The Let's Play Archive

Octopath Traveller

by Mega64

Part 17: Side Story: Her Time to Shine



Music: Sunshade, City of Pleasures



We've got another Side Story available to us now, so let's check it out!



Dancing is nothing but a sorrow... Maybe it's time I hang up my dance shoes...







As I mentioned in the past, some Side Stories have two different ways to complete them, and this happens to be one of them! For this and other such quests, I'll show off both methods.

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METHOD ONE



The last time that I performed on stage, I danced in this very dress: my infamous star dress. It was the greatest performance of my life. I was left with no regrets.



The first method to solve the quest involves this NPC.





Namely, we need to buy (or steal) her signature dress.



Then we offer it to the blue dancer.



What is this? This dress... It's beautiful!

Music: Enveloped in Kindness



It looks just like the dress worn by a great dancer I used to look up to ever so much. How nostalgic to think of it now... When I first came here to this tavern, I practiced so desperately to try to dance as she did.



I've been dancing so many years now, but I wonder if I ever got close to her level at all.



Hehe... I suppose it is time for my last cue.



Doing this, we remind the Blue Dancer of happier times, of what drove her to embrace dancing, and give her something special so that she'll remember her last dance.



In case you're curious, the rewards are always the same regardless of how you solve a quest.



I was able to dance my last dance in that dress... It is a memory I will treasure all my life.



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METHOD TWO

Music: Sunshade, City of Pleasures



I'll never be well enough to stay out for long, though. That's what I heard the doctor say...



The second method involves this sickly girl.



See, capitalism does benefit the sick and dying!



But all she speaks of is the "blue dancing girl" that she saw the last time she went to the town fete. Perchance if I could find that "blue dancing girl" and have her dance for my daughter once more...



The reason this girl is relevant is because the Blue Dancer is one of the few things that has brought joy in an otherwise bleak life for the poor kid.



So we'll want to bring her to the sick child.



And after a bit of convincing...





...we do just that.



Mother! It's her! It's the blue dancing girl I saw in the town! She was the best of all the girls who were dancing!



But I'm not the best we have. We have a dancer who's better than all the rest...



My daughter is not a healthy child, but she admired your dancing so... If you wouldn't mind, could I perhaps ask you to dance once more for her? I think it would give her a reason to keep trying to get better.
If you think my dances worthy... Then nothing would please me more.



But I never stopped believing in myself. Not in a future when I would be well enough to dance.





This approach up-ends the Blue Dancer's quest a bit, putting priority on the sick child and trying to help her instead. It's a nice little twist.



Either way, the quest is resolved, and we can catch up with these characters again.



I owe that dancing girl so much...



I will surely get better. And when I grow up healthy and strong, I will mount that stage for myself!

The girl now has a new determination to be strong and live so that she can achieve the dreams inspired by her hero.

And speaking of that hero...



I was trying to bring that girl some courage, but I feel like I was the one who gained the most from our meeting.



It seems our Blue Dancer friend has also found new inspiration to live the life she always wanted.

It's amazing how different the two paths are just from the simple path actions we choose to do. The rewards are always the same, but the stories go in wildly different directions. Just making our small mark in the world.

Either way we take, though, that star dancer from before ends up with this dialogue:



But even if you stumble upon that stage, you must climb to your feet again and continue dancing.



Words to live by.