Part 7: It's Muza, but Muscle Also Applies

Part 7: It's Muza, but Muscle Also Applies


Assuming you figure out which direction is west, Fort Teve is really easy to spot.


On their way in, a dark, oval shadow passes over our heroes. It still takes them a good few seconds to think about looking up, though.


She says it like it's a tourist attraction.

Let's hurry, Meis!


Several bombs and mechanical soldiers drop out of the sky, raining down upon the entrance to the fort.


Far be it from me to second guess the Dark Acolytes' tactics, but it really doesn't seem helpful to keep dropping those bombs on your own soldiers.


Meanwhile, Meis and Sodina have just realized that this delivery may be a bit harder than the last few.

Meis, watch out! The enemy is coming from above!
Well, yeah, Sodina, that's pretty obvious.


No, I mean DIRECTLY above us.


This may be a problem.


Fortunately, the battle system saves the day by forcing the gearmen to attack in groups of three.


We can also take this opportunity to test out how spells work. Basically, the spells are divided into three categories: support, recovery, and offense. Between Barrier, Heal, and Wind, we have exactly one spell in each menu.


In addition, while the back still can't attack the enemy, offensive spells can reach the back.


With Sodina in the back, I can now show the three actions the back can perform. Spells can be cast (but only from the recovery and support menus) and items used, or if you don't want to do either, just set them to standby. Also note that, while two people can stand in the back, only one can act at any time. It's also worth mentioning that both the spells and the items can be used on friends and foes alike. This'll be useful to know down the line.


Each time standby is selected, one of the back members will either cheer or taunt, with different effects for each character. Sodina, for example, can either heal a small number of hit points for each cheer or lower the front enemy's offense with a taunt. It's not much, but it's free.

Anyway, let's have a look at that Wind spell!


Looks impressive.


Sadly, it only deals about as much damage as Meis' regular attack. It's partly because he sucks as a mage, but it's also because Wind is only really effective against airborne targets.

Either way, spells cost EP and attacks cost nothing, so I instead just killed all three with critical hits. I'm not kidding; I managed to hit


Every


Last


One


With critical hits. It was damn impressive.


Sadly, reinforcements immediately dropped down.



Hold it right there!

Suddenly, a soldier from the fort jumps into the circle! Heroic music starts to play.


Hey Muza! What's up?


Oh god, they know each other.




Knowing what comes next, Meis pulls Sodina out of the circle of enemies.


I love their expressions for this bit.


And so with two sweeps of his blade, Muza has destroyed all of the surrounding enemies.


Sadly, it also destroyed his sword.


Seems like there's a lot of that going around lately.



Fortunately, Sodina remembered the thing she said a few seconds ago.




Oh good, test subjects.


Man, that is a big, beat-up looking sword.

So here's the deal: while Muza is obviously overpowered for the other characters' current level, we get to use him for this single battle. We'll be coming back to get him later, obviously, but not until Muza's absurd health and EP don't seem so awesome.


Until then, we can at least do this.


Note how it hits all three enemies and kills them all instantly.


Nice.



As of now, the player is given control over Meis again. While you're expected to make a dash for the door, gearmen will continue to drop in threes so long as you linger on this screen. They're not terribly threatening, so it's actually a pretty good place to get in some grinding.


With that done, the heroes regroup inside the base.


The screen pans up to a set of holes in the wall as more and more gearmen drop down.


A set of boulders are then sent out the holes.


They crash down on the gearmen, who seem to be oddly milling about. Well, not for very long, anyway.




I really have to say, Muza's breastplate is in my "top 5 most ridiculous armors" list. It looks like he's wearing a repurposed car bumper.

I heard about your homeland. I figured you'd still be chasing women. What have you been up to?

Apparently, we're supposed to assume some exposition goes here.


What? My dad's in the business!



C-c-c-cooties!



Are you sure you're alright, Muza?


He'll clear up faster if you stop trying to touch him, mind you.




Sure enough, even his sprite has turned blue.


To no one's real surprise, we can't pass through the mountain fort just yet.

At this point, we have the ability to search through the whole fort and talk to the soldiers. Unfortunately, this update is getting long, and no one has anything very important to say, so I'm just going to show you the special event.


Looks like you're using a spear, but sure, whatever.




*CRACK*

See, it cracked! You aren't as good as Jyabil yet.

Dude, what the hell? The soldier kinda needed that!


And on that note, we say goodbye for today. See you next time.