Part 35: Holes to Heights (2)

The music for this area is one of the few songs present in all three Mother games. As with the other two games, it's used for a snowy secluded area, though unlike the other two games there's no actual town associated with it.



I don't have a name, but remember me sometimes as being a pretty cool guy, okay?



I'm surprised anyone would come to such a cold place!

Yes, there's talking snowmen here.



As are snowboarding yetis, though unfortunately the latter is an enemy.





The Ten-Yeti will slam into you and send fleas flying your way. Pretty much your standard "enough to be a nuisance, not enough to be too threatening" encounter enemy.

It does have one more trick we'll get to in a moment.







Chilly Dogs are more annoying, in that they have no problem calling for help or casting PK Freeze Beta on you. They also do decent damage.





They're also useful as a weapon for the Ten-Yeti, so take out one of them quickly. Fortunately Chilly Dogs have lowish HP and, as you probably guessed, both enemies are weak to PK Fire.



There's one other enemy up here, the Frosted Bun, but it's pretty rare. It gives a decent amount of EXP and money, and uses freeze attacks, though it seems easy enough to kill. Here's a picture.





Double Jerky actually restores more than double the amount of regular Beef Jerky, 160HP to the regular's 60.



Nice defensive boost for Kumatora.







Some snowmen melt away without ever meeting anyone.

More snowmen will tell you about Lydia, who you may remember as one of the seven Magypsies. If she's nearby, chances are a needle is as well.



The actual mountain is pretty short, only two screens before you get to this point, which serves as a breather area. Item Guy is here to handle all your item storage needs, albeit without his trusty cart.



There's also a frog to save at if it can maintain its grip.



I'm studying, you see! I have an undying sense of curiosity! It's like the Call of the Wild, and all that! For whatever reason, I picked up all sorts of stuff along the way! Please let me use them to conduct business!



There's also a mole cricket setting up shop here. There's various armor upgrades for all three characters that are worth investing in. The warm sweaters may be useful later on, but not so much right now since there's no more encounters for this point.

Thank you! I'm still new to this, but I'm going to work as hard as I possibly can!



Then the mole cricket sets up shop right next to the hot spring with the five-syllable name.



And further up ahead is Lydia.





Oh, dear me. My little bunnies have run off.



You must be cold. Come inside and warm up.



Looks like we've found what we were looking for.





Upon entering, you'll probably notice that pigmask lying in the bed. I won't hold it against you if you don't though, no matter how much I secretly judge you for it.



I found him lying unconscious outside my house. It looks like he went on a scouting mission and got separated from his friends.

The Magypsies will gladly give comfort to the enemy, they don't care.



...They say you're the one who can pull the Needles. Such a strong, sweet face...



What you seek is behind this house. It's surreal, realizing the time has finally come for my Needle to be pulled. I never thought this day would come to pass...



When you pull the Needle, I will vanish. That is our fate as Magypsies, so that is what must happen. When "the time" comes, I will welcome it with open arms. But, there IS one concern I have.



No one will be here to look after them...



I hope everything works out for the best when "the time" comes. We aren't permitted to interfere, and it's wrong of me to worry so much about it. I'm a mess, a horrible Magypsy. I never believed "the time" would come!





Now, then. Have faith that "the time" has come, and go pull the Needle. I've unlocked the door for you.





What is that...? Is this what it sounds like when "the time" comes?





This can't be good.





This is also the first time we get the full theme of the Pigmasks.





And quite the appropriate time to get it, as...



...the Masked Man pulled the third needle. Welp.







The conversation between Lucas and the Masked Man goes as well as you'd expect between two people who never talk.





Then a robot gorilla walks in and the Masked Man takes off in a jet pack. Sounds about right.









The Steel Mechorilla is the boss of this area, and this guy requires a careful strategy of





...doing the same buff/debuffs as I do for every boss fight. This guy is purely physical attacks, so plenty of Defense Up and Shield is very useful here. He also has high defense and is resistant to a lot of PSI, so Kumatora's not so useful in this fight. You'll want to boost Lucas and Boney's offense and have Kumatora focus on healing.



The Steel Mechorilla can swing a ball at two people or kick one. This will hurt if you don't buff the hell out of your defenses beforehand. However, if you can keep Shield up on everyone (and it's pretty easy to do so while having Lucas still attack often) this fight becomes trivial.



Now, the Steel Mechorilla is resistant to most PSI. As you might expect, though, he is weak to Thunder attacks. Simple enough, right?





After he is hit with three thunder attacks (and that includes Thunder Bombs, as I found out), he short-circuits and changes his attack patterns.





Now he will spend the rest of the fight attacking your entire party every single round and you will be fucked because it hurts a lot and there's no damn way you'll be able to keep up healing the damage he does to you once your shields are gone.



Very, very fortunately, I triggered this when he was close to death, so I avoided disaster. But I wasn't even close to taking this guy on the first time I tried to fry him, so this is one gimmick I'd recommend not going for. Otherwise, pretty simple fight.





That masked man... Could he be the one pulling the Needles?! Is Lydia alright...?

Well, considering we just saw him in front of the needle when it was freshly pulled, I'd say he's the one.



Pay me no mind.





Oh, right, Lydia.





Lucas. Someone other than you has pulled the Needle. Whatever is inside that person's heart has been passed on to the Dark Dragon... You MUST pull the rest of the remaining Needles from here on out...







Same deal as the other Mementos.



Lucas. This is it. "The time" has come. Believe in that, and keep pushing forward. This is where I say farewell. Don't worry about me. You can use the white box at the top of this mountain to leave. Also, go and ask my little Pigmask friend what he wants to do now.





Send hugs and kisses to the next Magypsy for meeee!

And just as soon as we get here, Lydia is already gone.





Our Pigmask friend is on his feet, at least.



Me and you are enemies. Don't bother with me. Just go do what you need to do. I have no intention of helping you guys out.



So I'm gonna stay here and look after his rabbits. Then we'll be even. Get going already! Before another Needle gets pulled!

At least two loose ends get tied together nicely. A bit predictable, sure, but it's a nice reminder that there is humanity in these faceless soldiers we keep beating up. Not that that'll stop us from beating up more of them, of course.



Also, there's a magic butterfly in his mask.



Don't run around inside, you dummy! It'd be no laughing matter if you stepped on a bunny!

It's only common sense.



At this point, there's nothing else left to do up here. You might want to make sure you've done everything you wanted up here before you go, as this is a one-way trip and to come back here you'd have to go through the Mole Cricket Tunnels. Have fun with that.

Anyway, we gotta hurry to the next Needle. Venture forth!


































See you next time! (if we survive)