The Let's Play Archive

Shadow Hearts: Covenant

by The Dark Id

Part 88: Episode LXXXII: A Snowball's Chance

Episode LXXXII: A Snowball's Chance


Music: Rising Sun ~ Japanese Town



I owe you all a great deal of thanks.
Really, it was nothing.
Half of us weren't even there.
I have no idea what I missed.
But doesn't he need to go to the hospital?
Those were cutscene bullets that hit him. Those can be rough.



He's fine. He may be thin, but don't worry, he's extremely tough.
It's nothing a Thera Seed or two cannot remedy.
Was that your daughter that was kidnapped?
Yes.



We've got to go save her!
I want nothing more than for her to return. But she's an important hostage. So I'm sure they'll do nothing to harm her.
This isn't my first involvement with a political kidnapping, you know.

Music: ENDS



Don't you think he seems kind of calm, considering what happened?
Shh! He'll hear us!
Don't worry. He's probably hard of hearing, anyway.
He's like five times older than my dad and he can barely hear.
Are you sure he isn't just listening most of the time?
Like there is a difference.
I'm old but I'm not deaf, little lady! Not yet.



......
......
Umm...
I, uh, umm, err...

A door slides open behind the old man.



Oh, how are you feeling?
<bows> I'm fine. Please don't be concerned about me.
That was nothing compared to the number of times I was shot last night in the trainyard.

Lovey-dovey harp plays.



Wooow...





Master, these people?
Is there some manner of circus in town?
These are the ones who brought you here when you were hurt.
<giggles and wiggles back and forth>
Oh, I see.



<bows> Thanks you. I owe you all my life.
Oh really... it was nothing! It-it was our pleasure!
...Uhh?
Why are you so red? Have you developed a fever? I know an exercise regimen that ca—



You!
<returns to giggling>



Anyway, we thought you died back there.
Like I told the old man, cutscene bullets can be no joke.
......
...Yeah...
Hmm...
Soooo... what now?



There is dangerous work ahead. You've already done much to help. You needn't get further involved.
Well, maybe not, but...
Yeah, but getting involved with stuff that isn't really our business is kind of our thing...
An odd hobby, to be sure.
Ehh. The last time I tried to keep to myself I ended up fighting the German Army and getting cursed by a cult. Anyway...
I think you know the people who took your daughter, don't you?
Heh. That's true. But it would be wiser for you all to keep away from this. It's not your concern.
I'm afraid we can't do that.
And why is that?
My partner... I mean, my pet wolf...



You mean Snowball?
Snowball?!
Pfft... hahaha... Snowball...?
Yes that's him!
<points at Yuri> You mean Blanca, don't you?!
Hmm...
I don't know. Snowball is growing on me. Hehe.



That wolf. He saved us last night too.
You see. We can't just forget about him.
He's halfway through the international Wolf Bout circuit. It'd be a shame to abandon it now.
Wolf... Bout...?
Hmm...

Blanca, on cue, wanders into the room.





Heeeh?!
Huh?!
Ohh!
<smiles> Snowball!!
<waves arms in protest> Blanca!!







Hmm?
Eh?
Oh?
It's the Princess's!!
You found their secret hideout, boy?
<nods> Awroo!! (That's right!)
Good job, Snowball!
Awroo!! Grr! (Don't you even start with that!)
See, he loves it.
No he doesn't!


Music: Rising Sun ~ Japanese Town



I guess it's decided then.
It's not like we're doing anything else or have any other leads.
<looks to Kurando> Hmm. Shall we accept their assistance?
<nods> Yes.



The Mysterious Old Man puts his waiting cap on and proceeds to chill out. I suppose we ought to have asked the name of the man we're helping and whose home we have been hanging out in all morning. Or the name of the kidnapped princess we're gallivanting off to rescue. But, eh. Details. Speaking of details, if we investigate the pillar just to the right of the old man, we find...



Our first Disc 2 Soul Drop. How convenient.



And wouldn't you know it? There's a save point right outside the old man's house. Or, I guess it's just an inn he's staying at that only seems to have one room. Whatever.


Music: Holy Mistletoe ~ Graveyard



There is no sense in hanging on to the Soul Drop for a rainy day. So let's go straight to the Graveyard and cash this one in, shall we?





We picked up the ever-useful Level 3 Fire Elemental Fusion in our last Soul Drop excursion. We may as well get its less useful cousin, the Water Elemental.




Music: Vicious 1915 ~ Battle in Europe



This time around we are facing Pripegala -- which is a slightly mangled version of Pripelaga (also known as Dodola) a Slavic goddess of the rain. Again, it's identical stat-wise to its counterpart Level 3 Fusion beasts (600 HP.)





This version buggers around with raising Yuri's Evasion and buffing its own. It probably has a middling Water elemental spell too.



