Part 31: Tales of Procresstinatoin

We could go to Venezia now, sure, but I'd much rather go do other, more fun, things first.





Like, say, check out Morrison's house. We'll be ignoring the cave for now, since there's nothing we can do there just yet.



There's a new recipe we can get here in place of a new one at, say, Hamel for what I'd hope are obvious reasons. If we could actually cook this one (it needs one ingredient we don't actually have yet) it'd heal, uh, 15% of your HP and cure poison/paralysis. Whether that's worth it or not is up to you.



In spite of this guy's obvious lineage, he's pretty much useless and just here for this optional scene.

???: I'm a bit pre-occupied at the moment.
: You wouldn't happen to be a Morrison, would you?
Harold: I certainly am. The name is Harold D. Morrison. Wait, you... By chance, are you the Cless that grandfather was always talking about!?
: Yeah, that's me.

This is something that always confused me; we know that it's a 50 year gap and whilst 50 years would certainly be sufficient to have grandchildren, it wouldn't be enough to have grandchildren who would end up being roughly the same age as their grandparents were 50 years ago. I'm fairly certain the 50 year thing was originally intended to be longer and they made it with that larger gap in mind, or forgot it was 50 years or something.

I'm sure someone can explain this better than I could, or even explain why I'm possibly horribly horribly wrong or something. Sure in some cases it would work out perfectly but we'd have to assume that Trinix was exactly 30 years old. Granted that isn't entirely unreasonable (Klaus is "only" 29 after all) but if this was the only example of this it wouldn't bug me as much, but it's not.

Harold: I see. Then you're... In that case, I'll be glad to help in any way I can. Although I'm afraid I can't offer to join you in your battle with Dhaos. I'm sure you've gathered that my grandfather was Trinix D. Morrison. And, of course, Edward is my distant ancestor. Both of them possessed incredible power. However, unfortunately, I did not inherit any of their talent...

This one actually makes perfect sense (though my explanation might not); we know Edward was a half-elf and his wife was almost definitely a human. This would make his children only a quarter-elvish; by the time Trinix was born, the elven blood would potentially be incredibly diluted (roughly 1/32 Elvish, give or take a generation) to the point where the fact that he was even able to cast spells was amazing in and of itself.

: We're grateful even for the sentiment.
: I'm a bit curious, did your grandfather ever tell you what became of us?
Harold: Would you like me to tell you what I know?



: Why not? Who cares about you?
: I want to hear.
: Shut up, I said I don't want to hear a word about it!
: Come on now, just calm down.
: But he's right, we shouldn't hear any more...
: Huh? But why not? I want to hear!
: There are some things that people are just better off not knowing, and their own future is certainly one of them.
: You really think so?
: My apologies, Harold. Can we just forget about my previous question?
Harold: Oh, that's quite all right...
: It's just like going to a fortune teller, I don't know why we can't hear just a bit...
: If we hear our future, it might change how we act. We could end up accidentally changing the future.
Harold: Fate and destiny are the names we give to the paths that all people must forge during their lifetimes. Even the greatest fortune-teller would tell you this... <<The fate of any living being is already 99% predetermined.>>



Harold: The truth of the matter is, my grandfather never spoke even a single word to me about what became of all of you. You can each decide what meaning that fact holds, but I have my own opinion on the matter. I think it's because he believed in that 1%. He believed in all of you and in the path you would choose.
: Yeah, I think you're right.
: Huh!? So you mean we've only got a 1% chance?
: I don't believe that's what he means.
: He probably wanted to encourage us to give our very best effort no matter what we do.
: Not knowing what awaits us, our resolve and our actions will never falter.
: I see, so that's it.
: Do you really understand?
: I said I've got it!! You're so obnoxious!!
: Hey, come on, quit with the fighting.
Harold: Although I can't join you in battle, at the very least please treat my home as if it were your own.

Don't worry; we won't be coming back here for anything.



A free rest? Best make that almost anything.

There's something far, far, far more important here though. Remember that Pin-Up Magazine we got for Klaus ages ago? This is where we can actually put it to use.



Curio: I'm a painter, but, well, what really inspires me is women. Oh ho, I see you've got a nice magazine there that's full of the kind of female inspiration I've been searching for. How about I trade you something for that Pin-Up Mag?



Despite being labelled as a collectable, this one actually has a use. It's not a great use, like the Combo Counter, or anything but it does have an extra purpose beyond dicking you out of every item.

Though it does that too,because there's only like 2 Pin-Up Mags in the entire game and if you don't know you need one now you won't be able to get it*. So I guess in that regard it earned that (c) label.

_{*Apparently there's an accesory that lets you get it, but it has awful odds of doing so.}



Like the Combo Counter, it adds a new option to the Customize menu. This one is purely cosmetic, but it's worth it for a laugh at least.



