Part 8: Zone 2 - The Library

Hello! Welcome back to Let's Play OFF! Today we're moving on to zone 2!



Music - Silencio

Before we enter, however, let's do a quick review of our party's current status at the end of zone 1.



The Batter is currently level 6! His Competence skills are currently:

Wide Angle - Analyses the enemies' characteristics.

Save First Base - Restores some HP.

Furious Homerun - Special attack of low impact.

Run with Courage - Special attack of the element Metal.



The Alpha add-on is currently level 6 as well. His skills are:

Saturated Chain - Special attack of low impact.

Awaited Embrace - Special attack inflicting poison.



With that taken care of, let's head in!



Music - Desperately Safe

I really love the music here. Something about it just pulls at every lonely feeling you've ever had.







Welcome to zone 2! Let's take a look at that little sign there.



Oh! We're in Bismark! Let's head to the library then, since we've already seen the lower part.





Hm. Well, let's just pop inside for now. We can worry about wall arrows later.



Music - The Walls Are Listening

: You shouldn't lend any more books to that man. He tears out the pages. It's almost dangerous.

: Yes.

: I'm going back upstairs.

I'm not sure how the dialogue is actually split between these two Elsen. This is my best guess.



He heads upstairs, leaving the guy behind the counter free to talk to us.



: Uh... I should point out that the upper floors are inaccessible because of the spectres.

: There are specters in this building?

: Uhh... Y.. Yes... ... Why do you ask?

: I will eliminate them.

: El... eliminate the spectres? But... uh... uh... You know, uh, you... you could get hurt... and uh... there's nothing for you up there. Just walls, shelves, stairs, and an old cat.

: A cat? I'll go up and purify the upper floors.

: Ah... Um... good... ... Okay. Don't be too loud, then. And the fourth floor is not really accessible... People have torn pages out of the books. So I don't want to go up there. It could be dangerous.

Well, I don't really see how that sounds dangerous but, whatever, you're the head library guy.



I didn't... Hm. The Elsen in zone 2 seem really frightened of everything.





On the second floor of the library there are a lot of bookshelves, though only 8 are highlighted. If we try to look at one of the unhighlighted shelves the Batter will let us know there's nothing to see:

: These shelves are fake. There's a visible socle under the real ones.

Well, let's take a peek around then.





The books on the second floor are mostly here for flavor and a teensy smidge of world building. The untitled book has some diagrams of flowers.





This one is a bit strange. Not much of a story.



Here's what I think is the explanation for why we can only view one page per book. This poor guy gets upset just from the sound of pages turning.





This looks like a creation myth of Bismark. It's kind of hard to tell.





This is really hard to make out but it looks to be a weird fable about the Queen.





This doesn't really explain anything.







~A Momentary Diversion~



The clip of the play Ragny found is an adaptation of something written by Erik Satie ("Written by E.S."). Does anyone know the context or why this snippet was chosen? Just to be weird?
~End of Diversion~





: It seems that no matter how much I try, the book stays upside down...

The arrow that represents south matches the arrow we saw outside the southern entrance to the library. We can probably assume we'll see the other arrows later.





"I have run out of oxygen"



Well, those are all the real books on this floor. Let's move up to the third and see about those spectres then.





This floor is shaped like a capitol I, with a useable bookshelf in each of the four rooms. The exit to the north is blocked off.





These must be the books with the missing pages the librarian was frightened of.



Oh ho you sneaky little chest, I see you up there.

Anyway! There are four books here that are missing pages. Each one has a card suit printed on it.



Around this floor there are 3 posters on the walls. When we examine them -



- we find that they're the missing pages. It's a simple matter of matching up the card suits to the books. I drew a little diagram of the library to mark which book has each suit.



Oh right! The librarian said there were phantoms here!



The upside-down spectres are pretty adorable actually. They're the only type of enemy on this floor and attack pretty frequently.



The one thing they do that sucks is they can mute us, disabling all of our Competence attacks. Annoying.



Okay, anyway, books. Here are the three books we can repair with the pages posted on the walls:







They all tell the same story of the Three Guardians, though it's hard to get the full picture.

However, this is only three books! The fourth book, the heart-suited book, has no page here. Luckily I know exactly where to find it.



Before we head downstairs again, there's one last sneaky chest here, with an equipment upgrade for Alpha.



Yessss super rad. Okay, downstairs we go.



We haven't gone through these side doors yet, so let's go to the left now.



