Part 2: Dead or Alive, You're Coming With Me

Having left our home village behind us forever, we're faced with a crossroads. Luckily there's a handy sign installed to point us in the right direction.



This totally legit business is the game's first long-distance travel method, which is exactly what it says. You travel from place to place through a network of cannons set up in convenient locations. Kindly mentor that he is, Jema has already paid someone to shoot us out of a cannon.




It serves as a nice opportunity for them to use some more of that fancy rotating Mode 7 effects, and also demonstrates that our hero has already learned how to tuck and roll with the best of them. I can only imagine that other uses of the Cannon Travel service haven't gone quite as well.



The discipline showed by this group of soldiers is fairly impressive, come to think of it. Someone comes flying through the air and lands right behind their leader, and they never blink an eye.



Five people seems a bit much for a whip finding expedition, but what do I know?



This name will in no way come up later or be important in any way. Also, there's something a bit off about his expression and stance.



Enough of that, we have a water palace to explore! Once again our choice of a name pays handsome dividends. Jema sounds like a grizzled old man here.



The water motif is very strong here, and entrance is controlled by a series of push-button walkways. Jema naturally walks ahead of us, evidently having stopped to retract the bridges after going over them. That's a fairly impressive level of dickishness.




Naturally, Luka isn't exactly what you'd expect. Unless you're talking about Japan, in which case the immortal guardian of a force of nature being a teenage girl makes perfect sense.



And you just stood on the sidelines, despite being a knight!




In other news, the people in the village are completely right. The Mana Sword is evidently broken and it is entirely our fault that there are monsters now. It's possible that the whole thing would have fallen apart anyway, but there's no mention of that. Luckily the solution is what RPG heroes are good at: wholesale slaughter of monsters.



More orbs = more power = more ability to slaughter monsters. You can do that, right BOY? Of course, the orbs alone won't do anything by themselves.



We finally get a glimpse into what's up with Jema, since it appears he's more of a scholar than anything else. He probably got knighted for untangling a particularly knotty historical problem.




The whole Mana Sword and balance of Mana issue isn't the only problem, naturally. Kids these days... if it didn't happen in their lifetime, it's a fairy tale.



There's a lot of jargon being thrown around here. Evidently the world has Mana Seeds and they're fairly important. Other than that, no further explanation being given.



Jema's kind of jumping at shadows where the Empire is concerned. Despite evidently being the bad guys, they're probably not responsible for EVERYTHING that's going wrong in the world.



With that he buggers off and leaves us alone with Luka. This business with Pandora is too important to leave for another moment. Naturally he can't be bothered to tell us where Gaia's Navel is.



The Dwarves in that area can presumably help with powering up the sword, which is the really important thing here. "Remember, BOY, it's the sword's power that we're interested in here. You're just kind of an accessory."



Now that she's got us alone Luka has a few questions. It's an opportunity to get some more plot dump and preserve the illusion of choice.




Whichever way you go, it all comes back to the sword. You can kind of understand BOY's puzzlement since they're been telling him that the mere fact that he of all people has the sword is a sign of how screwed up everything is.



Looked at that way, Luka's actually being far more than encouraging than anybody else BOY has met thus far. At least she thinks that he can be a hero.




Somehow we've satisfied Luka enough that she wants us to do something with the sword. The pyrotechnics are fairly impressive, at least.



I can only imagine this will make a bit more sense later on. It sounds almost like an in-game explanation as to why killing all these monsters and such will strengthen the sword.



This adds another item to our to-do list. So far it consists of: Go to Gaia's Navel, kill all the monsters you find to empower the sword, and visit all 8 palaces in the world. That's probably several months worth right there.



Even better is getting a new weapon. Somehow the spear is different from normal spears and can be powered up the same way as the sword.



Multiply that by the number of weapons that are scattered around the world and you can kind of see why this game is considered kind of grindy.




Luka's kind enough to actually give us directions to Gaia's Navel. Now Pandora, where Jema went, is actually on the way to Gaia's Navel. He just didn't want to travel with BOY.



Outside we can try out the spear. It's pretty straightforward, to get right to the point.



