Part 41: Update 39 – Discovorymania

Purple Moon Crystal in hand, and Drachma and the Little Jack sailing the skies once more, it's time to return home to Crescent Island.



Ba ba bam! They're back!!! And the hull seems to be in one piece.

Of course it's in one piece! A little ice isn't gonna hurt it one bit! Captain Vyse... About that book from Yafutoma... I built an engine for ya', using the plans in that book. Until now, you haven't been able to fly above or below the clouds because the pressure differences were too hard on your engine... But now, that's not a problem!

You'll be able to fly over mountains and beneath large islands! You'll be flyin' all over the damn place.

Really? That's great! When can you install it?

I'll install it tomorrow mornin' at the crack-a-dawn.

With the new engine, we'll be able to travel to more places than ever before!



Before we head to the meeting room, let's take a look around the island, because a few things have changed since the last time we were here.





Osman's shop has been upgraded with the money we gave her last time and now carries every type of magic box, but the big change is that her Talk dialogue has now changed.

Well, well, well... you may be young, but you've become quite a man of the world. I simply cannot wait until you're a little more... mature. But don't worry... come back and see me later. I'll make a real man out of you.

...Let's go to the meeting room. Now.



The Silvite Elders already have the Silver Crystal. So we really only have to worry about the Yellow Crystal.

It looks like our mission is almost finished. But wait... wasn't the Yellow Crystal located in the Maw of Tartas in Valua? Last time we went there, we couldn't get in because the opening was sealed.

Yes, the Valuans have made several unsuccessful attempts at removing the seal... But, perhaps we might be able to bypass the seal with the Delphinus' new engine. According to the geologists of the Valuan Empire...



By the way, here's something I've not mentioned before – the strange symbols on the menus and maps are actually letters. The large ones in the top left, for example, say “BARUA” - the Japanese name for Valua, but sadly the rest are just too blurred to make out from screenshots. Besides, I'm pretty sure it's all in Japanese so I wouldn't understand it anyway.

In other words, there is a whole systems of subterranean tunnels running through Valua.

So all we have to do is fly around underneath Valua and look for an opening.

I see... So, in other words, if we can't get in from the top, we'll try and get in from the bottom! We'll fly below Valua and look for an opening underneath the island! Once we get inside the tunnels, we should be able to find the Crystal.

Since we can fly higher and lower than we ever have before, we might as well take advantage of it.



Actually, we won't be going after Barua, but you probably guessed that already. We have much more important things to do.



Namely, this. See how the barometer (It's not really an altimeter, because altitude from what?) on the left has grown? The blue areas at the top and bottom are above and below the clouds where the newly modified Delphinus can fly!



WHEEEEEEEEEE!

Above and below the clouds there are no random encounters, and we're above the sky rifts and even the tallest mountains, so there is no nothing to stop us from going wherever we want to go. And where we want to go is everywhere, because this opens up a ton of new discoveries. If you were expecting plot in this update, I'm afraid you're going to be sorely disappointed.



Flails!



Satellites!



Islands! This one I really like, because while the island is invisible until discovered, the rainbow isn't, so you really do find it by finding the end of the rainbow.



Our search for discoveries has led us all the way from the Sailor's Island area to Yafutoma now, by the way.



Remember the Ryuguu Turtle from way back when we first found Yafutoma? It flies to and from this island, which has the other half of the story.



I suppose we have time for a few things that aren't Discoveries while we're in the area. This little house floats out south of Yafutoma, near the Dark Rift. It's not actually above the clouds, and took me ages to find because it thought it was.



Inside is an old, old man, surrounded by smithing tools. You can probably see where this is going.

Perhaps you might be worthy of my attention. I am known as Ryu-kan. I was once a sword-smith... now I am but a lonely hermit.

I'm Vyse. One as old and wise as yourself would probably know this, but these blades I use are called cutlasses. Old One, would you like to accompany us? Lend us your strength and skill...

Well... What's this?! I feel a great sense of courage from within your spirit! You are truly a brave soul. Perhaps you are the person that I have been waiting for all these years in solitude. Very well. I will travel with you, Young One. And I will forge you a blade unlike any known in this world!



Hell yeah! The Artisan is the final crew member position, and Ryu-Kan also serves as the weapon and armour shop back on Crescent Island. In ship battles he acts like the Incremus spell, which is handy because I don't have it yet – in ship battles Incremus lasts for longer than Increm.

By the way, the trigger for Ryu-kan joining is having obtained the Blue Moon Crystal and have a title higher than Vyse the Daring. Which I also when the Fakehats show up to ruin your title, so you pretty much have to beat them to recruit Ryu-kan.



Anyway, the grand Journey of Discoveries rolls onward! Let's explore the murky depths for the next few.



The Dancing Lights are pretty much impossible to miss, because they're right next to that underground entrance to Valua that Enrique mentioned, and they're not invisible.



Killer. Rabbits.







A lot of the moving discoveries are easier to find if you just position yourself right, save and reset. They also spawn at the same spot, so you can pick them up easily.



For the Ghost Ship, your best bet is saving in Esperanza and heading towards the Dark Rift, but I've never had much trouble finding this one in the first place anyway.



Off to the Lands of Ice now! This holds more than just a few discoveries, too.





Points towards civilisation, eh? Well, it wouldn't be the first time a Discovery has done that, let's follow it and find out!