It sure is, buddy! Biggest library I've ever seen, especially considering I've only found 12 actual books and they were all full of garbage!





Music - Desperately Safe

I - oh! So here's the secret of Bismark. Every screen with an entrance to the library is identical, save for the arrow, which indicates which side of the library we're on! Going up or left takes us to a different side of the library, while going down takes us to a different section of Bismark. This arrow points left, indicating we're on the western side of the library.



Going out the bottom of the previous screen takes us out here, in West Bismark.



: I know how to stop being scared. I am not afraid. Do you want to know how? Come a little closer and I'll tell you... if you're not afraid.



The dialogue actually ends and we need to talk to him a second time to continue it.

: This page has enlightened me. I'm not afraid now. Do you want to be free from fear? Give me 100 credits and I'll give you the page.



Jerk extortionist Elsen.

: Here, I'll give you the page.

Well I guess 100 credits isn't that much, and we've got the final page for the library now! Before we head back, let's check out that sign.



Park?





: Maybe it's better that way...

No! What?? There's a park!? I want to go to the park!!

FFFFFFFF. Okay. Okay. We'll come back later. Park. Back to the library for now.



Music - The Walls Are Listening

Let's get back upstairs and definitely not think about the park.



Putting the final page in the final book triggers a chime and causes the batter to say this. Here's the final completed book:





Oh come on! Fiiiine. Let's go talk to the librarian again.



: Ah... ha! That... That's very good. I... I'll let you up then. That... That's great.

: The fourth floor's now accessible... for you and you only...



Blah blah blah yeah thanks.



(Do you guys think the park has rides? Maybe it's one of those kinds of parks with rides!!)



(Oh man maybe they have like snacks and sodas and stuff oh man)



As soon as we enter the fourth floor, we're approached by a cat. But... this isn't the cat we were expecting.



: What is that in your hand?

: You're not the Judge.

: The... the Judge?... No. No, I am not. My name is Japhet. I am the creator of this city. I am also the one leading the phantoms, the royal instruments of my vegence.

: You're the chief of the specters?

: Specifically, they are my arms, sent to me by the Queen to restore justice to this zone. You must have been very determined to have set foot onto the stairs of this library. I recognize in you a certain courage, an exceptional trait for a fear-riddled place such as this.

: However, my revenge will not leave anyone unpunished. Thus, you shall be the first to succumb to the blasts of my ectoplasmic army!

Music - Pepar Steak



Woah, we have to beat up a kitty cat? It also feels pretty early to be fighting the second guardian.



: I will finally get a taste of justice!

WOAH, WAIT, NO, DID YOU JUST MAKE FUN OF OUR AWESOME BATTER CLOTHES?



NO NUH-UH I AM GOING TO STONE COLD MURDER A CAT



We just start laying into him at this point. The Batter slams him repeatedly with Furious Homerun and Alpha with Saturated Chain. I'm just trying to put as much damage into him as fast as possible.



His only attack is Alto, which does between 30 - 60 damage per hit. After a few rounds of laying the hurt on his dumb cat face, he starts yelling at us again.



: I must confess that I may have underestimated you. Unfortunately for you, I would discard all manners as a gentleman when neccessary. Especially for a new enemy.

: Spectres, come to me! Dance together and echo the song of the righteous! The torment of men heals my wounds... Your body will feed the intangible spirits for eternity...



(Nothing happens.)

: Phantoms, come to me! I command you!

: Curses! By what magic, baleful human, do you manage to prevent my ectoplasmic acolytes from joining me? No matter! You will taste my wrath!





Holy shit OUCH. This is the hardest hit we've ever taken! Fuck this guy right in his face! We continue to beat the living shit out of him, and after about 400 more damage he goes down.



Music - The Walls Are Listening



: Poor fool! It is not yet time for me to reveal my true nature! Still, know that you will gain nothing by waiting, obnoxious buffoon.



Japhet heads back upstairs, sealing the entrance behind him. But what's this he dropped?



A new friend! This is our second party member, Omega!



He's of the Son class, and starts at level 6. His current skills are:

Inverse Perspective - Cures Blindness and Muteness.

Optimised Blur - Attack of random impact.

Finally, someone (something?) that can clear status effects!

With our new party member aquired, I think it's time to call it an update! Apologies if this update ran a little long. I wanted to cover the first section of the library all at once.


Next time we'll be exploring some more of Bismark and heading to the Commerical District! Please join us then.