the end.



So it means it's time to fight a boss.



ACTIVATING DEFENSE SYSTEM! REPEAT! ACTIVATING DEFENSE SYSTEM! ALL PERSONNEL, IT WOULD BE NICE IF YOU'D EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY!













Meet the chapter boss (and not a mid-boss like that stupid Pigmask said earlier). This guy can be very challenging and scary if you didn't buy and equip Rubber Capes earlier.

I didn't, of course, because I want a challenge.



First thing I do is use my other two Saltwater Guns on him. He has 3333 HP, and he's powerful and threatening enough that it's definitely worth using them on him.



He doesn't use many physical attacks, but it's nice to reduce the chance of being hit by the ones he does use.





Because they hurt.



After the usual buffs (Offense/Defense down on the boss, Offense Up on Duster and Boney and sometimes Lucas, ignoring Shield and PSI Shield for this fight), Kumatora goes on healing duty.







Another big thing is that while Mr. Genetor's charged, he'll counter-shock a character for small damage. I'm still going offensive and healing through it since I want to end this fight quickly.



You see, if you don't have Rubber Capes this is not a fight that you want to become a battle of attrition.







For after a round spent charging (which is a warning that he's about to do his big attack), he will do ~130 damage to everyone. This is by far the nastiest attack we've seen yet, especially since Boney's max HP is barely above that threshhold. Kumatora and Boney would've been KOed if I hadn't planned to heal both that round and if the rolling HP meters weren't so awesome at making that strategy useful.

Rubber Capes make this much less threatening (except for poor Boney, who can't equip them).



On the bright side, once he uses his big attack, he's out of energy for a few rounds and will spend time recharging.



Since he has no energy, physical attacks won't hurt you during this time.







Unfortunately, he'll heal 100 damage each round. Not enough to nullify damage (buffed Duster or Lucas alone deal more damage than he can heal), but enough to be a nuisance and prolong a battle you don't want prolonged.



After a couple rounds, it'll be recharged and the fight will resume as before.





It also has the "Hit two characters with a powerful physical attack" thing the Fierce Pork Trooper had.





Randomly, his charger will break. I have no clue if it means he's out for good or if it'll get fixed eventually.



Again, that's because I kill it before I can find out.

A challenging and almost scary boss, but that just makes the fight more fun!



ALL PERSONNEL, EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY! REPEAT! IT WOULD BE NICE IF YOU'D EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY!





How dare you destroy this vital system of ours!





Nwehehehehe!





No turning back now.



There's nowhere to run now! Nwehehehehe!



What's funniest of all is that happiness could've been yours had you simply stayed in Tazmily and lived quitely, without a care in the world.



Fassad then gets a call and whips out his phone.

Alright. It's all set, then? I'll be done here soon, so leave the Mother Porkship on standby up above.



But this is the perfect chance to eliminate the whole lot of you in one fell swoop. It's a bit much for three lousy rats, but our king just loves being flashy. So I've decided that you and Thunder Tower can disappear flashily together.











Well, Lucas. We haven't known each other long, but it's been fun! I'll never forget about you guys!





Nwe. He he. He he.





Rope Snake! You're up!







And now we have a new character.





They're trying to shake us off! Lucas! Kumatora! Boney! Hold on tight, now...!



I know this isn't the best time to chat, but I have some good news for me and bad news for you. The good news for me...is that although we haven't known each other long, I'm now a major character in the story, thanks to you. And the bad news for you...is that my jaw isn't sturdy enough to support the weight of three people and one dog. In other words, my jaw...


















END CHAPTER 5