Part 8: Talkageddon

Talkageddon

After clearing the forest, Factoria Castle is straight ahead of us.

Let's see what all the fuss with the Ninjas is about.


Curse their mastery of rain and wetness!

"Ryle Dono! Let's retreat for now!!"

"Why now!?"

"This rain is the alert to other White Shinobis in the castle! The reinforcement will be here soon!"

"...Damn it!!"

"Ryle Dono! Hurry up!!"



"After layers of walls, there are countless guards and Shinobis...Basically it's impenetrable."

"Any ideas? Is there a way to get around all these guards..."

Haha, I bet there is!

"!? Something's approaching us!!"

"I finally found you..."



"That voice sounds familiar...!"


Ah, no worries! It's just ghost Latyss...Wait, "ghost" Latyss??

"!! Latyss"

"It's been a while."

"What happened to you? Your appearance...?"

And here we learn that the forest was a time anomaly, and that Ryle has been away for a thousand years...

"I made contact with the Elementals. After transforming into this body, I can fly and find you easily."

I liked my idea more.

"I...I see. By the way, what made you to come here?"

"The royal army attacked Lavas."

Say what!?

"W-What did you say!?"

"Everyone's fine...Thanks to Brad's leadership, we managed to fight back..somehow."

Damn, that doesn't sound good. Could this be another consequence of Ryle's heroism?

"But why the capital would attack us?"

"They accused us of challenging the royal authority by solving the case at Southern Cray by ourselves..."

"What? That's nonsense!!"

"We can talk more about it later...First let's go back to Lavas..."

"...I got it! Oh, Hayami, let me introduce her. She's Latyss, from my village."

"Sessha am White Class Kuno Ichi. Name is Hayami Raienji."

"Latyss Grynwind. Nice to meet you."

"Ok, let's go back to Lavas!"


Latyss joins us in her new form, but she's no different from before. I take the trip back as an opportunity to encounter the rest of the enemies around.


These can be encountered in the forest and are kind of dicks. They have a large amount of Hp and can paralyze your members. The status effect also seems to last for quite a while.


Oaks are encountered on the overworld. They have nothing special to them, aside from being able to buff their attack for the next round.

When you reach the village, Latyss leaves to change her form and you get roped into the next scene...



"....."

"Please don't be too hard on Ryle Dono...Sessha am also being responsable."

"I am ok, Hayami. But Shisho, something bad is going on in this kingdom. How come solving the incident made the capital so hostile towards us?"

"I don't have a clue...We captured one of the soldiers during the fight, but he didn't know any....He said that the incident down at Southern Cray was part of their experiment and we just happened to ruin it for good."

"They can't be doing this! It took so many lives! And they call it an "experiment"? They have gone too FAR this time!!"

"This is bad...We gonna fight against the whole army which we don't stand a chance."

"Will they attack us again?"

"We already ruined the experiment which seemed to be very important to the royal family. So I guess..."

Everyone makes a big fuss, but let's look at the facts here. The Royal army failed to capture a tiny village that was defended by three young girls and one fighter dude. Doesn't sound too serious to me!

"If things get worse, we might have to face the White Shinobis."

Okay, I forgot about those.

"Shisho...why don't we leave here temporarely?"

"Leaving HERE?!"

"Where can we hide?"

"Lailai and Southern Cray are very unlikely the best place to hide. Do you have a plan?"

"Sessha got an idea...There's a town called Volcana west from here and it's on an isolated island so it's hard to reach."

"I agree with her. The island is located in the inner sea surrounded by mountains. It's the best place for hide out."

"Sessha have a private hiding place there, so it'll be much safer than any other places."

How convenient! Let me tell you something here: this game follows the school of bad game design.

In a nutshell, this means that the story will throw obstacles at the player that it will then solve without any input or help from said player. Which makes those obstacles entirely meaningless to begin with. And there are example in the future that are so much more worse than this one! To put this into perspective, did you play imaginary battles with your friends when you were small? Then I'm sure you had that one friend who always had a super laser armor that could block all your shots, and then would upgrade it to super-duper laser armor when you came up with a better weapon. Yeah, a lot of times the game will work like this. The only difference is that it's usually in favor of the player.

"We have no other choices! I'm fine with that."

