Part 43: Episode XLII: Father's Day Gift

Episode XLII: Father’s Day Gift


Music: Rays of Light (Medium)



We’ve now officially become friends with absolute top boy Emil. His joyful shop theme will now echo through the City Ruins for the remainder of the game. Emil doesn’t have much of a role in the central plot. Indeed, his only actual plot contribution is opening that gate to the Forest Zone. If one were to mainline just primary quests, that would be the solitary time Emil shows up in the entire narrative. Obviously, that’s not what we’re doing so we’ll be seeing this orb child again in the future.



You may have noticed there’s a red blip on the map right next to Emil’s Shop’s initial spawn point. And you may remember that location from an earlier quest. Seems Father Servo is ready for another bout and...



...he’s looking a wee bit different since our initial encounter. You been lifting, Father Servo? What’s up?



Be warned! Father Servo has used your previous gift to make himself stronger than ever. Would you like to test yourself against this new modification?
<Spar with Father Servo.>
Time is a great wheel, yet do not expect things to transpire as they did when last we met.



And here we go. Robo Dojo: Round 2. Dramatic Battle Mode. 2B and 9S vs. Father Servo Brown. Get Ready for the Next Battle...


Music: Birth of a Wish



Father Servo has beefed up considerably since his rather lackluster first encounter. Mostly by investing in some proper legs and arms. Servo’s white belt form didn’t display its currently level but I’m guessing he wasn’t Level 30 last time considering he now sports twice as much HP.



I don’t believe we’ve actually encountered a dual-axe small biped type machine lifeform. If we have, they obviously didn’t leave an impression compared to their Gutsman-esque medium biped cousins. Father Servo’s attacks in his second form mostly consist of lunging attacks. They come in two varieties. One where he’ll do a front flip spin that has long range but a short radius.



The other is a forward dashing lunge with short range but a very wide sweep. This one is trickier to dodge since the actual attack doesn’t come out till the last second.



Father Servo also has a few basic melee spinning axe attacks on the ground. But they’ve got such a long wind-up that he’ll more easily get stun locked out of the attack by his android opponents than ever pulling it off.



All in all, Father Servo’s Brown Belt upgrade doesn’t serve him very well. The fight took about 90 seconds this time instead of like 30. So I suppose he is improving gradually. But regardless...



SLASH!


Music: Rays of Light (Medium)



......
Let us discuss the fee.
Oh, come on! YOU’RE the one who wanted to test—
Would you truly refuse a single request from this old monk?
Okay, don’t even start with me.
Father Servo surrendered all worldly possessions and took numerous vows, yet you would deny him even a simple request!?
All right, all right! Fine! What do you want this time?
One memory alloy and one broken circuit. The world moves ever on, my child, so do not dawdle.
Would you stop calling me that already?



It just so happens we already have that junk. The memory alloy is a common drop from small and medium biped machines. And we got some Broken Circuits from that Stamp Collecting quest a while back. Here you go, sensei. Go get yourself a fresh paint job and a tail or some shit. I dunno. You machines are weird like that.



Ah, excellent. Now Father Servo can modify himself anew. When you return, he will be stronger than ever!
Oh, I can’t wait for that...
......
Such impatience! Are you truly so eager to see how Father Servo evolves?





That completes the second part of Father Servo’s questline. We’re not done with the warrior monk machine by a long shot. Though it is probably the last time we’ll be facing him anytime soon. His next evolution is... formidable. And by formidable, I mean outranks us by nearly 25 levels from where we currently stand.



Let’s finish up the last of the quests we’ve been directly issued before taking on any further new jobs. Machine Examination we just progressed another tick. That needs to cool down. Half-Wit Inventor isn’t going anywhere. It’s one of the few quests that isn’t effected by the next plot mission or even completing the game. It and Father Servo’s questlines are some of the few persistent quests. Finally, Wandering Couple requires venturing to the new zone. So that can wait as well.