I really couldn't tell you. It was annihilated by the first strike of Yuri's third turn. Again, these bosses are the one time I'd say maaaaybe level scaling would have been a good idea.


Music: Holy Mistletoe ~ Graveyard





Taking out Pripegala has bestowed us with the Veneficium Fusion. If you want another Great Flood, look no further. This is giving me a real aquatic enemy from Final Fantasy X vibe to it. I think it's the Bahamut-esque coloring scheme it's obtained in the glow up to Level 3 form.



At Level 1, Veneficium comes boosting stats by:
Pretty fast, good at magic. Very lucky. I dunno. I've never been wet and lucky at the same time. They seem mutually exclusive concepts. Yes, I know there's a getting your dick wet joke to be made in regards to being lucky. Have some class, you animals.

In addition to the Amnis and Mahrae Fusions' potential skill set, Veneficium can also learn:
Arc Mirage - 36 MP. Increases Evasion for all allies.
Cure All - 32 MP. Restores all HP to one ally. Not bad if somewhat situational.
Hail - 64 MP. Single-target Water attack. The best we're going to get for Water class magic. Good stuff.


Music: Rising Sun ~ Japanese Town



With the Soul Drop business taken care of and another Level 3 Fusion added to the pile, we're now free to chat up folks around the Yokohama Streets. Or, really just the one street. The plural is misleading. This is quite a small little portion of town we have access to, yet it is surprisingly dense with content we want to acquire.



Is the sky always a sickly green around here...? I guess it's a change from it always being sunset back in Europe, but...
It's mostly just like this in May.
That is oddly specific.



Climate change is no laughing matter, old man.



Cake, maybe. But I don't think I would call the rest of those "western food."
What would you know?
...I was living in Europe for the last year.
Pfft. A likely story.



Around the corner, we have another Lottery Ticket. No Lottery Members to be found on the Yokohama Streets, though.



Are you allowed to complain about that while wearing a three-piece western tailored suit?
Tragically, I cannot help but concede to the latest fashion trends.
Yeah. How terrible for you.



This character is part of an alternate path we could have taken in the Trading sidequest. If we took the Daruma Doll to a man standing outside Carla's place in Florence then we would have gotten a Fine Tea Set which in turn we could trade to a man in the Yokohama Brick Warehouses who would prematurely abort the quest with a final reward of Strongoids. Alternately, we could trade the Fine Tea Set to Akiko the Celebrity here and obtain the Talking Panda and get back on track with the main sidequest thread. Or just skip all that like we did. But, there are some inane additional details for you.





There is also another crest hidden in a chest around the corner from here. Heading any further to the north will make us exit the area. So let's continue heading west down the main street to find...



Oh... Of course, the Magimel Brothers followed us all the way to Japan. How could we ever doubt as much? And with these two, of course, comes...





Yeah, I feel like that stripping in front of your patients should be frowned upon. But this guy, Dr. Uzuki, told me it was fine. He learned it was an acceptable practice back in med school. And I'm no doctor, so what do I know? Let's talk to the rest of the people wandering nearby before we tango with the merchants.



Nihonbashi is a district of the Imperial Capital and definitely not a future destination.



What's it called? It's "Rashomon," by Akutagawa Ryunosuke.
Interesting. I'll try to remember that.

OK. Let's see what the hell these Frenchmen are doing in Japan.



W-what are you guys doing here?! This is Japan... You know that, right?!
Oooh, what a cold reception! And we came all the way along the Silk Road to join you!
We took a rocket plane 90% of the way here. How did you get here ahead of us?!
Pure tenacity to please our best customers.
<start chuckling>
Y-you're stalking me!



I can't let all that money we spent on gas getting here to waste!
Yeah... wouldn't want you to continue stalking me...
I'll buy something.



The Magimel Brothers' stock is largely the same as the inventory back in the Brick Warehouses merchant except Kurando has now formally joined the party (oh by the way Kurando is in the party now) and he does have a weapon upgrade. The Awataguchi has +121 Physical and +88 Special Attack Power. We're heading off to a dungeon and Kurando may be a mandatory component of the proceedings so we may as well grab the upgrade even if we just got him in the party proper. After all he still doesn't have any abilities beyond "Use Sword."

Beyond that, we did just get a Stud Card but we exhausted all of the common elemental options. And the ones we don't speak of... So for the remaining dresses made by Pierre, we need to obtain special items to spark... inspiration in the dressmaker. You know, beyond the softcore beefcake porn trading cards. So remember that Raccoon Friend doll we purchased in the previous area...? Well...



Hey! That raccoon toy...
Huh? This? It's pretty cute, isn't it?
The fur feels weirdly natural...
Will you sell it to me? Or tell me where I can buy one?! It's giving me inspiration for a new dress.
What? You want this? I dunno if I can let it go... Oh, all right! Here, have it!
Why do I feel like I am immediately going to regret this...?
Thanks! Now I'll sketch out my new design! Like this... a bit here... a bit there... There! All done! Well, it came out really well! I'm a genius, even if I say so myself! That really perked me up! Now that I've gotta new design, I'll sew you a dress any time you want! Of course, there's the usual S-t-u-d Card exchange! Hmm?! Have you got a new card for me? I could make you a dress right now if you're in the mood!
Unfortunately, I do... Make it quick.



