Shadow Hearts: Covenant Part #16 - Episode XVI: The Bandit of Le Havre

Part 16: Episode XVI: The Bandit of Le Havre

Episode XVI : The Bandit of Le Havre

Our journey to the dreadlands of vile Wales continues as we arrive in the port city of Le Havre. For reference sake, that means the minecart ride took the party roughly 200 kilometers. The Parisian metro plans were apparently ambitious to say the least.

We are now are par with Sting as far as our rankings go. It's a toss-up whether they mean the guy from The Police or the WCW.

The rankings on this screen sound like a series of awkwardly translated rap lyrics. MC Demon Sergeant could drop a beat.

I'm going to give it to the next proper dungeon before these stats start dropping.

I'm surprised they keep Nicolai on the total battles stat screen. Spoilers: He will NOT be rejoining us at any point in the game. The Director's Cut version of the game that never left Japan has a bonus dungeon where he's briefly playable again alongside Lenny and Veronica. They never finished that part for this version, unfortunately.

Music: Town of Twilight ~ European Town

Well that is the Score screen update. Let's move onto brighter horizons like a brand new village to explore. If you'll recall, our goal was to charter a boat to Wales to talk to Roger Bacon to see if he knows anything about sorting out Yuri's new curse and the whole cult wanting to kill them thing. You know, the same Roger Bacon that we saw get kidnapped by Lenny immediately after the CGI intro. But the party doesn’t know about that. Details... Our quest continues! By naturally badgering townsfolk going about their day...

But things are pretty dangerous right now in Le Havre. Better watch out.

So just nobody noticed the doom glyph in the sky last year?
Well, stiff upper lip and what not...

As we continue around the corner, we see a familiar truck. I was not fucking about with the comparison to DMCV Nico with the brothers Magimel. But before we approach that, there is an item in the corner and it is...

Hey, Seals are back. There is no longer the in-battle thing they had in the first game. Just use them. You get a stat boost! The End! Use them! That's one more point of resistance against magic attacks! I don't honestly know if that mechanically means a goddamn thing. But it sounds good on paper!

Ah, smell that fresh ocean breeze! Nice place to do a little shopping, no?

Yeah, okay. What've you got?

So Gerard does have new armor in his shop but maybe we should look around Le Havre first before investing. As you do...

Hmm... Let's keep that factoid in the back pocket...

So I have to go to bed early. It stinks!

Again... Let's not worry about this plight yet! We just got into town! Let's go across the bridge here and see what is happening.

She can literally block your path extremely hard in a weird NPC pathing way that nobody else in the game can. I don't know if that's the joke.

OK. We have some direction now from Unemployed Henry. Much more importantly, if Yuri ventures JUST past him we get a new scene with our old pal Ring Soul. This is obviously important!

You again! Ring Spirit, right?

No... My name is Ring Soul! Let me say it again... Ring Soul!

Soul and Spirit are different things. How are you all not getting this?!

Okay, okay! I get it! You're... here to give me another one of those... um... you know, right?

.........

I have little choice. I can see it... I can see your future... This I entrust to you...

Can you see where we can find a boat?
...I cannot share the future. Only observe it.
Hmph.

Another Attack Boost. We could, in theory, give this to Blanca/Yuri/Karin to boost them to the max of four strikes. But we're just going to hang onto it a bit for now.

Oh, boy! Thanks!

Your gratitude seems insincere...

N-no way! Really! I'm really happy... Thanks!

I was having a rough day and this will definitely pull me out of the slump!

.........

My gaze narrows upon you.

I will appear to you again, to bestow upon you more power... But beware! I am always watching... Watching to see if you are truly the one to command destiny...

Ring Soul vanishes.

What a mysterious spirit.
I think he's a soul, Karin. C'mon. Have some respect.
......

We're done going that direction for now. Let's double back and head toward the docks. Logically... there's probably a boat somewhere there, right?

Off the coast, it's crawling with German submarines right now. We'd be taking our lives into our hands, going out there! But we might be able to talk, depending on the price...

OK... I'm a little short on funds. Also, I'm a little caught up what the hell is a "submarine"?

He he. If you ain't got no money, go see the mayor. He's looking for vigilante-group members. See if you can get hired!

...Don't you mean like "town watch" or something? Vigilante has, you know, like... implications.
I used the words I meant.
...OK.

It just so happens the mayor's manor is just down the street. But first! As soon as we approach a man nearby the boat captain, we're automatically pulled into a mandatory conversation.

What is it? You're holding us up.

That ticket you've got. The one for the lottery. That entitles you to hold a lottery with any lottery member in the world. A lottery! With any member!

We haven't got time for that now. Come on, get out of the way!

I already did this questline. Heck, I'm on my way to the Lottery Chairman. Get outta here with this rehash.

Don't try to deceive yourself! You know you want to! Give in to your desires! Play the lottery!

...Not much of a choice, huh?!

