Part 19: The Beginning of the Cliche

Chapter 16 - The Beginning of the Cliche

When last we left off, Sara had delivered the Plot Backhand to Shonen to knock him away, and then made everything all wavy and pulsing with the power of the Abyss. It faded to black after that event, and now we are brought back to here...


I think it's funny here that Paul is resting in the bed like he did something besides leech levelups from my super-powered party and . . .

So, where were we again? Oh, right. Being lazy and in Johannes' house. I know why they came back to the house and not because of the magic, more because Johannes was the one to tip off the location of Abyss gates and well, they wanted to see if it was all over.


Johannes: That means there is one more gate left.
Katrina: Where?!
Johannes: In the east, far east beyond the wasteland


Could it be?! But, I don't have any graphics packs installed!


Johannes: You wouldn't say you are going into Abyss to help Sara?
Katrina: Farewell.

With that, we exit the room. I go to pick up the strongest wind magic spell, and will add further information about those spells at the end of this update. In either case, now is a perfect time to tie up a few minor loose ends...


Such as any blacksmithing you need done. Once you've got most/all of the projects done, the shop will look like this.


I just like how they got too lazy to make any more unique sprites and whatnot. It's my dream that the Pidona blacksmith shop is run by a bunch of clones of fat men and skinny guys, with ONE woman.


Jesus Christ, not those guys!


Katrina: I'm tired of you and your funny hat, mister.
Bartender: That's it! Player is removed from the game! Get the hell out of the party.
Paul: I'm not even sure why I'm here. I need to go back to wandering aimlessly around in Nina's house. I mean, doesn't that imply things?
Katrina: Sir, you are disqualified.


So uh, let's get going to here. That's a good idea, right? Yes it is.


The goal of this is to run to the right as much as you can. The desert area loops pretty much for a screen or two or maybe even more. I don't really remember off of the top of my head but it eventually switches.


Behold, the dry river! This place has a bunch of 'alternate' routes that gets you in the same place overall, so there's not much to note about it.


One thing I will note here though is that this is the point of no return. Until you complete the quests in the Eastern area, you will not be able to return to the overworld and you cannot swim back up waterfalls.


This is the next stop! One thing that I will note is that here there is another exit, but you work on going down to the bottom right and you'll end up here.


This is the Eastern Plains section. Now, let's go back to the left into the Wasteland. From here, work your way up and then eventually to the right...


Go up this place and you'll find this nice little area with calming music.


These are the Crystal Ruins! This is an optional area that you don't have to complete but it does have some decent loot. I don't go through it just yet, but make a note of its location as you can come back anytime you are around the plains here.

Head back out to the plains and go one screen up. Hug the right side until you find a spot where you can then exit to the right, and you'll find this place here...


This is the Mung Village. It's... well, I guess it's something Chinese? I don't know anymore, but man it sure is kind of funny that a Japanese company would make the final place of evil in a land resembling China. In either case, the townspeople have very meaningful and interesting things to say.


Man: We can't communicate, and there are debates on whether we can coexist.

Debates...? How do podunk villagers debate?


Here's where I make a joke about 'Mongorians'. Aren't I clever?


Brat. This kid is a big brat.


Not picture here is this girl going 'You are...' and then 'Teacher!' I swear I hate timed quotes in this game.






It's tuhwoooooo! It's tuhwooooo!

Bai Meiling: I can see from your language. Why did you come here?

Insert Super Mario RPG storytelling sequence that I only bothered to capture two images of. Here they are.




Katrina: We must locate the Abyss gate. Can you give us some clues?
Bai Meiling: It was Colonel Mustard, in your fucking house, with the lead pipe. Actually...
Bai Meiling: That knowledge is lost.... but first I need your help.
Katrina: What should I do?
Bai Meiling: What... I just want to check out something west of here. I have to use some special magic here. ( ) Don't worry, you will be fine. Please do your best in this investigation.
Bai Meiling: While you are at it, please also go to the place where the Neft Tribe is. For details, talk to that girl who had almost crossed the desert. She will be helpful.




Zhu Lin: I'm not a child anymore.

Zhu Lin is a good bow user and has the best raw dexterity, but she's slow as all hell. This makes her not as good in Kung Fu even though that's her other speciality. In either case, she tells you where to go to reach the Neft Tribe. You just run down south and you'll get to this cave.


Those guys walking around are the Zelnams. They're fucking shit up in here but they are pretty easy for the most part.


They're mostly fixed encounters with one or two random monster accompanying them, like shown here.


The objective of this place is to wander around and kill two stationary Zelnams, but you can also find the Nefts around here too, if you wander a bit.


These are the Nefts, the insects here that spout about needing new netward interface cards. Hur hur, it is a joke.


This is what the chief says if you don't kill the Zelnams. Also, you are communicating with them through the power of the Psycho helmet that Bai Meiling gave you. Ain't it cool?


Murderin' time for you, I can't think of any better one-liners.


Emoticons because I haven't pissed off people who get whiny about smilies just yet.

With that done, we head back to the Neft Chief! Let's see what he has to say now that we've murdered some assholes in his lawn/cave.


Neft Chief: For the peace of the prairie let's fight the Abyssians. So you guys come here from the west?


Neft Chief: Since then, no human came from the west. Your arrival is probably a sign indicating that something will happen. The Abyssians come from the north of the prairie. Something is there.

There's a clue as to where we may go next, but for now let's go back to Bai Meiling.


Bai Meiling: So this investigation is about to end. I should also return to Xuan city and talk to General Yan.


Bai Meiling: You may learn about the Abyss Gate in Xuan city.

Now that all of that shit's done, I'll go over the grandiose power of Wind Magic. (Read, damage is not as good as Super Gravity, ever.)

Wind Dart - Basic Wind magic attack, gets stronger as your levels in wind magic rise. It's one of the strongest basic skills, but that doesn't make it impressive.

Nap - Decent status attack, chance to put all enemies to sleep, and it is also used quite frequently on you by enemies.

Dancing Leaf - Another one of those weird shield spells that I have never used.

Suction - Decent drain skill, hurts enemies to heal you, pretty much making the character a 'selfish' kind of healer. Good if you don't want to heal someone with another character and focus more on damage.

Sewn Bind - Attacks an enemy and does decent damage with a chance to stun the target as well.

Tornado - Decent damage to all enemies, don't think it has any special effects.

Dragon God - An interesting spell that can be the best but sometimes the worst in some cases. It gives you infinite HP, TP, and MP. However, each hit you take you will lose 1 LP, and you will also lose 1 LP a round. Useful only for extreme emergencies or abusing the Devil King's Axe and other equipment.

There you have it, folks. One more plot update before the optional areas and then we are on to the Endgame!