Part 32: The Dark Rift

All right! Time to explore what is hands down my favourite area in the game!



And here's our way in, just like Don said. It's right next to the wrecked blimp discovery.

It looks like we can get inside the Dark Rift through here. Enrique, are you ready?

... Yes, I'm ready. I don't suppose I have much of a choice at this point. We must get through the Dark Rift no matter what. Don't mind me... I will be fine. This is neither the time nor the place to be complaining about airsickness.


_{This track is missing from the OST, which is criminal because it's one of the best tracks in the game}



Welcome to the Dark Rift. You probably noticed that things look a little different, and that's because this is the first of the ship dungeons. Essentially it's a maze, with full freedom of movement in all three dimensions. That's pretty awesome in itself, but I just love the look of this place. What would you expect to find in the Dark Rift? Ominous black clouds?



Well, it has those, along with these strange tunnels through them, but I'd put money you wouldn't have expected to find this.



Yes, this is what the Dark Rift looks like, and it is incredibly disconcerting the first time you come here – and not much better the tenth time either. It looks weird enough in static pictures, but in motion it's even weirder. The islands heave and pulsate from time to time, like they're breathing.



These glowing shipwrecks act as chests, although it would be nice if the game actually told you that at all. At least, most of them are just loot for the taking. One of them, however...



This one actually takes us inside the wreck, still with one last survivor clinging to life.



Um... sir? Are you alright? Did you get shipwrecked in here?

...who are you?

Uh, I'm Vyse, a Blue Air Pirate. What's your name?

...I don't know.

...Huh?

I can't remember anything from before the crash. I can't even remember my shipmates' names... I... I...

It appears that he has amnesia. Poor man... the shock of being shipwrecked must have been devastating...

I wonder where he's from...

It... it's you! Oh, thank the Moons I've found you!!





Robinson... that's my name...?

Yes, that's right! It's me! Polly! Don't you remember me? Anne and I have been waiting for you for years!

Polly? Anne? …..............



Yes! My name is Robinson! And I remember! I remember my wife, Polly! And my daughter, Anne!

Yes, yes! That's right!!

...Yes, I remember now. Oh, Polly... I'm so sorry. You must've been so worried... I'm so sorry that I left you alone for so long...



And thus ends the shortest amnesia plot in history.

...Nor will I. But... it seems you're... a lot more woman than when I last saw you...

You haven't seen me in years and that's all you have to say to me?!



Polly tells me that she is a member of your crew now... I would like to go with Polly. Could I come aboard your ship as a member of your crew?

Of course! We could always use more help!

I'm not in the best of shape, but I still remember how to sail. I can at least do that much for you.



And now Marco has some competition for the position of Sailor. Robinson costs 8SP to use in ship battles, but reduces SP consumption for a turn. As always, vote in the thread for your favourite, and bold your choice so it's easier to pick out.



Oh, and right in front of Vyse is probably the most cunningly hidden chest in the game. It contains a Moonberry, and thus Fina's next skill!



Lunar Winds is an incredibly handy move. The damage is completely negligible, but it's the only way to remove buffs from enemies, and would have made the Ixa'ness Demons so much more manageable.



And speaking of cunningly hidden things, the Dark Rift also contains the only discovery that isn't on the world map.



The Black Moon Stone is easy enough to find, but only if you already know it's there. If you don't know it's there then there's really no indication that it exists, because the spinning compass that usually indicates a discovery is nowhere to be seen in the Dark Rift.

So, how do we get back out of the Dark Rift? I make it look pretty easy in the video, but it's incredibly easy to get lost, and there are a lot of “fake” exits that just take you back to the Esperanza side. Still, it's pretty obvious when you've found the right one, at least.



See that thing lurking in the vortex? That's your indication that you're on the right track.

I don't know, but this is probably it's () home. And it doesn't look like it's going to let us leave without a fight!





Surprise boss fight! This is Anguila, a sort of otherworldly abomination that just happens to live in the wrong vortex. It's also Spanish for “eel”. As long as it's hiding in the portal most attacks will either miss or have no effect, so let's see if we can't convince the eel to come out to play.



Y'know, I hope it isn't a straight line from the portal to Yafutoma, or this may need some explaining.



