Part 10: Where the game takes a turn for the worse

As you could probably guess, saving the Water Crystal has solved everyone's worries.



Remember that battlefield we were saving? Yep, now that we've saved the Water Crystal, the river has melted and we're fighting on top of the water now. I don't know why they gave this one a unique background, but hey, little touches.



Well, it's better than nothing, I guess. It's a little more experience than we were getting from one fight.



Aquaria is looking much better. Under Phoebe's house is the entrance to Spencer's Place



Welcome to Spencer's Place. The game starts getting pretty blatant with its music reuse at about this point, because it's the Falls Basin music again (and it won't be the last time it shows up either).



Spencer's Place is annoyingly big. It's about 30-45 seconds of this every time we need to come down (and we will need to come down here several times over the course of the game), and then we have to come back out the same way. The place ends up redeeming itself in the end though, because we get a very special toy here.



Having descended, we can now meet with the man himself.





Oh hey, more free shit.





Yes Art, yes you have. Several times, in fact. From several different people.


dried up and his ship ended up on a rock ledge. But that's no problem. If we dig from here, we'll be able to reach the ship.





Of course. It was too easy to just have this shield lying around here, wasn't it?



...Why do you know this? You've been stuck under Aquaria for how long? We're done with Spencer's Place for now, so let's take care of some last odds and ends.



First is this battlefield. It's got mostly Phanquids, with the occasional Sphinx thrown in. Easy stuff.



Very nice. Exit will let us warp out of a dungeon instantly, but like the other white magics, it has an offensive side as well.



One cast, and an enemy is gone, no questions asked. Now, if you do this, you won't get any experience or GP for it, but it's something to remember if an enemy is really pissing you off.



This particular battlefield is home to Freezer Crabs and Gathers, which opens up the possibility of glitching the game out. First, lower it to the last fight, and put yourself very near to death. Run until you get a fight with a Gather, and let it selfdestruct and kill you.



Wait, we're dead. How did we win? Reload and do the fight again, winning normally.



Congratulations, you now have your own personal farming grounds. It works just like normal, except now you've got 250 fights to go before getting a prize.

Next stop is the Focus Tower, where CE is lying in wait to give us some more information of no real consequence.


Anyway, seek Reuben in Fireburg. Say, what's this statue for?

Now let's grab that shield.





The Venus shield is a crucial piece of armor, because it's the first piece that blocks Paralysis, putting the first of the unholy trifecta of status ailments out of commission. Our partners will still be vulnerable to them, but it stops us from being able to do nothing at least.



Take the statue and push it down to here, so that we can go on to the fire region.



Blizzard is tucked off to the side here. Awful convenient, but I'm not going to look a gift horse in the mouth.



Now we're in the Fire region, also known as the worst part of the game. There are three battlefields between us and Fireburg, and we'll be back for them. This area's gimmick is that every time you take a "step" on the world map, there's an earthquake, which makes everything quite annoying.

Music: Fireburg



Welcome to Fireburg. It's got my favorite mix of the town theme, and is just a cool place in general.



Like this. Random old guy on the street selling explosives? Sure, why not. First stop is the south end of town.



This woman's selling off her battle axe. We'll take her up on the offer.





The battle axe is pretty awesome. It's the strongest weapon we have, even better than the jumbo bombs. Unfortunately, it'll only hold that title for about five minutes, if that.

Next, let's check out the inn.



Tristam's just chilling at the bar. There's a reason he's the best character in the game.



Saying yes will cause the band to start playing, causing this to start. It'll only play until you leave the inn or go upstairs though.



This is also the first reliable source of seeds. Because the game wasn't easy enough to begin with. Next stop, Reuben's house.




There'd be no problem if we could use a Mega Grenade, but only Dad's friend can use them.


We'll pay him a visit anyway. Come on!



Oh boy. I'm so excited.





Reuben is...well, he's not exactly great. He's got 1040 HP (L26), hits pretty hard, and that's about it. No spells other than life, no way to hit multiple enemies, or anything else that might make him more useful.

As Reuben said, the house in the middle of town is locked, so let's see if our old buddy can help us out.





Like I said, best character in the game. "You guys want to break into this guy's house? Here you go, knock yourself out."


Only a Mega Grenade can free him.





And once again, we're going to have to do everything ourselves.



Mega Grenades are the final level of bombs. On a single enemy, they'll just about outdamage Reuben, but like the rest of the bomb family, against several targets they just don't pack enough punch.



With our destination in mind, it's time to go save Reuben's dad.

Next time: A strong contender for worst dungeon in the game.