Which leaves us with being nice to 6O. I think can afford to do that real quick...



The Desert Rose, amazingly enough, grows out in the Desert Zone. Specifically, there is one just outside of the oil oasis overlooked by the YoRHa junkies.


Music: Memories of Dust (Quiet)



We’ll just skip on over there and see what’s up. Apparently this quest can be a little bit buggy. It seems the Desert Rose for the quest spawns as soon as we get that communicator message from 6O after speaking to Pascal about A2. But the actual quest itself doesn’t trigger until 2B reads her email from 6O and has the discussion with Pod 042 about the gift. So it’s possible to go retrieve the Desert Rose but it not counting as a quest item (it’s technically somewhat valuable vendor trash.) This then makes it necessary to go seek out another Desert Rose from an unmarked material gather spot and it’s iffy if the game will count that.



This is why you should take a quest and then go complete it as far as possible before grabbing another one if you’re uncertain if conflicts will arise. The Desert Rose is found by a rock outcropping just northeast of the oasis Access Point. There are a few machines lingering about. But they’re just random spawns (that are still single digit levels) and are barely worth mentioning.

Let’s grab that flower and...



Affirmative. *camera click*
......
Image data transfer complete.

6O takes all of five seconds to call up 2B...


New Music: Vague Hope (Instrumental)



2B here. Go ahead.
Thank you so much for the picture! So this is a desert rose, huh? It seems almost... mystical. There must just be a bounty of nature down there, huh?
Some, yes. I’ve seen lilies, cherry blossoms, daffodils, and even lunar tears. I’ll try to send more if I can.
Oh, 2B... I’m going to treasure this forever! Oh, and I’m going to send you a proper thank-you mail later, so keep an eye out for it. Bye!



By “later” Operator 6O meant .05 seconds later she slammed everything of remote value she had into an email attachment file and digitally rocketed that shit so hard into 2B’s inbox it left a cyber crater that obliterated no less than three old IT notifications.



Well there is a terminal within walking distance and this quest isn’t over until we gain our rewards. Let’s see what 6O left us...





Some semi-rare materials, 5000 G, a new Pod Program AND a new weapon. I dunno. I think 6O liked our present. May as well check out our counter gifts. Let’s take a look at that sword first.



The Type-4O sword doesn’t pack quite as much of a punch as other YoRHa issue weapons we’ve gotten. Its advantage comes with upgrades, which all increase its Stun capabilities. Stunned enemies can be hit with those flashy special anime ass attacks by tapping the interact button while they’re downed. That gets significantly less useful as the game progresses as machines adapt to just be absurdly resistant to stunning. So ehh...

At maximum level, the Type-4O Sword gains Energy Charge. This gives it an electricity elemental effect. It only charges up its energy when not used for a couple seconds. More of a novelty than useful. That time charging up electricity is time you could be stabbing machines several times.


I don’t think we have enough information to make heads or tails of what that one is talking about. Definitely wouldn’t stick that one on a black journal page and make it a rare random loading screen if this were another game in this series. No sir...



Our second major reward for this brief quest is a new Pod Program. A130: Bomb. This one ain’t fancy. But it sure gets the job done.



The Bomb Pod Program, as the name suggests, just fucking carpet bombs and area with explosives. This thing tears up clustered groups of enemies and giant dudes. It’s probably one of the more potent damage dealing Pod Programs in the game. A charged Bomb attack with both Pods is enough to just about completely melt a Goliath Biped on its own. Bomb, Laser, and Mirage were my bread and butter as far as Pod Programs went for most all the game. I doubt that will change much for this LP’s playthrough.



In any case, that concludes our time sparring and being nice to coworkers. Now get a fuckin’ move on, 9S. We’ve got all of these sidequests to do and you’re dawdling around like a limp dick. Sheesh...






Video: Episode 42 Highlight Reel





Pod Official Art – Petting not depicted but appreciated.