"She's right...Remaining here is dangerous anyway."

"Fine with me as long as my mother and Preshes are safe."

"You said the town is located on an isolated island, so how do we get there?"

"You don't have to worry about that. We can use Hayami's boat..."

"But that belongs to Ryle Dono..."

"We had the agreement, forgot? After you help me to travel to west, you can have it as a present?"

"What a lavish show off!? I don't remember I ever received a present like THAT on my birthday" *frown*

"ME too..."

Nothing gets a girl riled up as a good log-boat does...

"I don't really care though..."



After this, the game instructs you to go over to Ryle's house and introduces a new mechanic. Also, I like how nobody mentioned that Ryle ran away on his own again, with the intent to not return for months or years?






I have no idea why the game makes such a big deal out of this, as the following choice is entirely meaningless. It influences nothing, and this update will have two more choices. And only the last will have any real impact.


This is the party select screen. You can choose any girl, but are usually limited by how many the game allows to be in your party at that point. The girls will have a bunch of lines that are related to their attraction level. For instance, Latyss isn't to happy about going with us, while Caris would be really happy about it. It's some nice flavor and you won't see all the lines in one playthrough. Also, if you flex your eyes you can see Hayami's boobs bouncing around in this screen. Again, only her sprite does this.

I take this opportunity to choose Latyss and Orubia. They both can use a few levels, so I fight some battles with them before going back to the island.



"Wow!"

Time for more talking, yaaay!


"If we could sneak in from air, and divide into search team and diversion team..."

"Even if you do that, we can't fight against the ninja troop. Each ninja equals 50 menpower."

"50 menpower? How do you know that?"

"Hayami and I both fought against one of them and ended in a draw match."

This isn't what happened at all, but do go on...

"!! You fought them before?"

"That's right. These ninjas are controlled by the Monster Cell on their shoulders..."

"That means, you have freed one of them?"

"Correct, and now he's on a seperate mission to save others."

"How many of these "Ninja" people are in Factoria Castle..?"

"In order to know that, we have to sneak into the castle, obviously not a simple task I say."



"Not only that, the capital might have sent its troops to various locations to find us."

"And don't forget this island is so small that once they tracked us down, we got no place to hide."

"Indeed. Once they come here, sooner or later they'll find this hideout."

"Anyway, let's go to the castle. We don't got much time."

The rest of this conversation is boring so I'll summarize it. Since Hayami is known to the Ninjas, she can't come with us. So we have to choose two other girls to follow us. This choice is also mostly meaningless, safe for like two lines of text and a hidden event that you can trigger. Hayami will do some stuff in the meantime, with the girl you didn't chose and Brad. _{That last line sounds kinda kinky...}


I bring Caris since you all love her so much, but I also pick Latyss as the secret event his about her.

On the way, Caris starts to tap into her true potential and learns a new skill.



And then I make a short stop in the forest.

I didn't mention it earlier, but these stairs lead into another area of the map.


Just as Ryle says, we can't do anything here right now. But having Latyss at this point triggers a short scene..

"...."

"What is it Latyss?"

"Ah, nothing."

"Tired? Sorry, if it wasn't for me..."

"Not at all, I was thinking about something else..."

"Just tell me when you're tired..ok?"

"I am fine now. Let's get going."

"Don't push yourself too hard."

"Sometimes you're too kind Ryle..."

"Huh?"

"*chuckle*"

Att 9 >>> 11

I wonder what that was about? Ah, probably nothing. Elves just love trees, right?


This time we can enter the castle fine. It was probably Hayami's fault that the Ninjas spotted us last time.


This place is fairly big and has some creepy music going. Let's check the vibe in town...


Ahw, that sucks!






"Heh heh babe, what did I do? It's a crime NOT to touch a fine lady's body like yours~"

Do you really wanna know the rest of that conversation?


Or do you wanna know how the fat noble thinks about this "arrangement"? This place is fucked!

Since there's probably a battle coming, I might as well stop by the smith.



He has some good stuff, but it's kinda pricey so I'll pass for now. However, I do buy some equipment for Latyss for reasons that I can't disclose yet. I also get her the staff which boosts her stats quite a bit, and also adds a fire effect to her normal attack.

We've established that this place is in a bad shape, but what to do now?

Well, that didn't work.

