Part 12: No Ball of Yarn Required

Checking up on Rudolph and Santa they're apparently doing rather well, and Santa has no more crazy plans for notoriety. It's a bit of a relief, really.



For some reason I'd gotten the confused impression that you had to go back to Matango and then to Kakkara, although that's evidently only the case if you go here first. It's very confusing.



Once we get there, the obvious first priority is to upgrade our Boomerang. The Rising Sun is a pure damage upgrade that's equally effective against all comers.




There's an unfortunate misunderstanding with King Amar about a Faerie Walnut, which is a running problem with him. A crown or something like that would probably fix this.



Naturally they can't be arsed to return it or anything like that, so it's all up to us.



They've even updated a few of the minor NPCs reactions after the Frost Country. It's a nice little bit of attention to detail.



Heading out to return the Fire Seed we have a new enemy out in the desert. The aptly named Mad Mallards spawn pumpkin bombs and are a trip to fight.



The fire palace itself is really impressive, with a couple of archers hanging out on the high ground to harass you on the way in. They're not even really worth dealing with, but they have a very good cross-fire going.



These enemies are Robin Foots.. Feet? I don't know, but they're actually pretty weak compared to how troublesome the Chobin Hood were when they first showed up. At the top of the screen you can see a ramp that it's possible to force your way up, but it requires multiple controllers.



Overall I love the atmospheric nature of this palace and the general ambiance. One of the best things about this game is the dungeons, especially in contrast to some of the ones in the previous game.



There's a few places you can wander into, but they're all dead ends for now. The Red Drop enemies are a serious pain in the neck, as they engulf you in flames on contact and split just like the other Drop enemies. The trick with those is to make sure that there's a couple of other enemies nearby. It's not obvious, but the game will only allow a certain number of enemies on the screen at once. As long as you're at that limit, the Drops can't divide.



The real path forward is in the basement, although it's a bit deceptive. When I first came in here I saw the dialogue box and thought that was a warning to stay out until you'd done something else. This would be wrong. Also, you can see a Dark Funk (the cloud enemies in here) glaring menacingly. One shot of freeze takes them down easily.




Moving on requires the paradoxical tactic of literally fighting fire with fire. Naturally the orb requires the most expensive magic we have, as a cheap way of draining our MPs. I thought that was universal, but...



The next Salamando orb doesn't activate with Exploder or Lava wave. Instead, fireball does the trick. Each orb has a specific spell required to open it, and Analyze doesn't tell you which.




There's some decent treasure in here, although at this point 1000 GP is kind of a drop in the bucket. That won't even pay for a weapon upgrade!



There's a bit of a maze of intersecting pathways blocked off by braziers and multiple staircases to figure out. One of them leads to the room we saw earlier with the Red Drop and the two Robin Foot, allowing us to create an easy exit. It's a small mercy considering that this is actually a fairly long dungeon.




They're really fond of orbs in this dungeon. The trick is that you have to step on the switch (not pictured), cast freeze on the orb that appears, then walk between the only two braziers that remain lit in order to cause the stairway to appear. As you'd expect, this is pretty much the climax of the dungeon.

Boss Battle: Minotaur

Minotaur Battle Video



I rather like the minotaur, since they don't feel any need to explain or justify his presence. There's a dungeon, and it has a minotaur, and that's all you need to know.




He's got some high level attacks and he can knock you unconscious if he charges, but his damage output really sucks. If I could make one change to make bosses more dangerous, it would be to increase their magical abilities.



His big problem is that he's incredibly weak against Thunderbolt. All you need to do is lay a few spells on him and he'll collapse. If you don't want to take that route, he's also slow and turns in a very ponderous manner so you can pretty much dance around him. Our prize is a Javelin's Orb.



Once we place the Fire Seed we can seal it, adding another level to all our spells. It's a bit weird having this happen so far out from getting Salamando. We've now got the four basic elements feeding into our magic, so it'll be interesting seeing where they go from here.



We get a nice pat on the back from Amar in thanks for all of our efforts. I'd rather have an orb, if it's all the same to you.