I think they're kinda funny at least.



Something I forgot about before, was that after we kicked Dhaos' teeth in Cless gained a new arte. Focus is going on in place of the Claw Kick and is literally never coming off. It makes Flare Bottles functionally useless, since it boosts Cless' Attack temporarily (who else are you gonna use them on?). It costs 4 more TP than Sharpness, but I'm more inclined to give Cless a Fairy Ring over Mint until she gets any of her final spells. Nothing until them really warrants it.



There's nothing particularly interesting in here unfortunately. We can go check out that gravestone though to see who's it is I guess.



Or, not. Since it still doesn't tell us, even though it's pretty obvious.

I really came here because there's an easily missable scene, but apparently it doesn't trigger yet. Guess we'll be coming back here later.



Remember this place? There's actually a reason to come here at this point. It's not a great reason, and if it wasn't here then there'd be no point in it at all but we are in the area.



At level 41, Mint picks up an upgrade for a spell she's had since level 5. It does the same thing but now it's multi-target! It's still surprisingly useful though, and the enemy AI is as aware of this fact as you should be.



The only item here in the future is a pact ring. It boosts Klaus' defence by 20. The spirit it goes with is optional, so naturally we'll be getting it when we can.



With the Sapphire pact ring, we've done everything we can in that region for now, so let's check out this tournament at Euclid. The seemingly unique palette soldier there "rates" the titles you're using; everyone else just comments on the rules of the fights here.



Note that it says "restorative" items. You get to keep the items that don't fall under that term, which includes Panacea Bottles and, for some bizarre reason, Life Bottles. It also includes Liqueur Bottles, Hourglasses/Chronoglasses and, thankfully, Spectacles (some enemies only appear here).



Even though they don't exist in this game, I'd imagine if they did that having a gun of some kind would pretty much destroy any challenge in this place immediately.



This is more of a cosmetic restriction though, for reasons we'll see shortly. There's essentially no reason for it whatsoever.



The black soldier/knight here is clearly relevant but first let's talk to the king.



Free money is always welcome, especially when it's a relatively decent amount. I say "relatively" because if this was about 20 minutes later, it'd be next to nothing.



Knight: The quest to rescue the Goddess Ishtar from the Demon Druaga. The Legendary Hero Gilgamesh and Shrine Maiden Ki standing up to the Demon against all odds... But was it really just a legend? In this world, there are nine items from that legend that truly exist. A sword, a helmet, a suit of armour, a set of gauntlets, a pair of boots, a staff and two shields. That's only eight... Oh, that's right. I always forget that one item.



As you'd imagine, we'll be getting the other 8 of these. They're fairly decent items for the most part, but one of them is something that's never going to be used.

Oh, "the other 8." We already have one of them. We've had one of them for a very long time in fact.



These things are the first, and easiest, of the items to find. They're also the only one you're almost guaranteed to find without knowing about the rest; it's not impossible to find the others without knowing their relevance, mind, but due to their locations it's not likely.



This is the only thing she comments on that stands out. A female knight with a sword? I'm fairly certain she's mistaken here; there's two possibilities for who that could be and neither are what I'd describe as a "knight."



Steak restores 35% HP. It doesn't do anything else, but it doesn't really need to either. There's not much it really needs to do given what you'd use it for (or what I'll be using it for at least).



And there's some books on this floor too, but this is the only one that stands out. A place called "Japon" that are apparently known for ninjas? They're not even trying to hide what that's blatantly an allegory for, are they?



And we can even use that Black Card we picked up a short while ago.



Now we just have to find someone who wants this one assuming someone like that exists.



More importantly, we've put it off enough; let's check out the tournament!



Or, rather, let's check out why doing it so far is an incredibly bad idea. To simplify things, you can only use Cless here. It's 8 consecutive 1 on 1 battles against what are supposed to be increasingly more difficult regular enemies before getting the opportunity to face the 9th monster, which counts as a boss. Winning essentially doesn't count unless you beat this thing; you still get some of the reward you would get otherwise, but not all of it. On top of that, you need to beat the full set of 9 enemies at least 10 times for the entire sidequest to count as complete. The problem there?



This guy. The video probably sums it better than I could. Just take a massive list of expletives, double it and then add some more. As far as I care, this thing is one of the hardest fights in the entire game and a damned good contender for the hardest... but there's two others that have it ever-so-slightly beaten there.



He's hard enough when you're fully prepared for it, and have legitimate end-game equipment (that fucking needle attack is only part of the reason why). Plinking away at him with the fucking Moon Falx is destined to never, ever succeed... and he's weak to light!

We'll be back eventually, though and when we return we will not leave until Cless has single-handedly made Galf Beasts extinct. Until then, we do have to go meet Harrison and there's nothing else to waste time on...