This is definitely someone's fetish and we're all going to jail. Again. This dress boosts both Earth and Fire elemental damage. Ecstasy is a non-elemental special attack the function of which I do not know and am not going to investigate. According to the dress description...



And we're done here! Let's talk to the rest of the townsfolk and get the hell out of here before the cops show up.



It's all well and good to worry about what's going on overseas, but what about the state of things here?

I've got bad news for a century from now, pal.



I heard America may drop its neutrality and join the war since German U-boats sunk its luxury liner, the Lusitania.

I guess we did hit a time warp at some point and we're just in 1915-2 seeing as the Lusitania did get sunk in May 1915.



......
Do you mind not getting so close? A true gentleman only smells a lady's perfume when they're waltzing!
......
Please! Behave yourself! If you like this scent so much, here! Have it!

I haven't got anything else to give you! Now, will you kindly stop loitering around near me!



Pestering that woman several times nets us another of Lucia's Aromatherapy Oils. Goodie.



Let me tell you, bergamot fires me up more than a tumbler of whiskey and no amount of orange or grapefruit will calm my rage. OK. The increasingly robust combinations this time are:

Eh. There are a few I could see the utility of but not enough to have a list of proper combinations in front of me and leveling Lucia up to snuff.



Speaking of Lucia, right up the street from where we obtained some perfume oil from harassing a random townsperson, we can find another of Lucia's Tarot Cards ditched in a corner.



The Sun either increases everyone's Sanity Points by 50% or reduces it by 50%. Special Effect either doubles SP or in Reverse it reduces everyone's SP to 1 and we end up with another goddamn party wipe if Lucia has the last turn in a given round. :argh:



There is one last very important encounter hidden precisely at this street corner in between where we obtained the Shining Oil and the Sun Tarot. It's time to catch up with an old friend!



Glad to see you could make it to Japan. I was worried you only hung out in Europe.
Boo-boo! Today I'll be playing the diddly-widdly A-ya, as the Wing Soul! Butterflies in my tummsie-wummsie!
<backs up in shock> Ha ha ha?! Great...!
I'm the Wing Soulsie-wolsie! The will of the Judgment Wing! The administrator of every teenie-weenie bit of fate!
Ha ha! Aya... right? Great performance!
Peekaboo! I can see you! I can see your future! This is for you!



We can start sticking these on Kurando now. Or rather, gather all the ones we were wasting on Anastasia or Gepetto and shove them all into Kurando.



It's the power of the Judgment Wing! Wow! Next time I come to play, I'll give you more power! I pwomise! I'm gonna watch and see you're all fwiendly to Mr. Destiny-Westiny! Thanks for being my fwiends! I had fun!
Yeah, little cutsie-wootsie...
...That's the kind of thing! That was my little Aya. She's the cutest, huh? Right?
Y-yeah! Really cute!
Ha ha! We've been watching her really closely, me and Miyabi. Every night. Not doing anything else! Oh, I'm so glad you like it! And the last one too! Great! How about my grandma next time? She's no longer with us of course, but...
...No, thanks.
No?! I don't mind, really. It'd be great!
No, really!
You uhh... wouldn't want to get it wrong and umm... disrespect the dead or anything, ya know... Heh...
...I guess that's a good point. I couldn't nail it like Aya or Miyabi.
Y-yeah...
Oh, what a shame! I was sure I could do it as well! See you, then!

Ring Soul vanishes.



You're the one that started this.
Yeah, I have a lot of regrets in my life... Thanks for reminding me.



And with that, we are done with Yokohama and are moving on to the villain's secret base. Which is still, technically, in Yokohama. But minor details. Tune in next time for... raiding wherever the hell Blanca is taking us because we don't really have anything better to do than general heroics at the moment. Look, we'll get a real plot soon enough. Stay tuned.



There wasn't much in the way of new enemies and we only learned the name of one of the new characters we met. But, that still adds some entries to the Library.



Monster:



You know, except for the occasional nighttime raids or broad daylight kidnappings and drive-by shootings... a pretty dull assignment.

Character:



I think we know Young Swordsman's name is Kurando... Though I guess technically the party doesn't know his name beyond maybe Blanca. And nobody can actually speak Awroo.



We REALLY should have asked this guy's name before setting off...



She's a huge fan of Sonic the Hedgehog. Or Needlemouse-chan as he was known in 1915.




Video: Episode 82 Cutscene







Yokohama Inn Concept Art - Quaint.





Yokohama Streets Concept Art - Rustic.