This is one of those points were you have to find the one NPC in town that has progress in its pocket..

And in our case, it's a guard that's kinda chilling on his own.

"Heh?...Oh..."

"Indeed..it's Sessha."

"So you are safe alright. Gohu...?"

"Is he that guy Ryle mentioned back then?"

"I see. The way of ninja...Blending in so naturally..."

"It's an honor to meet with you, my lady."

"So how is the situation inside the castle?"

"Despite of being controlled like brainless dolls, please don't underestimate their formation. There are at least 20 of them inside the castle."

"That means we are against roughly 1000 soldiers, right?"

"Troop of 1000?"

I really hate how often the game drums on the point of Ninjas=super strong. It's like a really bad over-9000 joke, that won't end! Jfyi, killing Gohu in the first fight is easy.

"If they are all controlled by that cell like Sessha was, we can eliminate them quickly by fighting 1 on 1..."

"True. That's more feasible solution..."

"That's out of our abilities! It took both of us quite some time to fight you."

"Then the best way is to lure out and finish them 1 at a time...for sure."

"Isn't there better ways? like we can increase our allies by making ninjas back to normal!"

"How about sessha pretend to be one of them and lead them to Ryle Dono?"

"..That's very difficult. Only Hayami and I know how to deal with ninjas. Not only that, fighting against one of them is tough enough but now more than 2..."

"However, no other way to lure out the other White Shinobi..."

"....I need to join with Hayami first. Gohu, you stay here a little longer."

Am I wrong for saying that nothing really happened here? Like, we're none the wiser than before. Welp, back to Lavas for the final scene of this update...


There is something new in this screen...Found it yet?..There is a new person!

"Umm...do I know you?"



Her name is Fina Delstar. She is the only daughter of the legendary Sacred Dragoon Flare.

Nice self-insert there, Flare.

"My name is Fina Delstar. I am a Valkyrie. Nice to meet you..."

Oh boy, meet Fina the female Jesus of this game. Since she's the daughter of Flare, who ended the first demon war and saved the world, you can probably guess that she plays a large role in the plot and that we will see a lot of her - whether we want to or not. She will become very powerful along the line, mostly focused on holy attacks, and has a whole trunk of Macguffins with her. That's well and good but here comes the problem: She is annoying as fuck! Aside from being the most socially awkward nerd fantasy, she's also neurotic and has some anxiety disorders that will pop up one after the other. I'm not kidding, she is our lord and savior but kinda damaged at the same time.
Anime, right?

"Your last name is "Delstar"? You mean that Sacred Dragoon Flare Delstar!?"

"My mother..."

"Shisho!! What IS going on?"

"Even I am shocked..."

"Me too..."

"....."

"Sessha asked Lady Flare to send her here."

Told ya that Hayami would be doing stuff. Though, I wonder how she knows such important people?

"Umm, I don't want to give you guys a false hope. I'm not as strong as mom."

"Wow! She's even modest! I am starting to like her already!"

"No! It's not like that!!

"!!"

"Oh, I am sorry...But you see, I was an ordinary girl until 2 years ago."

"(How can she call herself "ordinary"...~)"

"Please don't think it as: Savior's daughter = Sacred Dragoon."

"Just remember that I'll help you as much as I can in my abilities..."

And here we have her first problem. She is really worried that people expect too much of her. Also she is so needlessly modest that she will sometimes get worked up if people compliment her too much or things like that. You'll see...

"Let us work hard as one team."

"Well, I won't be expecting too much from you. Still, you are an addition to our party. Welcome! We don't have enough troops nor time to wait now."

I like how he manages to give her a warm welcome while also shitting all over her at the same time.

"Yeah!"

"The one on your belt, is that the Savior's blade, Rune Disaster!?"

"Correct!"

"Ah, no what I meant...Yes it is."

"Oh come on! Let's do away with all the formal stuff between us!!"

I guess this part makes much more sense in the original text, since Japanese has some very formal styles of speech. At least that's what I read somewhere, I believe.

"From now on we are friends...Please be yourself."

"Is that ok? Eh hehe...*smile* I am not comfortable with it either."

"(Is she being very open minded or just a little tomboy?)"

I think the word you're looking for is "retarded". Happy to help!