Now that's out in the open we can do some serious damage for a while. Annoyingly it managed to survive and go back into hiding with a tiny sliver of health, and I was forced to finish it off with another Moonstone Cannon. Not the most difficult fight in the game, in all honesty. The Timing Valve that it drops is another one of Osman's finds.



Well! I can't believe that we are actually going to be able to see what lies east of the Dark Rift! We're making history as we speak!

All right! This opens up a massive new area, at a guess I'd say it's a good quarter of the map, and almost all of it is open sky. You know what that means – a heaping helping of new discoveries for the finding!






Click for video!

Sadly, we can only explore for so long before being rudely interrupted. Not that there's any rush to find the discoveries now that Domingo has been soundly beaten at his own game, but still.

Now that you mention it... I can hear something... I'm not sure what it is.









What the?!

Aaahhh!!

They just came out of nowhere and attacked us!

It looks like we're going to have to take them down.







And unlike your paper aeroplane, our vessel was not just vaporised by a moonstone cannon. Behold the power of the Delphinus! There's a bit more to this battle than I'm showing, really – Yafutoman ships can fly too high to be hit by cannons, but torpedoes can hit them just fine. Seriously though, it's so easy you can just throw strategy to the winds and do whatever the hell you like.



We're not done yet, though. Apparently atomising the last ship didn't get the message across.

What appears to be the enemy's Flagship is approaching!

There are two boats! No... one boat! No... there's two... I think...

Looks like they're planning to board us! All hands on deck!!!



Westerners...

We've been waiting for you...

...!



Who are you?!





It is our mission...

...to collect 1000 swords.

So, you must pick one...

...of two choices.

Surrender, and give up your weapons...

...or die, and we take your weapons.

It is up to you...

...to decide your fate.



Ehehehe, no.

How about we kick your butts and toss you overboard? Besides, you guys are unarmed, what can you possibly do to us?

If that is your decision...

...then we must kill you now.





Boss fight time! Jao and Mao are just straight-up bruisers, no fancy tricks here. They each have a signature attack which hits pretty hard, usually upwards of 1000 damage.



Jao's Irnagun flings a bunch of magical shurikens at a character, while Mao's Tatatimorutto is a Street Fighter-style series of rapid kicks. Like the twins themselves, the attacks are pretty much interchangeable. Not a difficult boss fight if you're halfway diligent about healing.



...you are stronger than we thought.

We must report this...

...to our Commander.



And then they jump off the edge of the ship. The party runs to investigate...





Only to meet the rising Yin Yang, Jao and Mao safely on board.

And we are known as Tenkou.

Westerners...

... we shall meet again.





Blue Moon Stones hold the powers of wind and water. The Yafutoman ships are powered by these stones. By harnessing the power of the wind, their ships can reach altitudes that we can only imagine.

Well, looks like we chased them off for now. we should try and find Yafutoma.

Hmm! Not a friendly welcome, all in all. Oh well, back to discoverin'!



This discovery is unusual because it's one of the few that's actually tied into a sidequest. We'll see more about that later, of course.

Wow! There are so many herbs and spices growing here! I've never seen so many in one place before!

It's amazing... this place is truly a treasure island.

But we really should disturb the island too much...

Yeah... I suppose that if we took too many of the seeds and stuff that the trees might not be able to grow back... but, I'm sure that it would be okay just to take a little bit, right Vyse?

I swear, Aika. You and your “just a little bit”. Alright, alright... we'll take something with us.



Going by the boxes in the Nasrad port I'm guessing that khale is something like chilli peppers, but whatever it it's certainly pretty spicy!





Aaaagh. These can be an absolute NIGHTMARE to find. Not only are they pretty hard to spot, they have a gigantic roaming area. There's a trick to find them easily, but I was lucky enough to run into them by chance.





Evil evil evil. It's in the middle of nowhere where you have no business being and there are no landmarks to position yourself by. And it's invisible.





This one would have been much, much easier if I had left it until later, for reason that will become apparent later.

Anyway, that's all but one of the discoveries for the area, and sadly exploring the actual city of Yafutoma will have to wait until next time. Still, we can at least take a look at the city, right?



Theere we go. Yafutoma is a pretty awesome city that I can't wait to show off, so hopefully I'll actually do that in a reasonable amount of time for once. See you then!

Video list
The Dark Rift
The Tenkou