I think Kakkara might be the most screwed town in Secret of Mana. Nowhere else that we've been to has had three unrelated but critical problems threatening them. It's kind of like New Orleans... are you sure this is a good place to live?



A quick trip to Watts lands us a javelin that balloons enemies (always useful) and a Battle Axe that's good against plants and fish. This is a bit of an odd combination, but if you follow the line of thought that a banana is a type of fish it sounds reasonable enough.



Some people never change. At least this girl's got the right idea about this town.



This is kind of an unexpectedly D'awwwww moment. At least somebody thinks we're great.




It's not exactly clear where you'd go to find a Sea Hare's tail, but we do have an open pathway to the Empire now. Lacking any other options, this is a fairly reasonable thing to try. It's also the first time we've had a three option menu at the Cannon Travel Agency.

South Town Theme: A Curious Tale



We land at the Empire's South Town, which for some reason makes me think of Secret of Evermore. I was kind of expecting talking to the guards to be off limits, but they really don't care one way or the other.



Well, a crazy woman.. this must be immediately investigated, as she's the only person with a name in this bloody town.



Before that, shopping. South Town has an entire set of armor upgrades for Kid and Boss, but no new helmet for Boy. That's alright, I suppose, although we don't want him to far behind. Luckily money isn't an issue.




Something is fishy in the Empire. It's also possible that the Emperor is actually Richard Nixon, which, considering this game is Japanese, I'm not willing to rule out.



Mystery piles on mystery as we investigate the town. There's a woman standing in front of a doorway in the wall who refuses to budge. Prior to this, she appeared in several different places and vanished as we approached.




Crazy Mara turns out to be crazy like a fox, demonstrating the reach of Jema's network. I might have to reappraise him, as while he isn't much use in a fight or anything like that, he certainly seems to have a long reach. I'm inclined to wonder how her husband got caught as a spy while she escaped and is still living in the Empire.




No explanation is given as to why we can't just walk in to North Town through the front gate, but it seems as though it's definitely time for our mandatory JRPG sewer level.



I hope you actually payed attention to that number she gave you, as you're expected to enter it one digit at a time. The thing is that the guard doesn't even ask you for a number before this, meaning that logically someone told her to ask us for a number. At that point, it's really just a massive troll on their part to screw with our characters and feel more cloak and dagger about anything. Alternatively, we just walk up to her and squawk out a number as if this were normal behavior.



The thing about the sewer level is that all in all.. it's just not very interesting. There's a large number of rooms but nothing really in the way or treasure and no boss fight. It all pretty much looks like this. The only new and novel enemies are the dinofish, which are orange fish that shoot missiles. Somehow it makes more sense when you're playing. My wife suggests that they've mutated from the sewage, which also seems logical enough.



As soon as we pop up in the Secret Resistance Base (Tm) we're accused of being spies.. again. Whoever the Empire is using as spies, they have everybody spooked.



"A teenage boy, a girl, and a sprite are going to pop out of your sewer access one of these days. They're not imperial spies, but it'll be funnier if you act like you think they are for a minute."



Take Kid's response how you will. Is she impressed, attracted, or somehow surprised that there's a woman involved with the Resistance?



Boss's response doesn't make too much sense following Kid's dialogue, making it seem as though there's something missing here. I'm hoping this will be filled in.



The mention of Dyluck perks up a few ears. That two-timing cheat!




Or... you know, not. Referring to "A 'Dyluck'" makes him sound like some exotic creature that's wandered into the ruins. Note that when they say "we'll check on that" they actually mean "you'll check on that, won't you?"




For a throw-away character who we might not see ever again Krissie gets a lot of backstory and a lot of people talking about her. I'm almost wondering if she was meant to be a bigger character. Since Kid's hung up on Dyluck, maybe a romance tease?



This number of 15 years keeps coming up again and again. Maybe Dyluck will be able to offer some explanations for us when we catch up to him.

Boy Thinks He's Some Kind of Rico Suave