"Only the one with the Dragon Gene can wield this weapon."

With the sword, her Macguffin count is already at two. Just saying...

"Dragon Gene? You mean the Draconic Aura which is needed becoming the Sacred Dragoon?"

"Correct! Well to be more accurate, it means having the dragon bloodline. My mom received the Dragon Gene from other person. She was not born with it."

How does that even work?? Please say that it's cause of magic, instead of something gross...

"That sword, I heard it used to be a part of the Draconic Buster..."

Or don't explain it at all and throw the next Macguffin at us. That's fine too!

"I'm impressed! Indeed. Draconic Buster and this sword used to be one piece. Long time ago, Draconic Buster had been broken for once."

"BROKEN!? That Draconic Buster?"

"The original Draconic Buster in the past contained an immensely powerful spell, Omega Wave."

Macguffin count: 4

"The spell must be handled right. Once it vaporized a single continent."

"That's SOME powerful spell~"

"So the first Sacred Dragoon split Draconic Buster into 2 seperate swords in order to control power."

"Can it be that easily broken and repaired?"

"Actually I haven't seen it yet, the sword transforms as it reacts to the Dragon Gene."

"In fact, this Rune Disaster changes its shape and power along with my personal growth." (level-ups)

"Before I had it in my hands, it was an ordinary sword, but it became very powerful when my mom held it! Not to mention that our house was once completely demolished by the energy emitted from the sword..."

"So the sword simply reflects how strong you are now, eh?"

"That means, I can tell by the look. Fina is quite powerful now!"

Stop sucking up to her, Caris.

"No, not THAT powerful~"



"That's right. I'll explain the current status of the castle in general."

Ryle summarized what he learned from Gohu.

"Power of 1000 soldiers... We can't win by facing them in a fair match."

"There's no way we can succeed even if all of us fight them at once."

"We need a plan for spreading their troops."

"Even if we managed to do that, fighting against 1 of them is already a hard task."

Welp, I guess the game's over then!

"If what you said earlier is right, I can do something about the cell without harming these ninjas!"

Ah, of course! We now have access to Jesus powers..

"Do something?"

"I got a move which is very useful on these sort of things. I can help to end the fight quick..."

Remember what I said about bad game design? This is it. The game established the power of those ninjas really hard. But now it doesn't matter much anymore!

"Which means you'll join the team to lure them and face them in person. Is that alright for you?"

"We need a diversion team no matter what! Because there's no way out once we get surrounded."

"She's right! I also agree with her plan."

"You might end up ambushed by a bunch of them!?"

"I'm sure there's no way that all of them can attack us at once."

"Huh?"

"If the High Chancellor hired those ninjas to protect him, then they might just do so. But he will lose the people's trust in royal authority if the foreign army is used instead. Knowing that risk, he's still hiring ninjas...to just protect himself? Don't you think it's little awkward?"

"So you're saying that the Chancellor hired Ninjas to protect something other than himself?"

"If that's the case, each Ninja at the various points can not leave his post. That means we can attack them one by one which is more plausible!"

There is probably some sense hidden in there. I honestly lost the ability to tell, since this update had so much damn talking that it drained my brain. Though it could also be because I opened a bottle of Whiskey some time ago and am already two glasses in. Don't judge, it helped me finish this in one go...

"And in my opinion, the Chancellor is being overconfident about security because he hired the White Ninjas. For they are the strongest mercenary army that he can find out there..."

"You...you are absolutely right."

"Miss Delstar, you are increable!"

"Sessha can say like mother and like daughter."

"Much better analytic skills than I expected.."

"That's her way of saying "You are very talented".."

"Hey~ Please don't be so flattering" *frown*

"Now we got to seperate members into 2 teams; Infiltration Team and Diversion Team."

"I'll join the Diversion Team and I also want Hayami. She can catch up with ninjas' speed."

"Sessha want to join Lady Fina!"

"Right now I don't know much about you other guys, so I just gonna assume that you can handle it!"

"We'll show it to you at the castle."

"I am looking forward to see it!"

"Then I'll lead the Infiltration Team with 2 more members!"


Please choose two girls for Ryle's team!

The third girl will join Fina's team, and we will need to control both teams in the castle. I'm just saying that if any of you want to take party composition into account. The voting will be open for the weekend.