Parasite Eve 2 Part #18 - Episode 18: TFR

Part 18: Episode 18: TFR

Last time, we explored the G & R Saloon in an attempt to find a way to retrieve a key from behind a metal grate. Ignoring the fact that we have guns that could shoot a hole in the grate, and a police baton that could easily pry it open. No, we really needed to get that fridge magnet. Trust me.

We're going to take the long way around to get back, because there's new Hot Zones. In addition to cropping up after plot scenes, Hot Zones can also appear after you acquire a key item, or use a key item. Basically, just check your map a lot.

Anyway, let's just...

GAH FUCK

Oh, Christ, scorpions too? Well, only one way to deal with this.

: TASTE MY LIGHTING, FUCKERS!

: TREMBLE BEFORE ME, YOU SHITS!

Ahem. Moving right along...

I decided to head upstairs to call HQ, since our boss has something new to say now that we've met Kyle "horses are like cougars, right?" Madigan.

Really? They crawled all the way up those stairs on their stubby little mutant legs?

Why? What could possibly be up here that would interest scorpions? They can't be looking for a place to sleep, because the damn things live under the sand! I've seen 'em!

Whatever, just shoot 'em.

Yup, that's what I said, apparently.

: Could be an alias... I'll have someone run a search.

Yeah, I'm pretty interested in that obvious plot device, too.

: And find out anything you can about that shelter.

: Yeah, no kidding. Hey, listen boss...

: What's up, Brea?

: There's kind of a lot of NMCs out here. Like dozens, easily. And not just those ones from Akropolis that think they're people. I mean like fucking demonic horses and exploding babies!

: Sounds like a hell of a thing, Brea.

: Yeeeah. So, I was just kinda wondering as I listen to a swarm of three feet long scorpions claw at my door...any chance of you sending out a little backup? Or, I dunno, A LOT of backup?

: Pffft, pahahahahaha! No, absolutely not.

: Great, good talk.

And so, we carry on.

As a side note, it turns out these pillars absolutely confound Chasers and baffle their horrible mutant minds. I managed to get this one stuck in a loop of constantly charging into this particular pillar, falling over, then getting up and smashing into it again.

Good times.

Eventually, we find ourselves back at Mr. Douglas's rear entrance. Er...to his garage, I mean.

And there's that grate. Y'know, looking at it, Aya could probably tear that thing off, or at least mostly off, with her bare hands. She's got super powers, so she's probably got crazy super strength. Even Spider-man has super strength, and he can only do whatever a spider can!

Nope, gotta use that cool, refreshing novelty item.

Basically, using the magnet makes the key become attracted, but not completely attached, to your cursor. You just need to drag it up to the opening in the corner, but not too quickly or you'll drop it.

Easy as pie

Wait, "Factory"?

This is clearly a garage! A garage we've been to before! You dirty, lyin' key

Remember this car? Well, it turns out I missed something in it!

Using the control panel from a few updates ago, you can position it like so and actually open the truck.

Inside, we find 10 of these. R.Slugs are the strongest type of shotgun shells in the game, and can tear through even the toughest late game enemy with ease. We don't have a shotgun at the moment, nor any foes worth using them on, but it's always nice to stock up on heavy firepower while you can.

Thanks to Seiren* for telling me about this little cache!

*Edit: Actually, it was Kieyen who first mentioned it. Thanks, buddy!

You'll have to put the car back in its sideways position to reach the next room, just like before. But no big deal, and now we can finally go out that door in the back!

After I go apeshit on some Mind Sucklers, of course.

: I can't believe it still runs.

Now that we've insulted Doug's truck, let's go see him.

Outside we find some wrecked cars and some other sh

DOGGIE!!!

lookit dat fukkin dog

wanna pet dat dog

No, Aya, fuck the car. IT IS DOG TIME NOW!

Why hasn't it been towed away?

: It's junked.

Whatever, gonna pet dat dog

Oh.

Okay.

Douglas' Trailer Theme

: It's like an angel farted happiness into my eye sockets...

: Who woulda guessed?

: Always thought it'd be Commies, myself. Maybe space aliens. Hell, that dumb kid down the road kept sayin' shit 'bout zombies! Woulda expected that before...Well, it's jus' hard to prepare fer explodin' infants, y'know?

: Okay, Aya, I don't know how...

: He rang up out of nowhere.

: Goofy soundin' guy? Makes lots of bad jokes and has to pause to laugh at 'em every few sentences?

: Yep. And I think he may have also tried to sell me marijuana...

: I'll let you exchange BP for guns. He'll pay me back later, he says.

So we finally have access to a store again! But let's do a little window shopping first.

By the way, Douglas' dog, Flint, follows us around while we're in the trailer

: Nah, I don't really care. A friend of mine made magic bullets out of my mutated cells a few years back, and I'm pretty sure that counts as chemical warfare. This ain't nothin'.

Remember back when Squaresoft had a sense of humor? In the before times, the long long ago?

: And my hobby. I actually have all these guns schematics printed on my bed sheets. ...I don't get out much.

: This must be for gun maintenance.

Okay, that's enough dawdling. All these BPs are burning a hole in my pocket.

We actually need to ask about the Shelter to progress the plot, but haha fuck that!

Our new best friend Doug has quite a few new items for us! Sadly, pretty much nothing on his display wall is actually for sale

We have this spiffy antique. I've never actually used it, so I don't really know what to say about it other than it's dirt cheap, costing a measly 680 BPs, making it, I believe, the cheapest gun in the game. Based on that price tag, I decided to give it a whirl and picked it up.

I'm fairly sure I can afford it, no problem, and hopefully this decision won't bite me in the ass later!

This is the first attachment for our tactical as fuck M4A1. It does exactly what it says on the box, bumping the rifle's max capacity up to 60 rounds. Sounds nice, but you can only have one attachment equipped at a time, and literally every other rifle attachment is better or at least more entertaining. Plus, it cost fucking 1800 BPs! Yeah, skip it.

The M9, on the other hand, totally rules. For only 980 BPs, you give your bad-ass rifle a melee attack that costs zero ammo and deals nice damage. You can carve up a fallen Chaser in 2 to 3 hits with this bad boy. As an added bonus, it kinda looks like one of Rambo's knives, and the NMCs did draw first blood, after all.

I grab this little fella on all my playthroughs, and this is no exception.

Hey, I remember you! For only 1680 BPs, which is less than that shitty Clip Holder, we can get back our neat little single shot 'nade launcher from the Akropolis fiasco. Still, it is single shot, meaning we need to reload after every blast, which makes it really inconvenient, despite the extra damage. Plus, 1680 is a bit steep for my tastes. I opt to skip it.

And honestly, I can blow shit up WITH MY FUCKING MIND. No major loss.

In addition to all the standard ammo types and regular grenades, Douglas sells these babies. Now, the Flash effect stuns foes, and can even knock them flat. But the Grenade Pistol makes them kind of annoying to use, and we can already accomplish the same result with Plasma or those Flares we've been finding everywhere.

If you get the Grenade Pistol, you can make an argument for them, but I didn't, so fuck 'em.

Finally, there's this new armor. It's basically a complete upgrade in every department over our denim jacket, and has the wonderful ability of HP Recovery, which gives us back a small amount of health after every battle just like we normally only get for MP. Unfortunately, it's a bit out of my price range, at 2980 BPs (I was at 2766 when I entered the trailer, by the way), so it will have to wait.

It is a very solid early game armor, and you can't really go wrong by grabbing it when you can.

After we buy our murder-tools, we find that attaching an accessory to our M4A1 is quite easy. Just select the M9 from our inventory, pick "Use" and...