Part 6: Phanna Who?

Our next step after dealing with the Fire Gigas malarkey is naturally going to get our weapons fixed up. The new upgrade to the axe actually makes it our strongest weapon for a brief period.




Next, we've got to see about leveling up this new Earth magic we've got. Gnome has a variety of powers, including a defense and speed booster, Stone Sabre, the Gem Missile we saw with Mantis Ant, an immobilizer, and Earth Slide. The other bit of good news is that now that we have two mana seeds we can get all of our magic up to 2nd level.



At this point, the game doesn't actually tell you where to go. It just kind of figures that you remember that you're supposed to be dealing with Thanatos in the ruins and lets you figure it out for yourself. However, just knowing that he's there with Dyluck isn't enough motivation.. we have to talk to Phanna.



You might be asking yourself "Who is Phanna?" at this point. I certainly am, as at no point have we heard anything about her. Kid has never mentioned that her best friend / boarding school roommate / love triangle opponent or whatever is named Phanna. I'm actually even fairly certain that she wasn't here the last time we visited... but she's important now, damn it!




Important enough for Kid to try to talk her out of going into the clutches of evil, with the same success that she lends to all her endeavors. Not pictured: Phanna bitch-slapping Kid out of her way.




This final rejection causes Kid to break through the barrier and encourage us to follow her. I like the fact that Dyluck is given second billing here, especially as he's been here longer. It's not even a case of "probably here" either, as we've been told point blank that he is in fact here.

South Ruins Theme (Ceremony)



Immediately inside we've introduced to the two main enemies in this dungeon, the Tomato Man and the Zombie. As is the case quite frequently, one of them produces the other. In this case zombies come from tomato men (who knew?) and you'll generally see groups of 2 zombies and a tomato man. Zombies are fairly tough but slow, while tomato men have the ability to cast fireball and generally appear to be only damaged by magic or charged attacks. This is a problem given our limited MP reserves and the fact that there's about a dozen or so in this dungeon.



Chess Knights make a return appearance, this time positioned for maximum trouble rather than minimum. It's quite possible to find yourself trapped against the wall being jumped on repeatedly.



Finally we have evil swords, which are as tough as you'd expect an all metal object to be. They also have a spell to enable them to drain HP with each attack, meaning that you have to keep on them constantly in order to bring them down.



The ruins themselves are nicely windy and have a great atmosphere, with a good number of hidden rooms full of monsters if you want to explore them. There's also far too many tomato men, so you might well find yourself rushing through because of a lack of MP.



Just from down the hall, we can pretty much see that this next room looks a bit ominous. It's kind of a cue to heal up and prepare for a battle, isn't it?




The mysterious Thanatos is waiting for us, and actually gives us some credit for handling Elinee. It's a nice change from the lack of respect we get from everyone else. However... see that part right here where he said he knows all about us? Keep that in mind.



Kid makes with the demands pretty much immediately...




And gets shut down. Whatever relationship she and Phanna have, it's just not enough to compete with Thanatos.



Not really?

Isn't that going to end up with you ruling a world devoid of people?



Somehow these two statements do not add up.



At this point he yanks out Dyluck, who's kind of blankly staring off into space. You know, like he normally does.



In some ways, I almost wish we could get Dyluck on our team and find out how awesome he supposedly was. It's being hinted left right and center that he's somehow special.



Aaaaaannndddd.... cue the trap door. Who installs something like that, really?

Boss Battle: Chamber's Eye

Chamber's Eye Boss Video



We get dropped off into a large room, with some fairly large spikes that will play an important role in the near future. Anybody who's played a few RPGs probably knows what's coming next.



It's time for that perennial favorite, the moving wall boss. This one, called the Chamber's Eye, doesn't start off moving right away. The third eye is distant enough to require a ranged weapon or magic, but you can attack the two larger eyes with anything.




The eyes each have independent attacks, with quite a few capabilities because of this. Energy absorb is probably one of the most annoying ones, but there's also an ability called Leaden Glare that can immobilize you temporarily.



Like all the most annoying bosses, it can heal itself although thankfully the healing seems to be confined to the middle eye.



Once the two big eyes have taken enough damage, the center eye remains open and the wall starts moving toward you. Now, you can try to do ranged attacks and even regular attacks at this point, but the best option is probably the sprite's magic. It can do upwards of 350 damage at this point per shot, ending the fight in a hurry.



I suppose I could have waited and checked to see what happens if you let it push you into the spikes, but I can't imagine it's anything good. Explosions all around! Our prize is an upgrade for the bow.



Okay, seriously, I thought you knew all about us? How did the fact that I have the Mana Sword escape you?




With an appropriately evil cackle Thanatos exits via teleport, taking Dyluck and Phanna with him. Kid's been having a rough day of it thus far.



You have got to be the worst mentor figure ever.




The hole in your logic has to be pretty huge if one of your mind-controlled captives notices it. It's pretty obvious that Thanatos isn't working completely for the Empire.



I'm not really sure if we should let him go off alone but, eh, what you gonna do? I suppose we could tell him that we've already been to both of those places, but it wouldn't be nice to confuse an old man.



Returning to Pandora, the people actually acknowledge the fact that we pretty much saved their country. It's a rather nice touch, all things considered...



Although in some cases that only means they're marginally less bitchy. The shops in Pandora are open, but the gear isn't anything nice. I'm starting to want an armor upgrade rather badly.



Jema has evidently been talking us up behind our backs. It's a bit of a mood whiplash from the whole "Oh, you have it? The sword must be broken" deal from earlier.



The king has retreated to his room, but we can just stroll on in there and get our kudos. That's not the important thing here.



Now that we've saved the kingdom, we're allowed in the treasure room.



There are six treasure chests in here, four of which are 50 gold pieces. Why would you stick 200 gold pieces in a treasure box and save it for centuries?

That's not even enough to buy a spiky suit! Maybe inflation kicked in?

I'd rather they'd put in bonds or an interest bearing savings account.



An upgrade to the Mana Sword and the spear, however, is much more appreciated. We didn't even have to kill anything to get them!




While we're here we can stop in and visit Kid's family... just so that she can tell them she's not coming back.



Before dealing with whatever shenanigans await us at the Water Palace, it's time to stop by and get our weapons upgraded. One of the three characters always rotates on a different axis than the others on cannon trips. It's a bit weird.



After shelling out a bit more gold we're rocking a Sprite Spear, Herald Sword, and Short Bow. Despite its name, the Sprite Spear does not immediately go to Boss.



How the HELL did you guard anything for 200 years?




Wait. You want us to go BACK to Gaia's Navel? FFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUU.....

Knowing what I do about the Empire's methods, I don't even wanna know what they did to poor Dyluck.