The path open to us takes us past carnivorous flowers. The question being, of course, whether or not these are naturally occurring or if this a recent result of Mana being disturbed. If it isn't, then this is a very dangerous world. Incidentally, this enemy is called a Lullabud.




A sign directs us to a charming little cottage off to the side. Such things will occur frequently.



Kitty! Neko is the proprietor of the entire chain, and he's something of a friendly hold-up artist. He charges about twice what anybody else does, but he's usually got some very good equipment and much needed healing items. If you can get by without what he's selling it's better to save your money, but he does provide a valuable service.



A few steps to the south....trouble. Some hero of the ages we have here, folks.



All things considered BOY is pretty lucky that they didn't do something like tie him to a spit or go for some impalement. Slow boiling isn't pleasant, but it beats some of the alternatives.



These have to be some of the worst guards in the world.



Which is pretty lucky, considering that we're being rescued by the least stealthy person in the world. It's a perfect match!




Despite sneaking around in a bright pink getup, she has the nerve to call BOY an idiot and pretty much fling him into a tree. So much for being quiet.



BOY is appropriately grateful, but considering the way life has been shitting on him is understandably suspicious.



If I'd realized you weren't him, I'd probably have left you to die. Goblins have to eat too, you know.




Who was that masked girl who ran off in the direction we were planning on going?



This would have been bloody helpful ten minutes ago.



Another old favorite makes an appearance. The mushroom was one of thirst enemies in FFA, but here they're tough enough to take a few hits from the spear. They've also got an unpleasant dust attack, so better to attack from a distance.



The sign reveals the ugly truth. We're actually just outside of Potos Village.



Just as in the previous game, weapons are as much tools as anything. Pulling one out is much simpler using the ring menu. There's nothing of interest behind this particular barrier, but it serves as a notice.



The little yellow smiley here is a springboard. Aside from the comical effect of making it look like BOY has a spear shooting out of his ass, they're an important way of getting from one level to another. Expect to be seeing them in dungeons and such as we continue.




Shortly afterward we arrive in Pandora. The reception... isn't exactly warm. A little more explanation would be nice as to why letting us in is such a big deal and why we shouldn't talk to anybody.



Not that most of them have much to say...




There's some explanation for how things are going. Considering that the witch is to the north and these ruins are to the south, it seems as though Pandora is having problems from both sides.



The biggest and most expensive looking house in town is empty except for the help. Somebody's making a nice catch.




A few of the residents of the town are more talkative, although some of them are also quite bitchy. All in all, this isn't a terribly pleasant town.



Some of the residents of the castle agree with that assessment. It's kind of gloomy when you think about it.



This is Dyluck's home town, evidently, although the fact that he's not back can't be a good thing.



See this, this would have been good for the guard at the gate to tell us. Don't mind the townspeople, they're just zombies. Luckily they weren't the ravenous flesh-eating kind.



This whole Empire thing has been going on for a while. It's kind of funny at this point how everybody refers to it as The Empire. One would imagine it has a name, but everybody just assumes you know which one they're talking about.



A little girl in the castle acts as a testimonial to Dyluck's character. Whether this means he's a sweet guy who loves kids or a is entirely up to the reader. Make of if what you will.



There's a fair degree of injustice you can point out here about this whole witch business. Right now as far as BOY is concerned he knows only that she exists and that everyone blames her for their problems. There's no indication yet that she's actually guilty of anything other than being a witch and living near a place that's having problems.



As soon as we climb the stairs, there's a commotion directly ahead.




What? Oh no. No, no, no, no.. dammit.



But how do you know she's a witch?

We're not even going anywhere near that joke.



She's got a point. Dyluck is evidently in danger right now, but there's no indication that the Underground Palace can't hold off just a bit longer.




In the meantime, we have an important decision to make.

Naming Vote


What shall we name this little spitfire? Six letters, same selection as last time. Original name from the Japanese version is Purim. I'm inclined to say that GIRL would be running a good joke into the ground. My wife thinks she looks like a Stella. What do you all think? I'll make the call in 24 hours.

"Instead, only try to realize the truth. There are no orbs."