The Lottery sidequest from the original Shadow Hearts has returned. It is... virtually identical. We need to find Lottery Tickets, most of which are hidden in the world (not QUITE as obscurely placed as the first game, but...) If we are carrying a Lottery Ticket then NPCs relevant to the quest will suddenly transmogrify into Lottery Member No.XX. We then need to do a rather difficult Judgment Ring spin to gain a prize. It's once more required to gain at least one prize from every Lottery Ticket member in the world. Although this time around, I think it's impossible to fail this quest this time around. Covenant definitely has missable content but it is mostly reserved to dungeons. There is no actual THE FIRST HALF OF THE GAME IS GONE FOREVER NOW split in the story.

In any event, we gained the Bathin Crest from winning the top prize which includes two pretty decent spells. Having an actual spell that can just delete Status Abnormalities is PRETTY good considering that was mostly the realm of consumables in Koudelka 2.

Just past the Lottery Member, we can find Extremely Poor Mahone camping out. Nothing much to be done there. But what is important is that treasure chest next to him.

Extremely Poor Mahone said he's hungry, not cold. So he won't mind if we steal this set of armor. This is a +17 Physical and +19 Special Defense armor that only Blanca and Gepetto can wear at the moment. I'd be pretty into seeing Blanca don a big think fur coat and go about this day. Either way, that’s the more expensive of the two new available armors back in the Brothers' shop (900 Cash.) So a freebie is nice to our wallet.

Doubling back the way we came and continuing past Lottery Member Fox, we find the Mayor's House at the end of the street.

Naturally, the first thing to do when approaching the domicile of a potential new employer is to break into their garage and steal some of their shit. As you do.

We've got one of the more useless accessories in the game back here. We want to avoid hitting the Berserk status if we can help it. Having the whole party gain it and having the option to flee the battle we'd have to REALLY be fucking up to get in that situation does not exactly sound worthy of an accessory slot.

Now that we've rifled through the garage, let's enter the immediately opulent to the point this mayor is definitely going to turn out to be evil mayoral mansion.

As soon as we enter the hall, an assortment of what can only be referred to as cartoonishly shady goons walk down from either end of the central stairs to address the party.

That's right. We need the money.

The Mayor also descends the stairs to address the visitors.

We're travelers. We wanted to find a ship that would take us to England.

And we finally found one, but now we have to earn some money for the fare.

Doesn't seem like there are any good spots to grind around here. So you know how it goes.

Such a small town needs a vigilante group, eh? Because of the war?

In a way. There's been more crime since the war started. A bandit's been showing up every night! We've been keeping a sharp eye out, but he's a tough customer. We can't seem to catch him. Think you guys can do it?

Do you have any special qualifications for the job?
I can command a magic puppet.
I have sword arts derived from a hundred-year German opera.
I punched out a space god once.
Awroo.
......
...Alright then. The job is yours if you want it...

Sure, why not? We'll get him snatched up before you know it.

Mayor Leonard waddles over and stares directly at Karin's chest for a few seconds. As you do.

The mayor then trots over to a chair that clearly could not begin to support his frame and has a no-clip seat.

We'll start you off on town patrol tonight. Work hard, now. No slacking!

<nods> You got it.

So we've got a job to do. Yuri did defeat multiple wizards and a space god once. A bandit in northern France can't be that much more taxing. We do need to talk with the Mayor and his entourage to progress. But there is something hidden in this room. A Lottery Ticket! Can you discover the first hidden one? No, there is not any visual indications. No shiny glowies. Nadda.

...

......

.........

Of course, it's in the stuffed bear's head! That was an easy one. They'll get more Sierra and Roberta Williams hates your guts tricky later in the game.

Also, I'd just like to remind you how the Mayor and company entered the scene -- all coming from the top of the stairs. If we... actually go to the top of the stairs, there are no rooms up here. It's just a balcony with a low-resolution picture of the mayor. What were they all doing up here and why? The world may never know. Anyway, let's talk to these clowns further.

Messed up his ankle? With a special hold?

And this guy can pick up anything that's lying around and use it as a weapon! Trust me, you don't wanna see it!

Doesn't sound like any ordinary thief!

Can you elaborate on the "special hold" thing?
Naw. Gotta keep kayfabe.
...Wha?

Don't blame me if you get hurt, okay? Or, worst case scenario, if you die...

<nods> All set!

The others are already out on patrol. Good luck to you guys.

And with that, nighttime has instantly descended on Le Havre. Welp. Let's get to this patrol.

<shakes head> *sigh* That bandit sure is scary. I hope we don't run into him!

We'll let them handle that direction and head the opposite way. Now that night has fallen, everyone has some new dialogue for our vigilante patrol.

I'm sorry, but please don't talk to me anymore. I don't know anything about that bandit, understand?

Oops! I can't tell you. It's our town's secret.

We don't need any more hooligans in this town, if you ask me... Huh? Oh, nothing. Pay no attention. I wasn't talking about you, you know.

This all clearly seems on the level. While we're here, we can return the La Cage Aux Songes shop and pick up that armor we skipped earlier.

The Leather Cloak is a +19 Physical/+17 Special Defense armor that for some reason Gepetto is unable to wear but everyone else it constitutes a decent upgrade. It is 840 Cash a pop. We can safely sell our old threads (at 5% mark-up) to recoup a chunk of the losses.

After inventory management is sorted out, the party has to make their way to the very south of Le Havre back to Unemployed Henry. Nothing is found here. But as soon as we head back the way we came...