Part 15: Screenshot Missions 6: Solosseum Ranks E-C

Screenshot Missions 6: Solosseum Ranks E-C

Time to take on the "tournament arc"! Want to see these battles in video form? Here's the whole footage for E-C! B-S will also have its footage uploaded in video form.

But before we begin, I finally leveled up my Tokotoko to metamorphose it.




It was weird.

I also drop by the casino which, as mentioned in the first post-game screenshot update, has unlocked something new for us.




That's one pun in this game I actually like.




The RIP room is just a theatre, called the Mem-O-Vision, for viewing the game's cutscenes.




Ever wonder what the top tier of casino rewards was? They're now unlocked, and they're tickets to allow you to rewatch a certain segment of the game's cutscenes.




I do like that Oliver just plops down on the couch.




D-Lux scenes are the Ghibli- animated cutscenes.



Story scenes are the CG cutscenes.

One very cool thing about the Mem-O-Vision is that they included some extras, like cutscenes that were in the DS version but were left out of the PS3 version. For example, if you watched the first DS stream, you might have seen a Ghibli-cutscene were Drippy and Oliver first step into the Other World, but it was not in the PS3 game. They went ahead and localized it, and then stuck it in here if you buy the Bronze Ticket from the casino cashier.




Everything up through gold is the first arc of the game with Shadar. Platinum is everything afterward with Cassiopeia.



Notice the scene that says "The Laugh's On Us". That's another extra they included in the Mem-O-Vision: the original Japanese version of Smily 'n' Surly's standup routine. It's weird. It has the same setup but involves a long-winded bit of Surly being a water skimmer, the subtitles were translated awkwardly, and they go by too fast to read. The English version isn't perfect, but it's probably funnier for our language's audience.



Time to get the show on the road.




Solomon mercifully stays out of the way for the grand majority of this.



Time to finally exchange the familiar tickets I gathered in the last several months.




The game's suggestion was fine enough for Timberus.




Anyone else excited for the Sparks + Franz Ferdinand album?






Couldn't be assed.

You might have already seen these familiars or their metamorphosed forms in previous updates. I recorded this first part pretty early, but the later ranks were ball busters, so I came back after most of the Conductor fights.






This is the real challenge of the Solosseum. These first many ranks are piss, but once you start fighting monsters that do a lot of damage and take a lot of magic to kill, you're going to need to get creative in order to maintain your HP and MP without items.




Umbopa will always send you into battle at 100%, thankfully.



We have the same cutscene as when we fought the boss here.




I'll skip most of the pre-and-post-fight dialogue unless I think it's particularly amusing.




First battle goes well.




When you beat an opponent, you get a YOU WIN screen, but you don't get any experience, items or money. You only get rewards from the Solosseum when you actually complete a rank.



Ah, kid logic.



After the previous opponents wander off screen, the next one taunts you from the left.




Drippy cries tears of joy.




Slash 'n' Burn is my VIP (very important power) for these first many fights.



And I get a trophy for completing 1000 fights! Damn, this LP was our longest in every way, wasn't it?



Drippy goes careening after them.



YOU DIE TODAY, OLD MAN.





Gunther sometimes acts as offscreen support.



When you clear a rank, you get confetti!



"3x0, suckaaaah!"




I love your derpy face, Umbopa.



Once you've completed a rank, the one above it unlocks. You can tell which are open or closed by if the tab for them is bright or darkened out.



You can also skip the entrance cutscene.



I wanna pet their ears and murder their families.




The fight goes much the same, though one cat uses Smoke Bomb, which blinds but only mildly inconveniences me.




That middle woman is terrible.



Don't tease a 13-year old, Basket Case- oh I get it, she's just an idiot.



Oh look, a bunch of things weak to fire.




The power of unintentional teamwork.



"Physically or mentally. We only expect one at this point."




Hey! That kid who gave us that shit monkey-cat familiar!




Fuck off, Tommy.

Yes, some of your opponents have managed to capture miniboss-type monsters. Meanwhile you only have the chance to get a tree.





He doesn't defend against our light magic very well.



Or a Gunther Bop.





Last rank for today, and it's still a piece of piss.




I legit feel bad for this guy. I don't think he wanted to come here.



I love those dumb little mushroom guys.




Granted, this one does try to delay the inevitable.



And he has a hilarious death face.




*Wah-wah trumpet*



Like I said before, I generally like the fairies. Just not my fairy.



Kill the teenage Shiro!





With fire.



Surprisingly the trumpet duck holds out the longest.



Don't look, Shiro. It'd be too much for you.




Here's a hell of a Studio Ghibli reference. It's the guy from Porco Rosso.




You're taking the piss, right?





Yeah, this guy didn't go down with much trouble, even with his resistances. I resorted to finishing him off unspectacularly as always.




Perhaps you should have asked the countless other robots I've killed.




You know what? We might actually need it, Umbopa.

Next time: Ranks B-S!