Part 3: Fire Eyes Teaches Us How To Flash Folks
Howdy, folks, and welcome back! Last time, on Secret of Evermore, we got our shit wrecked by some Raptors and Zach dragged us off to a nearby village. Today, we're going to explore that village, so let's boogie.
We were given permission to raid the gourds in this village, which take some of the fun outta it. Nectar is another restorative item, restoring 120 HP when used.
We can save our game here and this guy will also act as an inn for us, charging ten Talons.
Incredibly, from the fire pit, we pull out some Ash.
But however will I grow stronger? I could grind off of plants and mosquitos, I s'pose, but I won't be satisfied until I've shed the blood of the strongest creatures around.
Plenty of Water in here. Maybe we'll have a use for it soon.
There's also plenty of villagers around here, so let's chat 'em up.
He's no Buzz Buzz, kiddo.
Alchemy is actually really important, and we'll need a ton of ingredients.
I've got a femur and a dog. I think people have done more with less.
I did have a bazooka.
Honey is the strongest healing item, restoring 300 HP when used. It'll be a minute before we see any of that.
As someone in the thread pointed out, these guys don't speak like your typical cavemen, like you'd expect in this sort of village. I'm chalking it up to Fire Eyes' teachings.
The metric system?! Dear God, we've truly left Podunk!
Let's storm into this hut and teach them what the hell a yard is!
Giant bug? Bugmuck? Well, I think I know where we'll be going in the future.
As for why, I think this sentence speaks for itself.
There's two parts of Water in the other gourd.
Fire pits are good for finding Ash. I'm sure this surprises none of you.
Ah, a shopkeeper!
Petals, we know about.
Pixie Dust is the revival item of the game; Zach can't use revival items on York, so when he loses all HP, if there's a Pixie Dust in the inventory, York will be automatically revived with 75 HP. And if Zach bites the dust
Just throw him a biscuit and he'll be fine. I think this would actually work; I know for damn sure my dog would come back from the dead if it meant he got a treat.
Essence will heal status effects.
I grab another couple of petals, some biscuits, and a couple of Essences. I couldn't afford a Pixie Dust.
We also grab 2 Roots and 4 parts Water from the other gourds.
Fire Eyes is a B-movie loving nerd? This could work out well for us!
...I'm not sure why York is finding Ash there, of all places, but I'm sure this fellow won't mind.
: He said that there may be rare alchemy ingredients hidden in the bug's skeleton. Strong Heart searches the area often for ingredients. And when he returns, he always gives some of them to me. Then, I sell them to the townspeople who know alchemy formulas.
In short, this guy will sell us alchemy ingredients when we actually have some recipes to use.
We also find three parts of Clay in the other gourd.
: I hear that you had a tough fight in the jungle. I hope you're OK now.
Alright, let's go meet the chief, at the hut in the center.
Hmm. Other villagers are starting to gather 'round.
Yeah, they begin chanting "Fire Eyes." It's...Fairly creepy. Let's meet the big cheese.
...Huh. It's a little girl.
'sup, Liz?
: Well, York. Step into my hut. We'll talk.
No reason not to!
: Is that the wild beast that saved you?
: Yeah. But, he's not a wild beast. He's my dog.: What's his name?
Normally, we'd go to a screen and name him, but I cut that out, since we already voted to name the dog Zach.
C'mon, it's not like we named him Bonerhitler or something.
: I’m not really sure where “here” is, to tell you the truth.: You’re on Evermore, in my prehistoric village. I’m the leader.: You wouldn’t know how to get to Podunk from here, would you?: Podunk? Hmmmm... Interesting. I might! Maybe we can work something out. How’d you like to make yourself useful around here? 
I'd like to point out that I've found at least a partial game script for this one, so I'll be copying and pasting as much dialog as I can. I'll do what I can to fix any mistakes in what I copy/paste, but I can't promise I'll get them all.
And for these two portraits, of York and Elizabeth, I couldn't find one of York without the Bone Crusher or of Liz, and I tried the Spriter's Resource, so I had to cut them out of some screenshots. Any oddities regarding their appearance is due to that.
: He’s been searching for alchemy ingredients that are plentiful in the muck. If you can help him get back to the village, I will help you with whatever you need. 
If I'd seen this movie, I can't help but imagine I'd be quoting it far more often than York does.
'course, I'd also choose a better quote than this one. Just...Yeesh.
You'll give us a real sword? Maybe an axe?
: I call it “Flash.” It’s pretty powerful against mean creatures. You can use the formula whenever you have 1 part Wax and 2 parts Oil. Just select the spell and let it fly. The more you use the Flash Formula, the stronger it will get. 
So, Alchemy serves as our magic system in this game. As long as we have the necessary ingredients, we can cast the spell. Much like in Secret of Mana, weapons and magic alike can be leveled up to make them stronger and more useful. Zach can't use magic, since he's a dog, but the ingredients he's been helping us find finally have a use. I mean, not immediately, since we have just the one spell, but they will be useful.
We can also buy alchemy ingredients now (not that we can afford any), if we so choose.
We also get some more Water from the other gourd.
We'll get to starting this next bit next update.
For now, though, we'll finish exploring the village.
One neat thing is that you can choose which spells you have equipped. This is really handy because there is an assload of formulas in the game, and we won't be using all of them. Instead of having to scroll through the duds I don't want to use, I can just unequip them and keep my magic list clutter free.
I suppose. I'm not really a lizard guy, so I can't say for sure. Certainly seems like a big lizard.
Yeah, yeah, we'll go find him sooner or later. Keep your fruit on.
I've a better idea of where we are now; based on the three ladies we've seen, all dressed like this, we're in the ancient homeland of Carmen Miranda.
Free Petals are cool; we'll need ourselves a lot of healing items, until we get the healing spell and some more levels under our belt.
: Fire Eyes protects us from them. 
We also snag another 5 parts of Water.
Up in the northwest corner of the village is another hut.
Just wait until you see some later alchemy spells. There's one in particular that is just so very
: My family has used alchemy for many generations. Alchemy effects increase in strength when you use formulas often. 
This would have been a better spot for the ingredient shop, considering that guy's speech.
However, this shop is important, too.
Because he sells armor! We're too poor to afford any, but hey, he sells it!
He also has a Leather Collar, Vine Bracelet and a Grass Hat. Had we managed to defeat the four Raptors that appeared earlier, he would have tossed a free Grass Vest our way.
We find (what else?) more Water in the other chest.
Up at the north of the village, we find a couple of bits of Wax, which means we can Flash something now!
...I could have phrased that better.
Let's see what this guy has for sale.
That top line looks a little confusing, but I already have two bits of Wax (the bits we just found), and he'll sell us packs of five for 120 Talons. We can get five Oils for 100 Talons, 5 Crystals for 80 Talons, 5 bits of Ash for 60 Talons, and 5 parts of Water for 60 Talons. For those of you curious, we've currently got 20 parts of Water.
On that note, this update has been finished.
With full HP (and only 24 Talons to my name), we don't need to rest right now.
However, this is good by me. Saving is a good thing.
Next time, on Secret of Evermore, we'll start working our way toward the Bugmuck to the East!
Stay tuned!