Part 2

We'll begin this episode with a few short tutorial missions before we attempt the qualification screening.




There are two other available tutorial missions, and one is in a new area.



"skills are your best option. Remember your lesson on ranges, and watch your targeting reticle."

Watch Close-Proximity Battles


Let's listen to: March 9th, 1991 (Panorama)


I found some images of Phantom Dust in beta.




I'm so glad they changed the visual style and HUD.



There's no new dialogue until we complete the qualification screening.



Watch Counter Attack





One more tutorial mission is now available. Trust me, this is the last one we'll do before the qualification screening.



Watch Fire of Gehenna


We ended that last mission with a defense skill that redirects attacks, rather than outright blocking them.



Now we'll do the qualification screening.

Watch Qualification Screening




Tetsuya will sometimes have not-so-subtle hints like this to go find someone else to give us a mission.



"Basically, a mission is provided to pairs because it's extremely dangerous to go to the surface alone. First, help out Chunky with his mission. Chunky is on the Main Floor ... it's located between Headquarters, where Leader is, and here, the Battle Terminal. He's wandering about in that area."

There's new dialogue with pretty much everybody.




Remember that nobody can be out on the surface for long, or else they lose what little memory they already have.



"Getting joyous over something like that, I can see what's going to happen."

We do have credentials now, which means we can go use the memory box terminal.



"Change the setting and try it out."

"[T]his machine" refers to the memory box terminal, which is in the HQ, not the Main Floor, so I wonder if they intended Ai to be in the HQ at some point and the dialogue was never changed. Or this could be a translation error.



"I'm just a security guard, so I don't have those privileges. I'm a bit envious."

Ok, let's go touch his machine.



"like Option. What the heck is that?"

You can probably tell that the memory box terminal can change the settings of the game. You can also do it at the main menu, so you don't need to wait until this point in the game to invert the y axis on the right stick, or what have you.



"It describes our search for the truth and our quest to reach the Ruins."

The ruins.. what could they mean?




"The memory box you find on the surface--use that machine there to unlock its content. It appears to do other things--you might want to try it out sometime."



Let's do that.



Let's listen to: Memories (Box of Memories)

This song is based on Trois Nocturnes No. 1. Op.9 by Chopin.

Play Data gives various statistics.



Mission results lets us go through one by one the results of each mission.



You can see that we've received more than one memory box per mission. Most of them just give gameplay hints or explain stuff about skills, but I'll make an effort to show you the more interesting ones.



Let's listen to: Your Choice (Option)


Music Manager let's us replace any of the songs that play during battles with custom music.



I don't know.





"This is a bar--info comes and goes. We hear a lot about you and Edgar. Both of you show promise, we hear. Best of luck to you both."

It can be safely assumed that the scouts we don't see around the underground are out on missions. For example, both Edgar and Tsubutaki are nowhere to be found.



"Supplies must be sent to the residential areas below--that's when the doors are opened. Only I'm allowed to do so. That's the rules."

And you'd be out of your mind to question rules!



"We're rooting for you. Mikan is cheering for you, too!"

Now we'll go see Chunky.





Watch Patrol Cooperation




"He's in the bar drinking again. To get to the bar, take the hall next to Headquarters. You can't miss it--bright neon lights."

Before we do, there is a little bit of new dialogue with a couple of characters.



"What has made the surface uninhabitable? That's the mystery we must solve."



Now onto the mission.





Watch Defeat One by One





"Cuff Button? He's in the Battle Terminal."





"searching for her. Find her soon, or she'll lose her memory."



Watch Rescue a Scout





"But I can't recall exactly what I did ..."

This repentance subplot is Tsubutaki's only purpose.




"With your abilities, you qualify to take the proficiency exam. Talk to Tetsuya to start the test."

Let's check out one of the memory boxes we just received.



It appears that I was wrong, and you can resuscitate your partner in battle, though another memory box says that it can't be done in all circumstances. I've never done it before, so we'll see if it was actually implemented in gameplay. Now we'll attempt the exam.




Important
Watch Qualification Exam


Let's listen to: Strange Apparitions (Boss 1)


That's the end of chapter one.