Oh. Oh my.



This is the hidden entrance to Glacia, below the continent itself. It leads directly to Glacia proper, skipping the quiz machine section entirely, but more importantly it also leads to a Moonberry and a Moonfish that can't be reached any other way.



Ixa'taka now! Valua gets killer bunnies, Ixa'taka gets gentle mandrills. Arcadian zoology is weird.





This one is kinda confusing. They look like deep-sea volcanic vents, but this isn't the actual surface of the doughnut-planet, they're just floating here. Arcadian volcanology is weird.







The Sky Train is a fun one. It rockets across the sky so fast that the Delphinus can barely keep up, but only in straight lines.



This one is actually smack in the middle of Middle Sky, I just managed to miss it the first time we were in the area.



This one seems strangely familiar, but...20 years ago? I smell a mistranslation.





Almost done now! The Sky Ladder is on the very tip of the tallest mountain in Valua, stretching up towards the Yellow Moon above.

That leaves only one place still unexplored. A terrible place.



See that triangle of map hemmed in by the Dark Rift. It's impossible to access until now, when we can fly over the rift. In another world, it would be called the Devil's Triangle or something similar, but in Skies of Arcadia is bears another, far worse name.



Looper Land. Every random encounter here contains nothing but Loopers of all colours.Soon I will be returning here full of wrath and fire, but for now I'm here just to claim the Discoveries and get the hell out of this terrible place.



The Longline is a discovery that gives a lot of people trouble because it can drift anywhere from upper to lower sky, but personally I find it easiest just to keep an eye open above the Dark Rift and wait for it to drift by. There's another discovery that gives me far, far more trouble than this one.



I like this one a lot, because the screen goes dark at the point where it appears. It's a nice touch.



The Looper's Nest is the third and final Discovery of the area, but...remember what happened the last time we disturbed a giant nest?


Click for video!

AUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGH!

Thread, meet Giant Looper. Giant Looper, thread. Giant Looper is the third of the four giant beasts, and easily the toughest of the three. Not so much because it hits hard, but because if you attack and don't kill it, it will run away. Also, there's no friendly banter between the crew for this one, just a grim determination to wipe this scourge from the skies.



Wait for it...



RETURN FIRE!



For the record, Giant Looper has 30,000hp. Overkill is the best kind of kill.



Strangely, Giant Looper drops no ship equipment at all. Thermal Grease is a handy item that instantly maxes out the ship's SP, while the Hex Shell provides immunity to cannon fire for a round.

And now, there is only a single Discovery left on the map. The discovery that I spent many hours searching for. Queue drumroll, please, for...



Fucking. Finally. The Flutterflies are, for my money, the single hardest Discovery in the game. Not only do they have a gigantic roaming area, but even saving and resetting to know exactly where they are can only get you so far, because they're so tiny as to be almost invisible.

And that's on a full-size screen. Now imagine trying to find them in a 640x480 window where each of the yellow dots is barely a pixel across. Not an easy task, take it from me.

And that's it! We have every Discovery on the world map! There are stil two discoveries to go in total, but neither of them is as simple as stumbling across it in the Delphinus. We're not quite done with this update yet, though. There's still one thing left to do.



This hut floats out near Valua, way above the cloud ceiling. Inside it, surrounded by all manner of strange machinery and bulging bookcases...



My name is Ilchymis. I have come to this island to further my studies of various medicines.

You're on this island, alone... to study?! You're quite strange...

Heh heh... you're probably right. I've been called strange ever since I was a child. I was always asking question... Why does water float when it freezes? Why is the sky blue? But that brings to mind another question... What brings you to this island, anyway?



You probably worked this one out as soon as we got here, but Ilchymis the alchemist is going to be Ryu-kan's competitor for the Artisan position. He (yes, really) is even harder to please than the swordsmith, too.

Actually, I would like to ask you to join my crew. We are in need of a doctor...

Ha ha... I'm no doctor. I'm a chemist... I study medicines and such. I am very happy that you would like to take me along, but I am sorry. I cannot travel with you.

Well, dang. Asking him again only results in the same answer, but if we leave the hut and come back...

Oh, hello. Vyse, was it? What brings you here again?

I will ask you again... Will you join my crew?

...I was not planning on leaving this island any time soon. Well, in fact, I was once a nobleman of Valua. I threw all of that away... in order to come here and pursue my studies. I have no intention of returning to the world. The only person I will leave this island to travel with is he who has a heart full of wisdom and love. When a man capable of casting the Silver Magic known as “Riselem” shows himself at my doorstep, I know that man is the one I will follow.

“Riselem”? Actually, we know that spell.

Wh, what? You learned that incredibly difficult spell? ...I see. Then that means you have a heart full of wisdom and love.

And a brain full of instant death spells!

I've been waiting for people such as yourselves. Please, take me with you. I only hope that my research can be of some use to you.

Ahahaha. Oh, Ilchymis, you have no idea. It's not entirely clear what he does in battle, but I think he increases all the ship's stats for a turn. In any case...



The final crew position has been filled! The voting is now open on the battle of the Ryu-kan vs. Ilchymis! Swords vs. Chemistry, which is it to be?

While you muse on that, I think it's time for a break. Next time, we tie up a few loose ends, show off the power of the new crewmembers, and make way for Valua! See you then!

Video List

Giant Looper